Love and Its Meaning In The World
GA 143
17 December 1912, Zurich
Translated by D. S. O. and E. F. and S. Derry
When we say that at the present point of time in his evolution man must learn to understand the Christ Impulse, the thought may well occur: What, then, is the position of one who has never heard of the Christ Impulse, may perhaps never even have heard the name of Christ? Will such a man be deprived of the Christ Impulse because he has not heard the name of Christ? Is it necessary to have some theoretical knowledge of the Christ Impulse in order that Christ's power may flow into the soul? We will clarify our minds about these questions by the following thoughts concerning human life from birth until death.
The human being comes into the world and lives through early childhood in a half-sleeping state. He has gradually to learn to feel himself as an “I”, to find his bearings as an “I”, and his life of soul is constantly enriched by what is received through the “I”. By the time death is approaching, this life of soul is at its richest and ripest. Hence the vital question arises: What of our life of soul when the body falls away? It is a peculiarity of our physical life and of our life of soul that the wealth of our experience and knowledge increases in significance the nearer we approach death; but at the same time certain attributes are lost and replaced by others of an entirely different character. In youth we gather knowledge, pass through experiences, cherish hopes which as a rule can only later be fulfilled. The older we grow, the more do we begin to love the wisdom revealed by life. Love of wisdom is not egoistic, for this love increases in the measure in which we draw near to death; it increases in the measure in which the expectation of gaining something from our wisdom decreases. Our love for this content of our soul steadily increases. In this respect Spiritual Science may actually become a source of temptation, inasmuch as a man may be led to believe that his next life will depend upon the acquisition of wisdom in this present life. The effect of Spiritual Science may be an extension of egoism beyond the bounds of this present life, and therein lies danger. Thus if wrongly understood, Spiritual Science may act as a tempter—this lies in its very nature.
Love of the wisdom acquired from life may be compared with the flowering of a plant when the necessary stage of maturity has been reached. Love arises for something that is contained within ourselves. Men have often made the attempt to sublimate the impulse of love for what is within themselves. In the Mystics, for example, we find evidence of how they strove to transmute the urge of self-love into love of wisdom, and to let this love ray out in beauty. By sinking in contemplation into the depths of their own soul-life they strove to become aware of the Divine Spark within them. But the truth is that the wisdom which man acquires in life is only the means whereby the seed of his next life is unfolded. When a plant has completed its growth through the year, the seed remains. So it is with the wisdom acquired from life. Man passes through the Gate of Death and the spiritual core of being in its process of ripening is the seed of the next life. A man who feels this may become a Mystic and mistake what is only the seed of the next life to be the Divine Spark, the Absolute. This is his interpretation of it because it goes against the grain for a man to acknowledge that this spirit-seed is nothing but his own self. Meister Eckhart, John Tauler, and others, spoke of it as the “God within”, because they knew nothing of reincarnation. If we grasp the meaning of the law of reincarnation we recognise the significance of love in the world, both in a particular and in a general sense. When we speak of karma, we mean that which as cause in the one life has its effect in the next. In terms of cause and effect we cannot, however, speak truly of love; we cannot speak of a deed of love and its eventual compensation. True, if there is a deed, there will be compensation, but this has nothing to do with love. Deeds of love do not look for compensation in the next life.
Suppose, for example, that we work and our work brings gain. It may also be that our work gives us no joy because we do it simply in order to pay off debts, not for actual reward. We can imagine that in this way a man has already spent what he is now earning through his work. He would prefer to have no debts, but as things are, he is obliged to work in order to pay them. Now let us apply this example to our actions in general. By everything we do out of love we pay off debts. From an occult point of view, what is done out of love brings no reward but makes amends for profit already expended. The only actions from which we have nothing in the future are those we perform out of true, genuine love. This truth may well be disquieting and men are lucky in that they know nothing of it in their upper consciousness. But in their subconsciousness all of them know it, and that is why deeds of love are done so unwillingly, why there is so little love in the world. Men feel instinctively that they may expect nothing for their “I” in the future from deeds of love. An advanced stage of development must have been reached before the soul can experience joy in performing deeds of love from which there is nothing to be gained for itself. The impulse for this is not strong in humanity. But occultism can be a source of powerful incentives to deeds of love.
Our egoism gains nothing from deeds of love—but the world all the more. Occultism says: Love is for the world what the sun is for external life. No soul could thrive if love departed from the world. Love is the “moral” sun of the world. Would it not be absurd if a man who delights in the flowers growing in a meadow were to wish that the sun would vanish from the world? Translated into terms of the moral life, this means: Our deep concern must be that an impulse for sound, healthy development shall find its way into the affairs of humanity. To disseminate love over the earth in the greatest measure possible, to promote love on the earth—that and that alone is wisdom.
What do we learn from Spiritual Science? We learn facts concerning the evolution of the earth, we hear of the Spirit of the earth, of the earth's surface and its changing conditions, of the development of the human body and so forth; we learn to understand the nature of the forces working and weaving in the evolutionary process. What does this mean? What does it mean when people do not want to know anything about Spiritual Science? It means that they have no interest for what is reality. For if a man has no desire to know anything about the nature of Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon, then he can know nothing about the Earth. Lack of interest in the world is egoism in its grossest form. Interest in all existence is man's bounden duty. Let us therefore long for and love the sun with its creative power, its love for the well-being of the earth and the souls of men! This interest in the earth's evolution should be the spiritual seed of love for the world. A Spiritual Science without love would be a danger to mankind. But love should not be a matter for preaching; love must and indeed will come into the world through the spreading of knowledge of spiritual truths. Deeds of love and Spiritual Science should be inseparably united.
Love mediated by way of the senses is the wellspring of creative power, of that which is coming into being. Without sense-born love, nothing material would exist in the world; without spiritual love, nothing spiritual can arise in evolution. When we practise love, cultivate love, creative forces pour into the world. Can the intellect be expected to offer reasons for this? The creative forces poured into the world before we ourselves and our intellect came into being. True, as egoists, we can deprive the future of creative forces; but we cannot obliterate the deeds of love and the creative forces of the past. We owe our existence to deeds of love wrought in the past. The strength with which we have been endowed by these deeds of love is the measure of our deep debt to the past, and whatever love we may at any time be able to bring forth is payment of debts owed for our existence. In the light of this knowledge we shall be able to understand the deeds of a man who has reached a high stage of development, for he has still greater debts to pay to the past. He pays his debts through deeds of love, and herein lies his wisdom. The higher the stage of development reached by a man, the more does the impulse of love in him increase in strength; wisdom alone does not suffice.
Let us think of the meaning and effect of love in the world in the following way. Love is always a reminder of debts owed to life in the past, and because we gain nothing for the future by paying off these debts, no profit for ourselves accrues from our deeds of love. We have to leave our deeds of love behind in the world; but they are then a spiritual factor in the how of world-happenings. It is not through our deeds of love but through deeds of a different character that we perfect ourselves; yet the world is richer for our deeds of love. Love is the creative force in the world.
Besides love there are two other powers in the world. How do they compare with love? The one is strength, might; the second is wisdom. In regard to strength or might we can speak of degrees: weaker, stronger, or absolute might—omnipotence. The same applies to wisdom, for there are stages on the path to omniscience. It will not do to speak in the same way of degrees of love. What is universal love, love for all beings? In the case of love we cannot speak of enhancement as we can speak of enhancement of knowledge into omniscience or of might into omnipotence, by virtue of which we attain greater perfection of our own being. Love for a few or for many beings has nothing to do with our own perfecting. Love for everything that lives cannot be compared with omnipotence; the concept of magnitude, or of enhancement, cannot rightly be applied to love. Can the attribute of omnipotence be ascribed to the Divine Being who lives and weaves through the world? Contentions born of feeling must here be silent: were God omnipotent, he would be responsible for everything that happens and there could be no human freedom. If man can be free, then certainly there can be no Divine omnipotence.
Is the Godhead omniscient? As man's highest goal is likeness to God, our striving must be in the direction of omniscience. Is omniscience, then, the supreme treasure? If it is, a vast chasm must forever yawn between man and God. At every moment man would have to be aware of this chasm if God possessed the supreme treasure of omniscience for himself and withheld it from man. The all-encompassing attribute of the Godhead is not omnipotence, neither is it omniscience, but it is love—the attribute in respect of which no enhancement is possible. God is uttermost love, unalloyed love, is born as it were out of love, is the very substance and essence of love. God is pure love, not supreme wisdom, not supreme might. God has retained love for himself but has shared wisdom and might with Lucifer and Ahriman. He has shared wisdom with Lucifer and might with Ahriman, in order that man may become free, in order that under the influence of wisdom he may make progress.
If we try to discover the source of whatever is creative we come to love; love is the ground, the foundation of everything that lives. It is by a different impulse in evolution that beings are led to become wiser and more powerful. Progress is attained through wisdom and strength. Study of the course taken by the evolution of humanity shows us how the development of wisdom and strength is subject to change: there is progressive evolution and then the Christ Impulse which once poured into mankind through the Mystery of Golgotha. Love did not, therefore, come into the world by degrees; love streamed into mankind as a gift of the Godhead, in complete, perfect wholeness. But man can receive the Impulse into himself gradually. The Divine Impulse of love as we need it in earthly life is an Impulse that came once and forever.
True love is not capable of diminution or amplification. Its nature is quite different from that of wisdom and might. Love wakens no expectations for the future; it is payment of debts incurred in the past. And such was the Mystery of Golgotha in the world's evolution. Did the Godhead, then, owe any debt to humanity?
Lucifer's influence brought into humanity a certain element in consequence of which something that man had previously possessed was withdrawn from him. This new element led to a descent, a descent countered by the Mystery of Golgotha which made possible the payment of all debts. The Impulse of Golgotha was not given in order that the sins we have committed in evolution may be removed from us, but in order that what crept into humanity through Lucifer should be given its counterweight.
Let us imagine that there is a man who knows nothing of the name of Christ Jesus, nothing of what is communicated in the Gospels, but that he understands the radical difference between the nature of wisdom and might and that of love. Such a man, even though he knows nothing of the Mystery of Golgotha, is a Christian in the truest sense. A man who knows that love is there for the paying of debts and brings no profit for the future, is a true Christian. To understand the nature of love—that is to be a Christian! Theosophy 1In connection with the use of the word “Theosophy”, the following passage is quoted from Rudolf Steiner's Introduction to his book Theosophy “The highest to which a man is able to look up he calls the ‘Divine’. And in some way or other he must think of his highest destiny as being in connection with this Divinity. Therefore that wisdom which reaches out beyond the sensible and reveals to him his own being, and with it his final goal, may very well be called ‘divine wisdom’, or ‘Theosophy’. To the study of the spiritual processes in human life and in the cosmos, the term Spiritual Science may be given. When, as is the case in this book, one extracts from this Spiritual Science those particular results which have reference to the spiritual core of man's being, then the expression ‘Theosophy’ may be employed to designate this domain, because it has been employed for centuries in that direction.” alone, Spiritual Science alone, with its teachings of Karma and reincarnation, can make us into great egoists unless the impulse of love, the Christ Impulse, is added; only so can we acquire the power to overcome the egoism that may be generated by Spiritual Science. The balance is established by an understanding of the Christ Impulse. Spiritual Science is given to the world today because it is a necessity for humanity; but in it lies the great danger that—if it is cultivated without the Christ Impulse, without the Impulse of love—men will only increase their egoism, will actually breed egoism that lasts even beyond death. From this the conclusion must not be drawn that we should not cultivate Spiritual Science; rather we must learn to realise that understanding of the essential nature of love is an integral part of it.
What actually came to pass at the Mystery of Golgotha? Jesus of Nazareth was born, lived on as related by the Gospels, and when He was thirty years old the Baptism in the Jordan took place. Thereafter the Christ lived for three years in the body of Jesus of Nazareth and fulfilled the Mystery of Golgotha. Many people think that the Mystery of Golgotha should be regarded in an entirely human aspect, believing as they do that it was an earthly deed, a deed belonging to the realm of the earth. But that is not so. Only from the vantage-point of the higher worlds is it possible to see the Mystery of Golgotha in its true light and how it came to pass on the earth.
Let us think again of the beginning of the evolution of the earth and of man. Man was endowed with certain spiritual powers—and then Lucifer approached him. At this point we can say: The Gods who further the progress of evolution surrendered their omnipotence to Lucifer in order that man might become free. But man sank into matter more deeply than was intended; he slipped away from the Gods of progress, fell more deeply than had been wished. How, then, can the Gods of progress draw man to themselves again? To understand this we must think, not of the earth, but of Gods taking counsel together. It is for the Gods that Christ performs the Deed by which men are drawn back to the Gods. Lucifer's deed was enacted in the super-sensible world; Christ's Deed, too, was enacted in the super-sensible but also in the physical world. This was an achievement beyond the power of any human being. Lucifer's deed was a deed belonging to the super-sensible world. But Christ came down to the earth to perform His Deed here, and men are the onlookers at this Deed. The Mystery of Golgotha is a Deed of the Gods, a concern of the Gods at which men are the onlookers. The door of heaven opens and a Deed of the Gods shines through. This is the one and only Deed on earth that is entirely super-sensible. No wonder, therefore, that those who do not believe in the super-sensible have no belief in the Deed of Christ. The Deed of Christ is a Deed of the Gods, a Deed which they themselves enact. Herein lies the glory and the unique significance of the Mystery of Golgotha and men are invited to be its witnesses. Historical evidence is not to be found. Men have seen the event in its external aspect only; but the Gospels were written from vision of the super-sensible and are therefore easily disavowed by those who have no feeling for super-sensible reality.
The Mystery of Golgotha as an accomplished fact is one of the most sublime of all experiences in the spiritual world. Lucifer's deed belongs to a time when man was still aware of his own participation in the super-sensible world; Christ's Deed was performed in material existence itself—it is both a physical and a spiritual Deed. We can understand the deed of Lucifer through wisdom; understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha is beyond the reach of wisdom alone. Even if all the wisdom of this world is ours, the Deed of Christ may still be beyond our comprehension. Love is essential for any understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha. Only when love streams into wisdom and then again wisdom flows into love will it be possible to grasp the nature and meaning of the Mystery of Golgotha—only when, as he lives on towards death, man unfolds love of wisdom. Love united with wisdom—that is what we need when we pass through the Gate of Death, because without wisdom that is united with love we die in very truth. Philo-sophia, philosophy, is love of wisdom. The ancient wisdom was not philosophy for it was not born through love but through revelation. There is not such a thing as philosophy of the East—but wisdom of the East, yes. Philosophy as love of wisdom came into the world with Christ; there we have the entry of wisdom emanating from the impulse of love which came into the world as the Christ Impulse. The impulse of love must now be carried into effect in wisdom itself.
The ancient wisdom, acquired by the seer through revelation, comes to expression in the sublime words from the original prayer of mankind: Ex Deo Nascimur—Out of God we are born. That is ancient wisdom. Christ who came forth from the realms of spirit has united wisdom with love and this love will overcome egoism. Such is its aim. But it must be offered independently and freely from one being to the other. Hence the beginning of the era of love coincided with that of the era of egoism. The cosmos has its source and origin in love; egoism was the natural and inevitable offshoot of love. Yet with time the Christ Impulse, the impulse of love, will overcome the element of separation that has crept into the world, and man can gradually become a participant in this force of love. In monumental words of Christ we feel love pouring into the hearts of men:
“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
In like manner does the ancient Rosicrucian saying resound into the love that is wedded with wisdom: In Christo Morimur—In Christ we die.
Through Jehovah, man was predestined for a group-soul existence; love was to penetrate into him gradually by way of blood-relationship; it is through Lucifer that he lives as a personality. Originally, therefore, men were in a state of union, then of separateness as a consequence of the Luciferic principle which promotes selfishness, independence. Together with selfishness, evil came into the world. It had to be so, because without the evil man could not lay hold of the good. When a man gains victory over himself, the unfolding of love is possible. To man in the clutches of increasing egoism Christ brought the impulse for this victory over himself and thereby the power to conquer the evil. The Deeds of Christ bring together again those human beings who were separated through egoism and selfishness. True in the very deepest sense are the words of Christ concerning deeds of love:
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
The Divine Deed of Love flowed back upon the earthly world; as time goes on, in spite of the forces of physical decay and death, the evolution of mankind will be permeated and imbued with new spiritual life through this Deed—a Deed performed, not out of egoism but solely out of the spirit of love. Per Spiritum Sanctum Reviviscimus—Through the Holy Spirit we live again.
Yet the future of humanity will consist of something besides love. Spiritual perfecting will be for earthly man the goal most worthy of aspiration—(this is described at the beginning of my second Mystery Play, The Soul's Probation)—but nobody who understands what deeds of love truly are will say that his own striving for perfection is selfless. Striving for perfection imparts strength to our being and to our personality. But our value for the world must be seen to lie wholly in deeds of love, not in deeds done for the sake of self-perfecting. Let us be under no illusion about this. When a man is endeavouring to follow Christ by way of love of wisdom, of the wisdom he dedicates to the service of the world only so much takes real effect as is filled with love.
Wisdom steeped in love, which at once furthers the world and leads the world to Christ—this love of wisdom also excludes the lie. For the lie is the direct opposite of the actual facts and those who yield themselves lovingly to the facts are incapable of lying. The lie has its roots in egoism—always and without exception. When, through love, we have found the path to wisdom, we reach wisdom through the increasing power of self-conquest, through selfless love. Thus does man become a free personality. The evil was the sub-soil into which the light of love was able to shine; but it is love that enables us to grasp the meaning and place of evil in the world. The darkness has enabled the light to come into our ken. Only a man who is free in the real sense can become a true Christian.
Die Liebe Und Ihre Bedeutung In Der Welt
Wenn wir davon sprechen, daß der Mensch in dem gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkte der Entwickelung herankommen muß an dasjenige, was man nennen kann das Verständnis des Christus-Impulses, da kann uns wohl der Gedanke auftauchen, wie es nun ist mit einem Menschen, der von dem Christus-Impuls nichts gehört hat, vielleicht nicht einmal den Namen des Christus je gehört hat. Wird der Mensch deshalb des Christus-Impulses verlustig gehen müssen, weil er nicht den Namen des Christus gehört hat? Muß man theoretisch dasjenige kennen, was Christus-Impuls genannt wird, damit die Kraft des Christus sich in die Seele senkt? Wir wollen uns über die Frage aufklären durch folgende Betrachtungen über das menschliche Leben von der Geburt bis zum Tode.
Der Mensch tritt herein in die Welt; er ist halb schlafend in der ersten Kindheit. Wir müssen erst lernen, uns selber als Ich zu empfinden, uns als Ich zu finden, und immer reicher wird unser Seelenleben durch die Aufnahme alles dessen, was uns durch dieses Ich zuteil wird. Beim Nahen des Todes ist dieses Seelenleben am reichsten, am reifsten, daher können wir die große Frage aufwerfen: Wie steht es mit unserem Seelenleben, wenn der Leib abfällt? Es ist eine Eigenschaft besonders unseres physischen und unseres Seelenlebens, daß das, was wir in der Seele tragen an Lebenserfahrungen, an Lebenswissen, immer bedeutender wird, je mehr wir dem Tode zugehen, daß uns aber auch, je mehr es dem Tode zugeht, immer mehr und mehr gewisse Eigenschaften abhanden kommen und andere auftreten, die ganz individuell verschieden sind. In der Jugend sammeln wir Kenntnisse, machen Lebenserfahrungen, hegen Hoffnungen, die wir meist erst später verwerten können. Je mehr wir dem Alter zugehen, desto mehr beginnen wir die Lebensweisheit zu lieben. Die Liebe zu der Weisheit ist nicht egoistisch, denn diese Liebe wird immer größer, je mehr wir uns dem Tode nahen; sie wächst in dem Maße, als die Aussicht, etwas zu haben von unserer Weisheit, kleiner wird. Immer mehr lieben wir diesen Seeleninhalt. Geisteswissenschaft kann zunächst sogar so zur Versucherin werden, indem der Mensch erfassen kann, daß das nächste Leben abhängt von der Erwerbung von Weisheit in diesem Leben. Ein gut Teil Egoismus über dieses Leben hinaus kann uns so aus der Geisteswissenschaft erwachsen, und darin liegt eine Gefahr. So kann es geschehen, daß die in der Seele zu unrecht aufgefaßte Geisteswissenschaft eine Versucherin werden kann; das ist die Verlockung der Geisteswissenschaft. Sie liegt inihrem Wesen. Man kann beobachten, daß die Liebe zur Lebensweisheit so eintritt, wie das Blühen der Pflanze, wenn diese reif dazu ist. Wir können also beobachten, daß die Liebe auftritt zu etwas, was in uns selber ist. Der Mensch hat vielfach versucht, den Impuls der Liebe zu etwas, was in uns selbst ist, in einem höheren Sinne zu überbrücken. Wir finden zum Beispiel bei Mystikern das Bestreben, den Trieb der Selbstliebe im Sinne der Liebe zur Weisheit zu entwickeln und diese in einem schönen Lichte erstrahlen zu lassen. Sie versuchen durch Vertiefung in das eigene Seelenleben in sich den Gottesfunken zu finden, ihr höheres Selbst als diesen Gottesfunken zu empfinden. Eigentlich bildet aber der Mensch als Lebensweisheit nur den Keim zu seinem nächsten Leben aus. Es ist wie mit dem Samen, nachdem die Pflanze durch das Jahr hindurchgegangen ist. Wie der Same bleibt, so bleibt die Lebensweisheit; der Mensch geht durch die Pforte des Todes hindurch, und das, was da heranreift als geistiger Wesenskern, das ist der Same zum nächsten Leben. Der Mensch spürt dieses, er kann Mystiker werden, und das, was nur Same für das nächste Leben ist, für den Gottesfunken ansehen, als etwas Absolutes ansehen. Man interpretiert es nun so, weil man sich geniert, sich einzugestehen, daß man es doch nur selbst ist, dieser Geistessame. Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler sprechen ihn an als den Gott in uns selber, weil sie von Reinkarnation nichts wissen. Erfassen wir das Gesetz der Reinkarnation, so erkennen wir die Bedeutung der Liebe in der Welt im Einzelnen und im Ganzen. Wir verstehen unter Karma dasjenige, was in dem einen Leben die Ursache ist und seine Wirkung im nächsten Leben hat. In dem Sinne von Ursache und Wirkung können wir als Menschen nicht recht von Liebe sprechen, nicht im Sinne von Liebestat und Ausgleich dafür. Es handelt sich da um ein Tun und um einen Ausgleich dafür, aber das hat nichts mit Liebe zu tun: Taten der Liebe sind solche Taten, die zunächst nicht ihren Ausgleich im nächsten Leben suchen.
Denken wir uns beispielsweise, daß wir arbeiten und dadurch verdienen. Das kann aber auch anders sein, nämlich so, daß wir arbeiten und keine Freude daran haben, weil wir nicht um Lohn arbeiten, sondern um Schulden zu zahlen. Wir können uns vorstellen, daß der Mensch schon verbraucht hat dasjenige, was er nun durch die Arbeit verdient. Lieber hätte er es, wenn er keine Schulden hätte, so aber muß er arbeiten zum Zahlen seiner Schulden. Dieses Beispiel wollen wir nun übertragen auf unsere allgemeine menschliche Handlung: Alles, was wir aus Liebe tun, stellt sich so heraus, daß wir damit Schulden bezahlen! Okkult gesehen bringt alles, was aus Liebe geschieht, keinen Lohn, sondern ist Ersatzleistung für bereits verbrauchtes Gut. Die einzigen Handlungen, von denen wir in der Zukunft nichts haben, sind diejenigen, die wir aus echter, wahrer Liebe tun. Man könnte erschrecken über diese Wahrheit. Zum Glück wissen die Menschen in ihrem Oberbewußtsein nichts davon. In ihrem Unterbewußtsein aber wissen es alle Menschen, darum tun sie so ungern die Taten der Liebe. Das ist der Grund, warum so wenig Liebe in der Welt ist. Die Menschen fühlen instinktiv, daß sie von den Taten der Liebe für die Zukunft nichts haben für ihr Ich. Eine Seele muß schon weit vorgeschritten sein in ihrer Entwickelung, wenn sie Gefallen hat an Handlungen der Liebe, von denen sie selbst nichts hat. Der Impuls dazu ist nicht stark in der Menschheit; aber aus dem Okkultismus heraus kann man doch auch starke Impulse für Taten der Liebe gewinnen.
Wir haben für unseren Egoismus nichts von Taten der Liebe, aber die Welt hat davon um so mehr. Der Okkultismus sagt: Die Liebe ist für die Welt dasjenige, was die Sonne für das äußere Leben ist. Es würden keine Seelen mehr gedeihen können, wenn die Liebe weg wäre von der Welt. Die Liebe ist die moralische Sonne der Welt. Wäre es für einen Menschen, der Wohlgefallen, Interesse hat an dem Blumenwachstum einer Wiese, nicht absurd, wenn er wünschen würde, daß die Sonne verschwinde aus der Welt? Ins Moralische übertragen heißt das: Man muß Interesse haben daran, daß eine gesunde Entwickelung sich durchringt in den Menschheitszusammenhängen. Weise ist es, wenn wir so viel Liebe wie möglich über die Erde ausgestreut haben. Einzig weise ist es, wenn wir die Liebe fördern auf der Erde.
Was gibt uns die Geisteswissenschaft? Man erfährt die Tatsachen der Erdenevolution, man hört über den Geist der Erde, über ihre Oberfläche und ihre Veränderungen, über das Werden des menschlichen Leibes und so weiter, man lernt genau kennen das, was in der Entwickelung lebt und webt. Was bedeutet das? Was bedeutet es, wenn die Menschen nichts von der Geisteswissenschaft wissen wollen? Sie haben kein Interesse für das, was da ist. Denn wer den Saturn nicht kennt, wer das Wesen der Sonne und des alten Mondes nicht kennenlernen will, der kennt auch die Erde nicht. Interesselosigkeit, krassester Egoismus ist es, wenn die Menschen kein Interesse haben an der Welt. Interesse an allem Sein haben, das ist Menschenpflicht. Wünschen wir also und lieben wir die Sonne mit ihrer Schöpferkraft, mit ihrer Liebe für das Gedeihen der Erde und der Menschenseelen! Dieses Lernen des Erdenwerdens, das soll sein die geistige Aussaat für die Liebe zur Welt, denn eine Geisteswissenschaft ohne Liebe wäre eine Gefahr für die Menschheit. Aber wir sollen nicht die Liebe predigen, sondern sie soll und wird dadurch in die Welt kommen, diese Liebe, daß wir die Erkenntnis der wirklichen geistigen Dinge verbreiten. Geisteswissenschaft und wirkliche Liebeshandlungen und Liebestaten sollen eines sein.
Die Liebe, die sinnliche, ist der Ursprung für das Schöpferische, das Entstehende. Ohne sinnliche Liebe würde es nichts Sinnliches mehr geben auf der Welt; ohne die geistige Liebe entsteht nichts Geistiges in der Entwickelung. Wenn wir Liebe üben, Liebe pflegen, so ergießen sich Entstehungskräfte, Schöpferkräfte in die Welt. Sollen wir das durch den Verstand begründen? Die Schöpferkräfte haben sich doch auch in die Welt vor uns und unserem Verstande ergießen müssen. Gewiß, als Egoisten können wir der Zukunft die Schöpferkräfte entziehen; aber die Liebestaten und die Schöpferkräfte der Vergangenheit, die können wir nicht auslöschen. Den Taten der Liebe der Vergangenheit schulden wir unser Dasein. So stark wir dadurch sind, so stark auch sind wir der Vergangenheit verschuldet, und was wir an Liebe jemals aufbringen können, ist Schuldenbezahlen für unser Dasein. Daher werden wir die Taten eines hochentwickelten Menschen begreifen, denn ein hochentwickelter Mensch hat größere Schulden an die Vergangenheit. Weise ist es, seine Schulden zu bezahlen durch Taten der Liebe. Der Impuls zur Liebe wächst mit dem Höherkommen eines Menschen; Weisheit allein genügt nicht. Die Bedeutung der Liebe im Wirken der Welt wollen wir uns so vor die Seele führen: Liebe ist dasjenige, was uns immer auf Lebensschulden der Vergangenheit verweist, und weil wir vom Bezahlen der Schulden für die Zukunft nichts haben, darum haben wir selbst nichts von unseren Liebestaten. Wir müssen unsere Liebestaten zurücklassen in der Welt, da aber sind sie eingeschrieben in das geistige Weltengeschehen. Wir vervollkommnen uns nicht durch unsere Liebestaten, nur durch die anderen Taten, aber die Welt wird reicher durch unsere Liebestaten. Denn Liebe ist das Schöpferische in der Welt.
Es gibt neben der Liebe noch zwei andere Mächte in der Welt. Wie lassen diese sich mit der Liebe vergleichen? Die eine Macht ist die Kraft, die Stärke; die zweite ist die Weisheit. Bei der Stärke kann man von schwacher Macht, von einer stärkeren Macht und von Allmacht reden; ebenso bei der Weisheit - da gibt es auch Stufen bis zur Allwissenheit, zur Allweisheit. In demselben Sinne von Stufen der Liebe zu reden, geht nicht recht an. Was ist All-Liebe, Liebe zu allen Wesen? Man kann nicht so bei der Liebe von einer Steigerung sprechen, wie von einer Steigerung des Wissens oder der Macht bis zur Allwissenheit oder Allmacht. Durch solche Steigerung wird unsere eigene Wesenheit vollkommener. Das ist aber nicht so der Fall, wenn wir ein paar Wesen oder mehr lieben; das hat in dieser Weise mit der Vervollkommnung unseres Wesens nichts zu tun. Liebe für alles, was lebt, läßt sich nicht vergleichen mit Allmacht; die Begriffe der Größe, der Steigerung lassen sich nicht recht auf die Liebe anwenden. Dem göttlichen Wesen, das durch die Welt lebt und webt, kann man ihm das Prädikat der Allmacht beilegen? Gefühlsvorurteile müssen dabei schweigen: Wenn Gott allmächtig wäre, dann würde er alles das tun, was geschieht, es wäre also die menschliche Freiheit dann unmöglich. Die Allmacht Gottes würde die menschliche Freiheit ausschließen! Die Allmacht der Gottheit ist zweifellos nicht vorhanden, wenn der Mensch frei sein kann.
Hat das Göttliche Allwissenheit? Da das Hinstreben zur Gottähnlichkeit des Menschen höchstes Ziel ist, müßte unser Streben nach Allweisheit gehen. Ist denn Allweisheit das höchste Gut? Wenn Allweisheit das höchste Gut ist, dann müßte in jedem Augenblick sich eine ungeheure Kluft zwischen dem Menschen und dem Gott, der allweise ist, auftun. Der Mensch müßte in jedem Augenblick sich dieser Kluft bewußt sein, wenn es so wäre, daß der Gott das höchste Gut, die Allweisheit, für sich hat, und sie dem Menschen vorenthalten hat. - Nicht ist die umfassendste Eigenschaft der Gottheit die Allmacht, nicht die Allweisheit, sondern die Liebe, die Eigenschaft, bei der keine Steigerung mehr möglich ist. Gott ist voller Liebe, ist reine Liebe, ist sozusagen aus der Substanz der Liebe geboren. Gott ist reine, lautere Liebe, nicht höchste Weisheit, nicht höchste Macht. Gott hat behalten die Liebe, geteilt aber hat er die Macht und die Weisheit mit Luzifer und Ahriman. Die Weisheit hat er geteilt mit Luzifer und mit Ahriman die Macht, damit der Mensch frei sei, damit der Mensch unter dem Einfluß der Weisheit weiterschreiten könne.
Suchen wir alles Schöpferische zu ergründen, so kommen wir auf die Liebe; der Grund alles Lebendigen ist die Liebe. Ein anderer Impuls ist es innerhalb der Entwickelung, der dahin führt, daß die Wesen immer weiser und mächtiger werden. Vervollkommnung wird erreicht durch Weisheit und Macht. Wie sich die Entwickelung von Weisheit und Macht ändert, das sehen wir am Werdegang der Menschheit: Wir haben eine fortlaufende Entwickelung, dann den Christus-Impuls, der einmal hereingekommen ist in die Menschheit durch das Mysterium von Golgatha. Die Liebe ist also nicht stückweise hereingekommen in die Welt, sondern es strömt die Liebe als eine Gabe der Gottheit herein in die Menschheit. Als ein fertig Abgeschlossenes fließt die Liebe in die Menschheit herein; der Mensch aber kann nach und nach den Impuls aufnehmen. Ein einmaliger Impuls ist der göttliche Impuls der Liebe, so wie wir ihn als Erdenimpuls brauchen.
Die wahre Liebe ist nicht fähig der Verminderung und der Vermehrung. Liebe ist etwas, was eine ganz andere Natur hat als Weisheit und Macht. Liebe erweckt keine Hoffnungen auf die Zukunft, Liebe ist Abschlagszahlung für die Vergangenheit. So auch stellt sich das Mysterium von Golgatha in die Weltentwickelung herein. War denn die Gottheit der Menschheit etwas schuldig?
Durch den Luzifer-Einfluß zog ein gewisses Element in die Menschheit ein, dem gegenüber etwas von dem, was früher da war, ihr genommen werden mußte. Dieses, was da neu einzog, führte zur absteigenden Linie, dem das Mysterium von Golgatha entgegenbrachte die Möglichkeit, alle Schuld abzuzahlen. Der Impuls von Golgatha ist nicht gekommen, um uns unsere Sünden, die wir in der Entwickelung begehen, abzunehmen, sondern er ist gekommen, damit das sein Gegengewicht erhalte, was durch Luzifer eingezogen ist in die Menschheit. Nehmen wir an, daß jemand nichts wisse von dem Namen des Christus Jesus, nichts von dem, was in den Evangelien mitgeteilt ist, daß er aber Kenntnisse habe von dem radikalen Unterschied zwischen dem Charakter von Weisheit und Macht und demjenigen der Liebe. Ein solcher Mensch ist in echt christlichem Sinne, auch wenn er nichts weiß von dem Mysterium von Golgatha, ein Christ. Wer die Liebe so kennt, daß er weiß, Liebe ist da um Schulden zu zahlen und bringt keinen Vorteil für die Zukunft, der ist ein Christ. Das Begreifen der Natur der Liebe -— heißt Christ sein! Durch bloße Theosophie mit «Karma» und «Reinkarnation» kann man ein großer Egoist werden, wenn man nicht hinzunimmt den Liebesimpuls, den Christus-Impuls; denn dann erst erreicht man das, was den Egoismus der Theosophie überbrückt. Man erreicht den Ausgleich durch ein Verständnis des Christus-Impulses. Weil Theosophie der Menschheit nötig ist, wird sie ihr heute gegeben. Aber es liegt die starke Gefahr darinnen, daß, wenn bloß Theosophie getrieben wird ohne den Christus-Impuls, den Impuls der Liebe, daß dann die Menschen durch Theosophie den Egoismus in sich nur größer machen, daß sie ihn züchten, sogar über den Tod hinaus. Wir dürfen daraus nicht den Schluß ziehen, daß man keine Theosophie treiben soll, sondern wir müssen einsehen lernen, daß das Verständnis der Substanz der Liebe zur Theosophie hinzugehört.
Was geschah denn eigentlich bei dem Mysterium von Golgatha? Wir wissen, daß Jesus von Nazareth geboren wurde, sich in der Weise entwickelt hat, wie es die Evangelien berichten, daß die Jordantaufe im dreißigsten Jahr stattgefunden hat, daß der Christus dann drei Jahre lang gelebt hat in dem Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth und das Mysterium von Golgatha vollbracht hat. Es glauben nun viele Menschen, dieses Mysterium von Golgatha so menschlich wie möglich darstellen zu müssen, sie glauben, das wäre eine Tat, die innerhalb der Erde zu verzeichnen wäre, eine Erdentat. Das ist es aber nicht. Von den höheren Welten her betrachtet, ist es erst zu sehen, das Mysterium von Golgatha, wie es auf der Erde sich vollzogen hat.
Wir wollen wieder den Anfang der Erdenentwickelung und den des Menschen vor uns hinstellen. Der Mensch hat damals gewisse geistige Kräfte gehabt; dann kam Luzifer an ihn heran, und damit stehen wir an dem Punkte, wo man sagen kann: sie, die fortschreitenden Götter, geben ab ihre Allmacht an Luzifer, damit der Mensch frei werden kann. Tiefer aber als beabsichtigt war, sank der Mensch in die Materie; er entgleitet den fortschreitenden Göttern, er geht weiter hinunter, als es gewollt war. Wie können nun die fortschreitenden Götter den Menschen wieder zu sich heraufziehen? Um dieses zu verstehen, müssen wir hinschauen in den Rat der Götter, nicht auf die Erde. Für die Götter vollbringt der Christus die Tat, um den Göttern die Menschen zurückzuholen. Die Tat des Luzifer ist also eine Tat in der übersinnlichen Welt; die Tat des Christus geschieht in der übersinnlichen, aber auch in der sinnlichen Welt - ein Mensch kann sie nicht ausführen. Die Tat des Luzifer vollzog sich in der übersinnlichen Welt. Aber nun ist der Christus auf die Erde heruntergestiegen, um auf der Erde seine Tat zu vollbringen, und die Menschen sind die Zuschauer dieser Tat. Eine Göttertat, eine Götterangelegenheit ist das Mysterium von Golgatha, wobei die Menschen zuschauen. Das Tor des Himmels ist geöffnet, und herein leuchter eine Göttertat. Die einzige Tat der Erde ist es, die ganz übersinnlich ist, daher ist es kein Wunder, wenn diejenigen, die nicht an Übersinnliches glauben, an die Tat des Christus ganz und gar nicht glauben. Göttertat ist die Tat des Christus, die Tat, welche die Götter für sich vollziehen. Seinen Glanz und seine einzigartige Bedeutung erhält das Mysterium von Golgatha dadurch, und die Menschen sind geladen zu Zeugen dieser Tat. Ein geschichtliches Zeugnis dafür ist darum auch nicht zu finden, denn die Menschen haben nur das Äußere davon gesehen; die Evangelien aber sind aus der Anschauung des Übersinnlichen geschrieben, daher sind sie leicht zu leugnen, wenn man für das Übersinnliche keinen Sinn hat.
Zu den höchsten Erfahrungen innerhalb der geistigen Welt gehört von einem gewissen Gesichtspunkte aus die Tatsache des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Die Tat des Luzifer spielt sich ab zu einer Zeit, wo der Mensch noch Teilnehmer der übersinnlichen Welt war, die Tat des Christus spielt sich ab mitten im materiellen Leben: sie ist eine physisch-spirituelle Tat. Die Tat des Luzifer können wir begreifen, wenn wir die Welt weisheitsvoll erforschen. Um die Tat des Mysteriums von Golgatha zu begreifen, dazu reicht keine Weisheit aus. Alle Weisheit dieser Welt können wir haben, aber unverständlich kann uns doch die Tat des Christus sein. Denn Liebe ist zum Verständnis des Mysteriums von Golgatha nötig. Erst wenn die Liebe in die Weisheit strömt und wieder umgekehrt, dann wird es möglich, das Mysterium von Golgatha zu begreifen, dann erst, wenn der Mensch gegen den Tod hin Liebe zur Weisheit entwickelt. Die mit Weisheit vereinte Liebe, die brauchen wir, wenn wir durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, weil wir sonst sterben ohne eine Weisheit, die mit Liebe vereinigt ist. Wozu brauchen wir sie? Philosophie ist Liebe zur Weisheit. Die alte Weisheit war nicht Philosophie, denn die alte Weisheit ist nicht durch Liebe geboren, sondern durch Offenbarung. Eine Philosophie des Orients gibt es nicht, aber eine Weisheit des Orients gibt es. Die Philosophie als Weisheitsliebe ist hereingekommen in die Welt mit dem Christus; da also haben wir den Einzug der Weisheit aus dem Impuls der Liebe heraus. Durch den Christus-Impuls ist er in die Welt gekommen. Wir müssen nun den Impuls der Liebe anwenden auf die Weisheit selber.
Die alte Weisheit, die der Seher durch Offenbarung erlangte, sie ist ausgedrückt in den erhabenen Worten aus dem Urgebet der Menschheit: Ex Deo nascimur, «Aus dem Gotte sind wir geboren». Das ist alte Weisheit. Christus, der herausgetreten ist aus den geistigen Welten, er hat die Weisheit mit der Liebe verbunden, sie wird den Egoismus überwinden, das ist ihr Ziel. Aber sie muß selbständig, frei dargebracht werden von Wesen zu Wesen: deshalb begann die Ära der Liebe zugleich mit der des Egoismus. Der Ausgangspunkt des Kosmos ist die Liebe; aus ihr ist ganz von selbst der Egoismus herausgewachsen. Doch der Impuls des Christus, der Impuls der Liebe wird mit der Zeit das Trennende, das in die Welt gekommen ist, überwinden und der Mensch kann nach und nach dieser Liebeskraft teilhaftig werden. In eigentümlich monumentalen Worten fühlen wir die Liebe sich in das Herz der Menschen ergießen in den Christus-Worten: «Wo zwei in meinem Namen beisammen sind, da bin ich mitten unter ihnen.» So tönt der alte Rosenkreuzerspruch in die mit Weisheit verbundene Liebe herein: In Christo morimur, «In dem Christus sterben wir».
Vorbestimmt war der Mensch durch Jehova zur Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit, zur allmählichen Durchdringung mit Liebe durch die Blutsverwandtschaft; als Persönlichkeit lebt er durch Luzifer. Es gab also ursprünglich einen Zusammenschluß der Menschen, dann ein Getrenntwerden durch das luziferische Prinzip, das die Selbstsucht und Selbständigkeit des Menschen fördert. Mit der Selbstsucht kam das Böse in die Welt. Es mußte dies geschehen, weil das Gute nicht ergriffen werden konnte ohne das Böse. Es liefert durch die Siege des Menschen über sich selbst die Möglichkeit für die Entfaltung der Liebe. Christus brachte dem in Egoismus versinkenden Menschen den Antrieb zu dieser Selbstüberwindung und die Kraft, dadurch das Böse zu besiegen. Und nun werden durch die Christus-Taten zusammengeführt diejenigen, die durch die Selbstsucht getrennt waren. Wahr im tiefsten Sinne werden so die Worte des Christus, der von den Taten der Liebe spricht, indem er uns sagt: «Was ihr getan habt einem der Geringsten, das habt ihr mir getan!» — Auf die irdische Welt zurückgeflutet ist jene göttliche Tat der Liebe, sie wird nach und nach die Menschheitsentwickelung durchströmen und trotz der absterbenden physischen Kräfte sie im Geiste wiederbeleben, weil sie nicht aus dem Egoismus heraus geschehen ist, nur aus dem Geiste der Liebe: Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus, «Durch den Heiligen Geist werden wir auferstehen».
Die Menschheitszukunft wird aber noch aus etwas anderem als aus Liebe bestehen. Geistige Vervollkommnung wird für den irdischen Menschen das erstrebenswerteste Ziel sein - Sie finden dies geschildert am Anfang meiner Mysteriendichtung «Die Prüfung der Seele» -, aber niemand, der die Taten der Liebe versteht, wird im eignen Streben nach Vervollkommnung etwas sehen, wovon er noch sagen könnte: es sei dieses Streben selbstlos. Vervollkommnung ist etwas, wodurch wir unser Wesen, unsere Persönlichkeit stärken und fördern wollen. Unseren Wert aber für die Welt müssen wir lediglich in den Taten der Liebe sehen, nicht in den Taten der Selbstvervollkommnung. Darüber dürfen wir uns keiner Täuschung hingeben. Sucht einer, dem Christus nachzufolgen auf dem Wege der Liebe zur Weisheit, so gilt von solcher _ Weisheit, die er in den Dienst der Welt stellt, nur so viel, als was von ihr mit Liebe durchsetzt ist.
Weisheit, die in Liebe getaucht ist, die zugleich die Welt fördert und sie dem Christus zuführt, diese Liebe zur Weisheit schließt auch die Lüge aus. Denn Lüge ist der Gegensatz der Tatsachen, und wer in Liebe aufgeht innerhalb der Tatsachen, der kennt keine Lüge. Die Lüge entstammt dem Egoismus, ausnahmslos. Wenn wir durch die Liebe denWeg zur Weisheit gefunden haben, dann sind wir hindurchgedrungen durch die wachsende Kraft der Überwindung, durch die selbstlose Liebe, auch zur Weisheit. Dadurch wird der Mensch zur freien Persönlichkeit. Das Böse war der Untergrund, in den das Licht der Liebe hineinscheinen konnte; sie aber ist es, die den Sinn des Bösen, die Stellung des Bösen in der Welt erkennbar macht. Das Licht ist erkennbar geworden durch die Finsternis. Nur der freie Mensch kann ein rechter Christ werden.
Frage über die Notlüge: Ein Verschweigen aus Liebe, eine Notlüge, ist immer eine sehr komplizierte Tat. Eine Notlüge aus Liebe kann eine Notwendigkeit sein, zunächst scheint sie ja unter Umständen eine gute Tat, aber auf sehr komplizierte Weise verbindet sie. Durch die Notlüge haben wir uns karmisch verbunden mit dem Betreffenden, und zwar mit seiner Schwäche haben wir uns verbunden. Wir werden später wieder etwas mit ihm zu tun haben. Wir werden ihm später die Wahrheit zu sagen haben. Wir werden später durch eine recht unsympathische Wahrheit, die wir ihm zu sagen haben, dies als einen Entwicklungsfaktor auszugleichen haben. Es ist gut, daß das so ist, denn wenn wir gezwungen sind zu einer Notlüge, so ist das schon karmisch, egoistisch also, denn eine Notlüge auch als Notlüge ist eine egoistische Tat, sie hat nichts zu tun mit einer wahren Liebestat. Denn ein Stückchen Klugheit gehört schon immer zur Notlüge. Sie geschieht nicht nur aus Liebesentscheidung. Auch bis in das Kleinste und Feinste des Menschenherzens leuchtet die Geisteswissenschaft hinein.
Love and its Significance in the World
When we speak of the fact that human beings at the present stage of development must attain what can be called an understanding of the Christ impulse, the question may well arise: What about people who have never heard of the Christ impulse, who may not even have heard the name of Christ? Will such a person lose the Christ impulse because they have not heard the name of Christ? Must one theoretically know what is called the Christ impulse in order for the power of Christ to descend into the soul? Let us clarify this question through the following reflections on human life from birth to death.
Human beings enter the world; they are half asleep in early childhood. We must first learn to perceive ourselves as I, to find ourselves as I, and our soul life becomes ever richer through the absorption of everything that comes to us through this I. As death approaches, this soul life is at its richest and most mature, and so we can ask the great question: What will happen to our soul life when the body falls away? It is a characteristic of our physical and soul life in particular that the more we approach death, the more significant the life experiences and knowledge we carry in our soul become, but also that the closer we come to death, the more certain characteristics disappear and others appear that are completely different for each individual. In our youth, we gather knowledge, gain life experience, and harbor hopes that we can usually only realize later in life. The closer we get to old age, the more we begin to love the wisdom of life. The love of wisdom is not selfish, for this love grows ever greater the closer we come to death; it grows in proportion to the diminishing prospect of having any of our wisdom left. We love this content of the soul more and more. Spiritual science can even become tempting at first, because people can understand that the next life depends on the acquisition of wisdom in this life. A good deal of egoism beyond this life can thus arise from spiritual science, and therein lies a danger. Thus it can happen that spiritual science, wrongly understood in the soul, can become a temptation; that is the lure of spiritual science. It lies in its nature. One can observe that the love of wisdom enters life like the blossoming of a plant when it is ripe. We can therefore observe that love arises for something that is within ourselves. Human beings have often tried to bridge the impulse of love for something within ourselves in a higher sense. For example, we find in mystics the striving to develop the instinct of self-love in the sense of love for wisdom and to let this shine in a beautiful light. They try to find the spark of God within themselves by delving deeper into their own soul life, to feel their higher self as this spark of God. But in reality, human beings only develop the seed for their next life as wisdom for living. It is like the seed after the plant has gone through the year. Just as the seed remains, so does the wisdom of life; the human being passes through the gate of death, and what matures there as the spiritual core of the being is the seed for the next life. The human being senses this, can become a mystic, and regard what is only a seed for the next life as the spark of God, as something absolute. People interpret it this way because they are embarrassed to admit that they themselves are this spiritual seed. Meister Eckhart and Johannes Tauler refer to it as the God within ourselves because they know nothing about reincarnation. If we understand the law of reincarnation, we recognize the meaning of love in the world, both individually and as a whole. We understand karma to be that which is the cause in one life and has its effect in the next. In the sense of cause and effect, we as human beings cannot really speak of love, not in the sense of acts of love and compensation for them. It is a matter of doing something and receiving compensation for it, but that has nothing to do with love: acts of love are acts that do not initially seek compensation in the next life.
Let us imagine, for example, that we work and thereby earn money. But it could also be different, namely that we work and do not enjoy it because we are not working for wages but to pay off debts. We can imagine that a person has already used up what he now earns through work. He would prefer not to have any debts, but as it is, he has to work to pay them off. Let us now apply this example to our general human actions: everything we do out of love turns out to be a way of paying debts! From an occult point of view, everything that is done out of love brings no reward, but is a substitute for goods that have already been consumed. The only actions from which we will gain nothing in the future are those we do out of genuine, true love. One might be alarmed by this truth. Fortunately, people are unaware of it in their conscious mind. But in their subconscious, all people know it, which is why they are so reluctant to perform acts of love. That is the reason why there is so little love in the world. People instinctively feel that acts of love will bring no benefit to their ego in the future. A soul must be very advanced in its development if it takes pleasure in acts of love from which it itself gains nothing. The impulse to do so is not strong in humanity, but from occultism one can gain strong impulses for acts of love.
We gain nothing from acts of love for our egoism, but the world gains all the more from them. Occultism says: Love is to the world what the sun is to external life. No souls could flourish if love were taken away from the world. Love is the moral sun of the world. Would it not be absurd for a person who takes pleasure and interest in the growth of flowers in a meadow to wish that the sun would disappear from the world? Translated into moral terms, this means that we must be interested in healthy development prevailing in human relationships. It is wise to spread as much love as possible throughout the world. It is only wise to promote love on earth.
What does spiritual science give us? We learn the facts of Earth's evolution, we hear about the spirit of the Earth, about its surface and its changes, about the development of the human body, and so on. We learn exactly what lives and weaves in evolution. What does this mean? What does it mean when people want to know nothing about spiritual science? They have no interest in what is there. For those who do not know Saturn, who do not want to learn about the nature of the sun and the old moon, do not know the earth either. It is indifference, the crassest egoism, when people have no interest in the world. It is the duty of human beings to be interested in all that exists. Let us therefore desire and love the sun with its creative power, with its love for the flourishing of the earth and the human soul! This learning to become earthly should be the spiritual seed for love of the world, for spiritual science without love would be a danger to humanity. But we should not preach love; rather, this love should and will come into the world through our spreading the knowledge of real spiritual things. Spiritual science and real acts of love should be one.
Sensual love is the origin of creativity, of everything that comes into being. Without sensual love, there would be nothing sensual in the world; without spiritual love, nothing spiritual would come into being in the course of evolution. When we practice love and cultivate love, creative forces pour into the world. Should we try to explain this through our intellect? The creative forces must have poured into the world before us and our intellect. Certainly, as egoists we can deprive the future of creative forces; but we cannot erase the acts of love and the creative forces of the past. We owe our existence to the acts of love of the past. As strong as we are because of them, so strong is our debt to the past, and whatever love we can ever muster is payment for our existence. Therefore, we will understand the deeds of a highly developed person, for a highly developed person has a greater debt to the past. It is wise to pay one's debts through acts of love. The impulse to love grows as a person rises higher; wisdom alone is not enough. Let us keep the meaning of love in the workings of the world before our souls: love is that which always reminds us of the debts of the past, and because we gain nothing from paying debts for the future, we ourselves gain nothing from our acts of love. We must leave our acts of love behind in the world, but there they are inscribed in the spiritual events of the world. We do not perfect ourselves through our acts of love, only through other deeds, but the world is enriched by our acts of love. For love is the creative force in the world.
Besides love, there are two other powers in the world. How can these be compared with love? One power is strength; the second is wisdom. With strength, one can speak of weak power, stronger power, and omnipotence; the same is true of wisdom—there are also degrees up to omniscience and omnipotence. It is not really appropriate to speak of degrees of love in the same sense. What is universal love, love for all beings? One cannot speak of an increase in love in the same way as one speaks of an increase in knowledge or power to the point of omniscience or omnipotence. Such an increase makes our own being more perfect. But this is not the case when we love a few beings or more; this has nothing to do with the perfection of our being in this sense. Love for everything that lives cannot be compared with omnipotence; the concepts of greatness and increase cannot really be applied to love. Can the divine being, who lives and works through the world, be described as omnipotent? Emotional prejudices must be set aside here: if God were omnipotent, he would do everything that happens, and human freedom would therefore be impossible. The omnipotence of God would exclude human freedom! The omnipotence of the deity is undoubtedly not present if man can be free.
Does the divine have omniscience? Since striving for godlikeness is the highest goal of man, our striving must be for omniscience. Is omniscience the highest good? If omniscience is the highest good, then at every moment an enormous gulf would open up between man and the God who is all-wise. Human beings would have to be aware of this gap at every moment if it were the case that God possessed the highest good, omniscience, for himself and withheld it from human beings. The most comprehensive attribute of the deity is not omnipotence, nor omniscience, but love, the attribute that cannot be increased any further. God is full of love, is pure love, is, so to speak, born of the substance of love. God is pure, sincere love, not supreme wisdom, not supreme power. God has retained love, but has shared power and wisdom with Lucifer and Ahriman. He shared wisdom with Lucifer and power with Ahriman so that human beings might be free, so that human beings might continue to progress under the influence of wisdom.
If we seek to fathom everything creative, we come to love; the basis of all life is love. There is another impulse within evolution that leads beings to become ever wiser and more powerful. Perfection is achieved through wisdom and power. We can see how the development of wisdom and power changes in the course of human history: we have a continuous development, then the Christ impulse, which once entered humanity through the Mystery of Golgotha. Love did not enter the world piecemeal, but flows into humanity as a gift from the Godhead. Love flows into humanity as a complete whole, but human beings can gradually take up the impulse. The divine impulse of love, as we need it as an earthly impulse, is a unique impulse.
True love is incapable of diminishing or increasing. Love is something that has a completely different nature from wisdom and power. Love does not awaken hopes for the future; love is a down payment for the past. This is also how the mystery of Golgotha fits into the development of the world. Was the divinity indebted to humanity?
Through the influence of Lucifer, a certain element entered humanity, and something that had previously been there had to be taken away from it. This new element led to a downward trend, which the mystery of Golgotha countered with the possibility of paying off all guilt. The impulse from Golgotha did not come to take away the sins we commit in the course of evolution, but to provide a counterweight to what Lucifer brought into humanity. Let us assume that someone knows nothing about the name of Jesus Christ, nothing about what is communicated in the Gospels, but that he has knowledge of the radical difference between the character of wisdom and power and that of love. Such a person is a Christian in the true Christian sense, even if he knows nothing about the mystery of Golgotha. Anyone who knows love in such a way that they know love is there to pay debts and brings no advantage for the future is a Christian. Understanding the nature of love means being a Christian! Through mere theosophy with “karma” and “reincarnation,” one can become a great egoist if one does not add the impulse of love, the Christ impulse; for only then does one attain what bridges the egoism of theosophy. One attains balance through an understanding of the Christ impulse. Because theosophy is necessary for humanity, it is being given to humanity today. But there is a great danger that if theosophy is practiced without the Christ impulse, the impulse of love, then people will only increase their egoism through theosophy, that they will cultivate it even beyond death. We must not conclude from this that one should not practice Theosophy, but we must learn to understand that understanding the substance of love belongs to Theosophy.
What actually happened in the Mystery of Golgotha? We know that Jesus of Nazareth was born, developed in the way reported in the Gospels, that the baptism in the Jordan took place in the thirtieth year, that Christ then lived for three years in the body of Jesus of Nazareth and accomplished the Mystery of Golgotha. Many people now believe that they must portray this mystery of Golgotha as humanly as possible; they believe that it was an act that took place on Earth, an earthly deed. But that is not the case. Viewed from the higher worlds, the mystery of Golgotha can only be seen as it unfolded on Earth.
Let us once again consider the beginning of the Earth's development and that of the human being. At that time, the human being possessed certain spiritual powers; then Lucifer approached him, and thus we arrive at the point where we can say: they, the advancing gods, surrendered their omnipotence to Lucifer so that the human being could become free. But human beings sank deeper into matter than intended; they slipped away from the advancing gods and went further down than was intended. How can the advancing gods now draw human beings back up to themselves? To understand this, we must look to the council of the gods, not to the earth. Christ accomplishes the deed for the gods in order to bring human beings back to them. Lucifer's deed is therefore a deed in the supersensible world; Christ's deed takes place in the supersensible world, but also in the sensible world—a human being cannot carry it out. Lucifer's deed took place in the supersensible world. But now Christ has descended to earth to accomplish his deed, and human beings are the spectators of this deed. The mystery of Golgotha is a deed of the gods, a matter for the gods, with human beings watching. The gate of heaven is open, and a deed of the gods shines forth. The only deed on earth is wholly supersensible, so it is no wonder that those who do not believe in the supersensible do not believe in the deed of Christ at all. The deed of Christ is a deed of the gods, a deed that the gods perform for themselves. This is what gives the mystery of Golgotha its splendor and unique significance, and human beings are invited to witness this deed. There is therefore no historical evidence for this, because people have only seen the outer appearance of it; but the Gospels are written from the perspective of the supersensible, and are therefore easy to deny if one has no sense of the supersensible.
From a certain point of view, the mystery of Golgotha belongs to the highest experiences within the spiritual world. The deed of Lucifer took place at a time when human beings were still participants in the supersensible world, while the deed of Christ took place in the midst of material life: it is a physical-spiritual deed. We can understand the deed of Lucifer if we explore the world with wisdom. Wisdom alone is not enough to understand the deed of the mystery of Golgotha. We can have all the wisdom in the world, but the deed of Christ can still be incomprehensible to us. For love is necessary to understand the mystery of Golgotha. Only when love flows into wisdom and back again does it become possible to understand the mystery of Golgotha, only when human beings develop love for wisdom in the face of death. We need love united with wisdom when we pass through the gate of death, because otherwise we die without wisdom united with love. Why do we need it? Philosophy is love of wisdom. Ancient wisdom was not philosophy, because ancient wisdom was not born of love, but of revelation. There is no philosophy of the East, but there is wisdom of the East. Philosophy as the love of wisdom entered the world with Christ; thus we have the entry of wisdom out of the impulse of love. Through the Christ impulse, it came into the world. We must now apply the impulse of love to wisdom itself.
The ancient wisdom that the seer attained through revelation is expressed in the sublime words of the primordial prayer of humanity: Ex Deo nascimur, “We are born of God.” This is ancient wisdom. Christ, who stepped out of the spiritual worlds, united wisdom with love; it will overcome egoism—that is its goal. But it must be offered independently and freely from being to being: that is why the era of love began at the same time as that of egoism. The starting point of the cosmos is love; egoism grew out of it quite naturally. But the impulse of Christ, the impulse of love, will in time overcome the divisive forces that have come into the world, and human beings will gradually be able to share in this power of love. In peculiarly monumental words, we feel love pouring into the hearts of human beings in the words of Christ: “Where two are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Thus the old Rosicrucian saying resounds in love combined with wisdom: In Christo morimur, “In Christ we die.”
Human beings were predestined by Jehovah to have a group soul, to be gradually permeated with love through blood relationship; as personalities, they live through Lucifer. So originally there was a union of human beings, then a separation through the Luciferic principle, which promotes selfishness and independence in human beings. With selfishness, evil came into the world. This had to happen because good could not be grasped without evil. Through man's victories over himself, it provides the opportunity for love to unfold. Christ brought to man, who was sinking into egoism, the impetus to overcome himself and the power to defeat evil. And now, through the deeds of Christ, those who were separated by selfishness are being brought together. In the deepest sense, the words of Christ, who speaks of deeds of love, become true when he says to us: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” That divine act of love has flooded back into the earthly world, and it will gradually permeate human development and, despite the dying physical forces, revive it in the spirit, because it did not arise out of selfishness, but only out of the spirit of love: Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus, “Through the Holy Spirit we shall rise again.”
However, the future of humanity will consist of something more than love. Spiritual perfection will be the most desirable goal for earthly human beings—you will find this described at the beginning of my mystery poem “The Trial of the Soul”—but no one who understands the deeds of love will see anything in their own striving for perfection that they could still call selfless. Perfection is something through which we want to strengthen and promote our being, our personality. But we must see our value to the world solely in acts of love, not in acts of self-perfection. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived about this. If someone seeks to follow Christ on the path of love for wisdom, then the wisdom he puts at the service of the world is only as valuable as the extent to which it is imbued with love.
Wisdom that is steeped in love, which both promotes the world and leads it to Christ, this love of wisdom also excludes lies. For lies are the opposite of facts, and those who are immersed in love within the facts know no lies. Lies originate from egoism, without exception. When we have found the path to wisdom through love, we have also penetrated to wisdom through the growing power of overcoming, through selfless love. This is what makes a person a free personality. Evil was the foundation into which the light of love could shine; but it is love that makes the meaning of evil, the position of evil in the world, recognizable. Light has become recognizable through darkness. Only a free person can become a true Christian.
Question about white lies: Concealing something out of love, a white lie, is always a very complicated act. A white lie out of love may be a necessity; at first it may seem like a good deed, but in a very complicated way it creates a bond. Through the white lie, we have become karmically connected to the person concerned, and indeed we have connected ourselves to their weakness. We will have something to do with them again later. We will have to tell them the truth later. We will have to compensate for this later through a rather unpleasant truth that we have to tell them. It is good that this is so, because if we are forced to tell a white lie, it is already karmic, and therefore selfish, because even as a white lie, a white lie is a selfish act; it has nothing to do with a true act of love. For a little bit of cleverness has always been part of a white lie. It does not happen solely out of a decision made out of love. Spiritual science shines into even the smallest and finest parts of the human heart.