The Christian Mystery
GA 97
9 February 1906, Düsseldorf
I. The Christian Mystery
When we speak of human development in Christian mysticism, we have to consider that the way to higher development in the spirit was always strictly laid down in advance. For gnostic Christian development, the individual had to withdraw from outer civilization. The whole was so strict that it could not be done by someone who was involved in the outside working world. But anyone can achieve a great deal by even approximately taking this way. The Christian way demands a considerable level of development. It differs from all other ways in that those who follow it cannot gain insight into reincarnation and karma on their own.
Reincarnation was accepted belief in esoteric Christianity, but did not form part of exoteric Christianity. There was a particular reason why it was not part of Christian teaching in the past.
You only need to go back a few thousand years to come to a time when the teaching of reincarnation and karma was more or less world-wide. It was only somewhat less well known among peoples of Semitic origin. Apart from this it would be found everywhere in those times. People oppressed by their destiny would say to themselves: ‘This is one of many lives. In this life I am preparing things that will have their reward in a later life.’ People were always looking up to higher worlds in those days. This was the same everywhere, and thus also among Chaldean wise men who were priests. The stars were to them a reflection of a soul and a spirit, they were the bodies of spirits. The whole of cosmic space was filled with living spiritual entities for them. They would speak of the laws that governed the movements of the stars as the will of the spirits embodied in the sun and the planets. Life in those days was a matter of continually turning to the spirit in your inner life. The work people did on earth then was primitive, but their penetration of the universe in the spirit had reached a high level. So one would see sublime spiritual views side by side with a primitive material civilization.
The age which followed was to pay increasingly more attention to outer material civilization, conquering the globe for material civilization, as it were. Human beings were meant to concentrate on physical life. The thinking of the Chaldean priests, the followers of Hermes and those of the holy Rishis was directed to the life of the spirit. Repeated earth lives were a factual reality to them. Then humanity had to let this go of this for a while. All human beings were meant to go through one incarnation when they did not know about repeated earth lives. This was in preparation as early as 800 years before Christianity came, and it is gradually dying down again now in our time. Today, those familiar with occult streams know that Christianity, too, must return to the teaching of reincarnation and karma.
This is evident from the Mount Tabor Mystery,1 Tradition going back to Origines, and probably also 2 Peter 1,18, makes Mt Tabor the place where the transfiguration took place. See Rudolf Steiner's lectures given in Bern on 10 Sept. 1910 (The Gospel of St Matthew, GA 123, tr. D. Osmond, M. Kirkcaldy. New York: Anthroposophic Press 1985) and in Basel on 22 Sept. 1912 (The Gospel of St Mark, GA 139, tr. C. Mainzer, S. C. Easton. New York: Anthroposophic Press 1986). See also Matthew 17, 1-9; Mark 9, 2-9; Luke 9, 28-36. an event that took place ‘on the mountain’. ‘On the mountain’ is a key phrase signifying that the master was taking his disciples into the innermost sphere to teach them the most occult things. It says ‘the disciples were taken out of themselves’, which means that they were taken into higher worlds. Elijah, Moses and Jesus appeared to them. This means that space and time had been overcome. Moses and Elijah, who were no longer on earth, appeared to them in their devachanic condition. The name Elijah means ‘the way of God’, the goal. The word el, meaning ‘god’ is found in elohim, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and also in Bel.2Bel was another name for Marduk, the chief Babylonian god, meaning ‘god’, or simply ‘lord’. The name Moses signifies truth. Moses is the occult term for truth. Jesus means ‘life’ The Christ himself, standing in the middle, is life. This was written in the mental plan in letters of brass, as it were: ‘The way, the truth and the life’. The disciples said: ‘Let us put up tabernacles here.’ This means they were chelas of the second degree. The Lord also said: ‘Elijah is come already, and they knew him not. Tell this to no man until I am returned again.’ He was speaking of reincarnation. John the Baptist was Elijah. The return refers to the return of Christ Jesus.3 See also Steiner R. Das Ereignis der Christuserscheinung in der ätherischen Welt. GA 118. Some of the lectures appear in The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, tr. B. Betteridge, D. Tatum, R. Pusch, M. de Ris, A. Wulsin. New York: Anthroposophic Press 1983. Understanding of this event can be prepared for with the anthroposophical view of the world.
When all human beings have been through an incarnation where they knew nothing of reincarnation and karma, reincarnation will be taught again. In the innermost circles of Christianity reincarnation was, however, always accepted as a truth. This can be seen wherever initiates taught by doing things. An example is the Trappist Order.4 Cistercian monks with strict observance of the rule which requires absolute silence, hard work in the fields, a vegetarian diet. Established in 1664 at La Trappe Monastery in northwest France Keeping an absolute vow of silence in one life they become excellent speakers in later incarnations. The opposite of what happens in one incarnation thus prepares for a very special gift in the next. Ardent speakers were to be created by withholding speech.
The external teaching in one age thus was that human beings should hold on to the feeling that life on earth was exhausted with this one life. They were to say to themselves: ‘A whole eternity will depend on what happens in this one life’. A radical form of this was the dogma of eternal punishment in hell. The earth would not have been conquered if the teachers of Christianity had not given this to humanity. The great teachers have never presented absolute truth but only what was right for humanity at the time. They never teach the ultimate truths but only what is right for a particular age. It would not have been right to teach reincarnation in that age. What the science of the spirit teaches is also not the ultimate truth. The anthroposophical view of the world must be taught now because it is right for this time. The people who now hear the teaching of spiritual science will hear the truth in a very different way in a later incarnation. Within three thousand years we shall learn something that belongs to a higher realm because we have previously gone through anthroposophy. This is the spiritual side of it. But all things of the spirit must also have a counter image in the physical world. The spirit who appeared in the Christ prepared the way for this several centuries beforehand.
To have people think one incarnation was the one and only one, it was necessary that something cut off the brain from the higher principles in man, from atma, buddhi, manas and from knowing about reincarnation. Humanity was given wine for this purpose. In earlier time, all temple rituals used water only. Then the use of wine was introduced, and a divine spirit—Bacchus, Dionysus—became the representative of wine. John, the most deeply initiated disciple, showed the significance of wine for inner development in his gospel. At the Wedding at Cana,5 John 2,1-11. See R. Steiner's lecture in Kassel on 2 July 1909 in The Gospel of St John in Relation to the Other Gospels (GA 112). Tr. S. & L. Lockwood. New York & London: Anthroposophic Press & Rudolf Steiner Press 1948. 2nd edition rev. by M. St Goar New York: Anthroposophic Press 1982. water was changed into wine. Wine prepared human beings so that they no longer knew anything of reincarnation. At that time, the water for the offering was changed into wine and we are now again in the process of changing the wine into water. Anyone wishing to reach higher regions of existence must refrain from taking even a drop of alcohol now.
Every line in the gospel of John reflects a profound experience in the single individual and in the whole of humanity. Jesus said: ‘I have come to initiate this period in evolution.’ Paul, an initiate, called the Christ the inverse Adam.61 Cor 15, 5. See R. Steiner's lecture given in Karlsruhe on 19 Oct. 1911 From Jesus to Christ (GA 131). Tr. H. Collison and D. Davy. London: Rudolf Steiner Press 1973. Adam was the first human being to appear in this form, and with this the spiritual human being was put into incarnation on earth. Two ways were open to him. He could take what the gods gave or gain something new for himself. That is the story of Cain and Abel.7 See lectures given in Berlin on 10 June 1904, 22 May and 23 Oct, 1905 in The Temple Legend (GA 93). Tr. J. Wood. London: Rudolf Steiner Press 1985. Also the lecture given in The Hague on 27 March 1913 in The Effects of Esoteric Development (GA 145), tr. A. H. Parker. London: Rudolf Steiner Press 1978. Abel took the animals that were there. Cain worked to produce his offering. Bread was produced through the work of Cain. Bread has always been something man has worked for himself. Working to produce bread, man has fallen into sin. Cain slew his brother. Doing his own work man fell into sin, he fell into matter.
The inverse Adam is Christ Jesus who ascends again. He has to pay for this with his blood. This had to be done once by a person. The bread and the wine have their representative in the person of the Christ, in his body and blood. The Lord had to take Cain's deed on himself: This is my body, this is my blood.8Matthew 26, 26 & 28. Redemption has to be brought about by hallowing that which is on earth. The wine represented this at the last supper, and through this the blood was related to the wine.
The gospels exist not only to teach, they are also books of life. The stories told in them are not just external events but inner human experiences. Christian yoga consists in entering wholly into the gospels in a living way, making this the whole life of one's own soul.
Four things are absolutely necessary for Christian yoga to be at all possible. The first is simplicity. This is a Christian virtue. You have to understand that we have many experiences in life that make us lose our lack of bias. Almost every human being is biased. The only unbiased answers to questions come from children. But they are childish, because the children lack knowledge. We must learn to be wise and unbiased in the life of experience, as unbiased as children. This is called simplicity in Christian terms.
The second virtue we have to acquire is that as a Christian mystic we have to rid ourselves of something many people have, and that is inner satisfaction in religious exercises. We must devote ourselves to those exercises not for personal satisfaction but because the training we follow demands it. All pleasure in religious exercises must cease.
The third virtue is even more difficult. It calls for absolute refusal to ascribe anything whatsoever to our own skills and efficiency. Instead we must learn to ascribe it all to the divine power, the merit of God who works through us. Without this you cannot be a Christian mystic.
The fourth virtue to be achieved is patient acceptance of whatever may come upon us. All cares, all fear must be put aside, and we must be prepared to meet what comes, be it good or ill.
If we do not develop these virtues up to a certain level we cannot hope to be Christian mystics. This preparation then enables us to go through the seven stages on the road of the Christian mystic.9See lectures given in Paris by Rudolf Steiner on 1 June 1906 (An Esoteric Cosmology, GA 94, Spring Valley: St George Publications 1978) and in Kassel on 7 July 1909 in The Gospel of St John in Relation to the Other Gospels (see Note 5).
The first stage is the washing of the feet. It is putting the words ‘to be lord you must be the servant of all’10John 13,16. into practice. We must understand that we do not owe anything we are to our own self. We have to take account of everything other people and the world around us have made of us and reflect on this deeply. We are then able to see that we are connected with the whole of our environment. Having gained strength through the four virtues—simplicity, refusal to feel satisfaction at religious exercises, refusal to ascribe skills to ourselves and patient acceptance of whatever comes—we also gain strength to do the ‘washing of the feet’, as it is called, which is to look in gratitude on everything given to us from outside, everything that has raised us higher, and bow down before it. We must transform everything we feel into nothing but gratitude to those who have given it all to us. And so we must kneel before those because of whom we are, what we are. Christ Jesus knelt before his disciples for without them he could not have been what he had become. Christ Jesus had the disciples as a precondition just as a plant has the mineral world and an animal the plant world as a precondition. He, the Lord, became the servant of all. If we thus learn to lower ourselves and develop a feeling of profound gratitude, then much that exists by way of outer social form drops away and we can go through the next stage.
To do without strength from outside we must have strength inside. When we have come to be the last, we go to the father. This is called ‘the way to the father’, and we are then intimately bound up with this original strength and power. It can only be found through personal experience. We must learn to bear all pain. That is the second stage, the scourging, the second stage in Christian mysticism. The self then is sustained by itself.
To bear contempt is a yet higher stage, the third stage. One must learn to bear finding no regard among people at all. All the strength one needs must be found in the higher life. That is to wear the crown of thorns. We must learn to stand erect when the world despises us and casts derision on us. When a person has got to this point his own body has become alien to him. He has lowered himself has learned to bear pain, to bear contempt. Now the body is something he no longer lives in; his soul floats around it. This is the crucifixion, the fourth stage. It is followed by the stage where one's own body has become wholly object, as if one were tied to an alien piece of wood. Then being apart has ceased for us. It is the mystic death on the cross—the fifth stage.
The sixth stage is reached when the human being has become one with all that exists on earth, embracing it all with his feeling, experiencing the whole earth as his body. That is the entombment. The individual has then reached the point known as ‘being at one with the planet’ in initiation science. He then feels himself to be no longer apart. Man can only exist on this earth. A few hundred miles away from it and he must die, shrivel up as a hand shrivels up when it is cut off the body. The earth is then the body of the human being. We must be entombed in it. Through this condition man gains the conscious awareness of the earth. There follows the seventh stage, the resurrection. The individual has become one who is raised from the dead. This condition can only be understood by someone whose thinking no longer depends on the physical brain as its instrument.
Human beings can go through these seven stages by bringing the gospel of John, from the 13th chapter onwards, to life in themselves again and again—the washing of the feet, the path of wanting to serve, bowing down in humility before all; second stage the scourging; third stage the crown of thorns; fourth stage the crucifixion; fifth stage the mystic death on the cross; sixth stage the entombment; seventh stage the resurrection. These are the seven stages of the inner Christian mystery that have been outwardly presented on the plan of world history.
Christian monks lived through these experiences over and over again in the gospel of John, for the whole of their lives. This was the source of the strength they needed.
Die Wahrheitssprache der Evangelien das Christliche Mysterium
Wenn wir über die christliche mystische Entwickelung des Menschen sprechen, so müssen wir dabei in Betracht ziehen, daß der Weg, der im Christentum eingeschlagen worden ist, um sich geistig höher zu entwickeln, immer ein streng vorgeschriebener war. Den christlich-gnostischen Entwickelungsgang konnte immer nur derjenige gehen, der sich von der äußeren Kultur zurückzog. Seine völlige Strenge ist nicht für einen Menschen durchführbar, der im äußeren Schaffen darinsteht. Jeder kann aber viel erreichen, wenn er nur annähernd diesen Weg betritt. Indessen erfordert der christliche Weg eine ganz bedeutende Höhe der Entwickelung. Er unterscheidet sich jedoch von allen andern Wegen dadurch, daß innerhalb dieses Weges der Mensch nicht durch eigene Anschauung zur Erkenntnis von Reinkarnation und Karma kommen kann.
Im esoterischen Christentum hat man wohl die Überzeugung davon gehabt, daß es Reinkarnation gäbe. Aber zum eigentlichen exoterischen Christentum gehört diese Überzeugung nicht. Es war ein bestimmter Grund, warum das Christentum der Vergangenheit diese Lehre nicht hatte.
Man braucht nur einige tausend Jahre zurückzugehen, da war die Lehre von Reinkarnation und Karma so ziemlich auf der ganzen Erde verbreitet. Nur innerhalb der Völker semitischer Abstammung ist die Lehre von Reinkarnation und Karma etwas zurückgetreten. Sonst findet man diese Lehre damals überall. Die Menschen, die bedrückt von ihrem Schicksal waren, sagten sich damals: Dies ist ein Leben unter vielen; das, was ich in diesem Leben vorbereite, wird seinen Lohn in einem andern haben. — Damals gab es ein fortwährendes Hinaufschauen nach den höheren Welten. Das war überall vorhanden, so auch bei den chaldäischen Priesterweisen. Ihnen waren die Sterne der Ausdruck einer Seele und eines Geistes, die Körper von Geistern waren sie. Der ganze Weltenraum war für sie mit geistigen Wesenheiten belebt. Sie sprachen von den Gesetzmäßigkeiten, nach denen die Sterne sich bewegen, als von dem Willen der Geister, deren Körper die Sonne und die Planeten sind. Der Mensch lebte damals, indem er seine Seele fortwährend zu dem Geiste hinaufrichtete. Was die Menschen damals äußerlich an Arbeit auf der Erde vollbracht haben, das war primitiv, während dagegen in hohem Maße das geistige Durchdringen des Weltalls unter ihnen wirkte. Hohe geistige Anschauungen findet man da neben einer primitiven materiellen Kultur.
Nun sollte ein Zeitalter kommen, welches die äußere, materielle Kultur immer mehr pflegte, welches sozusagen den Erdball für die materielle Kultur eroberte. Der Blick der Menschen sollte auf dem physischen Leben ruhen. Das Denken der chaldäischen Priesterweisen, der Hermesschüler, der Schüler der alten Rishis, war auf das geistige Leben gerichtet. Für sie alle waren die wiederholten Erdenleben eine Tatsache. Davon mußten die Menschen eine Zeitlang absehen. Alle Menschen sollten einmal durch eine Inkarnation gehen, ohne etwas von den wiederholten Erdenleben zu wissen. Das wurde schon achthundert Jahre vor dem Beginn des Christentums vorbereitet. Allmählich flutet das wieder ab in unsere Zeit hinein. Heute ist für die, welche die okkulten Strömungen kennen, bekannt, daß jetzt auch das Christentum die Lehre von Reinkarnation und Karma wieder aufnehmen muß.
Das geht aus dem Mysterium auf dem Berge Tabor hervor. Es handelt sich dabei um ein Ereignis, das sich «auf dem Berge» abspielte. «Auf dem Berge» ist ein Schlüsselwort, das bedeutet, daß der Meister seine Schüler in das Innerste führt, um ihnen dort die intimsten Lehren zu geben. Es steht da: «Die Jünger waren entrückt.» Das heißt, daß sie in höhere Welten geführt wurden. Da erschienen ihnen Elias, Moses und Jesus. Das bedeutet, daß eine Überwindung von Raum und Zeit stattfand. Die nicht mehr da waren, Moses und Elias, erschienen ihnen in dem devachanischen Zustande. Der Name Elias bedeutet so viel wie der Weg Gottes, das Ziel. Das Wort El, gleich Gott, ist enthalten in Elohim, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, auch in Bel. Der Name Moses repräsentiert die Wahrheit. Moses ist die okkulte Bezeichnung für die Wahrheit. Jesus bedeutet das Leben. Christus selbst, in der Mitte stehend, ist das Leben. Da wurde sozusagen mit ehernen Worten in das Mentale geschrieben: «Der Weg, die Wahrheit und das Leben.» Die Jünger sagen: «Hier laßt uns Hütten bauen.» Das bedeutet, daß sie Chelas im zweiten Grade waren. Ferner sagt der Herr: «Elias ist wiedererschienen, sie haben ihn nur nicht erkannt. Saget es aber niemandem, bis daß ich wiederkomme.» Er redet hier von der Reinkarnation, Johannes der Täufer ist Elias. Das Wiederkommen bezieht sich auf das Wiederkommen des Christus Jesus. Das Verständnis für dieses Ereignis soll vorbereitet werden durch die anthroposophische Weltanschauung.
Wenn alle Menschen einmal in einer Inkarnation das Erlebnis durchgemacht haben, nichts von Reinkarnation und Karma zu wissen, dann wird Reinkarnation wieder gelehrt. In den allerintimsten Kreisen des Christentums hat die Reinkarnation aber immer als Wahrheit gegolten. Überall, wo es Eingeweihte gab, die durch Taten gelehrt haben, ist dies zu erkennen. Ein Beispiel hierfür ist der Trappistenorden. Durch eine völlige Enthaltsamkeit im Sprechen in der einen Inkarnation bilden sie sich zu tüchtigen Rednern für die folgenden Inkarnationen aus. Durch das Gegenteil in der einen Inkarnation wird also eine ganz besondere Gabe für die nächste Inkarnation ausgebildet. Flammende Redner sollten durch die Enthaltsamkeit im Reden erzeugt werden.
Was in einem Zeitalter äußerlich gelehrt werden sollte, war, daß der Mensch an dem Gefühl festhalten sollte, das Leben auf der Erde sei mit diesem einen Leben erschöpft. Der Mensch sollte sich sagen: Eine ganze Ewigkeit hängt davon ab, was in dem einen Leben geschieht. Eine radikale Ausgestaltung dieser Auffassung ist die Lehre von den ewigen Höllenstrafen. Der Erdkreis wäre nicht erobert worden, wenn nicht die Lehrer des Christentums dies hinterlassen hätten, daß das eine Leben als ein so wichtiges angesehen werden sollte. Die großen Lehrer haben nie absolute Wahrheiten hingestellt, sondern das, was dem Menschen angemessen ist. Die letzten Wahrheiten lehren die großen Lehrer nie, sondern das, was für ein Zeitalter förderlich ist. Die Lehre von der Reinkarnation wäre in dieser Zeit nicht das Richtige gewesen. Auch was die Geisteswissenschaft lehrt, ist nicht die endgültige Wahrheit, sondern die anthroposophische Weltanschauung muß jetzt gelehrt werden, weil das heute das Richtige ist. Die Menschen, die jetzt die geisteswissenschaftlichen Lehren hören, werden die Wahrheit in einer späteren Inkarnation in einer ganz andern Weise hören. Innerhalb von dreitausend Jahren werden wir etwas, was auf einem höheren Gebiete liegt, lernen, weil wir schon einmal durch die Anthroposophie durchgegangen sind. Dies ist die geistige Seite. Alles Geistige muß aber auch ein Gegenbild im Physischen haben. Schon einige Jahrhunderte vor Christus hat die Individualität, die in Christus erschien, vorbereitend gewirkt.
Damit der Mensch sich dachte, die eine Inkarnation sei die einzige, dazu war notwendig, daß etwas das Gehirn von der Erkenntnis von den höheren Prinzipien im Menschen, von Atma, Buddhi, Manas und von der Erkenntnis der Reinkarnation abschnitt. Dazu wurde den Menschen der Wein gegeben. Früher war bei allem Tempelkultus nur das Wasser gebraucht worden. Dann wurde der Gebrauch des Weines eingeführt, und sogar ein göttliches Wesen, Bacchus, Dionysos, war der Repräsentant des Weines. Der tiefsteingeweihte Jünger, Johannes, enthüllt in seinem Evangelium, was der Wein für die innere Entwickelung bedeutet. Bei der Hochzeit von Kana in Galiläa wird das Wasser in Wein verwandelt. Durch den Wein wurde der Mensch so zubereitet, daß er die Reinkarnation nicht mehr verstand. Damals wurde das Opferwasser in Wein verwandelt, und wir sind jetzt wieder dabei, den Wein in Wasser zu verwandeln. Wer hinaufkommen will in die höheren Gebiete des Daseins, der muß sich jeden Tropfens Alkohol enthalten.
Im Johannes-Evangelium ist jede Zeile ein tiefes Erlebnis im einzelnen Menschen und in der ganzen Menschheit. Jesus sagte: Ich bin hierhergekommen, um die Einleitung dieser Evolutionsepoche herbeizuführen. — Paulus, ein Eingeweihter, nennt Christus den umgekehrten Adam. In Adam haben wir den ersten Menschen, der zuerst in dieser Form erscheint. Damit ist der geistige Mensch in die Inkarnation auf der Erde versetzt. Nun kann er einen zweifachen Weg nehmen. Er kann das nehmen, was die Götter ihm geben, oder sich selbst etwas Neues erwerben. Das ist die Geschichte von Kain und Abel. Abel nimmt die Tiere, die da sind. Kain erarbeitet, was er opfert. Durch das, was Kain erarbeitet, entsteht das Brot. Brot war immer der Repräsentant für das, was der Mensch selbst erarbeitet. Der Mensch ist dadurch, daß er das Brot erarbeitet, sündig geworden. Kain hat den Bruder erschlagen. Zugleich mit der eigenen Arbeit ist der Mensch sündig geworden, er ist in die Materie herabgefallen.
Der umgekehrte Adam ist Christus Jesus, der wieder hinaufsteigt. Er muß das mit seinem Blut erkaufen. Das mußte einmal durch eine Persönlichkeit geschehen. Das Brot und der Wein finden ihren Repräsentanten in der Person Christi, in seinem Leib und Blut. Die Kainstat muß der Herr selbst auf sich nehmen: Dies ist mein Leib, dies ist mein Blut. — Die Erlösung muß dadurch geschehen, daß das, was auf der Erde ist, geheiligt wird. Der Wein repräsentiert das beim Abendmahl, das Blut kommt dadurch in Beziehung zum Wein.
Die Evangelien sind nicht nur Lehrschriften, sondern sie sind auch Lebensschriften. Mit den Erzählungen der Evangelien sind nicht nur äußere geschichtliche Ereignisse gemeint, sondern innere Erlebnisse des Menschen. Christlicher Joga ist das Sich-ganz-indas-Evangelium-Hineinleben, als ob es das eigene Seelenleben wäre.
Vier Dinge sind entschieden notwendig, damit überhaupt der christliche Joga möglich sein kann. Das erste ist die Einfalt. Dies ist eine christliche Tugend. Man muß sich klarwerden, daß man im Leben in mannigfaltiger Weise solche Erfahrungen macht, durch die man seine Unbefangenheit verliert. Fast jeder Mensch ist befangen. Die einzigen unbefangenen Antworten auf Fragen sind die der Kinder. Aber sie sind auch töricht dabei, weil die Kinder noch nichts wissen. Man muß aber lernen, weise zu sein und unbefangen, kindhaft unbefangen mit der Erfahrung. Das nennt man im Christentum die Einfalt.
Die zweite Tugend, die man sich erwerben muß, besteht darin, daß man als christlicher Mystiker das abstreifen muß, was viele Menschen haben, nämlich das innere Wohlgefühl an religiösen Übungen. Man muß nicht mehr aus Eigenbefriedigung sich den Übungen hingeben, sondern weil es der Übungsweg erfordert. Alles Wohlgefühl an religiösen Übungen muß schweigen.
Die dritte Tugend ist noch schwieriger. Sie besteht darin, daß man absolut darauf verzichtet, irgend etwas seiner eigenen Tüchtigkeit zuzuschreiben. Man muß dagegen lernen, alles der göttlichen Kraft zuzuschreiben, dem Verdienste Gottes, der durch uns wirkt. Ohne das kann man nicht christlicher Mystiker werden.
Als vierte Tugend muß man die geduldige Ergebenheit in das erreichen, was den Menschen auch immer treffen mag. Alles Sorgen und Fürchten muß man ablegen, allem gegenüber gewappnet sein, dem Besten und dem Schlechtesten gegenüber.
Wenn man solche Tugenden nicht bis zu einem gewissen Grade ausgebildet hat, kann man nicht hoffen, christlicher Mystiker zu werden. Diese Vorbereitung befähigt, die sieben Stufen des christlichen mystischen Weges durchzumachen.
Die erste Stufe ist die Fußwaschung. Sie muß jeder vollziehen. Das ist die Ausführung des Spruches: Wer will der Herr sein, muß aller Knecht sein. - Wir müssen uns klar sein, daß wir das, was wir sind, nicht unserem eigenen Selbst verdanken. Wir müssen alles in Rechnung stellen, was andere Menschen und die Umwelt aus uns gemacht haben, und das ernsthaft bedenken. Dann verstehen wir, wie wir mit der ganzen Umgebung zusammenhängen. Wenn wir Kraft gewonnen haben durch die vier Tugenden: Einfalt, Abstreifen des Wohlgefühles an religiösen Übungen, Verzicht, sich eigene Tüchtigkeit zuzuschreiben, geduldige Ergebenheit in alles, was uns trifft - dann bekommen wir auch die Kraft, das auszuführen, was man die Fußwaschung nennt, nämlich auf alles dasjenige, was uns von außen gegeben ist, was uns erhoben hat, mit Dankbarkeit zu sehen, uns vor ihm zu beugen. Verwandeln müssen wir unser ganzes Gefühl in lauter Dankbarkeit gegenüber denen, die uns alles gegeben haben. So müssen wir niederknien vor denjenigen, durch die wir geworden sind. Christus Jesus kniete nieder vor seinen Jüngern, weil er ohne die Jünger nicht das sein könnte, was er geworden ist. Christus Jesus setzt die Jünger so voraus, wie die Pflanze das Mineral, wie das Tier die Pflanze voraussetzt. Er, der der Herr ist, wird aller Knecht. Wenn man das lernt, sich zu erniedrigen bis zum Gefühl der tiefsten Dankbarkeit, dann fällt manches, was soziale Hülle ist, weg, und wir können dann die nächste Stufe durchmachen.
Wenn wir auf die äußere Kraft verzichten, dann müssen wir innere Kraft haben. Wenn wir der Letzte geworden sind, dann gehen wir zum Vater. Das heißt «der Weg zum Vater». Mit dieser Urkraft sind wir dann innig verbunden. Das kann nur gefunden werden durch eigenes Erleben. Wir müssen lernen, jeden Schmerz auszuhalten. Das ist die zweite Stufe, die Geißelung, die zweite Stufe im christlich-mystischen Sinne. Dann ist das Selbst auf sich gestützt.
Noch höher ist das Ertragen der Verachtung, die dritte Stufe. Man muß ertragen lernen, daß man überhaupt keine Achtung bei den Menschen findet. Man muß die ganze Kraft im höheren Leben finden. Das ist das Tragen der Dornenkrone. Wir müssen lernen, aufrechtzustehen, wenn die Welt uns verachtet und mit Hohn überschüttet.
Wenn der Mensch so weit ist, dann steht er seiner eigenen Leiblichkeit wie einer fremden gegenüber. Er hat sich erniedrigt, Schmerzen ertragen gelernt, Verachtung ertragen gelernt. Jetzt ist der Körper etwas, in dem er nicht mehr lebt, sondern den die Seele umschwebt. Das ist die Kreuzigung, die vierte Stufe. Diese wird abgelöst von derjenigen, welche dadurch eintritt, daß der eigene Leib ganz objektiv geworden ist, als wenn wir an ein fremdes Stück Holz gebunden wären. Dann hat das Sondersein für uns aufgehört. Das ist der mystische Tod am Kreuz, die fünfte Stufe.
Die sechste Stufe ist dann erreicht, wenn der Mensch allem gleich geworden ist, was auf der Erde ist, und er alles mit seinem Gefühl umfaßt, die ganze Erde als seinen Leib empfindet. Das ist die Grablegung. Damit ist der Mensch das geworden, was die Geisteswissenschaft das Einssein mit dem Planeten nennt. Er fühlt dann, daß er kein Sonderwesen ist. Der Mensch kann nur auf dieser Erde existieren. Ein paar hundert Meilen weit von ihr müßte er sterben, verdorren, wie die Hand verdorrt, die vom Leibe abgeschnitten ist. Die Erde ist dann der Leib des Menschen. In sie müssen wir begraben werden. Aus diesem Zustand heraus erringt der Mensch das Erdenbewußtsein. Dann folgt die siebente Stufe, die Auferstehung: Der Mensch ist ein Auferweckter geworden. Dieser Zustand kann nur von dem verstanden werden, dessen Denken nicht mehr an das physische Instrument des Gehirns gebunden ist.
Die sieben Stufen kann der Mensch durchmachen, wenn er das Johannes-Evangelium vom dreizehnten Kapitel an immer wieder in sich leben läßt: erstens die Fußwaschung, den Pfad des DienenWollens, des Sich-Neigens in All-Demut; zweitens die Geißelung; drittens die Dornenkrönung; viertens die Kreuzigung; fünftens den mystischen Tod am Kreuz; sechstens die Grablegung; siebentens die Auferstehung. Das sind die sieben Stufen des christlichen inneren Mysteriums, das äußerlich dargestellt worden ist auf dem Plan der Weltgeschichte.
Die christlichen Mönche lebten das ganze Leben hindurch immer wieder in diesen Erlebnissen des Johannes-Evangeliums von Kapitel dreizehn ab. Daraus sogen sie ihre Kraft.
The Truth Language of the Gospels: The Christian Mystery
When we speak of the Christian mystical development of the human being, we must take into account that the path taken in Christianity to achieve higher spiritual development has always been a strictly prescribed one. Only those who withdrew from external culture could follow the Christian-Gnostic path of development. Its complete strictness is not feasible for a person who is involved in external work. However, everyone can achieve a great deal if they only approach this path. Nevertheless, the Christian path requires a very significant level of development. However, it differs from all other paths in that within this path, human beings cannot come to the knowledge of reincarnation and karma through their own perception.
In esoteric Christianity, there was a conviction that reincarnation existed. But this conviction does not belong to actual exoteric Christianity. There was a specific reason why Christianity in the past did not have this teaching.
One need only go back a few thousand years to find that the teaching of reincarnation and karma was widespread throughout the world. Only among peoples of Semitic descent did the teaching of reincarnation and karma recede somewhat. Otherwise, this teaching was found everywhere at that time. People who were oppressed by their fate said to themselves at that time: This is one life among many; what I prepare in this life will be rewarded in another. — At that time, there was a constant looking up to the higher worlds. This was everywhere, including among the Chaldean priest-wise men. For them, the stars were the expression of a soul and a spirit; they were the bodies of spirits. For them, the entire universe was animated by spiritual beings. They spoke of the laws according to which the stars move as the will of the spirits whose bodies are the sun and the planets. People at that time lived by continually directing their souls toward the spirit. What people accomplished outwardly in their work on earth at that time was primitive, while the spiritual penetration of the universe had a profound effect on them. High spiritual views can be found there alongside a primitive material culture.
Now an age was to come in which external, material culture was increasingly cultivated, which, so to speak, conquered the globe for material culture. People's gaze was to rest on physical life. The thinking of the Chaldean priest-sages, the disciples of Hermes, the disciples of the ancient rishis, was directed toward spiritual life. For all of them, repeated earthly lives were a fact. People had to disregard this for a time. All people were to go through one incarnation without knowing anything about repeated earthly lives. This was already being prepared eight hundred years before the beginning of Christianity. Gradually, this is flooding back into our time. Today, those who are familiar with occult currents know that Christianity must now also take up the teachings of reincarnation and karma again.
This emerges from the mystery on Mount Tabor. It is an event that took place “on the mountain.” “On the mountain” is a key phrase that means that the Master leads his disciples into the innermost part to give them the most intimate teachings there. It says: “The disciples were enraptured.” This means that they were led into higher worlds. There Elijah, Moses, and Jesus appeared to them. This means that space and time were overcome. Those who were no longer there, Moses and Elijah, appeared to them in the devachanic state. The name Elijah means the way of God, the goal. The word El, meaning God, is contained in Elohim, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and also in Bel. The name Moses represents truth. Moses is the occult name for truth. Jesus means life. Christ himself, standing in the middle, is life. There, as it were, it was written in mental letters of brass: “The way, the truth, and the life.” The disciples say, “Let us build huts here.” This means that they were chelas of the second degree. Furthermore, the Lord says: “Elijah has reappeared, but they did not recognize him. Tell no one until I return.” He is speaking here of reincarnation; John the Baptist is Elijah. The return refers to the return of Christ Jesus. Understanding of this event should be prepared through the anthroposophical worldview.
Once all human beings have gone through the experience of knowing nothing about reincarnation and karma in one incarnation, reincarnation will be taught again. In the most intimate circles of Christianity, however, reincarnation has always been regarded as truth. This can be seen wherever there were initiates who taught through their deeds. One example of this is the Trappist order. Through complete abstinence from speech in one incarnation, they train themselves to become skilled speakers for subsequent incarnations. Thus, by doing the opposite in one incarnation, a very special gift is developed for the next incarnation. Fiery speakers were to be created through abstinence from speech.
What should be taught outwardly in one age was that human beings should hold fast to the feeling that life on earth is exhausted with this one life. Human beings should say to themselves: An entire eternity depends on what happens in this one life. A radical elaboration of this view is the doctrine of eternal punishment in hell. The globe would not have been conquered if the teachers of Christianity had not left behind the idea that this one life should be regarded as so important. The great teachers never presented absolute truths, but rather what was appropriate for human beings. The great teachers never teach the ultimate truths, but rather what is beneficial for a particular age. The doctrine of reincarnation would not have been appropriate at that time. Nor is what spiritual science teaches the ultimate truth, but the anthroposophical worldview must be taught now because that is what is right today. People who now hear the teachings of spiritual science will hear the truth in a completely different way in a later incarnation. Within three thousand years, we will learn something that lies in a higher realm because we have already gone through anthroposophy once. This is the spiritual side. But everything spiritual must also have a counterpart in the physical. Several centuries before Christ, the individuality that appeared in Christ had already had a preparatory effect.
In order for people to think that one incarnation was the only one, it was necessary for something to cut off the brain from the knowledge of the higher principles in human beings, of Atma, Buddhi, Manas, and from the knowledge of reincarnation. To this end, wine was given to people. Previously, only water had been used in all temple cults. Then the use of wine was introduced, and even a divine being, Bacchus, Dionysus, was the representative of wine. The most deeply initiated disciple, John, reveals in his Gospel what wine means for inner development. At the wedding in Cana in Galilee, water is turned into wine. Through wine, people were prepared in such a way that they no longer understood reincarnation. At that time, the sacrificial water was turned into wine, and we are now in the process of turning wine back into water. Anyone who wants to ascend to the higher realms of existence must abstain from every drop of alcohol.
In the Gospel of John, every line is a profound experience for each individual and for all of humanity. Jesus said: I have come here to bring about the beginning of this epoch of evolution. — Paul, an initiate, calls Christ the reverse Adam. In Adam we have the first human being to appear in this form. With this, the spiritual human being is transferred to incarnation on earth. Now he can take a twofold path. He can take what the gods give him, or acquire something new for himself. This is the story of Cain and Abel. Abel takes the animals that are there. Cain works for what he sacrifices. Through what Cain works for, bread is created. Bread has always been the representative of what man himself works for. By working for bread, man has become sinful. Cain killed his brother. At the same time as his own work, man has become sinful; he has fallen into matter.
The reverse of Adam is Christ Jesus, who ascends again. He must purchase this with his blood. This had to be done once by a personality. The bread and wine find their representative in the person of Christ, in his body and blood. The Lord himself must take upon himself the sin of Cain: This is my body, this is my blood. — Redemption must come about through the sanctification of what is on earth. The wine represents this at the Lord's Supper, and the blood is thus related to the wine.
The Gospels are not only teachings, but also writings about life. The stories in the Gospels refer not only to external historical events, but also to inner experiences of human beings. Christian yoga is living completely within the Gospel, as if it were one's own soul life.
Four things are absolutely necessary for Christian yoga to be possible at all. The first is simplicity. This is a Christian virtue. One must realize that in life one has many experiences that cause one to lose one's impartiality. Almost everyone is biased. The only impartial answers to questions are those given by children. But they are also foolish in this, because children do not yet know anything. However, one must learn to be wise and impartial, childlike and impartial with experience. In Christianity, this is called simplicity.
The second virtue that must be acquired is that, as a Christian mystic, one must shed what many people have, namely the inner sense of well-being that comes from religious practices. One must no longer engage in these practices for one's own satisfaction, but because the path of practice requires it. All feelings of well-being associated with religious practices must be silenced.
The third virtue is even more difficult. It consists in absolutely refraining from attributing anything to one's own ability. Instead, one must learn to attribute everything to divine power, to the merit of God working through us. Without this, one cannot become a Christian mystic.
The fourth virtue is to achieve patient resignation to whatever may befall us. We must cast aside all worries and fears and be prepared for everything, both the best and the worst.
If one has not developed such virtues to a certain degree, one cannot hope to become a Christian mystic. This preparation enables one to go through the seven stages of the Christian mystical path.
The first stage is the washing of feet. Everyone must perform this. This is the fulfillment of the saying: Whoever wants to be the Lord must be the servant of all. We must be clear that we do not owe what we are to our own selves. We must take into account everything that other people and the environment have made of us, and seriously consider it. Then we will understand how we are connected to our entire environment. When we have gained strength through the four virtues: simplicity, stripping away the comfort of religious practices, renouncing the attribution of our own abilities, patient devotion to everything that befalls us – then we will also gain the strength to carry out what is called the washing of feet, namely to view everything that has been given to us from outside, everything that has elevated us, with gratitude, and to bow down before it. We must transform our entire feeling into pure gratitude toward those who have given us everything. Thus, we must kneel before those through whom we have become what we are. Christ Jesus knelt before his disciples because without them he could not have become what he became. Christ Jesus presupposes the disciples as the plant presupposes the mineral, as the animal presupposes the plant. He who is the Lord becomes the servant of all. When we learn to humble ourselves to the point of deepest gratitude, then some of the social trappings fall away, and we can then move on to the next stage.
When we renounce external power, we must have inner power. When we have become the last, we go to the Father. This is called “the way to the Father.” We are then intimately connected with this primal power. This can only be found through our own experience. We must learn to endure every pain. This is the second stage, the scourging, the second stage in the Christian mystical sense. Then the self is supported by itself.
Even higher is enduring contempt, the third stage. One must learn to endure not being respected by people at all. One must find all one's strength in the higher life. That is bearing the crown of thorns. We must learn to stand upright when the world despises us and showers us with scorn.
When a person has reached this point, they face their own physicality as if it were foreign. They have humbled themselves, learned to endure pain, learned to endure contempt. Now the body is something in which they no longer live, but around which the soul hovers. This is the crucifixion, the fourth stage. This is replaced by the stage that occurs when one's own body has become completely objective, as if we were tied to a foreign piece of wood. Then our specialness has ceased. This is the mystical death on the cross, the fifth stage.
The sixth stage is reached when the human being has become equal to everything that is on earth and embraces everything with his feelings, perceiving the whole earth as his body. This is the burial. With this, the human being has become what spiritual science calls oneness with the planet. He then feels that he is not a separate being. The human being can only exist on this earth. A few hundred miles away from it, he would have to die, wither away, like a hand that has been cut off from the body. The earth is then the body of man. We must be buried in it. From this state, man attains earth consciousness. Then follows the seventh stage, the resurrection: man has become a resurrected being. This state can only be understood by those whose thinking is no longer bound to the physical instrument of the brain.
Human beings can go through the seven stages if they allow the Gospel of John, from chapter thirteen onwards, to live within them again and again: first, the washing of feet, the path of the will to serve, of bowing down in all humility; second, the scourging; third, the crowning with thorns; fourth, the crucifixion; fifth, the mystical death on the cross; sixth, the burial; seventh, the resurrection. These are the seven stages of the Christian inner mystery, which has been outwardly represented in the plan of world history.
Throughout their lives, Christian monks repeatedly relived these experiences from chapter thirteen of the Gospel of John. From this they drew their strength.