The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. On the Proper Relationship to Anthroposophy

[ 1 ] What is often said in the various lectures on the cycles that unfold in multiples of seven is not mere rhetoric; it truly corresponds to a law of existence. Now that we have completed a seven-year cycle in the life of our spiritual science movement, it may be said that we should actually take a few moments to reflect a little on our entire endeavor, on all our work. After all, this work is only possible if the spiritual movement proceeds in such a way that, so to speak, its inner laws contain something of the laws of the great world order. The world order unfolds in cycles that can be calculated according to the number seven. We count seven planetary states, seven states within the planetary worlds, and so on. But even in a movement such as ours, the number seven plays a certain role, and in a sense, after seven years, the endeavor returns to its beginning, having in the meantime incorporated what has been achieved. The striving returns to its beginning once more on a higher level. Such a thing can only be achieved if the deeper, inner laws of the matter are not disregarded.

[ 2 ] If you look back a little on how we have worked over these seven years, you will notice one thing: there really was a certain regularity to this work. Of course, you cannot take what is being said here literally, day by day, but if you take the essence of it, you will see that this is indeed the case. In the first four years of our work, we laid, so to speak, the foundations of our work. In those first four years, we gained a certain understanding of the nature of the human being, a certain understanding of the paths that lead up to the higher worlds, and we gained some insight into the great cosmic connections—into what might be called the examination of the findings of the Akashic Records in relation to the mysteries of the world.

[ 3 ] Those of our members who joined later have always needed—and will always need—to acquire this solid foundation of our endeavors, which is indispensable. For it is by no means sufficient merely to assimilate what has taken place in the last three years in order to properly enable a movement to progress. If you take a moment to look back, you will see that in the last three years, even those truths and insights that may have struck you as somewhat surprising in recent years have, in a certain sense, been further developed. If you try to establish a connection with what has been cultivated during the first four years of our work—in the fourfold foundation of the whole, so to speak—you will see that even what was startling, what are great, comprehensive truths, has an intimate connection with what took place in the first four years. You will be able to convince yourselves of this if you look within yourselves. The younger members should take it very much to heart that they must by no means neglect to lay a solid foundation within themselves. Indeed, wherever work is being done, more and more care is being taken to ensure that those who join later can catch up on what has been developed here in the early years. Without this catching up, it is actually impossible to truly keep pace. We must take the spiritual science movement utterly seriously in the deepest sense. In this context, perhaps we may speak today about a topic—particularly in relation to our important period—that concerns more the attitude and the entire spiritual way of thinking: What is the right way for an anthroposophist to approach spiritual science itself?

[ 4 ] What is meant by this will become much clearer to us if we phrase the question a little differently, if we ask it this way: Why, after all, is anthroposophy taught today in the way it is? Why are messages conveyed about the higher worlds—messages that are the results of spiritual research and clairvoyant consciousness? Could it not perhaps be the case that a completely different approach would be taken—that one might begin by giving everyone certain instructions on how to develop their own inner abilities, which lie dormant in the soul, so that, through these instructions, they would, so to speak, be given the opportunity to gradually ascend into the spiritual worlds on their own, even before receiving any information—as happens today—about what the facts in the higher worlds actually are? It must be said that, in a certain sense, this was the custom in the past; it was so before our spiritual scientific movement in the modern sense of the word. For a long time, it was said: It doesn’t really do much good when someone steps forward before the world and communicates the results of spiritual research. - And people behaved as cautiously as possible with regard to such communications. They actually limited themselves to giving people certain rules on how to develop the abilities slumbering within their souls, and then, essentially, did not let them know any more than what they had slowly acquired for themselves through their own direct perception in the higher worlds. The question might now arise: Why is this path not followed exclusively today, but why is Anthroposophy—based on the results of spiritual research—being communicated?

[ 5 ] This did not arise from any human preference or whim, but there are good reasons for it. And we will better understand what we ought to understand if we keep asking ourselves: What does this spiritual science actually reveal? It reveals facts and truths from the realm of the higher, supersensible worlds; it reveals what clairvoyant consciousness can explore in these higher worlds.

[ 6 ] Now, it is true that the person to whom such messages are conveyed—and who is not clairvoyant himself—cannot, at first, verify the facts as such through direct observation. It is true that they accept the reports and that they cannot, so to speak, verify them through clairvoyant perception. Certainly, that is entirely correct. But it would be entirely wrong to believe that a person who is not a clairvoyant could not verify the insights communicated today at all, or could not understand them at all. To believe that would be entirely wrong, and it would be a mistaken view to claim that one must accept what is communicated from clairvoyant consciousness solely on the basis of good faith or mere authority. There would indeed be something profoundly imperfect in these messages, something deficient, if they were to claim validity solely on the basis of authority or faith alone.

[ 7 ] What is communicated in a lawful manner can—as has often been said—be explored only through clairvoyant consciousness. But once it has been investigated—even by just one person, for all I care—once it has been perceived and communicated, then everyone can understand it through their unbiased reason, through what is accessible to them on the physical plane. And it may well be said: Even if not everyone sitting here always has the opportunity to examine everything immediately in the most comprehensive sense, they could at least create that opportunity for themselves if they had the time and ability—but only abilities of this physical plane—to do so.

[ 8 ] Let us take even such difficult matters as those touched upon here in the recent lectures—the incarnations of Zarathustra— that is, such complex matters relating to the fact that Zarathustra’s astral body passed into Hermes and that Zarathustra’s etheric body passed into Moses—then no one may claim that someone who knows these things through spiritual research is merely calling for blind faith. No, that is by no means the case! If someone were to come and say: “Well, I don’t believe a word of what a clairvoyant says. Someone is making these claims about Zarathustra and his incarnations. I now want to examine everything available to human beings on the physical plane—everything history has handed down, everything contained in stone documents, everything contained in religious texts—I want to examine all of that in the most meticulous way possible. - And such a person would say: “Let’s assume that what he says is correct—does that correspond to the facts that can be objectively verified?” - And then he would investigate everything that can be objectively verified and would see that the more meticulously he proceeds with his research, the more he would find confirmation of the facts communicated by the clairvoyant.

[ 9 ] If the word “fear” had any meaning in this context at all, one might say that research in the humanities might possibly fear an imprecise examination, but not those who wish to make use of everything available to physical research. The latter will see that the more precisely they proceed in their research, the more they will find the facts communicated by the clairvoyant to be confirmed. As for those matters, however, that are not so distant and are not so difficult—those relating to karma and reincarnation, to life between death and a new birth—one need only observe what life offers with an open mind. The more closely one examines this, the more one will find confirmation of what the clairvoyant communicates; that is to say, there are ample opportunities to convince oneself that what is gained from the supersensible worlds finds confirmation in the outer physical world. And this is something that should not be accepted so readily, but rather something we should regard as an indispensable necessity. We should first test the facts—which perhaps only a few are able to investigate—against the reality of life. We should not constantly repeat the phrase: “One must accept this on faith!” — No, accept as little as possible on faith, but test, test—only not with prejudice, but with an open mind! That is what can be emphasized first and foremost.

[ 10 ] But the point is that such an examination, when undertaken, is in a certain sense demanding. It requires thinking; it requires, so to speak, that one put in the work—that one actually engage in the task of finding confirmation in the physical world for what is stated as a result of clairvoyant research. And this brings us to a topic that is certainly worth discussing, one that directly addresses our actual question, namely: Is it necessary—or at least beneficial—for people today, alongside the legitimate aspiration to penetrate the spiritual world themselves, to engage thoroughly and energetically with the ordinary means of knowledge and the ordinary methods of thought of the physical plane? In other words: Is the spiritual student well advised to overcome that complacency which he brings with him in abundance today from the non-spiritual world; is he well advised to overcome that complacency and earnestly expand his world of thought, truly mastering the means by which one can understand human beings even from the physical plane, and making use of them? Is it beneficial for him, above all, to learn a great deal—namely, to learn how to think? It is actually quite difficult to explain clearly and precisely to today’s consciousness what is meant by this.

[ 11 ] It occurred to me that someone who wished to make progress in the field of anthroposophy, but who at the same time wanted to train himself to think spiritual ideas with ever greater precision, might have wanted me to recommend some reading material. I recommended to this person, as a way to train his thinking so that he would become increasingly capable of forming the ideas he received into sharp contours, that he study Spinoza’s Ethics. It took only a few weeks before this person wrote to me: Yes, he didn’t really know why he should study it; for it was a relatively thick book, and everything in it boiled down to proving the existence of God. But he had never doubted that, and therefore did not need to go through lengthy lines of reasoning to prove the existence of God. — You see, this is a perfect example of the complacency with which many people approach spiritual science today. They are, so to speak, quickly satisfied once they have acquired a belief, and they shy away from the effort of gradually acquiring and developing those ideas that are, after all, uncomfortable. But this can never result in anything other than blind faith, whereas you will see that the matter ceases to be blind faith once you truly train your thinking and do not merely greedily strive to develop those powers that lead, so to speak, to an elementary level of clairvoyance.

[ 12 ] Certainly, nothing should be said today against the endeavor to develop the hidden powers within the soul. That is a noble and good endeavor. But on the other hand, it must also be emphasized that this must go hand in hand with the necessity of training—even if in an inconvenient way—the physical powers of thought, those cognitive abilities that are initially given to us here on the physical plane, so that we may be able to form clear images and precise concepts of what is communicated to us from the higher worlds. One might easily believe that even the slightest degree of clairvoyance is better than hearing as much as one might through rational understanding of the facts of the higher worlds. Someone might say: “I don’t even know why I’m in this society. Things about the higher worlds are always being discussed here; that’s all well and good, but I would prefer it if I could see even just a tiny, tiny bit through clairvoyant vision.”

[ 13 ] I know a very learned theosophist who once expressed his fervent longing to go beyond mere scholarship and actually see by saying: “If only I could see the tip of an elemental being’s tail, even just once!” - Certainly, that is understandable. One can certainly understand why someone would say that. This theosophist would never say that he would give up the knowledge of spiritual truths for that. But it can also happen that someone would give them up if, in exchange, he could acquire even a little clairvoyance. And yet, if someone has such a feeling, it is tremendously mistaken—and mistaken in every respect. For we live in an age which, in the evolution of the whole, is the age of conscious thought. As has often been emphasized, the ancient Indian era still fostered an entirely different kind of consciousness, reminiscent of a dim, dull form of clairvoyance. Only gradually have today’s abilities developed, and only with the actual development of the conscious soul have we brought human thinking into the sphere of Earth’s evolution. That is why it must also happen today that spiritual science is brought down from the supersensible world and that it appeals to human rational thought.

[ 14 ] We must first understand the following distinction: In the case of purely visionary clairvoyance, a person does not need to be a particularly deep thinker. Their thinking may be very primitive, and yet they may be relatively advanced in terms of seeing on the astral plane and, to a certain extent, even on the devachanic plane. So they may be quite advanced in that regard; they may see many things. The other possible scenario is that someone knows a great deal about spiritual truths and yet sees nothing at all—is completely incapable of seeing anything, not even, as mentioned, the tip of an elemental being’s tail. That, too, can be the case. Now let us ask ourselves: How do these various abilities of the human soul actually relate to one another?

[ 15 ] Above all, we must emphasize that one must not confuse having something with being aware of what one has. It is immensely important to keep this in mind. You will understand this question correctly if we phrase it slightly differently. You see, you were all clairvoyant in ancient times. For all people were clairvoyant, and indeed there were times when people looked back far, far into the turn of the ages. And now you may ask: Well, why don’t we remember our past incarnations, if we were already able to look back into the turn of the ages?

[ 16 ] This should serve as proof to you of the fact that it did not help you at all in developing this ability—for example, to now recall that you used to be able to look back on your past incarnations. And you might ask the question: So does it actually benefit us in any way for a future incarnation if we now become clairvoyant, for the purpose of recalling past lives? — You can already keep one fact in mind: that the old form of clairvoyance is of no use for looking back today, because you all had that. Why don’t so many people today remember their previous incarnations? The question is extremely important. So many do not remember their past incarnations—even though they were clairvoyant to a greater or lesser extent in earlier times—because back then they had not developed those very abilities that constitute the faculties of the Self, of the “I.” For it is not a matter of having developed clairvoyant abilities, but rather of having truly developed that which is to be seen.

[ 17 ] If people in the past were still so clairvoyant and failed to cultivate precisely those abilities that are the abilities of the “I”—namely, the ability to think, the power of discernment, and those abilities that are unique to the human self on this Earth—then the “I” was not present in their previous incarnations. The sense of self was not present. What, then, is there to remember? One must ensure in the previous incarnation that a self-contained “I” was present. That is what matters! Thus, only those people today who worked in those earlier incarnations using the tools of thinking, logic, and discernment can remember past incarnations. They are the ones who can remember. So no matter how highly developed a person’s clairvoyance may be, if they have not worked in earlier incarnations using the faculties of discernment and logical thinking, they cannot remember a past incarnation. At that time, they did not plant the seed they are meant to recall. You will see that, if one understands anthroposophy, one should realize that one cannot move quickly enough to acquire these very abilities of thorough thinking. Now you might say: If I become clairvoyant, then I will acquire this ability of logical thinking all on my own. — That is not correct. Why did the gods create human beings in the first place? For the reason that they could develop in human beings alone abilities that they could not have developed otherwise: the ability to think, to imagine something in thought, so that these thoughts are bound to discrimination. This ability can only be developed on our Earth; it did not exist at all before; it had to come about precisely through the emergence of human beings.

[ 18 ] If we want to use an analogy, we can say: Let’s suppose you have a seed—a wheat seed, for example. No matter how long you look at it, it won’t turn into wheat. You have to plant it in the ground and let it grow, allowing the forces of growth to act upon it. What the divine-spiritual beings possessed before the formation of humankind can be compared to the wheat seed. If it were to sprout in the form of thoughts, it would first have to be nurtured on the physical plane by human beings. There is no other way to cultivate thoughts from the higher worlds than to allow them to sprout in human incarnations. Thus, what human beings think here on the physical plane is unique and must be added to what is possible in the higher worlds. Humanity was indeed necessary; otherwise, the gods would not have brought it into being. The gods brought humanity into being in order to preserve, even in the form of thought, what they had possessed. Thus, what comes down from the higher worlds would never take on the form of thought at all if human beings were not able to give it that form. And whoever does not wish to think on Earth deprives the gods of what they had counted on, and can therefore not at all achieve what is actually humanity’s task and destiny on Earth. They can achieve it only in an incarnation in which they commit themselves to truly working with their minds. When one considers this, everything else follows from it. Revelations—true facts about the spiritual world—can enter the human soul in the most varied ways. Certainly, it is possible—and in many cases today this is indeed the case—that people attain visionary perception without being sharp thinkers; far more people who are not sharp thinkers attain clairvoyance than those who are sharp thinkers—but there is a great difference between the experiences in the spiritual world of those who are sharp thinkers and those who are not. It is a difference I can express as follows: What is revealed from the higher worlds is best imprinted upon those forms of imagination that we bring as thoughts toward these higher worlds; that is the best vessel.

[ 19 ] If we are not thinkers, then the revelations must take other forms—for example, the form of an image or a symbol. This is the most common way in which those who are not thinkers receive the revelations. And you can then hear from those who are visionary clairvoyants—without also being thinkers—how they recount these revelations through symbols. These are certainly beautiful, but we must at the same time be aware that the subjective experience is different depending on whether you receive revelations as a thinker or as a non-thinker. When you have revelations as a non-thinker, the symbol is there; this or that figure stands there. This is revealed from the spiritual world. Let’s say you see an angelic figure, this or that symbol expressing this or that—for example, a cross, a monstrance, a chalice—it is there in the supersensible realm; you see it as a finished image. You realize clearly: This is not reality, but it is an image.

[ 20 ] In a somewhat different way, even for subjective consciousness, the thinker experiences the impressions from the spiritual world differently than the non-thinker does. They are not, so to speak, suddenly presented there, as if fired from a gun; you have them before you in a different way. Take, for example, a non-thinking visionary clairvoyant and a thinking one. The non-thinking visionary clairvoyant and the thinking visionary clairvoyant would both receive the same experiences. Let us consider a specific case: The non-thinking visionary clairvoyant sees this or that apparition from the spiritual world; the thinking visionary clairvoyant does not see it yet, but somewhat later, and at the moment he sees it, it has already been grasped by his thinking. Then he can already distinguish it; he can already know whether it is true or false. He sees it somewhat later. However, because he sees it a little later, the phenomenon from the spiritual world presents itself to him in such a way that he has already permeated it with thought and can distinguish whether it is an illusion or reality—so that, so to speak, he already possesses it before he sees it. Of course, he has it at the very same moment as the non-thinking visionary clairvoyant, but he sees it a little later. But then, when he sees it, the phenomenon is already imbued with judgment, with thought, and he can know exactly whether it is an illusion, whether his own desires have been objectified, or whether it is objective reality. That is the difference in subjective experience. The non-thinking visionary clairvoyant sees the phenomenon immediately; the thinking one sees it somewhat later. On the other hand, for the former, the vision will remain exactly as he sees it; he can describe it as such. The thinker, however, will be able to place it entirely within the context of what exists in the ordinary physical world. He will be able to relate it to that world. The physical world, just like that vision, is also a revelation from the spiritual world.

[ 21 ] From this you can already see that, by approaching the spiritual world equipped with the instrument of thought, you can be confident in your assessment of what is given to you. But there is more: One might dispute the value of messages from the spiritual world if one has not witnessed the corresponding phenomena oneself. Let us add to the two we have contrasted a third person who is not a clairvoyant at all, but to whom are merely communicated the results of spiritual research, insofar as they are obtained through the path of keen thinking combined with visionary perception. He accepts them and regards them as reasonable. Yes, these are facts from the spiritual world. The visionary, thinking individual possesses them, and so does everyone who has understood them rationally—even if they are not aware of it. You need not be clairvoyant to possess the full value of what you receive as messages within yourselves.

[ 22 ] There is a difference between having something and being aware of what one has. It is very easy to understand the relationship between such a blind spiritual student and a clairvoyant. Imagine you had inherited something but had not yet learned of it. If that were the case—if you had inherited it but were still unaware of it—it would already have its true value for you today. You may not learn until later that you inherited it today, but you possess it nonetheless. The same is true of those who, through anthroposophy, come to know facts about the spiritual world. Once they have grasped them rationally, they possess them and can now wait for the time when they become conscious of them. But this is precisely something that is by no means synonymous with the possession of the facts themselves. This becomes particularly evident after death. What is actually more useful—if we are to use this trivial word to clarify the matter—what is more useful to a person after death: if they see something visionarily without thinking, or if they receive purely spiritual messages without having a vision?

[ 23 ] One might very easily believe that visionary perception is a better preparation for death than merely hearing the facts from the spiritual world. And yet! After death, what a person has merely seen in a vision is of very little use to them. If, on the other hand, there is a fact, they immediately begin to become aware of the messages they have received—provided they have understood them rationally. It is precisely this that has value after death: what one has understood, regardless of whether it was seen or not. And take the most deeply initiated person: through his clairvoyance he can see the entire spiritual world, but that does not increase his significance after death if he is not able to express these facts in human terms. After death, the only things that will help him are the concepts he has formed here. These are the seeds for life after death. Of course, a visionary clairvoyant who is also a thinker can make good use of what he sees in his visions. But two people who do not think—one of whom is clairvoyant and the other merely hears what the first sees—are in exactly the same situation after death; for what we bring with us into the life after death is precisely what we acquire here through the power of keen thinking. That is what takes root as a seed, not what we draw from the worlds into which we enter. We do not receive what we gain from the higher worlds as a free gift so that we may have it more comfortable when we leave the physical plane, but rather so that we may convert it here into the currency of this earth. As much as we have converted into the currency of this earth is what helps us after death. That is the essential point.

[ 24 ] This is how it is with regard to the relationship after death. But even here on the physical plane, the relationship is different for the visionary clairvoyant and for the thinking visionary clairvoyant. Certainly, it is interesting and beautiful to look into the spiritual worlds; but there is nevertheless a difference between merely seeing these spiritual worlds in a visionary way and thinking them through—not to mention that without thinking these things through, one is never safe from delusions. There is no other remedy for delusions than to first think through clearly what has been seen. But even setting that aside: Let us assume that a visionary clairvoyant has seen this or that, just as he sees it—as you can gather from his descriptions—yet it is still permeated by elements of the physical plane. Or has anyone ever described an angel to you who was not permeated by elements of the physical plane? It had wings, but birds have wings, too. It had a human torso, but every human being on the physical plane has a human torso, too. Certainly, the way the things described by the visionary clairvoyant are composed does not exist on the physical plane; but the elements that make them up do exist on the physical plane. The images are indeed composed of elements of the physical plane. That is not without justification. But you can nevertheless infer from this that such an image has an earthly component. What you see in your visions—in forms and images drawn from the physical plane—does not belong to the spiritual world; it is merely a symbolization of the spiritual world using the means of the physical world. I have clearly explained this in An Outline of Esoteric Science. There I explained that, for clairvoyance today, this must indeed go so far that, while it initially has its pictorial nature as a preliminary stage of development, it must not remain there but must advance to the point where even the last earthly remnant of what is beheld is cast off. However, a certain danger does exist for the clairvoyant when he sheds all earthly remnants. If, for example, he sees an angel and sheds everything earthly, there is a danger that he will then see nothing at all. If he omits what has been carried upward in terms of symbolism, then there is a danger that he will see nothing at all. What then prevents one from losing the whole thing when one truly enters the spiritual world is the seed that can sprout from thinking. Thoughts then provide the substance needed to grasp what exists in the spiritual world. Through this, we gain the ability to truly live in the spiritual world—by grasping in our sensory world that which is no longer permeated by elements of the senses and yet remains here on the physical plane. These are thoughts and nothing else. We may bring nothing into the spiritual world other than thoughts; from a circle, for example, nothing of the chalk, but only the thoughts of the circle. With these, you can ascend into the spiritual worlds. You may bring nothing of the image with you.

[ 25 ] Now I can describe the subjective process mentioned earlier in even greater detail. Let us once again assume the case that something—let’s say, for the sake of argument, a monstrance—is seen in the mental field. Now I will characterize the two clairvoyants—the purely visionary one and the reflective one—by assuming that one sees it here, at point a, while the other, the reflective clairvoyant, sees it only here, at point b.

[ 26 ] a———b

[ 27 ] Only now does he become aware of it. But at the same time, he perceives it through his thoughts and can penetrate it with his thoughts. However, the moment the intellectual clairvoyant permeates the form with thought, it becomes indistinct for the visionary clairvoyant; it turns black and indistinct to him—here, b, at this point. It reappears only after some time. Precisely where the thought can connect with the form, it becomes indistinct for the visionary clairvoyant. He is actually never able to connect the thought with it. That is why he never has the experience: “You were there with your ‘I.’” — This experience is something that the purely visionary clairvoyant lacks.

[ 28 ] All of this delves more deeply into the matter, so to speak, and is immensely important to consider; it must lead one to the realization that it is truly necessary to develop one’s thinking and to overcome the complacency that arises from not wanting to acquire cognitive knowledge. It is a thousand times better to have first grasped the spiritual concepts through thought—and then, depending on one’s karma, sooner or later, to be able to ascend into the spiritual worlds oneself—than to see first and not have grasped intellectually what is communicated in the movement known as anthroposophy. It is a thousand times better to know spiritual science and not yet see anything than to see something and not have the ability to penetrate things intellectually as well, because this introduces uncertainty into the matter.

[ 29 ] However, you can express this idea even more precisely by saying: There are sharp thinkers today who can reasonably grasp the spiritual-scientific worldview. Why is it that sometimes these very people find it so difficult to attain clairvoyance? — It is relatively easy for those who are not sharp thinkers to attain visionary clairvoyance, and they then easily become arrogant toward thinking, whereas it is difficult for sharp thinkers to attain clairvoyance. There is a very fine line there, where a certain masked arrogance asserts itself. There is hardly anything that fosters arrogance as much as clairvoyance that is not illuminated by thought, and it is particularly dangerous because the person in question usually has no idea that he is arrogant, but rather considers himself humble. They are completely unable to judge what an immense arrogance it takes to disregard the intellectual work of human beings and to place the greatest value on certain intuitions. Therein lies a disguised arrogance that is monstrous.

[ 30 ] The question now is this: Why is it—as experience teaches us—that it is so incredibly difficult for many a thinker to achieve clairvoyance? This is connected to an important fact. What is called human discernment and judgment—the very qualities that the thinker cultivates, namely logical thinking—brings about a very specific change in the entire structure of the brain. The physical instrument is transformed by sharp thinking. Physical research may know little about this, but it is true; a brain that has been used by a thinker looks different from one that belonged to a non-thinker. The fact that someone is clairvoyant does not change this much. In someone who does not think, you will find the brain with very complex convolutions, whereas in a sharp thinker it is relatively simple, without any particular complications. It is precisely in the simplification of the brain’s convolutions that thinking finds its expression. Modern research knows nothing of this.

[ 31 ] Sharp thinking is what can take in the big picture, not what is engaged in analysis. Hence the greater simplicity of the brain’s convolutions in the sharp thinker. Wherever physical research is willing, even just once, to examine the sharp thinking that applies to physical conditions, it very soon becomes apparent that physical research confirms what spiritual science asserts. The examination of the brain of Mendeleev—to whom science owes the creation of the periodic table of elements—confirms what spiritual science says: his brain convolutions were simpler. He possessed, within certain limits, a comprehensive way of thinking, and the physical examination also fully confirmed the truth of what I have said. This is not of particular value; let it merely be mentioned in passing. So, as I said, there is a change in the instrument of thought. This change must be brought about by the activity of thought itself. After all, no one is born with all the abilities they will later possess—perhaps with the potential for them—but they must first develop these abilities, so that a change actually takes place in the brain over the course of a lifetime. The instrument of thought has become different as a result of the life of thinking than it was before.

[ 32 ] The fact is that our etheric body—which we must detach from our physical brain in order to attain clairvoyant consciousness—is bound to the physical brain through this mental activity. This act of thinking binds the etheric body strongly to the brain. If, due to one’s karma, a person does not yet possess the strength to detach it at the right time, then it may be that in this incarnation they cannot achieve anything remarkable in the realm of clairvoyance. Let us assume that they have the karma of having been a keen thinker in a previous incarnation. Then their thinking will not bind the etheric body so strongly to the brain, and they will be able to detach the etheric body relatively easily and soon; and precisely because the elements of thought are the best seeds for ascending into the higher worlds, they will be able to explore the mysteries of the higher worlds in the most subtle way. Of course, they must first detach the etheric body from the brain. But if the etheric body has become so entangled in the physical brain during the chiseling in of the thought activity that it is exhausted, then his karma may cause him to wait a long time before he can free it again. When he does ascend, however, he will have passed through the stage of logical thinking. Then it is not lost; then no one can take away from him what he has attained, and that is immensely important, because otherwise clairvoyance can be lost again and again. I would like to point out once again that you were all clairvoyant in earlier times. Why do you no longer possess the ability to see clearly now? Because back then you were not linked or connected to earthly existence, because you were absorbed in the spiritual world, because you did not bring this down to the level of your abilities, because visionary clairvoyance was based on a state of detachment.

[ 33 ] This is what we must keep in mind. These subtleties must be deeply ingrained in our souls. One must be clear that the task of true esoteric science today is to communicate those results of spiritual research that are imbued with intellectual content, so that the results of clairvoyant research are always presented in such a way that a person without clairvoyant abilities can comprehend them through their own thinking. To achieve this, however, they must first be connected to thought. Hence the difficulty with old books that speak of phenomena of the higher worlds. If you take up such old books, you will find a deficiency everywhere—if you approach them with the standards of today’s spiritual science. You may find magnificent revelations in these old books, but modern people—unless they are clairvoyant themselves and can set the record straight—cannot make much of them, whereas anyone who makes an effort can make sense of what spiritual science offers today, because they can penetrate it using the elements of thought they can acquire on the physical plane. For the same concepts are used to grasp what exists in the spiritual world and what exists in the physical world. Modern natural science speaks of evolution, and spiritual science speaks of evolution. Once you have grasped the concept of evolution, you can understand what is communicated in spiritual science. You can form a concept of karma because you can create a mental image of it. Of course, if you simply say, as some theosophists do: “Every spiritual cause has a spiritual effect, and this is karma”—then you have no real understanding of karma. You can also observe the law of cause and effect with a billiard ball, but that is not the correct analogy for karma. Take, instead, an iron ball and throw it into a container of water. If the ball is cold, the water remains as it is. But if you heat the ball and then throw it in, the water becomes warm. As a result of what happened to the ball, the water becomes warm. This can be compared to karma, where a later event is the consequence of an earlier occurrence.

[ 34 ] We must therefore be perfectly clear that anyone who penetrates the facts of the spiritual world with thought can also communicate them in such a way that the person who has formed those thoughts here on the physical plane can apply the same thoughts to what is communicated from the spiritual worlds. Then they can understand it. Everyone should take this to heart. Everyone should understand that what matters is not receiving messages from the higher worlds, but rather receiving them in a way that corresponds to our earthly circumstances. Everyone should take care not to receive messages from the higher worlds in any other way. Of course, it is convenient simply to believe what is communicated. But that is a great evil. For, isn’t it true that if someone wants to believe, it is roughly the same as if they wanted to be told that there is a light, when in fact they need the light to illuminate a room? In that case, they must have the light; mere belief is of no help. Thus, it is important to first adopt the form—the form of conscientious, thorough reflection—in order to receive, through this form, the messages from the spiritual world. They can only be explored if one possesses the ability to see clearly, but once they have been explored, anyone who receives them in the right way can understand them.

[ 35 ] If one thinks this way, then all the dangers that are otherwise truly associated with what is called the anthroposophical movement will be more or less eliminated. However, the dangers arise immediately when people develop clairvoyant abilities and fail to enrich their thinking—and especially their understanding—through the means of thought at the same time. Many are driven by this eagerness to grasp something from the spiritual world at any cost, rather than proceeding with careful, genuine understanding toward what must be achieved on the physical plane. No god can comprehend the world in thought unless he incarnates on this physical Earth. He can comprehend the world in other forms; but to comprehend it in this form, he must incarnate on this Earth. Bearing this in mind, everyone can realize that there are certain dangers involved in developing abilities within oneself that are then not used properly. Anyone who develops a certain degree of visionary clairvoyance and does not use it properly—by cutting off the possibility of convincing the world with it—anyone who remains only on the astral plane and does not bring his experiences down to the physical plane, exposes himself to the danger that a chasm will open up between his visions and the physical plane.

[ 36 ] Let us suppose that someone has very significant visions that belong to the astral plane. For my purposes, let us assume these are entirely real—after all, they may well be real for the non-thinking, visionary clairvoyant—but now a chasm opens up between him and that which underlies the physical plane. Imagine for a moment that this towel represents the physical plane. Now the visionary clairvoyant stands before it; he sees his vision. Behind the physical plane, however, lies the actual spiritual world. The physical plane is Maya. The visionary clairvoyant does not dispel this physical plane; it vanishes only for the one who removes it through the power of thought. Only then do you penetrate beyond the physical plane, so that you can understand it only through intellectual clairvoyance. The physical plane is there, but you do not see the spiritual world—the true spiritual world. There the abyss opens up; there the physical plane remains as Maya. And this inability to penetrate the physical plane stems from the fact that the brain is incapable of shutting itself down. Once you have learned to think correctly, you do not need your brain directly for thinking. That which is thinking acts upon the brain, but the act of thinking does not require the brain directly. It is nonsense for anyone to claim: “The brain thinks.” Once—perhaps thirty-five years ago now—I was walking down the street with a young man who was a student at the time and was well on his way to becoming a complete materialist. He said: “Well, when I think, the brain atoms vibrate inside; every specific thought has a specific form,” and he explained that it would actually be nonsense to assume something like a soul that thinks. Because it is the brain that thinks. — I said to him: “Yes, tell me, why are you actually being so disingenuous? If that’s the case, then you can’t say, ‘I think.’ You’d have to say: ‘My brain thinks.’ You’d also have to say: ‘My brain eats, my brain sees the sun.’ That would be the truth.—Then he’d soon see what nonsense he’s carrying around with him.

[ 37 ] So it is not the brain that thinks. As I said, this can be made clear through quite trivial considerations—unless, of course, one happens to be a rather modern materialist. Thinking activity does not, at first, depend on using the brain as its instrument, so to speak. Where thought becomes pure, the brain is not involved. It is involved only in the process of conceptualization.

[ 38 ] When you imagine a circle drawn in chalk, this happens solely through the brain; but when you conceive of a pure circle, free of any symbolic meaning, the circle itself is the active force that the brain first shapes. But when a person has visionary clairvoyance, they remain in their etheric body and do not reach the physical brain at all. One can live a whole lifetime in visionary clairvoyance. This does not change the brain; it develops the etheric body, but not the brain. Consequently, however, you can never penetrate this abyss; you can never truly penetrate Maya. You can only do so by penetrating it with your thoughts.

[ 39 ] Those who reject a thoughtful approach develop abilities that, so to speak, do not grasp their object—abilities that do not truly penetrate the spiritual world. And the result is that a disproportion arises between what they continually develop in their etheric body and what they actually are as human beings. A complete imbalance arises: the brain is not suited to his clairvoyant abilities. The brain is coarse, for the person in question has not made the effort to refine it through thinking. Something forms that he cannot penetrate—an obstacle that prevents him from approaching spiritual reality with his visions. He moves away from reality instead of drawing closer to it. Then any possibility of making a judgment about the spiritual world is ruled out. Such a person will certainly be able to see many things, but there is never any guarantee that what he sees corresponds to reality. Only someone who can distinguish between mere vision and reality can make such a judgment. Only discernment itself can make this distinction. If one lacks discernment, one can never distinguish a mere vision from reality. But discernment can only be acquired through work on the physical plane. Thus, one always hovers without a foundation if one spurns the intellectual work that is somewhat arduous to achieve.

[ 40 ] This is what one must take to heart. Then the things that would otherwise arise so easily—things that can happen over and over again—will not occur: namely, that people, by developing visionary clairvoyance, erect a barrier against the real world and then live in their dreams. This is tantamount to no longer being able to find one’s way in the physical world—in other words, to not being fully in one’s right mind. One can attain level-headedness by working where this level-headedness can be cultivated solely: through thinking about the physical plane. If one refuses to acquire this level-headedness, one drifts into error. This is what we must acquire; otherwise, all the harms that are inevitably linked to what is called the anthroposophical movement will ensue. Anyone who merely wishes to believe blindly—that is, who accepts all communications from the higher worlds on the mere authority of another without rational thought—is doing something that is very convenient, but it carries a danger within it. Instead of working through things for oneself, instead of thinking for oneself, one absorbs the knowledge of another, the things that another has seen. One refrains from critically examining what the other person communicates. This gives rise to the kind of harm that can result from the anthroposophical movement. Of course, no one should allow this to deter them from devoting themselves to it. It can happen that such a person of blind faith loses their way, no longer able to distinguish between what is true and what is false.

[ 41 ] Nothing fosters falsehood as much as a certain purely visionary clairvoyance that is not rooted in thought and controlled by it. And on the other hand, such clairvoyance in turn fosters yet another trait, namely a certain arrogance, a certain haughtiness that can lead to megalomania. And it is all the more dangerous because it goes unnoticed. There is a very great danger that one will consider oneself superior simply because one sees this or that which others do not see. And usually one has no idea how deeply this—which borders closely on megalomania—is actually rooted in the soul. It hides itself in a certain way, particularly behind the fact that one swears to one’s visions with absolute certainty and tolerates no objection, so that one can observe people believing the most foolish nonsense, provided it is told to them from the astral plane. It would never occur to them to believe such things from a person on the physical plane if he told them, but they believe it with slavish faith when it is told to them from the astral plane. Anyone who breaks this habit will not fall for every hoax and humbug. But one does fall for it if one does not cultivate within oneself the impulse to examine things critically, and as soon as one seeks to form a conviction in a convenient manner. One should not take the easy way out. One should bear in mind that forming a conviction is one of the most sacred matters of human life. If one takes this into account, then one will spare no effort to truly work, rather than merely listening to sensational reports. We really have enough reports from the spiritual world, so to speak, but it is also necessary to acquire the right attitude and the right way of thinking in order to relate to these things appropriately.

[ 42 ] I wanted to say that today. I didn’t want to present it merely as an admonition, like a sermon, but rather to present it with all the necessary reasoning. That’s why it was perhaps, in itself, a somewhat more demanding mental exercise to follow along. But I always try, even in my methods, to adhere to what can be expected as the right approach within the spiritual science movement. Many people want unctuous admonitions. I refrain from that. I try to present things in such a way that they can take on the form of genuine thoughts. When we discuss matters of the physical plane, as we are doing today, it is of course sometimes a difficult mental exercise, for they are not as sensational, nor as pleasant, as matters of the higher worlds, but they are nonetheless immensely important. You will not underestimate the importance of these matters if you tell yourselves: If what must happen is to come to pass—namely, that in the next incarnations a sufficiently large number of people will remember this present incarnation—then precautions must be taken. So cultivate your power of judgment, and you will be candidates for remembering this present incarnation in the next one. Make sure you are able to observe the world through your thoughts. For no matter how much you may be able to see in a visionary way, it will do you no good in recalling this present incarnation. But anthroposophy exists to prepare for what must necessarily come to pass: that there be a sufficiently large number of people who can now truly look back on this incarnation from their own knowledge.

[ 43 ] How many people in this incarnation will come to combine spiritual scientific knowledge with clairvoyant abilities depends on the individual’s karma. There are certainly many sitting here whose karma is such that they will not be able to perceive the world clairvoyantly in this incarnation. But all those who assimilate what is presented in true spiritual science—clothed in the forms of thought—will reap the fruits of this in their next incarnation, for they have laid the foundations for it. A person can, so to speak, be a clairvoyant without knowing it, and those who study spiritual science properly develop the ability to see and can then wait until their karma allows them to actually perceive these things.