ESOTERIC
CHRISTIANITY Lecture by Rudolf Steiner Dusseldorf, 27th
November, 1906
The time has now
come to make known in wider circles that which has been spoken of
throughout the history of the evolution of mankind under the name of
the Mysteries or Mysticism, the so-called Esoteric Wisdom.
For in the soul of
man, behind what comes to the light of day lies a deeper wisdom which
has hitherto remained unknown to mankind in general.
Let us be quite
clear what it is men have always understood by the term “Mysteries”
or the “esoteric.” All that has been brought about in the
world through civilisation goes back ultimately to a few great
personalities, a few leading individuals. For example, a construction
like the Simplon tunnel can be traced back to the mental work of
great individuals, who were not themselves directly concerned with
the building of the tunnel but who made it possible, by their
Intellectual discoveries, for others to build it.
The “practical”
man would perhaps be of the opinion that such things are accomplished
by an activity that is purely external. It would be the very greatest
mistake to accede to such an opinion. Neither the engineers who
conceived the plan, nor the workmen who carried it out, are the
spiritual originators. If it were not for what is called Higher
Mathematics as elaborated by Leibnitz, Newton and others, such works
could never be there at all. These thinkers were necessary in order
to bring into being what is called “technics.” If we go
to the root of the matter, we shall find that such works could never
have been achieved, nor any goods have been manufactured, without the
soul of the Thinker.
If this is so with
regard to the outer materialistic culture, it is true in still
greater measure of the spiritual currents that flow through human
history.
All the Religion and
all the Art that has ever been brought to mankind, all the Justice
that has ever borne rule in states, all the order and Morality that
has lived among men leads back to great Initiates, leads back to
hidden sources of Wisdom. This is what we find when we set out to
look for the deeper origin of things.
Consider the works
of Art which have succeeded each other through the centuries, and you
will find that they can all be traced back to deeper sources. Whether
we take a poet like Dante, or a mind and spirit like Goethe's, or a
painter such as Raphael, or again some great religious event in
history — all moral and religious streams, all art and all
science, lead back into the hidden places, where was cultivated in
secret that which is known as Mysticism or Esotericism.
And as with all
other religions so with Christianity too we find its foundations in
the esoteric. It is only an evidence of shortsightedness when the
objection is raised, that Christianity is for simple hearts and
should speak to the feelings and be comprehensible for all. That is a
very shortsighted view. All religions, it is true, ultimately
clothe their truths in sentences so full of power and impulse that no
soul is too simple to receive them. What emerges finally, however, in
this simple form, has its origin in the heights, with the
so-called Initiates.
Throughout history
there have always been Initiates. In ancient India it was the Rishis
who taught a primeval Wisdom. In Persia Zarathustra was the teacher
of Wisdom. We look to Greece, to Egypt, to Rome, everywhere we find
to begin with, a religion of the people, but standing in the midst of
the people are always those who may be called spiritual “Giants,”
unknown to mankind by name. These are they who formed themselves into
occult brotherhoods. Whosoever wished to be accepted into such a
brotherhood had to undergo a strict and severe probation. The
probation had no immediate relation to the intellectual life. It was
far more a question of a man's wrestling his way through to an inner
freedom of character, where feelings and passions had no power
with him. Then he had to learn not to misuse his knowledge. Men who
had passed through severe trials and tests of this nature became
missionaries to the rest of mankind. They were not allowed to have
any other feeling or purpose in their heart, save only this —
to serve and help mankind. They had to be men who would make real the
words — “He who would be first among you, let him be the
servant of all” — And in intellectual striving also they
must never lag behind but always press on to find the Higher Truths.
Today it is
frequently said to one who believes in the possibility of knowing the
Spiritual Worlds: But we human beings have boundaries to our
knowledge. But inside the Mystery circles it was said: Thou has
capabilities which slumber in thee; if thou develop them, then canst
thou strive through to a Higher Knowledge.
The development a
man was enabled to undergo by the training of his inner talents and
capacities was called in the Mystery Centres a Second Birth.
It was said that such a one experienced on a higher plane what a man
born blind experiences here in the world of the senses when he has
undergone an operation and can see. This “operation” on
the soul, the re-birth in the Spirit, was performed for the Mystics
in the Mysteries.
That which was
called in the Mysteries the Kingdom of Heaven, into which the Mystic
was led, was not in some other place. The Kingdom of the Spiritual
World is here where man is. As many worlds are around us as we have
ability to realize and grasp. It was no dry and abstract Wisdom that
was received in the Mysteries, but a Wisdom which was at the same
time Religion and Art.
In the Mysteries of
Greece the spiritual eye of the Mystic was opened. It was shown to
him how once in primeval times man had been half animal and how the
soul had striven upwards to that stage of humanity upon which he now
beheld himself. Three stages were shown to him. He saw first forms as
they lived in a very distant evolution of mankind, then forms half
animal and half man, and finally perfect human forms. These three
types of the evolution of mankind stood before him in the Greek
Mysteries and they found their expression in Greek sculpture. There
was (1) the Zeus type, with the straight nose and with the
eyes rounded out upwards; (2) the type of the God Mercury with
woolly hair and snub nose; and (3) the type of the Satyr, with
quite different eyes, different nose and different corners to the
mouth. These three types stand before us in Greek art as an image of
the stages of the evolution of mankind. At another time it was shown
to the Mystic how the God himself descended into nature, how he
evolved upwards through the mineral kingdom, plant kingdom and animal
kingdom to the human kingdom and was then born anew out of the human
heart. That was called the descent of the God, his Resurrection and
his Ascension. The whole process was represented in the Greek drama.
All that was represented in the drama came originally from the
Mysteries.
Just as the trunk of
the tree divides itself into different branches, so did religion,
science and art become divided in the Mysteries. The ancient
Mysteries which were celebrated in Greece — the Eleusinian —
and the Mysteries of the Egyptian Priest-wisdom were called Mysteries
of the Spirit. Those who stood high in these Mysteries as
teachers and leaders had attained to the spiritual worlds; they
associated with Spirits, they had intercourse with Spiritual Beings.
Iamblichus shows us how the Gods descended in the Mysteries. Only
after moral purification, and only when the intellect had been made
clear and lucid, could one obtain admission into these places of
wisdom.
This is how it was
in the ancient heathen times, in the times of the Mysteries of the
Spirit. Never without the most wonderful enthusiasm and the most
inward devotion did the Mystics speak of that which could be
experienced in the Mystery-schools. Aristides speaks thus: “I
thought I touched the God and felt him near, I myself being at the
time in a condition between waking and sleeping. My spirit was light,
so as none can describe or realise who has not himself been
initiated.” And in another passage he says: “It was as if
the Spiritual World flowed and poured around me.” Plutarch
says, “He who had received initiation in these Mysteries
greeted the Godhead with the greeting of eternity.” Whoever had
had this experience was called “re-born.”
We must now say a
little about what formed the last act in every such Initiation into
the Mysteries of the Spirit.
There had first to
be the moral purification and the clarifying of the intellect. Then
the pupil must learn to see with the eyes of the Spirit. Behind
the consciousness which accompanies us through the waking condition,
there is another consciousness. This consciousness does not sink into
complete darkness when man falls asleep. Man remains conscious at
night, he is there present. But the consciousness which accompanies
him from morning until evening, that does not remain. There is
however a way of overcoming the unconsciousness man has in sleep;
there are methods whereby this end can be attained. By a culture of
the soul which brings about certain intimate processes in the
innermost being of the soul, man can win through to the possibility
of finding new revelations in his dream life; he can experience
things which he recognises in another way than with the eyes and ears
of the senses. It is immaterial whether a man recognizes the truth in
sleep or by day when awake; in either case he must learn to carry
over into reality the world which he there experiences. When in
this way he has come into the position of being able to see the
Spiritual in the whole world, then he has attained the first stage
of initiation.
At the second
stage he has an experience which is like living in a flowing
ocean of colour. At this stage there is a higher initiation; a
consciousness is developed wherein is revealed to him a still higher
Spiritual world. Today in ordinary life man is not capable of
awakening the consciousness which lies behind the physical world.
In the last act
of the Mysteries of the Spirit the pupil was put into a kind of
sleep. Care had been taken in the preparation that when the day
consciousness sank down, consciousness did not cease. For three days
and three nights the man lay in another state of consciousness in the
Mystery temple, citizen and participator in another world. Then he
was awakened by the Priest. He received a new name. He was an
Initiate, he had been “born again.” One could say of the
Mysteries of the Spirit: “Blessed are they who have experienced
them, blessed are they who now behold in the Mysteries of the
Spirit.”
At the time of
Christ Jesus, to the Mysteries of the Spirit were added the Mysteries
of the Son, and these have been ever since the time of Christ.
The Mysteries of the Father — the Mysteries of the
Future — are only cultivated in a very small circle. The
Mysteries of the Son are cultivated in the Rosicrucian Mystery which
is also Christian, for those who require a Christianity that is armed
to meet all Wisdom.
Today we will
concern ourselves with the Mysteries of the Son, and see how they
differ from the ancient heathen Mysteries. If we would grasp what a
mighty step forward has been taken by the coming of Christianity, we
must learn to understand two important utterances. The one is:
“Blessed are they who believe, even when they do not see,”
and the other: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” If
we comprehend these utterances in all their depth, then we understand
the very foundation of Christianity.
Whilst to the world
at large Paul spoke in powerful kindling words, he also gave
teachings to his intimate pupils which were transmitted first by word
of mouth and then in writing, teachings that are connected with the
name of Dionysius, who was known as Dionysius “The Areopagite.”
We have here to do with something founded by Saint Paul himself,
wherein was proclaimed the deepest wisdom. These teachings of Saint
Paul were written down for the first time in the sixth century, in
the writings of the so-called Pseudo-Dionysius. It is not so much the
historical fact, but the content of these documents which is of
interest for us.
An esoteric
Christianity does exist. This is not admitted in certain circles,
with the result that a peculiar place has been assigned to the Saint
John Gospel. The Saint John Gospel is looked upon by theologians as a
book which emanated out of poetic genius. They have however no
understanding for what the Saint John Gospel means.
Whereas the three
other evangelists relate the exoteric. Saint John relates what he
experiences as an initiated seer, who could look into the Spiritual
worlds. The writer of the Saint John Gospel wrote from the point of
view of an initiate. Whoever looks upon it as a book that one should
read and understand in the same way as one reads and understands any
other book knows nothing of the Saint John Gospel. He alone has
knowledge of it who can experience it. Most translators do not render
the Spirit of it at all.
The first words of
this Gospel, rightly translated, sound as follows:
In the primeval
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and with God was
the Word.
The same was in the
primeval beginning with God.
All things were
made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was the Life
and the Life was the Light of men.
And the Light
shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.
There was a man
sent from God whose name was John.
The same came for a
witness to bear witness of the Light, that all might believe on it.
He was not the
Light, but a witness of the Light.
For the true Light
which lighteth every man, was to come into the world.
It was in the
world, and the world was made by It, but the world knew It not.
It came into each
individual man (even into the ‘I’ man It came) but the
individual man (the ‘I’ man) did not receive It.
Those who did
receive It, through It they could reveal themselves as Children of
God.
They who trusted in
His Name were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of human will, but of God.
And the Word became
Flesh and dwelt among us and we have heard His Teaching, the
Teaching of the only Son of the Father, filled with Grace and Truth.
These words with
their mighty content — one should not take them and speculate
over them, but rather allow them to work upon one in the same manner
as countless human beings have done through the centuries. Early in
the morning when the soul was still virginal, they have let these
words resound in their soul, up to the passage: “And the Word
become Flesh and lived among us ...” as above.
When a man does this
day by day, then something shows itself in the soul which gives him
new life, he is reborn, he is spiritually transformed. He sees around
him a spiritual world of which he had previously no idea.
Everyone who takes
the first verses of the Saint John Gospel and lets them work upon him
for the education and training of his soul, experiences the Saint
John Gospel itself in mighty pictures.
There before his
spiritual sight stands John the Baptist, as he baptises the Christ;
there he sees the picture of Nicodemus, as he has his conversation
with the Christ. He sees how Christ cleanses the Temple, he has
before him all the following scenes of the Saint John Gospel, he
experiences the “stations” from the thirteenth chapter
onwards.
In order for the
pupil to receive aright the influence of these words and find the
‘word’ which is proclaimed by the Saint John Gospel, the
teacher spoke as follows: “Thou must fill thy soul for weeks at
a time with this one feeling. Think of the plant. It is rooted in the
dead stone. If it had consciousness, it would have to bow down to the
dead stone and say to it: ‘Without thee I could not live; out
of thee I drew nourishment and strength: I owe to thee my being, I
thank thee.’ The animal would have to speak in similar words to
the plant: ‘Without thee I could not live, I incline myself
towards thee in thankfulness, because out of thee I draw that which I
require for my existence.’ And it is the same with all the
kingdom. Man, who has attained to a higher stage of evolution, must
also bow down, as the plant to the stone, to those who work for him,
and thank them.” He who would become a Christian Initiate must
develop this feeling during a period of many weeks — the
feeling that he owes gratitude to him who stands beneath him. Then he
experiences in the spirit the thirteenth chapter of the Saint John
Gospel where this feeling is given sublime and eternal expression by
Christ in the Washing of the Feet. Christ means to say: “Without
you I could not be, I incline myself to you as the plant to the
stone.” As an outer symbol the Initiate experienced at this
stage a feeling as if water were flowing around his feet. It
continued for a long time.
When he had gone
through this, the Christian Mystic could experience the next stage of
initiation. For this he must cultivate the power to endure all the
storms and stresses of life. Then he experienced a second picture. He
saw himself scourged, and could feel in his own body something like
pain at certain points. This went on for many weeks. He experienced
the scourging.
Now he could rise to
the third stage. The teacher said to him: “Thou must cultivate
a feeling which can endure that all thou holdest highest should be
treated with scorn and derision.” The scorn and derision must
be for him nothing, in comparison with his own inner strength and
certainty. Then the pupil experienced two symptoms of Christian
initiation. He experienced the crowning with thorns; spiritually he
saw himself with the crown of thorns and experienced a kind of pain
in the head which is the sign of this stage of initiation.
Afterwards, as a fourth experience he had to develop the feeling that
his body was no more for him than any other object in the world. He
carried the body with him only as an instrument. In many
Mystery-schools one learned to accustom oneself to speak in the
following way: “My body goes through the door,” and so
on. In this way the mystic experienced in himself the Crucifixion. He
saw himself crucified. The outer symbol was that during the
meditation stigmata appeared at the places of the wounds of Christ —
in the hands, in the feet and in the right side. This is the
blood-trial of the Mystic, the fourth stage of initiation.
After this the pupil
rose to the fifth station which is called the mystic death, a sublime
experience of a spiritual nature, of which no more than an indication
can be given. There are moments for a pupil when the whole of the
physical world surrounds him as with a black veil. In these moments
he learns to know the origins of evil. This was called the descent
into hell. Then came a strange and wonderful feeling as if the whole
curtain were torn asunder. The mystic death — followed by the
mystic awakening!
The sixth stage is
the so-called Laying in the Grave. All that the earth bears must
become as precious to man as his own body. The physical body of man
could not exist separated from the earth. If it were removed even a
few miles from the earth it would wither, as the hand would wither
when separated from the body. What my body is for my finger, that the
earth is for men. The independence man attributes to himself is an
illusion. And just as man is dependent physically on the earth, so is
he dependent spiritually on the Spiritual World. When man comes to
feel his unity with the whole planet — then is he “laid
in the earth,” then does he undergo the “burial.”
Hereon follows the
seventh stage, the “Resurrection” and the “Ascension.”
Man experiences here the Eternal. This stage does not admit of
description. The Egyptian Priests (who were also their Wise Men) did
not make use of the symbols of writing to describe such things. The
Mysteries must find a way to tell what cannot be expressed in words.
Through the power and might, through the magical power of the Saint
John Gospel itself, these things can be experienced.
Such an
initiation is the initiation of the Son. It has only been possible
since Christ came to earth. The outward Christ who walked in
Palestine is related to the inward Christ whom the mystic
experiences, as the sun is related to the eye. If there were no eye,
then could the sun not be perceived. But the sun produced the eye.
Where there is no light, the organ for the light is also lost. The
eye was gradually created by the Sun. The eye was created for the
light by the light, says Goethe. Whosoever allows the Saint John
Gospel to work upon him, develops the inner eye. But, as without the
sun the eye would never have come into being, so would spiritual
seership never have been there if Christ, the Spiritual Sun, had not
walked the earth in person. No Christianity without the personal
Christ Jesus: that is the essential and all-important fact.
All other founders of religion could say of themselves: “I am the
way and the truth.” All were teachers. Christianity has brought
no new teaching. But that is not important. The important thing is
that Christians feel themselves bound together with the personal
Christ Jesus, as in a family. That is what matters — that He
was there, and has lived and has said: “I am the Way,
the Truth and the Life.”
Oriental teachers of religion have exoteric teaching and esoteric, in the
same way as Christianity has. Christianity differs from them in that exoteric
Christianity is more simple and popular, it speaks to the heart, to
the feelings; while esoteric Christianity is essentially deeper than
all oriental esoteric. The truth is, the Christian esotericism is the
most profound which has ever been brought to mankind.
Christian esotericism was brought to the earth by that very Being
Himself with whom one must be united. It is a question of belief in
the divinity of Christ. In the ancient Mysteries one had to behold
personally during the three days of initiation. What formerly was
only present in the Mysteries — that is, in the Mysteries of
the Spirit — has in Christianity become an historical fact. The
events in Palestine are historical fact and at the same time symbol.
Christianity is of such a nature that the simplest heart can grasp
it; and yet the wisest man will never outgrow it. For the deepest
teachings of Wisdom lie therein.
If we understand the Saint John Gospel as a Book of Life, so that we
wish to live with it, and let it come to life within us, then we
shall come to know esoteric Christianity. Such esoteric Christianity
has always existed, it has always been active wherever Christianity
has been able to manifest in a worthy and noble way, wherever
Christianity has brought the blessings of culture and civilisation to
mankind.
Into all those who
had experienced union and fellowship with Christ Jesus there streamed
such strength as enabled them to know that life will always gain the
victory over death, and that death is never a reality.
Goethe said that the
great World Powers invented death in order to have “much life”
in the world. Christianity is a proof that there can arise in the
soul a consciousness of the fact that Life is continually and always
the Victor in the world.
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