The Christian Mystery
GA 97
12 February 1906, Cologne
III. The Gospel of John as an Initiation Document I
The first 12 chapters in the gospel of John
In modern theology, clear distinction is made between the first three gospels and the gospel of John. The first three are called the synoptic gospels, whilst the latter is often said to be a composition for teaching purposes and of no historical value. What matters is, however, that everything said relating to the Christ in the gospels is a profound symbol which at the same time is an important historical fact. In reality the first three gospels differ from the gospel of John because they were written by disciples who were less profoundly initiated, whereas the gospel of John was written by the most deeply initiated disciple.
The gospel of John actually makes no direct mention of John, only referring to him as the disciple whom Jesus loved. This is a key word for the one who was most deeply initiated. To indicate that some disciples were the most intimate initiates it would be said that the master loved them.
The disciple who wrote down the gospel of John first of all described something he had himself experienced. Chapters 1 to 12 are experiences in the astral world, chapter 13 and those that follow experiences at the devachanic level. This is highly significant and characteristic of the whole of it. John described experiences on the astral level because he took the view that it is only possible to understand what Christ Jesus accomplished on this earth if one considers it in the light of the spirit. The things the master did and said could only be understood if one put oneself in a higher state of consciousness. Inner development can enable human beings to gain true vision in the astral world. This is only achieved by doing specific meditations. The individual must close himself off from the outside world. He must let eternal truths arise in his soul. A new world then opens up all around him.
What Christ Jesus did on earth could only be properly judged by going into a higher world. Things experienced with Jesus in the physical world only became clear if seen in astral terms. To gain living experience of what Christ Jesus had done, one had to use suitable Christian meditation to enter into a state where the soul gained understanding of the Christ.
John said so first of all in his introduction. This is a meditative prayer from the beginning to ‘and the darknesses did not comprehend it.’ When the soul gains living experience of what lies in those words, the powers arise that enable us to grasp the content of chapters 1 to 12. ‘In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was a god.’ This ancient truth was presented in visible form in all the ancient mysteries, above all those with an Egyptian bias.
Words sound in air-filled space, otherwise we would not hear them. The figures of the words we speak are in that space. If the air could be suddenly made to go rigid as I speak the waves that buzz around in the air would fall down as rigid solid bodies. A mystery teacher would tell his pupil: ‘Just as a human being speaks, wresting his inner life away and passing it into the air, so the cosmic soul also spoke, but into much more subtle matter, into Akasha matter, and this would then become solid.’ Everything around us is condensed word of god. And so, the mystery teacher said, the world all around us is frozen word of God, a frozen logos. ‘In the beginning was the word and the word was with God.’ It was still within itself, it was itself a god. Then it filled space and froze. This logos is now present in everything. Everywhere around us we have the crystals of the logos. But as life evolved, the logos arose from its state of slumber, as it were. In man it became the light of insight. When we gain insight, God, who has originally descended into the world, comes to us out of this world. One must enter wholly into this, penetrating so deeply into the world that one realizes: The logos lives in the world.
Originally there was the creation of the physical human being. The spiritual human being entered into this physical human being. Then light shone into the darkness. But the darknesses did not at first comprehend it. When a human being develops further, there comes to him the content of astral truth vision. He then sees clearly what Christ Jesus was, and what his teaching signified: that the time was ripe in those days to bring forth a reverse Adam. Man had descended into his body, and with this came birth and death. Light then entered into the darkness.
There was need to help humanity to understand again that life is the victor in the struggle with death. John the Baptist thus came as a forerunner. The Baptist made it known that a new kingdom would take all that was old and still wholly in the sign of the original creation by divine powers. Until then it was said that the god would destroy those who went against his laws. The new kingdom was one, however, which man would find in himself through living experience of the god. The idea of the old covenant had been that humanity had to obey God's commandment. The new covenant was that human beings should follow the god in them of their own free will. This is the love of goodness. It was prophetically foretold; it had to increase. The Christ as the representative of the new covenant had to increase; John, being only his forerunner, had to decrease.
Two major elements came together at this point. John saw this in his vision where everything appeared in form of images. At the same time the actual Baptist and his historical mission appeared to his inner eye. The whole mission of Christianity now presented himself to him. He described this in the first chapter.
Let us go back to very early times, at least 2000 years before Christ. Wise individuals had advanced so far that they were initiated into the mysteries. One symbol used was the offering of the water. The mystery priest used water as a symbol. It is a law that man shuts himself off from the higher world of the spirit if he takes alcohol. Someone wishing to enter the worlds of spirit in a living way must not drink wine, not even the wine of the offering.
The marriage in Cana characterizes the Mission of Christianity. The ancient mystery priests had the most sublime teachings, given out of profound understanding in the spirit. But one thing that was lacking in pagan culture was the conquest of the physical world. Their tools were still extremely primitive, the whole of outer civilization was primitive. People had not yet gained a relationship to the things that had to happen directly down here on earth. They had to learn to control the earth and this meant they had to be limited to the physical. They had to grow strong and hallow the lower human being.
This culture was prepared for by great teachers who spoke of the significance of the physical level. Egyptian art was great in its spiritual concepts but not in the form it took at the physical level. The whole of Greek art consisted in bringing the human being down to the physical level. Roman law also brought humanity down to the physical level. The cult of Dionysus was connected with all this. The representative of wine was actually shown as a god. The story of the marriage in Cana shows the introduction of wine into human evolution in sublime fashion. The true purpose was to show that water is greater than wine. It was transformed into wine because humanity had to be taken down to the physical level.
Today we have come down to the physical level in every respect. If there is no moral development to go hand in hand with civilization at the physical level, physical achievements are destructive. Moral development will enable humanity to generate energies that will be very different from those that are now to be found at the physical level. Keely44Keely, John Worrel (182–1898), American engineer. Rudolf Steiner spoke of him on several occasions, e.g. in Ursprung und Ziel des Menschen. Grundbegriffe der Geisteswissenschaft (GA 53), Berlin, 30 March 1905; The Temple Legend (GA 93). Berlin, 2 Jan. 1906. Tr. J. Wood. London: Rudolf Steiner Press 1985; Steiner R. Cosmic Being and Egohood (in GA 169), lecture given in Berlin on 20 June 1916. Typescript translation C 43 at Rudolf Steiner House Library, London; Polarities in the Evolution of Mankind (GA 197), Stuttgart, 8 Nov. 1920. Tr. not named. London: Rudolf Steiner Press 1987. Considerable detail, but confusing, may be found in in Blavatsky, HP, The Secret Doctrine vol. 1. set his engine in motion with vibrations created in his own organism. Such vibrations depend on a person's moral nature. This is the first hint of a dawn for a technology of the future. We will have engines in future that are only set going by energies coming from people who have moral qualities. Immoral people will not be able to set them going. Purely mechanical mechanism must be transformed into moral mechanism.
The approach used in the science of the spirit is preparing the way for this ascent. Christianity first had to guide humanity down. Now it must guide them upwards again. Wine must be transformed into water again.
John was able to see beyond physical reality. The deed accomplished by the Lord, his mission, thus appeared to John the disciple in the image of the marriage at Cana in Galilee. This is how one should read the first 12 chapters of the gospel of John. It does not say that Mary asked him but the mother of Jesus. This is a mystic term. In mysticism, ‘mother’ always refers to something that needs to be inseminated when the human being ascends to a higher level. Jesus had to take the whole of human consciousness, such as it had been until then, to a higher level. The consciousness of all humanity needed him to take it a step forward. This is why Jesus was able to say: ‘Woman, what have I to do with you?’ He would not have said this to his mother.
On the third day, a marriage took place. This means that John lay in the sleep of initiation for three days. There the vision of the marriage in Cana in Galilee occurred. In a sleep lasting three days he went through the events that took place in the world of the spirit. On the third day he experienced the vision of the marriage in Cana. All that follows are events he saw in his astral vision.
In the third chapter we have the talk with Nicodemus. In his astral vision it would always be the Lord himself who appeared to John. In the talk with Nicodemus we hear what was to happen to John. The Lord put things very clearly. Nicodemus did not at first understand him. It is John himself who needed to understand; it was explained to him in the vision that it was a matter of killing off the lower human being, with the higher human being coming alive. He gradually understood who Jesus actually was; that the powers of the world's origin, the father of the world, were alive in him. This is why we then have the words Jesus said about the father. The occult powers Jesus possessed appeared to John as an astral reflection of the actual events. John was thus learning the most profound truths through the Lord himself.
In the fourth chapter we have the meeting with the woman of Samaria. The Lord said to her: ‘You have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband’ She was to be raised to the higher self. For this, she had to go through the lower bodies. Those were the old husbands. She now had to be connected with the higher self. That was the new husband. In the story of the man who was born blind it became evident that it was his karma to be unable to see.
The first events described in John's gospel are astral experiences. Surely it is natural that John himself was not present, seeing that he perceived it all in image consciousness? John is not mentioned in the first 12 chapters. He was not yet the disciple, experiencing all these things in the astral level.
He then slept the initiation sleep. He was to rise to a higher degree. This happened as he lived through the experiences of the three days and on into the fourth day. The initiation took 3 ½ days. Then he saw his own initiation, his own resurrection. This was the raising of Lazarus.45John 11: 1-45. See also Steiner R. Christianity as Mystical Fact and The Mysteries of Antiquity (GA 8). Tr. H. Collison, rev. C. Davy, A. Bittleston. Bristol: RudoIfSteinerPress 1992. Lazarus wrote the gospel of John. Martha and Mary were the states of consciousness in his soul, one divine, the other turned to life on earth. The description of the Lazarus miracle is the description of a higher level of initiation. The 12th chapter prepares for the actual recognition of the Jesus personality. John himself then says: ‘Now I know him, who has raised me from the dead.’
John's higher development begins with the 13th chapter. Every word in the gospel of John can be understood if we take it as John's living experience. He then became conscious in his I, and this was no longer an image consciousness. He consciously became the disciple whom the Lord loved.
Das Johannes-Evangelium als Einweihungsurkunde
Die ersten zwölf Kapitel des Johannes-Evangeliums
Die gegenwärtige Theologie unterscheidet streng zwischen den drei ersten Evangelien und dem Johannes-Evangelium. Die drei ersten werden die synoptischen Evangelien genannt. Dagegen wird das letzte häufig als Lehrgedicht hingestellt, welches einen historischen Wert nicht habe. Das Entscheidende ist aber, daß wir es bei allem, was sich in den Evangelien auf den Christus bezieht, mit einem tiefen Symbol zu tun haben, und daß das Symbol zugleich eine historisch wichtige Tatsache ist. Es unterscheiden sich die drei ersten Evangelien vom Johannes-Evangelium in Wirklichkeit dadurch, daß sie von weniger tief eingeweihten Jüngern herrühren, das JohannesEvangelium jedoch von dem am tiefsten eingeweihten Schüler.
Der Name des Johannes ist im Johannes-Evangelium unmittelbar gar nicht erwähnt, sondern er wird bezeichnet als der Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte. Diese Bezeichnung ist ein Schlüsselwort für den am tiefsten Eingeweihten. Daß bestimmte Jünger die intimsten Eingeweihten sind, bezeichnete man damit, daß man sagte, der Meister habe sie lieb.
Der Jünger, der das Johannes-Evangelium niederschrieb, schildert zunächst ein eigenes Erlebnis. Kapitel eins bis zwölf sind Erlebnisse in der astralen Welt, Kapitel dreizehn und die folgenden schildern Ereignisse auf dem Devachanplan. Das ist sehr bedeutsam und bezeichnend für die Sache. Johannes schildert die Erlebnisse auf dem astralen Plan, weil er der Anschauung ist, daß man das, was Christus Jesus hier auf der Erde vollbracht hat, nur verstehen kann, wenn man es im Lichte des Geistigen betrachtet. Was der Meister getan, gesagt hat, kann man nur begreifen, wenn man sich in einen höheren Zustand versetzt. Durch eine innere Entwickelung kann der Mensch dazu kommen, in der astralen Welt wirklich zu sehen. Das erreicht man durch ganz bestimmte Arten von Meditationen. Der Mensch muß sich abschließen gegen die Außenwelt. Dann muß er in der Seele ewige Wahrheiten aufgehen lassen. Eine neue Welt geht dann rings um ihn auf.
Was der Christus Jesus auf der Erde tat, konnte nur in der richtigen Weise beurteilt werden, wenn man sich in eine höhere Welt versetzte. Was man physisch mit Jesus erlebt hatte, wurde erst durchschaubar, wenn man es astral wahrnahm. Wollte man erleben, was der Christus Jesus getan hatte, so mußte man durch das geeignete christliche Meditieren sich in einen solchen Zustand versetzen, durch den man zum Seelenverständnis des Christus kam.
Das spricht Johannes in seinem Evangelium zuerst in der Einleitung aus. Es ist ein meditatives Gebet, vom Anfang bis zu dem Satze «die Finsternisse begriffen nicht das Licht». Wenn die Seele erlebt, was in diesen Sätzen liegt, dann werden die Kräfte erweckt, um den Inhalt von Kapitel eins bis zwölf zu verstehen. «Im Anfang war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und ein Gott war das Wort.» Diese alte Wahrheit wurde in allen alten Mysterien, besonders in denen mit ägyptischer Färbung, anschaulich dargestellt.
Die Worte durchtönen den Luftraum, wir würden sonst die Worte nicht hören. Im Luftraum sind die Gestalten der Worte, die wir aussprechen. Wenn die Luft, während ich spreche, plötzlich zum Erstarren gebracht werden könnte, so würden die in der Luft schwirrenden Wellen als feste, starre Körper herunterfallen. Der Mysterienlehrer machte dem Schüler klar: So wie der Mensch spricht und sein Inneres losringt in die Luft, so sprach auch die Weltenseele in eine viel feinere Materie hinein, in die Akasha-Materie, und diese wurde darauf fest. Alles um uns herum ist verdichtetes Gotteswort. So, sagte der Mysterienlehrer, ist die Welt ringsherum ein gefrorenes Gotteswort, ein gefrorener Logos. «Im Anfang war das Wort und das Wort war bei Gott.» Es war noch in seinem Inneren, es war selbst ein Gott. Dann erfüllte es den Raum und erstarrte. Dieser Logos ist jetzt überall enthalten. Überall um uns her haben wir die Kristalle des Logos. Aber indem das Leben entsteht, steht der Logos aus dem Schlummerzustand gleichsam auf. Im Menschen wird er zum Lichte der Erkenntnis. Wenn wir erkennen, tritt uns Gott, der zuerst heruntergestiegen ist in die Welt, aus dieser Welt entgegen. Sich ganz hineinleben muß man, um so tief in die Welt hineinzudringen, daß man gewahr wird: Der Logos lebt in der Welt.
Das, was ursprünglich geschah, war die Heranbildung des physischen Menschen. In diesen physischen Menschen kam der geistige Mensch hinein. Da schien das Licht in die Finsternis. Aber die Finsternisse begriffen es zunächst nicht. Dann kommt bei seiner Fortentwickelung dem Menschen der Inhalt der astralen Wahrvision. Da wird ihm klar, was der Christus Jesus war, und was seine Lehre bedeutete: daß die Zeit damals reif war, einen umgekehrten Adam hervorzubringen. Heruntergestiegen war der Mensch in den Körper, und dadurch kam Geburt und Tod. Das Licht drang dann in die Finsternis.
Nun sollte der Mensch wieder hinaufgeführt werden zu dem Verständnis dessen, daß das Leben der Sieger über den Tod ist. Es erschien der Vorläufer, der Täufer Johannes. Der Täufer verkündet, daß das Alte, das noch ganz im Zeichen dessen steht, was die göttlichen Mächte einst hervorgebracht haben, nun durch ein neues Reich abgelöst werden wird. Bisher hieß es: Der Gott wird euch vernichten, wenn ihr gegen sein Gesetz handelt. - Das neue Reich ist aber dasjenige, was der Mensch in sich selber erleben kann, wenn er den Gott erlebt. Die Vorstellung des Alten Bundes ist: Wir haben uns unter Gottes Gebot zu fügen. Der Neue Bund sagt: Der Mensch soll dem Gott im Inneren freiwillig folgen. Das ist die Liebe zum Guten. Sie wird prophetisch vorherverkündet, sie muß zunehmen. Christus, der Repräsentant des Neuen, muß zunehmen, Johannes, der nur sein Vorläufer ist, muß abnehmen.
Zwei große Momente berühren sich hier. Das erscheint in der Vision des Johannes. Da erscheint alles in bildliichem Zustand. Zugleich erscheint aber auch der wirkliche Täufer, seine geschichtliche Mission vor dem geistigen Auge des Johannes. Die ganze Mission des Christentums erscheint ihm nun. Dies schildert er im ersten Kapitel.
Sehen wir zurück in uralte Zeiten, in jene Zeiten, die mindestens zweitausend Jahre vor Christus liegen. Da gab es die Weisen, die so weit gekommen waren, daß sie in die Mysterien eingeweiht wurden. Ein gewisses Symbol war dabei die Opferung des Wassers. Der Weisheitspriester benutzte das Wasser als Symbol. Ein Gesetz ist, daß der Mensch sich von der höheren geistigen Welt durch den Alkohol abschließt. Wenn der Mensch sich in die geistigen Welten hinaufleben will, darf er keinen Wein trinken, auch keinen Opferwein.
Durch die Hochzeit zu Kana wird die Mission des Christentums charakterisiert. Die alten Priesterweisen besaßen die erhabensten Geisteslehren, die aus der tiefsten Erkenntnis gegeben worden waren. Aber die alte heidnische Kultur hatte eines nicht: die Eroberung der physischen Welt. Die Werkzeuge waren noch äußerst primitiv, die ganze äußere Kultur war primitiv. Die Menschen hatten noch nicht den Zusammenhang mit dem, was unmittelbar hier unten auf der Erde zu geschehen hatte. Damit nun der Mensch die Erde beherrschen lernte, mußte er auf das Physische beschränkt werden. Stark sollte er werden und den niederen Menschen heiligen.
Vorbereitet wird diese Kultur durch große Lehrer, welche auf die Bedeutung des physischen Plans hinweisen. Groß ist die ägyptische Kunst in ihrer geistigen Auffassung, aber nicht als Gestaltung auf dem physischen Plan. Die ganze griechische Kunst ist ein Herunterholen des Menschen auf den physischen Plan. Das römische Recht ist ebenfalls etwas, was den Menschen auf den physischen Plan herunterführt. Mit alldem steht der Dionysos-Dienst in Zusammenhang. Der Repräsentant des Weines wird sogar als Gott dargestellt. In einer erhabenen Form ist die Einführung des Weines in die Menschheitsentwickelung dargestellt in der Erzählung von der Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa. Es handelt sich in Wahrheit darum, zu zeigen, daß das Wasser höhersteht als der Wein. Weil der Mensch heruntergeführt werden sollte auf den physischen Plan, deshalb wurde das Wasser in Wein verwandelt.
Heute sind wir mit allen unseren Einrichtungen auf den physischen Plan heruntergekommen. Wenn nicht neben der Kultur auf dem physischen Plan eine moralische Kultur einhergeht, so wirken die physischen Errungenschaften zerstörend. Durch Entwickelung der Moralität wird der Mensch ganz andere Kräfte erzeugen können als diejenigen, die jetzt auf dem physischen Plan vorhanden sind. Keely setzte seinen Motor in Bewegung durch Schwingungen, die er im eigenen Organismus erregte. Solche Schwingungen hängen von der moralischen Natur des Menschen ab. Das ist ein erster Morgenstrahl für dasjenige, was als Technik der Zukunft herauskommen wird. In Zukunft werden wir Maschinen haben, die nur dann in Bewegung geraten, wenn die Kräfte von Menschen kommen, die moralisch sind. Die unmoralischen Menschen können solche Maschinen dann nicht in Bewegung setzen. Rein mechanischer Mechanismus muß verwandelt werden in moralischen Mechanismus.
Die geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung bereitet dieses Hinaufsteigen vor. Das Christentum mußte die Menschen zunächst herabführen. Jetzt muß das Christentum die Menschheit wieder hinaufführen. Der Wein muß wieder in Wasser verwandelt werden.
Der Blick des Johannes ging über die physische Wirklichkeit hinaus. Das, was der Herr getan hat, seine Mission, erschien dem Jünger Johannes also in dem Bilde der Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa. Solcherart sind die zwölf ersten Kapitel des Johannes-Evangeliums aufzufassen. Es steht nicht da, daß Maria ihn aufforderte, sondern die Mutter Jesu. Wir haben es hier mit einer mystischen Ausdrucksweise zu tun. Unter Mutter versteht man in aller Mystik das, was befruchtet werden muß, wenn der Mensch hinaufsteigt zu einer höheren Stufe. Jesus hatte das ganze bisherige Menschheitsbewußtsein auf eine höhere Stufe zu bringen. Das ganze Menschheitsbewußtsein fordert ihn auf, es eine Stufe weiterzubringen. Daher konnte Jesus sagen: «Weib, was habe ich mit dir zu schaffen’ - Zu seiner Mutter hätte Jesus das nicht gesagt.
Am dritten Tage war eine Hochzeit. Das bedeutet, daß Johannes drei Tage lang im Einweihungsschlaf lag. Da geschah die Vision der Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa. Während des dreitägigen Schlafes machte er das durch, was in der geistigen Welt vor sich ging. Am dritten Tage erlebte er die Vision der Hochzeit zu Kana. Alles Folgende sind Ereignisse, die er in der astralen Vision schaut.
Im dritten Kapitel folgt das Gespräch mit Nikodemus. In der astralen Vision erscheint dem Johannes immer der Herr selbst. Was mit Johannes geschehen soll, das tritt ihm in dem Gespräch mit Nikodemus entgegen. Deutlich spricht sich der Herr aus. Nikodemus versteht ihn zunächst nicht. Es soll dem Johannes selbst klarwerden, es wird ihm in der Vision erklärt, daß es sich um eine Abtötung des niederen Menschen und um ein Aufleben des höheren Menschen handelt. Ihm wird allmählich klar, wer eigentlich der Jesus ist; daß in dem Jesus sich die ursprünglichen Kräfte der Welt ausleben, der Vater der Welt. Daher folgen hier die Reden des Christus über den Vater. Die Gewalt der okkulten Kräfte, die Jesus hat, tritt dem Johannes als astrales Spiegelbild der wirklichen Ereignisse entgegen. Alles ist wirklich geschehen, aber Johannes erlebt es in der astralen Vision. So lernt Johannes durch den Herrn selbst die tiefsten Wahrheiten kennen.
Im vierten Kapitel folgt die Begegnung mit der Samariterin. Der Herr sagt ihr: «Fünf Männer hast du gehabt, und den du nun hast, der ist nicht dein Mann.» Sie soll hinaufgehoben werden zu dem höheren Selbst. Dazu mußte sie durch die niederen Leiber hindurchgehen. Das sind die alten Gatten. Jetzt muß sie mit dem höheren Selbst verbunden werden, das ist der neue Gatte. - In der Erzählung von dem Blindgeborenen wird klar, daß es das Karma des Blindgeborenen ist, wodurch er nicht sehend ist.
Astrale Erlebnisse sind die ersten Ereignisse im Johannes-Evangelium. Ist es da nicht natürlich, daß Johannes selbst nicht dabei ist, weil er alles im Bilderbewußtsein erlebt? In den ersten zwölf Kapiteln kommt Johannes nicht vor. Da ist er noch nicht der Jünger, weil er dies alles auf dem Astralplan erlebt.
Nun schläft er den Einweihungsschlaf. Jetzt soll er zu einem höheren Grade heraufbefördert werden. Das geschieht, indem er sich aus den Erlebnissen der drei Tage hinüberlebt in den vierten Tag. Dreieinhalb Tage dauert die Einweihung. Da erscheint ihm die eigene Initiation, die Auferweckung seiner selbst. Das ist die Auferweckung des Lazarus. Lazarus ist der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums. Martha und Maria sind die Bewußtseinszustände seiner Seele, die göttliche und die dem Erdenleben zugewandte Seele. Die Schilderung des Lazarus-Wunders ist die Schilderung einer höheren Einweihung. Im zwölften Kapitel wird vorbereitet die eigentliche Erkenntnis der Persönlichkeit des Jesus. Das sagt Johannes selbst: Nun erkenne ich ihn, der mich auferweckt hat.
Mit dem dreizehnten Kapitel beginnt die höhere Entwickelung des Johannes. Jedes Wort des Johannes-Evangeliums wird uns verstandlich, wenn wir es als ein Erlebnis des Johannes auffassen. Er wird jetzt bewußt in seinem Ich, ohne Bilderbewußtsein. Nun wird er bewußt der Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte.
The Gospel of John as a document of initiation
The first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John
Contemporary theology makes a strict distinction between the first three Gospels and the Gospel of John. The first three are called the Synoptic Gospels. In contrast, the last is often presented as a didactic poem with no historical value. The crucial point, however, is that everything in the Gospels that refers to Christ is a profound symbol, and that the symbol is at the same time a historically important fact. The first three Gospels differ from the Gospel of John in reality in that they originate from less deeply initiated disciples, while the Gospel of John originates from the most deeply initiated disciple.
The name of John is not mentioned directly in the Gospel of John, but he is referred to as the disciple whom the Lord loved. This designation is a key word for the most deeply initiated. The fact that certain disciples were the most intimately initiated was indicated by saying that the Master loved them.
The disciple who wrote down the Gospel of John first describes his own experience. Chapters one to twelve are experiences in the astral world, while chapter thirteen and the following chapters describe events on the devachan plane. This is very significant and indicative of the matter. John describes the experiences on the astral plane because he believes that what Christ Jesus accomplished here on earth can only be understood when viewed in the light of the spiritual. What the Master did and said can only be understood when one enters a higher state of consciousness. Through inner development, human beings can come to truly see in the astral world. This is achieved through very specific types of meditation. People must shut themselves off from the outside world. Then they must allow eternal truths to arise in their souls. A new world then opens up around them.
What Christ Jesus did on earth could only be judged correctly if one placed oneself in a higher world. What one had experienced physically with Jesus only became transparent when one perceived it astral. If one wanted to experience what Christ Jesus had done, one had to put oneself into a state through appropriate Christian meditation, through which one came to the soul understanding of Christ.
John expresses this first in the introduction to his Gospel. It is a meditative prayer, from the beginning to the sentence “the darkness did not comprehend the light.” When the soul experiences what lies in these sentences, the powers are awakened to understand the content of chapters one to twelve. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This ancient truth was vividly portrayed in all the ancient mysteries, especially those with Egyptian coloring.
The words resonate through the air, otherwise we would not hear them. The forms of the words we speak are in the air. If the air could suddenly be frozen while I am speaking, the waves buzzing in the air would fall down as solid, rigid bodies. The mystery teacher made it clear to the student: just as man speaks and his inner being struggles into the air, so too did the world soul speak into a much finer matter, the akashic matter, and this became solid. Everything around us is condensed divine word. Thus, said the mystery teacher, the world around us is a frozen divine word, a frozen Logos. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” It was still within him, it was itself a god. Then it filled the space and solidified. This Logos is now contained everywhere. All around us we have the crystals of the Logos. But as life arises, the Logos awakens from its slumber, as it were. In human beings it becomes the light of knowledge. When we recognize this, God, who first descended into the world, comes to meet us from this world. We must immerse ourselves completely in order to penetrate so deeply into the world that we become aware: the Logos lives in the world.
What originally happened was the formation of the physical human being. The spiritual human being entered into this physical human being. Then the light shone in the darkness. But the darkness did not understand it at first. Then, as the human being develops further, the content of astral true vision comes to him. Then it becomes clear to him what Christ Jesus was and what his teaching meant: that the time was ripe to bring forth a reverse Adam. Man had descended into the body, and through this came birth and death. Then the light penetrated the darkness.
Now man was to be led back up to the understanding that life is the victor over death. The forerunner, John the Baptist, appeared. The Baptist proclaimed that the old, which was still entirely under the sign of what the divine powers had once brought forth, would now be replaced by a new kingdom. Until then, it had been said: God will destroy you if you act against his law. But the new kingdom is that which man can experience within himself when he experiences God. The idea of the Old Covenant is: We must submit to God's command. The New Covenant says: Man should voluntarily follow God within himself. That is love for the good. It is prophesied in advance; it must increase. Christ, the representative of the New, must increase, John, who is only his forerunner, must decrease.
Two great moments touch each other here. This appears in John's vision. Everything appears in a pictorial state. At the same time, however, the real baptizer, his historical mission, also appears before John's spiritual eye. The whole mission of Christianity now appears to him. He describes this in the first chapter.
Let us look back to ancient times, to those times at least two thousand years before Christ. There were wise men who had progressed so far that they were initiated into the mysteries. One symbol of this was the sacrifice of water. The priest of wisdom used water as a symbol. It is a law that man cuts himself off from the higher spiritual world through alcohol. If man wants to live his way up into the spiritual worlds, he must not drink wine, not even sacrificial wine.
The wedding at Cana characterizes the mission of Christianity. The ancient priestly sages possessed the most sublime spiritual teachings, which had been given from the deepest knowledge. But the ancient pagan culture lacked one thing: the conquest of the physical world. The tools were still extremely primitive, the entire external culture was primitive. People did not yet have a connection with what was about to happen here on earth. In order for humans to learn to rule the earth, they had to be limited to the physical. They had to become strong and sanctify the lower humans.
This culture is prepared by great teachers who point to the importance of the physical plane. Egyptian art is great in its spiritual conception, but not as a creation on the physical plane. All Greek art is a bringing down of man to the physical plane. Roman law is also something that brings man down to the physical plane. All this is connected with the Dionysus cult. The representative of wine is even depicted as a god. The introduction of wine into human development is depicted in a sublime form in the story of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. In truth, it is a matter of showing that water is superior to wine. Because man was to be brought down to the physical plane, water was turned into wine.
Today, we have descended to the physical plane with all our institutions. If a moral culture does not accompany the culture on the physical plane, physical achievements have a destructive effect. Through the development of morality, man will be able to generate forces quite different from those that now exist on the physical plane. Keely set his motor in motion through vibrations that he excited in his own organism. Such vibrations depend on the moral nature of man. This is a first ray of dawn for what will emerge as the technology of the future. In the future, we will have machines that only start moving when the forces come from people who are moral. Immoral people will then be unable to set such machines in motion. Purely mechanical mechanisms must be transformed into moral mechanisms.
The spiritual-scientific worldview is preparing for this ascent. Christianity first had to bring people down. Now Christianity must lead humanity upward again. The wine must be turned back into water.
John's gaze went beyond physical reality. What the Lord did, his mission, appeared to the disciple John in the image of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. This is how the first twelve chapters of the Gospel of John are to be understood. It does not say that Mary asked him, but the mother of Jesus. We are dealing here with a mystical mode of expression. In all mysticism, the mother is understood to be that which must be fertilized when man ascends to a higher level. Jesus had to raise the entire consciousness of humanity to a higher level. The entire consciousness of humanity calls upon him to take it one step further. That is why Jesus could say, “Woman, what have I to do with you?” Jesus would not have said this to his mother.
On the third day there was a wedding. This means that John was in an initiatory sleep for three days. Then the vision of the wedding at Cana in Galilee took place. During the three days of sleep, he went through what was happening in the spiritual world. On the third day, he experienced the vision of the wedding at Cana. Everything that follows are events that he sees in the astral vision.
In the third chapter, the conversation with Nicodemus follows. In the astral vision, the Lord himself always appears to John. What is to happen to John is revealed to him in the conversation with Nicodemus. The Lord speaks clearly. At first, Nicodemus does not understand him. It should become clear to John himself; it is explained to him in the vision that it is a matter of the death of the lower man and the revival of the higher man. It gradually becomes clear to him who Jesus really is; that in Jesus the original forces of the world, the Father of the world, are lived out. Hence, Christ's speeches about the Father follow here. The power of the occult forces that Jesus has confronts John as an astral reflection of the real events. Everything really happened, but John experiences it in astral vision. Thus John learns the deepest truths from the Lord himself.
In the fourth chapter follows the encounter with the Samaritan woman. The Lord says to her: “You have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.” She is to be lifted up to the higher self. To do this, she had to pass through the lower bodies. These are the old husbands. Now she must be connected to the higher self, which is the new husband. In the story of the man born blind, it becomes clear that it is the karma of the man born blind that causes him not to see.
Astral experiences are the first events in the Gospel of John. Is it not natural that John himself is not present, because he experiences everything in image consciousness? John does not appear in the first twelve chapters. He is not yet the disciple, because he experiences all this on the astral plane.
Now he sleeps the sleep of initiation. Now he is to be promoted to a higher degree. This happens when he lives through the experiences of the three days into the fourth day. The initiation lasts three and a half days. Then his own initiation appears to him, the resurrection of himself. This is the resurrection of Lazarus. Lazarus is the writer of the Gospel of John. Martha and Mary are the states of consciousness of his soul, the divine soul and the soul turned toward earthly life. The description of the miracle of Lazarus is the description of a higher initiation. In the twelfth chapter, the actual recognition of the personality of Jesus is prepared. John himself says: Now I recognize him who raised me up.
The thirteenth chapter marks the beginning of John's higher development. Every word of the Gospel of John becomes understandable to us when we understand it as an experience of John. He now becomes conscious in his ego, without image consciousness. Now he becomes consciously the disciple whom the Lord loved.