The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. The Helen Legend and the Riddle of Freedom

[ 11 ] Yesterday I drew your attention to the spiritual connections that exist in the development of humanity—connections that exert their influence through the human soul. I did this in connection with Goethe’s efforts in his Faust to link Faust to the impulse of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch by bringing him together with Mephistopheles, an Ahrimanic power. I then attempted to show how Faust is to immerse himself in the impulses of the fourth post-Atlantean epoch—which I sought to characterize for you in its essence—so that a conscious interplay may take place within Faust’s soul of that which unconsciously governs human souls through the laws of evolution.

[ 22 ] Now I told you that the fifth post-Atlantean epoch—our own epoch—will be concerned in every respect with the great, significant question of life: evil, and how to overcome it. People will have to learn what the soul must bring to bear in order to partly overcome the Powers of evil and partly transform them into positive impulses. All of this developed on the basis of the impulses of the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, which dealt in particular with the problem of birth and death—a problem it had already inherited from the Atlantean era. One need only turn one’s gaze to the Christ impulse itself, as it entered in the first third of the fourth post-Atlantean period. This period begins in 747 with the founding of Rome, so that of the 2,160 years in the period—which we regard as a cultural epoch— 747 years had to pass before the main impulse—the Christ impulse—entered precisely into this fourth post-Atlantean period. Does not this Christ impulse have to do with the great, significant question that calls forth, within the history of human development, questions about birth and death in their supersensible meaning? How much has been discussed, thought about, and felt on Christian grounds regarding the birth of Christ! What an infinitely significant role the death of Christ plays! In the birth and death of Christ, we see this struggle in the human soul with the problem of birth and death emerge at particularly poignant moments. It was a struggle in the soul because—I would say—in a more elemental, more physical form, this struggle was already present during the great Atlantean epoch. Precisely during the fourth Atlantean epoch, in the middle of the Atlantean period—and continuing into the fifth as an aftereffect—forces were at work within human beings themselves that were connected with birth and death. I have already described some of this. There were forces within those people—the Atlanteans—that could be developed and that exerted an influence on birth and death to a degree far beyond the merely natural. The good and evil forces within human beings had a far-reaching effect on the health and illness of their fellow human beings, and thus also on birth and death. People saw a connection between what one did as a human being during the Atlantean era and what takes place in the so-called course of nature as birth and death.

[ 33 ] Later, during the fourth cultural epoch of the post-Atlantean era, this problem of birth and death became more deeply embedded in the human soul. But now, in our fifth epoch, human beings will have to struggle with evil just as fundamentally as they struggled with birth and death during the Atlantean era. There, particularly through the mastery of the various forces of nature, the drives and impulses toward evil will exert their influence on the world in a magnificent, indeed gigantic, way. And in the resistance that people will have to muster from spiritual depths, the opposing forces—the forces of good—will have to grow. In particular, it will already be during the fifth epoch that, through the exploitation of electrical power—which will take on dimensions entirely different from those it has assumed so far—it will be possible for people to bring evil upon the earth; yet evil will also come upon the earth directly from the power of electricity itself.

[ 44 ] These things are necessary only to shield one’s consciousness. For whoever wishes to receive spiritual impulses will find the points of resistance, the starting points for those impulses that are meant to develop precisely through the resistance of evil. However, it is difficult to speak in detail about this matter today, since these details still, for the most part, touch upon areas of human interest that people do not wish to have touched upon. In this regard, people are divided, on the one hand, into those who suffer greatly because they cannot grasp how they are entangled in world karma and must go along with this or that without being able to become abstractly pious in the blink of an eye; and on the other hand, into people who are deeply entangled in what constitutes the world karma of this fifth post-Atlantean epoch, who do not want to hear what actually lies in the impulses passing through the world, because people often have an interest in presenting precisely those impulses that are destructive as if they were constructive. We have described how, since the last third of the 19th century, those beings have been at work among humanity whom I have described as fallen spirits of darkness, beings from the hierarchy of the Angeloi. These beings were still serving members of the good, progressive forces during the fourth post-Atlantean period. At that time, they were still serving in the establishment of those orders which—as I have described to you—are derived from the blood kinship of human beings. Now they are in the realm of human beings, and as backward-looking Angeloi beings, they influence human impulses in order to assert—in a lagging and thus Ahrimanic manner—that which is connected with blood, tribal, national, and racial kinship, in a lagging and thus Ahrimanic manner, and to undermine those other social structures of humanity that are meant to form on the basis of entirely different foundations than, for example, the blood ties of the family, races, tribes, and nations—so that today a significant part of the work of these spirits consists precisely in the abstract emphasis on the principle of nationality. This abstract emphasis on the principle of nationality, this formulation of a program based on a principle of nationality—this is part of the endeavors of the spirits of darkness, who will be much closer to human beings, who will approach human beings much more intimately than the backward spirits of the fourth post-Atlantean period, who belonged to the hierarchy of the Archangels. This will be precisely what is significant about this fifth post-Atlantean period: that these beings, who stand immediately above the human hierarchy—the angelic beings—will be able to approach individual human beings quite intimately, not merely groups, so that the individual will believe he is acting out of his own personal impulse, whereas—one might even say—he is possessed by the kind of angelic beings that have been described.

[ 55 ] Let us once again clarify the nature of the efforts made by the backward spirits of darkness during the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, so that we may better understand the nature of these efforts in our fifth epoch. I have already pointed this out: in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, it was normal to build the entire structure of humanity upon blood ties, upon kinship. During this period—that is, the Greco-Latin cultural epoch—the Ahrimanic-Luciferic backward-looking entities rebelled specifically against these blood ties. They were the instigators of that rebellion which sought to sever human beings from their blood kinships. In particular—as you can already gather from the general principles of Spiritual Science—it was, in a certain sense, the descendants of the individualities who were still active in a magical way during the Atlantean era who became rebellious individualities, rebels, and heroes, precisely during the recurrence of the Atlantean era in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch. This Greco-Latin era accommodated these rebels in a special way. In those days, when a wise guidance of the mysteries was still in place, people were not told, “Avoid the rebellious natures; avoid the Ahrimanic and Luciferic spiritual beings!” They were not told that. Rather, it was understood that it was part of the plan of the wise course of the world to put these beings in their proper place and to make use of them. It is a weakness of many people today that when they hear of Lucifer and Ahriman, they feel, “For heaven’s sake, let’s avoid them!”—as if they could avoid them! I have spoken about this often. Just as this knowledge had to be presented in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, so it was brought to the people of that time. And the influence of the good gods, if I may put it that way, lay already in the blood ties to which people devoted themselves back then—today it must be more spiritual—to which people devoted themselves in that mutual love founded on kinship. In order to move forward, rebellions always had to take place. This course of world development had to be made clear to people—as best as was possible—through myths, sagas, and legends. To the initiated, these things were then communicated in a different way, already in a form similar to that which approaches people today. But people in the broadest sphere of life would not have been ready to receive explanations of the myths. So the myths were told to them—the exoteric myths—in which, however, deep and meaningful truths of evolution are hidden.

[ 66 ] Let us consider such an outstanding myth, one that is directly connected to what I have just presented to your minds; let us consider the myth that tells how an oracle prophesied to Laius of Thebes at his wedding to Jocasta that from his marriage to Jocasta would be born a son who would become his father’s murderer and who would commit incest with his mother. Although Laius did not allow himself to be dissuaded from going through with the marriage, when a son was indeed born of the union, he had the boy’s heels pierced and had him abandoned on Mount Cithaeron. This son was entrusted to a shepherd. The shepherd’s wife named him Oedipus, meaning “pierced heels.” You know how the story continues. You know that the boy Oedipus grew up, that his talents developed, that he found himself troubled early on by doubts in his soul regarding his lineage, because his youthful companions drew his attention to various things; that then the Delphic Oracle issued a significant pronouncement. To study it today is a painful matter, if one can study it in its full context. It simply says: “Flee your homeland, or else you will become your father’s murderer and your mother’s husband.”—That, then, was what was said to Oedipus.

[ 77 ] But he was completely deluded about this. He did not know who his father and mother really were. He had to consider Corinth his home, since that was where he had grown up. Eventually, he left Corinth so as not to cause disaster there—to kill his father and marry his mother. But it was precisely his departure—his setting out on the road to Thebes—that proved to be his undoing. On the way, he encountered a chariot in which his father, Laius, was traveling with a charioteer. He got into a fight, killed his father, continued on his way to Thebes, and his first act, as you know, was to solve the riddle of the Sphinx. In this way, we have placed Oedipus quite appropriately within the entire developmental context of the fourth post-Atlantean epoch. For in a certain sense, the riddle of the Sphinx—the human riddle—belonged to this epoch. So Oedipus was one of those who knew the truth. He did not say to the Sphinx, “I am reluctant to uncover a higher mystery,” but rather he solved the mystery. In this way, something was carried over into the fourth post-Atlantean epoch as an impulse that continued to have an effect, in which Oedipus played a part. One could talk for hours on end about Oedipus’s solution to the riddle of the Sphinx. But that is not necessary today. We simply want to make it clear that what Oedipus does there truly reveals him as a hero of the fourth post-Atlantean epoch.

[ 88 ] He then went to Thebes, married his mother—whom he naturally did not recognize as his mother—and was relatively happy until a plague broke out. It was the seer Tiresias who ultimately revealed the truth of the whole matter. Jocasta, who suddenly realized she was married to her own son, took her own life. Oedipus blinded himself and was driven out by his own sons; he was then taken in by Theseus in the grove of Attica, where he was protected until his death, and was laid to rest in Attic soil. That is as far as we need to take the Oedipus drama in our minds.

[ 99 ] What does this show us? It shows us how an individuality—the Oedipal individuality—is removed from the bonds of blood, set apart, develops outside those bonds, and is then, to its ruin, brought back into them. We are dealing not merely with a subjective rebel against the bonds of blood, but with a person who is, one might say, driven by the laws of nature themselves to rebel against the bonds of blood—and who, precisely because of this, provokes them against himself.

[ 1010 ] Try to examine Greek mythology for such people, for such heroes who are, in a certain way, placed within the bloodline, who are subjected to undergoing their development outside the bloodline, and who thereby introduce precisely different developmental impulses by being removed from the old, normal order. One such figure is Oedipus; another is Theseus, who protects him in the grove of Attica.

[ 1111 ] It is no wonder that in Greece they could not tell the people what was actually behind these heroes—that they are the great rebels who are, however, necessary in the entire wise course of world development. Take Theseus himself—just think about it: there, too, it was an oracle’s prophecy that led the father to have his son raised far away from him. The mother, who gave birth to him far from home, was told that when the young man grew old enough to wield a certain sword, he should return. Once again, Theseus is removed from his bloodline. He, too—you know the legend of how he freed Athens from the tribute of young men who had to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, and how he saved himself with the help of Ariadne’s thread—he, too, solves important riddles of the fourth post-Atlantean epoch. And he became Oedipus’s protector. But Theseus is the one who abducts Helen when she is ten years old and keeps her hidden. Thus, it is precisely Theseus who is associated with Helen.

[ 1212 ] Behind these things lie profound mysteries of development from the fourth post-Atlantic period. The 16th-century court lady, of course, knows no more about these things than:

She hasn't been any good since she turned ten.

[ 1313 ] But in doing so, Goethe once again points to something very significant. Goethe surely knew that, in truth, what lies behind Helena should be revered just as Faust revered her. Yet it is precisely in regard to Helena that the worst forces of slander have been at work. Humanity could learn from such things—namely, that precisely what ought to be recognized, what perhaps stands highest, can be slandered the most.

[ 1414 ] I wanted to mention this only to show you how Helena is mysteriously connected to those individualities who were the rebellious individualities of the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, who at that time, in accordance with the wise guidance of the worlds, had the task of breaking the blood bond.

[ 1515 ] What about Paris, who—as Goethe presents him to us in the scene of the summoning of the spirits—is actually portrayed as Faust’s rival, as Faust’s rival—forgive me for using such a trivial word, but I do not mean it in a trivial sense—what about Paris? Yes, we are also told that he was the son of Priam and Hecuba. And we are told something remarkable: that his mother, while she was pregnant with him, had a dream. Here, it is not initially an oracle, but a dream—one that nevertheless contains profound wisdom. This dream foretold to Paris’s mother before his birth that she would give birth to a burning torch that would set the city of Troy ablaze. That is why the legend, which runs parallel to this, also speaks of an oracle’s prophecy that informed his father that this son would bring ruin to Troy. Whether it was one reason or the other, the father also abandoned Paris. Paris is thus also one of the abandoned, one cast out of the bloodline. He was raised in Parion, far from his blood ties. And it is there that the events recounted in the legend unfold: that Eris had designated the apple of beauty, and that Paris was summoned by the goddesses Hera, Pallas, and Aphrodite to determine which of them was the fairest. It was even said that Hera had promised Paris Asia—that is, dominion over the earth, for in those days Asia was synonymous with dominion over the earth; Pallas Athena had promised him military glory; and Aphrodite had promised him the most beautiful woman. Paris awarded the prize for beauty to Aphrodite.

[ 1616 ] Just how significantly he intervened in the course of Greek affairs is described to you in the epic—Homer’s great, momentous epic. So in Paris himself we have such an individuality that rebels against the bonds of blood. He takes Helen out of the Greek bonds of blood and wants to take her over to Troy. He wants to break the bonds of blood. Things are always interconnected in such a way that we see how, in the Greek heroic epics, the very element intended to break the bonds of blood is woven into the narrative. For the bonds of blood—which are in themselves strong, powerful, and mighty—are what actually underpin the entire social structure.

[ 1717 ] A question that becomes particularly clear to us in this case is one we should now spend a few minutes considering. One might easily raise the following question: Well, what about human freedom if significant events—such as Paris’s abduction of Helen—are brought about by something like a quarrel among the goddesses taking place up in the spiritual world? Human beings then appear to be mere instruments through which is carried out what is not only prepared but also brought to fruition up in the spiritual realms. Yes, in a certain sense one really must say: Everything that happens here below through human beings is the reflection of what happens in the spiritual world. — Here the question of freedom knocks forcefully at the gates of human knowledge. Are we truly automatons whose actions reflect what is taking place up there in the spiritual world? And again, what would become of the spiritual world—which is the guide and director of all that takes place—if, so to speak, it had nothing at all to do, if it were inactive? Two things must be understood. First, that the course of the world is truly guided and directed by spiritual forces and powers, and nothing happens that does not come down from the spiritual world; second, that human beings have free will. These two things seem to be diametrically opposed. And in fact, this touches upon a problem, a mystery that causes people an immense amount of trouble—one that people can hardly resolve easily, for this is how it is. Let us look up into the spiritual world—what the gods do are the gods’ actions, and the people down here carry out the gods’ impulses. That is how it is. How, then, can people be free in this process?

[ 1818 ] Let me—of course, one can only ever offer a glimpse of this problem—sketch out this problem in a few strokes. So let us assume: up there (as depicted) are the three goddesses with their conflict, which is unfolding among them. The result of this dispute is that the impulse arising from the actions of the three goddesses descends to Earth. How these actions, in turn, relate to the higher hierarchies is not something we need to address in this context. What happens up there occurs with absolute necessity. So what Paris does, he does because the three goddesses have done their part up there. You might ask: How is any freedom still possible for Paris?—It is almost impossible! But the ray falls, so to speak, onto the earth, and there, on earth, there is not just one person it can strike, but there are many it can strike. Suppose there are a hundred down there. Ninety-nine do not do the deed; the hundredth does! Here, once again, the mystery of numbers plays a role. People always confuse the fact that Paris does the deed with the fact that Paris only becomes the full Paris by being willing to stand where the impulse could take place. The gods would simply have found someone else if Paris hadn’t done it. Then the story would be told about someone else.

[ 1919 ] It is precisely by taking this detour through the number that you arrive at the solution to this riddle of freedom. And if, at any given moment, none of the hundred listed below can be found, then the gods wait until one comes along; that person carries out whatever the gods set before him. This does not in the least impair his freedom, because he could, after all, choose not to do it. Just reflect on this aspect of the problem of number, and you will find that divinely necessary, wise governance of the world is in no way at odds with human freedom. Of course, this does not encompass the entire problem of freedom, but it does encompass one part of it.

[ 2020 ] You can see that those heroes of Greek culture who are portrayed as being abandoned play a significant role in the overall development of humanity. Remember: You will find in one of my lectures—I don’t know if I’ve said this before—that such a legend of abandonment also applies to Judas, that it is also told of Judas that he was abandoned in his youth; this is told of Judas Iscariot. This act of abandonment is what, in the language of myth and legend, refers to the presence of the rebellious forces that rise up against the blood ties of the fourth post-Atlantean epoch.

[ 2121 ] The region from which these things are inspired in the fourth post-Atlantean epoch is the region ruled by the archangelic beings. Therefore, the narratives must be structured in such a way that human beings have always been kept at a distance from the influences emanating from the spiritual world. The stories always depict either an oracle bringing news from the spiritual world or the direct influence of the world of the gods itself. As you know, Helen is the daughter of Leda and Zeus, so the spiritual world is at work there. In our time, when there are backward, dark angelic beings, these naturally act—I would say—out of a much more intimate relationship with human beings. And as I already said yesterday: If one wishes to discuss, even in the slightest way, various matters connected to this activity of the dark forces since the last third of the 19th century, one is treading on very, very thin ice. - But from the entire context you can gather that what was precisely the correct, normal development for the fourth post-Atlantean epoch—the search for structure through blood ties—is, in the state of backwardness of the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, one of the impulses with which people in this epoch will have to struggle. To this, however, one must add—as I did yesterday—that something entirely new is emerging, whereas the fourth post-Atlantean epoch, in its struggle with birth and death, is a repetition of the Atlantean era. Now something entirely new is emerging, created directly out of maya, out of illusion. But we must, in turn, understand this illusion in the right way. Maya has always been there, of course. For all consciousness arises from delusion, as I explained in my essay—which you will soon read in Reich—in connection with The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz. But since the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, the illusion—the deception—has been present to an even greater degree, because it will increasingly manifest itself in the form of people indulging in illusions. And these illusions have always been there, but they were connected to other forces: in the third post-Atlantean epoch to the forces of elective affinity; in the fourth to the forces of birth and death; in the fifth, the forces of illusion will be connected to the forces of evil—the illusion, maya herself, will be seized by evil. And all of this will be permeated by what I have already discussed: cleverness and intelligence.

[ 2222 ] It sounds paradoxical to say: It is good for people to be able to experience all of this, because only by having to grow through resistance can a person truly attain freedom. This is easy to understand. But precisely that which is connected with the number five is always linked in this way to the unfolding and development of evil. And people will have to get used to viewing the irruption of the forces of evil in the same way as the irruption of natural laws and natural forces, in order to get to know them and to understand what reigns and weaves beneath the surface of things. Do not regard evil from the outset in such a way that you merely want to flee from it in utter selfishness; that is not possible. One must penetrate it with consciousness, but on the other hand, one must truly come to know it, to know it correctly. Above all, even in our time, a force is spreading throughout the human realm that amounts to creating illusions that are harmful and disruptive. Here is a small example of such an illusion. In giving this example, I certainly do not wish to take sides in one direction or the other in the slightest; rather, I merely wish to provide an example of the intrusion of illusion, of the illusory.

[ 2323 ] Suppose a politician were to take the floor today and, following his innermost impulse, speak out about his position on the World Council and on the various issues being raised here and there. This politician would be prompted to speak out about the role—that is, we are not concerned here with the peoples at all—that the British state, along with the corresponding powers behind the scenes of which we have often spoken, plays in current events. A politician would feel compelled to speak out on this matter and to clarify how, in his view, a proper relationship with British influences should be established.

[ 2424 ] If such a politician were to say the following: “It would be an unfriendly act toward the power that rules the sea to cripple its supremacy”—what would you say? This politician states: There is a power that rules the sea; one must take a stand. But it is an unfriendly act to hinder the development of this power, since it rules the seas. Therefore, one should refrain from this unfriendly act. — What could one say about such a politician? I believe the least one could say is that he advocates a policy of power. Where there is power, that is where one turns, isn’t it? That, at the very least, seems to emerge from his words. Today, people don’t do that. In such a case, one does not stand up and say: “I advocate a policy of power; I align myself with whichever power happens to hold the reins”—but today, if one defines it this way, one says: “I stand for justice, freedom, and the independence of peoples.”

[ 2525 ] These two things are said side by side: One advocates for the rights and freedom of peoples—and at the same time says: One should definitely join forces and not commit any hostile acts against the very power that currently holds power. — See how people get entangled in these illusions! I gave you the example of the Swedish politician Branting, because he is the man who spoke this way—a neutral politician. This, of course, is how a policy of neutrality is pursued. There is no accusation in this, no taking sides; rather, it is simply a description of how things must be today. One is, of course, enthusiastic about the rights and freedoms of peoples, but one pursues such a policy nonetheless. Yet one does not admit that one pursues this policy because one simply has no other choice—for that would be the truth—but rather one claims to pursue this policy out of a commitment to the rights and freedoms of peoples.

[ 2626 ] We must address such matters today. It is not enough for anyone to simply let the fairy tales circulating around the world sink in; rather, these matters must be brought into our consciousness today. They must be taken into our consciousness. Only in this way is it possible to connect with the impulses of development as we have described them. For you see, no age has actually been as uninformed about itself as the present one, and no age is in such dire need of self-understanding as the present one! Just think about it: this present age was very proud of its great advances in all manner of human thought. People had finally succeeded in deriving impulses from the natural sciences for the social sciences as well. I have spoken to you about the social sciences on several occasions.

[ 2727 ] But go and look for what is still often said today by official sources about educational issues, social issues, legal issues, and so on. Try to put yourself in the mindset with which people believe they are presenting their infallible truths—a mindset with which they want to trample everything, absolutely everything, that comes from any other perspective. Part of what modern humanity has believed has led to the fact that, through the impulses of this modern humanity—through the impulses of illusion on the one hand—the impulses of illusion on the one hand, I just want to say—and through the impulses of nationalism on the other hand—what has come to pass is that, after just two years —it has now been over three years—resulted in five million deaths in Europe and three to three and a half million irreparably wounded. That was after two years; now it has been well over three years. And this is merely the consequence of what has been sustained by false ideas—ideas in which illusion is combined with destructive power. From many other things discussed regarding education and legal issues, something similar will develop if they continue to unfold in a manner uninfluenced by the spiritual being. Everything hinges on the fact that this fifth post-Atlantean epoch necessarily requires a kindling of the spiritual forces in human consciousness. Criticism of the opposing materialistic view is only part of the zeal with which we awaken the spiritual impulses within ourselves. And that is the main thing. For what is to happen among human beings must be undertaken by human beings. Once we have matured enough to stand where the ray falls, it will surely come—of that you can be certain! But this preparation can only take place through a spirit of community. In the fifth post-Atlantean epoch, this will be the responsibility of individual human beings—but only with regard to the idea itself. What will matter is the understanding that communities bring to these ideas. Hold fast to this thought, my dear friends!