The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Faith and Knowledge: St. John's Tide and Easter

[ 1 ] Given the abundance of literature available, it is always possible to familiarize oneself with the findings of Spiritual Science when anthroposophical groups work together. Since we are gathered together as we are now, I would like to discuss some points of orientation drawn directly from the impulses of the spiritual world, which connect more esoterically to what was spoken about yesterday in a more exoteric manner during the public lecture.

[ 2 ] There are still many people today who cling to the old opposition between faith and knowledge, between faith and understanding. They say: Science can teach us about the things of the outer world; about these, one can know something with certainty. Faith must connect us with the things of the spiritual world. — This seems to contradict Spiritual Science, which aims to provide true knowledge, an understanding of the spiritual world. It is precisely in this form of understanding, of knowledge, that it must penetrate the souls of our present age. In a previous incarnation, our own souls were in a very different situation than we are now. They were more primitive, but there were great individualities at that time, and those who were connected with them. They imparted mental images of the supersensible world. We find among the various tribes and peoples what stems from these individualities, such as Hermes, Zarathustra, Moses, Buddha, and Krishna. Spiritual ideas had to be instilled into the souls.

[ 3 ] We live on the physical plane. Life on the physical plane is not merely effort and work, but toil and labor. And most of this toil and work is by no means in the sense of “the toil and work of the day,” but rather in the sense of what takes place unconsciously and is actually brought about by our thinking, our entire soul life, as it unfolds on the physical plane.

[ 4 ] In a child, these forces operate unconsciously. The spiritual takes hold of the organism, which is thoroughly reorganized. When we are born, we are much more alike than we might immediately think. People do not resemble one another outwardly, but in their structure. Only then does the shaping and refining of our nervous system begin. This takes place without our intellect, takes place when we are not yet able to use that intellect at all. Then comes the time when we begin to feel ourselves as an “I.” That is when the other wisdom we bring with us from the gods, from the spiritual world, ceases. In this early period, we have, so to speak, only life forces; it is merely a continuation of the spiritual world. A child who dies at this stage dies only due to external physical causes. The soul is not involved in this. Then comes the time when the human being begins, with every thought and every sensation, to draw upon the external physical body. That is why they must sink into sleep, as a counterbalance to what we consume during the waking day. If we did not consume, we would have a life that sprouts. The etheric body always has the need to sprout and bear fruit, but the astral body has the need to consume what the etheric body builds up. It suppresses the etheric body. While we are unconscious in sleep, that which can provide a substitute for what has been consumed, what has been killed, flows in from the spiritual worlds so that it may always be balanced out again. Normal sleep always compensates only for what has just been consumed. If a person were to arbitrarily prolong sleep, as some retirees might do, they would sleep too much. This is not an objection to plenty of sleep. Precisely because spiritual work places great demands on the physical constitution, the spiritual worker needs plenty of sleep. But too much sleep provides too much new life force, which then proliferates—truly proliferates—so that the person is brimming with life force. Such overabundant life force is itself a disease and naturally leads to illness. What the individual must now draw upon—so that they not only balance the work of the day but also make spiritual progress—they must consciously draw from the spiritual world. The founders of religions could say to themselves: It has been imposed upon me to lead, to expend life force; that will be balanced out. But what is to develop within the human being so that humanity may progress, so that the same does not perish in physical earthly existence—that must be consciously drawn from the spiritual world. — That is why the founders of religion provided mental images that they drew from the spiritual world. These truly spiritual mental images are the nourishment of the soul. They alone sustain what is truly spiritual in human beings. It would mean death for the souls if they could not live in such mental images that were not drawn from the physical world. In earlier times, these were the beliefs. This cycle has run its course for humanity, and we now live in an age in which people on the physical plane will have ever less ability to take in what speaks only to their feelings, to their faith. One can preserve this faith for a while longer, galvanize it, so to speak, but no longer hold on to it for the future. Instead of the principle: “I believe—,” there must come: “I believe what I know.” People will come to feel that this principle must apply. Otherwise, one loses all possibility of knowing anything about life between death and a new birth. People would return to wretched conditions in their next incarnation. All enthusiasm for other ideals, however justified they may be, is certainly very beautiful; it must exist. Compared to what underlies Spiritual Science, however, they cannot be directly realized. They can only be precursors to Spiritual Science, but without its knowledge.

[ 5 ] As the spiritual researcher progresses, he increasingly feels the need not to speak, but to remain silent. If he speaks nonetheless, it is out of an understanding of the conditions that are necessary for the times. Knowledge alone sets people free, and achieving freedom for the human soul is certainly the task that lies ahead for humanity.

[ 6 ] The founders of religions provided inner mental images that gave great spiritual vitality. These were beliefs that could miraculously illuminate the realm beyond “death.” They transformed into genuine, true spiritual light that revealed to people their surroundings after death. But times are coming when people will have to live in freedom. And even if founders of religions were to come who could speak with the voice and power of the gods in the spirit of the old religious teachings, people would no longer be able to understand them. We have already experienced this. External science has come; it had to come. A great scientist of our time, Max Müller, said: And if an angel were to descend and proclaim to people the things of the spiritual world, people would not be able to understand him and would never believe in him. — This is the direction humanity is taking. Then, in fact, the only thing left would be that people would lose the ability to even penetrate themselves with mental images that pertain to the spiritual worlds. But that means having less light after death to illuminate the spiritual environment of our own accord. No external sun will then illuminate the outer world for us; the light must come from within us. We stand in the sun and illuminate our surroundings after death. People who do not shine must come down again and repeat life in order to absorb mental images that are fruitful for life after death. When one sees through this, it is not merely the usual enthusiasm for spreading Spiritual Science that loosens the words from the tongue. To believe what one knows—that will be the need of the coming humanity. In ancient times, religious ideas, as well as myths and fairy tales, were what gave the soul light for the spiritual world. It is easy to say that myths and fairy tales are mental images that sprang from the childhood stages of humanity. Certainly, people did not physically encounter the angels of whom the myths and fairy tales spoke. But philosophical reflection gets us nowhere in the spiritual world. This knowledge has no significance in the spiritual worlds. It is easy to say that fairy tales are based on no truth. The spiritual researcher has always been wise enough to know that fiery dragons do not fly through the physical air, yet he has always known that the mental image of the fiery dragon is necessary to form. For as long as this mental image exists in the soul, it casts spiritual light upon the spiritual world. These are images of power. Thus, all myths are constituted, not so much to depict the external world, but to truly live in the spiritual world. The materialists say: Myths and fairy tales spring from the childhood stage of humanity. — But it was precisely in their childhood that people were taught by the gods. Myths and fairy tales are thus lost in this way to human evolution, but children should not be allowed to grow up this way. There is a great difference between raising a child with or without fairy tales. The soul-uplifting power of fairy-tale imagery only emerges later. If fairy tales were not given, this later manifests as boredom in a weariness of life. Indeed, it even finds physical expression; fairy tales can even help against illness. What is instilled through fairy tales emerges later as a joy of life and a sense of purpose, and as a means of coping with life, even in the latest stages of old age. Children must experience the power of the fairy tale’s content in their youth, while they are still able to do so. Whoever is unable to live with mental images that have no reality on the physical plane dies to the spiritual world. And many philosophies that seek to rely solely on the physical plane are a death sentence for the soul. From external evolution come the means of death for the spiritual world. Humanity must arrive at a judgment that is not based on external appearances, but is grounded within itself. Increasingly, it must come to this: I believe what I know.

[ 7 ] But we will have to learn to pay attention to the symptoms of spiritual life. Let me give an example. Once, when I gave a lecture in a city in southern Germany, two Catholic priests came up to me afterward and said: “You speak only to the educated, but we speak to all people.” — In truth, the opposite is the case. One can bring anthroposophy to all people, if only one finds the way to the simplest minds. The farmer would understand it far better than the so-called educated person, if only the path were not blocked by social conditions. In such matters, one must be able to set aside one’s own views entirely, not ask what one personally considers right, but what the human souls of a given time demand. So I had to reply to the priests: Your intuition tells you that you speak for all people, but the facts tell you that you do not speak for all people, because not everyone comes to you. And for those who do not come to you—for them I speak.

[ 8 ] We acquire our knowledge and insight on the physical plane through the physical body and the etheric body. Let us consider, just once, how much of what is in our soul actually originates from the physical plane. Light, for example, enters through the eye; the process that takes place there begins to be a process of decomposition already within the eye. The dissolution begins at the back of the eye. The process detaches itself from life. In the morning, after sleep, the eye is restored so that it is pure life within. Through perception, something forms from the living tissue that is no longer alive, but merely mineral. And because this continues through the nervous tissue, we perceive and reflect what acts upon us from the external world. Thus, the physical body, as the bearer of these processes, is nothing living.

[ 9 ] The etheric body is the vehicle of thoughts, which are also reflections. People might easily conclude that thoughts are reflections of the supersensible. Thoughts can never be examined under a microscope. In truth, thoughts live in the etheric body. They are shaped by thinking, and this is reflected in the physical body. From this, one can see that perception and knowledge depend on the physical body and the etheric body. Only impressions from the physical plane speak to the physical and etheric bodies. Other mental images, however, must take root in the human soul. They must also take hold of the astral body, encompassing the whole of feeling, willing, and thinking that is not limited to the physical plane. Otherwise, the human being remains inwardly dead. All mental images that represent something have meaning only for the physical plane. The very question: Is a mental image valid if it does not represent something? — implies this. Only those mental images that live freely in the spirit, that live freely in the astral body and in the I, with these one not only recognizes but lives with them. These are mental images that do not merely represent something, but are inwardly active and alive, that make something out of themselves and out of us.

[ 10 ] Naturalism prevails in art today. It is essential to familiarize ourselves with the past, with the mental images that once existed and brought the ideas of the astral body into action. Anything that merely depicts the external has no significance for the spiritual world. We must once again imbue ourselves with new mental images that can meaningfully penetrate the soul. Often we believe we possess something that exists only in the imagination, something we assume is merely fantasy. Yet it is often merely a reminiscence of what originates from the physical plane. Only by enlivening our mental images with that which does not originate from the physical plane—that which cannot be conveyed through such imagination—can we revive what would otherwise wither away in the soul.

[ 11 ] The saying “A beautiful soul dwells in a beautiful body; a healthy soul in a healthy body” is being misused more and more. — That was a saying reflecting the understanding of earlier times; today it is regarded as a causal statement: Someone has a healthy body, so I can conclude that a healthy soul dwells within it. What makes this body healthy also makes the soul healthy.

[ 12 ] Even in childhood, people will later develop mineral deposits, which they will carry with them as causes of illness unless they develop mental images that keep the astral body internally active. Otherwise, after death, a person would enter a spiritual world that remains unclear to them because they themselves do not radiate any light. The sun shines on a surface, and it is this that enables us to see things. In the spiritual world, however, the light radiates from within us; we illuminate the field we are meant to see. The soul that has the impulse to cultivate Spiritual Science may not be conscious of these conditions, but they live in the depths of the soul. Just as in the physical world sunlight comes from outside, so in the spiritual world the human being must make themselves sun-like. We must kindle within ourselves the spiritual fuel, the inner flame that illuminates the spiritual world, in order to illuminate that world. Physicists dream that the red of the rose is merely a wave motion, reducible to vibrations. It is said that there is no sound out there, but only air vibrations. What I perceive as sound lives only in my ear. A simple experiment, however, can teach us something else: namely, when we allow ourselves to be awakened by a knock at the door. If a person is attentive, they will notice that they were not yet conscious during the night while they were still asleep, yet they were already present within the knocking itself. We must enter into the sound of the knocking ourselves; we use the other person as the knocker because our soul cannot knock on its own. If we had the firm resolve to wake up, we could do it ourselves; thus, we use the other person only as a means.

[ 13 ] If materialistic views persist for a few more generations, the red of the rose will truly disappear. People will actually see the tiny gray atoms outside swirling as atomic vortices—not because they have to see them, simply because they are there, but because they have prepared themselves to see them. This is what makes it necessary to proclaim Spiritual Science—that in the future, it will not merely be physical atomic vortices that exist. Nor are we speaking of the physical ether, but of that ether which is a living being of thought. This must first be recognized: that it is not atoms that swirl within the rose, but living, weaving—truly living, weaving elemental beings—that stand behind the rose. The theory of the spiritual world is a secondary matter; the main thing is that our sense of reality coalesces, that we feel ourselves to be alive and weaving within this newly awakened sense of the reality of the spiritual world. This is the resurrection of the spiritual world in our soul, the true, interdenominational Easter event.

[ 14 ] Our ancestors needed a different event linked to the sun’s zenith. When all of nature was sprouting and blossoming, it was a state of ecstasy for them, through which the spiritual world was affirmed to them. What was experienced back then during the Feast of St. John must now be experienced in the spring at Easter. Now we must be able to celebrate the awakening of the soul, the resurrection of the soul, when Spiritual Science speaks to us, not merely as theory, but as living knowledge.