The Rudolf Steiner Archive

20. Esoteric Christianity

[ 1 ] I do not teach; I merely recount my experiences in higher realms. For an occultist, there are no dogmas. The fundamental tenets of the various religions are partial truths that view a single truth from different perspectives. Just as when climbing a mountain one obtains different views of the surroundings from various heights and only gains a comprehensive view of the entire landscape upon reaching the summit, so too does one attain the whole truth only when one has reached the pinnacle of spiritual development. The exoteric religions provide only a part of the truth, to the extent that the human mind can grasp it. The esoteric aspect of the great world religions, including that of Christianity, points to one of the paths for reaching the pinnacle of truth. Christian teaching is intended solely to serve as an impetus for the future development of humanity. In the first centuries of Christianity, what had already become exoteric in the older religions and philosophical systems was taught as esoteric doctrine.

[ 2 ] I do not intend to present a history of Christianity here, but only to discuss the esoteric teaching that for centuries formed the basis of exoteric Christianity and still exists today. Christian esotericism can be traced back to Dionysius, the friend and colleague of Paul, who headed an esoteric school in Athens where instruction was given only orally. The writings of Pseudo-Dionysius contain only exoteric teachings. The Mysteries of Jesus, in which the Master Jesus appeared as a hierophant and in which Christian initiation took place, persisted for centuries, guided and inspired by him.

[ 3 ] The Christian mysteries served primarily to develop the inner emotional life, whereas the ancient mysteries were based mainly on the development of knowledge and wisdom. Through the development of the inner emotional life, the Christian mysteries led to a direct vision of the higher worlds. To achieve this, certain feelings had to be developed in the student.

[ 4 ] First: Christian humility. The student had to become clearly aware that his existence depends on the lower kingdoms. Just as the plant springs from the earth and the animal feeds on the plant, so too is the human being dependent on animals, plants, and inorganic substances for his physical development. The student had to bow down in humility before animals, plants, and minerals and say to each of them: “I thank you for making my existence possible.”—When this feeling of Christian humility came alive within him, a state of consciousness arose in him that is symbolically represented by Christ’s washing of the feet of the twelve apostles, as described by John (Chapter 13).

[ 5 ] Second, he had to learn to remain unshakable in the midst of suffering, pain, and the bitterness of life. When this feeling becomes clear, it reveals itself as the state of consciousness known as the scourging. While the first vision felt as if one were being washed by water, the second vision brought a sharp pain that cut through the physical, etheric, and astral bodies.

[ 6 ] Third, in order for these inner feelings to manifest even more strongly, the student had to imagine that the most beloved and sacred thing he possessed was being showered with scorn and ridicule. Without wavering, he had to watch the truth he loved being dragged through the mud. If these feelings were genuine and true, coupled with the inner strength of the soul, then this manifested as a piercing pain in the head, symbolized by the crown of thorns.

[ 7 ] Fourth, the student had to realize that his body was not his self, that his body was an external entity that he carried, just as he carries other things. To do this, he had to feel the pain of others as his own. He had to regard his body as an instrument through which he could serve others. He was not to flee from the world, but rather to carry his body—as a powerful instrument for bearing the suffering of the world—throughout the world. This was symbolized—as seen in an astral vision—in the carrying of the cross and in the crucifixion. During intense meditation on this, the stigmata appeared: bloodstains on his right breast, hands, and feet.

[ 8 ] Fifth, the mystical death occurred of its own accord: the sensory world sinks into a bottomless abyss, and impenetrable darkness envelops the disciple. A soundless silence surrounds him, a terrifying cold overtakes him, and an impenetrable veil conceals the entire world. Out of nowhere, the night side of life rises; he experiences everything that has sunk to the depths of life; he descends into hell. This is symbolized by the tearing of the curtain in the temple; the spiritual world behind the world of appearances emerges. He now knows what heaven is; this is the mystical death.

[ 9 ] Sixth comes the burial. We cannot separate our physical bodies from the Earth on which we live. Because we can walk about on Earth, we succumb to the illusion that we are independent of it. We cannot separate ourselves from the Earth, from our fellow human beings, or from the other planets to which we are connected through our finer bodies. The burial served as a symbol of this: our body was laid into the bosom of the Earth.

[ 10 ] Seventh, the Resurrection and Ascension symbolize experiencing without the mediation of the physical body—union with the higher spiritual world.

[ 11 ] Christian esotericism thus encompasses all human emotions; it is entirely based on the development of the emotional life as the necessary counterpart to the ancient mysteries, which aimed at the development of the intellect. The principle of initiation also undergoes a process of development. As long as a person lives in the sensory world, they are connected to all the realms of nature through the physical body; the etheric body holds the physical body together; the astral body is shared by humans and the animal kingdom; it is the seat of passions and desires. The fourth member of the human being is the crown of creation. Only humans possess the “I,” the “I-bim,” the ineffable name of God. One can only say “I” to oneself. It is the [divine] spark, a “drop of the divine substance.”

[ 12 ] During the pre-Christian initiation, the etheric body was separated from the physical body for three and a half days—something that otherwise occurs only at the moment of death; one was both dead and not dead. The etheric body, connected to the astral body and the “I,” underwent the initiation. This momentous event left a lasting impression on the etheric body. The astral body was transformed through meditation and concentration and made capable of transmitting the impression of the etheric body to the physical brain through clairvoyance.

[ 13 ] Christian initiation takes place in a different way. The great power of the emotional world imprinted a whole range of human emotions upon the etheric body without inducing a state of lethargy or separation from the physical body. It was, so to speak, a natural sleep in which consciousness remained awake—a kind of apparent death. In the Christian esoteric school, the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John was used as a book for meditation. The Gospel of John had to be lived through there; especially the first chapter up to the fourteenth verse. Logos meditation awakens a special power—a power that must be lived through, that cannot be grasped by the intellect, a power that completely transforms the soul.

[ 14 ] Was reincarnation a Christian doctrine? In the esoteric school, reincarnation was always taught, as Peter, James, and John attest, but it was no longer taught in the exoteric tradition. Humanity had to undergo an incarnation without knowledge of reincarnation. The downside of this soon became apparent in the absolute importance attached to this one life [in light of] heaven and hell and the eternal torments of hell. But this was a necessary stage in the evolution of humanity during its deepest descent into the material world.

[ 15 ] Christian esotericism has a powerful foundation, only a faint glimmer of which penetrates the outside world through the works of the Christian mystics Meister Eckhart, [Johannes] Tauler, and Jakob Böhme. Tauler and his work The Layman and the Stranger from the Oberland offer only a faint glimpse into the secret teachings of Christian esotericism.