The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Spiritual Tasks Ahead for Norway and Sweden III

[ 1 ] The two hours during which I was once again able to speak to you were devoted to important reflections on the human being and the human condition. On the one hand, the discussion was to focus on how the human physical and etheric bodies are connected not only to what we perceive on Earth as the external world, but also on how this physicality of the human being can only be understood when we conceive of it as connected to the sphere of the stars. And we have tried to understand how the fixed-star sky and the planetary sphere intervene in a formative and enlivening way in what the human being possesses in his outer shell. On the other hand, however, we also showed the soul last time how what constitutes the human inner being—the human’s own spiritual-soul aspect—can only be understood when it is conceived in connection with the world of the higher hierarchies. And we have pointed out that this connection with the world of the higher hierarchies actually becomes particularly evident when we observe how human beings, through their physical life on Earth, can establish a relationship—in moral and religious terms, in terms of love for humanity, and so on—with the spiritual world, and how, through this, they enable the angelic beings connected to them, in a certain way, to influence them in such a way that the descent following life—between death and a new birth—proceeds in such a way that the human being then regains full individuality and the free, individual grasp of their human nature. We had to point out how, by failing to establish such a connection with the spiritual world in any given incarnation—for example, with regard to their national identity—human beings come into contact with that national identity in an external way, giving rise to phenomena such as the external bonding with that national identity, which, taken to its extreme, leads to chauvinism.

[ 2 ] From such reflections, one can see that one can only understand human beings in their lives if one also considers life from its other side—the side between death and a new birth. As soon as we delve into the human inner being, we must take this life between death and a new birth into account. For life here on earth is actually a reflection of this life between death and a new birth. It is life in the material, physical realm, and in this physical realm is expressed only that which we developed in the spiritual-soul world before our birth. What we must acquire anew—what must develop anew in the core of our human being—is the volitional element and, in a certain sense, the emotional element as well. The thinking element, which is connected to our head, we receive to a high degree—namely, to the degree where emotions then influence our thinking—from the spiritual world before our birth. The actual thinking abilities we possess, we bring with us into physical existence at birth and need only develop them during this physical life or have them developed through the school system. But what we primarily acquire in the new incarnation through our interaction with the external world is the emotional and volitional element—the very element that must therefore play the greatest role in the question of education.

[ 3 ] The situation regarding education is this: If we are poor teachers or poor educators in matters of the intellect, we may leave certain aspects of a person undeveloped—aspects that they might otherwise be able to express based on their previous earthly incarnation. But if, with regard to feeling and will, we are unable to influence the child through our own authority as teachers and educators—through our example—then we are not giving such a child what it is meant to receive here in the physical world, and we are harming its life after death. This is what causes such deep pain in today’s world, when one sees through these things. In teaching and education today, people try again and again to emphasize conceptual understanding, thereby encouraging the child to think and developing intellectual faculties in the child. Through this, however, much of what the child brings into existence through birth is drawn out. But this can only be of benefit if the child is also presented with earthly life itself in the right way—that is, if we are able to teach them, through our authority and by our example, what lies beyond the realm of the senses in feeling and will. And above all, we harm the child’s eternal life if we do not develop feeling and will. For the thinking that we bring with us at birth finds its conclusion here in this sensory world. It dies with us. Only that which we develop through feeling and will—which, however, then unconsciously permeates itself with new thoughts—do we take with us through the gate of death. In these difficult times for humanity, it is imperative that religion, education, the general spiritual life—indeed, life as a whole—once again take into account the eternal nature of the human being, rather than focusing solely on human selfishness.

[ 4 ] The religions of today rely far too heavily on human selfishness. On the one hand, they pander to inertia by failing to spur people on to their own inner, emotional, and volitional exploration of the eternal; and on the other hand, they pander to selfishness by speaking of eternal life only as that which will exist after death, not as that which existed before birth or conception, and which we have brought down into the physical world. I already said last time: To speak of this life before birth, one must speak of the selfless forces within the human being, whereas one need speak only of selfishness when speaking to people about life after death. And even this talk of life after death still takes on an egoistic form in today’s religious concepts. It is presented to people in such a way that they seek, above all, to satisfy their desires. If religions believe they have taught people to take pleasure in life so that they can lead a spiritual life in an egoistic manner, then they believe they have done enough. But what should once again enter into all of humanity through a true spiritual understanding of the world is that a person’s entire life be viewed—and also shaped by educators, teachers, and so on—in a selfless and eternal way.

[ 5 ] But this also has significance for the broader public sphere. And it is precisely these broader social contexts that I would like to discuss today in the third reflection I have the privilege of presenting to you. For it is of the utmost importance today that we truly carry what we gain through an anthroposophical understanding of the higher worlds into our immediate lives, and that we know how to express it in our lives. But when it comes to life, abstract teachings are of little use to us. Life on Earth is diverse. It is not only—if we apply the diversity of life, for example, to the existence of different peoples—that Indians differ from Americans or English people; it is even said, as is frequently asserted, that Swedes differ from Norwegians, who are not so far apart. It is indeed true that we cannot guide ourselves in the world according to general principles, but rather that we encounter concrete, individual circumstances everywhere, and that we must take these into account. But it is precisely these individual, concrete circumstances that one cannot come to know unless one proceeds from spiritual perspectives. People today do not really know the world. They talk a lot about the world, but they do not know it, for they do not know how this spiritual-soul aspect permeates physical existence and how, ultimately, the spiritual governs this physical existence. So one can already see that abstract, general principles are not enough. Certainly, these general, abstract principles are correct, but they do not take one very far in the real world.

[ 6 ] It is certainly a true principle that God governs the world. But given the diversity of the world, it does no good for a person to tell himself: In India, God governs the world; in England, God governs the world; in Sweden, God governs the world; in Norway, God governs the world. It is certain that God governs the world everywhere, but for immediate, real life, it is necessary to know how God governs the world in India, how God governs the world in England, how God governs the world in Sweden, and how God governs the world in Norway. One must also address the individual, concrete circumstances even in spiritual contemplation. What good would it do, for example, to lead a person to a meadow and show them some plant there that has yellow blossoms and rounded petals, and to teach them only: “This is a plant”—and then lead them to a plant that has thorns and very pointed, thread-like petals, and say to them: “This is a plant.” — One must make the specific characteristics of the plant clear to them! But when it comes to spiritual matters, people have become so incredibly complacent that they are always satisfied with general spiritual principles; they always want to hear only: “God rules the world,” or “One has an angel”—while he does not want to know in detail how existence takes shape across the most diverse regions of the earth, for example, and likewise across the most diverse realms of life emanating from the spiritual world.

[ 7 ] We would therefore like to undertake such a reflection today, one that points in this direction. Indeed, especially in these times, when so much is happening in such a tumultuous way, when, on the other hand, people in vast regions of the earth are so at a loss regarding public affairs, when congresses and conferences are held in vain—at which people first develop grand programs only to go their separate ways afterward without having actually decided anything— it is precisely today that one might wish to raise deeper questions about what is revealed in the various regions of the earth as governing from the spirit.

[ 8 ] When we look at the peninsula that you, together with the Swedes, consider your home on earth, there is certainly something about it that, in a sense, poses a mystery not only to those living outside Sweden and Norway, but also to those living within Sweden and Norway. There was certainly a great difference in the way—let’s say, since 1914—you have thought here about the tumultuous events of the world, which have certainly impacted you in the most diverse ways, and the way people in Central Europe thought about them. But today, people are for the most part unaware of such impacts; they do not realize what deeper forces are at work there. And you could look down into the regions of Central Europe, into the southern European, African, and even Asian regions, and you would have seen that things do not unfold there in such a way that one actually perceives only the consequences, the spillover effects, spilling over—but rather that one perceives something that wells up from immediate human passions, something that has an elemental character, something that truly bears the character one might have found quite enigmatic here in the North: as if people had suddenly gone mad, rushing to attack one another and tear each other apart. Those who were spectators could certainly find much about this perplexing, if only they had thought more deeply about it.

[ 9 ] But such things only become clear when one looks beyond a single period—even one in which so much has happened as in recent years. It is true that anyone who has lived through the last few years can say it feels as if they had lived through centuries. People will only gradually come to realize that this is the case. After all, most people today still live and think the way they did in 1914. In countries like the Nordic ones, this is somewhat understandable. But that it is also the case in Central Europe is truly terrible. It is only natural that people feel they have gone through something that one would otherwise only experience over the course of centuries. All of that was crammed into just a few years. One need only consider that, after all, events such as those that took place in 1914 and 1915 encompassed as much in a short period of time as, say, ten years of the Thirty Years’ War. But a reasonably meaningful light can only be shed on these matters if one views them within a broader historical context.

[ 10 ] And here, from the vantage point of your Nordic peninsula, you can see how—essentially only since the beginning of our era—events have been unfolding south of you in which you have, after all, participated in a different way than those in southern Europe, western Asia, or even Central Europe who have taken part in these centuries-long events. One need only consider the polar opposites that exist between southern and northern Europe during a very specific period of time.

[ 11 ] Take, for example, the 4th century A.D. or the era that reached its peak in the 4th century A.D. If you look to the south—on the Greek Peninsula, specifically the Italian Peninsula, and also in the regions of Central Europe that had already joined them—you see that Christianity is spreading more and more. But you also notice something else. This Christianity has taken root in the European pagan world, having come from the East. In various ways, it took root in this pagan world during the first centuries. And when we consider the first centuries—the 1st, 2nd, and even the 3rd—we find, in fact, everywhere that Christianity is interwoven with ancient wisdom, with the ancient inherited wisdom of humanity. People sought to understand Christianity through what is known as Gnosticism. People sought to permeate Christianity with the highest wisdom. This actually began to change only in the 4th century A.D. It was precisely then that things changed, as Christianity began to spread more widely into the regions of Central Europe. That is when the Gnostic, wisdom-based understanding of Christianity disappeared. We see that a writer such as Origen, who sought to bring some of the ancient Gnostic wisdom into Christianity, was declared a heretic. We see that Julian, the so-called Apostate, who sought to unite the ancient pagan wisdom with Christianity, was condemned. And finally, one witnesses Christianity becoming externalized in a political form of the Church through the actions of Constantine. What was initially quite different in Christianity—what was wisdom-filled, what was such that one said to oneself, “The highest wisdom is necessary to comprehend the Christian mysteries”—gradually takes on an increasingly less wisdom-filled character in the 4th century. There was an ever-increasing demand that people understand Christianity merely through a certain elementary sense, through an abstract feeling. Christianity spread northward from the south. Admittedly, from the 4th to the 15th century, in the south—and especially in Central Europe—there was much of a spiritual nature in what developed as Christian life, but the truly spiritual had given way. Gnosticism is regarded as something that is no longer welcome in Christianity. These are just a few brief glimpses into what is happening in the south among the northern peoples of Europe.

[ 12 ] Christianity is spreading and must adapt to the Greek world, the Roman world, and the Central European world. In a certain sense, it becomes de-spiritualized there. Now consider, let’s say, during those same 3rd and 4th centuries—that is, in the first centuries of the Christian era—your Nordic world here. One can’t really rely on external history today, since that external history does not tell the truth about this; one must approach it through the lens of anthroposophy. We did this here years ago with regard to the European national souls, but today we want to consider it more in relation to the outward national character.

[ 13 ] At a time when, in the South, the spirit was increasingly turning back toward the East—shortly after the period I have described—the ancient Athenian schools of philosophy were closed, and the last philosophers of Athens were forced to retreat to the East, where they joined the mysterious Academy of Gondishapur, which then spread a remarkable spiritual life across Africa and Southern Europe to the rest of Europe—a spiritual life that greatly influenced later spiritual development. But one can still say: Down there in the South, people must look back on a high level of spirituality that they once possessed. The momentous event of Golgotha has come to pass. In the early centuries, people still felt it necessary to comprehend the mystery of Golgotha with the help of this high spirituality. Gradually, this spirituality was cast aside. More and more of the human has taken the place of what might be called the divine working within the human being.

[ 14 ] Gnosis was also a means by which human beings became aware that a divine-spiritual being dwells within them. More and more, this divine-spiritual being was shed, and the human aspect was to emerge. The peoples known as the Migration Period tribes contributed greatly to this. During their migrations southward and their conquests of the southern regions, these Central European peoples—these Central European-Germanic peoples—who brought with them a soul that was, I would say, a soul more naturally bound to the physical—contributed to this suppression of the spiritual at that time, in that they did not understand the ancient spirituality and brought a more human-elemental nature to the south. And thus the high, primordial human wisdom gradually receded from Western spiritual culture. And at the same time—that is, in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., when this suppression of the spiritual was taking place in the south—we see here in the north that teachings about the gods were still very much in circulation among these northern peoples.

[ 15 ] At that time, it was still very much the case that those who were inspired instinctively were held in high esteem. This was a time that had long since passed for the southern populations of the Earth. Here one could still witness how individual men or women were sought out here and there in solitude, and how they were listened to in that solitude; how, in a mysterious way through their special abilities—which were linked to the special development of their physical bodies—they gave revelations about the spiritual worlds. This appeared as an innate disposition in the individual human beings who worked in this way among others. And as the larger masses of people listened attentively to such solitary revelators, they were fully aware that when they entered the hut of this or that God-intoxicated and God-revealing man—or even a God-revealing, God-imbued woman, it was not actually this physical man or this physical woman whom they were listening to, but rather the divine spirit itself that had descended, which had inspired these individual personalities so that they could impart God’s teachings to their fellow human beings.

[ 16 ] What is striking to the anthroposophical observer of European history is that, at the very same time when we see the spirit becoming increasingly dulled in the south—where the human aspect, at most, fills the souls—but precisely that physical-human aspect which human beings live out on the outer physical earth and which is increasingly gaining the upper hand over the divine —it is precisely here in the North, during the decisive 4th century, that while people in the South were becoming more and more eager to receive human teachings, people here in the North were still quite predisposed to receive divine teachings, to feel that the gods—that is, the beings of the higher hierarchies—were still walking among them.

[ 17 ] We must therefore take very seriously the individual manifestations that shine forth from the gray depths of the spirit, which are regarded as if—and this is indeed the truth—in those times, among the Nordic peoples who were still childlike, the gods had walked among them as teachers. The state of affairs that, in a certain sense, still confronts us in the North even during the first centuries of Christianity had long since passed in the southern regions. But it is nevertheless remarkable, deeply significant, how it is predestined in the fate of peoples that the Nordic peoples would, in a certain way, become the bearers for the South of that which these Nordic peoples had in turn learned not from human beings, but from the gods.

[ 18 ] Let us take this very seriously: that those people who, for example, are primarily associated with the population of the western part of your peninsula—whose successors are the Norwegians of today—begin to move westward and southwestward, and that through their migrations, their sea voyages, and their conquests all the way down to Sicily and as far as North Africa, they influence the peoples living there. The sons of the gods go to the sons of the world, and in a very specific way they bring them what they have learned from their gods.

[ 19 ] It is an interesting study of history to observe these migrations of the northern peoples toward the southwest, and to see how what was still playing out here as the Norse pantheon—albeit constantly metamorphosing and transforming—spilled out toward the southwest and profoundly influenced the British Isles, France, Spain, Italy, Sicily, and Africa. And we can still see the impact that has taken shape there today.

[ 20 ] That which flows from the south to the north through Roman culture—through the Roman-Latin element—is permeated by the Nordic element. One might say that what has been preserved of the sense of God in the cultural currents migrating upward from the south manifests itself here in such a way that it bears the influence of the Nordic teachings about the gods. Yet it takes on a distinctive character that one only fully notices when one now turns one’s gaze to the eastern part of this Nordic peninsula—the Swedish part.

[ 21 ] We need only recall the fact that the peoples of Eastern Europe look to the Varangians, that they are influenced by them, and that what exists in the east of the Nordic Peninsula also flows further eastward. We see a remarkable influence emanating from this peninsula. That which, I would say, later tends more toward the Norwegian, flows toward the southwest; that which later tends more toward the Swedish, flows toward the southeast. Everywhere, of course, it is the Nordic myths, but they are represented in a different way.

[ 22 ] There is a tendency among those peoples who would later become the Norwegians to carry the active element, the invigorating element, the inspiring element toward the southwest. In this way, the active, dynamic force is instilled into the flagging Roman-Latin culture. So we see—I would say—that the Norse gods exert an influence during these migrations such that they invigorate the entire life of the peoples, transforming it into something active. This can be traced in every detail, and it is fascinating to trace.

[ 23 ] But let us also consider, on the other hand, the entire remarkable character—extending right up to the present day—of the East Scandinavian influences spreading eastward, of the Swedish impulses spreading eastward. Certainly, this is partly due to geographical conditions! But these geographical conditions must also be reflected in the national character, for human beings do not grow out of the earth; rather, they are born into the earth—they descend from spiritual and soul worlds—and it is not a matter of indifference whether they are born as Norwegians or as Swedes. So one cannot simply say that geographical conditions are what they are; rather, one must ask further why souls on the one hand strive to become Norwegians, and on the other hand strive to become Swedes.

[ 24 ] So the Eastern Scandinavians are streaming eastward, but as they move forward, they seem to be distracted everywhere they go. They do not engage in any activity. They cannot resist what is coming from the east—first through other Asian peoples, later through Mongol-Tatar peoples—and, in turn, what is developing from the south as the element of Christian-antique culture that leans more toward the east. I would say that this current flows down toward the southeast, but it becomes blocked everywhere. As it penetrates this element, it certainly takes on a passive character.

[ 25 ] In fact, everything on the outer periphery is deeply influenced by the north. That which extends from the west of the Nordic Peninsula toward the south exerts an active influence everywhere. That which extends toward the east is permeated everywhere by the passive element of the East and is, in a certain sense, dulled in its activity. The Nordic gods, I would say, by sending their impulses westward, develop above all their volitional nature. The Nordic gods, by sending their essential nature eastward, unfold their more intellectual, their more rational nature, their contemplative nature.

[ 26 ] External wars and external struggles are, after all, merely the sensory reflections of what unfolded in the manner I have just described. Those who are abstract thinkers—who want to view the entire world from the standpoint of some theory—and today’s empiricists, today’s people who are so proud of their external science, are, at heart, the most extreme abstract thinkers; they never engage with reality; they think about the matter instead of immersing themselves in it to get to know it from within—those who are such abstract thinkers will point to all sorts of characteristic traits that are still evident among the Norwegians and the Swedes. Of course, one can also point out many things, and in the countries themselves, the inhabitants often highlight only such external peculiarities because today people do not wish to delve into the depths of human nature in order to truly understand life. But one must apply such perspectives to life as we have come to know them in these two reflections that I have been allowed to present here before you. One must introduce into external life a perspective not only from the standpoint between birth and death, but also from the standpoint between death and a new birth, and one must look at those things that do not merely satisfy the selfish person who wants to attain bliss after death and who, because physical life still lies ahead, pays no heed to this pre-birth life; one must not merely view this matter from an egoistic standpoint, but must view it from the standpoint of human life in general—from the standpoint of how one can intervene through what one has brought with oneself at birth from the spiritual and soul worlds into this earthly life.

[ 27 ] This leads us to the realization that there are connections in the lives of individuals and in the lives of peoples—connections that, however, only become apparent when one surveys what a human being is throughout their earthly lives, and when one also looks at the periods they spend between death and a new birth. There the wonderfully remarkable connection becomes apparent, and from such remarkably wonderful connections one then comes to understand what happens on Earth: Today’s Norwegians certainly carry within their outward national characteristics a legacy of what was shaped by those people who once came from the southwest with their divine revelations to activate the Roman-Latin element. At that time, something was shaped within the great world plan that gave the Norwegian people their particular character and their special mission. And those born in Norway today will only understand their existence, will only understand their mission within the world as a whole, if they look back with such spiritual understanding on those times that shaped Norway in a special way—back when the Nordic peoples, on their migrations, their raids, and their conquests, journeyed southwest to fulfill an earthly mission. But this earthly mission arose at that time precisely from the character of the peoples settled here. This character was certainly different then than it is today, but something of it has remained as a legacy within the Norwegians of today, endowing them with very special abilities that also hold a certain significance from the perspective of eternal human life, of immortal human life.

[ 28 ] And the same is ultimately true of the eastern part of this peninsula, where the Swedish character subsequently developed: the ancient teachings about the gods were carried over to the East in such a way that one can only express it by saying: These gods migrated eastward and found there people who had still preserved their own divine teachings in a certain mystical, Eastern form. Thus, what was more of a revelation arising from nature was scarcely accepted in the East, and those who migrated eastward were more destined for contemplation and a life of meaning.

[ 29 ] But this, in turn, has left a legacy, and this legacy shapes the character of the people. And I would like to say: If one wants to understand the western and eastern parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula today, one must look back at what these peoples have experienced over the course of the centuries, and what they have become to the world today as a result of those experiences, for today we have every reason to reflect on such matters. Today we can quite easily understand, in a very basic way, how spiritual forces must already be at work in the world—in the entire course of world history and in the whole of international human life—and how the missions of individual peoples must be understood from the perspective of spiritual exploration of the world.

[ 30 ] If one now sets out to explore, using supersensible insight, this connection between the tasks facing Norwegians and Swedes today and their historical development, a remarkable relationship becomes apparent. Norwegians possess a very specific predisposition, not only when they enter Norwegian existence through birth. What develops there can, of course, be seen in the outer physical world; anthropologists, cultural historians, or even journalists, for that matter, can describe it. Their descriptions may be more or less accurate, but they will not capture what wells up within the human soul. For human beings do not only have a mission here on Earth; they also have a mission for the spiritual worlds once they have passed through death. And this mission that human beings have for the spiritual worlds after they have passed through death is formed precisely here on Earth. |

[ 31 ] What we experience in the early stages after death is a consequence of our earthly development. What we experience here, however, in the early stages after birth, is in turn a consequence of the spiritual-soul world. It is of the utmost significance to view the Norwegian mission—not in relation to the Earth, but in relation to the time after “death”—using the methods available to spiritual research within the context of anthroposophy.

[ 32 ] To these souls who are now passing through the gate of death from this very soil in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula, I can say: —by virtue of their unique physical national character, by the entire configuration of their brains and the rest of their physical being—they may be destined to inspire their fellow souls after death in a very specific way, to give their fellow souls after death something that they can give them only by virtue of the Norwegian character. For the Norwegian character today, especially in this age, is so disposed that it subconsciously comes to know certain mysteries of nature from within: not through your external intellectual knowledge, but through that knowledge you develop in your spiritual-physical state between falling asleep and waking up, when you are out in space without making use of your senses; when you experience the spirituality in the plant world, the spirituality in stone and rock, the spirituality in the rustling of trees and the roar of the sea outside your body—not by observing it with your physical senses, but by observing it outside your body—as you wander within your own realms during the time between falling asleep and waking up; what kind of power you come to recognize there that lives in the plants, what kind of powers you come to recognize there that are hidden in your rocks, what kind of powers you come to recognize there that rush toward the shore with your ocean waves—when you take all that which constitutes the spirituality of these surging ocean waves, of these plants blooming sparsely on the rocks here, of this entire world ensemble; when you take what this whole world ensemble triggers in your souls during sleep—in other words, when you take this intimate knowledge of nature, which remains unconscious to your outer intellectual and sensory life—then that is what you can carry into the spiritual world if you meditate on it and feel it through in the right way, just as I described here in the last meditation. If you relate it in the right way to the spiritual world that you can grasp, if you develop what I have called the connection with the angelic beings, then you carry this unconscious wisdom of nature—this concrete knowledge of the spirit of plants, this concrete knowledge of the spirit of stones, and of the other natural phenomena—into the spiritual world. And those who have lived through their Norwegian lives in the right way will become the inspirers and teachers for their fellow souls after death regarding the mysteries of nature here on Earth. For in the spiritual worlds, souls must be taught the mysteries of the Earth just as souls here on Earth are to be taught the mysteries of the spiritual world.

[ 33 ] If one looks toward the eastern part of this peninsula—where the legacy of ancient times lives on as I have described it—one finds, however, that a different mission is carried through the gate of death. There, the souls carry into the spiritual world that which is now experienced not so much between falling asleep and waking up, but rather during waking hours—that which is experienced more in sensory interaction with the external world, in the sensory perception of the sensory world while awake, and in the emotionally imbued intellectual understanding of the external world.

[ 34 ] But that, after all, is something that, strictly speaking, has significance only for earthly life. Yet while we develop precisely this element in earthly life, something quite special also develops in the subconscious during earthly life. I have pointed out to you that even in waking life, a certain part of our being sleeps and dreams. The emotional life is actually just another form of the dream life. When we feel, we dream, and when we will, we sleep. What we know of our willing is, after all, only the illumination derived from thinking. But such volition is particularly stirred in the Swedish soul, which has less opportunity to penetrate the mysteries of nature during the state of sleep. What enters the soul there—more unconsciously—through volition and feeling during external sensory perception and intellectual life is taken in through the gate of death. Thus, those souls who pass through the gate of death in this way from the eastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula have, in turn, the mission to now incorporate a more volitional element into their fellow souls—precisely the opposite of what these eastern Nordic peoples were able to impart to their physical fellow human beings during their historical relationship. One might say: The particular predisposition toward the element of will was developed in the primordial state and then incorporated into the genetic heritage of the national character in this eastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula.

[ 35 ] For a long time, Europeans lived without ever asking themselves in concrete terms what they would actually have to do after death. They were content with the self-centered answer: “We will be blessed.” — But if the earth is not to fall into complete ruin, it will not be enough to settle for this self-centered answer; rather, it will only be possible for people to lead their true lives if they seek the selfless answer—if they do not merely ask, “What will happen after my death, so that I may fare well, so that I may be blessed?”—but if they also ask: What will I have to do from my particular position here in earthly life? — And only when one is inclined to consider the question in this way will one apply the particular position one holds in earthly life in the right way; only then will one prepare oneself properly for one’s mission. And then it can no longer be difficult to prepare oneself properly for one’s mission.

[ 36 ] In this regard, the two—or rather, all three—lectures that I have now had the privilege of delivering to you are interconnected. It is indeed a matter of ensuring that, precisely in view of this special mission, the spiritual element of the anthroposophical worldview is understood here in Norway. For if you consider that it is, after all, a special task to draw from the subconscious life, I would say, to create a natural science for the beyond—as paradoxical as that sounds, it is true—then you must emotionally prepare yourselves for this here in your conscious life; then your soul must be given the opportunity to fall asleep each evening in such a way that it does not remain insensitive to the insights into nature that are to be conveyed to it during sleep. But today’s bodies are simply no longer capable of preparing people in this proper way.

[ 37 ] The souls of the Nordic peoples are thoroughly attuned to the spiritual world through their ancient heritage. Here, the bodies must be prepared for this, particularly through a culture of the spirit. This raises a crucial question. It raises the crucial question that can be illuminated by comparing the mission—let us say—of the Central European peoples with that of the Nordic peoples.

[ 38 ] In a certain sense, the current situation of Central Europeans—who are unwilling to embrace anything spiritual—was aptly described by a man who does not even consider the possibility of a spiritual renewal of humanity: Oswald Spengler, who wrote his book on the Decline of the West—this brilliant but thoroughly pessimistic work—even though Spengler himself rejected that pessimism in a separate essay. It is, of course, pessimistic to speak of the decline of the West. But he speaks of the decline of culture, of the decline of something spiritual. Without spiritual renewal, the Central European peoples will suffer damage to their souls. It is precisely in this corner of Europe that a peculiarity exists: namely, that this population here is not merely capable of suffering damage to the soul, but that, when it suffers damage to the soul, it simultaneously suffers damage to the body. I would like to say: this is a blessing! For the Central European peoples, if they do not embrace spirituality, can become barbarized and degenerate spiritually; the Nordic peoples, on the other hand, can only die—including physical death—and become extinct, because, in accordance with the characteristics described here, everything is based on the specific configuration of the physical body.

[ 39 ] There is certainly a need to consider the essential influence of a spiritual culture. For Europe—Central Europe—will degenerate, become barbaric, and face its downfall if it does not allow itself to be influenced by the spirit. The North will die out; it will suffer physical death if it does not allow itself to be influenced by the spirit.

[ 40 ] In layman’s terms, what develops here during physical life is connected to the mission of these Nordic souls after death. They cannot carry out this mission if they allow those bodies—which, when spiritualized, are suited for it—to fall into decay.

[ 41 ] It is absolutely necessary to speak such serious words today, for it is in keeping with the course of our times that people must speak to one another in this way if they wish to take their era seriously. And that is why I wanted to speak to you this time—I would say—from such a generally personal, human standpoint, to tell you what one says to one’s fellow human beings on this Earth today when the fate of Earth’s evolution lies deeply at one’s heart. For those people who do not selflessly prepare themselves today for an eternal life will also fail to live their earthly lives between birth and death in the right way.

[ 42 ] This is what I would like to leave with you now that we have concluded our final reflection today during my time here. This is what I wanted to use to make you realize how, in fact, those who consider themselves anthroposophists today should feel that, as a small group in the world, they really ought to devote all their energy to rousing the rest of humanity—which is so sluggish—and moving it forward. The people who hate anthroposophy today—we can say this among ourselves—hate it precisely because they are too comfortable to truly engage with humanity’s great tasks, and because they are too fearful of what they must overcome if they are to transform themselves out of their intellectual and emotional complacency and come to understand deeper truths. That is why we see how many a storm arises against everything that takes place in the field of anthroposophy and emerges from it. But you, too, will have to get used to the fact that it is only natural that anthroposophical spiritual science is today fought with the utmost vehemence by all the reactionaries, by all those who cling to their old complacency. And anyone who allows himself to be deterred from developing his own strength simply because he sees such things has not yet delved deeply enough into the true anthroposophical task. When one sees how anthroposophy is being attacked from many sides today, one might, on the one hand, become fearful and anxious and say to oneself: Wouldn’t it be better to move forward with less vigor, so that the resistance might not be so great? — Or one can also say something else. One can also ask, if one were to notice that one is being praised by those who, precisely in this time of decline, hold sway: What, then, have we actually done wrong? — And I would ask this question above all from an anthroposophical point of view. If one is reviled, this can usually be explained by the reasons given. But if one were praised by those very people who revile one, that would be an extraordinarily troubling situation, for then the state of anthroposophical endeavors would be dire. It is precisely because those who disparage anthroposophy today do so that we can be reassured. However, we may only be reassured in the sense that we must devote all the more energy to truly bringing into the world what anthroposophy seeks—not out of personal whim, but out of a deep immersion in the world’s tasks. With this feeling, with this impulse, I would like to express to you, as we conclude our collaboration here, my most heartfelt and sincere thanks for your lively and energetic participation in all that was meant to happen in accordance with your spirit during this time.

[ 43 ] Rest assured that I am serious when I say that physical separation is not true separation for those who have understood the spiritual bond between souls. Rest assured that I am taking my leave of you, departing, not to be away from you, but to be with you. And this is something that I believe you can always carry within your souls, if you regard it as something desirable. You may know that there are already a number of people scattered throughout the world who feel this sense of belonging in this way and who look up with deep love toward this northwestern region of the world with its very special mission, which can be felt intensely in the field of anthroposophical research. With this love in my heart for those who consider themselves part of us here, part of our anthroposophical movement, I take my leave of you today. May our continued fellowship be strong and sustained by the spirit that is necessary and right among anthroposophists. Goodbye!