The Rudolf Steiner Archive

20. Spiritual Science in Relation to Contemporary Religious and Social Trends

[ 1 ] The first two lectures on spiritual science that I was able to give here this winter dealt more with the way in which spiritual scientific insights are attained. They dealt with those forces in the human soul that, in general, still resist this spiritual scientific knowledge in our time, are hostile to it, and so on.

[ 2 ] This evening, I would like to take the liberty of saying a few words—though, naturally, in a short lecture these can only be sparse—about the relationship between the humanities and various religious and social currents in our contemporary culture. As a general remark, I should note that—as is only natural—I can only speak on behalf of the spiritual scientific research discussed in the first two lectures here, and that we must take great care not to conflate this spiritual scientific research with all manner of other movements that call themselves theosophical or similar and are active today. It is generally not pleasant to speak specifically about such movements, but perhaps it is also unnecessary now that these lectures have taken place. We live in a time in which the human soul, which is even slightly aware of what is happening around it, must undoubtedly feel how it is increasingly compelled to step out of its instinctive soul life and to live, more and more consciously and with ever greater insight, into what might be called the demands of the world—namely, the cultural world—upon human beings and their soul development. One need not look back to the very early days of human cultural development, and if one is open-minded, one will very soon be able to see that in those earlier times, human beings were able to live much more instinctively—much more, one might say, naturally—than in our own time. This is the foundation of what we experience as the progressive aspect of our time. More and more, the human soul is compelled to form thoughts and ideas about what—if I may use the expression—has been, as it were, instilled in it by inner, soul-spiritual forces that remain somewhat indefinite to it, so that these forces could express themselves more instinctively.

[ 3 ] In the true and genuine sense, spiritual science seeks, so to speak, to serve the human soul as it strives for maturity and full consciousness. But since it must do so from a perspective that—at least for many souls at first—seems to stand in sharp contrast to traditional habits of thought and modes of conception, it is, on the other hand, quite natural—as has already been emphasized—that the general consciousness still resists what spiritual science seeks to bring into the present, so that this truly corresponds not only to what is present, so to speak, on the surface of the soul, but [to] what, in the deep longings of the soul, is weaving its way toward and striving for the human future.

[ 4 ] For some, what spiritual science has to say must seem radical in a much deeper sense than, for example, the radical impact that the scientific way of thinking had at the dawn of the new spiritual life. To a much greater extent today, spiritual science must make people feel—and this must always be emphasized—as if the ground were being pulled out from under their feet, compared to the time when Copernicus, through his new worldview regarding the physical realm, shook the very foundations of what people had previously believed, namely, that the Earth, with humanity upon it, was stationary in space. People felt that they had to accept this truth—which was new for its time—much as if the ground on which they had stood securely had been pulled out from under their feet. If people felt something like that in the physical realm back then, they can certainly feel it to an even greater degree today if they insist on clinging to old habits of thought—especially when spiritual research speaks of repeated earthly lives and explains that the spiritual realms can only be explored by freeing the soul from bodily experience. Spiritual science requires a form of soul observation that is free from all sensory perception and free from thinking bound to the brain.

[ 5 ] It goes without saying that, in contrast, many people feel uncertain—those who have always sought the solid ground of human perception and observation, of human philosophical thought, through the soul’s use of the senses and the intellect, which is bound to the brain. This gives rise to a feeling of uncertainty for such people, as if the ground were being pulled out from under their feet—only to a much greater degree than was the case back then, in the dawn of the new spiritual life.

[ 6 ] Anyone who familiarizes themselves even a little with the meaning and spirit of spiritual science cannot help but be repeatedly surprised by certain objections and attacks that come particularly from one quarter: the religious denominations of the most diverse orientations. Although this is understandable, it is all the more surprising given that attacks also come from materialist and other scientific quarters. One must be [surprised] especially by the attacks that stem from religious denominations. In response to these attacks, it must first be emphasized—though this has already been done—in a few words what it is that actually offends many souls when they encounter spiritual science.

[ 7 ] Spiritual science aims, in the most profound sense, to be a continuation of the scientific way of thinking, but since it deals with the realm of the spirit, it must transcend this scientific mode of thought. In a sense, it must develop in a different way what the scientific mode of thinking has made great in its own field, because spiritual research deals with the realm of the spirit. Here, modern spiritual science shows that with the means available to human beings when they investigate the natural realms and seek to fathom nature’s great truths, they cannot, with these powers and soul faculties, penetrate into the realms of the spirit. It becomes evident that no insight into the spiritual world is possible if human beings rely solely on those faculties of the soul that can be developed while they are in the state of consciousness that arises from the moment they wake up until they fall asleep—that is, when they make use of their physical senses, thinking, feeling, and willing, for which they require their nervous system and brain.

[ 8 ] The fact that, in addition to the soul’s faculties that human beings must apply specifically in the realm of external sensory life and also in the realm of scientific research—that, in addition to these faculties, there are other faculties slumbering within the soul that can be developed if human beings make an effort to do so—this is what is offensive to many contemporary minds. Many people today simply do not consider that, in a certain sense—on a small, primitive scale—a transformation actually takes place within a human being in the course of his or her entirely natural life that is similar to the one required by spiritual science if the soul is to develop in accordance with it.

[ 9 ] Every person develops spiritual faculties during the early years of childhood that would not enable them to navigate life if those faculties remained throughout their entire life as they were in those early childhood years. The fact that we, as adults, are able to find our way in life—that we can position ourselves in life in such a way that we develop an appropriate relationship with other people and with the whole world—depends on the fact that, in addition to the abilities we possess in early childhood, we develop others, and that these childhood abilities can be raised to a higher level. Just as the latent powers within a person in the early years of life are developed so that the person can orient themselves within their sensory world, so too must a transformation take place within them in later life if they truly wish to recognize, observe, and perceive the spiritual world. And through exercises whose principles have been outlined in my recent lectures and in my books *The Secret Science* and *The Threshold of the Spiritual World* and so on—through such exercises—a person comes to truly transform the soul’s innate abilities, which they possess by nature without any effort on their part, into abilities through which they can look into the spiritual world. And this transformation is connected to the fact that the person learns to truly draw his soul out of his body.

[ 10 ] This enables human beings to clearly distinguish, through consciousness, between two different states of life. One state is that of ordinary waking life. In this state, one knows that one must make use of one’s senses. And anyone who has even moderately penetrated the mindset of the modern age knows that they must make use of their thought life—which is bound to the brain and nervous system—in order to orient themselves in the external world. Consciousness functions in such a way that everything psychological is directly connected to the physical, so that the physical is embedded within the psychological-spiritual. Through that exertion of the powers of thought, feeling, and will—which a person must develop in certain spiritual exercises—they come to concentrate and strengthen their soul forces within themselves to such an extent that the soul detaches itself from the body; they come to truly experience that moment which is otherwise also experienced, but unconsciously: the moment of leaving the physical body. This moment is, after all, otherwise experienced—though unconsciously—when falling asleep. The person still perceives how impressions and inner activity fade away. Slowly, they then slip into unconsciousness. In a similar way, the person who, through certain spiritual and soul exercises, has strengthened and invigorated their thinking, feeling, and willing, feels how they can make the soul so strong that it senses: “I am still something even when I no longer move my hands, can no longer use my eyes and ears; I am still something within myself.”

[ 11 ] These spiritual exercises are based on bringing forth the deeper forces through which the soul remains a reality even when it renounces physical impressions and the sensation of being, by exerting the will in the limbs. Through these exercises, the soul comes to step outside the body. The body then becomes an external object for the soul, just like other things outside our body. In my recent lectures, I used the analogy of spiritual chemistry: just as hydrogen is extracted chemically to form water, so the soul experiences itself as a spiritual-soul being, and thus it will withdraw from the body. It then finds itself in a world of spiritual processes and beings, just as—as long as it makes use of the senses and the intellect, which is bound to the brain—it finds itself in a world of sensory processes and beings.

[ 12 ] I have already pointed out that, even today, some people still forgive references to the spirit in a general sense; but they will no longer forgive references to the spiritual world—into which the soul immerses itself—that suggest this world consists, like the sensory world, of individual, entirely concrete processes and entities. The fact that one does not drift into a general, vague, pantheistic spiritual world, but rather enters a world of spiritual diversities, is something that is difficult to forgive. And yet, that inner strengthening and gaining of power leads the soul to become free of the body, so that the human being truly enters concrete spiritual worlds.

[ 13 ] I do not wish to speak in abstract terms, but rather to draw attention to what the spiritual researcher experiences in concrete terms. Through devotion to very specific thoughts that he thinks, he experiences his feelings and impulses of will gathering together, and thereby he brings about the soul’s liberation from the body. He experiences, as it were, while awake, what is otherwise experienced only in a slumbering and unconscious state. He first feels how the outer sensory world—the world of colors, light, and sounds—fades away as he falls asleep. The person then feels that his thoughts—of which he has rightly said, “I perceive these sensory impressions through them”—that his thoughts become, as it were, detached from him. And a new world opens up before him.

[ 14 ] Human beings pour out their thoughts on the new world. And when the impressions of the sensory world fade away, then human beings realize: Yes, up until now, when—in my state of consciousness—I saw the sensory world spread out around me like a carpet, something like a veil had been woven over me. Now that this veil is gone, a new world opens up to me. When one lives consciously in the bodyless soul, one experiences not only that the sensory world disappears, but also that something like a veil—which is perceived as having covered a world of the spiritual—disappears. One then experiences a world of spiritual beings that, as it were, emerges when the veil of the sensory world is torn away.

[ 15 ] When the veil lifts, one encounters beings that are one level higher in the cosmic order than the human soul. One then immerses oneself in a feeling that enriches the soul infinitely. One then feels: When you look around here in the sensory world, you have beneath you the beings of the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms. The highest kingdom around you is on the same level as you. You immerse yourself in a world that meets you there, and as a soul you know: What lies deep within you—what remains unconscious to you in ordinary life, what does not enter your self-awareness—is something that enriches you. This is a world of spiritual beings who stand above you in the order of the worlds, who are not embodied in a physical body but who are “endowed with a soul,” and within whom you yourself are present once you have become a disembodied soul.

[ 16 ] That is one thing. A second thing that one encounters when the veil of the sensory world is blown away is that one perceives what are otherwise called the laws of nature in an entirely different way. The laws of nature, which one grasps through thought while in the sensory realm, are no longer laws of nature now that one perceives from outside the body; the thoughts are gone—they have united with spiritual beings that stand above human beings. What we experience in the laws of nature—which we previously grasped through thoughts—is now life itself; indeed, they are spiritual beings that, once one has attained the relevant level of insight, stand as real before the human soul as animals, plants, and minerals otherwise stand before the human senses. One becomes attuned to beings to whom one says: The laws of nature show us something like shadows, like abstractions of them. But what is present in the laws of nature, once the veil is lifted, are high spiritual beings. Within spiritual science, these beings—which, as it were, constitute the form of the laws of nature—are called the spirits of form, because through their spiritual power they impart form to everything that exists in the world, drawing from the life of the world itself. Everything that exists as form in minerals, animals, and plants presents itself as the work of these beings.

[ 17 ] If one can bring about a state in which a person’s physical body is at rest, yet remains conscious—when every act of will that is carried out solely through the limbs, solely through the body, when every such will is subdued, when it rests as it does in sleep—when the person lies motionless in bed with his physical body at rest—when the will has been subdued in this way through the application of soul power, yet the person does not sink into unconsciousness but remains conscious, then he realizes: Within yourself there is something that is the source of your will, something that radiates into your will. Your will is permeated and interwoven with sublime spirits that surge through and interweave the world. One is tempted to call them spirits of the will. By bringing about the will to be stilled within himself, a person discovers the spirits of the will.

[ 18 ] In this way, he immerses himself in the spiritual world, just as he does when, from the moment of birth, he opens his eyes and becomes accustomed to a world he perceives through his senses. In this way, when the ordinary conscious powers of the soul are set aside, he immerses himself in a spiritual world. This immersion comes about when a person plunges into the spirit with his own soul, just as modern science plunges into nature in its experiments. What has brought about the great triumphs in science? It has separated perception from the experiment. In an experiment, natural phenomena are detached from the immediate impression they make on the senses. Although observation is necessary, in an experiment one attempts to penetrate what lies behind the sensory impressions in the physical realm. We delve into nature, and all natural research requires that what is visible be made independent of the subjective impressions of the senses.

[ 19 ] Spiritual science takes a different approach. It makes the human being himself the subject of experimentation. It does not proceed as is done in some spiritualist circles, where experiments are conducted on human beings in an observational manner. Spiritual science knows that human beings can only make themselves into instruments for finding their way into the spiritual world. And so it shows how the physical and perceptible aspects detach themselves from the soul-spiritual in human beings, and how they come to be spirit and soul among spirits and souls.

[ 20 ] Everything that has now been discussed strikes many people today as offensive. It is, of course, understandable that it must have this effect. Why does it seem so offensive? I cannot go into detail now about what I have already mentioned in my previous lectures. Only those who train themselves spiritually can perceive the spiritual world, but one does not need to be a spiritual researcher to take in and understand what the spiritual researcher writes down in books after having investigated it. You have to be a painter to paint a picture, but not to understand it. It would be sad if only painters understood the pictures. In the same way, you don’t have to be a spiritual researcher to understand what spiritual research has to say.

[ 21 ] The world will increasingly come to realize: Even if only a few people can be spiritual researchers—my books, after all, explain how every person can become a spiritual researcher to a certain degree—what these few have to say, and the way it is presented, will have an immediate and convincing effect on the world. And even for those who are not spiritual researchers, the time will come when souls will yearn for such descriptions of the spiritual world. Human souls are attuned to truth, not to error. To see into the spiritual world, one must consciously look into it; one must be a spiritual researcher. To understand, one need not look into it; one need only accept fully and without prejudice what the spiritual researcher has to say.

[ 22 ] In this way, the human soul will be directly touched by what the spiritual researcher has to say. A hidden language lies dormant in the depths of the human soul. This language only needs to be developed. It lies dormant in every human soul. It speaks directly to the human soul; it is awakened by the spiritual truths that the spiritual researcher brings forth from the spiritual world. We will come to understand the spiritual researcher more and more through the intimate, profound language that the human soul uses to communicate with the spirit.

[ 23 ] Above all, a person comes to know his or her own soul in this way. They come to realize that one can speak about immortality—about that which transcends the sensory world—in a truly scientific manner when, through the development of their spiritual powers, they come to find the core of the soul, which can detach itself from the physical body and then lives on as a living being when the person passes through the gate of death and their physical body is returned to the elements.

[ 24 ] To gain true knowledge of the soul’s immortality, one must follow the paths that lead to this human soul. In the ordinary person, these qualities are as hidden as the properties of hydrogen are in water. Therefore, one cannot approach the soul through any philosophy or mere concepts. One may well make all sorts of theoretical determinations about what is called immortality, but it is only possible to speak knowledgeably about immortality when one truly understands how to shed light on the essence of the soul. Then it becomes apparent that our entire earthly life between birth and death unfolds in such a way that we truly develop, through what we carry within the soul, something that the spiritual researcher merely extracts from the body—yet which always remains independent of the physical — just as the natural scientist discovers in the plant, as it grows from root to leaves, flowers, and fruits, the living seed that gradually takes shape and which, when the plant withers, holds the promise of a new plant life.

[ 25 ] This is how the spiritual researcher perceives the soul; this is how he discovers within the human being that which grows inwardly, spiritually, and soulfully throughout the entire life between birth and death—that which then, as a living soul, passes through the gate of death, enters a spiritual world, and undergoes those events that are spiritual and which, in turn, lead to repeated earthly lives. That which is the bodyless soul within the human being must pass through repeated earthly lives. And what thus passes through death is truly discovered by the spiritual researcher. But it is discovered in such a way that the very foundation of the knowledge on which one initially seeks to rely is actually pulled out from under one’s feet. Just as Copernicus pulled the rug out from under the sensory appearance with which one believed one could see everything correctly, so spiritual science pulls the rug out from under the belief that the soul, once it has detached itself and become a spiritual-soul being in its own right, can truly look into the spiritual world.

[ 26 ] What is so offensive about spiritual science is that it, as it were, sets aside all the knowledge of which human beings are so proud—and which has led to such great triumphs in the external sciences—just as Copernicus set aside sensory perception. And this is why people recoil from this spiritual science, because it asserts: It is not a faculty of knowledge that already exists, but one that must be carefully prepared and acquired, that alone is capable of looking into the spiritual world. People recoil from this. For anything that demands of a person to go further than they already are contradicts the view—slumbering deep in the soul and often remaining unconscious—that a person, just as they are, is already very perfect, and that they have no need at all to transcend themselves.

[ 27 ] Spiritual science knows that one must go beyond the ordinary powers of cognition, just as a child must go beyond its own powers of cognition if it is to find its way in the world. After all, we know that some children feel uncomfortable when we try to lift them beyond their innate powers of cognition. Children simply lack the stubbornness and resilience that people possess in later life. If one tells a person, “If you want to approach the spirit, you must believe in powers other than your ordinary cognitive faculties,” this contradicts human vanity—the belief in human perfection. But no matter how much one resists acknowledging the truth of what has just been said—it is the vanity and discomfort associated with a new, unfamiliar way of thinking that prevents people from approaching the interests of spiritual science.

[ 28 ] And this is, in essence, what has always hindered—or at least sought to hinder—all genuine progress in human cultural life; it is simply the case to a greater degree with regard to spiritual science. Those who oppose spiritual science today—whether from a liberal or orthodox perspective—are truly the successors of the opponents of Copernicus, Galileo, and Giordano Bruno. Just as the opponents back then believed that everything people had previously accepted as true was now being called into question and was in danger, so too is this believed today—to an even greater extent—with regard to spiritual science. And this—and nothing else—is actually the basis for the attacks directed against spiritual science, particularly by religious communities. One must therefore address the question: Why is it that religious communities oppose the progressive development of humanity with such stubborn obstinacy? How is it that in the time of Copernicus, Galileo, and Giordano Bruno, certain people believed religion would be endangered if these scientific discoveries came to light? How is it that the successors of these people today believe that spiritual science endangers religion?

[ 29 ] When one hears how a member of this or that religious community—one might say, using every weapon at his disposal—rebels against something like spiritual science, I am repeatedly reminded of a priest who, some time ago—not long ago—was elected rector of a major university. He gave his inaugural address on Galileo. He was a priest and, at the same time, a great scholar—an amiable scholar. He, the priest, said at that time—contrary to the view of his church community—regarding new cultural achievements in the realm of the spirit: Back when Copernicus and Galileo emerged, people who judged the matter shortsightedly from the perspective of their religious community believed that such discoveries would endanger the worship of God and religious sentiment. Today we should have moved beyond such beliefs; today it should be clear that every new insight into the great truths of existence is meant only to contribute to the revelation of the holiness and glory of the divine world order.—So says the man who, as a Catholic priest, understood the sensibilities of his religious community better than those who today wish to be the successors of the opponents of Galileo and Copernicus. That he spoke in the spirit of his religious community—this was evident even to those who sensed in him something that was not entirely genuine—as the conviction he had held fast to throughout his entire life. And even in his final hour, he remained steadfast in what he had said. In his final hour, he declared that he wished to die as a faithful son of his Church. One must empathize—even without necessarily sharing this priest’s perspective—with what a true, inner connection to the core and soul of a religious community entails, when one simultaneously finds the opportunity and ability, as he did, to speak about the progress of humanity.

[ 30 ] Every religious community, to a greater or lesser extent, aligns itself—by virtue of the need to act—with certain views and the insights of its time. Thus, as is only to be expected, the Christian religion became associated with the ideas of the pre-Copernican worldview. But the fact that it became aligned with them was a reflection of its time. Those who claimed that religion would be endangered if new insights were gained into the structure of the worldview were short-sighted. Those who said, “The God we carry in our hearts, the Christ with whom we feel a connection, the religious sentiment that flows within us—these will remain effective, no matter how the rest of the worldview may take shape,” were far-sighted. And one can still understand, to some extent, why today’s religious communities take a hostile stance toward materialistic worldviews that believe they are founded on natural science, yet are usually far removed from a true understanding of nature.

[ 31 ] But it is truly incomprehensible why individual adherents of these religious denominations are so vehemently opposed to spiritual research, even though more deeply inclined natural scientists—one need only recall Galileo, or, if one prefers not to mention him, Copernicus— one could also name a whole series of profound natural scientists and scholars of the nineteenth century who truly carried the reputation of natural science throughout the world—even though natural scientists of a more profound disposition were, in essence, always devout. It was said of Newton that he never uttered the name of God without baring his head. Those who present themselves today as materialists and who say that the observation of nature forbids them from believing in the concept of God rely on him. Newton was so deeply attached to this belief that he never left his head uncovered when he spoke the name of God, wherever he was—he, the alleged founder of the movement whose adherents today wish to be monists in the materialistic sense.

[ 32 ] Nevertheless, one can understand how opponents may arise. Based on a superficial observation of nature, some may believe that the natural sciences require us to deny immortality and to deny God—superficially speaking, insofar as one has separated from sensory perception that which is hidden in external nature. It is precisely by setting aside what is hidden and equipping the senses to observe external nature that the natural sciences have become great. Any belief that one is compelled toward atheism or irreligion will always stem from a superficial observation of nature, from an amateurish understanding of nature. This can only arise from a misunderstanding of things. This is why those with religious sensibilities may rebel against what arises from a non-religious observation of nature. Spiritual science, however, affects the mind differently than a worldview that claims to be based solely on natural science. People come to understand how this spiritual science works very quickly, however, if they are only willing to engage with it a little. Those who engage with spiritual science gain a body of concepts and ideas about the world and its processes to which the soul truly belongs. If you take these concepts and ideas to heart, they possess a strength quite different from that of the concepts of external natural science. These concepts can, so to speak, solve many external mysteries, but they will no longer reach what lies in the depths of the soul. They will no longer stir the inner being to life; they allow the deepest parts of the soul to wither away. Spiritual science, however, with its concepts, intervenes in the mind, in the disposition, in the will and feelings of the soul; it permeates and spiritualizes all impulses, even all the soul’s emotions and passions. It interweaves itself through and lives through the entire soul. And the result of this living through and interweaving of the soul by spiritual science is that the human soul becomes religiously attuned. Spiritual science aims to be a true, genuine science; it seeks neither to found a new religion nor to interfere with an old one. It wants to be anything but a new religious sect. It aims to be a science for the soul, just as natural science was a science for external nature from the moment its time had come. It aims to be scientific, but because of the way it approaches souls, these are imbued with a religious disposition from the very beginning. One can be a great natural scientist, one can come to know the full scope of the laws of nature, and yet remain an irreligious person. One does not become a spiritual scientist by having already cultivated this or that religious sentiment, but by elevating one’s scientific sense and spirit. But if one is drawn to spiritual science, if one develops an interest in spiritual science, then one inevitably becomes a religiously inclined person, a religiously inclined soul.

[ 33 ] If religious communities today truly understood what spiritual science is offering, they would not oppose it so vehemently. They would say: Thanks be to God that a worldview is emerging that inspires the soul with a sense of the religious. It will bring to the soul what so many are being led away from by misunderstood natural science. Natural science can be misunderstood, but no one will misunderstand spiritual science in an anti-religious sense. The souls of the various communities should rejoice that a spiritual power is emerging which restores a religious disposition to souls that have been led astray by so many things in the present day. And it is strange that people do not sense this trend emerging in spiritual science, which imbues souls with a religious spirit. They do not sense it precisely because they are not at all inclined to learn from history. They have been able to fight against—and even burn—the proponents of the scientific worldview; yet it has prevailed. One may fight against the proponents of the spiritual scientific worldview; it will prevail. The only surprising thing is that the members of religious communities do not ask themselves: Must we fare with the achievements of spiritual science just as our ancestors did with those of natural science? Could we not learn something from history after all? The fact that humanity has still not advanced far enough to learn from history raises the question in turn: Why, for example, is there opposition to spiritual science?

[ 34 ] It must be said: Many people certainly have their own conception of God and their own religious feelings, but they have forgotten how to rejoice and feel joy when a new era dawns that deepens these religious feelings. They are too complacent to embrace this new era because of what is new. Let us look at some specific examples. Spiritual science fully recognizes the Christ whom the true Christian venerates. Spiritual science even deepens this understanding, keeping pace with the course of human development, by stating that all of humanity’s development was directed toward the Mystery of Golgotha, pointed toward the event of Golgotha, and that through this event, a spirit—which until then had been extraterrestrial—entered the Earth to live and remain with the people on Earth, even if invisibly.

[ 35 ] Spiritual science shows that something momentous occurred with that event to which the Bible so clearly alludes—namely, the event on Golgotha. At that time, a spirit—which had previously only worked upon humanity from outside the Earth—entered into Earth’s sphere of activity through the human being, as through a gateway. Spiritual science says: What was not previously present in the spiritual atmosphere of the Earth has been present there ever since that time. Christ has entered the spiritual atmosphere of the Earth. Spiritual science says: A cosmic being has become an earthly being. And it lived within the human being Jesus of Nazareth so that it might become a fellow human being. Spiritual science says: The Christ, who from the birth of Jesus of Nazareth had, as it were, hovered around him from without, entered into the innermost part of his soul at the baptism in the Jordan.

[ 36 ] Now the opponents come forward and say: You are teaching a concept of Christ that we cannot accept when you claim that, up until Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, Jesus was merely preparing to receive the Christ, whereas the Bible states that the Christ-being was united with Jesus of Nazareth from the very beginning. The Bible, too, will teach something else in this regard. It will vindicate the spiritual-scientific interpretation, because it will have no other choice. Even today, discerning translators render a passage from the Gospel of Luke as follows:

This is my beloved Son; today I have begotten him,

[ 37 ] that is, immersed in the soul of Jesus of Nazareth. Faced with the all-encompassing grandeur of this idea of Christ—which can truly move souls to their very core—opponents may then say that this is not Christian, that one must not conceive of Christ in this way, for you are not seeking Christ in the Jesus of Nazareth before his baptism in the Jordan.

[ 38 ] If you look at a child and say: From the moment the child learns to say “I”—that is, the point in time that you will later recall in life—from that moment on, something new has taken root in the child—will you be able to say: ‘You must not call the child named Paul “Paul” before the child learns to say “I,” because something significant happened at that moment’? Does this change anything about what is now considered Christian, given that the spiritual-scientific understanding of the significance of the baptism in the Jordan recognizes that something which previously surrounded Jesus of Nazareth entered into his inner being and became one with that inner being? No, it is right that all the soul’s perceptions, all the deep feelings, all the connection with Christ Jesus—which only a Christian soul can experience—remain intact, and that something is added which, as time goes on, makes the idea of Christ appear even greater, even more glorious. So when spiritual science must say to those who oppose it from a Christian standpoint: What you demand to believe—spiritual science does not deny it; spiritual science acknowledges that what you believe is to be believed. Only, something is added, which we believe must be added, because Christ said:

I am with you until the end of time.

[ 39 ] He is alive among us; he reveals himself constantly in the souls of people today as well. It is he who introduces us to spiritual science, and through him we feel connected to spiritual science. Those who profess this spiritual scientific teaching do not mean to say: You must believe everything we ask you to believe; that is out of the question. Spiritual science denies nothing; it adds something. It does not demand that people believe what it believes, but rather that they not merely believe—but know—what it does not believe, but knows. It ensures that the concept of Christ grows and advances in the world. How does it do this?

[ 40 ] Let’s suppose it could have happened that, before Columbus discovered America, people had come to him and said: “Are there really other parts of the world out there?” That cannot be possible, for the sun shines so warmly on our parts of the earth; if it were to shine on other parts as well, it would not have enough warmth left for our own. — Others, however, would have said to Columbus: “Certainly, the sun shines on other parts of the earth just as it does here.” Those whose conception of God is so timid that they believe this conception is endangered when people discover a new region, a new physical reality, are like those who do not consider the sun strong enough to shine upon a newly discovered land. But the one who wants to live with his Christ, who is deeply imbued with his religious sentiment, knows that this conception of divinity, this union with Christ, this religious sentiment will shine over all regions—both physical and spiritual—that humanity will ever discover. Must we not conclude from this how feeble is the concept of God held by those who believe this concept of Christ to be in danger, because they cannot accept that in this newly discovered spiritual realm the sun of the spirit will shine just as it shines in the old realm?

[ 41 ] Thus, it will become increasingly clear that opposition arises from religiosity that has grown weak, from religiosity that has become timid—as is evident in the various religious denominations’ attitudes toward discoveries in the realm of intellectual life. We should be much more aware of where we actually stand with our religious life. Do we not see that it is becoming more and more fragmented? Do we not see how, from the most orthodox right to the most radical left, all manner of shades of belief and all manner of religious adherents are spreading? Do we not see these representatives fighting each other more and more? When one surveys these denominations from the perspective of spiritual science, one might ask: Where do these antagonisms come from?

[ 42 ] When one examines this hatred, many things turn out to be quite weak. To cite just one example, which I have already brought to your attention: a non-denominational preacher said a few months ago that children should not be taught religion, because that is against nature. One need only let children grow up on their own, he argued, and they will not arrive at religious concepts by themselves. It is therefore not natural for these to develop spontaneously. For this reason, he argued, one should not teach them artificially either. This statement, through its logic, has a persuasive effect on an immense number of people. But if one asks what this logic is really like, one must say that it is a weak, one-sided logic. Human beings are not predisposed to be able to do everything new on their own. The same logic also directly contradicts a child’s learning to speak. The logic need only become a little sharper, and then one can see so clearly what is actually happening at a deeper level. For, fundamentally, it is not logic pitted against logic. What is pitted against one another—from the far right to the far left—are passions, are human temperaments—that is what human souls carry within them in terms of emotions and passions before they are illuminated and fully purified by Christ. When the various groups of our time stand opposed to one another in this way in the realm of religious worldview, they reveal how our deeply fragmented age must yearn for what spiritual science can offer it.

[ 43 ] Spiritual science does not establish a new religion. It speaks about the spiritual world in the same way that natural science speaks about the external world. Spiritual science speaks of Christ in the way one must speak of him when one teaches the soul, now freed from the body, to gaze into the spiritual realms and find the active Christ there. Spiritual science will increasingly provide the conflicting parties with the basis for mutual understanding.

[ 44 ] The disputing parties within religious communities today are like the people who, in Copernicus’s time, argued over what he had to say about the system of the world. The dispute ends as soon as a positive foundation is established. To create a solid foundation—to truly describe the state of the spiritual world, about which people have been able to form a basis only through the tentative sense of the soul’s indeterminacy—this will be the task, the mission, of spiritual science. And anyone who looks into the souls of human beings knows that this is a task they long for.

[ 45 ] Thus, spiritual science will not cast a new bone of contention into the souls of the present age, but will, through its balancing effect, bring about that peace which can truly dwell within the soul. In this way, it will give form to the striving of the human soul. These souls will thereby have a foundation upon which to combat, based on their own feelings, whatever in an individual’s character leans too strongly toward liberalism or orthodoxy, so that people would be compelled to quarrel because of that temperament. Spiritual science will bring what is positive and truly spiritual in contrast to what is merely intuited.

[ 46 ] And when one considers this, one will recognize how spiritual science truly relates to the various religious denominations. One might say: The individual religious groups are separated from one another as if by a river they cannot yet cross. Spiritual science is the bridge that spans this river. It has something to say to everyone, just as anyone who has looked beyond a certain circle has something to say. On the one hand, it speaks to those who have retained their faith, and on the other hand, it speaks to those whose religious feelings are seeking a new form; and it shows that, ultimately, it can unite them all. This is how it will be with spiritual science: it must find the positive.

[ 47 ] And she must counter this positive aspect not only from a religious standpoint, but also in the face of social trends. Oh, these social currents! When we look at these social currents with understanding, we see that people are, at heart, quite helpless precisely where we try to think more deeply, where we try to form ideas about a possible future for humanity in the social sphere and about the impact of these social currents.

[ 48 ] One can cite a contemporary example among many, and in this way, by examining the most diverse intellectual and physical causes, one can discern what social organization has actually brought about. Some time ago, Sombart wrote a book to explain how this capitalist spirit, which dominates the present, came into being. He is not a fanatical advocate of the capitalist spirit. Throughout his life, Sombart strove to understand what has placed human beings, as they now find themselves immersed in economic life, into this economic life. He did, in fact, offer some insightful observations—to a certain extent—on the capitalism that has taken hold of the human soul. After the author has endeavored to compile everything that might shed light on what our social organization has created, he concludes his book—which, significantly, is a thick volume—as follows:

What will happen once the capitalist spirit has ceased to possess its current vitality is none of our concern here. Perhaps the giant

[ 49 ] — by this he means the current economic system

once he had gone blind, trained to pull a democratic cultural cart. Perhaps it is also the twilight of the gods. [...]

Who knows?

[ 50 ] This is how the endeavor presents itself in today’s intellectual current—the endeavor to understand how people might rise above the current economic order to a life of full human dignity. $o powerfully does this “Who knows?” stand that it calls the spirit of this economic order a “blind giant.” And when we survey the various attempts to intellectually grasp what is to become of our current economic order—which is in no way national, but extends beyond all countries to encompass the entire globe—we see how, once again, from the left and the right, from radicalism and conservatism, the most diverse attempts are emerging to set the whole thing in motion.

[ 51 ] Sombart’s book contains certain references to what I have taken the liberty of saying for many years in the spirit of spiritual science. He describes what has transpired since antiquity to bring about the present order, and how contemporary humanity is guided in the realm of economic life as if by the command of its soul: “You shall do this; you shall refrain from that.” He describes how human beings are gripped by an impersonal organism, how they are driven into the machinery. This observer of contemporary social life depicts it vividly and with expertise. And when we examine this social life in detail, we already have an understanding today of how people are gripped by it—people who are so deeply immersed in this life.

[ 52 ] Just read the autobiography of a great railroad magnate. You will always find the same tone, the same type of man who, for example, says:

My [...] intention was limited to earning enough money through the construction of railroads to enable me to purchase a large estate, then withdraw from business, and, when the opportunity arose, accept a seat in the House of Representatives and devote myself entirely to parliamentary work. That was his intention.

[ 53 ] That’s what his soul told him. He threw himself into this life. He realized: If I throw myself into just this one venture, I’m bound to lose. Only by using these resources for the next venture—by letting myself be swept from one venture to the next—only that way will it work. — By throwing himself into a second, a third, a fourth venture and being driven from one venture to the next, he is driven ever more intensely into it.

[ 54 ] Human beings cannot follow their own course. Anyone who observes economic life knows that what always matters is how the affairs of the present are integrated into the objective order. People are thrust into this objective order; they are swept up by it, and their individuality is completely eliminated, so that Sombart can say: People have lost various things over time. When one looks at today’s entrepreneur, one must say that he has surrendered the very last thing that could still separate him from this objective machinery of the economy. He has lost all subjective feeling and all his love to his work within the enterprise itself. What was once directed toward entirely different things has now been poured into the enterprise. The individual no longer knows anything about himself; rather, he has become rootless in his work. — These are not my words, but Sombart’s.

[ 55 ] This is the social trend of our time: the soul stands homeless within modern life—and is this true only for those who hold leading positions in business? No! This social spirit of the present has gripped everyone, so that not only the entrepreneur but also the ordinary worker in the economic sphere feels no connection to the work he does. If, in the course of work, the issue of wages or some other matter gives rise to discord, then it is not the work itself but the issue—which has been brought to the fore by our economic system—that takes center stage. This issue becomes intertwined with the work. This plays a role in contemporary social life. In this area, the present is certainly moving forward.

[ 56 ] Everything I have just said was not intended as a reproachful critique. Things turned out the way they did because they had to—they necessarily turned out that way. But what is characteristic is what human beings now have to say about this order. It is actually impossible for an individual to live in a way that is befitting of human dignity; instead, he says: Today I will have to do this or that; tomorrow is none of my business; let the “blind giant” do whatever he may later—we cannot know—but that is none of our concern. Sombart goes even further. — I mention him not so much because he wrote this book, but because what he says is typical. — Sombart says: This social order, this economic order, has come upon us; we see it seizing people, making them spiritually homeless, throwing them into the machinery—throwing them in mercilessly. — And now a very characteristic remark! He says: And what means do we actually have to counter this? Occupational safety laws, heritage protection laws, and the like. Measures that, as it were, make one shudder just thinking about them. But—as he puts it—no Weimar-Königsberg school of wisdom will ever change the course of this economic order. — Weimar-Königsberg [means]: a wisdom that might stem from the worldview of Goethe or Kant.

[ 57 ] What is expressed in such insight? Something that should really only leave one amazed that so few people today are moved by it or troubled by it. How do such people view current social trends? One could say that, at this stage of development, individuality has become detached from human beings. Today, one can no longer say: A person calculates in business; he throws himself into it—it calculates, it counts, and capital flows from one place to another.

[ 58 ] What does a person say who does not wish to be prudish in the face of the “fact” that things must always continue this way? What does a person say when, on the other hand, they examine the efforts made so far to gain scientific insight into human life, to develop a worldview? People say: No Weimar wisdom, no Königsberg wisdom will change anything. Why not? Because people close themselves off from the wisdom that stems from spiritual science, which possesses entirely different powers to gain access to human souls. For what is meant in the Sombartian sense as Weimar wisdom, as Goethean wisdom, as Kantian wisdom—that is null and void. Spiritual science, however, consists not only of concepts, not only of ideas; it is something that seizes the whole human being and brings them back to themselves.

[ 59 ] Spiritual science alone will have the strength and power to strengthen human souls from within, to take hold of them in such a way that these human souls may find themselves again after having been lost to the spirit of the economic order of the new age. This spirit of the economic order was so strong that it could turn human beings into strangers to themselves. The spirit of spiritual science will be so strong that it will take hold of souls, offering the soul its spiritual and emotional home within the machinery of the modern economic order. Humanity has been numbed by the economic order, so that it must speak of it as the “blind giant,” of which it does not know what it will bring. Through spiritual science, which will seize people’s souls, the power of the soul will become clear, so that it becomes their home, and so that everything people do on this earth may be imbued with spiritual life and transformed.

[ 60 ] People today have little understanding of such things. And what is not understood is met with the greatest hostility. We become opponents of what we do not understand. After all, that is the easiest thing to do. Learning to understand is more difficult. Laughter and incomprehension come more easily. Precisely in the realm of opposition, a number of people have gathered with regard to the building we are seeking to establish as a center for spiritual science. This center is already proving to be something special—something new entering our spiritual life—simply because people are trying to find names for it from every possible angle of the old ways. Maps have already been shown on which the building is labeled “Anthroposophical Temple Under Construction.” It will not be a temple, but one must have a name for it. It will be no more a temple than anthroposophy intends to be a new religion or a sect. If one wants a name, one can say: It will be a “Free University of Spiritual Science.” But for the reasons that have been cited, it will have nothing anti-religious about it; it will not be an opponent of religion, but rather this school will welcome religiously inclined souls within its walls. For, as has been explained, spiritual science attracts souls in such a way that they become religiously inclined.

[ 61 ] But even without consciously striving for religion—and especially when religion is protected by spiritual science—souls are once again led to comprehend and recognize the greatness of their religion. And some souls, who may have become estranged from the religious spirit through education—that is, through what exists outside of religion—will be won back to a sure conception of God and Christ through what is taught and demonstrated at this religious university. We do not presume to build a church or a temple; but what we are building, what we aim for: just as there are laboratories and cabinets for the physical world, so we will build a laboratory, a cabinet for the study of spiritual life. What we aim to create will, in its entire configuration and in its entire organization, be a reflection of this spiritual striving. Those who have taken to heart what has just been said about the relationship between spiritual science and the social currents of the present will understand that such a thing must come into being.

[ 62 ] If, one day, buildings are constructed on a grand scale in which such a spiritual foundation permeates every single element, down to the very edge, and if the souls strengthened by spiritual science do not regard this as something incomprehensible, then the human souls who have not found their heaven on this socially structured Earth will, in turn, unite love with their work. Then we will not say: “What will become of the ‘blind giant’?”—but rather we will ask: “What will become of this human soul attuned to spiritual science and religion?” And we know: Our conception of God, our religious feeling, is so strong that this soul will carry it forward into future times. We do not ask: “Who knows what will happen then?” We have a well-founded knowledge that our soul passes through death, that this soul establishes a new earthly life for itself, and that it will carry what it has earned through death into the spiritual world, so that it will act from the spiritual world once more before the soul reappears on Earth. We do not say: Who knows what the future will bring? We seek in the present to acquire what guarantees that the future of the human soul will be such that one cannot say—due to the numbing of social life—that humanity has lost its home. Instead, one will then be able to say: Even if the capitalist order as a whole continues to spread ever further, even if it numbs people to any degree—the human soul will find itself and, in finding itself, will know how firmly it is rooted in the soil of its original spiritual life. It will not live its way into a world led by a “blind giant,” but into a world in which it sees and also perceives its economic order. This will give it well-founded hope for the future, because this soul itself provides the building blocks for the edifice of that hope. This may be said in regard to the social movement.

[ 63 ] This spiritual science will show anyone who familiarizes themselves with it even a little that it is searching for the path that the human soul travels from the beginning of life to the end of its earthly existence. Spiritual science speaks of the path along which the human being moves toward their future. Spiritual science speaks of truth—not merely the truth of external impressions arising from sensory perceptions, but that truth which is experienced inwardly and spiritually in such a way that it is sensed in that world of which the soul is a spiritual citizen. In that world, Christ can be found directly. Many a spirit in the present seeks the present Christ, but they get no further than longing; they merely speak of him.

[ 64 ] It is Christ who brings harmony. He will find the new harmony with the religion of old Europe; he will give souls to themselves. Anyone who reflects must realize that there is a spiritual connection between all things. And that which today is subject to an external power out there must yearn for the immediately living, present Christ. Spiritual science points out that the living Christ will uphold the order of the world for as long as the earthly era endures. Spiritual science points to the Christ whom the soul needs if it truly wishes to feel strengthened, and to whom it turns in times of need and danger. Spiritual science conveys this Christ. It grasps the world in truth by allowing the soul to experience that truth. Through this, truth itself becomes life, enlivening the dead, abstract truth in such a way that the whole human being is encompassed by it.

[ 65 ] While today’s economic system has killed off human beings and cast them out of their homeland, spiritual science restores them to their living homeland. It has found the path—the path that the soul had previously lost and was instead forced to take another. It seeks the truth; thus it will immediately seize the soul, so that the soul feels connected to life rather than separated from it. The Way, the Truth, and the Life—these shine ahead of spiritual research. And as it earnestly seeks these three, it is also aware that it will find them. And it also finds the One who said that He is what it seeks. No matter how the opponents may fight against this spiritual research, no matter what arguments they put forward: spiritual research demonstrates the truth and life through what lives in its adherents—who can only come to this commitment through their own power of judgment—and through what lives within them and what they strive for. And so, no matter what the opponents of religious creeds may say—those who honestly and sincerely seek the path into the spiritual realm in truth, who strive for it just as the adherents of spiritual research do, may rest assured that they will find, in the true sense—in the sense in which souls must reveal it today—the one who said:

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[ 66 ] And even as the voices speaking out against spiritual research grow ever louder: In the awareness that it is always seeking the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and thereby knows itself to be directly connected to the One who was the Way, the Truth, and the Life—in this awareness it becomes bold and free, yet also conscious of its own glory, and in modesty and humility will always be able to respond to everyone—even to those who claim that spiritual science seeks a false Christ—saying: We seek the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Whatever he may say, we know that we may speak these words freely and honestly to everyone: We follow Him—the One who was the Way, the Truth, and the Life—in our own way, which we believe gives souls a new home on earth. We follow Him; He calls us; He will guide us.