The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Ninth Lecture

[ 1 ] Today we are about to bring the reflections we have been making throughout this winter—in a rather loose and unstructured way based on the Gospel of Mark—to at least a provisional conclusion. This is, after all, a continuation of what we were able to bring before our souls on these evenings throughout the winter, as indicated by the words spoken here in the previous lecture, which, in a sense, pointed out how we are living in a time of transition. Even those who view spiritual life today—one might say—from a somewhat external perspective will be able to notice that, in many respects, a reordering of concepts and ideas is taking place slowly and gradually, even if the people who are right in the midst of this reordering are themselves hardly aware of it. We would do well, then, to take with us for the coming weeks a kind of food for thought—some material that can serve as a guide as we continue to process it within ourselves. That is why this evening we will offer a few such suggestions, which can then be further developed on the basis of the material from Spiritual Science already presented.

[ 2 ] When speaking of a transitional epoch, it is useful to recall the great transitional epoch that we have experienced in the development of humanity—one we have spoken of time and again—and to recall the pivotal moment of the events in Palestine. We know what this turning point signifies from much of what has already been said. If we now wish to form a mental image of how this most important idea— —let us call it that—the Christ idea—grew out of the thoughts and feelings of the immediately preceding era, we would do well to remember that the idea of Yahweh or Jehovah was of the same value to the ancient Hebrew people as the Christ idea was to those who became followers of Christ. We also know from other lectures that, for those who delve more deeply into the essence of Christianity, Yahweh or Jehovah is, in essence, no different from Christ Himself. Rather, we must realize that there is an intimate connection between the idea of Yahweh and the idea of Christ. It is difficult to explain here in just a few words the entire vast connection between the idea of Christ and the idea of Yahweh, which has, to a certain extent, been developed in recent years in a wide variety of lectures and lecture series. But one image can already illustrate how we are to conceive of the relationship between the idea of Christ and the idea of Yahweh. We need only recall an image that has already been pointed out on several occasions: the image of sunlight as it appears to us either directly from the sun or—especially on moonlit nights—reflected by the full moon. It is indeed sunlight that shines toward us from the full moon, but it is reflected sunlight, which is nevertheless somewhat different from the sunlight received directly. If, for the sake of comparison, we were to symbolize Christ by direct sunlight, then we would have to symbolize Yahweh or Jehovah as sunlight reflected by the moon, and in doing so we would precisely capture the meaning intended in the development of humanity. That is why all who understand these matters perceive this transition from a temporary reflection of Christ in Yahweh or Jehovah to Christ Himself in the same way that a person would perceive moonlight and sunlight: Yahweh or Jehovah is an indirect manifestation, while Christ is a direct manifestation of the same essence. When we think of evolution, we need only conceive of what appears to us side by side in space as occurring one after the other in time. And those who speak of these things from an occult perspective say: If we call the religion of Christ a solar religion—and if we recall what was said about Zarathustra, we may use this term—then we can call the religion of Yahweh, the temporary reflection of the religion of Christ, a lunar religion. Thus, in the era preceding Christianity, we prepared the way for the religion of the Sun through a religion of the Moon. Now, what is about to be said will be properly appreciated only by those who know that symbols are not chosen arbitrarily, but are deeply grounded in their meaning. Therefore, when any world religion or worldview presents itself with a symbol, that symbol signifies, for those who use it with understanding, something that is essentially connected to the worldview in question. Admittedly, people today have in many ways lost the symbol of moonlight associated with the ancient religion of Yahweh, and in a certain sense have also lost the association of the religion of Christ with the symbol of the sun. But where worldviews emerge that are completely imbued with the meaning of their essence through their symbols, there we must also conceive of a conscious connection with those symbols.

[ 3 ] Now, recall how I characterized the overall course of human development. First, we have a downward course of development beginning at the time when human beings were, so to speak, cast out of the spiritual world and descended deeper and deeper into the material world. This is a downward path. And when we form a mental image of the general course of human development, we can imagine that the lowest point to which humanity descended is the point where the Christ impulse took effect, gradually transforming the downward path into an upward one. Thus, we have the development of humanity following both a descending and an ascending path, and at the lowest point, the Christ impulse began to take effect there and will continue to do so until the Earth has reached the end of its mission.

[ 4 ] However, evolution proceeds in a complex manner, namely in such a way that certain evolutionary processes are continuations of impulses given earlier. One such evolutionary process is that brought about by the Christ impulse. The Christ impulse first arose at the beginning of our calendar and will, as it were, in a straight line—becoming ever more powerful—take root in human souls until it reaches the goal of human evolution, and from there will take hold of all earthly life. This is an impulse that is given once and that we must follow in such a way that we can, as it were, draw a progressive line and say to ourselves: Everything that occurs later reveals to us the development and influence of this impulse on a higher, more perfect level. There are several such impulses in the world. But there are also impulses and factors of development that operate differently and cannot be traced in a straight line. We have already mentioned such other impulses as well. In post-Atlantean development, we have distinguished the ancient Indian cultural epoch, followed by the ancient Persian, the Egyptian-Chaldean, then the Greco-Latin, next our own, and, succeeding ours, two further cultural epochs, so that within these seven periods, the Greco-Latin period—in which the Christ event occurs—stands right in the middle.

[ 5 ] Now, it is the case that, for example, in our fifth post-Atlantean epoch—in which we are now living—certain processes are repeating themselves in a different way than they did in the third, the Egyptian-Chaldean epoch; so that we have the Christ impulse standing at the center, and the third epoch is, in a certain sense, contained within the fifth. Likewise, the second epoch—the primordial Persian one—will be contained within the sixth, and the first—the primordial Indian one—within the seventh. We are dealing here with overarching factors of development that will manifest themselves in such a way that we can apply the biblical saying to them: “The first shall be last.” — The primordial Indian epoch will be revived in the seventh in a different form, yet in a way that will be recognizable.

[ 6 ] Here we have another way in which the earlier intervenes in the later. We have, however, established this other way by the fact that even smaller epochs form within the development of humanity. In a certain sense, therefore, what existed in the pre-Christian epoch during the ancient Hebrew culture extends once again into the post-Christian era—overlapping, as it were, with the Christ impulse—so that what was prepared in the Yahweh or Jehovah worldview has, in a certain sense, reappeared later and, even though the other factors persist, it nonetheless exerts an influence on the later factors.

[ 7 ] If we wish to describe, through a symbol, what we cannot adequately elaborate on today due to time constraints, we can say: If we perceive the Yahweh religion through the symbol of the moon in contrast to the sun, we can expect that a similar view, transcending the Christ impulse, will reemerge in later times as a kind of moon religion. This is indeed the case. And anyone who does not take such things superficially will not laugh at them — for it is no laughing matter, but is in fact connected to the symbolism of the religion and worldview in question — that the reemergence of the ancient Yahweh-moon religion can be seen in the religion of the crescent moon, which reappears in the period following the Christ event and carries the impulses that preceded it into the post-Christian era. Thus we have the repetition of an earlier period within a later one in an overarching sequence during the last third of the Greco-Latin era, which we occultly extend into the 12th and 13th centuries. That is to say, after a period of six centuries has been set aside — beginning in the 6th century, extending into the next era, and powerfully influencing all factors of development—in the religion that the Arabs carried from Africa to Spain, a religion that, disregarding the actual Christ impulse, represents a kind of revival of the Yahweh-Moon religion in a different form. It is not possible here to analyze all the peculiarities of what was carried over. But it is significant, if we only take to heart, that in this worldview of Muhammad, the Christ impulse was initially disregarded, and that this religion of Muhammad was truly a kind of revival of what could be found in the monotheism of Mosaic Judaism. However, this God of Unity was incorporated into something that was, so to speak, drawn from the other side—for example, from the Egyptian-Chaldean worldview, which provided precise knowledge of the connection between the movements of the stars and world events. Thus we see that all those ideas and concepts which we find among the Egyptians as well as among the Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Assyrians reappear in the religion of Muhammad, but now, in it, strangely illuminated and permeated by what we might call the monotheistic deity of Yahweh or Jehovah. It is like a union—or, to speak scientifically, a synthesis—of everything taught by the Egyptian-Chaldean priestly sages and what was taught in Chaldea, combined with what the ancient Hebrew religion of Yahweh taught, which we encounter in Arab culture.

[ 8 ] However, in such a convergence, it is not merely a matter of things coming together; rather, something is always filtered out and separated. Everything that had been attributed to clairvoyant observation had to be set aside. What remained was a process of synthesis, a purely intellectual inquiry, so that the concepts of Egyptian medicine and Chaldean astronomy—which had emerged among both the Egyptians and the Chaldeans from ancient clairvoyance—appear to us in an intellectualized and individualized form in the Arab world of Muhammad. It is brought to us in Europe, as it were, by a roundabout route through the Arabs—something that has been sifted through — refined in that all the ancient concepts that prevailed among the Egyptians and Chaldeans were stripped of their clairvoyant imagery and cast into abstract forms, reappearing to us in the admirable science of the Arabs, who made their way into Europe via Africa and Spain. While Christianity provided an impulse that was essentially for the human soul, the greatest impulse for the human mind—for the human intellect—came to us indirectly through the Arabs. And those who are not thoroughly familiar with the course of human development have no idea what this worldview, which reemerged under the symbol of the moon, has actually given to all of humanity. Kepler and Copernicus would not have been possible without the impulses brought to Europe through Arab culture. For we see the entire manner of thinking and combining worldviews—while setting aside the old clairvoyance—reappear in the era when the third cultural period celebrates its resurrection in our fifth epoch, in our modern astronomy, and in modern science in general.

[ 9 ] Thus, on the one hand, we have the course of human development proceeding in such a way that the Christ impulse penetrates directly into the European peoples through Greece and Italy, and on the other hand, we have another current to the south of this that takes a detour, passing by Greece and Italy and connecting with what has come to us via the detour through the Arab impulse.

[ 10 ] It was only through the convergence of the religion of Christ and the religion of Muhammad, during the period in which we see a significant turning point, that what we actually call our modern culture could come into being. For reasons that need not be discussed here, we must conceive of epochs lasting roughly six to six and a half centuries specifically for impulses such as those just mentioned; so that, in fact, six centuries after the Christ event, the renewed moon cult—the Arab moon cult—arose, spread, and penetrated into Europe, fertilizing Christ culture well into the 13th century, even though that culture had received its direct impulses through other channels. There was a continuous exchange. Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the outward course of events—who knows how, even in the monasteries of Western Europe—even as they fought against Arab influence — Arab ideas flowed into scholarship and spread throughout it; such a person also knows that up until that point in the mid-13th century—which again marks a special juncture—there was a convergence of the two impulses: the Arab impulse and the direct Christ impulse.

[ 11 ] From this you will be able to see that, in fact, the direct Christ impulse follows different paths than the impulses that flow toward it, as it were, as side currents, in order to unite with it. Six centuries after the Christ impulse, a new cultural wave began in the East—through events that are not easy to describe, although they are well known to every occultist—which then made its way through Africa and Spain into European spiritual life, uniting with the Christ impulse, which had to come by other paths. We can therefore say that the symbol of the Sun fused with the symbol of the Moon from the 6th and 7th centuries through the 12th and 13th centuries—that is, once again over a period of time that lasted about six centuries.

[ 12 ] Now, once this direct inspiration had, so to speak, achieved its goal, something new began to take shape gradually, starting in the 12th and 13th centuries. It is interesting that even today, conventional science acknowledges that something inexplicable was at work in the souls of the European people at that time. Conventional scholarship says: something inexplicable. Occultism, however, says that during this time—as it were, flowing in the wake of the direct Christ impulse—what the fourth period of post-Atlantean culture itself had to offer poured into the souls in a spiritual way; the Greek period constitutes a subsequent wave. This is what we call the era of Renaissance culture, which now, over the next few centuries, fertilizes everything that was already there. Thus we see once again such an overlap following a six-hundred-year epoch of Arab influence, and we see how, after it had flowed in, Arab culture was given time to gradually take root. This occurs because the Greek era—which stands neutrally at the very center of the seven post-Atlantean cultural epochs—follows on from the Renaissance culture. And it signifies yet another period of six centuries—that is, extending into our own time—during which this Greek wave, so to speak, runs its course. Our time still lives within this today. In a sense, we are living today in a transitional period, insofar as we are once again standing at the threshold of a six-hundred-year cultural wave, with something new pushing its way in, and the Christ impulse needing to be fertilized by something new. Now that the renewed lunar cult, in its crescent phase, has had time to run its course through the Renaissance, the time has come for the Christ impulse—which propagates itself directly—to take on a secondary current. This side current gives our age a very special character. We must, however, understand precisely how this side current flows into our culture. All these things correspond entirely to the proper course of an occult schema—an occult system, we might also say.

[ 13 ] If we were to consider, in the old style—not the new one—the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and the Sun in succession, then, after the renewed influence of the Moon had taken hold and the lunar wave had, so to speak, run its course during the Renaissance, we would now expect an influence that we would have to designate, in entirely correct style, with the symbol of Mercury. We could therefore theoretically say that, if the symbolism holds true, we are facing the prospect of a kind of Mercury influence flowing into our culture—a wave that can be symbolized as a Mercury influence, just as the Arab era could be characterized as a lunar influence.

[ 14 ] If we understand the course of history, we may describe Goethe as the last great spirit who united within his soul the richness of science, the richness of Christianity, and the richness of Renaissance culture, Goethe as the last great spirit to have united the fullness of science, the fullness of Christianity, and the fullness of Renaissance culture within his soul—and we might then expect that Goethe would portray for us, within his soul, the beautiful synthesis of Renaissance culture, science—that is, intellectualism, as it was enriched by Arab thought—and Christianity. If we now view Goethe in the way we have been accustomed to for years, it is easy to see that these elements truly converged within Goethe’s soul. However, based on the time frames now mentioned—of six centuries at a time—we might also expect that the influence of Mercury was not yet present in Goethe’s soul and that this must be something that was to emerge as something new after Goethe. It is interesting—as you know—that even Goethe’s student, Schopenhauer, already exhibits this influence of Mercury. You know from my explanations how Eastern wisdom, particularly in the form of Buddhism, has permeated Schopenhauer’s philosophy. Since Mercury is regarded as the symbol of Buddhism, you have—in accordance with Goethe’s time—characterized the Buddha influence—in which Buddha is equivalent to Mercury and Mercury is equivalent to Buddha—in the same way that you characterized the lunar influence in the Arab period; so that we can now also identify this side current that flows into the straight path of the Christ impulse as a new current at the beginning of a new six-hundred-year epoch: We must regard Buddhism as this side current—as a renewal in a new form—with the qualifications set forth in my public lecture on Buddha.

[ 15 ] Now let us ask ourselves: What is the direct current of culture flowing into the future? It is the Christ current. It flows straight ahead. And what side currents can we observe? First, we have the Arab current, which flows into the main current, then pauses, and finds clarification in Renaissance culture. Now we are witnessing a renewed influx of the Buddha current. Anyone who is able to view these facts in the right light will now say to themselves: We must therefore take up those elements from the Buddha current that have not yet been part of our Western culture. Here we can already see how certain elements of the Buddha current are also flowing in through Western spiritual development—such as the ideas of reincarnation and karma. These are flowing in. However, we must now firmly take something else to heart: None of these subsidiary currents will ever be able to shed light on the core of our worldview, our Spiritual Science. To turn to Buddhism or any pre-Christian Oriental tradition—which have entered our time as revitalized worldviews—and ask them, for example, about the nature of Christ would be just as sensible today as if Christian Europeans had asked the Arabs who had come to Spain about the nature of Christ. People in Europe knew back then that the idea of Christ could not come to them from the Arabs, that the Arabs had nothing to say to them about Christ. And when they did say something, it was ideas that did not correspond to the true idea of Christ. And the various prophets who appeared as false messiahs—with no understanding of the Christ impulse—basically emerged from Arab culture, with the exception of Sabbatai Zevi. It must therefore be clear to us that this side current of Arab culture was to be enriched by entirely different elements—and by no means by an insight into the central mystery of Christ.

[ 16 ] In exactly the same way, we must approach that current which must flow toward us today as a secondary wave—an old wave renewed—that will bring understanding of reincarnation and karma, but which cannot possibly bring an understanding of the Christ impulse. For that would be just as absurd as if the Arabs had wanted to teach Europeans the true idea of Christ. The Arabs, however, were able to impart many ideas of false messiahs to the Europeans, right up to Sabbatai Zevi. Such things will recur. For the evolution of humanity can only move forward if people have the strength to see through these things. And we must consciously see through these circumstances with ever greater clarity and urgency.

[ 17 ] Consequently, it will become evident that the Spiritual Science centered on the central idea of Christ—which was founded by the European Rosicrucians—will prevail against all external resistance and, despite all external temptations, will find its way into the minds of people. You can learn from my An Outline of Esoteric Science how the central idea of Christ must take root in people’s minds, and how Christ is woven into the overall evolution not only of humanity but of the entire world. From this, it becomes clear which path is currently evolving. All those who understand a passage such as the one from the Gospel of Mark cited at the end of the last lecture will have the opportunity to heed this Spiritual Science that is currently evolving: “False Christs and false prophets will arise … If anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe them!” — Alongside this current, however, another will emerge further to the outside, one that will believe itself to be even better informed about the nature of Christ than the Rosicrucian Western Spiritual Science. All manner of ideas and teachings will then be brought into the world from perspectives that will arise quite naturally from the soil of the parallel current of Orientalizing Buddhism. But it would be a sign of the gravest weakness on the part of European souls if these European souls were unable to grasp the idea that, in the direct pursuit of the Christ idea, neither the Mercury nor the Buddha current has any more light to shed than Arab thought has shed in the direct pursuit of the Christ idea. This is not derived here from any belief, from any dogmas or fantasies, but from the objective course of world development. With figures or cultural currents that you can trace if you wish, it will be demonstrated to you that things must be as occult science teaches.

[ 18 ] Now, however, what is happening here will be linked to the need to distinguish between an orthodox, ancient Eastern Buddhism—which, so to speak, seeks to transplant “static” Buddhism into Europe and to recognize a “Christ-idea” within that static Buddhism—and a Buddhism that has truly evolved. That is to say, there will be people who will speak of Buddha in this way: Look at Buddha, who lived about five to six centuries before our era! These are his teachings!”—What these people will say is comparable to what Spiritual Science, in the Rosicrucian sense, must say: “It is up to you, not to the Buddha, that you speak today as if the Buddha had remained at the stage he was at five to six centuries before our era! Do you believe the Buddha did not progress?” When you speak this way, you are speaking of a teaching that was correct for that time. You are, after all, speaking of a teaching of the Buddha as he gave it, correctly adapted for the time five to six centuries before our era! But we look up to the Buddha who has progressed, and who, from spiritual heights, exerts his enduring influence on human culture. We look to that Buddha whom we were able to portray in our examination of the Gospel of Luke—the one who exerted his influence on Jesus of the Nathanic line of the House of David; we look to the Buddha as he has continued to develop in the realm of the Spirit, and who today has the authoritative truths to share with us—the truths that truly matter.

[ 19 ] Something quite curious has happened to Christianity—specifically, dogmatic Christianity—in the West, which could be characterized by saying: Through a strange chain of circumstances, a Buddha-like figure has found its way among the Christian saints. You will recall that I once spoke of a legend that was told throughout Europe during the Middle Ages: the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat. It goes something like this: Once upon a time, there was an Indian king who had a son. At first, he raised this son so that he lived far away from all human misery, from all outward earthly life. He raised him in the royal palace, where he saw only that which leads to the happiness and blessing of humanity. His name was Josaphat; the name has been altered several times and has taken on various forms: Josaphat, Judasaph, Budasaph. Josaphat lived in the royal palace until a certain age without ever getting to know the world. Then one day, he was led out of his father’s palace, and it was then that he came to know life. First he saw a leper, then a blind man, and then an old man. The story goes on to recount that he encountered a Christian hermit named Barlaam, who succeeded in helping Josaphat understand Christianity and convert to it.

[ 20 ] You will surely recognize that the story of an Indian king whose son is born to live far away from the world, who is then led out and sees a leper, a blind man, and an old man, echoes the legend of the Buddha himself. And on the other hand, you can easily see that this legend was continued in the Middle Ages, but that something was added to it that cannot be attributed to the Buddha: that he converted to Christianity. That could not be said of the Buddha.

[ 21 ] This legend has stirred a certain awareness among Christians—at least among some Christians—but especially among those who have compiled lists of saints. It was known that the name Josaphat, Jodasaph, is connected to what we call a Bodhisattva: Jodasaph and Budasaph lead directly to Bodhisattva. We thus see here a remarkable, quite profound connection between a Christian legend and the figure of the Buddha. We know, of course, that the Eastern legend depicts the Buddha as passing into Nirvana, and that he had handed over the crown of the Bodhisattva to his successor, the Maitreya Buddha, who is now a Bodhisattva and will later become the Buddha of the future. In the legend, the Buddha reappears to us as Josaphat. And the connection between Buddhism and Christianity is wonderfully characterized by the statement that “Josaphat is a saint”; for the Buddha himself was so holy that, in the spirit of the legend, he converted from being the son of an Indian king to Christianity, so that he can be counted among the saints—even though he was persecuted from another quarter.

[ 22 ] From this you can see that people knew where to look for what would later become Buddhism, or rather, the Buddha. In the hidden worlds, Buddhism has now merged with Christianity. And Barlaam, this remarkable figure, introduced the Bodhisattva to Christianity, so that even if we now trace Buddhism—in the sense of this legend—as a living, ongoing world current, we can only revive it in the form in which it now exists, transformed as it is. We must speak of the Buddha as he exists for us today, if we are to clairvoyantly understand his inspirations. Just as Arabism was not Judaism, just as the Jehovah-Moon did not reappear in Arabism in its old form and shape, so too will Buddhism, insofar as it can bear fruit in Western culture, not reappear in its old form, but will emerge in a transformed form, because what comes later does not merely reappear as a pale imitation of what came before.

[ 23 ] These are short, fragmentary sentences intended to serve as inspiration for your own reflections on the development of humanity, which you can expand upon. And I can assure you that if you take all the historical insights you can find and truly follow the development of Spiritual Science in Europe, you will see that we are now at a point where Christianity and Buddhism are converging. Just as a convergence of the religion of Yahweh with Christianity took place during the period described, so today we stand at a point of convergence between Buddhism and Christianity. Examine this by taking everything that European historians can offer you! But do not examine it in the way European historians are accustomed to, but rather in a way that takes all factors into account; then you will see that everything I have said proves to be true. We would, however, have to spend weeks discussing what can flow to us from what is given to us as the Rosicrucian spiritual tradition within Europe. But you can find evidence for this not only in history, but—if you approach the matter correctly—also in contemporary natural science and related fields. You need only search in the right way, and then you will find that, in fact, everywhere the new concepts are, as it were, forcing their way into the present, while old concepts become obsolete and disappear. In a certain sense, our researchers and thinkers are working with concepts that have become obsolete, because they are still largely unable to properly absorb and process the secondary current of thought, which is characterized primarily by the ideas of reincarnation and karma and by what Spiritual Science has to offer in other respects. Our researchers work with concepts that have become obsolete. You can review the current literature in the fields of the most diverse sciences, and you will see that for those familiar with these matters, it is sometimes downright disheartening to observe how facts spring up one after another in scientific life, and how concepts everywhere fall short of what is needed to understand these facts. For example, we have a concept—these matters can only be touched upon here today—that still plays a major role across the broadest spectrum of our science: the concept of heredity. Just as this concept of heredity still features in the various sciences today and has even entered popular discourse, it is simply unusable. The facts will teach people that they require different concepts for their understanding than, for example, the utterly useless concept of heredity that is currently prevalent across the broadest spectrum of the sciences. With regard to heredity in humans and also in related beings, it will become apparent that certain facts, which are already well known today, can only be understood once entirely different concepts are available. When people today speak of heredity in successive generations, they hold the belief that all human abilities can be traced back through the hereditary line to immediate ancestors. But only the concepts of reincarnation and karma will make it possible for clear concepts to replace the current confusion. Thus it will become apparent that a large part of what is present in human nature today—I can only hint at this here—has absolutely nothing to do with what is called the mutual influence of the sexes; whereas a confused science still teaches today that everything in the human being has its origin in conception through the union of the male and the female. For it is not true at all that everything that occurs in human beings has anything to do with what, so to speak, comes together physically in the union of the sexes. You will have to reflect more deeply on this matter; I merely wish to offer it as food for thought.

[ 24 ] If you consider the human physical body, you know that it has a long history: It has gone through a Saturn epoch, a Sun epoch, a Moon epoch, and is now going through the Earth epoch. It was not until the Lunar Epoch that the influence of the astral body began to manifest. It had not existed before. This astral body, of course, also transformed the human physical body. That is why the physical body appears to us today not only as it was shaped by the forces of the Saturn and Sun eras, but as it has become under the influence of those forces and under the forces of the astral body and the “I.” The only aspect of the physical body that is inheritable through the interaction of the sexes is that which is connected to the astral body’s influence on the physical body; whereas everything that consists of laws traceable to the Saturn and Sun epochs has absolutely nothing to do with the interaction of the sexes. A part of human nature is received directly—not from the opposite sex, but directly from the macrocosm. This means that what we carry within us does not, by any means, originate entirely from the interaction of the sexes. Only that part comes from it which depends on us through our astral body, whereas we carry a large part of human nature within us in such a way that it is received—from the mother, for example—directly from the macrocosm, without any detour through the opposite sex. Therefore, we must distinguish within human nature between that part which stems from the interaction of the sexes and that part which is received directly from the mother from the macrocosm. Consider that clarity regarding these matters can only prevail once we are able to make a clear distinction between the individual components of human nature, whereas today everything is thrown into confusion. For the physical body is not a self-contained entity, but rather the result of the interplay of forces from the etheric body, the astral body, and the I; and one must now distinguish between those forces that are directly attributable to the influence of the macrocosm and those that are attributable to the interaction of the sexes.

[ 25 ] But the paternal nature also absorbs something that has nothing to do with the interaction of the sexes. While certain tools and laws—which are not based on sexual inheritance at all—are absorbed and directly implanted via a detour through the maternal organism from the macrocosm, laws from the macrocosm that take a spiritual path are also implanted via a detour through the paternal organism. With regard to what is absorbed indirectly through the maternal organism, one can still say: The maternal organism is a point of entry. But what, in relation to the mother’s organism, does not at all stem from the interaction of the sexes, this interacts with something that, in turn, does not stem from the interaction of the sexes but from the paternal. Thus, a cosmic process, a macrocosmic process, takes place that finds expression in the body’s limbs and forms. Therefore, one is entirely mistaken today if one simply depicts the development of the human embryo in such a way that everything is attributed to heredity, while elements are directly absorbed from the macrocosm.

[ 26 ] Here you have something where the facts currently go far beyond what science has in terms of concepts; for its concepts still stem from earlier eras. Now you might ask: Does this manifest itself in any way? — Popular books say little about it, but in the realm of occult practices, it stands out clearly. I would like to draw your attention to something here. Although I can only hint at it, I would like to point out that there is a very striking contrast between two contemporary natural scientists and thinkers, a contrast that has also had wider repercussions and affected others. And the characters of these two natural scientists speak volumes about the entire situation. On the one hand, you have Haeckel, who—because he processes his admirable facts using the most ancient concepts—attributes everything to heredity and presents the entire history of development as based on heredity. Opposite him stands the researcher who actually adheres more closely to the facts and who can therefore, with some justification, be accused of thinking too little: His, the zoologist and naturalist. Due to the peculiar way in which he pursued the facts, His was compelled to oppose Haeckel’s theory of heredity and to point out that certain organs and organ forms in humans can only be explained by disregarding the idea that they owe their origin to the interaction of the sexes; to which Haeckel then retorted: So Mr. His attributes the formation of the human body to a certain virginal influence that is not based on the interaction of the sexes!—But that is also quite correct. For scientific facts today compel us to distinguish between what can be attributed to the interaction of the sexes and what comes directly from the macrocosm—which, of course, is a completely absurd idea to many people today. From this you can see that even on the basis of science, there is already a push toward new concepts. We are in the midst of a development that says: If you want to correctly understand the facts that are presented to you, you must adopt a series of entirely new concepts; for the concepts you have inherited from the past are no longer sufficient.

[ 27 ] From this we see how a secondary current must converge with our culture. This is the Mercury current, which manifests itself in the fact that anyone undergoing occult development today—as described in the various lectures—grows into the spiritual world and thereby experiences certain new realities. These flow toward them, pouring into their soul. In a certain sense, we can describe or compare this process of a person immersing themselves in another world to that of a fish that is taken out of the water and into the air, but which would first have prepared itself for this by transforming its swim bladder into lungs. We can compare this to a human being’s transition from sensory perception to spiritual perception, in which the soul has made itself capable of using certain forces in a different element. A wide variety of phenomena then become apparent. Today, the air is permeated precisely by those thoughts that make it necessary for us to truly comprehend the new scientific facts emerging on the physical plane. As a supersensory researcher, one immerses oneself in what is pressing in from all sides as facts. This was not the case before the side current arose, of which I spoke today. So we see: No matter how we look at things, we are living in an extraordinarily important epoch, in a time in which it will not be possible to continue living unless precisely such upheavals occur in human thinking and feeling as have been declared necessary.

[ 28 ] I said that just as a fish, which is accustomed to living in water, would have to adapt to a new environment, so too must human beings adapt to a new environment. But human beings must also adapt, in their thinking, to the realities that the physical plane will one day bring forth. People who try to resist this new way of thinking would find themselves in a situation like that of a fish that is simply taken out of the water. For one cannot remain in the water! And you will then see the intellectual starvation such people will later experience with regard to spiritual concepts. Oh, they will gasp for air! And those who wish to continue living within today’s monism are like fish that want to exchange their life in water for a life in air, yet wish to keep their gills. Only those human souls who transform their faculties—which have grown to accommodate a new understanding of reality through thought—will comprehend what the future will bring.

[ 29 ] Thus, with full understanding, we feel as though we are standing at the confluence of two currents of worldview. One is meant to bring us a deeper understanding of the Christ problem, the mystery of Golgotha, and the other is meant to bring new concepts and ideas about reality. Both are compelled to converge in our time. This will not happen without the gravest obstacles. For in such times, when currents of worldview encounter one another, they face many hindrances and obstacles. And in a certain sense, those who are devoted to Spiritual Science will be placed right in the midst of it all, in the very place where an understanding of such things will inevitably arise. Some of those who are, so to speak, our members might perhaps say, with reference to a discussion such as the one held today: What you are saying is difficult to understand, and we must first spend a long time working our way into it. Why don’t you give us more accessible material that could convince us of the spirituality of the world, that might be more palatable to us? Why do you place such demands on our understanding of the world? - Some might speak this way and say: How much nicer it would be if we were allowed to believe what a form of Buddhism directly transmitted from antiquity can tell us: that we need not think of the Christ event as the single point on which the scales hang, and that there can be no second such point besides this one, but rather that a being like the Christ, just like other human beings, incarnates again and again. Why don’t you say: “One will come in the flesh here or there!”—instead of saying something like that people must prepare themselves to experience the renewal of the event at Damascus? For when we are told, “One will come in the flesh”—then we can say, “There, look, there he is!” We can see him with our physical eyes! — That is much easier to understand.

[ 30 ] Others will see to it that such things are said. Ensuring that the truth is spoken—that is the task of Western Spiritual Science. The truth, taken with full responsibility for all the preconditions inherent in the development that has led up to the present day. And whoever seeks comfort in the spiritual world may look for spirituality along other paths. But whoever wishes to find the truth—the truth that our time needs, namely, by using all the intellectual faculties we have gained in addition to the old clairvoyance until the day when the new clairvoyance dawns once more— and whoever wishes to understand this intellectual capacity as it must be understood today—I am certain that such a person will follow the path laid out by the words that have been spoken here today and on many previous occasions. For the point is not that we first say how we want the truth to be, but that, from the entire course of human development in a particular epoch, we know how this truth must necessarily be spoken at a specific moment. Oh, many other things will be said! But you should not be unprepared for the many other things that might be said. That is why, within the Rosicrucian spiritual development, we will never fail to point out, again and again, what can stand at the very pinnacle of spiritual knowledge in our time. And you have a means of ensuring that what is said here or elsewhere is not accepted on blind faith; for such blind faith is never called for here, within this spiritual current. You have this means in the use of your reason, your intellect, your own understanding, and you can hear the words that are repeated time and again: Take all of life, all of science, everything you can experience, and examine what is presented within the Rosicrucian spiritual movement! Do not fail to examine everything, and you will see that it stands up to scrutiny! Those who will live within the Rosicrucian spiritual tradition will know that it stands up to scrutiny. But do not fail to apply this test! For precisely in the realm where opposites come into closest contact—where perhaps the exact opposite appears somewhere—in the realm of true spirituality, no belief whatsoever may be decisive. Everything based on blind faith will be fruitless and stillborn. It would be easy to rely on blind faith. Those who stand within the ranks of Western spiritual life renounce this. Instead, they build upon what can be tested by reason, by understanding, and by human intellectuality. For those who are connected to the sources of our Rosicrucian spiritual tradition say, speaking from within this tradition: “This is how things stand after conscientious examination, and the edifice of Spiritual Science must be erected on the foundation of truth.” The ground of facile faith is not our ground. The edifice of Spiritual Science will be erected on the foundation of carefully examined—though perhaps more difficult—truth, and the prophets of blind, complacent faith will not shake the edifice of Spiritual Science.