The Rudolf Steiner Archive

59. Herder and Theosophy

[ 1 ] Last night in the large recreation hall, Dr. Steiner of Berlin delivered the fourth of his six scheduled lectures. He spoke about the similarities between Herder’s views and those of Theosophy and elaborated on the following points.

[ 2 ] The Theosophical worldview did not arise out of thin air. Theosophy does not proclaim a new truth; rather, what it teaches is the ancient wisdom that has been proclaimed to a greater or lesser extent throughout the ages. Even in the views and ideas of Johann Gottfried Herder there is something that, while it cannot yet be called Theosophy, must lead to it. Theosophical wisdom seeks to teach nothing other than what may already be present in every human soul. True wisdom, however, cannot be present in every human soul; rather, the theosophist knows that in the present age, the human soul stands in relation to the fully developed soul as a seed does to a plant. Yet even today there are such fully developed souls, and just as the average person surveys the life in which he or she currently finds himself or herself, so does the one who has attained knowledge survey all the many lives he or she has lived as a real fact. There are some outstanding and unique books in literature that one must not merely take note of, as with so many other books, but with which one must live. Such books are the writings of Laozi, Zarathustra, and the Bible. In this sense, Herder lived with the Bible from his youth onward. Herder perceived the spirit as a reality. He was able to feel the spirit as a reality. In this, he differed sharply from his era, the Age of Enlightenment, which recognized only the sensory intellect and placed the human personality above all else. Herder sought the Spirit not only in the individual, but in all peoples. During his time in Strasbourg, when he associated with Goethe, he inspired in the young poet the ability to find the Spirit in nature—not through scientific observation, but through spiritual observation. In Bückeburg, he first occupied himself with the development of the spirit in humanity and found that a specific purpose lay within this development. Lessing, too, wrote his The Education of the Human Race in this spirit. Herder taught that the development of the human race was not subject to chance, but that a specific spirit governed it. In his studies on this problem, he sought and found not the perfection of humanity, but its development. Herder described the Bible as one of the oldest records of the human race. Its language, he taught, is symbolic. He looked not to the literal meaning of the words, but to their symbolic significance. This is how he viewed both the Old and New Testaments. That is why he was also able to understand and love the Gospel of John, which is incomprehensible to so many theologians. Herder’s Ideas for a Philosophy of the History of Mankind is as theosophical as any book of that time could be. It is theosophical because what matters is not the words it contains, but the spirit that speaks through it. And in that spirit, it is theosophical. He sees the workings of the Spirit throughout all of nature. This perspective has had a profound impact. Schelling, Schlegel, Hegel, and Fichte were influenced by his ideas. The reason they had such an impact is that the other sciences were unable to rise to a living understanding of the Spirit. Herder was able to do so. He was able to pass on his entire essence to those who came after him. Herder’s spirit will be one of the signposts pointing toward the ideals of theosophy. In Weimar, in particular, there is a duty to engage with Herder’s ideas, for the people of Weimar can rightly say of Herder: He was one of us!

[ 3 ] The audience thanked Dr. Steiner for his lecture with loud applause.