The Rudolf Steiner Archive

4. On the Inauguration of the St. Francis of Assisi Chapter

[ 1 ] We are gathered here today to consecrate our anthroposophical branch in Malsch. Although this branch has been fully active for quite some time, it is only today that we are able to perform the opening consecration for this branch.

[ 2 ] For this celebration, our dear anthroposophical friends from the most diverse regions of our anthroposophical endeavor have gathered, thereby demonstrating their desire to unite their anthroposophical feelings and thoughts with that earnest, hard-working group of people who—one might say, tucked away in the mountains, yet at the same time surrounded by all the beautiful, great, and noble forces of nature—will develop anthroposophical life. Those of you who have let your gaze wander around the surroundings of this hospitable house in Malsch will have seen that much work has also been done on the exterior, so that even in its outward appearance it may be evident that the spiritual life which animates us all is to find a particularly vivid expression here on this spot of earth.

[ 3 ] And when we look back on the beginnings of our anthroposophical life at the founding of our German Section—in which Malsch played a part—when we look back on the humble beginnings of our life in the German Section, where we started with a small group of people enthusiastic about spiritual science, and then let our gaze wander to events such as those of today and see how numerous are the souls who unite with us in spiritual-scientific feelings and sensations, then we may indeed look back with satisfaction on the past years of our endeavors.

[ 4 ] And the Stockmeyer family, who have gone to great lengths here in this little corner of the world to cultivate this spiritual life—amidst the spirits of nature that are, admittedly, very conducive to it—can in turn look on with satisfaction as so many genuine, true friends have hurried to their hospitable little corner of the earth; for all anthroposophical friends may be called genuine, true friends. For anthroposophy must, above all, be truth in our hearts. And truth is sincerity. Anthroposophy must therefore be sincerity and anthroposophical friendship, which is expressed in the shared celebration of such a festival, such a dedication ceremony. All of this must be steeped in sincerity. Friendship rooted in sincerity connects us with those who have worked so diligently here to ensure that this, too, becomes a field of anthroposophical activity. And the hearts of all who have come here will be filled with gratitude for what the Stockmeyer family has accomplished right here, and they can be assured of the genuine sincerity of these grateful feelings—of anthroposophical gratitude.

[ 5 ] On the other hand, the very success of such a dedication ceremony, with its numerous souls in attendance, shows that spiritual science is a powerful magnet for human striving in our time. And perhaps it is fitting to mention at such a consecration festival that we can indeed look out beyond the spaces that surround us today—so beautifully embraced by the spirits of magnificent nature—and that we may look out into the rest of the world. One may say: spiritual scientific life and striving are truly something today that appears to be imbued with an inner necessity. It is truly as if many of the pages of the ancient cultures—which sustained European and Western humanity throughout the millennia, and which gave this humanity security and strength for life—were now beginning to wither, appearing cold and sober to human hearts. That is why we see how a longing for spiritual science is alive today in many areas of life. And truly, there is something like a force of the future in what has been unfolding around me in recent days, as I speak to you here.

[ 6 ] Now I am permitted to convey the words of our great proclaimers of the new wisdom, the words of our Masters of Wisdom and the Harmony of Feelings, here in this place—a place surrounded by green trees and the burgeoning life of nature, by the magnificent, life-giving, and spirit-infused sunlight that shines down so favorably upon our beloved celebration today. Today, this may take place.

[ 7 ] And just a few days ago, I had the opportunity to speak in the same spirit during a series of lectures far away from here. I was able to speak as part of a series I gave in Rome. And it is precisely this fact that so truly symbolizes to me the magnetic pull of the pursuit of spiritual science. The setting where I was to speak was quite different from those who also carry a longing for spiritual science in their hearts—even if that longing is sometimes still quite unclear. On ground where, in fact, only cardinals have set foot in matters of the spirit—only those who act from the most positively orthodox Catholicism—on this very ground, the free breath of a spiritual scientific worldview was permitted to be proclaimed in recent days. The same word was allowed to resound through the air of those very rooms where, in fact, only the message from the orthodox center of Rome had ever been proclaimed.

[ 8 ] Thus we see that the free spirits of the present day, who here in the north feel drawn to anthroposophy, can nevertheless look with a certain satisfaction upon those souls who yearn to break free from an old tradition that holds them as if with iron chains, from an old orthodoxy. And it is, after all, a sign of the times that it was possible to speak just as freely and impartially about anthroposophical truths on the very ground where, until now, only cardinals have spoken—just as we do here on this free Nordic soil.

[ 9 ] For what was said earlier is true: Anthroposophy is sincerity. And wherever it is called upon, wherever souls need it, there it goes. But at no moment will it, out of any consideration for the environment in which it is proclaimed, deviate even in the slightest from the great guiding principle that inspires us in our proclamation.

[ 10 ] Wherever the anthroposophical truth is proclaimed, wherever the spiritual—which pulses through us—is nurtured: this message should be proclaimed in the light of sincerity, even where it is still surrounded by the thoughts of those who hate anthroposophy. Yet even in the midst of those who hate anthroposophy, there live souls who, more or less consciously, still yearn for the light of anthroposophy. And so it is precisely such a contrast—as I have experienced over the past fourteen days—that can show us just how powerful a magnet anthroposophical life is.

[ 11 ] If, as the observation of the immediate present teaches us, this anthroposophical force is a powerful one in the present, then the observation of the course of history teaches us all the more that we may hope with joyful and satisfying confidence that what we are planting today as small seeds will unfold into a mighty tree in the future. As theosophists today, we find ourselves in a situation that can only be compared to the situation in which humanity found itself in the ancient Atlantean era. And just as life has changed since that time, so too will life change again in the not-too-distant future—even to the point of a catastrophe. But let this grand perspective come before our souls.

[ 12 ] Let us recall a similar movement that began on a small scale, like our own, in the last third of the Atlantean epoch. At that time, the spiritual life of the Atlanteans had reached its zenith. In many respects, this spiritual life was still one of clairvoyance. What humanity has since attained is self-awareness—that is, a strong sense of self. The Atlanteans did not yet possess this sense of self, this self-awareness. Instead, Atlantean humanity possessed a certain clairvoyance and certain magical powers. The Atlanteans could look into the spiritual world. And it was those who had led civilization who were best able to look into the spiritual world in the old way—those who could bring forth the most knowledge from the astral realm. For little by little, this clairvoyance faded away. Humanity as a whole had to lose it in order to gain self-awareness in the physical external world. But in the final third of the Atlantean era, clairvoyant knowledge had risen to a particularly high level.

[ 13 ] You recall what the actual technology of the Atlanteans was like. The Atlanteans traveled across the Earth in small airships, flying close to the ground, because the air was filled with dense masses of fog. And for this sea of air and water, they had their small vehicles, which they propelled using the power of sprouting plants. Those who achieved the greatest feats in this technology were the people who can be compared to our great industrialists of today—those who build sophisticated machines using non-living forces. And those who were best able to convey messages from the spiritual world were those who can be compared to those who [today] are our scholars and natural scientists, who march at the forefront of education.

[ 14 ] But within this humanity, another humanity was taking shape—one that possessed only limited clairvoyant powers but, in return, the ability to observe the external world with love. The first elements of arithmetic and counting were taking shape. But they could participate only to a limited extent in the great advances of Atlantean industry, in the construction of the mighty and ever-mightier vehicles that plied the sea of air and water. And so, precisely in the last third of the Atlantean era, a small, unassuming group of people had emerged who were, in a certain sense, looked down upon, for they possessed little clairvoyance and were largely unable to participate in this great industry. Yet they laid the groundwork for the knowledge that is ours today—the knowledge of which the outer world is so proud in our time, having developed it in a one-sided manner.

[ 15 ] Among those people who stood at the pinnacle of Atlantean civilization—who had mastered everything that could be learned from Atlantean knowledge, and who had advanced the farthest in the mastery of Atlantean technology—a technical idea first emerged toward the end of the Atlantean era, an idea that has since borne fruit in our own time. We can compare it to another advancement in our own time—one that will extend beyond the next catastrophe. During their heyday, the Atlanteans had vehicles that traveled through the water-laden air. But later, when Atlantean culture was already in decline, the need arose to navigate the waters as well. And among the later civilizations of the Atlantean era, the idea of seafaring—the conquest of the water—emerged. This was a tremendous idea that made a profound impact in the ancient Atlantean era. And it caused an immense sensation in Atlantean life when, for the first time, a vehicle not only rose into the air and traversed the atmosphere but also sailed across the surface of the water and the sea. An idea that had an immensely sensational impact, and which was brought to reality by the last Atlantean races. Long attempts were made to travel on the open water. Then they succeeded. This was achieved during the time when Atlantean culture was in decline.

[ 16 ] Among those who participated in this tremendous progress, it was not possible to recruit the ordinary people who were initially endowed with the abilities for the physical world and who were to carry over the true spiritual life from the Atlantean era into our own time—the spiritual life: plain, simple people who had retained the least remnants of clairvoyance, yet still enough to serve as messengers from the spiritual world. At that time, a great initiate—whom we call the Great Initiate of the Solar Oracle—gathered around him people with this spiritual capacity. These were the people who had retained the fewest technical skills, and upon whom those at the top looked down with scorn. All those who were the great researchers and explorers looked down with contempt upon this small group. But it was they whom the Great Initiate of the Solar Oracle led from west to east, through Europe to Asia. And it was this small group that then made it possible for the post-Atlantean cultures to be established.

[ 17 ] For the best that the various cultures went on to develop—the mighty tree of post-Atlantean civilization—sprang from the descendants of the despised, simple people of the Atlantean era. Above all, something else emerged from among those who were the descendants of this simple little group. Let us juxtapose the external events with the internal events of our development.

[ 18 ] Let us consider the great sensation of the Atlantic era, when the invention was made by the subrace whose descendants were the Phoenicians: let us consider seafaring. What did seafaring bring about?

[ 19 ] We need only recall the great events of the dawn of the modern era—the achievements of Columbus and the other navigators, the great voyages of discovery that could not have taken place without seafaring—and we will see that this sensation led to the gradual conquest of the Earth’s physical plane. The Earth has, so to speak, become a closed system. The post-Atlanteans were confined to small circles. But the invention of ships has rounded out the Earth into a closed entity on the physical plane. Thus, the sensational invention of the Atlantean world extends into our time and helps to bring about great progress on the physical plane.

[ 20 ] The greatest achievement, however, emerged in the post-Atlantean era from those who were the successors of that simple band gathered around the great Initiate of the Solar Oracle. And after these simple people had prepared the way—through their own development of Indian, Persian, Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and our own culture—the Earth was able to provide the material into which the Christ could be born. And so the greatest spiritual event, the greatest spiritual deed of the post-Atlantean era, arose from the people who belonged to the most despised social strata among those who marched at the forefront of civilization in Atlantis. From this arose the great spiritual progress that sustains, supports, enriches, and permeates all spiritual life in our time.

[ 21 ] We see something similar unfolding in our own time. We see how those abilities that were in their earliest stages in Atlantis—arithmetic, counting—how these skills are all being developed today into a marvelous conquest of the physical plane through all manner of technical advances. Today we see the great inventors and discoverers applying—in a certain sense at the pinnacle—precisely those powers that first sprouted among a despised handful of people in the Atlantean era. And what was clairvoyant knowledge back then, in the Atlantean era, is today knowledge of nature; today it is knowledge of the physical world. And our present-day natural scientists and scholars can be compared to the pinnacles of Atlantean civilization. But even today there is once again a humble class of people, indistinguishable from others in their social standing, spread far and wide, who possess in their hearts that powerful magnet that draws them toward spiritual life—just as it once drew them toward life in the outer faculties of the physical plane.

[ 22 ] There is, however, a certain difference. While back then the last remnants of clairvoyance still existed, they were able to recognize the great Initiates. Today, people have an even harder time in a certain respect. Today, a call from the spiritual world resounds to a similarly small group—a call we refer to as the call of the Masters of Wisdom and Harmony of Feelings. But because people today are focused on the physical plane, the Masters of Wisdom and Harmony of Feelings remain, for the time being, something unknown to the small core of people emerging from the great masses. Yet in their hearts, as we can see from the facts of the present, these people sense that there is such a thing as a new spiritual message, one that is meant to influence the future just as the message of that time influenced our present. These people, who today come from all strata of our population, with a longing in their hearts for the spiritual life that is to lay the foundation for future cultures—these people, whom we find everywhere—are precisely the true Theosophists.

[ 23 ] And the true Theosophists are emerging in our time, just as a sensation similar to that of the Atlantean era is emerging in our time.

[ 24 ] At that time, the water was conquered through the greatest advances in technology. The air is being conquered in our time. Admittedly, this conquest will extend into a later epoch. But just as ships in our time have only brought about the conquest of the physical plane, so the airship will lead people into the skies; yet in the skies, the airship travelers will find only matter, only the material. And even if new realms of the physical plane are conquered, and even if what is happening in external technology has a beneficial effect on the outer world, the inner, spiritual life is carried within the hearts of those who feel themselves to be spiritual, who feel filled with that which in the future will lead to a self-aware insight into the spiritual world.

[ 25 ] And those who are leading the way in civilization today, who can be compared to the Atlantean sages and technicians—look out there; they are active as inventors, explorers, scholars, and naturalists. Upon such a small group—which today is gathering to become a new bearer of culture, as it sits here, as it unites in our spiritual science associations—these great researchers and scholars, who uphold external culture, look down again with contempt and scorn. The phenomena of the old Atlantean era are repeating themselves.

[ 26 ] But if spiritual life takes such a strong hold on your hearts that you can compare yourselves with dignity to those who gathered around the great Sun-Initiate, if that same power of confidence lives within you, then in later times you will be the bearers of spiritual life—that life which enables humanity, with its outer, material bodies, to re-enter the spiritual world. Back then, it was the great Initiate who gathered people around him in a similar way; today, it is the Masters of Wisdom and the Harmony of Feelings. Their call goes out to you. And if you feel this way—if you sense your mission through history—then your hearts will grow strong enough to endure what comes from without as scorn and derision from those who call themselves bearers of culture but who cast it upon spiritual science. And when you understand your mission in this way, your thoughts will be strong, and no doubt that comes from without will be able to shake you in your conviction. For your thoughts themselves will be spiritualized by the power that can flow from such an understanding of our mission. And even if we must cast our gaze over millennia and establish ideals that reach far into the future: where such ideals are not established, life is dead; where they are established, life is transformed. Ideals that are indeed drawn from vast spans of time—and which might cause some to feel disheartened—are transformed into a power of the present moment. You will find the strength for even the smallest deed if you are able to draw your ideal from the highest heights. Thus you will stand firm when those who rule the world, with their education, speak with scorn and contempt of the small spiritual science societies in which sit those who “do not wish to go along with today’s culture.” Oh, they do want to be part of it; they appreciate just as much what is gained in the outer, physical world, but they also know that just as a body cannot exist without a soul, neither can an outer culture exist without spiritual life.

[ 27 ] Just as the humanity that has been described—which, as a small group scorned at the time, gathered around the great Initiate—provided, over generations, the material necessary to make Christ possible on Earth, so must today’s anthroposophical humanity once again make it possible to understand Christ fully. Christ descended during the fourth epoch. To understand Christ fully—this will be granted to those who seek to understand him through anthroposophy.

[ 28 ] Why do those who have hitherto been nourished by the positive religions, by the orthodox religions, emerge from a state of vague consciousness—why do they, too, turn to spiritual science? Why do they listen to the anthroposophical message, when until now they have listened only to the Vatican? Why? Can one still say today that anthroposophy is something meant only for those who view the greatest spiritual fact of our age—the fact of the Christ impulse—with indifference? What do these people ask of us? That we tell them who Christ was, what Christ did! They come because those who today call themselves the privileged bearers of Christ’s name cannot tell them who Christ was. That is why they turn to anthroposophy—because it can tell them what Christ is. It is not today’s cultural leaders—who oppose the external tradition associated with this or that religion by denying Christ—who can have any influence on the positive, waning spiritual currents. For those who do not know how to describe what the great Christ is, for those who deny Christ in their spirituality, the old religious currents will prove to be ever stronger in contrast. Only those spiritual movements that place themselves in the midst of those who claim the privilege of the name of Christ—those who know how to describe the true essence of Christ—and those who seek it in a different sense—will gather around them a humanity that carries the future within its bosom. In the face of all religious nihilism, the time-honored religious currents will prove to be stronger.

[ 29 ] We do not view the anthroposophical life in a narrow, dogmatic sense. We do not seek to encompass this anthroposophical life through individual dogmas or isolated statements of knowledge, but rather by recognizing the mission and task of our time. We wish to embrace it in such a way that the true spirit of our time speaks through us, so that the greatest reality of our post-Atlantean era can be expressed through the words of anthroposophy. Then these words will become living life and living power in our souls. Then people will understand what the anthroposophical life is. This cannot be merely proclaimed, but must be lived out from the spirit of our time.

[ 30 ] When we feel this way, our strength grows greater and greater. When we feel this way, we gain the strength to hold fast to our ideal. And then we know how we can uphold this ideal, whether on this or that soil, where an ancient culture yearns for new content, or on this very soil here, where all that is brought about through the daily work of anthroposophy is surrounded by nature and the magnificent, spirit-filled rays of the sun that now shine upon us here. For, whatever external research may tell us, we will once again recognize in the sunbeams that shine upon us here the spirit of these rays. And we will know that when the sun has set, the spirit that lives in the sun will shine into our hearts. We will learn what it means to gaze upon the sun at midnight, to gaze upon the spirit of the sun. And when we comprehend the spirit of the sun, we will see how it has descended and united, as spiritual life, with that which lives as the best in our time. It is necessary that the Christ impulse be understood, that we know how to say who the Christ was. In this regard, humanity is only just beginning. To the same extent that spiritual insight grows, to that same extent will humanity recognize how the Christ impulse has been woven into the fabric of this world.

[ 31 ] One rightly feels this way when a branch is established—one that we are to consecrate, as we are doing here today—and which, arising from a deep need among those united in this branch, has taken a name that is so intimately connected with the entire development of Christianity. Out of a deep need felt by those united in this branch, it has taken the name: the Francis of Assisi Branch. Oh, a profound, spiritual mystery surrounds that Francis of Assisi.

[ 32 ] When Christ descended to Earth, He clothed Himself in the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth—the physical, etheric, and astral bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. For three years, the Christ, the Sun Spirit, lived within the body of Jesus of Nazareth. And when the Mystery of Golgotha took place, many things happened. The Christ descended from the heights to Earth. But apart from what you know, something else also took place. Because Christ dwelt within Jesus of Nazareth, something quite extraordinary occurred with the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth—namely, with the astral and etheric bodies. When Christ laid aside the bodies of Jesus of Nazareth, they remained spiritually present in the spiritual world, but multiplied into many, many images. They did not perish in the world ether or in the astral world, but continued to live on in the spiritual world in the form of images. Just as the seed we plant in the earth appears as many seeds according to the mystery of numbers, so too were the etheric body and the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth present in the spiritual world in the form of images. And what was their purpose within the greater context of spiritual economy? To be preserved and to fulfill their service in the great progress of the human race.

[ 33 ] One of the first to receive the great blessing made possible for humanity by the fact that Jesus’ etheric body existed in the spiritual world in many, many images was the one known as Augustine. When Augustine descended to Earth again after his previous incarnation, he was not woven into just any etheric body, but rather an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into his etheric body. He possessed his own astral body and I. In his etheric body, he had an image of Jesus of Nazareth. He had to work his way through the cultivation of his I and astral body. When he reached the etheric body, the great truths that we encounter in his mysticism came to him. And many people of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries had afterimages of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth woven into their own etheric bodies. Some of those who, in that era, conceived the great Christian vision of those images—which art then so glorified—the Madonna, Christ on the Cross—all those who worked to create these images carried, woven into their etheric bodies, an image of the etheric body of Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore, they relived within themselves what people had experienced at the time of the event on Golgotha.

[ 34 ] And in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, the time had come when, upon the reincarnation of certain souls, an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into their astral bodies. Many people of the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries did not merely receive an astral body upon descending; rather, as their astral body formed during reincarnation, an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth was woven into it. This is why these people were able to proclaim the great Christian truths. For they had woven into their astral bodies—from which their knowledge sprang—that which was an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth himself. Among those who had woven such an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth into themselves was Francis of Assisi. There were many at that time—among them Elizabeth of Thuringia—who had woven [into their astral bodies] an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. That is why they were able to proclaim the great truths of Christianity as judgment, as logical insight, as scientific wisdom. But they could do something else as well: They could experience within themselves what one can feel when one carries the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth within oneself.

[ 35 ] Now let all the humility, the devotion, and the Christian love in Francis of Assisi sink in, and it will fall from your eyes like scales. And you will understand how to comprehend Francis of Assisi: in all his errors, because he had his own ego; in all his greatness, because he bore within himself an image of the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth.

[ 36 ] All those humble feelings, that deep, deep mysticism, all that spiritual and psychological life that dwells within Francis of Assisi becomes understandable when we come to know this mystery of his life. And then we can see a bright future for this branch in the spirit, if it truly grows upward, drawing strength from this great figure of Francis of Assisi. For those who, through such grace as Francis of Assisi, have been called to guide Western Christian humanity, they, too, let their spiritual light shine where spiritual work is being done in every age. And when the Francis of Assisi Branch works in a truly spiritual sense, then within the union of thoughts and feelings that prevail in this Branch, the harmoniously unifying light of Francis of Assisi will prevail—a light he received through the grace described above, as his own astral body became one with the astral body of Jesus of Nazareth. Something of this light of his will shine into this branch.

[ 37 ] And today, as we gather to consecrate this branch—this branch that works in a humble place—we will set aside the proper sentiments of consecration as we allow ourselves to contemplate such perspectives. Let us look up to the light of Francis of Assisi; let us take with us whatever may be kindled within us at this moment, and let us reflect with such feelings on this branch and on this moment; then our feelings and thoughts will also invisibly hover around this branch of Francis of Assisi, within which work will be carried out in such a way that what strives upward from below may prove worthy of the light that enters from without. In such a moment, we become aware that we are here to work for the true, real progress of our post-Atlantean era. And surely, when the need arose to name this branch, there lived within the souls of its founders something of the awareness of this great progress in our time—that great progress in our post-Atlantean era.

[ 38 ] When did the most profound turning point occur in our entire evolution? It was when Christ descended. Let us look back six hundred years before that time, and let us look at the Earth six hundred years later, after Christ had been here. Twelve hundred years separate these two periods.

[ 39 ] Let us look upon a personality so great that truly no words of admiration can be uttered; let us look upon the great Buddha, who lived six hundred years before Christ. Let us look at that moment when he is led out, when he has not been able to live the life he was meant to live, when he is led out into life. Let us see how he first encounters an awkward child. And he forms the insight: Yes, there is suffering in what a human being enters through birth. And then he sees a sick person. And he says to himself: There is indeed suffering—illness. Human beings are exposed to illness on this plane. And he sees an old person who can no longer move his limbs. And he says to himself: It is suffering to grow old. And he sees a corpse. And this evokes in him the insight: Death is suffering. And then he forms yet another insight: Being separated from what one loves is suffering. Being united with what one does not love is suffering. Not attaining what one desires is suffering. And this teaching spread as the teaching of the Great Buddha, six hundred years before Christ.

[ 40 ] Let us pause at that moment when the Buddha steps out into the world and sees a corpse, looking death in the face. That was six hundred years before Christ. And six hundred years after the event at Golgotha, the first image to emerge—the one upon which thousands fix their eyes—is the wood of the cross on which the Savior’s body hangs. The Buddha gazed upon a corpse, and to him that corpse personified all earthly suffering. The believers of the Christian community look upon a corpse, six hundred years after Christ, and, as they gaze upon the corpse, they see the victory of all spiritual life over death, the hope of eternal bliss. Thus, a corpse was gazed upon by one of the greatest men six hundred years before Christ, and thus it was gazed upon six hundred years after the event at Golgotha by a community of believers.

[ 41 ] And what does the event of Christ tell us about the other aspects of suffering? Is birth suffering? Buddha said so. In the presence of Christ, humanity—those who understand him—says to itself: Through birth, we enter this existence, which has been deemed worthy to bear Christ. We are born into a life in which we can unite with Christ. Illness is not suffering if one understands Christ. From the Christ impulse, one will learn to understand that which creates health from within the spirit. In a spiritual way, illness will be healed from within the innermost, Christ-filled life. As we die to the external, we become certain that we carry over into every life that which we possess in union with the Christ impulse.

[ 42 ] Because Christ has triumphed, death appears to us as that which leads us into a spiritual world. Through the Christ impulse, we learn to understand death in its significance for the spiritual world.

[ 43 ] And we can no longer say that it is a suffering to be separated from what we love. For the power of Christ will unite us, soul to soul, with all that we wish to love. The power of Christ will forge bonds between those who love one another. The suffering that might arise from the separation of those who love one another: with Christ, this separation will be overcome.

[ 44 ] And if we learn to love everyone, we will no longer view the world as if being united with that which we do not love were a source of suffering. Let us learn to love every creature according to its own measure. And our desire will be so purified that we may receive what the soul must receive when the obstacles of the physical world are no longer present, when the spiritual springs flow. They can flow through the Christ impulse. In the Spirit, in the Spirit of Christ, you will attain what you desire. For you will have a purified desire.

[ 45 ] Thus, through the Christ impulse, the new spiritual life came to exist alongside the old. Such was the depth of progress in spiritual life before and after the Christ impulse.

[ 46 ] This is what one feels when turning to one of the most joyful, most ardent admirers and ambassadors of the Christ impulse in order to find a name for the association in which spiritual life is to be cultivated. May this name be a good omen, so that in this branch here, work may be carried out in the way that is necessary—based on the spirit of our time, on a true understanding of the spirit of our time—for the progress we have envisioned in our hearts.

[ 47 ] In the spirit that spoke through those words, may this branch be consecrated today by invoking the blessing that we invoked yesterday when we laid the cornerstone of the outer temple. May this Spirit be invoked once more, that it may reign and work within this “Francis of Assisi” branch.

[ 48 ] May all of us who have gathered here today to consecrate this branch unite in this spirit, to join in brotherhood with those who work here in the earnest anthroposophical sense, so that spiritual life may spring forth amidst the trees and the forest, amidst sprouting and budding plants, amidst the sunny embrace of nature. And whether outside the bright rays of the sun proclaim what is beautiful and glorious in nature, or whether outside the snow may lie deep and dense clouds may darken the outer, physical sunlight: At all times—whether when outer nature renews itself or when it dons its somber garb—the spirit of spiritual life shall always reign here, a spirit we wish to call forth today through our consecration of this branch, with the help of all the spirits who guide this spirituality.

[ 49 ] Let this branch of Francis of Assisi be consecrated from the hearts of us all. May it continue to work in the same spirit in which it began, through the spiritual power of the Masters of Wisdom and the harmony of feelings that flows into every branch. May it continue to work through the good spirit it has bestowed upon itself by invoking, in its own name, the radiant Bearer of Christ. May it continue to work as it began.

[ 50 ] Good spirits will watch over him. He will be one of the nurturing places for that life which, according to so many signs, our time needs—needs in order to sow the seeds of what a distant future will require.

[ 51 ] May those who must now once again work here in solitude emerge strengthened from today’s celebration, where so many like-minded, sincere friends unite their feelings with theirs! Then the spiritual life that is cultivated here on this ground will flow back to everyone. And may one of the springs also flow forth here in this place, merging into the great harmony of anthroposophical life. The thoughts that arise here will meet ours. Our thoughts will flow here. This harmony, however, signifies something like an outer garment of spirituality, which must pass through the evolution of humanity like a spiritual breath of wind if blessings are to reign over spiritual humanity.

[ 52 ] And with that, this branch is, in the fullest sense of the word, opened, consecrated, and made into a field of work—one that we always hope to be able to view with the same love and the same inner satisfaction as we do today at this moment of consecration, when we are gathered together so beautifully.