Original Impulses for the Science of the Spirit
GA 96
28 January 1907, Berlin
XIV. The Lord's Prayer: An Esoteric Study, Prayer and Meditation
Today I'd like to consider the question as to how far religious confessions can be seen, using specific examples, to have their foundation in the science of the spirit, or, as we may also put it, in occult science. I only want to consider a very small part of this subject concerning the spiritual scientific foundation of religions. You are going to see that this concerns a fact known to everyone in our civilization, even the most naive individuals, a spiritual fact that holds the most profound truths and fundamentals of the science of the spirit, and one only has to look for it to see how mysterious and full of wisdom are the connections that exist in cultural life.
Let us start with the question of Christian prayer. You all know 'Christian prayer’, as it is called today. We have spoken of it before and some people may well have asked themselves: ‘How does Christian prayer relate to the view of the world we have in the science of the spirit?’ Through this view of the world, members of the spiritual scientific movement have heard something about another way in which man, the human soul, can rise to the divine spiritual powers in the universe; about meditation, about that particular way of inwardly living with a spiritual thought; also something or other about what the great spirits that guide humanity have given us; or about the spiritual reality that lived and lives in the great civilizations. If we consider those civilizations we are given the means of entering for a short time in our souls into the divine and spiritual streams in this world.
Someone who meditates, even in the simplest way, using one of the meditations given by the spiritual guides of humanity; someone who meditates and thus lets one of the formulae, one of the significant thoughts, be present in his mind—you know it cannot be any kind of thought, but has to be something given by the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Inner Feelings—someone who meditates and lets these formulae come alive in his heart, finds he has entered into the stream of a higher spirituality; a higher power flows through him. He lives in it. First he creates the ability to strengthen his ordinary powers of mind, to elevate them and give them life, and with sufficient patience and perseverance, perhaps having let this power flow into him to strengthen him morally and intellectually, the moment will come when deeper powers are aroused that lie dormant in every human soul, powers awakened by such a meditative thought. From the simplest way of gaining moral strength up to the highest regions of clairvoyant potential, all kinds of stages can be reached by meditating like this. For most people it is just a matter of time, patience and energy to reach the higher levels. Meditating like this is usually considered a more Eastern way of going to higher levels to meet one’s god. In the West, and especially in the Christian world, we have prayer instead, the prayer in which the Christian goes to higher levels, to his god, prayer in which the Christian seeks to gain entrance to the higher worlds in his particular way.
Now above all else we must be clear that much of what is thought to be prayer today would not have counted as such at all in the early Christian sense, and least of all in the view of the founder of the Christian religion, Christ Jesus himself. In truly Christian terms it never is prayer if someone asks his god for something to satisfy his own personal and egoistical desires. When someone pleads or prays for his own personal wishes to be met, he will soon reach the point where he completely forgets the universal and comprehensive nature of anything which is granted in answer to prayer. He thinks the divine spirit will specifically meet his own desires. A farmer who is growing a particular crop may need rain, perhaps, whilst his neighbour needs the sun to shine. One of them prays for rain, the other for sun. What is divine providence to do? And this quite apart from anything divine providence is supposed to do when two armies face one another in the field and each is praying for victory, each considering its own victory to be the only just and fair one. You can see immediately how little universality and general humanity lies in such prayers, and that if a god were to grant them, only one party would be satisfied.
Praying in that way people forget the prayer in which Christ Jesus set the basic mood that should prevail in any prayer, the prayer that says: ‘Father, let this cup pass; but not my will but your will be done.’91Matthew 26: 39. That is the basic mood of Christian prayer. Whatever people intercede or pray for, this basic mood must be a bright note sounding again and again in the soul as someone seeks to offer Christian prayer. The prayer formula then becomes a means of raising ourselves to higher regions so that we may feel the god within us. The formula will then also drive away any egoistical wish and will impulse, so that the words ‘not my will but your will be done’ will have real meaning. We then give ourselves up to and enter deeply into the divine world. When we achieve this basic mood as the true mood for prayer, Christian prayer is exactly the same—only with more of a feeling note to it as meditation. And this Christian prayer originally was exactly what meditation also is. It is only that meditation is more at the level of thought, seeking to be in harmony with the divine streams that go through the world and doing so by means of the thoughts of the great guides of humanity. The same thing is achieved, but more at the level of feelings, in prayer.
We see therefore that in both prayer and meditation people seek to achieve something which we may call oneness of the soul with the divine streams that go through the world, something which at its highest level is known as ‘mystic union’ with the godhead. Prayer and meditation, are the first step towards this. Human beings could never unite with their god, they could never make connection with the higher spiritual entities if they themselves were not an outflowing from this divine spirit.
As we all know, man is dual by nature. He has the four bodies that make up his essential human nature, bodies we have often mentioned before—physical body, ether or life body, astral body and I. Within the I lies the potential for the future—manas, buddhi, atman, or spirit self, life spirit and spirit human being.
To gain the right insight into the way these two essential realities of human nature are related, we have to go back for a moment to the time when man came into existence. You all know from earlier lectures that man as he is today is a symphony of the two essential realities—threefold potential for the future in manas, buddhi and atman, his three higher principles on the one hand, and physical body, ether body, astral body and I as the four lower principles on the other. We also know that he evolved to be like this in a far, far distant past which we call the Lemurian age of the earth.
Going back from our present age, through the Graeco-Latin, then the Egyptian, Assyrian and Chaldean, the Persian and also the Indian civilizations, we gradually come, as we go further and further back, to the great Atlantean flood that lives on in the mythologies of all peoples, and to our ancestors who lived in the land that lay between Europe and America, a land which we call Atlantis. Further back we come to ancestors who lived in primordial times in a land which then lay between Australia and India. The higher trinity of man—spirit self, life spirit and spirit human being—did not unite with the four lower bodies, as we call them—physical body, ether body, astral body and I—until the middle of that period.
We have the right idea if we see it like this. During Lemurian times on this earth, the highest life form was not the physical human being we know today. There was just a kind of highly developed animal form which today envelops our present-day human being. At that time it consisted of the four lower bodies. Higher human nature, the eternal in man, with the three potential elements that will develop further in the future through manas, buddhi and atman, had until then been in the keeping of the godhead. To imagine what happened at the time, in a way that may be rather commonplace but does help us to see it, think of all the people who today make up the whole of humanity having developed bodies by then that would enable them to absorb the human soul rather the way a sponge is able to absorb water.
Think of a vessel filled with water. You’ll be unable to tell where one drop of water ends and another begins. And then think of a number of tiny little sponges dipped into the water. What had been a uniform mass of water in the vessel, is now divided up among many tiny sponges. That is how it was with the human soul at that time, if we may use such a commonplace analogy. Before, they rested in the care of the divine prime spirit, and they were dependent, having no individuality; then they were absorbed into human bodies and thus made individual, like the water in the tiny sponges. The principle which was then absorbed by the individual bodies, which are the four lower principles, has continued on into our time, developing all the time, and it will continue to develop in the future. In the science of the spirit, or occult science, it was always called the upper trinity, and triangle and square were chosen, above all by the Pythagorean school, to represent this human being who came into being in the middle of the Lemurian age.
But as you can easily imagine, this upper, eternal principle which goes through all incarnations can be considered from two points cf view. On the one hand we may see it as part of humanity for ever and all eternity, and on the other hand as part of the divine spirit which that great spirit gave away at the time as a part or droplet of its own content, which is now down in the fourfold human vessel. A droplet of divinity became individual and independent as it came to rest in us human beings. You can see, therefore, that you may consider the three higher principles of human nature, the eternal in us, to be not only the three highest principles in human nature, but also as three principles in the godhead itself. If you wanted to enumerate the principles of the gods who gave humanity the soul droplet at that time, you would have to start with man and his physical body, continue with the ether body, astral body and I, go on up from manas to atman, beginning with manas, continuing with buddhi and atman, and go on to the principles that lie above atman and of which present-day human beings will only be able to have a idea when they become pupils of the initiates. So you see that we can also consider these three principles, which man has within him as his content, to be three divine principles.
Let us now look at them not as human but as divine principles, and describe them in their essential nature. The highest principle in the human being, atman, something we will develop at the end of this earthly, or, shall we say, present planetary evolution, can be characterized in terms of spiritual or occult science by comparing its essential nature with something of which present-day human beings have only a vague notion, and that is the will element in man. The basic character of this, the highest divine principle in us, is will-like by nature, a kind of will intent. The will, which is least developed in our inner nature today, will be our most outstanding principle at a future time, when we shall ascend higher and higher.
Today man is essentially a creature who seeks insight, with the will really still limited in all kinds of directions. We can grasp the universal nature of the world around us up to a point. But just consider how few of the things we are able to grasp are things we are able to will; how little power we have over the things we are able to grasp. The future will bring what we do not yet have. The will is going to grow mightier and mightier, until we reach our great goal, which in the science of the spirit is called 'the great offering' or 'sacrifice'. This consists in a power of the will where the spirit which wills is able to give itself up completely, not just giving the little a human being is able to give out of the weakness of his powers of feeling and will, but giving one’s whole existence, letting oneself flow out as an essential spirit right down to the level of material nature.
You’ll get an idea of what is meant by 'the great sacrifice', the highest form of the will in divine nature, if you look at it in the following way. Imagine you are standing in front of a mirror and your image is looking at you from this mirror. This image is an illusion but it is your perfect counterfeit. Now imagine you have died, giving up your own existence, your feeling, thinking and your very essence in order to give life to this image, making it into what you yourself are. To give up oneself and one's life to the image—this is something which in the science of the spirit has always been called the emanation, the flowing out. If you were able to do this you would find that you yourself are no longer there, for you have given away everything in order to resurrect life and conscious awareness in the image.
When the will has reached a level where it is capable of performing ‘the great sacrifice’, as it is called, then it makes, it creates a universe, large or small, and this universe is a mirror image that has been given its mission through the essential nature of its creator. We have thus characterized the creative will in the divine spirit.
The second principle we have to characterize in divine nature, in so far as it has entered into humanity, is already contained in the analogy we have made—it is the mirror image itself. Enter as actively as you can into a divine spirit that is the creator of a world and the centre of the universe. If you think of a point in this room and imagine that rather than by these walls, of which there are six, it is surrounded by a hollow sphere, the inner surface of which is a mirror, you will see yourself, the centre, reflected on all sides. You have the image of a divine spirit as a will centre that is reflected on all sides, and the mirror is the image of the godhead itself and also of the universe. For what is a universe? It is nothing but a mirror reflecting the essential nature of the divine spirit.
The universe is alive and active. And this is because the godhead emanates in making its great sacrifice, in reflecting its universe, which is like the enlivening of the mirror image we tried to imagine. The whole universe is given life out of the universal will that comes to expression in infinite variety. This process of infinite variety, infinite replication, this repetition of the godhead is known as the ‘realm’, as distinct from the ‘will’, in every occult or spiritual science. The will is thus the centre; its mirror is the realm, so that you may compare the will with atman or spirit man, and the realm, or mirror image of the will, with buddhi or life spirit.
Now this realm is such that it reflects the essential nature of the divine in infinite variety. Just look at this realm all around, in so far as it is our realm, our rich variety, our universe; look at its visible part in minerals, plants, animals and human beings. The realm manifests in every individual form, and something of this still lives on in the German term Reich [meaning 'rich' as well as 'realm'; tr.], with the major divisions of our universe called the mineral, plant and animal worlds or realms. But if we also go into detail, then every detail, too, is divine by nature. Nature is reflected in all of it, just as the centre would be mirrored in the hollow sphere. And someone who looks at the world in the terms of occult research sees the god, an image and expression of the divine, in every mineral, every plant, every animal and every human being.
The divine spirit shows itself in infinitely many different forms of life in all their variety. If one has reached the level of perception in the science of the spirit that enables one to see the individual entities as having originated in the godhead, they are told apart by giving them a ‘name’. It is the name which the human being thinks of as the individual entity; it serves to distinguish the individual entities in this vast variety from one another. It is the third of the greatest three human principles that flow from the godhead and may be said to correspond to the manas or spirit self. The occult teaching of different religions also used to teach, naively, what had flowed from the godhead and flowed into you, becoming your eternal image.
If you wish to rise to the realm to which you are ultimately destined to rise, you will find that it is will-like by nature.
If you wish to rise to the buddhi, the bearer of this will, of this atman, its realm is of the divine.
And if you wish to rise to that which you perceive to be names, concepts or ideas of things—this is what name is within the realm of the divine.
What we have been considering is the ancient wisdom which tells us that name, realm and will make up the part of the godhead that has flowed into essential human nature to be the eternal part of it. We thus see that the three higher principles in man are part of the divine.
To complete our study, let us now take a look at the four lower principles of mortal man. We know of the three higher principles that they can actually be considered from the other aspect, since we consider them to be parts of the divine principle. In a similar way, the four lower principles of essential human nature can be considered to be parts of the transitory world and parts of human nature.
Consider the physical body. It is made up of the same material and the same forces as the seemingly lifeless world all around it. This physical body could not exist unless matter and energy were continually flowing into it from the physical world that surrounds it, building it up over and over again. Everything we have in the physical body is really in transit within it. Materials flow into and out of it which make up the outer universe as well as being inside us for a time. Mention has been made here on several occasions that the whole material content of the human body is renewed in the course of seven years. None of you have any of the matter in you today that you had in you ten years ago. Human beings renew the substance of their physical bodies all the time. The matter which was in us before is now somewhere else, distributed in the natural world outside, and other matter has come into us. The life of the body requires matter to come in and go out all the time.
Just as we considered the three higher principles in the essential human being to be parts of the godhead, so we can consider the four parts of lower human nature to be parts of the divine natural world.
We may consider the physical body to be part of the material part of our planet; its substance has been taken from this material planet and goes back again to it. If we consider the ether body, we must also see it as part of the world that surrounds us here, and the same holds true for the astral body.
Let us consider the life body or ether body and the astral body in context. You know that the astral body sustains everything we have by way of drives, desires and passions, everything that moves the human soul—joy and suffering, pleasure and pain, whilst the life or ether body relates to qualities of soul that are more lasting, of longer duration and sustains them.
On some occasions when speaking to you I compared the development of the life or ether body and the astral body with the hour and minute hands of a clock. I made you aware that when you recall things which you knew and which happened when you were eight and the things you know and that happen now, you'll notice a great difference. You have learned infinitely many things, taking up many ideas; as to the things you did when you were eight, many feelings of joy and pain may have come to mind again; not only come to mind, but also passed through it. But if you now compare this with your temperament, your character, your lasting tendencies, you will realize that if you had a violent temper as a child you will probably still have a violent temper today. Most people keep these basic characteristics for the whole of their lives. As we have stressed a number of times, occult training is not a matter of theory but of directing evolution to the structures in the ether body, which otherwise tend to be unchanging. A disciple has done more if he has changed one of these temperamental characteristics, his basic inclination, and thus made the hour hand move a little faster than would otherwise have been the case. All the things that evolve so slowly—our lasting habits and basic temperament—are embodied in the ether or life body. Everything that changes relatively more quickly, like the minute hand on the clock, is embodied in the astral body.
If you now apply this to our human environment, to our life in the outside world, you will see that your habits, temperaments and lasting inclinations connect you with your era, your nation and your family. The lasting, unchanging qualities which people have will be found not only in them but in everyone with whom they are in some way connected—family, nation and so on. Individual members of a nation can be seen to have the same habits and temperaments. This basic set of habits and inclinations which need to be changed if we want to go through higher development make up our higher nature. Because of this such an individual is called a 'homeless' person, for he must change his ether body which normally connects him with his people.
If we consider the communities we live in, into which we are born, we find that the character qualities through which we belong to a family, a nation, and through which we feel we have a connection with the members of this nation, are also similar to the character qualities that live in our era. Just think how little you’d have in common with a member of the ancient Greek nation. His ether body would have been very different from the ether body of someone living today. People understand one another because of the common qualities in their ether bodies. The quality that makes people stand out from the common characteristics, making them unique within the family or the nation, so that they are individuals and not just a French or a German person, a quality that can also transcend the sum of gender characteristics, is anchored in the astral body; the astral body sustains it. The astral body thus holds more the individual, personal aspect.
If someone errs through his ether or life body, he is more liable to be a sinner among the people he lives or works with, failing to play his proper role in the social sphere that enables people to have a social life. Sins of a more individual nature, so that a person errs in a personal way, are due to the qualities of the astral body.
Sins against the community that come from a faulty ether body have always been called ‘faults’ in occult science. The way the term ‘fault’ is used for a physical defect is close to its use in a moral sense. The problem is due to a defect in the ether body. Defects in the astral body, on the other hand, are called ‘temptations’. Temptation causes people to commit individual sins. The I can also fall into its own kind of error, as shown in the story of paradise. When the human soul came down, out of the keeping of the godhead, and for the first time entered into an earthly body, it was taken up into that body the way a drop of water is absorbed into a sponge, and the higher soul then developed I-nature.
This higher soul, I-nature, can commit errors within the I. Man does not fall because of faults in his ether and astral bodies, but there is a basic way of falling into sin and this is due to the fact that man has gained his independence. Humanity had to go through selfishness and egoism so that they might gradually gain freedom and independence in full awareness. Man came down as a soul that was part of the godhead, and the godhead cannot fall into egoism. Nothing that is part of an organism would ever imagine itself to be independent of it. If a finger were to think so, for example, it would tear itself away from the body and shrivel up. Human beings could never have gained the independence which they need to develop if they had not first gone through selfishness; this independence will only gain its true meaning once selflessness has become its basic characteristic.
Selfishness entered into the human body and this made man a selfish, egoistical creature. We see, therefore, that the I follows all the drives and inclinations of the body. The human being devours his neighbour, he gives in to all kinds of drives and desires and is wholly caught up in the earthly vessel, just as a drop of water is absorbed by a small sponge.
The paradise story refers to the sins man was able to commit once he had become such an I-creature, a truly independent creature. Before that he drew on the common source, like a drop that is still in water and takes its energy from the common body of water; now he has all impulses within himself. This is indicated by biting into the apple in the paradise story, and not for nothing, for in occult science, all true meanings of words have a deep inner connection. So the Latin malum means both ‘evil’ and ‘apple’. In occult science, the word ‘evil’ is only used for errors arising out of the I.
Evil thus is to do wrong out of the I. A fault is the kind of error the ether body falls into in social life, in the life that human beings live together. Temptation is something that may affect the astral body in so far as it may be defective on the personal, individual level. And so the error which the ether or life body falls into is ‘fault’, that of the astral body is ‘temptation’, and the I is capable of ‘evil’.
When we consider the way the four lower bodies of man relate to the environment, to the surrounding planetary body, we see that the physical body is all the time taking up physical matter to feed and maintain itself. We see that the life of the life or ether body here on earth comes into existence in that the individual maintains community with the people of the community into which he has grown. We see that the astral body maintains itself by not falling into temptation. And finally we see that the I maintains itself and develops in the right way by not succumbing to what we call ‘evil’.
Now imagine you have before your mind’s eye the whole of this human nature with its lower four and higher three principles and are then able to say: ‘A drop of the divine lives in the individual human being, and man is developing towards the divine, to let his deepest, inmost nature come to fruition.’ Once he has done this, he will have gone through a gradual process to transform his own nature into what is called the ‘Father’ in Christian terminology. The great goal of humankind which lies hidden in the human soul is the ‘Father in heaven’. To develop in that direction, we must have the power to develop our higher three and lower four principles to the point where they maintain the physical body in the right way. The ether or life body must then live in such a way with other human beings that compensation is made for anything that lives in it by way of faults; the astral body must not perish in temptation and the I not in evil.
Through the three higher principles, man must seek to rise to the Father in heaven—through the name, the realm and the will. The name should be seen as something holy. Behold all things around you; they reflect the godhead in their manifoldness. Saying their name you must once again know them to be parts of the divine world order. Let everything there is around you be sacred; and see something in the name you give it that will make it part of the divine. Let it be sacred to you, grow into the realm that has come forth from the godhead, and progress to achieve the will that shall be atman, but at the same time also part of the godhead.
Now think of someone who enters deeply in meditation into this aim of evolution, and needs to express this aim in seven petitions in a prayer. How will he put it?
To say what the aim of the prayer is, he will say: ‘Our Father, who are in heaven,’ before he says the seven petitions. This refers to the deepest part of the human soul, the inmost nature of man which according to Christian esoterics belongs to the realm of the spirit. The first three petitions relate to the three higher principles in the human being: ‘Let your name be holy. Let your realm come to us. Let your will be done.’ We now move on from the realm of the spirit to the earthly realm: ‘Let your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.’
The last four petitions relate to the four lower principles in human nature.
What shall we say of the physical body, so that it may be maintained in life on the planet? ‘Give us today our daily bread.’
What shall we say of the ether or life body? ‘Forgive us our faults, just as we shall forgive those who commit faults against us.’
What shall we say with regard to the astral body? ‘Lead us not into temptation.’
And what shall we say with regard to the I? ‘Deliver us from evil.’ You see, therefore, that the seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer speak of how the human soul, if it rises to this in the right way, asks the divine will to guide the development of the individual principles of the human being in such a way that he may develop all aspects of his essential nature in the right way. The Lord’s Prayer thus helps the human being to rise in moments of need to the true purpose of developing his sevenfold nature. And even for the most naive of individuals who is quite unable to understand them, the seven petitions reflect human nature as it is seen in the light of spiritual science.
Any meditation formulas that ever existed with the major religions have come from occult knowledge. You may take all real prayers and analyse them word by word—you’ll never find them to be words put together at random. It has not been a matter of following a vague impulse and putting together nice words; no, the great initiates took the prayer formulas from the wisdom of old, something we call the science of the spirit today. There is no true prayer formula that has not come to life out of profound wisdom. Christ Jesus, the great initiate and founder of Christianity, had the seven principles of essential human nature in mind when he taught this prayer, which reflects those seven principles.
All the prayers thus show a particular order. If they did not they would not have had the power which they have had for thousands of years. Prayers have to show this kind of order if they are to be a power also for simple people who may not even understand the meaning of the words.
This will be clearer if we compare what happens in the human soul with something that happens in the natural world. Consider a plant. It delights you and there is no need to know anything about the great universal laws that have made it grow. The plant is there and can lift up your hearts. It could not have been created if it had not been for those original and eternal laws. Naive minds need not understand those laws, but a plant can only come into existence on the basis of these laws. To be effective, a prayer cannot just be invented at will but must have arisen out of the eternal laws of wisdom just as a plant arises on the basis of the eternal laws of wisdom. A prayer can have no real significance for those who understand and those who do not understand unless it has come from that wisdom.
We now live in an age when people who have looked at the plant for so long, letting it lift up their hearts, can be guided towards discovering the wisdom-filled content of those laws. For two millennia, Christians have prayed the way naive people may look at a plant. In future they will perceive how the power of the prayer comes from that profound original wisdom that has given rise to it. All prayers, and especially the Lord’s Prayer as the central, focal prayer of Christian life, reflect that original wisdom. And just as light comes to expression in this world in seven colours, and the tonic in music in seven notes, so does human life, rising to its god in seven ways in the seven different feelings relating to the sevenfold nature of the human being, come to expression in the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer, as we contemplate it in our souls, thus reflects the sevenfold human being.
Das Vaterunser: Eine Esoterische Betrachtung
Was ich heute sagen will, bezieht sich auf die Frage: Inwiefern zeigen uns an ganz bestimmten Beispielen die Religionsbekenntnisse ihre geisteswissenschaftliche, oder sagen wir, geheimwissenschaftliche Grundlage? - Nur einen ganz kleinen, aber dafür unendlich wichtigen Abschnitt aus diesem Kapitel über die geheimwissenschaftliche Grundlage der Religionen möchte ich Ihnen heute erzählen. Sie werden sehen, daß es sich um eine allen, auch den naivsten Menschen unserer Kultur bekannte Tatsache handelt, eine geistige Tatsache, innerhalb welcher die tiefsten geheimwissenschaftlichen Wahrheiten und Gründe verborgen sind, die man nur suchen muß, um zu sehen, wie weisheits- und geheimnisvoll die Verkettungen innerhalb des Geisteslebens der Menschheit sind.
Das, wovon wir ausgehen wollen, sei die Frage nach dem christlichen Gebet. Sie alle kennen das, was man heute das christliche Gebet nennt. Es ist öfter auch schon hier besprochen worden, und mancher hat sich wohl gefragt: Wie verhält sich dieses christliche Gebet zur geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung? — Durch diese Weltanschauung haben die Mitglieder der geisteswissenschaftlichen Bewegung in den letzten Jahren etwas gehört von einer anderen Form der Erhebung des Menschen, der menschlichen Seele, zu den göttlich-geistigen Weltmächten, von der Meditation, von jener Art, in sich einen geistigen Inhalt zu erleben, irgend etwas von dem, was uns gegeben ist von den großen führenden Geistern der Menschheit oder von dem geistigen Inhalt der großen Kulturen, in die sich der Mensch versenkt, und was ihm die Mittel gibt, für eine kurze Zeit in seiner Seele mit den göttlich-geistigen Strömungen in der Welt zusammenzufließen.
Wer meditiert, und sei es in der einfachsten Art, durch irgendeine der von den geistigen Führern der Menschheit stammenden Meditationsformeln, wer meditiert und sich also im Geiste irgendeine der Formeln, irgendeinen der bedeutenden Gedankeninhalte gegenwärtig sein läßt — Sie wissen, es kann nicht jeder Gedankeninhalt sein, sondern es muß ein solcher sein, der von den Meistern der Weisheit und des Zusammenklangs der Empfindungen gegeben wird -, wer meditiert und diese Formeln in seinem Herzen leben läßt, der durchlebt ein Zusammenfließen mit der höheren Geistigkeit, es durchströmt ihn eine höhere Kraft. Er lebt in ihr. Er schafft zunächst Kraft, um seine gewöhnlichen Geisteskräfte daran zu stärken, zu heben, zu beleben, und wenn er genügend Geduld und Ausdauer hat und diese Kraft vielleicht bis zur moralischen und intellektuellen Stärkung in sich hat einfließen lassen, dann kommt auch der Zeitpunkt, wo tiefere, in jeder Menschenseele schlummernde Kräfte geweckt werden können durch einen solchen Meditationsinhalt. Von der einfachsten moralischen Stärkung und Kräftigung bis zu den höchsten Gebieten des hellseherischen Vermögens gibt es alle möglichen Stufen, welche durch ein solches Meditieren erreicht werden können. Für die meisten Menschen ist die Erreichung höherer Stufen hellseherischer Fähigkeiten nur eine Frage der Zeit, der Geduld und Energie. Dieses Meditieren wird gewöhnlich als eine mehr morgenländische Art, sich zu seinem Gotte zu erheben, angesehen. Im Abendlande, namentlich innerhalb der christlichen Gemeinschaft, kennt man an seiner Stelle das Gebet, das Gebet, durch das sich der Christ zu seinem Gotte erhebt, durch das der Christ versucht, in seiner Art Eingang zu gewinnen in die höheren Welten.
Nun müssen wir uns vor allen Dingen klarmachen, daß dasjenige, was heutzutage vielfach als Gebet angesehen wird, keineswegs im urchristlichen Sinne und am wenigsten im Sinne des Stifters der christlichen Religion, des Christus Jesus selbst, als Gebet gelten würde. Im wirklichen christlichen Sinne ist es nimmermehr ein Gebet, wenn irgendein einzelner Mensch sich von seinem Gotte etwas erbetet, was seine eigenen persönlichen und egoistischen Wünsche befriedigen soll. Wenn irgend jemand die Erfüllung persönlicher Wünsche erfleht oder erbetet, so kommt er natürlich sehr bald dahin, ganz außer acht zu lassen die Universalität und das Umfassende in der Gewährung dessen, was durch das Gebet erstrebt wird. Er setzt voraus, daß die Gottheit gerade seine Wünsche besonders befriedige. Ein Bauer, der diese oder jene Frucht angebaut hat, braucht vielleicht Regen, ein anderer neben ihm braucht Sonnenschein. Der eine betet um Regen, der andere um Sonnenschein. Was soll da die göttliche Weltordnung und Fürsorge tun? Gar nicht daran zu denken, was die göttliche Weltordnung und Fürsorge tun soll, wenn zwei Heere einander gegenüberstehen und ein jedes von ihnen betet, daß sie ihm den Sieg verleihen soll, und ein jedes seinen Sieg als den einzig gerechten ansieht. Da wird man gleich sehen, wie wenig ein solches den persönlichen Wünschen entspringendes Gebet an Universalität und allgemeiner Menschlichkeit in sich hat und wie selbst die Gewährung von seiten eines Gottes nur der einen Partei der Bittenden entsprechend sein kann. Man läßt eben, wenn man in solcher Weise betet, dasjenige Gebet außer acht, durch das der Christus Jesus die Grundstimmung angegeben hat, die in jedem Gebet vorherrschend sein soll, jenes Gebet, das heißt: «Vater, laß diesen Kelch an mir vorüberziehen, doch nicht mein, sondern dein Wille geschehe.» Dies ist die christliche Grundstimmung des Gebetes. Was auch immer erfleht und erbetet wird, diese Grundstimmung muß als heller Zwischenton in der Seele des Betenden leben, wenn er christlich beten will. Dann wird dasjenige, was Gebetsformel ist, bloß ein Mittel für den Menschen, sich hinaufzuheben in höhere geistige Gebiete, um den Gott in sich fühlen zu können. Dann wird aber auch diese Gebetsformel den Ausschluß eines jeden egoistischen Wunsches und Willensimpulses bewirken im Sinne der Worte: «Nicht mein, sondern dein Wille geschehe.» Sie wird ein Aufgehen, ein SichHineinversenken in diese göttliche Welt ergeben. Wird dann diese Gemütsstimmung als die wirkliche Gebetsstimmung erreicht, dann ist das christliche Gebet genau dasselbe — nur mit einer mehr gefühlsmäßigen Färbung -, was die Meditation ist. Und nichts anderes war dieses christliche Gebet ursprünglich, als was die Meditation ist. Die Meditation ist nur mehr gedankenmäßig, und es wird durch sie versucht, durch die Gedanken der großen Führer der Menschheit den Zusammenklang mit den göttlichen Strömungen, die durch die Welt gehen, zu erreichen. Im Gebet wird dasselbe in einer mehr gefühlsmäßigen Art erreicht.
So also sehen wir, daß sowohl im Gebet wie in der Meditation dasjenige gesucht wird, was man die Vereinigung der Seele mit den durch die Welt gehenden göttlichen Strömungen nennen kann, dasjenige, was auf der höchsten Stufe die sogenannte Unio mystica, die mystische Vereinigung mit der Gottheit, ist. Davon ist der Anfang im Gebet, davon ist der Anfang in der Meditation. Niemals könnte sich der Mensch mit seinem Gotte vereinigen, niemals mit den höheren geistigen Wesenheiten in Verbindung kommen, wenn er nicht selbst ein Ausfluß dieser göttlich-geistigen Wesenheit wäre.
Der Mensch ist, wie wir alle wissen, zweifacher Natur. Er hat zunächst jene vier Glieder der menschlichen Wesenheit, die wir schon oft hier angeführt haben: den physischen Leib, den Äther- oder Lebensleib, den Astralleib und das Ich. Innerhalb des Ich hat er dann die Anlage für die Zukunft: Manas, Buddhi, Atma oder das Geistselbst, den Lebensgeist und den Geistesmenschen.
Wenn wir die Verbindung dieser zwei Wesenheiten richtig erkennen wollen, so müssen wir uns ein wenig zurückversetzen in die Zeit der Menschbeitsentstehung. Sie alle wissen aus den früheren Vorträgen, daß der Mensch, so wie er heute ist, den Zusammenklang darstellt aus den zwei Wesenheiten: den drei Anlagen für die Zukunft, Manas, Buddhi, Atma, den oberen drei Gliedern, und den unteren vier Gliedern, physischer Leib, Ätherleib, Astralleib und Ich; und daß er als ein solcher Mensch sich herausgebildet hat in einer urfernen Vergangenheit, die wir das lemurische Zeitalter der Erde nennen.
Wenn wir zurückgehen durch unsere heutige Epoche zur griechisch-lateinischen, zur ägyptisch-assyrisch-chaldäischen bis zur persischen und indischen Kultur, dann kommen wir, wenn wir immer weiter und weiter zurückgehen, allmählich zu jener großen atlantischen Flut, die in den Sintflutsagen aller Völker angedeutet ist, und wir kommen dann zu jenen Vorfahren, die in dem Lande gelebt haben, das zwischen Europa und Amerika gelegen war und das wir Atlantis nennen. Weiter zurückgehend, kommen wir noch zu Vorfahren, die in uralten Zeiten in einem Lande gelebt haben, das damals zwischen Australien und Indien lag. Erst in der Mitte dieser Epoche hat sich das, was wir die obere Dreiheit des Menschen nennen, Geistselbst, Lebensgeist und Geistmensch, mit dem vereinigt, was wir die vier niederen Glieder der menschlichen Natur, physischen Leib, Ätherleib, Astralleib und Ich, nennen.
Wir werden uns die Sache in der richtigen Weise vorstellen, wenn wir sie uns so denken: Damals gab es in der lemurischen Epoche auf dieser Erde als höchstes Wesen noch nicht einen physischen Menschen in unserem Sinne, sondern es gab nur eine Art höchste tierische Hülle unseres heutigen Menschen, ein Wesen oder eine Summe von Wesenheiten, die damals aus den vier niederen Gliedern der menschlichen Natur bestand. Dasjenige, was die höhere menschliche Wesenheit ist, das, was ewig ist in der menschlichen Natur, was sich durch die drei Anlagen: Manas, Budhi, Atma in Zukunft weiter und weiter entwickeln wird, das ruhte bis dahin im Schoße der Gottheit. Wollen Sie sich jene Tatsache vorstellen, wie sie sich zu jener Zeit zutrug, wenn auch in etwas trivialer, so doch anschaulicher Weise, dann stellen Sie sich vor, daß alle die Menschen, die heute in der ganzen Menschheit leben, bis zu jenem Momente sich Leiber aufgebaut hatten, die es ihnen ermöglichten, die menschliche Seele aufzunehmen, vergleichbar dem Schwamme, der das Wasser aufzunehmen vermag.
Denken Sie sich ein Gefäß mit Wasser. In diesem Wasser können Sie nimmermehr unterscheiden, wo der eine Tropfen aufhört und der andere anfängt. Denken Sie sich nun aber eine Anzahl kleiner Schwämmchen in diese Wassermasse hineingetaucht, so wird jedes dieser Schwämmchen einen Teil der Wassermasse aufsaugen. Was vorher in dem Gefäß als einheitliche Wassermasse war, ist jetzt auf viele Schwämmchen verteilt. So war es damals mit den menschlichen Seelen, wenn wir diesen trivialen Vergleich gebrauchen dürfen. Vorher ruhten sie unselbständig in dem Schoße des göttlichen Urgeistes, ohne Individualität, wurden dann aber aufgesaugt von den Menschenleibern und dadurch individualisiert wie das Wasser durch die Schwämmchen.
Was damals von den einzelnen Leibern, den vier unteren Gliedern, aufgesaugt wurde, ging weiter bis in unsere Zeit, immer weiter sich entwickelnd, geht auch noch weiter in die Zukunft hinein und wird sich immer weiter und weiter entwickeln. Es wurde in der sogenannten Geistes- oder Geheimwissenschaft immer die obere Dreiheit genannt, und als Schema für diesen in der Mitte der lemurischen Rasse entstandenen Menschen wurde, namentlich in der pythagoreischen Schule, das Dreieck und das Viereck gewählt, so daß sich für den zusammengesetzten Menschen nachstehendes Schema ergibt.
Nun kann man aber, wie Sie sich jetzt leicht vorstellen werden, dieses Obere, dieses Ewige, das durch alle Inkarnationen hindurchgeht, von zwei Gesichtspunkten aus betrachten. Man kann es einerseits als den urewigen Bestand der Menschheit betrachten, andererseits aber auch als Teil der göttlichen Wesenheit, den sie damals abgegeben hat als ein Stück oder einen Tropfen ihres eigenen Inhalts, und der nun versenkt ist in das viergliedrige menschliche Gefäß, so daß, was heute in uns Menschen ruht, ein in Selbständigkeit individualisierter Tropfen der Gottheit ist. So kommen Sie dazu, einzusehen, daß Sie die drei höheren Glieder der menschlichen Natur, das Ewige derselben, nicht bloß als die drei höchsten Prinzipien der Menschennatur betrachten können, sondern auch als drei Prinzipien in der Gottheit selbst. Die Sache ist also so, daß das, was die drei höchsten Glieder der Menschennatur sind, gleichzeitig die drei niederen Glieder der dem Menschen nächststehenden Gottheit darstellen. Wenn Sie die Prinzipien jener Gottheiten, die dazumal den Seelentropfen an die Menschheit abgegeben haben, aufzählen wollten, so müßten Sie, während Sie beim Menschen mit dem physischen Leibe anfangen, mit dem Äther-, dem Astralleib und dem Ich fortfahren, und von Manas bis zu Atma hinaufgehen, mit Manas anfangen, mit Budhi und Atma fortfahren und hinaufgehen zu den Prinzipien, die noch über dem Atma liegen und von denen sich der heutige Mensch erst eine Vorstellung machen kann, wenn er ein Schüler der Eingeweihten wird. So also sehen Sie, daß wir die drei Prinzipien des Menschen, die er in sich schließt als seinen Inhalt, auch als drei göttliche Prinzipien anschauen können.
Nun wollen wir sie heute einmal nicht als menschliche, sondern als göttliche Prinzipien erfassen und ihrer Natur nach beschreiben. Jenes höchste Prinzip, das im Menschen das Atma ist, das er am Ende seiner irdischen oder sagen wir seiner jetzigen planetarischen Laufbahn ausbilden wird, können wir im Sinne der Geistes- oder Geheimwissenschaft dadurch charakterisieren, daß wir seine Urwesenheit mit etwas vergleichen, das dem heutigen Menschen nur andeutungsweise bekannt ist: nämlich mit dem, was der Mensch als Wille in sich hat. Willensartiger Natur, eine Art Wollen ist der Grundcharakter dieses höchsten göttlichen Prinzipes im Menschen. Was beim Menschen heute am schwächsten ausgebildet ist in seiner inneren Wesenheit, der Wille, das wird in der Zukunft, wenn der Mensch immer höher und höher steigen wird, sein vorzüglichstes Prinzip sein.
Heute ist der Mensch im wesentlichen ein erkennendes Wesen, und sein Wille ist eigentlich noch nach den mannigfaltigsten Seiten hin eingeschränkt. Der Mensch kann die Welt um sich herum, bis zu einem gewissen Grade, in ihrer Universalität begreifen. Denken Sie aber, wie wenig er von dem, was er begreifen kann, auch zu wollen vermag, wie wenig er Macht über das hat, was er erkennen kann. Was er aber heute noch nicht hat, das wird ihm die Zukunft bringen: Sein Wille wird immer mächtiger werden, bis er sein großes Ziel erreicht haben wird, welches man in der Geisteswissenschaft das große Opfer nennt. Dieses besteht in jener Macht des Willens, wo das Wesen, das da will, imstande ist, sich ganz hinzugeben, nicht nur das Wenige hinzugeben, was der Mensch mit seinen schwachen Gefühls- und Willensmächten hinzugeben vermag, sondern das ganze Sein hinzugeben, als eine bis ins Stoffliche hineingehende Wesenheit sich ausfließen zu lassen.
Sie werden eine Vorstellung bekommen von dem, was damit gemeint ist, von dem großen Opfer, der höchsten Ausprägung des Willens in der Gottnatur, wenn Sie sich folgendes vorstellen: Denken Sie sich, Sie stünden vor einem Spiegel, und Ihr Bild schaut Sie aus diesem Spiegel an. Dieses Bild ist eine Illusion, die Ihnen vollständig gleicht. Denken Sie ferner, Sie wären dadurch gestorben, daß Sie Ihr eigenes Sein, Ihr Fühlen, Denken, Ihr Wesen hinopfern, um dieses Bild zu beleben, dieses Bild zu dem zu machen, was Sie selbst sind. Sich selbst aufzuopfern und sein Leben an das Bild abzugeben, das ist es, was die Geisteswissenschaft zu allen Zeiten die Emanation, das Ausfließen, genannt hat. Wenn Sie das tun könnten, dann würden Sie sehen, daß Sie nicht mehr da sind, weil Sie alles abgegeben haben zur Auferweckung des Lebens und des Bewußtseins im Bilde.
Wenn der Wille auf solcher Stufe angelangt ist, daß er zu vollbringen imstande ist, was man das große Opfer nennt, dann schafft, schöpft er ein Universum, groß oder klein, und dieses Universum ist ein Spiegelbild, das seine Aufgabe durch das Wesen des Schöpfers selbst bekommt. Dadurch haben wir charakterisiert, was der schöpferische Wille in der göttlichen Wesenheit ist.
Dasjenige, was wir als zweites Prinzip zu charakterisieren haben in der Gottheit, sofern sie in die Menschheit eingeflossen ist, das ist durch diesen Vergleich auch schon gegeben: es ist das Spiegelbild selber. Versetzen Sie sich so lebhaft in eine Gottheit, die, welterschaffend, der Mittelpunkt des Universums ist. Wenn Sie sich hier in diesem Raume einen Punkt denken und statt der Wände, deren sechs da sind, umgeben von einer im Inneren spiegelnden Hohlkugel, dann werden Sie sich als Mittelpunkt nach allen Seiten gespiegelt sehen. Sie haben das Bild einer Gottheit als Willensmittelpunkt, die sich nach allen Seiten spiegelt, und dieser Spiegel ist das Bild der Gottheit selber und das Universum zugleich. Denn, was ist ein Universum? Es ist nichts anderes als ein Spiegel des Wesens der Gottheit.
Daß aber das Universum lebt und webt, das rührt daher, weil die Gottheit emaniert, wenn sie das große Opfer bringt, wenn sie ihr Universum spiegelt, wie wir es soeben bei dem Beispiel der Belebung des Spiegelbildes betrachtet haben. Das ganze Universum ist belebt von dem universellen Willen, der sich in unendlicher Mannigfaltigkeit ausdrückt. Diesen Prozeß der unendlichen Vermannigfaltigung, der unendlichen Vervielfältigung, diese Wiederholung der Gottheit nennt man in aller Geheim- oder Geisteswissenschaft, im Gegensatz zum Willen, das «Reich». Der Wille ist also der Mittelpunkt, der Spiegel des Willens ist das Reich, so daß Sie den Willen mit Atma, dem Geistmenschen, das Reich, oder das Spiegelbild des Willens, mit der Buddhi oder dem Lebensgeist vergleichen können.
Nun ist dieses Reich ein solches, daß es in einer unendlichen Mannigfaltigkeit das Wesen des Göttlichen wiedergibt. Sehen Sie sich einmal dieses Reich in seinem Umkreis an, insofern es unser Reich ist, unsere Mannipfaltigkeit, unser Universum, sehen Sie es sich an in seinem sichtbaren Teil, in den Mineralien, Pflanzen, Tieren und Menschen. In jedem einzelnen dieser Wesen ist das Reich manifestiert, und man ahnt das heute noch in dem Ausdruck unserer Sprache, insofern als man diese großen Gebiete unseres Universums Reiche, also Mineralreich, Pflanzenreich, Tierreich nennt. Wenn man aber auch die Einzelheiten betrachtet, so sind auch alle Einzelheiten göttlicher Natur. In allen spiegelt sich die Natur gerade so, wie sich in der Hohlkugel der Mittelpunkt spiegeln würde. So auch sieht derjenige, der im Sinne der Geheimforschung die Welt ansieht, in jedem Mineral, jeder Pflanze, jedem Tier und jedem Menschen den Gott gespiegelt, einen Ausdruck und Abdruck des Göttlichen.
In unendlich abgestuften Wesenheiten und in unendlicher Mannigfaltigkeit erscheint im Reiche die Gottheit, und man unterscheidet die einzelnen Wesenheiten im Sinne der Geheimwissenschaft — wenn man auf dieser hohen Stufe steht, daß man sie als Ausflüsse des Göttlichen betrachten kann — dadurch, daß ihnen ihr «Name» gegeben wird. Der Name ist dasjenige, was der Mensch dann als die einzelne Wesenheit denkt, er ist dasjenige, wodurch die einzelnen Glieder dieser großen Mannigfaltigkeit voneinander unterschieden werden. Er ist das dritte der drei höchsten menschlichen Prinzipien, die herausfließen aus dem Göttlichen, und würde dem Manas oder dem Geistselbst entsprechen. Die Geheimwissenschaft der verschiedenen Religionen hat also gelehrt, naiv gelehrt, was ausgeflossen ist aus der Gottheit und eingeflossen ist in euch und zu eurem ewigen Bilde wurde.
Wollt ihr euch in dem finden, wozu ihr euch am Ende erheben sollt, da werdet ihr finden, daß es willensartiger Natur ist.
Wollt ihr euch erheben zu dem, was der Träger dieses Willens, dieses Atma ist, zu der Buddhi — im Göttlichen stellt es dar das Reich.
Und wollt ihr euch erheben zu dem, was ihr erkennt an Namen, Begriffen oder Ideen der Dinge - im Göttlichen stellt es sich dar als Name.
Was wir jetzt hier durchgenommen haben, ist eine uralte Lehre, die sagt, daß aus Name, Reich und Wille jenes Glied der Gottheit besteht, das als der ewige Teil in die menschliche Natur eingeflossen ist. So haben wir das, was man die höhere Dreiheit des Menschen nennt, als einen Teil des Göttlichen erkannt.
Um unsere Betrachtung zu vervollständigen, lassen Sie uns jetzt noch einen Blick auf die niederen vier Glieder des vergänglichen Menschen werfen. Von den höheren drei Gliedern wissen wir, daß sie eigentlich von dem andern Aspekte aus betrachtet werden können, indem wir sie als Glieder der Gottheit betrachten. Die vier niederen Glieder der menschlichen Wesenheit können wir in ähnlicher Weise als Glieder der vergänglichen Welt betrachten und als Glieder des Menschen.
Betrachten Sie den physischen Leib. Er ist aus denselben Stoffen und denselben Kräften zusammengesetzt wie ringsherum die scheinbar leblose Welt. Dieser physische Leib könnte nicht bestehen, wenn nicht fortwährend Stoff und Kraft aus der ihn umgebenden physischen Welt in ihn einfließen würden und ihn immer und immer wieder von neuem aufbauten. Eigentlich ist der physische Körper für alles, was wir in ihm haben, eine fortwährende Durchgangsstation. Aus und ein fließen die Stoffe, die eigentlich ebenso das äußere Universum ausmachen, wie sie zeitweise in uns sind. Öfter ist es hier schon erwähnt worden, daß im Laufe von sieben Jahren der ganze stoffliche Zusammenhang des Menschenleibes sich erneuert. In keinem von Ihnen sind heute die Stoffe, die vor zehn Jahren in ihm waren. Der Mensch erneuert immer wieder den Stoff seines physischen Körpers. Das, was damals in uns war, ist heute ganz woanders, draußen in der Natur verteilt, und anderes ist in uns eingezogen. Das Leben des Körpers bedingt ein fortwährendes Ein- und Austreten des Stoffes.
Wie wir die drei höheren Glieder der Menschennatur als Teile der Gottheit betrachtet haben, so können wir die vier Teile der niederen Menschennatur als Teile der göttlichen Natur ansehen.
Den physischen Leib können wir als Teil des stofflichen Teiles unseres Planeten betrachten; seine Substanz ist von unserem stofflichen Planeten genommen und geht wieder zu diesem zurück. Wenn wir den Ätherleib betrachten, so müssen wir ihn ebenfalls als ein Glied dessen ansehen, was uns hier umgibt, und ebenso den Astralleib.
Betrachten wir den Lebensleib oder den Ätherleib und den Astralleib einmal im Zusammenhang. Sie wissen, daß der Astralleib der Träger von allem ist, was an Trieben, Begierden und Leidenschaften im Menschen lebt, der Träger von allem, was als Freude und Leid, Lust und Schmerz in der Menschenseele auf und ab wogt, daß der Lebens- oder Ätherleib aber die mehr bleibenden, die länger andauernden seelischen Eigenschaften bewahrt, darstellt und der Träger von ihnen ist.
Ich habe schon öfter vor Ihnen die Entwickelung des Lebens- oder Ätherleibes und des Astralleibes mit dem Stunden- und dem Minutenzeiger einer Uhr verglichen. Ich habe darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß, wenn ihr euch erinnert an das, was ihr gewußt und erlebt habt als achtjähriges Kind, und an das, was ihr jetzt wisset und erlebt habt, ein großer Unterschied wahrzunehmen sein wird. Unendlich viel habt ihr gelernt, viele Vorstellungen aufgenommen; von dem, was ihr damals tatet, ist vieles in den Erlebnissen von Freude und Leid an eurer Seele vorübergezogen; nicht nur an ihr vorübergezogen, sondern durch sie hindurchgegangen. Aber vergleicht ihr jetzt das damit, was euer Temperament, euer Charakter, eure bleibenden Neigungen sind, dann werdet ihr darauf kommen, daß, wenn ihr mit acht Jahren ein jähzorniges Kind wart, ihr es wahrscheinlich im jetzigen Lebensalter noch sein werdet. Die meisten Menschen behalten so ihr ganzes Leben lang das, was als Grundlage ihres Wesens in ihnen liegt. Es ist hier schon öfter betont worden, daß die Geheimschulung nicht in theoretischem Lernen besteht, sondern darin, daß man auf die sonst so stationären Gebilde des Ätherleibes die Evolution richtet. Mehr hat der Schüler getan, wenn er eine von diesen Eigenschaften seines Temperaments, seiner Grundneigung umgeändert und dadurch den Stundenzeiger der Uhr etwas schneller vorwärtsgerückt hat, als es sonst geschehen wäre. Alles dasjenige, was sich so langsam entwikkelt — die bleibenden Neigungen, die bleibenden Temperamentseigenschaften, die bleibenden Gewohnheiten -—, ist im Äther- oder Lebensleib verankert. Alles das, was sich vergleichsweise so rasch ändert wie der Minutenzeiger der Uhr, ist im Astralleib verankert.
Wenn ihr das jetzt auf des Menschen Umgebung, auf unser Leben in der Außenwelt anwendet, dann werdet ihr sehen, daß ihr durch dasjenige, was eure Gewohnheiten, Temperamente, bleibenden Neigungen sind, mit eurem Zeitalter, eurem Volke, eurer Familie zusammenhängt. Gerade diejenigen Eigenschaften, welche der Mensch als bleibende, stationäre in sich hat, wird man nicht nur in ihm, sondern in allen finden, mit denen er in irgendeiner Weise zusammengehört, also in seiner Familie, seinem Volke und so weiter. Die einzelnen Angehörigen eines Volkes sind daran zu erkennen, daß sie gemeinsame Gewohnheiten und Temperamente haben. Dieser Grundstock von Neigungen und Gewohnheiten des Menschen, der geändert werden muß, wenn er eine höhere spirituelle Entwickelung durchmachen soll, ist dasjenige, was sein höheres Wesen ausmacht. Man sagt daher von einem solchen Menschen, daß er ein heimatloser Mensch sei, weil er den Ätherleib, durch den er sonst mit dem Volke verbunden ist, ändern muß.
Wenn wir uns also das Zusammenleben mit den Gemeinschaften betrachten, in die wir hineingeboren sind, dann finden wir die Eigenschaften, durch die wir einer Familie, einem Volke angehören, durch die wir etwas Verwandtes mit den Angehörigen dieses Volkes fühlen, auch den Eigenschaften ähnlich, die in unserem Zeitalter leben. Denken Sie sich, wie wenig Sie sich würden verstehen können, wenn heute ein Angehöriger des alten griechischen Volkes vor Sie hintreten würde. Sein Ätherleib ist schon zu sehr verschieden von dem Ätherleibe des gegenwärtigen Menschen. Durch die gemeinschaftlichen Eigenschaften im Ätherleibe verstehen sich die Menschen. Dasjenige aber, wodurch sich die Menschen herausheben aus dem, was sie gemeinschaftlich haben, dasjenige, wodurch sie in der Familie, im Volke ein Besonderes sind, doch wieder ein Einzelwesen für sich, und nicht bloß Franzose, nicht bloß Deutscher, nicht bloß Familienangehöriger, sondern ein besonderes Glied des Volkes, der Familie und so weiter, das herauswachsen kann aus der Summe der Merkmale seines Geschlechts, das ist im Astralleib verankert, davon ist der Astralleib der Träger. Der Astralleib enthält also mehr das Individuelle, das Persönliche.
Der Mensch kann also, wenn er durch seinen Äther- oder Lebensleib Fehler begeht, mehr ein Sünder werden im Kreise seiner Mitmenschen, mehr die sozialen Pflichten versäumen, die von Mensch zu Mensch spielen und das menschliche Gesellschaftsleben möglich machen. Diejenigen Sünden aber, die mehr individueller Natur sind, durch die der Mensch nur als besondere Persönlichkeit fehlt, das sind Verfehlungen, die durch die Eigenschaften des Astralleibes herbeigeführt werden.
In aller Geheimwissenschaft hat man von jeher dasjenige, was Fehler gegen die Gemeinschaft ist, was aus dem fehlerhaften Ätherleibe fließt, als «Schuld» bezeichnet. Das gewöhnliche, triviale Wort «Schulden» hat einen ganz ähnlichen Ursprung wie das moralische Wort «Schuld», das das bezeichnet, was man dem andern moralisch schuldig geworden ist. Die Schuld ist also etwas, was auf fehlerhafte Eigenschaften des Ätherleibes zurückzuführen ist. Das aber, was als fehlerhafte Eigenschaft dem Astralleib anhaftet, das nennt man «Versuchung». Versuchung ist dasjenige, wodurch der einzelne eine persönliche Sünde auf sich nimmt. Nun bleibt noch die Verfehlung des Ich, der eigentlichen Persönlichkeit. Diese Verfehlung des Ich, dasjenige, wodurch das Ich im besonderen fallen kann, ist angedeutet in der Paradiesesmythe: dazumal, als des Menschen Seele heruntergestiegen ist vom Schoße der Gottheit und zum ersten Male in den irdischen Leib eingezogen ist, also aufgenommen worden ist von dem irdischen Leib wie der Tropfen Wasser von dem Schwämmchen, ist seine höhere Seele zur Ichheit geworden.
Diese höhere Seele, diese Ichheit kann innerhalb des Ich Fehler begehen. Der Mensch kann nicht nur durch fehlerhafte Eigenschaften des Äther- und Astralleibes fallen, sondern es gibt eine Grundmöglichkeit, zu sündigen, die herbeigeführt wird dadurch, daß der Mensch überhaupt zur Selbständigkeit gekommen ist. Der Mensch mußte ja, um allmählich in bewußter Weise zur Freiheit und Selbständigkeit aufzusteigen, durch Selbstsucht und Egoismus durchgehen. Er ist herabgestiegen als Seele, die ein Glied der Gottheit wat, die nicht in Egoismus verfallen kann. Niemals bildet sich ein Glied in einem Organismus ein, eine Selbständigkeit zu sein. Würde sich zum Beispiel ein Finger dies einbilden, er würde sich abreißen und verdorren. Diese Selbständigkeit, zu der der Mensch sich entwickeln muß und die erst ihre volle Bedeutung dann haben wird, wenn die Grundeigenschaft der Selbständigkeit die Selbstlosigkeit ist, würde niemals haben entstehen können, wenn sie nicht ausgegangen wäre von der Selbstsucht.
Die Selbstsucht zog ein in den menschlichen Leib, und dadurch wurde der Mensch ein selbstsüchtiges, egoistisches Wesen. So sehen wir, wie das Ich allen Trieben und Neigungen des Leibes folgt. Der Mensch frißt seinen Nebenmenschen auf, er folgt allen möglichen Trieben und Begierden, er ist ganz verstrickt in das irdische Gefäß wie der Tropfen Wasser in das Schwämrmchen.
Dasjenige, was der Mensch dadurch, daß er ein solches Ich-Wesen, ein eigentlich selbständiges Wesen geworden ist, sündigen konnte, wird angedeutet in der Paradiesesmythe. Während er früher aus dem Allgemeinen geschöpft hat, wie der Tropfen, der noch im Wasser ist, der seine Kraft aus der gemeinschaftlichen Wassermasse herausschöpft, so hat er jetzt alle Antriebe in sich selber. Dies bezeichnet man durch das Hineinbeißen in den Apfel in der Paradiesesmythe; und nicht umsonst — denn alle wirklichen Wortbedeutungen, sofern sie der Geheimwissenschaft angehören, haben einen tiefen inneren Zusammenhang -, nicht umsonst heißt im Lateinischen Malum «das Übel» und «der Apfel». Das Wort «Übel» wird in der Geheimwissenschaft niemals für etwas anderes angewendet als für eine Verfehlung aus dem Ich heraus.
Übel ist also Verfehlung aus dem Ich heraus, Schuld ist die Verfehlung, die der Ätherleib im sozialen Leben begeht im Zusammenleben mit den Menschen. Versuchung ist dasjenige, was den Astralleib treffen kann, insofern er individuell, persönlich fehlerhaft ist. Die Verfehlung des Äther- oder Lebensleibes ist also Schuld; die Verfehlung des Astralleibes ist also Versuchung; die Verfehlung des Ich ist also Übel.
Wenn wir das Verhältnis der vier niederen Glieder der menschlichen Natur zur Umwelt, zum planetarischen Umleib betrachten, so shen wir, daß der physische Leib fortwährend physischen Stoff als Nahrungsstoff aufnimmt und dadurch seine Existenz aufrechterhält. Wir schen, daß das Leben des Lebens- oder Ätherleibes in der Endlichkeit dadurch zustande kommt, daß der Mensch mit seinen Mitmenschen, in deren Gemeinschaft er hineingewachsen ist, diese Gemeinschaft aufrechterhält. Wir sehen, daß der Astralleib sich dadurch aufrechterhält, daß er der Versuchung nicht unterliegt. Und wir sehen endlich, daß das Ich sich dadurch aufrechterhält und seine Entwickelung durchmacht in der richtigen Weise, wenn es dem nicht unterliegt, was man das Übel nennt.
Jetzt denken Sie sich einmal diese ganze Menschennatur, die niedere Vierheit und die höhere Dreiheit, vor Ihre Seele gerückt, so daß Sie sich sagen können: In dem einzelnen Menschen lebt ein göttlicher Tropfen, und der Mensch ist in seiner Entwickelung zu dem Göttlichen hin, zur Ausprägung seiner tiefsten innersten Natur. — Hat er einmal diese tiefste innerste Natur ausgeprägt, dann hat er durch allmähliche Entwickelung sein eigenes Wesen in dasjenige verwandelt, was im Christentum der «Vater» genannt wird. Was verborgen in der menschlichen Seele ruht, was als das große Ziel der Menschheit vorschwebt, das ist der «Vater im Himmel». Will der Mensch sich zu dem hin entwickeln, dann muß er die Kraft haben, seine höhere Dreiheit und seine niedere Vierheit zu dem Punkte zu entwickeln, daß sie in richtiger Weise den physischen Leib erhalten: Der Äther- oder Lebensleib muß mit den Menschen so leben, daß ein Ausgleich stattfindet mit dem, was als Schuld in ihm lebt, der Astralleib darf nicht in der Versuchung untergehen und der Ich-Leib nicht im Übel. Hinaufstreben muß der Mensch durch die drei höheren Glieder zu dem Vater im Himmel, durch den Namen, durch das Reich und durch den Willen. Der Name muß als ein solcher empfunden werden, daß er geheiligt werde. — Siehe die Dinge um dich herum an, sie sind in ihrer Mannigfaltigkeit ein Ausdruck der Gottheit! Sagst du ihren Namen, so faßt du sie als Glieder in der göttlichen Weltordnung. Was du auch in deiner Umgebung haben magst, gelte als heilig; und in dem Namen, den du ihm gibst, sieh etwas, das es zu einem Glied der göttlichen Wesenheit macht. Heilig halte es, wachse hinein in das Reich, das ein Ausfluß der Gottheit ist, und entwickle dich hinauf zu jenem Willen, der ein Atma, aber zu gleicher Zeit ein Glied der Gottheit sein wird.
Nun denken Sie sich einen Menschen, der in der Meditation sich ganz versenkt in diesen Sinn der Entwickelung, und diesen Sinn, diese sieben Glieder der Entwickelung in sieben Bitten in einem Gebet . zusammenfassen soll. Wie wird er da sagen?
Um auszudrücken, was durch dieses Gebet erreicht werden soll, wird er, bevor er die sieben Bitten ausspricht, sagen: «Vater unser, der du bist in dem Himmel.» Damit wird auf den tiefsten Seelengrund der menschlichen Natur hingedeutet, auf das innerste Wesen des Menschen, das dem geistigen Reiche gemäß der christlichen Esoterik angehört. Die drei ersten Bitten beziehen sich auf die drei höheren Glieder der Menschennatur, auf den göttlichen Inhalt des Menschen: «Dein Name werde geheiligt. Dein Reich komme zu uns. Dein Wille geschehe—.»
Nun gehen wir über von dem geistigen Reiche zu dem irdischen Reich: «Dein Wille geschehe wie im Himmel also auch auf Erden.» Die vier letzten Bitten beziehen sich auf die vier niederen Glieder der Menschennatur.
Was werden wir von dem physischen Leibe sagen, damit er unterhalten wird im planetarischen Leben? «Gib uns heute unser täglich Brot.»
Was werden wir sagen von dem Äther- oder Lebensleib? «Vergib uns unsere Schulden, wie auch wir vergeben unseren Schuldigern.» Der Ausgleich dessen, was durch die Verfehlungen des Äther- oder Lebensleibes geschieht.
Was werden wir sagen in bezug auf den Astralleib? «Führe uns nicht in Versuchung.»
Und was werden wir sagen in bezug auf das Ich? «Erlöse uns von dem Übel.»
So sehen Sie in den sieben Bitten des Vaterunsers nichts anderes als den Ausdruck dafür, daß die menschliche Seele, wenn sie sich in der richtigen Weise dazu erhebt, von dem göttlichen Willen die einzelnen Teile des Menschen in eine solche Entwickelung zu bringen erfleht, daß der Mensch seinen richtigen Lebensweg durch das Universum findet, daß er alle Teile seiner Natur in der richtigen Weise entwickelt. Das Vaterunser ist also ein Gebet, durch das sich der Mensch in den Momenten, wo er es braucht, erheben soll zu dem Sinn der Entwickelung seiner siebengliedrigen Menschennatur, und die sieben Bitten sind dann, wenn sie auch im naivsten Menschen auftreten, der sie gar nicht verstehen kann, Ausdruck der geisteswissenschaftlichen Anschauung der Menschennatur.
Alles, was an Meditationsformeln jemals in großen Religionsgesellschaften existiert hat, ist aus der Geheimwissenschaft entsprungen. Sie können alle wirklichen Gebete hernehmen und Wort für Wort zergliedern, niemals werden Sie finden, daß es nur beliebig aneinandergereihte Worte sind. Nicht daß man einem dunklen Triebe gefolgt ist und schöne Worte aneinandergereiht hat, nein, die großen Weisen haben aus den Weisheitslehren, die man heute Geisteswissenschaft nennt, die Gebetsformeln gewonnen. Keine wirkliche Gebetsformel gibt es, die nicht aus dem großen Wissen herausgeboren ist, und der große Eingeweihte, der Stifter des Christentums, Christus Jesus, hat in dem Augenblicke, wo er das Gebet gelehrt hat, die sieben Glieder der menschlichen Natur im Auge gehabt, hat in seinem Gebete dieser siebengliedrigen Natur des Menschen Ausdruck gegeben.
So sind die Gebete alle geordnet. Wären sie nicht so geordnet, so hätten sie keine Kraft, durch Jahrtausende hindurch zu wirken. Nur das nach dieser Richtung Geordnete hat auch im naiven Menschen die Kraft, zu wirken in dem Menschen, der gar nicht einmal den Sinn der Worte versteht.
Ein Vergleich dessen, was in der Seele des Menschen lebt, mit dem, was in der Natur sich abspielt, wird dies klarer machen. Betrachtet eine Pflanze: sie entzückt euch und ihr braucht nichts zu wissen von den großen, universellen Gesetzen, die sie hervorgebracht haben. Die Pflanze ist da, und ihr könnt euch an ihr erheben. Sie könnte nicht geschaffen sein, wenn nicht die urewigen Gesetze in sie ausgeflossen wären. Das naive Gemüt braucht diese Gesetze nicht zu verstehen. Soll aber die Pflanze geschaffen sein, so muß sie aus den Gesetzen hervorgehen. Soll das Gebet ein wirksames Gebet sein, dann darf es nicht beliebig erfunden, sondern muß aus den urewigen Gesetzen der Weisheit hervorgegangen sein, wie die Pflanze aus den urewigen Gesetzen der Weisheit hervorgegangen ist. Kein Gebet hat wirkliche Bedeutung für Verständige und Unverständige, wenn es nicht aus der Urweisheit hervorgegangen ist.
Heute ist das Zeitalter für die Menschen, die so lange die Pflanze betrachtet und sich an ihr erbaut haben, wo sie hingeführt werden können zu dem weisheitsvollen Inhalt der Gesetze. Durch zwei Jahrtausende hindurch haben die Christen so gebetet, wie der naive Mensch eine Pflanze anschaut. In Zukunft wird er die Kraft des Gebetes erkennen aus der tiefen Urweisheit heraus, aus welcher das Gebet geflossen ist. Alle Gebete, insbesondere das Zentral-, das Mittelpunktsgebet des christlichen Lebens, das Vaterunser, sind ein Ausdruck dieser Urweisheit. Und wie sich das Licht in sieben Farben, der Grundton in sieben Tönen in der Welt zum Ausdruck bringen, so bringt sich das siebenartig sich zu seinem Gotte erhebende Menschenleben in den sieben verschiedenen Erhebungsgefühlen, die sich auf die siebengliedrige Natur des Menschen beziehen, in den sieben Bitten des Vaterunser zum Ausdruck.
So ist das Vaterunser, vor der Seele des Anthroposophen stehend, der Ausdruck des siebengliedrigen Menschen.
The Lord's Prayer: An Esoteric Consideration
What I want to say today relates to the question: To what extent do religious creeds reveal their spiritual scientific, or let us say, secret scientific basis in very specific examples? Today, I would like to share with you just a very small but infinitely important section from this chapter on the secret scientific basis of religions. You will see that this is a fact known to everyone, even the most naive people in our culture, a spiritual fact within which the deepest esoteric truths and reasons are hidden, which one only has to seek in order to see how wise and mysterious the connections within the spiritual life of humanity are.
Let us begin with the question of Christian prayer. You are all familiar with what is today called Christian prayer. It has often been discussed here, and some of you may have asked yourselves: How does Christian prayer relate to the spiritual-scientific worldview? Through this worldview, members of the spiritual science movement have in recent years heard something about another form of elevation of the human being, of the human soul, to the divine-spiritual world powers, about meditation, about that way of experiencing spiritual content within oneself, something of what has been given to us by the great leading spirits of humanity or from the spiritual content of the great cultures into which human beings immerse themselves, and which gives them the means to flow together for a short time in their souls with the divine-spiritual currents in the world.
Those who meditate, even in the simplest way, through any of the meditation formulas originating from the spiritual leaders of humanity, those who meditate and thus allow any of the formulas, any of the significant thoughts, to be present in their minds—you know, it cannot be just any thought content, but must be one given by the masters of wisdom and harmony of feeling — those who meditate and allow these formulas to live in their hearts experience a merging with the higher spirituality, a higher power flows through them. He lives in it. He first creates strength to strengthen, lift, and enliven his ordinary mental powers, and if he has enough patience and perseverance and has allowed this strength to flow into himself, perhaps to the point of moral and intellectual strengthening, then the time comes when deeper powers slumbering in every human soul can be awakened through such meditation content. From the simplest moral strengthening and fortification to the highest realms of clairvoyant ability, there are all kinds of stages that can be reached through such meditation. For most people, reaching higher levels of clairvoyant abilities is just a matter of time, patience, and energy. This meditation is usually regarded as a more Eastern way of rising to one's God. In the West, especially within the Christian community, prayer is known in its place, the prayer through which the Christian rises to his God, through which the Christian tries to gain entry into the higher worlds in his own way.
Now we must first of all realize that what is often regarded as prayer today would by no means be considered prayer in the original Christian sense, and least of all in the sense of the founder of the Christian religion, Christ Jesus himself. In the true Christian sense, it is never a prayer when any individual asks his God for something that is intended to satisfy his own personal and selfish desires. When anyone implores or asks for the fulfillment of personal desires, they naturally very soon come to disregard the universality and comprehensiveness of the granting of what is sought through prayer. They assume that the deity will satisfy their particular desires. A farmer who has grown this or that crop may need rain, while another farmer next to him may need sunshine. One prays for rain, the other for sunshine. What should the divine world order and providence do in this case? It is unthinkable what the divine world order and providence should do when two armies face each other and each of them prays that they should be granted victory, and each considers its victory to be the only just one. It is immediately apparent how little such a prayer, springing from personal desires, has of universality and general humanity in it, and how even the granting of a request by a god can only be in accordance with the wishes of one of the parties praying. When praying in this way, one disregards the prayer through which Christ Jesus indicated the basic attitude that should prevail in every prayer, namely: “Father, let this cup pass from me, yet not my will but yours be done.” This is the Christian fundamental mood of prayer. Whatever is implored and prayed for, this fundamental mood must live as a bright undertone in the soul of the person praying if he wants to pray in a Christian way. Then the prayer formula becomes merely a means for the person to lift himself up into higher spiritual realms in order to feel God within himself. But then this prayer formula will also bring about the exclusion of every selfish desire and impulse of the will in the sense of the words: “Not my will, but yours be done.” It will result in an opening up, a sinking into this divine world. When this state of mind is achieved as the true mood of prayer, then Christian prayer is exactly the same as meditation, only with a more emotional coloring. And Christian prayer was originally nothing other than what meditation is. Meditation is more intellectual, and through it one attempts to achieve harmony with the divine currents flowing through the world by means of the thoughts of the great leaders of humanity. In prayer, the same is achieved in a more emotional way.
So we see that both in prayer and in meditation, what is sought is what can be called the union of the soul with the divine currents flowing through the world, that which at the highest level is the so-called Unio mystica, the mystical union with the deity. The beginning of this is in prayer, the beginning of this is in meditation. Human beings could never unite with their God, could never come into contact with the higher spiritual beings, if they themselves were not an outflow of this divine-spiritual being.
As we all know, human beings are dual in nature. First of all, they have the four members of the human being that we have often mentioned here: the physical body, the etheric or life body, the astral body, and the I. Within the I, they then have the potential for the future: manas, buddhi, atma, or the spirit self, the life spirit, and the spirit man.
If we want to understand the connection between these two beings correctly, we must go back a little to the time of human evolution. You all know from previous lectures that human beings as they are today represent the harmony of two entities: the three predispositions for the future, Manas, Buddhi, Atma, the upper three members, and the lower four members, the physical body, etheric body, astral body, and I; and that they developed as such in the distant past, which we call the Lemurian epoch of the Earth.
If we go back through our present epoch to the Greek-Latin, Egyptian-Assyrian-Chaldean, and Persian and Indian cultures, then, as we go further and further back, we gradually come to that great Atlantic flood that is hinted at in the flood legends of all peoples, and we then come to those ancestors who lived in the land that lay between Europe and America, which we call Atlantis. Going further back, we come to ancestors who lived in ancient times in a land that then lay between Australia and India. It was only in the middle of this epoch that what we call the higher trinity of man, spirit self, life spirit, and spirit man, united with what we call the four lower members of human nature, physical body, etheric body, astral body, and ego.
We can imagine this correctly if we think of it this way: At that time, in the Lemurian epoch, there was not yet a physical human being in our sense as the highest being on this earth, but only a kind of highest animal shell of our present human being, a being or a sum of beings that at that time consisted of the four lower members of human nature. That which is the higher human being, that which is eternal in human nature, that which will continue to develop in the future through the three faculties of manas, budhi, and atma, rested until then in the bosom of the Godhead. If you want to imagine this fact as it occurred at that time, albeit in a somewhat trivial but vivid way, then imagine that all the people who live in the whole of humanity today had, up to that moment, built up bodies that enabled them to receive the human soul, comparable to a sponge that can absorb water.
Imagine a vessel filled with water. In this water, you can never distinguish where one drop ends and another begins. Now imagine a number of small sponges immersed in this mass of water; each of these sponges will absorb a part of the water. What was previously a uniform mass of water in the vessel is now distributed among many sponges. This is how it was with human souls at that time, if we may use this trivial comparison. Previously, they rested independently in the bosom of the divine primordial spirit, without individuality, but were then absorbed by human bodies and thereby individualized, like water by sponges.
What was absorbed at that time by the individual bodies, the four lower limbs, continued into our time, developing further and further, and will continue into the future, developing further and further. In the so-called spiritual or secret science, it was always called the upper trinity, and as a diagram for this human being that arose in the middle of the Lemurian race, namely in the Pythagorean school, the triangle and the square were chosen, so that the following diagram results for the composite human being.
Now, as you can easily imagine, this higher, eternal aspect that passes through all incarnations can be viewed from two perspectives. On the one hand, it can be regarded as the eternal essence of humanity, but on the other hand, it can also be regarded as part of the divine essence, which it gave up at that time as a piece or a drop of its own content, and which is now immersed in the four-part human vessel, so that what rests in us humans today is a drop of the deity individualized in independence. Thus you come to realize that you cannot regard the three higher members of human nature, its eternal nature, merely as the three highest principles of human nature, but also as three principles in the deity itself. The fact is that what are the three highest members of human nature are at the same time the three lower members of the deity closest to man. If you wanted to list the principles of those deities who once gave the drops of soul to humanity, you would have to begin with the physical body in humans, continue with the etheric, astral, and ego bodies, and ascend from Manas to Atma, begin with Manas, continue with Budhi and Atma, and ascend to the principles that lie above Atma, which modern man can only conceive of when he becomes a disciple of the Initiates. So you see that we can also regard the three principles that human beings contain within themselves as three divine principles.
Today, let us consider them not as human principles, but as divine principles, and describe their nature. That highest principle, which in human beings is the Atma, which they will develop at the end of their earthly or, let us say, their present planetary career, can be characterized in the sense of spiritual or secret science by comparing its primordial nature with something that is only vaguely known to people today: namely, with what human beings have within themselves as will. The fundamental character of this highest divine principle in human beings is of a volitional nature, a kind of will. What is least developed in human beings today in their inner being, the will, will become their most excellent principle in the future, as human beings ascend higher and higher.
Today, humans are essentially cognitive beings, and their will is still limited in many ways. Humans can comprehend the world around them, to a certain extent, in its universality. But think how little of what they can comprehend they are able to will, how little power they have over what they can recognize. But what they do not yet have today, the future will bring them: their will will become ever more powerful until they have achieved their great goal, which in spiritual science is called the great sacrifice. This consists in that power of the will where the being that wills is able to give itself completely, not only to give the little that man is able to give with his weak powers of feeling and will, but to give his whole being, to let himself flow out as a being that penetrates into the material world.
You will get an idea of what is meant by this, by the great sacrifice, the highest expression of the will in the nature of God, if you imagine the following: Imagine that you are standing in front of a mirror and your image is looking at you from this mirror. This image is an illusion that looks exactly like you. Imagine further that you have died by sacrificing your own being, your feelings, your thoughts, your essence, in order to bring this image to life, to make this image what you yourself are. To sacrifice oneself and give one's life to the image is what spiritual science has always called emanation, the out-flowing. If you could do this, you would see that you are no longer there, because you have given everything to awaken life and consciousness in the image.
When the will has reached such a level that it is capable of accomplishing what is called the great sacrifice, then it creates, it creates a universe, large or small, and this universe is a mirror image that receives its task from the essence of the creator himself. In this way we have characterized what the creative will is in the divine essence.
What we have to characterize as the second principle in the Godhead, insofar as it has flowed into humanity, is already given by this comparison: it is the mirror image itself. Imagine yourself vividly in a Godhead who, creating the world, is the center of the universe. If you imagine a point here in this room and, instead of the six walls, imagine it surrounded by a hollow sphere reflecting inward, then you will see yourself reflected on all sides as the center. You have the image of a deity as the center of will, reflecting on all sides, and this mirror is both the image of the deity itself and the universe. For what is a universe? It is nothing other than a mirror of the essence of the deity.
But the fact that the universe lives and weaves is because the deity emanates when it makes the great sacrifice, when it mirrors its universe, as we have just seen in the example of the animation of the mirror image. The entire universe is animated by the universal will, which expresses itself in infinite diversity. This process of infinite diversification, of infinite multiplication, this repetition of the deity, is called the “kingdom” in all esoteric or spiritual science, in contrast to the will. The will is therefore the center, the mirror of the will is the realm, so that you can compare the will with Atma, the spirit man, and the realm, or the mirror image of the will, with Buddhi or the spirit of life.
Now this kingdom is such that it reflects the essence of the divine in infinite diversity. Take a look at this kingdom in its entirety, insofar as it is our kingdom, our diversity, our universe; look at it in its visible part, in minerals, plants, animals, and humans. The realm is manifested in each of these beings, and we can still sense this today in the expression of our language, insofar as we call these great areas of our universe realms, i.e., the mineral realm, the plant realm, the animal realm. But if we also consider the details, we see that all details are also of a divine nature. All of them reflect nature just as the center would be reflected in a hollow sphere. Thus, those who view the world in the spirit of esoteric research see God reflected in every mineral, every plant, every animal, and every human being, as an expression and imprint of the divine.
In infinitely graded beings and in infinite diversity, the deity appears in the realm, and one distinguishes the individual beings in the sense of secret science — when one stands at this high level that one can regard them as emanations of the divine — by giving them their “names.” The name is what man then thinks of as the individual entity; it is that by which the individual members of this great diversity are distinguished from one another. It is the third of the three highest human principles that flow out of the divine and would correspond to the manas or the spirit self. The secret science of the various religions has thus taught, naively taught, what has flowed out of the deity and flowed into you and became your eternal image.
If you want to find yourselves in what you are ultimately to rise to, you will find that it is of a volitional nature.
If you want to rise to what is the bearer of this will, this Atma, to the Buddhi—in the divine it represents the realm.
And if you want to rise to what you recognize by names, concepts, or ideas of things—in the divine it represents itself as name.
What we have now gone through here is an ancient teaching that says that name, realm, and will constitute that part of the deity that has flowed into human nature as the eternal part. Thus, we have recognized what is called the higher trinity of man as a part of the divine.
To complete our consideration, let us now take a look at the lower four members of the transitory human being. We know that the higher three members can actually be viewed from the other aspect by considering them as members of the Godhead. In a similar way, we can regard the four lower members of the human being as members of the transitory world and as members of the human being.
Consider the physical body. It is composed of the same substances and forces as the seemingly lifeless world around it. This physical body could not exist if matter and energy from the physical world surrounding it did not constantly flow into it and rebuild it again and again. In fact, the physical body is a constant transit station for everything we have in it. The substances that actually make up the outer universe flow in and out, just as they are temporarily within us. It has often been mentioned here that in the course of seven years the entire material composition of the human body is renewed. None of you today have the same substances that were in you ten years ago. Human beings constantly renew the substance of their physical bodies. What was in us then is now somewhere else entirely, distributed throughout nature, and other substances have moved into us. The life of the body requires a constant flow of matter in and out.
Just as we have regarded the three higher members of human nature as parts of the Godhead, so we can regard the four parts of lower human nature as parts of the divine nature.
We can regard the physical body as part of the material part of our planet; its substance is taken from our material planet and returns to it. When we consider the etheric body, we must likewise regard it as a member of what surrounds us here, and the same applies to the astral body.
Let us consider the life body or etheric body and the astral body in relation to each other. You know that the astral body is the bearer of everything that lives in human beings in terms of drives, desires, and passions, the bearer of everything that ebbs and flows in the human soul in terms of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, but that the life or etheric body preserves, represents, and is the bearer of the more lasting, longer-lasting soul qualities.
I have often compared the development of the life or etheric body and the astral body to the hour and minute hands of a clock. I have pointed out that if you remember what you knew and experienced as an eight-year-old child and what you know and experience now, you will notice a great difference. You have learned an infinite amount and absorbed many ideas; much of what you did then has passed through your soul in experiences of joy and sorrow; not only passed through it, but gone right through it. But if you now compare this with your temperament, your character, your lasting inclinations, you will come to the conclusion that if you were a quick-tempered child at the age of eight, you will probably still be so at your present age. Most people retain throughout their lives what lies within them as the basis of their being. It has often been emphasized here that secret schooling does not consist of theoretical learning, but of directing evolution toward the otherwise stationary structures of the etheric body. The student has done more if he has changed one of these characteristics of his temperament, his basic inclination, and thereby moved the hour hand of the clock a little faster than it would otherwise have done. Everything that develops so slowly — the lasting inclinations, the lasting temperamental characteristics, the lasting habits — is anchored in the etheric or life body. Everything that changes as quickly as the minute hand of the clock is anchored in the astral body.
If you now apply this to the human environment, to our life in the outside world, you will see that you are connected to your age, your people, and your family through your habits, temperaments, and lasting inclinations. It is precisely those qualities that humans have within themselves as permanent and stationary that will be found not only in them, but in all those with whom they belong in some way, that is, in their family, their people, and so on. The individual members of a people can be recognized by the fact that they have common habits and temperaments. This foundation of human inclinations and habits, which must be changed if a person is to undergo higher spiritual development, is what constitutes their higher being. Such a person is therefore said to be homeless because they must change the etheric body through which they are otherwise connected to their people.
So when we consider our coexistence with the communities into which we are born, we find that the characteristics that make us belong to a family or a people, that make us feel a kinship with the members of that people, are similar to the characteristics that exist in our age. Imagine how little you would be able to understand each other if a member of the ancient Greek people were to stand before you today. His etheric body is already too different from the etheric body of the present-day human being. People understand each other through the common characteristics in their etheric bodies. But that which sets people apart from what they have in common, that which makes them special in their family, in their people, yet again an individual being in their own right, and not merely French, not merely German, not merely a member of a family, but a special member of the people, the family, and so on, who can grow out of the sum of the characteristics of their gender, is anchored in the astral body, of which the astral body is the carrier. The astral body therefore contains more of the individual, the personal.
When a person commits mistakes through their etheric or life body, they can become more of a sinner in the circle of their fellow human beings, more likely to neglect the social duties that play out between people and make human social life possible. However, those sins that are more individual in nature, through which the human being fails only as a particular personality, are transgressions brought about by the characteristics of the astral body.
In all secret sciences, what is wrong with the community, what flows from the faulty etheric body, has always been called “guilt.” The ordinary, trivial word ‘debt’ has a very similar origin to the moral word “guilt,” which refers to what one has become morally indebted to another. Guilt is therefore something that can be traced back to faulty qualities of the etheric body. But what clings to the astral body as a faulty quality is called “temptation.” Temptation is that through which the individual takes on a personal sin. Now there remains the transgression of the ego, the actual personality. This transgression of the ego, that through which the ego in particular can fall, is indicated in the myth of paradise: when the human soul descended from the bosom of the deity and entered the earthly body for the first time, that is, was absorbed by the earthly body like a drop of water by a sponge, its higher soul became the ego.
This higher soul, this ego, can commit errors within the ego. Man can fall not only through the faulty characteristics of the etheric and astral bodies, but there is a fundamental possibility of sinning that is brought about by the fact that man has attained independence in the first place. In order to gradually ascend to freedom and independence in a conscious manner, human beings had to pass through selfishness and egotism. They descended as souls who were members of the Godhead, who cannot fall into egotism. A member of an organism never imagines itself to be independent. If, for example, a finger were to imagine this, it would tear itself off and wither away. This independence, which man must develop and which will only have its full meaning when the basic characteristic of independence is selflessness, could never have arisen if it had not originated from selfishness.
Selfishness entered the human body, and as a result, humans became selfish, egotistical beings. Thus, we see how the ego follows all the drives and inclinations of the body. Humans devour their fellow humans, they follow all kinds of drives and desires, they are completely entangled in the earthly vessel like a drop of water in a sponge.
What man was able to sin by becoming such an ego being, an actually independent being, is indicated in the myth of paradise. Whereas he used to draw from the universal, like the drop that is still in the water, drawing its strength from the communal mass of water, he now has all his drives within himself. This is symbolized by biting into the apple in the myth of Paradise; and not without reason — for all real meanings of words, insofar as they belong to secret science, have a deep inner connection — not without reason does Malum mean “evil” and ‘apple’ in Latin. In secret science, the word “evil” is never used for anything other than a transgression arising from the ego.
Evil is therefore transgression arising from the ego; guilt is the transgression committed by the etheric body in social life, in coexistence with other people. Temptation is that which can affect the astral body insofar as it is individually, personally flawed. The transgression of the etheric or life body is therefore guilt; the transgression of the astral body is therefore temptation; the transgression of the ego is therefore evil.
When we consider the relationship of the four lower members of human nature to the environment, to the planetary environment, we see that the physical body continuously absorbs physical matter as nourishment and thereby maintains its existence. We see that the life of the life or etheric body in finitude comes about through the fact that the human being, together with his fellow human beings into whose community he has grown, maintains this community. We see that the astral body sustains itself by not succumbing to temptation. And finally, we see that the ego sustains itself and undergoes its development in the right way when it does not succumb to what is called evil.
Now imagine this whole human nature, the lower fourfold and the higher threefold, brought before your soul, so that you can say to yourself: A divine drop lives in each individual human being, and human beings are developing toward the divine, toward the expression of their deepest inner nature. Once he has expressed this deepest inner nature, he has, through gradual development, transformed his own being into what is called the “Father” in Christianity. What lies hidden in the human soul, what is the great goal of humanity, is the “Father in Heaven.” If man wants to develop toward this, he must have the strength to develop his higher trinity and his lower fourfold nature to the point where they sustain the physical body in the right way: the etheric or life body must live with man in such a way that a balance is achieved with what lives in him as guilt; the astral body must not succumb to temptation, and the ego body must not succumb to evil. Human beings must strive upward through the three higher members to the Father in heaven, through the name, through the kingdom, and through the will. The name must be perceived as such that it is sanctified. — Look at the things around you; in their diversity, they are an expression of the Godhead! When you say their names, you grasp them as members of the divine world order. Whatever you may have in your surroundings, consider it sacred; and in the name you give it, see something that makes it a member of the divine being. Keep it sacred, grow into the kingdom that is an outflow of the Godhead, and develop yourself up to that Will, which will be an Atma, but at the same time a member of the Godhead.
Now imagine a person who, in meditation, is completely absorbed in this sense of development, and who is to summarize this sense, these seven links of development, in seven petitions in a prayer. What will he say?
To express what is to be achieved through this prayer, he will say, before uttering the seven petitions: “Our Father, who art in heaven.” This refers to the deepest soul of human nature, to the innermost being of man, which belongs to the spiritual realm according to Christian esotericism. The first three petitions refer to the three higher members of human nature, to the divine content of man: "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done—.“
Now we move from the spiritual realm to the earthly realm: ”Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The last four petitions refer to the four lower members of human nature.
What shall we say about the physical body, so that it may be sustained in planetary life? “Give us this day our daily bread.”
What shall we say about the etheric or life body? “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” The compensation for what happens through the transgressions of the etheric or life body.
What shall we say with regard to the astral body? “Lead us not into temptation.”
And what shall we say with regard to the ego? “Deliver us from evil.”
Thus, you see in the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer nothing other than the expression that the human soul, when it rises to it in the right way, implores the divine will to bring the individual parts of the human being into such a development that the human being finds his right path through the universe, that he develops all parts of his nature in the right way. The Lord's Prayer is therefore a prayer through which human beings, in moments when they need it, should rise to the meaning of the development of their sevenfold human nature, and the seven petitions, even when they occur in the most naive human beings who cannot understand them at all, are an expression of the spiritual-scientific view of human nature.
Everything that has ever existed in the form of meditation formulas in large religious societies has sprung from secret science. You can take all real prayers and analyze them word for word, and you will never find that they are just a random string of words. It is not that someone followed a dark impulse and strung together beautiful words; no, the great sages derived the prayer formulas from the wisdom teachings that we now call spiritual science. There is no real prayer formula that has not been born out of great knowledge, and the great initiate, the founder of Christianity, Christ Jesus, had the seven members of human nature in mind when he taught prayer, and expressed this sevenfold nature of man in his prayers.
Thus, all prayers are ordered. If they were not so ordered, they would have no power to work through the millennia. Only that which is ordered in this way has the power to work even in the naive human being, who does not even understand the meaning of the words.
A comparison of what lives in the human soul with what takes place in nature will make this clearer. Consider a plant: it delights you, and you need not know anything about the great, universal laws that brought it into being. The plant is there, and you can lift yourself up with it. It could not have been created if the eternal laws had not flowed into it. The naive mind does not need to understand these laws. But if the plant is to be created, it must emerge from the laws. If prayer is to be effective, it must not be invented arbitrarily, but must have emerged from the eternal laws of wisdom, just as the plant has emerged from the eternal laws of wisdom. No prayer has real meaning for the wise and the unwise if it has not emerged from the primordial wisdom.
Today is the age for people who have long contemplated plants and been inspired by them, where they can be led to the wise content of the laws. For two millennia, Christians have prayed as naive people look at plants. In the future, they will recognize the power of prayer from the deep primordial wisdom from which prayer has flowed. All prayers, especially the central prayer of Christian life, the Lord's Prayer, are an expression of this primordial wisdom. And just as light expresses itself in seven colors and the fundamental tone in seven tones in the world, so human life, rising to its God in sevenfold, expresses itself in the seven different feelings of elevation that relate to the sevenfold nature of the human being, in the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer.
Thus, standing before the soul of the anthroposophist, the Lord's Prayer is the expression of the sevenfold human being.