The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Ninth Lecture

[ 1 ] Since we are now gathered together for the last time in this conference—which is intended to generate powerful and important impulses for the anthroposophical movement—let me structure this final lecture in such a way that, in its inner spirit and impulse, it follows on from the various perspectives that this series of lectures has offered us, while also, in a certain sense, I would say, in a way that speaks to our feelings, point toward the future—namely, the future of the anthroposophical endeavor.

[ 2 ] When one looks out at the world today—as has been the case for years now—one sees an extraordinary amount of destructive potential. Forces are at work that give us a sense of the abysses into which Western civilization is still heading. But one might say: If one looks specifically at those people who, in a sense, hold the position of spiritual leadership in the most diverse areas of life, one will notice how these people are caught up in a terrible slumber. — They think something like this—and until recently, most people probably thought this way: Up until the 19th century, humanity was childlike and primitive in terms of its insights and views. Then modern science emerged in a wide variety of fields, and now there is something that must surely be upheld as the truth for all eternity.

[ 3 ] People who think this way are actually living in tremendous arrogance; they just don’t realize it. In contrast, however, there are sometimes glimpses among people today that things are not, after all, as I have just described them—as being the opinion of the majority.

[ 4 ] Some time ago, when I was able to give those lectures in Germany that were organized by Wolff’s office—and which drew an exceptionally large audience, so that many people began to realize just how much anthroposophy is actually in demand— amid so many silly opposing voices, one stood out—one that, in terms of content, was not much wiser than the others, but which nevertheless revealed a curious insight. It consisted of a newspaper article that referred to one of the lectures I was to give in Berlin. A newspaper commentator said: When one listens to something like this—as I presented it at that time in that Berlin lecture—one would surely take notice that not only on Earth—I am quoting roughly from the article—but throughout the entire cosmos, something is happening that calls upon people to embrace a different spirituality than existed before. One can see that now, so to speak, the forces of the cosmos—not merely earthly impulses—are demanding something from human beings; a kind of revolution in the cosmos, the result of which must be the striving for a new spirituality.

[ 5 ] Such a voice was, after all, present, and it was actually quite remarkable. For it is indeed true: What must provide the proper impulse for what is now to emanate from Dornach—as I have emphasized these past few days from a wide variety of perspectives—must be an impulse not sprung from the earth, but an impulse sprung from the spiritual world. Let us develop here the strength to follow impulses from the spiritual world. That is why, in these evening lectures during this Christmas conference, I have spoken of the manifold impulses that have been present in historical development, so that hearts may open to receiving spiritual impulses that are first to flow into the earthly world—impulses that are not to be drawn from the earthly world itself. For everything that has truly sustained the earthly world up to now has sprung from the spiritual world. And if we are to accomplish anything fruitful for the earthly world, the impulses for this must be drawn from the spiritual world.

[ 6 ] This, my dear friends, prompts us to point out how the inspiration we are to carry forward from this conference into our future work must be accompanied by a great sense of responsibility.

[ 7 ] Let us take a few minutes to reflect on the great responsibility that this conference has placed upon us. In recent decades, one could have passed by various personalities with a sense of the spiritual world, observing them spiritually and receiving bitter feelings from this spiritual observation regarding the future fate of humanity on Earth. One could pass by one’s fellow human beings on Earth in the way that is possible in the spirit realm, and observe these people when, while asleep, they have left their physical and etheric bodies and are dwelling in the spiritual world with their I and their astral body. Indeed, undertaking journeys through the destinies of the I’s and astral bodies over the past decades, while people slept, was itself the cause of experiences that point to grave responsibilities for those who are able to know these things. These souls, who had left their physical and etheric bodies from the moment they fell asleep until they awoke, were then often seen approaching the Guardian of the Threshold.

[ 8 ] This guardian of the threshold to the spiritual world has, in the course of human evolution, appeared in people’s consciousness in the most diverse ways. Many legends and myths—for it is in such forms that the most important things are preserved, not in the form of historical tradition—many legends and myths point to how, in ancient times, this or that individual encountered the Guardian of the Threshold and received instruction from him on how to enter the spiritual world and return again to the physical world. For any true entry into the spiritual world must be accompanied by the possibility of being able to return at any moment to the physical world and to stand firmly on one’s own two feet there as a thoroughly practical, level-headed person—not as a dreamer, not as a fanciful mystic.

[ 9 ] This is essentially what has been demanded of the Keeper of the Threshold throughout all the millennia of human striving toward the spiritual world. But especially in the last third of the 19th century, one hardly saw anyone who approached the Keeper of the Threshold while awake. All the more so, however, in our time, when it is historically incumbent upon all of humanity to pass the Guardian of the Threshold in some form or another; all the more so, as I said, one finds during corresponding journeys into the spiritual world how the sleeping souls, as “I”-s and astral bodies, approach the Guardian of the Threshold. These are the meaningful images one can perceive today: the solemn Guardian of the Threshold, surrounded by groups of sleeping human souls who, in the waking state, lack the strength to approach this Guardian of the Threshold, but who do approach him while they sleep.

[ 10 ] Then, when one sees the scene unfolding there, a thought arises that is directly connected to what I would like to call the emergence of a necessary, great responsibility. The souls who approach the Guardian of the Threshold in this sleeping state demand—with the consciousness that a person possesses in sleep (which remains unconscious or subconscious to the waking mind)—admission into the spiritual world, the crossing over the threshold. And in countless cases, one then hears the voice of the solemn Keeper of the Threshold: “For your own good, you must not cross the threshold. You must not gain entry into the spiritual world. You must return.” For if the Keeper of the Threshold were to grant such souls entry into the spiritual world without further ado, they would cross the threshold, they would enter the spiritual world with the concepts handed down to them by today’s schools, today’s education, and today’s civilization—with the concepts and ideas with which people today must grow up between the age of six and, essentially, the end of their earthly lives.

[ 11 ] These concepts and ideas have a peculiar characteristic: if one enters the spiritual world with them—as one has come to regard them through present-day civilization and education—one becomes spiritually paralyzed. And one would return to the physical world in a state of mental and intellectual emptiness. If the Keeper of the Threshold did not seriously turn these souls away—turn away many of the souls of people today—if he were to let them pass into the spiritual world, then when they returned upon awakening, upon that decisive awakening, they would have the feeling: “I cannot think; my thoughts do not take hold of my brain; I must go through the world without thoughts.” — For such is the world of abstract ideas that people today attach to everything: one can enter the spiritual world with them, but not return from it with them. And when one sees this scene—which, in truth, more souls experience in sleep today than is generally believed—one says to oneself: Oh, if only we could protect these souls from having to experience in death what they experience in sleep. — For if the state experienced before the Guardian of the Threshold were to persist long enough—that is, if human civilization were to remain for a long time under the influence of what is taught in schools today and preserved through civilization—then sleep would become life. Human souls would pass through the gate of death into the spiritual world, but would be unable to bring the power of ideas back into their next earthly life. For one can enter the spiritual world with today’s thoughts, but not emerge from it with them. One can only emerge from it in a state of spiritual paralysis.

[ 12 ] You see, modern civilization can be grounded in this form of spiritual life, which has been cultivated for so long, but life itself cannot be grounded in it. This civilization might continue for a while. While awake, souls would be unaware of the Guardian of the Threshold; while asleep, they would be repelled by him so as not to be paralyzed; and ultimately, this would result in the birth of a future human race that would show no intellect, no ability to apply ideas to life in this future earthly existence, and thinking—life in ideas—would vanish from the Earth. A sickly, purely instinctive human race would be forced to populate the Earth. Only negative feelings and emotions—devoid of the guiding power of ideas—would take hold in human development. Indeed, it is true that not only in the manner already described—through the observation of the soul standing before the Keeper of the Threshold, unable to gain entry into the spiritual world—does a sad picture present itself to the spiritual observer, but also in another respect.

[ 13 ] If one takes a human being—one who has emerged not from Western civilization but from Eastern civilization—along on that journey I have described, during which one can observe the sleeping human souls before the Keeper of the Threshold, if one takes such an Eastern human being along, then one can hear them utter words of the spirit that sound like a terrible accusation against the entire Western civilization: “Do you see? If this continues, by the time the people living today reappear in a new incarnation on Earth, the Earth will have been reduced to barbarism.” People will live without ideas, guided solely by instinct. You have brought things to this point because you have strayed from the ancient spirituality of the East.

[ 14 ] Indeed, when it comes to what it means to be human, precisely such a glimpse into the spiritual world—as I have described it—can be a testament to a deep sense of responsibility. And here in Dornach there must be a place where, for those who wish to hear it, one can speak of all the important, direct experiences in the spiritual world. There must be a place here where the strength is found not merely to point, within the speculative, dialectical-empirical scientific mindset of the present, to the fact that here and there are such small traces of the spiritual; rather, if Dornach is to fulfill its mission, then here one must speak openly about what takes place in the spiritual world historically, about what takes place in the spiritual world as impulses that then enter into natural existence and govern nature; in Dornach, people must be able to hear about real experiences, real forces, and real beings of the spiritual world. Here must be the School of True Spiritual Science. And from now on, we must not shy away from the demands of today’s scientific rigor, which, as I have described, leads people, as if asleep, before the serious guardians of the threshold. One must, so to speak, be able to gain strength in Dornach to truly face—in a spiritual sense—the spiritual world eye to eye and to learn about it.

[ 15 ] Therefore, I do not intend to launch into dialectical tirades here about the inadequacies of contemporary theories of science; rather, I felt compelled to draw attention to the situation in which human beings find themselves vis-à-vis the Guardian of the Threshold as a result of these theories of science and their ramifications in ordinary schools. If, at this conference, each of us has now sincerely acknowledged this to our own soul, then this Christmas conference will send a powerful impulse into our souls—an impulse that can then carry these souls forth to powerful action, as humanity needs today, so that the next incarnation may find people who are truly able to encounter the Keeper of the Threshold, that is, so that civilization may become such that it itself, as a civilization, can stand before the Keeper of the Threshold.

[ 16 ] Compare today’s civilization with earlier civilizations. In all earlier civilizations, there were ideas and concepts that first ascended to the supersensible world, to the gods, to the world where things are conceived, created, and brought forth; then, using these concepts—which, in their ascent, belonged above all to the gods—one could look down upon the earthly world in order to understand this earthly world through these godly concepts and ideas. If one approached the Guardian of the Threshold with these ideas—which had been developed in a manner worthy of the gods—the Guardian of the Threshold would say: “You may pass, for you are bringing into the supersensible world that which, even during your earthly life in the physical body, was already directed toward the supersensible world.” Then, upon your return to the physical-sensory world, you will still have enough strength left not to be paralyzed by the sight of the supersensible world. Today, human beings develop concepts and ideas which, in keeping with the spirit of the times, they wish to apply only to the physical-sensory world. These concepts and ideas deal with all manner of things that can be weighed, measured, and so on—but not with the gods. They are not worthy of the gods; they are not of the gods’ worth. That is why a thunderous warning resounds to the souls who have already completely succumbed to the materialism of these ideas unworthy of the gods and of the gods’ worth—that is why, as they pass the Guardian of the Threshold in their sleep, the warning thunders to them: “Do not cross the threshold!” You have misused your ideas for the sensory world. You must therefore remain with them in the sensory world; you cannot enter the world of the gods with them unless you wish to be spiritually paralyzed.

[ 17 ] You see, such things must be said—not so that people can speculate about them, but so that they may allow these words to flow through and permeate their hearts, and enter into the right frame of mind to carry with them from this very solemn Christmas conference of the Anthroposophical Society. For more important than anything else we take with us will be the mood we carry forward—the mood for the spiritual world that gives us the certainty: A center of spiritual knowledge will be established in Dornach.

[ 18 ] That is why it sounded truly beautiful this morning when Dr. Zeylmans spoke in favor of a field that is to be cultivated here in Dornach—the field of medicine—and noted that today it is no longer possible to build bridges from conventional science to what is to be established here in Dornach. If we describe what is developing medically on our own ground in such a way that we have the ambition to say, “Our treatises can stand up to current clinical requirements”—then, then we will never achieve a specific goal with the tasks we have actually set for ourselves, because then other people will say: “Well, that’s a new remedy; we’ve already developed new remedies, too.” What is at stake, after all, is that a branch of practical life such as medicine be truly incorporated into anthroposophical life. I believe I correctly understood this as a longing on the part of Dr. Zeylmans this morning. For regarding this goal, he said: “The one who has become a doctor today says: ‘I have just become a doctor’—but he longs for something that provides inspiration from a new corner of the world. And you see, in the field of medicine, this is to be done unambiguously in the future from here in Dornach, just as many other branches of anthroposophical work—which have remained within the bosom of anthroposophy— has been active, and just as is now being developed with Dr. Wegman as my assistant—precisely that medical system arising entirely from anthroposophy that humanity needs and that will soon be presented to humanity. Likewise, it will be my intention to establish the closest possible relationship with the Clinical-Therapeutic Institute in Arlesheim—which is, after all, having such a beneficial effect—and to forge the most intimate connection possible between the Goetheanum and this institute as soon as possible, in the near future, so that what is flourishing there will indeed be aligned with the true guiding principles of anthroposophy. This is also Dr. Wegman’s intention.

[ 19 ] Well, with that, Dr. Zeylmans has pointed to an area that the Dornach Executive Board will now make its task in all fields of anthroposophical work. We will therefore know in the future how things stand. People won’t say: “Let’s bring eurythmy there”; if people see eurythmy first and hear nothing about anthroposophy, they’ll like the eurythmy. Then perhaps they’ll come later, and because they liked the eurythmy and learn that anthroposophy is behind it, they’ll like anthroposophy as well. — Or: One must first show people the practical application of the remedies; one must show them that these are the right remedies; then people will buy them. Later on, they will learn that anthroposophy lies behind them, and then they will also come to understand anthroposophy.

[ 20 ] We must have the courage to recognize such an approach as hypocritical. Only when we have the courage to recognize such an approach as hypocritical—and to abhor it from the heart—will anthroposophy find its way through the world. And in this regard, it is precisely the pursuit of truth that will be championed here in Dornach in the future—not out of fanaticism, but out of an honest, straightforward love of truth. Perhaps it is precisely through this that we can make amends for some of the grave sins committed in recent years.

[ 21 ] It is not with lighthearted but with serious thoughts that we must leave this conference, which led to the founding of the General Anthroposophical Society. But I do not think anyone needs to take away a sense of pessimism from what took place here at Christmas. True, we passed by the sad ruins of the Goetheanum every day, but I believe that in every soul that came up this hill to the conference and passed by those ruins, the very things that were discussed here—which, as was clearly evident, were deeply understood in the hearts of our friends—gave rise to the thought: There will be spiritual flames of fire that, as true spiritual life, are to emerge from the rebuilt Goetheanum for the blessing of humanity in the future—to emerge through our diligence, to emerge through our devotion. And the more we leave here with the courage to lead anthroposophical affairs, the better we have perceived what has, after all, passed through our gathering these days as a hopeful spiritual current. For precisely the scene I have described to you—one that is so often seen: modern humanity, with its decadent civilization and educational system, sleeping before the Guardian of the Threshold—such a figure is actually not to be found in the circles of sensitive anthroposophists. What is present there is something that, under certain circumstances, needs only a single admonition—an admonition that goes like this: You must develop the strong courage to acknowledge the voice from the spirit realm, for you have begun to awaken. Courage will keep you awake; only despondency could lead you back to sleep.

[ 22 ] The voice that urges courage, the voice that, through courage, urges wakefulness—that is the other path, the path for anthroposophists in contemporary civilization. The non-anthroposophists heard: Stay out of the realm of the spirits; you have misused the ideas for merely earthly purposes; you have not gathered ideas that are godlike and worthy of the gods. Therefore, you would be paralyzed upon returning to the physical-sensory world. — But to those souls who are anthroposophical souls, it is said: You are to be tested only in your courage to profess what you can indeed hear as a voice through the inclination of your mind and the inclination of your heart.

[ 23 ] My dear friends, just as it was exactly one year ago yesterday that we watched the flickering flames consume the old Goetheanum, so we may already today—since, even as the flames burned outside, we did not allow ourselves to be distracted from continuing the work we began a year ago— so today we may well hope that, when the physical Goetheanum stands, we will have worked in such a way that the physical Goetheanum is merely the outward symbol of our spiritual Goetheanum, which we wish to take with us as an idea as we now go out into the world.

[ 24 ] We have laid the cornerstone here. Upon this cornerstone, the building is to be erected, and its individual stones will be the work now being done in all our groups by the individuals out there in the wider world. Let us now turn our attention to this work in spirit and become aware of the responsibility—of which we have spoken today—toward the people of the present who stand before the Keeper of the Threshold, those who must be denied entry into the spiritual world. Certainly, it must never occur to us to feel anything other than the deepest pain and the deepest sorrow over what happened to us a year ago. But everything in the world—and we may also bear this in mind—everything in the world that has attained a certain greatness has been born out of pain. And so may our pain be transformed in such a way that, through your work, my dear friends, a strong, radiant Anthroposophical Society may arise from it.

[ 25 ] To this end, we have delved deeply into those words with which I began, into those words with which I would like to conclude this Christmas conference—a Christmas conference that is meant to be a night of consecration, a festival of consecration for us, not merely marking the beginning of a new year, but the beginning of a new world era, to which we wish to dedicate ourselves in the devoted cultivation of spiritual life:

Human soul!
You live within the limbs,
Which carry you through the world of space
Into the essence of the sea of spirit:
Practice spiritual remembrance
In the depths of the soul,
Where, in the reigning Being of the Creator of the Worlds,
Your own Self
In the Divine Self
Exists;
And you will truly live
In the human-world being.

For the Father-Spirit of the Heights reigns
In the depths of the worlds, generating Being.
Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones,
Let it resound from the heights,
What finds an echo in the depths;
This speaks:
Ex deo nascimur.
The elemental spirits hear this
In the east, west, north, and south:
May people hear it.

Human soul!
You live in the beating of heart and lungs,
Which, through the rhythm of time
Guides you into the feeling of your own soul-being:
Practice spiritual reflection
In the balance of the soul,
Where the surging acts of world-becoming
Unite your own “I”
With the “I” of the worlds;
And you will truly feel
In the workings of the human soul.

For the Christ-Will reigns in the sphere
Bestowing grace upon souls in the rhythms of the worlds.
Kyriotetes, Dynamiis, Exusiai,
Let what is shaped by the West
Be kindled by the East;
This speaks:
In Christo morimur.
The elemental spirits hear this
In the East, West, North, and South:
May human beings hear it.

Human soul!
You live in the resting head,
Which, from the depths of eternity,
Reveals to you the thoughts of the world:
Practice spiritual vision
In the stillness of thought,
Where the eternal divine goals
The light of the world’s essence
Bestow upon your own self
For free will;
And you will think truly
In the depths of the human spirit.

For the world’s thoughts of the Spirit reign
In the being of the world, imploring light.
Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi,
O let us implore from the depths,
What is heard in the heights;
This is what it says:
Per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus.
[The elemental spirits hear this
In the east, west, north, and south: May people hear it.] ^{1According to the stenographic record, the words of the saying enclosed in | were not spoken here.}

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At the turning of the ages
The light of the World Spirit
Entered the earthly stream of being;
The darkness of night
Had reigned;
Light as bright as day
Shone forth in human souls;
Light,
That warms
The poor shepherds’ hearts;
Light,
That illuminates
The wise kings’ minds.

Divine Light,
Christ the Sun, warm
our hearts;
Enlighten
our minds;
So that what we
conceive in our hearts
and
resolve to pursue with purpose
from our minds

[ 26 ] So, my dear friends, carry forth your warm hearts—in which you have laid the foundation here for the Anthroposophical Society—carry these warm hearts out into the world to perform powerful, healing work. And help will come to you, so that what you all now wish to pursue with purpose may illuminate your minds. Let us resolve to do this with all our strength today. We shall see: if we prove ourselves worthy of it, a lucky star will watch over what is intended from here. Follow, my dear friends, this lucky star. Let us see where the gods will lead us through the light of this star.

Divine Light,
Christ the Sun,
Warm
Our hearts,
Enlighten
Our minds!