True and False Paths in Spiritual Investigation
GA 243
21 August 1924, Torquay
10. Influences of the Extra-Terrestrial Cosmos Upon the Consciousness of Man
Yesterday I spoke of abnormal and pathological approaches to the spiritual world: the path through enrichment of inner understanding, the path of deeper penetration into the world of dream on the one hand, and on the other, the path which sets out to investigate the external manifestations of somnambulists and mediums by methods which are really a travesty of those of natural science. I pointed out that it is essential to follow both these paths and to pursue them purposefully if we are to develop true Initiation-knowledge. Today I propose to examine this problem more closely and to explore those cosmic influences to which man's consciousness and his total being are subject.
It is easy to see that amongst the influences working upon man, apart from those of the Earth, the influences of the Sun and Moon are paramount. Although people as a rule do not pay much attention to this, it is none the less evident today, even to the scientist, that nothing would exist on Earth without solar radiations.
Sun forces conjure plant life out of the Earth. They are essential to all animal life and to the physical and etheric bodies of man. Sun activities are to be found everywhere if we are prepared to look for them; they are vitally necessary to the higher members of man's being. Less attention, however, is paid to the Moon influences. They often survive today in the form of superstitious beliefs, and any precise knowledge about them is frequently distorted by the existence of superstitious notions about such influences. Those who propose to work in the scientific field today feel themselves to be above superstition; in consequence they deny that Moon influences have any significance and refuse to consider them seriously. Now and then, however, not only poets who are aware that the magic of the Moon stimulates their poetic imagination, not only lovers who exchange their tender passion by the light of the Moon, but also sages have a presentiment of the influences of the Moon upon the Earth, each in their different way. And this can prove highly instructive.
In the middle of the nineteenth century there lived in Germany two professors, Schleiden and Gustav Theodor Fechner. Fechner was attracted to a scientific study of the more mysterious workings in man and in the wider kingdom of nature. He collected data and statistical evidence to show that the rainfall over a particular area was related to Full Moon and New Moon and he concluded that rainfall varied with the phases of the Moon. He did not hesitate to defend his point of view against the scientific theories of the day. His colleague at the university, the eminent botanist Professor Schleiden, held a different opinion. He ridiculed the ideas of Fechner and declared that it was nonsense to speak of Moon influences of this kind. Now both professors were married and in the relatively small university town of the day conditions were still patriarchal. At that time it was customary for the wives to collect rainwater because they believed it was ideal for washing linen. Not only the two professors debated the issue, but their wives also tried to get to the bottom of the question. One day Professor Fechner said to his wife: “Professor Schleiden refuses to believe that the phases of the Moon have any influence on the rainfall. I want you to collect the rainwater that falls during one phase of the Moon, and Frau Professor Schleiden to collect the rainwater that falls during the following phase. As Professor Schleiden does not believe that the Moon phases play any part in the matter, there can be no possible objection.” But Frau Professor Schleiden was unwilling to grant to Frau Professor Fechner that phase of the Moon during which, according to her husband, a higher rainfall was impossible! A regular quarrel ensued; university and families took sides.
Now this incident has a scientific basis. When we investigate these influences with the methods of Spiritual Science we find that we can speak of powerful Sun and Moon influences, not merely as a relic of superstitious beliefs, but as a scientific fact. Having stated this, we have virtually exhausted all that modern man in normal consciousness can know on this subject. Modern man lives, so to speak, under the influences of Earth, Sun and Moon, and his consciousness also is fundamentally dependent upon them. For, as I have already pointed out, the external, visible aspect of the stars, Sun and Moon, is not the decisive factor. We have already emphasized that the Moon sphere harbours those Beings who were once the primordial teachers of mankind. The Sun sphere also harbours a vast multitude of spiritual beings. Every star is a colony of beings, just as the Earth is the cosmic colony of humanity. As I have already indicated, man lives today almost exclusively under the influence of Earth, Sun and Moon during the period between birth and death. We must now acquire a more precise knowledge of the spiritual, psychic and physical conditions in which man lives under the influence of Sun and Moon.
Let us consider the two poles of consciousness between which lies the state of dream—the waking consciousness and the emptied consciousness of sleep, of dreamless sleep. If we observe man during sleep when his physical and etheric bodies are detached from his astral body and Ego, we find that between falling asleep and waking he carefully preserves in the astral body and Ego the Sun influences which are withdrawn from the physical and etheric bodies.
From waking to sleeping we experience the Sun externally. We are aware of its effects even when totally blanketed by rain, for we owe our perception of objects around us to the reflected rays of the Sun. During the whole of our waking life we are exposed to the influence of the Sun which illumines objects from without. The moment we pass over into the condition of sleep the Sun begins to shine in our Ego and astral body and we perceive it with our spiritual eyes. Between sleeping and waking the Sun is within us. You are aware that certain minerals when left in a dark room after exposure to irradiation absorb the light and then become luminous. To spiritual perception the Ego and astral body of man follow the same pattern. In the waking state they are to some extent overpowered by the external sunlight. They begin to glow and to shine, since they are now imbued with sunlight between sleeping and waking.
To sum up: in waking life man lives under the influence of the external Sun forces; during sleep he is under the influence of the Sun forces which he now bears within himself until the moment of waking. During sleep we have the Sun within us and only the physical and etheric bodies are left behind. But from the spiritual world during sleep we irradiate from without our physical and etheric bodies with the sunlight stored within us. If we should omit to do this, if we did not irradiate our skin and the innermost recesses of the sense-organs with the sunlight stored within us, then we would soon collapse and die. In fact we provide for the vigour, growth and vitality of our organism by directing the stored-up sunlight from without on to our skin or by assimilating it into the sense-organs.
In effect, therefore, when man's astral body and Ego are outside his physical and etheric bodies during sleep, he first of all irradiates his skin with sunlight and then directs the sunlight through the eyes and ears to the nervous system.
This is the phenomenon of sleep. The Sun shines from the human Ego and astral body, irradiating the skin and penetrating into the human being through the doors of the senses.
Then, irrespective of whether it is New Moon or Full Moon—for the influences are always present, although they change with the phases of the Moon—Moon forces from without invade man's physical and etheric bodies. Thus, in the physical and etheric bodies during sleep we see the workings of the Sun proceeding from the Ego and astral body; in the physical and etheric bodies the workings of the Moon.
We have thus characterized the state of sleep in relation to the Cosmos. During sleep man's inner life is related to the Sun, his external life to the Moon. For, although the astral body and Ego are outside, they are, in reality, his inner being.
In waking life, the situation is reversed. When we are awake, Moon influences permeate our whole inner being, whilst Sun influences invade us from without. In waking life, therefore, Sun influences stream directly into our physical and etheric bodies, and the Ego and astral body within us are subject to the stored-up Moon forces.
During waking life, therefore, the Sun forces stream into our physical and etheric bodies from without and our inner being is permeated with the stored up Moon forces. During sleep the Sun inhabits the astral body and Ego; during waking life, the Moon. In waking life the Sun inhabits the physical and etheric bodies, during sleep, the Moon.
Even when man becomes a night-reveller and by sacrificing sleep invites the next day's hang-over, even then these influences are still present. For although we may choose to ignore nature's laws, the fact remains that things will take their normal course for man by virtue of their inherent inertia, by virtue of the law of cosmic continuity.
If man sleeps by day and wakes by night, the Moon influences are still active within his Ego and astral body during his nocturnal waking life; and the Sun influences also stream into him, but he experiences them as he would normally experience the light shed by street lamps, or dim starlight were he to lie out in the open and look up at the stars. But the Sun forces which man stores up during sleep and the Moon forces which pervade his inner being during waking life are present everywhere. With the physical and etheric bodies the position is reversed.
Man owes his ordinary consciousness between birth and death to this pattern of events. We shall now consider how the situation changes when man attains to higher forms of consciousness. For the relationship of the Initiate to Sun and Moon is progressively modified, and through this change of relationship to the Cosmos man finds his way into the spiritual world.
There is no need for me to describe man's relationship to the world, to the Sun and Moon in normal consciousness; everyone is aware of this when he recalls how man lives in his day consciousness and his night consciousness. The moment man begins to strengthen his inner soul-forces in relation to the normally chaotic dream consciousness, the moment he succeeds in transforming this dream consciousness into an instrument for the apprehension of reality, in that moment he becomes aware that the accumulated Moon forces are present in his Ego during waking life. The moment he actually transforms the dream into reality through Initiation-knowledge, he feels the presence of a second being within him, but he knows that the forces of the Moon sphere live within this second being.
In the early stages of Initiation consciousness man becomes aware that Moon forces are within him and that they always tend to develop within him a second man who is encased within the first man. A conflict now sets in. When the Moon forces begin to be inwardly active in this second man of whom I am speaking, not in waking consciousness, but during sleep, in such a way that this second man is released naturally by these inner Moon forces—when he is set free by the presence of the Moon at night and begins to wake to consciousness in the passive condition of sleep, then this second man concealed within the first, the normal man, seeks to wander around in the light of the Moon and takes the other with him. This is the origin of the somnambulistic condition peculiar to sleep-walkers.
When the Moon is shining outside, it is possible to awaken the second man who then makes contact with magical forces, i.e. anomalous forces which differ in kind from those of nature. He begins to wander around. As a sleep-walker in a diminished state of consciousness he behaves in a way that would be foreign to ordinary consciousness. Instead of lying in bed, as he would normally do, he wanders around and climbs on roofs. He is looking for the sphere which, in reality, he ought to experience outside his physical body. .
When this becomes a conscious inner experience and is directed into normal channels we take the first step in Initiation-consciousness. In this case however, we do not contact the actual external Moon influences; but the Moon forces in our inner being enable the second man to develop his consciousness. We must at all costs prevent this second man from breaking loose. There is always the danger that the second man might break loose, wander phantom-like abroad and stray along false paths. He must be kept under control.
Inner stability and self-control are essential for the acquisition of Initiation-knowledge in order to ensure that this potentially errant second man stays within the body and remains linked to the ordinary, matter-of-fact consciousness associated with the physical body. We must perpetually struggle to prevent this second being, the creation of the strengthened inner Moon nature, from dissociating itself from us. The second being is strongly attracted to everything associated with metabolism, peristalsis, the stomach and other organs, and makes heavy demands upon them.
The first indication, the first experience, of man's dawning Initiation-knowledge is that he follows one of the two paths which have to be traversed—the path that leads through the development, through the conscious realisation of the dream world.
And if he now becomes aware (in the dream state)—and, as I have pointed out, this is a necessary step—he realizes that though it is day without, within himself he bears the night. In the daytime there awakens within him something like an inner night.
When this Initiate-consciousness awakens, the day is still day to the outward eyes and for the external apprehension of things; but in the course of this day the spiritual light of the Moon with its refulgent beams begins to invade and illumine all around—and the spiritual begins to shine.
We know, therefore, that by inner effort man brings the night consciousness into the day consciousness. When this happens in full consciousness, just as other activities are performed consciously during the day, when this vigilant man is able to invoke the night activities of the Moon into the waking experiences of the daytime, then he is on the true path. If he allows anything to enter into him when he is not fully conscious so that out of their own inner momentum the night experiences arise in the day consciousness, then he finds himself on the false path that ultimately leads to mediumism.
The essential point is, therefore, that we must be fully conscious, in full control of experiences. The phenomena and experiences as such are not the decisive factors, but the way in which we respond to them. If the ordinary sleepwalker could develop full consciousness at a time when he is climbing on the roof top, he would at that moment experience an intimation of Initiation. Since he fails to develop this consciousness he falls to the ground when we shout at him to awaken him. If he did not fall, but developed full waking consciousness and could maintain this condition, he would then be an Initiate. The task of Initiation-knowledge is to develop along sound lines, sound in every respect, what is developed in the sleep-walker pathologically.
You will note, then, how a hair's breadth separates the true from the false in the spiritual world. In the physical world there is no difficulty in distinguishing between the true and the false because man can appeal to common sense and practical experience. As soon as he enters the spiritual world, it is exceedingly difficult to establish this distinction; he is wholly dependent on inner control, inner awareness. Furthermore, when man has awakened the night in the day, the moonlight gradually loses its character of external radiance. We experience it less externally; it creates a general feeling of inner well-being. We become aware however of something else. The wonderful glowing light of Mercury illumines this spiritual night-sky. The planet Mercury actually rises in this night that has been wooed into the day; it is not the physical aspect of Mercury, for we realize that we are in the presence of something living. We cannot recognize immediately the living spiritual Beings who are the inhabitants of Mercury, but we have a general impression that, from the way in which Mercury appears to us, we are in touch with a spiritual world.
When the spiritual moonlight becomes a universal life-giving force within us in which we participate, then the spiritual planet Mercury gradually rises in the night consciousness that has been wooed into the day consciousness. Out of this sparkling twilight in which Mercury appears there emerges the Being whom we call the Divine Being Mercury. We have absolute need of him for otherwise confusion will set in. We must first of all find this Being in the spiritual world, the Being whom we know for certain belongs to Mercury. Through our knowledge of this Divine Being (Mercury) we are able to control at will the “second man” who is awakened within us. We no longer need to stumble along undefined paths like the sleep-walker, but we can be led by the hand of Mercury, the messenger of the Gods, along the clearly defined paths that lead into the spiritual world. .
If, then, we wish to find the true paths into the spiritual world we must first undergo certain definite experiences which serve to guide and direct us. The ordinary mystic looks inward. Through introspection he sets up an emotional ferment compounded of God, the universe, angels and devils. At best his introspection leads to normal dream states where it is impossible to tell whether they come from the sexual or the intellectual plane. As a rule the experiences are confused and chaotic. This is the vague and nebulous mysticism which does not illumine the dream, but, as only the Initiate can understand, makes the confusion more confounded.
Such experiences, so instinct with wonder and poetry as described by Catherine of Siena and others, can only be understood by the Initiate, for only he knows what they really experience. Hence, if we pursue our Initiation with the same clear and lucid consciousness with which we calculate, or study geometry, if we penetrate with full consciousness into these things, we are on the right path. Only through the realization that we woo the inner night of the Moon into the external day, do we discover the real spiritual world. Just as no one can deny that the Moon or Mercury rises in the outer world of space, that this is a reality, not a dream delusion, so we find that the spiritual world is equally real and no delusion when we enter it in full consciousness and meet with spiritual Beings, just as we meet with human beings here on Earth. When we seek the spirit without becoming conscious of the nature of the spiritual world we are at all times on a false track. If we remain on Earth and are content to experiment with mediums and their manifestations and do not have direct contact with the spiritual, then we are on the false path. Every activity that fails to awaken consciousness in the spiritual world, that stumbles along blindly and only looks for effects, as superficial occultism for example, is on the false path. Everything which, on penetrating into the spiritual world, immediately experiences this world as a spiritual reality, is on the right path.
And thus an inner, living knowledge of the Moon sphere is the starting-point of the one path of Initiation. And we may say: man's normal experiences in relation to Sun and Moon which are normally experienced in sleep, the Initiate now experiences in waking life. Man becomes aware of the Moon influences as though they were external to him. He woos the night into the day. And instead of the night sky which we normally see studded with stars when we look out into the night, we see first of all the planet Mercury rise up before our inward vision: and if we have followed the instructions described in my book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and have succeeded in developing real Imaginations, then in this Moon sphere during waking life, the world of Imaginations is revealed to us as a reality.
When we enter into the sphere of Mercury influences these Imaginations pass over to the Mercury Beings. We do not now experience mere visions devoid of reality, but we perceive visions as Imaginations. These Imaginations pass over to the beings corresponding to them. Therefore, if we have not advanced far enough along the path of Initiation we may have the vision of an Archangel, but it remains a vision. Only at a further stage does the vision really contact the Archangel and then the real Archangel is revealed within the vision. At an earlier stage, when we experienced the light of the Moon within us, the Archangel was not of necessity there. But now the Archangel has become a reality. Thus we become conscious of the Mercury influences in that our world of visions passes over into a world in which we really perceive the spiritual. I must emphasise constantly that all this can only be achieved in the right way when we are fully conscious.
And then if we pursue our meditations further, strengthen and vitalize our inner being in increasing measure, we attain to the sphere where the Venus influences are added to those of Mercury. Then, when we contact the Venus influences, when Venus rises in this inner night which has been wooed into the day, the visions of the Beings who have appeared in the Imagination pictures, in the images of the true visions, are lost and we face the spiritual world with emptied consciousness. We know that the spiritual Beings are there; we have attained to the Venus sphere where the spiritual Beings dwell. We wait until the Sun sphere draws near to us. The whole process is a preparation for experiencing the Sun a second time. All this takes place during the waking consciousness of day, when we are subject to the influences of the Sun from without. We take the path I have described through Moon, Mercury and Venus. Then the visions vanish. We press on. The entire path was a path leading from Earth, to Moon, to Mercury, Venus and finally to the Sun. We enter into the inner being of the Sun and behold the Sun a second time, spiritually. Its appearance is fleeting and undefined, but we know that we are perceiving it spiritually. We gaze into the inner being of the Sun.
If I may use a crude analogy, it is as if we were to say to ourselves: I see something in the distance, and draw near to it. At first I take it for an inanimate object, take hold of it, whereupon it bites my hand. Now I know that it is not an inanimate object, but a real dog; I realize that it is possessed of inner being.
This crude comparison may draw your attention to the fact that these experiences are rooted in reality. We pass from the Earth through the influences of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and arrive at the stage where we behold the Sun; we realize that it is a living spiritual Being and that spiritual Beings dwell within it.
In the first place this is the path that can be followed. At every stage along the path it becomes abundantly clear that as the Initiate progresses, he must retain his full consciousness and that he is then on the right path, and that if man, irrespective of the way he leaves his body, loses consciousness and enters into the Cosmos that has become spiritual reality before his spiritual gaze, then he is on the false path. We must have an inner realization of the difference between the true and false paths of inner spiritual perception.
Yesterday I indicated how, in accordance with the demands of the time, various psychic and occult societies, using methods which are a travesty of those of natural science, are attempting to investigate the spiritual world through external phenomena. Please do not misunderstand me. I have no wish to disparage these methods for I know only too well how ardently men desire to know scientifically the real nature of the spiritual world through observation of external phenomena. I only wish to point out how these paths must lead into error and what must be the nature of the true paths. Since we are living today, and must continue to live, in a scientific age, it is perfectly understandable that there should be men who wish to investigate the spiritual world by the direct methods of natural science and who consider other, purely spiritual paths to be unreliable. And they come to the conclusion that there exists, on the one hand, the ordinary world in which men live and fulfil the demands of social life and who think and act in terms of this social life. There is nothing unusual in this. It is the accepted way of life. This is the field of scientific investigation which is concerned with external phenomena, with the phenomena of heat, light, electricity, magnetism and so on.
On the other hand, however, abnormal situations occur in life. Men practise automatic writing; they perform various acts under the influence of hypnosis and suggestion. They suspect that an unknown world is revealed in this way in the ordinary world and they want to interpret these external signs and abnormal phenomena. They want to explain how the thoughts and experiences of someone in New York are communicated telepathically to a friend living in Europe who has a psychic affinity with him, whereas normally the news is transmitted by wireless telegraphy. Phenomena of this kind of which innumerable instances could be cited, are investigated by the statistical methods of natural science. This path cannot lead to any goal or final understanding because man lacks the necessary spiritual orientation which must be sought in the spiritual world itself. All these phenomena, wonderful as they may seem, are seen to be aggregates of unrelated phenomena in the external world. We cannot arrive at any knowledge or understanding of them, we can only record them, regard them as extraordinary and formulate hypotheses about the spiritual world which are meaningless, because the phenomena themselves have their source in the spiritual world and do not betray their real nature. However much we concern ourselves with mediums and scientific facts, the spiritual world is always with us, but it does not reveal its real essence.
In this context I would like to recall the investigations which I mentioned yesterday when I stated that Dr. Wegman and I are now endeavouring to provide an accurate description of these phenomena. This method of investigation, even as the other line of enquiry I have just described which seeks to throw light on the inner life of dreams, cannot dispense with spiritual insight. It proceeds in such a way that the phenomena to be investigated are related directly with their counterpart in the spiritual world itself.
But these phenomena are not associated with the isolated and miraculous events which we encounter in the external world in the manner I have just described. They belong to the realm that is perceived by the person who is trained in medicine, anatomy and physiology when his perception of the external form of a human organ—the lung, the liver, or some other organ—is transformed into an imaginative apprehension of this organ, when he gradually begins to be able to see the human organisation in Imaginations.
This becomes possible therefore when we are able to study the organs of man which normally function after the fashion of the abnormal rather than the normal external phenomena of nature, i.e. when we are in a position to transform our initial human, scientific, anatomical knowledge into spiritual penetration into the human organisation. In the method which I described before, we take our starting-point from the total being of man. The path that starts from the individual human organs which we apprehend and perceive directly through a spiritual anatomy is the path that can lead to true results in contrast to the false approach that seeks to understand external phenomena by statistical methods that are a travesty of natural science. You will appreciate, therefore, that before these matters could be discussed, we needed the co-operation of a medical practitioner trained along these lines. Furthermore you will realize that when a human organ is apprehended spiritually in this way by a person who looks at anatomy from this standpoint, he must harbour no doubts about the goal before him. And now there is disclosed to spiritual perception not an inner man such as I described earlier, but an external, cosmic man, still nebulous of course, but in the form of a mighty, gigantic being—man as he is perceived, not as a totality, but as he appears through an inner spiritual perception of his organs. Because these organs are seen spiritually, not merely the physical man, but the cosmic man stands revealed. Just as formerly the world of night—the Moon-sphere—was wooed into the day, so we now woo into this being—who is not the complete man, but a being who consists of the single organs—the impulses of the Saturn sphere.
Just as at an earlier stage the Moon sphere was charmed into the ordinary waking consciousness, the Saturn sphere is now charmed into the scientific consciousness. We become aware that the forces of Saturn work in a special way in every organ, most strongly in the liver, relatively feebly in the lungs and least of all in the head.
We thus become conscious of the goal which demands of us that we seek the Saturn influences everywhere. Just as in the earlier stages we advanced spiritually through the practice of meditation, so now, through identification with the search for Saturn, for the inner spiritual structure of each organ, we penetrate into the Jupiter sphere and come to recognize that every organ is in effect the terrestrial counterpart of a divine-spiritual Being.
In his organs man bears within him the images of divine-spiritual Beings. The entire Cosmos first appeared as a gigantic Being in the Saturn sphere and the whole man is seen as a gigantic cosmic Being appearing as the sum-total, as the inner-organic, cooperative activity of generations of Gods.
Once again we must pursue this path in full consciousness so that we are activated by forces which are able to support and sustain us in the course of our spiritual experiences. We must bear in mind that all these influences are in the first instance in the embryonic stage, but their appearance is transient. It is indeed easy to recognize their presence, but it is impossible to describe them, to retain a clear impression of them and mould them into mental images if we succumb to the inherent danger, namely, that all that arises in this sphere may immediately disappear from our consciousness, so that we are never in a position to contemplate it.
Now those who are today engaged in psychical research never dream of taking the spiritual into account. They prefer to work experimentally in their own way, by inviting certain individuals for laboratory tests. But spiritual realities cannot be reduced to the human level, especially when the declared intention is to apprehend them by these methods and to arrive gradually at a scientific explanation.
The medical book of which I spoke yesterday can only offer a first, elementary introduction to what will become a fully developed science in the distant future. But to the extent to which these things exist in the spiritual world today and are natural to the Beings who live, not on Earth, but on the Sun—to that extent they can be brought into earthly consciousness in the manner I have described. We should not imagine that we can develop spiritual insight by means of laboratory experiments or the abstract anatomy to be found in text-books. The essential point is that all spiritual matters must be directly experienced by man himself. Why is this so?
We can only hold these realities steady in the light when they are supported and sustained by the forces which arise from the common endeavours of man, by the forces which man derives from earlier incarnations on Earth. When this happens there enters into the world of the Saturn and Jupiter spheres what we may call the Mars sphere. From then onwards these things begin to speak. They are revealed through Inspiration. Then we return to the Sun once more with the consciousness of Inspiration.
This is the other path that is demanded of natural science today and which the Initiates of whom I spoke yesterday would prefer to avoid. They feel ill at ease when they are brought in contact with this path, but none the less it is a path which must be traversed.
The path through the Moon sphere, as you will realize from the present discussions, was admirably suited to the old Initiates and we have remarkable information about this Moon path in H. P. Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. If we can distinguish fact from fiction, many important truths are to be found in the Secret Doctrine. But this path leads through the sphere of the Lunar-astral light with which H. P. Blavatsky was intimately associated and where an exalted Mercury messenger directed her interpretations. When we follow her disquisitions we realize how she always directed her imagination to the right source. The remarkable thing about Blavatsky is that no sooner does she feel the first promptings of an Imagination than it is immediately realized. Guided by the Mercury messenger, she is led to a secret library. The idea takes shape within her and the Mercury messenger leads her to a book carefully guarded by the Vatican. She reads the book and we find in her writings a variety of information to which she would otherwise not have had access because it had been jealously guarded by the Vatican for centuries! This path is indeed a well trodden path which must be carefully distinguished from everything that is achieved under firm inner control.
The other path takes the course I have described and relies upon the methods of modern natural science which H. P. Blavatsky detested like the plague. This is the path that must be trodden in the manner I have described, in the full realization that it finds its strength and support in the karmic development of the forces of human beings, not so much for the sake of awakening karmic memories, but in order to hold fast to them for the purpose of describing them.
The science of today must be imbued with human values such as I described yesterday, when I referred to my collaborator in this sphere. It is by discussing concrete examples, not through definitions that we can best discover the origin of the true and false paths. In order to conclude this course of lectures I propose tomorrow to add as much information upon this subject as is possible in the short time at our disposal.
Einflüsse des außerirdischen Kosmos auf das menschliche Bewußtsein
Sonnenwirkungen und Mondenwirkungen
Ich habe gestern darauf hingewiesen, wie die abnormen, die krankhaft auftretenden Wege in die geistige Welt - auf der einen Seite der Weg des innerlich-mystischen Vertiefens, des tieferen Hineingeratens in die Traumeswelt, und auf der anderen Seite der Weg, der mehr, ich möchte sagen, in einer karikaturhaft naturwissenschaftlichen Weise durch die Erscheinungen geht, welche sich äußerlich bei den Somnambulen, bei den Medien darbieten -, wie diese beiden Wege aufgegriffen und in fruchtbarer Weise fortgeführt werden müssen, wenn tatsächliche Initiationserkenntnis zustande kommen soll. Wir werden nun weiter in dieses Gebiet eindringen, wenn wir uns vor die Seele stellen, unter welchen Einflüssen von seiten des Kosmos das menschliche Bewußtsein und überhaupt mit dem menschlichen Bewußtsein zusammen die ganze menschliche Wesenheit steht.
Sie können ja leicht übersehen, wie unter allem, was außer den Erdenwirkungen an Wirkungen auf Menschen vorhanden ist, die Sonnenwirkungen und die Mondenwirkungen alles überragen. Man denkt gewöhnlich nicht darüber nach, allein es ist ja heute auch naturwissenschaftlich ganz evident, daß alles auf der Erde nicht wäre, wenn nicht die Sonnenwirkungen, die vom außerirdischen Kosmos auf die Erde herabkommen, da wären.
Die Sonnenwirkungen zaubern das ganze Pflanzenwesen hervor. Die Sonnenwirkungen sind notwendig für alles Tierische, aber auch für alles, was physisch und ätherisch im Menschen ist. Sonnenwirkung kann überall bemerkt werden, wo man sie nur bemerken will, und sie ist durchaus auch für die höheren Wesensglieder des Menschen bedeutsam. Die Mondenwirkung bemerkt man weniger. Sie lebt heute vielfach im Aberglauben, und was man über sie exakt wissen kann, ist entstellt dadurch, daß eben vielfach dem Aberglauben huldigende Vorstellungen über die Mondenwirkungen vorhanden sind, und daß diejenigen, die heute Wissenschaft treiben wollen, sich erhaben fühlen über allen Aberglauben und deshalb auch alles Bedeutsame der Mondenwirkungen zurückweisen und es nicht in die eigentliche Wissenschaft hereinlassen wollen. Da und dort ahnt man aber, nicht nur bei den Dichtern, die da wissen, wie anregend der Mondenzauber auf die Phantasie wirkt, nicht nur bei den Liebenden, die ihre Liebesaffären gern im Mondenlichte abmachen, sondern man ahnt schon bei den Erkennenden, daß durchaus, wenn auch ganz anders geartete, Wirkungen vom Monde aus auf die Erde stattfinden. Da kann man ja ganz besonders merkwürdige Dinge erfahren.
Es gab in der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland zwei Gelehrte. Der eine hieß Schleiden, der andere Gustav Theodor Fechner. Gustav Theodor Fechner ging von ganz exaktem Standpunkte aus gern an die geheimeren Naturwirkungen sowohl im Menschen wie draußen in der großen Natur heran. Er sammelte namentlich Daten darüber, eine Art Statistik stellte er auf, wie die Regenmenge, welche an irgendeinem Orte niederfällt, zusammenhängt mit Vollmond und Neumond. Und er bekam eben heraus, seiner Ansicht nach, daß bei gewissen Mondenphasen mehr Regenmenge für irgendeinen Ort da ist als bei anderen Mondenphasen. Das vertrat er. Er genierte sich nicht, gegenüber der landläufigen Wissenschaft auch eine solche Wissenschaft geltend zu machen. Allein sein Kollege an der Universität, Professor Schleiden, der große Botaniker, war anderer Meinung, machte diese Meinung Fechners lächerlich und sagte: Von Mondenwirkungen solcher Art kann überhaupt nicht die Rede sein.
Das Merkwürdige aber war dieses: Die beiden Gelehrten waren verheiratet - es waren damals in der noch verhältnismäßig kleinen Universitätsstadt, die allerdings eine der großen Städte Deutschlands ist, noch patriarchalische Verhältnisse -, es war damals so, daß die Frauen das Regenwasser sammelten, weil sie meinten, daß das ganz besonders gut zum Wäschewaschen ist. Nun gab es also eine Frau Professor Fechner und eine Frau Professor Schleiden. Und es kam dahin, daß sich in dieser Frage nicht nur die beiden Professoren unterhielten, sondern daß auch die Frauen hinter diese Frage kamen. Und siehe da, der Professor Fechner sagte zu seiner Frau: Nun ja, der Professor Schleiden glaubt ja nicht, daß die Mondenphasen Einfluß auf die Regenmenge haben; also sag’ einfach du, du willst diese Mondenphasen benutzen, um das Regenwasser zu sammeln, und die Frau Professor Schleiden kann ja dann nach dir in einer anderen Phase das Regenwasser sammeln; da der Professor Schleiden nicht daran glaubt, daß die Mondenphasen Einfluß haben, so kann ja gar nichts dagegen einzuwenden sein. — Aber siehe da, die Frau Professor Schleiden wollte der Frau Professor Fechner diejenige Mondenphase nicht überlassen, von der ihr Mann nicht glaubte, daß in ihr mehr Regenwasser komme! Also es gab einen sehr netten Universitäts-Familienstreit über diese Sache. Aber er hat ja einen wissenschaftlichen Hintergrund. Und wenn wir, aber mit mehr geisteswissenschaftlichen Mitteln, an solche Wirkungen herangehen, dann kommen wir schon darauf, daß tatsächlich nicht bloß im Aberglauben, sondern in wirklich wissenschaftlicher Weise von starken Mondenwirkungen ebenso gesprochen werden kann wie von Sonnenwirkungen.
Aber damit haben wir gewissermaßen schon dasjenige erschöpft, was in die Tatsache hereinspielt, welche das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein des heutigen Menschen umfaßt. Der heutige Mensch lebt sozusagen unter dem Einflusse von Erde, Mond und Sonne. Der heutige Mensch ist auch in seinem Bewußtsein im wesentlichen abhängig von Erde und Mond und Sonne. Denn, wie ich schon angedeutet habe, das äußerlich Sichtbare der Sterne ist ja nicht das Wesentliche, auch nicht das äußerlich Sichtbare der Sonne und des Mondes. Wir haben ja ausdrücklich darüber gesprochen, wie die Mondensphäre diejenigen Wesenheiten in sich birgt, welche einstmals die großen Urlehrer der Menschheit waren. So birgt die Sonnensphäre eine große Summe von geistigen Wesenheiten. Jeder Stern ist eine Kolonie von Wesenheiten, wie die Erde die kosmische Kolonie des Menschentums ist. Aber wie gesagt, der Mensch, der heute seine Zeit zubringt zwischen der Geburt und dem Tode, er lebt fast ausschließlich unter dem Einfluß von Erde, Sonne und Mond. Und nun handelt es sich darum, genauer kennenzulernen, wie der Mensch mit seinem ganzen bewußten und auch leiblichen Zustande, also mit seinem geistigen, seelischen und physischen Zustande unter dem Einflusse von Sonne und Mond lebt.
Nehmen wir da die extremsten Bewußtseinszustände, zwischen denen der Traumzustand liegt, nehmen wir das wache Tagesbewußtsein und das bewußtseinsleere -— wenn ich den Widerspruch bilden darf -, das bewußtseinsleere Schlafbewußtsein, das traumlose Schlafbewußtsein. Wenn wir den Menschen verfolgen, wie er da sich befindet während des Schlafes - physischer Leib und Ätherleib sind getrennt vom astralischen Leib und Ich -, dann finden wir, wie der Mensch in dem, was er aus seinem physischen und aus seinem ätherischen Leibe als astralischen Leib und Ich herausgezogen hat, zwischen dem Einschlafen und Aufwachen innerlich die Sonnenwirkungen sorgsam bewahrt.
Wir schauen vom Aufwachen bis zum Einschlafen äußerlich auf die Sonne hin. Wir schauen ja auch auf ihre Wirkung hin, wenn eine vollständige Regendecke da ist; denn das, was wir von den anderen Dingen sehen, sind ja die zurückgeworfenen Sonnenstrahlen. Wir stehen während des ganzen Wachens unter dem Einflusse der die Dinge äußerlich bescheinenden Sonne. In dem Augenblicke, wo wir in den anderen Zustand hinüberschlafen, fängt an, für das geistige Auge schaubar, in unserem Ich und unserem astralischen Leibe das Sonnenlicht zu erglänzen. Da haben wir zwischen dem Einschlafen und dem Aufwachen Sonne in uns. Sie wissen ja, es gibt gewisse Mineralien, wenn man sie unter gewissen Verhältnissen bestrahlt und läßt dann den Raum finster werden, so bewahren sie das Licht und strahlen es dann im Finstern als Nachwirkung zurück. So ist es für das geistige Anschauen mit dem menschlichen Ich und dem menschlichen Astralleibe. Sie sind gewissermaßen übertönt von dem äußeren Sonnenlichte in dem Zustand des Wachens. Sie fangen an zu glimmen und zu leuchten, indem sie das Sonnenlicht nunmehr in sich tragen zwischen dem Einschlafen und Aufwachen.
So daß wir sagen können: Im Wachen ist der Mensch unter dem Einflusse der äußeren Sonnenwirkungen. Im Schlafe ist der Mensch unter dem Einflusse der Sonnenwirkung, die er nunmehr selber bis zum Aufwachen in sich trägt. - Wir haben Sonne in uns, wenn wir schlafen, und lassen in der Nacht nur den physischen und den ätherischen Leib zurück. Aber im Geistigen beleuchten wir selber mit dem, was wir jetzt als das aufbewahrte Sonnenlicht haben, während des Schlafes von außen unseren physischen und unseren ätherischen Leib. Und würden wir das nicht tun, würden wir nicht von außen mit unserem bewahrten Sonnenlichte unsere Haut und bis in das Innere der Sinnesorgane hinein uns bestrahlen, so würde der Mensch früh ganz trocken, verdorrt werden, verwelken. Wir leisten in der Tat für Frische und Wachstum und Vitalität unseres Organismus alles dadurch, daß wir während des Schlafens durch das bewahrte Sonnenlicht von außen gegen unsere Haut und gegen unsere Sinne strahlen. Und es ist wirklich so, daß während des Schlafens der Mensch, indem er draußen ist mit seinem Ich und seinem Astralleibe, erstens seine Haut bescheint durch das Sonnenlicht, zweitens aber das Sonnenlicht wirft durch Augen und Ohren bis zurückdringend in die Nerven. Das ist das Phänomen des menschlichen Schlafen, daß die Sonne scheint, vom menschlichen Ich und menschlichen Astralleibe aus selber in den Menschen hineingehend, auf die Haut aufstrahlend, da wo Sinnestore sind, in den Menschen hineinstrahlend (siehe Zeichnung «Schlafen» . 202, rot).
Dann tritt, gleichgültig ob Neumond oder Vollmond ist — denn dadurch ändern sich die Wirkungen nur, aber sie sind da bei allen Mondenphasen -, dann tritt für die Mondenwirkungen das ein, daß sie von außen an den Menschen herankommen und sich erstrecken über den physischen und den Ätherleib. So daß wir also haben - ich müßte den ganzen Menschen zeichnen -: im physischen und Ätherleib während des Schlafens Sonnenwirkungen vom Ich und astralischen Leib; Mondenwirkungen von außen auf den physischen und Ätherleib. Sehen Sie, damit ist der Schlafzustand in bezug auf den Kosmos charakterisiert. Der Mensch steht durch sein Inneres mit der Sonne in Beziehung, steht nach außen mit dem Monde in Beziehung, denn astralischer Leib und Ich sind ja doch das Innere, wenn sie jetzt auch außen sind. (Siehe Zeichnung «Schlafen».)
Im Wachen ist es umgekehrt. Wenn wir aufwachen, tragen wir innerlich, ganz innerlich die Mondenwirkungen in uns, und die Sonnenwirkungen kommen von außen. So daß wir sagen können: Wenn wir wachen, so kommen die Sonnenwirkungen von außen unmittelbar an den physischen und Ätherleib heran, und das Ich und der astralische Leib im Inneren stehen unter dem Einflusse der bewahrten Mondenkräfte. Wenn wir also schematisch dieses zeichnen für das Wachen, so haben wir auf den physischen Leib und den Ätherleib die Sonnenwirkungen, also Sonnenwirkungen von außen (gelb), innerlich auf Ich und astralischen Leib Mondenwirkungen (grün). (Siehe Zeichnung: «Wachen».)
Wir tragen also, während wir wachen und uns von außen in bezug auf unseren physischen und Ätherleib die Sonnenwirkung bestrahlt, innerlich in uns während des Wachens die bewahrten Mondenwirkungen. Im Ich des Menschen und im astralischen Leibe lebt dieSonne während des Schlafens und der Mond während des Wachens. Im physischen und Ätherleib lebt die Sonne während des Wachens, der Mond während des Schlafens. Und dadurch, daß das so ist, auch dann ist, wenn der Mensch ein Nachtschwärmer wird und sich in der Nacht, statt zu schlafen, vorbereitet für den Kopfschmerz des nächsten Morgens, auch dann bleiben diese Wirkungen in derselben Weise vorhanden; denn wenn auch die äußere Konstellation nicht beachtet wird, diese Dinge sind so, daß sie durch die eigene Trägheit, durch das Beharrungsvermögen im Kosmos trotzdem für den Menschen so verlaufen.
Der Mensch, auch wenn er bei Tag schläft und bei Nacht wacht, trägt auch während des nächtlichen Wachens in seinem Ich und in seinem astralischen Leib die Mondenwirkungen; und die Sonnenwirkungen kommen an ihn heran, nur daß sie dann in Form von Straßenlaternen, oder wenn er irgendwo auf dem Felde liegt, in Form des schwachen Sternenlichtes und dergleichen an ihn herankommen. Aber es sind überall die Sonnenwirkungen, welche der Mensch im Schlafe bewahrt, die Mondenwirkungen, die der Mensch im Wachen innerlich in sich trägt. Und umgekehrt ist es für den physischen und für den Ätherleib in bezug auf das Äußere des Menschen. Dieser Konstellation verdankt der Mensch sein gewöhnliches Bewußtsein zwischen Geburt und Tod. Wir werden nun sehen, wie das Aufsteigen zu anderen Bewußtseinsformen diese Sache ändert. Denn beim Initiaten wird das Verhältnis nun zu Sonne und Mond etwas geändert, immer mehr und mehr geändert, und in dieser Änderung des Verhältnisses zum Kosmos besteht der Weg in die geistige Welt hinein.
Das lebendige Erfassen der Mondensphäre als Ausgangspunkt eines Initiatenweges
Wie der Mensch drinnensteht in der Welt, wie er Sonne und Mond gegenübersteht mit dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein, das brauche ich nicht zu schildern, das kann vor jeder Seele stehen, wenn sie sich darauf besinnt, wie der Tag ausschaut, wie man als Mensch im Tag, wie man als Mensch in der Nacht lebt. In dem Augenblicke, wo der Mensch beginnt, seine innere Seelenkraft zu verstärken für das sonst chaotische Traumbewußtsein, in dem Momente, wo er es dahin bringt, das sonst träumende Bewußtsein zu einem Werkzeug der Auffassung der Realität zu machen, in demselben Momente wird der Mensch schon gewahr, wie der im Wachzustande in seinem Ich bewahrte Mond dadrinnen ist. In dem Augenblicke, wo man wirklich den Traum durch Initiatenerkenntnis in Wirklichkeit verwandelt, fühlt man sich wie von einem zweiten Menschen durchdrungen. Aber man weiß, in diesem zweiten Menschen lebt die Kraft der Mondensphäre.
Also im beginnenden Initiatenbewußstsein sagt man sich: In mir lebt die Kraft der Mondensphäre, und sie hat eigentlich immer die Tendenz, in mir einen zweiten Menschen auszubilden, den ich dann in meinem ersten Menschen wie in einer Hülle in mir trage. Und jetzt beginnt auch schon der Kampf, wenn nicht beim Tagbewußtsein, im wachen Bewußtsein, sondern im Schlafbewußtsein der Mond innerlich im Menschen zu wirken beginnt - in diesem zweiten Menschen, von dem ich jetzt gerade spreche, daß er normal durch die inneren Mondenwirkungen ausgelöst wird beim Menschen, wenn der durch den wirklichen Mond in der Nacht ausgelöst wird, wenn da dieser zweite Mensch sich geltend macht im dumpfen Schlafzustande, dann will dieser zweite Mensch, der im ersten, im gewöhnlichen Menschen drinnensteckt, im Mondenlichte herumwandeln und nimmt den ersten Menschen mit. Und jener somnambule Zustand entsteht, den wir bei den Mondenwandlern auftreten sehen.
Jetzt stellen Sie sich vor, wenn äußerlich der Mond scheint, kann auferweckt werden der zweite Mensch, der dann in besondere magische, das heißt außergewöhnliche, von Naturwirkungen abweichende Wirkungen hineinbringt. Der Mensch wandelt herum. Stellen Sie sich diesen Nachtwandler vor. Bei herabgedämpftem Bewußtsein tut der Mensch allerlei, was er bei gewöhnlichem Bewußtsein nicht tun würde. Er würde bei gewöhnlichem Bewußtsein ruhig im Bette liegenbleiben. Da ist sein Ort. Statt dessen wandelt er draußen herum, steigt auf Dächern herum. Er sucht dasjenige Gebiet auf, das eigentlich außer seinem physischen Leibe sein soll.
Sehen Sie, ins Normale übersetzt, zur bewußten innerlichen Erfahrung gebracht, ist das der Fall im beginnenden Initiatenbewußstsein; nur daß man sich da nicht der Mondenwirkung nähert, der wirklichen Mondenwirkung von außen, sondern die innerlich getragene Mondenwirkung das Bewußtsein vom zweiten Menschen ausbilden läßt. Und man muß nun alle Kraft zusammenhalten, damit einem dieser zweite Mensch jetzt nicht weggeht. Mit dem ersten Menschen würde man ruhig bleiben. Aber dieser zweite Mensch, der könnte weggehen, wesenlos in die Irre wandeln, ganz falsche Wege gehen. Man muß ihn halten.
Das ist eben dasjenige, was bei der Erwerbung des Initiatenbewußtseins unbedingt eintreten muß: innere Festigkeit und Haltung, damit dasjenige, was heraus will, in einem drinnenbleibt und man es verbunden erhält mit dem ganz gewöhnlichen, nüchternen Bewußtsein, das man in seinem physischen Leibe hat. Aber man muß fortwährend kämpfen dagegen, daß einem dieser zweite Mensch, der sich da durch das verstärkte innere Mondenwesen gebildet hat, nicht davongeht. Und dieser zweite innere Mensch, der sich da bildet, er hat eine sehr starke Anziehung zu allem, was da Stoffwechselwirkungen, Bewegungswirkungen sind im Menschen, zu allem, was vom Magen und anderen Organen ausgeht; zu all dem hat er eine sehr, sehr starke Anziehung. Und er nimmt diese Kräfte sehr, sehr stark in Anspruch.
Das, sehen Sie, ist das Vorliegende, dasjenige, was zunächst Erfahrung ist für das beginnende Initiatenbewußtsein, daß es einen von den zwei Wegen geht, die gegangen werden müssen: den Weg durch die Ausgestaltung der Traumeswelt, durch die Realisierung, durch die Verwirklichung der Traumeswelt. Und besinnt man sich nun — und man muß sich eben besinnen, wie ich jetzt auseinandergesetzt habe -, dann kommt man darauf: äußerlich ist der Tag, doch innerlich trägt man die Nacht in sich; und es erwacht mitten im Tag etwas wie eine innerliche Nacht.
Tritt dieses Initiatenbewußtsein auf, dann, sehen Sie, dann ist da für die äußeren Augen der Tag, für das äußere Angreifen von Dingen der Tag; aber im Raume dieses Tages, da beginnt überall zu weben und zu leben das geistige Mondenlicht, das herumstrahlt, herumscheint, und das Geistige beginnt zu beleuchten. Also man weiß, man setzt durch seine eigene Seele in den Tag die Nacht hinein. Wenn das alles im vollen Bewußtsein geschieht, so geschieht, wie etwas anderes am Tage vom besonnenen Menschen verrichtet wird, wenn dieser besonnene Mensch in die Tageswirkungen die Monden-Nachtwirkungen hereinzuzaubern vermag, dann ist er auf dem richtigen Pfad. Wenn er aber irgend etwas in sich hereinbringt ohne das volle Bewußtsein, daß da im Tage die Nacht aufgeht durch seine innerlichen Kräfte, dann gerät er auf den falschen Weg, der zuletzt ins Mediumhafte führt.
So ist also das volle Bewußtsein, die innerliche Beherrschung der Tatsache, in die man sich hineinlebt, dasjenige, was maßgebend ist, nicht die Erscheinung an sich, nicht die Tatsache an sich, sondern die Art, wie man sich in sie hineinlebt. Könnte der gewöhnliche Monden-Nachtwandler in dem Augenblicke, wo er auf dem Dache oben herumsteigt, seine volle Besonnenheit entwickeln, er wäre in diesem Moment ein Initiat. Das wird er nicht, sondern wenn Sie ihn anschreien, damit er erwacht, fällt er herunter. Wenn er nicht herunterfiele, sondern das volle Wachbewußtsein entwickelte und dann in diesem Zustand bleiben könnte, dann wäre er ein Initiat. Dasjenige, was daauf krankhafte Weise entwickelt wird, nicht bloß in gesunder, sondern in übergesunder Weise zu entwickeln, das ist die Aufgabe der Initiationserkenntnis. Sie sehen, wie haarscharf nebeneinander stehen Falsches und Richtiges in der geistigen Welt. In der physischen Welt kann man noch, weil man da ja die grobmaschige Logik, die grobmaschige Erfahrung hat, Falsches vom Richtigen leicht unterscheiden. Sobald man in die geistige Welt eindringt, ist diese Unterscheidung außerordentlich schwer, hängt ganz ab von der inneren Haltung, von der inneren Besonnenheit.
Und weiter, wenn der Mensch so die Nacht im Tag erweckt hat, dann verliert allmählich das Mondenlicht den Charakter des äußeren Scheinens. Es scheint nicht mehr so äußerlich. Es bewirkt nur ein allgemeines Lebensgefühl. Aber etwas anderes tritt auf. An diesem geistigen Nachthimmel erglänzt jetzt in wunderbarem glimmenden Lichte Merkur. Es geht der Stern Merkur in dieser in den Tag hineingezauberten Nacht wirklich auf, aber nicht so, wie man den Merkur durch das Teleskop sieht, sondern man wird gewahr: das ist etwas Lebendiges. Man kann noch nicht gleich die lebendigen Geistwesen, die den Merkur bewohnen, unterscheiden, aber man wird gewahr im allgemeinen an der Art und Weise, wie einem der Merkur entgegentritt, daß man es mit einer geistigen Welt zu tun hat.
Wird einem im Geiste das Mondenlicht zum allgemeinen Lebenselixier, in dem man sich drinnen fühlt, dann geht allmählich der Geiststern Merkur in dieser in den Tag hineingezauberten Nacht auf. Heraus tritt aus diesem funkelnden Dämmern und dämmernden Funkeln, in dem einem der Merkur entgegentritt, diejenige Wesenheit, die dann als das Götterwesen Merkur bezeichnet wird. Den braucht man. Den braucht man unbedingt, sonst kommt Verwirrung zustande. Man muß zunächst in der geistigen Welt dieses Wesen finden, von dem man genau weiß, es gehört zu den Merkurwesen. Und dadurch, daß man ihn kennenlernt, kann man den zweiten Menschen, der in einem belebt wird, nun beherrschen, willentlich beherrschen. Man braucht nicht mehr so wie ein Mondenwandler sich unbestimmten Wegen zu überlassen, sondern man kann an der Hand dieses Götterboten Merkur die bestimmten Wege in die geistige Welt hinein tun.
Und so handelt es sich darum: Will man die richtigen Wege in die geistige Welt hinein finden, so muß man ganz bestimmte Erfahrungen zunächst machen, welche lenkend und leitend sind. Der gewöhnliche Mystiker vertieft sich in sein Inneres. Da kommt ein Gefühlsbrei zustande, in dem alles durcheinandergerührt ist; Gott und Welt und Engel und Teufel, sie sind ja bei dem gewöhnlichen Mystiker durcheinandergerührt. Höchstens kann es zu allgemeinen Träumen kommen, an denen man nicht unterscheiden kann, ob sie aus der Geschlechtssphäre oder aus der Kopfsphäre sind. Im allgemeinen sind sie durcheinandergebrodelt, die Erlebnisse, oder breiartig durcheinandergerührt. Das ist die unklare, die nebulose Mystik, die den Traum nicht durchhellt, die den Traum im Gegenteil mit größerem Chaos, das dann nur dem Initiaten verständlich ist, durchwirkt.
Solche Erlebnisse, wie sie beschrieben werden, die so wunderbar sind, so großartig poetisch sind wie die von Katharina von Siena und ähnliche, die kann nur der Initiat verstehen, denn nur er weiß, was da eigentlich vorgeht. Und daher kann gesagt werden: Treibst du deine Initiation mit vollem Bewußtsein, das so klar und durchsichtig wie das Bewußtsein ist, wenn du rechnest oder Geometrie treibst, gehst dumit dieser ganzen vollen Besonnenheit in diese Dinge hinein, so findest du den rechten Weg. — Erst dadurch, daß du weißt, du zauberst die innerliche Nacht in den äußeren Tag hinein, findest du die wirkliche, reale geistige Welt. So wie niemand leugnen kann, daß der Mond aufgeht, daß der Merkur aufgeht in der äußeren Raumeswelt, daß das nicht erträumt, sondern real ist, so findet man das, wenn man mit vollem Bewußtsein hineingeht und Geistwesen begegnet, so, wie man in der physischen Welt Menschen begegnen kann. Und falsche Wege werden überall da gegangen, wo man den Geist suchen will, ohne sich bewußt zu werden dessen, was da in der geistigen Welt ist. Wenn man nur auf Erden bleibt und meinetwillen mit Medien experimentiert, ohne in die geistige Welt wirklich einzutreten, sondern nur an dem, was die Medien äußerlich auswirken, experimentieren will, nicht dem Geistigen wirklich begegnet, dann ist man auf falschem Wege. Alles, was nicht das Bewußtsein erweckt in der geistigen Welt, sondern im Schlafe weiterwandelt und nur die Wirkungen studieren will wie der äußerliche Okkultismus, ist auf falschem Wege. Alles dasjenige, was, indem es in die geistige Welt eintritt, sogleich der geistigen Welt als einer Realität entgegentritt, die aber geistig ist, ist auf richtigem Pfade.
Und, sehen Sie, so ist das innerliche, lebendig erkennende Erfassen der Mondensphäre der Ausgangspunkt des einen Initiationsweges. Und wir können sagen: Was sonst im Wachen, wo der menschliche Mond im Inneren wirkt, was sonst im Wachen nur mit Bezug auf Sonne und Mond auftritt, das tritt jetzt so auf beim Initiaten während des Wachens, wie es sonst im Schlafe auftritt. Der Mensch wird gewahr der Mondenwirkungen, wie wenn sie äußerlich wären. Er zaubert die Nacht in den Tag hinein. Und statt daß für die gewöhnliche Nachtbetrachtung der ganze Himmel gleich sternenbeglänzt wird, geht zuerst geistig der Stern Merkur auf. Und hat man dann nach dem Wege, wie ich es geschildert habe in «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?», hat man es dahin gebracht, Imaginationen auszubilden, zu wirklichen Imaginationen zu kommen, so tritt einem eben in dieser Mondenwelt während des Tages die Welt der Imaginationen als Wirklichkeit entgegen.
Aber indem man in die Merkurwirkungen eintritt, gehen diese Imaginationen zu ihren Wesenheiten über. Man stellt jetzt nicht mehr bloß Visionen dar, hinter denen nichts Reales ist, sondern man stellt jetzt Visionen wie Imaginationen vor — aber die gehen zu ihren entsprechenden Wesenheiten hin. Sie können daher, wenn Sie noch nicht weit genug gekommen sind in Ihrem Initiationsweg, die Vision des Archangelos, des Erzengels, haben, aber es bleibt eine Vision. Erst wenn Sie weiterdringen, dann geht diese Vision zum Erzengel wirklich hin, und Sie schauen dann die Vision des Erzengels, der darinnensteckt. Vorerst, beim bloßen Mondenscheine, braucht er nicht drinnenzustecken. Jetzt steckt er drinnen. Und so werden Sie sich der Merkurwirkungen bewußt, indem Ihre visionäre Welt in eine wahre Wahrnehmungswelt des Geistigen hineinfließt. Das alles kann nur — das muß immer wieder erwähnt werden - bei vollster Besonnenheit in richtiger Weise erreicht werden.
Und dann, wenn der Mensch weiter seine Meditationen treibt, sein Inneres weiter erkraftet, aktiver und aktiver macht, dann erlangt er zu der Merkurwirkung hinzu die Venuswirkung. Und siehe da, wenn die Venuswirkung auftritt, wenn in dieser in den Tag hineingezauberten inneren Nacht die Venus aufgeht, da verlieren sich gegenüber den Wesenheiten, die da aufgetreten sind, die in den Bildern der Imagination, der realen Visionen erscheinen, da verlieren sich darinnen die Visionen, und man steht mit leerem Bewußtsein gegenüber der geistigen Welt. Man weiß, die geistigen Wesenheiten sind da. Man ist in der Venussphäre angelangt. Die geistigen Wesenheiten sind da. Man wartet, bis einem entgegenkommt die Sonnensphäre. Das ganze ist eine Vorbereitung, um nun die Sonne ein zweites Mal zu erleben. Man tut ja das alles während des Tagwachens, wo man in den Sonnenwirkungen von außen steht. Man macht diesen Weg durch, den ich beschrieben habe, durch Mond, Merkur, Venus. Da verlieren sich die Visionen. Man dringt weiter. Der ganze Weg war ein Weg von Erde zu Mond, zu Merkur, zu Venus, zur Sonne hin. Man dringt in das Innere der Sonne. Man schaut die Sonne ein zweites Mal, geistig. Sie bleibt noch nicht, ist undeutlich, aber man weiß: man schaut sie geistig. Man schaut in das Innere der Sonne hinein.
Es ist so, wenn ich einen ganz groben Vergleich gebrauchen darf, wie wenn man sich sagen würde: Ich sehe dort etwas in der Ferne; ich nähere mich ihm, halte es zuerst für etwas künstlich Gemachtes, nähere mich ihm, greife es an, da fängt es mich in seinen Zähnen an der Hand. Jetzt weiß ich, das ist nicht künstlich gemacht, das ist ein wirklicher Hund. Ich werde gewahr, daß das ein Inneres war. Dieser grobe Vergleich kann Sie darauf aufmerksam machen, daß das etwas ist, was Realität hat. Man geht von der Erde durch die Mondenwirkungen, Merkurwirkungen, Venuswirkungen und kommt darauf, die Sonne zu schauen, so daß man merkt: sie ist ein lebendiges Geistwesen; da leben auch Wesen darinnen.
Das ist zunächst der Weg, der ausgebildet werden kann und der durch und durch auf jedem seiner Schritte zeigt, wie der Initiat, indem er weiterschreitet, die volle Besonnenheit bewahren muß und dann auf richtigem Wege wandelt; und wie der Mensch, wenn er gar nicht gewahr wird, daß er, indem er in irgendeiner Weise aus sich herausgeht, in den Kosmos tritt und daß der Kosmos geistig wird vor seinem geistigen Blick, wie er da auf falschem Wege geht. Sehen Sie, innerlich muß man den Unterschied zwischen wahren und falschen Wegen in der geistigen Anschauung kennen.
Das Ergreifen der menschlichen Organisation in Imaginationen
Nun habe ich bereits gestern angedeutet, wie aus einer Notwendigkeit der Zeit heraus von den verschiedensten psychisch-okkulten Gesellschaften, welche in einer karikaturhaften Nachahmung naturwissenschaftlicher Methoden arbeiten, gesucht wird, an äußeren Erscheinungen die geistige Welt zu erforschen. Mißverstehen Sie mich nicht, ich will nicht als Kritiker dieser Methoden auftreten, da ich zu genau weiß, wie stark die Sehnsucht sein kann, durch Beobachtung äußerer Tatsachen auf naturwissenschaftlichem Wege in das Wesen der geistigen Welt hineinzukommen. Ich will nur zeigen, wie diese Wege in Irrtum führen und wie sich dagegen die wahren Wege verhalten müssen. Es ist durchaus begreiflich heute, weil wir im naturwissenschaftlichen Zeitalter leben und weiterleben müssen, daß Menschen auftreten, die über die geistige Welt so forschen wollen, wie man in der Naturwissenschaft unmittelbar forscht, und die für unsicher halten andere, rein geistige Wege. Und so kommen sie darauf, zu sagen: Auf der einen Seite liegt eben die normale Welt vor; da gehen Menschen herum, die ihre Absichten ausführen, die ihnen vom äußerlichen sozialen Leben auferlegt sind; da gehen Menschen herum, die im Sinne dieses äußerlichen sozialen Lebens denken und wirken. Das hat weiter, weil man es gewohnt ist, nichts Besonderes. Darinnen forscht eben die Naturwissenschaft, die sich mit den äußeren Erscheinungen, mit Wärme-, Licht-, elektrischen, magnetischen Erscheinungen und so weiter befaßt.
Nun treten aber auch im Leben abnorme Tatsachen auf. Menschen verhalten sich als automatische Schreiber, als Vollführer von diesem oder jenem, wozu sie in Hypnose, durch Suggestion veranlaßt werden. Man vermutet, auf diese Weise spricht eine unbekannte Welt herein in diese gewöhnliche Welt. Man will diese äußeren Zeichen, die man da bekommt, diese abnormen Tatsachen deuten. Man will deuten, wie es kommt, wenn in New York jemand irgend etwas lebhaft denkt und erlebt und ein mit ihm in Seelengemeinschaft in Europa lebender Mensch innerlich die Nachricht davon bekommt, es weiß, wie man sonst nur durch die drahtlose Telegraphie auf äußere Weise Nachricht bekommt. Solche Erscheinungen, die man zu Hunderten, zu Tausenden anführen könnte, sie werden auf naturwissenschaftlich-äußerem, statistischem Wege erforscht.
Der Weg kann deshalb nicht zu einem Ziele führen, weil man nicht eine geistige Richtung hat, in die man gehen soll, die aber in der geistigen Welt selber drinnenliegen muß. Dann bleiben alle diese Erscheinungen, so wunderbar sie sein mögen, als Aggregate in der äußeren Welt liegen, eines neben dem anderen. Man kommt überhaupt nicht zu einem Wissen, zu einer Erkenntnis, kann diese Erscheinungen nur registrieren, als etwas Wunderbares anschauen, Hypothesen ersinnen über die geistige Welt, die aber keine Bedeutung haben, weil die Erscheinungen selber in dieser äußeren Welt, in die sie ja hereingestellt sind, zu einer äußeren Welt eben nicht wirklich sprechen, was sie sind. Wir können noch so viel mit Medien, mit äußeren naturwissenschaftlichen Tatsachen uns abgeben, die geistige Welt offenbart sich hinein; aber sie spricht sich nicht aus über das, was sie eigentlich ist.
Sehen Sie, da tritt dann diejenige Forschung ein, von der ich gestern sagte, daß von Dr. Wegman mit mir zusammen nun versucht wird, auch exakt sie darzustellen. Diese Forschung geht ebensowenig wie die andere Forschung, die ich jetzt eben dargestellt habe, die das innere Traumleben zu erhellen sucht, so vor, daß sie die geistige Welt vermeidet; sondern sie geht so vor, daß sie direkt mit dem Ziele, das sich in der geistigen Welt selber eröffnet, die Erscheinungen nimmt, die sich darbieten für eine solche Forschung. Aber diese Erscheinungen liegen nicht in den zerstreuten wunderbaren Tatsachen, die uns auf die eben geschilderte Weise in der Außenwelt entgegentreten. Diese Erscheinungen liegen auf dem Gebiete, das der medizinisch, anatomisch und physiologisch Durchgebildete anschaut, wenn er von dem Begreifen der äußeren Form eines Menschenorgans, der Lunge oder der Leber oder irgendeines anderen Organs aufsteigt zu einem imaginativen Erfassen dieses Organs, wenn er allmählich beginnt, die menschliche Organisation in Imaginationen sich vor die Seele stellen zu können.
Sehen Sie, es ist das also möglich, wenn man die Organe des Menschen, die normalerweise nicht wie die äußeren Naturerscheinungen wirken, sondern die normalerweise so wirken wie die abnormen Erscheinungen, wenn man diese Organe zu studieren vermag, wenn man also von einer im Menschen liegenden, wissenschaftlich-anatomischen Erkenntnis ausgehen kann, die sich dann erhebt zum geistigen Durchschauen der menschlichen Organisation. Vom ganzen Menschen geht man aus bei der Methode, die ich vorhin geschildert habe. Von den einzelnen menschlichen Organen, die man durch eine geistige Anatomie ergreift und unmittelbar anschaut, geht man aus bei dem Wege, der zum Richtigen führen kann gegenüber dem Irrtümlichen, das die äußeren Erscheinungen auf statistisch karikiert naturwissenschaftliche Weise begreift. Daher können Sie verstehen, daß sich erst ein Mensch finden mußte, der in dieser Weise ganz regulär im Medizinischen drinnensteht, damit die Dinge dargestellt werden können.
Nun handelt es sich im weiteren darum, daß in dem Augenblicke, wo in dieser Weise ein menschliches Organ von einem Menschen geistig erfaßt wird, wo ein Mensch also dasteht, der in dieser Weise Anatomie anschaut, daß dann in seinen Gedanken dieses Ziel nicht als ein unbestimmtes Ziel lebt. Und jetzt geht nicht ein innerlicher Mensch auf, wie ich ihn früher beschrieben habe, sondern es geht ein äußerlicher Mensch auf, ein kosmischer Mensch, der allerdings noch nebulos erscheint, aber wie ein kosmischer Mensch, wie ein großer, gigantischer Mensch, der Mensch, wie er angeschaut wird nicht als Erdenganzes, sondern angeschaut wird dadurch, daß man seine Organe anschaut, innerlich geistig umfaßt. Dadurch, daß sich diese Organe im Geiste zeigen, steht nicht mehr der Erdenmensch bloß da, sondern der Mensch, der umfassend ist den Kosmos. Dann schaut man: Geradeso wie man früher hineingezaubert hat in die Tagwelt die Nachtwelt, die Mondenwelt, so zaubert man jetzt herein in den Menschen, in dasjenige, was jetzt nicht der ganze Mensch, der konturierte Mensch ist, sondern der aus seinen einzelnen Organen bestehende Mensch, in das zaubert man herein die Impulse der Saturnsphäre.
Geradeso wie früher die Mondensphäre hereingezaubert worden ist in das gewöhnliche Tagesbewußtsein, so wird jetzt in das wissenschaftliche Bewußtsein die Saturnsphäre hereingezaubert, und man wird gewahr, daß die Kräfte des Saturn in jedem Organ auf besondere Art wirken, daß die Kräfte des Saturn wirken in der Leber zum Beispiel am allerstärksten, in der Lunge verhältnismäßig sehr schwach, im Kopfe am allerwenigsten. Man wird also das Ziel gewahr, das man so aussprechen lernt: Du hast den Saturn allüberall zu suchen. Und ebenso wie man früher vorgedrungen ist durch Meditation, so dringt man jetzt durch ein Sich-Hineinleben in dieses Suchen des Saturn, des innerlichen Geistgefüges in jedem Organe, so dringt man jetzt ein in die Jupitersphäre und lernt erkennen, wie jedes Organ eigentlich das irdische Abbild eines geistig-göttlichen Wesens ist. Der Mensch trägt innerlich in seinen Organen die Abbilder geistig-göttlicher Wesen. Der ganze Kosmos, der zuerst ein großer Mensch gewesen ist in der Saturnsphäre, der ganze Mensch wird als ein gigantisches kosmisches Wesen klar, aber indem er als die Summe, als das innerlich-organische Zusammenwirken von Göttergenerationen erscheint.
Wiederum ist notwendig, daß dieser Weg in voller Besonnenheit gegangen wird. Aber er muß so gegangen werden, daß in ihm die Kräfte wirken, die all das aufrechterhalten können. Sie müssen bedenken, das alles sind ja Wirkungen, die zunächst wie im Status nascendi leben, die da sind, aber indem sie da sind, sogleich wieder vergehen. So daß man sie ja schon leicht erfassen kann; aber es wird unmöglich, sie zu beschreiben, sie festzuhalten, sie irgendwie gedanklich-bildhaft zu gestalten, wenn man dem unterliegt, was hier die Gefahr ist, daß [nämlich], indem alles das, was ich Ihnen erzählt habe, hervortritt und alles gleich wiederum vor dem Bewußtsein vergeht, so daß man gar nicht dazu kommt, es anzuschauen. Sehen Sie, die modernen Menschen vom Psychical research, die denken ja gar nicht daran, da wirklich das Geistige heranzurufen. Sie möchten das alles laboratoriiumsmäßig machen, in beliebiger Weise, indem sie A, B, C, als Menschen in das Laboratorium hineinrufen und das ausführen. So lassen sich die geistigen Realitäten nicht an die für den Menschen erkennbare Welt heranbringen, vor allen Dingen nicht diese Realitäten, die in dieser Weise erfaßt und nach und nach wirklich wissenschaftlich beschrieben werden sollen.
Das, was ich gestern von dem medizinischen Buche gesagt habe, wird nur den allerersten, elementaren Anfang darstellen können, und das wird nach langer Zeit, wenn wir nicht mehr leben werden, die ausgebildete Wissenschaft erst werden. Aber so sehr diese Dinge auch in der geistigen Welt heute vorhanden sind, so sehr sie zum Beispiel unter den Wesen gang und gäbe sind, die nicht auf Erden, sondern in der Sonne leben, so sehr können sie auf die geschilderte Weise in das Erdenbewußtsein hereingebracht werden. Nur muß man eben nicht glauben, daß man laboratoriumsmäßig Versuche machen kann, und auch nicht glauben, daß man mit der abstrakten Anatomie und so weiter, wie sie in den Lehrbüchern steht, da weiterkommen könnte. Da handelt es sich darum, daß das alles durch den lebendigen Menschen geht. Warum?
Weil diese Dinge nur festgehalten werden können, wenn man sie mit denjenigen Kräften anfaßt, die auch aus dem gemeinsamen Zusammenstreben von Menschen zustande kommen, wenn sie sozusagen erfaßt werden mit den Kräften, die die Menschen aus ihren früheren Erdenleben in sich tragen, und diese Kräfte vor allen Dingen zum Halten, zum Festhalten dieser Dinge benutzt werden. Dann, wenn das geschieht, tritt in jene Welt der Saturn- und Jupitersphäre dasjenige ein, was man die Marssphäre nennen kann. Von da ab beginnen die Dinge zu sprechen. Von da ab werden die Dinge offenbar durch Inspiration. Und dann kommt man wiederum zurück zur Sonne mit dem inspirierten Bewußtsein. Das ist der andere Weg, der sich heute als derjenige ergibt, den die Naturwissenschaft fordert, den die Initiaten, von denen ich gestern gesprochen habe, gerne vermeiden möchten. Es ist ihnen unbehaglich, wenn sie auf diesen Weg kommen, der aber gegangen werden muß.
Denn der Weg durch die Mondensphäre — das wird Ihnen auch aus den heutigen Auseinandersetzungen klar sein -, der ist Ja gerade von den alten Initiaten wunderbar gegangen worden, und man hat auch wunderbare Dinge, namentlich in der «Secret Doctrine» von Helena Petrowna Blavatsky in bezug auf diesen Mondenweg. Man muß nur das Richtige vom Unrichtigen unterscheiden können; dann sind aber großartige Wahrheiten in dieser «Secret Doctrine». Aber es ist der Weg, welcher hinaufgeht durch das Mondenastrallicht, in dem Helena Petrowna Blavatsky in wunderbarer Weise leben konnte, und in dem ihr für ihre Interpretationen der Merkurbote ein ganz wunderbarer Führer geworden ist. Man kann das sehen, wenn man ihre Auseinandersetzungen verfolgt, wie sie überall die Imagination an die richtige Stelle hinleitet. Es ist ja wunderbar bei der Blavatsky: Wenn sie eine Imagination entwickelt, so ist diese Imagination da; der Merkurbote leitet sie; er leitet sie hinein da, wo eine verborgene Bibliothek ist. Die Idee entsteht in ihr; der Merkurbote leitet sie hin zu einem sorgfältig vom Vatikan bewahrten Buche; die Blavatsky liest darinnen. Und manches steht bei der Blavatsky, was sie sonst nicht hätte finden können, weil es der Vatikan sorgfältig bewahrte, weil es gut seit Jahrhunderten bewahrt ist! Dieser Weg ist tatsächlich derjenige, der viel, viel begangen ist, und den man sorgfältig unterscheiden muß von alledem, was an fester innerer Haltung gemacht wird, wie ich es erwähnt habe.
Und der andere Weg führt diejenige Bahn, die ich beschrieben habe, die rechnet mit dem modernen naturwissenschaftlichen Wege, den ja Helena Petrowna Blavatsky auch haßte wie die Nacht, das heißt, sie haßte die Nacht, aber der gewöhnliche Mensch fürchtet Gespenster. Das ist der Weg, der gegangen werden muß in der Weise, wie ich es Ihnen gekennzeichnet habe, der sich bewußt werden muß, daß er in den karmischen Kräfteentwickelungen der Menschen die Stütze, die Stärke findet, nicht so sehr um die Erinnerungen zu bekommen, sondern um sie festzuhalten, so daß sie beschrieben werden können. Da muß schon die gegenwärtige Wissenschaft menschlich vertieft werden, so wie ich das gestern an meiner Mitarbeiterin auf diesem Gebiete charakterisiert habe. Sie sehen also, an dem Exempel kann man am besten erörtern, wie sich die richtigen Wege und die falschen Wege ergeben. Nicht durch Definitionen erreicht man das, sondern man erreicht das dadurch, daß man an realen Beispielen die Dinge erörtert.
So viel noch darüber gesagt werden kann in der kurzen Zeit, werde ich mir erlauben, morgen noch hinzuzufügen zu den Dingen, um in gewissem Sinne für diesen Kursus dann einen Abschluß zu haben.
Influences of the Extraterrestrial Cosmos on Human Consciousness
Effects of the sun and the moon
Yesterday I pointed out how the abnormal, the pathologically occurring ways into the spiritual world - on the one hand the way of the inner-mystical deepening, the deeper entering into the dream world, and on the other hand the way that goes more, I would like to say, in a caricature-like scientific way through the phenomena that present themselves outwardly in the somnambulists, in the mediums - how these two paths must be taken up and fruitfully continued if actual initiatory knowledge is to come about. We shall now penetrate further into this area when we place ourselves before the soul, under what influences from the side of the cosmos the human consciousness and, together with the human consciousness, the whole human being stands.
You can easily overlook how the effects of the sun and the moon outweigh all other effects on people apart from those on earth. One does not usually think about this, but it is quite evident today, even from a scientific point of view, that everything on earth would not exist if it were not for the effects of the sun, which come down to earth from the extraterrestrial cosmos.
The effects of the sun conjure up all plant life. The effects of the sun are necessary for everything animal, but also for everything that is physical and etheric in man. The effects of the sun can be noticed wherever you want to notice them, and they are also significant for the higher elements of the human being. The effect of the moon is less noticeable. Today it often lives in superstition, and what can be known exactly about it is distorted by the fact that there are often mental images of lunar effects that pay homage to superstition, and that those who want to do science today feel superior to all superstition and therefore also reject everything significant about lunar effects and do not want to let it into actual science. Here and there, however, one senses, not only among poets who know how stimulating the magic of the moon is to the imagination, not only among lovers who like to conduct their love affairs in the light of the moon, but one already senses among those who are cognizant that the moon does have an effect on the earth, albeit of a quite different kind. One can experience particularly strange things there.
In the middle of the 19th century there were two scholars in Germany. One was called Schleiden, the other Gustav Theodor Fechner. Gustav Theodor Fechner liked to approach the more secret effects of nature from a very precise point of view, both within man and outside in the great natural world. In particular, he collected data on this, compiling a kind of statistic on how the amount of rain that falls in any given place is related to the full moon and the new moon. And he discovered, in his opinion, that during certain phases of the moon there is more rainfall for any one place than during other phases of the moon. That was his opinion. He was not ashamed to assert such a science in the face of conventional science. However, his colleague at the university, Professor Schleiden, the great botanist, disagreed, ridiculed Fechner's opinion and said: "There can be no question of lunar effects of this kind at all.
But the strange thing was this: The two scholars were married - at that time, in the still relatively small university town, which is, however, one of the largest cities in Germany, conditions were still patriarchal - and it was the case that women collected rainwater because they thought it was particularly good for washing clothes. So now there was a Mrs. Professor Fechner and a Mrs. Professor Schleiden. And it so happened that not only the two professors discussed this question, but that the women also came to understand it. And lo and behold, Professor Fechner said to his wife: "Well, Professor Schleiden doesn't believe that the phases of the moon have any influence on the amount of rain; so just say you want to use these phases of the moon to collect the rainwater, and then Professor Schleiden can collect the rainwater after you in another phase; since Professor Schleiden doesn't believe that the phases of the moon have any influence, there can be no objection to that. - But lo and behold, Professor Schleiden did not want to give Professor Fechner the moon phase that her husband did not believe would collect more rainwater! So there was a very nice university family dispute about this matter. But it had a scientific background. And if we approach such effects, but with more spiritual-scientific means, then we come to the conclusion that we can actually speak of strong lunar effects as well as solar effects, not just in superstition, but in a truly scientific way.
But with this we have to a certain extent already exhausted that which plays into the fact which encompasses the ordinary consciousness of man today. Man today lives, so to speak, under the influence of the earth, moon and sun. Today's man is also essentially dependent in his consciousness on the earth, moon and sun. For, as I have already indicated, what is outwardly visible in the stars is not the essential, nor is what is outwardly visible in the sun and moon. We have expressly spoken about how the lunar sphere contains within it those beings who were once the great primal teachers of humanity. In the same way, the solar sphere contains a great sum of spiritual beings. Every star is a colony of beings, just as the earth is the cosmic colony of humanity. But as I said, man, who today spends his time between birth and death, lives almost exclusively under the influence of the earth, sun and moon. And now it is a matter of getting to know more precisely how man lives with his whole conscious and also bodily state, that is, with his spiritual, mental and physical state under the influence of the sun and moon.
Let us take the most extreme states of consciousness, between which lies the dream state, let us take the waking day-consciousness and the consciousness-empty - if I may form the contradiction - the consciousness-empty sleep-consciousness, the dreamless sleep-consciousness. If we follow the human being as he is during sleep - physical body and etheric body are separate from the astral body and ego - then we find how the human being, in what he has drawn out of his physical and etheric body as astral body and ego, carefully preserves the effects of the sun inwardly between falling asleep and waking up.
We look outwardly at the sun from the time we wake up until we fall asleep. We also look at its effect when there is a complete blanket of rain, for what we see of the other things are the reflected rays of the sun. Throughout our waking hours we are under the influence of the sun's external influence. The moment we pass over into the other state, the sunlight begins to shine, visible to the spiritual eye, in our ego and our astral body. Between falling asleep and waking up we have sunlight in us. As you know, there are certain minerals which, if you irradiate them under certain conditions and then allow the room to become dark, retain the light and then radiate it back in the darkness as an after-effect. So it is for the spiritual vision with the human ego and the human astral body. They are to a certain extent drowned out by the outer sunlight in the state of wakefulness. They begin to glow and shine as they now carry the sunlight within them between falling asleep and waking up.
So that we can say: When awake, man is under the influence of the external effects of the sun. In sleep man is under the influence of the sun's effects, which he now carries within himself until he wakes up. - We have the sun in us when we sleep and leave only the physical and etheric body behind at night. But in the spiritual, we ourselves illuminate our physical and etheric bodies from the outside during sleep with what we now have as stored sunlight. And if we did not do this, if we did not irradiate our skin and the interior of our sensory organs from the outside with our preserved sunlight, the human being would soon become completely dry, withered and wilted. In fact, we do everything for the freshness, growth and vitality of our organism by radiating the preserved sunlight from outside against our skin and senses while we sleep. And it really is the case that during sleep the human being, being outside with his ego and his astral body, firstly illuminates his skin through the sunlight, but secondly throws the sunlight through his eyes and ears, penetrating back into the nerves. This is the phenomenon of human sleep, that the sun shines from the human ego and human astral body itself into the human being, radiating onto the skin where there are sense gates, radiating into the human being (see drawing “Sleep” . 202, red).
Then, regardless of whether it is a new moon or a full moon - for this only changes the effects, but they are there during all moon phases - the moon's effects approach the human being from outside and extend over the physical and the etheric body. So that we have - I would have to draw the whole human being -: in the physical and etheric body during sleep, solar effects from the ego and astral body; lunar effects from outside on the physical and etheric body. You see, this characterizes the state of sleep in relation to the cosmos. The human being is in relationship with the sun through his inner being, is in relationship with the moon on the outside, for the astral body and ego are the inner being after all, even if they are now on the outside. (See drawing “Sleeping”.)
In waking it is the other way around. When we wake up, we carry the moon effects inwardly, completely inwardly within us, and the sun effects come from outside. So that we can say: When we are awake, the effects of the sun come from outside directly to the physical and etheric body, and the ego and the astral body within are under the influence of the preserved moon forces. So if we draw this schematically for waking, we have the effects of the sun on the physical body and the etheric body, i.e. solar effects from outside (yellow), and lunar effects on the ego and astral body inside (green). (See drawing: “Waking”.)
While we are awake and the sun's effects irradiate us from the outside in relation to our physical and etheric body, we carry the preserved lunar effects within us during waking. The sun lives in the ego of the human being and in the astral body during sleep and the moon during waking. In the physical and etheric body the sun lives during waking, the moon during sleeping. And because this is so, even when man becomes a night owl and, instead of sleeping, prepares himself during the night for the headache of the next morning, even then these effects remain present in the same way; for even if the outer constellation is not observed, these things are such that they nevertheless proceed in this way for man through his own inertia, through the persistence in the cosmos.
The human being, even when he sleeps by day and wakes by night, also carries the lunar effects in his ego and in his astral body during the nightly waking; and the solar effects come to him, only that they then come to him in the form of street lamps, or when he lies somewhere in the field, in the form of the faint starlight and the like. But everywhere it is the effects of the sun which the human being retains in sleep, the effects of the moon which the human being carries within himself when awake. And the reverse is true for the physical and etheric bodies in relation to the external aspects of the human being. It is to this constellation that man owes his ordinary consciousness between birth and death. We shall now see how the ascent to other forms of consciousness changes this matter. For with the initiate the relationship to the sun and moon is now somewhat changed, more and more changed, and in this change of relationship to the cosmos lies the path into the spiritual world.
The living comprehension of the lunar sphere as the starting point of an initiate's path
I need not describe how man stands in the world, how he faces the sun and the moon with his ordinary consciousness, this can stand before every soul when it reflects on how the day looks, how one lives as man in the day, how one lives as man in the night. At the moment when man begins to strengthen his inner soul-power for the otherwise chaotic dream-consciousness, at the moment when he brings himself to make the otherwise dreaming consciousness into a tool for the perception of reality, at the same moment man already becomes aware of how the moon preserved in his ego in the waking state is inside it. At the moment when one really transforms the dream into reality through initiatic cognition, one feels as if penetrated by a second person. But you know that the power of the lunar sphere lives in this second person.
So in the beginning initiatic consciousness one says to oneself: The power of the sphere of the moon lives in me, and it actually always has the tendency to form a second human being in me, which I then carry in my first human being as in a shell. And now the struggle already begins, when the moon begins to work inwardly in the human being not in day consciousness, in waking consciousness, but in sleep consciousness - in this second human being, of which I am now speaking, that it is normally triggered in the human being by the inner moon effects, when it is triggered by the real moon at night, when this second human being asserts itself in the dull state of sleep, then this second human being, which is stuck in the first, in the ordinary human being, wants to walk around in the moonlight and takes the first human being with it. And that somnambulistic state arises which we see occurring in the moonwalkers.
Now imagine that when the moon shines outwardly, the second human being can be awakened, who then brings in special magical, that is, extraordinary effects that deviate from natural effects. The human being walks around. Imagine this night-walker. With his consciousness dimmed, he does all sorts of things that he would not do with ordinary consciousness. In ordinary consciousness he would lie quietly in bed. That is his place. Instead, he wanders around outside, climbs around on roofs. He seeks out the area that is supposed to be outside his physical body.
You see, translated into the normal, brought to conscious inner experience, this is the case in the beginning initiatic consciousness; only that there one does not approach the moon effect, the real moon effect from outside, but lets the inwardly borne moon effect form the consciousness of the second man. And now you have to keep all your strength together so that this second person does not leave you. With the first person you would remain calm. But this second human being could go away, go astray without being, go completely wrong ways. You have to keep him.
This is precisely what must absolutely occur in the acquisition of the initiate consciousness: inner firmness and attitude, so that what wants to come out remains within you and you keep it connected with the quite ordinary, sober consciousness that you have in your physical body. But one must constantly fight against it so that this second human being, which has formed there through the strengthened inner moon being, does not slip away. And this second inner man that forms there has a very strong attraction to everything that is metabolic effects, movement effects in the human being, to everything that emanates from the stomach and other organs; it has a very, very strong attraction to all of this. And it makes very, very strong use of these forces.
This, you see, is the present, that which is first of all experience for the beginning initiate consciousness, that it goes one of the two ways that must be gone: the way through the shaping of the dream world, through the realization, through the realization of the dream world. And if one now reflects - and one must reflect, as I have now explained - then one comes to the conclusion that outwardly it is day, but inwardly one carries the night within oneself; and something like an inner night awakens in the middle of the day.
When this initiate consciousness arises, then, you see, for the outer eyes it is day, for the outer grasping of things it is day; but in the space of this day, the spiritual moonlight begins to weave and live everywhere, shining around, shining around, and the spiritual begins to illuminate. So you know that through your own soul you put the night into the day. If all this happens in full consciousness, happens as something else is done by a prudent person during the day, if this prudent person is able to conjure the moon's night effects into the daytime effects, then he is on the right path. But if he brings anything into himself without the full awareness that the night rises during the day through his inner powers, then he is on the wrong path, which ultimately leads to the mediumistic.
So the full consciousness, the inner mastery of the fact into which one lives, is what is decisive, not the appearance in itself, not the fact in itself, but the way in which one lives into it. If the ordinary moon night-walker could develop his full prudence at the moment when he climbs up on the roof, he would be an initiate at that moment. He will not, but if you shout at him to awaken, he will fall down. If he did not fall down, but developed full waking consciousness and could then remain in this state, then he would be an initiate. The task of initiatory cognition is to develop that which is developed in a pathological way, not only in a healthy way, but in a super-healthy way. You see how closely right and wrong stand side by side in the spiritual world. In the physical world you can still easily distinguish right from wrong because you have the coarse-meshed logic, the coarse-meshed experience. As soon as you enter the spiritual world, this distinction is extremely difficult and depends entirely on your inner attitude, on your inner prudence.
And further, when man has thus awakened the night in the day, then gradually the moonlight loses the character of external appearance. It no longer appears so outwardly. It only produces a general feeling of life. But something else occurs. In this spiritual night sky, Mercury now shines in a wonderful glowing light. The star Mercury is really rising in this night that has been conjured into the day, but not as one sees Mercury through the telescope, but one realizes that it is something alive. One cannot yet immediately distinguish the living spiritual beings that inhabit Mercury, but one generally becomes aware from the way in which Mercury confronts one that one is dealing with a spiritual world.
When the light of the moon becomes the general elixir of life in your spirit, in which you feel yourself inside, then the spiritual star Mercury gradually rises in this night that has been conjured into the day. Out of this sparkling twilight and twilight twinkling, in which Mercury confronts you, emerges the being that is then called Mercury, the being of the gods. You need him. You absolutely need it, otherwise confusion will arise. First you have to find this being in the spiritual world, of which you know exactly that it belongs to the Mercury beings. And by getting to know him, you can now control, willfully control, the second human being that is animated in you. You no longer need to abandon yourself to indeterminate paths like a moonwalker, but you can take the certain paths into the spiritual world with the help of this messenger of the gods, Mercury.
And so it is: If one wants to find the right paths into the spiritual world, one must first have very specific experiences which are guiding and directing. The ordinary mystic immerses himself in his inner being. The result is a mash of feelings in which everything is mixed up; God and the world and angels and devils are all mixed up in the ordinary mystic. At most there may be general dreams in which one cannot distinguish whether they are from the sphere of sex or from the sphere of the head. In general, they are mixed up, the experiences, or stirred up like mush. This is the unclear, the nebulous mysticism that does not illuminate the dream, but on the contrary permeates the dream with greater chaos, which is then only understandable to the initiate.
Experiences such as those described, which are so wonderful, so magnificently poetic as those of Catherine of Siena and the like, can only be understood by the initiate, for only he knows what is actually going on. And therefore it can be said: If you do your initiation with full consciousness, which is as clear and transparent as consciousness, if you do arithmetic or geometry, if you enter into these things with all this full prudence, then you will find the right path. - Only by knowing that you are conjuring the inner night into the outer day will you find the real, actual spiritual world. Just as no one can deny that the moon rises, that Mercury rises in the outer space world, that this is not dreamed of but real, so you find it when you go in with full consciousness and meet spiritual beings, just as you can meet people in the physical world. And wrong paths are taken wherever one wants to seek the spirit without becoming aware of what is there in the spiritual world. If you only stay on earth and experiment with mediums for my sake, without really entering the spiritual world, but only want to experiment with what the mediums do externally, without really encountering the spiritual, then you are on the wrong path. Everything that does not awaken consciousness in the spiritual world, but continues to walk in sleep and only wants to study the effects, like external occultism, is on the wrong path. Everything that, by entering the spiritual world, immediately confronts the spiritual world as a reality, which is spiritual, is on the right path.
And, you see, the starting point of the one path of initiation is the inner, vividly recognizing grasp of the lunar sphere. And we can say: What otherwise occurs in waking, where the human moon works within, what otherwise occurs in waking only with reference to the sun and moon, now occurs in the initiate during waking as it otherwise occurs in sleep. The human being becomes aware of the moon's effects as if they were external. He conjures the night into the day. And instead of the whole sky being illuminated by stars for the usual night observation, the star Mercury rises first spiritually. And if one has then, in the way I have described in “How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds?”, managed to form imaginations, to come to real imaginations, then the world of imaginations confronts one as reality in this lunar world during the day.
But by entering into the effects of Mercury, these imaginations become their essence. One no longer merely presents visions behind which there is nothing real, but one now presents visions like imaginations - but they go to their corresponding entities. Therefore, if you have not yet come far enough on your path of initiation, you can have the vision of the Archangelos, the archangel, but it remains a vision. Only when you penetrate further will this vision really go to the archangel, and you will then see the vision of the archangel that is within. For the time being, in the mere moonlight, he does not need to be inside. Now he is inside. And so you become aware of the effects of Mercury, in that your visionary world flows into a true world of perception of the spiritual. All this can only be achieved - this must be mentioned again and again - with the utmost prudence in the right way.
And then, if the human being continues his meditations, further enlarges his inner being, makes it more active and more active, then he attains the Venus effect in addition to the Mercury effect. And lo and behold, when the Venus effect occurs, when Venus rises in this inner night that has been conjured into the day, the visions are lost to the entities that have appeared there, that appear in the images of the imagination, the real visions, and one stands with an empty consciousness before the spiritual world. One knows that the spiritual beings are there. One has arrived in the Venus sphere. The spiritual beings are there. You wait until the solar sphere comes to meet you. The whole thing is a preparation to experience the sun a second time. You do all this during the daytime awakening, when you are exposed to the effects of the sun from outside. You go through the path I have described, through the moon, Mercury and Venus. Then the visions are lost. One penetrates further. The whole path was a path from earth to moon, to Mercury, to Venus, to the sun. You penetrate into the interior of the sun. You see the sun a second time, spiritually. It does not yet remain, it is indistinct, but you know: you are looking at it spiritually. You look into the interior of the sun.
If I may use a very rough comparison, it is like saying to yourself: I see something in the distance; I approach it, think it is something artificial at first, approach it, grab it, and it catches me in its teeth by the hand. Now I know it's not artificial, it's a real dog. I realize that it was an inside dog. This rough comparison can make you realize that this is something that has reality. One goes from the earth through the moon effects, Mercury effects, Venus effects and comes to look at the sun, so that one realizes: it is a living spirit being; there are also beings living in it.
This is first of all the path which can be trained and which shows through and through in each of its steps how the initiate, in going on, must preserve full prudence and then walk on the right path; and how the human being, if he does not realize at all that by going out of himself in any way he steps into the cosmos and that the cosmos becomes spiritual before his spiritual gaze, how he goes there on the wrong path. You see, inwardly one must know the difference between true and false paths in the spiritual view.
The grasping of the human organization in imaginations
Now I already indicated yesterday how, out of a necessity of the times, the most diverse psycho-occult societies, which work in a caricature-like imitation of scientific methods, seek to explore the spiritual world through external phenomena. Do not misunderstand me, I do not want to appear as a critic of these methods, since I know too well how strong the longing can be to get into the essence of the spiritual world by observing external facts in a scientific way. I only want to show how these ways lead to error and how the true ways must behave in contrast. It is quite understandable today, because we live and must continue to live in the age of natural science, that people appear who want to research the spiritual world in the same way as one researches directly in natural science, and who consider other, purely spiritual paths to be uncertain. And so they come to say: On the one hand there is the normal world; there are people going about carrying out their intentions, which are imposed on them by external social life; there are people going about who think and work in the sense of this external social life. There is nothing special about this, because we are used to it. This is what natural science researches, which deals with external phenomena, with heat, light, electrical, magnetic phenomena and so on.
Now, however, abnormal facts also occur in life. People behave as automatic writers, as executors of this or that, which they are induced to do by hypnosis, by suggestion. One suspects that in this way an unknown world speaks into this ordinary world. One wants to interpret these external signs that one receives, these abnormal facts. One wants to interpret how it happens when someone in New York thinks and experiences something vividly and a person living with him in communion of souls in Europe receives the news of it inwardly, knows it, as one otherwise only receives news in an outward way through wireless telegraphy. Such phenomena, which could be cited by the hundreds, by the thousands, are researched in a scientific, external, statistical way.
The path therefore cannot lead to a goal because one does not have a spiritual direction in which to go, but which must lie within the spiritual world itself. Then all these phenomena, as wonderful as they may be, remain as aggregates in the outer world, one next to the other. One does not come to any knowledge, to any realization at all, one can only register these phenomena, regard them as something marvelous, devise hypotheses about the spiritual world, but these have no meaning, because the phenomena themselves in this outer world, into which they are placed, do not really speak to an outer world what they are. No matter how much we deal with media, with external scientific facts, the spiritual world reveals itself in them; but it does not speak about what it actually is.
You see, that is where the research comes in which I said yesterday that Dr. Wegman and I are now trying to present exactly. This research, like the other research I have just described, which seeks to elucidate the inner dream life, does not proceed in such a way that it avoids the spiritual world; rather, it proceeds in such a way that it takes the phenomena that present themselves for such research directly with the goal that opens up in the spiritual world itself. But these phenomena do not lie in the scattered marvelous facts which confront us in the outer world in the way just described. These phenomena lie in the field that the medically, anatomically and physiologically educated person looks at when he ascends from understanding the external form of a human organ, the lungs or the liver or any other organ, to an imaginative grasp of this organ, when he gradually begins to be able to place the human organization before the soul in imaginations.
You see, this is possible if one is able to study the organs of the human being, which normally do not work like the external natural phenomena, but which normally work like the abnormal phenomena, if one is able to study these organs, if one can therefore start from a scientific-anatomical knowledge lying within the human being, which then rises to a spiritual insight into the human organization. The method I have just described is based on the human being as a whole. From the individual human organs, which one grasps through a spiritual anatomy and looks at directly, one starts out on the path that can lead to the right thing as opposed to the erroneous, which understands external phenomena in a statistically caricatured scientific way. Therefore, you can understand that a person had to be found who was quite regularly involved in medicine in this way so that things could be presented.
Now it is a matter of the fact that at the moment when a human organ is mentally grasped by a man in this way, when a man stands there who looks at anatomy in this way, that then this goal does not live in his thoughts as an undefined goal. And now it is not an inner man who arises, as I described him earlier, but an outer man arises, a cosmic man, who still appears nebulous, but like a cosmic man, like a great, gigantic man, the man as he is looked at not as an earthly whole, but is looked at by looking at his organs, inwardly spiritually embraced. Because these organs show themselves in the spirit, it is no longer just the earthly man who stands there, but the man who encompasses the cosmos. Then you see: Just as you used to conjure the night world, the moon world, into the day world, so now you conjure into the human being, into that which is now not the whole human being, the contoured human being, but the human being consisting of his individual organs, into this you conjure the impulses of the Saturn sphere.
Just as earlier the sphere of the moon was conjured into the ordinary day-consciousness, so now the sphere of Saturn is conjured into the scientific consciousness, and one becomes aware that the forces of Saturn work in each organ in a special way, that the forces of Saturn work most strongly in the liver, for example, relatively very weakly in the lungs, and least of all in the head. One thus becomes aware of the goal that one learns to express in this way: You have to seek Saturn everywhere. And just as one penetrated earlier through meditation, one now penetrates through living into this search for Saturn, the inner spiritual structure in every organ, so one now penetrates into the Jupiter sphere and learns to recognize how every organ is actually the earthly image of a spiritual-divine being. The human being carries inwardly in his organs the images of spiritual-divine beings. The whole cosmos, which was first a great human being in the sphere of Saturn, the whole human being becomes clear as a gigantic cosmic being, but by appearing as the sum, as the inner-organic interaction of generations of gods.
Again, it is necessary that this path be walked in full prudence. But it must be walked in such a way that the forces are at work in it which can maintain all this. You must bear in mind that these are all effects which initially live as if in the status nascendi, which are there, but as soon as they are there, they pass away again. So that one can already grasp them easily; but it becomes impossible to describe them, to hold on to them, to shape them somehow in a mental, pictorial way, if one is subject to what is the danger here, namely, that everything I have told you emerges and everything immediately passes away again before the consciousness, so that one does not even get to look at it. You see, the modern people of psychical research, they don't even think of really calling up the spiritual. They want to do it all in a laboratory way, in any way they like, by calling A, B, C, as people into the laboratory and carrying it out. In this way, spiritual realities cannot be brought close to the world that is recognizable to man, above all these realities that are to be grasped in this way and gradually described in a truly scientific way.
What I said yesterday about the medical book will only be able to represent the very first, elementary beginning, and that will only become the developed science after a long time, when we are no longer alive. But as much as these things are also present in the spiritual world today, as much as they are commonplace, for example, among beings who do not live on earth but in the sun, they can be brought into earth consciousness in the way described. But one must not believe that one can carry out laboratory experiments, nor believe that one can make progress with abstract anatomy and so on, as it is written in the textbooks. The point is that it all goes through the living human being. Why?
Because these things can only be held on to if they are grasped with those forces that also come about from the common striving of people together, if they are grasped, so to speak, with the forces that people carry within them from their previous lives on earth, and these forces are used above all to hold on to these things, to hold on to them. Then, when this happens, that which can be called the sphere of Mars enters into the world of Saturn and Jupiter. From then on, things begin to speak. From then on things become manifest through inspiration. And then you come back to the sun with the inspired consciousness. This is the other way, the one that emerges today as the one demanded by natural science, which the initiates I spoke of yesterday would like to avoid. They are uncomfortable when they come to this path, but it must be taken.
Because the path through the lunar sphere - this will also be clear to you from today's discussions - has indeed been wonderfully taken by the old initiates, and there are also wonderful things, especially in the “Secret Doctrine” by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, with regard to this lunar path. One only has to be able to distinguish the right from the wrong; then there are great truths in this “Secret Doctrine”. But it is the path that goes up through the lunar astral light in which Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was able to live in a wonderful way, and in which the Mercury Messenger became a wonderful guide for her interpretations. You can see this when you follow her arguments, how she leads the imagination to the right place everywhere. It is wonderful with Blavatsky: when she develops an imagination, this imagination is there; the Mercury messenger guides it; he leads it into the place where there is a hidden library. The idea arises in her; the Mercury messenger leads her to a book carefully preserved by the Vatican; Blavatsky reads it. And there is much in Blavatsky's book that she could not have found otherwise, because the Vatican has carefully preserved it, because it has been well preserved for centuries! This path is indeed the one that is much, much traveled, and which must be carefully distinguished from everything that is done in a firm inner attitude, as I have mentioned.
And the other path is the one I have described, which is in line with the modern scientific path, which Helena Petrovna Blavatsky also hated like the night, that is, she hated the night, but the ordinary person fears ghosts. This is the path which must be followed in the way I have indicated, which must become aware that it finds support and strength in the karmic development of human forces, not so much to obtain memories, but to hold on to them so that they can be described. Here the present science must be deepened humanly, as I characterized yesterday with my co-worker in this field. So you see, the example is the best way to discuss how the right ways and the wrong ways arise. This is not achieved by definitions, but by discussing things using real examples.
As much as can still be said about this in the short time available, I will take the liberty of adding to it tomorrow, in order to bring this course to a conclusion in a certain sense.