The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Ninth Lecture

[ 1 ] From everything we have already heard in the lectures of this series, it has become clear to us that the essence of the Christ event consists in the following. That human development which we have described as the soul’s ascent into the realms of the spirit—which in pre-Christian times could be attained only within the mysteries, and indeed only by the “I,” insofar as it was developed within normal human consciousness, being attuned downward—that human development was to receive such an impulse that it —which, admittedly, still belongs for the most part to humanity’s future—can be attained by human beings in such a way that, upon entering this spiritual world, they can fully retain the sense of self that, in our times, normally pertains only to the outer, physical-sensory plane. This progress in human evolution, which was brought about by the Christ event, is at the same time the greatest progress that has ever been made—and ever will be made—in the development of the Earth and in human evolution. This means that everything yet to come in Earth’s development with regard to this fact is a concretization, a realization of the great impulse that was given with the Christ event.

[ 2 ] Now let us ask ourselves: What actually had to take place there? In a certain sense, what was part of the secrets of the ancient mysteries had to be repeated—repeated in detail. One of the mysteries of the ancient mystery religions—and this still applies to them in a certain way today—was that when a person descends into their own physical and etheric bodies, they experience in the astral body the temptations we spoke of yesterday. And in the Greek Mysteries, the human being had to relive all the difficulties and dangers that confront us when we pour ourselves out and expand into the macrocosm. We have described this in greater detail as well. These events, which a person experiences there in one direction or another of the initiation, were exemplified by Christ Jesus as a unique impulse from a great, transcendent individuality, so that the impetus might be given for human beings to gradually undergo such a development, starting from initiation, in future evolution. Let us therefore first consider what took place in the Mysteries.

[ 3 ] To describe it, we would say: Although everything accomplished by the human soul was accomplished in such a way that the “I” was subdued—placed, as it were, in a sort of semi-dreamlike state—the inner, soul-like aspect of the human being nevertheless experienced certain realities that can be described as follows. The human being experienced this through the awakening of egoism; he wants to be independent of the external world. But—as we showed yesterday—because every human being is dependent on the external world—since they cannot conjure up their own food—and because they are dependent on what arises from their physical body, they are subject to the illusion of mistaking what arises merely from the physical body for the world and its inner glory. Every student, every initiate in the Mysteries, went through this—only in a different state than that which Christ Jesus experienced at the highest level. So if someone describes what can be experienced there—strictly in accordance with the facts as they pertained to the student of the ancient Mysteries—and then applies that description to the life of Christ Jesus, the description of the facts is, in a certain sense, similar. For what actually happened was that what had taken place in the darkness of the Mysteries emerged onto the stage of world history and became a unique historical event.

[ 4 ] Let us now suppose the following scenario—which, after all, was always the case in antiquity, particularly in the centuries leading up to the coming of Christ—: Some painter or writer had learned that certain procedures were carried out when someone was to be initiated, and he had painted or described them. Thus, such a painting or description might resemble what the Gospels describe to us regarding the Christ event. We can form a mental image of how, in some ancient mysteries, the initiate—after undergoing certain preparations—was then bound with his physical body to a kind of cross, with outstretched hands, in order to become free in his soul. He remained in this state for a time in order to elevate his soul, so that he could undergo what we have described. So let all of this have been painted or described in writing. Then someone today might come across it and say: This writer has recorded—or a painter has depicted—from an ancient tradition what was experienced in the Mysteries. And he might then say that the Gospels merely record and convey what already existed in the past!

[ 5 ] This can be found in numerous cases. I have demonstrated the full extent to which this applies in my book Christianity as a Mystical Fact, in which I have described how everything that constitutes the mystery of the ancient mysteries is revived in the Gospels, and how the Gospels are, in essence, nothing other than repetitions of the ancient descriptions of initiation into the mysteries. And why was it possible to simply describe the ancient mystery rites by recounting what happened to Christ Jesus? It was possible because everything that took place in the ancient mysteries—everything that occurred as an inner process of the soul—was seen to unfold as a historical fact; for the event of Christ Jesus, elevated to the level of the “I”-being, reproduced what had been the symbolic or even “real-symbolic” acts of the ancient initiation. We must keep this fact in mind. Precisely those who stand firmly on the ground that the Christ event is a historical one—that what were formerly mystery rituals, albeit for different human conditions, took place as a historical fact—may note the similarity between the Christ biography in the Gospels and the rituals of the mysteries.

[ 6 ] To describe it with complete accuracy, one could also say it this way: Those who were called to perceive the Christ event in Palestine perceived the fulfillment of the Essene prophecy, the baptism of John in the Jordan, the temptation, then what followed—the crucifixion, and so on. They could then say to themselves: Now we have a life before us, the life of a being in a human body. If we survey this life in its most important, most essential points—the ones that really matter—what are those points? It is remarkable that we find certain points that unfold in external historical life, and these are the very same points that play out in the mysteries for those seeking initiation. So we need only take the canon of a mystery, and in that canon we would have the model of a process that we may describe here as a historical fact!

[ 7 ] That is precisely the great mystery: that what was once buried in the darkness of the temple took place there, and then only its results were carried out into the world; for those who were partakers of spiritual insight, it unfolded on the grand stage of world history alongside the Christ event. However, one must be clear that in the time when the evangelists were writing, biographies were not composed in the same way as they are today—as when one writes a biography of Goethe, Schiller, or Lessing, where one delves into every nook and cranny, gathers every little scrap of paper, only to then summarize as the most important aspects of a biography what is actually the most insignificant. While this kind of card-index-style collection prevents one from focusing on the most essential points that really matter, the Gospel writers were content to describe what was essential in the life of Jesus Christ. And what is essential is that the life of Christ, within the grand scheme of world history, was a repetition of the initiation. Should we be surprised that the fact is such that something could occur in our time that truly astounds an immense number of people? And this very thing that astounds people will become even more strikingly apparent to us when we draw attention to the following:

[ 8 ] We have myths and legends from ancient times. What are they? Anyone familiar with myths and legends, anyone who knows what they are, will find in many of them retellings of events that the ancient clairvoyant consciousness perceived in the spiritual worlds, clothed in sensory events; or they will encounter other myths and legends that are essentially nothing more than reproductions of the mystery rituals. For example, the myth of Prometheus is, in part, a depiction of actions in the Mysteries, as are so many other myths. For instance, we repeatedly find the depiction in which Zeus appears, with a lesser deity beside him who—as one could certainly express it in the Greek sense—is destined to tempt Zeus. “Pan tempting Zeus.” Zeus on a hilltop, Pan beside him, and Pan tempting Zeus—you will find this depicted in a wide variety of ways. Why were such depictions created? Because they were meant to express the process of humanity’s descent into the inner world, where it encounters its own lower nature—the egoistic Pan-nature—as it descends into the physical and etheric bodies. - And so the entire ancient world is full of depictions of such processes, which took place when those to be initiated journeyed through the spiritual world, and which are artistically rendered in myths and symbols.

[ 9 ] Today—and this is what baffles many people who cannot or will not learn the facts—there are many thoughtless people who make the grand discovery that something like a painting exists: “Pan beside Zeus on a mountain, tempting Zeus,” and then they say: From this we can clearly see—the scene of Christ’s temptation has therefore already existed. So the evangelists did nothing more than take up an old pictorial representation, and the Gospels are a compilation of these old depictions!—But if they are compiled from these, then such people conclude that they do not tell anything special at all, but are merely pieced together from myths in order to speak of a fictional Christ Jesus. And there was a major movement in Germany where people spoke frivolously about whether Jesus Christ had ever lived. And time and again, with an almost grotesque lack of factual knowledge—but with deep erudition—all the various legends and myths are enumerated, which are supposed to show that here and there the scenes we encounter again in the Gospels already existed. It is of no use in our time to teach people anything about the true facts of the matter, even though these established facts are well known to those who are familiar with these things. Yet this is how spiritual movements develop in our time. They truly develop in a grotesque manner!

[ 10 ] I really would not speak of this in terms of isolated incidents if one were not repeatedly forced to take a stand against objections—which seem to spring from quite profound scholarship here and there—raised against the theories and facts presented by Spiritual Science.

[ 11 ] What I have described here is the true state of affairs. And the descriptions that come from the Mysteries must be reflected in the Gospels, since they apply the mystery of initiation to an entirely different individuality and seek precisely to show: What formerly took place in the Mysteries through a dimming of consciousness has taken place here as something special, because an “I”-being was to undergo these procedures—which were formerly undergone in the Mysteries—without any dimming of the “I”-consciousness! - So one should not be surprised when it is said: There is hardly anything in the Gospels that was not already there before. It was simply the case that, with regard to all that preceded it, one could have said: Yes, human beings had to ascend into the realms of heaven; it is not the case that what is called the realms of heaven had already descended to the “I.” But this is the essential novelty: that what could previously be experienced only by subduing the “I” in other regions can now be experienced while maintaining the “I” upright in Malchuth, in the Kingdom.

[ 12 ] That is why Jesus Christ, after experiencing what is described in the Gospel of Matthew as the temptation, becomes the preacher of the “Kingdom.” What, essentially, did he have to say there? He had to say: What was formerly achieved by a person subduing their ego and filling themselves with other beings will now be achieved while fully preserving that ego! So this is precisely the essential point he emphasizes: What was formerly achieved in a different way will now be achieved through the full upholding of the “I.” Therefore, not only were the events—which are initiation events—to be repeated in the life of Christ, but also in the “Sermon on the Kingdom,” the essential point will be the emphasis on: Everything that was promised to those who formerly entered the Mysteries or accepted the teachings of the Mysteries now belongs to those who experience the “I”-being within themselves and experience it as it was exemplified for us by Christ.

[ 13 ] So everything must come back to us, even with regard to doctrine. But we must not be surprised that it is precisely in contrast to the old teachings that it is emphasized: What could not be attained through the “I” in the past can now be attained within the “I”! Let us suppose that Christ wanted to draw the attention of those to whom he wished to point out this great truth to the fact that, in the past, people—based on what had filtered down to them from the teachings of the Mysteries—always looked up toward the realm of the heavens and said: “From there—but not by penetrating into our ‘I’—can come that which makes us blessed.” In that case, it would have been necessary for the Christ to retain what had previously been said about the divine Father as the source of existence—for that was, after all, attainable through an upward-directed life with a subdued “I”—and to change only the nuances that mattered. For example, he would have had to say: Whereas it was once said that you must look up to the realms where the divine Father-source of existence is, and you must wait for it to shine down from the realms of heaven, now one will be able to say: Not only does He shine down upon you, but what is willed up there must penetrate into the deepest self-nature of human beings and be willed there as well.

[ 14 ] Let us assume that all the individual sentences of the Lord’s Prayer had existed before, and that only this one change had been necessary: In the past, people looked up to the ancient divine Father Spirit in such a way that everything that is there remains preserved and looks down upon your earthly kingdom. But now—Christ would have had to say—this kingdom must come down to the earth itself, where the “I” is; and the will that is done above must also be done on earth. —What will be the consequence of such a fact? The consequence will be that the discerning observer, who has a sense for the subtle nuances that matter, will not be at all surprised that the phrases of the Lord’s Prayer could have existed in ancient times. The superficial observer, however, will not notice these subtle nuances; for they are of no importance to him. The essence of Christianity is of no importance to him, for he does not understand it! And if he finds these phrases in ancient times, he will say: “There you have it—the evangelists write about the Lord’s Prayer. But it was already there before!”—Since he does not notice the nuances that matter, he will say: “The Lord’s Prayer was already there before!”—But now notice the enormous difference between a true understanding of Scripture and a superficial view. What matters is that the one who notices the new nuances applies them to the old. The superficial person, however, who does not notice these nuances, will merely state that the Lord’s Prayer was already there before.

[ 15 ] These facts must be experienced in a series of episodes and must be mentioned here once, because anthroposophists should be enabled to counter, at least to some extent, what today presents itself as amateurish scholarship—which, however, is disseminated through hundreds upon hundreds of newspaper channels and is then accepted by people as “science.” - I would like to say one thing regarding the Lord’s Prayer: One man actually took it upon himself to gather phrases from all manner of ancient traditions and from all manner of passages in the Talmud that together form something similar to the Lord’s Prayer. Mind you: it is not as if what the scholar in question compiled could be found anywhere in this compilation outside the Gospels; rather, it is the individual sentences that are found here and there. If one were to take this to an extreme, one could also say: The opening lines of Goethe’s Faust were also merely pieced together by Goethe in this manner! And one might now perhaps be able to prove: There was a student in the 17th century who had failed his exam and who then said to his father afterward: “Alas, I have indeed studied law with great effort!”—And another, who had failed his medical exam, said in a similar vein: “Alas, I have indeed studied medicine with great effort!” - And from this, Goethe is said to have composed the first lines of Faust. That is paradoxical! But in principle and method, it is exactly the same as what we encounter in Gospel criticism.

[ 16 ] Pieced together like this, you will find the following sentences, which, as described above, are supposed to form the Lord's Prayer:

[ 17 ] “Our Father, who art in heaven, have mercy on us; O Lord our God, hallowed be thy name, and let the memory of thine be glorified in heaven above as it is here on earth. May your kingdom reign over us now and forever. The holy men of old said: Be merciful to all people and forgive them whatever they have done to me. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom of heaven, and you shall reign in glory forever and ever.”

[ 18 ] These are sentences put together in the way I have just described—that is, the Lord’s Prayer is complete; the only thing missing is the nuance that matters, and which would have had to be included if the great significance of the Christ event were to be emphasized. And this nuance lies in the fact that not a single sentence states that the kingdom should come down to us. It says: “Let Your kingdom reign over us now and forever,” but not: “Let Your kingdom come to us!” That is the essential point. But the superficial observer does not notice this. And even though these sentences have been gathered—not from one, but from many libraries—what is essential in the Lord’s Prayer could not be found: “Your will be done in heaven, and on earth as well.” This means it touches upon the self. Here, if you approach it purely from an external, scientific perspective, you have the difference between superficial research and truly conscientious research that takes all details into account. And this truly conscientious research is available—if only one is willing to engage with it.

[ 19 ] I have read these passages to you from a book—deliberately from a printed book—John M. Robertson, The Gospel Myths —because it is a book that, as a kind of modern gospel, has now been translated into German so that it can be accessible to everyone; for the person who has given so many lectures on the question of whether Jesus lived had to read it in English. It quickly became famous and has now been translated into German so that people no longer need to read it in English. — It has become possible for a professor at a German university to travel around, giving lectures everywhere on the question: “Did Jesus live?” and, based on the facts I have just outlined, to give the answer: From none of the documents is there any reason to assume that what is stated in the records is true—that a figure such as Jesus ever lived. Among the most outstanding books that must be cited in this context is this book by Robertson. But let this be said for the anthroposophists’ own protection: From this book, from this historical research on the New Testament documents, you will also be able to learn many other things. I would like to share one particularly characteristic point from it.

[ 20 ] The aim is to show that not only can “precursors” of the Lord’s Prayer be identified in the Talmudic passages, so to speak, but that one can go back millennia and find precursors of the Lord’s Prayer everywhere in the most ancient records. Thus, on the very next page, it is shown—since the point is that the Lord’s Prayer is supposed to be a compilation of something that already existed earlier, and that it did not require Christ to be the first to recite it to the people— it is shown that there is a prayer in the Chaldean language, discovered on small tablets, in which the ancient Babylonian god Merodach is invoked; and several passages from it are now cited. And now I ask you to listen very carefully. The passage reads:

[ 21 ] “ (Note.) In the Journal of the Royal Artistic Society, October 1891, Mr. T.G. Pinches published for the first time the translation of a small tablet found at Sippara in 1882, in which, ‘Invocation of Merodach’ the following lines also appear: “May the abundance of the world descend upon your midst (your city); may your command be fulfilled throughout all future times ... May the evil spirit dwell outside of you.”

[ 22 ] And the scholar, on whom this passage made such a deep impression, adds:

[ 23 ] “So here we have prayer norms that are in line with the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and may date back to 4000 B.C.”

[ 24 ] Try, as best you can, to find any similarity between the Lord’s Prayer and these sentences! Nevertheless, this man considers these sentences to be standards for prayer, which the Lord’s Prayer simply follows. But these ideas are regarded today as genuine research in this field.

[ 25 ] There is another reason why one can say this among anthroposophists. For anthroposophists must also be able to clear their consciences; and their consciences might feel burdened if they have to hear time and again that external research has established this or that, or if they read in newspapers or journals: A small tablet has now been found in Asia, and the inscription on this tablet has revealed that the Lord’s Prayer already existed four thousand years before Christ. When something like this is “established,” it would be necessary to ask: on what basis has it been established? I wanted to show what these claims are based on today when it is said that they are “scientifically established.” Such things are found at every turn, and it is useful for anthroposophists to pay attention to the rotten core of what lies behind the arguments so often leveled against anthroposophy. — But let us move on.

[ 26 ] What matters is that Christ Jesus inaugurated a human evolution founded on the “I,” on the preservation of the “I.” He established and inaugurated the initiation of the “I.” Then we will be able to say that this “I” is the essence, the center, of the entire human being; that, as it were, everything that constitutes human nature today converges in the “I”; and that everything that has come into the world for this “I” through the Christ event can also take hold of all the other parts, all the other elements of human nature. But this, of course, will have to take place in a very special way, in accordance with the evolution of humanity.

[ 27 ] What we are capable of developing is made particularly clear in these lectures. Human perception of the physical-sensory environment—not only through the senses but also through the intellect, which is linked to the brain—has only been fully present since the time shortly before the Christ Event. In earlier times, there was always a certain kind of clairvoyance associated with what human beings perceive through the intellect linked to the brain—that is, people possessed a degree of clairvoyance. You know full well from my lectures on the early stages of Atlantean development that this was indeed the case. But what was still fully present in the early days of post-Atlantean development—namely, the widespread prevalence of a certain degree of clairvoyance—slowly and gradually diminished. Right up until the time of the Christ event, there were still many people who could look into the spiritual world during the intermediate states between waking and sleeping, who could participate in the spiritual world in these special intermediate states. Such participation in the spiritual world, however, was not merely linked for humanity in general to the fact that a person who possessed a low degree of clairvoyance could say to themselves: “I know that behind everything physical and sensory there is something spiritual, for I can see it.” No. There was something else connected with it. The nature of people in ancient times was such that they could still easily be made to participate in the spiritual world. Today it is relatively very difficult to undergo esoteric development in the true sense, so that a person can attain clairvoyance. As a last remnant, as a legacy from ancient times, clairvoyance occurs today in the form of somnambulism and so on. However, these states cannot be regarded as something regular today. In ancient times, however, they were normal and could be elevated by carrying out certain processes on human nature. When human nature was elevated to the point of living within the spiritual world, other things were connected with this as well.

[ 28 ] Today, when people no longer base their judgments on what is historically true, it is the case that what one believes determines what is considered historical. But however much it may be doubted today, it was nevertheless the case—even into the time of Christ—that, for example, healing processes could be carried out by making people clairvoyant. In today’s world, where people have descended deeper into the physical plane, this is no longer possible. Back then, however, the soul was still easily accessible, so that through certain procedures it could be made clairvoyant and immerse itself in the spiritual world. And since the spiritual world is a healing element and sends healing forces down into the physical world, this provided a means of initiating healings. So let us assume that someone was ill; in that case, certain processes were undertaken to enable them to look into the spiritual world. And when the currents of the spiritual world flowed down, they were healing currents that flowed into their being. Such processes were usually the healings. What is described today as “temple healing” is quite amateurish. Everything is in a state of development, and since those ancient times, souls have progressed from a state of clairvoyance to a state where they no longer see clearly. In the past, however, a person’s clairvoyant state could be elevated to such an extent that healing forces streamed in from the spiritual realm into the physical world, so that a person could be healed from the spirit for certain illnesses. Therefore, we need not be surprised when the Evangelists recount that, through the Christ event, the time has now come when not only those who possess the old clairvoyance can grow into the spiritual world, but also those who, due to the evolution of humanity, have lost that old clairvoyance.

[ 29 ] One might say: Let us look back to ancient times. In those days, people were able to glimpse into the spiritual world. The richness of the spiritual world was revealed to them through the clairvoyance of those times. But now those who, as development has progressed, can no longer look into the spiritual world have become spiritually impoverished, beggars for the spirit. But because Christ brought the mystery into the world—that the powers of the heavenly realms can flow into the “I”—even into the “I” of the physical-sensory plane—those who have lost the old clairvoyance and with it the riches of the spiritual world can also experience the Spirit within themselves and become blessed and filled with bliss. - Hence the great words could be spoken: Blessed are, from now on, not only those who are rich in spirit through the old clairvoyance, but also those who are poor or beggars in spirit; for when the way has been opened to them through Christ, that which we may call the realms of heaven flows into their “I.”

[ 30 ] In ancient times, therefore, the human physical organism was such that it allowed the soul to partially emerge even in a normal state, so that through this emergence from the physical body, a person became clairvoyant and entered the realm of the spirit. The densification of the physical body—which, admittedly, cannot be proven anatomically—meant that human beings could no longer become rulers in the realms of heaven. If one were to describe the current state, one would have to say: Human beings have become the poor, beggars for the spirit; yet within themselves, through what Christ brought down, they can experience the realms of heaven. This is what one could describe with regard to the processes of the physical body.

[ 31 ] If one were to describe what has taken place in an appropriate manner with regard to the “I”-human, one would have to show, for each aspect of human nature, how it could find bliss within itself in a new way. In the sentence: “Blessed are those who beg for the Spirit; for they will find within themselves the realms of heaven!” the new truth regarding the physical body is expressed. For the etheric body, one could express it this way: In the etheric body lies the principle of suffering. A living being can suffer solely through damage to its etheric body, provided it still has an astral body; but the seat of suffering must be sought in the etheric body. You will be able to glean this from the various lectures. —If one were to express, in light of the new truth, what used to flow from the spiritual world in the form of healings—that which pertains to the etheric body—one would have to say: Those who are suffering can now be comforted not only by stepping out of themselves and connecting with the spiritual world, but also—when they enter into a new connection with the world—they can find comfort within themselves, because a new power has been brought into the etheric body through Christ. Expressed in terms of the etheric body, the new truth must therefore be as follows: Those who suffer can no longer be comforted merely by immersing themselves in the spiritual world and allowing the currents of the spiritual world to flow toward them in a clairvoyant state; rather, when they now, by turning toward Christ, fill themselves with the new truth, they experience within themselves the consolation for all suffering.

[ 32 ] What, then, must be said regarding the astral body? In the past, when a person wished to subdue the emotions, passions, and selfishness of his astral body, he would look up to the higher regions and call upon the power of the heavenly realms; procedures were then performed upon them that subdued the harmful instincts of their astral body. But now the time had come when, through the deed of Christ, human beings were to receive within their own “I” the power to restrain and tame the passions and emotions of their astral body. Therefore, the new truth regarding the astral body now had to be: Blessed are those who are meek of their own accord, through the power of the “I”; for they shall be the ones who inherit the earth! This third Beatitude is profound. Examine it in light of what we have gained from Spiritual Science. The human astral body was incorporated into the human being during the Old Moon period. The beings that have gained influence over human beings—namely, the Luciferic beings—have also established themselves particularly firmly in the astral body. As a result, human beings cannot attain their highest earthly goal from the very beginning. The Luciferic beings, as we know, remained behind on the lunar stage and prevented human beings from continuing to develop in the proper way on Earth. But now that Christ had descended to Earth, and the ego could be imbued with the Christ-force, human beings could truly fulfill the principle of the Earth by finding within themselves the power to control the astral body and drive out the Luciferic influences. Therefore, it could now be said: Whoever restrains their astral body, whoever becomes strong enough that they cannot fall into anger without their “I” being present, whoever is “equanimous” and strong within to restrain the astral body—such a person will truly attain the principle of Earth’s evolution. — Thus, in the third of the Beatitudes, you have a formulation that can be understood through Spiritual Science.

[ 33 ] How, then, will a person come to elevate and spiritualize the other aspects of his being through the Christ-being dwelling within him? By allowing the soul to be grasped by the “I”-force in a serious and dignified sense, just as the physical body is. If we ascend to the level of the feeling soul, we can say: If a person wishes to gradually experience the Christ within themselves, they must become such that, in what constitutes their feeling soul, they feel a longing similar to the one they otherwise unconsciously feel in their body—the longing we call hunger and thirst. He must be able to thirst for the soul just as the body hungers and thirsts for food and drink. What a person can achieve in this way through the indwelling of the Christ-force is what, in the old sense, was called—in the broadest sense—a thirst for righteousness. And when he fills his feeling soul with the Christ-force, he can attain the point where he will find within himself the possibility of quenching his thirst for righteousness.

[ 34 ] The fifth beatitude is particularly remarkable. And that is to be expected. It must offer us something very special: it must refer to the human intellectual soul or emotional soul. Now, anyone who has studied what is said in my book An Outline of Esoteric Science or in my Theosophy, and what has also been discussed for years in a wide variety of lectures, knows that the three parts of the human soul—the soul of feeling, the soul of reason or the emotional soul, and the soul of consciousness—are held together by the “I.” Everyone knows that in the soul of sensation the “I” is still present in a dormant state, but in the soul of reason or the emotional soul it springs forth, and that it is through this that the human being first becomes fully human. While the lower members—even the soul of sensation itself—are governed by divine-spiritual powers, the human being becomes an independent being in the soul of reason. That is when the “I” shines forth. One must therefore, in a sense, speak differently of the intellectual or emotional soul—once it has attained the Christ force—than of the lower members. In the lower members, the human being enters into a relationship with certain divine beings who work within the subordinate members—the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and also the feeling soul—and whatever the human being develops there as virtues and so on is in turn taken up again by these divine beings. But what develops in the intellectual or emotional soul, however, must—when the human being develops the Christ-quality—be, above all, a human quality. When the human being begins to discover the intellectual soul for themselves, they thereby become less and less dependent on the divine-spiritual forces of their surroundings. Here, then, we have something that pertains to the human being himself. Therefore, when a person takes in the Christ force, he can develop within the intellectual soul those virtues that flow from like to like—virtues that are not implored from heaven as a reward, but which now return to a being of the same nature as the human being himself. We must, so to speak, sense that something flows out from the virtues of the intellectual soul, something that flows back to us as its equal. — It is remarkable: the fifth beatitude truly reveals this quality to us. It differs from all the others in that it states—and even if the translations are not particularly good, they could not conceal this fact—“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!” What flows out flows back again—as it must, when taken in the sense of Spiritual Science.

[ 35 ] In contrast, with the next sentence—which refers to the conscious soul—we come to a part of the human being where the “I” is already fully developed and where the human being ascends once more in a new way. We know that it was precisely during the time when Christ appeared that the intellectual or emotional soul came to expression. We are now in the age when the soul of consciousness is to come to expression and when the human being ascends once more into the spiritual world. While the human being first becomes conscious of himself—his self-consciousness shines forth in the soul of understanding or feeling—he fully develops his “I” in the soul of consciousness, which now ascends once more into the spiritual world. The human being who takes in the Christ force within himself will, by pouring his “I” into the soul of consciousness and experiencing it purely there for the first time, reach his God in this way. By experiencing the Christ in his “I” and raising him up to the soul of consciousness, he will come to his God there. — It has now been said that the expression of the “I” in the physical body is the blood, which has its center in the heart. Therefore, the sixth sentence should be appropriately phrased to indicate that the “I” can partake of God through the quality it imparts to the blood and the heart. What is the sentence? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!” Admittedly, this is not a particularly good translation; but it suffices for our purposes. — Thus Spiritual Science sheds light on the entire structure of these wondrous sayings, which Christ Jesus proclaimed to his inner circle of disciples after he had overcome the temptation.

[ 36 ] The following sentences refer to the fact that human beings ascend to the higher levels of their being by developing the Spirit-Self, the Life-Spirit, and the Spirit-Man. Therefore, they only hint at what human beings will experience in the future—and what only a select few can experience now. The next sentence therefore refers to the Spirit-Self: “Blessed are those who draw down the Spirit-Self as the first spiritual member; for they shall be called children of God.” The first member of the higher trinity has already entered into them. They have received God and have become the outward expression of the Godhead. - In particular, however, it is now expressed that only the chosen ones can come to develop the Life-Spirit—those who fully understand what the future holds for humanity as a whole. What the people of the future may call the “full reception of Christ into their inner being”—the Life-Spirit—is available to individual chosen ones. But because they are a select few, the others cannot understand them, and the result is that, as the chosen ones, they are also persecuted. That is why, with regard to those who are currently persecuted as individual representatives of a future reality, the following statement is made: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for within themselves they find the kingdoms of heaven.” - And the last point is hinted at only very specifically for the most intimate disciples; it refers to the ninth member of the human being, the Spirit-Man: “Blessed are you when people revile and persecute you for my sake.”

[ 37 ] Thus, in these wonderful passages, which refer to the nine members of human nature, it is shown how the “I” takes shape when it becomes a Christ-I, working within the various members of human nature and bringing them to bliss. In a magnificent, majestic way, the Gospel of Matthew (Matt. 5:3–11), in the passages following the temptation scene, it is expressed in a magnificent and majestic way how the Christ-force works upon the ninefold nature of the human being—first in the present, and then how it will work in the near future, when those who are still called children of God will be illuminated by the Spirit-Self even now, even though such children of God exist only as individual, gifted examples. That is precisely what is so marvelous: the specific reference to the first members, who are already here, and the transition into the indefinite in the final sentences, which apply to more distant futures.

[ 38 ] But here we come back to the superficial: Imagine if someone were to investigate whether similar phrases might be found elsewhere and whether the evangelists might have pieced these phrases together from other sources. And imagine that the person in question has no idea what this is all about; for that is precisely what one would have to discuss here: that it was applied to the “I”-nature permeated by Christ! Then, if he fails to notice the marvelous intensification of the essential, he might point out the following. You need only turn a few pages in the book already mentioned, and in a chapter titled “The Beatitudes” you will find a reference to an Enoch who is different from the usual one, and in it nine “Beatitudes” are listed. In particular, the author takes some credit for stating that this document originated in the early Christian era, and he believes that what we have just characterized as such a profound document might have been copied from the following nine beatitudes of the “Slavic Enoch”:

“1. Blessed is the one who fears the name of the Lord and serves before Him continually,” and so on.
“2. Blessed is he who renders a just judgment, not for the sake of reward, but for the sake of justice, expecting nothing in return; a righteous judgment will be bestowed upon him later.
3. Blessed is he who clothes the naked with a garment and gives his bread to the hungry.
4. Blessed is the one who renders a just judgment for the orphan and the widow and stands by everyone who suffers injustice.
5. Blessed is the one who turns away from the erratic path of this vain world and walks the righteous path that leads to eternal life.
6. Blessed is the one who sows righteous seed; he will reap a sevenfold harvest.
7. Blessed is he in whom there is truth, that he may speak the truth to his neighbor.
8. Blessed is he who has love on his lips and gentleness in his heart.
9. Blessed is he who understands every word of the Lord and praises the Lord God,” and so on.

[ 39 ] These sentences are certainly beautiful. But if you consider them within their overall structure and in terms of what they are really about—namely, the enumeration of a few sound principles that can be stated at any time, except precisely during a period of upheaval characterized by the introduction of the “I”-force—then, if you were to compare them with the “Beatitudes” of the Gospel of Matthew, you would be taking the same superficial approach as those who compare the world’s religions in a superficial manner and, whenever they find something similar, immediately declare a similarity without paying attention to what really matters.

[ 40 ] When one knows what really matters, one realizes for the first time that there is progress in human evolution, that humanity is advancing from stage to stage, and that a person is not born anew in a physical body in a later millennium to experience what he has already experienced, but rather to experience what humanity has ascended to in the meantime. That is the meaning of history. And that is the meaning of human evolution. The Gospel of Matthew speaks precisely of this meaning of history and human evolution on every single page!