Lecture IV—GA 190. The Spiritual Background of the Social Question

The Spiritual Background of the Social Question
GA 190

12 April 1919, Dornach

Translator Unknown

Lecture IV

Let us once more briefly set before our eyes what we tried to make clear to ourselves yesterday. We said present-day mankind, insofar as it comes into consideration as modern mankind, is passing as a whole body through something which is similar to what, in the development of individual men, can be designated as the crossing of the Threshold to the supersensible world. If, now, one discusses the development of individual men as I have done in the book How Does One Attain to Knowledge of Higher Worlds? and the booklet The Threshold of the Spiritual World, one is normally referring to the conscious ascent into supersensible life. When one speaks of the crossing of the Threshold, one also implies a quite conscious event, as we have often described it. I have already made you aware of this yesterday, that one should not strain the concepts if one is compelled to carry them over from one sphere into the other. Therefore I can only say to you mankind as a whole is now passing through something similar to a crossing of the Threshold. For I already intimated that it could come to pass, it would be altogether possible for mankind to refuse Spiritual Science. Then they would have no means of knowing anything about the fact that a process is being undergone by the whole of mankind of such a kind as is the crossing of the Threshold. After all, events take place in what has to assert itself as the crossing of the Threshold by the whole of mankind quite other than those which take place in the individual man when he enters in a conscious way on the path into the supersensible world. And I have already indicated yesterday that the essential thing for the whole of mankind in the crossing of the Threshold as it must come about in the course of the 5th post-Atlantean epoch, the time of the development of the consciousness-soul, consists in the separation of the three soul-capacities so that they attain a kind of independence, as has been known to you in essence for a long time. For the whole of mankind, thinking, feeling and willing are not remaining as they now are, chaotically mixed together—as I said, I am speaking of mankind in its entirety. The life of the soul is membering itself in such a way that the whole of mankind are experiencing their thinking, their feeling and their willing more independently than hitherto. In the future, therefore, it needs the membering of the Social Organism into three spheres, which it did not hitherto require in the same way. If, then, one speaks about this threefolding of the Social Organism today, one does so from the consciousness of a necessity which is taking place in the whole of mankind according to the spiritual laws of the universe.

Now the mistake ought not to be made to wish at once to find the all-embracing, the great process in single events which are occurring here or there. Since the middle of the 15th century we have only lived through a small part of the epoch of the development of the consciousness-soul. Such an epoch extends over 2,000 years. This epoch of the development of the consciousness-soul will thus still last for a long time, and the event which one must, nevertheless, already comprehend as this passing over the Threshold of the supersensible will bring itself to being in various stages by means of various events. But I ask you not to make the mistake of, perhaps, immediately identifying only the world-catastrophe of the present-day with the "all-embracing event" of which I spoke yesterday. It would be a mistake if you were to do this. But it is no mistake if one seeks, out of great processes which embrace long periods of time, to understand the events in which one is living. For only when one understands them in this way does one find one's way in relation to single events. Therefore let us speak of something today which in a certain way belongs to the symptomatology of this development of the 5th post-Atlantean epoch after the crossing of the Threshold. The rise of the development of the consciousness soul is, you see, to be read with quite special clearness just from the culture of Middle-Europe. It has already been clearly preparing itself here since the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, and then led to certain events which we shall presently discuss, and certainly formed itself in Middle-Europe in such a way that it has quite particularly led, from then on, to the middle-European catastrophe in the present moment of human development, and must lead further into this catastrophe.

It is certainly the case that this Middle-Europe is really condemned to experience certain things, in the first place more quickly and in the second more violently, more characteristically than is the rest of Europe. One can clearly see how, since the beginning of the 15th century, something arises in Middle-Europe which introduces the period of the development of the consciousness-soul. And now one can further see, from the catastrophic events of Middle-Europe in particular, how difficult a path mankind has to pass over just in this period of the development of the consciousness-soul, what difficult struggles, what terrific blows are being endured, so that the period of the consciousness-soul can push impulses which lie in it to the surface of human development.

In this matter it can be of special importance to fix one's attention on the meaning for Middle-Europe of the point of time about the year 1200. It is assumed that about the year 1200—of course, only approximately—the Nibelung-epic was brought to completion, i.e., that poem which, in relation to the population of Middle-Europe, is very frequently compared with what the Homeric poems were for the Greek world. The Nibelung-epic manifestly important folk-destinies of a period which proceeds by a long time the age in which the poem was brought to completion, came to expression in pictorial, imaginative form. And anyone who looks into the Nibelung-epic today with an honest inner disposition, and even into what Jordan, Wagner, and others have made out of it much later, must say to himself: the sort of humanity, the being of Man which shines out of the Nibelung-epic is, basically, only barely understandable for the men of today. The Nibelung-epic points back to a time in which things were, quite clearly, altogether different in Middle-Europe, even as regards the landscape, and in which human characteristics have developed, out of the nature of the landscape, quite different from those which developed later.

If one has a clear power of perception, one cannot but get the feeling from the Nibelung-epic how the human beings spoken of in it have lived in barren regions which were covered by thick forests over wide areas. What may be called a forest-character is expressing itself in the Nibelung-epic, all that impresses itself on people who are accustomed to live in forest-covered lands. We cannot imagine that the Nibelung-epic had the same outlook as had, for example, the men of the later Germany after the year 1200, although the actual forms in the Nibelungenlied are already very much "humanized". We must imagine that these men were inwardly endowed with a soul-life quite different from that of later men. We must imagine that they had a much more instinctive, more elementary kind of feeling than had the men of later times. The light of Christianity, you see, had not yet really penetrated into the Nibelung-men. But we wish to look less at the content of this soul-life than into the formation, the fashioning of the soul-life of these men. It is clearly something more instinctive (if one does not misunderstand this word), something fiercer, more elementary, which issues from the human soul with a more primal force than happened later.

Nearly at the end of the period into which the Nibelung-epic still points, the period begins which one can call the middle-European civic period, the period of middle-European civic life. How did this develop? It came about in such a way that gradually the forests were rooted up in wide areas, that over wide districts of Middle-Europe meadows and cornfields made their appearance in places which were formerly covered by almost impenetrable forests. This brought into being middle-European city-life, in the first period of the development of the consciousness-soul. And the qualities of this European city-life certainly appeared nowhere in so characteristic a way as in this Middle-Europe, because the destinies of this city-life have already rounded themselves out in a tragic way in Middle-Europe, because in our days they are already bringing themselves to a certain conclusion, because this city-life in Middle-Europe is fundamentally at the end of its development today. It has gone through the world-catastrophe in accordance with its own characteristic disposition, and will go on in accordance with its disposition through this into the world-catastrophe to follow, and will have to undergo experiences different from those of the rest of the European bourgeoisie. The rest of the European bourgeoisie will at a later date experience certain phases of development which, in the case of the middle-European bourgeoisie, are already clearly pointing today to the final catastrophe. Thus, in the middle-European bourgeoisie, we already have a sort of destiny rounded-out in itself—the ascent in the period when wide regions which later became Germany were being transformed from forests into meadows and fields, the development from the 13th to the 20th century, and the terrible, tragic precipice in the 20th century.

This phenomenon, which has a kind of compactness here in Middle-Europe, can nowhere be studied according to its symptomatology in the same way as in this Middle-Europe. And he who wishes really to fix his attention, quite seriously, on the great impulses of human development should not be too cowardly to keep in view the characteristic, important symptoms which are expressing themselves in this. For everything else in Europe is only to be understood if one just fixes one's attention, in an unprejudiced way from the higher point of view of Spiritual Science, on this destiny which is rounded-out in itself.

But it is one-sided to speak of one culture-stream and to say: with the 13th century the later middle-European bourgeoisie arises from the Nibelung-men and becomes the bearer of this middle-European culture. It is of course true and, within these limits, right, but it is one-sided because it is only right within these limits; it is true that that disposition of soul which is here referred to as that of the middle-European bourgeoisie spread itself particularly over the middle-European states, and that middle-European civilization developed out of this bourgeoisie. This is completely true on the one side. But it is not the whole truth; it is only part of it, a part of the phenomena which have developed in that Middle-Europe which is in its death-throes today, together with many other things which have developed at the same time. The other part is that something has remained from the old forest—and Nibelung-men, that something has remained over of characteristics which have continued to live in their souls beyond the old epoch of which the Nibelung-epic tells us. The men who, if I may say so, have developed into the middle-European bourgeoisie under the sunshine of the cornfields and meadows were not the only ones who lived in Middle-Europe after the year 1200 and then on into the 20th century, but there were also other men who had retained something of the old inner wildness and primitive soul-nature of the Nibelung-men.

But if one fixes one's attention on a phenomenon like this, one should not forget that the passing of time is not without significance in the development of mankind, that the passing of time represents a reality. If anyone retains something which really belongs to an earlier age of soul-culture, he does not remain in the same disposition and corresponds to this old soul-culture, but he comes into decadence, into a decline, and loses touch with the demands of the age. He develops into a later age qualities which should have been developed as it would have come to pass in an earlier age, but in a morbid way, with the characteristic marks of decay and decadence.

As a result we saw, in the one line of development, the middle-European bourgeoisie of the new age develop itself, which I should like to call the highest of the cornfields and meadows into which the forests had been transformed: on the other line we see among this bourgeoisie in Middle-Europe men who have retained the old soul-life of the Nibelung-time, who have only adopted the new age and Christianity in an external way, and who therefore display this old Nibelung-soul-character in a decaying form. The men who now displayed this old Nibelung-character in a decaying form are the middle-European territorial princes and their dependents, the territorial princes who have now been cast from their thrones by the dozen. To this middle-European Nibelung-aftergrowth belongs the first place all that formed the human content of the House of Habsburg, but the rest of the territorial princes of Middle-Europe as well. No one understands what is now being tragically consummated who does not also know how to fix his attention on this sub-stratum below the events, on the fact that the more progressive part of the population of Middle-Europe has been ruled and administered through the centuries by that part which has retained the soul-character of the old Nibelung-men in a decadent form.

There was actually a huge contrast between the whole inner soul-structure of those whom one could call the followers of the middle-European bourgeois-system and those who sat on the kingly or princely thrones and their dependents. The soul of some King of Bavaria or Duke of Brunswick and that of a middle-German man who has received an average education are two spiritual powers altogether different from each other. These lived side by side in past centuries like two alien races, perhaps with even stronger points of difference than between two alien races.

One must have the courage to take a good look at an underlying historical fact like this. For it is just in catastrophic times that events in human development do not depend on the external events which conventional history records. What for the most part touches on human destiny and human development depends on underlying facts such as this. Only reflect that the rest of the European bourgeoisie was not concerned with this destiny, to stand in this kind of way in relation to a number of men who had retained an earlier age in their soul-life, but that this was the case only with the middle-European bourgeoisie. Take, for example, but only to make it clearer, the man who, streaming from this Middle-Europe but migrating from it, later turned into the English-speaking peoples. These had not—if I may say so—entered into the development which has been gone through in Middle-Europe. They have taken with them what was present in old times within the European, middle-European bourgeoisie, have carried it elsewhere, and have not had to fret it away in the struggle with backward Nibelung-men.

It thus comes about—I have said this to you on another occasion—that there are, in the English-speaking peoples for example, certain instincts for the development of the consciousness-soul which are completely lacking in Middle-Europe, certain instincts for political life in particular, while the mankind of Middle-Europe had to remain non-political, without politics, had no disposition at all to take part in any way in political life for they were ruled, you see, by men who had retained an earlier age.

Yet how strikingly clear does it appear to one who turns his glance to the second half of the 18th century. We there look on the spiritual blossoms of the middle-European bourgeoisie; we need only name Klopstock, Lessing, Herder, Schiller, Goethe, and many another to indicate the blossoms of what had been germinally developing upwards since the time of the Nibelungen. And, in the same age as the men who represent these blossoms, with their culmination in Goethe and Goetheanism, there stands, by contrast, in Frederick the Great, the most complete retention of the Nibelung-wildness in its fullest decay! Seek for a human contrast where you will, there is no other which works so tragically, when considered i n perspective, as Goethe by the side of Frederick the Great.

As for the development which followed, it remains, indeed, only to be said that the utmost absence-of-thought, the most dreadful indifference to spiritual interests, arose in the 19th century and had to continue in the 20th until Goetheanism, the greatest spiritual impulse which struck into mankind during its century, has come to be hardly noticed at all. For Goetheanism is hardly regarded at all by civilization in general. In this is expressing itself that complete absence-of-thought, that complete lack of interest and lack of attention towards human development which began in the 19th century and continued in the 20th. And the whole of the inner untruthfulness of this culture of the 19th and of beginning of the 20th century is required in order to represent the period of Frederick the Great and its impulses as characteristic of modern times. Once could really say nothing more inappropriate about Frederick the Great than what has been said about him in current historical representations.

One must also see more recent events on this substratum, not merely events of a local nature but also those which encroach deeply into international life, certainly events which, until today, have been entirely missed by mankind, who slept through them. For can there be anything more tragi-comic than when men, who are separated by cosmic distances from all that has developed in Weimar, now come together in Weimar in the farce of the present-day National Assembly? Anything more nonsensical than the gathering of this present-day assembly in Weimar is impossible to devise.

I had this in mind when I spoke a short time ago of a more rapid and also more vigorous development. today I must often think about various conversations which I had in the eighties of the last century with people who were enthusiastic for what is German, among them, for example, the man who later wrote the History of Modern Austria—Heinrich Friedjung (1854-1920), whom I recently mentioned in another connection in the lecture in the "Bernoulli" and whose strange action you find mentioned, as you may remember, in one of my printed lectures. (R.S. The Christmas Mood, Novalis as proclaimer of a Christianity to be understood spiritually).

At that time it was said that Middle-Europe in the age of Lessing, Herder, Goethe, Schiller and the others who were of like mind with them had reached a high-point of the spiritual development of mankind. Friedjung and some who were in my company at that time spoke somewhat like this now it must really go on, it must ascend further. I remember very well how I said: no, that was the high-point; from then on it descends again. With our present-day age the middle-European world has brought to the surface just what it had in it in the way of subjectivity.This, then, was the characteristic appearance of Middle-Europe; after that, it went downwards, not upwards any more.

Naturally, this was at that time taken very amiss of me; it was perhaps even considered to be nonsense. I can understand quite well that much of what I had to say in my, and of what I have to say, is regarded by my contemporaries as nonsense. But this, nevertheless, is a quite characteristic phenomenon. What began about the year 1200 and had its mighty culmination in Lessing, Herder, Goethe and Schiller, is certainly present, but it cannot be understood in the framework of the national middle-European life. But the specifically middle-European culture wills no longer to be national but to be above nationality, international, an outlook which has also got to be honestly cultivated in our Spiritual Science, in contrast with all the national chauvinism of the present-day. This is going to be the characteristic phenomenon, that the true substance of what came to light about the turn of the 18th-19th centuries can be perceived and lived only by this spiritual-scientific cultural life.

Let us look back a little, and fix our attention on a certain nuance of this middle-European cultural life. For one who knows how to take history symptomatologically it still remains a very remarkable fact, pointing deeply into historical mysteries, that in 1077—thus comparatively speaking, a long time before the now Age of Consciousness—a representative of the old wildness of the Nibelung-souls (as the Salic and also the Saxon Emperors also were, Henry IV, had to do his terrible penance at Canossa before the monk of Cluny (or at least the follower of the monastic system pf Cluny), who had become a great Pope. For the great Pope Gregory, who had put Henry IV under the ban of the Church and forced him to come to Canossa, stood entirely under the influence of the Cluniac stream, that ecclesiastical current which aimed to raise up the Church to be the preponderant power in Europe. And the whole of the wildness of the old Nibelung-character expressed itself in this Henry IV, the Salic, in his relations with Pope Gregory.

And still another thing which has found its continuation in later times was already expressing itself at that time, the fact that Middle-Europe could simply do nothing except come into conflict with what had, in a round-about way, become pseudo-Christianity through Romanism, what had developed from the original Christian impulse into a Christian empire. The old Nibelung-wildness was in a certain way made subject to the Roman Empire. It was then replaced by that stream which rose over the forests of Middle-Europe which had been turned into cornfields and meadows. Basically speaking, this transformed stream which replaced the old Nibelung-outlook was in no way fitted to take in the impulses of the Roman Empire. It was really continually struggling against the type of Christianity which had become political. And while, on the one side, it brought its own nature to extension and unfolded what was in its own being, it saw itself on the other side humbled, ruled and administered by those who had retained the old Nibelung-wildness in the manner already described.

I repeat that in order to understand things like this one must be clear with oneself in a spiritual-scientific way that if something which was great in an earlier time is retained in a later time it becomes unhealthy in the later time and falls into decay. This is the characteristic thing about the contrast which exists in Middle-Europe. There is all that arose with the beginning of the 13th century after the uprooting of the old forests, all that began to sound from earth to heaven with the songs of Walther von der Vogelweide and what has run into Goetheanism. This is the one, unpolitical side, which is undergoing a completion in itself of the circle of its development but which always has beside it, without realizing the whole consequences of this fact, the old Nibelung-character on the thrones with the princely diadems—but in a state of decadence.

Middle-Europe came into the second half of the 19th century under this kind of circumstances and conditions, and went on into the 20th century, and thus entered into the phase which must now be so frequently described as characteristic of present-day Europe, as distinct from Russia. One must speak, just in these connections, about modern industrial development, of the machine-age, the rise of capitalism. These are international phenomena. If one speaks of the rise of the age of technical development, of the industrial age, of the capitalist age, one is speaking of international impulse. But these international impulses acted in a different way in every place. I should so much like to see a really unprejudiced description of what has developed in Middle-Europe from the time when Walther von der Vogelweide sang until the day when Goethe spoke the loftiest words about humanity—a humanity which no longer understands Goethe's words at all, without the dreadful scholastic judgments which have been mixed into conventional history in all spheres. I should like to see what lies in these years of development described in an unprejudiced way, to see it described quite in accordance with reality. Then it would really be possible for the untruthfulness to be removed, where it has penetrated into the hearts and souls of men in so tremendously elementary a way that even the most truthful man has to become untruthful. Then the untruthfulness will be removed, to which even a man like Goethe was impelled when he spoke about Frederick the Great, simply because the power of what held sway as a universal opinion was so strong that the most truthful man could do nothing except say the same as the others did.

Truthfulness demands something else, quite different from any blind acceptance-of-authority or the like. Therefore truthfulness is an individuality, a being which is so avoided in human development. Therefore untruthfulness calls forth as much that is tragic in human development. One would have to speak of a quite special revelation of the new age if one wished to describe, faithfully to reality and in an unprejudiced way, what lies in the development from the time in which Walther von der Vogelweide sang his songs to the time in which Goethe gave a hitherto unrevealed treasure of spiritual life to his contemporaries and to a posterity which did not understand him. But one would be impelled to call attention to the fact that something was, as it were, secretly developing for the whole of mankind on earth and that what was not secret, what one observes as world-history, was the Luciferic shaping of the old Nibelung-wildness.

Thus, from the year 1200 until the 20th century, the natural development of the Middle-Europe stood facing something Luciferic which the retained Nibelung-wildness was unfolding as soul-life in an age which had meanwhile become different. Let us consider these two streams. Let us consider the stream of which we may look for the starting-point about the year 1200, and let us set opposite to it the Luciferic element of the territorial princes. Then we shall understand the terrible Luciferic-Ahrimanic combination which was brought about, in the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th, in the last phase of a Middle-Europe which is moving towards its end. I mean the combination between the Ahrimanic element of modern industrialism, with its technical development and capitalism, and that of the old territorial princely system, Junkerdom, the dependents of the old Nibelung-wildness which had fallen into decay.

It is this which has brought Middle-Europe to its ruin. This Ahrimanic-Luciferic marriage between rising industrialism (other regions of the world were gripped by this in a way different from what happened in Middle-Europe, where the old Nibelung-wildness held sway in the territorial princely system) and the political administrators of Middle-Europe, the territorial princely system, was what would not permit the unfolding of a really middle-European or German mission to come about, as was called for in my Manifesto (Manifesto to the German people and to the civilized world: Vol. 1, lecture 1). And if one is quite frankly and freely to describe what terrible symptoms of a world-historically tragic decline were present from 1914 to 1919 and will, as a result, continue to be present just in Middle-Europe, one will have to describe the co-operation—cruelly terrible for this region of Middle-Europe—of the old, decadent, Nibelung-nobility with the newly-arisen industrialists of Middle-Europe, who justified their world-historical position by no inner pretensions of the soul.

The types which have appeared in Middle-Europe in these years out of these two different circles have become the most terrible destroyers of Middle-Europe. These were the men who, in boundless haughtiness and out of what they imagined to be a practical outlook, have for years been trampling down everything which was trying in any way to foster the further consideration of what began to sing with Walther von der Vogelweide and found its finality with Goetheanism. It is no longer to be wondered at that the external world has coined the term "militarism" in order to indicate these much deeper phenomena in an inappropriately-appropriate, appropriately-inappropriate way, for the world outside Middle-Europe is not even very much more thoughtful than is the middle-European world. Understanding for the middle-European nature has nowhere been found, but it must also be said that what has developed into Goetheanism in this Middle-Europe has gone backward with giant strides since the age of Goethe.

If one speaks of the crossing of the Threshold into the supersensible world, one must always call to mind something which was always said in the old days, when men knew much from atavistic clairvoyance, about the experiences of the human soul which crosses this Threshold to the supersensible, namely "passage through the gate of death". Many a thing is going on in the whole of humanity which is announcing itself in a soul-spiritual way as a passing through the gate of soul-spiritual death. And, as I wish to say once again, all sorts of things ought to be considered not in such a way that one just immediately identifies single phenomena with the great, revolutionary impulses of world-historical development. But one must be able to drag what happens in individual instances into the light of what can come to us, spiritual-scientifically, as illumination of the great, incisive impulses of our time.

It is, to be sure, just now that something remarkable has happened just in Middle-Europe. Characteristic phenomena can be perceived. What I have often described to you as expressing the reality of the soul-life through speech is letting itself continue in this middle-European spiritual life just about the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The industrial-technical-capitalist coloring which the fashionable culture of Middle-Europe has gradually taken on is bringing it about that people are quite forgetting the earlier age up to the 12th century. Really, the Germans of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th do not know how they are Germans, or as the result of what. The events of the early age were received in a real sleep of the soul, for this had not penetrated into the consciousness of the so-called educated classes, who gradually broke with what had found its finality in Goetheanism. Nothing of the true spiritual substance which was coming up had penetrated into the consciousness of the so-called educated classes. And thus it could come about—and many similar examples could be brought forward—that serious people were inclined to take as serious drama or serious poetry the glorification of the German heroic past by a brawling fellow such as Ernst von Wildenbruch.

Ernst von Wildenbruch has dramatized much about certain emperors, kings and princes of the early days, but he has always represented only the least important family events of all, and never world-historical impulses. One therefore has the feeling in his dramas: words are sounding here like a tinny noise, nothing but beaten tins! But we have already come so far in the age of industrialism, which must work destructively just on peoples, such as the German people, with an innate talent for spirituality, that people feel the tintinnabulations of Ernst von Wildenbruch to be real poetry. Yes, we have come so far that men like Herman Grimm, who have attained to a really fine comprehension of the recent development of Art, who have brought to it a fine spiritual comprehension of a phase of human development, are filled with deep admiration as they stand before the soulless bawling of Ernst von Wildenbruch and liken this to the songs of the great poets of world-history. So far has modern mankind departed from what is an inner comprehension of true reality! And yet you know what Herman Grimm is one of the personages of the new age whom I honor most.

This, my dear friends, must be recorded if one is to describe in what an age we live. This must be stressed and described in order to understand what it is to mean that our time is, in a certain way, passing through a spiritual death in order to come to a higher stage in the development of mankind.

Zehnter Vortrag

Stellen wir uns kurz noch einmal vor Augen, was wir gestern versuchten uns klarzumachen. Wir sagten: Die gegenwärtige Menschheit, insofern sie als zivilisierte Menschheit in Betracht kommt, geht als ganze Menschheit durch Ähnliches hindurch, was man in der individuellen Entwickelung des einzelnen Menschen bezeichnen kann als das Überschreiten der Schwelle zur übersinnlichen Welt. Wenn man nun so, wie ich es getan habe in dem Buche «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» und in der Schrift «Die Schwelle der geistigen Welt», die Entwickelung des einzelnen Menschen bespricht, so meint man gewöhnlich den bewußten Aufstieg in das übersinnliche Leben. Dann meint man auch mit dem Überschreiten der Schwelle einen ganz bewußten Vorgang, wie wir ihn eben öfters beschrieben haben. Ich sagte nun gestern, daß man die Begriffe nicht pressen darf, wenn man genötigt ist, sie von einem Gebiet auf das andere zu übertragen. Deshalb muß ich sagen: Was die Menschheit jetzt als Ganzes durchläuft, ist etwas Ähnliches wie ein Überschreiten der Schwelle. Denn ich deutete schon an, es könnte ja geschehen, es wäre ja durchaus möglich, daß die Menschheit Geisteswissenschaft ablehnte. Dann würde sie kein Mittel haben, um etwas davon zu wissen, daß von der ganzen Menschheit ein solcher Prozeß durchgemacht wird wie das Überschreiten der Schwelle. Überhaupt finden ganz andere Vorgänge statt bei dem, was zu gelten hat als Überschreiten der Schwelle für die ganze Menschheit, als stattfinden beim einzelnen Menschen, wenn er bewußterweise den Gang in die übersinnliche Welt hinein tut. Und ich habe gestern schon angedeutet, daß das Wesentliche für die ganze Menschheit beim Überschreiten der Schwelle, wie es geschehen muß im Laufe der fünften nachatlantischen Zeit, der Zeit der Bewußtseinsentwickelung, besteht in dieser Ihnen dem Wesen nach bekannten Spaltung in die drei Seelenfähigkeiten zu einer gewissen Selbständigkeit. Denken, Fühlen und Wollen bleiben für die Gesamtmenschheit - also nicht für den einzelnen Menschen spreche ich jetzt, sondern für die Menschheit, insofern diese Menschheit miteinander verkehrt -, Denken, Fühlen und Wollen bleiben für die gesamte Menschheit nicht so chaotisch verschmolzen, wie sie es jetzt sind. Es gliedert sich das seelische Leben dieser ganzen Menschheit so, daß sie eben mehr als bisher selbständig empfindet ihr Denken, ihr Fühlen, ihr Wollen. Und deshalb braucht diese Menschheit die Gliederung in die drei Gebiete des sozialen Organismus in der Zukunft, die sie bisher nicht in dieser Weise brauchte. Wenn man also von dieser Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus heute redet, redet man aus dem Bewußtsein heraus von etwas, was nach geistigen Gesetzen des Universums mit der ganzen Menschheit sich notwendig vollzieht.

Nun darf nicht der Fehler gemacht werden, daß gleich allzusehr in einzelnen Ereignissen, die da oder dort auftreten, das Umfassende, das Große gefunden werde. Wir haben seit der Mitte des 15. Jahrhunderts erst einen kleinen Teil von dem Zeitalter der BewußtseinsseelenEntwickelung durchlebt. Ein solcher Zeitraum dauert über zweitausend Jahre. Dieses Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseelen-Entwickelung wird also noch lange dauern, und das wird sich in verschiedenen Stadien, durch verschiedene Ereignisse hindurch geltend machen, was man aber doch schon als dieses Überschreiten der Schwelle zum Übersinnlichen begreifen muß. Also den Fehler bitte ich Sie in Ihrem Denken nicht zu begehen, daß Sie etwa die gegenwärtige Weltkatastrophe allein identifizieren mit dem Umfassenden, von dem ich gestern gesprochen habe. Das wäre ein Fehler, wenn Sie das täten. Aber kein Fehler ist es, wenn man die Ereignisse, in denen man lebt, das, was um einen herum vorgeht, zu verstehen sucht aus den großen Vorgängen heraus, welche lange Zeitalter umfassen. Denn nur dann findet man sich in bezug auf die einzelnen Ereignisse zurecht, wenn man sie so versteht. Deshalb lassen Sie uns heute etwas besprechen, was gewissermaßen zur Symptomatologie, zur Kennzeichnung der Symptome dieser Entwickelung des fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraums nach dem Überschreiten der Schwelle gehört.

Ganz besonders deutlich ist das Heraufkommen der Zeit der Bewußtseinsseelen-Entwickelung gerade an der mitteleuropäischen Kultur zu sehen. Es bereitet sich dieses Heraufkommen der mitteleuropäischen Kultur allerdings schon seit dem 10., 11., 12. und 13. Jahrhundert deutlich vor, führt dann zu gewissen Ereignissen, die wir gleich besprechen wollen, und gestaltet sich in diesem Mitteleuropa so, daß es ganz besonders jetzt in dem gegenwärtigen Augenblick der Menschheitsentwickelung zur mitteleuropäischen Katastrophe geführt hat und eben einfach weiter führen muß.

Es ist schon so, daß dieses Mitteleuropa eigentlich dazu verurteilt ist, gewisse Dinge erstens schneller, zweitens aber auch energischer, charakteristischer zu erleben als das übrige Europa. Man kann sagen: Deutlich kann man sehen, wie gegen das 15. Jahrhundert zu in Mitteleuropa das heraufkommt, was das Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseelen-Entwickelung einleitet. Und jetzt kann man an den katastrophalen Ereignissen gerade Mitteleuropas sehen, welchen schwierigen Weg die Menschheit gerade in diesem Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseelen-Entwikkelung zu durchmessen hat, welche schwierigen Kämpfe, welche furchtbaren Erschütterungen durchzumachen sind, damit das Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseelen-Entwickelung die Impulse, die in ihm liegen, an die Oberfläche der geschichtlichen Entwickelung treiben kann.

Da kann es insbesondere von einer gewissen Bedeutung sein, wenn man den Zeitpunkt etwa um das Jahr 1200 für Mitteleuropa ins Auge faßt. Von diesem Zeitpunkt nimmt man gewöhnlich an, approximativ natürlich, daß zum Abschluß gekommen ist die Nibelungendichtung, also jene Dichtung, welche sehr häufig in bezug auf die mitteleuropäische Bevölkerung verglichen wird mit dem, was Homer für das Griechentum war. In der Nibelungendichtung kommen zum Ausdruck in bildhafter, in imaginativer Gestalt offenbar bedeutsame Volksschicksale einer Zeit, die weit vorangegangen ist jenem Zeitalter, in dem eben die Nibelungendichtung zum Abschluß gekommen ist. Und wer sich heute mit einer ehrlichen, inneren Gesinnung auf die Nibelungendichtung einläßt, auch auf das, was verschiedene spätere, Wilhelm Jordan, Richard Wagner und andere, aus der Nibelungendichtung gemacht haben, der muß sich sagen: Die Menschlichkeit, das Menschenwesen, das aus der Nibelungendichtung herausleuchtet, das ist im Grunde genommen für den heutigen Menschen nur noch wenig verständlich. Die Nibelungendichtung weist auf eine Zeit zurück, in der es ganz offenbar in Mitteleuropa ganz, ganz anders ausgesehen hat als etwa nach dem Beginne des 12. Jahrhunderts. Die Nibelungendichtung weist auf eine Zeit zurück, in der es schon landschaftlich ganz anders in diesem Mitteleuropa ausgesehen haben muß und in der aus dem Landschaftlichen heraus ganz andere Menschencharaktere sich entwickelt haben als später. Man kann, wenn man anschauliches Wahrnehmungsvermögen hat, nicht anders als, ich möchte sagen, «herausriechen» aus der Nibelungendichtung, wie die Menschen, von denen diese Dichtung spricht, über öde Strecken hin gelebt haben, die weit, weit von dichten Wäldern bedeckt waren. Waldcharakter und alles, was sich den Menschen aufprägt dadurch, daß sie in den waldbedeckten Landen wohnten, das drückt sich in den Nibelungendichtungen aus. Wir können uns nicht vorstellen, daß die Nibelungenmenschen so aussahen, auch in den Gestalten des Nibelungenliedes, wo die Menschen sehr vermenschlicht sind, wie die Menschen zum Beispiel des späteren Deutschland nach dem Jahre 1200 ausgesehen haben. Wir müssen uns vorstellen, daß diese Menschen innerlich mit einem anderen Seelenleben begabt waren als jene späteren Menschen. Wir müssen uns vorstellen, daß sie ein viel instinktiveres, ein elementareres Fühlen hatten als die Menschen der späteren Zeit. Es war ja eigentlich in diese Nibelungenmenschen auch noch nicht der Strahl des Christentums hineingefallen. Wir wollen aber weniger auf den Inhalt dieses Seelenlebens sehen, als viel mehr auf das im Seelenleben dieser Menschen sehen, was das Formale ist, was die Artung dieses Seelenlebens ist. Es ist eben ein Instinktiveres, wenn man das Wort nicht mißversteht: ein Wilderes, eben ein Elementareres, das mit einer ursprünglicheren Kraft als später aus der Menschenseele hervorquillt.

Ungefähr von dem Ende der Zeit, in das die Nibelungendichtung noch hineinweist, rührt dann das her, was man die mitteleuropäische Bürgerzeit, das mitteleuropäische bürgerliche Leben nennen könnte. Wie bildete sich das heraus? Das bildete sich so heraus, daß nach und nach in weitem Umkreise die Wälder ausgerodet wurden, daß über weite Landstrecken Mitteleuropas hin, auf den Gebieten, die früher mit fast undurchdringlichen Wäldern bedeckt waren, Wiesen und Kornfelder entstanden. Das brachte eine andere Menschheit herauf, als die letzte Waldmenschheit war. Das brachte eben im Grunde das mitteleuropäische Bürgertum der ersten Zeit der BewußtseinsseelenEntwickelung hervor. Und wohl nirgends sind die charakteristischen Eigenschaften dieses europäischen Bürgertums so stark zu studieren wie in diesem Mitteleuropa, aus dem Grunde, weil in diesem Mitteleuropa sich bis zum heutigen Zeitpunkt - ich möchte sagen in einer tragischen Weise - die Schicksale dieses Bürgertums schon gerundet haben, weil sie sich in unseren Tagen eben bis zu einem gewissen Abschluß bringen, weil in Mitteleuropa dieses Bürgertum im Grunde heute am Ende seiner Entwickelung ist, weil dieses Bürgertum gerade in Mitteleuropa seinen eigenen charakteristischen Anlagen gemäß, wegen seiner Natur durch etwas hindurchgegangen ist. Durch die Weltkatastrophe und durch das, was jetzt darauf folgt, wird es weiter so durch etwas ganz anderes durchgehen als das übrige europäische Bürgertum. Dieses wird gewisse Entwickelungsphasen erst durchmachen, welche beim mitteleuropäischen Bürgertum heute schon zur Endkatastrophe deutlich hinweisen. So haben wir in diesem mitteleuropäischen Bürgertum bereits eine Art von in sich gerundetem Schicksal: das Aufgehen in dem Zeitalter, in dem sich weite Waldstrecken gerade des späteren Deutschland aus Waldgegenden in Wiesen und Felder verwandeln, und dann die Entwickelung vom 13. bis ins 20. Jahrhundert hinein und den furchtbaren tragischen Absturz im 20. Jahrhundert.

Diese Erscheinung, die da in Mitteleuropa eine gewisse Geschlossenheit hat, sie kann ihrer Symptomatologie nach nirgendswo als eben in diesem Mitteleuropa studiert werden. Und wer im Ernste die großen Impulse der Menschheitsentwickelung wirklich ins Auge fassen will, der darf nicht zu feige sein, das Augenmerk auf die charakteristischen, auf die bedeutsamen Symptome, die sich in so etwas ausdrücken, hinzulenken. Denn auch alles andere in Europa ist nur zu verstehen, wenn man diese in sich abgerundete Schicksalsreihe von dem höheren Gesichtspunkte der Geisteswissenschaft einmal unbefangen ins Auge faßt.

Man redet aber zunächst eigentlich nur einseitig von einer Kulturströmung, wenn man sagt: Mit dem 13. Jahrhundert kommt aus dem Nibelungenmenschen herauf das spätere mitteleuropäische Bürgertum und wird Träger dieser mitteleuropäischen Kultur. Man redet einseitig darüber. Wahr ist es allerdings und innerhalb dieser Grenze richtig aber eben nur, weil innerhalb dieser Grenze, einseitig -, daß sich ausbreitet, namentlich über die mitteleuropäischen Städte, jene Seelenstimmung, welche mit diesem mitteleuropäischen Bürgertum gemeint sein kann, daß sich aus diesem Bürgertum die mitteleuropäische Kultur herausentwickelt. Das ist von der einen Seite her vollständig wahr. Aber es ist nicht die ganze Wahrheit, es ist nur ein Teil, ein Glied der Erscheinungen, die sich herausentwickelt haben in diesem Mitteleuropa, das in vielen Dingen, die sich mit ihm entwickelt haben, heute verröchelt. Der andere Teil ist der, daß etwas von den alten Wald- und Nibelungenmenschen zurückgeblieben ist, von solchen Charakteren, welche in ihrer Seele das alte Zeitalter, aus dem die Nibelungen berichten, weitergelebt haben. Die Menschen, die sich, wenn ich so sagen darf, unter dem Sonnenglanz der Kornfelder und Wiesen zum mitteleuropäischen Bürgertum entwickelten, das waren nicht die einzigen Menschen, die sich vom Jahre 1200 ab dann weiter bis ins 20. Jahrhundert entwickelt haben. Es waren noch andere Menschen da, die sich etwas zurückbehalten hatten von der alten innerlichen Seelenwildheit und Seelenprimitivität der Nibelungenmenschen.

Wenn man aber eine solche Erscheinung ins Auge faßt, dann muß man nicht vergessen, daß die fortschreitende Zeit für die Entwickelung der Menschheit etwas bedeutet, daß sie eine Realität ist innerhalb der Entwickelung der Menschheit, und daß jemand, wenn er zurückbehält das, was eigentlich einem früheren Zeitalter der Seelenkultur angehört, nicht etwa in derselben Seelenstimmung bleibt, die diese alte Seelenkultur gehabt hat, sondern er kommt in die Dekadenz hinein, er kommt herunter, er kommt in eine Untergangsrichtung hinein, er wird fremd demjenigen, was der Zeit entspricht. Er entwickelt in einer späteren Zeit das, was in einer früheren Zeit hat entwickelt werden sollen, und er entwickelt daher das, was er in einer späteren Zeit entwickelt, nicht so, wie er es in einer früheren Zeit entwickelt hätte, sondern er entwickelt es in einer späteren Zeit krankhaft. Er entwickelt es eben mit den charakteristischen Zeichen des Verfalls, der Dekadenz. Daher sehen wir auf der einen Linie sich entwickeln das neuzeitliche mitteleuropäische Bürgertum, ich möchte sagen, das oberste Produkt der aus den Wäldern hervorgegangenen Kornfelder und Wiesen, und wir sehen auf der anderen Seite mitten unter diesen Bürgerlichen in Mitteleuropa die Menschen, die das alte Seelenleben der Nibelungenzeit bewahrt haben, die nur äußerlich die neue Zeit, selbst das Christentum aufgenommen haben, und die daher diesen alten innerlichen Nibelungen-Seelencharakter in einer Verfallswesenheit darlebten. Die Menschen, die diesen alten Nibelungencharakter in der Verfallsform darlebten, das sind die mittelalterlichen Territorialfürsten und ihr Anhang, die jetzt zu Dutzenden von ihren 'Thronen gestürzt sind. Zu diesem mittelalterlichen Nachwuchs gehört ja in erster Linie alles das, was Inhalt, menschlicher Inhalt war des Hauses Habsburg, aber auch die übrigen Territorialfürsten Mitteleuropas. Niemand versteht, was eigentlich sich jetzt tragisch vollzieht, der nicht auch diesen Untergrund der Ereignisse ins Auge zu fassen weiß, daß durch Jahrhunderte hindurch der fortgeschrittenere Teil der mitteleuropäischen Bevölkerung regiert und verwaltet worden ist von dem Teil, der in der Verfallsform den Seelencharakter der alten wilden Nibelungenmenschen zurückbehalten hat.

Es war tatsächlich ein ungeheurer Kontrast zwischen dem ganz inneren Seelengefüge der Menschen, die man nennen könnte die Nachzügler des mitteleuropäischen Bürgertums, und denen, die auf den königlichen oder fürstlichen Thronen saßen, und allen denen, welche, anhänglich diesen Thronen, die Menschen auf diesen Thronen umgaben. Die Seele irgendeines Königs von Bayern oder Herzogs von Braunschweig und eines mittleren deutschen Menschen, der eine mittlere deutsche Bildung aufgenommen hat, das sind zwei durchaus voneinander verschiedene geistige Potenzen. Das lebte nebeneinander in den verflossenen Jahrhunderten wie zwei fremde Rassen, vielleicht sogar mit stärkeren Differenzierungen als zwei fremde Rassen.

Man muß den Mut haben, solch einer historischen Untergrundtatsache ins Auge zu schauen. Denn nicht auf den äußeren Ereignissen, die die konventionelle Geschichte verzeichnet, beruht das, was am allermeisten Menschenschicksal und Menschenentwickelung berührt. Bedenken Sie nun, daß von diesem Schicksal, so unter einer Anzahl von Menschen zu stehen, die in ihrem Seelenleben ein früheres Zeitalter zurückbehalten haben, das übrige europäische Bürgertum nicht betroffen war, sondern eben gerade das mitteleuropäische Bürgertum. Nehmen Sie zum Beispiel, nur um das, was eigentlich gemeint ist, noch besser zu verstehen, die aus diesem mitteleuropäischen Bürgertum herauskommenden, aber vorher ausgewanderten, später die englisch sprechende Bevölkerung gewordenen Menschen. Diese haben sich, wenn ich so sagen darf, nicht eingelassen auf jene Entwickelung, die in Mitteleuropa durchgemacht worden ist, sie haben sich das, was in alten Zeiten innerhalb des europäischen, mitteleuropäischen Bürgertums vorhanden war, mitgenommen, haben es nicht im Kampfe mit zurückgebliebenen Nibelungenmenschen aufreiben müssen.

Daher kommt das, was ich in anderem Zusammenhange schon ausgesprochen habe, daß zum Beispiel in der englisch sprechenden Bevölkerung gewisse Instinkte für die Entwickelung der Bewußtseinsseele vorhanden sind, die in Mitteleuropa gar nicht vorhanden sind, gewisse Instinkte vor allen Dingen für das politische Leben, während die Menschheit Mitteleuropas apolitisch, unpolitisch bleiben mußte, gar keine Anlage hatte, an einem politischen Leben irgendwie teilzunehmen, denn sie wurden ja beherrscht von Menschen, die ein früheres Zeitalter in ihrem Seelenleben zurückbehalten hatten.

Wie grandios anschaulich tritt einem das, was ich eben charakterisiert habe, entgegen, wenn wir den Blick auf das Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts, auf die zweite Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts hinwenden, und wir hinschauen auf die Blüte des mitteleuropäischen Bürgertums, auf ihre geistige Blüte. Klopstock, Lessing, Herder, Schiller, Goethe, und manche andere brauchten wir nur zu nennen, und wir hätten diese Blüte dessen, was keimhaft sich aus der alten Nibelungenzeit um das Jahr 1200 heraus entwickelt hat. Und in demselben Zeitalter steht entgegen diesen Menschen, die diese Blüte darstellen, deren höchste Kulmination in Goethe und im Goetheanismus liegt, dem steht entgegen die allerärgste Bewahrung der Nibelungenwildheit in vollstem Verfall unter Friedrich dem Großen. Suchen Sie sich Menschheitskontraste auf, wo Sie wollen: in der perspektivischen Betrachtung so tragisch wirkende wie Goethe neben Friedrich dem Großen gibt es sonst gar nicht! Für die Geschichte hinterher ist ja nur das zu sagen, daß die äußerste Gedankenlosigkeit, die furchtbarste Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber geistigen Interessen im 19. Jahrhundert eintrat und ins 20. Jahrhundert sich fortsetzen mußte, damit von dem Goetheanismus, von dieser für ihr Jahrhundert größten in die Menschheit einschlagenden Geistespulsation, eigentlich so gut wie gar nichts bemerkt wurde. Denn es ist von der allgemeinen Kultur kaum irgend etwas vom Goetheanismus berücksichtigt worden. Dazu gehört die ganze Gedankenlosigkeit, die ganze innere Unwahrhaftigkeit dieser Kultur des 19. und des Beginns des 20. Jahrhunderts, um für die neuere Zeit, das Zeitalter Friedrichs des Großen, die Impulse Friedrichs des Großen charakteristisch zu finden. Man konnte eigentlich nichts Unzutreffenderes sagen als das, was in den gangbaren geschichtlichen Darstellungen über Friedrich den Großen gesagt worden ist. Auf diesem Untergrunde muß man eben die neueren Ereignisse sehen, aber nicht bloß Ereignisse lokaler Art, sondern Ereignisse, die in das internationale Leben tief, tief eingreifen, Ereignisse allerdings, die bis heute von der Menschheit vollständig verschlafen werden. Gibt es denn etwas Tragikomischeres, als daß Menschen, die weit abstehen von alldem, was sich in Weimar entwickelt hat, sich nun in Weimar zu der Farce der gegenwärtigen Nationalversammlung vereinigen! Etwas Unsinnigeres als die Zusammenstellung dieser gegenwärtigen Versammlung in Weimar ist überhaupt nicht auszudenken, gibt es gar nicht!

Das meinte ich vorhin, als ich von einer schnelleren und auch energischeren Entwickelung sprach. Ich muß heute oftmals an verschiedene Gespräche denken, die ich mit allerlei für das Deutschtum begeisterten Leuten in den achtziger Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts führte, zum Beispiel auch mit dem Manne, der dann später die Geschichte des neueren Österreich geschrieben hat, mit Heinrich Friedjung, den ich neulich in einem anderen Zusammenhange in dem Vortrag im Bernoullianum erwähnte, und dessen sonderbare Tat Sie ja erwähnt finden in einem meiner Vorträge, die ja auch in den Zyklen gedruckt sind. Dazumal wurde davon gesprochen, daß Mitteleuropa in dem Zeitalter Lessings, Herders, Goethes, Schillers und derjenigen, die zu ihnen gehören, eine Höhe der geistigen Entwickelung der Menschheit erreicht habe. Friedjung und andere, die dazumal in der Gesellschaft waren, sagten ungefähr: Nun muß es eben weitergehen, es muß weiter hinaufgehen. — Ich erinnere mich heute sehr gut, wie ich sagte: Nein, das ist der Höhepunkt, von nun an geht es herunter; mit diesem Zeitalter hat das mitteleuropäische Wesen das, was es an Subjektivität in sich gehabt hatte, heraus an die Oberfläche der Menschheitsentwickelung getrieben. Das ist die charakteristische Erscheinung von Mitteleuropa. — Selbstverständlich wurde einem das dazumal sehr, sehr übelgenommen, vielleicht sogar für Unsinn gehalten. Ich kann ja begreifen, daß vieles von dem, was ich sagen muß und in meinem ganzen Leben sagen mußte, von meinen Zeitgenossen als ein Unsinn angesehen wird. Aber es ist doch eben eine charakteristische Erscheinung, daß das, was um das Jahr 1200 begann, in der gewaltigen Kulminationskultur Herder-Lessing-Goethe-Schiller ausgelaufen ist, daß diese Kulminationskultur da ist, aber nicht verstanden werden kann innerhalb des nationalen mitteleuropäischen Lebens, sondern wohl erst von einem geisteswissenschaftlichen Leben verstanden werden wird, das aber nicht mehr national - was ich immer betont habe -, sondern hypernational, international sein will, wie es doch in unserer Geisteswissenschaft gegenüber allem nationalen Chauvinismus der gegenwärtigen Zeit ehrlich gepflegt werden soll. Das wird doch die charakteristische Erscheinung sein, daß erst von diesem geisteswissenschaftlichen Kulturleben die wahre Substanz dessen, was dazumal um die Wende des 18. zum 19. Jahrhundert zutage getreten ist, wahrgenommen, gelebt werden kann.

Wir können ein wenig zurückschauen, wenn wir eine gewisse Nuance dieses mitteleuropäischen Kulturlebens ins Auge fassen wollen. Für den, der die Geschichte symptomatisch, symptomatologisch zu nehmen weiß, bleibt es doch eine sehr merkwürdige, tief in historische Geheimnisse hineinweisende Tatsache, daß 1077, also verhältnismäßig schon lange vor dem Beginn des neueren Bewußtseinszeitalters, ein Vertreter der alten Nibelungen-Seelenwildheit, wie es die salischen Kaiser alle waren, wie es auch die sächsischen Kaiser waren, daß Heinrich IV. damals 1077 zu Canossa vor dem zum großen Papste gewordenen Mönch von Cluny, oder wenigstens Anhänger des Mönchtums von Cluny seine furchtbare Buße zu tun hatte. Denn der große Papst Gregor, der Heinrich IV. in den Kirchenbann getan hat und nach Canossa gezwungen hat, er stand ganz unter dem Einfluß der Cluniazenser, jener kirchlichen Strömung der damaligen Zeit, welche darauf ausging, die Kirche zur übermächtigen Gewalt, zum übermächtigen Imperium in Europa zu erheben. Und die ganze Wildheit des alten Nibelungencharakters prägte sich in jenem Heinrich IV., dem Salier, in seinem ganzen Verhältnis zu Papst Gregor aus.

Und wiederum prägte sich noch etwas anderes aus, etwas, das dann noch eine gewisse Fortsetzung erfahren hat. Es prägte sich da aus, daß Mitteleuropa einfach nicht anders konnte, als in Streit zu kommen mit dem, was auf dem Umwege durch das Romanentum zum Pseudochristentum geworden war, was aus dem ursprünglichen christlichen ImPuls heraus zum christlichen Imperium geworden war. Noch hatte die alte Nibelungenwildheit abgerechnet mit dem Imperium Romanum, war aber in einer gewissen Weise unterlegen. Sie wurde dann abgelöst von jener Strömung, die ich Ihnen schon charakterisiert habe, die dann sich erhob über den in Kornfelder und Wiesen umgewandelten Wäldern Mitteleuropas. Im Grunde genommen war diese Fortsetzung, aber verwandelte Fortsetzung des alten Nibelungentums in nichts veranlagt dazu, unmittelbar die Impulse des Imperium Romanum aufzunehmen. Sie war eigentlich in einem fortwährenden Sträuben gegen das politisierte Christentum, gegen das von Rom aus politisierte Christentum. Und indem es auf der einen Seite seine eigene Natur zur Ausbreitung brachte, das, was in seinem eigenen Wesen war, zur Entfaltung brachte, sah es sich auf der anderen Seite geduckt, beherrscht, verwaltet von denen, die in der früher charakterisierten Weise zurückbehalten und zum Verfall gebracht hatten die alte Nibelungen-Seelenwildheit.

Um solche Dinge zu verstehen, ich sage es noch einmal, muß man sich eben geisteswissenschaftlich klar darüber sein, daß wenn etwas, das für eine frühere Zeit groß war, bewahrt wird, es dann in einer späteren Zeit krank ist und in den Verfall gerät. Das macht jenes Charakteristische aus des Kontrastes, der besteht zwischen alldem, was sich erhoben hat mit dem Beginne des 13. Jahrhunderts nach dem Ausroden der alten Wälder, was angefangen hat von der Erde nach dem Himmel hinauf zu tönen mit den Liedern des Walther von der Vogelweide und was eingelaufen ist in den Goetheanismus. Das ist die eine Seite, die unpolitisch ist, die einen Kreislauf ihrer Entwickelung in sich selber durchmacht und die durch ihre eigene Struktur, ohne daß sie die ganze Tragweite dieser Tatsache erkennt, neben sich hat die verfallenden Nibelungencharaktere auf dem Throne und mit den Fürstenhüten.

Unter solchen Voraussetzungen und Bedingungen kam über Mitteleuropa das 19. Jahrhundert, namentlich in seiner zweiten Hälfte, und es kam das 20. Jahrhundert. Und mit diesem 19., mit diesem 20. Jahrhundert traf dieses Mitteleuropa in einer anderen Art das, was jetzt so häufig geschildert werden muß als Gegenwart Europas, von Rußland abgesehen in dieser Betrachtungsweise. Gerade in den Dingen, die jetzt so vielfach besprochen werden müssen, muß ja geredet werden von der modernen industriellen Entwickelung, von dem Maschinenzeitalter, von dem heraufkommenden Kapitalismus. Das sind internationale Erscheinungen. Wenn man spricht von dem heraufkommenden technischen, von dem Maschinenzeitalter, von dem industriellen, dem kapitalistischen Zeitalter, so spricht man von internationalen Impulsen. Aber diese internationalen Impulse, sie schlugen ja überall in einer anderen Weise ein.

Man möchte so sehr, daß einmal geschildert würde, unbefangen, ohne die scheußlichen Schulvorurteile, die sich in die konventionelle Geschichte hineingemacht haben auf allen Gebieten, das, was sich in Mitteleuropa entwickelt hat von jenem Tage an, da Walther von der Vogelweide gesungen hat, bis in jene Tage hinein, da Goethe von höchsten Dingen der Menschheit gesprochen hat, die von Goethes Worten nichts mehr verstand. Man möchte, daß einmal unbefangen geschildert würde, was in diesen Entwickelungsjahren liegt. Man möchte, daß dies vollständig der Wahrheit gemäß geschildert würde. Denn dann wird die Unwahrheit auch da ausgemerzt werden müssen, wo sie so ungeheuer elementar in die Menschenherzen und die Menschenseelen sich hineindrängte, daß selbst der Wahrste unwahr werden mußte. ‚Ausgemerzt wird werden müssen von der wahren Geschichte die Unwahrheit, zu der selbst ein Goethe gedrängt wurde, wenn er über Friedrich den Großen sprach, weil einfach die Macht desjenigen, was als allgemeines Vorurteil waltete, so stark war, daß der Wahrste gar nicht anders konnte, als mitreden mit den anderen.

Die Wahrheit fordert noch etwas ganz anderes als irgendeinen blinden Autoritätsglauben oder dergleichen. Daher ist die Wahrheit eine so gemiedene Individualität in der Entwickelung der Menschheit, eine so gemiedene Wesenheit. Daher ist die Unwahrheit das, was so viel Tragik hervorruft in der menschlichen Entwickelung. Würde man wahrheitsgemäß, unbefangen das schildern, was liegt in der Entwickelung von jenem Zeitalter an, da Walther von der Vogelweide seine Lieder gesungen hat, bis zu dem noch ungehobenen Schatze von Geistesleben, von dem Goethe der ihn nicht verstehenden Mit- und Nachwelt sprach, man würde von einer ganz besonderen Offenbarung der neueren Zeit sprechen müssen und können. Aber man würde gedrängt sein, aufmerksam zu machen, daß gewissermaßen für die allgemeine Menschheit der Erde anonym sich da etwas entwickelte, da etwas geschah. Und das, was nicht anonym war, das, was man als Weltgeschichte betrachtete, das war die luziferische Ausgestaltung der alten Nibelungenwildheit.

So stand vom Jahre 1200 bis in das 20. Jahrhundert hinein das, was sich als die naturgemäße Entwickelung Mitteleuropas ergab, einem Luzifertum gegenüber, das die zurückgebliebene Nibelungenwildheit war, als Seelenleben entfaltet in der neueren Zeit. Betrachten wir das, dessen Ausgangspunkt wir suchen dürfen ungefähr um das Jahr 1200 herum, und stellen wir ihm gegenüber das luziferische Element der Fürstentümer, der Territorialfürsten, dann werden wir begreifen, was es für ein besonderes Zusammenwirken ergab, als das ahrimanische Element des modernen Industrialismus mit der Technik und dem Kapitalismus heraufkam und in der letzten Phase des nun seinem Verröcheln entgegengehenden Mitteleuropa der furchtbar ahrimanisch-luziferische Zusammenhang zustande kam; namentlich im letzten Jahrzehnt des 19. Jahrhunderts und in den ersten Jahrzehnten des 20. Jahrhunderts jenes Zusammenwirken zustande kam zwischen dem Industrialismus und dem alten Territorialfürstentum, dem alten Junkertum und den alten Anhängern der in den Verfall geratenen Nibelungenwildheit. Das ist es, was Mitteleuropa seinen Untergang gebracht hat: die Ehe zwischen dem Industrialismus und dem Territorialfürstentum, den politischen Verwaltern Mitteleuropas. Das ist es, was die in meinem «Aufrufe» geforderte Entfaltung einer wirklichen mitteleuropäischen und deutschen Mission nicht zustande kommen ließ: Die ahrimanisch-luziferische Ehe zwischen dem heraufkommenden Industrialismus, der andere Gegenden der Welt anders ergriffen hat als die Gegend, in der die alte Nibelungenwildheit im Territorialfürstentum in Mitteleuropa herrschend war. Und wenn einmal frank und frei wird geschildert werden sollen, welche furchtbaren Symptome eines welthistorischen, tragischen Niederganges vorhanden waren vom Jahre 1914 bis 1919, weiter hinaus vorhanden sein werden gerade in Mitteleuropa, dann wird man zu schildern haben das für dieses Mitteleuropa grausam-fürchterliche Zusammenwirken des alten verkommenen Nibelungenadels mit dem heraufkommenden, seine welthistorische Stellung durch keine inneren seelischen Ansprüche rechtfertigenden industriellen Menschentum Mitteleuropas. Die Typen, welche sich in Mitteleuropa in diesen Jahren gezeigt haben aus diesen beiderlei Kreisen heraus, das waren die Menschen, die in unendlichem Hochmut aus einer eingebildeten Praxis heraus durch Jahre hindurch alles niedergetreten haben, was irgendwie hat hinwirken wollen auf ein Wiederbemerken dessen, was mit Walther von der Vogelweide zu singen begonnen hat, und was mit dem Goetheanismus seinen Abschluß gefunden hat. Daß die äußere Welt sich das Schlagwort des «Militarismus» erfunden hat, um diese viel tiefere Erscheinung unzutreffend-zutreffend, zutreffendunzutreffend zu bezeichnen, das ist ja nicht weiter zu verwundern, denn furchtbar viel tiefsinniger als die mitteleuropäische Welt ist die außermitteleuropäische Welt auch nicht, wahrhaftig nicht. Ein Verständnis für mitteleuropäisches Wesen hat sich nirgends gefunden woanders, wenn auch gesagt werden muß, daß es mit Riesenschritten zurückgegangen ist, was in diesem Mitteleuropa sich entwickelt hat bis zum Goetheanismus hin, nach dem Zeitalter Goethes.

Wenn man spricht von dem Überschreiten der Schwelle zum Übersinnlichen hin, dann muß man sich immer erinnern an das, was in alten Zeiten, wo man aus atavistischem Hellsehen heraus viel gewußt hat über das, was mit der Menschenseele vorgeht, wenn sie die Schwelle zum Übersinnlichen überschreitet, nämlich: Durchgang durch die Pforte des Todes. Mancherlei geht in der ganzen Menschheit vor, was seelisch-geistig heute sich schon ankündigt als ein Durchgehen durch die Pforte des Todes. Und mancherlei darf, wie ich noch einmal sagen will, nicht so betrachtet werden, daß man gleich die einzelne Erscheinung unmittelbar identifiziert mit den großen, umschlagenden revolutionierenden Impulsen der weltgeschichtlichen Entwickelung. Aber man muß das, was im einzelnen einen umgebend geschieht, in das Licht rücken können, was uns geisteswissenschaftlich als Beleuchtung werden kann für die großen umschlagenden Impulse.der Zeit. Es ist ja in der Tat gerade in Mitteleuropa Merkwürdiges vorgegangen. Charakteristische Erscheinungen! Was ich Ihnen jetzt öfters charakterisiert habe als ausdrückend die Realität des Seelenlebens durch die Sprache, das läßt sich auch verfolgen gerade um die Wende des 19. zum 20. Jahrhundert in diesem mitteleuropäischen Geistesleben. Die industriell-technisch-kapitalistische Färbung, die allmählich die tonangebende Kultur Mitteleuropas angenommen hatte, die überall eingriff, bewirkte, daß man eigentlich die Vorzeit bis ins 12. Jahrhundert vollständig vergaß. Eigentlich wußten die Deutschen des endenden 19., beginnenden 20. Jahrhunderts nicht in Wirklichkeit, wie und wodurch sie Deutsche sind. Das wußten sie nicht, hatten eigentlich im Grunde keine Ahnung davon. In wirklichem Seelenschlafe wurden die Ereignisse der Vorzeit aufgenommen. Denn es war nichts eingedrungen in das Bewußtsein der sogenannten gebildeten Klassen, die allmählich brachen mit dem, was im Goetheanismus seinen Abschluß gefunden hatte, von der wirklichen Geistessubstanz, die da heraufgezogen war. Und so konnte es geschehen — und solche Erscheinungen ließen sich verhundert-, vertausendfachen -, daß elementare Menschen zum Beispiel eine Neigung hatten, die Glorifizierung deutscher Heldenvorzeit durch einen Wortplärrer wie Ernst von Wildenbruch wie ernsthafte Dramatik oder ernsthafte Dichtung entgegenzunehmen. Man weiß gar nicht, was alles Ernst von Wildenbruch in Dramen gebracht hat von irgendwelchen Kaisern, Königen und so weiter, Fürsten der Vorzeit. Stets die allerunbedeutendsten Familienereignisse, niemals die weltgeschichtlichen Impulse! Dabei hat man bei seinen Dramen das Gefühl: Da tönen Worte wie Blech, lauter geschlagenes Blech. Aber wir sind schon so weit gekommen im Zeitalter des Industrialismus, der gerade auf ein so zur Geistigkeit ursprünglich veranlagtes Volk wie das deutsche verheerend wirken mußte, daß man den Schellenklang des Ernst von Wildenbruch wie wahrhafte Dichtung empfand. Ja mehr! Wir sind so weit gekommen, daß Menschen, die aus der klassischen Empfindung heraus, aus der Empfindung, die sie sich geholt haben in der klassischen Zeit, die durchgegangen sind durch eine wirklich feine geistige Erfassung der neueren Kunstempfindung, die es gebracht haben zu einem feinen geistigen Erfassen seiner Entwickelungsphase der Menschheitsentwickelung wie Herman Grimm - Sie wissen, eine Persönlichkeit, die ich von den neueren Persönlichkeiten am meisten verehre -, daß eine solche Persönlichkeit, wie Herman Grimm, bewundernd, tief bewundernd dasteht vor dem seelenlosen Wortgeplärr Ernst von Wildenbruchs, und es vergleicht mit den Leistungen der größten Dichter der Weltgeschichte. So weit hat sich die neuere Menschheit entfernt von dem, was innerliches Erfassen der wahren Wirklichkeit ist.

Das muß verzeichnet werden, wenn man charakterisieren soll, in welchem Zeitalter wir leben, das muß nicht ohne Betonung und ohne Charakteristik bleiben, wenn man verstehen will, was es heißen soll, daß unsere Zeit in gewisser Weise durch einen geistigen Tod durchgeht, um zu einer höheren Stufe der Menschheitsentwickelung zu kommen.

Tenth Lecture

Let us briefly recall what we tried to clarify yesterday. We said: Present-day humanity, insofar as it can be considered civilized, is going through something similar as a whole to what can be described in the individual development of each human being as crossing the threshold into the supersensible world. When one discusses the development of the individual human being, as I have done in the book How Does One Obtain Knowledge of the Higher Worlds? and in the treatise The Threshold of the Spiritual World, one usually means the conscious ascent into the supersensible life. Then one also means by crossing the threshold a completely conscious process, as we have often described it. Yesterday I said that one must not press concepts when one is compelled to transfer them from one realm to another. Therefore, I must say: What humanity as a whole is now going through is something similar to crossing the threshold. For I have already indicated that it could happen, that it is entirely possible, that humanity would reject spiritual science. Then it would have no means of knowing that the whole of humanity is going through a process such as crossing the threshold. In general, completely different processes take place in what is to be regarded as the crossing of the threshold for the whole of humanity than those that take place in the individual human being when he consciously enters the supersensible world. And I already indicated yesterday that the essential thing for the whole of humanity in crossing the threshold, as it must happen in the course of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, the epoch of consciousness development, consists in this division into the three soul faculties, which you know in essence, into a certain independence. Thinking, feeling, and willing remain for the whole of humanity—I am not speaking now for the individual human being, but for humanity insofar as this humanity interacts with one another—thinking, feeling, and willing remain for the whole of humanity not as chaotically fused as they are now. The soul life of the whole of humanity is structured in such a way that it feels its thinking, feeling, and willing more independently than before. And that is why humanity will need the division into the three areas of the social organism in the future, which it has not needed in this way until now. So when we speak today of this threefold social organism, we are speaking from the consciousness of something that is necessarily taking place with the whole of humanity according to the spiritual laws of the universe.

Now, we must not make the mistake of looking too much for the comprehensive, the great, in individual events that occur here and there. Since the middle of the 15th century, we have lived through only a small part of the age of the development of the consciousness soul. Such a period lasts over two thousand years. This age of consciousness soul development will therefore continue for a long time, and it will manifest itself in various stages and through various events, but we must already understand this as the crossing of the threshold into the supersensible. So please do not make the mistake in your thinking of identifying the present world catastrophe solely with the comprehensive whole of which I spoke yesterday. That would be a mistake if you did so. But it is not a mistake to try to understand the events in which one lives, what is happening around one, out of the great processes that span long ages. For only then can one find one's bearings in relation to individual events if one understands them in this way. Therefore, let us discuss today something that belongs, so to speak, to the symptomatology, to the characterization of the symptoms of this development of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch after crossing the threshold.

The emergence of the era of consciousness soul development is particularly evident in Central European culture. This emergence of Central European culture has been clearly preparing itself since the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, leading to certain events that we will discuss in a moment, and taking shape in Central Europe in such a way that it has led to the Central European catastrophe, especially now, at this moment in human development, and must simply continue.

It is true that Central Europe is actually doomed to experience certain things first, and secondly, more energetically and more characteristically than the rest of Europe. One can say that it is clear to see how, towards the 15th century, what ushered in the age of consciousness soul development emerged in Central Europe. And now, in the catastrophic events of Central Europe in particular, we can see what a difficult path humanity has to traverse in this age of consciousness soul development, what difficult struggles and terrible upheavals must be endured before the age of consciousness soul development can bring the impulses inherent in it to the surface of historical development.

It may be of particular significance to consider the period around the year 1200 for Central Europe. It is generally assumed, approximately of course, that this was when the Nibelungenlied was completed, a work of poetry that is very often compared to what Homer was for the Greeks in relation to the people of Central Europe. The Nibelungen saga expresses in pictorial and imaginative form the apparently significant fate of a people from a time long before the era in which the Nibelungen saga was completed. And anyone who approaches the Nibelungen legend today with an honest, inner attitude, including what various later authors, such as Wilhelm Jordan, Richard Wagner, and others, have made of it, must admit that the humanity, the human nature that shines through the Nibelungen legend is, in essence, only little comprehensible to people today. The Nibelungen saga points back to a time when things in Central Europe were obviously very, very different from what they were after the beginning of the 12th century. The Nibelungen saga points back to a time when the landscape of Central Europe must have been very different and when the landscape gave rise to human characters that were very different from those that developed later. If you have a vivid imagination, you cannot help but “smell” from the Nibelungen saga how the people it describes lived across desolate stretches of land that were far, far away from dense forests. The character of the forest and everything that impresses itself on people who live in forest-covered lands is expressed in the Nibelungen poems. We cannot imagine that the Nibelung people looked like the figures in the Nibelungenlied, where the people are very humanized, like the people of later Germany after 1200, for example. We must imagine that these people were endowed with a different inner soul life than those later people. We must imagine that they had a much more instinctive, more elemental feeling than the people of later times. After all, the light of Christianity had not yet fallen on these Nibelung people. However, we want to look less at the content of this soul life and much more at what is formal in the soul life of these people, what the nature of this soul life is. It is more instinctive, if you do not misunderstand the word: it is wilder, more elemental, springing from the human soul with a more primitive force than later on.

From around the end of the period to which the Nibelungen legend still refers, there arose what might be called the Central European bourgeois era, Central European bourgeois life. How did this come about? It came about in such a way that, little by little, the forests were cleared in a wide circle, and meadows and cornfields sprang up across vast stretches of Central Europe, in areas that had previously been covered with almost impenetrable forests. This brought forth a different kind of humanity than the last forest humanity. This basically gave rise to the Central European bourgeoisie of the early period of consciousness soul development. And probably nowhere else can the characteristic features of this European bourgeoisie be studied as intensively as in Central Europe, for the reason that because in this Central Europe, up to the present time—I would say in a tragic way—the destinies of this bourgeoisie have already been shaped, because they are coming to a certain conclusion in our days, because in Central Europe this bourgeoisie is basically at the end of its development today, because this bourgeoisie, precisely in Central Europe, has gone through something in accordance with its own characteristic dispositions, because of its nature. Through the world catastrophe and through what now follows, it will continue to go through something completely different from the rest of the European bourgeoisie. The latter will first go through certain phases of development which, in the Central European bourgeoisie, already clearly point to the final catastrophe. Thus, in this Central European bourgeoisie, we already have a kind of rounded destiny: its emergence in the age when vast stretches of forest, especially in what later became Germany, were transformed from woodlands into meadows and fields, followed by its development from the 13th to the 20th century and its terrible tragic collapse in the 20th century.

This phenomenon, which has a certain unity in Central Europe, cannot be studied anywhere else in terms of its symptomatology. And anyone who seriously wants to grasp the great impulses of human development must not be too timid to focus their attention on the characteristic, significant symptoms that express themselves in such things. For everything else in Europe can only be understood if one takes an unbiased look at this well-rounded series of events from the higher perspective of spiritual science.

However, it is actually one-sided to speak of a cultural trend when one says: With the 13th century, the later Central European bourgeoisie emerged from the Nibelungen people and became the bearer of this Central European culture. This is a one-sided view. It is true, however, and within these limits it is correct, but only because within these limits it is one-sided, that the mood of the soul that can be associated with this Central European bourgeoisie spread, particularly over the Central European cities, and that Central European culture developed out of this bourgeoisie. From one point of view, this is completely true. But it is not the whole truth; it is only a part, a link in the chain of phenomena that have developed in this Central Europe, which today is decaying in many ways that have developed with it. The other part is that something of the old forest and Nibelung people has remained, of characters who have lived on in their souls the old age of which the Nibelungs tell. The people who, if I may say so, developed into the Central European bourgeoisie under the sunshine of the cornfields and meadows were not the only people who developed from the year 1200 onwards into the 20th century. There were other people who had retained something of the old inner wildness and primitiveness of the Nibelungen people.

But when one considers such a phenomenon, one must not forget that the passage of time means something for the development of humanity, that it is a reality within the development of humanity, and that someone if he retains what actually belongs to an earlier age of soul culture, does not remain in the same soul mood that this old soul culture had, but enters into decadence, he comes down, he enters into a direction of decline, he becomes alien to what corresponds to the time. In a later time, they develop what should have been developed in an earlier time, and therefore they do not develop what they develop in a later time as they would have developed it in an earlier time, but they develop it in a later time in a sickly way. They develop it with the characteristic signs of decay and decadence. Therefore, we see the modern Central European bourgeoisie developing on one line, I would say the highest product of the cornfields and meadows that emerged from the forests, and on the other side, in the midst of these bourgeoisie in Central Europe, we see the people who have preserved the old soul life of the Nibelung era, who have only outwardly accepted the new era, even Christianity, and who therefore lived out this old inner Nibelung soul character in a state of decay. The people who lived out this old Nibelung character in its decaying form are the medieval territorial princes and their entourage, dozens of whom have now been overthrown from their thrones. This medieval offspring includes, first and foremost, everything that was the substance, the human substance, of the House of Habsburg, but also the other territorial princes of Central Europe. No one understands what is actually happening now who does not also understand the background to these events, namely that for centuries the more advanced part of the Central European population was ruled and administered by the part that had retained the soul character of the old, wild Nibelungen people in its decay.

There was indeed an enormous contrast between the innermost soul structure of the people who could be called the stragglers of the Central European bourgeoisie and those who sat on the royal or princely thrones, and all those who, devoted to these thrones, surrounded the people on these thrones. The soul of any king of Bavaria or duke of Brunswick and that of an average German who has received an average German education are two completely different spiritual potentials. In centuries past, they lived side by side like two foreign races, perhaps with even greater differences than two foreign races.

One must have the courage to face such a historical underlying fact. For it is not the external events recorded by conventional history that most affect human destiny and human development. Consider now that this fate of being among a number of people who have retained an earlier age in their spiritual life did not affect the rest of the European bourgeoisie, but precisely the Central European bourgeoisie. To understand better what is actually meant, take, for example, those people who came from this Central European bourgeoisie but emigrated earlier and later became the English-speaking population. They did not, if I may say so, engage in the development that took place in Central Europe; they took with them what existed in the old days within the European, Central European bourgeoisie and did not have to wear themselves out in a struggle with the backward Nibelung people.

This is the reason for what I have already said in another context, namely that certain instincts for the development of the consciousness soul exist in the English-speaking population that are completely absent in Central Europe, certain instincts above all for political life, while the people of Central Europe had to remain apolitical, unpolitical, had no inclination whatsoever to participate in political life in any way, because they were dominated by people who had retained an earlier age in their soul life.

How magnificently vivid is what I have just characterized when we turn our gaze to the end of the 18th century, to the second half of the 18th century, and look at the flowering of the Central European bourgeoisie, at its spiritual flowering. Klopstock, Lessing, Herder, Schiller, Goethe, and many others need only be mentioned, and we would have this flowering of what had developed in embryonic form from the old Nibelungen era around the year 1200. And in the same age, in contrast to these people who represent this flowering, whose highest culmination lies in Goethe and Goetheanism, there stands the worst preservation of Nibelung savagery in its fullest decay under Frederick the Great. Look for contrasts in humanity wherever you want: in perspective, there is no other example as tragic as Goethe alongside Frederick the Great! For history, all that can be said is that the utmost thoughtlessness, the most terrible indifference to spiritual interests, arose in the 19th century and had to continue into the 20th century, so that virtually nothing was noticed of Goetheanism, of this spiritual pulsation that was the greatest impact on humanity in its century. For Goetheanism has hardly been taken into account at all in general culture. This includes the entire thoughtlessness, the entire inner untruthfulness of this culture of the 19th and early 20th centuries, in order to find the impulses of Frederick the Great characteristic of the more recent period, the age of Frederick the Great. Nothing could be more inaccurate than what has been said about Frederick the Great in the accepted historical accounts. It is against this background that we must view recent events, but not merely events of a local nature, rather events that have a profound impact on international life, events that, however, have been completely overlooked by humanity to this day. Is there anything more tragicomic than people who are far removed from everything that developed in Weimar now uniting in Weimar for the farce of the current National Assembly? It is impossible to imagine anything more nonsensical than the composition of this current assembly in Weimar!

That is what I meant earlier when I spoke of a faster and more energetic development. Today, I often think of various conversations I had with all kinds of people enthusiastic about Germanism in the 1880s, for example with the man who later wrote the history of modern Austria, Heinrich Friedjung, whom I mentioned recently in another context in my lecture at the Bernoullianum, and whose remarkable deed you will find mentioned in one of my lectures, which are also printed in the cycles. At that time, it was said that Central Europe had reached a peak in the intellectual development of humanity in the age of Lessing, Herder, Goethe, Schiller, and those who belonged to them. Friedjung and others who were in society at the time said something like: Now it must go on, it must go further up. — I remember very well today how I said: No, this is the peak; from now on it will go downhill; with this age, the Central European essence has brought to the surface of human development whatever subjectivity it had within itself. That is the characteristic phenomenon of Central Europe. Of course, at that time this was taken very, very badly, perhaps even considered nonsense. I can understand that much of what I have to say and have had to say throughout my life is regarded as nonsense by my contemporaries. But it is a characteristic phenomenon that what began around the year 1200 came to an end in the powerful culmination culture of Herder, Lessing, Goethe, and Schiller, that this culmination culture exists, but cannot be understood within the national life of Central Europe, but will probably only be understood by a spiritual-scientific life that no longer wants to be national—as I have always emphasized—but hypernational, international, as it should be honestly cultivated in our spiritual science in opposition to all the national chauvinism of the present time. This will be the characteristic phenomenon that only from this spiritual-scientific cultural life can the true substance of what emerged at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century be perceived and lived.

We can look back a little if we want to grasp a certain nuance of this Central European cultural life. For those who know how to take history symptomatically, symptomatologically, it remains a very strange fact, pointing deeply into historical mysteries, that in 1077, relatively long before the beginning of the modern age of consciousness, a representative of the old Nibelung spirit, as were all the Salian emperors and the Saxon emperors, Henry IV had to do his terrible penance in Canossa in 1077 before the monk of Cluny, who had become the great pope, or at least a follower of the monasticism of Cluny. For the great Pope Gregory, who excommunicated Henry IV and forced him to go to Canossa, was completely under the influence of the Cluniacs, that ecclesiastical movement of the time, which sought to elevate the Church to an overpowering force, to an overpowering empire in Europe. And all the ferocity of the old Nibelung character was reflected in Henry IV, the Salian, in his entire relationship with Pope Gregory.

And yet something else emerged, something that was to have a certain continuation. It became apparent that Central Europe simply could not help but come into conflict with what had become pseudo-Christianity through the detour of Romanesque literature, what had become the Christian empire out of the original Christian impulse. The old Nibelung savagery had not yet settled its score with the Roman Empire, but had been defeated in a certain sense. It was then replaced by the movement I have already described to you, which rose above the forests of Central Europe that had been transformed into cornfields and meadows. Basically, this continuation, but transformed continuation, of the old Nibelung spirit was in no way predisposed to immediately take up the impulses of the Roman Empire. It was actually in a state of constant resistance against politicized Christianity, against the Christianity politicized by Rome. And while on the one hand it spread its own nature, bringing to fruition what was in its own essence, on the other hand it found itself cowed, dominated, and administered by those who, in the manner characterized earlier, had held back and brought to ruin the old Nibelung wildness of spirit.

To understand such things, I repeat, one must be clear in the humanities that when something that was great in an earlier time is preserved, it is then sick in a later time and falls into decay. This is what characterizes the contrast between everything that arose at the beginning of the 13th century after the clearing of the ancient forests, which began to resound from the earth to the heavens with the songs of Walther von der Vogelweide and which found its way into Goetheanism. That is one side, which is apolitical, which undergoes a cycle of development within itself and which, through its own structure, without recognizing the full significance of this fact, has beside it the decaying Nibelung characters on the throne and with princely crowns.

Under such circumstances and conditions, the 19th century came to Central Europe, especially in its second half, and the 20th century came. And with this 19th and 20th centuries, Central Europe encountered in a different way what now so often has to be described as the present state of Europe, apart from Russia in this view. It is precisely in the things that now have to be discussed so often that we must talk about modern industrial development, the machine age, and the rise of capitalism. These are international phenomena. When we speak of the emerging technical age, the machine age, the industrial age, the capitalist age, we are speaking of international impulses. But these international impulses had a different impact everywhere.

One would so much like to see an unbiased description, free from the hideous school prejudices that have crept into conventional history in all fields, of what developed in Central Europe from the day Walther von der Vogelweide sang to the days when Goethe spoke of the highest things of humanity, who understood nothing more of Goethe's words. One would like to see an unbiased description of what lies behind these years of development. One would like to see this described completely in accordance with the truth. For then the untruth will also have to be eradicated where it has penetrated so deeply into the hearts and souls of people that even the truest has had to become untrue. “The untruth that even Goethe was compelled to utter when he spoke of Frederick the Great must be eradicated from true history, because the power of what prevailed as a general prejudice was so strong that even the truest could not help but join in with the others.”

The truth demands something quite different from blind faith in authority or the like. That is why truth is such a shunned individuality in the development of humanity, such a shunned entity. That is why untruth is what causes so much tragedy in human development. If one were to describe truthfully and impartially what lies in the development from the age when Walther von der Vogelweide sang his songs to the still unexploited treasure of spiritual life of which Goethe spoke to his contemporaries and posterity who did not understand him, one would have to and could speak of a very special revelation of modern times. But one would be compelled to point out that, in a sense, something developed anonymously for the general humanity of the earth, that something happened. And what was not anonymous, what was regarded as world history, was the Luciferic manifestation of the ancient Nibelungen savagery.

Thus, from the year 1200 until well into the 20th century, what emerged as the natural development of Central Europe was opposed by a Luciferic element, which was the backward Nibelung savagery unfolding as soul life in modern times. If we consider this, whose starting point we may seek around the year 1200, and contrast it with the Luciferic element of the principalities, the territorial princes, then we will understand what a special interaction resulted when the Ahrimanic element of modern industrialism arose with technology and capitalism and, in the final phase of Central Europe now approaching its demise, the terrible Ahrimanic-Luciferic connection came into being; namely in the last decade of the 19th century and in the first decades of the 20th century, that interaction came about between industrialism and the old territorial principalities, the old Junkertum, and the old followers of the decaying Nibelungen savagery. This is what brought about the downfall of Central Europe: the marriage between industrialism and the territorial principalities, the political administrators of Central Europe. This is what prevented the development of a true Central European and German mission, as called for in my “Appeal”: the Ahrimanic-Luciferic marriage between emerging industrialism, which affected other parts of the world differently than the region where the old Nibelung savagery prevailed in the territorial principalities of Central Europe. And when the terrible symptoms of a world-historical tragic decline that existed from 1914 to 1919, and will continue to exist in Central Europe, then one will have to describe the cruel and terrible interaction between the old, degenerate Nibelung nobility and the emerging industrial humanity of Central Europe, which could not justify its world-historical position by any inner spiritual claims. The types that emerged in Central Europe during those years from these two circles were people who, in their boundless arrogance and based on a conceited practice, trampled down everything that in any way sought to bring about a renewed awareness of what Walther von der Vogelweide began to sing about and what found its conclusion in Goetheanism. It is hardly surprising that the outer world invented the slogan “militarism” to describe this much deeper phenomenon in an inaccurate-accurate, accurate-inaccurate way, for the world outside Central Europe is not really any more profound than the Central European world, truly not. Nowhere else has an understanding of the Central European nature been found, although it must be said that what developed in Central Europe up to Goetheanism, after the age of Goethe, has receded with giant steps.

When one speaks of crossing the threshold into the supersensible, one must always remember what was known in ancient times, when atavistic clairvoyance revealed much about what happens to the human soul when it crosses the threshold into the supersensible, namely: passage through the gate of death. Many things are happening throughout humanity that are already announcing themselves spiritually as a passage through the gate of death. And many things, I would like to say once again, should not be viewed in such a way that one immediately identifies individual phenomena with the great, revolutionary impulses of world historical development. But we must be able to bring into the light what is happening around us in detail, so that it can become an illumination for us in spiritual science of the great, transformative impulses of the time. Strange things have indeed been happening, especially in Central Europe. Characteristic phenomena! What I have often characterized as expressing the reality of the soul life through language can also be traced precisely at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century in this Central European spiritual life. The industrial-technical-capitalist coloring that had gradually taken over the dominant culture of Central Europe, that intervened everywhere, caused people to completely forget the past up to the 12th century. In reality, the Germans of the late 19th and early 20th centuries did not really know how and why they were Germans. They did not know this; they had basically no idea about it. The events of the past were received in a state of spiritual slumber. For nothing had penetrated the consciousness of the so-called educated classes, who gradually broke with what had found its conclusion in Goetheanism, with the real spiritual substance that had arisen there. And so it could happen—and such phenomena could be multiplied a hundredfold, a thousandfold—that elementary people, for example, had a tendency to accept the glorification of Germany's heroic past by a verbal brawler like Ernst von Wildenbruch as serious drama or serious poetry. One has no idea what Ernst von Wildenbruch brought into his dramas about various emperors, kings, and so on, princes of ancient times. Always the most insignificant family events, never the impulses of world history! When you listen to his dramas, you get the feeling that the words sound like tin, like loud beaten tin. But we have come so far in the age of industrialism, which was bound to have a devastating effect on a people as naturally inclined to spirituality as the Germans, that the clanging sound of Ernst von Wildenbruch was perceived as true poetry. Even more than that! We have come so far that people who, out of a classical sensibility, out of the sensibility they acquired in the classical period, who have gone through a truly refined intellectual grasp of the newer artistic sensibility, who have achieved a refined intellectual understanding of the phase of development of human evolution, such as Herman Grimm—you know, a personality whom I most admire among the more recent personalities — that such a personality as Herman Grimm stands admiringly, deeply admiringly, before the soulless verbiage of Ernst von Wildenbruch and compares it with the achievements of the greatest poets in world history. That is how far modern humanity has strayed from what is the inner grasp of true reality.

This must be noted if one is to characterize the age in which we live; it must not remain unemphasized and uncharacterized if one wants to understand what it means that our time is, in a sense, going through a spiritual death in order to reach a higher stage of human development.

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Spiritual Background of the Social QuestionGA 190

Lecture IV

Zehnter Vortrag

Tenth Lecture

The Spiritual Background of the Social Question
GA 190