The Rudolf Steiner Archive

29. On Future Etheric Clairvoyance

[ 1 ] [The approximate period] when the gate to the spiritual world was closed, when the Age of Light was followed by the Dark Age, when only the intellect remained, [spans from] the year 3101 to 1899. Now, a certain kind of clairvoyance is being prepared in our time. New spiritual faculties will awaken in a small number of people who will see things differently than others do under normal circumstances; they will see the etheric body in animals and humans. Not merely through spiritual practice—that has always existed. Nor through inheritance from the time before the Kali Yuga; rather, new abilities without training, such as the most elementary perceptions. They will feel an impulse, after having done anything, to do something to themselves. They will have a vision within themselves, like something that has never been seen before; they will see the karmic balance—what they must eventually accomplish as a result—and not as dreamers, but clearly and soberly. They will be able to approach this as they would trees. This and many other things will be pointed out, as it were, by John the Baptist. Theosophy is here to prepare us for what is to come. Nevertheless, it could be misunderstood or suppressed because people do not understand what it is all about. One is regarded as a fool or a fantasist when one says: Something else is to come through a sacred fire of enthusiasm, just as the rise of Christ in Palestine was understood.

[ 2 ] We are living in a time of transition. This has been recognized by clairvoyants. This is a way of demonstrating the necessity of theosophy. Even when our gaze is directed toward the macrocosm, which is the expression of the spiritual reality that lies behind it.

[ 3 ] In the formation of the solar system from the primordial nebula, the Giant Professor is equivalent to the divine-spiritual powers. For example, one does not take a walk simply because the hands of the clock are in a certain position, but because there is something else behind it. The movement of comets, too, is a sign of what lies behind it. Is superstition really so far removed from modern science? Do the stars have no influence on the course of the world?

[ 4 ] The Eskimos develop differently from people elsewhere because the sun’s rays strike them differently. The spiritual life of the Earth depends on the constellations. Just as the Eskimos are different from the Hindus, so too are there different psychological processes at work when a comet is present. There, too, the spiritual is hidden. Linking the appearance of sunspots to the rise and fall of the stock market is grotesque, but it is a fact; the action of a spiritual being lies behind the comet.

[ 5 ] In 1906, during a lecture series in Paris, I developed the connection between the Earth and planetary processes. Now (this) is more substantial than it was in Paris. One aspect is always singled out. The laws governing the Moon’s state were quite different in the past than they are now. Cyanide compounds played a certain role back then, just as carbon does now. Something remains of those ancient states, extending into our Earth era; in today’s solar system, something has been preserved from the state our Earth was in during its lunar phase. That is why there are cyanide compounds, which are also found in the comet spectrum. This is the material aspect, not the essential one; the spiritual lies behind it. Spiritual influences extend into our time. Halley’s Comet, however, indicates an impulse toward materialism on Earth. The comet of 1759 was followed by the French Enlightenment’s materialism; the comet of 1835 was followed by Büchner and Moleschott; the one from 1910 brought yet another impulse toward materialism—it is a sailing into the materialistic quagmire. But humanity can freely choose to immerse itself in materialism. That is what the sign we see indicates.

[ 6 ] But there is also another impulse, which lies in the ongoing development of the soul of the Earth. The vernal equinox shifts every 26,000 years. In 2000 B.C., the sun rose in Taurus; from the year 747 B.C. onward, it rose in Aries—the sign it was in when Christ was born; now it rises in Pisces. Spiritual forces are at work here. The legend of Colchis and the Golden Fleece (Jason and the Argonauts) appears in the year 747 B.C.; then Christ comes. Spiritual impulses also come from heaven. Human beings can also freely look up into spiritual worlds. That is why theosophy is now necessary in this age of transition. Christianity is only at the beginning of its development. Christianity came after the Buddha; they exist side by side in the East and in the West. There are significant differences.

[ 7 ] Reincarnation does not need to be taken out of Buddhism; it can be explored at any time. What was missing from Buddhism was the idea that we ascend to higher levels with each incarnation. What is missing from Christianity today is the life between death and a new birth. In the life between birth and death, the Christ impulse cannot be fully realized, even if it is present in embryonic form; it continues to be lived out in the spiritual world. The Christ impulse can only be experienced on Earth. Incarnation is necessary until the “Christ impulse within me” is realized. It is necessary to unite the Christ impulse with reincarnation—not as a synthesis, but through new revelations and abilities. The idea of reincarnation lies within the Christ impulse. Not all religions have the same teachings. Theosophy is meant to bring peace between what is [different]: suffering, death, and resurrection in the various religions. Tammuz and Adonis are different entities, like different beings wearing the same uniform. One must know the beings themselves, not their outward forms of expression. With Golgotha, something new came into being.

[ 8 ] What follows now is smaller, yet more important than the first Christ impulse. Then it can be understood ever more fully, in ever newer and higher ways. Theosophy seeks to be a servant in this endeavor.