The Rudolf Steiner Archive

47. Speech on the Occasion of the Dedication of the Ludwig Uhland Branch in Tübingen

[ 1 ] When a child answers a question from his father or mother for the first time based on his own thoughts and feelings, what joyful and grateful emotions well up in the parents’ hearts! In this way, we can imagine how the spiritual beings who influence us from higher worlds and seek to guide us rejoice when they finally receive an answer to their many questions. This happens when spiritually minded people—people who seek a hidden power behind all outward appearances, who are not yet satisfied with what we can only experience or perceive in the physical realm—come together and unite in a lodge. Even if it is small, and even if the members do not yet approach one another with full awareness of their task, the work is nevertheless advanced through earnest diligence, faithfulness, and devoted love—and slowly, step by step, we ascend from one level to the next, from faith to knowledge, from knowledge to vision.

[ 2 ] Let’s take a look at a plant as it grows. It does not appear before us immediately in full bloom, but slowly, very gradually, the flower develops from the leaf, and the fruit from the flower. Even if our courage sometimes wanes and the work becomes difficult—we can be assured that helping forces stand by our side; and the spirit that permeates the entire Theosophical Movement will not forsake us either.

[ 3 ] Time and again, the call “Let there be!” should resound in the heart of every theosophist—for “Let there be!” is what all of nature cries out to us; wherever we turn our gaze, everywhere we hear: “Let there be.” - How oppressive the mood of autumn would be for us, how filled with wistful, sad thoughts we would be at the sight of nature dying off—now standing there unadorned, stripped of all its splendor—if we did not have, deep within, the conviction, the firm conviction, that although this dying off must come, so that alongside it the cry “Let there be!” can resound all the more loudly. And what comforting, uplifting feelings then take hold of us at the thought that within the plant’s withering lies the seed for its new awakening and blossoming, and that in spring it will stand before us once more in its former splendor and glory. In this way, even when the “autumn of life” has set in, we may already perceive within it the seed of Christmas and of spring. And it is precisely in such remembrance that a joyful, blissful Christmas spirit must always prevail in every Theosophical Society, and Christ must be born anew within us time and again.

[ 4 ] There are, of course, materialists who deny the divine-spiritual aspect of human beings and view their fellow human beings merely as machines, as automatons. In life, however, these people never deny the spirit; for if, for example, such a person sees another suffering and comes to his aid, does not a feeling stir within him that he certainly would not have if the sufferer were merely a machine without any spiritual element within him? Compassion and empathy arise even in such a person! This is proof that within every human being—whether they admit it or not—there lies dormant, deep within, something that can be awakened—and that our physical body is merely the shell of a lofty spiritual seed.

[ 5 ] Now, of course, many people might object: “I simply live as I see fit; whatever comes after death and whatever work I must continue to do then, I’ll figure it out; the deity who brought me into this world will surely help me along.” - To this, one must counter that, for example, when it comes to any profession one wishes to pursue, one does not begin to show love and interest for it only when one thinks about practicing it; rather, one works toward it long beforehand with great effort and care. And yet this cannot be compared to the one lofty goal toward which we strive!

[ 6 ] In the Old Testament, we read that humankind was created in the image of God. But how far has humankind strayed from its divine origin! He has descended ever further into materialism, and only when he is once again on an upward path can he draw closer to his goal, his divine starting point! So, man was created in the image of God. But, as the New Testament goes on to say: “God is Spirit.” Can we, however, conceive of the word “Spirit” as something static or inactive?—Certainly not; rather, a never-resting, never-flagging activity is hidden within this word. We now stand at a transitional stage; for what we have inherited from the gods has gradually faded away and been forgotten—all the more so the further humanity descends; and once again, spiritual faculties must be awakened, acquired, and attained.

[ 7 ] In 1899, new gates to the spiritual world were opened! From time to time, questions and exhortations from higher beings reach our ears with particular intensity. One answer to such questions came when, in Rome, a few people from the lowest strata of society—slaves in the catacombs—secretly gathered in the underground burial chambers of their dead, thus laying the foundation for what would later become Christianity. It was not the so-called “educated” who did this, for they sat high up in their galleries. And those poor people, striving for truth—they were the ones who, for example, had to serve as prey for wild beasts deep underground during theatrical performances in ancient Rome. - And yet! The spark living within them could not be suppressed; it continued to spread and eventually became a blazing fire. It was an answer to questions about the gods from higher worlds when Moses once wrote the Ten Commandments; and the entire Theosophical Movement is a renewed answer to such heavenly questions!