Lecture XV
Dornach, September 10, 1920
If we make a
survey of what takes place in the civilized world today, of
what is present in it, we actually find — indeed, we may
say this after the many explanations which have already been
given — that civilization is increasingly falling into
ruin. If we understand what spiritual science can tell us
about the secrets of the universe, we must realize quite
clearly that everything that takes place outside in the
physical world has its source in the spiritual world. The
causes for what takes place at any time in the historical
development of mankind also lie in the spiritual world.
Another truth, which cannot be called to mind too frequently,
is that in the present moment of time, humanity's condition
requires each individual to contribute something toward the
reconstruction of culture from his own inner being. We no
longer live in an age in which it suffices to believe that
the gods will help. In the present time, the gods do not
count on human beings recognizing them and their intentions,
and much that a short time ago was not yet left to mankind is
left to men's decisions today.
Such a truth
must be grasped in all its gravity, and basically by each one
individually. To do this it will be necessary, above all, to
understand a number of things that we have outgrown.
Gradually, in the course of the materialistic age, one might
say that the human being has reached the point of grasping
everything from a certain absolute standpoint, a standpoint,
moreover, that differs according to the human being's age.
When a person is twenty-five years old today, he feels called
upon to judge everything. He believes that it is possible to
have a final opinion about everything without undergoing any
kind of development. Perhaps when he reaches the age of
fifty, he may Look down with a certain sense of superiority
upon his faculty of judgment twenty-five years ago. At age
twenty-five, however, he will in no way feel drawn as a
result of his upbringing to seek and reckon with the more
mature judgment of a man of fifty.
Among the
causes underlying our present chaos, the one just outlined is
by no means the least important; instead, it is one of the
most significant, though admittedly one that had to exercise
its influence upon the whole evolution of mankind. Only by
man's feeling completely emancipated in a certain sense from
the whole world context; by adopting an absolute standpoint
not only personally in the life between birth and death, but
at any given moment of this life; by assuming the standpoint
that he is able to judge everything in a sovereign manner;
only because this illusion was added to the many other
illusions of life — and in the merely physical world
everything is in a sense illusion — the course of human
development will gradually lead the single human being toward
freedom.
We should bear
in mind, however, the great difference between our present
epoch, which sets out from this standpoint, and the past
epochs in which entirely different life impulses lay at the
foundation of human existence. We must pay heed to the life
impulses of former times, which in turn are intended to
become those of the future, to which all efforts in the
present should be directed again. Indeed, such earlier life
impulses must be observed. They only disappeared slowly and
gradually in the course of human evolution, and we
underestimate the whole tempo of modern spiritual development
if we do not perceive the speed with which, in a few
centuries, materialistic impulses have melted away a
tremendous amount of the spirituality that once existed.
In order to
gain some starting points for a real study of the present,
which we shall pursue tomorrow, let's turn our minds back to,
say, the best period of ancient Egyptian life. Naturally, in
the life of ancient Egypt or ancient Chaldea, there certainly
existed social institutions in the outer world as well. These
social structures were inaugurated and implemented by certain
human beings. However, these individuals did not make
judgments by pursuing thoughts in their wise heads on how to
come up with the best social arrangements, or by following
their opinions on what might be right for the communal life
of people. Instead, they turned to the initiation centers. In
actual fact, the sage who was initiated into the mysteries of
the universe in these centers was the actual leading advisor
of the highest social rulers, who, depending on their rank
and maturity, were in large part themselves initiates into
the cosmic secrets. When one was supposed to make provisions
concerning the affairs of the social order, one did not
consult the clever human brain — in the literal sense
of the word — but one consulted those who were capable
of interpreting the heavenly signs. For one knew that when a
stone falls to the ground this is connected with the forces
of the earth; when it rains that has to do with the forces of
the air — the atmosphere. If, on the other hand, human
destinies should be fulfilled that are supposed to interact
with each other, this has nothing to do with any natural laws
that can be figured out in the above manner. It has to do
with those laws that could be traced in the cosmos by means
of what makes the course of the stars evident. So, the course
of the stars was read in the same way we read the time of day
from a clock. We do not say, “One hand of my clock is
down here on the right, the other is on the left.”
Rather, we say, “We know that this position indicates
that the sun has set so many hours ago, and so forth.”
Likewise, these individuals who could read the course of the
stars said to themselves, “This or that constellation
of the stars signifies to us one or the other intention on
the part of those divine spiritual beings who guide and
direct everything we may call human destiny.” One
beheld the intentions of those accompanying spiritual beings
of the cosmos by looking up to the course of the stars. One
was clearly aware that not everything that man has to know
reveals itself here on earth; indeed, the most important
things he has to be aware of, the forces that work in his
social life, reveal themselves in manifestations observable
in the cosmos outside the earthly sphere. One knew that the
concerns of humanity here on earth cannot be managed unless
one investigates the intentions of the gods in the realm
outside earth. Therefore, everything that was to be
accomplished here within the social order was connected with
the sphere outside the earth.
Where do we
find any inclination today to investigate these great signs
visible in the cosmos outside the earth, when here or there
the belief arises again that some reform movement should be
introduced? A far more important symptom than materialism,
than anything which has arisen in the form of natural
scientific materialism, is the fact that man no longer
consults the cosmos outside the earth in regard to his
earthly concerns. One does not become spiritual by setting up
theories concerning the human being or anything in the
universe; one will only become spiritual if one understands
how to connect humanity's earthly concerns with the cosmos
outside the earth.
In that case,
however, one has to be convinced, above all, that the affairs
of this world do not allow themselves to be arranged
according to the judgments acquired by mere natural
scientific education. Then, one has to be able to introduce
into the whole civilizing education the capacity to connect
the sphere transcending the earth with earthly concerns once
more. Then, it was necessary, above all, to discern more
clearly how this capacity was lost in the course of human
evolution, and how we gradually arrived at the point of
wanting to judge everything only from an earthly standpoint.
Let us consider something that is now prevalent in the world,
a component of social agitation.
You have all
heard of the effort appearing everywhere to introduce
compulsory labor — to require a person to work by means
of some social order based on the legal decrees of this
social order — no longer to appeal merely to what
obliges man to work, namely, hunger and other motivations,
but in fact to establish compulsory labor legally.
We see how, on
one side, this compulsory labor is demanded by socialistic
agitation. We note how, in Soviet Russia, this compulsory
labor has already led to a downright rigid form, with human
life taking on the aspect of life in the barracks. We also
find that radical socialists enthusiastically uphold
compulsory labor. We see also how the sleeping souls of the
present receive news such as this, how government officials
here or there have even determined to introduce compulsory
labor. One reads this like any other news item, and does not
pay it much attention. One rises in the morning as one
usually does, eats breakfast, has lunch, goes into the
country for the summer holidays, returns again and, in spite
of the fact that the most important and fundamental events
are taking place in the world, one behaves as one has always
been accustomed to behave. Yet, mankind should not insist on
clinging to old habits. Mankind should take seriously what it
is that matters today, namely, having to relearn about all
conditions of life. Even when we see that the demand for
compulsory labor is being opposed, what are the viewpoints
from which these matters are attacked? We have to admit that
the opponents are as a rule not much brighter than those who
advance these demands. For the most part, they will ask,
“Well, can a person still find joy in his
work?”— or something like that. All the reasons
cited for and against the above are worth more or less the
same, because they arise from the same judgments that are
limited only to what takes place here between birth and
death; they do not originate from a sufficient insight into
life. When the spiritual scientist comes and says, “Go
ahead and introduce compulsory labor, but in ten years you
will have terrible results, for suicides will increase at an
alarming rate,” people will view such a statement as
fantasy. They will not recognize that this conclusion is
derived from an inner knowledge of the relationships existing
in the universe. They will not be willing to study spiritual
science and to discover the basis from which one can find
such a judgment justified. Instead, people will go on living
as usual — some getting up in the morning, breakfasting
and lunching, traveling into the country for the summer and
more of the same, others sleeping away their time in some
other manner, refusing to take these questions seriously.
Still others will found clubs, social associations, women's
associations, and so forth — things that are admittedly
quite nice — but when such efforts are not connected to
the actual cosmic order, they lead nowhere. Our age is much
too conceited to abandon absolute standpoints which assume
that, at any age, one definitely has a conclusive judgment
about all things.
During these
days and in the last few weeks I explained the way in which
the various branches of the threefold social organism have
originated in the different territories of earth evolution. I
said that, fundamentally speaking, all our spiritual life is
only a transformation of what originated a long time ago in
the orient. But when we look into what was described on
numerous occasions in the past few weeks from one aspect, and
investigate it in regard to the standpoints which I have
indicated just now, we find that, insofar as it referred to
human destiny, all this knowledge of the Orient was
deciphered from the course of the stars, from what exists
outside the earth, and the Greek concept of destiny was the
last ramification of such extraterrestrial wisdom.
Then came the
knowledge arising from the Middle region. As we indicated,
this was a more juristic knowledge; it was something that man
drew more out of his own being. It was not linked with
observations of the cosmos outside the earth. I told you that
the higher-world outlook of the Occident has been permeated
with a juristic element, how the events that run their course
in humanity's development were placed under juristic
concepts. Punishment is meted out by a cosmic judge just as
the human judge hands down a penalty for some external
misdeed. It was a juristic view, a juristic manner of
conception, that permeated the entirely different form of the
Oriental conceptions concerning the spiritual world.
This view of
the spiritual world was connected with the fact that in the
initiation centers those who were found to be sufficiently
mature were initiated into the nature of that which was sent
down to earth from invisible realms by what was revealed in
the visible. Then, the events that were to take place on
earth were guided according to the intentions of initiation.
Naturally, in the case of such a knowledge it is necessary to
take into consideration more than the singular standpoint of
any given age, by which one believes oneself able to make an
absolute judgment on all sorts of matters. From the viewpoint
of initiation, the whole evolution of man must be considered,
also what the human being brings into earthly existence
through birth, and what can reveal itself to him when, in
earthly life, he beholds a revelation of the super-sensible
existence.
In recent
times, something that was basically a science of the heavens
has become permeated with a juristic element. This celestial
science itself and its fate must be considered a little now.
The sacred knowledge of the Orient was something that was
cultivated in its purest form in the initiation centers
perhaps 10,000 years ago in the Orient. Later on, although no
longer in such pure form, it was cultivated in Egypt in a
still relatively pure manner. Having become popularized in a
certain sense, it was used by swindlers and conjurers on the
streets of the later imperial Rome, although transformed into
visible magic tricks. This is, after all, the course of world
events; something that is sacred in one epoch can turn into
the most unholy thing in a later age. While the highest
Oriental knowledge belonged to the streets in the later
imperial Roman time, juristic thinking was developing out of
Romanism itself on the basis of the Tate Egyptianism, and
subsequently dominated the world. In the ages that followed,
but only slowly and gradually, what had once been brought
down from the stars as human wisdom in the Orient grew dim
and finally died out. For, even in the thirteenth century,
Thomas Aquinas
[ Note 91 ]
still said, “Human destiny, all of destiny occurring in
the sublunar world, is guided by the Intelligences of the
stars. It is, however, by no means something inevitable for
man.” So this Catholic-Christian church father of the
thirteenth century does not refer to stars, to planets,
merely as physical planets; instead, he speaks of the
Intelligences that dwell in these planets who are the actual
rulers of what should be called human destiny. What had once
arisen in the Orient was really still present in the twelfth,
thirteenth, fourteenth centuries, although in its last
ramifications, as an aspect of the Christian Catholic Church.
It is simply a terrible misrepresentation of the present
Catholic Church to withhold these matters from the faithful,
so that the church can declare it a heresy, for example, to
assume that the individual stars and planets are ensouled and
permeated with spirit. By doing this, the Church not only
denies Christianity; it even denies its last teachers who
still had a more direct connection with the sources of the
spiritual life than does the present age in any sense.
Therefore, one must point out that it was not so very long
ago that the conception was completely abandoned which still
pictured the world as permeated with spirit. If people would
teach the truth today concerning what still held sway in the
spiritual life of the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth,
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; if, following
preconceived opinions, they would not distort what prevailed
in those times, then even this would still have a fructifying
effect for a spiritualization of the present world-view. The
materialism, the natural scientific materialism, or the
materialism of the mystics or theosophists, particularly the
materialism of the Catholic Church, could not exist. For what
is contained in the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church
originated from the purest spiritual science; and this pure
spiritual science beheld the spirit everywhere in the
universe.
All that was
beheld as spirit in the universe by the eye of the soul has
been discarded. The universe became pervaded with
materialism. For that reason, naturally, nothing remains
except words of faith. For example, behind the Trinity, the
doctrine of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, stand the most
profound mysteries. On the other hand, there is nothing
contained any longer in what is taught today as the dogma of
the Trinity. On one side, there is the doctrine, the belief
of the religious denominations, on the other side, natural
science devoid of spirit. Neither can save humanity from the
misery into which it has fallen. In order to render rescue
possible, it is necessary that a sufficiently large number of
people rouse themselves inwardly. For, particularly in the
present epoch, the possibility exists in man's inner being to
pick up those threads of a soul-spiritual kind which, if
their power is inwardly experienced in the proper way, lead
to an understanding of what can be gathered from spiritual
science for an illumination of the life of nature as well as
the social life. One should not wish to retain at all costs
the bad habits of one's inner life, however they have
developed during the past few centuries. These bad habits are
based on the opinion that if one can keep quiet and be
passive, the gods will eventually enter into one, reveal
everything within, and mystical depth will be illuminated by
an inner light, and so forth. The present age is not suited
for that. It demands an inner activity of soul and spirit
from the human being; it demands that man turn and look at
what is trying to reveal itself within. Then, he will find
under all circumstances what wishes to reveal itself within,
but he must be willing to unfold such inner spiritual
activity. One must not believe, however, that much can be
gained by some inner pseudomystical doings; above all else,
one has to trace the spirit in the external things of the
world.
I have called
your attention to what happened, for example, in the East, in
Asia. Once upon a time, so I told you, conditions in Asia
were of a kind that the human being felt his heart expand,
felt his soul grow warm, when, guided by the thought of the
sacred Brahman, he directed his glance to the mighty external
symbol of the swastika, the hooked cross. It made his inner
life unfold. This inner mood of soul meant a great deal to
him. Today, when an Oriental receives an ordinary Russian
2,000 ruble note — which is not worth much, for small
change will no longer do for buying anything, only thousand
ruble notes — he sees on it the beautifully printed
swastika. Those thousand-year-old feelings that once upon a
time inwardly beheld the sacred Brahman when the eye was
directed to the swastika are certainly stirring. Today, the
same emotional qualities arise on seeing the 2,000 ruble
note.
Do you believe
that one has a spiritual view of the world if one does not
look at something like that and say to oneself, “Those
are the Ahrimanic powers who are at work here; herein lies a
super-earthly intelligence, even though it is an Ahrimanic
intelligence?” Do you believe that it suffices merely
to say, “Oh, that is the external material world! We
direct our glance heavenward to spiritual things; we don't
pay any attention to things for which people only have
words?” If you seek for the spirit, you must look for
it even where it turns up in the mighty aberrations of
external world evolution itself, for there you can find the
starting point for other aspects.
It is the
tragedy of modern civilization that people believe that only
human forces are at work everywhere, forces which arise
between birth and death. Actually, our world is permeated all
over by super-sensible forces, spiritual powers which manifest
themselves in the various events that take place. If one
wishes to do something, if one tries to realize intentions so
that this or that result may come about, one needs to look to
those benign spiritual powers capable of working against
other spiritual powers; and the spiritual powers that can
oppose the others have to be born in man through his own
inner activity.
In regard to
all this, however, one actually does need to look up into the
spiritual world. This is something that is most inconvenient
to many people. This is why the great majority of people in
the world find even talk of initiation science unpleasant.
For there is one thing that initiation science must make
clear, under all circumstances, to the human being. Man is
organized, in the first place, in the direction of his
intellect. Certainly, there are other aspects to his
organization such as digestion, metabolism, heartbeat,
breathing, and physiological processes. He bears instincts
within, hence, soul entities, and so forth. In addition, he
bears within him what is termed intelligence, and the present
age is especially proud of this intelligence. But where does
our intelligence come from? Materialism believes that our
intelligence is derived from those processes that occur below
in the liver, in the heart; they then become more refined and
turn into the processes within the brain. These processes in
the brain are just a little different from those that take
place in the liver or the stomach, but these same processes
produce thinking. We know that this is not so. Those
processes that run their course in the brain just as those in
the liver or the stomach would cause no thinking at all. Up
in the brain something takes place; out of the constructive
processes destructive ones are constantly developed.
Here, not only
upbuilding, but disintegrating processes are at work; matter
is forever falling out into nothingness. Thus, we are not
dealing with an upbuilding in the brain. Any constructive
process only serves to nourish the brain, not to produce
thinking. If you wish to focus on those brain processes that
have something to do with thinking, and you wish to compare
them to the remaining organism, you must not compare them to
the constructive processes, the processes of growth, but to
the processes of elimination. The brain is constantly
involved in elimination, and, as I said, the processes of
destruction, of disintegration, of death, are the
accompanying phenomena of intelligence. If our brain were
incapable of elimination, we would be unable to think. If our
brain would only contain upbuilding processes, we would exist
in a dull, instinctive condition; at most, we could attain to
quite dir dreams. We arrive at clear thinking precisely
because the brain secretes and eliminates substances.
Thinking only functions parallel to processes of elimination.
It is only because the human organization eliminates what is
useless to it that thinking establishes itself out of the
spiritual world.
Now take the
thinking that has developed especially since the middle of
the fifteenth century, the thinking of which modern man is so
proud. It comes into being because we destroy our brain,
because we bring about in it processes of disintegration, of
elimination. Suppose that you are Trotsky or Lenin, traveling
to Russia — transported there on orders of Ludendorff
[ Note 92 ]
in a sealed railway carriage and escorted by Dr. Helphand
[ Note 93 ]
(it was such a train, going
from Switzerland through Central Europe, which brought Lenin
accompanied by people like Dr. Helphand to Russia under
Ludendorff's protection) — suppose you are such a
person and you believe that out of the processes representing
intelligence — the only processes from which natural
scientific thinking of the past few centuries has emerged
— the social order could be developed. What kind of a
social order will that turn out to be? It will be a
reproduction of what takes place within the brain during the
thinking processes. Do not think that what we develop without
is different from what we develop within, if the only
processes employed are thinking processes! If you try to
establish a social order with them, it will be something
destructive, just as thinking processes in the brain cause
destruction — exactly the same thing. Thinking, applied
to reality, destroys. One can gain insight into such matters
only when one Looks into the deeper secrets of the being of
man and the whole world. This is why humanity needs to pay
attention to these things if any sort of valid judgment
concerning public affairs is to be rendered. It does no good
at all today to base discussions about any social concerns on
the suppositions of the past few centuries, for they no
longer hold water. It is important here to realize that
completely different processes must come to pass in the human
spiritual life; again, the science of initiation must step in
and draw from spiritual resources what can never be gleaned
from mere sources of human intelligence. A social science of
the present can only emerge as a consequence of spiritual
science. This can and must be grasped from its very
foundation.
This is what is
in fact important for modern man, namely, that he does not
attain a relationship with spiritual science merely in some
superficial manner, but that he learns to recognize how
completely spiritual science is linked to human destiny for
the future.
In order that a
person can gauge something like this, a feeling must develop
in the human being for what is asserting itself with profound
earnestness out of the spiritual resources. For such a
feeling to come about, however, much must be eliminated,
above all else the generally prevailing frivolity. Recently,
in a lecture that I gave for local teachers, I indicated a
Symptom in which such frivolity appears today. One of our
friends in London made efforts to arrange a gathering of a
number of artists here in August. It was for the purpose of
their becoming acquainted with our building and forming a
sort of center from which the impulse could go out that is
now so necessary if the building is ever to be completed. An
English journalist was informed, not one from an ordinary
daily paper but from a magazine that calls itself
“Architect,” in other words, a publication that
wishes to be taken more seriously. The journalist was even
given a description in writing of what was intended. This
fellow was so flippant and frivolous, however, that he wrote,
“A visit to Dornach is anticipated by such and such
persons. Dr. Steiner himself has promised to acquaint the
visitors with what is going on there, and it is believed that
ten days will suffice for this excursion. Of this time, four
days will be spent on travel, and during the remaining six
days, the visitors will be able to recuperate from the shock
they will have experienced following their first impression
of Dornach.” So, this frivolous character has no idea
what he is supposed to write about, and for his penny-a-line,
is only capable of making a stupid joke so that his readers
can accordingly continue to maintain a frivolous mood.
Things have
gone so far that the general mood of people is spoiled from
the very outset, spoiled by this kind of journalist; there is
no longer any question of anything being accomplished. The
only thing such journalists can do is seize the opportunity
to make some stupid, frivolous joke. No progress will be made
if the earnestness with which such matters should be
discussed is not understood. One will get no further if such
matters are considered to be insignificant; if, from a
certain jaded standpoint, one says, for example, “Oh,
one cannot take such a journalist so seriously!” From a
certain point of view, one certainly need not give much
credit to such penny-a-lining, but it must be evaluated
according to what effect is has in the world.
These matters
are indeed serious and of such a nature that they induce us
again and again to say, “This building here is intended
to be a Landmark for what should take place for the sake of
mankind's ascent!” To be sure, from certain quarters,
no effort has been spared to make the building what it is
now. Destiny, too, contributed its necessary share. It is,
alter all, true that at the outset this building was erected
here chiefly as the result of efforts made by the Central
European countries. But when Central Europe's financial
resources began to touch rock bottom, the neutral countries
were ready in a most significant, commendable manner to do
something for this building. Those from Central Europe who
were able to do something for the building spared no effort
throughout the time of the war psychosis, stirred up by hate
and opposition, to maintain this site in such a manner that
people from every part of the world, from all nationalities,
could gather together here. This building was saved and
maintained throughout all the years of chauvinism; nobody was
denied the opportunity here to encounter others in a spirit
of friendship, no matter what part of the world he came from.
All this, however, demonstrates the impossibility of
completing this building by relying on the earlier resources;
it shows the necessity for efforts by those countries that
are in a financially favorable position, for they are at the
beginning of a period where they are not encumbered by
financial disaster and are certainly in a position to do
something for the building. One would hope that a message
like the following will not one day spread through the world:
A landmark for the dawning spiritual life was to be erected.
Those people who were swept away by the cataclysmic world
events and then perished left behind as a last legacy as much
as they could accomplish. Those, on the other hand, who were
not swept away, who could have begun the new life, did not
realize what those who were doomed left for them.
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