The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Address to the Russian audience of the lecture series “The Spiritual Beings in the Celestial Bodies and Natural Realms”

[ 1 ] We are gradually trying to delve into theosophical life and theosophical knowledge, but as we do so, we often feel a deep need to ask ourselves: Why do we seek theosophy in the spiritual life of the present? — We need not strain our minds or hearts too much when such a question arises, and a word will enter our soul that will immediately have an enlightening—and even more than enlightening—effect on our feelings: the word “responsibility.” Responsibility! This word is meant to give us something that, from the very outset, should rule out in our soul, in our heart, the idea that we are pursuing Theosophy out of some personal longing. If we examine what, perhaps without our being fully aware of it, comes over us at the word “responsibility” toward that spiritual life we call theosophy, then we will increasingly come to realize that we owe it to present-day humanity and to the best within us—which can serve this present-day humanity—to concern ourselves with theosophy. We must not pursue Theosophy merely for our own pleasure, to satisfy ourselves in some way through Theosophy simply because we have this or that personal longing, but we must feel that Theosophy is something that present-day humanity needs if the process of human development is to continue at all. For we need only bear in mind that without Theosophy—or whatever one may call it—without that spiritual life we have in mind, humanity on Earth would face a bleak future, truly a bleak future. This is for the simple reason that all the spiritual impulses of the past—everything that could have been given to humanity in the past in terms of spiritual impulses—have been exhausted, are gradually running their course, and can bring no new seeds into human development. What would have to come, if only the old impulses were to continue to work, would be a domination—perhaps as yet unimagined today—that would not only overwhelm people, overwhelming them in an external sense, but also numb them, a runaway proliferation of mere external technology, and a collapse, because everything of religious, scientific, philosophical, artistic, and—in a higher sense—ethical interest is withdrawing from the human soul. Human beings would become a kind of living automaton if new spiritual impulses were not to arise. This is how we must feel when we think of Theosophy, as those whose karma has led them to know something of the fact that humanity needs new impulses.

[ 2 ] We must then ask ourselves: What can each of us, according to our particular qualities and characteristics, do in response to this general sense of responsibility? — The way in which Theosophy has come into the world in recent times, and how it has developed over the course of the last few decades right up to the present day, is indeed instructive in answering this question of the heart and soul—perhaps especially for you, my dear friends. For we must never forget that the way the word “Theosophy” has entered the world in recent times represents something akin to a spiritual cultural miracle. This spiritual cultural miracle is linked to a personality who, as a personality, is indeed close to you, my dear friends, since she drew her spiritual roots, in a certain sense, from your national heritage. I am referring to Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. And for the Western European, it is undeniable—undeniable in every respect—that the body in which the individuality known in this incarnation as Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was embodied could have emerged only from the milieu of Eastern Europe, of Russia. For she possessed all the Russian characteristics. But Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was taken from you by circumstances of a very special kind; Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was brought to the West by the special karmic conditions of the present. Now, let us consider what a strange cultural miracle this actually was.

[ 3 ] Take the case of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. She was, in essence, a person who remained a child in many, many ways throughout her entire life—a true child; a person who, throughout her entire life, never learned to think logically; a person who, throughout her entire life, never learned to keep her passions, instincts, and desires even somewhat in check, who was always capable of falling into extremes; a person who, in essence, had very little scientific education. Through this personality, the world is revealed—one might say, as it could not be otherwise—revealed through the medium of such a personality: chaotic, jumbled, colorful, a sum of humanity’s greatest eternal wisdom. And those who are well-versed in these matters find in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s works wisdom, truths, and insights of humanity that Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s intellect and soul could not comprehend, not even remotely. There is nothing clearer, if one only approaches the whole of the facts with an open mind, than that for everything contained in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s work, the outer soul, the outer intellect of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was merely a detour, merely a means by which significant, great spiritual powers of humanity could make themselves known. And there is also nothing clearer than that, in the way it was to happen back then at the beginning of the last third of the 19th century, no one in Western Europe could have made such an impression. It took the very peculiar nature of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky—on the one hand selfless, almost devoid of self, and on the other hand radically self-centered and egoistic—to allow what happened to be brought about by higher spiritual powers. Her selfless nature was necessary because every Western European mind would have interpreted what was revealed through its own thought patterns and intellect. And the entirely self-centered, egoistic nature was necessary because, in the coarse, materialistic way of life of Western Europe at that time, there was no possibility other than to act from such a radical disposition—as it were, to clench iron fists over the delicate hands that were to nurture and care for the occultism of modern times. It is a peculiar phenomenon. But, my dear friends, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky went to the West, went to that cultural region which, in all its peculiarities, in its entire structure and configuration across all fields—with the exception of America—is the most materialistic cultural region of our present time; to a cultural region that, in its language and in its thinking, is absolutely driven by materialistic thoughts and lives in materialistic feelings. It would take us too far afield here to discuss what power led Helena Petrovna Blavatsky specifically to England. And so we see that the sum total of occultism, which manifests itself in a culturally remarkable way through a medium—I do not mean this in the spiritualist sense—first strives toward Western Europe.

[ 4 ] Within this Western Europe, the fate of this occultism was initially sealed in a certain direction, for there was no way around the fact that, with the founding of the Theosophical Movement in this materialistic Western Europe, a significant karma was fulfilled. This karma was indeed fulfilled. This European West bears a heavy karmic debt; it cannot penetrate the mysteries of existence without this karmic debt asserting itself in a certain way. Whenever occultism comes into question anywhere, the karma immediately deepens, and forces that would otherwise remain hidden are brought to the surface. And not to criticize anything, but to characterize it, what must be said is said: By carrying out what was historically necessary, Western Europe has committed countless injustices against the bearer of ancient spiritual culture, against the bearer of ancient occult secrets, in whose life spiritual things have indeed solidified for the present, are no longer present, but live at the bottom of the soul. — For this is the truth in India, in South Asia. The moment occult impulses reached Western Europe, a reaction immediately arose against the spiritual forces at work in the depths of Indian culture, and it became impossible—it had already become impossible in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s time — to retain what was, however, intended by certain spiritual powers as the very spiritual movement necessary in our present time. It was impossible to hold on to that. The intention was to give humanity a body of occult teachings that could suit all people, all hearts, with which everyone, each and every one, could have gone along. But since, due to certain necessities, the impulse was transplanted to Western Europe, a selfish reaction made itself felt. Those spiritual powers that sought to give the world a new impulse without distinction of any human differences were pushed back, and India, once suppressed in its occultism, took karmic revenge by intermingling this occultism with its own national, egoistic occultism at the first opportunity when occultism emerged in the West. And this occurred in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s time. It was already taking place as Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was compiling the great truths and wisdom of her *The Secret Doctrine*. Her first work, *Isis Unveiled*, reveals only the utterly chaotic, illogical, passionate, and disruptive nature of her being, yet it shows everywhere that there are watchful powers behind her who wish to guide her toward the universal human. In *The Secret Doctrine*, alongside what is naturally the greatest, there prevails everywhere a special human interest—an interest that emanates from certain occult centers which do not have the general human interest in mind today, but rather a partial, a special interest. Tibetan, Indian, and even Egyptian initiations today have only partial human interests in mind; they seek only to avenge the suppressed Eastern occultism against the Western world, to avenge the fact that the Western world has triumphed over the Eastern world through materialistic factors. It has triumphed over the Eastern world through materialistic factors; it has triumphed insofar as Christianity has been incorporated into the actual progressive culture of human development, into the progressive life of human development. Christianity did not spread to the East of Asia, nor to the South of Asia; Christianity moved westward.

[ 5 ] Now you might say, my dear Theosophical friends: So be it. The West has embraced Christianity, and since Christianity is a stage in humanity’s progress, it goes without saying that the West has triumphed over the East. — Yes, if only that were the case! If that were the case, it would be self-evident. But it is not so. Christianity, which has been prepared over centuries and millennia and has come into the world, has not yet triumphed anywhere on Earth. And anyone who would believe today that they could already represent the Christ principle and the Christ impulse in a true, genuine sense in the present would have fallen victim to an indescribable arrogance. What has actually happened so far? Nothing other than that the Western peoples have adopted certain outermost superficial aspects of Christianity, have appropriated the name of Christ, and have clothed their old cultures—which were established in Europe before Christianity—in the Christian name: their warlike cultures, which have merely been transformed into modern industrialism. Does Christ reign within Christian Europe? No member of occult movements will ever admit that Christ reigns within Christian Europe; rather, he will say: You speak of “Christ,” but you still mean the same thing that the ancient Central European peoples meant when they spoke of their god Saxnot. — The symbol of the Crucifixus stands above the European peoples. In a certain sense, however, the traditions of the god Saxnot reign, whose symbol is the ancient short Saxon sword, which served initially only for the expansion of material interests, for that was the vocation of the European peoples. Hence, this vocation also produced the noblest flowering of materialistic culture, a phenomenon that is noble within the realm of materialistic culture: knighthood. Where in any culture is there anything similar to the chivalry of Western culture? There is nothing else like it. It would not occur to anyone to compare the heroes of the Trojan War with the medieval knights. Christ is still little present among people. People merely speak of Christ. When Westerners speak of Christ, the Eastern peoples feel that they—these Eastern peoples—are indeed far ahead, far, far ahead, in terms of the spiritual grasp of the world, in terms of what these peoples know of the mysteries of existence. The Eastern peoples know this.

[ 6 ] Even the most ordinary things can show you that Eastern peoples, in a certain sense, already know how to appreciate their spiritual advantages. What do the Western peoples still do today, for the most part, when the mysteries of existence are revealed? Well, we still sit together in rather small groups; when we speak, we talk about things like what was discussed last night—the ruling spiritual powers and mysteries that surround us everywhere. For the average Western European, this is folly or madness, for he still cannot understand the words of Paul: What is wisdom before God is often folly before men, and what is folly before men is wisdom before God. — And only those in the East who have been influenced by Western Europeans would dare to question even in the slightest the profound truths about the spiritual mysteries of the cosmos, as we are attempting to reveal them once more; for such things, as were spoken of yesterday, for example, are taken for granted by those who are immersed in Eastern spiritual life. Let us not be surprised, therefore, that it has often happened to these Eastern peoples, when Europeans have descended upon them, just as it happens to a group of people when they encounter a herd of wild animals against which they defend themselves—animals whom they do not resent for what they do, but whom they regard as inferior. We Westerners, for the reasons indicated—whether this is justified today or not is irrelevant here—and according to the traditions of the East, are naturally regarded as inferior human beings by every member of, say, the Brahmin caste.

[ 7 ] And if we look beyond Brahmanism and consider, for example, the cultures of Central Asia, or Tibetan and Chinese culture—which in the near future will come to hold significance for the world in ways people today cannot even imagine— yet only a short time separates us from this reality—if we look at all these things and realize how the souls of many disciples of Zarathustra are still incarnated in these cultures, then we will be tempted to take these things very seriously. We will also be able to understand that into what Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was able to impart, the Indian, Tibetan, and Egyptian occultists may have been tempted to channel—from her soul—their own store of wisdom, yet that very wisdom belongs to a past era in the process of human evolution. And we must recognize the historical character of these Eastern treasures of wisdom that are embedded within Blavatsky’s teachings. We need not, of course, underestimate the value of such a thing; we need not fail to recognize that when Chinese culture—which, one might say, has broken its bonds—now floods the Western worlds, a spirituality comes with it that is truly the successor, in many respects the still unclouded successor, of ancient Atlantean culture. It will take effect as if something held together were to spring open and spread throughout the world; thus it will pour forth—on a small scale, ancient Indian culture poured forth in this way at the first opportunity.

[ 8 ] That is why, my dear Theosophical friends, it was possible that from that time on, everything came to pass for which there is a telling phrase in all occultism: that from then on, the Theosophical Movement was, in essence, no longer a suitable instrument for the advancement of European culture. Every occultist is well acquainted with the saying that goes: Among the guiding powers of occultism, or among those engaged in occult work in any way, no special interest must ever take precedence over the general interest of humanity. — There is no possibility of exerting a beneficial occult influence if a particular interest prevails over the general human interest. The moment a particular interest replaces general human interests within occultism, the conditions for real errors are created. This is why, from that time onward, every possible error could find its way into the Theosophical Movement. Due to the way England is karmically linked to India within the global context, the possibility simply existed that those exalted powers standing at the origin of the Theosophical Movement were counterfeited. For it is a common occurrence in occultism that powers seeking to pursue their own special interests assume the form of those who previously provided the actual impulses. Thus, from a certain point in the history of the Theosophical Movement, it was no longer possible to simply accept everything within that movement, and karma has willed that this has become less and less possible. And so nothing else could be done but, at the very moment the call went out to us to unite with this Theosophical Movement, to return to the original sources—those sources which, in contrast to the specific ones, we may call the generally human ones. And so you may have seen in Central Europe that we are trying to draw upon the occult sources in such a way that you will not perceive, in all that confronts you there, that any specific interest is associated with it. Whatever specific interests you may find in Central Europe, try to compare them with what you come to know as the Theosophy practiced among us: the two things really cannot be reconciled. — You can take this Theosophy and will likely find—apart from the fact that, since it must be written in a language, my own books are written in German—that there is nothing German in Theosophy, nothing that is in any way connected to the external traditions of Central Europe. And wherever the tendency arises to link Theosophy with a particular interest, there is immediately an impossibility.

[ 9 ] This has been the specific task of Central Europe: to free Theosophy from the particular characteristics it has acquired in Western Europe. It was our mission to purify Theosophy, to free it completely from all special interests. And the deeper you delve into these matters, the more you will find that I myself was, so to speak, able to detach everything I was permitted to bring in theosophical terms from any and all special interests. It is a symbolic statement, my dear Theosophical friends, but speaking symbolically—I only needed to let myself be guided by what was present as an immediate impulse in the present incarnation; do not misunderstand it, it merely reflects a fact—: those who were the outward bearers, for example, of the blood from which I descend, came from German regions of Austria; I could not have been born there. I myself was born in a Slavic region, in a region that was completely foreign to the entire milieu and the entire character from which my ancestors came. Thus it presented itself to me—I wish only to mention this symbolically—at the outset of my present incarnation, symbolically and of its own accord, that we in Central Europe had the calling to detach ourselves from all special interests in Theosophy, so that in Central Europe it truly stands before us like a goddess, like something divine that is completely, completely detached from all that is human, having just as much to do with the person living here as with the one living there, and that will always have to remain so.

[ 10 ] The ideal we hold, my dear Theosophical friends, as simple as it may seem, will always have to stand before us, for it is harder to fulfill than to articulate. It will have to stand before us as our ideal: truth and sincerity, the unadulterated divine truth. Perhaps it is precisely when we strive in this way that we will find the path—not for ourselves, but for that which, in Central Europe, was impersonal in the context of Europe’s entire mission, for this divine Theosophy as it extends toward the East. And there, as I now continue to describe the path of how theosophy has taken root in the West, passes through Europe, and is to reach the East, there I would like to place the word here again, sharply, sharply: a sense of responsibility. The cultures of the world develop in such a way that, as it were, one culture develops with another within a spiritual shell. One culture connects with another. Because theosophy in Central Europe had to be so impersonal, it has acquired a certain character of spirituality—a spirituality detached from all interests. This Theosophy, my dear Theosophical friends, has a certain aloofness; it possesses the aloofness that comes from being untouched by specific interests; it will therefore not appeal to those who cannot open their hearts to that which does not serve any particular interest.

[ 11 ] But the spiritual essence of this Theosophy can be found by the soul that thirsts for this spiritual essence, that longs for this spiritual essence. And here I must say, my dear theosophical friends, that I have come to know, from within the spiritual world itself, a soul that yearns deeply for the spirit expressed through Theosophy. I have come to know this soul in the purely spiritual world. When we ascend through the hierarchy to the individual national spirits and speak, within the individual national spirits, of the Folk-souls, we also come, among the Folk-souls that are, so to speak, still young today and that must continue to develop—just as every being must develop—to the Russian Folk-soul. Of these Russian folk-souls I know that they long for the spirit expressed in Theosophy. They long with all the strength they can muster. I speak of a sense of responsibility because you, my dear Theosophical friends, are children of these Russian folk-souls. They reign and work within you, and you have a responsibility toward them. The responsibility to learn to understand them! Do not take offense; these Russian folk-souls have often had much, much to say to me. What these Russian folk-souls had to say to me became most tragically apparent to me around the year 1900. It became most tragically apparent at that time because one could notice something there that I myself was only able to interpret correctly long afterward, because one could notice how little, in essence, this Russian Folk-soul is still understood today. We in Western Europe have come to know much, much from Russia, and much, much from Russia has made a great, powerful impression on us. We have come to know the great impulses of Tolstoy, we have come to know Dostoevsky’s psychology, which so deeply moved Western Europe, and we have finally come to know a spirit such as Soloviev, a spirit who, when one allows him to take effect, gives the impression everywhere: this is who he is, just as he wrote. And what he wrote only takes on its true light when one senses the Russian folk-soul standing behind it. And this Russian folk-soul has much, much more to say than even Soloviev himself knows how to say, for there is still far, far too much of what we have adopted from Western Europe that comes before our hearts. Think for a moment, my dear friends, of the word “sense of responsibility”; remember that you have this task: to show yourselves worthy before the Russian folk-soul, and that you are to come to know the Russian folk-soul’s longing for impersonal theosophy. When you come to know Theosophy in what it seeks in its innermost impulse, then, my dear friends, you will have all manner of questions to ask that can only spring from a Russian soul: questions of the soul regarding the spiritual questions of Theosophy. I have experienced that much noble, magnificent, beautiful feeling has come to meet me from Eastern Europe, so much genuine, true love for humanity and human kindness, human compassion, overflowing feeling beyond what one can imagine, fine, intimate observation of what exists in the world, and an intense personal connection with the forces of existence. And from such loving, beautiful, and noble feelings, many, many questions have been posed to me by members of the Russian people—many questions—questions that must be asked, for they are questions without whose answers humanity will not be able to live in the future. Questions that can come only from Eastern Europe; so far, they have been posed to me only by the Russian folk-souls, the Russian folk-souls on the higher planes. I have often had to think that the children of these folk-souls still have a long way to go to understand their folk-souls, to understand what these folk-souls actually yearn for and how much still separates these children of the folk-souls from the folk-souls themselves. Therefore, do not shy away from seeking the path that you can find, if you wish, to your folk-souls. From within your folk-soul, you will find those questions without the answers to which the humanity of the future cannot exist. But do not shy away from moving beyond personal interest in this, for be mindful of the great sense of responsibility you should have toward the Russian folk-soul; be mindful of this feeling, for in the future, the folk-souls need their children—the people—to achieve their goals. And do not forget one thing in this. That which can lift one highest, that which can bring one to the most beautiful, most luminous heights of the world—that is most exposed to the danger of falling into error. — You must, my dear Theosophical friends, imbue the spiritual with soul. You must find the soul in the spirit. You can do this, for the Russian folk-soul possesses immeasurable depths and possibilities for the future. But it is necessary that you be aware that the soul, which can rise to the spirit, must imbue the spirit itself, placing you before the great danger of losing yourselves and getting stuck in the personal, in the individually personal, of losing yourselves in the personal as such. For the personal becomes strong when it originates from the soul.

[ 12 ] You will not encounter the same obstacles that are so common in Western and Central Europe. You are less naturally inclined toward skepticism; skepticism can only reach you through influence from the West. You will learn to distinguish truth from falsehood and dishonesty through a certain intuition in the realm of the occult, where charlatanism and truth lie so close together. It is not skepticism or cynicism that will pose a danger to you. Your danger will be that the spiritually powerful aspects of your personalities can spread clouds around you—astral clouds—through which you cannot then penetrate to the objective spiritual. Your fire, your warmth, can spread around you like a cloudy aura, blocking the spiritual, because you think you are enthusiastic for the spirit, but through that enthusiasm you prevent the spirit from finding its way to you. So try to realize that you are in a great advantage—meaning this now in the ideal spiritual sense— to be allowed to have a special interest, because you are predestined—that is, your Folk-souls—to receive Theosophy within the special context of Russian folk culture, which in Central Europe still had to be regarded solely as a divine power transcending all that is human, in a way that no other people can receive it, as something you may cherish and nurture as your very own. For through your predestination you are endowed to breathe soul into the spirit. This has often been said among our ranks, but it is up to you to bring about the opportunity as soon as possible, not to miss it, not merely to develop feeling and will, but above all to develop energy and perseverance, rather than—if a word is to be spoken regarding the practical—talking about the way Theosophy must be in the West and how it must be in Russia and so on, and what is good for one or the other, but first of all to take in Theosophy, to take it in, to unite it with the soul, with the heart. The rest will follow; it will surely follow.

[ 13 ] This, my dear friends, is part of what I wanted to speak to you about—and I say “wanted” because whenever I am to speak directly to people, I must keep in mind the sense of responsibility that we, as people of the present, have toward theosophy. In the West, people should feel that they are sinning against humanity if they have the opportunity to receive something from theosophy and yet refuse it—a sin against humanity! It is sometimes quite difficult to grasp, for one must have an almost transcendental sense of duty, my dear friends, if one is to bear such an obligation, such a sense of responsibility toward humanity. Your folk-souls tell you that they, these folk-souls themselves, oblige you. For you, the folk-souls have already assumed this obligation toward humanity. You need only find these folk-souls. You need only let them speak through your thoughts, feelings, and impulses of will, and you will, when you feel the responsibility toward the folk-souls, simultaneously fulfill the duty toward humanity. That is why you are also geographically situated between Western Europe, which needs theosophy but for which it cannot become a personal matter to the same degree as it can for you, and the Asian East, which has possessed occultism and spiritual culture since time immemorial. You are situated there. You might perhaps never come to fulfill your task toward the spiritual culture of humanity in this geographically difficult situation, I would say, if you had to think only of the obligation toward humanity. For the temptations will be immense if, on the one hand, not only the European West is at work—which has, in essence, caused many of the children of your Folk-souls to become untrue to themselves. With regard to a large part of what is written by Russians and brought to us in the West, we have the feeling that it has nothing to do with the Russian folk-soul, but is a reflection of all manner of Western things. The second temptation will come from the East, when the power of spiritual culture arrives. There it will be our duty to recognize that, despite all the greatness of this spiritual culture of the East, people of the present must tell themselves: It is not the past that we must carry into the future, but the new impulses. It will not be a matter of simply taking in some spiritual impulse from the East, but of nurturing what the West itself can bring forth from its own spiritual sources. — Then the time will come when Europe will begin, even as you fulfill your duties toward your Folk-souls, to understand a little of what the Christ impulse actually is in the spiritual development of humanity. Seek everything that I have sought to say with and in these words, my dear friends, and seek above all in these words that which can become an impulse within you yourselves—not merely to feel and sense that Theosophy is something significant and something great, but seek above all to take Theosophy into action and into the impulses of your soul’s will, and to organize your life and your deeds from it.