LECTURE NINE:
Loki — Hodur
and Baldur — Twilight of the Gods.
[ Study Guide: Souls of the Nations — Ninth Lecture ]
Those members of the
audience who wish to analyse from a philosophical point of view my
lecture of yesterday might meet perhaps with difficulties, apparent
difficulties, because they will have heard in the course of earlier
talks on similar themes that the purpose of our entire post-Atlantean
epoch and even of the later stages of Atlantean evolution was to
develop gradually the human ego and bring it to fuller consciousness.
In this context I have indicated that the members of the ancient
Indian civilization who had been able in Atlantis to perceive the
spiritual world by means of the old clairvoyance still prevalent at
that time were in some respects the very first who experienced an
immediate transition from this clairvoyant state to a consciousness
of the physical world. Their reaction to this physical world was such
that the whole of this post-Atlantean age was pervaded by the feeling
that true reality was to be found in the spiritual world, whilst the
phenomenal world was merely Maya or illusion. Now I pointed out in
our last lecture — and the facts confirm this — that the
members of this ancient Indian civilization had to some extent
undergone a rich soul-development and that they had achieved this
high level whilst their ego was more or less asleep, that is to say,
that they only awoke to ego consciousness after they had already
reached maturity of soul development.
What,
then, was the destiny of these Indian peoples meanwhile? For the
Indian peoples must have experienced their entire soul-development in
a wholly different manner from the European and especially the
Germanic peoples who were ego-conscious whilst their capacities were
gradually evolving and who were conscious of the divine-spiritual
power working into their souls. You may possibly find it difficult to
reconcile my statements in yesterday's lecture if you were to
reflect upon that lecture philosophically. For those who wish to
analyse that lecture, not from a disinterested point of view, but
from a philosophical angle, I must add something in parenthesis by
way of explanation.
The
apparent contradiction will resolve itself at once if you recall that
cognition of the ego is totally different from other forms of
cognition. If the ego “knows” any other object or other
human being distinct from itself, then in the act of cognition one is
really dealing with two factors, with the knower, the cognizing
agent, and the known. In the formal act of cognition it is irrelevant
whether that which is known is human being, animal, tree or stone.
But it is a different matter when the ego knows itself, for then the
knower and the known are one, subject and object of cognition are the
same. It is important to realize that in human evolution, in the
development of the individual, these two modes of cognition are
distinct. Those who had developed the mature Indian culture in the
post-Atlantean epoch, developed the ‘I’ subjectively as
the knower, a cognizing agent, and this subjective enhancement of the
‘I’ within the human soul may exist for a long time
before man acquires the power to see the ‘I’ objectively
as an entity. On the other hand, the European peoples developed
comparatively early, whilst they still preserved the old
clairvoyance, the power to see the ‘I’ objectively, that
is to say, in their clairvoyant field of vision they perceived the
‘I’ as an entity amongst other entities. If you
distinguish carefully between these modes of perception your
philosophical problems will be solved and those of Spiritual Science
too, if you approach them in the right way. If you wish me to express
it in philosophical terms: the Indian culture exhibits a soul which
reached the full flowering of the subjective ‘I’ long
before the objective ‘I’ was developed. The Teutonic
peoples developed the perception of the ‘I’ long before
they became conscious of the real inner striving towards the ‘I’.
Clairvoyantly they saw the dawning of their ego in an imaginative
picture. In the astral world around them they had long seen the ‘I’
objectively amongst 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 in particular
was destined to associate this ‘I’ of man with the other
higher Beings, the Angels and Archangels, in the way I pointed out
yesterday in relation to mythology.
If
you bear this in mind you will realize that Europe was destined to
relate the ego in a multiplicity of ways to the world perceptible to
the senses and that the ego, the fundamental essence of the human
being, can enter into the most varied relationship with the external
world. Formerly, before man was aware of his ego, before he perceived
it, these relationships were determined for him by the higher Beings
and he himself remained a passive instrument. His relationship to the
external world was a purely instinctive one. The decisive factor in
the development of the ego is that it should progressively determine
its relationship to the external world. Substantially it was the task
of the European nations to determine 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 European man how
to bring his ‘I’ into relation with the external world,
with other egos and with the world of spiritual Beings, so that on
the whole it was within European civilization that one first began to
speak of the relationship of the human ego to the surrounding
universe. Hence the completely different atmosphere in the old Indian
cosmology from that prevailing in the mythological culture of Europe.
In the East everything is impersonal, and, above all one is required
to adopt a passive attitude towards knowledge, to suppress the ego in
order to become merged in Brahma and to find Atman within oneself. In
the East, therefore, the primary objective is to lose one's
identity and seek union with the Absolute. In Europe this human ‘I’
occupies a central place in human life in accordance with its
original innate tendencies and with its progressive development in
the course of evolution. In Europe, therefore, particular attention
is given to seeing everything in relation to the ‘I’, to
showing clairvoyantly the relationship of the ‘I’ to
everything that had participated in the development of the ‘I’
in the course of earthly existence.
Now
you all know that two opposing forces have participated in the
development of terrestrial man who was destined gradually to acquire
his ‘I’. Ever since the Lemurian epoch Luciferic forces
have imprinted themselves upon the inner being of man, upon his
astral body. You know that these forces made man's inner life
the focal point of attack by infiltrating into his desires, impulses
and passions. In consequence, man benefited in two ways: he was able
to become a free and independent being, to be fired with enthusiasm
for what he thinks, feels and wills, whereas in relation to his own
affairs he was guided by divine spiritual Beings. But on the other
hand, through the Luciferic powers, man had to accept the possibility
of falling into evil through his passions, emotions and desires.
Lucifer, therefore, is omnipresent in our Earth-existence and finds
his point of attack in the inner being of man, in the play of the
human astral. Where the astral has been integrated with the ego, the
ego too has been permeated by the Luciferic power. When therefore we
speak of Lucifer, we are speaking of that which has thrust man down
deeper into material, sensory existence than would have been the case
without that influence. Thus to the Luciferic powers we owe the most
precious boon to man, namely, freedom, and, at the same time a
dangerous legacy, the possibility of evil.
But
we also know that because these Luciferic powers had intervened in
the entire constitution of human nature, other powers were able to
enter later on, which could not have done so had not Lucifer first
invaded the human organism. Man would see the world differently if he
had not fallen under the influence of Lucifer and his followers, if
he had not been obliged to submit to the influence of another power
after he had opened himself to the invasion of a Luciferic power.
Ahriman approached from outside and penetrated into the vast arena of
the phenomenal world surrounding man, so that the Ahrimanic influence
is therefore a consequence of the Luciferic influence. Lucifer, as it
were, takes possession of man from within and in consequence he is
the victim of Ahriman who works from without.
The
spiritual science of all ages that is familiar with the real facts,
speaks of both Luciferic and Ahrimanic powers. It will seem very
remarkable to you that the various peoples who express these views in
the form of mythology are not always aware of Lucifer and Ahriman to
the same extent. For instance, there is no clear awareness of this in
a religious conception built up out of the whole Semitic tradition as
embodied in the Old Testament. Only a certain consciousness of the
Luciferic influence can be found there. You will find evidence for
this in the Old Testament account of the Serpent which is simply a
picture of Lucifer. And this shows that there was a clear realization
that Lucifer played a part in evolution, a realization that is
undeniably present in all traditions associated with the Bible. But
they do not betray an awareness of the Ahrimanic influence to the
same extent; that is only to be found where spiritual science is
taught. Therefore the Gospel writers have taken this into account.
You will find — for at the time when the Gospels were written
the word ‘devil’ or ‘daemon’ was borrowed
from the Greek — that St. Mark's Gospel does not speak of
the temptation of Jesus, but of a devil tempting Him; but in all
references to Ahriman the word Satan is used. But who notices the
important difference between these descriptions in the Gospel of St.
Mark and that of St. Matthew? Exoterically these fine distinctions
are not heeded at all, nor is this difference noted in external
traditions.
This
difference is very apparent in the contrast between India and Persia
and is strikingly illustrated at a certain moment in history. The
Persians were less subject to the Luciferic influence than the
Ahrimanic. It was in Persia in particular that men wrestled with the
powers which give us an external, false Picture of the world and
which surround us with the forces of darkness, i.e. that which is
concerned with man's relation to the external world. Ahriman is
known chiefly as an opponent of the Good and as an enemy of the
Light. What is the explanation of this? The explanation is that in
the second post-Atlantean epoch man developed his perception of the
external world. Remember that the task of Zoroaster was to reveal the
Sun Spirit, the Spirit of Light. He has first to show that this world
is compounded of Light and the Spirit of Darkness who dims our
consciousness of the external world. The Persian aims primarily at
the conquest of Ahriman and strives to unite himself with the
Children of Light, the Spirits who are here the dominant Powers. He
is organized for activity in the external world; hence he has his
Ahuras or Asuras. It is, on the other hand, dangerous for the
followers of the Persian religion to look inwards, to follow the
inward path. Where the Luciferic powers are lurking he will not allow
himself to become aware of the good powers which are present there:
he senses danger. He directs his gaze outwards and believes the
Asuras of Light to be in opposition to the Asuras of Darkness.
At
this time the Indians pursued exactly the opposite course. They lived
in a period when they endeavoured to raise themselves into the higher
spheres by inner contemplation. They sought salvation by uniting
themselves with the forces of inner vision. It was dangerous; they
felt, to look out into the external world where they might have to
wrestle with Ahriman. They feared the external world and regarded it
as dangerous. Whereas the Persians eschewed the Devas, the Indians
looked up to them and wanted to work in their domain. But the
Persians turned away and avoided the region where the battle against
Lucifer had to be fought.
Search
as you will through the many different mythologies and conceptions of
the world, in none of them will you find such a clear and profound
awareness of the fact that there are two influences at work on man as
in Teutonic mythology. As Nordic man was still clairvoyant, he really
saw these two powers and took up a position midway between them. He
said to himself in the course of his evolution man has seen the
advent of certain powers which penetrated into his inner being and
worked upon his astral body; they operated from without. And because
he was destined to develop the ‘I’, to achieve
independence, he sensed not merely the possibility of evil, but, in
these powers which permeated his astral body in order to bring
freedom and independence, he felt above all the aspiration to
freedom. He felt, one might say, the rebellious element manifesting
itself in these forces. He felt the presence of the Luciferic element
in the power which in these Scandinavian and Germanic regions even
then still participated in the creation of races, in that it gave man
his external form and pigmentation and made him an independent,
active being in the world. With his clairvoyance Nordic man felt
Lucifer to be primarily that which makes man a free being, one who is
not prepared to submit passively to random external powers, but is
solid and reliant and is determined to act independently. Nordic man
felt this Luciferic influence to be beneficial.
But
he now realized that something else stemmed from this influence.
Lucifer conceals himself behind the figure of Loki who has a
remarkably iridescent form. Because Nordic man could perceive the
reality, he saw that the thoughts of the freedom and independence of
man could be traced to Loki. Through the old clairvoyance, however,
he was also aware that that which repeatedly drags man down through
his desires and actions and causes him to suffer a greater
deterioration of his whole being than would have befallen him had he
devoted himself to Odin and the Aesir, is to be attributed to the
influence of Loki. And now he felt the awful grandeur of this
Teutonic mythology; he felt with passionate conviction that which
will only return gradually to the consciousness of man through
Spiritual Science.
How,
then, does the Luciferic influence act? It penetrates into the astral
body and thus is able to work upon all the three members of man, upon
his astral, etheric and physical bodies. At the present day one can
only give indications of this Luciferic influence outside the
Anthroposophical Society. What you will come to 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.
It
begets in the etheric body the urge to falsehood and lying. Lies and
falsehood are not limited to the inner life of man. In the astral
body, the vehicle of man's inner life, the self is permeated
with a Luciferic influence which takes the form of selfishness. The
etheric body is inwardly motivated by the impulse to be untruthful
and is thus disposed to lying. In the physical body the Luciferic
influence begets sickness and death. Those who were present at my
last series of lectures will easily understand that. [
Manifestations of Karma.
Eleven lectures given in Hamburg, May
1910 (Rudolf Steiner Press).] I should like to
emphasize once again that the signs and symptoms of physical death
are karmically connected with the Luciferic influence. To
recapitulate again briefly: Lucifer begets in the astral body
selfishness, in the etheric body lying and falsehood, and in the
physical body sickness and death.
Of
course the materialists of the present day will be greatly surprised
to learn that Spiritual Science attributes sickness and death to a
Luciferic influence. But this too is connected with Karma. But for
the Luciferic influence man would never have known sickness and
death. The karmic effect of this influence is that man is more deeply
immersed in corporeality and, on the other hand, the penalty for this
is sickness and death.
We
may say that when the Luciferic influence entered into man, the
physical, etheric and astral bodies became a prey to sickness and
death, lying, falsehood and selfishness. I should like to draw your
attention to the fact that the materialistic scientists of today
assign death in the human being or in the animal or plant to the same
cause. They fail to realize that one external appearance may resemble
another and yet may originate from totally different causes.
An
external situation may arise from a variety of causes. The death of
an animal does not supervene from the same cause as the death of a
man, although externally it gives the same impression.
It
would take too long to provide an epistemological proof of these
things. I only wish to state here that the scientific view of
causality is sadly mistaken. We meet with mistakes such as these,
which arise from muddled thinking, at almost every turn. Imagine the
case of a man, who climbs onto a roof, falls down, is mortally
injured and is picked up dead. What would be more natural than to
say: “The man fell down, was mortally injured and died of his
injuries.” But there might have been a totally different
explanation. The man might have had a stroke whilst on the roof and
have fallen down while already dead. The injuries might have been
caused by the fall, so that externally this case might appear the
same as the one described before, but death would have supervened
from an entirely different cause.
This
is a very crude example, but scientists are very frequently guilty of
this kind of mistake. Externally the real facts may often be exactly
the same: the inner causes may be completely different.
We
claim, then, from the results of spiritual-scientific investigation
that the Luciferic influence begets in the astral body selfishness,
in the etheric body lying and falsehood and in the physical body
sickness and death. Now what would the Teutonic mythology have had to
say if it had been obliged to ascribe this threefold influence to
Loki, to Lucifer? It would have had to say that Loki has three
offspring. The first, the one who begets selfishness, is the Midgard
Snake through whom is expressed the influence of the Luciferic spirit
on the astral body. The second is that which falsifies human
knowledge. In man, on the physical plane, this consists in those
things of the mind which do not accord with the external world. It is
that which has no validity there. To Nordic man who lived more on the
astral plane, that which to us is an illusion manifested itself at
once as an astral being and lived as such upon the astral plane. The
expression for everything that implied darkening of the light of
truth, false perspective, was some kind of animal; and here in the
North it was chiefly the Fenris Wolf. This second animal is Loki's
influence on the etheric body to which man owes his inner inclination
to deceive himself, to think incorrectly about things; that is to
say, the objects in the external world do not appear to him in true
perspective. This was generally expressed in the old Teutonic
mythology in the form of a wolf. That is the astral form for lying
and falsehood which proceeds from inner impulse.
Where
man is related to the external world Lucifer confronts Ahriman, so
that the infiltration of error into his knowledge — even into
his clairvoyant knowledge — all illusion and maya, is the
consequence of the tendency to falsehood which is active there. The
Fenris Wolf represents the configuration surrounding man because he
does not see things in their true form. Whenever the ancient Teutons
experienced the darkening of the light of truth, they spoke of a
wolf. This permeates the whole of Nordic consciousness and you will
find that this image is used in this sense even in relation to
external facts.
When
the ancient Teutons wanted to explain what they saw during an eclipse
of the Sun — in the epoch of the old clairvoyance of course,
man saw very differently from the man of today who uses a telescope —
they chose the image of a wolf pursuing the Sun and who, the moment
he overtakes it, causes an eclipse. This agrees perfectly with the
facts. This terminology is an integral part of the grandeur, that
awful grandeur peculiar to Teutonic mythology. I can only give
indications here, but if it were possible to speak for weeks on end
upon this Teutonic mythology, you would then see how this is
universally applied in the representations of Teutonic mythology.
This is because Teutonic mythology is a consequence of the old
clairvoyance into which the ‘I’ plays everywhere.
Materialists
of today will reply that this is pure superstition, that there is no
wolf in pursuit of the Sun. The old imaginative Nordic man sees these
facts in the form of pictures and I could perhaps enumerate many
so-called scientific truths which contain more Ahrimanic influence, a
greater degree of error, than the corresponding astral perception
which describes the wolf in pursuit of the Sun. That an eclipse
occurs because the Moon interposes itself between the Earth and the
Sun seems to the occultist to betray a mind that is even more
superstitious. From the external point of view the explanation of the
eclipse is perfectly correct, just as the case of the wolf is
perfectly correct from the astral point of view. In fact the astral
view is more correct than the one you will find in modern textbooks,
which is even more subject to error. If at some future time man is
prepared to accept the real facts instead of this external
explanation, he will find that the Teutonic myth is correct. I am
aware that I am saying something which is ridiculously absurd in the
eyes of contemporary man, but I know too that in anthroposophical
circles one is already sufficiently advanced to be in a position to
show in which respects the physical view of the world is most
influenced by maya, deception or illusion.
Let
us now turn to the influence of Loki on the physical body. His third
offspring is Hel, who begets sickness and death. Thus the figures
Hel, the Fenris Wolf and the Midgard Snake are wonderful
representations of the influence of Loki or Lucifer in the form in
which his influence was perceived by the old dreamlike clairvoyance.
If we were to follow out 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 that what the
clairvoyant sees are not allegories, but real Beings.
| Diagram 5 Click image for large view | |
Now
Nordic man was not only aware of Loki, of the Luciferic influence,
but also of the influence of Ahriman which was the polar opposite,
and he knew too that involvement in the Ahrimanic influence was a
consequence of the Luciferic influence. If you now look back to the
time when man did not apprehend the world through sensory perception
but contemplated it with the old clairvoyance, you will find that
this myth has been developed in response to this clairvoyance. What
does the myth say? Man has succumbed to the influence of Loki, and
this is expressed in the activity of the Midgard Snake, the Fenris
Wolf and Hel. The effect was such that man's perception, his
clear, luminous vision into the spiritual world, became dimmed,
because the Luciferic influence increasingly asserted itself. At that
time, when this view developed, man alternated between a
consciousness that was able to see into the spiritual world and a
consciousness that was directed to the physical plane, just as we
normally alternate 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 had its source in the
clairvoyant consciousness. But human consciousness consisted in this
alteration between insight into, and loss of insight into the
spiritual world. When man lived in a condition of dreamlike
consciousness he saw into the spiritual world. When in a condition of
waking consciousness, he was blind to it. Thus he alternated between
the conditions of blindness to, and insight into, the spiritual
world. His consciousness alternated just as a certain Cosmic Being
alternated between the blind Hödur and the clairvoyant Baldur,
who could see into the spiritual world. Thus man was predisposed to
receive Baldur's influence and he would have developed in
accordance with this influence if he had not been subject to Loki's
influence. It was Loki's responsibility, however, that the
Hodur nature overcame the Baldur nature. This is expressed by Loki
bringing the mistletoe, with which the blind Hodur kills Baldur, the
one who sees.
Loki
therefore is the destructive power, like Lucifer who drove man into
the arms of Ahriman. In so far as man submits to the blind Hodur, the
old clairvoyant vision is extinguished. That is the slaying of
Baldur. This is felt by Nordic man as the gradual extinction of the
Baldur power, the loss of the vision into the spiritual world. Thus,
in the loss of clairvoyance, Nordic man felt that by the death of
Baldur Loki had extinguished clairvoyance and that henceforth he was
powerless to revive this erstwhile clairvoyance. Thus one of the
greatest historical events, the gradual loss of the old, unclouded
knowledge is expressed in the myth of Baldur, Hödur and Loki. On
the one hand, therefore, we have Loki with his kinsmen, the three
Beings, and on the other, the tragic slaying of Baldur.
Thus,
in Teutonic mythology, is reflected that which we can derive from
Spiritual Science: the twofold influence — the Luciferic and
the Ahrimanic. It is this which Spiritual Science always seeks to
present to you as an illustration of the clairvoyant knowledge of
ancient times and as a development of the myth out of the old
clairvoyance which then gradually began to disappear.
It
would take us too far if we were to pursue this subject further. But
even in the broad outline I have presented to you, you can feel the
awful grandeur of this myth, which is unsurpassed, 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 sculptural form. Greek mythology has no longer that
direct association with the facts which one finds in Teutonic
mythology. It is more sophisticated, more mature, the figures show
more clearly defined, more finished contours, and therefore appear
markedly sculptural. They have lost the primitive simplicity of the
earliest impressions. The old clairvoyance which had long vanished in
the rest of Europe still survived in the North. Only slowly, step by
step, has the perspective of man become limited to the picture of the
physical world alone. Thus, at the time when Christianity began to
spread abroad, that which is expressed in the Baldur myth, in the
death of Baldur, had become true for the majority of men. There were,
however, still a few who were able to perceive directly what Nordic
man experienced clairvoyantly.
Thus
for a long time there still existed the direct perception of the
spiritual world, and because it was still so elemental and sprang so
directly from clairvoyant experience, there still survived, when
Christianity began to spread abroad, this conscious awareness of the
spiritual world which was more developed in the Teutonic peoples than
in any other. Then they felt that their erstwhile experiences of
their original spiritual home were vanishing. And these spiritual
experiences were lost when Nordic man received the consolations of
Christianity. But Christianity did not offer him any direct vision.
He had felt the fate of Baldur much too deeply to be able to console
himself for this loss by exchanging Baldur for a God who had
descended to the physical plane in order that the children of men who
could only perceive on the physical plane, may also be allowed to
rise to a consciousness of God. Unlike the peoples of the Near East
the Northern peoples were unable to respond to the words: “Change
your mental attitude, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” In
Palestine where Christ was born, there existed only long-lost
memories of the fact that once upon a time there had been an old
clairvoyance. In the East, the Kali Yuga, the Dark Age, had already
lasted for three thousand years, when men could no longer see into
the spiritual world. But they always yearned for that world and have
ever told of a world which man was once able to perceive 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 the men of the North, and they only knew from memory that the
spiritual world had once been within reach. Hence the peoples of Asia
Minor could well understand the words: “Change your mental
attitude for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” They could
understand the words: “The Kingdom of Heaven is nigh unto you
even here upon the physical plane. Seek ye therefore the unique
figure who will appear in the land of Palestine, seek ye the Messiah,
the Incarnation of the Godhead, through whom you too will be able to
find your relation to the Divine, even though you cannot raise
yourself above the physical plane. Recognize that Figure in
Palestine, know the Figure of Christ!” Those were the profound
words of John the Baptist.
The
Nordic man, of necessity, felt this differently; for a longer period
of time he had experienced much more than the mere memory of a vision
into the spiritual world. Hence there arose in him a thought of
far-reaching importance, namely: this limitation to the outer
physical plane, this darkening of spiritual sight, can only be an
intermediate time. There must be a period of probation and man will
have to discover what the physical world can teach him. This
transition is necessary and he must therefore withdraw from the
spiritual world. He must undergo the experience of the phenomenal
world as a necessary training. But through this period of probation
he will find his way back to that world whence he came. The vision of
Baldur will be able to ensoul him again. In other words, the great
truth which dawned in the course of the evolution of the Teutonic
peoples that the world which was lost to clairvoyant vision would
again become visible, he owed to the fact that man felt his sojourn
on the physical plane to be a time of transition.
The
Initiates had taught Nordic man that a change was taking place in the
spiritual world during the intermediate time when he had lost the
vision of the spiritual world and in consequence it would one day
appear transformed. They explained this to him somewhat as follows:
“Formerly you looked into the spiritual world and there you saw
the Archangel of Speech, the Archangel of the Runes, Odin,
[See
Appendix.]
the Archangel of Respiration, and
Thor, the Angel of Ego-hood. You were associated with them, and he
who is sufficiently prepared will be able to enter the spiritual
world again. But it will then appear different; other powers will
have been added to it, and the spheres of power and the relationships
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 find
it transformed.”
What
man will then see, the Initiates described to him as a vision of the
future — the Vision that will one day appear to man when he is
able to see into the spiritual world again, when he will see what has
been the destiny of the old Gods and what was their relation to other
powers. They described to him this vision of the future as seen by
the Initiates when the Luciferic influence will to some extent
override that which comes from the Gods and will, in its turn, be
overcome. This was their vision of Ragnarok, the Twilight of the
Gods. And again we shall see that all the events which were portrayed
as future events could not, even down to the smallest details, be
portrayed better or more aptly, nor in more fitting terminology than
in the wonderful picture of the Twilight of the Gods. That is the
occult background to the Saga of the Twilight of the Gods.
In
what light, then, should man see himself? He should see himself as
one who has received all that stems from earlier epochs as the origin
and cause of his evolution. He should thoughtfully assimilate what he
received as a gift from Odin, whilst feeling that he himself has
undergone the ensuing evolution. He should receive into himself the
teaching implanted in him by Odin. He should fight the good fight
without delay. The Initiate, the Leader of the Esoteric School, makes
that clear, particularly to Nordic man, by calling our attention to
the divine-spiritual Being who appears to us so mysteriously, who in
fact first plays a definite part in the Twilight of the Gods because
he overcomes even that power by which Odin is at first overcome. In
the Twilight of the Gods the role of Odin's avenger is a
special role. When we understand this role we shall then perceive the
wonderful connection between the native talents of the Teutonic
peoples and our conception of our vision of the future. All this is
expressed in a wonderful way, down to the smallest details in the
mighty vision of the Twilight of the Gods.
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