The Rudolf Steiner Archive

95. The Mystery of Death as the Key to the Enigma of Life

[ 1 ] Last night, one of the most extraordinary personalities—whose intellectual development has been as rare as it is strange—spoke in the Knights’ Hall. Dr. Rudolf Steiner from Berlin discussed “The Mystery of Death as the Key to the Enigma of Life.” If we are not mistaken, Dr. Steiner received his early education from the Jesuits in Kalksburg. What a long journey it was that led him from there to Goethe, to modern natural science and philosophy, the essence of which he was able to grasp deeply, as many of his early writings attest. He then seems to have restlessly sought out new goals, for we suddenly find the former member of the Monist League and the Giordano Bruno Society in circles that paid homage to Blavatsky’s theosophy and Christian mysticism. A few years later, we see him embarking on paths that have very little in common with the theosophical movements characterized today by the names Adyar, New York, and Point Loma. To the best of our knowledge, his endeavor to penetrate the realm of the invisible from the foundation of modern science appears to the representatives of those three theosophical camps as a path that leads far away from their goals. What Dr. Steiner seeks is knowledge of the world of the soul based on knowledge of one’s own “I,” and he spoke about this yesterday clearly, logically, and in many ways convincingly, while at the same time establishing many new and surprising connections between the meaning and value of life and the mysteries of sleep and death, and seeking to give new, expanded meaning—based on purely scientific findings—to concepts such as soul, spirit, immortality, reincarnation, etc., a new, expanded meaning based on purely scientific findings. His remarks, which appear to be based on his own personal experiences, cannot be dismissed out of hand and are certainly worthy of precise and rigorous scientific scrutiny; yet we—and undoubtedly many of his listeners—would have preferred it if he had outlined his own path of development in the field of psychic research, which would have resolved some of the difficulties in his insightful discussions. Perhaps he will do so in his lecture today, especially since a purely scientific treatment of such questions virtually requires that he indicate the sources from which he drew, the teachers who personally guided and directed him, and the results he has achieved to date. On this point, in fact, most Theosophists display a misplaced reserve or even secrecy, which—perhaps unjustly—makes them appear suspicious to scholars. The audience listened very attentively to the speaker, who delivered his elaborately developed sentences extemporaneously in a powerful, tireless preacher’s voice, and rewarded him at the end with enthusiastic applause. – For the final lecture evening, which Dr. Rud[olf] Steiner is holding today in the Rittersaal, only a small number of tickets remain available at the Max Pock Book and Music Store (City Hall). The box office will open at 7:30 p.m. in the Rittersaal.