The Rudolf Steiner Archive

4. “The Mysteries” A Christmas and Easter poem by Goethe

[ 1 ] Anyone who was in Cologne Cathedral that night could see the three letters CMB written in light. As is well known, they stand for the names of the Three Wise Men, who, according to Christian tradition, were called Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. These names evoke very special memories for Cologne. There is an old legend that the remains of these Three Wise Men, after they had become bishops and died, were brought here to Cologne some time later. There's another legend that says a Danish king once came here to Cologne and brought three crowns for the Three Wise Men. When he got back home, he had a dream. The three kings appeared to him in his dream and gave him three cups: the first cup had gold, the second cup had frankincense, and the third cup had myrrh. When the Danish king awoke, the three kings had disappeared, but the cups remained; they stood before him: the three gifts he had kept from his dream.

[ 2 ] There is something extraordinarily profound in this legend. It is suggested to us that the king rose in his dream to a certain insight into the spiritual world, whereby he was made aware of the symbolic meaning of these three kings, these three magi from the East, who offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh at the birth of Jesus Christ. And from this knowledge he retained a lasting treasure: the three human virtues symbolically represented by gold, frankincense, and myrrh: Self-knowledge in the gold; self-piety, that is, the piety of the innermost self, also called self-sacrifice, in the frankincense; and self-perfection and self-development, or also the preservation of the eternal in the self, in the myrrh.

[ 3 ] How did the king come to receive these three virtues as gifts from another world? He came to this possibility by trying with all his soul to penetrate such a profound symbol as is contained in the three kings who offered their gifts to Christ Jesus.

[ 4 ] There are many, many features in the Christ legend that lead us deeply into the various meanings of what is meant by the Christ principle and what it is supposed to accomplish in the world. Among the deepest features of the Christ legend is the adoration and sacrifice of the three magi, the three kings from the East, and we must approach this fundamental symbolism of the Christian tradition with a deeper understanding. Later, the view emerged that the first king represented the Asian peoples, the second the European peoples, and the third the African peoples. Where Christianity was understood as the religion of earthly harmony, people increasingly saw in the three kings and their homage a convergence of the various currents and religious directions in the world toward the one principle, the Christ principle.

[ 5 ] Those who, at the time when this legend took shape, had penetrated the mystery principles of esoteric Christianity saw in the Christ principle not merely a force that had intervened in human evolution, but they saw in the being embodied in Jesus of Nazareth, a cosmic, a world force, a force that went far beyond the merely human that prevails in our time. They saw in the Christ principle a force that, although it represents an ideal for humanity that lies in the distant future, is an ideal that humans can only approach by increasingly understanding the whole world in spirit. They saw in human beings, first of all, a small being, a small world, a microcosm that was for them a reflection of the macrocosm, the great, comprehensive world that contains everything that human beings can initially perceive with their outer senses, see with their eyes, hear with their ears, but which also contains everything that the spirit can perceive, everything that the lowest and also the most clairvoyant spirit can perceive. For this is how the world appeared to esoteric Christians in the early days. Everything they saw happening in the heavens, everything they saw happening on our earth, what they saw as thunder and lightning, as storms and rain and sunshine, as the movement of the stars, as the rising and setting of the sun, as the rising and setting of the moon, all of this was gesture to them, was something like facial expressions, was the outer expression of inner spiritual processes.

[ 6 ] The esoteric Christian looks at the structure of the world as he looks at a human body. When he looks at the human body, it breaks down into different parts: head, arms, hands, and so on. When he looks at the human body, he sees hand movements, movements of the eyes, movements of the facial muscles, but the limbs and the movements of the individual limbs are for him the expression of inner spiritual and soul experiences. And just as he looked into the limbs of man and their movements to see the eternal, soul nature of man, so the esoteric Christian looked into the movements of the stars, into the light that streams from the stars to man, into the rising and setting of the sun and the rising and setting of the moon, in all this he saw the outer expression of divine-spiritual beings flooding through space. All these natural events were for him the deeds of the gods, the gestures of the gods, the facial expressions of divine-spiritual beings. But also everything that happens in the human race, when people form social communities, when people submit to moral commandments, regulate their actions among themselves by laws, when they create tools from the forces of nature, albeit with the forces of nature, but in a way that nature has not directly given them, everything that man does more or less unconsciously was, for the esoteric Christian, the outer expression of inner divine-spiritual activity.

[ 7 ] But the esoteric Christian did not stop at such general forms, but pointed to very specific individual gestures, individual parts of the world's physiognomy, the world's mimicry, in order to see in these individual parts very specific expressions of the spiritual. They pointed to the sun and said: The sun is not merely an external, physical body. This external, physical body of the sun is the body of a soul-spiritual being who rules over soul-spiritual beings, who are the rulers, the leaders of all earthly destinies; they are the leaders of all external, natural events on earth, but also the leaders of everything that happens in human social life, in the lawful behavior of all people toward one another. When the esoteric Christian looked up at the sun, he revered in the sun the outer revelation of his Christ. At first, Christ was the soul of the sun, and what the esoteric Christian said was this: From the beginning, the sun was the body of Christ, but the people on Earth and the Earth itself were not yet ready to receive the spiritual light, the Christ light, that streams forth from the sun. Therefore, people had to be prepared for the Christ light.

[ 8 ] And now the esoteric Christian looked up at the moon and saw how the moon reflects the light of the sun, but weaker than the light of the sun itself, and he said to himself: When I look at the sun with my physical eyes, I am blinded by its radiant light; when I look at the moon, I am not blinded, for it reflects back to me the radiant sunlight in a weakened form. In this weakened sunlight, in this moonlight shining down on the earth, the esoteric Christian saw the physiognomic expression of the old Jehovah principle, the expression of the religion of the old law. And he said: Before the Christ principle, the sun of justice, could appear on earth, the Yahweh principle had to send down this light of justice to earth in a preparatory form, weakened in the law.

[ 9 ] Thus, what lay in the old Jehovah principle, in the old law — the spiritual light of the moon — was, for the esoteric Christian, the reflected spiritual light of the higher Christ principle. And with the confessors of the most ancient mysteries, the esoteric Christian saw, even deep into the Middle Ages, in the sun the expression of the spiritual light ruling the earth, the Christ light, and in the moon the expression of the reflected Christ light, which in its immediate form would blind human beings. And in the earth itself, esoteric Christians, together with the followers of the most ancient mysteries, saw that which at times concealed and veiled the dazzling sunlight of the spirit. They saw in the earth the physical expression of a spirit, just as they saw in all other bodies the expression of something spiritual. He imagined that when the sun shines perceptibly on the earth, when it sends down its rays from spring through summer and drives out of the earth all sprouting and budding life, when it then reaches its zenith in the long summer days, the esoteric Christian imagined that the sun nourishes the outer sprouting life, the physical life. In the plants sprouting from the ground, in the animals that were able to develop their fertility during these times, the esoteric Christian saw the same principle in an external, physical form that he saw in the beings for which the sun is the external expression. But then, when the days grew shorter, when autumn and winter approached, the esoteric Christian said: The sun is withdrawing its physical power more and more from the earth. But to the same extent that the physical power of the sun is withdrawn from the earth, the spiritual power grows, and it flows most strongly toward the earth when those days come which are the shortest, with the long nights, in the times which have subsequently been fixed by the Christmas festival. Man cannot see this spiritual power of the sun. He would see it, said the esoteric Christian, if he had within himself the inner power of spiritual vision. And the esoteric Christian still had an awareness of what was the fundamental conviction and fundamental knowledge of the mystery students in the earliest times up to the more recent times.

[ 10 ] During those nights, which are now fixed by the Christmas festival, the mystery students were prepared for inner spiritual vision, so that they could see inwardly, spiritually, that which, in terms of its physical power, withdraws most from the earth during this time. During the long Christmas night, the mystery student was brought to the point where, at midnight, the vision could dawn upon him. Then the Earth no longer veiled the Sun, which stood behind it. It became transparent to him. He saw through the transparent Earth the spiritual light of the Sun, the Christ light. This fact, which reflects a profound experience of the mystery students, was recorded in the expression: Seeing the Sun at midnight.

[ 11 ] There are places where churches, which are otherwise open all day, are closed at midday. This is a fact that connects Christianity with the traditions of ancient religious beliefs. Within ancient religious beliefs, mystery students said from their experience: At midday, when the sun is at its highest, when it unfolds its strongest physical power, the gods sleep, and they sleep most deeply in summer, when the sun unfolds its strongest physical power. But they are most awake on Christmas night, when the outer physical power of the sun is at its weakest.

[ 12 ] We see that all beings who want to develop their outer physical power look up to the sun when it rises in spring; they strive to receive the outer physical power of the sun. But then, at midday in summer, when the physical power of the sun flows most strongly from the sun to the earth, its spiritual power is at its weakest. At midnight in winter, however, when the sun radiates its weakest physical power down to the earth, human beings see the spirit of the sun through the earth, which has become transparent to them. The esoteric Christian felt that through his immersion in Christian esotericism he was drawing ever closer to that power of inner vision through which he could completely fulfill his feelings and thoughts, his impulses of will, by looking into this spiritual sun. And then the mystery student was brought to a vision that had a highly real meaning: as long as the earth is opaque, the individual parts of the earth appear to be inhabited by people who develop individual creeds; but the unifying bond is not there. The human races are scattered like the climates, the opinions of people on earth are scattered, but there is no connecting link. But to the extent that people begin to look through the earth into the sun through the inner power of vision, to the extent that the star appears to them through the earth, the creeds of people unite into the great, unified brotherhood of humanity. And those who have guided the separate great masses of humanity in the truth of the higher planes toward initiation into the higher worlds have been presented as the magi. They were three, because the most diverse forces are expressed in the most diverse places on Earth. Humanity therefore had to be guided in different ways. But the star rising behind the Earth appears as a unifying force. It guides the scattered people together, and there they offer sacrifices to the physical embodiment of the sun star, which had appeared as the star of peace. Thus, in a cosmic-human way, the religion of peace, harmony, world peace, and human brotherhood has been connected with the ancient magicians, who laid down the best gifts they had for humanity at the cradle of the incarnated Son of Man.

[ 13 ] The legend beautifully captures this by saying that the Danish king rose to the knowledge of the magi, the three kings, and when he rose, they left him their three gifts: first, the gift of wisdom in self-knowledge; second, the gift of devoted piety in self-sacrifice; and third, the gift of the victory of life over death in the power and cultivation of the eternal in the self.

[ 14 ] All those who understood Christianity in this way saw in it the profound spiritual-scientific idea of the unification of religions. For they were of the opinion, indeed, they were firmly convinced that those who understand Christianity in this way can progress to the highest stage of human development.

[ 15 ] One of the last Germans to understand Christianity in this esoteric way is Goethe, and Goethe has recorded this kind of Christianity, this kind of religious reconciliation, this kind of theosophy for us in the profound poem “The Secrets,” which has remained a fragment, but which shows us in a deeply meaningful way the inner soul development of a person who is permeated and convinced by the feelings and ideas just mentioned.

[ 16 ] We first hear how Goethe wants to point us to the pilgrim's path of such a person, and how he hints that this pilgrim's path can lead to many wrong turns, that it is not easy for people to find it, and that one must have patience and devotion to reach the goal. If people possess these qualities, they will find the light they seek. Let us listen to the beginning of the poem:

A wonderful song has been prepared for you;
Listen to it gladly, and call everyone here!
The path leads through mountains and valleys;
Here the view is limited, there it is free again,
And when the path gently glides into the bushes,
Do not think that it is a mistake;
Let us, when we have climbed enough,
Come closer to our goal at the right time.

But let no one think that with much reflection
He will ever unravel the whole song:
Many must gain much here,
Mother Earth bears many flowers;
One departs with a gloomy look,
Another lingers with a cheerful demeanor:
Each shall enjoy according to his desire,
For many a wanderer the spring shall flow.

[ 17 ] We are placed in this situation. We are shown a pilgrim who, if we asked him, would not be able to tell us, according to reason, what we have just explained as esoteric Christian ideas, but a pilgrim in whose heart and soul these ideas live, transformed into feelings. It is not easy to find everything that is hidden in this poem called “The Secrets.” Goethe clearly hinted at it: a process that takes place in the human being in whom the highest ideas, thoughts, and concepts are transformed into feelings and sensations. How does this transformation take place?

[ 18 ] We live through many incarnations, from one incarnation to another. In each one we learn more and many different things; each one provides many opportunities to gain new experiences. It is not possible for us to carry everything with us in every detail from one incarnation to another. When a person is reborn, not everything he has learned in the past needs to be revived in all its details. But if a person has learned a lot in one incarnation, when they die and are reborn, not all their ideas need to come back to life, but they do come back to life with the fruits of their previous life, with the fruits of their learning. Their perceptions and feelings correspond to the insights they gained in their previous incarnations.

[ 19 ] We have expressed something wonderful here in Goethe's poem, in which a person appears before us who, in the simplest words — as if from the mouth of a child, not in explicit forms of thought and ideas — proclaims the highest wisdom as the fruit of earlier insights. He has transformed these insights into feelings and sensations and is thus called upon to guide others who may have learned more from ideas. We have such a pilgrim with a mature soul, who has transformed much of what he learned in previous incarnations into immediate feelings and sensations, in Brother Markus. As a member of a secret brotherhood, he is sent on an important mission to another secret brotherhood.

[ 20 ] He wanders through various regions, and, being tired, he comes to a mountain. Finally, he climbs the path to the summit. Every line in this poem has a deep meaning. When he has climbed the mountain, he sees a monastery in a nearby valley. This monastery is the home of another brotherhood to which he has been sent. Above the gate of the monastery, he sees something special. He sees the cross, but in a special form: the cross entwined with roses! And he utters a meaningful word that only those who know how often that password has been spoken in secret brotherhoods can understand: “Who has placed roses on the cross?” And from the center of the cross he sees three rays emanating as if from the sun. He does not need to call to mind the meaning of this profound symbol. It lives in his soul, his mature soul, his intuition and feeling for it. His mature soul knows everything that lies within it.

[ 21 ] What does the cross mean? He knows that the cross expresses many things, among them the threefold lower nature of man: the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body. In it the I is born. In the Rosicrucian symbol we have the fourfold human being: in the cross the physical human being, the etheric human being, and the astral human being, and in the roses the I. Why roses for the I? Esoteric Christianity added the roses to the cross because it saw in the Christ principle the call to raise the I, insofar as it is born in the three bodies, to an ever higher and higher I. It saw in the Christ principle the power to carry this ego ever higher and higher.

[ 22 ] The cross is the sign of death in a very special sense. Goethe also expresses this beautifully in another passage when he says:

And as long as you do not have this,
This: Die and become!
You are only a gloomy guest
On the dark earth.

[ 23 ] Die and become, overcome that which is initially given to you in the lower three bodies. Kill it, but do not kill it in order to desire death, but purify what is in these three bodies so that you may attain in the I the power to receive ever more perfection. By killing what is given to you in the three lower bodies, the power of perfection draws into the I. In the I, the Christian should absorb the power of perfection up to the blood in the Christ principle. This power should work down to the blood.

[ 24 ] The blood is the expression of the I. In red roses, the esoteric Christian saw that which, in the blood purified and refined by the Christ principle, and thus in the purified ego, leads man up to his higher being, that which transforms the astral body into the spirit self, the etheric body into the life spirit, and the physical body into the spiritual man. Thus, in the Rosicrucian cross with its three rays, the Christ principle appears to us in profound symbolism. The pilgrim, Brother Markus, who arrives here, knows that he is in a place where the deepest meaning of Christianity is understood.

Tired from the day's long journey,
Which he undertook with lofty motivation,
Leaning on a staff in the manner of a pious wanderer,
Brother Markus arrived, beyond the footbridge and the road,
Longing for a little drink and food,
In a valley on a beautiful evening,
Full of hope in the wooded grounds
To find a hospitable roof for the night.

On the steep mountain that now stands before him,
He thinks he sees the traces of a path,
He follows the winding trail,
And must climb and twist around the rocks;
Soon he finds himself high above the valley,
The sun shines down on him again, warm and beautiful,
And soon he sees with deep joy
The summit lying close before his eyes.

And beside him, the sun, sinking low,
Still enthroned magnificently between dark clouds;
He gathers strength to climb the height,
where he hopes his efforts will soon be rewarded.
Now, he says to himself, now we shall see
if there is anything human living nearby!
He climbs and listens and feels as if he has been reborn:
the sound of bells rings in his ears.

And when he has finally climbed to the summit,
He sees a nearby, gently rolling valley.
His quiet eyes shine with pleasure;
For suddenly, before the forest, he sees
A beautiful building lying in a green meadow.
The last rays of the sun are just hitting it:
He hurries through the dew-moistened meadows
Towards the monastery, which shines towards him.

Already he sees himself close to the quiet place,
Which fills his spirit with peace and hope,
And on the arch of the closed gate
He sees a mysterious image.
He stands and ponders and whispers softly
of the devotion that wells up in his heart.
He stands and ponders: What does this mean?
The sun sinks and the ringing fades away.

He sees the sign standing magnificently,
which stands as comfort and hope for the whole world,
to which many thousands of spirits are committed,
To which many thousands of hearts warmly pray,
Which destroys the power of bitter death,
Which flies in so many victory flags:
A source of refreshment permeates his weary limbs,
He sees the cross and lowers his eyes.

He feels anew what salvation has sprung forth there,
He feels the faith of half the world;
But he is filled with a completely new meaning,
As the image appears before his eyes:
The cross stands there, densely entwined with roses.
Who has placed roses on the cross?
The wreath swells, so that on all sides
the rough wood is accompanied by softness.

And light silver clouds float in the sky,
rising up with the cross and roses.
And from the center springs a holy life
In three rays, which emerge from a single point;
No words surround the image,
Which would bring meaning and clarity to the mystery.
In the twilight, which grows ever deeper,
He stands and ponders and feels uplifted.

[ 25 ] What can be found within this building as the spirit of deepest Christianity is expressed by this cross entwined with roses, and as the pilgrim enters, he is truly welcomed by this spirit. As he enters, he realizes that it is not this or that religion of the world that reigns in this house, but that the higher unity of the religions of the world reigns here. Inside this house, he tells an old member of the brotherhood who is here on whose behalf and why he is there. He is welcomed and hears that a brotherhood of twelve brothers lives here in complete seclusion. These twelve brothers represent different groups of people on earth; each of the brothers represents a religious denomination. No one will find that anyone is accepted here when he is still young, when he is still immature, but one is accepted when one has looked around the world, when one has struggled through the pleasures and sufferings of the world, when one has worked and labored in the world and has risen to a free view of one's narrowly limited field. Only then will one be accepted and admitted into the circle of the Twelve. And these Twelve, each of whom represents a religious creed of the world, live here in peace and harmony with one another; for they are led by a Thirteenth, who surpasses them all in the perfection of the human self, who surpasses them all in his broad view of human conditions.

[ 26 ] And how does Goethe indicate that this thirteenth is the representative of true esotericism, the bearer of the confession of the Rosy Cross? Goethe hints at this by saying: He was among us. Now we are plunged into the deepest sorrow because he wants to leave us; he wants to depart from us. But he thinks it right to depart from us now. He wants to ascend to higher regions where he no longer needs to reveal himself in an earthly body.

[ 27 ] He is allowed to ascend. For he has ascended to a point which Goethe describes as follows: For every creed there is the possibility of approaching the highest unity. — When each of the twelve religions is ready to establish harmony, then the thirteenth, who previously established harmony externally, can float away. And we are told beautifully how this perfection of the self is achieved. First we are told the life story of the thirteenth; but the brother who took in the pilgrim Mark knows many other things that the great leader of the twelve could not say. Some features of deep esoteric significance are now told by this brother to the pilgrim Mark. It is said that when the thirteenth was born, a star announced his earthly existence. This is directly linked to the star that guided the Three Wise Men and its significance. This star has a lasting meaning; it shows the way to self-knowledge, self-surrender, and self-perfection. It is the star that opens our understanding of the gifts that the Danish king received through the apparition that came to him in a dream, the star that appears at the birth of everyone who is ready to take the Christ principle into themselves.

[ 28 ] And other things became apparent. It became apparent that he had developed to that level of religious harmony which brings peace and harmony to the soul. This is deeply symbolic in that when the thirteenth appears in the world, a vulture swoops down; but instead of wreaking havoc, it spreads peace among the doves. We are told something else. When the little sister lies in her cradle, an otter winds itself around her. The thirteenth, still a child, kills the otter. This wonderfully symbolizes how a mature soul—for only a mature soul can achieve such a thing after many incarnations—kills the otter in early youth, that is, overcomes the lower astral being. The otter is the symbol of the lower astral being. The sister is one's own etheric body, around which the astral body winds itself. He kills the otter for his sister.

[ 29 ] Then we are told how he obediently submitted to what his parents initially demanded of him. He obeyed his harsh father. The soul transforms its insights, ideas, and thoughts. Then healing powers develop in the soul, through which healing can be brought about in the world. Miraculous powers develop; they find expression in his use of his sword to bring forth a spring from the rock. It is deliberately shown here how his soul follows the traces of Scripture.

[ 30 ] Thus gradually matures the Upper One, the representative of humanity, the chosen one, who here in the community of the Twelve—the great secret order that has taken on the mission for humanity under the symbol of the Rosicrucians to harmonize the creeds spread throughout the world — as the Thirteenth. Thus we are first introduced in a profound way to the soul constitution of the one who has guided the brotherhood of our Twelve until now.

He knocks last, when already the high stars
Turn their bright eyes toward him.
The gate opens and he is welcomed
With open arms and ready hands.
He says whence he comes, from what distance
The commands of higher beings have sent him.
They listen and marvel. As they honor the stranger
As a guest, they now honor the messenger.

Everyone presses forward to hear.
And is moved by a secret force,
No one dares breathe to disturb the rare guest,
For every word echoes in their hearts.
What he tells them seems like profound teachings
Of wisdom that echoes from the lips of children:
In his openness and innocence of manner,
He seems to be a man from another world.

Welcome, cries an old man at last, welcome,
If your mission brings comfort and hope!
You look at us; we all stand anxiously,
Although your sight stirs our souls:
The greatest happiness, alas! is taken from us,
We are moved by sorrow and fear.
At this momentous hour, our walls take you in, stranger,
To mourn with us:

For, alas, the man who unites us all here,
Whom we know as father, friend, and leader,
Who has kindled light and courage in our lives,
Will soon depart from us,
He announced it himself only recently;
But he will not say how or when:
And so his certain departure is
Mysterious and full of bitter suffering.

You see everyone here with gray hair,
As nature itself has bid us rest:
We took in no one who, young in years,
Was called to renounce the world too soon.
After we had experienced the joys and burdens of life,
When the wind no longer blew in our sails,
We were allowed to land here with honor,
Confident that we had found a safe harbor.

To the noble man who led us here,
May the peace of God dwell in his heart;
I accompanied him on the path of life,
And I am well aware of the old days;
The hours when he prepared himself in solitude
Announce to us the approaching loss.
What is man, why can he give his life
in vain, and not for someone better?

This would now be my only desire:
Why must I renounce my wish?
How many have gone before me!
Only him must I mourn most bitterly.
How else could he have received you so kindly!
He alone has bequeathed the house to us;
Admittedly, he has not yet named a successor,
But he already lives separated from us in spirit.

And when a little hour comes each day,
Tell him, and he will be more moved than usual:
We hear from his own lips
How wonderfully Providence has guided him;
We take note, so that the sure news
Will not be lost to posterity, even in the smallest detail;
We also take care that someone writes diligently,
And that his memory remains pure and true.

There is much I would rather tell myself,
Than now be silent and listen:
The smallest detail should not be missing,
I still have everything vividly in mind;
I listen and can hardly hide
That I am not always satisfied with it:
When I speak of all these things,
They shall sound more magnificent from my mouth.

As the third man, I spoke more freely,
How a spirit had promised his mother early on,
And how a star shone more brightly in the evening sky
At his baptism,
And how a vulture with wide wings
Settled down in the courtyard among the doves;
Not striking fiercely and as usual to harm,
He seemed to invite them gently to unity.

Then he modestly concealed from us
How as a child he overcame the otters
That he found clinging to his sister's arm
and found her fast entwined around it.
The nurse fled and left the infant lying there;
He strangled the worm with a sure hand:
The mother came and saw with joyous trembling
Her son's deeds and her daughter's life.

And so he also concealed that a spring
Sprung from the dry rock before his sword,
Strong as a stream, winding its way
Down the mountain into the depths:
It still flows so swiftly, so silvery,
As when it first rushed toward him,
And the companions who saw the miracle
Barely dared to quench their burning thirst.

When nature has exalted a man,
It is no wonder that he achieves much;
One must praise in him the power of the Creator,
Who brings the weak tone to such honor:
But when a man has passed all of life's trials
The most bitter, conquers himself;
Then one can show him to others with joy
And say: That is he, that is his own!

For all strength pushes forward into the distance,
To live and work here and there;
On the other hand, the stream of the world constricts and hinders from every side
and carries us away with it:
In this inner storm and outer strife
The spirit hears a word that is difficult to understand:
From the power that binds all beings,
The man who overcomes himself is freed.

[ 31 ] Thus, this man, who had overcome himself, that is, the ego that is initially assigned to man, became the leader of the select brotherhood just described. And so he guides the Twelve. He has guided them to the point where they are now so mature that he can leave them.

[ 32 ] Our brother Markus is then led further into the rooms where the Twelve work. How did they work? It is a special kind of work, and we are made aware that this work is work in the spiritual world. People whose eyes look only at the physical plane, whose senses see only the physical and what happens to people in the physical world, cannot easily imagine that there is another kind of work that is perhaps much more essential and important than what is done outwardly on the physical plane. The work from the higher planes is much more important for humanity. However, the condition must be fulfilled that those who want to work on the higher planes must first have completed their work on the physical plane. These twelve had done so. That is why their cooperation means something so great for the service of humanity.

[ 33 ] Our brother Markus is led into the room where the Twelve used to gather for their meetings, and there he is confronted with a profound symbol of the nature of their cooperation. What each of the brothers has to contribute from his own particular nature in this cooperation is expressed in a special symbol above the seat of each of the Twelve. There we see various symbols which express in a meaningful way and in many different ways what each one has to contribute to the common work, which consists of spiritual activity, so that these streams flow together here into a stream of spiritual life which floods the world and permeates the rest of humanity. There are such brotherhoods, such centers, from which such streams emanate and work their influence on the rest of humanity.

[ 34 ] Above the seat of the thirteenth, Brother Markus sees the sign again: the cross entwined with roses, this sign which is at the same time a symbol of the fourfold human nature and, in the red roses, the symbol of the purified blood or I principle, the principle of the higher human being. And then we see how that which is to be overcome by this sign is placed as a special symbol to the left and right of the seat of this thirteenth. On the right he sees the fire-colored dragon: this represents the astral being of man.

[ 35 ] It was well known in Christian esotericism that the human soul can be surrendered to the three lower bodies. If it is surrendered to them, then the lower life of the threefold physicality reigns in it; this is expressed in astral perception through the dragon. This is not merely a symbol, but a very real sign. The dragon expresses what must first be overcome. In the passions, in these forces of astral fire that belong to the physical human being, in this dragon, the Christian esotericism from whose spirit this poem was written and which spread throughout Europe saw that which humanity had received from the hot zone, from the south. The part of the human being that humanity brought with it from the south is the hot passion that is more directed toward the lower senses. As a first impulse to fight and overcome this, people sensed what flowed down in the influences of the cooler north. The influence of the colder north, the descent of the I into the threefold physical body, is expressed, according to an ancient symbol taken from the constellation of the Bear, by the stretching of the hand into the Bear's mouth. The lower human nature, that which is expressed in the fiery dragon, is overcome. And what has been preserved in the higher animal kingdom is represented by the bear; and the ego, which has developed beyond the dragon nature, is represented with deep significance by the stretching of the human hand into the bear's throat. On both sides of the Rosicrucian cross appears that which must be overcome by the Rosicrucian cross, and it is the Rosicrucian cross that calls upon human beings to purify themselves higher and higher.

[ 36 ] Thus, the poem actually presents the principle of esoteric Christianity to us in the deepest way and, above all, brings to our attention what should be particularly close to our hearts on a feast day such as the one we are celebrating today.

[ 37 ] The oldest of the brothers belonging to the brotherhood who are here expressly tells the pilgrim Markus that what they are doing here together is happening in the spirit, that it is spiritual life. This work for humanity on the spiritual plane means something special. The brothers have experienced the joys and sorrows of life. They have fought battles outside, they have worked outside in the world. Now they are here, but here too they continue to work for the further development of humanity. The pilgrim Markus is told: You have now seen as much as can be shown to a student to whom the first gate is opened. You have been shown in meaningful symbols how man's ascent should be. But the second gate encloses higher secrets: how higher worlds work upon humanity. And you can only learn these higher secrets after lengthy preparation; only then can you enter through the other gate.

[ 38 ] Deep secrets are expressed in this poem.

How early it was that his heart taught him,
What I can hardly call virtue in him;
That he revered his father's strict word,
And was willing, when the latter harshly and sharply
Burdened his youth's free time with service,
To which the son submitted himself with joy,
As a boy, parentless and wandering,
Does it out of necessity for a small gift.

He had to accompany the warriors into battle,
At first on foot in storm and sunshine,
The horses waiting and the table being prepared,
And be of service to every old warrior.
He ran willingly and quickly at all times,
Day and night as a messenger through the grove;
And so accustomed to living only for others,
It seemed that only toil gave him joy.

How, in battle, with a bold and cheerful spirit,
He picked up the arrows he found on the ground,
He hurried to gather herbs himself,
With which he bound the wounded:
Whatever he touched was healed at once,
The sick rejoiced at his touch:
Who would not look upon him with joy!
And only his father seemed not to notice him.

Light as a sailing ship that feels no weight
From its cargo and hurries from port to port,
He carried the burden of his parents' teaching;
Obedience was their first and last word;
And as it is the delight of boys and the honor of young men,
So only the foreign will drew him away.<
The father pondered in vain for new tests,
And when he wanted to demand, he had to praise.

Finally, he too was overcome,
Aware of his son's worth;
The roughness of the old man had disappeared,
He suddenly gave him a precious horse;
The young man was released from his menial duties,
He carried a sword instead of a short dagger:
And so he entered an order,
To which he was entitled by birth.

I could tell you more for days,
What astonishes every listener;
His life will surely be equaled by the most delightful stories
Told by his grandchildren;
What seems unbelievable in fables and poems
And yet highly entertaining,
Is heard here and may be readily accepted,
Twice delighted to accept it as true.

And if you ask me what the chosen one is called,
Whom the eye of prudence has chosen?
Whom I often praise, but never enough,
To whom so many incredible things have happened?
Humanus is the name of the saint, the wise man,
The best man I have ever seen with my own eyes:
And his lineage, as the princes call it,
You shall know along with his ancestors.

The old man spoke and would have spoken more,
For he was full of wonders,
And we delighted for many weeks
With all that he had to tell us;
But his speech was interrupted,
When his heart swelled most strongly toward his guest.
The other brothers soon came,
Until they took the words from his mouth.

And now, after enjoying his meal, Mark
The Lord and his hosts,
He asked for a clean bowl
Full of water, and it was given to him.
Then they led him to the great hall,
Where a rare sight met his eyes.
What he saw there shall not remain hidden,
I will describe it to you faithfully.

There was no decoration here to dazzle the eyes,
A bold cross vault rose up,
And he saw thirteen chairs along the walls
Arranged around them, as in a pious choir,
Delicately carved by skilled hands;
There was a small desk in front of each one.
One felt oneself surrendering to devotion here,
And to a peaceful and sociable life.

At the head he saw thirteen shields hanging,
For each chair had one assigned to it.
They did not seem to be displayed here in pride,
Each one seemed significant and chosen,
And Brother Markus burned with desire
To know what so many images concealed;
In the middle, he saw that sign
For the second time, a cross with rose branches.

The soul can imagine many things here,
One object draws the eye from another;
And helmets hang over many a shield,
Swords and lances can be seen here and there,
The weapons, as they might be picked up from battlefields,
Adorn this place:
Here flags and guns from foreign lands,
And, if I see correctly, chains and bonds there too!

Each one sinks down before his chair,
Beats his breast in silent prayer;
Short songs sound from their lips,
In which devout joy is nourished;
Then the faithful brothers bless each other
For a short sleep, undisturbed by fantasy:
Only Markus remains, as the others leave,
Standing with a few others in the hall.

Tired as he is, he still wishes to stay awake,
For many images strongly excite him:
Here he sees a fiery dragon,
Quenching its thirst in wild flames;
Here an arm in a bear's jaws,
From which blood flows in hot streams;
The two shields hung, equidistant,
On the right and left sides of the rose cross.

Wherever he turns his gaze,
The more amazed he is at the art and splendor,
The wealth here seems deliberately wasted,
It seems as if everything has made itself.
Should he be surprised that the work is complete?
Should he be surprised that it was conceived in this way?
It seems to him that he is just beginning, with heavenly delight,
To live in these moments.

You come here on wonderful paths,
The old man says to him again in a friendly manner;
Let these images invite you to stay,
Until you learn what many a hero has done;
What is hidden here cannot be guessed,
Unless it is shown to you in confidence;
You can well imagine how much has been suffered here,
How much has been lived and lost, and what has been fought for.

But do not believe that the old man is only telling of ancient times;
Much is still happening here;
What you see means more and more;
A carpet covers it, and soon a pile of flowers.
If you like it, you may prepare yourself:
You have only just passed through the first gate, my friend;
You have been warmly welcomed in the forecourt,
And you seem worthy to me to enter the innermost chamber.

[ 39 ] After a short rest, our brother Markus begins to sense at least something of what lies within. He has allowed the ascent of the human self to work on his soul through meaningful symbols, and when he is awakened by a sign after a short rest, he comes to a gate, which he finds locked. And he hears a strange triad: three beats, and then the whole thing is flooded with flute music. He cannot look inside, cannot see what is happening in the room.

[ 40 ] We need say no more than these few words to hint in a profound way at what awaits human beings when they approach the spiritual worlds, when they have been purified and perfected through work on themselves, that he has passed through the astral world and is then approaching the higher worlds—those worlds in which the spiritual archetypes of things here on earth are to be found—when he approaches what is called the heavenly world in esoteric Christianity. Then he first approaches it through a world of flowing colors, and then he enters a world of sounds, the harmony of the worlds, the sound of the spheres. The spiritual world is a world of sounds. Those who have developed their higher self up to higher worlds must settle into this spiritual world. It is Goethe in particular who clearly expressed the higher experience of a world of spiritual sound in his Faust, when he lets him ascend to heaven and the heavenly world reveals itself to him through sound.

The sun sounds in the old way
In brotherly spheres, singing in competition ...

[ 41 ] The physical sun does not sound, but the spiritual sun does. Goethe captures the image when Faust, after long wanderings, is transported up into the spiritual worlds:

Resounding to spiritual ears
The new day is already born ...
It drums, it trumpets; ...
The unheard cannot be heard.

[ 42 ] Through the symbolic world of colors of the astral realm, as humans evolve further, they approach the world of spherical harmony, the devachanic realm, that which is spiritual music. Only softly, softly, as he passes through the first gate, the gate of the astral, does our brother Markus hear the sound of the inner world that lies behind our outer world, that world which transforms the lower world of the astral into the higher world that is permeated by the triad. And as we ascend to the higher world, the lower nature of man is transformed into the higher Trinity: our astral body is transformed into the spirit self, the etheric body into the life spirit, and the physical body into the spiritual man.

[ 43 ] Brother Markus first senses the triad of the higher nature in the music of the spheres, and as he becomes one with this music, he gets his first inkling of the rejuvenation of human beings who come into contact with the spiritual worlds. As if in a dream, he sees the rejuvenated humanity floating through the garden in the form of three young men carrying three torches. This is the moment when Markus' soul awoke in the morning from darkness, and when the darkness is still somewhat present; the light has not yet penetrated it. But it is precisely at this time that the soul can look into the spiritual world. It can look into the spiritual worlds as it can look into them when the summer noon has passed, when the sun is growing weaker and winter has set in, and then at midnight the Christ principle shines through the earth on Christmas Eve.

[ 44 ] Through the Christ principle, human beings are raised up to the higher Trinity, which is revealed to Brother Mark in the three young men who represent rejuvenated humanity. This is what Goethe expressed in the saying:

And as long as you do not have this,
This: Die and become!
You are only a gloomy guest
On the dark earth.

[ 45 ] Every year anew, for those who understand esoteric Christianity, Christmas should indicate that what happens in the outer world is a mimicry, a gesture for inner, spiritual events. The outer power of the sun lives out its life in the spring and summer sun. In the Holy Scriptures, this outer power of the sun, which is only a manifestation of the inner, spiritual power of the sun, is expressed in John, whereas the inner, spiritual power is expressed in Christ. And as the physical power of the sun sinks lower and lower, the spiritual power rises and becomes stronger and stronger until it is at its strongest around Christmas. This is the basis for the words in the Gospel of John: I must decrease, but He must increase. And He increases and increases and appears where the power of the sun again attains its outer physical strength.

[ 46 ] In order for human beings to be able to worship and adore this spiritual sun power in this outer, physical power, they must learn to recognize the meaning of Christmas. For those who do not recognize this meaning, the new power of the sun is nothing more than the old physical power. But those who have become acquainted with the impulses that esoteric Christianity and especially Christmas are meant to give them will see in the growing power of the sun's body the outer body of the inner Christ, who shines through the earth, animating and fertilizing it, so that the earth itself becomes the bearer of the Christ force, the earth spirit. Thus, that which is born to us every Christmas night is born anew each time. Christ will enable us to perceive the microcosm within the macrocosm, and this perception will lead us higher and higher.

[ 47 ] What has long since become something external to human beings, the festivals, will reappear in their deep meaning for human beings when they are led through this deep esotericism to the knowledge that what is external in nature as thunder and lightning, sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, gesture and physiognomy is spiritual existence. And at the important points marked by our festivals, human beings will recognize that something significant is also happening in the spiritual world. They will then be led to the rejuvenating spiritual power indicated to us in the three young men, which the ego can only gain through devotion to the external world, not by closing itself off from it in selfishness. But there is no devotion to the outer world if the outer world is not permeated by the spirit. That this spirit should appear anew every year, for all people, even for the weakest, as a light in the darkness, should be written anew every year in the hearts and souls of human beings.

[ 48 ] Goethe also wanted to express this in his poem “Die Geheimnisse” (The Secrets). It is both a Christmas and an Easter poem. It seeks to hint at the deep secrets of esoteric Christianity. If we allow what Goethe wanted to hint at from the deep mysteries of Rosicrucian Christianity to have an effect on us, if we take even a part of its power into ourselves, then we will at least become missionaries to some of those around us; we will succeed in making these festivals once again something full of spirit and life.

After a short sleep in a quiet cell
A dull tolling of bells awakens our friend.
He gathers himself with undaunted speed,
The Son of Heaven follows the call to prayer.
Quickly dressed, he hurries to the threshold,
His heart already rushing ahead to the church,
Obedient, calm, inspired by prayer;
He unlocks the door and finds it bolted.

And as he listens, at the same time
Three times a hollow metal sound is heard,
Not the striking of a clock, nor the ringing of bells,
A flute tone mingles from time to time;
The sound, strange and difficult to interpret,
Moves in such a way that it gladdens the heart,
Invitingly serious, as if with songs
Content couples were winding their way through the crowd.

He hurries to the window, perhaps to see
What confuses and wonderfully moves him;
He sees the day dawning in the distant east,
The horizon touched by a light fragrance.
And—should he really trust his eyes?
A strange light wanders through the garden:
Three young men with torches in their hands
He sees hurrying through the corridors.

He sees clearly the white clothes shining,
Which fit them closely and well,
He can see their curly heads with flower wreaths,
Their belts entwined with roses;
It seems as if they have come from night dances,
Refreshed and beautiful from joyful exertion.
They now hurry and extinguish, like stars,
and disappear into the distance.