The Rudolf Steiner Archive

2. The Main Theosophical Teachings

I. Article in the “Weimarische Zeitung” dated April 19, 1903

[ 1 ] Second lecture by the Secretary-General of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Berlin, on: “The Main Theosophical Teachings.” An even larger crowd of attentive listeners than at the first lecture had gathered yesterday evening in the “Erholung” hall to listen to the excellent remarks, delivered with conviction and passion. The following is a concise summary of this interesting topic:

[ 2 ] The origins of the Theosophical Movement, as we all know and as the oldest traditions attest, lie in the earliest ages, a fact amply confirmed by the Theosophical activities already evident among the Essenes and Pythagoreans. In the so-called mystery schools (secret schools), which already existed in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries of our era, the mysteries of human existence were taught at that time. — Redner provides an example of the interest with which the exploration and development of divine wisdom were pursued even in earlier times by recounting the story of how an Indian scholar, who was delivering a theosophical lecture based on the state of scientific knowledge at the time, was asked by a listener what would remain once all the ethereal and physical components of the human being had dissolved. This speaker, too, suggested to the questioner that a public forum was not the place to answer such a question, and therefore took him aside to a secluded place to initiate him into the mysteries of his own inner life and explain to him the presence of the divine essence within his own self. In the explanation of reincarnation and karma, there is a firm conviction that everything that exists in the world is based on karma, on activity—as Goethe himself once so aptly put it: “Existence, conceived as activity, is function.” Both our highly perfected organs and the still imperfect organs of animals have never, from the beginning, been what they are now. Even today there are living beings that, for example, completely lack eyes for seeing to the degree and in the sense that we are accustomed to, and [which] have only the slightest insight into the external world surrounding them through the most primitive skin openings connected to the optic nerves. And yet the time will come even for these imperfect creatures when their visual organs will have developed to the same extent as those of other, fully developed animals. The necessity and need to gain further insights into the light will, through continuous interaction and ceaseless activity, cause even the visual organs of these undeveloped animals to become equal to those of other animals, once the souls of the animals have lived through and perfected themselves over countless generations. Further evidence of this perpetual activity and development is, moreover, that there is, for example, a species of fish in America—the lampreys—in which, over the course of their existence, a lung of sorts has formed within their bodies alongside their gill respiratory organs, enabling them to live—a life they originally spent only in water— later, due to a lack of water, were compelled by unavoidable necessity to spend shorter—and later longer—periods of time out of the water. The activity of their organs came to their aid, and today these fish can spend part of the waterless summer on land, while, as soon as water is available, they live only in it. — And just as the naturalist has observed and researched this development—which did not arise from forces inherent in the bodies—so, too, has the spirit inherent in us arisen through the ceaseless activity of the soul within our own self. And if there are still people today who are as spiritually imperfect as some primitive tribes—who even now still devour their fellow human beings—it is simply because their soul activity has been slow, failing to develop the spirit to the extent that they would be conscious of their own actions. Goethe himself acknowledged and discussed the existence of the soul even in plants in a conversation with Schiller, admitting that even the most fully developed plant had emerged from the primordial plant and that, when he looked at every flower and plant, its soul seemed to shimmer before him, as it were. — But the most significant, the most sublime, and the immeasurable difference in the soul life of bodies is the individuality of human beings. Every person—even the most imperfect and insignificant—has a life story that no other living being, no matter how perfect, possesses. And in this individuality we find the essence of reincarnation, of re-embodiment, to the explanation of which we add: What you think today, you will become in the future; what we grasp with our intellect today was first perceived by a previous life, upon which we look back. And since every spiritual effect has a cause, we see our past lives as the cause of the spiritual effect within us. The constant refinement of our spiritual wisdom, the exploration of the human soul, will shed light on the perplexing questions [of the Belgian Maeterlinck]: How are we to do full justice to our immense needs? — Within our “I” lie the spiritual forces; in our causal body we find the cause of individuality, the eternal activity that produces cause and effect. With the principle: “The soul existed, it exists, and it will continue to exist,” we characterize the eternal existence of life. And in this sense, we must agree with the remarks made at the time by the scholar Fichte, who explained to his students in Jena: “Crush me, world; come crashing down upon me, rocks; devour me, earth and sea—I stand fearless and undaunted, for I feel the divine, immortal power within my self, within my soul, which lifts me above all the terrors of physical transience.”

[ 3 ] The speaker was rewarded with unanimous applause from the silently captivated audience. At the end, he announced that during the final lecture, to be held on Monday, attendees would be able to ask any relevant questions, which the speaker intended to answer from every possible angle, so that part of the evening would likely take the form of a discussion.

II. Article in “Deutschland”, Second Edition, April 19, 1903

[ 4 ] On Friday evening, Dr. Steiner gave his second lecture on theosophy in the recreation hall to, once again, a fairly large audience. This time, the lecture focused on the main tenets of theosophy (reincarnation and karma). The speaker began his lecture with a story about the Indian sage Jaina Walkia, who was deeply imbued with the doctrine of reincarnation and had already shared it with others. Human beings, he said, are organic beings with fully developed limbs and organs; however, these organs did not suddenly appear as we see them today, but rather achieved this perfection over a long period of evolution through their own activity. All of this activity can be summed up in the word “karma.” Just as, over the course of centuries, entirely different beings have developed from imperfect animals, each adapted to its own life needs, so too has the spiritual life of human beings been in a state of constant activity and development. It is absolutely correct to assume that the human spirit always undergoes reincarnation and, after the death of the physical body, remains at rest until a new being is found for it. Thus, every single human spirit has already lived countless times and has continually developed and perfected itself. The spirits of Goethe and Mozart, for example, were already present in the boys during their youth, and they will return, for it is unthinkable that these highly developed individualities should not continue to live on after the death of their physical bodies; nor is it plausible to assume, for example, that Goethe’s spirit arose from nothing. Nor should one believe in any other form of inheritance from generation to generation, for siblings are often fundamentally different in their individuality, and even twin brothers—who would nevertheless have been under the same physical influence—are endowed with the most divergent character traits. The spirit or individuality in human beings has emerged from the primordial soul, and the phrase “from God to God” encapsulates the essence of all wisdom. The origin and purpose of all existence is the core that underlies all religious knowledge. Everything that exists has emerged from the primal force and bears the divine essence within itself; from this view follows the individual continuity of the soul, which is called immortality today. Everything that emanates from the primal force and returns to it must continue to exist until the cycle is complete. The aim of all development is, naturally, perfection and fulfillment during the journey back to the primal force. The highly developed animal likewise possesses a certain degree of awareness, as does the completely undeveloped human being; only do animals lack the individual essence, the sense of the personal “I”; this is characteristic of human beings to a high degree. One can always speak of an animal species as a whole, whereas the concept of “human” always refers only to a single individual, since every other human being is endowed with a different individual nature. Through our transitory organs, we may indeed form perceptions, but true knowledge springs from the source of the spirit. It is not matter that produces the spirit, but rather the spirit emanates from the Primordial Spirit—God—only to return to Him one day. The individual spirit is contained within every human being, and when the physical body dies, it leaves behind the further-developed spirit, just as a plant decays and leaves behind a viable seed for new development. The Theosophical Movement seeks to awaken the conscious perception of the divine essence within each individual; it thereby enables conscious knowledge and the rational comprehension of the individual’s course of development, as well as the resulting inner, spiritual insight. From this arises the striving for the perfected development of the spirit. Karma, however, signifies precisely the active development of the individual soul’s life toward perfection. From this arises the proof that the soul cannot perish, but rather follows and completes its path of development long before us and long after us. — At the conclusion of his lively lecture, the speaker recalled a statement by the Jena philosopher Fichte, who exclaimed: “Let the mountains crash down upon me, let the waters swallow me up—I am not afraid, for I know that my spirit lives on and is not lost!” Dr. Steiner also announced that next Monday, following the lecture, he would be happy to answer any questions directed at him and to clarify any points of confusion.