The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Third Lecture

[ 1 ] To put into practice in the noblest sense what we can gain from spiritual science can lead us to perceive how the human being, within his ordinary outer self, carries within him the inner self—which, to the ordinary mind, is a completely separate person. In this respect, we all truly consist, as human beings, of two entities, one of which—composed primarily of our physical body and our etheric body—belongs to what is the external world; the external world in the sense that this physical body—and, in a certain sense, the etheric body as well—are manifestations, images, and revelations of the divine-spiritual beings that constantly surround us. Our physical body and our etheric body, in their true essence—not as we humans initially perceive them—are images, not of ourselves, not of our reality, but, we might say, images of the gods, who express themselves by bringing forth our physical body and our etheric body—just as we humans bring forth our actions—and by fostering the development of these two. The inner human being is such that the astral body and the “I” are closer to it. This “I” and the astral body are younger in the context of the universe than the physical body and the etheric body. We know this, of course, from the teachings recorded in *The Secret Science*. This “I” and the astral body are, so to speak, what rests in the bed prepared for us by the divine-spiritual beings who permeate and reveal the outer universe. And this “I” and the astral body are to gradually ascend, through the experiences, the trials, and the twists of fate they undergo through the physical and etheric bodies, to the stages of development that we have already come to know.

[ 2 ] Now, as I already hinted at last time, we are in the most intimate relationship with the entire universe, with the entire cosmos; in such a relationship that, as we saw from a brief calculation last time, it can even be calculated and expressed in numbers; which, of course, manifest themselves in many, many other ways, but—I would say—to our surprise, can be expressed in numbers such as this: the number of breaths a person takes in a day is equal to the number of years it takes for the vernal equinox of the sun to return to its original position. Such numerical discoveries, when we penetrate them intuitively, can fill us with a shudder—a sacred shudder—at our oneness with the divine-spiritual universe, as it reveals itself in all external phenomena.

[ 3 ] But this fact reveals something much deeper: that we are the microcosm, the small world, which has been formed and revealed from the macrocosm, the great world—when we contemplate such facts as we wish to bring before our souls today, facts that I would like to call the three encounters of the human soul with the beings of the universe. So today I would like to speak to you about the three encounters of the human soul with the beings of the universe.

[ 4 ] We all know, of course, that as we go about our lives as earthly human beings, we carry within us the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the “I.” Each of these two entities we have mentioned, in turn, contains—I would say—two sub-entities within itself: the more outer human being contains the physical body and the etheric body, while the more inner human being contains the I and the astral body. Now, however, we know that human beings will continue to evolve. The Earth will reach a conclusion. The Earth will continue to evolve through a Jupiteran, Venusian, and Vulcan planetary phase. There, the human being will ascend from stage to stage. We know that a higher being will develop into the human being’s “I” and reveal itself within him: the Spirit-Self, which will truly reveal itself during the Jupiteran phase that will follow our Earth’s evolution. The life spirit will fully reveal itself in human beings during the Venus period, and the true spiritual human being will reveal itself during the Vulcan period. Thus, as we look toward the great cosmic future of humanity, we see this three-stage development of the spiritual self, the life spirit, and the spiritual human being. But these three, which in a sense await us in our future development, already stand in a certain relationship to us today, even though they are not yet developed at all; for they lie enclosed within the bosom of the divine-spiritual beings whom we have come to know as the higher hierarchies. They will be bestowed upon us from these higher hierarchies. And even today we stand in relationship to these higher hierarchies, which will bestow upon us in the future the spiritual self, the life spirit, and the spiritual human being. So that instead of using the complicated expression “We stand in relationship to the hierarchy of the Angeloi,” we can simply say: “We stand in relationship to what is to come in the future, to our spiritual self.” And instead of saying, “We are in relationship with the Archangels,” we say, “We are in relationship with the Spirit of Life that is to come in the future,” and so on.

[ 5 ] And indeed, we human beings are, in a certain sense, more—already by nature more—and in the spiritual world, natural dispositions signify something far higher than in the physical world—than merely this fourfold human being: physical body, etheric body, astral body, and I. We already carry within us, as a seed, the spiritual self, the life spirit, and the spiritual human being. They will develop from within us later, but we carry them within us as a seed. And this is not to be understood merely in the abstract sense that we carry them as seeds within us; rather, this “carrying within us” is meant quite concretely, for we have encounters—real encounters—with these higher aspects of our being. And these encounters take place in the following way: As human beings, we would increasingly come to feel a certain alienation from all that is spiritual—one that is difficult to bear given the current stage of human development—if we were not able to encounter our spiritual self from time to time. Our “I” must encounter that higher being, that spiritual self, which we are yet to develop and which, in a certain sense, is akin to beings from the hierarchy of the Angeloi. So, to put it in popular terms—or, to speak in Christian terms—we must from time to time encounter a being from the hierarchy of the Angeloi who is particularly close to us, because this being, by encountering us, performs a spiritual act upon us that enables us to one day receive a spiritual self. And we must have an encounter with a being from the hierarchy of the Archangels, because this being then performs an action upon us that leads to the eventual development of the life spirit, and so on.

[ 6 ] Whether we place this being within the hierarchy of the angels in the Christian sense, or whether we speak more in the ancient sense of what the peoples of old meant when they spoke of the genius, of the guiding genius of the human being—it makes no difference at all, really. We know that we live in a time when not many, but only a few people are permitted—though this will soon change—to look into the spiritual world and perceive the things and beings of that world. That time has passed, but there was a time when, in a much broader sense, people generally perceived the beings of the spiritual world as well as the various processes of development within it. And in the time when people spoke of the genius of every human being, they also had a direct, concrete perception of this genius. This concrete perception was still so strong in the not-too-distant past that people could describe it in all its concreteness, in all its objectivity—an objectivity that present-day humanity regards as fiction, but which is not intended as such. Thus Plutarch—and I would like to quote the passage verbatim—describes the relationship between the human being and his genius in the following way [See Notes]. Plutarch, the Greek writer, says that apart from the part of the soul immersed in the earthly body, another, purer part of it remains outside, hovering above the person’s head, appearing as a star that is rightly called his daemon, his genius, which guides him and which the wise person willingly follows. — Plutarch describes this so concretely—not as a work of fiction, but as a concrete external reality—that he explicitly points out: For the rest, the spiritual part of the human being is, so to speak, to be viewed simultaneously with the physical body, so that the spiritual part normally fills the physical body within the same space; but as for the genius—the guiding, leading spirit of the human being—it is still to be seen as something distinct, outside the head, for every person. — And Paracelsus, one of the last to possess profound knowledge of these matters without special instruction or a particular predisposition, spoke of this phenomenon in much the same way of his own accord. And many others as well. This genius is nothing other than the spirit self in the making, though it is borne by a being from the hierarchy of the Angeloi.

[ 7 ] It is very important to delve a little deeper into these matters; for there is a special significance to the manifestation of this genius, and one comes to understand it when, among other things—though one could approach the matter from an entirely different perspective, but let us take this one perspective—one considers the relationship between people in their interactions with one another. This relationship between people in their mutual interactions teaches us something. It teaches us something by no means insignificant with regard to the spiritual aspects of the human being. When two people meet, and a person is only able to observe this encounter with their physical, sensory eye—well, then they notice that the two approach one another, that they may greet each other, and so on. But if a person is able to observe the process spiritually, they will find that every human encounter is in fact linked to a spiritual process that manifests itself, among other things, in the fact that the part of the etheric body that forms the head, as long as two people stand side by side, becomes an expression of even the most subtle sympathies and antipathies that these two people, coming together, feel toward one another. Let us suppose that two people meet who cannot stand each other. Let us take the extreme case—though it does occur in life: Two people meet who cannot stand each other, and let this feeling of intense antipathy be mutual. What happens then is that the part of the etheric body that forms the head tilts outward from the head in both people, and the etheric bodies of the head lean toward one another. It is as if there were a continuous tilting of the head with regard to the etheric human being; this is how antipathy manifests when two people meet who simply cannot stand each other. — When two people who love each other come together, a similar process can be observed. In that case, however, the etheric head recedes, tilting backward. And in this way, in both cases—whether, when people cannot stand one another, the etheric body leans forward as if in greeting, or whether it leans backward when they love one another—in both cases, what arises, so to speak, is that through the leaning out of the etheric body of the head, the physical head becomes freer than it otherwise is. It is always only relative; the etheric body does not withdraw completely, but it shifts and recedes, so that one perceives a continuation. But as a result, a thinner etheric body now fills the head than when one is standing alone. The result is that, through this thinner etheric body filling the head, the astral body that remains there becomes more clearly visible to clairvoyant observation. So that not only does this movement of the etheric body occur, but an astral change in luminosity actually takes place in the human head. This—again, not based on a myth but on an actual truth—is the reason why, where one understands these things, people who are capable of loving selflessly must be depicted with a head aura, what is called a halo. For when two people simply meet—and there is always a strong element of selfishness in love—the phenomenon is not so conspicuous. But when a person stands before humanity in moments when they are not concerned with themselves and their personal relationship to another person, but with something universally human, with something connected to universal love for humanity, then these things also come to pass. Then, however, the astral body becomes powerfully visible in the region of the head. And if there are people who are capable of clairvoyantly perceiving selfless love in a person, they see the halo and feel compelled to paint the halo as a reality—or however one chooses to express it at that moment. These things are certainly connected to objective facts of the spiritual world. What is objectively present there—what exists as a continuing reality of human development—is, however, connected to something else as well.

[ 8 ] From time to time, a person must truly enter into a deeper communion with their spiritual self—the spiritual self that is now also present in the astral aura, which becomes so visible in what I have indicated to you, though it is still latent, not yet developed, and is, as it were, outshone from above by the future. A person must meet with their spiritual self from time to time. And when does this happen?

[ 9 ] This brings us to the first encounter we need to discuss. When does this happen? It simply occurs every time, roughly during normal sleep, halfway between falling asleep and waking up. For people who live closer to nature—simple country folk who go to sleep as the sun sets and rise with the rising sun—this midpoint of sleep more or less coincides with the middle of the night. For people who have broken away from the rhythms of nature, this is less often the case. But human freedom is based precisely on the fact that this is possible. People in modern culture can organize their lives as they wish; not without this being subject to a certain influence, but within certain limits, they can arrange their lives as they please. Then, in the middle of a longer period of sleep, they can experience what is called a deeper communion with the spiritual self—that is, with the spiritual qualities from which the spiritual self is drawn—an encounter with the genius. This encounter with the genius thus takes place in human beings, cum grano salis, every night—that is, during every period of sleep. And this is important for human beings. For whatever sense of satisfaction the soul may derive from our connection to the spiritual world is based on the aftereffects of this encounter with the genius that occurs during sleep. The feeling we can experience while awake regarding our connection to the spiritual world is an aftereffect of this encounter with the Genius. This is the first encounter with the higher world, which for most people today can be described as something initially unconscious, but which will become more and more conscious the more people become aware of the aftereffects by refining their waking consciousness through the absorption of the ideas and concepts of spiritual science, so that the soul is not too coarse to observe these aftereffects attentively. For what matters above all is that the soul be fine enough and intimate enough in its inner life to observe these aftereffects. In one form or another, this encounter with the genius often comes to consciousness in every human being; however, today’s materialistic environment—the saturation with concepts derived from the materialistic worldview, particularly a life permeated by a materialistic mindset—is not conducive to allowing the soul to remain attentive to what is brought about by this encounter with the genius. Simply by immersing themselves in more spiritual concepts than materialism can provide, the perception of this encounter with the genius will become, night by night, something more and more self-evident to human beings.

[ 10 ] The second encounter—a more profound one—is the one we will now discuss.

[ 11 ] You see, even from the hint I have given, you can deduce that this first encounter with the genius is connected to the course of the day. If we were to adapt our external lives completely—as people who are less free than we are in modern culture—it would coincide with midnight. At every midnight, a person would have this encounter with the genius. But human freedom is based on the fact that this shifts. So the moment when the “I” encounters the genius shifts. In contrast, the second encounter is much less subject to such shifts. For that which is more closely bound to the astral body and the etheric body shifts less in relation to the macrocosmic order. What is connected to the “I” and the physical body shifts very significantly for people today. The second encounter is therefore already more closely bound to the great macrocosmic order. This second encounter is now just as closely bound to the course of the year as the first is to the course of the day. And here I must draw attention to certain points that I have already alluded to regarding this matter from other perspectives.

[ 12 ] A person’s life, taken as a whole, does not in fact proceed in a uniform manner throughout the year; rather, a person undergoes changes as the year progresses.

[ 13 ] During the summer, when the sun is at its hottest, human beings are much more at the mercy of their physical lives—and thus also of the physical life of their surroundings—than during the winter, when they must, in a sense, struggle against the external elemental forces and are more reliant on themselves. This is also when their spiritual nature breaks free—from themselves and also from the earth—and they are connected to the spiritual world, to the entire spiritual environment.

[ 14 ] Therefore, the unique feeling we associate with the mystery of Christmas and the Christmas celebration is by no means something “arbitrary,” but is connected to the establishment of the Christmas celebration. During those winter days on which the festival is set, human beings—like the entire earth—are indeed devoted to the spirit. During this time, human beings experience, as it were, a realm where the spirit is close to them. And the consequence of this is precisely that, during the Christmas season—right up to our modern New Year’s Day—human beings undergo an encounter of their astral body with the Spirit of Life, just as they undergo, in the first encounter, the encounter of the “I” with the Spiritual Self. And this encounter with the Spirit of Life is the basis for our closeness to Christ Jesus. For it is through the Spirit of Life that Christ Jesus reveals Himself. He reveals Himself through a being from the realm of the Archangels. Of course, He is an infinitely higher being, but that is not the point here; rather, the point is that He reveals Himself through a being from the realm of the Archangels. Thus, through this encounter, we stand particularly close to Christ Jesus in relation to today’s development—that is, the development since the Mystery of Golgotha—and we can, in a certain sense, also call the encounter with the Spirit of Life the encounter with Christ Jesus that takes place in the deepest recesses of the soul. Now, when a person—whether through the development of spiritual consciousness in the realm of religious deepening and religious practice, or, as a complement to this religious practice and religious feeling, by also taking in ideas from spiritual science—if a person deepens and spiritualizes their emotional life in the manner described, then just as they can experience the aftereffects of the encounter with the Genius in waking life, they will also experience the aftereffects of the encounter with the Spirit of Life, or with Christ. And it is indeed the case that in the period following the Christmas season—as indicated—and leading up to Easter, conditions are particularly favorable for bringing to consciousness the encounter of the human being with Christ Jesus.

[ 15 ] In a profound way—and this should not be obscured by today’s abstract materialistic culture—the Christmas season is linked to events on Earth, because human beings experience the Christmas transformation of the Earth together with the Earth itself. The Easter season is determined by events in the heavens. Easter Sunday is to be set on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. So while the Christmas season is determined by earthly conditions, the date of Easter is determined from above. For just as truly as we are connected to earthly conditions through all that we have described, so too are we connected—through what I am now about to describe—to celestial conditions, to the great, cosmic-spiritual conditions. For the Easter season is that time in the concrete course of the year when everything that was set in motion within us through the encounter with Christ during the Christmas season once again truly unites with our physical, earthly human being. And the great Mystery—the Mystery of Good Friday—which brings the Mystery of Golgotha to life for us at Easter, has, among other things, this significance: that Christ, who walks alongside us, as it were, draws closest to us during the time I have described; in a sense, roughly speaking, disappears into us, permeates us, so that he can remain with us for the time following the Mystery of Golgotha—the time that is now coming as summer, during which, in the ancient mysteries of St. John’s Day, people sought to connect with the macrocosm in a different way than is necessary after the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 16 ] You see, in this respect we are the microcosm, integrated into the macrocosm in a profoundly significant way. And there is always a convergence with the macrocosm in the course of the year, but this convergence is bound—because it is more internal to the human being—to the course of the year. Thus, spiritual science seeks to reveal to us, step by step, what human beings can grasp in terms of concepts—specifically, spiritual-scientific concepts—regarding the Christ who has permeated and infused our earthly life since the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 17 ] And I believe I should make a point here that is important and that should be particularly well understood by the friends of our spiritual science.

[ 18 ] One should not present the matter as though spiritual scientific endeavors were meant to be a substitute for religious practice and religious life. Spiritual science can, to the highest degree—and especially in relation to the Mystery of Christ—serve as a support and foundation for religious life and religious practice; but one should not turn spiritual science into a religion per se. Rather, one should be clear that religion, in its living reality and in its active practice within the human community, kindles the soul’s spiritual consciousness. If this spiritual consciousness is to come alive within a person, that person cannot remain at the level of abstract concepts of God or Christ; rather, they must continually immerse themselves anew in religious practice and religious activity—which, of course, can take the most varied forms for different people—as something that surrounds them as a religious milieu, something that speaks to them as a religious milieu. And if this religious environment is deep enough, if it finds the means to sufficiently stimulate the soul, then that soul will already feel a longing—and at that very moment, a longing even for those concepts that are developed in spiritual science. While, objectively speaking, spiritual science is most certainly a pillar of religious edification, subjectively speaking, the time has now come when we must say that a truly religiously sensitive person is driven precisely by that religious sensibility to recognize this as well. For in religious feeling, spiritual consciousness is attained; in spiritual science, spiritual knowledge is attained, just as in the natural sciences, knowledge of nature is attained; and spiritual consciousness leads to the urge to acquire spiritual knowledge. Subjectively speaking, one can say that it is precisely a deep religious life that can drive people today toward spiritual science.

[ 19 ] A third encounter is the one in which human beings approach and draw near to the true spiritual human being—who is to be developed very far into the future—mediated by a being from the Hierarchy of the Archai. We can say: The ancients, and even people of the present day—though people of the present day, for the most part, when they speak of these things, no longer have an awareness of the deeper truth of the matter— they perceived and continue to perceive this encounter as an encounter with that which permeates the world—something we can scarcely distinguish anymore within ourselves and in the world, but in which we merge with our self in the world as a single unity. And just as one can speak of the second encounter as an encounter with Christ Jesus, so too can one speak of the third encounter as an encounter with the Father-principle, with the “Father” as the foundation of the world; with that which, when one perceives correctly, is what is meant by “Father” in the religions. This encounter, in turn, reveals our intimate relationship to the macrocosm, to the divine-spiritual universe. The daily course of universal processes, of world events, involves for us an encounter with the Genius. The annual course involves for us an encounter with Christ Jesus. And the course of the entire human life—this human life that can normally be described as the patriarchal life of 70 years—culminates in an encounter with the Father-principle. We spend a certain period of our physical earthly life—rightly prepared for this, though often unconsciously so due to today’s upbringing—and then experience—mostly unconsciously for people between the ages of 28 and 42, yet fully in the intimate depths of the soul—the encounter with this Father-principle. The aftereffects of this encounter can then extend into later life if we develop sufficient sensitivity to pay attention to what “emerges” into our lives from within ourselves as an aftereffect of the encounter with the Father Principle.

[ 20 ] Education during a certain period of our lives—when we are being prepared—should therefore aim—through a wide variety of means—to enable people to experience this encounter with the Father Principle as deeply as possible. This can be achieved if, during their formative years, people are encouraged to truly develop a sense of the world’s splendor, its grandeur, and the sublimity of world events. We deprive the growing individual of much if we fail to make them sufficiently aware of this, so that they come to share our most devoted reverence and respect for all the beauty and grandeur that is revealed in the world. And by allowing the growing individual to truly feel the emotional connection of the human heart to the beauty and grandeur of the world, we prepare them for a proper encounter with the Father Principle. For this encounter with the Father Principle means a great deal for the life that unfolds between death and a new birth. This encounter with the Father Principle, which normally occurs during the years indicated, means that the human being has a strong source of strength and support when—as we know—he must relive his life after passing through the gate of death, retracing his life’s journey, his earthly existence, as he travels through the soul world. And strong and vigorous—as a human being ought to be—he can undertake this return journey—which, as we know, accounts for one-third of the time we spend between birth and death—if he looks back again and again: “There, at that point, you encountered the being whom human beings express, stammeringly and intuitively, when they speak of the Father of the world order.” This is an important concept that, alongside the concept of death itself, a person should always hold in mind after passing through the gate of death.

[ 21 ] Of course, in light of what we have just discussed, an important question arises. There are people who die before they have reached the midpoint of life, where the encounter with the Father Principle normally takes place. We must consider the possibility that a person dies precisely then due to external causes—such as illness (which is, after all, also an external cause) or weakness. If, because of this early death, the encounter with the Father Principle has not yet been able to take place in the deep, subconscious recesses of the soul, then it takes place at the hour of death. This encounter is experienced simultaneously with death. And this is where we can express something differently—something that has, in a different way, already been expressed in the appropriate context, for example in my *Theosophy*, where I speak of the phenomenon—which is always deeply distressing—that people bring their lives to an end through their own will. No one who understands the significance of such an act would do this. And once spiritual science has truly become part of people’s innermost feelings, there will be no more suicide. For the fact that a person, at the hour of death—when that death occurs before the middle of life—can simultaneously perceive the Father-principle depends precisely on death coming to them from without, not on their bringing it upon themselves. And the difficulty faced by the human soul—which is described from a different perspective in my *Theosophy*—could now also be described from the perspective we are discussing today in such a way that we could say: Through self-inflicted death, a person may deprive themselves of the encounter with the Father-Principle in the corresponding incarnation.

[ 22 ] Precisely because they touch so intimately on life, the truths that spiritual science has to tell us about human life itself are so infinitely serious, especially in particularly important cases. They provide us with a profound understanding of life, and this profound understanding of life is what humanity needs at a time when it must once again extricate itself from the materialism that dominates today’s world order and worldview, insofar as they depend on human beings. It will require powerful forces to overcome the strong bond with purely material powers that has gripped people in the present, in order to give human beings the opportunity once again to recognize their connection to the spiritual world through their immediate life experience.

[ 23 ] And when speaking in a more abstract way about the beings of the higher hierarchies, one can speak more concretely about how human beings themselves—through experiences that are initially unconscious but can be brought into consciousness—can ascend three levels even during their lifetime between birth and death: through the encounter with the Genius, through the encounter with Christ Jesus, and through the encounter with the Father. Of course, a great deal depends on our acquiring as many vivid, evocative ideas as possible—ideas that refine our lives and our inner spiritual life to such an extent that we do not pass by these things carelessly and inattentively; for when we are attentive, they simply enter our lives as reality. In this regard, education in particular will have much, much to do, especially in the near future.

[ 24 ] There is one more idea I would like to mention. Consider how infinitely life is deepened when one can add details such as this to the general knowledge of karma: that when a person’s life ends relatively early, they encounter the Father Principle at the moment of death. For then it becomes clear that it was precisely necessary, within the person’s karma, to bring about an early death so that an abnormal encounter with the Father Principle could take place. For what actually happens when such an abnormal encounter with the Father Principle occurs? The person is then destroyed from the outside; their physical being is undermined from the outside. This is also true in the case of illness. In that case, the physical world is still the setting in which the encounter with the Father Principle takes place. Because this external physical world has destroyed the person, the encounter with the Father Principle is revealed at the very site of destruction—a revelation that, in retrospect, naturally becomes visible again and again later on. Through this, however, human beings also gain the ability, throughout the entire life they traverse after passing through the gate of death, to hold fast to the thought of that place—that is, of the Earth—from the heights of heaven, where the encounter with the Father-Principle took place. This, in turn, leads human beings to bring much of the spiritual world to bear upon the physical world of the Earth.

[ 25 ] Let us consider our present time from this perspective and try to experience such an important feeling—as we have once again developed today in our discussion of the encounter with the Father Principle—as a feeling rather than merely an abstract concept. Let us try to look at the numerous premature deaths through the lens of this feeling; then we must say: In them lies the predestination, the preparation for the fact that in the time to come, much can be accomplished from the spiritual world down into the physical world of the Earth. And there, from a different perspective, you have what I have been saying for years now in the wake of these sad events: that those people who pass through the gate of death prematurely today are to become very special helpers for the future development of humanity, which needs strong forces to extricate itself from materialism. But we must become consciously aware of all this; after all, none of it should take place in the unconscious or subconscious. And that is why it is necessary for souls here on Earth to make themselves receptive to this—as I have already hinted at—otherwise the forces being developed from the spiritual world will flow in other directions. For these predestined forces, which are meant to be here, to bear fruit on Earth, it is necessary that there be souls on Earth who imbue themselves with knowledge of the spiritual world. And there must be more and more souls who imbue themselves with knowledge of the spiritual world. Let us therefore strive to make fruitful that which must first be expressed in words—namely, the content of spiritual science. And let us try, with the help of language—I used this word in my penultimate lecture here—which we learn through spiritual science, to revive those ancient concepts that are woven into our present life for a reason—let us try to bring to life what we hear from someone like Plutarch: that the human being—otherwise merely a physical being—is permeated by the spiritual human being, but that, in particular, a higher spiritual element outside the head normally belongs to the human being, representing his genius, which the wise person willingly follows. Let us try to arrive at what I would call “aiding perceptions,” so as not to face these phenomena of life with inattention.

[ 26 ] And finally, let us today allow a certain thought, a certain feeling, to take a special place in our hearts: Unfortunately, it is difficult for many people today, in our modern materialistic life, to feel something that would indeed alleviate this sad time of trial—but which should not merely remain alleviated—which is hardly to be hoped for if materialism were to persist with the intensity it currently possesses, were to be greatly, greatly heightened and increasingly heightened— it is very, very difficult for many people in our materialistic age to feel what I would like to call: the sanctity of sleep. When we observe that the prevailing intelligence among humanity lacks all respect for the sanctity of sleep, this is a far-reaching cultural phenomenon. Such things are not to be condemned, nor are they to be listed here in the sense that they lead to an asceticism that is simply impossible to practice. We must live with the world, but we must live with the world with open eyes. For only in this way do we transcend our physicality... [gap in the stenographic record]. Just think how many people, who spend their evenings devoted purely to material pursuits, then surrender to sleep without developing the sense—which, after all, does not truly come alive out of a materialistic mindset—without developing the sense that sleep unites us with the spiritual world, that sleep sends us over into the spiritual world. — And at the very least, people should gradually develop the ability to say to themselves: “I am falling asleep.” Until I wake up, my soul will be in the spiritual world. There it will encounter the guiding spiritual force of my earthly life, which is present in the spiritual world and hovers around my head; there it will encounter the genius. And when I wake up, I will have had this encounter with the genius. The wings of my genius will have fluttered against my soul.

[ 27 ] Whether or not one brings such a feeling to life when thinking about one’s relationship to sleep depends very, very much on overcoming a materialistic way of life. This overcoming of materialistic life can only take place through the arousal of feelings that are intimate yet also in harmony with the spiritual world. Only when we truly awaken such feelings will life during sleep be so intense that, in turn, our connection with the spiritual world will be so strong that, little by little, our waking life can also draw strength from it—and we will have not only the sensory world but also the spiritual world around us, which is, after all, the real, the truly real world. For this world, which we usually call the real world, is, as I myself explained in my last public lecture, merely a reflection of the real world. The real world is that of the spirit. And the small community that today devotes itself to anthroposophically oriented spiritual science will receive the serious symptoms of our time, the grave sufferings of our time, under the best possible impression if, in addition to everything else with which human beings are tested today, it also perceives this era as a test of whether one can, with sufficient strength of soul and true courage of heart, unite with one’s whole being that which we must take in through our intellect and reason as spiritual science.

[ 28 ] With these words, I wanted to reaffirm today what I have said here many times before: Spiritual science finds its rightful place in the human heart only when it is not merely theory, not merely knowledge, but when—symbolically speaking—it permeates and enlivens our entire being as intimately as the lifeblood of the soul, just as our physical blood must intimately permeate and enliven our physical being.