The Rudolf Steiner Archive

20. The Three Aspects of the Personal

[ 1 ] The Munich Congress, which is the fourth—following those in Amsterdam, London, and Paris—was intended, in a certain sense, to be a milestone in the development of our Theosophical Movement. It will establish a kind of connection between the various nations, including with regard to our Theosophical cause within Europe. I do not intend to give an actual report on the Congress today, but only a few remarks for those who were unable to attend.

[ 2 ] It should demonstrate something that I have emphasized time and again with regard to our Theosophical cause—it should show that Theosophy is not merely a subject for personal contemplation and introspection. The Theosophical Cause is meant to intervene in practical life; it is meant to be a matter of education, a matter of immersing oneself in all branches of practical existence. Only those who have a deeper understanding and a deeper grasp of the true impulses of the Theosophical Cause already know today what possibilities Theosophy will offer in the future. It will be the harmony between what we see and observe [externally] and what we feel internally. For those who can see more deeply, an important reason for the confusion [of people today] lies in this disharmony between what is and what Theosophy aims for. It is not only Theosophists who have sensed this, but also other significant figures, such as Richard Wagner. ..

[ 3 ] In earlier times, every door lock, every house, every structure was a manifestation of the soul. The essence of the soul had flowed into them. In ancient times, works of art were an integral part of human feeling and thought. In ancient times, the forms of Gothic churches reflected the mood of those who made pilgrimages to them. They embodied the mood of their own souls. Back then, the pilgrim perceived these forms as the folding of hands, just as the ancient Germanic people perceived the movements of the trees [upon entering a grove] as the folding of hands. Everything was more familiar to people in those days. You can still see this wonderfully expressed in the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. The gathering of the entire village in the church was nothing other than the expression of its entire spiritual life. All the etheric currents gathered at the place where the church stood. The materialistic age has fractured all of this. Those who cannot contemplate life do not know this. The seer, however, knows that today, when one walks through a city, there is almost nothing to see but things that appeal to the stomach or to a mania for cleanliness. Whoever understands how to trace the secret threads of life also knows what materialistic culture has led to this fragmentation.

[ 4 ] The outer world can be healed by becoming a reflection of our innermost spiritual states. We cannot immediately achieve perfection, but an example of this was demonstrated in Munich. The spiritual-scientific worldview was expressed in that space. The entire hall was decorated in red. Although there is often a great misunderstanding regarding the color red, its deeper meaning cannot be mistaken. The development of humanity is a process of ascent and descent. Look at the primitive peoples. They have green in nature. And what do they love most? Red! The occultist knows that red has a special effect on the healthy soul. It unleashes the active forces within the healthy soul—those forces that spur one to action, those forces that are meant to move the soul from comfort into the discomfort of doing. A room with a festive atmosphere must be wallpapered in red. Anyone who wallpapers a living room in red shows that they no longer know what a festive atmosphere is and profanes this sacred color. Goethe spoke the most beautiful words there are about such things: “The effect of this color is as unique as its nature. It conveys an impression of both solemnity and dignity as well as grace and charm. It conveys the former in its dark, concentrated state, and the latter in its light, diluted state. And so the dignity of old age and the charm of youth can be clothed in a single color.”

[ 5 ] These are the moods evoked by the color red—moods that can be demonstrated through occult means. Look at the landscape through a red glass, and you will get the impression: This is what it must look like on Judgment Day. - Red brings joy at what humanity has accomplished in its evolution. Red combats stagnant moods and sinful dispositions.

[ 6 ] Then there were seven column motifs for the time when Theosophy would one day be able to construct buildings. The motifs of the columns were drawn from the teachings of the Initiates, dating back to ancient times. Theosophy will have the opportunity to introduce truly new column motifs into architecture. The old columns have, in fact, long since ceased to mean anything to people. The new ones relate to Saturn, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, and Venus. The laws of nature were expressed in the capitals. Between the columns, we had placed the seven apocalyptic seals in the Rosicrucian style. The Grail seal appeared in public for the first time.

[ 7 ] Theosophy can also be built: It can be built through architecture, education, and social issues. The principle of Rosicrucianism is to introduce the spirit into the world and to perform fruitful work for the soul. It will also be possible to elevate art to the level of a “mystery art,” for which Richard Wagner had such a deep longing. An attempt was made in Édouard Schuré’s mystery drama. Here, Schuré sought to emulate the mystery plays. Underlying this was the intention to crystallize theosophy within the structure of the world. The program featured the festive color red and bore a black cross entwined with roses on a blue background. Rosicrucianism carries forward into the future what Christianity has given. The initial letters on the program reflect the fundamental ideas.

[ 8 ] Today I would like to discuss some questions that might be raised in this context. First: What if Theosophy were to merge with the Rosicrucian movement and find its expression in those ideas? — Let us form some ideas about this in relation to theosophical ethics or moral philosophy. Theosophical ethics is not the kind that says: “You must do this or that, or you must not do this or that.” — Theosophy is not concerned with demands and commandments, but with facts and narratives. One need only take an example of a fact from the astral world to see that there is no need to preach morality. Besides, this serves no purpose anyway, for admonitions and commandments do not establish true morality; rather, this is achieved through the facts of the higher life. When you hear occultists say that “lying is murder and suicide,” this acts as an impulse with such ethical power that it cannot be compared to the simple admonition: “You shall not lie.” - When one knows what a lie is and what truth is, when one knows that everything leaves its mark in the spiritual realm, then the matter takes on a different character. A narrative that corresponds to the truth fosters the life forces necessary for further development. A false assertion strikes at the truth and rebounds upon the person themselves. Everything a person lies about, they will later have to experience themselves. Lies are the greatest obstacles to further development. It is not for nothing that the devil is called the spirit of lies and obstacles. The explosive nature of a lie objectively kills and backfires on the one who utters it.

[ 9 ] We are familiar with three concepts of the personal: the personal, the impersonal, and the transpersonal. There was once a human ancestor who was higher than any animal but lower than the human being. He consisted of a physical body, an etheric body, and an astral body. Then the “I” is added, which in turn forms the higher parts from within itself, resulting in the sevenfold human nature.

[ 10 ] The development of the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body spans long periods of time. Through this process, they have matured to the point where they can incorporate the sense of self. Today, we will focus on the tendencies of the three lower bodies and the way in which they have developed. Human beings have become increasingly capable of becoming self-aware beings. This is possible only through the power of egoism, of self-interest. It can be divine or diabolical. These words must be judged not merely by how they sound, but by their true essence. Independence presupposes that human beings have become egoistic beings.

[ 11 ] The form of — apparent — loss of consciousness that we know as death in present-day human life is linked to the development of selfishness. Death has developed to the same extent that selfishness has. In the earliest times, human beings did not die. They were like a limb that withers and then grows back, much like a fingernail falls off and grows back. Our present dying and rebirth have come about so that we may have our present sense of self. Egoism and death are two sides of the same coin. The higher aspect of human nature is such that it overcomes selfishness, works its way up toward the Divine, and thereby overcomes death. The more a person develops the higher part within themselves, the more they develop an awareness of their immortality. The moment a person becomes selfish, they also become a personality. The animal is not a personality because its “I” is a group soul that does not descend from the astral plane. Personality is that which allows the three bodies—the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body—to be permeated by the “I.” This can also be unclear or shadowy—and if this is the case, then the person in question has a weak personality.

[ 12 ] This is quite evident to the clairvoyant. He sees the human being surrounded by a colored aura in which the person’s moods, passions, feelings, and sensations are precisely expressed in streams and clouds of color. If we were to transport ourselves back to the time when the three constitutional elements were just ready to receive the human “I,” we would also find an aura around this being who had not yet fully become human. However, the yellow currents—in which the higher nature of the human being finds expression—would be absent from it. Strong personalities have an aura that radiates a strong yellow glow. Now, one can be a strong personality without being active; one can react strongly inwardly without being a person of action. In that case, the aura still displays a great deal of yellow. But if one is a person of action and the personality exerts its influence in the outer world, the yellow gradually gives way to a radiant red. A radiant red aura is that of a person of action; however, it must be radiant.

[ 13 ] However, there is a pitfall when the personality pushes toward action. This is ambition, vanity. Strong-willed individuals are particularly susceptible to this. The clairvoyant sees this in the aura. Without ambition, the yellow abruptly turns to red. If, however, a person is ambitious, there is a great deal of orange in their aura. One must overcome this threshold in order to achieve objective action.

[ 14 ] Weak personalities are those who are more focused on receiving than on giving and taking action. In such cases, you will mainly see shades of blue, and if people are particularly complacent, shades of indigo. This refers more to inner complacency than to outward complacency.

[ 15 ] You can see how a strong or weak personality is reflected in a person’s aura. A person should increasingly overcome the personal and allow the Higher to act. That is why you hear so much talk about overcoming the personality and egoism. But now let us come to the main point. It depends on whether we overcome the personal through the impersonal or through the supra-personal.

[ 16 ] What does it mean to “overcome oneself through the impersonal”? It means seeking to weaken that strong force, to suppress the energy of the personality. That would then be impersonal. In a certain sense, the “superpersonal” would be exactly the opposite of that. It would be the elevation of the personality’s energy, the bringing forth of the personality’s strong forces.

[ 17 ] We find the “I” in the soul, and within it, first, the courageous aspect, and second, the desiring and craving aspect of the soul. Essentially, everything in the life of the soul can be traced back to these two things. These two aspects are treated differently. And this difference stems from the following: Human beings do not make sufficient effort to assimilate the higher aspects. They may continue to develop, but the lower aspects—the courageous and the desiring—develop in a crude manner. If they were simply to tone these down, it would amount to a culture of the impersonal. Human beings would lose their active nature. The active aspect—that which makes a person a human being who goes out among others and does what he is capable of—in a certain sense always brings such a person into conflict with others. And he must come into conflict if he believes himself called to something.

[ 18 ] One can also suppress one’s desires. But this makes the personality colorless. One can, however, do something else: one can refine them. There is no need to suppress them in their intensity. One can direct them toward higher objectives. Then the personality need not lose any of its strength, and yet it becomes nobler and more divine. One need not suppress the desires, but only transform them into finer and nobler desires; then they can be lived out with the same intensity. An example: Imagine a nightclub. The person who does not go in does not necessarily have to be an ascetic. He has simply transformed his lower desires into higher ones, so that he would only be bored in the nightclub.

[ 19 ] In this regard, theosophy has been most misunderstood by theosophists. It is certainly not a matter of killing off the personal, but rather of giving it an upward impulse toward something higher. To this end, everything that is conveyed to us through theosophy is precisely what is necessary. The primary concern, therefore, is to awaken higher interests. Such interests already take hold of the human being. He does not need to suppress his feelings at all; rather, he then directs them toward the higher divine becoming, toward the great facts of the universe. When we direct our feelings toward these things, we do indeed lose interest in the brutal side of life, but our feelings are not dulled as a result; rather, they become enriched, and the whole nature of the human being is ignited by them. If a person has a great fondness for a good roast pork, the point is not to kill their feeling for the roast pork, but to transform that feeling. We must strive for a metamorphosis of feeling. The very same feelings that one person has for the “symphony of the meal,” another directs toward a true symphony. If you preach the overcoming of desire and activity, then you are preaching the impersonal. But if you show the path that leads to directing desire toward the spiritual, then you are pointing to the Transpersonal. And this Transpersonal must be the goal of the Theosophical Movement.

[ 20 ] Spiritual science is not meant to—nor does it seek to—educate homebodies and eccentrics; rather, it aims to produce people of action, active individuals who step out into the world. But how do we arrive at the transpersonal? Not by becoming absorbed in the personal, but by grasping what is true, great, and all-encompassing. That is why it is not unnecessary for theosophy to cultivate an eye for the grand interconnections of existence. Through this, we grow beyond the small and learn to view things not impersonally, but transpersonally.

[ 21 ] In one area, we can discern the difference between the personal, the impersonal, and the transpersonal through a kind of experimentum crucis. When it comes to love, one might easily believe that what one person feels for another is something impersonal. But that is by no means necessarily the same as something transpersonal. People are subject to a strange illusion here: they confuse self-love with love for another. Most people believe they love another because they love themselves in that other person. Merging with another is, after all, merely something that satisfies one’s own selfishness. The person in question is unaware of this and does not even need to know it, but at its core, it is simply a roundabout way of satisfying selfishness.

[ 22 ] Human beings are not isolated entities. They are part of a whole. The finger is lovingly connected to the hand and the body. If it were not, it would die. The finger loves my hand and the body because it needs them. Likewise, a person could never exist without other people. This is why people love one another. — Some love often springs solely from spiritual poverty, and spiritual poverty always stems from heightened selfishness. And when someone claims that they cannot live without another person, their own personality is impoverished, and they are searching for something to fulfill them. They mask this by saying, “I am becoming impersonal; I love the other.”

[ 23 ] The most beautiful, selfless love is expressed in the fact that one does not need the other, that one can do without them. A person then loves not for their own sake, but for the sake of the other. They lose nothing, even if they are abandoned by the other. Of course, this requires the ability to see through to a person’s true worth, and one learns this only by immersing oneself in the world. The more you become a Theosophist, the more you will learn to attune yourself to the inner essence of another. And the more capable you will become of perceiving their value and loving them without selfishness. If you go through the world in this way, you will also see that some people have this kind of selfishness, others that kind, and that everyone lives according to the value of their own selfishness.

[ 24 ] What is required is the higher development of the personality. An impersonal love that springs from weakness will always be linked to suffering. Transpersonal love arises from strength and is based on an understanding of the other. It can become a source of joy and fulfillment. Fluctuating between all possible moods of love is always a sign that this love is a disguised form of selfishness and stems from an impoverished personality. This is how we can best understand the difference between impersonal and transpersonal love.

[ 25 ] Anyone for whom the spiritual science does not provide a foundation for life has not understood it, for it is a source of inner satisfaction in life for the future. If materialism were to gain ever more ground—and with it the selfishness that goes hand in hand with it—humanity would sink ever deeper into pessimism, which is the dregs of burnt-out spirits. If humanity embraces spiritual science, it will regain true serenity, which is also the source of health. Disharmony is, in the final analysis, an outflow of selfishness, and a cheerful, joyful disposition flows from the higher human being. The more the Higher, the Divine, takes hold, the more blissful humanity will become. We should think more about how we can help all of humanity than about how spiritual science can help us personally. We come to recognize more and more the source of genuine cheerfulness and joy, of eternal youth, as we familiarize ourselves with the ethics of the transpersonal.

[ 26 ] The goal of theosophy does not lie in negation, but in affirmation. The impersonal signifies negation; the transpersonal signifies affirmation, even if it should manifest only very faintly. This is what reveals to us, at the same time, the task of spiritual science as arising from the very nature of humanity. “By their fruits you shall know them”—in that it makes people fit and capable for life, with faces that are the expression of a harmonious soul. The spirit never expresses itself in a sullen face. Even the pain a person must endure is transformed on the thinker’s face and appears ennobled; the expression of pain is purified in the harmonious face of the thinker. The sullen face is the expression of an egoism that has not yet been overcome. Spiritual science guides us to step outside ourselves, not to lose ourselves, but to preserve our connection to the external world. It leads us beyond the personal—not into the impersonal through the annihilation of personality, but through an elevation into the transpersonal.