85. EL, Berlin, 6-12-'11
My dear
sisters and brothers! We should realize that there's a big
difference between outer, exoteric knowledge and the knowledge that
theosophy gives us. When we let an outer perception work on us, ideas
and concepts form in us; we get to know the thing we're looking
at; thereby, we know something about it. Are things the same with
theosophical knowledge? We also form concepts and ideas about
man's four members, the earth's planetary conditions or
the Akashic rcord when we're told about them, but there's
something else connected with this. Whereas exoteric knowledge
doesn't enrich us or leave anything behind after death, the
same cannot be said about esoteric knowledge. It flows into our
astral body and forms certain new members there; new threads become
woven into the astral body and remain connected with our being.
We know
that a man's astral body surrounds him in an egg form. Since an
ego is working in it, it radiates. New threads and knowledge are
woven in there, so that we can call it the “cognition
body.” This knowledge body will become ever denser and stronger
and will eventually be spirit self. Another planetary evolution of
the earth is only possible through the fact that we develop it. On
Jupiter this cognition body will be as dense as our astral body, on
Venus as our etheric body, and on Vulcan it'll have become
about as physical as our blood.
Now
through what can this theosophical knowledge become so fruitful that
the cognition body develops in the astral body? Let's clarify
this through an example.
We're surrounded by physical, material air. We inhale it.
That's how we live. In the bible we hear: God blew living
breath into man, and he became a living soul. But the carbonic acid
we exhale can't maintain life, it's lethal air. Death
began because we were released from the lap of the Gods. Man ate from
the tree of knowledge, that is, he had acquired his freedom and
independence with Lucifer's help. That's why he was
driven from paradise, that is, he's become a water man and then
an earth man, and he's not an air man anymore as in the
Lemurian epoch. Lucifer will have power over him as long as
he's on earth. But the tragic thing about this being is that
Lucifer's power doesn't extend beyond the earth. All pain
and suffering arise through Lucifer and are connected with this
tragedy.
There'll be no exoteric knowledge on Jupiter anymore. If man
had remained in paradise, he would also have eaten of the tree of
life. The latter was kept away from him through Lucifer's
influence, and thereby the possibility of sinking much lower than he
did by eating from the tree of knowledge. But now the tree of life
becomes transformed into the symbol that initially means earth but
that conceals a life that's all the greater and that a man can
attain if he acquires the cross with the red roses.
Just as the earth is
enveloped by the air that men breathe, so there's a special
substance in the this air that wants to flow into men. It depends on
us whether we exhale this spiritual substance again as lethal air or
whether we connect it with our theosophical knowledge and weave the
product into our astral body. This is important for the whole cosmos
and not just for us. If we inhale this spiritual substance without
making it productive in us, we take something from the cosmos but
give it nothing in return and thereby prevent evolution. Whether the
Jupiter condition can follow the earth condition depends on whether
we increase these spiritual forces around the earth.
If we
look at old Saturn we know that the first germ of our physical body
arose there. It arose from Gods' thoughts, which condensed to
what we are today. But on Saturn it was already counted upon that men
would continue the work of the Gods, and we do this when we let the
spiritual substance around us flow into us, to build up our cognition
body from it.
It was
the purpose of the Mystery of Golgotha to give men this opportunity.
What is it that we take in with this spiritual substance? It's
the Christ himself. This wasn't the case before the Mystery of
Golgotha. Then men could say, Ex Deo nascimur. At that time
candidates for initiation were prepared in such a way that they went
back to what was handed down by the old Gods. But we know that with
the Mystery of Golgotha the aura of our earth has changed, because
Christ has become the spirit of our earth. He has poured himself
substantially into this earth aura and is contained in it since then.
Now is the point in time when this poured out Christ substance has
become condensed, so that it can be taken in by men. Therefore: In
Christo morimur means nothing else than to immerse oneself in
this spiritual substance and to take in Christ completely with it, so
that one can say: Not I, But Christ in me.
But one
shouldn't forget that a light is always surrounded by a lot of
shadows. Many errors will also creep in with the new wise things that
have been given to our age, and so it's our holy duty to check
every thing we hear with our healthy human intellect. This has always
been emphasized in all Rosicrucian esotericism. But we should be
tolerant towards people who make mistakes here, and we should always
tell ourselves: if what we have is really the truth, it'll
remain true by itself. If it's an error, I'll be sure to
find the truth in my next incarnation through my fervent search for
it.
In
the spirit lay the germ of my body.
And the spirit has imprinted in my body
The eyes of sense,
That through them I may see
The lights of bodies.
And the spirit has imprinted in my body
Reason and sensation
And feeling and will,
That through them I may perceive bodies
And act upon them.
In the spirit lay the germ of my body.
In my body lies the germ of the spirit.
And I will incorporate into my spirit
The super-sensible eyes
That through them I may behold the light of spirits.
And I will imprint in my spirit
Wisdom and power and love,
So that through me the spirits may act
And I become a self-conscious organ
Of their deeds.
In my body lies the germ of the spirit.
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