The Rudolf Steiner Archive

New Year's Reflections I

[ 1 ] Some things we wish to share about the mysteries of the spiritual world must first be hinted at figuratively—or, we might say, semi-figuratively—though the images are meant to be entirely real and genuine. It is necessary to suggest such things figuratively, as I would like to do today, for your further meditation within your own hearts, because if one were to speak not in images but in concepts, one would have to give lengthy explanations. But anyone who allows what I am going to say today to remain present in their heart for a while and meditates on it, so to speak, can, in a sense, arrive at the deeper meaning on their own.

[ 2 ] Every year around this time, we move from one period to the next. Certainly, this may at first seem like a convenient way of dividing the sequence of time. But that is not the case, for, driven by a deeper instinct, the people responsible for dividing time followed certain great laws governing the passage of time. This celebration of the transition from one year to the next is, after all, observed in our part of the world—and I am, of course, speaking of our regions—in the depths of winter, at a time when plants have ceased to grow, bloom, and bear fruit. Only certain forest trees retain their, as they say, evergreen foliage throughout the white of winter. The sun exerts its weakest power.

[ 3 ] We know that spiritual events are interwoven with all that takes place before our senses. We know that when we walk through the forest, we are not only surrounded by the trees with their green needles or leaves, but that in the mysterious depths of existence, spiritual and soul beings reign and are at work. We have already come to perceive that which is regarded by the most intelligent people of our time as childish superstition as pointing precisely to the truly real.

[ 4 ] And so we realize that everything perceptible to the senses—whether solid objects or events that can be observed with the senses—is underpinned by spiritual activity and becoming. And so we first turn our attention to the inanimate—or, as it is called, inorganic—earth, to everything that constitutes the mineral kingdom on our earth; we look at all that is lifeless. For the external materialist, this lifeless matter is merely lifeless. For us, however, every inanimate thing contains a soul-and-spiritual aspect, so that we can also speak of a soul-and-spiritual aspect of our entire so-called inanimate, inorganic, purely mineral Earth. However, when we speak of this Earth consciousness, we do not initially see in the geological-mineralogical realm even that which can be compared, in humans, to muscles and blood, but only the skeletal framework, namely the solid matter of the Earth; so that when we speak of this Earth consciousness, we must conceive of it as connected to the entire Earth, which includes not only the skeletal framework but also water, air, and so on—which correspond to muscles and blood. The entire Earth possesses consciousness—a consciousness that belongs to its mineral realm. We do not wish to concern ourselves with the changes in this consciousness of the Earth for a particular region over the course of the year, but rather we wish simply to take a moment to let the mental image sink into our minds that the entire Earth possesses its own consciousness. And now let us turn our gaze away from the entire mineral Earth toward that which sprouts and grows from the Earth as the plant world.

[ 5 ] When we view the plant world from the perspective of Spiritual Science, we must first regard it as an independent being in relation to our Earth. And the fact that the totality of plant life is an independent being in relation to the Earth becomes particularly evident when we consider the consciousness of these two entities. We can speak of a consciousness of the entire mineral Earth. But we can also speak of a consciousness of the entire plant world that develops on Earth. The laws of this consciousness, however, are different from the laws of human consciousness. When we speak of plant consciousness, we can only ever speak of a specific region, because consciousness varies according to the regions of the Earth.

[ 6 ] We as human beings do not realize that there is actually a certain parallelism between our consciousness and the consciousness, for example, of the plant world across the entire Earth, because while we do incorporate our daytime consciousness into our full consciousness, we do not do so with our nighttime consciousness. To simplify our considerations, we simply say: During our waking hours, our “I” and our astral body are inside our physical body. But as I have already pointed out, this actually applies only to our blood and our nervous system, not to our other systems. For when the “I” and the astral body are, so to speak, outside our head, they are all the more present within the rest of our organism.

[ 7 ] It is exactly the same as, for example, when it is winter on one side of the Earth and summer on the other. There, too, it is merely a transformation of consciousness. But this is also true for us. We simply do not notice it because, for us humans, the two states of consciousness do not have the same intensity. For us, they vary in intensity. Night consciousness is a subdued form of consciousness—practically no consciousness at all for us—while daytime consciousness is a full awareness of our other side. Our lower nature is awake at night while our higher nature sleeps, just as it is with the Earth: when it is winter on one side, it is summer on the other. When one side is awake, the other is asleep, and vice versa.

[ 8 ] As I have just explained—and as we have explained many times before—this actually applies only to the plant kingdom. The plant kingdom sleeps for us during the height of summer, precisely while it is sprouting and growing. While it is unfolding its physical form to the utmost degree, it sleeps. And it is fully conscious at that time when it is not undergoing any outward physical development, but rather when its physical development is in decline; that is when the plant world is awake. So we speak of all the plants on Earth as a whole, and this whole—the plant world—does indeed possess a consciousness.

[ 9 ] When we speak of this consciousness—which is, in other words, a second consciousness that permeates the Earth’s mineral consciousness—when we speak of this plant consciousness, we can say in the truest sense: This plant consciousness lies dormant in our regions during midsummer and is awake during the dark winter months.

[ 10 ] But now, at this time of year, something else also comes into play. You see, the two forms of consciousness—that is, the entire earthly consciousness belonging to the mineral earth, and the entire plant consciousness—are separate; throughout the entire year, they are two distinct entities. But now they are not merely two separate entities; rather, they interpenetrate one another, so that one is permeated by the other during this time in which we now find ourselves. As one year transitions into the next, our mineral forms and processes on Earth and the entire plant world possess a single consciousness—that is to say, their two forms of consciousness interpenetrate one another.

[ 11 ] What, then, is the nature of the Earth’s mineral consciousness, which—as I said—we do not wish to consider today in terms of its differences, as we do with plant consciousness, which we understand as being awake during the winter and asleep during the summer? What, then, is the distinctive characteristic of mineral consciousness—the consciousness of the great Earth being? A person who is limited solely to their physical senses and to the intellect—which they regard as belonging to the physical senses—can initially know nothing of this great Earth consciousness. But Spiritual Science can teach us what this Earth consciousness actually thinks—it thinks in the same way that we think of minerals, plants, animals, air, rivers, mountains, and so on. Just as we think about what is around us with our ordinary everyday consciousness, so too does the Earth. But what does it think with its consciousness? Let us ask ourselves today: What does the Earth think with its consciousness?

[ 12 ] With its consciousness, the Earth perceives the entire celestial space that initially belongs to it. Just as we look out with our eyes at the trees and the stones, so the Earth looks out with its consciousness into the celestial realms and contemplates all that takes place in the stars. The Earth is a being that reflects on the processes of the stars.

[ 13 ] Thus, the secret of the entire cosmos is essentially contained within mineral consciousness as a thought. While we humans walk so superficially across the Earth, thinking only of the stones we come across or of various other things that surround our senses, the Earth, through the consciousness we pass through as we walk through space, reflects on the cosmos outside. It truly has more comprehensive, greater thoughts than we do. And it is, in essence, immensely uplifting to realize: You are not merely walking through the air; you are walking through the thoughts of the Earth.

[ 14 ] And now let us turn our attention once again to the other aspect: plant consciousness. Plants cannot think as much as the Earth. The consciousness—the thinking consciousness—of the plant world, the entire plant world (not the individual plant), is much more limited. It encompasses a smaller sphere around the Earth throughout the year, except during these days. Then the plant consciousness becomes one with the entire consciousness of the Earth. And because plant consciousness permeates the Earth’s consciousness, the plant world of our Earth knows, at the time of New Year’s Eve—that is, now—the mysteries of the stars; it absorbs these mysteries and uses them so that the plants, in turn, can unfold according to the mysteries of the cosmos in the spring and bear blossoms and fruits. For the entire mystery of the cosmos lies in the way plants bear leaves, flowers, and fruits. But while they bear leaves, flowers, and fruits, the plants cannot reflect on this. They can only reflect on it at this very moment, when the consciousness of the plant world unites with the consciousness of the mineral world.

[ 15 ] That is why Spiritual Science says: At this time, around New Year’s Eve, two cycles intertwine. And that is the very mystery of all existence—that cycles intertwine and then develop separately again, only to intertwine once more. Just think how wonderful this mystery of becoming is: plant consciousness, mineral consciousness—two currents of development. They proceed separately throughout the year, uniting at the time when one year passes into the next. Once again, they proceed separately throughout the year, uniting once more at New Year’s Eve. Such is the cyclical progression of history.

[ 16 ] And now, looking from this process—which can fill us with a deep, sacred, and reverent feeling toward the mystery of the transition from one annual cycle to the next—we now look from this mystery, which I would say we are directly passing through, toward an even greater mystery. We know that we are now living in the cycle of the development of the soul of consciousness; that this cycle was preceded by the cycle of the development of the soul of the intellect or the soul of the emotions, which in turn was preceded by the cycle of the development of the soul of feeling; and then we come to the development of the body of feeling. This takes us back to the 5th millennium before the Christian era, if we go back far enough to reach the time when all human thinking develops within the cycle of the feeling body, the so-called astral body.

[ 17 ] Now we will have to pass through the soul of consciousness; through the Spirit-Self, and beyond that, human beings will continue to develop. In our present age, the soul of consciousness develops mainly through the fact that human beings use their physical body as a tool entirely on their own. That is why, as you have already heard in various lectures here, we are now experiencing a flood of materialism, because human beings primarily use their physical body. But then a time will come when human beings will not merely use their physical body—I have described how human beings continue to progress—but when they will once again learn to use their etheric body and their astral body, just as they used their astral body in the past during the cycle of development in which the astral body served as the fundamental element of consciousness.

[ 18 ] Thus we can say: We were once on Earth in such a way that our soul passed through a contact between its consciousness and the consciousness of our astral body. Just as the plant consciousness passes through the mineral consciousness at New Year’s, so our soul passed through our astral body millennia ago—through the consciousness that our astral body actually possesses. Back then, our souls and our astral bodies were one in their consciousness. This takes us back millennia, to the 6th millennium B.C. When this consciousness first emerged, humanity on Earth celebrated a New Year—a great New Year! Just as we now celebrate the New Year, which marks the transition of plant and mineral consciousness, so too, six millennia before our era, there was a New Year for our Earth—but a great cosmic New Year for our Earth. Our soul consciousness united and passed through the astral consciousness of our body.

[ 19 ] And what was it like back then? Back then, six thousand years before our era, when our inner soul consciousness passed through the astral consciousness of our body, our limited human consciousness—as we have it now—became as expansive as the plant consciousness becomes at New Year’s. Just as the plant gazes up toward the heavens by uniting its consciousness with the mineral consciousness, so did the human being see and perceive a vast field of wisdom back then, six thousand years before our era, when his soul united with the astral body at the New Year of the World.

[ 20 ] And it is from this time that the knowledge which has been lost—we spoke of it a few days ago—dates back, when Gnostic knowledge came to an end. We must seek the origin of this knowledge in the Earth-World New Year, approximately six thousand years before our era began—that knowledge from which Zarathustra drew, that knowledge whose last great rays still shone upon the Gnostics, of whom, as I explained, only a few fragments remain, an example of which I have cited. It is Earth Winter, but it is the Earth New Year to which we are returning.

[ 21 ] And now, if you add approximately four thousand more years to the number of years that have passed since the founding of Christianity, there will again be—in the manner I have just indicated—such a passage of our soul consciousness through astral consciousness, only on a higher level. Once again, human beings will enter into such a world-star consciousness. And we want to prepare ourselves for this through our Spiritual Science, so that there will be people who are ready for it.

[ 22 ] Let’s prepare for the New World Year! And if we prepare for Christmas in the way I indicated here in one of my recent reflections, we will be preparing ourselves in the right way. As the birth of spiritual knowledge within us becomes a Christmas spirit, we will prepare ourselves for the new World New Year, which will begin twelve millennia after the old World New Year.

[ 23 ] Twelve year-months elapse from one union of the Earth’s plant consciousness with the mineral consciousness to the next. Twelve millennia elapse from one World-Earth New Year to the next, from one passage of the human soul through the astral world to the next passage of the human soul through the astral world.

[ 24 ] Thus, in this sacred hour, we look from the New Year on a small scale to the New Year on a grand scale, from the end of the calendar year to that New Year’s Eve for which we are preparing by striving, now in the winter season, to perceive the light that, in a natural, elemental way, flows to human beings as inhabitants of the Earth only during a cosmic-earthly New Year.

[ 25 ] Truly, we see the world only in its proper light when we perceive what surrounds us not merely as it presents itself through our senses—as the materialistic mind understands it—but when we regard what surrounds us in the external sensory world as a symbol of the great mysteries of the universe.

[ 26 ] And so, as New Year’s Eve approaches, it may seem to us as if a messenger from the spiritual world were approaching us and revealing the mystery of the New Year’s Eve to us by saying: Behold, now in the dark, cold midwinter, the consciousness of the plant realm unites with the mineral consciousness of the earth. But let this be a sign to you that the Earth, too, has a year—the great world year of which Zarathustra once spoke, which he truly meant, which extends from one New Year’s Eve to the next, from one world New Year to the next—a concept one must understand if one wishes to comprehend the course of human evolution.

[ 27 ] Zarathustra speaks of twelve millennia. He is referring to the twelve millennia I have spoken to you about today. He has divided an Earth year into four periods as the course of development of humanity on Earth. This is deeply rooted in the spiritual mysteries.

[ 28 ] And so, drawing on a deeper understanding of our Spiritual Science, let us embrace a sense of sacredness in our souls and in our hearts. Let us develop that inner warmth in our hearts that can come to us when, on a frosty winter night, we first hear the news of the Sun Spirit’s descent to our Earth, and then of the mystery of the cycle of the year.

[ 29 ] The thirteen days are the days during which plant consciousness unites with mineral consciousness. And if a person can immerse themselves in plant consciousness, they can dream and glimpse the many mysteries that then permeate their heart in countless ways—just as we allowed them to flow through our souls here last year in the dream of Olaf Åsteson.

[ 30 ] But when we embrace such a spirit of consecration, we will find, through this spirit, the right sentiment, the right feeling for what we seek to achieve through the endeavors of our spiritual knowledge: through such warmth of heart, we wish to prepare for the new world year and worthily await the new World New Year’s Eve, which must bring a new world year, so that when, in subsequent incarnations under entirely different earthly conditions, our souls have to experience the great World New Year’s Eve, they may experience it in the way they can only experience it when the small New Year’s Eve—the day that takes place after twelve months rather than twelve thousand years—becomes a symbol for the great New Year’s Eve. And that is the mystery of our existence. Everything is in the large as in the small, and in the small as in the large. And we understand the small, the annual cycle, only when it serves as a symbol for the great events of the world, for the millennial cycle.

[ 31 ] The year is the image of the eons. And the eons are the reality behind those symbols that we encounter as the year unfolds. If we understand the course of the year in its true sense, then on this solemn night, as a new year begins, the thought of the great mysteries of the universe permeates us. Let us try to attune our souls so that they, too, may look forward to the new year with the awareness that: it wishes to carry within itself the course of the year as a symbol of the great cosmic cycle, which encompasses all the mysteries that the divine beings—who surge through and interweave the world—pursue with our souls from eon to eon, just as the lesser gods pursue the mysterious becoming of the plant and mineral kingdoms in the course of each individual year.