The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Third Lecture

[ 1 ] In these reflections, I sought to shed some light on the form that social thought should take in the present day. Today I would like to add a few things to what has been discussed, which may give you the opportunity to elevate these matters to a higher level—something that is truly necessary in light of the specific demands of the spirit of our age. All the points I have raised—and those I will yet raise—I ask you, please—and I would like to repeat this once more—to view them not as a critique of the times or of current conditions, but merely as material intended to guide your judgment—material that can provide a foundation for gaining an insightful overview of the situation. The spiritual-scientific perspective cannot be to offer social criticism, but merely to point out, without pessimism or optimism, what is. That is why one is, of course, always compelled to use words that are interpreted by some as if one were intending to criticize one social class or another. That is not the case. When we speak here of the bourgeoisie, we do so as a historically necessary phenomenon, not to level any accusation against it—for from a certain humanistic perspective, it was simply a necessity. And so I ask that you understand the points I will present today in the same light.

[ 2 ] To begin with, we start from the overarching impulse that underlies—more or less explicitly, and also more or less instinctively and unconsciously, confusingly and unclearly, yet strongly—not only all human movements or a large number of them, but also today’s proletarian social demand. This impulse is the existence of a certain ideal: to establish a social order that is satisfactory in every respect. Indeed, if one wishes to characterize what lies at the root of this in a radical—and therefore mistaken—way, one might say: An attempt is being made to conceive and realize a social order that is intended to bring about paradise on earth, or at least to bring all people that dignified state of happiness which, in our time, is regarded by the proletarian population as desirable. — This is called the “solution to the social question,” and what I have just said instinctively underlies what is called the solution to the social question.

[ 3 ] Now, with regard to this solution to the social question, it is necessary that the scholar of the humanities—who should not indulge in illusions in any field but rather observe reality—not indulge in illusions here either. For this is precisely what is essential in this field: that the people who strive for these things do not proceed from a standpoint free of illusions, but from a perspective confronted by a great multitude of illusions—above all, the fundamental illusion that it is possible to “solve” the social question.

[ 4 ] This is related, in a certain sense, to the fact that our age has no awareness of the difference between the physical plane and the spiritual worlds; that our age, as it were, instinctively regards the physical plane as the only world and wishes to conjure up paradise on this physical plane. Consequently, it is compelled to believe that human beings are either doomed to find no justice anywhere, no harmonization of their instincts and needs, or to find them precisely within physical earthly existence. But to those who view the world imaginatively—that is, who delve into true reality—the physical plane reveals itself in such a way that one must say: There is no perfection on it, only imperfection. — Therefore, it is impossible to speak of a complete solution to the social question at all. You can try, as much as you like, to solve the social question from the deepest depths of knowledge, but it can never be solved in the sense that so many people believe today. But that must not lead us to say: “Well, if the social question simply cannot be solved, then let’s leave it be; let’s let the whole old mess continue.” — The matter is, in fact, like a pendulum: the force for the upward swing is gained as gravitational force during the downward swing. Just as the opposite force is accumulated during the downward swing—which is then expended during the upward swing—so it is in a rhythmic sequence in the historical life of humanity. Whatever you may consider the most perfect social order—or indeed any kind of order—for a given era: once you put it into practice, it exhausts itself and, after some time, leads back into disorder. The course of evolution is not one of steady ascent, but rather proceeds in ebbs and flows, in a wave-like oscillation. And even the best system you establish—once you realize it on the physical plane—brings about conditions that, after a certain time, lead to the destruction of what you have established. The situation of humanity would be quite different if people properly recognized this inexorable law of necessity in historical events. People would then not believe that one can establish a paradise on earth in the absolute sense, but they would be compelled to look at the cyclical law of human evolution. And by ruling out an absolute answer to the question: “How should social life be shaped?”—one will be doing the right thing by asking: “What must be done for our age?” What, specifically, do the impulses of our fifth post-Atlantean epoch require? What is actually seeking to be realized? — By being aware that what one realizes will necessarily be destroyed again in the cyclical turn of events, one must be clear that it is only in this relative way—by recognizing the developmental impulses of a particular epoch—that one can think socially. One must work with reality. One works against reality if one believes that one can bring about anything through abstract, absolute ideals. For the scholar of the spiritual sciences who wishes to look at reality—not illusion—the question is simply this: What is seeking to be realized directly in the present reality?

[ 5 ] That was also the point of view from which I was referring to yesterday’s debates, and you are completely misinterpreting me if you believe that I mean an absolute paradise will be brought about by, for example, separating the fruits of labor from the labor itself. Rather, based on the deeper laws of human development, I regard this merely as a necessity that must now come to pass. For behind what people are conscious of—and toward which the proletarian worldview in particular is driving them, even if it sometimes pushes things toward such radical demands as those I listed for you yesterday as Bolshevik—lies what they instinctively want to bring about. And anyone who approaches reality does not allow themselves to be presented with programs—not even that of the Russian Soviet Republic—but rather sets out to observe what still lies instinctively behind these things, which are expressed outwardly and haltingly. That is what matters; otherwise, one will never come to terms with these things if one does not view them in this way. That which is instinctively strived for is entirely rooted in the fundamental character of our fifth post-Atlantean epoch, which differs significantly, for example, from the preceding fourth—the Greco-Latin—or again from the preceding third—the Egyptian-Chaldean. In social terms, people today must not act as isolated individuals, but rather, when they come together in groups, they must strive for something very specific. And they desire this instinctively. What they desire today—something that could not yet be desired during the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, which lasted until the fifteenth century of our Christian era—is a life worthy of human dignity; that is, reflected in the social order, a fulfillment of what this epoch envisions as the ideal of humanity. People today instinctively want the social structure to reflect what it means to be human.

[ 6 ] This was different in the third post-Atlantean, the Egyptian-Chaldean period. And it was different still in the second period. In this second period—that is, the proto-Persian period—humanity was still entirely within its inner self; at that time, human beings were still entirely inward-looking. At that time, human beings instinctively sought to recognize in the external world what they experienced internally as needs; they did not demand a social structure that would reflect externally what they experienced internally as drives, instincts, or needs. Then came the third post-Atlantean period, the Egyptian-Chaldean period. At that time, human beings demanded that a part of their being appear to them in the mirror of external social reality—namely, that which is connected to the head. Hence we see that, beginning with the third post-Atlantean, the Egyptian-Chaldean period, there was a search for theocratic social institutions—everything related to theocratic, or, in a sense, religiously imbued social institutions. The rest remained instinctive: that which relates to the second human being—the breast-human, the breathing-human—and that which relates to the metabolic-human; these remained instinctive. At that time, human beings did not yet think to see these in any way reflected in the external order. In the proto-Persian period, there was also only an instinctive religion, led by the initiates of Zoroastrianism. But everything that humanity developed was still inwardly instinctive. Humanity did not yet feel the need to see these things outwardly as a reflection in the social structure. It was during the period ending roughly with the founding of the ancient Roman Empire—747 being the true year before the Christian era—and in the period preceding that year, that people began to demand that what could live as a thought in their minds be reflected in the social order.

[ 7 ] Now came the period that began in the eighth century—in the pre-Christian era, starting in the year 747—and ended in the fifteenth century A.D.: the Greco-Latin period. During this time, humanity demanded that two aspects of its nature be reflected externally in the social structure: the head-human and the rhythmic or breathing-human, the chest-human. What was to be reflected was the old theocratic order, though now only as an echo. In fact, the truly theocratic institutions bear a very strong resemblance to the third post-Atlantean epoch—even the institutions of the Catholic Church. This tradition thus continues, and added to it is what specifically stems from the Greco-Latin epoch: the external institutions of the res publica—those institutions relating to the administration of external life, insofar as right and wrong and the like are concerned. Human beings demand that two aspects of their nature not only be carried within them but also be visible externally in a mirror image. For example, you cannot understand Greek culture unless you realize that the pure metabolic life—which remains instinctive and inner, without requiring an external reflection—is expressed externally in the economic structure. No external reflection is yet required for this. The tendency to demand an external reflection for this only emerges in the fifteenth century A.D. If you study history as it truly is—not as the legends that have been fabricated within our so-called historical science—you will find that what I have told you, for occult reasons, about slavery in Greece is also confirmed externally; without its existence, the Greek culture that we so admire would be unthinkable. It can only be conceived as part of the social structure if one understands that this entire fourth post-Atlantean epoch is dominated by the striving to have an external legal and religious institution, but as yet no other order than an instinctive economic one.

[ 8 ] And it is only our era—the era that began in the fifteenth century A.D.—that calls for us to see the whole threefold human being reflected in the external social structure in which he lives.

[ 9 ] So today we must study the threefold human being, because he develops the threefold instinct to have within the outer structure—within the social structure—what I have told you: first, a spiritual realm that has self-government and self-structure; second, an administrative sphere—a sphere of security and order, that is, a political sphere—which in turn is autonomous in itself; and third, an economic sphere; and it is our age that, for the first time, demands this economic sphere in its external organization. To see human beings realized in the image of the social structure—this emerges as an instinct only in our age. This is the deeper reason why it is no longer a mere economic instinct at work, but rather why the economic class that has only just been created—the proletariat— strives to establish the economic structure externally just as consciously as the fourth post-Atlantean epoch established the administrative structure of the legal system, and the third post-Atlantean epoch—the Egyptian-Chaldean—established the theocratic structure.

[ 10 ] This is the inner reason, my dear friends. Only by looking at this inner reason can you correctly assess the circumstances of the present. Then you will also understand why I had to present this threefold social order to you eight days ago. It is truly not an invention, as countless organizations invent programs today, but rather it is derived from the forces that can be observed when one looks at the reality of evolution. We must achieve a concrete and objective understanding of the evolutionary impulses at work in the development of humanity. The times are urging us to do so. People are still resisting it. It is curious to observe even those who go the furthest. A book titled *Letters from a Woman to Walther Rathenau: On the Transcendence of Things to Come* was published recently. This book already addresses various topics. For example: “The purpose of this volume is to publish the essential content of a collection of letters. Personal communication has been omitted to the extent that it is not directly related to the subject matter. This naturally results in a fragmentary epistolary form, in which even the customary salutations and closings are avoided. In it, a woman with clairvoyant abilities expresses her extraordinary experiences and knowledge regarding the new spirit of the age and the new world order to the author of the book *Von kommenden Dingen*. The forces of the future, which today are striving for a higher way of life, reveal themselves here in the individual human destiny as the lived reality of the new spiritual powers.”

[ 11 ] It is strange that so many things are already being discussed here, but there is something curious about it: This woman comes to the conclusion that human beings can develop higher spiritual abilities and that it is only through these that one can perceive true reality. This essentially concludes the book, whose final chapter is titled: “Cosmic Concluding Reflections on the World Soul and the Human Soul.” But it goes no further than the insight that human beings can possess certain higher faculties; it does not, however, go so far as to reveal what one actually sees with these higher faculties. It is as if one were lecturing a person: “You have eyes”—but not allowing them to actually see anything of reality with those eyes. It is remarkable how certain people view spiritual science today. They practically recoil when one begins to speak of what can actually be seen. One would like to say to such an author: You admit that higher faculties can develop in human beings. Spiritual science is there to describe what one actually sees in important matters when these higher faculties are developed. — But people shy away from that; they are not yet ready to hear it.

[ 12 ] You can see how urgently the times are pushing us to arrive precisely where spiritual science is heading, and how, at the same time, the things I spoke of in the last essay of Bernus’s *Reich* are coalescing within the human being—in my essay, “The Luciferic and the Ahrimanic in Their Relationship to the Human Being.” These elements are coalescing in the human soul to such an extent that even those who admit that one can perceive a spiritual reality still regard as a fantasist anyone who speaks today of this spiritual reality—which they themselves admit is the true reality, one that can be perceived.

[ 13 ] I mentioned this lady not because she is an isolated case, but because what occurs in her occurs in many cases; for it is precisely characteristic that people are urged to look beyond ordinary external reality, yet do not want to, and do not do so. For example, this book points out how human beings have a certain kinship with cosmic forces. But one must certainly not go around presenting the content of my *Secret Science*—in which these relationships are explored—to people! They recoil from it. However, one cannot gain insight into social matters—which must be viewed as I have told you—if one merely accepts that such insight is possible without actually engaging with what can be perceived. It is of immense importance to truly grasp this. Otherwise, one will always fall into the error already hinted at in the very first sentence spoken today—namely, that one absolutizes what applies concretely to the individual, so that one asks, for example, with regard to the social question: How should human institutions be established across the entire Earth? — But this question does not even arise. People are different across the globe. And especially as we look to the future, this diversity will become increasingly apparent, despite all internationalism. And the result will be that anyone who believes one can implement socialism in Russia just as in China, just as in South America, in Germany, or in France—that is, anyone who expresses absolute ideas where only individual, relative ideas correspond to reality—is voicing a completely unrealistic notion. It is extraordinarily important to keep this in mind.

[ 14 ] It has been a great source of pain for me in recent years—at a time when it would have been so necessary for these things to be understood in the appropriate places—that they have not been understood. You may recall that two years ago I drew a map here that is now coming to pass. And I did not draw this map just for you. At the time, I wanted to present this map to explain how the impulses come from a certain direction, because it is a law that if one knows these impulses, if one engages with them, if one takes them into one’s consciousness, they can be corrected in a certain way and redirected. It is very important to grasp this. But no one came forward who would have made a difference, who would have engaged with these matters, who would have taken them seriously in the truest sense. That they were to be taken seriously is demonstrated by today’s events.

[ 15 ] The fact that must be taken into account here is that, regarding certain fundamental laws of world evolution, only a limited amount is actually known today—and to such an extent that this knowledge is also put into practice externally—within certain secret societies of the English-speaking population. This is something that is important to bear in mind. Secret societies among other populations are, in essence, nothing more than empty rhetoric. Secret societies within the English-speaking population, on the other hand, are sources from which—through certain methods, which I may speak about at some point but which would take us too far afield today—truths are gleaned that can be used to steer political affairs. So one can say: Those forces that flow from these secret societies into Western politics move in step with history in a proper sense. They take into account the laws of historical development. It is not always necessary for everything to be perfectly in order on the surface; what matters is whether one proceeds in accordance with the laws of historical development, or whether one acts in an amateurish manner, merely following arbitrary whims.

[ 16 ] Central European politics, for example, was, in the truest sense of the word, an amateurish form of politics, utterly divorced from all historical laws. A non-amateurish, proper, or—if I may use this bourgeois term—professional form of politics was that of the English-speaking population, the British Empire, and its appendage, America. That is the great difference; that is the significant point that must be taken into account. It is significant for this reason: because what is known in those circles is already flowing into reality. It also flows into the instincts of those people who outwardly occupy their positions and serve as representative politicians, even if they act solely on political instincts. Behind them stand the forces to which I have just alluded. You therefore need not ask whether Northcliffe or even Lloyd George are, to one degree or another, initiated into the forces in question. That is not at all the point; rather, the question is whether there is a possibility that they might act in accordance with these forces. They need only absorb into their instincts what lies in the direction of these forces. But this does exist; it does happen. And these forces are at work in the course of world history. That is the essential point. And one can only act favorably within the context of world history if one truly and consciously takes in what is happening in the world in this way. Otherwise, the other party—who acts or causes things to happen consciously in accordance with world history—always holds the power, while the one who knows nothing is powerless. In this way, power can triumph over powerlessness. This is an external event. But the triumph of power over powerlessness ultimately stems, in these matters, from the difference between knowledge and ignorance. This is what must be taken into account.

[ 17 ] And it is important to note that the chaos now brewing in Eastern and Central Europe demonstrates, on the one hand, just how terrible were all those efforts that purported to bring state order to this chaos—and which have now been swept away; but on the other hand, what is happening in Central and Eastern Europe shows that amateurism in this area pervades public life. In the West, among the English-speaking population of the world, amateurism does not prevail at all; instead, everywhere—as I said, if I may use this bourgeois expression—there is a professional approach to these matters.

[ 18 ] But that is precisely what will shape the course of history in the coming decades. No matter how noble the ideals put forward in Central and Eastern Europe may be, and no matter how much goodwill there may be in this or that program, none of this will amount to anything as long as one is unable to draw on impulses that originate just as much—or even more so—from beyond the threshold of consciousness as, ultimately, the impulses of the West, drawn from the English-speaking population, originate from beyond the threshold of consciousness.

[ 19 ] Those friends who have at least listened to the things I have been presenting for years—just as I am doing before you today—have always made a mistake regarding these matters, one from which even our best friends are generally difficult to dissuade: the mistake that stems, for example, from the idea: “Yes, but what good does it do to tell people that this or that is emanating from certain secret centers in the West? You must first be able to instill in them the belief that such secret societies exist!” This was often regarded as the fundamental step: to awaken the belief that such secret societies exist. But that is not what one should focus on in the first place. You will find little receptiveness if, for example, you try to convince a statesman of the caliber of Kühlmann that there are secret societies with such impulses. But that is not the point at all. One even makes a mistake if one regards that as the fundamental issue. The tendency to regard this as a fundamental point stems solely from a secretive attitude—one that is present even among anthroposophists and has been carried over from the bad habits of the old Theosophical Society. People think that if they use the words “secret” or “occult” and can point to something secret or occult, they thereby confer upon themselves a very special prestige. But that is not what has a beneficial effect when it comes to external reality. What matters is showing how things happen, simply pointing to what anyone can understand with their common sense.

[ 20 ] Within those societies that cultivated such occult truths, which pertain to reality, the following statement was made, for example: One must pursue a policy such that, after the Russian Tsarist Empire has been overthrown for the good of the Russian people, Russia will be given the opportunity to undertake socialist experiments that Western countries are unwilling to undertake because they would not prove advantageous or desirable there. — As long as I say that this was said in secret societies, one may of course doubt it. But when one then points out that the entire political leadership is guided by this statement as its foundation, then one is dealing with reality based on ordinary common sense, and that is precisely the point: to awaken a sense of reality.

[ 21 ] What has developed in Russia is, in essence, merely the realization of what is desired in the West. These societies are well aware that clumsy socialist experiments are still being carried out by non-Western countries today, and that things are unfolding in all sorts of twists and turns; this does not cause them any particular headache, for they know full well that the goal is to first bring these countries to a point where socialist experiments become necessary. — If one then keeps them in the dark about a social order, one can establish that social order for them, and thus become the ruler of the socialist experiments.

[ 22 ] You see, there lies immense power in the withholding of a certain kind of occult knowledge, which is very carefully cultivated in these very centers. And there is no salvation from this power except by acquiring knowledge from the other side and being able to counter it. In this realm, one does not speak of guilt or innocence; in this realm, one simply speaks of necessities—of the things that must come to pass because they are already at work in the depths, in the realm of forces that are not yet phenomena but are already forces and will become phenomena.

[ 23 ] I hardly need to emphasize that I stand by what I have always said: that the true essence of German culture cannot perish. This true essence of German culture must find its own path. But that is precisely the point: that it can find its way, that it does not seek it on the wrong paths, nor on paths born of ignorance. So please do not interpret what I am about to say as somehow contradicting what I have said over the years; for there are two sides to every matter, and what I have hinted at is, in many respects, a matter of will. It can, of course, be paralyzed if forces from the other side are also at play; but those forces must be based on knowledge, not on dilettantish ignorance.

[ 24 ] You see, the point is this: If no resistance is mounted from the East—and by the East I mean everything that lies east of the Rhine all the way to Asia—then British world domination will develop, with the decline of the Romance-Latin French element, in accordance with the intentions of those forces that I have described today, and on many previous occasions, as lying beyond the instincts. They lie behind the instincts. It is therefore important not merely to approach what Woodrow Wilson says with the way of thinking that is so often instilled in people today, but rather to grasp, with a deeper understanding, what in people like Woodrow Wilson himself comes to the surface only as instinct—which, when formulated in all sorts of statements, captivates people, but which nevertheless arises from the soul in question only because that soul is, in a certain sense, possessed by subconscious forces.

[ 25 ] The point is that in the Western circles that keep their knowledge secret, great care is taken to ensure that certain things develop in such a way that the West gains dominion over the East under all circumstances. No matter what people may say in their conscious minds today, the goal is to establish a ruling caste in the West and an economic slave caste in the East, extending from the Rhine and continuing eastward into Asia. Not a slave caste in the ancient Greek sense, but an economic slave caste—a slave caste that is to be organized along socialist lines, one that is to absorb all the impossibilities of a social structure, but which is then not to be applied to the English-speaking population. That is what this is all about: making the English-speaking population the ruling population of the earth.

[ 26 ] Well, that is indeed the correct way to think about it from that perspective, in the broadest sense. And I’d like to take this opportunity to discuss something that I ask you to take to heart, so that you are aware: When such things are spoken of today, they are spoken of under the pressure and urgency of current events and truly must not be taken lightly. What I am saying here is kept most carefully secret by the centers in the West, which I have often alluded to. And in the West, it is taken for granted that the people of the East are not allowed to know anything about these matters, which the West itself—as I said earlier—possesses as knowledge through methods I may yet discuss, and possesses this knowledge in such a way that, precisely because others are not supposed to know these things—and this is the only way it can be—it intends to use this knowledge to establish world domination.

[ 27 ] You see, beginning with this fifth post-Atlantean epoch, very specific forces will arise in the evolution of humanity. Humanity is, after all, evolving forward. One can never form a judgment about the forces that arise in human evolution based on the brief period that is surveyed anthropologically or historically in external, materialistic science. For in this brief period, which is surveyed anthropologically or historically within external development, very little has actually changed. With this science, one does not know, for example, how things looked quite differently as early as the second period, let alone the first, or even further back. This can only be known through spiritual science. And so it is only through spiritual science that one can point to those forces that will develop in the future from human nature itself in a very elementary way. That such forces—which will transform life on Earth—will develop from within the human being is known in those secret centers. This is precisely what they wish to conceal from the East, what they wish to keep as knowledge for themselves. And it is also known that these abilities—which humanity is only just beginning to develop today—will be of a threefold nature. They will develop from human nature in the same way that other abilities have emerged in the course of human evolution.

[ 28 ] I must explain to you this threefold ability—which every initiate within these secret circles speaks of and which will develop within human nature—in the following way. First, there are the abilities related to what is known as “material occultism.” Through this ability—and this is precisely the ideal of the British secret societies—certain social forms that today underlie industrialization are to be placed on an entirely different foundation. Every knowledgeable member of these secret circles knows that simply through certain abilities—which are still latent in human beings today but are developing—it is possible, with the help of the law of resonant vibrations, to set machines, mechanical devices, and other things in motion on a large scale. You will find a small hint of this in what I have linked to the character of Strader in my Mystery Dramas.

[ 29 ] These things are currently in the making. Within those secret circles in the field of material occultism, these things are kept as a closely guarded secret. There are motors that, once the relevant vibration curve is known, can be set in motion with very minimal human intervention. This will make it possible to replace much of what currently requires human labor with purely mechanical forces. Today, there are already fourteen hundred million people on Earth; but it is not merely these fourteen hundred million who perform work—as I have explained here before—but so much work is performed by purely mechanical means that one can say the Earth is actually populated by two thousand million people today; the others are simply machines; that is to say, if the work performed by machines had to be done by human beings without machines, there would have to be six hundred million more people living on Earth. But when what I now call “mechanical occultism” before you enters the realm of practical effectiveness—which is an ideal of those secret centers—we will not only be able to provide work for five or six hundred million people, but we will be able to provide work for a thousand million or more people.

[ 30 ] This will make it possible for nine-tenths of human labor to become unnecessary within the English-speaking world. But mechanical occultism makes it possible not only to dispense with nine-tenths of the work still performed by human hands today, but also to paralyze any insurrectionary movement by the then-dissatisfied masses. The ability to set motors in motion according to the law of resonating vibrations—this ability will develop to a particularly extensive degree among the English-speaking population. This is known in those secret circles. It is counted on as the very factor that will grant them supremacy over the rest of the Earth’s population during the course of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch.

[ 31 ] But there is something else that is known in those circles. They know that there are two other abilities that will also develop. And one ability will develop that I would like to call the eugenic ability. And this eugenic ability will develop particularly well among the peoples of the East, among the peoples of Russia and the Asian hinterland. And it is also known in those secret circles of the West that this eugenic occultism will not develop from the innate predispositions of the English-speaking population, but rather from the innate predispositions of the Asian and Russian populations in particular. These facts are known in the secret circles of the West, and they are factored into their calculations. They are regarded as certain impulses that must play an active role in future development. By “eugenic capacity,” I mean the elevation of human reproduction above mere arbitrariness and chance. For within the populations of the East, an instinctively clear understanding will develop—an understanding of how the laws of population must run parallel to certain cosmic phenomena; and how, by timing conception in harmony with certain star constellations, one thereby facilitates the access of souls—whether of good or evil nature—to earthly incarnation. Only those people who constitute the racial continuity, the bloodline continuity of the Asian population, will be able to acquire the ability to see, in each individual case, how that which today acts chaotically and arbitrarily across the Earth—conception, birth—can be brought into harmony with the great laws of the cosmos in each specific, concrete instance. For abstract laws are of no use here; rather, what is acquired is a concrete ability that will know, in each individual case: now conception may take place, or now it may not.

[ 32 ] This knowledge, which will be capable of drawing impulses from the heavens to moralize or demoralize the Earth through human nature itself, is a special ability that develops as an extension of the “blood ability” among the races of the East, and I call what develops there as an ability “eugenic occultism.” This is the second ability that will prevent the evolution of humanity—with regard to conception and birth—from proceeding merely at random, more or less by chance, in the world. And now consider the immense social consequence, the immense social impulse that this brings with it! These abilities are latent. It is well known in those secret circles of the English-speaking population that these abilities will develop among the peoples of the East. It is known that they themselves will not possess these abilities in their innate dispositions. It is known that the Earth could not reach its goal, could not make the transition from Earth to Jupiter—indeed, that even relatively soon the Earth would turn away from its goal—if only the forces of the West were employed. If one were to rely solely on the mechanical occult abilities of the West, then a soulless population would gradually develop in the West—a population that would become as soulless as possible. This is well known. Therefore, the aim is to develop within one’s own circle whatever can be developed through one’s abilities: mechanical occultism; and the aim is to dominate the population that develops eugenic occultism. Every initiate in the circles of the West says: It is necessary for us to dominate India, for example, because only through the continuation of what comes from Indian bodies—when it combines with what in the West is moving in a completely different direction, toward purely mechanical occultism—will bodies arise in which souls can incarnate in the future to carry the Earth into its future stages of development. English-speaking occultists know that they must forgo the bodies that arise from their own ethnic base, and they strive to gain dominion over a population that will supply bodies through which the Earth’s evolution can be carried forward into the future.

[ 33 ] American occultists know that only if they actively cultivate what is developing within the Russian population—in the bodies of the future through eugenic-occult predispositions—and if they master this, so that a social connection gradually emerges between their fading racial characteristics and the burgeoning psychic racial characteristics of European Russia—only then can they carry over into the future what they wish to carry over.

[ 34 ] I must speak to you about a third ability that is latent today and will develop. It is the one I would like to call the hygienic occult ability. Now we have all three: the material occult ability, the eugenic occult ability, and the hygienic occult ability. This hygienic occult ability is well on its way and will not be long in coming. This ability will simply mature through the realization that human life, as it unfolds from birth to death, follows a process that is entirely identical to a disease process. For disease processes are, in fact, merely specific and radical transformations of the entirely ordinary, normal life process that unfolds between birth and death—except that we carry within us not only the forces that cause illness but also the forces that restore health. And these healing forces—as every occultist knows—are exactly the same as those one employs when acquiring occult abilities by transforming these forces into knowledge. The healing power inherent in the human organism, when transformed into knowledge, yields occult knowledge.

[ 35 ] Every knowledgeable person in Western circles knows, however, that materialistic medicine will have no place in the future. For the moment that hygienic-occult abilities develop, external, material medicine will no longer be needed; instead, it will be possible to treat and prevent—through psychically-based methods—those illnesses that do not arise from karmic causes and are therefore beyond influence. Everything will change in this regard. Today this still seems like mere fantasy, but it is something that will come to pass very soon.

[ 36 ] The fact is, however, that these three abilities are not distributed evenly among the entire population of the Earth. You have already seen the differentiation. This differentiation, of course, has to do only with the bodies, not with the souls, which, after all, pass from race to race and from people to people; but this differentiation has a great deal to do with the bodies. The bodies of the English-speaking population can never give rise to the ability to develop eugenic-occult abilities through birth in the future. These abilities will be applied specifically in the West, but they will be applied by dominating people from the East and arranging marriages between people from the West and people from the East; by making use of that which can only be learned from the people of the East.

[ 37 ] People from the Central European regions are particularly predisposed to hygienic-occult abilities. The fact is that the English-speaking population cannot acquire these abilities through innate predisposition at birth, but can acquire them over time as part of their development between birth and death. There, they can become acquired qualities. And among the population roughly from the Rhine eastward into Asia, these abilities will be present from birth. And again, it is the case that the people of the Central Lands cannot directly acquire the eugenic-occult predisposition at birth, but they can acquire it over the course of their lives if they study under the people of the East. Thus, these abilities will be distributed. The people of the East will have no ability whatsoever for material occultism; they will be able to receive it only if it is given to them, if it is not kept secret from them. And one can always find ways to keep it secret, especially when the others are so foolish as not to believe the things said by someone who is once in a position to glimpse into these matters. Thus, the people of the East and the people of the Central Lands will have to receive material occultism from the West. They will simply receive the blessings—the products. Hygienic occultism will develop primarily in the Central Lands, while eugenic occultism will develop in the Eastern lands. But communication will have to take place between people. This is something that must be incorporated into the social impulses of the future; it is something that makes it necessary for people to realize: In the future, they can live across the entire Earth only as a unified humanity. For if the American were to live only as an American, he would indeed be able to achieve the greatest material success, but he would condemn himself to never being able to transcend Earth’s development. He would condemn himself—if he did not seek social ties with the East—to be bound as a soul to the Earth realm after any incarnation and to wander only within that realm. The Earth would be severed from its cosmic context, and all these souls would be forced to wander. The people of the East, on the other hand, would lose the Earth if they did not use their eugenic-occult abilities to absorb that which draws down upon the Earth—the materialism of the West. They would merely be drawn into some form of psychic-spiritual development and would lose Earth’s evolution; the Earth would, as it were, sink beneath them, and they would be unable to reap the fruits of Earth’s evolution.

[ 38 ] Trust among people, in the deepest sense, must take hold. This is precisely what this remarkable human development of the future demonstrates. It is entirely in keeping with the rational approach of the centers of the West to manage matters only as they are able to. It is not for the people of the West to focus specifically on what is developing in the East from the perspective of the people of the East; what develops among others must be left to them. This is what one should engrave very, very deeply into one’s soul: that a point has been reached here where concepts such as guilt or innocence lose their meaning entirely, where the task is to take things with the utmost seriousness in the deepest sense, because they contain a knowledge that alone is capable of guiding humanity into the future.

[ 39 ] It is very important to view these things in a certain way. For consider that across the Earth—differentiated according to the various peoples, namely the peoples of the West, the Central Lands, and the East—three kinds of occult abilities develop, which, in a sense, intertwine with one another in such a way that the people of the West have a natural predisposition to material occultism from birth, but can acquire hygienic occultism; that people of the Central Lands have, primarily by birth, a predisposition for hygienic occultism, but can acquire—if it is given to them—material occultism from the West and eugenic occultism from the East; that people of the East have, by birth, a predisposition for eugenic occultism, but can acquire, from the Central Lands, hygienic occultism. These abilities are distributed throughout humanity in a differentiated manner, yet at the same time in such a way that they intertwine. And it is precisely through these intertwining connections that the future social bond of community across the entire Earth will be determined.

[ 40 ] However, there are obstacles to the development of these abilities; these obstacles are of many kinds, and their effects are actually quite complex. For example, a significant obstacle—particularly for people from Central and Eastern Europe—to consciously developing the abilities that are meant to emerge is when strong antipathies toward people from Western countries are at play within them, preventing these matters from being viewed objectively. This is an obstacle to the development of these abilities. On the other hand, in a certain sense, even the predisposition toward a later occult ability is supported when it is developed out of certain instincts of hatred. This is a very peculiar phenomenon. For one so often asks oneself—and here lies something that ought to be viewed quite objectively—: Why, in fact, has there been such senseless railing in the Western world? — This, too, is already directed toward these abilities by instinct. For nothing will promote what lies in the deepest impulses of Western occultism more than the development of false feelings—which are, however, perceived as sacred in a certain sense—that allow people in the East, particularly those in the Central European countries, to be portrayed as “barbarians.” Material occult predispositions are fostered precisely, for example, by that sentiment which in America is the so-called “crusade mentality.” This consists in the belief that America is called upon to bring freedom and justice—and I don’t even know what all those fine things are—to the entire world. People believe this, of course. This is not meant as any kind of accusation. People believe they are waging a crusade. But it is precisely in believing what is false that the support for a certain direction lies. If one were to consciously state what is false, then one would not have this support. Thus, on the one hand, what is happening now is infinitely beneficial; on the other hand, it hinders precisely the development of those abilities which, it must be said, are still latent in most people today, but which will develop as we move toward the future and will profoundly influence the social structure of the people of the future.

[ 41 ] Just imagine how everything that is happening in the present will become crystal clear to you—saturated with understanding and insight—when you consider these underlying factors, when you realize that behind much of what is consciously said today lie the subconscious instincts that correspond to these explanations! The most important fact here, however, is that, through very special evolutionary processes, the English-speaking population in particular possesses such secret occult centers that are aware of these things—centers that know what abilities they will possess in the future as members of the English-speaking population and what abilities they will lack, and that therefore also know how to organize the social structure so that they can put what they lack to work for them. Instincts, however, are at work in this direction, and these instincts have already been at work; they have had an immense effect; they have had a significant effect.

[ 42 ] A particularly effective means of steering people onto the wrong path—a path that can be driven by Western occult knowledge—is to influence the East in such a way that it continues to maintain, even in the future, its long-standing tendency to develop mere religion without science. The leaders of Western secret societies will ensure that there is nothing there that is neither mere religion nor mere science, but rather the synthesis of both—the interplay of knowledge and faith. But they will also ensure that the science which otherwise permeates the content of religion operates solely in secret, that it permeates only the more important affairs of humanity and the political leadership of the Earth in the pursuit of British world domination. It will be of immense help in the expansion of this world domination if the East, as far as possible, does not interweave religious concepts with science.

[ 43 ] Now consider how everything Russian is currently aligned with this Western aspiration. On the one hand, there is still a desire in Russia today to be pious, but without penetrating the essence of piety through spiritual science—remaining, so to speak, in a vague mysticism. This vague mysticism would be a useful tool for what the West seeks: supremacy over the East.

[ 44 ] On the other hand, the aim is to make science—which is for the Earth—as atheistic as possible. And in this regard, the culture of the English-speaking population has achieved tremendous results in recent times. This English-speaking population truly has no cause for complaint. It has achieved tremendous things, for it has essentially spread its scientific orientation—religionless science, atheistic science—across the entire Earth. It has become the ruler of the entire Earth. Goetheanism, which is quite deliberately the opposite of this, could not even take root in Goethe’s own country; even in Goethe’s own country, it remains a largely unknown phenomenon! That which today dominates science as intellect is entirely in keeping with what is to be revealed as the outward expression of the science cultivated in secret by these circles—a science they regard there as a synthesis between science and religion. For the outside world, there is to be only atheistic science; for the inner circles, which are to guide the course of world events, a science that is at the same time religion, and a religion that is at the same time science.

[ 45 ] The best way to keep the East under control is to preserve a religion devoid of science there. The best way to keep the Central European nations under control is to impose upon them—since they will not allow a religion to be imposed on them—a science devoid of religion. These things are promoted quite consciously by those who are regarded as experts in the aforementioned circles, and instinctively by others. And now that the ruling powers of the Central European countries—which stemmed from a bygone era—have been swept away, there is, for the time being, nothing in the Central European countries that can take their place. That is precisely what makes it so difficult to correctly assess the entire world-historical situation of the present. The whole world has grappled with the question of guilt or the cause of this war-torn catastrophe. But all these matters can only be properly understood when viewed against the backdrop of those active forces that do not manifest themselves in external phenomena. These matters cannot be judged according to the categories—the categories of thought—by which one usually judges when raising the question of guilt or innocence—precisely for the reasons I have outlined to you today.

[ 46 ] I am well aware that today, when even Wilson is called the “Pope of the Twentieth Century,” not in a derogatory sense, but in an approving one, because he is rightly considered the “lay pope” of the twentieth century, even in the Central European countries a clouded judgment regarding the course of this so-called World War will gradually develop, because people will fail to take the actual issues into account. Every document will prove what I am saying. But one must view the documents against the proper background. Above all, one must have the opportunity to form a judgment. In this case, such a judgment can only be reached by those who can shed some light on these matters from beyond the threshold. For you see, I fear that as events—which, one might say, are now coming to light day by day—unfold, increasingly erroneous lines of reasoning will gain ground, and that fewer and fewer people will be inclined to engage with the issue in a way that could yield fruitful results. I believe people will have strange thoughts when they now learn, for example, from the newspapers—whether it is true or not, though it could be true—that the abdicated German Emperor says: “I wasn’t even there when the war was started”—you will have read this in recent issues—“Bethmann and Jagow did that!”

[ 47 ] It is, of course, outrageous for something like that to come out of his mouth—absolutely outrageous! But there are judgments everywhere that have been secretly influenced and then go astray because of such things. You see, the point here is that one really must take the facts into account very carefully in order to be able to ask the right questions. Then one will see that one truly must not view the deep, tragic necessity underlying this catastrophe as superficially as is so often the case. Nor should superficial events be viewed superficially.

[ 48 ] I would like to draw your attention to a particular case; you will see shortly why I am singling out this specific detail. I explained here some time ago that there were indeed certainly many sequences of events and facts in Germany that could have led to war, but which then came to an abrupt end and did not lead to it, whereas what actually led to the war, strictly speaking, did not begin until very late—based on certain preconditions—and bears no connection whatsoever to the other events. I do not wish to repeat today what I have already told you along these lines, but I would like to offer you one point for reflection today, so that you may see how, in world history, things—I might say—collapse into one another, appearing as external symptoms, while the great forces behind them, of which I have spoken to you today, remain hidden.

[ 49 ] You see, one might ask: Could the entire military catastrophe, as it unfolded beginning in July or August 1914, possibly have taken a different course than the one it actually took? I do not wish to go into whether this catastrophe as such could have been avoided or not—that is a separate matter—but I do want to raise the question: Could this catastrophe have taken a different course? Well, it could have taken a different course; that would certainly be conceivable, although saying such things in hindsight, I would say, has only methodological value. But it would be conceivable, given the events and also the occult background, that the entire catastrophe could have taken a different course. One must judge layer by layer. What I am saying now, of course, applies only to a certain layer of facts. And within this layer of facts, one can make the following assessment. One could say: It would also have been conceivable that the war in 1914 might have begun in such a way that the German army would have marched eastward, and one would have waited to see whether, as a result of war breaking out in the east, a war would then follow in the west as well. It would have been conceivable to march the bulk of the German army against Russia, to maintain a purely defensive posture toward the West, and to wait and see whether the French—who, in this case, would have had no obligation under the alliance—would attack. They would not have had any alliance obligation at that moment if war had not been declared against the East, but instead one had waited until the Russian armies actually invaded. For they would have invaded; there is no question that they would have invaded. I am not claiming now that there would not have been a different scenario five years earlier that could have taken a different course, but by 1914 it was no longer possible. Given this set of facts, one could imagine that the war might have taken a fundamental turn toward the East. That would have been possible. And yet it was impossible. In fact, it was actually impossible for the simple reason that there was no German campaign plan for the East. No one ever considered that war might break out in any way other than Germany being provoked into attacking Russia, that this would trigger France’s obligation to come to Russia’s aid under the alliance, and that Germany would then have to fight a war on two fronts.

[ 50 ] Now, based on the axiom that had taken shape within German strategy from the beginning of the twentieth century onward, it was assumed that this war on two fronts could not be waged other than offensively. The only plan in place was to march through Belgium, rapidly advance westward to force France into a separate peace—which was certainly an illusion, but such illusions did exist—and then throw the bulk of the army eastward. Now I ask you to consider what such a strategic plan entails. It is calculated down to every detail, for every single day. It calculates precisely how long it may take from the day Russian general mobilization begins until the first order is given for German mobilization, which cannot then wait but must proceed, because the initial impetus is Russian general mobilization. On the day after that, on the second day after that, on the third day after that, this and that must happen. If one waits even a single day after the Russian general mobilization, the entire plan is thrown into disarray and can no longer be carried out. This is what I ask you to consider: that such a factor was indeed decisive at a time when there was no Central European policy whatsoever. That, of course, is the crux of the matter—that there was no Central European policy. For Bethmann is still spouting nonsense today. People were at their wits’ end when Bethmann spoke of the most unbelievable, the most impossible things in the German Reichstag; but he still speaks of them today. There was no policy at all, only strategy—but a strategy based on a very specific scenario. Nothing could be changed there; not even in the heat of the moment could anything be changed.

[ 51 ] I therefore ask you to consider that, given the external circumstances, no one in Germany needed to want the war—it was bound to happen anyway. There was no need to want it at all. I ask you to take this into account. It was bound to happen, simply because—automatically, of course, at the very moment Russia issues orders for general mobilization, just as the hand of a clock moves to twelve—the thought arises in the German military commander’s mind: Now I must mobilize. — And from that point on, everything proceeds automatically. This does not arise from any conscious will; it arises because it has been prepared for years. The Russian general mobilization is automatically followed by the advance through Belgium into France, because that is seen as the only reasonable course of action. They couldn’t tell the Kaiser because—as I’ve already told you—they knew he was so indiscreet that if they told him today, the whole world would know about it tomorrow. He didn’t find out that the invasion through Belgium had taken place until the very moment mobilization began. Similar incidents occurred in great numbers. I ask you to take these things into account, and then you will say to yourselves: Of course, there was no need whatsoever for anyone within Germany to want it—the war was bound to happen. I say: provided one remains within this account of the facts. Of course, you can move on to a different account of the facts; but then you will encounter very complicated questions.

[ 52 ] It is truly the case that something great—something that becomes a catastrophe for humanity—brings to mind the story of the good principal Kaltenbrunner, which I told you in connection with Hamerling. You recall that I told you: When one brings Robert Hamerling’s poetic personality to mind and understands it, one says to oneself: What is at work in this personality stems largely from the fact that, at a certain point in time, he came to Trieste as a high school teacher and was able to spend his vacations in Venice from there—that is, that he came to the shores of the Adriatic. Hamerling’s entire inner psychological structure depends on the fact that he was able to spend ten years as a high school teacher—for that was the only role he could have held, given the circumstances of his development—in Trieste on the Adriatic. But how did he end up there? I’ve told you: While he was a substitute teacher in Graz, he wrote an application for a vacant position in Budapest. Now just imagine: He wrote that application; if the authorities had received and approved it, Hamerling would have gone to Budapest for the entire ten years. His entire poetic persona would have been lost—it wouldn’t exist; anyone familiar with his work knows that. What caused him to end up in Trieste instead of Budapest? The good principal Kaltenbrunner, to whom the application had to be submitted first, faffed about with it, leaving it in his drawer until the position in Budapest had been filled. And when the position was filled and Hamerling said, “For heaven’s sake, I would have loved to take that position in Budapest!”—then the good principal Kaltenbrunner blushed and said: “Oh dear, I’d completely forgotten about that—it’s still in my drawer!”—And Hamerling was spared from having to go to Budapest. The next time Hamerling applied to go to Trieste, after that incident, the good principal Kaltenbrunner didn’t forget to pass it on; Hamerling went to Trieste and thus became “Hamerling.” Now I ask you: Did the good principal Kaltenbrunner launch Hamerling into the world as a poet? — Yet there is no other cause behind these outward phenomena than that Hamerling became “the Hamerling” through the dawdling of the good Kaltenbrunner, principal in Graz, Styria. It is only possible to get to the bottom of things by practicing symptomatology; for this symptomatology guides one to assess external appearances correctly and to see what lies behind the symptoms. That is what matters. That is what I would like to achieve more and more.

[ 53 ] When one looks at this current catastrophe, one certainly does not find an easy way out of the turmoil. Just consider the great difficulty that lies before us. Let’s suppose Mr. Grey set out to prove, based solely on external documents, that he is entirely blameless for the outbreak of the war. Of course, this can be proven—as easily as possible. One can strictly demonstrate from the external documents that the British government is innocent of the outbreak of this war. But the crux of the matter is always the weight of the evidence. You can only get to the bottom of this if you frame the question as I have been posing it here before you for years: For example, would the British government have been in a position to prevent the invasion of Belgium? — To that you must answer: Yes, it would have been in a position to do so. — For that is precisely what I again demanded in my memorandum: that the facts be simply presented to the world. Of course, on the one hand, that would have meant that the gentleman who has now defected to the Netherlands would have had to have disappeared somehow back then. Perhaps this is related to the fact that my memorandum met with so little response, even among those who were in a position to evaluate it. But I demanded that, above all, the events be recounted minute by minute, simply, without embellishment, just as they unfolded simultaneously in Berlin and London between half past four on Saturday—you know, Saturday is when the mobilization order was signed at half past four in Berlin—and half past ten at night. These decisive events, told plainly without any of the factors the world has been discussing, provide proof that it would have been possible for the British government to prevent the invasion of Belgium. It was not prevented. Consequently, at half past ten on Saturday, the sole order that His Majesty had mustered the will to issue—against the wishes of German strategy—to hold back the army, not to let it march westward, but to adopt a purely defensive posture in the west—this sole order was rescinded at half past ten on Saturday, and the old strategy remained in place. But then the events must be recounted minute by minute, I would say, between half past four and half past ten on Saturday night—simply stating the facts. Then, of course, a completely different picture emerges—above all, a picture that leads to asking the right questions.

[ 54 ] Now, of course, there is reason to fear that the global public will be influenced by what is found in the archives; but the facts—the decisive ones—that took place on Saturday from half past four to half past ten at night will probably never come to light from the archives, because they were likely never written down at all; that is to say, they were written down, but not in such a way that the records will be found in the archives.

[ 55 ] You see, caution in judgment—that is what one must also acquire. If one can acquire this caution in judgment, it is a great help in the development of those latent abilities I have just spoken to you about today—abilities that must develop in humanity’s future, differentiated into three parts across the Earth. And then you will come to realize that what I described eight days ago as the only legitimate solution to the social question—insofar as one can speak of such a solution today in the sense I have indicated—was truly not developed from some intellectual thought as an abstract program.