The Rudolf Steiner Archive

70. On War: What Lies Behind the Veil of Maya. The Appearance of Christ in the Etheric Realm

[ 1 ] In these fateful times, our first thoughts must go out to those who ... who, in these fateful times, are giving their blood and their lives ...

[ 2 ] May our gathering be under the protection of that great Spirit who guides our evolution and who passed through the Mystery of Golgotha.

[ 3 ] First, let us remember those of our friends who are out in the field, and let us rise from our seats to do so:

Spirits of your souls, watchful guardians,
May your wings carry
The imploring love of our souls
To the earthly people entrusted to your care,
So that, united with your power
Our plea may radiate helpfully
To the souls it lovingly seeks.

[ 4 ] If we know that someone has already left their physical body, the same concept applies with just one small change; instead of “earthly beings,” we must then say “sphere beings.”

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My dear friends!

[ 5 ] We are living in fateful times and are experiencing, on the one hand, a period that brings endless suffering to much of the world, and, on the other hand, a period that is significant because it demands great things—in every respect—from the people of our time.

[ 6 ] It is fitting for us, first of all, to elevate to the highest level of seriousness and dignity what we have gained through our spiritual striving—for our sensations and feelings, as well as for our knowledge—and to allow it to permeate our entire being. We can do this best by remaining true to ourselves in our quest for knowledge and truth. This is more difficult than in other times, because the events surrounding us speak so powerfully to our souls that our powers of insight find it hard to emerge. It is more difficult to attain the inner stillness necessary [to] penetrate the great maya, the great illusion, and to dive into the truth, into true, genuine reality. Yet it is precisely this that we wish to take as our starting point in today’s reflections.

[ 7 ] We can indeed surmise that what is now unfolding on the physical plane is connected with the greatest event of our century—the appearance of the Christ—as is also hinted at in The Gate of Initiation.

[ 8 ] It is difficult for today’s observer to untangle the events, since they unfold in such a way that they, as it were, culminate in the major event just described. I want to recount as candidly as possible what is taking place behind the veil of maya. Many friends will recall that I said the war was a matter of time—only a short time. It was held back only by astral forces, held back on the physical plane. It was only people’s fear that held it back; it is not difficult to see that it was fear, anxiety, that held it back. But in the astral world, the war was already there. And what was it like there? It was preparing itself as the event took shape that must bring about a great decision in the course of the twentieth century.

[ 9 ] As we know—and some friends will recall—it has been said that, since the last third of the nineteenth century, Michael, the Spirit of the Sun, has been striving to bring about and prepare, in the true sense, what is to come.

[ 10 ] First, let us answer a question: Where does the Spirit—which must first prepare, as it were, the spiritual terrain for the coming decades—find a large portion of the souls it needs? It finds a large portion of the souls it needs in the souls of the Russian people. Those souls of the Russian people, who possess the unique quality of being received into the bosom of their Angelos when they pass through the gate of death—souls who have first gone through a stage of dependence, a stage of being protected, of being cared for by a spiritual power, by a being such as the Angelos; so that when we look up into the spiritual world, we see a large portion of Russian souls gathering around the great warrior who is to bring about the decisive outcome in the near future. And because this is so, the great astral battle of the Russian souls is directed against the French souls who ascend into the spiritual world from French bodies.

[ 11 ] One can see a fierce battle unfolding from east to west in the spiritual realm. It is a terrible spiritual war taking place between spiritual Russia and spiritual France—between Russian souls and French souls.

[ 12 ] Where does this struggle come from? The salvation of the event to which I have alluded naturally seeks to prevent the alliance between Lucifer and Ahriman. Lucifer and Ahriman want to prevent the proper preparation for the event of Christ’s appearance [in the etheric]. To this end, Lucifer and Ahriman need souls who, when they pass through the gate of death, have the tragic fate of bringing with them certain moments that serve as points of attack for Lucifer and Ahriman. (Our worldview enables us to view humanity—the souls—without distinction of nationality or race.)

[ 13 ] When a soul was incarnated in a French body and passed through the gate of death, it first had to struggle—between death and rebirth—with something it had brought with it. This is a certain imaginative image of itself; there is a tendency among souls who were incarnated in French bodies to have a mental image of what a true Frenchman actually is; and this image— “I am a true Frenchman”—to build, with the help of the imagination, that which is supposed to correspond to the imagined image of the French soul, the image the French soul wanted to create of itself—these were, in fact, the struggles the French nation waged throughout the nineteenth century: to build, on the physical plane, what the French nation sought to construct out of these imagined images. The call for “Gloire”—that was not a call for what the Frenchman was, but for what he wanted to make of himself. Every Frenchman carries another human being within him, with whom he must struggle after death. This, as it were, imagined human being forms a point of attack for Ahriman. This is in the etheric body; these are etheric shadows and phantoms. If they are present in sufficient numbers, then Lucifer can use them to cause false images to appear here and there of what Christ is to be on Earth in the twentieth century.

[ 14 ] This is the aim of Lucifer and Ahriman. Hence the most intense enmity arises between East and West—the fierce struggle between Russian and French souls—which, though not described as such in the physical world, where an alliance has been formed, is nevertheless true in the spiritual realm.

[ 15 ] What happens in the spiritual world has its symbol in the physical world, even if it is not recognized. If Ahriman has anything to do with this, then one would have to find an expression of it in the physical realm. And this is indeed the case, in that France has paid twenty billion to Russia to equip the Russian army, the Russian military. On the physical plane, what is a struggle in the spiritual world is reflected as a brotherhood in arms, as friendship.

[ 16 ] If we turn our attention to the British Isles, we have the opportunity, through insight from Spiritual Science, to gain a clearer understanding of what the true mission of this people is as a nation. We must not attach any hint of sympathy or antipathy to this. The task of the modern era is to integrate materialism and mechanistic thinking into the course of world history. Materialism had to come; it is through this that the world is put to the test. And the task of fostering materialism falls to the British people. The people who bring materialism to bear—in a truly practical sense—in relation to pure scientific experience are the British people. No other people would have been capable of fulfilling this mission as the British people have. Because the impulse of materialism lives within the national shell, a thorough point of attack is formed for Ahriman. How often have I spoken of how Ahriman is connected to all materialism. I have often said in other lectures: Why is one a materialist? Because one harbors a secret fear—a fear of the spiritual. This is easy to see today, as decisions are made, just how the British people—as the representatives of materialism—are gripped by a delusion of fear. Look to this fear for the reasons behind what is taking place across the Channel.

[ 17 ] When we look at the constellation that exists between the struggles in the East and the struggles in the West, we find in the souls passing through British bodies (I am now referring to the spiritual struggle) how everything is being done to drive a wedge between the West and the East, to stoke the conflict, to make the conflict ever greater. In the physical world, this plays out in what has been called a policy of encirclement; in the spiritual realm, it is a process of confrontation, of turning against one another. It is, of course, quite understandable that this is happening, for Ahriman has every interest in ensuring that, where people fight over material things and what took place on Golgotha is repeated, people remain fixated on the external; that we establish empires extending over as many territories as possible; and that the appearance of the Christ [in the etheric] may be prevented.

[ 18 ] Now there are peacemakers in the spiritual world whose calling is to bring souls together. These are the souls who inhabit Central European bodies, which are now being led into battle against the East, the West, and the Northwest. I must confess to you, my dear friends, that this recent period has brought the occult observer much unforgettable suffering, and it is among the most shattering things—of which I had no prior inkling—to witness that those who have now shed their blood here on earth and ascended into the spiritual world become souls of peace, offering the sacrifice they make for their mission of peace in the spiritual world. Where does the boldness of Germany’s armies come from? Where does their fighting spirit come from? Because that boldness and that struggle are a reflection of the peace that already dwells in their souls—a peace they carry upward through the gate of death into the spiritual world, so that the way may be prepared for Christ. And this same spirit reigns within those who are preserved on the physical plane for further work. Within them reigns this spirit of peace. Even on the physical plane, we can see how this peace reigns in the souls—whether they are aware of it or not—among those lying in the trenches, even if it does not come to their consciousness.

[ 19 ] How much of this is currently reaching us through letters from the battlefields, which bear witness to it. Young anthroposophists who have gone to the front have taken Theosophy or one of our other books with them and are reading them! A letter from the front written by an Austrian soldier was published in a magazine I bought at an Austrian train station, in which this soldier writes something to the following effect: We are going out there and will do our very best; those who must stay at home should pray, for then they, too, are with us; the power of prayer reaches us. Those who cannot pray should focus their thoughts on the will to victory; in this way, they contribute to the effort. - At this moment, time teaches a soldier spiritual wisdom.

[ 20 ] This morning, a friend sent me a letter written from the battlefield. Over the past few days, the image of the ascending souls—the souls of peace—has been vividly present in my mind.

[ 21 ] (The letter is then read aloud.)

[ 22 ] This is the kind of soul in which peace dwelt—the kind of peace just mentioned. From what has been said, we can infer that there are forces lying behind the veil of maya. ...

[ 23 ] It is true that human beings turn away precisely from what is the task of their higher spirit. Let us look toward the East. The Russian souls are destined to align themselves with the leading spirit of the age, yet they allow themselves to be led astray into doing exactly the opposite in their physical bodies. No one is further removed from war than the Russian people; nothing suits the Russian soul less than waging war.

[ 24 ] All of us in the West can be people of peace, but not “Tolstoyans.” Tolstoy revealed what comes naturally to the Russian soul: not to fight, but to wait for what is destined for it. Souls should wait to one day receive, just as the West once received from Greek and Roman civilization.

[ 25 ] A soul that offers on the altar of the future that which a human being is in physical life often uses it against the impressions of its higher self. This is how it is in the East.

[ 26 ] Those who are the leading minds in Central Europe have a mission together with the entire people. They truly have this mission—yes, it is almost uncomfortable to say this about one’s own people, because it sounds like boasting—these leaders have the task of bringing about in Central Europe that which is truly spiritual life and spiritual knowledge. And the souls are waiting to welcome everyone (this includes the Scandinavian and related peoples as well)—to welcome in peace all who wish to come to the spiritual. There are many, particularly in the West, who outwardly present themselves as something entirely different; there are souls living in British and French bodies who long to receive the teaching of those who have prepared the impulse of the Mystery of Golgotha in Central Europe… not the fighters, but the others. Among these souls are those who feel: They want to go there; they are meant to go to the spiritual life in Central Europe. And so a fury arises against that which is destined to incarnate in a Central European body. Because they long to incarnate in a Central European body, they rage against it, for this incarnation fiercely resists the next incarnation. When viewed in this light, however, the doctrine of reincarnation begins to take on a greater dignity than when it is simply presented to people as a doctrine. This war is a great teacher; it is now rapidly transforming people in ways that would otherwise have taken a long time—what would otherwise have required fifty years. - Many a soul knows unconsciously what lies within these Central European bodies, and this is understood in such a way that it says: “Only ‘barbaric’ souls dwell in these bodies.” It wants to be incarnated precisely in such a barbaric body, and that is how it expresses itself.

[ 27 ] This must prompt us to take spiritual truths just as seriously. Materialism is alive and well in Central Europe, too; it is spreading there as well. I delivered my 1910 lecture series in Kristiania on the “Mission of Individual Folk-souls” as a preparation for the present time.

[ 28 ] Among the French people, the culture of the intellectual or emotional soul finds its full expression. The Italian and Spanish peoples express the culture of the feeling soul, the English people that of the conscious soul, but the Russian soul is, so to speak, still only a natural soul, one that is ready to receive. The Russian soul is destined to one day receive the Spirit-Self, or Manas, for which it must first prepare itself. It has received; what lives within it is the Byzantine-Catholic religion, and it has not changed anything about it—it has remained as it was.

[ 29 ] Since the time of Peter I, external material culture has come to Russia from the West. — All of this is preparation for receiving the Spirit-Self. As described in my Theosophic: It descends. The “I” struggles to emerge and works to attain what it is meant to receive (Faustian nature). How often have I explained that we become aware of our “I” when we come into contact with the external world upon waking in the morning. This is what stirs the “I” into action.

[ 30 ] Back when I was young, there was a lot of talk about Austria falling apart. But we, who knew Austria, could say: Austria will not fall apart due to internal causes as long as it is held together from the outside. Germany was founded from the outside; France was founded from the outside. If only people had patience, they would see: everything is coming true, down to the smallest details.

[ 31 ] Because the nations of the Italian and Spanish peninsulas express themselves through the culture of the feeling soul, they are a repetition of Egyptian-Chaldean culture. The characteristic expression of Egyptian-Chaldean culture is astrology, taken in a spiritual sense. How could this (in its repetition) manifest itself better and more magnificently than in Dante? (In him is) reborn the entire Egyptian-Chaldean astrology, from the soul of a reborn, beatified, spiritual heaven.

[ 32 ] It is up to the French people to develop the culture of the rational or emotional soul. In this respect, it is a repetition of Greek culture. Corneille, Voltaire, and Racine strove to write poetry in the Greek style and to gain clarity regarding form and the unity of place, time, and action.

[ 33 ] It was during this fifth period that the material conquest of the Earth could take place. For the Italian, the “other” is the stranger; he fights for his homeland, to which he is as attached as a person is to something with his emotions. The Greeks called other people “barbarians.” Their successors in more recent times did the same.

[ 34 ] The person who lives in the conscious soul perceives strangers as competitors, as rivals. The person who has an “I” sees the opponent as an enemy, whereas the other sees the barbarian, the rival, the stranger. The enemy is also the one one faces in a duel. The fundamental character of the German is to see the other as an enemy whom one nevertheless respects. And the Russian sees heretics everywhere; he sees religion everywhere; therefore, every war must be reinterpreted for him as a religious war. This was the case in the Balkans. He wants to bring Christianity to the Balkan peoples. In the current war, the Russians are conscious that they are fighting against evil.

[ 35 ] Spiritual Science works to spread light. The fact that we see illusion—maya—is entirely up to us. When one enters the spiritual world, it reveals itself in its true form. It is in the nature of the Central European soul to bring about peace. We have witnessed where Ahriman has opposed us most fiercely, where Ahriman is most powerful. Our struggle (with A. Besant) had to precede today’s struggle, and in our field, it already signifies the same thing.

[ 36 ] The times dictated that materialism would also sweep over us. How Goethe tried to show that evolution exists! But those who do not delve into the depths will only understand this when evolution is reinterpreted from the perspective of the conscious soul as the struggle for existence.

[ 37 ] Goethe’s theory of colors—this physics arising from the “I”—has always been rejected; they adhere to Newton’s theory of colors. There are deep, deep forces within the people of Central Europe. We have heard of people who have returned the English orders they had received as honors. Goethe returned even more! He returned Newton! And those who reject Darwinism—which was created from the conscious soul—will be considered even better Germans. Of course, this is not to say that Darwin did not also make great contributions.

[ 38 ] What could serve as the leading elements is embodied in the two powers that are sandwiched between the two sides. This required a spark to ignite it. Evil had to come in. Evil is also needed to bring forth good. Even Ahriman is needed by the spiritual world to bring about good. Something like a spark of life had to enter the materialism of Central Europe. How did it enter? Through the Sarajevo assassination! Death is death in the physical world; in the spiritual world, it is the life-giving force. Who could have imagined that the assassination in Sarajevo would reveal itself in this way to the occult observer? Something as shattering as this has probably never been experienced before! —I myself have never experienced anything like it! Nor have other occultists told me of anything of the sort.

[ 39 ] You all know, as described, what “passing through the gate of death” is. Now here is where the unique aspect comes in. This soul of the murdered man, as it passes through the gate of death, and even before it awakens, becomes like a center that draws to itself the elements of fear—which I mentioned earlier as having been present—that held back the war on the physical plane; and a cosmic power becomes this soul from Sarajevo. Suddenly, this became something cosmic, of immense magnitude compared to all other departed souls, to which the widespread fear now attaches itself like a crystal, and impulses radiating in all directions ignite the war... as it crystallizes within this soul of Franz Ferdinand...

[ 40 ] Those who shed their sacred sacrificial blood on the battlefields—I say “sacred blood” deliberately—become heroes in a sense far greater than is expressed by the words of ordinary language. The [leading souls] of Europe—Goethe, Fichte, and so on—in their spiritual activity between death and rebirth, await the forces that are coming to them. These forces come to them from the young etheric bodies of those who have fallen on the battlefield. The events we are now experiencing are among the greatest in world history. Much is repeating itself—so much. We know that it repeats cyclically. ...

[ 41 ] This is why war becomes a teacher for future generations. A certain degree of selflessness must be mustered so that spiritual leadership can achieve its goal. Alongside the word—which these days is not enough to reach people—comes the other teacher: war! If we compare the hearts and souls as they were, say, on July 25, and how different they were on August 15—what a surge in the souls in the form of fighting spirit, a willingness to sacrifice, heroism, devotion, and a spirit of care! Truly, the world had changed. What could not have been achieved in fifty years by words alone came to pass in those few days.

[ 42 ] That is also where the great Master reigns, the one who moves the world forward. If there is ever peace or something else—I say this on purpose, my dear friends—peace or something else... Truly, I could not describe to you what I have had to experience in the spiritual world over the past few weeks. It is terribly difficult to observe what is happening in the spiritual world right now. How everything there is being jolted and shaken back and forth... how tumultuous it is in the spiritual world... but that is a reality; it is there. The more spirits there are who approach these things with true understanding, the more fruit the sacrifices of the war will bear... into the striving that takes place in the balancing of the struggle.

[ 43 ] I would like to appeal to your hearts with a single request, both as an intercession and in a more general sense. ...

[ 44 ] This is a time of trial, even for anthroposophists. Now it will become clear for each individual whether they have taken anthroposophy seriously enough. If they have taken it seriously enough, then something will rise from their soul... Then they will bring forth from their soul that which can be a worthy spiritual fruit... for the sacrificial blood that flows in the East and in the West.

[ 45 ] In what follows, the last two of the seven lines are to be regarded as a conditional clause. The word “wenn” is omitted before them for metrical reasons:

From the courage of the fighters,
From the blood of the battles,
From the suffering of the forsaken,
From the sacrifices of the people
The fruit of the spirit grows,
Guiding souls, spiritually aware,
Toward the realm of the spirit.