Lecture I

Mysteries of the Sun and of the Threefold Man
GA 183

24 August 1918, Dornach

Should anyone wish to understand the age in which he is actually living, he must do so out of wider cosmic connections. The pettiness of this age lies in man refusing, out of these wider connections, to enlighten himself about the impulses, the forces, working into the present time. And to understand what is working anywhere nowadays it will become increasingly necessary to hark back to the conditions through which mankind's development passed at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha—this Mystery of Golgotha—we have presented it from the most various points of view, and have seen how deeply and with what significance it has taken hold of the whole course of evolution, the whole evolution of man. We know how differently men perceived and experienced before and after the Mystery of Golgotha. Naturally one condition did not pass over immediately into the other. But when we make a retrospective survey, we discover what has been stated from so many points of view. Today, so that a certain basis may be made for our further studies, there is one thing to which I should particularly like to point.

If we consider the mood, the condition of man's soul, before the Mystery of Golgotha, we can say in general that in the culture of mankind, the mankind from whom the present cultural life has arisen, a certain capacity existed in the soul to look into the secrets of the cosmic, spiritual world. Before the Mystery of Golgotha it went without saying that men did not look up to the starry heavens in the way they do today. We know how men now look at the stars and say: other planets are connected with our earth and with it revolve around the sun, and there are innumerable other fixed stars also having their planets. And if men notice what kind of thoughts they are harboring in these reflections they have to own that they are thinking of a great world machinery. Present day man has very little idea that anything beyond the forces of this great world machinery is ruling and working; but for man before the Mystery of Golgotha this was more or less self-evident. It was particularly natural for him to regard the Sun, for example, quite differently from the way in which the modern physicist regards it—roughly speaking, simply as a kind of glowing ball in universal space. Before the Mystery of Golgotha men knew that the Sun thus spoken of in physics is only one element of the whole Sun, at the basis of which lies what is of the soul and what is of the spirit. And the Spiritual lying at the Sun's basis the wise men of Greece called the universal good of the world, the goodness of the world, the unity, the good seething through the universe. That was to him the spirit of the Sun. To this Greek sage it would have seemed crass superstition to think as the modern physicist thinks—that there outside in universal space a mere glowing ball is floating. To him this glowing, floating ball was the manifestation of unified goodness, the active centre of the world. With this central good that is of a spiritual nature there was united what was of a soul nature called by the Greeks Helios. Then, third, there came the physical expression of the Good and of Helios, the physical Sun. Thus, where the Sun is, the man of that day saw what was threefold. And with this three foldness then seen in the Sun, the men who were thinking at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, prepared as the were by their knowledge of this Mystery of Golgotha, and also of the ancient mysteries—united the threefold Sun-mystery of the sages with the Christ Mystery, with the Mystery of Golgotha itself. For those who knew, veneration of the Sun was one with veneration of the Christ; for them the Sun-wisdom was united with the Christ-wisdom.

To feel all this in accordance with nature, to experience it as a matter of course, it was necessary to have the constitution of soul existing at that time. But this constitution of soul vanished. It was already vanishing by the eight pre-Christian century, beginning in the year 747 before the Mystery of Golgotha—747 the actual date of the Foundation of Rome. At the time of the Foundation of Rome the old possibility was vanishing of seeing the spiritual outside in the Cosmos, and as Rome enters history, what we may call the ‘prosaic element' comes into human evolution. The Greeks, for instance, preserved in the whole of their world-conception the power of seeing the other two Suns behind the Sun—the soul and the spirit of the Sun—and only because the Mystery of Golgotha did not descend purely into the wisdom and perception of Greece, but into the wisdom and perception of Rome, has it happened that knowledge of the connection of Christ with the spiritual Sun has been cut off. Thus the Christian gathers and Teachers of the Church have had particularly to concern themselves with shrouding the Mystery of the Sun, making mankind forget this mystery, not allowing it to become known. Throughout the further course of the development of Christianity (as it is called) a veil was destined to be spread over the deep, the significant and all-embracing wisdom of Christ's connection with Sun-Mystery.^{1Compare The Threefold Sun and the Risen Christ 24.IV.22

Compare An Occult Psychology Lecture. I 17.VIII.18.}

Should we wish to define the task of the Church, the Church that owed its origin to Christianity having come down into all that was Roman, we should have to say that this Christian Church, colored as it was by Rome, had the particular task of shrouding as far as possible the Christ-Mystery, as far as possible keeping people in ignorance of it. The organisation the Church experienced through Romanism was especially suited to keep men as far as possible from knowledge of the Christ-Mystery. By this, the Church has become an institution for holding back the mystery of Christ, an institution for admitting the world as little as it could to the Christ-Mystery. This is something that today must become ever clearer to mankind, for the age must begin that is in the position to work with other concepts than those of Rome. Roman concepts are precisely those that have the hard outlines, the hard form of the corpse. The concepts that are developed to grasp, for example, the truth about man, as I drew him on the blackboard for you a week ago, in what I might call his normal aura, the concepts necessary for man's true reality to be grasped again and through that the reality of the world, these concepts must be flexible, they should not have sharp outlines. For reality is not rigid, it is something that is becoming. And should we want to understand reality with our concepts and ideas, we have with these to pursue the flow, the becoming of reality.

When this fluidity of the concept is ignored there arises what to the undoing of mankind can be observed today in countless places. Take a phenomenon that forces itself on the attention of any observer of the world who is wide awake and in earnest. It is as follows: you will allow it to be true that we have among us in the world men of learning in the most various spheres. These learned ones are the champions, the keepers of knowledge. Although modern man is not a believer in authority, in spite of having rid the world of such superstition, he takes on trust everything upheld in the various spheres by the learned. And these among themselves, always believe their brethren concerning a matter outside their own sphere. Men today do not willingly see into these connections for should they do so they would be shocked at the disconnected and chaotic nature of our culture. We have, however, experienced the following, for example. Let us suppose some learned man—and we can always pick one out of the various spheres has for his particular sphere, let us say, Egyptology—I will take something exotic, so let it be Egyptology. So, we will agree that his profession is to instruct other men, unable to avail themselves of the sources of such knowledge, concerning the particular qualities of the Egyptian people. He gives these men instruction also concerning the relations of the Egyptians to other peoples of antiquity. It is the part of these men to take all this on trust for the instructor is an authority on Egyptology. Now something most unfortunate is a feature of our age—a great number of these learned men who represent such special subjects have not remained silent. It would have been better had they kept silence but this they have not done; for instance, they have today applied their way of thinking, their thought structure, under the impression of these events to their own people and its relation to other peoples. Here we have a good opportunity of seeing what nonsense is talked. Now from this we have to draw our conclusions, and conclusions founded on reality in thought. We may say that quite a number who are authorities in the domain of Egyptology, and are thought to hold incontestable concepts in regard to the particular qualities of the Egyptian people and their relations to other peoples, now, suddenly at the present time, are talking utter nonsense about their own people and the relation of these to other folk: Do you really believe that they are talking, have talked, more intelligently about the Egyptians and their relations to other peoples? When Balfour speaks today about the relation of his people to the rest of the world, or when Houston Stewart Chamberlain is continually uttering rubbish about the connections between men, one can gather without much reflection that they are simply talking nonsense—pure nonsense: And now Chamberlain has written The Foundation of Culture in the Nineteenth Century, and a number of other books for which there has not been the opportunity to verify the history. In these he will naturally have talked exactly the same nonsense.

Already now the time of testing has come, the time of trial, when we have at last to see that it is not a matter simply of delivering judgment that only has limited value by being right in a certain sphere—that is true of almost every judgment, the most false is right in some particular—but what matters is to seek for that flexible, fluid judgment that presses on to the reality, and only through spiritual science can that be found.

How remarkable it is what conflict today comes to the surface between sound thinking and the thinking of the times. Recently we have heard of a religious discussion that has taken place in what was St. Petersburg. A religious discussion right in the midst of Bolshevism: About a religion and its development there spoke Socialists, Priests of the Greek Church, and it goes without saying, all kinds of bourgeois folk who naturally were not the most intelligent of the speakers. And from the discussion that was carried on there—which was of course tinged with modern colour, but throughout had recourse to the most rigid and ancient concepts—from this discussion, as it appears, it was possible to learn much. For instance, one Priest brought forward something of the greatest interest. He felt himself obliged, it seems, to speak as he was accustomed to address his flock. Now formerly he had naturally told his flock that everything in the world—including Czarism, of course and indeed everything—was from God. And what can this good Priest do now? Naturally he still has somehow to follow the same theme that he used in speaking to his flock—no longer now his flock—for he has no wish to take on new concepts. So he says: The world is from God, all comes from God. As we now have Soviet rule that is from God too. Bolshevism is certainly sent man by God. Since everything is from God, Bolshevism as well must come from Him.—What else was he to say? I am quite sure that the deduction could be pressed further; why should it not be made beautifully plausible that the devil is from God? Naturally the devil is appointed by God—according to the same deduction. This is how things are—by getting deeper light on what is necessity, it is natural that one should meet on all sides with the strongest opposition. But no one can go to sleep who has undertaken to play a part in the remodeling of man's powers of conception.

Now concepts worked out by materialism—concepts that pass current as being incontestable belong to all that must be most thoroughly overcome. Nothing meets us with more persistence from the so-called authority of science than what is known as the law of the conservation of energy and of matter, of force and of substance. That has grown very near to man's heart. It is true, is it not, that the world conception that has become entirely mechanistic and physical, wants to be deaf in face of the actual presence of the spirit. As it refuses to recognise the spirit it cannot ascribe to it either duration or eternity so it ascribes eternity to its little idol, the atom, or anyhow to some matter or force. But the truth is, my dear friends, that of all that is extended around you as what you can look upon with your senses, what surrounds you in the world as matter and forces—of all this in accordance with normal laws there will be nothing left by the time of the Venus age. We know that after the Earth evolution there follows that of Jupiter, after the Jupiter evolution that of Venus, and then that of Vulcan. As man finds himself again in different incarnations, so the earth finds itself as Jupiter, from the Jupiter evolution as Venus and then again as Vulcan. What today from any experiment in physics is found as matter and the structure of matter, will not be there after the Venus existence. There is no conservation of matter and force, the matter and force of which physicists speak, beyond the existence of Venus. The whole law of the conservation of matter and of force is pure superstition, and is something by which all concepts in physics are governed. Something is concealed, however, when the world is spoken of as consisting of indestructible matter that is continuously being submitted to different grouping, different arrangement. And what is thus concealed is the answer to the question: what then remains of all that is so widely spread out before our senses when this is no longer there—when the Venus age has come or when it is already half way through its term? What then remains? Where is there anything? What is still there?

Now, my dear friends, direct your gaze outside into the vast circumference that you can see. Look at everything, look at the whole of the kingdoms of mineral, plant, animal and man; look at all you can see in the way of stars, light-phenomena; see what happens in air and water; look wherever you like, include everything that can possibly be included in your external sense perceptions—then ask yourselves: Where is anything in which there will remain a vestige of our present existence? And the answer is: In no animal, in no plant, in no mineral, not in any air, or any water—nowhere but in man: Of what you see today man himself alone contains anything that in accordance with law continues beyond the Venus existence—Nowhere else can you seek anything permanent, anything that can be referred to by the concept of eternity—nowhere save in man. That is to say, if we are looking for the seeds of the real future of the world where have we to seek? We must seek them in man. We cannot look for them in any other creation or any other kingdom. But before the Mystery of Golgotha, men of old naturally in spirit—saw through the kingdoms the cosmic All. If we take the representative, the Sun, they saw a glowing ball, but through the glowing ball they saw Helios and the Good. Nevertheless this glowing sphere of the Sun will not exist beyond the Venus age; it will then disappear. And everything through which man, in ancient times, saw in a veiled way, the constituents of some spiritual existence will also disappear. And of all that is here now there will remain for the future only what is planted seedwise into man.

What then has actually happened? Before the Mystery of Golgotha men used to look out into the wide Cosmos; they saw stars upon stars, they saw Sun and Moon, air and water, the various kingdoms. But they did not see them in the same way as modern man, for they saw them all with the divine spiritual being behind. And behind all that, they saw the Christ who had not then descended to earth. In those olden times Christ was seen to be united with the cosmos; he was seen outside the earth. There is nothing in which Christ was thus seen that will last beyond the Venus age. Everything through which the spiritual and also Christ in the cosmos were revealed to man before the Mystery of Golgotha will last only to the Venus existence. Before the Mystery of Golgotha men lived with the heavens, but these heavens are so physical that they too will vanish with the Venus existence. What will last longer than that has its seed in man alone. The Christ had to come to man out of the cosmos if He wished to tread with man the path to eternity. Because all that I have described to you is so, Christ descended from the cosmos in order henceforth to be with what as seed in man, will last on into eternity.

That is the great cosmic event that must be understood. Before the Mystery of Golgotha men could worship the God, the Christ, in the cosmos. Since the Mystery of Golgotha the time has come when the seed for the eternal future of the world is increasingly only in man; and the men who were to come after had to have a Christ who is not outside in the cosmos which will disintegrate, but be united with man, united with the human organisation, with the human kingdom. It is literally true that what are there for the senses in the whole wide circumference as stars, as heavenly bodies, will pass away.^{2See Whitsuntide lecture Dornach 6-9-24 page 7.} But the word will remain, the Logos, who has appeared in the Christ and is united with the eternal essential being of man. And this is literally true, as things in the real occult, religious primal record are literal truth.

That is also the reason why a double name has to be given—I have already given indications of this—the double name Christ-Jesus. It must not be forgotten that on the one hand we must recognise the Christ who belongs to the cosmos beyond the earth, the spiritual being who before the mystery of Golgotha was not bound up with man on earth. Then He descended and united Himself with human nature—with the Jesus. In the twofold name Christ-Jesus there lies what it is necessary to understand. In the Christ we have to see the cosmic, the spiritual; in Jesus we must see that through which this cosmic, spiritual being entered historic evolution, binding Himself to mankind in such a way that He can now live on with the seed of man into eternity.

And as the centuries flowed on it was the task of the Church to conceal, to misrepresent, this mystery of Christ which was connected with the ancient mysteries. Just try really to study what during all those early centuries was passed through by man, try to see clearly how it was with the individual man who really wanted to seek Christ-Jesus, who really wanted to find the path to Him—it was a long path of martyrdom. Christ-Jesus had always to be sought in defiance of convention—as even today he must be sought against the stream of those conventions that still persist.

One cannot, however, come near the Christ-Mystery if one does not connect it with the mystery of nature. For you see what we have placed before our souls, namely, the necessity for the descent of Christ from cosmic heights to the seed in man, the mystery of Christ becoming Jesus, can be understood only when the study of nature, the study of the world, cosmology, the knowledge of man's becoming, and of the divine in man—when all these form a unity. In a certain sphere it is sought to prevent natural science becoming at the same time spiritual science, or spiritual science becoming natural science. That is what most theologians try to do, and, in another domain, what most modern physicists try to do—to erect a barrier between physical science, on the one side, spiritual science on the other. On no account must anything be said about Christ-Jesus that is connected at the same time with the evolution of the earth; nor anything be said about earth-evolution, that is, about its details, that is connected with the great spiritual mystery.

Touching on these things, one actually touches on what is of most importance, of supreme importance in the life of modern man. For confused chatter about all kinds of spiritual things, that has indeed been brought to one's attention by our friends, brought to one's attention ad nauseam—this sort of confused chatter profits no one. I am referring to how constantly people come to one saying: Just listen: So and so has been speaking quite theosophically—or anthroposophically he has said such and such a thing: This facile looking around for support in the present confusion is not what we are meant to be striving for: we should stand on the firm ground that spiritual science will surely give us. The time is too grave for further compromise, particularly in this sphere. For to build the bridge between the knowledge of nature, that is, the knowledge of anything perceived, and the knowledge to which belong sin and redemption, in short, the religious truths—to set up a bridge between these two domains can be done only when man finds the courage really to penetrate to the spiritual. And what is more, should he not have this same courage he will never be able to discover reason where the truths of life are concerned. For penetrating spiritual reality we need above all the possibility of being able to in some measure look back to the threefold Sun-Mystery of olden days, to look back, however, in the new way suitable for present-day mankind. Precisely in the same way as the sun is a trinity so also is man. But it is important that we should really study this threefold man, and this study is of the utmost importance at the present time. Today I should like to give you diagrammatically something of a preparatory nature that can guide you to the path that must really be sought for the understanding of threefold man. Tomorrow and the day after we shall bring this important subject to a close.

Just imagine the following. What I am now sketching is only meant as a diagram. (see diagram 1). Imagine you had a figure that was merely a picture, an image, having no meaning in itself, in fact an image. I shall draw it like this—in a simple circle (see blue in diagram 1) a circular surface, that is, a form that is the image of something else, but through being an image has entirely consumed that something, of which it is the image. It sounds strange when I say the following but just consider it. In our cupola, in the small cupola, four ladies are working. Let us suppose these four ladies—two on either side—paint their own portraits, and that this has a particular sequel. Imagine these four ladies painting their own pictures in the small cupola, portraying themselves there, imagine that this self-portraiture has a quite definite sequel—the ladies disappear, pass over into their image and cease to exist. Having completed their work they no longer are there. Through the coming into existence of their images they are no longer there. Behind what I have here sketched, picture to yourselves a figure like that, a figure that has originated through being made by something of which it is the image but this something being absorbed, sucked up by the existence of the image. Now what is thus absorbed is not alone in the world. Picture to yourselves that we have not finished with these four ladies. Very good; these four ladies have disappeared—they have painted their own portraits and disappeared but the pictures are still there. And they are not alone there in the cosmos, the cosmos is still there with its forces besides. The ladies have vanished and have been as it were sucked up by the pictures; but by the pictures being there substance is assembled again out of the cosmos and the ladies are built up anew, as children new, it is true, but new; they gradually grow up again, grow up near by. And so, by the side of this figure, its original image blossoms anew (see yellow in diagram). I must make a little addition to the drawing, put it by the side—this is the archetypal image. It is the archetype, the prototype, but there is a very loose connection between the image and its prototype, a very loose connection indeed. The one has almost nothing to do with the other. The image has definitely hardened and has almost lost all connection with its prototype.

And now imagine a second figure. I will sketch the second figure so that I make it also as an image (see violet in centre diagram), only the first is inside the second. Thus I boldly draw the second over the first. This is again an image of the same kind. Again an image resembling another that I will draw here also (see red in diagram); but these have now to be more closely connected. Therefore, as the matter stands, I cannot use the same comparison as I did earlier with the four ladies, but now when I want to make a comparison with regard to this picture and its image I must say: The four ladies are there: they are painting in the small cupola, and as they paint something actually—goes out from them, is sucked out. They are, however, only half sucked out, and finally they are—no I will say something else that will not call up an inartistic comparison—from one the left half of the body is sucked up while the right projects out of the picture; from the other the right side is sucked out, the left still projecting. Thus they are partly sucked out and partly still jut out. That is the second.

Now picture a third that again embraces the first and also the second (see green in diagram.) This, however, is to a great extent connected with its image, not yet separated from it. So that if I want to keep strictly to the comparison I have to say: The ladies are painting, but they are still there as ladies, and everything I have before me as a whole is the ladies and their images—that is there (see orange in diagram) and the greatest part is also present in the prototype.

So you have here drawn diagrammatically, first above, an image grown hard, crystallized, that has as little as possible to do with its prototype; the latter being by the side of it, newly arising. That is indeed your head, the most material and the hardest part of human nature. Its prototype has just nothing to do with it, arises afresh. And when you reach twenty-eight years of age, your head becomes so that out of itself nothing is forthcoming, nothing is to be developed. In the constitution of man the greatest materialist is the head.

A second figure is breast and breathing and everything belonging to these. I could almost use the second as a model. That is rather more connected, spirit and matter depending more upon each other; here it is more permeated with spirit. All that is lung and breathing process is for the earth already more spiritual.

And what remains, the limb system in connection with all that has to do with sex, there spiritual and physical are one, there they are still together. This belongs to the third diagram. And you have threefold man.

Today I have been able to draw this only diagrammatically on the board. This majestic and profound mystery, at the same time wonderful and fearful, is connected with the Mystery of the threefold Sun. This again is connected with all the truths that we need, as we need the bread of life, for everything that must be put in place of what is chaos, what has reached a blind alley, and has led to the present human catastrophe.

We shall speak of this further tomorrow.

Vierter Vortrag

Wenn man eine Zeit, in der man selbst lebt, verstehen will, so muß man sie aus größeren Weltenzusammenhängen heraus verstehen. Das ist gerade das Kleinliche der gegenwärtigen Zeit, daß man nicht will die Impulse, die Kräfte, die wirksam sind in der Gegenwart, aus größerem Zusammenhang heraus sich klarmachen. Und insbesondere wird es immer wieder und wiederum notwendig sein, um das eine oder das andere gegenwärtig Wirksame zu verstehen, zurückzugreifen zu den Verhältnissen, durch welche die Menschheitsentwickelung gegangen ist zur Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha. Dieses Mysterium von Golgatha, wir haben es ja von den verschiedensten Gesichtspunkten aus dargestellt und haben gesehen, wie tief, wie bedeutsam es eingreift in den ganzen Evolutionsgang, die ganze Entwickelung der Menschheit. Wir wissen, daß die Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha anders die Welt empfanden, anders anschauten als nach dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Natürlich geht das nicht so auf einmal aus dem einen Zustand in den andern Zustand über. Aber der rückschauenden Betrachtung ergibt sich schon dasjenige, was wir von den verschiedensten Gesichtspunkten aus dargelegt haben. Insbesondere möchte ich heute, um eine gewisse Grundlage für die nächsten Betrachtungen zu finden, auf eines hinweisen.

Wenn wir die Stimmung, die Verfassung der Menschenseelen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha betrachten, so können wir im allgemeinen sagen, daß innerhalb der Kulturmenschheit, also derjenigen Menschheit, aus der die heutige Kulturmenschheit hervorgegangen ist, vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha eine gewisse Fähigkeit in den Seelen vorhanden war, in die Geheimnisse der kosmischen, geistigen Welt hineinzuschauen. Es war für die Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha gewissermaßen selbstverständlich, nicht so zum Sternenhimmel hinaufzuschauen, wie heute der Mensch zum Sternenhimmel hinaufschaut. Wir wissen ja, heute schaut der Mensch zum Sternenhimmel: hinauf, indem er sich sagt: Mit unserer Erde sind einige andere Planeten verbunden, die mit ihr zusammen um die Sonne kreisen; dann sind unzählige andere Fixsterne da, die wiederum ihre Planeten haben. - Und wenn dann der Mensch darauf achtet, was er eigentlich, indem er sich so etwas überlegt, für einen Gedanken hat, so muß er sich doch sagen, er hat den Gedanken einer großen Weltmaschinerie. Daß da noch anderes waltet und wirkt als die Kräfte dieser großen Weltmaschinerie, das macht sich der Mensch der Gegenwart nur sehr, sehr wenig klar. Das war mehr oder weniger für den Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha selbstverständlich. Insbesondere war für ihn selbstverständlich, die Sonne zum Beispiel nicht bloß als dasjenige anzuschauen, als was sie der heutige Physiker anschaut, roh gesprochen, eine Art glühender Kugel im Weltenraume draußen, sondern der Mensch vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha wußte ganz genau: Diese Sonne, von der die Physik spricht, diese Sonne ist nur ein Element in der ganzen Sonne. Dieser Sonne liegt zugrunde ein Seelisches und ein Geistiges. Und das Geistige, das dieser Sonne zugrunde liegt, sprach ja noch der griechische Weise als das allgemeine Weltgute an, als das Gute der Welt, als das einheitliche, die Welt durchwallende Gute. Das war ihm der Geist der Sonne. Ihm wäre es, diesem griechischen Weisen, als stärkster Aberglaube vorgekommen, so zu denken, wie der heutige Physiker denkt, daß da draußen im Weltenraume einfach eine glühende Kugel schwebe; sondern ihm war diese glühende, schwebende Kugel die Offenbarung des einheitlich Guten, das in der Welt zentral wirksam ist. Und mit diesem zentralen Guten, das geistiger Art ist, ist wiederum verbunden ein Seelisches: der Helios, wie es die Griechen nannten. Und erst das dritte, der physische Ausdruck des Guten und des Helios, war dann die physische Sonne. Es sah also der Mensch damals an Stelle der Sonne ein Dreifaches. Und mit diesem Dreifachen, das in der Sonne in alten Zeiten gesehen worden ist, brachten diejenigen Menschen, welche in der Zeit des Mysteriums von Golgatha dachten — ausgerüstet mit dem Wissen dieses Mysteriums von Golgatha, ausgerüstet mit dem Wissen der alten Mysterien —, mit diesem dreifachen Sonnenmysterium brachten diese Weisen das Christus-Mysterium zusammen, das Mysterium von Golgatha selber. Mit der Sonnenverehrung war verbunden für diejenigen, die etwas wußten, die Christus-Verehrung. Mit der Sonnenweisheit war wiederum für diejenigen, die etwas wußten, verbunden die Christus-Weisheit.

Um aber das, was ich jetzt auseinandergesetzt habe, naturgemäß zu fühlen, als etwas Selbstverständliches zu empfinden, dazu war eben die Konstitution der Seele notwendig, die damals da war. Und diese Konstitution der Seele verschwand eben. Sie verschwand schon seit dem 8. vorchristlichen Jahrhundert, mit dem Jahre 747 - dies ist die wirkliche Gründungszahl von Rom - vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Mit der Gründung Roms schwindet eigentlich die alte Möglichkeit, in dem Kosmos draußen das Geistige zu sehen. Mit dem Eintritt Roms in die Geschichte tritt das in die Menschheitsevolution ein, was man das prosaische Element nennen kann. Die Griechen zum Beispiel bewahrten in ihrer ganzen Weltanschauung noch die Möglichkeit, hinter der Sonne eben die zwei andern Sonnen, die seelische und die geistige Sonne zu sehen. Und nur dadurch, daß nun nicht rein in griechische Weisheit und in griechisches Empfinden das Mysterium von Golgatha getaucht worden ist, sondern in römische Weisheit und in römisches Empfinden, dadurch ist es gekommen, daß man gebrochen hat mit dem Wissen von dem Zusammenhang des Christus mit der geistigen Sonne. Damit haben sich ja namentlich die christlichen Kirchenväter und die christlichen Kirchenlehrer zu befassen gehabt, dieses Mysterium von der Sonne zu verhüllen, dieses Mysterium von der Sonne für die Menschheit vergessen zu machen, es nicht herauskommen zu lassen. Es sollte gewissermaßen ein Schleier gebreitet werden durch die fortgehende Entwickelung des Christentums, wie man das nennt, über die tiefe, die bedeutsame, die umfassende Weisheit von dem Zusammenhange des Christus mit dem Sonnenmysterium.

Wenn man definieren sollte die Aufgabe der Kirche, jener Kirche, die entstanden ist dadurch, daß das Christentum in das Römertum eingesenkt worden ist, dann müßte man dies so tun, daß man sagte: Die römisch gefärbte christliche Kirche hatte sich namentlich zur Aufgabe zu machen, das Christus-Mysterium möglichst zu verhüllen, es möglichst wenig bekanntwerden zu lassen. — Die Einrichtung, welche die Kirche durch den Romanismus erfahren hat, die ist insbesondere geeignet gewesen, die Menschen so wenig wie möglich von dem Christus-Geheimnis wissen zu lassen. Die Kirche war dadurch eine Institution zur Geheimhaltung des Christus-Mysteriums geworden, eine Institution geworden, möglichst wenig in die Welt kommen zu lassen von dem Christus-Mysterium. Dies ist etwas, was immer mehr und mehr in der jetzigen Zeit der Menschheit klarwerden muß, weil beginnen muß diejenige Zeit, welche in der Lage ist, wiederum mit andern Begriffen zu arbeiten als mit den römischen Begriffen. Römische Begriffe haben gerade das Scharfumrissene, das Scharf konturierte, das Kadaverhafte. Diejenigen Begriffe, welche entwickelt werden, um zum Beispiel den Menschen in seiner Wahrheit zu begreifen, wie ich ihn in seiner Normalaura, möchte ich sagen, Ihnen vor acht Tagen hier auf die Tafel gezeichnet, skizziert habe, die Begriffe, die notwendig sind, um die wahre Wirklichkeit des Menschen wieder zu erfassen und damit die wahre Wirklichkeit der Welt einigermaßen zu begreifen, diese Begriffe müssen flüssig sein, diese Begriffe dürfen nicht scharf konturiert sein, denn die Wirklichkeit ist nichts Starres, sondern etwas Werdendes. Und wollen wir mit unseren Begriffen und Ideen die Wirklichkeit erfassen, so müssen wir mit unseren Begriffen dem Fluß, dem Werden der Wirklichkeit nachschreiten.

Wenn außer acht gelassen wird dieses Flüssigwerden der Begriffe, dann kommt das zustande, was heute zum Unheil der Menschheit an zahlreichen Orten beobachtet werden kann. Nehmen Sie eine Erscheinung, die heute für etwas gründlichere, nicht schlafende Weltenbeobachter sich geradezu aufdrängt. Es ist die folgende Erscheinung. Nicht wahr, wir haben in der Welt unter uns Gelehrte, Gelehrte auf den mannigfaltigsten Gebieten. Diese Gelehrten vertreten, bewahren, wie man sagt, die Wissenschaft, und die heutige Menschheit, die ja nicht autoritätsgläubig ist, glaubt aber trotz ihres aus der Welt geschafften Autoritätsglaubens aufs Wort alles dasjenige, was von den Gelehrten der verschiedenen Gebiete vertreten wird. Und die Gelehrten untereinander glauben den andern immer dasjenige, was nicht gerade in ihrem Gebiete ist. In diese Verhältnisse sehen die Menschen heute nicht gern hinein, weil das ganze Zerfaserte und Chaotische unserer Kultur den Menschen auffallen müßte, wenn sie in diese Verhältnisse hineinsehen würden. Aber wir haben ja zum Beispiel das Folgende erlebt. Nehmen wir an, so ein Gelehrter — wir könnten immer für die verschiedenen Gebiete einen herausheben - hat zu seinem speziellen Gebiete, nun, meinetwillen - ich will etwas Ausgefallenes nehmen -, die Ägyptologie. Da besteht dann sein Beruf darinnen, daß er über die Eigentümlichkeit des ägyptischen Volkes die übrigen Menschen, die sich nicht beschäftigen können mit dem, was man die Quellen nennt, unterrichtet, daß er auch über die Beziehungen des ägyptischen Volkes zu andern Völkern des Altertums die Menschen unterrichtet. Der Menschen Aufgabe ist es, das aufs Wort zu glauben, denn der Mann ist ja in der Ägyptologie eine Autorität. Nun ist aber in unserer Zeit ein Unheil gekommen: Eine große Anzahl von diesen Gelehrten, die solche Spezialgebiete vertreten, haben nicht geschwiegen, sondern über Themen gesprochen, die nicht zu ihrem Fachgebiet gehören. Es wäre ja besser gewesen, wenn sie geschwiegen hätten, aber sie haben nicht geschwiegen; sie haben zum Beispiel ihr Denken, ihre Gedankenformen heute unter dem Eindruck dieser Ereignisse angewendet auf ihr eigenes Volk und auf seine Beziehungen zu den andern Völkern. Und da hat man nun genügend Gelegenheit zu sehen, was für Unsinn eigentlich die Leute reden. Nun müßte man Schlüsse ziehen, Schlüsse, die sehr real gedacht werden können. Gar mancher, der etwas gilt, sagen wir, auf dem Gebiete der Ägyptologie, und von dem man die Meinung hat, daß seine Begriffe mit Bezug auf die Eigentümlichkeiten des ägyptischen Volkes und seines Verhältnisses zu andern Völkern unanfechtbar seien, der redet nun plötzlich in der Gegenwart lauter Unsinn über sein eigenes Volk und über das Verhältnis seines eigenen Volkes zu den andern Völkern. Ja, glauben Sie, er wird nun über die Ägypter und über ihre Beziehungen zu andern Völkern gescheiter reden und geredet haben? Wenn Balfour heute über das Verhältnis seines Volkes zu der übrigen Welt spricht, oder wenn Fousten Stewart Chamberlain fortwährend Unsinn redet über das Verhältnis der Menschen zu den andern Menschen, da könnten einige auch ohne Nachdenken irgendwie herauskriegen, daß die Leute Unsinn reden, völligen Unsinn reden! Aber nun hat der Chamberlain geschrieben «Die Grundlagen des 19. Jahrhunderts» und eine große Anzahl anderer Bücher, bei denen man nicht die Gelegenheit hat, die Geschichte zu prüfen. Er hat natürlich ganz genau denselben Unsinn geredet dazumal.

Es ist schon einmal gegenwärtig die Zeit der Prüfung, und namentlich die Zeit der Prüfung dafür, nun endlich einmal einzusehen, daß es nicht bloß darauf ankommt, Urteile abzugeben, die einen gewissen eingeschränkten Wert haben, indem sie richtig sind auf einem bestimmten Gebiete — das ist fast jedes Urteil, das Falscheste ist auf einem bestimmten Gebiete richtig —, sondern daß es darauf ankommt, geradezu zu suchen jene Flüssigkeit der Urteile, die nur durch die Geisteswissenschaft gefunden werden kann, die in die Realität eindringt.

Es ist ja merkwürdig, welche Kollisionen zwischen gesundem Denken und zeitgemäßem Denken gerade heute an die Oberfläche treten. Man hat in den letzten Tagen von einer religiösen Diskussion gehört, die stattgefunden hat in Petersburg - Petrograd, so hat man eine Zeitlang gesagt, ich weiß nicht, ob man jetzt schon wieder Petersburg sagt -, also von einer religiösen Diskussion, die in dem ehemaligen St. Petersburg stattgefunden hat. Mitten drinnen im Bolschewismus hat man von einer religiösen Diskussion gehört. Da haben über die Religion und ihre Entwickelung gesprochen Sozialisten, Popen, selbstverständlich auch allerlei Bourgeoisleute. Die haben natürlich nicht das Gescheiteste geredet. Nun könnte man aus der Diskussion, die da gepflogen worden ist, die natürlich in der Wolle gefärbt war von der Gegenwart, aber durchaus mit den starrsten alten Begriffen arbeitete, wie es scheint, doch manches lernen. Zum Beispiel hat da ein Pope etwas höchst Interessantes vorgebracht. Der Pope fühlt sich genötigt, zu seinen Lämmern so zu sprechen, wie er es bisher gewohnt war. Nun hat er natürlich bisher so geredet, daß alles dasjenige, was auf der Welt ist, der Zarismus und alles, alles selbstverständlich von Gott kommt. Was kann er heute machen, der gute Pope? Er muß natürlich das, was er gewohnt war, früher seinen Lämmern zu sagen - jetzt sind es keine Lämmer mehr -, heute wenigstens irgendwie beibehalten, denn er will ja nicht zu neueren Begriffen übergehen. Da sagt er denn: Die Welt ist von Gott, alles ist von Gott; da wir jetzt eine Sowjetregierung haben, ist sie auch von Gott. Bolschewismus ist eben von Gott der Menschheit geschickt. Da alles von Gott ist, ist auch der Bolschewismus von Gott. — Was soll er anderes sagen? Ich bin ganz überzeugt davon, die Schlußfolgerung kann auch noch weiter ausgedehnt werden. Warum sollte man nicht sehr schön plausibel machen können, daß der Teufel von Gott ist? Der Teufel ist eingesetzt von Gott, nach ganz derselben Schlußfolgerung! — Das ist es ja, daß man wirklich einmal tiefer hineinleuchtet in dasjenige, was notwendig ist. Das findet natürlich auf allen Gebieten stärkste Gegnerschaft.Schlafen aber kann man nicht, wenn man sich vorgenommen hat, teilzunehmen an dieser Umarbeitung des Vorstellungsvermögens der Menschen.

Begriffe, die der Materialismus herausgearbeitet hat und die geradezu als unanfechtbar gelten, sie gehören zu demjenigen, was gewissermaßen am gründlichsten überwunden werden müßte. Nichts begegnet einem ja heute häufiger aus der sogenannten Autorität der Wissenschaft heraus als dasjenige, was genannt wird das Gesetz von der Erhaltung der Energie und des Stoffes, Erhaltung von Kraft und Stofl. Das ist dasjenige, was ganz besonders der Menschheit ans Herz gewachsen ist. Die ganz und gar mechanistisch, physikalisch gewordene Weltanschauung will sich betäuben gegenüber dem Vorhandensein des Geistes. Da sie den Geist nicht anerkennen will, kann sie dem Geist auch nicht Dauer, nicht Ewigkeit zuschreiben; sie schreibt die Ewigkeit ihrem kleinen Götzen, dem Atom, oder überhaupt dem Stoff oder der Kraft zu. Aber, die Wahrheit ist, daß von alldem, was Sie sinnlich anschauen können, was Sie da stofflich und als Kräfte in der Welt umgibt, nach den Gesetzen des Weltenalls nichts, aber auch gar nichts über die Stufe des Venuszeitalters hinaus existieren wird. Wir wissen, daß auf die Evolution der Erde die Jupiterevolution folgt, und auf die Jupiterevolution die Venusevolution, dann die Vulkanevolution. So wie sich der Mensch in verschiedenen Verkörperungen wiederfindet, so findet sich die Erde wieder als Jupiter, nach der Jupiterevolution als Venus, nach der Venusevolution als Vulkan. Dasjenige, was heute von irgendeinem physikalischen Experiment als Stoff und Stoffgefüge gefunden werden kann, es hat nicht Bestand über das Venusdasein hinaus. Es gibt keine Erhaltung des Stoffes und der Kraft - solchen Stoffes, solcher Kraft, von der die Physiker sprechen können — über das Venusdasein hinaus. Das ganze Gesetz von der Erhaltung des Stoffes und der Kraft ist lediglich ein Aberglaube, ist dasjenige, wovon alle physikalischen Begriffe beherrscht werden. Aber etwas wird zugedeckt, indem man geradezu davon spricht, die Welt bestehe aus unzerstörbarem Stoff, der sich immer in andern Gruppierungen ergibt. Zugedeckt wird das, was als Antwort kommen muß, wenn man die Frage aufwirft: Ja, was bleibt denn dann, wenn alles das, was unsere Sinne in weiterem Umkreise umgibt, schon nicht mehr da sein wird, wenn die Venuszeit gekommen oder in ihrer Mitte angelangt sein wird? Was bleibt dann? Wo ist denn irgend etwas, was bleibt?

Nun, richten Sie Ihre Augen hinaus in den weiten Umkreis, den Sie überschauen können. Schauen Sie sich alles, alles an, schauen Sie sich die Gesamtheit des mineralischen, des pflanzlichen, des tierischen, des menschlichen Reiches an; schauen Sie sich an alles dasjenige, was Sie sehen können als Sterne, Lichterscheinungen, alle Lufterscheinungen, alle Wassererscheinungen, sehen Sie hin, wo Sie hinschen wollen, fassen Sie alles zusammen, was Sie irgendwie in Ihren äußeren Sinneswahrnehmungen zusammenfassen können und stellen Sie sich die Frage: Wo ist etwas, was von unserem jetzigen Dasein bleibt? — In keinem Tier, in keiner Pflanze, in keinem Mineral, in keiner Luft, in keinem Wasser, nirgends als nur im Menschen! In allem, was Sie heute sehen können, ist nichts enthalten, was regelrecht über das Venusdasein hinausgeht, als einzig und allein der Mensch selber. In nichts anderem können Sie etwas Bleibendes, etwas, was mit dem Begriffe der Ewigkeit angesprochen werden kann, suchen, in nichts anderem als in dem Menschen. Das heißt: Suchen wir die Keime für die wahre Weltenzukunft, wo müssen wir sie suchen? - Wir müssen sie im Menschen suchen! Wir können sie bei keinem andern Geschöpf, in keinem Naturreiche suchen. Aber durch die Naturreiche haben die alten Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha das kosmische All, geistig natürlich, gesehen. Wenn wir die Sonne nehmen: Sie haben einen glühenden Ball gesehen, aber sie haben durch den glühenden Ball den Helios und das Gute gesehen. Doch dieser glühende Sonnenball wird nicht länger vorhanden sein als das Venusdasein; dann ist er weg. Und alles dasjenige, wodurch man wie die Alten als durch einen Schleier die Konstituion irgendeines geistigen Daseins gesehen hat, es wird weg sein. Und von alledem, was jetzt da ist, bleibt für die Zukunft nur das, was in den Menschen keimhaft veranlagt ist.

Was ist denn also eigentlich geschehen? Die Menschen haben vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha hinausgesehen in das weite Weltenall; sie haben gesehen Sterne über Sterne, sie haben gesehen die Sonne und den Mond, sie haben gesehen Luft und Wasser, die verschiedenen Reiche. Aber sie haben sie nicht so angeschaut wie der heutige Mensch, sondern sie haben hinter alldem das geistig-göttliche Dasein geschaut, und sie haben hinter alldem den Christus, der noch nicht zur Erde niedergestiegen war, geschaut. In diesen alten Zeiten hat man den Christus verbunden mit dem Kosmos, außerirdisch hat man ihn gesehen. In all dem, worinnen man den Christus gesehen hat, ist nichts, was über das Venusdasein hinaus dauert. Alles, wodurch sich in den Zeiten vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha dem Menschen das Geistige enthüllt hat und auch der Christus im Kosmos, hat nur einen Bestand bis zum Venusdasein. Die Menschen lebten vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha mit dem Himmel, aber dieser Himmel ist so sinnlich, daß er auch mit dem Venusdasein verschwindet. Was über das Venusdasein hinaus bleibt, das hat seine Keime nur im Menschen. Der Christus mußte aus dem Weltenall zu dem Menschen kommen, wenn er mit dem Menschen den Gang in die Ewigkeit antreten wollte. Weil das alles so ist, wie ich es Ihnen jetzt geschildert habe, deshalb stieg der Christus aus dem Kosmos herab, um fortan mit dem zu sein, was als Keim im Menschen in die Ewigkeit hinaus dauert.

Das ist das große kosmische Ereignis, das man verstehen muß. Die Menschen vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha konnten den Gott, den Christus im Weltenall verehren. Die Menschen, die darauf kommen mußten - und es ist die Zeit seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha immer mehr und mehr darauf gekommen, daß nur im Menschen der Keim ist für die ewige Weltenzukunft -, diese Menschen mußten einen Christus haben nicht im Weltenall draußen, das zerfällt, sondern vereint mit dem Menschen, mit der menschlichen Organisation, mit dem menschlichen Reiche. Wörtlich wahr ist es: Dasjenige, was da ist im weiten Umkreis der Sinne als Sterne, als Himmelskörper, es wird vergehen. Aber das Wort, der Logos, der erschienen ist in dem Christus, und der sich vereinigt mit dem ewigen Wesenskern des Menschen, der wird bleiben. Und das ist eine wörtliche Wahrheit, wie die Dinge in den wirklichen okkulten, religiösen Urkunden wörtliche Wahrheiten sind.

Das aber ist auch der Grund, warum wir gewissermaßen einen Dualismus in der Namengebung haben müssen - ich habe darauf schon hingedeutet -, in der Namengebung Christus Jesus. Den Christus, der dem außerirdischen Weltenall angehört, dieses geistige Wesen, das vor dem Mysterium von Golgatha nicht mit den Menschen der Erde verbunden war, muß man auf der einen Seite erkennen; das darf nicht vergessen werden, denn das ist heruntergestiegen und hat sich mit der Menschennatur, mit dem Jesus verbunden. In dem Dualismus Christus Jesus liegt dasjenige, was notwendig ist, zu verstehen. In dem Christus muß man das Kosmisch-Geistige sehen; in dem Jesus muß man dasjenige sehen, durch welches dieses Kosmisch-Geistige in die historische Entwickelung eingetreten ist und sich so mit der Menschheit verbunden hat, daß es mit dem Menschenkeim nun weiter in die Ewigkeiten leben kann.

Dieses mit den alten Mysterien zusammenhängende Christusgeheimnis zu verhüllen, zu entstellen, das war gewissermaßen die Aufgabe der Kirche in den verflossenen Jahrhunderten. Und versuchen Sie einmal, den Werdegang der Menschheit in diesen verflossenen Jahrhunderten wirklich zu studieren, versuchen Sie sich klarzumachen, wie es denjenigen einzelnen Menschen gegangen ist, welche den Christus Jesus wirklich suchen wollten, die wirklich den Weg finden wollten zu dem Christus Jesus: es war immer ein Märtyrerweg. Er mußte immer gesucht werden, der Christus Jesus, gegen die Konventionen, wie er ja auch heute selbstverständlich gegen dasjenige, was von den Konventionen geblieben ist, gesucht werden muß. Aber man kann dem Christus-Geheimnis nicht nahekommen, wenn man es nicht verbindet mit dem Naturgeheimnis.

Sie sehen, die Notwendigkeit, die wir vor unsere Seele hingestellt haben, von dem Herunterkommen des Christus aus kosmischen Höhen zu dem Menschenkeim, das Geheimnis von dem Jesus-Werden des Christus, man kann es nur verstehen, wenn eine Einheit wird Naturbetrachtung, Weltbetrachtung, Kosmologie und die Wissenschaft von dem Werden des Menschen und des Göttlichen in der Menschheit. Das möchte man gerade von einer gewissen Seite her vermeiden, daß Naturwissenschaft zu gleicher Zeit Geisteswissenschaft und Geisteswissenschaft zu gleicher Zeit Naturwissenschaft werde. Das ist ja das Bestreben der meisten Theologen, und auf der andern Seite wiederum das Bestreben der meisten Naturgelehrten der Gegenwart, daß eine Schranke aufgerichtet werde zwischen der Naturwissenschaft auf der einen Seite und der Geisteswissenschaft auf der andern Seite. Nur ja soll nicht über den Christus Jesus etwas gesagt werden, was zu gleicher Zeit zusammenhängt mit der Erdenevolution, und nur ja soll nicht über die Erdenevolution, das heißt über ihre einzelnen Teile etwas gesagt werden, was zusammenhängt mit dem großen geistigen Mysterium.

Indem man diese Dinge berührt, berührt man in der "Tat Wichtigstes, Allerwichtigstes im Menschenleben der Gegenwart. Denn jenes konfuse Geschwätz von allerlei Geistigem, auf das auch unsere Freunde einen so oftmals aufmerksam machen, und zum Ekel einen aufmerksam machen, dieses konfuse Geschwätz vom Geiste nützt gar nichts. Ich meine, es kommt alle Augenblicke einer und sagt: Nun sehen Sie einmal, der hat wiederum ganz theosophisch oder anthroposophisch geredet, er hat das und das gesagt! — Dieses bequeme Suchen nach Stützen in der gegenwärtigen Konfusion, das ist nicht dasjenige, was wir anstreben sollen, sondern wir sollen schon auf dem Fundament feststehen, das uns die Geisteswissenschaft sein wird. Und die Zeit ist zu ernst, um weitere Kompromisse, besonders auf diesem Gebiete zu pflegen.

Die Brücke zu schaffen zwischen dem Naturwissen, überhaupt zwischen dem Wissen des Wahrgenommenen und dem Wissen desjenigen, zu dem die Sünde, zu dem die Erlösung, kurz, zu dem die religiösen Wahrheiten gehören, die Brücke zu schaffen zwischen diesen zwei Gebieten, das kann nur geschehen, wenn man den Mut haben wird, in das Geistige wirklich real einzudringen. Aber auch über die Lebenswahrheiten wird man nichts Vernünftiges wissen können, wenn man nicht den Mut hat, in das Geistige real, wirklich einzudringen. Zum Eindringen in das geistig Reale gehört vor allen Dingen diese Möglichkeit: wiederum etwas zurückzublicken zu dem dreifachen Sonnenmysterium der alten Zeit, aber in dem neuen Sinne, wie es der gegenwärtigen Menschheit angemessen ist. Geradeso wie die Sonne eine Dreiheit ist, so ist ja der Mensch auch eine Dreiheit. Aber es handelt sich darum, daß wir diesen dreifachen Menschen wirklich studieren. Das ist Wichtigstes für die Gegenwart: den dreifachen Menschen zu studieren. Ich möchte Ihnen heute einmal vorbereitend - morgen und übermorgen werden wir diese wichtige Sache zu Ende führen — schematisch etwas angeben, was Sie führen kann auf dem Wege, der eigentlich gesucht werden müßte, um den dreifachen Menschen zu begreifen.

Denken Sie sich einmal das Folgende - also das, was ich jetzt skizziere, soll ein Schema sein -, denken Sie sich, Sie hätten ein Gebilde, das ganz und gar nur Bild, nur Abbild sei, das im Grunde gar keine Bedeutung in sich selber hat, also Abbild ist. Das will ich so skizzieren: ich zeichne einfach einen Kreis (siehe Zeichnung Seite 71, blau), eine Kreisfläche. Das ist ein Gebilde, das Abbild ist von etwas anderem, aber dadurch, daß es Abbild ist, hat es das andere, wovon es Abbild ist, vollständig aufgezehrt. Es ist ja sonderbar, wenn ich folgendes sage, aber denken Sie sich einmal: In unserer Kuppel, in der kleinen Kuppel arbeiten vier Damen; nehmen wir einmal an, diese vier Damen würden, auf jeder Seite zwei, malen, sich selber porträtieren, aber dieses Porträtieren hätte eine besondere Folge. Also denken Sie sich, diese vier Damen, die porträtieren sich in der kleinen Kuppel, malen sich selber da ab, aber dieses Sich-selber-Porträtieren, das hätte eine ganz bestimmte Folge: sie verschwänden nämlich dadurch, sie gingen über in ihr Abbild, sie hörten auf zu sein. Wenn sie fertig sind, sind sie nicht mehr da. Dadurch, daß die Abbilder entstanden sind, sind sie selbst nicht mehr da. - Solch ein Gebilde stellen Sie sich unter dem, was ich hier skizzenhaft aufgezeichnet habe, einmal vor: ein Gebilde, das dadurch entstanden ist, daß es gemacht worden ist von etwas, wovon es Abbild ist; aber dadurch, daß das Abbild da ist, ist das andere aufgezehrt.

Nun ist aber dieses Aufgezehrte nicht allein in der Welt. Stellen Sie sich nämlich vor, es wäre die Geschichte noch nicht aus mit diesen vier Damen. Gut, diese vier Damen wären verschwunden, sie hätten sich da aufgemalt und wären verschwunden; aber die Bilder sind da. Sie sind nicht allein da im Weltenall, das Weltenall ist mit seinen Kräften außerdem noch da. Die Damen sind verschwunden, sind von den Bildern gewissermaßen aufgesogen worden; aber dadurch, daß die Bilder da sind, zieht sich aus dem Weltenall wiederum Substantielles zusammen und bildet die Damen neu, allerdings jetzt als Kinder: sie entstehen langsam wieder, entstehen da daneben. So entsteht neben diesem Gebilde wiederum sein Urbild (siehe Zeichnung, gelb). Ich müßte es eigentlich ein Stückchen hinein zeichnen, ich zeichne es nun daneben auf: das ist das Urbild. Das ist das Urbild, aber es ist ein sehr loser Zusammenhang zwischen diesem Abbild und dem Urbild, ein sehr loser Zusammenhang. Beide haben fast gar nichts miteinander zu tun. Dieses Abbild ist richtig verhärtet und hat fast gar nichts mit seinem Urbilde zu tun.

Dann denken Sie sich ein zweites Gebilde. Ich will das zweite Gebilde so skizzieren, daß ich es nun auch als Abbild mache (siehe Zeichnung Seite 72, violett); nur ist das erste drinnen in dem zweiten. Das erste ist etwas für sich, aber es ist auch drinnen in dem zweiten. Also ich zeichne da kühn über das erste das zweite drüber. Das ist wiederum solch ein Abbild, und wiederum so ähnlich ein Abbild von einem andern, das ich auch nun da drauf zeichnen will (siehe Zeichnung, rot); das muss ich aber nun schon inniger mit dem verbinden. Da ist die Sache also so, daß ich nicht den Vergleich wählen könnte, den ich früher mit den vier Damen gewählt habe, sondern wenn ich bezüglich dieses Bildes und Abbildes jetzt einen Vergleich wählen würde, müßte ich so sagen: Es sind also die vier Damen da, sie malen in der kleinen Kuppel, und während sie malen, geht schon auch etwas von ihnen selber auf, wird aufgesogen. Aber nur zur Hälfte werden sie aufgesogen; zuletzt sind sie so, daß sie — nun, ich will also sagen, um nicht einen unästhetischen Vergleich hervorzurufen: Es wird von der einen die linke Körperhälfte aufgesogen, die rechte ragt noch heraus aus dem Bilde; von der anderen die rechte Körperhälfte aufgesogen, die linke ragt noch heraus. Also sie sind teilweise aufgesogen; teilweise ragen sie noch heraus. Das ist das zweite.

Dann stellen Sie sich ein drittes vor, das also wiederum das erste mitumfaßt und das zweite auch mitumfaßt (siehe Zeichnung Seite 73, grün). Das aber ist zum großen Teil mit seinem Abbilde verbunden, das ist noch nicht getrennt von seinem Abbilde. Da müßte ich also, wenn ich den Vergleich festhalten wollte, sagen: Die Damen malen, aber sie bleiben auch als Damen vorhanden, und das Ganze, was ich vor mir habe, sind die Damen und ihre Abbilder. Das ist vorhanden (siehe Zeichnung, orange), das ist zum größten Teile auch im Urbilde vorhanden.

So haben Sie also hier (Zeichnung Seite 71) etwas schematisch gezeichnet: zuerst oben ein Abbild, verhärtet, kristallisiert, es hat möglichst wenig mit seinem Urbilde zu tun; das Urbild ist daneben, neu entstehend. Das ist nämlich Ihr Kopf; der ist der materiellste, verhärtetste Teil der Menschennatur. Sein Urbild hat geradezu nichts mit ihm zu tun, entsteht neu; und wenn Sie achtundzwanzig Jahre alt geworden sind, ist Ihr Kopf so, daß er aus sich selber gar nicht einmal mehr etwas hergibt, ausgewachsen ist. Der größte Materialist in der Menschennatur ist das Haupt. Ein zweites Gebilde ist Brust und Atmung und alles, was dazugehört. Das ist ungefähr so, daß ich das zweite als Schema gebrauchen könnte (Zeichnung Seite 72). Das ist schon mehr verbunden, da hängen Geist und Materie schon mehr zusammen, das ist schon durchgeistigter. Alles das, was Lunge und Atmungsprozeß ist, ist schon für die Erde vergeistigter. Und was übrigbleibt, Gliedmaßen, im Zusammenhange damit alles das, was die Sexualität umfaßt, da ist Geistiges mit Physischem eins, da sind sie noch zusammen. Das gehört zum dritten Schema (Zeichnung oben).

Das ist der dreifache Mensch. Ich habe es Ihnen heute nur schematisch auf die Tafel zeichnen können. Dieses zu gleicher Zeit wunderbare und fruchtbare, dieses großartige und tiefeindringende Mysterium vom dreifachen Menschen hängt wiederum mit dem dreifachen Sonnenmysterium zusammen. Das aber hängt wiederum zusammen mit all den Wahrheiten, die wir brauchen wie das Brot des Lebens für alles dasjenige, was sich setzen muß an die Stelle dessen, was in das Chaos, was in die Sackgasse hineingekommen ist und zu den gegenwärtigen Menschheitskatastrophen geführt hat. Davon werden wir morgen weiter sprechen.

Fourth lecture

If you want to understand the time in which you live, you have to understand it in the context of larger world contexts. This is precisely the pettiness of the present age, that we do not want to understand the impulses and forces that are at work in the present from a larger context. And in particular, it will always be necessary to look back to the conditions through which human evolution passed at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha in order to understand one or the other of the forces at work in the present. We have presented this mystery of Golgotha from various points of view and have seen how deeply and significantly it intervenes in the entire course of evolution, in the entire development of humanity. We know that before the mystery of Golgotha, people perceived the world differently than they did after the mystery of Golgotha. Of course, this does not happen suddenly, from one state to another. But looking back, we can see what we have described from various points of view. Today, in order to establish a certain basis for the following considerations, I would like to point out one thing in particular.

When we consider the mood, the state of human souls before the Mystery of Golgotha, we can say in general that within cultural humanity, that is, the humanity from which today's cultural humanity emerged, there was a certain ability in souls before the Mystery of Golgotha to look into the mysteries of the cosmic, spiritual world. Before the mystery of Golgotha, it was, so to speak, natural for people not to look up at the starry sky as we do today. We know that today people look up at the starry sky and say to themselves: Our Earth is connected to several other planets that revolve around the Sun together with it; then there are countless other fixed stars, which in turn have their own planets. And when people then pay attention to what they are actually thinking when they consider such things, they must say to themselves that they have the idea of a great world machine. People today are only very, very little aware that there is something else at work and active besides the forces of this great world machine. This was more or less self-evident to people before the mystery of Golgotha. In particular, it was self-evident to them that the sun, for example, was not merely to be regarded as what today's physicists regard it as, roughly speaking, a kind of glowing ball in outer space. Rather, people before the mystery of Golgotha knew quite precisely that this sun of which physics speaks is only one element in the whole sun. Underlying this sun is something soul-like and spiritual. And the spiritual element underlying this sun was referred to by the Greek sage as the universal good of the world, as the good of the world, as the unified good permeating the world. This was the spirit of the sun for him. It would have seemed to this Greek sage to be the strongest superstition to think as today's physicists do, that there is simply a glowing ball floating out there in space; but for him, this glowing, floating ball was the revelation of the unified good that is centrally active in the world. And connected with this central good, which is of a spiritual nature, is something soul-like: Helios, as the Greeks called it. And only the third, the physical expression of the good and of Helios, was then the physical sun. So, in those days, human beings saw a threefold entity in place of the sun. And with this threefold entity that was seen in the sun in ancient times, those people who thought during the time of the Mystery of Golgotha — equipped with the knowledge of this Mystery of Golgotha, equipped with the knowledge of the ancient mysteries — with this threefold sun mystery, these wise men brought together the Christ Mystery, the Mystery of Golgotha itself. For those who knew something, the worship of the sun was connected with the worship of Christ. For those who knew something, the wisdom of the sun was in turn connected with the wisdom of Christ.

But in order to feel what I have now explained in a natural way, to perceive it as something self-evident, the constitution of the soul that existed at that time was necessary. And this constitution of the soul disappeared. It had already disappeared since the 8th century BC, in the year 747 — this is the real founding date of Rome — before the Mystery of Golgotha. With the founding of Rome, the old possibility of seeing the spiritual in the cosmos outside actually disappears. With Rome's entry into history, what can be called the prosaic element enters human evolution. The Greeks, for example, still preserved in their entire worldview the possibility of seeing behind the sun the two other suns, the soul sun and the spirit sun. And it is only because the mystery of Golgotha was not immersed purely in Greek wisdom and Greek feeling, but in Roman wisdom and Roman feeling, that the knowledge of the connection between Christ and the spiritual sun was broken. The Christian Church Fathers and Christian Church teachers had to deal with this mystery of the sun, to veil it, to make humanity forget it, not to let it come out. A veil was to be spread, as it were, through the continuing development of Christianity, as it is called, over the deep, significant, and comprehensive wisdom of the connection between Christ and the mystery of the sun.

If one were to define the task of the Church, that Church which came into being through the immersion of Christianity in Romanism, one would have to say that the Roman-influenced Christian Church had made it its task to conceal the Christ mystery as much as possible, to allow it to become known as little as possible. The structure that the Church experienced through Romanism was particularly suited to letting people know as little as possible about the mystery of Christ. The Church thus became an institution for keeping the mystery of Christ secret, an institution for letting as little as possible of the mystery of Christ come into the world. This is something that must become clearer and clearer in the present age of humanity, because the time must begin when we are able to work with concepts other than Roman concepts. Roman concepts have precisely that sharp outline, that sharp contour, that cadaverous quality. The concepts that are being developed, for example, to understand human beings in their truth, as I would say, in their normal aura, which I sketched for you here on the board eight days ago, the concepts that are necessary to grasp the true reality of human beings again and thus to understand the true reality of the world to some extent, these concepts must be fluid. these concepts must not be sharply contoured, because reality is not something rigid, but something becoming. And if we want to grasp reality with our concepts and ideas, we must follow the flow, the becoming of reality with our concepts.

If this fluidity of concepts is disregarded, then what can be observed today in many places to the detriment of humanity will come about. Take a phenomenon that today is obvious to more thorough, alert observers of the world. It is the following phenomenon. Isn't it true that we have scholars among us, scholars in the most diverse fields? These scholars represent and preserve, as they say, science, and today's humanity, which is not credulous of authority, believes everything that is represented by scholars in various fields, despite its belief in authority that has been created out of thin air. And the scholars always believe what others say that is not directly related to their own field. People today do not like to look into these circumstances, because the whole fragmented and chaotic nature of our culture would strike them if they did. But we have experienced the following, for example. Let us assume that a scholar—we could always single out one from the various fields—has, for the sake of argument, chosen Egyptology as his special field. His profession consists in teaching other people, who cannot concern themselves with what are called sources, about the peculiarities of the Egyptian people, and also in teaching them about the relations of the Egyptian people with other peoples of antiquity. It is the task of human beings to believe this at his word, because the man is, after all, an authority on Egyptology. Now, however, a calamity has befallen us in our time: a large number of these scholars who represent such special fields have not remained silent, but have spoken on subjects that do not belong to their field of expertise. It would have been better if they had remained silent, but they did not; for example, they have applied their thinking, their thought forms, under the influence of these events to their own people and to their relations with other peoples. And now we have ample opportunity to see what nonsense people are actually talking about. Now we must draw conclusions, conclusions that can be thought out very realistically. Many who are considered authorities, say, in the field of Egyptology, and whose opinions on the peculiarities of the Egyptian people and their relationship to other peoples are considered unassailable, are now suddenly talking utter nonsense about their own people and their relationship to other peoples. Do you believe that he will now speak more intelligently about the Egyptians and their relations with other peoples? When Balfour speaks today about the relationship of his people to the rest of the world, or when Fousten Stewart Chamberlain constantly talks nonsense about the relationship of human beings to other human beings, some people might somehow realize, even without thinking about it, that these people are talking nonsense, complete nonsense! But now Chamberlain has written “The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century” and a large number of other books in which one does not have the opportunity to check the history. Of course, he talked exactly the same nonsense back then.

The time of testing is already upon us, and it is particularly the time to finally realize that it is not just a matter of making judgments that have a certain limited value because they are correct in a particular field—which is true of almost every judgment; even the most false judgment is correct in a particular field—but that what matters is to seek precisely that fluidity of judgment that can only be found in the spiritual sciences, which penetrate reality.

It is indeed remarkable what collisions between healthy thinking and contemporary thinking are coming to the surface today. In recent days, there has been talk of a religious discussion that took place in Petersburg—Petrograd, as it was called for a time; I don't know if it is now called Petersburg again—in other words, a religious discussion that took place in the former St. Petersburg. In the midst of Bolshevism, there was talk of a religious discussion. Socialists, priests, and, of course, all kinds of bourgeois people talked about religion and its development. Naturally, they did not say the most intelligent things. Now, one could learn a great deal from the discussion that took place there, which was of course colored by the present, but seems to have worked with the most rigid old concepts. For example, a priest said something very interesting. The priest feels compelled to speak to his flock as he has always done. Now, of course, he has always spoken in such a way that everything in the world, tsarism and everything else, naturally comes from God. What can the good Pope do today? He must, of course, at least somehow maintain what he was accustomed to telling his lambs in the past—now they are no longer lambs—because he does not want to adopt newer concepts. So he says: The world is from God, everything is from God; since we now have a Soviet government, it is also from God. Bolshevism is sent by God to humanity. Since everything is from God, Bolshevism is also from God. What else can he say? I am quite convinced that the conclusion can be extended even further. Why shouldn't it be possible to make it very plausible that the devil is from God? The devil is appointed by God, according to the very same conclusion! — That is precisely what is needed: to really shine a light on what is necessary. Of course, this meets with the strongest opposition in all areas. But one cannot sleep when one has set out to participate in this reworking of people's imaginations.

Concepts that materialism has developed and that are considered virtually unassailable belong to what must be overcome most thoroughly. Nothing is encountered more frequently today from the so-called authority of science than what is called the law of conservation of energy and matter, conservation of force and substance. This is something that has become particularly dear to humanity. The worldview, which has become entirely mechanistic and physical, wants to numb itself to the existence of the spirit. Since it does not want to acknowledge the spirit, it cannot attribute permanence or eternity to it; it attributes eternity to its little idol, the atom, or to matter or force in general. But the truth is that of all that you can see with your senses, all that surrounds you materially and as forces in the world, according to the laws of the universe, nothing, absolutely nothing, will exist beyond the stage of the Venus age. We know that the evolution of the Earth is followed by the evolution of Jupiter, and the evolution of Jupiter by the evolution of Venus, then the evolution of Vulcan. Just as man finds himself again in different embodiments, so the Earth finds itself again as Jupiter, after the evolution of Jupiter as Venus, after the evolution of Venus as Vulcan. That which can be found today by any physical experiment as matter and material structure will not endure beyond the Venusian existence. There is no conservation of matter and energy—of such matter and such energy as physicists can speak of—beyond the Venusian existence. The entire law of the conservation of matter and energy is merely a superstition, it is that which dominates all physical concepts. But something is covered up by talking about the world consisting of indestructible matter that always forms itself into different groupings. What is covered up is the answer that must come when the question is raised: Yes, what will remain when everything that surrounds us in the wider world is no longer there, when the Venus period has come or is in its middle? What will remain then? Where is there anything that remains?

Now, turn your eyes out into the wide circle that you can see. Look at everything, everything, look at the totality of the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms; look at everything you can see as stars, light phenomena, all air phenomena, all water phenomena, look wherever you want to look, gather together everything you can somehow gather in your outer sense perceptions, and ask yourself the question: Where is there anything that remains of our present existence? — In no animal, in no plant, in no mineral, in no air, in no water, nowhere except in the human being! In everything you can see today, there is nothing that goes beyond the Venus existence, except for human beings themselves. You cannot find anything lasting, anything that can be addressed with the concept of eternity, in anything other than human beings. This means: If we are looking for the seeds of the true future of the world, where must we look for them? We must look for them in human beings! We cannot look for them in any other creature, in any other realm of nature. But through the realms of nature, the ancient people saw the cosmic universe, spiritually of course, before the mystery of Golgotha. If we take the sun: they saw a glowing ball, but through the glowing ball they saw Helios and the good. But this glowing ball of sun will not exist any longer than the existence of Venus; then it will be gone. And everything through which the ancients saw, as through a veil, the constitution of some spiritual existence will be gone. And of all that is now here, only that which is germinally present in human beings will remain for the future.

So what actually happened? Before the mystery of Golgotha, people looked out into the vast universe; they saw stars upon stars, they saw the sun and the moon, they saw air and water, the different realms. But they did not look at them as we do today; rather, they saw behind all this the spiritual-divine existence, and behind all this they saw Christ, who had not yet descended to earth. In those ancient times, Christ was connected with the cosmos; he was seen as extraterrestrial. In all that in which Christ was seen, there is nothing that lasts beyond the Venus existence. Everything through which the spiritual revealed itself to human beings in the times before the Mystery of Golgotha, and also Christ in the cosmos, only lasts until the Venus existence. Before the Mystery of Golgotha, human beings lived with the heavens, but these heavens are so sensual that they also disappear with the Venus existence. What remains beyond the Venus existence has its seeds only in the human being. Christ had to come from the universe to the human being if he wanted to begin the journey into eternity with human beings. Because everything is as I have now described to you, Christ descended from the cosmos in order to be with that which, as a seed in human beings, continues into eternity.

This is the great cosmic event that must be understood. Before the mystery of Golgotha, human beings could worship God, Christ, in the universe. The people who had to come after that—and since the mystery of Golgotha, more and more people have come to realize that only within human beings is the seed for the eternal future of the world—these people had to have a Christ not out there in the universe, which is disintegrating, but united with human beings, with the human organization, with the human realm. It is literally true: That which exists in the wide sphere of the senses as stars, as heavenly bodies, will pass away. But the Word, the Logos, which appeared in Christ and which unites itself with the eternal core of human beings, will remain. And this is a literal truth, just as things are literal truths in the real occult, religious documents.

But this is also the reason why we must, in a sense, have a dualism in the naming—I have already pointed this out—in the naming of Christ Jesus. On the one hand, we must recognize the Christ who belongs to the extraterrestrial universe, this spiritual being who was not connected with the people of Earth before the Mystery of Golgotha; this must not be forgotten, for it descended and united itself with human nature, with Jesus. The dualism of Christ Jesus contains what is necessary for understanding. In Christ, we must see the cosmic-spiritual; in Jesus, we must see that through which this cosmic-spiritual entered into historical development and connected itself with humanity in such a way that it can now live on into eternity with the human germ.

To conceal and distort this mystery of Christ, which is connected with the ancient mysteries, was, in a sense, the task of the Church in past centuries. And try to study the development of humanity in these past centuries, try to understand what happened to those individuals who really wanted to seek Christ Jesus, who really wanted to find the way to Christ Jesus: it was always a path of martyrdom. Christ Jesus always had to be sought against the conventions, just as today, of course, he must be sought against what remains of the conventions. But one cannot come close to the mystery of Christ unless one connects it with the mystery of nature.

You see, the necessity we have placed before our souls, of the descent of Christ from cosmic heights to the human germ, the mystery of the becoming of Jesus as Christ, can only be understood when there is unity between the observation of nature, the observation of the world, cosmology, and the science of the becoming of man and of the divine in humanity. There is a certain tendency to avoid this, to prevent natural science from becoming spiritual science and spiritual science from becoming natural science. This is the aim of most theologians and, on the other hand, of most natural scientists today, who want to erect a barrier between natural science on the one side and spiritual science on the other. But nothing should be said about Christ Jesus that is at the same time connected with the evolution of the earth, and nothing should be said about the evolution of the earth, that is, about its individual parts, that is connected with the great spiritual mystery.

By touching on these things, one touches on the most important, indeed the most essential thing in human life today. For that confused chatter about all kinds of spiritual matters, to which even our friends so often draw our attention, and draw our attention to with disgust, that confused chatter about the spirit is of no use whatsoever. I mean, every few moments someone comes along and says: Now look, he has been talking in a very theosophical or anthroposophical way, he said this and that! — This convenient search for support in the present confusion is not what we should be striving for, but we should stand firmly on the foundation that spiritual science will provide us with. And the time is too serious to entertain further compromises, especially in this field.

To build a bridge between natural knowledge, between the knowledge of what is perceived and the knowledge of what belongs to sin, to redemption, in short, to religious truths, to build a bridge between these two realms, can only happen if we have the courage to truly penetrate the spiritual realm. But we will not be able to know anything reasonable about the truths of life unless we have the courage to penetrate into the spiritual realm in a real and genuine way. In order to penetrate into the spiritual realm, it is necessary above all to look back to the threefold mystery of the sun in ancient times, but in a new sense appropriate to the present human race. Just as the sun is a trinity, so too is the human being a trinity. But it is a matter of really studying this threefold human being. That is the most important thing for the present: to study the threefold human being. Today, by way of preparation — tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we will finish this important matter — I would like to give you a schematic outline of what can guide you on the path that really needs to be sought in order to understand the threefold human being.

Imagine the following — what I am now sketching is meant to be a diagram — imagine you have a structure that is entirely an image, an image only, which has no meaning in itself, which is therefore an image. I will sketch this: I will simply draw a circle (see drawing on page 71, blue), a circular surface. This is a structure that is the image of something else, but because it is an image, it has completely consumed the other thing of which it is an image. It is strange when I say the following, but just imagine: in our dome, in the small dome, four ladies are working; let us assume that these four ladies, two on each side, are painting portraits of themselves, but that this portraiture has a special consequence. So imagine these four ladies painting portraits of themselves in the small dome, but this self-portraiture would have a very specific consequence: they would disappear, they would merge into their images, they would cease to exist. When they are finished, they are no longer there. Because the images have been created, they themselves are no longer there. Imagine such a structure beneath what I have sketched here: a structure that has been created by being made from something of which it is an image; but because the image is there, the other thing is consumed.

But this consumed thing is not alone in the world. Imagine that the story of these four ladies is not yet over. Well, these four ladies have disappeared, they were painted there and then they disappeared; but the pictures are still there. They are not alone in the universe, the universe with all its forces is still there. The ladies have disappeared, have been absorbed by the pictures, so to speak; but because the pictures are there, something substantial is drawn together from the universe and forms the ladies anew, albeit now as children: they slowly emerge again, emerging next to them. Thus, next to this structure, its archetype emerges again (see drawing, yellow). I should actually draw it a little bit inside, but I will draw it next to it: that is the archetype. That is the archetype, but there is a very loose connection between this image and the archetype, a very loose connection. The two have almost nothing to do with each other. This image is completely solidified and has almost nothing to do with its archetype.

Then think of a second structure. I want to sketch the second structure so that I also make it an image (see drawing on page 72, purple); only the first is inside the second. The first is something in itself, but it is also inside the second. So I boldly draw the second one over the first one. This is again such an image, and again such a similar image of another one, which I now want to draw on top of it (see drawing, red); but now I have to connect it more intimately with the first one. So the thing is that I couldn't choose the comparison I chose earlier with the four ladies, but if I were to choose a comparison now with regard to this image and image, I would have to say: So there are the four ladies, they are painting in the small dome, and while they are painting, something of themselves is also rising, being absorbed. But they are only half absorbed; in the end they are such that — well, I don't want to make an unaesthetic comparison: the left half of one's body is absorbed, the right half still protrudes from the picture; the right half of the other's body is absorbed, the left half still protrudes. So they are partially absorbed; they still protrude partially. That is the second point.

Then imagine a third, which again encompasses the first and also encompasses the second (see drawing on page 73, green). But this is largely connected to its image; it is not yet separated from its image. So if I wanted to stick with the comparison, I would have to say: The ladies are painting, but they also remain as ladies, and the whole thing I have in front of me is the ladies and their images. That is what is there (see drawing, orange), and for the most part it is also present in the original image.

So here (drawing on page 71) you have drawn something schematically: first, at the top, an image, hardened, crystallized, having as little as possible to do with its archetype; the archetype is next to it, newly emerging. That is your head; it is the most material, hardened part of human nature. Its archetype has absolutely nothing to do with it; it is emerging anew. And when you reach the age of twenty-eight, your head is such that it no longer gives anything of itself; it is fully grown. The greatest materialist in human nature is the head. A second structure is the chest and breathing and everything that belongs to it. It is roughly such that I could use the second as a diagram (drawing on page 72). This is already more connected, spirit and matter are already more closely linked, it is already more spiritualized. Everything that is the lung and the breathing process is already more spiritualized for the earth. And what remains, the limbs, in connection with everything that encompasses sexuality, there the spiritual is one with the physical, there they are still together. This belongs to the third diagram (drawing above).

This is the threefold human being. Today I have only been able to draw it schematically on the board. This wonderful and fruitful, magnificent and profound mystery of the threefold human being is in turn connected with the threefold mystery of the sun. But this in turn is connected with all the truths we need like the bread of life for everything that must take the place of what has fallen into chaos, what has reached an impasse and led to the present catastrophes of humanity. We will talk more about this tomorrow.

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Mysteries of the Sun and of the Threefold ManGA 183

Lecture I

Vierter Vortrag

Fourth lecture

Mysteries of the Sun and of the Threefold Man
GA 183