The Significance of Spiritual Research For Moral Action
GA 127
6 March 1911, Bielefeld
Translated by Alan P. Cottrell, Ph.D.
The objection is frequently made that theosophy does not really work its way into the realm of morality. In fact it is said that through certain of its teachings it in some respects not only does not counter egotism but furthers it. Those who are of this opinion share the following thoughts. They say that theosophy demonstrates how the human being develops his existence from life to life and that the main point is that even if he suffers defeats he has the possibility of striving ever higher, employing in a subsequent life the results of what he has learned in a given life as in a kind of “school.” He who immerses himself completely in this belief in human perfectibility will strive to render his “I” ever more pure, to make it as rich as possible, so that he may ascend ever higher and higher. This, so these people say, is after all really an egotistic striving. For we theosophists, they say, seek to attract teachings and forces from the spiritual world in order to elevate our “I” to ever greater heights. This is therefore an egotistic basis for human action. These people maintain further that we theosophists are convinced that we prepare a bad karma for ourselves through imperfect actions. Thus in order not to do so the theosophist will avoid doing this or that which he would otherwise have done. He therefore refrains from the action for fear of karma. For the same reason he would probably also do this or that which he otherwise would not have done, and this too would be but one more quite egotistic motivation for an action. There are a number of people who say that the teachings of karma and reincarnation as well as the rest of the striving for perfection which originates in theosophy leads people to work spiritually for a refined form of higher egotism. It would actually be a severe reproach if one were able to maintain that theosophy prompts people to develop moral action not out of sympathy and compassion but out of fear of punishment. Let us now ask ourselves whether such a reproach is really justified. We must reach very deeply into occult research if we wish to refute such a reproach to theosophy in a really fundamental way.
Let us assume that someone were to say that if a person does not already possess this striving for perfection, theosophy will certainly never prompt him to moral actions. A deeper understanding of what theosophy has to say can teach us that the individual is related to the whole of humanity in such a way that by acting immorally he not only does something that may earn him a punishment. It is rather the case that through an immoral thought, an immoral action or attitude he brings about something really absurd, something that cannot be reconciled with truly healthy thinking.
The statement has many implications. An immoral action not only implies a subsequent karmic punishment; it is rather in the most fundamental respect an action that one definitely ought not to do. Let us assume that a person commits a theft. In so doing the person incurs a karmic punishment. If one wishes to avoid this punishment one simply does not steal. But the matter is still more complicated. Let us ask ourselves what really motivates the person who lies or steals. The liar or thief seeks personal advantage—the liar perhaps wishing to wiggle out of an unpleasant situation. Such an action is only meaningful if one actually does gain an advantage through lying or stealing. If the person were now to realize that he simply cannot have that advantage, that he is wrong, that on the contrary he will bring about a disadvantage, he would then say to himself that it is nonsense even to think about such an action. As theosophy penetrates ever deeper into human civilization, people will know that it is absurd, indeed that it is ridiculous, to believe that through lying or stealing one can acquire what one seeks to acquire. For one thing will become increasingly clear for all people as theosophy enters their consciousness: that in the sense of higher causes we have to do not at all with totally separate human individualities, but that along with the separate individualities the whole of humanity forms a unity. One will realize more and more that in the sense of a true view of the world the finger is more intelligent than the whole man, for it does not presume to be something on its own, independent of the entire human organism to which it belongs. In its dull consciousness it knows that it cannot exist without the whole organism.
But people continually embrace illusions. They fancy themselves separate by virtue of what is enclosed within their skins. This they are, however, just as little as is the finger without the whole organism. The source of the illusion is the fact that the human being can wander about and the finger cannot. We are in the same situation on earth as is the finger on our organism. The science that believes our earth is a glowing hot, fluid sphere surrounded by a hard shell upon which we humans walk about, and that this explains the earth, stands at the same level as a science that would believe that in all essential respects the human being consists of nothing more, nothing else than his skeleton, for what one perceives of the earth is the same as the skeleton in man. The rest of what belongs to the earth is of a super-sensible nature. The earth is a real organism, a real living being. When one pictures to oneself the human being as a living creature, one can think of his blood with its red and white corpuscles. These can only develop in the entire human organism and thereby be what they are. What these red and white blood corpuscles are for the human being we human beings are for the organism of the earth. We definitely belong to this earth organism. We form a part of the whole living being that is the earth, and only then do we view ourselves correctly when we say, “As single individuals we are nothing. We are only complete when we think our way into the ‘body’ of the earth, the body of which we perceive only the skeleton, the mineral shell, as long as we do not acknowledge the spiritual members of this earth organism.”
When a process of infection arises in the human organism, the entire organism is seized by fever, by illness. If we translate this into terms applicable to the earth organism we can say that what occultism maintains is true: When something immoral is done anywhere on earth it amounts to the same thing for the whole earth organism as a little festering boil on the human body, which makes the whole organism sick. So that if a theft is committed on the earth the result is that the entire earth develops a kind of fever. This is not meant merely in a metaphorical sense. It is well-founded. The whole organism of the earth suffers from everything immoral and as individuals we can do nothing immoral without affecting the whole earth.
It is really a simple thought, yet people have a difficult time grasping it. But let those people who do not want to believe it just wait. Let one try to impress such thoughts upon our culture; let one try with these thoughts to appeal to the human heart, the human conscience. Whenever people anywhere act immorally their actions are a kind of infected boil for the whole earth and make the earth organism ill, and experience would show that tremendous moral impulses inhere in such knowledge.
One can preach morality as much as one likes; it will not help people one bit. But knowledge such as we have developed here would not seize hold of people merely as knowledge. If it found its way into the developing culture, if it streamed into the soul already in childhood, it would provide a tremendous moral impulse, for in the end no moral preachments have any real power to overwhelm, to convince the human soul. Schopenhauer is quite right when he says that to preach morality is easy but to establish it is difficult. People have a certain antipathy toward moral preachments. They say, “What is being preached to me is the will of someone else and I am supposed simply to acquiesce to it.” This belief will become more and more dominant to the degree that materialistic consciousness becomes dominant.
One says today that there is a morality of class, of social standing, and what such a class morality considers to be right is then applied to the other class. Such an attitude has found its way into human souls and in the future it will become worse and worse. People will come increasingly to feel that they themselves want to find everything that is to be acknowledged as correct in this sphere. They will feel that it should originate in their own inclination toward objective knowledge. The human individuality wants to be taken ever more seriously. But at the moment in which the heart, for instance, were to realize that it too would be sick if the whole organism became sick, man would do what is necessary in order not to fall ill. At the moment in which man realizes that he is embedded within the total organism of the earth and has no business being a festering boil on the earth's body—at that moment there exists an objective basis for morality. And man will say, “If I steal I am seeking my own personal advantage. I refrain from stealing because if I do steal I shall make sick the entire organism without which I cannot live. I do the opposite and thereby bring about something advantageous not only for the organism but also for myself.”
In the future the moral awareness of human beings will form itself in this general way. He who, through theosophy, finds an impetus to moral action will say to himself that it is an illusion to seek personal advantage through an immoral action. If you do that, you are like an octopus that ejects a dark fluid: you eject a dark aura of immoral impulses. Lying and stealing are the seeds of an aura into which you place yourself and through which you make the whole world unhappy.
People say, “All that surrounds us is maya.” But such truths must become truths for life itself. Let us suppose that one can demonstrate that through theosophy humanity's moral development in the future will enable man to see how he wraps himself in an aura of illusions when he seeks his own advantage. If one can demonstrate this, it will become a practical truth to say that the world is a maya or illusion. The finger believes this in its dull, half sleeping, half dreaming consciousness. It is bright enough to know that without the hand and the rest of the body it is no longer a finger. The human being today is not yet bright enough to know that without the body of the earth he is actually nothing. But he must become bright enough to know this. The finger therefore enjoys a certain advantage over man. It does not cut itself off. It does not say, “I want to keep my blood for myself or cut off a portion of myself.” It is in harmony with the whole organism. Man must, to be sure, develop a higher consciousness in order to come into harmony with the whole organism of the earth. In his present moral consciousness man does not yet know this. He could say to himself, “I inhale the air. It was just outside, and now it is inside the human body. Something external becomes something internal. And when I exhale, something internal again becomes something external. And so it is with the whole man.” The human being is not even aware of the simple fact that separated from the surrounding air he is nothing. He must undertake to develop an awareness of how he is locked into the entire organism of the earth.
How can the human being know: “You are a member of the whole organism of the earth?” Theosophy enables him to know this. It shows man that first there existed a Saturn condition, then a Sun condition, then a Moon condition. Man was present through all these conditions, although in a quite different way from today. Then the earth proceeded from the old Moon condition. Gradually the human being arose as earthly man. He has a long development behind him and in the future he is to advance to other stages of development. Man in his present form has arisen with the earth in its present form. When through the study of theosophy one traces how man and the earth have arisen it becomes clear in what way man is a part of the whole organism of the earth. Then it becomes clear how earth and man gradually have emerged from a spiritual life, how the beings of the hierarchies have fashioned earth and man, how man belongs to the hierarchies, even though he stands at the lowest stage. Then theosophy points to the central Being of the entire earthly evolution, to the Christ as the great archetype of the human being. And from all these teachings of theosophy the awareness shall spring forth for man, “Thus ought you to act.”
The science of the spirit shows us how we can feel ourselves to be a part of the whole life of the earth. The science of the spirit shows us that Christ is the Spirit of the earth. Our fingers, our toes, our nose, all our members dream that the heart provides them with blood. They dream that without a central organ they would be nothing, for without a heart they are not possible. Theosophy shows man that in the future of earthly evolution it would be folly not to take up the idea of Christ, for what the heart is for the organism Christ is for the body of the earth. Just as through the heart the blood provides the whole organism with life and strength, so must the Being of Christ have moved through all single souls on earth, and the words of St. Paul must become truth for them: “Not I, but the Christ in me.” The Christ must have flowed into all human hearts. Whoever wanted to say, “One can continue to exist without Christ,” would be as foolish as eyes and ears if they wanted to say that they could continue to exist without the heart. In the case of the single human body the heart must of course be present from the beginning, whereas the heart entered the organism of the earth only with the Christ. For the following ages, however, this heart's blood of Christ must have entered all human hearts. He who does not unite himself with it in his soul, will wither away. The earth will not wait with its development; it will come to the point to which it must come. Human beings alone can remain behind, that is, they would balk at receiving Christ in their souls. A number of human beings would stand there in their last incarnation on earth and not have reached the goal: they have not recognized Christ, have not received Christ-feeling, Christ-knowing into their souls. They are not mature. They do not take their places in the development to higher stages. They separate themselves off.
Such people do not immediately have the opportunity to collapse completely as would the nose and ears if they detached themselves from the whole human organism. But occult research shows that the following would happen to those who do not want to permeate themselves with the Christ element, the life of Christ, as this can be attained only through theosophy. Instead of living on upwards with the earth to new levels of existence they would have assimilated substances of decay, of disintegration, and would first have to enter upon other paths. If in the sequence of incarnations human souls take up the Christ into their knowledge, their feelings, their whole soul, the earth will fall away from these human souls just as a corpse falls away at a person's death. The corpse of the earth will fall away and that which, permeated with Christ, is present in a state of spirit and soul will proceed to form itself into new existence and will reincarnate itself on Jupiter.
What will happen now with those people who have not taken the Christ into themselves? Through theosophy they will have abundant opportunities to be able to recognize the Christ, to be able to take the Christ into themselves. Today people still resist doing so. They will resist less and less. But let us assume that at the end of the development there were those who even then continued to resist. There would then exist a number of people who could not join the rest in advancing to the next planet. They would not have reached the actual goal of the earth. These people would constitute a veritable cross on that planet upon which human beings will then develop further. For while this group will be incapable of sharing in the experience of the actual and proper Jupiter condition and what develops there, they will nevertheless be present on Jupiter. Everything that is subsequently material is first present in a spiritual state. Thus everything that people now, during the period of the earth develop spiritually in the way of immorality, of a refusal to take the Christ into themselves, is first present in a soul-spiritual state. But this will become material. It will surround and penetrate Jupiter as a neighboring element. This will be made up of the successors of those persons who did not take the Christ into themselves during the earth condition. What the soul develops in the nature of immorality, of resistance to the Christ will then be present materially, in an actually physical state. While the physical part of those people who have taken the Christ into themselves will exist in a finer form on Jupiter, the physical part of these other people will be fundamentally coarser. Occult research paints before the eye of the soul an image of what will be the future of the people who will not have reached earthly maturity.
We now breathe air. On Jupiter there will in essence be no air. Instead, Jupiter will be surrounded by a substance that, in comparison to our air, will be something refined, something etheric. In this substance those human beings will live who have reached the goal of the earth. Those others who have remained behind, however, will have to breathe something like a repulsively warm, boiling, fiery air infused with a dank stuffiness full of fetid odors. Thus the people who did not attain the maturity appropriate to the earth will be a cross for the other Jupiter people, for they will have a pestilent effect in the environment, in the swamps and other land masses of Jupiter. The fluid-physical components of the bodies of these people will be comparable to a liquid which constantly seeks to solidify, freezes up, coagulates. Consequently these beings will not only have this horrendous air to breathe but also a bodily state in which the blood would seem continually to congeal, to cease to remain fluid. The actual physical body of these beings will consist of a kind of slimy substance more revolting than the bodily substance of our present snails and fully equipped to secrete something like a kind of crust surrounding them. This crust will be softer than the skin of our present snakes, like a kind of soft scaly armor. Thus will these beings live in a rather less than appealing manner in the elements of Jupiter.
Such a picture as that contemplated in advance by the occult researcher is ghastly to behold. But woe to those who, like the ostrich, do not want to look at the danger and wish to shut their eyes before the truth. For it is just this that lulls us into error and illusion, while a bold look at the truth imparts the greatest moral impulses. If human beings listen to what truth says to them they will feel, “You are lying.” Then there will arise in them an image of the effect of this lie upon human nature in the Jupiter condition, the image that shows that the lie creates a slimy, pestilent breath for the future. This image, arising again and again, will be a reason to direct the impulses of the soul to what is healthy, for no one who really knows the consequences of immorality can in truth be immoral, for one is called upon to teach the true consequences that result from the causes. One should in fact direct people's attention to them while they are still children. Immorality exists only because people have no knowledge. Only the darkness of untruth makes immoral actions possible.
To be sure, what can thus be said concerning the connection between immorality and ignorance should not be intellectual knowledge but wisdom. Knowledge by itself participates in immorality and if it turns into sophisticated cleverness it can even be roguery, while wisdom will affect the human soul in such a way that the soul rays forth truth, innermost morality.
My dear friends, it is true that to establish morality is difficult; to preach morality is easy. To establish morality means to establish it out of wisdom, and one must first have this wisdom. Here we see that it was after all a rather intelligent utterance on the part of Schopenhauer when he said that to establish morality is difficult.
Thus we see how unfounded it is when people who do not really know theosophy come and say that it contains no moral incentives. Theosophy shows us what we accomplish in the world when we do not act morally. It provides wisdom, and from this very wisdom morality streams forth. There is no greater arrogance than to say that one need only be a good person and all will be in order. The trouble is that one must first know how one goes about really being a good person. Our contemporary consciousness is very arrogant when it wishes to reject all wisdom. True knowledge of the good requires that we penetrate deeply into the mysteries of wisdom, and this is inconvenient, for it requires that we learn a great deal.
So when people come and tell us that reincarnation and karma lay the foundation for an egotistical morality we can thus reply, “No! True theosophy shows man that when he does something immoral it is roughly the same as if he were to say, ‘I'm taking a sheet of paper to write a letter,’ and then takes a match and sets fire to the sheet of paper. That would be grotesque nonsense. A person finds himself in the same situation with respect to a wrong action or an immoral attitude.”
To steal means the same thing for the real, deeper human essence as when one lies. If one steals, one plants into the essential human being the seed that will cause one to develop a slimy, repulsive substance and to surround oneself with pestilent odors in the future. Only if one lives in the illusion that the truth is in the present moment can one do such a deed. In stealing, man places into himself something that amounts to the same thing as a flaying of the human being. If man knows this he will no longer be able to do an immoral deed; he will not be able to steal. Just as the plant seed sends forth blossoms in the future so too will theosophy, if it is planted in the human soul, send forth human blossoms, human morality. Theosophy is the seed, the soul is the nourishing ground and morality is the blossom and fruit on the plant of the developing human being.
Die Bedeutung Der Geistesforschung Für Das Sittliche Handeln
Oftmals wirft man der Theosophie vor, daß sie im Grunde genommen nicht direkt hinarbeitet auf das moralische Gebiet, ja, daß sie durch manche ihrer Lehren in gewisser Beziehung nicht nur dem Egoismus nicht entgegen, sondern daß sie für den Egoismus arbeite. Die Menschen, die solches meinen, haben folgende Gedanken. Sie sagen: Theosophie zeige, wie der Mensch von Leben zu Leben sein Dasein entwickelt, und die Hauptsache dabei ist, wenn auch Rückschläge kommen, daß der Mensch die Möglichkeit habe, immer höher und höher zu steigen, daß er immer mehr dasjenige lerne, was er in einem seiner Leben wie eine Art Schule durchgemacht hat, in seinen Ergebnissen anzuwenden in einem nächsten Leben. Wer sich ganz in diesen Glauben an des Menschen Vervollkommnung hineinversenkt, wird danach streben, sein Ich immer mehr zu läutern, es so reich zu machen als möglich ist, um immer mehr und immer höher und höher zu steigen. Und, so sagen die Leute, das sei im Grunde genommen doch ein egoistisches Streben. Denn wir Theosophen suchten Lehren und Kräfte aus der geistigen Welt heranzuziehen, um eben unser Ich immer höher zu bringen, es sei also ein egoistischer Grund, der den Menschen zum Handeln treibe. Auch hätten wir Theosophen die Überzeugung, wir bereiteten uns ein schlechtes Karma durch unvollkommene Handlungen, und um sich kein solches zu bereiten, werde der Theosoph vermeiden, dies oder jenes zu tun, was er sonst getan haben würde. Also aus Furcht vor dem Karma tue er es nicht. Wahrscheinlich würde er auch aus diesem Grunde dies oder jenes vollbringen, was er sonst nicht vollbracht hätte, was ja wiederum nur ein ganz egoistischer Antrieb zu einer Handlung wäre. Es gibt eine Anzahl von Leuten, welche sagen: Die Lehren von Karma und Reinkarnation und das sonstige Vervollkommnungsstreben, das aus der Theosophie heraus kommt, führe die Menschen dazu, einen raffinierten höheren Egoismus geistig anzustreben. — Eigentlich wäre das ein schwerer Vorwurf, wenn man sagen könnte, Theosophie würde die Menschen dazu bringen, sittliches Handeln nicht aus Mitgefühl und Mitleid zu entwickeln, sondern es wäre dies herrührend aus der Furcht vor Strafe. Fragen wir uns nun, ob ein solcher Vorwurf wirklich berechtigt ist. Da müssen wir uns einmal tief, ganz tief in dieokkulte Forschung einlassen, wenn wir einen solchen Vorwurf gegenüber der Theosophie wirklich gründlich widerlegen wollen.
Nehmen wir an, jemand würde sagen: Hat der Mensch nicht bereits dies Vervollkommnungsstreben, dann wird er durch die Theosophie ja gar nicht dazu veranlaßt, sittliche Handlungen zu begehen. — Ein tieferes Eindringen in das, was uns die Theosophie sagt, kann lehren, daß der Mensch so hineingestellt ist in die Gesamtmenschheit, daß er mit einer nicht moralischen Handlung nicht nur etwas vollbringt, was ihm vielleicht Strafe einträgt, sondern daß er mit einem nicht moralischen Gedanken, einer nicht moralischen Handlung oder Gesinnung, etwas im wahren Sinne Widersinniges vollbringt, etwas, was sich nicht vereinigen läßt mit einem wirklich gesunden Denken.
Damit ist viel gesagt. Eine unsittliche Handlung stellt nicht nur eine darauffolgende karmische Strafe in Aussicht, sondern ist im tiefsten Grunde eine Handlung, die man gar nicht begehen dürfte. Nehmen wir an, ein Mensch begeht einen Diebstahl. Der Mensch zieht sich dadurch eine karmische Strafe zu. Wenn man diese vermeiden will, dann stiehlt man eben nicht. Aber die Sache ist noch komplizierter. Fragen wir uns: Was will derjenige, der lügt oder stiehlt? Der Lügner oder der Dieb wollen sich einen Vorteil verschaffen, der Lügner sich vielleicht über eine unangenehme Situation hinweghelfen. Einen Sinn hat eine solche Handlung nur dann, wenn man das erreicht, daß man sich wirklich einen Vorteil verschafft durch Lügen oder Stehlen. Würde der Mensch nun erkennen, daß er das gar nicht haben kann, daß er sich irrt, daß er im Gegenteil einen Nachteil herbeiführt, dann würde er sich sagen: Es ist ein Unsinn, an eine solche Handlung auch nur zu denken. — Wenn Theosophie immer mehr eindringen wird in die menschliche Zivilisation, dann werden die Menschen wissen, daß es widersinnig, ja, daß es lächerlich ist, zu glauben, man könne sich durch Lügen oder Stehlen dasjenige verschaffen, was man glaubt, sich zu verschaffen. Eines wird nämlich immer mehr und mehr klar werden für alle Menschen, wenn Theosophie in sie eindringen wird, daß es im Sinne der höheren Ursachen gar nicht ganz gesonderte menschliche Individualitäten gibt, sondern daß neben den gesonderten Individualitäten das ganze Menschengeschlecht eine Einheit darstellt. Und immer mehr wird man erkennen, daß eigentlich im Sinne einer wahren Weltanschauung der Finger gescheiter ist als der ganze Mensch, denn er bildet sich nicht ein, etwas zu sein ohne den ganzen Menschenorganismus, zu dem er gehört. In seinem dumpfen Bewußtsein weiß er, daß er nicht existieren kann ohne den ganzen Organismus.
Die Menschen geben sich aber fortwährend Illusionen hin. Sie glauben etwas Abgesondertes zu sein durch das, was in der Haut eingeschlossen ist. Das sind sie ebensowenig, wie der Finger etwas ist ohne den ganzen Organismus. Der Grund der Illusion ist der, daß der Mensch herumwandern kann und der Finger nicht. Wir sind auf der Erde in derselben Lage, wie der Finger an unserem Organismus. Diejenige Wissenschaft, die glaubt, daß unsere Erde eine glutflüssige Kugel sei, von einer harten Schale umgeben, auf der wir Menschen herumwandeln, die da glaubt, damit sei die Erde erklärt, diese Wissenschaft steht auf derselben Höhe wie eine Wissenschaft, die glauben würde, der Mensch sei seiner Wesenheit nach nichts weiter als sein Knochenbau, er bestände aus nichts anderem als aus seinem Knochenbau. Denn was da angeschaut wird von der Erde, ist dasselbe wie der Knochenbau beim Menschen. Das andere, das zur Erde gehört, ist übersinnlicher Natur. Die Erde ist ein richtiger Organismus, ein richtiges Lebewesen. Wenn man sich den Menschen als Lebewesen vorstellt, kann man sich sein Blut denken mit den roten und weißen Blutkörperchen; diese können sich nur im ganzen menschlichen Organismus entwickeln und so dasjenige sein, was sie sind. Was diese roten und weißen Blutkörperchen für den Menschen sind, das sind wir Menschen für den Erdenorganismus. Wir gehören unbedingt zu diesem Erdenorganismus dazu, wir bilden einen Teil des ganzen Erde-Lebewesens, und wir betrachten uns nur richtig, wenn wir sagen: Als einzelner Mensch sind wir nichts, wir sind erst vollständig, wenn wir uns hineindenken in den Erdenleib, von dem wir nur das Knochengerüst, die mineralische Schale betrachten, solange wir nicht die geistigen Glieder dieses Erdenorganismus anerkennen. Wenn nun im menschlichen Organismus sich ein Entzündungsprozeß bildet, wird der ganze Organismus von Fieber ergriffen, der ganze Organismus wird von Krankheit ergriffen. Übertragen wir dies auf den Erdenorganismus, dann können wir sagen, daß es wahr ist, was der Okkultismus zu behaupten hat: daß, wenn irgendwo auf der Erde eine unsittliche Handlung begangen wird, das für den ganzen Erdenorganismus dasselbe ist, wie für den Menschen eine kleine Eiterbeule am menschlichen Körper, der den ganzen Organismus krank macht. So daß, wenn ein Diebstahl auf der Erde begangen wird, die Wirkung davon ist, daß die ganze Erde eine Art von Fieber bekommt. Das ist nicht bloß vergleichsweise gesagt, sondern es ist tief begründet. Unter allem Nichtmoralischen leidet der ganze Erdenorganismus, und wir können als einzelne Menschen nichts tun an Nichtmoralischem, ohne daß der ganze Erdenorganismus in Mitleidenschaft gezogen wird.
Das ist ein im Grunde genommen sehr einfacher Gedanke, doch wird er schwer von den Menschen erfaßt. Aber die Menschen, die es nicht glauben wollen, sollen es nur abwarten, Man versuche es, solche Gedanken unserer Kultur einzuprägen, man versuche, mit solchen Gedanken zu appellieren an das menschliche Herz, das menschliche Gewissen: Wenn irgendwo unsittliche Handlungen begangen werden, dann sind sie für die ganze Erde eine Art Eiterbeule und machen den Erdenorganismus krank -, und die Erfahrung würde zeigen, daß in solchen Erkenntnissen ungeheure moralische Antriebe liegen.
Wenn man noch so viel Moral predigt, das wird den Menschen nichts helfen. Aber solche Erkenntnisse würden den Menschen nicht nur als Erkenntnisse ergreifen, sondern würden, wenn sie sich der Kulturentwickelung einprägen, wenn sie schon in das kindliche Gemüt gegossen würden, einen ungeheuren sittlichen Impuls geben. Denn alle Moralpredigten haben für das menschliche Gemüt doch nichts ganz Überwältigendes, Überzeugendes. Es ist schon so, wie Schopenhauer sagt, daß Moral predigen leicht sei, Moral begründen aber schwer. Die Menschen haben gegen Moralpredigten eine gewisse Antipathie. Sie sagen: Was mir da gepredigt wird, das will ein anderer, und ich soll mich dem bloß fügen! — Dieser Glaube wird immer mehr überhandnehmen, je nachdem das materialistische Bewußtsein überhandnimmt. Man sagt heute: es gibt Klassenmoral, Standesmoral, und was eine solche Klassenmoral für recht hält, das wird dann der anderen Klasse aufgedrückt. Solche Meinung ist in die Gemüter der Menschen hineingeflossen, und in der Zukunft wird das immer ärger und ärger werden. Das Empfinden wird bei den Menschen immer stärker werden, daß sie alles, was auf diesem Gebiet als richtig anerkannt werden soll, selber finden wollen, daß dies aus ihrem Hang nach objektiver Erkenntnis entspringen solle. Die menschliche Individualität will immer mehr Geltung haben. — In dem Augenblick aber, wo zum Beispiel das Herz einsehen würde, daß es mit krank wird, wenn der Gesamtorganismus krank wird, würde der Mensch das tun, was nötig ist, um nicht krank zu werden. Und in dem Augenblicke, wo der Mensch einsieht, er ist in dem gesamten Erdenorganismus eingebettet, er darf keine Eiterbeule sein an dem Erdenleibe, dann ist ein objektiver Grund da für das Gutsein. Und der Mensch wird sagen: Wenn ich stehle, will ich mir einen Vorteil verschaffen. Ich tue es nicht, weil ich dadurch den ganzen Organismus, ohne den ich nicht leben kann, krank mache. Ich tue das Gegenteil, und ich verschaffe dadurch nicht nur dem Organismus, sondern auch mir einen Vorteil.
So ungefähr wird sich das moralische Bewußtsein der Menschen in der Zukunft gestalten. Derjenige, der einen moralischen Antrieb aus der 'Theosophie heraus hat, wird sich sagen: Es ist eine Illusion, wenn man sich durch eine unmoralische Handlung einen Vorteil verschaffen will. Du bist, wenn du das tust, wie ein Tintenfisch, der eine dunkle Flüssigkeit ausspritzt: eine dunkle Aura von unmoralischen Antrieben spritzest du aus. Lügen und Stehlen ist ein Keim von einer Aura, in die du dich hineinsetzest und durch welche du die ganze Welt unglücklich machst.
Man sagt: was um uns herum ist, sei Maja. Aber solche Wahrheiten müssen Lebenswahrheiten werden. Kann man zeigen, daß durch die Theosophie die moralische Entwickelung der Menschheit in der Zukunft so wird, daß der Mensch einsehen muß, wie er sich in eine Aura von Illusionen hüllt, wenn er sich einen Vorteil verschaffen will, dann wird das eine praktische Wahrheit, daß die Welt eine Maja oder Illusion ist. Der Finger glaubt das in seinem dumpfen Bewußtsein, welches ein halb schlafendes, träumendes Bewußtsein ist, er ist so gescheit, daß er weiß: ohne die Hand und den übrigen Körper ist er kein Finger mehr. Der Mensch ist heute noch nicht so gescheit, daß er weiß: ohne den Erdenleib ist er im Grunde genommen nichts. Er muß aber so gescheit werden. Der Finger ist also in einem gewissen Vorteil vor dem Menschen. Er schneidet sich nicht selbst ab, er sagt nicht: Ich will das Blut, das in mir ist, für mich behalten oder mich als Glied abschneiden. - Er ist in Harmonie mit dem ganzen Organismus. Der Mensch muß allerdings ein höheres Bewußtsein entwickeln, um in Harmonie mit dem ganzen Erdenorganismus zu kommen, Im heutigen moralischen Bewußtsein weiß das der Mensch noch nicht. Er könnte sich sagen: Die Luft atme ich ein; eben war sie draußen, dann ist sie drinnen im Menschenleibe: ein Äußeres wird ein Inneres. — Und wenn ich die Atemluft wieder ausatme, dann wird ein Inneres wieder ein Äußeres, und so ist es mit dem ganzen Menschen. Schon das weiß der Mensch nicht, daß er, abgesondert von der ihn umgebenden Luft, nichts ist. Er muß danach trachten, ein Bewußtsein darüber zu entwickeln, wie er in den ganzen Erdenorganismus eingesperrt ist.
Wodurch kann der Mensch wissen: du bist ein Glied des ganzen Erdenorganismus? Die Theosophie bringt den Menschen dazu. Sie zeigt dem Menschen: erst war ein Saturnzustand da, dann ein Sonnenzustand, dann ein Mondenzustand, überall war schon der Mensch dabei, wenn auch in ganz anderer Weise, als er heute ist. Dann ist die Erde aus dem alten Mondenzustand hervorgegangen. Langsam ist der Mensch als Erdenmensch entstanden. Er hat eine lange Entwickelung hinter sich, und er soll in Zukunft zu anderen Entwickelungsstufen vorschreiten. Mit der Erde in ihrer heutigen Form ist der Mensch in seiner heutigen Form entstanden. - Wenn man durch das Studium der 'Theosophie verfolgt, wie Mensch und Erde entstanden sind, dann zeigt sich, wie der Mensch ein Glied ist des ganzen Erdenorganismus, Dann zeigt es sich, wie Erde und Mensch aus einem geistigen Leben nach und nach aufgetaucht sind, wie die Wesenheiten der Hierarchien Erde und Mensch aufgebaut haben, wie der Mensch zu den Hierarchien dazugehört, wenn er auch auf der untersten Stufe steht. Und dann zeigt die Theosophie hin auf das Mittelpunktwesen der gesamten Erdenentwikkelung, auf den Christus als auf das große Menschenurbild. Und aus all diesen Lehren der T'heosophie soll dem Menschen das Bewußtsein ersprießen: So sollst du handeln!
Geisteswissenschaft zeigt uns, wie wir uns fühlen können als ein Glied des gesamten Erdenlebens, Geisteswissenschaft zeigt uns, daß der Christus der Erdengeist ist! Unsere Finger, unsere Zehen, unsere Nase, alle unsere Glieder träumen, daß sie vom Herzen mit Blut versorgt werden, daß sie ohne Zentralorgan nichts wären, denn ohne Herz sind sie nicht möglich. Und Theosophie zeigt dem Menschen, daß in der Zukunft der Erdenentwickelung es eine Torheit wäre, nicht die Idee vom Christus aufzunehmen, denn was das Herz für den Organismus ist, ist der Christus für den Erdenleib. Und so wie das Blut durch das Herz den ganzen Organismus mit Leben und mit Kraft versorgt, so muß dasjenige, was die Wesenheit des Christus ist, sich durch alle einzelnen Erdenseelen gezogen haben und es muß für sie Wahrheit werden das Pauluswort: Nicht ich, sondern der Christus in mir! — Hineingeflossen sein muß der Christus in alle menschlichen Herzen. Und wer sagen wollte: Man kann ohne den Christus bestehen — der würde so töricht sein, wie Augen und Ohren, wenn sie sagen wollten, sie könnten ohne Herz bestehen. Beim einzelnen Menschenleibe muß allerdings das Herz von Anfang an da sein, in den Erdenorganismus ist dieses Herz erst mit dem Christus eingezogen. Für die folgenden Zeiten muß aber dieses Christus-Herzensblut in alle Menschenherzen eingezogen sein, und wer sich nicht in seiner Seele mit ihm vereinigt, wird verdorren. Die Erde wartet nicht mit ihrer Entwickelung, sie kommt zu dem Standpunkt, zu dem sie kommen muß. Nur die Menschen können zurückbleiben, das heißt: sie würden sich sträuben gegen die Aufnahme des Christus in der Seele. Eine Anzahl von Menschen würden in ihrer letzten Erdeninkarnation dastehen und hätten das Ziel nicht erreicht: sie haben den Christus nicht erkannt, haben nicht Christus-Fühlen, nicht Christus-Wissen in die Seelen aufgenommen. Sie sind nicht reif, gliedern sich nicht der Höherentwickelung an, sie sondern sich ab.
Nicht gleich ist für solche Menschen die Möglichkeit da, ganz zu verfallen, wie Nase oder Ohren es tun müßten, wenn sie sich abtrennen würden vom ganzen Menschenorganismus. Aber das zeigt die okkulte Forschung: Diejenigen, die nicht sich durchdringen wollen mit dem Christus-Element, dem Christus-Leben, so wie es nur durch die Theosophie erreicht werden kann, sie würden, statt mit der Erde zu neuen Daseinsstufen hinaufzuleben, Verfallsstoffe, Zersetzungsstoffe in sich aufgenommen haben, sie würden zunächst andere Wege einschlagen müssen. Wenn die Menschenseelen in den aufeinanderfolgenden Inkarnationen den Christus in ihre Erkenntnis, in ihr Empfinden, in ihre ganze Seele aufnehmen, wird die Erde von diesen Menschenseelen abfallen, so wie ein Leichnam beim Tode eines Menschen abfällt. Der Erdenleichnam wird abfallen, und dasjenige, was Christus-durchdrungen geistig-seelisch da ist, bildet sich zu neuem Dasein fort und reinkarniert sich auf dem Jupiter.
Und was geschieht nun mit denjenigen Menschen, die nicht den Christus in sich aufgenommen haben? Es wird reichlich Gelegenheit für sie da sein durch die Theosophie, daß sie den Christus erkennen können, daß sie den Christus in sich aufnehmen können. Die Menschen sträuben sich heute noch dagegen, sie werden sich immer weniger dagegen sträuben. Aber nehmen wir an, am Ende der Entwickelung gäbe es solche Menschen, die sich noch immer dagegen sträuben. Da würde eine Anzahl von Menschen da sein, die nicht mit hinaufgehen könnten zum nächsten Planeten, die nicht das eigentliche Erdenziel erreicht hätten. Diese Menschen würden ein rechtes Kreuz sein auf dem Planeten, auf dem sich die Menschen dann weiterentwickeln werden, denn sie werden zwar nicht mitleben können mit dem eigentlichen richtigen Jupiterzustand, sie werden nicht miterleben können, was sich dort entwickelt, aber sie werden doch da sein auf dem Jupiter. Alles, was später materiell ist, ist zuerst geistig da. Dasjenige, was also Menschen jetzt während der Erdenzeit geistig entwickeln an Unmoral, an Widersetzlichkeit, den Christus in sich aufzunehmen, das ist zunächst seelischgeistig da. Das wird aber materiell werden, das wird den Jupiter wie ein benachbartes Element umgeben und durchdringen. Und dies werden die Nachkommen solcher Menschen sein, die nicht den Christus in sich aufgenommen haben während des Erdenzustandes. Dasjenige, was sich jetzt seelisch als Unmoralität, als Widersetzlichkeit gegen den Christus entwickelt, wird dann materiell, richtig physisch da sein. Und während das Physische derjenigen Menschen, die den Christus aufgenommen haben, verfeinert sein wird auf dem Jupiter, wird das Physische dieser anderen Menschen wesentlich vergröbert sein. Das malt uns die okkulte Forschung vor das Seelenauge, wie diese Zukunft der die Erdenreife nicht erreicht habenden Menschen sein wird.
Jetzt atmen wir Luft. Auf dem Jupiter wird es im wesentlichen nicht Luft geben, sondern der Jupiter wird umgeben sein von einer Substanz, die gegenüber unserer Luft etwas Verfeinertes, Ätherisches sein wird. Darin werden die Menschen leben, welche das Ziel der Erde erreicht haben. Jene anderen, zurückgebliebenen Menschen aber werden zu atmen haben etwas wie eine widrig warme, kochende Feuerluft, die wie von Schwüle durchzogen ist, die widrige Dünste in sich trägt. So daß die Menschen, die nicht die Erdenreife erlangten, ein Kreuz sein werden für die anderen Jupitermenschen, denn sie werden verpestend wirken in der Umgebung, in den Sümpfen und dem sonstigen Boden des Jupiter. Die flüssig-physischen Bestandteile der Leiber dieser Menschen werden etwas sein, was man mit einem Flüssigen vergleichen kann, das fortwährend fest werden will, in sich gefriert, in sich stockt, also daß diese Wesen nicht nur diese fatale Atmungsluft haben werden, sondern auch einen Leibeszustand, so als ob das Blut fortwährend stockte, nicht flüssig bliebe. Der physische Leib selber dieser Wesenheiten wird aus einer Art schleimiger Substanz bestehen, widriger als die Leibessubstanz unserer heutigen Schnecken, vollbegabt damit, abzusondern etwas wie eine Art Kruste, die sie umgeben wird. Diese Kruste wird weicher sein als die Haut unserer heutigen Schlangen, wie eine Art weichen Schuppenpanzers. So werden diese Wesen leben in wenig ansprechender Weise in den Elementen des Jupiter.
Solch ein Bild, wie es der okkulte Forscher voraussehend schaut, nimmt sich schauerlich aus. Aber wehe den Menschen, die wie der Vogel Strauß nicht hinschauen wollen auf die Gefahr und die Augen zumachen möchten vor der Wahrheit! Denn gerade dies wiegt uns in Irrtum und Täuschung, während ein kühnes Anschauen der Wahrheit die größten moralischen Impulse gibt. Hören die Menschen hin auf das, was ihnen die Wahrheit sagt, dann werden sie fühlen: du lügst — und da wird in ihnen auftauchen das Bild von der Wirkung dieser Lüge auf die Menschennatur im Jupiterzustand, das Bild: die Lüge macht schleimig, macht verpestende Atemluft für die Zukunft. Und dies immer wieder auftauchende Bild wird ein Grund sein, die Impulse der Seele zum Heil hinzulenken. Denn niemand, der die Folgen der Unmoral wirklich kennt, kann in Wahrheit unmoralisch sein. Die wahren Wirkungen der Ursachen soll man lehren. Schon die Kinder sollen darauf hingewiesen werden. Es gibt nur Unmoralisches deshalb, weil die Menschen keine Erkenntnis haben. Nur die Finsternis der Unwahrheit macht Unmoralisches möglich.
Allerdings soll das, was so gesagt werden kann über den Zusammenhang zwischen Unmoralität und Unwissenheit, kein Verstandeswissen sein, sondern Weisheit. Das Wissen allein macht mit Unmoral, kann sogar, wenn es zur raffinierten Klugheit wird, Schurkerei sein. Während Weisheit so wirken wird auf des Menschen Seele, daß von ihr Wahrheit ausstrahlt, innerste Moralität.
Meine lieben Freunde, wahr ist es: Moral begründen ist schwer, Moral predigen ist leicht! — Moral begründen heißt, sie aus der Weisheit begründen, und die muß man erst haben. Da sehen wir, daß es doch ein recht kluger Ausspruch war von Schopenhauer, als er sagte: Moral begründen ist schwer!
So sehen wir also, wie unbegründet es ist, wenn Leute, die Theosophie nicht wirklich kennen, kommen und sagen, sie enthielte keine moralischen Antriebe. T'hheosophie zeigt uns, was wir in der Welt vollbringen, wenn wir nicht moralisch handeln; sie gibt Weisheit, von der selber Moral ausstrahlt. Es gibt keinen höheren Hochmut, als zu sagen, man brauche nur ein guter Mensch zu sein, dann wäre alles in Ordnung.
‘Man muß aber erst wissen, wie man das macht, wirklich ein guter Mensch zu sein. Das Gegenwartsbewußtsein ist sehr hochmütig, wenn es alle Weisheit ablehnen will. Die wahre Erkenntnis des Guten erfordert, daß wir tief hineindringen in die Geheimnisse der Weisheit, und das ist unbequem, denn da muß man viel lernen.
So können wir also entgegnen, wenn die Menschen kommen und uns sagen: Reinkarnation und Karma begründe eine egoistische Moral! - Nein! - Wahre Theosophie zeigt dem Menschen, daß, wenn er eine unmoralische Handlung begeht, es ungefähr dasselbe ist, als wenn er sagen würde: Ich nehme ein Blatt Papier, um einen Brief darauf zu schreiben — und er dann ein Streichholz nimmt und das Blatt Papier anzündet, Das wäre ein grotesker Unsinn! In derselben Lage befindet sich der Mensch gegenüber einer unrichtigen Handlung oder bei einer unmoralischen Gesinnung.
Stehlen bedeutet dasselbe für das eigentliche, tiefere menschliche Wesen, als wenn man lügt. Wenn man stiehlt, legt man den Keim hinein in das menschliche Wesen, eine schleimige, widrige Substanz zu entwickeln, pestartige Gerüche um sich zu verbreiten in der Zukunft. Nur wenn man in der Illusion lebt, daß der gegenwärtige Moment etwas Wahres ist, kann man eine solche Handlung tun. Mit dem Diebstahl legt der Mensch etwas in sich hinein, was gleichkommt einer Zerschindung der menschlichen Wesenheit. Und wenn der Mensch das weiß, wird er keine unmoralische Handlung mehr begehen können, er wird nicht stehlen können. Wie der Pflanzenkeim in der Zukunft Blüten heraustreibt, so wird Theosophie, wenn sie in die Menschenseele gesenkt wird, menschliche Blüten, das heißt menschliche Moral heraustreiben. Die Theosophie ist der Keim, die Seele ist der Fruchtboden für sie, und Moral ist Blüte und Frucht an der Pflanze des werdenden Menschen.
The Significance of Spiritual Research for Moral Action
Theosophy is often accused of not working directly toward the moral realm, and even of working for egoism in a certain sense through some of its teachings. People who think this have the following ideas. They say: Theosophy shows how human beings develop their existence from life to life, and the main thing is that, even if setbacks occur, human beings have the possibility of rising higher and higher, of learning more and more of what they have gone through in one of their lives, as a kind of school, and of applying this in the results of their next life. Those who immerse themselves completely in this belief in the perfection of man will strive to purify their ego more and more, to make it as rich as possible, in order to rise higher and higher. And, people say, this is basically an egoistic pursuit. For we Theosophists sought to draw teachings and powers from the spiritual world in order to raise our ego ever higher, so it is an egoistic motive that drives human beings to act. We theosophists also believed that we were creating bad karma through imperfect actions, and in order not to create such karma, the theosophist would avoid doing this or that which he would otherwise have done. So it is out of fear of karma that he does not do it. Probably for this reason he would also do this or that which he would not otherwise have done, which in turn would be nothing more than a completely selfish motive for action. There are a number of people who say that the teachings of karma and reincarnation and the other striving for perfection that comes out of theosophy lead people to strive spiritually for a refined higher egoism. — Actually, it would be a serious accusation if one could say that theosophy leads people to develop moral behavior not out of compassion and pity, but out of fear of punishment. Let us now ask ourselves whether such an accusation is really justified. We must delve deeply, very deeply into occult research if we really want to thoroughly refute such an accusation against theosophy.
Let us assume that someone would say: If human beings do not already have this striving for perfection, then theosophy does not cause them to commit moral acts. A deeper insight into what Theosophy tells us can teach us that human beings are so integrated into humanity as a whole that by acting immorally they not only accomplish something that may bring them punishment, but that by thinking immorally, acting immorally, or having immoral attitudes, they accomplish something that is truly absurd, something that cannot be reconciled with truly healthy thinking.
That says a lot. An immoral act not only holds out the prospect of a subsequent karmic punishment, but is, at its deepest level, an act that one should not commit at all. Let us assume that a person commits theft. By doing so, the person incurs a karmic punishment. If one wants to avoid this, then one simply does not steal. But the matter is even more complicated. Let us ask ourselves: What does the person who lies or steals want? The liar or the thief wants to gain an advantage, the liar perhaps to help himself out of an unpleasant situation. Such an action only makes sense if one achieves a real advantage through lying or stealing. If the person were to realize that they cannot achieve this, that they are mistaken, that they are in fact bringing about a disadvantage, then they would say to themselves: It is nonsense to even think of such an action. — When theosophy penetrates more and more into human civilization, people will know that it is absurd, even ridiculous, to believe that one can obtain what one believes one can obtain by lying or stealing. For one thing will become clearer and clearer to all people as Theosophy penetrates them, namely, that in the sense of higher causes there are no completely separate human individualities, but that alongside the separate individualities the whole human race constitutes a unity. And it will become increasingly clear that, in the sense of a true worldview, the finger is actually more intelligent than the whole human being, for it does not imagine itself to be anything without the whole human organism to which it belongs. In its dull consciousness, it knows that it cannot exist without the whole organism.
But human beings constantly indulge in illusions. They believe that they are something separate because of what is enclosed within their skin. They are no more separate than the finger is separate from the whole organism. The reason for this illusion is that human beings can walk around and the finger cannot. We are in the same position on the earth as the finger is on our organism. The science that believes that our Earth is a ball of molten liquid surrounded by a hard shell on which we humans wander around, that believes that this explains the Earth, is on the same level as a science that would believe that human beings are, in essence, nothing more than their bone structure, that they consist of nothing other than their bone structure. For what is seen of the earth is the same as the bone structure in humans. The other part, which belongs to the earth, is of a supersensible nature. The earth is a real organism, a real living being. If one imagines the human being as a living being, one can think of its blood with its red and white blood cells; these can only develop in the whole human organism and thus be what they are. What these red and white blood cells are to humans, we humans are to the Earth organism. We belong absolutely to this Earth organism; we form part of the whole Earth living being, and we only see ourselves correctly when we say: As individual human beings, we are nothing; we are only complete when we think ourselves into the earthly body, of which we see only the skeleton, the mineral shell, as long as we do not recognize the spiritual members of this earthly organism. When an inflammatory process develops in the human organism, the whole organism is seized by fever, the whole organism is seized by disease. If we transfer this to the earthly organism, we can say that what occultism claims is true: that when an immoral act is committed somewhere on earth, it is the same for the entire earthly organism as a small abscess on the human body is for the whole organism, which makes the whole organism sick. So when a theft is committed on earth, the effect is that the whole earth gets a kind of fever. This is not just a comparison, but it is deeply rooted. The whole earth organism suffers from everything that is immoral, and we as individuals cannot do anything about immorality without affecting the whole earth organism.
This is basically a very simple idea, but it is difficult for people to grasp. But those who do not want to believe it should just wait and see. Try to impress such ideas upon our culture, try to appeal to the human heart, to the human conscience with such ideas: When immoral acts are committed anywhere, they are a kind of abscess for the whole earth and make the earth's organism sick—and experience would show that such insights contain tremendous moral impulses.
No matter how much morality is preached, it will not help people. But such insights would not only strike people as insights, but would, if they were imprinted on the development of culture, if they were instilled in the minds of children, give an enormous moral impulse. For all moral preaching has nothing completely overwhelming or convincing for the human mind. It is true, as Schopenhauer says, that it is easy to preach morality, but difficult to justify it. People have a certain antipathy toward moral preaching. They say: What is being preached to me is what someone else wants, and I am supposed to simply submit to it! This belief will become more and more prevalent as materialistic consciousness gains the upper hand. Today, people say that there is class morality and class ethics, and what one class considers right is then imposed on the other class. This opinion has become ingrained in people's minds, and in the future it will become worse and worse. People will feel more and more strongly that they want to find for themselves everything that is to be recognized as right in this area, that this should spring from their inclination toward objective knowledge. Human individuality wants to assert itself more and more. But the moment the heart realizes, for example, that it becomes ill when the whole organism becomes ill, man will do what is necessary to avoid becoming ill. And at the moment when human beings realize that they are embedded in the entire earthly organism, that they must not be a festering sore on the body of the earth, then there will be an objective reason for being good. And human beings will say: When I steal, I want to gain an advantage for myself. I do not do it because it makes the whole organism, without which I cannot live, sick. I do the opposite, and in doing so I gain an advantage not only for the organism but also for myself.
This is roughly how the moral consciousness of people will develop in the future. Those who have a moral impulse from theosophy will say to themselves: It is an illusion to want to gain an advantage through immoral actions. If you do that, you are like an octopus squirting out a dark liquid: you squirt out a dark aura of immoral impulses. Lying and stealing are the seeds of an aura in which you place yourself and through which you make the whole world unhappy.
It is said that what surrounds us is Maya. But such truths must become truths of life. If it can be shown that through Theosophy the moral development of humanity in the future will be such that human beings will have to realize how they envelop themselves in an aura of illusions when they want to gain an advantage, then it will become a practical truth that the world is Maya or illusion. The finger believes this in its dull consciousness, which is a half-sleeping, dreaming consciousness; it is so clever that it knows that without the hand and the rest of the body, it is no longer a finger. Human beings today are not yet so clever that they know that without the earthly body, they are basically nothing. But they must become so clever. The finger therefore has a certain advantage over man. It does not cut itself off, it does not say: I want to keep the blood that is in me for myself or cut myself off as a limb. It is in harmony with the whole organism. Man must, however, develop a higher consciousness in order to come into harmony with the whole earthly organism. In today's moral consciousness, man does not yet know this. They could say to themselves: I breathe in the air; just a moment ago it was outside, now it is inside the human body: something external becomes something internal. And when I breathe out again, something internal becomes something external, and so it is with the whole human being. Human beings do not even know that, separated from the air that surrounds them, they are nothing. He must strive to develop an awareness of how he is enclosed in the whole earthly organism.
How can human beings know that they are members of the whole earthly organism? Theosophy leads them to this knowledge. It shows them that first there was a Saturn state, then a Sun state, then a Moon state, and human beings were already present everywhere, albeit in a completely different form than they are today. Then the earth emerged from the old lunar state. Slowly, human beings emerged as earth beings. They have undergone a long development and will advance to other stages of development in the future. With the earth in its present form, human beings have emerged in their present form. If one follows the study of theosophy to see how human beings and the earth came into being, then it becomes clear how human beings are a part of the whole earth organism. Then it becomes clear how the earth and human beings gradually emerged from a spiritual life, how the beings of the hierarchies built up the earth and human beings, and how human beings belong to the hierarchies, even if they are on the lowest level. And then Theosophy points to the central being of the entire development of the earth, to Christ as the great archetype of humanity. And from all these teachings of Theosophy, the following awareness should spring forth in human beings: This is how you should act!
Spiritual science shows us how we can feel ourselves to be a member of the whole of earthly life; spiritual science shows us that Christ is the spirit of the earth! Our fingers, our toes, our nose, all our limbs dream that they are supplied with blood from the heart, that without a central organ they would be nothing, for without the heart they are not possible. And Theosophy shows human beings that in the future of Earth's development it would be foolish not to accept the idea of Christ, for what the heart is to the organism, Christ is to the Earth's body. And just as blood supplies the entire organism with life and strength through the heart, so must that which is the essence of Christ have drawn through all individual earthly souls, and the words of Paul must become truth for them: Not I, but Christ in me! Christ must have flowed into all human hearts. And anyone who would say that one can exist without Christ would be as foolish as the eyes and ears if they were to say that they could exist without the heart. In the individual human body, the heart must indeed be there from the beginning, but this heart only entered the earthly organism with Christ. For the times to come, however, this blood of Christ's heart must enter all human hearts, and whoever does not unite with it in his soul will wither away. The earth does not wait with its development; it comes to the point where it must come. Only human beings can remain behind, that is, they would resist accepting Christ into their souls. A number of people would stand there in their last incarnation on earth and not have reached their goal: they have not recognized Christ, have not taken Christ-feeling, Christ-knowledge into their souls. They are not mature, they do not join the higher development, they separate themselves.
Such people do not immediately have the possibility of completely decaying, as the nose or ears would have to do if they were separated from the whole human organism. But occult research shows that those who do not want to permeate themselves with the Christ element, the Christ life, as it can only be attained through Theosophy, would, instead of living up with the earth to new stages of existence, have taken in decaying substances, decomposing substances, and would first have to take other paths. When human souls take Christ into their knowledge, into their feeling, into their whole soul in successive incarnations, the earth will fall away from these human souls, just as a corpse falls away when a person dies. The earthly corpse will fall away, and that which is spiritually and soulfully imbued with Christ will develop into a new existence and reincarnate on Jupiter.
And what will happen to those people who have not accepted Christ into themselves? There will be ample opportunity for them through theosophy to recognize Christ, to accept Christ into themselves. People still resist this today, but they will resist it less and less. But let us assume that at the end of evolution there will still be people who resist it. There would be a number of people who could not ascend to the next planet, who would not have reached the actual goal of Earth. These people would be a real cross on the planet where humans would then continue to evolve, because although they would not be able to live in the actual, correct state of Jupiter, they would not be able to experience what was developing there, they would still be there on Jupiter. Everything that is later material is first spiritual. So what people now develop spiritually during their time on Earth in terms of immorality and resistance to accepting Christ within themselves is first present in the soul and spirit. But this will become material; it will surround and permeate Jupiter like a neighboring element. And these will be the descendants of those people who did not accept Christ within themselves during their earthly existence. What is now developing spiritually as immorality, as resistance to Christ, will then be materially, physically present. And while the physical nature of those people who have accepted Christ will be refined on Jupiter, the physical nature of these other people will be considerably coarsened. This is what occult research paints before the soul's eye as the future of those who have not reached earthly maturity.
Now we breathe air. On Jupiter there will essentially be no air, but Jupiter will be surrounded by a substance that will be something more refined and ethereal than our air. The people who have reached the goal of Earth will live in this substance. Those other, backward humans, however, will have to breathe something like an unpleasantly warm, boiling, fiery air, which is permeated with a kind of sultriness and carries unpleasant vapors within it. So that the humans who did not attain Earth maturity will be a cross for the other Jupiter humans, because they will have a polluting effect on the environment, in the swamps and the rest of Jupiter's soil. The liquid-physical components of these people's bodies will be something comparable to a liquid that constantly wants to solidify, freezes within itself, stagnates, so that these beings will not only have this fatal breathing air, but also a physical condition as if their blood were constantly stagnating and not remaining liquid. The physical body of these beings will consist of a kind of slimy substance, more repulsive than the body substance of our present-day snails, fully capable of secreting a kind of crust that will surround them. This crust will be softer than the skin of our present snakes, like a kind of soft scale armor. Thus these beings will live in an unattractive manner in the elements of Jupiter.
Such a picture, as the occult researcher sees it in advance, looks terrifying. But woe to those people who, like the ostrich, do not want to look at the danger and close their eyes to the truth! For it is precisely this that lulls us into error and deception, while a bold look at the truth gives the greatest moral impulses. If people listen to what the truth tells them, they will feel: you are lying — and then the image of the effect of this lie on human nature in the Jupiter state will arise in them, the image: lying makes one slimy, makes the air we breathe poisonous for the future. And this image, which arises again and again, will be a reason to direct the impulses of the soul toward salvation. For no one who truly knows the consequences of immorality can be immoral in truth. The true effects of causes should be taught. Even children should be made aware of this. Immorality exists only because people lack knowledge. Only the darkness of untruth makes immorality possible.
However, what can be said about the connection between immorality and ignorance should not be intellectual knowledge, but wisdom. Knowledge alone leads to immorality and, when it becomes sophisticated cleverness, can even be villainy. Wisdom, on the other hand, has such an effect on the human soul that it radiates truth and inner morality.
My dear friends, it is true: establishing morality is difficult, preaching morality is easy! — Establishing morality means establishing it from wisdom, and that must first be acquired. We see, then, that Schopenhauer was quite wise when he said: Establishing morality is difficult!
So we see how unfounded it is when people who do not really know theosophy come and say that it contains no moral impulses. Theosophy shows us what we accomplish in the world when we do not act morally; it gives wisdom from which morality itself radiates. There is no greater arrogance than to say that one only needs to be a good person and then everything will be fine.
But first you have to know how to be a truly good person. Present consciousness is very arrogant when it wants to reject all wisdom. True knowledge of the good requires that we delve deeply into the mysteries of wisdom, and that is uncomfortable because it requires a lot of learning.
So we can respond when people come and say to us: Reincarnation and karma are the basis of an egoistic morality! — No! — True theosophy shows people that when they commit an immoral act, it is roughly the same as if they were to say: I take a sheet of paper to write a letter on it — and then he takes a match and sets fire to the sheet of paper. That would be grotesque nonsense! The human being is in the same situation when he commits an wrong action or has an immoral attitude.
Stealing means the same thing for the actual, deeper human being as lying does. When you steal, you plant the seed in the human being to develop a slimy, repulsive substance that will spread pestilential odors around itself in the future. Only if one lives under the illusion that the present moment is something true can one commit such an act. By stealing, man puts something into himself that is tantamount to destroying human nature. And when man knows this, he will no longer be able to commit immoral acts; he will not be able to steal. Just as the seed of a plant sprouts into blossoms in the future, so theosophy, when it is planted in the human soul, will sprout into human blossoms, that is, human morality. Theosophy is the seed, the soul is the soil for it, and morality is the blossom and fruit on the plant of the becoming human being.