The Rudolf Steiner Archive

70. Apocalypse VII

[ 1 ] The Apocalypse must be regarded as a document through which one of the Christian initiates—who received their instruction following the proclamation through action—expressed the deepest truths, which were to be revealed as mysteries only later. In this teaching, we encounter a harmony with primordial wisdom: the depiction of human evolution in the Apocalypse. We overlook this profound harmony with the other great wisdom religions in this document.

[ 2 ] Another point that emerges from it is that it has both an esoteric and an exoteric aspect—one that is accessible to everyone; it also offers something to those who, through preparation, have reached such a state.

[ 3 ] The Apocalypse confirms the ancient teachings, written in the spirit of the saying: “Blessed are those who believe”; but also for those who see. Only those who can delve deeper into themselves can understand the Apocalypse. It leads us outward so that it may solve the great mysteries of the world, through which we may once again look inward into our own selves. Although the eye looks outward—if it wishes to learn from what is happening out there, it must turn around and look within. How is this so?

[ 4 ] The underlying principle is that human beings are a manifestation of the universal divine spirit; they have always been creating, both in the past and in the distant future. But if the human spirit is a part of the divine spirit—which it is in and of itself—then look within yourself: you are something that is connected to all creation. “I and the Deity are one.”

[ 5 ] Human beings live for themselves, yet they transport themselves to the most distant past and into the future. Whatever lives within me—I have been there. It is not merely a matter of thinking these thoughts abstractly, but of imbuing our feelings with them; and when this thought lives within us, then we, too, possess such power that we must set our feelings ablaze.

[ 6 ] The materialist says: The eye is touched by light, and the eye perceives it; the mystic says: By perceiving the light, I know it comes from outside; but how is it that my eye perceives it? Here we must acknowledge that human beings have developed organs within themselves. In the embryonic state, human beings repeat everything they have experienced before. Animals that crawl into a dark cave lose their sight, so that their offspring are born without eyes. Light, then, once caused us to have these organs. Light is a force that created our eyes for us. Light also comes from within—and creates the spiritual eye. “If the eye were not like the sun, how could we see the light?” The light is within us.

[ 7 ] We can experience the creative light within ourselves. Plato spoke of the light within us. To understand Plato, one must immerse oneself deeply in his thought; one must not criticize him in a pedantic manner. He says: The eye emits rays, as if the eye itself were the active agent. Plato still knew it, still lived it—the bright light that the eye has formed. This light, of which the Mysteries speak, is an inner light. From here flows the light—the light of the Aeons, the astral light—in which we live; it appears to us only from the outside, and with it we illuminate the world. We shine into the opaque [...]

[ 8 ] Whoever experiences the creative light within themselves experiences the mysteries; the mystic experiences such vision; he becomes a seer, as John was—a reality that the materialist doubts.

[ 9 ] When we grasp this reality, when we approach the mystical in this way, we enter into the right frame of mind to understand the Apocalypse. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Yet sparks fly from the letter when we read it through the Spirit.

[ 10 ] Now we understand what it means to “recognize the reality of the symbols.” The seven churches are represented by seven lampstands. The seven stars are the seven angels. Let us examine this concept more closely.

[ 11 ] But isn't this referring to the seven churches in Asia? Everything that exists in time has its own representation. The seven sub-races should be understood in such a way that as one continues, another begins.

I - Indian subrace. This ancient Rishi culture still survives.
II - Persian race
III - Chaldeans, Babylonians
IV

[ 12 ] There were already schools of wisdom that preserved the secrets for the future.

[ 13 ] The seven representatives of the seven subraces were already present at that time. These seven brotherhoods are called the seven congregations; they are the seven lamps of the seven subraces, the seven leaders of the seven subraces. They have nothing to do with outward appearances, but with a realisti /gap in the transcript]

[ 14 ] But what do such brotherhoods mean? When a person stands before us, he has organs that, taken as a whole, constitute him, and within this person the soul can only lead its existence; it dwells in this temple—the body. If the hand were to go its own way, personality would not be possible. A selfless devotion on the part of every organ. A person must become what his organs show him to be.

[ 15 ] The eye makes no claim to a life of its own; it surrenders itself. The ear is more complex than the piano. Human beings have not yet reached that stage. Even when the eye wishes to experience color within itself, it surrenders itself—it places itself at the service of the other organs. Thus, the human organs live at a much higher level than the human being himself. [...] Human beings could not hear through the ear if it wanted to perceive on its own. But they must become this way. They must surrender themselves to other human beings, surrender themselves as organs, in order to become spiritual beings.

[ 16 ] Those who devote themselves in this way—this is called a brotherhood. Just as the soul can sink into the organism, so can a higher being sink into a brotherhood. When people are united in such a way that they collectively function as organs, a high being sinks into them; thus, a higher soul being can incarnate. Because they—the people—have become like organs, a higher being can sink into the community to incarnate.

[ 17 ] The Pythagorean school as well.

[ 18 ] Where everyone feels the same way, where each person lays what they have on the altar of the community, there the Higher descends.

[ 19 ] Those who have experienced such a descent know this: Then these higher beings become beacons; then they become guides who draw upon the substance of this community to materialize themselves.

[ 20 ] These are the seven angels: This is based on a Christian saying. He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” — It also includes: “Where two or three are gathered in my name.” —

[ 21 ] Without the community, no higher being can incarnate; on our own, we are nothing. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

[ 22 ] Throughout the ages, this power has been at work—those who spoke of it were initiates. John recounts that he was on the island of Patmos. This island is the school of mysteries; “an angel proclaimed” means: a mystical representation of a fact; a living connection to the root race. A brotherly hand is extended to all sub-races.

[ 23 ] To the church in Ephesus:

Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, He who walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance; I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, and that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be liars; and you have persevered and remained patient, and for my name’s sake you have worked hard and have not grown weary. But I have this against you: you have abandoned your first love. (Rev. 2:14)

[ 24 ] Leaving one's first love—this refers to the Rishis.

[ 25 ] The second race, the Persian race, had to focus more on practical matters: “Be faithful even unto death,” and so on. Here, the devil is already mentioned—the concept of the devil—the Asuras. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: This is what the First and the Last, who was dead and has come to life, says: I know your works and your tribulation and your poverty (yet you are rich) and the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are Satan’s school. Do not fear what you are about to suffer! Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. [Rev 2:8–10]

[ 26 ] In the third race, the Pre-Asian religion, justice is developed.

And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: This is what he who has the sharp, double-edged sword says: I know what you are doing and where you live—where Satan’s throne is—and that you hold fast to my name and have not denied my faith, even in the days when Antipas, my faithful witness, was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have there those who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to set up a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. Likewise, you have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans—which I hate. Repent; otherwise, I will come to you soon and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. [Rev 2:12–16]

[ 27 ] Fourth category: the direct worship of Christianity:

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: This is what the Son of God says—he whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze: I know your deeds, your love, your service, your faith, and your patience, and that you are doing more and more. But I have this against you: You allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants into committing sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her sexual immorality, but she refuses to repent. Behold, I will cast her onto a bed, and those who have committed adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds; and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the kidneys and hearts; and I will give to each of you according to your deeds. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching and have not come to know the depths of Satan (as they say), I say this: I will not place any other burden on you; but hold fast to what you have until I come. [Rev 2:18–25]

[ 28 ] Then the following in the future: [the church in Sardis, the church in Philadelphia, the church in Laodicea]. One comes to understand these guiding entities when one studies them with one’s whole being; they cannot be grasped by the intellect alone, for then they are met with skepticism, yet they are real realities. One might now ask: Why was this not proclaimed immediately? Because the founders of Christianity experienced the truth [gap in the transcript]

[ 29 ] The first way to read the Apocalypse is to accept the text with naive faith. The second way is to seek its allegorical meaning; this is good because it leads to the third and highest way of reading, which is to take everything literally.

[ 30 ] We must be adherents of the doctrine of reincarnation; we must say: The person standing before me has been here before and will return; we must accept the truth within him as samsara—the world in which we live, the world of eternal change, the cycle of rebirths. To believe in reincarnation—then I experience reincarnation. They taught it and lived in this spirit. It has been taught throughout the ages; what was taught many centuries ago gives rise to a shared faith within the community. This is the deepest essence of theosophy. As we explain this, we sense a flash of insight into what happened back then. The one who was sits beside us; we feel united with the one who comes after us. Thus we rise; thus we can draw down the higher spiritual. I wanted to show what community life is—something so profound can be drawn from every line of the Apocalypse; the entire Theosophical Movement can be explained from it.