The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. Moral Impulses and Their Results: The Relationship of the European Peoples to Their National Spirits — The Cultural Impulse of Eurythmy

[ 1 ] At first glance, and indeed to many people, it might seem as though what is called clairvoyant powers in the true sense of the word—through which the beings and processes of the spiritual worlds can be perceived—as though human beings did not possess these clairvoyant powers at all in everyday life, or rather, as though they developed nothing of these powers in their souls in everyday life. But this is not the case. Clairvoyant powers are not powers that would be completely unknown or foreign to a person as they live their daily life. That is not the case; rather, what we develop in order to look into the spiritual worlds—what we must draw forth from the deep recesses of the soul to find the path into the spiritual worlds—is already present in a certain soul activity even for the ordinary life of the human being. This is present in what is called the moral impulses of the human being. A truly moral act, a truly moral impulse, arises from the same capacities of the soul that, through appropriate training, lead to clairvoyant abilities. In ordinary life, however, the situation is such that everything a person does can stem from what lies within their physical nature or from what they have acquired for and through their physical nature in the course of life. When a person develops desires, when a person does this or that, to which they are led by their upbringing or other life circumstances, then it is the physical aspect from which the impulse arises. But there are truly impulses in human life that do not come from the physical; in these, only the soul is active when a person grasps these impulses: these are the moral impulses. A truly moral act is one in which the body is indeed called upon to assist, so that one may form a mental image of the moral act, but the impulse, the driving force behind the moral act, lies in the spiritual-soul aspect, which is truly independent of the physical. One will never be able to provide a definition of the moral through mere philosophy, and it is precisely the characteristic of philosophy—insofar as it seeks to be moral philosophy—that it cannot arrive at a correct, satisfactory definition of the moral unless it stands on the ground that it is possible for a human being to experience their spiritual-soul life within themselves independently of the physical body. For no other true definition of the moral is possible than this: Moral is that which a human being decides, that which a human being does through powers that are independent of his body.

[ 2 ] We now know that human life is composed of moral, less moral, and immoral actions and impulses. The difference between moral and immoral actions is revealed in its true light only through occult observation. In the smallest cycle of life—the twenty-four-hour period—the human being enters the state of sleep. This state of sleep consists in the ego and the astral body essentially leaving the physical and etheric bodies and then living outside of them. Now, this by no means says everything when one notes that the ego and the astral body emerge from the physical and etheric bodies. Rather, one must also be clear that the ego and the astral body, by emerging from the etheric and physical bodies, are received into the spiritual worlds that reign supersensually around us. We enter the supersensible worlds with our I and astral body. If, during the day, while in our waking state, we have had a moral impulse or performed a moral deed, then the following occurs: We must be received by the spirits of the next higher hierarchies with our ego and astral body—by the spirits we count among the hierarchies of the Angeloi, the Archangeloi, and so on. These must receive us; we enter into them, as it were, during the state of sleep. Just as we live in the body during the day, so do we live within the beings of the higher hierarchies during the state of sleep. So let us be clear about this. If we have now performed a moral act or had a moral impulse, then according to spiritual cosmic laws, the beings of the next higher hierarchies have the possibility of receiving our ego and our astral body along with our moral impulses—or rather, what remains in our soul from our moral impulses. If we have committed an immoral act or had an immoral impulse, then during sleep we cannot enter into the beings of the higher hierarchies with this, with the residue, with what has formed within us through the immoral impulse. What is immoral within us truly remains behind, is repelled; it is pushed back down into the physical body. The consequence of this is that everything we carry into the spiritual worlds as an aftereffect of the moral during the state of sleep does not take effect in our physical and etheric bodies, for it is taken away from them. But what consists of immoral thoughts, immoral impulses, and immoral actions becomes something that is pushed back into the etheric body and the physical body, and this works within them. Thus, during the state of sleep, there is the possibility that, while the human being is in the state from falling asleep to waking up, the results of their immoral actions are at work in their physical and etheric bodies. In this regard, it is truly easy to recognize—as I have often emphasized in lectures—that language possesses a wonderful genius, that it works in a magnificently ingenious way. When we speak of guilt, the very German word “Schuld” signifies with infinite precision exactly what is at stake. We pay what we owe to the spiritual world through our moral actions, but we remain indebted to the spiritual world for what we must leave behind in the body: our immoral thoughts, immoral impulses, and immoral actions.

[ 3 ] And now consider the following: If we were to spend our lives merely perceiving and thinking about the things of the external world, the processes taking place within our physical body would be quite different from what they are, since we do not merely think and perceive, but also remember what we have thought, perceived, and experienced. What we think, create as a mental image, and feel extends down into our etheric body, but the etheric body in turn imprints it upon the physical body, and what the etheric body creates in the physical body as impressions is memory. When we recall something from our past experiences later in life, this means: We encounter, with the astral body—which then unites with the etheric body—that which has remained in our physical body like an imprint, like a seal. The materialistic mental image that has developed is childish: as if one memory were located here in the brain and another there, as if they were boxed in that way. That is not true; rather, every memory has an imprint that essentially corresponds to the entire head and many other parts of the human form, and the memories are nested within one another, not side by side, as a childish materialistic mental image assumes. This process of remembering thus rests on the fact that our astral and etheric bodies can produce impressions in our physical body. It is truly the same process that occurs externally when we write something down. For when we look at the notes, what we have in our soul naturally bears not the slightest resemblance to the symbols we have on the paper. On paper there are symbols of some form, but through what we then make of them—by being inspired to bring to life in the soul what we have written down—a spiritual process takes place. And so it is with memory as well. What remains within us bears, in principle, no more resemblance to what arises in the soul when we recall it than what is written on paper bears to what arises in the soul when we read it again.

[ 4 ] Viewed clairvoyantly, the situation is as follows: Let us suppose that someone recalls something they went through in the past. What then lights up within their physical body is a sign that, in some way, even resembles the human figure from the head down to a certain point. These are signs. What emerges in memory is different for everyone, but they are signs. And what we experience when we remember is what the soul makes of these signs. What appears as memory is truly a subconscious reading. When natural science advances a little further and investigates physical processes, it will serve precisely as an aid to Spiritual Science by showing that what remains in the body must first be subjected by the soul to a process that is, in principle, similar to reading in the soul. Memory is a genuine subconscious reading. This act of remembering is a regular activity of the human soul.

[ 5 ] But when we send the results of immoral impulses, thoughts, or actions down into our body as we fall asleep, we do not expel from our physical body the immoral impulses we have had. This causes something similar to what normally happens in memory. The work done on the physical body is imprinted there, and when a person wants to fall asleep and their ego and astral body wish to leave their physical and etheric bodies, this process begins. What they must leave behind is imprinted, just as memories are imprinted, and then the pangs of conscience arise. This is the true process of pangs of conscience. Thus they are reflected back from the imprints that things leave in our physical body and also in the etheric body. That remains. And because it remains like ordinary memories, these pangs of conscience can remain and gain strength, and then appear as self-reproaches throughout the rest of one’s life. The important thing is that we truly come to realize that moral action is a real process, that it is not merely something abstract, but that this moral action is a carrying up of what we do here on Earth into the spiritual worlds. And since we hand over the results of our moral behavior to the higher hierarchies, they also remain, in a certain sense, within these higher hierarchies. But that which we cannot take with us—that which then works within the physical and etheric bodies—remains here on Earth; it is part of the earthly process. Once a person has passed through the gate of death, they must always look back upon it, and as they continually look back, the impulse must arise within them to extract it from the earthly process. This is the basis for the working out of karma between death and a new birth.

[ 6 ] Now, we do carry the results of our moral impulses into our karma, but by carrying them up into the spiritual worlds during sleep, they also make an impression there. We can say that the angels, the archangels, and even the spirits of the personality now possess what we carry up to them in the form of moral impulses. And what do they do with them? For the course of Earth’s development, these moral impulses, which are now present in the spiritual world, are the actual seeds of inspiration for later epochs of the Earth. Not only do we retain these results in our karma, but we carry the imprints upward, and in the coming epochs of Earth, the spirits of the higher hierarchies carry them back down again; and these results of the moral impulses then form the seeds of inspiration for human inventive thinking, for human thinking in general, in later epochs of Earth. Just imagine that an epoch in Earth’s development were entirely immoral, so that no imprints of moral impulses were carried up into the spiritual worlds. Then an epoch would have to follow in the course of Earth’s development in which people would have little to offer for life on Earth, in which people would have few ideas and concepts, and in which a poverty would reign in that which is meant to permeate and stir life in the soul.

[ 7 ] Thus, with our moral impulses, we are part of a real cosmic process. And so Spiritual Science, which reveals this to us, is capable of increasing our sense of responsibility and energizing it, for it is only through this that we come to realize what it means to be moral or immoral in human life. To be immoral means to deprive the Earth of its seeds of life, to incorporate them into the physical process of the Earth, where they then become seeds of destruction for the next epochs of the Earth, for naturally they remain there as well, since nothing is lost. They then extinguish that which is meant to live as a living soul. Let us suppose that a large group of people were to decide to live immorally in a particular epoch. This would then bring about a later epoch of intellectual poverty, and the souls would descend to Earth to find a poverty of thought; they would be condemned to a barren existence.

[ 8 ] Now there is a possibility that we may not limit our understanding to the content of morality alone. If we do not incorporate the content of morality into our active understanding, we will cause the earth to become barren. But we need, and we have the possibility, to incorporate something else into our soul’s development as well, and that is knowledge of the supersensible. In essence, the Earth has never been entirely without knowledge of the supersensible. We know, after all, that in ancient times humanity inherited a certain legacy of clairvoyant powers, clairvoyant abilities, and through them also of clairvoyant knowledge. And it is not so long ago that the aftereffects of this clairvoyant knowledge were still present on Earth. We also know that we are living in a time when this clairvoyant knowledge has been ebbing away for centuries, but must then be replaced by clairvoyant knowledge to be consciously attained. We are living in this important time. And yesterday we reflected on how the fifth cultural epoch and those who are its bearers are called upon to consciously regain clairvoyant knowledge for the souls. And the fifth cultural epoch will not come to an end until a certain amount of clairvoyant knowledge has taken hold of a relatively large portion of humanity. Herders words are true: that enlightenment will go forth over the earth.

[ 9 ] All the knowledge we acquire from the purely sensory external world, all the thoughts we have that are merely afterimages of the sensory external world, cannot be brought by us into the spiritual world in such a direct way while we sleep. It is true that the thoughts and mental images we have extend to a certain degree into the beings of the higher hierarchies—with the exception of immoral impulses—but what we acquire in the form of images of the external world does extend to a certain degree into the spiritual world. But it does not extend very far, and above all no longer into the sphere of the archangels. So that when a person fills themselves only with mental images derived from the sensory world, they cannot carry very far into the spiritual worlds that which they gain solely from sensory mental images. But the mental images we experience within ourselves are carried far into the spiritual worlds, and it is precisely those beings belonging to the hierarchy of the archangels who, as it were, receive impressions of this and carry it over into later times. And what is thus carried up into the spiritual worlds as supersensible knowledge through the human ego and astral body is later utilized again in the process of Earth’s development. It now forms not, as do moral impulses, the seeds of fertilization, or the animate, but the seeds for what we call Earth’s progress. And the rejection of supersensible mental images by an age means condemning a coming age to make no progress in Earth’s evolution. The one who rejects supersensible mental images hinders the progress of coming ages, insofar as it depends on him. If any people were to become entirely materialistic, this materialism of an entire people would condemn the Earth to a standstill in its development for a coming age—naturally to a certain degree, since the other peoples would not necessarily have to reject supersensible mental images. So here, too, we see once again how the acquisition of supersensible mental images has significance within the earthly process itself. Thus, causes and effects are interconnected throughout the entire earthly process. Those people who, in our present time, are, so to speak, conscious materialists, are essentially beings seduced by Ahriman, beings seduced by the Ahrimanic spirits, for Ahriman has a great interest in hindering regular progress.

[ 10 ] Once again, we see how Spiritual Science is capable of heightening the individual human soul’s sense of responsibility toward the whole of the world. We see how Spiritual Science lifts us out of our self-centeredness and makes us part of the entire human process, how Spiritual Science, by its very nature, is a selfless activity of the human soul.

[ 11 ] In a certain sense, all life in the supersensible realm is modeled after moral life. Therefore, nothing is more disruptive to the perception of the supersensible worlds than the human soul being filled with immoral impulses. In essence, we see precisely from this how deeply grounded it is that a moral way of thinking—in the most eminent sense of the term—is required of human beings as preparation for the development of clairvoyance. It is now truly the task of the fifth epoch to ensure that spiritual knowledge consciously fills human beings, so that in what remains of the post-Atlantean era, the progress of humanity is not hindered, so that true progress within humanity may indeed take place. And if, after all that has been discussed in recent days, we are to attribute the predisposition for spiritual knowledge in the truest sense of the word to the Central European peoples in particular, then we must be clear about the significance of the survival and undisturbed development of Central European culture.

[ 12 ] If we now take a brief look at the horizon of European life, based on what we have mentioned, what do we see? The life of the higher hierarchies is, after all, connected to the life of nations. You need only study the lecture series on the development of Folk-souls, which was once given in Kristiania and is particularly important in the present time; you need only bring it to mind, and you will see how the archangelic beings intervene in the life of nations; how, in fact, this life of nations unfolds through the interaction of the higher hierarchies with what happens here on earth. When we consider an individual human being, we know that the development of the ego takes place only slowly and gradually. Certainly, in early childhood, from the point in time back to which one can recall, the consciousness of the ego begins. But this ego becomes ever more mature, advancing in its development. In our time, there are already quite significant misconceptions regarding this development of the ego. There is far too little awareness that such ego development takes place in life. And so one can observe that today people in the very prime of youth consider themselves mature enough to judge everything, because they do not know that a certain age must first be reached in order to judge certain things, since it is only then that the ego has attained a certain maturity.

[ 13 ] Just as it is in the individual life of a human being, so it is also in the life of a nation. However, we must take the following into account if we wish to understand the life of nations in relation to the life of the individual human being on the physical plane. The individual human being matures in terms of ego development; as he becomes more and more mature, he also learns to grasp the external world more fully. What do we know of the external world when we have reached the age of twenty or twenty-five, and what can we know if we live our lives properly, having lived ten more years! It is precisely for such matters that the person engaged in Spiritual Science must cultivate a sense of understanding. There the ego stands in its relationship to the external world, in relation to that which surrounds this ego.

[ 14 ] The situation is different with the beings of the higher hierarchies. These beings of the higher hierarchies stand in the same relationship to our “I” as we do to the things of the external world. For us, the objects and beings of the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms are objects. For the beings of the higher hierarchies, for example, our I’s are objects. Only that the relationship of the beings of the higher hierarchies to our I’s is not one of perception, as we have it toward the external world, but rather it is more a permeation of our I with the will of the higher hierarchies, an influence of the will of the higher hierarchies. Those archangelic beings who are now to guide the peoples truly stand in such a relationship to the I’s, to the individual human beings of the peoples, as we do to the things of the external world with our faculty of perception. We are the objects for these archangelic beings. What is the external world for us is what we, as human beings, are for the archangels, only that for us it is more a process of perception and for the archangels more a process of will. But with regard to this process of will, the archangel also undergoes a development. This archangel is undergoing a maturing of his soul, not in relation to his ego, but in relation to deeper forces within his soul. He is undergoing a development through which he gradually attains a different relationship to the individual members of his people; just as we, with a more mature ego, attain a different relationship to our environment.

[ 15 ] Let us take, for example, the Archangelic Being to whom, in the course of history, the guidance of what we know as the Italian people has been entrusted. For a long time, this Archangelic Being had such a relationship with the Italian people that it essentially worked into the higher realms of the soul through its will. In its further development, however, this archangelic being worked not only into the higher soul, but also into the lower aspects of the soul—into the passions and the impulses of the soul that are still connected to the physical. Thus the development of the archangelic being continues: At first it works more on the soul proper; in its later course it becomes ever more powerful and works into the soul that is more connected with the physical. And we can specify for the Italian people exactly how, around the year 1530, the Archangel, in its development, passed through a stage that can be characterized in such a way that one can say: Previously, he acted more upon the soul; now he begins to permeate the soul more with his will, insofar as it penetrates the physical. And now the Italian people are actually only just beginning to let themselves go in terms of their outward appearance, to truly develop their national character. If you study the history of the Italian people prior to the period mentioned—around the middle of the 16th century—you will see that the Archangel was still working on the inner qualities of the soul among the people of the Italian peninsula; but that it was only then, in the most eminent sense, that the outward national character took shape as we know it today. Before this point—and such a point exists for every people—the entire soul life of a people is still alive. At that stage, the soul life of the people can still take on this or that quality. The qualities are not yet so strongly defined. After this point, when the Archangel has developed his volitional connections to the deeper qualities of the soul, the national character becomes rigid, penetrating even into the physical characteristics; this marks the beginning of a period when one can hardly approach the people with anything that does not correspond to the national character, and when they immediately become nervous if one presents anything that does not fully align with the national line or current.

[ 16 ] For the French people, this point in historical development can indeed be accurately described as such. Of course, this is all only approximate, but it can be said to apply to the French people around the year 1600, at the beginning of the 17th century, and to the English people in the middle of the 17th century, around the year 1650.

[ 17 ] If you go back to that time, to the Middle Ages, you will see how much the peoples of Europe still had in common, and how the distinct national character of each people began to take shape at the points in time I have mentioned. The Archangel undergoes a development such that one can say: Previously, his powers were still weaker, so that he could only work within the spiritual members, within the inner being. Later, the powers become stronger, and he can extend his powers all the way to the physical realm. Through this, he brings about the sharply defined national character. Individual phenomena will seem quite understandable to you if you consider such things from a historical perspective. Consider that in the time when the English people had their Shakespeare, the national character had not yet been encompassed in this way, so that the very inability to understand Shakespeare anymore—precisely on the part of the English people—stems from the fact that the Archangel has completed the embrace with the distinctly differentiated national character. A true historical perspective of the future will only emerge when, unlike so often in the 19th century, historical analysis no longer proceeds from the assumption that ideas act in history. A human being may have ideas, but ideas cannot act as forces in history. Ideas can also be held by angels, archangels, and primal forces, but ideas must always emanate from beings; that which acts must be beings. The entire historical perspective of the 19th century, insofar as it speaks of ideas in history, is a phantom, because it is based on the belief that ideas develop and can move freely in the continuous flow of time.

[ 18 ] We may now ask: What about the German people? Was there ever a point in time when the Archangel reached a certain stage? — Such a point in time did indeed occur. But there is a certain difference between the German people and other peoples. We know that the human soul consists of the soul of feeling, the soul of understanding or the emotional soul, and the soul of consciousness. You can already gather from the lectures on the Folk-souls that the Archangel strives, in the case of the Italian people, primarily to exert his power upon the soul of feeling; in the case of the French people, upon the soul of understanding or the emotional soul; in the case of the British people, upon the soul of consciousness; and in the case of the German people, upon the I, which extends its power over the three soul members. Hence, the Archangel’s relationship to the individual “I’s” of the German people is also different from that with the Western peoples. There came a time when the Archangel of the German people also intervened in physical life or the lower soul life, insofar as it affects the physical. This was roughly the period between 1750 and, one might say, 1830. If one were to study these matters with due care, one would gain truly wonderful insights into the course of the development of peoples. And if one would only take the time to consider the truly magnificent, grandiose difference that prevails in German life between the people of the 19th and 20th centuries and those who lived two hundred years earlier, one would see just how immense this difference is. At that time, the archangel intervened in the national character of the German people, just as the archangels intervened among the other peoples at the points in time I have indicated. But, one might say, he let up again; he did not reshape the physical nature as energetically or as thoroughly as he did among the other peoples. That is precisely why the course of the second half of the 19th century unfolded in such a way that the German people unconsciously absorbed all manner of things from other peoples. This has already led to far too many tragic conflicts in our own time. Just consider, for instance, the fact that Ernst Haeckel, in his entire worldview—insofar as he has built this worldview upon science—is absolutely English, thoroughly anglicized, having adopted English modes of thought. Everything he thinks is influenced, shaped by the English spirit. He takes his cue from Darwin and Huxley. He regards Spencer as his philosophical god. And while a Hegelian book or a book from our Spiritual Science cannot really be translated into English, Haeckel can, of course, be translated into English very easily. You will be surprised that I say this, because you know that books on Spiritual Science have been translated into English. But what is written in those books can only be approximated in an English translation; it is not actually there at all, but only approximately. For example, one can never truly translate into English the sentence that is quintessentially German, which is connected to the sensibility of Meister Eckhart and everything that has developed in the German spirit in the wake of Meister Eckhart. One really cannot translate this sentence into English: “In the Gemüt lives the spark in which the world soul reveals itself in the human soul.” It is impossible to truly translate it into English, for there is no translation for what is experienced in the word “Gemüt.” Likewise, the original Hegelian dictum, which forms a fundamental nerve center of German philosophy: “Being and non-being unite into a higher unity in becoming,” is impossible to translate into English. Of course, one can translate anything, but what is experienced in such a sentence cannot be rendered in this language.

[ 19 ] The German language, after all, has the peculiar characteristic of still allowing for a certain degree of flexibility. Just think how incredibly easy it is, when something is translated into English or French, to say: That’s wrong, you don’t say that! — We Germans must not develop the bad habit of saying that something is wrong, but rather we must keep our language fluid — that is, to put it bluntly, a matter of course. And if you go through our cycles, you will see how there is a constant striving for ever-new word formations, including those that shape words from within. This stems, for example, from the fact that the archangel of the German people has let go of its sharp distinctiveness. He took, as it were, only a brief moment—less than a century—to shape the national character, and then set the people free again. There is an infinite depth to what I mean by this. But it must be so, for the German people are called upon to transform their idealism into living spiritual insight. Fichte, Schelling, Flegel—who are so vilified today—have created a mode of thinking that, while not yet spiritualism, not yet Spiritual Science, is nonetheless the seed of Spiritual Science; a mode of thinking that, so to speak, when thoroughly meditated upon, truly leads to Spiritual Science. For this to happen, however, the German national character must remain fluid; it must truly make it possible to say: “You’re an Italian!” One is French! One is English! But one is always becoming more German! The Archangel has only laid the foundation for the formation of the national character among the German people. And to be nationalistic, or even chauvinistic, in the same way as the Western European peoples—that would be a falsehood for the German; he simply cannot do it—one can, of course, do anything, but then it does not correspond to the true nature of the German.

[ 20 ] The situation with the Russian people is quite different. Above all, it must be clearly understood that the Archangel relates to the individual “I”s of the Russian people in a completely different way than he does to those of the Western and Central European peoples. Among the Western European peoples, the Archangel works inward with his rays of will: in the Italian people into the feeling soul, in the French people into the intellectual or emotional soul, in the British people into the conscious soul, and in the German people into the ego. But the national spirit does not work into the souls of the Russian people at all. It hovers, as it were, over the people like a cloud, and the soul can only gaze upward and yearn for it. It has, in a sense, remained a group spirit. There is no intimate interaction between the national spirit and the individual human egos. One can hardly receive a more tragic, more solemn impression than when attending a Russian Orthodox service, this service in which the human ego of those participating as believers is almost entirely suspended. An impersonal generality, which does not touch the individual personality at all, reigns throughout the whole. Something that does not speak to human nature prevails in this service. This is a direct expression of the fact that the Russian soul has not yet awakened to that enlivening that arises from the interaction of the individual self with the national spirit. There is something stiff and formulaic about it all, as if the spiritual were reaching in from unknown worlds and merely producing something stiff and formulaic, in the rituals as well as in icon painting. Here we are faced with something quite different from what is the case in Western Europe. Here we are faced with the fact that the Archangel has not yet set out to intervene in the national sphere at all. The national is therefore still a dream of the soul for the Russian. The Russian, of course, always speaks of the “truly Russian human being,” and Russian writers speak of him, but this is a dream of the soul that is emphasized in particular because the national spirit is not embodied in the human being, but because the Russian has a longing for a supra-personal national spirit.

[ 21 ] One must look into these profound mysteries; only then will one understand how the European cultural spheres stand in opposition to one another. It would, of course, never occur to me to see the cause of current events directly in this juxtaposition of cultural regions. But one must do so indirectly. In particular, one must be clear that the current torch of war is a powerful sign, intended to acquaint us with what reigns, weaves, and moves within the spiritual life of Europe.

[ 22 ] We look up to beings of the higher hierarchies; we also see these beings of the higher hierarchies in the process of development. As we, as individual human beings, develop our ego, we see them developing in such a way that they gain more and more power to permeate the ego with the will. At first, they remain, as it were, still at a distance from this “I,” overshadowing it from above, as is the case with the Russian people. Then there is a more intimate overshadowing and coexistence at the same time, as is the case with the German people. And then there is a rigorous, rigid working-in of the national character into the individual human beings, as is the case with the three Western European peoples described. And from this you can also see what the nature of this modern phase of human development is like. Just take a look at Central European history and you will find—if you disregard Russia, where conditions are quite different— you will find how similar the life of the Western European peoples—and in a certain respect also that of the Central European peoples—is, and how a European internationalism prevails. And then, from about the 14th century onward, we see a new era dawning for the individual peoples. We see how, with the advent of this newer era, the peoples are seized by a distinct national character. We see how, at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, the German people are given just enough national character that the German, so to speak, senses what national character is, but not so much that he ever had to be absorbed into a rigid national character. One will find that it lies in the deep nature of the German being that the German need not be absorbed into national character; that there is truly a deep meaning when Fichte says: “All that which seeks the freedom of the human soul, all that which strives toward the most universal in humanity—that belongs to us.”

[ 23 ] Herein lies an opportunity for the free development of the Central European, the German character. But it also contains what immediately leads to the realization that the Western European peoples must indeed reckon with this national character—or fluid national character—of the German people. I say that something like the fluid national character of the Germans can lead to tragedy, especially in our time. Let us recall Ernst Haeckel once more. We have seen how, in the second half of the 19th century—because the development of the national character was, as it were, once again set free—he could be so strongly influenced by England. And now we come to our own days. The man who actually embodies the very essence of Englishness has hurled the most virulent words of hatred against the English people: Ernst Haeckel himself. He was, after all, at the forefront of those who returned all their English diplomas, orders, and awards. It would be so much more important to send back materialistic Darwinism, materialistic Newtonianism, and everything that has come from them. In this regard, we must simply learn to truly understand ourselves correctly, and be able to view things objectively without national hatred.

[ 24 ] In essence, it was a kind of spiritual prelude when, a few years ago, the split between our anthroposophical movement and the Indian-English-influenced Theosophical Movement had to take place. It had to happen. Those who are called to develop the spiritual cannot go along with the materialism of a Christ incarnated in the flesh, and within our ranks it had to become clear that the return of the Christ will in reality be the return of an etheric Christ. This has been said many times before and can also be heard in my first Mystery Drama from the mouth of Theodora. However, we now read in an English theosophical journal—I am truly not telling you fairy tales, and indeed this is stated by the president of that society herself—that the way the Germans are now waging war reveals what was actually behind the German theosophical enterprise of that time, for it is now becoming clear that in theosophical circles, there was actually resentment that President Annie Besant had always advocated for the Prince of Peace, who had meant so well for Europe, Edward VII. We would have viewed that with immense reluctance, and that is why we sent our agents to England to present Theosophy there in our own terms, in order to bring the Theosophists under our control. Had we succeeded, as the President recounts in the English Theosophical Journal, in penetrating so far at that time that we had gained control of the entire, as she puts it, “extensive administrative apparatus” of Anglo-Indian Theosophy—which, of course, we never intended to do— our intention would have been carried out: to carry the poison of our | views all the way to India and from there to gain influence over the British government, so that our intention would have been carried out: to induce the British people to recognize German supremacy over England by this means! — This is the account now being presented to the Theosophists there in English Theosophical journals.

[ 25 ] Now you see the truth! We must bring it to our consciousness, for we cannot afford to think about these things as if in a dream. The truth is, after all, that everything I wrote in my book *Mysticism at the Dawn of Modern Spiritual Life*, for example, is simply a reflection of the way spiritualism exists within the cultural currents of Central Europe. The book was immediately translated into English, and we were told there at the time—at least I was—that the whole of Theosophy was contained in this book. We could now say: Well, if people in London find that the whole of Theosophy is contained in the book, then they can certainly join us. — But we have not taken a single step that was anything other than an expression of the developing Central European spiritualism. And a few months before the outbreak of the war, it struck me as rather peculiar—I may mention this today—that some of our ladies who practice eurythmy had gone over to London to give a course there. The eurythmy was well-received. That is quite good; it is meant to appeal to people. But one does not realize that this eurythmy is the spiritual, the antithesis of materialistic sports; that on the one hand we have what is flooding Europe, belonging entirely to materialism, and carrying materialism right into people’s movements through sport, which serves people’s amusement, the addiction to making oneself healthy, which is entirely materialistic, whereas with us every movement is an expression of the spiritual, corresponding exactly to what Central European spirituality is. It is always a matter of working on this ground and, from this ground, bringing forth the fruits of spiritual development. How deeply did the world of sports intervene in Germany, especially in the second half of the 19th century! How did more refined sporting activities—I believe one method in particular was that of Dalcroze—how did these things intervene! Now people may not particularly like him, because he is also among those who so terribly denounce “German barbarism.” But what belongs to the German essence is the eurythmic, through which the spiritual—which is present in the movements of the etheric body, which is natural to the etheric body, and which works in the supersensible human being—is expressed in the movements of the outer physical body.

[ 26 ] This eurythmy is based on the following principles: We have an organ through which the etheric body comes directly into action, so that the physical becomes a reflection of the etheric. This is the case when we speak. But it is not the entire physical body, but rather the air that becomes a reflection of the etheric. The sounding word in the air, the way the air vibrates, is a direct expression of the etheric. If one now takes hold of that which lives in the sound, in the word, and extends it to the entire etheric body, and then allows the hands and feet and everything in the human being to move in the same way that the air is naturally moved in the etheric body during speech and singing, then one has eurythmy. For eurythmy is a speaking of the whole human being, so that not only the moving air is utilized, but the human organs as well.

[ 27 ] In a matter such as this, you can see just how universal and comprehensive the concept of Spiritual Science’s intervention in modern culture truly is. To grasp the essence of the matter, we have just heard about things that people don’t even think about today, and if, through these two lectures that I have now given in this small, intimate circle, I achieve nothing more than stirring in you the sense that we must pay even closer attention to what Spiritual Science aims to achieve for the whole of human life in a universal sense, then that is enough. For the task of Spiritual Science is not truly fulfilled by our merely acquiring individual theoretical concepts. The task of Spiritual Science is fulfilled when it intervenes in everything, in all of life, and spiritualizes this life. And it is necessary in our fifth cultural epoch, within the people to whom this task is particularly assigned, to bring about this spiritualization, to understand these things, and to foster a sense of responsibility regarding human development. It is easy, quite easy, to criticize human development. But that is not the point, for the things that happen occur out of necessity, even if they contradict what, so to speak, good progress intends for humanity. Now, in a certain sense, we must have and allow within our culture something that actually contradicts this good progress. Among the various things that belong to this is, for example, the fact that—basically, because of our current cultural standpoint of our time, as they say, for the sake of progress—we begin to mistreat our children from the earliest age. We don’t realize it, but we mistreat them. For there is, in essence, nothing more contrary to human nature than to have children begin learning school subjects as early as the age of seven and to teach them in a school-like manner, as is currently done. It could truly be a particularly fortunate thing if one were to grow up quite differently and receive what is already introduced to people at the age of seven only at the age of nine or ten. But this is not said, mind you, with the intention that it should not happen, for general cultural progress demands it; it must be so. But a counterbalance must be created. And while, on the one hand, by having certain types of school instruction, we are terribly mistreating the children’s etheric bodies—because we are impressing upon them something for which they are absolutely unsuited at this age— we must create a counterpoint by introducing eurythmy and impart to the children precisely what eurythmy is, so that the etheric body finds balance in these movements that are innate to it. Eurythmy will become something that is quite universal, for development does not reach its goal by moving forward one-sidedly, but by moving forward through opposites. One must always create the counterpoint, assert the counterpoint. Development moves in opposites. And a counterpoint must be created to the mistreatment of the etheric body by today’s school instruction—in the process of making it elastic, of setting the etheric body in motion in accordance with nature, in the sense that is attempted in the very beginnings of our eurythmy. Thus, something that many perhaps still call “our eurythmy” today is truly connected to what I must call the universal character of our spiritual movement.

[ 28 ] When we see, on the one hand, how this interweaves with the tendrils of external life, and how, on the other hand, it can deeply penetrate us—that the depths of the Christ impulse connect with what we gather in Spiritual Science—then we have, from the highest knowledge down to the lowest, the universal character of Spiritual Science. And far more than many other things, it is essential that we gain a sense of this universal character of Spiritual Science. And I must say, it is one of the most difficult perceptions and feelings at present that the current fateful events are not perceived as more significant, that they do not make a stronger impression on our contemporaries. For apart from all that can be observed externally, these fateful events are a warning sign, a warning against clinging to the materialism that the past centuries have brought upon humanity, a warning to turn back from the path of human development. And what is endured in terms of blood and death should be perceived as if it were sent down to earth by the gods, so that it may teach us how necessary spirituality is for the further development of humanity. It is truly lamentable, for example, when we witness in these times that people give lectures and write articles in which they say: If only the time might soon return when the free movement of peoples takes place as it did in the past, otherwise the Germans might fall into the delusion of returning to the metaphysics of Fichte and Hegel, of developing metaphysical impulses once more. — Even in these fateful days, a fear is being raised that something of metaphysical impulses might re-enter people’s longings! It is precisely these months that are meant to reawaken those metaphysical impulses! For in how many cases do we see—to the sorrowful experience of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, and other human relationships—that an unconscious belief in the significance of the supernatural passes through our world like a magical breath. Are thousands upon thousands to go through death willingly as a sacrifice, and should people then, once peace has returned to our earth, be allowed to continue preaching that human life is confined between birth and death? Then these sacrificial deaths would have been offered in vain, for these deaths spring—even if not clearly to many—from the firm belief that they are the dawn of a new era. Whoever goes to his death on the battlefield truly wishes to affirm through his death something other than this: Here my body ends. What senselessness it would be to fill the European earth in our time with corpses, if the materialistic worldview had even a spark of truth. We must engrave this above all else upon our souls. Those who will survive this era, who will live in the time when peace reigns once more, will be traitors to those who have died if they do not work toward the spiritualization of human development. For, in essence, failing to work toward the spiritualization of humanity means nothing less than telling those who have gone through blood and death: “You died for nothing!” — For if materialism is correct, then they have all died for nothing.

[ 29 ] The scholar of Spiritual Science, in particular, must fully immerse himself in this sentiment. Only recently have I been able to read again how there are people today—and in the 19th century these people became more and more numerous—who claim: It was a prejudice on Paul’s part when he said that if Christ had not risen, then our words and our faith would be in vain. But this saying of Paul is true! For it is only through what happened through the Mystery of Golgotha that the human soul has once again been called to possess the powers that lead it into the spiritual world. We have spoken of these powers. But our time calls out to us in clear tones: The death of so many would be in vain if materialism were true! If materialism were true, they would all have died in vain.

[ 30 ] If we fill ourselves with such thoughts, then those who have dedicated their energies to the great progress of humanity—having passed away in the prime of life—will have their energies strengthened by the thoughts that rise up from our souls. When human souls direct toward the spiritual realm whatever spiritual thoughts and feelings they may possess, then—as I also said yesterday at the end—the forces gathered from above, the unspent etheric forces, will meet with human spiritual thoughts and bring about a new age. Therefore, let us conclude today as well with the words that have given us, in these days, the meaning, the sense of feeling and emotion, of our standing in time as spiritual scientists in the field of Spiritual Science:

From the courage of the fighters,
From the blood of the battles,
From the suffering of the forsaken,
From the sacrifices of the people
The fruit of the spirit grows—
Guiding souls with spiritual awareness
Toward the realm of the spirit.