The Rudolf Steiner Archive

15. Goethe’s Exploration of the Depths of Becoming and the Mysteries of the World in His “Faust”
The Luciferic and the Ahrimanic Temptations

following a eurythmic performance of the scenes “Midnight” and “The Burial”

[ 1 ] There would, of course, be a great deal to say if one were to explore everything contained in these final scenes of Goethe’s *Faust*, or if one were to point out, in this context, all the perspectives that naturally arise for Spiritual Science from the thoughts flowing from these final scenes. From the wealth of what could be said, I would like to draw out a few points today. However, I certainly do not wish to create a mental image that this could be a complete exhaustion of these matters.

[ 2 ] If we are to understand these final scenes, we must focus in particular on two facts of Earth’s evolution—two of the most important facts of Earth’s evolution. We have already referred to them. The first fact pertains to the Lemurian epoch; the second pertains to the Atlantean epoch. Today we will characterize them only to the extent that we need to. The fact of the Lemurian epoch, viewed from a certain perspective, consists in the fact that, through all the events that can be read about in *An Outline of Esoteric Science* or in our cycles, human beings organized themselves, so to speak, more deeply into matter than had been predestined. This came about through the Luciferic impulse. Through this impulse, one of the intentions to which Mephistopheles alludes—what he says he undertook together with the others in deeply wicked hours, when destruction was conceived for the human race—was, so to speak, fulfilled. Because humanity organized itself more deeply into matter than was actually intended, human consciousness became connected to everything that human existence in Earth’s evolution entails in a different way than it should have been. We have often pointed out that, as a result of this Luciferic impulse, human beings associate a completely different kind of consciousness with procreation, with sexual reproduction. At that time, sexual reproduction was, so to speak, brought into consciousness, and through this it was, in a certain sense—one might even say—transformed from a supersensible reality into a sensory reality. That is the first point.

[ 3 ] The fact that then prevails in the Atlantean epoch is that, since human beings were already organized more deeply in the sensory realm than had been intended for them, they developed their entire organism in such a way that the “Aharimanization”—so to speak—could take place as we have often described: that human beings linked their spiritual powers with the sensory-physical forces of nature and natural phenomena. You know that in the Bible the first fact is expressed through the image given of the Luciferic temptation, which is characterized primarily by the words that Lucifer speaks with regard to the human race: “Your eyes will be opened, and you will know good and evil.” ‘Your eyes will be opened’—it is precisely in this incorporation of sensuality into consciousness, with the opening of the eyes, that humanity’s fall into matter lies. Thus, humanity had now fallen deeper into matter than was destined for it. It was destined for humanity to view the material world from outside the material world. Through Luciferic temptation, humanity sank into the material world, and through the Ahrimanic forces of the Atlantean era, a kinship between human beings and the material world then arose within the material realm—a kinship that, in a sense, should have taken place only in the spiritual counterpart above. What should have taken place above—in a sense, hovering above the material world—has instead taken place within the material world.

[ 4 ] The first, then, is expressed by the words spoken to humankind: “Your eyes will be opened, and you will distinguish—externally—between good and evil through sensory perception.” - The second is expressed in the Bible, as you know, by the statement: “And the sons of the gods saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took wives from among them in the material world.” — This is the biblical passage which, I would say, in reference to human beings and what dwells within them, expresses a broad reality. For this broad reality encompasses all Ahrimanic activity within the human race. Through the very same force by which heavenly love sank down, —into matter and became earthly love—by the power underlying the transformation of heavenly love into earthly love, through these impulses, this very fact also brought about the human intellect’s connection with matter in an earthly way, thereby creating the materialistic form of science. Had the Ahrimanic impulses not taken root in human beings—impulses expressed by what is, in a sense, their most human reality: “And the sons of the gods found the daughters of men beautiful, and they took them as wives”—without these impulses having entered the human race, the impulses that direct the human intellect to produce all manner of instruments—which are merely combinations of material forces— and which consist in merely producing all manner of things mechanically for any purpose whatsoever, even if that purpose is the destruction of the human race. Had this Ahrimanic temptation not occurred, it would not have been possible on Earth for instruments of murder and the like to have been devised, because if human beings had retained the connection between the intellect and the creative process up above, not down here in the material world, they would not have poured the intellect into matter to create such constructs as those produced by our purely demonic mechanisms, which play an ever-greater role in the materialization of human culture. Just as everything that constitutes confusion and aberration in human affective and passionate life—in human emotional life—is expressed by the fact: “And your eyes shall be opened, and you will discern—externally, sensually discern—good and evil—so, too, are all those facts that, in a sense, stem from human arrogance and from the Ahrimanic nature of human beings, and are marveled at as great advances of humanity—the purely mechanical culture—based on the same principle indicated in the Bible: “And the sons of the gods saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took wives from among them.” — The sacred texts express these things in their own way. In a certain sphere, they shed light on where these impulses lie, but these impulses are at work on a much broader scale. In the present age, when humanity is to overcome the Luciferic and the Ahrimanic—and this must be fully recognized—in our time, a clear understanding must take hold more and more of what has come about through the opening of the eyes, through the union of the sons of the gods with the daughters of men, that is, through the descent of heavenly love into earthly love. A clear understanding of this must spread.

[ 5 ] And Goethe’s intuition came close to grasping the necessity of this clear understanding. Just as he was composing the final scenes of *Faust*, his instinctive, intuitive insight came close to grasping it. This is so infinitely significant. So what could this be about? You know, it accomplishes nothing to say: “Oh, I flee from the Luciferic, I flee from the Ahrimanic.” — That is foolish talk, for one cannot do that; one can only establish a balance between the two. One must therefore gradually paralyze the Luciferic through the Ahrimanic as human development progresses, and conversely, paralyze the Ahrimanic through the Luciferic. Goethe sensed this and encoded it in the final scenes of his *Faust*.

[ 6 ] Let us recall once more that deeply moving and harrowing scene of sorrow. Do you recall, as was once explained in an earlier cycle, that the realm rightfully belonging to Ahriman-Mephistopheles is the realm of death? So, in a certain sense, destruction and dying already belong to the realm of Ahriman; he must simply not apply his impulses in an inappropriate manner. When he applies them to places where they do not belong, then the following arises

[ 7 ] Tragedy. Here Goethe has want, hardship, and guilt fade away at the very moment when the physical body begins to separate from the spiritual and soul-life. In doing so, he indicates that he is aware of the connections that exist—particularly during the physical earthly life spent in the body—between human beings and want, hardship, and guilt. But once the soul has already been released, once the three have already been told that death is approaching, there remains worry—which is, however, closely linked to the others. It remains, so to speak, in the time when death is already at work. Worry is sent in from the rightful realm of Ahriman. Ahriman could do nothing worse to Faust than to prevent worry from remaining with Faust as his death begins, for therein lies the interplay of most mysterious forces. Here a profound mystery is touched upon. What does worry do? Worry, which is also brought about by Mephistopheles-Ahriman—like all the gray women—for Mephistopheles’s magic still persists up to that point—what does worry do? It undoes in Faust what Lucifer has brought about; it closes his eyes again. Consider the depth of the worldview contained here! That which came to humanity through Lucifer’s impulse is now paralyzed by an impulse from Ahriman, indirectly through worry. Through Lucifer, the human being has become sighted in the physical realm. Now, through the figure brought in—sent in—from the Ahrimanic realm, he is once again made blind, that is, made to see inwardly.

Only inside does a bright light shine.

[ 8 ] There is an immense depth to this matter. And so, in this dying Faust, Goethe does not seek to undo what has been done to a human being, but rather to shape the Luciferic element in such a way that it enters life in balance with the Ahrimanic. And now Concern, as it were, utters a profound word to interpret what it is doing. Lucifer once said: “You humans will see because your eyes will be opened.” — What does Concern say? Concern sets the Ahrimanic force in opposition to the Luciferic. Although human beings have become physically sighted on the outside, they are blind in spiritual terms, and they remain so throughout their entire lives. How can this blindness be overcome? By consciously delving into it, by grasping it, by recognizing it—and through this, spiritual sight, spiritual vision, returns. Now the Concern utters a word about which one could already say, with some justification, that it sounds equally mysterious at first to the wise and to the foolish:

People are blind throughout their lives,
Well then, Faust, may you finally see!

[ 9 ] This is what the concern seems to be saying:

People are blind throughout their lives,
Well, Faust, may you finally see!

[ 10 ] At first, it’s hard to make sense of these two sentences. One wonders: What do they actually mean? — Physically speaking, people can see their entire lives, but worry calls that blindness.

Well, Fauste, you’ll be the one in the end!

[ 11 ] He is truly going blind. She uses the word in a completely different way, but what she actually means is that he is gaining inner sight. The important thing is to learn to read these sentences correctly. And that means:

People are blind throughout their lives,
Well, Faust, may you finally see!

[ 12 ] Experience lies in the process of becoming. For people, it is a given fact: they are blind. But Faust is not to be blind; rather, he is to experience the process of entering into blindness. Become blind; experience, as you become, this connection between seeing and being blind. Take this word and link it to another word:

But you, the true sons of the gods,
Rejoice in the living, rich, and beautiful one!
That which is to come

[ 13 ] — this is pointed out! —

That which is coming to be, which eternally acts and lives,
Encircle yourselves with the gentle bounds of love.

[ 14 ] That which is becoming, which eternally acts and lives, is conceived as the spiritual, as the reflection of the spiritual, in the “Prologue in Heaven”; this becoming is now poured out upon Faust through his anguish:

People are blind throughout their lives,
Well then, Faust, may you see in the end!

[ 15 ] It is one thing to experience firsthand the connection between seeing and blindness, and quite another to not experience it, but merely to be caught up in “seeing blindness,”

[ 16 ] If one is well acquainted with Goethe, one can certainly empathize with his unique feelings toward Being and Becoming, and then, precisely in this interpretation of this saying here, one finds something profoundly, profoundly Goethean. Thus we see how Goethe penetrates to the deepest human mysteries. This blindness brought on by worry is truly the counterpart to humanity’s gaining sight through Lucifer in Paradise.

[ 17 ] And now let us move on. Let us look at Mephistopheles as he stands there, facing the sons of the gods who have received—so that they may truly possess the treasure of the soul—the roses from the hands of loving, holy penitent women. What, then, has happened here? These penitent women were once on Earth; they passed through earthly love, passing through what had become of it through Ahrimanic temptation in the Atlantean epoch. But what has been achieved through the human experiences these penitent women had to endure? Earthly love has become heavenly once more! We see at the end that Gretchen herself has carried the earthly love she experienced here up into the spiritual realms. And what took place here on earth has been transformed into the spiritual, the heavenly. Gretchen is up there among the penitents; she is among the penitents scattering roses. The love that had become earthly now meets us once more in a heavenly form. It has been led back through the human process—through what human beings can experience—into the heavenly realm. And

[ 18 ] When the Bible, in the passage referring to heavenly seduction, states that heavenly love has become earthly, Goethe, on the other hand, points to the process of humanity, in which earthly love becomes heavenly once more, and Mephistopheles stands below as a son of the gods himself, though he now unites with the daughters of men—who have in turn become spiritual—through the roses they have scattered. It is the reverse process of the one the Bible suggests to us: “And the sons of the gods took the daughters of men as wives.”—Mephistopheles, who has strayed among the daughters of men, unites once more with the daughters of men who have been taken in by the gods. Thus, the reverse process. Both the Paradise process of Luciferic temptation and the later process, hinted at by the words: “The sons of the gods united with the daughters of men in the flesh”—are applied in reverse. The son of the gods, Ahriman-Mephistopheles, unites with the daughters of men who have in turn been received into the divine nature, but now in heavenly love, not in earthly love; in the spirit, in the soul, not in the flesh. The reversed process. Once again, a wondrous mystery through which the events of *Faust* are directly linked to the highest traditions of humanity.

[ 19 ] And only now, when we look at things this way, do we understand what Goethe actually means, for only now are we able to truly grasp the process that is taking place here. It is extremely interesting to observe how Goethe was, I would say, guided by the necessity of the matter itself to shape the conclusion of his *Faust* exactly as he did. He truly allowed himself to be guided by the matter itself, not by some mere inner whim—he allowed himself to be guided by the matter itself. Just consider this: he once wrote down—when the work was not yet finished, but had reached a stage of maturity where he could compose it—a outline of how he intended to structure this scene. There he wrote:

“Four Gray Women.” — Well, he elaborated on that.
“Faust and Sorrow” — elaborated on.
“Mephistopheles and the Lemurs” — elaborated on.
“Faust’s Contentment” — elaborated on.
“Gone. Corpse. Burying the lemurs. Gone. Satan and Hell take their revenge”—good.
“Awaiting decay”—he came up with that.
“Because the soul flees later than usual”—that’s been performed again.
“Satanic postures, to catch them”—well, that’s what we’ve tried to portray here today!
“Angels, heavenly glory, float in. Mephistopheles. Resist. Angels scatter roses. They wither at the breath of the Satans. Transformed into flames of love. Satans flee. Mephistopheles’ agony of love. Angels float away. Mephistopheles’ appeal.”

[ 20 ] Goethe originally intended to follow up on this “appeal,” in which Mephistopheles, so to speak, appeals to Heaven for Faust’s soul. So this is what he jotted down: “Mephistopheles off to the appeal.” — He also writes: “Heaven, Christ, Mother”—that is, the Mater dolorosa—“the Evangelists, and all the saints. Judgment on Faust.” So not long before Goethe completed his *Faust*, he intended to conclude it by having Mephistopheles appeal to Heaven regarding Faust’s soul, and he envisioned a sort of judgment scene in which one would have seen a heavenly assembly comprising Christ, the Mother of God, the Evangelists, and all the saints. Goethe had thus intended to depict this scene much as we see the upper portion of Raphael’s famous painting, where the Sacrament is in the center. We are familiar with this painting. That is where the judgment over Faust was to have taken place. Goethe did not carry this out, however, because at the time he wrote it down, he wanted to follow his inner whim even more. He was driven by the subject matter to execute it differently. The first version could indeed have been quite beautiful, but—one might say—it could also have been written that way in earlier times. It no longer fits into Goethe’s era. Only those who understand nothing of the history of human development believe that one can write anything at any time, and that one can write about all subjects in the same way in every era. Those who are actively engaged in the process of human development do not do this

[ 21 ] be included in it; so Goethe did not elaborate on that. Instead, he did elaborate on what we now know—and what was presented here some time ago—the scene where the ascent takes place through the holy anchorites, where we are then led into the realm where the angels appear, into the realm of the blessed boys, where the penitent women appear, and where Gretchen herself appears. In other words, Goethe—entirely in keeping with the demands of his time—humanized the final scene, incorporating the human element into its significance for spiritual reality. Goethe himself once expressed that, in a sense, the most essential element for the resolution of his Faust problem lies in the words contained in the final scene:

Whoever strives with all their might,
We can save them;
And if they have truly received
The love from above,
The blessed host will greet them
With a warm welcome.

[ 22 ] One should not take such a statement by Goethe lightly. The commentators on *Faust* have taken it very lightly. By pointing this out, Goethe wanted to show how deeply he was able to grasp the mystery of the gracious workings of the divine-spiritual principle in relation to human beings. And he acted upon it with profound significance. But he approached it with vitality. Because Gretchen experienced certain events at Faust’s side during her earthly life and was then transported into the spiritual worlds, a bond is created between Faust and Gretchen, and Goethe wants to show that such a thing is a reality for him—that even when death passes over these things, they remain a reality. Human beings are placed within the connections that form during their physical existence; only do these connections take on a spiritual form once death has passed over them.

And did love itself
From above take part in him,

[ 23 ] —that is to say, he has entered into an elective affinity with the spiritual that has emerged from the sensual. Then what has become spiritual welcomes him warmly; then he is not merely a free human being, but a human being woven into the workings of grace. Here Goethe points out how profoundly significant for a human being is everything that he enters into through elective affinity, and how real is that which has been absorbed from the physical into the spiritual for the human being who is woven into it in any way. And how real are the things people do in the moral and spiritual realms—how these are not merely, as materialism believes, something fleeting, but something that continues to have an effect and holds significance for evolving humanity. Goethe demonstrates this in this final scene. That is what makes this final scene so magnificent.

[ 24 ] What else can materialism say but: Well, there is the Pater ecstaticus, who deludes himself with such notions; but when the Pater ecstaticus dies, it will all be over. The same goes for the Pater profundus, the Pater Seraphicus, and so on. — For Goethe, the experiences of these anchorites are just as real as the rising and setting of the sun. And just as the rising and setting of the sun brings about an effect here for human beings in the physical world, so too, for Goethe, a real process is set in motion in Faust’s soul by that which flows through the world from the ecstasies, prayers, and mystical reveries of the anchorites. The reality of the spiritual world—insofar as this spiritual world is rooted in human feeling and in human inner experience—is what Goethe now presents. Goethe presents not merely those supernatural mental images that are, so to speak, detached from human beings, but rather those supernatural mental images that are deeply and intrinsically connected to human beings. And through this, his Faust has truly become the epic of the beginning, of the early days of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch.

[ 25 ] There is, however, one thing that must strike those who examine the various notes Goethe made before writing the individual scenes. I have already mentioned some of these notes in another context. For example, toward the end of the 18th century, when Goethe had recently begun revising his *Faust*, he jotted down a few sentences outlining how he intended to proceed with his work and how he planned to transition what he had already revised into the subsequent sections. There he wrote:

“The ideal pursuit of influencing and empathizing with all of nature.
The manifestation of the spirit as a genius of the world and of action.”

[ 26 ] - It's all right here.

“Conflict between form and the formless.
Preference for formless content
Over empty form.
Content brings form with it.
Form is never without content.
These contradictions—instead of uniting them, make them more disparate.
Bright, cold scientific pursuit. Wagner.
Dull, warm scientific pursuit. Student.
A person’s enjoyment of life as seen from the outside, Part I.
In dullness, passion.
Outward enjoyment of action, Part II, and conscious enjoyment.
Beauty.
Inner enjoyment of creation.”

[ 27 ] Here he is already hinting at the direction he intends to take toward the end. And then he jots down what never came to fruition: “Epilogue in Chaos on the Way to Hell.”

[ 28 ] I have already mentioned how it has been misunderstood that this epilogue was supposed to take place amid the chaos on the way to hell. People have racked their brains trying to figure out how *Faust* could have ended with an epilogue set in the chaos on the way to hell. So, they concluded that Goethe, at a relatively advanced stage of the play’s development, must not have wanted Faust to be redeemed, but rather to be sent to hell. People never considered that this epilogue was meant to be spoken by Mephistopheles—and certainly not by Faust. He sets off for hell after losing the wager and speaks his epilogue. But Goethe could not carry that out; it really isn’t there. Why isn’t it there? Because at that time it could not yet be written out of the deep mystery, and at the same time out of the mystery of his own time. For what would this epilogue in the chaos on the way to hell contain? Let us imagine for a moment what might be contained there. What has happened? We have considered the various interactions that have taken place between the Ahrimanic and the Luciferic forces, as depicted at the end of Goethe’s *Faust*. As a result, Faust’s soul has not truly been captured by Ahriman-Mephistopheles, but rather it enters the spiritual world in the appropriate manner to unite with the forces coming from the blessed host, in the way we have described. This is brought about by the fact that, initially, the Luciferic element gained a slight upper hand, leading to a kind of spiritualization for Faust; the materialization that should have occurred through Ahriman—which would have caused Faust’s soul, as it were, to remain united with matter through earthly heaviness, and Faust to sink into an abyss—for the ruler of matter is Ahriman-Mephistopheles! —that this did not occur. It did not occur. The scales have, so to speak, tipped more toward the Luciferic side. This has made it possible for Faust’s soul to enter the region where, having overcome the Ahrimanic in the appropriate manner, the human effects of the penitent women and Gretchen themselves are present in the spiritual sphere.

[ 29 ] Now Mephistopheles stands there. He wanted to capture this soul, but he was unable to do so. He did not succeed in binding it to the heaviness of the earth; otherwise, it would either have remained with the corpse and been snatched up by the circle of the Lemures, or it would have been captured by the “thick devils” or the “thin devils.” None of this happened. Such a state of equilibrium has arisen between the Ahrimanic and the Luciferic forces that Faust has ascended toward heaven. But Mephistopheles has now come to a standstill. The soul has eluded him. Yet he might now say to himself: Yes, here I stand; this soul has eluded me, but it will return to my realm; it will come back to Earth. Then I will recognize it, and I will once again be able to draw near to it, for then it will have to undergo new Ahrimanic trials. — Stated roughly in these terms, this would constitute the “Epilogue in Chaos on the Way to Hell.” For this is the peculiarity of Mephistopheles-Ahriman: that he always believes he will triumph in every incarnation. And in every incarnation, when the appropriate balance is established in relation to Lucifer, he may once again lose his victory. That is the peculiarity. But this back-and-forth oscillation of the human being between Ahriman and Lucifer must take place; otherwise, the human personality could not develop. If human beings did not possess the spirit that acts and creates through resistance, the human personality would not be able to develop. It is only through resistance that the human personality develops. Even in our physical body, the personality develops through resistance. Just think: if we did not have two eyes and did not direct them toward things in such a way that their axes intersect; if we did not have two hands that touch one another, one of which washes the other—then a sense of personality could not develop physically. The Lord of Resistance, the Lord of Obstacles, is also Ahriman-Mephistopheles. That is why Ahriman had to gain great influence as early as the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, because the personality is to be formed precisely during this fifth post-Atlantean period. In earlier periods, human beings had far less personality; in the Egyptian-Chaldean period, almost none at all—at that time, human beings were still almost entirely enveloped in a sense of communal consciousness. I have discussed this on several occasions. Personality actually begins to emerge consciously only in the Greco-Latin period, and even then slowly; there is still a great deal of communal consciousness present. Then, in our fifth post-Atlantean epoch, the time has come for the personality to become fully conscious of itself, so that it can fully bring forth from within itself what is to be achieved in this fifth post-Atlantean epoch. The characteristic feature of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch is that it places the greatest demands on the creative and life impulses of the personality. Spiritual Science must enter human development during this fifth post-Atlantean epoch. But Spiritual Science demands—in order to be understood, grasped, and comprehended—a greater strain on the intellectual, the feeling, and also the volitional powers; a greater strain on all the powers of the personality than existed in earlier times. And it was out of a deeply intuitive recognition of the impulses of his time that Goethe placed Ahriman-Mephistopheles at the side of Faust, who is to develop self-awareness through his trials. This Faust must develop through the resistance of the Mephistophelean influences; he must recognize what lives in the one-sided cultivation of reason and science in Ahriman-Mephistopheles, yet he must sustain himself within it. For a personality who had so thoroughly immersed himself in all branches of science—“I have now, alas, studied philosophy, law, and medicine, and, unfortunately, theology as well!”—and who had also delved into magic and magical traditions, it was only possible to either succumb to mystical rapture in the face of the Earth Spirit:

In the floods of life, in the storm of deeds
I surge back and forth,
I sway to and fro!
Birth and grave,
An eternal sea ...

[ 30 ] — to be woven into that! But that is a dissolving, a becoming nebulous oneself in this weaving and living amid the storm of action ... into that may yearn those washed-out mystics who wish to lose their personality! The fifth post-Atlantean epoch demands precisely the exertion of the strongest forces of the personality, and from this, knowledge and will are to arise in human beings during the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. Therefore, however, humanity is called upon in this fifth post-Atlantean epoch to fully engage the personality. And this will become more and more a requirement of this fifth post-Atlantean epoch: the strengthening and invigoration of the personality through its full application. It will become necessary—even with regard to one’s moral outlook on life—for those who do not wish to lag behind in development to apply their personality ever more strongly. This strengthening of the personality will be a demand of the times. And this strengthening of the personality is in keeping with normal, healthy, and proper further development. The weakening and sulphurization of the personality are not inherent in the impulses of the remainder of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. This dissolution of the personality into nebulosity is a relapse, an atavistic regression to ancient times. But when left to their own devices, the Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces that are opposed to humanity work against human beings and undermine their tasks. Precisely because human beings must then fully engage their personalities through Spiritual Science—which is to emerge from the strong forces of the personality for the fifth post-Atlantean epoch—Ahrimanic counterforces work against the personality. One need only understand this, and one must view our time from this perspective.

[ 31 ] If one looks back to earlier times, one will indeed find, despite all the personal elements already at work, a much greater emphasis on objective struggle. In our time, the Ahrimanic forces are at work in such a way that they seek to gradually draw the objective struggle entirely into the sphere of the personality among those individuals who are open to it. Consider how, little by little, everything is diverted from the objective to the personal. This is not merely a coincidence, but something inherent in the character of our time. Someone is at work in the service of evolution, which continues to unfold in its own right. Instead of addressing the matter at hand, the struggle will increasingly be directed against one’s personality—personal slander and personal distortions will take the place of objective discussion. And already today we see how far this has progressed in our age—how people no longer know how to distinguish between what is purely personal suspicion and what is a factual attack. And precisely where attempts are made to practice Spiritual Science in an inappropriate manner, this manifests itself in the most grotesque and intense way.

[ 32 ] Just think back to our own struggles. Remember how objectively we had to present our case against that movement which has recently been associated with the name of Mrs. Besant. Was a single objective argument raised in the response from that side? None! But nothing but personal suspicions of the strongest kind. Nothing but personal suspicions! This is merely a caricatured preview of what is a defining feature of our time—one that will take up more and more space—and which we must see through with full awareness. Because the individual must be thrust into the breach—for it is only through the individual that what was formerly provided more by a sense of community will increasingly be able to come about—the struggle against the individual also begins. And because strength of personality is demanded, and the sense of convenience does not want to seek that strength from within the very thing being pursued, the weak personality—the incapable personality—is today guided by its own declaration of power and propelled upward into strength. Without having learned anything, without having seriously engaged with anything, without having delved deeply into anything, this or that is done today purely out of the whim of the personality. And people do not even understand how to take these things into account.

[ 33 ] In our field, you can once again conduct fascinating studies. How often has it been necessary to reject the swelling folly that has developed within our movement over the years—to reject that swelling futility. But futility does not understand that it must be rejected. An example: In Frankfurt, when I was there once, I received a phone call from a man who said he had to speak with me immediately. Then he arrived—he had incredibly long hair that cascaded down past his shoulders and a corresponding patriarchal beard—and explained that he had been following me for quite some time and that he wanted, so to speak, to strike a kind of compromise between what he has to offer the world and what I represent. — Well, one really has no choice but to violate that principle of brotherhood, which treats amateurish stupidity and that which is honestly pursued as equivalent. One must presume to make that distinction. So, of course, one must let such people go their own way; one needn’t concern oneself with them any further. One need not exactly speak rudely to them, but one must show that one regards them for what they are, and that one does not subscribe to that watered-down principle of equality, according to which every self-important idiocy must be regarded as equivalent to the next. Well, after some time, the person in question appeared here in Switzerland and even announced lectures against me in various cities. He has also caused trouble in other ways, as some of those sitting here know. This is how hostilities arise: the individual, who today must step into the breach everywhere, must be permeated by something; but if he cannot do so, he wants to be strong without first making himself strong through the forces that permeate him. One must see through what brings about these conflicts. That is essential. One must truly understand one’s time, not act arbitrarily. Thus, our time demands the strongest commitment of the individual; therefore, it wages the Ahrimanic struggle against the individual.

[ 34 ] The second thing that our time demands—and demands quite emphatically—is an appreciation for facts. Humanity will depend on this to understand the spiritual world. In this spiritual world, it is not the case that one can track how one is being corrected. I expressed this in the concluding chapter of my *Theosophy*: one is not corrected when one has done something wrong. Please look it up. A sense of facts—a sense of real facts. But the strongest Luciferic struggle is being waged against this sense of facts in our time. At no other time, despite everything that has happened, have facts been so falsified as in our time! The Luciferic instincts summon Ahrimanic forces that misrepresent facts. This tendency to misrepresent facts is just beginning and will become more and more rampant. It is important, once again, to see through this. Becoming accustomed to a sense of facts and becoming accustomed to the fact that one will increasingly have to truly stand up with one’s personality for what must be stood up for in the world—this is part of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch.

[ 35 ] Let us try to understand how, even in our own field today, the struggle between Ahriman and Lucifer can already be observed, and how, right up to the most recent events, we find a lack of factual accuracy being used against us. Things are already being written and said today that contain absolutely no truth whatsoever.

[ 36 ] Goethe felt all of this—he felt it deeply. If you read through his *Faust*, you will see that he brings the Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces into such a connection with the nature of Faust as must be viewed by human beings if they wish to place themselves, with full consciousness, into the impulses of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch. Both in particular and in general, the Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces work against human beings. If one did not recognize Ahriman, if one did not recognize Lucifer, one would not be able to continue living in an appropriate way at all. And all of this must be brought about through Spiritual Science. One might say that this cannot be emphasized strongly enough today, for people today still have little understanding of the significance of what must be drawn from Spiritual Science. Things are taken too lightly, forgotten too easily. What our time demands—depth, the strengthening of the personality, a sense of reality, a sense for true facts—is counteracted on a grand scale, one might say, by the very events of the external world today. Two things stand in the way of what is necessary for the progress of humanity: a perverse principle of nationality that has become atavistic. That is the first. An absurd principle of nationality, as it was introduced into the world particularly in the 19th century by the Napoleons—a principle of nationality in whose name many impulses are invoked today that run counter to the true meaning of human development. A clouding principle of nationality that obscures and confuses concepts, placing them in the wrong contexts. I will explain myself as follows:

[ 37 ] In a certain sense, we are right to speak of a green meadow if we understand the matter correctly. But we understand the matter correctly only if, when speaking of the green meadow, we know that the individual plants are green and that the greenness of the meadow

[ 38 ] lies in the greenness of the individual plants; it is the individual plants that possess the concrete green. If I wanted to have the greenness of the meadow in a concrete sense, without the concrete green of the individual plants, I would have to paint the meadow green—but then it truly would not be a green meadow. I may speak of the greenness of the meadow only if I am aware that, in concrete terms, I can mean only the greenness of the individual plants. I must know that, in this case, “greenness” applies only to the individual plants, and that I must not think confusedly as if the greenness of the meadow could apply to the whole. When I use the term “the greenness of the meadow” in the abstract, I must be clear that I am forming only an abstract concept that summarizes the individual concrete entities—the green plants. It is absolutely essential, in the most fundamental sense, that such clarity prevail with regard to the formation of concepts—so that, for example, people learn that the words “freedom” and “justice” can be applied concretely only to individual human beings, just as “greenness” applies concretely to individual plants—and that when I speak of the justice and freedom of peoples, I can only mean an abstraction, just as the greenness of the meadow is an abstraction. Today, however, the most mendacious slogan imaginable is being spread across nearly half the world, as people speak of something they wish to fight for in the name of the rights and freedom of nations—which is such nonsense, such folly, as the greenness of the meadow is folly if one thinks one could paint all the plants in the meadow green, instead of recognizing that the meadow is green because of the individual plants themselves. Nevertheless, through today’s obfuscation of the peoples with the false principle of nationality, people speak of this foolish motto: the rights and freedom of peoples. And one is quite certainly regarded as a fool, as a madman, if one voices what has already been said once before, precisely in connection with *Faust*, who says: “To stand on free soil with a free people”—not with a free nation, of which there can be no question at all—which must already be stated in reference to *Faust*. Certainly, one is considered a fool today—or a malicious person who rebels against something so beautiful, so grand, and so ideal; something intended for the best, but thought out imprecisely, is thought carelessly, is conceived with ill will, because it introduces something atavistic that has no place in our time, because it instills in the individual a consciousness that stems from weakness rather than from the strength of personality.

[ 39 ] And the other factor at work in our time against progressive principles—aside from the absurd principle of nationalism—is the politicization of intellectual life. It is important to understand these two things—and to understand the politicization of intellectual life as well. I have already drawn attention to the meaning of “policy” in another context, where there is constant talk of policy—the staging of certain ideas in order to achieve this or that. But how widespread this is in the world! It is precisely from this politicization of intellectual life that the very worst emerges in our fifth post-Atlantean epoch. An age that could still, in a certain sense, believe itself to be inspired when forming thoughts could, at its councils, decide—for my sake—on this or that dogma, which was then used to achieve this or that in the world. Our age, however, which is truly devoid of inspiration in its materialistic structure, will—if it does not formulate thought in such a way that it is bound by a sense of responsibility toward impersonal truth—conceive of thought solely out of personal arbitrariness, or out of the arbitrariness of an association, or out of some other form of collective arbitrariness. And so the thought is not put forth into the world because one recognizes its correctness, but because one wants to use it for political purposes. This politicization of intellectual life goes on and on. And one does not educate oneself in such a way as to arrive at the correct, the true thought, but rather in such a way as to arrive at a thought with which one can engage in politics—for example, the idea of not performing vivisection on animals. But one does not grasp the idea in terms of its truth content, but rather through its power for political agitation. One agitates with the idea; one politicizes with the idea in temperance societies, in anti-vivisection societies. One does not grasp an idea in its reality—temperance, vivisection, or the like—but rather one politicizes in relation to it. Everywhere, ideas are used for political ends. They are drawn into political machinery. A false principle of nationality, a false politicization of ideas—as is particularly evident in our current culture of club-forming—is what stands in opposition to the correct evolutionary developments currently taking place within humanity. Associations are founded not to uphold the truth, but to achieve this or that. As a result, even the right idea can become fanatical and one-sided, whereas the fundamental character of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch is to work through the truth.

[ 40 ] Herman Grimm, who immersed himself in Goethe’s life, rightly said: Goethe’s *Faust* is a work of fiction that is truly conceived entirely from the structure of the human personality. A mid-level university professor loses his mind in the pursuit of his scholarly endeavors and goes through all sorts of trials. But what he goes through is, in the highest sense, representative of all human striving and truly contains—if one delves deeply enough—everything that can arise for people in our time in terms of philosophical questions, as well as everything that can arise in terms of matters of the heart, and everything that can arise in terms of political forces. —- And one could add, from the depths of Spiritual Science: It is precisely that which is purely human—the very essence of humanity—that is contained in this *Faust*. To which nation does he belong? To none, of course. And it is the most vivid protest against the false principle of nationality in our day, which is thoroughly captured in a phrase by Grillparzer—a phrase that sounds harsh but is nonetheless profoundly true. Grillparzer uttered these words: “From humanity, through nationality, to bestiality.”—That is indeed the path! Nationality leads astray when it is insisted upon, when aspirations are drawn from it rather than from humanity, and it soon leads into bestiality. And of course, politics is necessary in the world, but not the politicization of thought. And see how Goethe’s thoughts are depoliticized! Try to understand the second part of Goethe’s *Faust* from this perspective; it was written from immense depths. It is a monumental document not only of our time but of all human history, for it touches upon the questions we have seen—questions that stand directly alongside the great biblical questions. The scene of sorrow stands alongside the scene of paradise; the scene in which Mephistopheles confronts the spirits of heaven stands alongside the image presented in the Bible, in which the sons of the gods took pleasure in the daughters of men and united with them in the flesh.

[ 41 ] One would like to have much, much better words to point out what should be deeply engraved in the human mind and heart—and what should not be forgotten, though, unfortunately, it is always forgotten far too quickly once it has been heard. For healing from the great evils of our time can come only from an understanding of the very things that have been touched upon here.

[ 42 ] Since I have attempted today, in connection with Goethe’s *Faust*, to say a few words about the impulses of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch as they are in keeping with the spirit, I would like, above all, for an understanding to arise of how, all over the world, sins manifest themselves against these impulses of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, how, all over the world, a lack of understanding arises precisely toward that which is meant to be understood. — Oh, how I wish I had the words with which I would love to speak of these things! But perhaps, in times yet to come, other people will find better words to discuss the things that are so little understood today, because so many would like to let their personalities sink into some comfortable reliance on this or that, would like to seek, here or there, through this or that movement, to become this or that, and then can no longer escape from the false principle of communality or false nationalism, can no longer escape from the politicization of thought. And yet—everything that follows this false path will fall prey to Lucifer and Ahriman. Only that which knows that nothing can be achieved on this path will flourish! One may sit comfortably amid all the various agitations and club-like activities of our day—yet the path that must be found will be found only in the service of that human activity which seeks wisdom in truth, which is convinced that only through the incorporation of truth into humanity can the human goal of our epoch be achieved, and which knows that all politicization of thought must cease, all agitation with ideas as with dogmas—that they must be grasped with a full sense of responsibility toward the truth, not for their agitational value, not for the favor we show them. It is not because the ideas please us that they may enter our sphere, but because we truly possess a full sense of responsibility toward truth and the value of truth.

[ 43 ] I would like to have said much more than can be conveyed by the words in the appendix to Goethe’s *Faust*. I would like it to continue to have an effect in people’s hearts and souls, for I know how much is contained therein that must serve as spiritual and soul-healing remedies for our era and for humanity, which is wandering down such wrong paths in our era. If one cannot admit to these wrong paths—if one wishes to continue walking them—then one cannot make proper progress toward the true goal that humanity must pursue.