The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Twelfth Lecture

[ 1 ] It is perhaps not widely known that, over the course of time, not only do people’s entire mental dispositions change, but what is considered necessary for human beings in social life is also subject to transformation. I have already touched on such matters repeatedly in previous reflections. For example, I have mentioned how, in the ancient Roman Empire, it was by no means a universal requirement that all people learn the multiplication tables as children as the foundation of arithmetic; on the contrary, it was quite common for every child growing up to know the Twelve Tables. The view of what should constitute common understanding and general knowledge within humanity has changed greatly over the course of time. These matters are connected to the entire development of humanity. To gain the necessary insight into this, it is essential to visualize the true nature of the processes of human development.

[ 2 ] Before there were populations, as we know them today, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and even the Americas, there was a vast continent where the Atlantic Ocean is now. Essentially, then, the Earth’s surface once consisted of the region between Europe and Africa on one side and the Americas on the other, at a time when most of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas were submerged.

[ 3 ] We know that this Atlantic continent—as we call it—sank as a result of a major catastrophe, and we have, in fact, mentioned on several occasions that migrations took place from this Atlantic continent, which gradually became more and more uninhabitable, to the lands that were gradually rising and which today constitute Europe, Asia, and Africa. Essentially—as you can read in my *Outline of Esoteric Science*—the population of Europe, Asia, and Africa consists of the descendants of the ancient Arlantians.

[ 4 ] However, significant distinctions arose among these populations, and the aftereffects of these distinctions are still evident today. One can understand the aftereffects of these distinctions by considering the following: There were certain segments of the population that migrated eastward from the Atlantic continent. Let us set aside America for now—which, admittedly, was also populated at that time from the Atlantic continent—but let us set that aside. So certain segments of the population moved eastward. A number of them traveled far into Asia, and among the peoples who had thus migrated from west to east, those cultures arose that we have designated as the ancient Indian culture, the ancient Persian culture, the ancient Egyptian-Chaldean culture, then the Greek-Latin cultural era, and now, in Europe, the fifth post-Atlantean culture—in which we ourselves live—which began around the middle of the 15th century. But these cultures arose in the following way: Certain segments of the population were, due to their spiritual and physical constitution, impelled to migrate the farthest, all the way to Asia, while others remained behind in Europe. Later, however, those migrations took place that are also mentioned in external history, through which, in turn, certain segments of Asia’s population migrated over to Europe. But what now constitutes the European population is, in part—though by no means exclusively—the descendants of those who later migrated from Asia; rather, what populates Europe today also includes the descendants of those who originally remained behind during the migration from the Atlantic continent toward the East. And much of what lives within European people can be traced back to physical and soul constitutions that can be explained by the fact that these were characteristic of the very people who remained behind in Europe—those who had not migrated to Asia. In Europe, we are indeed dealing with a convergence of the most diverse population elements. But the fact that certain segments of the population migrated to Asia while others remained in Europe brought about a significant difference, a significant differentiation within the European-Asian population. Those populations that had originally migrated to Asia as early as the 8th, 7th, and 6th millennia were of such a nature that they incorporated the human spiritual culture—which was able to spread—very strongly into the soul element. Even today, one can observe in the population of Asia—which, in a certain sense, has degenerated—that this population has developed the spiritual and intellectual elements primarily within the soul. One can say—and this is not a figure of speech but is, in fact, the full truth—that this Eastern population, of which the Asian population is the most outstanding member, has allowed the body to play only a minor role in its development. Everything that has been conceived, that has been lived, and that—to a certain degree—still lives on in Asian culture even in its decadence, depends little on the physical characteristics of human beings; it depends heavily on psychological characteristics. This is why a spiritual culture—one that no longer exists in this form today, and which, because historical documents say so little about it, is not appreciated today—was able to arise in Asia; a culture that can truly be admired only by those who are able to truly immerse themselves in those immense spiritual insights that the Asian people were once able to attain millennia ago.

[ 5 ] What has been handed down historically, what can be gleaned from historical documents, does not provide a picture of what once existed in this part of Asia as the primordial wisdom of humankind. What is now unearthed as Chaldean astronomy, as Indian Brahmanic wisdom, or as Egyptian wisdom through this or that document, through this or that monument—all of that is merely a later development. All these things trace back to a marvelous, magnificent, and profound insight into the spiritual world; they trace back to a magnificent, profound scientific connection—one that people had grasped—between the Earth and the entire cosmos, the entire world of the stars. People in Europe today are not at all inclined to understand, even in retrospect, what was known in those ancient times, nor do they appreciate it, because, in a sense, they cannot make sense of it. They have no way of orienting themselves toward these things.

[ 6 ] But everything that once existed as such wondrous wisdom over there in the East lived through the fact that these people absorbed what they received spiritually with a pure soul, and that the physical aspect played only a minor role in it. Then, as you know—and you will find more details on this in my book *Christianity as a Mystical Fact*—the insight we have gained about Christianity emerged from all the marvelous wisdom that the ancient East possessed. For in essence, the insight we have about Christianity is a legacy of the East. But this ancient Eastern wisdom came to Europe partly through Hellenism and partly through the transformation it underwent as a result of the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 7 ] And now consider what is of extraordinary importance: that which was developed in the soul realm in the East, without the influence of physical organization, migrated via southern Europe and Africa into the rest of Europe, where it encountered a population that—with the exception of those who had in turn withdrawn from Asia—consisted essentially of the people who had been left behind during the migrations from Atlantis to the East. And the question must arise among us: What particular constitution did these people who remained in Europe have, precisely because they had not migrated to Asia but had stayed behind in Europe?

[ 8 ] This brings us to something of immense significance. We come to realize—or must realize—that this population, which remained behind in Europe during the migration from Atlantis to the East, received what it did in terms of external and internal knowledge, its insights into the spiritual world, and its insights into the social, economic, and commercial order of the world—that it received all this through the functioning of its physical organization. At the very foundation of Europe’s population lies the fact that the majority of these Europeans absorbed what they took in primarily through the instrument of their bodies. The people who migrated further eastward were of such a nature that they absorbed more through the soul; and because they were not at all able to develop their physical functions, they neglected everything about the world and the human order that is to be understood through the physical. The Europeans used—for what was to become the foundation of their culture—the physical instrument of their brain and the physical instruments of the rest of their physical being. And so we are faced with the remarkable phenomenon that what emerged over in Asia as Christianity—arising from a wondrous primordial wisdom—migrated to Europe and was received there under conditions entirely different from those under which it had developed in Asia. In Asia, it was shaped solely by the soul; in Europe, it was received by the physical body. Why was it able to be received by the physical body there? It was able to be received by the physical body because, in fact, European bodies were formed in such a way that they could become true instruments of the spiritual. The bodies of the Asians were not formed in this way. The population of Europe had remained behind in order, under the climatic and other cultural conditions of ancient Europe, to make the body, so to speak, receptive to the absorption of knowledge, impulses of the will, and so on.

[ 9 ] In the broader context of the world, one must hold this view on one matter and that view on another; but even what is less good certainly has its rightful place. Some people cannot grasp this. We also try to demonstrate the harmfulness of materialism; but on the other hand, we must recognize that materialism was bound to emerge by the 19th century. It simply must be overcome now. Some people would like to take the easy way out on such questions; they say: The human body is simply the vessel in which the soul dwells; the soul is heavenly, the body is earthly; let us focus on the spiritual.” — That is a convenient view of life. But this is the merit that belongs to materialism: it has taught people that the physical also has a share in the spiritual, and that even among certain elements of the human race, the body was organized precisely to receive the spiritual. And the most outstanding human beings were those whom Christianity encountered. Precisely in the early days, when Christianity had spread throughout Europe, the bodies of these European people served as good receptacles for the reception of Christianity; the physical brain, having been formed in a certain way out of the spiritual world, was a good organ for receiving Christianity. And while in Asia Christianity emerged after centuries—even millennia—of development within a culture that was intended solely for souls, in Asia this Christianity encountered a decadent culture, one in the process of dying out—a culture of the soul that had been suitable for earlier times but was no longer suitable for the era in which Christianity took root; in Europe, this Christianity encountered receptive people who were organized through their bodies to grow into this Christianity, to make their bodies vessels for receiving Christianity; for in these bodies there was still much spirit—cosmic spirit, nature spirit. This is precisely what is significant about the indigenous population of Europe in the post-Atlantean era: that there was spirit in their bodies, and that Christianity was received through this spirit residing within them. But this spirit gradually faded away; this spirit ceased to exist. This spirit did not remain with the European bodies. And this is precisely the most essential aspect of that transition that took place in the middle of the 15th century of the post-Christian era: that, in essence, the spirit of nature that was present in the human European bodies began to fade away, so that the bodies gradually became incapable of understanding from within themselves what they had initially embraced as Christianity with fresh vigor—because it was through the power of the body. As a result, understanding of Christianity gradually declined from the 15th century onward. Only tradition remained. The underlying conditions are actually misunderstood; in conventional external science, they are completely misunderstood. For people believe that a human being is simply a human being, and they believe they can study this human being by carrying corpses into clinics and dissecting them there. Yet this reveals the very least about human beings, for the finest constitution of these human beings changes almost from century to century. In terms of its subtle constitution, the humanity of one century is, in essence, something entirely different from the humanity of the previous century. Because this does not manifest in gross terms and cannot be ascertained by crude scientific methods, people do not want to know anything about it. But the human being is a very subtle organism, and what develops successively over time continues to coexist side by side. In gross anatomy, the prevailing belief—though it is merely a belief—is this: if you draw blood from a Western person and draw blood from an Eastern person, you’re simply drawing blood; blood is blood. — But this view—that blood is blood—is utter nonsense in the face of a true, deeper understanding of humanity. I can only speak about this matter schematically, and today I can only—I would say—present the results of extensive research. But these results are extraordinarily important. If I were to draw something schematically—which, of course, would be something else entirely if it were drawn realistically rather than schematically—I would have to draw it in the following way. So if I were to draw the blood clot in the living human body of a Western person, I would draw it like this (see drawing a). If I were to draw the blood clot in the vein of a Russian person, I would have to draw it like this (see drawing b).

[ 10 ] Just as one line form relates to another, so does the inner, and also material, character of the blood among the Eastern population relate to the character of the blood among the Western population. But what I have characterized as physical receptivity is connected to the development of the blood. This physical receptivity, as I said, has faded; today, at least for the Western European population and its American offshoot, the physical no longer yields anything spiritual. Therefore, the spiritual must be sought by other means—the path indicated by anthroposophically oriented spiritual science. Roughly speaking, one can say: The spiritual that emerged from physical-bodily materiality—which essentially served, over the centuries up to the middle of the 15th century, to open up an understanding of Christianity—has withered away. Today, especially in Western culture, people live with withered bodies, and what prevails is a purely mechanistic culture, because it arises from these lifeless, withered bodily organizations. This change is therefore not merely one of the kind depicted by today’s abstract historians; it is one that penetrates deep into the very physical being of the human being.

[ 11 ] Most people today are closed off to what I have just told you. But just as the Romans learned the Twelve Tables, and just as it later became customary to regard the multiplication tables as something necessary for human beings, so too will a not-too-distant future—toward which we must work—have to include, as part of general education, an understanding of such elementary concepts regarding human development. Otherwise, every fifteen years, a catastrophe like the one we have experienced in the last five to six years will befall the earthly development of civilized humanity. For the fact that people have closed themselves off from what is about to break into civilized humanity as a new formation—that is the true reason why the confusion that has prevailed over the last five to six years has arisen. And if people wish to continue living out of their withered, materialized bodies, they will, of their own accord, conjure up qualities from within these withered, materialized bodies that will lead, every fifteen to twenty years, to a confusion such as the one we experienced in Europe in 1914. Today there are only two options: Either one resigns oneself to allowing this influx of a new formation into humanity—and thus also the influx of a new understanding of Christianity supported by spiritual science—or one must expect destructive elements to enter human social life on a terrible scale.

[ 12 ] Our English friends will now return to England—hopefully not too soon—but once there, they will meet the man whom I once described to you here as a representative of the present age in a special way, because throughout his entire life—even though he is much older today—he has not progressed beyond the developmental stage of a twenty-seven-year-old. There they will meet Lloyd George, who is likely still setting the tone—the man who was able to become a leading figure precisely because he remained capable of development only until the age of twenty-seven, was then elected to Parliament, of course, and has been incapable of further development ever since, so that now, as an old man, he still thinks like a twenty-seven-year-old—that is, immaturely. You will find particular ideas emerging from such a mind, for example: “Until now, we have sided with the Russian counterrevolution; it has been defeated; it is no longer profitable to side with the Russian counterrevolution, so let us try to come to terms with the Bolsheviks, let us try to reach a tolerable peace with them.”

[ 13 ] This is how a person typically thinks today—someone who is completely oblivious to the true laws of life, who has no idea what reality is in the world—and this is how other so-called “statesmen” think—I note that I now always write “statesmen” in quotation marks. At the same time, one must not forget that this “statesman” still towers far above the abstract dilettante Woodrow Wilson, by whom the whole world allowed itself to be seduced at a certain moment in European history. Speaking out against such things made one, especially at certain times, a “preacher in the wilderness.” In the days when the whole world idolized Woodrow Wilson, I said here in Switzerland, time and again, exactly the same thing about Woodrow Wilson that I am telling you today. Now, since it is too late, the world is beginning to realize a little how out of touch with reality Woodrow Wilson’s ideas are. And people who sat with him at the Versailles Conference were astonished at how little this man himself brought with him from America to Europe—not even the slightest sense of reality.

[ 14 ] The things we live with today must be viewed from a global perspective if we are to have a say in them, even in the smallest details. And one will not be able to view them unless one makes it a principle that a certain understanding of human nature must become part of general education in the very near future, just as the multiplication tables began, at a certain point in time, to become part of general education.

[ 15 ] Whether social demands arise or not is not a matter for debate, just as it is not a matter for debate whether an earthquake will occur in a particular region or not. But how one should respond to such phenomena is a matter for debate. No one who lacks human knowledge in the sense indicated here will be able to adopt an appropriate stance toward such phenomena. This is something one must fully internalize. And whether the life of the civilized European world will be able to continue or not will depend on whether there will be a sufficiently large number of people who see through the impossibility of continued world domination, which is particularly influenced by people who are so out of touch with reality, such as Lloyd George. You all know that I am not speaking from some chauvinistic standpoint, from any particular side, but rather from a purely objective perspective derived from the observation of objective facts. I have truly never had anything against Woodrow Wilson or Lloyd George as a German—or a so-called German. Compared to other people today, even Lloyd George is a “fine fellow.” But he is, as a human being, someone who remains stuck at twenty-seven—incapable of absorbing that which one can only absorb once the downward phase of development sets in, that is, once one has passed the age of thirty. For the withered European souls who refuse to open themselves to the absorption of anything spiritual lose their capacity for development in their thirties. They can then be parliamentarians—even such infinitely seasoned, extraordinarily skilled parliamentarians as Lloyd George, who, as is well known, carried out quite admirable reforms when he was made a minister. Isn’t that right? That’s how one deals with members of the opposition: to prevent them from becoming a nuisance out in Parliament, one brings them into the cabinet. At the time, Lloyd George was also made a minister in England, initially for the reason that they did not want him in the opposition; but they made him a minister by saying: “We’ll give him the portfolio he knows absolutely nothing about.” That is, after all, the usual way to deal with dangerous parliamentarians. And lo and behold, once Lloyd George had been given the portfolio he knew absolutely nothing about, he threw himself into his work with feverish energy, introduced reforms that are truly admirable, and the others were left standing there with their noses in the air.

[ 16 ] Today, we must be able to assess all these phenomena from the perspective of the laws of human development. It is generally not a pleasant task to judge humanity based on its peculiarities, and above all, it is not customary for people today to engage with one another. That is why people today tend to judge others by their labels. They are not inclined to go to the trouble of encountering a person to discover whether he has abilities, or whether there is something alive in his soul that has the potential to make an impact. Nor do they want to engage in judging people in this way, based on direct impressions drawn from life itself. We need other criteria. Someone has graduated; he holds a doctorate—therefore, he is a wise man. There’s no need to get to know him first; all one needs to know is: he once passed some exams, or he is—I don’t know if one should say “was”—a government councilor. Fine, there he is—someone to be respected; there’s no need to concern oneself further with whether he possesses any capacity for action within his soul. A government has made him a “Rat” (written with a “t”), not a “fifth wheel on the wagon” (written with a soft “d”). So one needs criteria derived from external sources. In the future, a truly direct relationship from person to person will be necessary. No one will attain this who does not develop their human spiritual faculties in the appropriate way. This appropriate way is through spiritual science. If, for example, you read my *Secret Science*, you can read what is written there; you can take in the content of what is written there. If you take in the content so that you can then recite it quite well from memory, I would find it almost more useful for you to read a cookbook—or, unless you happen to be women, some treatise on collective bargaining agreements or the like—than to read my *Secret Science*. This “Secret Science” has significance as a text only if, through the particular shaping of thoughts—which annoys people so much that they refuse to engage with what they call “poorly stylized”—this way of writing and thinking has an educational effect on the entire state of the soul, when the “how,” not the “what,” shapes the soul. Whoever allows *The Secret Science*—or, of course, any other book—to take effect upon them in this way and then goes out into life will see that they have indeed strengthened their inner vision, so that it becomes a source of insight into human nature. Things take on a completely different meaning than a mere academic absorption of the subject matter! Today, when one has read a book, one has the impression that one has done what is necessary if one has the content within oneself—that is, has it to such an extent that one might be able to pass an exam. This is never the intended purpose of books on spiritual science. The most essential task is not accomplished when one can recite the content by heart, but rather, the necessary work is only done when these things have permeated one’s entire soul constitution, one’s entire inner being, and when, through this process, one has developed the soul forces suitable for life.

[ 17 ] I have said this time and again in a wide variety of ways for decades. Yet, for that very reason, it is widely regarded as the main point—that we now know: human beings consist of this and that, there are repeated earthly lives, and so on. — But that is not the main point. The main point is that through this entire way of thinking, something is grasped within the human being that cannot be grasped by anything else within the human being. And what is grasped in this way by the human being must exist. If it does not exist, then all those well-meaning people who say, for example, “Christianity must always exist”—they will achieve nothing. For just as you cannot extract magnetism from a non-magnetic piece of iron, so too, unless something else intervenes, you cannot force Christianity out of what Europeans are becoming. It may remain a tradition for a while; but people will embrace the tradition out of insincerity. What is at stake is that something must be grasped in people’s souls that leads to a new understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha, and thus to a new understanding of Christianity as a whole. As I have already mentioned today, there existed in ancient pre-Christian times a widespread, magnificent, and admirable primordial wisdom; and anyone who wishes to admire pagan wisdom is right to do so, and anyone who wishes to admire pagan wisdom even in those times when it already echoes Christian ideas is even more right to do so. The early Christian Church Fathers were actually wiser—much wiser—than their present-day successors. Their present-day successors prohibit the reading of anthroposophical writings. As you know, Catholics have been forbidden to do so by decree of the Congregation of the Holy Office in Rome since July 18, 1919. The early Christian Church Fathers, however, said: What is now called Christianity has always been there, only in a different form, and Heraclitus, Socrates, and Plato were, in their own way, Christians before the Mystery of Golgotha. — This is, of course, an extraordinarily heretical remark for today’s members of the Roman Index Congregation, even though it originates from genuine Church Fathers—very heretical! And yet one must say: Something is coming to a head. This decree by the Roman Congregation of the Index, prohibiting Catholics from reading anthroposophical books, is actually the logical consequence of Roman Catholic development—the development of the Roman Catholic Church—and one must recognize that a new spiritual current must indeed emerge, one that reinterprets Christianity.

[ 18 ] As I said, the pre-Christian worldview is, in a certain sense, admirable. But it did not extend to certain things that are of an earthly nature. And here I am touching on something that is of extraordinary importance for the development of the Earth. With regard to everything that human beings carry within themselves as physical beings, human development was, in fact, already complete. Around the 15th millennium B.C., while still in ancient Atlantis, human beings had developed within themselves—to a certain finished state—all the characteristics of their physical constitution, which then gradually solidified. But with regard to the development of the head—the development of knowledge—the situation was different. There remained something like a great manifestation of humanity, a body of human knowledge, transmitted through the leaders of the mysteries up to the event at Golgotha. What the ancient pagan sages possessed within themselves was, in a sense, the reflection of an even older wisdom—though one that was still capable of spiritual observation—but it was all merely a reflection. Then came the Mystery of Golgotha, which was nothing less than something extraterrestrial: the Christ Being. Something that descended to Earth from spheres that are entirely extraterrestrial united with a human physical body—the body of Jesus of Nazareth. With this, something entered into the earthly development of humanity that had not occurred throughout the entire earlier history of the Earth: that something cosmic had entered into humanity. From the 15th millennium until the Mystery of Golgotha, human beings had essentially lived, in terms of their physical constitution, through their mental-head constitution, which was an ancient inheritance. Now something entered that, in a certain sense, connected heaven with earth. An extraterrestrial being united with a human body.

[ 19 ] Even the most backward people—who had remained in Europe and still possessed certain natural, spiritual qualities within their bodies—were able to understand such a mystery. The highly educated Asians, however, were unable to grasp it. In a sense, it was still a gift from God to this European population to have bodies that were receptive to Christianity by virtue of their physical constitution. This came to an end in the 15th century, and therefore spiritual knowledge must take its place in order to comprehend the Mystery of Golgotha anew. Without an understanding of these developmental processes of humanity, human nature cannot progress further and would be headed toward its downfall, for that which entered Earth’s development through the Mystery of Golgotha would simply vanish. Unless, in turn, the connection between the Earth and the extra-terrestrial world is spiritually understood, the Mystery of Golgotha cannot live on.

[ 20 ] Since this is the case, those who wish to remain within the traditional, old ways today—and you know how numerous they are, for I have from time to time told you about the vicious attacks coming from that side— are directing particularly venomous attacks against the truth proclaimed by spiritual science—namely, that we are dealing with a cosmic Christ, a Christ who is not merely earthly but cosmic. It is strange, but it is nevertheless true that, for example, it is the Roman Catholic clergy and the Jesuits who are most annoyed by the fact that spiritual science speaks of a cosmic Christ. The fact is that a parting of the ways is taking place today. And one should not close one’s eyes to this; on the contrary, one should open one’s eyes to it. In order to be able to help bring about everything that needs to be established for humanity, even in the smallest space where one stands, it is necessary today to have insight into the great conditions of life.

[ 21 ] Please don’t say, “There’s no time for that.” — After all, one often hears people say: People today are so busy, so incredibly busy, that they simply don’t have time to look up and consider these spiritual truths. — I’d like to calculate for you just how much idle chatter takes place during “five o’clock teas,” “snacks,” “afternoon teas,” “morning drinks,” and, in certain regions, “evening drinks” — such things do exist, after all —, during “Skat games,” and other activities, and you would see that it adds up to a considerable amount of time during which people would have the opportunity, if they wanted to, to familiarize themselves with what is immensely necessary for the future of human development. It is not a matter of time; it is a matter of people’s indifference, of their lethargy. Encephalitis lethargica is now appearing outwardly in isolated cases; souls have long since been afflicted by it across a wide swath of humanity. This “sleeping sickness” of the soul is a widespread epidemic. For what ultimately matters is having the will to set one’s spiritual powers in motion. When one studies at a university today—with few exceptions, which can be counted on one hand—one really does not need to exert one’s thinking at all. One is taught a certain body of knowledge consisting largely of experimental results; one can simply absorb it. There is no need to set one’s thinking in motion in the process. But this kind of education must be replaced by a revival of active thinking, by the activation of all the soul’s powers, so that the busyness of inner soul life takes the place of indolence and drowsiness. One can be very active in external life and yet be incredibly drowsy in one’s inner life. But this must come to an end in the development of humanity. That it comes to an end is a truly profound necessity. Today people say: First of all, humanity must have bread. — Certainly, it must have bread. But if no thought is given to establishing the necessary structures from a spiritual perspective so that this bread can also be produced tomorrow, then people will simply eat only what the earth still provides, and they will have no bread tomorrow or the day after. The fact that people still have bread today means that the old ways of thinking can still carry us for a while. But the day after tomorrow—figuratively speaking, of course—there will be no bread if the institutions of the earth are not shaped by a new spirituality.

[ 22 ] Think about this, because these are serious matters.