The Rudolf Steiner Archive

23. On White Lotus Day

[ 1 ] In a few days, it will be thirteen years since the founder of the Theosophical Society left this earthly life. She was initially active in secret societies, for theosophical wisdom was not imparted through open discourse but rather in secret circles, behind tightly closed doors.

[ 2 ] This, however, should be taken more figuratively than literally. The Rosicrucians have preserved the treasure of wisdom that now flows into theosophy in a popular form. The tactics and diplomacy have been altered by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. [More than in earlier times, people today are compelled to turn inward and seek self-knowledge in order to discover the secret depths of their own hearts. Therefore, the leaders of humanity have reached the decision to bring the truth to humanity and to speak to all people about what was otherwise hidden in the mysteries.] But it was not only the results that emerged from the secret brotherhoods, but also the Word itself. What we proclaim today is more of a spelling out. But it is meant to lead to the reading of humanity’s deepest truths.

[ 3 ] Prominent figures have had some connection to these secret societies. In his fairy tales, Goethe deliberately draws on the esoteric knowledge of all ages. There is a poem he wrote to glorify the Rosicrucian ethos, a poem in which he articulated what today constitutes the lifeblood of the Theosophical Movement. The poem is titled “The Mysteries.”

[ 4 ] There, the humble pilgrim Brother Markus seeks a place of rest for the human soul—a spiritual Montserrat, which was a pinnacle of human spiritual development. In his search, he comes upon a strange monastery. Twelve hermits dwell there. The thirteenth is the bearer of the greatest wisdom, a guide for humanity. Each of the twelve hermits symbolizes one of the forces of the peoples. Markus, the Thirteenth, is meant to unite what humanity has sought through various paths. The twelve brothers symbolize human opinions. The Thirteenth is the one who unites them. If we put into practice today the spirit described in the poem, we are on the ideal Montserrat.

[ 5 ] At the entrance to the monastery stands the Symbolum, the cross entwined with roses, [Plato says:] the cosmic cross of matter, upon which the world soul is crucified. More than ever before, the necessity of self-knowledge weighs upon us. We must solve this riddle—the past, present, and future of humanity. We must practice this self-reflection so that we may then speak publicly about it in the language that was given to us at the first stage of secret learning.

[ 6 ] A few words about an introductory lecture in the secret schools can be found in one of the monologues in Goethe’s Faust, which Goethe wrote only later. What he says there is a declaration that human beings must live within the universe and derive their fundamental rules from it. This refers to the “Forest and Cave” scene from Faust I, where it says:

Sublime Spirit, you gave me everything I asked for
You did not turn your face toward me in the fire in vain
You gave me the magnificent natural world as my kingdom.
The power to feel it, to enjoy it. Not
Do you allow only a cold, marveling visitor,
But grant me access to its deep bosom,
As if to gaze into the bosom of a friend
You lead the procession of the living
Past me and teach me to know my brothers
In the quiet thicket, in air and water.
And when the storm roars and creaks in the forest
The giant spruce, toppling, strikes neighboring branches
And, crushing neighboring trunks, sweeps downward
And the hill thunders with a dull, hollow sound at its fall
Then you lead me to the safe cave, show me
Then to myself and my own heart
Secret, profound wonders open up.
And as the pure moon rises before my eyes
Soothingly across the sky, silver figures from the prehistoric world
Rise up to me from rocky cliffs
And from the damp thicket
And soothe the stern delight of contemplation
Oh, that nothing becomes perfect for man,
I now feel. You gave me, for this delight,
Which brings me closer and closer to the gods
The companion whom I can no longer
Do without, even if he is cold and insolent,
Humiliates me before myself and reduces me to nothing,
Transforming your gifts with a mere whisper.
He stokes a wild fire in my breast
Inspired by that beautiful image.
So I stagger from desire to pleasure
And in pleasure I languish for desire.
—[Faust I, Lines 3217–3250]

[ 7 ] [First we see his profound, inner sense of nature, the expansive vision that the spirit of the world granted him, and Goethe then continues with the line:]

you then reveal me to myself and to my own heart
Secret, profound wonders unfold.

[ 8 ] [In the mystery schools, the teachers would gather their students in the spring so that they might learn from the phenomena of nature.] Opening of the inner depths. In the spring, when nature awakens, everything is full of wonders. These wonders of nature are not only to be marveled at, but also deciphered. Mysticism leads us into nature at every level, and we can learn how we ourselves, as human beings, should conduct ourselves. What theosophical mysticism is lies written in nature. If we understand the wonders of nature, then we also understand our own wonders [then we comprehend what is alive within us, the secret meaning of life. The two lowest kingdoms of nature—the mineral kingdom and the plant kingdom—lie before us, chaste and silent.]

[ 9 ] The Stone Realm stands before us as a symbol of our distant past. [The Realm of Stone reminds us of a distant time when, in a dull trance-like state, we once delighted in the brightly shining crystal; the heavens themselves stand before us as a language of memory that we ourselves have experienced. The world of the stars and the Realm of Stone remind us of the creative power from which we sprang.]

[ 10 ] And the plant kingdom reminds us of yet another level. We have left behind not only crystals, but also everything that stands before us as seemingly lifeless. Majestic is this seemingly lifeless nature with its millions of stars. This realm reminds us of the omnipotence of a majestic creative force from which we sprang. It is not merely our Earth, on which we spend a brief span of our existence; no, it is all the other worlds known to the occultist.

[ 11 ] [The entire, seemingly lifeless realm of minerals is majestic. The realm of growth and life is built upon it.] Then comes the plant kingdom [which should also be viewed as a stage of remembrance of our own existence]. There is something of quiet bliss in every plant, a blissful serenity that sprouts and grows—and through which we ourselves have passed [when we emerged from the majestic realm of minerals]. These two realms belong to the worlds that only one who possesses secret knowledge can reach.

[ 12 ] [Majestic] rock formations and plant formations, bathed in blissful serenity, can be found everywhere. One, however, belongs solely to our Earth [; the seer finds only one realm on our Earth—the realm of the higher animals—where sensation arises, where life is contained within itself, and where self-awareness develops.] You cannot find the animal kingdom on other worlds as it exists on our Earth. Where, out of this blissful serenity, we develop pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, there arise the forms we know—forms for which our Earth alone serves as a stage.

[ 13 ] It has often been said that the faces of animals express something that can only be described as compassion. Animality truly lies in suffering. Animality came into being so that human beings could struggle their way to higher levels. They had to leave animality behind. He had to separate himself from that which lives around us as living animality. [From this follows our compassion toward animals, guided by ethics.] Humanity’s ascent to higher realms had to be paid for by the shedding of animality. Those who lacked the ability to free themselves from pain through lofty thoughts succumbed to it. Then humanity walked the path of suffering of the “I” in order to pass over into another, higher world. All teaching and learning should serve only to lead us to what lies beyond life [for the human being’s essence is of a spiritual nature]. Anything that Theosophy teaches that cannot be lived out would be a futile effort.

[ 14 ] [We can learn from nature, which presents us with three virtues in its three kingdoms.] There are three fundamental human virtues:

- Majesty - in the first realm
- Blissful serenity - in the second realm
- Suffering and joy [Compassion] — in the third realm.

[ 15 ] What should we learn from pleasure and suffering? [To learn to endure pleasure and suffering with patience—that is what the doctrine of reincarnation teaches us.] Animals cannot rise above the state of pleasure and pain. The core of human nature, however, is spiritual. And the spirit seeks a dwelling place in that which is pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow.

[ 16 ] Be patient—that is what we learn from the great teaching of reincarnation.

[ 17 ] What can we learn from the plant kingdom in its blissful serenity? We learn what can flow to us from the great law that the Theosophical Society has also presented to us in a popular form—the law of karma, the law of eternal causation of all spiritual things.

[ 18 ] It seems to be the very nature of plants to produce their own kind painlessly and calmly, in blissful serenity. They are wholly devoted to producing their own kind. In sprouting, growing, and budding lies the self-sacrificing life of the entire plant; when we face the world—not judging, not passing judgment, but seeking to understand from our own perspective what it does—when we do not judge but seek to comprehend, then we immerse ourselves in our fellow beings and draw from them the means to understand them. This is what the second kingdom teaches us. The law of karma teaches us love as the second moral principle. The plant kingdom reminds us of a preliminary stage of love.

[ 19 ] [Then we can also comprehend the chaste, majestic realm of stones. Through self-knowledge, we learn to value the self in every other person, which stands before us just as grandly as the mineral kingdom; and once we have understood this—how we should treat every person with reverence—we possess the three fundamental virtues taught to us by the three kingdoms of nature: reverence for every self, the mineral kingdom; love for every being, the plant kingdom; and patience, the animal kingdom.]

[ 20 ] Theosophy reveals to us the most secret and profound wonders of our hearts. We are to practice self-knowledge. Then we will come to understand the deep meaning of an occult saying by Goethe that seems simple: Know thyself and live in peace with the world.

[ 21 ] What says “I” within every human being also says “I” within every other human being. This self-awareness leads to true, supreme respect for humanity. We must not interfere in the lives of others, just as we cannot and must not intrude upon the realm of the mineral kingdom. The human self must be a sanctuary to us. Reverence for every human “I”—that is the third ethical principle that the Theosophical Movement seeks to restore to its rightful place.

[ 22 ] Patience, love, and reverence are the three virtues in the realm of humanity. Through reverence, we draw near to the silent realm of stone. From this flows what has existed as a fundamental principle in the secret schools. Make the silent, chaste realm of inanimate nature your ideal, so that you stand in awe before every other “I,” and it would violate your spiritual sense of modesty to reach in with a coarse hand into that which is a human “I.” When this occurs within you, then you have understood this highest ideal. This is what has been proclaimed as the sevenfold nature of nature and humanity. Three virtues in the realm of nature, three virtues in the realm of humanity. And in between, the “I.” The “I” stands in the center and develops in the same, yet reverse, sequence of stages that nature presents to us. Thus, through patience, we progress from love to reverence.