The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Karma of the Anthroposophical Society and the Essence of the Anthroposophical Movement II

[ 1 ] Yesterday, for those of my friends who were here, I took the liberty of discussing the karma of the Anthroposophical Society at some length. Today I would like to discuss something related to that, and I will present it in such a way that today’s topic can also be understood on its own merits.

[ 2 ] Everything that needs to be accomplished at this present stage of human development in preparation for spiritual events in the near and distant future is, after all, connected with what I have often referred to among our anthroposophical friends as the Michael Event, and today I would like to discuss a few points regarding this Michael Event as it relates to the anthroposophical movement.

[ 3 ] When we speak of a phenomenon such as the Michael Event, we must certainly start from the idea that the world is, so to speak, built “in stages.” If we view the development of the world solely through the faculties available to human beings today in their earthly lives between birth and death, we see how humanity has developed on Earth, how ancient peoples emerged from even older ones; how the Greco-Roman civilization then gradually emerged from the Eastern civilizations—the Indian, Persian, Arab, and Chaldean-Egyptian peoples—how the medieval period then arose from the Greco-Roman era, and how, finally, our modern era, with all its turmoil but also with all the great technological achievements it has brought, came into being. But both “below,” I would say, and “above” this expanse that we survey here in the course of human history, we see developments—developments that are not undergone by human beings, but by spiritual beings; specifically, by those spiritual beings that stand in a certain connection with the development of humanity.

[ 4 ] The realm of the Angeloi—the angels in the Christian sense—is directly connected to the development of individual human beings. This realm of the Angeloi comprises those beings who guide individual human beings—insofar as they need such companionship, such a guide—from one earthly life to the next; they are the protectors of human beings in all situations where such protection is needed. Thus, although they are supersensible to earthly eyes, they are directly connected to the development of humanity.

[ 5 ] But right in the adjacent spiritual realm, those beings we refer to as the hierarchy of the Archangeloi—the Archangels—carry out their work. These Archangeloi are involved in many things that also play a role in human evolution—not with individual human beings, but rather with groups of people. For example—as I have often mentioned in anthroposophical lectures—the development of nations is governed by archangelic beings. But it is also true that certain epochs in Earth’s evolution are primarily impelled and shaped by very specific archangelic beings. For example, during the three centuries preceding the last third of the 19th century—that is, in the 19th, 18th, 17th, and part of the 16th centuries—we can essentially picture the civilized world as being under the rule of that archangelic being whom Christians who can speak of such things call Gabriel. Thus, this period was the Age of Gabriel.

[ 6 ] This Age of Gabriel is of great significance for the entire recent development of humanity. For, essentially, ever since the Mystery of Golgotha, it has been the case that human beings have indeed experienced on Earth that the high solar being Christ descended from the Sun to Earth through the Mystery of Golgotha, took on a physical body in the body of Jesus, and united Himself with the destiny of the Earth. But because the Christ Being remained connected to the Earth in this way, the Christ impulse was not yet able—through the entire sequence of the archangels’ reigns, from the Mystery of Golgotha to the reign of Gabriel—to truly take hold of the inner physical and etheric aspects of humanity. This became possible only under the Gabriel impulse, which began about three centuries before the last third of the 19th century. Thus, it is only since that time that a humanity has existed that can be permeated inwardly—even if it has not yet done so to this day—by the Christ impulse through the forces of heredity. For Gabriel governs within humanity everything that pertains to physical hereditary forces. He is, in particular, the supersensible spirit connected to the succession of generations; he is, I might say, the great, all-encompassing guardian spirit of mothers, insofar as these mothers bring human children into the world. Gabriel is concerned with births; he is concerned with the embryonic development of the human being. Gabriel’s powers lie in all that underlies physical procreation as a spiritual force; so that it is actually only since this final reign of Gabriel that the physical procreation of humanity on Earth has become connected with the Christ impulse.

[ 7 ] Then, beginning in the late 1870s, Michael’s reign begins. It is entirely different from Gabriel’s reign. Whereas in the preceding three centuries one had to seek the rule of the archangels in the spiritual impulses of the physical world, in everything that has since unfolded as Michael’s rule, precisely that archangel who is primarily concerned with the spiritual, rational qualities of humanity—that is, with everything pertaining to humanity’s rational and spiritual development and to spiritual culture. And it is of extraordinary importance for our consideration of the earthly context of humanity that the dominion of Gabriel—which, I might say, grasps the most physical aspects in the spiritual realm—is always succeeded by the dominion of Michael, who is actually concerned with all that is called “spiritual” in culture. So if we wish to look for the archangelic guardian deity of physical procreation, we look up to the Archangel Gabriel; if we wish to look up to the spirit who, in the age of civilization, is concerned with the development of the sciences, the unfolding of the arts, and so on, then we look up to the archangelic being who, according to Christian tradition, is designated by the name Michael. — For those cultures that have always been the dominant ones throughout the ages, there are always seven successive archangel reigns; thus, the reign of Michael was preceded by six other archangel reigns. And if we go further back from Gabriel in the succession of archangel reigns, we arrive at an age in which Michael once again exerted his influence on Earth. Thus, each such archangelic reign is a repetition of earlier, similar archangelic reigns, and the development of the archangels themselves occurs simultaneously through this progression. After a certain period of time—about two millennia—the same archangel always comes to reign within the dominant civilization.

[ 8 ] But these reigns, each of which lasts about three hundred years and a little more, differ significantly from one another; not always as markedly as the Michael Reign differs from the Gabriel Reign, but they do differ significantly from one another. And here we can say: Whenever Gabriel reigns, the age that follows is one that separates the peoples from one another, differentiates them—the age in which the peoples become more nationalistic. You may ask: How is it that in the present time, even though the Age of Michael has begun, such a strong nationalistic element is emerging on Earth? Yes, spiritually this has been in preparation for a long time; then it continues to have an effect, its influence lingers, and the aftereffects remain for a long time—often worse than the era itself. For only gradually does the Michaelic impulse make its way into what has now, for the most part, been left behind by the reign of Gabriel. But whenever the Age of Michael begins, a longing arises within humanity on Earth to overcome all ethnic differences and to spread, among the various peoples inhabiting the Earth at that time, that which has emerged as the highest culture, as the highest spiritual content of a particular age. The Michael era always signifies the prevalence of a cosmopolitan principle; it always signifies the spread of the highest spiritual state on Earth among those peoples—regardless of their language—who are receptive to this spiritual state. Therefore, of the seven archangels who send their impulses into human development, Michael is always the one who gives humanity the impulse of cosmopolitanism—and at the same time the impulse to spread among people what is most valuable in a given age.

[ 9 ] If we now look back at the development of humanity and ask ourselves: Which is the next Michael Age, preceding our own? — we arrive at that age which found its culmination in the cosmopolitan deeds that took place during Alexander’s campaigns into Asia, based on the Greek spiritual life, which was the most valuable at that time. There we see how, from the foundation of ancient civilizational development, the impulse arises to carry over to the Eastern peoples—to Egypt—that which had been achieved in Greece—in little Greece—in terms of spiritual culture, and to spread it in a cosmopolitan manner among all the peoples who were receptive to it. What is of immense significance is that, emerging from this Michael Age, the cosmopolitan spread of what had been achieved for humanity through Greek civilization unfolds. And when the city of Alexandria flourishes in North Africa, this flourishing is, in a certain sense, the crowning achievement of that Michael Age.

[ 10 ] That was the preceding Michael Age. Then the other six archangels come to rule. And in the last third of the 19th century, at the end of the 1870s, a new Michael Age begins once again. But never before in the entire history of Earth’s development has there been such a great difference between two successive Michael Ages as there is between the Age of Alexander and the one in which we have been living since the end of the 1870s. For it is between these two Michael Ages that the event occurs which gives Earth’s development its true meaning: the Mystery of Golgotha!

[ 11 ] Now we must consider what Michael actually has to administer within the spiritual cosmos as a whole: He has to administer that which, while spiritual, ultimately culminates in human intellectual understanding. Michael is not the Spirit who cultivates intellectuality; but everything he bestows as spirituality is meant to become clear to humanity in the form of ideas, in the form of thoughts—but in the form of ideas and thoughts that grasp the spiritual. Michael wants human beings to be free beings who, through their concepts and ideas, also comprehend what is revealed to them from the spiritual worlds.

[ 12 ] Let’s take a look at this Michaelic Age, as it was during the Alexandrian Age. I have often said: in our age, people are very, very clever—that is to say, they have concepts, ideas, and notions; they are intellectualistic; they possess a self-acquired intellectuality. But people in the Alexandrian era were also intelligent. However, if you had asked them back then, “Where do you get your concepts, your ideas?”—they would not have said, “We have attained them on our own.”—Rather, they received spiritual revelations—and along with them, the ideas. Thus, ideas were not regarded as something one develops oneself, but as something revealed to human beings through spirituality. And this heavenly intellectuality—in contrast to today’s earthly intellectuality—was what Michael was entrusted to administer during the Alexandrian era. Among the archangels—insofar as they inhabit the sun—he was the most outstanding. He was the spirit who, from the Sun, not only sent forth the physical-etheric rays of the Sun, but who, within those physical-etheric rays, sent the inspiring intellectuality down to Earth. For in those days, people knew: whatever intellectual power they unfolded on Earth was a gift from Heaven, a gift from the Sun, sent down from the Sun. And the spirit who directly carries this out—who sends intellectuality down to Earth in a spiritual way—that is Michael! —This was also present in the ancient Sun Mysteries as a wondrous teaching for the initiated: that Michael dwells on the Sun, that he administers cosmic intelligence there, and that this cosmic intelligence, by inspiring human beings, is a gift from Michael.

[ 13 ] But now came the age in which human beings were to be increasingly prepared to develop the intellect from the soul’s own power—not merely to have the intelligence of the cosmos revealed to them, but to become intelligent of their own accord. This was then prepared by Aristotelianism, by that distinctive philosophical worldview that emerged at the twilight of Greek civilization and which subsequently provided the impetus for Alexander’s campaigns into Asia and Africa. In Aristotelianism lay, I would say, the separation, the distillation of earthly intelligence from cosmic intelligence. In what was later called Aristotelian logic lies the crystallization of that framework of thought which then became human intelligence in all the centuries that followed. And now you must bear in mind that, as it were, the final act stemming from the Michael impulses was the establishment of earthly-human intelligence and the imprinting of Greek culture upon the peoples of that time—who were predisposed toward cosmopolitanism—through Alexander’s campaigns. This is a unified act.

[ 14 ] Then the Age of Oriphiel succeeded the Age of Michael. The Archangel Oriphiel came to rule. The Mystery of Golgotha took place. Those human souls who, under Michael’s rule during the time of Alexander, had consciously participated in the deeds I have just spoken of, were gathered within the Sun at the beginning of the Christian era around the archangelic being of Michael, who had now initially handed over his rule on Earth to Oriphiel, but who, in the realm of the Sun, accompanied Christ’s departure from the Sun together with those who were to serve him as human souls.

[ 15 ] And this is also one of the events we must take into account: that in the souls of those who are connected to the anthroposophical movement, this vision is present: We are united with Michael on the Sun; Christ, who until then had sent his impulses to Earth from the Sun, departs from the Sun to join the Earth’s evolution! Yes, just think of this momentous, super-earthly, cosmic event, of this special vision experienced by those human souls who, at that time, were gathered around Michael as Angeloi servants after he had concluded his reign on Earth, and who, in a sense, witnessed from within the solar region how Christ left the Sun to unite his destiny with that of humanity on Earth. “He is leaving!”—that was the great experience.

[ 16 ] Human souls truly do not receive their guidance merely on Earth; they also receive it during the life between death and rebirth. This was especially true for those who had lived through the Age of Alexander. A great, powerful impulse emanated from that cosmic-historical moment when these souls witnessed Christ departing from the Sun. And for them, one fact was clear: Now the cosmic intelligence is gradually passing from the cosmos to the Earth. And Michael and those around him saw, as it were, how, little by little, all the intelligence that had previously flowed from the cosmos descended to Earth.

[ 17 ] And Michael and his followers—whether they were up in the spiritual world or incarnated down below for a brief earthly life—saw how, in the 8th century A.D., the rays of intelligent life reached the earthly realm itself; they knew: down there, intelligence would continue to unfold! And on Earth, one could observe the emergence of the first thinkers. The others, who had previously appeared as great beings, were inspired thinkers. Independent thinkers did not emerge until this 8th century A.D. And within the choir of archangels in the solar region, the mighty word resounded from the being of Michael: “What was the power of my kingdom, what was administered from here through me, is no longer here; it must continue to flow, undulate, and surge down there on Earth!”

[ 18 ] Starting in the 8th century, this was the view of Earth from the Sun. That was also the great mystery: that the forces—which are primarily the forces of Michael—descended from heaven to Earth. That was also the great mystery that was revealed to a few initiates in schools of the kind I discussed yesterday—for example, at the high school in Chartres. One might say: Previously, if one wanted to know what intelligence is, one had to look up toward the Sun through the mysteries. At that time, intelligence was not yet so visible on Earth, but it gradually became known that human beings who possess independent thought—who possess their own intelligence—are developing on Earth. One of those within European civilization who, I would say, had the first sparks of independent thought sprouting in their souls was Scotus Erigena, whom I have often discussed. But he was preceded by several others who possessed independent thought—no longer merely inspired thought revealed from above. And this independent thought spread more and more widely.

[ 19 ] But there was an opportunity in the Earth’s evolution to put this independent thinking to a special use. For consider: this independent thinking was, after all, the sum of the impulses that had descended from heaven to Earth from Michael’s region. Michael was initially called upon to allow this Earthly intelligence to continue developing on Earth. He was not yet involved; he was not to rejoin until the year 1879. This earthly thinking initially developed in such a way that Michael could not yet assume dominion over it. He could not yet impart impulses to the people who were independent thinkers, for his dominion, his time, had not yet come.

[ 20 ] This, which reigned like a profound mystery in the development of humanity on Earth, was known within a few select Eastern mystery traditions. And so, within these few select Eastern mystery traditions, individual disciples—people of a fundamentally spiritual disposition and training—could be initiated into this great mystery. And through a twist of fate of the kind that is difficult for the ordinary earthly mind to comprehend, it so happened that this mystery—which was well known to certain Eastern mystery schools—came to influence the royal court of which I have spoken at the Goetheanum and in other places. It was precisely in the 8th and early 9th centuries that this royal court reigned in Asia under the rule of Harun al-Rashid. Harun al-Rashid had emerged from the culture of Arabism, from the culture influenced by Islam. The mystery of which I have just spoken had penetrated to his initiated advisors—or at least to those who were aware of it to a certain degree. It was precisely because the court of Baghdad under Harun al-Rashid was imbued with this secret that it was such a resplendent court. Everything that existed in the East in terms of wisdom, art, and deep religiosity was concentrated—albeit with a Muslim flavor—at the court of Harun al-Rashid. While in Europe, at the court of Charlemagne—a contemporary of Harun al-Rashid—people were busy compiling the first elements of a grammar, and everything was still half-barbaric, Baghdad was the residence, the resplendent cradle of Oriental, Near Eastern spiritual life. Harun al-Rashid gathered around him those who were knowledgeable about the great traditions of the mysteries of the East. And in particular, he had at his side an advisor who had been an initiate in earlier times, whose spiritual impulsiveness was still influenced by his past incarnations, and who became the organizer of everything related to geometry, chemistry, and physics, music, architecture, and other arts, but especially in brilliant poetry, at the court of Harun al-Rashid. Among the widely renowned assembly of sages at this court, there was a more or less conscious sense that the intelligence of the Earth, which had descended from Heaven to Earth, must be placed in the service of the Muslim spirit!

[ 21 ] Now consider this: from the time of Muhammad, from the era of the first caliphs onward, Arabism was carried from Asia through North Africa and into Europe. There it spread through wars. But along with those who spread Arab culture as far as Spain by force of arms—France was affected by this, as was the entire Western world of Europe in a spiritual sense—there also came significant figures. And you are all familiar with those military campaigns of the Frankish kings against the Moors, against Arabism. But that is the outer aspect, what unfolds in history; far more significant is how spiritual currents always flow within the inner development of humanity.

[ 22 ] Then both Harun al-Rashid and his distinguished advisor passed through the gate of death. But after they had passed through death and found themselves in the state between death and rebirth, they pursued their goal in a unique way: to bring the Arab way of thinking into the European world with the help of the intelligent principle spreading throughout Europe. Thus, after Harun al-Rashid had passed through the Gate of Death, we see how—from Asia, from Baghdad across Africa, through Spain, across Western Europe, all the way to England—Harun al-Rashid’s soul, as it journeyed through spiritual worlds and stellar realms, kept its gaze fixed from Baghdad across the Near East, through Greece, via Rome to Spain, France, and even all the way up to England. This was a life between death and new birth that continually directed its attention toward the south and west of Europe. And then Harun al-Rashid reappeared in a subsequent incarnation—and he became Lord Bacon, Bacon of Verulam. Bacon himself is Harun al-Rashid, who in the meantime had been working in the realm between death and rebirth in the manner I have just described. But the other, who was his wise counselor, chose a different path: from Baghdad across the Black Sea through Russia into Central Europe. The two individualities took two different paths: Harun al-Rashid to his next earthly destination as Lord Bacon, as Baco of Verulam; the wise counselor, during his passage through life between death and rebirth, never took his gaze off that which could be increasingly influenced and shaped by the East, and he reappeared as the great educator and author of Pansophia, as Amos Comenius. And from the interaction of these individualities, who once served at the court of Baghdad, arose in Europe what developed—more or less apart from Christianity—as archaic Arabism, but under the influence of what I would call the intelligence that had fallen away from Michael of the Sun.

[ 23 ] What occurred externally and physically during wars was, after all, rejected by the Frankish kings and the other Europeans. We see how the Arab campaigns, which initially appeared with such great force, and the spread of Muslim culture came to a halt in the West, unable to advance any further; we see Islam disappearing from Western Europe. But by shedding what it had in the way of external forms and what it had established in terms of external culture, this newer Arabism became precisely modern natural science—it became what Amos Comenius established for the world in an educational sense. And so it was that, as the 17th century dawned, earthly intelligence—occupied, so to speak, by Arabism—spread.

[ 24 ] We have thus pointed out something that underlies what we must sow the anthroposophical seed into today. One must truly contemplate this in all its spiritual depth.

[ 25 ] But while this emerged from Asia as the spiritual continuation of the resplendent court of Baghdad, Christianity developed and spread throughout Europe. Yet it so happened that in Europe, I would say, Aristotelianism spread amid the greatest difficulties. While Aristotelianism was carried over to Asia through the great deeds of Alexander—as a natural science through all that had developed in a powerful way from Greek civilization and had then been appropriated by Arab culture—Aristotelianism spread, I might say, initially “in a diluted form” within the emerging Christian culture of Europe. And there it merged with Platonism, which was firmly rooted in the ancient Greek mysteries; it merged in the way I indicated in the first lecture.

[ 26 ] But first, we see how Aristotelianism spread very gradually throughout Europe, while Platonism gave rise to schools everywhere. And one of the most significant was precisely that school in Chartres in the 12th century, where those great minds I mentioned yesterday were active: Bernardus Sylvestris, Bernard of Chartres, John of Salisbury, but especially Alanus ab Insulis. At this school in Chartres, the discourse differed from what was spreading as an echo of Arabism. The school of Chartres embodied genuine Christianity—but genuine Christianity bathed in the radiance of ancient mysteries, in the measure that this mystery wisdom could still be preserved.

[ 27 ] Then something momentous occurred: the great teachers of Chartres—who were entirely removed from Arabism but, through their Platonism, deeply immersed in the Christian mysteries—passed through the gates of death. And there was that brief period, at the beginning of the 13th century, when, as it were, a great heavenly council took place. When the finest of the teachers—led by Alanus ab Insulis—had died, that is, were in the spiritual world, they gathered for a momentous cosmic act with those who were still in the spiritual world and were soon to descend to Earth to represent Aristotelianism there in a new way. And among those who were to descend were precisely those who, with their innermost souls and with strong, intense spiritual power, had participated in the workings of the Michael impulses during the time of Alexander. And we may well imagine—for this corresponds to the truth—that at this turning point between the 12th and 13th centuries, souls came together who had just ascended into the spiritual world from Christian centers of initiation, such as the School of Chartres, and souls who were ready to descend and who, in the spiritual regions, had preserved not Platonism but Aristotelianism—the inner workings of intelligence that still stemmed from the ancient Michael era. There they were, including those who said to themselves: “We were with Michael when we saw, together with him, how intelligence streamed down from heaven to earth; we were united with him also during that great cosmopolitan deed, which was accomplished while intelligence was still under Michael’s ancient administration, when intelligence was administered cosmically.” — And it was then that the teachers of Chartres initially entrusted the administration of spiritual earthly affairs to the Aristotelians. Thus, to those who were now to descend and were particularly suited to take over the administration of intelligent life—of intrinsic intelligence—on Earth, the Platonists—who, in truth, could only still be under the influence of intelligence being administered “from heaven”—entrusted the administration of spiritual life on Earth to these teachers of Chartres.

[ 28 ] These spirits entered the Dominican Order in particular; in their souls there was an echo of the Michael impulse from the preceding Michael era. And thus arose Scholasticism, which emerged specifically from the Dominican Order—that Scholasticism which then wrestled bitterly, yet magnificently, with the question: What is the nature of intelligent thought? That was, after all, the great question that lay deep within the souls of the founders of Scholasticism in the 13th century—the burning question: What becomes of the Michaelic reign?

[ 29 ] There were people who later came to be called nominalists; they said: Concepts and ideas are mere names; they are not real. They were influenced by Ahriman; for the nominalists actually wanted to banish the Michaelic reign from the earth. By claiming that ideas were merely names and had no real existence, they actually sought to prevent Michael’s rule from taking effect on Earth. And the Ahrimanic spirits said at that time to those who were receptive to such messages: Michael has lost his hold on cosmic intelligence; it is here on Earth; we do not want to let Michael regain dominion over intelligence! — But the very essence of that significant heavenly council was that Platonists and Aristotelians together devised a plan for how precisely the Michaelic impulses should be further developed. Opposing the nominalists were the Dominican realists, who said: Ideas and thoughts are realities that live within things, not mere names.

[ 30 ] If one has an understanding of these things, one is sometimes reminded of them in a rather strange, admirable way. During my final years in Vienna, I became acquainted, among others, with a priest of the Order, Vincenz Knauer, who wrote the philosophical treatise that I have often recommended to anthroposophists: Main Problems of Philosophy. Even in the 19th century, he was caught up in this dispute between nominalists and realists: he sought to make it clear to people how absurd it is to speak of nominalism, and he had chosen a very good example for this—it is also in his books—but I recall with deep satisfaction how I once walked with him in Vienna on Innere Währinger-Straße, we were talking about nominalism and realism, and how he, with all his measured enthusiasm—which had something very remarkable about it; I’d say it was a kind of honest philosophy, whereas the other philosophers had become more or less dishonest—how he said: “I always make it clear to my students that what lives in things as ideas has a reality, and to illustrate this I direct their attention to a lamb and a wolf. The nominalists would say, with regard to these two—the lamb and the wolf—that muscle, bone, and matter constitute the lamb; muscle, bone, and matter constitute the wolf. What is realized in the lamb’s meat as the form, as the idea of the lamb: it is merely a name. “Lamb” is a name; as an idea, it is not a real thing. The same applies to the wolf: as an idea, it is again not a real thing, but merely a name. But one can easily refute the nominalists, said good old Knauer, for one need only make it clear to them: Give a wolf, from which you have deprived all other food, nothing but lamb meat to eat for a while: if the “idea” of a lamb has no reality, is nothing, merely a name, and if the matter in the lamb were the whole, then the wolf would gradually have to become a lamb. But it does not! On the contrary, he remains, even more so, the reality of the wolf. In the case of what we have before us as a lamb, the “idea” of a lamb has, as it were, attracted the matter and shaped it; and the same is true of the wolf: the “idea” of a wolf has attracted the matter that is in the wolf and shaped it.

[ 31 ] But this dispute was, in essence, what the nominalists and the realists were fighting over: it concerned the reality of what can be grasped by the intellect.

[ 32 ] Thus, the Dominicans had to lay the groundwork in due time for Michael’s next reign. And while the Platonists—for example, the teachers of Chartres—remained in the spiritual world following the decision of this heavenly council that took place at the beginning of the 13th century and had no significant incarnations, the Aristotelians were to work at that time on the earthly affairs of the Intelligent. And from Scholasticism—which, after all, was only distorted, caricatured, and Ahrimanized by Rome in modern times—all modern intellectual striving now sprang forth, insofar as it had not been occupied by Arabism.

[ 33 ] Thus, during this period in Central and Western Europe, we see two currents at work: on the one hand, the current associated with Bacon and Amos Comenius, and on the other hand, the scholastic current—that is, the immersion in the spiritual development of civilization represented by what Christian Aristotelianism was and is, and which was meant to prepare the way for the new age of Michael. When the Scholastics, during the reign of the earlier archangels, sought to look up toward the spiritual realms, they said to themselves: There is Michael, whose reign must be awaited. What must be prepared is that which he—after it had been taken from him in heaven according to the providence of cosmic development—must take up again on Earth at the right time! — Thus a movement developed that was later led down a false side path only by Catholic ultramontanism, but which remained true to itself and continued what had been established in the 13th century.

[ 34 ] A movement thus emerged that worked directly within the administration of earthly intelligence on the basis of Aristotelianism. Within this movement lived what I spoke of yesterday: that someone who had remained in the spiritual world with Alanus ab Insulis for a somewhat longer time had descended as a younger Dominican and brought a message from Alanus ab Insulis to an older Dominican who had already descended to Earth before him. At that time, European spiritual life was characterized by an intense will to grasp ideas deeply. And emerging from all this above earthly life was that which then, at the beginning of the 19th century, led to a great, comprehensive event in the spiritual world, where what was later to become Anthroposophy on Earth unfolded in powerful imaginations. In the first half of the 19th century—and even a little toward the end of the 18th—all those who were Platonists, under the guidance of the teachers of Chartres—who were now, after all, between death and a new birth—as well as those who had established Aristotelianism in Europe and had long since passed through the gate of death, were united in heavenly regions to perform a supermundane ritual, in which, through powerful, real imaginations, was set forth what was to be spiritually reestablished in the new Christianity of the 20th century, after the new Age of Michael had begun in the last third of the 19th century.

[ 35 ] Much of this seeped through. Up in the spiritual world, preparations were taking place within powerful cosmic imaginings for that intelligent yet thoroughly spiritual creation that would later emerge as anthroposophy. What seeped through made a certain impression on Goethe. I would say it came through to him in miniature images. Goethe was not familiar with the great, powerful images that were unfolding up there; he incorporated these miniature images into his “Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily.” A marvelous phenomenon! We have all the currents I have described continuing in such a way that they lead to those powerful imaginations unfolding up above in the spiritual world under the guidance of Alanus ab Insulis and the others; we see the power of things seeping through and inspiring Goethe, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, to write his spiritual fairy tale “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily.” It was, so to speak, an initial emergence of what had first been unfolding in the spiritual world as powerful imaginings at the beginning of the 19th century—and even as early as the end of the 18th century. You will therefore not find it surprising that, in light of this supersensible cult that took place in the first half of the 19th century, my first Mystery Play, The Gate of Initiation—which, in a certain sense, sought to render in dramatic form what was taking place at the beginning of the 19th century—became, outwardly in its structure, somewhat similar to what Goethe depicted in his fairy tale “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily.” For anthroposophy was to descend from the way it had been lived imaginatively in the early days in the supersensible regions into the earthly realm. For something was happening in the supersensible regions at that time. A large number of souls who had been touched by Christianity at various times united with souls who had been less influenced by Christianity—souls who had lived during the time when the Mystery of Golgotha took place on Earth, and before that. These two groups of souls united to prepare for anthroposophy in the supersensible regions. Among them were the individualities described who were associated with Alanus ab Insulis, and those who, within the Dominican movement, established Aristotelianism in Europe—including Dante’s great teacher, Brunetto Latini. And within this great host of souls were a large number of those who, having descended once more to Earth, have now united in the Anthroposophical Society. Those who today feel the urge to unite in the Anthroposophical Society were together in supersensible regions at the beginning of the 19th century to perform that powerful cult of imagination of which I have spoken.

[ 36 ] This is also something connected to the karma of the anthroposophical movement. It is something one comes to realize when one does not view this anthroposophical movement rationalistically in its outward, earthly form alone, but rather when one considers the threads that lead upward into the spiritual realms. There one sees, as it were, how this anthroposophical movement descends. Yes, at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century—I would call it the “heavenly” anthroposophical movement—what Goethe depicts in miniature images in the fairy tale “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily” seeps through. But then it was to descend, as in the last third of the 19th century Michael—now descending from the sun to Earth—sought to take hold of the earthly intelligence of human beings.

[ 37 ] Ever since the Mystery of Golgotha, Christ has been united with humanity on Earth. At first, humanity on Earth could not grasp him outwardly. The Michael Kingdom administered the final phase of cosmic intelligence during the time of Alexander. By the 8th century A.D., cosmic intelligence had completely descended into earthly existence. Those connected to Michael then undertook—in accordance with the agreements made with the Platonists—to prepare this earthly intelligence within scholastic realism in such a way that Michael could once again unite with it when he assumed his reign in the ongoing civilization at the end of the 1870s.

[ 38 ] What is at stake now is that the Anthroposophical Society take up this inner task of its own—this task, which consists in not challenging Michael’s authority over human thinking. One cannot be fatalistic here. One can only say: Human beings must work together with the gods, with Michael himself. Michael inspires people so that a spirituality may emerge on Earth that is commensurate with human intelligence, so that one can think and at the same time be a spiritual human being; for that is what the reign of Michael truly means. This is what must be striven for within the anthroposophical movement. Then those who are working for the anthroposophical movement today will reappear at the end of the 20th century and be united on Earth with those who were the teachers of Chartres. For this is the agreement of that heavenly council at the beginning of the 13th century: that the Aristotelians and the Platonists will appear together, and that efforts be made to ensure that the anthroposophical movement flourishes ever more abundantly in the 20th century, so that at the end of this century, through the union of Platonists and Aristotelians, anthroposophy may attain a certain culmination in earthly civilization. If we can work in the way predetermined and predestined by Michael, then Europe—then modern civilization—will emerge from its decline. But in no other way whatsoever! This leading of civilization out of its decline is connected with the understanding of Michael.

[ 39 ] With this, my dear friends, I have guided you toward an understanding of the Mystery of Michael, which currently reigns over humanity—those who think and strive for spiritual wisdom. You can understand that—through anthroposophy—something must be brought into the spiritual development of the Earth that seems paradoxical to many, for all manner of demonic-Ahrimanic forces have taken possession of people. So much so that the Ahrimanic forces were already rejoicing within some human bodies that Michael would no longer be able to retain his cosmic intelligence, which had fallen down to Earth. And this rejoicing was particularly strong in the mid-19th century, when Ahriman already believed that Michael would not be able to regain his once-cosmic intelligence, which had found its way from heaven to Earth. This is a matter of great importance—a matter of immense significance! Therefore, it is hardly surprising that those caught up in these struggles must experience many strange things.

[ 40 ] In fact, no spiritual movement has ever been discussed in such a peculiar way as the anthroposophical movement. It is precisely in the curious way people speak about the anthroposophical movement that you can see how, with its spiritual character and its connection to the Mystery of Golgotha, it cannot be understood by the most enlightened minds of our time. For would anyone ever tell you that they had seen a person who was both black and white at the same time? I do not believe you would consider someone who said such a thing to be of sound mind. But today people are allowed to write something similar about the anthroposophical movement. For example, in his book The Great Mystery, Maurice Maeterlinck, insofar as he treats me as the bearer of the anthroposophical movement, is allowed to unfold a line of reasoning that is exactly the same as if someone were to say they had seen a person who was black and white, European and Moor, all at once. One can be one thing, but not both at the same time. Maeterlinck, however, says: “What we read in the Vedas, says Rudolf Steiner, one of the most learned and also the most confused among contemporary occultists...” If someone were to say that they had seen a person who is both a European and a Moor at the same time, they would be declared insane; but Maeterlinck is allowed to describe him as “one of the most learned and most confused.” And he goes on to say: “Rudolf Steiner, who—when he is not lost in perhaps plausible but never verifiable visions of prehistory or in astral rhetoric about life on other stars—is a very clear and sharp mind, has illuminated the meaning of this judgment”—meaning the Osirification—“and this identification of the soul with God exceptionally well.” (p. 80.) So that means: When he isn’t specifically talking about anthroposophy, he is a clear and sharp mind. Maeterlinck is allowed to say that. He is allowed to say even more—things that are quite strange—for he finds it possible to say the following: “Steiner has applied his intuitive methods, which are a kind of transcendental psychometry, to reconstruct the history of the Atlanteans and reveal to us what happens on the Sun, the Moon, and other worlds. He describes to us the successive transformations of the beings who become human, and he does so with such certainty that, after following him with interest through the introduction—which reveals a very thoughtful, logical, and broad mind—one wonders whether he is suddenly going mad or whether one is dealing with a charlatan or a true visionary.” ($.167.) Now consider what this means: Maeterlinck claims that when I write books, the introductions are always such that he must say he is dealing with a “highly judicious, logical, and broad-minded spirit.” But if he continues reading my books, he does not know whether I have suddenly gone mad, or whether I am a charlatan or a true visionary. But I haven’t just written individual books. I always write the introduction to each book first. So now I’ve written a book; Maeterlinck reads the introduction: there I present myself to him as a “highly discerning, logical, and broad-minded mind”; then he reads on and finds me to be such that he says: “I don’t know whether Rudolf Steiner has suddenly gone mad, is a charlatan, or a visionary.” Then it continues… I write a second book: when Maeterlinck reads the introduction, I am once again a “very thoughtful, logical, and broad-minded spirit” to him; then he reads the rest of the content and finds me once more in such a way that he doesn’t know whether I’m insane, a charlatan, or a visionary. And so it goes on. But consider this: people end up saying, “When I read your books from the beginning, you strike me as very intelligent, thoughtful, and logical; but then you suddenly go mad!” What kind of strange people must these be, who, when they start writing, are logical, and then, as they continue writing, suddenly go mad; then, in the next book, switch back again, being logical at the beginning and then mad later on! And so it goes, rhythmically. After all, there are “rhythms” in the world.

[ 41 ] But from this example you can see how the most enlightened minds of our time are taking up what must be established in the world as the Michael Epoch—what must be done so that the cosmic intelligence, which rightfully sank into the world order with Michael in the 8th century, may once again be found within humanity on Earth. The entire Michael tradition must be revised. Michael, with his feet upon the dragon: One rightly beholds this image, which depicts the warrior Michael as he represents the cosmic spirit in opposition to the Ahrimanic forces, which he holds beneath his feet.

[ 42 ] More than any other struggle, this struggle is rooted in the human heart. It is anchored there, and has been since the last third of the 19th century. What people’s hearts do with this “Michael” issue in the world over the course of the 20th century will be decisive. And in the course of this 20th century, when the first century following the end of the Kali Yuga will have passed, humanity will either stand at the grave of all civilization or at the dawn of that age in which, within the souls of people who unite intelligence with spirituality in their hearts, the Michaelic struggle will be fought in favor of the Michaelic impulse.