The Rudolf Steiner Archive

19. German Theosophists of the Nineteenth Century

[ 1 ] There have always been great, searching minds. There have always been eras in which the human spirit sought to penetrate the deepest questions; this was particularly astonishing at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. It is among German thinkers that we find the highest level of intellectual development. Yet it is precisely these great figures who have become the least well-known. One man stands out above all others: Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Who today still knows and reads his “Addresses to the German Nation”?

[ 2 ] Fichte’s worldview is a difficult one, so let’s first take a look at Immanuel Kant. Kant, so to speak, set firm limits on human knowledge. He sought the thing-in-itself. He did not delve into its depths. Fichte, in a sense, went beyond him. The Age of Enlightenment began with Kant. He said: “Man, you must have the courage to use your own reason.” This shook the old belief in authority. Stirring reminders of the spirit of the Enlightenment swept in from France. Rousseau’s spirit had exerted a powerful influence on Kant. Materialism first emerged there, and the spirit of the Enlightenment also made itself felt in Germany; but something else was added to it there as well.

[ 3 ] In his *The Education of the Human Race*, Lessing showed how this spirit of the Enlightenment had taken hold of him; but it is in his work that we first encounter a new idea: the idea of reincarnation. He said: “Is not all eternity mine?” Through many lifetimes, human beings advance along the path to perfection. We see how Goethe presented the great idea of reincarnation to us through grand imagery. That was Fichte’s “deed”: In his philosophy of science, Fichte showed that human beings must find the “I” within themselves, and it was precisely this that was difficult for people to grasp. Fichte said: “The great thing is that human beings themselves say ‘I’ to themselves.” - No one from the outside can call out “I” to us. This is the only name that we alone can give ourselves; it is the designation of our unique being in relation to nature. There, the God within humanity begins to speak. With this, humanity has begun to ascend to ever higher levels. In the year 1800, Fichte wrote “On the Destiny of Humanity.” One need not merely read it; rather, one must live it, allowing it to take effect within oneself. He encourages us to observe our inner life, to immerse ourselves in the inner power of our nature, and thereby to arrive at the certainty of our eternal core being. In his little book, *Instructions for a Blessed Life*, he shows that the “I” has always lived within us and will always live within us. In such German writings, you will receive the best theosophical training.

[ 4 ] Novalis was an eminent theosophical mind; he died at the age of 29 as a mining engineer. He himself regarded his mathematics as a great poem. In this, he echoes Pythagoras’s statement that there is “music of the spheres” within it. Novalis perceived the movement in the cosmos as harmonious tones. For him, the world of the stars was a world constructed according to mathematical principles—just as the harmonies one perceives in music can also be calculated. He also sensed and contemplated the layers of the Earth. It was clear to Novalis that human beings must develop their inner senses. In *The Apprentices of Sais*, he clearly stated that human beings are related to God and the entire world—images: the beautiful boy Hyacinth loves the beautiful Rose Child. He owed his understanding of the human “I” to Fichte.

[ 5 ] Another thinker: Schelling. In his 1809 work *On Human Freedom*, he seeks to give prominence to Jakob Böhme’s ideas. He is engaged in an interesting exploration of the origin of evil. Today I can only hint at one comparison: Everyone will see harmony at the root of all things. But how, then, does disharmony enter the picture? How can a person attain freedom? By having the possibility to do evil as well. Schelling says: The divine Good is like sunlight. When light shines into darkness, it gives rise to shadows. The light would not be able to develop its power if there were not something that were dark. — Jakob Böhme calls it the “counter-throw.” Darkness is precisely nothingness. The “something,” the good, can only be understood by recognizing that evil is nothingness, merely a shadow. Schelling also referred to human beings, as physical bodies, as a form of perfection. Hands, for example, are perfect and autonomous, but they can scratch themselves if they turn against one another. — Conversation: Clara and Benno. He had remained silent for a long time afterward, then Frederick William IV appointed him to the University of Berlin. Then he wrote *Philosophy of Mythology* and *Philosophy of Revelation*. In them, he speaks of ancient mysteries. What is a mystery? If we go far back beyond Homer to the culture of the Greek mystery schools and temple cults, we see that the disciples first had to observe the external drama: the god who descends into nature, who is hidden in all four kingdoms, and who awakens only in human beings. The human breast is the site of God’s resurrection. This was not art, religion, or science; it was all three at once: beauty, religion, and piety. Only later did truth, beauty, and piety—science, art, and religion—separate. The mysteries illustrated this. In Schelling, you can find the most beautiful expressions of this in his “Mystical Revelations.”

[ 6 ] Heinrich Kleist: “Käthchen von Heilbronn,” “The Prince of Homburg.” The former cannot be understood if one denies hypnosis and fails to look more deeply into the inner life of the soul. Kleist immersed himself deeply in Schubert’s philosophical lectures—which he attended in Dresden at the time—on dreams and the inner workings of the soul, and it was through them that he arrived at those ideas.

[ 7 ] Justinus Kerner found an opportunity to study a kind of abnormal mental state in the case of the visionary of Prevorst. She entered a spiritual and psychological environment while in that state. There is much to be concerned about here. While the physical body rested during sleep, the soul perceived states of its surroundings. Kerner said: “For her, the state of perpetual illness is a perpetual dying.” Eckartshausen presents everything in an idealized light up to a certain point.

[ 8 ] Ennemoser was a bit superficial.

[ 9 ] This chain of theosophical spirits provided profound insights into the evolution of humanity, revealed the eternal core of being within individuality, and elucidated reincarnation.

[ 10 ] What, then, is the significance of the personality for the essence? To gain experience in thinking, feeling, and willing. It does not cast off what it has gained through these processes at death as one would a garment; no, life was a school for it, and what it absorbed in life, it takes with it as a treasure into its new existence. A person would have lived in vain if this were not the case. Thus, with each life, individuality becomes richer. Everything the personality has gathered is like the pearls on a string. The personality is the tool for developing beyond life itself. Earthly life is what makes us more perfect. The personality lays the foundation for development.

[ 11 ] Certain Western views underestimate the personality and believe that at death one simply sheds one’s personality. No, we take its fruits with us. It is valuable to learn what significance the personality holds. And all those spirits are masters at depicting the personal. Back then, the German spirit had the mission of highlighting what is pure, beautiful, and noble in the personality. And this is precisely what Theosophy reveals: beautiful, pure, and lofty thinking. Every age has its task and mission. That was the mission of German philosophy. The great minds have been almost entirely forgotten, and it is our duty to learn from them. There lie the most magnificent fruits to be gained. Then one will truly understand the energy that emanated from those minds. “Man can do what he ought to do, and when he says, ‘I cannot,’ it is because he does not want to.” There were two great eras: the first, when Vedanta philosophy emerged in Asia in the post-Vedic period; the second, at the beginning of the nineteenth century in Germany. It was then that the human spirit experienced its greatest depth of insight on two occasions. During that time, will and strength were directed toward the ideal.

Nature is one great living entity,
And everything is fruit, and everything is seed.