The Rudolf Steiner Archive

50. Receiving Messages from the Gods

Inauguration of the Branch Office

My dear Theosophical friends!

[ 1 ] We have gathered here at this hour to turn our eyes and our souls toward what our friends in Cologne and the members of our Theosophical Society have lovingly and thoughtfully contributed to our present-day Theosophical endeavors and work. Our members in Cologne—let us keep this in mind at this hour— have allowed what has entered their souls over the years since the Giordano Bruno Branch was established in Cologne—their understanding of our theosophical worldview and the impulses of love and service among humanity that can flow from it—to flow into the outer form they have now created for this theosophical work here in Cologne. Everything that has found its way into their hearts and souls through this theosophical worldview has prompted them to erect for the Spirit they serve, for the Soul to which they are devoted, this structure—one worthy of them—so that within it the theosophical work may flourish ever more fully in this place as well.

[ 2 ] My dear Theosophical friends, people have always felt that the outer should correspond to the inner. Only in our present age, in which a materialistic mindset pervades so many aspects of life, has it become possible to misunderstand even an ancient proverb that speaks of the correspondence between the outer and the inner. In the past, people sought to express that the soul, the Spirit, is the original, the true, and the active; that this soul and this Spirit build for themselves a body that corresponds to them; and that only a soul guided by a true spiritual impulse can express itself outwardly in the proper way through its body—that it is a sign of a beautiful soul when the body, as its outward expression, is allowed to reveal the soul’s inner beauty through its own beautiful form. The ancient proverb “A beautiful soul in a beautiful body” is shaped by this sentiment; it proclaims that this body—that this soul, which created it and dwells within it—is beautiful through its spiritual impulses and through its truth. In our time, however, people are close to believing that one need only care for the body properly, make it truly beautiful, and then this body will of its own accord create a beautiful soul. Materialistic life today turns everything upside down!

[ 3 ] In the outer world, one doesn’t even realize how much one actually turns things upside down through a materialistic perspective, because people don’t look at what has been turned upside down and actually believe that this is how the world should be. We will often notice, in the way theosophical life and work are judged in the outer world, that people speak of material existence as the only true and real thing in the world, and that the spirit is nothing but a thought in the human mind. People will perceive this as truth; conversely, they will regard as fanaticism or fanciful enthusiasm that which is seen as true reality in the realm of theosophical life. The only thing that will teach people that they have turned things upside down will be that a time will come when all that they have turned from the highest to the lowest will no longer be possible. When the spirit is lacking in our progressive cultural current, people will increasingly come to realize—through the desolation of their souls and the bleakness of their existence—what Theosophy can be to these desolate souls and this desolate existence. They will gradually come to understand that Theosophy must exist in the world, that the world needs it for its progress.

[ 4 ] To provide the spirit with a form—this has always been humanity’s aspiration, and in the course of our theosophical endeavors we have been able to point out how, throughout the course of human evolution, one can trace humanity’s striving to provide the spirit with a form. We have pointed to the Greek temple, whose outward form reveals something such that one can say: This Greek temple could only have arisen within a worldview in which, out of the fullest, most intimate feeling, the word could be spoken that testifies to how deeply united [the Greeks felt] with everything on the physical plane. The word that fully expressed their love for the physical plane, so that they would rather dwell here as beggars than there as kings.

[ 5 ] To the extent that the gods were able to radiate life down onto the physical plane, to that extent did the Greeks receive it during this fourth post-Atlantean epoch; and they united intimately with this divine presence on the physical plane, perceiving life as something divine, and for these gods living among them on the physical plane, they erected their temples. Thus, we perceived such a Greek temple in such a way that we could say a god dwells within it, and that its outer form expresses the fact that people could be far away from this temple, yet one could still see that a god dwells within it and that the outer form is merely his shell. That is the idea of the Greek temple.

[ 6 ] Then we see another stage in the development of humanity in the Gothic cathedral, which one cannot conceive of as anything other than an enclosure for the community of people who receive God’s power through the power of the Word. While the Greek temple is complete even when no one is inside but God alone, the cathedral is incomplete when no one is inside. It must encompass the congregation. This is already implied in the word: Dom = Tum. This syllable expresses the interaction of human souls: “Volkstum,” “Duma,” and so on. Thus, the cathedral takes its name from that which belongs to its essence as a second aspect—from the congregation, from those who listen to the divine Word. The Greek temple is a dwelling place of the divine Spirit; the Gothic cathedral is a dwelling place of listening human beings. For from the Greek era through into the Christian Middle Ages, human development has progressed. The saying resounded, more or less clearly audible: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” - But as the fifth post-Atlantean epoch drew near, this proclamation of the Word was truly countered by the other saying: “And now let the ear be inclined toward the Word, and let the ear be in the holy place and listen to the Word, which, as it presses itself toward the ear, holds within it the Divine Spirit.” The resounding divine Word must be met by the listening, receptive ear and the heart of the human being. Thus had the spiritual advanced—and those who were able to create, out of the spirit, a form for this advanced spirit had an understanding of it.

[ 7 ] In the Gothic period, they provided a setting for listening to the divine word. That era, too, has passed—a time when this particular mood was the only one appropriate within the spiritual currents of the age. Once again, we as human souls have advanced a little further in our evolution, and a new task has been set for our time. We understand this task of spiritual life—into which we ourselves are to be woven—when we are able to perceive the two words, “forgetting” and “remembering,” in their most spiritual and profound sense. These two words can teach us much about what we are to incorporate into our feelings and sensations, into our thinking, and into our impulses of will—all of which are to be attained in the unfolding of the human spirit in the sense of theosophical feeling, thinking, and willing!

[ 8 ] The motifs that meet us here in this newly constructed space for our work—the colors and forms—from what spirit do they originate? From the same spirit that is meant to speak to us even more richly through the structure that is to serve our work, in our building in Munich. The entire manner in which the spirit gives itself a form is intended to foster a true understanding of the words “forgetting” and “remembering.” But one must sense and feel many things in one’s soul if one wishes to sense and feel these two words—“forgetting” and “remembering”—in the right way.

[ 9 ] We have tried time and again to make it clear in what sense we can speak of the world around us as a maya, a great illusion. But have we ever spoken of the world around us solely and exclusively as a great illusion? Have we not always countered this maya with the fact that we have honored the world insofar as it is a revelation of divine spiritual life? The expression “the world is maya” must never lead us to turn away from this sacred nature, which confronts us in the colors and forms of living beings with infinite beauty and infinite wisdom! It would be the greatest sin against the Holy Spirit of existence if we were unable to perceive nature as a revelation of divine life and sought to turn away from it by thoughtlessly repeating the phrase that it is, after all, merely maya, the great illusion! Nor should we even consider withdrawing, in our moral life, from sharing in love all that suffering and pain dwells in the hearts of our fellow human beings. It would be a magnificent form of selfishness if we were to think that this, too, is merely maya, an illusion! Only then do we truly grasp the meaning of this expression when we immediately reflect on ourselves and say: Maya is our own weakness and [our own] misunderstanding of sacred nature.

[ 10 ] Just because we view them through our limited human perceptions does not mean that all the beauties of existence are revealed to us. But when we detach ourselves from our own selves, when we are able to step outside our own narrow personalities—then we will see that the gods wish to reveal themselves to us in all things in nature, and that we ourselves are spreading a veil of mist over these things.

[ 11 ] And when we wrestle with our own souls over the profound, enigmatic questions of existence and ask ourselves: Why is there so much suffering and pain in existence that does not seem to correspond to a divinely inspired existence? If we were to seriously strive to see that which we ourselves have introduced into the world of divine revelations—our guilt, our transgressions, our selfishness—and if we were to regard that as the source from which suffering and pain in life spring—if we were to see all of that in existence, then the world would no longer be maya.

[ 12 ] Why, then, is the world initially “maya,” or illusion, to human beings? One must feel and sense this expression, not merely utter it. If one feels the word “maya” in the sense just indicated, then one is contrite; then one feels ashamed of oneself; then one is as if plunged into an abyss of misery and shame. There, one recognizes oneself as a human being—a wretched creature who, because of one’s smallness and imperfection, is unable to fathom the greatness and glory of creation. One must feel this!

[ 13 ] [And as long as one does not feel this in all its gravity, humanity will not be able to survive any longer!] Everyone, everyone must learn to feel this in some incarnation—then they will come to Theosophy, and then they will attain that other feeling which provides the answer to the question: Why is the world maya, an illusion?

[ 14 ] And this answer is given to humankind! The question must arise within humankind so that the gods may provide an answer to it. And so the gods say: O humankind, transform this maya into reality and truth; carry this reality into all of the future! If you had not been given the appearance, the illusion, then you would not have been assigned this task by the gods: to transform the appearance into reality! You are to transform maya into reality! — Everything that exists in the earthly-physical realm is like a reflection of the gods’ workings. But what appears in the mirror is only the reflection of reality.

[ 15 ] But when a human being takes in reality—the workings of the gods—then the mirror may shatter; through what the human being now carries within, what he has taken into his soul, he continues to bring about what the gods created before him. The gods created the world over millions of years; they created a reflection of themselves in this world, and the human being carries this reflection within their soul. Even if the outer mirror of divinity—the world—should now shatter and shatter into pieces, the human being must carry the divine within themselves into the future! If he feels this, then he carries within himself the awareness of what he must do with maya; then he feels how he, as a human being, is the detour leading to the salvation of the world’s most intimate affairs into the future. And out of the awareness of this task, Theosophy will uplift human souls when, driven by the suffering and pain, by the misery of life in mere maya, they seek refuge in it.

[ 16 ] In this spirit of misery (on the outside), yet at the same time of uplift (on the inside), we sit in our lodges, and whatever theosophical knowledge we absorb there—what good does it do us? If we merely want to experience something through theosophy, then we are not approaching it in the proper sense. It is selfishness for people to want to come to the lodge merely to experience something new and interesting! And unfortunately, this is an old habit that must be broken if we wish to work and act theosophically in the true sense. Such people must know that everything they have acquired through their so-called “knowledge”—as mere information—about spiritual matters is nothing at all! This knowledge has absolutely no significance for a spiritual future. A person possesses such knowledge, which dies when he passes through the gate of death. Nothing, absolutely nothing, remains for him from it for the future. People have gotten into the habit of approaching Theosophy in this way as well.

[ 17 ] But that is not the proper attitude toward Theosophy. You will have this proper attitude, my dear Theosophical friends, only when you create a mental image—as you gather in your lodges for your Theosophical work—that it is not merely knowledge that is to be attained, but a power! Imagine as if a God were present in these Theosophical lodges, bestowing His gifts upon you, so that divine power would flow into you, and that you are the vessels to receive this divine stream of life. And that you must carry out into humanity this spiritual stream, which from now on will pour forth throughout the entire development of humanity! Every time you gather in your lodges, you are to receive a message from the gods, not mere knowledge that satisfies your curiosity. And you must learn to realize: If I do not receive this message, then I stand helpless and powerless even in the face of external life; then I lack everything that gives me the strength and power to find my way within the world of maya and to transform it into a spiritual reality! — If you have this feeling, then you have the right feeling within the lodge! Then you will also know that Theosophy is the holiest and most intimate part of your souls!

[ 18 ] And then you will also sense how the spirit has progressed since Greek times. There we have God, enclosed within Himself in the Greek temple; there He needs no community of people around Him. Then, in the Gothic cathedral, we have the congregation that needs the Word of God. And then, in our own time, we have the Theosophical Lodge: outside, the world in which human beings themselves can forget everything that has come into the world from the beginning until now—and within the Lodge, there we have the person who knows that a task for the future has been assigned to them, who receives, in such a Lodge, a letter of introduction into the future. This is what people must feel: this progress in the spiritual development of humanity.

[ 19 ] The Saturn, Sun, and Moon phases of evolution—and part of Earth’s evolution—are behind us. We have received knowledge of this; we receive this knowledge within our lodges. And this knowledge is shrouded in Earth’s maya. We must be clear that we must be able to forget everything that has remained as a remnant of ancient times—that all of this appears like a testament from the gods who were active in ancient times. Our branch work reveals to us the testament of these gods; humanity may unseal it, but what should it read from it? - He must not read from it anything that merely satisfies his curiosity or his selfishness; rather, he must read this: how he is to participate in the divine construction of the world! We must be able to forget the old; we must remember that we must be devoted only to the new wisdom, to that which creates the future. We must also forget everything that surrounds us on the outside as materialistic culture; we must remember that in such a space, in everything that meets us in colors and forms, there are symbols through which the spirit that lives in such a space expresses itself. That this spirit may become alive within us, burn through us, and broaden our spiritual gaze into a spiritual world—that must be our fundamental feeling—and that is how we must live in such a space!

[ 20 ] The Greek god wrapped himself in a shell. In the Middle Ages, the shell was perceived as containing the word within itself. We, however, must perceive our covering in our lodges as if we were in a room and there were something in colors and forms that, as we gaze upon it, begins to become ever wider and wider, to expand more and more, to grow before our eyes. But what grows out from there is not empty, not spiritless. It contains the spirit that we sense as we receive the testament of the gods in this space, and which inspires us toward what our task for the future is. In this way, our symbols expand into an active world! Toward the world in which we are co-creators. When we are in our spaces in this way—forgetting the outer world and remembering the spiritual world—then we live theosophically in our spaces!

[ 21 ] And when such a room bearing our distinctly Rosicrucian symbols appears in any place and our members work within it—when they conceive the idea of using such a room as a setting for their work—this is a sign that something of that sacred sense of duty, even if perhaps subconsciously, is present in the people of this branch. Then these people no longer feel theosophy as a mere desire, something they would like to have, but as a duty. And therefore, every time such a form of expression appears, a stage of theosophical development has been passed, and in this respect, such a thing has a great, deep, and true significance within our work.

[ 22 ] Our friends here in this place, who have been able to take this sacred duty to heart, are told at this very moment that, in whatever way they can and wish to, the spiritual powers look down upon their work, that they imbue with their strength the spiritual life that is to unfold here, and that theosophical spiritual life, arising from such a self-sacrificing act, receives blessings from the spiritual worlds. We are grateful to our dear friends and members in Cologne for their willingness to make this sacrifice, which finds expression here. This sacrifice! We do not wish to hold this out to them—as is otherwise done in the material world—with the words: “You will receive recompense for this sacrifice.” Or: “It will be well regarded by the Masters of Wisdom, who are the guides of our spiritual movement!”

[ 23 ] No, we must wean ourselves from such words within our Theosophical Movement. But we, who are pursuing theosophical aspirations in various places, and all of you who have come to be guests in these rooms today, will feel grateful for what our friends in Cologne have done! And most of us will regard it, to a greater or lesser extent, as a natural act that indicates we have taken another step forward in our theosophical work.

[ 24 ] But there is one thing you may feel from this day forward: “I have now come to understand, to a greater degree, what theosophical life actually is!”—As people come to understand this more and more, they will also grow ever more deeply and firmly into our sacred spiritual current.

[ 25 ] It is likely not the intention of those to whom we owe these spaces—thanks to their initiative and willingness to make sacrifices—to name them. We thank them on behalf of those who stand behind this work, which encompasses more than one might think upon a superficial glance. In understanding the act of love performed by these individuals—whom we call the Masters of Wisdom—our friends in Cologne can be assured that their willingness to make sacrifices will bring them ever deeper spiritual fulfillment.

[ 26 ] But I would like to pay tribute to one of our friends who knew how to put his great and significant talent to work for our movement in the design of these rooms. Our friend Wildermann is among those—and their numbers will certainly continue to grow—who understand that everything that takes on an outward form must be permeated and infused with a spiritual life—and not just any arbitrary, abstruse spiritual life, but the specific spiritual life of the era.

[ 27 ] People today argue about whether Homer existed or not. Why are these scholars, whose souls are barren, able to argue about Homer? Because he stepped back modestly as a personality; because he is the artist who understood better than anyone else how to deny himself and to express, in an external form, a spiritual current that belonged to his time. Everything found in the Iliad or the Odyssey was already alive in the Greek national spirit before Homer. But the fact that it also lives on in posterity is due to the fact that Homer understood not to pour himself into his work, but to pour this spirit into a form.

[ 28 ] There will come a time when people will no longer concern themselves with what the cardinals preached about Christianity in fifteenth-century Rome. They used lofty and beautiful words. But let us look at their deeds—they were truly not always beautiful!

[ 29 ] In the future, people may speak little of what these cardinals once preached as their theoretical views. But people will understand something else. There is a painting in the Vatican: Raphael’s so-called “School of Athens.” Even if the painting itself should one day disappear—the legacy of it will live on. And it will live on because the creator of this painting, Raphael, perceived the spirit of the Christian word in a different way than popes and cardinals did. The painting stands out before our souls, depicting the story from the Acts of the Apostles where the Athenians are gathered with all the men of antiquity. Then Paul steps among them and says: “You have long spoken of the unknown God; you have long worshiped the images of the gods in your temples and statues.” But I want to speak to you of the Spirit who works and lives in all existence, whom no outward form can express, but who lives and works in all things, and who is also alive within us!—Many did not understand him; they turned away; only a few understood him.

[ 30 ] Raphael had this scene before his eyes; he painted it on the wall, and down to the very gesture of the hand, he infused into that one figure the spirit he intended to imbue it with. This figure is not Aristotle—no, it is the one Raphael saw in his mind’s eye: Paul, speaking to the people about Christ! Paul stands there—not Aristotle.

[ 31 ] People have misunderstood Raphael to such an extent that they have read all sorts of things into this painting—everything except what truly lived in Raphael’s spirit. He understood how to selflessly infuse his work with something that embodies the spirit of Christianity more than the sermons of cardinals and popes—namely, the unique spirit of his era. Such things will increasingly awaken among people in the future.

[ 32 ] And if there is an artist among us who, through his work, demonstrates how deeply he has become one with the great spiritual ideals, then look with proper understanding at this artist’s work—which reveals his great talent and noble intentions—when you later gaze upon the painting set into the wall of this lodge!

[ 33 ] If we imbue ourselves with such feelings and emotions that they are in harmony with the spirit of our age, then this spirit will continue to work within our theosophical striving, yearning, and work, and what is to be fulfilled through Theosophy will be fulfilled for our work and for all of humanity. You will be able to feel how a sacred spirit reigns invisibly in this room, and if you ask this benevolent spirit who it is, the answer will be: These are the loving, encouraging, and empowering thoughts of our Theosophical friends outside, which permeate this room with their power. And when, at particularly solemn moments, you feel these forces reigning in this room with special sanctity—as if the very best of a world of spiritual life were being poured into your souls, the deepest that the powers of love and the striving for wisdom can offer the human soul—when you feel these forces, say to yourselves quietly and intimately within your souls: Those who send us these forces are the ones we call the Masters of Wisdom and Harmony of Feelings—advanced human souls whose work consists in allowing their forces to flow to us. At this very moment, I implore their blessing, their support, and their help upon the work here in this place and in this room, and I know that this prayer to our Guides is not in vain. As we strive honestly and from a place of truth, the Masters will bestow their powers upon us; they will be at work in this room and will be felt—of that we can be certain. We must commit ourselves to them at this hour with true and self-sacrificing devotion, and they will be with us in our striving, creating, and working in this room. Then we will no longer need to say, “May a good spirit work here.” Then the best spirit will reign and work here.