The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Tenth Lecture

[ 1 ] Through the events in Palestine, the initiation drama that had previously taken place in the mystery temples was thus to be incorporated into the great world stage. Everything that had been depicted in the Mysteries was to become a historical reality through Jesus’ life and work. Now the two distinct initiations—the southern and the northern—were to be united in him. The Egyptian, or southern, initiation consisted of the disciple’s descent into his own soul. In its final act, the initiate was put into a cataleptic sleep, from which he was awakened by the hierophant. In the northern initiation, on the other hand—which dates back to the Zoroastrian initiation—the initiate was to silence his inner self in order to lose himself, as it were, and merge into the mystery of the cosmos. [He was to silence what is within, just as the other silenced what is without.] He was to feel alive within himself the forces that connect him to the entire cosmos and extend into the elements, merging with the air, water, light, planets, and stones, and living within them. A characteristic feature of the northern mysteries is that the initiate felt himself to be incorporated into the external world, that he felt at one with every being. “I am no longer outside the being of this planet,” he could say to himself, “but I am within it.” When he exhaled, he felt at one with the air and the light that permeate our planetary system. It was the microcosm of the human being experiencing the macrocosm of the world. First, however, symbols were used to show him how he could attain these experiences.

[ 2 ] Even today, we still see an echo of the northern initiation in the symbol of the Rosicrucians—the cross encircled by roses. In the lower world of existence, the student was to find and come to know higher ideals, and to understand how the lower world mirrors the higher. He was to make the chaste rose—unclouded by any instincts, desires, or passions—his ideal and to realize on a higher plane what the plant represents on a lower one. The student was to experience this—in the Northern Mysteries—and this immersion in the outer world was symbolically represented by a ritual act, the “washing of the feet,” which was the first act of initiation. By reverently lowering himself to the lower realms, the student was to learn great humility.

[ 3 ] Afterward, he had to learn that the physical is in reality spiritual; this came about through the symbolic “flagellation.” Under normal circumstances, when the body is fresh and healthy, a person is not aware of it; only when it begins to ache and hurt does a person feel that he has a body. Through the scourging, the student was to be reminded of his physicality and, through the pain, become aware of the spiritual nature of his body. This was the second degree.

[ 4 ] In the third degree, the disciple was to become one with the cosmos in order to learn that the Earth and the planets—indeed, even the Sun—are made of the same matter as himself. Through this, he should feel spiritually connected not only to the Earth and the planets, but also to the Sun, the center of our planetary system, and learn that the Sun, too, is a spiritual being. He had to be able to see the Sun shining in the darkness of midnight, even after it had set in the physical sense and become invisible, for the Sun permeates the matter that conceals it. And to the spiritually clairvoyant, the Earth is transparent. The student must follow this Sun; and this was symbolized by his being clothed in a purple robe as a sign that from now on he would follow the Sun from sunset to dawn.

[ 5 ] He then had to learn that, just as the outer sun is visible to the physical brain, the spiritual sun can be perceived only by a brain permeated by the spiritual. Therefore, the physical brain had to be rendered ineffective—killed off, extinguished; and as a sign of this, a crown of thorns was placed upon the disciple’s head. For if the spiritual is to be developed, the physical must die. In this way, the student was to experience the Eternal within himself and learn that the nature around him—indeed, the sun itself—bears within it the same spiritual being that he finds within himself.

[ 6 ] [Throughout all the Gospels, it should be shown:

[ 7 ] First: There is an initiation that, through the washing of the feet, scourging, and the crowning with thorns, leads to the place where one can recognize the Spirit of the Sun.

[ 8 ] Second: There is an initiation that leads, through the death of the physical body, down into the soul, where one experiences what is eternal in human beings—the spirit. And it was to be shown that the spirit one finds when one descends into the soul and ascends to the sun is one and the same. Therefore, the two were to be united into a single historical event.

[ 9 ] John was to reveal this. The other evangelists were to show how what is physical in the outer world is, in fact, spiritual—to demonstrate that when a person truly becomes clairvoyant, he finds the spiritual sun out there in space.

[ 10 ] How do the Gospels demonstrate this, and how do they show that the Spirit descended from the sun and became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth? Through what they describe as the Transfiguration, the glorification.]

[ 11 ] The Evangelists were to show how both the northern and southern initiations converged in the events in Palestine and became a historical reality through Jesus. John the Evangelist was to show the methods by which human beings can attain spiritual vision, and how the Christian initiation—which united the other two—was to be realized. The other evangelists were to show how the outer physical world is permeated everywhere by the spiritual world and how intimately the inner life of the human being is connected to this world. By awakening the powers that lie dormant within and becoming spiritually clairvoyant, the human being is to find the spiritual sun in the outer world—out there in space.

[ 12 ] In the account of the “Transfiguration of Christ,” the Synoptic Gospels seek to show us that the Spirit descended, united with the earth, and incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth. It is recounted there that Jesus went aside with three of his initiated disciples and ascended a mountain. There, they were taken out of their physical bodies, and they beheld Jesus as the spiritual sun, along with two of his former heralds who were spiritually united with him—namely, Moses and Elijah. This is the first indication that Christianity was to be proclaimed to the world, that Ahura-Mazdao-Osiris had made Jesus its center on Earth, and that the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth was the first point where the Sun Spirit had revealed itself. Since then, this Spirit has been connected to the Earth’s atmosphere.

[ 13 ] [This is the proclamation that Vishvakarma, Ahura-Mazdao, and Osiris are the Sun Spirit, who has expanded so far that he encompasses the Earth and is now one with it, having taken his starting point from the body of Jesus of Nazareth. That was the point from which he took hold of the Earth. And ever since then, Vishvakarma, Ahura-Mazdao, Osiris has not only been found outside as the Spirit of the Sun, but also as the Spirit of the Earth.]

[ 14 ] The spiritual clairvoyant who explored the Earth’s atmosphere in pre-Christian times could not find the Sun Spirit there, but since the founding of Christianity, he has seen something new in the astral-etheric atmosphere. And this new presence is the Sun Spirit, who has also become the Spirit of the Earth. This Spirit, who had drawn ever closer to the Earth over the centuries, descended to Earth at the time of John’s baptism in the Jordan and incarnated for the first time in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

[ 15 ] But the evangelists were also meant to show how the person who seeks the Sun Spirit—the true Christ—can undergo the same inner experiences as the initiates in the mystery temples. [Thus, historical fact had to become twofold: the northern and the southern initiation. All four Gospels recount the fusion of the northern and southern initiations. First they recount the washing of the feet, the scourging, the placing of the cloak, and the crowning with thorns—then the crucifixion, that is, dying for three and a half days, and then the resurrection after one and a half days. That is the fusion. The writer of the Gospel of John had recognized the entire mystery after being initiated by Jesus himself. Someone else would have undergone either a northern or a southern initiation. Christ Jesus initiated him in such a way that he understood—and understood best of all—how they merge. At the same time, he shows us how we can now intimately experience, in seven and a half stages, what has been exemplified to us as an event.)

[ 16 ] All the Gospel writers agree on certain events. For example, they all recount the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the death, and the resurrection after three and a half days. In these historical events, the two initiations—the northern and the southern—merge. But John, whom Christ himself had initiated, understood best of all the connection between the ancient initiations and the world-historical event in Palestine. In the great example he sets for us, he teaches us how, through seven successive stages, we can experience the same events that took place in Palestine 1,900 years ago.

[ 17 ] If a student were to ask how he might attain true knowledge of spiritual matters, the esoteric teacher, in full accordance with the Gospels, would answer: First, he must strive for months to attain a sense of universal humility. If the plant could look down upon the dead mineral kingdom, it would say: “I am a plant and a higher being than the dead mineral; if the plant could think, it would add: ‘Although I am a higher being, I could not live without the mineral kingdom, for my roots must cling firmly to the earth and draw their nourishment from it. Therefore, I must bow down gratefully to the mineral, which stands lower than I.’

[ 18 ] If we then ascend to the animal kingdom, we find there, too, that animals depend on the plant kingdom for their survival. The same law applies to human beings as well. Humanity cannot live without the lower kingdoms. And in human evolution, those who have risen to a higher social status cannot survive without the lower classes. Even Jesus Christ needed those who had gone before him in order to be who he was in the world. Even a being as exalted as he was had to stoop down to those who were beneath him. He stooped down to the twelve apostles during the washing of the feet.

[ 19 ] After the disciple had allowed himself to be permeated, month after month, by this feeling of humility and gratitude toward those who were in a lower state than he was, one day this feeling transformed into a unified astral experience that is the same for all people. In the Akashic Records, he sees himself in the place of Jesus Christ; he sees a vision of the washing of the feet before him. But in the place of Jesus Christ, he sees himself. Once a person has seen this vision, he cannot deny the historical reality of the washing of the feet.

[ 20 ] The washing of the feet is therefore not merely something that happened once, but something we ourselves are meant to experience. In the ancient initiation, the initiate had to imprint the image of the washing of the feet within himself through external symbols, so that he would recognize it once it had become a historical reality. In our own day, we need neither symbols nor the historical event. By cultivating feelings of gratitude and humility, we can evoke the Akashic image within ourselves as a mystical event within the initiation of our own time. Just as the symbol of the Drotten Mysteries was transformed into historical reality, so too will the mystical experience become for us a confirmation of what happened 1,900 years ago.

[ 21 ] During the next stage—the second in the series—the student must develop a sense of all the suffering that exists in the world. He must strengthen his will so that he can bear physical pain courageously and without wavering when it comes. Not just for days on end, but for months and years, he must allow himself to be permeated by all the suffering in the world. Then, one day, he will truly recognize his physicality, feeling as if his entire body had been scourged. This feeling is a seed that is then transformed into the image of Christ’s scourging, which one sees before oneself in the Akashic Records.

[ 22 ] In light of this experience, which is the same for everyone, there can be no doubt about the historical events in Palestine.

[ 23 ] The initiator then says to the initiate: “You must now descend into the innermost depths of your soul and there become one with the wisdom whose reality you have recognized. You must become an instrument of this wisdom and become so one with it that—even if the world mocks and scorns you—you will not waver, but will courageously accept everything. Rejected and destroyed by the world around you, you shall nevertheless sustain yourself through your inner strength. — After a time, this feeling transforms into a kind of strange emptiness in the physical brain. The student feels as if the brain had been switched off, as if it had been killed; and he experiences a kind of piercing of the physical brain and sees in the Akashic Records an image of the “Crowning with Thorns.” Through this, he comes to know who the Christ is: that He is truly the Spirit of the Sun who has descended to Earth. This is the third stage. Through inner experiences, the human being is thus to relive the historical event in Palestine.

[ 24 ] From the washing of the feet to the crowning with thorns, we have now followed the initiation drama according to the northern mysteries. Now the human being must also recognize in his innermost being that the Christ has entered into him, and the cosmic Christ becomes the inner, mystical Christ within him. Here we encounter the southern initiation drama.

[ 25 ] At the same time, we learn what a person is allowed to experience within themselves. Entirely new feelings must take hold of a person in the fourth stage. Their own body must become to them like any other object. They must learn to carry it as if it were, for example, a table—and not as something that belongs to them. He must feel bound to his body only in a purely external way. And this need not lead to any form of asceticism. We are not made strong by what we have within us, but by the tool we hold in our hand and can make use of. We must be able to view our body objectively and see ourselves as its bearer. In this way, the body can become a tool in our hands—just as we can deliver stronger blows with a hammer than with anything else that is part of ourselves. Physical pain is certainly present; only in the final stage of evolution will the body become pain-free. But slowly, the soul learns to view it as something objective, something it need not concern itself with.

[ 26 ] Once the initiate has developed this feeling, there finally comes a moment when he truly feels that he is bound to the body only outwardly, and when he then looks at it, he finds blood-red spots on his hands and feet and on his right side. This is what is known as the “blood test.” A sign that the body is now nothing more than a purely objective entity for him. Then we say of him that he is no longer in his body. He is crucified—that is, he carries his body through the world like a cross. This is the “crucifixion.” Now he may also behold in the Akashic Records the historic moment when Christ Jesus was crucified.

[ 27 ] What follows is something that is difficult to describe in human words. At this stage, there comes a moment when the initiate completely ceases to see with his physical eyes and to hear with his physical ears. In this respect, the world no longer exists for him. Darkness—in the physical sense—surrounds him. At this moment, he must come to know all the pain and suffering that exists in the world. He truly descends into the world of suffering and evil and comes to know the dark side of life. This is the “mystical death” or the descent into the realm of death [that is, the descent into hell].

[ 28 ] Thereafter, the darkness around him parts, the spiritual light breaks through, and the initiate gazes into the spiritual world. Having thus followed Christ to Golgotha and united himself with him, he is thereafter also connected to the spirit of the world and lives within it. [From now on, he is not only connected to the Earth spirit; he is connected to the planetary spirit. He is connected to the entire Earth.] This is the fifth stage, or the “burial in the earth,” during which the human being experiences the two and a half days that Christ lay in the tomb. During these days, the physical matter of Christ’s body was dissolved and dematerialized, while the very essence of Christ, as the Spirit of the Earth, continued to live on in the Earth’s astral sphere.

[ 29 ] There he is visible to all who are spiritually clairvoyant, even though they have not seen him in his physical body. It was also there that Paul beheld him, when he became convinced that the Spirit of the Sun had descended to Earth. Paul knew what the clairvoyant could see in the Earth’s aura. Therefore, when—after Jesus’ death—he saw that this aura had changed and beheld the Christ there, he understood that the Sun Spirit had revealed Himself in Jesus of Nazareth and that Jesus had overcome death. That is why he could say that the Christ had risen. Through his clairvoyant consciousness, he knew that he had seen the Christ through clairvoyance just as certainly as the other disciples had seen him with their physical eyes. This is hinted at clearly enough in the New Testament so that we should not naively believe that the dismembered body of Christ rose from the tomb.

[ 30 ] When Christ revealed himself to the twelve disciples, Thomas refused to believe that it was him because, unlike the others, he did not understand spiritual realities. Anyone who believes in the spiritual must, just like the disciples, understand the significance of this resurrection. Thomas did not believe, which is why he could not perceive the spiritual either. He had not developed his inner powers [enough] to truly perceive the spiritual. With our physical senses, we can naturally perceive only the physical. Through faith and willpower, Thomas [eventually] developed his spiritual perception, so that he could perceive Jesus’ spiritual body as if it were physical. [Through his purely spiritual power, Christ was even able to break the bread.] In the same sense, Jesus, through his purely spiritual power, is the “Bread of Life for those who have developed their inner senses.”

[ 31 ] After the disciple has thus passed through six stages—the washing of the feet, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the mystical death or crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrection—he finally arrives at the seventh and final stage: “the Ascension, or union with the spiritual world, the return home to the Father.”

[ 32 ] Through the Gospel of John, we thus come to know the various phases—first in the northern mysteries up to the crowning with thorns, then in the southern mysteries, beginning with the crucifixion. Furthermore, we learn how these two initiations manifested in the outer world and were united and fused in the person of Jesus. Through Christ Jesus, a new initiation was established—the Rosicrucian initiation—in which the two ancient initiations were fused together. That is why it is important to understand the events in Palestine correctly. In order for Christ to become an inner experience, he first had to become a historical reality in the world.

[ 33 ] It is true that light would not exist for human beings if they did not have eyes to see it, but on the other hand, they would not have eyes if light had not already existed—no eye without light. Just as the physical sun brought forth physical light, so the historical event in Palestine made it possible for us to experience the mystical Christ within ourselves. [He—the historical Christ—brings him forth.] Thus, the Christ not only founded a new spiritual current in the world, but also a new initiation.

[ 34 ] So, first of all, we have the historical Christ, who lived on Earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who endured the washing of the feet, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the crucifixion, and the burial, and then conquered death, so that it became a new birth for him. But we also have the Pauline Christ, or the spiritual Christ, whom the spiritually clairvoyant person can see in the astral atmosphere of the Earth. It is he who has contributed most to the spread of Christianity. Through him, Paul—who had not been present in Palestine—was convinced, and through Paul we have received a deeper explanation of the Gospels. Finally, we have the mystical Christ, whom the spiritualized person can awaken within themselves. [The one who can become mystically active within our hearts, who can touch us to our very depths—the inner Christ.]

[ 35 ] It is this triune Christ—the historical, the Pauline, and the mystical Christ—whom we must come to know more and more. [These are the three Christs of Christian esotericism.]