VII
The
Return of Christ
As we are meeting together here for the first time
today, let us speak of some intimate concerns of our spiritual
science. We will discuss what concerns the evolution of the human
individuality at first in somewhat general terms and next time in
detail. We can understand the life of a single individual only when
we also know the epoch in which he lives. The human soul evolves
through the ages, progressing from one incarnation to another. The
soul's faculties today are not the same as in earlier times. Human
faculties have reached the point today at which human beings can
perceive the world of the senses and can think it through inwardly.
Before this epoch it was completely different, because human souls
still possessed a certain dreamlike clairvoyance, one could say.
At that time, a person would not have been able to
develop his consciousness of self, of his I. The ancient, dreamlike
clairvoyance had first to disappear; he had to be limited to the
world of the senses to be able, by means of a growing capacity for
discernment of physical appearances, to arrive at the consciousness
of his own self. In the future, he will win back the clairvoyance he
once had and will at the same time be able to hold onto his
self-consciousness.
This evolution has proceeded slowly and continuously;
nevertheless, we can indicate the exact moment when the conscious
condition of physical, sensible perception began. It was the year
3101 before Christ's appearance on earth. Until that time, there
existed a natural clairvoyance. Then it gradually began to disappear,
and the dark epoch called the lesser Kali Yuga began, in which the
human soul could no longer perceive the spiritual world.
Let us imagine now the state of human souls at the onset
of that dark epoch. In remembering past epochs, the human soul might
say, “I once could behold spiritual beings; I could see into at
least a part of the world where the ancient Rishis and Zoroaster were
teachers, and I could listen to those great leaders and masters of
old; I could hear the great leaders who spoke to me from the wisdom
that arises from the spiritual world.” This feeling, however,
became ever weaker in those souls.
Three thousand years after the beginning of that dark
epoch, a new possibility arose for a human being to unite himself
with the spiritual world. This possibility lay in the fact that a
person could achieve union with the spiritual world through his I;
that is, it was possible for him to perceive the spiritual world even
though human perception was limited to the senses. It was through the
incarnation of Christ that this possibility arose. All other great
world leaders incarnated in such a way that their spiritual being
united with an astral body. When we attempt to understand the essence
of the Bodhisattvas, we find that their spiritual portion, which
worked on earth, raised itself into higher worlds and was linked only
to the astral body. In Christ alone do we find a divine-spiritual
being in direct connection with a physical body. This means that the
I of Jesus abandoned his physical, etheric, and astral sheaths, and
the Christ incarnated Himself as the I within those sheaths so that
the I of every human being can have a connection with the Christ.
Consequently, we see that in earlier ages the great leaders of
humanity could be so perceived that one could reach an understanding
of their bond with the spiritual world only through pictures. Now,
however, in contrast, the whole biography of Christ consists of facts
that could come to expression in the physical world. In other words,
the Christ event can be grasped with our intellect, with our physical
mind. God had to descend to the physical world because the human
faculty for perception could no longer raise itself above the world
of the physical senses. For this reason came the mighty prophecy of
John the Baptist that the disposition of the human soul must change
so that the kingdom of heaven can draw near.
In earlier times one could approach the kingdom of
heaven to some degree through human clairvoyance. Now one had to find
it in Christ Himself through the medium of the senses. In order that
humanity should not lose its link with the spiritual world during the
dark age of Kali Yuga, Christ had to descend to the physical plane.
The Dark Age lasted more than 5,000 years. We are living in the
important time of the end of Kali Yuga. Since 1899, the Dark Age,
which began in 3101 BC, has already run its course, and since then
certain faculties of soul have slowly begun to develop that have not
yet been recognized by human science. In this twentieth century of
ours, new faculties of the human soul will gradually evolve in a
portion of humanity. Before the end of the century, for instance, it
will be possible to perceive the human etheric body. Another faculty
will be to look inward and behold, as if in a dream, the picture, the
counterpart, of a deed one is about to perform. Certain persons
endowed in a particular way will have still another experience. What
Paul experienced at Damascus, which was a personal experience for
him, will become common experience for a certain number of people.
One can perceive the significance of this event in the
twentieth century from the following. Paul could learn about
everything that had happened in Palestine without its changing him
from Saul to Paul. His condition of soul was such that he could not
be convinced that the Christ lived in the man from Nazareth. At the
event of Damascus, he could say for the first time with his
clairvoyant consciousness: Christ exists! The people who will
experience the event of Damascus in the twentieth century will
receive direct knowledge of Christ. They will not require documentary
evidence in order to recognize Christ, but they will have direct
knowledge, as is today possessed only by the initiates. All the
faculties that today can be acquired by means of initiation will in
the future be universal faculties of humanity. This condition of
soul, this experiencing of soul, is called in esotericism the “second
coming of Christ.” Christ will not be incarnated again in a
physical body, but He will appear in an etheric body as in the street
near Damascus.
Christ incarnated on the physical plane when humanity
had become limited to the physical body. We can repeat today the
words of John the Baptist, “Repent! for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.” (“Change the disposition of your soul so
that your own faculties open the spiritual world to you.”)
Human beings with etheric clairvoyance will thus behold the Christ
appearing before them in an etheric body. The faculties I have just
described are lying like seeds in the soul. In the future they will
be developed, and one will be able to say that the destiny of a
person lies to a certain extent in his own hands. When this etheric
vision appears, however, it will be necessary for people to know the
significance of these faculties. It will be impossible then to fall
back into materialism as people do today. One will not be immediately
aware of the faculties when they appear, and those who possess them
will even be regarded as sick or deluded by fantasy. It is therefore
the mission of spiritual science to prepare human beings for the
understanding of such faculties. Communicating the fundamental wisdom
(Ideale) of spiritual science thus is not optional but is a necessary
measure for the evolution of humanity.
What we have said will often be repeated in the years to
come, but it is vital that it be understood correctly. It is possible
that materialistic tendencies will penetrate the Theosophical Society,
(see Note 6 )
even to the point that one will believe that Christ will
take on a material body when He comes again. If this were to be the
case, one could assert that humanity has made no progress at all in
the last 2,000 years. Christ appeared 2,000 years ago in a physical
body to be perceived by the physical senses. For future clairvoyance
He will appear in an etheric body. By means of spiritual science we
are preparing ourselves to understand the significant era ahead of
us. To be anthroposophists, it is not enough to understand
anthroposophy in a theoretical way; we must bring it to life within
ourselves. It will be necessary to observe this great event with
complete exactness. There will be ambitious persons who try, out of
the materialistic direction of theosophy today, to profit for
themselves by making believe that they are the Christ, and they will
find people who believe them. For the true anthroposophist, it will
be a test to arm himself against such attempts and, instead of
debasing human feeling in such a way, to raise it up to the spiritual
worlds. Those who understand anthroposophy in the right way will say
to these false messiahs of the twentieth century: you have announced
the appearance of Christ on the physical plane, but we know that
Christ will manifest Himself only in an etheric form. True
anthroposophists will await Christ's appearance to the higher senses.
A person must, before his death, have understood the true
significance of this second coming of Christ; then, in the life
between death and a new birth, this understanding will open his
spiritual senses. Those who will not have these faculties, who have
not been able on earth to understand the significance of Christ's
second coming, however, must await a new incarnation to be able to
acquire this understanding on the physical plane.
We are living in an extremely important epoch. We must
characterize the event of Christ's second coming, which will be
perceived by clairvoyant human beings. We can characterize this event
by directing our attention to the cosmos and by alluding to an event
that is approaching in our own day. This event is the appearance of
Halley's Comet
(see Note 4 )
which is also an important subject of study in
Rosicrucian theosophy. The appearance of this comet is connected with
events in the spiritual world. Just as the movements of the planets
circling the sun correspond to the regular events in the evolution of
humanity, so the appearance of a comet corresponds to an influence
that runs counter to the regular events. Rosicrucian research has
demonstrated that every comet exerts a particular influence on human
evolutions.
(see Note 7 )
The present comet has as its particular influence an
intense impulse toward materialism. Every time Halley's Comet has
appeared, a new impulse toward materialism has taken place. Its
appearance in 1759 corresponded with the epoch in which Voltaireanism
was at its high point. The appearance in 1835 corresponded with the
materialism of Moleschott, Büchner, and others.
(see Note 5 )
In the same
way, in our time there will be a new impulse toward materialism, and
the outer sign of this is the appearance of the comet. Those who let
themselves be swayed by its influence will fall into the deepest
materialism.
Today, not only this impulse exists, but there is also
another influence, which is to raise humanity to spiritual heights.
This will be observed by those who understand the signs of the times.
In the macrocosm, the sign for this influence is the fact that the
sun at the vernal equinox has entered the sign of Pisces, the Fish.
At the time when Christ appeared, the sun was in the sign of Aries,
the Ram. The sun began to enter this sign in about 800 BC and was
well into Aries at the time of the event of Golgotha. Now the sun has
been in the sign of Pisces for several centuries. In the near future
it will have advanced so far in this sign that it will be the outer
symbol for the appearance of Christ in the etheric body. You will
see, therefore, that anthroposophy does not expound to the world
theoretical teaching but rather that the signs of the times have
given us the task of teaching anthroposophy. In the West this message
has been foreseen for many centuries by those who call themselves
Rosicrucians.
(see Note 7 )
Among the Rosicrucians, a Fifth Gospel is taught
beside the four that are well known. It is through this spiritual
gospel that the other four can be understood, and it will be given to
a portion of humanity of the twentieth century, just as the others
were given on the occasion of the physical appearance of Christ.
Those adherents to the Rosicrucian movement who will have a clear
consciousness will understand the significance of this Fifth Gospel
for humanity.
(see Note 8 )
If you will become attentive to Rosicrucian theosophy,
your striving will be able to enter into the spirit of the progress
of humanity, so that it will become possible to understand the Christ
Who is to appear in a new form. The time is at hand when we will be
able to recognize the Christ directly, even if, though this is
unlikely, all the Gospels as printed documents should be lost.
One can speak about these things only in a circle where
a preparation exists that has been acquired not only through
theoretical learning but through continuous breathing of the air of
our group life. In public lectures one must observe certain
boundaries, but in this group we breathe such an air that these great
truths could be spoken of tonight. Our souls, however, should not be
satisfied merely with the expression of such truths in words but
should gain from them the strength for daily work, a light that will
stream daily into ordinary life, and a strength for the future. One
must become wiser through truth, but one must also speak ever more
courageously of the truth, as of a spiritual blood that we wish to
allow to flow into our feeling and will.
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