The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Theosophy Based on the Gospel of John VIII

[ 1 ] In these lectures, we have explored humanity’s ascent to the pinnacle of knowledge and wisdom. I have shown you that a kind of foreshadowing of the events in Palestine has occurred time and again during the initiation into the Mysteries. The initiation ceremonies culminated in a three-day, death-like sleep, through which the initiate, upon awakening, found within himself that which is called the higher human being. Blessed—that is, imbued with the soul—is the one who beholds the spiritual worlds. And now, those who believe but do not see were to become blessed. The time was to come when what had previously taken place within the mysteries in the soul of the individual would unfold before the eyes of humanity as a historical fact. To understand this, let us first speak of the effects of initiation.

[ 2 ] The ordinary person, who falls asleep exhausted by the day’s burdens and work, finds himself in a plant-like state. He feels nothing; he is unaware of himself. During this time, the astral body works on the physical body to restore its depleted energies. If a person still has a lingering echo of their nighttime experiences in the etheric and physical bodies, we say: their sleep was animated by dreams. For the average person, however, these images are usually blurred and incomprehensible in their memory.

[ 3 ] The situation is different for the student. We distinguish between clear waking consciousness, dream consciousness, and dreamless sleep. If the student patiently performs the exercises assigned to him, the time will come when order is brought to the chaotic confusion of dreams. The student begins to get to know the real world of sleep. No longer does he bring fragmented reminiscences into waking consciousness, but rather he attains the continuity of consciousness—constant awareness. This development announces itself gradually. At first, upon awakening, the student feels like a swimmer emerging from the water and recalling things that never occur on Earth. More and more details emerge from the astral sea. Initially, the student’s capacity for perception and memory develops very slowly. Later, he becomes aware of how he can carry over what he has experienced into his daytime consciousness, into the waking state. What he has perceived throughout the night—the world in which he has lived and the events therein—he can now bring over into this physical world. Now begins the time for him when every plant becomes an expression of a spiritual being of the Earth, a true member of a great Earth spirit. As an earthly human, he is an inhabitant of this world, and as a spiritual human, an inhabitant of a spiritual world. Spiritual currents and spiritual beings live and weave within his soul; they appear and now become conscious to him. His consciousness merges with that of others. He knows that his consciousness is only a part of the Earth’s consciousness. Imagine this Earth as a living being with its own consciousness, and now imagine the individual consciousness as a reflection of the one great Earth consciousness, It is an illusion to believe that a human being has a consciousness that is unique to him alone. Humanity is only just on the path to becoming one with the Earth and its consciousness—that is, to becoming a son of the Earth; the chela is so to a greater degree. The representative of this one great Earth consciousness is Christ Jesus. As the Word made flesh and blood, he represents the embodied future ideal of Earth and human consciousness, which all people will one day strive to attain. Christ Jesus leads us into this era by allowing this consciousness to take effect as the Firstborn, so that people may reach this state more quickly. After all, the one who has already reached the summit himself and draws others up to him can lead others to the heights with particular certainty. The one who hung on the cross carried Earth consciousness within his own breast. The entire Gospel of John speaks in a remarkably imaginative language. Let us take one example. What does it mean: “the disciple whom the Lord loved”? - Consider for a moment that the writer of the Gospel of John speaks of himself as “the one whom the Lord loves” and “the one reclining on Jesus’ chest.” This disciple is the outward representative of the heart, the organ of the buddha. Just as the heart is to the human body, so is John among the twelve disciples.

[ 4 ] Let us consider the thirteenth chapter: the washing of the feet (13:1–20). What does this washing of the feet signify? Human beings are beings bound in two ways; they are dual beings: their heads are turned toward the sun, and their feet toward the earth. What part of the human being still needs to be purified? The part assigned to the earth—that is what still needs to be cleansed by the representative of perfected humanity (13:8–10). Peter—that is, the Rock—is the part turned toward the earth. If this part is also to be cleansed, it must be washed by Christ. Hence Christ’s words: “Unless your earthly part is washed, you have no part in me.” In response to Peter’s remark, “Lord, not just my feet, but also my hands and my head,” Christ said to him: “Whoever has been washed needs only to have his feet washed; he is completely clean. And you are clean—but not all of you.” Christ knew full well who would bring about his death: Judas Iscariot, the representative of the egoistic principle.

[ 5 ] And further, verse 18: “He who eats my bread tramples me underfoot.” How can Jesus—he who possesses the Earth’s consciousness and feels the entire Earth as his body—say these words? He can. Put yourself in the Earth’s consciousness just as you would in that of a human being. If the Earth had a consciousness, it would say to humans, “He who eats my bread tramples me underfoot.” Christ has this consciousness; Christ, as the representative of the entire Earth’s consciousness, is permitted to say this.

[ 6 ] What will come to pass when, one day, the love that he exemplified spreads throughout all of humanity and all people have become brothers? Then there will be one who serves as a model. People have divided the earth’s goods among themselves, but one thing—the earth’s outer shell, the atmosphere—cannot be divided; and just as this “garment” of the earth cannot be divided, so too will the earth’s goods eventually be shared. This is also symbolically expressed in the crucifixion of Christ in the division of his garments among the soldiers (Gospel of John 19:24). The robe of Christ Jesus, as the envelope of earthly consciousness, is unsewn and made of a single piece. The outer garment, which is divided into four parts, represents through this division the four main continents; the indivisible robe is the indivisible atmosphere. The sublime principle underlying Christianity—the moral and the spiritually cosmic, so magnificently expressed in the Gospel of John—is encapsulated in the fact that all the utterances of Christ Jesus point to this: this is how one will live in the future, as Christ Jesus has portrayed it.

[ 7 ] What Christ Jesus did when he fulfilled the saying, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48)—the feeding of the five thousand—is not merely an event of that time, but one of profound and enduring significance. The earth is the body of Christ Jesus: the few grains of seed—the disciples—are multiplied. These are the things that make Christianity so great, because the physical and the moral coincide so wonderfully. The most wondrous monism is reflected in Christianity through the way John presents it.

[ 8 ] Nor is there any contradiction between Christianity and karma. Christianity emerged at a time when it had something to offer humanity, which was on the brink of death—something that brought life then and still lives on today. Christianity was preceded by a time when the doctrine of reincarnation was part of the common heritage of humankind. At that time, people viewed their present life as merely a passing phase: the Egyptian slave, struck by the harshest fate and deeply bowed down, told himself: This is one existence among many. In this he found comfort, strength, and hope for the present and the future. He told himself: My life is dark now, but later it will be bright. - Or: “Through my own fault, I have brought this upon myself; now I will bear it and make things better.”

[ 9 ] At that time, we find a high level of spiritual culture among various peoples, alongside a primitive material culture that made use of the simplest of tools. Back then, human beings were not yet so attached to the earth. Humanity first had to be educated to that end. The conquest of the material world—everything we have around us today—would not have been possible if humankind had not learned to grow fond of the Earth. To achieve this, humankind had to be deprived of an overview of its repeated earthly lives. It is a wise Christian pedagogical approach that, for a time, the focus was placed on a single life. This had to be the case at one time in order to later reveal the truth of reincarnation to humanity at a higher level. That is why, in his public discourses to the people, Christ does not speak of this, but in the intimate circle with his disciples, he speaks of the existence of karma.

[ 10 ] In the moral world, everything is interconnected as cause and effect, and judgment is among the functions exercised by the deepest and purest earthly beings. In occult records, everything that a human being has done is inscribed in the Akashic Records. Once this is understood in the future, there will no longer be worldly punishment. Christ shows how justice will be administered in the future in Chapter 8, verses 1–11, of the Gospel of John: it is the story of the woman caught in adultery. What Christ says and does there is meant to show that everything a person has done is recorded in the Earth’s Akashic Records. This is the direct transfer of judicial authority to the self-fulfilling law of karma. The living consciousness of the Earth’s Akashic Records is Christ Himself; therefore, judgment is handed over to Him by the Father, and He has the power to forgive sins and take them upon Himself (Gospel of John 5:21, 22, 23): “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one; He has entrusted all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

[ 11 ] All of humanity’s earthly karma lives in Christ; he is the living embodiment of earthly karma. This is why Christianity teaches that every individual has a personal, living relationship with Christ, which also gives us the awareness that Christ forgives sins and that redemption is to be found in Christ Jesus. Salvation is to be found in Him; He embodies earthly justice. In this way, you will be able to understand every sentence in the Gospel of John if you study it in this subtle manner and immerse yourself in it again and again in order to penetrate more deeply into the Gospel of John—at least into the part that you can comprehend from a theosophical perspective.

[ 12 ] Human beings slowly ascend to a higher level of consciousness. At first, they still distinguish between: “I feel pain,” “I feel pleasure.” Once human beings have transcended this stage, they ascend—through initiation—from everyday physical consciousness to the second level, astral consciousness, where the astral world appears as if in living images. Eastern wisdom distinguishes five such levels of consciousness: first, physical everyday consciousness = Jagrat; second, dream consciousness = Swapna; third, Devachan consciousness = Sushupti; fourth, Turiya consciousness; fifth, Nirvana consciousness.

[ 13 ] At the first and second stages, one can do no more than recall what was experienced in the dream; at that point, one does not yet possess the insight that begins at the third stage, Devachan consciousness. This stage is reached when one experiences not only the astral world but also the purely spiritual world. If one can fill one’s daytime consciousness with this and thus see the world permeated by the spiritual, then one has attained Turiya. If one perceives the primordial essence of the world, then one has attained Nirvana.

[ 14 ] When Christ says, “Before Abraham was, I am,” he is pointing out that a higher consciousness dwells within him. When the crowd tries to stone him, he “goes out of the temple” (Gospel of John 8:58–59); that is, he rises to a level of consciousness that is inaccessible to his persecutors.

[ 15 ] Whoever ascends must purify all his faculties and cast out whatever drags him down. Christ, as the representative of earthly consciousness that purifies itself and ascends, drives out the impure: the mindset of the money changers, the spirit of haggling, and greed will be cast out. This is the meaning of the cleansing of the temple, which is at the same time a symbol of humanity’s future. After driving out the money changers and merchants, Jesus says: “Destroy this ‘temple,’ and in three days I will raise it up.” “But he was speaking of the temple of his body,” the text continues (2:14–21). In these words you have the reference to the three coming world days of which we have already spoken. Christ Jesus is speaking here of the evolution of the entire Earth. The old order is to pass away, and on the third world day a body will come that no longer contains the lower elements.

[ 16 ] Let us also remember that when the chela advances toward mastery, he is laid in the tomb for three and a half days. The temple of the body is torn down and then rebuilt. This is what happens to the individual, and for all of humanity it has already happened through Christ’s death and resurrection. You must sense in the Gospel of John the radiance of these statements in many directions, for these statements are profound and multifaceted, encompassing the entire mystery of the world.

[ 17 ] During initiation, the soul is separated from the body, but it remains conscious in the higher worlds. Nicodemus comes to Christ “at night,” that is, outside of daytime consciousness (3:1–21). Christ says to him: “Unless one is born of water”—that is, from the astral world, which is experienced like floods—“and of the Spirit”—the Devachan—“he cannot enter the Kingdom of God”; thus, he does not experience the spiritual world. He speaks of this as long as everyday consciousness has nothing to say, namely during the initiation. Every word in the Gospel of John has a deeper meaning, and there is no end to the explanation of this Gospel.

[ 18 ] The purpose of these sessions was to show you how to understand this remarkable book. The focus was on how to use it. I hope I have succeeded, at least to some extent, in making it accessible to you.

[ 19 ] “I have much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now”—I, too, must say this here. Christ Jesus was born of Mother Sophia; John—that is, Lazarus, the author of the Gospel of John—took her into his care, and we must study her embodiment, that of the Virgin Sophia, in order to find there the means to form the inner Christ within us. If we use the individual verses meditatively, we will experience the events to which they refer, and then we will understand the unfathomably deep meaning of this Gospel. Once again, we see how the greatest event in world history—the event in Palestine—appears in the highest spiritual states in which John perceived it.

[ 20 ] Understanding the Gospel of John is possible only through spiritual research and a spiritual-scientific worldview. We must become increasingly aware of how we must work our way toward an understanding of the spirit, which is the deepest on Earth. Christ represents a being unlike any other that has ever existed on Earth. At the end of Earth’s days, the “Word” will once again be the ultimate expression of Christ’s spiritual essence. Christ will then incarnate in all human beings. In the flesh, only a higher being could have given him the possibility of incarnating. You could never see the sun if you had no eyes. But who made the human eye? The sun made it. Christ is the sun that the human soul is to take into itself with the help of that through which we behold Christ. The Gospel of John is this eye. But this eye could not see without the real Christ Jesus, who first opened this eye to the disciple whom the Lord loved, whom He Himself awakened, and who was His intimate disciple. Thus, in the Gospel of John, our feeling is elevated in thinking, feeling, and willing along the paths that spiritual knowledge opens up to us.