The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Theosophy Based on the Gospel of John I

[ 1 ] In a series of lectures, we wish to present, in a sort of systematic order, an overall picture of the theosophical mindset and worldview, as well as of what within it can serve as the foundation for our work in the spiritual sciences. And in doing so, we wish to base these theosophical reflections on the Gospel of John. It will naturally follow that, after a few lectures, light will be shed on the most remarkable text in the world. For that is what the Gospel of John is. Let me point out today what the Gospel of John actually is.

[ 2 ] First, we need to lay a foundation for understanding the profound first chapter. When reading the Gospel, one can be moved by the grandeur of the imagery, but as a person living in the present, it’s no longer easy to grasp what this Gospel actually means. In the past, it was regarded as a historical account of how the real Jesus Christ lived on earth and what actually happened in Palestine. Later, in more Protestant circles and in modern scholarship in general, it was believed that the Gospel of John seemed to contradict the other three Gospels. The first three—the Synoptic Gospels—were therefore compiled into a single text. The fourth Gospel is not regarded as equal, since it was written much later. It is said to contain nothing historical, but rather to be a kind of poetic rendering—a poem in which the writer recorded his own conception of the life of Jesus Christ. This is the viewpoint of the so-called believer of today. The famous theologian Bunsen was therefore right to say: “If the Gospel of John is nothing more than the poetic outpouring of a single individual, then the whole of Christianity falls with it.” Underlying all this research is the inability of the last four to five centuries to even begin to understand what is meant by the Gospel of John.

[ 3 ] Human beings and their perspectives have changed, and people today cannot even imagine that the world could be viewed from a different standpoint. What is so readily understandable to people today is knowledge gained through the senses and the intellect. In the past, however, people still knew that there was another kind of knowledge. People knew that there were other senses and other sources of knowledge. Today’s materialistic research stands in stark contrast to the orthodox believer in the Bible with regard to this understanding. This also applies to the Mosaic account of creation. Believers take it literally, while modern research says: This is never to be taken literally; we are dealing with very, very long periods of time. — The Bible believer and the natural scientist do not understand one another at all. People have sought a kind of compromise; they have tried to understand the entire creation story allegorically, to say that it is meant only symbolically. How was the creation story understood five hundred years ago in church circles? No one in the Church originally claimed: “This is how it actually happened, visibly and materially, before our very eyes.” To a medieval theologian, that would have seemed grotesque. The idea of taking the seven days of creation literally only emerged with the advent of materialism.

[ 4 ] Like some kind of inevitable necessity, the materialistic worldview swept across our earth, and the first thing this wave engulfed was religion. At first, it was not science that was swept up by the materialistic worldview; initially, it was the Church. What was once understood as spiritual was imbued with the materialist mindset. Now science is fighting against something that the materialist worldview has introduced.

[ 5 ] One example of this is the understanding of the Lord’s Supper. In the 12th century, a great upheaval swept through the Church when people began to view the Eucharist as if wine could be transformed into actual blood and bread into actual flesh. The spiritual doctrine of transubstantiation was forgotten.

[ 6 ] And so, bit by bit, the spiritual meaning was lost. Theologians of the 6th and 7th centuries still understood the meaning of the creation story. When it says, “Adam fell into a deep sleep,” this refers to a dream vision through which Adam experienced the seven-day work as an astral process.

[ 7 ] What existed in ancient times was beyond the reach of the senses. But in a higher spiritual state, those who saw with their souls were able to perceive it. But it then appears to them as an image. Thus, what Adam saw in his dream during the seven days of creation were astral images; he looked back upon the primordial world from which he had come.

[ 8 ] Thus, religious texts were considered to be sources of higher knowledge. Opposition to the Bible is based on misunderstandings. To take the Gospel of John literally in a materialistic sense is to misunderstand it. This does not mean, however, that it must be taken symbolically. What is written in the Gospel of John cannot be experienced in this physical, sensory world any more than the work of the seven days—the story of creation—can be; rather, it can only be experienced in a different state of consciousness. The author of the fourth Gospel describes what he perceived not within, but outside the physical body, in a different state of consciousness. The other three Gospels still allow for a literal interpretation; the Gospel of John no longer does. It is truer than true; it contains the deepest truth of Christianity. It sees in Christ Jesus the center of the world’s development. For John, the Christ hidden within Jesus is a preeminently exalted personality whom one can understand only by rising to a higher level of insight. To comprehend what lives in the Gospel of John, it is necessary to recognize the deepest mysteries of existence. To understand the human being and the guide of humanity, one must grasp the essence of the cosmos. The Gospel of John begins with words that form the foundation of the entire mystery of the world. The most remarkable thing about these words is that they not only appeal to our understanding but also have a magical, mental effect. They give us a picture of how humanity and the cosmos are connected.

[ 9 ] The Gospel of John must be experienced. One must take its opening words as material for meditation and let them sink into one’s being. This is spiritual nourishment. One must say to oneself: “This is material with which I want to live for five minutes every day.” These words will open your spiritual eyes and ears; you will experience the magical power of these words—which are forces in themselves—in astral images. Let me bring before your soul what the author of the Gospel of John felt as an impulse, what he wanted to say. At first, he was one who, in his soul, was like a newborn, one who had been awakened by the power of the insights contained in these sentences:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
And the light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

[ 10 ] This is the first part of the meditation. And this is the second part:

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him all might believe.
He was not the Light, but a witness to the Light.
For the true Light, which enlightens every person, was to come into the world.
It was in the world, and the world was made through it, yet the world did not recognize it.
It came to individual people (it came even to the “I”-people), but the individual people (the “I”-people) did not receive it.
But those who did receive it were able, through it, to reveal themselves as children of God.
Those who trusted in his name were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we heard his teaching, the teaching of the only
Son of the Father, filled with devotion and truth.”

[ 11 ] If you consider the true meaning of these words—not merely their lexical definition—then they have infinite value. For example, it should read: “It came as far as the ‘I’-people”—instead of: “He came into possession of his property.”

[ 12 ] If you are reading these words, then you have a brief outline of John’s theosophy and of the one we also teach. Let us therefore try to rise to an understanding of the very first words. To do so, a brief overview of the basic concepts of theosophy is necessary.

[ 13 ] There are beings that stand above humankind and no longer need a physical body. These are: the angels, the archangels, the Primordial Beings or Beginnings, the Powers, the Authorities, the Dominions, the Thrones, the Cherubim, and the Seraphim.

[ 14 ] Verse 1: “In the very beginning was the Word, and it came to life, and because it was creative, it was a God.” Everything, everything is crystallized divine Word, spoken Word. Now humankind has the Word; later, humankind will bring forth its own kind through the Word. The Primordial Beginnings are the beings who, at the beginning of Earth’s evolution, had already reached the stage that humanity will attain at the end of Earth’s evolution.

[ 15 ] Because John was able to feel this impulse, he had experienced in great astral visions what is described in these sentences. But that was only the second thing in his soul; the first was the awakening of these powers. The third was now the following. Let us try to understand this through an example. Suppose, for example, that one night you have a dream; it shows you a person you have never seen before. The dream gives you the certainty that this person is not indifferent to you; after a short time, you get to know him. — This is how it had been for John with his experience of Christ. In a dream state, he had had astral visions of what was to become history in Palestine. What his experiences in the higher worlds were—his visions—became reality in his earthly life.

[ 16 ] The meditation should be done in such a way that a person begins one morning to let the first words of the Gospel of John sink into their soul each day. After months, years, or decades, they will experience in their soul something of what is contained in these words. The translation of these words is particularly important: “It came to the ‘I’-people, but the ‘I’-people did not receive it.” If you reflect on these words, you will find in them a brief outline of theosophy in the Gospel of John: the theosophy that we teach. Hence its immense impact. Only those who first awaken these soul-spiritual forces within themselves will experience this.

[ 17 ] Try to understand the very first words of the Gospel of John. To do so, a brief overview of the most basic concepts of theosophy is necessary.

[ 18 ] Let us try this by starting from the bottom. When we look at the human being as he stands before us today, we can say: What we know about him today is the physical body, which is only one aspect of the human being. Even the physical human body is permeated by other, higher aspects of the human being; that is why it appears to us as it does now. If it were not so permeated by other aspects of being, it would be nothing more than a physical apparatus, moved by nothing from within, and immune to pain. The physical eye, however, is like a physical apparatus. You must vividly picture the possibility that a human being grows and that something can cause them pain; then you will recognize how the physical body is interwoven with two other structures: One enables the human being to grow, reproduce, and nourish themselves; this occurs through their etheric body. The other is what enables a human being to feel—to have impulses, desires, and passions—which come to him from his astral body. In order for the physical body to grow, it needs the etheric body. In order for it to feel, it needs the astral body. |

[ 19 ] Hydrogen alone cannot form water; it needs oxygen to do so. If hydrogen and oxygen separate again, we no longer have water; the connection is necessary in both cases. If a human being is separated from his two other bodies, the physical body decays instantly.

[ 20 ] The sensory body, the etheric body, and the physical body—these three constituent parts extend down to the animal realm. Human beings share their physical body with the earth and the mineral kingdom; their etheric body with plants; and their astral body with animals. We can also say: Everything that conditions growth and reproduction resides in the etheric body; drives, pleasure, and sensations of pain reside in the astral body.

[ 21 ] At death, the physical body is left behind; the etheric and astral bodies remain together at first, and soon the etheric body also separates from the astral body. During sleep, a person is, in the fullest and most literal sense, a plant: their body is kept functioning solely by the vegetative life, the etheric body. Normally, a person is unconscious during sleep and devoid of will or desires. The few who maintain their consciousness during sleep are the vanguard of humanity; they already represent a state that all people will one day attain in the distant future: they are the predisposed, predestined leaders and prophets of humanity.

[ 22 ] How are dreams possible? How do they come about? There is a hidden capacity within the astral body. When this ability is fully developed, consciousness arises.

[ 23 ] In addition to the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body, there is one more. There is a word that differs from all others because it can only be said to oneself. It is the word “I.” This fact is of the utmost importance. Jean Paul’s story provides a beautiful example of the significance of this word. He describes how, as a very young boy, he was standing beneath the doorway of his parents’ home when suddenly the realization flashed within him: I am an “I”!—It is a process that takes place in the veiled Holy of Holies of the inner self, which pure souls perceive particularly strongly as a mystery. Priests and sages of all ages have sensed the far-reaching significance of this mystery. It also underlies what the ancient Hebrews called the unpronounceable name of God. “Joph,” the high priest would say once a year when he wanted to express how the ineffable resounds. Joph is the “I.” Together with the bodies mentioned earlier, the “I” forms what is known as the Pythagorean Tetrad.

[ 24 ] The clairvoyant can see the higher bodies while fully conscious. Hypnosis is a different matter. In this state, the hypnotized person sees whatever the hypnotist wants them to see. The hypnotized person is subject to positive or negative suggestion, depending on whether they are led to believe that something is really there—that they are sensing something, for example, the sweet taste of a pear while biting into a potato—or that something is not there, for example, no people, no objects in the room, and so on.

[ 25 ] One can consciously bring about this latter state in order to make the etheric body visible to oneself. It is a higher form of attention. Through a vigorous act of will, one visualizes the physical body as having disappeared and then becomes convinced that the space previously occupied by the physical body is not empty, but filled with a magnificent luminous substance unlike anything earthly; and in the region of the heart and lungs, one sees wondrous movements of this luminous substance—this is the human etheric body. The conscious clairvoyant sees the etheric body protruding slightly beyond the physical body. In horses, it protrudes much further.

[ 26 ] The third thing the clairvoyant can see, even when the etheric body has been made to disappear through suggestion, is the astral body, which then appears as an elliptical cloud. There one can see the instincts and desires in the form of colored light formations: the bright yellow of a developed intelligence and clear thinking, and the beautiful blue of piety and selfless devotion.

[ 27 ] In addition to these three phenomena visible to the clairvoyant, there is a fourth one, which takes on very different forms in different people. In the space behind the bridge of the nose, one sees in the astral body a sort of hollow sphere of bluish color, similar to the core of a flame, which appears blue through the yellow light shell. In an undeveloped person, it is a small bluish oval; in a developed person, it becomes visible as a blue glow.

[ 28 ] Friendship, love, and religiosity appear in shades of green, blue, and blue-red; all are in constant and intense motion while the etheric body rotates.

[ 29 ] If we now ask ourselves under what influences these four components of the human being have been formed, the answer is that the physical body, which merely reflects the life of the Earth, is composed of the forces of the Earth. The Earth exerts an influence upon it. Like plants, the etheric body depends not only on the Earth but also on the Sun; it strives toward the Sun. Our astral body, however, depends on the forces of the starry world—hence its name. Paracelsus says quite rightly: There is nothing in heaven or on Earth that is not also within the human being, and God, who is in heaven and on Earth, is also within the human being. - At night, the human being lives among the stars, in the forces from which he was formed. During sleep, his astral body experiences the orbits in which the stars move and remain. From this astral body—the body born of the stars—the “I” is now born.

[ 30 ] What can be perceived as the fundamental tone of the celestial bodies’ movements in the universe is called the Pythagorean music of the spheres. The writer of the Gospel of John refers to and means this fundamental chord of the celestial orbits and the universe when he speaks of the Word of the World. Thus, a first understanding of the profound mystical meaning of these words will begin to dawn in our consciousness. It will lead us ever deeper and deeper into the true occult significance of this wondrous text.