LECTURE 9
[ Study Guide: Souls of the Nations — Ninth Lecture ]
15th June, 1910.
If among my hearers there are some who wished to analyze yesterday's
lecture philosophically they might perhaps meet with difficulties,
apparent difficulties, and indeed for the reason that they will have
heard from former presentations given on similar themes, that the
whole of our post-Atlantean epoch, and in fact even the later ages of
Atlantean evolution existed for the purpose of gradually developing
the human ‘ I ’ as such, and bringing it more
and more to consciousness. In connection with this it has been said,
that in some respects those belonging to the ancient Indian
civilization were the very first who, after they had been able in old
Atlantis to look into a spiritual world by means of the old
clairvoyance then still to be found in humanity, were transposed
straight out of this clairvoyant state into the physical world. They
saw this physical world in such a way that over the whole of the
first post-Atlantean age of civilization there came the feeling, that
what lay behind them in the spiritual world was the true reality;
that which was outside in the world was merely maya or illusion.
Now it was explained in our last lecture, quite in
accordance with the facts, that the people belonging to this ancient
Indian civilization had to some extent gone through a rich soul
development, and it was said that they had gained this while their
‘ I ’ was more or less asleep, that is to say,
that the ‘ I ’ only awoke after this mature
soul development had already been acquired.
Now you might possibly ask: What then happened to these
Indian peoples in the interval? For the Indian peoples must, so to
say, have passed through the whole of this soul development in a
completely different manner from the European, and especially the
Germanic peoples, who were present with their ‘ I ’
whilst they were gradually evolving capacities, and who looked on and
saw how the divine spiritual powers worked into their souls. You
might possibly find it difficult to make this agree with what was
said, if you were to think philosophically about yesterday's
lecture. For those who wish to analyze the lecture not altogether
impartially, but out of a philosophical way of thinking such as this,
I must add something in parenthesis, by way of explanation.
The apparent contradiction will at once disappear if you
reflect that, as regards the ‘ I ’ and the
possibility of knowing it, man is in a totally different position
from what he is with regard to every other object. If you ‘know’
any other object, or any other being than the ‘ I ’,
you are then, in the act of cognition, always really dealing with two
things, with the knower, the power of knowing, and that which is
known. Whether that which is known is a man, an animal, a tree or a
stone, makes no difference to the purely formal act of cognition. But
it is a different matter as regards the ‘ I ’.
There that which knows and that which is known is one and the same.
The important thing is, that in human evolution, in human development
these two things are separate. Those who had developed the mature
Indian culture in the post-Atlantean epoch, developed the ‘ I ’
subjectively as a knower, and this subjective raising of the ‘ I ’
to a certain height within the human soul-power may exist for a long
time before man also acquires the power to see the ‘ I ’
objectively as an entity. On the other hand the peoples of Europe
developed comparatively early, whilst still in their old
clairvoyance, the power to see the objective ‘ I ’;
that is to say, they perceived within that which they surveyed
clairvoyantly, the ‘ I ’ as an entity among
other entities. If you distinguish carefully between these things you
will be able to understand it philosophically also, as you will all
the things of Spiritual Science, if you only do it properly. If you
like philosophical formulas, we might express it thus: The Indian
culture represents a soul which reached a high degree of the
subjective ‘ I ’, long before it was able to
see the objective ‘ I ’. The Germanic peoples
of Europe developed the vision of the ‘ I ’
long before they became conscious of the real inner striving towards
the ‘ I ’. Clairvoyantly they saw the dawning
of their own ‘ I ’, the imaginative picture of
it. In the astral world which was around them they had for a long
time seen the ‘ I ’ objectively, among the
other beings whom they perceived clairvoyantly. Thus we must conceive
of this antithesis in a purely formal manner, then we shall also
comprehend why Europe was the ground destined to bring this ‘ I ’
of man into relation with the other beings, the Angels and
Archangels, in the way I pointed out yesterday in connection with
mythology. If you bear this in mind you will understand why Europe
was destined to bring the ‘ I ’ into relation
in many different ways, as well as to the world which appeared to man
as the sense-world, and also that the ‘ I ’,
the real kernel of the human being, can enter into the most varied
relations to the outer world. Formerly, before man saw his ‘ I ’,
before he perceived it, these relations were regulated for him by the
higher Beings, and he himself could do nothing in the matter. The
relation in which he stood to the external world was an instinctive
one. The essential thing in the development of the ‘ I ’
is, that it takes more and more into its own hands the task of
regulating its own relation to the outer world.
It was essentially the task of the European nations to
bring about in some way or other this relation of the ‘ I ’
to the whole world; and the Guiding Folk-soul had, and still has, the
task of directing the European how to bring his ‘ I ’
into relation with the outer world, with other men, and with the
Divine Spiritual Beings; so that on the whole it was within European
civilization that one first began to speak of the relation of the
‘ I ’-man to the whole universe.
Hence the completely different fundamental tone in the
old Indian cosmology from that prevailing in the European
mythological culture. Over there in the East everything is
impersonal, and above all one is required to become impersonal in
one's knowledge, to suppress the ‘ I ’,
so to say, in order to merge into Brahma and to find Atma within
oneself. The chief requirement there is to be impersonal.
Here in Europe this human ‘ I ’ is
everywhere placed in the centre of human life, according to its
tendencies from the beginning and as it has gradually developed in
the course of evolution. Therefore here in Europe special attention
is given to considering everything in its relation to the ‘ I
‘, to explaining clairvoyantly with relation to the ‘ I ’
everything that had taken part in this development of the ‘ I ’
in earthly existence.
Now you all know that two forces coming from different
directions have taken part in the development of the earthly man, who
was destined gradually to acquire his ‘ I ’.
Ever since the Lemurian epoch those forces we call Luciferic have
imprinted themselves in the inner being of man, in his astral body.
Regarding these forces you know that they made their chief attack on
man by slipping into his desires, impulses and passions. Through this
man gained two things: he gained the capacity to become an
independent free being to glow with enthusiasm for what he thinks,
feels and wills; whereas as regards his own concerns he was guided by
divine spiritual Beings. But on the other hand, through the Luciferic
powers man had to take into the bargain the possibility of falling
into evil through his passions, emotions and desires. Lucifer's
activity, therefore, in our earth-existence is such, that his point
of attack is within man, where the human astral plays; and where the
astral nature has affected the ‘ I ’ this too
has been permeated by the Luciferic power. When, therefore, we speak
of Lucifer, we are speaking of that which has caused man to sink
deeper down into material sense-existence than he would have done
without that influence.
Thus we have to thank the Luciferic powers for something
which is most valuable to man, viz., freedom, and something which is
very clangorous, the possibility of evil. But now we also know, that
in consequence of these Luciferic powers having intervened in the
whole constitution of human nature, later on other powers were able
to enter which could not have done so, had not Lucifer first settled
himself in the human organism. Man would see the world differently if
he had not fallen under the influence of Lucifer and of those who
were his followers, if he had not been obliged to allow another power
to approach him after he had made it possible for the Luciferic power
to enter into him. Ahriman approached from outside and stole into the
great world of Nature surrounding man; so that the Ahrimanic
influence is therefore a consequence of the Luciferic influence. Man
is, as it were, attacked by Lucifer from within, and in consequence
of that he is attacked by that which works from outside, by Ahriman.
The spiritual science of all ages, that really knows the facts,
speaks of both Luciferic and of Ahrimanic powers.
It will seem very remarkable to you that in the views of
the various peoples, where these views are expressed in the form of
mythology, there is not always to be found an equally clear
consciousness of Lucifer on the one side and of Ahriman on the other.
There is, for instance, no clear consciousness of this in the
religious conception built up out of the whole Semitic tradition as
set forth in the Old Testament. Only a certain consciousness of the
Luciferic influence appears there; you may gather that from the
account given in the Old Testament of the Serpent, which is nothing
else than a picture of Lucifer. From this you can see that there was
a distinct consciousness of Lucifer having played a part in
evolution. This consciousness is clearly traceable in all the
traditions which are connected with the Bible. But the consciousness
of the Ahrimanic influence is not to be found there in the same way;
that is only to be found where spiritual science has been taught.
Therefore those who wrote the Gospels have also taken note of this.
You will find, — for at the time of the writers of the Gospels
the word ‘devil’ (dämon) was taken from the Greek, —
that in St. Mark's Gospel, where the temptation is spoken of, a
‘devil’ is spoken of; but whenever Ahriman is in
question, the word ‘Satan’ is used. But who notices the
important difference between the Gospel of St. Mark and that of St.
Matthew? Exoterically these fine distinctions are not noticed at all.
In external tradition this difference does not exist.
This difference is very noticeable in the contrast
between India and Persia. There at a certain period it is expressed
in a very remarkable manner. Persia knew little of the Luciferic
influence; the Ahrimanic was more to be seen there. There in
particular is the battle with the Powers which give us an external,
false picture of the world, and which leads us into gloom and
darkness regarding the relation of man to the outer world. Ahriman is
preferably called an opponent of the Good and an enemy of the Light.
How does that come about? It comes about because in the second
post-Atlantean age of civilization the human capacities of perception
developed as regards the vision of the outer world. Bear in mind that
Zoroaster made it his task to understand and make known the
Sun-Spirit, the Spirit of Light. He had therefore to begin by
pointing out that into this world is mingled, in addition to the
Spirit of Light, the Spirit of Darkness, who dims our knowledge of
the outer world. The Persian directs his chief attention to the
conquest of Ahriman and to uniting himself to the Spirits who in this
country are the great Powers, the Luminous Ones. He is organized for
becoming active in the domain which lies outside. Hence he has his
Ahuras or Asuras. It is, on the other hand, dangerous for the
followers of the Persian religion to descend into that world to which
a man can attain by plunging into his own inner being; there, where
the Luciferic powers lie hidden, he will have nothing to do even with
the possible presence of good powers. There he perceives danger; he
directs his gaze outwards and pictures the Asuras of Light as
opposing the Asuras of Darkness.
The Indians at this time pursued exactly the opposite
course. They were at a period in which they endeavored to raise
themselves by inner contemplation, in order to come into the higher
spheres. To them salvation lay in uniting themselves with the forces
that are to be found in the sphere of inner vision. They therefore
considered it dangerous to look out into the external world in which
they had to fight with Ahriman. They feared the outer world, they
considered it dangerous. Whereas the Devas were avoided by the
Persians, the Indians sought for them and wanted to be at work in
their domain. But the Persians turned away, and avoided the region in
which the battle against Lucifer had above all to be fought.
You may search as you will through the many different
mythologies and concepts of the world, but in none of them will you
come across such a clear and profound knowledge of the fact that
there are two influences at work on man, as in the Germanic
Scandinavian mythology. As the Germanic Scandinavian could still see
clairvoyantly, he was really able to see these two powers, and he
placed himself between the two. He said to himself: ‘In the
course of his evolution man has seen the approach of certain powers
which entered his inner being, entered his astral body;’ and
because he was destined to develop the ‘ I ’,
the independence of man, he felt not merely the possibility of evil,
but above all he felt, in these powers which approached the astral
body in order to bring it to freedom and independence, the element of
freedom; he felt, one might say, the rebellious element revealing
itself in these forces. The Luciferic element was felt in that power
which was even then still participating in the formation of the races
in Germanic Scandinavian countries, inasmuch as it gave the external
form and coloring to man and made him an independent, active being in
the world. With his clairvoyant vision the Germanic Scandinavian felt
Lucifer primarily as that which makes a man free, one who does not
merely yield himself to some external power, but who possesses within
himself the firm kernel of existence and wishes to act out of
himself.
This Luciferic influence was felt by the Germanic
Scandinavian to be beneficial. But he became aware that something
else proceeded also from this influence. Lucifer conceals himself
behind the figure of Loki, who possesses a remarkably iridescent
form. Because the Northman could then see the reality, he saw that
the thoughts of the freedom and independence of man can be traced
back to Loki; but through the old clairvoyance he was aware also that
that which again and again drags man down through his desires and
actions, and brings his whole being into a lower position than he
would have held if he had only devoted himself to Odin and the Asa,
is also to be traced back to the influence of Loki. And so one felt
above all the awful grandeur of this Germanic Scandinavian mythology,
one felt with compelling accuracy that which will only gradually
return to the consciousness of man through spiritual science.
How then does the Luciferic influence act? It encloses
itself in the astral body and thence works upon all the three members
of man, upon the astral body as well as upon the etheric and physical
bodies. Outside the Anthroposophical Society one can at the present
day only give hints as to this Luciferic influence. What you will
understand more and more clearly is, that the Luciferic influence
makes itself felt in three different ways: in the astral body, in the
etheric body and in the physical body of man. In the etheric body is
produced that in man which urges him to untruthfulness and to lying.
Lies and untruthfulness extend beyond the inner part of man. In the
astral body, the purely inner part of man, the self is permeated with
the Luciferic influence and this appears as selfishness. The etheric
body is inwardly permeated by the impulse to be untruthful and thus
it is given the possibility of lying. In the physical body sickness
and death are produced. That will easily be understood by those who
were present at my last
series of lectures.
[Manifestations of Karma]
I shall once more point
out that everything that appears in the physical body as sickness and
death is karmically connected with what we call the Luciferic
influence. Let us again recapitulate briefly: Lucifer brings about in
the astral body selfishness, in the etheric body lying and
untruthfulness, and in the physical body sickness and death.
Naturally all persons of the present day whose thoughts are
materialistic will be greatly surprised that Spiritual Science should
trace back sickness and death to a Luciferic influence. But this too
is connected with karma. Sickness and death would never have come to
man if the Lucifer influence had not come in. The karmic working out
of the Luciferic influence has brought about the deeper descent of
man into the physical; and that on the other hand is compensated for
by sickness and death.
Hence we may say: that through the entrance of the
Luciferic influence into man, the physical, etheric and astral bodies
have been seized by sickness and death, lying and untruthfulness, and
selfishness. I should like to draw your attention to the fact that
the material scientists of the present day give the same explanation
of death in animal and plant bodies as it does in that of man. These
persons cannot comprehend that one external phenomenon may look like
another, and yet come from quite different causes. External facts may
proceed from entirely different grounds. The death of an animal does
not proceed from the same original causes as the death of a man,
although externally it has the same appearance.
It would require a great deal too much time to prove
these things in accordance with the theory of knowledge. I only
wished to state here that what science calls causality is often very
wrongly interpreted. Mistakes such as these, which rise from want of
clearness, are made at almost every step. Imagine the case of a man
who climbs up on to a roof, falls down, receives a mortal injury, and
is picked up dead. What would be more natural than to say: the man
fell down, was mortally injured and died from his injuries? But the
case might have been quite different. The man might have had a stroke
whilst on the roof and fallen down when already dead; the injuries
might have been caused by the fall, so that outwardly the case may
have been as described, and yet death would have come about from an
entirely different cause. This is a very crude example, but
scientists frequently make this kind of mistake.
The outer facts of the case may often be exactly the
same, and yet the inner causes may be entirely different. We simply
make the statement, as being the result of scientific spiritual
research, that the result of Luciferic influence in the astral body
is selfishness, in the etheric body lying and untruthfulness, and in
the physical body illness and death. Now what would the Germanic
Scandinavian mythology have had to say if it had had to ascribe this
threefold activity to Loki, to Lucifer? It had to say that Loki has
three offspring. The first is the one who brings about selfishness.
That is the Midgard Serpent, by which is expressed the influence of
the Luciferic spirit upon the astral body. The second is that which
mingles into human knowledge as error. In man on the physical plane,
this consists in those things which are in his mind and are not in
agreement with the outer world. There it is that which is not true.
To the Scandinavians, who still dwelt more upon the astral plane,
that which to us is an abstract lie, expressed itself at once as an
astral being and lived as such upon the astral plane.
The expression for everything that was dimness of
vision, that was not correct seeing, was some animal; and here in the
North it was principally the Fenris Wolf. This second animal is
Loki's influence on the etheric body, which causes man to have
the inclination (coming from within) to deceive himself, to think
incorrectly about things; that is to say, the objects in the external
world do not appear to him in the right way. This was generally
expressed in the old Germanic Scandinavian mythology as the figure of
a Wolf. That is the astral shape for lying and all untruthfulness
proceeding from inner impulse. Where man comes into relation with the
external world, Lucifer meets Ahriman, so that all the errors which
insinuate themselves into his knowledge, even into his clairvoyant
knowledge, all illusion and all maya, is the consequence of the
tendency to untruthfulness which is active there. In the Fenris Wolf
we must therefore see the shape surrounding man, through his not
seeing things in their true form. Whenever any part of the external
light, i.e., the truth, appeared darkened to the old Northman, he
then spoke of a wolf. That goes through the whole Northern
consciousness, and you will find this image made use of in this
sense, even to the external facts.
When the old Scandinavian wished to explain what he saw
during an eclipse of the sun, (of course a man at the time of that
old clairvoyance saw very differently from a man of the present day,
who sees with the aid of a telescope), he chose the picture of a wolf
pursuing the sun, and who the moment he reaches it brings about the
eclipse. That is in perfect harmony with the facts. This terminology
belongs to what is grandest, yea, even to that grandeur which
positively awes one in the Scandinavian Mythology. I can only give
indications here; but if it were possible to speak for weeks at a
time upon this mythology, you would then see how it carried this out
all through. That is because Scandinavian mythology is a result of
the old clairvoyance, into which, however, the ‘ I ’
plays everywhere.
Materialistic people of to-day will say that this is a
mere superstition; that there is no wolf pursuing the sun. The old
imaginative Scandinavian sees these facts in pictures; and perhaps I
could enumerate many so-called scientific truths which contain more
of the influence of Ahriman, i.e., greater error than does the
corresponding astral vision, which says that the wolf is pursuing the
sun. To the occultist there is something which is still greater
superstition. That is, an eclipse which occurs because the moon
places itself in front of the sun. From the external point of view
that is quite correct, just as the case of the wolf is quite correct
to astral perception. In fact the astral view is more correct than
the one you will find in modern books, for the latter is even more
subject to error. If a man were to perceive the true state of affairs
instead of this external one, he would find that the Scandinavian
myth is right. I know that I am saying something that is utterly
absurd to the present-day point of view, but I know also that in
anthroposophical centers one is sufficiently advanced to make it
possible to indicate wherein our physical view of the world is most
influenced by maya, deception or illusion.
Now we proceed to the influence of Loki on the physical
body, in which he brings about sickness and death. His third
off-spring is, therefore, that which produces sickness and death.
That is Hela. Thus you have, in fact, expressed in a wonderful way —
in the figures: Hela, the Fenris Wolf, and the Midgard Serpent —
the influence of Loki or Lucifer, in the form in which the old
clairvoyance, which we may describe as a dreamy clairvoyance,
perceived it. If we were to go through the whole history of Loki, we
should everywhere find that these things throw light upon the matter,
down to the smallest details. But we must clearly understand therein
that what the clairvoyant sees is not merely an allegorical
symbolical description, but he sees real entities, Beings.
| Diagram 5 Click image for large view | |
Now the Germanic Scandinavian did not know merely of
Loki, of the Luciferic influence; he was also aware of the influence
of Ahriman which came from another direction; and he knew more, he
knew that the exposure to the Ahrimanic influence is the consequence
of the Loki influence. You must now transpose yourselves back to the
time when man did not look at the world with external physical
vision, but contemplated it with the old clairvoyance, and you will
then find that this myth is formed for that clairvoyance. What does
the myth say? Loki's influence has come upon man, and this is
expressed in the action of the Midgard Serpent, the Fenris Wolf and
Hela. Man has become such that his view, his clear luminous vision
into the spiritual world has become dimmed by the increasing pressure
of the Luciferic influence. At the time when this view developed, man
alternated between seeing into the spiritual world and living on the
physical plane, just as one now alternates between waking and
sleeping. When he gazed into the spiritual world, he looked into the
world out of which he was born. The essential point is, that the myth
originated from the clairvoyant consciousness. But human
consciousness consisted in this alternating state of seeing into and
not being able to see into the spiritual world. When the condition of
dream-consciousness was there, one saw into the spiritual world; when
the condition of waking day consciousness was there, one was blind to
it. Thus the conditions of blindness and of being able to gaze into
the spiritual world alternated. The consciousness alternated, just as
a certain cosmic being alternated between the blind Hœnir and the
clairvoyant Balder, who could see into the spiritual world. Thus man
had the tendency to receive Balder's influence, and he would
have developed in accordance with this influence if he had not
received Loki's influence. Loki, however, brought it about that
the Hœnir nature overcame the Balder nature. That is expressed by
Loki bringing the mistletoe with which blind Hœnir kills Balder, the
one who sees.
Loki is therefore the death-bringing power, like Lucifer
who has driven man to Ahriman. When man is devoted to the blind
Hœnir, the old clairvoyant vision is extinguished. That is the
slaying of Balder. This is felt by the Northman as the gradual loss
of the Balder-powers, the vision into the Northern Germanic world.
Thus the Northman felt the disappearance of his clairvoyance as
though it were Loki having killed the clairvoyant power in Balder,
and all that remains to him is his impotence as regards this
clairvoyance. Thus one of the greatest historical events, the gradual
disappearance of the old unclouded knowledge, is expressed in the
myth of Balder, Hœnir and Loki. On the one side we have Loki with
his kinsmen, the three Beings, and on the other the tragic act of the
slaying of Balder.
Thus, reflected in the Scandinavian mythology we have
that which we can draw from spiritual science: the twofold influence,
the Luciferic and the Ahrimanic. That it is which spiritual science
always tries to place before you as a presentation of the clairvoyant
knowledge of ancient times, and as a working out of the myths from
the old clairvoyance, which then began gradually to disappear.
It would carry us too far if we were to pursue this
theme further; but even in the broad outline I have laid before you,
you can feel that which is so thrillingly grand in this myth, the
like of which cannot be found, because no other mythology adheres so
closely to the old clairvoyant condition. Greek mythology is only a
memory of something experienced in former times, expressed in plastic
form. In Greek mythology there is no longer a direct connection with
the facts such as there is in the Germanic Scandinavian mythology.
The Greek is more clarified, the figures appear with much more
rounded outlines and therefore in a very plastic manner, and thus the
elemental nature of the original impressions has been lost. The old
clairvoyance had for a long time vanished in the rest of Europe,
while it was still preserved in the North. Only very gradually,
slowly and by degrees has the outlook of man become limited to the
picture of the physical world. Thus at the time when Christianity
began to spread abroad, that which is expressed in the Balder myth,
in the death of Balder, had become true for the majority of men.
There were, however, still a few who were able to see directly that
which the Scandinavian experienced clairvoyantly.
Thus for a long time there still existed a direct vision
of this spiritual world, and because it was still so elemental and
came so directly from clairvoyant experience, when Christianity began
to be spread abroad, that consciousness also remained which could in
no other people be as strong as it was in the old Germanic
Scandinavians. They then felt: ‘Everything we formerly
experienced in connection with our divine spiritual home is now
vanishing.’ This only disappeared from the North when the
Germanic-Scandinavian received the comfort of Christianity. —
But that did not contain for him any direct vision; he had felt the
fate of Balder much too deeply to be able to comfort himself by
having a God offered him, who had descended to the physical plane in
order that those human beings, who could only perceive the physical
plane, might also be able to ascend to divine co-consciousness. It
was not possible in Northern lands to feel, as did the men in Asia
Minor, the words, ‘Change your attitude, repent, for the
kingdom of Heaven is come nigh unto you.’ Over there, where
Christ had appeared, one could only find old memories of the fact
that there was once upon a time an old clairvoyance. In the East the
Kali Yuga, the Dark Age, had already lasted for three thousand years,
during which men could no longer see into the spiritual world; but
they always longed for it, and they have ever told of a world which
men were once able to see spiritually, but it was a world which had
now vanished from their sight. Hence they had experienced the
spiritual world in a much more distant past than had the men of the
North, and they only knew from memory that the spiritual world had
once been accessible. Hence in Asia Minor one could well understand
the words: ‘Change your view, for the kingdom of Heaven is come
nigh unto you.’ One could understand when it was said:. ‘The
kingdom of the heavens has descended even here to the physical plane,
look ye therefore upon the unique Figure Who will appear in the land
of Palestine, look ye upon the Messiah, who contains God within Him,
through Whom ye will be able to find the connection with the Divine,
even if ye are not able to rise above the physical plane; understand
ye that Figure in Palestine, understand ye the figure of Christ.’
That is the profound utterance of John the Baptist.
The Scandinavian necessarily felt this differently, for
he had for a much longer time experienced considerably more than
merely the account from memory of a vision into the spiritual world.
Hence there came to him a thought of very great and far-reaching
importance, viz., ‘This stepping out on to the physical plane,
into the physical world, this incapacity to see into the divine
spiritual world, can only be an intermediate state. Man must pass
through it as through a school and must see what he can acquire in
the physical world. This transition is necessary for him and he must
therefore step out of the spiritual world; he must go through the
experience of the physical world as a training. But just by going
through this as a training, he will return again into that world from
which he came forth. Balder's vision will be able to ensoul him
again.’ In other words, the great idea which originates in the
course of the Germanic Scandinavian evolution, — that the world
which vanished away and withdrew from clairvoyant vision, will again
become visible, — brought about the feeling that the time spent
on the physical plane was a time of transition.
The Initiates of the Northmen made them understand that
in the divine spiritual world, during the time in which they could
not see into it, something was taking place through which it would
one day appear different from what they were formerly accustomed to
see. They explained it to them in somewhat the following words:
‘Formerly you looked into the divine spiritual world, and there
you saw the Archangel of Speech, the Archangel of the Runes, the
Archangel of Respiration, Odin; and Thor, the Angel of the
‘ I ’-hood. You were connected with these, and
he who is sufficiently prepared will acquire the possibility of
re-entering this spiritual world. But it will then appear different;
other powers will have been added to it, and the spheres of power and
the conditions of power of those old spiritual leaders of the human
race will have changed. You will, it is true, see into this world,
but you will see something different from what you have hitherto
experienced.’
That which man will then see, they describe to him as
vision of the future, that vision which will one day appear before
the human soul when man is again able to see into the spiritual
world, when he will see what the destiny of the old figures of the
Gods has been, and how they entered into relation with other powers.
This vision of the future as seen by the Initiates, arose from
Lucifer having come into conflict with that which comes from the Gods
and which will also produce its effects. This vision of the future
was painted for man by the Initiates in the picture of the ‘Twilight
of the gods.’ Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods
(Götterdämmerung), is therefore the picture placed before the
Germanic Scandinavians by the Initiates as a vision of the future.
And again we shall see that all the events thus presented as future
events could not, even down to the smallest details, be given better,
could not be more terminologically correct or more to the point, than
in the wonderful picture of the Twilight of the Gods. That is the
occult background of the Saga of the Twilight of the Gods.
How then should man regard himself? He should regard
himself as receiving all that comes from former ages as the origin
and cause of his evolution, and should thoughtfully accept what he
received from Odin as a gift, but he should regard himself as having
gone through the evolution following after that. He should receive
into himself the teachings implanted in him by Odin, who came to him
as an Archangel. He should make himself a son of Odin. He should take
part in the battle and that right soon. The Initiate, the leader of
the Esoteric School, makes that clear, particularly to the Northman,
by indicating the divine spiritual Being Who appears to us so
mysteriously, Who really plays a definite part only in the ‘Twilight
of the Gods’ because he overcomes even that power by which Odin
himself is overcome. The avenger of Odin is given a special rôle and
he plays it in the Twilight of the Gods. When we understand this rôle
we shall then see the wonderful connection between the capacities of
the Germanic Scandinavians and that which we can conceive as the
Vision of the Future. All this is expressed in a wonderful way, down
to the very smallest details, in the great vision of ‘The
Twilight of the Gods.’
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