The Christian Mystery
GA 97
4 April 1906, Düsseldorf
XVI. The children of Lucifer, Love in the Spirit Taking the Place of Blood-based Love
We can say that there are two kinds of people on earth. Two great spiritual streams may be seen among human beings. The difference between the two is that one kind seek to see everything in the light of knowledge whilst the other kind want to be guided, in a way. The very way in which the view of the world presented in the science of the spirit is received shows that the desire to look for bright, clear light is not widespread. The majority of people still have not reached the point where they want to know about everything. Many rather like to be befogged; it embarrasses them to be given complete clarity with regard to something. It will, however, be necessary to let go of anything that may cause the mind to be befogged. This also applies to the whole way we lead our lives. We need to be restrained also in feeding ourselves and avoid anything that will cloud consciousness, such as alcohol, for instance. Countless other things also prevent the clarity that is needed. Doing without such things will also make us more practical in everyday life. Belief in authority also puts us in darkness. We should let ourselves be stimulated by authority but not build on it.
Clarity, as it is meant here, has least to do with a subordinate way of seeing the higher worlds. Such a subordinate way is in fact connected with soul mists clouding the conscious mind. In earlier stages of human history this was widespread. In Atlantean times the human mind was much less clear than it is today. Today even the most savage tribes have gone far beyond the Atlanteans' state of mind. Going further and further back in human evolution we come to conditions where human beings had inner vision but did not grasp things with the rational mind. Rationality first began to dawn in the Atlantean race. At one time the Atlanteans lived in the place where Ireland is today. When another individual was approaching, astral images would arise in the Atlantean's mind. He was not yet able to reflect. Man was only able to say ‘I’ to himself when the forebrain had developed. Human beings first began to develop self-awareness in the part of Atlantis which is Ireland today. From there they spread through Europe and into Asia. The human bones found in the Neander valley came from the descendants of Atlanteans; these still had sloping foreheads. From then on, man very slowly learned to think rationally and develop self-awareness. When man began to live his life bearing the seed of the spirit in him here on earth he was already well beyond the animals, but as yet unable to speak or to think.
Divine spirits known as devas existed at the time who did not need a physical body but floated in astral space. They had gained the things they needed by being in a physical body on the moon. Other spirits had not completed their evolution on the Moon, had not been able to manage it. These are the luciferic spirits which lagged behind the devas. The gods, or devas, lived on something that had become a characteristic of humans on earth—love between two sexes. Love between human beings is the air, or the food, which the gods enjoy. In Greek mythology it was called nectar and ambrosia.
The cohorts of Lucifer had no real function in humanity for as long as human beings were still somnambulant. It was only in the fifth root race that they really made man their very own child. Human thinking is not all that old. Ancient wisdom lived among the earliest peoples. This ancient wisdom was revealed from within to the priests. True insight and perception only came a few centuries before the birth of the Christ, in about 600 BC. The power of judgement also only developed later in the world.
This brings us to an important mystery, a fact to be found among early peoples. To grasp this, we must be able to shine a light into the sphere of the soul. In a North American Indian tribe one hears strange terms used for family relationships. Among the Iroquois, first cousins were called ‘brothers and sisters’, but only the children of brothers, not those of sisters. This is a relic of ancient Atlantis. At that early period in human history, the family was all that mattered. A woman would have several husbands and it was impossible to say who was a child's father. All peoples originally had ancestors who would unconcernedly marry close relatives. Close blood bonds were not an obstacle to marriage. It was said that children from closely related parents were the most enlightened; they would be somnambulant. As evolution progressed, it happened more and more that people would marry who were not related by blood. It is a law that the union of individuals who were not so closely related the ether body came loose from its connection with the physical body. With marriages between blood relations the ether bodies of offspring would be firmly lodged. They would be illumined from within. They would still think more with the solar plexus but have no powers of judgement. This grew with distant marriages and showed itself to the degree to which the old marriages between blood relations disappeared. The old somnambulant vision would vanish then, and a new way of seeing things develop, power of judgement. This new period was referred to as the development of the Dionysian principle. Dionysus was cut to pieces, with only the heart preserved. When the Dionysian principle arose, people were cut to pieces and then brought together again through the heart, a meeting of souls, and this brought a complete change in sexual life. The rational mind is the earlier sexuality between relatives transformed.
The earlier developmental stages of humanity are recapitulated in seven-year rhythms in individual human lives. From the first to the seventh year, the child's ether body is still very much in the background. We therefore should not develop children's powers of memory before they reach their seventh year, only their senses. That is the time when we can influence the senses, rousing their inner powers with the help of the senses. We should stimulate those powers by giving children toys that bring their powers of imagination to life, perhaps a block of wood with dots painted on for eyes, and so on, but not dolls that are so complete that the child cannot add anything using his powers of imagination. From the seventh to the fourteenth year it is above all important to get children to develop firm habits that will give them something to hold on to later on in life. These are the years when everything by way of memory must be brought to the human being. It is thus better not to invoke the child's powers of judgement at this period in life. A child should have authority around him at that time but not be an authority himself. Influence him by telling stories, not preaching morals but refer to great examples. For moral development it would be necessary then to develop a feeling for it in the old Pythagorean form. Pythagoras131Pythagoras(C.582–C.507 BC), pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. It has not yet been possible to identify the quotes given here said to his pupils: ‘Do not strike into the fire with your sword’—indicating that one should not do useless things. Another Pythagorean axiom of this kind was: ‘Do not turn back on the road before you have reached the end of it.’ Human beings should only learn to make their own judgements and form their own opinions once they have reached sexual maturity. The ether body loosens at this time, and the astral body will only then be ready to take action in the outside world.
This evolution, today gone through by every individual in seven-year rhythms, was gone through by humanity in the course of its great periods of evolution. Some of the subordinate powers in the human being were raised to a higher level so that the power of judgement could develop. And only then was it possible for Lucifer's cohorts to intervene. This luciferic power comes to expression in people's independent judgement. In those times, when the luciferic principle was intervening, people for the first time did independent work. If you study the past, you can say to yourself: in those early times, all that came about was what was needed to make a family. The individuals who wanted to put a purely spiritual element in the place of blood relationship were working in the name of Lucifer. The Church had developed as a continuation of ancient priestly wisdom. But parallel to it the stream arose where people sought the light, luciferic people such as the Templars, for instance.132See Steiner R. Inner Impulses Working in the Evolution of Mankind (in GA 171). 7 lectures, Dornach 16-18, 23-25 Sept., 1 Oct. 1916. Tr. not known. Manuscript translation R 45, Rudolf Steiner House Library, London; and The Templars (in GA 171). Tr. not known. Lecture given in Dornach on 2 Oct. 1916. Manuscript translation Z 156, Rudolf Steiner House Library, London. They said one had to find one's own light and truth. There was a sect in the middle ages, its members calling themselves Luciferians, who understood this. They would say: ‘Man may be truly blessed indeed, but without the light of knowledge; this is not for us; we want to fight our way through to the light.’133Followers of Bishop Lucifer von Cagliari (d. 370), existing for a time in Sardinia, Spain, Gaul, Italy and Africa
These are the two streams in humanity. One seeks only to be blessed, the others want the light. Those who are afraid of knowledge consider Lucifer to be evil. But for the others Lucifer is the light-bearer, the bringer of light. This is written in a manuscript kept in the Vatican, but the Church is keeping it a secret, and the people who take this direction in the Church warn people against Lucifer.
Dogma may indeed contain truth. The Pythagorean theorem is dogma for those who do not understand it. But if they do understand it they gain clear, lucid insight. Dogmas are presented as something given by authority. When one understands them they, too, become lucid insight.
At the time when Paul lived, the nature of Christianity was such that it could lead to general love of humanity. A tribal and national religion was to become a world religion. Belief in revelations was connected with the blood-based community. Moses gave established laws. The Christ did not give established laws, and instead of the law there was grace. The inmost human soul was coming alive.
The aims pursued in the Church are a wave that is going down; those of people who want freedom of opinion a wave that is rising. Some brotherhoods, like the Templars for instance, endeavour to seek the light. The race which is striving for the light—those are the children of Lucifer.
At a time when Christianity is beginning to be strictly organized, Edouard Schure134Edouard Schuré (1841–1929). published his play The Children of Lucifer.135Authorized translation into German by Marie von Sivers and published in Leipzig in 1905. Rudolf Steiner then rewrote it in free rhythms (1909), published in Rudolf Steiner/Edouard Schuré Lucifer. Die Kinder des Lucifer, Dornach 1955. This is one stream in the Church, and there is also the other one, the luciferic principle. The children of Lucifer are the children of the inner light, not of belief in revelations. Those who seek to move on into the future must feel related in the spirit. It has been said in the science of the spirit that we must reach the light by our own efforts. Profound, most deeply inward freedom is to develop in the human soul.
The theosophical journal has been called Lucifer for good reason.136See Lucifer-Gnosis. Gesammelte Aufsätze, 1903–1908 (GA 34). See also reference to this in Steiner R. Rudolf Steiner, an Autobiography (GA 28). Tr. R. Stebbing. New York: Rudolf Steiner Publications 1977. It is connected with the inmost nature of the theosophical movement. It needs to be stated for once that the luciferic principle was deliberately cast into the world. When the Roman Catholic Church established the dogma of infallibility,1371869–70 Vatican Council—infallibility of the pope when he speaks ex cathedra on faith and morals. the emphasis on the luciferic principle provided the counter pole. Conversely we might say that the dogma of infallibility arose in polar relationship to the declaration of spiritual freedom in theosophy, for this was the only way the Church could save itself.
Die Kinder Des Luzifer
Die Ablösung Der Blutsliebe Durch Die Geistige Liebe
Wir können sagen, daß es auf der Erde zweierlei Arten von Menschen gibt. Zwei große geistige Strömungen sind in der Menschheit zu erkennen. Der Unterschied zwischen den beiden liegt darin: Die einen streben mehr dahin, alles im Lichte der Erkenntnis zu sehen, die andern möchten in einer gewissen Beziehung geführt werden. Gerade die Art der Aufnahme der geisteswissenschaftlichen Weltanschauung zeigt, daß das Streben, nach hellem, klarem Licht zu suchen, nicht sehr verbreitet ist. Die Mehrzahl der Menschen ist noch nicht so weit, von allem etwas wissen zu wollen. Vielen ist eine Umnebelung recht und lieb, es geniert sie, wenn sie in irgendeiner Sache vollständige Klarheit bekommen sollen. Es muß aber alldem entsagt werden, was zu einer Umnebelung des Bewußtseins führen kann. Das gilt auch für die ganze Lebensführung. So muß der Mensch auch in bezug auf seine Nahrung enthaltsam sein und alles vermeiden, was das Bewußtsein umdunkelt, wie es zum Beispiel beim Alkohol der Fall ist. Es gibt noch unzählige andere Dinge, die den Menschen von der Klarheit wegführen. Die Entsagung von diesen Dingen macht den Menschen auch praktischer im täglichen Leben. Auch Autoritätsglauben führt zu einer Umdunkelung. Nur anregen soll man sich lassen, aber nicht auf die Autorität bauen.
Was wir hier unter Klarheit zu verstehen haben, ist am wenigsten verbunden mit einer untergeordneten Art, die höheren Welten zu sehen. Eine solche untergeordnete Art ist in der Tat mit einer seelischen Umdämmerung des Bewußtseins verbunden. Ein derartiger Zustand war in den früheren Zeiten der Menschheitsgeschichte allgemein verbreitet. In der Zeit der Atlantier war das Bewußtsein des Menschen viel weniger klar als jetzt. Jetzt sind sogar die wildesten Völkerschaften weit hinausgerückt über den Bewußtseinszustand der Atlantier. Wenn wir immer weiter zurückgehen in der Menschheitsentwickelung, kommen wir immer mehr in Zustände, wo der Mensch von innen heraus sieht, aber nicht mit dem Verstande begreift. Bei der atlantischen Rasse dämmert der Verstand zum ersten Male auf. An der Stätte, die das heutige Irland einnimmt, lebten zu einer gewissen Zeit die Atlantier. Wenn dem Atlantier sich ein anderer Mensch näherte, so stiegen in ihm astrale Bilder auf. Nachdenken konnte der Atlantier noch nicht. Erst wenn das Vorderhirn entwickelt ist, kann der Mensch zu sich «Ich» sagen. In dem Teil der Atlantis, der an der Stelle des heutigen Irlands lag, fingen die Menschen zuerst an, das Ich-Bewußtsein auszubilden. Von dieser Stelle aus verbreiteten sich die Atlantier über Europa hin nach Asien. Die Menschenknochen, welche man im Neandertal gefunden hat, sind solche, welche von den Nachkommen der Atlantier herrühren, sie haben noch eine weit zurückliegende Stirn. Der Mensch lernte von der damaligen Zeit an ganz langsam, verstandesmäßig zu denken und das Ich-Bewußtsein auszubilden. In dem Moment, wo der Mensch hier auf der Erde sein mit dem Geiste befruchtetes Dasein anfing, war er schon weit über das Tier hinaus, konnte aber noch nicht sprechen und denken.
Damals waren göttliche Wesen da, die man die Devas nennt, die keinen physischen Leib brauchten, die im Astralraum schwebten. Was sie durch einen physischen Leib erwerben konnten, hatten sie auf dem Monde durchgemacht. Es waren aber auch noch andere Wesenheiten da, die auf dem Monde ihre Evolution nicht beendet hatten, die damit nicht fertig geworden waren. Dies sind die luziferischen Wesenheiten, die gegenüber den Devas zurückgeblieben waren. Die Götter oder Devas lebten von dem auf der Erde, was eine Eigenschaft der Menschen geworden war, von der zweigeschlechtlichen Liebe. Die Liebe der Menschen ist die Luft oder auch die Nahrung, welche die Götter genießen. Man bezeichnete sie in der griechischen Mythologie als Nektar und Ambrosia.
Solange die Menschen noch somnambul waren, hatten die Scharen des Luzifer keine rechte Aufgabe in der Menschheit. Daß sie den Menschen so recht zu ihrem eigenen Kinde machten, das bildete sich erst in der fünften Wurzelrasse aus. Menschliches Denken ist noch gar nicht so sehr alt. Was man uralte Weisheit nennt, war bei den ältesten Völkern heimisch. Diese uralte Weisheit ist alte Priesterweisheit, die von innen heraus geoffenbart ist. Richtiges Erkennen ist aber erst ein paar Jahrhunderte vor Christi Geburt entstanden, etwa um 600 vor Christus. Auch die Urteilskraft hat sich erst nachträglich in der Welt entwickelt.
Da kommen wir an ein wichtiges Mysterium mit einer Tatsache, die man bei alten Völkern findet. Nur wer hineinleuchten kann in die seelische Welt, ist imstande, diese Tatsache zu begreifen. Bei einem nordamerikanischen Indianerstamm findet man eigentümliche Benennungen für die Familienbeziehungen. Geschwisterkinder nannten sich bei den Irokesen «Geschwister» — doch nur die Kinder von Brüdern, nicht die von Schwestern. Das ist noch ein Relikt aus der alten Atlantis. In dieser frühen Zeit der Menschheitsgeschichte war der Familienzusammenhang das einzig Geltende. Die Frau hatte mehrere Männer, und man konnte nicht bezeichnen, wer der Vater der Kinder war. Alle Völker hatten ursprünglich Vorfahren, welche nicht so sehr darauf gesehen haben, keine nahen Verwandten zu heiraten. Eine nahe Blutsverwandtschaft war keineswegs ein Hindernis für die Ehe. Man sagte, daß solche Kinder, die von am nächsten verwandten Eltern abstammten, am meisten erleuchtet waren: sie waren somnambul. Die weitere Evolution geht nun immer mehr und mehr dahin, daß sich solche Menschen verbinden, die nicht blutsverwandt sind. Es ist ein Gesetz, daß sich durch die Verbindung Fernerstehender der Ätherleib der Menschen herauslockert aus dem physischen Leib. Bei den blutsverwandten Ehen saß bei den Nachkommen der Ätherleib fest. Er wurde von innen heraus erleuchtet. Sie dachten noch mehr mit dem Sonnengeflecht, aber sie hatten nicht Urteilskraft. Diese wächst durch Fernehen und tritt in demselben Maße auf, wie die alten blutsverwandten Ehen zurückgehen. Es schwindet dann das alte somnambule Anschauen, und es tritt eine neue Art des Anschauens auf, die Urteilskraft. Man bezeichnet diese neue Epoche mit dem Aufkommen des dionysischen Prinzips. Dionysos wird zerstückelt, nur das Herz wird gerettet. Als das Dionysische auftrat, wurden die Menschen zerstückelt und dann wieder aufs neue zusammengeführt durch das Herz, die seelische Verwandtschaft, die mit einer vollständigen Veränderung des sexuellen Lebens zusammenhängt. Der Verstand ist umgewandelte frühere Verwandtensexualität.
Die früheren Entwickelungszustände der Menschheit werden nun im einzelnen Menschenleben noch einmal in Siebenjahresrhythmen wiederholt. Vom ersten bis siebenten Jahr tritt der Ätherleib des Kindes noch ganz zurück. Man soll daher vor dem siebenten Jahr noch nicht das Gedächtnis ausbilden, sondern nur die Sinne. Man kann dann auf die Sinne wirken, und die inneren Kräfte werden mit Hilfe der Sinne geweckt. Man soll diese Kräfte dadurch anregen, daß man den Kindern Spielzeuge gibt, bei denen die Phantasie tätig sein kann, etwa einen Holzklotz mit angemalten Punkten als Augen und so weiter, aber keine fertigen Puppen, bei denen das Kind gar nichts mehr durch seine Phantasie hinzufügen kann. Vom siebenten bis zum vierzehnten Jahr muß man bei den Kindern hauptsächlich feste Gewohnheiten ausbilden, die ihnen dann im späteren Leben einen bestimmten Halt geben. In diesen Jahren muß alles Gedächtnismäßige an den Menschen herantreten. Daher ist es besser, wenn man in diesem Lebensabschnitt nicht auf die Urteilskraft wirkt. Das Kind soll dann Autorität um sich haben, aber nicht selbst Autorität sein. Man soll durch Erzählungen auf das Kind wirken, nicht Moral predigen, sondern hinweisen auf große Beispiele, auf Vorbilder. Für die Moral würde es nötig sein, daß man dann in der alten pythagoreischen Form das Gefühl dafür ausbildet. Pythagoras sagte zu seinen Schülern: Du sollst nicht mit dem Schwerte ins Feuer schlagen -, ein Bild dafür, daß man nutzlose Dinge nicht tun soll. Ein anderes derartiges pythagoreisches Wort war: Du sollst auf deinem Wege nicht umkehren, ehe du ans Ende gekommen bist. -— Erst nach der Geschlechtsreife soll der Mensch selbst urteilen lernen. Der Ätherkörper wird zu diesem Zeitpunkt gelockert, und der Astralkörper ist erst jetzt bereit, nach außen tätig zu sein.
Diese Entwickelung, die also heute der einzelne Mensch in Siebenjahresrhythmen durchmacht, hat die Menschheit als solche im Lauf ihrer großen Entwickelungsepochen absolviert. Ein Teil der untergeordneten Kräfte im Menschen wurde heraufgehoben zur Ausbildung der Urteilskraft. Da konnten erst die Scharen des Luzifer eingreifen. In dem selbständigen Urteil des Menschen äußert sich diese luziferische Kraft. In diesen Zeiten des Eingreifens des luziferischen Prinzips traten zum ersten Mal eigene menschliche Arbeiten auf. Wenn man die alten Zeiten verfolgt, kann man sich sagen: Es hat sich damals nur das zusammengefunden, was eine Familie bildet. Die anstelle der Blutsverwandtschaft das rein Geistige setzen wollten, waren diejenigen, welche im Namen Luzifers arbeiteten. Die Kirche bildete sich als Fortsetzung der alten Priesterweisheit heraus. Daneben entstand aber die Strömung, die selbst nach Licht suchte, die luziferischen Menschen wie zum Beispiel die Tempelritter. Sie sagten, man müsse sich selbst Licht und Wahrheit suchen. Es gab im Mittelalter eine Sekte, die dies verstand. Ihre Mitglieder nannten sich Luziferianer. Sie sagten: Wenn der Mensch noch so selig werden kann, aber ohne das Licht der Erkenntnis, so ist dies nicht unsere Sache — wir wollen uns zum Licht durchringen.
Dies sind die zwei Strömungen in der Menschheit. Die eine Strömung ist die, welche nur selig werden will, die andern wollen das Licht dabei. Die, welche vor der Erkenntnis Furcht haben, betrachten Luzifer als den Bösen. Aber für die andern ist Luzifer der Lichtträger, der Lichtbringer. In einem Manuskript im Vatikan steht davon, aber es wird von der Kirche geheimgehalten und diese kirchliche Richtung warnt die Menschen vor Luzifer.
Dogmatik kann durchaus Wahrheit enthalten. So ist der pythagoreische Lehrsatz für den, der ihn nicht eingesehen hat, ein Dogma. Wenn er ihn aber versteht, so wird er für ihn helle, klare Erkenntnis. Die Dogmen sind als auf Autorität begründet hingestellt. Wenn man sie versteht, so werden sie auch klare Erkenntnis.
In der Zeit, da Paulus lebte, war das Christentum so, daß es zur allgemeinen Menschenliebe führen sollte. Aus einer Stammes- und Volksreligion sollte eine Weltreligion entstehen. An der Blutsgemeinschaft hängt der Offenbarungsglaube. Feste Gesetze werden gegeben von Moses. Christus gibt nicht feste Gesetze, sondern anstelle des Gesetzes tritt die Gnade. Es ist das Aufleben des Innersten in der menschlichen Seele.
Eine absteigende Welle ist es, die in der Kirchenorganisation angestrebt wird, und eine aufsteigende Welle in dem Anstreben der Freiheit der Meinungen. Es gibt solche Bestrebungen in bestimmten Bruderschaften, so bei den Tempelrittern, die nach dem Licht streben. Dies Geschlecht, das nach dem Lichte ringt, das sind die Kinder des Luzifer.
An den Zeitpunkt, als das Christentum anfängt sich stramm zu organisieren, versetzte Edouard Schuré das Drama «Die Kinder des Luzifer». Da ist eine kirchliche Strömung, und daneben die andere, das luziferische Prinzip. Die Kinder des Luzifer sind die Kinder des inneren Lichtes, nicht des Offenbarungsglaubens. Diese, die der Zukunft zustreben, müssen sich in geniöser Weise verwandt fühlen. In unserer Zeit ist durch die geisteswissenschaftliche Bewegung das ausgesprochen worden, daß man durch eigenes Streben zum Licht kommen soll. Tief innerste Freiheit soll innerhalb der menschlichen Seele entwickelt werden.
Mit Absicht ist die theosophische Zeitschrift «Luzifer» genannt worden. Sie hängt zusammen mit dem innersten Wesen der theosophischen Bewegung. Es sollte einmal dokumentiert werden, daß in bewußter Weise das luziferische Prinzip in die Welt hineingeworfen worden ist. Als die katholische Kirche das Dogma der Infallibilität aufstellte, trat als entgegenstrebender Pol die Betonung des luziferischen Prinzips auf. Oder umgekehrt kann man sagen: Daß die Theosophie die geistige Freiheit proklamierte, das erzeugte als andern Pol das Dogma der Infallibilität, weil die Kirche sich nur dadurch retten konnte.
The Children of Lucifer
The Replacement of Blood Love by Spiritual Love
We can say that there are two kinds of people on earth. Two great spiritual currents can be recognized in humanity. The difference between the two is this: some strive more to see everything in the light of knowledge, while others want to be guided in a certain way. The very nature of the reception of the spiritual-scientific worldview shows that the striving to seek bright, clear light is not very widespread. The majority of people are not yet ready to want to know something about everything. Many are quite content with a clouding of consciousness; it embarrasses them when they are asked to achieve complete clarity in any matter. But everything that can lead to a clouding of consciousness must be renounced. This also applies to one's entire way of life. People must also be abstinent in their diet and avoid anything that clouds the consciousness, such as alcohol. There are countless other things that lead people away from clarity. Renouncing these things also makes people more practical in their daily lives. Belief in authority also leads to clouding. One should only allow oneself to be inspired, but not rely on authority.
What we mean here by clarity is least connected with a subordinate way of seeing the higher worlds. Such a subordinate way is in fact connected with a spiritual twilight of consciousness. Such a state was common in earlier times in human history. In the time of the Atlanteans, human consciousness was much less clear than it is now. Now even the wildest peoples have advanced far beyond the state of consciousness of the Atlanteans. As we go further and further back in human development, we come more and more into states where human beings see from within, but do not comprehend with the intellect. With the Atlantean race, the intellect dawned for the first time. At one time, the Atlanteans lived in the place that is now Ireland. When another human being approached an Atlantean, astral images arose within him. The Atlanteans were not yet capable of reflection. Only when the forebrain is developed can a human being say “I” to himself. In the part of Atlantis that was located where Ireland is today, humans first began to develop self-awareness. From this place, the Atlanteans spread across Europe to Asia. The human bones found in Neanderthal are those of the descendants of the Atlanteans; they still have a receding forehead. From that time on, humans slowly learned to think rationally and to develop self-awareness. At the moment when humans began their spiritually enriched existence here on Earth, they were already far beyond the level of animals, but they could not yet speak or think.
At that time, there were divine beings called devas who did not need a physical body and who floated in the astral space. What they could acquire through a physical body, they had already experienced on the moon. But there were also other beings who had not completed their evolution on the moon, who had not finished it. These are the Luciferic beings who had remained behind the Devas. The gods or Devas lived on earth from what had become a characteristic of human beings, from bisexual love. The love of human beings is the air or even the food that the gods enjoy. In Greek mythology, they were referred to as nectar and ambrosia.
As long as humans were still somnambulistic, the hosts of Lucifer had no real task in humanity. It was only in the fifth root race that they really made humans their own children. Human thinking is not yet very old. What is called ancient wisdom was native to the oldest peoples. This ancient wisdom is the wisdom of the priests, revealed from within. However, true knowledge only emerged a few centuries before the birth of Christ, around 600 BC. The power of judgment also developed in the world only later.
This brings us to an important mystery with a fact that can be found among ancient peoples. Only those who can shine light into the spiritual world are able to comprehend this fact. A North American Indian tribe has peculiar names for family relationships. Among the Iroquois, siblings called each other “brothers and sisters” — but only the children of brothers, not those of sisters. This is another relic from ancient Atlantis. In this early period of human history, family ties were the only thing that mattered. Women had several husbands, and it was impossible to determine who the father of the children was. All peoples originally had ancestors who did not pay much attention to avoiding marriage between close relatives. Close blood ties were by no means an obstacle to marriage. It was said that children descended from the closest relatives were the most enlightened: they were somnambulists. Further evolution is now increasingly moving toward the union of people who are not blood relatives. It is a law that through the union of distant relatives, the etheric body of human beings loosens itself from the physical body. In blood-related marriages, the etheric body was firmly attached to the offspring. It was illuminated from within. They thought even more with their solar plexus, but they lacked judgment. This grows through distant relationships and occurs to the same extent as the old blood-related marriages decline. The old somnambulistic way of seeing then disappears, and a new way of seeing emerges: judgment. This new epoch is marked by the emergence of the Dionysian principle. Dionysus is dismembered, only the heart is saved. When the Dionysian appeared, people were dismembered and then brought together again through the heart, the spiritual kinship associated with a complete change in sexual life. The intellect is transformed former kinship sexuality.
The earlier stages of human development are now repeated in individual human lives in seven-year cycles. From the first to the seventh year, the child's etheric body still recedes completely. Therefore, before the age of seven, one should not train the memory, but only the senses. One can then influence the senses, and the inner powers are awakened with the help of the senses. These powers should be stimulated by giving children toys that allow their imagination to be active, such as a wooden block with painted dots for eyes, etc., but not ready-made dolls, to which the child can add nothing more with its imagination. From the age of seven to fourteen, children should mainly be taught to form firm habits, which will then give them a certain stability in later life. During these years, everything related to memory must be approached by the human being. It is therefore better not to influence the power of judgment during this stage of life. The child should then be surrounded by authority, but not be an authority itself. One should influence the child through stories, not preach morality, but point to great examples, to role models. For morality, it would be necessary to develop a feeling for it in the old Pythagorean form. Pythagoras said to his students: You should not strike the fire with a sword — an image for not doing useless things. Another such Pythagorean saying was: “You should not turn back on your path before you have reached the end.” Only after reaching sexual maturity should a person learn to judge for themselves. At this point, the etheric body is loosened, and the astral body is now ready to act outwardly.
This development, which today the individual human being undergoes in seven-year cycles, has been completed by humanity as a whole in the course of its great epochs of development. Some of the subordinate forces in the human being were raised up to develop the power of judgment. Only then could the hosts of Lucifer intervene. This Luciferic power expresses itself in the independent judgment of human beings. In these times of intervention by the Luciferic principle, human beings' own works appeared for the first time. If we look back at ancient times, we can say that only those who formed a family came together at that time. Those who wanted to replace blood relations with the purely spiritual were those who worked in the name of Lucifer. The Church developed as a continuation of the ancient priestly wisdom. Alongside this, however, there arose a movement that sought light for itself, the Luciferic people, such as the Knights Templar. They said that one must seek light and truth for oneself. There was a sect in the Middle Ages that understood this. Its members called themselves Luciferians. They said: If human beings can still attain bliss without the light of knowledge, then this is not our concern — we want to strive for the light.
These are the two currents in humanity. One current is that which only wants to attain bliss, the other wants the light as well. Those who fear knowledge regard Lucifer as evil. But for the others, Lucifer is the light bearer, the bringer of light. There is a manuscript in the Vatican that mentions this, but it is kept secret by the Church, and this ecclesiastical direction warns people against Lucifer.
Dogma can certainly contain truth. Thus, the Pythagorean theorem is a dogma for those who have not understood it. But once they understand it, it becomes bright, clear knowledge for them. Dogmas are presented as based on authority. Once they are understood, they also become clear knowledge.
In the time when Paul lived, Christianity was such that it was supposed to lead to universal love for humanity. A tribal and folk religion was to become a world religion. The belief in revelation is linked to the blood community. Moses gives fixed laws. Christ does not give fixed laws, but instead of the law comes grace. It is the revival of the innermost part of the human soul.
A descending wave is what is sought in the church organization, and an ascending wave in the pursuit of freedom of opinion. There are such aspirations in certain brotherhoods, such as the Knights Templar, who strive for the light. This race, which struggles for the light, are the children of Lucifer.
Edouard Schuré set the drama “The Children of Lucifer” at the time when Christianity began to organize itself strictly. There is one ecclesiastical current, and alongside it another, the Luciferic principle. The children of Lucifer are the children of inner light, not of revealed faith. Those who strive toward the future must feel a kindred spirit in a genius-like way. In our time, the spiritual-scientific movement has expressed that one should come to the light through one's own striving. Deepest inner freedom should be developed within the human soul.
The theosophical magazine was deliberately named “Lucifer.” It is connected with the innermost essence of the theosophical movement. It should be documented that the Luciferic principle was consciously introduced into the world. When the Catholic Church established the dogma of infallibility, the emphasis on the Luciferic principle emerged as a counteracting pole. Or, conversely, one could say that theosophy's proclamation of spiritual freedom created the dogma of infallibility as the other pole, because this was the only way the Church could save itself.