The Rudolf Steiner Archive

1. The Understanding of the Supernatural in Our Time and Its Significance for Contemporary Life

[ 1 ] Today’s lecture is a kind of outline, and the following lectures will pursue two goals: The first objective is to familiarize the audience with what spiritual science has to offer regarding the world of the spirit—in relation to human beings, human development, human life and destiny, birth and death, the origin of life, the origin of evil, health and illness, and questions of education. So that, over the course of the winter, the scope of this spiritual research may unfold before our souls.

[ 2 ] On the other hand, however, the lectures are structured in such a way that they discuss the relationship between current research in the humanities and the major cultural challenges, the pressing issues of our time, and the great questions of life as they are posed in the present. The aim is not to present the humanities as just another theory, but rather to have them recognized as something that, with a certain inner necessity, becomes an integral part of the entire life of a contemporary person. No matter how varied the ages of the audience may be, the diversity of topics will perhaps allow something of interest to be offered to everyone.

[ 3 ] Before I move on to the lecture itself, I would like to mention once again the individual topics, which are intended to form self-contained units as separate lectures, yet at the same time constitute a coherent whole. For now, since the circumstances are not as convenient as they were last winter, we will take great care to ensure that the lectures take place on the second and third Thursdays of each month. On the 25th, we will discuss the topic “Blood Is a Very Special Fluid.” Important cultural questions concerning human development will be addressed, followed by an intimate question of life that can perhaps only be illuminated from the perspective of spiritual science. The aim here is not to present a sensational-sounding topic. This will be followed by “The Course of Human Life from the Perspective of Spiritual Science,” then “Who Are the Rosicrucians?”, then “Richard Wagner and Mysticism,” then “What Do Our Scholars Know About Theosophy?”, and finally the religious question “The Bible and Wisdom.”

[ 4 ] Those among the distinguished audience who were already gathered here last winter for the lectures on the humanities will find some familiar topics presented in a slightly different light. But the subjects of spiritual scientific research only truly become part of the soul when they are illuminated from various angles. Therefore, I ask that when you hear familiar material, you accept it as such, since this is the introductory lecture for the entire winter program. Today’s lecture is intended to be a kind of promise. It is meant to promise what the following lectures will fulfill. It is meant to point to what is called spiritual scientific research in the present day, and to the fact that this exploration of spiritual, supersensible life has great and far-reaching significance for our present and is destined to take on ever greater significance for the lives of people in the future.

[ 5 ] It has only been thirty years since the Theosophical Movement began to spread throughout the world. And after these thirty years, Theosophy is by no means a spiritual movement that is held in particularly high regard. In the broadest circles, Theosophy is not understood as something grounded in reality. Many of our contemporaries view Theosophy as something fanciful, as something that exists in a fantasy world. It cannot be denied that Theosophy has, to a certain extent, lost its reputation due to uninformed and perhaps also hasty, amateurish individuals—and perhaps even charlatans. However, the question of what Theosophy can still mean to people today is what we shall focus on primarily.

[ 6 ] There are many widespread prejudices against the Theosophical worldview. Some people say: “Oh, Theosophy is something similar to Spiritism—in other words, something that is completely incompatible with our modern, rational, scientific worldview.” Theosophy is something that can, at most, be of significance to dreamers, but which contradicts scientific and logical laws. This is what those say who either stand on the ground of science themselves, or who tell themselves: Science is the watchword of our time; we must listen to it; it reveals to us the profound questions of existence; and it is a sin to violate the well-founded claims of science and indulge in what is unscientific.

[ 7 ] Another prejudice stems from the religious sphere, whether from those who, by virtue of their profession, wish to be or are expected to be religious, or from others who believe they will find themselves in conflict with their religious conscience if they turn to Theosophy. What theosophy brings is viewed as a new sect, as a new religious movement. Time and again, the often-mentioned, misleading idea is expressed: that Theosophy is something like a revival of ancient Buddhist scholarship, and that instead of Christianity, a kind of “New Buddhism” is to be instilled in the world. Whatever may be said, these three prejudices arise time and again.

[ 8 ] Theosophy would be violating its first principle—which requires an understanding of the unique characteristics of every spiritual culture—if it were to attempt to transplant a foreign spiritual culture, an ancient religious system, into Europe. Every worldview system grows out of the totality of conditions of a particular national culture and cannot be transplanted into an entirely different culture. If we want genuine spiritual progress within our world, if we want to open up the sources of progress into the future for humanity through European-American culture, if we want to offer something to modern people, then we cannot come forward with views and ideas from a time long past; rather, we must draw everything we can muster—motives, questions, and concepts—from the living reality of our own present. Then we must take up where our own soul lives, where our own soul is rooted.

[ 9 ] Nothing foreign should be transplanted into our culture. It is simply a matter of recognizing that our culture is capable of deepening and that what has begun with external culture is being consciously developed further. Every culture must be viewed as containing within itself fully developed shoots, mature plants, and fruits, as well as seeds that human beings sense. People today sense such seeds. These seeds lie within their souls as burning questions of our time, as something they yearn for and hope for in the future, as mysteries that weigh upon their souls. All of this is locked within the souls of people today. The seed that is still planted in the earth must be brought forth. Much still lies hidden in the souls of people today. There can be no other task than to bring forth what is within the souls of people today.

[ 10 ] But the spiritual-scientific worldview does not conflict with a current religious belief either. It seeks to understand every religious belief and to show how the one primordial truth of humanity lives on in all the great world religions. But it does not go around eclectically searching for a core of truth within the various religions. Spiritual science is not a collector; rather, it is something that grows on its own soil: something that, as we will hear shortly, can only be found reflected in the most diverse ways within the individual major world religions. Spiritual science is not extracted from the great world religions; rather, in the finest religions one finds, in various forms, the very wisdom that spiritual science can offer us today. It is meant to provide this wisdom for our present in such a way that we possess it not merely for an understanding of the past and present, but so that we have something to live by as we move into the future—something that fosters true spiritual progress for humanity. Spiritual science does not seek to establish a new religion.

[ 11 ] Let us consider, with an open mind, to what extent it cannot be a religious foundation and why it cannot conceive of founding a new sect. The lectures this winter will demonstrate with increasing clarity that the era of the founding of religions—the way in which truth has been expressed in religions—is over; or, in other words, that the time when new religions can be founded is past. This era came to a close with the central religion of Christianity, for Christianity is capable of infinite deepening and infinite development for the most distant future. And spiritual science will serve as the instrument, the means, to make this Christianity increasingly accessible to the most enlightened and scientific of people. This spiritual science is intended to contribute to an understanding of religion. It is to present the wisdom that lies within the religions. In this way, it will serve as the instrument and the means for finding one’s way within spiritual life. There will be no need for new religions in the future. The old ones contain all they can contain. They contain wisdom. But this wisdom is needed in a new form. Then people will once again understand the old forms, and the old religions will regain their true significance through spiritual science. Every person will be able to return to their own religion.

[ 12 ] Until now, a sentiment has developed in the modern world that has taken root in various religions: people have spoken of tolerance toward different religions. It no longer serves the interests of those who are in tune with the modern world to treat other religions with hatred, contempt, and persecution. That has become impossible. People today can no longer truly understand the era of hatred and intolerance, when an immense amount of blood was shed in the name of religion. Acceptance and tolerance are the current trend; this will continue for a while. But a time will also come when this sentiment is too weak and too feeble to bring about real progress into the future. For the transitional period—for the last century—this sentiment was, in a certain sense, a blessing. Tolerance is entirely justified. True love of humanity and genuine humanity were cultivated. But what is good for one era is not necessarily good for all time. The various epochs of world development have different tasks. A sentiment that was fully justified for the nineteenth century—one that instilled noble hopes in people’s souls during that century—will prove feeble and ineffective for the twentieth century. This twentieth century will prove capable of something else. It will require not merely mutual tolerance and forbearance, but complete mutual understanding. Or has it not been the case that, up to the present day, the Christian has said: “I do not understand the Muslim; I do not understand the adherent of the Jewish creed to the very core, but we tolerate one another.” — That will no longer divide people in the future. In the future, it will be necessary to understand one another and to say: “I have my own faith, which has grown out of a cultural current that has instilled these views, thoughts, and ideals into the very blood of my soul, but I must also interact with other human spirits and be able to understand them fully.” The truth I find within myself should not merely tolerate and accept, but should penetrate into what the other soul feels and experiences. It should have understanding for every other creed. — That is something entirely different. That is a task of the spiritual-scientific worldview: to move beyond tolerance toward complete mutual understanding. Then the adherent of a religion or denomination will say to himself: The truth has become known to me in a certain form. But the truth lives in other souls in a different form. These forms certainly have their justification, but they should not divide us. The wisdom contained within them should unite us. — In a positive sense, it should be an ideal of humanity that unites people on the basis of enlightened love for humanity, and not merely on the basis of tolerance. Enlightenment is more than tolerance. Enlightenment ennobles human beings more than mere tolerance does.

[ 13 ] Theosophy is not unscientific. When Theosophy first emerged thirty years ago, its founder envisioned the task as follows: For people today, as for every human soul, it goes without saying that one ponders the mysteries of the infinite and the eternal, the mysteries of humanity’s purpose, of destiny, the mysteries of birth and death and of what lies beyond death—the mysteries: What remains of a person when they die and leave physical life behind? Where do illness and suffering come from? Oh, there is no person who does not have to ask these questions. Religions have always been there to pour spiritual content into people’s souls as answers to these mysteries of the world, so that not only the theoretical need is satisfied, but so that the answer may be a source of strength, comfort, and confidence for people. Or, to put it another way: Human beings should find in religion an answer to the burning questions of existence, so that they may move through life with peace and security, knowing: I accomplish what I must accomplish, but I also look up to the great realities of immortality that lie beyond everyday life. Only a person—and anyone who is attuned to the deepest impulses of the soul will have to admit this—who is inwardly satisfied, who knows how to find harmony in such a way that these mysteries of the world do not dwell in their soul as anxious worry and uncertainty, but who can remain calm in the face of the soul’s highest questions, is strong and has the strength to live. Unscientific thinking and lack of wisdom weaken a person and lead them astray both in their daily work and in the most important tasks of life.

[ 14 ] People will come to realize more and more that the foundation of strength, the foundation of life energy, is wisdom, and that wisdom is the only foundation. The Theosophical Movement exists to help people recognize this fact and to answer the questions inherent in it. But if religions have satisfied humanity’s burning questions at various stages of world development, why do we need spiritual science? Precisely because times have changed; because our ancestors could be satisfied through different spiritual means than those required to satisfy people of the present and the future. Or is it not the case—and is it not becoming more so every day—that people say: Religion answers many questions of existence, but our sensibilities can no longer find satisfaction in the way those questions are answered? They have turned to various religious and scientific doctrines. Numerous people of our time have attempted to construct a kind of substitute from the natural sciences and from history for those who, by virtue of their modern conscience, can no longer find satisfaction in the earlier way of solving these enigmatic questions. Quite a few who are dissatisfied with the Bible and religion search longingly within contemporary science. But more and more, these people are coming to realize that when it comes to the highest questions of existence, modern science itself—whose greatness should not be disparaged by the spiritual-scientific worldview, but rather acknowledged, since it accomplishes so much in regard to sensory facts—falls short in addressing the most important questions of existence. Thus, many say to themselves: When it comes to encompassing our Earth with a network of civilization, when it comes to exploring the Earth down to the smallest living beings, modern science provides us with marvelous insights. But when people ask about the future of life, about the very meaning of existence, science fails—indeed, it fails miserably. Those who have not yet tried it—and more and more people will have tried, with the help of science, to achieve what they cannot achieve with the help of religion—will yet come to realize that science fails when it comes to the most important questions of existence.

[ 15 ] But does spiritual science offer anything in this regard? Yes, the spiritual scientific worldview is designed to address the questions just mentioned. Those who still find fulfillment within religious traditions will feel unsatisfied by theosophy, because they believe it has nothing to offer them, since they wrap themselves in what religious tradition can provide. But what is still good for them today may no longer be so tomorrow. That was the ideal of the founder of the Theosophical Movement: to provide certain knowledge about the highest problems of existence. Anyone who delves more deeply into spiritual scientific research and contemplation will see that this very research need not in any way fall short of scientific standards. To provide, on a scientific basis, a worldview that is universally understandable—one that has something to offer both the most enlightened and the simplest of people—that is what the spiritual scientific worldview will accomplish.

[ 16 ] But perhaps one could view Theosophy as a kind of troublemaker after all. You might say: Let’s just stick to our old faith—indeed, let’s do something to restore that old faith! Science is unable to provide an answer, so let’s try to prop up the old faith once more! — Such people do not pay attention to what is happening around them. They are the true dreamers. Theosophy seeks to look into our cultural process with open eyes. We need only present a single image, and it can serve as proof of the necessity of a spiritual-scientific worldview.

[ 17 ] Let’s take a two-minute look at Spain, that remarkable country that has undergone such a unique religious evolution over the course of the last few centuries. Let’s look at Spain, this bastion of an orthodox religious worldview—not merely a worldview. This country, where an ancient religious creed has permeated even the most mundane aspects of daily life, is undergoing a transformation. Who would have believed just a few years ago that what we are seeing unfold there today could ever happen in Spain? Just think for a moment that, until very recently, the ruling powers in Spain wanted nothing to do with any so-called modern ideas, with any Enlightenment ideas; think of the steadfast orthodox conviction of that woman who, as Queen Mother, preceded the current young King of Spain—how little she was inclined to deviate even a jot from what had been firmly embedded for centuries in the fabric of an entire state. Imagine the contrast: This woman is sitting in Lourdes, where she is trying to savor satisfaction in the old way to the fullest and letting the old truths draw near to her—and in Spain, the young king must admit that new ideas are making their way into the very fabric of society. He had to admit that a liberal minister is shaking up the institutions, that education and marriage laws are being shaken up—and, it seems, in a ruthless manner. These are the currents of the times, and no human opinion can do anything against such currents. Only understanding can do anything against them. How people today allow these currents of the times to wash over them! How many face such phenomena blindfolded, completely unprepared—how they allow themselves to be surprised, taken aback, and shocked. How they criticize the currents of the times, yet get no further than saying: “We must uphold the old forms.” How can they fail to realize that the currents of the times are stronger than even the most fanciful opinions? They do not realize that it is necessary to see, with a clear gaze and open eyes, what people need. People today are no longer so passive as to simply endure everything. They are called upon to understand these currents of the times and to guide them themselves. Every single person is called upon to learn to recognize what lies within such currents of the times and how they can be channeled toward fruitful progress in the future. People make history, and if history is to be made against the people, chaos ensues. Justice and harmony can arise only from cooperation. The times already dictate the necessities: it is up to people to understand them. Human beings should not allow things to simply come to them in a complacent manner. That would only make them a hindrance to development. However, the currents of time cannot be overlooked unless one is able to cast a glance into the supersensible realm. Human beings are called upon to take the supersensible into their hearts, minds, and souls, so that it may work through them in the world.

[ 18 ] Now let us try to truly bring this question—which arises from the observation we have just made—to life in our minds. What does what we have heard mean for the thinking person? It means a great deal. Anyone who has insight into spiritual life knows one thing: that there can be no flourishing material culture without the foundation of a genuine spiritual life. There has never been a state, nor has there ever been a national community, without a genuine religious foundation. Let someone just try, in earnest, to found a colony with people who have only material interests and who hold only a materialistic worldview—people who, in other words, bring with them nothing but what is currently accepted within that materialistic worldview, and who know nothing of the supersensible. Let one try to found such a colony. Admittedly, people do bring with them the remnants of ideal thoughts and ideas. If those were no longer present, it would quickly degenerate into complete chaos. You cannot establish a social life without a wise religious foundation. Anyone who believes they can get by on practice alone is a poor practitioner. If you wish to promote people’s material existence more and more, you must remember that the soul can be the only foundation of religion and knowledge for any material culture. If you want to give people bread, you must first give them something for the soul. In the magazine Luzifer, I made the seemingly grotesque statement that one cannot give anyone bread without also giving them a worldview, since giving bread without spiritual nourishment leads to disaster. In that essay, you have more or less proven this.

[ 19 ] But what would the present situation be like if genuine progress were to take place in light of the events in Spain—events that merely express in a particular way what is unfolding everywhere, yet which only someone who buries their head in the cultural sand like an ostrich could fail to see? Just as there are experts in all areas of life who provide us with clothing and help satisfy other needs of life, so too are there experts in the realm of the soul, in the realm of the supersensible. It was trust in priests and sages that laid the foundation for civilizations. We have no right to criticize past cultures. They were as good as they could be for their era. If these cultures no longer fit our times, it is not because they should be opposed, but because humanity needs further development in spiritual truth, since people can no longer live under the old forms of spiritual life. Just as people used to go to the priest and receive words of comfort and reassurance, so too in our time there ought to be—indeed, there must be—people and researchers to whom one can turn, who can speak the truth in a new form appropriate to the present, who can once again speak to us of the supersensible in a way that modern people can believe.

[ 20 ] Let us ask ourselves: How might the present situation unfold with regard to this matter if everything remained as many of our contemporaries consider to be correct? You see there something that has been mentioned as a symptom with regard to Spain. You might say: the old forms will dissolve, and human beings will grow into new orders. But these new orders will never be able to flourish unless something spiritual enters into them like the lifeblood, unless something spiritual can pulse through our entire culture. Can people who are drifting apart today—in their views on the soul and in their institutions—go to one place and seek counsel regarding the highest questions of existence?

[ 21 ] Let us consider this issue in light of a characteristic symptom of our time. Many people expect natural science—the knowledge of external, sensory facts, the positive facts—to serve as a substitute for the old religious worldview. A few days ago, a conference of natural scientists took place in Stuttgart. Can we say that modern man, with his needs and longings regarding the eternal—regarding what death signifies—can turn to the modern Areopagus of spiritual life when he needs answers and when spiritual development is to continue? Profound questions were discussed at the congress in Stuttgart. On such an occasion, the human spirit of physical inquiry runs wild with the most astonishing ideas. For those who have a sense of this, it should be mentioned that concepts such as the transplantation of an organ from one living being to another were discussed. There was a detailed discussion of how the transplantation of a component from one living being into another—one that lacks that component—might take place. Or is it not interesting to see how, through the achievement of the microscope, biological research has surpassed everything that has come before? Is it not admirable to see how, from certain mixtures and solutions, one can cause something to emerge from dead matter—something endowed with the appearance of life that develops from the dead matter, much like the seemingly lifeless crystal? Much more could be cited to show us the respect and esteem that this modern natural science commands.

[ 22 ] But now a person comes along and asks himself: What is the purpose of all this life? What is the meaning of all that presents itself in such wondrous forms to physical researchers? Are there, in the realm of those who are in the Areopagus of spiritual life, also those who can provide answers to the ultimate questions?

[ 23 ] At the last naturalists’ congress, no consideration was given to such questions. Just two years ago, a chemist from Breslau delivered a remarkable speech in which he argued that everything that humans are capable of exploring psychologically should be rejected. That was Ledebur, the chemist from Breslau. Theodor Lipps was now permitted to speak on natural science and philosophy. It is a significant sign that it was possible to present what Lipps presented at a scientific gathering. He was able to interject words such as these into the midst of this purely positive research: “Natural science can never rise to the level of a worldview unless it achieves a spiritual penetration of the human phenomenon. When a person looks within, they find the ‘I,’ and when they then expand that into a ‘world-I,’ they can attain some satisfaction.”

[ 24 ] It is a strange feeling that anyone who has studied these matters must have when confronted with such a fact. For thirty years now, there has been a theosophical movement that does not merely answer the great questions in a very general, superficial way, but rather engages concretely with the fate of human beings before birth and after death, and with what is offered to human beings in the spiritual world once their eyes are opened to it. In short, after thirty years of such in-depth exploration, someone finally speaks up who, using the most elementary and trivial terms, offers something that cannot possibly satisfy anyone at all, because—in the face of the immediate, great questions of life—it appears like a web of abstract concepts, something entirely abstract and detached from the real world. For those who have not engaged with specialized philosophy—a concept that philosophy itself has only recently developed—this is nothing more than an abstract web of words that they cannot make sense of. Thus you see that in official life, where people nevertheless seek comfort and solutions to life’s mysteries, nothing can be offered—out of inability and a lack of understanding regarding the truly highest questions.

[ 25 ] And yet, for the external culture that shatters all forms, there must be such a center of life from which spiritual content can arise—not merely worthless webs of words, but a living understanding of the supersensible. This must, through the spiritual leaders of the present, penetrate what has been preserved as the remnant of spiritual content within the old forms. If, from such a source, a corresponding message about the supersensible world can be proclaimed in the same logical manner in which science speaks, then it will—just as the ancient religions poured forth—flow into souls and external institutions. Then—as you will see—the materialized old religious forms will disappear, and new forms will take shape.

[ 26 ] However, one should not harbor any illusions about the significance of this spiritual culture. There are many—and in France, the views of these many have come to set the tone—who say that human beings do not need to derive their morality from something like religion. They say: There is a human morality, and it can be founded without a religious creed. Those who speak this way have gained little understanding of the true spiritual laws. If you trace the course of spiritual culture since ancient times, you will be able to say to yourself: The various successive cultural epochs of humanity have brought different content to humanity. What did the Hermetic culture bring to the Egyptians, what did the culture of the Indian rishis bring to the Hindus, what did Zoroastrianism bring to the Persians, what did the culture of Moses bring to the Jews, and finally, what did the culture of Jesus Christ—the greatest religious founder of modern times—bring? Every cultural movement has had its significance in its own time. And they were great because their missionaries understood the needs of their time. The missionaries of the future will work effectively when they once again understand people’s hearts and are able to influence them. We have different forms for different times; the old truths appear in ever-new guises.

[ 27 ] The first thing underlying every new form of culture is a creed—a sum of views, feelings, and ideas about the Supreme and the Transcendent—a human understanding of the divine foundations of the world, a human understanding of that which conquers death. And every great cultural epoch has drawn the power for spiritual creation from these foundations. What emerged in ancient Egypt, in India and the Near East, in Greece, and finally in Christian times would never have come about if it had not grown out of what people believed and thought. The most material aspects are merely a result of what human beings know about the supernatural. The primary element in every cultural movement is therefore this creed.

[ 28 ] The second point is how this confession affects one’s feelings and state of mind. The thoughts and ideas that a person forms about the supernatural make an impression on the soul and uplift it, and all higher joy of life and harmony pour into the soul under the influence of the confession. Wherever people have ever been joyful in the highest sense, wherever they have ever felt secure, wherever they have ever allowed something to flow into their feelings so that they could say to themselves, “I know that I have a higher purpose,” and wherever this knowledge has been transformed in their souls into a satisfying joy in life and confidence in life—there it was always under the influence of a creed.

[ 29 ] The first, then, is the creed itself; the second is the world of emotions: elation, joy of life, and a sense of security. And so the third is the world of volitional impulses, the world of morality and ethics. Ethical teachings constitute the art—something that belongs to the second part—the moral and volitional elements, the world of morality and legislation, and all aspects of civic life. It is a great delusion for anyone to succumb to the belief that there can ever be a morality that has not grown out of the foundation of a creed, out of the foundation of the emotional sphere. First, a person has an opinion about the supernatural; second, a zest for life and confidence; and third, the impulses for his actions—that which tells him: this is good, that is evil.

[ 30 ] How is it that many people hold the belief—which is an illusion—that morality can be founded without a creed, that is, a morality without a foundation? This stems from the fact that morality, this third element in a cultural current, is the last thing to disappear. When a cultural current ebbs away, belief is the first to ebb. First, people no longer believe the things set forth in that belief. But even when the living faith—which allows people to look upon the forms with absolute certainty—has long since vanished, the sensations and feelings that developed within that faith are still there. And even when these feelings are no longer present—when people can no longer possess the inherited joy—morality still remains. Today, those who believe they can establish such a bottomless morality do not stand on the ground of a bottomless morality. In truth, they live among the remnants of morality and worldview that have remained to them from their creed as inherited fragments of culture.

[ 31 ] Those who say that everything supernatural is inaccessible to human beings, that everything supernatural is fanciful, act as they do because the morality of bygone times still lives within them. There are many people who believe they have outgrown their faith, yet they are all still subject to the morality that their faith has instilled in them.

[ 32 ] There are many socialists who want to establish a morality—a morality born out of nothing. But why can they even talk about morality at all? Why doesn’t all morality simply vanish into chaos? Because the old morality they are fighting against is still ingrained in them; because they want to bring about political changes based on that traditional political morality. It has grown out of the past. Therefore, progress will only be possible through a renewal of the knowledge of the supersensible—the supersensible world—if it is possible to give human beings something that points them upward toward the supersensible world, something that familiarizes them with the forces that surround us and that interact with the world around us. If it is possible to impart this wisdom of the supersensible to them, then this will establish a world of feelings rooted in a sense of security in life and a morality that provides impulses for action. Then we will no longer live off inherited assets, but from what can spring forth from the very time in which we live.

[ 33 ] This understanding of the supersensible, which the spiritual scientific worldview seeks to provide, does not contradict logic. In what sense does it speak of the supersensible? Does it mean that the spiritual exists in an afterlife or in an unknown place? It is curious that worldviews are being propagated which claim that a belief in the afterlife must destroy all culture. Well, none of these views understand in what sense genuine spiritual research speaks of this supersensible realm. It has often been made clear here through comparisons how and in what sense spiritual research speaks of such a supernatural realm. Let this comparison come before our souls once more as we conclude.

[ 34 ] For a person born blind, the world of colors and light lies beyond the world he can perceive. How does a world come into being for a person? Solely because he has the senses to perceive that world. The moment the eyes of a person born blind are opened, he no longer needs to rely solely on others to tell him that light and color exist; instead, a new world—one that has always been there—appears before his eyes. Spiritual science says nothing else, and it deals with nothing else. When it speaks of other worlds, it does so in exactly the same sense as in the comparison of the world of colors and light as experienced by someone born blind. The spiritual researcher says that a world exists for him when an organ for perceiving it is present. The supersensible world is closed off to people today because they lack the organs to perceive it. It is no different for them than the world of colors and light is for the person born blind.

[ 35 ] Here there are not only objects that humans can perceive with their intellect and senses; here there are also entirely different entities. As you walk through the hall, you are walking through a spiritual world—just as a blind person, who can only feel the chairs and benches, walks through a world of colors and light without being able to see them. Just as it would be a logical absurdity for a blind person, after hearing that color and light exist, to say that this is a figment of the imagination, so too is it illogical for someone who does not see supernaturally to say that it is a figment of the imagination. There have always been people who could see more than their fellow human beings. Such people have been called initiates. These are people who have experienced a kind of spiritual rebirth and of whom all religions speak. There is a spiritual moment in the life of such a person that has far greater significance than physical birth. This spiritual moment consists in the fact that the person who has opened his spiritual eye and his spiritual ear can perceive an entirely new world—that he has developed himself up to the level of the supersensible world. Those who are entitled to speak of the supersensible world—the founders of religions—have spoken to people in the same way that a sighted person speaks to a blind person about light and tells him about it.

[ 36 ] Recently, the message from the supersensible world has once again been reaching people through spiritual science. This happens in no other way than by showing people that there have always been enlightened, more experienced individuals who could look into the supersensible world, and that there are still people today who have their spiritual eyes open, who see the spiritual qualities of sensory things. It shows that there are people who can look beyond the gate of death, who can see what the immortal part of the human being is, what remains of the human being when he or she passes through the gate of death. It is our task to provide detailed information about all of this based on our research. You are called to form a new center from which people will hear about the spiritual world.

[ 37 ] It is easy to say: Give me the means to look inside for myself. Anyone can have the means if they turn to the right source. The spiritual-scientific worldview offers this opportunity to everyone. The first step, however, is to rise above today’s way of thinking to the following idea, which develops within a person: I hear from a fellow human being that he can look into the supersensible world; I hear that he has much to tell me about the supersensible world; he describes in detail what it is like after death, how forces and beings pulse through the world—forces and beings that are still hidden from the ordinary eye. Although I cannot yet see into this world myself, I want to consult my intuition to see if this man is telling me something implausible. I want to consult my feelings to see if it doesn’t sound highly probable—provided I don’t let materialistic views deter me—and if what he says sounds unbiased. Then I want to call upon logical reasoning and see whether he is not saying something that can make life understandable. Then I want to go even further. I want to say, “I have listened to you calmly, for you have said something that is consistent with logic.” Now I want to consider the fate of humankind; I want to see whether it becomes understandable to me when I view the world in this way. So, as I say to myself: “Let’s assume for a moment that the perspective of spiritual science is correct—does it explain life? Does it make life understandable?”—these thoughts take root in my soul: I want to try to test in life whether it brings joy, security, and vitality. So I want to test, step by step, whether there is an inner possibility of accepting what the initiate says. I want to adopt a standpoint similar to that taken by a remarkable personality with regard to the ordinary world of light and colors.

[ 38 ] The life of Helen Keller, who was deaf, blind, and mute, has often been mentioned. She was a child who, at the age of seven, was still like a wild little animal, but who found a brilliant teacher, enabling her to progress to the point where she not only attained an average level of education but could also hold her own against many educated people. She was never able to hear sounds, see colors, or perceive light. Darkness and silence enveloped her soul. But she allowed what other people perceived in terms of color, light, and sound to take root in her soul. A new little book by her has been published: Optimism. In it, she shows that she has not only absorbed our knowledge but also that of the Greeks and Romans. She speaks of the most beautiful creations of hearing and seeing, even though she herself perceived nothing. Not only has something akin to verbal concepts developed within her soul, but the booklet on optimism also shows that she was able to draw strength and assurance from the accounts of those around her who could see.

[ 39 ] Thus, if a person does not close themselves off from those who see and hear spiritually, they can draw strength, security, and hope for the future. Disharmony makes one weak and powerless in life. A person becomes attuned to their surroundings when they listen to those who see. They become knowledgeable and act freely when they can follow those who can impart knowledge. They are able to place their lives in the service of the supersensible. A new culture arising from the supersensible must, like the lifeblood, permeate the state and social structures. Thus, the recognition of the supersensible in the present is connected to the great questions of life. When the great questions of life press upon us from all sides in the most diverse forms, we must recognize that we need something that leads us deeper into an understanding of life. The spiritual-scientific worldview has been drawn forth and shaped out of a prophetic foresight regarding what must come. This is what the winter lecture series aims to show us—both in relation to the questions raised by the great cultural currents and in relation to the individual soul, which must work quietly and simply in the home from morning until evening. Every soul finds in spiritual research something through which it can find strength and security, inner satisfaction, courage to face life, and joy in living—as well as what is necessary for truly flourishing human progress.

[ 40 ] Even though there are still some who scoff at the spiritual-scientific understanding of the supersensible and, as practitioners—which is what they claim to be—say: “What do we have to do with this impractical stuff?”—the spiritual science movement will carry on its work, and a time will come when even those who today still count themselves among the doubters, the fainthearted, and the unbelievers will look to those who have been sown as seeds, for they will be needed to solve the great questions and mysteries that will weigh upon the soul. They will be needed more and more for the progress of humanity, even in the near future, to address the questions that are not arbitrarily posed by humans but are raised with great force by life itself.