The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Anthroposophical Life-Gifts II

[ 1 ] When I attempted the day before yesterday to examine the influence exerted on human beings by the part of the Earth on which they develop as physical human beings, my primary aim was to highlight particularly clearly how the entire Earth is an organism—an animated, spiritually imbued organism. For just as an organism has its various, differentiated members, each of which has a specific task—the arms do not have the task of the legs, the heart does not have the task of the brain, and so on—so, when one regards the Earth as a whole, as an animated, spiritually permeated organism, every part of the Earth has its own specific task. This specific function of the individual human limbs is evident in the form of these individual limbs. The arms are shaped differently from the legs, and the heart differently from the brain. In the case of the Earth, this is not so clear with regard to the physical aspect. Anyone who, as a mere external, materialistic geographer, views the individual continents or other parts of the Earth—arranged according to this or that criterion—will not immediately notice that these various members of the Earth have different modes of action. This becomes apparent only to those who can, so to speak, take in the soul and spirit of the Earth. To recognize this, however, actually means rising above the concrete to the insight that the Earth is an animated, spirit-pervaded organism, and that human beings, as they live on Earth as physical beings, are a limb within this organism.

[ 2 ] When one takes this into account, various questions arise, and anyone who views human life as if it were confined to a single span between birth and death will have great difficulty dealing with these questions in a reasonable manner. For human beings, as physical beings, can integrate themselves only into a specific part of the Earth. They would thus be condemned to allow themselves to be completely specialized and differentiated by this particular part of the Earth—in a sense, unable to be a whole in any way, but merely a member of the Earth’s organism. But on the “other hand,” it is precisely from this insight into the animate, the Earth’s spiritualized aspect, an important insight: the realization that the actual, deeper essence of the human being—to which the human being, in the true sense, says “I”—cannot be directly, but only indirectly connected to this differentiation of the human being across the Earth; that the human being’s soul-spiritual core, so to speak, dwells only in that which is specified by the Earth’s particular nature. Thus, it is precisely this insight that human beings can gradually gain from such a process: that the spiritual-soul core of a human being cannot consist in what first presents itself to us in that person; that, in a sense, that in which a human being presents itself to us can be only the dwelling—the dwelling of the human being determined by the particular conditions of the Earth. — I do not mention this because it might appear to those already familiar with spiritual science as a particularly significant truth. Of course, it cannot be that. But it is meant to show how genuine, more profound reflection on the conditions of the Earth can lead a person, through this very reflection, to approach spiritual science purely on the basis of reason. For one of the most fatal prejudices must be dispelled—the one expressed in the claim that spiritual science can only be comprehensible to those who see into the spiritual world! — This is the prejudice that, time and time again—I might say—seeks to assert itself to the satisfaction of all those who are content with the status quo; those who, because they claim they cannot attain clairvoyant knowledge, would like to portray spiritual science, at first, as a kind of stopgap or as something that has nothing to do with humanity at all. In truth, comprehensive, penetrating thinking can indeed grasp spiritual science. But this thinking must be penetrating and comprehensive. It must be ready to measure the phenomena of life against what spiritual science establishes. Anyone who takes the knowledge available to them about the character traits of the various peoples on Earth and of the various inhabitants of the Earth, and compares it with what spiritual science tells them, will already recognize that what was discussed here last time is confirmed in the character traits of the peoples. One must truly bring what life offers to this insight. One must be willing to examine the insights of spiritual science in the light of life’s experiences without prejudice; then a rational understanding of the matter will lead to the acceptance of spiritual science.

[ 3 ] It is quite important to emphasize this today. For one could say that traditions which, in the spiritual-scientific sense, contain one element or another are far more widespread than is generally thought. However, there is a certain view—one that was well-founded until the advent of modern historical times, but which is still perpetuated today by some who are knowledgeable in the humanities—namely, the view that certain deeper insights into life should not be shared publicly. I have often explained the reasons that people who know something about these matters have for this reluctance to share, and I have also pointed out why these reasons no longer apply in the present day. But in a certain respect, it is precisely these facts that present a difficulty. For one faces not only the resistance of the vast majority of humanity to spiritual science, but also the opinion of those who do know something: that anyone who conveys things to the public from the wellspring of spiritual science—just as one conveys other truths to the public—is in the wrong. Those who believe that the veil of secrecy over certain things must still not be lifted will be healed when they recognize the importance of what has been stated, for example—albeit in a somewhat scientific form, but clearly enough, it seems to me—in the preface and introduction to my book *The Riddle of Man*.

[ 4 ] It is, in fact, necessary to recognize that this concept of truth and correctness, which most people still hold today, is precisely what needs to be overcome. Most people today hold the view that something is correct—and something is incorrect. But I must emphasize again and again—and I have also emphasized this particularly in the preface to *The Riddles of Humanity*—that a person’s individual view of a matter from a certain perspective is like a photograph of an object taken from a certain angle. If you first photograph a tree from one side and then from another, the second image is still a picture of the same tree; it just looks different. Only today, when people have become so abstract, when they have become so accustomed to the “theoretical”—even though they believe themselves to be practical people—today, a single view of a matter is regarded as all-encompassing, as capturing reality. People believe they can express reality in a single thought—or in something else. People are particularly arrogant in this belief that they can express reality through a single thought. I mean arrogant in the following sense, for example. People say: “Today we have the Copernican worldview.” And as for humanity before Copernicus—people don’t put it quite so bluntly, but they certainly think it—they were all children, if not outright cattle, because they hadn’t yet adopted the Copernican worldview! That one is correct, people think; the other worldviews are wrong. — That is something that must be overcome. Even the Copernican worldview is, after all, merely a viewpoint—a specific way of forming thoughts, ideas, and images about things. There are, however, people today who, as soon as they notice that spiritual science can offer a viewpoint—a legitimate viewpoint—on a matter, oppose it by setting another viewpoint on the matter against it. But even those who know that there are different views on a matter will not deny this. It’s just that today some people still want something quite special—something comparable, for example, to being in a room and saying: If you illuminate the room from a single point and then survey it from that spot through the light, that still gives you only a perspective view; that is not reality; let us rather turn off the light, make the room completely dark, and feel our way around every single object. Then all of us who feel our way around things in this way will have the same view. When we look at the room in the light, the person standing there has this view, another person standing elsewhere has that view, and so on. — Today, a certain ideal in the natural sciences would like to turn off the light and simply feel our way around everything. In contrast, the spiritual sciences must, of course, turn on the light. But then, naturally, the views are those perceived from somewhat different vantage points.

[ 5 ] Now, our approach is based precisely on the effort to travel the world in order to reach various locations and to take in perspectives from different vantage points—something we have been striving for for years—to take in perspectives from different vantage points. To this, some might say: One thing contradicts the other. — But that is precisely the point: that, in the sense just described, one contradicts the other, for it is precisely through this that one gains a comprehensive view of a matter. And that is exactly what matters. Only, this is by no means convenient. For people would prefer to have a little book, as thin as possible, in which an entire worldview is set forth. Or, if they do want to hear about worldviews more often, they want the same thing to be repeated over and over. Of course, that cannot be. Our printed series are multiplying, becoming ever more numerous, in order to shed light on things from various angles, to gain perspectives and viewpoints from various angles, which alone can then provide a complete picture of reality. However—as what I have just said will make clear to you—in a certain sense one must offend people when one is compelled to increasingly challenge the announced and implied prejudices with the truths of the spiritual sciences. In particular, however, when one thus goes against the demand of certain esoteric scholars not to disclose important matters to the public, one must speak of things that shock people, perhaps even annoy and provoke them, because these things—among many others—offend, for example, all those who say: Something can only be right or wrong. — Rather, the view must take hold that, in the succession of stages in humanity’s development, there can never be a stage in which one can say: “Now we have the absolute truth regarding any given body of thought”—or: “We now know what is absolutely false.” — That simply cannot exist. Certain views do not arise in order to finally give people the “right” answer, so that they can now look down haughtily on their ancestors as if they were children or something else entirely, but for an entirely different reason. | |

[ 6 ] Let us recall something we all know. With the 15th century of our era, humanity entered the fifth cultural epoch of post-Atlantean development, which we call the epoch of the development of the human soul of consciousness. What has particularly emerged with this fifth cultural epoch thus began in the 15th century A.D. Until then, it was the intellectual or emotional soul that had particularly come to the fore in the course of humanity’s cultural development. But in order for the consciousness soul to emerge, certain thoughts and certain modes of imagination took on a very specific character. Not because the Copernican worldview is absolutely correct—I, too, have often enough emphasized that it had to emerge, and I will emphasize again and again that, in a certain sense, it is appropriate for our time—but not because it is absolutely correct did it emerge, but because it serves the development of the conscious soul, because human beings best advance the development of the conscious soul when they gradually allow the Copernican worldview to become second nature to them, when they reach the point where, through the Copernican worldview, they can calculate certain constellations of the stars in the same way that modern science does.

[ 7 ] What, then, is actually so good about the Copernican worldview? It is not that it finally told us what was “right” as opposed to what was “wrong” in previous millennia, but that it erected a spiritual wall between Earth and Heaven, between the physical world and the spiritual world. Of course, this immediately leads to something terribly paradoxical—something that naturally offends those who hold the prejudices described earlier. But it is true: the point is that people began to conceive of the Earth’s orbit—its cosmic orbit—in a Copernican way because, by placing themselves within the Earth’s orbit through Copernican ideas, they erected a spiritual wall. There is no way through it. As a result, one is cut off from the spiritual realm and can remain within the Earth’s orbit with one’s ideas, developing the conscious soul precisely from within that orbit. Thus, so that human beings might limit themselves as selfishly as possible to the earthly realm, they were granted the Copernican worldview, which erects a spiritual wall around the Earth. The more fully the Copernican worldview takes shape, the more certain it is that human beings will be cut off from the spiritual world through their external perspective; but it also becomes all the more necessary for them to rediscover their connection with the spiritual through their inner perspective, through the enlivening of their inner being. Strange things are happening in parallel—very strange things indeed. I must admit I get a little difficult when such matters are discussed, but I would like to say that since, in the whole wide world, there is nothing but anthroposophy to help us understand these things, anthroposophists must simply make an effort to understand them.

[ 8 ] Today there is such a thing as epistemology; specifically, the branch of philosophy based on Kant is called epistemology. Yet this epistemology is truly—one might even say—a nail in the coffin of human knowledge. Just take one central idea, such as the one that usually crosses people’s minds today when they think of conventional epistemology. People say: The thing is out there. But what is out there is actually nothing more than a vibration of the ether—something that has nothing to do with color or sound, but is rather the movement of minute particles in space. Out there, the air vibrates, soundlessly. These vibrations in the air reach our ears—Schopenhauer said something rather irreverent about epistemology: they “drum” against the ear—and are subsequently transformed into what we call sound. Out there, everything is silent; there are merely vibrations in the air. Then there are ether waves out there. They reach the eye. But the matter is not yet complete: the waves reach the eye, and an image is formed on the retina; yet humans know nothing of this image unless it is investigated by science. Then these processes continue along the optic nerve. These, however, can only be of a material nature; they extend to the cerebral cortex, where a most mysterious process takes place. This is where the soul comes in, imagining what lies outside—what is dark and silent, luminous and colorful, warm and cold, and so on—creating these things first within itself, “dreaming” the entire world.

[ 9 ] Here we have something very curious: this is the path by which epistemology seeks to advance from the external material world to the human mind. But what, exactly, does this epistemology entail? It is curious: if one remains outside with the things that have sounds and colors—epistemology calls this “naive realism,” which uneducated people hold—then one at least has a world of sound and color. But now, through epistemology, this world is brought, for example, to the eye. Now you have the image on the retina; internally, you have only the reproduction of the image in the processes of the optic nerve; in the cerebrum, there is nothing of the external world, but the inner world conjures up the entire world again from these vibrations. One gets the feeling that it’s like Münchhausen pulling himself up by his own hair! First, everything is removed; then one has nothing left but brain vibrations; and afterward, the soul recreates the external world that one had previously removed—just like Münchhausen: one grabs hold of one’s own hair and lifts oneself up. But this is thorough philosophical science, and anyone who lacks this understanding is not on the cutting edge of today’s knowledge!

[ 10 ] It is peculiar: one tries to trace the entire diverse world all the way into the human being. What does one end up with? The processes in the cerebral cortex are, in fact, not nearly as complicated as those in the optic nerve; rather, they are the simplest. When one examines what the world is like within the human being, one arrives at something extremely simple. One seeks the spirit, but one arrives only at a spirit that dreams the world. Here one must take a leap, for no one has yet succeeded in distilling out the spirit. In the search for the spirit, one first arrives at brain vibrations; then one must [recreate what is no longer there]. This is the path science has taken to move from the external sensory world inward toward the spirit.

[ 11 ] On Earth, we find a vast diversity of living conditions and influences—a great diversity that fills us with awe and wonder. When we look at the diversity of people across the Earth—whether individual human characters strike us as likable or unlikable is irrelevant—and when we consider the resulting diversity among human beings, it is, in essence, as diverse as the sensory world outside is in relation to human beings. In those ancient times, when the “child-cattle” lived, people tried to comprehend this diversity of the Earth by ascending to heaven, by rising from the sensory to the spiritual. They no longer do that. As one ascends from the manifold Earth, farther and farther, it is as if one were moving from the external sensory world, through the eye and the brain, to the human spirit: one arrives at what Copernicanism presents as the great spiritual cosmos. Just as physiological epistemology has resorted to the method of using brain waves to erect a barrier, so as not to proceed from the external world to the human soul, so too does Copernicanism spiritually turn the world away from the spiritual world.

[ 12 ] If one wishes to recognize the value of a worldview, one must understand the perspective from which that worldview arises. The perspective of Copernicanism is not that of having once replaced the false with the true, but rather this: to board up the world so that human beings may develop their conscious soul within this earthly shack. That is what matters. One must view these things with a cool head and energy. One must first be able to shake the very foundation upon which the complacent adherents of today’s worldviews believe they stand so firmly. As long as one cannot shake it, as long as one cannot realize that it is actually through Copernicanism that the world is boarded up, one will not be able to establish a relationship with spiritual science. For this spiritual science has many necessities.

[ 13 ] Just imagine, for a moment, what the cosmos—apart from the Earth—is to the mere Copernican worldview: a mathematical example! For the science of the spirit, it cannot be a mathematical example; rather, it must be something that presents itself to spiritual cognition. Why do we have a geology that believes the Earth developed solely through the purely mineral world? Because the Copernican worldview, of course, had to give rise to today’s materialistic geology! For it contains nothing that could show how the Earth—as a being imbued with soul and spirit—might be understood as emerging from the cosmos or from the spiritual realm. A universe conceived in Copernican terms could only be a dead Earth! A living, soul-infused, and spirit-imbued Earth must be conceived from the perspective of another cosmos—truly from a cosmos other than the Copernican one. Naturally, one can only ever point to individual features of the Earth’s being as it appears when viewed from the cosmos.

[ 14 ] Is it a completely unrealistic notion to imagine earthly beings from the perspective of the cosmos? It is not an unrealistic notion; it is a very real one—a notion that, for example, once crossed Herman Grimm’s mind; but he immediately apologized for it as soon as he had written it down. In an essay from 1858, he says one could imagine—but he immediately adds: “I am not setting forth an article of faith here; it is merely a fantasy”—that the human soul, once freed from the body, would move freely through the cosmos around the Earth and then observe the Earth from the outside in this free movement; then, according to Herman Grimm, what is happening on Earth would appear to the human being in a completely different light. A person would come to know all events from a different perspective. For example, they would look into human hearts “as if into a glass beehive.” The thoughts arising in the human heart would spring forth as if from a glass beehive! — That is a beautiful image. — And then imagine this further: This person, who has been floating around the Earth for a while, observing it from the outside, would now return to incarnate on Earth once more. He would have a father and mother, a homeland, and everything that exists on Earth, and would now have to forget everything he had experienced from that other vantage point. And if he were, say, a historian in the modern sense—Herman Grimm is speaking subjectively here—he would have no choice but to forget that other perspective, since one cannot write history with that alternative viewpoint.

[ 15 ] This is a conception that comes very close to the truth. For it is certainly true that between death and rebirth the human soul hovers, as it were, around the Earth, but—as I have often described—due to karmic ties, it looks down upon the Earth. But then the soul certainly has the feeling: This Earth is an animated and spiritually permeated organism, and the prejudice that it is merely something inanimate, merely something geological, ceases. And then the Earth becomes quite distinct; for the soul’s perception between death and rebirth, it becomes so distinct that, in fact, the Orient, for example, looks different from the American West. One cannot speak to the dead about the Earth in the same way one speaks to geologists about it; for the dead do not understand geological concepts. But they know: When the Orient—from Asia all the way deep into Russia—is viewed from outer space, the Earth appears as if covered by a bluish glow, bluish, bluish-violet; that is how the Earth appears on this side when viewed from outer space. If one moves to the Western Hemisphere and looks at the part that is American, it appears more or less in a fiery red. There you have a polarity of the Earth, as viewed from outer space. Of course, the Copernican worldview cannot account for this on its own; but it is a different way of looking at things from a different perspective. And to those who adopt this perspective, it now becomes clear: this Earth, this animated earthly organism, presents itself outwardly differently in its eastern half than in its western half. In its eastern half, it has its blue covering; in its western half, it has something like a flaring out of its inner being toward the outside, hence the reddish, fiery appearance outwardly. — There you have one of the examples of how a human being can orient themselves between ‘death and new birth’ according to what they then come to recognize. They learn to recognize the configuration of the Earth, its different appearance as it relates to the cosmos and to the spiritual realm. They learn to recognize: On one side it is bluish-violet, on the other burning red. And depending on their spiritual need—which they will develop out of their karma—this determines where they wish to reincarnate. Of course, one must imagine these things as being much more complicated than I have described them here. But out of such circumstances, between death and rebirth, the human being develops the powers that then lead him to incarnate into a specific, hereditary child’s body.

[ 16 ] These are just two color characteristics I have mentioned. Of course, besides colors, there are other characteristics—many others. For now, I’ll just mention that between the East and the West, in the middle, the Earth appears more greenish when viewed from the outside; for our regions, for example, it appears greenish. So in fact, this already establishes a threefold structure that can provide important insights into the way in which a person can make what they see between death and rebirth a determining factor for themselves, in order to appear here or there on Earth.

[ 17 ] If we take this into account, we will gradually come to realize that certain factors come into play in the relationship between the human being embodied here in the physical body and the disembodied human being—factors that are usually not even considered. When we go to a foreign country and want to understand the people there, we must learn their language. Likewise, if we want to communicate with the dead, we must gradually learn the language of the dead. But this is also the language of spiritual science, for all so-called living beings and all so-called dead beings speak this language. It is what reaches across from the other side and from this side as well. But it is especially important to acquire not merely abstract concepts, but images of the universe itself. We get a picture of the Earth when we imagine it as a sphere floating in space, glowing bluish-violet on one side and burning and sparkling reddish-yellow on the other; and in between is a green belt. Visual images gradually carry people over into the spiritual world. That is what matters. One is naturally compelled to present such visual images when speaking seriously about the spiritual worlds, and it is further necessary that people not merely believe these visual images to be mere fabrications, but rather that they be put to use. — Let us visualize this once more: the bluish-violet glowing Eastern Earth, the reddish-yellowish sparkling Western Earth. But there are also various nuances to consider. When the deceased, in our present cycle of time, contemplates certain points, they come to see—from the place marked here on Earth by the fact that it is Palestine, that it is Jerusalem—something of a golden form, a golden crystalline structure emerging from the midst of the bluish-violet glow, which then comes to life: that is Jerusalem, as seen from the spiritual perspective! This is what also appears in the Book of Revelation—when I speak of imaginations—as the “heavenly Jerusalem.” These are not figments of the imagination; they are things that can be seen. Viewed spiritually, the Mystery of Golgotha was like what one can experience through physical observation when, today, an astronomer points his telescope out into space and then beholds what fills him with wonder—such as the twinkling of stars. Spiritually, viewed from the universe, the event of Golgotha was the shining of a golden star in the blue earth aura of the eastern half of the Earth. There you have the imagery for what I developed at the end of my talk the day before yesterday. It is truly a matter of using such imaginative visions to form new conceptions of the universe, which allow the human soul to place itself, through feeling, into the spirit of this universe.

[ 18 ] Try, with the mind of one who has passed away, to envision the crystalline form of the heavenly Jerusalem, rising in golden splendor within the blue-violet aura of the Earth; this will bring you closer to it; for this is something that belongs to the imaginations into which the dead pass: Ex Deo nascimur — In Christo morimur!

[ 19 ] There is a way to shut oneself off from spiritual reality, and there is a way to draw closer to it. One can shut oneself off from spiritual reality by trying to calculate reality. Although mathematics is still spirit—indeed, pure spirit—when applied to physical reality, it becomes the means of shutting oneself off from the spiritual. The more you calculate, the more you shut yourself off from the spirit. Kant once said: “There is as much science in the world as there is mathematics in it.”—But from another point of view, which is equally valid, one could also say: There is as much darkness in the world as humans have succeeded in calculating from the world. And one draws closer to spiritual life when, moving from external perception—especially from abstract concepts—one advances more and more toward imaginations, toward visual representations. Copernicus led people to calculate the universe. The opposite perspective must lead people to visualize the universe anew, to conceive of a universe with which the human soul can identify, so that the Earth appears as an organism shining out into the universe: blue-violet, with the golden, radiant heavenly Jerusalem on one side, and sparkling reddish-yellow on the other.

[ 20 ] Where does the blue-violet color on one side of the Earth’s aura come from? When one looks at this side of the globe, the physical aspect of the Earth disappears, as seen from the outside; the light aura becomes more transparent, and the darkness of the Earth vanishes. It is the blue that allows one to see through it. You can explain this phenomenon using Goethe’s theory of colors. But because the Earth’s interior surges upward from the western hemisphere—surges upward in such a way that what I described the day before yesterday is true: in America, human beings are shaped by the subterranean, by what lies beneath the Earth—that is why the Earth’s interior also radiates and surges outward into the cosmos like a red-yellow glow, like a reddish-yellow spray of fire. — This is meant to be only a very rough sketch. But it is intended to show you how it is indeed possible to speak today—not merely in general, abstract terms—about the world in which we live between death and new birth, but in very, very concrete images. After all, all of this serves to prepare our soul to establish a connection with the spiritual world, to establish a connection with the higher hierarchies, to establish a connection with that world in which human beings live between death and new birth. But I will speak about that in particular tomorrow. Today I would like to mention just one more thing.

[ 21 ] The current phase of human development—this fifth post-Atlantean era, which is intended for the development of the consciousness soul—contains many mysteries. One of these is particularly well guarded by those who believe that such truths should not yet be revealed to humanity today. This, again, is somewhat difficult. But since there is no one else in the whole wide world who is willing to accept such things, you must be prepared to acknowledge them. — In the course of this cultural epoch, which began with the 15th century of our era, a strange longing began to make itself felt among people—a longing that initially resides in the subconscious but must increasingly be brought up into consciousness. This longing stems from something very specific.

[ 22 ] I have often said: Human beings are ambivalent beings. They are multifaceted beings, but above all ambivalent, and as such consist of the head and the rest of the organism. The head, I said, is specifically what Darwin’s theory should be applied to, for the head is what traces back to animal forms. During the ancient Lunar Age, human beings had animal forms, but not those of the present-day animal kingdom; rather, they had a more spiritual, ethereal animal form. This solidified into the human head. And now, as the animals on Earth develop as they do, human beings do not develop under the same conditions that once applied to their head—for they have inherited it—but rather according to the conditions of the rest of their organism. But the rest of the organism does not descend from the animals. The head descends from the animals, but only from the ethereal animals. We therefore carry within our head an animal nature, but an ethereal animal nature. This entered the unconscious of human beings in the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. More and more they sensed: There is something animal in human beings—but they could no longer conceive of it spiritually. They convinced themselves that human beings must feel “animal-like,” which then culminated in Darwin’s theory of human descent from animals. But this was not expressed solely in Darwin’s theory of evolution. The animal perceives things differently than humans do; it stands in a more intimate connection with things than humans do. It is precisely because humans separate themselves from things—only to then have to build a bridge back to them of their own accord—that they are this preeminent being on Earth. The animal experiences the external world much more within itself than humans do. If it were philosophically inclined, it would not speak of limits to knowledge, because for the animal there are no limits to knowledge in the sense that humans speak of them; these exist precisely because of the higher organization of the human being. The animal, so to speak, feels the entire universe within itself through its group soul; it has no limits to knowledge and knows nothing of them. — People began to feel this more and more: One carries an animal within oneself. People did not want to conceive of it as spiritual, supersensory, or etheric; physically, they thought of humans as related to animals. Now they also wanted to possess a form of knowledge that was subconscious, like that of the animal. But they could only prove that they could not possess such knowledge. The animal lives with the “thing-in-itself.” For humans, the “thing-in-itself” becomes unknown when they say: “I would actually like to be an animal; I would like to have it as well as the animal does, but I cannot have it as well.” — To posit a “thing-in-itself” that sets limits to our knowledge stems from humanity’s longing to feel animal-like and yet to recognize that one cannot possess the same kind of knowledge as an animal. This is the secret of Kantianism! It is intimately connected with modern humanity’s movement toward an awareness of animality, which can also be said of the limits of knowledge. The ancients knew that animals have no limits to their knowledge; therefore, they regarded it as a blessing to understand the language of animals, for example. You are all familiar with the corresponding legend.

[ 23 ] This is one thing the ancients knew: that animals have no limits to their cognition in the sense that humans in modern times understand it. But they knew something else as well: that the beings belonging to the hierarchy of the Angeloi are free beings, beings endowed with free will. And they knew that humanity is on the path to becoming an angel. When the Earth has moved beyond the Jupiter era, humanity will stand on the level of the angels. Humanity is now on the path to freedom. Freedom is developing within him. But what remains of the time that gradually arises with the development of the conscious soul if humanity rejects the development toward the level of the Angeloi? What remains is the thought: Freedom is an illusion! Human beings are subject to natural necessity with regard to their actions. To the extent that limits are set on knowledge, to that extent is the development toward freedom rejected. This is intimately connected with what has then emerged—albeit in a cruder form—in the assertion that human beings are descended from animals, whereas in truth they have a lineage as complex as I have explained.

[ 24 ] I have asked you to grapple with some rather difficult concepts today. But they were necessary, and tomorrow we will be able to discuss, from a certain perspective, the connection between our present earthly life in the physical body and the life between death and rebirth. Those concepts will not be as difficult. But what you were so kind to listen to today regarding the more difficult concepts will help you tomorrow in relation to other concepts.