The Rudolf Steiner Archive

7. Individual Spiritual Beings and the Unified Foundation of the Universe I

[ 1 ] You may recall the reflections we attempted to base on various assertions and propositions put forward by contemporary psychoanalysts. My aim in those reflections was to shed light on the fact that the concept of the unconscious, as it is currently understood in psychoanalysis, is in fact unfounded. And as long as one cannot move beyond a purely negative conception of the unconscious, one will have no choice but to say that psychoanalysis is working on a phenomenon that is particularly demanded by the present with inadequate means of understanding. And because psychoanalysts, on the one hand, strive to explore the spiritual and psychological realms and, as we have seen, also trace these realms in social life, one must say that there is an approach here that, after all, means more than what official university scholarship can currently provide in this very field. But on the other hand, because analytical psychology attempts to intervene in life through pedagogy, through therapy, and probably soon also through social policy, the dangers associated with such an endeavor must nevertheless be regarded as very serious.

[ 2 ] This raises the question: What is it, exactly, that today’s researchers are so completely unable—and unwilling—to grasp? They acknowledge that a spiritual element exists outside of consciousness; they seek a spiritual element outside of consciousness; but they cannot rise to the realization of the spirit itself. The spirit can never be grasped in any way through the concept of the unconscious; for an unconscious spirit is like a human being without a head. Now, I have already drawn your attention to the fact that, as a result of certain hysterical states, there are even people who walk around on the street and see only the bodies of other people, not their heads. This is a specific form of illness in which one sees no one’s head. Similarly, among today’s researchers there are also people who believe they see the whole spirit; but by portraying it as unconscious, they simultaneously reveal that they themselves are afflicted by the delusion that there is such a thing as an unconscious spirit—a spirit without consciousness—when we cross the threshold of consciousness, whether in the proper sense, as we have always described on the basis of spiritual scientific research, or in a pathologically abnormal way, as is always the case with the examples presented to psychoanalysts.

[ 3 ] When one crosses the threshold of consciousness, one always enters the spiritual realm; regardless of whether one enters the subconscious or the superconscious, one always enters the spiritual realm—but a realm in which the spirit is conscious in a certain way, developing some form of consciousness. Where there is spirit, there is also consciousness. One need only examine the conditions under which the consciousness in question exists; it is precisely through spiritual science that one must have the ability to recognize what kind of consciousness a particular spiritual entity possesses. So when we cited the case here eight days ago of that lady who walks out of a gathering, then runs ahead of the horses, is prevented from jumping into a river, and is then carried back to the house from which she came to be reunited with the master of the house—because she loves the master of the house in some way that is unclear to her, on a subconscious level— then it cannot be said that the spirit—which does not belong to this lady’s consciousness, yet urges and guides her—is an unconscious spirit, or that it is an unconscious aspect of the soul: it is something very conscious. The consciousness of this demonic spirit, which leads this lady back to her illicit lover—this demon is in fact far more astute in its consciousness than the lady is in her little head—I meant to say: consciousness—actually is. And these spirits—when a person in any way crosses the threshold of their consciousness—these spirits that become active and effective there are not unconscious spirits; they are spirits that, quite consciously in their own right, become active and effective. The term “unconscious spirit,” as used by psychoanalysts, makes no sense at all; for I might just as well, if I were speaking solely from my own perspective, say of the entire illustrious assembly sitting here that it is my unconscious, if I know nothing about it. Nor should we call the spiritual beings that surround us—and who, in such cases, take hold of the personality, as in the case I told you about eight days ago—“unconscious spirits.” They are subconscious; they are not grasped by the consciousness that is currently active within us; but in themselves, they are fully conscious.

[ 4 ] This is—especially for the task of spiritual science in our time—extremely important to know, for the reason that knowledge of the spiritual realm lying beyond the threshold, knowledge of real, self-aware individualities, is not merely an achievement of, say, contemporary spiritual science, but because this is in fact an ancient form of knowledge. In the past, people simply knew it through the ancient, atavistic art of clairvoyance. Today we know it through other means; we are gradually coming to know it. But the knowledge of real spirits existing outside human consciousness—spirits who live under different conditions than humans, yet who stand in a continuous relationship with humans, and who can also influence human thinking, feeling, and willing—this knowledge has always been there. And this knowledge was always regarded as the secret heritage of certain brotherhoods, which treated it within their own circles as strictly esoteric. Why did they treat it as strictly esoteric? To discuss this question would take us a bit too far at this moment; but it should be said that certain brotherhoods were always imbued with the sincere conviction that the majority of people were simply not ready for this knowledge. Well, that was indeed the case to a large extent. But many other brotherhoods—known as the brotherhoods of the Left—sought to keep this knowledge to themselves also because, when held by a small group, such knowledge confers power over others who do not possess it. And there have always been efforts aimed at securing power for certain groups over others. This could be achieved by treating certain knowledge as an esoteric asset, yet exploiting it to extend power over something else.

[ 5 ] In this day and age, it is especially important to truly educate ourselves about these matters. For, as you know, since 1879—as I have just explained in my recent lectures—humanity has been living in a very special spiritual situation. Since 1879, particularly potent spirits of darkness have been transferred from the spiritual world into the realm of human beings, and those who unjustifiably keep the secrets related to this fact confined within small groups can cause all sorts of harm with these things. Today I will first show you how certain secrets concerning current developments in particular can be exploited in an improper manner. You need only carefully connect what I will say today—which will be more of a historical nature—with what I will say about it tomorrow.

[ 6 ] You all know: for quite some time now, within our anthroposophical spiritual scientific movement, attention has been drawn to how this 20th century is the one that is to bring about a special relationship between human development and the Christ—the Christ insofar as, in the course of the 20th century—already in the first half, as you know — this event is to take place, as is also hinted at in the first of my Mystery Dramas: that for a sufficiently large number of people, Christ is to be a truly existing being in the etheric realm.

[ 7 ] Now we know that we are actually living in an age of materialism. We know that this materialism has reached its peak since the mid-19th century. But in reality, opposites must converge. It is precisely the zenith of materialism in human development that must coincide, on the other hand, with that inner transformation of human development which leads to the Christ truly being perceived in the etheric realm. One can understand that it is precisely the revelation of this mystery—the vision of the Christ, this new relationship that the Christ is to enter into with humanity— arouses discontent and aversion among those people who, as members of certain brotherhoods, wish to exploit this event of the 20th century—the appearance of the etheric Christ—for their own purposes and do not wish to make it part of the common heritage of general human knowledge. There are brotherhoods—and brotherhoods always influence public opinion by having this or that disseminated, for example, precisely through means by which it is least noticeable to people—there are certain occult brotherhoods that spread the idea that the age of materialism will soon come to an end, indeed, that in a certain sense it has already come to an end. The poor, pitiful “intelligent people”—the phrase “intelligent people” is, of course, now placed in quotation marks—who today, in so many gatherings, books, and associations, spread the doctrine that materialism has run its course, that people are once again beginning to grasp something of the spirit, but who can offer people nothing more than the word “spirit” and a few isolated phrases—these people are, to a greater or lesser extent, in the service of those who have an interest in saying what is not true, in claiming that materialism has run its course; for this is not true; on the contrary, the materialist mindset is on the rise, and it will flourish best when people imagine that they are no longer materialists. The materialist mindset is on the rise and will continue to rise for about four to five centuries.

[ 8 ] What is necessary is what has often been emphasized here: to grasp this fact with clear awareness, to know that this is how it is. Then humanity will surely find salvation if we truly understand this, if we work in the spiritual life in such a way that we know: the fifth post-Atlantean epoch exists to shape out the materialistic aspect from the general development of humanity. But this must be countered all the more by the spiritual aspect. I have said in the preceding lectures that what people of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch must come to know is this: the fully conscious struggle against the evil that arises in human development. Just as the struggle took place in the fourth post-Atlantean cultural period to come to terms with birth and death, so now the struggle to come to terms with evil is taking place. So what matters now is the fully conscious grasp of the spiritual teaching—not throwing sand in the eyes of our contemporaries as if the devil of materialism did not exist. It will continue to grow ever more. Those who handle these matters incorrectly know just as much as I do about the event of the Christ’s appearance; but they approach this event in a different way. And to understand this, one must consider the following:

[ 9 ] Given the state of humanity today in this fifth post-Atlantean epoch, the statement that many make out of convenience is entirely unjustified: “Well, while we live here between birth and death, what matters is surrendering ourselves to life; as for whether we will enter a spiritual world after we have passed through death—that remains to be seen; we can simply wait and see.” Here we enjoy our lives as if there were only a material world; if one enters the spiritual world through death, well, then it will become clear whether a spiritual world exists! — It’s about as sensible as the oath sworn by someone who says: “As surely as there is a God in heaven, I am an atheist!” — It’s about as sensible as that; but it reflects the mindset of very many who say: “We’ll see after death what it’s like there; until then, there’s no need to concern oneself with any kind of spiritual science.”

[ 10 ] Such a mindset has always been highly questionable, but it becomes particularly disastrous in this fifth post-Atlantean epoch in which we live, because the dominion of evil is especially encouraging people to adopt it. When a person passes through the gate of death under the present conditions of development, they take with them the states of consciousness they have created for themselves between birth and death. The person who, under present circumstances, has concerned himself entirely with ideas, concepts, and sensations pertaining to the material, sensory world condemns himself, under these circumstances, to living after death only in an environment related to the concepts he developed during his physical life. While the person who absorbs spiritual ideas rightfully enters the spiritual world, the one who refuses to absorb spiritual ideas must, in a certain sense, remain in earthly conditions until—and this takes a long time—he has learned to absorb enough spiritual concepts on the other side so that he can be carried into the spiritual world through them. So, whether or not we absorb spiritual concepts here determines our surroundings on the other side. Many of those who—one can only say this with compassion—have resisted or been prevented from absorbing spiritual concepts here in life still wander the earth even after death, remaining connected to the earthly sphere. And there, when the human soul is no longer separated from its surroundings by the body—which no longer prevents it from acting destructively—the human soul, living within the earthly sphere, becomes a center of destruction.

[ 11 ] So let us consider this—I would say—more typical case, in which, under present circumstances, souls who wanted absolutely nothing to do with spiritual concepts and feelings pass into the spiritual world after death: they become destructive forces because they are held back in the earthly sphere. Only souls who are already imbued here with a certain connection to the spiritual world pass through the gate of death in such a way that they are properly received into the spiritual world, are lifted out of the earthly sphere, and can spin those threads—even to those left behind here—which are continually being spun. For we must be clear about this: the spiritual threads between the souls of the dead and ourselves—who were connected to them—are not severed by death; they remain, and are even much more intimate after death than they were here. But what I have said must be accepted as a serious, significant truth.

[ 12 ] Again, this is not something I alone know; others also know that this is the case today. But there are many who exploit this truth in a particularly harmful way. Today there are misguided materialists who believe that material life is the only reality; but there are also initiates who are materialists and who use brotherhoods to spread materialistic teachings. You must not assume that these initiates hold the absurd view that there is no spirit, or that human beings do not have a soul that can be independent of the body and live without it. You can safely assume that anyone who is truly initiated into the spiritual world would never indulge in the folly of believing in mere matter. But there are many who, in a certain sense, have an interest in promoting materialism and who take all sorts of measures to ensure that a large portion of humanity believes solely in materialism and remains entirely under its influence. Now there are brotherhoods led by initiates who have precisely such an interest in cultivating and spreading materialism. It serves these materialists very well when people constantly talk about how materialism has actually already been overcome. For one can also strive toward a certain goal using the opposite words; the methods employed are often quite complicated.

[ 13 ] What, then, do such initiates want—those who actually know quite well that the human soul is a purely spiritual being, a spiritual being entirely independent of the physical body, and who nevertheless nurture and cultivate people’s materialistic mindset? These initiates want as many souls as possible to exist who, here between birth and death, absorb only materialistic concepts. In this way, these souls are prepared to remain in the earthly sphere. They are, so to speak, held within the earthly sphere. And now imagine that brotherhoods are established that know this precisely, that are well acquainted with these circumstances. Through this, these brotherhoods condition certain human souls in such a way that these souls remain in the realm of the material after death. If these brotherhoods then—which may well lie within their nefarious power—arrange for these souls to enter the sphere of influence of their brotherhood after death, this grants the brotherhood immense power. So these materialists are not materialists simply because they do not believe in the spirit; these “initiate-materialists” are not so foolish—they know full well the nature of the spirit—but they cause souls to remain with matter even after death so that they can make use of such souls for their own purposes. Thus, such brotherhoods create a clientele of souls of the dead who remain within the realm of the Earth. These souls of the dead possess inner forces that can be directed in a wide variety of ways; with these forces, one can bring about various effects, thereby achieving very special manifestations of power over those who are not initiated into these matters.

[ 14 ] This is simply an event organized by certain secret societies. And in this matter, only those can see clearly who do not allow themselves to be deluded by darkness or obscurity; who do not allow themselves to be led to believe that such secret societies either do not exist at all, or that their activities are harmless. They are by no means harmless; they are very harmful. They want people to continue advancing further and further into materialism. According to the view of such initiates, people are to believe that while spiritual forces do exist, these spiritual forces are nothing other than certain natural forces.

[ 15 ] Now I would like to describe the ideal that such brotherhoods hold. It takes a little effort to understand this. So imagine a harmless world of people who are a little misled by the materialistic concepts prevailing today, who have strayed a little from the old, time-tested religious ideas. Imagine such a harmless humanity. Perhaps we can visualize it clearly (it is being drawn): Here we imagine the realm of such a harmless humanity (larger circle, light-colored). As I said, this humanity is simply not entirely clear about the spiritual world; misled by materialism, it does not quite know how to relate to the spiritual world. In particular, it does not quite know how to relate to those who have passed through the gate of death.

[ 16 ] Now let us assume that this is the territory of such a brotherhood (small circle, green): this brotherhood spreads the doctrine of materialism and ensures that these people think in a purely materialistic way. In this way, the brotherhood causes souls to be created who remain in the earthly sphere after death. These become a spiritual clientele for this lodge (see diagram, orange); that is, they have thereby created dead people who do not leave the earthly sphere but remain on Earth. If one then holds the proper ceremonies, one keeps them within the lodges. Thus, in this way, lodges have been created that contain both the living and the dead—but dead people who have been bound to the forces of the Earth.

[ 17 ] Now, the matter is orchestrated in such a way that these people hold séances here, or in a manner similar to the spiritualist séances that took place during the second half of the 19th century, which I have often spoken about. Then it may happen—I ask you to bear this in mind—that what takes place here in these séances is directed from the lodge with the help of the dead. But according to the actual intentions of the Masters who are in those lodges, people are not supposed to know that they are dealing with the dead, but rather to believe that they are simply dealing with higher natural forces. They want to teach people that these are higher natural forces: psychism and the like—merely higher natural forces. They want to strip them of the true concept of the soul and say: Just as there is electricity and magnetism, so too are there such higher forces. It is precisely those who hold leadership positions in the lodge who conceal the fact that this stems from souls. As a result, however, the others—those harmless souls—gradually become completely dependent, spiritually dependent on the lodge, without knowing what they are dependent on or where their direction is actually coming from.

[ 18 ] There is no other remedy for these things than knowledge of them. If one knows about them, one is already protected. If one knows them in such a way that this knowledge is a genuine conviction, a true belief, then one is already protected. But one must not be too complacent to actually acquire knowledge of these things. Well, first of all, it must be said that it is not actually quite too late when it comes to these matters. For I have often drawn your attention to this—these things can only become clear gradually, and I can only gradually gather the elements to bring you complete clarity— I have often drawn your attention to the fact that, during the second half of the 19th century, many Western brotherhoods experimentally introduced spiritualism in order to determine, through this experiment, whether they had already progressed as far with humanity as they wished. It was a test to see how far they had come with humanity. In the spiritualist séances—this is what they expected—people were actually supposed to say: “There are higher natural forces.”—And then the brothers of the Left were disappointed that most people did not say: “There are higher natural forces”—but instead said: “Spirits of the dead appear in the séances.” — That was the bitter disappointment of the initiates; that was precisely what they did not want; for it was the belief in the dead that these initiates wanted to take away from people. Not the activity of the dead, not the activity of the forces of the dead, but this idea that it comes from the dead—this true, this significant idea—was to be taken away from people. You see, it is a higher form of materialism; it is a materialism that not only denies the spirit but seeks to force the spirit into matter. You see, materialism still takes forms in which it can already be denied. One can say that materialism has disappeared; we are already speaking of the spirit. But everyone speaks of the spirit in a vague way. One can very well be a materialist if one turns all of nature into spirit in such a way that psychism emerges. What matters is that one can cast one’s gaze into the concrete spiritual world, into concrete spirituality.

[ 19 ] Here you have the beginning of what will become more and more intense over the next five centuries. For now, the evil brotherhoods have limited themselves to this; but they will certainly continue their activities unless they are stopped—which can only be done by overcoming complacency toward the spiritual-scientific worldview.

[ 20 ] So, in a sense, they gave themselves away during the spiritualist séances. Instead of covering themselves up, they exposed themselves through the spiritualist séances. So this was rather something that showed that they had not yet quite succeeded in their endeavors. That is why, starting in the 1890s, these very brotherhoods themselves began making efforts to discredit spiritualism as such for a time. In short, as you can see, very, very drastic measures are taken in this way using the means of the spiritual world. What is at stake here, then, is the following: the increase of power and the exploitation of certain conditions of development that are bound to emerge in the course of human history.

[ 21 ] Efforts are being made to counteract the materialization of human souls, this confinement of human souls to the sphere of the earthly realm—and lodges, after all, are also part of the earthly realm. So if souls are to haunt the lodges and work there, they must be confined to the earthly realm. This striving, this impulse to work in the earthly realm through the souls—this is counteracted by the significant impulse of the Mystery of Golgotha. And this impulse of the Mystery of Golgotha is also the healing of the world against the materialization of the soul. The path of Christ Himself lies entirely beyond the will and intentions of human beings. Thus, no human being, regardless of their knowledge—not even an initiate—has any influence over the fact that Christ will do what, in the course of the 20th century, will lead to the manifestation of which I have often spoken to you, and which you will also find alluded to in the Mystery Dramas. This depends solely on Christ Himself. Christ will be present in the earthly sphere as an etheric being. For human beings, the question is how they relate to him. Thus, no one—not even the most powerful initiate—has any influence whatsoever on the appearance of the Christ himself. It will happen. I ask you to bear this in mind. But one can take steps to ensure that this Christ event is received in one way or another, that this Christ event has one effect or another.

[ 22 ] Yes, those brotherhoods I just spoke to you about—the ones that seek to bind human souls to the material realm—these brotherhoods are striving to let Christ pass unnoticed in the 20th century, to prevent people from perceiving his coming as an etheric individuality. And this endeavor is developing under the influence of a very specific idea—actually, a very specific impulse of will; for they are striving to seize the sphere of influence that is to come through the Christ in the 20th century and beyond for another being—we will speak about this in more detail later—for another being. There are Western brotherhoods that strive to contest Christ’s impulse and to replace him with another individuality—one that has never even appeared in the flesh, but is merely an etheric individuality, albeit one of a strictly Ahrimanic nature.

[ 23 ] All those measures I have just spoken to you about—involving the dead and so on—ultimately serve the purpose of distracting people from the Christ who went through the Mystery of Golgotha, and of handing over dominion over the Earth to another individuality. This is a very real struggle—not something that is merely abstract concepts or whatever—but a very real struggle; a struggle that actually aims to replace the Christ-being with another being in the course of human evolution for the remainder of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, as well as for the sixth and seventh. It will be part of the tasks of a healthy, honest spiritual development to eradicate and eliminate such endeavors, which are anti-Christian in the most eminent sense. But only clear insight can achieve anything here. For the other being that these brotherhoods wish to make the ruler—this other being—they will indeed call “Christ,” correctly call “Christ”! And what will matter most is that we truly learn to distinguish between the true Christ—who, even now, as he is about to appear, is not an individuality incarnated in the flesh—and this being, who differs from the true Christ in that he was never incarnated during Earth’s evolution; a being who reaches only as far as etheric incarnation, and which is to be installed by these brotherhoods in place of the Christ, who is to pass by unnoticed.

[ 24 ] So, on the one hand, we have the part of the struggle that involves, so to speak, falsifying the 20th-century manifestation of Christ. Yes, anyone who observes life only at its surface—especially the external discussions about Christ and the question of Jesus and so on—simply does not see into its depths. That is fog, that is haze—what is being presented to people in order to distract them precisely from the deeper things, from what this is actually all about. When theologians discuss Christ, there is always a spiritual influence at work in all such discussions, and these people are promoting goals and purposes entirely different from what they themselves believe with their conscious minds.

[ 25 ] That is precisely what is dangerous about the concept of the unconscious: that even today, people are being led into confusion regarding such matters. While such evil brotherhoods very consciously pursue their aims, what these brotherhoods consciously pursue naturally becomes part of the unconscious for those who engage in all sorts of superficial discussions and the like. But one does not grasp the essence of the matter when speaking of the unconscious; for this so-called unconscious simply lies beyond the threshold of ordinary consciousness, and it is the sphere in which the initiate can unfold such things. You see, this is actually one aspect of the matter: it is indeed the case that there is a group of brotherhoods that seek to replace the influence of Christ with the influence of another individuality and arrange everything in such a way as to achieve this.

[ 26 ] In contrast, there are Eastern brotherhoods—namely Indian ones—that seek to influence the development of humanity with no less significance. These Indian brotherhoods, in turn, pursue a different goal; they have never developed an esotericism through which they would bring the dead into their sphere—into the sphere of their lodges, so to speak; such things are far from their minds; they do not want them. But on the other hand, they also do not want the Mystery of Golgotha, with its impulse, to take hold of the development of humanity. They do not want that either. But they do not want it—not because the dead are not available to them in the way I have indicated with regard to the Western brotherhoods—but because they do not wish to oppose the Christ—who, as an etheric individuality, will enter into human evolution in the course of the 20th century—by setting up another individuality; for that they would need the dead, and they do not have them; instead, they want to divert interest away from this Christ; they do not want to allow Christianity to rise, particularly the Eastern brotherhoods, namely the Indian ones. They do not want to allow interest to rise in the real Christ who passed through the Mystery of Golgotha, who was here on Earth for three years in a unique incarnation and who can no longer come to Earth in an incarnation. They do not want to use the dead in their lodges, but they also want something other than merely what they themselves are as living human beings. In these Indian, Eastern lodges, a different kind of being is used instead of the dead of the Western lodges.

[ 27 ] When a person dies, they leave behind their etheric body; as you know, it separates very soon after death. Under normal circumstances, this etheric body is absorbed by the cosmos. I have already explained to you in various ways that this absorption is also a rather complicated process. But before the Mystery of Golgotha—and even after the Mystery of Golgotha, particularly in Eastern regions—something very specific was possible. When a human being sheds such an etheric body after death, certain beings can take up residence in it; they then become etheric beings inhabiting the etheric bodies shed by humans. Thus it happens in Eastern regions that—not dead human beings, but all manner of demonic spirits—are induced to don the etheric bodies shed by human beings. And such demonic spirits, clothed in human etheric bodies, are admitted into the Eastern lodges. The Western lodges, then, have the dead bound directly within matter; the Eastern lodges of the left hand have demonic spirits—that is, spirits that do not belong to Earth’s evolution but who insinuate themselves into it by taking on the etheric bodies shed by human beings.

[ 28 ] Exoterically, this is done by transforming this fact into worship. You know that the arts of certain brotherhoods include the creation of illusions, because if people do not know to what extent illusion actually exists in reality, they can very easily be deceived by artificially created illusions. So one achieves what one intends to do by cloaking it in the form of veneration. So imagine this: I have a tribe of people, a cohesive tribe; to them I say—after I have previously, as an “evil” brother, created the possibility for a demonic being to take possession of an ancestor’s etheric body—I tell them they must venerate this ancestor. The ancestor is simply the one who has shed his etheric body, which has been taken over by demons through the machinations of the lodge. Thus, ancestor worship is introduced. But these ancestors who are worshiped are simply demonic entities within the etheric body of the ancestor in question.

[ 29 ] One can now divert the worldview of Eastern people away from the Mystery of Golgotha by working in the same way as in the Eastern lodges. In this way, too, for Eastern people—and perhaps for people in general, which is, after all, the goal—the result is achieved whereby Christ, as an individuality who is to walk the earth, remains unnoticed. So they do not want to substitute another Christ; they merely want the appearance of Christ Jesus to remain unnoticed.

[ 30 ] In a sense, a struggle is being waged from two sides against the Christ impulse that is emerging in the etheric realm over the course of the 20th century. Humanity is truly caught up in this development. And what happens in detail is, in fact, always merely a consequence of what unfolds as the great impulses in human development. That is why it is so sad that people are constantly led to believe that when the unconscious—the so-called unconscious—is at work within them, these are merely some repressed, I don’t know, romantic feelings or the like, whereas in fact the impulse of very conscious spirituality is flowing through humanity from all sides, yet remains relatively unconscious unless one actively engages with it in one’s consciousness.

[ 31 ] You must add various other factors to these considerations. Those who have always been sincere in their commitment to human development have always anticipated such things as we have now described and—for a human being cannot and should not do more than this—have taken the appropriate action on their part.

[ 32 ] In the early centuries of Christianity, Ireland—the island of Ireland—was a good haven for spiritual life, an exceptionally good haven, protected from all kinds of illusions. It was truly protected from all kinds of illusions, more so than any other region on earth. That is also the reason why so many propagators of Christianity set out from Ireland in the early Christian centuries. But these propagators of Christianity all had to take into account the naive nature of the people among whom they worked; for the European people among whom they worked were naive at that time, and they had to take this naive nature into account; yet they had to know and understand the great impulses of humanity for themselves. In the 4th and 5th centuries, Irish initiates in particular were active in Central Europe; that is where they began, and they worked in such a way as to prepare for what was to happen in the future. In a certain sense, they were under the influence of that initiatory knowledge that in the 15th century—as you know, in 1413—the fifth post-Atlantean epoch would begin. They were under this influence. They knew, therefore, that they had to prepare for an entirely new era, and that a naive humanity had to be protected for this new era. What was done at that time to protect this naive European humanity in such a way that it was, so to speak, fenced in and certain harmful influences could not penetrate it? What was done?

[ 33 ] Those who were, as we now know, well-informed and, at the time, honest, steered the course of evolution in such a way that the maritime voyages from northern countries to America that had taken place in earlier times were gradually suppressed. So while in earlier times ships—particularly from Norway—sailed to America for certain purposes—I will speak more about these matters tomorrow—the situation was gradually arranged in such a way that America was completely forgotten by the European population, and that the connection with America gradually faded away. And by the 15th century, the people of Europe knew nothing of America. This development was directed, particularly from Rome, in such a way that, for specific reasons, the connection with America was gradually lost, because the European people had to be protected from American influences. The monks from Ireland, who, as Irish initiates, carried out Christianization on the European continent, played a significant role in ensuring that the European people were protected from American influence.

[ 34 ] In earlier times, certain specific influences were brought over from America; but precisely at the time when the fifth post-Atlantean epoch began, the situation was such that the people of Europe were unaffected by America, knew nothing at all about it, and lived in the belief that America did not even exist. It was only when the fifth post-Atlantean epoch had dawned that America was rediscovered, as is well known from history. It is one of those truths—with which you may already be familiar—that what is taught as history in school is often a fable convenue. It is also a fable convenue that America was discovered for the first time in 1492. It was merely rediscovered. For a time, the connection was simply concealed as skillfully as was necessary. But one must know, in turn, how things actually stood and what real history is. Thus, for a time, Europe was very much fenced off, and Europe was carefully guarded against certain influences that were not meant to reach it.

[ 35 ] Such things show you how significant it is not to regard this so-called unconscious as something unconscious, but rather as something that takes place very consciously behind the threshold of human consciousness, as it exists in everyday life. It is indeed important that a larger portion of humanity today learn of certain mysteries. That is why I have done as much as is now at all possible to do quite publicly in the Zurich lectures, where, as you know, I even went so far as to explain to people to what extent historical life is not known by people through ordinary consciousness, but is in reality dreamed; how the content of history is in reality dreamed by human beings, and that only when people become aware that the content of history is dreamed will these ideas become healthy.

[ 36 ] These are the things that gradually awaken one’s consciousness. The phenomena, the facts that are unfolding, already confirm these things. One must simply not overlook them. Yet people walk blindly and sleepily through these facts; they also walk blindly and sleepily through tragic catastrophes such as the one we are currently experiencing. These are things I would like to first impress upon your hearts from a historical perspective. I will speak more specifically about these matters tomorrow.

[ 37 ] I would just like to add one more thought on this matter. First, as you have seen from our discussion, there is a tremendous difference between the West and the East in terms of human development. Second, I ask you to consider the following as well. You see, the psychoanalyst speaks of the subconscious, of the subconscious life of the soul, and so on. Yes, it is not important to speak of these things using such a vague term; rather, what matters is to grasp: What actually lies beyond the threshold of consciousness? What is there? There is certainly a great deal down there beneath the threshold of consciousness. In and of itself, however, what is down there is very much conscious. But one must come to understand what kind of conscious spirituality lies beyond the threshold of consciousness. One must speak of conscious spirituality beyond the threshold of consciousness, not of unconscious spirituality. Yes, one must be clear about the fact that human beings possess many things of which they are unaware in their ordinary consciousness. It would also be a dire situation for human beings if, in their ordinary consciousness, they had to be aware of everything going on within them. Just imagine how they would actually have to organize their eating and drinking if they had to be fully aware of the physiological and biological processes that take place from the moment they consume a meal and so on! All of this takes place in the unconscious; spiritual forces are at work everywhere, even in these purely physiological processes. But a person cannot wait to eat and drink, can they, until they have learned what is actually happening inside them. This is how many things work within a person. A large part—indeed, by far the greatest part—of a person’s being is unconscious, or rather, subconscious.

[ 38 ] Now, the peculiar thing is that, under all circumstances, another entity takes possession of this subconscious that we carry within us. So we are not merely this combination of body, soul, and spirit, carrying our soul—which is independent of us—through the world within our body; rather, shortly before birth, another entity takes possession of the subconscious parts of the human being. This entity is there—this subconscious entity—and it accompanies the human being the entire journey between birth and death. Shortly before birth, it enters the human being and remains with them. One can also characterize this entity—which fills the human being in those parts that do not enter his ordinary consciousness—in the following way: It is a highly intelligent being, one whose will is akin to the forces of nature—in other words, a being that is highly intelligent and endowed with a will very closely related to the forces of nature, far more closely related than the human being’s will is to those forces. However, I must emphasize the peculiarity that it would face an extraordinarily great danger if, under present circumstances, it were to experience death along with the human being. Under the present circumstances, the being cannot experience death; thus, it vanishes shortly before death and must always save itself, though it certainly strives to organize human life in such a way that it can conquer death. But it would be a terrible thing for human development if this entity, which takes such possession of the human being, were also able to conquer death—if it could die with the human being and in this way enter, together with the human being, the worlds that the human being enters after death. It must always take its leave of the human being beforehand, before the human being enters the spiritual world after death. In some cases, this proves quite difficult for it, and all sorts of complications arise. But the fact is this: this entity, which reigns entirely in the subconscious, is very, very dependent on the Earth as a whole organism.

[ 39 ] The Earth is by no means the kind of being that geologists, mineralogists, or paleontologists portray; this Earth is a fully living being. Humans see only its skeletal framework, for geologists, mineralogists, and paleontologists focus solely on the mineral aspect—which is the skeletal framework. If that is all you know, then you know about as much as if you were to walk in here and, through some peculiar distortion of your vision, see nothing but the bones—the skeletal system—of this entire illustrious assembly. Now imagine for a moment that you walked in through the door and saw nothing but skeletons sitting in these chairs—not that you would have nothing but bones, I wouldn’t wish that on you, but let’s assume that a person had only the ability to see bones, as if they were equipped with some kind of X-ray machine. That is all that geology sees of the Earth—it sees only the skeletal framework. But this Earth does not consist solely of a skeletal framework; rather, it is a living organism, and at every point, in every territory, it radiates specific forces from its center to the surface. So imagine the Earth’s surface like this (see drawing on p. 192)—here the eastern region, here the western region—just to grasp the big picture. The forces that are sent up from the Earth are part of the Earth’s living organism. And depending on whether a person lives in this or that place on Earth, it is not his soul—not this immortal soul—that comes into contact with these earthly forces; that contact is only indirect. The immortal soul of the human being is relatively very independent of earthly conditions; it is made dependent on them only artificially, in the manner described today. But through the intermediary of this other being—who takes possession of the human being before birth and must leave him again before death—these various forces, which influence human beings through racial types and geographical differences, exert a particularly strong effect. Thus, it is this double that the human being carries within himself upon whom the geographical and other differentiations act in particular.

[ 40 ] This is extraordinarily significant. For tomorrow we will see how this doppelgänger is influenced from various points on Earth, and what consequences this has. As I just pointed out: it is necessary that you directly connect what I am saying today with what I will say tomorrow, because one can hardly be understood without the other. And we must now try to take in concepts that give even greater seriousness to what relates to the whole of reality—to that reality in which the human soul lives in its entirety. And this reality—it does, after all, undergo metamorphosis in various ways; but how it metamorphoses depends largely on human beings. And this in itself is already a significant metamorphosis: when one becomes aware of how human souls, depending on whether they take in materialistic or spiritual concepts between birth and death, are accordingly bound to the earth or enter the proper spheres. We must have ever clearer concepts regarding these matters. Then we will also find the right relationship to the world as a whole—we must find it more and more. For this does not lie merely in the sense of an abstract spiritual movement, but must lie with us in the sense of a very concretely conceived spiritual movement that takes into account the spiritual life of a sum of individualities.

[ 41 ] I personally find it very satisfying that such gatherings—which are especially significant for those among us who no longer belong to the physical plane but have passed through the gate of death, yet remain our faithful members—are maintained as a reality that brings us ever closer and closer together with our departed friends. I am making these remarks today because it is up to us to remember with special affection the passing of Miss Stinde, who is so deeply connected to the Building, whose impulses are so intimately linked to those of our Building, and whose death anniversary was yesterday.