IX
Arnhem,
20th July, 1924
The
rulership of Michael in its cosmic, spiritual aspect shows us, as you
will have gathered from what I have already told you, that he
occupies a special position among those spiritual Beings whom we call
the Archangeloi. And precisely because of its bearing upon the
central theme of these lectures, we shall appreciate the significance
of the fact that in the centuries preceding the founding of
Christianity, Michael sent his impulses — his ‘cosmopolitan’
impulses — from the Sun to the Earth. As time went on, these
cosmopolitan impulses disappeared: the Cosmic Intelligence fell
away from Michael and by the eighth century A.D.
had arrived on Earth. In earthly evolution we then find men whose
thoughts were produced out of themselves, who are, as it were,
‘self-made’ thinkers. This personal, self-engendered
thinking was then cultivated in preparation for the next reign of
Michael. As we have seen, the wise Masters of the School of Chartres
worked in unison towards this end with those souls who had been
connected with the previous reign of Michael and who were predestined
to develop the once cosmic but now earthly Intelligence. They were
predestined to carry their work on into the nineteenth century when
— at first in the spiritual world — it became possible,
through the Imaginative Cult I have described to you, to prepare for
what the Anthroposophical Movement was intended to achieve.
Since the
last third of the nineteenth century we have been living in the
initial stage of the new reign of Michael; throughout this time, and
above all in our own day, preparation has to be made for what
must come to pass in the twentieth century. For before the end of
this present century a considerable number of human beings who have
unfolded real understanding of Anthroposophy will have passed through
a briefer period between death and rebirth than is usual and will
again be united on the Earth under the leadership of those who were
the Masters of Chartres and with those who have remained in direct
connection with the sovereignty of Michael. This will take place in
order that under the spiritual guidance of these two groups of beings
the final, hallowed impulse may be given for the development of
the spiritual life on Earth.
Anthroposophy can only be of real significance for those who
want to ally themselves with it, when with a certain inner, reverent
fervour they become conscious that they may indeed have their place
within a sphere of happenings like those described yesterday. This
realisation will not only kindle inner enthusiasm but also be a
source of strength, giving us the knowledge that it is our task to be
the continuers of what was once alive in the ancient Mysteries.
But this
consciousness must be, and indeed can be, deepened in every
direction. For in the light of what was said yesterday, we look back
to the time when, united with a host of super-earthly Beings in the
spiritual realm of the Sun, Michael sent down upon Earth those
impulses and signs which inspired the deeds of Alexander on the one
side and the Aristotelian philosophy on the other. Out of these
impulses arose the last phase of
the inspired Intelligence on Earth. Then, together with
human souls who on his behalf carried out this work on Earth,
together with his spiritual hosts and the hosts of human souls around
these leading spirits, Michael witnessed the Mystery of Golgotha from
his abode on the Sun. Truly our souls may be stirred by picturing
that moment when Michael, together with a host of Angeloi,
Archangeloi and human souls, witnessed the Christ departing from the
Sun in order to enter the bodily sheaths of a man and, through what
He could experience in a human body on Earth, to unite Himself with
the further evolution of humanity. But for Michael himself this was
at the same time the sign that henceforward he must allow the
heavenly Intelligence, hitherto in his keeping, to stream down like
holy rain upon the Earth, to fall away gradually from the Sun. And
when the ninth century of the Christian era had come, those around
Michael perceived: The content of what had been guarded hitherto
under Michael, is now down below, upon the Earth.
What
mattered now was that in complete harmony with the sovereignty of
Michael there should arise all that came into the world through the
Masters of Chartres and also through certain chosen souls in the
Order of the Dominicans. In short, there came about the phase
of evolution which from the beginning of the fifteenth century
inaugurated the epoch of the Consciousness
Soul — it is the phase of evolution in which
we ourselves are living. Approximately in the first third of the
preceding epoch, that is to say during the first third of the epoch
of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul, as an outcome of Alexandrianism,
the super-earthly Intelligence had spread in Asia, Africa and
parts of Europe. Following upon this, came the time when Michael, the
foremost Archangel-Spirit of the Sun, knew that the Cosmic
Intelligence was passing away from this realm, away from his
administration: the conditions were now established for the
development of the Intelligence on the Earth. A further phase of
development on Earth began in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
of the Christian era, when Gabriel became the administrator —
as I explained in my previous lecture — while Michael was free
from his earlier obligations in the Cosmos.
Michael
was now in an unusual position. In other circumstances, when an
Archangelos is not himself the ruling Spirit in the affairs of Earth,
he lets his impulses pour, nevertheless, into what the other
Archangeloi are bringing to pass. The impulses from all the seven
consecutive Archangelic rulerships flow in
continually — it is simply that one rulership
predominates in a particular age. When, for example, in earlier
epochs of evolution, Gabriel was the leading Spirit, it was
paramountly those impulses of which he was the actual ruler that
flowed into earthly evolution; but the
other Archangeloi were also at work. Now, however,
when Gabriel was exercising his dominion, Michael was in the unusual
position of being unable to participate from the Sun in the affairs
of the Earth. Truly it is a strange position for a ruling Archangelos
to perceive that the activity he has been wielding through long ages
has, for the time being, come to an end. And so it was that Michael
said to those who belonged to him: For the time during which we
cannot send impulses to the Earth (it is the period which ended about
the year 1879) we must set about a special task, a task within the
realm of the Sun. It was to be possible for those souls who have been
led by their karma into the Anthroposophical Movement, to behold in
the realm of the Sun the deeds performed by Michael and his hosts
while Gabriel was holding sway upon the Earth.
This was
detached from the otherwise regular sequence of deeds taking place
between gods and men. The souls connected with
Michael — the leading souls of Alexander's time,
the leading Dominicans with those of less eminence who had gathered
around them, and a large number of aspiring human souls in
association with the leading spirits — these souls felt torn
away from the age-long connection with the spiritual world. There, in
super-sensible worlds, those human souls predestined to become
Anthroposophists experienced something never previously experienced
by human souls between death and rebirth in the super-earthly realm.
In earlier times during the period between death and a new birth, the
karma for the future earthly existence had been elaborated by human
souls in connection with leading spiritual Beings. But no karma
had ever previously been elaborated in the same way as was the
karma of those predestined to become Anthroposophists. Never before
in the realm of the Sun between death and rebirth had there been
accomplished such work as was possible under the leadership of Michael
when, as was now the case, he was free of the concerns of the Earth.
Something
came to pass in the super-sensible worlds. It was something that lies
implanted deep down in the hearts of the majority of Anthroposophists
to-day, although in the unconscious, wrapt in
sleep or dream. And the Anthroposophist speaks
truly when he says to himself: Within my heart there lies a secret
although I am yet unconscious of it. It is a secret mystery wherein
are reflected the deeds of Michael in realms beyond the Earth when,
before my present incarnation, I was serving him. In the
sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Michael, being free
of his wonted tasks, was enabled to work in a special way, and I was
working under him.
Michael
gathered his hosts, he gathered from the realms of the Angeloi and
the Archangeloi the super-sensible Beings who belonged to him, but he
gathered, too, human souls who in one way or another had been
connected with him. And thus there arose a kind of
School — a great and ever-widening
super-sensible School. In the same way that a kind of heavenly
Conference had taken place at the beginning of the thirteenth century
between those who worked together as Platonists and Aristotelians, a
super-sensible tuition now took place, from the fifteenth into the
eighteenth centuries, under the direct leadership of Michael —
a super-sensible schooling in which the great Teacher, ordained by
cosmic decree, was Michael himself. Thus, before the super-sensible
cult that took its course during the first half of the
nineteenth century in mighty Imaginations, as I have told you,
numbers of human souls had already received a super-sensible
schooling whose results they now carry subconsciously within them.
These results come to expression in the urge felt by such people to
come to Anthroposophy. The urge that brings them to Anthroposophy is
indeed the outcome of this schooling. And it can truly be said: At
the end of the fifteenth century, Michael gathered his hosts of gods
and of human souls in the realm of the Sun and gave them teaching
which extended over long periods of time. This teaching was to
somewhat the following effect. —
Since the
human race has peopled the Earth in human form, Mysteries have
existed upon the Earth: Sun Mysteries, Mercury Mysteries, Venus
Mysteries, Mars
Mysteries, Jupiter Mysteries, Saturn Mysteries. Into
these Mysteries the gods poured their secrets; in these Mysteries men
were initiated when they were fit for Initiation. Thus it has been
possible for the human being on the Earth to know what proceeds on
Saturn, on Jupiter, on Mars and so forth, to know, too, how
happenings in these spheres work into the evolution of mankind on
Earth. Always there have been Initiates who, in the Mysteries,
communed with the Gods. With an old, instinctive clairvoyance, these
Initiates received the impulses coming to them in the Mysteries. But
even meagre traditions (thus spoke Michael to those who belonged to
him) even meagre traditions of this have almost vanished from the
Earth. The impulses can no longer stream into the Earth. It is only
in the lowest-lying region — that of physical procreation
— it is there and there alone that Gabriel still has the power
to let the Moon-influences flow into the evolution of humanity. The
ancient traditions have almost disappeared from the Earth and
therewith the possibility to nurture and cultivate the impulses
streaming into the subconscious life and into the differently
constituted bodily natures of men. We, however, turn our gaze back to
all that once was brought in the Mysteries as a gift of the Heavens
to men; we survey this wonderful tableau. And also we look downwards
across the flow of the ages. And there we find the places of the
Mysteries, we see how the heavenly wisdom streamed into these
Mysteries, how men were initiated, how from our hallowed realm in the
Sun the Cosmic Intelligence poured down to men in such a way that the
great Teachers of humanity received truly spiritual ideas, thoughts,
concepts. These ideas and thoughts were inspired into them from
our hallowed realm in the Sun. These inspirations have vanished from
the Earth. We see them only when we look back into epochs of
antiquity ... stage by stage we see them disappearing from earthly
evolution during the time of Alexander and its aftermath — and
down there below we see the Intelligence that has now become earthly,
spreading gradually among men. But the vista has remained with us. We
yet behold the secrets that were once divulged to
the Initiates of the Mysteries. Let us bring this
fully into our consciousness! Let us bring it to the consciousness of
those spiritual Beings who are around me, those Beings who never
appear in earthly bodies but have their existence only in an etheric
form. But let us bring it, too, to those souls who have often lived
on Earth in physical bodies, those who are actually there now, and
who belong to the Michael community — let us bring it to
the consciousness of these human souls. We will image forth the great
Initiation-teaching which once streamed down in the ancient fashion,
through the Mysteries, to the Earth. We will present this to the
souls of those who in their life of Intelligence were linked with
Michael. —
And
then — if I may use an earthly, and in such a
context an almost trivial expression — then the ancient
Initiation-Wisdom was “worked through.” In a great and
comprehensive heavenly School, Michael taught the contents of
what he was now no longer able to administer himself. It was an
overwhelming deed — something that in the fifteenth,
sixteenth, seventeenth centuries and on into the eighteenth,
caused such profound disquiet and alarm to the Ahrimanic demons on
Earth that a remarkable thing happened. Between heavenly deeds
and earthly deeds at this time polaric contrast was established. In
the heights, in the spiritual world, there was this sublime School,
gathering together the old Initiate-Wisdom in a new form, calling up
into the Intelligence-filled consciousness, into the Consciousness
Soul of predestined human beings between death and rebirth, what in
earlier times had been man's treasury of wisdom in the Intellectual
Soul, the Sentient Soul, and so forth. In inner words, seeming stern
in many respects when they were uttered, Michael placed before those
who belonged to him the picture of cosmic relationships, the
anthroposophical relationships. These souls received teaching which
unveiled the secrets of worlds. Below, on the Earth, the Ahrimanic
spirits were at work. — And here it is necessary to point
without reserve to a secret. Outwardly regarded it will seem
unacceptable in face of modern culture, but it is nevertheless a
divine secret and one of which Anthroposophists must be cognisant in
order to be able to lead civilisation in the right way to the end of
the twentieth century.
While
Michael above was teaching his hosts, there was founded in the realm
lying immediately below the surface of the Earth, a kind of
sub-earthly, Ahrimanic school. The Michael School was in the
super-earthly world; in the region beneath our
feet — for the spiritual is actively at work
in the sub-earthly region also — the opposing Ahrimanic school
was founded. And in that particular period, when no impulses were
streaming down from Michael bringing heavenly inspiration to the
Intelligence, when the Intelligence on the Earth was, for the time
being, left to itself, the Ahrimanic hosts strove all the harder to
send their impulses up from below into the development of the
Intelligence in mankind. It is a truly overwhelming picture. The
Earth's surface — Michael above, teaching his hosts, revealing
to them in mighty, cosmic language the ancient Initiate-Wisdom, and
below, the Ahrimanic school in the sub-strata of the Earth. Upon the
Earth, the Intelligence that has fallen from the Heavens is
unfolding. For the time being, Michael holds his School in heavenly
isolation from the earthly world — no impulses stream down from
above — and there below are the Ahrimanic powers, sending up
their impulses with all the greater strength.
There have
always been souls incarnated on the Earth who were aware of this
sinister situation. Anyone conversant with the spiritual history of
this epoch, especially the spiritual history of Europe, will
everywhere find evidence of the fact that there were individuals here
and there — often quite simple men — who had
an inkling of this sinister situation: abandonment of humanity by the
Michael rulership, and impulses rising from below like demonic
vapours, striving to conquer the Intelligence.
It is
remarkable how closely the revelations of wisdom are bound up with
the human being, if all that springs from such revelations is
to be beneficial. This is the secret which must here be touched upon.
— A human being whose task it is to proclaim the Michael wisdom
feels that in a certain respect he is following the right course when
he tries to put into words, when he wrestles to find the terminology
to express, what is, in very truth, the wisdom of Michael. Such a one
feels, too, that he is further justified when with his own hand he
writes down this wisdom; for then the flow of the spiritual is
directly connected with him and streams, as it were, into the forms
of what he is writing, into what he is doing. Thus he willingly
communicates this wisdom to others in the form of reading material
when it is written down by him in his own hand. But when through
mechanical means, through the medium of the printed book, he
sees his work duplicated, he has a feeling of uneasiness. This has to
be endured, for the method is in keeping with our age. Nevertheless,
the feeling of uneasiness is never absent from one who stands within
the life of the Spirit together with what he has to proclaim.
In
connection with the lecture yesterday, somebody has asked me whether,
as Swedenborg has hinted, the letter
(Buchstabe)
is not, after all, the ‘last outflow’ of the spiritual
life. That indeed is so! It is the
last outflow of the spiritual life so long as it flows through
a man in a continuous stream from the Spirit. But
when it is fixed by mechanical means as it were from the other pole,
when it comes before the eyes of men as printed letters, it becomes
an Ahrimanic spiritual power. For, strange to say, it is that
Ahrimanic school which worked in opposition to the School of Michael
in the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
— it is that Ahrimanic school which brought the art of
printing, with all its consequences, to Europe.
Printing can be the soil from which demonic powers, well adapted to
combat the rulership of Michael, may spring.
An
Anthroposophist must be able to perceive the significance and
meaning of realities in life; he must recognise that printing is a
spiritual power but precisely that spiritual power which Ahriman has
placed in opposition to Michael. Therefore to those who in his School
at that time were being taught by him, Michael constantly gave this
warning: When you descend again to the Earth in order to give effect
to what has here been prepared, gather men around you, make known the
essentials by word of mouth, and do not regard
the ‘literary’ effects produced in the
world through the printed book as of foremost importance. —
Hence the more intimate method of working from man to man is more
truly in accord with Michael's way. If, instead of working merely
through books, we meet together with one another, letting the
impulses flow into us in the sphere of the human
and the personal, and only then using the
books as aids to memory, shall we be able to inaugurate the stream
that — imponderably at first — is destined to flow
through the Anthroposophical Society. It is inevitable that we should
make use of books for we must also become masters of this art of
Ahriman's — otherwise we should be delivered into his hands. We
must be able to reckon truly with the Ahrimanic spirit of the times,
otherwise tremendous power would be given to him. Thus it is not a
matter of merely ousting the printed book but of bringing it into
relationship with what works in a directly human way. So it would not
be right, as a result of what I have just put before you, to say:
‘Away with all the anthroposophical books!’ Thereby we
should be delivering up the art of printing to the most powerful
enemies of the Michael wisdom; we should be making it impossible for
our anthroposophical work to thrive, as thrive it must, until the end
of the century is reached. What we must do is to ennoble the art of
printing through our reverence for the Michael wisdom. For what is it
that by way of the art of printing Ahriman is intent upon achieving
in opposition to Michael? Ahriman is intent upon conquest of the
Intelligence. There is evidence of it everywhere to-day. Conquest of
the Intelligence, which asserts itself wherever conditions are
favourable. And when do we find the Ahrimanic spirits most
potent in their attacks against the coming age of Michael? We find
them at those times when a diminution or lowering of the
consciousness takes place in human beings. These Ahrimanic spirits
then take possession of human consciousness, they entrench themselves
within it. For instance, in the year 1914, many
individuals in a lowered state of consciousness became entangled in
events which led to the outbreak of the terrible World War. And
within the lowered consciousness of such men the hosts of Ahriman
promoted the World War — promoted it by way of human beings.
The real causes of that War will never be brought to light by
documents contained in archives. No, one must rather look deeply into
history and perceive that there, at some particular point, stood an
influential personality, at this point another, and there again
another — and these men were in a lowered state of
consciousness. That was the opportunity for Ahriman to take
possession of them. And if you want to realise how easy it is in our
age for men to be possessed by Ahriman, you need think only of this
example.
What
happened, when, with the printed volumes they had brought with them,
the Europeans arrived in North America in times when Indians were
still to be found in the eastern part of the
land? When the Indians saw these volumes with
their strange characters of script they took the letters to be little
demons. They had the right perception for these things. They were
terribly frightened when they looked at all these little demonic
entities — a, b, and the rest, as they appear in print. For
these letters, reproduced in such a different way, do contain
something that fascinates, something that casts a spell over the
modern mind; and only the good outlook of Michael, with eyes open to
the human element in the proclamation of wisdom, can lead men beyond
the danger of this lure. But evil things may happen in this domain.
At this
point let me say the
following. — There are certain secrets connected
with the vision of world-existence which cannot be penetrated before
a somewhat advanced age in life. Each particular period of life
enables one who possesses
Initiation-science to behold the individual secrets of
existence. Thus between the twenty-first and forty-second years
of life — not before — such a man is able to gaze into
the Sun-existence; between the forty-second and forty-ninth years
into the Mars secrets; between the forty-ninth and fifty-sixth years
into the Jupiter secrets. But to behold the secrets of worlds in
their interconnections, one must have passed the age of sixty-three.
[See
True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigations.
Lecture 6. (Rudolf Steiner Press.)]
Therefore before I myself was in this
position, I should not have been able to speak of certain things of
which I now speak without any reserve. Before the vision can
penetrate into anything related to the Michael Mysteries, to the
influences working from the spiritual realm of the Sun, one
must look upwards from the Earth through the Saturn existence into
the secrets of worlds. One must be able to experience, to live within
that twilight of the spiritual world which proceeds from the ruler of
Saturn, from Oriphiel, who was the leading Archangelos at the time of
the Mystery of Golgotha and who will again assume the leadership when
the Michael Age has run its course.
To such
vision, however, shattering, overwhelming truths connected with the
present age are revealed. As we have seen, the art of printing spread
over the Earth through the Ahrimanic school working in opposition to
the School of Michael, and because of
this, ‘authorship’ on a wide scale has
arisen on the Earth. Who, then, were ‘authors’ in earlier
times, before printing was in existence? They were men whose writings
could be known only in the narrowest circles, in circles, moreover,
that were properly prepared. Into how many hands did a book find its
way before printing was in use? Think of the following, and you will
be able to judge how things were. A kind of substitute for the later
art of printing was already in existence in ancient Chinese
civilisation and had reached a high level of perfection. A kind
of printing art had been established there — also in an Age
when Michael was ruling above; and when below there was an Ahrimanic
anti-rulership. But nothing very much came of it. In those times the
power of Ahriman was not yet so powerful and he was still
unable to make really effective attempts to wrest from Michael the
rulership of the Intelligence. The attempt was renewed in the time of
Alexander but then again was unsuccessful.
Ahriman's
influence in the printing art of the modern age, however, has assumed
deep significance. Authorship has, so to speak, been popularised. And
something has become possible, something that is as great in a
wonderful, brilliant, dazzling way as, on the other hand, the
necessity is great to receive it in absolute equableness of soul and
to estimate it according to its true significance. First attempts
have been made, attempts which from Michael's realm may be
characterised by saying: Ahriman has appeared as an author. For
Michael and his circle, this is a deeply significant happening
to-day. Ahriman as an author! Not only have men been possessed by him
as I indicated in the case of the outbreak of the War, but in that he
manifested on Earth through human souls, he himself appeared as an
author. That he is a most brilliant author need be no cause for
astonishment; for Ahriman is a mighty, all-embracing spirit. True, he
is not by nature fitted to promote the evolution of mankind on the
Earth according to the intentions of the good gods; he opposes it.
Nevertheless in his own sphere he is not only a thoroughly useful but
a beneficent power — for beings who on one level of
world-happenings are benefactors are exceedingly harmful on
another. It need not be assumed, therefore, that in characterising
the works of Ahriman they must come in for unqualified rebuke.
Provided one is conscious of what they are, one can even admire them.
But the Ahrimanic character must be recognised!
Michael
teaches how recognition can be made to-day if men are willing to
listen to him. For the Michael schooling has worked on and still
to-day it is possible for men to draw near it. Then it teaches how
Ahriman himself as an author has made attempts — first attempts
of a deeply shattering, deeply tragic character — working, of
course, through a human being. Nietzsche's Anti-Christ, his
Ecce Homo,
his autobiography, and the annotations in
The Will to Power
— those most brilliant chapters of modern
authorship with their often devilish content — Ahriman was
their writer, exercising his sovereignty over that which in
letters on the Earth can be made subject to his dominion through the
art of printing! Ahriman has already begun to appear as an author and
his work will continue. On Earth in the future alertness will be
necessary in order that not all the productions of authorship shall
be deemed of the same calibre. Works written by men will appear, but
some individuals at least must be aware that a Being is training
himself to become one of the most brilliant authors in the immediate
future: that Being is Ahriman! Human hands will write the works, but
Ahriman will be the author. As once the Evangelists of old were
inspired by super-sensible Beings and wrote down their works through
this inspiration, so will the works of Ahriman be penned by men.
The
further history of the evolution of humanity will present itself in
two aspects. Endeavours must be made to propagate in the earthly
realm — to the greatest extent possible
— what was once taught by Michael in super-sensible Schools to
souls predestined to receive it; endeavours must be made in the
Anthroposophical Society to be reverently mindful of this knowledge
and to impart it to those who will be incarnated in the coming times,
until the end of the century has arrived. And then, many of those who
for the first time are learning of these things to-day will come down
to the Earth again. The time will be short. But meanwhile on Earth
much that has been written by Ahriman will appear.
One task
of Anthroposophists is this: steadfastly to cultivate the
Michael Wisdom, to bring courageous hearts to this Michael Wisdom,
and to realise that the first penetration of the earthly Intelligence
by the spiritual sword of Michael consists in this sword being
wielded by those into whose hearts the Michael wisdom has found its
way. And so the picture of Michael in a new form may inspire each
single Anthroposophist — Michael standing there within the
hearts of men, beneath his feet the production of Ahrimanic
authorship. Such a picture need not be painted in that external form
in which during the time of the Dominicans the image was often fixed
— above, the Dominican Schoolmen with their books, below,
crushed under their feet, the heathen wisdom as represented by
Averröes, Avicenna and the rest. Wherever it was a matter of
portraying the battle waged by Christian Scholasticism against
heathendom, these pictures are to be found. But in the spirit there
must be this other picture: Devotion to Michael as he enters into the
world, laying hold of the Intelligence upon Earth; and — in
order that one may not be bedazzled — alertness with regard to
the brilliant work of Ahriman as an author through the whole of the
twentieth century. Ahriman will write his works in the strangest
places — but they will be there indeed — and he is
preparing pupils for his purposes. Even in our day, much in the
subconscious is being schooled in such a way that souls will be able
to incarnate again quickly and become instruments for Ahriman as an
author. He will write in all domains: in philosophy, in poetry, in
the sphere of the drama and the epic; in medicine, law, sociology.
Ahriman will write in all these domains!
This will
be the situation into which mankind will be led when the end of the
century is reached. And those who are still young to-day will witness
many samples of how Ahriman appears as an author. In every sphere
watchfulness will be needed — and reverent enthusiasm for the
Michael Wisdom.
If we can
permeate ourselves with these things, if we can feel ourselves
standing within the spiritual life in the sense of the indications
here given, then, my dear friends, we shall place ourselves as true
Anthroposophists into the civilisation of the present time. Then,
maybe, we shall realise more and more deeply that a new Impulse is
going out from the Christmas Foundation at the Goetheanum, that in
truth only now are there being presented to the Anthroposophical
Society things whereby this Society can see itself as it were in a
great cosmic mirror — in which the individual, too, together
with the karma which leads him into the Anthroposophical Society, can
see himself reflected.
That is
what I wanted to lay on your hearts in these lectures. For it is
to hearts that the words are chiefly spoken. The hearts
of men must become the helpers of Michael in the conquering of the
Intelligence that has fallen to
the Earth. Just as once the old Serpent was
destined to be crushed by Michael, so must the Intelligence that has
now become the Serpent be conquered by Michael, be spiritualised by
Michael. And whenever the Serpent appears in its unspiritualised
state, made Ahrimanic, it must be recognised through the vigilance,
the alertness which belongs to the anthroposophical spirit and is
developed through the Michael-like tenor of soul.
|