Appendix to the Public Lectures
GA 85
7 April 1908, Copenhagen
Translated by Steiner Online Library
88. Theosophy, Religion, and Science
[ 1 ] Last Tuesday at the Konzertpalais, the German theosophist Dr. Rudolf Steiner—a young, ecstatic, dark-haired gentleman—spoke about this powerful and growing spiritual movement.
[ 2 ] Time is fragmented. Science pulls in one direction, religion in another. The result is a division in the soul of the present. Most modern people are either apathetic, lacking any deeper interest, or insecure and full of fear.
[ 3 ] Science has accomplished tremendous and significant work, but all too often it turns a blind eye to what cannot be physically observed or measured. In contrast, we offer our certainty: the spiritual experiences of the initiates. This is once again the parable of the man born blind, who denies the existence of light, colors, and radiance because he has not seen them himself. But the doctor operates on him, and lo and behold—light, colors, and radiance stream toward him.
[ 4 ] Science has ingeniously discovered solar systems and the vast universe; indeed, the Kant-Laplace theory reveals to us the origin of the world. But when it places a drop of oil in a glass, and when the needle swirls around it, thus illustrating the formation of worlds and their orbiting one another, it forgets the hand that makes the needle swirl. Paradoxically, one could say that science—the mind—observes everything, examines everything, remembers everything—and forgets only itself.
[ 5 ] Science examines form, that which exists—just as a child who is handed a piece of ice will believe that this is its fixed and definitive form. But the ice melts. And the world is also spirit—the spirit that moves physical things, just as the sense of shame drives blood to the skin, and just as fear causes the blood to rush back to the heart. Feuerbach believed he knew that it was not God who created man in his own image, but man who created God in his own image. And so one might also say.
[ 6 ] But who awakened the sense of God that created the gods? Yes, science says—yes—that the eye creates the sun’s rays. One could say this, too, for to the blind eye, the sun does not exist. But isn’t Goethe also right when he says that the sun creates the eye—so that it may be seen! A small audience listened to the lecture, which was delivered excellently, powerfully, and vividly—not exactly captivating, but certainly thought-provoking.