The Rudolf Steiner Archive

12. Spiritual Science as a State of Mind; The Etheric Body as a Reflection of the Universe

[ 1 ] We are currently living in an era of events that must stir every feeling of the human soul in the deepest, most meaningful sense. We are in the midst of events that cause that which has always remained a mystery to our Spiritual Science—death—to sweep across the earth many, many times in a relatively short period. We are living in a time that spreads suffering and pain across countless souls, and in a time that we hope harbors within it significant forces for the unfolding of humanity’s future development. If so much must be born of pain and suffering, and if Spiritual Science itself teaches us that much must be born of pain and suffering, then spiritual scientific reflections may well be capable, even in this fateful time, of stirring within us certain powers of confidence and certain powers of hope. And so let us unfold before your souls today a few reflections that, while not directly, are nevertheless indirectly connected to the sentiments and feelings that may be aroused within us in our time of pain and turmoil.

[ 2 ] What we see and feel happening in such diverse ways in our present time is that people are leaving the physical plane at a relatively early age in their physical existence. This is precisely what is so peculiar about events such as those we are currently witnessing: that they are taking young lives from the physical plane. We know that when a human being passes through the gate of death, they must surrender their physical body to the elements of the earth; that as they pass through the gate of death, they are initially still united with their etheric body, their astral body, and their I. We know that after a relatively short time this etheric body is separated from the human being, and that the human being then undergoes the further journey he must make between death and a new birth in the I and the astral body, united with those members of his spiritual nature that he can only acquire in the spiritual world; but that for his further journey in the time between death and a new birth, the etheric body separates from the human individuality and follows its own path. Now we must realize that in the case of a youthful death, this etheric body must be in a completely different state than in the case of the death of a person who has reached a normal stage of old age. We know how external natural science speaks of the fact that forces can indeed be transformed, but that they cannot be lost. For the external world of physical existence, natural science fully acknowledges this truth: that forces are never lost, but only transformed. For the spiritual world, Spiritual Science must teach us to recognize this as well. When an etheric body detaches itself from a person who has passed through the gate of death at a young age, it is an etheric body that could have sustained that person’s life on the physical plane for many decades to come. An etheric body must, after all, be constituted in such a way that it can supply all the life forces a person requires right up to the highest age. When a person passes through the gate of death, say, at the age of twenty-five, twenty-six, or thirty, their etheric body departs from them; yet this etheric body still possesses forces through which it might have sustained the person’s physical life well into their sixties, seventies, or eighties. These forces are within the etheric body; these forces are not lost. And we must ask ourselves—especially in a time like the present, when so many such etheric bodies are, so to speak, entrusted to the spiritual worlds—the question: What happens to the etheric bodies of those people who have passed through the gate of death in early youth? — It will be helpful, if we are to answer such a question thoroughly, to familiarize ourselves with the path the human etheric body actually takes while the human being passes through life between birth and death.

[ 3 ] The human being’s outer physical body grows older and older. This is not the case with the etheric body. As difficult as it may seem to grasp, it is by no means the case that the etheric body grows older and older; rather, as the physical body grows older, the etheric body grows younger and younger, and it reaches a certain, one might say, childlike stage of etheric existence at the time when a human being, having reached normal old age, passes through the gate of death. So that we must say to ourselves: When we begin our physical earthly existence through birth, then that which has united with our physical body as the etheric body—we can say, by way of comparison—is actually old and becomes younger and younger during life, reaching its childlike stage when we pass through the gate of death. We could therefore also say: When a person dies in youth, their etheric body does not become young enough, but retains a certain stage of age. — But what does that really mean? An example can teach us what this means—one that some of you already know, but which I must nevertheless mention here again: a concrete example from recent times that was experienced by a number of friends.

[ 4 ] This specific example actually concerns a very young child, the little son of one of our members. It was during a lecture evening in Dornach when, after the lecture, we learned that a seven-year-old boy, the son of our friend Faiß, was missing. And it soon became clear that a great misfortune must have occurred. For in the late afternoon, a moving truck had arrived near the Dornach building—curiously, in an area where perhaps no moving truck had driven for quite some time, if ever, and likely never would again. This moving truck had overturned at a certain spot. This had happened toward evening; nothing else had been noticed; but the boy was missing. And when, joining forces with others, our friends made every effort between ten and twelve o’clock at night to lift the moving truck, which had not been lifted by its owners—they had put it off until the next day because the truck had fallen in a very awkward position and was very heavy—when they succeeded in lifting it, it turned out that the child, little Theodor Faifß, had in fact been passing by at the very moment the moving van tipped over, and that the van had fallen on the child. Now this child—he had just turned seven—was an exceptionally sweet child, a child who possessed exceptionally fine qualities.

[ 5 ] To shed light on this fact from the perspective of our Spiritual Science, I would like to recall a logical consideration that I have often raised within our circle. I have often said how cause and effect can be confused through superficial thinking, through untrained thinking, and that such confusions of cause and effect really do occur with extraordinary frequency. I tried to illustrate this with an example, an example that is meant to be merely a comparison. Suppose you see a person walking along the bank of a stream in the distance. You see him fall into the stream; you try to get closer, and you see that right where the person fell into the water, there is a stone. You try to pull the person out of the stream: he is dead. What is more natural than to say: The person stumbled over the stone and fell into the stream and then drowned. But that need not be the case at all; rather, a simple physical examination might teach us that at the very moment the person stepped onto that spot—without his fate having anything to do with the stone or anything else—he suffered a heart attack, and that as a result he fell into the water—so that the heart attack was the cause of the fall into the water— whereas, if one does not take the trouble to get to the bottom of the matter, one would say that falling into the water was the cause of death. One would thus assume precisely the opposite of what is correct.

[ 6 ] It is more difficult to understand such a matter in terms of cause and effect when dealing with things related to the spiritual world. Thus one must say: In a case such as that of this child, who truly met his death through such extraordinary circumstances—circumstances that were extraordinary in many other ways as well—one must not, from a higher perspective, think that this is what happened: that the moving truck came and overturned and the child happened to end up under the truck; that, in other words, the truck was the cause of the child’s death. Rather, from a perspective of Spiritual Science, one will think correctly in such a case that the child’s karma had run its course, and that, fundamentally, the truck drove to that spot because the child was meant to meet his death; that the truck thus merely brought about the external conditions to bring about the death that was predestined in the child’s karma. To put it simply, one might say: that which is the child’s higher self, which wished to pass through the gate of death, arranged the entire situation and all the events in this way. Certainly, for a person who thinks in the spirit of our time, hearing such an idea will seem utterly absurd. Spiritual Science must show us how many things that materialistically minded people of the present regard as absurd actually correspond to the truth.

[ 7 ] What is significant, however, is that in this particular case the etheric body of a seven-year-old child has separated from the child’s individuality—from that which then continues on through the spiritual worlds in connection with the ego and the astral body. It is not my task now to speak of the further course of life for this individuality of little Theodor Faiß, but rather my task is to draw attention to the fact that the etheric body in this case was one that supplied the physical life with life forces for only seven years; yet it possessed within itself the power to supply a whole long life between birth and death with life forces. These forces remain in the etheric body. And what is significant is that anyone who, since the death of little Theodor Faiß, has had any spiritual connection with the building we are to erect in Dornach for Spiritual Science, can now know what has become of little Theodor Faiß’s etheric body. There is, after all, much to be accomplished in connection with this building. We will speak shortly of some of what can be brought down today in terms of inspirations from the spiritual world. We need helping forces if all that is to be drawn from the spiritual world is truly to come down. And it becomes evident that, in fact, since the death of little Theodor Faiß, our Dornach building has been enveloped—as if by an aura—by the expanded etheric body of this child, extending far into the surrounding area. It is possible to determine exactly how far this envelopment extends

[ 8 ] When you see the Dornach building—those who have already seen it know this—it is a double circular structure (see drawing). Here we have a boiler house, designed in a special way according to the principles of Spiritual Science, and here we have built another building where the glass windows for the structure are cut. Just as an aside, I’d like to mention that the so-called “Hansi House” is located roughly here—that is the house where we live. Now it is remarkable that all the way up here, toward the forest, then right past the boiler house, cutting straight through this building where the windows are cut, and here past this house, Haus Hansi—without enclosing it—this aura of little Theodor Faiß envelops the entire building. So that in fact, when one enters the building, one enters this etheric aura.

[ 9 ] As I have often pointed out, the etheric body expands when it is freed from the physical body. Therefore, we should not be surprised that this etheric body appears to us in such an enlarged form. And within this etheric body are the mediating forces through which one finds certain impressions from the spiritual world that are needed to be used in the forms and artistic design of the building. And the one who has to work on the building knows what he owes to this etheric aura. I will never hesitate to admit that the work since the death of this little Theodor Faiß has been made possible for me by the fact that mediating forces for inspiration are present in the boy’s etheric body, which is spread out over the building. It would be much easier not to mention such a thing at all. One could, of course, boast that one has no need of such mediating forces. But this is not about such things; rather, it is about recognizing the truth.

[ 10 ] When we consider the facts just described, we gain an impression of what happens to an etheric body that must separate from a human life when that life is cut short by death at a young age. Now it is important to bear in mind that a human being’s etheric body is not merely a mist-like formation in which the physical body is embedded. After all, we do not recognize a physical human body by merely describing it as a mass of muscles and bones and so on, but by recognizing it as standing, so to speak, as a kind of temple of the deity, as a microcosm. We can only truly recognize what is in the physical body when we become aware that the forms into which it is shaped are truly drawn from the entire universe, that the human being is a miraculous creation in relation to their physical body. Anyone who can feel the sentiments expressed in the first dialogue of the second Mystery Drama, “The Trial of the Soul,” will be able to form a mental image of how a single human being, in relation to his physical body, is placed into this physical existence through all manner of hierarchies; how a whole world of gods regards it as their goal to place this human being into physical existence. Now we truly come to understand the significance of this physical body when we consider the insights of clairvoyant perception.

[ 11 ] Clairvoyant perception is, after all, the kind of perception that arises when a person withdraws their spiritual-soul aspect from their physical body and is then able to become conscious and perceptive outside their body in the spiritual-soul realm. And in essence, with regard to everything external, there is no difference between the clairvoyant person and the sleeping person, who has also withdrawn their spiritual-soul aspect from the physical-bodily aspect. However, because the clairvoyant consciousness can perceive outside the physical body, it can form a mental image of what happens to a person when they are in a sleeping state. For the sake of clarity, let us make this schematic drawing. Let us assume that this represents the physical body and this the spiritual-soul aspect in the sleeping human being. In the waking human being, of course, the spiritual-soul aspect is contained within the physical-bodily aspect; so let us imagine the human being in his sleeping state. There lies the physical body and the etheric body in bed; they do not contain the astral body and the ego, as they do when awake. But one might say that what the astral body and the ego accomplish in the physical body during wakefulness is not entirely suspended in sleep. For all that a person can initially perceive, the person lying in bed does indeed appear to be lying there as if soulless. To the clairvoyant consciousness, however, this physical human being and this etheric body lying in bed do not appear as if they were lying there soulless. The clairvoyant must say something quite different about this sleeping physical and etheric human being. He must say: Throughout the day, the part of the Earth where people are now sleeping has been bathed in sunlight. Now it is night. I am speaking of normal conditions, when one sleeps at night and is awake during the day, not of today’s conditions in large cities or metropolises. Darkness spreads over the region upon which the sun shone during the day. It is remarkable; one realizes: the Earth as a being begins to think, and the organs through which the Earth thinks are these sleeping human bodies.

[ 12 ] Just as human beings think through their own brains, so does the Earth think through these sleeping human bodies. By day, it is always perceiving—and this perception consists of being illuminated by the sun from outer space; that is the Earth’s perception—and by night, it processes in thought what it has perceived. The Earth thinks, says the clairvoyant, and it thinks by making use of sleeping human beings. Every sleeping human being becomes, so to speak, a brain molecule of the Earth. Our physical body is designed in such a way that, when we are not using it ourselves, it can serve to enable the Earth to think through it.

[ 13 ] But just as the Earth thinks through the physical body, so it imagines—you know, of course, what imaginative knowledge is—so it imagines everything that is not earthly on the Earth itself, everything that belongs to the Earth from the entire cosmos. It imagines this in the etheric body. In the sleeping physical body of the human being, one recognizes parts of the Earth’s brain, and in the human being’s etheric body, when he sleeps, one recognizes an imagination of that part of the universe that primarily belongs to the Earth. There, in wonderful images, everything that must flow in from the Earth’s etheric world as forces so that the events of this Earth can unfold plays itself out in the etheric body. Just as the human being, as a physical being, belongs to the Earth, so too does the human being, as an etheric being, belong to the heavens. And it is only for this reason that we can use our physical body as an organ of thought, because it is created for thinking, because, so to speak, the Earth yields it to us while we are awake. It is also only for this reason that we can use our etheric body in such a way that it gives us the life forces, because the heavens yield it to us while we are awake, and because the forces of the heavens’ imagination are transformed into life forces within us while we are awake. So that we should not speak of our etheric body merely as a mist-like formation, but rather as a microcosmic formation that mirrors the heavens within itself.

[ 14 ] Our etheric body is given to us at birth as a particularly perfect form. At birth, our etheric body is such that it sparkles and glows from within with pure imaginations that come to it from the vast universe. It is a magnificent reflection of the universe. And whatever a human being can acquire during their life in terms of education, knowledge, and the powers of will and emotion—as they grow old between birth and death—is drawn from this etheric body. The cosmic heavenly forces bestow upon us what they have to bestow during the life between birth and death. That is why, as etheric beings, we are young again after having lived a completely normal life between birth and death, because we have then drawn everything out of this etheric body. But when such an etheric body, belonging to a youthful physical body, passes through the gate of death, there is still much, much unused heavenly light within it. Thus it becomes a mediator of such forces as I have described. Quite apart from what becomes of the individuality of such a human soul, such as the one mentioned earlier, the etheric body becomes something like a gift from the heavens, a gift from the spiritual worlds. Therefore, this etheric body can have an inspiring effect in the sense described.

[ 15 ] It would take us far too far afield to speak of the peculiar karma possessed by a human soul capable of making such a sacrifice. For this cannot be artificially brought about, but must be connected with the entire karma of such a person who has a sacrifice to make, who has a task to perform that is destined to play a role in the spiritual world process of humanity, as is indeed intended for this building of ours in Dornach, which is to encompass our endeavors in Spiritual Science.

[ 16 ] But now consider that we are heading toward a time when many, many such etheric bodies—if not from such a youthful human age, then at least from a youthful human life—will be present in the spiritual atmosphere. Those who have passed through the gate of death on the bloody battlefields—they all pass through the gate of death in a different way than those who pass through it in their beds or through an ordinary accident. In a certain sense, they pass through the gate of death in such a way that they anticipate their death, albeit more or less in the subconscious—the astral body anticipates death in a certain way. And one can always speak of a sacrifice in this death. All the etheric bodies that ascend in this way from young people into the spiritual world will possess unused forces. And a period of human development lies before us in which human souls can consciously look up into the spiritual world and say to themselves: A time has passed that has sent many, many unused etheric bodies up into the spiritual world. And these unspent etheric bodies contain forces—forces about which we can already say today, from a perspective of Spiritual Science, what significance they will have for the development of humanity.

[ 17 ] When discussing such matters, one must explicitly point out that what is to be said about this issue does not apply to every war that has taken place in the course of human development on Earth. What occurs in the spiritual realm and is to be examined through Spiritual Science is not as straightforward as it is in the natural sciences. Other wars of earlier times required that they be discussed differently. What I have to say applies to the present fateful times. Consider the following: On various occasions, it has had to be emphasized that our pursuit of Spiritual Science today does not arise from mere caprice, but that it is truly part of the process of human development for people to gradually become acquainted with Spiritual Science. We know, after all, that every epoch of humanity’s earthly development has a specific task. We can glean this from various cycles. And we can recognize that the salvation of humanity’s future, its immediate future development, can only flourish if what can be revealed through Spiritual Science truly becomes the spiritual property of a larger and ever-larger number of souls.

[ 18 ] But now consider this: since most of you are likely driven by a heartfelt enthusiasm for Spiritual Science, consider the difficulties that currently stand in the way of spreading the truths of Spiritual Science. Consider how people out in the world resist these truths of Spiritual Science. Consider how these truths are slandered, how people regard them as insane, as twisted, as crazy, as fantasy. One could indeed cite some truly striking examples, but all such examples would still be only a small part of what anyone can essentially feel when they are enthusiastic about Spiritual Science and face the world—a world they so dearly wish would embrace Spiritual Science—yet which embraces it so little today. The spiritual scientist himself may now say to himself: What is to be achieved through the mere earthly powers of humanity appears, in relation to the task of Spiritual Science, to be weak, quite weak. But in a future epoch there will be the unspent etheric bodies of those who have had to carry soul and life through the gate of death into the fields of events in our time, and these etheric bodies, with their unspent powers, will be able to become inspiring forces, helping forces in the time to come. And we need only—not now in a theoretical, intellectual way, but with heartfelt warmth—to adopt the attitude of looking up to the heavenly etheric bodies of those who, in the early years of their youth, passed through the gate of death in our fateful time, and need, as it were, only to turn our souls upward in a prayerful mood toward these etheric bodies, and those who are inspired by Spiritual Science need only turn their souls upward toward these forces—and they will receive help from these etheric bodies. So that, when fervent spiritual communion with these etheric bodies becomes possible through a genuine permeation with a spiritual-scientific attitude, among the manifold fruits that lie in the bosom of our fateful time, there will also be this: that into the souls of the people who are enthusiastic about Spiritual Science will flow that which lies in the forces of the ethereal bodies sacrificed in their youth during our fateful times. Through the souls of those who will live in physical bodies in the near future, the forces of these thus sacrificed etheric bodies will be able to flow, provided these souls are imbued with the genuine spiritual attitude. And these will be heavenly forces—that is, forces of the spiritual world! And entirely different forces will then be able to prevail in the world, so as to bring into this world that which must come into it—a Spiritual Science attitude. And we need only find the way to commit ourselves to what is now happening, in the spirit of the discussion just given; then these fateful days will also have a profound, profound significance for those who are deeply immersed in Spiritual Science.

[ 19 ] “How wonderful,” we have said, "are the imaginative forms that exist within the human etheric body. And yet they are different from what they would be if they had not passed through a human etheric body. But in this realm, too, the principle holds true: Nothing comes from nothing! — This is not an absolute statement, but it applies in this context. That which is added as an etheric body when a human soul enters physical existence through birth gathers forces from the spiritual world that are consumed during physical life. These forces do not come from nothing; they exist in the spiritual world. Certainly, one can also find them in the spiritual world, but if one wishes to find them directly from the spiritual world, it is difficult. One must employ much greater means of power. But once they have passed through a physical human being who then died young, and present themselves, as it were, with what they have within them from their passage through the human being, it is easier to make use of their help. All the forces that are in this young etheric body of little Theodor Faiß—certainly, they would also be in the spiritual world otherwise, but it would be a Herculean task to summon them otherwise. Because they have come about through the boy as a detour, allowing oneself to be inspired by them is made much easier; it has become different. Consider then what immense significance it has for the entire further development of humanity that in the time to come, humanity will be given such a great number of etheric bodies with forces that have not yet been exhausted! But by the circumstance, by the fact that these—I would say again and again—heavenly forces have passed through human beings, these forces have, so to speak, freed themselves from the laws within which they stand in the cosmos outside. It is impossible for these forces, which are drawn directly from the cosmos, to be used in a harmful sense within the cosmos. Let us suppose that all the people who are now passing through the gate of death due to the war or other circumstances would, had the war not come, not provide such a large number of etheric bodies. All these forces would, of course, also be in the cosmos; but then they could not be used by human beings, because it would be too difficult to use them. They also could not be utilized because they would be exhausted in the lives of people who reached their normal age. It is quite significant that these heavenly forces have passed through human bodies. Through this, they are, so to speak, freed from the ordinary course of development. And this freedom means that these forces can indeed also be used in ways other than for the benefit of humanity.

[ 20 ] They can also be used in other ways. Human life must develop in the light of freedom. Let us suppose for a moment that Ahriman were truly to succeed in darkening people’s thoughts and reason to such an extent that they would reject Spiritual Science. Then these etheric bodies would still be there, but there would be no souls enthusiastic about Spiritual Science to place these forces in the service of earthly progress. Then Lucifer or Ahriman could intervene and would be able to use these forces either in the world that Lucifer is building or in the world that Ahriman is building. Consider that something of immense significance is being expressed here! What is being said is that it is, so to speak, placed in the hands of human beings to determine in what way the forces bestowed upon the world through sacrificial deaths are incorporated into the earthly process. The fact that they have the possibility to inspire what is kindled by Spiritual Science will make these forces subservient to the progress of earthly development. Otherwise, however—if materialism were to take hold of all minds, or if nationalism were to spread in a purely passionate manner—it could be that Lucifer or Ahriman would put these forces at their service; then earthly progress would be unable to benefit from these forces. It is only when one considers these connections that the full, profound significance of Spiritual Science for human development on Earth becomes clear. Only then does one learn to say to oneself: How necessary it is that sacrificial forces be utilized in the right sense in the course of development; how necessary it is that individual human beings capable of this be moved by what can emerge from Spiritual Science as a disposition! — And this Spiritual Science becomes something immensely sacred when one views it in connection with the spiritual course of development, as it is also expressed in our fateful times. The attitude that can arise in us from Spiritual Science thereby becomes something akin to a prayer, which can be summed up in the words: Let us, O World Spirit, be thoroughly imbued with this spiritual-scientific attitude, so that we may not fail to wrest from Lucifer and Ahriman, in the true sense, that which can be the salvation and progress of the Earth!

[ 21 ] Our building is intended to serve as a symbol of what Spiritual Science is meant to become for humanity as a way of thinking. That is why it is designed so that its forms artistically express what Spiritual Science is capable of conveying. I would have much to say if I were to explain to you everything that has been incorporated into every detail of this building. You will learn all of this as you visit the building over the years and participate in the activities that are to take place within it. Today I wish to speak of only one thing in connection with what I have just explained.

[ 22 ] At a significant point in the building, where it turns toward the east, there will be a sculptural group. This sculptural group is intended to express, in particular, that which the consciousness of our time must be imbued with to the proper degree. This group will, quite apart from what will be added to it, essentially consist of three figures. Three entities will be expressed in this group. There will be a kind of rock there. This rock has a projection toward the front, and in this projection there is a cave. The main figure stands on the rock ledge. This main figure—one may call it whatever one wishes—but one must see in it the representative of the earthly human being in the highest sense of the word. And if one wishes to see in that human being, who carried the Christ-being within himself for three years of his earthly life, the ideal of the earthly human being, then one will also be able to see the Christ in this main figure. But this must not happen in such a way that one stands before this group with the conscious thought that this is supposed to be Christ; rather, everything must be felt artistically. That is to say, it must not be interpreted symbolically from the outside, but everything must follow from the forms themselves.

[ 23 ] Here above is a second being. This being has a human-like—I can only say human-like—head. The head is truly such that one could say a human head resembles this head. For this head is formed in such a way that “the skull region is powerfully developed, particularly the forehead region. Whereas in humans these parts up there are relatively immobile, in this being everything is movable. Everything is an expression of the soul. Just as a human can move their hands with their fingers, but not this part here, so this being can move everything up here. And you can see from the sculptural work that everything up there is movable. The lower part of the face is very recessed in this being. One might say that the powerful skull structure arches over the receding face. I can only discuss individual parts, for every single line on this figure is of great significance. But then the peculiar thing is that there is a connection between what has atrophied into the larynx in humans and the ear in this figure. What is there as the laryngeal folds bulges upward and forms the lower part of the ears. The upper part is formed by the forehead region. On the other side, two structures reminiscent of bird wings join, between which a body is spread out, which is as if it were a transformed human face as a whole. Wings, larynx, and ear are formed as one, so that one can recognize: with its wings, the being lives within the harmony of the spheres, soars through space, through the waves of the harmony of the spheres, and this is localized in the ear. In humans, all of this has atrophied. Now, as the representative of humanity raises his left hand here, the wings of this figure on the rock are broken, and as a result, it plunges down from the rock. — You can guess: this figure plunging down from the rock, with its broken wings, represents Lucifer.

[ 24 ] Down here, inside the cave, there is another figure. It does not have bird-like wings, but rather bat-like wings, a body resembling that of a dragon or a worm, and a head that, in turn, resembles a human head. But all that constitutes Lucifer’s powerful brow structure recedes entirely in this lower figure; it is stunted. The lower parts toward the mouth are powerfully developed in this figure. And this figure is wrapped in what is gold within the earth. The gold of the earth becomes chains that bind this figure within. This figure cringes under the effect emanating from the descending hand of the representative of humanity, Christ. This figure down there is Ahriman, the Ahriman bound by the gold of the earth.

[ 25 ] What I have just said essentially captures the idea of the whole. But this idea merely points to what is at stake. We will never be concerned here with repeating the bad habit of the old theosophists, who always worked with symbols; rather, our aim will be to ensure that everything which, from the perspective of Spiritual Science, appeals to human feeling is truly transformed into art. Therefore, one must not say: these figures express this or that—but they must, through what they are artistically, through what one sees in them, be what represents the relationship of the human being, or even of Christ, to Lucifer and Ahriman. Therefore, this cannot be expressed using the old artistic means. Every movement of the fingers on the hands, the way the hands are formed, will be significant, for something significant must be expressed therein. One might initially have the idea that Christ raises his left hand and, through his will, causes forces to flow forth that break Lucifer’s wings, so that he falls down. And through the right hand, lowered downward, forces would again flow forth, through which Ahriman is bound. One would have imagined something entirely wrong if one had created a mental image of this.

[ 26 ] To elaborate on the profound significance of this, I would like to recall something that truly ranks among the greatest works art has ever produced: Michelangelo’s *The Last Judgment* in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. There one sees Christ guiding the good to heaven and the wicked to hell. One can see in Christ how he guides some to the good world and others to the evil world. This Christ, as he is depicted there, is not the Christ whom we are to understand in his true essence through Spiritual Science. The Christ who is the true Christ does not condemn or praise by employing wrath or ordinary love, but works through what he is. Lucifer’s wings are not broken; rather, he breaks them himself through his state of mind by coming into the presence of Christ. And Ahriman binds himself through what happens in his soul as he comes near to Christ. Therefore, the hand held aloft and the hand held down must be free of everything that is not pure, being-based compassion for the world. Lucifer up there cannot bear—he himself cannot bear—that the hand of Christ should come near him. And through what he thereby experiences within himself, he breaks his own wings; it is not Christ who breaks them for him, but he breaks them himself. And it is the same with Ahriman. Michelangelo has not yet understood how to form a Christ as he truly is. The Christ-being is so significant, the understanding of the Christ-being is so difficult, that this can only be achieved over time. The Christ, who through what he is causes beings to either condemn or redeem themselves, will only be understood then. The Christ in Michelangelo’s sculpture still has something Luciferic-Ahrimanic about him, because through his wrath he leads the wicked to hell and the good to heaven: there he is engaged with his passions. The Christ here stands there impersonally, and the beings who come near him condemn themselves.

[ 27 ] You can see from this that humanity’s place in the world, which contains both Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces, must be expressed in a significant part of our building; that beings must be expressed who can only be found in the spiritual world. All naturalism in art, everything toward which art has striven, especially in recent times when people have been gripped by materialism—all of this must be overcome precisely by this art that is cultivated here. And something so utterly new must enter the world through Spiritual Science—artistically as well—that even the greatest achievement possible until now will be surpassed: Michelangelo’s figure of Christ in the “Last Judgment.”

[ 28 ] One may speak of such things, provided that, on the other hand, one also emphasizes everything that must not be forgotten: that, of course, our project can be nothing more than a primitive beginning for all of this. Everything is imperfect, everything is elementary, everything is only a beginning, but this beginning should be something entirely new. That everything is imperfect can, of course, be known, but attention must be drawn to something that is to enter into the whole of human life as an impulse.

[ 29 ] Consider now how easy it is to pass by indifferently a gift of cosmic existence that consists in the untapped forces of the human etheric body. Consider how these etheric body forces could become the prey of Lucifer and Ahriman if humanity were unable to find a way to channel them into the salvation of Earth’s evolution. Here we have touched upon an immense mystery of the evolution of humanity on Earth: the mystery of the relationship between the Christ impulse and the Lucifer impulse, and the Ahriman impulse. And this relationship of the Christ impulse to the Lucifer impulse and the Ahriman impulse will be increasingly understood by humanity in the near future. Luciferic forces and Ahrimanic forces rage through the world, and through his Christ consciousness, the human being must become like a being sitting in a boat that, though constantly tossed about in the storms stirred up by Lucifer and Ahriman, but which nevertheless finds its way through the sea whose living substance consists of Lucifer and Ahriman, through which, however, the human being nevertheless steers his Christ-boat.

[ 30 ] We do not come together in our groups to learn this or that in a theoretical sense—what Spiritual Science can reveal to us—but rather we come together so that everything that lives within our souls may be filled with a spirit that can flow from Spiritual Science. It is not what we think from Spiritual Science, but how we think, perceive, feel, and will—that is what matters. And whether the smallest or the greatest thing we can observe in the earthly evolution of humanity appears before our soul’s eye, everywhere we can see how necessary it is for the human being of the future to familiarize themselves precisely with what the triad of Christ, Lucifer, and Ahriman signifies. Neither Michelangelo nor the times that have passed until now have been able to see in the right way how this Trinity stands in the world. But one will also only truly recognize Christ in his essence when one sees him in his relationship to that which acts in the world like the North and South Poles: Lucifer and Ahriman.

[ 31 ] We will have much to discuss about these matters in the coming days for those who will be able to join us. Today I wanted to impress upon your souls what makes the attitude of Spiritual Science seem so important to us, even for significant events that may reveal themselves in the spiritual world in the near future to those who are able to perceive what is happening physically from a spiritual perspective as well.

[ 32 ] Oh, how one longs to implore the benevolent gods and spirits who protect the earth and humanity to grant people the strength so that what must happen for the salvation of humanity may come to pass!

[ 33 ] Up there will be the untapped etheric forces of those who have passed away in the prime of life. But here on earth there must be human hearts and human souls that look up to these forces in such a way that these forces can be guided by them in the right direction of development. It is not only a matter of the forces being up there—forces that could also fall prey to Lucifer and Ahriman—but it is a matter of there being human souls down here in physical bodies who send their devout mood upward toward these sacrificial etheric bodies. It will depend on this in what sense the forces created in the fields where blood flows, where sacrifices are made, and where pain is suffered, will flow into human evolution.

[ 34 ] This roughly illustrates the role that Spiritual Science can play in the future course of human development, provided that what can only be understood through Spiritual Science is truly grasped by a number of people.

[ 35 ] As for what may become of these fateful days, I would like to conclude by expressing it once more in a few pragmatic words:

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
Souls think with spiritual awareness
And direct their purpose toward the spiritual realm.