The Rudolf Steiner Archive

I. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung” of October 25, 1903

In the large hall of the “Erholung” last night, Dr. Steiner gave the first of the lectures announced for the winter semester on “The Nature of Man or Spiritual Chemistry”.

In the past, people were unable to exploit the forces of nature as comprehensively as we can today with our machines. Today, electrical power allows us to communicate with people across the earth, and in a short time we will probably be able to traverse the air as birds fly. But science has also been able to paint a bleak picture of the future of our material earthly life. It can calculate how long it will take for all life on our planet to have disappeared. Then all material culture will have passed away. Will everything that lives in our soul also disappear from the universe? What will become of the inner treasures we acquire? Will they also be buried in the general grave? The answer to these questions will come from the theosophical movement. The theosophical movement aims to bring about the brotherhood of man. And it will prove that what people have striven for in the field of spiritual life over thousands of years is not delusion and error. The theosophical movement is taking a path that corresponds to our time; but the theosophical works still contradict the thought habits of the present. And man allows himself to be ruled by his habits of thought. These habits have led us to a state where we trust only our senses. If our senses do not perceive it, it is not real. Theosophy, however, aims to offer the fruits of our material culture the nourishment of the spirit and soul, which our modern view of nature can only offer to a limited extent. The highest questions of the human soul are to be answered by theosophy. We must believe that we can penetrate into the essence of the soul just as the physicist and chemist penetrate into matter; the soul is a manifold being whose composition we must study more closely. There is a spiritual chemistry, just as there is a material chemistry. Through spiritual chemistry we get to know and solve the essence of the human being and his spiritual task. Truth and science are the two things we must combine in the realm of the inner human nature. The physical human being is not the whole human being. When the soul's abilities have left the physical body, it is impossible and disintegrates. The physical forces and substances of our body are constantly changing. Don't we have to ask ourselves: What is permanent about us? The universe is permeated by the power of life. The hypothesis that all life originated from a dead primeval nebula has been abandoned. This primeval nebula was a great organism, a living being. And from this great living being, the inanimate and the animate nature branched off in two directions.

Redner points out in the course of development the four basic parts that are mortal: The human body is mortal; the life force is mortal: it flows into the general world life force to be used again; our instincts are mortal; our astral body is mortal: it dissolves into a world of purely spiritual forces. What, the speaker asks, can we regard as immortal in the face of this? The causal body is immortal; it connects us with previous substances of existence. It is our true higher self and lies in turn in the bosom of a unified fundamental being. We reach this unified spiritual fundamental being when we seek out the still deeper forces in our soul life. And the seven fundamental parts mentioned — four mortal, three immortal — are the fundamental substances of the human being.

II. Report in «Germany» from October 25, 1903

Yesterday evening, Dr. Rudolf Steiner of Berlin opened the cycle of Theosophical lectures planned for this winter in the recreation hall with the topic: “The Essence of Man or Spiritual Chemistry”. The speaker based his introductory remarks on the following train of thought: the past century has allowed us to scale lofty heights in external culture, and our mastery of the forces of nature outside ourselves is so significant that earlier times would not have dreamt of it. At the same time, however, natural science presents us with a bleak picture for the future of our material life, a future that does not satisfy our inner selves. But it is a fact that for centuries and millennia people have been striving to solve the great mystery of the world, that the various religions intended to do so for their times. Based on the findings of modern science, theosophy now wants to strive to give humanity this innate satisfaction. Above all, we must delve into our own inner selves without prejudice and discard previous habits of thought. These are by no means decisive for the truth of our views, are often dependent on chance, change with the ages, and therefore it is not surprising if Theosophy encounters difficulties in this direction. Only gradually will the theosophical truths break new ground and then add themselves as glorious fruits to material culture. Just as present-day natural science demands full devotion and observation of nature, so it is necessary to delve into our inner nature and to explore our inner powers. Of course, one must believe that such an intimate science of the soul exists. Western science has only examined the physical human being, the physical entities, but has left the inner soul elements out of consideration. Our organism is in a state of constant change. Years ago, we consisted of completely different elements than we do today, and yet we are the same. The corpse is composed of the same atoms as the living body was an hour ago. Therefore, we are forced to assume that man, if he is merely physical, proves to be an impossible physical body. This would force us to the conclusion that we possess higher spiritual substances, for which the physical body is the carrier. This power is called “prana” in Sanskrit, the life force that flows through all living things and that we humans have in common with plants and animals. For a long time now, people have no longer held on to the Kant-Laplacean world theory, according to which life developed from a mere primeval nebula, and it is becoming increasingly clear that this primeval nebula must have been a living organism. This prana holds our inanimate substances together and, after death, returns to the general life of the world just as the physical components return to matter. The plant differs from animals and humans in that it lacks the great area that we call pleasure and pain. Why do we not observe passions in plants? It is because they lack the power. To trigger these feelings, we need a basic force of desire, of craving, which theosophy calls “kama”. It is illogical to see effects and not assume causes. Man differs from the animal in the power that allows him to control his instincts. The animal unconsciously follows its instincts, but man, by virtue of an inner power, is able to act according to his own judgment, and the power that makes this possible is called the lower soul intellect, the lower “Manas”. The kama-manasic powers are bound to our physical body, to the brain, and die with the brain for us. The next higher power is the higher “Manas”, that element within our spiritual and mental being that extends beyond all that is transitory. It lives in us from birth to death and beyond, in order to form new bodies again. Not once does a person live, but countless times. These changing durations, which make up our higher self, are called the causal or causative body in theosophy. When we consider this causal body, it provides the permanent element in the various incarnations. But even higher forces are included in the life of the soul, which can be recognized in the great cosmic love that flows through the whole world. Those who are imbued with these feelings cease to see themselves as individual beings and feel themselves to be a fundamental tone of the universe. The great founders of religions spoke from this element. The power that emanated from these men was able to continue to work, not because it took hold of the transitory, but because it flowed from the highest power of the soul. This is what Theosophy calls “Budhi”. When this power of the soul drives us, we feel what is laid down in the Indian books of wisdom. Every single being is only a drop in the eternal Atma, the basic substance of the human being, similar to the chemical substance of the elements. Just as we get to know a body when we break it down into its parts, so we can explain a person when we have recognized them in their parts. This is the doctrine of the basic components of the human being.

The rather large gathering received the lecture with approval.

I. Report in “Germany”, Zweites Blatt, November 22, 1903

Theosophical Lecture. On Friday evening at 8 o'clock in the large hall of the “Erholung”, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave his announced lecture on the “Pilgrimage of the Soul”. He began by saying that this time, unlike the three lectures he gave here last spring, which were based on knowledge of nature, he would speak directly in the language of Theosophy and present the facts as they appear to someone whose spiritual eye is open to supersensible realities. Man has three sources from which he originates. That which is eternal and everlasting in him, that which reappears in ever new embodiments, comes directly from the source of life, from that which the great sage and martyr Giordano Bruno called the world soul. Just as human thought is an emanation of the human soul, so the eternal human spirit is an emanation of the divine primal soul. And just as man, as he now lives, draws his perceptions through his senses from the external world, from sensual nature, and allows his will to be inspired by his feelings and passions, by the considerations of his mind, trained in the laws of nature, the eternal human spirit, before it embodied itself, drew all its thoughts and wills from the fountain of the eternal, from the divine primal soul. It waited in this form for its earthly embodiment. This became possible because on a world body that preceded our earth, the physicality was preparing, which provided the ground for external development. On this other world body, which is not known to any external science but is known to spiritual research, the sensual ancestors of man developed. These were beings that had sensation and feeling, drives and passions, but were still completely without the power of the mind, of rational reflection. They were very different from both present-day humans and present-day animals. These beings became germ-like when the task of the aforementioned world body was fulfilled. Just as the germ of a plant is in a state of slumber, awakening to new life when it is sunk into the ground, so these germs of being slumbered until they were taken up by our planet at the dawn of our earth development and called to new existence. Now a new state of preparation came for them. The ability developed in them to place the sensual drives, the sensations, feelings and passions at the service of a higher power. This power was the beginning of what later became the intellect, which enables the present human being to find his way in the outer world and to be a ruler over the lower natural forces. For long periods of time, the human dwellings that were later to become the dwellings of the human spirits lived in this preparatory stage. Then the time comes when they are ready to receive the young human spirit that has been described. This spirit embodies itself in such human bodies for the first time. It gradually learns to control the physical body, which is, as it were, wrapped around it. But it can learn only little in the first life. Again and again it must pass through the “gate of death” and attain a new embodiment. Then, between two embodiments, the human spirit passes through the higher worlds, where it brings the experiences of earthly development to maturity. It passes through the “Land of Desire” (Kamaloka), in order to bring its desires into right harmony with the whole world; it passes further through a purer spiritual world, in which it can bring to maturity the thinking ability it has developed in itself in the struggle with the world. Then it returns for a new incarnation, to undergo earthly change again for some time and to gather new experiences for its higher development. Thus the spiritual soul makes its pilgrimage through many embodiments until the earthly destiny is fulfilled and all human spirits are led over to a new, even higher existence in a world whose sublimity the present human being cannot imagine. II. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung” of November 22, 1903

“The pilgrimage of the soul,” as it takes place according to the theosophical view and assertion, was illustrated yesterday evening by Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Berlin, in the “Erholung” to his audience, which consisted mostly of ladies. He took it as a given that an eternal soul dwells in the human body and explained that this eternal part of us has its origin in the “world soul”, the existence of which Giordano Bruno had already assumed. But according to Dr. Steiner's assertion, the human being does not consist only of soul and body; there is a third element, the spirit. This “young human spirit”, as the lecturer called it, has its source in God and is truly immortal. This trinity was not, however, present in one person from all eternity, but the “physical human being” developed out of another purely physical, instinctively acting human being, whose existence took place on an earlier existing world body, which has only now given birth to our Earth. Only when it came over to our planet, a mysterious process, did the soul, which also has a history of development behind it, descend into it. It took a long time before man was ready to receive the young human spirit. The spirit first had to get used to it, only gradually did it learn to perceive with human senses. But all this did not happen in one person. By embodying itself, the spirit became entwined with human desires and passions. It is difficult for it to detach itself from them, even when the “physical human being” has already died. Rather, it must purify itself at various stations in the beyond, after it has absorbed what it has learned in earthly life. For a short time, this spirit then submerges into a region where it can unfold and expand, then it descends again into a new body. This wandering continues until it reaches its predetermined goal, the theosophical “Nirvana”. But this is not the “nothing” as the ancient Indian sages (and Schopenhauer) called it, but a state of which we have no idea as yet. This is how the “pilgrimage of the soul” unfolds, as Dr. Steiner teaches it. He emphasized that these are truths, just as certain as the truth that electric arc lamps were lit in the recreation room. The nature of the lecture was also in line with this conviction. Dr. Steiner always used the phrase “this is so and so” to support his assertions. From this, one gained the conviction that he believed with certainty that he had the truth. (Not one or his truth.

In the next lecture, he will explain the “world soul and human destiny”.

I. Report in “Germany”, Third Sheet, dated December 13, 1903

On Friday evening, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave the third of six announced theosophical lectures in the recreation room. The title of the lecture was: “World Law and Human Destiny – a Christmas Meditation”. He explained the following:

From time immemorial, man has been regarded as a “world in miniature” (microcosm) in relation to the “world at large” (macrocosm). This view is not only arrived at by the intellect but also by the feelings, which rise up to the lofty starry heavens and to the ideals of the human spirit with equal reverence and enthusiasm. Two things, says Kant, fill the mind with ever-increasing admiration and awe: “the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.” But one can just as easily say: How unequal the “great” and the “small world” are. The starry sky with its eternally unchanging laws and the moral and spiritual nature of man, which follows its laws only gropingly and uncertainly, straying every moment. In the face of the starry sky, even the greatest admirers arise in those who know and study its laws. Keppler literally shouted in admiration when he had researched the secrets of planetary orbits. The human heart, on the other hand, with its fickleness and confusion, evokes the most reservations in those who know it best. Goethe, one of the greatest experts on human nature, repeatedly fled from its labyrinths to the unerring laws of external nature. Goethe himself pointed the way to finding his way around such feelings. He said: “Noble, helpful and good, let man be.” That is a commandment that no one imposes on nature. Man can be blamed for leaving the paths of justice and virtue, but not the volcano that wreaks untold havoc. You have to find harmony with nature, even if it seems destructive. We know that its laws are immutable. Have they always been? No, the laws of planetary motion, at the discovery of which Kepler rejoiced, were only given to the solar system after a long cosmic struggle. Harmony is born out of the chaotic primeval nebula. The research that is able to penetrate to supersensible facts shows that external nature is born out of spirit, out of the thought of the world, just as human actions are born out of human thoughts. Here, Theosophy explains the difference between human beings and external nature. Man is not just the physical being that can be perceived with the external senses. Within his physical body, he still has the soul organism (astral body) and within the latter, only the eternal spirit (mental body), in which thoughts, in which moral feeling, the voice of conscience, have their origin. Between these three components of his being, the struggle that has come to a preliminary conclusion in the outer nature still exists in man. This outer nature, too, was once a world of thought; it passed through the stage of the soul (astral) existence before it became what it is today. But the struggles in this field are over. In inanimate nature, there are no longer any unsatisfied desires and passions that have their seat in the soul (astral) body. This is not yet the case in man. His development, his perfection, is only to lead him to the point where his eternal laws, which lie in the world of thought, find their harmonious expression in outer physical existence, in action. This lack of harmony is also evident in the relationship between destiny and character, between attitude and action. The good often have to suffer, while the wicked are happy; an act of cruelty often bears the same fruit in the outer, sensual existence as a noble deed. Only by placing oneself in the position of the great law of spiritual causes and effects, which brings about a balance in the many lives of the human spirit that can never be understood in one life, can one arrive at a solution to this apparent injustice in the world. Not only the theosophists of the present day know that the human spirit does not embody itself only once, but many times, but deeper spirits of all times have professed this view. Giordano Bruno and Lessing need only be cited as examples. Much in a person's life seems incomprehensible because it has its cause in previous lives. Someone who is particularly clever has the disposition to be clever because he has had experiences in a previous life that led him to be clever. All the painful experiences we have had in the past life as a result of merely indulging in pleasure and pain in our actions have brought about the voice of conscience in the present life. And actions and thoughts that do not bear the fruits corresponding to them in the present life will do so in subsequent embodiments. This is the great law of karma, of spiritual causes and effects in the human world. For everyone there will come a time when they are so perfect that their memory will shine for all their previous incarnations. Then they will recognize karma as the just law of harmonious balance and perfect justice. And they will then be able to shape their lives in such a way that they no longer grope in error, but move within immutable laws, just as the sun, in the course of a year, shows us only regular positions. Therefore, nations have always taken the (apparent) course of the sun in the sky as a symbol for the great role models, for the sons of the gods, for the saviors of the world, who already prematurely carry within them the divine soul, towards which human beings develop. The Christians, too, in the fourth century fixed the birth of their savior of the world on December 25, the time of the winter solstice. Just as this solstice brings light again, so the Son of God brought spiritual light by showing that man progresses towards perfection and by exemplifying this perfection himself. From the sounds of Christmas, if we understand the true meaning, we hear the goal of human development resound: the former harmony between world law and human destiny.

II. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung”, Second Supplement, December 13, 1903

Weimar, December 12.

World Law and Human Destiny. Dr. Steiner's lecture yesterday, which was poorly attended, was intended as a Theosophical Christmas meditation. Apparently, as was explained in it, there is an unbridgeable contradiction between world law and human destiny. However, this is not the case in reality. The fact that the spiritual substance, the bearer of eternal law in man, can only work through the medium of the astral body and therefore loses much of its power and purity, creates disharmony in human destiny. In the great nature, this dispute has apparently been resolved. The Kant-Laplace theory of the formation of this planetary system out of the primeval nebula is correct, but this world was preceded by an astral world and a spiritual world. External nature is therefore, as it were, a model for human beings, an invitation to hurry towards the goal, towards perfection. Dr. Steiner answered the question as to why good people are often unhappy in this life, while villains are happy, by saying that people are what they have made themselves in previous lives. The justice of the law of karma is based on its effectiveness over all the lives of the individual. The wisdom of men is also the experience of countless embodiments, and the only reason why there are different kinds of wisdom is that people have had different experiences in the past. This is known by those who are alive today and have acquired the ability to look back on their past lives, explained Dr. Steiner. Everyone will be able to look back in the same way once they have reached a certain level, and then their path of development will appear completely harmonious. During his lecture, Dr. Steiner felt compelled to explain that he had been misunderstood in connection with his lecture “The Pilgrimage of the Soul”. This misunderstanding had found expression in a critical note in the “Weimarische Zeitung”. No polemic with Dr. Steiner is intended here, but the speaker cannot be spared the reproach that in his lecture yesterday he again allowed Theosophy to be in possession of universally valid truth. When he took the precaution of always using the expressions, “We (the Theosophists) know,” or “The Theosophists know,” or “Those who have become sufficiently wise know,” this only means that the rest of humanity is not yet as wise as the small group of Theosophists. But since, according to Dr. Steiner's own words, what he proclaims is actually the truth for those who have been theosophically trained, it is difficult to see how the critical note in question in the “Weimarische Zeitung” could have been inspired by a misunderstanding. Every founder of a religion, every leader of a sect, every architect of a philosophical system believed himself to be in possession of the one universally valid truth. Not only the speculative minds believed it, but every human being, no matter how little developed, every animal, every manifestation of nature believes it. Only that truth then bears the name “right”. From the fact that, as Schopenhauer says, every phenomenon is felt behind it by the whole of nature, the bellum omnium contra omnes arose. If now, once again, the only truth is to be found, it is certainly justified to put an ironic question mark behind this message!

I. Report in “Germany”, Zweites Blatt, February 28, 1904

On Friday 26 February, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave the fifth of his Theosophical lectures on “Theosophy, Buddhism, Spiritism” in the large recreation room. The speaker pointed out how Theosophy encounters a twofold prejudice in our time. The sciences see in it something akin to spiritualism; and since they turn away from this, as a product of “blindest superstition”, they also want to know nothing of Theosophy. The devout followers of Western religious systems see the theosophical movement as Buddhist propaganda; they do not want their religion taken away or replaced by another. Both views of the theosophical spiritual movement are based on misunderstandings. There have always been Theosophists within European intellectual life, because Theosophy seeks knowledge of the higher, spiritual world. It seeks the divine powers behind the transient phenomena observed by the senses. It is therefore the deeper foundation of every religion, philosophy, morality and all scientific endeavor. In the nineteenth century, it was only pushed aside by a materialistic view of life that wants to build on nothing but what the senses can perceive. This view is connected with the great advances in science and technology. The tremendous successes in this field could only be achieved by cultivating sensory observation and the examination of purely external facts. But even the great and admirable things have their dark sides. And so, as a countermove, so to speak, the scientific movement also produced a materialistic view of the human spirit and soul. Mental processes were to be regarded only as the outcome of physical processes, like the advance of the hands of a clock as the effect of the mechanical clockwork. The slogan arose: “Psychology without soul.” Those who believe in the eternal destiny of man could not be satisfied with such a psychology. And so spiritualism arose. Its followers want to use abnormal states of mind, the so-called trance states, to prove that there is not only a sensual reality in our world, but also a spiritual one. When the waking consciousness that dominates our everyday life is extinguished, a subconsciousness emerges that has an intimate connection with the forces of nature that are hidden from ordinary perception. Those persons in whom such trance states are particularly easy to induce are called mediums. They were by all means noble natures who wanted to restore faith in the spirit to mankind through such paths. And H. P. Blavatsky and Olcott, the founders of the Theosophical Society, also first sought to achieve their goal within spiritualism. Thus, to a certain extent, the modern theosophical movement developed out of the spiritualist one. But the path of theosophy into the spiritual world differs significantly from that of the spiritualist movement. The theosophist does not want to switch off the bright, clear consciousness in order to perceive spiritual reality, but rather develops this consciousness to a higher level; he develops it in such a way that he sees the spiritual around him with full clarity and brightness. There are highly developed people who can see purely spiritually, independently of senses and body. Yes, every person can reach such a higher level of development if he walks the path of knowledge outlined by theosophy. But first, the few highly developed in present humanity must be the teachers of the rest. Like the theosophist, the spiritualist seeks the spiritual life; but the path he takes is dangerous; and because the mediums and their believers do not enter the spiritual field with full consciousness, clarity and orientation, they easily stumble there. Those who know the spiritual world know that there are tremendous dangers there for the unprepared. The Theosophists therefore follow those who move in the spiritual world with full consciousness. They alone can interpret its phenomena in the right way and bring knowledge from the world; while the person in a trance is like a child in this world. It is therefore completely dependent on chance whether error or truth, evil or good is brought out of it.

H. P. Blavatsky first received the theosophical wisdom from the advanced great teachers of the oriental Buddhist schools through a series of circumstances. And only because of this does the modern Theosophical movement, founded by Blavatsky's wife, bear a Buddhist character. But one can just as easily come to Theosophy by truly grasping the deep wisdom of Christianity. It is only that life in the Orient has made it possible for more of this actual wisdom core to flow into the popular, mass religion than of the exalted theosophical teachings of Christianity into the popular folk religions. The speaker then developed a picture of the religious movement founded by Buddha. He showed how this sublime religion and philosophy has nothing of what Europeans wanted to make of it.

II. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung”, February 28, 1904

Theosophical lecture. Theosophy – Buddhism – Spiritism was the subject of a talk given by Dr. Rudolf Steiner to a large audience yesterday evening. Theosophy, the speaker explained, is a cultural movement that has developed from a millennia-old wisdom and that seeks to incorporate itself into our culture. The aim is to resolve misunderstandings on both sides. Firstly, Theosophy had to counter the accusation of unscientificity, according to which it wanted to explain spiritual phenomena in a supernatural way, which led to superstition and spiritism. Secondly, the fear of those who believe that Theosophy is Buddhist propaganda at the expense of Christianity had to be addressed. Theosophy did not want to take away anyone's Christianity, but rather to deepen it. Theosophy first appeared in the nineteenth century, but it had been present in Europe for much longer, as a secret science to protect it from the dullness of trivial life. The fact that the nation's best belonged to it is proven by the writings of Lessing, Jean Paul, Herder, Schelling and also the Goethes; as proof, the speaker cited the fairy tale of the green snake. The ideas that the nineteenth century brought with it are irreconcilable with Theosophy. The great discoveries of natural science are based on sensory perceptions; only proof is valid for them. And since the spiritual and soul-like in man could not be established in a way that was obvious to the senses, faith in it was lost; rather, natural science explains the soul-spiritual essence of man as emanations of the physical organism. Soul teaching without soul became a catchword. In the face of these materialistic views, people sought a divine wisdom, information about the nature of the soul and the destiny of man. Many found it in religion. In the nineteenth century, the spiritualist movement came over from America as a reaction to natural science. It wanted to provide the public with information about phenomena of psychic life and spiritual forces, because hypnosis and suggestion proved that these exist. As materialism spread widely, so did spiritualism, but while the former carried the danger of brutalizing the heart, the experimental doctrine of spirits led to confusion and even greater danger. Mediums provide proof of a spiritual world in a dream state, which is thoroughly abnormal, and lead to false and dangerous conclusions.

Theosophy therefore rejects spiritism as an end in itself. Some Theosophists were indeed spiritualists themselves, but they were able to find higher paths to the knowledge of spiritual essence due to their higher spiritual development; anyone who is grounded in the theory of evolution must also admit this in spiritual matters. For Theosophists, the seer sees into a spiritual world in their waking consciousness, whereas for the spiritualist medium it happens in the subconscious. Devotion for mediumistic purposes leads to moral decline, while the seer of theosophy believes that spiritual powers can be developed independently of the physical organization. The seer looks back on pre-existences and looks into the Kamaloka of theosophy. According to the speaker, today's theosophy is a knowledge that has emerged from the theosophical basis of Indian religions, hence its Buddhist coloration. The ancient theosophy is as much the basis of Buddhism as it is of the innermost core of Christianity: Gnosis is Budhi. The European term Gnosis is synonymous with Budhi, the innermost core of spiritual insight in Indian religion. Buddha taught that the spiritual essence of man is more powerful than the sensual. In clinging to the sensual, man forgets his higher essence. Consciousness of the soul is activity, a life in and for matter is passivity. The latter term should, according to the speaker, coincide with the “suffering” of Buddha with regard to his teaching. Suffering is thus a descent into matter. The innermost power of the soul, developed to voluntarily suppress the lower nature, is the goal of the Buddhist teaching. Nirvana is conscious liberation from the limitations of matter. The wisdom of God, the highest ideal of man, that is the meaning of theosophy; it brings nothing foreign, but seeks to awaken and deepen the consciousness of God that lives in all people. In our opinion, Dr. Steiner was able to give his audience a better understanding of the Buddhist point of view, without, however, refuting too sharply the accusation made against the theosophical movement of engaging in Buddhist propaganda.

Report in “Germany, Weimarische Landeszeitung”, Second Sheet, March 27, 1904

Theosophical lecture. On Friday evening, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave the sixth of his theosophical lectures in the large recreation room on the subject of “Theosophy in the Gospels. An Easter Meditation”.

The speaker showed what deep meaning can be found in the legends and myths of different peoples when one seeks to get to the bottom of them from the point of view of an allegorical view of nature. At all times, the deep harmony between the striving human soul and the phenomena of nature was felt. When, with each new spring, the sun increases its power and coaxes the dormant germination forces of plants out of the womb of the earth, it was felt that a similar process of a spiritual nature takes place within man. The sun became a parable of the eternal spirit of the world, which is able to awaken the slumbering soul-germ in man when the time has come for him, to lure the spiritual man out of the physical. Of the many legends whose meaning can be found in this direction, the speaker highlighted the Argonaut saga. Jason is the symbol of the dying man. He obtains the fleece of the ram, which is the symbol of the power by which man ascends to the heights of spiritual life. Just as the sun is in the sign of Aries or the ram in spring and receives new strength through its union with this constellation, so man achieves his highest goal through union with the higher spiritual power, with the “lamb”, as a sign of divine power. Thus the course of the sun became the parable of human life, and the appearance of the spring sun the symbol of the resurrection of the human spirit from the bonds of sense life. Christ Himself therefore calls Himself the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29). What the old pagan myths expressed in their imagery – that man must celebrate an Easter of his inner being – is expressed in a sublime way in the greatest event of world history, in the appearance of the “Passover Lamb”, the Son of God. And what was previously only made accessible to a few in secret temple sites, in the so-called “consecrations” or mysteries, was brought by Jesus of Nazareth to all of humanity. For in his infinite compassion, he wanted that “blessed” should also become those who believed, even if they did not see. (John 20:29) By “seeing” is meant “initiation” into the mysteries, which only made it possible for the chosen ones to receive the truth in a pure form, while the others had to be satisfied only with the symbol, with the myth. Through Christ's sacrificial death, all were granted in the period that followed what previously had only borne fruit for a few. That is why Peter said in reference to the gospel in relation to the earlier mythical popular religions: “We have proclaimed to you the power and the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, not following carefully thought-out myths, but as eyewitnesses of his glory.” (2 Peter 1:16)

The speaker then gave a full explanation of the “miracle of Lazarus” to show how Jesus himself first underwent an initiation in the sense of the old mysteries. Only those who understand this account of the resurrection of Lazarus recognize that it is an Easter of the spirit, not an ordinary death, but the death of the sensual man in whom the spiritual man is awakened. Jesus says this Himself: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, even though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25) The illness of Lazarus is a birth, namely that of the higher spiritual man from the earthly, sensual man. Again, this is witnessed by Jesus' word: “The sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be honored thereby.” (John 11:4) Christ thus showed before all people what He had explained as a theosophical teaching in the glorious conversation with Nicodemus (cf. John 3): “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3,5) The speaker showed at various points in the Gospel how it is a proclamation of the “inner Easter of the human soul”, the message of the resurrection of the spiritual man. He argues that the most sublime truth of Christianity is found precisely when the Gospels are taken “literally”. One must only have prepared oneself through theosophy to really understand the deep “spirit” of the words of the scriptures. What the ancient myths have hinted at in pictures, the story of the suffering and resurrection of the Son of God has presented as an historical fact to all of humanity. From this point of view, the great intentions of the Sermon on the Mount are also revealed, which (in the correct translation) begins with the “theosophical” words (Matt. 5,3): “Blessed are those who long for the Spirit, for they will find the Kingdom of Heaven within themselves.”

Report in the “Weimarer Tageszeitung,” March 2, 1905.

Nietzsche and Theosophy. Members and friends of the Weimar branch of the Theosophical Society gathered at the Erbprinz last night to hear Dr. Steiner (Berlin) speak about the relationship between Friedrich Nietzsche's worldview and Theosophy. In a skillful presentation, the speaker used Nietzsche's literary creations to show that Nietzsche, whom he described as the most characteristic figure among the truth-seekers of the nineteenth century, more or less unconsciously followed the paths that lead to Theosophy in his views on life and the world. If he had indicated through “The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music” that truth and a life worth living are to be sought only in the primal drama, in mystical wisdom, and revered Wagner as the reviver of the primal , his “Supermen” are eloquent witnesses to the fact that he sensed a divine power in man that must elevate man from within and thus make life worth living. Nietzsche's saying, “If there were a God, how could man bear not to be a God,” almost sounds like a proclamation of the ideas of Theosophy, if one bears in mind that Theosophy demands that man must seek his God within himself. The theosophical dictum that life is only worthwhile if it has the urge to go beyond itself is also Nietzsche's view. His idea of the return of the same is in line with the Theosophical idea of the return of things in a process of continuous purification, the idea of reincarnation. Through Nietzsche's view that man is the meaning of the earth and as such must strive higher, many Nietzsche admirers have become Theosophists. In Theosophy, they found answers to the questions that Nietzsche had posed and that had brought him to the gates of Theosophy. And in the light of theosophical considerations, many a Nietzschean could be understood, and much of the negativity in Nietzsche could be explained. - The lecture was followed by a discussion in which the speaker answered the questions put to him in detail.

Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung” of February 26, 1892

In a series of lectures dealing with the development of the main currents of German intellectual life, the lecture characterizing the high point of this development must naturally claim the main interest. This task was the fifth lecture of the cycle:

“Weimar at the Center of German Intellectual Life,” and the lecturer, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, brilliantly fulfilled this task. In a speech that was as spirited and substantial as it was clear and vivid, he sketched out an image of the main period of German culture that took place on the soil of little Weimar.

Goethe's appearance in Weimar, seemingly a coincidence in his life, has become a necessary factor in cultural history. Goethe and Karl August understood each other, and from the outset each of them appreciated the high human value of the other. When Goethe came to Weimar, he had already passed through a major period of his development. Works such as “Götz” and “Werther” show his gift for bringing to light the most profound source of life, which he had developed to perfection. He had had a teacher in Shakespeare, the poet of pure humanity, whose figures are not influenced by an external destiny, but create their own destinies from within themselves. In the Prometheus fragment, this overwhelming sense of power and individuality finds its most powerful expression.

Artistically, the first ten years in Weimar were the least productive of Goethe's life; but they were significant for his personal development, to which the circle in which he lived contributed greatly: Wieland, the highly gifted Duchess Anna Amalia, the admirable Duchess Luise, the clear-minded, sensible Knebel. Charlotte von Stein replaced for him on earth what his Promethean belief had taken from him in the hereafter: the need for veneration. In view of this, the dispute about the limits of this relationship is simply laughable. Herder, too, was of the greatest value for his self-education. Both encountered each other at that time in the idea of the development of earthly things, each of which is a link in the great world harmony. For Goethe, this idea was the starting point of his scientific work. In place of the exclusively subjective world view of young Goethe, there now arises a more objective one that integrates man into the universe and its eternal laws. This world view and the corresponding ideal of art found their maturity in Italy.

This change can already be seen in “Iphigenia”, in the figure of Orestes. Goethe is Orestes, Frau von Stein is Iphigenia. The man hunted by the Furies does not find redemption within himself, but it is given to him from the outside. The warning that we depend on the iron laws of the outside world, and that the urge for freedom within us has to contend with the forces of life, is also preached by “Tasso”, whose motif is the deep conflict between talent and life. With this objectivism, Goethe had distanced himself from all subjective partisan points of view.

Therefore, when he returned from Italy, he was a stranger to Schiller; and it was only from the moment when Schiller, absorbed in the study of philosophy, also leaned towards the exclusive subjectivism of Goethe's clarified, non-partisan world view that the two men became friends. They developed an idealistic world view together; different in form but arising from the same core, it is set forth in Schiller's “Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Mankind” and in Goethe's “Fairy Tales”. From Kant's rigorous moral law, progress is made here to a free morality that creates good out of its own initiative, not compelled to do so by a categorical imperative. Schiller sought to lead man to freedom through beauty. Many researchers have already tried to find hidden wisdom in Goethe's Fairy Tale and have come to grief on the task. Dr. Steiner has for the first time revealed and explained the deeply symbolic nature of this difficult-to-understand poem in such a way that its great human and ethical content is fully revealed. The “Fairytale” proclaims in symbolic form the same thing that Schiller's letters proclaim in abstract form: only through the sacrifice of a limited ego does man achieve that higher self where he no longer has to obey the command of a moral law coming from outside, but can do out of himself what his personal judgment advises him.

The educational ideal of the classical period was universal: Goethe and Schiller also made a scientific impact. Goethe's scientific outlook is a highly idealistic one, the value of which can only be fully realized again in an idealistic direction of science. At the same time, science, especially philosophy, reached an undreamt-of height in Jena: Fichte and Schelling, in the first place, also had a stimulating effect on Schiller and Goethe. Goethe and Schiller's correspondence is the perfect expression of this universality. It found its productive expression, on the one hand, in the Xenienkampf, and on the other, in Schiller's dramas and Goethe's epic and dramatic works of the following period.

The lecturer then discussed, in broad strokes, but always picking out the essential with a sure hand, the structure and the accomplished poetic form of “Hermann and Dorothea”, where the demand of classical aesthetics that the material must be fully absorbed into the form is fulfilled in the most perfect way. The same is true of the “Natural Daughter”. The accusation that here not individuals but types have been created is rejected. The essence of this work of art is that individuality is only given to the extent that it is also a necessity within the framework of the work of art. Schiller's method of characterization is quite the opposite. It presents the individual as such for his own sake, but in contrast to his youth, now without bias. Schiller's approach to Goethe's style of poetry in The Bride of Messina is only apparent; for the idea of fate is opposed to Goethe's moral world order, and basically to modern and thus also to Schiller's view of the moral demand for human freedom. Schiller's dramas also gave the stage an inner momentum; a new idealistic acting style was also developed through them. Schiller was the link between Goethe and the public; when he died, Goethe was isolated. No one could follow him to the heights that he had reached through an unparalleled self-education. This self-education is most strongly reflected in “Faust,” which accompanied him from the wildest youth to the clarified maturity of old age.

The material for Faust is based on the conflict in the human soul between the positive things it has and the only suspected things it would like to acquire. The ascent to the otherworldly realm does not happen here, as in the Theophilus saga, through the grace of the higher powers, but Faust wants to fight for everything through his own strength. From the very beginning, Goethe had in mind the glorification of the victory of this lofty aspiration. And it was not a unified external action that he was aiming at, but poetic transformation of his own experiences. But just as the subjective individual experience disappears in the clear, objective, general world view in the older Goethe, so in the second part of “Faust” the experience rises far above the visible, the real, it is transformed into images, into symbols and allegories; and it is from this point of view that the second part must be considered. The speaker also touched on the same phenomenon in Wilhelm Meister.

Goethe's mission was to rejuvenate humanity in an aging age. Such a transformation is also taking place in our own day, for time has grown old again. The striving that rejuvenated Goethe's time, the striving for reality, also fulfills our youth. But what a difference! Goethe understood reality to mean the inner, the necessary, the divine in the earthly, while our present sees it in the external, the accidental. But a people with such a past can never forget it without at the same time descending from the height of its culture. And the generation that cannot say of itself: And Goethe's sun, behold, it smiles on us too! With this warm appeal to the present, the speaker concluded his interesting and thoroughly original remarks, through which he gave all his listeners an instructive and enjoyable hour.

I. Report in the “Weimarische Zeitung” of December 9, 1904

On Wednesday the Weimar branch of the Theosophical Society organized a lecture in the Erbprinzen on Goethe's fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily.

As we were informed, Dr. Rudolf Steiner showed that this little poem contains the secret of Goethe's world view in a magnificent artistic image. The abundance of figures and events that the poet presents to us represents the soul life of man in his development from the sensual to the highest spiritual existence. For Goethe, human nature consists of body, soul and spirit. The spirit reaches its highest level when its three components: wisdom, mind and will, work together in full harmony within it. By undergoing a complete transformation through the purification of all its lower powers by the fire of selfless love and devotion, the soul achieves this harmony. Goethe thus symbolically represented human worth and human destiny. The harmony of the sensual and spiritual world at the highest levels of existence is initially expressed in an enigmatic, but as soon as one penetrates to the solution of the riddle, captivating way. One only gains a true sense of Goethe's depth when one seeks to unlock one's inner being with the help of this fairy tale. Goethe was inspired to do so by Schiller, who, in his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, had sought in his more philosophical vein to reconcile the sensual and spiritual nature of man. Goethe wanted to express himself poetically about this. In pictures, he could speak as vividly about the riddles of the world as he knew how when he wanted to reveal what lived in his soul about them.

II. Report in “Deutschland” from December 9, 1904

On Wednesday, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave a lecture at the Erbprinzen on Goethe's riddle fairy tale of the green snake and the beautiful lily, which the Weimar branch of the Theosophical Society had organized.

The lecturer showed how Goethe expressed his deepest thoughts about the nature of man and the meaning of life in this small poem. Schiller, in his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, posed the same question: How can man harmonize his sensual nature with his spiritual nature? He answered this question philosophically, and Goethe was inspired to express what he had to say about it in a powerful poetic image. The deeper one delves into the aforementioned fairy tale, the more one can see that its lively, crafted images contain the abilities and powers that are effective in man, and the action described contains a symbol for the whole development of man from sensuality to spirituality. Body, soul and spirit in their relationships to each other and to the laws of the universe are presented in a colorful way. The three highest powers of the spirit, wisdom, mind and will in their harmonious interaction are the goal of human progress. The soul will be endowed with them in the right way when it has reached its summit. Its path leads from the life in the lower self to that in the higher self. Selfless devotion and loving sacrifice for the spiritual life lead there. Goethe revealed the most mature fruits of his inner experience through this fairy tale. The lecture indicated the direction in which the explanation must be sought, and at the same time pointed out that the more intimately one deals with it, the more surprised one will be by the richness and greatness of this poetry.