The Gospel of St. John
GA 103
31 May 1908, Hamburg
XII. The Nature of the Virgin Sophia and of the Holy Spirit
Yesterday we reached the point of discussing the change which takes place in the human astral body through Meditation, Concentration and other practices which are given in the various methods of initiation. We have seen that the astral body is thereby affected in such a way that it develops within itself the organs which it needs for perceiving in the higher worlds and we have said that up to this point, the principle of initiation is everywhere really the same—although the forms of its practices conform wholly to the respective cultural epochs. The principal difference appears with the occurrence of the next thing which must follow. In order that the pupil may be able actually to perceive in the higher worlds, it is necessary that the organs which have been formed out of the astral part, impress or stamp themselves upon the ether body, be impressed into the etheric element.
The re-fashioning of the astral body indirectly through Meditation and Concentration, is called by an ancient name, “katharsis,” or purification. Katharsis or purification has as its purpose the discarding from the astral body all that hinders it from becoming harmoniously and regularly organized, thus enabling it to acquire higher organs. It is endowed with the germ of these higher organs; it is only necessary to bring forth the forces which are present in it. We have said that the most varied methods can be employed for bringing about this katharsis. A person can go very far in this matter of katharsis if, for example, he has gone through and inwardly experienced all that is in my book, The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, and feels that this book was for him a stimulation and that now he has reached the point where he can himself actually reproduce the thoughts just as they are there presented. If a person holds the same relationship to this book that a virtuoso, in playing a selection on the piano, holds to the composer of the piece, that is, he reproduces the whole thing within himself—naturally according to his ability to do so—then through the strictly built up sequence of thought of this book—for it is written in this manner—katharsis will be developed to a high degree. For the important point in such things as this book is that the thoughts are all placed in such a way that they become active. In many other books of the present, just by changing the system a little, what has been said earlier in the book can just as well be said later. In The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity this is not possible. Page 150 can as little be placed fifty pages earlier in the subject matter as the hind legs of a dog can be exchanged with the forelegs, for the book is a logically arranged organism and the working out of the thoughts in it has an effect similar to an inner schooling. Hence there are various methods of bringing about katharsis. If a person has not been successful in doing this after having gone through this book, he should not think that what has been said is untrue, but rather that he has not studied it properly or with sufficient energy or thoroughness.
Something else must now be considered and that is that when this katharsis has taken place, when the astral organs have been formed in the astral body, it must all be imprinted upon the ether body. In the pre-Christian initiation, it was done in the following manner. After the pupil had undergone the suitable preparatory training, which often lasted for years, he was told: The time has now come when the astral body has developed far enough to have astral organs of perception, now these can become aware of their counterpart in the ether body. Then the pupil was subjected to a procedure which today—at least for our cultural epoch—is not only unnecessary, but is not in all seriousness feasible. He was put into a lethargic condition for three and a half days, and was treated during this time in such a way that not only the astral body left the physical and ether bodies—a thing that occurs every night in sleep—but to a certain degree the ether body also was lifted out; but care was taken that the physical body remained intact and that the pupil did not die in the meantime. The ether body was then liberated from the forces of the physical body which act upon it. It had become, as it were, elastic and plastic and when the sensitory organs that had been formed in the astral body sank down into it, the ether body received an imprint from the whole astral body. When the pupil was brought again into a normal condition by the Hierophant, when the astral body and ego were again united with the physical and ether bodies—a procedure which the Hierophant well understood—then not only did he experience katharsis, but also what is called “Illumination” or “Photismos.” The pupil could then not only perceive in the world around him all those things that were physically perceptible, but he could employ the spiritual organs of perception, which means, he could see and perceive the spiritual. Initiation consisted essentially of these two processes, Purification or Purging, and Illumination.
Then the course of human evolution entered upon a phase in which it gradually became impossible to draw the ether body out of the physical without a very great disturbance in all its functions, because the whole tendency of the post-Atlantean evolution was to cause the ether body to be attached closer and closer to the physical body. It was consequently necessary to carry out other methods of initiation which proceed in such a manner that without the separating of the physical and ether bodies, the astral body, having become sufficiently developed through katharsis and able of itself to return again to the physical and etheric bodies, was able to imprint its organs on the ether body in spite of the hindrance of the physical body. What had to happen was that stronger forces had to become active in Meditation and Concentration in order that there might be the strong impulse in the astral body for overcoming the power of resistance of the physical body. In the first place there was the actual specifically Christian initiation in which it was necessary for the pupil to undergo the procedure which was described yesterday as the seven steps. When he had undergone these feelings and experiences, his astral body had been so intensely affected it formed its organs of perception plastically—perhaps only after years, but still sooner or later—and then impressed them upon the ether body, thus making of the pupil one of the Illuminati. This kind of initiation which is specifically Christian could only be described fully, if I were able to hold lectures about its particular aspects, every day for about a fortnight instead of only for a few days. But that is not the important thing. Yesterday you were given certain details of the Christian initiation. We only wish to become acquainted with its principle.
By continually meditating upon passages of the Gospel of St. John, the Christian pupil is actually in a condition to reach initiation without the three and a half day continued lethargic sleep. If each day he allows the first verses of the Gospel of St. John, from “In the beginning was the Word” to the passage “full of devotion and truth,” to work upon him, they become an exceedingly significant meditation. They have this force within them, for this Gospel is not there simply to be read and understood in its entirety with the intellect, but it must be inwardly fully experienced and felt. It is a force which comes to the help of initiation and works for it. Then will the “Washing of the Feet,” the “Scourging” and other inner processes be experienced as astral visions, wholly corresponding to the description in the Gospel itself, beginning with the 13th Chapter.
The Rosicrucian initiation, although resting upon a Christian foundation works more with other symbolic ideas which produce katharsis, chiefly with imaginative pictures. That is another modification which had to be used, because mankind had progressed a step further in its evolution and the methods of initiation must conform to what has gradually been evolved.
We must understand that when a person has attained this initiation, he is fundamentally quite different from the person he was before it. While formerly he was only associated with the things of the physical world, he now acquires the possibility likewise of association with the events and beings of the spiritual world. This pre-supposes that the human being acquires knowledge in a much more real sense than in that abstract, dry, prosaic sense in which we usually speak of knowledge. For a person who acquires spiritual knowledge, finds the process to be something quite different. It is a complete realization of that beautiful expression, “Know thyself.” But the most dangerous thing in the realm of knowledge is to grasp these words erroneously and today this occurs only too frequently. Many people construe these words to mean that they should no longer look about the physical world, but should gaze into their own inner being and seek there for everything spiritual. This is a very mistaken understanding of the saying, for that is not at all what it means. We must clearly understand that true higher knowledge is also an evolution from one standpoint, which the human being has attained, to another which he had not reached previously. If a person practices self-knowledge only by brooding upon himself, he sees only what he already possesses. He thereby acquires nothing new, but only knowledge of his own lower self in the present meaning of the word. This inner nature is only one part that is necessary for knowledge. The other part that is necessary must be added. Without the two parts, there is no real knowledge. By means of his inner nature, he can develop organs through which he can gain knowledge. But just as the eye, as an external sense organ, would not perceive the sun by gazing into itself, but only by looking outward at the sun, so must the inner perceptive organs gaze outwardly, in other words, gaze into an external spiritual in order actually to perceive. The concept “Knowledge” had a much deeper, a more real meaning in those ages when spiritual things were better understood than at present. Read in the Bible the words, “Abraham knew his wife!” or this or that Patriarch “knew his wife.” One does not need to seek very far in order to understand that by this expression fructification is meant. When one considers the words, “Know thyself,” in the Greek, they do not mean that you stare into your own inner being, but that you fructify yourself with what streams into you from the spiritual world. “Know thyself” means: Fructify thyself with the content of the spiritual world!
Two things are needed for this namely, that the human being prepare himself through katharsis and illumination, and then that he open his inner being freely to the spiritual world. In this connection we may liken his inner nature to the female aspect, the outer spiritual to the male. The inner being must be made susceptible of receiving the higher self. When this has happened, then the higher human self streams into him from the spiritual world. One may ask: Where is this higher human self? Is it within the personal man? No, it is not there. On Saturn, Sun and Moon, the higher self was diffused over the entire cosmos. At that time the Cosmic Ego was spread out over all human kind, but now men have to permit it to work upon them. They must permit this Ego to work upon their previously prepared inner natures. This means that the human inner nature, in other words, the astral body has to be cleansed, purified and ennobled and subjected to katharsis, then a person may expect that the external spirit will stream into him for his illumination. That will occur when the human being has been so well prepared that he has subjected his astral body to katharsis, thereby developing his inner organs of perception. The astral body, in any case, has progressed so far that now when it dips down into the ether and physical bodies, illumination or photismos results. What actually occurs is that the astral body imprints its organs upon the ether body, making it possible for the human being to perceive a spiritual world about him; making it possible for his inner being, the astral body, to receive what the ether body is able to offer to it, what the ether body draws out of the entire cosmos, out of the Cosmic Ego.
This cleansed, purified astral body, which bears within it at the moment of illumination none of the impure impressions of the physical world, but only the organs of perception of the spiritual world is called in esoteric Christianity the “pure, chaste, wise Virgin Sophia.” By means of all that he receives during katharsis, the pupil cleanses and purifies his astral body so that it is transformed into the Virgin Sophia. And when the Virgin Sophia encounters the Cosmic Ego, the Universal Ego which causes illumination, the pupil is surrounded by light, spiritual light. This second power that approaches the Virgin Sophia, is called in esoteric Christianity—is also so called today—the “Holy Spirit.” Therefore according to esoteric Christianity, it is correct to say that through his processes of initiation the Christian esotericist attains the purification and cleansing of his astral body; he makes his astral body into the Virgin Sophia and is illuminated from above—if you wish, you may call it overshadowed—by the “Holy Spirit,” by the Cosmic, Universal Ego. And a person thus illuminated, who, in other words, according to esoteric Christianity has received the “Holy Spirit” into himself, speaks forthwith in a different manner. How does he speak? When he speaks about Saturn, Sun and Moon, about the different members of the human being, about the processes of cosmic evolution, he is not expressing his own opinion. His views do not at all come into consideration. When such a person speaks about Saturn, it is Saturn itself that is speaking through him. When he speaks about the Sun, the Spiritual Being of the Sun speaks through him. He is the instrument. His personal ego has been eclipsed, which means that at such moments it has become impersonal and it is the Cosmic Universal Ego that is using his ego as its instrument through which to speak. Therefore, in true esoteric teaching which proceeds from esoteric Christianity, one should not speak of views or opinions, for in the highest sense of the word this is incorrect; there are no such things. According to esoteric Christianity, whoever speaks with the right attitude of mind toward the world will say to himself, for instance: If I tell people that there were two horses outside, the important thing is not that one of them pleases me less than the other and that I think one is a worthless horse. The important point is that I describe the horses to the others and give the facts. In like manner, what has been observed in the spiritual worlds must be described irrespective of all personal opinions. In every spiritual- scientific system of teaching, only the series of facts must be related and this must have nothing to do with the opinions of the one who relates them.
Thus we have acquired two concepts in their spiritual significance. We have learned to know the nature of the Virgin Sophia, which is the purified astral body, and the nature of the “Holy Spirit,” the Cosmic Universal Ego, which is received by the Virgin Sophia and which can then speak out of this purified astral body. There is something else to be attained, a still higher stage, that is the ability to help someone else, the ability to give him the impulse to accomplish both of these. Men of our evolutionary epoch can receive the Virgin Sophia (the purified astral body) and the Holy Spirit (illumination) in the manner described, but only Christ Jesus could give to the earth what was necessary to accomplish this. He has implanted in the spiritual part of the earth those forces which make it possible for that to happen at all which has been described in the Christian initiation. You may ask how did this come about?
Two things are necessary for an understanding of this. First we must make ourselves acquainted with something purely historical, that is, with the manner of giving of names which was quite different in the age in which the Gospels were written from the way in which it is done at present.
Those who interpret the Gospel at present do not at all understand the principle of giving names at the time the Gospels were written and therefore they do not speak as they should. It is, in fact, exceedingly difficult to describe the principle of giving names at that time, yet we can make it comprehensible, even though we only indicate it in rough outlines. Let us suppose, in the case of someone whom we meet, that instead of holding to the name which does not at all fit him, and which has been given to him in the abstract way customary today, we were to harken to and notice his most distinguishing characteristics, were to notice the most prominent attribute of his character and were in a position to discern clairvoyantly the deeper foundations of his being, then were to give him his name in accordance with those most important qualities which we believe should be attributed to him. Were we to follow such a method of giving names, we should be doing something, at a lower more elementary stage, similar to what was done at that time by those who gave names in the manner of the writer of the Gospel of St. John. In order to make very clear his manner of giving names, let us consider the following:
The author of the St. John's Gospel regarded the physical, historic Mother of Jesus in her most prominent characteristics and asked himself,—Where shall I find a name for her which will express most perfectly her real being? Then, because she had, by means of her earlier incarnations, reached those spiritual heights upon which she stood; and because she appeared in her external personality to be a counterpart, a revelation of what was called in esoteric Christianity, the Virgin Sophia, he called the Mother of Jesus the “Virgin Sophia;” and this is what she was always called in the esoteric places where esoteric Christianity was taught. Exoterically he leaves her entirely un-named in contradistinction to those others who have chosen for her the secular name, Mary. He could not take the secular name, he had to express in the name the profound, world historic evolution. He does this by indicating that she cannot be called Mary and what is more, he places by her side her sister Mary, wife of Cleophas and calls her simply the “Mother of Jesus.” He shows thereby that he does not wish to mention her name, that it cannot be publicly revealed. In esoteric circles, she is always called the “Virgin Sophia.” It was she who represented the “Virgin Sophia” as an external historical personality.
If we now wish to penetrate further into the nature of Christianity and its founder, we must take under consideration yet another mystery. We should understand clearly how to make a distinction between the personality who, in Esoteric Christianity, was called “Jesus of Nazareth” and Him who was called “Christ Jesus,” the Christ dwelling within Jesus of Nazareth.
Now what does this mean? It means that in the historical personality of Jesus of Nazareth, we have to do with a highly developed human being who had passed through many incarnations and after a cycle of high development was again reincarnated; a person who, because of this, was attracted to a mother so pure that the writer of the Gospel could call her the “Virgin Sophia.” Thus we are dealing with a highly developed human being, Jesus of Nazareth, who had progressed far in his evolution in his previous incarnations and in this incarnation had entered upon a highly spiritual stage. The other evangelists were not illuminated to such a high degree as the writer of this Gospel. It was more the actual sense-world that was revealed to them, a world in which they saw their Master and Messiah moving about as Jesus of Nazareth. The mysterious spiritual relationships, at least those of the heights into which the writer of the Gospel of St. John could peer, were concealed from them. For this reason they laid special emphasis upon the fact that in Jesus of Nazareth lived the Father, who had always existed in Judaism and was transmitted down through the generations as the God of the Jews. And they expressed this when they said: “If we trace back the ancestry of Jesus of Nazareth through generation after generation, we are able to prove that the same blood flows in Him that has flowed down through these generations.” The evangelists give the genealogical tables and precisely according to them they also show at what different stages of evolution they stand. For Matthew, the important thing is to show that in Jesus of Nazareth we have a person in whom Father Abraham is living. The blood of Father Abraham has flowed down through the generations as far as Jesus. He thus traces the genealogical tables back to Abraham. He has a more materialistic point of view than Luke. The important thing for Luke was not alone to show that the God who lived in Abraham was present in Jesus, but that the ancestry, the line of descent, can be traced back still further, even to Adam and that Adam was a son of the very Godhead, which means that he belonged to the time when humanity had just made the transition from a spiritual to a physical state. Both Matthew and Luke wished to show that this earthly Jesus of Nazareth has His being only in what can be traced back to the divine Father-power. This was not a matter of importance for the writer of the Gospel of St. John who could gaze into the spiritual world. The important thing for him was not the words, “I and Father Abraham are one,” but that at every moment of time, there exists in the human being an Eternal which was present in him before Father Abraham. This he wished to show. In the beginning was the Word which is called the “I AM.” Before all external things and beings, He was. He was in the beginning. For those who wished rather to describe Jesus of Nazareth and were only able to describe him, it was a question of showing how from the beginning the blood flowed down through the generations. It was important to them to show that the same blood flowing down through the generations flowed also in Joseph, the father of Jesus.
If we could speak quite esoterically it would naturally be necessary to speak of the idea of the so-called “virgin birth,” but this can be discussed only in the most intimate circles. It belongs to the deepest mysteries that exist and the misunderstanding connected with this idea arises because people do not know what is meant by the “virgin birth.” They think that it means there was no fatherhood. But it is not that; a much more profound, a more mysterious something lies at the back of it which is quite compatible with what the other disciples wish to show, that is, that Joseph is the father of Jesus. If they were to deny this, then all the trouble they take to show this to be a fact would be meaningless. They wish to show that the ancient God exists in Jesus of Nazareth. Luke especially wished to make this very clear, therefore he traces the whole ancestry back to Adam and then to God. How could he have come to this conclusion, if he really wished only to say: I am showing you that this genealogical tree exists, but Joseph, as a matter of fact, had nothing to do with it. It would be very strange if people were to take the trouble to represent Joseph as a very important personality and then were to shove him aside out of the whole affair.
In the event of Palestine, we have not only to do with this highly developed personality, Jesus of Nazareth, who had passed through many incarnations, and had developed himself so highly that he needed such an extraordinary mother as the Virgin Sophia, but we have also to do with a second mystery. When Jesus of Nazareth was thirty years of age, he had advanced to such a stage through what he had experienced in his present incarnation that he could perform an action which it is possible for one to perform in exceptional cases. We know that the human being consists of physical, ether and astral bodies and an ego. This fourfold human being is the human being as he lives here among us. If a person stands at a certain high stage of evolution, it is possible for him at a particular moment to draw out his ego from the three bodies and abandon them, leaving them intact and entirely uninjured. This ego then goes into the spiritual worlds and the three bodies remain behind. We meet this process at times in cosmic evolution. At some especially exalted, enraptured moment, the ego of a person departs and enters into the spirit world—under certain conditions this can be extended over a long period—and because the three bodies are so highly developed by the ego that lived in them, they are fit instruments for a still higher being who now takes possession of them. In the thirtieth year of Jesus of Nazareth, that Being whom we have called the Christ, took possession of his physical, ether and astral bodies. This Christ Being could not incarnate in an ordinary child's body, but only in one which had first been prepared by a highly developed ego, for this Christ-Being had never before been incarnated in a physical body. Therefore from the thirtieth year on, we are dealing with the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth.
What in reality took place? The fact is that the corporality of Jesus of Nazareth which he had left behind was so mature, so perfect, that the Sun Logos, the Being of the six Elohim, which we have described as the spiritual Being of the Sun, was able to penetrate into it. It could incarnate for three years in this corporality, could become flesh. The Sun Logos Who can shine into human beings through illumination, the Sun Logos Himself, the Holy Spirit, entered. The Universal-Ego, the Cosmic Ego entered and from then on during three years, the Sun Logos spoke through the body of Jesus. The Christ speaks through the body of Jesus during these three years. This event is indicated in the Gospel of St. John and also in the other Gospels as the descent of the dove, of the Holy Spirit, upon Jesus of Nazareth. In esoteric Christianity it is said, that at that moment the ego of Jesus of Nazareth left his body, and that from then on the Christ is in him, speaking through him in order to teach and work. This is the first event that happens, according to the Gospel of St. John. We now have the Christ within the astral, ether and physical bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. There He worked as has been described until the Mystery of Golgotha occurred. What occurred on Golgotha? Let us consider that important moment when the blood flowed from the wounds of the Crucified Saviour. In order that you may understand me better, I shall compare what occurred with something else.
Let us suppose we have here a vessel filled with water. In the water, salt is dissolved and the water becomes quite transparent. Because we have warmed the water, we have made a salt solution. Now let us cool the water. The salt precipitates and we see how the salt condenses below and forms a deposit at the bottom of the vessel. That is the process for one who sees only with physical eyes. But for a person who can see with spiritual eyes, something else is happening. While the salt is condensing below, the spirit of the salt streams up through the water, filling it. The salt can only become condensed when the spirit of the salt has departed from it and become diffused into the water. Those who understand these things know that wherever condensation takes place, a spiritualization also always occurs. What thus condenses below has its counterpart above in the spiritual, just as in the case of the salt, when it condenses and is precipitated below, its spirit streams upward and disseminates. Therefore, it was not only a physical process that took place when the blood flowed from the wounds of the Saviour, but it was actually accompanied by a spiritual process; that is, the Holy Spirit which was received at the Baptism united Itself with the earth; that the Christ Himself flowed into the very being of the earth. From now on, the earth was changed, and this is the reason for saying to you, in earlier lectures, that if a person had viewed the earth from a distant star, he would have observed that its whole appearance was altered with the Mystery of Golgotha. The Sun Logos became a part of the earth, formed an alliance with it and became the Spirit of the Earth. This He achieved by entering into the body of Jesus of Nazareth in his thirtieth year, and by remaining active there for three years, after which He continued to remain on the earth. Now, the important thing is, that this Event must produce an effect upon the true Christian; that it must give something by which he may gradually develop the beginnings of a purified astral body in the Christian sense. There had to be something there for the Christian whereby he could make his astral body gradually more and more like a Virgin Sophia, and through it, receive into himself the Holy Spirit which was able to spread out over the entire earth, but which could not be received by anyone whose astral body did not resemble the Virgin Sophia. There had to be something which possesses the power to transform the human astral body into a Virgin Sophia. What is this power? It consists in the fact of Christ Jesus entrusting to the Disciple whom He loved—in other words to the writer of the Gospel of St. John—the mission of describing truly and faithfully through his own illumination the events of Palestine in order that men might be affected by them. If men permit what is written in the Gospel of St. John to work sufficiently upon them, their astral body is in the process of becoming a Virgin Sophia and it will become receptive to the Holy Spirit. Gradually, through the strength of the impulse which emanates from this Gospel, it will become susceptible of feeling the true spirit and later of perceiving it. This mission, this charge, was given to the writer of the Gospel by Jesus Christ. You need but read the Gospel. The Mother of Jesus—the Virgin Sophia in the esoteric meaning of Christianity—stands at the foot of the Cross, and from the Cross the Christ says to the Disciple whom He loved: “Henceforth, this is thy Mother” and from this hour the Disciple took her unto himself. This means: “That force which was in My astral body and made it capable of becoming bearer of the Holy Spirit, I now give over to thee; thou shalt write down what this astral body has been able to acquire through its development.” “And the Disciple took her unto himself,” that means he wrote the Gospel of St. John. And this Gospel of St. John is the Gospel in which the writer has concealed powers which develop the Virgin Sophia. At the Cross, the mission was entrusted to him of receiving that force as his mother and of being the true, genuine interpreter of the Messiah. This really means that if you live wholly in accordance with the Gospel of St. John and understand it spiritually, it has the force to lead you to Christian katharsis, it has the power to give you the Virgin Sophia. Then will the Holy Spirit, united with the earth, grant you illumination or photismos according to the Christian meaning. And what the most intimate disciples experienced there in Palestine was so powerful that from that time on, they possessed at least the capacity of perceiving in the spiritual world. The most intimate disciples had received this capacity into themselves. Perceiving in the spirit, in the Christian sense, means that the person transforms his astral body to such a degree through the power of the Event of Palestine that what he sees need not be before him externally and physically-sensible. He possesses something by means of which he can perceive in the spirit. There were such intimate pupils. The woman who anointed the feet of Christ Jesus in Bethany had received through the Event of Palestine the powerful force needed for spiritual perception, and she is, for example, one of those who first understood that what had lived in Jesus was present after His death, that is, had been resurrected. She possessed this faculty. It may be asked: Whence came this possibility? It came through the development of her inner sense-organs. Are we told this in the Gospel? We are indeed; we are told that Mary Magdalene was led to the grave, that the body had disappeared and that she saw there two spiritual forms. These two spiritual forms are always to be seen when a corpse is present for a certain time after death. On the one side is to be seen the astral body, and on the other, what gradually separates from it as ether body, then passing over into the cosmic ether. Wholly apart from the physical body, there are two spiritual forms present which belong to the spiritual world.
Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping; and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting.
She beheld this because she had become clairvoyant through the force and power of the Event of Palestine. And she beheld something more: she beheld the Risen Christ. Was it necessary for her to be clairvoyant, to be able to behold the Christ? If you have seen a person in physical form a few days ago, do you not think you would recognize him again if he should appear before you?
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing it to be the gardener . ...
And in order that it might be told to us as exactly as possible, it was not only said once, but again at the next appearance of the Risen Christ, when Jesus appeared at the sea of Gennesareth.
But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
The esoteric pupils find Him there. Those who had received the full force of the Event of Palestine could grasp the situation and see that it was the Risen Jesus who could be perceived spiritually. Although the disciples and Mary Magdalene saw Him, yet there were some among them who were less able to develop clairvoyant power. One of these was Thomas. It is said that he was not present the first time the disciples saw the Lord, and he declared he would have to lay his hands in His wounds, he would have to touch physically the body of the Risen Christ. You ask: What happened? The effort was then made to assist him to develop spiritual perception. And how was this done? Let us take the words of the Gospel itself:
And after a week His disciples were again within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus the doors being shut, and stood in their midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then saith He to Thomas, reach hither thy fingers and behold My hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing. And thou shalt behold something if thou dost not rely upon the outer appearance, but art impregnated with inner power.
This inner power which should proceed from the Event of Palestine is called “Faith.” It is no ordinary force, but an inner clairvoyant power. Permeate thyself with inner power, then thou needest no longer hold as real that only which thou seest externally; for blessed are they who are able to know what they do not see outwardly!
Thus we see that we have to do with the full reality and truth of the Resurrection and that only those are fully able to understand it, who have first developed the inner power to perceive in the spirit world. This will make the last chapter of the Gospel of St. John comprehensible to you, in which again and again it is pointed out that the closest followers of Christ Jesus have reached the stage of the Virgin Sophia, because the Event of Golgotha had been consummated in their presence. But when they had to stand firm for the first time, had actually to behold a spiritual event, they were still blinded and had first to find their way. They did not know that He was the same One Who had earlier been among them. Here is something which we must grasp with the most subtle concepts; for the grossly materialistic person would say: “Then the Resurrection is undermined!” The miracle of the Resurrection is to be taken quite literally, for He said: “Lo, I remain with you always, even unto the end of the age, unto the end of the cosmic age.”
He is there and will come again, although not in a form of flesh, but in a form in which those who have been sufficiently developed through the power of the Gospel of St. John, can actually perceive Him and possessing the power to perceive Him, they will no longer be unbelieving. The mission of the Spiritual Science Movement is to prepare those who have the will to allow themselves to be prepared, for the return of the Christ upon earth. This is the cosmo-historical significance of Spiritual Science, to prepare mankind and to keep its eyes open for the time when the Christ will appear again actively among men in the sixth cultural epoch, in order that that may be accomplished for a great part of humanity which was indicated to us in the Marriage at Cana.
Therefore the world-concept obtained from Spiritual Science appears like an execution of the testament of Christianity. In order to be lead to real Christianity, the men of the future will have to receive that spiritual teaching which Spiritual Science is able to give. Many people may still say today: Spiritual Science is something that really contradicts true Christianity. But those are the little popes who form opinions about things of which they know nothing and who make into a dogma: What I do not know does not exist.
This intolerance will become greater and greater in the future and Christianity will experience the greatest danger just from those people who, at present, believe they can be called good Christians. The Christianity of Spiritual Science will experience serious attacks from the Christians in name, for all concepts must change, if a true spiritual understanding of Christianity is to come about. Above all, the soul must become more and more conversant with and understanding of the legacy of the writer of the Gospel of St. John, the great school of the Virgin Sophia, the St. John's Gospel itself. Only Spiritual Science can lead us deeper into this Gospel.
In these lectures, only examples could be given showing how Spiritual Science can introduce us into the Gospel of St. John, for it is impossible to explain the whole of it. We read in the Gospel itself:
And there are also many other things which Jesus did; and I suppose that were they all written down one after the other, the world could not contain all the books that would have to be written.
Just as the Gospel itself cannot go into all the details of the Event of Palestine, so too is it impossible for even the longest course of lectures to present the full spiritual content of the Gospel. Therefore we must be satisfied with those indications which could be given at this time; we must content ourselves with the thought that through just such indications in the course of human evolution, the true testament of Christianity becomes executed. Let us allow all this to have such an effect upon us that we may possess the power to hold fast to the foundation which we recognize in the Gospel of St. John, when others come to us and say: You are giving us too complicated concepts, too many concepts which we must first make our own in order to comprehend this Gospel: the Gospel is for the simple and naive and one dare not approach them with many concepts and thoughts. Many say this today. They perhaps refer to another saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” One can merely quote such a saying as long as one does not understand it, for it really says: “Blessed are the beggars in spirit, for they shall reach the kingdom of heaven within themselves.” This means that those who are like beggars of the spirit, who desire to receive more and more of the spirit, will find in themselves the kingdom of heaven!
At the present time the idea is all too prevalent that everything religious is identical with all that is primitive and simple. People say: We acknowledge that Science possesses many and complicated ideas, but we do not grant the same to Faith and Religion. Faith and Religion—so say many “Christians”—must be simple and naive! They demand this. And many rely upon a conception which is little quoted perhaps, but which in the present is haunting the minds of men and which Voltaire, one of the great teachers of materialism, has expressed in the words: “Whoever wishes to be a prophet must find believers, for what he asserts must be believed, and only what is simple, what is always repeated in its simplicity, that alone finds believers.”
This is often so with the prophets, both true and false. They take the trouble to say something and to repeat it again and again and the people learn to believe it, because it is constantly repeated. The representative of Spiritual Science desires to be no such prophet. He does not wish to be a prophet at all. And although it may often be said: “Yes, you not only repeat, but you are always elucidating things from other sides, you are always discussing them in other ways;” when they speak thus to him, he is guilty of no fault. A prophet wishes that people believe in him. Spiritual Science has no desire to lead to belief, but to knowledge. Therefore let us take Voltaire's utterance in another way. He says:—“The simple is believed and is the concern of the prophet.” Spiritual Science says:—the manifold is known. Let us try to understand more and more that Spiritual Science is something that is manifold—not a creed, but a path to knowledge, and consequently it bears within it the manifold. Therefore let us not shrink from collecting a great deal in order that we may understand one of the most important Christian documents, the Gospel of St. John. We have attempted to assemble the most varied material which places us in the position of being able to understand more and more the profound truths of this Gospel; able to understand how the physical mother of Jesus was an external manifestation, an external image of the Virgin Sophia; to understand what spiritual importance the Virgin Sophia had for the pupil of the Mysteries, whom the Christ loved; again to understand how, for the other Evangelists—who view the bodily descent of Jesus as important—the physical father plays his significant part when it was a question of the external imprint of the God-idea in the blood; and further, to understand what significance the Holy Spirit had for John, the Holy Spirit through which the Christ was begotten in the body of Jesus and dwelt therein during the three years and which is symbolized for us in the descent of the Dove at the Baptism by John.
If we understand that we must call the father of Christ Jesus the Holy Spirit who begot the Christ in the bodies of Jesus, then if we are able to comprehend a thing from all sides, we shall find it easy to understand that those disciples who were less highly initiated could not give us so profound a picture of the Events of Palestine as the Disciple whom the Lord loved. And if people, at present, speak of the Synoptics—which are the only authoritative Gospels for them—this only shows that they do not have the will to rise to an understanding of the true form of the Gospel of St. John. For everybody resembles the God he understands. If we try to make into a feeling, into an experience, what we can learn from Spiritual Science about the Gospel of St. John, we shall then find that this Gospel is not a text-book, but a force which can be active within our souls.
If these short lectures have aroused in you the feeling that this Gospel contains not only what we have been discussing here, but that indirectly, through the medium of words, it contains the force which can develop the soul itself further, then what was really intended in these lectures has been rightly understood. Because in them, not only was something intended for the understanding, for the intellectual capacity of understanding, but that which takes its round-about path through this intellectual capacity of understanding should condense into feelings and inner experiences, and these feelings and experiences should be a result of the facts that have been presented here. If, in a certain sense, this has been rightly understood, we shall also comprehend what is meant when it is said that the Movement for Spiritual Science has the mission of raising Christianity into Wisdom, of rightly understanding Christianity, indirectly through spiritual wisdom. We shall understand that Christianity is only in the beginning of its activity, and its true mission will be fulfilled when it is understood in its true spiritual form. The more these lectures are understood in this way, the more have they been comprehended in the sense in which they were intended.
Zwölfter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Wir sind gestern fortgeschritten bis zur Besprechung jener Veränderung, die mit dem astralischen Leibe des Menschen vorgeht durch Meditation, Konzentration und andere Übungen, die durch die verschiedenen Einweihungsmethoden gegeben werden. Wir haben gesehen, daß dadurch der astralische Leib herausgearbeitet wird, so daß er die Organe in sich aufnimmt, die er braucht, um in die höheren Welten hineinzuschauen, und wir haben gesagt, daß bis dahin - obzwar die Übungen sich ganz nach den entsprechenden Kulturperioden richten - doch das Prinzip der Einweihung überall eigentlich dasselbe ist. Die große prinzipielle Verschiedenheit beginnt erst, wenn das Nächste, was nunmehr hinzukommen muß, eintreten soll. Damit der Mensch nämlich wirklich in die höheren Welten hineinschauen kann, ist es notwendig, daß das, was im astralischen Teil herausgearbeitet ist an Organen, sich abdrückt, ausprägt im Ätherleib, daß es also hineingedrückt wird in den Ätherleib.
[ 2 ] Man nennt mit einem alten Ausdruck die Bearbeitung des astralischen Leibes auf dem Umwege durch Meditation und Konzentration «Katharsis», Reinigung. Diese Katharsis oder Reinigung hat ja das Ziel, alles das aus dem astralischen Leibe herauszuwerfen, was ihn hindert, harmonisch und regulär organisiert zu sein, so daß er höhere Organe erlangen kann; denn er ist veranlagt zu diesen höheren Organen, man braucht nur sozusagen die Kräfte bloßzulegen, die in ihm sind.
[ 3 ] Wir sagten, es könnten die verschiedensten Methoden angewendet werden, um diese Katharsis herbeizuführen. Sehr weit kann der Mensch in bezug auf diese Katharsis schon kommen, wenn er zum Beispiel alles das, was in meiner «Philosophie der Freiheit» steht, so innerlich durchgenommen und erlebt hat, daß er das Gefühl hat: Das Buch war für mich eine Anregung, aber ich kann jetzt die Gedanken genau so, wie sie dastehen, eigentlich selbst reproduzieren. Wenn sich jemand zu diesem Buch so verhält -— denn so ist es geschrieben -, wie sich etwa ein Virtuose mit dem Spielen eines Stückes auf dem Klavier verhält zu dem Komponisten des Stückes, so daß er das Ganze in sich selbst produziert - natürlich in der entsprechenden Weise -, dann kann schon durch die in sich streng gegliederte Gedankenfolge dieses Buches bis zu einem hohen Grade die Katharsis herbeigeführt werden. Denn es. kommt eben bei solchen Dingen, wie dieses Buch es ist, darauf an, daß die Gedanken alle so gesetzt sind, daß sie zur Wirksamkeit kommen. Bei vielen anderen Büchern der Gegenwart ist es so, daß man im Grunde genommen, wenn man nur die Systematik ein bißchen anders gestaltet, das eine früher, das andere später sagen kann. Bei der «Philosophie der Freiheit» ist das nicht möglich. Da kann man ebensowenig die Seite 150 etwa ;5o Seiten früher stellen in dem Inhalt, wie man bei einem Hund die Hinterbeine mit den Vorderbeinen auswechseln kann. Denn dieses Buch ist ein gegliederter Organismus, und das Durcharbeiten der Gedanken dieses Buches bewirkt so etwas wie eine innere Trainierung. So gibt es verschiedene Methoden, um die Katharsis herbeizuführen. Der, der sie nicht herbeigeführt hat, wenn er dieses Buch durchgenommen hat, braucht nicht zu denken, daß es nicht richtig ist, was ich sage, sondern eher, daß er es nicht richtig oder nicht energisch und gründlich genug durchgearbeitet hat.
[ 4 ] Nun aber kommt etwas anderes in Betracht, das ist, daß dann, wenn diese Katharsis eingetreten ist, wenn im astralischen Leibe ausgebildet sind die astralen Sinnesorgane, das Ganze abgedrückt werden muß im Ätherleibe. Nun hat man in den vorchristlichen Einweihungen die Sache so gemacht: Nachdem der Schüler die entsprechenden Vorübungen durchgemacht hatte, die man ihn oft jahrelang hat durchmachen lassen, sagte man: Jetzt ist der Zeitpunkt gekommen, wo der astralische Leib so weit ist, daß er seine astralen Erkenntnisorgane hat; jetzt können diese ihren Abdruck erfahren im Ätherleib. - Da wurde dann der betreffende Schüler einer Prozedur unterworfen, die heute — wenigstens für unsere Kulturepoche — nicht nur nicht notwendig ist, sondern auch nicht im Ernst ausführbar ist. Er wurde durch dtreieinhalb Tage hindurch in einen lethargischen Zustand gebracht. Da wurde er so behandelt, daß nicht nur das für ihn eintrat in diesen dreieinhalb Tagen, was jede Nacht im Schlaf eintritt: daß der astralische Leib aus dem physischen Leib und dem Ätherleib heraustritt, sondern es wurde bis zu einem gewissen Grade auch der Ätherleib herausgehoben, und es wurde auch dafür Sorge getragen, daß der physische Leib intakt blieb und der Betreffende nicht inzwischen starb. Jetzt war der Ätherleib befreit von den Kräften des physischen Leibes, die auf ihn wirken. Man hatte jetzt sozusagen den Ätherleib elastisch und plastisch, und wenn man jetzt in ihn hineinsenkte, was im astralischen Leibe an Sinnesorganen ausgebildet war, dann erhielt der Ätherleib einen Abdruck des ganzen Astralleibes. Wenn dann der Betreffende durch den Hierophanten wieder in den Normalzustand . gebracht wurde, wenn Astralleib und Ich wieder mit dem physischen Leib und Ätherleib vereinigt wurden — das war eine Prozedur, die der Hierophant-Initiator verstand -, dann war für ihn nicht nur die Katharsis da, sondern auch das, was man die « Erleuchtung » nennt, «Photismos ». Der Betreffende konnte jetzt in der Welt, die um ihn herum war, alle diejenigen Dinge wahrnehmen, die nicht nur physischsinnlich sind, sondern er konnte die geistigen Wahrnehmungsorgane gebrauchen, das heißt, er sah das Geistige und konnte es wahrnehmen. Aus diesen zwei Vorgängen, der Reinigung oder Läuterung und der Erleuchtung, bestand im wesentlichen die Einweihung.
[ 5 ] Nun ist im Laufe der Menschheitsentwickelung für den Menschen eine solche Phase eingetreten, daß es nach und nach unmöglich wurde, ohne eine weitgehende Störung aller Funktionen den Ätherleib so herauszubringen aus dem physischen Leib, weil ja die ganze nachatlantische Entwickelung darauf hinauslief, daß sich der Ätherleib immer mehr und mehr befestigte im physischen Leibe. Es war daher notwendig, andere Methoden auszuführen, die darauf hinausgehen, daß ohne die Trennung von physischem Leib und Ätherleib der Astralleib, wenn er genügend entwickelt ist innerhalb der Katharsis, wenn er von selbst wieder hineingeht in den physischen und Ätherleib, dann trotz des Hindernisses des physischen Leibes zu einem Abdruck seiner Organe im Ätherleibe kommt. Das, was eintreten mußte, ist also, daß stärkere Kräfte in Meditation und Konzentration wirken mußten, damit starke Impulse im Astralleib seien, welche die Widerstandskraft des physischen Leibes überwinden können.
[ 6 ] Zunächst kam dann die eigentlich spezifisch christliche Einweihung, die es notwendig macht, daß der Mensch sich den Prozeduren unterwirft, die gestern als die sieben Stufen geschildert worden sind. Wenn der Mensch diese Gefühle und Empfindungen durchmacht, wird sein astralischer Leib so intensiv bearbeitet, daß er — vielleicht erst nach Jahren, aber doch früher oder später - plastisch seine Wahrnehmungsorgane formt und sie dann in den Ätherleib hineindrückt, um dadurch den Menschen zu einem Erleuchteten zu machen. Diese Art der Einweihung, die die spezifisch christliche ist, könnte ausführlich nur beschrieben werden, wenn ich nicht nur mehrere Tage, sondern vielleicht zwei Wochen jeden Tag einen Vortrag über alle Einzelheiten halten könnte. Darauf kommt es aber nicht an. — Es handelte sich gestern darum, gewisse Einzelheiten in der christlichen Einweihung Ihnen anzugeben. Wir wollen uns ja nur mit dem Prinzip bekanntmachen. — Dadurch, daß der Mensch so etwas durchmacht, ist er in der Tat in der Lage, ohne den dreieinhalb Tage dauernden lethargischen Schlaf die Einweihung zu erlangen, namentlich wenn der christliche Schüler fortdauernd meditiert über die Sätze des JohannesEvangeliums. Wenn er die ersten Sätze des Johannes-Evangeliums: «Im Urbeginne war das Wort» bis zu der Stelle «voller Hingabe und Wahrheit» jeden Tag auf sich wirken läßt, sind sie eine ungeheuer bedeutsame Meditation. Diese Kraft haben sie in sich. Denn dieses Johannes-Evangelium ist überhaupt in seiner Ganzheit nicht bloß dazu da, gelesen und mit dem Intellekt verstanden zu werden, sondern es muß innerlich ganz erlebt und gefühlt werden. Dann ist es selbst eine Kraft, die der Einweihung zu Hilfe kommt und für sie arbeitet, und dann werden «Fußwaschung», «Geißelung» und andere innere Vorgänge als astralische Visionen, ganz entsprechend dem, wie sie im Johannes-Evangelium vom 13. Kapitel ab selbst beschrieben werden, erlebt.
[ 7 ] Die Rosenkreuzer-Initiation aber, obwohl sie durchaus auf christlichem Boden steht, arbeitet mehr mit anderen symbolischen Vorstellungen, die die Katharsis herbeiführen, namentlich mit Imaginationsbildern. Das ist wiederum eine Modifikation, die angewendet werden mußte, weil die Menschheit wieder ein Stück in der Entwickelung weitergeschritten war und weil sich die Einweihungsmethode dem anpassen muß, was die Menschheit nach und nach entwickelt hat. | Nun müssen wir verstehen, daß der Mensch im Grunde doch ein ganz anderer wird, als er früher war, wenn er diese Einweihung erlangt. Während er früher nur seinen Umgang gehalten hat mit den Dingen der physischen Welt, erlangt er dann die Möglichkeit, ebenso umzugehen mit den Vorgängen und Wesen der geistigen Welt. Das setzt voraus, daß der Mensch in einem viel realeren Sinne die Erkenntnis erlangt als in jenem abstrakten, nüchternen, prosaischen Sinne, wie man gewöhnlich von Erkenntnis spricht. Für den, der geistige Erkenntnis erlangt, ist der Erkenntnisprozeß etwas ganz anderes noch. Er ist etwas, was ganz und gar eine Verwirklichung des schönen Spruches ist: «Erkenne dich selbst!» Aber es ist das Gefährlichste auf dem Erkenntnisgebiete, diesen Spruch in mißverständlicher Weise aufzufassen; und das geschieht heute nur allzu häufig. Diesen Spruch legen sich manche Leute so aus: sie sollen nicht mehr in der Welt herumschauen, sondern in ihr eigenes Innere hineingaffen und alles Geistige in diesem ihrem Innern suchen. Dies ist eine sehr mißverstandene Auffassung des Spruches, denn das bedeutet er gar nicht. Der Mensch muß sich klar sein, daß eine wirkliche höhere Erkenntnis auch eine Entwickelung ist von einem Standpunkte, den der Mensch erreicht hat, zu einem Standpunkt, den er vorher nicht erreicht hatte. Übt man Selbsterkenntnis auf die Weise, daß man nur in sich hineinbrütet, so sieht man nur, was man bisher schon hatte. Dadurch erlangt der Mensch aber nichts Neues, sondern nur eine im heutigen Sinne gemeinte Erkenntnis des eigenen niederen Ich. Dieses Innere ist nur der eine Teil, der zur Erkenntnis notwendig ist. Der andere Teil, der zur Erkenntnis gehört, muß hinzukommen. Ohne die zwei Teile geht es nicht. Durch das Innere kann der Mensch dazu kommen, die Organe in sich zu entwickeln, durch die man erkennt. Aber ebensowenig wie das Auge als äußeres Sinnesorgan durch ein Hineinblicken in sich selber die Sonne erkennen würde, sondern eben nach außen auf die Sonne blicken muß, so muß auch das innere Erkenntnisorgan nach außen, das heißt nach dem geistigen Außen, hinblicken, um wirklich zu erkennen. Der Begriff «Erkenntnis» hatte in den Zeiten, als man die geistigen Dinge noch realer auffaßte, einen viel tieferen, realeren Sinn als heute. Lesen Sie in der Bibel, was es heißt: « Adam erkannte sein Weib» (I. Mose 4,1 u. 25), oder dieser oder jener der Patriarchen «erkannte sein Weib». Sie brauchen nicht weit zu gehen, um es dahin zu verstehen, daß damit gemeint ist die Befruchtung; und wenn man den Spruch «Erkenne dich selbst» im Griechischen betrachtet, heißt es nicht: Gaffe in dein Inneres hinein, sondern: Befruchte dein Selbst mit dem, was aus der geistigen Welt dir zuströmt! Erkenne dich selbst! heißt: Befruchte dich selbst mit dem Inhalte der geistigen Welt!
[ 8 ] Zweierlei ist dazu nötig: daß der Mensch sich präpariert durch Katharsis und Erleuchtung, dann aber sein Inneres frei Öffnet der geistigen Welt. Das Innere des Menschen dürfen wir in diesem Erkenntniszusammenhang vergleichen mit dem Weiblichen, das Äußere mit dem Männlichen. Das Innere muß für die Aufnahme des höheren Selbstes empfänglich gemacht werden. Ist es empfänglich, dann strömt aus der geistigen Welt des Menschen höheres Selbst in den Menschen ein. Denn wo ist des Menschen höheres Selbst? Ist es da drinnen im persönlichen Menschen? Nein! Auf Saturn, Sonne und Mond war das höhere Selbst ausgegossen über den ganzen Kosmos. Damals war das Ich des Kosmos ausgegossen über den Menschen, und dieses Ich muß der Mensch auf sich wirken lassen. Er muß dieses Ich wirken lassen auf sein vorher präpariertes Inneres. Das heißt: Geläutert und gereinigt, veredelt, der Katharsis unterworfen werden muß des Menschen Inneres, mit anderen Worten, sein Astralleib. Dann kann er erwarten, daß das äußere Geistige zu seiner Erleuchtung in ihn einströmt. Das geschieht, wenn der Mensch so weit vorbereitet ist, daß . er seinen Astralleib der Katharsis unterworfen und dadurch seine inneren Erkenntnisorgane ausgebildet hat. Dann ist der Astralleib, wenn er jetzt untertaucht in den Ätherleib und physischen Leib, unter allen Umständen so weit, daß die Erleuchtung, der Photismos, erfolgt. Das, was wirklich eintritt, ist eben, daß der Astralleib seine Organe abdruckt im Ätherleibe, wodurch dann bewirkt wird, daß der Mensch um sich herum eine geistige Welt wahrnimmt, daß also sein Inneres, der astralische Leib, empfängt, was ihm der Ätherleib zu bieten vermag, was ihm der Ätherleib heraussaugt aus dem ganzen Kosmos, aus dem kosmischen Ich.
[ 9 ] Die christliche Esoterik nannte diesen gereinigten, geläuterten astralischen Leib, der in dem Augenblick, wo er der Erleuchtung unterworfen ist, nichts von den unreinen Eindrücken der physischen Welt in sich enthält, sondern nur die Erkenntnisorgane der geistigen Welt, die «reine, keusche, weise Jungfrau Sophia». Durch alles das, was der Mensch aufnimmt in der Katharsis, reinigt und läutert er seinen astralischen Leib zur «Jungfrau Sophia». Und der « Jungfrau Sophia » kommt entgegen das kosmische Ich, das Welten-Ich, das die Erleuchtung bewirkt, das also macht, daß der Mensch Licht um sich herum hat, geistiges Licht. Dieses Zweite, das zur « Jungfrau Sophia » hinzukommt, nannte die christliche Esoterik -— und nennt es auch heute noch — den «Heiligen Geist». So daß man im christlich-esoterischen Sinne ganz richtig spricht, wenn man sagt: Der christliche Esoteriker erreicht durch seine Einweihungsvorgänge die Reinigung und Läuterung seines astralischen Leibes; er macht seinen astralischen Leib zur « Jungfrau Sophia » und wird überleuchtet - wenn Sie wollen, können Sie es überschattet nennen — von dem «Heiligen Geiste», von dem kosmischen Welten-Ich. Und der, der also erleuchtet ist, der mit anderen Worten im Sinne der christlichen Esoterik den «Heiligen Geist» in sich aufgenommen hat, redet fortan dann in einem anderen Sinne. Wie redet er? Er redet so, daß es nicht seine Meinung ist, wenn er über Saturn, Sonne, Mond redet, über die verschiedenen Glieder der menschlichen Wesenheit, über die Vorgänge der Weltentwickelung. Seine Ansichten kommen dabei ganz und gar nicht in Betracht. Wenn ein solcher über den Saturn redet, redet der Saturn aus ihm. Wenn er über die Sonne redet, redet die geistige Wesenheit der Sonne aus ihm. Er ist das Instrument; sein Ich ist untergegangen, das heißt für solche Augenblicke unpersönlich geworden, und das kosmische Welten-Ich ist es, das sich seiner als Werkzeug bedient, um durch ihn zu sprechen. Daher darf man bei den wirklichen esoterischen Lehren, die aus der christlichen Esoterik herauskommen, nicht von Ansichten oder Meinungen reden. Das ist im höchsten Sinne des Wortes nicht richtig. Die gibt es da nicht. Derjenige, der im Sinne der christlichen Esoterik mit der richtigen Gesinnung von der Welt spricht, sagt sich: Nicht darauf kommt es an, daß ich den Leuten sage, da waren zwei Pferde draußen, das eine gefällt mir weniger gut, ich glaube, daß das ein faules Pferd ist. Worauf es ankommt, ist, daß ich den anderen die Pferde beschreibe und die Tatsachen wiedergebe! Darum handelt es sich, daß mit Ausschluß jeder persönlichen Meinung das Beobachtete aus der geistigen Welt erzählt wird. In jedem geisteswissenschaftlichen Lehrsystem muß einfach die Tatsachenfolge erzählt werden; das darf mit den Ansichten desjenigen, der da erzählt, gar nichts zu tun haben.
[ 10 ] So haben wir zwei Begriffe zunächst in ihrer geistigen Bedeutung kennengelernt. Wir haben kennengelernt das Wesen der «Jungfrau Sophia», das der geläuterte Astralleib ist, und kennengelernt haben wir das Wesen des «Heiligen Geistes», des kosmischen Welten-Ichs, das von der «Jungfrau Sophia» empfangen wird und aus dem betreffenden astralischen Leib heraus dann sprechen kann.
[ 11 ] Noch etwas anderes, eine noch höhere Stufe ist zu erlangen, das ist: jemandem helfen zu können, ihm die Impulse geben zu können, beides zu erlangen. Die Menschen unserer Evolutionsepoche können die « Jungfrau Sophia», den geläuterten Astralleib, und den «Heiligen Geist», die Erleuchtung, in der geschilderten Weise empfangen. Geben konnte der Erde das, was dazu notwendig ist, nur der Christus Jesus. Er hat dem geistigen Teil der Erde die Kräfte eingeimpft, die es möglich machen, daß überhaupt das geschehen kann, was mit der christlichen Einweihung geschildert worden ist. Wodurch ist dies gekommen?
[ 12 ] Zweierlei müssen wir zu dessen Verständnis herbeitragen. Wir müssen uns erstens mit etwas rein Geschichtlichem bekanntmachen: mit der Art der Namengebung, die eine ganz andere war in der Zeit, als die Evangelien geschrieben wurden, als sie heute ist.
[ 13 ] Diejenigen, die heute die Evangelien auslegen, verstehen das Prinzip der Namengebung zur Zeit der Evangelien gar nicht und reden daher nicht so, wie sie reden müßten. Es ist ja außerordentlich schwierig zu schildern, wie das Prinzip der Namengebung damals war. Aber wir können es uns doch verständlich machen, wenn wir es auch nur skizzenhaft andeuten können. Denken Sie sich, wir würden bei einem Menschen, der uns entgegentritt, nicht stehen bleiben bei jenem gar nicht zu ihm gehörigen Namen, den er auf den abstrakten Wegen erhält, die nun einmal heute für die Namengebung üblich sind, sondern wir würden lauschen und achtgeben, welches seine hervorragendsten Eigenschaften, das hervorstechendste Merkmal in seinem Charakter ist, und wir würden in der Lage sein, hellseherisch die tiefere Grundlage seines Wesens zu erforschen, und würden dann nach den wichtigsten Eigenschaften, die wir ihm glauben beilegen zu müssen, seinen Namen ihm geben.
[ 14 ] Würden wir eine solche Namengebung einmal befolgen, dann wür den wir ungefähr auf einer niederen, elementaren Stufe etwas Ähnliches ausführen, was diejenigen ausgeführt haben bei einer Namengebung, die im Sinne des Schreibers des Johannes-Evangeliums Namen gegeben haben. Wenn ich mich recht verständlich machen wollte, wie der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums bei seiner Namengebung zu Werke ging, müßte ich jetzt sagen: Dieser Schreiber des JohannesEvangeliums hat sich die äußere geschichtliche Mutter des Jesus auf ihre hervorstechendsten Eigenschaften hin angesehen und hat nun gesagt: Wo finde ich einen Namen für sie, der ihr Wesen am vollkommensten ausdrückt? Und weil sie durch die früheren Inkarnationen, die sie durchgemacht hatte, bis zu der geistigen Höhe gekommen war, auf der sie stand, weil sie in ihrer äußeren Persönlichkeit gleichsam als ein Abdruck, als eine Offenbarung erschien dessen, was man in der christlichen Esoterik nennt die «Jungfrau Sophia», so nannte er die Mutter des Jesus die «Jungfrau Sophia». So hat sie immer geheißen in den esoterischen Stätten, wo das Christentum esoterisch gelehrt worden ist: die «Jungfrau Sophia». Exoterisch läßt er sie überhaupt unbenannt, gegenüber den anderen Evangelisten, die den Profan-Namen Maria für sie gewählt haben. Er durfte nicht den Profan-Namen nehmen. Johannes mußte im Namen ausdrücken die tiefe weltgeschichtliche Entwickelung. Das tut er, indem er andeutet, daß sie nicht Maria genannt werden kann, vielmehr stellt er neben sie ihre Schwester Maria, Kleophas’ Weib, und nennt sie einfach «Jesu Mutter». Dadurch deutet er an, daß er ihren Namen nicht nennen will, daß er öffentlich nicht bekanntgegeben werden kann. In esoterischen Kreisen nannte man sie immer die « Jungfrau Sophia». Sie war diejenige, die als äußere historische Person repräsentiert die «Jungfrau Sophia ».
[ 15 ] Wollen wir jetzt weiter vordringen in das Wesen des Christentums und seines Begründers, so müssen wir noch ein anderes Mysterium vor unsere Seele hinstellen. Wir müssen uns klar sein darüber, daß wir unterscheiden müssen zwischen dem, was man in der christlichen Esoterik nennt «Jesus von Nazareth», und dem, was man nennt den «Christus Jesus», den Christus in dem Jesus von Nazareth. Was heißt das? Das heißt folgendes.
[ 16 ] Wir haben es zunächst zu tun in der historischen Persönlichkeit des Jesus von Nazareth mit einem hochentwickelten Menschen, der durch viele Inkarnationen hindurchgegangen und wiederverkörpert ist nach einer hohen Entwickelungsperiode, der dadurch hingezogen wurde zu einer so reinen Mutter, daß der Schreiber des JohannesEvangeliums sie nennen durfte die «Jungfrau Sophia». Wir haben es also zu tun mit einem hochstehenden Menschen, dem Jesus von Nazareth, der in seiner Entwickelung schon in der vorhergehenden Inkarnation weit vorangekommen war und in diese Inkarnation auf einer hohen geistigen Stufe eintrat.
[ 17 ] Die anderen Evangelisten außer dem Schreiber des JohannesEvangeliums sind nicht in einem so hohen Maße erleuchtet wie der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums. Ihnen ist vielmehr die sinnliche, wirkliche Welt offen, in der sie ihren Meister und Messias wandeln sehen als Jesus von Nazareth. Dagegen sind ihnen die geheimeren spirituellen Zusammenhänge, wenigstens in denjenigen Höhen verborgen, in die der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums blickt. Sie müssen daher einen ganz besonderen Wert darauf legen, daß sich in dem Jesus von Nazareth dasjenige auslebt, was immerdar gelebt hat im Judentum, was immer im Judentum sich fortgepflanzt hat als der dutch alle Generationen gehende Gott der Juden, der Vater. Daher drücken sie das auch aus. Sie sagen: Wenn wir die Abstammung des Jesus von Nazareth durch die Generationen zurückverfolgen, so können wir nachweisen, daß wirklich in ihm das Blut rinnt, das durch die Generationen hindurchgeronnen ist. — Sie geben daher die Geschlechtsregister an, und zwar entsprechend dem, wie sie selbst wiederum auf den verschiedenen Stufen der Entwickelung stehen. Matthäus kommt es vor allem darauf an, daß er zeigt: Wir haben in dem Jesus von Nazareth einen Menschen vor uns, in dem der Vater Abraham lebt; das Blut des Vaters Abraham ist heruntergeronnen bis zu ihm. Daher gibt er das Geschlechtsregister an bis zu Abraham (Matth. i, i-17). Er steht auf einem materielleren Standpunkt als Lukas. Letzterem kommt es darauf an, nicht nur zu zeigen, daß der Gott in Jesus lebte, der schon in Abraham lebte, sondern ihm kommt es darauf an, zu zeigen, daß man die Abstammung, die Blutsfolge noch weiter hinauf bis zu Adam verfolgen kann, und Adam war ein Sohn der Gottheit selbst, das heißt er gehörte der Zeit an, wo die Menschen erst aus der Geistigkeit in die Leiblichkeit übergegangen sind (Lukas 3, 23-38). Darauf kommt es beiden, Matthäus und Lukas, an: zu zeigen, daß dieser zeitliche Jesus von Nazareth voll darinnen steckt in dem, was auf die göttliche Vaterschaft selbst zurückführt.
[ 18 ] Dem Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums, der in das Spirituelle blickte, kam es darauf nicht an; denn ihm kam es nicht an auf das Wort: «Ich und der Vater Abraham sind eins», sondern er wollte zeigen: Jeden Augenblick gibt es im Menschen ein Ewiges, das vor dem Vater Abraham im Menschen war. Es war im Urbeginn der Logos, der da heißt «Ich-bin ». Früher, als alle äußeren Dinge und Wesenheiten waren, war er; er war im Urbeginn.
[ 19 ] Es handelte sich also für die, die mehr schildern wollten den Jesus von Nazareth und auch nur ihn schildern konnten, darum, zu zeigen, wie das Blut von Anfang an herunterrann durch die Generationen. Wichtig war es ihnen, zu zeigen, daß im Joseph, dem Vater des Jesus von Nazareth, lebte das Blut, das durch die Generationen herunterfloß.
[ 20 ] Hier würde es natürlich, wenn wir ganz esoterisch sprechen könnten, notwendig sein, über den Begriff der sogenannten «unbefleckten Empfängnis» zu sprechen, der «Conceptio immaculata », der aber nur im allerengsten Kreise erörtert werden kann. Aber er gehört zu den tiefsten Mysterien, die es überhaupt gibt; und die Mißverständnisse, die sich an diesen Begriff knüpfen, rühren davon her, daß die Menschen nicht wissen, was überhaupt unter der Conceptio immaculata verstanden werden muß. Die Menschen glauben, es bedeutet, daß keine Vaterschaft da wäre. Das ist es nicht, sondern eine viel tiefere, geheimnisvollere Sache liegt dahinter. Und mit dem, was dahinter liegt, ist gerade dasjenige vereinbar, was die andern Evangelisten zeigen wollen: daß Joseph der Vater ist. Würden sie das in Abrede stellen, so würde es völlig sinnlos sein, was sie sich zu zeigen bemühen. Sie wollen zeigen, daß der alte Gott im Jesus von Nazareth lebt. Lukas insbesondere will es deutlich zeigen. Daher führt er die ganze Geschlechtsfolge bis hinauf zu Adam und dann zu Gott. Wie käme er sonst zu diesem Resultat, wenn er eigentlich nur sagen wollte: Ich zeige euch, daß dieser Stammbaum existiert, aber eigentlich hat der ganze Joseph gar nichts damit zu tun. Es wäre doch sonderbar, wenn sich die Leute bemühten, den Joseph als eine so wichtige Persönlichkeit hinzustellen, und ihn dann wiederum abschieben von dem ganzen Vorgang.
[ 21 ] Nun aber haben wir es bei dem Ereignis von Palästina nicht bloß zu tun mit dieser hochentwickelten Persönlichkeit des Jesus von Nazareth, die viele Inkarnationen durchgemacht und sich so hoch entwickelt hatte, daß sie eine so hervorragende Mutter brauchte, sondern wir haben es noch mit einem zweiten Mysterium zu tun.
[ 22 ] Als der Jesus von Nazareth dreißig Jahre alt war, war er auch noch durch das, was er in seiner damaligen Inkarnation erlebt hatte, so weit gekommen, daß er einen Prozeß vollziehen konnte, der in Ausnahmefällen vollzogen werden kann. Wir wissen, daß der Mensch besteht aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib, Astralleib und Ich. Dieser viergliedrige Mensch ist der Mensch, der unter uns lebt. Wenn der Mensch auf einer gewissen Entwickelungshöhe steht, ist es ihm möglich, in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt sein Ich herauszuholen aus den drei Leibern und diese intakt als vollkommen heile Leiber zurückzulassen. Dieses Ich geht dann in die geistige Welt, und die drei Leiber bleiben zurück. Diesem Prozeß begegnen wir zuweilen in der Weltenentwickelung. Bei irgendeinem Menschen tritt es ein, daß ein besonders hoher, entrückter Augenblick da ist, der unter Umständen sich auch über einen längeren Zeitraum ausdehnen kann. Da geht das Ich fort, geht in die geistige Welt; und weil die drei Leiber so hoch entwickelt sind durch das Ich, das in ihnen war, sind sie brauchbare Werkzeuge für eine noch höhere Wesenheit, die von ihnen Besitz nimmt. Im dreißigsten Jahre des Jesus von Nazareth nimmt nun von dessen physischem Leibe, Ätherleibe und Astralleibe dasjenige Wesen Besitz, das wir den Christus genannt haben. Dieses Christus-Wesen konnte sich nicht in einem gewöhnlichen Kindesleibe inkarnieren, sondern nur in einem Leibe, der erst durch ein hochentwickeltes Ich dazu vorbereitet war. Denn dieses Christus-Wesen war vorher noch niemals in einem physischen Leibe inkarniert gewesen. Von dem dreißigsten Jahre ab haben wir es also mit dem Christus im Jesus von Nazareth zu tun.
[ 23 ] Was war da eingetreten in Wahrheit? In Wahrheit war diese Leiblichkeit des Jesus von Nazareth, die er zurückgelassen hatte, so reif, so vollendet, daß in sie eindringen konnte der Sonnenlogos, das Wesen der sechs Elohim, wie wir es beschrieben haben als das geistige Wesen der Sonne. Es konnte sich für drei Jahre in dieser Leiblichkeit inkarnieren, konnte Fleisch werden. Der Sonnenlogos, der hineinscheinen kann durch die Erleuchtung in den Menschen, er selbst, der Heilige Geist, tritt ein, das Welten-Ich, das kosmische Ich tritt ein, und es spricht fortan der Sonnenlogos in diesen drei Jahren aus dem Jesuskörper. Der Christus spricht aus dem Jesuskörper die drei Jahre hindurch. Dieser Vorgang wird angedeutet im Johannes-Evangelium und auch in den anderen Evangelien als das Herabsteigen der Taube, des Heiligen Geistes auf den Jesus von Nazareth. Im esoterischen Christentum wird das so gesagt, daß in diesem Augenblicke das Ich des Jesus von Nazareth dessen Körper verläßt und daß in ihm fortan der Christus-Geist ist, der aus ihm spricht, um zu lehren und zu wirken. Das ist das erste Ereignis, das geschieht, im Sinne des JohannesEvangeliums. Jetzt haben wir den Christus im Astralleibe, Ätherleibe und physischen Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth. Der Christus wirkt in dem Sinne, wie wir das beschrieben haben, bis zu dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Was geschieht auf Golgatha?
[ 24 ] Auf Golgatha geschieht das Folgende. Wir fassen den Augenblick ins Auge, der der eigentlich wichtige ist, wo das Blut fließt aus den Wunden des Gekreuzigten. Nun will ich das, was da geschieht, mit etwas anderem vergleichen, damit Sie mich besser verstehen.
[ 25 ] Denken Sie sich, Sie hätten hier ein Gefäß mit Wasser. In diesem Wasser wäre aufgelöst ein Salz, so daß das Wasser ziemlich durchsichtig wäre. Dadurch, daß Sie das Wasser erwärmt haben, haben Sie eine Salzlösung gemacht. Nun kühlen Sie das Wasser ab. Das Salz lagert sich ab, und Sie sehen, wie von unten an das Salz sich verdichtet und unten sich ablagert. Das ist der Vorgang für den, der nur mit physischen Augen sieht. Für den aber, der mit geistigen Augen sieht, geschieht noch etwas anderes. Während sich unten das Salz verdichtet, durchströmt nach oben der Geist des Salzes das Wasser und erfüllt es. Das Salz kann nur dadurch dichter werden, daß der Geist des Salzes das Salz verläßt und sich im Wasser ausbreitet. Wer die Dinge kennt, der weiß, daß da, wo eine Verdichtung geschieht, auch immer eine Vergeistigung stattfindet. Was also sich nach unten verdichtet, hat sein Gegenbild nach dem Geistigen, nach oben. Ganz genau ebenso wie dann, wenn dieses Salz nach unten sickert und sich da verdichtet, der Geist des Salzes ausströmt und sich nach oben hin verbreitet, ebenso war nicht nur ein physischer Vorgang vorhanden, als das Blut herausrann aus den Wunden des Erlösers, sondern indem das Blut herausrann, war das wirklich begleitet von einem geistigen Vorgange. Und dieser geistige Vorgang besteht darin, daß der Heilige Geist, der da aufgenommen war bei der Taufe, sich mit der Erde verband, daß der Christus selbst einfloß in das Wesen der Erde. Von jetzt an war die Erde verwandelt. Denn das liegt dem zugrunde, was Ihnen in den früheren Vorträgen gesagt worden ist: man hätte sehen können, wenn man von einem fernen Stern auf die Erde geblickt haben würde, daß das ganze Aussehen der Erde mit dem Ereignis von Golgatha sich veränderte. Es sollte sich der Sonnenlogos mitteilen der Erde, ein Bündnis mit der Erde schließen, der Geist der Erde werden. Der Weg, durch den er das getan, besteht darin, daß er im dreißigsten Jahre des Jesus von Nazateth in dessen Leiber eingezogen ist, drei Jahre darin gewirkt hat und dann für die Erde erhalten worden ist.
[ 26 ] Und nun handelt es sich darum, daß in dem wirklichen Christen eine Wirkung dieses Ereignisses sein muß, daß es etwas geben muß, wodurch der wirkliche Christ nach und nach die Anlage zu einem im christlichen Sinne geläuterten astralischen Leib erhält. Es mußte für den Christen etwas da sein, wodurch er seinen astralischen Leib nach und nach ähnlich machen kann einer «Jungfrau Sophia», um dadurch den «Heiligen Geist» in sich aufzunehmen, der ja sonst auch ausgebreitet sein könnte auf der Erde, aber nicht empfangen werden könnte von dem, dessen astralischer Leib nicht ähnlich ist der «Jungfrau Sophia». Es mußte etwas da sein, was die Kraft in sich enthält, den menschlichen Astralleib zu einer «Jungfrau Sophia » zu machen.
[ 27 ] Wo liegt diese Kraft? Diese Kraft liegt darin, daß der Christus Jesus dem Jünger, den er lieb hatte, also dem Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums, die Mission übertragen hat, aus seiner Erleuchtung heraus wahr und getreulich die Vorgänge in Palästina aufzuschreiben, damit die Menschen sie auf sich wirken lassen können. Lassen die Menschen das genügend auf sich wirken, was im Johannes-Evangelium aufgeschrieben ist, dann ist ihr astralischer Leib auf dem Wege, eine «Jungfrau Sophia » zu werden, und er wird dann empfänglich für den « Heiligen Geist». Er wird allmählich empfänglich durch die Stärke der Impulse, die vom Johannes-Evangelium ausgehen, wahres Geistiges zu fühlen und später zu erkennen. Das hat der Christus Jesus dem Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums gegeben, diese Mission, diesen Auftrag. Sie brauchen nur das Evangelium zu lesen, Sie finden es darin: Am Kreuze stand Jesu Mutter — die «Jungfrau Sophia» im esoterischen Sinne des Christentums — und vom Kreuz herab spricht der Christus zu dem Jünger, den er lieb hatte:
«Das ist fortan deine Mutter! Und von der Stunde an nahm sie der Jünger zu sich.» (19, 27)
[ 28 ] Das heißt: Diejenige Kraft, die in meinem astralischen Leib war und ihn befähigt hat, ein Träger zu werden für den Heiligen Geist, diese Kraft. übertrage ich auf dich; du sollst niederschreiben das, was dieser astralische Leib durch seine Entwickelung erlangen konnte! - «Und der Jünger nahm sie zu sich», das heißt, er schrieb das JohannesEvangelium. Und das Johannes-Evangelium ist dasjenige Evangelium, in dem der Schreiber verborgen hat die Kräfte zur Entfaltung der «Jungfrau Sophia». Am Kreuz wird ihm die Mission erteilt, sie als seine Mutter anzunehmen, der wahre, echte Interpret des Messias zu sein. Eigentlich heißt das also: Lebt euch ganz in den Sinn des Johannes-Evangeliums hinein, erkennt es spirituell; es hat die Kraft, euch zur christlichen Katharsis zu führen, es hat die Kraft, euch die « Jungfrau Sophia» zu geben; dann wird auch der mit der Erde vereinigte Heilige Geist euch die Erleuchtung - Photismos im christlichen Sinne zuteil werden lassen! - Und dies, was die intimsten Schüler erfahren hatten dazumal in Palästina, das war so stark, daß sie fortan wenigstens die Anlage in sich hatten, im Geiste zu sehen. Die intimsten Schüler hatten diese Anlage in sich aufgenommen. Denn dieses Im-GeistigenSehen im christlichen Sinne besteht darin, daß der Mensch seinen astralischen Leib so umgestaltet durch die Kraft des Ereignisses von Palästina, daß äußerlich, physisch-sinnlich nicht da zu sein braucht, was der Mensch sehen soll.
[ 29 ] Der Mensch hat dann noch etwas, womit er in das Geistige hineinsieht. Es gab solche intime Schüler. Diejenige, die in dem Flecken Bethanien den Christus Jesus gesalbt hat, sie hatte die starke Kraft zum geistigen Sehen aus dem Ereignis von Palästina bekommen, und sie ist zum Beispiel eine derjenigen, welche zuerst vernehmen, daß das, was in Jesus gelebt hat, vorhanden ist nach dem Tode, auferstanden ist. Sie hatte diese Möglichkeit. Woher hat sie diese Möglichkeit? Dadurch, daß die inneren Sinnesorgane ihr aufgegangen sind. — Wird uns das gesagt? Ja. Wir werden unterrichtet davon, daß Maria von Magdala hingeführt wird an das Grab, daß der Leichnam fort ist und sie da am Grabe zwei geistige Gestalten sieht. Man sieht diese zwei geistigen Gestalten immer, wenn ein Leichnam längere Zeit da ist. Man sieht auf der einen Seite den Astralleib, und man sieht auf der anderen Seite das, was sich nach und nach als Ätherleib loslöst und in den Weltenäther übergeht. Ganz abgesehen vom physischen Leibe sind zwei geistige Gestalten da, die der geistigen Welt angehören.
«Da gingen die Jünger wieder heim.
Maria aber stand vor dem Grabe und weinte draußen. Als sie nun weinte, guckte sie in das Grab.
Und siehet zween Engel in weißen Kleidern sitzen.» (20, 10-12)
[ 30 ] Sie sah das, da sie durch die Kraft und Gewalt des Ereignisses von Palästina hellseherisch geworden war. Und sie sah noch mehr: den Auferstandenen sah sie. War es denn notwendig, daß sie dazu hellseherisch war? Trauen Sie sich zu, daß sie einen Menschen, den Sie in physischer Gestalt vor ein paar Tagen gesehen haben, wenn Sie ihn nach ein paar Tagen vor sich haben, dann nicht genau wiedererkennen?
«Und als sie das sagte, wandte sie sich zurück und siehet Jesum stehen und weiß nicht, daß es Jesus ist. Spricht Jesus zu ihr: Weib, was weinest du? Wen suchest du? Sie meinet, es sei der Gärtner.» (20, 14-15)
[ 31 ] Und damit uns das möglichst genau gesagt wird, wird uns das nicht bloß einmal gesagt, sondern auch bei der nächsten Erscheinung des Auferstandenen, als Jesus erschien am See Genezareth.
«Als es aber Morgen war, stand Jesus am Ufer; aber die Jünger wußten nicht, daß es Jesus war.» (21, 4)
[ 32 ] Die esoterischen Schüler finden ihn da. Diejenigen, welche die volle Kraft des Ereignisses von Palästina aufgenommen hatten, konnten sich da hineinfinden und sehen, daß es der auferstandene Jesus ist, den man im Geistigen sehen konnte.
[ 33 ] Wenn nun die Jünger und die Maria von Magdala ihn auch sahen, so gab es aber doch einige unter ihnen, die etwas weniger begabt waren, die hellseherische Kraft zu entfalten. Zu ihnen gehörte zum Beispiel der Thomas. Von dem Thomas wird Ihnen gesagt, daß er das erstemal nicht dabei war, als die Jünger den Herrn gesehen hatten; und er selbst sagt, er müsse erst seine Hände in seine Wunden legen, er müsse erst eine leibliche Berührung mit dem Auferstandenen haben. Was geschieht? Es sollte jetzt auch noch versucht werden, ihm nachzuhelfen, damit er geistsichtig wurde. Wie geschieht denn das? Es geschieht im Sinne der Worte:
«Und über acht Tage waren abermal seine Jünger drinnen und Thomas mit ihnen. Kommt Jesus, da die Türen verschlossen waren, und tritt mitten ein und spricht: Friede sei mit euch!
Darnach spricht er zu Thomas: Reiche deinen Finger her, und siehe meine Hände, und reiche deine Hand her und lege sie in meine Seite, und sei nicht ungläubig, sondern gläubig.» (20, 26-27)
[ 34 ] Und du wirst etwas sehen, wenn du dich nicht bloß auf das Gesicht von außen verläßt, sondern dich durchdringst mit der inneren Kraft! 1«Spricht Jesus zu ihm: Dieweil du mich gesehen hast, Thomas, so glaubst du. Selig sind, die nicht sehen und doch glauben.» (20, 29). Diese innere Kraft, die ausgehen soll von dem Ereignis in Palästina, nennt man den «Glauben ». Das ist keine triviale, sondern eine innere hellsichtige Kraft. - Durchdringe dich mit der inneren Kraft, dann brauchst du nicht mehr bloß das für wirklich zu halten, was du äußerlich siehst; denn selig sind die, die wissen können von dem, was sie nicht äußerlich sehen!
[ 35 ] So wird gezeigt, daß wir es zu tun haben mit der vollen Realität und Wahrheit der Auferstehung und daß diese Auferstehung allein derjenige voll erkennen kann, der mit der inneren Kraft, in das Geistige hineinzuschauen, sich erst ausstattet.
[ 36 ] Dies wird Ihnen das letzte Kapitel des Johannes-Evangeliums verständlich machen, wo immer mehr und mehr darauf hingewiesen wird, wie allerdings die intimsten Schüler des Christus Jesus dadurch, daß das Ereignis sich vor ihnen vollzogen hat, zu der «Jungfrau Sophia» gekommen waren. Aber als sie das erstemal standhalten sollten, wirklich ein geistiges Ereignis schauen sollten, waren sie noch geblendet und mußten sich erst zurechtfinden. Sie wußten nicht, daß das derselbe war, der früher bei ihnen war. — Hier ist etwas, was wir mit den subtilsten Begriffen erfassen müssen; denn der grobmaterialistische Geist würde sagen: Dann ist doch also an der Auferstehung gerüttelt! — Ganz wörtlich ist das Wunder der Auferstehung zu nehmen und sogar so, wie er gesagt hat:
«Ich bleibe bei euch alle Tage bis an das Ende des Zeitalters, des Weltenalters!» (Matth. 28, 20)
[ 37 ] Er ist da und er wird wiederkommen, zwar nicht in einer fleischlichen Gestalt, aber in einer solchen Gestalt, daß die Menschen, die sich bis dahin durch die Kraft des Johannes-Evangeliums entwickelt haben, ihn sehen, ihn wirklich wahrnehmen können und nicht mehr ungläubig sind, wenn sie die geistige Kraft haben, ihn zu sehen. Diese Mission hat die anthroposophische Bewegung: denjenigen Teil der Menschheit, der sich vorbereiten lassen will, auf die Wiederkunft des Christus auf Erden vorzubereiten. Das ist die welthistorische Bedeutung der anthroposophischen Geisteswissenschaft: die Menschheit vorzubereiten und ihr die Augen geöffnet zu halten, wenn der Christus im sechsten Kulturabschnitt wiederum erscheint, wirksam unter den Menschen, so daß sich für einen großen Teil der Menschheit das vollziehen kann, was uns angedeutet ist in der Hochzeit zu Kana.
[ 38 ] So nimmt sich die anthroposophische Weltanschauung aus wie eine Testamentsvollstreckung des Christentums. Um zum wahren Christentum geführt zu werden, wird der Mensch in Zukunft jene spirituellen Lehren aufnehmen müssen, welche die anthroposophische Weltanschauung zu geben vermag. Mögen gegenwärtig auch noch viele Leute sagen: Ach, Anthroposophie ist etwas, was eigentlich dem wahren Christentum widerspricht! Aber das sind jene kleinen Päpste, die über das entscheiden wollen, wovon sie nichts wissen, die zum Dogma machen wollen: das, wovon sie nichts wissen, sei auch nicht da.
[ 39 ] Diese Intoleranz wird in Zukunft immer größer werden, und das Christentum wird die stärkste Gefahr gerade von jener Seite erleben, wo die Leute sind, die gegenwärtig gerade glauben, gute Christen sich nennen zu können. Durch die Namenchristen wird das Christentum in der Geisteswissenschaft schwere Angriffe erfahren. Denn alle Begriffle werden sich wandeln müssen, wenn ein wirkliches spirituelles Verständnis des Christentums heranrücken soll. Vor allem wird das Vermächtnis des Schreibers des Johannes-Evangeliums, die große Schule der « Jungfrau Sophia», das Johannes-Evangelium selbst, sich immer mehr in die Seelen einleben und verstanden werden müssen. Tiefer aber in das Johannes-Evangelium kann nur die Geisteswissenschaft einführen. Es sollte in diesen Vorträgen nur.eine Probe davon gegeben werden, wie die Geisteswissenschaft einführen kann in das JohannesEvangelium; denn es ist unmöglich, das ganze Johannes-Evangelium zu erklären. Es heißt selbst im Johannes-Evangelium:
«Es sind auch viele andere Dinge, die Jesus getan hat; so sie aber sollten eins nach dem andern geschrieben werden, achte ich, die Welt würde die Bücher nicht begreifen, die zu schreiben wären.» (21, 25)
[ 40 ] Ebensowenig wie das Johannes-Evangelium selber in allen Einzelheiten ausführlich sein konnte in bezug auf das Ereignis von Palästina, ebensowenig kann der längste Vortragszyklus alles das bringen, was in dem Johannes-Evangelium an spirituellem Inhalt darinnen liegt. Deshalb begnügen wir uns mit den Andeutungen, die diesmal gegeben werden konnten. Begnügen wir uns aber in dem Sinne, daß durch solche Andeutungen gerade das wirkliche Testament des Christentums im Verlaufe der Menschheitsentwickelung ausgeführt wird. Und lassen wir dies alles in dem Sinne auf uns wirken, daß wir die Kraft haben, festzustehen auf dem Boden dessen, was wir im JohannesEvangelium erkennen, wenn andere kommen, die da sagen: Ihr gebt uns zu komplizierte Begriffe, viele Begriffe, die man sich erst aneignen soll, um das Evangelium zu begreifen, denn das Evangelium ist für die Einfachen und Naiven da, und denen darf man nicht mit vielen Begriffen und Vorstellungen kommen! - So sagen gegenwärtig viele. Sie berufen sich vielleicht auf einen anderen Spruch:
«Selig sind die Armen im Geiste, denn ihnen wird das Himmelreich werden.» (Matth. 5, 3)
[ 41 ] Auf einen solchen Ausspruch kann man sich nur so lange berufen, solange man ihn nicht richtig versteht. Denn er heißt wirklich:
«Selig sind die Bettler im Geiste, denn sie werden in sich selbst die Reiche der Himmel erlangen.»
[ 42 ] Das heißt: Diejenigen, die da sind wie die Bettler um Geist, die an Geist immer mehr aufnehmen wollen, die finden in sich die Reiche der Himmel!
[ 43 ] Man hat gegenwärtig nur zu sehr die Meinung, daß alles Religiöse identisch sei mit allem Primitiven und Einfachen. Man sagt: Der Wissenschaft gestehen wir es zu, daß sie viele und komplizierte Begriffe habe; dem Glauben und der Religion aber gestehen wir das nicht zu. Glaube und Religion - so sagen viele «Christen» — müssen einfach und naiv sein! Das verlangen sie; und manche mögen sich dabei berufen auf eine Anschauung, die vielleicht wenig genannt wird, die aber jetzt doch viel in den Gemütern spukt und die Voltaire, einer der großen Lehrer des Materialismus, geäußert hat: Wer da will ein Prophet sein, der muß Glauben finden, denn das, was er vorbringt, muß ihm geglaubt werden, und nur das Einfache, das immer wieder in seiner Einfachheit wiederholt wird, das allein findet Glauben.
[ 44 ] So ist es vielfach gegenwärtig bei vielen Propheten, den wahren und falschen. Sie bemühen sich, etwas zu sagen und es immer wieder zu wiederholen, und die Leute lernen es glauben, weil es immer wiederholt wird. Der Vertreter der Geisteswissenschaft soll und will kein solcher Prophet sein. Er will überhaupt kein Prophet sein. Und man mag ihm noch so sehr sagen: Ja, du wiederholst ja nicht nur, sondern immer wieder werden die Dinge von anderen Seiten beleuchtet, immer wieder werden die Dinge in anderer Weise besprochen, — wenn so von ihm gesagt wird, bezichtigt er sich keines Fehlers. Ein Prophet will, daß man an ihn glaubt; die Geisteswissenschaft will aber nicht zum Glauben, sondern zum Erkennen führen. Deshalb nehmen wir Voltaites Ausspruch im andern Sinn auf: «Das Einfache wird geglaubt und ist Sache des Propheten», sagt er. «Das Mannigfaltige aber wird erkannt», sagt die Geisteswissenschaft.
[ 45 ] Versuchen wir, immer mehr uns damit bekannt zu machen, daß Geisteswissenschaft etwas ist, was mannigfaltig ist, nicht ein Glaubensbekenntnis, sondern ein Weg zur Erkenntnis, daß sie daher die Mannigfaltigkeit erträgt. Deshalb scheuen wir uns nicht, vieles herbeizutragen, um eine der wichtigsten Urkunden des Christentums, das Johannes-Evangelium, zu verstehen. Deshalb versuchten wir, die mannigfaltigsten Materialien herbeizutragen, die uns in die Lage versetzen, die tiefen Wahrheiten des Johannes-Evangeliums immer mehr zu verstehen; zu verstehen, wie die leibliche Mutter des Jesus eine äußere Offenbarung, ein Abbild ist für die «Jungfrau Sophia » ; was für den Mysterienschüler, den Christus lieb hatte, geistig die «Jungfrau Sophia» gilt; wie dann noch für die anderen Evangelisten, die auf leibliche Abkunft schauen, hineinspielt der leibliche Vater, der seine Bedeutung da hat, wo es auf die äußere Ausprägung des Gottesbegriffes im Blute ankommt; was ferner für Johannes der «Heilige Geist » bedeutet, durch den der Christus in Jesus gezeugt wurde während der drei Jahre, der Geist, der uns angedeutet wird symbolisch dadurch, daß herunterstieg die Taube bei der Johannes-Taufe.
[ 46 ] Verstehen wir also zu nennen den «Heiligen Geist» den Vater des Christus Jesus, der ausgeboren hat in den Leibern des Jesus den Christus, so werden wir, wenn wir eine Sache von allen Seiten erfassen können, leicht finden, daß diejenigen Schüler, die weniger eingeweiht waren, uns auch nicht ein so tiefes Bild von den Ereignissen in Palästina geben konnten als der Jünger, den der Herr lieb hatte. Und wenn die Leute gegenwärtig von den Synoptikern sprechen, die ihnen einzig und allein maßgebend sind, so beweist das nur, daß die Leute nicht den Willen haben, sich aufzuschwingen zu dem Verständnis der wahren Gestalt des Johannes-Evangeliums. Denn jeder gleicht dem Geist, den er begreift!
[ 47 ] Versuchen wir das, was wir lernen können durch die anthroposophische Geisteswissenschaft über das Johannes-Evangelium, zum Gefühl, zur Empfindung zu machen, so werden wir erfahren, daß das Johannes-Evangelium nicht nur eine Lehrschrift, sondern eine Kraft ist, die in unserer Seele wirken kann.
[ 48 ] Haben diese kurzen Vorträge in Ihnen das Gefühl hervorgerufen, daß das Johannes-Evangelium nicht nur das enthält, was hier ausgesprochen ist, sondern daß es auch auf dem Umweg durch Worte die Kraft enthält, die die Seele selbst weiter bringt, dann ist das richtig verstanden worden, was eigentlich mit diesen Vorträgen gemeint ist. Denn mit diesen Vorträgen ist nicht nur gemeint etwas für den Verstand, für das intellektuelle Auffassungsvermögen; sondern das, was durch das intellektuelle Auffassungsvermögen seinen Umweg nimmt, soll sich verdichten zu Gefühlen und Empfindungen, und die Gefühle und Empfindungen sollen ein Resultat sein aus den Einzelheiten, die vorgetragen worden sind. Wenn das in einem gewissen Sinne richtig verstanden wird, dann wird man auch verstehen, was es heißt, die anthroposophische Bewegung habe die Sendung, das Christentum zur Weisheit zu erheben, das Christentum auf dem Umwege durch die spirituelle Weisheit richtig zu verstehen. Man wird verstehen, daß das Christentum erst im Anfang seines Wirkens ist und seine wahre Mission erst dann erfüllen wird, wenn es in seiner wahren, das heißt geistigen Gestalt verstanden wird. Je mehr diese Vorträge in diesem Sinne aufgefaßt werden, desto mehr sind sie begriffen in dem Sinne, wie sie gemeint waren.
Twelfth Lecture
[ 1 ] We advanced yesterday to the discussion of that change which takes place with the astral body of man through meditation, concentration and other exercises given by the various methods of initiation. We have seen that in this way the astral body is worked out so that it receives into itself the organs it needs in order to look into the higher worlds, and we have said that up to this point - although the exercises depend entirely on the corresponding cultural periods - the principle of initiation is actually the same everywhere. The great difference in principle only begins when the next thing, which must now be added, is to take place. For in order that man can really see into the higher worlds, it is necessary that the organs which have been worked out in the astral part be expressed in the etheric body, that it be pressed into the etheric body.
[ 2 ] The working out of the astral body by way of meditation and concentration is called “catharsis”, purification. This catharsis or purification has the aim of throwing out of the astral body everything that prevents it from being organized harmoniously and regularly, so that it can attain higher organs; for it is predisposed to these higher organs, one only needs, so to speak, to expose the forces that are in it.
[ 3 ] We said that the most diverse methods could be used to bring about this catharsis. A person can get very far in terms of this catharsis if, for example, he has gone through and experienced everything in my “Philosophy of Freedom” so inwardly that he has the feeling: The book was a stimulus for me, but now I can actually reproduce the thoughts myself exactly as they stand. If someone relates to this book - for that is how it is written - in the same way that a virtuoso relates to the composer of a piece by playing it on the piano, so that he produces the whole thing in himself - in the appropriate way, of course - then catharsis can be brought about to a high degree by the strictly structured sequence of thoughts in this book. For with such things as this book is, it is important that the thoughts are all set in such a way that they become effective. With many other contemporary books it is the case that, basically, if you only organize the systematics a little differently, you can say one thing earlier and another thing later. This is not possible with the “Philosophy of Freedom”. It is just as impossible to place page 150 about ;5o pages earlier in the content as it is to change the hind legs of a dog with the front legs. For this book is a structured organism, and working through the thoughts of this book brings about something like an inner training. There are various methods of bringing about catharsis. He who has not brought it about when he has gone through this book need not think that what I say is not right, but rather that he has not worked through it properly or energetically and thoroughly enough.
[ 4 ] Now, however, something else comes into consideration, which is that when this catharsis has occurred, when the astral sense organs are formed in the astral body, the whole must be expressed in the etheric body. This is how it was done in the pre-Christian initiations: After the disciple had gone through the appropriate preliminary exercises, which he was often made to undergo for years, it was said: “Now the time has come when the astral body is so far advanced that it has its astral organs of cognition; now these can experience their imprint in the etheric body. - The pupil in question was then subjected to a procedure which today - at least for our cultural epoch - is not only not necessary, but also not seriously practicable. He was brought into a lethargic state for three and a half days. There he was treated in such a way that not only did that occur for him during these three and a half days which occurs every night during sleep: that the astral body emerges from the physical body and the etheric body, but the etheric body was also lifted out to a certain degree, and care was also taken to ensure that the physical body remained intact and that the person concerned did not die in the meantime. Now the etheric body was freed from the forces of the physical body acting upon it. The etheric body was now, so to speak, elastic and plastic, and when the sensory organs formed in the astral body were lowered into it, the etheric body received an imprint of the entire astral body. When the person concerned was then brought back into the normal state by the hierophant, when the astral body and ego were reunited with the physical body and etheric body - this was a procedure understood by the hierophant-initiator - then not only the catharsis was there for him, but also what is called “enlightenment”, “photismos”. The person concerned was now able to perceive all those things in the world around him that were not only physically sensual, but he could use the spiritual organs of perception, that is, he saw the spiritual and was able to perceive it. The initiation essentially consisted of these two processes, purification or purification and enlightenment.
[ 5 ] Now, in the course of human development, such a phase occurred for man that it gradually became impossible to bring the etheric body out of the physical body without a far-reaching disturbance of all functions, because the whole post-Atlantean development amounted to the etheric body becoming more and more fixed in the physical body. It was therefore necessary to carry out other methods which would ensure that without the separation of physical body and etheric body the astral body, when it is sufficiently developed within the catharsis, when it enters the physical and etheric body again of its own accord, would then, despite the obstacle of the physical body, come to an imprint of its organs in the etheric body. What had to occur, therefore, is that stronger forces had to work in meditation and concentration, so that strong impulses would be in the astral body which could overcome the resistance of the physical body.
[ 6 ] First came the actually specifically Christian initiation, which makes it necessary for the human being to submit to the procedures that were described yesterday as the seven stages. When a person undergoes these feelings and sensations, his astral body is worked so intensively that - perhaps only after years, but sooner or later - it plastically forms his organs of perception and then presses them into the etheric body in order to make the person into an enlightened one. This type of initiation, which is specifically Christian, could only be described in detail if I could give a lecture on all the details every day for not just several days, but perhaps two weeks. But that is not the point. - Yesterday it was a matter of giving you certain details of the Christian initiation. We only want to familiarize ourselves with the principle. - By undergoing something like this, a person is indeed able to attain initiation without the three and a half days of lethargic sleep, especially if the Christian disciple meditates continuously on the sentences of St. John's Gospel. If he allows the first sentences of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word” up to the passage “full of devotion and truth” to work on him every day, they are a tremendously significant meditation. They have this power in them. For this Gospel of John in its entirety is not merely there to be read and understood with the intellect, but must be fully experienced and felt inwardly. Then it is itself a power that comes to the aid of the initiation and works for it, and then “foot-washing”, “scourging” and other inner processes are experienced as astral visions, quite in accordance with the way they are described in the Gospel of John itself from the 13th chapter onwards.
[ 7 ] The Rosicrucian initiation, however, although it stands on Christian ground, works more with other symbolic ideas that bring about catharsis, namely with imaginary images. This is again a modification that had to be applied because humanity had progressed a little further in its development and because the initiation method has to adapt to what humanity has gradually developed. | Now we must understand that man basically becomes quite different from what he was before when he attains this initiation. Whereas previously he only dealt with the things of the physical world, he then acquires the ability to deal with the processes and beings of the spiritual world in the same way. This presupposes that man attains knowledge in a much more real sense than in the abstract, sober, prosaic sense in which we usually speak of knowledge. For the person who attains spiritual knowledge, the process of knowledge is something quite different. It is something that is entirely a realization of the beautiful saying: “Know thyself!” But the most dangerous thing in the field of knowledge is to misunderstand this saying, and this happens all too often today. Some people interpret this saying in such a way that they should no longer look around in the world, but look into their own inner being and search for everything spiritual within themselves. This is a very misunderstood understanding of the saying, for that is not what it means at all. Man must realize that real higher knowledge is also a development from a point of view which man has reached to a point of view which he had not reached before. If one practises self-knowledge in such a way that one only broods within oneself, one only sees what one has already known. In this way, however, man attains nothing new, but only a knowledge of his own lower self in the modern sense. This inner self is only one part that is necessary for knowledge. The other part, which belongs to knowledge, must be added. Without the two parts it is not possible. It is through the inner self that man can come to develop the organs within himself through which one recognizes. But just as the eye, as an external sense organ, would not recognize the sun by looking into itself, but must look outwards at the sun, so the inner organ of cognition must also look outwards, that is, towards the spiritual outside, in order to really recognize. The term “knowledge” had a much deeper, more real meaning in the times when spiritual things were understood in a more real way than today. Read in the Bible what it says: “Adam recognized his wife” (Genesis 4:1 and 25), or this or that of the patriarchs “recognized his wife”. You need not go far to understand that it means fertilization; and if you look at the saying “Know thyself” in the Greek, it does not mean: Gaffe into your inner being, but: Fertilize your self with what flows to you from the spiritual world! Know thyself! means: Fertilize yourself with the contents of the spiritual world!
[ 8 ] Two things are necessary for this: that man prepares himself through catharsis and enlightenment, but then opens his inner being freely to the spiritual world. In this context of knowledge we may compare the inner man with the feminine, the outer man with the masculine. The inner self must be made receptive to receiving the higher self. If it is receptive, then the higher self flows into the human being from the spiritual world. For where is man's higher self? Is it inside the personal human being? No! On Saturn, the sun and the moon, the higher self was poured out over the whole cosmos. At that time the I of the cosmos was poured out upon man, and man must let this I work upon him. He must allow this I to have an effect on his previously prepared inner being. This means that man's inner being, in other words his astral body, must be purified and refined, subjected to catharsis. Then he can expect the outer spiritual to flow into him for his enlightenment. This happens when the human being is so far prepared that he has subjected his astral body to catharsis and thereby developed his inner organs of cognition. Then the astral body, when it is now immersed in the etheric body and physical body, is under all circumstances ready for the enlightenment, the photismos, to take place. What really happens is that the astral body imprints its organs in the etheric body, which then causes the human being to perceive a spiritual world around him, so that his inner being, the astral body, receives what the etheric body is able to offer him, what the etheric body draws from the whole cosmos, from the cosmic ego.
[ 9 ] Christian esotericism called this cleansed, purified astral body, which at the moment when it is subjected to enlightenment contains nothing of the impure impressions of the physical world, but only the organs of knowledge of the spiritual world, the “pure, chaste, wise virgin Sophia”. Through everything that a person absorbs in the catharsis, he purifies and purifies his astral body into the “Virgin Sophia”. And the “Virgin Sophia” is met by the cosmic ego, the world ego, which brings about enlightenment, which thus ensures that man has light around him, spiritual light. This second, which is added to the “Virgin Sophia”, is what Christian esotericism calls - and still calls today - the “Holy Spirit”. So that one speaks quite correctly in the Christian esoteric sense when one says: The Christian esoteric achieves the purification and cleansing of his astral body through his initiation processes; he turns his astral body into the “Virgin Sophia” and is overlighted - if you like, you can call it overshadowed - by the “Holy Spirit”, by the cosmic world ego. And the one who is thus enlightened, who in other words has absorbed the “Holy Spirit” in the sense of Christian esotericism, then speaks in a different sense from then on. How does he speak? He speaks in such a way that it is not his opinion when he talks about Saturn, the sun, the moon, about the various members of the human being, about the processes of world development. His views are not taken into consideration at all. When such a man talks about Saturn, Saturn talks out of him. When he speaks about the sun, the spiritual essence of the sun speaks from him. He is the instrument; his ego has perished, that is, it has become impersonal for such moments, and it is the cosmic world ego that uses him as an instrument to speak through him. Therefore, one must not speak of views or opinions in the case of the real esoteric teachings that emerge from Christian esotericism. That is not correct in the highest sense of the word. They do not exist. The person who speaks of the world in the sense of Christian esotericism with the right attitude says to himself: “It doesn't matter that I tell people that there were two horses out there, one of which I don't like so much, I think it's a rotten horse. What matters is that I describe the horses to the others and give them the facts! That's what it's all about, that what is observed is told from the spiritual world to the exclusion of any personal opinion. In every spiritual-scientific teaching system, the sequence of facts must simply be narrated; it must have nothing to do with the views of the person who is narrating.
[ 10 ] So we have first become acquainted with two terms in their spiritual meaning. We have come to know the nature of the “Virgin Sophia”, which is the purified astral body, and we have come to know the nature of the “Holy Spirit”, the cosmic world ego, which is received by the “Virgin Sophia” and can then speak out of the astral body in question.
[ 11 ] Something else, an even higher level is to be attained, that is: to be able to help someone, to be able to give them the impulses to attain both. The people of our evolutionary epoch can receive the “Virgin Sophia”, the purified astral body, and the “Holy Spirit”, enlightenment, in the manner described. Only Christ Jesus could give the earth what is necessary for this. He implanted in the spiritual part of the earth the powers that make it possible for what has been described in the Christian initiation to happen at all. How did this come about?
[ 12 ] We must contribute two things to its understanding. Firstly, we must familiarize ourselves with something purely historical: with the way in which names were given, which was quite different at the time when the Gospels were written than it is today.
[ 13 ] Those who interpret the Gospels today do not understand the principle of naming at the time of the Gospels and therefore do not speak as they ought to speak. It is extremely difficult to describe what the principle of naming was like at that time. But we can make it understandable if we can only sketch it out. Imagine that when we encounter a person we would not stop at the name that does not belong to him at all, which he receives in the abstract ways that are now customary for naming, but we would listen and pay attention to his most outstanding qualities, the most prominent feature in his character, and we would be able to clairvoyantly explore the deeper basis of his being, and would then give him his name according to the most important qualities that we believe we must attribute to him.
[ 14 ] If we were to follow such a naming system, we would be doing something similar to what those who gave names in the sense of the writer of the Gospel of John did at a lower, elementary level. If I wanted to make myself properly understood, how the writer of the Gospel of John went about naming her, I would now have to say: This writer of the Gospel of John looked at the external historical mother of Jesus for her most prominent characteristics and then said: Where can I find a name for her that expresses her essence most perfectly? And because, through the earlier incarnations she had gone through, she had reached the spiritual height at which she stood, because in her outer personality she appeared, as it were, as an imprint, as a revelation of what in Christian esotericism is called the “Virgin Sophia”, he called the mother of Jesus the “Virgin Sophia”. That is what she was always called in the esoteric places where Christianity was taught esoterically: the “Virgin Sophia”. Exoterically, he leaves her unnamed at all, in contrast to the other evangelists who chose the profane name Mary for her. He was not allowed to use the profane name. John had to express in the name the deep world-historical development. He does this by indicating that she cannot be called Mary, rather he places her sister Mary, Cleophas' wife, next to her and simply calls her “Jesus' mother”. In this way he indicates that he does not want to mention her name, that it cannot be made public. In esoteric circles she was always called the “Virgin Sophia”. She was the one who, as an external historical person, represented the “Virgin Sophia”.
[ 15 ] If we now want to penetrate further into the essence of Christianity and its founder, we must place yet another mystery before our souls. We must be clear about the fact that we must distinguish between what in Christian esotericism is called “Jesus of Nazareth” and what is called the “Christ Jesus”, the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth. What does that mean? It means the following.
[ 16 ] In the historical personality of Jesus of Nazareth we are first of all dealing with a highly developed human being who has passed through many incarnations and re-embodied after a high period of development, who was thus drawn to a mother so pure that the writer of the Gospel of John was allowed to call her the “Virgin Sophia”. We are therefore dealing with a highly developed human being, Jesus of Nazareth, who had already progressed far in his development in the previous incarnation and entered this incarnation on a high spiritual level.
[ 17 ] The other evangelists apart from the writer of the Gospel of John are not as highly enlightened as the writer of the Gospel of John. Rather, the sensual, real world is open to them, in which they see their Master and Messiah walking as Jesus of Nazareth. In contrast, the more secret spiritual contexts are hidden from them, at least in those heights into which the writer of the Gospel of John looks. They must therefore attach particular importance to the fact that in Jesus of Nazareth that which has always lived in Judaism, that which has always been propagated in Judaism as the God of the Jews, the Father, who passes through all generations, is lived out. That is why they express this. They say: “If we trace the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth back through the generations, we can prove that the blood that has flowed through the generations really runs in him. - They therefore give the genealogies according to how they themselves stand at the various stages of development. Matthew's main point is that he shows: In Jesus of Nazareth we have before us a man in whom the father Abraham lives; the blood of the father Abraham has trickled down to him. Therefore he gives the genealogy up to Abraham (Matth. i, i-17). He takes a more material standpoint than Luke. The latter is concerned not only to show that God lived in Jesus, who already lived in Abraham, but he is concerned to show that the lineage, the bloodline, can be traced even further up to Adam, and Adam was a son of the Godhead himself, that is, he belonged to the time when men first passed from spirituality into corporeality (Luke 3:23-38). This is what matters to both Matthew and Luke: to show that this temporal Jesus of Nazareth is fully contained in that which leads back to the divine fatherhood itself.
[ 18 ] The writer of the Gospel of John, who looked into the spiritual, was not concerned with this; for he was not interested in the word: “I and the Father Abraham are one”, but he wanted to show: Every moment there is something eternal in man that was in man before the Father Abraham. In the beginning it was the Logos, which is called “I am”. Earlier, when all external things and beings were, he was; he was in the primordial beginning.
[ 19 ] So for those who wanted to describe Jesus of Nazareth more and could only describe him, it was a matter of showing how the blood ran down through the generations from the beginning. It was important for them to show that in Joseph, the father of Jesus of Nazareth, lived the blood that flowed down through the generations.
[ 20 ] Here, of course, if we could speak quite esoterically, it would be necessary to talk about the concept of the so-called “immaculate conception”, the “conceptio immaculata”, which, however, can only be discussed in the most general circles. But it is one of the most profound mysteries there is; and the misunderstandings connected with this concept stem from the fact that people do not know what is meant by the conceptio immaculata. People believe that it means that there is no paternity. That is not the case, but there is something much deeper and more mysterious behind it. And what lies behind it is precisely what the other evangelists want to show: that Joseph is the father. If they were to deny this, what they are trying to show would be completely pointless. They want to show that the old God lives in Jesus of Nazareth. Luke in particular wants to show it clearly. Therefore he leads the whole genealogy up to Adam and then to God. How else would he come to this conclusion if he actually only wanted to say: I am showing you that this genealogy exists, but actually the whole of Joseph has nothing to do with it. It would be strange if people made an effort to present Joseph as such an important personality and then in turn dismissed him from the whole process.
[ 21 ] Now, however, in the event of Palestine we are not only dealing with this highly developed personality of Jesus of Nazareth, who had gone through many incarnations and had developed so highly that he needed such an outstanding mother, but we are also dealing with a second mystery.
[ 22 ] When the Jesus of Nazareth was thirty years old, he had also come so far through what he had experienced in his incarnation at that time that he was able to complete a process that can be completed in exceptional cases. We know that the human being consists of a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body and an ego. This four-membered human being is the human being who lives among us. When the human being is at a certain level of development, it is possible for him at a certain point in time to take his ego out of the three bodies and leave them intact as completely healthy bodies. This ego then goes into the spiritual world and the three bodies remain behind. We sometimes encounter this process in the development of the world. With some human being there occurs a particularly high, enraptured moment, which under certain circumstances can also extend over a longer period of time. Then the ego departs, goes into the spiritual world; and because the three bodies are so highly developed through the ego that was in them, they are useful tools for a still higher entity that takes possession of them. In the thirtieth year of Jesus of Nazareth, the being that we have called the Christ now takes possession of his physical body, etheric body and astral body. This Christ-being could not incarnate in an ordinary child's body, but only in a body that was first prepared for it by a highly developed ego. For this Christ-being had never before been incarnated in a physical body. From the thirtieth year onwards, therefore, we are dealing with the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth.
[ 23 ] What had happened in truth? In truth, this physicality of Jesus of Nazareth, which he had left behind, was so mature, so perfect, that the Sun Logos, the essence of the six Elohim, as we have described it as the spiritual essence of the Sun, was able to penetrate into it. It could incarnate for three years in this corporeality, could become flesh. The Sun Logos, who can shine into the human being through enlightenment, he himself, the Holy Spirit, enters, the world ego, the cosmic ego enters, and from then on the Sun Logos speaks from the body of Jesus during these three years. The Christ speaks from the body of Jesus throughout the three years. This process is alluded to in the Gospel of John and also in the other Gospels as the descent of the dove, the Holy Spirit, upon Jesus of Nazareth. In esoteric Christianity it is said that at this moment the ego of Jesus of Nazareth leaves his body and that from then on the Christ-Spirit is in him, speaking from him to teach and work. This is the first event that takes place, in the sense of the Gospel of John. Now we have the Christ in the astral body, etheric body and physical body of Jesus of Nazareth. The Christ works in the sense we have described up to the Mystery of Golgotha. What happens on Golgotha?
[ 24 ] The following happens on Golgotha. We are looking at the moment, which is the really important one, when the blood flows from the wounds of the Crucified One. Now I want to compare what happens there with something else so that you can understand me better.
[ 25 ] Imagine that you have a container of water here. Dissolved in this water would be a salt, so that the water would be quite transparent. By heating the water, you have made a salt solution. Now cool the water. The salt is deposited and you can see how the salt condenses from below and is deposited at the bottom. This is the process for those who only see with physical eyes. But for those who see with spiritual eyes, something else happens. While the salt condenses at the bottom, the spirit of the salt flows upwards through the water and fills it. The salt can only become denser if the spirit of salt leaves the salt and spreads out in the water. Anyone who knows things knows that where there is condensation, there is always spiritualization. So what condenses downwards has its counterpart in the spiritual, upwards. Just as when this salt seeps downwards and condenses there, the spirit of the salt flows out and spreads upwards, in the same way there was not only a physical process when the blood ran out of the wounds of the Redeemer, but when the blood ran out, it was really accompanied by a spiritual process. And this spiritual process consists in the fact that the Holy Spirit, who was taken up at the baptism, united with the earth, that the Christ himself flowed into the being of the earth. From now on the earth was transformed. For this is the basis of what was said to you in the earlier lectures: one could have seen, if one had looked at the earth from a distant star, that the whole appearance of the earth changed with the event of Golgotha. The Sun Logos was to communicate with the earth, to enter into an alliance with the earth, to become the spirit of the earth. The way in which he did this is that he entered the body of Jesus of Nazareth in his thirtieth year, worked in it for three years and was then preserved for the earth.
[ 26 ] And now the point is that there must be an effect of this event in the real Christian, that there must be something whereby the real Christian gradually acquires the disposition for an astral body purified in the Christian sense. There had to be something for the Christian whereby he could gradually make his astral body similar to a “Virgin Sophia” in order to receive the “Holy Spirit” into himself, which otherwise could also be spread out on earth, but could not be received by one whose astral body is not similar to the “Virgin Sophia”. There had to be something that contained the power to make the human astral body into a “Virgin Sophia”.
[ 27 ] Where does this power lie? This power lies in the fact that Christ Jesus entrusted the disciple whom he loved, i.e. the writer of the Gospel of John, with the mission of writing down the events in Palestine truthfully and faithfully out of his enlightenment so that people could let them have an effect on them. If people allow what is written in the Gospel of John to have sufficient effect on them, then their astral body is on the way to becoming a “virgin Sophia” and it then becomes receptive to the “Holy Spirit”. It gradually becomes receptive through the strength of the impulses emanating from the Gospel of John to feel and later recognize true spiritual things. This is what Christ Jesus gave to the writer of the Gospel of John, this mission, this assignment. You only need to read the Gospel to find it: Jesus' mother stood at the cross - the “Virgin Sophia” in the esoteric sense of Christianity - and from the cross Christ spoke to the disciple he loved:
"Henceforth this is your mother! And from that hour the disciple took her to himself.” (19, 27)
[ 28 ] That is: The power that was in my astral body and enabled it to become a carrier for the Holy Spirit, this power I transfer to you; you are to write down what this astral body was able to attain through its development! - “And the disciple took them to himself”, that is, he wrote the Gospel of John. And the Gospel of John is the Gospel in which the writer concealed the powers for the unfolding of the “Virgin Sophia”. On the cross, he is given the mission to accept her as his mother, to be the true, genuine interpreter of the Messiah. So this actually means: live yourselves completely into the meaning of the Gospel of John, recognize it spiritually; it has the power to lead you to Christian catharsis, it has the power to give you the “Virgin Sophia”; then the Holy Spirit united with the earth will also give you enlightenment - photismos in the Christian sense! - And what the most intimate disciples had experienced in Palestine at that time was so strong that from then on they at least had the ability to see in the spirit. The most intimate disciples had absorbed this disposition. For this seeing in the spiritual in the Christian sense consists in the fact that man so transforms his astral body through the power of the event of Palestine that outwardly, physically-sensually there need not be what man is to see.
[ 29 ] Man then still has something with which he sees into the spiritual. There were such intimate disciples. The one who anointed the Christ Jesus in the spot of Bethany had received the strong power of spiritual vision from the event in Palestine, and she is, for example, one of those who first hear that what lived in Jesus is present after death, is resurrected. She had this possibility. Where did she get this possibility? Because her inner sense organs were opened to her. - Is that what we are told? Yes. We are told that Mary of Magdala is led to the tomb, that the corpse is gone and that she sees two spiritual figures at the tomb. You always see these two spiritual figures when a corpse is there for a long time. On the one side one sees the astral body, and on the other side one sees that which gradually detaches itself as the etheric body and passes over into the world ether. Quite apart from the physical body there are two spiritual forms that belong to the spiritual world.
"Then the disciples went home again.
But Mary stood before the tomb and wept outside. As she wept, she looked into the tomb.
And she saw two angels sitting in white robes.” (20, 10-12)
[ 30 ] She saw this because she had become clairvoyant through the power and violence of the event in Palestine. And she saw even more: she saw the Risen One. Was it necessary for her to be clairvoyant? Do you trust yourself not to recognize a person you saw in physical form a few days ago when you have him in front of you a few days later?
"And when she had said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing there, not knowing that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? She thinks it is the gardener.” (20:14-15)
[ 31 ] And so that we are told this as accurately as possible, we are told this not just once, but also at the next appearance of the Risen One, when Jesus appeared on the Sea of Galilee.
"Now when it was morning, Jesus stood on the shore; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.” (21, 4)
[ 32 ] The esoteric disciples find him there. Those who had absorbed the full power of the event in Palestine were able to find their way into it and see that it was the risen Jesus who could be seen in the spirit.
[ 33 ] While the disciples and Mary of Magdala saw him, there were some among them who were somewhat less gifted in developing clairvoyant powers. Thomas, for example, was one of them. You are told of Thomas that he was not present the first time the disciples saw the Lord; and he himself says that he must first lay his hands in his wounds, that he must first have a physical contact with the Risen Lord. What happens? An attempt was now to be made to help him so that he would become spiritual. How does that happen? It happens in the sense of the words:
"And again for eight days his disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, when the doors were shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you."
Then said he unto Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and put it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing.” (20, 26-27)
[ 34 ] And you will see something if you do not merely rely on the outward appearance, but penetrate yourself with the inward power! 1"Jesus said to him, ”Because you have seen me, Thomas, you believe. Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe” (20:29). (20, 29). This inner strength, which is supposed to emanate from the event in Palestine, is called “faith”. This is not a trivial power, but an inner clairvoyant power. - Imbue yourself with the inner power, then you no longer need to regard as real only what you see outwardly; for blessed are those who can know of that which they do not see outwardly!
[ 35 ] This shows that we are dealing with the full reality and truth of the resurrection and that this resurrection can only be fully recognized by those who first equip themselves with the inner power to see into the spiritual.
[ 36 ] This will be made clear to you in the last chapter of the Gospel of John, where more and more attention is drawn to the fact that the most intimate disciples of Christ Jesus came to the “Virgin Sophia” because the event had taken place before them. But when they were to stand for the first time, to really see a spiritual event, they were still blinded and first had to find their way. They did not know that this was the same one who had been with them before. - Here is something which we must grasp in the most subtle terms, for the coarse materialistic mind would say: “Then the resurrection has been shaken! - The miracle of the resurrection is to be taken quite literally and even as he said:
"I will be with you always, to the end of the age, the age of the world!” (Matth. 28, 20)
[ 37 ] He is there and he will come again, not in a fleshly form, but in such a form that people who have developed by then through the power of the Gospel of John will be able to see him, really perceive him and no longer disbelieve when they have the spiritual power to see him. This is the mission of the anthroposophical movement: to prepare that part of humanity that wants to be prepared for the return of Christ on earth. This is the world-historical significance of anthroposophical spiritual science: to prepare humanity and to keep its eyes open when the Christ appears again in the sixth cultural period, effectively among men, so that for a large part of humanity that can take place which is indicated to us in the wedding at Cana.
[ 38 ] So the anthroposophical world view looks like an execution of the will of Christianity. In order to be led to true Christianity, man will in future have to absorb those spiritual teachings which the anthroposophical world view is able to give. At present, many people may still say: Oh, anthroposophy is something that actually contradicts true Christianity! But these are the little popes who want to decide on what they know nothing about, who want to make it a dogma that what they know nothing about is not there either.
[ 39 ] This intolerance will become ever greater in the future, and Christianity will experience the greatest danger precisely from that side where the people are who currently believe they can call themselves good Christians. Christianity will be severely attacked in spiritual science by the nominal Christians. For all concepts will have to change if a real spiritual understanding of Christianity is to come about. Above all, the legacy of the writer of the Gospel of St. John, the great school of the “Virgin Sophia”, the Gospel of St. John itself, will have to become more and more ingrained in souls and be understood. But only spiritual science can introduce us more deeply into the Gospel of John. These lectures should only give a sample of how spiritual science can introduce us to the Gospel of John, for it is impossible to explain the entire Gospel of John. The Gospel of John itself says:
"There are also many other things which Jesus did: but if they should be written one by one, I suppose that the world would not understand the books that should be written.” (21, 25)
[ 40 ] No more than the Gospel of John itself could be detailed in all particulars with regard to the events of Palestine, nor can the longest cycle of lectures contain all the spiritual content of the Gospel of John. We will therefore content ourselves with the hints that could be given this time. But let us be content in the sense that through such allusions the real testament of Christianity is carried out in the course of human development. And let us allow all this to affect us in the sense that we have the strength to stand firm on the ground of what we recognize in the Gospel of John, when others come who say: You give us too complicated concepts, many concepts which one must first acquire in order to understand the Gospel, for the Gospel is there for the simple and naive, and one must not come to them with many concepts and ideas! - This is what many people are currently saying. They perhaps refer to another saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs will be the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
[ 41 ] Such a saying can only be invoked as long as it is not properly understood. For it really means:
“Blessed are the beggars in spirit, for they shall obtain in themselves the kingdoms of heaven.”
[ 42 ] That is, those who are like the beggars in spirit, who want to receive more and more in spirit, will find in themselves the kingdoms of heaven!
[ 43 ] There is at present only too much the opinion that everything religious is identical with everything primitive and simple. It is said: We concede to science that it has many and complicated concepts; but we do not concede this to faith and religion. Faith and religion - say many “Christians” - must be simple and naive! That is what they demand; and some may refer to an opinion which is perhaps little mentioned, but which now haunts many minds and which Voltaire, one of the great teachers of materialism, expressed: Whoever wants to be a prophet must find faith, for what he puts forward must be believed, and only the simple, which is repeated again and again in its simplicity, that alone finds faith.
[ 44 ] So it is in many cases at present with many prophets, true and false. They endeavor to say something and repeat it again and again, and people learn to believe it because it is always repeated. The representative of spiritual science should not and does not want to be such a prophet. He doesn't want to be a prophet at all. And no matter how much one may say to him: Yes, you are not only repeating, but again and again things are illuminated from other sides, again and again things are discussed in a different way, - if he says so, he does not accuse himself of any error. A prophet wants people to believe in him; spiritual science, however, does not want to lead to belief, but to knowledge. Therefore we take Voltaite's saying in a different sense: “The simple is believed and is a matter for the prophet,” he says. “But the manifold is recognized“, says spiritual science.
[ 45 ] Let us try to make ourselves more and more familiar with the fact that spiritual science is something that is manifold, not a profession of faith, but a path to knowledge, that it therefore endures the manifold. That is why we are not afraid to bring many things to the table in order to understand one of the most important documents of Christianity, the Gospel of John. That is why we have tried to bring the most varied materials to enable us to understand more and more the profound truths of the Gospel of John; to understand how the physical mother of Jesus is an external revelation, an image of the “Virgin Sophia”; what the “Virgin Sophia” is spiritually for the mystery disciple whom Christ loved; as then for the other evangelists, who look to bodily descent, the bodily Father plays a part, which has its meaning where it depends on the outward expression of the concept of God in the blood; which further means for John the “Holy Spirit”, through whom the Christ was begotten in Jesus during the three years, the Spirit, which is symbolically indicated to us by the dove descending at John's baptism.
[ 46 ] So if we understand to call the “Holy Spirit” the Father of Christ Jesus, who begat in the bodies of Jesus the Christ, we shall easily find, if we can grasp a matter from all sides, that those disciples who were less initiated could not give us so deep a picture of the events in Palestine as the disciple whom the Lord loved. And if people at present speak of the Synoptics as being solely authoritative for them, this only proves that people do not have the will to rise to the understanding of the true form of John's Gospel. For everyone is like the spirit he understands!
[ 47 ] If we try to turn what we can learn about the Gospel of John through anthroposophical spiritual science into feeling, into sensation, we will experience that the Gospel of John is not only a text, but a power that can work in our souls.
[ 48 ] If these brief lectures have evoked in you the feeling that the Gospel of John not only contains what is expressed here, but that it also contains, by way of words, the power that brings the soul itself further, then you have correctly understood what is actually meant by these lectures. For what is meant by these lectures is not only something for the mind, for the intellectual faculty of perception; but that which takes its detour through the intellectual faculty of perception is to be condensed into feelings and sensations, and the feelings and sensations are to be a result of the details which have been recited. If this is understood correctly in a certain sense, then one will also understand what it means that the anthroposophical movement has the mission to elevate Christianity to wisdom, to understand Christianity correctly in a roundabout way through spiritual wisdom. It will be understood that Christianity is only at the beginning of its work and will only fulfill its true mission when it is understood in its true, i.e. spiritual, form. The more these lectures are understood in this sense, the more they are understood in the sense in which they were meant.