The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Editor's Preface to the 3rd Edition

[ 1 ] The lectures compiled in this volume actually belong, in terms of their content, to the teachings of Rudolf Steiner’s Esoteric School. ^{1The Esoteric School existed from 1904 until the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914 and consisted of three classes; see GA 264, 265, and 266 (formerly 245). After a ten-year hiatus, it was reestablished in 1924 as the “School of Spiritual Science”; see “The Constitution of the General Anthroposophical Society and the School of Spiritual Science—The Reconstruction of the Goetheanum,” GA 260a. However, due to the serious illness that struck him shortly thereafter, Rudolf Steiner was only able to establish the first class, the contents of which will appear in GA 270.} For these classes were intended to prepare students for a form of esoteric work that had been cultivated there since 1906.

[ 2 ] Through his explanations of the esoteric content of the imagery found in myths, sagas, and legends—particularly the Temple Legend and the Legend of the Cross, which Rudolf Steiner usually referred to as the Golden Legend—he sought to lay the foundation for the cultivation of a certain form of ritual symbolism. Everything of a ritual nature—“but not merely that which is outwardly ritualistic, but rather the understanding of the world through images”—and meditation through images can lead to true self-knowledge and knowledge of the world. (Lecture at Dornach, April 27, 1924, in “Esoteric Reflections on Karmic Connections,” Volume II, Bibliographic No. 236.) For everything is created from images as they arise in imaginative thinking. “Images are the true causes of things; images lie behind everything that surrounds us… these are the images that all those who have spoken of spiritual sources have meant” (Lecture in Berlin, July 6, 1915, in “Human Destinies and the Destinies of Peoples,” Bibliographic No. 157). The sages of earlier times clothed these images in myths and legends. For modern consciousness, the proper effect depends on the extent to which the language of images can be permeated by ideal understanding.

[ 3 ] Since the images from the Temple Legend and the Golden Legend formed an integral part of the symbolic-ritual section, the lectures presented here are primarily devoted to their interpretation. Rudolf Steiner regarded it as a necessary prerequisite for contemporary consciousness when working with images or symbolism to first make the esoteric content comprehensible to the ideal understanding. This is required by the Rosicrucian path of training he taught, the first stage of which is study and the second, imaginative thinking.

[ 4 ] Regarding the statements on Freemasonry, one point in particular should be taken into account: At that time, Rudolf Steiner was about to introduce the second, symbolic-ritual section of his Esoteric School. Since this section was intended to cultivate the new form of the “Royal Art” that had emerged for him from his own spiritual research, the preparatory lectures focused on clarifying its history and essence and pointing out that humanity is on the threshold of a new epoch in the development of this Royal Art and what its future content will be.

[ 5 ] In later years, however, in lectures that have long been available in print,^{2See, for example, the seven-volume series Cosmic and Human History (1914–1917), Bibliographic Nos. 170–174 and b; “The Occult Movement in the 19th Century and Its Relationship to World Culture” (1915), Bibliographic No. 254; “The Present and the Past in the Human Spirit” (1916), Bibliographic No. 167; “The Fundamental Social Demand of Our Time—In a Changed Situation” (1918), Bibliographic No. 186; “How Can Humanity Rediscover the Christ? The Threefold Shadow Existence of Our Time and the New Light of the Christ” (1918), Bibliographic No. 187; “Contrasts in Human Evolution” (1920), Bibliographic No. 197: “Healing Factors for the Social Organism” (1920), Bibliographic No. 198.} took a sharp stand against certain Masonic connections, primarily because he strictly condemned the fusion of occultism and the pursuit of power, wherever it occurred. The outbreak of World War I had shown him that “the foundations of certain insights” were being misused by certain Western secret societies “to fuel a political mindset that paved the way for a global catastrophe and to influence world events.” Thus, he felt compelled to point out that a cause that was originally good and, at its core, necessary—one intended to serve “all of humanity without distinction of race or interest”—must inevitably become a bad cause if it is turned into “a basis of power for individual groups of people.” ^{3From the (unsigned) preface to Karl Heise’s Entente Freemasonry and World War, Basel 1918.}

[ 6 ] Regarding a connection—often misinterpreted by Rudolf Steiner’s opponents—in a very specific external form that he established for the Symbolic-Cultic Section with the Memphis-Misraim Freemasonry represented by John Yarker, see the documentary volume “On the History and Contents of the Gnosis-Cultic Section of the Esoteric School, 1904–1914” , GA 265.

[ 7 ] Since Rudolf Steiner was still teaching within the framework of the Theosophical Society at the time these lectures were given, he used the terminology customary at that time. For historical reasons, we have refrained here from replacing the term “Theosophy” with “Anthroposophy,” as was generally done following the German Section of the Theosophical Society’s separation to form the “Anthroposophical Society,” at Rudolf Steiner’s express request. The reader must, however, be aware that the “Theosophy” taught by Rudolf Steiner—as set forth in his seminal work Theosophy: An Introduction to Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destiny of Mankind, first published in 1904 (Bibliographic No. 9)—was, from the very beginning, identical to what he later referred to simply as anthroposophy or anthroposophically oriented spiritual science.

[ 8 ] With regard to the texts, it must be explicitly noted that, like most transcripts from the early years—when professional stenographers had not yet begun transcribing—they are noticeably incomplete and sometimes consist only of notes. Stylistic and logical inconsistencies should therefore not be attributed to Rudolf Steiner. However, even if these are not always verbatim transcripts, the preserved content nonetheless constitutes a unique and indispensable part of Rudolf Steiner’s complete works. To ensure an error-free text as far as possible, all source materials were examined, and where original stenographic transcripts were available, these were also included in the review. The notes specify separately for each lecture which documents were available for the editing process. Text in square brackets [ ] is added by the editor, whereas text in parentheses ( ) appears as written in the transcripts. The detailed notes are intended to compensate for the shortcomings of the transcripts as much as possible. The primary literary source material drawn upon consists of relevant works from Rudolf Steiner’s library.

—Hella Wiesberger