LECTURE EIGHT
At the end of
the lecture yesterday I said that opponents of the
spiritual-scientific Movement arise, naturally in a way, from
two sides. They arise, on the one side, from the domain of
natural science because its whole make-up and stamp at the
present time are up to a certain point bound to be such that
anyone who undergoes a scientific training and thinks that on
this basis he can, or may, or must, develop a view of the
world, feels compelled to adopt one which, on account of its
materialistic trend, must inevitably be antagonistic to
Spiritual Science. Right thinking is essential here. It must
be realised that many individuals into whom the methods of
modern materialistic science — which we recognise to be
a necessity—have been instilled, simply cannot help
becoming opponents on account of the thoughts that have been
kindled in them. This of course cannot absolve anyone from
the obligation to combat this opposition when it arises. But
it will be combatted in the right way only when what I have
just said is taken into consideration.
On the other
side, in a similar way, opposition comes from the
representatives of the various religious bodies. Just as in
the domain of modern science there is an interest in
concealing the spiritual behind nature, so have the
representatives of modern religious bodies an interest in
concealing the spiritual behind the soul. We may therefore
say: Spiritual Science is obstructed from the side of natural
science because of the desire to keep concealed the spiritual
behind nature; and it is obstructed from the side of the
religious bodies because it is held that the spiritual behind
the manifestations of the life of soul should be kept hidden.
Religious bodies, as they now are, will always be prone to
oppose what Spiritual Science brings into the open, because
they have no interest in pointing to the spirit behind the
expressions of the life of soul, but consider that the spirit
should be kept hidden. This must be realised, although again
it does not imply that the opposition should be left out of
account; it is a question of adopting the right attitude
to it.
This is a
chapter of which it is extraordinarily difficult to speak,
for here we touch upon things which everyone must inevitably
realise through what he reads between the lines in the
literature of Spiritual Science and who feels something of
what is contained in its communications. At the basis of the
matters to which I have referred there lies something of
great profundity, something very significant. For certain
reasons it is actually dangerous simply to point from nature
herself—that is to say, from the surface manifestations
of nature—to what lies behind nature. And because of
this danger there comes about what I have indicated, more or
less metaphorically, by saying: In the so-called Secret
Societies or Orders there is invariably a kind of
“right wing”, composed of those esotericists who
wish to adhere strictly to the principle of silence in regard
to everything connected with the higher secrets. All such
Orders — but, as I said, the expressions are to be
taken metaphorically — all such Orders have a kind of
“right wing”, a kind of “middle
party”, and a kind of “left wing”. The
inclination of those belonging to the left wing is always to
make public certain esoteric matters; but those belonging to
the right wing are wholly against making public anything
whatever of what they believe should be in the guardianship
of the Secret Orders and Societies. They consider that such
knowledge is dangerous if it falls into the hands of
incompetent people, if it were to be represented in public by
persons insufficiently prepared.
The reason
why it is so difficult to speak about this subject is that
the moment one does so, one is obliged to give certain
indications which in a way do bring things into the open. The
Secret Orders, believing, rightly or wrongly, that they are
custodians of certain higher knowledge, necessarily choose a
method whereby they provide certain precautionary measures in
connection with their real or alleged knowledge reaching the
public.
In such
Orders there are usually degrees — three lower and
three higher degrees. The knowledge considered by those in
the higher degrees to be dangerous in the hands of unprepared
people is not, as a rule, imparted in the three lower
degrees; in the three lower degrees, efforts are made to
clothe the real or alleged knowledge in all kinds of
symbols.
Of these
symbols one may perhaps say the following: If they have been
faithfully preserved since ancient times and have not been
adulterated through the machinations of those who did not
understand them, they constitute a kind of language which can
gradually be mastered by those who really penetrate to the
gist of them. And when this language is mastered, it conveys
certain knowledge. These symbols could also be said to be
vehicles of information brought upon the scene with extreme
caution. The egoistic standpoint of restricting the store of
knowledge to the innermost circle is not adopted. The
knowledge is given in a certain way to those who are received
into the outer circle. But it is hidden in symbolism, so that
only one who is able to unravel the symbols can penetrate to
the underlying truths. There are, indeed, Orders which keep a
strict watch against theoretical explanations of the symbols
ever being given, insisting that the symbols shall simply be
presented or demonstrated by exercises; so that anyone who
wants to read the symbols, when he takes them to be a
language, must achieve this by his own efforts.
It might be
asked: Is that really a protection? Is not the knowledge
still apt to fall into wrong hands? — Now at any rate
until the fourteenth and on into the fifteenth or sixteenth
century, it can be said that the Orders working with
symbolism did not, by such practices, allow the knowledge to
fall into wrong hands. Since then, however, things have
become essentially different. — I will at once tell you
why. Please, therefore, bear this in mind. In occult Orders
established before the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, those in the three lower degrees to whom, as the
outer circle, the knowledge was imparted in symbols, could
not make any fundamental misuse of it because the symbols
were simply presented and everything else was left to those
who had now to get at their meaning. This was in itself a
protection, because to discover the meaning of the symbols
entailed a certain spiritual effort.
Suppose
someone entered one of the lower degrees of an occult Order.
Symbols were either presented or demonstrated to him. He was
given only the symbols and was instructed to let them work
upon him as if they were phenomena of nature. If he wished to
go further, to discover the secret meaning of the symbols, he
was obliged to investigate, to exert spiritual energy. Had he
received help, it would not have been necessary to apply this
spiritual energy. But he received no help and was therefore
obliged to make efforts to decipher the symbols.
And now the
question is: What spiritual force was used for deciphering
these symbols? It was the same force which — if not
employed for this purpose but for penetrating the phenomena
of nature — would have helped to make a man cunning and
induce him to apply certain faculties to a purpose to which
he ought not to apply them. It was therefore a task of
symbolism to ensure that the forces which might become
dangerous were diverted to the deciphering of the symbols. In
this way the forces were deflected from causing harm.
A second
point to be remembered in connection with these symbols is
that human nature is intrinsically constituted to view such
symbols in their moral aspect. It must also be
stressed that these symbols were contrived in such a way that
their moral aspect was necessarily obvious. But in the case
of phenomena of nature, the moral aspect does not come into
consideration. A lily, because it blooms, cannot be judged on
the basis of moral principles; there one must go to work
objectively and with complete detachment. Symbols are a
different matter, for they arouse moral feelings. And these
moral feelings which study of the symbols aroused in the soul
were able to combat unhealthy mystical tendencies. So
unhealthy mysticism, too, was turned aside by the inner
effects of the impression made by the symbols. This symbolism
had therefore very valid grounds.
Since the
fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, however, these
grounds have lost their validity; they can no longer be
advocated. Hence since that time, occult Orders have long
lost the significance once attaching to them. In many
respects they have become Societies where all sorts of
special aims are pursued; they are Societies for fostering
particular vanities and the like. In many cases they are no
longer repositories of any special knowledge but at most of
an empty formalism.
The
development of natural science since the time of Galileo,
Copernicus and others has played an essential part here. For
the appearance and cultivation of these methods of natural
science has caused the human soul gradually to lose the
possibility of cleaving to symbolism with the old devotion.
In reality, all symbols conduce towards bringing to light the
Spiritual behind Nature. But natural science with its
materialistic methods which reached their zenith in the
nineteenth century, has affected the human soul in such a way
that it loses interest in the reality to which symbolism is a
pointer. Practical evidence of this is that anyone who
believes himself able to construct a view of the world out of
the findings of natural science has no longer any inclination
to concern himself with symbolism with any real earnestness
or seriousness. And so a symptom has appeared the
significance of which is fully in evidence today.
The symbols
of the secret Societies which until the fourteenth, fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries were presented to the lower degrees,
were expressions of very deep truths. But expression was
given to these truths in the manner that was customary at
that time. Under the influence of the natural scientific way
of thinking, and especially of the proclivities consequent
upon it, no efforts were made to carry these symbols to a
further stage. Since the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, symbolism ought to have been developed with
greater freedom. The symbols ought to have been kept abreast
of what humanity was actually experiencing in the world. But
this did not happen, and so to those whose mental horizon has
been created by modern culture, the symbols seem antiquated
and out of date — as indeed by far most of them are.
But precisely among those who want to make some approach to
occultism, a propensity has developed which I have often
deplored — the propensity to unearth as many very
ancient symbols as possible. And if these people can say of
some symbol that it has the hallmark of great antiquity,
their delight is unbounded. They do not value the symbolism
as such but the fact that it originated somewhere and somehow
in the distant past. Very often no attempts are made to
understand it; these people are satisfied if the symbols
unearthed are of great antiquity. During recent centuries,
very little has been done to develop symbolism to a further
stage. The result is that when it is presented today in
Orders that can only be called “stragglers” of
the old occult Orders — for such indeed they are
— this symbolism is for the most part antiquated, and
no efforts are made to develop it in accordance with the
progress made by humanity.
The general
outlook and attitude of people have changed. To keep some
matter secret today in the way in which this could formerly
be done, is no longer possible. Let anyone try to delve into
earlier, perfectly authentic symbolism, and he will soon find
how little difficulty there is in doing so. Our age is the
age of publicity and will not tolerate artificial secrecy,
artificial mystery. Our age wants everything to come
immediately into the open. Moreover, it can also be said that
for those acquainted with the literature that has been
published about symbolism scarcely anything is still
unavailable! Practically everything has found its way into
books, and some Orders today work on the principle of
diverting their members' attention from literature
where one thing or another is to be read. Hence a great deal
that has long been accessible in books is thought by the
members of such Orders to be a secret of which only their
superiors may justifiably have knowledge. In no domain is
humbug more rife than in that of occult Orders!
As I have
said, it is really no longer possible to maintain the
principle of secrecy and of erecting barricades by means of
symbolism. But these things can only be rightly understood
when one tries to discover the reasons why in earlier times
certain things were kept secret. As I have already said, it
is difficult to speak about these matters, because in doing
so a great deal that cannot lightly be discussed would have
to be said. Therefore today and tomorrow I shall choose a
different way. I shall tell you certain things which if you
follow them up consistently will help you to glimpse what it
is really not advisable to express in plain words at the
present time. I shall tell you certain things which can be
followed up in your own thinking and experience, and also in
your own inner life. If you do this, it will carry you far.
Because it is timely to speak of these things, I shall do so
— as far as is possible.
I will take
one example. — In one of his addresses, the famous
English writer Carlyle made a certain reference to Dante, the
author of
The Divine Comedy.
In other respects the
address is not particularly significant; it was on the
subject of Dante and Shakespeare, but one passage is notable.
Those who read this address in the way that ordinary readers
are wont to read — and for most people today there is
no difference between reading an address by Carlyle and a
newspaper article — will find nothing particularly
striking. But the attention of one who has absorbed something
of Spiritual Science not only into his brain as theory but
also into his feeling, may well be struck by this passage.
Carlyle points out how remarkable it is that from happenings
which outwardly seem like chance, or also from something that
has not turned out at all as people would have wished, things
of tremendous import have come to pass. Carlyle illustrates
this by speaking of Dante's destiny. Dante was banished
from his native city on account of his political views and
was obliged to become a wanderer. It was owing to this that
he became what he is for the world today. Being an outcast
from his native city he was led to write
The Divine Comedy.
Now, says Carlyle, Dante certainly had no wish
to be thus exiled! But had he remained in Florence he would
probably have become something like a Lord Mayor in the city;
he would have had a great deal to do as one of the leading
figures in Florence, and
The Divine Comedy
would not
have been written. So Dante was obliged to suffer something
highly unwelcome in order that mankind might possess
The Divine Comedy.
Mankind owes this to a fate which Dante
would certainly not have chosen for himself — and here
Carlyle is assuredly right. There is genius in this
utterance. It does not seem so very significant to one who
reads the address in the ordinary way, but it may well strike
an attentive reader. He may perhaps not understand why his
feelings should be particularly arrested by this passage.
Indeed, Carlyle himself was not aware of its significance. He
made the utterance because he was a man of great insight, but
he felt nothing of what I mean here. — I must make my
meaning clear to you in a roundabout way.
Suppose that
Dante had not been exiled, but had become something like a
councillor or an official in Florence; he would have attained
everything for which his talents fitted him. He might even
have become a prior, and if he had he would have been a very
distinguished one. Much would have come about through Dante
— but there would have been no
Divine Comedy.
The matter
is, however, not as simple as this. Let us assume that Dante
had achieved his goal, had not been exiled from Florence but
had become one of the chiefs of the State or of the Church
— posts which are somewhat akin as far as public
influence is concerned. As you will admit from what is
contained in
The Divine Comedy,
Dante possessed
talents of no mean order and he would have been a most
distinguished Lord Mayor, a figure of tremendous importance.
In these circumstances, history would have assumed a
totally different aspect. Florence would have had a very
important civic official and statesman — yes, and not
only that! Imagine a Florence administered by councillors
possessing the talents which flowed into
The Divine Comedy!
This able administration would have meant that
many, many other forces present would have been obstructed in
their hidden working.
It is utter
stupidity to maintain that there are no men of genius in the
world. There are very many—only they go under because
they are not awakened. If Dante had become a leader of the
State, he would have had a successor also of great importance
— and there would have been seven such successors.
Exactly seven people — we shall one day see the reasons
for this — seven people of importance would have
succeeded one another as governors of Florence. Something
really magnificent would have come into being — but
there would be no
Divine Comedy.
Dante was born in
the year 1265. We are living now in an age when, if all these
seven men had worked in Florence at that time, we should
still be feeling the after-effects, for they would have
lasted for seven centuries! Seven centuries would have taken
a course quite different from the one they have actually
taken. But these things did not happen — the Catholic
Church is still there, but so too is
The Divine Comedy.
I have given
you an example of how forces are transformed in the ordering
of world-history, an example of what is really involved in
the great process of the transformation of world-history.
Viewed in this light, matters of immense significance open
out before us, matters of vast, far-reaching
significance.
I have used
this example because I want to draw your attention to the
fact that it is sometimes necessary in the evolution of
humanity for forces to be transformed, turned into a channel
quite other than that into which, according to outward
appearance, they would seem to want to flow. This example
has, apparently, nothing to do with what I really want to
say, and yet it has everything to do with it. For if you
follow to its ultimate consequences what is implied in this
example, you will realise why it is difficult to hand over
freely to the public certain truths connected with what lies
behind outer nature. It is necessary to present many things
in such a way as to keep rein on forces, in order that
certain of them may not become dangerous.
With this
example I have pointed to those forces which will unfold in
human nature if a man penetrates behind the veil of the
phenomena of outer nature. But there are also certain dangers
when men do not only pierce through the veil of the phenomena
of outer nature but try to pierce through the veil of the
soul's experiences, endeavouring to plumb the depths of
the life of soul. There are dangers here too. And again by
means of a story I will make it possible for you to realise
certain things which otherwise could not be expounded. I will
take a story that is familiar to you but is not generally
recognised as giving expression to such deep truths as those
in question.
A man, by
name Paul, came one day to Father Antonius, whose pupil he
desired to become. He gave the appearance of being a very
simple-minded man. Antonius, however, accepted this man as a
pupil — we will call him Paul the Simpleton — and
caused him year after year to carry out certain tasks. I do
not think many of you would have enjoyed carrying out the
tasks which Father Antonius set his pupil! The latter had to
carry water, but in perforated vessels, so that when he
reached his destination there was no water left in them; and
this he had to do year after year. He had to stitch clothes,
and when they were finished, unpick them; again, year after
year, he had to carry stones up mountains and on reaching the
top to let them roll down to their original places. The
outcome was that Paul the Simpleton underwent a tremendous
deepening of soul and he became aware that forces arising out
of his subconsciousness were gradually making him into a man
of wisdom. Paul the Simpleton became Paul the Wise.
I am not
recommending that this example of what Father Antonius did
with Paul the Simpleton should be imitated! I am merely
telling the story. Suppose Antonius had not chosen this
method but had made things easier for Paul the Simpleton.
What would have happened ? One day Paul the Simpleton would
have said: “Yes, Antonius, your teaching is very good,
but you are really a very evil man. I must now take your
teaching with me out into the world. I must fight you with
your own teaching, for I recognise that you are evil.
Moreover, you do nothing for me that I am entitled to demand.
You promised that from a certain stage onwards you would
declare that, although when I first came to you I appeared to
be a simpleton, already then I was at a much higher level.
And then you promised to declare that all your teaching is
really inspired by me.” The pupil might have come to
this, but he was protected by the methods employed by
Antonius, methods which are now no longer practicable —
although this is not to say that in certain cases they would
not be very fruitful!
If you think
through these two examples to their ultimate conclusions, you
will perceive certain dangers which threaten a man if he
enters into the field of operation of the spiritual forces
which lie behind outer nature. From the example I gave you in
connection with Dante, you can realise with what momentous
issues one is confronted here.
The question
might be raised: Why does not science, with its praiseworthy
and really brilliant methods, arrive at certain things that
lie behind nature? This can be answered very simply. —
Science lacks the requisite forces of knowledge, nor does it
work at developing them, owing — as I have often said
— to a certain fear of what lies behind the phenomena
of nature.
But on the
other side it might be asked: why is it that those who know
something of the spiritual in nature are not willing to bring
to light more adequately than is the case at present, the
methods and ways whereby man can develop the forces of
knowledge which lead him behind nature, which enable him to
cross the Threshold and to penetrate to what lies behind
nature?
Now as soon
as a man passes the Threshold leading to the spiritual beings
behind nature, he comes into actual contact with those
beings. So much you will have realised from all that has been
presented in recent lectures. Passive phenomena of nature,
such as are studied by natural science today, are to be found
only in the physical world. As soon as we cross the Threshold
we enter a world of living spiritual beings. The remarkable
thing is that the beings first encountered in yonder world
make us more capable of clear thinking and the like than we
previously were. It is indeed so: if we regard all the
phenomena of nature studied by materialistic natural science
today as a “screen” on which the laws of nature
are inscribed—then behind that screen lies a vortex of
spiritual beings. This screen must be pierced. But it cannot
be pierced by men with the faculties at their command for the
study of natural science. If this were possible, the screen
would be pierced today. But with these faculties it is not
possible.
There are, to
be sure, individuals who through a true interpretation of
symbols could bring people to the stage of being able to
pierce the veil. These people would then inevitably come into
contact with spiritual beings, and indeed with beings
pre-eminently interested in making them very astute, very
cunning, very subtle thinkers. These are certain elemental
beings whose whole endeavour is to impart to man certain
faculties of knowledge which make him really different from
what he was before he had pierced the veil. Man is connected
with these beings. They have, however, still another trait:
they make a man astute, endow him with certain faculties of
knowledge — but they are inimical to man, inimical in
the highest degree to man and animal. Hence in piercing the
veil a person forfeits the very generally prevailing
friendliness to man and animal. It is not easy for anyone who
is unprepared to break through without forfeiting this
natural friendliness. He tends immediately to do all sorts of
things that are unfriendly to man and even acquires a certain
skill in the doing of them.
You will see
from this that it is not advisable to allow men to break
through the veil without proper preparation. It is fraught
with danger, because the beings first encountered are
inimical to man. But one who broke through on the path that
would make this possible if the methods of modern natural
science were to be carried further, would inevitably
encounter these beings who are inimical not only to man but
to nature herself — and he would come into possession
of a great mass of powerfully destructive forces.
It is
therefore not desirable to allow those persons to break
through the veil who still have the slightest inclination to
apply these destructive forces—many of which would
thereby be delivered into the hands of mankind. The endeavour
must be to allow only those individuals to break through
whose training has brought them to the stage where they will
make no use of such forces when these beings present
themselves. In this direction the deciphering of the symbols
was extraordinarily effective. For in deciphering the
symbols, the forces which these beings would have been able
to apply in order to make men into agents of destruction, are
used up. And the train of thought in those who were in favour
of keeping secret a large part of esoteric knowledge was as
follows. — They said: If we make our knowledge and the
kind of knowledge existing in the secret Orders accessible to
men unconditionally, so that they are spared the exertion of
themselves penetrating to the meaning of the symbols, we
shall make them rebels against nature, we shall make them
bearers of forces of destruction. They said: We possess
knowledge which would unquestionably bring this about,
therefore we cannot make this knowledge exoteric. We must
adhere undeviatingly to the rule that those who approach us
shall first of all be trained to develop an invincible love
for plant, animal and man; we must therefore first subject
them to careful training and discipline.
Well and good
— but today people do not take kindly to discipline;
they resist it, fight against it. Humanity has advanced!
— Suppose one were to enforce this discipline, were to
put people into the Orders in question and strictly apply
what in most cases might be prescribed with great benefit!
What would be the outcome? Within three months, the women,
especially, would all have departed; they would certainly not
have taken kindly to it! Certain Orders, therefore, in order
to be able to continue in existence, have abandoned this
discipline. Hence what was once profound knowledge has
degenerated into mere straw, lacking all real substance. On
the other hand, however, the practice of discipline continued
among those who really knew something about how to keep the
knowledge secret.
As you will
have seen, the subject is widened by what I have said,
namely, that when materialism was in full flood, the method
of mediumship was adopted. It was thought that what would
otherwise be gained from theoretical explanations of the
symbols would be actually perceptible in the methods used by
mediumship.
From all this
you will realise that those who possess some knowledge in
this domain have, after all, certain grounds for not allowing
the veil over the secrets of nature to be easily pierced. But
it will be clear to you, too, that our Movement cannot
consist in taking secrets of some Order as there preserved,
and making them exoteric. If that were to be done — and
it would amount to my taking some ancient secrets of an Order
and teaching them in public — then we should be
involved in all kinds of questionable magic of which nothing
good could come. This means that the making public of any
secrets of ancient Orders is precluded in our Movement. We
cannot use such preserves of ancient Orders for unravelling
the secrets of nature. Tomorrow I will show you that neither
can we so easily adopt religious truths because thereby
another and different danger would be set on foot. So it will
be clear to us why we could not adopt either of these methods
and were obliged to take a particular path. It is precisely
this path that brings us opposition from both
sides—from natural science and from religion. I shall
speak further of this tomorrow.
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