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Karmic Relationships VI
GA 240

18 July 1924, Arnheim

Lecture VII

The delay in arriving yesterday prevented me from speaking to you, as was my wish, about what has been happening in the Anthroposophical Society since the Christmas Foundation Meeting at the Goetheanum. As the purpose and intentions of that Meeting will have become known to friends through the News Sheet, I propose to speak briefly about the most important points only and then to continue with more intimate studies concerning the significance of this Christmas Foundation Meeting for the Anthroposophical Society.

The Christmas Meeting was intended to be a fundamental renewal, a new foundation of the Anthroposophical Society. Up to the time of the Christmas Foundation Meeting I was always able to make a distinction between the Anthroposophical Movement and the Anthroposophical Society. The latter represented as it were the earthly projection of something that exists in the spiritual worlds in a certain stream of the spiritual life. What was taught here on the Earth and communicated as anthroposophical wisdom—this was the reflection of the stream flowing in spiritual worlds through the present phase of the evolution of mankind. The Anthroposophical Society was then a kind of ‘administrative organ’ for the anthroposophical knowledge flowing through the Anthroposophical Movement.

As time went on, this did not turn out satisfactorily for the true cultivation of Anthroposophy. It therefore became necessary that I myself—until then I had taught Anthroposophy without having any official connection with the Anthroposophical Society—should take over, together with the Dornach Executive, the leadership of the Anthroposophical Society as such. The Anthroposophical Movement and the Anthroposophical Society have thereby become one. Since the Christmas Foundation Meeting in Dornach, the opposite of what went before must be recognised: no distinction is to be made henceforward between Anthroposophical Movement and Anthroposophical Society, for they are now identical. And those who stand by my side as the Executive at the Goetheanum are to be regarded as a kind of esoteric Executive. Thus what comes about through this Executive may be characterised as ‘Anthroposophy in deed and practice,’ whereas formerly it could only be a matter of the administration of the anthroposophical teachings.

This means, however, that the whole Anthroposophical Society must gradually be placed upon a new basis—a basis which makes it possible for esotericism to stream through the Society—and the essence of the Anthroposophical Society in the future will be constituted by the due response and attitude on the part of those who desire to be Anthroposophists. This will have to be understood in the General Anthroposophical Society which henceforward will be an entirely open Society—so that, as was announced at Christmas, the Lecture-Courses too will be available for everyone, prefixed by the clauses laying down a kind of spiritual boundary-line.

The prosperity and fruitful development of the anthroposophical cause will depend upon a true understanding of the esoteric trend which, from now onwards, will be implicit in the Anthroposophical Movement. Care will be taken to ensure that the Anthroposophical Society is kept free from bureaucratic and formal administrative measures and that the sole basis everywhere is the human element to be cultivated within the Society. Naturally, the Executive at the Goetheanum will have much to administer: but the administration will not be the essential. The essential will be that the Executive at the Goetheanum will act in this or that matter out of its own initiative. And what the Executive does, what in many ways it has already begun to do—that will form the content of the Anthroposophical Society.

Thereby a great many harmful tendencies that have arisen in the Society during recent years will be eliminated; difficulties will be in store for many Members, because all kinds of institutions, founded out of good-will, as the saying goes, did not prove equal to what they claimed to be and have really side-tracked the Anthroposophical Movement. Henceforward the Anthroposophical Movement will, in the human sense, be that which flows through the Anthroposophical Society.

The more deeply this is realised and understood the better it will be for the Anthroposophical Movement. And I am able to say the following.—Because that impulse prevailed among those who gathered at the Goetheanum at Christmas, it has been possible since then to introduce a quite different note into the Anthroposophical Movement. And to my deep satisfaction I have found heartfelt response to this in the different places I have so far been able to visit. It can be said that what was undertaken at Christmas was in a certain sense a hazard. For a certain eventuality existed: because the leadership of the Anthroposophical Society was now combined with the presentation of the spiritual teachings, those Powers in the spiritual world who lead the Anthroposophical Movement might have withdrawn their guiding hands. It may now be said that this did not happen, but that the contrary is true: these spiritual Powers are responding with an ever greater measure of grace, with even greater bounty, to what is streaming through the Anthroposophical Movement. In a certain sense a pledge has been made to the spiritual world. This pledge will be unswervingly fulfilled and it will be seen that in the future things will happen in accordance with it. And so not only in respect of the Anthroposophical Movement but also in respect of the Anthroposophical Society, responsibility is laid upon the Dornach Executive.

I have only spoken these few preliminary words in order to lead up to something that it is now possible to say and is of such a nature that it can become part of the content of the Anthroposophical Movement. I want to speak about something that has to do with the karma of the Anthroposophical Society itself.

When we think to-day of how the Anthroposophical Society exists in the world as the embodiment of the Anthroposophical Movement, we see a number of human beings coming together within the Anthroposophical Society. Any discerning person realises that there are also other human beings in the world—one finds them everywhere—whose karma predisposes them to come to the Anthroposophical Society but, to begin with, something holds them back, they do not immediately, and in the full sense, find their way into it—though eventually they will certainly do so, either in this or in the next incarnation. We must, however, bear the following in mind: Those human beings who through their karma come to the Anthroposophical Movement are predestined for this Movement.

Now everything that happens here in the physical world is foreshadowed in spiritual worlds. Nothing happens in the physical world that has not been prepared for spiritually, in the spiritual world. And this is the significant thing: What is coming to pass here on the Earth in the twentieth century as the gathering together of a number of human beings in the Anthroposophical Society, was prepared for during the first half of the nineteenth century when the souls of those human beings who are now in incarnation and are coming together in large numbers, were united in the spiritual realms before they descended into the physical world. In the spiritual worlds at that time a kind of cult or ritual was lived through by a number of souls who were working together—a cult which instigated those longings that have arisen in the souls of those who now, in their present incarnations, come to the Anthroposophical Society. And whoever has a gift for recognising such souls in their bodies, does indeed recognise them as having worked together with him in the first half of the nineteenth century, when, in the spiritual world, mighty, cosmic Imaginations were presented of what I will call the new Christianity. Up there—as in their bodies now—the souls were united in order to gather into themselves out of what I will call the Cosmic Substantiality and the Cosmic Forces, that which, in mighty pictures, was of cosmic significance. It was the prelude of what was to become anthroposophical teaching and practice here on the Earth. By far the majority of the Anthroposophists who now sit together with one another would be able, if they perceived this, to say: Yes, we know one another, we were together in spiritual worlds, and in a super-sensible cult we experienced mighty, cosmic Imaginations together!

All these souls had gathered together in the first half of the nineteenth century in order to prepare for what, on Earth, was to become the Anthroposophical Movement. In reality it was all a preparation for what I have often called the ‘stream of Michael,’ which appeared in the last third of the nineteenth century and is the most important of all spiritual intervention in the modern phase of human evolution. The Michael stream—to prepare the ways for Michael's earthly-heavenly working—such was the task of the souls who were together in the spiritual world.

These souls, however, were drawn together by experiences they had undergone through long, long ages—through centuries, nay, in many cases through thousands of years. And among them two main groups are to be distinguished. The one group experienced the form of Christianity which during the first centuries of the Christian era had spread in Southern Europe and also, to some extent, in Middle Europe. This Christianity continued to present to its believers a Christ conceived of as the mighty Divine Messenger who had come down from the Sun to the Earth in order thereafter to work among men. With greater or less understanding, Christ was thus pictured by the Christians of the first centuries as the mighty ‘Sun God.’

But throughout Christendom at this time the faculty of instinctive clairvoyance once possessed by men was fading away. Then they could no longer see in the Sun the great spiritual kingdom at whose centre the Christ once had His abode. The ancient clairvoyant perception of the descent of the Christ to the Earth became superseded by mere tradition—tradition that He had come down from the Sun to the Earth, uniting Himself with Jesus of Nazareth in the physical body. The majority of Christians now retained little more than the concept that once upon a time a Being had lived in Palestine—Christ Jesus—whose nature now began to be the subject of controversy. Had this Being been fully God? Or was He both God and Man and, if so, how was the Divinity related to the Humanity? These questions, with others arising from them, were the problems and the causes of strife in the Church Councils. Eventually the mass of the people had nothing left to them but the Decrees issued by Rome.

There were, however, among the Christians certain individuals who came more and more to be regarded as heretics. They still preserved as a living remembrance the tradition of the Christ as a Being of the Sun. To them, a Sun Being, by nature foreign to this Earth, was once incarnate. He descended to existence in this physical, material world. Until the seventh and eighth centuries these individuals found themselves placed in conditions which caused them to say: In what is now making its appearance in the guise of Christianity there is no longer any real understanding of the nature of the Christ! These “heretics” became, in effect, weary of Christianity. There were indeed such souls who in the early Christian centuries until the seventh and eighth centuries passed through the gate of death in a mood of weariness in regard to Christianity. Whether or not they had been in incarnation in the intervening period, the incarnation of importance for them was that which occurred in the early Christian centuries. Then, from the seventh and eighth centuries onwards, they were preparing in the spiritual world for that great and powerful action of which I told you when I said that in the first half of the nineteenth century a kind of cult took place in the super-sensible world. These individuals participated in this cult and they belong to the one group of souls who have found their way into the Anthroposophical Society.

The other group of souls had their last important incarnation in the latest pre-Christian—not the first Christian—centuries, and in the ancient Pagan Mysteries prior to Christianity they had still been able to gaze with clairvoyant vision into the spiritual world. They had learnt in these ancient Mysteries that the Christ would come down one day to the Earth. They did not live on Earth during the early centuries of Christianity but remained in the super-sensible worlds and only after the seventh century descended to incarnations of importance. These are souls who, as it were from the vantage-point of the super-sensible, witnessed the entry of the Christ into earthly culture and civilisation. They longed for Christianity. And at the same time they were resolute in a desire to work actively and vigorously to bring into the world a truly cosmic, truly spiritual form of Christianity.

These two groups united with the other souls in that super-sensible cult during the first half of the nineteenth century. It was like a great cosmic, spiritual festival, lasting for many decades as a spiritual happening in the world immediately bordering on the physical. There they were—the souls who then descended, having worked together in the super-sensible world to prepare for their next incarnation on the Earth, those who were weary of Christianity and those who were yearning for it. Towards the end of the nineteenth century they descended to incarnation and when they had arrived on Earth they were ready, having thus made preparation, to come into the Anthroposophical Society.

All this, as I have said, had been in course of preparation for many centuries. Here on the Earth, Christianity had developed in such a way that the Gospels had gradually come to be interpreted as if they spoke merely of some kind of abstract “heights” from which a Being—Jesus of Nazareth—came down to proclaim the Christ. Men had no longer any inkling of how the world of stars as the expression of the Spiritual is connected with the spiritual life; hence it was also impossible for them to understand what is signified by saying: Christ, as a divine Sun Hero, came down into Jesus in order that He might share the destiny of men. It is precisely those facts of most significance that escape the ordinary student of history. Above all, there is no understanding of those who are called “heretics.” Moreover, among the souls who came down to Earth as the twentieth century approached—the souls weary of Christianity and those longing for it—there is, for the most part, no self-recognition. The “heretic-souls” do not recognise themselves.

By the seventh and eighth centuries such traditions as had been kept alive by the heretics who had become weary of Christianity had largely disappeared. The knowledge was sustained in small circles only, where until the twelfth century—the middle of the Middle Ages—it was preserved and cultivated. These circles were composed of Teachers, divinely blessed Teachers, who still cultivated something of this ancient knowledge of spiritual Christianity, cosmological Christianity. There were some amongst them, too, who had directly received communications from the past and in them a kind of Inspiration arose; thus they were able to experience a reflection—whether strong or faint, a true image—of what in the first Christian centuries men had been able to behold under the influence of a mighty Inspiration of the descent of the Sun God leading to the Mystery of Golgotha.

And so two main streams were there. One, as we have seen, is the stream which derives directly from the heretical movements of the first Christian centuries. Those belonging to it were fired still by what had been alive in the Platonism of ancient Greece. So fired were they that when through the tidings emanating from ancient times their inner vision opened, they were always able, under the influence of a genuine, albeit faint Inspiration, to perceive the descent of the Christ to the Earth and to glimpse His work on the Earth. This was the Platonic stream.

For the other stream a different destiny was in store. To this stream belonged those souls above all who had their last important incarnation in the pre-Christian era and who had glimpsed Christianity as something ordained for the future. The task of this stream was to prepare the intellect for that epoch which had its beginning in the first half of the fifteenth century. This was to be the epoch when the human intellect would unfold—the epoch of the Spiritual Soul. It was prepared for by the Aristotelians, in contrast—but in harmonious contrast—to what the Platonists had accomplished. And those who propagated Aristotelian teachings until well into the twelfth century were souls who had passed through their last really important incarnation in ancient Pagan times, especially in the world of Greek culture. And then—in the middle of the Middle Ages, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—there came about that great and wonderful spiritual understanding, if I may call it so, between the Platonists and the Aristotelians. And among these Platonists and Aristotelians were the leaders of those who as the two groups of souls I have described, advanced the Anthroposophical Movement.

By the twelfth century a certain School had come into being—as it were through inner necessity—a School in which the afterglow of the old Platonic seership lit up once again. It was the great and illustrious School of Chartres. In this School were great teachers to whom the mysteries of early Christianity were still known and in whose hearts and souls this knowledge kindled a vision of the spiritual foundation of Christianity. In the School of Chartres in France, where stands the magnificent Cathedral, built with such profusion of detail, there was a concentration, a gathering-together, as it were, of knowledge that only shortly before had been widely scattered, though confined to the small circles of which I have spoken. One of the men with whom the School was able to forge a living link was Peter of Compostella. He was able, with inspired understanding, to bring the ancient spiritual Christianity to life again within his own heart and soul. A whole succession of wonderful figures were teachers in Chartres. Truly remarkable voices spoke of Christianity in the School of Chartres in this twelfth century. There, for example, we find Bernard of Chartres, Bernardus Sylvestris, John of Salisbury, but above all the great Alanus ab Insulis. Mighty teachers indeed! When they spoke in the School of Chartres it was as if Plato himself, interpreting Christianity, were working in person among them. They taught the spiritual content and substance of Christianity. The writings that have come down from them may seem full of abstractions to those who read them to-day. But that is due simply to the abstract trend that characterises modern thinking. The impulse of the Christ is implicit in all the descriptions of the spiritual world contained in the writings of these outstanding personalities. I will give you an idea of how Bernardus Sylvestris and Alanus ab Insulis, above all, taught their initiated pupils. Strange as it will seem to the modern mind, such revelations were indeed given at that time to the pupils of Chartres.

It was taught: New life will come to Christianity. Its spiritual content and essence will be understood once again when Kali Yuga, the Age of Darkness, has come to an end and the dawn of a new Age breaks. And with the year 1899 this has already come to pass for us who are living at the present time; this is the great and mighty change that was to come for humanity at the end of Kali Yuga, the mighty impulse given two decades previously through the advent of Michael. This was prophetically announced in the School of Chartres in the twelfth century, above all by Bernardus Sylvestris and Alanus ab Insulis. But these men did not teach in the Aristotelian way, they did not teach by way of the intellect. They gave their teachings entirely in the form of mighty, imaginative pictures—pictures whereby the spiritual content of Christianity became concretely real. But there were certain prophetic teachings; and I should like by means of a brief extract to give you an indication of one such teaching.

Alanus ab Insulis spoke to the following effect to a narrow circle of his initiated pupils:—‘As we contemplate the universe to-day, we still regard the Earth as the centre, we judge everything from the Earth, as the centre. If the terrestrial conception which enables us to unfold our pictures and our imaginations... if this conception alone were to fertilise the coming centuries, progress would not be possible for mankind. We must come to an understanding with the Aristotelians who bring to humanity the intellect which must then be spiritualised so that in the twentieth century it may shine forth in a new and spiritual form among men. We, in our time, regard the Earth as the centre of the Cosmos, we speak of the planets circling around the Earth, we describe the whole heaven of stars as it presents itself to physical eyes as if it revolved around the Earth. But there will come one who will say: Let us place the Sun at the spatial centre of the cosmic system! But when he who will thus place the Sun at the centre of the spatial universe has come, the picture of the world will become arid. Men will only calculate the courses of the planets, will merely indicate the positions of the heavenly bodies, speaking of them as gases, or burning, luminous, physical bodies; they will know the starry heavens only in terms of mathematical and mechanical laws. But this arid picture of the world that will become widespread in the coming times, has, after all, one thing—meagre, it is true, yet it has it none the less. ... We look at the universe from the Earth; he who will come will look at the universe from the standpoint of the Sun. He will be like one who indicates a “direction” only—the direction leading towards a path of majestic splendour, fraught with most wonderful happenings and peopled by glorious Beings. But he will give the direction through abstract concepts only.’ (Thereby the Copernican picture of the world was indicated, arid and abstract yet giving the direction...) ‘For,’ said Alanus ab Insulis, ‘everything we present through the Imaginations that come to us must pass away; it must pass away and the picture men now have of the world must become altogether abstract, hardly more than a pointer along a path strewn with wonderful memorials. For then, in the spiritual world, there will be One who will use this pointer—which for the purposes of world-renewal is nothing more than a means of directive—in order that, together with the prevailing intellectualism, he may then lay the foundations of the new spirituality ... there will be One who will have this pointer as his only tool. This One will be St. Michael! For Him the ground must be made free; he must sow the path with new seed. And to that end, nothing but lines must remain—mathematical lines!’

A kind of magic breathed through the School of Chartres when Alanus ab Insulis was giving such teachings to a few of his chosen pupils. It was as if the ether-world all around were set astir by the surging waves of this mighty Michael teaching.

And so a spiritual atmosphere was imparted to the world. It spread across Western Europe, down into Southern Italy, where there were many who were able to receive it into themselves. In their souls something arose like a mighty Inspiration, enabling them to gaze into the spiritual world.

But in the evolution of the world it is so that those who are initiated into the great secrets of existence—as to a certain degree were Alanus ab Insulis and Bernardus Sylvestris—such men know that it is only possible to achieve this or that particular aim to a limited extent. A man like Alanus ab Insulis said to himself: We, the Platonists, must go through the gate of death; for the present we can live only in the spiritual world. We must look down from the spiritual world, leaving the physical world to those others whose task it is to cultivate the intellect in the Aristotelian way. The time has come now for the cultivation of the intellect. Late in his life Alanus ab Insulis put on the habit of the Cistercian Order; he became a Cistercian. And in the Cistercian Order many of these Platonic teachings were contained. Those among the Cistercians who possessed the deeper knowledge said to themselves: Henceforward we can work only from the spiritual world; the field must be relinquished to the Aristotelians.

These Aristotelians were, for the most part, in the Order of the Dominicans. And so in the thirteenth century the leadership of the spiritual life in Europe passed over to them.

But a heritage remained from men such as Peter of Compostella, Alanus ab Insulis, Bernard of Chartres, John of Salisbury and that poet who from the School of Chartres wrote a remarkable poem on the Seven Liberal Arts. It took significant hold of the spiritual life of Europe. What had come into being in the School of Chartres was so potent that it found its way, for example, to the University of Orleans. There, in the second half of the twelfth century, a great deal penetrated in the form of teaching from what had streamed to the pupils of Chartres through mighty pictures and words—words as it were of silver—from the lips of Bernardus Sylvestris, of Alanus ab Insulis.

The spiritual atmosphere was so charged with this influence from Chartres that the following incident happened.—While a man, returning to Italy from his ambassadorial post in Spain, was hastening homeward, he received news of the overthrow of the Guelphs in Florence, and at the same time suffered a slight sunstroke. In this condition his etheric body loosened and gathered in what was still echoing through the ether from the School of Chartres. And through what was thus wafted to him in the ether, something like an Intuition came to him—an Intuition such as had come to many human beings in the early Christian centuries. First he saw outspread before him the earthly world as it surrounds mankind, ruled over, not by ‘laws of Nature,’ as the saying went in later times—but by the great handmaiden of the Divine Demiurgos, by Natura, who in the first Christian centuries was the successor of Proserpine. In those days men did not speak of abstract laws of Nature; to the gaze of the Initiates, Being was implicit in what worked in Nature as an all-embracing, divine Power. Proserpine, who divides her time between the upper and the lower worlds, was presented in the Greek Mysteries as the power ruling over Nature. Her successor in the early Christian centuries was the Goddess Natura.

While under the influence of the sunstroke and of what came to him from the School of Chartres, this personality had gazed into the weaving life of the Goddess Natura, and, allowing this Intuition to impress him still more deeply, he beheld the working of the Elements—Earth, Water, Air, Fire—as this was once revealed in the ancient Mysteries; he beheld the majestic weaving of the Elements. Then he beheld the mysteries of the soul of man, he beheld those seven Powers of whom it was known that they are the great celestial Instructors of the human race.—This was known in the early Christian centuries. In those times men did not speak, as they do to-day, of abstract teachings, where something is imparted by way of concepts and ideas. In the first Christian centuries men spoke of being instructed from the spiritual world by the Goddesses Dialectica, Rhetorica, Grammatica, Arithmetica, Geometria, Astrologia or Astronomia, and Musica. These Seven were not the abstract conceptions which they have become today; men gazed upon them, saw them before their eyes—I cannot say in bodily reality but as Beings of soul—and allowed themselves to be instructed by these heavenly figures. Later on they no longer appeared to men in the solitude of vision as the living Goddesses Dialectica, Rhetorica and the rest, but in abstract forms, in abstract, theoretic doctrines.

The personality of whom I am now speaking allowed all that I have related to work upon him. And he was led then into the planetary world, wherein the mysteries of the soul of man are unveiled. Then in the world of stars, having traversed the “Great Cosmic Ocean,” he was led by Ovid, who after he had passed through the gate of death had become the guide and leader of souls in the spiritual world. This personality, who was Brunetto Latini, became the teacher of Dante. What Dante learned from Brunetto Latini he then wrote down in his poem the Divina Commedia. And so that mighty poem is a last reflection of what lived on here and there as Platonism. It had flowed from the lips of Sylvestris at the School of Chartres in the twelfth century and was still taught by those who had been so inwardly fired by the old traditions that the secrets of Christianity rose up within them as Inspirations which they were then able to communicate to their pupils through the word.

The influence of Alanus ab Insulis, brought into the Cistercian Order, passed over to the Dominicans. Then to the Dominicans fell the paramount task: the cultivation of the intellect in the Aristotelian sense. But there was an intervening period: the School of Chartres had been at its prime in the twelfth century—and in the thirteenth century, in the Dominican Order, the intensive development of Aristotelian Scholasticism began. The great teachers in the School of Chartres had passed through the gate of death into the spiritual world and were together for a time with the Dominicans who were beginning to come down through birth and who, after they had descended, established Aristotelianism on the Earth. We must therefore think of an intervening period, when, as it were in a great heavenly Council, the last of the great teachers of Chartres after they had passed through the gate of death were together with those who, as Dominicans, were to cultivate Aristotelianism—were together with them before these latter souls came down to Earth. There, in the spiritual world, the great “heavenly contract” was made. Those who under the leadership of Alanus ab Insulis had arrived in the spiritual world said to the Aristotelians who were about to descend: It is not the time now for us to be on the Earth; for the present we must work from here, from the spiritual world. In the near future it will not be possible for us to incarnate on the Earth. It is now your task to cultivate the intellect in the dawning epoch of the Spiritual Soul.—

Then the great Schoolmen came down and carried out the agreement that had been reached between them and the last great Platonists of the School of Chartres. One, for example, who had been among the earliest to descend received a message through another who had remained with Alanus ab Insulis in the spiritual world for a longer time than he—that is to say, the younger man had remained longer with the spiritual Individuality who had borne the name ‘Alanus ab Insulis.’ The younger one who came down later worked together with the older man to whom he conveyed the message and thus within the Dominican Order began the preparation for the Age of Intellectualism. The one who had remained somewhat longer in the spiritual world with Alanus ab Insulis first put on the habit of the Cistercian Order, exchanging it only later for that of the Dominican. And so those who had once lived under the influence of what came into the world with Aristotle, were now working on the Earth, and up above, keeping watch, but in living connection with the Aristotelians working on the Earth, were the Platonists who had been in the School of Chartres. The spiritual world and the physical world went hand in hand. Through the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it was as though Aristotelians and Platonists were stretching out their hands to one another. And then, as time went on, many of those who had come down in order to introduce Aristotelianism into Europe were in the spiritual world with the others once again.

But the further course of evolution was such that the former leaders in the School of Chartres, together with those who held the leading positions in the Dominican Order, placed themselves at the head of those who in the first half of the nineteenth century, in that mighty super-sensible cult enacted in the pictures already indicated, made preparation for the later anthroposophical stream. In the nature of things, the first to come down again were those who had worked more or less as Aristotelians; for under the influence of intellectualism the time for a new deepening of spirituality had not yet come. But there was an unbreakable agreement which still works on. In accordance with this agreement there must go forth from the Anthroposophical Movement something that must find its culmination before this century has run its course. For over the Anthroposophical Society a destiny hovers: many of those in the Anthroposophical Society to-day will have to come down again to the Earth before, and at the end of, the twentieth century, but united, then, with those who were either the actual leaders in the School of Chartres or were pupils at Chartres. And so, if civilisation is not to fall into utter decadence, before the end of the twentieth century the Platonists of Chartres and the Aristotelians who came later will have to be working together on the Earth.

In the future, the Anthroposophical Society must learn to understand, with full consciousness, something of its karma. For a great deal that is unable to come to birth—above all at the present time—is waiting in the womb of the spiritual evolution of mankind. Also, very many things to-day assume an entirely different form; but if one can discern the symptoms, the inner meaning of what is thus externalised becomes evident and the veils are drawn aside from much that continues to live spiritually through the centuries. At this point I may perhaps give a certain indication. Why, indeed, should it not be given, now that the esoteric impulse is to flow through the Anthroposophical Society?—I should like to speak of something that will show you how observation of surrounding circumstances opens up a vista into manifold connections.

When I myself, in preparing for the Anthroposophical Movement, was led along a particular path of destiny, this showed itself in a strange connection with the Cistercian Order, which is closely connected, in its turn, with Alanus ab Insulis. [Let me say here, for those who like to weave legends, that I, in respect of my own individuality, am in no way to be identified with Alanus ab Insulis. I only want to prevent legends arising from what I am putting before you in an esoteric way. The essential point is that these things stem from esoteric sources.] In an altogether remarkable way my destiny allowed me to discern through the external circumstances, such spiritual connections as I have now described. Perhaps some of you know the articles in the Goetheanum Weekly entitled, Mein Lebensgang (The Course of My Life). I have spoken there of how in my youth I was sent, not to a Gymnasium, but to a Real Schule, and only later acquired the classical education given in the Gymnasia. I can only regard this as a remarkable dispensation of my karma. For in the town where I spent my youth the Gymnasium was only a few steps away from the Real Schule and it was by a hair's breadth that I went, not to the Gymnasium but to the Real Schule. If, however, at that time I had gone to the Gymnasium in the town, I should have become a priest in the Cistercian Order. Of that there is no doubt whatever. For at this Gymnasium all the teachers were Cistercians. I was deeply attracted to all these priests, many of whom were extremely learned men. I read a great deal that they wrote and was profoundly stirred by it. I loved these priests and the only reason why I passed the Cistercian Order by was because I did not attend the Gymnasium. Karma led me elsewhere ... but for all that I did not escape the Cistercian Order. I have spoken of this too in my autobiography. I was always of a sociable disposition, and in my autobiography I have written of how, later on, in the house of Marie Eugenie della Grazie in Vienna, I came into contact with practically every theologian in the city. Nearly all of them were Cistercian priests. And in this way a vista opened out, inducing one to go back in time ... for me personally it came very naturally ... a vista leading through the stream of the Cistercian Order back to the School of Chartres. For Alanus ab Insulis had been a Cistercian. And strange to say, when, later on, I was writing my first Mystery Play, The Portal of Initiation, I simply could not, for reasons of aesthetic necessity, do otherwise than clothe the female characters on the stage in a costume consisting of a long tunic and what is called a stole. If you picture such a garment—a yellowish-white tunic with a black stole and black girdle—there you have the robe of the Cistercian Order. I was thinking at the time only of aesthetic necessities, but this robe of the Cistercian Order came very naturally before me. There you have one indication of how connections unfold before those who are able to perceive the inner, spiritual significance of symptoms appearing in the external world.

A beginning was made at Christmas more and more to draw aside the veils from these inner connections. They must be brought to light, for mankind is waiting for knowledge of inner reality, having for centuries experienced only that of the outer, material world, and civilisation to-day is in a terrible position. Among the many indications still to be given, we shall, on the one side, have to speak of the work of the School of Chartres, of how Initiates in this School passed through the gate of death and encountered in the spiritual world those souls who later wore the robe of the Dominicans in order to spread Aristotelianism with its intellectuality and to prepare with vigour and energy the epoch of the Spiritual (or Consciousness) Soul. And so—let me put it in this way—in the Anthroposophical Society we have Aristotelianism working on, but in a spiritualised form, and awaiting its further spiritualisation. Then, at the end of the century many of those who are here to-day, will return, but they will be united, then, with those who were the teachers in the School of Chartres. The aim of the Anthroposophical Society is to unite the two elements. The one element is the Aristotelianism in the souls who were for the most part connected with the old Pagan wisdom, who were waiting for Christianity and who retained this longing until, as Dominicans, they were able through the activity of the intellect to promulgate Christianity. They will be united with souls who had actually experienced Christianity in the physical world and whose greatest teachers gathered together in the School of Chartres. Up to now, these teachers of Chartres have not incarnated, although in my contact with the Cistercian Order I was able again and again to come across incorporations of many of those who were in the School of Chartres. In the Cistercian Order one met many a personality who was not a reincarnation of a pupil of Chartres but in whose life there were periods when—for hours, for days—he was inspired by some such Individuality from the School of Chartres. It was a matter, in these cases, of incorporation, not incarnation. And wonderful things were written, of which one could only ask: who is the actual author? The author was not the monk who in the Cistercian Order at that time wore the yellowish-white robe with the black stole and girdle, but the real author was the personality who for hours, days or weeks had come down into the soul of one of these Cistercian Brothers. Much of this influence worked on in essays or writings little known in literature.—I myself once had a remarkable conversation with a Cistercian who was an extremely learned man. I have mentioned it, too, in The Course of My Life. We were going away from a gathering, and speaking about the Christ problem. I propounded my ideas which were the same, essentially, as those I give in my lectures. He became uneasy while I was speaking, and said: ‘We may possibly hit upon something of the kind; we shall not allow ourselves to think such things.’ He spoke in similar terms about other problems of Christology. But then we stopped for a short time—the moment stands most vividly before me—it was where the Schottenring and the Burgring meet in Vienna, on the one side the Hofburg and on the other the Hotel de France and the Votiv-Kirche ... we stopped for a minute or two and the man said: “I should like you to come with me. I will give you a book from my library in which something remarkable is said on the subject you have been speaking about.” I went with him and he gave me a book about the Druses. The whole circumstances of our conversation in connection with the perusal of this book led me to the knowledge that when, having started from Christology, I went on to speak of repeated earthly lives, this deeply learned man was, as it were, emptied mentally in a strange way, and when he came to himself again remembered only that he possessed a book about the Druses in which something was said about reincarnation. He knew about it only from this one book. He was a Hofrat (Councillor) at the University of Vienna and was so erudite that it was said of him: “Hofrat N. knows the whole world and three villages besides.” ... so great was his learning—but in his bodily existence he knew only that in a book about the Druses something was said about repeated earthly lives. This is an example of the difference between what men have in their subconsciousness and what flows as the spiritual world through their souls.—And then a noteworthy episode occurred. I was once giving a lecture in Vienna. The same person was there and after the lecture he made a remark which could only be interpreted in the sense that at this moment he had complete understanding of a certain man belonging to the present age and of the relation of this man to his earlier incarnation. And what the person said on that occasion about the connection between two earthly lives, was correct, was not false. But through his intellect he understood nothing; it simply came from his lips.

By this I want only to indicate how spiritual movements reach into the immediate present. But what to-day shines in as it were through many tiny windows must in the future become a unity through that connection between the leaders of the School of Chartres and the leading spirits of Scholasticism, when the spiritual revival whereby intellectualism itself is lifted to the Spirit, sets in at the end of the twentieth century. To make this possible, let human beings of the twentieth century not throw away their opportunities! But everything to-day depends upon free will, and whether the two allied groups will be able to descend for the re-spiritualisation of culture in the twentieth century—this depends very specially upon whether the Anthroposophical Society understands how to cultivate Anthroposophy with the right devotion.

So much for to-day.—We have heard of the connection of the anthroposophical stream with the deep mystery of the epoch which began with the manifestation of the Christ in the Mystery of Golgotha and has developed in the way I have described. More will be said in the second lecture.

Erster Vortrag

Gestern konnte ich wegen der verspäteten Ankunft nicht diejenigen Worte zu Ihnen sprechen, die ich gerne gesprochen hätte und die angemessen sein sollen dem, was seit der Weihnachtstagung am Goetheanum in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft geworden ist. Ich möchte auch, da ja durch das Mitteilungsblatt im wesentlichen unter unseren Freunden bekanntgeworden ist, was mit jener Weihnachtstagung gemeint war, nur kurz über das Allerwesentlichste sprechen und dann fortfahren in den Betrachtungen, die mehr innerlich mit dem zusammenhängen, was diese Weihnachtstagung für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft zu bedeuten hat.

Diese Weihnachtstagung sollte ja eine Erneuerung, man möchte sagen, eine Begründung der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft darstellen. Bis zu dieser Weihnachtstagung konnte ich immer unterscheiden zwischen der anthroposophischen Bewegung und der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft. Die letztere sollte gleichsam die irdische Projektion von etwas darstellen, das in den geistigen Welten in einer gewissen Strömung des geistigen Lebens vorhanden ist. Was hier auf der Erde gelehrt wird, was hier als anthroposophische Weisheit mitgeteilt wird, das sollte eben der Abglanz dessen sein, was in geistigen Welten gemäß der Entwickelungsphase der Menschheit in den gegenwärtigen Zeiten erfließt. Dann war die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft gewissermaßen die Verwalterin desjenigen, was da als anthroposophisches Lehrgut durch die anthroposophische Bewegung floß.

Das hat sich im Laufe der Zeit nicht als dasjenige herausgestellt, was mit einer echten, wahren Pflege des Anthroposophischen zusammenhängen kann. Deshalb trat die Notwendigkeit ein, daß ich selbst, der ich bis dahin - ohne alle offizielle Verbindung mit der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft - Lehrer des Anthroposophischen war, daß ich selbst mit dem Dornacher Vorstande zusammen die Führung in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft als solcher übernehmen mußte. Damit aber ist anthroposophische Bewegung und Anthroposophische Gesellschaft eins geworden. Und seit jener Dornacher Weihnachtstagung muß gerade das Entgegengesetzte gelten: Man muß nicht mehr unterscheiden zwischen anthroposophischer Bewegung und Anthroposophischer Gesellschaft, sondern beide sollen eins sein. Und diejenigen, die mir zur Seite stehen als der Vorstand am Goetheanum, sollen angesehen werden als eine Art esoterischer Vorstand. So daß das, was durch diesen Vorstand geschieht, so charakterisiert werden kann, daß es ist: Anthroposophie tun, während früher nur verwaltet werden konnte, was in Anthroposophie gelehrt wurde.

Das bedeutet aber zugleich, daß die ganze Anthroposophische Gesellschaft nach und nach auf eine andere Basis gestellt werden muß, auf eine Basis, die möglich macht, daß das Esoterische unmittelbar durch die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft ströme, und in dem Entgegenbringen der entsprechenden Gesinnung von seiten derjenigen, die Anthroposophen sein wollen, wird das bestehen müssen, was in der Zukunft das eigentliche Wesen der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft ausmacht. Daher wird man zu unterscheiden haben zwischen der Allgemeinen Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, die in der Zukunft eine völlig öffentliche Gesellschaft sein wird, so daß auch die Zyklen, wie damals zu Weihnachten verkündet wurde, für jeden zu haben sein werden — mit jenen entsprechenden Klauseln, die ja eine Art ideell-spiritueller Begrenzung darstellen -, und der innerhalb dieser Allgemeinen Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft ja seitdem begründeten Schule, welche nach und nach drei Klassen umfassen wird. Bis jetzt konnte nur die erste Klasse begründet werden. Wer Mitglied dieser Schule werden will, muß dann andere Pflichten übernehmen als diejenigen, die nur die allgemeinen Mitglieder der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft sind. Mitglied der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft kann werden, wer sich für Anthroposophie interessiert und das Lehrgut entgegennimmt; er geht damit eigentlich keine anderen Verpflichtungen ein als die, welche jeder anständige Mensch von selbst aus moralischen Gründen befolgt.

Damit wird in gründlicher Weise so manches weggeschafft, was als Schäden gerade in den letzten Jahren innerhalb der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft aufgetreten ist und was manchem Mitgliede schwere Stunden bereitet, weil allerlei Gründungen entstanden sind, die ja aus sogenanntem gutem Willen hervorgegangen sind, die aber doch nicht das werden konnten, was man von ihnen sagte, und die eigentlich die anthroposophische Bewegung nach Nebenströmungen abgeleitet haben. In der Zukunft wird anthroposophische Bewegung in menschlicher Weise dasjenige sein, was durch die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft fließt.

Je mehr dies eingesehen wird, desto gedeihlicher wird es für die anthroposophische Bewegung sein. Und ich darf sagen: Dadurch, daß damals zu Weihnachten jener Impuls bei den am Goetheanum Versammelten geherrscht hat, ist es seit jenem Weihnachten möglich geworden, einen ganz anderen Ton in die anthroposophische Bewegung zu bringen. Und zu meiner tiefen Befriedigung darf ich bemerken, daß an den verschiedenen Orten, wo ich bisher sein konnte, dieser Ton mit herzlichem Entgegenkommen überall aufgenommen worden ist. Man darf schon sagen: Was zu Weihnachten übernommen worden ist, war in gewissem Sinne ein Wagnis. Denn es war eine gewisse Eventualität vorhanden: diese, daß vielleicht — dadurch, daß die Leitung der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft unmittelbar zusammengebracht wurde mit der Vertretung des spirituellen Weisheitsgutes — jene geistigen Mächte, welche in der geistigen Welt die anthroposophische Bewegung leiten, ihre Hände hätten abziehen können. Es darf gesagt werden, daß dies nicht der Fall war, sondern das Gegenteil ist der Fall: Mit einer größeren Gnade, mit einem höheren Wohlwollen kommen diese geistigen Mächte demjenigen entgegen, was durch die anthroposophische Bewegung fließt. Es liegt auch in einem gewissen Sinne ein Versprechen vor gegenüber der geistigen Welt. Dieses Versprechen wird in unverbrüchlicher Weise erfüllt werden, und man wird sehen, daß in der Zukunft die Dinge geschehen werden, wie sie der geistigen Welt gegenüber versprochen wurden. So daß nicht nur der anthroposophischen Bewegung, sondern auch der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft gegenüber dem Vorstande eine Verantwortung auferlegt ist.

Dagegen muß von denen, die Mitglieder der Schule werden wollen, verlangt werden, daß sie sich im Leben darstellen als richtige Repräsentanten der anthroposophischen Bewegung und daß sie im Einklange handeln mit dem esoterischen Vorstande am Goetheanum in Dornach. Damit ist also gesagt, daß der, der Mitglied der Schule sein will, sich auch bemühen muß, die Anthroposophie durch seine eigene Persönlichkeit in der Welt darzustellen. Das bedingt natürlich, daß die Leitung der Schule, wenn sie der Meinung ist, daß jemand nicht einen Repräsentanten der anthroposophischen Bewegung darstellt, sich vorbehalten muß, erklären zu können, daß der Betreffende nicht weiter Mitglied der Schule sein kann. — Sagen Sie nicht, das sei eine Beeinträchtigung der menschlichen Freiheit. Sondern es ist sozusagen ein freies Vertragsverhältnis zwischen den Mitgliedern der Schule und der Leitung der Schule; denn auch die Leitung der Schule muß frei sein, das, was sie sagen will, dem zu sagen, dem sie es zu sagen hat. Daher muß sie dem, von dem sie meint, daß sie nicht zu ihm sprechen kann, dies auch bezeichnen können.

In der ganzen Auffassung des esoterischen Zuges, der fortan gehen wird durch die anthroposophische Bewegung, wird das Gedeihliche, wird die fruchtbare Entwickelung der anthroposophischen Sache liegen. Es wird darauf gesehen werden, daß nichts Bürokratisches, nichts ÄAußerlich-Verwaltungsmäßiges die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft berührt, sondern daß alles lediglich beruhe auf dem innerhalb der Gesellschaft zu pflegenden Menschlichen. Gewiß, auch der Vorstand am Goetheanum wird allerlei verwalten müssen; das wird aber nicht die Hauptsache sein. Das Wesentliche wird sein, daß der Vorstand am Goetheanum dies oder jenes aus seiner Initiative heraus tue. Und das, was er tut, was er in Mannigfaltigkeit schon begonnen hat, wird eben Inhalt der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft sein.

Nur diese paar Worte wollte ich vorausschicken, um sogleich etwas anzuschließen, was nunmehr gesagt werden kann und was von der Art ist, daß es Inhalt werden kann der anthroposophischen Bewegung. Ich möchte etwas sprechen, was zusammenhängt mit dem Karma der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft selbst.

Wenn wir heute ins Auge fassen, wie die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft als die Verkörperung der anthroposophischen Bewegung in der Welt drinnensteht, dann sehen wir, daß eine Anzahl von Menschen innerhalb dieser Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft zusammenkommt. Wer ein Auge dafür hat, der sieht, daß noch andere Menschen in der Welt da sind - überall findet man solche Menschen -, die nach ihrem Karma auch die Vorbedingungen dazu haben, an die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft heranzukommen. Sie finden zunächst Hindernisse, sie finden nicht in vollem Sinne sogleich den Weg zu ihr; aber sie werden ihn, entweder in dieser Inkarnation oder in der nächsten, schon finden. Das aber müssen wir ins Auge fassen: daß diejenigen Menschen, die durch ihr Karma an die anthroposophische Bewegung herankommen, für diese Bewegung vorbestimmt sind.

Alles das nun, was hier innerhalb der physisch-sinnlichen Welt geschieht, hat sein Vorgeschehen in geistigen Welten. Nichts geschieht hier in der physischen Welt, was nicht vorher in geistiger Art in der geistigen Welt vorbereitet ist. Und das ist gerade das Bedeutungsvolle: Was mit dem 20. Jahrhundert hier auf der Erde sich vollzieht als das Zusammenströmen einer Anzahl von Persönlichkeiten zu der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft, das hat sich in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts dadurch vorbereitet, daß die Seelen dieser heute verkörperten Menschen, die da in großer Anzahl zusammenströmen, im Geistigen vereinigt waren, als sie noch nicht in die physisch-sinnliche Welt herabgestiegen waren. Und es ist dazumal in den geistigen Welten von einer Anzahl von Seelen, zusammen wirkend, eine Art von Kultus gepflegt worden, ein Kultus, der die Vorbereitung für diejenigen Sehnsuchten war, die in den Seelen aufgetreten sind, welche in Leibern jetzt zur Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft zusammenströmen. Und wer die Gabe hat, die Seelen in ihren Leibern wiederzuerkennen, der erkennt sie, wie sie in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts mit ihm zusammen gewirkt haben, als in der übersinnlichen Welt hingestellt worden sind mächtige kosmische Imaginationen, welche dasjenige darstellen, was ich nennen könnte: das neue Christentum. Da waren - wie jetzt hier in Leibern auf Erden — die Seelen vereinigt, um sich aus dem, was ich die kosmische Substantialität und die kosmischen Kräfte nennen möchte, in Realität dasjenige zusammenzufügen, was in mächtigen Bildern kosmische Bedeutung hatte und was der Vorklang desjenigen war, das sich hier als Lehre, als anthroposophisches Tun auf der Erde vollziehen soll. Ich möchte sagen: die weitaus meisten der Anthroposophen, die beisammensitzen, könnten, wenn sie diesen Tatbestand durchschauen würden, einander sagen: Ja, wir kennen uns, wir waren in geistigen Welten zusammen und haben in einem übersinnlichen Kultus mächtige kosmische Imaginationen zusammen gehabt!

Aber alles, was so als Seelen in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts zusammengeströmt war, um das vorzubereiten, was auf der Erde anthroposophische Bewegung werden sollte, alles das bereitete im Grunde genommen dasjenige vor, was ich immer wieder genannt habe: die Michael-Strömung, die im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts aufgetreten ist und die den bedeutendsten geistigen Einschlag in der neueren Entwickelungsströmung der Menschheit bildet. Michael-Strömung: Michael die Wege vorzubereiten für sein irdisch-himmlisches Wirken — das war die Aufgabe der Seelen, die da zusammen waren.

Diese Seelen aber waren wieder veranlaßt zusammenzukommen durch das, was mit ihnen durch lange, lange Zeit- durch Jahrhunderte, bei vielen durch Jahrtausende — vorgegangen war. Und innerhalb dieser Seelen finden sich hauptsächlich zwei Gruppen. Die eine Gruppe ist die, welche in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten dasjenige Christentum durchgemacht hat, das eben in dieser Zeit in Südeuropa, zum Teil auch in Mitteleuropa verbreitet war. Dieses Christentum hatte noch für seine Gläubigen einen Christus im Auge, der angeschaut worden ist als der große göttliche Sendbote, der von der Sonne auf die Erde heruntergestiegen ist, um weiterhin unter den Menschen zu wirken. Als der «große Sonnengott» wurde — mit mehr oder weniger größerem oder geringerem Verständnis — von den ersten Christen der ersten Jahrhunderte dieser Christus angesehen.

Aber es war in diesen ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten nicht mehr dasjenige da, was einmal in der Menschheit instinktives Hellsehen war. Man sah nicht mehr in der Sonne das große geistige Reich, in dessen Mittelpunkt einmal der Christus gelebt hat. An der Stelle der alten instinktiven hellseherischen Einsichten von dem Herunterstieg des Christus auf die Erde griff gerade in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten dasjenige Platz, was bloße Tradition war, Tradition davon, daß der Christus von der Sonne auf die Erde heruntergestiegen ist und sich mit dem Jesus von Nazareth im physischen Leibe vereinigt hat. Die Masse dieser Christen hatte nichts mehr als die Vorstellung, daß einmal in Palästina eine Wesenheit gelebt hatte, der Christus Jesus, über dessen Natur und Wesenheit, ob er Gott oder Gott und Mensch zugleich oder etwas Ähnliches gewesen war, man anfing, in den Konzilien zu streiten. Die Masse der Menschen hatte immer mehr und mehr nur das, was man von Rom aus diktierte.

Aber da lebten unter der Masse dieser Christen einzelne, die immer mehr als Ketzer angesehen wurden. Sie hatten noch die lebendig-traditionelle Erinnerung daran, daß der Christus ein Sonnenwesen war und daß einmal ein der Erde ganz fremdes Wesen, eben ein Sonnenwesen, auf die Erde heruntergestiegen ist in diese physisch-sinnliche Welt. Diese Seelen sind in den Jahrhunderten bis zum 7., 8. nachchristlichen Jahrhundert immer mehr und mehr in die Lage versetzt worden, daß sie sich sagten: Was nun als Christentum nachkommt, das versteht eigentlich den Christus nicht mehr! — Diese ketzerischen Seelen, sie wurden, man möchte sagen, Christentum-müde. Und es gab einfach solche Seelen, die in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten, bis zum 7. und 8. hin, durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind, die Christentum-müde geworden waren. Für diese Seelen, gleichgültig, ob sie eine Zwischeninkarnation gehabt haben oder nicht, wurde maßgebend die Inkarnation, die sie in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten hatten. — Diese Seelen bereiteten sich vom 8., 9. Jahrhundert ab in der geistigen Welt vor für jenes große, gewaltige Wirken, das ich eben andeutete, indem ich sagte: Eine Art übersinnlicher Kultus fand statt in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. An diesem Kultus nahmen diese Seelen teil. Sie bilden die eine Gruppe der Seelen, die zur Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft gekommen sind.

Die anderen Seelen sind solche, die ihre letzte maßgebende Inkarnation in den letzten vorchristlichen Jahrhunderten - nicht in den ersten christlichen — gehabt haben und die noch in den Mysterien des alten, vorchristlichen Heidentums mit hellseherischem Blick hineinschauen konnten in die geistige Welt. Es waren solche Seelen, die in den alten Mysterien davon Kenntnis bekommen hatten, wie der Christus einst herabsteigen wird auf die Erde. Diese Seelen machten nicht die ersten Zeiten der christlichen Entwickelung auf der Erde durch, sondern sie waren während dieser Zeit im Übersinnlichen und kamen erst später, nach dem 7. nachchristlichen Jahrhundert, zu einer maßgebenden Inkarnation. Das sind solche Seelen, die gewissermaßen vom Gesichtspunkte des Übersinnlichen aus das Hereintreten des Christus in die Erdenkultur mit angesehen haben. Sie waren die Christentum-Sehnsüchtigen. Aber sie waren zugleich die, die mit starker Aktivität dahin wirken wollten, um ein echtes kosmisches, spirituelles Christentum in die Welt zu bringen.

Diese zweite Gruppe vereinigte sich mit den anderen Seelen zu jenem übersinnlichen Kultus, der in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts stattfand. Es fand so die große kosmisch-spirituelle Feier statt, die durch viele Jahrzehnte dauerte und ein geistig-spirituelles Geschehen in derjenigen Welt bildete, die unmittelbar an die physische angrenzt. Die Seelen waren da, die dann herabstiegen, die entweder als Christentummüde oder als Christentum-sehnsüchtige Seelen in der übersinnlichen Welt für die nächste Erdeninkarnation zusammengewirkt hatten. Dann kamen sie gegen das Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts zur Inkarnation und waren, indem sie auf die Erde herabstiegen, vorbereitet dazu, in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft zu kommen.

Alles das wurde aber eben durch Jahrhunderte vorbereitet. Hier auf der Erde hatte sich allmählich ein Christentum herausgebildet, welches die Evangelien so nahm, als ob sie nur von einem Wesen — Jesus von Nazareth - sprächen, das von irgendwelchen abstrakten Höhen her den Christus verkünden sollte. Man hatte keine Ahnung mehr, wie die Sternenwelt als der Ausdruck des Geistigen zusammenhängt mit der geistigen Welt, konnte daher auch nicht verstehen, was es bedeutet: der Christus, als ein göttlicher Sonnenheld, sei in den Jesus heruntergestiegen, um das Schicksal der Menschen zu teilen. — Für diejenigen, welche heute nach der üblichen Weise die Geschichte betrachten, sind ja gerade die allerwichtigsten Tatsachen nicht da. Vor allen Dingen ist kein rechtes Verständnis vorhanden für diese «ketzerischen» Seelen; sie kennen sich ja selber zumeist nicht, jene ketzerischen Seelen, die entweder als Christentum-müde oder Christentum-sehnsüchtige gegen das 20. Jahrhundert auf die Erde herabgestiegen sind. Gegen das 7., 8. Jahrhundert verschwand allmählich das an Traditionen über den Christus, was unter den Christentum-müde werdenden Ketzern lebte. Es blieb dann nur noch in kleinen Kreisen, wo es weitergepflegt worden ist bis in die Mitte des Mittelalters, bis ins 12. Jahrhundert hinein. Da waren kleine Kreise von, ich möchte sagen, gottbegnadeten Lehrern, die noch etwas erhalten haben von den Nachrichten der alten Zeiten über das spirituelle Christentum, über das kosmologische Christentum. Unter diesen waren auch solche, die diese Mitteilungen aus alten Zeiten empfingen und denen dabei etwas aufging wie eine Inspiration; so daß sie noch in sich selber einen, wenn auch nur starken oder schwachen, aber doch einen Abglanz desjenigen erleben konnten, was man in den ersten Jahrhunderten des Christentums — noch unter einer mächtigen Inspiration des Heruntersteigens des Sonnengottes in das Mysterium von Golgatha - erschauen konnte.

So waren also zwei Strömungen namentlich da. Einmal jene Strömung, die direkt hervorgeht aus den ketzerischen Bewegungen der ersten Jahrhunderte des Christentums. Diese Seelen waren noch durch das angeregt, was im alten griechischen Platonismus lebte. Sie waren so angeregt, daß, wenn durch die Mitteilungen aus den alten Zeiten der innere seelische Durchbruch kam, sie immerhin, wie eben unter einer zwar schwachen, aber doch vorhandenen Inspiration, hineinschauen konnten in das Herabsteigen und in das Wirken des Christus auf Erden. Es war die platonische Strömung. Die andere Strömung war zu etwas anderem ausersehen. Ihr gehörten namentlich diejenigen Seelen an, die ihre letzte maßgebliche Inkarnation in der vorchristlichen Zeit durchgemacht hatten und damals das Christentum als etwas Künftiges angeschaut hatten. Es war das die Strömung, die den Intellekt vorzubereiten hatte für dasjenige Zeitalter, das ich immer bezeichnet habe als in der ersten Hälfte des 15. Jahrhunderts beginnend. Da sollte das Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele heraufkommen, das Zeitalter, in welchem der menschliche Intellekt ausgebildet werden sollte. Das war im Gegensatz zu den Platonikern — aber im harmonischen Gegensatz zu ihnen vorbereitet durch die Aristoteliker. Und diejenigen, welche die aristotelische Lehre fortpflanzten bis ins 12. Jahrhundert, das waren noch die, welche ihre eigentliche maßgebende Inkarnation in der alten Heidenzeit, namentlich im Griechentum durchgemacht hatten. — Und dann kam - in der Mitte des Mittelalters, im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert — die große, die wunderbare, möchte ich sagen, Auseinandersetzung zwischen den Platonikern und den Aristotelikern. Und unter diesen Platonikern und Aristotelikern waren auch die Führer derjenigen, die als die zwei Gruppen von Seelen, die ich bezeichnet habe, die anthroposophische Bewegung forderten.

Gegen das 12. Jahrhundert hin bildete sich, wie durch eine innere Notwendigkeit, eine gewisse Schule aus, in der namentlich der Nachklang des alten platonischen Schauens auflebte. Das war die große, die herrliche Schule von Chartres. Sie hatte die großen Vertreter, welche noch Nachrichten hatten von den Geheimnissen des ersten Christentums; sie hatte diejenigen Vertreter, in deren Herzen und Seelen aus solchen Nachrichten dasjenige aufglänzte, was sie hineinschauen ließ in die geistigen Zusammenhänge, in die das Christentum hineingestellt war. In der Schule von Chartres in Frankreich, wo der herrliche, in so vielen großen Einzelheiten ausgeführteDom von Chartres ist, vereinigte sich, konzentrierte sich das, was kurz vorher, eben in kleinen Kreisen noch, viel verbreitet war. Wenn wir einen derjenigen nennen wollen, an den die Schule von Chartres anknüpfen konnte, die insbesondere am Ende des 11. und im 12. Jahrhundert blühte, so müssen wir nennen Peter von Compostella, der in inspirierten Einsichten in seiner eigenen Seele, in seinem eigenen Herzen das alte spirituelle Christentum erneuerte. Und neben ihm erleben wir eine ganze Reihe von wunderbaren Gestalten, die in Chartres lehrten. In diesem 12. Jahrhundert gab es in der Schule von Chartres ganz merkwürdige Töne über das Christentum. Da haben wir zum Beispiel Bernardus von Chartres, Bernardus Sylvestris, Johann Salisbury; da gab es aber namentlich den großen Alanus ab Insulis. Gewaltige Lehrer! Wie wenn Plato, interpretierend das Christentum, persönlich unter diesen Geistern gewirkt hätte, so sprachen sie in der Schule von Chartres. Sie lehrten den spirituellen Gehalt des Christentums. Die Schriften, die von ihnen herrühren, erscheinen vielleicht den heutigen Menschen, wenn sie sie lesen, abstrakt, was aber nur herkommt von der Abstraktheit der Seelen der heutigen Menschen. Die Schriften dieser großen Persönlichkeiten schildern die geistige Welt durchaus mit dem Einschlag des Christus. Und ich möchte Ihnen jetzt, meine lieben Freunde, so etwas vor die Seele hinstellen, wie es gelehrt wurde ganz besonders von Bernardus Sylvestris, von Alanus ab Insulis vor den eingeweihten Schülern. So paradox sich das für den heutigen Menschen ausnimmt - aber solche Erscheinungen gab es damals für den Schüler von Chartres.

Da wurde gelehrt: Das Christentum wird eine Erneuerung finden. Es wird in seinem geistigen Gehalt wieder verstanden werden, wenn das Kali Yuga, das finstere Zeitalter, abgelaufen sein wird und ein neues Zeitalter angebrochen sein wird. — Das aber ist mit dem Jahre 1899 für uns Heutige nunmehr abgelaufen; darum der heutige Umschwung, der mit dem Ablauf des Kali Yuga für die Menschheit geschehen sollte. Der ungeheure Impuls, der zwei Jahrzehnte vorher durch das Eingreifen des Michael geschehen ist, er wurde in der Schule von Chartres im 12. Jahrhundert bereits prophetisch vorausgesagt, insbesondere von Bernardus Sylvestris und Alanus ab Insulis. Aber diese Menschen lehrten nicht aristotelisch, sie lehrten nicht mit dem Intellekt. Sie lehrten ganz und gar in mächtigen Bildern, die sie vor ihren Zuhörern entrollten — Bilder, in denen anschaulich das hingestellt wurde, was spiritueller Gehalt des Christentums ist. Aber gewisse prophetische Lehren gab es. Und von einer solchen möchte ich ganz im Auszuge etwas vor Ihre Seelen hinstellen.

Da sagte Alanus ab Insulis zu einem engen Kreise seiner eingeweihten Schüler: Wir schauen heute die Welt so an, daß wir noch die Mittelpunktstellung der Erde erkennen, daß wir von der Erde aus alles beurteilen. Wenn man mit dieser irdischen Anschauung, die uns zu unseren Bildern, zu unseren Imaginationen befähigt, die folgenden Jahrhunderte allein befruchten würde, dann würde die Menschheit nicht fortschreiten können. Wir müssen ein Bündnis eingehen mit den Aristotelikern, die in die Menschheit den Intellekt hereinbringen, der dann spiritualisiert werden soll und im 20. Jahrhundert in einer neuen spirituellen Weise unter den Menschen aufleuchten soll. Wenn wir jetzt die Erde als den Mittelpunkt des Kosmos anschauen, wenn wir die Planeten als um die Erde kreisend, wenn wir den ganzen Sternenhimmel, wie er sich zunächst auch für das physische Auge darbietet, so beschreiben, als wenn er sich drehen würde um die Erde, so wird aber doch einer kommen und wird sagen: Stellen wir einmal die Sonne räumlich in den Mittelpunkt des Weltensystems! Dann aber, wenn dieser kommt, der die Sonne räumlich in den Mittelpunkt des Weltalls stellt, dann wird die Weltanschauung veröden. Die Menschen werden dann nur noch die Bahnen der Planeten ausrechnen, werden nur noch die Orte der Himmelskörper angeben. Die Menschen werden von den Himmelskörpern nur sprechen wie von Gasen oder physischen Körpern, die da brennen und brennend leuchten; sie werden nur ganz mathematisch-mechanisch etwas von dem Sternenhimmel wissen. Aber das, was da als öde Weltanschauung sich ausbreiten wird, das hat doch eines- ein Armseliges —, aber eines hat es: Wir schauen von der Erde aus die Welt an; der, der da kommen wird, wird von der Sonne aus die Welt anschauen. Er wird sein wie einer, der nur die «Richtung» angibt, die Richtung auf einen großartig bedeutsamen, mit den wunderbarsten Ereignissen und wunderbarsten Wesenheiten ausgestalteten Weg. Aber er gibt nur die abstrakte Richtung an — damit war auf die kopernikanische Weltanschauung hingedeutet, in ihrer Ode, in ihrer Abstraktheit, aber als Richtung -, denn alles das muß zuerst fort, was wir mit unseren Imaginationen vertreten, so sagte Alanus ab Insulis; das muß fort, und gewissermaßen ganz abstrakt muß das Weltbild werden, fast nur wie ein Meilenzeiger auf einem Wege mit wunderbaren Denkmälern. Denn da wird in der geistigen Welt einer sein, der diesen Meilenzeiger, der für die Erneuerung der Welt nichts anderes haben wird als Richtung, nehmen wird, damit er dann, mit dem Intellektualismus zusammen, die neue Spiritualität begründen kann, einer, der nichts wird brauchen können als diesen Meilenzeiger. Das aber wird sein, wie Alanus ab Insulis sagte, Sankt Michael! Für ihn muß das Feld frei werden; er muß den Weg mit neuen Saaten besäen. Dazu muß nichts anderes da sein als Linie, mathematische Linie.

Es ging etwas wie ein Zauber durch die Schule von Chartres, wenn Alanus ab Insulis so etwas vor nur wenigen Schülern lehrte. Aber es war ja so, wie wenn die ätherische Welt ringsumher von den Wellenschlägen dieser mächtigen Michaels-Lehre ergriffen worden wäre.

So breitete sich aus, über den Westen Europas bis in den Süden Italiens, was dieser Welt die geistige Atmosphäre gab. Und manchen gab es, der es dann auffassen konnte, in dessen Seele etwas aufstieg wie eine mächtige Inspiration und der dann noch hineinschauen konnte in die geistige Welt.

Aber es ist ja so in der Entwickelung der Welt, daß die, welche in die großen Geheimnisse des Daseins eingeweiht sind, wie bis zu einem gewissen Grade Alanus ab Insulis und Bernardus Sylvestris, wissen: in beschränktem Maße kann man immer nur dies oder jenes tun! Ein solcher Mensch wie Alanus ab Insulis sagte sich: Wir, die Platoniker, müssen durch die Pforte des Todes gehen, wir können zunächst nur in der geistigen Welt leben. Wir müssen herabschauen aus der geistigen Welt und die physische Welt anderen überlassen, denjenigen, die in aristotelischer Weise den Intellekt ausbilden. Der muß jetzt fortgepflegt werden. Alanus ab Insulis nahm in vorgerücktem Alter noch das Zisterzienser-Ordenskleid an, er wurde Zisterzienser. Und im ZisterzienserOrden war vieles von solchen Lehren. Aber gerade diejenigen unter den Zisterziensern, welche die tieferen Einsichten hatten, sagten sich: Wir können fortan nur von der geistigen Welt aus wirken, wir müssen das Feld den Aristotelikern überlassen.

Diese Aristoteliker wurden hauptsächlich die Dominikaner. Und so ging an sie im 13. Jahrhundert die Führung in der geistigen Welt Europas über. Aber es war, ich möchte sagen, noch etwas, das bedeutsam in das europäische Geistesleben eingriff, zurückgeblieben gerade von diesen Geistern: Peter von Compostella, Alanus ab Insulis, Bernardus von Chartres, Johann Salisbury und jenem Dichter, der von den sieben freien Künsten ein bedeutendes Gedicht aus der Schule von Chartres heraus verfaßte. Was in der Schule von Chartres vorging, es war ja so wirksam, daß es zum Beispiel bis an die Universität von Orleans herunterwirkte, wo in der zweiten Hälfte des 12. Jahrhunderts manches in lehrhafter Weise von dem durchdrang, was in so großen, gewaltigen Bildern wie mit Silberworten von des Bernardus Sylvestris, von des Alanus ab Insulis Munde floß an die Schüler von Chartres. Aber ich möchte sagen, die geistige Atmosphäre war soweit durchdrungen von diesem, daß einmal ein Mensch, der als Italiener von seiner spanischen Gesandtenstellung zurückkam und bei seiner Rückkehr, als er seiner Heimat zueilte, von der Vertreibung der Welfenherrschaft daselbst erfuhr, wozu noch ein leichter Sonnenstich hinzukam, bei Florenz in die Lage kommen konnte, daß sein Ätherleib aussetzte, und auffing, was gewissermaßen aus der Schule von Chartres ätherisch herüberwehte, was davon erhalten geblieben war. Und er bekam durch das, was so zu ihm ätherisch herüberwehte, etwas wie eine Intuition, eine Intuition, wie sie bei vielen in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten vorhanden war. Er sah zunächst vor sich ausgebreitet die irdische Welt, wie sie um den Menschen herum ist, aber nicht beherrscht, wie man später sagte, von Naturgesetzen, sondern beherrscht von der großen Gehilfin des göttlichen Demiurgos, von der Natura, welche die Nachfolgerin der Proserpina in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten war. Damals gab es nicht abstrakte Naturgesetze; da schauten die Eingeweihten wesenhaft das, was in der Natur wirkte als eine umfassende göttliche Macht. In den griechischen Mysterien wurde die Proserpina, die ihre Zeit teilt zwischen Oberwelt und Unterwelt, dargestellt als die die Natur beherrschende Macht. Ihre Nachfolgerin in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten war die Göttin Natura.

Nachdem jene Persönlichkeit, die durch Sonnenstich und durch das Herüberwehen dessen, was in der Schule von Chartres gepflegt wurde, so hineingeschaut hatte in das Leben und Weben der Göttin Natura und dann weiter diese Intuition auf sich wirken ließ, schaute sie das Wirken der Elemente, Erde, Wasser, Luft, Feuer, wie man es in den alten Mysterien gesehen hat: das machtvolle Weben der Elemente. Dann sah sie die Geheimnisse der Menschenseele, sah jene sieben Mächte, von denen man wußte, daß sie die großen himmlischen Unterrichter des Menschengeschlechtes sind. Das wußte man in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten. Damals hat man nicht von solchen abstrakten Lehren gesprochen, wie das heute geschieht, wo man irgend etwas durch Begriffe und Ideen lehrt. In diesen ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten sprach man davon, daß man aus der geistigen Welt unterrichtet wird durch die Göttinnen Dialektik, Rhetorik, Grammatik, Arithmetik, Geometrie, Astrologie oder Astronomie und Musika. Diese sieben stellte man nicht abstrakt vor, wie in späterer Zeit: sie schaute man, sie sah man vor sich, ich kann nicht sagen leibhaftig, aber seelenhaftig. Man ließ sich unterrichten von diesen himmlischen Gestalten. Später erschienen sie den Menschen nicht mehr als die lebendigen Göttinnen Dialektik, Rhetorik und so weiter in einer einsamen Vision, sondern in abstrakten Formen, in abstrakt-theoretischen Lehren.

Diese Persönlichkeit, von der ich jetzt spreche, sie hat das alles noch auf sich wirken lassen. Und sie wurde dann eingeführt in die Planetenwelt, die zu gleicher Zeit die Geheimnisse der menschlichen Seele enthüllt. Und in der Sternenwelt, nachdem sie durchgegangen war durch den großen Weltenozean, wurde sie geführt durch Ovid, der durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen war und der Führer der Seelen in der geistigen Welt geworden war. Diese Persönlichkeit, Brunetto Latini, wurde der Lehrer des Dante. Und was Dante von Brunetto Latini gelernt hat, das hat er dann in seiner poetischen Weise in der «Divina Commedia» niedergelegt. So ist also das große Gedicht «Divina Commedia» ein letzter Abglanz dessen, was in platonischer Weise an einzelnen Stätten weiterlebte und was aus Sylvestris’ Munde in der Schule von Chartres im 12. Jahrhundert noch von solchen gelehrt wurde, die durch die alten Mitteilungen angeregt worden sind, so daß ihnen die Geheimnisse des Christentums aufgingen wie in besonderen Inspirationen, die sie dann durch die Worte ihren Schülern mitteilen konnten.

Was Alanus ab Insulis in den Zisterzienser-Orden hineingeleitet hat, das ging dann über an die Dominikaner, die namentlich den Intellekt, in Anknüpfung an Aristoteles, pflegten. Aber es gab da eine Zwischenzeit: Im 12. Jahrhundert blühte die Schule von Chartres, und im 13. Jahrhundert begann im Dominikaner-Orden das mächtige Wirken für die Scholastik im Sinne des Aristotelismus. Die, welche als die großen Lehrer der Schule von Chartres durch die Pforte des Todes hinaufgingen in die geistige Welt, sie waren dort noch eine Weile zusammen mit den durch die Geburt herabsteigenden Dominikanern, die dann nach ihrem Herabsteigen hier den Aristotelismus begründeten. Daher müssen wir also hinschauen auf eine Zwischenzeit, wo wie in einem großen himmlischen Konzil die letzten großen Lehrer von Chartres, nachdem sie durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen waren, beisammen waren mit denen, die als Dominikaner den Aristotelismus pflegen sollten, bevor diese letzteren heruntergestiegen waren. Da wurde in der geistigen Welt der große «himmlische Vertrag» geschlossen. Die, welche da unter der Führung des Alanus ab Insulis hinaufgekommen waren in die geistige Welt, sie sagten den heruntersteigenden Aristotelikern: Unsere Zeit ist jetzt nicht auf der Erde; wir haben zunächst hier von der geistigen Welt aus zu wirken. Wir können gar nicht in irgendwelche Inkarnationen in der nächsten Zeit auf die Erde herabsteigen. Eure Aufgabe ist es jetzt, den Intellekt zu pflegen im aufgehenden Bewußtseinsseelen-Zeitalter.

Dann kamen sie herunter, die großen Scholastiker, und führten dasjenige aus, was sie mit den letzten großen Platonikern der Schule von Chartres ausgemacht hatten. Manches Bedeutende trug sich da zu. Einer, der als einer der früheren heruntergekommen war, bekam zum Beispiel eine Botschaft durch einen anderen, der noch länger als er in der geistigen Welt bei Alanus ab Insulis geblieben war, das heißt bei derjenigen geistigen Individualität, die früher Alanus ab Insulis war. Der später Herunterkommende brachte diese Botschaft, das heißt, er wirkte zusammen mit dem Älteren, und es begann so auf der Erde die Vorbereitung für das intellektualistische Zeitalter, das ja im Dominikaner-Orden seinen Anfang genommen hat. Gerade der, welcher etwas länger bei Alanus ab Insulis in der geistigen Welt geblieben war, zog zuerst das Zisterzienser-Ordenskleid an und wechselte es erst später mit dem Dominikaner-Kleid. So wirkten also nunmehr auf der Erde diejenigen, die einstmals unter dem Einflusse desjenigen standen, was bei Aristoteles herausgekommen war, und oben «wachten» gewissermaßen, aber im Zusammenhange mit den auf der Erde wirkenden Aristotelikern, die Platoniker, die in der Schule von Chartres waren. Die geistige Welt ging mit der physischen Welt Hand in Hand. Es war gleichsam wie ein Handreichen der Aristoteliker mit den Platonikern durch das 13., 14., 15. Jahrhundert hin. Und dann waren ja auch schon wieder viele von denen, die heruntergestiegen waren, um in Europa den Aristotelismus einzuleiten, droben bei den anderen.

Aber die weitere Entwickelung ging so vor sich, daß sowohl die, welche in der Schule von Chartres die Führer waren, wie auch die, welche im Dominikaner-Orden die führenden Stellungen hatten, sich an die Spitze derjenigen stellten, welche in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts in jenem mächtigen übersinnlichen Kultus, der sich in den angedeuteten Bildern entfaltete, die spätere anthroposophische Strömung vorbereiteten. Es mußten zunächst diejenigen wieder heruntersteigen, die mehr oder weniger als Aristoteliker gewirkt hatten; denn unter dem Einfluß des Intellektualismus war noch nicht die Zeit gekommen, um die Spiritualität neuerdings zu vertiefen. Aber es bestand eine unverbrüchliche Abmachung, die weiter wirkt. Und nach dieser Abmachung muß aus dem, was anthroposophische Bewegung ist, etwas hervorgehen, was seine Vollendung vor dem Ablaufe dieses Jahrhunderts finden muß. Denn über der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft schwebt ein Schicksal: das Schicksal, daß viele von denjenigen, die heute in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft sind, bis zu dem Ablaufe des 20. Jahrhunderts wieder herunterkommen müssen auf die Erde, dann aber vereinigt mit jenen auch, die entweder selbst führend waren in der Schule von Chartres oder die Schüler von Chartres waren. So daß vor dem Ablaufe des 20. Jahrhunderts, wenn die Zivilisation nicht in die völlige Dekadenz kommen soll, auf der Erde die Platoniker von Chartres und die späteren Aristoteliker zusammenwirken müssen.

Das hat in der Zukunft mit vollem Bewußtsein die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft in sich aufzunehmen: etwas zu verstehen von ihrem Karma. Denn vieles ruht ja im Schoße der geistigen Entwickelung der Menschheit, was insbesondere heute nicht an die Oberfläche des Daseins kommen kann. Es erscheint heute manches recht äußerlich; aber wenn man das, was äußerlich erscheint, erkennen kann in seinen Symptomen, in seiner inneren Bedeutung, dann enthüllt sich gar manches von dem, was geistig in den Jahrhunderten lebt. Ich darf da vielleicht einiges andeuten. Und warum sollte denn das jetzt, wo der esoterische Zug durch die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft gehen soll, nicht angedeutet werden? Ich möchte einiges andeuten, was Ihnen zeigen soll, wie ein Hinschauen auf das, was um uns herum ist, Sie in mancherlei Zusammenhänge hineinschauen läßt.

Wenn ich selber, vorbereitend die anthroposophische Bewegung, einen besonderen Schicksalsweg durchgemacht habe, so zeigte sich dieses in einem ganz merkwürdigen Zusammenhange mit dem ZisterzienserOrden, der ja im Zusammenhange steht gerade mit Alanus ab Insulis. Ich bemerke für die, welche gerne Legenden bilden, daß ich mit Bezug auf meine eigene Individualität nichts zu tun habe mit Alanus ab Insulis. Ich möchte nur vermeiden, daß sich Legenden bilden aus dem, was ich esoterisch vorbringe. Es handelt sich darum, daß diese Dinge aus dem Esoterischen heraus dargestellt werden. In einer ganz merkwürdigen Weise hat mich mein Schicksal durch die äußeren Ereignisse auf das hinblicken lassen, was solche spirituellen Zusammenhänge lehren konnten, die ich jetzt dargestellt habe. Vielleicht kennen einige von Ihnen die Aufsätze «Mein Lebensgang» im «Goetheanum». Da mußte ich erzählen, wie ich in meiner Jugend nicht ein Gymnasium, sondern eine Realschule durchgemacht habe und mir die Gymnasialbildung erst später angeeignet habe. Ich muß das selber als eine merkwürdige Fügung meines Karma betrachten. Denn in der Stadt, wo ich meine Jugend durchmachte, waren nur ein paar Schritte vom Gymnasium zur Realschule, und um ein Haar handelte es sich, daß ich nicht in die Realschule, sondern ins Gymnasium gekommen wäre. Wäre ich aber damals in jener Stadt in das Gymnasium gekommen, so wäre ich Zisterzienser-Ordenspriester geworden. Das ist ganz zweifellos. Denn es war dies ein Gymnasium, an dem nur Zisterzienser lehrten. Ich hatte gar einen tiefen Hang zu allen diesen Patres, die auch zum großen Teile außerordentlich gelehrte Menschen waren. Ich las vieles, was diese Patres schrieben, es berührte mich außerordentlich tief; ich liebte diese Patres. Und eigentlich bin ich nur dadurch sozusagen neben dem Zisterzienser-Orden vorbeigegangen, daß ich gar nicht in das Gymnasium gekommen bin. Das Karma führte mich anders; aber der ZisterzienserOrden ließ mich nicht los. Das beschreibe ich auch. Ich war eine Natur, die immer gesellig lebte, und ich erzähle in meinem Lebensgange auch, daß ich später im Hause der Marie Eugenie delle Grazie mit fast allen Theologen dort verkehrte. Das waren fast alles Zisterzienser-Ordenspriester. Da bildete sich sozusagen die Perspektive aus, um zurückzugehen. Es war auch persönlich für mich sehr naheliegend: der Blick, die Perspektive bildete sich aus, durch die Strömung des ZisterzienserOrdens zurück in das geistige Leben hineinzukommen, bis in die Schule von Chartres. Denn Alanus ab Insulis war ein Zisterzienser. Und es ist merkwürdig: Als ich dann später das erste meiner Mysteriendramen, «Die Pforte der Einweihung», schrieb, da konnte ich aus ästhetischen Notwendigkeiten heraus gar nicht anders, als die Frauen in einer Bekleidung auf die Bühne zu bringen, die in einer langen Tunika und in dem bestand, was Stola genannt wird. Wenn Sie sich also ein solches Kleid so vorstellen, daß Sie eine gelblich-weiße Tunika haben, dazu die Stola schwarz und die Binde schwarz — dann haben Sie das Zisterzienser-Ordenskleid. Ich dachte damals nur an ästhetische Notwendigkeiten; aber es kam diese Bekleidung dem Zisterzienser-Ordenskleid sehr nahe. Da haben Sie einen Hinweis darauf, wie sich die Zusammenhänge für den ergeben, der in der äußeren Welt auftretende Symptome ihrer inneren spirituellen Bedeutung nach verfolgen kann.

Zu Weihnachten wurde damit begonnen, diese inneren Zusammenhänge immer mehr und mehr zu enthüllen. Sie müssen an den Tag kommen, denn die Menschheit wartet auf die Erkenntnis des Inneren, nachdem sie durch viele Jahrhunderte hindurch nur Äußeres erfahren hat und heute die Zivilisation in einer furchtbaren Lage ist. Unter dem vielen, was da kommen wird, muß der Hinweis stehen darauf, wie auf der einen Seite die Schule von Chartres gewirkt hat, wie die in dieser Schule Eingeweihten durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen sind, in der geistigen Welt noch diejenigen Seelen getroffen haben, die später das Dominikaner-Ordenskleid getragen haben, um den Aristotelismus mit seiner Intellektualität auszubreiten, um in kraftvoller Weise das Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele vorzubereiten. Und so haben wir, ich möchte sagen, fortwirkend in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft den Aristotelismus, nur heute spiritualisiert, und seine weitere Spiritualisierung erwartend. Dann werden, am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts, diejenigen kommen, von denen heute so mancher da ist, aber vereinigt mit jenen, welche die Lehrer der Schule von Chartres waren. Dahin zielt die anthroposophische Bewegung: beide in sich zu vereinigen. Aristotelismus in den Seelen, die vorzugsweise im alten Heidentum in Erwartung des Christentums standen und Christentum-sehnsüchtig gelebt haben, bis sie als Dominikaner das Christentum durch die Intellektualität verkünden konnten; sie werden vereinigt sein mit denjenigen, welche das Christentum noch in physischer Weise erlebt haben und deren bedeutendste Führer vereinigt waren in der Schule von Chartres. Diese letztern waren bisher nicht in einer Inkarnation, obwohl ich bei meinem Nahetreten dem Zisterzienser-Orden immer Inkorporationen von manchen derjenigen antreffen konnte, die in der Schule von Chartres waren. Denn im Zisterzienser-Orden begegnete man mancher Persönlichkeit, die nicht eine Wiederverkörperung eines Schülers von Chartres war, die aber Augenblicke im Leben hatte, wo sie in begeisterter Weise für Stunden, für Tage durchsetzt war von einer solchen Individualität aus der Schule von Chartres. Inkorporationen also, nicht Inkarnation lag da vor. Und Wunderbares ist da geschrieben worden, wovon man fragen muß: Wer ist der Schriftsteller? Der Schriftsteller ist nicht der Pater, der damals im Zisterzienser-Orden war, in dem blaßgelben Kleid mit der schwarzen Stola und schwarzen Binde; sondern der Schriftsteller ist in diesem Falle jene Persönlichkeit, die für Stunden oder für Tage oder Wochen in der Seele eines solchen Zisterzienser-Ordensbruders Platz gegriffen hatte. Davon hat dann noch manches nachgewirkt in solchen Aufsätzen oder Schriften, die wenig in der Literatur bekanntgeworden sind. Ich selber habe ein merkwürdiges Gespräch gehabt, von dem ich auch in «Mein Lebensgang» erzählt habe, mit einem Angehörigen des Zisterzienser-Ordens, der ein außerordentlich gelehrter Mann war. Wir gingen aus einer Gesellschaft fort und sprachen über das Christus-Problem. Ich setzte meine Ideen darüber auseinander, die im wesentlichen dieselben waren, die ich immer vortrage. Er sagte, indem er unruhig wurde, während ich dies auseinandersetzte: Wir mögen vielleicht auf so etwas kommen; wir werden uns nicht gestatten, so etwas zu denken. — In ähnlicher Weise sprach er sich über andere Probleme der Christologie aus. Aber dann blieben wir — der Moment steht mit großer Lebendigkeit vor meiner Seele — in Wien, dort wo der Schottenring und der Burgring aneinandergrenzen, auf der einen Seite die Hofburg, auf der anderen Seite das Hotel de France und die VotivKirche, etwas stehen, und da sagte der Mann zu mir: «Ich möchte, daß Sie mit mir gehen. Ich werde Ihnen aus meiner Bibliothek ein Buch geben; da steht etwas Merkwürdiges drin, was an das anknüpft, was Sie jetzt eben sagten.» Ich ging mit. Der Mann gab mir ein Buch über die Drusen. Aus dem ganzen Zusammenhange unseres Gespräches mit dem der Lektüre dieses Buches erfuhr ich, daß dieser grundgelehrte Mensch, als ich, von der Christologie ausgehend, auf die wiederholten Erdenleben zu reden kam, in einer ganz merkwürdigen Weise wie entgeistert war und, als er zu sich gekommen war, sich bloß erinnerte: er hat ein Buch über die Drusen, in dem steht etwas von der Wiederverkörperung. Aus dem einen einzigen Buche wußte er das. Er war so gelehrt, daß man — er war schon Hofrat an der Wiener Universität — von ihm sagte: Der Hofrat N.N. kennt die ganze Welt und noch drei Dörfer - so gelehrt war er, aber er wußte nicht mehr in seiner Leiblichkeit, als daß in einem Werke über die Drusen etwas über die wiederholten Erdenleben steht. Das ist der Unterschied zwischen dem, was die Menschen in ihrem Bewußtsein haben, und dem, was als die geistige Welt durch die Menschenseelen strömt. - Und dann kam das Merkwürdige, daß ich einmal in Wien einen Vortrag hielt. Dieselbe Persönlichkeit war dabei, und nach dem Vortrage machte sie eine Bemerkung, die gar nicht anders aufzufassen war, als daß der Mann in diesem Augenblicke ein volles Verständnis hatte für einen Menschen der Gegenwart und für die Beziehung dieses Menschen der Gegenwart zu seiner früheren Inkarnation. Und was er da über den Zusammenhang von zwei Erdenleben sagte, das war richtig, war nicht falsch. Aber er verstand gar nichts; er sprach das nur.

Ich will mit diesem nur andeuten, wie spirituelle Bewegungen hereinragen in die Gegenwart. Das aber, was heute nur wie durch kleine Fenster hereinschaut, muß in der Zukunft durch jene Verbindung zwischen den Führern der Schule von Chartres und den Führern der Scholastik eine Einheit werden, wenn die spirituelle Erneuerung, die auch das Intellektuelle in das Spirituelle heraufführt, mit dem Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts eintritt. Daß das eintrete, dürfen sich die Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts nicht verscherzen! Da aber alles heute vom freien Willen abhängt, so hängt, daß dies eintrete - namentlich ob die miteinander verbündeten Parteien herabsteigen können zur Wiederspiritualisierung der Kultur im 20. Jahrhundert —, auch davon ab, ob die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft versteht, im rechten Sinne hingebend die Anthroposophie zu pflegen.

Das ist, was ich heute sagen wollte: wie die anthroposophische Strömung zusammenhängt mit dem tiefen Geheimnis des Zeitalters, welches mit dem Erscheinen des Christus in dem Mysterium von Golgatha begonnen hat und sich so weiterentwickelt hat, wie ich es jetzt geschildert habe. Darin wollen wir im zweiten Vortrage fortfahren.

First Lecture

Due to my late arrival yesterday, I was unable to speak to you the words I would have liked to have spoken and which should be appropriate to what has happened in the Anthroposophical Society since the Christmas Conference at the Goetheanum. I would also like to speak only briefly about the most essential things, since our friends have essentially become aware of what was meant by that Christmas Conference through the newsletter, and then continue with the reflections that are more inwardly connected with what this Christmas Conference means for the Anthroposophical Society. Until this Christmas conference, I was always able to distinguish between the anthroposophical movement and the Anthroposophical Society. The latter was supposed to represent, as it were, the earthly projection of something that is present in the spiritual worlds in a certain current of spiritual life. What is taught here on earth, what is communicated here as anthroposophical wisdom, should be the reflection of what is flowing in the spiritual worlds according to the developmental phase of humanity in the present times. Then the Anthroposophical Society was to a certain extent the custodian of that which flowed through the anthroposophical movement as anthroposophical teaching.

In the course of time this did not turn out to be what can be connected with a genuine, true cultivation of anthroposophy. Therefore it became necessary that I myself, who until then - without any official connection with the Anthroposophical Society - had been a teacher of anthroposophy, had to take over the leadership of the Anthroposophical Society as such together with the Dornach Board. In this way, however, the anthroposophical movement and the Anthroposophical Society became one. And since the Dornach Christmas Conference, the opposite must be true: It is no longer necessary to distinguish between the anthroposophical movement and the Anthroposophical Society, but both should be one. And those who stand by my side as the Goetheanum's Executive Council should be regarded as a kind of esoteric Council. So that what happens through this Board can be characterized as: doing anthroposophy, whereas previously only what was taught in anthroposophy could be administered.

At the same time, however, this means that the whole Anthroposophical Society must gradually be placed on a different basis, a basis that makes it possible for the esoteric to flow directly through the Anthroposophical Society, and it will have to be in the adoption of the corresponding attitude on the part of those who want to be Anthroposophists that the real essence of the Anthroposophical Society will consist in the future. A distinction will therefore have to be made between the General Anthroposophical Society, which in the future will be a completely public society, so that the cycles, as was announced at Christmas, will be available to everyone - with the appropriate clauses, which represent a kind of ideal-spiritual limitation - and the school that has since been founded within this General Anthroposophical Society, which will gradually comprise three classes. So far only the first class has been established. Those who wish to become members of this school must then assume other duties than those who are only general members of the Anthroposophical Society. Anyone who is interested in anthroposophy and accepts the teaching material can become a member of the Anthroposophical Society; in doing so, he does not actually enter into any obligations other than those which every decent person follows of his own accord for moral reasons.

This is a thorough elimination of much of the damage that has occurred within the Anthroposophical Society in recent years, and which has caused many a member a difficult time, because all kinds of foundations have come into being that have emerged out of so-called good will, but which could not become what they were said to be, and which have actually diverted the anthroposophical movement into side currents. In the future, the anthroposophical movement will be, in a human way, that which flows through the Anthroposophical Society.

The more this is recognized, the more prosperous it will be for the anthroposophical movement. And I may say that because that impulse prevailed at Christmas among those gathered at the Goetheanum, it has been possible since that Christmas to bring a completely different tone to the anthroposophical movement. And to my deep satisfaction I can say that in the various places where I have been able to be so far, this tone has been received everywhere with a warm welcome. It is fair to say that what was taken on at Christmas was in a sense a gamble. For there was a certain possibility that perhaps - by bringing together the leadership of the Anthroposophical Society directly with the representation of spiritual wisdom - those spiritual powers which guide the anthroposophical movement in the spiritual world could have withdrawn their hands. It may be said that this was not the case, but the opposite is the case: with a greater grace, with a higher benevolence, these spiritual powers come to meet that which flows through the anthroposophical movement. In a certain sense, there is also a promise to the spiritual world. This promise will be fulfilled in an unbreakable way, and it will be seen that in the future things will happen as they have been promised to the spiritual world. So that not only the anthroposophical movement, but also the Anthroposophical Society has a responsibility to the Executive Council.

On the other hand, those who wish to become members of the School must be required to present themselves in life as true representatives of the anthroposophical movement and to act in harmony with the esoteric Executive Council at the Goetheanum in Dornach. This means that those who wish to be members of the School must also endeavor to represent Anthroposophy in the world through their own personality. This means, of course, that if the management of the school is of the opinion that someone is not a representative of the anthroposophical movement, it must reserve the right to declare that the person concerned can no longer be a member of the school. - Do not say that this is an infringement of human freedom. It is, so to speak, a free contractual relationship between the members of the school and the leadership of the school; for the leadership of the school must also be free to say what it wants to say to whom it has to say it. Therefore it must be able to say what it thinks it cannot say to those to whom it has to say it.

In the whole conception of the esoteric train that will henceforth run through the anthroposophical movement will lie the flourishing, the fruitful development of the anthroposophical cause. It will be seen to it that nothing bureaucratic, nothing extra-administrative touches the Anthroposophical Society, but that everything rests solely on the humanity to be cultivated within the Society. Certainly, the Executive Council at the Goetheanum will also have to administer all sorts of things; but that will not be the main thing. The essential thing will be that the Goetheanum Board does this or that on its own initiative. And what it does, what it has already begun in a variety of ways, will be the content of the Anthroposophical Society.

I just wanted to say these few words beforehand in order to follow up immediately with something that can now be said and which is of such a nature that it can become the content of the anthroposophical movement. I would like to speak about something that is connected with the karma of the Anthroposophical Society itself.

If we look today at how the Anthroposophical Society stands in the world as the embodiment of the anthroposophical movement, then we see that a number of people come together within this Anthroposophical Society. Those who have an eye for it will see that there are other people in the world - you find such people everywhere - who, according to their karma, also have the preconditions to come to the Anthroposophical Society. At first they find obstacles, they do not immediately find the way to it in the full sense; but they will find it, either in this incarnation or in the next. But we must bear this in mind: that those people who come to the anthroposophical movement through their karma are predestined for this movement.

Now everything that happens here within the physical-sensual world has its precedent in spiritual worlds. Nothing happens here in the physical world that is not prepared beforehand in a spiritual way in the spiritual world. And this is precisely what is significant: what is taking place here on earth in the 20th century as the streaming together of a number of personalities into the Anthroposophical Society was prepared in the first half of the 19th century by the fact that the souls of these people embodied today, who are streaming together in large numbers, were united in the spiritual when they had not yet descended into the physical-sensual world. And at that time a kind of cultus was cultivated in the spiritual worlds by a number of souls working together, a cultus that was the preparation for those longings that have arisen in the souls that are now streaming together in bodies to form the Anthroposophical Society. And whoever has the gift of recognizing the souls in their bodies will recognize them, as they worked together with him in the first half of the 19th century, as powerful cosmic imaginations were placed in the supersensible world, which represent what I could call: the new Christianity. There - as now here in bodies on earth - the souls were united in order to assemble in reality from what I would like to call cosmic substantiality and cosmic forces that which had cosmic meaning in powerful images and which was the forerunner of that which is to take place here as teaching, as anthroposophical activity on earth. I would like to say that the vast majority of anthroposophists sitting together, if they could see through these facts, could say to each other: Yes, we know each other, we were together in spiritual worlds and had powerful cosmic imaginations together in a supersensible cultus! But everything that came together as souls in the first half of the 19th century to prepare what was to become the anthroposophical movement on earth basically prepared what I have repeatedly called the Michael current, which emerged in the last third of the 19th century and which forms the most significant spiritual influence in the more recent developmental current of humanity. Michael current: To prepare the ways for Michael for his earthly-celestial work - that was the task of the souls who were together there.

But these souls were again caused to come together by what had happened to them through a long, long time - through centuries, for many through millennia. And within these souls there are two main groups. One group is the one that went through the Christianity of the first Christian centuries, which at that time was widespread in Southern Europe, and to some extent also in Central Europe. This Christianity still had a Christ in mind for its believers, who was seen as the great divine messenger who descended from the sun to earth in order to continue to work among people. This Christ was regarded as the “great sun god” - with more or less understanding - by the first Christians of the first centuries.

But in these first Christian centuries there was no longer that which was once instinctive clairvoyance in humanity. People no longer saw in the sun the great spiritual realm at the center of which the Christ once lived. In the place of the old instinctive clairvoyant insights of the descent of the Christ to earth, in the first Christian centuries in particular, that which was mere tradition took hold, the tradition that the Christ descended from the sun to earth and united with Jesus of Nazareth in the physical body. The mass of these Christians had nothing more than the mental image that a being had once lived in Palestine, the Christ Jesus, about whose nature and essence, whether he had been God or God and man at the same time or something similar, they began to argue in the councils. More and more, the masses of people only accepted what was dictated from Rome.

But among the masses of Christians there were individuals who were increasingly regarded as heretics. They still had the living traditional memory that the Christ was a solar being and that once a being quite alien to the earth, a solar being, had descended to earth into this physical-sensual world. In the centuries up to the 7th, 8th century after Christ, these souls were increasingly placed in a position where they said to themselves: "What now follows as Christianity actually no longer understands the Christ! - These heretical souls became, one might say, tired of Christianity. And there were simply those souls who had passed through the gate of death in the first Christian centuries, up to the 7th and 8th centuries, who had become weary of Christianity. For these souls, regardless of whether they had an intermediate incarnation or not, the incarnation they had in the first Christian centuries became decisive. - From the 8th and 9th centuries onwards, these souls prepared themselves in the spiritual world for the great, mighty work that I have just alluded to by saying that a kind of supersensible cult took place in the first half of the 19th century. These souls took part in this cult. They form one group of the souls who came to the Anthroposophical Society.

The other souls are those who had their last decisive incarnation in the last pre-Christian centuries - not in the first Christian centuries - and who were still able to look into the spiritual world with clairvoyant vision in the mysteries of ancient, pre-Christian paganism. It was such souls who, in the ancient mysteries, had received knowledge of how the Christ would one day descend to earth. These souls did not go through the first times of Christian development on earth, but during this time they were in the supersensible and only later, after the 7th century AD, came to an authoritative incarnation. These are souls who, so to speak, witnessed the coming of the Christ into earthly culture from the point of view of the supersensible. They were those who yearned for Christianity. But they were also those who wanted to work with strong activity to bring a genuine cosmic, spiritual Christianity into the world.

This second group united with the other souls to form the supersensible cult that took place in the first half of the 19th century. Thus the great cosmic-spiritual celebration took place, which lasted for many decades and formed a spiritual event in the world immediately adjacent to the physical one. The souls were there who then descended, who had worked together in the supersensible world for the next earthly incarnation either as souls tired of Christianity or as souls longing for Christianity. Then they came to incarnation towards the end of the 19th century and, by descending to earth, were prepared to enter the Anthroposophical Society.

But all this was prepared over centuries. Here on earth, a Christianity had gradually emerged that took the Gospels as if they only spoke of one being - Jesus of Nazareth - who was supposed to proclaim the Christ from some abstract heights. People no longer had any idea how the starry world, as the expression of the spiritual, was connected with the spiritual world, and therefore could not understand what it meant that the Christ, as a divine solar hero, had descended into Jesus in order to share the fate of mankind. - For those who look at history in the usual way today, the most important facts are not there. Above all, there is no real understanding for these “heretical” souls; they mostly do not know themselves, those heretical souls who descended to earth towards the 20th century either tired of Christianity or longing for Christianity. Towards the 7th and 8th centuries, the traditions about Christ that lived among the heretics who were weary of Christianity gradually disappeared. It then only remained in small circles, where it continued to be cultivated until the middle of the Middle Ages, well into the 12th century. There were small circles of, I would say, divinely blessed teachers who still retained some of the messages of the old days about spiritual Christianity, about cosmological Christianity. Among these were also those who received these messages from ancient times and who were inspired by them; so that they could still experience in themselves, even if only strongly or weakly, but nevertheless a reflection of what one could see in the first centuries of Christianity - still under a powerful inspiration of the descent of the Sun God into the Mystery of Golgotha.

So there were two currents in particular. One was the current that emerged directly from the heretical movements of the first centuries of Christianity. These souls were still inspired by what lived in ancient Greek Platonism. They were so stimulated that when the inner spiritual breakthrough came through the messages from the old times, they were still able to see into the descent and the work of Christ on earth, as if under a weak but nevertheless present inspiration. It was the Platonic current. The other current was destined for something else. To it belonged, in particular, those souls who had gone through their last decisive incarnation in pre-Christian times and who at that time had regarded Christianity as something future. This was the current that had to prepare the intellect for the age that I have always described as beginning in the first half of the 15th century. The age of the consciousness soul was to come, the age in which the human intellect was to be formed. This was in contrast to the Platonists - but in harmonious contrast to them prepared by the Aristotelians. And those who propagated the Aristotelian doctrine up to the 12th century were still those who had undergone their actual authoritative incarnation in the old pagan era, namely in Greece. - And then came - in the middle of the Middle Ages, in the 12th and 13th centuries - the great, the wonderful, I would say, confrontation between the Platonists and the Aristotelians. And among these Platonists and Aristotelians were also the leaders of those who, as the two groups of souls I have described, called for the anthroposophical movement.

Towards the 12th century, as if by an inner necessity, a certain school developed in which, in particular, the echoes of the old Platonic view came to life. This was the great, glorious school of Chartres. It had the great representatives who still had news of the mysteries of the first Christianity; it had those representatives in whose hearts and souls shone forth from such news that which allowed them to see into the spiritual contexts in which Christianity was placed. In the school of Chartres in France, where the magnificent Cathedral of Chartres is located, which has been realized in so many great details, what had been widespread in small circles shortly before was united and concentrated. If we want to name one of the people to whom the Chartres school, which flourished particularly at the end of the 11th and in the 12th century, could link up, then we must name Peter of Compostella, who renewed the old spiritual Christianity in inspired insights in his own soul, in his own heart. And alongside him we see a whole series of wonderful figures who taught in Chartres. In this 12th century, the school of Chartres had some very strange tones about Christianity. For example, we have Bernardus of Chartres, Bernardus Sylvestris, John Salisbury; but there was especially the great Alanus ab Insulis. Mighty teachers! As if Plato, interpreting Christianity, had personally worked among these spirits, so they spoke in the school of Chartres. They taught the spiritual content of Christianity. The writings that come from them may seem abstract to people today when they read them, but this only comes from the abstractness of the souls of people today. The writings of these great personalities describe the spiritual world with the impact of Christ. And now, my dear friends, I would like to put something like this before your souls, as it was taught especially by Bernardus Sylvestris, by Alanus ab Insulis before the initiated disciples. As paradoxical as it may seem to people today, such phenomena existed for the disciples of Chartres at the time.

The teaching was that Christianity would be renewed. It will be understood again in its spiritual content when the Kali Yuga, the dark age, will have ended and a new age will have dawned. - For us today, however, this has now come to an end with the year 1899; hence today's turnaround, which should happen for humanity with the end of the Kali Yuga. The tremendous impulse, which happened two decades earlier through the intervention of Michael, was already prophetically predicted in the school of Chartres in the 12th century, especially by Bernardus Sylvestris and Alanus ab Insulis. But these people did not teach Aristotelianism, they did not teach with the intellect. They taught entirely in powerful images that they unrolled before their listeners - images in which the spiritual content of Christianity was vividly portrayed. But there were certain prophetic teachings. And I would like to put something of one of these before your souls in excerpt.

Then Alanus ab Insulis said to a close circle of his initiated disciples: "Today we look at the world in such a way that we still recognize the central position of the earth, that we judge everything from the earth. If we were to fertilize the following centuries with this earthly view alone, which enables us to create our images, our imaginations, then humanity would not be able to progress. We must enter into an alliance with the Aristotelians, who bring the intellect into humanity, which is then to be spiritualized and in the 20th century is to shine forth among people in a new spiritual way. If we now regard the earth as the center of the cosmos, if we describe the planets as revolving around the earth, if we describe the entire starry sky, as it initially presents itself to the physical eye, as if it were revolving around the earth, then someone will come along and say: Let us place the sun spatially at the center of the world system! But then, when he comes who places the sun spatially at the center of the universe, the worldview will become desolate. People will then only calculate the orbits of the planets, will only indicate the locations of the celestial bodies. Men will only speak of the heavenly bodies as of gases or physical bodies that burn and glow; they will only know something of the starry heavens in a very mathematical and mechanical way. But that which will spread as a barren worldview has one thing - a poor thing - but it has one thing: We look at the world from the earth; the one who is to come will look at the world from the sun. He will be like someone who only gives the “direction”, the direction to a magnificently significant path, filled with the most wonderful events and the most wonderful beings. But he only gives the abstract direction - this was an allusion to the Copernican worldview, in its ode, in its abstractness, but as a direction - for everything that we represent with our imaginations must first go, said Alanus ab Insulis; that must go, and to a certain extent the worldview must become completely abstract, almost like a milepost on a path with wonderful monuments. For there will be someone in the spiritual world who will take this mile-pointer, which will have nothing but direction for the renewal of the world, so that he can then, together with intellectualism, establish the new spirituality, someone who will need nothing but this mile-pointer. But that will be, as Alanus ab Insulis said, St. Michael! The field must be cleared for him; he must sow the path with new seeds. For this, there must be nothing but line, mathematical line.

There was something like magic in the school of Chartres when Alanus ab Insulis taught something like this to just a few students. But it was as if the ethereal world all around had been caught up in the waves of this powerful Michael teaching.

So it spread across the west of Europe to the south of Italy, giving this world its spiritual atmosphere. And there were some who were able to grasp it, in whose soul something arose like a powerful inspiration and who could then still see into the spiritual world.

But it is so in the development of the world that those who are initiated into the great mysteries of existence, like Alanus ab Insulis and Bernardus Sylvestris to a certain degree, know: to a limited extent one can only ever do this or that! A man like Alanus ab Insulis said to himself: "We, the Platonists, must pass through the gate of death, we can initially only live in the spiritual world. We must look down from the spiritual world and leave the physical world to others, to those who train the intellect in the Aristotelian manner. This must now be cultivated. Alanus ab Insulis took on the Cistercian habit at an advanced age, he became a Cistercian. And there were many such teachings in the Cistercian order. But it was precisely those among the Cistercians who had the deeper insights who said to themselves: from now on, we can only work from the spiritual world, we must leave the field to the Aristotelians.

These Aristotelians became mainly the Dominicans. And so the leadership of the spiritual world of Europe passed to them in the 13th century. But there was, I would say, something else that had a significant impact on European intellectual life, left behind by these very spirits: Peter of Compostella, Alanus ab Insulis, Bernardus of Chartres, John Salisbury and the poet who wrote an important poem about the seven liberal arts from the school of Chartres. What went on in the school of Chartres was so effective that it had an effect as far down as the University of Orleans, for example, where in the second half of the 12th century much of what flowed from the mouths of Bernardus Sylvestris and Alanus ab Insulis to the students of Chartres in such large, powerful images as with words of silver. But I would like to say that the spiritual atmosphere was so permeated by this that once a man who returned as an Italian from his Spanish ambassadorship and on his return, as he hurried towards his homeland, learned of the expulsion of the Guelph rule there, to which was added a slight sunstroke, could come into the situation near Florence that his etheric body stopped and absorbed what, as it were, wafted over etherically from the school of Chartres, what had remained of it. And through what wafted over to him etherically, he received something like an intuition, an intuition that was present in many in the first Christian centuries. He first saw the earthly world spread out before him as it is around man, but not governed, as was later said, by the laws of nature, but governed by the great helper of the divine Demiurgos, by Natura, who was the successor of Proserpina in the first Christian centuries. At that time there were no abstract laws of nature; the initiates saw what was at work in nature as a comprehensive divine power. In the Greek mysteries, Proserpina, who divides her time between the upper world and the underworld, was depicted as the power dominating nature. Her successor in the first Christian centuries was the goddess Natura.

After that personality, who through sunstroke and through the wafting of what was cultivated in the school of Chartres, had looked into the life and weaving of the goddess Natura and then continued to let this intuition work on her, she saw the workings of the elements, earth, water, air, fire, as seen in the ancient mysteries: the powerful weaving of the elements. Then she saw the secrets of the human soul, saw those seven powers which were known to be the great celestial instructors of the human race. This was known in the first Christian centuries. At that time they did not speak of such abstract teachings as is done today, where something is taught through concepts and ideas. In those first Christian centuries they spoke of being taught from the spiritual world through the goddesses of dialectics, rhetoric, grammar, arithmetic, geometry, astrology or astronomy and music. These seven were not imagined abstractly, as in later times: they were seen, they were seen before them, I cannot say in the flesh, but in the soul. People allowed themselves to be taught by these heavenly figures. Later, they no longer appeared to people as the living goddesses of dialectics, rhetoric and so on in a solitary vision, but in abstract forms, in abstract theoretical teachings.

This personality I am talking about now, she still let it all work on her. And she was then introduced to the planetary world, which at the same time revealed the secrets of the human soul. And in the starry world, after she had passed through the great ocean of worlds, she was guided by Ovid, who had passed through the gate of death and had become the guide of souls in the spiritual world. This personality, Brunetto Latini, became Dante's teacher. And what Dante learned from Brunetto Latini, he then set down in his poetic way in the “Divina Commedia”. Thus the great poem “Divina Commedia” is a final reflection of what lived on in a Platonic manner in individual places and what was still taught by Sylvestris in the school of Chartres in the 12th century. In the 12th century, it was still taught by those who were stimulated by the ancient communications, so that the secrets of Christianity were revealed to them as if in special inspirations, which they were then able to communicate to their students through words.

What Alanus introduced into the Cistercian order from Insulis onwards was then passed on to the Dominicans, who cultivated the intellect in particular, following on from Aristotle. But there was an intermediate period: in the 12th century the school of Chartres flourished, and in the 13th century the Dominican order began its powerful work for scholasticism in the sense of Aristotelianism. Those who, as the great teachers of the School of Chartres, went up through the gate of death into the spiritual world, were there for a while together with the Dominicans who descended by birth, and who then founded Aristotelianism here after their descent. We must therefore look back to an intermediate time when, as in a great heavenly council, the last great teachers of Chartres, after they had passed through the gate of death, were together with those who, as Dominicans, were to cultivate Aristotelianism before the latter had descended. Then the great “heavenly contract” was concluded in the spiritual world. Those who had come up into the spiritual world under the leadership of Alanus from Insulis said to the descending Aristotelians: "Our time is not now on earth; we must first work here from the spiritual world. We cannot descend to earth in any incarnations in the near future. Your task now is to cultivate the intellect in the rising consciousness-soul age.

Then they came down, the great scholastics, and carried out what they had agreed with the last great Platonists of the School of Chartres. Many important things happened there. For example, one who had descended as one of the earlier ones received a message through another who had remained longer than he in the spiritual world with Alanus ab Insulis, that is, with the spiritual individuality that was formerly Alanus ab Insulis. The one who came down later brought this message, that is, he worked together with the older one, and thus began the preparation on earth for the intellectualistic age, which began in the Dominican Order. The one who had stayed a little longer with Alanus from Insulis in the spiritual world first put on the Cistercian habit and only later changed to the Dominican habit. Thus those who were once under the influence of what had emerged from Aristotle were now working on earth, and the Platonists who were in the school of Chartres were “watching” above, so to speak, but in connection with the Aristotelians working on earth. The spiritual world went hand in hand with the physical world. It was as if the Aristotelians were reaching out to the Platonists throughout the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. And then many of those who had descended to initiate Aristotelianism in Europe were already up there with the others.

But the further development proceeded in such a way that both those who were the leaders in the School of Chartres and those who held the leading positions in the Dominican Order placed themselves at the head of those who, in the first half of the 19th century, were to become part of that powerful supersensible movement. In the first half of the nineteenth century they prepared the way for the later anthroposophical current in the powerful supersensible cult that unfolded in the images alluded to. First, those who had worked more or less as Aristotelians had to descend again; for under the influence of intellectualism, the time had not yet come to deepen spirituality anew. But there was an unbreakable agreement that continues to have an effect. And according to this agreement, something must emerge from the anthroposophical movement that must find its completion before the end of this century. For a fate hangs over the Anthroposophical Society: the fate that many of those who are in the Anthroposophical Society today must come down to earth again by the end of the 20th century, but then also united with those who were either themselves leaders in the School of Chartres or who were disciples of Chartres. So that before the end of the 20th century, if civilization is not to come into complete decadence, the Platonists of Chartres and the later Aristotelians must work together on earth.

This is what the Anthroposophical Society must take up in the future with full consciousness: to understand something of its karma. For much rests in the womb of humanity's spiritual development that cannot come to the surface of existence, especially today. Many things appear quite external today; but if one can recognize the symptoms of what appears external in its inner meaning, then much of what lives spiritually in the centuries is revealed. I may perhaps hint at a few things. And why should this not be hinted at now, when the esoteric train is to pass through the Anthroposophical Society? I would like to hint at a few things to show you how looking at what is around us allows you to see into many connections.

When I myself, in preparation for the anthroposophical movement, went through a particular path of destiny, this showed itself in a very strange connection with the Cistercian Order, which is connected precisely with Alanus ab Insulis. I note for those who like to create legends that I have nothing to do with Alanus ab Insulis in relation to my own individuality. I just want to avoid creating legends from what I esoterically put forward. The point is that these things are presented out of the esoteric. In a very strange way, my destiny, through external events, has led me to see what such spiritual connections could teach, which I have now presented. Perhaps some of you know the essays “Mein Lebensgang” in the “Goetheanum”. There I had to tell you how in my youth I did not go through a grammar school but a secondary school and only later acquired a grammar school education. I myself must regard this as a strange coincidence of my karma. Because in the town where I spent my youth, it was only a few steps from grammar school to secondary school, and it was a hair's breadth that I would have gone to grammar school instead of secondary school. But if I had gone to grammar school in that town, I would have become a Cistercian priest. There is no doubt about that. Because it was a grammar school where only Cistercians taught. I had a deep affinity with all these priests, most of whom were also extremely learned people. I read a lot of what these fathers wrote, it touched me extremely deeply; I loved these fathers. And actually I only passed by the Cistercian order, so to speak, because I didn't go to grammar school at all. Karma led me in a different direction, but the Cistercian order never left me. I describe that too. I was a nature that always lived sociably, and I also tell in my life story that I later socialized with almost all the theologians there in the house of Marie Eugenie delle Grazie. They were almost all Cistercian priests. That gave me the perspective to go back, so to speak. It was also very obvious to me personally: the view, the perspective was formed to get back into the spiritual life through the current of the Cistercian order, right back to the school of Chartres. For Alanus ab Insulis was a Cistercian. And it's curious: when I later wrote the first of my mystery dramas, “The Gate of Initiation”, I had no choice but to put the women on stage in a dress consisting of a long tunic and what is called a stole for aesthetic reasons. So if you imagine such a dress as having a yellowish-white tunic, a black stole and a black bandage - then you have the Cistercian habit. At the time I was only thinking of aesthetic necessities, but this dress came very close to the Cistercian habit. There you have an indication of how the connections arise for those who can follow the inner spiritual meaning of symptoms that appear in the outer world.

At Christmas, these inner connections began to be revealed more and more. They must come to light, for humanity is waiting for the knowledge of the inner, after having experienced only the outer for many centuries, and today civilization is in a terrible situation. Among the many things to come there must be a reference to the work of the School of Chartres on the one hand, how those initiated in this school passed through the gate of death and met in the spiritual world those souls who later wore the Dominican habit in order to spread Aristotelianism with its intellectuality, in order to prepare in a powerful way for the age of the consciousness soul. And so we have, I would say, continuing Aristotelianism in the Anthroposophical Society, only spiritualized today and awaiting its further spiritualization. Then, at the end of the 20th century, there will come those of whom there are many today, but united with those who were the teachers of the School of Chartres. This is the aim of the anthroposophical movement: to unite both within itself. Aristotelianism in the souls who, preferably in the old paganism, stood in expectation of Christianity and lived longingly for Christianity until, as Dominicans, they were able to proclaim Christianity through intellectuality; they will be united with those who still experienced Christianity in a physical way and whose most important leaders were united in the School of Chartres. The latter have not yet been in an incarnation, although in my approach to the Cistercian Order I have always found incarnations of some of those who were in the School of Chartres. For in the Cistercian Order one encountered many a personality who was not a reincarnation of a disciple of Chartres, but who had moments in life when, for hours, for days, they were enthusiastically permeated by such an individuality from the school of Chartres. Incorporations, not incarnations, were present there. And wonderful things were written there, of which one must ask: Who is the writer? The writer is not the Father who was then in the Cistercian order, in the pale yellow dress with the black stole and black bandage; rather, the writer in this case is the personality who had taken up residence for hours or days or weeks in the soul of such a Cistercian friar. Much of this has lingered on in essays or writings that have become little known in literature. I myself had a strange conversation, which I also recounted in “Mein Lebensgang”, with a member of the Cistercian order who was an extraordinarily learned man. We left a society and talked about the problem of Christ. I expounded my ideas about it, which were essentially the same as those I always put forward. He said, becoming restless while I was expounding this: We may come up with such a thing; we will not allow ourselves to think such a thing. - He spoke in a similar way about other problems of Christology. But then we stopped - the moment stands before my soul with great vividness - in Vienna, where the Schottenring and the Burgring border each other, on one side the Hofburg, on the other the Hotel de France and the Votive Church, and the man said to me: "I would like you to go with me. I'll give you a book from my library; there's something strange in it that ties in with what you've just said." I went with him. The man gave me a book about the Druze. From the whole context of our conversation with the reading of this book I learned that this learned man, when I, starting from Christology, came to speak of repeated earth lives, was in a quite strange way as if dumbfounded and, when he had come to himself, merely remembered: he has a book about the Druzes, in which there is something about re-embodiment. He knew that from that one single book. He was so learned that it was said of him - he was already a court councillor at the University of Vienna - that the court councillor N.N. knew the whole world and three more villages - he was so learned, but he knew no more in his corporeality than that in a work about the Druzes there is something about repeated earth lives. That is the difference between what people have in their consciousness and what flows through human souls as the spiritual world. - And then the strange thing happened that I once gave a lecture in Vienna. The same personality was present, and after the lecture he made a remark which could not be understood in any other way than that the man at that moment had a full understanding for a man of the present and for the relationship of this man of the present to his previous incarnation. And what he said about the connection between two lives on earth was right, it was not wrong. But he didn't understand anything; he only said it.

I only want to indicate with this how spiritual movements project into the present. But that which today only peeps in as if through small windows must become a unity in the future through that connection between the leaders of the School of Chartres and the leaders of scholasticism, if the spiritual renewal, which also leads the intellectual up into the spiritual, occurs with the end of the 20th century. The people of the 20th century must not allow this to happen to them! But since everything today depends on free will, whether this happens - namely whether the allied parties can descend to the re-spiritualization of culture in the 20th century - also depends on whether the Anthroposophical Society knows how to cultivate anthroposophy in the right spirit.

That is what I wanted to say today: how the anthroposophical current is connected with the deep mystery of the age that began with the appearance of Christ in the Mystery of Golgotha and has developed in the way I have now described. We will continue with this in the second lecture.