LECTURE X
WE showed in the last lecture that what
Christ Jesus means for human evolution is the gradual
equipment of the human ego with those forces and capacities
formerly only possible of attainment in the Mysteries of the
past, when the ego was to a certain extent suppressed. In all
ancient initiations it was possible to rise up into the
spiritual worlds, into what we called the Kingdoms of Heaven,
but with human nature constituted as it was in pre-Christian
times, this could not be done while within the ego or while
the nature of the ego remained as it was on the physical
plane. We have, therefore, to distinguish two conditions of
the human soul; one, recognized to-day as normal during
waking life, when the objects of the physical plane are
perceived by means of the ego; another, in which the ego is
clouded, and there is no clear consciousness. It was during
this latter condition of his soul that man was exalted to the
Kingdoms of Heaven in the days of the ancient Mysteries.
These
Heavenly Kingdoms were now to be brought down to earth
— first, in accordance with the preaching of John the
Baptist, and then in accordance with that of Christ Jesus
Himself; so that man might receive an impulse to a more
far-reaching development, and be able in his normal
ego-consciousness to experience the higher worlds. It was,
therefore, not only natural that all the statements
concerning incidents in the life of the Christ Jesus should
reproduce what a candidate for initiation experienced in the
ancient Mysteries; but that ‘at the same time it should
be emphasized, that there was to be a difference; these
things were to take on a new colouring — a new
condition of soul was to arise, a condition in which the ego
would be fully conscious.
It was from
this point of view that in the last Lecture we considered the
nine Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. Still further
elucidation of what is found in the present text of the
Gospel of Matthew might be given, for in the translation from
the Aramaic language into Greek much has been obscured. Yet
even in the obscure Greek text, and especially in the later
part of the Sermon on the Mount we are aware of clear
reference being made to what it was possible to experience
formerly through suppression of the ego. If formerly men
felt: ‘When my ego was darkened I could enter the
spiritual world and in this condition I was able to grasp
this or that fundamental fact;’ in future it will be
possible for them to do this while retaining full
consciousness.
Full
understanding of this presupposes some knowledge of something
I have already mentioned: the way in which names were used in
ancient times. Formerly names were chosen, unlike those of
to-day, to indicate the essential nature of the thing
designated. And it is clearly shown in all the designations
employed in the Sermon on the Mount that Christ felt it was
He Himself Who had raised the ego-consciousness to a higher
plane than had been hitherto attainable, so that henceforth
it would be able to experience within itself the Kingdoms of
Heaven. Therefore He placed before the souls of His disciples
this contrast ‘Formerly, this or that was revealed to
you from the Kingdoms of Heaven; but henceforth ye will be
aware of these things when ye listen to what your
“I” says to you.’ Hence the ever-recurring
expression, ‘I say unto you,’ showing how Christ
felt Himself to be representative of every human soul. This
is expressed in the words, ‘I say it!’ ‘I,
in full consciousness.’ The expression, ‘I say
unto you,’ words found all through the Sermon on the
Mount, should not be taken lightly. They are the repeated
reference to a new impulse that was being implanted in
humanity through Christ Jesus. Read in this way the
continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, and you will feel
that Christ wished to say: ‘Until now, ye were unable
to appeal to your own ego, but henceforth, through My gift,
through the power of your own inner being, of your own ego,
ye will be able gradually to gain the Kingdoms of
Heaven.’ The whole spirit of the Sermon on the Mount is
pervaded by this new impulse, so also is that which follows,
leading on as it does to the so-called miracles of
healing.
The
‘healings’ by our Lord, and more especially the
‘miracles,’ have been the subject of a vast
amount of discussion, as is well known. Great stress has been
laid on the fact that miracles are spoken of in the Gospels.
We will now consider these more closely. Yesterday I pointed
out to you that man quite underestimates to-day the changes
that have taken place in his being during the course of
evolution. A comparison in the finer, not the coarser sense,
between a physical body of the time of Christ or earlier, and
one of to-day, reveals a real difference. This difference,
which is not apparent to ordinary science, can be established
by occult investigation. The physical body at the beginning
of our era was more plastic than it is to-day. It is now
denser and more contracted. in those days the powers of
perception were such that men knew of certain forces working
in and moulding all bodies, so that the muscles were more
clearly revealed. Knowledge of this was gradually lost.
Childish nonsense in the history of Art points to old
drawings, where the formation of the muscles seems
exaggerated, and supposes that this indicates the ancient
artist's lack of skill. People who criticize such
drawings are unaware that they are the result of actual
observation, which was quite correct for those days but false
in ours. This is, however, of less concern to us at the
moment than the main fact, which is, that bodies were then
constituted differently.
The power of
the soul and of the spirit had a far greater more momentary
influence on the human body at one time than was later the
case. As the body became denser the soul lost power over it.
Therefore, healing through the soul was formerly more
possible than it is to-day. The soul had then far more power
to permeate a disordered body with active health-giving
forces drawn from the spiritual worlds, and to restore it to
harmony from within itself. With the progress of evolution
the power of the soul over the body declined. Healing became
less and less a spiritual process. The physicians of those
times, unlike those of to-day, were healers who worked on the
body by influencing the soul. They purified the soul by their
spiritual influences, filling it with healthy perceptions,
impulses, and will-power. These were exercised either under
the ordinary conditions of physical perception or through
‘temple sleep,’ which was but a means of
rendering men clairvoyant. In considering that ancient
culture, we are obliged to say that those who were strong of
soul and able to draw upon their own acquired resources could
influence the souls of others, and through them their
physical bodies to a considerable degree. These men, who were
filled with spirit, so that they radiated healing forces,
were called ‘Healers.’ Fundamentally, not the
‘Therapeutæ’ only, but also the Essenes,
should be regarded as Healers. We can go further: in a
certain dialect of Asia Minor, where a language was spoken by
those associated with the origin of Christianity, the word
they employed, which we translate as ‘spiritual
healer,’ was ‘Jesus,’ and means
‘Spiritual Physician.’ That is the actual meaning
of ‘Jesus.’ It is the correct translation when
one has a feeling for the value of words, and throws light on
what was felt to exist in such names at a time when names
still meant something.
A man who
spoke in accordance with the feeling of those times would
have said: ‘There are men who have gained entrance to
the Mysteries; who, by means of a certain sacrifice of their
ego-consciousness, can touch certain psycho-spiritual forces
which then stream from them, so that they become
‘healers’ of others. Suppose such a man had
become a disciple of Christ Jesus he might then have said,
‘Strange things have come to pass in our day! Formerly
only those could heal who had received spiritual forces
through a suppressed ego-consciousness induced in the
Mysteries — but now there is One among us Who has
become a healer without undergoing the procedure of the
Mysteries, and without suppression of His
ego-consciousness.’
It was not
the performance of miracles that was exceptional, or that
spiritual healings took place as described in the Gospel of
St. Matthew. This did not strike people as especially
wonderful, nor did it seem especially miraculous in those
days. A man might then have asked: What is wonderful in
spiritual healing being performed by such people? It is quite
comprehensible! What is wonderful is what the writer of the
Gospel of Matthew says: ‘Here is One Who has brought a
new and living force into human nature which enables Him to
heal by the impulse of His own ego; by such means healings
could not be performed formerly.’ So something quite
different from what was usual is here described in the
Gospels. The results of occult investigation here put forward
by Spiritual Science may be verified in countless ways, and
can indeed be proved by historical research.
One instance
will serve by way of illustration. If the statements just
made be true, then it must have been realized in olden times
that under certain conditions the blind could receive their
sight through spiritual influences. Attention is directed and
justifiably to old pictures representing this. Even J. M.
Robertson writes of a picture in Rome which represents
Aesculapius standing before two blind men, and he draws the
natural conclusion that it represents an act of healing. He
then supposes that the writers of the Gospels incorporated
this in their narratives. The important point here is not
that spiritual healings were miracles, but that the artist
desired to depict Aesculapius as an initiate who had acquired
his healing powers through the suppression of his
ego-consciousness in the Mysteries. But the writer of the
Gospel of Matthew wishes to emphasize something else; he
wishes to point out: ‘Christ did not perform His
healings in this way, but the living force that worked in Him
as an original and isolated example, is to be acquired
gradually by the whole of humanity; every man will in time be
able to do these things through the power of his
ego.’ Not yet, but in the distant future, this
power will come to life in man. What has been accomplished by
Christ at the beginning of our era will slowly and gradually
dawn and men will become capable of bringing it to
expression. It was this that the narrator of the Gospel of
Matthew desired to emphasize. Speaking out of occult
consciousness I can say: This writer did not specially intend
to describe a ‘miracle,’ but something natural
and comprehensible, only he wished to show that it was
accomplished in a new way. This is what is found when the
results of true investigations by means of spiritual science
are presented; we see how profound are the misunderstandings
that have entered into the Gospels. How does the story
continue?
So far we
have seen that what happened in the life of Christ through
the ‘Temptation’ was a descent into all these
experiences passed through when a man sinks down into his
physical and etheric body; and that the forces radiating from
His physical and etheric bodies worked as is told in the
Sermon on the Mount, and as is revealed in the subsequent
healings. In what follows we recognize that the power of
Christ Jesus worked and attracted to Him pupils, in the same
way as they were attracted to Initiates of old; but, as was
natural, these were attracted to Him in a way peculiarly His
own.
If the Gospel
of Matthew is to be understood from this point onwards, we
must recall by way of preparation certain facts of Occult
Science acquired through years of study. We must recall that
a disciple who truly treads the path of initiation, acquires
a kind of imaginative perception, a perception that lives in
imaginations. Those who dwelt much in the presence of Christ
Jesus had not only to acquire the power by which they could
hearken to such magnificent utterances as those of the Sermon
on the Mount, they had not only to participate in healings
accomplished through Him, but the mighty force active in
Christ Jesus had gradually to pass over to those who were His
most intimate friends and disciples. This too is revealed.
First it is shown how, after the Temptation, Christ was
empowered to disclose a new meaning in the ancient teaching,
and to carry out the ancient healing by means of a new
impulse. Next we are told how the force that was incorporated
in Him in fullest measure affected His disciples and those
most clearly associated with Him.
How are we
shown this? By the fact, that what He stood for was
communicated to the unreceptive in words, but to those who
were receptive and were chosen by Himself, the action was
different. In these chosen ones it worked so that it endowed
them with imaginations, it stirred in them the first stage of
higher knowledge. What proceeded from Christ Jesus acted
therefore in a twofold manner on those who were
‘outside or without’ so that they heard His
words, and with them acquired a kind of theory; on the
others, who had felt His power, and were chosen because, on
account of their Karma, they were specially open to receive
this power, it awakened imaginative cognition, a knowledge
which in a certain way led them a stage higher towards the
spiritual world. This is expressed in the words, ‘Those
who are outside hear only in parables;’ meaning they
could receive facts concerning the spiritual worlds expressed
in images; but to His chosen ones He said, ‘Ye can
receive the deeper meaning of the parables — the
language that leads to the things of the higher
worlds.’ Nor must these words be taken other than
literally.
Let us now
consider seriously how the disciples were led into the higher
worlds. At any rate to understand what I now have to say not
only listeners are needed but also a certain amount of
goodwill, permeated with understanding gained in the study of
occult science. I may then be able to convey to you what is
really meant by what follows in the Gospel of Matthew. To do
so we will again recall the two sides of initiation: The
first where man descends into his physical and etheric body,
thus learning to know his own inner being, and is led to the
forces that are creative in himself; and the other side where
he is led into the spiritual world, to expansion into the
macrocosm. Now we know that in reality, though unconscious of
it, man withdraws his astral body and ego from his physical
and etheric body during sleep, and pours them into the starry
universe so that he may absorb its forces — hence the
name astral (starry) body. The result of this form of
initiation is not merely a conscious understanding ofthings
on earth, but a participation in, and a pouring of the self
into, the cosmos: a reception of forces flowing in from the
cosmos, and a knowledge of the starry world. All this that
has to be striven for and slowly acquired by us was, on
account of His special nature, already in the Christ from the
time of the Baptism in Jordan. It was in Him not only in a
condition that resembled sleep, but during His waking hours
when within His physical and etheric bodies. He could even
then unite His Being with the forces of the stars, and bring
their forces down into the physical world.
What was
brought to pass by Christ Jesus may therefore be described as
follows: Through the attraction of His specially prepared
physical and etheric bodies, and through His whole nature, He
drew down to earth the forces of the sun, moon, and stars,
and of the cosmos generally, in so far as it is related to
our Earth. The deeds accomplished by Him were accomplished
through the agency of those health-giving, life-endowing
cosmic forces which otherwise stream down into man during
sleep. The forces through which the Christ worked were forces
streaming down from the cosmos through His bodily attraction,
they streamed from His body on to His disciples. The
disciples now began to be receptive, so that they rightly
felt: This Christ Jesus Whom we see before us is a being,
through Whom the forces of the cosmos come to us like
spiritual nourishment; this force pours over us!
But the
disciples were themselves in a twofold state of consciousness
— for they had not yet attained that highest state of
human development, but only reached up to a higher
development through Christ. They themselves lived continually
in a twofold state of consciousness that may be compared with
the sleeping and waking of ordinary men; and because they
were in this alternating condition it was possible for them,
in the one state as well as in the other, to come under the
influence of the magical power of Christ. The power of Christ
acted upon them alike by day when they were with Him and by
night when they were outside the physical and etheric bodies.
But while men are normally unconscious of their starry
environment during sleep, the disciples were aware of the
Christ-force about them; it was visible to them. They knew
that it was His force that nourished them from the starry
universe.
This twofold
consciousness produced yet another effect on the disciples.
In everyone, including the disciples, we have to recognize
both the man of the present and also that which he bears
within him as the seed for future incarnations. The seed of
what will flower in you in future epochs in an entirely new
way is already present in each one of you. If this power
which already exists in you were to develop to clairvoyance,
it would reveal itself by a sort of early clairvoyant
experience, and this would take the form of a vision of the
immediate future. If these first experiences are pure and
true, things concerning the more immediate future are seen.
This was the case with the disciples. In normal consciousness
the Christ-force streamed into them so that they said:
‘When we are awake the force of Christ flows into us as
it does in normal waking consciousness.’
But how was
it when they slept? Because they were the disciples of Jesus
and as the power of the Christ had worked in them they became
clairvoyant at certain times during sleep; they did not then
see what was taking place at the time, but they could
participate in the future. They plunged, as it were, into the
sea of astral visions and beheld prophetically things that
would happen in the future.
The disciples
lived therefore in two conditions of consciousness. During
the day they felt that Christ brought to them from cosmic
space the forces of cosmic worlds that He passed this on to
them as spiritual nourishment; that because He was Himself
the power of the Sun, He brought to them what is represented
by the Christian acceptance of the teaching of Zarathustra.
Christ passed on to them the forces the Sun had to bestow
through the seven day-time constellations. There
below was their day-time nourishment. During the night the
disciples were aware that through the power of Christ, the
invisible night-time Sun poured heavenly nourishment into
their souls as it passed through the remaining five
constellations.
Thus in their
imaginative clairvoyance they felt: ‘We are united with
the Christ-force, with the Sun-force; it sends to us what is
right for the men of the present period, that is, the men of
the Fourth Epoch of civilization; in the other state of
consciousness, that of the night, the Christ-force imparts to
us the gifts of the night-time Sun, as the power of the five
night constellations.’ But this was appropriate only to
the age that was coming, the Fifth Epoch of civilization.
This is what the disciples experienced. How could this be
expressed?
We shall have
more to say of this in the next Lecture meanwhile I wish to
speak of something else. In ancient times a crowd or mass of
people was described as a ‘thousand,’ and when it
was intended to particularize, a number was added descriptive
of the most important characteristic of this crowd. The
people of the fourth period of civilization were therefore
described as the ‘fourth thousand’ while those
who already lived in accordance with the Fifth Epoch were
called the ‘fifth thousand.’ These were simply
technical terms. The disciples knew therefore, that during
the day they received, through Christ from the seven
day-constellations, the nourishment suitable for the Fourth
Period of civilization, that is, for the fourth thousand. And
they knew that in their imaginative clairvoyant consciousness
of the night they perceived through the five
night-constellations what pertained to the epoch that was
coming — that of the fifth thousand. The people of the
Fourth Epoch, or the fourth thousand, were nourished from
Heaven by the seven heavenly loaves — the seven
day-time constellations; the people of the Fifth Epoch, or
the five thousand, were fed from Heaven by the five
night-constellations. At the same time the division between
the constellations of the day and those of the night is
always indicated by fishes — the twelfth sign of the
Zodiac.
Here an
important secret is touched on; it refers to an important
procedure in the Mysteries—the magic intercourse
between Christ and His disciples. Christ makes this clear
when He tells them He does not speak of the old leaven of the
Pharisees, but that He brings down to them heavenly food from
the Sun-forces of the cosmos although on one occasion He had
only the seven day-time constellations to draw from —
the seven day-time loaves — and on the other the five
constellations of night, the five night-time loaves. The
division between being always provided by ‘the
fishes’ — indeed on one occasion two fishes are
expressly mentioned, thus indicating His meaning even more
clearly.
Who can
doubt, when they catch in this way but a glimpse of the
profound depths of the Gospel of Matthew, that it is
concerned with revelations reaching back to the time of
Zarathustra, and that this had to be so, for Zarathustra was
the first who taught of the Spirit of the Sun, the first who
brought realization of the magic Sun-force that would one day
stream down to earth upon those capable of receiving it.
What do the
superficial expounders of the Gospels say about these things?
They find in the Gospel of Matthew a description of the
feeding of the four thousand with seven loaves of bread, and
on another occasion the feeding of five thousand with five
loaves. They regard the second account merely as a repetition
of the first, and the difference in numbers as the error of
the negligent copyist. Doubtless such a thing can happen in
the making of modern books. The Gospels, however, did not
arise in this way. If an account appears twice in them there
is a profound reason for it. It is because the profound facts
of the Gospel of Matthew are in accordance with the teachings
given out by the great Essene Jesus ben Pandira a hundred
years before the coming of the Christ-Sun, in order that when
He did come He might be understood, that we must strive
really to search out the profundities of this Gospel. But to
continue.
Christ, in
the first place, allowed the forces of Imaginative, or astral
vision, to stream forth from Him into the disciples, who
absorbed them to the measure of their capacity. This is
clearly shown. One might say: Let him who has eyes to read,
read. As in earlier days when things were not all written
down, it was said: Let him who has ears to hear, hear! So we
say: Let him who has eyes to read, read the Gospels! Is it
anywhere indicated that this force of the Christ-Sun appeared
differently to the disciples by day from how it did by night?
Yes, this is clearly indicated.
In an
important passage of the Gospel we read that in the fourth
watch of the night — that means between three and six
o'clock in the morning — the disciples, who were
slumbering, saw what they first took to be an apparition
walking on the water. This was the nocturnal Sun-force
reflected from the Christ. Even the exact time is given,
because only at a certain time could it be revealed to them
how this force streamed down to them from the cosmos through
such a Being. That Christ Jesus walked in Palestine, and that
in the wanderings of this Person, this single Individual, the
means existed by which the Sun-forces were able to work
within our earth, is clearly shown by the fact that reference
is always made in the Gospels to the position of the Sun with
regard to the constellations — the heavenly bread. This
cosmic-nature of the Christ, this activity of the cosmic
forces through the Christ, is everywhere insisted upon.
Further, the
disciples most fitted to receive it had to be specially
initiated by the Christ, so that they could perceive the
spiritual world not only imaginatively as in astral pictures,
but so that they might see and also hear what took place
there. (This has often been spoken of as the ascent into
Devachan.) This initiation was to enable them to develop the
capacity by which they could identify the personality known
to them on earth as Christ Jesus, when, through the spiritual
progress they had made, they saw Him on the spiritual plane.
They were to become clairvoyant in a region still higher than
that of the astral plane.
Not all the
disciples were capable of this. It Was possible only for
those most receptive of the force emanating from Christ.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, these were Peter, James,
and John. Therefore it tells how the Christ guided these
three to where He could lead them beyond the astral realm
into the realms of Devachan. Here they could see certain
spiritual archetypes; first, Christ Jesus Himself; and then,
because they were able to perceive the relationship in which
He stood to the others, the ancient prophet Elias, he who
later reincarnated as John the Baptist the forerunner of
Christ Jesus. They were able to see Elias (for the scene took
place after John's execution and withdrawal into the
spiritual world), and they also saw Moses, his spiritual
predecessor. This whole experience was only possible because
the three chosen disciples had been exalted to spiritual, not
only to astral vision. The Gospel clearly indicates that they
attained to Devachan, for it tells us that they not only
beheld the Christ filled with His Sun-force — expressed
in the words: ‘His countenance shone like the
Sun,’ but it also tells us that they heard the Three
conversing together. This fact indicates an ascent into
Devachan, they not only saw but also heard. This whole scene
is in strict accordance with the investigations of Spiritual
Science. Nowhere do we find any contradiction between these
investigations and what is revealed in the Gospels, when it
describes how Christ Himself led His disciples first into the
astral realm and then into Devachan, the realm of the
spirit.
The Gospel of
Matthew clearly identifies Christ Jesus as the mighty Bearer
of the Sun-force once foretold by Zarathustra. In it He is
faithfully described as the Power of the Sun, the Spirit of
the Sun — Ahura Mazdao or Ormuzd. Stress is laid on the
fact that the Being, of whom Zarathustra could only declare
that He dwelt in the Sun, had, through the instrumentality of
Jesus of Nazareth, descended to earth; He has dwelt
upon the earth and united Himself with it. Through this one
life in a physical, etheric, and astral body, He has become
an impulse for earthly evolution, and has gradually united
Himself more and more with that evolution. In other words An
ego-nature was once present in such measure on earth within
one personality that it has enabled those who followed it,
who received the Christ or who accepted Him in the sense in
which Paul accepted Him, gradually to acquire the power of
this ego-nature in their following incarnations. When people
pass from one incarnation to another, and if during the
remainder of their time on earth they permeate their souls
with the power of the Personality Who lived at that time,
they will rise to ever greater and greater heights of
attainment.
At one time
those destined for it were able to behold the Christ in the
body of Jesus of Nazareth with their physical eyes. It had
once in the course of earthly evolution to come to pass that
the Christ, Who formerly could only be perceived as the
Spirit of the Sun, descended and united Himself with the
forces of earth for the sake of all mankind. Man is the being
in whom the fulness of the flooding Sun-force is to live;
that force, that on one definite occasion descended and lived
within a physical body. This event marks the beginning of the
era during which the Power of the Sun is to stream forth into
man. It will flow gradually, and ever increasingly, into
those who fill themselves from incarnation to incarnation
with the Christ-force, so far as their earthly bodies will
allow of it.
It must be
understood that not every physical body can experience the
Christ just as it was only that special body prepared in the
complicated way we have described, through the two
Jesus-forms, and then brought to a high state of perfection
by Zarathustra in which the Christ could live once in His
fulness. Only once. Those who devote themselves to
it will be able to fill themselves with the Christ-force,
first inwardly, then ever more outwardly. The future will
bring not only understanding of this force, but people will
be able to fill themselves with it. What the acceptance of
Christ will mean for a human evolution on earth I have
endeavoured to show you in the ‘seer-nature’ of
Theodora in the
Rosicrucian Mystery Play.
She must be regarded as one who had developed the power of seeing
into the near future, of seeing how we are advancing towards a
time, not far distant, when at first a few, and then
gradually more and more, will be able to see the form of
Christ; not solely as the result of spiritual training but as
a natural development of our present stage of evolution. They
will perceive Him, not in the physical, but in the etheric
world — and in a remoter future they will behold Him in
yet another form. Once it was possible for people dwelling on
the physical plane to see Him in His physical form; this had
to be experienced once.
The
Christ-impulse would, however, fail of its mission if it were
not always active and evolving. We are approaching a time
when man will be able to behold the Christ with his higher
powers — this should be regarded as a message. It will
happen that before the expiration of the twentieth century a
limited number of people will become ‘Theodoras,’
which means that their eyes will be opened spiritually, and
they will experience what Paul experienced before Damascus.
Paul's vision was possible because he was ‘born
out of due time,’ he was a premature birth. People like
Paul have no need of Gospel or record in order to know
Christ. Christ will appear to them in the etheric clouds, and
they will know Him from inner experience as He is.
This is a
kind of Second Coming of the Christ, but in an etheric
garment, the garment in which He revealed Himself to Paul as
a shadowing forth of what was to come. It is our task to
emphasize most particularly that the very nature of the
Christ-Event carries with it the implication that He Who came
in a physical body as Christ Jesus at the beginning of our
era, would appear again before its close; this time clothed
in an etheric garment as he appeared to Paul on the way to
Damascus. When by exalting his nature man acquires ever
higher capacities, he will come to know the fulness of the
nature of Christ. A second coming of Christ in a physical
body would mean that no progress had been made since His
first coming, that this had failed to bring about the
development of higher powers in man. For the result of the
Christ-Event is the development in man of these higher
powers, and with these new powers Christ can be seen in the
spiritual world whence His powers come.
Having an
understanding of the historical struggle of our time it is
our duty to speak of this fact, just as the great Essene
teacher, Jesus ben Pandira, spoke prophetically of the Christ
as ‘the Lion Who was to come forth from the line of
David,’ thus referring to the Sun-Force that was to
stream from the constellation of Leo. Could humanity but have
the good fortune (I desire to give this only as an
indication) of seeing the reincarnation in our time of that
Jesus ben Pandira who was inspired by the great Bodhisattva
destined to be the Maitreya Buddha, he would recognize as his
most important mission this teaching concerning the etheric
Christ, the Christ Who would appear in etheric clouds, and he
would impress on his hearers the fact that once and once only
could the Christ appear in a physical body. Let us suppose
that this Jesus — the son of Pandira — who was
stoned to death in Palestine a hundred years before our era
were to be reincarnated in our time and that he announced the
coming of Christ; he would not tell of His coming in a
physical body but in an etheric garment, similar to that seen
by Paul. By teaching this fact, Jesus ben Pandira would be
recognized for what he was. The other most essential thing
that we shall have to understand from him who will one day be
the Maitreya Buddha is what might be called the new Essene
teaching. We shall learn from him how Christ will appear in
our time, and he would especially warn us against false
conceptions concerning this rebirth of the Essene teaching.
There is one sure sign by which we would be able to recognize
Jesus hen Pandira were he to be born again in our day. He
would not declare himself to be the Christ. Anyone who in our
day declared his power to be the same as that which abode in
Jesus of Nazareth would, by this very assertion, stamp
himself as a false representative of that forerunner of
Christ, who lived a hundred years before His day in
Palestine. By such a declaration he would reveal himself as a
false prophet. The danger here is very great. In our time men
fluctuate between two extremes. On one hand, it is vigorously
asserted of the modern man that he is incapable of
recognizing the spiritual forces operating in humanity. We
hear it constantly said by the man in the street that our
generation is lacking in the gift or in the power to
recognize any original spiritual force, even were it to
manifest itself. That is one ugly fact of our age, though
unfortunately true, that the reincarnation of mighty
individuals might take place in it, yet be unrecognized, or
passed by with indifference. And there is another fact no
less sinister, common to our age and to many others. While
spiritual individuals are unappreciated and unrecognized,
others are exalted to the skies. There is the liveliest
tendency to deify individuals. On every hand we find
communities each with its special Messiah. Everywhere the
need for deification is felt. This has always been the case;
it emerges again and again in the course of centuries.
Maimonides
tells of a false Christ who appeared in France in 1137, who
had numerous followers and was condemned to death by public
authority. He also relates how forty years earlier a man
appeared at Cordova and proclaimed himself to be the Christ.
Again, twenty-five years earlier, at the beginning of the
twelfth century, a false Messiah appeared at Fez in Morocco,
who hinted at yet a greater one. Finally about 1147 in Persia
there was one who did not proclaim himself to be the Christ,
but taught of a Christ. But the worst appearance of all was
one I have already mentioned, that of Shabbathai Zewi in 1666
at Smyrna. He declared himself to be the reincarnation of the
Christ. We can most clearly observe in him and in the effect
he had on his environment, the nature of a false Messiah. His
was no narrow movement; news of the appearance of a new
Christ spread, and people travelled from all parts of Europe
to see him; from Spain, France, and Italy; from Poland,
Hungary and Southern Russia, from Northern Africa, and
Central Asia. It was a great world movement, and created a
great sensation, and it would have boded ill for anyone who
ventured to deny that Shabbathai Zewi was the Christ. Such a
denial before Shabbathai Zewi betrayed himself and was
exposed, would have brought the doubter up against a dogma
held by a very great number of people.
This is the
other ugly fact that constantly makes its appearance, perhaps
not in Christian circles, but certainly in others. A need is
felt to allow Messiahs to appear in earthly form. In
Christian countries this happens for the most part in small
circles, but in them ‘Christs’ are to be found.
What mainly concerns us is: that through Spiritual Science,
through scientific explanations, and a clear understanding of
the facts revealed by occult means, it is possible to avoid
both kinds of error. Real understanding of Spiritual Science
prevents such errors, and makes it possible to understand in
some small way the most profound historical facts of modern
times. It enables us, when we enter more deeply into
spiritual life, to accept what resembles a kind of revival of
the Essene teaching which first foretold the coming of
Christ, through the mouth of Jesus ben Pandira, as an event
of the physical world.
If the Essene
teaching is to be revived in our day, if we strive to live
according to the living spirit of a new Bodhisattva, and not
in the tradition of an ancient one, we must make ourselves
receptive to the inspiration of that Bodhisattva who will one
day appear as the Maitreya Buddha. This Bodhisattva will
inspire us and draw our attention to the time drawing near
when the Christ will appear in a new form in an etheric body.
He will bless, and endow with light, those who through the
new Essene wisdom are developing new forces in preparation
for His return in etheric raiment.
We are now
speaking entirely in the sense of that inspiring Bodhisattva
who is to be the Maitreya Buddha; we know therefore that we
are not speaking in accordance with any religious confession.
We are not speaking of a return of Christ that will be
perceptible on the physical plane. It is a matter of
indifference to us that we are obliged to differ from such a
teaching; we know, however, that our teaching is true. We
have no prejudice in favour of any form of Oriental religious
teaching, but live only for the truth, and we declare the
manner of the future coming of the Christ to be in the form
we have learned from the inspiration of the Bodhisattva
himself.
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