The Rudolf Steiner Archive

19. Novalis

[ 1 ] Outside the secret schools, which have always existed, people who were ready for it have sensed clairvoyant powers within themselves; and many of them have been misunderstood.

[ 2 ] Today we’ll be talking about Novalis. A peculiar joke. “Hymns to the Night” — revelations from a clairvoyant to the world.

[ 3 ] Died on March 25, 1801, when the sun was at its highest point. He was not yet 30 years old.

[ 4 ] An extraordinary event, just like his entire life. Engaged to a 13-year-old girl, [the girl] dies after three years—Sophie Kühn. Yet all the secrets of the world radiated toward him from her heart. With her death, Novalis’s spiritual powers were awakened, and from then on, guided by her, he gazed into the spiritual worlds. Our hearts ache when we see how materialistic scholarship seeks to sweep away the magical aura that enveloped this wondrous relationship.

[ 5 ] In 1772, a certain individuality made its way into the Hardenberg family. Father: A magnificent figure of the German nobility. Pious, reserved, serious.

[ 6 ] Uncle Komtour—that’s when he took off. In 1790, [Novalis] studied in Jena and was supposed to major in law. Schiller was teaching history at the time; a sacred fire coursed through the student body during his lectures.

[ 7 ] Fichte, who presumed to judge today’s philosophers ([Fichte] physically turned off the light and said: “Now may the light of the spirit shine in your soul”). Novalis felt the deepest love for such teachers.

[ 8 ] Friedrich Schlegel, who opened people’s eyes to the treasure trove of the spiritual Orient. Novalis became friends with him. He called philosophy a caress. Novalis—for him, words have a deeply spiritual meaning.

[ 9 ] At the bailiff's office, he proved to be a highly practical man; Werner, the teacher of geology and geognosy.

[ 10 ] For Novalis, there was never any interaction with the elemental spirits of the earth... He immersed himself in mathematics to the point of vividly grasping the divine linear forces with which divine beings have mapped out the structure of the worlds; the Deity composed this before humans filled the lines with material substance. Theophany, the manifestation of the Divine, a great poem of the Divine—that is how mathematics appeared to him, Novalis.

[ 11 ] Much of it lies before us in fragments because it was meant only to inspire us. Much remains shrouded in the mystery of its former lives. We find wonderful seeds in Novalis.

[ 12 ] He (the Rosicrucian) presents the path that [proceeds] through the power of clear, meditative thought alongside that of direct perception.

Being awake is a delight for the soul
Sleeping is [soul]digestion
[illegible word]