The Rudolf Steiner Archive

11. The Wisdom Teachings of Christianity

[ 1 ] When a person looks around, the world first presents itself in a bewildering diversity—both in the form of the external natural world and in human life itself. He may well turn his gaze upward toward the starry sky and try to fathom the meaning of the magnificent, yet at first enigmatic, diversity of the stars in the luminous heavens. The thoughtful person will also seek to discern the meaning in everything—from the movement of the stars to the various activities and interactions of the elements throughout the day. When we then look down upon our Earth, when we try to understand our mountains with their colorful diversity of rocks, forests, and vegetation, when we try to comprehend the things that surround us—plants, animals, and our fellow human beings—and to discern reason and meaning in the phenomena that reach us, more or less obscurely, from the events of nature; in short, when we try to reason and meaning in everything—then we likely feel, at first, a kind of powerlessness in the face of all the confusion that confronts us. But what is most confusing to us is that which confronts us in the actual life of humankind, in the historical development of humankind over millennia. Science, religion, and other human endeavors—feeling, intellect, and reason—have always sought to bring meaning and coherence to the colorful diversity of the stars and to the life and activities of the beings on our Earth. Who could deny that the human spirit has come a long way in this regard and that it may hope to go ever further and further? But whether there is also a lawful meaning, a kind of spiritual coherence, in what we call human development throughout history—this seems quite questionable to many when they consider the course of fate, with all the misery that, on the one hand, befalls individuals, tribes, and peoples undeservedly, and with all the happiness that seemingly befalls individuals or even many people undeservedly, with all the succession of historical experiences of individual peoples, races, and nations. When we look into all of this, it sometimes appears to us as pure chaos. Many believe they are searching in vain for meaning, for a connection, and believe they cannot make sense of it all.

[ 2 ] Great, far-sighted minds have never doubted that the human spirit can find meaning, reason, and lawful necessity even in this course of historical events. I need only point out that our great German poet and thinker, Lessing, in the testament of his life—his final work—depicted this development of humanity as the education of the human race. He portrayed antiquity as the childhood of humanity, with the Old Testament as its first primer; the subsequent ages as a kind of adolescence, from which we have the opportunity to look into the future, which is to bring us something mature and manly. I would also like to recall that another great German thinker—one whom, admittedly, few people know today, not even those who would be called upon to study him—the great German philosopher Hegel, called history an education of humanity toward the consciousness of freedom, an awakening to the consciousness of freedom. We could multiply these two examples by a hundred, and we would see everywhere that the people who, with a genius’s insight, look upon this activity—this confusing, seemingly chaotic activity—have never doubted that within it there is also a lawful necessity, and above all a higher order than exists out there in nature, in the world of the stars, plants, animals, and physical beings in general.

[ 3 ] When we let our gaze wander over the course of human development, we encounter something that is no longer perceived today with the vitality with which it ought to be perceived: a duality, a pervasive division into two parts. This is seemingly something quite trivial, but it only appears so trivial because people have become so accustomed to it. We, in fact, distinguish between the long period before and the long period after the birth of Christ. This is no longer perceived as significant today simply because humanity has become so accustomed to it. But is it not significant in the highest sense that our entire history has been divided into two parts by this single event? That something must have exerted such a powerful influence that it was recognized by such a large portion of humanity as is indeed the case? The fact that this could happen shows us that deep within the human heart lies a hidden awareness of the unique, immense significance of the deed of Christ Jesus. But who could deny that today this significance has become something of a mystery to many, so that even today few of those who count themselves among the most enlightened can truly account for why this is so—from what infinite depth humanity has actually arrived at this division of history?

[ 4 ] That is the question we shall be addressing today: the wisdom teachings of Christianity from the perspective of a profound spiritual worldview. The Theosophical Movement, which has been spreading more and more throughout the educated world for the past thirty years, seeks, among other things, to deepen the wisdom teachings of Christianity. Those who have already engaged to some extent with anthroposophically oriented spiritual science know that the second principle of this spiritual scientific movement is to seek the core of wisdom in all the great cultural religions. It is precisely with regard to the anthroposophical view of Christianity that the greatest possible misunderstandings prevail, and among those called to teach and explain Christianity, there are very few indeed who show genuine understanding for the anthroposophical endeavor. Time and again it is said: Yes, anthroposophy wants to transplant some Eastern teachings—a new Buddhism—into Europe. That would be the most unanthroposophical thing imaginable. If we are sincere in our commitment to the principle of seeking the core of wisdom in all religions, then we must be aware that we must seek this core of wisdom first and foremost in Christianity—the religion through which the entire culture of Europe was created and from which the finest currents of the West have sprung. Anyone who does not understand Christianity today would not understand themselves, and if Christianity is to achieve something truly great for Europe in the future, then it must be deepened. If spiritual science is to play a part in this great achievement, then its task is to penetrate the depths of Christianity and seek out those sources there that can still gush forth into the future—sources capable of awakening cultural hopes for the future.

[ 5 ] Some time ago, when I was speaking in a city in southern Germany about the wisdom teachings of Christianity—that is, our topic today—there were also several Protestant pastors and Catholic priests in attendance. After the lecture, the Catholic priests said to me: “What you have told us is the most refined form of Christianity, but it is only for the elect—those who seek Christianity in such a profound way. We, however, proclaim Christianity in a form that everyone can understand, in a form that is accessible to all.” — So I said: “If you were right, then you could be certain that it would never have occurred to me to speak about the core wisdom of Christianity, since I would consider it the most superfluous thing in the world. For if you were right, could there be a single person who would feel compelled to stray from the way you teach?” Then the number of those who no longer find satisfaction in the way you teach would not be increasing day by day. Certainly, there are many to whom you can speak today. But the fact that it is possible for numerous people to no longer find satisfaction in your teachings is proven by the fact that there are people to whom one must speak in a different way. It doesn’t matter whether we imagine that we can reach everyone. We can easily do that and think we’re presenting things in a way that allows us to reach everyone. But what matters is not what opinions we hold about what we consider the right path. It’s not our delusions that matter, but the facts. If you observe this and do not let what you present as your subjective conviction be the basis of your speech, then you will see that there are many to whom you no longer speak. And to them, you must speak in a new way. These are the ones to whom the spiritual scientist speaks.

[ 6 ] But spiritual science will not speak only to these people. It will also speak to those who, in full Christian devotion, still adhere to old Christian traditions, and for them, too, it will be a deepening and a spiritualization of the true teachings of Christianity. The maxim of spiritual science: Nothing is higher than the truth — is often misunderstood by people such as the pastor I mentioned. It is believed that it is enough simply to have faith that something is true. No, it is not enough for us to have a subjective conviction and imagine that we are on the right path. This is precisely what the spiritual scientific world movement aims to overcome. Truth does not lie in our opinion, but in the facts. The observation of facts must take precedence over what we believe. That is the meaning of the maxim. What we believe is our personal affair. What speaks to us through the world of facts is transpersonal. To this we must submit; this is what we must pursue.

[ 7 ] It is indeed true that the appearance of Christ Jesus on earth divided the development of humanity into two parts, and therefore we must look a little more deeply into this course of human development. Anyone who delves even moderately into a spiritual exploration of existence will soon recognize how hollow and superficial all materialistic worldviews are, how everything material is merely an expression of the spiritual reality underlying it, and how the spiritual is the origin and source of all external, sensory existence. Human beings, as these sensory beings—as they have developed since the times of which history and human thought in general tell us—human beings themselves, as they live on Earth, are merely the expression of a super-earthly human being that is spiritual. Today is not the time to elaborate on these great ideas here in a comprehensive, scientific manner. That has been done more often in these lectures. Today I can only hint at it figuratively, and it has always been hinted at figuratively by Christian and pre-Christian thinkers in the sense that the supersensible human being, not yet touched by matter, descended and incarnated itself in the sensory world. In what Jewish esoteric teaching calls Adam Kadmon, we see the human being who has entered this sensory world from other spiritual worlds. This entry is described as a “fall.” But one must not misunderstand this. Great Christian writers have understood this as a fall, and the deed of Christ Jesus was understood as a lifting up from this fall to a new spiritual height. We shall yet see how the Pauline statement that Christ Jesus is the “reversed Adam” has a profound spiritual meaning. If we thus conceive of human beings as, so to speak—please do not take the word “so to speak” too literally, for it is meant only as an indication of the true relationship—as having, so to speak, descended from spiritual heights and become incarnated in the sensory world, then we will also understand what the task consisted of, at least in the early stages of human historical development.

[ 8 ] What role did human beings play on this earthly stage during the earliest periods of historical and prehistoric development? For them, in this initial period, their physical limbs were tools whose use they had to learn. The highly spiritual human being was now embodied in the sensory world. There, in the first epoch of existence—which I would like to call the instinctive epoch of human development—he learned to use his own tools. That was the first task of the first quarter of human development—let us not go back to those very ancient times. Humanity gradually learned to use its hands and other limbs; it learned to adapt to the world and nature surrounding it. This required no intellect; it was an instinctive empathy and immersion in existence. When humanity learned to control itself and acquired the use of its limbs as tools, it lived in the tribal era. The people were the community within which human beings lived. It was a natural bond established through blood kinship. Something akin to an animal instinct held humanity together. Only the great teachers stood outside this instinctual way of life. People learned to use their limbs in a wide variety of ways, depending on the nature of the countries, regions, and eras in which the peoples lived. This development gave rise to a great diversity in human physique. What was inherent in human beings took on the greatest variety of forms. We can look back across the entire globe: we find this instinctive epoch of development among all peoples.

[ 9 ] Then we come to a second epoch. In this epoch, human beings learn something more—something that the Bible and other worldviews encapsulate in a specific word, a word that is extraordinarily important to understand correctly. We understand this word correctly when we realize what the first period of human development was bound to produce above all else. In the most diverse ways, instinct taught people to use their limbs—one way in one region, another way in another. One people developed in the tropical zone amid lush vegetation, where food could be obtained without difficulty; another developed in a cold, inhospitable region, where it had to secure its food and means of subsistence with great effort and thus had to develop its limbs with great effort as well. The fact that humans had so little reason led them to stand opposed to one another, as dictated by the differing development of their instincts. Something new emerged through the law established by reason. The instincts of peoples differ, but reason is the same; and the moment that unified reason was applied to human coexistence, what is also called “the law” in the Bible came into the world. First, humans learned to master their entire bodies as their tools. Then came the period of law, when man sought to bring harmony and order into his community, when he sought to balance the instincts in their mutual interactions, and when he sought to establish on this earth a relationship as dictated by reason. Reason was introduced through the way people lived together. This is how humanity developed during the first two quarters of its existence. But humanity was not without guidance or direction during that time. Instinct developed into ever greater clarity, until the law took on the form of reason, which was widespread in the broadest circles.

[ 10 ] Where did all this come from? Humanity would never have come this far without such brothers, who had advanced far, far ahead of their fellow human beings in their development. Throughout all ages, always and everywhere, there have been people who ascended the stages of existence more rapidly in order to serve as guides and lead the rest of humanity. Such personalities, such individuals, are called by spiritual research the guardians of wisdom, the guardians of human progress. Such guardians of human progress have always existed. They still exist today. These great individuals, these personalities who have now reached a stage of existence that the majority of humanity will not attain until a distant, distant future, were also present in pre-Christian times, during the first two quarters of human development. They guided the world; they were the guardians of humanity and brought order and coherence to humankind. Where did those leaders of the human race obtain their knowledge and wisdom? And what did this wisdom consist of? — They guided the visible through the invisible, the sensory through the supersensory. They guided material relationships through that which lies dormant and unseen within the material world. Does it lie dormant and unseen within the material world? A moment’s reflection can convince you of this. Look up at the cloud. It appears both light and dark to you. It heralds a thunderstorm. And while you are still looking up, lightning flashes through the cloud, and thunder rolls. Where was the lightning, where was the thunder? They lay dormant; they slept as hidden material forces. Just as lightning and thunder lay dormant, so too do a multitude of hidden forces still lie dormant in the visible as the invisible, in the sensory as the supersensory. Just as our entire external culture has, in essence, come to be where it is by man learning to awaken the forces and abilities simply slumbering within matter, so the great spiritual culture arises from the fact that the guardians of humanity are able to awaken the supersensible forces slumbering within the sensible, the superterrestrial abilities slumbering within the earthly, and are capable of mastering the lower through the higher. Just as the master builder uses the Earth’s gravitational forces to place the beam on the column, —that is, uses a force lying dormant in matter to erect our buildings through the various combinations of columns and beams—and just as the electrician controls our motors and other electrical devices with the invisible electrical force, so do the guardians of wisdom and human progress control earthly forces through that which is not sensually present in the world. The visible is not controlled by the visible, but by the invisible. It is not the one who will rise above the visible through the invisible who is out of touch with the world, but the one who remains attached to the visible. The truly real person is the one who masters the world through that which lies dormant within him, so that he may shape and build reality and place it in the service of human progress. Just as the master builder and the electrician use the forces lying dormant in matter to build houses and create mechanical civilization, so do the great guardians of wisdom and human progress utilize the forces inherent in humanity to guide people themselves toward their goals, to structure what swirls chaotically in the external world, and to give it meaning. Never was the progression from the instinctive period, through the period governed by laws, up to our own, a sensory one. But the wise guardians of humanity first had to learn this, first had to experience it; they had to be thoroughly imbued with it—not out of blind faith, not out of vague convictions, but out of spiritual experience. They had to be clear that there is a supersensible realm—a supersensible realm both within and outside of human beings—that what unfolds between birth and death is only one aspect of our existence, and that there is an essential core that extends beyond birth and death; that there is something within the human being that is more comprehensive than all the sensory realm, that is the creator of form and the sustainer of all the sensory realm—and this not merely out of conjecture, but out of direct, supersensory, eternal insight,

[ 11 ] The guardians of humanity had to act from this perspective—based on the realization that death can be overcome, that a certain level of consciousness can be attained, and that there is something that makes death appear as just another event in life. Only from such an experience does the power arise within a human being to master the sensible from the supersensible, the visible from the invisible. So if I am to say in a few words what the great secret of those we call the great Guardians of Humanity consisted of, I must say that these Guardians of wisdom and human progress knew that there is something within the human being that overcomes death. They had to look behind the scenes of existence, into the realms of existence that a human being enters once they have passed through the gate of death. What lies beyond the sensory world had to be accessible to them through experience. And they came to know this realm beyond the sensory world in the so-called temples of initiation—the temples of the ancient Egyptian priests and secret teachers, and the schools of the Eleusinian and other Greek temples of initiation. Those who were ready to acquire these convictions were initiated into these mysteries. In just a few words—the rest will become clear in the coming lectures—I can hint at what was handed down to people in these temples of initiation, in these high schools of spiritual life.

[ 12 ] When a person first passed through death, they already experienced within this life the ascent that takes place for a person when they pass through the gate of death. When a person, upon natural death, passes through the gate that leads to the other world, they enter a different realm—the realm on the other side of existence. One can also enter this realm during this very life; one can enter it through a different state of consciousness, through the awakening of abilities that lie dormant within the human breast—abilities that enable us not only to experience the unconscious state during sleep in the spiritual realm, but also, through spiritual qualities, to enter the world beyond and become citizens of the spiritual world. This was called death, resurrection, and ascension. The great initiates experienced these. If I may put it this way, they experienced death while still alive; for three and a half days they were, so to speak, dead; they stepped out of their physical bodies and experienced the realities of a higher world, a spiritual world—the world to which human beings belong by virtue of their deeper nature. This happens to that part of the human being that enters into the supersensible realm. Once the person had passed through this higher world, they were called back to their earthly existence by those who were already initiates. Then they were a new person, a person who was called a “resurrected one.” As a symbol of this, they were given a new name that had a deeper meaning. One who had attained vision in the mysteries and in the temples of initiation spoke a new language, and in his words resounded the sounds of the spiritual world he had experienced during initiation. He was a messenger from higher worlds; his words had wings born of his experiences in the spiritual world itself; he spoke a different language. He was one of those of whom it was said that he spoke the language of the gods, that he spoke the wisdom known to the gods. This is, in essence, theosophy—divine wisdom. Such a person was called “blessed,” if one translates the word into German. These words have a deep meaning when understood in the proper sense; they did not arise by chance. Of one who had partaken of the spiritual world—because he had beheld it—it was said that he was “blessed.” Those who know something of that great bliss, of those wondrous experiences of another world, speak of them, even when they write secular works on the subject. The most important aspects of these things have never been written down and can never be written down. But those who have spoken of them and put them in writing do so in tones that sound quite different from those who speak of a sensory existence. Those who knew something of initiation speak of a renewal of the entire human being. And one of them said: Only he who has become a partaker of the mysteries of his eternal core of being has become a human being in the true sense of the word, while the others must still wait until this grace is also bestowed upon them. — Plato, the unique Greek philosopher, says: Those who have experienced nothing of the sacred in initiation walk in the mud. — We could cite many more voices from antiquity and from pre-Christian times in which the holiness, the power, and the grandeur of initiation are evocatively emphasized, so that it resonates within our souls. Only a few, select individuals, were able to partake in the higher spiritual life in this way, directly through vision. The masses had no other share in this than that which came through the proclamations of such visionaries, such initiates.

[ 13 ] Then Christianity emerged, and through Christianity all these circumstances changed. Therein lies the full depth of the transformation that Christianity has brought about in humanity. It is expressed in a powerful phrase, which is: “Blessed are those who believe, even though they do not see.” The mystery of Christianity lies in this saying, and we can only understand it if we take it as literally as possible. What does it mean? We know that whoever had undergone initiation in a temple of initiation knew that he had conquered death, that he had participated in the burial, and had become blessed through the vision. Now a great individual came along who, on the outer plane of history and before everyone’s eyes—insofar as those eyes were willing to see it or could receive it through faith and through union with this unique personality—carried out once and for all, outwardly on the historical plane, this great event that had so often taken place for the initiates in the deep darkness of the mystery temples. That was the event that took place in Palestine in the year 33. What had until then been received and preserved more or less symbolically in the depths of the temples had now become historical truth, historical reality on the great stage of life. This must be understood, for it is important. I deliberately chose not to title my short treatise on Christianity *“The Mysticism of Christianity”*, but rather *“Christianity as a Mystical Fact”*. I did not wish to portray the mystical aspect of Christianity; rather, Christianity itself was to be understood as a mystical fact. It should be understood that what took place in Palestine is at once a fact of profound symbolism and, at the same time, something that is actual reality, actual truth. Let us be clear on this point in particular, for it is one of the most important aspects of understanding Christianity. When one speaks of the events of the death, resurrection, burial, and ascension having taken place in Palestine in the year 33 as historical events, and says that these events had also occurred in this or that way many times before in the mystery temples, then one does not regard this as something real; then one does not believe in the actual Christ. And others, who do believe in the Christ, maintain that the death, burial, and resurrection involve profound symbolism. It is difficult to understand that something can be both a fact and a symbol at the same time. Those who interpret history in a “literal” way and view it with indifference will never grasp that a fact also has a profound symbolic meaning; that there are high and low mountains in history—high mountains that transcend the great—these are both facts and symbols. That is what matters. Now we have set before everyone an event that proclaims to all people that death can be conquered and that there is a life in the spirit that extends beyond all death, for the One had conquered death. He had lived out before everyone’s eyes what the initiates had experienced in the Mysteries. Now it was no longer necessary to enter the Mysteries to see; now one could believe and feel connected to the One who, in the physical world, had lived out the great event of life’s victory over death. Now one could believe, even if one did not see. The one who strives once more for a literal understanding is the one who understands the religious books correctly. For “seeing” literally means seeing within the Mysteries, and “believing” is faith in the fact of the victory of life over death, which Christ has revealed to us. Thus we may say that the greatest teaching of wisdom in Christianity is that the teachings of wisdom from the various religions have become a reality within Christianity.

[ 14 ] What were the teachings of wisdom in the various religions? By truly delving into the teachings of the spiritual sciences, you can convince yourself that, in terms of their teachings, the religions are in agreement with one another. Consider the teachings of Hermes, Pythagoras, Zarathustra, or other religious founders: in what they taught and expressed, a deep, consistent core of wisdom can be found. All the teachers who proclaimed the great teachings of wisdom could say: “I am the Way and the Truth.” — For truth flowed from their mouths; the truth they had experienced in the mystery temples—they had become messengers of divine truth. With Christ Jesus, it was different. He could say more about himself. He became what is expressed in the great and beautiful saying: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” What the other founders of religions spoke of—while their lives remained hidden from the gaze of humanity in the twilight of mystery—he taught before everyone’s eyes. The life through which that experience was gained within the mystery was invisible; it became visible through the events in Palestine. Thus Christianity stands above the ancient pre-Christian religions. The wisdom gained through the hidden life of the initiate has emerged into the public sphere, and in modern times, within Christianity, we have the Truth that has become a Person, Life itself, and Being itself. This is why, in the case of the ancient religions, it is often not important to recount how the founders of those religions lived. We do not hear accounts of how the Egyptian Hermes, the Indian Rishis, Zarathustra, or Buddha lived. When we receive the teachings and lift up our hearts and minds in them, blessings flow to us from them. But if we wish to understand Christianity, we must take into account that Christ not only spoke in this way but also walked his path in this way. That is why no book by him has survived, but only books about him. The Good News, the Gospels, are not the words of wisdom spoken by Jesus. They are accounts of Jesus’ life. Others have spoken about him and on his behalf. If the disciples of the Buddha and of Hermes were to speak, they would say: “This is what we have heard; these are his sacred words; we wish to convey them to you.” — But when the disciples of Jesus went out into the world, they emphasized that he was there, that they were connected to him, that they were his companions. They sought to uphold the tradition, to pass it on from generation to generation: “We ourselves heard the Word together with him on the holy mountain; we placed our hands in his wounds.” — It was the element of truth in their shared life that was meant to convey that vitality to posterity. This is something different from what previously existed in the various other religions. This is something entirely new.

[ 15 ] If we want to grasp the full significance of this entirely new development, we must understand the difference between the first quarter of human development and what is now taking place. What is now taking place? What is Christianity actually preparing humanity for? Why was it necessary for someone to experience this great event in such a way that people could look to him, could look up to him as proof of life’s victory over death? Such a figure was needed because a new epoch is now dawning in human history, because for centuries—indeed, millennia—the intellect, the power of the spirit, has been directed toward something else. Roughly with the spread of Christianity begins what we might call humanity’s triumph over our material world. First, Christianity had to prepare the ground for this. In the middle of the Middle Ages, humanity’s material triumph begins; the laws by which people establish it become ever more perfect. Humanity makes itself the master of nature through the refinement of its mechanisms, establishing a vast, global network of transportation and trade. The human intellect triumphs over our Earth. None of this existed in pre-Christian times. Try to imagine how our science began in the era when Christianity itself was emerging. As you know, Thales was the first philosopher. Christianity then prepared the ground for using human power to triumph over external nature. To prevent humanity from becoming completely cut off from spiritual life, it was necessary for the conviction of a spiritual life to come from an entirely different source. The capable individual now had to be employed to conquer the globe in material terms. Therefore, science had to separate itself from feeling and faith. The defining characteristic of those who were initiated into the mysteries was that science, faith, and feeling were one. For the one who steps out of the material realm, there is no separation between faith and knowledge, between truth and feeling. The patterns in which the stars were arranged were, for the Chaldean initiates, the script of the Deity itself. This had to change in the new era. At first, humanity turned its gaze upward to the starry sky, and a scientific understanding, stripped of divine feeling, encompassed the celestial realms and earthly existence in all its manifestations. In its knowledge, the world could no longer follow the same path as faith and wisdom. Because the two had to part ways, an event had to occur that would secure faith—one that would establish such a firm sensation, such a firm feeling within humanity that material science could be founded alongside it, and that faith would live on throughout the material age. Thus we have firmly established, side by side, faith and science—a science that does not rely on faith but looks to the Person, to Christ. A truly personal relationship with the One and Only takes root alongside material striving. And so what was established in Palestine in the year 33 served as the bulwark for the preservation of the Eternal, of the awareness of the Spiritual, during humanity’s development toward materiality. Blessed were those who could believe in the One, even as they had to direct their gaze toward the attainment of material life. Thus, antiquity in its second epoch was the prophetic foreshadowing of Christ Jesus. It is not without reason that what is taught in the Old Testament is interpreted as the prophetic foretelling, the prophetic reference to Christ Jesus. Every initiation was such a prophecy. What the initiate experienced, he first experienced spiritually, then symbolically, and then it was present in the world. Then it was fulfillment, the fulfillment of the Old: it was the New Testament. This word, too, reveals its full meaning to us when we grasp its depth. This is how you have described the three epochs of human development that run parallel to one another: faith, knowledge, and wisdom.

[ 16 ] Times were different back then—let’s transport ourselves back to those times, which history doesn’t really tell us much about—I’ve spoken of them often—when the poor Egyptian slaves dragged the huge, mighty boulders into place and toiled themselves to the point of bloodshed on gigantic stone colossi. The modern worker cannot begin to imagine what that kind of labor meant. Bliss and contentment were the feelings that filled the soul of the wretched slave. For this slave knew one thing: he knew that this life, which he lived through such hard labor, was just one among many. The Initiate has often told him this, to bring it to humanity’s awareness: that human beings incarnate time and again, that they have brought upon themselves what they experience, and that they will be rewarded in future lives for what they do now. Thus, the mystery of human destiny was truly unraveled for him. Amid the slave people toiling in blood, there was bliss and religious feeling. The slave said to himself: “The one who commands me today was once just like me, and if I carry out all this now, I too will one day be like him.” — Achieving this would not have been possible for the sages who later conquered the material world, the sages who dealt with purely material science—no matter how powerful the teachings of Galileo and Copernicus may be, nor the teachings of modern research into sensory-material existence. Certainly, nothing is to be said against these teachings, and no one can appreciate the greatness and power of these teachings better than I; but it is nevertheless true—and it must also be said—that the materialist researchers were unable to find those fiery words, that spirit which opens the souls, which gives people hope for eternity, and which gives them the certainty of spiritual-soul life. This certainty, however, came from a personal connection with the unique Christ. Little by little, external science has also deepened once more. Science has gradually become wisdom again, and the consequence of this is that this external science has laid claim to acting once more as the founder of a religion. For what, after all, are the Enlightenment thinkers, the freethinkers? What do they want? They are, in fact, religious by nature. They want to establish a religion; they want to conjure up such a religion out of modern science itself. When all is said and done, Moleschott, Haeckel, and others—with their books, which have established a kind of materialistic gospel for so many—are nothing other than materialistic founders of religion. Because the worldly-sensual realm has gained such immense power and authority that human beings seek to attain the highest reality through science and its wisdom, scientists—even those who merely sense the power of science and have something to say about its grandeur and might—have turned away from Jesus Christ. Thus we have the separation of science. But Jesus spoke a word—a word we cannot grasp deeply enough—and that is this: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We need not merely borrow His wisdom from traditions and books; rather, when we rise into the higher worlds, we will once again have within ourselves that great experience which can only be encountered in the higher worlds beyond the gate of death. Then He speaks to us again; then He proves to us that He is here today, that we can hear Him directly in the present moment. Therefore, we need once more such a deepening of humanity that each person may have the Christ experience within themselves, that each person may once again experience within themselves something similar to what the initiates experienced in the ancient mysteries. At least a glimmer of the great, significant experience of the mystery temples should gradually be passed on to those who turn to anthroposophy—an entry into the spiritual realm, the other side of life, already here during this life—so that they may experience what Goethe expressed so grandly and significantly in the poem that begins: “Tell it to no one, only to the wise, for the crowd will mock it at once,” and which concludes: “And as long as you do not have this—this: Die and Become—you are but a gloomy guest on the dark earth.”

[ 17 ] This dying and becoming is what we are dealing with today. There is a means of spiritual development through which we can awaken the inner divine core of our being, through which we can grow into the spiritual world. Then our eyes are opened to the spiritual world, and our ears become attuned so that we may hear the higher words. We will be able to become citizens of a higher world; we will find that Christ is with us until the end of the world. Then we will also be able to hear once more that language which spoke to the disciples on the mountain. This is hinted at in the deepest mystery of Christianity itself.

[ 18 ] Let us, in conclusion, consider this great mystery. Christ, too, had initiated disciples; he, too, led them away from the crowd. When he wished to explain what he had told the crowd in parables, he led his three initiated disciples—Peter, James, and John—up Mount Tabor. There they witnessed the Transfiguration. Whoever understands the Transfiguration will recognize in it the deepest mystery of Christianity. The disciples are lifted out of their sensory existence. What appears before their eyes? Elijah and Moses. Elijah is the word for “path” or “goal”; Moses is simply the esoteric word for “truth”; and Jesus is “life.” Because eternity appeared to them within temporality—because those who had long since died appeared before their eyes, before their spiritual eyes—this means they had ascended into the spiritual world. Peter says, “It is good to be here; let us build huts here.” You can read the expression “build huts” wherever a disciple ascends the second stage of the chela path. It is said of him that he builds huts in the world beyond. Those who recognize the so-called key words will recognize the great truths in religious texts everywhere. The great words “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” come to meet you there. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus forbade them to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They asked one another, “What, then, is this—rising from the dead?” — And they asked Jesus, “But don’t the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” — He replied, “Elijah is indeed to come first and set everything right again.” — The disciples, in the innermost sanctuary, speak here of reincarnation as something that is self-evident among them. The Lord Himself spoke of it as something self-evident when He said: “Elijah has returned; John the Baptist is Elijah—but tell no one until I come again.”—This is the Testament on the Mountain. “Mountain” is the key word for initiation. Whenever initiation is involved, the expression “on the mountain” is used. What does “Tell no one until I come again” mean? It means until I speak to you again, until you yourselves are there once more in such a form that humanity can once again perceive the Word of Truth. Christ Jesus was on earth as a representative. By looking toward his death, humanity was to sense the victory of life over death. The faith through which even the Egyptian slave knew of the afterlife was to be replaced by the faith that the Eternal resides in the core of the being, which passes through the physical. Now they had to embark on their triumphal march through the world. Materially, nothing remains to us of what constitutes wisdom—direct knowledge of the afterlife. Now, for the next two thousand years of human history, nothing was to be proclaimed about reincarnation. Jesus established this as his testament. Only when humanity has passed through the third epoch of development will it have achieved this material victory over the globe; it will have applied the intellect and reason to external culture. Only then may a new epoch begin again; only then can wisdom once more comprehend that which has been uniquely lived out. Then Christ will appear again on Earth so that he may be directly grasped. Then human beings will no longer need the experience of Mount Tabor; they will experience initiation within themselves and find the God-man within themselves. Then they will once again look up to the divine life that was the common heritage of humanity in pre-Christian times. This new epoch has been ushered in by the anthroposophical teaching. What Christ left behind on Mount Tabor, those striving in spiritual science feel is their mission, their calling. Christian mystics of the Middle Ages had already hinted at it. In the writings of Angelus Silesius, the great Silesian initiate, you will find it expressed explicitly: “If Christ is born a thousand times in Bethlehem and not within you, you will remain lost for all eternity.” Just as the blind man experiences the dawning of light, so too can the one who enters this new state experience the vision as on Mount Tabor. That is the future.

[ 19 ] Thus, in the third epoch of humanity, we had a Christianity of faith, and in the fourth epoch, we will have a Christianity of wisdom. What did humanity accomplish in the third epoch? The instinctive period is the pre-Christian era. We have lived through the period of external material culture, and we are now entering the fourth period of human development. Humanity has spanned the globe with industry and trade; industry and trade operate without distinction of nation or race. Machines produce the same goods in Japan, Brazil, and Europe. The same railroads crisscross the globe in all regions, regardless of race, nation, or social class. The differences among humankind have been overcome within our cultural framework. A check issued here in Berlin can be cashed in Tokyo. Everything in our culture has unfolded in such a way that we can establish as the guiding principle of the third period something that no one could have proposed as a principle when this culture was first being established, at the very outset of our cultural journey: We want to establish a culture that spans the globe, without distinction of race, gender, profession, or creed. This is the material culture that, under this motto, has spanned the globe. This culture must be imbued with a soul. And to infuse this cultural soul into it—that is the task of the fourth epoch of humanity; that is the task of anthroposophy and our way of life. We have a material culture, and we need a spiritual culture with the same qualities. People are strong where they have established moral bonds. The Japanese merchant understands merchants from all other countries. People must once again be able to understand one another right down to the soul. This will also come to pass when these achievements are made fruitful for the science of humanity. The cultural body has three epochs. It needs a cultural soul. The cultural spirit must usher in the fourth epoch. This is the great fundamental idea, the great goal that the great cultural movement must have if it is to be anything other than a mere pastime for those who have nothing better to do than ponder mystical thoughts. If the Theosophical Society is to endure, it will bring this about. Therefore, it must grasp Christianity in its depth; it must understand its deepest teachings of wisdom and must also have the strength not to practice these teachings in their old, traditional form—not to live in the past—but to transform them so that they will live on as something useful in all ages, so that Christianity is not a thing of the past but possesses the living power to continue to influence the future further and further. Thus, anthroposophy—Christianity as understood through the lens of anthroposophy—is not a doctrine, not a dogma, not sectarianism, but something else entirely; it is life, it is something that points toward the future; it is something that makes the heart beat faster in the best sense of the word; it is something that lifts the soul to the greatest tasks of the present, because only the greatest tasks can correspond to a hopeful vision for the future. We will have truly understood Christianity when it gives us life for the future. Then we will truly understand the great spirits when they become our teachers for the future. We will be their true disciples not when we seek to perpetuate in an authoritarian manner what they themselves have said, but when their words and deeds have become the energy for the new things we create. This is the great mystery, the great law and necessity that we find in the course of human development—one that is meant to fulfill us and to constitute our lives in the highest sense of the word. This is the true education of humanity: that from a genuine understanding of the great deeds of our ancestors, we receive the strength to create for the future and the hope for a blessed impact in the future.