The Rudolf Steiner Archive

18. Germanic and Indian Esoteric Teachings

[ 1 ] It has now been several decades since people began to compare the various religions using a certain kind of scientific method. Those who engage in this comparison notice how much agreement—indeed, in a sense, how much similarity—exists among the various religions. A wide variety of evidence is cited to show that a certain core of belief underlies them all—the Indian as well as the Germanic, the Near Eastern as well as the Greek; indeed, it can even be found among the uncivilized peoples of Africa and North America. The childlike dispositions of the various peoples have operated in the same way and have sought in the same way to gain insight into the soul, the world, and God; for everywhere, human beings are subject to the same powerlessness in the face of an impending fate. The so-called Enlightenment assumes that people have projected divine beings and forces onto natural phenomena; it proceeds from the standpoint that all religious creeds are childish fantasies and that, at last, peoples have entered the age of reason, where one finally knows how these things are to be understood.

[ 2 ] A thorough examination, however, teaches us otherwise. By comparing the Indian and Germanic spheres of thought, it becomes clear that, upon close scrutiny, this theory of figments of the imagination does not hold up. The deeper one delves, the more that Enlightenment hypothesis collapses; indeed, two things prove that it is without merit: First, in the childlike imaginations of so-called “primitive” peoples, we discover a profound meaning. The more impartially we observe them, the more profound such folk religions appear to us; images and animals are the content of ideas that possess an infinitely profound meaning.

[ 3 ] Second: The people do not compose poetry in the way that the gentlemen at the ivory tower of scholarship imagine. The common people do not personify natural phenomena. For example, the legend of Indra—who is said to have set out with seven priests to reclaim a number of cows that had escaped him—has been interpreted as if the god Indra personified the dawn and the seven cows personified darkness. Similarly, Buddha has been seen as the sun god, and it has been said that his life was a personification of the sun—in short, the common people transform natural phenomena into personified beings.

[ 4 ] Such poetic folk literature does not exist. Only someone who is alienated from the people could arrive at such a view. Those who delve deeper will become increasingly familiar with what spiritual research in the Esoteric Doctrine teaches.

[ 5 ] Children’s religious conceptions stem from pure, higher spiritual ideas and from the fact that a common, similar worldview underlies the various myths. This teaching is called the Esoteric Teaching of Humanity. It has always been upheld by the great spiritual leaders of humanity. Religions do not originate from folk poetry, but from the great initiates.

[ 6 ] Primordial wisdom is the same; it is simply structured according to the dispositions and aptitudes of different peoples. Thus, we find one form for the Greek peninsula and others for American, Indian, and Germanic peoples. The various forms are adapted to the different ways of life and aptitudes of individuals.

[ 7 ] The profound spiritual foundation reveals to us that a secret primordial revelation underlies all these religions. To many, this truth may seem unbelievable, but only because they are unfamiliar with the facts, which appear imperfect because the great leaders can only express them in a way that is understood.

[ 8 ] An interesting aspect of the history of human development is the very general esoteric teaching of primordial creation.

[ 9 ] Although it is a sin against the Holy Spirit of modern monism to view human beings as two-part entities—and one risks being called a dualist—it is nevertheless possible, despite the unified source that naturally underlies what we call “human beings,” it is nevertheless possible to demonstrate the twofold nature of his being just as validly as the existence of water consisting of hydrogen and oxygen; the two substances are present within him, despite the unity of the whole. Thus, one can also demonstrate that the higher and lower selves of the human being have a common source. How the human being’s nature manifests itself—how he lives, strives, and works—is revealed in a duality, just as water is revealed in the duality of hydrogen and oxygen. We therefore distinguish:

[ 10 ] First, the lower nature, which is more physical, more of the lower nature of matter.

[ 11 ] Second, the higher nature, which is more spiritual, more of the higher nature of the spirit.

[ 12 ] Development consists in the ennoblement of base nature. No one has portrayed this more eloquently than Schiller in his “Aesthetic Letters,” where he says: On the one hand, man is subject to the necessities of nature; he is its slave as long as he is bound to it, but he is also a slave to the iron necessity of reason. Only he who ennobles his lower nature through his higher nature awakens to freedom. It is not he who denies his lower nature who stands high, but he who ennobles it to such an extent that he can surrender himself to it.

[ 13 ] The Esoteric Teaching holds that through the spiritual, human beings overcome their sensual nature and transform their being in such a way that they gain a new sense of spirituality. The mystics often say: Man is a small world, and what surrounds him is the great one. He contains in miniature everything that the great world around him possesses. Schiller writes this to Goethe in his first letter:

[ 14 ] They take all of nature as a whole in order to shed light on the individual; in the totality of its manifestations, they seek the basis for explaining the individual. Goethe wanted humanity to be viewed as a microcosm in relation to the macrocosm, the greater world. Paracelsus expressed this in a beautiful metaphor: When we observe the individual natural phenomena in the outside world, they appear as letters, while human beings are the word composed of them. Everything that is scattered in the vastness of the outside world is present in the small scale of the human being.

[ 15 ] According to the Esoteric Doctrine, the struggle that is waged within the human being and ultimately leads to his purification is a reflection of the great struggle in the natural world outside. Just as in human beings the lower nature of the physical and visible stands in opposition to the spiritual and invisible, so the Esoteric Doctrine contrasts the nature of the visible universe—stones, plants, animals—with, as a second element, the forces of nature that are hidden within individual things.

[ 16 ] The divine aspect of human nature corresponds there, too, to a divine aspect. Esoteric teaching distinguishes there, as well, between the visible and the invisible, the physical and the spiritual. The human being before you appears to be what finds its outward, tangible expression, but through deeper impulses, in the outburst of his passions, the forces of his lower nature are revealed. Just as the human being finds a tangible expression in his body, so, too, does nature find an outward expression in physical forms, in which forces are just as hidden as they are in the lower human nature. Lightning flashes in the cloud. The Esoteric Teaching not only points to this comparison as fundamental but also shows that the divine beings in nature are fundamentally related to what reigns and lives within the human being as its spirit. The very same force that brings about the ennoblement of the lower human nature is the same force that has overcome the lower aspects out in nature. Minerals, plants, and animals are the plastic expression of the divine nature in a descending line, while the invisible spirits in nature represent, for the Esoteric Teaching, the ascent into the higher nature. They are more advanced beings than human beings. Animals, plants, and minerals are more advanced along the descending path.

[ 17 ] Coal provides an example of this process of degeneration. It is rock, a mineral. Millions of years ago, it was part of living organisms—plants. Vast forests perished and turned into these masses of rock. What was once a living organism has become a fossil. Science acknowledges this.

[ 18 ] In the ocean basin, a diverse array of calcareous structures are jumbled together, formed by animals that secreted calcareous shells. Here we find vast masses of limestone created by living organisms. Death is nothing other than a product of life.

[ 19 ] One asks: How does the living emerge from the dead?

[ 20 ] In truth, it is not so much that the living emerges from the dead, but rather that everything dead emerges from the living. Thus, even rock crystal is a manifestation of the primordial living.

[ 21 ] If we trace the animals back down to the fish, we finally find cartilaginous fish that have not yet developed bones. Similarly, the physical human being has ancestors who had cartilage instead of bones—bones that have not yet reached a stage where the process of fossilization has begun. Just as human bones turn to stone, so too have massive granite formations emerged from what was originally soft, living matter.

[ 22 ] Where does it all come from? From an original living organization, and this, in turn, from original spirituality. — We find the higher overcoming the lower everywhere, even in the external world. The lower has been shed as the higher emerges.

[ 23 ] But then there must be a great unity: just as there is a unity between the spiritual and the physical within human beings, so too must there be a great unity between the higher spirituality and the lower nature out there.

[ 24 ] This unity is expressed by the various creeds. Just as it is clear that those who have now cast off their lower nature were once beings who struggled and strived, so too are the initiates simply more advanced than their brothers; they have overcome the struggle and therefore know more.

[ 25 ] At the root of all creeds we find the premise of the struggle between the higher and the lower nature, and the conviction that there are initiates who are the leaders of humanity. — How did the secret doctrine find expression among the Germanic peoples? There, too, we find the interpretation that the people composed poetry and symbolized the forces of nature.

[ 26 ] We find a foundation for the theosophical worldview in a work by Ludwig Laistner: “The Riddle of the Sphinx,” on the study of mythology. Since, as is so often the case, the theosophist can learn the most from the non-theosophist, we may take his basic principles as our starting point here. Let us take as our starting point a simple folk tale—the legend of the Noon Woman. It is found in a wide variety of regions and goes as follows: Whoever goes out to the fields early in the morning to work and fails to return home at the proper time—during the noon break between twelve and one o’clock—will be visited by the Noon Lady, who asks him questions that are difficult to answer, concerning linen weaving, flax cultivation, and similar matters related to his work. Throughout the entire noon break, he is asked questions, all of which he must answer. If he misses even one, she comes with a sickle and cuts his throat. In some regions, it is said that one can rid oneself of her by reciting the Lord’s Prayer, but not just any way—it must be recited backward, not forward. — There is also a spinning room saying related to this legend: “You ask questions like the Noon Woman.” Laistner interprets it as follows: This legend has its origin in the state that arises in a person when they remain out in the fields and doze off. Then the surroundings have such an effect that the dream invariably takes on this form. Laistner traces all these legends back to the riddle of the Sphinx. It is the same torment of questioning found in that story. In between lies a whole world of myths and legends. It has nothing to do with folk poetry, but is explained by what the dream does for the sleeper. The dream is the primary symbolizer. One catches a frog in a dream, wakes up, and finds the corner of the bedspread in one’s hand. Legends and myths quite simply have their origin in the imagination of the dream. From there, Laistner would have been just one step away from the theosophical view, according to which there is not only the ordinary state of everyday consciousness, but also another state of consciousness that, like dream images, gives external things a different meaning: transforming the corner of the bedspread into the image of a frog. The dream, a means of occult development, provides symbols of a higher spiritual world. Then, in contrast to this ordinary dream state, a higher state of consciousness arises in which the human being becomes a sensory perceiver within his or her own consciousness. What shines into a person’s twilight consciousness from this higher state of consciousness is the dream. This state is also present in a dimmed form in mediums during trance: waking consciousness is extinguished, and a twilight consciousness has set in.

[ 27 ] Everything in the world has evolved, including human consciousness today. Just as with his physical organs, so too has he become a different being in terms of his consciousness. In the past, he did not possess daytime consciousness, but rather a twilight-like clairvoyant consciousness. Just as the body has organs whose significance fades away, so too is the state into which one who skips the lunch break falls an echo of the old clairvoyant consciousness. It causes the untrained person to see everything upside down; things appear as if in a mirror image. For example, one must read 365 as 563. In this higher spiritual world, the astral world, a person sees his or her desires. Everything that lies within this plane assails him or her in reverse, in the opposite order. The people therefore say quite correctly: If you want to escape the lunch lady, you must recite the Lord’s Prayer backward—that is, do something that does not conform to the laws of this world.

[ 28 ] These legends and myths represent a different state of consciousness. To our ancestors in the Middle Ages, they could only be understood in this light. Our ancestors possessed a clairvoyant consciousness; the legends are echoes of that. This is the secret of the Germanic myth in particular. Anyone who looks behind the scenes of nature can see how the myth manifests itself.

[ 29 ] The battle with the dragon in the Siegfried saga is nothing other than the struggle between higher wisdom and lower wisdom. The Germanic peoples were a warrior people; their god was a warrior god, and their battle was a battle with a dragon.

[ 30 ] The astral image, perceived clairvoyantly, is also found in the Baldur saga: the primal struggle of the elder brothers—the gods—against the lesser ones, which finds its echo in the forces of nature. The people see this and express it clairvoyantly as the actual victory of the blind Hödur over Baldur.

[ 31 ] It is said that Baldur represents the sun god, who is overcome by winter. The legend, however, signifies the struggle between beings of light and beings of darkness. The ancient Germanic people recall the primordial times when they saw darkness dispelled by spiritual light, when they saw the darknesses illuminated by astral light—Hödur signifies astral blindness. — The clairvoyant consciousness has experienced the legend of Baldur. The esoteric teaching, which tells us that there were initiates, has also portrayed Wotan as an initiate. He was not a divine being, but a human who had elevated himself. The tale that he hung on the gallows for nine days, winding his way like a serpent through gorges and crevices to Gunnlöd in order to receive the drink of initiation from the Valkyrie’s cup, corresponds to the ancient cross initiation and to Egyptian mysticism. For three days and nights, Wotan remains with Gunnlöd as a serpent, which symbolizes the initiates. The feminine principle signifies the higher soul, through which the ascent to higher levels is accomplished.

[ 32 ] The Legend of Siegfried is also a metaphor for initiation. Siegfried gains invulnerability—that is, he becomes impervious to physical stimuli—and thereby becomes a companion of the Valkyries. The initiates become invisible through the cloak of invisibility—that is, invisible as initiates; otherwise, they naturally remain visible (physically).

[ 33 ] What, then, is initiation? Every people has developed its esoteric teachings in a way that corresponds to its customs and traditions. The Germans were warriors, and a hero was one who had fallen on the battlefield; he embarked on the journey to Valhalla. The Valkyrie came to meet him—that is to say, his own higher soul comes to meet him when he passes through the gates of death.

[ 34 ] “Whoever does not die before he dies will perish when he dies”—that is to say, whoever does not come to know that world beforehand will die with death itself. Initiation is the foretasting of what lies ahead for the soul when it passes through the gates of death. The blessed warrior is united with the Valkyrie when he enters Valhalla: Siegfried with Brünnhilde. The leaders of the people clothed the initiation in this form. Even in this part of the saga, the secret teaching finds expression in language that is understandable to the people.

[ 35 ] We find the divine world, which has suppressed its own nature, reflected in the giants.

[ 36 ] The Secret Doctrine also recounts how the migration of peoples took place. The Atlantic Continent lay between Europe and America. Even Kosmos, a journal that leans toward Haeckel’s views, presents this as a hypothesis in its tenth issue. Although it acknowledges only the existence of plants and animals, that does not preclude the possibility that humans were there, for the natural sciences are always lagging behind.

[ 37 ] From that point on, people turned eastward. Those who migrated as far as Central and East Asia formed the foundation of ancient Indian Asia, while those who remained behind formed the foundation of the Celts and Germanic peoples. The Celts have made the greatest progress in the transformation from the ancient, dull clairvoyant consciousness to the present sensory consciousness. The Germanic peoples remained with the astral consciousness of the Atlanteans for a long time after the Asians had already developed into day consciousness.

[ 38 ] In the era preceding the Vedas, a doctrine arose that was based more on ordinary daily consciousness. But human beings can never lose their connection to the spiritual, and so a longing arose there to find, through artificial means, the path back to the ancient clairvoyance; thus arose that artificial clairvoyance which the sages sought through inner development—yoga. Accordingly, in India we find artificial clairvoyance in a state of full waking consciousness, whereas among the Germanic peoples the ancient clairvoyant consciousness is still preserved. Among the Germanic peoples, myths and legends form a dim reflection of the esoteric teaching compared to that gained by the initiates of more recent times through artificial clairvoyance. For the people, who no longer possess clairvoyance, the divine worlds must be represented in images. Hence the idols, artificially crafted replicas made by human hands. Among the Germanic peoples, the ancient myths still lived on among the people, in the archaic, rudimentary symbolism, whereas in ancient India the secret doctrine is expressed artificially through those who have ascended spiritually. What we derive from India is therefore more of an intellectual form, but it is the same secret doctrine that finds much more direct expression in the ancient Germanic myths.

[ 39 ] The idols of the Indians and theosophical teachings: The revival of the more theosophical doctrine of artificial clairvoyance in India runs completely parallel to what still lives on in the ancient legends of Germania. We therefore have no need in Europe for Indian terminology; we need only to understand and revive what is originally European. We can get to the bottom of a great European esoteric teaching, and we will get there.

[ 40 ] The course of the secret teaching is determined by something else as well. The course of the future is expressed prophetically in the ancient Germanic secret teaching. The allusion to Christianity is expressed in a powerful way. Legendary research connected to the secret teaching finds a coherent truth in both legend and Christianity. Krimhild betrays her husband by pinning the cross to his garment. What does this profound motif signify? It alludes to the prophetic reference to the cross of Christ. Siegfried, the initiate, is invulnerable throughout his entire body; there is only one spot that is not invulnerable for the great initiate—the spot where Christ bears the cross. With the spread of Christianity, this spot, too, has become invulnerable.

[ 41 ] In India, we have a secret teaching expressed intellectually and symbolically; in Europe, the ancient Germanic myth persisted in its astral form until the time of Jesus Christ. Christianity has replaced the myth.

[ 42 ] The task of Theosophy is to work in the spirit of this spiritual development of humanity, to establish the deep connection between the ancient Germanic peoples and modern times. We cannot simply spread the culture of the East; we must take into account the original Germanic and Christian culture. We must not seek the basis of the Esoteric Doctrine in Sanskrit dogmas, but rather seek the core of truth in those religious forms that are appropriate to the European national character, and seek what exists in the Germanic mythological tradition as an outgrowth of the Esoteric Doctrine.

[ 43 ] That was what the artist had in mind when he created a new culture by reinterpreting the Germanic legend; that was what Richard Wagner had in mind when he reworked the old German legends.

[ 44 ] Theosophy, too, seeks the traces of the ancient esoteric teaching that lives on in the depths of German legend. Those who follow this path will gradually find themselves at home in Theosophy. Yet we must by no means think that we have “come so far.” For every people has done its part in its own way. And in this sense, we must, within the brotherhood, place the unity and harmony of the fundamental teachings above the differences in interpretation and presentation. If we seek the truth in every opinion and place brotherly love above the selfishness of our own opinions, then we are acting in the true spirit of the Theosophical worldview.

[ 45 ] Article in the “Münchner Neueste Nachrichten”, April 1906

[ 46 ] Theosophical Lectures. The theosophical speaker Dr. Rudolf Steiner once again delivered two well-received lectures in the Prinzensaal of Café Luitpold on “Germanic and Indian Esoteric Teachings” and on “Inner Development.” In the first lecture, the speaker sought to argue that the origin of legends and myths cannot be attributed to the personification of natural phenomena by the poetic imagination of the people—as Ludwig Laistner had already suggested in The Riddle of the Sphinx by proposing a different explanation for the origin of certain myths—but rather that the remarkably profound meaning of myths and legends suggests they should be regarded as the symbolic expression of primordial truths, which were recognized more intuitively by primitive peoples themselves through images and symbols, and which were also depicted by the great teachers of humanity—initiated into the “Primordial Esoteric Teaching”—in images adapted to the understanding and distinctive character of the peoples of Asia, America, Africa, and Europe. Thus, for example, we find the struggle between higher and lower nature—which takes place in both the macrocosm and the microcosm—the spiritual struggle for development, the primordial struggle that the gods, that is, the beings who first contended for spiritual development, waged in primeval times, depicted in the myths of the gods’ and heroes’ battles with the dragon. In the Germanic mythological cycle, too, we find the battle with the dragon and the battle with the giants—the forces of lower nature. For the warlike Germanic peoples, who regarded bravery as the highest virtue, the doctrine of the higher and lower self was also expressed in the idea that the warrior who fell on the battlefield—exalted by a heroic death—ascends to Valhalla to meet the Valkyrie—his own higher soul, which comes to meet him. The speaker then expressed the view that the Theosophical Society in Europe has, above all, the task of promoting an understanding of the great truths and beauties of the Germanic mythological world, as well as a deeper understanding of the symbols of Christianity, since the forms of the East cannot simply be transferred to Europe. It must shed light on the fundamental sources of beauty and truth in the Germanic mythological world—which the great master Wagner artistically brought back to life—and utilize them for its spiritualized view of the world and life, just as it must do with the primordial truth of Christianity brought to the Germanic world, which was destined to supersede the ancient myth.