The Rudolf Steiner Archive

32. Introduction to Theosophy VII

[ 1 ] Slowly and gradually, what took place in embryonic form on Golgotha will unfold. This Mystery built a bridge from the past to the future: the spiritual life of humanity was completely transformed. This is expressed particularly clearly in two great thinkers who prepared the way for Christianity: Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. To understand them properly, it is necessary to take a look at the ancient mystery traditions, where the highest knowledge attainable was taught. Without this perspective, it is impossible to thoroughly understand such unique personalities. As we know, all peoples had what were called mysteries. Here we will discuss only their basic features. The mysteries were institutions that encompassed both church and school. What was first imparted there was the teaching about the origin of creation and its continuation—but not a dry doctrine like the modern theory of creation, rather a knowledge that led all the way to clairvoyant perception. In the true Mysteries, there was no separation between faith and knowledge. They were divided into higher and lower Mysteries. In the latter, the evolution of the Earth was described in magnificent imagery, so that everything was steeped in and permeated by art and beauty. Art, religion, and knowledge were all drawn from the same source.

[ 2 ] Those who wished to advance even further were given elementary and general exercises. What we today call theosophical knowledge was, at that time, merely a preparation. This was accompanied by exercises such as those we have described in previous lectures, although of a different nature—neither Christian nor Rosicrucian. For many years, the astral body was organized in this way. Then the following occurred, though it is no longer necessary today due to changed circumstances: When the hierophant saw that the astral body had matured sufficiently, the initiate was placed in a death-like state for three and a half days, like the body of Lazarus. On this occasion, his etheric body was also almost completely separated from the physical body, along with the other higher bodies. During these three and a half days, the disciple had visions of the spiritual world. He was enlightened, was able to ascend to the highest regions, and could see everything pertaining to the past and the future. Once the three and a half days were over, the disciple was awakened, and he was then able to recount what happens in the higher realms. He had been able to see how the guiding Spirit of our evolution, the Christ, would one day likewise undergo the same process and lie in the tomb for three and a half days. Through this fact, the Mysteries became a historical reality. The Mystery of Golgotha was the culmination of what took place in the lower mysteries. In it, what had previously been only a hunch became a real fact. Through the exercises of imagination and so on, the student’s “I” had transformed his astral body; but through the Mystery of Golgotha, his etheric body was also transformed. The portion of the astral body that had been transformed became the Manas, the spiritual self—the actual spirit—the higher “I.” The portion of the etheric body that is transformed forms the Budhi, the life spirit. Afterward, the student attempts to transform his physical body as well, through which Atma arises—Atma = breath—because, in reality, the transformation of the physical body occurs through special breathing exercises. Only through the emergence of Budhi can a human being recognize and behold the Christ as a spiritual being.

[ 3 ] Why did the astral body have to be removed first? Because if it had remained connected to the physical body, it would not have had the power to imprint impressions on the etheric body. Christ, however, has freed us from this three-and-a-half-day trial, and through him the exercises mentioned above have also become possible without the intervention of the hierophant. We see the first example of this in Saul, when he became Paul. We must view what happened to him on the road to Damascus as something similar to an initiation. Those few moments were sufficient for him because he had attained maturity in his previous life. The points of connection with what one has learned in previous incarnations may be separated by intervals of several incarnations, but they may also appear only late in a single life.

[ 4 ] This explains why Saul’s conversion—that is, his integration with his prior development—took place at a relatively mature age. In addition, Paul did not need to ascend into the higher worlds to behold the Christ, as would have been necessary for another initiate in pre-Christian times. From then on, the Christ was on Earth, intimately connected with the Earth’s astral body. A clairvoyant observer who could have watched from another star would have seen the great transformation brought about by the Mystery of Golgotha. In the past, one had to learn and comprehend everything within the mysteries in order to attain knowledge. Now things unfold differently, and Augustine and Thomas Aquinas are evidence of this. Before their time, it would have been futile to discuss the spiritual hierarchies, because no one who was not initiated could perceive them. This inability to perceive was due to the fact that as early as six hundred years before our era, the mysteries had ceased and initiations were no longer taking place. In place of the true Mysteries came the schools of philosophy, and philosophy was substituted for initiation. However, philosophy was not always such an abstract system as it is today; on the contrary—especially in the beginning—it was a more or less perfect reminiscence of the Mysteries. Aristotle is the last from whom we have such a philosophy; in him, however, the echo of the Mysteries has already been reduced to the bare minimum. After Aristotle, it even reached the point where it was completely forgotten that all philosophy can be traced back to the wisdom of the Mysteries. Later on, we have only an infiltration of abstract concepts—something like a thatched roof. The first step forward is marked by the Mystery of Golgotha. Until then, human faculties—such as reason—were underdeveloped. Human beings could make no progress because their intellect was bound to the sense organs. The time was to come when their intellect could develop independently. For with mere intellect alone, it would have been impossible to comprehend what took place on Golgotha. But when Christ left the physical world, countless replicas of his etheric and astral bodies came into being, destined to be woven into the bodies of those who were suited to spread Christianity. One of these was Augustine, who, as he descended into physical existence to incarnate once more and sought to form a new etheric body, had one of these replicas of the Christ’s etheric body woven into his own etheric body. Thus he came to find within himself the sources of his teaching on the true form of Christian mysticism. But because he possessed only the etheric body of Christ within himself, his “I” was subject to error, and he could become a plaything of the passions. Thus Augustine developed his “I,” but also fell into errors and went through all the stages of doubt regarding the teachings of Christ. It was like a form of higher materialism in his case; for even then the error of wanting to materialize everything already existed. Only those who free themselves from this can understand the things of the spirit. When Augustine finally found Christianity in the words of John and Paul, the etheric body of Christ began to work within him. For he speaks not of the physical body, but of the etheric body, which is the same as what he calls the “soma.” He speaks of the astral body as the “Sin,” and of the “I” he says that it can rise within him through purification. He calls the transformation of the astral body “the grasping of truth,” and that of the etheric body he calls “the delighting in and enjoying of spiritual things.” And he speaks of the highest degree of spiritualization as “Vision.” The writings of Augustine are a good preparation for us, because they depict the inner development of the mystic. The moment in which he enters the spiritual world is clearly recognizable. Augustine is the best interpreter of the Epistles of Paul.

[ 5 ] Let us now consider the other great figure of Christianity: Thomas Aquinas. If we compare him with Augustine, we see that he was not, like Augustine, ensnared by errors, and that from childhood onward he had known neither doubt nor unbelief, because judgment and conviction have their seat in the astral body, and he had had the astral body of Christ woven into his own. The implantation of any principle into a human body can only take place when an external event alters the natural course of things. For when Thomas was still a child, lightning struck nearby and killed his little sister. This physical event—only seemingly physical—made him capable of receiving the astral body of Christ into his own.

[ 6 ] Thomism coincides with the period in which the human intellect, as we know it, took shape. The strongest impetus for this development came from Arabism, which was a true intellectual science, whereas the ancient sages knew the reason why they were able to perceive directly. Aristotle was well-suited for assimilating the new philosophy, since he had already preferred the work of the intellect to the wisdom of the mysteries. The latter then disappeared completely with Arabism, which was nothing more than pure intellectual speculation. It leads one, at most, to a rationalistic pantheism of concepts—but it goes no further than this idea of a unified whole. Thomas embraced the intellectual science available to him, yet left the knowledge of revelation unchanged and employed dialectics to comprehend it. Everything is contained in the New Testament, so that Thomas need only add his refined science to what is expounded there. Scholasticism, which is so little appreciated today, made this intellectual science possible, as well as the ascent back to the divine thought through progressive dialectics. Scholasticism comes from the Greek “scole” [meaning, note], which was mistakenly translated as “scuola” = school. The scholastic system is the most perfect logical fabric. In this way, we find in Thomas, reimagined anew, the pre-creational divine thoughts—free from error and delusion—as they could only have been conceived in a monastic cell, far removed from the clamor of the world. The man of the world is in a hurry to understand, to quickly adopt a view, and to simplify everything. But the divine is not so simple! With Thomas Aquinas, human thought rises to new heights. He is no less a mystic than a scholastic. For he was able to offer such descriptions because he saw the spiritual hierarchies as the seer Dionysius the Areopagite presented them to us, and in his long nocturnal meditations before the altar, he was able to solve the most difficult problems. Thus, within him are united the mystic and a thinker as brilliant as a diamond, unclouded by the senses.

[ 7 ] According to him, there was no further expansion of these concepts. Even the concept of evolution can already be found in Aristotle—and perhaps even described more clearly there. We have already mentioned how everything can be found in the New Testament. For it contains the seed of mysticism, and we have seen how this seed has matured and how an infinite number of treasures have been unearthed from the Gospels. Today we have theosophy; later, other spiritual waves will come, and new treasures will be rediscovered in the Gospels. The Book of Revelation brings the future of the Earth to a close.

[ 8 ] Today I wanted to show you how the liberation of the intellect was the first stage of Christianity. This is just like a single leaf, but new leaves will continue to sprout from the mighty plant of Christianity, one after another. The blossom will be the total beauty of the earth, renewed through Christianity; the fruit will be the new world, for which today’s earth is the preparation. Christ allows Himself to be found by those who seek Him, just as He taught, just as He still teaches, and just as He will always teach until the end.