The Rudolf Steiner Archive

8. Experiences of the Human Soul During Sleep and After Death in the Spiritual World II

[ 1 ] I have some things to share with you about the spiritual powers and beings that live in the supersensible realm surrounding human beings and play a part in their earthly existence. You will understand that everything that takes place among spiritual beings in the supersensible world, and the way such spiritual beings interact with one another, differs from what human beings are accustomed to doing during their earthly existence, and that it is therefore actually difficult to express, in human language—which is, after all, created for human circumstances—the nature and activities of the supersensible intelligences, let us say, the supersensible beings. But since this must be done in our time, it must be done figuratively. And so you will understand that some expressions are formulated as if they were derived from human circumstances. They do convey the correct meaning, but since they are taken from human circumstances, they are, of course, figurative.

[ 2 ] As human beings, we are surrounded by nature—nature with its various kingdoms: the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms—and, we might say, the physical human kingdom as well. What we perceive as nature around us has, so to speak, a second nature behind it—but a spiritual, supersensible nature. Human beings perceive ordinary nature with their senses. They do not perceive the supersensible nature that lies behind it; yet it nevertheless exerts a great influence on their earthly existence.

[ 3 ] The second point to consider is that human beings possess a physical nature within themselves; when they look within, they perceive this physical nature as their instincts and passions. All of this is, of course, astral, but it flows up from the physical nature. What a person perceives within themselves in this way through their instincts, drives, and passions has, in turn, something—we might say—within it, so to speak, a realm of beings that have an intimate relationship with the human being but are of a subhuman nature. So when we look around us with our senses, we see, so to speak, the surface of nature, the outer aspect of nature; behind this, we must sense the supersensible nature. And when we look within ourselves and perceive ourselves through our drives, instincts, and passions, then beneath what is expressed within us, we must sense a sub-sensible nature. The supersensible nature—the nature that surrounds us—can be judged only by those who, endowed with spiritual insight, do not direct their gaze, as natural science does, toward what proceeds within the strict laws of nature. The supersensible nature that lies behind nature will never reveal itself in what natural science is capable of investigating. It does, however, reveal itself when one sharpens one’s spiritual gaze toward that which is not governed by laws, but which is usually said to be subject to chance.

[ 4 ] In the world around us, everything that manifests itself in the weather—in the irregularities of the atmosphere throughout the course of the year—is subject to chance. If you consider the details of, say, a London fog, you will indeed be able to attribute them, broadly speaking, to certain rules, but not in every specific instance. Specifically, when it comes to matters of wind and weather, people say: They are subject to chance. — And even if you read in the newspapers what the weather will be like in the near future, you will not rely on that forecast with the same certainty as you do on the fact that the sun will rise the next morning. The laws of nature are therefore something entirely different from what is revealed in wind and weather, and what, in a certain sense, people initially describe as chance in natural phenomena. One can acquire a certain prophetic gift for weather phenomena. But this cannot be attributed to the laws of nature; it is something inspired or intuitive.

[ 5 ] Now, in all that manifests itself in wind and weather, there are beings that cannot be seen simply because they do not have a body visible to the senses characteristic of earthly beings. Yet these beings, who live in wind and weather, do exist. They have a body consisting solely of air and heat, containing no water, no liquid, and no solid earth. They have a body consisting solely of air and heat.

[ 6 ] This body forms, dissolves, and undergoes rapid transformations. What we see in cloud formations, what we feel in wind formations—these are merely outward expressions of it; they are, rather, the actions of these beings. The body lies deeper within; but it is a body of air and warmth. So when we look out into our atmosphere, into the sphere surrounding the Earth in which we live as human beings, we find ourselves surrounded by a world of beings that are beings of air and warmth. These beings of air and warmth are of the kind I have often referred to in my writings and lectures as Luciferic beings.

[ 7 ] These Luciferic beings have a very special interest in human beings. Although they live in weather conditions that are often unpleasant to us, they are beings who place extraordinary importance on the moral element in the human social order. They place such great emphasis on the moral element that they hold the view that human beings should not have a real physical body at all; at the very least, human beings should not have a body in which earthly and aqueous nature are present. They would like to have shaped human beings in their own image, because then, without granting them any freedom within it, they would make them entirely moral beings. They would have no physical nature at all. They would be moral beings in their entirety. And throughout the course of a year, these entities fight ceaselessly and in the most terrible manner to tear human beings away from the earth, to draw them into their own sphere, and to render them alien to the earth and devoid of it. These beings are particularly dangerous to all dreamy people predisposed to a nebulous mysticism. These dreamy people, predisposed to a nebulous mysticism, very easily fall prey to these beings, who wish to lead people away from the earth and give them a kind of angelic nature, so that they may under no circumstances succumb to temptations toward immorality.

[ 8 ] As strange and paradoxical as it may sound, within these forces—which manifest themselves in wind and weather and pulse through the atmosphere in wind and weather—we find those beings who, while they hate human freedom above all else and want nothing to do with it, and who would like to destroy human freedom, nevertheless wish to turn human beings into moral automatons, into nothing but good, angelic beings. And they fight—if I may use an earthly expression—to the bitter end to achieve this.

[ 9 ] Now, however, in contrast to these beings who, so to speak, build their strongholds in the air—please do not misunderstand the expression; I said I must speak figuratively—in contrast to these beings, we have others whom I already mentioned last time in a certain context. These are the beings that have something to do with what manifests in human beings as instincts, drives, desires, and passions. But these beings are not actually inside human beings. Only their effects are present within human beings. These beings live directly on Earth, but in such a way that human beings cannot see them, because they never take on a physical form that would allow human beings to see them. For they have only a body that lives in the earthly and aqueous elements. And their actions in earthly events are the tides, volcanic phenomena, and earthquake-like phenomena. These phenomena—which, as you know, leave natural science utterly perplexed—reveal to the spiritually attuned eye, as the reality behind them, a world of subhuman entities. And these subhuman entities are under the sway of those forces that I always refer to in other contexts as the Ahrimanic forces. And these Ahrimanic forces, with their various sub-spirits—including kobold-like beings found in the earth’s terrestrial and aqueous elements—these Ahrimanic entities have now, so to speak, set themselves a different task. When one looks at all these entities, one cannot possibly be angry with them. How could one be angry with the Luciferic beings? They want the very best, namely to make human beings moral, self-evident beings. Only, under their influence, a human being could never be a free being, but rather a moral automaton. Yet they want the best for human beings. The other beings, so to speak, have their strongholds immediately beneath the Earth’s surface, but their effects rise up into the human metabolism. And what you see rising and falling like the tides, or what you see more rarely in volcanic or earthquake-like phenomena, is constantly present in a ebb and flow within the human metabolism. These are the Ahrimanic effects.

[ 10 ] So while the Luciferic spirits build their strongholds in the air to fight against the earthly in favor of the moral, these entities strive to harden human beings, to make them like themselves. As a result, humans would become infinitely clever in the material realm; they would become infinitely shrewd and incredibly intelligent. These entities cannot achieve this directly; they seek to achieve it indirectly. That is why their efforts—which have indeed spanned millennia in earthly life—have already succeeded in producing an entire race of such subhuman entities. They do this by seizing control of human beings’ instinctual nature when that nature is particularly wild and strong; they, so to speak, appropriate this instinctual nature for themselves. The human being then falls prey to these Ahrimanic forces throughout his or her life.

[ 11 ] If a person has succumbed to the Ahrimanic forces during his life—so that he is completely given over to his passions, instincts, and drives, so that he is a savage—then they can tear him away after death. And in this way, there is in fact already an entire population, a subhuman population on Earth. It truly exists; it exists in the water and in the earthly realm.

[ 12 ] And when we ask what the Ahrimanic beings intend to do with this subhuman population, it is this: they think, “Now I will draw this instinctual nature out of a human being; from it I will create an earth-watery being.” — These earthy-watery beings actually inhabit the layer that lies immediately beneath the Earth’s surface. That is where they are. Those who have looked into mines know these beings very well. They are beings that exist because they were snatched away from human beings at the moment of death. And there Ahriman waits, there the Ahrimanic forces wait for human beings to descend into such an incarnation through karma brought about by instincts, drives, and passions—for them to descend so that such a being now appeals to them particularly well, so that in a certain earthly life people say: “I do not want to return to the spiritual world; after I have left my physical body—from which one does, after all, emerge once more into a supersensible life—I want to incarnate as such a sub-sensible being. In return, I will then remain united with the Earth. I will no longer die; I will remain united with the Earth. I choose to be a sub-sensible being.”

[ 13 ] And in fact, as paradoxical as it sounds—one has to be amazed by this, since the Ahrimanic beings are, after all, extraordinarily clever— but they are always of the opinion—and this can be stated quite correctly—that they will be able to lure so many people into their ranks in this way that the Earth will one day be populated entirely by such Ahrimanic, subhuman beings. And through this, they want to make the Earth itself immortal, so that it will not disintegrate into the vastness of space.

[ 14 ] Thus, in our earthly human environment, we actually have two hosts: the host in the air, which seeks to make human beings moral but would lift them away from the earth, and the Ahrimanic beings immediately beneath the earth’s surface, who seek to pull human beings down, to keep them always bound to the earth

[ 15 ] These two types of entities exist in the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, and also in the ordinary physical realm of human beings. As long as a person does not live excessively according to instincts, passions, and desires, these entities coexist in such a way that they must get along with one another.

[ 16 ] With regard to the mineral kingdom, I would say that the deity who, for example, is called the Father God in the Christian religion, brought peace in ancient times to the minerals, plants, animals, and also to the outwardly animal-physical human being. Thus, in minerals, plants, animals, and also in that animal nature of human beings that is not elevated to the soul—where human beings do not allow themselves to be influenced by their instincts, desires, and passions—peace was established by the Father God in ancient times.

[ 17 ] So when you hold a crystal, a mineral, or a plant in your hand, you won’t notice that there is any conflict between these two kinds of entities. But the moment you consider the soul’s permeation of the human body, you will see that there is something at work here: these beings relate to one another in such a way that the Luciferic entities say to the Ahrimanic ones: “We promised the Father God that we would not quarrel or fight over the minerals, plants, animals, or even over human beings—as long as they were still unconscious, ancient beings who did not yet think for themselves and lived like animals—but when it comes to human beings who have attained self-consciousness, we will fight to the death.” — And it is precisely over human beings that a terrible war rages between the air-fire beings and the earth-water beings. And this is what one must look into. Today, humanity has made great strides in its understanding of the external natural world. Yes, in that realm the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings coexist. But human beings know nothing of what lives beyond the sensory world—of the supersensory nature and the subhuman nature. These two realms harbor beings who are waging this terrible battle for humanity, which I have described to you.

[ 18 ] The being referred to as Yahweh in the Old Testament—if I may use that term (as I explained at the beginning how I use such expressions)—has its seat in the Moon; that is to say, as a spiritual being in the cosmos, it belongs to that which finds its expression in the physical phenomena of the Moon. This lunar being, that is, Yahweh, now has the following task within the order of the worlds. Above all, if I may put it this way, it is charged with guiding down to Earth the human being who descends from the spiritual-soul world to clothe himself with a body. But this Yahweh entity also reserves the right to be involved with human beings on Earth, namely to regulate everything related to the forces of procreation. Thus, this Yahweh entity, which has its seat, so to speak, in the Moon, leads the human being down to Earth and seeks to govern through itself everything in the human being connected with the drives and instincts of the procreative nature. But the reproductive nature cannot be regulated on its own. It is interconnected with human beings’ other instincts and drives. And that is why the Yahweh Being needs assistants. And the beings that the Yahweh entity needs as helpers—so that, for example, the instincts in human beings related to eating and “drinking” are in harmony with the reproductive instincts, and so that the drives and instincts are regulated in general—these helper beings are found by Yahweh—if I may call him that—the moon god, in Mercury and Venus.

[ 19 ] So, in a sense, within the spiritual cosmos there is an alliance between the Moon—the Yahweh entity within the Moon and all that dwells there alongside Yahweh—and the entities on Mercury and Venus. The beings who are part of this alliance actually seek to control everything that is physical and blood-related within the human being—from the Moon, Mercury, and Venus. Human beings are not merely earthly beings; rather, influences from the cosmos play a role within them.

[ 20 ] If we now consider those beings whom I have previously called the Ahrimanic beings—who have their stronghold immediately beneath the Earth’s surface and who are beings of the Earth and of water— they stand in such a relationship to Yahweh, to the beings of Mercury, and to the beings of Venus that they have not yet become mature enough to reach these celestial bodies in the same way that Yahweh inhabits the Moon, or his helpers inhabit Mercury or Venus. They are condemned within the cosmic order not to have their abodes on the Moon, Venus, or Mercury, but beneath the Earth’s surface. You can therefore imagine that these beings, although they lack all morality, wage war not only against the air-fire beings but above all against Yahweh, the powers of Venus, and the powers of Mercury, and seek to wrest from Yahweh what is his rightful dominion. Yahweh is, after all, the regulator of instinctive human nature. But since he governs it from outside the Earth, human nature remains subject to a power other than the moral powers; nevertheless, it would not become immoral. It is precisely through Yahweh’s rightful rule that the human race on Earth has become what we know it to be. For this, the powers of the Moon, Mercury, and Venus were necessary.

[ 21 ] In opposition to the Yahweh lineage—that is, to human beings—these Ahrimanic entities establish this other lineage of which I have spoken to you. And an essential means for them is what I already described to you here last time. While a person is asleep, they approach him and tell him that good is evil and evil is good. The person absorbs this with terrifying ease while he sleeps and then incorporates it into his physical and etheric bodies. And these Ahrimanic beings believe they can achieve their goal precisely through these whisperings of the wicked evil, so that we can say: Human beings should actually be entirely dependent, with regard to their lower nature, on higher powers—the powers of the Moon, Venus, and Mercury. The lower nature is not in itself evil or base; it becomes so because the forces hostile to Yahweh penetrate into human beings in the manner described. Yahweh would have these beings manifest themselves only in the tides, in volcanic phenomena, and in earthquakes. But these entities make every effort to assert themselves within human beings as well, and are thus so entrenched that they not only launch attacks against the beings of air and fire, but primarily direct their attacks against Yahweh and his helpers on Venus and Mercury.

[ 22 ] Thus, humanity finds itself in a struggle that is led, on the one hand, by Yahweh and his hosts, who fight for justice throughout the universe. And on the other side stand the hosts of Ahriman, who far surpasses humanity in terms of his intelligence, who wishes to deny moral nature entirely, but in return would turn human beings into automatons of intelligence.

[ 23 ] There you have what is at work within the human being, starting from the bottom up, I might say, from the earth and water, and what thereby extends into the human being—since, after all, the human being must eat the products that come from the earth and water. The human being does not nourish himself from the air, nor from mere warmth either.

[ 24 ] On the other hand are the beings whose physical form consists of air and heat. They are just as immature as the beings hostile to Yahweh. But those beings who represent the state of maturity in contrast to them dwell on Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Thus, these beings of air and fire not only launch sorties against the Ahrimanic forces from their strongholds in the air, but they also fight against everything that Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are meant to exert upon human beings.

[ 25 ] Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn—the distant planets—have effects on human beings—that is, their spiritual entities have effects on human beings—that are felt primarily in the eyes, in the ears, in short, in the sense organs on the surface of the human body. While the Moon, Venus, and Mercury exert their effects within the human being, in the internal organs, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars exert their effects externally in the sense organs. The effects of Saturn, for example, are essentially centered in the human eye. These beings—that is, the Saturn beings, the Jupiter beings, and the Mars beings—seek to make human beings true earthly human beings; that is, they seek to give them senses that are properly attuned to a physical human organism and remain on the surface. They seek to give them nerves that extend from the senses and reach inward. Saturn provides the senses. Jupiter then provides the nerve extensions of the senses, and Mars is a force that, for example, gives rise to speech. Thus, these beings seek to bring everything that is on the surface of the human being to the human being. These senses and nerves are invaginations of the human skin inward.

[ 26 ] The beings of air and fire, of whom I have spoken to you, are now once again waging a bitter struggle against Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. They sit in their fortresses in the air and unleash their powers especially through lightning, through all that is fiery, and in the air. And it is they who would like to make the whole human being—as a physical being—such that only the eye on the outside, the ear, and the nose are allowed to be, just as he is meant to be on the surface. They would like to permeate the entire human being with this surface, so that the human being would do nothing but see and hear, so that he would neither eat nor drink, but only see and hear, and become an angelic being.

[ 27 ] Well, these beings—the beings of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn—do indeed behave quite properly in the external natural world—if I may use that term in reference to such exalted beings. They imbue what appears to us in the external natural world as mere nature with morality. They bring morality to human beings; it actually enters through the senses.

[ 28 ] But the beings of air and fire want to permeate human beings entirely with their sensory nature, so that simply by seeing with their senses, they see nothing other than what is moral. Thus, they want to turn them into moral automatons.

[ 29 ] And so, when you look around you in nature, you see: Everything that manifests through forces comes from the beings of Mars. What manifests through the laws of nature comes from the beings of Jupiter, and what is color and sound comes from the beings of Saturn. But these beings—the beings of air and fire—do not wish to let the whole human being become a physical body, but only a force, a law—that is, thought, color, and sound. They wish to completely refine him, to make him, as I said, an angelic being.

[ 30 ] As you can see, while in the outer natural world the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn coexist harmoniously and are kept in balance by the Sun, they wage a twofold struggle within human nature. First, the Ahrimanic and Luciferic beings fight against one another; second, however, the Luciferic beings combat everything outside the Sun—the Mars-like, Jupiter-like, and Saturn-like qualities—and in turn, the Ahrimanic beings combat everything Moon-like, Venus-like, and Mercury-like.

[ 31 ] Behind nature and within human beings, then, there is indeed a fierce struggle, and within this fierce struggle, human beings must win their progress and their freedom. In earlier times, humanity did this through the teachings of the ancient mysteries; in the present age, it must do so through what spiritual research can reveal about what lies beyond nature and beneath the human being. For ignorance regarding these matters would inevitably lead to the greatest ruin for humanity in the future.

[ 32 ] You can see from my description that those beings whom I have once again referred to here today as Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings are extraordinarily highly developed in certain respects: the Luciferic beings in terms of morality, and the Ahrimanic beings in terms of cleverness and intelligence. And yet it is the case that these beings on both sides believe, time and again, that they will achieve their goals. And time and again they begin to fight for these goals in the manner I have described to you today. Yet at the same time, in their efforts to achieve these goals, they experience disappointment on Earth on a vast scale. So that when, through the modern process of initiation, one encounters such Luciferic or Ahrimanic beings behind nature or within human beings, one finds them, on the one hand, in a state of constant triumphal euphoria. They press forward toward their goals, refuse to let go of them, and believe again and again in their victory. On the other hand, however, they are repeatedly disappointed by events on Earth. And this atmosphere of a certain triumphant frenzy and constant disappointment is actually what defines the life of this kind of being.

[ 33 ] And the following becomes apparent in detail. One can begin by drawing attention to how the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings are disappointed by the physical nature of human beings here on Earth. One gets the strongest impression of the disappointments of Ahriman and Lucifer when one spends time in hospitals or at the bedsides of the sick, and in mental institutions; for it is through both of these that Ahriman and Lucifer experience their profound disappointments. For these beings are waging a fierce struggle, as I have shown you, over the nature of the human being. But they will not fare well in terms of their goals if they achieve victory over one another within human nature.

[ 34 ] The victory that Ahriman achieves over the lunar deities, the deity of Venus, and the deity of Mercury is one thing, and the victory that the spirits of air and fire achieve over Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn is quite another. However, these are never complete victories. They become so only when they are reinforced by the successes these beings achieve against one another. But in reality, the successes these beings achieve against one another are, in the vast majority of cases, merely illusory successes—and hence the disappointment. For suppose the Ahrimanic forces succeed in winning a victory within the human physical body over the Luciferic forces—those forces that seek to permeate the human being entirely with what is meant to exist only on the surface in the senses—then, as a result of this victory of the Ahrimanic forces, the human being falls prey to illnesses such as tumors, carcinomas, or metabolic diseases such as diabetes.

[ 35 ] When these illnesses occur anywhere within a person’s physical nature, Ahriman has won a victory over Lucifer—a victory that, however, is linked to the temporary ruin of the person’s physical nature. Then this physical nature is of no use to Ahriman for tearing out the instincts and drives and forming his own race from them. From this you gain a view of illness that may seem paradoxical but is correct. In many cases, it is the only means available to the forces of good to save human beings from the clutches of Ahriman.

[ 36 ] And when Lucifer achieves a victory within human nature—that is, when Luciferic forces triumph over the Ahrimanic forces that seek to harden the human being and drag him down into their realm of mere earthly and watery beings—the human being succumbs to sensitive catarrhal illnesses or to states of insanity. Once again, this challenges Lucifer’s victory.

[ 37 ] That is why these Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces are constantly working with all their might to bring about their victories, yet they are left sad and disappointed at the bedsides of the sick, in hospitals, and in mental institutions. For there it becomes clear to them that, although they can fight, they cannot actually win.

[ 38 ] If you have insight into the etheric nature of the human being—not merely into the physical nature, but into the etheric nature—then you will find conditions there that lead to the influence of the Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces; for when the Luciferic forces prevail over the Ahrimanic forces in the etheric body, the human being becomes a habitual liar. But by becoming a habitual liar, the human being does not become moral; rather, he falls right out of the world into which Lucifer would like to draw him. Lucifer seemingly snatches the human being away from the earthly world; but instead of turning him into a moral automaton, he turns him into a liar. And as human beings become habitual liars—as this process of turning them into liars, paradoxical as it may sound, initially serves as a weapon for the forces of good to wrest them from Lucifer. For the fact that humans become liars can at least be rectified in the further course of karma, whereas, if Lucifer were to triumph, the human race would simply be lost, lifted up from the earth.

[ 39 ] And when Ahriman triumphs in the etheric body—when he triumphs or is close to triumph—then the human being becomes possessed, and is inwardly possessed by intelligence. But because he is inwardly possessed by intelligence, that intelligence remains within him. It then possesses him. It permeates his etheric body. And yet again, Ahriman cannot draw down the instincts and drives, because they have remained in the etheric body due to this possession.

[ 40 ] Thus, throughout a wide sphere, the success of falsehood and the success of obsession in human beings provide a constant reason for the Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces to succumb to their great disappointments.

[ 41 ] And again, if you look at the astral body and assume that the Ahrimanic forces are triumphing in it—or are close to triumphing—then a person can thereby become a savage egoist, completely self-centered. But by becoming wildly selfish in this way, he holds his instincts together within himself. Ahriman cannot draw them out. And in this way, it is precisely through the wildly selfish individuals that Ahriman’s prey escapes him.

[ 42 ] And again, if Lucifer triumphs—or is close to triumphing—then a person can, in their astral body, become what is called an “ego-less dreamer,” someone who is not really fully present. Such things do exist; at the very least, a person can be subject to such states temporarily. This, in turn, is a great disappointment for the Luciferic forces. So you see how many sources of disappointment there are for the Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces on Earth.

[ 43 ] But you can also see from this where humanity actually stands. Even in ancient times, when the ancient initiation mysteries existed, humanity was already engaged in this struggle behind the physical world. At that time, it was the messengers of the Father God who were the teachers of the mysteries—the first great teachers of the mysteries. The gurus were their disciples, and the chelas—the subordinate disciples—were the disciples of the gurus. But the highest gurus, of course, received their teachings directly from the messengers of God, from the messengers of the Father God. And because illnesses, as I have described to you, are the sources of great disappointments for Ahriman and Lucifer—because Lucifer and Ahriman are, so to speak, numbed in their disappointments by these illnesses—no matter how immensely intelligent and moral the Ahrimanic and Luciferic beings may be, they succumb precisely because their consciousness is particularly clear, bright—they are all the more susceptible to this clouding—the divine messengers were able, undisturbed by Ahriman and Lucifer, to find remedies for illnesses, just as I told you last time: how to cure Saturn-related ailments with lunar remedies and the like.

[ 44 ] That was in the ancient mysteries, where the messengers of the Father God could directly rescue people from the confusion into which they had been plunged by the struggle behind nature and within humanity, of which I have told you.

[ 45 ] In modern times, the confusion that humanity faces is no less than in ancient times. And the fact that humanity, with its ordinary consciousness, is unaware of this does not matter; the confusion is there nonetheless. Human beings are torn back and forth in the struggle that is being waged around them, behind nature and beneath them.

[ 46 ] And when one then crosses the threshold, looks consciously into the spiritual world and into this terrible struggle, when one observes this bewildering interplay surrounding human beings—behind nature and beneath it— then one looks in vain in the present for those messengers of God who, for example, placed the caduceus in the hands of the ancient mystery physicians and provided similar symbols for healing. One is completely at a loss in the face of that immense struggle being waged between the backward-remaining higher beings—the backward-remaining beings of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn—and the backward-remaining lower beings—the beings of the Moon, Venus, and Mercury. And indeed, when you cross the threshold, you are thrust into this terrible battle between the higher powers and the lower powers. Like two opposing armies, the air and fire beings—who have gone astray as Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars beings—face off against the earth and water beings—who have gone astray as Moon, Venus, and Mercury beings. And the battle rages beyond the threshold in such a terrible manner that the Sun first becomes entirely fiery, then is darkened, and finally appears to one as a dreadful black disk.

[ 47 ] This was not the case with the ancient initiates. They were able to see right through the pane that had turned black. And it was precisely from this blackened pane that the Father’s messengers came to meet them—those who, for example, were the bearers of healing in ancient times.

[ 48 ] We modern people cross the threshold, and there, indeed, lies this terrible struggle. The sun turns red, the sun turns black, but it remains a black disk. And we are cast back and, in order to find our way in this bewildering struggle, must seek on Earth itself.

[ 49 ] There, there we are directed toward the Christ, who then stands there as a spiritual being who has united himself with the Earth through the Mystery of Golgotha, and says to us: Do not despair that the sun has turned black; it has turned black because I, the Sun God, am no longer within it, but have descended and united myself with the Earth. — And when one then approaches Christ with all one’s inner devotion, with a heightened understanding of what comes precisely through knowledge of the Mystery of Golgotha, the sun does not indeed become bright again—it remains a black disk—but it begins to make everything Christ says audible to one, and one experiences Christ’s kinship with the sun. The sun, so to speak, although it remains a black disk, becomes the being that enables one to listen to Christ, once one has first prepared oneself through a proper spiritual relationship with him.

[ 50 ] And it is Christ who then shows human beings the means by which to reconcile the higher powers with the lower powers; how to reconcile that which lies above the black solar disk—in those powers that manifest themselves as beings of air and fire around our Earth—with that which manifests itself as lower beings. And it is precisely as human beings that we then gain guiding principles both for healing illnesses and for understanding all the other evils that Lucifer and Ahriman constantly bring about. And through the power of Christ and the power of the Mystery of Golgotha, one comes to be able to say—I would call it—the miraculous: “You creatures of Ahriman and Lucifer, you will be disappointed by the evils that must arise on Earth through you, precisely as you achieve your victories, your partial victories.” These disappointments of yours must come again and again, for time and again you will produce the sick, the possessed, the liars, the selfish, and those devoid of the “I.” And so you will rush from ecstatic joy to the saddest of disappointments.

[ 51 ] But when the earthly human being finds the right relationship to Christ, even this is given to him—the ability not to despair at the very moment when he encounters the despair of beings higher than himself, beings who, however, wish to follow a different path than those divine beings to whom humanity belongs and to whom it must remain faithful as its earthly journey continues. The center of these divine beings is precisely the Christ Being, who once spoke to the ancient initiates through the solar disk, and who now continues to speak to us from the Earth with the help of the Sun; so that when we speak of the Christ today, we speak of the One who can stand by our side on Earth as the Guide who leads us out of the terrible conflict between the Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces—both among themselves and against the higher and lower divine worlds.