On the Fifth Gospel
GA 148
6 January 1914, Berlin
Lecture IX
Our study of the life of Christ Jesus according to what I have called the “Fifth Gospel” will certainly have brought home to us all the significance of what took place after the conversation between Jesus of Nazareth and the mother, of which I spoke here. And I want now to speak, in the way that may be possible in the intimate circle of a group like this, of what transpired immediately after that conversation, that is to say, of what happened to Jesus of Nazareth on his way to the Baptism by John in the Jordan.
What I have to tell consists of a number of facts which are revealed to the eye of Intuition; they are simply narrated, so that it is for each of you to form your own thoughts about them.
We have heard that after the life of Jesus of Nazareth from his twelfth until about his twenty-ninth or thirtieth year, a conversation took place between him and the mother who was, actually, his step- or foster mother. In this conversation, the effects of the experiences through which he had passed poured with such intensity into the words uttered by Jesus of Nazareth that together with his words a mighty force flowed into the soul of the foster-mother, a force of such power that the soul of the mother who had borne the body of the Nathan Jesus was able to descend from the spiritual world (for since the twelfth year of the Nathan Jesus the soul of his mother had been in the spiritual world), and permeated the soul of the foster mother. From then onwards, the foster-mother bore within her the soul of the mother of the Nathan Jesus. What had happened in Jesus himself was that together with the words, the Zarathustra-Ego had to a certain extent gone out of him. The being who now made his way to the Baptism in the Jordan was the Nathan Jesus as he had been up to his twelfth year, that is to say, without the Zarathustra-Ego; but the effects left by the Zarathustra-Ego were still present—the effects of all that the Zarathustra-Ego had been able to pour into the threefold sheath. And so we can understand that Jesus was prompted to make his way to the Baptism in the Jordan by an undefined Cosmic urge -—that is to say, in him it was an undefined urge, but in the Cosmos it was definite and deliberate. It is also obvious that this being was not like an ordinary human being, for the Zarathustra-Ego had gone out of him and only the effects remained. The “Fifth Gospel” reveals that as this being, Jesus of Nazareth, made his way to the Jordan, he met, firstly, two Essenes. They were two with whom he had often conversed on the occasions of which I have told you. But as the Zarathustra-Ego had gone out of him, for to physical eyes the outer physiognomy—which had developed under the influence of the indwelling Zarathustra-Ego—had not changed. The two Essenes addressed him with the words:
“Whither go you, Jesus of Nazareth?”
Jesus of Nazareth said: “I go whither souls of your kind are unwilling to gaze, where the pain of humanity can feel the rays of the forgotten Light!”
The two Essenes did not understand his words, and they perceived that he had not recognised them. Then they said to him:
“Jesus of Nazareth, do you not know us?”
And be said:
“You are like lambs gone astray, but I was the shepherd's son from who you strayed. When you truly recognise me you will stray yet again. It is so long since you fled from me into the world.”
The Essenes were greatly perplexed for they did not understand how such words could be uttered by any human soul, and they gazed at him questionly. He spoke again:
“What manner of souls are you? Where is your world? Why do you wrap yourselves in sheaths of deceit? Why does there burn within you a fire that was not kindle in my Father's House? You have upon you the mark of the Tempter. With his fire he has made your wool shining and glistening. The hairs of this wool prick my eyes, you erring lambs. The Tempter has filled your souls with pride. You met him on your flight.”
When he had said this, one of the Essenes answered:
“Have we not shown the Tempter the door? He has no longer any part in us!”
And Jesus spoke:
“True, you showed him the door, but he ran and came to the other men. Therefore he leers at you from the souls of these others. Do you then believe that you can exalt yourselves by abasing others? You do not exalt yourselves when you abase others; you think yourselves exalted but this is only because the others have been abased. You remain as you were, and it is only because you have abased the others that you imagine yourselves to be great.”
The Essenes were afraid, but at this moment Jesus of Nazareth vanished from their sight. And after their eyes had been as if clouded for a little while, they beheld in the distance a kind of Fata Morgana, revealing to them, but enlarged to gigantic proportions, the countenance of the one who had just stood before them. And then from this Fata Morgana they heard words which filled their souls with dread:
“Vain is your striving, for your heart is empty. Your heart is filled only with the spirit which conceals pride in the deceptive guise of humility.”
And when they had stood there for a time as it stupefied by this countenance and these words, the Fate Morgana vanished. But Jesus of Nazareth too had passed further on his way. The two Essenes went home and spoke to no one of what they had experienced, keeping silence about it their whole life long.
As I said before, I shall simply narrate the facts as they present themselves in the Akashic Record, and each one of you must think about them as you will. This is important at the present time, because it is possible that this Fifth Gospel will be revealed in greater detail as time goes on, and may kind of interpretation at this stage might well be a disturbing factor.
When Jesus of Nazareth had gone a little further on his path to the Jordan, he met a man in whose soul there was deep despair. And Jesus of Nazareth said:
“Whither hath thy soul led thee? Aeons ago I saw thee; then thou wert different.”
And the despairing man said:
“I was of high degree; I have risen to high positions in life; I have filled offices of distinguished rank. And often I said to myself that my learning and accomplishments had made me an exceptional human being. Then one might when I was asleep, I had a dream and in the dream it was as if a question were put to me. I knew at once that in the dream I was beholding myself, for the question was thine Who hath made me great? And there stood before me in the dreams, being who said: I have raised thee up, and in return for this thou art mine!—And I was ashamed, for I had believed that I owed everything to myself. And now this being was telling as that it was he who had raised me to a high position! Then, in the dream, I took flight; I left all my offices and honours behind and now I wander about seeking for something but not knowing what I seek.”
As the despairing man was speaking, the being he had seen in the dream again stood before him, between him and Jesus of Nazareth. And a feeling came to the despairing man that this being had something to do with Lucifer. Then Jesus of Nazareth vanished, and the other being too; and the man saw that Jesus of Nazareth had already passed on. And be went on
his way.
As Jesus of Nazareth continued his path, he met a leper, and to him he said:
“To what hath thy soul led thee? Aeons ago I saw thee; then thou wert different.”
The leper answered:
“Men have thrust me away; they have made we an outcast because of my disease; none would come near me; I could not even beg my bread. Then I wandered about, and in my wanderings I came one night into a wood. There I saw a shining, luminous tree which drew me towards it. And as I drew near, it was as if a skeleton came from the shimmering light of the tree. Dearth himself stood before me, and said: I am in thee. I feed on thee. Fear not! Why art thou fearful? Didst thou not once love me?—And yet I knew that I had never told him! And as he said: ‘Didst thou not once love me?’ his nature changed into that of a beautiful Archangel. And when I awoke in the morning I found myself beside the tree and my leprosy grew steadily worse.”
Then the being who had been transformed into the Archangel stood again before the leper and he knew: Ahriman or a being of Ahrimanic nature is standing before me. While he was still gazing, the being disappeared, and Jesus of Nazareth also, and the leper was left to go on his way.
After these three experiences Jesus of Nazareth came to the Jordan for the Baptism. And here too, I repeat that the Baptism in the Jordan was followed by an event that is also described in the other Gospels, namely, the Temptation. But in this Temptation Christ Jesus was confronted not only by the one being—the Temptation took its course in three stages. First there came a being who was now known to Him because he had seen him when the despairing man had come to him; hence he could recognise him as Lucifer. And then, through Lucifer, came the Temptation that is expressed in the words: “All these kingdoms and their glory I will give to thee if thou wilt acknowledge me as thy Lord.” Lucifer's attack was repulsed, but now came two attacks. Lucifer came again, but with him the being who had stood between Jesus of Nazareth and the leper, and whom He therefore now recognised as Ahriman.
And then came the Temptation which in the Gospels is clothed in the words: “Cast Thyself down; nothing can happen to Thee if Thou art the son of God.” But as Lucifer and Ahriman mutually paralysed each other's power, their attack failed. It was only the third Temptation—“Make stones into
bread”—that was not fully answered. This Temptation came from Ahriman alone. And the fact that Ahriman was not completely satisfied, led to events taking the course they did. Because of the unanswered Temptation, Ahriman was able to work through Judas, and all the later events became possible in the way of which we shall hear.
You see, my dear friends, an “Akasha-Intuition” here sheds light on the moment that is of such infinite significance in the whole development of the life of Christ Jesus and in the evolution of the Earth. It was as if the connection of Earth-evolution with the Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces were mirrored in the events between the conversation with the mother and the Baptism by John in the Jordan. He who was the Nathan Jesus, who for eighteen years had borne the Zarathustra-Ego within him, was made ready, by these events, to receive the Christ Being.
And this bring, us to the point where it is of vital importance to have right and true conceptions. That is why I have tried to bring together various results of occult investigation which can make our human evolution on the Earth intelligible. It may, perhaps, be possible to speak here too about matters that were the subject of the Lecture-Course in Leipzig, where I tried to indicate the connection between the Christ Event and the Parsifal event. To-day I will speak of one or two points only.
I want to show you how the whole meaning and course of the evolution of humanity comes to expression in manifold events if only they are understood in the right light. I do not want to go into the idea behind the story of Parsifal and its connection with the development of the Christ Impulse, but to speak of something that underlay everything that was said in Leipzig. I shall begin by asking: How does the figure of Parsifal come before us?—Parsifal was one who some centuries after the Mystery of Golgotha was destined to represent an important stage of the further development of the Christ Impulse in a soul. We know the story. Parsifal was the son of an adventurous knight; his mother was Hezeleide. The knight bad ridden away before Parsifal's birth. His mother suffered deep pain and grief before he was born. She wished to shield her son from the vaunted qualities of knighthood and she reared him in isolation, protecting him from the consequences of intercourse with others. He was to know nothing about what goes on among other human beings. We are also told that be knew nothing about what the external world calls religion. From his mother he heard only that there is a God, a God behind all things, a God whom he must serve... but more he did not know. But a meeting with two knights caused him to leave his mother, in order that be might discover to what his inner urge was leading him. And after may wanderings he was led to the Castle of the Holy Grail. What he there experienced is described best of all by Chrestian de Troyes—a source upon which Wolfram von Eschenbach also drew.
We are told that one day Parsifal came to wooded country at the edge of a lake where.two men were fishing. In answer to his question, these men directed him to the Castle of the Fisher-King. He went into the Castle and there found a man lying weak and ill on his bed. The sick man gave him a sword—it was the sword which belonged to Parsifal's mother. Then came a page carrying a lance from which blood was dripping on his blood; then came a maiden, carrying a golden Cup radiating light more brilliant than all the lights in the room. This Cup was carried into the adjoining room where lay the father of the Fisher-King, who is nourished by what this Cup contains. Now Parsifal had previously been advised by a knight to abstain from asking many questions. At the time, therefore, he put no questions but the next morning decided that be must ask about these strange things. When he woke up the following morning, however, the Castle was empty. In the courtyard be found his horse ready saddled and when he had mounted and galloped away the drawbridge was immediately raised behind him. There was no sign of any of those whom he had found in the Castle the previous day.
As we know, the point of salient significance is that Parsifal asked no questions, although miraculous things had been revealed to him. And as the story goes on we hear again and again from those persons who meet Parsifal and who are connected with his mission, that he ought to have asked, that his troubles were to some extent due to this. He is told that by not asking he has brought about disaster.
And now think of Parsifal. He had remained apart from outer civilisation and culture; he is led to the Holy Grail with his virgin soul untouched by the mundane world... Now the Christ Impulse was a Deed which mankind had not at once been capable of understanding, But because the Christ had passed into the Aura of the Earth, He was working on—as indeed men had conjectured in their dogmas and teachings. Christ was working in the hidden foundations of the human soul, in the hidden depths of historical evolution, not in the surface consciousness of men or in the wranglings of Theology. In Parsifal we have a picture of the moment when a further stage was to be reached; therefore he had learned nothing of the teachings of the Gnostics, the Apostolic Fathers or the various theological movements. He was to know nothing of these things; his connection with the Christ-Impulse was to be purely in the life of soul, in his sub-consciousness, where standards of contemporary life played no part. His connection with the Christ Impulse would have been impaired and clouded by knowledge of man-made doctrines. Only the supersensible influences in the onflowing Christ Impulse were to work in Parsifal. External doctrine belongs to the material world but Christ works in the supersensible and it was this supersensible influence that as to come to expression in Parsifal. He must ask only at that place where the living essence of the Christ Impulse confronts him, that is to say, in the Holy Grail. He should have asked what the Holy Grail contains, what the Christ Event actually signifies. He should have asked!
Mark this word my dear friends. There was another, the disciple of Sais, who was not allowed to ask. The disciple at Sais was doomed in that he felt constrained to ask why it was not lawful for him to ask; he desired that the veils of Isis should be lifted. The disciple at Sais represents the Parsifal of the epoch preceding the Mystery of Golgotha! But in that age the disciple was told: “Take heed that what is behind the veil be not disclosed until thy soul is prepared and ready.” The disciple at Sais after the Mystery of Golgotha is represented in the figure of Parsifal. Parsifal was to undergo no special preparation; he was to be led to the Holy Grail with a virgin soul. And he missed the vital opportunity, for he neglected to do what the disciple at Sais was forbidden to do.—Parsifal ought to have asked about the mystery of his soul... Thus do the times change in the onward march of evolution.
To begin with we can only think of these things in a more abstract sense... What was the mystery of Isis? We are told of Isis with the Child Horus, of the mystery of the connection between Isis and the Child Horus, of the Connection between the Son of Isis and Osiris. A deep, deep mystery lies here. The disciple at Sais was not ripe for the disclosure of the mystery.
When Parsifal rode away from the Grail Mountain, having neglected to ask about the wonders of the Holy Grail, one of his first experiences was that he met a woman, a bride, weeping over the dead bridegroom in her arms.—A true picture, this, of Mary mourning for her Son—the motif of so many Pietàs later on. This is the first indication of what Parsifal would have experienced if be had asked about the wonders of the Holy Grail. Knowledge would have come to him of the new connection between Isis and Horus, between the Mother and the Son of Man. Parsifal ought to have asked. Now significantly this points to the progress that had taken place in the evolution of mankind! What was not lawful before the Mystery of Golgotha, was now, after the Mystery of Golgotha, both lawful and necessary. For in the meantime the evolution of mankind had progressed.
These things are only of value when we turn them to real disciple at Sais is that in accordance with the nature of the times, we must put the right kind of questions, for here lies the secret of ascent. Since the Mystery of Golgotha there have been two main currents in evolution: one which bears within it the Christ Impulse, the other which is, as it were, the continuation of the process of decline and leads to the materialism of the present age. In our age, by far the greater part of external culture is steeped in materialism. And everything that Spiritual Science can tell us about the Christ Impulse makes us realise how deeply the souls of men need the inner impulse of spirituality to counteract the steadily increasing materialism, of external life. To this end we must all learn to question, to ask! But the current of materialism leads men away from questioning. Let us compare the two currents.—There are people who really cling to materialism, even while they assert their belief in this or that spiritual dogma, or profess to acknowledge the existence of a spiritual world in words and theories. Mere words are of no account. What matters is that we shall live with our whole soul in the current of spiritual life. It can be said of those who cling to materialism that they do not question, for they claim to know everything already! It is characteristic of materialistic culture that even the young and immature think they know everything and therefore do not question. To give one's opinion at every turn is thought to be a matter of personal freedom. But it is not usually realised to what these opinions amount.—We grow up in the world, absorbing more and more without noticing it; according to our Karma, we find one thing more pleasing, another less; we reach, say, the respectable age of twenty-five and feel absolutely mature and certain in our judgment because we think it comes from our own soul. But such judgment contains absolutely nothing more than our experiences in the external world. And in that we feel obliged to assert our own judgment in the outer world, we become all the more slavishly dependent upon our inner life. We pass judgment, but we omit to question, to ask. We learn to ask aright only when we acquire that inner sense of proportion which maintains respect and reverence for the things that are holy as sacred in life, when we enter the sacred domains of life in an attitude of waiting without asserting our own judgment. A certain diffidence is necessary in face of things that are holy. We must ask the spiritual world—to which we bring, not our own judgments but our questionings, and a mood-of-soul which asks. Try, my dear friends, to understand the difference between facing the spiritual world in an attitude of “judging” and in an attitude of questioning. There is a radical difference between the two attitudes. Moreover something is connected with this to which we ought to give particular heed in our Movement, for this Movement will not thrive unless we understand the difference between questioning and judging. Naturally, we must also judge, but over against the mysteries of the spiritual life we must unfold the attitude of questioning, of expectancy. The progress of our Movement will be furthered by this attitude of questioning; it will be hindered by the contrary attitude. And when in solemn moments we ponder the story of the one who ought to have asked about the Mystery of the Holy Grail, the figure of Parsifal becomes the personification of an Ideal for our Movement.
Human souls before the Mystery of Golgotha possessed the old, inherited clairvoyance which had been carried over from incarnation to incarnation, but it was gradually fading away. This fading clairvoyance was bound up with that upon which our external sight and other sense-activities are also dependent. When human beings who lived before the time of the Mystery of Golgotha were growing up as children, they learnt not only how to walk and talk, but they also learnt clairvoyance. Clairvoyance arose from the nature and organisation of man, just as speech arises from the organisation of the brain and larynx. Human beings in those times did not stop at learning to speak, but they also learnt clairvoyance. The old clairvoyance therefore was bound up with the human organism. as it was in the physical world. Clairvoyance in one who was a libertine was tainted by his particular characteristics; clairvoyance in a pure man bore the mark of his purity. The consequence of this fact was that a certain mystery, the mystery of the connection between the spiritual world and the physical world as it existed before the descent of Christ, might not be disclosed to an ordinary, unprepared human being. His constitution must first have become mature and ready. It was not lawful for the disciple at Sais to gaze upon the image of the soul of Isis.
In the Fourth post-Atlantean age, when the mystery of Golgotha took place, the old clairvoyance had faded away. The new constitution of the human soul is such that the soul must remain shut off from the spiritual world if it does not ask concerning the spiritual world, if it lacks the urge that is contained in questioning. The harmful forces which in ancient times drew near any human soul who desired to penetrate into these mysteries without due preparation, cannot now approach when a man asks in the right way about the Mystery of the Holy Grail. For in this Mystery there is concealed the power which since the Mystery of Golgotha has flowed into the aura of the Earth but was not previously there. It remains shut off, however, from one who does not ask. There must be an urge really to unfold what is contained in the soul. Before the Mystery of Golgotha this urge was not present, for the Christ had not yet passed into the Aura of the Earth. Before the Mystery of Golgotha, merely by gazing at the image of Isis and striving to fathom the mystery in the lawful way with such powers of clairvoyance as still existed, a human being would have poured all his forces into such an act and thus have recognised the mystery. In the age after the Mystery of Golgotha, a soul who learns to ask in the right way will be able to perceive and feel the new Mystery of Isis. Hence, my dear friends, everything depends upon asking, upon the right attitude to the spiritual conception of the world that is made known in our time. One who comes merely with the intention of judging, may read all the books and the lecture-courses, but he will gain nothing whatever, for he lacks the attitude Parsifal. If a man comes as one who truly asks, a great deal more than what the mere words contain will be revealed to him—for the words will then bear fruit in his soul as actual experience. And this above all is important—that the spiritual teachings should become actual experience.
These things are brought home to us by such events as transpired between the time of Jesus of Nazareth's conversation with the mother, and the Baptism by John in the Jordan. Such things will have meaning for us only when we ask what it is that distinguishes the time before the Mystery of Golgotha from the age that followed it... It it best to allow these things to work upon the soul; all that they can say to us is really contained in the story.
At this point in our study of the “Fifth Gospel” I wanted merely to indicate how important it is in this age to understand the attitude of Parsifal. It was brought to the fore by Richard Wagner, who tried to clothe it in musical and dramatic form. I do not propose to enter the lists of the fight that is going on about it in the outer world, because it is not for spiritual science to mingle in such strife. I shall not pronounce judgment as between those who wish to preserve it in Bayreuth and those who want to consign it to Klingsor's realm—which has, as a matter of fact, already happened. My aim is to show that in the onward flow of the Christ Impulse, the Parsifal attitude must come into play in domains that are beyond the reach of the power of judgment belonging to man's ordinary consciousness but to which this consciousness can more and more be directed by a spiritual conception of the world.
Vierter Vortrag
Als ein Wichtiges in der Betrachtung des Christus Jesus-Lebens, wie wir sie jetzt angestellt haben nach dem, was ich das Fünfte Evangelium nennen möchte, muß uns alles erscheinen, was geschehen ist nach jenem Gespräche des Jesus von Nazareth mit der Mutter, von dem ich auch hier eine Darstellung gegeben habe. Ich möchte nun, wie das hoffentlich im intimen Kreise einer solchen Arbeitsgruppe, wie die hiesige ist, geschehen kann, zunächst aufmerksam machen auf das, was unmittelbar nach dem Gespräche des Jesus von Nazareth mit der Mutter geschehen ist, was sich also gewissermaßen zwischen diesem Gespräche und der Johannestaufe im Jordan zugetragen hat. Was ich zu erzählen habe, sind Tatsachen, die sich dem intuitiven Schauen ergeben, und die auch ohne weitere Erklärung einfach angeführt werden sollen, so daß sich jeder über sie die Gedanken machen kann, die er will.
Wir haben gesehen, daß nach dem Leben, das wir in bezug auf einzelnes geschildert haben, welches der Jesus von Nazareth von seinem zwölften bis zum neunundzwanzigsten, dreißigsten Jahre geführt hat, ein Gespräch zwischen ihm und seiner Mutter stattgefunden hat, jener Mutter, die eigentlich seine Stief- oder Ziehmutter und die leibliche Mutter des salomonischen Jesus war, jenes Gespräch, in dem gewissermaßen so intensiv, so energisch in die Worte des Jesus von Nazareth eingeflossen ist das, was sich ihm als Konsequenz, als die Wirkung seines Erlebens ergeben hat: daß mit seinen Worten in die Seele der Stief- oder Ziehmutter eine ungeheure Kraft hinüberging. Es war eine solche Kraft, welche möglich machte, daß die Seele der leiblichen Mutter des nathanischen Jesus von Nazareth aus der geistigen Welt heruntersteigen konnte, in der sie ungefähr seit dem zwölften Jahre des nathanischen Jesus war, und durchdringen, durchgeistigen konnte die Seele der Stief- oder Ziehmutter, so daß diese fortan weiterlebte, durchdrungen mit der Seele der Mutter des nathanischen Jesus. Für den Jesus von Nazareth selbst aber ergab sich, daß mit seinen Worten gleichsam das Ich des Zarathustra fortgegangen war. Was sich jetzt auf den Weg machte zur Johannestaufe im Jordan, das war im Grunde genommen der nathanische Jesus, der die drei Hüllen in der Weise gestaltet hatte, wie es öfter besprochen worden ist, ohne das Ich des Zarathustra, aber mit den Wirkungen dieses Zarathustra-Ichs, so daß tatsächlich alles, was das Zarathustra-Ich in diese dreifache Hülle hineingießen konnte, in dieser dreifachen Hülle auch war.
Sie werden verstehen, daß dieses Wesen, das jetzt als Jesus von Nazareth aus einem, man möchte sagen, unbestimmten kosmischen Drange - für ihn unbestimmten, für den Kosmos sehr bestimmten Drange heraus - zu der Johannestaufe im Jordan ging, nicht in demselben Sinne als Mensch anzusprechen ist wie andere Menschen. Denn das, was dieses Wesen als Ich ausgefüllt hatte seit seinem zwölften Jahre, war das Zarathustra-Ich. Dieses Zarathustra-Ich war jetzt fort. Es lebte nur in den Wirkungen dieses Zarathustra-Ichs weiter.
Als nun dieses Wesen Jesus von Nazareth sich auf den Weg machte zu dem Täufer Johannes, da - so erzählt das Fünfte Evangelium - begegnete der Jesus von Nazareth zunächst zwei Essäern. Zwei Essäer waren es, mit denen er oftmals bei den Gelegenheiten, von denen ich gesprochen habe, Gespräche geführt hatte. Aber da das Ich des Zarathustra aus ihm herausgegangen war, so kannte er die beiden Essäer nicht sogleich. Sie aber erkannten ihn, denn es hatte sich natürlich jenes bedeutungsvolle physiognomische Gepräge, welches diese Wesenheit durch das Innewohnen des Zarathustra bekommen hatte, für den äußeren Anblick nicht geändert. Die beiden Essäer sprachen ihn an mit den Worten: Wohin geht dein Weg? - Der Jesus von Nazareth antwortete: Dahin, wohin noch Seelen eurer Art nicht blikken wollen, wo der Schmerz der Menschheit die Strahlen des vergessenen Lichtes fühlen kann!
Die beiden Essäer verstanden seine Rede nicht. Als sie merkten, daß er sie nicht erkannte, da sprachen sie zu ihm: Jesus von Nazareth, kennst du uns denn nicht? — Er aber antwortete: Ihr seid wie verirrte Lämmer; ich aber werde der Hirte sein müssen, dem ihr entlaufen seid. Wenn ihr mich recht erkennet, werdet ihr mir bald von neuem entlaufen. Es ist so lange her, daß ihr von mir entflohen seid! — Die Essäer wußten nicht, was sie von ihm halten sollten, denn sie wußten nicht, wie es möglich wäre, daß aus einer Menschenseele solche Worte kommen konnten. Und unbestimmt schauten sie ihn an. Er aber sprach weiter: Was seid ihr für Seelen, wo ist eure Welt? Warum umhüllt ihr euch mit täuschenden Hüllen? Warum brennt in eurem Innern ein Feuer, das in meines Vaters Hause nicht entfacht ist? Ihr habt des Versuchers Mal an euch; er hat mit seinem Feuer eure Wolle glänzend und gleißend gemacht. Die Haare dieser Wolle stechen meinen Blick. Ihr verirrten Lämmer, der Versucher hat eure Seelen mit Hochmut durchtränkt; ihr traft ihn auf eurer Flucht.
Als Jesus von Nazareth das gesagt hatte, sprach einer der Essäer: Haben wir nicht dem Versucher die Türe gewiesen? Er hat kein Teil mehr an uns. —- Und Jesus von Nazareth sprach: Wohl wieset ihr dem Versucher die Türe, doch er lief hin und kam zu den anderen Menschen. So grinst er euch aus den Seelen der anderen Menschen von allen Seiten an! Glaubt ihr denn, ihr hättet euch dadurch erhöhen können, daß ihr die anderen erniedrigt habt? Ihr kommt euch hoch vor, aber nicht deshalb, weil ihr hochgekommen seid, sondern weil ihr die anderen erniedrigt habt. So sind sie niedriger. Ihr seid geblieben, wo ihr waret. Nur deshalb kommt ihr euch so hoch über den anderen vor. — Da erschraken die Essäer. In diesem Augenblick aber verschwand der Jesus von Nazareth vor ihren Augen. Sie konnten ihn nicht mehr sehen.
Nachdem ihre Augen für eine kurze Weile wie getrübt waren, fühlten sie den Drang, in die Ferne zu schauen. Und in der Ferne schauten sie etwas wie eine Fata Morgana. Diese zeigte ihnen, ins Riesenhafte vergrößert, das Antlitz dessen, der eben vor ihnen gestanden. Und dann hörten sie wie aus der Fata Morgana zu ihnen gesprochen die Worte, furchtbar ihre Seelen durchdringend: Eitel ist euer Streben, weil leer ist euer Herz, da ihr euch erfüllt habt mit dem Geiste, der den Stolz in der Hülle der Demut täuschend birgt! Und als sie eine Weile wie betäubt von diesem Gesicht und diesen Worten gestanden hatten, verschwand die Fata Morgana. Aber auch der Jesus von Nazareth stand nicht mehr vor ihnen. Sie blickten sich um. Da war er schon weitergegangen, und fern von ihnen sahen sie ihn. Und die beiden Essäer gingen nach Hause und sagten keinem etwas, was sie gesehen hatten, sondern schwiegen die ganze übrige Zeit bis zu ihrem Tode.
Ich will diese Tatsachen darstellen und rein für sich geben, wie sie sich aus dem heraus, was wir die Akasha-Chronik nennen, finden lassen, und jeder kann sich dabei denken, was er mag. Es ist dieses gerade jetzt wichtig, weil dieses Fünfte Evangelium vielleicht doch immer mehr ausführlich kommen mag, und weil durch jede theoretische Interpretation das, was es geben will, nur gestört werden könnte.
Als nun der Jesus von Nazareth auf diesem Wege zum Jordan hin, auf den er getrieben worden war, eine Weile weiterging, begegnete er einer Persönlichkeit, von der man sagen kann: in ihrer Seele war tiefste Verzweiflung. Ein Verzweifelter kam ihm in den Weg. Und der Jesus von Nazareth sagte: Wozu hat deine Seele dich geführt? Ich habe dich vor Äonen gesehen, da warst du ganz anders. - Da sprach der Verzweifelte: Ich war in hohen Würden; ich bin im Leben hoch gestiegen. Viele, viele Ämter habe ich durchlaufen in der menschlichen Rangordnung, und schnell ging es. Da sagte ich mir oftmals, wenn ich sah, wie die anderen in ihren Würden zurückblieben, und ich hochstieg: Was für ein seltener Mensch bist du doch; deine hohen Tugenden erheben dich über alle anderen Menschen! Ich war im Glück und genoß voll dieses Glück. — So sagte der Verzweifelte, Dann fuhr er fort: Dann kam mir einmal schlafend etwas vor wie ein Traum. Im Traume war es, wie wenn eine Frage an mich gestellt würde, und dann wußte ich gleich, daß ich mich im Traume selber schämte vor dieser Frage. Denn die Frage, die da an mich gestellt wurde, war die: Wer hat dich groß gemacht? —- Und ein Wesen stand vor mir im Traume, das sagte: Ich habe dich erhöht, doch du bist dafür mein! — Und ich schämte mich; denn ich glaubte, nur meinen eigenen Verdiensten und meinen Talenten die Erhöhung zu verdanken. Und jetzt trat mir — ich fühlte, wie ich mich im Traume schämte — ein anderes Wesen entgegen, das sagte, daß ich kein Verdienst hätte an meiner Erhöhung. Da mußte ich im Traume vor Scham die Flucht ergreifen. Ich ließ alle meine Ämter und Würden hinter mir und irre herum, suchend und nicht wissend, was ich suche. — So sprach der Verzweifelte. Und als er noch so sprach, stand das Wesen wieder vor ihm, zwischen ihm und dem Jesus von Nazareth, und deckte mit seiner Gestalt die Gestalt des Jesus von Nazareth zu. Und es hatte der Verzweifelte ein Gefühl, daß dieses Wesen etwas mit dem Luziferwesen zu tun habe. Und während das Wesen noch vor ihm stehenblieb, entschwand der Jesus von Nazareth, und dann verschwand auch das Wesen. Dann sah aber der Verzweifelte bereits in einiger Entfernung, daß Jesus von Nazareth vorübergegangen war, und er zog seines Weges irrend weiter.
Als Jesus von Nazareth weiterging, traf er einen Aussätzigen. Auf die Frage des Jesus von Nazareth: Wozu hat der Weg deiner Seele dich geführt? Ich habe dich vor Äonen gesehen, doch da warst du anders —, sagte der Aussätzige: Mich haben die Menschen verstoßen, verstoßen wegen meiner Krankheit! Kein Mensch wollte mit mir etwas zu tun haben, und ich wußte nicht, wie ich für die Notdurft meines Lebens sorgen sollte. Da irrte ich in meinem Leide herum und kam einmal in einen Wald. Etwas, was ich in der Ferne sah wie ein leuchtender Baum, zog mich an. Und ich konnte nicht anders, als wie getrieben zu diesem leuchtenden Baume hinzugehen. Da war es, wie wenn aus diesem Lichtschimmer des Baumes etwas herauskäme wie ein Totengerippe. Und ich wußte: der Tod selber stand vor mir. Der Tod sagte: Ich bin du! Ich zehre an dir. - Da fürchtete ich mich. Der Tod aber sprach: Warum fürchtest du dich? Hast du mich nicht immer geliebt? -— Und ich wußte doch, daß ich ihn nie geliebt hatte. Und während er so zu mir sprach: Warum fürchtest du dich? Hast du mich nicht geliebt? — verwandelte er sich in einen schönen Erzengel. Dann verschwand er, und ich verfiel in einen tiefen Schlaf. Erst am Morgen wachte ich wieder auf und fand mich an dem Baume schlafend. Von da ab wurde mein Aussatz immer schlimmer. — Und als er das erzählt hatte, stand das, was er an dem Baume gesehen hatte, zwischen ihm und dem Jesus von Nazareth und verwandelte sich in ein Wesen, von dem er wußte: Ahriman oder etwas Ahrimanisches stand vor ihm. Und während er es noch anschaute, verschwand das Wesen, und auch der Jesus von Nazareth verschwand. Jesus war schon eine Weile weitergegangen. Und der Aussätzige mußte weiterziehen.
Nach diesen drei Erlebnissen kam der Jesus von Nazareth zu der Johannestaufe im Jordan. Noch einmal will ich hier erwähnen, daß, als die Johannestaufe sich vollzogen hatte, dasjenige eintrat, was auch in den anderen Evangelien beschrieben ist, und was man als die Versuchung bezeichnet. Diese Versuchung hat sich so vollzogen, daß der Christus Jesus nicht nur dem einen Wesen gegenüberstand, sondern daß die Versuchung gleichsam in drei Etappen verlief.
Zuerst stand der Christus Jesus einem Wesen gegenüber, das ihm jetzt nahe war, weil er es gesehen hatte, als der Verzweifelte an ihn herangetreten war, und das er dadurch gerade als Luzifer empfinden konnte. Das ist ein sehr bedeutsamer Zusammenhang. Und dann fand durch Luzifer jene Versuchung statt, die ja mit den Worten ausgesprochen ist: Ich gebe dir alle Reiche der Welt und ihre Herrlichkeit, wenn du mich als deinen Herrn anerkennst! — Die Luziferversuchung wurde abgeschlagen.
Die zweite Attacke bestand darin, daß Luzifer wiederkam, aber mit ihm das Wesen, das zwischen dem Jesus von Nazareth und dem Aussätzigen gestanden hatte, und das er deshalb als Ahriman erfühlte. Und stattfand jetzt die Versuchung, die in den anderen Evangelien in die Worte gekleidet ist: Stürze dich hinab, es wird dir nichts geschehen, wenn du der Sohn Gottes bist. - Auch diese Versuchung, die so stattfand, daß Luzifer durch Ahriman und Ahriman durch Luzifer paralysiert werden konnte, wurde abgeschlagen.
Nur die dritte Versuchung, die durch Ahriman allein geschah, um den Christus Jesus zu versuchen, daß die Steine zu Brot gemacht werden könnten, nur diese Versuchung wurde dazumal nicht völlig abgeschlagen. Und diese Tatsache, daß Ahriman nicht völlig besiegt wurde, sie führte dann dazu, daß die Dinge den Verlauf nahmen, den sie eben genommen haben. Dadurch konnte dann Ahriman durch den Judas wirken; dadurch konnte es überhaupt geschehen, daß alle späteren Ereignisse eingetreten sind in der Weise, wie wir es noch hören werden. Sie sehen, es hat sich hier eine Akasha-Intuition ergeben über den Moment, den wir als einen unendlich wichtigen in der ganzen Christus Jesus-Entwickelung und damit in der Entwickelung der Erde ansehen müssen. Gleichsam als ob noch einmal vorüberziehen sollte die Art, wie die Erdentwickelung verbunden ist mit dem Iuziferischen und ahrimanischen Element, so traten die Ereignisse auf zwischen dem Gespräch des Jesus von Nazareth mit der Ziehmutter und der Johannestaufe im Jordan. Derjenige, welcher der nathanische Jesus war und in dem durch achtzehn Jahre das Ich des Zarathustra gewirkt hatte, war durch die geschilderten Ereignisse vorbereitet, die Christus-Wesenheit in sich aufzunehmen. Und damit stehen wir an dem Punkt, von dem so außerordentlich wichtig ist, daß er in der richtigen Weise vor unsere Seele tritt, wenn wir die Menschheitsentwickelung der Erde entsprechend verstehen wollen. Darum versuchte ich auch verschiedenes zusammenzutragen, wie es sich aus der okkulten Forschung ergibt, was in diesem Sinne unsere Menschheitsentwickelung auf der Erde begreiflich machen kann.
Es wird sich vielleicht auch einmal die Möglichkeit bieten, hier über die Dinge zu sprechen, die jetzt in dem Leipziger Vortragszyklus besprochen sind, wo ich versuchte, eine Linie zu ziehen von dem Christus-Ereignis zu dem Parzival-Ereignis hin. Heute will ich darüber nur einige Andeutungen machen im Zusammenhange mit den Tatsachen des Fünften Evangeliums, die ich dann bei unserer nächsten Zusammenkunft weiter besprechen möchte. Ich möchte darauf aufmerksam machen, wie durch die verschiedensten Dinge der Menschheitsentwickelung — Dinge, die dieser Menschheitsentwickelung gleichsam eingeprägt sind, damit diese Menschheitsentwickelung ein wenig den Gang der Ereignisse verstehen sollte —, wie der ganze Sinn und Verlauf dieser Menschheitsentwickelung zum Ausdruck kommt, wenn man diese Dinge nur versteht und im richtigen Lichte sieht. Nicht auf das möchte ich eingehen, was ich in Leipzig auseinandergesetzt habe über den Zusammenhang der Parzival-Idee mit der Christus-Entwickelung; aber auf etwas, was dort alle Auseinandersetzungen durchdrungen hat, möchte ich eingehen.
Dazu muß ich allerdings darauf aufmerksam machen, daß wir uns erinnern: Wie steht Parzival vor uns, der einige Jahrhunderte, nachdem das Mysterium von Golgatha stattgefunden hat, gleichsam eine wichtige Stufe bildet für das Fortwirken des Christus-Ereignisses in einer Seele?
Parzival ist der Sohn eines abenteuernden Ritters und seiner Mutter Herzeleide. Der Ritter ist schon weggezogen, bevor Parzival geboren wurde. Die Mutter erleidet Schmerzen und Qualen schon vor der Geburt. Sie will ihren Sohn vor alledem bewahren, womit er in Berührung kommen kann etwa durch Rittertugend und dadurch, daß er im Ritterdienste seine Kräfte entfaltet. Sie zieht ihn so auf, daß er nichts von allem erfährt, was in der äußeren Welt vorkommt, was dem Menschen durch die Einflüsse der äußeren Welt gegeben werden kann. In der Einsamkeit der Natur, nur eben diesen Eindrücken der Natur überlassen, soll Parzival heranwachsen. Nichts wissen soll er von dem, was unter den Rittern und den anderen Menschen vorgeht. Es wird auch gesagt, daß er nichts weiß von dem, was in der äußeren Welt über diese oder jene religiösen Vorstellungen gesagt wird. Einzig und allein das erfährt er von der Mutter, daß es einen Gott gibt, daß ein Gott hinter allem steht. Er will Gott dienen. Aber mehr weiß er nicht, als daß er Gott dienen kann. Alles andere wird ihm vorenthalten. Aber der Drang zum Rittertum ist so stark, daß er dazu getrieben wird, die Mutter eines Tages zu verlassen und hinauszuziehen, um das kennenzulernen, wonach es ihn treibt. Und dann wird er nach mancherlei Irrfahrten nach der Burg des Heiligen Grals geführt.
Was er dort erlebt, ist uns am besten — das heißt am besten entsprechend dem, was wir aus der geisteswissenschaftlichen Urkunde heraus gewinnen können — bei Chrestien de Troyes geschildert, der auch eine Quelle war für Wolfram von Eschenbach. Wir erfahren, daß Parzival einst auf seinen Wanderungen in eine waldige Gegend kam, am Meeresrande, wo zwei Männer fischten. Und auf die Frage, die er ihnen stellte, wiesen sie ihn nach der Burg des Fischerkönigs. Er kam an die Burg, trat ein, und es wurde ihm der Anblick, daß er einen Mann fand, krank und schwach, der auf einem Ruhebette lag. Dieser gab ihm ein Schwert, das Schwert seiner Nichte. Und der Anblick bot sich ihm weiter, daß ein Knappe hereintrat mit einer Lanze, von der Blut heruntertroff, bis zu den Händen des Knappen. Dann trat herein eine Jungfrau mit einer goldenen Schale, aus der ein solches Licht leuchtete, das alle anderen Lichter des Saales überstrahlte. Dann wurde ein Mahl aufgetragen. Bei jedem Gange wurde diese Schale vorübergetragen und in das Nebenzimmer gebracht. Und der dort liegende Vater des Fischerkönigs wurde durch das, was in dieser Schale war, gestärkt.
Das alles war dem Parzival wunderbar vorgekommen, allein er hatte früher auf seinen Wanderungen durch einen Ritter den Rat erhalten, nicht viel zu fragen. Daher fragte er auch jetzt nicht nach dem, was er sah; er wollte erst am nächsten Morgen fragen. Aber als er aufwachte, da war das ganze Schloß leer. Er rief, niemand kam. Er glaubte, die Ritter seien auf die Jagd gezogen und wollte ihnen folgen. Auf dem Schloßhofe fand er sein Pferd gesattelt. Er ritt hinaus, mußte aber schnell über die Zugbrücke reiten; das Pferd hatte einen Sprung machen müssen, weil die Zugbrücke gleich hinter ihm heraufgezogen wurde. Aber nichts fand er von den Rittern.
Aber es ist uns ja bekannt, worauf es ankommt: daß Parzival nicht gefragt hat. Trotzdem das Wunderbarste vor seine Seele getreten ist, hat er zu fragen versäumt. Und er muß es immer wieder hören, daß es mit dem, was zu seiner Sendung gehört, etwas zu tun hat, daß er hätte fragen müssen, daß gewissermaßen seine Mission zusammengehangen hat mit dem Fragen nach dem Wunderbaren, das ihm entgegengetreten ist. Er hat nicht gefragt! Erkennen ließ man ihn, daß er eine Art Unheil dadurch herbeigeführt hat, daß er nicht gefragt hat.
Wie steht hier Parzival vor uns? So steht er vor uns, daß wir uns sagen: In ihm haben wir eine Persönlichkeit, die abseits erzogen worden ist von der Kultur der äußeren Welt, die nichts hat wissen sollen von der Kultur der äußeren Welt, die zu den Wundern des Heiligen Grals hat geführt werden sollen, damit sie nach diesen Wundern fragt, aber fragt mit jungfräulicher, nicht durch die übrige Kultur beeinflußter Seele. Warum sollte sie so fragen? Ich habe öfters darauf hingewiesen, daß das, was durch den Einfluß des Christus-Impulses gewirkt worden war, als eine Tat gewirkt worden war, daß die Menschen nicht gleich haben verstehen können, was gewirkt worden ist. So haben wir auf der einen Seite das, was dadurch, daß der Christus in die Erdenaura eingeflossen ist, fortlaufend gewirkt worden war, was auch die Menschen darüber gedacht und gestritten und ersonnen haben in den mannigfaltigen theologischen Dogmen. Denn der Christus-Impuls hat weitergewirkt! Und die Gestaltung des Abendlandes geschah durch den Einfluß dieses Christus-Impulses, der gleichsam in den Untergründen auf die Menschenseelen und in den Untergründen des ganzen geschichtlichen Werdens wirkte. Hätte er nur dutch das wirken können, was die Menschen verstanden haben und worüber sie gezankt haben, so hätte er wenig in der Menschheitsentwickelung wirken können. Jetzt sehen wir zur Parzival-Zeit einen wichtigen Moment herbeikommen, wo der Christus-Impuls wieder um eine Stufe weiter wirken soll.
Daher soll Parzival nicht einer von denjenigen sein, die gewissermaßen gelernt haben, was einst auf Golgatha hingeopfert worden ist, was nachher die Apostelväter, die Kirchenlehrer und die anderen verschiedenen theologischen Strömungen gelehrt haben. Er sollte nicht wissen, wie sich die Ritter mit ihren Tugenden in den Dienst des Christus gestellt haben. Er sollte einzig und allein mit dem ChristusImpuls in den Untergründen seiner Seele in Zusammenhang kommen, in den er nach Maßgabe seiner Zeit hat kommen können. Getrübt hätte es diesen Zusammenhang nur, wenn er das aufgenommen hätte, was die Menschen über den Christus gelehrt oder gelernt hatten. Nicht was die Menschen taten oder sagten, sondern was die Seele erlebt, wenn sie nur dem hingegeben ist, was übersinnlich geschah im Fortwirken des Christus-Impulses. So sollte es bei Parzival sein. Äußere Lehre gehört immer auch der sinnlichen Welt an. Aber der Christus-Impuls hat übersinnlich gewirkt und sollte übersinnlich in die Seele des Parzival hineinwirken. Zu nichts anderem sollte seine Seele getrieben werden, als zu fragen dort, wo ihm die Bedeutsamkeit des Christus-Impulses entgegentreten konnte: am Heiligen Gral. Fragen sollte er! Fragen sollte er, nicht angestiftet durch das, was die Ritter glaubten in dem Christus verehren zu müssen, oder durch das, was die Theologen glaubten in dem Christus verehren zu müssen; sondern einzig und allein durch die jungfräuliche, aber im Sinne ihrer Zeitepoche lebende Seele sollte er angeregt werden, zu fragen, was der Heilige Gral enthüllen könnte, und was eben das ChristusEreignis sein konnte. Er sollte fragen! Halten wir dieses Wort fest.
Ein anderer sollte nicht fragen. Er ist ja bekannt genug, der nicht fragen sollte: der Jüngling zu Sais sollte nicht fragen. Denn sein Verhängnis war es, daß er fragen mußte, daß er tat, was er nicht tun sollte, daß er haben wollte, daß das Bild der Isis enthüllt werden sollte. Der Parzival der vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha liegenden Zeit, das ist der Jüngling zu Sais. Aber in jener Zeit wurde ihm gesagt: Hüte dich, daß deiner Seele unvorbereitet enthüllt werden sollte, was hinter dem Schleier ist! - Der Jüngling zu Sais nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha ist Parzival. Und er sollte nicht besonders vorbereitet werden, er soll mit jungfräulicher Seele zum Heiligen Gral hingeführt werden. Er versäumt das Wichtigste, da er das nicht tut, was dem Jüngling zu Sais verwehrt war, da er nicht fragt, nicht sucht nach der Enthüllung des Geheimnisses für seine Seele. So ändern sich die Zeiten im Laufe der Menschheitsentwickelung!
Wir wissen es ja — zunächst müssen wir solche Dinge abstrakt andeuten, wir werden darüber aber noch ausführlicher sprechen können -, daß es sich handelt um das, was sich in der Isis enthüllen sollte. Wir stellen uns vor das Bild der alten Isis mit dem Horusknaben, das Geheimnis des Zusammenhanges zwischen Isis und Horus, dem Sohne der Isis und des Osiris. Aber das ist abstrakt gesprochen. Dahinter liegt natürlich ein großes Geheimnis. Der Jüngling zu Sais war nicht reif, um dieses Geheimnis zu erfahren. Als Parzival, nachdem er auf der Gralsburg nach den Wundern des Heiligen Grals zu fragen versäumt hatte, fortreitet, da gehört zu den ersten, die ihm begegnen, ein Weib, eine Braut, die da trauert um ihren eben gestorbenen Bräutigam, den sie im Schoße hält: Richtig das Bild der trauernden Mutter mit dem Sohne, das später so oftmals als Pietà-Motiv gedient hat! Das ist die erste Hinweisung darauf, was Parzival erfahren hätte, wenn er nach den Wundern des Heiligen Grals gefragt hätte. Er hätte in der neuen Form jenen Zusammenhang erfahren, der besteht zwischen Isis und Horus, zwischen der Mutter und dem Menschensohne. Und er hätte fragen sollen!
Daran sehen wir, wie tief uns solche Hinweise andeuten, was für ein Fortschritt in der Entwickelung der Menschheit geschieht: Was nicht geschehen darf in der Zeit vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha — nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha soll es geschehen, denn die Menschheit ist eben in der Zwischenzeit vorwärts geschritten. Die Seele der Menschheit ist gewissermaßen eine andere geworden.
Wie gesagt, über alle diese Dinge wollen wir später weiter sprechen; ich will sie hier nur andeuten. Aber alle diese Dinge haben doch für uns nur den entsprechenden Wert, wenn wir sie für uns fruchtbar machen, recht fruchtbar machen. Und was uns aus dem für uns wirklich durch das Bild des Jünglings zu Sais bereicherten ParzivalGeheimnis fließen kann, das ist, daß wir im rechten Sinne, wie es unserer Zeit auch entspricht, fragen lernen. Denn in diesem Fragenlernen liegt die aufsteigende Strömung der Menschheitsentwickelung.
Wir haben notwendigerweise nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha zwei Strömungen der Menschheitsentwickelung: die eine, die den Impuls des Christus in sich trägt und in die spirituellen Höhen allmählich aufwärts führt; die andere, welche gleichsam ein Fortgehen des Niederstieges ist und in das materielle Leben, in den Materialismus hineinführt. In der Gegenwart gehen diese beiden Strömungen so durcheinander, daß allerdings weitaus der größte Teil unserer Kultur von der materialistischen Strömung durchsetzt ist; so daß der Mensch heute vorurteilslos und unbefangen auf alles hinblicken muß, was uns die Geisteswissenschaft über den Christus-Impuls sagen kann, und was damit zusammenhängt, damit er einsehen kann, daß die Seele zu der notwendig immer materialistischer werdenden Außenwelt jenen inneren Fortgang im Sinne der Spiritualität braucht. Dazu aber müssen wir gerade von solchen Dingen etwas lernen, wie das erwähnte ist: Wir müssen lernen zu fragen.
In der spirituellen Strömung müssen wir lernen zu fragen. In der materialistischen Strömung führt aber die Menschen alles ab vom Fragen. Wir wollen diese zwei Dinge nur nebeneinander hinstellen, um zu zeigen, wie die eine und wie die andere Strömung ist. In der einen haben wir diejenigen Menschen, die im Materialismus drinnenstehen. Das können durchaus solche sein, die an diesen oder jenen spirituellen Dogmen festhalten, die mit Worten, mit 'Theorien die spirituelle Welt anerkennen. Aber darauf kommt es nicht an, sondern darauf, daß wir mit dem Ganzen unserer Seele in die spirituelle Strömung hineinkommen. Von den Menschen, die in der materialistischen Strömung drinnenstehen, kann man sagen: sie sind keine «Frager». Sie sind wirklich keine Frager, denn sie wissen schon alles. Das ist das Charakteristikon der materialistischen Kultur, daß diese Menschen alles wissen, daß sie nicht fragen wollen. Sogar die jüngsten Menschen wissen heute alles und fragen nicht. Man hält das für Freiheit und für eine Erhöhung des persönlichen Wertes, wenn man überall ein eigenes Urteil fällen kann. Man merkt nur nicht, wie dieses persönliche Urteil reift. Wir wachsen herein in die Welt. Mit den ersten Worten der Kindheit nehmen wir dieses oder jenes auf. Dann wachsen wir heran, nehmen mehr und mehr auf, merken nicht, wie wir die Dinge aufnehmen. Wir sind durch unser Karma so und so geartet. Dadurch gefällt uns dieses oder jenes mehr oder weniger gut. Wir wachsen heran und erreichen mit unserem Urteil das für manche Kritiker schon durchaus respektable Alter von fünfundzwanzig Jahren, und wir fühlen uns reif in unserem Urteil, weil wir glauben, daß es aus unserer eigenen Seele kommt. Wer aber in die Seelen hineinblicken kann, der weiß, daß dahinter nichts steckt als das auf die eigene Seele konzentrierte äußere Leben, in das wir gerade hineingestellt sind. Wir können damit auch in Konflikt kommen, wenn wir glauben, dies oder jenes bringe uns unser eigenes Urteil bei. Indem wir glauben, unabhängig zu sein, werden wir nur um so sklavischer abhängig von unserem eigenen Inneren. Wir urteilen, aber wir verlernen vollständig, zu fragen.
Fragen lernen wir nur, wenn wir jenes Gleichmaß der Seele in uns auszubilden vermögen, das sich Ehrfurcht und Ehrerbietung bewahren kann vor den heiligen Gebieten des Lebens, wenn wir imstande sind, in unserer Seele so etwas zu haben, das immer den Drang hat, sich auch durch das eigene Urteil nicht zu engagieren gegenüber dem, was aus den heiligen Gebieten des Lebens an uns herandtingen soll. Fragen lernen wir nur, wenn wir uns versetzen können in eine erwartungsvolle Stimmung, so daß durch dieses oder jenes Ereignis sich uns dieses oder jenes im Leben offenbaren mag, wenn wit warten können, wenn wir eine gewisse Scheu tragen, das eigene Urteil anzuwenden gegenüber dem gerade, was mit Heiligkeit aus den heiligen Gebieten des Daseins herausströmen soll, wenn wir nicht urteilen, sondern fragen, und nicht nur etwa Menschen fragen, die uns etwas sagen können, sondern vor allem die geistige Welt fragen, der wir nicht unser Urteilen entgegenhalten, sondern unsere Frage, unsere Frage schon in der Stimmung, in der Gesinnung.
Versuchen Sie sich durch Meditation so recht klar zu werden, welcher Unterschied besteht zwischen dem Entgegenhalten von Urteilen und dem Entgegenhalten von Fragen gegenüber den geistigen Gebieten des Lebens. Das muß man innerlich erfahren, daß ein radikaler Unterschied zwischen den beiden besteht. Mit diesem Unterschiede hängt etwas zusammen, das durch unsere ganze Zeit geht und das wir in unserer spirituellen Geistesströmung ganz besonders wohl beachten sollen. Denn diese spirituelle Geistesströmung wird nur gedeihen können, wenn wir den Unterschied zwischen Fragen und Urteilen verstehen lernen. Gewiß müssen wir urteilen in bezug auf die äußeren Verhältnisse des Lebens. Daher habe ich auch nicht gesagt, wir sollen überall unser Urteilen einschränken; sondern über das, was die tieferen Geheimnisse der Welt sind, sollen wir die erwartungsvolle Fragestimmung kennenlernen. Fortgehen wird unsere spirituelle Bewegung durch alles, wodurch diese Fragestimmung in einem größeren Teile der Menschheit anerkannt und gefördert wird; gehemmt wird unsere spirituelle Bewegung durch alles, was an leichtfertigem Urteilen sich dieser Strömung entgegensetzt. Und wenn wir in rechten Feieraugenblicken unseres Lebens uns zu überlegen versuchen, was wir aus einer solchen Darstellung gewinnen können, wie die von dem nach der Gralsburg gehenden Parzival, der fragen soll, dann gewinnen wir gerade in dieser Parzival-Gestalt ein Vorbild für unsere spirituelle Bewegung. Und damit im Zusammenhange können wir dann manches andere begreifen.
Wenn wir noch einmal zurücksehen auf die Zeit der Menschheitsentwickelung vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha, so müssen wir sagen: Damals hatte die Menschenseele ein altes Erbgut aus der Zeit, da sie aus den geistigen Höhen herunterstieg zu irdischen Inkarnationen. Dieses Erbgut bewahrte sie sich von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation weiter. Daher gab es in jenen Zeiten ein altes Hellsehen, das nach und nach abflutete, immer schwächer und schwächer wurde. Je weiter die Inkarnationen vorschritten, desto schwächer wurde das abflutende alte Hellsehen. Woran war das alte Hellsehen gebunden? Es war gebunden an das, woran auch das äußere Wahrnehmen mit Augen und Ohren gebunden ist, an das, was eben der Mensch in der äußeren Welt ist. Bei den Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha war es so, daß sie wie Kinder heranwuchsen: sie lernten gehen, sprechen, und sie lernten selbstverständlich, solange die elementaren Kräfte im Sinne des alten Hellsehens noch da waren, auch hellsehen. Sie lernten es wie etwas, was sich ergab im Umgange mit der Menschheit, so wie es sich ergab im Umgange mit der Menschheit, daß man durch die Organisation des Kehlkopfes das Sprechen lernte. Man blieb aber nicht beim Sprechenlernen stehen, sondern schritt vor zu dem elementaren Hellsehen. Dieses elementare Hellsehen war gebunden an die gewöhnliche menschliche Organisation so, wie die menschliche Organisation drinnenstand in der physischen Welt; es mußte also notwendigerweise das Hellsehen auch den Charakter der menschlichen Organisation annehmen. Ein Mensch, der ein Wüstling war, konnte nicht eine reine Natur in sein Hellsehen hineinschieben; ein reiner Mensch konnte seine reine Natur auch in sein Hellsehen hineinschieben. Das ist ganz natürlich, denn es war das Hellsehen an die unmittelbare menschliche Organisation gebunden.
Eine notwendige Folge davon war, daß ein gewisses Geheimnis — das Geheimnis des Zusammenhanges zwischen der geistigen Welt und der physischen Erdenwelt -, das vor dem Herabstieg des Christus Jesus bestand, nichtfür diese gewöhnliche menschheitlicheOrganisation enthüllt werden durfte. Es mußte die menschheitliche Organisation erst umgestaltet, erst reif gemacht werden. Der Jüngling von Sais durfte nicht ohne weiteres, von außen kommend, das Bild der Isis sehen.
Mit dem vierten nachatlantischen Zeitraume, in welchen das Mysterium von Golgatha hineinfiel, war das alte Hellsehen verschwunden. Eine neue Organisation der Menschenseele trat auf, eine Organisation der Menschenseele, die überhaupt abgeschlossen bleiben muß von der geistigen Welt, wenn sie nicht fragt, wenn sie nicht den Trieb hat, der in der Frage liegt. Dieselben schädlichen Kräfte, die in alten Zeiten an die Menschenseele herangetreten sind, können nicht an sie herantreten, wenn man gerade nach dem Geheimnis fragt, das das Geheimnis des Heiligen Grales ist. Denn in diesem Geheimnisse birgt sich das, was seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha in die Aura der Erde jetzt ausgeflossen ist. Was früher nicht in sie ausgeflossen war, was jetzt als das Geheimnis des Grales in die Erdenaura ausgeflossen ist, bliebe einem doch immer verschlossen, wenn man nicht fragt. Man muß fragen, was aber nichts anderes heißt als: man muß den Trieb haben, dasjenige, was ohnedies in der Seele lebt, wirklich zu entfalten.
Vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha war es nicht in der Seele, denn der Christus war nicht in der Erdenaura. Vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha würde jemand ohne weiteres, wenn er nur das Bild der Isis im rechten Sinne geschaut und ihr Geheimnis ergründet hätte, durch das, was in ihm noch an alten hellseherischen Kräften vorhanden war, seine ganze Menschennatur da hineingelegt haben, und er würde es dann so erkannt haben.
In der Zeit nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha wird eine Seele, die zum Fragen kommt, im rechten Sinne zum Fragen kommen, und sie wird auch im rechten Sinne das neue Isis-Mysterium empfinden können. Daher ist es so, daß es heute ankommt auf das richtige Fragen, das heißt auf das richtige Sich-Stellen zu dem, was als spirituelle Weltanschauung verkündet werden kann. Kommt ein Mensch bloß aus der Stimmung des Urteilens, dann kann er alle Bücher und alle Zyklen und alles lesen — er erfährt gar nichts, denn ihm fehlt die Parzival-Stimmung. Kommt jemand mit der Fragestimmung, dann wird er noch etwas ganz anderes erfahren, als was bloß in den Worten liegt. Er wird die Worte fruchtbar mit den Quellkräften in seiner eigenen Seele erleben. Daß uns das, was uns spirituell verkündet ist, zu einem solchen inneren Erleben werde, das ist es, worauf es ankommt.
Daran werden wir insbesondere erinnert, wenn solche Dinge an uns herantreten wie die bedeutsamen Ereignisse zwischen dem Gespräche des Jesus von Nazareth mit der Mutter und der Johannestaufe im Jordan. Denn diese Dinge werden uns auch nur etwas sein können, wenn wir nach ihnen fragen, wenn wir das lebendige Bedürfnis haben, zu erkennen, was gewirkt hat an jenem wichtigen Scheidepunkte, wo die Zeit vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha sich trennt von der Zeit nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Es ist am besten, gerade diese Dinge auf seine Seele wirken zu lassen. Es ist im Grunde genommen alles, was sie unserer Seele sagen sollen, schon in der Erzählung enthalten. Wir brauchen nicht viel in sie hineinzuinterpretieren.
Gerade bei Gelegenheit dieses Abschnittes des Fünften Evangeliums wollte ich diese allgemeine Bemerkung machen und darauf hinweisen, wie es für unsere Zeit in gewissem Sinne wiederum wichtig wird, Parzival-Stimmung zu verstehen. Man wird sie verstehen müssen. Sie ist ja aufgetaucht bei Richard Wagner, der sie musikalisch-dramatisch zu verkörpern suchte. Nicht will ich mich einlassen in den großen Streit, der in der äußeren Welt heute wegen des «Parsifal» entbrannt ist. Geisteswissenschaft ist nicht dazu da, um Partei zu ergreifen. Daher möge es ihr ferneliegen, sich hier einzumischen in den Streit zwischen denjenigen, die Wagners «Parsifal», zunächst das bedeutsamste Dokument für die heutige Welt über die neue ParzivalStimmung, in Bayreuth behalten möchten, Schutz für ihn haben möchten, und denjenigen, die ihn übergeben wollen dem Reiche Klingsors. Es tritt ja im Grunde genommen das letztere schon ein. Aber auf das andere möchte ich hinweisen: daß in dem Fortwirken des Christus-Impulses gleichsam da, wo noch nicht die Urteilskraft, wo noch nicht das Oberbewußtsein der Menschen hindringt, wohinein aber immer mehr und mehr dieses Oberbewußtsein durch die spirituelle Weltanschauung deuten soll, daß da auch immer die ParzivalStimmung sein muß, und noch manches andere, wovon wir dann im Verlaufe dieses Winters noch sprechen wollen.
Fourth Lecture
In considering the life of Christ Jesus, as we have now done according to what I would like to call the Fifth Gospel, everything that happened after the conversation between Jesus of Nazareth and his mother, which I have also described here, must appear to us as important. I would now like to draw your attention, as I hope can be done in the intimate circle of a working group such as ours, to what happened immediately after the conversation between Jesus of Nazareth and his mother, that is, to what took place between this conversation and the baptism of John in the Jordan. What I have to tell you are facts that arise from intuitive perception and should be presented simply, without further explanation, so that everyone can think about them as they wish.
We have seen that after the life we have described in detail, which Jesus of Nazareth led from the age of twelve to the age of twenty-nine or thirty, a conversation took place between him and his mother, the woman who was actually his stepmother or foster mother and the biological mother of the Salomonic Jesus. that conversation in which, so to speak, what had become the consequence, the effect of his experience, flowed so intensely, so energetically into the words of Jesus of Nazareth that an immense power passed into the soul of his stepmother or foster mother through his words. It was a power that made it possible for the soul of the biological mother of the Nathanic Jesus of Nazareth to descend from the spiritual world, where she had been since about the twelfth year of the Nathanic Jesus, and to penetrate and spiritualize the soul of the stepmother or foster mother, so that the latter continued to live, permeated with the soul of the mother of the Nathanic Jesus. For Jesus of Nazareth himself, however, it meant that with his words, the I of Zarathustra had departed, as it were. What now set out on its way to John's baptism in the Jordan was, in essence, the Nathanic Jesus, who had shaped the three shells in the manner often discussed, without the ego of Zarathustra but with the effects of this Zarathustra ego, so that everything the Zarathustra ego could pour into these three shells was indeed in these three shells.
You will understand that this being, who now, as Jesus of Nazareth, went to the baptism of John in the Jordan out of what one might call an indefinite cosmic urge—indefinite for him, but very definite for the cosmos—cannot be addressed as a human being in the same sense as other human beings. For what had filled this being as the I since his twelfth year was the Zarathustra I. This Zarathustra I was now gone. It lived on only in the effects of this Zarathustra I.
When this being, Jesus of Nazareth, set out on his way to John the Baptist, the Fifth Gospel tells us that Jesus of Nazareth first encountered two Essenes. These were two Essenes with whom he had often conversed on the occasions I have mentioned. But since the ego of Zarathustra had left him, he did not immediately recognize the two Essenes. They, however, recognized him, for the significant physiognomic features that this being had acquired through the indwelling of Zarathustra had not changed in their outward appearance. The two Essenes addressed him with the words: “Where are you going?” Jesus of Nazareth replied: “To where souls of your kind do not yet want to look, where the pain of humanity can feel the rays of forgotten light!”
The two Essenes did not understand his words. When they realized that he did not recognize them, they said to him, “Jesus of Nazareth, do you not know us?” But he replied, “You are like lost sheep; but I must be the shepherd from whom you have strayed. If you truly recognize me, you will soon stray from me again. It is so long since you fled from me!” The Essenes did not know what to make of him, for they did not know how such words could come from a human soul. And they looked at him uncertainly. But he continued: ”What kind of souls are you, where is your world? Why do you surround yourselves with deceptive shells? Why does a fire burn within you that was not kindled in my Father's house? You bear the mark of the tempter; he has made your wool shiny and glittering with his fire. The hairs of this wool prick my eyes. You stray lambs, the tempter has filled your souls with pride; you met him on your flight.
When Jesus of Nazareth had said this, one of the Essenes said, “Did we not show the tempter the door? He has no part in us anymore.” And Jesus of Nazareth said, “You showed the tempter the door, but he ran away and came to other people. Now he grins at you from the souls of other people on all sides! Do you think you could have exalted yourselves by humiliating others? You think you are high, but it is not because you have risen high, but because you have humbled others. That is why they are lower. You have remained where you were. That is the only reason you think you are so high above others. — At this, the Essenes were terrified. But at that moment, Jesus of Nazareth disappeared before their eyes. They could no longer see him.
After their eyes were clouded for a short while, they felt the urge to look into the distance. And in the distance they saw something like a mirage. It showed them, magnified to gigantic proportions, the face of the one who had just stood before them. And then they heard words spoken to them as if from the mirage, piercing their souls with terror: “Your striving is vain, for your hearts are empty, since you have filled yourselves with the spirit that deceptively conceals pride in the guise of humility!” And when they had stood there for a while, as if stunned by this vision and these words, the mirage disappeared. But Jesus of Nazareth no longer stood before them. They looked around. He had already gone on, and they saw him in the distance. And the two Essenes went home and told no one what they had seen, but remained silent for the rest of their lives.
I want to present these facts and give them purely as they are found in what we call the Akashic Records, and everyone can think what they will. This is important right now because this Fifth Gospel may yet come into being in more detail, and because any theoretical interpretation could only disturb what it wants to convey.
Now when Jesus of Nazareth was walking along this road toward the Jordan, where he had been driven, he met a person who could be described as being in deepest despair. A desperate man crossed his path. And Jesus of Nazareth said, “Where has your soul led you? I saw you eons ago, and you were completely different. Then the desperate man said: I was in high office; I rose high in life. I held many, many offices in the human hierarchy, and it happened quickly. I often said to myself, when I saw how the others remained in their low positions and I rose high: What a rare person you are; your high virtues elevate you above all other people! I was happy and enjoyed this happiness to the full. — So said the desperate man, then he continued: Then once, while I was asleep, something like a dream came to me. In the dream, it was as if a question was asked of me, and I knew immediately that I was ashamed of this question in my dream. For the question that was asked of me was this: Who made you great? And a being stood before me in the dream and said: I have exalted you, but you are mine for it! And I was ashamed, for I believed that I owed my exaltation solely to my own merits and talents. And now—I felt how ashamed I was in the dream—another being came toward me and said that I had no merit in my exaltation. Then I had to flee in shame in my dream. I left all my offices and dignities behind me and wandered around, searching and not knowing what I was looking for. — So spoke the desperate man. And while he was still speaking, the being stood before him again, between him and Jesus of Nazareth, and covered the figure of Jesus of Nazareth with his own figure. And the desperate man had a feeling that this being had something to do with the being Lucifer. And while the being still stood before him, Jesus of Nazareth disappeared, and then the being also disappeared. But then the desperate man saw in the distance that Jesus of Nazareth had passed by, and he continued on his way, wandering aimlessly.
As Jesus of Nazareth continued on his way, he met a leper. When Jesus of Nazareth asked him, “Where has the path of your soul led you? I saw you eons ago, but then you were different,” the leper replied, “People have rejected me because of my illness! No one wanted anything to do with me, and I did not know how to provide for my basic needs. So I wandered around in my suffering and once came to a forest. Something I saw in the distance, like a glowing tree, attracted me. And I could not help but go toward this glowing tree as if driven. It was as if something like a skeleton was emerging from the shimmering light of the tree. And I knew that death itself was standing before me. Death said, “I am you! I feed on you.” I was afraid. But death said, “Why are you afraid? Have you not always loved me? And I knew that I had never loved him. And while he spoke to me thus: Why are you afraid? Have you not loved me? he transformed himself into a beautiful archangel. Then he disappeared, and I fell into a deep sleep. It was not until morning that I awoke and found myself sleeping by the tree. From then on, my leprosy grew worse and worse. — And when he had told this, what he had seen at the tree stood between him and Jesus of Nazareth and transformed into a being whom he knew to be Ahriman or something Ahrimanic. And while he was still looking at it, the being disappeared, and Jesus of Nazareth also disappeared. Jesus had already gone on ahead. And the leper had to move on.
After these three experiences, Jesus of Nazareth came to John's baptism in the Jordan. Once again, I would like to mention here that when John's baptism was completed, what is described in the other Gospels and what is called the temptation took place. This temptation took place in such a way that Christ Jesus did not face just one being, but that the temptation took place in three stages, as it were.
First, Christ Jesus faced a being who was now close to him because he had seen him when the desperate man approached him, and whom he could therefore recognize as Lucifer. This is a very significant connection. And then, through Lucifer, the temptation took place which is expressed in the words: I will give you all the kingdoms of the world and their glory if you acknowledge me as your Lord! — The temptation of Lucifer was rejected.
The second attack consisted in Lucifer returning, but with him the being who had stood between Jesus of Nazareth and the leper, and whom he therefore felt to be Ahriman. And now the temptation took place that is described in the other Gospels with the words: “Throw yourself down, nothing will happen to you if you are the Son of God.” This temptation, which took place in such a way that Lucifer could be paralyzed by Ahriman and Ahriman by Lucifer, was also rejected.
Only the third temptation, which was carried out by Ahriman alone in order to tempt Christ Jesus to turn stones into bread, only this temptation was not completely rejected at that time. And this fact, that Ahriman was not completely defeated, led to things taking the course they did. This enabled Ahriman to work through Judas; this made it possible for all subsequent events to occur in the way we will hear about later. You see, an akashic intuition has arisen here about the moment that we must regard as infinitely important in the entire development of Christ Jesus and thus in the development of the earth. As if the way in which the development of the earth is connected with the Luciferic and Ahrimanic elements were passing before us once again, the events occurred between the conversation of Jesus of Nazareth with his foster mother and the baptism of John in the Jordan. The one who was the Nathanic Jesus, in whom the ego of Zarathustra had worked for eighteen years, was prepared by the events described to take the Christ being into himself. And this brings us to the point that is so extraordinarily important to understand correctly if we want to understand the development of humanity on Earth. That is why I have tried to gather together various things that have come to light through occult research and that can help us understand the evolution of humanity on Earth in this sense.
Perhaps there will also be an opportunity to talk here about the things that are now being discussed in the Leipzig lecture cycle, where I attempted to draw a line from the Christ event to the Parzival event. Today I would like to make only a few remarks in connection with the facts of the Fifth Gospel, which I would like to discuss further at our next meeting. I would like to draw attention to how, through the most diverse things in human evolution — things that are, as it were, imprinted on this human evolution so that it might understand a little of the course of events — how the whole meaning and course of this human evolution is expressed when one understands these things and sees them in the right light. I do not wish to go into what I discussed in Leipzig about the connection between the Parzival idea and the Christ evolution, but I would like to touch on something that permeated all the discussions there.
To do this, however, I must remind you that Parzival stands before us several centuries after the Mystery of Golgotha, forming, as it were, an important stage for the continuing effect of the Christ event in a soul.
Parzival is the son of an adventurous knight and his mother Herzeleide. The knight had already left before Parzival was born. His mother suffers pain and torment even before his birth. She wants to protect her son from everything he might come into contact with, such as knightly virtues and the development of his powers in the service of knighthood. She raises him in such a way that he learns nothing of what happens in the outer world, nothing of what can be given to human beings through the influences of the outer world. Parzival is to grow up in the solitude of nature, exposed only to the impressions of nature. He is to know nothing of what goes on among knights and other people. It is also said that he knows nothing of what is said in the outer world about this or that religious belief. The only thing he learns from his mother is that there is a God, that a God is behind everything. He wants to serve God. But he knows nothing more than that he can serve God. Everything else is withheld from him. But the urge to become a knight is so strong that he is driven to leave his mother one day and set out to discover what it is that drives him. And then, after many wanderings, he is led to the castle of the Holy Grail.
What he experiences there is best described—that is, best in accordance with what we can glean from the spiritual scientific document—by Chrestien de Troyes, who was also a source for Wolfram von Eschenbach. We learn that Parzival once came upon a wooded area on the edge of the sea during his wanderings, where two men were fishing. When he asked them a question, they directed him to the castle of the Fisher King. He came to the castle, entered, and found a man lying on a bed, sick and weak. This man gave him a sword, the sword of his niece. And he saw a squire enter with a lance dripping with blood down to the squire's hands. Then a maiden entered with a golden bowl from which shone a light that outshone all the other lights in the hall. Then a meal was served. With each course, this bowl was carried past and taken into the next room. And the Fisher King's father, who was lying there, was strengthened by what was in this bowl.
All this seemed wonderful to Parzival, but he had been advised by a knight during his travels not to ask too many questions. So he did not ask about what he saw; he wanted to wait until the next morning. But when he awoke, the whole castle was empty. He called out, but no one came. He thought the knights had gone hunting and wanted to follow them. In the castle courtyard, he found his horse saddled. He rode out, but had to cross the drawbridge quickly; the horse had to jump because the drawbridge was being raised right behind him. But he found no trace of the knights.
But we know what is important: that Parzival did not ask. Even though the most wonderful thing had appeared before him, he failed to ask. And he must hear again and again that it has something to do with his mission, that he should have asked, that his mission was, in a sense, connected with asking about the wonderful thing that had come his way. He did not ask! He was made to realize that he had brought about a kind of disaster by not asking.
How does Parzival stand before us here? He stands before us in such a way that we say to ourselves: In him we have a personality who has been brought up apart from the culture of the outer world, who was not supposed to know anything about the culture of the outer world, who was supposed to be led to the wonders of the Holy Grail so that he might ask about these wonders, but ask with a virgin soul, uninfluenced by the rest of culture. Why should he ask in this way? I have often pointed out that what had been wrought through the influence of the Christ impulse had been wrought as an act, that human beings could not immediately understand what had been wrought. So, on the one hand, we have what has been continuously wrought by Christ's inflow into the earth's aura, and on the other hand, we have what people have thought, argued, and conceived about it in the manifold theological dogmas. For the Christ impulse has continued to work! And the shaping of the Western world came about through the influence of this Christ impulse, which worked, as it were, in the background on human souls and in the background of the whole of historical development. If it had only been able to work through what people understood and argued about, it would have had little effect on human development. Now, in the time of Parzival, we see an important moment approaching when the Christ impulse is to work one step further.
Therefore, Parzival is not to be one of those who have learned, so to speak, what was once sacrificed on Golgotha, what was later taught by the Apostolic Fathers, the Church Fathers, and the various other theological currents. He should not know how the knights placed themselves at the service of Christ with their virtues. He should come into contact solely with the Christ impulse in the depths of his soul, in which he was able to come according to the conditions of his time. This connection would only have been clouded if he had taken in what people had taught or learned about Christ. Not what people did or said, but what the soul experiences when it is devoted solely to what happened supersensibly in the continuing effect of the Christ impulse. This was to be the case with Parzival. Outer teaching always belongs to the sensory world. But the Christ impulse worked supersensibly and was to work supersensibly into the soul of Parzival. His soul should be driven to nothing else but to ask where the significance of the Christ impulse could meet him: at the Holy Grail. He should ask questions! He should ask, not prompted by what the knights believed they had to worship in Christ, or by what the theologians believed they had to worship in Christ; but solely and exclusively by his virginal soul, which lived in the spirit of his time, he should be inspired to ask what the Holy Grail could reveal and what the Christ event could be. He should ask! Let us hold fast to this word.
Another should not ask. He is well known who should not ask: the young man of Sais should not ask. For it was his doom that he had to ask, that he did what he should not have done, that he wanted the image of Isis to be unveiled. The Parzival of the time before the Mystery of Golgotha is the young man of Sais. But in that time he was told: Beware lest your soul be unprepared for what lies behind the veil! The young man of Sais after the Mystery of Golgotha is Parzival. And he should not be specially prepared; he should be led to the Holy Grail with a virgin soul. He misses the most important thing because he does not do what was forbidden to the young man at Sais, because he does not ask, does not seek the revelation of the mystery for his soul. Thus do times change in the course of human evolution!
We know — we must first hint at such things in an abstract way, but we will be able to speak about them in more detail later — that this is what was to be revealed in Isis. We imagine the image of the ancient Isis with the infant Horus, the mystery of the connection between Isis and Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. But that is speaking abstractly. Behind it lies, of course, a great mystery. The young man at Sais was not ready to learn this mystery. When Parzival, after failing to ask about the wonders of the Holy Grail at the Grail Castle, rides away, one of the first people he meets is a woman, a bride mourning her newly deceased bridegroom, whom she holds in her lap: This is indeed the image of the grieving mother with her son, which later served so often as a motif for the Pietà! This is the first indication of what Parzival would have learned if he had asked about the wonders of the Holy Grail. He would have learned in a new form the connection that exists between Isis and Horus, between the mother and the Son of Man. And he should have asked!
Here we see how deeply such hints indicate to us what progress is taking place in the development of humanity: what must not happen in the time before the Mystery of Golgotha — after the Mystery of Golgotha it must happen, because humanity has advanced in the meantime. The soul of humanity has, in a sense, become different.
As I said, we will talk more about all these things later; I will only hint at them here. But all these things have value for us only if we make them fruitful for ourselves, truly fruitful. And what can flow to us from the mystery of Parzival, which has been truly enriched for us by the image of the young man at Sais, is that we learn to ask questions in the right sense, as befits our time. For in this learning to ask questions lies the upward current of human evolution.
After the mystery of Golgotha, we necessarily have two currents in human evolution: one that carries the impulse of Christ within itself and gradually leads upward to the spiritual heights; the other that is, as it were, a continuation of the descent and leads into material life, into materialism. In the present, these two currents are so intermingled that the vast majority of our culture is permeated by the materialistic current. As a result, people today must look without prejudice and with an open mind at everything that spiritual science can tell us about the Christ impulse and everything connected with it, so that they can understand that the soul needs this inner progress in the sense of spirituality in order to cope with the external world, which is necessarily becoming more and more materialistic. To do this, however, we must learn something from things such as those mentioned above: we must learn to ask questions.
In the spiritual current, we must learn to ask questions. In the materialistic current, however, everything leads people away from asking questions. We want to place these two things side by side only to show what one current is like and what the other is like. In one, we have those people who are caught up in materialism. These may well be people who adhere to this or that spiritual dogma, who acknowledge the spiritual world with words and theories. But that is not what matters. What matters is that we enter the spiritual current with our whole soul. Of the people who are in the materialistic current, one can say that they are not “questioners.” They are really not questioners, because they already know everything. It is characteristic of materialistic culture that these people know everything and do not want to ask questions. Even the youngest people today know everything and do not ask questions. People consider it freedom and an enhancement of personal value to be able to make their own judgments about everything. They just don't realize how this personal judgment matures. We grow into the world. With our first words as children, we absorb this or that. Then we grow up, absorb more and more, and don't notice how we absorb things. We are shaped by our karma. This makes us like this or that more or less. We grow up and, with our judgment, reach the age of twenty-five, which some critics consider quite respectable, and we feel mature in our judgment because we believe that it comes from our own soul. But anyone who can look into souls knows that behind them there is nothing but the external life concentrated on our own soul, into which we are currently placed. We can also come into conflict with this when we believe that this or that is taught to us by our own judgment. By believing that we are independent, we become all the more slavishly dependent on our own inner selves. We judge, but we completely forget how to ask questions.
We learn to ask questions only when we are able to develop that equanimity of soul which can preserve reverence and respect for the sacred areas of life, when we are able to have something in our soul that always has the urge not to commit itself, even through its own judgment, to what is meant to come to us from the sacred areas of life. We learn questions only when we can put ourselves in an expectant mood, so that through this or that event, this or that may reveal itself to us in life, when we can wait, when we have a certain reverence for applying our own judgment to that which is supposed to flow with holiness from the sacred realms of existence, when we do not judge but ask, and not only ask people who can tell us something, but above all ask the spiritual world, to which we do not oppose our judgment, but our question, our question already in the mood, in the attitude.
Try through meditation to become clear to yourself what difference there is between opposing judgments and opposing questions to the spiritual realms of life. You have to experience inwardly that there is a radical difference between the two. This difference is connected with something that runs through our entire time and that we should pay particular attention to in our spiritual stream of consciousness. For this spiritual stream of consciousness can only flourish if we learn to understand the difference between questions and judgments. Certainly, we must judge in relation to the external circumstances of life. That is why I did not say that we should restrict our judgments in all areas; rather, we should learn to ask questions with an attitude of expectation about the deeper mysteries of the world. Our spiritual movement will be advanced by everything that recognizes and promotes this attitude of questioning in a larger part of humanity; it will be hindered by everything that opposes this current with frivolous judgments. And when, in the right moments of celebration in our lives, we try to consider what we can gain from such a representation as that of Parzival, who is on his way to the Grail Castle and has to ask questions, then we gain in this figure of Parzival a model for our spiritual movement. And in connection with this, we can then understand many other things.
If we look back once more to the time of human evolution before the Mystery of Golgotha, we must say: At that time, the human soul had an ancient heritage from the time when it descended from the spiritual heights to earthly incarnations. This heritage was preserved from incarnation to incarnation. Therefore, in those times there was an ancient clairvoyance that gradually ebbed away, becoming weaker and weaker. The further the incarnations progressed, the weaker the ebbing ancient clairvoyance became. To what was the ancient clairvoyance bound? It was bound to that to which external perception with the eyes and ears is also bound, to that which man is in the outer world. Before the Mystery of Golgotha, human beings grew up like children: they learned to walk, to speak, and, as long as the elemental forces in the sense of ancient clairvoyance were still present, they also learned clairvoyance as a matter of course. They learned it as something that arose in their interaction with humanity, just as it arose in their interaction with humanity that they learned to speak through the organization of the larynx. But they did not stop at learning to speak; they progressed to elementary clairvoyance. This elementary clairvoyance was bound to the ordinary human organization, just as the human organization was bound to the physical world; therefore, clairvoyance necessarily had to take on the character of the human organization. A person who was a debauched individual could not bring a pure nature into his clairvoyance; a pure person could bring his pure nature into his clairvoyance. This is quite natural, for clairvoyance was bound to the immediate human organization.
A necessary consequence of this was that a certain mystery—the mystery of the connection between the spiritual world and the physical world of the earth—which existed before the descent of Christ Jesus, could not be revealed to this ordinary human organization. The human organization first had to be transformed, made ripe. The young man from Sais could not simply see the image of Isis from outside.
With the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, in which the mystery of Golgotha took place, the old clairvoyance disappeared. A new organization of the human soul came into being, an organization of the human soul that must remain completely closed to the spiritual world unless it asks questions, unless it has the impulse that lies in questioning. The same harmful forces that approached the human soul in ancient times cannot approach it when one asks precisely about the mystery that is the mystery of the Holy Grail. For this mystery contains what has now flowed out into the aura of the earth since the mystery of Golgotha. What did not flow out into it before, what has now flowed out into the earth's aura as the mystery of the Grail, would always remain closed to us if we did not ask. One must ask, which means nothing other than: one must have the urge to truly unfold that which already lives in the soul.
Before the mystery of Golgotha, it was not in the soul, for Christ was not in the earth's aura. Before the Mystery of Golgotha, anyone who had looked at the image of Isis in the right sense and fathomed her secret would have readily placed his entire human nature into it through the old clairvoyant powers still present in him, and he would then have recognized it as such.
In the time after the Mystery of Golgotha, a soul that comes to ask questions will come to ask questions in the right sense, and it will also be able to perceive the new Isis Mystery in the right sense. That is why it is so important today to ask the right questions, that is, to take the right attitude toward what can be proclaimed as a spiritual worldview. If a person comes merely from a mood of judgment, then he can read all the books and all the cycles and everything else — he will learn nothing, because he lacks the mood of Parzival. If someone comes with a questioning mood, then he will experience something quite different from what is merely contained in the words. He will experience the words fruitfully with the source forces in his own soul. What matters is that what is proclaimed to us spiritually becomes such an inner experience.
We are reminded of this in particular when things such as the significant events between the conversation of Jesus of Nazareth with his mother and the baptism of John in the Jordan come to us. For these things can only mean something to us if we ask about them, if we have a living need to recognize what was at work at that important turning point where the time before the mystery of Golgotha separates from the time after the mystery of Golgotha. It is best to let these things work on one's soul. Basically, everything they are meant to say to our soul is already contained in the narrative. We do not need to read too much into them.
It is precisely on the occasion of this section of the Fifth Gospel that I wanted to make this general remark and point out how important it is again for our time, in a certain sense, to understand the mood of Parzival. It will be necessary to understand it. It emerged in Richard Wagner, who sought to embody it musically and dramatically. I do not wish to get involved in the great controversy that has erupted in the outside world today over Parsifal. Spiritual science is not there to take sides. Therefore, it should be far from their minds to interfere in the dispute between those who want to keep Wagner's Parsifal in Bayreuth, initially the most significant document for today's world on the new Parsifal mood, and those who want to hand it over to the realm of Klingsor. Basically, the latter is already happening. But I would like to point out the other side: that in the continuing influence of the Christ impulse, where the power of judgment does not yet exist, where the higher consciousness of human beings does not yet stand in the way, but where this higher consciousness is increasingly being interpreted by the spiritual worldview, there must always be the Parsifal mood, and many other things, which we will discuss further in the course of this winter.