The Rudolf Steiner Archive

First Lecture

[ 1 ] Today I would like to speak to you in connection with some of the things I brought up here before my trip to Vienna. I would like to mention how—let’s say—what is constantly happening in the world behind the veil of the sensory world, apart from the physical-sensory processes, can be expressed in figurative terms. One must speak of these things in figurative terms, but this figurative language corresponds entirely to reality. Outwardly, with regard to the events accessible to human sensory observation, we are living today in a time of severe trials for humanity—trials that are bound to become even more severe. We are living in a time when a whole host of old forms of civilization—to which people still cling mistakenly—will sink into the abyss, and when the demand will arise with great force that people must adapt to something new. One cannot—as I have often stated—awaken any kind of optimistic hope in the human soul when speaking of what is unfolding in the depths of time, initially in preparation for humanity’s outer physical life. But one cannot really pass judgment today—judgment that could be valid in any way—on the significance of what is happening externally without also looking at what is taking place behind the veil of the senses: the supersensible world events that are determining and guiding these developments.

[ 2 ] The fact is that when a person looks with his physical eye, his other physical senses are activated and he becomes attentive to what is in his surroundings, they perceive the physical atmosphere of the Earth, embedded within it are the beings of the various realms, and within this entire milieu takes place everything that occurs in wind and weather throughout the course of the seasons. So the fact that a person has all of this before them is the external reality when they expose their senses to the outside world.

[ 3 ] But behind the atmosphere—behind the sunlit atmosphere—lies, perceptible to what might be called the spiritual senses, another world; one might say, a world higher than the sensory world, a world in which, within a kind of light—a kind of spiritual light, a kind of astral light—spiritual entities and spiritual realities shine forth and unfold, which are truly no less significant for the overall development of the world and of humanity than what unfolds historically in the outer atmosphere on the Earth’s outer surface.

[ 4 ] Now, if someone who is able to penetrate such realms today were to wander through the realms of astral light—just as one might wander through forests or mountains—then, just as one finds signposts at crossroads when hiking, they would also find signposts in this astral light—I would say, signposts inscribed with spiritual writing. These signposts have a very special characteristic. Even for someone who, let’s say, can read in the astral light, they are not readily understandable. In the spiritual world and its communications, things are not arranged in such a way that they are made as convenient as possible for one; rather, whatever reveals itself to one in the spiritual world presents a riddle. And one must first discover, through inner inquiry and inner experience of this and much else, what an inscription on such a spiritual signpost means.

[ 5 ] And so, especially now—though this has been the case for decades, but particularly so during this time of severe trials—one can read a remarkable saying in the astral light while wandering spiritually through the spirit realm. It resembles a prosaic comparison, but because of its inner meaning, the prosaic in this case will not remain prosaic. Just as one finds such signposts by which to follow one’s path—just as here and there in more poetic regions one finds this or that inscribed on signposts—so too do significant spiritual signposts appear before one in the astral light. I would like to say: Time and again, in constant repetition, one finds precisely the following saying, which is inscribed in the astral light of our time with highly significant spiritual script:

O man,
You shape it to serve you,
You reveal it according to its material value
In many of your works.
Yet it will only be your salvation
When the supreme power
Of its spirit is revealed to you.

[ 6 ] As I said, such things—which are inscribed in the astral light to point people toward what is significant—present themselves at first as a kind of riddle that must be solved, so that people may awaken their soul forces.

[ 7 ] In the coming days, we will now contribute some insights into the interpretation of this saying, which is actually simple but significant for humanity today.

[ 8 ] Let us recall once more how, in various reflections here, we have brought the cycle of the year before our minds. At first, a person must observe the course of the year purely from the outside, so that when spring comes, they see nature sprouting and budding; they see plant growth, and later the blossoms of the plants, but also all other life welling up from the earth in sprouting, budding life. All of this intensifies as summer approaches; in summer, it all reaches its peak. It begins to fade and wither away when autumn arrives. It dies off in the bosom of the earth when winter sets in.

[ 9 ] This cycle of the year, which people in earlier times celebrated with festivals because they were guided by a more instinctive form of consciousness, has another aspect as well. That, too, has already been mentioned here. During winter, the Earth is, so to speak, united with its elemental spirits. The elemental spirits withdraw into the bosom of the Earth, dwelling there among the plant roots that are preparing for growth and the other natural beings that reside in the Earth’s bosom during winter. Then, when spring arrives, the Earth, so to speak, exhales this elemental essence of hers; the elemental spirits rise as if from a tomb, ascending into the atmosphere. While they have absorbed the inner laws of the Earth during the winter, as spring approaches—and especially as summer draws near—they increasingly incorporate into their very being and activity those laws imposed upon them by the stars of the cosmos and their movements. And when midsummer arrives, there is a teeming life and activity outside in the Earth’s atmosphere among the elemental beings—who had been still and quiet beneath the snow cover during the winter—as they surge and swirl in movements and mutual relationships determined by the laws of planetary motion, the laws governing the structure of the fixed stars, and so on. And when autumn comes, these elemental beings, so to speak, return once more toward the Earth. Then they approach the Earth again, gradually taking on the laws of the Earth more and more, so that they may return once more—to be, as it were, inhaled by the Earth during the winter season, when they will once again be still and quiet in the bosom of the Earth.

[ 10 ] Anyone who is able to witness this cycle of the year feels that their entire human life is immensely enriched by such an experience. People of the present—and indeed those of a now rather distant past—actually experience only the physical-etheric processes of their own bodies, that which lies within the skin, and even that in a rather dull, unconscious way. They experience their breathing; they experience their blood circulation. Yet what unfolds outside in the wind and weather throughout the course of the year—what lives in the outpouring of the seed forces, in the fruiting of the earth’s forces, in the radiance of the sun’s forces— all of that is, for the totality of human life—even if people are not conscious of it today—no less significant, no less decisive than what, for my part, takes place as breathing and blood circulation within their skin. Just as the sun shines upon any region of the earth, whatever it brings about there through its warmth and its radiation—human beings experience that as well. And when a person takes in anthroposophy in the true sense—not reading it like a sensational novel, but reading it in such a way that what is communicated to them through anthroposophy becomes part of their inner life—then they gradually train their heart and soul to share in the experience of what is unfolding out there throughout the course of the year. And just as one experiences the course of the day in the freshness of the morning, in the readiness for work in the late morning, in the onset of hunger, the onset of fatigue in the evening—just as one senses the inner processes, the inner weaving and life of forces and matter within one’s skin—so, by taking to heart the anthroposophical ideas that differ entirely from the description of sensory events, one can prepare this mind so that it becomes truly receptive and sensitive to what weaves and lives throughout the course of the year. And then one can deepen and enrich this shared experience of the course of the year more and more; then one can truly bring about a state in which one does not, so to speak, go through life as a human being within one’s own skin in a rather sour manner, letting external things pass one by, but rather one can experience it in such a way that one blooms within one’s own soul with every flower, that one witnesses the blooming of the flower, that one witnesses the opening of the buds, that one experiences, in the dewdrop from which the sun’s rays glisten, in that glistening light, this wonderful mystery of the day, which can meet us precisely in that glistening dewdrop in the morning. In this way, one can transcend the philistine, prosaic experience of the external world—which is expressed by putting on a winter coat in winter, lighter clothing in summer, and taking an umbrella when it rains. Only when one transcends the prosaic and enters into this shared experience of the weaving and unfolding of natural phenomena and facts does the cycle of the year become truly understood.

[ 11 ] But then, too, when spring sweeps across the world and summer approaches, one is fully present—with one’s heart and soul—as life sprouts and unfolds, as the elemental spirits buzz and fly outside along the paths imposed upon them by the movement of the planets. Then, during the height of summer, one lives oneself out into a cosmic life—a life that, while it does indeed dampen the immediate inner life of the human being, leads the person outward into their own experience; one might say, into a cosmic waking sleep that, during the height of summer, leads them into a shared experience of planetary processes.

[ 12 ] Today, it is the case that people only truly believe they are living in nature when they witness things sprouting, budding, growing, germinating, and bearing fruit. The fact is that people today, even if they cannot engage with it or witness the sprouting and fruiting firsthand, still have more heart and mind for these processes than for the withering, the withering away, and the dying off that come with autumn.

[ 13 ] But in truth, we only deserve to witness the fruiting, the growing, the sprouting, and the germinating if we can also witness, as summer draws to a close and autumn approaches, the life that is withering, dying, sinking, and fading—the life that comes with autumn. And if, in a cosmic waking sleep at the height of summer, we ascend with the elemental beings into the realm where planetary activity unfolds externally and then also within our inner soul, then we must also descend beneath the frost of winter, beneath the blanket of snow, to the mysteries in the earth’s bosom during the height of winter, and we must participate in nature’s dying and withering as autumn begins.

[ 14 ] But then, if a person were to witness this withering alone, just as he witnesses growth and sprouting, he would, in a sense, be able to do nothing but die along with it within himself. For it is precisely when one becomes sensitive to what mysteriously weaves itself in nature—and thereby actively experiences the sprouting, fruiting, and germinating—that one also vividly experiences what takes place in the outer world when autumn sets in. But it would be disheartening for human beings if they could experience this only in the form of nature, if they were to gain an awareness of nature only regarding the mysteries of autumn and winter, just as they naturally gain an awareness of nature regarding the mysteries of spring and summer. But when the events of fall and winter approach, when the Michaelmas season arrives, then a person must indeed sensitively experience the withering, the dying, the numbing, and the killing—but they must not, as they do when the height of summer approaches, surrender to an awareness of nature. On the contrary, they must devote themselves precisely to self-consciousness. During the times when the outer natural world is dying, they must set the power of self-consciousness against that of nature.

[ 15 ] And then the figure of Michael stands there once again. And when human beings, inspired by anthroposophy, enter into such enjoyment of nature, into such an awareness of nature—and thereby also into such an autumnal self-awareness—then the image of Michael with the dragon will stand there once again in all its majestic splendor; then there will stand before them what a person feels, as autumn approaches, regarding the triumph of self-consciousness over nature-consciousness. And this will happen when a person is able not only to experience an inner spring and summer, but also to experience the withering, dying inner autumn and winter. And in the experience of this withering autumn and winter, the image of Michael and the dragon will once again be able to stand as a powerful imagination, as a call to humanity for inner action.

[ 16 ] But then, for the person who, drawing on today’s spiritual insight, struggles to grasp this image, the image—as he feels it—will express something truly powerful. Then, as midsummer begins to wane and wanes more and more, as July, August, and September approach after the time of St. John, the person will become aware of how they have lived themselves out into the waking sleep of inner planetary experience with the elemental beings of the Earth, and they will become aware of what this actually means within them when they experience it. It signifies an inner process of combustion, which we must not imagine as an external process of combustion; for all those processes—those events that take on a specific form externally—also continue to live on within the human organism, though they take on a different character there.

[ 17 ] And so it is indeed that, as a person goes through the year, ever-changing processes take place within their organism. What occurs during the height of summer is an inner interweaving with what—I would say—is externally, in a grossly material sense, symbolized by sulfur. This is an inner process of sulfurization that a person experiences in their physical-etheric being as they take in the summer sun and its effects. The material sulfur that a person carries within themselves—which is useful to them—has a completely different significance for them during the height of summer than it does during the cold winter months or the budding spring season. The sulfuric element within the human being is like a combustion process during midsummer. And it is part of the development of human nature throughout the course of the year that, in a sense, this sulfuric process within the human being reaches a kind of particularly heightened state during midsummer. Matter in the various beings truly holds other secrets than materialistic science can even imagine.

[ 18 ] Thus, in human beings, everything physical-etheric is, to use Jakob Böhme’s expression, “glowed through” by an inner sulfur fire during the height of summer. This may remain in the subconscious, because it is a gentle, intimate process. But even though this process is gentle and intimate—and therefore imperceptible to ordinary consciousness—it is, as is always the case with such processes, of immense and far-reaching significance for the events in the cosmos.

[ 19 ] This process of sulfurization, which takes place within the human body during the height of summer, though mild, gentle, and imperceptible to humans themselves, signifies something immense for the evolution of the cosmos. Much happens in the cosmos when, in summer, human beings glow with a sulfuric light from within. It is not only the fireflies that glow for the human physical eye at St. John’s Day. Viewed from other planets, the inner being of the human being glows for the etheric eye of other planetary beings at St. John’s Day, becoming a luminous being. This is the process of sulfurization. In midsummer, human beings begin to shine out into outer space for the other planetary beings just as brightly as the fireflies in the meadow glow with their light on St. John’s Day.

[ 20 ] But what is actually of majestic beauty in relation to cosmic observation—for it is a magnificent astral light in which human beings shine out into the cosmos during midsummer—that which is of majestic beauty there is also what enables the Ahrimanic power to approach human beings in particular. For the Ahrimanic power is immensely closely related to these substances within the human being that are undergoing a process of sulfurization. And on the one hand, one sees how, as it were, human beings shine out into the cosmos in the light of St. John; yet on the other hand, the dragon-like serpentine forms of Ahriman wind their way through these human beings who shine out into the cosmos in astral light, seeking to ensnare them, to entwine them, to pull them down into the realm of dreams, sleep, and the subconscious. Thus, through this game of illusion that Ahriman plays with the luminous, cosmically radiant human beings, people are to become dreamers of the world, so that through this dreamlike quality they may become prey to the Ahrimanic forces. All of this also has significance in the cosmos.

[ 21 ] And when, especially in the height of summer, meteorites fall from a certain constellation in mighty meteor showers—when cosmic iron falls to Earth—then this cosmic meteoric iron, which contains such an immensely powerful healing force, holds within it the weapon of the gods against Ahriman, who seeks to entwine himself like a dragon around the radiant human beings. And the power that falls to Earth in the meteorites, in the meteoric iron—that is the cosmic force with which the higher gods seek to defeat the Ahrimanic powers as autumn approaches. And what unfolds there in majestic grandeur out in the cosmos—when the August swarms of meteors radiate into the human radiations in the astral light—that which takes place so magnificently out there has its gentle, seemingly small—though only spatially small—counterpart in what occurs within human blood. This human blood is truly not permeated in such a material way as modern science imagines, but is everywhere permeated by spiritual-soul impulses, radiated through by that which, as iron, streams into the blood—that which, combating anxiety, fear, and hatred, integrates itself into the blood as iron. The processes that take place within every blood cell when the iron compound enters it are, on a very small, minute scale, exactly the same as what occurs when a meteorite hurtles through the air, glowing and radiating. Meteor effects within the human being are the infusions of iron that occur for the sake of the blood and its liberation from fear. For it is a liberation from fear, a dispelling of dread, that radiates into the body with the iron.

[ 22 ] And just as the gods fight the spirit with their meteorites, which seeks to radiate fear across the entire earth through its serpentine form—by allowing iron to radiate into this atmosphere of fear, which is most intense as autumn approaches or as midsummer draws to a close—the same thing the gods do occurs within the human being, as the blood becomes infused with iron. One can only understand all these things if, on the one hand, one grasps their inner spiritual significance, and if, on the other hand, one recognizes the connection between what sulfur formation in the human being is, what iron formation in the human being is, and what exists in the cosmos.

[ 23 ] The person who can look up when a shooting star streaks across the sky may say to himself with reverence toward the gods: What happens out there in the vastness of space is constantly happening within you on an atomic scale; these shooting stars fall as iron is formed in every blood cell: your life is full of shooting stars, full of tiny shooting stars. — And this inner shower of shooting stars—which actually represents the life of the blood from another perspective—this inner shower of shooting stars becomes particularly significant as autumn approaches, when the sulfur process is at its peak. Then, when this radiance I have described—this transformation of the human being into a firefly—is present, the counterforce is at work as millions of sparkling blood meteors swarm within.

[ 24 ] This is the connection between the inner human being and the universe. And then we see how, particularly from the nervous system that permeates the human body—especially at this time of year, as autumn approaches—a powerful radiation of sulfur takes place toward the brain. One can, so to speak, see the whole human being glowing with a sulfuric light, like a phantom, as autumn approaches.

[ 25 ] But the meteor showers present in the blood life radiate into this bluish-yellow sulfur atmosphere. That is the other phantom. While the phantom of sulfur rises like passing clouds from the lower regions of the human being up toward the head, the iron formation radiates straight out from the head, like swarms of meteors pouring over into the living existence of the blood.

[ 26 ] This is how people are as the Michaelmas season approaches. And they must learn to make use, in their consciousness, of the meteoric power of their blood. They must learn to celebrate the Feast of Michael by transforming it into a festival of freedom from fear, a festival of fearlessness, a festival of inner initiative and inner strength—by making the Feast of Michael a festival of remembrance of selfless self-awareness.

[ 27 ] Just as we celebrate the birth of the Savior at Christmas, just as we celebrate the death and resurrection of the Savior at Easter, and just as we celebrate the cosmic outpouring of human souls into the \ world, so too should one celebrate at Michaelmas—if the Michaelmas festival is to be truly understood—that which lives spiritually in the processes of sulfurization and meteorization within the human being, which, particularly in its full soul-spiritual significance, is meant to stand before human consciousness at Michaelmas. So that a person says to themselves: You become the master of this process, which otherwise unfolds from the realm of nature without your awareness, when you—just as you bow in gratitude to the birth of the Savior at Christmas, just as you experience the Easter season with deep, inner soulful feeling, you experience at this autumn Michaelmas festival how everything within you that is to develop—away from complacency and fear, and toward inner initiative, toward free, strong, and courageous will in the human being—is to grow. The festival of strong will—that is what should be brought to the fore on the Michaelmas festival. If this is so, if knowledge of nature unites in this way with true spiritual self-awareness in human beings, then the Michaelmas festival will attain its true character, its true color.

[ 28 ] Therefore, before humanity can even think of celebrating Michaelmas, a renewal of the entire state of the soul is truly necessary, for it is precisely this renewal of the entire state of the soul that is to be commemorated on Michaelmas. Not a festival to be observed outwardly or in a manner similar to conventional festivals, but a festival that renews the entire inner being—this is what the Michaelmas Festival must become if it is to be observed with dignity.

[ 29 ] Then, from everything I have described, the once-majestic image of Michael and the dragon emerges anew. But then this image of Michael and the dragon takes shape for us out of the cosmos. Then the dragon itself takes shape for us, forming its body from bluish-yellow sulfuric currents. We see the figure of the dragon shimmering and radiating—forming like a cloud from the sulfur fumes—with Michael rising above it, holding his sword aloft.

[ 30 ] But we depict correctly, we paint correctly, only when we capture the atmosphere in which Michael unleashes his glory and power against the dragon—when we fill the space not with indifferent clouds, but with sweeping swarms of iron meteorites that, through the power radiating from Michael’s heart, form and fuse together into Michael’s iron sword, with which he defeats the dragon.

[ 31 ] If one understands what is happening in the universe and among human beings, then the cosmos itself paints from its own forces. Then one does not simply smear on this or that color out of human whim; rather, one paints the world in harmony with the divine forces as it unfolds its essence—the entire essence of Michael with the dragon, just as it may come to mind. As a renewal of the ancient images, it can be painted from a direct perception of the cosmos. What is depicted then is what actually is, and not what individual people, in their fantasies, might imagine today when they think of the image of Michael with the dragon. Then, however, people will understand, reflect with understanding, and also live toward autumn in the course of the year in accordance with their mood, feelings, and will. Then, at the beginning of autumn on Michaelmas, the image of Michael with the dragon will stand as that which, in the events of our time, is meant to act as a powerful call to action, as a powerfully inspiring force within human beings. And then people will understand how this points to something in which the entire fate—perhaps even the tragedy—of our age is symptomatically played out.

[ 32 ] Over the course of the last three to four centuries, we have discovered a magnificent natural science that operates in the material realm and has given rise to a magnificent, comprehensive technology. We have seen this technology unfold, in particular, over the last three to four centuries in what has been possible to do with the most abundant material we find on Earth. We have learned to shape from the iron of the earth almost everything that is most essential and most significant that humanity has created and produced in the materialistic age. We look at our locomotives; we look into our industrial sites; everywhere we see how, with iron—and with steel, which is, after all, merely transformed iron—we have built this entire material culture, which is, in fact, founded everywhere upon iron. And the ways in which iron has been used symptomatically express how we have built our entire worldview, our entire life, out of matter—and how we still intend to continue building it out of matter.

[ 33 ] But that leads humanity downwards. He can only be saved from what is to come if he begins the process of spiritualization right here in this realm, if he ascends through the atmospheric realm toward spiritualization, if he is led to look—from the iron that is processed into locomotives in the steel mills— to now look up to the meteoric iron that shoots down from the cosmos to Earth—for this outer material is the very substance from which the Michael force is formed. Humanity must succeed in perceiving this profound significance: Here on Earth, in the age of materialism, you have used iron as your conception of matter itself dictated. Just as you must transform your conception of matter from the natural sciences into the spiritual sciences through further development, so too must you rise from what iron has been to you to a deeper understanding of meteoric iron—the iron of Michael’s sword. Then salvation will come to you from what you can accomplish there. That, my dear friends, is contained in the saying:

O man,

You shape it to serve you,
You reveal it according to its material value
In many of your works.
Yet it will only be your salvation
When it is revealed to you
The supreme power of its spirit

[ 34 ] the Michael Power—with the sword that spontaneously coalesces in the cosmos from meteoric iron when, within material culture, humanity is able to spiritualize the power of iron into the power of Michael’s iron, which grants it self-awareness in contrast to mere awareness of nature.

[ 35 ] You have seen that the most important demand of our time—the Michael Demand—is precisely what is contained in this motto in the astral light.