The Rudolf Steiner Archive

First Lecture

[ 1 ] What is to be presented here is referred to in the announcement as “Theosophy According to the Rosicrucian Method.” This refers to a wisdom that is both ancient and ever-new, presented in a method appropriate to our present time—a method that, as will be expressed here in the manner of this presentation, has actually been known since the fourteenth century. However, I do not intend to speak of the history of Rosicrucianism in these lectures.

[ 2 ] You all know that a certain amount of geometry is taught in elementary schools today, including, for example, the Pythagorean theorem. The elementary aspects of this geometry are learned entirely independently of how geometry itself came about, for what does the student who is learning the first elements of geometry today know about Euclid! And yet it is Euclidean geometry that is taught there. Only much later, when one already knows the substance, the content, does one perhaps learn, through the history of science, the form in which what is generally accessible in elementary schools today originally appeared in the course of human development. Just as the student learning elementary geometry today is not concerned with the original way in which Euclid gave geometry to humanity, so too should we not concern ourselves with how so-called Rosicrucianism developed in the course of history. And just as the student learns genuine, true geometry from the subject matter itself, so let us consider this Rosicrucian wisdom in and of itself.

[ 3 ] Anyone familiar with the history—and especially the external history—of Rosicrucianism, as it is recorded in the literature, knows very little, incidentally, about the true substance of Rosicrucian theosophy. Rosicrucian theosophy has existed since the fourteenth century as something that is true independently of its history, just as geometry is true and knowable, regardless of the history of geometry and its gradual emergence. Therefore, only a few points that can be gleaned from its history will be briefly touched upon.

[ 4 ] It was in the year 1459 that a lofty spiritual entity, embodied in the human personality known to the world as Christian Rosenkreutz, first appeared as a teacher to a small circle of initiated disciples. In 1459, Christian Rosenkreutz was elevated to the rank of Eques lapidis aurei—Knight of the Golden Stone—within a strictly self-contained spiritual brotherhood, the Fraternitas Roseae crucis. As the lectures progress, it will become increasingly clear to us what this means. That exalted spiritual individuality, which entered the physical plane through the outer personality of Christian Rosenkreutz, repeatedly acted as a guide and teacher of the Rosicrucian movement in “the same body,” as it is said in occultism. We will also come to understand the meaning of the expression “again and again in the same body” over the course of the next few hours, when we discuss the fate of the human being after death.

[ 5 ] Now, this wisdom we are discussing here remained, well into the eighteenth century, confined to a closely knit brotherhood that had strict rules by which it isolated itself from the exoteric outside world.

[ 6 ] In the eighteenth century, this brotherhood had the mission of infusing Central European culture with something esoteric through a spiritual path; and that is why we see various things shining forth within an exoteric culture—things that, while outwardly exoteric, are nothing other than an outward expression of esoteric wisdom. Over the centuries, many people have endeavored to somehow fathom that wisdom we call Rosicrucian; they have not succeeded. Leibniz, for example, tried in vain to draw near to the source of Rosicrucian wisdom. Yet this Rosicrucian wisdom shone forth like flashes of lightning in an exoteric work that appeared as Lessing was approaching the culmination of his physical life. It is Lessing’s The Education of the Human Race. One need only read this work between the lines; then, in its peculiar conclusion—though only as an esotericist—one will recognize that it is an outward expression of Rosicrucian wisdom.

[ 7 ] This wisdom shone particularly brightly in the man who reflected the culture of Europe at the turn of the eighteenth century—namely, its international culture: Goethe. When Goethe, at a relatively early stage in his life, came into contact with a Rosicrucian source, he received something of a most remarkable, lofty initiation. It is easy to misunderstand what is meant when one speaks of Goethe’s initiation; therefore, it is perhaps fitting to point out here exactly what this peculiar kind of initiation entailed. It was during the interval between his departure from the University of Leipzig and his move to Strasbourg. Something most remarkable happened then. He had an experience that penetrated deeply into his soul, which outwardly manifested itself in the fact that, during his final days in Leipzig, he had come quite close to death. While lying gravely ill, he had a significant experience—a kind of initiation. Goethe was not initially aware of this; it acted as a kind of poetic current within his soul, and it was a most remarkable process to observe how this current worked its way into his various works. We find such a flash of insight in the poem “Die Geheimnisse” (“The Mysteries”), which Goethe’s closest friends have described as one of his most profound creations; indeed, it is so deeply conceived that Goethe was never able to find the strength to complete this fragment. The cultural currents of that time did not yet have the power to outwardly express the full depth of life that pulsates in this poem. This poem must be understood as one of the deepest springs of Goethe’s soul; it is a book sealed with seven seals for all Goethe commentators. But then this initiation gradually came into clearer focus, and Goethe was finally able—after becoming increasingly aware of this initiation—to create that remarkable prose poem we know as “The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily.” It is one of the most profound works in world literature; whoever is able to interpret it correctly knows much about Rosicrucian wisdom.

[ 8 ] At that time, however, when Rosicrucian wisdom was to be incorporated into general culture, it happened that—in a manner I need not discuss further here—a kind of betrayal of Rosicrucian wisdom took place, so that certain concepts of Rosicrucian wisdom found their way out into the wider world in an exoteric form. This betrayal, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the necessity that Western culture remain, for a time during the nineteenth century, unaffected by esotericism on the physical plane, these two factors brought about the necessity that the sources of Rosicrucian wisdom—and above all the great founder, who had remained on the physical plane ever since that time—seemingly receded, so that in the first half and also in a large part of the second half of the nineteenth century, not much of Rosicrucian wisdom could be discovered. Only in our time has it once again become possible to tap into the sources of Rosicrucian wisdom and allow them to flow into the rest of general culture, and when we consider this culture, the reasons why this had to be so will become clear to us,

[ 9 ] Now I would like to point out two characteristic features that distinguish Rosicrucian wisdom and that are important for its global mission. The first relates to humanity’s overall relationship to this Rosicrucian wisdom, which is distinct from the occult form of Christian-Gnostic wisdom. We must briefly touch upon two aspects of spiritual life if we are to clearly bring this remarkable position of Rosicrucian wisdom to mind. The first of these two aspects is what is called the relationship of the student to the teacher, and there are two things we must consider in relation to this relationship. Let us discuss, first, what is called clairvoyance, and second, what is called faith in authority. The term “clairvoyance”—which is actually an imperfect expression—encompasses not only spiritual seeing but also spiritual hearing. In these two lies the source of all wisdom that seeks to instruct us about the hidden wisdom of the world, and no true knowledge of the spiritual worlds can come from any other source. Now, for the Rosicrucian method, there is a fundamental difference between discovering spiritual truths and comprehending them.

[ 10 ] No one can find a spiritual truth directly in the higher worlds unless they have developed a higher degree of spiritual ability—that is, clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is the necessary prerequisite for discovering spiritual truth. But only for the discovery itself, for to this day—and well into the future—no true Rosicrucianism will teach exoterically anything that cannot be understood by ordinary, general logical reasoning. That is what matters. If it is objected to this Rosicrucian form of theosophy that clairvoyance is required for understanding, this is incorrect. It is not the ability to perceive that matters. Anyone who cannot grasp Rosicrucian wisdom through thinking has simply not yet developed their logical intellect sufficiently. If one takes in everything that present-day culture has to offer—everything that can be attained today—and if one has only patience and perseverance and is not too complacent to learn, then one can understand and comprehend what the Rosicrucian teacher teaches. Anyone who in any way doubts such Rosicrucian wisdom and says, “I cannot comprehend it”—the reason they cannot yet ascend to the higher planes is not their fault, but rather that they are unwilling to exert their logical mind sufficiently, or that they are unwilling to draw upon enough experiences from ordinary educational life to truly comprehend it.

[ 11 ] Think for a moment about the immense spread of wisdom that has taken place from the emergence of Christianity to the present day, and try to picture in your mind’s eye what Christian Rosicrucianism was like in the fourteenth century. Think of how, in those days, the individual living out in the world faced the teachers. It was only through the spoken word that one could have an impact. People generally do not fully realize what a tremendous evolution has taken place since that time. One need only think of the achievement of the art of printing. Think of the thousands upon thousands of channels through which, by means of this invention, what is achieved today at the pinnacle of spiritual life has been able to flow into general cultural life. From the book down to the latest newspaper article, you can trace an infinite number of channels through which a vast amount of ideas flows into general life. These are paths that have only been opened up to humanity since that time, and they have caused the intellect of Western culture to take on entirely different forms. The Western intellect, reason, has functioned quite differently since that time.

[ 12 ] The new form of wisdom had to take this into account. A form had to be created that could withstand what flows into general life through a thousand channels. Rosicrucian wisdom is now of such a nature that it fully withstands any objection that might arise from any popular or even the most exalted branch of science. Rosicrucian wisdom possesses within itself the sources of resilience against every objection raised by science. A true understanding of modern science—not the amateurish understanding found even among university professors, but an understanding that operates free from all abstract theories and materialistic fantasies, that stands firmly on the ground of facts and does not go beyond them—such an understanding provides, piece by piece, the very evidence for Rosicrucian spiritual truths from within science itself.

[ 13 ] The second aspect of Rosicrucian wisdom—regarding the relationship between teacher and student—is that, in essence, the student’s relationship to the “guru,” the Eastern teacher, differs from that in other initiations. The way in which the student relates to the guru cannot, in fact, be described within Rosicrucian wisdom as a belief in authority. I will illustrate this with an example from everyday life. The Rosicrucian teacher does not wish to relate to his student any differently than a knowledgeable mathematician relates to a student of mathematics. Can one say that the student of mathematics adheres to his teacher out of a belief in authority? No! Can one say that the student of mathematics does not need the teacher? Yes—many might say so, for one may have found the path to self-study through good books. But here, the path is simply different from sitting face-to-face, chair to chair. In principle, of course, one could do so. Likewise, anyone who rises to a certain level of clairvoyance could discover all spiritual truths, but everyone would find it unreasonable to reach the goal by a roundabout way. It would be just as unreasonable to say: “My inner self must be the source of all spiritual truths.” — If the teacher knows the mathematical truths and imparts them to the student, then the student no longer needs to place faith in authority; he then recognizes the mathematical truths through their own correctness, and he needs nothing more than to understand them correctly. It is no different with the entire occult development in the Rosicrucian sense. The teacher is the friend, the counselor, who exemplifies the occult experiences and allows the student to live them. Once one has had them, one needs no more to accept them on the basis of authority than one does in mathematics the theorem: “The three angles of a triangle total 180 degrees.” In Rosicrucianism, all authority is not authority in the strict sense, but rather what is necessary to shorten the path to the highest truths.

[ 14 ] That is one side of the matter. The other side concerns the relationship between spiritual wisdom and general intellectual culture. In the presentations that will be given here over the next few days, you will see that spiritual truth can flow directly into practical life. We are not setting up just any system that can only be applied theoretically, but rather something that can be used when one wishes to recognize the deep foundations of our current understanding of the world, when one wishes to allow spiritual truths to flow into our everyday life. Rosicrucian wisdom must not only enter the mind, nor merely the heart, but also the hand—our manual skills—and what a person does every day. It is not sentimental compassion; it is the cultivation of the abilities to work within the service of humanity as a whole. Imagine if some organization were to emerge whose sole goal was human brotherhood, doing nothing but preaching human brotherhood. That would not be Rosicrucianism, for the Rosicrucian says: Imagine a person who has broken his leg and is lying on the street in front of you. If fourteen people stand around feeling warm sympathy and compassion, and there is no one among them who can set the leg, then all fourteen are less essential than the one who steps forward—who may not be sentimental at all, but who possesses the ability to set a leg and actually does so. — And that is the spirit that permeates the Rosicrucian. What matters is active insight—the ability to intervene in life based on that insight. All talk of compassion is even somewhat dangerous to Rosicrucian wisdom, for to it, a constant emphasis on compassion appears as a kind of astral sensuality. What the base sensual feeling is on the physical plane, that is on the astral plane this attitude that always wants only to feel and not to know. Active insight that can intervene in life—though not in the materialistic sense, but drawn down from the spiritual planes—enables us to act practically. From the necessary realization that the world must move forward, harmony flows of its own accord, and it flows all the more surely because it arises spontaneously when one gains insight. Of someone who can set a broken leg, one might say: if he is not a humanitarian, he might leave the person lying there. — This is possible with mere knowledge on the physical plane. With spiritual knowledge, however, this objection is not valid. There can be no spiritual knowledge that does not flow into active life.

[ 15 ] This is what is referred to as the second aspect of Rosicrucian wisdom: that it can be discovered only through clairvoyant powers, but understood through ordinary human reason. This seems to be a very curious statement. To have experiences in the spiritual world, you must become clairvoyant; to understand what the clairvoyant sees, you do not need to be so. Anyone who, as a seer, descends from the spiritual worlds and recounts the events taking place there—thereby bringing to light something necessary for present-day humanity—can be understood if the listeners are willing, for human nature is such that it can grasp such things.

[ 16 ] First, we will now explore the sevenfold nature of the human being according to the Rosicrucian method. We will come to know the whole of human nature as it stands before us. We will come to know the physical body, which everyone believes they know but actually do not know at all. Just as one cannot see oxygen in water—but must first separate it from hydrogen to recognize it—so too, when one looks at another person, one does not see the physical human being standing before them. The human being is just as much a mixture of physical body, etheric body, astral body, and the other aspects of his higher nature as water consists of oxygen and hydrogen, and the synthesis of all these aspects is what you see before you. If you wish to see the physical body alone, you must first isolate the astral body; this is what happens during dreamless sleep. Sleep is a kind of higher chemical separation of the astral body—together with the higher aspects of human nature—from the etheric and physical bodies. But even then, you still do not have the true physical body before you. Only with death, when the etheric body, too, has withdrawn from the physical body, does the physical body alone remain.

[ 17 ] This has immediate practical significance. I would like to use an example to illustrate what this means. Consider any specific part of the astral body. In humanity’s ancient past, what people could perceive at that time through a dim, twilight-like form of clairvoyance was quite different in its imagery from what it is today. These images were first imprinted upon the astral body. Let us imagine that images of the three spatial dimensions—length, width, and depth—were once imprinted upon the astral body. This image of three-dimensional space, as it had once been instilled in the astral body through a primal, twilight-like clairvoyance, was then transmitted further into the etheric body. Just as a seal is pressed into liquid sealing wax, so the astral image imprints itself upon the etheric body, and this sculpted the forms of the physical body. Thus, the image of three-dimensional space shapes an organ at a very specific location within the physical body. It was originally an image in the astral body of three spatial lines standing perpendicular to one another. This imprinted itself upon the etheric body like a seal in sealing wax, and a certain part of the etheric body effectively formed an organ within the human ear—namely, the three semicircular canals. Everyone possesses these. If they are damaged, a person can no longer orient themselves within the three spatial lines. The person is overcome by dizziness; they can no longer maintain their balance within the spatial dimensions. Thus, the images of the astral body are interconnected with the forces of the etheric body and the organs of the physical body. The entire physical body of the human being, in its three-dimensional form, is nothing other than a result arising from the images of the astral body and the interplay of forces in the etheric body. Therefore, no one can understand the physical body without first knowing the astral and etheric bodies. The astral body is the precursor to the etheric body, and the etheric body is the precursor to the physical body. That is how complex the matter is.

[ 18 ] The three semicircular canals are a physical organ, just like the nose; all noses are different from one another, but you can find a resemblance between the noses of parents and their children. If you were to study the three semicircular canals in humans, you would find that there is just as much diversity and similarity here as there is with noses, and that a person can resemble their mother or father just as much with regard to these canals. What is not inherited is the deepest spiritual essence, the eternal, which passes through human incarnations. What we call specific talents and abilities does not originate in the brain. Logic is no different in mathematics than it is in philosophy or in practical life. Differences in abilities only arise when logic is applied to fields that have their organ of perception, for example, in the semicircular canals. Thus, mathematics expresses itself particularly strongly in people who have developed precisely these organs to a high degree. An example of this is the Bernoulli family, which has produced a succession of great mathematicians. No matter how many aptitudes for music or other abilities an individual may possess—if they are not born into a human body that can bequeath the necessary forms and organs, they cannot fully realize these abilities.

[ 19 ] So you see that you cannot truly understand the physical world unless you understand how it was created. The Rosicrucian does not see his task as withdrawing from the physical world. That would be a terrible thing, for his task is precisely to spiritualize the physical world. He must ascend to the highest realms of spiritual life and, with the insights he gains there, work actively within the entire physical world—and especially within human beings. This is the Rosicrucian mindset, which arises directly from wisdom as a logical consequence. Let us consider such a system of wisdom that can help us understand even the smallest things. And let us bear in mind that the smallest thing in the world is of the greatest importance, and that the smallest thing, when placed in the right place, can lead to the greatest goal.