The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Twelfth Lecture

[ 1 ] My dear friends! First of all, I must announce that the lectures in Zurich have been postponed. It is indeed extremely difficult to secure a venue at the moment. The first public lectures will therefore take place on Monday, November 5, and Wednesday, November 7, in the Hirschgraben School auditorium. In between, on Tuesday, there will be the branch meeting, and the following week, on the same days, the other lectures.

[ 2 ] The event to which I have been alluding in my previous reflections—the casting down of certain spirits of darkness from the spiritual realm into the realm of humanity in the fall of 1879—is a significant event. We must constantly bring to mind what this actually means: A decades-long struggle has taken place in the spiritual realms. This struggle, which began in the early 1840s, ended with the defeat of certain spiritual beings who had been active as rebels in the spiritual world during those decades; they were cast down as dark spirits into the realm of human development in the fall of 1879. So they now live among us, and they live among us in such a way that they send their impulses into our worldview—not merely into our intellectual worldview, but into our feelings, our volitional impulses, and even our temperaments. And people will not begin to understand the significant events of the present and also of the near future to any degree until they are willing to recognize once again the physical-sensory world in connection with the spiritual world, and to regard such a significant event just as seriously as a natural phenomenon. People today are accustomed to recognizing only natural phenomena—phenomena of the physical plane—as part of historical development. Yet they will have to come to recognize spiritual events, which can be understood through spiritual science, in order to comprehend the events in which we humans are so deeply entangled.

[ 3 ] Now, especially when one considers this significant event—I would say—one can study how deeply human beings err when, in their view of the world, they proceed solely from concepts and definitions rather than from the direct observation of reality. Today there is such a strong feeling that one should start from defined concepts: What is Ahriman, what is Lucifer, what are these or those spirits of this or that hierarchy? — one asks, and once one has arrived at definitions, one believes that one has thereby already grasped something about how they work. I have often illustrated the inadequacy of the nature of definitions using a striking example that was already known in ancient Greece. Of course, this definition—which was given about human beings in a school in Greece—is not a model definition, but it is a definition that is correct: A human being is a creature that walks on two legs and has no feathers. When the student returned the next time, he had brought along a rooster that he had plucked: it was a creature that walks on two legs and has no feathers. “That is a human being,” he said, “according to this definition.”

[ 4 ] There are indeed many definitions that are accepted, structured along these lines, and many of our so-called scientific definitions capture reality in much the same way. But in anthroposophy, we must not proceed from such a system of definitions. The poorest understanding results when one proceeds from concepts, from abstractions. Certainly, one can define the concept of the spirits of darkness, the Ahrimanic-Luciferic beings, but that does not amount to much. They are spirits of darkness who, in the year 1879—if we may use the expression—were cast down from heaven to earth. But if we arrive at such a general concept of the spirits of darkness, then we have not gained much in terms of understanding the matter at hand. For these spirits of darkness who now walk among us are of the same kind as those spirits of darkness who, in ancient times, were likewise cast out of the spiritual world—that is, from heaven—onto Earth, and who at that time had specific tasks to fulfill, extending even into the Greco-Roman era. They had these tasks throughout the entire Atlantean epoch; but they also had them well into the Greco-Roman era.

[ 5 ] Now let us try, based on the various insights we have gained, to understand what task these spirits of darkness had—throughout millennia upon millennia, throughout the entire Atlantean era, right up to the Greco-Roman era. One must always bear in mind that the world order can only proceed if higher spiritual beings—who are charged with guiding the normal development of humanity—make use of such spirits, placing them, so to speak, in the right position so that they may work appropriately in their assigned place. We have, after all, often emphasized that the intervention of the so-called Luciferic temptation in ancient times was of great significance for human development. The Luciferic temptation did, of course, initially arise from a striving on the part of Lucifer. But out of this striving of Lucifer—and later, from the Atlantean era onward, Lucifer was in league with Ahriman—out of this striving arose a counter-striving on the part of the spirits of light; let us call them the good spirits. Essentially, the spirits of darkness in those ancient times also wanted, in their own way, the best for humanity; they wanted to shape human beings toward absolute freedom, for which humanity was not yet ready at that time. They wanted to endow human beings with those impulses through which each individual would be left to fend for themselves. But this was not to be, because humanity was not yet ready for it.

[ 6 ] A counterforce had to be set in motion by the spirits of light; and this counterforce consisted in humanity being brought down from spiritual heights to Earth at that time, which is symbolically depicted as the expulsion from Paradise. In reality, this casting down of humanity from heaven to Earth was the entanglement of humanity in the current of inherited or heritable characteristics. Lucifer and the Ahrimanic forces wanted every human being to be left to their own devices as an individual. As a result, humanity would have become spiritualized too quickly while still in an immature state. That was not to happen. Humanity was to be educated on Earth, to be formed by the forces of the Earth. This came about by weaving humanity into the current of heredity, so that one person was physically descended from another. Humanity was no longer left to fend for itself, but inherited certain characteristics from its ancestors. As a result, it was burdened with earthly characteristics that Lucifer had not wanted to impose upon it. Everything that lies within the physical line of inheritance has been imprinted upon human beings by the spirits of light as a countercurrent to the current of Lucifer. A weight, so to speak, has been attached to human beings, binding them to earthly existence, so that we must regard as connected to everything related to heredity, procreation, reproduction, and love in the earthly realm those spiritual beings whose leadership is designated as Yahweh or Jehovah.

[ 7 ] When we look back at the ancient religions, therefore, we find symbols of procreation and symbols of earthly inheritance everywhere, for this very reason. And even in the laws of Judaism—which were meant to prepare the way for Christianity—and in the other, pagan religions, it is evident everywhere that great importance was attached to regulating and organizing in the earthly realm that which is contained in the law of heredity. People were to learn to live together according to tribes, peoples, and races. Blood kinship was to serve as the hallmark of earthly orders.

[ 8 ] This had been set in motion during the Atlantean era, and it was essentially repeated, notably through all the measures taken during the third—the Egyptian-Chaldean cultural period—and the fourth—the Greco-Latin cultural period. We see that precisely during these times, which were meant to repeat the Lemurian and Atlantean ages, consideration was given everywhere in all human institutions to races, peoples, and tribal ties—in short, to those hereditary characteristics based on blood ties. The mystery priests—from whom, in essence, all order—what we would today call state order—originated—took it upon themselves to observe everywhere how, here and there, people’s customs, inclinations, and habits had to develop in accordance with blood kinship and with ethnic and tribal affiliations. They enacted their laws accordingly. And one cannot understand what emerged from the mysteries of the third and fourth post-Atlantean cultural epochs without taking as a foundation the careful study of racial, national, and tribal relationships carried out by the mystery priests, from whom the laws for the individual regions of the Earth originated. And for these individual regions of the Earth, essentially nothing else applied than the ordering of blood ties.

[ 9 ] In these times, when—so to speak—the spirits of light have taken it upon themselves to organize human relationships according to blood ties, the spirits of darkness—who were cast out of heaven to earth along with humanity—have taken it upon themselves to work against everything that is based on heredity. And everything we find in these distinctive eras that constitutes rebellious defiance against the orders of kinship by blood—everything we find in these times in the form of teachings that come naturally through human beings but are inspired by the spirits of darkness— everything that comes in the form of such rebellious teachings—which rebel against heredity, against tribal and racial connections, which insist on individual freedom, which seek to establish laws based on the individual freedom of human beings—all of this stems precisely from the cast-down spirits. These times extend into the 15th century. Echoes of this are, of course, always present, for the old orders do not cease immediately once the sharp break in development has been made. But especially up to the 15th century, we see teachings springing up everywhere that rebel against purely natural bonds—against kinship ties, family bonds, national affiliations, and so on.

[ 10 ] Thus we see the two currents: one current—if I may put it this way—that protects all that is bound by blood ties, the current of light; on the other hand, the current of darkness, which protects everything that seeks to break away from blood ties, everything that seeks to lead people to free themselves from family and hereditary bonds. Of course, not everything comes to an end all at once, just as in nature not everything comes to an end all at once. Thus, in the year 1413—the turning point marking the boundary between the fourth and fifth post-Atlantean epochs—not everything came to an end all at once. And we can see the aftereffects of these two currents continuing right up to the present day. For since the 19th century, since those significant events I have described to you, we have seen something entirely different emerge—as I have already hinted at—: Angelic beings, beings from the hierarchy of the Angelo: these are the ones who have been working among us since 1879, stragglers of the old spirits of darkness, related to them, of the same nature as them, but it was only through the event of 1879 that they were cast down from heaven to earth. Until then, they had been carrying out their task above, while their kin—who had been doing what I have just described—had already been among human beings since the Lemurian and Atlantean ages.

[ 11 ] So we can say (it is drawn on the board): If we wish to regard this as the boundary line between the spiritual realm and the physical realm, and if we schematically mark the continuous line of the spirits of light with small circles (circles at the top), then we have a break here: 747 before the Mystery of Golgotha, and here we have a break: 1413 after the Mystery of Golgotha. And further along here (far right), we mark the point we now particularly need—we need not concern ourselves with exact dates here—: 1879. Throughout this entire period, spirits of darkness have been active down here (blue circles below), while certain other spirits of darkness have remained above throughout this entire period (blue circles above); they are related to the lower ones, but they are still above. Beginning in the year 1841, that mighty struggle of which I have spoken to you takes place. These spirits, who are thus related to the others, join the lower ones, descend, and are now among the others. But the power of the old rebels—that is, the power of the perpetuating current of the spirits of darkness, who had their mission in the Chaldean-Egyptian age, in the Greco-Latin age, and who have had their mission since Atlantean and Lemurian times—this power is gradually fading, and the forces of the spirits who were cast down as recently as 1879 are just beginning to take effect. While, so to speak, their brothers are ceasing to wield power, these spirits are beginning to act, so that since this last third of the 19th century we have, in fact, witnessed a complete reversal of all conditions. The spirits of light, who have been actively at work, have done enough in establishing blood ties, tribal bonds, racial bonds, and so on, for in evolution everything has its appointed time. That which has been consolidated in humanity through blood ties has been sufficiently accomplished within the general, just world order. Thus, in recent times, the spirits of light have been transforming in such a way that they now inspire people to develop free ideas, feelings, and impulses of freedom; it is they who seek to place human beings on the foundation of their individuality. And the spirits related to the old spirits of darkness are now gradually being given the task of working within the blood ties.

[ 12 ] That which was good in ancient times—or rather, that which belonged to the realm of the good spirits of light—was handed over to the spirits of darkness in the last third of the 19th century. Thus, from that point on, the old impulses—based on racial, tribal, and national ties, on blood—passed into the dominion of the spirits of darkness; and from that point on, the spirits of darkness, who had formerly been the rebels of freedom, began to instill in people the idea of basing social orders on tribal affiliations and blood ties.

[ 13 ] As you can see, it is impossible to define them. For if one defines the spirits of darkness according to their role in ancient times, one arrives at precisely the opposite of the role the spirits of darkness have played in modern times, since the last third of the 19th century. In ancient times, the spirits of darkness had the task of working against the inherited characteristics of human beings; since the last third of the 19th century, they have remained behind, wishing to stay behind, seeking time and again to remind people of their tribal, blood, and hereditary ties.

[ 14 ] These things are simply a reflection of the truth—but a truth that is extremely uncomfortable for people today, a truth that people today do not want to hear, because over the course of millennia they have ingrained in themselves an obsession with blood ties. And out of convenience, they allow this habit to lead them into the sway of the spirits of darkness. And so we see that it was precisely in the 19th century that an emphasis on tribal, national, and racial ties began, and that this emphasis is spoken of as idealistic, whereas in truth it is the beginning of a phenomenon of decline among human beings, among humanity. For while everything built upon the rule of blood signified progress as long as blood was under the rule of the spirits of light, under the rule of the spirits of darkness it signifies a phenomenon of decline. The spirits of darkness will exert themselves to the utmost. Just as they once strove to instill a rebellious spirit of freedom in human beings, when hereditary traits were passed down in a positive sense by the progressive spirits, so too will they exert themselves to the utmost in the three subsequent periods of human development leading up to the great catastrophe, seeking to instill in humanity the necessary traits of decline by preserving the old hereditary traits and the mindset resulting from the preservation of these traits.

[ 15 ] This is yet another point where one must be vigilant. And in particular, one cannot understand the present moment without knowing what kind of shift in functions took place, especially in the last third of the 19th century. A person from the 14th century who spoke of the ideal of races, of the ideal of nations, spoke from the perspective of the progressive qualities of human development; a person who speaks today of the ideal of races, nations, and tribal affiliations speaks of the forces of decline within humanity. And if such a person believes that by presenting these so-called ideals—as progressive ideals—to humanity, they are doing so, this is a falsehood; for nothing will lead humanity more into decline than the perpetuation of racial, national, and blood-based ideals. Nothing will hinder the true progress of humanity more than the fact that declarations dating from earlier centuries—and perpetuated by Luciferic-Ahrimanic forces—will prevail over the ideals of the peoples, whereas the true ideal must be that which can be found in the purely spiritual world, not through bloodline.

[ 16 ] The Christ who is to appear in the course of the 20th century—in a special form—will know nothing of those so-called ideals that people speak of so grandly today. For just as the being from the hierarchy of the Archangels, whom we call Michael, was, in a sense, the governor of Yahweh in earlier times, so too will he, through the functions entrusted to him in 1879, become the governor of the Christ, of the Christ impulse, which aims to replace mere natural blood ties with spiritual bonds among human beings, for only through spiritual bonds of kinship will progress enter into the process of decline, which is entirely natural. I say: the process of decline is natural. For just as a human being, upon reaching old age, cannot remain a child but enters into a downward phase of development with his body, so too has all of humanity entered into a downward phase of development. We have passed through the fourth period; we are now in the fifth; the sixth and seventh, together with the fifth, will constitute the age of the present world development. To believe that the old ideals can live on is just as sensible as believing that a person should spend their entire life learning to spell, simply because it is good for a child to learn to spell. It would be just as sensible if, in the future, one were to speak of a social structure spreading across the earth based on the kinship of peoples through blood. That is indeed Wilsonianism, but at the same time it is Ahrimanism; it is the spirit of darkness.

[ 17 ] It is certainly uncomfortable to acknowledge such a truth; it is more comfortable today to go along with the clichés that are spreading across the entire globe. But the course of reality does not follow clichés; the course of reality follows true impulses. And one will not be able to rebrand, in the spirit of truth, that which is no longer valid for the fifth, sixth, and seventh periods—even if one casts it into a form that is still persuasive to today’s comfort-seeking humanity, such as Wilson’s world programs.

[ 18 ] There are still plenty of people today who have no desire whatsoever to embrace such universal human truths, regardless of any blood ties. They are universal human truths not because they originated on Earth, but because they have been brought down from the spiritual worlds. How terrible is the reaction already taking place today, as the whole world is almost rebelling against the true progress of humanity by cloaking what runs counter to the current of evolution in the rhetoric of the liberation of peoples. It has always been the fate of the truths of the Mysteries that they had to go against the current of complacency, but with the current of evolution. And it remains to be seen whether at least a small circle of people will emerge who, independent of all blood-based prejudices, can rise to the realization of the rhetoric that is sweeping across the earth today—a rhetoric that signifies nothing other than a surging up to the surface of what, spiritually speaking, presents itself as the event of November 1879.

[ 19 ] The events of the present were foreseen by the enlightened minds of all nations. They were foreseen and foretold, and it was pointed out how the most reactionary sentiments would well up from the very blood of humanity, because the belief would prevail that these reactionary sentiments are precisely what is most ideal. One must be able to observe such things on both a grand and a small scale; one must not allow oneself to be disturbed by what is currently circulating throughout the world as mere empty rhetoric. One must be able to rise a little above one’s usual perspective to understand the signs of the times. Certainly, one can choose the other path; one can choose to remain entrenched in blood-based prejudices; then one will simply join the downward currents. They are already coming. But one must simply be vigilant in the right way in the face of them and be able to counter them with what strives upward, for what strives downward comes of its own accord.

[ 20 ] One must sense where life ascends and where it descends. One must not fall into the foolish prejudice of fleeing the descending life: “I want nothing to do with Lucifer; I want nothing to do with Ahriman.” — I have often rebuked this foolish prejudice in our reflections, for of course one must reckon with these spirits who serve the world order. If one does not take them into account—if one behaves in such a way that they remain outside of consciousness—then their power is all the greater. But one will only be able to judge what occurs within humanity correctly if one possesses a broad perspective on the impulses of ascending and descending life. One must simply remain free of sympathies and antipathies in this regard.

[ 21 ] In the field of modern natural science, we have seen two currents emerge, one of which I have termed Goetheanism, the other Darwinism. If you follow my writings from the very beginning, you will see that I have never failed to grasp the full, profound significance of Darwinism. Foolish people have even claimed, when I wrote in favor of Darwin, that I myself had succumbed to materialism and the like. Well, we know, of course, that these things do not stem from convictions, but from entirely different motives; and those who put forward such claims know best, when they reflect on it, that they are not true. But if you really follow my writings, you will see that I have always done justice to Darwinism—and was able to do so precisely by contrasting it with Goetheanism, the conception of the evolution of life. What is called the theory of descent—on the one hand in the sense of Darwinism, on the other hand in the sense of Goetheanism—I have always sought to reconcile these two perspectives. Why? Because in Goetheanism the ascending line lives on, the elevation of organic development above mere physical existence.

[ 22 ] How often have I referred to the conversation between Goethe and Schiller, in which Schiller, as Goethe was sketching his “primordial plant,” said: “That is not empiricism; that is not experience; that is an idea.” — To which Goethe replied: “Then I have my idea before my eyes!” — because he saw the spiritual everywhere. Here we find in Goethe the seeds of a theory of evolution that carries within it the potential to be elevated to the highest spheres and applied to the soul and spirit. Even if Goethe only laid the groundwork for organic development in his theory of metamorphosis, we have the evolution of the spirit, which humanity must attain from this fifth post-Atlantean epoch onward, because human beings are becoming more inwardly focused, as I have described in these reflections. Goetheanism can have a great future, for the whole of anthroposophy lies in its tradition. Darwinism views physical development from the physical perspective: external impulses, the struggle for existence, selection, and so on, and thus depicts a process of decline—everything that can be found in organic life when one surrenders to the impulses that gained prominence in earlier times. If one wishes to understand Darwin, one need only synthesize all the laws that were discovered earlier. If one wishes to understand Goethe, one must rise to new and ever-new laws of existence. Both are necessary. The mistake does not lie in the fact that there is a “Darwinism” or a “Goetheanism,” but rather in the fact that people want to adhere to one or the other, and not to both. That is what matters.

[ 23 ] The idea that a person becomes younger and younger the older they get—provided they develop their soul properly—will only be possible in the future if they absorb spiritual impulses. If a person absorbs spiritual impulses, then they may develop gray hair, wrinkles, and all manner of ailments: yet they will grow younger and ever younger, because they absorb into their soul those impulses that they carry through the gate of death. But if one proceeds solely with the body, one cannot grow younger. Then one also experiences in the soul everything that the body goes through. Of course, one cannot stop oneself from turning gray, but one can draw a youthful soul from the sources of spiritual life for one’s graying head. Thus, the development of humanity in the fifth, sixth, and seventh epochs will proceed in the sense of—forgive me for this strange turn of phrase—the “gray-haired” Darwinian theory. But in order to pass through that catastrophe—which can be compared to the death of the Earth—the catastrophe of the future—people will have to draw upon the youthful power of the doctrine of metamorphosis, the spiritual doctrine of evolution found in Goetheanism. This must be carried through the catastrophe of the future, just as the rejuvenated soul is carried through the gate of death in the individual human being.

[ 24 ] Because human beings—if we may use these terms—came down from heaven to earth, and with them those spirits of darkness who imprinted within them a sufficient reserve for their liberation during the time when the laws of heredity, the laws of nationality, and racial characteristics prevailed, thus humanity found the possibility of connecting with the Earth. The deed of Lucifer and Ahriman has been turned to good in that, through it, humanity has found the possibility of connecting with the Earth. If we wish to sketch a diagram of this, we can say: Before the Luciferic deed, humanity was connected to the entire cosmos, including the Earth (drawing on the left, purple circle); humanity became connected to the Earth (yellow) through the implantation of hereditary traits—original sin, as the Bible puts it; hereditary traits, as science puts it. Through this, the human being—whom I have depicted here in the shape of a cross—became a part of the Earth. You see, Lucifer and Ahriman are the servants of the forces of progress.

[ 25 ] Now the development continues. We live in an age in which human beings live on Earth, connected to the Earth. Luciferic-Ahrimanic spirits—spirits of darkness—have been cast down from heaven to Earth. As a result, human beings must once again be liberated from the Earth, torn away from it, by having a part of their being brought back into the spiritual world (drawing on the right). A consciousness must develop within humanity that we do not belong to this Earth, and this consciousness must grow ever stronger and stronger. In the future, human beings must walk upon the Earth while saying to themselves: “True, I enter a physical body at birth, but this is a transitional stage. I actually remain in the spiritual world; I am aware that only a part of my being is bound to the Earth, that I do not step out with my entire being from the world in which I exist between death and a new birth. This sense of belonging to the spiritual world—that is what must develop.

[ 26 ] In earlier centuries, this cast only a false shadow, as people refused to understand physical life and practiced a false form of asceticism, believing that they could attain this through all manner of measures to mortify the physical body. But it must be understood that human beings become aware—not through such false asceticism, but through connection with the spiritual, the substantial and essential: in reality, this human being is not merely an earthly being, but a being that belongs to the entire cosmos. Physical science has merely laid the groundwork for this. Consider how dependent human beings were—right up until the 15th century, until the end of the Greco-Latin era—on the soil in which they had, so to speak, grown; how deeply human development was intertwined with the soil. That was good, but it must not remain the main focus.

[ 27 ] Yes, spiritual consciousness must be torn away from the Earth, just as physical science—through its focus on the physical, through Copernicanism—has torn humanity away from the Earth. The Earth has become a small body in outer space; but for now, this is merely a spatial reality. Through Copernicanism alone, humanity has, in a sense—albeit still quite abstractly—been transported into the cosmic sphere. This must go further. But one should not apply this in a misguided way to physical life. The physical realm is already following its own course. Take America—that is, not the population that has lived on its soil for centuries. As you know, a new population has arrived in recent times, consisting entirely of Europeans. Anyone who observes this population more closely will see that physical life does not free itself from its bond to the physical earth: The Americans, who are actually Europeans but have been transplanted to America, are gradually acquiring characteristics reminiscent of the ancient Native Americans—even if this process has not yet progressed very far today, it is nonetheless true—their arms are taking on a different length than they had in Europe, simply because the human being has been transplanted to America. The physical human being is already adapting to the soil. This even goes so far that there is a considerable difference in physical build between Western and Eastern Americans. From this we can see how strong the influence of the soil is. Outwardly, physically, the European becomes “Indianized” in America. If the soul were to go along with this physical process, as was the case in earlier times, then there would be a revival of Native American culture—only with European rhetoric. This is put somewhat paradoxically, but it is nonetheless true. Humanity can no longer be bound in the future to that which connects it to the soil; the soul must become free. Then human beings can take on the physical characteristics of their soil across the globe; then the body of a European, upon arriving in America, can become “Indianized,” but the human being breaks free with his soul from the physical-earthly realm and becomes a citizen of the spiritual worlds. And in the spiritual worlds there are no races and no nations, but rather other connections.

[ 28 ] These are the kinds of things one must understand today in light of the great, momentous events unfolding across the globe, if one does not—pardon the expression—want to be a fool who holds onto old, familiar prejudices as if they were new ideals.