The Rudolf Steiner Archive

First Lecture

[ 1 ] We have already discussed various important topics related to the theosophical worldview during our previous lecture series. In the current lecture series, we have set ourselves a topic that belongs to the most important, the most worthy of consideration in theosophical life, the theosophical worldview, and the theosophical mindset. We have, so to speak, chosen the most important object that human knowledge can conceivably have: namely, the human being itself. And for theosophical contemplation, this human being itself must, one might say, quite naturally be the highest object of contemplation. Within the theosophical worldview, one must once again sense something of what the Greek spirit, touched by ancient theosophy, already placed in the word Anthropos—human being. “He who looks toward the heights”—that is how one might translate it, if one were to translate it correctly, into our current mode of expression. “He who looks toward the heights” is at the same time the definition of the human being expressed in the Greek word Anthropos, that is: he who seeks his origin in the heights of life, and who finds his own reasons only in the heights of life—that is the human being according to the feeling of the Greek world.

[ 2 ] To recognize human beings as such beings, we have, in essence, theosophy. It is that view of the world which seeks to rise from the details of sensory existence, from the details of active external life, to those heights of spiritual experience that can truly show us where humanity comes from and where it is actually heading. Thus it is readily apparent that, as is true of every worldview in general and of Theosophy in particular, the human being is the most worthy object of contemplation.

[ 3 ] In this series of lectures, we wish to consider the human being from three spiritual perspectives—the three perspectives from which every profound worldview has traditionally viewed humanity, even if not all three have been given equal emphasis in everyday life. In this series of lectures, we wish to consider human beings from the perspective of occultism, from the perspective of theosophy, and from the perspective of philosophy.

[ 4 ] It stands to reason that we must first agree today on what is actually meant by these three aspects. When one speaks of occultism, one is speaking first of all of something that is quite unknown in wider circles of today’s educated world; and one must say: Occultism, in its very essence, has in fact always been, throughout the entire course of human development to date, something that is, so to speak, hidden from outer life, from everyday life. Occultism, after all, proceeds from the assumption that in order to recognize his own being, to experience his own being, man cannot remain at the level of the ordinary mode of perception, the mode of perception of ordinary consciousness, but must pass over to a completely different mode of perception, to a different kind of knowledge.

[ 5 ] To begin with a comparison, one might say: When we live within a place, we see the individual experiences that people have, and anyone who lives in such a place—provided it is of a certain size—basically knows only fragments of what is actually experienced there, of what can be seen there. Even outwardly, if someone wants to have an overall view of the town, they may have to find a hilltop to survey what they cannot see from a single vantage point within it. If they wish to grasp the context and gain an overview of the intellectual, moral, and other aspects of life in that place, then they must mentally place themselves on a higher vantage point than that of the ordinary experiences that everyday life can offer them.

[ 6 ] This is precisely what a person must do if they wish to transcend the experiences and perceptions of ordinary consciousness. For, in essence, these experiences always provide only a part of what constitutes the totality of existence, the entire fabric of life. For human cognition, however, this means nothing other than that this human cognition itself must transcend itself, that it must attain a vantage point that lies above ordinary consciousness, above ordinary cognition. Naturally, this has the consequence that this vantage point, which lies, so to speak, outside of ordinary life, causes the details to fade away in their particularly intense colors and in their specific nuances. When we go up to a hill to survey a place, we too see only the overall picture, and we then forgo those individual nuances that our individual experience provides. A vantage point that transcends ordinary consciousness must also forgo many details, many individual aspects. But in return, it provides—precisely for the understanding of the human being, for the understanding of the entire human species—that which matters most, that which is the same in all people, in which the very foundation of human nature lies, and which the human being perceives as the most important thing in life.

[ 7 ] This perspective can only be attained when the human soul undergoes a certain development, reaching what is commonly referred to as clairvoyant perception. You will find this clairvoyant perception discussed in the relevant literature. There you will find what individual souls must do to attain such clairvoyant perception. You will find it stated that for those who wish to attain this clairvoyant knowledge, the ordinary means of cognition—perception through the ordinary senses, and reflection using ordinary intellectual and judgmental faculties—are insufficient; and you will be reminded that these must be transcended and that entirely new means of cognition, lying in embryonic form within the soul, must be sought.

[ 8 ] You have probably also gathered from the literature that one can distinguish three stages in the ascent to this clairvoyant or occult knowledge. The first stage is that of imaginative knowledge, the second that of inspired knowledge, and the third that of intuitive knowledge. If one were to characterize in popular terms what is achieved through this self-knowledge, which is attained by means of imagination, inspiration, and intuition, one would have to say: Through this, the human being is enabled to perceive things that lie beyond ordinary consciousness. One need only point to the contrast between waking and sleeping to illustrate, in simple terms, what can be attained by human beings through occult knowledge and clairvoyant perception. While awake, a person perceives the sensory world as their environment and assesses it with their intellect and other cognitive faculties. For ordinary consciousness, the darkness of consciousness sets in when a person enters the state of sleep. But a person does not cease to be when they fall asleep, nor are they newly created when they wake up again. A person also lives in the time that elapses between falling asleep and waking up again. It is just that the human being lacks sufficient inner strength, sufficient vigor and energy of the soul, which would enable him during the state of sleep to perceive what is in his surroundings. One might say: The human being’s powers of cognition are such that they must be sharpened through the physical organs, through the senses, and through the nervous system, so that he may perceive something in his surroundings for ordinary consciousness. At night, when a person is detached from their sensory organs and nervous system, the forces within the soul are too weak to rouse themselves and perceive and observe the surroundings.

[ 9 ] That which is too weak at night to perceive its surroundings—to bring it into a state where, under certain conditions (though not always), it can perceive during ordinary sleep what surrounds us while we sleep—this can be achieved through the methods provided for the purpose of training in occult knowledge. So that a person can perceive a broader, a new—one might say, if such a word were not in a certain sense unjustified—a higher world than the ordinary one.

[ 10 ] It is, in essence, a transformation of the soul that signifies a strengthening, an increase in the energy of the soul’s inner powers. When this transformation, this strengthening, takes place, then the human being knows what it actually consists of—that which leaves the physical body when falling asleep and returns to the physical body upon waking. Then they also know that what leaves the body during sleep contains the inner core of the being, which enters the physical body at birth and, when the person passes through the gate of death, leaves the physical body again. Then the human being also knows how he lives in the world of the spirit and soul during the time between death and a new birth. In short, the human being learns to perceive spiritually, and he also comes to know the environment that is of a spiritual nature and lies beyond ordinary consciousness. In this spiritual world, however, lie the very foundations of existence, the reasons for physical, sensory existence as well, so that through occult knowledge the human being gains the ability to contemplate the foundations of existence. But he acquires this ability only by first transforming himself into a different kind of knowing being than he is within ordinary consciousness.

[ 11 ] Occultism, then, can only be of benefit to a person if they undertake to truly apply to themselves the means offered to them for this form of occult knowledge. It is in the nature of things—and this has also been pointed out in the literature and discussed here in these lectures—that, in the course of human development to date, it was naturally not everyone’s calling to educate themselves in such a way that they could look directly into the spiritual world, that is, to penetrate to the very foundations of existence in the manner described. These means of penetrating to the very foundations of existence were always imparted within close-knit circles, where strict care was taken to ensure that the individual first received the preparatory training that would make him or her ready to apply the means of occult knowledge to his or her soul before the higher means of occult knowledge were offered to him or her.

[ 12 ] It is easy to see why this must be so. Higher, occult knowledge leads to the foundations of existence; it leads into those worlds from which, in a sense, our world is made, so that through this occult knowledge, a person also acquires certain abilities that he or she would not otherwise possess. In a sense, by penetrating into the very foundations of existence, a person will be able to accomplish things that they cannot achieve with ordinary means of knowledge. Now there is a fact that makes this quite clear. We will discuss this fact later; for now, it is merely cited to show that the means of occult knowledge could not be given to everyone. This fact is that, during the course of Earth’s evolution, human beings necessarily had to have egoism implanted within them. Without egoism, human beings could not have fulfilled their earthly task, for this task consists precisely in developing from egoism toward love and, through love, ennobling, overcoming, and spiritualizing egoism. At the end of Earth’s development, humanity will be permeated by love. But it can only develop toward this love in freedom because egoism was implanted in its nature from the very beginning. Yet egoism is extremely dangerous and harmful when it undertakes anything that lies beyond the realm of ordinary consciousness. If egoism—which, in essence, permeates the entire history of humanity—already causes harm upon harm in ordinary, sensory life, one must nevertheless say that these harms are trivial compared to the great damage it causes when it is able to work with the means of occult knowledge.

[ 13 ] Thus, it was always a necessary prerequisite that those to whom the means of occult knowledge were given possessed a character so rigorously prepared that, no matter how great the temptations of the world might be, they would not act out of selfishness. This was the first significant principle of preparation for occult knowledge: that the character of those people admitted to these insights did not permit them to misuse occult knowledge for selfish ends. This naturally meant that only a few could be selected over time in the course of human development to be admitted into those occult schools which in ancient times were called the Mysteries and by other names, and that thus only these few were given the means to ascend to such occult knowledge. The occult knowledge that these few then attained had very specific characteristics, very specific peculiarities.

[ 14 ] What I now wish to describe as a characteristic of this occult knowledge is, in a certain sense, changing precisely in our time; but it was, in essence, common to all the occult schools of the past that can be called such in the true sense of the word. In these occult schools, where the means of occult knowledge were imparted to people, it was necessary that among the many things that had to be overcome—in order thereby to overcome egoism as well—there was even this: not to speak in ordinary words within the mysteries, within the occult schools; not to communicate in the ordinary words used in the life of outer consciousness. For a certain kind of egoism—albeit a more subtle, one might say higher, form—already takes hold in people through the use of the words, thoughts, and concepts employed in outer life. Here all those things come into consideration that do not allow people to appear as human beings at all, but as members of a particular people with all the forms of egoism that are characteristic of them precisely because they love their people—rightly so, for the sake of external life. For the outer consciousness, it is self-evident and must be so that people possess these finer, higher forms of egoism, and these higher forms of egoism are, in a certain sense, the most praiseworthy aspect of existence. For the highest universal human insights, which are to be sought beyond the life of ordinary consciousness, however, we must not bring these higher, refined forms of egoism with us. Therefore, preparation in the occult schools was conducted in such a way that, so to speak, a universal human language was first created. In these occult schools, the language of ordinary life was not used, but rather a language that affected people differently than any other language spoken here or there. This was a language that did not work through words and thoughts, as one presents in ordinary science, but through symbols. For those familiar with mathematics, it is readily clear that its general applicability stems from the choice of symbols that can be applied everywhere. By choosing such symbols, by, so to speak, evolving to the point of having a language that speaks in symbols, one transcended what interferes with our judgment and our ordinary consciousness—namely, egoism, and even higher forms of egoism. But as a result, what one could represent and say was understandable only to those who had first become acquainted with this universal human language, these symbols. The language consisted of symbols that could be drawn, performed through hand movements in rituals, expressed through color combinations, and so on. And the main thing in the secret schools was not what was proclaimed through words, for that was only preparation, but rather what was said in the language of symbols, independent of ordinary human words and also independent of ordinary human thoughts. The first thing, then, in the secret schools was the formation of a symbolic language.

[ 15 ] In the earliest times, those initiated into the Mysteries regarded it as their strictest duty not to reveal anything of the general language of the Mysteries or of the general symbols to the outside world, because if a person had become acquainted with the symbols and had been perceptive enough, he might have arrived at the means of occult knowledge unprepared. The creation of symbols was the means of speaking a universal human language. Keeping the symbols secret was the means of preventing what was given to them through this language from reaching immature people.

[ 16 ] Thus, simply by the fact that one felt compelled to speak or use a symbolic language, the impossibility of communicating the knowledge of the mysteries to the general public was created. True mystery knowledge, true occultism, was therefore always the knowledge of humanity preserved by the mysteries and the secret schools and attained through occult insights, and this knowledge of humanity was always restricted to the narrower circles just described.

[ 17 ] But there is, in a sense, another reason why it has not been possible to make public what constitutes occultism. Just as one must first be free of egoism in order to be permitted to enter the world that is to be revealed to one, so, on the other hand, once the power of cognition has been transformed and the human being has, through self-education, come to look into this entirely different kind of world, one is unable to make use of ordinary human concepts and human ideas. The creation of symbols also serves the further purpose and meaning of providing means by which one can express what one truly cannot express with ordinary human words and concepts. For occultism makes use of the human being as it is when it is not dependent on the senses and the brain, but exists outside the senses and the brain. All ordinary words, however, are so shaped that they have arisen from the brain and from external perception; so that as soon as an occult insight dawns upon one, one feels how impossible it is to express it in ordinary words.

[ 18 ] Occult knowledge is that which is attained outside the physical body. For those just beginning to acquire occult knowledge, it is initially impossible to express it using the means acquired through the physical body.

[ 19 ] But occult knowledge is not merely something intended to be grasped by a few curious individuals; rather, it is the very essence of what is most necessary and most essential for humanity. Occult knowledge is the experience of the fundamental principles of existence, above all the fundamental principles of human existence. Occult knowledge therefore had to penetrate into life, had to be communicated to life. Hence, means had to be found to carry occult knowledge into life, to make it understandable to people in their own way.

[ 20 ] The primary means of making occult knowledge understandable to people is, and always has been, what is known as theosophy. When one transforms occult knowledge into theosophy, one relinquishes an essential characteristic of that knowledge: namely, the requirement to speak only through the highest means. Instead, one proceeds to clothe these occult insights in ordinary human words and human concepts. As theosophy, therefore, occult knowledge appears in such a way that it is communicated, for example, to a particular people in a manner that employs that people’s mental images and ideas to clothe the general occult knowledge. Through this, however, the occult knowledge becomes specified and differentiated, because it is then communicated only through the words of a portion of humanity. This is also why those who have come into possession of secret knowledge in the secret schools have specialized and differentiated it—precisely because they had to clothe it in the specific language of the people in question, because they had to clothe in the language of the peoples that which, in occult knowledge, is the common heritage of humanity.

[ 21 ] In the Mysteries, the goal and intention was always to remain as universal as possible when transplanting the common human heritage of occultism into the specific forms of a particular national language or the Folk-souls of a particular people. But at the same time, one had to become understandable; one had to express oneself in the language spoken by the people; one had to express oneself in the concepts the people had developed. Thus, the individual theosophists who have appeared among humanity had to take care to make themselves understandable for the specific purpose and for the specific field about which they were speaking. It is not entirely easy to express the general occult heritage of humanity in a specific language and through specific conceptual forms. Yet this has indeed been achieved to a high degree in various regions of the Earth and throughout the course of history.

[ 22 ] While occultism, in its true sense, is something one enters into by applying the methods of clairvoyant self-discipline to oneself and thus ascending to the realm of vision, theosophy is something that confronts one through the concepts and ideas one already possessed, into which occult knowledge is merely clothed.

[ 23 ] If occult insights are properly clothed in ordinary concepts and ideas, then they are also understandable to anyone who possesses sound judgment and makes an effort to grasp them. Therefore, theosophy is entirely comprehensible to common sense, provided one makes the effort. It is not necessary to say: Only those who attain occult vision themselves can perceive and comprehend the occult. When the occult truths are clothed in conceptual forms, as in Theosophy, they are comprehensible to common sense.

[ 24 ] Now there are certain laws of human development—which we will discuss later—that, over time, made it necessary, one might say, to further differentiate and modify theosophy. Whereas, if we go back to the earlier periods of human development, we essentially find among the most ancient peoples—not the decadent peoples whom an anthropology that does not understand itself calls “primitive peoples,” but rather the original peoples revealed to us by Spiritual Science—the mysteries and secret schools that imparted occult knowledge to a select few, and alongside this also what was generally proclaimed as theosophy—the occult insights clothed in popular ideas—things became somewhat different in later times. There the theosophical form, which in earlier times was almost the only one through which human beings could ascend to the primordial sources, gradually gave way to the religious form, which everywhere takes into account that while theosophy can indeed be grasped by common sense—provided it goes far enough—it was not always possible, with the progress of human life throughout history, to adopt this comprehensive standpoint of common sense. Thus, provision also had to be made for those human minds which, simply due to their external circumstances, had no opportunity to raise the standpoint of common sense to the level it had in primeval times, and to the level necessary to make the occult truths transparent. It was necessary for those minds that could not reach this comprehensive perspective to gain a kind of faith-based understanding of the foundations of existence.

[ 25 ] From a kind of intuitive insight, which was also shaped within the mysteries, the religious form of knowledge emerged; and for later times, this has essentially become the more popular and accessible alternative to the original theosophical form. If we therefore look back at human development, we do not actually find the character of religion, as people understand it today, as the oldest form of worldview. If we go back to the first post-Atlantean epoch, to Indian prehistory, we find that occult secret knowledge had, in essence, reached such a level that the people could participate in this knowledge as theosophy. In the earliest Indian prehistory, religion essentially coincides with ‘theosophy.’ Religion there is nothing special, nothing separate from theosophy. Therefore, when we trace the development of religion back, we find theosophy at its starting point. But as human development progressed, religious forms had to be adopted more and more, and it became necessary to relinquish the idea that human beings, using their common sense, could also grasp what theosophy had to offer. Thus, theosophical truths were recast as articles of faith.

[ 26 ] And as we move from the earliest times to later periods, we find that with Christianity the most radical transformation is taking place: the transformation from the theosophical form to the religious form. In the external Christian creeds that have developed over the centuries, there is initially very little to be found of theosophy. There the old character of theosophy recedes entirely, and we even see how, in the development of Christianity, theology evolves alongside the faith, but not theosophy, which was even pursued by theologians with a certain hatred, or at least with antipathy and aversion. Thus we see that, over time, Christianity developed alongside popular belief a theology, but not a theosophy; rather, it turned away from all things theosophical.

[ 27 ] A third form in which humanity’s quest for the origins of existence has taken shape is the philosophical one. While occult knowledge is attained by the human being insofar as it is free from the physical body, and while theosophy conveys occult knowledge through external thoughts and verbal expressions, philosophy strives to reach the foundations of the world using those means of knowledge which, though the finest and most subtle, are nevertheless bound to the instrument of the brain. Philosophy, as it appears in the truly philosophical era of human development, does not seek, in the manner of theosophy, to first convey something gained outside of human physicality, but rather seeks, as far as possible with the means of ordinary cognition applied within physicality, to penetrate to the very foundations of existence. Thus one strives to attain philosophical truths, albeit with the most subtle means, as long as the human being is in the body, but nevertheless only with means of knowledge that are bound to the body. Philosophy therefore has, in essence, the same goal—namely, to reach the foundations of existence—as occultism and theosophy; but philosophy strives to penetrate as far as possible into the foundations of existence using the thinking and investigative methods bound to the brain and to external perception, to the extent that this is at all possible with these investigative methods.

[ 28 ] Now, because philosophy works with the most subtle, the finest means of knowledge—even if these means are limited to the brain and external sensory perception—it is, in turn, a matter for only a few people. Only a few people make use of these finest means of knowledge. We know all too well that philosophy is something that truly cannot become popular, something that is even perceived by a large number of people as far too difficult, if not downright boring.

[ 29 ] We must, however, bear in mind that philosophy works with the means of knowledge tied to the senses and selects from them the finest and most subtle. Since in philosophy man makes use of the means associated with his personality, philosophy is, of course, something personal. But because man, when he works his way up to the most subtle means of knowledge, is nevertheless compelled to shed the personal to a certain degree, philosophy becomes something universal again.

[ 30 ] Only those who delve deeper into philosophy can perceive its universal nature. Unfortunately, people are all too quick to realize that it is something personal. While those who delve deeper into philosophy discover fundamental principles that are the same among thinkers as seemingly diverse as the ancient Greek philosophers Parmenides and Heraclitus, those who approach philosophy only from the outside will immediately find the difference between Hegel and such a hostile counterpart as Schopenhauer. He sees only what divides philosophy into different viewpoints, and he does not see the succession of personal human viewpoints.

[ 31 ] Thus, in a certain sense, philosophy becomes the antithesis of occultism; for philosophy must be attained by the individual through his most personal means, whereas occultism is attained precisely when he sheds his personality. This is why it becomes so difficult for someone who presents his personal self to others in a philosophically correct manner to be truly understood by others. But if one succeeds in clothing occultism in such expressions and ideas that are understandable as words, as common concepts, then one finds a certain degree of understanding throughout the world. Occultism, in fact, sheds the personal. It is not the philosophical system that arises from the personality, but that which comes from the impersonal and thus becomes universally understandable. When occultism strives to become theosophy, it will have the aspiration—and in a certain sense will be able to achieve—to speak to every human heart, to every human soul.

[ 32 ] From this overview, which I have presented to you as an introduction, or rather as a prelude, you can see what the outward characteristics of the occult, theosophical, and philosophical viewpoints are.

[ 33 ] The occult point of view is always the same in its results for all of humanity. In truth, there are no different occult points of view. There are just as few different occult points of view as there are different kinds of mathematics. It is only necessary, in any given question of occultism, to actually possess the means to attain a certain insight; then one attains the same insight that anyone else who possesses the right means attains. It is therefore not true that there can be different points of view in occultism in the highest, most ideal sense, any more than there can be different points of view in mathematics.

[ 34 ] Experience has shown that wherever occultism has made its presence felt, it has always been a unified form of occultism. And if differences have appeared in the various theosophies that have arisen—which represent the outer form of occult truths—it is precisely because the form had to be different for one people or one epoch of humanity than for another people or another epoch of humanity. The diversity of theosophies on Earth lies in their form and mode of thought. But the occultism that underlies theosophies is the same everywhere. Because religions already arise from the theosophical form of occultism, religions have differed according to peoples and epochs. Occultism knows no diversity like that of religions; it knows of nothing that is so differentiated that one person might be provoked to resistance or opposition against another. This does not exist within occultism, since it is that which can be attained everywhere as a unified human asset. Insofar as Theosophy should strive, especially in our time, to be a form of occultism appropriate to the present, it must aim to incorporate as little as possible of the divisions that have arisen within humanity. It must strive, as far as is at all possible, to be a faithful expression of occult content and occult conditions.

[ 35 ] Therefore, theosophy will necessarily have to strive to overcome specific worldviews and, in particular, religious distinctions. We must learn, more and more, to move beyond having a ‘theosophy with a very specific slant.’ Gradually, in the course of human development, it has happened that theosophies have acquired their shades and nuances based particularly on religious—I do not wish to say prejudices, but rather on religious preconceptions and pre-judgments. But ideally, theosophy should always be a representation of occultism. Therefore, there cannot be a Buddhist or Hindu or Zoroastrian or Christian theosophy. Certainly, the unique mental images and ideas with which individual peoples approach occultism must be taken into account; but at the same time, theosophy should have the ideal of being a pure expression of occult truths. It was therefore, for example, in a certain sense a denial of the great principle of all occultists in the world when a form of Theosophy calling itself “Christian” Theosophy emerged in individual communities in Central Europe. In truth, there can be no such thing as Christian Theosophy any more than there can be Buddhist or Zoroastrian Theosophy.

[ 36 ] In relation to religions, theosophy must adopt the standpoint of explaining religious truths, the standpoint of understanding them. It will then become apparent that these religious truths, as such, are specific forms, specific manifestations of one aspect or another of occultism as a whole, and that one has grasped occultism itself only when one has understood it independently of such distinctions.

[ 37 ] We have already noted that what has just been described should be regarded as an ideal. While it is understandable that all theosophical expressions of occultism will take on various forms throughout the world, and even though all occultists agree on all their insights, on the other hand, especially in our time, the opportunity must be provided to speak of occultism in a unified manner. This can only be achieved if there is a genuine willingness to truly shed the particular distinctions that arise from preconceptions and pre-judgments. One might say: In a certain sense, we should be glad if, little by little, we are able to form consistent judgments regarding the most elementary aspects of occult knowledge.

[ 38 ] This will initially be possible within a broader context, with reference to the most important occult insights regarding reincarnation and karma. To the extent that Theosophy truly spreads and becomes a presentation of occult knowledge, it will initially strive to disseminate the great truths of reincarnation and karma throughout the entire world. For these truths will initially have the effect of, so to speak, clearing the way for them by dispelling the religious prejudices that are widespread across the globe.

[ 39 ] Another ideal, however, would be this: if theosophy could truly accomplish that work of peace among humanity through which unity and harmony could be achieved in the higher realms of occult knowledge. This can be regarded as an ideal. But it is a difficult ideal. If one considers how deeply people today are still entangled in their religious prejudices, their religious preconceptions, and what they have understood and been taught, one will understand how difficult it is to offer in Theosophy something that is not colored by religious prejudices, but which is as faithful a representation of occult knowledge as is at all possible.

[ 40 ] Within certain limits, it will always be understandable that a Buddhist, as long as he adheres to the tenets of the Buddhist faith, would reject the Christian viewpoint. And if theosophy takes on a Buddhist character, it is also natural that this Buddhist theosophy will be hostile or ambiguous toward Christianity. It is equally understandable that in a region where Christian forms prevail, it is again difficult to arrive at an objective understanding of, say, those aspects of occultism that have found expression in Buddhism. The ideal, however, is to understand one just as well as the other and to establish a harmonious and peaceful understanding throughout the entire world.

[ 41 ] The Buddhist theosophist and the Christian theosophist—or rather, the Buddhist and the Christian, once they have become theosophists—will find common ground; they will undoubtedly arrive at a point of harmonious balance. The theosophist will hold as an ideal the goal of forming a picture of occultism that is uniform everywhere and of freeing this picture from religious prejudices. The Christian who has become a theosophist will understand the Buddhist who tells him: It is impossible for a Bodhisattva—a human being who has passed from incarnation to incarnation and who, as in the specific case of Suddhodana’s death, has become a Buddha—to return to a human body after becoming a Buddha; but rather, with the attainment of Buddhahood, such a high stage of human development has been reached that the individual in question need not return to a human body.

[ 42 ] The Christian will say to the Buddhist: Although Christianity has not yet revealed anything to me about beings such as the Bodhisattvas, by turning to Theosophy I come to realize that not only do you know this truth through your own insight, but that I myself must also acknowledge this truth. — The theosophist will face the Buddhist and say: I understand what a Bodhisattva is; I know that the Buddhist speaks a full truth about certain beings, a truth that could be spoken precisely where Buddhism has spread; I understand when the Buddhist says: A Buddha does not return to a physical body. — The Christian who has become a Theosophist understands the Buddhist who has become a Theosophist. And when the Christian confronts the Buddhist, he can say to him: If one traces the Christian creed according to its content, traces it as it has been traced in occult schools with regard to the occult facts underlying it, then it becomes apparent that the being referred to by the name Christ—who may have remained unknown to others—is a being who was not on Earth before the Mystery of Golgotha; a being who has undergone paths other than those of earthly incarnations, who then had to be in a physical body and, in that body—which is the main point—underwent death, and in a very specific way; who then, through this death, became what he has become for a certain part of humanity and is to become for all humanity; a being who cannot return in a physical body, because that would contradict the very nature of Christ.

[ 43 ] When the Buddhist who has become a Theosophist hears this from the Christian, he will say: Just as you understand that I can never admit that a Buddha, after becoming a Buddha, returns in a physical body—just as you understand me through recognition of what has been assigned to me as truth—so will I acknowledge the part of the truth that has been assigned to you. I try to acknowledge what I cannot find within my own creed, namely: that at the beginning of Christianity there stands not a teacher, but an act. — For the occultist does not place Jesus of Nazareth at the starting point of Christianity, but the Christ, and as the starting point he places the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 44 ] Buddhism differs from Christianity in that it takes a personal teacher as its starting point; Christianity has an act, the act of redemption on Golgotha through death on the cross. Not a doctrine, but an act is the prerequisite for Christian development. The Buddhist who has become a theosophist understands this, and in order to establish harmony within humanity, he accepts what is presented as the occult foundation of Christianity. The Buddhist would disrupt this harmony if he were to apply his Buddhist concepts to Christianity. Just as the Christian, upon becoming a Theosophist, is obligated to understand Buddhism from within Buddhism itself—not to reinterpret the concepts of the Bodhisattva and the Buddha, but to understand them as Buddhism presents them—so it is the duty of the Buddhist to accept Christian concepts as they are, because they form the occult foundations of Christianity. Just as it is impossible to reconcile that which is designated by the name of Christ with that which is of a lower nature, with the name of the Bodhisattva, so it is impossible, as long as one remains faithful to the ideal of Theosophy, to present in Theosophy anything other than a reflection of unified occultism.

[ 45 ] Applying the characteristics of the Bodhisattva to Christ would hinder the great mission of peace that Theosophy embodies. This mission, however, is fulfilled when Theosophy strives to present the unified principles to humanity in a scientific form appropriate to our times. If we in the West understand Buddhism, Brahmanism, or Zoroastrianism without prejudice, and if Christianity is understood in the way it must be understood, then it will always be possible, for a short time, to recognize the foundations of Christianity and to find followers for such recognized ideas of Christianity.

[ 46 ] People have not always fully grasped the fact that an act is the starting point of Christianity and that, therefore, one cannot speak of a return of Christ. Consequently, over the course of the centuries, views have repeatedly emerged that spoke of a return of Christ. They have always been overcome and will always be overcome, because they contradict the great unified mission of life and peace of Theosophy, which is meant to reflect the unified expression of occultism. Occultism has always been unified and is independent of any Buddhist or Christian influence; it can therefore objectively understand both the Muslim and the Zoroastrian traditions, as well as the Buddhist tradition, just as it can understand the Christian tradition.

[ 47 ] This is what will help us understand how, in the course of human development to date, general occultism has taken on such diverse forms within theosophy. We will explore why, in our time, the great ideal must be that no single religious form of expression triumphs over another, but rather that the various religious forms of expression come to an understanding. The prerequisite for this, however, is genuine mutual understanding—an understanding of the occult foundations that are present in all religions as one and the same.

[ 48 ] With this, I have attempted to provide you with a sort of preparation, a sort of introduction, to the important topics we are about to explore, and the day after tomorrow, following the public lecture, we will begin our examination of the human being from an occult and philosophical perspective.