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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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The Riddle of Humanity
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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The Riddle of Humanity
Schmidt Number: S-3251
On-line since: 29th July, 2002
In the course of the preceding lectures I have had to say some things
that could with justification be called paradoxical. For these things
may well sound paradoxical when they are set against the materialism
of our day. But that is how matters stand: what calls itself science
today is only concerned with the facts that are available to the
senses; but knowledge from the other side of the threshold is related
to a different region of the world perhaps it would be better
to say, to a different form of the world from that in which
these facts lie. Remember some of the things that we have needed to
discuss. Remember how the external human form led us to a description
of man's relation to the cosmos. It was said that the structure of the
human head the head as it actually is could not have
developed within the bounds of a life on Earth, and could not even
have begun there. It is the result of Moon forces which have been
specially adapted to the case of each individual person so that it
also refers back to his preceding incarnation. And the rest of the
human body, excluding the head is, in turn, to some extent being
prepared to become the head of the next incarnation. Thus, the human
head refers back to a previous incarnation; the human body anticipates
the next incarnation when it will have undergone a transformation. The
human Gestalt really does connect directly with the previous
incarnation and with the incarnation to come. A great cosmic
relationship is revealed when the human being is considered in this
light.
As you know, the rudiments of an understanding for the relation of the
external human Gestalt to the twelve signs of the zodiac has been
preserved from an earlier, wiser age. Although we naturally do not
want to speak in the manner of the dilettantism that is so typical of
contemporary astrological investigations, something needs to be said
about the deep cosmic secrets that lie behind this way of apportioning
the parts of the human body to the cosmos.
You know that astrology assigns the human head to the sign of the Ram,
the throat and larynx to the Bull, the part of the body where the arms
are attached and also what the arms and hands express to the Twins,
the circumference of the chest to the Crab, everything to do with the
heart to the Lion, the activities contained by the abdomen to the
Virgin, the lumbar region to the Scales, the sexual region to the
Scorpion, the thighs to the Hunter, the knees to the Sea-Goat, the
calves to the Waterman, and the feet to the Fishes.
In this manner, the whole human body, including the head, is related
to the forces that rule the cosmos and are symbolised by the fixed
stars of the zodiac.
Now we have also spoken of how the head itself is actually a
transformation of the whole body namely of the body of the
preceding incarnation. And we find another twelve-fold division in the
head, where the principal representatives of the sense organs come
together. That, too, is a genuine twelve-foldness. The following
diagram shows how matters stand.
We will let this (see drawing) represent the whole human body,
dividing it among the twelve signs of the zodiac so that the head is
given to the Ram, the throat to the Bull, and so on. And now, bearing
in mind what has been said about the composition of the whole of the
sense organism, this part here, which has been allocated to one sign,
must be divided again among all twelve signs. Thus, here the whole
process must be repeated again. I urge you to take note of this
characteristic, which is true of all the great laws of the cosmos.
Whenever there is a twelve-fold order, one part of it will have an
independent existence as well as being just one part of the whole. In
this case it is the head which, as a part of the whole, is allocated
to one constellation, but also, as the unique, special case, is
allocated to all twelve constellations. If what has been said is true,
one must presuppose that the body of one incarnation becomes the head
of the next incarnation. In the next incarnation, what is now the
whole head must serve a single sense. A second sense will be formed
out of what at present is manifest as the organs of speech, the larynx
and everything in its vicinity. This will be metamorphosed and
transformed in the next incarnation. A third sense will be formed from
the expressive capacities of the arms and so on. The whole of the body
that we bear in this world will become the head of our next
incarnation; it will undergo a systematic metamorphosis so that the
present twelve-fold order of the body can reappear as the twelve-fold
order of the head.
One can certainly look for clues that indicate whether a
twelve-foldness really is to be found in the head. Now most of you
will be aware that there are twelve principle nerves that originate in
the human head. When they are properly interpreted rather than
in the pitifully confused fashion of contemporary physiology of the
brain one can recognise that what was distributed over the
whole body in the preceding incarnation reappears in these twelve
nerves. So the apparent paradox of, for example, the reappearance in
the head of what today is in the hands need not cause us to falter. In
fact, one may even find it quite easy to grasp such things in their
broad outlines. For if we thoroughly examine the physiology of the
hands and arms do we not truly see that they already show a
disposition to become organs of speech? Do not the hands and arms
speak their own eloquent language? Why, then, should it be so
difficult to believe that the situation might at some time be quite
altered, so that the same things reappear at a different level of
being, as sense organs within the head? Only those who have no inkling
of what a true metamorphosis of being involves can laugh at the idea
that what is now expressed in the body through the knees is being
prepared so that it can reappear distributed over the entire body as
the sense of touch, as the organ of touch. Our human knees, with their
wonderfully constructed kneecaps are highly sensitive in some
respects. This characteristic is being prepared to become our sense of
touch in our next incarnation; then it will the organ of touch for the
whole body. This is the kind of metamorphosis experienced by our
various parts, and deep secrets of existence are revealed to us by
such matters. But in order to come to a right view of these secrets of
existence it is also necessary for us to approach them with reverence.
We must not fall into the cynical mood prevalent in current science.
In order to listen in on the secrets of being, we must approach them
with reverence. For a considerable time now, the prevailing views of
the world have reflected humanity's terrible pride and megalomania.
The extent of the pride and megalomania at work in contemporary
intellectual and scientific life generally goes unrecognised. But for
anyone who is aware of it, the megalomania that sometimes emerges in
particular individuals comes as no surprise.
In the pursuit of spiritual science it has often been necessary for me
to draw attention to the terrible presence of this pride, a pride that
has become especially evident during recent phases of human
development. Frequently I have spoken about the way men write about
human deeds. Just read what the textbooks and other books have to say
about the human spirit of discovery. Look, for example, at what is
said about the discovery of paper this same paper about which
one can become so despondent these days when one sees all that is
printed on it. But just look at all that is said about the capacity
that enables a human being to discover such things! I have often
pointed out that a wasp's nest consists of the very same material; it
is made of genuine paper. The elemental beings who govern the building
of wasps' nests really discovered this substance millions of years
before humanity discovered it. Other examples can be found-thousands
of them. Look at a telescope. It can be turned in two different ways;
it can be rotated as well as adjusted up and down. The example of the
telescope has already been noted by Schraieg, an author who made
several attempts to draw our attention to such things. Look at what
man has made here! He has built it with two different devices for
rotation: above there is a device that is called a hinge-joint in
mechanics, and below is a device called a tenon-joint. These make it
possible to rotate the telescope in two different ways and provide the
twofold rotation that is required. Now, as you can easily test for
yourselves with a telescope, it would be mad to reverse their
positions and put a tenon-joint above where the hinge-joint is, and a
hinge-joint below instead of a tenon-joint. That would not be
advantageous. This invention, this mechanical device, can be held up
as an example of the kind of significant discovery of which mankind is
capable. But each of you is carrying about a much more ingenious
version of this same device. In the back part of your head, where it
sits upon a vertebra of your neck, you have a hinge-joint above and a
tenon-joint below. That is why you are able to turn your head up and
down, as well as to rotate it sideways. So you can find in the human
organism the very same thing that is the object of present-day human
thought.
There is nothing that has ever been discovered or ever will be
discovered that cannot be found somewhere in the human
organism. All the mechanical devices men have ever discovered or will
discover, everything capable of contributing to human evolution, is to
be found in the human organism. A human being only lacks the things
that have nothing to contribute to human evolution; they are either
lacking, or are included in a form very different from the form in
which mankind has introduced them into its evolution. Considering the
whole nature and spirit of evolution, there must have been a time,
far, far back in an early age, when this extraordinary mechanical
joint, and many other things as well, first came into being. Now it
exists. And we will find that this formation is always present, no
matter how far back we trace what we refer to as the course of human
development namely that part of it in which humanity possessed
its present form. And however could it have developed through purely
mechanical means? Just consider how this device is especially suited
to certain purposes so well suited, in fact, that it is
well-adapted for use on a telescope. Any other device would be
useless. Could it have come about through that fundamental law applied
by the superficial Darwinians the most superficial, I might add
namely, that something well-adapted to a purpose must have
developed out of what is less well-adapted? But what could be less
well adapted in this case. Anything less well-adapted would make it
entirely impossible for man, in his present form, to live. A man
simply could not live as he now lives, and so it is impossible to
imagine that there has been a transition from the less-adapted to the
better-adapted in such a case. Those who have developed the critique
demanded by popular, superficially-grasped Darwinism have always drawn
attention to such truths.
How will mankind's relationship with the cosmos be explained in future
ages? My answer to this question will also sound somewhat paradoxical.
You will recall that I have explained how the current belief that the
heavens will reveal their own nature is just an empty phrase.
Copernicus investigated the secrets of the heavens in the belief that
the heavens would reveal themselves to him. In truth, however, the
secrets of the heavens explain what lives on Earth and, conversely,
the secrets of the Earth explain the secrets of the heavens.
Paradoxical as it may sound, people of the future will study
embryological development and find great cosmic laws revealed in what
they can observe. Universal secrets will be revealed to them as they
watch how the embryo develops out of the cell and its surroundings to
become a whole human being. And what can be observed in the heavens
will be received as the principles in accordance with which one
explains what happens here on earth in the plants, animals and,
particularly as regards embryology, in man. The heavens explain the
earth Earth explains the heavens. You have heard me explain
that before. A real and serious principle of knowledge of the future,
one that must be expanded, still sounds like a paradox to us today.
Today I would still like to speak about a third, similar paradox. It
is related to what we have just said about Lucifer and Ahriman in
connection with Goethe's Faust. There is a certain
justification in our seeing everything that is expressed in human
emotions, passions, feelings, and so on, as the revelations of
Lucifer. We can observe that the luciferic realm works more from
within. Lucifer has to be there alongside Eve as she sets about making
herself beautiful. She must appear beautiful to herself so that she
can become the being who finds herself essentially beautiful and whose
beauty brings about the Temptation. In order for the counterpart of
this to enter into the course of Earth evolution, Ahriman must act: he
must act so that the sons of the gods will find the daughters of
mankind beautiful, that is, so that they see beauty in objects.
Lucifer had to act in order to influence Eve so that she would feel
herself beautiful and could bring about the Temptation. In order for
it to become possible to behold an object as beautiful, and possible
for beauty to become an external cause, Ahriman was necessary. The
former happened in the Lemurian period, the latter, in the Atlantean
period.
But one must become more and more familiar with the agency of Lucifer
and Ahriman. Naturally, I can only describe individual details
regarding the manifestations of Ahriman and Lucifer. But you should
try to collect all the individual characteristics I have described
into comprehensive pictures of them both.
Some of you might well be acquainted with the paradoxical events that
are typical of what can be encountered if one moves in circles which
engage in occultism, quasi-occultism, occult fraud, and all that is
connected with these. In such circles there is something one can
experience again and again. Suppose some prominent celebrities were
among the members of a society which claimed to be occult. Such groups
always include some such celebrities. They are believed. They are the
authority upon which one swears. And now something emerges that is
promulgated as a dogma. Now, suppose there emerged the dogma that a
certain person in the group is the reincarnation of a great and
towering individuality, someone who had accomplished things that would
have been impossible for other men, someone who followed a path, let
us say, and wrote down great truths, thousands of copies of which are
spread across the globe. These writings are greatly admired, even
though all they contain may be generalities. But that does not matter.
Repeatedly this happens: precisely those things that are the most
superficial will be regarded as utterly profound by
thousands upon thousands of people, provided they are served up with
the required sentimental soul-sauce.
I will describe something typical, rather than single out a particular
case. The first thing you will often observe when something like this
occurs is that various persons will rise up in terrible revolt against
what is happening. They will say, We want nothing to do with
dogma. Such a thing is nonsense and we do not want any of it; we shall
never believe it. They instigate a kind of campaign against it.
Then some celebrity or other appears to defend the matter in question,
and has a meeting with one of the rebels. Then you can observe how, in
the space of a few hours, the rebel does a complete about-face and
becomes the most rabid of the followers. Sometimes it does not even
last an hour not even a single hour is required. Such things
can be experienced repeatedly. Others come along thereafter, asking
themselves, How can it be? These women, or men and, as a
matter of fact, it does not just happen with the women, but with the
men as well were thinking quite clearly about the situation a
short while ago. Now, after just a short conversation with this occult
celebrity, they have been transformed and seem to believe the whole
thing. Some of you sitting here know that these things do
happen. Has the person really been convinced in such cases? No, there
can be no question of conviction in the sense in which we usually
speak of it, referring to the consciousness of normal waking life.
Matters have to be understood in an entirely different light. And for
the sake of understanding them, let us consider Ahriman's character
for a moment.
One of the chief characteristics of Ahriman, you see, is that he has
not the slightest acquaintance with the impartial relation to truth
that a human being experiences here on earth. Ahriman knows nothing
about this impartial relation to truth, nothing about striving for
truth by simply trying to arrive at ideas that accord with an
objective world. Ahriman knows nothing of this. He is not concerned
with such things.
Ahriman's fundamental place in the cosmos, which I have often
described, means that it is a matter of complete indifference to him
whether an idea he has formulated is in accordance with reality.
Although we would not call them true in the human sense, the truths
Ahriman constructs are always determined by their effects. He never
says anything just to be in accord with something else, but only in
order to achieve some end. What he says is said in order to achieve
some effect or other.
It would be ahrimanic, for example, if I were to tell someone
something about our building in order to get them to undertake a
certain task saying things that I know will influence the
person to undertake the task without any regard for whether or not
what I say is true.
I believe you will be able to imagine that such a thing is possible-to
calculate what to say to a person in order to create a certain effect
while remaining indifferent to the objective truth of what is said.
There are all kinds of minor instances of such things happening to
people. One could recall various things, but just imagine all that the
aunties say when they are trying to be matchmakers and bring two
people together. They will say that it is the bride or the bridegroom
who are doing things. They are not really concerned whether what they
say is right, only with the influence it has on bringing about the
match. That is just one little exemplary illustration! Ahriman, of
course, does not bother himself with such insignificant cases. But
everything in human life provides us with analogies.
Thus, when Ahriman speaks he is interested in the effects of what he
says. And when this kind of thing is going on, he helps by formulating
his statements to assist the process. Now, suppose it were useful for
Ahriman to produce a group of people on earth who believe in some
particular thing in the kind of thing I was just now talking
about. The ability to win people over to ahrimanic truths can be
acquired by someone who has been sufficiently initiated into corrupt
occultism, provided that this form of initiation has not awakened in
him the impulse to replace that occultism with the rightful kind. He
can link himself to Ahriman so as to be able to convince people of
ahrimanic truths if I may use this paradoxical turn of
speech-truths that are not true at all in the human sense, but which
will have their effects! That is what is always at the root of such
events as I have been describing: in the space of a brief hour,
ahrimanic arts are employed to influence the person who has been a
thorough-going rebel. In association with Ahriman it is possible to
influence a person and bring him to believe that some human being or
other is the reincarnation of a particular, towering individuality.
All that one has to learn is how to inject truths into some sphere of
life in this case, into the human sphere while taking
account of their effect, but not their objectivity.
To be sure, there are some men who are so ignorant and foolish that
they simply take on ahrimanic influences unconsciously, without any
other person having to resort to the ahrimanic arts. But the ahrimanic
arts are also being practised among mankind arts which are
directly applied and are achieved through association with Ahriman.
And these things resulting from the association of men with Ahriman
have an especially great significance for our times. For a
considerable time now, things have been happening to humanity that can
only be understood by someone familiar with the secrets to which we
have just been ever-so-lightly alluding.
Ahriman never concerns himself with whether or not an idea agrees with
the objective world. He is only interested in its effects and in how
it can be used.
Other matters are important to Lucifer. He possesses different
qualities, which have already been mentioned. But in order to better
acquaint ourselves with these matters, we need to pay special
attention to one particular quality of Lucifer. For neither is he
concerned with whether an idea accords with the objective world. Most
emphatically not! He wants those ideas to be evolved which will
generate the greatest possible human consciousness. Understand well
what I am saying: he wants to generate the greatest possible amount of
human consciousness as intense and as widely spread as
possible. This widespread consciousness that interests Lucifer is also
connected with a certain human inner sense of gratification, which
accompanies it. And this kind of gratification also belongs to
Lucifer's domain. Perhaps you will remember me describing how, until a
certain phase of the Atlantean epoch, everything to do with sexuality
happened unconsciously. Various peoples have beautiful myths pointing
to the unconscious nature of the sexual process in earlier times. It
only became conscious during the course of time. Lucifer played an
essential role in bringing this unconscious sphere more and more into
the light of consciousness. This is what Lucifer wants: his goal is to
bring about a human consciousness that is not right for its time; at
the wrong period of time he wants to give men consciousness of
something conscious to a degree that could only be rightly
developed at another point in time. Lucifer is not willing, without
further ado, to allow mankind to be determined by anything external.
He wants everything that affects consciousness to work from within.
This is what gives all visionary life, which is pressed outward from
within, its luciferic character. One must get to know Lucifer, for as
spiritual forces working in the cosmos it is, of course, necessary for
him and his powers to be put to work in the proper place. But as one
gets to know him, one can be especially struck by Lucifer's dreadful
lack of the slightest understanding for even the most harmless of
delights, if they apply to something external. Lucifer has not the
slightest understanding of man's harmless delight in what is around
him. He understands what can be kindled by all manner of inward
things. He has a great understanding for how a person can develop a
passion in which he indulges and which gives him pleasure, so that as
much unconscious material as possible is drawn up into consciousness.
But in spite of his wisdom for, naturally, Lucifer possesses a
lofty wisdom he cannot understand the innocent jokes that
people make about external events. Such things lie entirely outside
Lucifer's domain. And one can protect oneself from luciferic
bombardment which he is exceedingly ready to attempt by
learning to live in the innocent delights, delights that come to us
innocently from without and entertain us. When we take pleasure in a
good caricature, Lucifer gets incredibly angry.
These are the kinds of relationships that are revealed when one leaves
behind the concreteness of the sense world and steps across the
threshold. There, in that sphere, all possesses the character of
living being; nothing has the character, typical of the physical
world, of being just a thing. As soon as one enters even the elemental
world, everything is alive. So you can see that we can pretty well say
that it is a matter of indifference to both Ahriman and Lucifer
whether or not an idea is in harmony with the objective world. Ahriman
is interested in the effects of what he says; Lucifer is interested in
expanding human consciousness in certain situations where man should
not be conscious. Such awareness is accompanied by a kind of inner
pleasure, although it is not right for the present cycle of time.
In both cases things are achieved that ideas, formed solely on the
basis of their agreement with the external world, could not achieve.
For the reasons I have described, malicious occult circles cultivate
an alliance with Ahriman. They also cultivate an alliance with Lucifer
in order to find pleasant methods for bringing about visionary
experiences in other words, methods that kindle visions from
within.
Of course, Lucifer and Ahriman also work in the human unconscious.
There they accomplish the same things that the malevolent occult
circles deliberately set about doing, the same things in which these
circles are engaged, in alliance with Lucifer and Ahriman. And much of
the criticism that must be levelled against the way our own fifth
post-Atlantean epoch is unfolding in that great world out there, can
be traced back to luciferic and ahrimanic impulses. At present,
luciferic and ahrimanic streams have a strong grip on the world and
their effect is chaotic. This is shown not only by the great amount of
lying and falsification that goes on, but also by everything that is
said, simply because it corresponds to emotions and passions without
any regard for justifying it by showing how it accords with objective
reality. For, in the present phase of human development, if we want to
be in the exclusive care of benevolent powers we cannot disregard the
objective truth of our assertions and mould them to the shape of our
passions. Atlantean humanity was capable of inwardly determining
truths that would accord with the corresponding objective reality.
This capacity persisted into the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, at the
latest. But, as we know, it exists no longer. It is precisely for the
purpose of allowing mankind to learn to observe and investigate the
external world without basing its assertions on subjective passions,
that we are going through our present cycle of development.
Thus, today, when truths are nevertheless formed on a subjective basis
without any attempt being made to bring them into agreement with the
external world, there is a luciferic stream at work. This luciferic
stream has allied itself with ahrimanic streams. One brings about a
form of consciousness that is wrong, the other brings about falsehood
or lying. And what we are describing is already very, very widespread
at the present time. These days, many souls have been lured away from
a right awareness for whether an idea harmonises with the objective
world. They are not in the least concerned about it. And if someone
does show concern for whether his ideas agree with the objective
reality, he is not understood. In such cases, a person is met on all
sides by a distinctive attitude it is difficult to find the
right word for it, an attitude of surprise people are surprised
that it is even possible to think in this fashion. In such circles one
meets the least agreement precisely when one is attempting to point to
characteristics of reality by simply drawing attention to the things
of the world and repeating them in one's ideas, basing everything one
says on what is there. Sometimes this is scarcely understood. It is
not understood that this is radically different from what happens when
someone simply shapes his assertions to match one or the other of his
passions, be these personal or national. Therein lies a radical
distinction of which people of today are not even aware. Many is the
time that people fail to consider whether their assertions are in
accordance with the facts; they simply form them in accordance with
their own preconceptions and along already-established lines of
thought. But what matters today is whether or not our assertions are
in accordance with the facts. Otherwise we cannot hope to accomplish
the transition to an epoch in which the spiritual world can be seen in
the proper light. We will never be able to discover the facts of the
spiritual world unless we develop an attitude that acknowledges the
facts of the physical world. The right way of experiencing the
spiritual world must be developed here in the physical world. That is
why we have been placed in the physical world: it is our task here to
seek for ideas that are in harmony with objective reality, so that we
acquire this ability and so that it becomes a habit we can carry with
us into the spiritual world.
But today so many people base their assertions on nothing but emotion
and are not in the least interested in whether they agree with
objective reality. This is precisely the opposite of the direction in
which humanity must move if it is to progress. And, especially in our
materialistic age, the notion of thinking in accordance with reality
has been so frightfully distorted by the influences we have been
describing; thinking that is in accord with reality has become a
rarity. And an honest attempt to think in accordance with reality
today collides with all the contemporary thinking that is at variance
with reality. A dreadful example of this is the way in which our
anthroposophical Movement again and again collides with thinking that
has not been measured against reality. But the facts are there, and in
the end one cannot remain silent if one is sincere about this
Movement.
These collisions between attempts to think in accordance with reality
and thinking that is an enemy of reality show what is involved in
standing up for the truth today. That other thinking is opposed to
reality in the manner we have described. It is true that every age
must fight with the forces of opposition; but in every age it is
necessary to get to know them in the particular shape and particular
metamorphosis they have assumed. The stream of the Pharisees, for
example, has not died out; today it is present in another form. And we
will only be able to proceed with the necessary clarity if we really
understand this distinction between thinking that is in harmony with
reality and thinking that is an enemy of reality.
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