The Christian Mystery
GA 97
8 March 1907, Cologne
XIII. The Promised Spirit of Truth
The truths of religious documents come from the depths of wisdom. Many people will say, however: ‘You give us something complicated; we want the gospel to be simple and naive. Great truths should not be complicated.’ In a way they are right, but not only simple but also wisdom-filled thinking must be able to find the most sublime truths. The point of view from which we consider these things cannot be high enough. In future we must let go more and more of the desire for ease and enter into the most profound insights with great seriousness.
Today we want to gain understanding of the promised spirit of truth. These words concern a secret initiation.
‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments,’ the Christ said. ‘Love’ here refers to the trust that exists between teacher and pupils in an esoteric relationship. The most profound secrets of the soul are passed from one individual to another, in a most intimate way. The words of the Bible we want to consider today are:
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled! You believe in god, you also believe in me. There are many rooms in my father's house ...’
‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask this father and he will give you another counsellor to be with you in all eternity—the spirit of truth whom the world has not the power to receive; for it does not see him and does not recognize him. You, however, recognize him; for he remains with you and shall be in you.’
‘He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And someone who loves me shall be loved by my father, and I shall love him and make myself apparent to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him: Lord, what has happened, that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him: Someone who loves me will keep my word; and my father shall love him, and we shall go to him and make our abode with him.’108Bible quotes from John 14: 1-2, 15-17, 21-23.
‘Father’—that is the inmost power of soul. It is to be revealed to the close disciples. Judas asked: ‘What has happened, that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?’ Judas thus said openly that something was to be revealed to the close disciples.
Jesus said: ‘We shall make our abode with the father.’ This was the most important part of the pouring out of the spirit that began with the words: ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled!’ The Christ was going to prepare the abode for his close disciples: In my father's house there are many dwelling places.’
Let us gain insight into these words. The degree of conscious awareness which man has gained will never be lost again. One has to get out of the habit of any other idea. ‘Giving oneself up to the cosmic mind’ often means people wallowing in this, believing this to be redemption. There is no such cosmic mind and there never will be. The ability to say ‘I’ is now achieved by man. The the more he says ‘I’ and works out of the I to purify his three lower bodies—the astral body, ether body and physical body—the more strongly will he develop his I and develop into the future. A human being can thus become consciously selfless, because he wills it. The time will come when all human beings will have reached the summit of I-development. And yet they can selflessly take up the spirit of the community. We are sitting in this room together, and the common spirit in it is like a point from which everything radiates out together. But this common spirit may also radiate freely from every individual heart and move through this room. Let us remember how the godhead is reflected in the world. It has made the sacrifice and poured all its life into its mirror image. Let us now imagine that we, too, can pour our life into countless mirror images, so that each individual mirror image would say: I and my origin are one. That is how all human beings once came forth from the keeping of the godhead like mirror images of the godhead. They finally become empty ‘I’s, with astral body, ether body and physical body transformed, and they enter into the world of the spirit and utter the deepest secret of their being: ‘I and my father are one!’109John 10: 30. The animal-humans of Lemurian times could never become spiritual by themselves, but only by taking up the divine droplets. At the end of their evolution, cleansed and purified, they will be able to say: ‘I and my father are one.’
We are gazing back into far distant times. There was still a great deal of volcanic activity on earth in Lemurian times. The creatures that lived then were very different. That was the time when man first received the element he was to develop as soul. Going back even further we see soul nature above and bodily nature below still as one nature. The two were united in god's keeping. Then the physical stream down below was left to itself and developed into the animal-man ofLemurian times. The upper developed in soul and spirit. The body had to be prepared first down below, so that it might receive the soul coming from above.
The spirit that prevailed in the common origin of both souls and bodies is the father spirit; that is the father.
The spirit that prevailed down below in the physical realm, whilst the spiritual went its separate ways up above, is the son spirit; that is the son.
And the spirit that prevailed up above in the soul sphere until it was able to descend into the physical realm, that is the holy spirit.
In Lemurian times, when the soul first incarnated, there was a pouring out of the spirit: ‘And god breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.’110Genesis 2: 7. That was the first outpouring of the spirit, an unconscious outpouring. Man was to live in a dream for a long time yet. It was only in the second half of the Atlantean period that he gained the ability to calculate, to think logically, and to observe the world outside correctly in its relationships. In the first half of the Atlantean period, a human being would see another human being as a coloured cloud. The cloud would be reddish brown if the other individual was not sympathetic, was an enemy. A violet reddish cloud indicated a sympathetic individual, a friend. Other things would also be perceived like this. If a golden yellow cloud rose like a kind of misty form between the astral and the physical, this indicated that a useful metal was to be found here. A dull, bluish red cloud with strange lines to delimit it, of the kind which only a mineral can have, indicated a useless metal. Human beings gradually separated out more and more; limiting their feelings by having a skin, and external, physical sensory perception developed. In earliest Atlantean times, human beings had perceptions like those a fish or a snail has today—not a turtle or a crocodile. The new sensory perception developed when man began to breathe with a lung. The production of blood and inner I-activity were also connected with this.
A residual effect of the I on the blood can still be seen today if we go pale with fear or red with shame. This still shows direct I-activity. It is something that has remained from a time when the I had a powerful influence on the blood. Today the inner power of the I only shows itself in gestures, in going red or turning pale. Today people can gesticulate with their hands in their enthusiasm; then the blood was able to create organs out of the body under the I-impulse. The fingers developed in this way, for example. By the end of the Atlantean period, the human beings of that time were beginning to be similar to the human beings of today.
Blood bonds were stronger in the past than they are now. The bond between blood relatives was much stronger. An example would be the following. Two modern authors have given an excellent picture of the rural population, but in different ways. Anzengruber's111Anzengruber, Ludwig (1839–1889), Austrian playwright and novelist. Rudolf Steiner wrote an obituary on him, published in Steiner R. Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Literatur, 1884–1902. (GA 32) S. 16 ff.. figures are clear-cut, almost as if cut in stone. Rosegger112Rosegger, Peter (1843–1918), Austrian poet and novelist takes many individual outward traits and combines them in a whole. He would make notes as he observed people and use these in his writing. Rosegger was wondering how Anzengruber was able to write about country people, seeing that he had never lived among them and observed them. Anzengruber told him the very reason that he was able to present the people so well was that he did not know them. All his forebears had been farming people, and so the ways of fanners were in his blood. He wrote about farmers his forebears had known, and he did so out of the blood.113 ‘Went for a walk with Anzengruber on another occasion ... We talked about writing and the subjects one had for writing. I said he must have lived in Upper Bavaria himself or at least had a great deal to do with the fanning people there. His figures were very reminiscent of this type of people. He put his pince-nez on his sharply curved nose and said: “Upper Bavaria? No, I have never really met those country people. At least not enough to know them.” Realizing that this surprised me: “I don't need that. Just need to see one of them from a distance, hear a few everyday words, observe perhaps one of his gestures—and I know that fellow inside out!”—“Strange!”—“My dear fellow,” he said, “you know it yourself. All outer occasions and situations are just the midwives. The writer must give birth himself. Farmers—ha! I'm a city man myself! But if as you say, I write better about country people than about city people, this is probably in the blood. Or in some bone or other, like inherited gout. My forefathers on my father's side were farmers in Upper Austria. And well, such things are still lurking about.”’ Gesammelte Werke von Peter Rosegger, Leipzig 1914–1916, 36. Band, Gute Kameraden—Persönliche Erinnerungen an berühmte und eigenartige Zeitgenossen, Seite 145 f
In earlier times, humanity consisted of many small groups. Reading Tacitus' Germania.114Tacitus, Cornelius (c. 55–166), greatest Roman historian. The second part of his work De origine et situ Germanorum, chapters 28-46, gives descriptions of the individual Germanic tribes. one finds numerous small tribes listed who were related by blood and to whom the blood relationship meant something special. In the days of the Old Testament patriarchs, marriage was always within the tribe, with the same blood in everyone's veins. The memory of the descendants would then go right back to the times of their ancestors. The descendant would remember his ancestors the way we remember our own childhood. 900 years after Adam his descendants still remembered the events of his life. This explains why people are said to have lived to such great ages in the Bible.115E.g. Genesis, Chapter 5. For as far back as a person could then remember, the I that went through generations would be called ‘Adam’ for example. A common I lived in the tribe, and it lived in the blood. Because of this the shedding of blood called for blood revenge. And the whole tribe would revenge itself for the blood of a single member by means of blood revenge.
Close marriage gradually changed and finally became distant marriage. The tribes became international. The principle of pure humanity gained the upper hand.
The son principle was active in the physical realm, in the love among relations that was based on blood. But the soul became progressively more individual, so that the blood was moving in wider and wider groups, getting further away from the tribal community.
All the ancient systems of government were based on the principle of blood relationship. The ten commandments of the Jews are tribal laws. Something connected with the Jewish people was not yet connected with the whole of mankind. Then the son spirit came to earth in the Christ and his blood flowed. Blood which until then had only created close bonds was poured out. This brought it about that all close bonds flowed out into a brotherhood for all humanity. The narrowly limited feeling of self where it was not yet possible to say: ‘Anyone who does not leave father and mother, wife, children, brother and sister and also his personal life cannot be my disciple’—such self-seeking had to run out from the redeemer's wounds. The capacity for love was gained as the blood of the Christ flowed, overcoming blood-brotherhood, tribe and nation. If we had been able to collect drops of blood by the cross, we would in all truth and reality have had the substance that thus transforms human beings. The goal is for human beings to find their relationship to all human beings, with love not only between brother and sister, but between human being and human being. The physical blood that flowed from the wounds of the Christ is the embodiment of the redeemer principle. This blood is a significant redemption symbol.
Humanity is to find the spirit again, fully and wholly. They had it once, but only dimly so, in a nebulous way. Later it assumed the form in which human beings see the world today. But they only see this world, only one side of things. With this view, man is cut off from the life of the spirit as if by a veil. He now needs to be taken beyond individual conscious awareness, which has made him an I, and gain awareness of the whole world again. This is why the blood of Christ was scattered—from narrow tribe to the wide world. The cross made it possible to achieve this. From the cross, the blood flowed into the whole of humanity. At the same time, however, the cross made the I grow more and more narrow and individual. All this has come to us through Christianity.
But when people are thus left to their own resources, with no tribe to give them context and with self-awareness enhanced, egotism must also increase. Christ Jesus foresaw this. He saw the coming of materialism, and made Christianity a bulwark against it.
In antiquity, everything rested on blood-brotherhood. This is clear from ancestor worship. Many legends were based on the figure of an ancestral hero such as Theseus116King ofThebes, hero who killed the Minotaur. or Cadmus.117A Phoenician prince who killed a dragon and sowed its teeth. An army grew from them who fought one another until only five survived. Cadmus founded the city of Thebes with them. The principle governed both laws and commandments. Then, however, external institutions began to determine the life of the community. This only developed with the spread of Christianity, however. What do people see in the international idea today? A principle that is more powerful than the power of the state. The great powers that rule the world today are international. They are called money, transport, industry, and so on. Nothing to do with the blood-brotherhood of old any more. The other side of the coin is materialism. Egotistical thinking lives in a machine. How different were the ways in which ancient Greeks saw their god Zeus, remembering that the father principle lay at the base of all. Where do we find anything divine in public life today? Machines, railways and so on all serve egotistical aims. This will come to play a special role in the future. In the war of all against all it will go to extremes.
The Christ did create the bond that will unite all humanity, but something else has to come together with this act of redemption. Inner responses from person to person live in people who feel drawn to the Christ. His deed is the great bond that can unite the spirit again with the physical. Today people still control the physical world to serve their egotism. One day they must use it to serve the spirit. The spirit must unite with the son so that the two, united, become one with the father.
The Christ said: ‘No one comes to the father except through me.’118John 14: 6. Each should say: ‘I am as the branch on the vine.’119John 15: 5 (variant). Then the Christ overcomes the egotism in human organisms. The father spirit, the spirit of common origin, must enter into our individual selves, and then the I works on the father principle. Every I then builds its own house, and yet they are all united in the Christ principle. ‘There are many rooms in my father's house’,108Bible quotes from John 14: 1-2, 15-17, 21-23. said the Christ. These are the dwellings which human I-natures build for themselves. The Christ must, however, prepare the place, the dwelling place. And for this it is necessary for the spirit to come that unites human beings—the spirit of truth.
It is the purpose of theosophy to teach human beings the things they have in common; it is to bring the higher wisdom, the spirit of truth. People differ in their opinions for as long as they do not yet have the highest knowledge. The gnostics called mysticism ‘mathesis’, for in mathematics none can say he differs from someone else in his opinions. Two scientists can never disagree over a mathematical axiom. There it is not a matter of human wishes. For the great wisdom we must first rid ourselves of our wishes. Only those who seek to study the spirit of truth, wholly free from personal wishes, will be ripe to receive it. The highest knowledge unites human beings, there is no opinion or notion. The spirit of truth must shine upon people. Then they may indeed be dispersed through different dwelling places, but the spirit of truth will unite them. The common spirit must govern the truth held by individual I-natures if the house which the I builds for itself is to fit in with the spiritual principle. The Christ promised his disciples the spirit of truth at Pentecost. Then the disciples spoke in different tongues, then all nations learned to understand one another. Egotism may indeed wax more and more, but every human I will have the spirit of community if it partakes in the spirit of truth. Those who wish to achieve this must live in the spirit of John's gospel. That is true theosophy. Just as all plants turn to the sun as they grow, wherever they may be, so all I-natures will turn to the sun of the spirit, the spiritual light of truth.
Die Verheissung des Geistes der Wahrheit
Die Wahrheiten der religiösen Urkunden sind aus den Tiefen der Weisheit heraus genommen. Aber da kommen viele Menschen und sagen: Ihr gebt uns da eine komplizierte Sache, wir wollen das Evangelium einfach und naiv haben. Die großen Wahrheiten dürfen nicht kompliziert sein. — In gewisser Weise haben diese Menschen recht, aber nicht nur das schlichte, auch das weisheitsvolle Denken muß die höchsten Wahrheiten finden können. Der Standpunkt, von dem aus wir diese Dinge betrachten, kann gar nicht hoch genug sein. Den Bequemlichkeitsstandpunkt müssen wir in der Zukunft immer mehr verlassen, um mit rechtem Ernst in die tiefsten Erkenntnisse einzudringen.
Die Verheißung des Geistes der Wahrheit wollen wir heute verstehen lernen. Um eine geheime Einweihung handelt es sich bei diesen Worten.
«Wer meine Gebote hat und halt sie, der ist’s, der mich liebet», sagt Christus. «Lieb haben» deutet auf das vertrauliche Verhältnis zwischen Lehrer und Schüler hin, das esoterisch ist. Von Person zu Person werden da die tiefsten Seelengeheimnisse übertragen, ganz intim. Die Worte der Bibel, die wir uns heute klarmachen wollen, heißen folgendermaßen:
«Euer Herz bleibe ruhig. Glaubet an Gott und glaubet an mich. In meines Vaters Hause sind viele Wohnungen .. »
«Liebet ihr mich, so haltet meine Gebote! Und ich will den Vater bitten, und er wird euch einen andern Tröster geben, daß er bei euch bleibe in Ewigkeit: den Geist der Wahrheit, welchen die Welt nicht kann empfangen; denn sie siehet ihn nicht und kennet ihn nicht. Ihr aber kennet ihn; denn er bleibet bei euch und wird in euch sein.»
«Wer meine Gebote hat und halt sie, der ist's, der mich liebet. Wer mich aber liebet, der wird von meinem Vater geliebet werden, und ich werde ihn lieben und mich ihm offenbaren. Spricht zu ihm Judas, nicht der Ischariot: Herr, was ist ’s, daß du uns willst dich offenbaren und nicht der Welt? Jesus antwortete und sprach zu ihm: Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten; und mein Vater wird ihn lieben, und wir werden zu ihm kommen und Wohnung bei ihm machen.»
«Vater», so heißt die innerste Kraft der Seele. Sie soll den intimen Jüngern offenbar werden. Judas fragt: «Was ist’s, daß du dich uns den intimen Jüngern — willst offenbaren und nicht der Welt?» Damit bringt Judas direkt zum Ausdruck, daß den intimen Jüngern im Mysterium etwas geoffenbart werden soll.
Jesus spricht: «Wir werden Wohnung machen beim Vater.» Das war das Wichtigste bei der Ausgießung des Geistes, die begann mit den Worten: «Euer Herz bleibe ruhig.» Für seine intimen Jünger geht Christus hin, die Wohnung zu bereiten: «In des Vaters Hause sind viele Wohnungen.»
Diese Worte wollen wir uns klarmachen. Den Grad von Bewußtsein, den der Mensch einmal erlangt hat, kann er nie mehr verlieren. Abgewöhnen muß man sich jede andere Vorstellung. Im «Aufgehen im Allbewußtsein» schwelgen die Menschen so oft und meinen, das sei eine Erlösung. Solches Allbewußtsein gibt es gar nicht und wird es niemals geben. Die Fähigkeit, «Ich» zu sagen, erringt sich ja jetzt der Mensch. Und je mehr er «Ich» sagt und vom Ich aus an der Läuterung seiner drei niederen Leiber, an dem Astralleib, Ätherleib und dem physischen Leib, arbeitet, um so stärker entwickelt er sein Ich und entwickelt sich in die Zukunft hinein. So kann der Mensch bewußt selbstlos werden, weil er will. Einmal werden alle Menschen auf dem Gipfel der Ich-Entwickelung angekommen sein. Dennoch können sie selbstlos den Geist der Gemeinschaft erfassen. Wir sitzen hier in diesem Zimmer beisammen, und der gemeinsame Geist darinnen ist wie ein Punkt, von dem alles gemeinsam ausstrahlt. Aber dieser gemeinsame Geist kann auch freiwillig aus jedem Herzen hervorstrahlen und den Raum durchschwirren. Denken wir daran, wie die Gottheit sich in der Welt spiegelt. Sie hat all ihr Leben durch das große Opfer hineingegossen in ihr Spiegelbild. Nun wollen wir uns vorstellen, wir könnten unser Leben auch in unzählige Spiegelbilder hinein ausgießen, so daß jedes einzelne Spiegelbild sagen würde: Ich und mein Ursprung sind eins. — So gingen einst alle Menschen wie Spiegelbilder der Gottheit aus dem Schoße der Gottheit hervor. Leere Iche sind sie schließlich mit umgewandeltem Astralleib, Ätherleib und physischem Leib, und sie treten hin in die geistige Welt und sagen das tiefste Geheimnis ihres Wesens: «Ich und der Vater sind eins!» Die Tiermenschen der lemurischen Zeit konnten nie von sich aus geistig werden; nur dadurch, daß sie die göttlichen Tropfen aufnahmen. Am Ende ihrer Entwickelung, gereinigt und geläutert, können sie sagen: «Ich und der Vater sind eins.»
In ferne Zeiten blicken wir zurück. Viel vulkanische Tätigkeit war da noch auf der Erde in der lemurischen Zeit. Ganz andere Wesen lebten:damals als heute. Da empfing der Mensch zuerst das, was er als Seele: herausarbeiten sollte. Gehen wir noch weiter zurück, so sehen wir oben die Seelennatur und unten die Leibesnatur des Menschen noch als eine Natur. Im gemeinsamen Gottesschoße waren da beide vereint. Dann wurde die physische Strömung unten sich selbst überlassen und entwickelte sich zu den Tiermenschen der lemurischen Zeit. Das Obere entwickelte sich seelisch-geistig. Der „ Leib mußte unten erst vorbereitet werden, die Seele von oben aufzunehmen.
Der Geist, der in dem gemeinsamen Ursprung beider, der Seelen und der Leiber, waltete, das ist der Vatergeist, das ist der Vater.
Der Geist, der unten im Physischen waltete, als das Geistige oben getrennte Wege ging, das ist der Sohnesgeist, das ist der Sohn.
Und der Geist, der oben im Seelischen waltete, bis er ins Physische hinabsteigen konnte, das ist der Heilige Geist.
In der lemurischen Zeit, bei der ersten Inkarnation der Seele, gab es eine Ausgießung des Geistes: «Und Gott hauchte dem Menschen den lebendigen Odem ein, und also ward der Mensch eine lebendige Seele.»
Das war die erste Ausgießung des Geistes, eine unbewußte Ausgießung. Da lebte der Mensch noch lange traumhaft. Erst in der zweiten Hälfte der atlantischen Zeit eignete er sich die Fähigkeiten 'an, zu rechnen, logisch zu denken und die Außenwelt richtig in ihren Verhältnissen zu beobachten. Der Mensch der ersten Hälfte der atlantischen Zeit sah einen andern Menschen wie eine farbige Wolke. Rötlichbraun sah die Wolke aus, wenn der Mensch unsympathisch, ein Feind war. Eine violett-rötliche Wolke kündigte das sympathische Wesen, den Freund an. Auch andere Dinge wurden so wahrgenommen: Stieg eine goldgelbe Wolke auf wie eine Art Nebelgebilde zwischen dem Astralen und dem Physischen, so war das das Zeichen, daß hier ein nützliches Metall lag. Eine dumpf blaurote Wolke mit merkwürdigen Begrenzungslinien, wie sie nur ein Mineral haben kann, deutete auf ein unbrauchbares Metall hin. Allmählich sonderten sich die Menschen immer mehr ab, sie grenzten ihre Gefühle ein durch die Haut, das äußere physische Wahrnehmen entwickelte sich. Wie heute ein Fisch oder eine Schnecke nicht aber wie eine Schildkröte oder ein Krokodil -, so nahm der Mensch der ersten atlantischen Zeit wahr. Dadurch, daß der Mensch anfing, durch eine Lunge zu atmen, fing die neue Wahrnehmung an. Damit war auch die Blutbildung und die Tätigkeit des Ich im Inneren verbunden.
Ein Rest der Wirkung des Ich auf das Blut ist heute noch vorhanden, wenn wir in Angst erblassen oder in Scham erröten. Darin zeigt sich noch die unmittelbare Tätigkeit des Ich. Dies ist zurückgeblieben aus einer Zeit, in der das Ich auf das Blut mächtig wirkte. Heute äußert sich die innere Kraft des Ich nur in Gesten, im Erröten und Erblassen. Heute können die Menschen im Enthusiasmus mit den Händen gestikulieren, damals konnte das Blut durch den Impuls des Ich Organe aus dem Leibe herausgestalten: So entstanden zum Beispiel die Finger. Am Ende der atlantischen Zeit war der damalige Mensch dem heutigen schon ähnlich.
Ehemals waren die Blutsbande stärker als jetzt. Ein viel größerer Zusammenhang bestand zwischen Blutsverwandten. Als Beispiel mag folgendes angeführt werden. Zwei Schriftsteller unserer Zeit haben in ihren Werken die Bauern vortrefflich dargestellt, aber auf ganz verschiedene Weise. Anzengruber stellt sie scharf umrissen hin, geradezu gemeißelte Figuren sind es. Rosegger dagegen stellt viele einzelne Züge äußerlich zu einem Ganzen zusammen. Er macht sich Notizen über seine Beobachtungen, und diese verwendet er dann. Rosegger wunderte sich nun, wie Anzengruber überhaupt Bauern darstellen könne, obwohl er doch nie unter ihnen gelebt und sie auch nie beobachtet hatte. Anzengruber antwortete ihm, er könne die Bauern gerade darum so gut darstellen, weil er sie nicht kenne: Alle seine Vorfahren waren Bauern, und da lag ihm die Art der Bauern im Blut. Aus seinem Blut heraus beschrieb er die Figuren der Bauern, die seine Vorfahren gekannt hatten.
In früherer Zeit umfaßte die Menschheit viele kleine Gruppen. Wenn wir die «Germania» des 7acitus lesen, so finden wir darin viele blutsverwandte kleine Stämme aufgezählt, für welche die Blutsverwandtschaft etwas Besonderes bedeutete. Bei den Patriarchen:des Alten Testamentes wird immer im selben Stamme geheiratet, da rollt immer dasselbe Blut in den Adern; da reicht das Gedächtnis des Nachkommen bis zu den Vorfahren hinauf. Der Nachkomme erinnert sich der Vorfahren so, wie wir uns unserer Kindheit erinnern. Neunhundert Jahre nach Adam erinnerten sich die Nachkommen noch an Adams Erlebnisse. So erklären sich die hohen Altersangaben in der Bibel. Solange man sich erinnern konnte, hieß das durch die Generationen hindurchreichende Ich zum Beispiel «Adam». Ein gemeinsames Ich lebt im Stamme und es lebt im Blute. Darum kann nur mit Blut gesühnt werden, wenn Blut vergossen wurde. Und der ganze Stamm rächt sich für das Blut eines einzelnen Stammesgenossen durch die Blutrache.
Allmählich geht die Nahehe immer mehr in weitere Zusammenhänge, in die Fernehe über. Die Stämme werden international. Das Prinzip der reinen Menschlichkeit gewinnt die Oberhand.
Im Physischen, in der Verwandtenliebe, die durch das Blut zusammengehalten wird, wirkt das Sohnes-Prinzip. Die Seele aber entwickelt sich immer individueller, so daß das Blut in immer weitere Kreise rollt, immer mehr abkommt von der Gemeinschaft des Stammes.
Auf dem Prinzip der Blutsverwandtschaft waren alle alten Staaten aufgebaut. Die zehn Gebote der Juden sind Stammesgebote. Was am jüdischen Volke haftet, haftete noch nicht an der ganzen Menschheit. Da erschien der Sohnesgeist in Christus auf der Erde und sein Blut rann. Das Blut, das früher nur enge Verbände geschaffen hatte, ward ausgegossen. Dadurch wurde errungen das Ausfließen aller engen Bande zu einem Bruderbunde aller Menschen. Das engbegrenzte Ich-Gefühl, das noch nicht sagen kann: «Wer nicht verlässet Vater, Mutter, Weib, Kinder, Bruder und Schwester und dazu sein eigen Leben, der kann nicht mein Jünger sein», solche Ich-Sucht muß rinnen aus den Wunden des Erlösers. Im rinnenden Blute Christi ward die Fähigkeit der Liebe errungen, welche die Blutsbruderschaft, Stamm und Volk überwindet. Hätten wir die Blutstropfen am Kreuze auffangen können, so hätten wir wirklich und in vollster Wahrheit die Substanz gehabt, die die Menschen so verwandelte. Erreicht soll werden, daß der Mensch den Zusammenhang finden kann mit allen Menschen, daß nicht nur Bruder und Schwester sich lieben können, sondern daß der Mensch den Menschen lieben kann. Das physische Blut, das aus den Wunden Christi floß, ist die Verkörperung des Erlösungsprinzips, dieses Blut ist ein bedeutsames Erlösungssymbolum.
Die Menschen sollen in vollem Umfange den Geist wiederfinden. Sie hatten ihn einst, aber nur dumpf, nebulos. Dann hat er die Form angenommen, wie der Mensch heute die Welt ansieht. Aber der Mensch sieht heute nur das Diesseits, nur die eine Seite. Wie durch einen Schleier ist der Mensch durch diese Anschauung vom geistigen Leben abgeschnitten. Nun soll er durch das Einzelbewußtsein, das ihn zum Ich machte, wieder hinausgebracht werden zum Weltenbewußtsein. Darum ward Christi Blut aus dem engen Stamme in die weite Welt versprengt. Das Kreuz vermochte dies. Vom Kreuze strömte das Blut hinaus in die ganze Menschheit. Aber zugleich entwickelte das Kreuz das Ich auch immer enger, immer individueller. Das alles brachte uns das Christentum.
Aber wenn die Menschen so allein auf sich gestellt werden, ohne Stammeszusammenhang und mit gesteigertem Ich-Bewußtsein, so muß der Egoismus höher steigen. Das sah der Christus Jesus voraus. Er sah das Kommen des Materialismus, und als Bollwerk setzte er dagegen das Christentum.
Im Altertum war alles auf der Blutsbruderschaft aufgebaut. Das zeigt deutlich der Ahnenkult. Viele Sagen schlossen sich an die Gestalt eines Ahnenhelden an, zum Beispiel an Theseus, an Kadmos. In Gesetz und Gebot herrschte dieses Prinzip. Dann aber wurden äußere Einrichtungen maßgebend für das Zusammenleben. Das bildete sich aber erst mit der Verbreitung des Christentums heraus. Was findet der Mensch heute in der Internationalität? Ein Prinzip, das mächtiger ist als die Gewalt des Staates. International sind die großen Mächte, welche die Welt heute beherrschen. Sie heißen: Geld, Verkehr, Industrie und so weiter. Nichts hat das mehr mit der alten Blutsbruderschaft zu tun. Die Kehrseite dieser Entwickelung ist der Materialismus. In der Maschine wohnt der egoistische Verstand. Wie anders bildete noch der Grieche seinen Gott ab in Zeus, sich erinnernd, daß das Vaterprinzip allem zugrunde liegt. Wo finden wir bei uns im öffentlichen Leben etwas Göttliches? Maschinen, Eisenbahnen und so weiter, alles dient dem Egoismus. Das wird in der Zukunft noch eine besondere Rolle spielen. Im Krieg aller gegen alle wird es sich auf das äußerste steigern.
Wenn auch Christus das Einigungsband für alle Menschen schuf, so muß zur Tat des Erlösers doch noch ein zweites hinzutreten. In den Menschen, die sich zu Christus hingezogen fühlen, leben die Empfindungen, die von Mensch zu Mensch führen. Seine Tat ist die große Verbindungstat, die den Geist mit dem Physischen wieder zusammenbringen kann. Heute beherrschen die Menschen das Physische noch im Dienste des Egoismus. Sie sollen es einst im Dienste des Geistes gebrauchen. Der Geist muß sich mit dem Sohne vereinen, damit beide vereint im Vater aufgehen!
Christus spricht: «Niemand kommt zum Vater denn durch mich" Ein jeder soll sagen: Ich bin wie die Rebe am Weinstock; Christus ist mein Weinstock. - Dann überwindet Christus den Egoismus in den Organismen der Menschheit. In die einzelnen Iche muß der Vatergeist, der Geist des gemeinsamen Ursprungs, einziehen, dann schafft das Ich am Vaterprinzip; dann baut sich jedes Ich sein eigenes Haus, und doch sind sie alle durch das Christus-Prinzip geeint. «In meines Vaters Haus sind viele Wohnungen», sagt Christus. Damit sind die Wohnungen gemeint, die die Iche sich bauen. Christus aber muß die Stätte, den Wohnplatz bereiten. Aber dazu muß der Geist kommen, der die Menschen einigt: das ist der Geist der Wahrheit.
Die Theosophie soll die Menschen das Gemeinsame verstehen lehren, sie soll die höhere Weisheit bringen, den Geist der Wahrheit. Man hat so lange verschiedene Meinungen, als man noch nicht das höchste Wissen hat. Die Gnostiker nannten die Mystik «Mathesis», denn in der Mathematik kann niemand sagen, er sei anderer Meinung als die anderen. Es können nie zwei Gelehrte über einen mathematischen Satz verschiedener Meinung sein. Da kommt es nicht auf das menschliche Wünschen an. Bei der großen Weisheit müssen wir uns noch freimachen von unseren Wünschen. Nur wer den Geist der Wahrheit studieren will, ganz ohne eigenes Wünschen, nur der ist reif, ihn zu empfangen. Das höchste Wissen einigt die Menschen, da gibt es kein Meinen und Wähnen. Der Geist der Wahrheit muß die Menschen überstrahlen. Dann können sie noch so sehr zerstreut sein in ihren verschiedenen Wohnungen, aber der Geist der Wahrheit wird sie einigen. Damit das Haus, das das Ich sich baut, ins Geistige hineinpasse, muß der gemeinsame Geist der Wahrheit die Iche beherrschen. Den Geist der Wahrheit verheißt Christus seinen Jüngern am Pfingstfest. Da reden die Jünger in verschiedenen Zungen, da lernen alle Nationen einander verstehen. Mag auch der Egoismus immer größer werden, jedes Ich wird den Gemeinsamkeitsgeist haben, wenn es teil hat am Geiste der Wahrheit. Im Geiste des Johannes-Evangeliums muß leben, wer solches anstrebt. Das ist wahre Theosophie. Wie alle Pflanzen sich zur Sonne neigen, wie sie alle ihr entgegenwachsen, wo auch immer ihr Wohnplatz sei, so werden sich alle Iche zur Sonne des Geistes wenden, zum Geisteslicht der Wahrheit!
The Promise of the Spirit of Truth
The truths of religious documents are drawn from the depths of wisdom. But many people come and say: You are giving us something complicated; we want the gospel to be simple and naive. The great truths must not be complicated. — In a way, these people are right, but it is not only simple thinking, but also wise thinking that must be able to find the highest truths. The standpoint from which we view these things cannot be high enough. In the future, we must increasingly abandon the standpoint of convenience in order to penetrate the deepest insights with true seriousness.
Today we want to learn to understand the promise of the Spirit of Truth. These words refer to a secret initiation.
“He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me,” says Christ. “To love” refers to the intimate relationship between teacher and student, which is esoteric. The deepest secrets of the soul are transmitted from person to person, in a very intimate way. The words of the Bible that we want to clarify today are as follows:
“Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms...”
“If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. But whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, “Lord, what is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.“
‘Father’ is the name of the innermost power of the soul. It is to be revealed to the intimate disciples. Judas asks, ”Why do you want to reveal yourself to us, the intimate disciples, and not to the world?" With this, Judas directly expresses that something is to be revealed to the intimate disciples in the mystery.
Jesus says, “We will make our home with the Father.” That was the most important thing in the outpouring of the Spirit, which began with the words, “Let your hearts be calm.” Christ goes to prepare the dwelling place for his intimate disciples: “In my Father's house are many mansions.”
Let us clarify these words. Once a person has attained a certain level of consciousness, they can never lose it again. We must rid ourselves of any other idea. People so often revel in “merging with universal consciousness” and think that this is salvation. Such universal consciousness does not exist and never will. The ability to say “I” is something that human beings are now acquiring. And the more they say “I” and work from the I on the purification of their three lower bodies, the astral body, the etheric body, and the physical body, the more they develop their I and evolve into the future. In this way, human beings can consciously become selfless because they want to. One day, all human beings will have reached the summit of ego development. Nevertheless, they can selflessly grasp the spirit of community. We are sitting here together in this room, and the common spirit within it is like a point from which everything radiates together. But this common spirit can also voluntarily radiate from every heart and fill the room. Let us remember how the deity is reflected in the world. It has poured all its life into its reflection through the great sacrifice. Now let us imagine that we could also pour our lives into countless reflections, so that each individual reflection would say: I and my origin are one. — Thus, all human beings once emerged from the bosom of the deity as reflections of the deity. They are ultimately empty egos with transformed astral bodies, etheric bodies, and physical bodies, and they enter the spiritual world and say the deepest secret of their being: “I and the Father are one!” The animal-people of the Lemurian epoch could never become spiritual on their own; only by receiving the divine drops. At the end of their development, purified and refined, they can say: “I and the Father are one.”
We look back to distant times. There was still a lot of volcanic activity on Earth in the Lemurian era. Very different beings lived then than today. At that time, human beings first received what they were to develop as their soul. If we go back even further, we see the soul nature above and the body nature below, still as one nature. Both were united in the common bosom of God. Then the physical current below was left to itself and developed into the animal-men of the Lemurian epoch. The upper part developed spiritually and mentally. The body below first had to be prepared to receive the soul from above.
The spirit that reigned in the common origin of both, the souls and the bodies, is the Father Spirit, that is the Father.
The spirit that reigned below in the physical realm when the spiritual realm went its separate way above is the Son Spirit, that is the Son.
And the spirit that reigned above in the soul until it could descend into the physical is the Holy Spirit.
In the Lemurian period, during the first incarnation of the soul, there was an outpouring of the spirit: “And God breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”
That was the first outpouring of the spirit, an unconscious outpouring. At that time, human beings still lived in a dreamlike state for a long time. It was not until the second half of the Atlantean epoch that they acquired the abilities to calculate, think logically, and observe the outside world correctly in its relationships. Humans in the first half of the Atlantean epoch saw other humans as colored clouds. The cloud appeared reddish-brown if the person was unsympathetic, an enemy. A violet-reddish cloud announced a sympathetic being, a friend. Other things were also perceived in this way: if a golden-yellow cloud rose like a kind of mist between the astral and the physical, it was a sign that there was a useful metal here. A dull blue-red cloud with strange boundaries, as only a mineral can have, indicated an unusable metal. Gradually, humans became more and more isolated, limiting their feelings through their skin, and their external physical perception developed. Humans in the early Atlantean period perceived the world in the same way as fish or snails do today, but not in the same way as turtles or crocodiles. When humans began to breathe through their lungs, a new form of perception began. This was also connected with blood formation and the activity of the ego within.
A remnant of the ego's effect on the blood is still present today when we turn pale with fear or blush with shame. This still shows the immediate activity of the ego. This is a remnant from a time when the ego had a powerful effect on the blood. Today, the inner power of the ego is expressed only in gestures, in blushing and turning pale. Today, people can gesticulate enthusiastically with their hands, but in those days, the impulse of the ego could cause the blood to form organs out of the body: this is how the fingers came into being, for example. At the end of the Atlantean epoch, the people of that time were already similar to those of today.
In the past, blood ties were stronger than they are now. There was a much greater connection between blood relatives. The following example may be cited. Two writers of our time have portrayed farmers excellently in their works, but in very different ways. Anzengruber presents them sharply defined, almost chiseled figures. Rosegger, on the other hand, combines many individual traits to form a whole. He makes notes about his observations and then uses them. Rosegger wondered how Anzengruber could portray farmers at all, even though he had never lived among them or observed them. Anzengruber replied that he was able to portray farmers so well precisely because he did not know them: all his ancestors had been farmers, and so the nature of farmers was in his blood. From his blood, he described the characters of the farmers his ancestors had known.
In earlier times, humanity comprised many small groups. When we read Tacitus' Germania, we find many small tribes listed that were related by blood, for whom blood ties meant something special. Among the patriarchs of the Old Testament, marriages always took place within the same tribe, so that the same blood flowed in their veins; the memory of the descendants reached back to their ancestors. The descendant remembers the ancestors as we remember our childhood. Nine hundred years after Adam, the descendants still remembered Adam's experiences. This explains the high ages given in the Bible. As long as one could remember, the self that spanned generations was called “Adam,” for example. A common self lives in the tribe and lives in the blood. That is why only blood can atone for blood that has been shed. And the whole tribe avenges the blood of a single tribesman through blood feuds.
Gradually, the close relationship is increasingly replaced by more distant relationships. The tribes become international. The principle of pure humanity gains the upper hand.
In the physical realm, in the love of relatives, which is held together by blood, the principle of sonship is at work. But the soul develops more and more individually, so that the blood rolls into ever wider circles, moving further and further away from the community of the tribe.
All ancient states were built on the principle of blood kinship. The Ten Commandments of the Jews are tribal commandments. What adhered to the Jewish people did not yet adhere to all of humanity. Then the spirit of sonship appeared on earth in Christ, and his blood was shed. The blood that had previously created only close bonds was poured out. This resulted in the outflow of all close bonds into a brotherhood of all people. The narrowly defined sense of self, which cannot yet say, “Whoever does not forsake father, mother, wife, children, brother, and sister, and also his own life, cannot be my disciple,” such self-seeking must flow from the wounds of the Redeemer. In the flowing blood of Christ, the capacity for love was achieved, which overcomes blood brotherhood, tribe, and people. If we could have caught the drops of blood on the cross, we would have had, truly and in the fullest sense, the substance that transformed people so profoundly. The goal is for people to find a connection with all people, so that not only brothers and sisters can love each other, but that people can love other people. The physical blood that flowed from Christ's wounds is the embodiment of the principle of redemption; this blood is a significant symbol of redemption.
Human beings should rediscover the spirit in its full extent. They once had it, but only dimly, nebulously. Then it took on the form in which human beings view the world today. But today, people see only this world, only one side. This view cuts people off from spiritual life as if by a veil. Now, through the individual consciousness that made them into I's, they are to be brought back to world consciousness. That is why Christ's blood was sprinkled from the narrow trunk into the wide world. The cross was able to do this. From the cross, the blood flowed out to all of humanity. But at the same time, the cross also developed the ego in an ever closer, ever more individual way. Christianity brought us all of this.
But when people are left to their own devices, without tribal connections and with increased ego consciousness, selfishness must rise higher. Christ Jesus foresaw this. He saw the coming of materialism, and he set Christianity up as a bulwark against it.
In ancient times, everything was based on blood brotherhood. This is clearly shown by ancestor worship. Many legends were connected with the figure of an ancestral hero, for example Theseus or Cadmus. This principle prevailed in law and commandment. But then external institutions became decisive for coexistence. However, this only developed with the spread of Christianity. What does man find today in internationality? A principle that is more powerful than the power of the state. The great powers that rule the world today are international. They are called: money, transport, industry, and so on. None of this has anything to do with the old blood brotherhood. The flip side of this development is materialism. The selfish mind dwells in the machine. How differently the Greeks depicted their god in Zeus, remembering that the father principle underlies everything. Where do we find anything divine in our public life? Machines, railroads, and so on, all serve selfishness. This will play a special role in the future. In the war of all against all, it will increase to the extreme.
Even though Christ created the bond of unity for all people, a second act must be added to the act of the Redeemer. In people who feel drawn to Christ, there live the feelings that lead from person to person. His act is the great act of connection that can bring the spirit and the physical back together. Today, people still control the physical in the service of selfishness. They should one day use it in the service of the spirit. The spirit must unite with the Son so that both may be united in the Father!
Christ says: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Everyone should say: I am like the branch on the vine; Christ is my vine. Then Christ will overcome selfishness in the organisms of humanity. The Father Spirit, the spirit of common origin, must enter into the individual egos, then the ego will work according to the Father principle; then each ego will build its own house, and yet they will all be united through the Christ principle. “In my Father's house are many mansions,” says Christ. This refers to the mansions that the egos build for themselves. But Christ must prepare the place, the dwelling place. For this, however, the Spirit must come that unites people: that is the Spirit of Truth.
Theosophy should teach people to understand what they have in common; it should bring higher wisdom, the Spirit of Truth. People have different opinions as long as they do not yet have the highest knowledge. The Gnostics called mysticism “mathesis,” because in mathematics no one can say that they disagree with others. No two scholars can ever disagree on a mathematical theorem. Human desires are irrelevant here. When it comes to great wisdom, we must free ourselves from our desires. Only those who want to study the Spirit of Truth, completely without their own desires, are ready to receive it. The highest knowledge unites people; there is no thinking or imagining. The Spirit of Truth must shine upon people. Then, no matter how scattered they may be in their different homes, the Spirit of Truth will unite them. In order for the house that the ego builds to fit into the spiritual realm, the common spirit of truth must rule the egos. Christ promises the spirit of truth to his disciples at Pentecost. There the disciples speak in different tongues, and all nations learn to understand one another. Even if egoism continues to grow, every ego will have the spirit of community if it participates in the spirit of truth. Those who strive for this must live in the spirit of the Gospel of John. That is true theosophy. Just as all plants bend toward the sun, just as they all grow toward it, wherever their dwelling place may be, so will all egos turn toward the sun of the spirit, toward the spiritual light of truth!