The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Eleventh Lecture

[ 1 ] If social issues are now being discussed, particularly from the perspective of the humanities, this is because, as I have already explained to you from a wide variety of perspectives, is certainly not based on any subjective maxim or any subjective impulse, but rather on the observation of humanity’s development—on the observation of what the forces of human development hold in store specifically for our time, and what they particularly call upon us to do in the present and for the near future.

[ 2 ] It must be said that uncovering the deeper impulses of what is actually relevant to the present development of humanity is a somewhat uncomfortable task; for people today are not all too inclined to address the matters that really matter, to consider them with the truest, deepest seriousness. But our time demands a genuine, profound seriousness when it comes to the affairs of humanity. It requires, in particular, freeing oneself from very specific prejudices and, above all, from preconceived notions. Today I would like to present to you a few perspectives that will enable you to view the matters we have often discussed from a deeper vantage point. In doing so, we will once again have to cast our gaze over a somewhat broader human context.

[ 3 ] We distinguish the period in which we live—our cosmic present—from other periods by having it begin in the middle of the 15th century, and, as you know, we call this period the fifth post-Atlantean period. We distinguish it from the period that came to an end at that time and began in the 8th century B.C., which we call the Greco-Latin period, after the peoples who sustained its culture. And then, what preceded that, we refer to as the Egyptian-Chaldean period.

[ 4 ] If one now considers the Egyptian-Chaldean period—in the eye of the soul, of course—one soon finds that the conventional view of history falls far short. Even when one considers the documented Chaldean and Egyptian traditions, external history does not take one very far back in the developmental history of humanity. But one can understand what is significant for the present only if one correctly understands this third post-Atlantean period in terms of its specific characteristics.

[ 5 ] Now, there is one thing above all else that you know. In conventional history, what existed among people as culture and civilization throughout the then-known world is referred to as “pagan.” Like an oasis, the Jewish-Hebrew tradition—which must be understood as a preparation for Christianity—is embedded within this pagan culture. But if we set aside Judaism—which is of an entirely different nature than the rest of the culture of that time—as it is embedded in the pre-Christian era, we can turn our attention to paganism as it extends beyond civilization. What is distinctive about this ancient pagan culture? What is distinctive about this ancient pagan culture is that it is primarily a culture of wisdom, a culture of looking deeply into the things and processes of the world. Even if what the ancient pagan conveyed of his knowledge of the world—which had flowed forth from the ancient mysteries—takes on a mythical character, an imagery-based character, for today’s “enlightened” world, it must nevertheless be said that everything of these images that has come down to posterity stems from deep insights into the essence of things and processes.

[ 6 ] One need only recall the supernatural wisdom that we have sought to uncover from the various regions of that ancient era for the present day, and one will see that we are dealing with a primordial wisdom that forms the foundation of all thought, all perception, and all feeling among the ancient peoples. A certain echo of this primordial wisdom—a tradition that embodied it—did indeed exist in a thriving form within certain secret societies until the end of the 18th century, and even into the early 19th century. In the 19th century, this more or less dried up, and what remained was placed at the service of individual groups, namely individual nationalities. And today, what exists in ordinary secret societies can no longer be called a fruitful, authentically handed-down body of ancient pagan wisdom.

[ 7 ] This body of pagan wisdom has a certain characteristic that one must never lose sight of if one wishes to understand what it is really about. It has a characteristic that necessitated the emergence—like an oasis—of the smaller current, Judaism, within this stream of ancient pagan wisdom, a current that subsequently paved the way for Christianity.

[ 8 ] If one truly understands ancient pagan culture, one finds everywhere that it contains noble, profound wisdom that delves immensely deeply into the essence of things; but this pagan wisdom does not contain any actual moral impetus for human action. In a sense, these moral impulses for human action were not needed; for unlike what is regarded today as knowledge or insight among human beings, this ancient pagan wisdom was something that truly gave people the feeling and sense that they were at the very heart of the entire cosmos. The human being who stood here on Earth and walked about did not merely feel composed of the substances and forces existing outside of him in earthly life—those found in the mineral, animal, and plant kingdoms. The human being felt how the forces circulating in the stars and suns, and so on, played into him. Human beings felt themselves to be a part of the entire cosmos, and they did not merely feel in an abstract sense that they were a part of the entire cosmos; rather, they derived guidance from its mysteries as to how they should proceed in their actions and in their entire conduct in accordance with the course of the stars. What ancient stellar wisdom was, was by no means that mathematical astrology which people today consider significant; rather, this ancient stellar wisdom was something that the leaders of the ancient pagan mysteries understood in such a way that real impulses for action and for the conduct of the individual human being could emerge from these mysteries. People felt, as it were, secure within the cosmos—not merely through a general wisdom, but because what they were to do from morning to evening on any given day of the year was interpreted for them and given as directives by those whom they recognized as the initiates of the mysteries. But from all that the Initiates gleaned from the Mysteries, neither Chaldean nor Egyptian wisdom was able to derive any moral impetus for humanity. The true moral impetus for humanity was first prepared by Judaism and then further developed by Christianity.

[ 9 ] And the question must arise: How is it that the glorious ancient pagan wisdom—which, for example, still flourished in Greek culture in the most beautiful artistic and philosophical forms—lacked any moral impetus?

[ 10 ] If, however, we were to go further back, beyond the third millennium B.C., we would find that the impulse of wisdom was accompanied by a moral impulse, and that this is precisely as I have already explained here: that the impulse of wisdom simultaneously contained what the ancient people needed as their morality, as their ethos. But a specific ethos, a specific moral impulse, such as that which came with Christianity, was not inherent in pagan wisdom as such. Why? For the reason that, during the millennia immediately preceding Christianity, this pagan wisdom was inspired by a source far away in Asia, but inspired by a very peculiar being—the being of Lucifer, who was actually incarnated in the 3rd millennium B.C.E. in Asia, far to the east.

[ 11 ] And to the various things we have learned about human evolution, we must also add the realization that just as there was the incarnation at Golgotha—the incarnation of Christ in the man Jesus of Nazareth—there was also a real incarnation of Lucifer in Asia during the third millennium B.C. And a large part of ancient culture was inspired precisely by that force which can only be described as an earthly incarnation of Lucifer in a human being who lived in flesh and blood. Indeed, even Christianity—the Mystery of Golgotha—when it unfolded among human beings, was initially understood in the way people were able to understand it, based on what they “could” receive from the ancient Luciferic wisdom. The one-sidedness of Gnosticism—which is otherwise extraordinarily profound—also stems from the fact that this incarnation of Lucifer passed over the ancient world. One cannot properly understand the full significance of the Mystery of Golgotha unless one knows that it was preceded—by not quite three thousand years—by an incarnation of Lucifer.

[ 12 ] The Incarnation of Christ came to add to this Luciferic inspiration that which rescues it from its one-sidedness. And with it came what now constitutes the educational impulse for humanity in the development of European civilization and its American offshoot. But since the middle of the 15th century—since the impulse toward the development of individuality and personality emerged in human evolution—this development has also contained the forces that are once again preparing the way for a new incarnation of a supersensible being. And just as there was a physical incarnation of Lucifer, just as there was a physical incarnation of Christ, so too, before even a part of the third millennium of the post-Christian era has elapsed, there will be in the West a real incarnation of Ahriman: Ahriman in the flesh. Humanity on Earth cannot escape this incarnation of Ahriman in the flesh. It will come. The only question is that humanity must find its proper stance toward this Ahrimanic incarnation on Earth.

[ 13 ] In all that takes place in this way as such incarnations are being prepared, we must look at what, in the course of human evolution, gradually leads to such incarnations. A being such as Ahriman, who intends to incarnate here on Earth in the Western world some time after our own era, prepares for his incarnation. A being such as Ahriman, who intends to incarnate on Earth, directs certain forces in human evolution in such a way that they serve this being to his very particular advantage. And it would be a tragedy if people were to go through life in a state of slumber and fail to perceive certain phenomena occurring in human life as a preparation for the physical incarnation of Ahriman. Only by recognizing this will people find their proper place: In this or that series of events pertaining to human development, one must recognize how Ahriman is preparing for his earthly existence. And today it is time for individual people to know which of the events unfolding around them are machinations of Ahriman that—to his advantage—may be preparing the way for his imminent earthly incarnation.

[ 14 ] It would undoubtedly be most advantageous for Ahriman if he could bring about a situation in which the vast majority of people had no idea of what might actually lead to the promotion of his existence; if the vast majority of people were to live their lives in such a way that these preparations for Ahriman’s incarnation were taking place, yet people regarded them as something progressive, good, and appropriate for human development. If, so to speak, Ahriman could sneak his way into a sleeping humanity, that would be most agreeable to him. That is why we must point out those events in which Ahriman is at work toward his future incarnation.

[ 15 ] You see, one of the facts of development in which, I would say, the impulse of Ahriman can be clearly heard is the spread among humanity of the belief that through that mechanical-mathematical understanding of the universe—which has come about through Galileanism, Copernicanism, and so on—one can truly understand what is taking place out there in the cosmos. That is why anthroposophically oriented spiritual science must so strongly emphasize that one must seek spirit and soul in the cosmos, not merely what Galileanism and Copernicanism seek—namely, mathematics and mechanics—as if the world were a great machine. It would be a seduction by Ahriman if people were to stop at merely calculating the orbital periods of the celestial bodies, at merely studying astrophysics to uncover the material compositions of the celestial bodies—something of which people are so proud today. But it would be disastrous if this Galileanism and this Copernicanism were not countered by what can be known about the soul-permeation of the cosmos, about the spiritualization of the cosmos. This is precisely what Ahriman wishes to avoid in order to further his earthly incarnation. He wants, so to speak, to keep people in such a state of dullness that they comprehend only the mathematical aspects of astronomy. That is why he tempts many people to assert their well-known aversion to knowledge of the spirit and soul of the universe. But this is only one of the seductive forces that Ahriman, so to speak, pours into the souls of human beings.

[ 16 ] Another of these seductive forces of Ahriman—who, I might say, works in a corresponding way with the forces of Lucifer—is, of course, connected in his incarnation with the endeavor to maintain, as far as possible, the already very widespread sentiment among people that it is sufficient for public life to ensure that people are economically satisfied. This touches on a point that modern people are often reluctant to admit. You see, today’s official science actually offers nothing at all for a true understanding of the spirit and the soul; for the methods used in today’s public sciences are only suitable for grasping external nature—and, even in the case of human beings, only their external nature. But just imagine how contemptuously the average person of today actually regards everything that strikes them as idealistic—everything that seems to them, in some way, like a path into the spiritual realm! Deep down, they always ask again and again: “Well, what’s the point of that? What earthly benefits does it bring?” — He sends his sons to high school; he himself may have attended high school or another institution; he sends them to a university or another institution of higher education. Yet all of this really serves only to lay the foundation for a career—that is, to create the material goods in life that will sustain them.

[ 17 ] Consider for a moment what is at stake when we focus on this very question. How many people today no longer value the spirit for the spirit’s sake, or the soul for the soul’s sake! Such people absorb only what is touted as useful to them by the public intellectual life. Here, one must really bring to consciousness a very important, mysterious fact about humanity today. Take the typical average person of today, who perhaps works diligently in his office from morning to night, then goes through the usual “evening rituals”—he has absolutely no desire to get involved in such “nonsense” as is presented, for example, in anthroposophically oriented spiritual science. It seems unnecessary to him; for he thinks: You can’t eat that, after all. — And finally: everything that is truly useful in terms of knowledge is supposed to be—even if people do not always admit it to themselves, though this is the case in public life—a preparation for bringing about the possibilities of sustenance.

[ 18 ] Yes, it is a strange misconception that people today indulge in, particularly in this very area. They believe that one cannot, after all, eat the spirit. But you see, the people who say this are precisely those who are eating the spirit! For to the very extent that one refuses to take in anything spiritual that would be received as spiritual, to that very extent one consumes, with every bite one physically takes from the mouth into the stomach, the spiritual, and diverts it from the path it should take for the salvation of humanity.

[ 19 ] I believe that many Europeans will take pride in their civilization when they can say: “We’re not cannibals, after all!” — But devourers of souls and devourers of the spirit—that’s what the Europeans and their American followers are! The material world, consumed without spirit, leads the spirit astray. It is difficult to tell humanity these things today. For just try to grasp correctly how much of today’s culture must actually be characterized once one knows this fact. And keeping people in such a soul- and spirit-devouring state—that is one of Ahriman’s impulses to promote his incarnation. The more we succeed in rousing people—so that they do not merely engage in economic activity in the material sense, but regard not only economic life but also the independent, free spiritual life, which possesses the true spirit, as a limb of the social organism—to that same extent would people anticipate Ahriman’s incarnation in such a way that they could adopt a human-centered stance toward it.

[ 20 ] Another current in our present life that Ahriman needs to promote his own incarnation is the one that stands out so clearly today in the so-called national principle. Everything that can divide people into groups, that distances them from mutual understanding across the earth, that drives them apart—all of this simultaneously promotes Ahriman’s impulses. And one should actually discern Ahriman’s voice in what is so often spoken of today as a new ideal across the earth: the liberation of peoples, even the smallest ones, and so on. The times when bloodline determined everything are over. And if one clings to such outdated notions, one is promoting precisely what Ahriman seeks to promote.

[ 21 ] Likewise, one promotes what Ahriman is said to have promoted if one does not vigorously reject what I have already described here on several occasions, by showing you: Today there are people with the most diverse party views and conceptions of party life. One can prove one view just as well as the other. They can prove just as well what any socialist party advocates as what an anti-socialist party advocates, with equally good reasons that people then invoke. If people do not realize that this kind of proof lies so far on the surface of existence that one can prove both “no” and “yes” at the same time with our present intelligence—which is very useful for the natural sciences but useless for other forms of knowledge—if people do not realize that this intelligence, which serves our science so well, lies on the surface, then they will apply this intelligence to what constitutes social life, to what constitutes spiritual life. Then they will prove the opposite—one person this, another that; one group this, another group that; and since both can be proven, people will descend into hatred and bitterness, which we indeed find in abundance in our time. All of these, in turn, are things that Ahriman seeks to promote in order to further his own incarnation on Earth.

[ 22 ] And what will serve Ahriman most of all in furthering his incarnation on Earth is the one-sided interpretation of the Gospel itself. You know, after all, how necessary it has become in our time to delve more deeply into the Gospels from the perspective of spiritual science. But you also know how widespread the attitude still is today across the earth that one should not delve into the Gospels spiritually, that one should not venture to say this or that about the Gospels based on a true understanding of the spirit and the cosmos. One should “simply accept” the Gospels as they present themselves to people today. I do not even wish to speak of the fact that the true Gospels do not present themselves at all; for what people today have from the original languages as translations of the Gospels are not the Gospels. But I do not wish to go into that at all; rather, I simply want to present to you the deeper fact, which is that one cannot arrive at a true understanding of Christ if one merely seeks, as most denominations and sects today desire, to find one’s way into the Gospels in a simple—that is, convenient—manner. At the time when the Mystery of Golgotha took place, and for several centuries afterward, people arrived at an understanding of the real Christ because they were able to grasp what had been handed down with the help of pagan-Luciferic wisdom. This pagan-Luciferic wisdom has declined, and what people today find in the Gospels through denominations and sects does not lead them to the real Christ whom we seek through our spiritual science, but leads them only to an illusion or, at most, to a hallucination—a psychological or spiritualized hallucination of the Christ.

[ 23 ] One cannot come to the true Christ through the Gospels unless one penetrates these Gospels from a spiritual-scientific perspective. Through the Gospels, one can only arrive at a hallucination of Christ’s appearance in world history. This, incidentally, has also been thoroughly demonstrated in recent theological thought. Why, then, does this recent theological thought so love to speak of the “simple man from Nazareth” and to conceive of Christ essentially only as Jesus of Nazareth, who stands out somewhat above other historical figures? Because they have lost the ability to reach the real Christ, and because what people have gleaned from the Gospels amounts to nothing more than a hallucination, something illusory; they cannot truly grasp the reality of Christ through the Gospels, but only a hallucinatory or illusory conception. People have realized this as well. Consider how many theologians speak of Paul having had “only a vision” on the road to Damascus. They conclude that, in fact, their contemplation of the Gospels yields only a hallucination, a vision. This is not something false, but it is, in fact, merely an inner experience that has no connection to the reality of the Christ-being. I do not call this “hallucinatory” with the implication that it is untrue; rather, I merely wish to characterize that the Christ-being is perceived in the same way that a hallucination is perceived inwardly. If people were to stop there—failing to penetrate to the real Christ, but only penetrating to the hallucination of the Christ—then Ahriman would find his purposes most effectively served.

[ 24 ] (The effect of the Gospels also extends to hallucinations, even when only one Gospel influences people.) Efforts have been made to counter this principle of taking the Gospels individually by presenting the four Gospels from four different perspectives; yet it is not acceptable to take these four Gospels—which, as we have often seen, outwardly contradict one another—literally, word for word, on their own. But there is a great danger in taking a single Gospel literally. What you see in the sects that swear by the Gospel of John or the Gospel of Luke as to its literal content is a kind of delusional thinking, a kind of twilight, a dimming of consciousness. A consciousness clouded in this way—which would develop precisely through the Gospels that are not spiritually deepened—would produce people who would best serve to enable Ahriman to prepare his incarnation, so that people would one day stand with him entirely in accordance with his will.

[ 25 ] You see, yet another uncomfortable truth for people today! People live within their denominations and say: “We don’t need anything like anthroposophy, because we stick to the simple Gospel.” — Out of modesty — people say — they stick to the simple Gospel. In truth, it is the most appalling presumption imaginable. And this presumption consists in ostensibly taking the Gospel literally, yet setting out to judge what has been developed as a treasure of wisdom using what one has inherited at birth and the ideas that well up from one’s blood. The “simplest” people are usually the most arrogant, especially in religious matters and matters of faith. But what is important to consider here is that those who most actively prepare the way for the incarnation of Ahriman are the ones who constantly preach to people: “You need nothing more than to read the Gospel!”

[ 26 ] And strangely enough, the two parties, even though they are very, very different from one another, are working hand in hand: those whom I have previously described as soul-devourers and spirit-devourers, and those who, in the manner just described, promote the incarnation of Ahriman simply by becoming absorbed in the literal text of the Gospels. The two are working terribly in concert. For if nothing were to assert itself except the worldview of the soul- and spirit-devourers on the one hand, and the confessional Christians who do not wish to delve into the depths of the Gospel on the other, then Ahriman would be able to turn all people on Earth into “Ahrimanians”! What is widely propagated today in the so-called “positive Christianity” of the outer world is a preparation for the incarnation of Ahriman. And in much of what appears with the presumption of representing the orthodox Church, one should actually recognize today a preparation for the work of Ahriman.

[ 27 ] For things today are not as people describe them literally. As I have often explained, people today live far too much in words. We desperately need to move away from words and delve into the things themselves. Today it is truly the case that words, in a sense, separate people from the true nature of things. And people separate themselves most from this true nature when they seek to interpret the ancient texts—including the Gospels—in the way that is often suggested today as “simple understanding.” Far simpler is the approach that truly seeks to penetrate the spirit of things and to understand the Gospels themselves from the perspective of the spirit.

[ 28 ] I have said: Ahriman and Lucifer will always work together. The only question is which of the two, so to speak, gains the upper hand in human consciousness during a particular age. It was a strongly Luciferic culture that, chronologically, extended beyond the Mystery of Golgotha, beginning with the incarnation of Lucifer in China in the third millennium B.C. From there, much radiated out that had a particularly strong influence well into the first Christian centuries, but which continues to have an effect even in our own time.

[ 29 ] Now, however, in our time, Lucifer’s traces are, so to speak, becoming less visible, because an incarnation of Ahriman is imminent in the third millennium, and Ahriman’s activity in matters such as those I have described to you today can be perceived particularly clearly through his traces. Ahriman has, so to speak, entered into a contract with Lucifer, which I would like to describe as follows: “I, Ahriman,” Ahriman said to Lucifer, “find it particularly advantageous for me to make use of the canned food; I’ll leave the stomach to you, if you’ll only let me lull the stomachs into twilight—or rather, lull people’s consciousness regarding the stomach into twilight.”

[ 30 ] You just need to understand exactly what I mean by that. Lurking in the stomach are those people I have just described as soul-devourers and spirit-devourers; for if they do not carry anything spiritual within their humanity, they feed directly into the Luciferic current whatever they put into their stomachs. What is eaten and drunk without spiritual intent passes through the stomach to Lucifer!

[ 31 ] And what do I actually mean by “cans”? By “canned goods,” I mean libraries and the like, where those branches of scholarship are stored—scholarship that is indeed pursued, but not out of genuine interest; scholarship that does not live among people, but rather in the books on the shelves of libraries. Look at this scholarship, pursued in isolation from people! There are many books everywhere in the libraries. Every student must begin, as soon as he starts his doctorate, to write a scholarly treatise; these are then placed in as many libraries as possible. Then another scholarly treatise follows when the person in question wants to take up some position. But even aside from that, people today write and write and write. Yet very little of what is written today is actually read. Only when people need to prepare for this or that do they cite what is gathering dust, preserved, in the libraries. These “canned goods of wisdom”—that is precisely what serves as a particularly effective means of promoting Ahriman.

[ 32 ] The way this is carried out—but also many other similar things that are essentially just put out into the world, yet would only make sense if people were interested in them, even though they aren’t actually interested in them, and which in fact exist only in a way that is separate from people—can be found in all areas. Just think about it for a moment—if one were so inclined, one could easily despair! Take a lawsuit, for example; you have to hire a lawyer. This lawyer handles the case. Then there come times when you have to negotiate with the lawyer; the paperwork just keeps piling up. He keeps them in a folder. But when you talk to him, he has no idea of the context; he knows nothing; he flips through page after page, and nothing comes of it. He has no connection to his files. There’s one file folder, then the next. The files keep piling up. But there’s absolutely no interest. It’s enough to drive you to despair when you actually have to deal with the experts who just go through the motions like this. They are completely out of touch with what the matter is about; they know nothing about it in reality, because everything is in the files. These are the little tin cans; the libraries are the big tin cans of mind and soul. Everything is preserved there. But people don’t want to reconcile it with themselves; they don’t want to let it permeate their interests. And ultimately, it is precisely this that has given rise in recent times to that mindset which refuses to allow anything into its worldview—anything that actually requires a bit of thought. After all, a bit of thought is necessary to understand something. People want to reduce that commitment, that worldview, to nothing but the heart. Certainly, it must be reduced to the heart; but the way people often speak of religious commitment these days strikes me as something that can be summed up by a proverb that was commonly used in the region where I spent my youth. They used to say: “That thing with love—it’s a very special matter. When you buy it, you’re really only buying the heart, and you get the head thrown in for free.” So love is a very special matter: when you buy it, you’re only buying the heart, and you get the head thrown in for free as a bonus! — That, you see, is more or less the mindset people today like to adopt as the foundation of their worldview. They want to take everything in without straining their minds—through the heart, as they say—which, of course, doesn’t beat without the head, but through which one can easily take things in, even though they actually mean the stomach. And then what is actually supposed to be accomplished in humanity through the mind—that is supposed to come for free; it is supposed to come for free, especially when it comes to the most important things in life.

[ 33 ] All these things are very important to keep in mind, and it is very important to pay attention to them. For when one pays attention to them, one sees how seriously one must take present-day human life and how necessary it is to learn even from the illusions that can arise from the Gospels—to learn from the way people today love these illusions. The kind of knowledge that people often strive for today does not lead to truth. People today feel very secure when they use numbers to calculate and statistically prove the ways of the world. Ahriman has a particularly easy time of it with statistics and numbers; for he is especially pleased when a scholar today explains to humanity that the situation in the Balkans must be such and such, because, for example, in Macedonia there are so many Greeks, so many Serbs, and so many Bulgarians. Nothing can be done against numbers, for people believe in numbers. And Ahriman uses the numbers that people believe in to his own advantage, in the sense that I have explained to you today. Only later does one realize just how “reliable” these numbers are. Numbers certainly prove something to people; but if one doesn’t stop at what’s written in the books—where things are “proven” with numbers—but looks more closely, one often notices: yes, in these statistics—let’s say, for example, the Macedonian ones—there’s a father listed who is Greek, a son who is Serbian, and another son who is Bulgarian; so the father is listed among the Greeks, one son among the Bulgarians, and the other among the Serbs. Understanding how it is that within the same family one is Greek, another Serbian, and another Bulgarian—and how this is reflected in the statistics—is what truly leads to the truth, not merely accepting the numbers, with which people are so content today. It is through these numbers that people are led astray in a certain direction—the direction in which Ahriman best calculates his plans for his future incarnation in the third millennium. We will continue discussing this tomorrow.