The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Second Lecture

[ 1 ] It may be meaningful, especially in the context of reflections such as those we are now engaging in, to look back at some of the things associated with this or that spiritual movement in earlier times. For as you have seen, the point is that the spiritual events underlying the physical world make it necessary in the present for human beings, so to speak, to adopt a new perspective with regard to their entire conception of their relationship to the world and to the rest of humanity. We already pointed out a number of things in this regard yesterday; we pointed out how many things must be understood anew—things that, seemingly well-founded, shine into the spiritual life of humanity from here and there. You must be clear about the fact that when impulses grounded in this way are taken seriously, then—as is simply the course of life today—resistance arises against this seriousness and against these impulses in general: the resistance of hatred, the resistance of envy, the resistance of fear stemming from human pettiness, and so on. Only a thorough understanding of these matters can help one overcome the many obstacles faced by those who profess such a spiritual transformation. For this thorough understanding is indeed capable of giving strength to the soul, so that this soul is a match for many of the forces that have always asserted themselves against the most earnest endeavors in the workings of the world. And so today we shall supplement what was said yesterday with a number of other points.

[ 2 ] Yesterday I pointed out how one can certainly—especially when standing on the ground of the humanities—be objective toward all other intellectual currents, and how one need not misjudge other intellectual currents. From this perspective, I said that, with regard to certain points, representatives of the Catholic clergy are, by virtue of their training, superior to non-Catholics in some current philosophical and theological debates taking place outside the Church. We are living in a time when anyone who wants to take questions of worldview seriously should grapple with such matters. Both the current ideological and social trends demand this. The temptations, which often come from well-educated quarters, can indeed become significant at times, and what is put forward might then fail to be seen through—fail to be recognized for its actual insignificance in the face of the greater demands of the present—if one does not engage in a thoroughly rigorous examination. The temptations to succumb to the objections raised by well-educated opponents of spiritual scientific endeavors are, in fact, not insignificant today. However, if people possessed sufficient discernment, if they strove to engage with the fact of the well-foundedness—the broad well-foundedness—of this spiritual science, they would be less exposed to such temptations. But such discernment is, after all, rare. The fact that spiritual science, as we understand it, seeks to integrate itself into the flow of world events explains many kinds of attacks—including those arising specifically from the perspective of the Catholic faith, for example. But it is indeed necessary to grapple with such matters, for the reason that in the chaos that is about to break out—and which, unfortunately, people appreciate far too little and pay far too little attention to—in this chaos, many things stemming from the tenets of the Catholic faith will also appear confusing.

[ 3 ] Today I would like to introduce you to the general thrust of the argument that a true Catholic believer might already raise against certain aspects of spiritual science, assuming he is addressing an uninformed audience. One of the most common objections to the spiritual science referred to here is, of course, that it is pantheism. One of the main objections raised, for example, in the essays by the Jesuit Zimmermann in Stimmen der Zeit is that this spiritual science is pantheism.

[ 4 ] You know I have spoken about this point on several occasions; you know how I have characterized the fact that it is precisely this banal pantheism, which dominates so many circles today, that can seriously be overcome only by entering the concrete spiritual world of which spiritual science speaks. Of course, those from whom the aforementioned objections come have no intention of getting to the bottom of the real truth; rather, their aim is to deliberately bring forward, drawing on all the prejudices that persist within a certain religious community, those ideas that have a certain suggestive and hypnotic effect. Pantheism, after all, would be the view that the divine lives in everything that unfolds as nature—in everything that unfolds as the world of phenomena—and that, in a sense, nature itself is to be regarded as a direct revelation of the divine. It is precisely against this vague form of pantheism—which speaks only of the world of phenomena spreading out, with spirit, spirit, spirit lying behind it—that I have always taken a stand. I have always pointed out that this is the same as if, on the physical plane, someone were to refuse to acknowledge that there are tulips, roses, and lilies, but only plants, plants, plants! — Spiritual science, however, deals precisely with individual, concrete spiritual beings; it does not speak of the Spirit in general in a pantheistic manner. Another characteristic of pantheism is that it is said: Pantheism does not wish to separate the external natural world from the divine-spiritual; it wishes to blend the two together. — Well, one would have to be a Jesuit to give the impression that one believes that, when speaking in this way about the concrete position of the entities of the higher hierarchies—which are individualized in themselves and exist in themselves as both personal and supra-personal—there could be any question of a blending of this entire world of hierarchies with external nature. Anyone who is truly capable of thinking will find the accusation of pantheism, when leveled against such a characterization of the world of hierarchies and its individual entities in relation to nature, completely unfounded.

[ 5 ] There remains only one thing that is particularly emphasized in those essays in Stimmen der Zeit: that it is said—which is supposed to be considered heretical within the Catholic Church—within my spiritual science, that the Divine lives in the human soul, that the human soul itself is a drop in the ocean of the Divine. Such and similar statements are compiled there and presented as heresies within the Catholic creed.

[ 6 ] So it is pointed out that the doctrine that something divine is said to dwell directly within the soul is heretical and to be condemned. A reasonable person might certainly say: It is not necessary for you to first draw my attention to such follies. — But that is not the point; that is not what this is about. Rather, the point is that these things play a real role in the world, that these things will play an enormous role wherever people seek to deceive, and that one must indeed be vigilant about them. But they are connected to other things as well. And now let us set aside this or that actual attack for a moment and imagine someone who is either living in Jesuitism—numbed in regard to his own thinking—or who consciously lives within it, that is, who knows that he need not think about these things for himself, but that he must judge the faithful solely in accordance with the officially recognized creed, be it one way or the other; and let us consider how the arguments of such a person against the path of spiritual science might be structured. So I am telling you nothing other than—I would not call it the average opinion, because “opinion” is not really the right term here—the typical stance of an official representative of the Roman Catholic Church toward the path of spiritual science, as it is pursued by a believer today.

[ 7 ] He might say something like this: Yes, a Catholic Christian must not follow the path recommended by spiritual science for attaining supersensible insights. For all the Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church—as the present-day cleric might say—condemn such a path. Such a path, after all, leads to the idea that a person must awaken special abilities within themselves in order to ascend into the supersensible world. But that is heretical; it must not be sought after at all. All that a orthodox Catholic may strive for is what the Doctors of the Church recognize as “legitimate contemplation.” This legitimate contemplation is, after all, what the present Roman-approved clergyman acknowledges. What does he mean by this?

[ 8 ] You will be able to understand what he means by this if you distinguish between the two kinds of gifts that, according to the orthodox Catholic Church, a person—a devout Catholic—can possess. One type of gift is the so-called gratiae gratis datae, the supernatural gifts of grace—what one might call charisms. The other gifts are those that can be called general human gifts. The extraordinary gifts, the charisms, are bestowed as a special gift of grace upon extraordinary individuals; however, the Church commands that they must not be sought after. The Virgin of Orleans, for example, would be cited as such a case. On the other hand, one may strive for a certain elevation of one’s general spiritual life, which, however, does not endow a person with extraordinary abilities, but rather leads to an enhancement of general human abilities. Such an enhancement of general human abilities, however, means that every person—as the Roman Catholic Church teaches today—can be enabled to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

[ 9 ] So let’s put it this way: The ordinary mortal thinks something, or feels something, or does something. He is obligated by the commandments of the Church and by the commandments of the state to do these things in a certain way; he can strive, through his ordinary human reasoning, to act in accordance with the Church and the state—which, in the Church’s view, means in accordance with God. But he may also notice—if he is otherwise a proper Catholic Christian—that the Holy Spirit frequently intervenes in his actions, thoughts, and feelings, and that he then practices certain virtues, which otherwise cause him difficulty, more easily because the Holy Spirit is at work within him. However, this must not be sought after as if a person were trying to transcend the ordinary state of human striving and develop special abilities in order to penetrate the supernatural world. Any such striving is reprehensible.

[ 10 ] Well, with that I have described to you what a true Roman Catholic clergyman would object to regarding what is written, for example, in How Does One Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds?. He would say: The book seeks to develop special abilities that are intended to enable him to unite with the spiritual world in a certain way. But he must not do that. He may only remain purely passive until he notices that the impulses of the Holy Spirit are entering his mind—impulses that do not bring about a qualitative change in his behavior, but rather an enhancement, a sort of ease in virtue, and an ease in the other abilities that a person exercises on the outer physical plane.

[ 11 ] You can read this today not only in relation to our spiritual science, but also in relation to all endeavors that amount to the human being striving to create, from within himself, a human being who perceives a spiritual world around him just as the physical human being perceives a physical world around him with his physical senses. This is also familiar to all those who believe they stand on the very firm ground of the Christian faith dictated by Rome. And in the broadest sense, anyone who thinks differently about these matters than I have just described is regarded today as a heretic. When discussing such matters, one must always bear in mind that these things play a real role in the world, that they still exert an immense influence on millions of people today. One must not be so selfish as to think that, simply because one believes one has come to terms with these things—or even merely believes one has—one need not concern oneself with them. That is precisely the great harm of the present age—especially with regard to the social movement—that people are so selfish that they look only to the needs of their own souls and do not want to look at what connects human being to human being, at what runs as a driving impulse through millions and millions of people, and which, when it bursts forth at the right time, can sweep away this or that, whatever appears in this or that form—just as things are now unfolding in the world. Today it is necessary to educate ourselves about the sources of these things and about the necessary stance toward them.

[ 12 ] Now, as a rule, the clergy in Rome refer to the Church Fathers. They look back to the Church Fathers of earlier centuries and deduce from their statements what they believe to be consistent with what I have just described to you. Of course, I cannot give you hours-long lectures on the teachings of the Church Fathers, but I would like to draw your attention to a few points in this regard, namely, what position a person of the Age of Consciousness—which began in the 15th century—can take on these matters.

[ 13 ] First, then, we must face the fact that the path to the spiritual world, as understood by spiritual science, is considered heretical. This is what the clergy—who today bear the official seal of Rome—say. Second, we must note that the accusation is made that spiritual science teaches that human beings can partake of the divine within their own souls, and that this is heretical—as the clergy of Catholicism, who are recognized by Rome, say today.

[ 14 ] Let us take a closer look at what a Church Father—who is highly regarded outwardly, though not inwardly, as we shall see shortly, and who is also outwardly highly recognized by Rome—has to say about such a thing as contemplation, some characteristic aspects of which I mentioned to you earlier. John of the Cross, for example, speaks of what contemplation should be for the true Christian-Catholic believer, who, through this contemplation, is to move beyond mere, general church faith to a kind of higher perception of the Divine that pulses through the world. Even today, the Catholic Church permits that, through contemplation, a person may go beyond what is merely general faith. But it forbids a person from attaining supersensory abilities—abilities that lead into the supersensory world in the same way that the external senses lead into the sensory world. Now St. John of the Cross says: The time has come—he means the time of contemplation—when the reflection and contemplation that the soul previously engaged in with its own powers are gradually coming to an end, and the soul finds itself deprived of its former pleasures and tangible joys.

[ 15 ] Thus, St. John of the Cross describes this state as one in which one silences ordinary thought—the kind through which one engages with the things of the physical realm that are perceived by the senses and understood by the intellect; that one refrains, in other words, from ordinary contemplation, which the soul undertakes with its own powers, so that even the pleasures the soul derives from such contemplations and from its relationship to external nature cease. He acknowledges this.

[ 16 ] "Condemned to a state of aridity and ‘dryness’—he goes on to say—the soul can no longer engage in rational reflection. — Thus, by closing off the senses and allowing the intellect to come to a standstill—which he prescribes as a means of attaining contemplation—one enters, with the soul, into a kind of aridity and dryness. Through this, one attains precisely that participation in the divine essence that St. John of the Cross considers permissible. Thus, when the soul no longer engages in reflection with its intellect, nor finds any sensory support, the senses are no longer enriched; the spirit benefits without receiving anything from the senses. It follows from this that in this state, God is the principal agent.

[ 17 ] So understand this clearly. St. John of the Cross says: A person can cease to think, can also cease to take in external perceptions through the senses; the soul can become passive; the soul no longer does anything of its own accord. Through this, God becomes the principal agent in the soul. He Himself instructs the soul and imparts to it an infused knowledge. In contemplation, He bestows upon it entirely spiritual gifts—especially the knowledge and love of God—without the soul having to engage in reflection or perform other exercises that it can no longer carry out as before.

[ 18 ] Take these words from a Church Father who is still recognized as legitimate in Rome today—John of the Cross, who has even been canonized— take these words and contrast them with the accusation of pantheism that was recently leveled against spiritual science, on the grounds that spiritual science speaks, for example, of the soul’s life behaving like a drop in the ocean of divinity—and thus being of a divine nature itself—which, according to the clergy who preach and believe today, is heretical. But St. John of the Cross describes the possibility of attaining a passive state of the soul, in which thinking and sensory perception are excluded, and in which God is the principal agent within the soul; where, in the words of St. John of the Cross, God bestows entirely spiritual gifts upon the soul in contemplation, where He Himself instructs the soul and imparts to it an infused knowledge.

[ 19 ] Now I ask you: What meaning can these words possibly have if one now claims that the human soul should never be brought into a real connection with the divine being? What meaning can it possibly have when John of the Cross says: God is the principal agent in the soul—and yet it is supposed to be heretical to speak of the human soul being brought into a direct, conscious relationship with God? —If one says that the soul relates to the totality of the divine-spiritual realm like a drop in the ocean, which is of the same essence as all the water of the ocean—indeed, is simply a drop from the ocean— — might this be regarded as impermissible pantheism if truth prevailed, when at the same time it is acknowledged that a legitimate Church Father, Saint John of the Cross, admits the possibility that God becomes the principal agent in the human soul! You must bring this fact to the forefront of your soul in order to recognize how far truth prevails today in official currents of thought: that one simultaneously appeals to teachers such as St. John of the Cross, who—in order to speak to people in a way they can understand—truly teaches a “pantheism”—if one wishes to call it that—in much clearer terms than spiritual science does. But the latter is considered heretical, and what do they do? They accept St. John of the Cross as an authoritative Church Father, and deceive people by telling them: Pantheism is not permitted. — But that means: No one may claim it is heretical to say that God is directly present in the soul, so that the human soul can know this.

[ 20 ] No, people today must not be thoughtless; they must not be thoughtless, lest even greater misfortune befall humanity. Today, people must be able to consciously bear in mind that such a distortion of the truth can be officially propagated throughout the world.

[ 21 ] And here is another saying of St. John of the Cross: The inner gifts that this silent contemplation instills in the soul—unbeknownst even to the soul itself—are priceless. In short, they are nothing other than the exceedingly mysterious and exceedingly tender anointings of the Holy Spirit, who, since He is God, acts as God: “The Holy Spirit acts as God directly within the soul,” says St. John of the Cross; this was the Catholic teaching in St. John of the Cross’s time—that is, before the dawn of the age of consciousness—and He works and secretly floods the soul with riches, gifts, and graces to such an extent that it is beyond description. — In contemplation—this is another saying of St. John of the Cross—one is receptive. — And another statement by St. John is the following: In contemplation, it is God who is at work—namely, within the soul.

[ 22 ] And now I ask you: What does it mean when any of those who write about heresy today say that it is heretical to claim that God is of the same essence as the human soul!

[ 23 ] That is simply the way things are. But people are so complacent that they pay no attention at all today to how the truth is being handled. Ultimately, however, the fact that such a terrible catastrophe has befallen the world is due to the fact that people care so little about what is presented as truth throughout the world. This is also the reason why the truth can be hated as much as it still is by certain people today.

[ 24 ] In particular, the cleric who has been “stamped” in Rome strives again and again to emphasize that there should be no difference between the ordinary faculties that the believer develops through faith and that deepening of faith which finds expression in contemplation. There should be no difference—or at most a difference of degree—for if a real difference were sought, that would be heretical. St. John of the Cross, however, says: The difference lies in the fact that in faith one sees only dimly, whereas in spiritual contemplation one sees Him—he means God—unveiled. — That was Catholic back then, when St. John of the Cross wrote these things down before the dawn of the age of the conscious soul. But what prevails today as Catholicism in these matters is merely a shadow of that; it is no longer the light. In a way that was actually very beautiful for that time, John of the Cross describes the mystical path of knowledge—the path into the supersensible—by saying: “The narrow gate is the night of the senses.” To pass through it, the soul must free itself from itself and peel itself away. — For that time, this was expressed in a way that is not spoken of today from Rome, but is spoken of in spiritual science. Spiritual science is the true continuation of such noble aspirations into the spiritual world as found in the writings of John of the Cross. It is, however, a continuation specifically for the present day. It takes into account the progress of humanity.

[ 25 ] The narrow gate is the night of the senses. To pass through it, the soul must free itself from itself and detach itself. And by then taking faith—which has nothing to do with the senses—as its guide, it walks along the narrow path of the second night toward the night of the spirits. And St. John of the Cross describes this union with the Divine-Spiritual very beautifully: The union is accomplished when the two wills—namely, that of the soul and the divine will—become one.

[ 26 ] One cannot express more clearly that there is a divine will that governs the world, and a will of the soul, and that both merge into one another in contemplation. But today, that is considered heretical. One would be honestly upholding the truth if one were to say: St. John of the Cross is no longer a saint today, but rather a heretic. — That is what the Roman cleric would be obliged to say if he wished to maintain his assertions.

[ 27 ] Thus, St. John of the Cross says: Union is achieved when the two wills—namely, that of the soul and the divine will—become one—that is, when there is nothing in one that resists the other. Now, however, within the ranks of the legitimate Roman Catholic clergy, there is a strong tendency to block the path to personal knowledge for mere so-called believers and also for the lower clergy. Therefore, although such people as John of the Cross are actually rejected, reference is made again and again to people like John of the Cross. It is pointed out that John of the Cross would have permitted one to turn to contemplation only when three signs called a person to do so.

[ 28 ] The first sign by which the soul might feel called to turn toward contemplation—that is, mystical contemplation—would be the inability to contemplate and to make use of the imagination, as well as a reluctance toward external contemplation. Thus, when the soul feels a reluctance toward sensory perception and toward reflection, the time has come for it to surrender passively to the will of God.

[ 29 ] The second sign would be the realization that one no longer feels like engaging the imagination of the senses with specific external and internal impressions. So the first is that one has grown weary; the second is that one no longer feels like it. The third inner sign would be the sensation of the deepest joy that the soul experiences in being alone—that is, not through sensory perception or reflection—but through mere attention to the Divine.

[ 30 ] Well, you will not be able to read with understanding what is written in the book How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds unless you say to yourself—albeit in a way suited to our times—that you can fully agree with those three signs. — There is absolutely nothing to object to in these three signs. One must simply approach them with an understanding suited to the present day. Let us consider these three signs, which St. John of the Cross regards as the signs upon which the soul may turn toward mystical contemplation—that is, toward the path into the spiritual, supersensory world.

[ 31 ] The first sign would be an inability to contemplate and to make use of the imagination—a reluctance to contemplate. We must bear in mind that these words were written at a time when the Age of Consciousness had not yet dawned. Now the Age of Consciousness is dawning upon humanity; now people are beginning to contemplate nature as presented by modern science. One must truly take into account the historical development of humanity. One must recognize that St. John of the Cross was not surrounded by people who were permeated and imbued with the ideas that today are trickling in from science everywhere. St. John of the Cross was surrounded only by people who attended the Catholic Church as believers, who derived their worldview from the faith preached from the pulpits of the Catholic Church. One had to speak to them differently than to people of the 20th century, who are steeped in scientific views. What does that actually mean: steeped in scientific ideas? Everyone is today, whether they admit it or not, right down to the last farmer in the remotest hut, unless he happens to be illiterate; and even illiterate people today have their ways of thinking permeated by scientific ideas. But anyone who looks at the world today—as one must according to the spirit of the modern world—must—because scientific concepts tell him only of the dead—come to the realization, if he has a living need for knowledge, that these scientific observations render him incapable of remaining content with them. Exactly what St. John of the Cross describes in the first sign occurs. This sign is fulfilled by the very nature of scientific thinking itself. Back when he wrote, it was fulfilled in some; today it is fulfilled in everyone who even begins to think. One must take this difference into account. If St. John of the Cross were writing today, he would say: Certainly, back then, mystical contemplation had to be recommended to those people who felt unable to observe things externally and to set their imagination in motion. Today, all those who are devoted solely to barren scientific concepts are, at a certain point, incapable of devoting themselves solely to these barren scientific concepts—especially when they feel a longing in their souls to find a path to the divine-spiritual at all. St. John of the Cross spoke to a select few candidates; today, the candidates are all thinking human beings. This is precisely what constitutes the progress of humanity. Thus, it is precisely today that what St. John of the Cross regarded as the fulfillment of the sign is being fulfilled—namely, when people living in the age of natural science now feel precisely that urge.

[ 32 ] The second is the realization that one no longer feels any desire to engage the imagination of the senses with specific external or internal images. At the very moment when natural science can do nothing other than offer humanity merely an observation, a glimpse of how it has evolved from the animal realm, a realization truly arises in the soul that one no longer has any desire to merely contemplate what the senses reveal in the external world! For the senses reveal that human beings are descended from the animal realm; one no longer has any desire for that. Then, because the time has come—once only for a few, now for all thinking human beings—one turns, precisely in the spirit of John of the Cross, toward what is known as the “view of evolution,” namely, the path into the spiritual world.

[ 33 ] The third is the experience of joy in one’s innermost being, in the very depths of the soul, in solitude while focusing one’s attention on God. Now, this most intimate joy will most certainly be felt by anyone who, in this age of natural science, has embraced only those concepts that natural science offers him, as soon as he can find his way into the supersensible world.

[ 34 ] Once again, we are faced with the fact—the significant fact—that modern spiritual science, in particular, truly fulfills what a man like John of the Cross called for in his own time and in his own way. But the tide of development continues to flow, and today this fulfillment takes on a different form than it did back then. There is something else to consider as well. Anyone who looks today at human development with an honest sense of truth will say to themselves: Because we have entered the age of natural science, the sense for supersensible knowledge must be kept alive in human beings. Demands such as those of St. John of the Cross are simply fulfilled when a person today embarks on the path outlined, for example, in How to Attain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds. But if a person embarks on this path today, what is revealed to them is not what was revealed in the time when St. John of the Cross was writing, but rather what lies along the path of human development today. And then one can no longer speak in the same way that St. John of the Cross spoke, merely in the sense of positivist Christianity. For there is the serious fact to which we referred yesterday and on many previous occasions: that today a person, either unconsciously or consciously, passes by the Guardian of the Threshold in a certain sense. There they come to realize that they must speak not only of a God of unity, but also of the divine hierarchies. There they come to realize that they must contrast the Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces with the divine hierarchies. But just as the Catholic Church sought to prevent people from believing in Copernicanism until the year 1822, so today it seeks to prevent people from entering into the supersensible insights that are truly required by the times. Why? Because it does not want people to become aware of what seeks to flow down from spiritual heights into the development of humanity.

[ 35 ] Certainly, there may be some—and there are some—who, in a certain sense, honestly say the following: People today are truly not prepared to confront directly, with their souls, what comes from the spiritual world; it would only lead to their ruin. When they stand before the Guardian of the Threshold, they cannot distinguish illusion from reality. So we make it as daunting as possible for them to set out on the spiritual path themselves, so that they will not be endangered. — There may be such people; they do not take into account the necessities of the times; they rely on a limited, narrow-minded conception, but they may perhaps be sincere. But the majority of those who say things like: “One must not set out on the path of supersensible knowledge today”—they do not really mean it that way. From all sorts of quarters, a certain fear of the truth is holding back the influx of this truth. This sense of fear is found in the official representatives of widely established church denominations; but it is also found in certain Masonic and similar societies. I have already drawn attention to this from another perspective. There, too, within these societies, there are some people who are, from their own point of view, sincere; but the force with which they hinder the progress of humanity is terribly strong. The situation is as follows: There are people, especially in the higher-degree orders, who say: Human beings are generally not yet mature enough to be directly introduced to the spiritual world; therefore, one should hold them back from direct entry into the spiritual world, not allow them to enter, but only permit them to approach the performance of the ceremonies prescribed in certain ancient rituals. They should be directed toward all sorts of symbols that do not introduce them directly into the spiritual world, but merely illustrate the matter symbolically—and even then, preferably symbols that are quite ancient. — I have already told you that, in this regard, certain Masonic orders, let’s say, take a stance contrary to the favorite impulse of most ladies. Most ladies, you see, like to be young, while most Masonic societies like to be as old as possible! They point, as much as possible, to an ancient ritual or to ancient traditions. This is not always—though very often—meant insincerely; but it is sometimes genuinely meant when one says: Rituals that are ancient can no longer endanger people when performed before them today, for they have been worn out, they have become rigid, they are now merely shadows of what they once were. Moreover, human souls have lived with these rituals—or rather, with the symbols and what they represent—for so long; they have grown accustomed to them: they are no longer shocked by the impression of a truth experienced directly. If one introduces people to something truly ancient that now exists only as a shadow of its former self, they are less at risk.

[ 36 ] All these things may well be advocated, but they must give way to the necessity that is sweeping through this turning point in history. The calamity that would ensue if humanity were to resist the oncoming spiritual tidal wave would be greater than any other calamity. The true duty toward all the spirits of the world connected with human development is to make people aware of what is, after all, taking place today in the unconscious of every human soul—simply as a result of the current laws of the world. In the Age of the Consciousness Soul, bringing this into consciousness is a necessity. And also with regard to what today appears so powerfully as social demands, it is necessary to come to know what actually exists within human souls. For outwardly, existence is becoming ever more masked, ever more merely phenomenal. It is entirely possible that people today experience in their souls that they pass by the Guardian of the Threshold, but repress the awareness of this due to the materialism of the age. But what is repressed, what does not become conscious, is not for that reason any less present; it is there nonetheless. A person may pass through the Guardian of the Threshold—but because of the spirit of the age, they repress this experience. What then presents itself may be something entirely different. It could be the deeds of Lenin; it could be the deeds of any Spartacus member. We must be mindful of this in the present: we have arrived at an age in which, due to the deceptive impulses of materialism, certain spiritual impulses can mask themselves outwardly in a way that poses the gravest danger to humanity.

[ 37 ] This is a serious matter. But true seriousness is only truly taken into account when one has the sincere willingness to use one’s common sense to engage with the interpretation of what a genuine spiritual science can draw from the spiritual world. We will continue to discuss this tomorrow.