Synopsis
LECTURE I
The birth of the Consciousness Soul
Historical survey of our epoch from the
standpoint of the Consciousness Soul. True reality lies
concealed behind events. The great turning points in the
evolution of mankind when the life of the soul passes from
one stage of development to another stage. In the Middle Ages
the universalist impulse of Catholicism was predominant and
relied upon its power of suggestion. The conflict between the
papacy and the empire — waning of Catholic power.
Symptoms of the
new era — the removal of the pope to Avignon 1303, the
suppression of the Order of the Templars, and the Mongol
migrations. Existence of a more or less homogeneous complex
which later gave birth to France and England. Joan of Arc and
the emergence of nationalism, 1429. Nationalism as a unifying
factor.
The conflict
between Central and Eastern Empire leading to colonizing
activity and the intermingling of the Slavonic and Teutonic
peoples. The peasant revolts and the rise of Hapsburg power.
Growth of towns between the thirteenth and fifteenth
centuries with their specific urban outlook. Preparation of
parliamentary government in England as a result of the civil
wars. Birth of the impulse of the Consciousness Soul. The
political and social structure of Russia based an tradition.
The revolt of the self-reliant personality against the
universalist impulse of Catholicism brought no new creative
ideas. Hus, Savanarola, Calvin and Luther challenged
traditional ideas, but were uncreative. The dawn of the
Consciousness Soul signifies a new relationship to the
creative ideas of the past.
The national
impulse and the emancipation of the independent personality
followed different paths in France and England. In France the
national element is orientated towards man and leads to the
Revolution of 1789; in England towards mankind and leads to
liberalism. Here the personal element transcends nationalism
and strives to embrace the whole world. Significance of the
battle of Trafalgar. In North America about the 1780's the
specifically French nuance, Romanism, is subverted by the
Anglo-Saxon element and lost to the world. A personality
characteristic of the rise of the Consciousness Soul is James
I of England.
LECTURE II
Symptomatology of recent centuries
Contradictions in the personalities of the
epoch of the Consciousness Soul, e.g. James I. Loss of
creative energy in this epoch. Increasing divergence between
the French and English character. Consolidation of the state
idea under Louis XIV, a consequence of the Chaos of the
Thirty Years' War. The emancipation of the personality and
its chaotic expression in the French Revolution. Liberty,
equality and fraternity must be rightly associated with the
tripartite division of man. The Revolution was all soul
without body, Napoleon all body without a soul. The seven
year cycles in Napoleon's life. Purpose of the Consciousness
Soul is to develop independence, self-reliance. The need to
abandon old supports and work out one's religious faith.
Potential dangers. Rome opposed to the development of the
Consciousness Soul and wished to keep man at the level of the
Intellectual Soul. The stifling of the aspiration to the
Consciousness Soul by reviving traditions of a past epoch,
e.g. Freemasonry and the impulses of the Egypto-Chaldaean
epoch. The two streams of recent history: the chaotic search
for liberty, equality and fraternity; the various Orders
which seek to stifle the awakening of the Consciousness Soul
for their own ends. Thus the impulse to transcend nationalism
by the development of the personality was blunted. Liberalism
which aimed at political enlightenment declined in the last
third of the nineteenth century. Spirit and soul no longer
active forces; the phenomenal world the sole reality.
Socialism as one of the most significant symptoms of modern
times. The three tenets of socialism — the materialist
conception of history, the theory of surplus value and the
theory of the class struggle — Marx, Engels and
Lassalle. Birth of international socialism. Another Symptom
of our time: the creation of insoluble problems, e.g.
Alsace.
LECTURE III
Characteristics of historical symptoms
in recent times
The rise of socialism and its limitations.
The significance of the scientific mode of thinking. Birth of
the machine age. Colonizing activities dependent upon the
achievements of natural science. The importance of
colonization for the epoch of the Consciousness Soul. The
impulse of the Consciousness Soul brings to an end the
differentiation between men. The difference between
observation of nature and knowledge derived from
experimentation can be exploited technically. Technics
introduce forces of death into social life. By reacting
against technics man develops the Consciousness Soul. The
relation between consciousness and the forces of death. The
function of catabolic processes in man. Parliamentary
government ends in the suppression of personality; democracy
ends in egalitarianism.
The Masonic
lodges and the mystery of birth and death. The impulses of
the papacy are turned against Catholicism, cf. Garibaldi. The
Byzantine tradition in Russian orthodoxy, a powerful force in
opposition to the emancipation of the personality. Russia
bears within it the seeds of the Spirit Self.
The meeting of
Goethe and Soret in 1830. The controversy between Cuvier and
Geoffrey de Saint Hilaire. The latter sees nature as a living
organism, the former compares and classifies organisms.
Thinking still active in sleep. What the Gods implanted in
the instinctive life in early times must be replaced by
super-sensible knowledge. The conquests of modern science,
etcetera must be transformed by insight into the
super-sensible. Man must open himself to the super-sensible so
that what his Spirit Self prepares may enter into his ego.
Modern history fails to penetrate to spiritual realities, and
modern medicine to symptoms of cosmic origin. Disease as a
visitation from heaven. Relation between epidemics and the
periodicity of sun Spots.
LECTURE IV
The historical significance of the
scientific mode of thinking
Difference between knowledge derived from
observation of nature and from experimentation. Facts of
history are symbols of an underlying reality. Development of
the Consciousness Soul must be accompanied by receptivity to
the spiritual. Importance of the October Revolution of 1917
in Russia for a co-operative life. The social
revolutionaries, the Mensheviks, bereft of ideas. The
Bolsheviks, the radical left wing of the Social Democratic
party, take over; opposed to a spiritual
Weltanschauung. Fruitful ideas could only spring
from a spiritual outlook, but were rejected by the oppressed
classes. The proletariat a product of the machine age and
purely pragmatic in outlook. Cut off from nature, surrounded
by a mechanized environment, it envisages the world and the
social order as a vast machine.
Between 1860
and 1873 a tendency towards altrusim. The need to awaken an
active interest in our fellow men. Importance of sickness and
a positive attitude to life.
The forces of
birth and death active throughout the life of man. In
Graeco-Latin epoch they were evenly balanced in the early
thirties of man's life. In epoch of Consciousness Soul,
intellectual development ceases before middle life. Today we
must consciously create and destroy, we must recognize the
impermanence of things. Birth and death must be woven into
our social life. In the fifth post-Atlantean epoch evil will
be developed in man and in the sixth epoch will be
experienced externally. Christ destined to appear again in
the etheric body in the fifth epoch. The Christ impulse born
out of the forces of death. Through the forces of evil
mankind will be led to a renewed experience of the Mystery of
Golgotha.
LECTURE V
The super-sensible element in the study
of history
Relationship of the Mystery of Evil to the
Mystery of Death and the Mystery of Golgotha. Purpose of the
forces which bring death to man is to endow him with the
capacity to develop the Consciousness Soul. Forces of evil
necessary for the development of the Consciousness Soul; they
awaken in man a desire for the life of the spirit.
The need to
develop a sympathetic understanding for others in the epoch
of the Consciousness Soul in four domains. First, men will
see each other differently in future. The role of art.
Secondly, a new understanding will be developed. Men will be
able to hear the soul through language and will experience a
sensation of colour. Thirdly, they will experience in their
respiration the emotional reactions of others. Respiration
will adapt itself to the affective life of others. And
fourthly, men will learn to ‘digest’ each other
in the sphere of will. But all these forces will only be
fully developed in the Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan periods.
Today it is
necessary to overcome particularist tendencies. Man rebels
against this; the spread of the doctrine of national
self-determination, but this is opposed to the divinely
ordered course of evolution.
The sterility
of modern Masonry: difficulties of taking up Anthroposophy.
Modern ‘prophets’ and the easy path to the
spirit. A reminder of the four steps of future development
and why the extreme left came to power in Russia.
LECTURE VI
Brief reflections on the publication
of the new edition of ‘The Philosophy of
Freedom’
Dr. Steiner's involvement in the impulses
of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. His invitation to Weimar
and his collaboration in editing the Weimar edition of
Goethe's works. Weimar as a centre of international scholars
of repute.
Discussion of
the first section of
The Philosophy of Freedom.
Necessary to establish the idea of freedom on a firm,
scientific basis. The soul of man permeated by the cosmic
process; modern scientific thinking is tied to the phenomenal
world and unable to arrive at a philosophy of freedom. The
second section of the book deals with the reality of freedom
which can become a driving force in social life. Plea for
ethical individualism; we must overcome the constraint of
natural laws and conventional moral norms.
Dr. Steiner
moved to Berlin. Took over the review Das Magazin as
platform for his ideas. Found some support from B. Tucker and
J. H. Mackay. Opposition from his contemporaries, the Berlin
professoriate. The vulgarity of Bölsche's ideas popular
at the time. Further details of Berlin life — the
Dreyfus affair, criticism of Max Halbe, friendship with O. E.
Hartleben and severance from the Magazin.
Dr. Steiner's
association with Berlin Workers' College. Socialist workers
infected with positivism and Marxism. Freedom no place in the
socialist programme. Rosa Luxembourg on ‘Science and
the Workers’. Failure of learned professions —
their ideas no spiritual basis.
Invited to
lecture before Berlin Theosophical Society. His association
with the Theosophical movement and Speech before congress in
London chaired by Mrs. Besant. Found no support here for the
ideas of
The Philosophy of Freedom.
Need to grasp
the idea and importance of ethical individualism, to develop
a thinking freed from the tyranny of the senses, a
disciplined scientific thinking combined with an insight into
the spiritual world.
LECTURE VII
Incidental reflections on the occasion
of the new edition of ‘Goethes Weltanschauung’
Reasons for choosing the name Goetheanum
for the Anthroposophical Centre at Dornach. Dr. Steiner's
early literary activity associated with Goethe and
Goetheanism. Historical events and the lives of individuals
as pointers: one must look beyond facts to ascertain their
inner meaning. A desire for super-sensible vision today, but
unwillingness to undertake the necessary training. The law of
causality and the destiny of Robert Hamerling.
The Austrian,
German by descent and racial affiliation, and his strange
position in Imperial Germany — different modes of
apprehension, etcetera.
Steiner's
formative years at Neudörfl. The problem of
Cis-Leithania and trans-Leithania. His environment held
little interest for him. Education in the Realschule at
Wiener-Neustadt with emphasis on natural science. Brief
comments on his teachers.
Outgrows the
limited horizon of the Austrian background and turns towards
the legacy of German culture and Goetheanism. Goetheanism the
vital impulse for the modern epoch — it is a
crystallization of divers impulses of the fifth
post-Atlantean epoch. An isolated phenomenon and will never
become popular. The spiritual impulses of the age remote from
reality, cf. the churches and universities.
R. Steiner's
arrival in Weimar 1889. Influence of K. J. Schröer and
H. Grimm. Schröer's work on Goethe not taken seriously
by the universities. Goethe's significance for our time
— his Weltanschauung rests on a scientific
foundation; Goethe's intuitive perception of nature and his
conception of man as an integral part of the cosmos. Goethe a
universal genius — his phenomenal versatility. Purpose
of the book, Goethes Weltanschauung, to awaken
Steiner's contemporaries to a knowledge of t he real Goethe.
Goetheanism prepares the ground for spiritual science.
The Philosophy of Freedom
intended to serve the
needs of the time and offer a challenge to the destructive
forces acting against the spirit of the age. Steiner's work
sets out to develop insight into, and understanding of what
is needed, and to preserve the world from the havoc of
Wilsonism.
LECTURE VIII
Religious impulses of the fifth
post-Atlantean epoch
Three currents of evolution are confluent
in man. In the course of the post-Atlantean epoch man reaches
physical maturity at an ever earlier age, e.g. in ancient
India at the age of fifty, today at twenty-eight. Mankind as
a whole at the present time develops as far as the stage of
the Sentient Soul. In the second current of evolution the
individual develops the Consciousness Soul. The third current
of evolution is that of peoples or nations — the
Italian people develops the Sentient Soul, the French the
Intellectual Soul, and the English speaking peoples the
Consciousness Soul.
Birth of the
People of the Christ in the East in the ninth century.
Differentiations of the Christ impulse in Europe. Russian
people as vehicle for the revelation of the Christ impulse.
The controversy between Photius and Pope Nicholas I.
Solovieff
wished to spiritulize the material world. The second
differentiation of the Christ impulse seen in the Church of
Rome, which transformed the spiritual sovereignty of Christ
into the temporal sovereignty of the Church.
Development of
the Consciousness Soul leads to Reformist teachings, e.g.
Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, etcetera. Conflict with Rome. The
People of the Church. Jesuitism as the militia of the Counter
Reformation. The spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola.
Results of Jesuitism. Polarity of Goetheanism and
Jesuitism.
LECTURE IX
The relation between the deeper
European impulses and those of the present day
Interaction of the three currents of
evolution — that of mankind as a whole, that of man as
individual and that of the folk souls. Action of the Christ
Impulse at three levels, cf. Wilhelm Meister and the picture
gallery. Pictorial representation of (a) world history and
the evolution of mankind, (b) the life of Christ up to the
Last Supper, (c) from the Last Supper until His Death and
Resurrection. The Grail atmosphere in Goethe's Wilhelm
Meister. These three currents of evolution assume
different forms, e.g. in Arianism and Athanasianism. The
doctrinal dispute over the relationship of God the Father to
Christ the Son. Ulfilas and his translation of the Bible.
Victory of Athanasianism through Clovis and Charlemagne: the
transition to Roman Catholicism.
The Celtic
civilization in Europe: its survival in Wales. The Celts and
the authoritarian, aristocratic structure of society, cf.
King Arthur and his Knights. Amongst those still influenced
by the Celts, Christ appears as a feudal lord as in the
religious epic Heliand.
The People of
the Lodges in W. Europe. Their relation to Jesuitism. The
work of Herbert of Cherbury. Fruit of the ‘Lodge’
impulse was Aufklärung and the spirit of
rationalism in all spheres. Christ only a teacher. Deism of
the Aufklärung in Harnack. The Grail current
and Goetheanism — its antithesis to the Arthurian
current.
Goethe and the
Consciousness Soul. Birth of socialism. Polarity of
individualism and socialism. Aim of socialism — to
realize fraternity in the social organism, liberty in the
sphere of religion and equality in the domain of knowledge.
Paul Ernst and his article on moral courage in the
Frankfurter Zeitung.
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