The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Karma in the Individual and in the Evolution of Humanity III

[ 1 ] Looking back on the development of humanity since the Mystery of Golgotha, we get the impression that Christianity—the Christ impulse—was able to take root only in the face of certain resistances and in connection with other spiritual currents within European and American civilization. And the unfolding, the gradual development of Christianity, indeed presents the most remarkable facts.

[ 2 ] Today I would like to outline this development of Christianity—by touching on it briefly—in connection with what is meant to live within the Anthroposophical Society, what not only is meant to live within the Anthroposophical Society but can live there, because those people who are drawn to anthroposophy out of an inner, sincere impulse do indeed feel this urge today from the very depths of their being.

[ 3 ] If we are to take the fact of repeated earthly lives completely seriously, then we must tell ourselves: Everything that constitutes such an inner urge—the urge to break away from the views and thought patterns of the community into which we are otherwise placed by our life experiences, upbringing, and social circumstances, and to turn instead toward a worldview that more or less captures our soul— such an urge must be rooted in karma, rooted in karma from previous earthly lives.

[ 4 ] Now, when one considers the question of karma in relation to those individuals who have come together in the anthroposophical movement, it may become apparent that, without exception, these individuals have already lived through another significant earthly life in the period following the Mystery of Golgotha prior to their present earthly life, so that they were, so to speak, already once placed within the period of humanity’s earthly development following the Mystery of Golgotha—meaning they are here for a second time since the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 5 ] This raises the big question: How did their previous earthly life affect these individuals—who, as a result of their karma, now feel drawn to the anthroposophical movement? How did their previous earthly life influence them in light of the Mystery of Golgotha?

[ 6 ] Well, even from an external, exoteric perspective, it is clear that even people deeply immersed in the positive development of Christianity, such as St. Augustine, have made statements like this: Christianity did not begin with Christ; there were Christians even before Christ, though they were not yet called by that name. So says St. Augustine.

[ 7 ] Anyone who now delves more deeply into the spiritual mysteries of humanity—who is able to study these mysteries through the science of initiation—must, however, affirm in the deepest sense the perspective that is evident in Augustine. This is so. Only then does the deep need arise to learn to recognize how that which, through the Mystery of Golgotha, became the historical Christ impulse on Earth, had lived previously.

[ 8 ] Today, as an introduction to this earlier form of Christianity, I would like to begin by referring to impressions I gained near the site of our summer course in Torquay—at Tintagel, the place where the spiritual current of King Arthur originated. We were indeed able to take in the impressions that can still be gained today at that spot—where the castle of King Arthur’s Round Table once stood—and the impressions that can still be gained there today, particularly from the magnificent natural surroundings of that castle.

[ 9 ] It follows, then, that at that site, where only ruins of the old Arthur’s Castle remain, one looks there—and, as it were, envisions in one’s mind’s eye—how, over the centuries since the Arthurian legend originated there, stone by stone has crumbled away, so that now hardly anything remains of the old castles once inhabited by King Arthur and his followers. But when one looks out with the spiritual eye from that spot where the castle once stood, out toward the sea, which presents itself in shimmering colors and crashing waves—when one looks out there—here a mountain peak on one side, and the sea on the other—then one gets the impression that a person there is able to absorb the elemental essence of nature and the cosmos in a particularly profound way. And if one then looks back with the occult gaze, recalling that moment—which, after all, lies only a few millennia in the past—when the Arthurian current first began, one sees: the people who lived there at Arthur’s Castle—as is the case with all such occult sites—had chosen this spot because they needed what was unfolding before them in nature for the impulses they required, for the task they had set for themselves, and for everything they were to do in the world.

[ 10 ] Well, I can’t say today whether it’s always like this, but in those moments when I saw it, this is how it appeared—a ravishingly beautiful spectacle of the ocean waves surging up from the depths, whose marvelous rippling is, in any case, already one of nature’s most magnificent spectacles, it is the surging of the ocean waves as they rebound from the cliffs and rush back again, allowing the elemental spirits to spring forth from below and run their course, while from above the sunlight reflects in the airwaves in the most varied ways, it is this, I would say, a moment in which one can develop what I would like to call: becoming pious in a pagan way. This interplay of the elemental forces from above and the elemental forces from below reveals the full power of the sun, spreading this solar power before human beings in such a way that they can receive it. And whoever can take in what the light-born elemental beings from above and the gravity-born elemental beings from below are doing in their interplay—whoever can take this in within themselves—that person is precisely absorbing the power of the sun, the solar impulse. It is something different from becoming pious in the Christian sense. To become pious in the pagan sense means: to be devoted to the gods of nature, who play, exert their power, work, and weave throughout the very essence and fabric of nature.

[ 11 ] And all this natural activity and interplay was evidently absorbed by those who were with and around King Arthur. And what is significant is what those people who were around King Arthur in the first centuries after the Mystery of Golgotha were able to absorb.

[ 12 ] Today, my dear friends, I would like to explain to you what this special spiritual life was like in places such as King Arthur’s Round Table. I must begin with a phenomenon that you are all familiar with.

[ 13 ] When a person dies, they first leave their physical body behind, and for a few days they still retain their etheric body. After a few days, they shed the etheric body and continue to live in the astral body and in the “I.” What takes place with the human being who has passed through the gate of death appears to the discerning eye in such a way that one sees the human being dissolving into the etheric after death. He becomes larger and larger, but also increasingly indistinct. He weaves himself into the cosmos.

[ 14 ] A strange phenomenon, one of polar opposition, unfolded in world history in connection with the Mystery of Golgotha. What, then, happened at that time when the Mystery of Golgotha took place? Until then, the Christ had been a solar being; He belonged to the Sun. Before the Mystery of Golgotha took place, the Knights of the Round Table stood atop their rocky mountains, gazed out upon the interplay of the sun-born spirits and the earth-born spirits, and felt that whatever was at work in this force permeated their hearts, but above all permeated their etheric bodies. In this way, they received the Christ impulse, which at that time flowed forth from the Sun and lived in everything brought about by the solar current.

[ 15 ] Thus, before the Mystery of Golgotha, beginning with Arthur’s Round Table, the knights of Arthur’s Round Table incorporated the Sun Spirit—that is, the pre-Christian Christ—into their own being. Then they sent their emissaries out across all of Europe to combat, purify, and civilize the wildness of the astral bodies of the European population, for that was their task. And we see precisely such people as the knights of the Round Table, setting out from this western point of present-day England; we see them carrying what they receive from the Sun out to all of the European humanity of that time, purifying and cleansing the astral qualities of the European population, which was very wild at that time—at least in Central and Northern Europe.

[ 16 ] But then came the Mystery of Golgotha. What happened in Asia? Over in Asia, an event of world-historical significance took place: that exalted solar being, who was later called the Christ, left the sun. This was a kind of death for the Christ. Christ departed from the sun, just as we humans, when we die, depart from the earth. Thus Christ departed from the sun, just as a human being who dies departs from the earth. And just as, in the case of a human being who dies by departing from the earth, the etheric body is visible to the occult observer—a body which the person sheds after three days, leaving the physical body behind—so Christ left behind in the sun that which you will find described in my Theosophy as the spiritual human being, the seventh member of the human being.

[ 17 ] Christ “died from the Sun”; he died cosmically, descending from the Sun to Earth; he came down to Earth. From the moment of Golgotha onward, what was his life spirit could be seen on Earth. We leave behind the life-ether, the etheric body, the life body after death; after this cosmic death, Christ left the spiritual human being behind on the Sun, and the life spirit in the sphere of the Earth. Thus, from the Mystery of Golgotha onward, the Earth was enveloped by the life spirit of Christ as if by a spiritual presence.

[ 18 ] But physical spatial relationships are quite different for spiritual life than they are for physical life. This life spirit was most clearly manifest in the Irish mysteries, in the mysteries of Hybernia, and became most clearly manifest for the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur. Thus, from this place all the way to the Mystery of Golgotha, the Christ impulse of the sun actually extended: there, the impulses were received from the sun. Afterward, of course, the power of the Knights of the Round Table also waned. But they stood alive within the life spirit that swept over the Earth in a cosmic configuration, in which they lived continually and within which this interplay of light and air, of the elemental beings from above and the elemental beings from below, was constantly at work.

[ 19 ] Just imagine: when you look at the ridge where Artusburg Castle stands, you see the sun playing down from above in light and air, and the elemental beings of the earth playing up from below: elemental beings above, elemental beings below—the sun and the earth in lively interaction.

[ 20 ] But in the centuries following the Mystery of Golgotha, all of this unfolded within the life spirit of Christ. So that, as if in a spiritual glow—yet within the facts of nature—the spiritual reality of the Mystery of Golgotha was simultaneously at work within this interplay of sea, rock, air, and light emanating from that very site.

[ 21 ] Understand me correctly, my dear friends: Back then, one looked out onto the sea, and once one had completed those spiritual exercises that the Twelve around King Arthur performed—which were based on the mysteries of the zodiac—one saw—in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries A.D.—not merely the play of nature, but it was as if one could begin to read, just as when one has a book before one that one can either stare at or read: a little flame would flicker, a wave would ripple, the sun would glint off some rocky reef, the sea would crash against the rocky reef—all of this is configured; all of this is a flow, a current, a circle, a sign, a truth that can be deciphered.

[ 22 ] If one were to decipher it, one would read the spiritual reality of the Mystery of Golgotha, because all of this was permeated by the life spirit of Christ.

[ 23 ] Over in Asia, the Mystery of Golgotha had taken place; it had touched the souls and hearts of people, and had taken deep root in their souls and hearts. One need only look at those who were the first Christians and the transformation they experienced in their souls to see that: At the very same time that what I have just described was taking place here in the West, the true Christ—the Christ who had descended, who had left his spiritual being up in the sun, whose life spirit was in the Earth’s atmosphere—penetrated from East to West through Greece, North Africa, Italy, and Spain, into Europe through the hearts of human beings at the very same time that he was making his way through nature here.

[ 24 ] So we see: acting here from west to east, legible within nature to those who can read it, the history of the Mystery of Golgotha, as it were, as the natural science of the higher-ranking members of King Arthur’s Round Table; from east to west, a current—not now in wind and waves, not in air and water, not over mountains and sunbeams, but a current through the blood of human beings, through the hearts of human beings, seizing the blood of human beings—from Palestine through Greece into Italy and Spain.

[ 25 ] So we can say: On the one hand, it flows through nature; on the other hand, it flows through the blood, through the hearts of human beings. These two currents flow toward one another: the one that still operates within nature—which is still present today in the entire pagan current—carries the pre-Christian, pagan Christ, the Christ who, as a solar being, was propagated by people such as the Knights of the Round Table, but also by many others, before the Mystery of Golgotha. This current continued to carry the pre-Christian Christ through the world even during the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. And a large portion of those people, after all, came from the current that is summarized under the heading of the “Arthurian Round Table” current. One can still encounter these things today: there is pagan Christianity—Christianity that does not connect to the historical event of Golgotha.

[ 26 ] Coming from below is Christianity, which draws upon the Mystery of Golgotha—the blood of human beings that flows through their hearts and souls. Two currents moving toward one another: The pre-Christian Christ current—I would say, as it were, etherized—and the Christian Christ current. One later became known as the Arthurian current; the other became known as the Grail current. Both met later on. Specifically, they met within Europe and, above all, in the spiritual world.

[ 27 ] What can we call this movement? The Christ, who had descended through the Mystery of Golgotha, entered into the hearts of human beings. Within the hearts of human beings themselves, he journeyed from east to west, from Palestine through Greece, across Italy to Spain. Grail Christianity spread through the blood and through the hearts of people. Christ undertook his journey from east to west.

[ 28 ] In contrast, the spirit-etheric image of Christ came from the West, brought about by the Mystery of Golgotha, but still bearing within itself Christ with the Mystery of the Sun.

[ 29 ] Something magnificent and wondrous is unfolding behind the scenes of world history. From the West comes pagan Christianity, the Christianity of King Arthur, appearing also under other names and in other forms; from the East comes the Christ in the hearts of people. The encounter: Christ—the real Christ who came to Earth—meets his image, which is carried toward him, flowing from west to east. The encounter took place in 869. Up until that year, we have clearly distinguished between two distinct currents: one extending from the north through Central Europe, which—whether one called him Baldur or by some other name—carried within it the Christ as a solar hero. And under the banner of Christ as a solar hero, the Knights of Arthur spread their culture.

[ 30 ] The other current, which is rooted deep within the heart and later became the Grail current, is more evident in the south, coming from the east; it carries the true, authentic, and real Christ. The current coming from the west, so to speak, carries a cosmic image toward him.

[ 31 ] The encounter between Christ and himself—between Christ as the brother of humankind and Christ as the sun hero, who now exists only as an image—this encounter, this merging of Christ with his own image, takes place in the 9th century.

[ 32 ] I have thus described to you the inner nature of the passage of time during the first centuries following the Mystery of Golgotha—those early centuries in which, as I have already mentioned, there were also souls who have now reappeared and who, from their earlier earthly lives, have brought with them the urge to move sincerely toward the anthroposophical movement.

[ 33 ] When we look at this significant Arthurian current flowing from west to east, it appears to be the force that carries the solar impulse into Earth’s civilization. Within this Arthurian current, what can be called—in Christian terminology—the Michael current undulates and weaves; this Michael current in the spiritual life of humanity is one into which we, as modern people, have been re-entering since the late 1870s. After that power—which can be designated by the Christian name Gabriel—had reigned for three to four centuries as the guiding force in European civilization, it was succeeded — at the end of the 1970s — by the Michael era, which in turn will last three to four centuries, continuing to live on, weave, and ebb and flow in the spiritual life of humanity, and in which we now find ourselves.

[ 34 ] So in our own time, we do have reason—since we ourselves are living within the Michael current—to point out such Michael currents.

[ 35 ] We find this Michael current when we look back to the time immediately preceding the Mystery of Golgotha and consider the Arthurian current that originated in the English West, originally inspired by the Mysteries of Hybernia. We see an earlier form of this Michael current when we look at what took place centuries before the emergence of the Mystery of Golgotha, originating in northern Greece, from Macedonia, through that international, that cosmopolitan current linked to the name of Alexander the Great and influenced by the worldview known as Aristotelianism. What unfolded in pre-Christian times through Aristotle and Alexander was then just as much a part of the Michael realm as we are now; and at that time, just as now, the Michael impulse was present in the spiritual life on Earth. Whenever a Michael impulse is present in humanity, it is the time when that which has been established in a cultural center, in a spiritual center, is spread across many peoples of the Earth, in all regions where it is possible.

[ 36 ] This occurred in pre-Christian times through Alexander’s campaigns. Thus, what had been gained within Greek culture was spread among those peoples among whom it could be disseminated. And if one had asked Aristotle and Alexander: “Where did you get that which lies in your hearts as the impulse to spread the spiritual life of your time?”—they would have answered, albeit with a different name, but in essence: “From the impulse of Michael, the one who works from the Sun as a servant of Christ.” For among the various archangels who alternately govern civilization, Michael—who reigned during the age of Alexander and again in our own age—belongs to the Sun. The one who followed after the age of Alexander, Oriphiel, belongs to Saturn. The one who followed after Oriphiel, Anael, belongs to Venus. The archangel who presided over European civilization in the 4th and 5th centuries, Zachariel, belongs to the sphere of Jupiter. Then Raphael came from the sphere of Mercury during a time when, in particular, a kind of medical-cultural mindset flourished beneath the surface of what was unfolding as European civilization. Then Samael came during the 12th century. Samael belongs to Mars. Then came Gabriel, who belongs to the lunar sphere. And now, since the 1970s, Michael has once again taken his place; he belongs to the solar sphere. Thus, the dominions over the spiritual life of the Earth continue in rhythm through these seven beings from the hierarchy of the Archangels. So when we look back—where was the last Michael period? It was during the time of Alexander. It was present as that which had unfolded over centuries as Greek civilization, carried over to Asia, carried over to Africa, and concentrated in the spiritually powerful city of Alexandria with its significant spiritual heroes.

[ 37 ] This is a peculiar sight for occult vision. If one goes back a few centuries before the Mystery of Golgotha: looking eastward from Macedonia—that is, again from west to east, but further to the east—one sees the current that one then likewise observes flowing from the Anglo-Irish souls, again from west to east. During the reign of Alexander, Michael reigns on Earth. During the reign of Arthur, under the rule of Michael—who now acts from the sun—that which I have described to you is carried forth from the sun.

[ 38 ] But what happened later, after the Mystery of Golgotha had come to an end, with regard to the spread of the Aristotelian school of thought—the one that had been carried over to Asia by Alexander the Great through his conquests?

[ 39 ] We then see how, at the very same time that Charlemagne was establishing a form of Christian culture in Europe in his own way, Harun al-Rashid was making his mark over in Asia, in the Near East. At the court of Harun al-Rashid, we see brought together all that existed of Eastern wisdom and spirituality—in architecture, art, science, religion, literature, poetry, and everything else. And we see an advisor at Harun al-Rashid’s side who, though standing beside him, is not initiated into all of this, but who was an initiate in ancient times, in earlier earthly lives. And we see, in these two men—Harun al-Rashid and his advisor—a completely transformed version of what had been transplanted to Asia as Aristotelianism, that which Aristotle had still been able to show to the people he taught, drawing from the ancient wisdom of nature; we see what Alexandrianism and Aristotelianism were at the court of Harun al-Rashid, permeated and imbued with Arabism and Islam.

[ 40 ] And we then see carried over into Christian development that which originated with Harun al-Rashid, that which stemmed from Arabism. Again, I would say, carried over into Christianity—introduced into Christianity—through Greece, but especially through North Africa, through Italy, and into Spain—a kind of Arabism.

[ 41 ] But Harun al-Rashid and his advisor had, after all, already passed through the gates of death. From the life they now led in the spiritual world—from death to new birth, above the earthly realm—they observed what was unfolding below as the spread of Muslim-Moorish influences into Spain; from the spiritual world, they observed what they themselves had fostered and what was spreading through their successors, Harun al-Rashid did so more by turning his gaze from the spiritual world toward Greece, Italy, and Spain; his advisor did so by turning his gaze toward what was spreading from the East through the regions north of the Black Sea, through Russia, all the way to Central Europe.

[ 42 ] The question before us is: What happened to Alexander, and what happened to Aristotle himself? They were deeply connected to the Michael Kingdom, but were not on Earth at the time the Mystery of Golgotha took place.

[ 43 ] Now we must vividly imagine these two contrasting images. On Earth are the people who are contemporaries of the Mystery of Golgotha. Christ becomes human, passes through the Mystery of Golgotha, and from then on continues to live in the earthly sphere. What is it like on the Sun? There are the souls who once belonged to Michael and lived in the sphere of Michael. They are the ones who, from the Sun, watch as Christ leaves the Sun. On Earth are those who witness Christ’s arrival; on the Sun are those who witness Christ’s departure: they see him descending to Earth. That is the contrast. And this is experienced primarily by those who, during their earthly lives, took part in that Michael reign that occurred in the time of Alexander. They experience, so to speak, the reverse of the Christ event: Christ’s departure from the Sun. They live on—I will not mention insignificant incarnations at this time—they live on and experience, in the spiritual world, the era of the 9th century A.D., around the year 869, which is significant for the earthly world. For it is there, first of all, that what I have just hinted at takes place: the encounter of the Christ with his image, with his life spirit, with that which still remained of the pre-Christian, pagan Christ. But there is also the encounter between those individualities that lived in Alexander the Great and Aristotle, and the individuality that lived in Harun al-Rashid, as well as the one that lived in his advisor: the Islamized Aristotelianism of Asia, unfolding spiritually in Harun al-Rashid and his advisor after death, alongside Alexander and Aristotle after their deaths. But one was the Aristotelianism and Alexandrianism that had absorbed Islam; the other was true Aristotelianism—not those later teachings that had already passed through human hands. Aristotle and Alexander had beheld the Mystery of Golgotha from the sun.

[ 44 ] That was when the great debate took place—in a sense, that heavenly council—between Muslim-influenced Aristotelianism and Christian-influenced Aristotelianism, though the latter was Christian-influenced in the spiritual realm.

[ 45 ] So one might say: Here in the world that immediately adjoins our physical earthly world as a spiritual world, Alexander and Aristotle and Harun al-Rashid and his advisor met, discussing the further course of the Christianization of Europe and pointing to what was to come at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, when the reign of Michael could once again be upon the earth.

[ 46 ] And all of this came into being, unfolded as if illuminated by that event—the encounter between Christ and his counterpart. All of this was shaped by that impression. The spiritual life of human beings was projected—one might say, traced—in an intense manner into the spiritual world that immediately adjoins the physical world of the Earth.

[ 47 ] And down here on earth, the Church Fathers gathered in Constantinople for the Eighth Ecumenical Council and established the dogma that human beings consist not of body, soul, and spirit, but only of body and soul, and that the soul possesses certain spiritual qualities. The trichotomy—as the belief that human beings consist of body, soul, and spirit was called—was abolished. Anyone in Europe who continued to believe in it was deemed a heretic. The Christian Fathers in Europe avoided at all costs ever speaking of the “trichotomy,” of body, soul, and spirit, but spoke only of body and soul.

[ 48 ] What took place in the spiritual realms in the year 869—as I have described to you—cast its shadow down into the world. The dark age of Kali Yuga received a special impetus of its darkness while the events I have just described were unfolding.

[ 49 ] This was the true course of events: in the physical world, the Council of Constantinople, at which the Spirit was abolished; in the world immediately adjacent to the physical world, a heavenly council that unfolded as Christ himself encountered his counterpart.

[ 50 ] But everyone was clear on one thing: We must wait until the new reign of Michael can begin on Earth. Yet there were always teachers who, even if in a sense in a state of decadence, knew something of what was actually taking place behind the scenes of existence; there were always teachers who knew how to depict—albeit sometimes in not very accurate images—what the spiritual content of the world is, what underlies that which exists in the spiritual world immediately adjacent to the physical world. And such teachers sometimes found ears that listened to them. And those ears that listened to them belonged to people who had heard about Christianity in such a way that, although they heard only a fragment here or there, they nevertheless heard something of what is to come in the 20th century, after the reign of Michael has begun anew.

[ 51 ] These people, my dear friends—within your own souls dwell the souls that were once incarnated and belonged to those who spoke of the coming reign of Michael; who spoke of the coming reign of Michael under the influence of such impulses as came down from that heavenly council of which we have spoken.

[ 52 ] From such experiences in earlier times, during the first centuries of Christianity—not exactly in the 9th century, but both before and after, but especially before that—the urge arose to look, unconsciously, toward the place where spiritual life is now truly being cultivated again under the influence of the Michael Kingdom, as that kingdom arrives at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. This took root in the souls of those who heard teachings that contained something of the mysteries we have spoken of today.

[ 53 ] Thus, a karmic longing takes root in the souls to come into contact with the form of Christianity that, under the influence of Michael, was to be spread through anthroposophy at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. And what these souls experienced back then now finds expression in reincarnation in the fact that certain souls find their way into the anthroposophical movement.

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[ 54 ] Teachings that drew upon a kind of convergence between ancient, pre-Christian cosmic Christianity and inner Christian doctrine—teachings that drew upon spiritual life and the interplay of forces in nature, and yet were still able to connect with the Mystery of Golgotha— were now taught continuously—taught on Earth at a time when the souls who now feel drawn to anthroposophy had already passed through the gate of death once more, living in the life between death and a new birth, with some even descending to Earth to incarnate. We see how the ancient teachings—which still viewed Christianity in a cosmic light, and which carried on traditions rooted in the ancient mysteries—continued to live on on Earth; we see such teachings carried on through significant European schools, such as, for example, the School of Chartres in the 12th century, where such eminent teachers as Bernardus Sylvestris, Alanus ab Insulis, and other great teachers taught at the School of Chartres. We see how such teachings lived on and took shape, for example, in Brunetto Latini, whom I mentioned to you last Sunday. Brunetto Latini, Dante’s great teacher, carried such teachings within him. In this way, we see the continuation of that which still maintained a connection between cosmic Christianity and purely human, earthly Christianity, which, after all, was gaining more and more the upper hand on Earth.

[ 55 ] That was, in fact, the counterpart on Earth to the earthly Council of Constantinople: that, as I told you, there has been a continuous connection between what took place in the spiritual worlds—the world immediately adjacent to our physical world—and our physical world. A continuous connection existed. Thus, the most eminent teachers of Chartres, in particular, felt inspired by the real Alexander and the real Aristotle, but also, in the most outstanding sense, by Plato and by everything that drew upon Plato and Neoplatonism in the mysticism prevalent in the Middle Ages at that time.

[ 56 ] And something very significant took place. Those people who had primarily gathered around Michael—that is, those who had primarily incarnated during the Alexander era—were now living in the spiritual world. They already looked down upon such things as the Christian development brought about by the teachers of Chartres. But they waited until the teachers of Chartres—the last ones who still taught cosmic Christianity—ascended into the spiritual world. And there was a certain moment—a moment at the end of the 12th century, at the beginning of the 13th century—when, in a sense, the more Platonic-minded teachers of Chartres met in the super-earthly sphere, which immediately adjoined the earthly one, with those who had lived through the Heavenly Council of 869. And there—if I may use a trivial, earthly expression for this sublime matter— a kind of discussion took place between those who, as the teachers of Chartres, had just ascended into the spiritual world and were now to continue their development there, and those others who were to descend immediately—among whom were the very individualities of Alexander and Aristotle themselves, who then incarnated in the Dominican Order shortly thereafter. And it took place on Earth within what is so misunderstood today—something whose significance deserves to be recognized more deeply—it took place within what appeared on Earth as Scholasticism: the preparation for everything that was to follow in the later Michael Age,

[ 57 ] And in order to truly settle into Christianity, to be fully immersed in it, those who belonged to the Michael sphere—who had lived in the ancient Age of Alexander but had not participated in the first Christian centuries, or had done so only in insignificant incarnations—took physical form, precisely to settle into Christianity, in the Dominican Order or in other Christian orders, but mainly in the Dominican Order. Then they passed through the gate of death into the spiritual world and continued their work there.

[ 58 ] It was in the 15th century—and it continued well into the 16th century, though the circumstances are quite different for the spiritual world—that this powerful instruction in the supersensible took place, which Michael himself imparted to his own people. A supersensory, spiritual school was founded, so to speak—a school in which Michael himself was the teacher, a school attended by those individuals who were inspired at that time, notably by the earlier Michael Age, and subsequently inspired by living within Christianity in the manner I have described. All the disembodied human souls that belonged to Michael took part in that great school, which took place on a supersensible plane during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. All those beings from the hierarchy of the Angeloi, Archangeloi, and Archai who belonged to the Michael current took part. Numerous elemental beings also took part.

[ 59 ] A significant review of the entire ancient mystery tradition took place there. A precise understanding of the ancient mystery tradition was imparted to the souls; they looked back upon the solar mysteries and the mysteries of the other planets. But a vision of the future was also opened up—for what was to begin in the new Michael Age, which began toward the end of the 19th century and is now in full swing. All of this passed through the souls at that time. It was once again these same souls who, in our Michael Age, felt drawn to the anthroposophical movement.

[ 60 ] Meanwhile, on Earth, I would say, the final impact took place. Harun al-Rashid reincarnated, established the impulse of materialism in his reincarnation, and appeared as Bacon of Verulam. Bacon of Verulam’s universality stems from Harun al-Rashid, but so too does the intellectual and materialistic aspect that lives within Bacon. Bacon appeared as the reincarnated Harun al-Rashid. His advisor, who took the other path, appeared in the same era as Amos Comenius.

[ 61 ] And so we see that, while Christianity, in the light of Aristotelianism, underwent its most significant development in the supernatural realm during the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th centuries and so on, materialism was spiritually grounded on earth: grounded in science by Bacon, the reincarnated Harun al-Rashid, and grounded in education by Amos Comenius, the reincarnated advisor to Harun al-Rashid. The two worked together.

[ 62 ] And Amos Comenius and Bacon both brought about remarkable events in the spiritual world when they passed through the Gate of Death. When Bacon of Verulam passed through the gate of death, it became apparent how, from his etheric body—through the particular mode of thinking he had adopted in the Bacon incarnation—a whole world of idols demonic idols emanated from his etheric body—which filled the spiritual world I have just spoken of, where the aftereffects of that spiritual council were unfolding among the individualities who had been instructed by Michael. Idols spread throughout this world.

[ 63 ] It is indeed true, as described in my first Mystery, that what happens on Earth has powerful effects in the spiritual world. Bacon’s earthly mindset had the tumultuous effect in the spiritual world of causing a whole world of idols to spread.

[ 64 ] And from what Amos Comenius had actually established on earth as a kind of materialistic pedagogy, the foundation, the world, the sphere, the world atmosphere, so to speak, was formed for what constituted Bacon’s idols. I would like to say: Bacon provided the idols, and what belonged to the idols as other kingdoms was provided to them by Amos Comenius through what had taken place on earth. For just as we, as human beings, have the mineral kingdom and the plant kingdom around us, so now these idols of Bacon had the other kingdoms they needed around them.

[ 65 ] And it was to the fight against all of this—the fight against these demonic idols—that those individualities who had once been on Earth under the leadership of Alexander and Aristotle were now to devote themselves. This continued until the moment when the French Revolution took place on Earth.

[ 66 ] Those idols that could not be vanquished—those demons, idolatrous demons, who had, so to speak, escaped during the battle—then descended to Earth and inspired what became 19th-century materialism, along with everything that followed. These are the inspirers of 19th-century materialism!

[ 67 ] The souls who had remained behind—those who had received Michael’s teachings with the assistance of the individualities of Aristotle and Alexander—returned to Earth at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, carrying within them the impulses I have described. And many of these souls can be recognized in those who are drawn to the anthroposophical movement. This is the karma of those who approach the anthroposophical movement honestly and with inner sincerity.

[ 68 ] It is deeply moving when one describes it as it stands in the immediate background of what is outwardly taking place in the present. But it is something that must be sunk deep into the souls and hearts of those who call themselves anthroposophists under the influence of the Christmas impulse from the Goetheanum. It is something that should live in the hearts and souls of those who call themselves anthroposophists. And that will give one the strength to continue working; for those who are anthroposophists today—anthroposophists in the honest, true sense—will have a strong urge to return to Earth once more. And within the Michael Prophecy, one can foresee how, at the end of the 20th century, numerous anthroposophical souls will return to Earth to bring to full culmination what is to be established today with great force as the anthroposophical movement.

[ 69 ] This is what should truly inspire anthroposophists: Here I stand. The anthroposophical impulse is within me. I recognize it as the Michael impulse. I wait, strengthening myself for this waiting through proper anthroposophical work in the present and making use of the brief interim period that has been granted to anthroposophical souls in the 20th century—between death and a new birth—so that I may return at the end of the 20th century and continue the movement with a far more spiritual power. I am preparing myself for this new era from the 20th into the 21st century—so says a true anthroposophical soul—for many destructive forces are at work on Earth. All cultural life, all civilizational life on Earth, must descend into decadence unless the spirituality of the Michael impulse takes hold of humanity, unless people are once again able to lift up what is now threatening to roll downhill in our civilization.

[ 70 ] If there are such sincere anthroposophical souls who wish to bring spirituality into earthly life in this way, then there will be an upward movement. If there are no such souls, then decadence will continue to spread. The World War, with all its evil consequences, will be only the beginning of something even worse. For humanity today faces a great crossroads: the choice between watching everything that constitutes civilization tumble into the abyss, or lifting it up through spirituality and carrying it forward in the spirit of what is contained in the Michael Impulse, which precedes the Christ Impulse.

[ 71 ] This, my dear friends, is what I had to unfold before your souls during this gathering, and I would like it to continue to have an effect within your souls. For as I have often said, when, after a joyful and satisfying gathering, I had to take stock of what had been discussed and accomplished during such a gathering: Anthroposophists, when they are united in physical life, are together; they accept this as their karma, yet remain united even when they are physically apart. So let us remain united in those signs that may reveal themselves to us before the spiritual eye and the spiritual ear, if we take them in with full seriousness—as I would have liked them to flow, if I have been understood—through what I was able to unfold before you, my dear anthroposophical friends, during these three hours.