The Rudolf Steiner Archive

7. Spiritual Science and Human Life

[ 1 ] Ladies and gentlemen! In yesterday’s lecture, I endeavored to show that the [goals] and the essence of spiritual research, as understood here, correspond to the urges and longings of the present age, and that they essentially meet the needs of human souls that have been preparing themselves for a long time, right up to the present, and which are clearly perceptible today to anyone who is willing to see, to anyone who simply wishes to understand themselves correctly. Now, especially when considering the question of what significance this spiritual research or spiritual science has for life—for the immediate, one might say, fully active life of the human being—one can build on yesterday’s remark, for the reason that one can best grasp the significance of a thing for life when one first sees certain impulses and needs emerging from life that call for this very thing. Many people today are looking for a [satisfying] worldview. Spiritual research or spiritual science will provide it.

[ 2 ] What the soul needs when its “I” seeks to shape its character is something that many people today expect to find in a kind of conclusion that can be derived from the truly advanced natural sciences of our time. For certain things, this is certainly justified; however, a careful observation of what is happening in our time clearly shows us how much cannot be achieved in this way, and how contemporary life in particular yearns so strongly for research and for the spirit.

[ 3 ] One could cite many examples; only one of the most recent will be presented here. On September 18, at the naturalists’ conference in Münster, Professor von Wettstein gave a lecture on the significance of biology—the study of life—for culture and life; that is to say, [he] quite rightly pointed out how, over the course of the nineteenth century, it became apparent that a worldview should be presented in a popular manner, one grounded in the achievements of the natural sciences. And he emphasized how natural science has made steady progress, how science essentially had to break with what people in the materialistic age sought to demonstrate regarding the human soul; and with full justification, he strove to remain calm in his observation of the facts and not to draw hasty conclusions about those questions of worldview that can venture quite deeply into the realm where human thinking strays into what is, admittedly, unwarranted.

[ 4 ] In fact, the science of the spirit seeks nothing more than to follow such advice in its own way and within its own field; not to arrive at the truth of life through all sorts of conclusions and circumstantial evidence derived from external sensory facts, but rather by awakening the dormant powers of the soul—what Goethe refers to as “spiritual eyes”—to observe what lies beyond the sensory world, beyond sensory existence itself, and with which the human soul feels connected.

[ 5 ] That is what the times—and life itself—demand. And if the purpose of spiritual science is to fathom the truth, then the way in which [it] relates to that which enriches and heals life must be such that every soul finds fulfillment. Therefore, this demand may well be posed as a question. And one thing can be said: Spiritual science must fulfill one requirement if it is to meet the needs of life; it must have the power—regardless of a certain level of higher education, regardless of the development of this or that scientific fact, and even regardless of a certain level of philosophical worldview—to make itself accessible even to the simplest mind, which must perform its daily work as a human being and has no time to engage in depth with this or that individual branch of science. Spiritual research must be accessible to all. To avoid being misunderstood, I would like to add that spiritual research must be in complete harmony with contemporary science and must not contradict its legitimate requirements. Let the most rigorous researcher with the strictest demands come forward—spiritual science must certainly be able to stand up to him. And anyone who engages with the serious literature of spiritual science will see how this can be the case.

[ 6 ] But another matter is that it must bring to light things that every soul can understand, regardless of any education. And here I would like to respond—not with a theory, but with a kind of fact— and I do not wish to cite a fact drawn primarily from spiritual science itself, but rather a fact that actually points to something that occurred even before spiritual science came to the fore—something that demonstrates how souls who longed to turn toward the spiritual world understand one another in a remarkable way, regardless of their level of education. I would like to cite something that bears witness to such an understanding—something that will occur to an even greater extent as spiritual science becomes more and more established in the souls that need it.

[ 7 ] One of the most amiable and judicious philosophers of our time, Moriz Carriere—it suffices to note here that he was among those who always upheld philosophical idealism at a time when materialism was taking hold of the great questions of worldview— imbued with the purity of philosophical thought, not only depicted in his work on the cultural development of humanity how the spiritual influences human development, but also how true science can be reconciled with the soul’s genuine need for answers to the great questions of existence and the relationship between worldview and religion—these ideas flowed from his pen. Now Moriz Carriere himself tells us of a remarkable experience he had, precisely as he was attempting to show how the spiritual works in the course of human development, and how, in particular, the great figure of Christ Jesus intervenes in human development. It was then that he received a series of manuscript pages in the mail. They came from a simple man. His name was never known either. His name is Karl Zeuner. In the days when the waves of revolutionary life were running high, he had somehow broken the law and was taken into custody. He ended up in prison. And now he recounts how he despaired of the friends with whom he had once strived toward external goals, of the remnants of what remained to him from his religious instruction in school, and how lonely he was. He recounts how, while in prison, he once heard from afar a song he knew. He describes how this enriched his soul and how special forces stirred within him. He wrote down the thoughts that gradually arose in his soul as it blossomed anew in prison.

[ 8 ] As soon as you begin reading these pages, you come across strange sentences, especially at the beginning. He says something like this: “When I look into my own soul and then at what surrounds me, I feel within my soul the same essence that lives out there in all things, and I feel within my own soul as if I were a part of the soul of the entire world.” And from there he proceeds to formulate his ideas about the course of world history, describing how the spirit is at work in human beings, who have developed gradually.

[ 9 ] Why did this surprise Moriz Carriere so much? It is surprising when one compares these writings by the simple man with what Moriz Carriere wrote based on contemporary scientific knowledge and studies of the world’s cultural development. If one considers their main ideas—they are almost identical, word for word, between the two: the ordinary man and the highly educated philosopher. The ordinary man, in his solitude, drawing only on his innermost spiritual powers, writes something that is the same as what the philosopher draws from the depths of scholarship. That is to say, when it comes to questions of worldview—if a person is merely willing to seek—there is a common understanding between the one who searches within his own soul and the one who pursues this path on the basis of comprehensive scholarship.

[ 10 ] This shows us how, through the spirit, understanding is possible between the most highly educated and the simplest, most primitive soul. And if, back then, this was possible in a specific case solely on the basis of certain concepts and ideas—even without spiritual science—then we may say: First, fostering such harmony corresponds to an impulse in our present-day life. It is in keeping with the spirit and essence of our time that souls communicate with one another regarding their deepest needs, transcending all social classes and across all levels of education; and second, such understanding will be all the more necessary when souls no longer need to approach the spirit merely through concepts and ideas that they squeeze out of their innermost being—which are like shadows compared to what spiritual science has to offer—but rather, this universally comprehensible understanding will be achieved all the more through spiritual science.

[ 11 ] This, however, presents a challenge for our time in particular—the need for a general understanding of the fundamental questions of existence—and we have now reached the threshold of their practical solution through spiritual science.

[ 12 ] This means that spiritual science is capable of directly influencing life. However, as some have pointed out, there is an objection to this spiritual science, particularly when it comes to placing this universally understandable concept in the proper light. People say: Yes, but it is first taught that the one who penetrates the spiritual world awakens the slumbering soul. And what is stated in my *Knowledge of the Higher Worlds* requires a long journey before one can gain insight into this spiritual life for oneself. One might ask, then, how can we speak of general comprehensibility if only someone who has transformed their soul can enter into it?

[ 13 ] This objection is understandable, yet not entirely justified; for this requirement is essential for the spiritual researcher in order to ascertain the facts of the spiritual world for himself. The spiritual researcher can investigate spiritual facts that are important for life. He can then formulate them—expressing them in words, concepts, and ideas—and communicate them to the general public. Spiritual training is necessary for this investigation; but once these facts are present and appear before us, formulated into concepts, words, and ideas, even the simplest mind can understand them—anyone can understand them. All that is needed is to open oneself to these ideas, concepts, and words with an open mind; for with these spiritual facts, the more we allow these ideas to take effect within us, the more they prove themselves. They can give us everything we need from them for the purposes of practical life—what we need from them to uplift, strengthen, and heal our lives. What faithful researchers of the spiritual world can offer the world can be verified by science at any time! Admittedly, these things may not stand up to superficial, shallow criticism, but they can stand up to genuine criticism. What, however, many people say or feel—to a greater or lesser extent—is that they must admit a general turning of human consciousness [toward] the higher world, but as soon as one delves into the details of spiritual research, as soon as one begins to describe, based on observations of the spiritual world, what lies between death and rebirth—what is called the evolution of humanity—according to the impulses provided by spiritual science; in short, when details are cited, our contemporaries still often recoil. They seek a general indication; without it—they admit—human life, the strengthening, healthy kind, could not exist. But when one goes into details, when one describes beings and things of the spiritual world, the objection immediately arises: No one can penetrate that realm; we can know nothing about it. Here, esteemed audience, we stand at the point where spiritual science must first make itself understood to those who, while they have what are indeed fundamental needs of life, wish to have them only in general terms.

[ 14 ] Once again, let us cite a concrete example of how humanity, so to speak, is searching for a new answer to the needs of the soul. The former president of Harvard University in the United States expressed this, calling it the need for a new religion. Spiritual science does not seek to found a new religion; it has nothing to do with the formation of sects; rather, it seeks to understand the old ones and to explore, in the spiritual realm, what the human soul needs. Our contemporaries believe that this urge toward spiritual research is an urge for a new religion. Dr. Eliot has pointed out how their life needs drive them toward spiritual science. Dr. Eliot, who for a long time was at the forefront of science and served as a university president, expressed the following in essence: People have always assumed the existence of a soul that is distinct from the body, yet inherent in it. Everyone believes that there is within a human being a living, governing, distinctive being—or a spirit—that is the person themselves. This is, in essence, as real as the body. It is the most active part of the human being and is recognized as such: And this has always been the case and always will be.

[ 15 ] When one hears such words, one can conclude that even people with a broad education share this drive and ambition.

[ 16 ] One could cite many examples; one will see everywhere that references are made to the spirit out of a need for life, not out of knowledge, but in a peculiar way that reveals the aversion that still exists toward the details as presented by spiritual science.

[ 17 ] When someone, like Dr. Eliot, points out the needs of the times, this observation is roughly equivalent to saying, with regard to the natural sciences: No one can deny that there is a nature—a nature that brings forth beings in the external world, a nature that brings about events in time that have a beginning and an end, and so on. Someone who would point to nature in this way can be compared to someone who points to the spirit in the same way as Dr. Eliot. But can anyone be satisfied with simply saying: There is a nature with various living beings and events?

[ 18 ] The satisfaction lies in the fact that a person can go out and perceive individual, concrete entities. It is not the abstract that satisfies people, but the details; facts must present themselves to our soul. What could never satisfy anyone with regard to nature is precisely what is still supposed to satisfy many with regard to the spiritual—an empty generality, an abstraction.

[ 19 ] But people still refuse to go into the specifics, the details—the details and facts of the spiritual world that shine forth from spiritual science just as the individual facts of nature do in the natural sciences.

[ 20 ] The humanities today stand where the natural sciences stood four centuries ago, when they began to observe nature using their own methods. Just as it was pointed out yesterday that in the natural sciences one delves into the details, so it must be pointed out today that one must first accustom oneself to thinking about the details of spiritual life in the same way as one thinks about the details of natural processes; and just as it is not enough to know that there are general natural products—just as the natural scientist must distinguish, for example, between oats and wheat—so too will human beings increasingly need the details of spiritual facts. Just as one cannot approach natural needs in the same way with wheat and oats, so too one cannot approach spiritual needs with general references to the spiritual world. When this or that comfort is needed, or when this or that character trait is to be instilled in the soul, then details and facts must be provided. This is the path that spiritual science must take. And because this tendency toward the general dominates the world today, one can see even in the specific things that are demanded how, while people acknowledge—out of their present-day lives—a longing for the spirit, which has a fertilizing effect on the soul and fills it when satisfied, no one has to say anything accurate about the most essential things, because there is such a general aversion to the particular.

[ 21 ] From this speech by Eliot, we can also single out another sentence in which he speaks of how the emerging spiritual worldview seems set to engage with all the scientific achievements of the modern era, with joy and vitality.

[ 22 ] In doing so, he sets himself against old age, death, and so on. Here we see a distancing from death and mourning, death and sin, on the part of those who tell people what the life of the soul is supposed to be like once a person has passed through the gates of death. Dr. Eliot demands of the new worldview that none of this is necessary—that it should focus instead on life and joy. This is entirely in keeping with the outlook of our time, which focuses on living action and sees reasons to make life strong and joyful. That is entirely justified. It is also entirely justified to say that the new outlook on life must concern itself with life and joy; and in contrast, the statement that the new worldview should set aside death and grief sounds truly wonderful. There is, however, one weighty objection: No matter how much human thought may wish to avoid dealing with them—death and grief will still engage with human beings and reveal their existence to us; and life will always demand, in order for us to understand it, that we know something about death and its mysteries; and joy will demand the strength to lift us up again when grief weighs us down.

[ 23 ] But this is precisely the aim of spiritual science: to awaken within the soul that which leads a person to the justified, certain conviction that what constitutes a person’s true being does not participate in the external sensory world, but is of an eternal nature, passing from life to life. And this becoming aware of the deepest life force in one’s individual lives is what will ultimately bring about the recognition of true life that Eliot called for, because as a form of knowledge it understands how the truly living always triumphs over death. And this insight will know how to draw from the depths of the soul forces that spring from the spiritual and that know how to lift us up again when external life brings us down through grief or something else.

[ 24 ] We can draw on a fact from human life, a fact from the spirit of our times, and then draw our own conclusions about what the life of the individual can gain from the results of spiritual research.

[ 25 ] Everyone experiences that their life has a youth, progresses, and eventually reaches a culmination point, after which it begins to decline. They experience how what they call their physical, bodily self gradually withers and fades away. A superficial science has concluded, precisely from this fact, that the spiritual depends on the physical. Because the brain withers away, making any outward activity of the intellect impossible, the conclusion is drawn that the soul and spirit wither away along with the physical body. This is like concluding, from the fact that a piano is no longer playable, that the pianist is no longer there.

[ 26 ] Once spiritual science begins to incorporate what it knows from the spiritual world, the soul will possess powers as it approaches old age that will have a healing effect on life. In my short treatise on child rearing, you can see how spiritual science also influences the specific details of practical child-rearing. How often do we hear people offering all sorts of pedagogical prescriptions? Those who know life often feel uneasy about such general statements and rules, and anyone who follows the literature closely will see how inadequate today’s reform ideas are for the developing human being. But when one knows from spiritual research how the human being grows up under entirely different conditions during the various years and periods of life—how the physical body develops up to the age of seven, how educational guidelines then take effect quite differently between the ages of seven and fourteen, when the etheric body is forming, and between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, when the astral body is developing— only when one knows how distinctly these epochs manifest in human life, how the human being progresses in precisely differentiated stages—only then is one able to formulate principles based on human nature that truly bring forth what lies within the soul. The future will show how such a pedagogy, drawn from spiritual science, can enrich life; for whoever approaches life in such a way that the conditions are created for the soul to be given, at specific times, the forces that awaken life—such a person must then always see for themselves what spiritual science can become for all human beings. No matter where a person stands—they can acquire more than just theoretical knowledge; spiritual science provides the human soul with truly spiritual substance, spiritual nourishment that works within the soul and is digested—if I may use that trivial expression—keeping the soul ever supple, inwardly active, rich in content, and self-aware. This is a kind of knowledge that life needs and will need more and more.

[ 27 ] Then, when life begins its descent—when wrinkles etch themselves into our faces, when our hair begins to turn gray—then we possess not merely theosophical knowledge, but, through a spiritual-scientific understanding of life, we carry within us a living core that is rich in meaning, [one] that becomes more vivid the more the outer shell falls away, and the human being feels within themselves: You shed the outer shell and the body, the physical, but within you carry the powers to journey through the spiritual world, to draw from it new powers for building a new life. Saying this to oneself brings inner security.

[ 28 ] This applies in general to all human beings. In a certain sense, spiritual science will increasingly help people transcend what naturally must result when one does not feel the living Spirit.

[ 29 ] Another fact that is particularly important in our time is that of nervousness. In a certain sense, everyone today feels what is meant by the “age of nervousness,” for this is intrinsically linked to certain concepts that people have formed. How often does a person experience this or that powerlessness, this or that fault, this or that vice—entirely in keeping with the materialistic worldview—in such a way that they look to their ancestors, to their hereditary lineage.

[ 30 ] In poetry, it is often depicted how a person who feels burdened by their ancestors tells themselves: “This is an inherited disposition; it cannot be changed.” The result of such a state of mind is weakness and despair—no observer should fail to notice how this actually renders people weak.

[ 31 ] We are having strange experiences these days. Especially among materialist researchers, one sees how they speak of this nervousness of our time and offer materialist explanations. Only now has a book been published by an Austrian scholar who, strangely enough, sums up the entire mindset with a single statement: that everything in human beings is based on the physical-chemical composition of their organism—even their character. And as one reads on, something peculiar becomes apparent: the author offers advice. One might think, however, that one could expect some kind of remedy to be swallowed or applied to correct this flawed chemical-physical composition; yet this gentleman does not recommend—at least not in many cases—any sort of little powder, but rather advocates strengthening the character through moral means, through all sorts of spiritual matters!

[ 32 ] We do not wish to argue with our contemporaries on such matters. We want to focus our attention on the question: Where should the resources come from—for a person who stands there desolate with this or that affliction—physical and chemical conditions that shape his character—where should the means come from that will turn him into a fighter against his nervousness, against his neurasthenia?

[ 33 ] The humanities will respond: When people come to realize that it was just as much a mistake to claim that a child’s set of characteristics arises solely from inheritance from the parents—when one draws such a conclusion—it is just as much an observational error as it once was in the sixteenth century, and indeed in the seventeenth, —and not only laypeople, but learned researchers believed it—that higher animals, even fish, could arise from inanimate matter.

[ 34 ] And a great revolution took place when the Italian naturalist Francesco Redi formulated the principle: Life can never arise from non-living matter. Life can only arise from life. Francesco Redi narrowly escaped the fate of Giordano Bruno.

[ 35 ] The same must be said of the spiritual-soul aspect: The spiritual-soul aspect arises only from the spiritual-soul aspect; we look back to the spiritual-soul aspect that was the seed in earlier times of our present life. We sense the injustice in the idea that what we carry within us as fate, as predispositions, as spiritual-soul possessions, is supposed to be merely something inherited from our ancestors, and we recognize that it is rooted in the spiritual, as we acquired it previously, in earlier times. Then the human being becomes aware that there is something else within them besides their inherited traits. And to the extent that they recognize this, they need not look to their inherited traits nor say to themselves, “I must bear these”; no, once the spiritual researcher has recognized the core of their soul, they must seek to strengthen their powers and help advance their development.

[ 36 ] In this way, spiritual science will influence life, making it healthy, and the individual will engage vigorously with life.

[ 37 ] This essentially points to the other outcome of spiritual research: the social aspect. Our age initially has—albeit justifiably—only the tendency to study external structures, such as how to establish this or that institution so that people may find their place in life. Spiritual science, however, reveals the inner tendency: how people should bring forth their inner selves so that, ready to face life, they may step into it.

[ 38 ] All of this will entail that our time must become aware that spiritual science is not about dead theory, but rather about awakening the life forces themselves. As a result, this age will recognize the reality of what comes from spiritual science and experience it, because spiritual science will be understood in relation to life. Consequently, the person who carries spiritual science within will approach life in a different way—something that is impossible without spiritual science, but which will increasingly enrich life. When the spirit, the soul, and reality are understood by all—when it is understood that the soul is reality—then people will no longer meet with incomprehension the serious fact of life that from a healthy, powerful grasp of the soul’s core, forces also radiate that can protect the outer physical body from harm, weakness, and even illness.

[ 39 ] In this regard, the prevailing view of our time reveals its character in the common use of a proverb that is, however, increasingly falling into disuse: “A healthy soul dwells in a healthy body,” by which it is meant that if one merely makes the body healthy, then a healthy soul will dwell within it. In spiritual science, this is understood quite differently: a healthy soul dwells in a healthy body, because the innermost soul, in its health, shapes physical life within the body. People will come to recognize the healing powers that spiritual science instills in the soul. Of course, not with the means people today seek to use for understanding, for today people will look and say: Here is a person who has studied spiritual science, yet has become ill. — To this one can reply: Spiritual science, or spiritual research, has not yet advanced very far in terms of its dissemination; and secondly, it goes without saying that nothing can be done directly against external damage to the physical body if this damage stems solely from the physical realm—just as one cannot heal a broken leg through spiritual means.

[ 40 ] There is, however, something else we recognize through the distinctive way in which the insights of spiritual research take effect: that the soul is transforming back into an outer coexistence with existence, as it had before its alienation from nature. We still see in children, and even in animals, an instinctive fusion with the existence of the spiritual world. We see how an animal does not eat too much, how its instinct is healthy; but we also see how, in civilized human beings, certain things are brought about by their alienation from nature. It is sometimes a chilling sight to witness how humanity is distancing itself from this direct experience of and coexistence with existence. Just the other day I saw a person who weighed out a specific amount of food for each meal. In the current shift toward purely mechanical science, we even see the human stomach and digestive organs treated like test tubes. This mechanistic approach is not confined to science alone; it extends into the treatment of human life. Opposing this is the current of spiritual research. Through this knowledge, human beings return to existence in such a way that they instinctively—in a higher sense—protect themselves from what should not be. And one will then, of course, have to assess the healing effect of spiritual research somewhat differently than one does today.

[ 41 ] If questions now arise, such as: From how many illnesses does the healing power of spiritual science actually protect us? —that is difficult to answer, because the illnesses do not occur; nevertheless, it is more reasonable to assume that, by becoming attuned to instinctual life through spiritual science, a person is protected from illness than to assume that they must be healed afterward. Thank God, it cannot be proven, for the success lies in the fact that these ailments no longer occur.

[ 42 ] Thus we see how a return to nature—in the very modern sense—is brought about in life through spiritual science. Much more could be cited; ultimately, everything would clearly point to the fact that spiritual science brings about healing, the promotion of life, and a proper alignment with life—with the natural context of life.

[ 43 ] Thus, spiritual science not only brings about knowledge—the most precious of all goods—but also gives rise to significant consequences for life, consequences of which one can only form an idea by considering them as they have been hinted at today, albeit only in a fleeting way. All of this, however, will come about as a result of human beings penetrating the spiritual worlds—not merely in a general sense, but by coming to recognize individual spiritual realities. Just as in nature we do not merely speak of nature in general but recognize the details—the individual minerals, the individual plants, and the individual animals—so, too, will we come to recognize the spiritual world in its details. Then the spiritual nature will surround him, just as nature itself is destined to promote, enrich, and indeed sustain physical life.

[ 44 ] Then human beings will feel embedded in the spirit, just as they otherwise feel embedded in the physical world, within the materials of nature. People will learn to feel as though they are living in the spirit just as they do in the physical world. Just as one feels, within the physical organism, the processes taking place outside in the universe, so will one feel the spiritual connections—to sorrow and joy, to suffering and pleasure, to desire and contemplation—in their own world, and life will discover that which, emanating from the spirit, nurtures and heals life.

[ 45 ] This is what we can hope for from spiritual science, because this spiritual science is meant to fulfill the soul’s need to feel at one with everything that takes place in the universal spiritual realm. When human beings no longer think that everything within them is merely an event, a life, and that their will is a force that has no significance for the environment—when they come to know that what takes place within them is as closely connected to the spiritual realm as the physical body is to the physical world—then, through such a science, human beings will gain power, strength, and vitality; then a person will discover what I sought to suggest in my play *The Trial of the Soul*—how a soul expresses this sense of security in the spiritual realm, that a person knows themselves to be in the spirit, experiences themselves in the spirit, thinks in the spirit, and truly breathes within it, and in this true breath of life attains a vital existence.

[ 46 ] This spiritual health will flow from spiritual science when what is expressed in those words—which describe what can take place within a seeking soul—is fulfilled and provided through spiritual science. What has been said today can be summarized in what a soul that feels itself in the spirit can say to itself:

Global ideas live in your mind

[ 47 ] — do not merely dwell temporarily within human beings, but are eternal universal ideas —

World forces weave within your feelings,
World beings work through your will.
Lose yourself in thoughts of the world,
Experience yourself through world forces,
Create yourself from beings of will.
Do not end with the distances of the worlds,
Through the dreamlike play of thought – –;
Begin in the expanses of the spirit,
And end in the depths of your own soul: —
You will find divine goals,
Recognizing yourself within yourself.