The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Anthroposophical Life-Gifts I

[ 1 ] Anyone who has truly taken to heart what was presented in the previous lectures regarding the way in which the human soul can, so to speak, determine its relationship to the supersensible worlds—and how it can work on this relationship of its own accord—need not be alarmed by the fact that, on the other hand, it is also simply true that human beings, as such, are in a certain way dependent on the entire universe, on their entire surroundings. Human life actually oscillates back and forth between these two things: between the free establishment of a relationship to the supersensible world and between dependence on the environment, on the entire universe—and this is due in particular to the fact that, between birth and death, the human being is bound to a specific physical body. We would like to discuss one aspect of this dependence on the universe in the coming days in a specific context—a context that may be particularly relevant to the human soul at this present time.

[ 2 ] From much of what you have learned from spiritual science, it will have become clear to you above all that our entire Earth, which we inhabit as the whole of humanity, is a kind of great living being, that we ourselves stand within it like limbs within that great living being; and in various lectures I have spoken about the individual manifestations of life in this great living being that is our Earth. The life of the Earth expresses itself in the most manifold ways. Among other things, however, it also expresses itself through the fact that certain relationships exist between the individual regions of the Earth and the human beings who dwell upon it. As true as it is—and this is, of course, a very superficial truth—that, on the one hand, the human race is a unity, it is equally true that the individual parts of the human race, scattered across the various regions of the Earth, are differentiated according to these regions, are dependent on them—not only in terms of the many forces investigated by the external natural sciences and geography, but also in terms of many more mysterious forces inherent in the individual regions of the Earth’s surface. There certainly exist certain inner relationships between human beings and the soil they inhabit—the part of the Earth from which they sprang—relationships that lie beyond the superficiality of natural science. This can best be seen from the fact that such relationships develop over the course of historical periods that, while not short, are nonetheless prolonged. One could already see this in the changes undergone by Europeans who migrate to America and settle there; even though, of course, the period of European settlement in America is still so brief that what is at stake here is for the time being only hinted at, it is nevertheless strongly and clearly indicated. The physical appearance of Europeans changes—as I said, this has so far been only hinted at—when they live in America; not immediately, but over the course of generations. In the formation of the arms and hands, for example, but also in other aspects of facial structure, Europeans—but do not imagine this as a sudden change, rather only as hints—will come to resemble the ancient Native Americans, gradually adopting the distinctive physical traits of the ancient Native American way of life.

[ 3 ] These things are, broadly speaking, what point us toward certain connections between the great organism of the Earth and the individual members of this organism—namely, the individual members of the Earth’s population. We know, of course, that human beings, as they live on Earth, are connected to supersensible beings—to the beings of the higher hierarchies. Regarding what is called the national soul, we know that it is not that insubstantial abstraction of which materialistically minded people speak today; rather, we know that the national soul is a kind of archangelic being. We need only read through the lecture series on national souls given in Kristiania to discover how a national soul is a concrete, real being in which human beings are, so to speak, embedded with their lives. In general, human beings are in constant connection with higher and deeper beings of the higher hierarchies through their very nature. Today and over the next few days, let us consider this connection from a certain perspective—for such matters can always be discussed only from specific perspectives.

[ 4 ] In order to properly grasp a perspective such as today’s, one must realize that, for the humanities scholar observing the world, what the materialist mind calls “matter” or “substance” does not actually exist; upon truly close examination, it too dissolves into spirit. I have often used a comparison to illustrate how these things stand. Take water, for example. It can freeze, and then it becomes ice and looks completely different. Ice is ice, water is water; but ice is also water, just in a different form. That is roughly how it is with what we call matter: it is spirit in a different form—spirit that has taken on a different form, just as water does when it becomes ice. Therefore, when we speak from a spiritual-scientific perspective, we have the spiritual in mind, even when we speak of material processes. The active spirit is everywhere. The fact that the active spirit also finds expression in material processes is simply part of a particular manifestation of the spirit. But active spirit is everywhere. So even when we focus more on material phenomena, we are actually speaking of the modes of action of the spirit, as they manifest themselves in a certain realm as external, more or less material processes.

[ 5 ] Material processes are constantly taking place within human beings, processes that are in fact spiritual in nature. A person eats. In doing so, they take in substances from the external world into their own organism. Solid substances, which are liquefied, are absorbed into the human organism and undergo a transformation in the process. The human organism consists, after all, of all manner of substances that it takes in from the outside; but it is not merely that it takes in these substances—rather, as it takes them in, they also undergo a certain process. The body’s own heat is determined by the heat absorbed and by the processes that the absorbed substances undergo within our organism. We breathe. Through breathing, we take in oxygen; but we do not merely take in oxygen—rather, because we are interconnected in our breathing process with what is happening in the external world, in the atmosphere, we are also immersed in the rhythm of the external world. Our own rhythm is embedded within the rhythm of the entire universe. I have even demonstrated this relationship numerically on one occasion. Thus, we also stand in a certain relationship to our surroundings through the rhythmic processes we undergo within our own organism. Through these processes—these events that occur because external natural processes influence us and continue to play out within us—it is indeed the case that the effects exerted, for example, by the national spirit upon the individual human being are mediated. We do not merely breathe in oxygen; rather, the spiritual lives within our act of breathing oxygen, and the national spirit can live within this act of breathing. We do not merely eat; the substances are also processed within us. But this material process is at the same time a spiritual one, and as we take in the substances and process them within ourselves, the national spirit can live within this process. The life of the national spirit within us is not merely something abstract; rather, the life of the national spirit is imprinted in what we do every day and in what our organism accomplishes. Material processes are at the same time expressions of spiritual modes of action. The national spirit must take this roundabout path by entering us through our breath, our food, and so on.

[ 6 ] The individual national spirits, which we have presented from various perspectives in the lecture series on “The Mission of Individual National Souls in Connection with Germanic-Norse Mythology,” influence human beings in different ways with regard to what I have just indicated, and this is what characterizes the individual national characters on Earth. The individual national characters depend on the national spirits. But when we examine, from a spiritual scientific perspective, the indirect ways in which the individual national spirits work, the following becomes apparent, for example.

[ 7 ] Human beings breathe. Through this, they are in a constant connection with the air surrounding them. They inhale it; they exhale it. And if, in a particular case, the national spirit—due to the configuration of the earth and circumstances of various kinds—chooses precisely the route of respiration and thereby brings about, through respiration, the specific configuration and characterization of the people in question, then one can say: The national spirit acts upon the people in question through the air. — This is indeed the case to a particularly remarkable degree among those peoples who have ever inhabited the Italian Peninsula. On the Italian Peninsula, the air serves as the mediator for the effects of the national spirit on human beings. One can say that the air of Italy is the means, the medium, through which the national spirit exerts its influence on the people who inhabit the Italian Peninsula, in order to give them the distinctive character that makes them the Italian people, the ancient Roman people, and so on. Thus, by following the paths of spiritual science, one can explore the spiritual underpinnings of precisely those phenomena that appear to be material effects.

[ 8 ] Now one might ask: What about other national spirits? If we look to other regions of the world, what means do national spirits choose to express the unique national character there? Among the peoples who have inhabited or currently inhabit what is now France, the national spirit acts indirectly through the liquid element—through everything that not only enters our bodies as a liquid but also acts within them as a liquid. Thus, through the nature of what, as a fluid, permeates the organism and acts upon it, the national spirit vibrates and weaves, thereby determining the national character in question. This is the case with the peoples who have inhabited or currently inhabit present-day France.

[ 9 ] However, one cannot fully understand the matter if one considers this relationship between human beings and their environment from only one perspective. That would result in a very one-sided view if you were to consider only that aspect. You must remember what I have said many times before: Human beings are ambivalent creatures; the head and the rest of the organism act independently. In fact, the influence I have just described in relation to the Italian and French peoples affects only the rest of the organism—outside the head—while a different influence emanates from the head itself. And it is only through the interplay of the effect emanating from the head and that coming from the rest of the organism that what is then expressed in the national character comes into being in its entirety. The effect emanating from the head is, so to speak, neutralized by the effect emanating from the rest of the organism. Therefore, one could say: What the inhabitant of Italy breathes in through the air—that which is determinative for the rest of the organism, outside the head, in the act of breathing—interacts within him with the configuration of the nervous system of the head, as it is spiritually differentiated; that is, insofar as the human being is a “nervous being” of the head. In France, it is different. What lives as rhythm within the organism is a specific rhythm for the entire organism and a specific one for the head; the head has its own rhythm. While in Italy it is the nervous activity of the head that interacts with the effects of the air on the human being, in France it is the rhythm—the rhythmic movement of the head, the vibration of the rhythm within the head—that interacts with what is brought about by the fluids in the organism. Thus, the national character is built up through the unique interplay of the individual human being in the head with what the national spirit brings about from the surrounding environment.

[ 10 ] From this we can see that it is possible to study what is evenly distributed across the Earth’s organism if one is willing to observe these things from a spiritual scientific perspective. For in fact, humanity will not understand the unique configuration across the Earth unless such things are taken into account.

[ 11 ] We continue to inquire into individual national characters, specifically the British national character. Just as the national spirit of the Italian character permeates the air, and that of the French character permeates the watery element, so does the national spirit of the British character permeate everything earthy, primarily through salt and its compounds in the organism. The solid is the most fundamental element. While the liquid element is at work in the French national character, in the British nature the solidifying, salty element is at work through everything that enters the organism via the air and nutrition. This gives rise to the distinctive configuration of the British national character. But here, too, something emanating from the head has a neutralizing effect on what comes from the environment. Just as rhythm is present in the rest of the organism and in the head, so too are digestion and metabolism present in the rest of the organism and in the head. The way the organism of the head carries out its metabolism, together with the salty element in the organism, shapes the British national character. Thus, the earth element in connection with the metabolism of the head constitutes the British national character. And one can say: As the national soul acts through the salty element, the peculiarity of the head’s metabolism counters it from the head.

[ 12 ] You will be able to study all the individual traits of a national character if you consider these particular transformations in the way national souls function.

[ 13 ] We continue our inquiry, turning our attention westward. With the American character, it is different again; there is an underground element at work. So while the British character is characterized by the earthy and the salty, the American national character is influenced by an underground element—something that vibrates beneath the earth. This has an excellent influence on the organism. It is particularly through the subterranean magnetic and electrical currents that the national spirit rises up in the national character of the American people. And flowing toward it from the head is something that neutralizes the influence of these subterranean magnetic and electrical currents: what truly is human will radiates toward it. This is the distinctive feature of the American national character. Whereas we must say that the British national character depends essentially on the earthly element—insofar as the human being absorbs it into his organism, and this then interacts with the metabolism of the head—the will, insofar as it manifests itself in the American people, works together with something that rises up from the subterranean realm, and this shapes the American national character. This is also connected to what I have even presented in a public lecture. A person can only relate to the element above the earth—and even down to the earth itself—with their entire free personality. If they are influenced by something subterranean belonging to the national soul, then they do not develop their national soul in freedom, but are, so to speak, possessed by the national soul. And in a public lecture, I demonstrated how an American can even say the same thing that the Central European Hermann Grimm says, and yet it is not the same. While with Hermann Grimm one notices how everything is humanly mastered, with Woodrow Wilson it is the case that he is humanly possessed by it.

[ 14 ] From this you can see one thing—and it’s important because our times today also require us to consider such matters—: When two or three people say the same thing today, we look at it purely in terms of content; we view it abstractly. But two people can say exactly the same thing in terms of content; the sentence can be worded exactly the same way for one as for the other. One may have ideas that have been hard-won and earned in his soul, while the other may have them simply because he has adopted them through obsession. The content itself is often not what matters most, but rather the degree to which what the person in question says is the result of his own inner work, or whether he may have acquired it through obsession. That is important. Today, people have a sense only for the abstract. One can see in Herman Grimm that he spoke only of what he had turned over and over in his soul ten times, and one could take sentences from Wilson’s writings and write “Herman Grimm” above them—and vice versa—but that is not the point. Herman Grimm has something he has worked out for himself; Woodrow Wilson has something possessed—something that enters him from subterranean beings. These things can be recognized; one need not approach them with emotions or passions at all, but they can certainly be recognized objectively.

[ 15 ] We continue our inquiry by first, let us say, focusing on Germany and looking eastward. When we consider the eastern essence—which is only gradually rising from chaos and will eventually shine forth in its very own form—we encounter something peculiar there. Just as the national spirit acts through the air in the Italian character, through water in the French people, through the earth in the English, and through an underground element in the Americans, so does the national spirit act through light in the Russian, Slavic element. Indeed, the national spirit—which is of paramount importance in the East—works through the vibrating light. And once what is destined to grow in the East in the future has broken free from its embryonic shells, it will become apparent that the mode of action of the national spirit in Eastern Europe is also quite different from that of the national spirit in the West. For even though I must say that the national spirit acts through light—the curious thing is that it does not act directly through the light vibrating outward, but rather acts by the light first sinking into the ground and being reflected back from it. And it is this light, rising back up from the ground, that the national spirit makes use of in the Russian people to act upon them. But this does not affect the organism; rather, it acts specifically on the head, on the mindset, on the way in which concepts, feelings, and so on are formed. Here, then, the mode of action of the national spirit is precisely the opposite of that in the West, where it acts from the rest of the organism and is met with a response from the head. In the East, it acts through light. The light flowing back from the earth is the medium for the national spirit, and this acts primarily on the head. And whatever now reacts back comes from the rest of the organism, especially from the heart. What comes back now strikes the head in return and alters the effect emanating from there. Today it is still in a state of chaos, still in embryonic form. It is the respiratory rhythm that acts upon the head and neutralizes what comes from the national spirit via the detour through light. What emerges in the Near East is still present to a greater degree as we travel further east. This is, in fact, the distinctive feature of the Asian East: that the national spirit still acts, in part, through the light that is absorbed by the earth and radiated back, and which acts upon the head. Or the national spirit also acts through what is no longer light, but is not visible at all: the harmony of the spheres, which indeed permeates everything and which, for the spiritual humanity of the Asian East, is equivalent to an effect of the national spirit, in that the national spirit acts directly through the harmony of the spheres—which is, however, reflected back from the earth and acts upon the head. And the rhythm of breathing counteracts this. And therein lies the secret, which consists in the fact that the seekers of the spirit in the East have always sought to connect with the spirit through a special training of the breath. If you study yoga, you will see that it requires training the breath in a specific way. This is based on the fact that the individual, as a member of all humanity—not as an isolated entity—seeks to find spirituality through the national spirit; he seeks it in the way that is truly rooted within his national character. So the further east we go, the more we find this. — Of course, the degree to which these manifestations of national character are refined—or, conversely, degenerate—would reveal how such phenomena sometimes manifest as deviations. Individual peoples and entire races share these deviations to a marked degree, for example, when disharmonies arise if the primary effect is in accord with the effect of the rest of the organism, and so on. But going into specific disharmonies in detail is perhaps not particularly advisable today, since, for one reason or another, we must love other peoples from the perspective of a single people. Circumstances dictate this; some things might be grasped with the heart rather than with reason, and they might then perhaps not be understood. Once different times have come, it may be possible to speak about the Eastern peoples and similar problems as well.

[ 16 ] Now one might ask: What is the situation among the Central European peoples? We are, after all, speaking more in terms of geographical conditions; we are not considering Central Europe from a sociopolitical perspective. Nor did I answer the questions based on racial considerations; rather, as you can see, they pertain to spiritual-geographical conditions. We can therefore speak of a Central Europe to which France and Italy do not belong.

[ 17 ] The distinctive feature of the national spirit at work in Central Europe is that—just as I have explained for other regions, where influences are mediated through air, water, salt, and so on—it is mediated directly through warmth. In Central Europe, the national spirit chooses the indirect path of heat as its medium. This is not, however, fixed in a completely direct way; it can be individualized. There may be people in Central Europe for whom this effect of the national spirit manifests differently—sometimes through the rest of the organism and sometimes through the head—and also depending on whether the external air warms them directly, or whether they are warmed through food or breathing. All of this serves as a medium for the national spirit. And what now counteracts this effect here is, once again, warmth, so that in Central Europe, warmth—insofar as it has external effects—serves as a medium for the national spirit. And what meets it is, once again, the self-generated warmth coming from within. Therefore, one can say: Whatever acts as warmth in the organism through the national spirit is met by the head’s own warmth. When the warmth of the national spirit acts through the head, the warmth of the rest of the organism flows toward it. Warmth acts upon warmth, and it acts in such a way that it depends primarily on the greater or lesser vitality of sensory activity—indeed, on the very capacity for perception. A person who is more spirited, who looks at the things around them with love, develops greater inner warmth. A person who is fleeting and superficial, who does not feel much, who glosses over everything, develops less inner warmth. This living in harmony with one’s surroundings—in which a person has a heart or an open eye for the world around them—is what responds to the warmth that works through the national spirit, so that warmth meets warmth. This is the distinctive feature of how the national spirit operates in Central Europe, and much of the essence of the national character is based on this, because warmth is so intimately related to warmth. The other modes of action are not all so closely related: the will is not related to the electrical element in the same way, the salty element is not so closely related to the digestive element of the head, and the other effects mentioned are likewise not. But warmth shapes the Central European character, which is also expressed in the ability to more or less merge into everything. — We do not wish to speak of value judgments, but only to characterize; therefore, everyone may interpret this as they will: as a virtue or as a vice. Heat upon heat: this makes one flexible, malleable, able to adapt to everything, even to the characters of foreign peoples. Oh, if we trace history, it shows how the individual German tribes have been absorbed into foreign peoples and have adopted foreign elements. All of this will confirm what has just been said.

[ 18 ] The great contrast between the Asian Orient and the American Occident is also evident to a remarkable degree in what has been discussed today. One might say: Light—and even that which lies beyond light in the ethereal realm—is what the national soul in the East uses to reach people, even though it is reflected from the Earth. The subterranean element, that which lies beneath the Earth, is what the West employs. — This can lead us deep into the organic-soul life of the entire Earth organism in its coexistence with humanity. It is by no means the intention to offend any part of the Earth’s population or to flatter another part. But it is nevertheless true: on the one hand, the spiritual current in the East, which flows downward toward heaviness and binds human beings to the Earth, is more characteristic of the West. Whether this corresponds more or less to the American national character, I leave to each individual to judge for themselves. An ascending tide, I would say, in the East; an ebbing, a working inward into the Earth in the West. Such is life.

[ 19 ] Of course, this does not happen all at once, but over the course of a lifetime and across generations, human beings come to resemble the conditions of the earth and adapt to them. So even if a European comes to the Orient, has children there, and those children have children of their own, prevailing circumstances demand that these conditions take shape. This has an effect on human beings. It is indeed the case: just as a nose will never grow out of a shoulder in our physical organism—only an arm will—so too will good yogis never emerge in America. It can be transplanted once, but just as one can grow all manner of plants in greenhouses, that is not the point; rather, what matters is what development itself intends within the natural context. All of this has been clearly stated and determined. Scientific biology is by no means what explains the nature of earthly conditions. To do that, one must, for example, examine the various modes of action of national souls, as we have discussed today, and how the unrevealed finds expression in the revealed.

[ 20 ] Human beings are thus embedded in the forces associated with the Earth. When you consider this, I would say that, on the one hand, it will weigh heavily on your soul to realize just how dependent human beings actually are on forces that are connected, in the manner described, to the patch of earth where karma has placed them in some incarnation. Of course, the fact that they are placed there is itself connected to their karma. Nevertheless, the conditions described may have something oppressive about them, and this sense of oppression becomes even greater if we do not take all circumstances into account. If we go back, in particular, to earlier periods of Earth’s evolution, we will find that the further back we go, the greater the dependence I have spoken of becomes, and the more humanity differentiates itself across the Earth’s surface as a result of such impulses. Yet Earth’s evolution already holds within it the possibility that human beings will gradually overcome this dependence—if not in its outward form, then at least in their inner lives.

[ 21 ] What would have to happen—let’s ask ourselves this—what would be conceivable for this dependence on this patch of earth to be alleviated in any way, so that human beings might somehow be lifted out of this necessity, as characterized here, and attain a certain degree of freedom?

[ 22 ] For this to happen, something would have had to occur at some point during humanity’s development on Earth that would directly contradict this dependence of human beings on their patch of earth. We have now discussed all the impulses that make human beings appear dependent on their patch of earth. I said: Something must also have happened that contradicts that dependence, something that would stand in stark contrast to these conditions. — It must be understood: That which lives on Earth, which is different from everything that operates through this dependence, would have a balancing, neutralizing effect on these conditions. What could that be?

[ 23 ] At the beginning of our era, the Mystery of Golgotha took place. Over time, we have highlighted many of its distinctive features. But one need only bring to mind a very striking, very general, and widely known characteristic of the Mystery of Golgotha, and one will see that even through something so close to the surface of things, this Mystery of Golgotha stands out as something special and unique in earthly life. Christ Jesus lived among a people who possess a distinct national character, a people who do everything they do out of this distinct national character. But what happens to Christ Jesus—what takes place out of this national character—the Mystery of Golgotha, the death on Golgotha—stands in complete contradiction to this national character. For the people among whom the Mystery of Golgotha unfolds neither incorporates it into their creed nor professes faith in Christ Jesus personally or individually; rather, they kill him, crying out: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” — Something is happening that cannot be intended for a people; something is happening that makes sense only when conceived in contradiction to what can arise from the national character—what the people reject of their own accord, annul from within themselves, and destroy. That is the secret of the Mystery of Golgotha. That is why it does not have a national character, does not grow out of the national character, but rather contradicts everything we have just characterized as humanity’s dependence on the national character. It is an event and an entity on earth that has nothing to do with the national character, because only that which is destroyed there—death—has anything to do with this national character. For this event has nothing to do with either the Jewish national character or the Roman national character active in the same region; for the Jews cry out, “Crucify him!”—and the Roman can find no fault in him, that is, he “does not know what to make of what is happening there.” The whole event stands apart from what can happen through national character. This makes the Mystery of Golgotha such an event that, if you study it closely, you cannot compare it to any other. Of course, there have been martyrs elsewhere as well; but martyrs did not arise for the reasons that apply to the Mystery of Golgotha. The more you study the Mystery of Golgotha, the more you will find that it occurred precisely because it has nothing to do with the character of a single people, but because it is connected to all of humanity. Therefore, one can truly say: On the one hand, we have that principle in human evolution which extends across humanity in such a way that it has a differentiating effect. Then, from this differentiation, something emerges that does not belong to the differentiated whole, but derives its distinctiveness precisely from the fact that it is independent of national character; that is the other side.

[ 24 ] In every respect, people will increasingly recognize that the essence of the Mystery of Golgotha is that, if it is to be understood, it requires an individual understanding. As people come to understand it more and more, they will gradually say: One can comprehend earthly conditions and human conditions in this or that way; but the Mystery of Golgotha stands on its own; it must be understood as a singular entity in its own right; nothing else can be used to understand it. Look wherever you will: Today, in the realm of the national soul, we have traced what is at work within humanity. We can explain all things from the perspective of the national soul, from the beginning of humanity on Earth to the present day—except for the Mystery of Golgotha and what is connected with it. Thus, we could find all manner of fields about which we could say: On the one hand stands everything else, and on the other hand stands the Mystery of Golgotha and its effects. — I have emphasized this many times before: Even today, learned theologians must admit that no historical evidence can be found for the Mystery of Golgotha to place it within the framework of history. One does not place events within the framework of history for which no historical evidence can be found—except for the Mystery of Golgotha and everything connected with it! For this, as something singular, is meant to be supernatural; there is to be no historical proof of it. The Mystery of Golgotha is not to be accepted by anyone who demands only historical, material evidence. It has the proper effect only on those who are able to rise above themselves and accept as historical something for which there is no evidence. Development will proceed in such a way that the external evidence for the Mystery of Golgotha will be swept away, will disappear; criticism will wash it away. But the spiritual understanding of human development will nevertheless establish this Mystery of Golgotha as the pivot of all earthly events. It must be grasped spiritually and integrated spiritually into the historical process of humanity. That is precisely its mystery. People will increasingly come to realize that they must no longer seek historical evidence, but rather the possibility of understanding that a supersensible understanding—a supersensible grasp of an event that took place sensibly on the physical earth—is necessary here, so that human beings can grasp their connection to the earthly historical development of humanity in the fullest sense of the word. We will continue discussing this here next time.