Spiritual Soul Instructions and Observation of the World

By Rudolf Steiner Translator is Unknown GA !

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This is a translation of GA 52 (by an anonymous translator), of eighteen lectures by Rudolf Steiner, given at Berlin from Se tember !"#$ until %ecember !"#&' The original title, in German, is( Spirituelle Seelenlehre und Weltbetrachtung' )ost of these lectures have never been translated into *nglish, and are resented here for the first time+ These lectures have not been a roved by the Rudolf Steiner ,achlassver-altung, %ornach, S-it.erland'
This e'Te/t edition is rovided through the -onderful -or0 of( *arious e+Te,t Transcribers

Thanks to an anony-ous donation' this .ecture Series has been -ade available+

/O0T10TS
4ecture 5( 4ecture 55( 4ecture 555( 4ecture 57( 4ecture 5( 4ecture 55( 4ecture 555( 4ecture 5( 4ecture 55( 4ecture 555( 4ecture 5( 4ecture 55( 4ecture 555( 4ecture 57( 4ecture 5( 4ecture 55( 4ecture 555( 4ecture 57( 123RS* 2,* The *ternal and the Transient in the 6uman Being The 2rigin of the Soul The ,ature of God from the Theoso hical Stand oint Theoso hy and 1hritianity 123RS* T82 The * istemological Basis of Theoso hy 5 The * istemological Basis of Theoso hy 55 The * istemological Basis of Theoso hy 555 123RS* T6R** Theoso hical Teachings of the Soul' 9art 5( Body and Soul Theoso hical Teachings of the Soul' 9art 55( Soul and 6uman %estiny Theoso hical Teachings of the Soul' 9art 555( Soul and )ind 123RS* :23R Theoso hy and S iritism Theoso hy and Somnambulism The 6istory of S iritism The 6istory of 6y notism and Somnambulism 123RS* :57* 8hat %oes the )odern 6uman Being :ind in Theoso hy; 8hat %o 2ur Scholars <no- about Theoso hy; 5s Theoso hy 3nscientific; 5s Theoso hy Buddhist 9ro aganda; Septe-ber (2' %3($ October ($' %3($ 0ove-ber (4' %3($ 5anuary ()' %3() 0ove-ber !4' %3($ 6ece-ber ()' %3($ 6ece-ber %4' %3($ &arch %2' %3() &arch !$' %3() &arch $(' %3() 7ebruary (%' %3() &arch (4' %3() &ay $(' %3() 5une (2' %3() &arch (8' %3() April !8' %3() October (2' %3() 6ece-ber (8' %3()

9reface to this 1dition

GA 52

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Berlin September 6, 1903 The tal0s of this volume belong to that art of Rudolf Steiner>s lecturing -or0 -ith -hich he turned to the general ublic' ?Berlin had been the starting oint for this ublic lecturing activity' 8hat -as treated in other cities in single tal0s could be e/ ressed here in a coherent course of lectures -hose to ics merge into each other' They thereby received the character of a -ell@founded methodical introduction to s iritual science and could count on a regularly returning audience to -hich it -as crucial to enetrate dee er and dee er into the fields of 0no-ledge being revealed to it ane-, -hile the bases of the understanding of the offered material -ere given to the ne-comers'A ()arie Steiner) Since Rudolf Steiner could correct the transcri ts only in fe- cases because of lac0 of time, his reservation has to be ta0en into consideration -ith all ublications of tal0s( ?5t has Bust to be acce ted that mista0es may be found in the transcri ts not chec0ed by me'A The first of five lecture courses of this volume deals -ith the eternal core of the human being, the soul, the conce t of God, and 1hristianity in the theoso hical vie- and in the scientific discussion' 5n the second course, Rudolf Steiner @ li0e in his 9hiloso hy of :reedom @ indicates the ho elessness and conseCuences of <ant>s hiloso hy and sho-s the -ay to a 0no-ledge of the s irit' There follo-s the re resentation of the relation of the soul to the body, to destiny and to the s irit' The historical soul doctrines are com ared -ith the contem orary ones' The e/ lanations about the soul in the hy notic state already oint to the fourth course of lectures -hich deal -ith the search for the su er@sensible e/ erience in s iritism, hy notism, and somnambulism' 5n doing so, Rudolf Steiner sho-s the Bustified meeting oints and the necessary differences bet-een these movements and theoso hy' :our tal0s on challenges of theoso hy by Cuestions of the human beings and by the criticism of science finish the volume'

/ourse I " .ecture I# The 1ternal and the Transient in the :u-an Bein;
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Berlin September 6, 1903 The obBect about -hich 5 -ill tal0 here is certainly one in -hich all eo le are interested' 8ho could say that he is not interested in the Cuestion of immortality -ith all his thoughts; 8e need only to realise that the human being thin0ing of death feels a horror' *ven the fe- eo le -ho are -eary of life and loo0 for rest in death cannot get through this horror com letely' 2ne has tried to ans-er this Cuestion in the most different -ay' Remember, ho-ever, that nobody can s ea0 about anything im artially in -hich he is interested' 8ill he be able to s ea0 then im artially about this Cuestion -hich is of the dee est interest for his -hole life; And, besides, you must ta0e something else into consideration( ho- much does de end on it for the culture' The develo ment of our -hole culture de ends on it ho- this Cuestion is ans-ered' The stand oint of somebody to the cultural Cuestions is Cuite different if he believes in the eternal of the human being' 2ne hears saying that it -as -rong to give the human being this ho e of a ne/t -orld' The oor man -ould be ut off until the ne/t -orld and -ould be thereby revented from creating a better life here' 2thers say that only in this -ay e/istence can generally be endured' 5f -ith such a matter the -ishes of the human beings are considered so strongly, all the reasons are loo0ed out for it' 5t -ould have mattered a little to the human being to rove that t-o times t-o are not four if his ha iness had de ended on this roof' Because the human being could not omit to let his -ishes have a say in this Cuestion of immortality, it had to be ut over and over again' Because the subBective feeling of ha iness is involved in this Cuestion' 6o-ever, Bust this fact has made this Cuestion so sus icious to the modern natural sciences' And rightly so+ Dust the most significant men of this science e/ ressed themselves against the immortality of the human being' 4ud-ig :euerbach says( ?one thought immortality first and then roved it'A Thus he suggests that the human being tried to find arguments because he -ishes them' %avid :riedrich Strauss and recently *rnst 6aec0el in his World Riddles e/ ress themselves in a similar -ay' 5f no- 5 had to say something that violates the modern natural sciences, 5 -ould not be able to s ea0 about this Cuestion' But Bust the admiration of 6aec0el>s great achievements in his fields and for 6aec0el as one of the most monumental s irits of the resent time lets me ta0e a stand in his sense against his conclusions' Today, something else than fighting against the natural sciences is my obBect' Theoso hy is not against the natural sciences, but goes -ith them' But, besides, it does not sto ' 5t does not believe that -e have gone so -onderfully far only in the !"th centuryE -hile during all centuries before unreason and su erstition -ould have held s-ay, no- truth has been brought to light only by the science of our time' 5f truth stood on such -ea0 feet, one could have little confidence' 6o-ever, -e 0no- that truth formed the core in the teachings of -isdom of Buddha, of the De-ish riests et cetera' 5t is the tas0 of theoso hy to search for this core in all different theories' But it also does not s are the science of the !"th century' Because this is in such a -ay, -e are certainly allo-ed to deal -ith the Cuestion also from the stand oint of science' 5t can form the basis that -ay from -hich -e start if -e search for the eternal in the human being' :euerbach is certainly right -ith his remar0 Cuoted before if he turns against the method of the science of the last fourteen centuries' 6o-ever, he is -rong concerning the -isdom of former times' Because the -ay to guide the human being to the cognition of truth in the ancient schools of -isdom -as totally different' 2nly during the later centuries of 1hristianity the faith -as demanded to -hich then the scholars roduced the roofs' That -as not the case in the mysteries of antiCuity' That -isdom -hich -as not disseminated Bust li0e that, -hich remained a ossession of feeo le, -hich -as delivered to the initiate by instructions of the riests in holy tem le sites, had another avenue to lead their u ils to truth' They 0e t the 0no-ledge secret to those -ho -ere not re ared' 2ne -ould have regarded it as rofaned if one had informed anybody -ithout selection' 2ne only regarded somebody as -orthy -ho had develo ed his cultural life by means of long e/ercise to understand the truth in higher sense' 2ne tells in the traditions of Dudaism that -hen once a rabbi ronounced something of the secret 0no-ledge his listeners re roached him( ?2 old man, had you been Cuiet+ 8hat have you done+ Fou be-ilder the eo le'A G 2ne sa- a big threat betraying the mysteries if they -ere in everybody>s mouth and -ould be desecrated and distorted that -ay' 2nly in holy shyness one a roached them' The robation -as strict -hich the u ils of the mysteries had to go through' 2ur time can hardly imagine the severe robations -hich -ere im osed on the u il' 8e find -ith the 9ythagoreans that the u ils called themselves listeners' :or years they are only silent listeners, and it is according to the s irit of this time that this silence e/tended u to five years' They are silent in this time' Silence, that is in this case( renunciation of any discussion, of any criticism' Today -here the rinci le a lies( ?test everything and 0ee the bestA G -here everybody believes to be able to Budge about everything -here -ith the hel of Bournalism everybody forms his Budgment Cuic0ly also about that -hich he does not understand at all, one has no notion of that -hich one demanded from a u il at that
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time' *very Budgment should be CuietE one had to ma0e oneself able only to ta0e u everything in oneself' 5f anybody asses sentence -ithout this recondition, starts racticing criticism, he rebels against any additional instruction' Somebody -ho understands something of it 0no-s that he has to learn for years only and to let a long eriod ass' Today one does not -ant to believe this' But only somebody -ho has understood the matters internally gets to a correct Budgment of his o-n' At that time, it -as not the tas0 to teach faith to anybody by lessonsE one led him u to the nature of the things' The s iritual eye -as given him to beholdE if he -anted, he could test it' Above all, the lessons -ere urifying onesE the urifying virtues -ere reCuired from the u il' 6e had to ta0e off the sym athies and anti athies of the everyday life -hich are only Bustified there' *very ersonal -ish had to be eradicated before' ,obody -as introduced to the lessons -ho had also not ta0en off the -ish of continual e/istence of his soul' That is -hy the sentence of :euerbach does not hold good to this time' ,o, at first the confidence in the rofane immortality -as eradicated in the u ils, before they could rogress to the higher roblems' 5f you see it that -ay, you understand -hy the modern natural sciences turn against the teaching of immortality -ith a certain right' 6o-ever, only so far' %avid :riedrich Strauss says that the a earance -ould be contradictory to the idea of immortality' ,o-, a lot is contradictory to the a earance -hat an a roved scientific truth is' As long as one Budged the movement of the earth and the sun according to the a earance, one got no correct Budgment about that' 2ne recognised them correctly -hen one did no longer trust to the eye only' 9erha s, Bust the a earance is not at all this to -hich -e have to 0ee in this Cuestion' 8e have to realise( is it the eternal in the human being -hat -e see being assed on or transforming itself; 2r do -e find it outside; The single flo-er blossoms and asses, but only that remains and lasts -hich leaves its stam on every flo-er of the genus again' Dust as little -e find the eternal outside in the history of the states' 8hat once constituted the e/ternal forms of the state has assed, -hat resented itself as a leading idea has remained' 4et us test ho- transient and eternal come to the fore in nature' Fou 0no- that all substances of your bodies -ere not in you seven or eight years ago' 8hat formed my body eight years ago is scattered in the -orld and has to fulfil Cuite different tas0s' ,evertheless, 5 stand before you, the same -hich 5 -as' 5f no- you as0( -hat has remained of that -hich made an im ression on the eye; G ,othing' That has remained -hat you do not see and -hat ma0es the human being a human being' 8hat does remain of human facilities, of the states; The individuals -ho created them disa eared, the state has remained' Thus you see that -e are -rong if -e ta0e the eye for the essential art -hich only sees the changes, -hile the essential art is the eternal' 5t is the tas0 of the s iritual to understand this eternal' 8hat 5 -as fulfils other tas0s' Also the substances -hich today form my body do not remain the sameE they enter other connections and are that -hich constitutes my hysical body today' The s iritual holds it together' 5f -e retain this thought, -e recognise the eternal in the human being' 5n a different -ay the eternal a ears in the animal realm, lant realm, and mineral realm' But also there -e can loo0 at the ermanent' 5f -e crush a crystal to o-der, for e/am le coo0ing salt, dissolve it in -ater and allo- it to crystallise again, the arts ta0e on their characteristic sha e again' The creative o-er being inherent in them -as the ermanentE it has remained li0e a germ to a-a0e to ne- -or0 if the cause is given to it' 8e also see from the lant countless seeds originating, from -hich ne- lants arise if they are so-ed to the fields' The -hole creative o-er rested invisibly in the seed' This force -as able to -a0e the lants to ne- life' This goes u through the animal and human realms' Also the human figure comes from a tiny cell' 6o-ever, it does not lead us to that -hich -e call human immortality' ,evertheless, if -e loo0 closer, -e also find something similar' 4ife develo s from lifeE the invisible stream goes through' 6o-ever, nobody is robably content -ith the immortality of the ty e' The rinci le of humanness goes in it from generation to generation' But it is only one of the -ays to reserve the ermanent' There are still other ty es -here the inter lay comes to the fore' 8e ta0e an e/am le from the lant realm to illustrate this' 6ungarian -heat -hich -as brought to )oravia and so-n there becomes soon similar to the indigenous one there' The la- of ada tation comes into force here' ,o- it also 0ee s the once acCuired Cualities in future' 8e see hosomething ne- ha ens( the conce t of develo ment' The com lete -orld of organisms is subordinate to this la-' An idea of develo ment forms the basis after -hich the im erfect living beings transform themselves to more erfect ones' They change their e/ternal constitutionsE they receive other organs, so that that -hich remains reserved develo s rogressively' Fou see that -e come to a ne- 0ind of the ermanent' 5f the naturalist e/ lains a form of life today, he does not give himself the ans-er of the naturalists of the !=th century -ho said( there are as many ty es of living beings as God created once' G This -as an easy ans-er' *verything that had originated -as brought to life by a creation miracle' The natural
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sciences of the !"th century freed us in their area of the conce t of the miracle' The hysical forms o-e their origin to the develo ment' Today -e understand ho- the animals transformed themselves u to the mon0ey to higher forms of life' 5f -e consider the different animal forms as tem oral seCuence, -e recognise that they -ere not created as those, but came into being develo ing a art' 6o-ever, -e see even more' The flo-ers of some lants ossibly e/ erience such substantial changes that one -ould not believe that they belong to the same ty e' ,ature sim ly ma0es Bum s, and thus it also lets arise one ty e from the other under given circumstances' But in every ty e something remains that reminds of the receding ty eE -e understand them only a art, not from themselves, but from their ancestors' 5f one ursues the tem oral develo ment of the ty es, one understands -hat stands in s ace before us' 8e see the develo ment through millions of years and 0no- that in millions of years everything loo0s differently again' The substances are e/changed er etuallyE they change er etually' 5n thousands of years the mon0ey develo ed from the marsu ial' But something remains that connects the mon0ey -ith the marsu ial' 5t is the same that holds the human being together' 5t is the invisible rinci le that -e sa- as something ermanent in ourselves -hich -as active millennia ago and -or0s on among us even today' The e/ternal resemblance of the organisms corres onds to the rinci le of heredity' ,o-, ho-ever, -e also see ho- the sha es of the living beings are not only hereditary, but also change' 8e say( something is inherited, something changesE there is something transient and something remains reserved in the change of times' Fou 0no- that the human being corres onds to the hysical Cualities of his ancestors' :igure, face, tem erament, also assions go bac0 to the ancestors' 5 o-e the movement of the hand to an ancestor' Thus the la- of heredity roBects from the lant and animal realms into the human -orld' 1an this la- be a lied no- in the same -ay also to all fields of the human -orld; 8e must search for o-n la-s in every field' 8ould 6aec0el have done his great discoveries in biology, -ould he have limited himself to e/amine the brains of the different animals only chemically; The great la-s e/ist every-here, but in every field in o-n -ay' Transfer this Cuestion to the human life, to the field in -hich the human beings articularly believe in miracles still today' *verybody 0no-s today that the mon0eys develo ed from more im erfect forms of life' 6o-ever, eo le have an e/ce tional belief in miracles concerning the human soul' 8e see different human soulsE -e 0no- that it is im ossible to e/ lain the soul by means of hysical heredity' 8ho may e/ lain, for e/am le, the genius of )ichelangelo from his ancestors; 8ho may e/ lain his head form, his figure; 8ho may get good e/ lanations from the ictures of his ancestors; 8hat oints in them to the genius of )ichelangelo; This does not only a ly to the genius, it a lies to all human beings in the same -ay even if one chooses the genius to rove clearly that his Cualities are not to be o-ed to the hysical heredity' Goethe himself felt in such a -ay s ea0ing in the famous verses for -hat he has to than0 his arents( :rom the father 5 got the stature And the serious -ay of life, :rom mummy 5 got my cheerful nature And the desire of telling stories' These are, even the gift of telling stories, basically e/ternal Cualities' 6o-ever, he could not derive his genius from father or motherE other-ise one -ould have to sense this also in the arents' 8e may have to than0 our arents for tem erament, inclinations, and assions' 8e cannot search for that -hich is the most essential of the human being -hich ma0es him his real individuality -ith his bodily ancestors' 2ur natural sciences only 0no- the e/ternal Cualities of the human being and try to investigate them' Thus they come to the belief in miracles of the human soul' They investigate the constitution of the human brain' Are they able to e/ lain the human soul from the hysical constitution of the brain et cetera; 5s that the reason -hy Goethe>s soul is a miracle; 2ur aesthetics -anted to regard this oint of vie- as the only correct one -hich one is allo-ed to ta0e concerning the genius, and thin0 that the genius -ould loose all magic by e/ laining' But -e cannot be content -ith this vie-' 4et us try to e/ lain the nature of the soul in the same -ay as -e investigated the botanical and animal s eciesE that is to e/ lain ho- the soul develo s from lo-er to higher levels' Goethe>s soul stems also from an ancestor li0e his hysical body' 6o- did anybody -ant to e/ lain, other-ise, the difference bet-een Goethe>s soul and that of a savage; *very human soul leads bac0 to its ancestors from -hich it develo s' And it -ill have successors -ho come into being from it' 6o-ever, this advancement of souls does not coincide -ith the la- of hysical heredity' *very soul is the forefather of later soul successors' 8e -ill understand that the la- of heredity -hich holds s-ay in s ace cannot be a lied to the soul in the same -ay'

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6o-ever, the lo-er rinci les last beside the higher ones' The chemical@ hysical la-s -hich hold s-ay in s ace determine the e/ternal organism' Also -e are s un in a -eb -ith our bodies in this life' Being in the middle of the organic develo ment, -e are subBect to the same la-s li0e animal and lant' Regardless of that, the la- of the sychic refining ta0es lace' Thus Goethe>s soul must have been there once in another form and has develo ed from this soul form, regardless of the e/ternal form, as the seed develo s to another ty e, de ending on the la- of transformation' 6o-ever, li0e the lant has something remaining -hich outlasts the transformation, also that -hich remained reserved in the soul has entered into a germinating state, li0e the grain in the to soil to a ear in a ne- form, -hen the conditions have come' This is the teaching of reincarnation' ,o- -e understand the naturalists better' 6o- should that remain -hich -as not there once; But -hat is the remaining reserved; 8e cannot consider that -hich constitutes the ersonality of the human being li0e his tem erament, his assions, as the remaining reservedE only the actually individual -hich -as before its hysical a earance and remains reserved, hence, also after death' The human soul moves into the body and leaves it again to create a ne- body after the time of maturity again and to enter in it' 8hat has descended from hysical causes asses -ith our ersonality at deathE -e have to loo0 at that for -hich -e cannot find hysical causes as the effect of a former ast' The ermanent art of the human being is his soul -hich -or0s from the dee est inside and survives all changes' The human being is a citi.en of eternity because he carries something eternal in himself' The human mind feeds itself from the eternal la-s of the universe, and only thereby the human being is able to understand the eternal la-s of nature' 6e -ould only recognise the transient in the -orld if he -ere not himself a remaining reserved one' That remains from that -hich -e are today -hich -e incor orate into our im erishable being' The lants are transformed under given conditions' Also the soul has ada ted itselfE it has ta0en u a lot in itself and has im roved itself' 8e carry into another incarnation -hat -e e/ erience as something eternal' 6o-ever, if the soul enters a body for the first time, it resembles a blan0 sheet, and -e transfer on it -hat -e do and ta0e u in ourselves' As true as the la- of hysical heredity holds s-ay in nature, as true the la- of mental heredity holds s-ay in the s iritual realm' And as little the hysical la-s a ly to the s iritual realm, as little the la-s of hysical heredity holds s-ay over the continued e/istence of the soul' The old sages, -ho did not demand belief, before they had founded it by 0no-ledge, -ere fully a-are of this fact' 6o- is the relationshi of the soul in its resent condition to its former condition; G This Cuestion, -hich could suggest itself u on you, 5 -ould li0e to ans-er to you in the follo-ing -ay' The souls are in er etual develo ment' %ifferences thereby arise bet-een the single souls' A higher individuality can only develo if it e/ eriences many incarnations' 5n the usual state of consciousness the human beings have no memory of the former conditions of their souls, but because this memory is not yet attained' The ossibility of that is given' ,evertheless, 6aec0el s ea0s of a 0ind of una-are memory -hich goes through the -orld of the organisms and -ithout -hich some natural henomena -ere ine/ licable' 6ence, this memory is only a Cuestion of develo ment' The human being thin0s consciously and acts accordingly, -hile the mon0ey acts unconsciously' As he has risen gradually from the condition of consciousness of the mon0ey to conscious thin0ing, in the same -ay he remembers the former incarnations later -ith rogressive erfection of his consciousness' As -ell as Buddha says of himself( 5 loo0 bac0 at countless incarnations , it is true that in future every human being has the memory of a number of former incarnations if this ego@consciousness has develo ed -ith every individual human being, as -ell as it is sure that it e/ists -ith single advancers already today' Becoming more erfect in the course of time, more and more human beings -ill have this ability' This is the conce t of immortality as the theoso hist understands it' This conce t is ne- and old at the same time' 2nce those have taught that -ay -ho did not -ant to teach faith only but 0no-ledge' 8e do not -ant to believe and then to rove, but -e -ant to ma0e the human beings able to search for the roofs inde endently and to find them' 2nly somebody -ho -ants to co@o erate in the develo ment of his soul attains it' 6e -al0s from life to life to erfection, because neither the soul came into being at birth nor it disa ears at death' 2ne of the obBections -hich are often made against this vie- is that it ma0es the human being unable to co e -ith life' 4et me still go into it -ith some -ords' ,o, theoso hy does not ma0e unable to co e -ith life, but more ca able, Bust because -e 0no- -hat the ermanent and -hat the transient is' 2f course, somebody -ho thin0s that the body is a dress -hich the soul only uts on and ta0es off again as it is sometimes said becomes unable to co e -ith life' But this is a -rong icture -hich should be used by no researcher' The body is not a dress, but a tool for the soul' A tool the soul uses to -or0 -ith it in the -orld' And he -ho 0no-s the ermanent and invigorates it in himself uses the tool better than somebody -ho only 0no-s the transient' 6e strives for invigorating the eternal in himself by means of constant activity' 6e carries this activity over to another life, and he becomes more and more ca able' This icture lets the thought disa ear to nothing that the human being becomes unfit to co e -ith life because of 0no-ledge' 8e are able to -or0 even in a more com etent and more ermanent -ay if -e recognise that -e -or0 not only for this one short life but for all future times'
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The strength -hich arises from this consciousness of eternity 5 may e/ ress using the -ords -hich 4essing ut on the end of his significant treatise about The Education of the uman Race( ?is not the -hole eternity mine;A ,otes( 4ud-ig :euerbach (!=#&I!=J2), German hiloso her %avid :riedrich Strauss (!=#=I!=J&), German theologian and -riter *rnst 6aec0el (!=$&I!"!"), German biologist, naturalist, hiloso her Gotthold * hraim 4essing (!J2"I!J=!), German -riter, dramatist, hiloso her

/ourse I# .ecture II# The Ori;in of the Soul

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Berlin !ctober 3, 1903 Somebody -ho s ea0s today about the nature of the soul e/ oses himself to misunderstandings and attac0s from t-o sides' Above all, the theoso hist, -ho s ea0s from his stand oint, from the stand oint of 0no-ledge and cognition, is attac0ed by the official science, on the other hand, also by the adherents of the various confessions' Today science -ants to 0no- little about the soul, the syche, even that science -hich carries syche in its name, sychology' *ven the sychologists -ould li0e to refrain com letely from that -hich one calls, actually, the soul' That is -hy one could stam the catch-ord( sychology -ithout soul' G The soul is said to be something Cuestionable, something uncertain that one sim ly investigates, for e/am le, the a earance of different mental ictures li0e one also investigates a hysical rocessE but one -ants to 0no- nothing about the soul itself' The modern natural sciences can im ossibly assume anything li0e a soul' They say that the human mental ictures are also subBect to the hysical la-s li0e all other henomena in nature, the human being is nothing else than a higher dis osed natural roduct' Therefore, -e should not as0 -hat the soul is' 5n doing so, one refers to Goethe>s -ord( According to eternal, 5ron, great la-s 8e all must com lete 2ur e/istence>s circle' 4i0e a rolling stone moves, the human being has to develo according to the eternal la-s' 2n the other side, the religions are against it, -hich rest on tradition and revelation' Theoso hy is neither an adversary of religion nor of science' 5t -ants to attain truth li0e the researchers by 0no-ledge, and it does not deny the basic truth of the religions' This basic truth is often little understood by those -ho re resent the religions' 2riginal, eternal truth forms the basis of all religions' The religions e/isting today develo ed from it' Then, ho-ever, later ingredients overgre- them' They lost their dee er truth' The core of truth lies behind them' 6o-ever, science has not yet advanced so far that it has ascended from the matter to the s irit' 5t is not yet so far that it investigates the s iritual -ith the same enthusiasm as it investigates the natural henomena' Science finds its core of truth in future' So, this higher truth of religion got lost, and science has not yet found it' Today, theoso hy stands bet-een them' 5t falls bac0 on the ast, on the lost, and it tries to investigate in the future -hat has not yet been found' 5n return, it is attac0ed by both sides' The habits and the e/ternal customs of today are different from those of former times, but in s ite of the freCuently raised tolerance of our modern time one still tries to intimidate those -ho re resent an uncomfortable o inion' Somebody -ho s ea0s of the soul today, li0e the naturalist s ea0s of the e/ternal facts, is no longer burnt, indeed, but also methods are found to burden and to su ress him'
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,evertheless, -e get a certain consolation loo0ing at the future if -e Budge the resent@day relations by the events of the ast' 8hen in the !Jth century the 5talian researcher Redi ut u the assertion that the lo-er living beings do not sim ly arise from something lifeless, he only Bust esca ed the destiny of Giordano Bruno' At that time, one -as of the vie- in general that the lo-er living beings develo ed from inorganic substances' The vie- of Redi is generally valid today, and somebody, -ho denies the sentence( nothing living comes from the non@living -ould be regarded as being bac0-ard' 5n general, 7ircho->s sentence is valid( only life from life' G 6o-ever, the sentence( soul only from soul does not yet find belief even today' But as 0no-ledge has advanced to the insight that life can only originate from life, science ta0es over the sentence( no soul comes from something -ithout soul' G Then one also loo0s do-n at the limited science of our days as it ha ens today in regard to the o inion of Redi>s contem oraries' 8e stand -ith regard to the soul on the same stand oint as the scientists of the !Jth century -ith regard to life' According to the resent@day vie- the s iritual is said to develo from life onlyE the soul is said to come from the animal being Bust li0e that' 8ith com assionate smile one -ill loo0 do-n at this vie- in later times as one smiles today at the vie- that life comes from something -ithout life' The soul did not gro- u from the very basis of the mere lifeE the soul arose from something s iritual' As life only sei.es the form of the animal to resent itself, the soul once touched the animal form to s read out' 2ur 0no-ledge is -oven into the current of the e/ternal reality, and in doing so -e forget -hat should occu y us mostly' The soul is endlessly close to us' 8e ourselves are it' 5f -e loo0 into ourselves, -e see the soul' This is hard to understand for the human beings' 2ur observation is directed redominantly to that -hich is outside us' But should that be closer to us than that -hich -e are ourselves; The human beings realise the e/ternal research today, they are strange to themselves' 8hy do the human beings understand the truth of the e/ternal research so easily and ignore -hat is the ne/t to them; ,evertheless, the soul is closer and more familiar to them' Any natural henomenon has only to ta0e the -ay through the senses' These change and often fa0e the icture' The colour@blind sees the colours in a different -ay than they are real' And a art from such e/ce tional henomena, -e 0no- that all eyes are differentE not t-o human beings see the colours in the identical nuances' According to the eye of the seeing human being, to the ear of the hearing one, the im ressions are different' But -e ourselves are our soulsE -e are able to loo0 for it at every moment' 5t is eculiar that on this 0no-ledge the influence of a great oet is based, namely( ho- much closer do our souls touch us than everything that is outside us' Tolstoy>s emotionalism is based on this 0no-ledge stu efying him' :rom this vie- he goes into battle against culture, fashions, and moods' 8e do not see our soul only because -e have not got used to considering it in its o-n figure' Today our confidence in the material is invigorated, -hereas our -ays of thin0ing have become dull for the soul' *ven those -ho do not adhere to religions ma0e themselves comfortable -ith researching' Goethe is Cuoted -ith reference to their Bustification' 2ne should thin0 only as little as ossible and do research' ?:eeling is everythingE name is but sound and smo0e'A 8ith these -ords by Goethe one -ants to dis rove the reasons of the soul researchers' *verybody should find everything in his feelingE one believes to remain reserved in a lac0 of clarity, disregarding the reasons' 2ne seems to ta0e a 0ind of lyrical a roach for the most suitable concerning the soul' Because everybody is so near to the soul, he believes to be able to understand everything out of feeling' Should these really be Goethe>s o-n vie-s -hich he allo-s to ronounce :aust in these -ords; The dramatist must have the right to let his ersons s ea0 out of the situation' 5f these -ords -hich :aust uses to-ards the childish Gretchen -ere his creed, -hy Goethe -ould let :aust e/ lore all -isdom of the -orld; ?6ave no-, oh+ 9hiloso hyA et cetera' 5t -ould be a strange denial of his researching, of his doubtfulness' 5f -e -anted to resign ourselves -ith nothing else than unclear feelings concerning the soul, -ould -e not resemble to a ainter -ho offers no clear outlines, no co y of that in his icture -hat he has seen outside, but -ould be content to e/ ress his feeling only; ,o, the soul cannot be e/ lained by uncertain feeling' Theoso hy -ants to announce real scientific -isdom and turns Bust as little e/clusively to the feeling as science does it if it e/ lains electricity' ,ot -allo-ing in feelings theoso hy tries to further the cognition of the soul' ,o, it turns to fran0 striving for 0no-ledge' The o-n soul leads somebody, -ho tries to investigate it, to those -ho sat at the feet of the )asters' Since the Theoso hical Society -as founded in !=J5, it has nurtured real science of the soul' 5t -ants to teach the human beings to behold the soul' Today everybody -ants to tal0 about soul and mind -ithout having ta0en care seriously to recognise them' *verybody li0es to disregard the difficulties -hich bar his -ay, therefore, the most dilettantish attem ts s read' Theoso hy -ants to hel those -ho thirst for mental -isdom, and -ants to do sychology as seriously as one investigates nature scientifically' These are the difficulties -hich o ose the soul researcher today -here everybody -ho has not studied them is not allo-ed to tal0 about natural sciencesE ho-ever, everybody is allo-ed to tal0 about the soul -ho has not investigated it'

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2f course, the method of investigating is different' The scientist -or0s -ith hysical a aratuses' 3sing them, he enetrates dee er and dee er into the secrets of nature' The -ord a lies to the soul research that the secrets can be disclosed neither -ith levers nor -ith scre-s' The more the field of observation e/tends, the more natural sciences can rogress' These observations only reCuire the usual healthy human reason' But -hat the researcher uses of reason in the laboratory is not substantially different from that -hich is also necessary in business or technology, it is only a little more intricateE ho-ever, it is no other rocedure' The s iritual truth deals not only -ith the healthy human mindE it turns to other forces -hich rest in the de th of the human soul' 5t reCuires a develo ment of the cognitive faculties' The ossibility of this develo ment al-ays e/isted' The origin of all religions goes bac0 to them' *verything that Buddha, that 1onfucius, that all the great founders of the different religions taught goes bac0 to this dee er s iritual truth' At the moment -hen the human race -as there in such a -ay as it still e/ists, the soul -as there also, and it could be investigated develo ing the cognitive faculties' 5t -as less necessary to e/tend 0no-ledge than to develo the internal cognition to behold -hat rests in the soul' 5n the fields of the e/ternal sciences everybody de ends on the time in -hich he lives' Aristotle, the great scholar of antiCuity, could not do some scientific observations in the &th century B' 1' -hich are ossible only today -ith the hel of modern natural sciences' But the soul -as there al-ays as something com lete, and today one stands more distant to this 0no-ledge only than our ancestors in the dim antiCuity because one does not -ant to investigate the o-n soul' The Theoso hical Society is there to develo this good -ill' %oing this it does nothing ne-' This has ha ened at all times' But as it is easier to investigate -hat resents itself us hysically, soul and mind are also more difficult to recognise and not so easily accessible and to everybody violent' But already in grey antiCuity the human beings have observed this multi@formity, this com osite character of the soul' 8hat is the soul; As long as -e believe that the soul is something that only lives in the body and leaves it then again, -e cannot get 0no-ledge of the soul' ,o, it is something that is active in us and lives and enetrates all erformances of the body' 5t lives in the movement, in the breathing, in the digestion' But it is not steady in all our activities' 8e have arisen from a small cell, li0e the lant arises from the seed' And li0e the lant builds itself from the organic forces, from the germ, the human being also develo s from organic forces, from the small gametes' 6e forms the organs of his body as the lant forms its leaves and flo-ers, and the gro-th of the human being is the same as that of the lant' Therefore, the old researchers also attributed a soul to the lant' They s o0e of the lant soul' They found that the human beings have this activity of building the organs in common -ith all lants' 8hat builds u all the organs in the human being is something that corres onds to the lant soul' They called it the vegetative soul and regarded the human being as related to nature, to everything organic' The first that forms the human being is something lant@li0e, hence, one considered the lant soul as the first level of the soul' 5t created the human organism' 5t built our body -ith its limbs, eyes, ears, and muscles, it built our -hole body' 8e resemble the lant concerning gro-th and structure of our body li0e every organic being' 5f -e only had the lant soul, -e -ould not advance beyond the only organic life' But -e ossess the ability of erci ience, of feeling' 8e suffer ain if -e ierce one of our limbs -ith a needle, -hile the lant remains untouched if a leaf is ierced' That oints to the second level of the soul, to the animal soul' 5t gives us the abilities of sensing, desiring and moving, -hat -e share -ith the -hole animal realm and call it, therefore, animal soul' That is -hy -e get the ossibility to gro- not only li0e the lants, but to become the mirror of the -hole universe' The vegetative soul induces us to ta0e u the substances -hich form the organism, the animal soul moves us to ta0e u the subordinated soul@life' The sentient life is based on desire and ain' As our vegetative soul could not develo organs if there -ere not substances around us in the -orld, also the animal soul can scoo the feeling, the desire only from the -orld of desires, of the im ulses around us' 4i0e -ithout the driving force of the germ no lant could develo from its seed, Bust as little an animal@li0e being could originate if it could not fill its organs -ith im ressions if it could not fill his life -ith desire and ain' 2ur vegetative soul constructs the organic body from the material -orld' :rom the -orld of desires, the -orld of 0ama or the 0amalo0a, the animal soul ta0es u the materials of desire in it' 5f the body -ere lac0ing the ability to ta0e u desires in it, then desire and ain -ould stay a-ay from the lant soul forever' ,othing originates from nothing' The human being has the soul of desires in common -ith the animal' The naturalists are right to ascribe the lo-er soul Cualities also to the animal' 5t concerns, ho-ever, a difference of the level' The miraculous facilities of the bee state and the ant state, the dens of the beavers -hose regular arrangement corres onds to intricate mathematical calculations rove it' But also in other -ay the soul increases in the animal u to something similar to the human reason' Technical s0ills as the human being ractices them consciously can be aroused articularly -ith our ets by training' 6o-ever, a big
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distance is resentE there is only a dim sensing -ith the lo-est animals, the most develo ed animals have something li0e reason to a high degree' ,o- this third level of the human soul@life forms the intellectual soul' 8e -ould get stuc0 in the animal realm if -e only had an animal soul as -e -ould not advance beyond the lant if -e had a vegetative soul only' That is -hy the follo-ing Cuestion is so im ortant( does the human being not really differ from the higher animals; 5s there no difference; Somebody, -ho uts this Cuestion to himself and chec0s it unreservedly, finds that the mind of the human being, nevertheless, to-ers all animals' 5f the 9ythagoreans -anted to rove the higher soul of the human beings, they em hasised that only the ability of counting -ould be given to them' *ven if anything similar is found -ith certain animals, the immense difference comes clearly to the fore bet-een animal and human being, because -e deal -ith an original ability of the human soul organs, -hereas it is training -ith the animal' Because the human being can count, he differs from the animal, but also because he advances beyond the animal and the immediate need' ,o animal advances beyond the immediate need of the tem oral and the transient' ,o animal rises to the real and true, beyond the immediate sensory truth' The sentence that t-o times t-o is four must a ly at any rate, may the transient truth of the senses lose their validity under other circumstances' )ay beings live on the lanet )ars of -hich 0ind ever, may they hear the tone by means of their ears differently, may they erceive colours differently, all thin0ing beings on all lanets must eCually acce t the correctness of the calculation t-o times t-o is four' 8hat the human being gains from his soul, is valid for all times' 5t -as valid for millions of years and -ill be valid in millions of years because it is descended from the im erishable' Thus the im erishable art in us -hich ma0es us citi.ens of eternity rests in our transient art, in the animal@li0e art' As the animal soul is built from the substances of 0ama, the higher mind soul builds itself from the s iritual realm' ,othing comes into being from nothing' Aristotle, the master of those -ho had 0no-ledge -ho -as, ho-ever, no initiate, arrives at the conce t of miracle -here he s ea0s of the s iritual' 6e constructs the body strictly la-fully from nature, but he lets the soul come into being every time ane- by a miracle of the creator' The soul is a creation from nothing for Aristotle' A ne- creation is every soul also for the e/oteric 1hristianity of the later centuries' 6o-ever, -e do not -ant to assume the er etual miracle of soul creation' 4i0e the origin of the vegetative soul has resulted from the lant, that of the animal soul from the -orld of the instinctual life, the mind soul has to come into being G unless nothing has to originate from nothing G from the s iritual of the -orld' 8e are led to the s irit, to the soul of the universe as Giordano Bruno e/ resses it in his -or0s( by the organic forces of the universe and the soul forces of the universe' 8hy do -e all have a articular soul; 8hy does every soul have its articular Cualities; Science e/ lains the articular Cualities of the animals by means of natural develo ment of a s ecies from a s ecies' But every animal s ecies still carries Cualities in itself -hich oint to its origin from other animal s ecies' The s iritual soul can develo only from something individual@s iritual' Dust nobody -ould thin0 that a lion originated directly from the cosmic forces of the universe, as absurd it -ould be to su ose that the individual soul develo ed from the general s iritual contents of the universe, from the s iritual reservoirs of the universe' Theoso hy stands there on the ground -hich Bust corres onds to a scientific vie-' As sciences let a s ecies develo from a s ecies theoso hy lets a soul develo from a soul' 5t also lets the higher arise from subordinated' The single soul develo s from the universal soul li0e the animal formed from the general animal rinci le' According to the soul rinci le a soul comes into being from a soul' *very soul is a result of a soul and is again cause of a soul' The soul -hich itself is eternal rises from the eternal origin' Theoso hy goes bac0 to the so@called third human race -ith -hose a earance the higher soul element could come to the fore as an im act in the organic' 2ne calls this human race the 4emurian one' 9rior to this, the soul element -as in the animal' :or also the animal -orld comes from the soul element' 5t has only ta0en hold of the animal to fulfil its functions' :rom there it -or0s from soul to soul' 6ence, education means to develo -hat rests as an individual in the human being' The first rinci le of education is to -a0e this higher soul element resting in every human being' 8ith the animals the single animal coincides -ith the conce t of the genusE a tiger is on a ar -ith the other tiger in any essential art' 6o-ever, one is not Bustified to regard a human being as of the same 0ind as the other human being' The soul of every human being differs from that of the other human being' 5n order to arouse the soul element in the human being, the art of education must also be different for any individual human being' Because the a-a0ening of the soul forces -as the beginning of any education, higher beings had to be there -hen that third human race rose to s iritual life' The soul did not develo from -ildness, from ignorance'
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)illions of years ago, -hen the human beings rose from the only im ulsive condition, it did not ha en by itself, but by the great teachers hel ing this human race' There must also be great teachers -ho to-er above human0ind surrounding them, -ho dra- them u to a higher oint of vie-' Also today there are teachers -ho to-er above the resent 0no-ledge -ho re roduce the soul germ' 5 discuss in an additional tal0 -here these teachers come from' 2ne has 0no-n about these leaders of human0ind at all times' 2ne of the most e/cellent hiloso hers, Schelling, -ho himself -as no theoso hist, s ea0s in one of his often misunderstood -or0s also of them' These great teachers -ho can give information about the s iritual -ho are e/ erts of the soul element -hose -isdom is of etheric 0ind, is a mental cognition, they have su orted and led human0ind' The Theoso hical Society -ants to lead the human beings again to these soul researchers' 5n their middle are these -ho can give information about the nature of the soul' They cannot come to the fore in the -orld, they cannot say( acce t our truth, because the human beings -ould not understand their language' The great truth is hidden to most eo le' The tas0 of the Theoso hical Society is to lead the human beings to the sources of -isdom' 8e have these goals in luminous clearness before us' 2ur era has advanced so delightfully far that it denies the e/istence of the o-n soul' The tas0 of our movement is to give bac0 this era the confidence in itself and in the eternal and im erishable in us, in the divine core of our being' ,otes( 9sychology -ithout soul( :riedrich Albert 4ange (German hiloso her and sociologist, !=2=I!=J5) in his -or0 istor" of #aterialism and $riti%ue of &ts 'resent Significance (!=HH) :rancesco Redi (!H2HI!H"J), 5talian hysician Giordano Bruno (!5&=I!H##), 5talian %ominican friar, hiloso her' Rudolf 7ircho- (!=2!I!"#2), German anthro ologist, athologist 4eo Tolstoy (!=2=I!"#2), Russian -riter :riedrich 8ilhelm Dose h Schelling (!JJ5I!=5&), German hiloso her

/ourse I# .ecture III# The 0ature of God fro- the Theosophical Standpoint
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Berlin (o)ember *, 1903 The theoso hist does not dare so easily to s ea0 about the 0no-ledge of the rimary source of all matters' Theoso hy should be the -ay to be able to sei.e, finally, this conce t -ith our mental facultyE it should sho- us the -ay -hich -ould lead us to get clearness, as far as it is to be got, about this idea' This -ay is long and leads through some stations, and -e are not allo-ed to ass any single station only, but on every station -e have to sto and learn' ,ot only the starting oint, but also the 0eystone is im ortant' 5f -e have this in mind, -e have to go a little into the nature of theoso hical life to see -hich vie-s theoso hy has on the conce t of God' Theoso hy is G as it is striven for since !=J5 in the society founded by )rs' Blavats0y G something different from that -hich one calls -estern science, -hich our -estern civilisation and its scholarshi strives for in the e/ternal life' The -ay ho- the -estern 0no-ledge is gained differs basically from the theoso hical -isdom' Theoso hical -isdom is very old, as old as the human race, and somebody -ho becomes engrossed in the evolution of the human being gets to 0no- more about the starting oint of the human being than that -hich our history of civilisation of the last decades has believed in such a thoughtless -ay that the human beings started from a lac0 of culture and from ignorance' 8e shall see ho- it is in reality if -e become engrossed in the life of rimeval times' There -e see that the develo ment of human mind started from a strong s iritual strength of beholding that in the beginning of the
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human develo ment real divine -isdom e/isted every-here' 8ho studies the old religions receives the light of this -isdom' ,o- our time, according to the sense of our life, gives the theoso hist a rene-al of this cultural life -hich flo-s through the -hole human0ind' 2ur -estern cultural life is based on our mind first of all' 5t is based on the one@sided mental strength' 5f you go through our -hole civilisation in the 8est, you find our great discoveries and inventions, our sciences and -hat they have contributed to the clarification of the riddle of the -orld' Fou find thin0ing, sensible thin0ing, observation -ith the senses et cetera' 5n this manner the -estern mind s reads out its 0no-ledge to all directions' 5t investigates the cosmic s ace -ith the hel of instruments, -ith the telesco e and enetrates -ith the microsco e into the -orld of the smallest bodies' 5t connects everything -ith the mind' 2ur -estern 0no-ledge thereby s reads in all directions' 8e 0no- more and more about our surroundings, but -e never get to a dee ening of our 0no-ledge, namely enetrating of the matters' That is -hy it may not sur rise us if the -estern science does not co e -ith the conce t of God' 8e must get to the s ring of e/istence, to the s iritual being' They cannot be connected and erceived by the sensesE they must be erceived in a different -ay' Those -ho 0no- that there is another -ay than the -estern one try to attain -isdom in Cuite a different -ay' Go bac0 to the -isdom of *gy tian riests, bac0 to the Gree0 mysteries, bac0 to 5ndia, go bac0 to all these religions and -orld vie-s and you find that those -ho loo0ed for -isdom did this in Cuite a different -ay than the *uro ean scholarshi ' 5t -as a self@education, a self@develo ment -hat -as searched for by the u ils of -isdom above all' They searched for self@education through honest struggle of the human soul, and tried to gain higher -isdom' :rom the start they -ere convinced that the human being, as he is born in the -orld, is determined for advancement, for higher develo ment' They -ere convinced that the human being is not erfect that he cannot attain the to level of erfection immediately in one single life that a develo ment of the human being and his soul ca acities have to ta0e lace, li0e -ith the lant -hose root remains even if leaves and flo-ers dry u ' 5t is similar if -e are going to have to ta0e the self@ education in our o-n hands correctly -hich roduces flo-ers and fruit in the life on earth if -e -or0 on it seriously' The u il strove for -isdom that -ay' 6e loo0ed for a guide for himself' This gave him clues ho- he could develo his astral organs by an a ro riate -ay of life' Then he develo ed u -ard ste by ste ' 6is soul became able to behold farther and farther, it became more and more sensitive for the rimary sources of e/istence' 2n every ne- level he attained ne- insights' 8ith every level he a roached the being -hose conce t -e have to discuss today' 6e realised that he did not understand God using his intellect' That is -hy he tried to advance above all' 6e -as convinced that in the -hole nature and also in the human soul the God being is to be found' This God being never is anything ready and finishedE it is as develo ing factor in all living beings, in all things' 8e ourselves are this God being' 8e are not the -hole, but -e are dro lets of the same Cuality, of the same essence' %ee ly belo- us in concealed abysses and bottoms, -hich are not on the surface of the day, there is our real divine nature' 8e have to search for it and to get it u ' Then -e also get u a little bit -hat hovers about our usual e/istence, and then -e also get u in ourselves -hat is divine in us' *ach of us is as it -ere a beam of divinity or, -e say, a reflection of divinity' 5f -e imagine the divinity as the sun, each of us is li0e a reflection of the sun in the dro of -ater' As -ell as the dro of -ater reflects the sun com letely, every human being is a true, real reflection of the divine being' The God being rests in us, only -e 0nonothing about itE -e must get it out of ourselves' 8e must only a roach it' Goethe says( he cannot understand hosomebody -ould -ant to immediately reach the divinity' 8e must a roach it more and more' Self@develo ment leads us gradually to the understanding of the rimary foundation of life' 5f -e develo this -ay, -e e/ercise nothing else than theoso hical life' *verything that s iritual science teaches and recommends living, all great la-s -hich it ma0es clear to us and -hich its students -ho -ant to co@o erate really ma0e it the living truth in them' They get to 0no- the teaching of reincarnation and 0arma, the la- of destiny, of the intermediate beings, of the rimary source of all being -hich controls the -hole universe' This is the internal -orld -hich -e call the astral one and the mental one, the -orld of buddhi and the -orld of atma' 8e e/ erience something of all those -orlds, and -hat -e e/ erience of those -orlds is the ste s to -isdom -hich lead us to the loftiest' 5f -e try to climb u these ste s, it is a long -ay' 2nly those -ho have arrived at the highest summit of human develo ment are able to see once that they have an in0ling of the si.e of that conce t -hich -e -ant to discuss today as intimation' 6ence, the shyness -ith -hich theoso hy s ea0s about the conce t of God' The theoso hist s ea0s about these conce ts ossibly in the same attitude as a 6indu s ea0s of Brahma' 5f you as0 him( -hat is Brahma; G Then he maybe mentions to you( )ahadeva, 7ishnu and Brahma' Brahma is one of the divine beings or rather an e/ ression of the divine being' But behind all that something different rests for the 6indu' Behind all beings to -hich he ascribes the origin of the -orld something rests that he calls Brahma or Brahman' Brahman is neuter' 5f you as0 him -hat is behind the beings of -hich he s ea0s, he says nothing about it'
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6e says nothing about it, because one cannot s ea0 about it any more' *verything that the human being is able to say in this direction is hints, hints in that ers ective at -hose end the divine being is for us' G That also leads to the motto of our Theoso hical Society' 9erha s, you 0no- this motto' 5t e/ resses nothing else than -hat 5 tried to outline no- -ith some -ords' This motto is normally translated -ith the -ords( no religion is higher than truth' G 8e -ant to see ho- far the -hole theoso hical striving goes in that direction' G 8hat do -e 0no- about the human striving; 6uman 0no-ledge has to ma0e every effort to enetrate the secrets of e/istence and to find the rimary sources of life -ith the hel of the different hiloso hies and -orld vie-s' 4et us have a loo0 at the different religions' A arently they are contradictory to each otherE ho-ever, they are contradictory only if one loo0s at them cursorily' 5f -e consider them dee er, they are connected' 5ndeed, they do not have the same contents( 1hristianity, 6induism, Karathustrism, and natural sciences do not have the same contents, too' ,evertheless G all these different -orld vie-s sho- nothing else than attem ts of the human mind to a roach the rimary source of all being' 2n different -ays you can get to the summit of a mountain' :rom different oints of vie- a region loo0s different, and thus the original truth also loo0s different from different oints of vie-' 8e all are different from each other' The one has thisE the other has that character, this or that mental develo ment' 6o-ever, -e all also belong to a eo le, a race, and an age' 5t -as al-ays this -ay' But because -e belong to a eo le, a race, and an age and have characters, -e have a sum of different sensations and feelings -ith the human beings' They form the different languages in -hich the human beings ut Cuestions to themselves and communicate about the riddles of life' The Gree0 could not form the same mental ictures as the modern human being because the loo0 -as totally different by -hich he sa- the -orld' Thus the theoso hist sees different as ects, different 0inds of -isdom every-here' 5f -e loo0 for the reason of it, -e see that -e have a concealed original -isdom, -hich reveals itself time and again and -hich is identical -ith the divine -isdom' 8hat have the human beings formed in the course of time, and -hat -ill they al-ays form; They form o inions' 8e deal -ith o inions' The one o inion is different from the otherE the one stands above the other' 8e have the obligation to ascend to higher and higher o inions' But -e have to realise that -e must go far beyond the sea of o inions' Truth itself is still hidden in the o inions at the moment, it is still covered, and it still a ears in different forms and as ects' 6o-ever, -e are allo-ed to absolutely have these o inions if -e ta0e the right oint of vie- on the o inions and truth' 8e are never allo-ed to believe to understand truth G -hich Goethe regards as identical -ith the divine G -ith our limited abilities' 8e may never dare to believe that an end of thin0ing is ossible' 5f -e are a-are of that, -e feel something that goes beyond it, and then -e have something of that -hich theoso hy calls -isdom@filled modesty in the higher sense of the -ord' The theoso hist comes out of himself -ith his sensations and his thin0ing' 6e says to himself( 5 must have o inions, because 5 am only a human being, and it is my s iritual obligation to form thoughts and conce ts of the riddles of e/istenceE but 5 have something in myself that cannot be brought in a restricted conce tE 5 have something in myself that is more than thin0ing that goes beyond thin0ing( this is life' This life is the divine life -hich flo-s through all things -hich also flo-s through me' G 5t is that -hich hel s us along, that -hich -e can never encom ass' 8e -ill never be able to encom ass it' 5f, ho-ever, -e admit that -e -ill have reached something higher in distant future, -e have to admit also that -e have other o inions in distant future -hich are higher than those -e have no-' But you cannot have the lively life -hich is in us in different -ay' Fou cannot have this in a different -ayE for this life is the divine life -hich leads to the higher thoughts -hich still come to us -hich -e also have once' 5f -e have this sensation of the conce ts G es ecially of the conce ts of the divine nature, then -e say to ourselves( truth is identical -ith divinity, the divine lives in my veins' 5t lives in all things and it also lives in me' G 5f -e thin0 this thought in ourselves, it is divine, but it is not God himself and cannot enclose God' There -e must say to ourselves( beyond any human o inion, beyond any tem oral or national o inion the original truth goes -hich reveals itself to you -hich -e must feel and -hich -e must loo0 for ambitiously' But no human o inion is higher to us than this living sensation for the unfathomable -isdom and divinity -hich e/ resses itself in that -hich 5 told no-' 8e may be convinced that -e are enclosed in the divinity that God -or0s in us if -e are living beings' This is the sense of the theoso hical motto( ,o human o inion stands higher than the living sensation of the divine -isdom -hich al-ays changes and never sho-s itself as a -hole' G Then -e may also not -onder if -e loo0 at the matter in such a -ay that GoetheLs saying is right( Somebody is as his God isE Therefore, God is moc0ed so often' 5ndeed, -e human beings can form no other conce t of the divine being as such -hich is adBusted to our res ective ca acities' But if -e have a loo0 at the matter in such a -ay as -e have Bust loo0ed at it, -e have to say( ho-ever, -e are also Bustified to form a suitable conce t of the divine' 2nly one thing is necessary, and this is( having the good -ill not to
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sto there' 5t -ould be resum tuous to believe that -e have reached the original -isdom' 5t is also resum tuous by science if it believes to have no- e/ lained the conce t of God' 5n this regard our resent civilisation is really once again on one of those lo- oints on -hich human0ind is sometimes' 2ur resent civilisation is some-hat resum tuous concerning the conce t of God as you 0no-' Dust those -ho -ant to have a ne- Bible, a so@called story of natural creation -ere often resum tuous so that they could not advance' There is a -riting by %avid :riedrich Strauss -ith the title !ld and (e+ ,aith -hich a eared in !=J2 and su orts the o inion that it is a ne- Bible com ared to the old Bible and that that -hich comes from sciences is true' :or they undermine the Bible in such a -ay that these conce ts must be thro-n a-ay' Believe me that these are the best -ho are set on such a mania today that they are the best -ho thin0 in good confidence that -e reach the very basis of e/istence s reading the human 0no-ledge that -e come from matter and energy' 8hat is this materialistic belief in God -hich meets us there; These are often e/cellent ersonalities -ho have advanced so far that they say( matter is our God' These -hirling atoms -hich attract and ush off themselves mutually should cause -hat constitutes our o-n soul' 8hat is the materialistic belief in God; 5t is atheism+ This can be com ared -ith a religious level -hich e/ists, other-ise, in the -orld -hich -e can find, ho-ever, only correctly if -e have the ty ical conce ts of the materialistic ne- faith' 5t is dead matter and dead energy the materialist offers and adores' 4et us loo0 bac0 at the times of ancient 6ellenism and not ta0e the dee mystery religions, but the national religion of the Gree0s' Their gods -ere human, -ere idealised human beings' 5f -e go bac0 to other levels of e/istence, -e find there that the human beings adored animals that lants -ere symbols of the divine to them' But these all -ere living beings' These -ere higher levels than that -hich the com letely savages had -ho -al0ed to-ards a stone bloc0 and adored it as animated' The stone bloc0 differs in nothing from that -hich is energy and matter' As incredible it sounds, the materialists stand on the level of such fetish adorers' They say, of course, that they do not adore energy and matter at all' 5f they say this, -e re ly to them( you have no correct conce t of -hat the fetish adorer feels to his fetish' The fetish adorers are not yet able to rise to a higher idea of God' Their culture does not allo- it to them' 5t is a legitimate o inion for them to adore an image they ma0e for themselves' 2f this o inion are today not only the savages but also the materialists' Somebody, -ho is today a scientific fetish adorer, -ho ma0es the image of matter and energy to himself and adores it, is to blame for something' 6e could see by virtue of the cultural level achieved by us if he only -anted it, on -hat a lo- level he has sto ed' As -e are today surrounded by this virtually aralysing idea of God, -e say to ourselves( this is a reason -hy -e s ea0 of the idea of God' G 6ence, 5 may oint to a boo0' 2ne says it is a great merit of :euerbach, the hiloso her, that he re resented a so@called ?fantasticA God' :euerbach ublished a boo0 in !=&! and too0 the vie- that -e should turn round the sentence( God created the human being according to his image G and say( the human beings created God according to their image' G 8e have to realise the fact that the -ishes and needs of the human being are in such a -ay that he li0es to see something above himself' Then his imagination creates an image of him' The gods become images of the human being' G 8ith it :euerbach, one says, e/ ressed a lofty -isdom' 5f -e go bac0 to the times of the ancient 6ellenism, bac0 to the *gy tians et cetera, again and again the human beings formed ideas of the gods in such a -ay as they -ere themselves' Thus they could also form bull and lion images of gods' 5f the human beings -ere similar to bulls in their souls, then the bulls became their gods' The gods became similar to bulls' 5f eo le -ere similar to lions, the lions and lion@li0e images became their gods' This is no ne- -isdom' 5t is a -isdom -hich s reads in our time only again' 6o-ever, is it then not true that really the human being creates his gods to himself; 5s it not true that our o inions about the gods arise from our o-n chests; 5s it not true that G if -e loo0 around in the -orld G -e do not see the divine -ith the eyes, -ith our senses; Somebody -ho -ants to loo0 -ith the senses and understand -ith his mind s ea0s that -ay as for e/am le %u Bois@Reymond, the great hysiologist( 5 -ould believe in a ruler of the universe if 5 could rove himE if 5 could rove him li0e the human brain' Then, ho-ever, 5 -ould be able to rove nerve strands also outside in the -orld, as -ell as 5 can rove nerve strands in the human body' 5n the outside -orld, as %u Bois@Reymond and the younger ones -ant it, -e cannot find the divine' Their o inions are created from their o-n chests li0e :euerbach says' But one can also say( -hat s ea0s in the human soul if this human soul forms thoughts and o inions; G 8e 0nothat -e ourselves are arts of this divine beingE -e 0no- that God lives in us' 8e 0no- that -e human beings are the last member of all things that surround us in the hysical -orld, so to s ea0, the noblest and most erfect beings -ithin this -orld' 6ave -e not to say that the human being, in so far as he forms himself hysically, forms himself according to God as the most erfect being; 8ho does not agree -ith Goethe as he e/ ressed his o inion -ith the nice -ords(
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?5f the healthy nature of the human being -or0s as a -hole if he feels being in the -orld li0e in a great, nice, -orthy and valued -hole if the harmonious leasure grants a ure, free delight to him( then the universe if it could feel -ould reBoice because it -ould have reached its ur ose and -ould admire the summit of its o-n evolution and being'A The human being forms thoughtsE the thoughts stream from the human breast' But -hat s ea0s out of the human breast; God himself s ea0s out of it G if the human being is only inclined to hear this inner voice unselfishly, not to let dro-n it by his interests and inclinations of the everyday life' 5t is this( indeed, it is a human voice, but God>s voice is in the human voice' That is -hy it does not come as a sur rise if -e have different as ects, different vie-s about the old divine -isdom in the human voice' A higher s iritual modesty is that -hich must enetrate the theoso hist if he -ants to obtain this conce t of God' Above all, he has to realise that life is a continual study that he never closes -ith an o inionE that everything is develo ing' Also the human soul is develo ing' Then it turns out that there are souls of lo-er and higher levels' There are also souls -hich have not yet far advanced in their idea of God, and on the other side there are souls -hich have advanced beyond the ordinary for a long time and have acCuired lofty -orld conce ts and also lofty conce ts of God' *uro ean and American 0no-ledge regards itself as -ise and elated that nothing outstri s it' *verybody believes that he has the sum of all -isdom' Somebody -ho adheres to oriental or to theoso hical -isdom is com letely different' 6e says to himself( everyday you can overta0e -hat you have achieved if you continue the -ay' *verything you have achieved is your inner ossession' But you are not allo-ed to restE you must go on and hear to the voice in nature and in your o-n breast' ,othing is as erishable for the -estern culture as our criticism getting out of hand' Because it is never re ared from the oint of vie- that one has to develo that one is never allo-ed to have a closed Budgment about a matter' The theoso hist -ill never have this' 6e says to himself -ith boldness and courage -hat he has recognised as true( 5 arouse the same sensation in everybody, -ho -ants to hear me, that 5 long for higher levels and higher summits of e/istence and -isdom' G The theoso hist tal0s to himself that -ay' 8e never reach the end of soul develo mentE -e never have a closed -orld' 8e loo0 for the -ay -hich leads us to 0no-ledge beyond our senses to the higher -orlds -hich gives us a right sensation above all' *ven if each of us -ere an advanced being, -e -ould have to loo0 dee er and dee er into the -orld, to recognise the sources of life dee er than -e are able today standing -ithin the -estern life and feeling' 8e should behave as advanced human beings' That is -hy it is also so difficult to fulfil the -isdom -hich flo-s to us from advanced beings -ho have already develo ed to a higher level than the everyday erson' These are beings -ho have to say a lot to us' 8e must have a sensation of grandeurE then -e learn to listen' 5n this attitude theoso hy -ants to build u a s iritual current and to bring u a centre of human0ind -hich believes honestly and really that the human soul is a roduct of develo ment' 5f the -orm -hich lived at that time had said millions of years ago( 5 have arrived at the summit of e/istence, then the -orm could not have develo ed to the fish, the fish not to the mammal, not to the mon0ey and not to the human being' 3nconsciously they have believed that they have to go beyond it that they have to gro- u to higher and higher levels' They believed a little bit in that -hich ta0es u their being and that is the strength of their develo ment' 8e human beings cannot really feel against nature' 8e should feel -ith nature' 8hat nature has unconsciously as strength of develo ment in itself -hich -e should become more and more a-are of, this consciousness should be the strength of our develo ment' 8e have to realise that -e must develo beyond ourselves' Dust as outside in the animal realm the im erfect mammal lives beside the erfect one, as the one lagged behind as it -ere on a lo-er level, the other reached a higher level earlier and lives beside the lo-er one, Bust the same also a lies to the human beings' 5n human0ind the different human beings live side by side on different levels of develo ment' 8e have to admit that our conce t of God is a etty one com ared to that -hich a lofty being has' 8e have also to admit that our resent@day conce t of God is ettier com ared to that -hich human0ind -ill have in millions of years if it has develo ed further' Therefore, -e have to move the conce t of God in an infinite ers ective and to carry it as life in ourselves' The theoso hical conce t of God distinguishes from all other that -e have to a roach it that -e have to ta0e care for it' 8e deny none of these conce ts' 8e realise that they all are Bustified according to the human abilities' But -e also realise that none of them is e/haustive' 8e realise that -e cannot Boin those -ho so- discord bet-een the different o inions' The different religions have to be side by side and not against each other' And no- -hat do -e call the conce t of God; 5t is not an@theism, not a an@theistic conce t, not an anthro omor hic conce t, not an outlined conce t' 8e do not adore this or that God, -e adore Brahman behind Brahma -hom the 6indu reveres -ho is more sensitive of the matters about -hich he remains silent' 8e realise that -e can e/ erience this God Being in life' 8e cannot imagine it, but it lives in us as life' This is not 0no-ledge of God, not science of GodE theoso hy is also not theology' Theoso hy -ants to find the -ayE it is the search for God'
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A German hiloso her said only short but stri0ing -ords concerning this matter' Schelling said( can one rove the e/istence of e/istence; G The different roofs of the e/istence of God cannot be guides to GodE they deliver an imagination of God at most' A real roof is only necessary if a matter has to be reached by our conce t' God lives in our actions, in our -ords' 5t cannot be a matter of roving the e/istence of God but of gaining o inions of it only and of ta0ing care that they become more and more erfect' 5t is that -hich it concerns, and the Theoso hical Society has set it as its goal to collaborate on it' Those -ho re resent the theological oint of vie- have no sensation, no in0ling -hich sensations ointed the -ay in this regard in ast times' 5 -ould li0e to remind you of a s irit of the !5th century -ho set the tone and -as actually theoso hist even then, theoso hist com letely in our sense' 6e -as a 1atholic cardinal' 5 -ould li0e to remind of the sensitive theoso hist ,icholas of 1usa because he can be an ideal for the modern theoso hists' 6e e/ ressed that in all religions a core is contained that they are different as ects of an original religion that they should be reconciled that they should be dee ened' 2ne should search for truth in them, but not claim to be able to gras the original truth immediately' 1usanus tries to get the conce t of God clear in his mind in a rofound -ay' 5f you understand this vie- of 1usanus, you get an idea of the fact that 1hristianity had significant, dee s irits also in the )iddle Ages, s irits of a ty e that one cannot have any conce t of them using our ideas' Thus 1usanus says G and also still some other redecessors( -e have our conce ts, our thoughts' 8here come all our human ideas from; :rom our surroundings -e have e/ erienced' 8hat -e have e/ erienced, ho-ever, is only a small art of the infinite' 5f -e go to the highest conce t and ta0e the conce t of being( is this not also a human conce t; 8here -e have the conce t of being from; 8e live in the -orld' 5t ma0es an im ression on our senses of touch, on our eyes' 8e say of that -hich -e see or hear( it is' 8e attribute the being to it' ?A thing isA means basically as much as( 5 have seen it' G ?BeingA (German( sein) has the same root as ?seeingA (sehen)' 5f -e say( God is, -e attribute an idea to God -hich -e have got only from our e/ erience' 8e say nothing other than( God has a Cuality -hich -e have erceived in different things' Therefore, 1usanus e/ ressed a -ord -hich is dee ly characteristic' 6e says( not the being has to be attributed to God, but the su er@being' This is not an idea -hich -e can get -ith our senses' That is -hy the sensation of the infinite also lives in 1usanus' 5t is dee ly affecting if this cardinal says( 5 have studied theology in my -hole life, have also ursued the sciences of the -orld and have also understood them G as far as they are to be recognised -ith reason' But then 5 noticed in myself, and thereby 5 have got to 0no-( in the human soul a self lives -hich is -o0en more and more by the human soul' G Fou read that -ith 1usanus' The meaning of that -hich he says goes far beyond that -hich -e thin0 and conceive today' As necessary as it is that -e come to clear and shar ly outlined conce ts of all that -hich -e e/ erience in the -orld, it is also necessary that -e are a-are at every moment concerning the conce t of God that our sensation must go beyond everything that -e erceive -ith the reason and -ith the senses' Then -e realise that -e should not recognise God but search for 6im' Then -e see more and more the -ay of the 0no-ledge of God and develo to this' 5f God is not closed life, but living life, -e -ait, until the methods of theoso hy have develo ed higher s iritual forces in us' God rules not only in this -orld, but also in those -orlds -hich only somebody can behold -hose s iritual eye is o ened for all those -orlds of -hich theoso hy s ea0s' 5t s ea0s of seven levels of the human consciousness' 5t 0no-s that human develo ment means( not sto ing at the hysical level of consciousness, but ascending to higher and higher levels' Somebody, -ho does this, e/ eriences a subordinated conce t of it at first' ,evertheless, -e are never allo-ed to des air, but have to realise that -e are Bustified to form higher and higher o inions of the God being that it is, ho-ever, resum tuous to believe that one day an o inion e/hausts the obBect' 8e have to realise that -e must have the right sensations and feelings in ourselves, then our feeling becomes devout again, then -e become reverent again' 8e have lost reverence because of our *uro ean thoughts' 8e have to -a0e reverence and devotion ane-' 8hat could arouse our reverence more than that -hich e/ists as a divine being, as a rimary source of e/istence+ 5f -e learn to develo devotion again, our soul is -armed u and set aglo- by something totally different, namely by that -hich flo-s through the universe as blood of life' This becomes a art of our being' S ino.a s ea0s about that, too' S ino.a develo ed conce ts of the divinity in his *thics, and he closes his *thics -ith a literary hymn on the divinity' 6e closes them in this sense( only that human being has got to freedom, only that human being also creates a dee feeling, a feeling, -hich allo-s the divinity to flo- into him, -hose 0no-ledge combines in love' Amor dei intellectualis G recognising love for God, that is( the love for God resting in the 0no-ledge of the s irit is God>s love' This is not a conce t, not a restricted idea, but living life' That is -hy our conce t of God is not a science of God, but -e let flo- everything -e can e/ erience as science together into a lively feeling, into a feeling of the divine' The -ord theoso hy should not be translated as ?-isdom of God,A but as ?divine -isdomA or even better( the search for a -ay to God, the search for a er etually increasing a otheosis' ?Search for -isdom,A that is it'
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Those -ho e/erted themselves and advanced to higher levels of e/istence stood al-ays on this ground more or less' Among others also Goethe -ho -as much more theoso hist than one normally sus ects -ho is, above all, the theoso hical oet of the Germans' 6e can be understood com letely -hen he is illuminated -ith the light of theoso hy' Among many other truths -hich rest covertly in GoetheLs -or0s the motto of theoso hy can also be found there' At a rominent lace, Goethe e/ ressed( no religion is higher than truth' G Goethe -as dee ly convinced of that' As -ell as any e/istence is formed also our thoughts are formed' As any formed being is an allegory, our ideas of God are also allegories of God G but never the divine itself' 1oncerning the transient conce t of God and the image of the im erishable Goethe>s -ord is correct( *verything is transitory 5s only a symbol' :aust 55, verse !2, !#&f' ,otes %avid :riedrich Strauss (!=#=I!=J&), German theologian and -riter 4ud-ig :euerbach (!=#&I!=J2), German hiloso her :riedrich 8ilhelm Dose h Schelling (!JJ5I!=5&), German hiloso her ,icholas of 1usa (!&#!I!&H&), German theologian, hiloso her, astronomer, cf ' 18 J )ystics after )odernism (Anthro oso hic 9ress, 2###, J!ff) Baruch S ino.a (!H$2I!HJJ), De-ish@%utch hiloso her

/ourse I " .ecture I*# Theosophy and /hritianity

Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(4$2
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin -anuar" ., 190. 2ften one still confuses the Theoso hical Society -ith the Buddhist -orld vie-' 2n occasion 5 ventured to remar0 in these monthly meetings that at the Theoso hical 1ongress in 1hicago in !="$ the 5ndian Brahman G' ,' 1ha0ravarti himself said that also for him theoso hy has brought something absolutely ne- or at least a com lete rene-al of the -orld vie-' At that time he e/ ressed that any s iritual -orld vie-, also of his eo le in 5ndia, has given -ay to materialism, and that it -as the Theoso hical Society -hich rene-ed the s iritual -orld vie- in 5ndia' :rom that one can already conclude that -e did not get theoso hy from 5ndia, as -ell as one has to admit, on the other hand, if one follo-s the theoso hical movement, as it has develo ed in last decades, that it has tried more and more to e/ lain all other religious systems that it has tried more and more to bring the core of truth to light not only of the more oriental, but also of the -estern religions'
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Today it is only my tas0 to outline the -ay ho- true, real theoso hy is to be found in the really understood 1hristianity, or rather, it is my tas0 to characterise the stand oint of the Theoso hical Society com ared -ith 1hristianity' The theoso hical movement -ants to be nothing else than a servant of 1hristianity' 5t -ants to serve trying to e/tract the dee est core, the real being from the 1hristian denominations' Thereby it e/ ects to ta0e nothing a-ay from anybody -ho is attached to 1hristianity -hose heart is connected -ith 1hristianity' 2n the contrary, those -ho understand the theoso hical movement 0no- that Bust the 1hristian can receive a lot that many dis utes, -hich have today ta0en lace every-here in the 1hristian confessions, must disa ear if the true core, -hich can be, nevertheless, only a core, comes to the fore' 2f course, 5 cannot e/haust this big to ic in great detail and com rehensiveness, and, hence, 5 as0 you to ma0e do -ith fe- lines -hich 5 am able to give' But it is time to give this Bust no- -hat 5 am able to give' 2ur resent is not a time -hich li0es to rise to the lively s irit' 5ndeed, there are ideals at -hich the human beings loo0 u , and they s ea0 a lot of ideals, but that they could realise the ideals that the s irit could be active and that it is the tas0 to recognise it, the !"th and the beginning 2#th centuries do not -ant to 0no-' 2ur time thereby differs Cuite substantially from the time of the great s irits -ho develo ed 1hristianity originally follo-ing the founder of 1hristianity' Go bac0 to the early times of 1hristianity, ossibly to 1lement of Ale/andria, and you -ill find that at that time all scholarshi , all 0no-ledge -as there only to understand one matter( to understand ho- the living -ord, the light of the -orld could become flesh' 2ur time does not li0e to rise to such heights of the s iritual vie-' As -ell as -e have limited ourselves -ith regard to the scientific vie- to see the urely actual -hat the eyes see -hat the senses can erceive, also the confessions are really full of such materialistic vie-s' Dust the re resentatives of such materialistic vie-s -ill believe to understand the confession best of all' They do not 0no- ho- strongly unconsciously materialistic thoughts have ta0en lace there' 4et me only give a fe- e/am les' The !"th century has tried to ut u -ith 1hristianity in serious -or0' 2ne -ent to -or0 critically above all and tried to investigate the documents in strictly scientific -ay, to -hich e/tent historical@actual truth e/ists in them' Fes, ?actualA truth, this is that -hich also religious scholars strive for today' To the letter one investigated in every -ay -hether the one or the other evangelist says the ure, actual truth -hat could have really occurred -hat could have ta0en lace before the eyes of the human beings once' 5t is the obBect of the so@called historical@critical theology to investigate this' 8e see hounder these tas0s the image of the God 8ho became flesh has ta0en on a materialistic colouring gradually' 4et me state something that al-ays reoccu ies those -ho search for truth' %avid :riedrich Strauss started during the thirties of the !"th century to historically investigate the actual core of the Gos els' After he had tried to ma0e clear -hat such a core of historical truth is, he tried to outline a icture of 1hristianity inde endently' ,o- this icture -hich he outlined is really out of the s irit of his time, out of the s irit -hich could not believe that once something could have been realised in the -orld that outshines human0ind by far, something that comes from the heights of s irit, something that is born out of the real s irit' 8hat did %avid :riedrich Strauss find; 6e found that the real Son of God cannot resent himself in a single ersonality' ,o, only the -hole human0ind, the human 0ind, the ty e can be the real re resentation of God on earth' The struggle of the -hole human0ind, symbolically understood, is the living God, but not a single individual' All the stories about the erson Desus 1hrist that formed in the times in -hich 1hristianity came into being are nothing else than myths -hich the imagination of the eo les created' G The Son of God eva orated to a divine ideal -ith %avid :riedrich Strauss as a result of his endeavours to sho- the Son of God as the struggle and striving of the -hole human0ind' ,o-, loo0 around in the Gos els, loo0 in the 1hristian confessions G you never -ill find a certain -ord in them, and you -ill no-here find a certain idea -ith Desus( the idea of the ideal human being in the -ay as Strauss formed it' 2ne does no-here find the human ty e, thought in the abstract' This is characteristic that the !"th century has come to an image of Desus from an idea -hich Desus did never suggest nor e/ ress in his life' Also still others tac0led this tas0 bit by bit to verify the content of the Gos els critically' 5 cannot give you e/am les of the different hasesE this -ould go too far' But during the last years a -ord -as often said -hich sho-s ho- little sym athetic it is to our time to loo0 u to God, to the s iritual being, -hich should have found fulfilment in a ersonality, in similar -ay as in the first 1hristian century -hen all scholarshi , all -isdom, all 0no-ledge -as to be used to understand this uniCue henomenon' A -ord -as said there, and this -ord is( the sim le man from ,a.areth' 2ne dro ed the conce t of God' 2ne -ants G this is, finally, the trend -hich is included in these -ords G one -ants to acce t this ersonality -hich stands at the beginning of 1hristianity only as a human being and -ants to understand everything that one regards as dogma as imagination floating in the clouds' 2ne -ants to remove everything and consider the ersonality of Desus only as a human being, -ho is of a higher ran0, indeed, than the other human beings -ho is,
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ho-ever, a human being among human beings -ho is eCual in certain res ects to the other human beings' Thus also the theologians -ant to ull do-n the image of 1hrist to the field of the urely actual' These are t-o e/tremes -hich 5 have demonstrated, on the one side, the conce t of God eva orating the image of God, resented by %avid :riedrich Strauss, on the other side, the sim le man from ,a.areth, -hich contains nothing but a doctrine of general humanness' This is basically nothing else than -hat also those can acce t -ho -ant to 0no- nothing at all about a founder of 1hristianity' 8e have also seen adherents of a general moral hiloso hy -or0ing out that Desus basically had and taught the same moral hiloso hy as it is reached today by the ?Society for *thical 1ulture'A They believe to raise Desus if they sho- that already before the !"th century eo le have born -itness to that -hich -e got from <ant>s s eculation or from the *nlightenment' G 6o-ever, in truth -e deal -ith doctrines -hich -ere once the highest mystery, and the contents of this -isdom -ere only given to those -ho had risen to the heights of humanity' %o -e as0 ourselves, are -e still anyho- on the ground of the Gos els if -e ta0e the one or the other of these conce ts of 1hrist; Today 5 cannot e/ lain -hy 5 do not share the vie- of many of the learnt theologians that the fourth Gos el should be less significant than the three other ones' Somebody -ho chec0s the rocedure clearly sees no reason -hy the St' Dohn>s Gos el G -hich Bust raises us so much G -as de osed, so to s ea0, because one strove for real facts' 2ne believes that the three Gos els( )atthe-, )ar0, and 4u0e sho- more the human being, the sim le man from ,a.areth, -hile the Dohn>s Gos el demands to recognise the 8ord that became flesh in Desus' 6ere the una-are -ish -hich lives in the souls -as the father to the thought' 5f, ho-ever, the Dohn>s Gos el is less entitled to authenticity, it is im ossible to 0ee u 1hristianity' Then -e cannot say anything about the 1hristian doctrine of the ersonality of Desus than that he is the sim le man from ,a.areth' But nobody, neither 5 nor others -ho loo0 into the old confessional -ritings can say anything different as those -ho s o0e originally of 1hrist Desus, really s o0e of the God 8ho had become flesh, of the higher s irit of God -hich manifested itself in Desus of ,a.areth' 5t is the tas0 of theoso hy to sho- ho- -e have to understand ?the 8ord became fleshA used by Dohn above all' Fou do not really understand the other Gos els if you do not ta0e St' Dohn>s Gos el as basis' 8hat the other evangelists tell is getting bright and clear, if you add the -ords of St' Dohn>s Gos el as an inter retation, as an e/ lanation' 5 cannot describe in all details -hat leads to any statement 5 ma0e today' But 5 can at least oint to the central issue -hich is indecent to the materialistically minded theologian' Already the story of the birth belongs to it -hich says that Desus should not be born li0e other human beings' %avid :riedrich Strauss also had this as an obBection to the truth of the Gos els' 8hat did the higher birth mean; 5t becomes clear to us easily if -e understand St' Dohn>s Gos el correctly' The first sentences of this Gos el, the real message of the 8ord that became flesh are( ?5n the beginning the 8ord already -as' The 8ord -as in God>s resence, and -hat God -as, the 8ord -as' 6e -as -ith God at the beginning, and through him all things came to beE -ithout him no created thing came into being'A 5t is said that the 8ord -as al-ays there in other -ay that it finds fulfilment, ho-ever, in this e/ternally visible ersonality' 8e hear then that through the same 8ord, or -e say, through the s irit of God -ho lived in Desus, the -orld itself came into being' ?5n him -as life, and that life -as the life of man0ind' The light shines in the dar0ness, and the dar0ness has never mastered it' There a eared a man named Dohn' 6e -as sent from God, and came as a -itness to testify the light, so that through him all might become believers' 6e -as not himself the lightE he came to bear -itness to the light'A G 8hat should come to Desus 1hrist; But immediately -e hear that it -as already there' ?6e -as in the -orldE but the -orld, though it o-ed its being to him, did not recogni.e him' 5t came to his o-n, and his o-n eo le -ould not acce t him' But to all -ho did acce t him, to those -ho ut their trust in him, he gave the right to become children of God, born not of human stoc0, by the hysical desire of a human father, but of God'A 6ere you have the meaning of the 8ord that became flesh in a fairly right translation giving the gist and at the same time the meaning of the saying( ?1hrist is not born of human stoc0'A The ?8ordA -as there al-ays, and every single human being should bear 1hrist in his inside, in his rimal beginning' 5n our heart -e all have claim to 1hrist' But -hile this living 8ord, 1hrist, should have room in every single human being, the human beings have not erceived him' 5t is this Bust -hat is sho-n us in the Gos el that the -ord e/isted forever that the human being could acce t it and did not acce t it' 5t is said to us that single human beings acce ted it' Al-ays -ere there single human beings -ho -a0ed u the living s irit, the living 1hrist, the living 8ord in themselves, and those -ho called themselves 1hristians did not come into being from the blood, from the desire of the flesh, from human -ill, but al-ays from God'

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This finally thro-s the right light on the St' )atthe->s Gos el' ,o- -e understand -hy the birth of 1hrist is called ?from God'A This refutes best of all -hat %avid :riedrich Strauss -ants' ,ot the -hole human genus -as able to acce t 1hrist in itselfE although he -as for the -hole human genus and for the -hole human0ind' ,o- somebody should come -ho once sho-ed the -hole fullness of the infinite s irit in himself' This ersonality thereby got his uniCue significance for the first 1hristian teachers -ho understood -hat -as there' They understood that it concerns neither an abstract, shado-y conce t nor a single human being in its reality, but really the God@)an, a single ersonality in the fullness of truth' That is -hy -e can understand that all those -ho roclaimed 1hrist in the first times of the good ne-s stuc0 not only to the teaching and to the actual erson, but above all to the vie- of the God@)an that they -ere convinced that 6e -hom they had seen -as a lofty real God@)an' ,ot the teaching held the first 1hristians together, not that -hat 1hrist taughtE it -as not that through -hich the first 1hristians thought to be connected -ith each other' G Already only this contradicts those -ho -anted to re lace 1hristianity -ith an abstract moral hiloso hy' 6o-ever, then they are no longer 1hristians' 5t -as not a matter of indifference -ho brought this teaching to the -orld, but its founder had really become flesh in the -orld' 6ence, in the beginning of 1hristianity one attached less value to roofs than to the living memory of the 4ord' This is al-ays em hasised' 5t is the ersonality, the God@imbued ersonality -ho holds the biggest communities together' Therefore, the first 1hurch :athers say to us again and again that it is the merit of the historical event from -hich 1hristianity made its start' 8e have the information from 5renaeus that he himself still 0ne- eo le -ho had for their art still 0no-n a ostles -ho had seen the 4ord face to face' 6e em hasises that the fourth o e, 9o e 1lement 5, had still 0no-n many a ostles -ho had also seen the 4ord face to face' This is fact' And -hy does he em hasise this; The first teachers -anted to s ea0 not only about the teaching, not only about logical roofs, but they -anted above all to s ea0 about the fact that they themselves sa- -ith their eyes that they erceived -ith their hands that -hich entered the -orld from aboveE that they -ere not there to rove something, but to bear -itness to the living 8ord' 6o-ever, this -as not the ersonality -ho one could see -ith eyes, erceive -ith senses' ,ot that ersonality -ho announces the first teaching of 1hristianity is that -ho could then be called the sim le man from ,a.areth' 2ne single -ord of an indeed significant -itness must s ea0 for the fact that something higher forms the basis' 2ne cannot em hasise this -ord of 9aul enough( ?5f 1hrist -as not raised, our faith and message is null and void'A 9aul calls the risen 1hrist the basis of 1hristianity, not the 1hrist -ho -al0ed in Galilee and Derusalem' The faith -ould be null and void if 1hrist had not risen' The 1hristian is null and void if he cannot bear -itness to the risen 1hrist' 8hat did they understand by the risen 1hrist; 8e can also learn this from 9aul' 6e says it to us clearly on -hat the confession of resurrection is based' *verybody 0no-s thisE everybody 0no-s that 9aul is, so to s ea0, a osthumous a ostle that he had the a earance of 1hrist to than0 for his conversion to 6im -ho did not stay long since on earth' 2nly the theoso hist can truly recognise this a earance of a lofty s iritual being' 2nly he 0no-s -hat an initiate, li0e 9aul, means, if he s ea0s of the fact that the risen 1hrist a eared to him as a living being' 9aul says to us even more, and -e have to ta0e this to heart' 6e says to us in 5 1orinthians !5( $@=( ?:irst and foremost, 5 handed on to you the tradition 5 had received( that 1hrist died for our sins, in accordance -ith the scri turesE that he -as buriedE that he -as raised to life on the third day, in accordance -ith the scri turesE and that he a eared to 1e has and after-ards to the T-elve' Then he a eared to over five hundred of our brothers at once, most of -hom are still alive, though some have died' Then he a eared to Dames, and after-ards to all the a ostles' 4ast of all he a eared to me tooE it -as li0e a sudden, abnormal birth'A 6e eCuated his e/ erience -ith that on -hich the higher faith of the other a ostles -as based' 6e eCuated it -ith the a earance of 1hrist that the a ostles had generally received after 6e had died' 8e have to do it -ith a s iritual a earance -hich -e have to imagine not in shado-y -ay, as shado-y ideal, but as reality, as the theoso hist imagines the s iritE -ith an a earance of the s irit -hich is not hysical, indeed, but real and more real than any e/ternal, sensory reality' 5f -e 0ee this in mind, -e realise that it cannot be different at all, as that one has to do it during the first 1hristian centuries -ith the 8ord that became flesh that the God@)an is not the sim le man from ,a.areth, but the higher s irit of God -hich fulfilled itself' 5f -e loo0 at this, -e stand com letely on the ground of theoso hy' 9erha s, nobody is more to be called a theoso hist in the true sense of the -ord than the reacher of the miracle of resurrection( the a ostle 9aul' ,o theoso hist -ould deny that the a ostle 9aul is a lofty initiate, one of those -ho 0no- -hat it concerns' 5 have still to em hasise one matter, and this is that one not allo-ed to ull do-n this sublime a earance, -hich stands there as a uniCue one in the -orld, to the materialistic -orld vie-E the fact that the -ay of understanding the founder of 1hristianity is not found in the regions -here only ?sim le menA -here only ideals are, but that it must lead u to the lofty s irit of 1hrist' The first 1hristians did thisE they -anted to go this -ay to understand the living 8ord'
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,o- you can say that you believe that everything has changed bit by bit, and this is -ell founded' 2nly because in the course of the centuries the factual sense has develo ed that the human being learnt above all to train the senses to arm them -ith instruments, he has rogressed in the 0no-ledge of the e/ternal -orld' But this enormous rogress of international trade and communication, enetrating the starry heaven -ith the 1o ernican -orld vie-, enetrating the smallest living beings -ith the microsco e, they all brought us, as any thing thro-s its shades, their negative sides too' They brought us articular -ays of thin0ing, -hich stic0 to the real, to the sense@ erce tible' Then it has ha ened that in the most natural -ay of the -orld this 0ind of thin0ing turning only to the urely sensory has become habit that it has also a roached the highest religious truth and tried to understand the s irit and its contents as the naturalist tries to understand the e/ternal nature -ith his senses' The materialistic naturalist can still imagine the ideals at most -hich contain abstractions' Then he s ea0s of truth, beauty, goodness -hich should be realised in the -orld more and more' 6e imagines shado-y ideas' 6e can still rise to ?sim licityA in the human imagination, but to something even higher, to sei.ing real s irituality this scientific sense cannot rogress -ith his -ay of thin0ing instilled for centuries' These habits of thin0ing have arrived at their to height' As everything that has formed unilaterally needs a su lement, the Bustified materialistic sense needs the s iritual dee ening on the other side' 5t needs that 0no-ledge -hich raises us to the heights of s irituality' Theoso hy -ants this raising to the s irit and its reality' Therefore, it -ants to stic0 to that about -hich one does not s ea0 in materialistic vie-s, but -hich rises to the highest levels of human 0no-ledge' :rom there is to be understood -hat it means that the 8ord became flesh, -hat it means to conceive the s irit out of the divine in the human body' 1hrist could not al-ays e/ ress fran0ly -hat he meant' Fou 0no- the -ord( he s o0e to the eo le in arablesE ho-ever, if he -as together -ith his disci les, he e/ lained these arables to them' G 8here did this intention of the founder of 1hristianity come from to s ea0 t-o languages, so to s ea0; The sim le com arison can say it to us' 5f you need any obBect, a table, you do not go to anybody but to somebody -ho 0no-s ho- to ma0e a table' 5f he has made it, you did not claim to have made the table yourself' Fou admit calmly to be a layman of ma0ing tables' 6o-ever, eo le do not -ant to admit that one can also be a layman -ith regard to the highest matters that the sim le reason, -hich is, so to s ea0, in the natural state, must climb the to heights first' The longing has arisen from that to ull do-n this highest truth to the level of the general human reason' But Bust as -e 0no- as laymen of ma0ing tables if a table is good ho- -e have to use it, -e 0no- if -e have heard the true -hether it s ea0s to our hearts -hether our heart can use it' But -e must not claim to be able to roduce the 0no-ledge from our hearts, from our sim le human minds' The differentiation -hich -as forever made in old times bet-een riests and laymen arose from this vie-' 8e deal -ith riest sages in ancient times and -ith the loftiest truth -hich -as not roclaimed outdoors in the streets but in the mystery sites' The highest truths -ere only e/ lained to those -ho -ere sufficiently re ared' Those -ho -ere rich of s irit heard them because they are the dee er truths of the -orld, the human soul and God' 2ne had to become an initiate, and then a )aster, and then one got the conce t, the immediate image of that -hich the highest -isdom contained' 5t -as in such a -ay that -isdom had flo-ed into the mystery tem les for centuries' 2utdoors, ho-ever, there stood the cro-d and got nothing to hear as that -hat the -isdom of the riests thought to be good for them' The ga had become bigger and bigger bet-een the riesthood and the laymen' 5nitiates are those -ho 0ne- the -isdom of the living God' 2ne had to go u many ste s, until one -as led u to the altar at -hich one -as informed -hat the -isest men had e/ lored and revealed of the -isdom of the living God' That -as the custom for centuries' Then there came a time, and this is the time of the origin of 1hristianity -hen on the big scene of -orld history as a historical fact that too0 lace before the eyes of the -orld, for all human beings -hich had only ta0en lace before those -ho -ere rich of s irit, for those -ho -ere initiated into the mysteries' 2nly those -ho beheld the secrets of e/istence in the mystery tem les could come in ancient times to real salvation, according to the vieof the riest sages' 6o-ever, in the founder of 1hristianity the higher com assion lived to go another -ay -ith the -hole human0ind and also to let become blessed those -ho did not behold there that is they could not enetrate into the mysteries, those -ho should be led only by the -ea0 feeling, only by faith to this salvation' Thus a ne- confession, good ne-s had to sound according to the intentions of the founder of 1hristianity -hich s ea0 in other -ords than the old riest sages had s o0enE a message -hich is s o0en out of the dee est -isdom and the immediate s iritual cognition -hich could find res onse in the most sim le human heart at the same time' 6ence, the founder of 1hristianity -anted to bring u disci les and a ostles for him' They should be initiated into the mystery if there -ere stones that mean human hearts, to stri0e s ar0s out of them' Thus they had to e/ erience the highest that is the victory of the 8ord' 6e s o0e to the eo le in arablesE but -hen he -as alone -ith the disci les, he e/ lained the arables to them' 4et me only give a fe- e/am les ho- 1hrist tried to en0indle the living 8ord ho- he -anted to 0noc0 life out of the single human hearts' 8e hear that 1hrist leads his disci les 9eter, Dames and Dohn u to the mountain and that he
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e/ eriences a transfiguration there before the eyes of his disci les' 8e hear that )oses and *liBah -ere at both sides of Desus' The theoso hist 0no-s -hat the mystic term means( going u to the mountain' 2ne has to 0no- such e/ ressions, 0no- com etently, e/actly as one has to 0no- the language, before one is able to study the s irit of a nation' 8hat does it mean( leading u to the mountain; 5t means nothing else than to be led into the mystery tem le -here one can get through beholding, through mystic beholding the immediate conviction of the eternity of the human soul, of the reality of the s iritual e/istence' These three disci les had to get an even higher 0no-ledge than the other disci les by their )aster' They had to get the conviction here on the mountain above all that 1hrist -as really the living 8ord that had become flesh' Therefore, 6e a ears in his s irituality, in that s irituality -hich is elated above s ace and timeE in that s irituality for -hich ?beforeA or ?afterA do not e/ist in -hich everything is resent' Also the ast is resent' The ast is essential there, -hen *liBah and )oses a eared beside the resence of Desus' The disci les no- believe in the s irit of God' But they say( nevertheless, it is -ritten in the scri tures that *liBah comes and announces 1hrist before 6e comes' Read the Gos el no-' These are really the -ords -hich follo- that -hich 5 have told' They are significant to the highest degree( ?*liBah has already come, but they failed to recogni.e him, and did to him as they -anted'A G ?*liBah has already comeEA -e 0ee these -ords in mind' Then you read further( ?Then the disci les understood that he meant Dohn the Ba tist'A And before( ?Desus commanded them not to tell anyone of the vision until the Son of )an had been raised from the dead'A 8e are led into a mystery' 1hrist considered three disci les only -orthy of e/ eriencing this mystery' 8hich is this mystery; 6e informed that Dohn is the reincarnated *liBah' Reincarnation -as taught -ithin the mystery tem les at all times' 1hrist has informed his close disci les about no other than this occult theoso hical teaching' They should get to 0no- this teaching of reincarnation' 6o-ever, they should also get the living 8ord -hich must come from their mouths if it is invigorated and s iritualised by conviction, until something different -ould enter' They should have the immediate conviction that the s irit has risen' 5f they have this behind themselves, they should go out into the -orld and stri0e the s ar0s out of sim le hearts -hich have been 0indled in them' This -as one of the initiations, this -as one of the arables that 1hrist gave and e/ lained to his confidants' 5 give another e/am le' The 1ommunion is also nothing else than an initiation, an initiation into the dee est meaning of the entire 1hristian teaching' Somebody -ho understands the 1ommunion in its true meaning understands the 1hristian teaching in its s irituality and in its truth only' 5t is ris0y to e/ ress this teaching -hich 5 -ant to re ort to you no-, and 5 robably 0no- that it can e/ erience attac0s from all sides because it is contradictory to the letter' The letter 0ills, the s irit brings bac0 to life' 2nly laboriously one can ascend to the insight of the true meaning of the 1ommunion' Fou do not hear about that in detail today, but allo- me to suggest that -hich belongs to the dee est mysteries of 1hristianity, actually' 1hrist gathers his a ostles to celebrate the installation of the bloodless sacrifice -ith them' 8e -ant to understand this' To clear the -ay to us to understand this event, let us once come bac0 to another fact -hich is little attention aid to and -hich should sho- us ho- -e have to understand the 1ommunion' 8e hear in the Gos el that 1hrist assed a blind@ born man' And those -ho -ere around as0ed 6im( ?8ho sinned, this man or his arents;A 1hrist ans-ered( ?5t is not that he or his arents sinned, but he -as born blind, so that God>s o-er might be dis layed in curing him'A 2r better( ?so that God>s -ay of ruling the -orld becomes obvious'A The -ords ?God>s -ay of ruling the -orldA Bustify that he is born blind' Because neither he sinned in this life nor his arents, the cause has to be loo0ed for some-here else' 8e cannot sto at the single ersonality and not at the arents and forefathers, but -e have to regard the inside of the soul of the blind@born as something eternal, -e have to be clear in our mind to loo0 for the cause in the souls e/isting before, in those souls -hich have e/ erienced the effect of a former life' 8hat -e call 0arma is suggested here, not e/ ressed' 8e hear immediately -hy it is not e/ ressed' 1hrist lived in a surrounding in -hich the doctrine revailed that the sins of the fathers are avenged in the children and grandchildren' The sins of the fathers are e/ iated in children and grandchildren' This doctrine does not corres ond to the vie- -hich 1hrist e/ ressed to-ards the blind@born' 5f anybody stic0s to the doctrine that it can only be the sin of the fathers that there is guilt and atonement only -ithin the hysical -orld, then he has to suffer for the deeds of his fathers' This sho-s us that 1hrist raises his adherents to a Cuite ne- conce t of guilt and atonement, to a conce t -hich had nothing to do -ith that -hich ta0es lace in the hysical -orld, to a conce t -hich cannot be valid in the sense@ erce tible reality' 1hrist -anted to overcome the old conce t of sin, the conce t -hich fi/es to hysical heredity and hysical facts' 8as it not such a conce t of guilt -hich 0ee s to the hysical@actual -hich formed the basis of the old offerings; %id they not go, the sinners, to the altar and did offer their e/ iatory sacrifices, -as it not a merely hysical
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event to ta0e off the sins; The old sacrifices -ere hysical facts' But in the hysical reality, 1hrist taught, one cannot loo0 for guilt and atonement' Therefore, even the highestE the s irit of God, the living 8ord, can become enslaved by the hysical reality u to death by -hich 1hrist became enslaved -ithout being guilty' Any e/ternal offering cannot align -ith the conce t of guilt and atonement' The 4amb of God -as the most innocentE it is able to do the sacrificial death' 8ith it should be testified on the scene of history to the -hole -orld that guilt and atonement do not have their embodiment in the hysical reality, cannot e/ist in the hysical reality, but has to be loo0ed for in a higher region, in the region of s iritual life' 5f the cul rit only made himself liable to rosecution in the hysical life if the cul rit only needed to ma0e sacrifices, the innocent lamb on the cross -ould not have to die' 1hrist too0 the sacrifice of the cross on 6imselfE so that the human beings are released from the belief that guilt and atonement are found in the sense@ erce tible reality that it should be a result of the e/ternally inherited sin' That is -hy 6e really died for the faith of all human beings to bear -itness to the fact that the consciousness of guilt and atonement is not to be searched for in the hysical consciousness' Therefore, everybody should remember this( even the sacrifice on the cross does not matter, but if the human being rises above guilt and atonement to search for the cause and effect of his actions in the s iritual region, and then only he has reached truth' Therefore, the last sacrifice, the bloodless offering is also the roof of the im ossibility of the e/ternal sacrifice at the same time, so that the bloodless offering is established, so that the human being has to see0 for guilt and atonement G the consciousness of the connection of his actions G in s iritual realm' This one should remember' Therefore, the sacrificial death should not be considered as that on -hich it de ends, but the bloodless s iritual sacrifice, the 1ommunion, should re lace the bloody sacrifice' The 1ommunion is the symbol that guilt and atonement of human actions live in the s iritual realm' 6o-ever, this is the theoso hical teaching of 0arma that everything that the human being has caused anyho- in his actions has its effects according to urely s iritual la-s that 0arma has nothing to do -ith hysical heredity' An e/ternal symbol of that is the bloodless offering, the 1ommunion' But it is not e/ ressed in -ords in the 1hristian confession that the 1ommunion is the symbol of 0arma' 1hristianity Bust had another tas0' 5 have already indicated it' <arma and reincarnation, the concatenation of destiny in the s iritual realm and reincarnation of the human soul -ere dee esoteric truths -hich -ere taught inside of the esoteric tem les' 1hrist, li0e all great teachers, taught his adherents in the inside of the tem le' Then, ho-ever, they should go out into the -orld, after the strength and the fire of God had been 0indled in them, so that also those -ho could not behold could believe and become blessed' Therefore, he called his disci les together, immediately in the beginning, to say to them that they are not only teachers in the s iritual realm, but that they should be something else' This is the dee er sense of the first -ords of the Sermon on the )ount( ?Blessed are the oor in s iritE the 0ingdoms of 6eaven are theirs'A 5f it is correctly translated one can understand ho- it is ossible to come to 0no-ledge out of living beholding' ,o-, ho-ever, the oor in s irit should find the -ays to the s irit, to the 0ingdoms of 6eaven because of their sim le hearts' The a ostles should not tal0 about the highest 0no-ledge outdoorsE they should dress this 0no-ledge in sim le -ords' But they themselves should be erfect' Therefore, -e see those -ho should be bearers of the 8ord of God teaching a truthful theoso hy, s reading a truthful theoso hical teaching' Ta0e and understand the -ords of 9aul, understand the -ords of %ionysius the Areo agite and then Scotus *riugena -ho taught in his boo0 /e di)isione naturae 0!n the /i)ision of (ature1 the sevenfold nature of the human being li0e all theoso hists, then you 0no- that their inter retation of 1hristianity -as identical -ith that of theoso hy' Theoso hy -ants to bring to light again nothing else than -hat the 1hristian teachers taught in the first centuries' 5t -ants to serve the 1hristian messageE it -ants to e/ lain it in s irit and truth' This is the tas0 of theoso hy to-ard 1hristianity' Theoso hy is there not to overcome 1hristianity but to recognise it in its truth' Fou need nothing else than to understand 1hristianity in its truth, then you have theoso hy in its full si.e' Fou do not need to turn to another religion' Fou can 0ee on being 1hristians and need to do nothing else than -hat real 1hristian teachers did( ascending to e/haust the s iritual de ths of 1hristianity' Then also those theologians are dis roved -ho believe that theoso hy is a Buddhist doctrine, but also the belief is dis roved that one should not recognise the dee teachings of 1hristianity ascending to the heights but ulling do-n to the de ths' Theoso hy can only lead to better and better understanding of the mystery of incarnation to understand the -ord -hich, in s ite of all rationalistic denials, is in the Bible' 8ho sin0s in the Bible cannot bear -itness to rationalism, to %avid :riedrich Strauss and those arroting him' 6e can bear -itness solely to the -ord -hich Goethe said -ho sa- dee er into these matters than some other' 6e says( nevertheless, the Bible remains the boo0 of boo0s, the -orld boo0 -hich G understood correctly G must become the 1hristian aid to education of human0ind in the hand not of the -ise guys but of the -ise human beings' Theoso hy is a servant of the 8ord in this regard, and it -ants to roduce the s irit that is -illing to ascend to the founder of 1hristianityE to roduce that s irit -hich does not have only human, but cosmic significance, that s irit -hich had understanding not only for the sim le human heart, -hich moves in the everyday, but such a dee understanding Bust
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for the human heart because 6e beheld into the de ths of the -orld secrets' There is no better -ord to sho- this, as a -ord -hich is not, indeed, in our Gos els, but has come do-n in another -ay' Desus -ith his disci les assed a dead dog -hich had already started to rot' The disci les turned a-ay' But Desus loo0ed at the animal -ith leasure and admired his nice teeth' This arable may be arado/icalE ho-ever, it leads us to the dee er understanding of the being of 1hrist' 5t is a testimony that the human being feels the -ord living in himself if he asses no thing of the -orld -ithout understanding if he 0no-s ho- to become engrossed and to sin0 in everything that is there and cannot ass anything a arently disgusting, -ithout tolerance -ithout racticing understanding' This understanding allo-s us to loo0 into the smallest and raises us to the highest, to -hich nothing is hidden -hich asses nothing -hich allo-s everything to come close in erfect tolerance' 5t carries the conviction in its heart that really everything is ?flesh of our flesh, blood of our bloodA in any form' Somebody -ho fought his -ay to this understanding only 0no-s and understands -hat it means( the living s irit of God -as realised in one single human being, the living s irit of God 8ho created the universe' This is the sense -hich the theoso hist -ants to animate again' That sense -hich, by the -ay, had not com letely become e/tinct during the ast centuries, that sense -hich does not loo0 for the criterion of the highest from the average mind, from a subordinated oint of vie- but above all it tries to raise itself and to develo the highest 0no-ledge because it is convinced( if it has urified itself, has s iritualised itself, the s irit bo-s do-n to it' ?5f 1hrist is born a thousand times in Bethlehem and not in you, you are still lost forever'A The great mystic Angelus Silesius said this' 6e also 0ne-hat a teaching means, if it becomes the highest 0no-ledge if it becomes life' Desus said to ,icodemus( somebody -ho is born again -ho is born from above s ea0s that -hich he says no longer only from human e/ erience, he e/ resses it ?from above'A G 6e s ea0s -ords li0e Angelus Silesius has s o0en them at the end of the $herubinic Wanderer( ?5f you -ant to read more, go and become yourself the -ord and the being'A This is the demand -hich somebody ma0es -ho s ea0s out of the s irit' Fou should not listen to him, not to his -ords only, but let evo0e in yourself -hat s ea0s out of him' To such a -ord, to such good ne-s Desus chose those -ho said there( that -hich -as there from the beginning, the eternal -orld la-, -hat -e have seen -ith o-n eyes, -hat -e have felt -ith hands of the -ord of life -e reach this to you' G 5t -as 6e 8ho -as a single human being, and lived in the -ord of the disci les at the same time' But he still said one matter of -hich theoso hists must be a-are above all that 6e not only -as there in the time in -hich 6e taught and lived, but the im ortant -ord came do-n us( ?5 -ill be -ith you al-ays, to the end of time'A Theoso hy 0no-s that 6e is -ith us that 6e can stam our -ords today as -ell as at that time, that 6e can ins ire our -ords that 6e can also lead us today li0e at that time that our -ords e/ ress that -hich 6e is 6imself' 6o-ever, theoso hy -ants to revent one thing' 5t -ants to revent that one must say( 6e has come, 6e is there, but they have not recognised 6im' The human beings -anted to do -ith 6im as they -ished' G ,o, the theoso hist -ants to go to his o-n sources' Theoso hy should raise the human beings s iritually to s irituality, so that they recognise that 6e is there, so that they 0no- -here they have to find 6im, and that they hear the living 8ord from 6im -ho said there( ?5 -ill be -ith you al-ays, to the end of time'A ,otes G' ,' 1ha0ravarti (!=H!I!"$H) 1lement of Ale/andria (!5#IM2!5), 1hurch :ather 5renaeus (M!&#I2#2), Gree0 1hurch :ather Scotus *riugena (M=!5IM=JJ), 5rish theologian and hiloso her Angelus Silesius (!H2&I!HJJ), German mystic and religious oet, c f' 18 J )ystics after )odernism (Anthro oso hic 9ress, 2###, !2#ff') &f $hrist is born 2 2 23 $herubinic Wanderer 0$herubinic 'ilgrim1, vol' 5, no' H!

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/ourse II# .ecture I# The 1piste-olo;ical Basis of Theosophy I

Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(4%$
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin (o)ember 4*, 1903 5t -ill be nothing strange to many among you that one can find if the -ord theoso hy is ronounced nothing else than a smile -ith many of our contem oraries' Also it is not un0no-n to many that Bust those -ho demand scholarshi or, -e say, hiloso hical education in the resent loo0 at theoso hy as something that one must call a dilettantish activity, a fantastic belief' 2ne can find in articular in the circles of scholars that the theoso hist is regarded as a ty e of fantastic dreamer -ho bears -itness to his eculiar image -orlds because he has never made the acCuaintance -ith the bases of 0no-ledge' Fou find articularly in the circles -hich consider themselves as the scientific ones that they resu ose easily that the theoso hist is basically -ithout any hiloso hical education, and even if he has also acCuired it or s ea0s of it, it is a dilettantish, a ic0ed u matter' These tal0s should not deal -ith theoso hy directly' There are enough others' 5t should be a discussion -ith the -estern hiloso hical education, a discussion ho- the scientific -orld behaves to theoso hy, and ho- it could behave, actually' They should dis rove the reBudice, as if the theoso hist is an uneducated, dilettantish erson -ith regard to science' 8ho has not heard often enough that hiloso hers of the most different schools G and there are enough hiloso her schools G state that mysticism is an unclear vie- filled -ith all 0inds of allegories and feeling elements, and that theoso hy has not achieved a strictly methodical thin0ing; 5f it did this, it -ould see that it -al0s on nebulous -ays' 5t -ould see that mysticism could root only in the heads of eccentric eo le' This is a -ell@0no-n reBudice' 6o-ever, 5 do not -ant to begin -ith a re rimand' ,ot because it -ould not corres ond to the theoso hical conviction, but because 5 do not consider theoso hy as anything dilettantish from my o-n hiloso hical education and s ea0, nevertheless, out of the de ths of its conviction' 5 can understand absolutely that somebody -ho has ta0en u the -estern hiloso hy in himself and has the -hole scientific eCui ment has it hard to see something else in theoso hy than -hat is Bust 0no-n' :or somebody -ho comes today from hiloso hy and science it is much more difficult really to familiarise himself -ith theoso hy, than for that -ho a roaches theoso hy -ith a naive human mind, -ith a natural, maybe religious feeling and -ith a need to solve certain riddles of life' Because this -estern hiloso hy uts so many obstacles to its students, offers them so many Budgments -hich seem to be contradictory to theoso hy that it ma0es it a arently im ossible to get involved -ith theoso hy' 5ndeed, it is true that the theoso hical literature sho-s little of that -hich resembles a discussion -ith our contem orary science and -hich one could call hiloso hical' Therefore, 5 have resolved to hold a series of tal0s on it' They should be an e istemological basis of theoso hy' Fou -ill get to 0no- the conce ts of the contem orary hiloso hy and its contents' 5f you loo0 at this in a real, true and dee sense, you see G but you must really -ait till the end G the basis of the theoso hical 0no-ledge follo-ing from this -estern hiloso hy' This should not ha en Buggling -ith e/ ert dialectic conce ts, but it should ha en, as far as 5 am able to do it in some tal0s, -ith any eCui ment -hich the 0no-ledge of our contem oraries rovides usE it should ha en -ith everything available to give something that can be e/ erienced of a higher -orld vie- also to those -ho do not -ant to 0no- it' 8hat 5 have to e/ lain -ould not have been ossible in another age to e/ lain in the same -ay' But it has been necessary to loo0 around, maybe Bust in our time, at <ant, 4oc0e, Scho enhauer or at other -riters of the resent, -e say at *duard von 6artmann and his disci le Arthur %re-s, or the brilliant theorist of 0no-ledge 7ol0elt or 2tto 4iebmann, or at the some-hat Bournalistic, but not less strictly rational *uc0en' 8ho has loo0ed around there -ho has familiarised himself -ith this or that of the shadings -hich the hiloso hical@scientific vie-s of the resent and the latest ast too0 on understands and conceives G this is my innermost conviction G that a real, true understanding of this hiloso hical develo ment does not lead a-ay from theoso hy, but to theoso hy' Dust somebody -ho has argued thoroughly -ith the hiloso hical doctrines has to come to theoso hy' 5 -ould not need to deliver this s eech unless the -hole thin0ing of our time -ere influenced Bust by a hiloso her' 2ne says that the great mental achievement of 5mmanuel <ant gave hiloso hy a scientific basis' 2ne says that -hat he erformed to the definition of the 0no-ledge roblem is something steadfast' Fou hear that anybody -ho has not tac0led <ant has no right to have a say in hiloso hy' Fou may e/amine the different currents( 6erbart, :ichte, Schelling, 6egel, from Scho enhauer u to *duard von 6artmann G in all these lines of thought only somebody can find the -ay -ho orientates himself to <ant' After different matters -ere striven for in the hiloso hy of the !"th century, the calling
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resounds from Keller in the middle of the seventies, from 4iebmann, then from :riedrich Albert 4ange( bac0 to <ant+ G The lecturers of hiloso hy are of the o inion that everybody has to orientate himself to <ant, and only somebody -ho does this can have a say in hiloso hy' <ant dominated the hiloso hy of the !"th century and of the resent' 6o-ever, he caused something else than he himself -anted' 6e e/ ressed it -ith the -ords( he believes to have accom lished a similar action li0e 1o ernicus' 1o ernicus turned around the -hole astronomical -orld vie-' 6e removed the earth from the centre and made another body, the sun, to the centre -hich -as once imagined to be movable' 6o-ever, <ant ma0es the human being -ith his cognitive faculties the centre of the hysical -orld vie-' 6e really turns around the -hole hysical -orld vie-' 5t is the o inion of most hiloso hers of the !"th century that one has to turn around' Fou can understand this hiloso hy only if you understand it from its reconditions' 2ne can understand -hat has flo-ed from <ant>s hiloso hy only if one understands it from its bases' 8ho understands ho- <ant came to his conviction that -e can never recognise the things ?by themselves,A because all things -e recognise are only henomena -ho understands this can also understand the develo ment of the hiloso hy of the !"th century, he also understands the obBections -hich can be made against theoso hy, and also ho- he has to behave to them' Fou 0no- that theoso hy rests on a higher e/ erience' The theoso hist says that the source of his 0no-ledge is an e/ erience -hich reaches beyond the sensory e/ erience' Fou can see that it has the same validity as that of the senses that -hat the theoso hist tells about astral -orlds et cetera is as real as the things -hich -e erceive -ith our senses round us as sensory e/ erience' 8hat the theoso hist believes to have as his source of 0no-ledge is a higher e/ erience' 5f you read 4eadbeater>s 5stralebene 05stral 'lane1, you thin0 that the things are as real in the astral -orld as the cabs and horses in the streets of 4ondon' 5t should be said ho- real this -orld is for somebody -ho 0no-s them' The hiloso her of the resent argues immediately( yes, but you are mista0en, because you believe that this is a true reality' 6as the hiloso hy of the !"th century not roved to you that our e/ erience is nothing but our idea, and that also the starry heaven is nothing else than our idea in us; G 6e considers this as the most certain 0no-ledge -hich there can only be' *duard von 6artmann considers it as the most natural truth that this is my idea, and that one cannot 0no- -hat it is also' 5f you believe that you can call e/ erience ?real,A then you are a naive realist' 1an you decide anything generally about the value e/ erience has facing the -orld in this -ay; This is the great result to -hich <antianism has come that the -orld surrounding us must be our idea' 6o- did <ant>s -orld vie- come to this; 5t came from the hiloso hy of the redecessors' At that time -hen <ant -as still young, the hiloso hy of 1hristian 8olff had the mastery over all schools' 5t distinguished the so@called 0no-ledge of e/ erience -hich -e acCuire by the sensory im ressions and that -hich comes from ure reason' According to him, -e can get to 0no- something of the things of the everyday life only by e/ erience, and from ure reason -e have things -hich are the obBects of the highest 0no-ledge' These things are the human souls, the free -ill of the human being, the Cuestions -hich refer to immortality and to the divine being' The so@called em iric sciences deal -ith that -hich is offered in natural history, in hysics, in history et cetera' 6odoes the astronomer get his 0no-ledge; 6e directs his eyes to the starsE he finds the la-s -hich are commensurate -ith the observations' 8e learn this -hile o ening our senses to the outside -orld' ,obody can say that this is dra-n from mere reason' The human being 0no-s this because he sees it' This is an em iric 0no-ledge -hich -e ta0e u from life, from the e/ erience in ourselves, not caring -hether -e order them in a scientific system or notE it is 0no-ledge of e/ erience' ,obody can describe a lion from his very reason' 6o-ever, 8olff su oses that one can dra- that -hich one is from ure reason' 8olff su oses that -e have a sychology from ure reason, also that the soul must have free -ill that it must have reason et cetera' 6ence, 8olff calls the sciences -hich deal -ith the higher ca acities of the soul rational sychology' The Cuestion -hether the -orld has a beginning and an end is a Cuestion -hich one should decide only from ure reason' 6e calls this Cuestion an obBect of rational cosmology' ,obody can decide on the usefulness of the -orld from e/ erienceE nobody can investigate it by observation' These are nothing but Cuestions of the rational cosmology' Then there is a science of God, of a divine lan' This is a science -hich is also dra-n from reason' This is the so@called rational theology, it belongs to meta hysics' <ant gre- u in a time -hen hiloso hy -as taught in this sense' Fou find him in his first -ritings as an adherent of 8olff>s hiloso hy' Fou find him convinced that there is a rational sychology, a rational theology et cetera' 6e gives a roof -hich he calls the only ossible roof of the e/istence of God' Then he got to 0no- a hiloso hical current -hich had a stu efying effect on him' 6e got to 0no- the hiloso hy of %avid 6ume' 6e said that it -a0ed u him from his dogmatic slumber' G 8hat does this hiloso hy offer; 6ume says the follo-ing( -e see that the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening' 8e have seen this many days' 8e also 0no- that all eo le have seen sunrises and sunsets that they have e/ erienced the same, and -e get used to believing that this must ta0e lace forever'

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,o- another e/am le( -e see that the solar heat falls on a stone' 8e thin0 that it is the solar heat -hich -arms u the stone' 8hat do -e see; 8e erceive solar heat first and then the -armed u stone' 8hat do -e erceive there; 2nly that one fact follo-s the other' 5f -e e/ erience that the sunbeams -arm u the stone, then -e have already formed the Budgment that the solar heat is the cause that the stone becomes -arm' That is -hy 6ume says( there is nothing at all that sho-s us more than a seCuence of facts' 8e get used to the belief that there a causal relationshi e/ists' But this belief is only a habituation and everything that the human being thin0s of causal conce ts e/ists only in that e/ erience' The human being sees a ball ushing the other, he sees that a movement ta0es lace through it, and then he gets used to saying that la-fulness e/ists in it' 5n truth -e deal -ith no real insight' 8hat is the human being considered from the 0no-ledge of ure reason; This is nothing else G 6ume says G than a summary of facts' 8e have to connect the facts of the -orld' This corres onds to the human -ay of thin0ing, to the tendency of the human thin0ing' 8e have no right to go beyond this thin0ing' 8e are not allo-ed to say that it is something in the things -hich has given them la-fulness' 8e can only say that the things and events flo- ast us' But the things ?in themselvesA do not sho- such a connection' 6o- can -e s ea0 no- of the fact that something manifests itself to us in the things that goes beyond e/ erience; 6o- can -e s ea0 of a connection in e/ erience that is due to a divine being, that goes beyond e/ erience if -e are not inclined to turn to anything other than to the -ays of thin0ing; This vie- had the effect on <ant that it -a0ed u him from dogmatic slumber' 6e as0s( can there be something that goes beyond e/ erience; 8hich 0no-ledge does e/ erience deliver to us; %oes it give us sure 0no-ledge; 2f course, <ant denied this Cuestion immediately' 6e says( even if you have seen the sun rise hundred thousand times, you cannot infer from it that it also rises tomorro- again' 5t could also be different' 5f you inferred only from e/ erience, it could also turn out once that e/ erience convinces you of something different' */ erience can never give sure, necessary 0no-ledge' 5 0no- from e/ erience that the sun -arms u the stone' 6o-ever, 5 am not allo-ed to state that it has to -arm u it' 5f all our 0no-ledge comes from e/ erience, it can never e/ceed the condition of uncertaintyE then there can be no necessary em iric 0no-ledge' ,o- <ant tries to find out this matter' 6e loo0s for a -ay out' 6e had made himself used through his -hole youth to believe in 0no-ledge' 6e could be convinced by 6ume>s hiloso hy that there is nothing sure' 5s any-here anything -here one can s ea0 of sure, necessary 0no-ledge; 6o-ever G he says G there are sure Budgments' These are the mathematical Budgments' 5s the mathematical Budgment similar to the Budgment( in the morning the sun rises and sets in the evening; 5 have the Budgment that the sum of the three angles of a triangle is !=# degrees' 5f 5 have given the roof -ith one single triangle, it suffices for all triangles' 5 see from the nature of the roof that it a lies to all ossible cases' This is the eculiar of mathematical roofs' :or everybody it is clear that these must also a ly to the inhabitants of Du iter and )ars if they generally have triangles that also there the sum of the angles of a triangle must be !=# degrees' And then( never can be t-o times t-o anything else than four' This is al-ays true' 6ence, -e have a roof that there is 0no-ledge -hich is absolutely sure' The Cuestion cannot be( do -e have such 0no-ledge; But -e must thin0 about the ossibility of such Budgments' ,o- there comes the big Cuestion of <ant( ho- are such absolutely necessary Budgments ossible; 6o- is mathematical 0no-ledge ossible; G <ant no- calls those Budgments and 0no-ledge -hich are dra-n from e/ erience Budgments and 0no-ledge a osteriori' The Budgment( the sum of angles of a triangle is !=# degreesE ho-ever, is a Budgment -hich recedes all e/ erience, a Budgment a riori' 5 can sim ly imagine a triangle and give the roof, and if 5 see a triangle -hich 5 have not yet e/ erienced, 5 can say that it must have a sum of angles of !=# degrees' Any higher 0no-ledge de ends on it that 5 can ma0e Budgments from ure reason' 6o- are such Budgments a riori ossible; 8e have seen that such a Budgment( the sum of angles of a triangle is eCual !=# degrees, a lies to any triangles' */ erience has to submit to my Budgment' 5f 5 dra- an elli se and loo0 out into s ace, 5 find that a lanet describes such an elli se' The lanet follo-s my Budgment formed in ure 0no-ledge' 5 a roach the e/ erience -ith my urely in the ideal formed Budgment' 6ave 5 dra-n this Budgment from e/ erience; G <ant continues as0ing' There is no doubt, forming such urely ideal Budgments, that -e have, actually, no reality of e/ erience' The elli se, the triangle G they have no reality of e/ erience, but reality submits to such 0no-ledge' 5f 5 -ant to have true reality, 5 must a roach e/ erience' 5f, ho-ever, 5 0no- -hich la-s -or0 in it, then 5 have 0no-ledge before all e/ erience' The la- of the elli se does not come from e/ erience' 5 myself build it in my mind' Thus a assage begins -ith <ant -ith the sentence( ?*ven if all our 0no-ledge starts from e/ erience, nevertheless, not everything does arise
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from e/ erience'A 5 ut -hat 5 have as 0no-ledge into e/ erience' The human mind is made in such a -ay that everything of its e/ erience corres onds only to the la-s -hich it has' The human mind is made in such a -ay that it must develo these la-s inevitably' 5f it moves u to e/ erience, then e/ erience has to submit to these la-s' An e/am le( 5magine that you -ear blue glasses' Fou see everything in blue lightE the obBects a ear to you in blue light' 6o-ever the things outdoors may be made, this concerns me nothing at all rovisionally' At the moment -hen the la-s -hich my mind develo s s read out over the -hole -orld of e/ erience the -hole -orld of e/ erience must fit into it' 5t is not right that the Budgment( t-o times t-o is four is ta0en from e/ erience' 5t is the condition of my mind that t-o times t-o must give al-ays four' )y mind is in such a -ay that the three angles of a triangle are al-ays !=# degrees' Thus <ant Bustifies the la-s out of the human being himself' The sun -arms u the stone' *very effect has a cause' This is a la- of the mind' 5f the -orld is a chaos, 5 ush the la-fulness of my mind to-ard it' 5 conceive the -orld li0e a string of earls' 5 am that -ho ma0es the -orld a 0no-ledge mechanism' G Fou also see ho- <ant -as induced to find such a articular method of 0no-ledge' As long as the human mind is organised in such a -ay as it is organised as long everything must submit to this organisation, even if reality changes overnight' :or me it could not change if the la-s of my mind are the same' The -orld may be as it -antsE -e recognise it in such a -ay as it must a ear to us according to the la-s of our mind' ,o- you see -hich sense it has, if one says( <ant turned the -hole theory of 0no-ledge, the -hole e istemology' 2ne assumed before that the human being reads everything from nature' ,o-, ho-ever, he lets the human mind give the la-s to nature' 6e lets everything circle around the human mind li0e 1o ernicus let the earth circle around the sun' Then, ho-ever, there is something else that sho-s that the human being can never go beyond e/ erience' 5ndeed, it a ears as a contradiction, but you -ill see that it corres onds to <ant>s hiloso hy' <ant sho-s that the conce ts are em ty' T-o times t-o is four is an em ty Budgment if not eas or beans are filled into it' Any effect has a cause G is a urely formal Budgment if it is not filled -ith articular contents of e/ erience' The Budgments are formed before in me to be a lied to the observation of the -orld' ?2bservations -ithout conce ts are blind G conce ts -ithout observations are em ty'A 8e can thin0 millions of elli sesE they corres ond to no reality if -e do not see them in the lanetary motion' 8e have to verify everything by e/ erience' 8e can gain Budgments a riori, but -e are allo-ed to a ly them only if they corres ond to e/ erience' God, freedom and immortality are matters about -hich -e can onder ever so long about -hich -e can get 0no-ledge by no e/ erience' Therefore, it is in vain to find out anything -ith our reason' The conce ts a riori are only valid as far as our e/ erience reaches' 5ndeed -e have a science a riori -hich only says to us ho- e/ erience has to be until e/ erience is there' 8e can catch as it -ere e/ erience li0e in a -eb, but -e cannot find out ho- the la- of e/ erience has to be' About the ?thing@in@itselfA -e 0no- nothing, and because God, freedom and immortality must have their origin in the ?thing@in@itself,A -e can find out nothing about them' 8e see the things not as they are, but in such a -ay as -e must see them according to our organisation' 8ith it <ant founded the critical idealism and overcame the naive realism' 8hat submits to causality is not the ?thing@in@itself'A 8hat submits to my eye or my ear has to ma0e an im ression on my eye, on my ear at first' This is the erce tion, the sensations' These are the effects of any ?thing@in@itself,A of things -hich are absolutely un0no-n to me' These roduce a lot of effects, and 5 order them in a la-ful -orld' 5 form an organism of sensations' But 5 cannot 0no-hat is behind them' 5t is nothing else than the la-fulness -hich my mind has ut into the sensations' 8hat is behind the sensation, 5 can 0no- nothing about it' 6ence, the -orld -hich surrounds me is only subBective' 5t is only that -hich 5 myself build u ' The develo ment of hysiology in the !"th century agreed a arently com letely -ith <ant' Ta0e the im ortant 0no-ledge of the great hysiologist Dohannes )Nller' 6e has ut u the la- of the s ecific nerve energy' 5t consists in the fact that any organ ans-ers in its -ay' 5f you let light into the eye, you have a beam of lightE if you bum against the eye, you -ill li0e-ise have a light sensation' )Nller concludes that it does not de end on the things outside, but on my eye -hat 5 erceive' The eye ans-ers to a rocess un0no-n to me -ith the colour Cuality, -e say( blue' Blue is no-here outdoors in s ace' A rocess has an effect on us, and it roduces the sensation ?blue'A 8hat you believe that it stands before you, is nothing else than the effect of some un0no-n rocesses on a sense' The -hole hysiology of the !"th century confirmed this la- of the s ecific nerve energy a arently' <ant>s idea seems to be thereby su orted' 2ne can call this -orld vie- illusionism in the full sense of the -ord' ,obody 0no-s anything about -hat has an effect outside, -hat roduces his sensations' :rom himself he s ins his -hole -orld of e/ erience and builds u it according to the la-s of his mind' ,othing else can a roach him, as long as his organisation is made in such a -ay as it is' This is <ant>s doctrine motivated by hysiology' <ant calls it critical idealism' This is also that -hich Scho enhauer develo s in his hiloso hy( eo le believe that the -hole starry heaven and the sun surround them' 6o-ever, this is only
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your o-n mental icture' Fou create the -hole -orld' G And *duard von 6artmann says( This is the most certain truth -hich there can be' ,o o-er -ould be able one day to sha0e this sentence' G Thus the -estern hiloso hy says' 5t has never ondered ho- e/ erience basically comes about' Somebody is only able to stic0 to realism -ho 0no-s ho- e/ eriences come about and then he comes to the true critical idealism' The vie- of <ant is the transcendental idealism, that is he 0no-s nothing about a true reality, nothing of a ?thing@in@itself,A but only of an image -orld' 6e says basically( 5 must refer my image -orld to something un0no-n' G This vie- should be regarded as something steadfast' 5s this transcendental idealism really steadfast; 5s the ?thing@in@itselfA unrecognisable; G 5f this held true, then could not be s o0en of a higher e/ erience at all' 5f the ?thing@in@itselfA -ere only an illusion, -e could not s ea0 of any higher beings' 6ence, this is also an obBection -hich is raised against theoso hy( you have higher beings of -hich you s ea0' 8e see ne/t time ho- these vie-s must be dee ened' ,otes( 1harles 8ebster 4eadbeater (!=5&I!"$&), clergyman and theoso hical author 1hristian 8olff (!HJ"I!J5&), German hiloso her and mathematician %avid 6ume (!J!!I!JJH), Scottish hiloso her, historian, economist *ven if all our 0no-ledge starts O 5mmanuel <ant in 1ritiCue of 9ure Reason, 5ntroduction, ' ! ?2bservations -ithout conce ts are blind O 5mmanuel <ant in 1ritiCue of 9ure Reason, 5ntroduction to 5dea of a Transcendental 4ogic, 9art 5 2n 4ogic in General Dohannes )Nller (!=#!I!=5=), German hysiologist Arthur Scho enhauer (!J==I!=H#), German hiloso her *duard von 6artmann (!=&2I!"#H), German hiloso her

/ourse II# .ecture II# The 1piste-olo;ical Basis of Theosophy II

Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(4!!
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin /ecember ., 1903 8ith the remar0 that the resent, in articular the German hiloso hy and its e istemology ma0es it difficult to its su orters to find access to the theoso hical -orld vie- 5 have started these tal0s before eight days, and 5 added that 5 try to outline this theory of 0no-ledge, this resent hiloso hical -orld vie- and to sho- ho- somebody -ith an absolutely serious conscience in this direction finds it hard to be a theoso hist' 2n the -hole, the theories of 0no-ledge -hich develo ed from <antianism are e/cellent and absolutely correct' 6o-ever, one cannot understand from their oint of vie- ho- the human being can find out anything about beings, generally about real beings -hich are different from him' The consideration of <antianism has sho-n us that this viecomes to the result in the end that everything that -e have round ourselves is a earance, is only our mental icture' 8hat -e have round ourselves is no reality, but it is controlled by the la-s -hich -e ourselves rescribe to our surroundings' 5 said( as -e must see -ith coloured glasses the -hole -orld in this colour nuance, in the same -ay the human being must see the -orld G after <ant>s vie- G coloured as he sees them according to his organisation no matter ho- it may be in the e/ternal reality' That is -hy -e are not allo-ed to s ea0 of a ?thing@in@itself,A but only of the Cuite
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subBective -orld of a earance' 5f this is the case, everything that surrounds me G the table, the chairs et cetera, is an image of my mindE because they all are there for me only, in so far as 5 erceive them, in so far as 5 give form to these erce tions according to the la- of my o-n mind, rescribe the la-s to them' 5 cannot state -hether still anything e/ists e/ce t for my erce tion of the table and the chairs' This is basically the result of <ant>s hiloso hy in the end' This is not com atible, of course, -ith the fact that -e can enetrate into the true nature of the things' Theoso hy is inse arable from the vie- that -e can enetrate not only into the hysical e/istence of the things, but also into the s iritual of the thingsE that -e have 0no-ledge not only of that -hich surrounds us hysically, but that -e can also have e/ eriences of that -hich is urely s iritual' 5 -ant to sho- you ho- a vigorous boo0 of the -orld vie- -hich is called ?theoso hyA today re resents that -hich became <antianism later' 5 read u a assage of the boo0 that -as -ritten a short time before <antianism -as founded' 5t a eared in !JHH' 5t is a boo0 -hich G -e can say it absolutely that -ay G could be -ritten by a theoso hist' The vieis re resented in it that the human being has not only a relationshi to the hysical -orld surrounding him, but that it -ould be roved scientifically one day that the human being belongs also to a s iritual -orld, and that also the -ay of being together -ith it could be scientifically roved' Something is -ell demonstrated that one could assume that it is roved more or less or that it is roved in future( ?5 do not 0no- -here or -hen that the human soul is in relation to others that they have effect on each other and receive im ressions from each other' The human being is not a-are of that, ho-ever, as long as everything is good'A Then another assage( ?5ndeed, it does not matter -hichever ideas of the other -orld -e have, and, hence, any thin0ing about s irit does not enetrate to a state of s irit at all '''A and so on' The human being -ith his average mental ca acity cannot realise the s iritE but it is said that one can assume such a common life -ith a s iritual -orld' 8ith such a vie- <ant>s e istemology is not com atible' 6e -ho -rote the foundation of this vie- is 5mmanuel <ant himself' That means that -e have to register a reversal in <ant himself' Because he -rites this in !JHH, and fourteen years later he founds that theory of 0no-ledge -hich ma0es it im ossible to find the -ay to theoso hy' 2ur modern hiloso hy is based on <antianism' 5t has ta0en on different forms, those from 6erbart and Scho enhauer to 2tto 4iebmann and Dohannes 7ol0elt and :riedrich Albert 4ange' 8e find more or less <antian coloured e istemology every-here according to -hich -e deal only -ith henomena, -ith our subBective -orld of erce tion, so that -e cannot enetrate to the being, to the root of the ?thing@in@itself'A At first 5 -ould li0e to bring for-ard to you everything that develo ed in the course of the !"th century, and -hat -e can call the modified e istemology of <ant' 5 -ould li0e to demonstrate ho- the current e istemology develo ed -hich loo0s -ith a certain arrogance at somebody -ho believes that one can 0no- something' 5 -ant to sho- ho- somebody forms a basic e istemological vie- -hose 0ind of vie- is based on <ant' *verything that science has brought seems to verify the <antian e istemology' 5t seems to be so firm that one cannot esca e from it' Today -e -ant to roll u it and ne/t time -e -ant to see ho- one can find the -ay -ith it' :irst of all hysics seems to teach us every-here that that is no reality the naive human being believes that it is reality' 4et us ta0e the tone' Fou 0no- that the oscillation of the air is there outside our organ, outside our ear -hich hears the tone' 8hat ta0es lace outside us is an oscillation of the air articles' 2nly because this oscillation comes to our ear and sets the eardrum s-inging the movement continues to the brain' There -e erceive -hat -e call tone and sound' The -hole -orld -ould be silent and tonelessE only because the e/ternal movement of our ear is ta0en u by the ear, and that -hich is only an oscillation is transformedE -e e/ erience -hat -e feel as a sound -orld' Thus the e istemologist can easily say( tone is only -hat e/ists in you, and if you imagine it -ithout this, nothing but moved air is there' The same a lies to the colours and the light of the e/ternal -orld' The hysicist has the vie- that colour is an oscillation of the ether -hich fulfils the -hole universe' Dust as the air is set s-inging by the sound and nothing else than the movement of the air e/ists if -e hear a sound, light is only an oscillatory movement of the ether' The ether oscillations are a little bit different from those of the air' The ether oscillates vertically to the direction of the ro agation of the -aves' This is made clear by e/ erimenting hysics' 5f -e have the colour sensation ?red,A -e have to do it -ith a sensation' Then -e must as0 ourselves( -hat is there if no feeling eye e/ists; G 5t should be nothing else of the colours in s ace than oscillatory ether' The colour Cuality is removed from the -orld if the feeling eye is removed from the -orld' 8hat you see as red is $"2 to &5& trillions oscillations, -ith violet J5! to J5J trillions oscillations' This is inconceivably fast' 9hysics of the !"th century transformed any light sensation and colour sensation into oscillations of the ether' 5f no eye -ere there, the -hole colour -orld -ould not e/ist' *verything -ould be itch@dar0' 2ne could not tal0 about colour Cuality in the outer s ace' This goes so far that 6elmholt. said( -e have the sensations of colour and light, of sound and tone in ourselves' This is not even li0e that -hich ta0es lace -ithout us' 8e are even not allo-ed to use an image of that -hich ta0es lace -ithout us' G 8hat -e 0no- as a colour Cuality of red is not similar to about &2#
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trillions oscillations er second' Therefore, 6elmholt. means( -hat really e/ists in our consciousness is not an image but a mere sign' 9hysics has maintained that s ace and time e/ist as 5 erceive them' The hysicist imagines that a movement in s ace ta0es lace if 5 have a colour sensation' 5t is the same -ith the time image if 5 have the sensation red and the sensation violet' Both are subBective rocesses in me' They follo- each other in time' The oscillations follo- each other outside' 9hysics does not go so far as <ant' 8hether the ?things@in@themselvesA are s ace@filled -hether they are in s ace or follo- each other in time, -e cannot 0no- G in terms of <antE but -e 0no- only( -e are organised this and that -ay, and, therefore, something G may it be s atial or not G has to ta0e on s atial form' 8e s read out this form over that' :or hysics the oscillatory movement has to ta0e lace in s ace, it has to ta0e a certain time ''' The ether oscillates, -e say, &=# trillions times er second' This includes the images of s ace and time already' The hysicist assumes s ace and time being -ithout us' 6o-ever, the rest is only a mental icture, is subBective' Fou can read in hysical -or0s that for somebody -ho has realised -hat ha ens in the outside -orld nothing e/ists than oscillatory air, than oscillatory ether' 9hysics seems to have contributed that everything that -e have e/ists only -ithin our consciousness and e/ce t this nothing e/ists' The second that the science of the !"th century can resent to us is the reasons -hich hysiology delivers' The great hysiologist Dohannes )Nller found the la- of the s ecific nerve energy' According to this la- any organ reacts -ith a articular sensation' 5f you ush the eye, you can erceive a gleam of lightE if electricity enetrates it, also' The eye ans-ers to any influence from -ithout in such a -ay as it Bust corres onds to it' 5t has the strength from -ithin to ans-er -ith light and colour' 5f light and ether enetrate, the eye ans-ers -ith light and colour sensations' 9hysiology still delivers additional building stones to rove -hat the subBective vie- has ut u ' 5magine that -e have a sensation of touch' The naive human being imagines that he erceives the obBect' But -hat does he erceive really; The e istemologist as0s' 8hat is before me is nothing else than a combination of the smallest articles, of molecules' They are in movement' *very article is in such movement -hich cannot be erceived by the senses because the oscillations are too small' Basically it is nothing else than the movement only -hich 5 can erceive, because the article is not able to cree into me' 8hat is it if you ut the hand on the body; The hand carries out a movement' This continues do-n to the nerve and the nerve transforms it into a sensation( in heat and cold, in softy and hard' Also in the outside -orld movements are included, and if my sense of touch is concerned, the organ transforms it into heat or cold, into softness or hardness' 8e cannot even erceive -hat ha ens bet-een the body and us, because the outer s0in layer is insensible' 5f the e idermis is -ithout a nerve, it can never feel anything' The e idermis is al-ays bet-een the thing and the body' The stimulus has an effect from a relatively far distance through the e idermis' 2nly -hat is e/cited in your nerve can be erceived' The outer body remains com letely -ithout the movement rocess' Fou are se arated from the thing, and -hat you really feel is roduced -ithin the e idermis' *verything that can really enetrate into your consciousness ha ens in the area of the body, so that it is still se arated from the e idermis' 8e -ould have to say after this hysiological consideration that -e get in nothing of that -hich ta0es lace in the outside -orld, but that it is merely rocesses -ithin our nerves -hich continue in the brain -hich e/cite us by Cuite un0no-n e/ternal rocesses' 8e can never reach beyond our e idermis' Fou are in your s0in and erceive nothing else than -hat ha ens -ithin it' 4et us go over to another sense, to the eye, from the hysical to the hysiological' Fou see that the oscillations ro agateE they have to enetrate our body first' The eye consists of a s0in, the cornea, first of all' Behind this is the lens and behind the lens the vitreous body' There the light has to go through' Then it arrives at the rear of the eye -hich is lined -ith the retina' 5f you removed the retina, the eye -ould never transform anything into light' 5f you see forms of obBects, the rays have to enetrate into your eye first, and -ithin the eye a small retina icture is outlined' This is the last that the sensation can cause' 8hat is before the retina is insensibleE -e have no real erce tion of it' 8e can only erceive the icture on the retina' 2ne imagines that there chemical changes of the visual ur le ta0e lace' The effect of the outer obBect has to ass the lens and the vitreous body, then it causes a chemical change in the retina, and this becomes a sensation' Then the eye uts the icture again out-ardly, surrounds itself -ith the stimuli -hich it has received, and uts them again around in the -orld -ithout us' 8hat ta0es lace in our eye is not that -hich forms the stimulus, but a chemical rocess' The hysiologists al-ays deliver ne- reasons for the e istemologists' A arently -e have to agree -ith Scho enhauer com letely if he says( the starry heaven is created by us' 5t is a reinter retation of the stimuli' 8e can 0no- nothing about the ?thing@in@itself'A Fou see that this e istemology limits the human being merely to the things, -e say to the mental ictures -hich his consciousness creates' 6e is enclosed in his consciousness' 6e can su ose G if he -ants G that anything e/ists in the -orld -hich ma0es im ression on him' 5n any case nothing can enetrate into him' *verything that he feels is made by him' 8e cannot even 0no- from anything that ta0es lace in the eri hery' Ta0e the stimulus in the visual ur le' 5t has
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to be directed to the nerve, and this has to be transformed anyho- into the real sensation, so that the -hole -orld -hich surrounds us -ould be nothing else than -hat -e -ould have created from our inside' These are the hysiological roofs -hich induce us to say that this is that -ay' 6o-ever, there are also eo le -ho as0 no- -hy -e can assume other human beings besides us -hom -e, nevertheless, recognise only from the im ressions -hich -e receive from them' 5f a human being stands before me, 5 have only oscillations as stimuli and then an image of my o-n consciousness' 5t is only a resu osition that e/ce t for the consciousness icture something similar to the human being e/ists' Thus the modern e istemology su orts its vie- that the outer content of e/ erience is merely of subBective nature' 5t says( -hat is erceived is e/clusively the content of the o-n consciousness, is a change of this content of consciousness' 8hether there are things@in@themselves, is beyond our e/ erience' The -orld is a subBective a earance to me -hich is built u from my sensations consciously or unconsciously' 8hether there are also other -orlds, is beyond the field of my e/ erience' 8hen 5 said( it is beyond the field of e/ erience -hether there is another -orld, it also beyond the field of e/ erience -hether there are still other human beings -ith other consciousnesses, because nothing of a consciousness of the other human beings can get into the human being' ,othing of the -orld of images of another human being and nothing of the consciousness of another human being can come into my consciousness' Those -ho have Boined <ant>s e istemology have this vie-' Dohann Gottlieb :ichte also Boined this vie- in his youth' 6e thought <ant>s theory thoroughly' There may be no nicer descri tion of that than those -hich :ichte gave in his -riting !n the /etermination of the uman Being 016001 ' 6e says in it( ?no-here anything ermanent e/ists, not -ithout me not -ithin me, but there is only a continuous transformation' 5 no-here 0no- any being, and also not my o-n' There is no being' G 5 myself do not 0no- at all, and 5 am not' 5mages are there( they are the only things that e/ist, and they 0no- about themselves in the -ay of images G images -hich ass -ithout anything e/isting that they assE -hich are connected -ith images to images' 5mages -hich do not contain anything, -ithout any significance and ur ose' 5 myself am one of these imagesE yes, 5 myself am not this, but only a confused image of the images'A 5ndeed G if you stic0 to the vie- that you deal in your subBective o inion only -ith the things of your o-n consciousness, then you must get inevitably to the vie- that you do not 0no- more about yourselves than about the outside -orld' 5f you go over to the image of the o-n ego, then you do not have more of it than of the outside -orld' <ee this thought in mind in its full significance, then it becomes clear to you that the outside -orld dissolves in a sum of hallucinations, and that also the inside -orld is nothing else than a creation of subBective dreams fitted together' Fou can imagine already from the outside, 5 -ould li0e to say, from the cor oreality that also you yourselves li0e the outside -orld are nothing else than dream images or illusions if you inter ret the vie- correctly' 4oo0 at your hand -hich transforms your movements to sensations of touch' This hand is nothing else than a creation of my subBective consciousness, and my -hole body and -hat is in me is also a creation of my subBective consciousness' 2r 5 ta0e my brain( if 5 could investigate under the microsco e ho- the sensation came into being in the brain, 5 -ould have nothing before myself than an obBect -hich 5 have to transform again to an image in my consciousness' The idea of the ego is also an imageE it is generated li0e any other' %reams ass me, illusions ass me G this is the -orld vie- of illusionism -hich a ears inevitably as the last conseCuence of <antianism' <ant -anted to overcome the old dogmatic hiloso hyE he -anted to overcome -hat has been brought for-ard by 8olff and his school' 6e considered this as a sum of figments' These -ere the roofs of freedom, of the -ill, of the immortality of the soul and of God>s e/istence -hich <ant e/ osed concerning their robative value as figments' 8hat does he give as roofs; 6e roved that -e can 0no- nothing about a ?thing@in@itselfA that that -hich -e have is only contents of consciousness that, ho-ever, God must be ?something@in@itself'A Thus -e cannot necessarily rove the e/istence of God according to <ant' 2ur reason, our mind is only a licable to that -hich is given in the erce tion' They are only there to rescribe la-s of erce tion and, hence, the matters( God G soul G -ill G are com letely outside our rational 0no-ledge' Reason has a limit, and it is not able to overcome it' 5n the reface of the second edition of $riti%ue of 'ure Reason he says at a assage( ?5 had to cancel 0no-ledge to ma0e room for faith'A 6e -anted this basically' 6e -anted to limit 0no-ledge to sense@ erce tion, and he -anted to achieve everything that goes beyond reason in other -ay' 6e -anted to achieve it on the -ay of moral faith' 6ence, he said( in no -ay science can arrive at the obBective e/istence of the things one day' But -e find one thing in ourselves( the categorical im erative -hich a ears -ith an unconditional obligation in us' G <ant calls it a divine voice' 5t is beyond the things, it is accom anied by unconditional moral necessity' :rom here <ant ascends to regain that for faith -hich he annihilates for 0no-ledge' Because the categorical im erative deals -ith nothing that is caused by any sensory effect, but
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a ears in us, something must e/ist that causes the senses as -ell as the categorical im erative, and a ears if all duties of the categorical im erative are fulfilled' This -ould be blessedness' But no one can find the bridge bet-een both' Because he cannot find it, a divine being has to build it' 5n doing so, -e come to a conce t of God -hich -e can never find -ith the senses' A harmony bet-een the sensory -orld and the -orld of moral reason must be roduced' *ven if one did enough in a life as it -ere, nevertheless, -e must not believe that the earthly life generally suffices' The human life goes beyond the earthly life because the categorical im erative demands it' That is -hy -e have to assume a divine -orld order' 6ocould the human being follo- a divine -orld order, the categorical im erative, if he did not have freedom; G <ant annihilated 0no-ledge that -ay to get to the higher things of the s irit by means of faith' 8e must believe+ 6e tries to bring in on the -ay of the ractical reason again -hat he has thro-n out of the theoretical reason' Those vie-s -hich have no connection a arently to <ant>s hiloso hy are also com letely based on this hiloso hy' Also a hiloso her -ho had great influence G also in edagogy( 6erbart' 6e had develo ed an o-n vie- from <ant>s critiCue of reason( if -e loo0 at the -orld, -e find contradictions there' 4et us have a loo0 at the o-n ego' Today it has these mental ictures, yesterday it had others, tomorro- it -ill have others again' 8hat is this ego; 5t meets us and is fulfilled -ith a articular image -orld' At another moment it meets us -ith another image -orld' 8e have there a develo ment, many Cualities, and, nevertheless, it should be a thing' 5t is one and many' Any thing is a contradiction' 6erbart says that only contradictions e/ist every-here in the -orld' Above all -e must re roach ourselves -ith the sentence that the contradiction cannot be the true being' ,o- from it 6erbart deduces the tas0 of his hiloso hy' 6e says( -e have to remove the contradictionsE -e have to construct a -orld -ithout contradiction to us' The -orld of e/ eriences is an unreal one, a contradictory one' 6e sees the true sense, the true being in transforming the contradictory -orld to a -orld -ithout contradictions' 6erbart says( -e find the -ay to the ?thing@in@itself,A -hile -e see the contradictions, and if -e get them out of us, -e enetrate to the true being, to true reality' G 6o-ever, he also has this in common -ith <ant that that -hich surrounds us in the outside -orld is mere illusion' Also he tried in other -ay to su ort -hat should be valuable for the human being' 8e come no-, so to s ea0, to the heart of the matter' ,evertheless, -e must 0ee in mind that any moral action ma0es only sense if there is reality in the -orld' 8hat is any moral action if -e live in a -orld of a earance; Fou can never be convinced that that -hich you do constitutes something real' Then any striving for morality and all your goals are floating in the air' There :ichte -as admirably consistent' 4ater he changed his vie- and got to ure theoso hy' 8ith erce tion -e can never 0no- about the -orld G he says G anything else than dreams of these dreams' But something drives us to -ant the good' This lets us loo0 into this big -orld of dreams li0e in a flash' 6e sees the realisation of the moral la- in the -orld of dreams' The demands of the moral la- should Bustify -hat reason cannot teach' G And 6erbart says( because any erce tion is full of contradictions, -e can never come to norms of our moral actions' 6ence, there must be norms of our moral actions -hich are relieved of any Budgment by mind and reason' )oral erfection, good-ill, inner freedom, they are inde endent of the activity of reason' Because everything is a earance in our -orld, -e must have something in -hich -e are relieved of reflection' This is the first hase of the develo ment of the !"th century( the transformation of truth to a -orld of dreams' The idealism of dreams -as the only ossible result of thin0ing about being and -anted to ma0e the foundation of a moral -orld vie- inde endent of all 0no-ledge and cognition' 5t -anted to limit 0no-ledge to get room for faith' Therefore, the German hiloso hy has bro0en -ith the ancient traditions of those -orld vie-s -hich -e call theoso hy' Anybody -ho calls himself theoso hist could have never acce ted this dualism, this se aration of moral and the -orld of dreams' 5t -as for him al-ays a unity, from the lo-est Cuantum of energy u to the highest s iritual reality' Because as -ell as that -hich the animal accom lishes in desire and listlessness is only relatively different from that -hich arises from the highest oint of the cultural life out of the urest motives, that is only relatively different every-here -hich ha ens belo- from that -hich ha ens on to ' <ant left this uniform -ay to com lete 0no-ledge and -orld vie- -hile he s lit the -orld in a recognisable but a arent -orld and in a second -orld -hich has a Cuite different origin, in the -orld of morality' 5n doing so, he clouded the loo0 of many eo le' Anybody -ho cannot find access to theoso hy suffers from the aftermath of <ant>s hiloso hy' 5n the end, you -ill see ho- theoso hy emerges from a true theory of 0no-ledgeE ho-ever, it -as necessary before that 5 have demonstrated the a arently firm construction of science' Science seems to have roved irrefutably that there are only the oscillations of the ether if -e feel green or blue that -e sense tone by the aerial oscillations' The contents of the ne/t lecture -ill sho- ho- it is in reality' ,otes(
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a )igorous boo7 of the +orld )ie+ 83 5n a satirical -riting by 5' <ant /reams of a Spirit Seer E9plained b" /reams of #etaph"sics (2n *manuel S-edenborg) (!JHH) Dohann :riedrich 6erbart (!JJHI!=&!), German hiloso her, sychologist, founder of academic edagogy 2tto 4iebmann (!=&#I!"!2), German hiloso her Dohannes 7ol0elt (!=&=I!"$#), German hiloso her :riedrich Albert 4ange (!=2=I!=J5), German hiloso her and sociologist 6ermann von 6elmholt. (!=2!I!="&), German hysician and hysicist Dohannes )Nller (!=#!I!=5=), German hysiologist Dohann Gottlieb :ichte (!JH2I!=!&), German hiloso her

/ourse II# .ecture III# The 1piste-olo;ical Basis of Theosophy III

Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(4$%b
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin #arch 16, 190. 5n the receding tal0s 5 have tried to outline the basic thoughts of the resent theory of 0no-ledge, as it is done at our universities, and as it is also done by those hiloso hers and thin0ing researchers -ho lean u on Scho enhauer, <ant and similar great German thin0ers' 5 tried to sho- at the same time ho- the -hole scientific develo ment of the !"th century, -hether the hysical one, the hysiological one and also the sychological one, acce ted <ant>s e istemology or those forms of it -hich Scho enhauer or *duard von 6artmann created' 5 have sho-n -ith it that basically that 0ind of e istemology -hich -e can call illusionism -hich turns us com letely to our o-n consciousness and ma0es the -hole -orld a -orld of ideas seems to be the only right one' This seems to be so natural that one is regarded as hiloso hically under@age today, if one doubts the sentence( the -orld is my idea' Fou may allo- me no- to s ea0 about the s iritual, because 5 have brought for-ard almost all reasons to you -hich led to this illusionistic e istemology' 5 have sho-n the reasons -hich lead to the conclusion( the -orld is our ideaE 5 have sho-n ho- everything that surrounds us is destroyed by the sensory@ hysiological a roach, -hether the -orld of tem erature sensations, the sensations of touch et cetera' This erce ts, ideas and conce ts a ear finally as being born by the human soul, as a self@ roduct of the human being' The 0no-ledge -hich tries to give reasons for this in all directions corres onds to Scho enhauer>s doctrine( the -orld is our idea G according to -hich there is no s0y, but only an eye -hich sees it, no tones, but only an ear -hich hears them' 9erha s, you could believe that 5 -anted to dis rove these different e istemological oints of vie-' 5 have sho-n -hat they lead to, but do not understand this as a dis roof of the different oints of vie-' The theoso hist 0no-s no dis roof' 6e does not osition himself only on one oint of vie- in hiloso hy' Those -ho have dedicated themselves to a hiloso hical system believe that this is the absolutely right one' Thus -e can see fighting Scho enhauer, 6artmann, the 6egelians and the <antians from this oint of vie-' 6o-ever, this can never be the oint of vie- of the theoso hist' The theoso hist sees it differently' 2n the -hole, there is for him also no Cuarrel of the different religious systems, because he realises that a core of truth forms the basis of each of them and that the Cuarrel of the Buddhists, the )uslims and the 1hristians is not Bustified' The theoso hist also 0no-s that in every hiloso hical system a core of 0no-ledge is that in every system, so to s ea0, a level of human 0no-ledge is hidden'
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5t cannot be a matter of dis roving <ant or Scho enhauer' 8ho strives fairly can be mista0en, but the ne/t best cannot sim ly come to dis rove them' 5t must be clear to us that all these s irits strove for truth from their oint of vie-, and that -e find Bust the core of truth in the different hiloso hical systems' That is -hy it cannot be a matter for us -ho is right or -ho is -rong' 8ho ositions himself firmly on his o-n oint of vie- and then com ares the oints of vie-ith each other and says that he can acce t only this or that, is in terms of hiloso hical 0no-ledge on the same oint of vie- as a stam collector' The loftiest recogniser has not even ascended the highest summit of insight' *ach of us is on the ladder of develo ment' *ven the loftiest human being cannot recognise anything absolute of truth, of the -orld s irit' 5f -e have climbed u a higher level of 0no-ledge, -e also have a relative Budgment only -hich al-ays increases, if -e have climbed u an even higher summit' 5f -e have understood the foundations of the theoso hical system, it a ears to us as arrogance to s ea0 about a hiloso her if -e cannot osition ourselves for a test on his oint of vie-, so that -e can also rove the truth of his thoughts li0e he may do this himself' 2ne can al-ays be mista0en, but one may not osition himself so histically on the oint of vie- that it is im ossible to have an overvie- of another stand oint' 5 -ant to deliver an argument to you from the German s iritual develo ment that it is ossible to have an overvie- in such a -ay as 5 have characterised it' 5n the si/ties, %ar-inism da-ned, and it -as immediately inter reted materialistically' The materialistic inter retation is an one@sidedness' But those -ho inter reted in such a -ay regarded themselves as infallibleE the materialists of the si/ties regarded themselves as infallible in their conclusions' Then The 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious by *duard von 6artmann a earedE 5 do not -ant to defend it' )ay it have its one@sidednessE nevertheless, 5 ac0no-ledge that this oint of vie- is far higher than that of 7ogt, 6aec0el and BNchner' 6ence, the materialists regarded it as -armed u Scho enhauerianism' Then a ne- boo0 a eared that dis roved the 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious -ith stri0ing reasons' 2ne believed that it could only be a scientist' ?6e should unveil his name,A 6aec0el -rote, ?and -e call him one of ours'A Then the second edition a eared, and the author -as called( *duard von 6artmann himself' 6e sho-ed that he could com letely osition himself on the stand oint of the naturalists' 5f he had set his name on the first edition, the -riting -ould have fallen short of its goal' Fou see that the advanced human being can also osition himself on the subordinated oint of vie- and can resent everything that is to be resented against the higher oint of vie-' ,obody is allo-ed to dare, es ecially not from the theoso hical oint of vie-, to s ea0 about a hiloso hical system if he is not a-are to have understood this hiloso hical system from -ithin' That is -hy it does not concern the dis roof of <antianism and Scho enhauerianism' 8e must overcome these childhood illnesses of dis roving' 8e have to sho- ho- they themselves lead beyond themselves if -e loo0 for their true core' That is -hy -e osition ourselves again for a test on the stand oint of the subBectivist e istemology -hich leads to the rinci le( the -orld is my idea' G 5t -ants to overcome the naive realism according to -hich that -hich stands before me is the true, -hile the e istemologists have found that everything that surrounds me is nothing but my ideas' 5f one had to sto at this stand oint of e istemology, any basis for a theoso hical construction of a vie- of life -ould be in vain' 8e 0no- that our 0no-ledge of the -orld is not only our ideas' 5f they -ere only subBective creations of our egos, -e could not come beyond them' 8e could not recognise the true value of anything' 8e -ould never be able to consider the things as essential in the theoso hical -orld vie-, but only as subBective creations of our egos' Thereby -e -ould al-ays be reBected to our egos' 8e could say that tidings of any higher -orld came to us if -e get that -hich -e only have from the de th of our conce tual life for ourselves, ho-ever, only if -e have the manifestations of a truthful and real -orld in our subBective -orld' 2n that is based -hat -e have to imagine as theoso hy' 6ence, theoso hy can never be content -ith the sentence( the -orld is my idea' 8e can see that Scho enhauer goes beyond the sentence( the -orld is my idea' There is still the other sentence of Scho enhauer -hich should com lete the first one( The -orld is -ill' G Scho enhauer gets to it in no other -ay as the theoso hist' 6e says( everything that is in the starry heaven is only my idea, but 5 do not recognise my o-n e/istence as an idea' 5 act, 5 -illE this is a strength in the -orld in -hich 5 am and in myself, so that 5 0no- from myself -hat forms the basis of my idea' )ay be everything else that surrounds me an idea, 5 myself is my -ill' G Scho enhauer tried that -ay to gain the firm oint -hich he could reach never actually' :or this sentence is a self@annihilating sentence -hich has only to be thought logically through to the end to find out that it is a reductio ad absurdum as the mathematician calls it' ,o little stone can be ta0en out of the construction -hich Scho enhauer ut u ' 5f -e have sensations of touch, of tem erature, -e 0no- that -e have only ideas of our ego' 4et us be consistent' 6o- do -e recognise ourselves; 8e see no real colour, but -e 0no- only that an eye is there -hich sees colour' 8hy do -e 0no-, ho-ever, that an eye sees that a hand is there -hich feels; 2nly because -e erceive them as -e erceive any other thing, a sensory im ression if -e
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-ant to recognise the outside -orld' 2ur self@0no-ledge is also tied to the same la-s and rules to -hich the la- of the outside -orld is tied' As true as my -orld is my idea, it must be true that 5 myself am my idea -ith everything that is in me' Thus -e are able to consider the entire hiloso hy of Scho enhauer, everything that is thought about the -hole subBective and obBective -orld as nothing but ideas' Be clear to yourselves about the fact that this can only be the true and real conseCuence of Scho enhauer>s hiloso hy' Then, ho-ever, he has also to admit that everything that he has ascertained about himself is only his idea' So -e have mattered -hat the mathematician calls a reductio ad absurdum, li0e Baron )Nnchhausen ulled himself out of the s-am by his o-n mo of hair' 8e com letely float in the air' 8e do not have any firm oint' 8e have destroyed the naive realismE ho-ever, have sho-n at the same time that this leads us to nihilism' 2ne has to find another oint if this conclusion leads ad absurdum' Scho enhauer did this himself' 6e said( if 5 -ant to come to the real, 5 am not allo-ed to sto at the idea, but 5 must rogress to the -ill' Scho enhauer became a realist that -ay, admittedly, unli0e 6erbart' 6erbart says( -e have to loo0 for the real in the uno osed' G That is -hy he ut u many realities' Scho enhauer also uts u such realities' ,o- it is true, really true that the -orld -hich surrounds me is a earance' But li0e the smo0e oints to fire, the a earance oints to its being' 6erbart tries to solve the roblem monadologically, as -ell as 4eibni. didE ho-ever, -ith 6erbart it is coloured by <antianism' 4eibni. lived before <antE he -as still free of <antian influence' Scho enhauer ositions himself on the stand oint( 5 myself 0no- myself as a -illing one' This -ill of e/istence guarantees my being to me' 5 am -ill, and 5 manifest myself in the -orld as an idea' As -ell as 5 am -ill and manifest myself, also the remaining things are of the same 0ind, and they manifest themselves in the outside' As the ego is in me, the -ill also is in me, and in the outer things is the -ill of these things' G Thus Scho enhauer sho-ed the -ay to self@0no-ledge, and he admitted im licitly that one can only recognise the things really if one is in their inside' 5ndeed, if the naive realism is right that the things are outside us, have nothing to do -ith our egos and -e are informed only by our ideas about the things outside us, if their being is outside us, then one cannot esca e Scho enhauerianism at all' Then least of all the second art can be Bustified( the -orld is my -ill' Fou -ill immediately understand this' :orming an idea can be com ared -ith a seal and its im ression' The ?thing@ in@itselfA is li0e the seal, the idea is li0e the im ression of the seal' *verything of the seal remains outside the substance -hich ta0es u the seal im ression' The im ression, the idea is Cuite subBective' 5 have nothing of the ?thing@in@itselfA in myself, as -ell as the seal itself never becomes art of the substance of the seal im ression' That is the basic conce t of the subBectivist vie-' Scho enhauer, ho-ever, says( 5 can only recognise a thing -hile 5 am inside it' Dulius Baumann says this also -ho hints at the teaching of reincarnation even if he is not a theoso hist' But his -ay of thin0ing has led Dulius Baumann to a ly to e istemology' *ven if this form of thin0ing got stuc0 in the elementary, he is on the -ay' There is no other ossibility to recognise a thing than to cree into it' This is not ossible as long as -e say that the thing is outside us and -e 0no- of itE then nothing can come into us' 5f -e -ere able to enter the thing itself, -e could recognise the being of the thing' This a ears to a modern e istemologist to be the most absurd thought' But it seems only in such a -ay' 5ndeed, under the reconditions of the -estern e istemology it a ears in such a -ay' But it did not al-ays a ear in such a -ay, above all not to those -hose mind -as not clouded by the rinci les of this e istemology' 6o-ever, one thing could be ossible( erha s, -e have never come out of the things actually' 9erha s, -e have never built u that strict dividing -allE -e have burst that chasm -hich should se arate us strictly from the things, according to <ant' Then the thought gets closer to us that -e can be in the things' And this is the basic idea of theoso hy' 5t is in such a -ay that our ego does not belong to us, is not enclosed in the narro- building as our organisation a ears to us, but the single human being is only an a earance of the divine being of the -orld' 5t is as it -ere only a reflection, an outflo-, a s ar0 of the all@embracing ego' This is a vie- oint -hich had the mastery over the minds for centuries, before there -as <ant>s hiloso hy' As far as that is concerned, the greatest s irits have never thought differently' Dohannes <e ler disclosed the construction of the lanetary system to us and formed the idea that the lanets circle in elli tical orbits round the sun' This is a thought -hich gives us insight in the being of the universe' ,o- 5 -ould li0e to read u his -ords to you, so that you see ho- he felt( ?Several years ago the first aurora a eared to me, several -ee0s ago it became light to me and since some hours the sun shines' 5 -rote a boo0' Those -ho read the boo0 and understand it are -elcome to me, the others G 5 am not interested in them '''A A thought -hich -aited for a long time, until it could light u in the head of a human being again' This is s o0en out of the 0no-ledge that that -hich is in our mind and -hich -e recognise of the -orld is the same that roduced the -orldE that the lanets describe elli tical orbits not by chance but
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that they must be brought in by the creative s iritE that -e are not loafers -ho only thin0 about the universe, but that the contents of our mind is creative outdoors' That is -hy <e ler -as convinced that he -as only the human scene for that basic idea of the cosmic universe on -hich this thought, living in the cosmos and flo-ing through it, came to the fore to be recognised again' <e ler -ould never have thought to say that that his 0no-ledge of the universe -as only his idea, but he -ould say( -hat 5 had recognised gives me information about that -hich is real outdoors in s ace' G 5f one had said to <e ler that this -as only an idea but not obBective outside, he -ould have said( do you thin0 really that that -hich gives me information about other things e/ists only if 5 acce t the information; G Then somebody -ho stands on the ground of subBectivist e istemology -ould have to say to himself if he stands before a tele hone( the gentleman in 6amburg -ho calls me no- is only my ideaE 5 erceive him only as my idea' This train of thought induces us to as0( ho- is it ossible to really ac0no-ledge the rinci le that -e recognise the being only if -e ourselves enter the being of the things if -e can identify ourselves -ith the being; This is the e istemology of those -ho -ant to have a dee er and clearer stand oint com ared -ith the modern vie-' 6amerling -rote a good boo0( The Atomism of the 8ill' 6e is a serious thin0er and has serious thoughts' They are -ritten in Scho enhauer>s sense, but they are thoughts -hich try to come to the being of the things' 6amerling says( one thing is absolutely certain( nobody -ants to deny his o-n e/istence, nobody -ill admit that he himself has only an imagined being that his being sto s if he does no longer thin0' Also Schiller says once( yes, %escartes states( 5 thin0, therefore 5 am' But 5 have often not thought and, nevertheless, 5 have been there' 6amerling tries to recover a similar attitude as Scho enhauer( 5 have also to a-ard a feeling of e/istence to all other beings' The ego and the atoms are for him the anti odes' G *verything is al-ays a little bit scanty, also 6amerling>s boo0' To esca e from illusionism, he tries to e/ lain this to himself in such a -ay that he says( -e can only realise that being -ithin -hich -e are' G 8ith all astuteness 6amerling tries to e/ lain this' :echner tries to re lace the feeling of e/istence generally -ith feeling' 6erbart G he said G -ould have done the mista0e that he -ants to come to reality by mere thin0ing' 6o-ever, in doing so -e do not come to the ego' Rather the ego rises out of the subsoil of feeling' 6e could have -ritten li0e Scho enhauer( the -orld as feeling and idea' G 6amerling could have -ritten( the -orld as atom, -ill and idea' G And :rohschammer -rote about imagination as the factor of -orld creation, guaranteeing the real being, li0e Scho enhauer about the -ill' 6e tried to sho- the -hole nature outdoors as a roduct of imagination' G They all try to come out of the absurdity of <ant>s hiloso hy' A subtle train of thought is no- necessary, but everybody must have done it -ho -ants to Boin in the discussion( -hat induces us generally to ut u any sentence about our 0no-ledge; 8hy do -e feel called to say that the -orld is our idea or imagination or anything li0e that; Something must give us the ossibility and ability to correlate us, our cognitive faculties and our o-ers of imagination -ith the -orld' 5magine the contrast of the ego and the remaining -orld, that is, you should say ho- you recognise your ego and the remaining -orld' Ta0e t-o contrasts( an accuser and a defender of a criminal' The one Budges from the one, the other from the other oint of vie-' 5t is not their tas0 to be fully obBective' 2nly the Budge obBectively standing above them can deliver a Budgment' 5magine -hich arguments they ut for-ard and also the Budge -ho -eighs both vie-s obBectively' ,ever can a single man solely decide, and Bust as little the ego only can decide -hich relation it has to the -orld' The single ego is subBective, it could never decide alone on its relation to the -orld' A theory of 0no-ledge -ould never be ossible if only the ego -ere on one side and the -orld on the other side' 5 have to gain an obBective oint of vie- in my thin0ing and e/ceed myself and the -orld that -ay' 5f 5 am com letely -ithin my thin0ing, then it is im ossible as it is im ossible for the thin0ing of the adherents of <ant and Scho enhauer' 5magine <ant sitting at his des0 and Budging only from himself' 5t is not ossible to get an obBective Budgment this -ay' 2nly under one recondition it is ossible that 5 can a oint my thin0ing as Budge of myself and the -orld as it -ere( if it is anything that e/ceeds me' ,o- the faintest self@contem lation already sho-s you that your thin0ing is something that e/ceeds you' 5t is not true that it is only an a earance, that t-o times t-o are four, and that any truth -hich a ears -ith an absolute validity has validity only in your consciousness' Fou recognise that their obBectiveness to-ers above their subBective validity, you ac0no-ledge its validity' 5t has nothing to do -ith your ego that t-o times t-o are four' ,othing in the field of -isdom deals -ith your egos' Because you can rise u to an obBective self@contained thin0ing, you can also Budge obBectively about the -orld' All thin0ers already resu ose this sentenceE other-ise they could not sit do-n at all and onder over the -orld' 5f there -ere only t-o thoughts, namely( 5 am in the -orld, and( the -orld is in me, one could Bustify neither <ant>s nor Scho enhauer>s vie-s' Fou have to admit that you are authorised to Budge about truth' :or -ithin our thin0ing is something that is above our ego' Any hiloso her admitted this -ho is not inhibited by <antianism -ho im artially thin0s monadologically' All hiloso hers -ho thought the true realities of the -orld in this sense thought them as
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s iritual' They thought them as something s iritual' 5f -e go bac0 to Giordano Bruno, to 4eibni., to those -ho have ta0en care to add Cualities to the realities, you find out that they have thought monadologically that they have considered the thin0ing as coming from the rimary source, from the s irit' 5f, ho-ever, s irit is that -hich constitutes the being of the things, then com ared -ith this vie- <ant>s and Scho enhauer>s e istemologies are on the stand oint of naive realism' 5 refer to my meta hor' Assume that nothing of the substance of the seal is transferred to the im ression, but it -ould de end on the -riting, on your name -hich is on the seal, on the s irit' Then you can say that nothing of the substance is transferred, but your name -hich is on the seal -ould be transferredE it is transferred from the -orld of the s irit' 5t is transferred in s ite of all dividing -alls -hich -e have built u ' Then one does not need to deny that Scho enhauerLs e istemology is artly correct, but -e go beyond the dividing -alls' <ee all those materialistic considerations+ Admit that nothing of the substance of the seal is transferred to the seal im ression, but that the s irit is transferred, for it enetrates us in its true figure because -e have our origin in it in truth' Because -e are s ar0s of this -orld s irit, -e live in it and recognise it again' 8e 0no- recisely if the -orld s irit 0noc0s at our eye, at our ear that it is not only our subBective feeling, but -e loo0 for something that is there outdoors' Thus -e realise that the s irit loo0s for the mediators outside -hom -e have declared as the mediators of s irit' 5f it is certain that the -orld is s irit in its being, -e can fully osition ourselves on the stand oint -hich <ant and Scho enhauer ta0e' All that is correct, but it does not go far enough' 5t is easy to ada t to <ant and Scho enhauer' But one has to get beyond them, because it is correct that the s irit lives in all things and that it turns to us giving its being' 5t really roves true in the theoso hical sense -hat Baumann demands for a real 0no-ledge of the things, namely -e have to be in the being of the things' 8e are also inside the -orld s irit and are only its beings' Today 5 have dressed the basic idea of this hiloso hy in images' Fou find a hiloso hical treatise on that in my 'hilosoph" of ,reedom, and you find the o osing oints of vie- there, too' 5 have re orted that Scho enhauer, <ant, the ,eo@<antians stand on the oint of vie- that -e do not get beyond the idea, and then that they sto ed half-ay overcoming the naive realism' But, because they start from the ?thing@in@itselfA and sho- that one cannot get out, they still get stuc0 in the naive realism, because they loo0 for truth in the material' As -ell as all the modern e istemologists, even if they still believe to have got beyond the naive realism, stand -ith one leg on the naive realism because they do not give u founding everything on the material' Theoso hy only can lead us to the gate of 0no-ledge' 5f -e -ant to find the obBect of 0no-ledge, it enables us to say that the true being of the -orld is s irit' :rom the moment -hen -e come to this gate the further -ay is the s irit' The s irit forms the basis of the -hole -orld' 5 -anted to e/ lain this once' 5 could do it only briefly and s0etchy' The human being is indeed a seal im ression of the -orld' 6o-ever, his being is not in the material' 8e can recognise this being at any moment, because it is in the s irit' The s irit flo-s into the material, into us, li0e the name -hich is on the seal is transferred to the im ression' 5 believe to have sho-n that somebody can also osition himself on the stand oint of the academic hiloso hy but have to understand it better than the academic hiloso hers themselves' Then everybody -ill also find the -ay to theoso hy, even if he stands on an o osing oint of vie-' Fou can stand on any oint of vie- if you do not have a closed mind' :rom any hiloso hy you are able to find the -ay to theoso hy' Fou learn to overcome Scho enhauer best of all if you get to 0no- him thoroughly' )ost eo le 0no- him only a little' But you have also to go into the being of the things, osition yourself on his oint of vie-' There are t-elve volumes of Scho enhauer>s -or0s -hich 5 ublished te/t@critically' So 5 have concerned myself -ith Scho enhauer for several years' That is -hy 5 believe to 0no- something about him' But if you recognise and understand him really, you reach the theoso hical oint of vie-' ,ot through half 0no-ledge, because this leads a-ay from theoso hy' A half of 8estern 0no-ledge leads a-ay from theoso hy at first, leads to subBectivism, to idealism et cetera' 6o-ever, let this become the -hole 0no-ledge, and then the 8est -ill also find the -ay to theoso hy' 5 have already named Dulius Baumann' 6e 0no-s -hat real 0no-ledge is even if he has not still come to the great thing of theoso hy' 5 thin0 to have faintly sho-n it in outlines' :or the real 0no-ledge is contradictory to theoso hy by no means' 5t is Bust that vie- -hich brings eace and tolerance every-here' All these truths -hich 5 have given are ste s to the real truth' <ant has moved some -ay, also Scho enhauer' The one more, the other less' They are on the -ay' 6o-ever, it al-ays concerns ho- far they have gone this -ay' Theoso hy does also not dare to say that it is on the summit' The right -ay is the -ay itself, above all that -hich -as inscribed on the Gree0 tem les( recognise yourself (gnothi s>auton)' 8e are one being -ith the -orld s irit' As -ell as -e recognise our o-n being, -e recognise the being of the universal s irit' ?Rise of our s irit to the all@embracing s irit,A that is theoso hy'

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,otes( Dohann :riedrich 6erbart (!JJHI!=&!), German hiloso her, sychologist, founder of academic edagogy Gottfried 8ilhelm 4eibni. (!H&HI!J!H), German mathematician and hiloso her Dulius Baumann (!=$JI!"!H), German hiloso her, rofessor in GPttingen Robert 6amerling (!=$#I!=="), Austrian oet Gustav Theodor :echner (!=#!I!==J), naturalist and hiloso her, founder of sycho hysics Da0ob :rohschammer (!=2!I!="$), German theologian and hiloso her

/ourse III " .ecture I# Theosophical Teachin;s of the Soul+ 9art I# Body and Soul
Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(438
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin #arch 16, 190. Self@0no-ledge is necessary to be able to tell the human beings the heavenly -isdom' 9lato revered his great teacher Socrates articularly because Socrates could get the loftiest 0no-ledge, the 0no-ledge of God through self@0no-ledge because he a reciated the 0no-ledge of the o-n soul more than that of the e/ternal nature or of that -hich refers to anything beyond our -orld' Socrates Bust became one of the martyrs of 0no-ledge and truth because he -as misunderstood in his 0no-ledge of the soul' 2ne has accused him that he denied the gods, -hile he searched for them, nevertheless, only on another -ay than others, on the -ay through the o-n soul' 6e -as accused of this soul 0no-ledge -hich does not only aim at the 0no-ledge of the o-n soul, but also at the Be-el -hich holds this human soul as 0no-ledge, namely the 0no-ledge of the divine very basis' These three tal0s should deal -ith this 0no-ledge of the soul' The number of the tal0s -as not arbitrarily determined and also not by chance, but -ell@considered out of the develo mental course of the soul' :or in the times in -hich the 0no-ledge and the -isdom of soul -as in the centre of the -hole human thin0ing and striving, one divided the nature of the human being into three arts, in body, soul and mind' Fou can find this vie- in the ancient 5ndian -isdom of the 7edanta, in the heydays of Buddhism and of the Gree0 hiloso hy and in the first centuries of 1hristianity' 5f you -ant to consider the soul correctly, you have to connect it -ith the other members of the human being, -ith the body on one side and -ith the mind on the other side' 6ence, this first lecture has to deal -ith the relations of the soul -ith the body' The second lecture deals -ith the real internal being of the human soul, and the third lecture -ith the sight of the soul u to the divine@s iritual very basis of the -orld e/istence' By a strange chance of history this threefold division of the human being has got lost to the -estern research, because -herever you loo0 for sychology today, you find that one confronts sychology sim ly to the natural sciences or the science of the body, and every-here you can hear that one assumes that the human being is to be considered according to t-o oints of vie-( the first informs about the cor oreality, the other oint of vie- informs about the soul' This means, o ularly e/ ressed, that the human being consists of body and soul' This sentence on -hich basically our -hole sychology -ell@0no-n to you is based and to -hich many mista0es are to be attributed in sychology this sentence has a strange history' 3ntil the first times of 1hristianity everybody -ho thought and tried to e/ lain the human being considered him as consisting of body, soul and mind' Go to the first 1hristian church teachers, go to the Gnostics, then
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every-here you find this division' 3 to the second, third centuries you find the trichotomy of the human being ac0no-ledged by the 1hristian science and dogmatism' 4ater one regarded this teaching as dangerous -ithin 1hristianity' 2ne thought that the human being -ould become too arrogant if he ascended beyond his soul to the s irit that he -ould resume too much to inform about the basis of the things about -hich only the revelation should inform' That is -hy one consulted and decided on different councils that as a dogma is to be taught for the future( the human being consists of body and soul' Res ected theologians maintained the trichotomy in certain res ects, li0e Dohn Scotus *riugena and Thomas ACuinas' But the consciousness of the trichotomy got lost more and more to the 1hristian science -hich cared for sychology above all in the )iddle Ages' At the a earance of science in the !5th and !Hth centuries one no longer had a consciousness of the old division' *ven %escartes made a distinction only bet-een soul, -hich he calls mind, and body' This remained that -ay' Those -ho s ea0 of sychology today do not 0no- that they s ea0 under the influence of a 1hristian dogma' 2ne believes G you can read it in the manuals G that the human being consists only of body and soul' 2ne has only re roduced an ancient reBudice, and one is based on it still today' This -ill a ear to us in the course of these tal0s' 8e have to sho- above all -hich relation bet-een soul and body the unbiased sychologist has to assumeE for it seems to be a result of modern natural sciences that one should no longer s ea0 of the soul as one did it for thousands of years before our time' The hysical research -hich ressed its stam onto the !"th century and its mental develo ment e/ lained again and again that a science of the soul in the old sense of the -ord G as for e/am le that of Goethe and artially of Aristotle G is not com atible -ith its vie-s and is not tenable, therefore' Fou can ta0e manuals about sychology or The Riddles of the World by 6aec0el' Fou -ill find every-here that the dogmatic reBudices e/ist and that one has the o inion that the old oints of vie- under -hich one tried to a roach the soul are overcome' ,obody can revere 6aec0el G 5 say this for the scientists and the admirers of *rnst 6aec0el G as a great man of science more than 5 myself' But great human beings also have big shortcomings, and thus it may be my tas0 to test a reBudice of our time Cuite im artially' 8hat is said to us from this side; 2ne says to us( -hat you called soul disa eared under our hands' 8e naturalists have sho-n that any sensation, everything that develo s as conce tual life, any thin0ing, any -illing, any feeling that everything is tied to articular organs of our brain and our nervous system' ,atural sciences of the !"th century sho-ed, one says, that certain arts of our cerebral corte/ unless they are com letely intact ma0e it im ossible to us to accom lish certain mental manifestations' :rom that one concludes that in these arts of our brain the mental manifestations are located that they are de endent, as one says, on these arts of our brain' 2ne has e/ ressed this drastically saying( a certain oint of the brain is the centre of s eech, another art of this soul activity, another art of another activity, so that one can tear do-n the soul bit by bit' 2ne has sho-n that the illness of articular cerebral arts is connected -ith the loss of articular soul abilities at the same time' 8hat one imagined as soul since millennia, no naturalist can find thisE this is a conce t -ith -hich the naturalist cannot do anything' 8e find the body and its functions, but no-here a soul' The great moralist of %ar-inism, BartholomQus 1arneri -ho has -ritten an ethics of %ar-inism e/ ressed his conviction clearly as it can never be given more clearly by these circles of the naturalists' 6e says( -e ta0e a cloc0' The ointers advance, the cloc0-or0 is in movement' All that ha ens because of the mechanism -hich is before us' As -e have in that -hich the cloc0 accom lishes a manifestation of the cloc0 mechanism, in the same -ay -e have in that -hich the human being feels, thin0s and -ills a manifestation of the -hole nervous mechanism before us' Dust as little one can assume that a small soul@being is in the cloc0 -hich moves the cog -heels, the ointers, Bust as little -e can su ose that a soul e/ists outside the organism -hich causes thin0ing, feeling and -illing' G This is the confession of a naturalist in mental res ectE it is that -hich the naturalists have made the basis of a ne- faith, such a ure naturalistic religion' The naturalist believes that he is forced to this confession by the results of science and he believes that he is allo-ed to regard everybody as a childish mind -ho does not conclude this -ay under the influence of science' BartholomQus 1arneri sho-ed it -ithout any -hite-ash' As long as the human beings -ere children, they have s o0en li0e AristotleE because they have gro-n u no- and understand science, they must leave the childish vie-s' The vie- of the naturalists, -hich regards the human being as nothing else than a mechanism, corres onds to the meta hor of the cloc0' %rastically e/ ressed, this vie- is considered as the only one -hich is -orthy of the resent' 5t is sho-n in such a -ay that the scientific discoveries of the age force us to these confessions' 6o-ever, -e have to as0 ourselves( did the natural sciences, the recise investigation of our nervous system, the recise investigation of our organs and their functions really force us to this vie-; ,o, because in the !=th century everything that one gives as something scientific and authoritative today -as still in the germ' There -as nothing of modern sychology, nothing of the discoveries of the great Dohannes )Nller and his school, nothing of the discoveries -hich the naturalists made in the !"th century'
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At that time, in the !=th century, these vie-s -ere e/ ressed in the most radical -ay in the :rench *nlightenment -hich could not rely on natural sciences, the -ords sounded for the first time( the human being is a machine' G A boo0 by 6olbach comes from this time, entitled( S"st;me de la nature, about -hich Goethe said that he felt reBected by its su erficiality and triviality' This as roof of the fact that this vie- e/isted before the modern natural sciences' 2ne is allo-ed to say that on the contrary the materialism of the !=th century hovered over the minds of the !"th century and that the materialistic creed -as setting the tone for the -ay of thin0ing -hich one then brought into the natural sciences' That -ith regard to the historical truth' 5f it -ere not in such a -ay, one -ould have to call the vie- a childish one -hich the modern natural sciences has, namely that one cannot s ea0 of the soul in the old sense because one can tear do-n the soul in the same -ay as one can tear do-n the brain' 8hat did one gain es ecially -ith this vie-; ,o soul@researcher -ho tries to recognise the soul according to Aristotle, according to the old Gree0s, or G -e say in s ite of all contradiction -hich a roach from some sides G according to the 1hristian )iddle Ages can ta0e offence of the truths of modern natural sciences' *very reasonable soul@ researcher agrees to that -hich the natural sciences say about the nervous system and the brain as the mediators of our soul functions' 6e is not sur rised that one can no longer s ea0 if a certain art of the brain falls ill' The old researcher is no longer sur rised -ith that li0e -ith the fact that he can no longer thin0 after he has been 0illed' )odern science does nothing else than to determine in detail -hat the human beings have already understood on the -hole' Dust as the human being 0no-s that he cannot s ea0 -ithout certain cerebral arts, cannot form ideas, it -ould be a roof that he has no soul if he could be 0illed' Also the 7edantists, also 9lato and others are clear to themselves about the fact that the soul activity of the human being sto s if a big fieldstone falls on his head and smashes him' The old sychology did not teach anything different' 8e can be a-are of that' 8e can acce t the -hole natural sciences and form sychology differently' %uring former centuries one realised that the -ay -hich the natural sciences too0 does not lead to the 0no-ledge of the soul and can also not be ta0en, hence, to its dis roof' 5f those -ho try to dis rove the old sychology from the stand oint of science -ere -ell@versed in former lines of thought, if eo le -ere not yet so reBudiced in the e/ternal life, then they could realise that they tilt at -indmills li0e once %on Rui/ote to combat sychology in this scientific sense' This -hole fight is already sho-n in a conversation -hich you find in the Buddhist literature, in a conversation -hich does not belong to the sermons of Buddha himself -hich -as -ritten do-n only some years before 1hrist' Somebody -ho investigates the conversation sees that it concerns the oldest real vie-s of Buddhism -hich find e/ ression in the discussion of the <ing )ilinda eCui ed -ith Gree0 -isdom and dialectic -ith the Buddhist sage ,agasena' This 0ing ste s to the 5ndian sage and as0s( -ho are you; G The sage ,agasena ans-ers( one calls me ,agasena' But this is only a name' ,o subBect, no ersonality is contained in it' G 6o-; <ing )ilinda said -ho held the Gree0 dialectic and the -hole ability and o-er of Gree0 thin0ing in himself G listen to me -ho you have come along, the sage states that nothing is behind the name ,agasena' 8hat is then that -hich stands there before me; Are your hands, your legs ,agasena; ,o' 5s your sensations, feelings and ideas ,agasena; ,o, all this is not ,agasena' Then the connection of that is ,agasena' But, because he states no- that everything is not ,agasena that only a name is there -hich holds together everything, -ho and -hat is ,agasena, actually; 5s that nothing -hich is behind the brain, behind the organs, behind the body, behind the feelings and ideas; 5s that nothing -ho does others a fe- favours; 5s somebody nothing -ho does the good and the bad; 5s somebody nothing -ho strives for holiness; 5s nothing behind that all but the sheer name; G There ,agasena ans-ered using another meta hor( ho- have you come, great 0ing, on foot or carriage; G The 0ing ans-ered( on carriage' G ,o-, e/ lain the carriage to me' 5s the shaft your carriage; Are the -heels your carriage; 5s the carriage bo/ your carriage; G ,o, ans-ers the 0ing' G 8hat is then your carriage; 5t is a name -hich refers only to the connection of the different arts' 8hat did the sage ,agasena -ant to say -ho gre- u in Buddhism; G 2 0ing, you -ho have gained an immense ability in Greece, in the Gree0 hiloso hy you must understand that you come to anything else than to a name if you consider the arts of the carriage in their connection as little as if you hold together the arts of the human being' Ta0e this ancient teaching -hich can be traced bac0 to the oldest times of the Buddhist -orld vie- and as0 yourselves -hat is said in it; ,othing else than that the -ay of recognising the soul by loo0ing at the e/ternal organs or at the inter lay of ideas is a -rong trac0' By the -ay, the great anatomist )etchni0off rec0oned that the ideas are a milliard' 5n terms of this correct saying of the sage ,agasena -e cannot find the soul that -ay' This is a -rong -ay' 2ne never tried to a roach the soul that -ay in the times in -hich one 0ne- on -hich -ay one has to find the soul and to study it' 5t -as a historical necessity that the fine, intimate -ays on -hich still the sages of the 1hristian )iddle Ages loo0ed for the soul receded a little bit into the bac0ground -hen our natural sciences started to ta0e u the e/ternal -orld' 8hich methods and vie- oints did the natural sciences develo in articular;
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Fou can find in the osthumous -or0s of one of the most ingenious naturalists of our immediate resent -ho has done great discoveries in the field of the theory of electricity that the modern natural sciences have ta0en u the cause of sim licity and usefulness' Fou can find that a sychologist -ho also -or0s for the ur oses of natural sciences still added descri tiveness to these t-o demands of sim licity and usefulness' 2ne can say that natural sciences really -or0ed miracles by this three G sim licity, usefulness and descri tiveness' But this is not a licable to the soul being' 3sing descri tiveness -ith regard to the e/amination of the e/ternal members, using usefulness -ith regard to the outer a earance the natural sciences -ere induced to loo0 for the connection of the arts, to calculate, to investigate them' 6o-ever, it -as Bust that -hich can never lead to the soul according to the sage ,agasena' Because the natural sciences have ta0en this -ay, it is only too com rehensible that they have left the -ays of the soul' Today one does not even have a consciousness of that -hich soul researchers have for centuries striven for' 8hich fairy tales are told in this regard and -hich sum of ignorance comes to light, if today one s ea0s in a arently authoritative circles about the teaching of Aristotle or about that of the first 1hristian researchers, about that of the )iddle Ages' ,evertheless if anybody -ants to understand the being of the soul academically, there is no other access than that of the careful inner -or0 to learn the ideas of Aristotle, the ideas -hich have led the first 1hristians and the great 1hristian 1hurch :athers to the 0no-ledge of the soul' There is no other method' 5t is as im ortant for this field as the method of the natural sciences for the e/ternal science' But these methods of sychology have got lost to us to a large e/tent' Really inner observations are not regarded as an academic field' The theoso hical movement has made it its Bob to investigate the -ays of the soul again' 5n the most different 0ind the access to the soul can be found' 5n other tal0s 5 tried, on urely s iritual@scientific -ay, to give the 0no-ledge of the soul by means of urely theoso hical method' 6ere, ho-ever, should be s o0en at first ho- Aristotle founded his sychology at the end of the great Gree0 hiloso hical e och' :or in former times the -isdom of the soul -as cultivated unli0e by Aristotle' 8e understand ho- the -isdom of the soul -as cultivated in the ancient *gy tian -isdom, -as cultivated in the ancient 7eda -isdom' This, ho-ever, for later' Today you allo- me to s ea0 of the sychology of Aristotle -ho com leted as a scholar centuries before 1hrist -hat has been found on Cuite different -ays' 8e may say that -e have something in the of Aristotle>s doctrine of the soul that the best in the fields of sychology -ere able to give' Because Aristotle gives the best, one has to s ea0 about Aristotle above all' ,evertheless, this gigantic mind of his time G his -ritings is a treasury -ith regard to the 0no-ledge of the ancient time, and somebody -ho becomes engrossed in Aristotle 0no-s -hat -as erformed before his time G this gigantic mind -as not clairvoyant li0e 9lato, he -as a scientist' Somebody -ho -ants to get closer to the soul academically has to do it on the -ay of Aristotle' Aristotle is a ersonality -ho gives satisfaction to the demands of scientific thin0ing in every res ect G if one ta0es the e och into consideration' As -e -ill see, in one single oint he does not' This only oint in -hich -e find Aristotle>s doctrine of the soul dissatisfactory became the big disaster of all scientific sychology of the 8est' Aristotle -as a scientific teacher of develo ment' 6e stood com letely on the stand oint of the theory of evolution' 6e su osed that all beings have develo ed in strictly scientific necessity' 6e let the most im erfect beings still arise from abiogenesis, by mere meeting of lifeless hysical substances, in urely natural -ay' This is a hy othesis -hich is an im ortant scientific bone of contention, but a hy othesis -hich 6aec0el has in common -ith Aristotle' 6aec0el also shares the conviction of Aristotle that a direct ladder leads u to the human being' Aristotle also encloses any soul develo ment in this develo ment and is convinced that there is not a radical, but only a gradual difference bet-een soul and body' That means that Aristotle is convinced that during the develo ment of the im erfect to the erfect the moment ha ens -hen the level is reached that everything lifeless has found its creation, and then the ossibility is there that the soul element comes into being from the lifeless by itself' 6e gradually distinguishes a so@called lant soul -hich lives in the -hole lant -orld, an animal soul -hich lives in the animal realm, and, finally, a higher level of this animal soul -hich lives in the human being' Fou see that the really understood Aristotle agrees com letely -ith everything that modern natural sciences teach' ,o-, ta0e The Riddles of the World by 6aec0el, the first ages -here he stands on the ground of the right hysical la-s, and com are that -ith the natural sciences and the sychology of Aristotle, you -ill find that a real difference does not e/ist if you subtract the difference given by the time' But no- this comes -here Aristotle goes beyond the sychology to -hich the modern natural sciences believe to have come' There Aristotle sho-s that he is able to observe real inner life' 5f anybody follo-s -ith dee understanding -hat Aristotle no- builds u on this hysical@la-ful theory of 0no-ledge sees that all eo le have sim ly not understood this vie- in the true sense of the -ord -ho argue anything against this vie- of Aristotle' 5t is infinitely easy to realise that -e have to do an immense ste from the animal soul to the human soul' 5t is infinitely easy to understand that' ,othing else revents one from doing this ste together -ith Aristotle than the -ays of thin0ing -hich formed in the course of modern mental develo ment' :or Aristotle is clear to himself about the fact that something a ears -ithin the human soul that differs substantially from everything that is found as a soul element outside' Already the old 9ythagoreans said, by the -ay, that somebody -ho realises the truth that the human being is the only being -hich can learn to count 0no-s in
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-hich res ect the human being differs from the animal' But it is not so easy to see -hat it means, actually, that only the human being can learn to count' The Gree0 sage 9lato did not admit anybody to his hiloso hers> school -ho had not learnt mathematics first, at least the elements, the AB1' That means( 9lato -anted nothing else than that those -hom he introduced in the science of the soul 0no- something about the nature of the mathematical, 0no- something about the nature of this eculiar mental activity -hich the human being e/ercises if he does mathematics' 6o-ever, this is clear also to Aristotle that it does not de end on doing mathematics rather than on understanding( the human being is able to do mathematics' That is nothing else than that the human being is able to discover strictly self@contained la-s -hich no e/ternal -orld can give him' 2nly those -ho are not trained in thin0ing, only those -ho do not 0no- to achieve intros ection only do not realise that even the sim lest mathematical theorem could never be gained by mere observation' 5n nature no-here is a real circle, in nature no-here is a real straight line, no-here an elli se, but in mathematics -e investigate these, and -e a ly the -orld -hich -e have gained from our inside to the outside' 3nless -e thin0 this fact through, -e can never come to a true vie- of the being of the soul' That is -hy theoso hy reCuires a strict training of thin0ing from its students -ho -ant to get involved dee erE not the -ill@o>@the@-is thin0ing of the everyday life, not the -ill@o>@the@-is thin0ing of the -estern hiloso hy, but the thin0ing -hich ractices intros ection in inner thoroughness' This thin0ing reveals the far@reaching sco e of this sentence' Those -ho had the biggest conCuests in astronomy by their mathematical training realise the far@reaching sco e and e/ ress it' Read the -ritings by <e ler, this great astronomer, read through -hat he says about this basic henomenon of human intros ection, then you see -hat this ersonality e/ resses about that' 6e 0ne- -hich far@ reaching sco e mathematical thin0ing has u to the most distant gala/ies' 6e says( the corres ondence is miraculous -hich -e find only from our thin0ing -hen -e sat in our lonesome study room and ondered over circles and elli ses, and then loo0 u at the s0y and find their corres ondence -ith the heavenly s heres' G Such teaching is not a matter of e/ternal research, but it concerns a dee ening of such 0no-ledge' Already in the vestibule it should a ear -ith those -ho -anted to be acce ted in the hiloso hers> school -ho of them could be admitted' :or one 0ne- then that G li0e those -ho have their five senses can investigate the outer -orld G they can investigate also the being of the soul by thin0ing' This -as not sooner ossible' But one demanded something else' The mathematical thin0ing does not suffice' 5t is the first ste -here -e com letely live in ourselves -here the s irit of the -orld develo s from our inside' 5t is the most trivial, the most subordinate ste -hich -e must climb u first above -hich -e have to go, ho-ever' Dust the soul researcher of olden times demanded to get the highest levels of human 0no-ledge out of the de ths of the soul in the same -ay as mathematics gets out the truth of the starry heaven out of the de ths of the soul' This -as the demand -hich 9lato hid in the sentence( everybody -ho -ants to enter into my school must have gone through a mathematical course first' G ,ot mathematics is necessary, but a 0no-ledge -hich has the inde endence of the mathematical thin0ing' 5f one sees that the human being has a life in himself -hich is inde endent of the e/ternal hysical life that he must get the highest truth out of himself, then one also sees that the best effectiveness of the human being reaches to something that is beyond any hysical activity' 6ave a loo0 at the animal' 5ts activity runs urely according to its ty e' Any animal does -hat countless of its ancestors have also done' The ty e controls the animal com letely' Tomorro- it does the same -hat it did yesterday' The ant builds its miracle construction, the beaver its lodge, in ten, hundred, thousand years as -ell as today' %evelo ment is also in it, but not history' 8ho realises that the human develo ment is not only a develo ment, but history, is able to become clear to himself about the method of soul observation in similar -ay as somebody -ho has realised -hat mathematical truth is' There are still savage eo le' 5ndeed, they become e/tinct, but there are still those -ho can recognise no connection bet-een today and tomorro-' There are those -ho cover themselves -ith leaves of trees if it gets cold in the evening' 5n the morning they thro- them a-ay and in the evening they have to loo0 for them again' They are not able to transfer the e/ erience of yesterday to today and tomorro-' 8hat is necessary if -e -ant to transfer the e/ erience of yesterday to today and tomorro-; 8e cannot say if today -e 0no- -hat -e have done yesterday, then tomorro- -e -ill also do -hat -e have done yesterday' This is a characteristic of the animal soul' 5t can rogress, it can become something else in the course of times, but then this transformation is not something historical' 6istory consists in the fact that the individual human being uses that -hich he has e/ erienced in such a -ay that he can conclude on something non@e/ erienced, on a tomorro-' 5 learn the sense, the s irit of yesterday and rely on the fact that the la-s -hich my soul gains from observation are also valid in that -hich 5 have not yet observed, in future' Travellers tell us that it ha ened that any travellers made fires for themselves in regions -here mon0eys lived' They -ent a-ay, let the fire burn and left the -ood' The mon0eys a roached and -armed themselves u at the fire' But they could not o0e the fire' They cannot ma0e themselves
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inde endent of the observations and e/ eriences, they cannot conclude' The human being infers from his observations and e/ eriences and becomes the authoritarian determiner of his future' 6e sends his e/ eriences to tomorro-, he transforms develo ment into history' As -ell as he transforms e/ erience into theory, as -ell as he gets the truth of the s irit out of nature, he gets the rules of the future out of the ast and becomes the creator of the future that -ay' Somebody -ho thin0s through these t-o things thoroughly G that the human being can ma0e himself inde endent in double -ay that he can not only observe, but also ut u theories that he does not have develo ment li0e the animal soul but also history G gets these t-o things clear in his mind and understands -hat 5 meant -hen 5 said that in the human being lives not only the animal soul, but the animal soul develo s so far that it can ta0e u the so@called nous (Gree0), the universal s irit' Aristotle regards that as necessary, so that the human being can form history, that the universal s irit sin0s into the animal soul' The soul of the human being differs in the sense of Aristotle from the animal soul because it -as raised from that for -hat it rose -ithin the animal develo ment u to the functions and activities by -hich it has acCuired the s irit' The saying of the great <e ler that the la-s -on in a lonesome study room are a licable to the e/ternal natural henomena can be e/ lained through the fact that the universal s irit, the nous, the )ahat, sin0s into the human soul and raises it u to a higher level' The human soul is lifted out of the animal being as it -ere' 5t is the s irit -hich lifts it out' The s irit lives in the soul' 5t develo s from the soul' 5t develo s in such a -ay as the soul lifts itself out of the body gradually' 6o-ever, Aristotle did not or not clearly say this' 5ndeed, he says re eatedly( the soul develo s gradually u to the human soul in a Cuite natural -ay G but no- the s irit comes from -ithout into this naturally develo ed human soul' ,ous is something in the sense of Aristotle that is ut into the human soul from -ithout by creative activity' This became the disaster of the -estern science of the soul' 5t is a disaster of Aristotle that he is not able to ma0e his right vie- that the human soul is lifted u -hile the nous sin0s into it a theory of the historical course' 6e cannot understand this develo ment as natural as the develo ment of the soul is to be understood' Already Gree0 and 5ndian sages did this' They understood body, soul and mind develo ing naturally to the human mind' There is a brea0 -ith Aristotle' 6e adds the idea of creation to the vie-' 8e -ill see ho- the theoso hical sychology overcomes this idea of creation ho- it dra-s the last conseCuences of the scientific -orld vie-, indeed, from the s iritual stand oint in the true sense' But only -hile -e get clear in our mind that -e must return to the old division in body, soul and mind -e really understand this natural develo ment of the human being' 6o-ever, -e must not believe that -e can find access to the soul one day on the a arently irrefutable -ays cultivated by modern natural sciences, by observing the single arts of the brain' 8e have to realise that the obBections of the 5ndian sage ,agasena also a ly to the modern naturalistic sychology' 8e have to realise above all that a dee er, internal intros ection, a dee er s iritual research is necessary to find access to soul and mind' 2ne -ould form a -rong idea of those -ho believe that the different religions and the different sages -ho came from the different religions have said -hat the modern natural sciences try to dis rove' They have never said this, have never tried this' 8ho follo-s the develo ment of sychology can see clearly that those -ho have 0no-n something of the methods of sychology have never a lied the methods of natural sciences, so that they had to dis rove them' These cannot find to the soul' 2 no, on this -ay the soul researchers -ho have still 0no-n -hat a soul is have never sought for the soul' 5 -ant to mention somebody, the most scorned of enlighteners -hom one also 0no-s least' 5 -ant to s ea0 -ith a fe-ords about the sychology of the !$th century, about the sychology of Thomas ACuinas' 5t belongs to the ty ical Cualities of this doctrine of the soul that the author says( -hat the human mind ta0es -hen it leaves this body, -hat the human mind ta0es into the urely s iritual -orld this can no longer be com ared -ith everything that the human being e/ eriences -ithin his body' Fes, Thomas ACuinas says that the tas0 of the religion in its most ideal sense consists in educating the human being, so that he can ta0e something from this body that is not sensory that is not tied to investigation, to consideration and e/ erience of the outer nature' As long as -e live in this body, -e see through our eyes and hear through our ears something sensory' 8e erceive everything sensory by means of our senses' But the s irit rocesses this sensory' The s irit is the actually active' The s irit is the eternal' ,o- ta0e into consideration the dee vie- -hich -as -on there on account of the thousands of years old teaching of the soul -hich e/ resses itself in the -ords( that s irit -hich has collected a little during this life -hich is inde endent of e/ternal sensory observation, inde endent of e/ternal sensory life is not ha y -hen it is disembodied' Thomas ACuinas says( -hat -e see in our sensory surroundings is filled er etually -ith sensory hantasms' 6o-ever, the s irit G 5 have described it as the s irit of mathematics as nous -hich results easily li0e tomorroresults from yesterday and today G this s irit freeing itself collects fruits for eternity' The s irit feels endlessly isolated and void G this is the teaching of Thomas ACuinas G if it enters the s iritland -ithout having advanced so far that it is free of any hantasm of the sensory -orld' The dee sense of the Gree0 myth of drin0ing from the 4ethe River reveals itself to us as a thought( the s irit in its urely s iritual e/istence rogresses higher and higher, the more it frees itself of
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any sensory hantasm' 8ho searches the s irit as something sense@ erce tible cannot find itE for the s irit if it has become free of sensuality has no longer anything to do -ith sensuality' Thomas ACuinas considered the methods as totally unacce table -ith -hich it is searched for sensually' This church teacher is an adversary of any e/ eriment and attem t to get contact -ith the dead sensually' The s irit must be urest if it is free of sensual hantasms and stic0ing to sensuality' 2ther-ise, it feels in the s iritual -orld endlessly isolated' The s irit -hich de ends on the sensory observation, -hich is -ra ed u in sensory observations, lives in the s iritual -orld li0e in an un0no-n -orld' This isolation is its destiny because it has not learnt to be free of sensual hantasms' 8e com letely enetrate that -hen -e come to the second tal0' Fou see that one searched for the soul Bust in the o osite -ay in the times in -hich the inner observation, the observation of that -hich lives inside the human being -as the decisive factor for the soul science' This fundamental error lives in the modern sychology and has led to broadcast the catch-ord of the sychology -ithout soul as a naturalistic creed of the !"th century' This science -hich strives only for the e/ternal vie-s believes to be able to dis rove the old vie-s' But this science 0no-s nothing about the -ays on -hich the soul -as searched for' ,othing, not the slightest obBection should be said against modern science' 2n the contrary, -e -ant to e/ lore the realm of the soul even as theoso hists in terms of this modern science in such a -ay as this e/ lores the realm of the urely s atial nature' 6o-ever, -e -ant to search for the soul not in the outer nature but in our inside' 8e -ant to search for the s irit -here it reveals itself, -hile -e -al0 on the -ays of the soul and get s irit 0no-ledge from soul 0no-ledge' This is the -ay rescribed by teachings thousands of years old -hich one only has to understand in its truth and validity' 6o-ever, this also becomes clear to us and becomes clearer and clearer -hat the dee er human being if he -ants to recognise the soul also misses Bust in the modern cold science li0e Goethe missed it -hen he met this cold science in the S"st;me de la nature by 6olbach' 5ndeed, -e can observe in the outer nature ho- the human being has develo ed concerning his e/ternal a earance ho- he has become ho- the monad -or0s in the finer structures ho- the middle organ system can be regarded as an e/ ression of the soul, but all that leads us only to the 0no-ledge of the e/ternal a earance' The big Cuestion of the human destiny still remains' ,o matter ho- -ell -e have understood a human being -ith regard to his e/ternal a earance, -e have not understood him in so far as he has this or that destiny in this or that -ay, -e have not understood -hich role the good and the bad, the erfect and im erfect lay' 8hat the human being e/ eriences inside, about that the e/ternal science can give us no e/ lanationE about that only the soul science -hich is based on intros ection can give us a reasonable ans-er' Then the big Cuestions arise( -here do -e come from, -here do -e go, -hat is our goal; G These biggest Cuestions of all religions' These Cuestions, -hich can raise the human being to sublime mood, -ill trans ort us from the soul@-orld to the s irit, to the divine s irit flo-ing through the -orld' The contents of the ne/t lecture must be( through the soul to the s irit' This -ill sho- us that it is absolutely true G not only a ictorial e/ ression G that also the erfect animal soul, -hich originated through solely e/ternal develo ment, became only the human soul because it constitutes something even higher, more erfect, and that it is entitled to bear the germ of something still higher, of something unlimitedly erfect in itself' This human soul has to be regarded as something that does not roduce the s irit and the henomena of the soul from the animal realm, but that the animal in the human being must develo to higher levels to receive its vocation, its tas0 and also its destiny' The medieval teaching of the soul e/ resses that -ith the -ords that only he recognises the truth in the real sense -ho considers it not as it a ears to him if he hears -ith e/ternal ears, loo0s -ith e/ternal eyes, but in such a -ay as it a ears if -e see it in the reflection of the highest s irit' That is -hy 5 may close the first lecture -ith the -ords -hich Thomas ACuinas used in his lecture( the human soul is Bust li0e the moon -hich shines, but receives its light from the sun' G The human soul is Bust li0e the -ater -hich is not cold and not -arm in itself, but receives its heat from the fire' G The human soul is Bust li0e a higher animal soul only, but it is a human soul because it receives its light from the human mind' 5n accordance -ith this medieval conviction Goethe says( The human soul Resembles the -ater( 5t comes from the heaven, 5t rises to the heaven, And again do-n To the earth it has to go, :orever changing' Then one understands the human soul if one conceives it in this sense that it is understood as a reflection of the highest being -hich -e can find every-here in the cosmos, as a reflection of the -orld s irit flo-ing through the universe' ,otes(
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Slie )etchni0off (!=&5I!"!H), Russian biologist

/ourse III " .ecture II# Theosophical Teachin;s of the Soul+ 9art II# Soul and :u-an 6estiny
Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(8($
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin #arch 43rd, 190. The materialistic -orld vie- has led the modern thin0ing to the absurd assertion that the marvellous tragedy nothing else than the transformed foodstuffs -hich the great oet Sha0es eare had eaten' amlet is

,o-, such an assertion could be understood at first as an ironic, as a humorous one' ,evertheless( somebody -ho thin0s the vie- of the soul -hich has develo ed -ithin the so@called materialistic -orld vie- through to the end must finally come to this assertion' 6o-ever, this vie- ma0es nonsense of the materialistic vie- of the soul' But if it is true that -e have to understand the soul henomena also as outflo-s of the mechanical activity of our brain li0e -e have to understand the rocesses of a cloc0-or0, then nothing else is left over to us than to see the causes of the soul henomena, the causes of the highest manifestations of the human mind finally in the mechanical rocesses in the brain' The German hiloso her 4eibni. found the right ans-er to this assertion' 6e said( imagine once that this -hole human brain -ould be understood, one -ould 0no- in details ho- these cells and the cell surroundings function, one -ould 0no- all single movements and could register -hat ta0es lace in the brain if a thought, a sensation, a feeling ta0es lace in the human being' 4et us assume that this final goal of natural sciences -ould be achieved' G Then 4eibni. goes on( no- imagine this human brain endlessly e/tended, so that one can go for a -al0 calmly in it, can observe calmly -hich movements ta0e lace' Fou have a com lete machine before yourselves' 8hat do you see; Fou see movements, you see s atial rocesses' But you -ill not see( feelings of sym athy or anti athy, feelings of Boy and ain, these or those ideas' ,o observer of this big cerebral machinery -ill see -hat the human being has to consider as his innermost rocesses and e/ eriences' A totally different 0ind of e/ erience is necessary to observe the e/ eriences of feelings, sensations and ideas' 6uman inner e/ erience is necessary to refrain from any s atial consideration and to immerse ourselves in our soul to get the e/ lanatory reasons from the soul of that -hich ta0es lace in it' 5 may light u this Cuestion still in another -ay' 5 -as resent once, as t-o young students discussed this Cuestion' 2ne -as right in the middle of the materialistic thin0ing' 6e -as clear to himself about the fact that the human being is nothing else than a mechanism that -e have understood the human being if -e 0no- ho- his cerebral functions and his remaining hysical functions -or0' The other re lied( but there is a sim le fact -hich only needs to be e/ ressed that you realise that here is something else than a mechanical rocess' 8hy does the human being not say( my brain feels, my brain senses, my brain imagines; The human being -ould have to acce t this fact as a distortion of his innermost soul e/ erience' 8e can never e/ lain the soul rocesses li0e e/ternal henomena using s atial observation' This is Bust the ty ical difference bet-een hysical rocesses and soul rocesses that if -e see anything ta0ing lace in a machine -e can say to ourselves that these or those arts of the machine are in movement, are effective, and because these are effective, the machine carries out this or that' 2ne cannot argue that -e do not yet 0no- all movements, all erformances of our cerebral mechanism' :or this is Bust the sense of 4eibni.>s ans-er that even if -e had understood this -hole mechanism the real soul@life -ould have been absolutely disregarded' There is only one thing( to loo0 into our inside, to as0 us -hat do -e discover there if -e let our o-n ego s ea0; 8hat do -e discover if -e do not see -ith eyes and hear -ith ears, but if -e observe the o-n soul; 5f -e have got this stand oint clear in our mind, -e have also to realise that all Cuestions -hich refer to the soul and its rocesses must be treated as academically and im artially as the Cuestions of natural sciences' ,o naturalist admits that one can find out anything about the life of this brain, anything about the form of this brain directly by mere chemical analysis of a cerebral art' 2ther methods are necessary for that' 5t is necessary to study the sha e of any organic member to consider its connection -ith the remaining organic -orld' 5n a -ord, -e are not able if -e 0ee to mere chemistry, to mere hysics to describe the life rocesses' Dust as little -e are able to recognise the facts of the soul@life if -e observe the e/ternal henomena'

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8hich are no- these facts of soul@life; The basic fact of soul@life is desire and ain' :or -hat -e feel as a desire and ain, as a Boy and listlessness this is our very o-n soul e/ erience' 8e ass obBects round ourselves' The obBects ma0e their im ressions on us' They say something about their colours and sha es to us, also about their movementsE they say to us -hat they are in s ace' But -e can ta0e nothing from the obBects themselves if -e -ant to 0no- anything about the rocesses -hich ta0e lace in the human being assing these obBects' The colour of an obBect has an effect on the eye of the one and has an effect on the eye of the other' The desire or maybe also the ain -hich one can feel -ith this colour can be different, com letely different from the desire and ain of the other' 8hat one feels as a desire may be due to the fact that this colour reminds him of an es ecially dear e/ erience that he often felt Boy -hen he sa- this colour' Another thin0s of a sad e/ erience if he sees this colour, therefore, he maybe feels ain' These colour e/ eriences are the very o-n e/ eriences of the human being' These belong only to him' 5n Boy and in ain, -hich ta0e lace in the inner life, a articular entity of the human being e/ resses itself, that entity by -hich the one differs from the other, that being in -hich nobody is the same as the other' Already this should ma0e it clear to us that it cannot de end on that -hich goes for-ard in the sensory -orld ho- desire and ain turn out' But it sho-s us that in our inside something ans-ers to im ressions of the outside -orld that is different in every human being' That means that as many eo le stand before us as many inside -orlds are before us -hich -e can only understand from their dee est inner nature -hich are something articular, something that really e/ists for itself, com ared -ith everything that e/ resses itself in s ace and time before our eyes and ears' %esire and ain ta0e lace in the human inner life' Something is connected -ith them that enetrated the human breast through all times, since human beings have thought, li0e a big Cuestion, li0e a tremendous riddle' The human destiny is connected -ith this, this human destiny -hich the sensitive Gree0 s irit felt as something su er ersonal, li0e something that floats above the human being that befalls the human beings li0e something that has nothing to do -ith the individual human being -hat the individual human being has deserved, -hat he has -or0ed and has striven for' 8ith feeble -ords, -e can outline the vie- of the Gree0 eo le' That is soul -hich endures the huge destiny, -hile it only Cuashes the human being too often' As different desire and grief of the human beings are as different are the human destinies, and these human destinies have nothing to do -ith that -hich the human being as a erson -or0s and acCuires for himself G as a sim le trivial observation can sho- it' 8hat one calls destiny in the ro er sense is something that is beyond the ersonal merit, beyond the ersonal guilt' 5f -e s ea0 of guilt and merit, -e select -hat befalls the human being and -hat is inde endent of his o-n -or0' There is the one -ho is determined by his birth to live in overty and misery, maybe not only by the surroundings in -hich he -as born, but sim ly by the gift, by the do-ry of nature -hich he received at his birth' There is the other -ho a ears as a child of luc0 -hom desire and grief can lead to the highest summit, sim ly because he is eCui ed at his birth -ith bigger, more e/cellent talents than another' 6o- destiny and the individual human life are connected, this is the big an/ious Cuestion of the thin0ing human being through all times' The interrelation of human destiny and human soul has occu ied the oets and the researchers' 6o- does the human destiny loo0 com ared -ith the individual human soul e/ erience; 8e find a com lete meta hor of the interrelation of soul and destiny in nature' 8e find a meta hor in that -hich faces us in nature as a ty e, as a ty e of the living beings' A living being is not formed arbitrarily' Any living being is formed according to its embryo' According to its embryo the lion is a lion, the frog a frog because the strength of the s ecial figure is in the embryo, and because the embryo inherits this strength from its ancestors' That is -hy the animal is formed as a articular ty e or genus' These la-s of heredity revail in the botanical and animal s eciesE they revail in accordance -ith the members they have assed on to them, so that they can be active' A life is determined by the formation of the organs -hich have been left to the being' This la- of heredity is the big la- -hich determines the s ecies and genera in the animal and lant realms and also in the hysical human -orld' This la- of s ecies and genus, this la- of heredity and develo ment is the la- of fate for the s ecies and genera' 2nly as -ell as the la- of heredity -or0s, the single being can be active' 1oncerning desire and grief to-ards his destiny it is Cuite similar for the single human being' As -ell as the animal has inherited the figure of its s ecies from its ancestors, -e find the human being articularly eCui ed -ith dis ositions, -ith characteristics -hich determine the measure of his desire and his ain, -hich measure out his life to him' As -ell as the la- of s ecies and genera revails in the animal realm, destiny controls the individual human being' 5f the naturalist as0s himself honestly researching according to the la- of develo ment -hy this animal has a longer or a shorter gras ing organ, a more or less shar eye, he is not content to consider these henomena as miracles but com ares this animal -ith other animals and observes ho- these organs came into being by the big iron la- of heredity' Also the researcher of the human being, the soul researcher, has to as0 himself if he -ants to understand the individual human life( 6o- is the big la- of destiny connected -ith these individual human lives, ho- is it ossible that destiny rules the individual life, so that it has determined this or that measure of desire and grief; G This Cuestion is Cuite analogous to the
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Cuestion of the naturalist' A Cuite analogous consideration clarifies us about the Cuestions -hich occu y the human beings in this direction' There is a fact -hich s ea0s so clearly concerning this Cuestion that -e have to thin0 through it only in all directions that -e have only to become engrossed com letely in it to get an ans-er' This fact is not observed in the same style and in the same sense as the naturalist observes if he studies the relationshi of the s ecies and genera' But not because this fact does not s ea0 clearly, but it is sim ly because modern human0ind got used to neglecting this factE it got used to not acce ting the clear evidence of this fact' 6o-ever, it is not as ra- and coarse as the facts are -hich s ea0 to our outer senses' But can -e ho e that the subtle soul@life clarifies the intimate rocesses in our o-n inside as -ell as the coarse and remar0able facts of the sensory -orld; 6ave -e not rather to assume that the Cuestions -hich arise in our soul@life are finer, more subtle; 5t is in such a -ay as once Galileo discovered the great endulum la- -hen the sense da-ned on him -atching a s-inging lam in the church, so that this natural la- revealed to him at this moment; 6e got this success only because he could hold together the facts correctly' 6o-ever, the facts also have to inform us about destiny and soul@ life if -e correctly get them clear in our mind' */amine the -hole range of the animals' Fou find a variety of different s ecies and genera' As a modern naturalist you e/ lain these s ecies and genera by means of their relationshi among each other and origin from each other' Fou are satisfied if you have understood that a higher, more erfect animal has received its character of s ecies because it is descended from its ancestors -hose organs -ere transformed gradually to the organs of the animal -hich stands before us' 8hat interests you in the animal; 5t can never be the Cuestion that -e are interested in the animal more than in its character of s ecies' 8e are com letely satisfied if -e have described a lion or another animal s ecies according to the character of its s ecies' 8e are com letely informed about a lion if -e have understood ho- the lion s ecies lives and is active generallyE then -e 0no- that the same a lies to the father, to the son and to the grandson -ithin the lion s ecies' 8e realise that the single differences -hich e/ist also in the animal realm do not interest to such an e/tent that -e -ould have to study any single lion for itself' 8e realise that it is decisive for the animal -hat father, son and grandson have in common -ith each other' The researcher is content -hen he has understood any s ecimen of the lion s ecies' This fact must be thought through to the end and be understood absolutely clearly in its significance' 5f one com ares it -ith the other fact that this is com letely different -ith the human beings, then the difference bet-een the human character and the animal character can be given in fe- -ordsE a difference -hich by no naturalistic researcher can be denied if it is understood onceE a difference, so big and immense, that it s reads light on the real being of the human soul' This basic fact can be e/ ressed -ith the -ords( the human being has a biogra hy, the animal has no biogra hy' 5ndeed, everything e/ists in nature only by degrees, and nothing should be argued against this sentence, because it is clear to us that one can register single characteristics of an animal and achieve something similar as a life@history' But, nevertheless, the fact remains that -e have a real biogra hy only in the human realm' That means that -e sho- the same interest -hich -e sho- for the animal s ecies for the human individual' 8hile -e are not indifferent -hether -e describe the father, the son or the grandson of a human being, -e call a related grou of animals a s ecies because they have the same characteristics and -e have understood them scientifically if -e have understood their creation as a s ecies' 8e have to e/ ress the im ortant fact( any human being is a s ecies for himself' This is a sentence -hich does not ma0e sense to anybody immediately -hich maybe a ears to anybody as something so histic' But even if this sentence cannot be understood in its -hole range immediately, it -ill a ear to anybody -ho thin0s it through to the end only in that light -hich 5 have meant' 8e have also overcome the assertion that for the soul researcher only the e/cellent individual is a roof that something articular a ears in the human being, -hile most eo le -ould be similar and -ould basically have the same characteristics as the animals G only higher develo ed' 2 no, you can distinguish the sim le human being, the savage from the animal realising that he has a life@history that -ith his character as a human being his being is not e/hausted, that it concerns that -e gras his single individualityE that it is not indifferent -hether the father, the son or the grandson stands before us' 5f -e -ant to roceed scientifically, -e have to a ly the same rules, the same rinci les to the human beings -hich -e a ly to the animal -ith regard to its s ecies' 8e -ould have to loo0 at the single animal, -hich stands in erfect creation, in articular form before us, as a miracle if -e did not understand it in its relationshi and origin of other beings' 6o-ever, -e -ould have to loo0 at the single human being as a miracle -ho is a -hole, a s ecies for himself, -ith his articular e/ eriences of grief and desire if -e ut him sim ly in such a -ay as he a ears before us' Somebody -ho leaves the single human being, that -hat e/ resses itself in the biogra hy, -ithout -anting to e/ lain him -ithout distinguishing him from the other beings -ho leaves this being une/ lained is Bust li0e a believer in miracles' 5f -e stic0 to evolution, -e must say( as -ell as in the animal realm the single animal form is related to the s ecies, -e have also to
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lead bac0 the individual human soul in its articular manifestation to something differently sychic' As clear as the natural sciences has become, since they have recognised that life cannot develo from the lifeless but that every living being comes from germ cells, as it is true that it -ould be today a scientific su erstition if anybody believed -hat -as believed in the !Hth century that fish, frogs and the li0e could develo from mud' 5t -ould be that -ay if anybody -anted to state that anything sychic does not originate from anything sychic but from anything soulless' As something living can only originate from something living, in the sense as the natural sciences acce ts it, one has to recognise that something sychic can originate only from something sychic' As -ell as natural sciences regard it as a childish belief that life does not arise from germ cells but from something lifeless, a true science of the soul has to regard as an absurdity that something sychic could arise from something mechanical' This -ould be the same, as if anybody stated that something sychic can arise from any agglomeration of mud' 5f -e base on this, -e have to say to ourselves( somebody -ho does not -ant to believe in a miracle in the fields of soul@life has to ut the Cuestion to himself concerning every single soul( -here does it come from, -here are the causes that it is li0e it is; 8e have to ascend from the soul of a human being to its sychic ancestors as -e ascend from the body of an animal to its bodily ancestors to understand the origin of its s ecies' 5n the last lecture 5 have called the summit of Aristotle>s sychology the disaster of the -estern sychology' 5 have sho-n that Aristotle stood -ith regard to our hysical -orld com letely on the stand oints of the modern theory of evolution that he lets develo the beings u to the highest ones in natural -ay' 6o-ever, -here Aristotle s ea0s of the highest soul, he rightly says com letely the same as -e have e/ lained no-' The soul is ine/ licable from mere hysical rocesses' 2ne can never understand the soul as a mere hysical rocess' Therefore, Aristotle as an honest researcher and thin0er resorts to an e/ lanation -hich o enly admits the miracle of the single origin of any soul' That is -hy he a ears as an honest thin0er, but as somebody -ho denies a scientific rinci le to-ards the soul' 5f a human being has develo ed so far that its body has ta0en on a human form, then the creator -or0s the soul into this human formE this is the only consistent oint of vie- -hich one must ta0e if one does not resolve to e/ lain the soul in the same sense as the modern natural sciences do -ith the s ecies of the animal realm' 5f anybody does not -ant to search for the sychic ancestor li0e anybody searches for the animal ancestor e/ laining the animal, then one must say that a soul is created into any single human being' There is only one other -ay, and this other -ay out is only an a arent one' 5t is the -ay -hich 6erbert S encer, the recently deceased great *nglish hiloso her, has sho-n' 6e realised G -hat -e have also said G that it is im ossible to leave the single soul@being for itself, to acce t it as a miracle' 6ence, he says, -e must go bac0 -ith regard to this soul@life to the hysical ancestors of the concerning human being' Because he has inherited his sychic Cualities from the ancestors as -ell as he has inherited the sha e of his face, his hands and feet from his hysical ancestors' Thus 6erbert S encer eCuates the soul develo ment com letely -ith the bodily develo ment' 6o-ever, this is only an a arent -ay out -hich can never be harmonised -ith the facts' 8hat should be e/ licable from another area must be derived from the Cualities of the other area' 5ndeed, Goethe says( :rom my father 5 got the stature And the serious conduct of life, :rom mummy 5 got cheerfulness And the desire of telling stories' But nobody -ants to state if he chec0s the facts im artially that the very o-n being of the human being, that the result of his destiny is determined in the same -ay by his hysical ancestors as his e/ternal form and figure is determined by his ancestors, because, other-ise, the develo ment of the s irit must follo- the same la-s -hich the develo ment of the hysical follo-s' But -here could -e derive the s iritual Cualities of ,e-ton, Galileo, <e ler, and Goethe from their ancestors; 8here from could -e derive the Cualities of Schiller; :rom his father; 5ndeed, Schiller received the e/ternal figure, belonging to the s ecies, from his fatherE for the hysical heredity determines the general figure li0e it determines the hysical figure of the animal' But if -e -ant to e/ lain the real internal Cualities of the single individuality G and it does not need to be Schiller, it can be any )r' )iller from this or that lace G if -e -ant to e/ lain -hat ta0es lace in his dee est soul -hy he is this articular human being -here his biogra hy results from, then -e can never understand this human being studying his origin from his hysical ancestors' Study a lion and describe the father or grandfather of this lion instead of this( you -ill be com letely satisfied scientifically' 5f you describe, ho-ever, a human being, you must describe his very o-n life' The biogra hies of the grandfather or father are com letely different from his o-n' As different as the s ecies of the animal realm are as different are the biogra hies of the single human beings' Somebody -ho thin0s through these thoughts com letely can never regard the s iritual develo ment as analogous to the hysical one' 8e have rather to acce t if -e -ant to e/ lain the s iritual develo ment that -e must ascend in the
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same -ay to the s iritual ancestors as -e ascend to the e/ lanation of the hysical nature of the hysical ancestors' The hysical forefather cannot be the s iritual forefather at the same time' The develo ment of the soul is totally different from the develo mental course of the hysical' 5f 5 -ant to e/ lain a soul, 5 have to search for its origin some-here else than in the hysical organism' 5t must have been there already onceE it must have a soul forefather li0e the animal s ecies has a hysical forefather' Thus -e get the ideas -hich the dee er soul researchers of all times have acce ted as theirs and -hich loo0 at the being of the soul scientifically, in the true sense of the -ord' 8ho enetrates -ith any urge of research into this being of the soul G you can see it, for e/am le, in the trans arent discussion of 4essing>s The Education of the uman Race G comes to the assum tion that any soul must be traced bac0 to another soul' Thus -e come to the develo mental la- of the soulE -e come to the la- of reincarnation' As -ell as in the animal realm s ecies after s ecies incarnates itself and a transformation of the s ecies ta0es lace, a transformation of the soul ta0es lace in the human being' ,othing else than this thought must be connected -ith the s iritual@scientific teaching of reincarnation' 5t is no fantastic thought, it is a thought -hich is crystal clear and arises inevitably from the reconditions of nature' As inevitable as the thought of the reincarnation of the s ecies is, the transformation of the s ecies in the animal realm, the thought of the reincarnation of the individuality is' 8e have the reincarnation of the animalE -e have the reincarnation of the individuality on the level of human0ind' 5f, ho-ever, this is the case, then our vie- of the single ersonal human soul G -hich stands -ith its rivate life of desire and ain usually ine/ licably before us G e/tends beyond its soul redecessor and from that to revious redecessors' As -ell as -e understand a s ecies if -e trace it bac0 to its ancestors, -e understand the soul if -e trace bac0 it as a reincarnating individuality' 8hat revails a arently as an ine/ licable destiny in me -hat is a arently un re ared in my birth, this is not to be considered as a miracle as something that arose from nothingE this is an effect as everything is an effect in the -orld, but an effect of the soul rocesses in my sychic ancestors' 8e cannot occu y ourselves in detail here ho- the incarnations ta0e lace' 6ere should be sho-n sim ly in scientifically analogous -ay ho- the thought of the theoso hical science of the soul is absolutely com atible, yes, in s iritual area e/actly the same is as the modern theory of evolution in the animal realm' Dust the naturalist should ascend from his teaching of hysical reincarnation to this teaching of the reincarnation of the soul' The Buddhist to -hom this teaching of soul reincarnation is as im ortant as to us the scientific theory of evolution does not 0no- the mysterious develo ment, the mysterious course of destiny in the individual life in the sense as the 8est 0no-s it' 6e says to himself( -hat 5 e/ erience is an effect of the soul@life from -hich my soul@life has develo edE 5 have to acce t it as an effect' 8hat 5 myself carry out today is a cause and does not remain -ithout effect' )y soul embodies itself again and again, and that -ill determine the destiny of this soul, it forms a -hole -ith this soul' Thus destiny and soul@being are connected -ith each other li0e in a string of earls' As on the string of earls of destiny the single levels of the develo ment of the human soul@life, of the -hole human life are lined u ' 8hat is ine/ licable in a human life becomes e/ licable if -e acce t it not as a miracle in itself, but if -e loo0 at it in its rea earing henomena' 6o-ever, considering the soul develo ment this -ay, -e get beyond the disaster of AristotleLs soul doctrine' 8ho does not rofess himself to the theory of evolution must rofess himself to the creation -hich ta0es lace at every single birth of a human being' 6e must assume a articular miracle of creation at any birth' The scientific doctrine of creation is a belief in miracles, is su erstition' Still in the !=th century, one said that there are as many s ecies side by side as have been created originally' There are also in the field of sychology only these t-o -ays( the miraculous act of creation at the origin of a human being, or develo ment of the soul' The first one is im ossible' But, nevertheless, there are honest researchers -ho cannot decide to Boin the stand oint of soul develo ment' 5f an honest researcher cannot decide to do that, he -ill also rofess himself to the creation of any single human being even today' This is thought not scientifically but honestly' Those -ho -ant to thin0 scientifically and are able to loo0 at the soul@life scientifically come by themselves from the stand oint of modern research to this teaching of soul reincarnation li0e the modern hiloso her Baumann in GPttingen' These -ill be the t-o -ays -hich -e must ursue in clear thin0ing( either soul creation as a miracle in any case, or soul develo ment according to scientific thin0ing and return of the soul' :rom this science of soul develo ment a bright light is thro-n on the big Cuestion -hich has occu ied modern hiloso hy and the modern -ay of thin0ing in articular, the Cuestion of the value of life' This Cuestion -as negatively ans-ered, as you 0no-, by the ne-er hiloso hers, by Scho enhauer, *duard von 6artmann and similar hiloso hers' A value has been denied life sim ly because life offers more listlessness than desire' 5f really life -ithin the single ersonality -as e/hausted bet-een birth and death, the Cuestion of the value of life -ould be Bustified, in so far as one -ould have to estimate this value of life according to desire and listlessness' These hiloso hers sim ly say that e/ erience teaches us in every single case that listlessness outbalances desire by far that life is ainful and grievous' Already for this reason, Scho enhauer assumes, -e have to rofess ourselves to this essimistic vie-' 8e ta0e desire for granted, as something -hich is due to us' 8ho does not consider G and Scho enhauer is right G desire as a matter of course for us; 8here is no slight cause -hich the human being feels as ain, -hile he ta0es any desire for granted more or less;
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6ence, it is natural, the essimists say, that the human beings do not feel the desire as intensely as they feel the reduction of desire as ain and listlessness' The essimists ta0e stoc0 of the desire of life that -ay and state that this sho-s that listlessness controls life far stronger than desire' 8ithout Cuestion, if one -ants to solve this riddle -ithin the single human life, one gets to no other solution' :or somebody -ho has an overvie- of a human life in its ersonal details says to himself( if the amount of listlessness by -hich this life has been concerned is ever so insignificant, it e/ists as something that has been held in front of this human being as it -ere' Try once to dra- u this balance sheet of desire -hen a erson has died' 5f one dra-s u it, one assesses the desire value of life as negative according to 6artmann' 5f life ends, it ends -ith a negative value' 6o-ever, then this single life seems to be absolutely ine/ licable' Something different results if -e loo0 at the result of the single life as a cause for the follo-ing life if -e consider it as that -hich can be re roduced onto another level of e/istence' Then that -hich a ears as ain, listlessness in one life loo0s li0e something favourable in the ne/t life' 8hy; Sim ly because the sensation of listlessness, -hich -e e/ erienced in this single life, is not the only decisive factor but also the effect of this listlessness' 5f 5 feel listlessness today, then this listlessness gives my life a negative sign' This listlessness can be most valuable for me tomorro-' Because 5 have felt listlessness or ains -ith any e/ erience today, 5 learn for tomorro-' 5 can learn to avoid this listlessness or ain at a similar occasion' 5 can learn to regard this listlessness, this ain as a lesson to ma0e the erformances more erfect tomorro- -hich re ared listlessness to me' 6ardshi s a ear to us from this oint of vie- in a certain connection that has a far@reaching significance' Assume that a child learns -al0ing' 5t falls er etually and hurts itself, it causes ain to itself' ,evertheless, it -ould be -rong if a mother surrounded her child -ith nothing but 5ndia rubber bales, so that it -ould have no ain if it fell' Then the child -ould never learn -al0ing' 9ain is the lesson' 5t re ares us to a higher level of develo ment' 8e learn only because the life of the single human being is not merged in nothing but desire but re ares ain and listlessness out of im erfect erformances' 5f life ends -ith a sur lus of listlessness, it ends at the same time -ith a cause -hich has an effect for the ne/t life' 8e get to a higher level of the ne/t life because of the listlessness of this life' 2ur vie- is -idened that -ay if -e loo0 at the life of the human being beyond birth and death' The balance of desire and listlessness is necessary to learn something from the single life and carry it to another life' 5f -e did not e/ erience ain, -e -ould get on li0e a child that cannot learn -al0ing if one s ares it ain' 6ence, -e regard the listlessness balance of the essimist as a develo mental factor' 4i0e an engine it drives the develo ment for-ard' Then the sentence comes bac0 into favour, gets a higher sense( ain is a develo mental factor' 8e understand the single life as an effect, as a result of the receding causes that -ay' 5f -e understand it as an effect, -e understand the levels of erfection e/isting side by side among the human beings as -e understand the levels of erfection e/isting side by side among the animal s ecies' 5t does not seem miraculous to us according to the theory of evolution that the erfect lion lives beside the im erfect amoeba, and -e understand this im erfect formation on account of the theory of evolution' 8e also understand the develo mental level of the soul from the highest genius to the undevelo ed level of the savage on account of the la- of soul develo ment' 8hat is a genius to us; 5t is a higher develo mental level, a higher level of erfection of the soul@being -hich lives in the savage on a lo-er level' As -ell as the higher animal s ecies differ from the lo-er animals in the hysical realm, the soul of the genius differs from the soul of the savage in the sychic realm' This e/ lains to us that basically the ingenious talent is nothing radically different from the usual human talent, but it is only a later level of develo ment' 4et us com are the sychology of :ran. Brentano' 5t em hasises that the genius does not differ basically from the develo mental level of the im erfect soul, but only by degrees' 6ave a loo0 at a genius li0e )o.art' 6e sho-ed already as a boy a talent -hich seems Cuite strange' 6e -rote do-n a com lete mass G -hich he heard once and -hich he could never have heard before because one -as not allo-ed to -rite do-n it G immediately after he had heard it' 8hat an achievement of memory that this soul of )o.art encom asses a big range of ideas -ith one loo0 -hich the im erfect soul cannot encom ass, but it can only get them bit by bit' 5t is only the articular develo ment of that soul ca acity -hich connects and lin0s the ideas' This soul ca acity can be so small that it is not ossible to have an overvie- of five to si/ ideas for some time' But the human being can im rove his o-er of imagination, e/tend his overloo0ing' 5f no- -e see the genius a earing -ith outstanding dis ositions -hich can be attained, ho-ever, gradually by e/ercise, -e should not consider the genius as a miracle' 8e have to loo0 at it as an effect' Because the genius is already born -ith these Cualities, -e have to search for the cause in a receding develo mental level of his soul, in a receding life' Fou get an e/ lanation of brilliant dis ositions only that -ay' Fou can understand any degree of soul develo ment' Fou can ursue the human being from the highest ingenious talents do-n to the saddest henomena of human life -hich -e call madness' 2ne has to ignore the scientific oint of vie- hereE one has to oint to these eo le only from the stand oint of the soul researcher' 8e 0no- that there are deformed, cri led eo le' 5f -e e/ and these conce ts from
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the scientific field to the field of sychology, -e come to the abnormal henomena of the soul@life' Fou can recognise clearly that the soul@life has tem oral connections li0e the hysical life outside has s atial ones' Those -ho state that such thoughts are contradictory to the scientific facts have not com letely -or0ed through the -hole range neither of the scientific thoughts nor of this sychology' They have not develo ed their ca acity of observation so far that they have learnt to use the methods of sychology as the scientists use the methods of the e/ternal natural sciences' 5f anybody states that the teachings -e have re orted here a ear fantastically, then -e are allo-ed to ut the Cuestion( -hat do those say -ho laid the bases of these natural sciences; They must have recognised the range of the scientific thoughts, Bust as those -ho investigate a country directly 0no- it more e/actly than those -ho have got a re ort or a descri tion only' The naturalist -ho finds out the scientific bases from the de ths of his research is more Bustified than anybody -ho comes after-ards and -ants to ersuade us that the soul researchers s ea0 about soul@beings and s irit@beings e/isting a art' 5 give still some e/am les ho- the basic naturalists thought about the researchers of soul and mind' 2ne states again and again that such a sychology as it -as sho-n no- is contradictory to the rinci le of energy conservation' This is the great rinci le -hich controls all hysical henomena' This means that in nature no energy originates, but any energy is transformed to energy, and that -e can measure the amount of energy by the energy -hich is its cause' 5f -e convert heat into va our in the steam boiler, -e have the cause and effect before ourselves, and -e measure the effect in the measure of the cause' ,o- the adversaries of our sychology say( this rinci le is contradictory to the resu osition that articular soul rocesses ha en inside' )easure the e/ternal im ressions -hich a human being receives, measure -hat ta0es lace in him, measure -hat ta0es lace in the brain, and one is not able to state( there is a soul@force' 6o-ever, then this force -ould be born out of nothing and this is contradictory to the basic rinci le of energy transformation' Dulius Robert )ayer is the discoverer of this basic la- of energy conservation about -hich one says that it is contradictory to our sychology' 4isten to the discoverer of this rinci le, one of the greatest naturalists and thin0ers of all times' 5n !=&2, in the age of natural science, he discovered the most im ortant hysical la- of the !"th century' Those -ho are materialistic naturalists G you can see that in their boo0s, say and -ant to lead us to believe that all investigation of soul and s irit -ould be removed by this la-' 8e hear these naturalists s ea0ing in such a -ay that somebody -ho still adheres to internal sychology, -hich does not understand natural sciences, -hich e/ ress themselves in the rinci le of energy conservation' Dulius Robert )ayer, ho-ever, says( if su erficial heads -hich regard themselves as geniuses -ant to acce t nothing higher, then one cannot accuse such arrogance to science nor it is to its benefit' The discoverer of this rinci le says this' As0 yourselves -hether the second@rate scientists have a right to call u his rinci le against that -hich he himself recognised' Another basic researcher of our modern natural sciences -ho laid the basis of the -orld of living beings on account of his geologic investigations of the transformations of the earth layers and re ared %ar-in is 4yell, the great *nglish geologist' 8ith regard to geology he e/ ressed as the first the sentence that -e do not o erate scientifically if -e assume miraculous disasters in nature if -e assume that revolutions have ta0en lace in former eriods -hich should not be e/ licable still today by e/ternal strength' This researcher 4yell -hom the materialistic natural science refers to says the follo-ing( -herever -e research, -e find a creative intelligence, rovidence, o-er and -isdom every-here' )aterialistic researchers say to us that since the la- of the so@called vital force is overcome, since one is able to roduce substances in the laboratory from -hich one believed that they can originate only in the living human being, since then one has the right to say that in the chemical laboratory the same ha ens -hat ha ens in nature' Dons Dacob Ber.elius friendly -ith :riederich 8Phler says( the 0no-ledge of nature is the basis of research' Those -ho do not 0ee to it e/ ose themselves to delusive influence' G 8ilhelm 9reyer -rote about the henomenon of death' 6e refused flatly that death cannot be understood as an end of the individuality incarnated in the body that the death of the human being cannot be understood in such a -ay even in the lo-er -orld' 9reyer says that only the body dies, ho-ever, matter, energy, movement and life do not die' These are sayings of real, basic naturalists, not of hiloso hical dilettantes -ho believe to be able to deny the soul henomena on account of natural sciences G 5 do not -ant to say that G but to be allo-ed to e/ lain them as nothing but functions of urely inorganic rocesses' 5f -e see that Bust those -ho rendered outstanding services originally to the research of the hysical develo ment do not see any contradiction of this hysical develo ment to a soul develo ment inside, then -e must be in harmony -ith them' A saying of 6amerling a lies to everybody -ho denies the internal soul develo ment( somebody -ho searches for the soul a ears to him li0e a dog -hich sna s at his o-n tail and cannot reach it' G This is a science of the soul in the s iritual@scientific sense, in the modern scientific sense, indeed, not a lying the scientific method in a stereoty ed -ay but s iritually' Then the la- of destiny a ears to us as a big la- of develo ment' As -ell as the genus is active in the animal develo ment and a ears li0e a -ave, -hich is churned u by the assing develo ment, the single human life a ears li0e a -ave in the churning sea and the subseCuent lives a ear li0e single -aves of the human destiny'
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5n the ne/t tal0 -e consider the reasons of these -aves understanding the nature of human destiny out of its eternal being' Today, 5 have sho-n that those -ho consider destiny as the great la- of develo ment, consider it as active, as churning u -aves, and that every single -ave is an image of the human being' *verybody -ho became engrossed in this matter considered the develo ing soul@life that -ay' Therefore, Goethe com ares the single soul -ith a -ave -hich is churned u again and again, and that the -ind is the ro elling destiny -hich churns u these -aves from the -ater' That is -hy he com ares the soul -ith the lay of -aves and the destiny -ith the -ind, out of theoso hical 0no-ledge, because Goethe agreed in the dee est sense -ith this science of the soul' 6e com ared -ind and -aves, soul and destiny using the nice -ords( 8ind is the -ave>s 1harming loverE 8ind mi/es from bottom Seething -aves' 6uman soul, Fou are Bust li0e the -ater+ 6uman destiny, Fou are Bust li0e the -ind+ ,otes(
:ran. Brentano (!=$=I!"!J), German hiloso her and sychologist Dulius Robert )ayer (!=!&I!=J=), German hysician and hysicist 1harles 4yell (!J"JI!=J5), British geologist DPns Da0ob Ber.elius (!JJ"I!=&=), S-edish chemist :riedrich 8Phler (!=##I!==2), German chemist, he -as the first to synthesise an organic chemical (urea) from an inorganic substance and dis roved the vie- thereby that organic substances only originate in living beings -ith the hel of a vital force'

/ourse III " .ecture III# Theosophical Teachin;s of the Soul+ 9art III# Soul and &ind
Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(8%(
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin #arch 30th, 190. 4et me begin this third lecture -ith an image 9lato used to e/ ress -hat he had to say about the eternity of the human mind' Socrates facing death stands before his u ils' %uring the ne/t hours the end of the great teacher must ha en' :acing his death, Socrates s ea0s about the eternity of the s iritual core in the human being' 8hat he has to say about the indestructibility of that -hich lives in the human being ma0es a dee im ression' 5n fe- hours, life -ill no longer be in the body -hich stands before his disci les' 5n fe- hours, Socrates -hom one can see -ith eyes -ill no longer be' 5n this situation, Socrates ma0es it clear to his disci les that he -ho -ill no longer stand before them in fe- hours -hom they -ill no longer have is not that -ho is so valuable for themE that this Socrates -ho yet stands before them cannot be that -ho transmitted the great teaching of the human soul and the human mind to them' 6e ma0es it clear to his disci les that the true sage has made himself inde endent of the -hole sensuous -orld' *verything disa ears that the sensory im ressions, that the carnal desires and -ishes can su ly to him Bust by means of a really -ise -orld vie-' That is only valuable to the sage -hich the senses can never give' 5f only that disa ears -hich stands before the senses, then this remains unchanged to -hich no senses can get' 9roofs G they may be the shar est, the most brilliant ones G -ould hardly have a stronger effect than the conviction -hich e/ resses itself in the immediate sensation, -hich comes from the heart of the sage at the moment -hen the e/ternal sensuous situation seems to be com letely contradictory to his -ords' This is a conviction -hich is e/ ressed -ith the consecration of death, a conviction -hich sim ly testifies because it is e/ ressed in this situation ho- o-erful this vie- has become in the sage, so that he defeats the event -hich befalls him in fe- hours'
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8hich effect has this conversation e/erted on the disci les; 9haedo, the disci le, says that he -as at this moment in a situation in -hich normally those not are -ho e/ erience such an event' ,either ain nor Boy enetrated his heart' 6e -as above any grief and desire' 8ith eaceful rest and eCuanimity 9haidon too0 u the teachings -hich -ere handed over to him in vie- of death' 5f -e ut this icture before our souls, -e thin0 of t-o things' 9lato, the great sage of Greece, tries to su ort his conviction of the eternity of the human mind not only using logical roofs or hiloso hical arguments, but -hile he let a high develo ed human being e/ ress it in vie- of death' This conviction e/ resses itself as something that lives immediately in the human soul' 9lato -anted to suggest this -ay that the Cuestion of the eternity of the human soul cannot be ans-ered in every situation' 8e can ans-er it only if -e have develo ed to the height of mind li0e Socrates -ho dedicated his -hole life to the internal consideration of the soulE a -ise man -ho ossessed 0no-ledge of that -hich reveals itself if the human being directs his loo0 to his inside' 6e sho-s us the strength of the immediate conviction that something lives in him about -hich he 0no-s that it is im erishable because he has recognised it' 5t de ends on that' *very reasonable human being in this field -ill never say that a roof of the immortality of the human soul can be given in any situation, but the conviction of the eternity of the human mind must be acCuiredE the human being must have got to 0no- the life of the soul' 5f he 0no-s this life, if he has become engrossed in its Cualities, he 0no-s as e/actly as one 0no-s of another obBect if one 0no-s its Cualities, he 0no-s about the human mind, and the strength of conviction s ea0s in his inside' ,ot only this, but in an im ortant, essential moment 9lato lets Socrates e/ ress this conviction( at a moment -hen any sensory im ression seems to be contradictory to the e/ ressed truth' 8hy do the disci les understand this great teaching, -hy does it ma0e sense to them; 5t ma0es sense to them because they are lifted over desire and harm by the o-er of Socrates> s eechE over that -hich ties the human being to the immediately transient, to the sensuous, to the everyday life' Thus it should be e/ ressed that the human being does not 0no- about the Cualities of the s irit in any situation, but only if he rises above that -hich ties him to the everyday life if he removed desire and harm coming from the im ressions of the everyday life, if he can loo0 u to a solemn moment -hen the everyday life does no longer s ea0 -hen the events -hich cause harm or Boy other-ise do no longer cause harm or Boy' The human being is more rece tive for the to most truth at such moments' This gives us the sense to understand ho- theoso hy thin0s about the eternity of the soul' 5t does not s ea0 in this sense of immortality that it tries to rove this immortality li0e another matter' ,o, it gives instructions ho- the human being can trans ort himself gradually into that osition and condition of the s irit in -hich he e/ eriences the mind in his o-n inside really, gets to 0no- it according to its Cualities, -hile he tries to trans ort himself into the life of the s irit' Then it realises that from the vie- of the s irit immediately the conviction of the eternity of this s irit comes to the fore' As -ell as -e do not recognise an obBect -hich is before our sensory eye by a roof, but because it sho-s its Cualities sim ly through erce tion, the theoso hist uts the Cuestion of the immortality of the human soul in another form than one normally hears it' 6e uts the Cuestion( ho- can -e erceive internal, s iritual life; 6o- become -e engrossed in our inside, so that -e hear the s irit s ea0ing in our inside; At all times and laces -here one tried to bring u disci les for understanding of these Cuestions, one demanded from these disci les first of all that they go through a re aration time' 9lato demanded G as you robably 0no- G from his disci les that they had enetrated into the s irit of mathematics before they tried to ta0e u his teachings about the s iritual life' 8hich sense did this 9latonic re aration have; The disci le should have understood the s irit of mathematics' 8e heard in the first lecture -hat this s irit of mathematics offers' 5t offers truths in the most elementary -ay -hich is elated above all sensory truthsE truths -hich -e cannot see -ith the eyes and cannot sei.e -ith the hands' *ven if -e illustrate the teaching of the circle, the teaching of the numerical ratios to ourselves sensually, -e 0nothat -e ma0e an illustration -ith it only' 8e 0no- that the teaching of the circle, of the triangle is inde endent of this sensuous vie-' 8e dra- a triangle on the board or on a er to us, and by means of this sensuous triangle -e try to get to the sentence that the sum of the three angles of a triangle is !=# degrees' 6o-ever, -e 0no- that this sentence is true for any triangle -hichever sha e -e may give it' 8e 0no- that this sentence ma0es sense to us if -e are used to find such sentences disregarding the sensuous im ressions disregarding any sensuous vie-' 8e acCuire the sim lest, most trivial truths this -ay' )athematics only gives the most trivial su er@sensible truth, but it gives su er@sensible truth' Because it gives the sim lest, the most trivial and su er@sensible truth -hich is got the easiest, 9lato demanded from his disci les that they learn in mathematics ho- one gets to the su er@sensible truth' 8hat does one learn by the fact that one gets to su er@sensible truth; 2ne learns to conceive a truth -ithout desire and harm, -ithout immediate, everyday interest, -ithout ersonal reBudices, -ithout that -hich meets us in life -herever -e go' 8hy does the mathematical truth a ear -ith such clearness and invincibility; Because no interest, no ersonal sym athy and anti athy lay a role in its 0no-ledge' That means that no reBudices are contributory factors' 8e do not care com letely that t-o times t-o are fourE -e do not care ho- big the angles of a triangle may be et cetera' 5t is this
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freedom of any sensuous interest, of any ersonal desire and listlessness, -hich 9lato had in mind -hen he demanded from his disci les that they become engrossed in the s irit of mathematics' After they had got used to loo0ing u to truth -ithout interest, -ithout interference of assion and desire, -ithout interference of everyday reBudices, then 9lato considered his u ils -orthy to behold the truth of those Cuestions against -hich eo le normally have the biggest reBudices' 8hich human being could treat other Cuestions at first also uninterested, -ithout desire and harm, as the mathematical truth t-o times t-o four, or, the sum of angles of a triangle is !=# degrees; But not before the human being -as able to see the highest truth of soul and s irit in a similar, uninterested light free of grief and desire, he -as mature to a roach these Cuestions' 8ithout desire and grief the human being must treat these Cuestions' 6e must be beyond that -hich a ears in his soul every day, at every o ortunity, -herever he goes' 8here desire and grief and ersonal interest interfere in our ans-er, there -e cannot ans-er the Cuestions obBectively, in the true light' 9lato also -anted to say this -hen he let the dying Socrates s ea0 about the immortality of the human mind' 5t cannot be a matter of roving immortality in any situation, but it only concerns the Cuestion( ho- does one get the erce tion of the Cualities of the human soul, so that G if one gets it G the strength of conviction flo-s from our soul by itself; This also formed the basis of all those teaching sites in -hich one tried to lead the students to the highest truth in an a ro riate -ay' 5t is only a matter of course that the Cuestions( does the human mind live before birth and after death; And( -hich is the destination of the human being in time and in eternity; that these Cuestions cannot be treated by most human beings -ithout interest' 5t is a matter of course that any ersonal interest, any ho e and fear accom anying the human being constantly are connected -ith the Cuestion of the eternity of the s irit' 2ne called mystery schools in ancient times those sites -here the highest Cuestions of the s iritual life -ere taught and ans-ered to the students' 5n such mystery sites the u ils -ere not taught about such Cuestions in the abstract' Truths -ere handed do-n to them only if they -ere able according to their state of soul, of mind, and of the -hole ersonality to see these Cuestions in the right light' They -ere in this state beyond desire and harm, beyond fear and ho e -hich tie the human being to themselves day by day, hour for hour' These assions, these contents of feeling had to be removed from the ersonality at first' 8ithout fear and ho e, urified of them, the u il had to a roach the mystery site' 9urification -as the re aration -hich the u il had to go through' 8ithout this, the Cuestions -ere not ans-ered to him' The urification of assions, of desire and harm, of fear and ho e -as the recondition to climb u to the summit on -hich the Cuestion of immortality can be treated' Because one -as clear to himself about the fact that then the u il can loo0 in the eye of s irit as -ell as somebody -ho delves in a mathematical field sees in the eye of ure obBective mathematics( -ithout assion, -ithout being tormented by fear and ho e' 8e have seen in the last lecture that desire and harm are the e/ ressions of the human soul above all' The inner e/ erience, the very o-n e/ erience of the erson is desire and harm' %esire and harm must go through urification first, before the soul can get to the s irit' %esire and harm are bound to the everyday im ressions of the senses, to the immediate e/ eriences of the erson, to the interests concerning his erson' 8hat does desire normally do to us, -hat does harm do to us; That -hich interests us as a ersonality' That causes desire and harm -hich disa ears -ith our death more or less' 8e must leave this narro- circle of that -hich causes desire and harm in order to get higher 0no-ledge' 2ur desire and harm must be se arated, must be dra-n off from these everyday interests and be ta0en u to Cuite different -orlds' The human being has to lift desire and harm, the -ishes of his soul over the everyday, the sensuous thingsE he must bind them to the highest e/ eriences of the s irit' 6e must loo0 u -ith these -ishes and desires to that to -hich one attributes a shado-y or abstract e/istence usually' 8hat could be more abstract for the human being of the everyday life than the ure, unsensuous thought; The human beings of everyday life -ho stic0 to their ersonalities -ith desire and harm already flee from the sim lest, most trivial su er@sensible truth' )athematics is -idely avoided Bust because it is not accom anied by any interest, desire, and harm in the everyday sense of the -ord' The u il had to be urified in the mystery schools from this everyday desire and harm' 8hat lived only as an image of thought in his inside and flitted a-ay li0e a shado-y formation, he had to be attached to it, and he had to love this li0e the human being is attached to the everyday -ith his -hole soul' 2ne called the change of the assions and desires metamor hosis' There is a ne- reality for him after-ardsE a ne- -orld ma0es im ressions on him' That -hich leaves the usual erson cold -hich touches him as something sober and cold is the -orld of ideas' 5t is this to -hich his desire and harm are bound no-, at -hich one loo0s li0e something real, and -hich becomes a reality no- li0e table and chairs'

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2nly if the human being has rogressed so far that the -orld of ideas, usually called abstract, moves, enchants, soa0s u his soul, if this shado-y reality of thoughts surrounds him in such a -ay that he lives and -or0s -ithin this -orld as -ell as the everyday erson moves in the everyday, sensuous reality -hich he can see and feel G if this metamor hosis of the -hole human being has ha ened, he is in the state in -hich the s irit in the environment s ea0s to himE then he e/ eriences this s irit li0e a living language, then he erceives the 8ord that has become flesh and e/ resses itself in all things' 5f the everyday erson loo0s out and sees the lifeless minerals around him, he sees them controlled by hysical la-s, controlled by the la-s of gravitation, magnetism, heat, light et cetera' The human being realises the la-s to -hich these beings are subBect using his thoughts' But Bust these thoughts do not s ea0 to him -ith the same concrete reality, do not mean that -hich his hands touch -hat his eyes see' After this metamor hosis of the human being has ta0en lace, he thin0s not only of shado-@images li0e of the hysical la-s, then these shado-@images start s ea0ing the living language of the s irit to him' The s irit s ea0s to him from the surroundings' :rom the lants, from the minerals, from the different genera of the animals the s irit of the surroundings s ea0s to the human being -ho lives -ithout desire and harm' Theoso hy oints to a develo ment, not to an abstract truth, to a concrete truth, not to logical roofs, if it s ea0s about the -orld of ideas, of the s iritual -orld' 5t tal0s about that -hich the human beings should becomeE it does not s ea0 about roofs' ,ature s ea0s to a human being differently -ho has urified his soul, so that it does no longer stic0 to the everydayE does not have the everyday ains and Boys, but higher ains and higher Boy and higher bliss at the same time -hich flo- from the ure s irit of the things' The theoso hical ethics e/ resses that ictorially' 5t e/ resses in t-o marvellous ictures that the human being can recognise the highest truth only at the moment -hen he has lifted his senses over the everyday ain and the everyday Boy of the things' As long as the eye stic0s to the things -ith Boy and ain, in the everyday sense of the -ord, as long it cannot erceive the s irit round itself' As long as the ear still has the immediate sensitiveness of the everyday life, as long it cannot hear the living -ord through -hich the s iritual things round us s ea0 to us' That is -hy the theoso hical teaching of develo ment sees the demand in t-o ictures -hich the human being has to ut to himself if he -ants to attain the 0no-ledge of the s irit' Before the eyes can see, They must be inca able of tears' Before the ear can hear, 5t must have lost its sensitiveness ''' ()abel 1ollins 4ight on the 9ath) The eye -hich cherishes the s irit can no longer have tears of Boy and tears of ain in the everyday sense' Because if the human being has advanced to this level of develo ment, his self@consciousness s ea0s in a different, in a ne- -ay to him' Then -e loo0 into the covered sanctuary of our inside in a Cuite ne- -ay' Then the human being erceives himself as a member of the s iritual -orld' Then he erceives himself as something that is ure and beyond any sensuous because he has ta0en off desire and harm in the sensuous sense' Then he hears self@consciousness in his inside s ea0ing to him as the mathematical truth s ea0s indifferently to him, but in such a -ay as mathematical truth also s ea0s in another sense' )athematical truth namely is true and eternal in certain -ay' 8hat a ears to us in the language of mathematics, -hich is free of sensuality, is true regardless of time and s ace' Regardless of time and s ace that s ea0s in our inside to us -hich a ears before our soul -hen it has urified itself u to desire and harm of s iritual matters' Then the eternal s ea0s to us in its significance' The eternal -ith its significance s o0e to the dying Socrates that -ay, and the current of the immediate s irituality -ent over to the disci les' :rom that -hich he received as an e/ erience from the dying Socrates the disci le 9haedo e/ resses that desire and harm in the usual sense must do damage if the s irit -ants to s ea0 directly to us' 8e can observe this in the so@called abnormal henomena of the human life' These henomena are a arently far from our considerations of the first art of my lecture' 6o-ever, considered in the true sense of the -ord, they are very close to these considerations' These are the henomena -hich are called abnormal conditions of the soul, li0e hy notism, somnambulism and clairvoyance' 8hat does hy nosis mean in the human life; Today it cannot be my tas0 to e/ lain the various erformances -hich have to be carried out if -e -ant to trans ort a human being into the condition similar to slee -hich -e call hy nosis' *ither this ha ens G 5 -ant to mention this only by the -ay G by loo0ing at a shining obBect -hereby the attention is concentrated in articular, or also by sim ly s ea0ing to the erson concerned in suitable -ay, -hile -e say( you fall aslee no-' G Thereby -e can roduce this condition of hy nosis, a 0ind of slee , in -hich the everyday -a0ing consciousness is e/tinguished' The human being -ho has been trans orted into hy notic slee that -ay stands or sits before the hy notist, motionless, -ithout im ression in the usual sense of the -ord' Such a hy notised erson can be stung -ith needles, can be hit, his limbs can be moved to other ositions G he erceives nothing, he feels nothing of that
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-hich -ould have caused ain or maybe a leasant sensation, a tic0le, -e -ant to say, to him under other circumstances, -ith -a0ing consciousness' 5n the usual sense desire and harm are eliminated from the being of such a hy notised erson' 6o-ever, desire and harm are the basic Cualities of the soul, the middle art of the human being, as 5 have e/ lained in the last tal0' 8hat does hy notism eliminate; 5t basically eliminates the soul of the three arts, body, soul and mind' 8e have eliminated the middle art of the human being' 6e is not active, he does not feel desire and harm in the usual senseE it does not hurt him -hat -ould hurt him if his soul functioned normally' 6o- is the being active no- in such a erson if you s ea0 to such a hy notised erson, if you give him some orders; 5f you say to him( get u , do three ste s, he carries out these orders' Fou can still give him more intricate, more manifold orders G he carries out them' Fou can ut do-n sensuous obBects to him, for e/am le, a ear, and say to him, this is a glass ball' 6e -ill believe it' 8hat lies sensually before him has no significance for him' 5t is decisive for him that you say to him, it is a glass ball' 5f you as0 him( -hat do you have before yourself; 6e -ill ans-er to you( a glass ball' G Four mind, -hat is in you if you are the hy notist and -hat you thin0, -hat comes as a thought from you has a direct effect on the actions of this erson' 6e follo-s the orders of your mind -ith his body automatically' 8hy does he follo- these orders; Because his soul is eliminated, because his soul does not intervene bet-een his body and your mind' At the moment -hen his soul is active -ith its desire and harm again, -hen it is able to feel ain, to erceive again, at this moment only the soul decides -hether these orders are to be carried outE -hether it has to acce t the thoughts of the other' 5f you face another erson in normal condition, his mind -or0s on you' But his mind, his thoughts -or0 on your soul first of all' 5t -or0s on you li0e desire and harm, and you decide ho- to react to the thoughts, to the -ill actions of the other' 5f the soul is silent, if the soul is eliminated, then it does not osition itself bet-een your body and the mind of the other, then the body follo-s the im ressions of the hy notist, the im ressions of his mind -ill@lessly as the mineral follo-s the hysical la-s' *limination of the soul is the essential art of hy nosis' Then the foreign thought, the thought located beyond the erson, -or0s -ith the strength of a hysical la- on this erson -ho is in a condition similar to slee ' That -or0s li0e a hysical la- -hich inserts itself bet-een this s iritual natural force and the body, and this is the soul' Bet-een your o-n mind and your o-n body the soul inserts itself' 8e carry out -hat -e gras as a thought -hat -e gras thin0ing in the everyday life only because it transforms itself into our ersonal -ishes that it is acce ted, is found right from our desire and our harm that, in other -ords, our mind s ea0s to our soul at first and our soul carries out the orders of our o-n mind' ,o- one may as0( -hy does not the highest member of the human being, the mind, face the hy notist if the soul is eliminated, if the hy notist faces the hy notised; 8hy does the mind of the erson slumber, -hy is it inactive; G 8e get this clear in our mind if -e 0no- that for the human being during his earthly incarnation the interaction of mind, soul and body is essential that the mind of the human being understands the environment, the sensory reality only because the soul rovides this understanding' 5f our eye receives an im ression from -ithout, the soul has to be the mediator, so that this im ression can enetrate u to our mind' 5 erceive a colour' The eye rovides the e/ternal im ression for me because of its organisation' The mind thin0s about the colour' 5t forms a thought' But bet-een the thought and the e/ternal im ression the reagent of the soul inserts itself, and that is -hy the im ression becomes only its o-n inner life becomes an e/ erience of the soul' The mind can s ea0 only to the o-n soul, to the ersonal soul in the earthly human being' 5f you eliminate the soul by means of hy nosis, then the mind is no longer able to e/ ress itself in the hy notised erson' Fou have ta0en a-ay the organ of the mind by -hich it can e/ ress itself by -hich it can be active' Fou have not ta0en a-ay the mind from the erson' Fou have eliminated his soul and made it inactive' But because the mind can be active in the human being only in the soul, it cannot be active in the body' 6ence, -e say, he is in an unconscious state' That means nothing else than( his mind slee s' ,o- -e understand -hy the hy notised erson becomes so rece tive to the mental im ressions -hich go out from the hy notist' 6e becomes rece tive because nothing sychic inserts itself bet-een him and the hy notist' There the thought of the other becomes an immediate natural force, there the thought becomes creative' The thought is creative, and the s irit is creative in the -hole nature' 5t only does not a ear directly' *liminating the soul at the same time -e have made the consciousness of the hy notised erson inactive li0e in other similar abnormal states' 8e have trans orted the erson into an unconscious state' 8e can get an image of this rocess, if -e imagine that -e bring a slee ing erson from one room into another and let him slee there some time' 5m ressions are round him, but he does not erceive them' 6e 0no-s nothing about his surroundings' 5f -e bring him, -ithout he has a-o0en, bac0 into the room in -hich he has sle t before then he has been in another room -ithout 0no-ing it, then he has not erceived anything of the other room' 5t de ends on the fact that -e erceive our surroundings if -e -ant to call these surroundings ?real'A A lot may be round us, may be real, and may be essential G -e 0no- nothing of it because -e do not erceive it' 8e do not com ly -ith it, our activity is not relating to it because -e erceive nothing' 5n such a state the hy notised erson faces the hy notist' :orces go out from the hy notistE forces are effective -hich are mind@im regnated -ith the thoughts of the hy notist' They go out from him and have an effect on the hy notised' But
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the hy notised 0no-s nothing about it' 6e s ea0s, but he s ea0s only according to the mind of the hy notist' 6e is active, so to s ea0, -ithout being his o-n s ectator G li0e eo le in the everyday life G -ithout observing the obBect of his activity at the same time' 6e is, so to s ea0, in the same situation concerning the mind of the hy notist as the slee ing erson -ho -as trans orted into another room and 0no-s nothing of that -hich ta0es lace round him' The human being can be trans orted into surroundings time and again -here the s irit s ea0s to him' 6e can be in surroundings -here the s irit s ea0s to him' ,o- and at every moment you are also in surroundings in -hich the s irit s ea0s to you, because everything round us is done by the s irit' The hysical la-s are s irit, only that the human being erceives this s irit in the shado-y reflection of the thoughts in the usual vie-' This s irit is s irit Bust as the s irit -hich is active in the hy notist if he -or0s on the hy notised erson' 1om ared -ith his s iritual surroundings the human being is also in the normal, in the everyday -a0ing state in a state in -hich his senses and his erce tion are not o en for the s irit, even if he is not in such a mental condition li0e the hy notised' 5f this erce tion is o en for the s irit -hich is in the environment if the things of the s iritual -orld -hich are round us s ea0 a loud, clear language to us, then this can only ha en if -e are in the normal life in a similar situation li0e the hy notised to-ard the hy notist' The hy notised erson e/ eriences no ain, he does not erceive needle stings, and he does not erceive a blo-' %esire and harm in the usual sense of the -ord are e/tinguished' 5f -e get in our everyday life, in the -a0ing consciousness to that state -hich 5 have described in the first art of my lecture G because the theoso hical -orld vie- should consider a higher develo mental state of the human being li0e 9lato, li0e the mystery riest demanded it from his disci les G 5f -e remove that -hich touches us as an everyday desire or harm -hich moves our eyes directly to tears or ma0es our ears sensitive, -hich fulfils us -ith fear and ho e G 5f -e remove -hat constitutes our everyday life, if -e ma0e ourselves free from this -orld and e/ erience the described metamor hosis of the mind then -e can get to a similar state to-ard the s iritual -orld G but consciously G li0e the hy notised to-ard the hy notist in the abnormal sense' Then our eyes and ears are active in the same -ay as beforeE -e have our -a0ing consciousness, but -e do not allo- to be touched by the everyday obBects -ithin this -a0ing consciousness' This metamor hosis must ta0e lace -ith the human being' 6e has to erceive the s iritual environment, the language of the s irit in this environment -ithout desire and grief li0e the hy notised hears the thoughts and -ords of the hy notist in his unusual state' 2nly e/ erience of this field can be the determining factor' 5f the great basic rinci les of the theoso hical ethics are fulfilled to a certain degree, if the human being has got to the state -here he faces s iritual truth really as the human being faces the mathematical truth in his everyday life, obBectively, -ithout desire and grief, then the s irit of the environment s ea0s to the human being, then the s irit is not engaged to the im ressions of his senses, as little as the hy notised is tied to that -hich -or0s on his senses' The hy notist -or0s only on the hy notised erson -ho does not have desire and grief, and the s irit has the same effect only on the clairvoyant human being -ho does not have desire and grief' 5n order to have such sensitivity of the environment -ith -a0ing consciousness it is necessary to have gone through a develo ment, so that -e are able -ith correctly functioning mind, -ith correctly active reason to ass bet-een the things and still to let s ea0 the s irit to ourselves' 1lairvoyance is called that level the u il has attained on -hich he is able to erceive the -orld round himself free of desire and grief' 5f the human being has develo ed so far that his assions and desires are silent in him and loves this state -ithout assion and desire as the everyday human being loves the things round himself, then he has become mature to erceive the s irit round himself' Then he does no longer -ish -hat he -ished in the everyday life, and then he -ishes in the s iritual -orld' Then, ho-ever, his thoughts, saturated -ith his higher -ishes, also become effective forces -ith his urified soul' The thoughts of the human being are only abstract thoughts, because the everyday human being inserts the soul -ith its ersonal -ishes bet-een himself, bet-een his s iritual inside and everything else' 2nly this is the reason -hy our thoughts must be ta0en u by the soul, -hy our thoughts must be transformed into the ersonality to become effective' 9ersonal -ishes a roach the thoughts of the individual human being' 5f 5 have an ideal, 5 -ant to convert this ideal into reality according to my ersonal -ishes' As a ersonality 5 must have an interest G it is in the everyday life in such a -ay G in that -hich a thought illuminates to me if 5 should carry out it' As a erson 5 have to consider a thought, a -ill as desirable' )y ersonal -ish binds itself to the thought -hich -ould be, other-ise, inde endent of time and s ace because -hat is true in the thought is true at all times' 5f -e go far beyond these ersonal -ishes, -e develo in the sense as the mystery riests demanded it from their disci les, then our -ishes are transformed in such a -ay that -e bind the -hole strength of our soul not to our ersonal interest, but -e follo- u that -hich lives in the s iritual realm more affectionately and more devotedly' Then this thought, the mind -hich lives in us does not become dull and abstract li0e in the everyday erson, it does not have to enetrate the outside -orld by means of the soul e/ eriences, then it flo-s into the outside -orld, so to s ea0, from the innermost mind of the human being -ithout being touched by the immediate self, -ithout having to go through the ersonal self' 5t does not become dull by the outside -orld, it moves u to us li0e a natural forceE it moves u to us li0e the force of crystallisation, li0e the magnetic force
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-hich goes out from the magnet and arranges the attern of the iron filings' 4i0e these forces -hich surround us in nature as reality the thought free of -ishes -or0s on our surroundings, on the reality around us' <no-ledge of our environment, 0no-ledge of our fello- men becomes fertile in Cuite different sense if -e have advanced to such thoughts disregarding our ersonal -ishes' Then that a ears -hich merges as a strength of thought of this develo ed human being into his fello- men' Then the thought a ears as an organising natural force -ith really unselfish human beings' About the great, true sages G not only -ith the scholars, but -ith those -ho brought -isdom to human0ind , it is told to us that they -ere healers at the same time that a strength -ent out from them -hich rovided hel , release of hysical and mental sufferings to their fello- men' This -as the case because they had advanced to such a develo ment through -hich the thought becomes a strength through -hich the mind can stream directly into the -orld' The 0no-ledge -hich is free of -ishes this -ay -hich is unselfish 0no-ledge -hich streams into the human being as the strength -hich, other-ise, only serves the self, such strength enables the human being to heal s iritually' 2nly in rinci le 5 can indicate the reconditions of such a s iritual healing' A recondition of the so@called s iritual healing in the theoso hical sense can be that the human being goes beyond his limited, everyday self' 5n a certain sense the human being has to eliminate his o-n soul@life if he -ants to become clairvoyant, a healer, e/tinguishing -hat belongs referably to him as a ersonality' Such a human being does not become com letely insensible and dull that -ay' 2 no, on the contrary, such a human being becomes sensitive in a higher sense and more sensitive than he -as before' Such a human being develo s a susce tibility -hich is not, ho-ever, that -hich the senses su ly in the everyday life, but he develo s a susce tibility of a much higher ty e' 5s the susce tibility of the human being lo-er than that of the lo-er animal -hich has a igmentation mar0 only instead of an eye by -hich it can have a light im ression at most; 5s it different -ith the human being because he transforms the im ression -hich he receives in the visual ur le into the erce tion of the colour in the environment; As the eye of the human being relates to the igmentation mar0 of the lo-er animal, the s iritual organism of the clairvoyant relates to the organism of the undevelo ed human being' The elimination of the ersonality is the sacrifice' The effacement of the ersonality releases the voice of s irit in our environment' The effacement of the ersonality solves the riddles of nature for us' 8e have to efface our soul@-orld' 8e have to overcome desire and grief in the everyday sense of the -ord' This is necessary to get to a certain 0no-ledge and higher develo ment' ,o-, ho-ever, an effacement of the o-n ersonality in certain sense is also necessary -ith a single tas0 -hich has an infinite im ortance for the everyday human life, -ith the human educational system' 5n every adolescent human being, from the birth of the child, through the develo ment years, it is the s irit in the innermost core of the human being -hich should develo E the s irit is hidden -ithin the body at first, it remains a secret -ithin the movements of the soul of the adolescent human being' 5f -e face this s irit, -e ma0e the adolescent human being de endent of our interests G 5 do not even -ant to say of our desires and assions, then -e let our mind flo- into the human being and -e basically develo -hat is in us in the gro-ing human being' But 5 do not even -ant to s ea0 of the fact that -e let our -ishes and desires be active -ith the education of an adolescent human being, but only that the educator lets s ea0 his mind only too often, yes that it is almost a rule that the educator as0s his reason above all -hat has to ha en concerning this or that education measure' But he does not ta0e into consideration that he has a gro-ing mind before himself -hich can form only according to its nature if it can develo according to this nature universally freely and -ithout restrictions, and if the educator gives it the o ortunity of this develo ment' 8e face a strange human mind' 8e must allo- a strange human mind to -or0 on ourselves if -e are educators' As -e have seen that in hy nosis, in the unusual state the s irit has a direct effect on the human erson, the develo ing mind of the child -or0s and must -or0 in another form directly on us if -e have the child before ourselves' 6o-ever, -e can develo this mind only if -e are able to e/tinguish ourselves, Bust as -ith other higher erformances, if -e are able G -ithout interference of our self G to be a servant of the human mind entrusted to our education if this human mind is given the o ortunity to develo freely' As long as -e allo- our selfish conce ts and demands to flo- against the mind, as long as -e set our self -ith its eculiarities against this mind, as long -e see this mind Bust as little, as the eye -hich is still involved in desire and grief sees the s irit of the environment clairvoyantly' 2n an everyday level the educator has to fulfil a higher ideal' 6e fulfils this ideal if he understands the mysterious, but obvious rinci le of the com lete selflessness and understands the effacement of the o-n self' This effacement of the o-n self is the sacrifice by means of -hich -e erceive the s irit in our environment' 8e erceive the s irit in unusual states if -e become free of desire and grief in unusual -ay' 8e erceive the s irit clairvoyantly if -e are -ithout desire and grief in the normal state, -ith full -a0ing consciousness' 8e lead the s irit in the right thin0ing if -e lead it unselfishly -ithin education' This unselfish ideal as an attitude -hich the educator has daily to strive for has to illuminate his -or0' But Bust because an immediate necessity of our cultural develo ment is in this field because in this field a true, unselfish attitude must be roduced for the ur oses of our culture, therefore, it is the field of the educational ideals above all -here theoso hy can a ear as something creative -here it can render human0ind a most valuable service' Somebody
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-ho is devoted to the theoso hical life -ho learns bit by bit to o en the senses to the s irit by the develo ment of selflessness has the best basis for a edagogic activity, and he -ill -or0 on the educational tas0 of human0ind in the theoso hical sense' The educator needs to follo- only this, above all' A art from that, he does not need to shotheoso hical dogmas or rinci les at every o ortunity' 5t does not de end on dogmas, rinci les and teachingsE it de ends on the life and on the transformation of the forces -hich flo- from selflessness and thereby from the erce tion of the s irit' 5t de ends on it and not on the fact that the educator has ta0en u the teachings of theoso hy' 6e is theoso hist because he sees something li0e riddles in every develo ing human life -hich a ears li0e a being before the soul -hom he has to develo as a mind, -hile he has to train the mind' A riddle of nature -hich he has to solve should be any gro-ing human being to the educator' 5f he is an educator -ith such an attitude, then the educator is a theoso hist in the best sense of the -ord' 6e is it because he a roaches any human being, any adolescent human being -ith a true, holy shyness and understands the -ords of Desus( ?anything you failed to do for one of these, ho-ever insignificant, you failed to do for me'A Fou did it to me, to God -ho has become a human being because you recognised and cultivated the divine s irit in the least of my brothers' Somebody -ho enetrates himself -ith such an attitude faces as a human being other human beings Cuite differently' 6e sees the divine s irit, the develo ing s irit in the least of his brothers' 6is relation to his fello- men fulfils him in another sense -ith seriousness and dignity, -ith shyness and res ect if he considers any human being as a riddle of nature, as a holy riddle of nature on -hich he must not intrude this -ay and to -hich he has to establish a relationshi , so that from this seriousness the res ect of the divine s iritual core may arise in every human being' 5f the human being has such a relationshi to his brothers, he is on the -ay, even if he is still so far a-ay from the goal' The goal -hich -e set in such a -ay stands before us in infinite distance' 6e is on the -ay -hich the theoso hical ethics indicate -ith the nice, great -ords( Before the eyes can see, They must be inca able of tears' Before the ear can hear, 5t must have lost its sensitiveness ''' ,ote( 5n"thing "ou failed 83 )atthe- 25(&# (Re)ised English Bible)' 4iteral translation of the Gree0 te/t( -hat you did to the least of my brothers, you did it to me'

/ourse I* " .ecture I# Theosophy and SpiritisSch-idt 0u-ber# S"(4 3

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Berlin ,ebruar" 1st, 190. The Cuestions of the origin and goal of the human soul have e/isted al-ays and at all times' 2ne counts these Cuestions among the religious, theological or theoso hical ones' But in ancient times the science of the everyday life -ent hand in hand -ith the investigation of the s iritual -orld' There -ere sages at that time -ho 0ne- not only the facts and la-s of the e/ternal nature and the science of the material life, but also the science of the s iritual life' 2ne could also rely on those -ho 0ne- the natural henomena and hysical la-s if one -anted to get information about the la-s of the s iritual life' At that time no one@sidedness e/isted -ith the s iritual leaders' Almost everybody of them had an overvie- of the -hole area of 0no-ledge, and robably nobody dared to deliver an authoritative Budgment in any scientific Cuestion, -e say, for e/am le, in the field of .oology, if he did not 0no- the higher Cuestions of the s iritual life at the same time' Since the !Hth century this has changed' There the religious roblems and the generally acce ted science o osed each other' This contrast bet-een faith and 0no-ledge, bet-een religion and 0no-ledge a eared the shar est in the !"th century' At that time the s iritual life had received another hysiognomy' Great naturalists ost one the da-ning of the scientific age to the thirties years of the !"th century' 2ne has ointed rightly to this age as one of the most e och@ma0ing of human0ind' 2ne has ointed -ith ride to erformances of the natural sciences -ith regard to the control of the hysical la-s and the 0no-ledge of the hysical rocesses in the !"th century' And one has said rightly that all the receding millennia together have not erformed so much in this field as the !"th century'
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6o-ever, a concomitant of this big, immense u turn is the lac0 of s iritual life' The harmony -hich e/isted in former times bet-een both sides of 0no-ledge got lost' Today the harmony bet-een the science -hich limits itself to e/ternal facts in the material -orld and the science -hich deals -ith the facts of the soul does no longer e/ist' 5t is something eculiar that Bust the science of the !"th century became absolutely o-erless concerning the big Cuestions of e/istence, concerning the Cuestions of the soul@life and s iritual life' 5t is strange that Bust in our time the big mass can no longer be led by the leaders of science to the higher humanities' Fou get no e/ lanation from those -ho investigate nature if you as0 them( -hat about the roblems of the soul; 8hat about the determination of the human being; G 2ne has called our age in -hich the things are in such a -ay the materialistic age' 2ur other-ise so erfect science limits itself to natural science, as far as it is to be carried out -ith the e/ternal senses, as far as it is to be calculated or to be e/ lored by combination of e/ternal sense@ erce tion' The 0no-ledge of nature and the 0no-ledge of the soul@life do no longer go hand in hand' 1onsider sychology, the science of the soul of our time' 5t is, as if it is attac0ed by a big inca acity' Go from university to university, from chair to chair( -hat you hear -ith regard of the life of soul and mind is absolutely o-erless in the face of the most urgent Cuestions of our e/istence' 5t is ty ical that the so@called soul researchers have a catch-ord -hich is as characteristic as only a catch-ord can be' Since :riedrich Albert 4ange, the historian of materialism, the catch-ord of ?the science of the soul -ithout soulA has become setting the tone' This catch-ord characterises the stand oint of sychology in the second half of the !"th century more or less, and e/ resses that the human soul and its Cualities are nothing else than the e/ternal e/ ression of the mechanical functioning of the sensuous natural forces in our organism' As -ell as the cloc0 consists of gear -heels and moves the hands -ith the hel of the gear -heels, the movement of the hands is nothing else than the result of urely mechanical rocesses, our soul@life -ith its -ishes, desires, ideas, conce ts should also be nothing else than the result of hysical rocesses, com arable to the for-ard movement of the hands in the cloc0E it should have its cause in nothing else than in the gears -hich move in our brain and -hich -ere made clear to us by science in such an e och@ma0ing -ay' ,othing of the brain hysiology should be criticisedE everything remains com letely and can be ac0no-ledged by nobody more than by me' But even if -e can say that the cloc0 is a mechanical engine and that -hich it erforms is a result of the mechanical gears, -e must not forget that in the roduction of the cloc0 a -atchma0er -as active' ?8atch -ithout -atchma0erA is an im ossible catch-ord Bust as ?science of the soul -ithout soul'A This is not a catch-ord, but it is something that mar0s the -hole -ay of research, of the thin0ing and the attitude of the !"th century -hich observes the soul eliminating the mind and e/ lains it only as a mechanism' */ lanation and attitude corres ond to this catch-ord' 6ence, it is also no miracle, if those -ho thirst from the dee est need of heart and soul for the ans-er of the Cuestions( -here does the human being originate from; 8here does he go; 8hich is the determination of our soul; G 5f those feel bored stiff of that -hich is resented as a scientific teaching of the soul by such eo le -ho should have a teaching of the soul' 5n the te/tboo0s about the soul one finds something entirely different from a teaching of the soul' 2ne is not sur rised if these try to satisfy their need of s iritual 0no-ledge non@scientifically Bust since the official science is so o-erless in the face of these Cuestions, and if this science of soul and mind ositions itself a art from the modern science of materialism -hich ma0es science deaf and dumbE deaf to-ard the e/ternal teaching, dumb if it should s ea0 about the soul' 2ur official science is o-erless in the face of the soul Cuestions, even if it has the good -ill' That is -hy, -here in science the Cuarrel bro0e out bet-een materialism and s iritualism as for e/am le bet-een 8agner and 7ogt, it did not end at all to the disadvantage of materialism' *verything that the materialistic researcher re lied to the s iritualist is com letely maintained, -hile that -hich the s iritualist brought for-ard -as Cuite untenable in the light of strict research' 8e see that even if the scholars had the good -ill to dee en the Cuestion about the human soul in terms of 8eber>s real s iritual science it has turned out hel less' 6ence, the -ords ? sychology -ithout soulA is also no mere catch-ord, because science really lost the conce t of the soul' 5f you -ant to as0 the most famous sychologists> advice, you find the same as -ith the hysiologist 8agner' The sychologists have nothing to say because they do not have an idea of the soul' They have ut about not only the catch-ord ?science of the soul -ithout soul,A but they have com letely lost sight of the being of the soul' This fact must be a reciated com letely if one -ants to understand the develo ment of the s iritistic currents' Since the origin and develo ment of the materialistic e och, -hich -as enthusiastically -elcomed by the ones -hich -as combated by the others on the liveliest, a counter@current e/ists -hich one calls the s iritualistic or s iritistic movement' Both belong together, as -ell as South 9ole and ,orth 9ole of a magnet belong together necessarily' Because the scientific researchers and leaders could not say anything about the soul, one turned to other researchers to hear something about the soul' Because the Cuestion of the soul -as so unsto able, all obBections -hich -ere done against s iritism fell on deaf ears' Today -e -ant to e/amine ho- -e have to behave from the theoso hical stand oint to the enthusiastic -elcomers and to the obBections of the o onents of s iritism' 5 resu ose that s iritism is a necessary henomenon' 8e have to realise first if -e study such a Cuestion that it does not concern an accidental, but a necessary henomenonE recognisable as necessary sim ly from its course' 8e com letely ignore at first that dilettantes have mainly occu ied themselves -ith s iritism and its henomena' 4et us loo0 at something different, namely at the fact that among the scholars researchers of
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the best re utation and significance -ere -ho sym athised -ith s iritism' Because this is the case, allo- me to refrain for the moment from the s iritualistic henomena, and to ma0e the develo ment of s iritism to a Cuestion of ersons -hich refers to those at first -ho have occu ied themselves -ith s iritism and certainly ossess a notable Budgment in s iritistic CuestionsE they have e/erted a dee influence also in the fields of natural science at the same time' These are scholars -ho could not be content Bust as many other eo le -ith the conce ts of a ? sychology -ithout soulA -hich their rofessional colleagues gave themE these are scholars -ho erformed much more in our modern science than the really materialistic researchers' There -e may robably ut the Cuestion( is it not of Cuite articular significance if a researcher of indubitable re utation, li0e the great *nglish chemist 1roo0es, did com letely commit to s iritism; 1roo0es, -ho has the biggest merits investigating the chemical basic la-s, the chemical constitution of our elements -ho did not only stand the test in scientific fields, but also erformed the best in ractical fields -ho ta0es a osition in science li0e fe- other eo le G this man concerned himself -ith s iritistic e/ eriments' 2ne believed to argue against him that he did not e/actly a roach his observations' 6o-ever, this obBection is of secondary significance, it only shifts the oint of Cuestion' Because it does not de end on that -hether 1roo0es e/ erimented e/actly, but -hether 1roo0es, the great chemist, 0neto -hich e/tent nature follo-s the sensuous la-s, to -hich e/tent these reach, and -hether they obstruct a sychology based on s iritualistic e/ erimentsE -hether the highest ossible scientific efficiency is not an obstacle for a man achieving scientific 0no-ledge in the fields of s iritism' 5t de ends on that( can 1roo0es be on one side the e/act scientific researcher for us if -e believe on the other side that -e have to doubt his researches in s iritual fields; This is almost in such a -ay, as if -e constructed a double 1roo0es, a )orning@ and an Afternoon@1roo0es to us' 5n the morning, if he concerns himself -ith his chemistry, he has a healthy intellectE in the afternoon, if he devotes himself to the investigation of s iritistic e/ eriments, he is cra.y' The fact that this is absurd ma0es sense immediately, ho-ever, is not admitted by the acce ted science' Another naturalist is the *nglish scholar 8allace, the founder of the theory of evolution' %ar-in and he found G inde endently of each other G the great thought of this theory, %ar-inism' 5f one studies his -or0s, one finds that he has dealt -ith the concerning Cuestion even more s lendidly than %ar-in himself' 6is merit in these fields is not denied' Because he stood u s o0en and -ritten for the reality of s iritistic henomena later, one also s lit him, so to s ea0, in t-o arts' 6e fights on one side for his scientific vie- and on the other side for his sychology -hich is similar to that of 1roo0es' *very-here you can find that he is sho-n as a oor lost because he occu ied himself -ith s iritism and su orted it' %-arf@li0e intellects sim ly rebel against the -ay of thin0ing and the attitude of these great men' The fact that also a researcher of s iritism can be on the high level of a naturalist, li0e the mentioned researchers, caused me to ma0e the matter a Cuestion of ersons at first' 5ndeed, the !"th century has the advantage over all former centuries that these e/ce tionally im ortant Cuestions are treated as scientific Cuestions' These researchers do not at all regard it as im ossible to e/ and the scientific research also to this area' Therefore, it may be also Cuite right to refer to them as authoritiesE because it does not de end on the Cuestion -hether anybody observed e/actly or ine/actly, but merely -hether they regard it as ossible or im ossible' The e/actness or inaccuracy of an e/ eriment can be ascertained later' 8hat -as made -rong can be corrected later under other conditions' This -ith regard to this 0ind of sychology -hile it de ends only on the Cuestion( can one dis rove this 0ind of sychology scientifically; 8e do not register a scientific sychology, and the -ea0est and most unim ortant -hat has been -ritten by the scholars in the course of the !"th century is -ritten against s iritism' Some o onents of my vie- may sit hereE they must admit one matter -ith unbiased Budgment( even if the -ritings should be right -hich are directed against s iritism, they all are trivial and unscientificE one may also be right if one states brainless stuff' After -e have recognised the s iritistic movement as a cultural@historical necessity this -ay, let us loo0 a little at the differences -hich e/ist bet-een the s iritistic movement and other attem ts of investigating the soul facts' Fou 0no- that there is a theoso hical current, a theoso hical movement since !=J5, -hich G Bust as s iritism since forty years G endeavours to confirm the truth that the material e/istence is not the only one, but that a higher e/istence is in the -orld that there are s iritual facts and beings -hich are not to be reached and investigated using the outer senses' Dust as s iritism dealt -ith the Cuestion of the e/istence of a s iritual -orld according to its methods, theoso hy also deals -ith these higher -orlds' 5t is a sim le historical fact that the founders of the theoso hical movement stood in the s iritistic movement before they realised that they had to -or0 in theoso hical sense' 6elena 9etro-na Blavats0y and 1olonel 2lcott, the great emissaries of the Theoso hical Society, -ent out from the s iritistic movement, and one even called the theoso hical association, -hich they established at first, a society of dissatisfied s iritists' They sought for
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nothing but truth in the s iritual fields, after they had gained the 0no-ledge that the theoso hical movement is right' They only changed the method of investigation, and -e -ant no- to tal0 about the reason -hy they changed it' 5t is the tas0 of all s iritists and of all religious movements to roduce evidence that there is a higher s iritual lifeE that in the human being something s iritual lives that the human being has a s iritual nature in himself that his life bet-een birth and death is only a art of the -hole human life, and that the human being is something else beside his hysical being' The s iritual researchers endeavour to roduce evidence of that' 5t is that -hich they have in common' They strive collectively for that, and in this goal they -ill also meet to constitute a necessary contrast to the materialistic current' 2ne can achieve truth not on se arate -ays, but only in full unity, in harmonious striving' ,ot only the common goal but also the 0no-ledge of the common origin of these t-o movements may contribute to this unity' 5t -as a common site of origin from -hich s iritistic movements as -ell as theoso hy too0 their starting oint' So not only the goal, but also the origin is the same' Those eo le 0no- this -ho are able to loo0 a little dee er into the internal driving forces of the s iritual movement' 8hat -e see e/ternally, -hat of the s iritual movement is immediately o en before our e/ternal eyes ha ens in the -orld of effects, not in the -orld of causes' The s iritual researcher 0no-s that the causes of something that ha ens before your senses are found in much higher s iritual -orlds' 8e gro e in the dar0 if -e -al0 in the sensuous -orld u and do-n, and have no idea -hat ta0es lace behind the scenery -here higher s iritual o-ers ull the strings of that -hich ta0es lace before our sensory eyes' Thus the s iritual researcher also recognises that s iritistic and theoso hical movements have a common origin' Somebody -ho ursues the develo ment of human0ind -ith o en s iritual eye 0no-s that there is a develo ment also -ithin the s iritual life of human0ind li0e -ithin the hysical nature' As -ell as there are -ithin the hysical nature beings -hich gro e in the dar0, and others -hich gro e in the dar0 and also hear et cetera, there are in the s iritual life all gradations bet-een the undevelo ed soul of a savage and the genius soul of Goethe or ,e-ton' 8e see -hich immense differences e/ist in the gradation of the develo ment of senses as -ell as in the scale of mental develo ment' There are highly develo ed beings among human0ind, and those -ho have found them are able to give evidence of them' These great beings are the leaders of the s iritual develo ment' They are not only G as Scho enhauer said G an ideal brotherhood -hich Boins the hands together through times, but a real community of beings -hich -or0 together' The theoso hist 0no-s about its e/istence and calls it the great brotherhood of the so@called ade ts' 8ho believes honestly in a develo ment must believe in this ossibilityE -ho has, ho-ever, e/ erience of it can give evidence that there are such beings' 8hen around the middle of the !"th century the materialistic turning oint too0 lace -hen the higher beings sathat a materialistic high tide must come u , they caused the counter@ ole' They did not criticise this materialistic movement at any moment' They 0ne- that the modern technology -ould thereby ta0e an immense u -ard trend, and this -as a necessity' That is -hy the materialistic movement should not be combated' 2nly -ith regard to the soul Cuestion a counter@ ole had to be created, a s iritual current, a s iritual -ave against the material one in human0ind' This s iritual -ave e/ resses itself at first in the a earance of s iritistic henomena' 5t should be sho-n to the human beings that there is something else than -hat natural science can sei.e -ith its means' Those brothers -ho 0ne- ho- to inter ret the signs of the time -ho -ere al-ays the leaders of human0ind sent the s iritistic tidal -ave about human0ind' They are -or0ing for centuries' 3n0no-n, misBudged, they -ill come to the fore in single individualities -or0ing e/tensively for human0ind' As long as the mass of human0ind could turn to the scientific leaders, as long as it could receive information about the burning soul Cuestions, ho-ever, those older brothers could lead the s iritual human0ind in concealed mysteries' Then they sent their scouts into the -orld on -ays -hich only the so@called occultist 0no-s' Somebody -ho really studies history encounters such s iritual influence -hich he does not 0no- ho- to e/ lain if he is only a materialistic researcher -hich become clear to him, ho-ever, if he turns to the right s iritual researchers' The situation changed in the !"th century' Dust because the scientific leaders failed, it -as necessary that obvious roofs of the e/istence of a s iritual -orld -ere delivered' ,o-, ho-ever, it became a arent that the three decades of the s iritistic movement from !=&# to !=J# caused Cuite different interests at first as one had intended' %o not argue that the -ise leaders can also be mista0en, because they -ould have had to foresee this other-ise' This is a matter -hich must be discussed in other -ay' 5t turned out at first that the interests connected -ith the s iritistic henomena -ere not intended' 2ne -anted to obviously sho- the fact that there is still a urely s iritual life beside the hysical one' 6o-ever, only interests of overly human, ersonal nature -ere nourished at that time' 5t -as the contact -ith the dead, -hich -as sought above all' But this -as not at all -hat the emissaries should bring to human0ind' The ur ose of these henomena -as not to satisfy human curiosity, even if of nice and noble 0ind' 6uman0ind should get 0no-ledge, insights -hich should lead it G using them correctly G to itself, to a higher, s iritual life' 3nfortunately, one sought for too much curiosity, and investigated the s iritual -orld in a -ay -hich cannot lead to the real urification of human0ind' This is the reason -hy the Theoso hical Society -as then founded'

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4et me ma0e a reference shortly -hat it concerns here' The human being is not created by urely natural forces' 8hat constitutes the human nature -hat forms the cover of the soul@life and s iritual life is not created by means of hysical strength' 8isdom created the -orld' 8isdom also created every human being' 5 resu ose this hereE it could be the tas0 of a articular lecture to rove it to you' That is -hy 5 only ma0e an outline today' Fou 0no- that no cloc0 comes into being by means of mere natural forces, but that human astuteness is necessary to roduce the necessary combinations' Those are right -ho say( if -e investigate the organism of the living body, -e find no God, no divine creativity, but only natural forces' They do not find the s iritual, creative forces' Already if you thin0 about that a little bit, you can get it clear to your mind' *ven if you study a cloc0, you can e/ lain it Cuite mechanically, and, in the end, you are forced to raise the Cuestion about the -isdom, about the human reason and about the -atchma0er -ho made it, and you cannot find him in the cloc0, too' 2ne sees from it( the Cuestion is ut -rongly' The com arison of the human organism -ith a cloc0 absolutely holds good, but it must be ro erly a lied' 5t is correct if one says( as little as a cloc0 and its cloc0-or0 can originate -ithout the mental influence of a -atchma0er as little as the human soul came into being -ithout the s iritual influence of its creator G this human soul -ith the resent consciousness, as -e 0no- it, -hich teaches us of the environment, -hich calculates, deduces, and informs us about our moral life' 5magine -hat -as necessary G 5 have to tal0 figuratively G to create the basis for this ea0 of the organic life, for the human mind -ithin this human organic develo ment' 5t is easy to imagine that these legitimate creators of the organism could have built only u to one of the lo-er ste s that they -ould never have been able to create this intricate human organism -hich -as to be used for the human soul as a useful tool' They had to reach a ea0 of their ca acity' 8e go bac0 to those times -hich receded the develo ment of the human soul in -hich the develo ment did not yet get to a human ea0' Then -e find that these beings are built u -isdom@filled, and it becomes clear to us at the same time that the forces -hich created these beings can be seen by us human beings Bust as little as the -atchma0er of the cloc0 can be seen' The human being 0no-s about the s iritual o-ers, forces and beings -hich carefully re ared this in -hich his soul lives as little as the mechanical cloc0-or0 in the cloc0 0no-s about the mental activity of the -atchma0er' S iritual forces -or0ed on the construction of our organism and are still -or0ing in us' Those forces -hich formed our organism so that it is able to breathe, to send blood through the veins, to digest that it concentrates substances and forces in the brain and ma0es the brain the suitable tool of the soul, until the human soul could come into being G still today these soul forces are at -or0' But as little as gravitation, as magnetism can be seen, as little -e see the forces -hich manifest themselves as our desires, assions, -ishes and im ulses, Bust as little -e can recognise the creative forces -hich -ere effective -ith the construction of the organism' 5magine the human being -ould not yet be at the height -here he has a clear consciousness' 5magine him being trans orted in that time -hen these forces of consciousness had not yet ta0en ossession of his organism' Before our highly develo ed brain could be built in the course of -orld evolution, other forms of the brain develo ed -hich are even today al-ays in us, covered and controlled by the highly develo ed erfect brain of the human being of our time' 5n an certain -ay G una-are to the human being G the s iritual creators of the -orld built u the nature of desires and im ulses of the human beingE that nature -hich the human being has -ith the animals in common to roduce the tool of the soul as their ea0' Still today these s iritual beings -hich built u us are activeE they are beside us, in us, and are as real as this lam is real here in the hysical -orld' 8e move in our hysical -orld and 0no- about the things of the -orld because -e have attained a clear consciousness' Round us many beings live -hich fell behind on former levels of e/istence' */actly the same -ay as the human beings advanced, certain beings fell behind and constitute a s iritual -orld for themselves' But also for them the develo ment -ill not come to a standstill' Dust as our consciousness develo ed to our height and clearness, their develo ment also advances' 2ne cannot deny further advancement to higher and higher levels to our consciousness' 6o-ever, if the human being has develo ed not only u to this clear consciousness, but to an even higher vie-, then -e recognise the s iritual -orlds again -hich al-ays surround us' Fou can receive 0no-ledge from the s iritual -orld surrounding us in double -ay' The first -ay is that -e investigate the condition of the human being after his clear consciousness has been eliminated' This clear consciousness is li0e a light -hich outshines the s iritual influence -hich is round us' 8e do not see it because our consciousness outshines it' 5f -e eliminate our consciousness, ho-ever, -e a roach the s iritual beings -ho -ere our creators before -e had the clear consciousness' Then -e attain the 0no-ledge that the develo ment does not advance straight ahead, but it ascends and descends in circles' 8hile -e eliminate our clear consciousness, -e move as it -ere bac0 to former stadia of our develo ment -here -e -ere more s iritual, -hereas -e stand -ith our consciousness above that s here today' 8e really come from a s iritual -orld, and this s iritual -orld has done in advance, so to s ea0, -hat can be the flat, the home of the soul in the hysical -orld' 8e a roach the divine being in certain res ect if -e lo-er the level a little -hich -e have reached' This is the -ay s iritism has gone'
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The other -ay is the -ay of the modern s iritual science, of theoso hy' Theoso hy tries to investigate the s iritual -orld not through elimination of the consciousness, but through higher develo ment of the consciousness' The ideal of the theoso hist is to attain 0no-ledge about the s iritual -orld surrounding us -ith erfect continuity, -ith maintenance of his clear consciousness' This is the difference bet-een the theoso hical student and the s iritistic medium' The medium delivers information of the s iritual -orld, but it is only a tool' 5t is the organ through -hich the s iritual -orld s ea0s' The theoso hical researcher tries to lift his clear consciousness to those heights -here he erceives this s iritual -orld again' The theoso hical researcher considers it as an restriction of the human inde endence, as an obstruction of the human right of self@determination if he should give u that level of clear consciousness -hich he has once reached in the course of develo ment and should trans ort himself bac0 to the state -hich he has already gone through in former hases of his develo ment' The truth -hich -e receive in a state of the lo-ered consciousness may be Cuite untouchable, no one may doubt the correctness of the results of s iritistic e/ eriments, ho-ever, the Cuestion -hether the method of research is right or ermissible is not thereby touched' 5t articularly de ends on it -hether it corres onds to the la-s of develo ment and the intentions of the cosmic o-ers if ste s are done again bac0-ard -hich nature has already done for-ard' ,ot -ithout reason ste s are done in nature, and, hence, the human being should also not trans ort himself bac0 to hases of develo ment -hich nature has already overcome -ith him' 8e do not -ant to investigate truth because of curiosity, not on -rong, underhand -ays, but merely on the -ay about -hich the lofty cosmic o-ers have instructed us, on the -ay -hich leads through our clear consciousness' 6ence, it is the striving of the theoso hical movement to hear not to those -ho reveal truth from the unconsciousness or subconsciousness, but to those -ho tell truth from full -a0ing consciousness' Somebody -ho stands in the theoso hical movement and has direct 0no-ledge of truth has investigated truth in no other -ay as maintaining the full -a0ing consciousness' 6e is not allo-ed to eliminate his consciousness for a moment' 6igher develo ment of the consciousness, full, clear beholding, as the ade ts have it, must be his striving' 5f -e have reached this goal, then -e fulfil our human determination' 8hy should -e believe the medium being in trance more than somebody -ho s ea0s from his clear -a0ing consciousness; Trust is necessary here and there' 6o-ever, it is more comfortable to investigate truth eliminating the consciousness, but the research method maintaining the clear consciousness is more humane' 6ence, the theoso hists have referred the latter -ay as the natural one, so that any -or0 out of the unconsciousness or subconsciousness is not -hat the theoso hical movement -ould have -ished' The theoso hical movement tries to get to the s iritual -orld out of the full, clear consciousness, and it realises that the human being is a s iritual being -hich is more or less inde endent of his body, de ending on his level of develo ment' 6ence, theoso hy turns to the incarnated human beings above all, to such human beings -ho, living in the body, can attain forces of s iritual beholding and become inde endent of their hysical bodies tem orarily, -ith full, clear consciousness' The human being inde endent of the body has the ossibility to obtain e/ eriences in the s iritual -orld, not because he returns to the times in -hich the bright -a0ing consciousness -as not yet develo ed, but because he ascends to times and eriods of evolution in -hich the consciousness -ill be higher than the average consciousness of the resent human beings' The medium is a reminiscent sign of ast times of evolution' 5n former times all human beings -ere media and had an astral erce tion, once they all could erceive the s iritual -orld' 6o-ever, from this astral consciousness our consciousness, our bright, clear -a0ing consciousness has develo ed gradually' 8ith the rise to the s iritual -orlds -hich all human beings -ill have to carry out, they -ill go G if 5 may say so G through this astral -orld again, become clairvoyant again' 6o-ever, this is only a transitory state li0e any develo ment state can be considered as a transitory state' 2ur earthly career is a lesson -hich -e must -or0 through -hich -e have to learn' Therefore, -e should also not become un-orldly, not hostile to the earthly matters, but com letely live in the earthly and should recognise the same forces, the same beings in the earthly -orld -hich -e erceive in the su er@sensible -orld, because these -or0 on our earthly -orld and on the human souls, and gain influence on the organisation of the earthly life that -ay' The bee allegory of the mystery riests of the ancient Greece -anted to e/ ress this' The bee allegory is therefore not -ithout significance for us, because the human soul -as com ared -ith the bees' As -ell as the bees are sent out from the beehive to the flo-ers to collect honey, the human soul is sent out from higher regions to collect e/ eriences in the earthly -orld' The realm of flo-ers is assigned to the bees, the earthly -orld to the human beings' 5t -ould not at all corres ond to their determinations if bees and human beings visited other fields of research, -ere active in regions -hich do not contain the material to be collected or to an unsuitable degree' Therefore, the theoso hical movement has made this allegory the allegory of its -or0 -hich consists, briefly e/ ressed, in the striving for the higher develo ment of 0no-ledge and of the clear consciousness to an encom assing one, so that it can also ta0e art in the life in s iritual -orlds' So the Theoso hical Society strives for a higher develo ment of the human beings' 5f it succeeds in doing so, those interests become active in the human nature and develo the human being further' 1uriosity should not drive us to get to 0no- anything of the s iritual -orld' 8hat -e learn has to give us the strength, the ca acity to arrive at the goal -hich is set to us by the cosmic o-ers'
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The s iritistic movement causes the consciousness in its follo-ers that there is a s iritual -orld' 5n this endeavour theoso hy and s iritism agree' But the method to arrive at this goal, as already e/ lained, is different' The reasons -hy the Theoso hical Society does not favour the research method of s iritism can be given -ith a fe- -ords( it is a big danger in the resent stage of our cosmic develo ment to eliminate the human consciousness' According to the -hole course of the cosmic develo ment the human being must -or0 -ith this consciousness on the earth' 5f he eliminates it, he is e/ osed -ill@lessly, unconsciously to the s iritual o-ers' An e/am le should ma0e this clear to you' 5t is a great difference -hether you go into a den of criminals -ith clear consciousness and bright mind and 0no- a lot about it, or -hether you go into it -ithout this clear 0no-ledge' 5t is not only in the e/treme case of the dive, it is every-here in the -orld that -ay' 8e must gras the things -hich move u to us -ith clear consciousness and mind' 8e must not become -ill@less tools, also not of the s iritual o-ers, because these could do everything imaginable -ith us' 5t is Bust that -hich contributed to inhibit the culture, the develo ment of media to such a high degree' The insight that the human being should contact the s iritual beings only maintaining his full, free self@determination is acce ted more and more by the leading s iritists, and it may be only a Cuestion of time that the other method of s iritual research, cultivated by the theoso hists, is also ado ted by the s iritists' The theoso hist and the s iritist strive for clairvoyance' Both are also tools, the theoso hical student and the s iritistic mediumE but only the s iritistic medium is -ill@less' Somebody -ho 0no-s the dangers can s ea0 about the immense o-ers facing him in that -orldE o-ers -hich have a destroying, ressing do-n effect on usE o-ers -hich have a beneficial influence on one side, on the other side a damaging effect' That -as rofitable to the human being -hen he still lived in his subconsciousnessE today this is inBurious to him' 5f -e leave ourselves -ill@lessly to the o-ers -hich formed us once, then -e are their tools for better or for -orse' This is -hy -e should never let cloud our consciousness' This has enabled us -ith our researches to recognise big truth, -hile the s iritistic researcher must fish more or less in troubled -aters' 8e have recognised -hat leads to the goalsE it has revealed -hat hinders us' Above all -e must learn to find the -ay in the s iritual -orld' 8e must ossess that 0no-ledge -hich ma0es this ossible -hich is the recondition of 0no-ledge in the s iritual -orld' 8ho -ants to become a com etent mechanic must study mathematics' 8ho -ants to be at home in the s iritual -orld and not to move staggering and -ill@lessly in it must have enetrated the theoso hical rofundities' 8hat the theoso hists have recognised in !=J5 -ill bring more and more s iritists gradually to their side' Both currents do not need to combat each other even if the research method is radically different as 5 have ointed outE they should balance out' 8hat the follo-ers of the one current have to offer, they may bring thisE -hat the follo-ers of the other current have to bring, they may lay do-n this on the altar of human0ind for the -elfare of the -hole' 6uman0ind is really su orted by both movements this -ay, -hile fight bet-een both directions could lead only to lose trac0 of the great goal' ,ot fight, but unity bet-een both movements is necessary -hich should lead to the common goal( to lift human0ind out of the materialistic current of the resent' 5m arting of the 0no-ledge of the s iritual -orld is necessary for that' 5m arting of the 0no-ledge of eternity and the true nature of the soul, as -ell as the ossibility to loo0 u again to the big s iritual o-ers of nature leading and sho-ing us the aths' 6o- fe- have so much self@0no-ledge that they understand the origin and the determination of the human being, the home of the soul, that they can find -hat gives sense and significance to life+ To receive that, the human being must have got to the conviction -hich Dohann Gottlieb :ichte e/ ressed -hen he s o0e of that s iritual -orld -hich o ens our eyes for the eternal( ?,ot only, after 5 have been torn a-ay from the connection of the earthly -orld, 5 -ill receive the entry into the su ernatural -orldE 5 am and live no- in it, truer than in the earthly oneE it is my only steady oint of vie- no-, and the eternal life, -hich 5 obtained long ago, is the only reason, -hy 5 may still continue the earthly one' 8hat they call heaven does not lie beyond the graveE it is s read already here around our nature, and its light rises in every ure heart'A ,otes( The translator uses the terms s iritism, s iritist etc' instead of the terms s iritualism, s iritualist etc' -hich are more common in *nglish@s ea0ing countries' Steiner uses the latter terms for the o osite of materialism, materialist etc' as it became usual since Allan <ardec (!=#&I!=H!) had differentiated these terms' Rudolf 8agner (!=#5I!=H&), German anatomist and hysiologist, adversary of hiloso hical materialism 1arl 7ogt (!=!JI!="5), German naturalist (.oology, geology) 9resumably Dose h von 8eber (!J5$I!=$!), German 1atholic clergyman and naturalist, in his boo0 )eta hysics of the Sensuous and the Su ersensible (!=#2)

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8illiam 1roo0es (!=$2I!"!"), *nglish chemist and hysicist, investigator of s iritism, theoso hist, member of the 2rder of the Golden %a-n Alfred Russel 8allace (!=2$I!"!$), British naturalist, 2n )iracles and )odern S iritualism (!=J&) Dohann Gottlieb :ichte, Cuotation from his -or0 The <ocation of #an, vol' $( :aith (!=##)

/ourse I* " .ecture II# Theosophy and So-na-bulisSch-idt 0u-ber# S"(43%

On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin #arch *th, 190. The to ic of this lecture should be a 0ind of su lement of that about -hich 5 s o0e here four -ee0s ago, a su lement on the to ic Theosoph" and Spiritism' Today 5 -ant to e/ lain something more e/actly that 5 could note at that time only indicating' 5n articular 5 -ant to s ea0 about the henomena of somnambulism -hich lead into mysterious fields of the human nature and into fields -hich are inter reted most differently from different sides' Fou robably 0no- -hat somnambulism is' This -ord should oint to certain conditions of the soul -hich a ear in the human being -hen in his everyday states of consciousness a certain change has ha ened, above all -hen the usual everyday consciousness, that consciousness -ith -hich -e erform our everyday actions -ith -hich -e get used to nature is not in full activity if it is eliminated, as it -ere, and the human being still acts emotionally, is still -ithin certain conditions of the soul' 8e understand as somnambulism any soul activity -ithout full activity of the everyday -a0ing consciousness, as it -ere from the de ths of the soul -hich are not illuminated by the daytime ego@consciousness' The human soul acts then from this dar0 de th, and it brings u actions from these de ths -hich differ very substantially from those -hich the human being accom lishes, other-ise, in the course of his life' 8e also 0no- that not any erson is suited to carry out soul actions -ith such effacement and elimination of the usual -a0ing consciousness' 8e 0no- that only those ersons -hom -e call somnambulists -ho can be trans orted into a 0ind of trance or dream state are able to sho- such henomena' These ersons are in a 0ind of unconscious condition, -hile such henomena arise from their nature, and one has inter reted these conditions in the most different -ay at different times' 5f -e trans ort ourselves once to the ancient Greece, -e see -hich inter retation such actions of somnambulistic ersons found in the ancient Greece at that time about -hich normally the Gree0 history tells to us' There -e meet the riestesses, the so@called oracle riestesses -ho -anted to ma0e 0no-n G from the de th of their souls under effacement of their daytime condition of consciousness G all sorts of things -hich -ent beyond the usual human 0no-ledge' *vents of the future should got out from such dee soulsE -hether im ortant state actions -hether im ortant legislations are Bustified or not, these oracle riests should decide about thatE briefly, one ascribed that -hich they made 0no-n to a divine ins iration' 2ne believed that the soul -hen the usual daytime consciousness is e/tinguished stands under divine influence and conveys the volition of the godhead itself' ,ot only those human beings enBoyed divine devotion -ho could be trans orted into such somnambulistic condition, but above all the revelation the riests made 0no-n' 5f -e go from this time of ancient Greece to-ards the end of the )iddle Ages, -e find another vie- and inter retation of such somnambulistic ersons' 8e see that such ersons -ere understood as being in alliance -ith all sorts of bad, diabolical, demoniacal o-ers' 8e see that that -hich they made 0no-n -as considered as something re rehensible, as something that can bring in only damaging, bad influence to the human life' 8e see that these ersons -ere rosecuted as -itches that they -ere rosecuted because of their devil alliances' Some of the dreadful cruelties to-ards the end of the )iddle Ages are to be attributed to this inter retation of the somnambulistic condition' 5n ne-er time on the other hand -hen in the outset of the !"th century, in the last third of the !=th century one began to study conditions of the human soul, there -ere some eo le -ho believed that one could gain higher e/ lanations of the human soul studying these conditionsE because our usual brain consciousness is eliminated and the senses are not rece tive to the outside -orld, they assumed that the human being is able to find out something about s iritual rocesses and beings -hich one cannot erceive -ith the usual senses' 2thers loo0ed at these conditions as only athological ones and understood them merely in such a -ay that one must eliminate them from everything that can be considered as Bustified for the normal human being' 5n the beginning in articular it -as science -hich reBected any inter retation, any
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e/ lanation of these henomena in its materialistic confidence and regarded them as sym toms, related to insanity in any -ay, not at all as anything else than Cuite abnormal matters' These are some inter retations -hich one has given of the henomena' :or us the Cuestion must be at first( ho- can be such henomena caused; G Because -e 0no- that some eo le get com letely by themselves to such a condition -here their usual -a0ing consciousness is e/tinguished -here they behave to-ards the outside -orld com letely as slee ing -here they understand nothing of that -hich ta0es lace in their surroundings -ith their regular senses -here they do not hear if in their nearness a bell sounds -here they do not see if in their nearness a light shines -here they are rece tive, ho-ever, in strange -ay to a articular influence, -e say, for e/am le, to the -ords of a certain erson' They see and hear nothing around themselvesE they are only rece tive to that -hich a single erson says to them or to im ressions of certain 0ind' Fes, they often are even more rece tive to the thoughts of a articular erson in the room in -hich they are' These are such henomena -hich a ear -ith certain eo le com letely by themselves every no- and then' Then -e say( such ersons are somnambulistsE they thin0, act, feel, erceive in a 0ind of -a0ing dream, in a 0ind of slee -hich is, ho-ever, a articular slee ing state that cannot be com ared -ith the usual slee to -hich the human being abandons himself every no- and then to get over the tiredness of the day' 8e also 0no- that -ith such somnambulists not only the erce tion, the sensitivity to certain states can a ear, but that such somnambulists can move on articular actions that they carry out actions -hich they could never carry out in their usual daytime consciousness' 8e e/ erience that they carry out rationally a earing actions to -hich, ho-ever, more belongs than the sense of direction of the usual daytime consciousness' 8e see them climbing on roofs, Bum ing over abysses -ithout antici ating any danger in -hich they are, over abysses over -hich they -ould never Bum , other-iseE -e see them carrying out actions -hich they -ould not be able at all to carry out if they are in their usual -a0ing state' These are only indications of such states at first' Such conditions can a ear -ithout any reason, but they can also a ear because a erson e/erts a articular influence on another ersonE they can a ear because the usual daytime consciousness is e/tinguished in a erson -ith the hel of articular mani ulations of another erson that the concerned erson is then trans orted into an artificial somnambulistic condition' Then such artificial somnambulists shothe same henomena as the natural ones' 2ne calls G -e do not consider e/ ressions as es ecially definite G that erson -ho can trans ort another erson into the somnambulistic condition a mesmerist if the somnambulistic condition is light, and one calls the erson magnetisedE one says that it is trans orted into a magnetic slee ing state' ,o- the Cuestion is for us the follo-ing( -hat do such henomena mean to the s iritual life, -hich role do they lay in the -hole interrelation of the s iritual life, and -hat can -e e/ erience by such henomena and -hat do they e/ lain to us about the being and the nature of the human soul and mind; 8e have to as0 ourselves( are such henomena actually such an abnormal matter that does not resemble to the other henomena of the everyday life; Then, ho-ever, the viecould ta0e lace -hich sim ly sees abnormalities in such henomenaE then the vie- of our doctors could ta0e lace, and -e -ould not receive articular information from them' ,o- the Cuestion arises( -hat do such henomena mean to the s iritual life, -hich role do they lay in the -hole interrelation of the s iritual life, and -hat can -e e/ erience by such henomena and -hat do they e/ lain to us about the being and the nature of the human soul and mind; 8e must as0 ourselves( are such henomena actually such an abnormal matter -hich does not resemble to the other henomena of the everyday life; Then, ho-ever, the vie- could ta0e lace -hich sim ly sees abnormalities in such henomenaE then the vie- of our doctors could ta0e lace, and -e -ould not receive articular information from them' The dream is often inter reted as something that flits only fantastically through the dream consciousness, as a 0ind of em ty imagination and one is hardly inclined to scrutinise the strange henomena of the dream -orld really' But, nevertheless, there -ere also finer s irits -ho -ere inclined to scrutinise these flitting ictures of the dream consciousness, and then one thing a ears above all( indeed, it is for the most dreams correct that in the dream an enormous irregularity and arbitrariness revails that -e deal mostly only -ith snatches of the -a0ing consciousness, of the recollections and ictures -hich have assed our consciousness during the day, and erha s of other things -hich are due to our hysical condition during slee , or also to certain sym toms and the li0e' This is the lo-est 0ind of dreams, these flitting ictures, subBect to com lete arbitrariness, -hich ass through the dream consciousness irregularly' But the attentive vie-er cannot esca e that already the most usual ersonal consciousness, if it is in the slee ing state, also has other dreams beside these irregular and arbitrary dreams, dreams -hich sho- a articular regularity' 5 -ant to dra- your attention only to single e/am les, -hich intensely illuminate this regularity -hich -e already find -ithin the usual dream consciousness' Fou have a -atch lying beside yourselves' Fou do not erceive the tic0ing of the -atch during slee E you dream of a regiment of soldiers assing outside your -indo- and hear the clatter of the horses e/actly' Fou -a0e and discover that you have heard the tic0ing of the -atch at this momentE since this continues in your
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consciousness' Fou have heard it, ho-ever, not as a tic0ing as your usual ear hears it, but it has transformed itself, has symbolised itself to the scatter of the horses of a assing cavalry regiment' G 2r a dream -hich has really ta0en lace( a farmerLs -ife dreams that she -ould go -ith another -oman to the city on Sunday morning' They go to the church and see the riest ascending the ul it and starting to reach' They listen longer time' There something Cuite strange soon becomes a arent( the riest transforms himself, he gets -ings, he changes into a coc0, he cro-s+ G This is a real dream -hich has ha ened' The farmerLs -ife -ho dreamt this -a0es and really hears the coc0 cro-ing outside' Fou see again -hat has ha ened( the ear has heard the cro-ing coc0, but it has not heard the real coc0cro- at first, but the dream consciousness has made a symbol of that -hich it has heardE it has transformed the coc0cro- symbolically into this -hole story -hich 5 have told to you' The dream consciousness s ins out such stories Cuite dramatically' Fou see that the sensory im ressions are not erceived immediately by the dream consciousness, but they are transformed to symbols, and the es ecially ty ical is that this dream consciousness really dramatises' 5 -ould li0e to mention another e/am le G a dream -hich has really ta0en laceE today 5 -ant to mention the right e/am les only -hich have been e/ erienced( a student dreams that he is at the door of the auditorium' 6e is bum ed by another' There develo s a verbal e/change -hich leads, in the end, to a duel' The student e/ eriences any re arations of the duel G a long story+ The duel really ta0es lace at the arranged lace, everything is there, the seconds are there, the first shot is fired, and the dreaming student a-a0es' 6e has u set a chair beside his bedE he has heard the chair to ling over, but not in such a -ay as it is, but this event has transformed itself li0e lightning into a Cuite dramatic action' This slee ing dream consciousness is a symbolising one -hich could be lighted u in its eculiar symbolising activity by countless e/am les' ,o- -e as0 ourselves( ho- does this everyday consciousness relate to that -hich ta0es action in the human soul, -hile it dreams; 2ur everyday consciousness does not immediately ta0e art of these dream actionsE for if the consciousness a ears in the dream, a 0ind of another ego a ears, a 0ind of dream@egoE because the dreaming erson can see himself, so to s ea0, he can face himself in the dream' 8e retain at first that a 0ind of s litting can ha en bet-een the dream@ego and the real ego that really the dreaming erson can observe himself Cuite obBectively among the different erce ts -hich he has in the dream' The situations in -hich this dream a ears are determined by the dream consciousness and com letely trans orted to the symbolic@dramatic action that ta0es lace' A higher level of this dream consciousness ha ens if -e e/ erience conditions of our o-n hysical inner life symbolically in the dream' Again 5 mention articular e/am les' Somebody dreams that he is in a musty cellar' 8ebs are in the ceiling and eerie beasts cra-l about' 6e a-a0es -ith headache' 6eadache has e/ ressed itself symbolically in this cellar' 2r another e/am le( somebody is in the dream in an overheated roomE he sees a red@hot stove, -a0es and has violent al itations' All these dreams -hich 5 tell you are really substantiated' 9articular organs of our inside, articular feelings for our inside symbolise themselves in the dream as articular events' Fes, one can say( for the one and same erson G -ho is able to observe on this field 0no-s this G a articular organ ta0es on a stereoty ed a earance -hich al-ays remains the same' Somebody -ho suffers from al itations, has al-ays the same dream, namely the dream -hich he has had once, let us assume that he sa- an overheated stove and the li0e more' So not only events and facts of the outside -orld, but also our o-n hysical body e/ ress itself allegorically in the dream' This is only a ste to that strange henomenon -here dreamers have illnesses before themselves symbolically by -hich they are infected or by -hich they are infected only in a fe- days' They erceive their o-n conditions during the dream consciousness' That ha ens, indeed, only -ith articular ersons -ho already belong to the somnambulists in a certain res ect' :rom there u to the other henomenon it is again only a ste that a eculiar 0ind of human instinct oints out a remedy or a necessary erformance to the full somnambulists' So the dream can really -or0 as a doctor, it can oint to the illness and to the remedy at the same time' 6o-ever, this ha ens only -ith articular ersons -ho already have somnambulistic dis ositions in a certain res ect' So you see that -e deal -ith a seCuence of conditions( from the arbitrary dream u to such Cuite regular dream erce tion controlled by articular la-s' *verything that 5 have sho-n u to no- is more or less dream erce tionE but from there a further ste leads to the dream actions' The most usual dream action is s ea0ing in slee ' 8e 0no- that it is a very freCuent henomenon that slee ers s ea0' Fes, -e 0no- that they sometimes give stri0ing ans-ers to articular Cuestions, sometimes also ans-ers from -hich -e see that they have not e/actly understood -hat -e have s o0en to them, or that that is more or less allegorically, symbolically transformed -hich one has s o0en to them, and that is the reason -hy the dreamer ans-ers that -ay' 2ne -ill observe this behaviour if one 0no-s to observe systematically'

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A further ste leads us then from dream s ea0ing to the dream actions as 5 already said in my introduction' The dreaming erson, in articular if he has a somnambulistic dis osition, moves on actions, he rises from his bed, sits do-n, -e say, if he is a student, to his des0 and o ens his school boo0s' But it also ha ens that stronger inclined ersons sit do-n and really 0ee on -riting -hat they have -ritten in the evening or at least co y something and the li0e more' These matters sho- us that a transition has ta0en lace from the mere erce tion to the real action, from the mere feeling to the -illing' There are ersons -ho G even though they can be trans orted into a very strong somnambulistic condition G get to erci ience only, and there are those -ho rogress relatively little -ith regard to erce tion, but can carry out fearless actions of that 0ind 5 have mentioned in the introduction' Such slee ing actions of somnambulistic ersons are carried out -ith a necessity -hich has an automatic character' 8e only need to remember that -e often carry out such automatic actions in the everyday life' 5f any s ecial light im ression -or0s on our eye, -e automatically close our eye' 2ur everyday life delivers numerous other actions of this 0ind about -hich -e do not thin0 further' *verything that -e accom lish -ithin our so@called vegetative hysical life, our digestion, our breathing, and our heartbeats are actions -hich -e carry out -ithout having a consciousness of them' 5n similar -ay -e carry out reasonable actions during the somnambulistic state, and such actions result from articular e/ternal stimuli -ith absolute necessity' ,o- -e must as0 ourselves( ho- have -e to understand such henomena; Fou 0no- erha s that there are many eo le -ho are really of the o inion that -e can eavesdro on the soul inde endently of the body in such actions that -e have to regard such actions as roofs that the soul can erceive inde endently of its hysical organs li0e eyes and ears, can act inde endently of conscious reflection' A lot of eo le believe that -e have to regard such actions as a much more immediate e/ ression of the soul -hich is detached there as it -ere from the hysical and acts and erceives directly from the s iritual' 8e -ant to as0 ourselves ho- -e have to consider such henomena in the light of our theoso hical vie-' Theoso hy sho-s us that the human being is not this single, isolated being -hich usually a ears to us, but that he is connected by means of countless threads -ith the universe' Theoso hy sho-s us above all that the human being has various things in common -ith nature that he has various things in common also -ith the other -orlds -hich our everyday senses do not erceive, and -e can understand the actions, about -hich -e have s o0en, best of all if -e loo0 at the entity of the human being in the theoso hical light' 4et me, therefore, briefly indicate -hat theoso hy teaches about the entity of the human being' Theoso hy can consider the hysical body -ith all its organs, including the nervous system, the brain and all senses, according to its observation only as one of the members of -hich the com lete human being consists' This hysical body contains substances and forces -hich the human being has in common -ith the -hole remaining hysical -orld' 8hat ta0es lace in us as chemical and hysical rocesses is nothing else than -hat also ha ens outside our body in the hysical -orld' But -e have to as0 ourselves( -hy do these hysical and chemical rocesses ta0e lace -ithin our body in such a -ay that they are combined to a hysical organism; ,o hysical science can give us information about that' ,atural sciences can teach us only of that -hich ta0es lace in hysical and chemical rocesses in us, and, indeed, it -ould not be a ro riate if the naturalist called the human being, therefore, a strolling cor se because he as an anatomist can discover nothing but hysical in the human body' Something must be there that holds together the chemical and hysical rocesses, and arranges them as it -ere in the form as they ta0e lace -ithin the human body' 8e call this ne/t member of the human being the etheric double body in theoso hy' This etheric body is in any human being' Somebody -ho develo s a certain clairvoyant ca acity can behold this etheric bodyE the clairvoyant can behold it the easiest' 5f a erson stands before you and you are a clairvoyant, you are able to ut the usual hysical body out of your mind' Dust as you can do it in the everyday life -ith things -hich are before you and to -hich you do not direct your attention, you are able as a clairvoyant to not direct your attention to the hysical body' Then, ho-ever, there remains in the s ace, -hich the hysical body has filled, still the -hole hysical a earance in the form of the double body -hich resembles the e/ternal hysical body very much' 5t has a very luminous colour -hich resembles the colour of each@blossoms' This etheric double body holds together the hysical rocesses' At death the etheric body leaves the hysical body -ith other higher members -hich -e get to 0no-' The hysical body is handed over to the earth and carries out nothing but hysical rocesses' The etheric double body causes that this does not ha en during life' 8ithin this etheric double body, even to-ering above it at different sides, is the third member of the human being, the so@called astral body' This astral body is a 0ind of image of our im ulses, our desires, our assions, our feelings' 5n this astral body the human being lives li0e in a cloud, and he is very -ell discernible for the clairvoyant, -hose s iritual eye is o ened for such a earance, as a luminous cloud -ithin -hich the hysical body and the etheric double body are' This astral body is different -ith a erson -ho al-ays follo-s his animal@li0e drives, his sensual ro ensitiesE there it sho-s other colours, other cloud@li0e formations than -ith a erson -ho has al-ays lived s irituallyE it is different -ith a erson -ho indulges in egoism, from that of a erson -ho devotes himself in unselfish love to his fello- men' Briefly, the life of
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the soul finds e/ ression in this astral body' But it also asses on the real sensory erce tion' Fou can never loo0 for the sensory erce tion in the senses themselves' 8hat ha ens if the light of a flame meets my eye; The so@called etheric -aves move from the source of light in my eye, they enetrate into my eye, they cause certain chemical rocesses in the bac0ground of my eyeball, they transform the so@called visual ur le, and then these chemical rocesses s read in my brain' )y brain erceives the flame, it gets the light im ression' 5f another could see those rocesses -hich ha en in my brain, -hat -ould he erceive; 6e -ould erceive nothing but hysical rocessesE he -ould erceive something that ha ens in s ace and timeE ho-ever, he could not erceive my light im ression in my brain among the hysical rocesses' This light im ression is something else than a hysical im ression -hich forms the basis of these rocesses' The light im ression, the icture -hich 5 only must create to myself to be able to erceive the flame is a rocess -ithin my astral body' Somebody -ho has a visual organ to be able to erceive such an astral rocess sees e/actly the hysical henomena -ithin the brain transforming in the astral body into the icture of the flame -hich -e e/ erience' 8ithin these bodies, -hich 5 have mentioned to you, -ithin the hysical body, the etheric double body and the astral body, is our real egoE -hat -e call our ego in -hich -e become conscious saying( -e are it' This ego has higher arts again about -hich 5 do not -ant to s ea0 today' This ego uses the other members of the human being as its tools' 5f -e understand this com osition of the human being, this can also give us a articular vie- of the henomena -hich -e find -ith somnambulists' 8hat ta0es action then if -e are in our usual -a0ing consciousness; A light im ression is caused because oscillations of the ether come to my eye and are transformed by the astral body into a icture of light, and one understands this icture as a mental ictureE that is -hy 5 realise this icture' ,o-, ho-ever, -e assume that my ego is eliminatedE in the usual slee such an elimination of the ego is to be noticed' Today 5 do not -ant to tell -here this ego is to be sought forE but if -e have a slee ing erson before ourselves( -hat do -e have before ourselves; 5n the true sense of the -ord only somebody -hose s iritual eye is o ened can give information about thatE he e/actly beholds the ego together -ith the astral body being lifted out of the hysical body and the etheric double body' But everybody has this as a henomenon before himselfE everybody 0no-s that during slee the everyday ego, the ego of reality is eliminated, and that the hysical body and the etheric double body, -hich hold it together, are left to their o-n resources' %uring our usual day life our ego, our consciousness is al-ays resent -hen -e receive the im ressions of the outside -orldE the daytime ego al-ays controls these im ressions of the outside -orld' 5f this ego is eliminated, -e also receive these im ressions of the outside -orld er etually' 2r do you believe if a bell sounds beside you, -hile you are slee ing, that then this bell causes no oscillations in the air -hich enetrate into your ear; %o you believe that your ear is differently constructed at night than during the day; This is not the case' *verything that ta0es lace in the hysical body during the day also ta0es lace in the slee ing human being' But -hat is missing; The ego@consciousness does not enetrate the human being, this is missing' 8e can sho-, so to s ea0, e/ erimentally in natural -ay -hich conditions revail bet-een the single members of the human being, -hich 5 have stated' 5 -ould li0e to give you a sim le e/am le -hich one can ma0e easily -ith every somnambulist' 5magine that a somnambulist gets u at night, sits do-n to his des0, 0indles a candle and tries to -rite' ,o- you do the follo-ing( you illuminate the room Cuite brightly using ten lam s for instance G the e/ eriment -as done G and the erson concerned 0ee s on -riting calmly' ,o- you e/tinguish one flame, the small candle flame -hich he has ut beside himself, and he does not 0ee on -riting, he feels as dar0E he ta0es a match, 0indles the candle, then he feels it again as a light and can go on -or0ing' The other lighting around him does not e/ist for him, only the flame is there for him -hich he has ta0en u in his dream consciousness' The -hole remaining sea of light does not e/ist for him' Fou see that it is necessary that the human being enetrates his organs of erce tion from -ithin in a articular -ay, infiltrates them, so to s ea0, so that the e/ternal sense@ erce tion can ta0e lace' 5t is not only necessary that -e have eyes and ears, but it is necessary that -e enliven that from -ithin -hich eye and ear deliver to us that -e o ose something from -ithin that transforms it into ictures, into mental ictures and that is -hy it e/ists for us' 5n the everyday life it is our ego, our bright, -a0ing consciousness -hich offers resistance of o-n accord, as it -ere, from -ithin to the outside -orld' 8e need that to lift out the im ressions and to ma0e them our im ressions of consciousness' 5magine this consciousness being e/tinguished' 8hat is then still in activity; Then the hysical body, the etheric double body and the astral body are still in activity' ,o-, indeed, this astral body can transform -hat it receives from -ithout into ictures but not into mental ictures, is not ta0en u into the -a0ing consciousness' Thus the astral body of the human being transforms such im ressions into ictures -hich surround him, either in irregular -ay or in regular -ay if the ego is resent, so to s ea0, at this -hole rocess' 5n such a contact -ith the outside -orld is the astral body, the soul of the erson -ho is in a somnambulistic stateE yes, in a similar state is already the soul of a dreamer' 8e have only to ma0e a distinction bet-een both 0inds of dreams -hich 5 have stated( the irregular dreams -hich mostly enetrate the dream consciousness of the human beings, and the nice, dramatic, symbolic dreams' 8ith the irregular dreams it -ill be the etheric double body -hich is above all active
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and conveys the contacts -ith the outside -orldE -ith the dreams, ho-ever, -hich run in symbolic, dramatic -ay, it is the astral body of the erson -hich symbolises the outer im ressions, e/ resses them allegorically and transforms them into a Cuite dramatic dream' 2nly because in the resent level of develo ment our daytime ego is minded more realistically because -e rely in our daytime consciousness above all on our deducing, calculating reason, therefore, any single sensory sensation a ears to us to be lin0ed -ith the others as Bust this is the case in the -a0ing consciousness' 6o-ever, -e can imagine other states of consciousnessE -e can imagine that the human being loo0s dee er into nature' Then this urely rational vie- also comes to an end' This is Bust again the case of the higher 0inds of soul@life' These should concern us less todayE but -hat must occu y us today above all is the Cuestion( ho- is it ossible that the human being sho-s regular actions, certain sychic henomena in the somnambulistic state, -hich is an increase of the usual dream state; 2ne can understand that only if one does not consider the human being as an isolated being, but in connection -ith the -hole remaining -orld according to the theoso hical -orld vie-E that one realises above all that outside us in the remaining -orld not only dead matter e/ists, but that in the outside -orld higher forces are active' The human being normally does not ut the Cuestion to himself( -hy do -e find the la-s, the conce ts and ideas in the outside -orld -hich -e have e/cogitated in our mind in a lonesome t-ilight hour; The human being mostly does not get the most significant henomena clear in his mind, henomena -hich thro- the brightest light on the nature of the human being' 6o-ever, thin0 only once about the fact that the mathematician sits in his room, mulls over the Cuestion -hat is a circle, an elli se that he finds this la- of the elli se, of the circle -ithout observation of anything outside him and illustrates them on a er, and then after he has roduced these la-s out of himself, he finds these la-s in the orbits of the lanets and in other henomena of the outside -orld' 5t is that -ay -herever one goes in our s iritual life' The la-s -hich our mind thin0s u in the loneliness are the same la-s -hich also control this outside -orld' 5f -e call that -hich the human being thin0s u -isdom, so -e must say( -isdom becomes a arent in the human ego and outdoors in the -orld -e find that the things are built in the same -ay in -hich the human being can recognise them using his thin0ing' But -e find if -e more e/actly loo0 at the -orld that this -isdom of the -orld e/cels even a lot of that -hich the human being can thin0 u and concoct' 5 give some e/treme e/am les( ta0e the erformances of the beavers' The erformances of the beavers are of really astonishing 0ind, not only that their dens are true creations of an instinctive architecture -hich could not be more erfect if one erected them according to all rules of mechanics and engineering' ,o, they deliver something else( they rotect themselves in their hiding laces by means of dams -ith -hich they 0ee the -ater a-ay, accelerate or slo- do-n it in certain -ay' These dams are built in such a -ay against the o-er of the -ater that an engineer -ho has learnt long to get to 0no- the mechanical rinci les according to -hich one must ma0e such an arrangement best of all could not ma0e them better' Fes, they are built in such a -ay that one can calculate from the inclination of these dams and from the angles -hich s eed or o-er the flo-ing -ater has' They are constructed in such a -ay that the engineer could not calculate them better in his engineering firm using his science -hich a lot of human thoughts and endeavours has roduced' ,o- another e/am le( consider a usual human femur' This femur is, if you loo0 at it -ith the microsco e, no com act structure li0e a iece of mortar, but the bone seems to be fragile, a com osition of delicate formations -hich are built u li0e a Cuite delicate frame and scaffolding' A net-or0 of fine bone trabeculae is built u E these are inter-oven and su ort each otherE and if one study this -hole net-or0 of bone trabeculae, one erceives a strange -isdom of nature -ith the construction of such an organism' 5f one -anted to build, for e/am le, a scaffolding -hich should su ort the single arts of a frame in such a -ay that one achieves the greatest ossible effect -ith the slightest e/ enditure of energy, one could not ma0e better than nature in its -isdom has constructed such a femur from countless small bone trabeculae -hich hold and su ort each other' Fou find the -isdom that the human being can invent after many mental efforts in any single art of nature' 5f -e could study nature, -e could our out our mind over nature, so that -e could erceive in nature outside, then -e -ould erceive nature not as a roduct by chance, but as the result of infinite -isdom' 5magine instead that the calculating reason erceives the im ressions of the outside -orld through the gates of the senses and can only thin0 about that -hich it erceives from -ithout, imagine instead that you -ould have no senses, but the reason -ould be oured out as it -ere over the -hole nature' Fou -ould not erceive the effects of the things on our senses but the being of the things themselves, then you -ould stand in the -isdom of nature, then you -ould be a art of the -ise nature' 2ne can attain this really, if our -a0ing consciousness is eliminated' 2ne attains that -ith somnambulists as 5 have suggested no-' 5 said that one may imagine that our reason, our consciousness forces its -ay from our brain and enetrates the -isdom of nature in any of its erformances and facts' Because -e have such clear, -a0ing consciousness, -e are secluded from the remaining natureE that is -hy -e must receive the im ressions of nature through the gates of our senses' 6ere is the flame, it ma0es an im ression on my eyeE the eye is the gate through -hich the im ression gets to my consciousness' )y consciousness causes the mental ictures
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from -ithin' 5 am secluded from the outside -orld because 5 have sensory gates, and this outside -orld must enter through the sensory gates into my consciousness first' 5 am in the situation in my consciousness com ared -ith the remaining -orld li0e somebody -ho stands on a meado- and has a vie- in all directions and then enters a small house and ta0es note of everything that is on the meado- only through the -indo-s of the small house' Thus is the -isdom of the -hole nature -hich -e erceive in every bone, in every lant -hich a ears from the starry heaven do-n to the microsco ic smallest article of the body' This -ise nature has entered as it -ere into our consciousness as in a single oint and has erected the shell of our organs -ith their sensory gates round us' 2ur consciousness is secluded from this being outside and can ta0e u the being outside only through the sensory gates' 6o-ever, if you eliminate the consciousness, then you get contact, then you live really again connected -ith the outside -orldE because the astral body is not se arated from the remaining -orld li0e the ego, your immediate consciousness' ,o, every-here astral threads run out in all directions, so that you -itness the life of the -hole outside -orld and not only that of the hysical nature, but also the astral and s iritual rocesses -hich are er etually around us' 8e erceive them if our consciousness is eliminated' 8hat -e remember, thin0 u and deduce a ears in the somnambulistic state immediately as a henomenon -hich the outside nature leads in' As -ell as you see no star in the s0y during the day -ith the bright sunshine, -hile, nevertheless, the -hole s0y is covered -ith stars because the bright sunshine outshines the light of the stars, it is the same -ith our bright -a0ing consciousness' 8hat e/ists in our hysical or astral bodies is a -ea0 light, are -ea0 rocesses -hich the bright -a0ing consciousness dro-ns out' 5f -e e/tinguish this, it -ill become visible -hat ta0es action in the lo-er bodies li0e the stars become visible if the sun does no longer shine' 5n such circumstances are somnambulistic ersons and, therefore, -e have to realise that the erson is in a closer, more immediate connection -ith the remaining nature if a somnambulistic state ha ens' 5t is in such a -ay to use a nice e/ ression of the German thin0er Stilling -ho characterised this circumstances -onderfully at the end of !=th and outset of the !"th century( ?if the sun of the bright daytime consciousness sets, the stars shine in the somnambulistic consciousness'A ,evertheless, -e have to as0 ourselves( can -e rely on these henomena -hich a ear during the somnambulistic state; They are true henomena, they concern a realityE but this reality a roaches us -ith e/clusion of the organ -hich the human being has develo ed gradually, so that he can orientate himself in the -orld, -ith e/clusion of his bright daytime consciousness' A state is really caused in the human being -hich reveals something to him that remains, other-ise, concealed but -hich do-ngrades him from a level -hich he got once' Because -e 0no- as theoso hists that the states -hich the human being reaches this -ay and -hich should allegedly be ?higher,A are really states -hich he has gone through before he attained his resent full human consciousness' 5 cannot e/ lain that to you todayE but Bust as the scientific theory of evolution sho-s us the urely hysical evolutionary rocesses, theoso hy sho-s us that the human beings gradually got to the level -hich they have today' This consciousness, through -hich -e orient ourselves in our environment, only a eared after -e had gone through other states of consciousness in millions of years of slo- develo ment' The human being had a 0ind of dream consciousness before he develo ed this bright daytime consciousness in himself' At that time he -as really a being -hich did not erceive the rocesses round itself in the -ay as -e erceive them -ith our bright daytime consciousness, but everything round us -as symbolised, as -ell as the dream symbolises even today' A big number of the legends -hich are still reserved come from such times in -hich the human beings -ere still near this dream consciousness and formed these symbolic legends' About that you can find more recise information in a very interesting boo0 of my deceased friend 4ud-ig 4aistner -ho collected the different forms of legends of the -orld and sho-ed ho- these legends -ere -or0ed out from a symbolising human consciousness not yet a-o0en to the daytime consciousness' There some legends are really attributed to such states of the somnambulistic consciousness' 5f -e go bac0 even farther, -e get to lo-er and lo-er states -hich -ere, ho-ever, closer to nature and to the starting oint of the hysical evolution at the same time' 8hen the human being began as a -ish of the divine being at first, he -as generally in a 0ind of dee trance' At that time the -hole human0ind -as in a 0ind of dee trance, in a similar trance in -hich today those somnambulists can be -ho can be trans orted into the dee est, so@called magnetic slee ing states' The human being has gone through all these states once, and no- -e are in the eriod of the bright -a0ing consciousness' This is even a transitional state -hich leads us to that ability -ithin the -a0ing consciousness that the human being had in former times but -ithout the -a0ing consciousness, because it -as not yet develo ed' This is the future course of human develo ment( again ouring out the s irit on nature directly to become clairvoyant -ith full -a0ing consciousness' Some among us -ho have develo ed their inner organs using certain methods -hich theoso hy gives are already ahead of the develo ment and able to loo0 really -ith full -a0ing consciousness into this -orld of the beings and the s iritual life -hich surrounds us' Today certain individualities are already among us -ho are,
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so to s ea0, again free of the gates of the senses -ho are in immediate contact -ith the s iritual environment' 2n account of their clairvoyant ability they e/ erience the higher facts -ith full -a0ing consciousness -hich are closed to the usual consciousness as -e go through bet-een tables and chairs, -here they erceive the s iritual -orld round themselves, -hich surrounds us at every moment' The theoso hical teachings flo-ed from such vie-s' The somnambulistic consciousness delivers similar teachings in certain res ect, and -hat a somnambulistic erson can see after elimination of the bright -a0ing consciousness is often the same that the clairvoyant sees -ith his bright -a0ing consciousness' But the somnambulist can never control -hat sheThe seesE the somnambulist never is able to control -hat sheThe tells you about s iritual rocesses in the environment -hat sheThe tells you about erce ts -hich one cannot see by means of the senses' 6eTshe cannot even control -hether that -hich heTshe erceives is really true, as sheThe erceives it' The strangest delusions may ha en to the somnambulists' Fou can stand before this somnambulist and can say to herThim that you are a erson living at another lace' The somnambulist -ill believe this absolutely, -ill have the true im ression that you are that man as -hom you ose' The somnambulist believes it, and this becomes the danger' 5f the somnambulist informs us not only about such easily controllable matters, but if the somnambulist informs us about the higher -orld -hich -e cannot erceive -ith the senses, about the so@called astral -orld or about the higher s iritual -orld, then it can ha en that the somnambulist says to you that sheThe erceives any deceased erson' 5ndeed, the somnambulist erceives a s iritual fact, sheThe erceives a beingE but it does not need to be right that this being is the deceased erson in Cuestion' This can be another being, a being -hich generally has nothing to do at all -ith a usual earthly being' 5t may be a being -hich lives in the astral -orld and has never entered into an earthly -orld' Briefly, the somnambulist can never convince herThimself because heTshe does not have the controlling consciousness -hether the im ression -hich heTshe had is the right one' This is a danger for the somnambulist, above all a danger -hich the astral -orld immediately offers if one enters it' This astral -orld has G 5 can say this only by -ay of a hint G Cuite different conce ts, for e/am le, of good and bad, 2ur earthly -orld has conce ts of good and bad -hich are adBusted to our sensuous states' The astral -orld has another good and bad' 5f no- the somnambulistic erson erceives in the astral -orld, his conce ts of good and bad are sha0en very easily, and this is the reason -hy somnambulistic media that inform you in the beginning really only about true matters out of this somnambulistic state of consciousness can be ruined thoroughly in time, so that they can im ossibly distinguish dece tion from reality' 5t is a matter of course for somebody -ho 0no-s these higher realms that he does not resu ose that the medium has cheated, even if the facts are not correct' A mediumistic -oman may go, for e/am le, to the ne/t best corner sho G this is a case of -hose truth 5 have convinced myself, she is in such a somnambulistic state, that her ego@consciousness, her -a0ing consciousness is e/tinguishedE she buys a small icture of a saint -hich she uts in her oc0et' Then she gets out of this somnambulistic state and has no notion -here she got the small icture from' 4ater she gets G the somnambulistic states are of very intricate 0ind G again in the trance state and roduces the small icture as something that she has brought in from the su er@sensible -orld to this -orld' The somnambulistic -oman, the medium, never has a notion of the fact that she herself bought this small icture or in -hich -ay she got it' She is absolutely honest in the usual sense, although the fact is a feigning' Thus the case can ha en because of the influence -hich is e/erted on such a somnambulist after the elimination of the -a0ing consciousness that a dece tion ta0es laceE ho-ever, the medium needs not to be a s-indler, but she may be com letely intact and honest' This sho-s you that -e can do nothing but to osition ourselves on the theoso hical oint of vie- if -e consider the Cuestion of somnambulism Theoso hy and the theoso hical movement are of the determined vie- that one should enter the higher s iritual -orld, -hich can also be made accessible to us by somnambulists, only in the resence of a clairvoyant -ith a -a0ing consciousness -ho 0no-s ho- to get used to the s iritual -orld, -ho 0no-s a lot about the s iritual -orld li0e about the hysical one' Therefore, theoso hy demands that if e/ eriments -ith media should be done G and, indeed, conditions may ha en -here this is recommended G that they ta0e lace only in the resence of a erfect e/ ert, of a clairvoyant -or0ing -ith -a0ing consciousness -ho can have an overvie- of everything that ha ens there really, -hile the medium and normally also those -ho e/ eriment -ith the medium are not able to have an overvie- of this' Such mediumistic henomena do not involve a danger at any rateE but -e have seen that this danger may result because the sense of direction is missing' *very clairvoyant -ho -or0s -ith -a0ing consciousness 0no-s at any single moment -hat ta0es action and -hat a somnambulist sees really, even though sheThe retends to see something elseE he 0no-s -hich influence really ta0es lace, even though the somnambulist retends that this or that influence ta0es lace' This is Bust the difference bet-een s iritual science and other similar attem ts' 5 -ould not li0e to doubt the truth of the other attem ts in any -ay, but its reality also a lies, of course, as -ell as it a lies to other attem ts' Because such e/ eriences cannot achieved in one go, because it is im ossible that a com lete ideal is realised at every oint in time, therefore, theoso hy does not regard as its
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tas0 to combat other s iritual attem ts li0e the e/ eriments -ith somnambulists, because one 0no-s that these e/ eriments roduce the same result in the end( the conviction of a s iritual -orld round us' But the theoso hical movement itself tries only to erform under the ideal of the conscious clairvoyance -hat it has to do in accordance -ith other s iritual movements' 5n accordance -ith other s iritual movements it -ants to -or0, it -ants to loo0 at the other s iritual movements as its brother movements' 5t is ready any time, if it is as0ed for advice -hether this and that is real and true in this or that sense, to give this advice' 6o-ever, it -ill let all s iritual attem ts be carried out only under the aegis of the e/ ert clairvoyance' This a lies to the s iritistic li0e other s iritual attem ts' 2ccult researches are to be carried out for the ur oses of theoso hy only under the influence of individualities -ho can have an e/act overvie-, in conscious -ay -hat it concerns' Also one is allo-ed to heal s iritually only in such a -ay as one heals hysically( -ith full conscious overseeing the concerning circumstances' Theoso hy loo0s at the somnambulistic henomena that -ay' Fou see that the theoso hical vie- defers some-hat from the su erficial e/ternal vie- -hich sees in the somnambulistic henomena nothing else than athological, abnormal henomena to be reBected, and it also has some-hat different vie-s of these henomena than those have -ho believe only on account of them to get to 0no- the higher s iritual life' Theoso hy 0no-s -here these henomena come from' 5t can inform of these henomena using its clairvoyance' 5t considers the other attem ts and movements, ho-ever, -hich are related to these henomena in the sense that they regard them as manifestations of the s iritual life as brother movements, -ith -hich it strives for the same goal( to give a s iritual, a really idealistic -orld vie-, a true 0no-ledge of the s iritual -orld to the resent materialistic human0ind' This is a dee truth -hich a German seer about -hom one normally does not 0no- that he is a seer, namely Goethe, e/ ressed that -e cannot unveil the secrets of nature -ith the hel of our tools, not by mechanical, hysical tools, but that the mind has to search for the s irit every-here ,ature, mysterious in day>s clear light, 4ets none remove her veil, And -hat she -on>t discover to your understanding Fou can>t e/tort from her -ith levers and -ith scre-s' :aust 5, verses HJ2@HJ5 But Goethe did not doubt the manifestations of the s irit around usE because he realised clearly -hat he e/ ressed in his ,aust in the nice -ords from -hich he said that a sage s o0e them( The s irit -orld is not sealed off I Four mind is closed, your heart is dead+ Go, neo hyte, and boldly bathe Four mortal breast in roseate da-n+ :aust 5, verses &&$@&&H
,otes( The translation of verses from Goethe>s :aust -ere ta0en from ,aust & and &&, edited and translated by Stuart At0inson, 9rinceton 3niversity 9ress (!""&), U !"=& by Suhr0am T5nsel 9ublishers Boston etheric double body( Steiner called it etheric body later' Dohann 6einrich Dung called Dung@Stilling (!J&#I!=!J), German hysician, oculist, author 4ud-ig 4aistner (!=&5I!="H), German author and literary historian, author !n the Riddle of the Sphin9

/ourse I* " .ecture III# The :istory of SpiritisSch-idt 0u-ber# S"(8

On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

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Berlin #a" 30th, 190. Today it is my tas0 to s ea0 about a to ic that has millions of enthusiastic follo-ers in the -orld, on one side, that has found the most violent adversaries, on the other side, not only adversaries -ho combat this field of the so@called s iritism the shar est, but also those -ho ridicule it -ho lum together it -ith the dar0est su erstition or -hat they call dar0 su erstitionE adversaries -ho -ant to ignore it only -ith em ty -ords of Bo0e and scorn' 5t may be not easy to s ea0 Bust in our resent about such a to ic -here as a rule -ith the ? ros and consA the most violent assions are aroused straight a-ay' 5 -ould li0e to as0 those listeners among you -ho may be enthusiastic follo-ers of s iritism not to roundly condemn me immediately, if to you any of my e/ lanations seems to corres ond not com letely to your vie-s, because -e re resentatives of theoso hy, nevertheless, are combined -ith the s iritists in one matter in any case( -e have the intention to investigate the higher s iritual -orlds, those -orlds -hich are beyond the everyday sense@ erce tion' 8e are in agreement on that' 6o-ever, on the other side, 5 -ould li0e to as0 the scientists also to realise that that movement in -hose name 5 myself s ea0 has not chosen the slogan only li0e a signboard, as a hrase, but in the most serious sense of the -ord( no human o inion is higher than truth' G 5 -ould also li0e to as0 the scientist to 0ee in mind that he may ta0e into consideration that the vie-s of science -ere subBected to change in the course of times, and that is -hy the scientific vie-s of today cannot be regarded as being fi/ed' 4et me no- outline the develo ment of the s iritistic movement -ithout ta0ing sides, because no human o inion is higher than truth' 5 -ould li0e to em hasise above all that the founders of the theoso hical movement, )rs' 6elena 9etro-na Blavats0y, and the great organiser, 1olonel 6enry Steel 2lcott, -ent out from the s iritistic movement' They -ere e/ erts of the s iritistic movement and turned to the theoso hical movement only, after they had vigorously searched for truth before -ithin the s iritistic movement, but had not found it' Theoso hy does not -ant to combat s iritism, but to search for truth -here it is to be found' 5 -ould li0e to em hasise something else that -ill sur rise some of you, ho-ever, that -ill not at all sur rise others -ho are in the 0no-' Allo- me to e/ ress it( you can never hear the last -ord about s iritism and similar matters from eo le li0e me -ho are forced to s ea0 about that' Fou 0no- that there is in any science a rule -hich is sim ly Bustified by the scientific methods, and the rule is that one sho-s the results of science before a bigger audience in o ular -ay' 5f one -ants to do more intimate acCuaintance -ith these results, if one -ants to get to 0no- the more intimate truth, then a longer -ay is necessary( a -ay using the different methods in any detail' As a rule the researchers are not able to re ort in o ular tal0s -hat ta0es lace inside of the laboratories, of the observatories' That a lies to the hysical science' 2n the other side, in the great s iritual movements of the -orld somebody -ho is reasonable and allo-ed to e/ ress the -ords -ith regard to the s iritual vie-s has to -ithhold the last -ord because the last -ords are still of Cuite different 0ind' They are of such a 0ind that they can hardly be discussed ublicly' That is -hy you can never hear the very last -ord of this matter from an occultist G unless you are able and -ant to go his -ays most intimately' But to those -ho are in the 0no- of the matter something becomes clear from the -ay ho- a matter is said, -hat is said not only bet-een the lines, but erha s also bet-een the -ords' After this introduction 5 -ould li0e to move on the to ic -hich certainly has a tremendous cultural@historical significance even for somebody -ho -ants to ma0e it ridiculous' 5 -ould li0e to s ea0 about the matter in a sense -hich really thro-s light from this oint of vie-( -hat does s iritism search for today; %oes it search for something ne-, or is it something ancient that it searches; Are the -ays on -hich it loo0s absolutely novel, or has human0ind gone on them since centuries or even since millennia; G 5f anybody uts these Cuestions to himself, he reaches his goal concerning the history of s iritism the fastest' 8hat the s iritists search for is at first the 0no-ledge of those -orlds -hich are beyond our sensory -orld, and secondly the significance of these -orlds for the goal, for the determination of our human race' 5f -e as0 ourselves( -ere these roblems not the tas0s of human0ind, since it strives on our earth and -ants anything; G Then -e must say to ourselves( yes' And because they are certainly the highest tas0s, it -ould already a ear as something absurd from the beginning if in the -orld history something absolutely ne- had a eared -ith regard to these Cuestions' 5t seems if -e loo0 around in the old and ne- s iritistic movements, as if -e deal -ith something absolutely ne-' The strongest adversaries refer to the fact that it has brought something absolutely ne- into the -orld, and other adversaries say that the human beings had never needed to combat this movement li0e no-adays' There a change must have ha ened in human0ind -ith regard to the -ay to loo0 at the case' This is illuminated to us li0e lightning if -e get clear in our mind that human0ind has behaved in three different -ays to the Cuestions -hich -e call s iritistic today'
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There -e have one -ay -hich -e can find in the -hole antiCuity, a -ay -hich changes only in the 1hristian times' Then -e have the second -ay to osition ourselves to these Cuestions, the -hole )iddle Ages through, till the !Jth century' 2nly in the !Jth century s iritism basically starts ta0ing on a certain form that one can rightly call s iritism today' The Cuestions that the s iritist -ants to ans-er today -ere the obBect of the so@called mysteries the -hole antiCuity through' 5 try only to characterise -ith fe- lines -hat one has to understand by mysteries' 5t -as not the custom in antiCuity to announce -isdom ublicly' 2ne had another vie- of -isdom and truth' 2ne believed the -hole antiCuity through that it is necessary to train su er@sensible organs to the 0no-ledge of the su er@sensible truth at first' 2ne realised the fact that in every human being s iritual forces slumber -hich are not develo ed -ith the average human being, that s iritual forces slumber in the human nature -hich one can -a0e and develo by means of long e/ercises, through ste s of develo ment, -hich the disci les of the mysteries describe as very difficult' 5f the neo hyte had develo ed such forces in him and had become a researcher of truth, one -as of the o inion that he is to the average human being in such a -ay as a sighted is to a blind@born' This -as also the goal -ithin the holy mysteries' 2ne aimed to achieve something similar in the s iritual field as today the doctor aims to achieve -ith the blind@born if he o erates him that he becomes sighted' 2ne -as clear about the fact that G li0e -ith a blind@born -ho is o erated the colours of the light and the forms of the things a ear G a ne- -orld a ears to somebody -hose internal senses are -o0en, a -orld -hich the everyday reason cannot erceive' Thus the follo-er of the mysteries tried to develo a human being of lo-er level to one of higher level, to an initiate' 2nly the initiate should be able to recognise something of the su er@sensible truth by immediate beholding, by s iritual intuition' The big mass of human beings could get the truth by means of ictures' The myths of antiCuity, the legends about gods and -orld origin, -hich sim ly a ear today G indeed, in certain sense rightly G as childish vie-s of human0ind, they are nothing but disguises of the su er@sensible truth' The initiate informed eo le in ictures of that -hich he could behold -ithin the tem le mysteries' The -hole *astern mythology, the Gree0 and Roman mythologies, the Germanic mythology and the mythologies of the savage eo les are nothing but meta horical, symbolic re resentations of the su er@sensible truth' 2f course, only somebody can com letely understand this -ho occu ies himself not in such a -ay as anthro ology and ethnology do it but also -ith their s irit' 6e sees that a myth li0e the 6ercules legend sho-s a dee inner truthE he sees that the conCuest of the Golden :leece by Dason sho-s a dee and true 0no-ledge' Then another -ay came -ith our calendar' 5 can indicate only roughly -hat 5 have to say' A certain basis of higher, s iritual truth -as determined and made the obBect of the confessions, in articular of the 1hristian' And no- this basis of s iritual truth -as removed from any human research, from the immediate human striving' Those -ho studied the history of the 1ouncil of ,icaea 0no- -hat 5 mean, and also those -ho understand the -ords of St' Augustine -ho says there( 5 -ould not believe in the truth of the divine revelation unless the authority of the church forces me' G :aith that determines a certain basis of the truth re laces the old mystery truth -hich retains it in ictures' Then follo-s the e och -hen the big mass is no longer informed about the truth of the su er@sensible -orld in ictures, but sim ly by authority' This is the second -ay ho- the big mass and those -ho had to lead them behaved to the highest truth' The mysteries rovided it to the big mass on account of e/ erienceE it -as rovided by faith and fi/ed by authority in the )iddle Ages' But beside those -ho had the tas0 to retain the big mass by faith and authority -ere also those in the !2th and !$th centuries G they e/isted at all times, but they did not a ear ublicly G -ho -anted to develo by immediate o-n beholding to the highest truth' These searched for it on the same -ays on -hich it had been searched for -ithin the mysteries' That is -hy -e find in mediaeval times beside those -ho are only riests, also the mystics, theoso hists and occultists, those -ho tal0 in an almost incom rehensible language hard to be understood by modern materialists and rationalists' 8e find eo le -ho had reached the secrets on the -ays -hich avoid the senses' 5n an even more incom rehensible language those eo le s o0e -ho had the guidance of the s irit as mystery riests' So -e hear from one that he had the ability to send his thoughts miles a-ayE another boasted that he could transform the -hole sea into gold if it -as ermitted' Another says that he could construct a vehicle -ith -hich he -ould be able to move through the air' There -ere times -hen eo le did not 0no- ho- to do -ith such sayings, because they had no notion of ho- they -ere to be understood' )oreover, reBudices flourished against such a 0ind of investigation since the oldest times' That becomes clear to us at once -here these reBudices came from' 8hen in the first centuries of our calendar the 1hristian culture s read over the countries of the )editerranean Sea, it a eared that the cult actions and the ceremonies of 1hristianity and also most of 1hristian dogmas agreed -ith ancient agan traditions, and -ere not so different G even if in a -atered -ay G from that -hich had too0 lace in the old agan )ithras tem les' There said those -ho had the tas0 to defend the re utation of the church( bad s irits gave the agans these vie-sE they a ed -ithin the agan -orld -hat God revealed to the 1hristian church' G 6o-ever, it is an odd imitation -hich leads the -ay of the original+ The -hole 1hristianity -as a ed in the agan mysteries G if -e a ly the -ord of the accusers, -hat the church has later found+ 5t is com rehensible that every other -ay than that of the authoritative 1hristian faith, as Augustine characterised it, -as
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-rong and in the course of time it -as regarded as such -hich -as not given by good o-ersE since the church had to rovide the good o-ers' Thus these traditions continued through the -hole )iddle Ages' Those -ho -anted to come on their o-n -ays, inde endently to the highest su er@sensible truth -ere regarded as magicians, as allies of the bad or of the bad s irits' The mar0 stone is the :aust legend' :aust is the re resentative of those -ho -ant to get by o-n 0no-ledge to the secrets' 6ence, the bad o-ers must have ca tivated him' 2ne should only do research in the -ritings handed do-n from earlier times, only the trust in authority should lead to the su er@sensible o-ers' 5n s ite of that, initiated minds realised G even if they -ere defamed as magicians and -ere rosecuted G that the time must come again -hen one has to rogress to truth on o-n, human -ays' Thus -e see occult brotherhoods originating in *uro e from the middle of the )iddle Ages on -hich led their members on the same -ays as the old mysteries had done this to the develo ment of higher intuitive forces' So that -ithin such occult brotherhoods the -ay to the highest truth -as ta0en li0e in the mysteries G 5 mention only that of the Rosicrucians, the dee est and most significant one, founded by 1hristian Rosen0reut.' This -ay can be investigated strictly historically till the !=th century' 5 cannot e/ lain in detail ho- this ha enedE 5 can only give one e/am le, the great re resentative of the occult science of the !Hth and !Jth centuries, Robert :ludd' 6e sho-s for those -ho have insight into these fields in all his -ritings that he 0no-s the -ays ho- to get to truth that he 0no-s ho- to develo such forces that are of Cuite different 0ind than the forces in us -hich see any body of light before themselves' 6e sho-s that there are mysterious -ays to get to the highest truth' 6e also s ea0s of the Rosicrucian Society in such a -ay that the relationshi is clear to any initiate' 5 -ould li0e to resent three Cuestions only to you to sho- you ho- these Cuestions -ere discussed in veiled form at that time' 6e says of them that everybody -ho has arrived at the lo-est level must be able to ans-er them -ith understanding' These Cuestions and also their ans-ers may a ear Cuite futile to the rationalists and materialists' The first Cuestion -hich anybody must ans-er -ho -ants to rise in -orthy -ay to higher s iritual s heres is( -here do you live; G The ans-er is( 5 live in the tem le of -isdom, on the mountain of reason' G 3nderstanding this sentence really, e/ eriencing it internally means already to have o ened certain inner senses' The second sentence -as( -here truth comes from to you; G The ans-er is( it comes to me from the creative , and no- there comes a -ord -hich cannot be translated at all into German( from the highest ''', mighty all@embracing s irit -ho has s o0en through Solomon and -ants to inform me about alchemy, magic and the 0abala ''' G This -as the second Cuestion' The third Cuestion is( -hat do you -ant to build; G The ans-er is( 5 -ant to build a tem le li0e the tabernacle, li0e SolomonLs tem le, li0e the body of 1hrist and ''' li0e something else that one does not ronounce' Fou see G 5 cannot go into these Cuestions further G that one veiled the su er@sensible truth in a mysterious dar0ness for all non@initiates in such brotherhoods, and that the non@initiate should ma0e himself -orthy at first and had to get to a moral and intellectual summit' Somebody -ho had not stood the trials -ho did not have the force in himself to find the e/ eriences inside -as not Budged as -orthy, -as not admitted to the initiation' 2ne considered it as dangerous to 0no- this truth' 2ne 0ne- that 0no-ledge is connected -ith a tremendous o-er, -ith a o-er as the average human being does not sus ect at all' 2nly somebody is able to ossess this truth and o-er -ithout any danger for human0ind -ho has got to that moral and intellectual height' 2ther-ise one said( -ithout having reached this height he behaves -ith this truth and o-er li0e a child that is sent -ith matches into a o-der maga.ine' ,o- one -as of the o inion in these times that only somebody -ho is in the ossession of the highest su er@sensible truth can e/ lain the henomena as they are told every-here and since millennia in a o ular -ay G henomena -hich the modern s iritism sho-s again' The matters -ere nothing ne- but something ancient that s iritism recognises today' 5n ancient times one s o0e about the fact that the human being can have such an effect on the human beings as it is not the case, other-ise( certain human beings cause that 0noc0ing sounds are to be heard in their surroundings that obBects move, contrary to the la-s of gravitation, -ith or -ithout touch that obBects fly through the air -ithout a lying any hysical force et cetera' Since the oldest times one 0ne- that there are human beings -ho can be trans orted into certain states, today -e call these states trance states, in -hich they s ea0 about things about -hich they can never s ea0 in the -a0ing consciousness that they also tell about other -orlds not belonging to our sense@ erce tible -orld' 2ne 0ne- that there are human beings -ho communicate by signs about that -hich they see in such su er@sensible -orlds' 2ne also 0ne- that there are human beings -ho are able to see events -hich are far a-ay from them and also to re ort about thatE human beings -ho could foresee and forecast future events -ith the hel of their ro hetic gift' All that G -e do not verify it today G is an ancient tradition' Those -ho believe to be able to acce t it as truth consider it as something natural' Such not hysical, not sense@ erce tible henomena -ere regarded as true through the -hole )iddle Ages'
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5ndeed, they -ere considered by the church of the )iddle Ages in such a -ay, as if they -ere caused by means of bad s0ills, but this should not touch us' 5n any case, the -ay to the su er@sensible -orld -as not searched for on the -ay of these henomena in the time of the !Jth and !=th centuries' ,obody claimed till those times that a dancing table, an anyho- a earing ghost -hich is seen -ith eyes or in any -ay in trance could reveal anything of a su er@sensible -orld' *ven if anybody told that he sa- a bla.e in 6anover from here, one believed itE but nobody sa- anything in it that could seriously give information about the su er@sensible -orld' Reasonable eo le considered it as a matter of course that one could not loo0 for the su er@sensible -orld that -ay' Those -ho -anted to get to su er@sensible erce tion searched for it by develo ing inner forces in the occult brotherhoods' Then another time came in the develo ment of the 8est, in -hich one started loo0ing for truth scientifically' There came the 1o ernican -orld vie- and the researches of hysiologyE technology, the discoveries of the blood circulation, of the ovum et cetera' 2ne attained insights into nature -ith the senses' Somebody -ho does not a roach the )iddle Ages -ith reBudices but -ants to get to 0no- the -orld vie- of the )iddle Ages in its true form, convinces himself soon that this medieval thin0ing did not imagine heaven and hell as localities in s ace, but that they -ere something s iritual to it' 5n mediaeval times no reasonable human being thought to advocate that -orld vie- -hich one attributes to the medieval scholars today' 1o ernicanism is nothing ne- in this sense' 5t is ne- in another senseE in the sense that since the !Hth century sense@ erce tion became decisive for truthE -hat one can see -hat one can erceive -ith the senses' The -orld vie- of the )iddle Ages -as not -rong as one often sho-s it today, but it -as only a vie- -hich -as not got -ith bodily eyes' The bodily sensualisation -as a symbol of something s iritual' Also %ante did not imagine his hell and his heaven in the earthly senseE they -ere to be understood s iritually' 2ne bro0e -ith this oint of vie-' The real sychologist of the human develo ment finds out this' The sensuous -as raised, and no- sensuality conCuered the -orld gradually' 6o-ever, the human being got used to it -ithout noticing it' 2nly the searching sychologist rushing behind the develo ment is able to ma0e a icture of it' The human being gets used to such changes' 8ith his feeling, -ith his senses he loo0s at everything, and acce ts the sensuous only as true' 8ithout 0no-ing it, eo le considered as a rinci le of the human nature to acce t only -hat they can see in any -ay of -hat they can convince themselves by sensory ins ection' 9eo le did not thin0 much of such circles that s o0e of an initiation and led to su er@sensible truth on occult -aysE everything had to be sensually sho-n' 8hat about the su er@sensible vie- of the -orld; 6o- could one find the su er@sensible in the -orld in -hich one -anted to see0 for truth only in the sensory effects; There -ere rare, so@called abnormal henomena -hich -ere not e/ licable by means of natural forces 0no-n till thenE henomena that the hysicist, the naturalist could not e/ lain, and -hich one sim ly denied because one -anted to acce t the sensually e/ licable only' There -ere these henomena -hich -ere handed do-n through millennia to -hich the human being sought refuge no-( no- one -ent to them' Simultaneously -ith the urge to 0ee only to the sense@ erce tible a earance the urge for the su er@sensible resorted to such henomena' 2ne -anted to 0no- -hat scientific criticism could not e/ lainE one -anted to 0no- ho- it is' 8hen one started searching for evidences of another -orld in these matters, the birth of modern s iritism too0 lace' 8e can give the hour of birth and the lace -here it ha ened' 5t -as in !J!HE there a boo0 -as ublished by a member of the Royal Society, a descri tion of the -estern islands of Scotland' *verything -as collected in it that -as to be found out about the ?second sight'A This is that -hich one cannot erceive -ith the usual eyes, but -hat one could find out only by su er@sensible research' 6ere you have the recursor of everything that -as later done by the so@called scientific side to the investigation of the s iritistic henomena' ,o- -e also stand already at the gate of the -hole s iritistic movement of the ne-er time' That erson from -hom the -hole s iritistic movement started is one of the strangest of the -orld( S-edenborg' 6e influenced the -hole !=th century' *ven <ant argued -ith him' A erson -ho could bring to life the modern s iritistic movement had to be dis osed li0e S-edenborg' 6e -as born in !H== and died in !JJ2' 5n the first half of his life he -as a naturalist -ho stood at the head of the natural sciences of his time' 6e encom assed them' ,obody has a right to attac0 S-edenborg as an illiterate man' 8e 0no- that he -as not only a erfect e/ ert of his time, but he also antici ated a lot of scientific truths that one discovered on the universities only later' So he stood in the first half of his life not only com letely on the scientific oint of vie- -hich -anted to investigate everything by the a earance to the senses and by mathematical calculations, but he also -as far ahead of his time in this regard' Then he com letely turned to that -hich one calls visionariness' 8hat S-edenborg e/ erienced G you may call him a seer or visionary G -as a articular class of henomena' Somebody -ho is only some-hat initiated in these fields 0no-s that S-edenborg could only e/ erience this class of henomena' 5 only give a fe- e/am les' S-edenborg sa- a conflagration in Stoc0holm from a lace -hich -as removed si/ty miles from Stoc0holm' 6e informed the guests, -ith -ho he -as in a soirVe, about this event, and after some time one heard that the fire had ha ened in such a -ay as S-edenborg had told it' Another e/am le( a high@ran0ing erson as0ed for a secret -hich a brother had not com letely told before his death because he died before' The erson turned to
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S-edenborg -ith the strange demand -hether he could not discover him and as0 -hat he -anted to say' S-edenborg ridded himself of the order in such a -ay that the erson in Cuestion could have no doubt that S-edenborg had enetrated into this secret' Still the third e/am le to sho- ho- S-edenborg moved -ithin the su er@sensible -orld' A scholar and friend visited S-edenborg' The servant said to him( you have to -ait for some time, lease' The scholar sat do-n and heard a discussion in the ne/t room' 6o-ever, he heard al-ays only S-edenborg s ea0ingE he did not hear ans-ering' The case became even more noticeable to him -hen he heard the discussion ta0ing lace in -onderful classical 4atin, and articularly -hen he heard him intimately tal0ing about states of the em eror Augustus' Then S-edenborg -ent to the door, bo-ed before somebody and s o0e -ith him but the friend could not see the visitor at all' Then S-edenborg came bac0 and said to the friend( e/cuse that 5 let you -ait' 5 had lofty visit G 7irgil visited me' 9eo le may thin0 about such matters as they -ant' 6o-ever, one thing is certain( S-edenborg believed in them, regarded them as reality' 5 said( only a erson li0e S-edenborg could get to such a 0ind of research' Dust the fact that he -as e/ ert naturalist of his time led him to this vie- of the su er@sensible nature' 6e -as a man -ho got used to acce ting nothing but the sensuous, the sense@ erce tible in the time of the da-ning natural sciences' *verybody 0no-s it -ho 0no-s himE the reasons become clear in the tal0 -hich 5 hold ne/t time here about the to ic ?6y notism and SomnambulismA G and that is -hy he also de ended on it as such a man -ho sees the s iritual in the -orld' As -ell as he insisted to recognise only as right -hat he could calculate and erceive -ith senses, the su er@sensible -as brought by him into the sha e -hich it had to have for himE the su er@sensible -orld -as ulled do-n to a dee er s here under the influence of the -ays of thin0ing of natural sciences' Because it a roaches us in such -ay li0e the vie-s of the sensory -orld, 5 cited the reasons' 8e hear ne/t time ho- such a thing comes about' 6o-ever, the reconditions are given by the o-n s iritual develo ment of the human beings -ho got used to the sense@ erce tible' 5 do not -ant to s ea0 no- about the significance and core of truth of S-edenborg>s visions, but about the fact that somebody sees G as soon as he enters this field -hich forms the basis of S-edenborgLs vie-s G his dis ositions in this area, -hat he has develo ed in himself' A roof of it may be a sim le e/am le' 8hen the -ave of s iritism s read in the second half of the !"th century, one also made e/ eriments in Bavaria' 5t became a arent there that -ith the e/ eriments at -hich also scholars -ere resent and too0 lace at different laces Cuite different s iritual manifestations ha ened' 5n such an event one as0ed -hether the human soul is received via heredity from the arents, so that also the soul is hereditary, or -hether it is made ne- -ith every human being' 5n this s iritistic sVance it -as ans-ered( the souls are made ne-' Almost at the same time the same Cuestion -as ut in another sVance' The ans-er -as( the soul is not created, but is assed on from the arents to the children' G 2ne thought that at one sVance follo-ers of the so@called creation theory -ere, and at the other sVance some scholars -ere resent -ho -ere follo-ers of the other theory' 5n the sense of the thoughts -hich lived in them the ans-ers -ere given' 8hichever facts may be there, -hichever reasons of these facts may be there, it became clear that the human being receives as a manifestation -hat corres onds to his vie-' 5t is irrelevant -hether it faces him only as an intellectual manifestation or as a visionE -hat the human being sees is founded in his o-n dis ositions' This search for sensuous@e/trasensory roofs became Bust a child of the natural sciences of the materialistic time' The rinci le -as actually dra-n u that one had to see0 for the e/trasensory -orld as one had to see0 for the sensuous one' Dust as somebody convinces himself in the laboratory of the reality of forces of magnetism or light, one -anted to convince oneself of the su er@sensible -orld by the a earance to the senses' 9eo le had forgotten ho- to behold the s iritual in urely s iritual -ay' They had forgotten ho- to develo the belief in su er@sensible forces and ho- to learn to recognise -hat is neither sensuous nor analogous to the sensuous, but -hat can be sei.ed only by s iritual intuition' They had got to be used to get everything on the sensory -ay, and that is -hy they also -anted to get these matters on the sensory -ay' Research moved on this -ay' Thus -e see S-edenborg>s direction going on' 8hat a ears offers nothing ne- to usE s iritism offers nothing ne-+ 8e ta0e an overvie- of this later and understand it then also better' All the henomena -hich s iritism 0no-s -ere e/ lained that -ay' There -e see the South German 2etinger -ho elaborated the theory that there is a su er@sensible substance -hich can be seen as a hysical henomenon' 2nly, he says, the su er@sensible matter does not have the ra- Cualities of the hysical matter, not the im enetrable resistance and the ro- mi/ture' 6ere -e have the substance from -hich the materialisations are ta0en' Another researcher of this field is Dohann 6einrich Dung called Stilling -ho ublished a detailed re ort on s irits and a aritions of s irits and described all these matters' 6e tried there to understand everything in such a -ay that he did Bustice to these henomena as a religious 1hristian' Because he had tendencies to be a religious 1hristian, the -hole -orld seemed to him to manifest nothing but the truth of the 1hristian teaching' Because at the same time natural sciences
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made claims, -e see a mi/ture of the urely 1hristian stand oint -ith the stand oint of natural sciences in his re resentation' *sotericism e/ lains the henomena by the intrusion of a s iritual -orld into our -orld' Fou see all these henomena registered in the -or0s of those -ho -rote about s iritism, demonology, magic et cetera in -hich you can also find something that goes beyond s iritism, li0e -ith *nnemoser, for instance' 8e see even carefully registered ho- a erson can enable himself to erceive the thoughts of others -ho are in distant rooms' Fou find such instructions -ith *nnemoser, also -ith others' Already in the !"th century you find -ith a certain )eyer -ho -rote a boo0 about the 6ades from s iritistic stand oint as a manifestation of s iritistic mani ulations and stood u for the so@ called reincarnation theory' Fou find a theory there to -hich theoso hy has led us again, and -hich sho-s us that the old fairy tales are e/ ressions of the higher truth re ared for the eo le' )eyer got this vie- on account of sensuous demonstrations' 8e find all the s iritistic henomena -ith Dustinus <erner' They are significant because of the moral -eight of the author' There -e find, for e/am le, that near the seeress of 9revorst things G s oons et cetera G are re elled by herE it is also told that this seeress communicated -ith beings of other -orlds' Dustinus <erner registered all the communications -hich he got from her' She informed him that she sa- beings of other -orlds -hich -ent through her, indeed, but -hich she could erceive and that she could even behold such beings -hich came in along -ith other eo le' Some eo le may say about these matters( <erner fantasised and -as fooled a lot by his seeress' 6o-ever, 5 -ould li0e to say one thing( you 0no- %avid :riedrich Strauss -ho -as friendly -ith Dustinus <erner' 6e 0ne- ho- it stood -ith the seeress of 9revorst' Fou also 0no- that that -hich he erformed goes in a direction -hich runs against the s iritistic current' 6e says that the facts of -hich the seeress of 9revorst re orts are true as facts G about that cannot be discussed -ith those -ho 0no- something about it, he considered the matters as being beyond any doubt' *ven if a bigger number of human beings e/isted -ho -ere still interested some-hat in such things, the interest decreased, nevertheless, more and more' This could be led bac0 to the influence of science' 5t refused to loo0 at such henomena as true manifestations in the time of the forties -hen the la- of energy conservation -as discovered forming the basis of our hysics -hen the cell theory -as dra-n u -hen %ar-inism re ared' 8hat came u in this time could not be favourable to the neumatologists' 6ence, they -ere strictly reBected' That is -hy one forgot everything that these had to say' Then an event too0 lace -hich meant a victory for s iritism' The event did not ha en in *uro e, but in the country -here materialism celebrated the biggest trium hs in that time -here one had made oneself used to consider only as true -hat hands can sei.e' This ha ened in America, in the country -here the materialistic -ay of thin0ing intimated by me had strongly develo ed' 5t -ent out from the henomena -hich belong in the broadest sense to those -hich one has to call abnormal but sensual' The -ell@0no-n 0noc0ing sounds, the henomena of moving tables and the 0noc0ing through them, the audibility of certain voices -hich sounded through the air accom anied by intelligent manifestations for -hich no sensuous reason e/isted G they ointed to the su er@sensible so clearly in America, in the country -here one attaches much value to the outer a earance' 4i0e by storm the vie- gained recognition that there is a su er@sensible -orld that beings -hich do not belong to our -orld manifest themselves in our sensory -orld' 4i0e a storm this -ent through the -orld' A man, Andre- Dac0son %avis, -ho concerned himself -ith these henomena, -as called u on for e/ laining these matters' 6e -as, in similar -ay as S-edenborg, a seerE he only did not have the dee ness of S-edenborg' 6e -as an unlearned American gro-n u as a farmer boy and S-edenborg -as a learnt S-ede' 6e -rote a boo0 in !=&= (;)( The 'hilosoph" of Spiritual &ntercourse' This -or0 arose from the most modern needs -hich had originated -ithin the modern battle in -hich one -anted to acce t the sensuous only in -hich everybody -anted to ut his ersonal egoism for-ard, in -hich everybody -anted to grab so much to himself, -anted to become as ha y as he only -as able to' 5n this -orld one -as no longer able to have sense for a faith -hich leads beyond the sensuous -orld, according to the -ays of thin0ing -hich -ere tied to the material only' 2ne -anted to see and one -anted to have such a faith -hich satisfies the needs and desires of modern human0ind' Above all %avis says lainly that modern eo le cannot believe that a Cuantity of human beings is blessed, another Cuantity condemned' 5t -as this -hat the modern could not standE there an idea of develo ment had to intervene' %avis -as informed of a truth -hich sho-s an e/act image of the sensuous -orld' 5t may be characterised by an e/am le' 8hen his first -ife had died, he had the idea to marry a second -ife' 6o-ever, he had doubt, but a su er@sensible manifestation caused that he gave himself the ermission' 5n this manifestation his first -ife said to him that she had married in the sun@land againE that is -hy he felt to have the right also to marry a second time' 5n the beginning of the first art of his boo0 he informs us that he -as educated as a farmer boy li0e a 1hristian, but he realised soon that the 1hristian faith can deliver no conviction, because the modern human being must understand the -hat, the -hy and the -here to of the -ay'

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5 -as sent out G he tells G to the field by my arents' There came a sna0e' 5 attac0ed it -ith the hayfor0' But the tooth bro0e off' 5 too0 the tooth and rayed' 5 -as convinced that the rayer must hel ' But ''' Wga in the transcri tX' 6ocan 5 believe in a God -ho allo-s that 5 e/ erience such a thing; 6e said to himself' 6e became an unbeliever' By the s iritistic sVances in -hich he too0 art he got the ability of trance and became one of the most fertile s iritistic -riters' 6e em hasises that the a earance of that -orld is a ro/imately the same as that of the sensory -orld' 5t -ould be an unbelief that a good father does not care for his children, because the father ma0es long Bourneys for this ur ose et cetera' Fou see that the earthly -orld is transferred to the other -orld' Therefore, this -ay of thin0ing s read li0e a -ildfire all over the -orld' 5n short time one could count millions of follo-ers of s iritism' Already in !=5# one could find thousands of media in Boston, and one could also ay &##,### Y in short time to construct a s iritistic tem le' Fou -ill not deny that that has a great cultural@historical significance' 6o-ever, -ith regard to the modern -ay of thin0ing this movement had only ros ects of success if science too0 hold of it, that means if science believed in it' 5f 5 held a lecture about theoso hy, 5 could s ea0 in detail of the fact that still Cuite different o-ers stand behind the staging of the s iritistic henomena' Behind the scenery dee occult o-ers are at -or0' But this cannot be my tas0 today' 5 tell another time -ho is, actually, the true director of these henomena' But this is certain( if this occult director -anted to resu ose that these henomena convinced the materialistically minded human0ind of the e/istence of a su er@sensible -orld thoroughly if it should believe in it in the long run, the scientific circles had to be conCuered' These scientific circles -ere not so hard to conCuer' Dust among the most reasonable, among those -ho could thin0 thoroughly and logically -ere many -ho turned to the s iritistic movement' These -ere in America 4incoln, *dison, in *ngland Gladstone, the naturalist 8allace, the mathematician )organ' Also in Germany -as a big number of e/cellent scholars, they -ere e/ erts in their fields, and -ere convinced of the s iritistic henomena by media, li0e 8eber and Gustav Theodor :echner, the founder of sycho hysics' :riedrich KPllner also belongs to them about -hom only those -ho understand nothing of the matter can say that he became mad -hen he did the famous e/ eriments -ith Slade' Then, ho-ever, also a ersonality -ho is yet underestimated( this is the Baron 6ellenbach, deceased in !==J' 6e resented his e/ eriences in s iritistic fields in his numerous boo0s in such a brilliant -ay' :or e/am le, in his boo0 about biological magnetism and in the boo0 about the magic of figures, so that these boo0s are true treasure troves to study -hich -ay this movement has ta0en G in articular in more ins ired heads G in the second half of the !"th century' A *uro ean im ulse came to the American movement and this -ent out from a man -ho stood in the *uro ean culture, from a disci le of 9estalo..i, and it originated at a time -hich is already significant because of its other discoveries' This s irit is Allan <ardec -ho -rote his Spirits= Boo7 in !=5=, in the same year in -hich many other -or0s a eared e och@ma0ing for the -estern education in different fields' 8e only have to call some of the -or0s to indicate the significance of the mental life in this time' 2ne is %ar-in>s !n the !rigin of Species b" #eans of (atural SelectionE the other is a basic -or0 about the sycho@ hysical field by :echner' The third one is a -or0 of Bunsen -hich familiarises us -ith s ectral analysis and -hich gives the ossibility to discover something of the material com osition of the stars for the first time' The fourth one -as the -or0 of <arl )ar/( The $apital' The fifth one -as a -or0 of <ardec, a s iritistic -or0, but of Cuite different 0ind as the American -or0s' 6e re resented the idea of reincarnation, the re@ embodiment of the human soul' This :rench s iritism had as numerous su orters as the American one in short time' 5t s read over :rance, S ain and es ecially also over Austria' 5t -as com letely in accord -ith the ancient teachings of -isdom of theoso hy' Also s irits li0e 6ellenbach, an Austrian olitician, could acce t it' 6e re resented the scientific form of s iritism <ardec had founded' 6ellenbach layed a rominent role in im ortant olitical matters of Austria in the si/ties and seventies of the last century and roved to be a clear and 0een thin0er at every ste ' S iritism got a scientific form in Germany that -ay' Also such s irits founded the scientific s iritism in Germany -ho did not -ant to s ea0 li0e 6ellenbach or Gladstone, 8allace, 1roo0es -ho assumed angelic s irits of the old 1hristendom but -ho -anted only to s ea0 about the reincarnation of the human being and the intrusion of beings un0no-n to us -hose forms 6ellenbach leaves o en' But also those -ho generally do not -ant to 0no- anything about a yonder -orld -ere no longer able to not acce t the facts as such' *ven eo le li0e *duard von 6artmann -ho -anted to 0no- nothing about the theories of the s iritists, ho-ever, said that the facts could not be denied' They let themselves not be s-ayed during the eriod of the e/ osures' The most famous one -as that of the medium Bastian by the 1ro-n 9rince Rudolf and the archdu0e Dohann of Austria' The media, -hich had convinced our scientific circles, -ere e/ osed -ith the medium Bastian' *verybody -ho sim ly has some insight in this field 0no-s that 6ellenbach is right -hen he says( nobody -ill claim that there are no -igs' Should one also believe that there is no real hair because one has discovered -igs; G To somebody -ho -or0s in occult fields the sentence a lies that one can rove to many a ban0 that it is a corru t ban0E yes, but did not this ban0 do also honest ban0ing business once; The assessment of the s iritistic truth hides behind such com arisons' 8e have seen that the scientific and materialistic -ays of thin0ing since the !=th century G -e can call !J!H the natal year of s iritism G have com letely ada ted themselves to the modern thin0ing, also to the materialistic vie-s' A ne- form -as sought for to be able to a roach the higher, su er@sensible truth, and everybody -ho faced these facts
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tried to understand them in his -ay' The 1hristian faith found a confirmation of its ancient church faithE also some orthodo/ have acce ted it to find favourable roofs of their case' 2thers also found confirmation from the stand oints of the material thin0ing -hich assesses everything only according to the material relations' Also those -ho -ere thorough scientific researchers li0e KPllner, 8eber, :echner and also several famous mathematicians li0e Simony et cetera tried to get closer to the case, -hile they moved from the three@dimensional on the four@dimensional' The hiloso hical individualists -ho could not believe that in the s iritual -orld also an individualistic develo ment e/ists li0e in the hysical one -ere led by means of thorough investigation to understand that the human -ay, this sensory -ay to be G to see -ith bodily eyes to hear -ith bodily ears G is only one -ay of many ossible -ays' The re resentatives of a su er@sensible s iritism li0e 6ellenbach found their ideas confirmed on account of the s iritistic facts' 5f you imagine a erson -ho 0ne- to deal -ith the eculiarities of every single medium -ho 0ne- ho- to ada t himself to the most difficult circumstances, so that it -as a relief to meet him, 6ellenbach -as such a man' Also those -ho s o0e only about a sychic force of -hich one does not and needs not thin0 a lot also these follo-ers of a sychic force, li0e *duard von 6artmann or also s irits li0e du 9rel of -hom 5 -ill s ea0 ne/t time, they all e/ lained the facts in their -ays' There -ere many theories, from the o ular inter retations for the eo le -ho loo0ed after the manifesting s irits, after -riting media, after communications by 0noc0ing sounds et cetera, from these religious see0ers in old -ay u to the most enlightened s irits( everybody e/ lained these henomena in his -ay' This -as in the time -hen this lac0 of clarity revailed in every field, in the time -hen the henomena could no longer be denied G but the minds of the human beings roved to be absolutely inca able to do Bustice to the su er@sensible -orld' 5n this time the ground -as re ared to a rene-al of the mystic -ay, to a rene-al of that -ay -hich -as ta0en in former times in the occult science and in the mysteries, but in such -ay that it is accessible to everybody -ho -ants to go it' The Theoso hical Society -as founded by )rs' 6elena 9etro-na Blavats0y to o en an understanding of the -ays' The theoso hical movement revived the investigation of -isdom as it -as nurtured in the mysteries and by the Rosicrucians in mediaeval times' 5t -ants to s read -hat one has searched for in recent time on other -ays' 5t is based on the old movements, ho-ever, also on the ne-est researches' Somebody -ho gets a better understanding of the theoso hical movement -ill find that the -ay of theoso hy or s iritual science -hich leads to the su er@sensible truth is on one side really s iritual, on the other side, that it ans-ers the Cuestions( -here does the human being come from, -here does he go to, -hat is his vocation; 8e 0no- that one had to s ea0 in certain -ay to the human beings of antiCuity, in more different -ay to those of the )iddle Ages, and again in another -ay to the modern human beings' The facts of theoso hy are ancient' But you convince yourselves if you see0 on the -ay of theoso hy or s iritual science that it satisfies any demand of modern scientific nature if it is understood in its very o-n figure' 6e -ould be a bad theoso hist -ho -anted to give u any of the scientific truths for theoso hy' <no-ledge on the bright, clear -ay of true scientific nature G yes, but no 0no-ledge -hich limits itself to sensory things -hich limits itself to that -hich ta0es lace in the human being bet-een birth and death, but also 0no-ledge of that -hich is beyond birth and death' S iritual science cannot do this -ithout having the authorisation of it G Bust -ithin a materialistic age' 5t is a-are that all the s iritual movements must converge at a great goal at last -hich the s iritists -ill find in s iritual science in the end' 6o-ever, it searches the s iritual on other, more com rehensive -aysE it 0no-s that the s iritual is not found in the sensory -orld and also not by arrangements of sensory nature only, maybe by means of a beholding -hich is analogous to the sensory loo0ing' 5t 0no-s that there is a -orld of -hich one receives an insight only if one goes through a 0ind of s iritual o eration -hich is similar to the o eration of a blind@born that is made sighted' 5t 0no-s that it is not right if the modern human being says( sho- me the su er@sensible li0e something sensory' G 5t 0no-s that the ans-er is( human being, rise u to the higher s heres of the s iritual -orld, -hile you yourself become more and more s iritual, so that the connection -ith the s iritual -orld is in such a -ay as the connection is -ith the sensuous -orld by means of your sensory eyes and ears' Theoso hy or s iritual science has that vie- oint -hich a believer of the )iddle Ages, a dee mystic, )aster *c0hart, e/ ressed, -hile he characterised that the really s iritual cannot be searched for in the same -ay as the sensuous' 5n the !$th, !&th centuries, he e/ ressed meaningfully that one cannot receive the s iritual by sensuous erformances, by anything that is analogous to the sensuous' Therefore, he says the great truth leading to the su er@sensible( eo le -ant to loo0 at God -ith the eyes, as if they loo0ed at a co- and loved it' They -ant to loo0 at God as if 6e stood there and here' 5t is not that -ay' God and 5 are one in recognition' 8e do not -ant to behold a higher -orld by means of events li0e 0noc0ing sounds or other sensuous arrangements' 5t is called a su er@sensible -orld, indeed, but it is similar to the sensuous -orld round us' G *c0hart characterises such a arently su er@sensible events saying( such eo le -ant to behold God as they loo0 at a co-' 6o-ever, -e -ant to behold the s iritual develo ing our s iritual eyes li0e nature develo ed our bodily eyes to let us see the hysical' ,ature has dismissed us -ith outer senses to ma0e the sensuous erce tible to us' The -ay, ho-ever, to develo further in the
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sensuous to the s iritual to be able to behold the s iritual -ith s iritual eyes G -e ourselves have to go this s iritual -ay in free develo ment, also in the sense of modern develo ment'
,otes( 5n the title of the tal0, the term s iritism is used instead of the more common term s iritualism' Allan <ardec used it for the first time in his boo0 The S irits> Boo0' Since then it is used outside the *nglish s ea0ing -orld to distinguish s iritism and s iritualism (S iritualismus)' The latter term is a lied to the o osite of ( hiloso hical, religious) materialism' St' Augustine ($5&I&$#)( *vangelio non crederem, nisi me ecclesia commoveret auctoritas ($ontr2 Epist2 #anich2, >) 1hristian Rosen0reut. (!$J=I!&=&), cf' 18 !$# Andre- Dac0son %avis (!=2H@!"!#) The 'hilosoph" of Spiritual &ntercourse3 Being an E9planation of #odern #"steries 016>31 ' %avis dictated his first and most significant boo0 in trance in !=&5( The 9rinci les of ,ature, 6er %ivine Revelations and a 7oice to )an0ind' Robert :ludd (!5J&I!H$J), *nglish hiloso her and hysician, Rosicrucian 5pologia $ompendaria, ,raternitatem de Rosea $ruce 8 016161 #icrocosmi istoria 016191 $la)is 'hilosophiae et 5lch"miae ,luddanae 016331 %ante Alighieri (!2H5I!$2!) in his /i)ine $omed" 5t -as in !J!H( )' )artin /escription of the Western &slands of Scotland, ?ondon 1*03 )artin )artin (;I!J!"), Scottish -riter *manuel S-edenborg (!H==I!JJ2), S-edish scientist and hiloso her Stoc0holm( the lace from -hich S-edenborg sa- the conflagration -as Goteborg, &## 0m a-ay from Stoc0holm' :riedrich 1hristo h 2etinger (!J#2 @!J=2), S-abian theologian and theoso her Dohann 6einrich Dung@Stilling (!J&#I!=!J), German ietistic@mystic author Dose h *nnemoser (!J=JI!=5&), hysician and mesmerist Dohann :riedrich von )eyer (!JJ2I!=&"), 9rotestant theologian, olitician ades, a $ontribution to the Theor" of Spirits 016101 (lin0 to German age as the article in the *nglish -i0i edia is insufficient) Dustinus <erner (!J=HI!=H2), German hysician, oet, author istor" of T+o Somnambulists 0164.1, The Seeress of 're)orst2 Re)elations of the uman &nner ?ife and about the 'enetrations of the Spirit World into ours 016461, ?ea)es from 're)orst 01631@16391, The Somnambulistic Tables 016>31 Seeress of 9revorst( :riederi0e 6auffe (!=#!I!=2"), somnambulist, born in a little village, named 9revorst %avid :riedrich Strauss (!=#=I!=J&), German theologian and -riter of The ?ife of -esus, $riticall" E9amined 016.61 Abraham 4incoln (!=#"I!=H5), !Hth 9resident of the 3nited States Thomas *dison (!=&JI!"$!), American inventor and businessman 8illiam *-art Gladstone (!=#"I!="=), British olitician, 9rime )inister Alfred Russel 8allace (!=2$I!"!$), British naturalist Augustus %e )organ (!=#HI!=J!), British mathematician and logician *rnst 6einrich 8eber (!J"5I!=J=), German hysician, founder of e/ erimental sychology 9agina =& din !!=

Gustav Theodor :echner (!=#!I!==J), German hiloso her and e/ erimental sychologist, the founder of sycho hysics Dohann <arl :riedrich KPllner (!=$&I!==2),German astro hysicist' 6e e/ lains that the s iritistic henomena are caused in a four@ dimensional s ace and a ear as shado-s in the three@dimensional s ace( Transcendental 'h"sics 016*61 6enry Slade (!=$5I!"#5), fraudulent medium Baron 4a.ar von 6ellenbach (!=2JI!==J), Austrian olitician, hiloso hical and socio@ olitical -riter, famous s iritist' !n the #agic of ,igures 0<ienna, 166412 Allan <ardec ( en name of 6i olyte 4Von %eni.ard Rivail, !=#&I!=H"), :rench s iritist, systematiser of s iritism

1ro-n 9rince Rudolf of Austria (!=5=I!==") Archdu0e Dohann ,e omu0 Salvator of Austria (!=52I!="#;) Einblic7e in den Spiritismus 0&nsights into Spiritism1 0166>1 2s0ar Simony (!=52I!"!5), Austrian mathematician and hysicist( !n Spiritistic #anifestations from the Scientific Standpoint 0166.1, cf' R' Steiner mentions him in 18 !H" To+ard &magination (Anthro oso hic 9ress, !""#), lecture H )aster *c0hart (M!2H#I!$2J), German %ominican mon0 and mystic, c f' R' Steiner 18 J #"stics after #odernism

/ourse I* " .ecture I*# The :istory of :ypnotis- and So-na-bulisSch-idt 0u-ber# S"(82(
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin -une 6th, 190. Today 5 have to s ea0 to you about a cha ter of the ne-er cultural history -hich, indeed, re eats an ancient history in a certain form, but in such a eculiar, ty ical -ay that erha s nothing is more suited than this cha ter to sho- hodifficult it is to bring certain great henomena in the life of the s irit, in the life of the human being generally, closer to the official scholarshi ' Dust today some G maybe a little bit harsh G -ords are necessary -ith regard to this cha ter' %o not acce t any -ord -hich 5 say in this direction in such a -ay, as if assion or emotion dictates it' 5 can assure you that 5 have the greatest res ect to many a scholar -ith regard to his researches and his scientific ability, and that to him, nevertheless, some G 5 -ould almost li0e to say G ainful -ord must be said s ea0ing about the cha ter of hy notism in a short historical outline' At the same time -e -ant to give short information of something related, of somnambulism' A lot of eo le believe today that hy notism is something Cuite ne- that it is something that science has conCuered at most since some-hat more than half a century' Fou allo- me to give you evidence from the !Jth century' The evidence -hich 5 -ould li0e to give you is from a boo0 -hich one reads today a little, from the boo0 of the Desuit :ather Athanasius <ircher, and comes from the year !H&H' 5 -ould li0e to inform of the -ords of this Desuit father in fairly modern language' They are in a boo0 -ith -hich Goethe dealt in detail in his history of the theory of colours because this father lays a Cuite im ortant role also in the history of the theory of colours' 5n this boo0 it is also s o0en of that -hich the Desuit father calls actinobolism' This -ould mean a ro/imately( the radiating imagination' ?This very big force of imagination a ears even -ith the animals' The chic0ens have such a strong imagination that they get motionless and a eculiar da.e if they only see a string' The follo-ing e/ erience sho-s the truth of this assertion( )iraculous e/ eriment about the imagination of the chic0en' 4ay a chic0en, -hose feet are tied together, on any floor, feeling caught it -ill try in the beginning to thro- off the chain in any -ay, fla ing its -ings and moving its -hole body' But, in the end, it -ill calm do-n after vain endeavours, des airing to esca e, as it -ere, and submit to the arbitrariness of the -inner' 8hile no- the chic0en lies there Cuietly, dra- a straight line of the same form as the string from its eye on the soil -ith chal0 or any other aint, then let it alone after you have undone the chains( 5 say, the chic0en, although it is relieved of the chain, does not fly a-ay at all, even if one rovo0es it' The e/ lanation of this behaviour is based on nothing else than on the lively imagination of the animal -hich ta0es that line dra-n on the soil for its chain -ith -hich it is tied u ' 5 made this e/ eriment often to the sur rise of the s ectators and 5 do not doubt that it also succeeds -ith other animals' ,evertheless, the reader eager to learn may inform himself about it'A
9agina =5 din !!=

Another German -riter, 1as ar Schott, gave a similar communication of the condition of animals a ro/imately at the same time in a boo0 entitled Entertainment of the uman &magination' 5n it the concerning author -ho -as a friend of Athanasius <ircher says to us that he too0 the instructions of this boo0 from numerous attem ts of a :rench medical -riter' 8hat is re orted in this boo0 is nothing else than -hat -e call hy notism of animals' 5 have already s o0en in a former tal0 about the relations of hy notism and somnambulismE hence, 5 reca itulate this cha ter only briefly today' Fou 0no- that one understands hy notism as a state similar to slee in -hich the human being is brought artificially by different means to -hich -e still -ant to oint in the course of the lecture' 5n this slee @li0e state the human being sho-s different Cualities he does not sho- in the -a0ing consciousness and also not in the usual slee ' Fou can sting a erson in the hy notic trance -ith needles, for instanceE he roves insensitive' Fou can lay do-n a erson if he is in a certain state of slee and stretch his limbsE then they become so stiff and solid that you can lay the erson on t-o chairs, and the heaviest man can still stand on this rigid body' Those -ho sa- the e/ eriments of the really e/traordinary hy notist 6ansen in the eighties of the !"th century 0nothat 6ansen laid the eo le, after he had trans orted them into hy notic slee , -ith a very small under@surface on t-o chairs and stood then on them, this heavy 6ansen+ These hy notised bodies behaved almost li0e a board' 5t is also 0no-n that somebody -ho has trans orted a erson into such a slee @li0e state can give him so@called suggestive commands' 5f you have trans orted a erson into such a state, you can say to him( you get u no-, go to the middle of the room and sto there li0e s ellboundE you do not go onE you are not able to stir+ G 6e carries out everything and then he sto s li0e s ellbound' Fes, you are able to do even more' Fou can say to the erson concerned in a room full of eo le( here in this room is not one erson e/ce ting me and you' G 6e -ill say to you( here is nobody, the room is Cuite em ty' G 2r you may also say to him( here is no light G and he sees nobody' These are negative hallucinations' 6o-ever, you can also give him hallucinations of other ty e' Fou can say to him, -hile you give him a otato( this is a ear, ta0e and eat it+ G And you can see that he thin0s to eat a ear' Fou may give him -ater to drin0, and he thin0s that it is cham agne' 5 could still give a lot of other e/am les, but 5 still -ant to give some es ecially strange matters only' 5f you cause a visual hallucination in such a hy notised erson and say to him, for e/am le( you see a red circle there on the -hite -all, he sees a red circle on a -hite -all' 5f you sho- him then, after he had this hallucination, the red circle through a rism, this hallucination a ears refracted e/actly according to the refraction la-s of the rism, Bust li0e another henomenon' The visual hallucinations roduced -ith hy notised eo le follo- the e/ternal refraction la-sE they still follo- other o tical la-s, but it -ould go too far if -e -anted to give them in detail' *s ecially significant is to 0no-( if -e give a command to such a hy notised erson -hich he should carry out not straight a-ay, but only after some time, this can also ha en' 5 trans ort a erson into hy nosis, say to him( tomorro- you come to me and say hello to me and then as0 me for a glass of -ater' G 5f the e/ eriment is carried out so that all reconditions are fulfilled, he 0no-s nothing about the e/ eriment after -a0ing u E but tomorro- he feels in the time -hich 5 said to him an irresistible urge and carries out -hat 5 osed for him' This is a osthy notic suggestion' This may a ly to strange cases, in articular also to date suggestions' 5 can suggest to a hy notised erson to carry out a articular action in three times ten daysE ho-ever, a lot of actions must be carried out before' %o not get a fright from it' 9erha s only an occultist is able to have an overvie- of the reconditions -hich are necessaryE nevertheless, the erson concerned -ill carry out the command -hich -as given to him in three times ten days on time' These are henomena -hich are not denied by the fe-est, also not by scholars -ho have occu ied themselves -ith these Cuestions' Somebody -ho studied the matters may hardly deny the information -hich 5 have given' 6o-ever, -hat goes beyond that is denied by many eo le' But -e have also seen that in the last decades such a sum of matters has been added from the art of the hysiologists and sychologists, so that one cannot 0no- ho- much is still added to the admitted matters' 5 have sho-n you that such abnormal states of consciousness are also found indicated in the boo0s of the !Jth century about -hich 5 have s o0en' 5 could also e/ lain -ith regard to other henomena that 0no-ledge of the hy notic state has e/isted -ith the occultists of all times' 6o-ever, the roof cannot be roduced that the ancient *gy tian, in articular, the ancient 5ndian riest sages 0ne- only -hat 5 have re orted to you as the henomena of hy notism G and they are the most elementary ones( these sages 0ne- even more' Because they 0ne- even more, they -ere revented to inform the big masses of their -isdom' 8e still see -hy' 6o-ever, one thing is strange' The Desuit <ircher is said to have received his -isdom indirectly from 5ndia' <ee in mind this story of the !Jth century that this -isdom -as transmitted from 5ndia' The follo-ing centuries, since the !Jth century, -ere not es ecially convenient for such matters in the e/ternal science' This e/ternal science made good rogress in articular in the fields of hysics, astronomy, and the investigation of the e/ternal sense@ erce tible facts' 5 have already e/ lained last time -hich significance this rogress had for the
9agina =H din !!=

human thin0ing' 5 have sho-n that above all this rogress made eo le used to only loo0 for the real 0no-able, the truth in the sense@ erce tible matters, so that the human being got used to not acce ting -hat cannot be sei.ed -ith the hands, seen -ith the eyes, conceived -ith the inferring reason' 5t is the age of *nlightenment to -hich -e a roach, that age in -hich the human average mind set the tone in -hich one -anted to recognise everything in the -ay as one recognises the hysical henomena' 8ith hysical henomena the e/ eriments must succeed if only the reconditions are ro erly roduced' *verybody can fulfil these reconditions' 6o-ever, in the field of hy notism something else is necessary' The immediate influence of life on life is necessary there, yes, the immediate influence of a human being on a human being or of a human being on a living being is necessary' The rocedure -hich the human being has to carry out -ith the chic0en, li0e in the e/ eriment -hich already the Desuit :ather <ircher e/ lained to us in the !Jth century, this rocedure had to be carried out by a human being' Also all the other matters of -hich 5 have s o0en must be carried out by a human being to another living human being or being' 5t may be G and this is the most im ortant Cuestion G because the human beings are very different from each other that the human beings -ould have such different Cualities that they have an effect of Cuite different ty e on other living beings, above all on other human beings' Thus it could robably also ha en because the human being is necessary to roduce hy notic henomena that a erson does not have the Cualities -hich are necessary to hy notise a human being, -hereas another erson has them' 8e not needed to -onder if this -ere that -ay' 8e 0no- that an interaction ta0es lace -ith the concerning matters, com arable to that of a magnet and iron filings' The iron filings remain at rest if you ut -ood into themE ho-ever, if you ut a magnet, these filings osition themselves in articular -ay' 8e have to assume that human beings are so different from each other that the one can cause articular effects li0e the magnet, and the other can cause no effect li0e the -ood' The urely rational clarification does never admit such a vie-' 5t su oses that one human being is li0e the other' The average scale is ut onto the human being, and one does never admit that anybody can be a significant scholar, but has no ability, does not have the Cualities to roduce the hy notic state' ,evertheless, there may be the case that it de ends less on the human being -ho is hy notised, but more on that -ho hy notises -ho is active' The Cualities may be even caused artificially in a human being -ho -ields such a o-er on the other that such henomena ha en of -hich -e have s o0en, yes that much more im ortant henomena may ha en' The rational clarification that ma0es no difference bet-een human being and human being does not admit this' Those, ho-ever, -ho have concerned themselves -ith these matters, -ere a-are of that u to the age of *nlightenment' Somebody -ho follo-s the course of history finds another vie- of science than -e have it today' Sometimes these are only oral traditions -hich -ere assed on from school to school' There is never s o0en about the state of the hy notised erson, about the state of that -ho should be hy notisedE it does not de end on him at all' 6o-ever, methods are given to us -hich enable another erson, the hy notist, to cause such forces in him that he can e/ert such an influence on his fello- men' 5n the occult schools articular methods are given -ith -hich the erson receives such a o-er over his fello- men' 6o-ever, one also demands in all schools that that -ho develo s such a o-er in himself has to go through a certain develo ment occu ying the -hole human being' There does not hel the merely intellectual learning, there does not hel only thin0ing and science' 2nly those -ho 0no- and ractice the mysterious methods -ho -or0 the -ay u to a lofty level of moral develo ment -ho go through the most different robations in intellectual, s iritual and moral res ect rise above their fello- men and become riests of human0ind' Their develo ment ma0es it im ossible to use such a o-er in another -ay than for the benefit of their fello- men' Because such 0no-ledge gives the highest force because it ha ens by means of a transformation of the -hole human being, it -as 0e t secret' 2nly -hen other vie-s gained acce tance, there one also obtained other vie-s about these henomena, other intentions' 2ccult traditions form the basis of the Cuestion for centuries, and it does not de end on something else than on that( -hich reCuirements has anybody to meet -hom is given such a o-er, -hich methods are necessary, so that a human being can attain such an influence on his fello- men; Thus this Cuestion -as till the age of *nlightenment' 2nly in the daybrea0 of *nlightenment from such a side li0e that of the Desuit father of -hom 5 have s o0en something of these henomena could be divulged in o ular scientific -ay' 5n former times anybody -ho 0ne- the case and the -ay -ould never have had the audacity to s ea0 about these henomena in ublic boo0s' 2nly by indiscretion something of this matter could come to the general ublic' 2nly -hen one did no longer 0no- -hat a tremendous im ortance the saying has( 0no-ledge is a o-er, only at this oint in time, -hen one layed G li0e the child lays -ith the fire G -ith a 0no-ledge rather fateful under circumstances and did not 0no- -hat to do -ith it' 2nly in such a time it -as ossible to discuss this 0no-ledge, -hich means nothing else than dominion of the mind over the mind, in o ular -ay' 6ence, it is not sur rising that the real official scholarshi , -hich is a child of the last centuries, did not 0no- -hat to do -ith these henomena' 5n articular, it did not 0no- -hat to do -hen it -as confronted by )esmer -ith these henomena in a strangely sur rising -ay at the end of the !=th century' )esmer -as a much defamed man, on the other side he -as raised to the s0ies' This erson made the Cuestion flo- freely for the scholarshi ' The term )esmerism comes from him' 5t -as a Cuite eculiar erson, a erson as they may have a eared in the !=th century in bigger number than this could be the case todayE a erson -ho, as -e -ill see, had to be inevitably misBudged by many eo le, ho-ever, -ho -as able to ma0e this
9agina =J din !!=

Cuestion flo- freely because of his fearlessness G -hich admittedly a ears to the outsider as adventurousness, as charlatanism' 5n !JHH, a treatise a eared by )esmer about the &nfluence of the 'lanets on uman ?ife -hich the modern scholar must regard as a Cuite fantastic thing' %ar-in>s biogra her, 9reyer, esteemed by me G ta0e this -ord seriously, because it concerns not a reBudice, but characterises him G sho-ed an enormous im artiality Bust of this Cuestion -hat 5 have to a reciate, and, hence 5 choose him as a articular e/am le of ho- little the changed science of the !"th century can do Bustice to that -hich -as -ritten from Cuite different reconditions in the !=th century' 9reyer dealt -ith )esmer>s -or0s -ith all good -ill and could find nothing else than em ty -ords in them' 8ho does not assess such matters fantastically but -ith e/ ertise, understands it, and he -ill even meet somebody -ith mistrust -ho believes to be able to rotect )esmer against 9reyer' 5f one -ants to Budge correctly, the reconditions of such a Budgment are more rofound than one normally believes' 6o-ever, this first treatise should not occu y us, because it sho-s to the insightful erson nothing else than that )esmer understood to master the science of his time from a lofty oint of vie- and -ith a com rehensive loo0' 5 -ant to em hasise this, so that the faith does not a ear that he dealt as a dilettante -ith such matters' ,o doubt, )esmer -as a erfect young scholar -hen he -rote his doctor thesis, and you can find -hat he -rote in countless theses of eo le -ho became Cuite -ell@behaved and com etent scholars of the !=th and still the !"th centuries' )esmer a eared -ith the so@called magnetic cures in 7ienna in the last third of the !=th century' 6e made use of certain methods to these magnetic cures at first -hich -ere common ractice at that time, actually' 5t -as in those days the tradition -hich never com letely has died do-n that one can achieve healings by means as 5 -ill mention them' This tradition has come to life in that time' 6e made use of a method -hich had nothing ca tious( steel magnets -ere ut on the ill art of the body or -ere brought near to it, su osedly or really they caused relief or healing of ains' )esmer made use of such magnets in his institute for a longer time' Then, ho-ever, he noticed something articular' 9erha s he has not noticed that at this time, erha s he has also already 0no-n it and -anted to use a more usual method only as a hiding means' 6e thre- the magnets aside and said that the force -ent out from his o-n body that it is merely transferred as a healing force from his o-n body to the ill body in Cuestion, so that the healing is an interaction bet-een a force -hich he develo s in his body and another force -hich is in the ill body of the other' 6e calls this force animal magnetism' 5 tell this roughlyE if 5 e/ lained it in detail, it -ould ta0e too much time' 6e had differences in 7ienna very soon G about the results of his cure -e do not -ant to tal0' 6e had to leave the city and turned to 9aris' At first he had Cuite e/traordinary results there' 6e -as unusually o ular' 6o-ever, the scholars could not get over that )esmer earned H,### :rancs monthly -hat is something a-0-ard from a doctorLs vie- oint if anybody earns so much' This should go -ithout saying on the art of science striving for rogress and tending to materialism' Fou 0no- that -e are in the !=th century in the age of *nlightenment that in :rance the emotions -ere running high and that one -anted to acce t nothing that one cannot see -ith eyes, cannot touch -ith hands, and cannot deduce -ith reason' Fou understand that the official science, -hich -as influenced more or less by the materialistic school of thought, too0 offence at matters -hich one could not understand' 6ence, )esmer>s healings became a ublic scandal' 9eo le said to themselves( these must be no real, but only imaginary illnesses, so that hysterical eo le are cured only in their imagination, or that sic0 eo le -ere relieved of ains in their imagination' 5n any case, one denied )esmer>s method' The result of the fact -as that by order of the 0ing t-o cor orations -ere as0ed to give an e/ ert o inion about )esmerism' 5 -ould li0e to state that to you, so that you see ho- in those days science really faced these thingsE so that you see that one must not loo0 at these matters -ith assion, but also see at the same time ho- in those days one had to misBudge the stance necessarily -hich one had to ta0e to-ard )esmer' A -oman -as blindfolded, and one said to her that one has got )onsieur dL*lon -ho -ould magnetise her' Three of the re resentatives of the commission -ere attending( one to as0, one to -rite, one to mesmerise' The -oman -as not mesmerised' After three minutes the -oman felt the influence, became stiff, stood u from the chair and stam ed -ith the feet' ,o- the crisis -as there' 2ne s o0e of this crisis also -ith )esmer>s healings, one ascribed the success to it' 2ne brought a hysterical -oman before the door and said to her that the mesmerist -ere in the room' She started shivering, and the crisis came' The commission had stated that there is something strange, something that the commission could not e/ ect' 5t had stated something after -hich it could ma0e no other Budgement, as that the -hole rocedure of )esmer -ere a s-indle' *verybody -ho understood a little bit of it had been able to forecast that they -ould come -ith a robability of "5 to hundred to this result, and that they could come -ith their reconditions to no other e/ lanations' But, nevertheless, the commission -as able to come to other results+ 5s this nothing at all that a -oman only gras s the thought of a erson, gets to all the states -hich are told to us here about the -oman inside in the room li0e about the -oman outside; Above all -e have to as0, and this commission should have as0ed itself in those days also honestly and sincerely( could they e/ ect such an effect of the thought according to their rationalistic oint of vie-; 8ould have they had any ossibility -ith their
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materialistic means to e/ lain the effect of the thought on the bodily states; *ven if -e concede the right to the commission to condemn )esmer, one never can concede the right to it that it left this case' The case had to be investigated further, Bust by the commission, because there is a articular scientific Cuestion -ithout doubt' 5 -ould still li0e to em hasise a fact -hich is significant for that -ho 0no-s ans-er -hich has been assessed, ho-ever, only dis aragingly' A big sum -as offered to )esmer, so that he hands over his secret to other eo le' 5t -as also said that the sum -as aid to him, but he -ould have 0e t the secret for himself and -ould not have informed others' This is understood by many as a s-indle' But short time after so@called hermetic societies a eared all over :rance in -hich the same arts -ere used to a certain degree' 2ne did not say that he had betrayed the secret, but there -ere found those -ho e/ercised his methods' 8ho 0no-s something about these matters understands that he only informed trust-orthy ersons of his secrets' 5t says nothing at all that he did not ublish his secrets in the ne-s a ers' Associate this statement -ith the fact that those -ho really 0no- something of such matters do not inform of them, because it does not de end on informing but on develo ing certain Cualities -hich roduce these henomena' Fou understand no- -here the societies came from' 5t does not de end at all on the e/ erimentsE the e/ eriments are still to be forbidden if they are carried out by unauthorised eo le' 5t de ends merely on develo ing the hy notist' Actually, the scientists could hardly give themselves any e/ lanation of these henomena at that time' 6ence, these henomena -ere thro-n to the dead at first, as by the :rench Academy and also by the -hole science' 6o-ever, they a eared over and over again' 5n Germany such henomena -ere discussed er etually' ,e-s a ers -ere founded s ecially for it' 9eo le -ho believe that such an influence can be e/erted from erson to erson e/ lain the fact assuming a fluid, a fine substance that goes from the hy notist to the hy notised erson and e/erts the influence' But even those -ho do not deny the influence cannot e/ceed materialism' They say to themselves( substance remains substance, no matter -hether it is coarse or fine' G 2ne could imagine the s iritual@effective as nothing else than something material' 5t is a result of the fact that one tried to inter ret them in the materialistic age that these henomena -ere inter reted that -ay 5 cannot describe the different decades -hich follo-ed )esmer in detail' 5 only -ant to mention that the henomena have never been forgotten com letely, that even again and again eo le a eared -ho too0 these henomena very seriously' There -ere also university rofessors -ho have described these henomena in detail and already 0nedifferent matters, -hich -e today subsume under the conce t of hy notic henomena' They 0ne- of the so@called verbal suggestion' They stated, for e/am le, a lot more than -hat modern science -ants to admit' 2ne asserted of a scholar that he could read a boo0 very -ell -ith shut eyesE that he could read -ith the heart and could read the -ords in such a state merely touching a boo0 age' 2ne asserted that one could also get to artificial somnambulism to see distant events, that is to become a clairvoyant' All these henomena -ere revived G and it is the strange fact that the scholars of the !"th century -ere forced to encounter it G by -andering hy notists li0e 6ansen -ho -andered in America during the forties -ho sho-ed henomena before the big audience and -ere aid for it' They often caused tremendous effects in their s ectators' 2ne called them soul tamers' 5n articular Dustinus <erner calls these eo le soul tamers because they roduced soul effects by means of mere staring and loo0ing' 6o-ever, calling attention to the henomena has dangerous as ects because on one side dangers e/ist for the e/ erimental subBects, on the other side, certain s-indlers fooled the audience in the most unbelievable -ay' 5 -ould li0e to s ea0 of an e/ eriment -hich -as often made and of -hich 5 am convinced ersonally that it er le/ed and cheated souls in big ublic gatherings again and again' The e/ eriment consists in the follo-ing( here sits a blindfolded medium' 5t can see nothing' The concerning im resario -al0s around in the audience and says at the end of the hall( say something in my ear or ut a Cuestion, and -e -ant to see -hether the medium can 0no- something of it' 2r -rite do-n a -ord or a sentence to me on a iece of a er' The one or the other ha ens, and after a short time the medium at the table, very far from the im resario, says the -ord -hich is -his ered or is -ritten do-n' ,obody e/ce ting the t-o human beings 0no-s anything about it, and the concerning im resario can sho- the iece of a er or allo- the erson concerned to as0 -hether the information of the medium is right' 5n truth nothing else than the follo-ing ha ened in many cases -here 5 -as resent( the man -ho -al0ed around -as a very s0ilful ventriloCuist' The medium moved the li s at the moment at -hich it should ronounce the -ord' The -hole audience loo0ed at the li s of the medium, and the im resario himself said the -ord or sentence in Cuestion' 5 have e/ erienced again and again that in each case hardly t-o human beings -ere in the hall -ho could e/ lain this e/ eriment' 2f course, such cases -ere mi/ed u re eatedly -ith fla-less facts' 2ne must be in the 0no- there to be not fooled by -andering mesmerists' 6ence, it is unfortunate that this case has to be ointed out to the scholars' There are ventriloCuists -ho can roduce -hole melodies, iano laying et cetera by ventriloCuism' 8ho 0no-s these matters is not easily fooled concerning these Cuestions'

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5n the forties and fifties the attention of the scholars -as called to it once again by -andering soul tamers' 5n articular, it -as a certain Stone -ho caused great sensation and became a tal0ing oint' Already some time before, ho-ever, such a sho-man had induced a scholar to scrutinise these henomena once again' This scholar gave us scholarly treatises about these henomena from the forties' They referred chiefly to the method of fi/ation, to staring at a brilliant obBect' This scholar has dra-n attention straight a-ay to the fact that -ith all these henomena no s ecific influence goes out from the hy notist to the ersons to be hy notised' Dust this e/ eriment of fi/ation -as so significant to him because he -anted to sho- that these henomena concern an abnormal state of the e/ erimental subBect' 6e -anted to sho- that no interaction ta0es lace, but that everything that ha ened is nothing else than a hysiological henomenon caused by a cerebral rocess' 6e -anted to sho- that )esmerism is absurd -ith -hich the concerning erson must have the articular Cualities' Thus the tone -as given basically in -hich from no- on these Cuestions -ere treated by the official science for the second half of the !"th century' 2nly -ith fe- e/ce tions this Cuestion -as understood in such a -ay as if it could be treated li0e an everyday scientific e/ eriment, as if it concerned nothing else than a fact -hich has significance only if it can be brought about again li0e another scientific e/ eriment -hich can be erformed and re eated any time' This reCuirement -as also ut to this e/ eriment' 3nder this condition science also deigned to study the henomena' 6o-ever, the study -as carried out in a rather unfavourable age' To characterise to you ho- unfavourable the age of the fifties, si/ties -as, 5 -ant to state something else that is the most significant for the observer of the develo ment of the !"th century that is ignored, ho-ever, by the official science as a rule' 4ong time before Stone, before the academic scholarshi , a man a eared in 9aris -ho -as a 1atholic riest before, -ho had gone then to the Brahmans to 5ndia, and -ho used the methods -hich he had got to 0no- in 5ndia, hy notism and suggestion, also the ins iration of erson to erson, to his healings' This man, called :aria, e/ lained all the henomena in another -ay' 6e said that it -ould de end only on one matterE it -ould de end on the fact that the hy notist can cause a articular mental condition in the erson to be hy notised that he -as able to trans ort the masses of ideas of the erson to be hy notised into a state of concentration' 5f this concentration is achieved if the -hole mass of ideas of the erson concerned is concentrated u on a articular oint, the concerning state must ha en' Then the other henomena must also ha en, and also the more intricate ones, -hich :aria sho-s' There you have an e/ lanation and inter retation from somebody -ho understood the case really' But he -as not understood' 6e is sim ly overloo0ed' This is also e/ licable' G 5 have said that the Desuit :ather -ho discussed this case first and -ho got his -isdom from 5ndia indicated the e/ lanation in the heading' 6o-ever, the scholars did not understand a lot of it, so that the learnt 9reyer said still in !=JJ if the church attributes these henomena to imagination, this sho-s only ho- much imagination the church has' 6e got ersonal about the 1atholic riest to have become a Brahman' 6o-ever, one al-ays finds that hy notism -as used to healings and to soothe the ain -ith o erations' Those -ho had relationshi to :aria managed that a erson to be o erated did not erceive ains by means of mental influence' 5n !=&J, chloroform -as discoveredE a means of -hich the materialistic researchers could believe and also said rightly that it revents ain -ith o erations' Thus the understanding of the other analgesic had got lost for long time' 2nly single, really thin0ing researchers also dealt -ith these henomena in the ne/t time' 8ho observes more e/actly finds again and again that the doctors 0no- the a ro riate methods very -ell, but here and there they let it sho- that behind the henomena is something that they do not understand' And those -ho are more reasonable e/ ressly -arn generally about dealing -ith these henomena, -ith this field -hich is so subBected to dece tion that even great scholars can be fooledE hence, it cannot be -arned enough about it' 1ertain scholars, for -hom one had to have, other-ise, the highest res ect, had this stand oint' 5 only mention the 7iennese researcher Benedi0t, much a reciated by me, -ho ointed to these henomena again and again, already during the seventies' 6e is the same researcher -ho established the idea of the so@called moral insanity -hich is normally not understood' 2ne does not need to agree to the theory, also not to that -hich he s ea0s about hy notism and magnetism' Already as a young man he aid attention to )esmerism and thought that something is behind itE but he never dealt -ith it in such a -ay as for e/am le 4iVbeault and Bernheim of the ,ancy school' Benedi0t -as that -ho shar ly o osed and em hasised that even 1harcot -arned about attem ts of inter reting these henomena' Fou can no-here find a lausible reason -ith Benedi0t for his o osition against the -hole theory of hy nosis, but his instinctive utterances are moving in a strangely correct line' 6e al-ays says only( -ho carries out e/ eriments in this field must realise that the ersons, -ith -hom he carries out such e/ eriments, may fool him as -ell, maybe -ithout 0no-ing it, as they can also rovide something true for him' G 6e em hasised on the other side that in the -ay as science -ants to ta0e hold of the matters no results can be got' After again a -andering hy notist, 6ansen, had demonstrated the most horrendous e/ eriments to the eo le -hich scholars co ied in the laboratory and -ere artly successful, -e see maga.ines ta0ing hold of the case' Thic0 boo0s are -ritten -hich are cannibalised by Bournalism, and these matters become Cuestions of the day and o ular -ritings are ublished, so that everybody can have instructions of these matters in his vest oc0et' These -ere in articular the scholars of the ,ancy school, 4iVbeault and Bernheim, -ho inter reted these henomena scientifically' A Cuality had to
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be ascribed to these henomena -hich ma0es them synonymous and belonging to the other scientific henomena' Thus -e see then that the e/terior -hich is not denied by the materialists should be decisive for causing hy nosis' Bernheim has managed to e/clude all methods and admitted the verbal suggestion only( the -ord -hich 5 s ea0 to the erson concerned has an effect in such a -ay that he gets to this state' 6y nosis itself is an effect of suggestion' 5f 5 say( slee + G 2r( lo-er the eyelids+ G *t cetera, the corres onding image is caused and this causes the effect' Thus materialism had ha ily ut the henomena of hy nosis in a coffinE thus that retreated into the bac0ground -hich all those 0no- -ho 0no- a lot about these matters( that it de ends on the effect of a erson on the other ersonE that a erson has either the natural dis osition or develo s it using articular methods and develo s to a o-erful erson im ortant for his fello- men' 5t -as com letely disregarded that this ersonal influence had an effect' The oint of vie- of the average mind should be a lied -ith -hich all eo le are on a ar -hich does not -ant to acce t a develo ment of the human being to a certain height of moral and intellectual education' That -hich is im ortant -as ut in a coffin' :rom this oint of vie- the -hole modern literature is -ritten' 5n articular it is the hiloso her 8undt -ho 0no-s nothing to do -ith it -ho says that a articular art of the brain becomes ineffective' Also a friend of mine -hom 5 hold in high esteem, 6ans Schmid0un., -rote a sychology of suggestion in -hich he e/ lains in detail that these rocesses are only an increase of henomena to be observed in the everyday life -hich are caused naturally that one does not yet 0no-, ho-ever, -here the e/ lanation must be searched for' 8hile -e have considered the history of this fact, -e have entered a 0ind of dead end' ,obody can find anything else in the contem orary literature about this cha ter than a more or less big aggregation of sim le, elementary facts' The effect of a erson on another erson is e/ lained more or less insignificantly in a materialistic -ay' But one -ill convince himself of the fact above all that the official science did not co e -ith these facts, and that nothing is more unBustified than if today medicine resumes to ut these henomena in a coffin for itself if it claims that it should be the field of medicine only, that it should be a rivilege of medicine to deal -ith these facts' To any really reasonable erson it is clear that modern medicine 0no-s nothing to do -ith these facts and that, above all, those are right -ho oint to the danger of these matters' ,ot -ithout reason eo le li0e )orit. Benedi0t -arned about a scientific study of these matters' ,ot -ithout reason they said that even 1harcot has to ay attention because these states -hich he causes as an obBective observer could overcome him subBectively' ,ot -ithout reason they -anted to rotect science against the treatment as the ,ancy school has usually done -hich has achieved nothing for the really reasonable erson but -orthless attem ts of registration or e/ lanation -hich basically mean nothing' Ruite rightly Benedi0t ointed to the fact that one cannot distinguish in the -hole literature of the ,ancy school -hich is a su erficial or a ositive erformance and -hether one has abandoned himself to self@dece tion or has been cheated' This is the instinctive Budgement of Benedi0t -hom certain, in articular dee er medical minds of today a reciate' This Budgement is ty ical because it re roaches us instinctively -ith the true facts' 5nstinctively Benedi0t oints to that -hich it de ends on' The first one is that these matters G and Benedi0t e/ resses this -ith clear -ords G must not be lum ed together -ith other to e/ eriment -ith them' 6ence, he only investigates those facts -hich a roach him -ithout his hel ' 5f anybody gets to natural hy nosis and suffers no change by the hy notist, -e have investigated these henomena scientifically' 6o-ever, as soon as -e e/ercise an influence on our fello- men in this regard, then -e do it from erson to erson, from the force of a erson to that of the other, then -e change the state of the other erson, and then it de ends on it -hat clings to our erson ho- this erson is in a certain -ay' Those 0no- this -ho 0no- the higher methods -hich science does not have at all' 5f you are a bad human being, an inferior human being in a certain -ay, and you e/ercise a hy notic influence on your fello- men, you do harm to them' 5f you -ant to e/ercise such an a ro riate influence so that -ith it encom assing cosmic forces have no harmful effects, then you have to be acCuainted -ith the secrets of the higher s iritual life, and you are able to do this only if you have develo ed your force to a higher level' 5t is not a matter of e/ erimenting here and there' These henomena are those -hich are e/ercised er etually round us' 8hen you enter a room and there are other eo le, then interactions ta0e lace' Those are analogous to hy notical henomena' 5f such an influence is e/erted consciously, one must be -orthy and ca able to e/ert such an influence' Therefore, a healthy life -ill be in this field only again unless the demand e/ists to study these henomena according to science, but if the old method is rene-ed again that somebody -ho has aroused the o-er in himself -ho can be the hy notist must develo articular higher forces in him first' 2ne 0ne- this once' 2ne 0ne- ho- the henomena are' 5t -as a matter of re aring the human beings that they -ere able to carry out such henomena' 2nly if our medical education is another again if the -hole human0ind is led again to a higher moral, s iritual and intellectual level and the human being has roved himself -orthy, only if the test is carried out in this sense, one can s ea0 of a ros erous develo ment of this field' 6ence, nothing is to be ho ed from the modern academic treatment of hy notism and suggestion' They are understood in a Cuite -rong -ay' They only must be considered correctly again' 5f this ha ens, one
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sees that these henomena are basically more common than one thin0s usually' Then one understands a lot of our surroundings' Then one also 0no-s that one cannot o ularise these henomena beyond a certain degree at all because these henomena belong to the human inner develo ment then' The highest o-er is not acCuired by vivisection of the s irit but by the develo ment of forces in us' )oral, mental, s iritual higher develo ment is that -hich ma0es us again -orthy to s ea0 a clear -ord in these fields' Then -e also understand our ancestors again -ho did not -ant to sho- these matters in their dee est significance to the secular -orld' 2ne -anted to say nothing else if one s o0e of the veiled icture of the 5sis that nobody is allo-ed to lift her veil if he is guilty' 8ith it one -anted to ma0e it clear that the human being can recognise the highest truth only if he ma0es himself -orthy' This -ill thro- a ne- meaning and a ne- light on the saying( 0no-ledge is o-er' G 1ertainly, 0no-ledge is o-er' And the higher the 0no-ledge, the bigger is the o-er' The guidance of the -orld history is based on such o-er' 5t is the caricature of it -hich science -ants to sho- us today' But one is allo-ed to attain such 0no-ledge -hich -a0es u the hearts, such a o-er -hich is allo-ed to intervene in the hearts and freedom of others by an insight -hich is good fortune for the human being at the same time before -hich he stands there reverentially' 2ur ideal must be that our 0no-ledge sei.es our -hole being that -e stand before the highest truth and recognise that the truth -hich -e e/ erience in ourselves is a divine revelation at -hich -e loo0 as something holy' Then -e again e/ erience 0no-ledge as o-er if 0no-ledge is again a communion -ith the divine' That -ho unites in 0no-ledge -ith the divine has a vocation to realise the saying( 0no-ledge is o-er'
,otes( Athanasius <ircher (!H#! or !H#2I!H=#), German Desuit scholar and olymath' 5rs magna lucis et umbrae 016.61 )iraculous e/ erimentO This e/ eriment had been already described by %aniel Sch-enter (!5=5I!H$H, mathematician) in his boo0 /eliciae ph"sicoAmathematicae 016361' Sch-enter, ho-ever, had ta0en it from another boo0 Recreationes mathematicae 0164.1, -ritten by the :rench (medical -riter) mathematician and hiloso her Dean 4eurechon (!5"!I!HJ#), S' D' 1as ar Schott (!H#=I!HHH), S' D', German mathematician and hysicist <arl 6ansen (M!=$$I!="J), %anish hy notist :ran. Anton )esmer (!J$&I!=!5), German hysician' /e planetarum influ9u in corpus humanum 0The &nfluence of the 'lanets on the uman Bod"1 01*661 8illiam Thierry 9reyer (!=&!I!="J), *nglish@German hysiologist' The /isco)er" of "pnotism 016901 induced a scholar O9resumably Dames Braid (!J"5I!=H#), Scottish surgeon and scientist' (eur"pnolog" or the Rationae of (er)ous Sleep, $onsidered in Relation +ith 5nimal #agnetism 016.31 AbbV :aria (!J&HI!=!"), Goan 1atholic mon0' The method of hy nosis used by :aria is command, follo-ing e/ ectancy( /e la cause du sommeil lucide ou Btude de la nature de l=homme 0!n the cause of ?ucid Sleep in the Stud" of the (ature of #an1 016191 )orit. Benedi0t (!=$5I!"2#), Austrian neurologist( 's"choph"si7 der #oral 0's"choph"sics of #oral1 016*.1, "pnotismus und Suggestion2 Eine 7linischAps"chologische Studie 0169.1 Ambroise Auguste 4iVbeault (!=2$ @!"#&), :rench hysician, :ounder of the ,ancy School or Suggestion School( ?e sommeil et les Btats analogues, considBrBs surtout du point de )ue de lCaction du moral sur le ph"si%ue 0Sleep and its analogous states considered from the perspecti)e of the action of the mind upon the bod" 016661 6i olyte@)arie Bernheim (!=&#I!"!"), :rench hysician and neurologist( /e la Suggestion et de son 5pplication D la ThBrapeuti%ue 0166*1 E Suggesti)e Therapeutics3 5 Treatise on the (ature and :ses of "pnotism 016691F Dean@)artin 1harcot (!=25I!="$), :rench neurologist 8ilhelm 8undt (!=$2I!"2#), German hysician, sychologist, hysiologist and hiloso her( "pnotismus und Suggestion 016941 6ans Schmid0un. (!=H$I!"$&), Austrian sychologist and hiloso her( 's"chologie der Suggestion in gemeinfasslicher /arstellung 0's"cholog" of Suggestion &ntelligible to E)er"bod"1 016931

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/ourse * " .ecture I# What 6oes the &odern :u-an Bein; 7ind in Theosophy<
Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(43$a
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin #arch 6th, 190. The theoso hical -orld vie- is for those -ho need a more solid foundation of their conce ts and ideas -ith regard to the su er@sensible -orld, and for those -ho strive for such a more rofound foundation of the 0no-ledge of soul and mind' Those are really not fe- in our time' 8e see that the cultural scholars made every effort for a long time to investigate the origin of the religions' They search for the origin of the religions -ith rimitive tribes, -ith the so@called original eo les to recognise ho- the religious images have develo ed in the course of time' 5n these religious images that is included basically -hich ideas the human being made to himself in the different e ochs, ideas of the su er@sensible, sychic and s iritual -orlds' There -e see that G on the one side G the researchers ma0e every effort to trace all religions bac0 to nature -orshi originating in the sim le, childish, naive human beings' 2n the other side, -e see other researchers tracing bac0 the origin of the religions to the fact that the sim le, naive human being sees his fello- man sto ing to live sto ing to breathe, sees him dying, and that he cannot imagine that nothing more should remain' 8e see that he forms the idea G on account of his different e/ eriences of the su er@sensible -orld, of his dreams, of his s iritual e/ eriences -hich the rimitive human being has to a greater e/tent than the civilised one G that the forefather, the deceased ancestor, is still there, actually, that he is effective as a soul, holding his hand rotectively over his descendants and the li0e' So some researchers trace the origin of religions bac0 to the ancestor -orshi , to the soul cult' 8e could still state a lot of other similar researches -hich should teach ho- religion came into the -orld' The human being tries to get a solid su ort for the Cuestion( are our images of a life after death, of a yonder realm -hich is not enclosed -ithin the sensory -orld, ho- are our images of an eternal life solidly founded; 6o- does the human being get to such images; G This is one 0ind ho- the human being tries today to found these ideas of the su er@sensible' The theoso hical -orld vie- is not eager to offer this foundation to the resent human0ind' 8hereas the cultural studies come bac0 to the e/ erience of the rimitive, sim le, naive, childish human being, the theoso hical -orld vieas0s rather for the religious e/ erience of the most erfect human being, of that -ho has come to a higher level of the s iritual vie- -hat he can develo as his vie-, as his e/ erience of the su er@sensible -orld' 8hat the human being -ho has develo ed his inner life, -ho has got certain forces, certain abilities -hich are not yet accessible to the average erson of today -hat such a human being is able to e/ erience of the higher -orld is the basis of the theoso hical -orld vie-' 5t is this higher e/ erience -hich goes beyond the sensory one, -hich rests on the so@called self@0no-ledge of the soul and the mind, and forms the basis of the theoso hical -orld vie-' 8hat is this higher e/ erience; 8hat does it mean to e/ erience something of the s iritual and astral -orlds; )ost of the human beings of today understand that fairly hard' This -as not the case in former times' Today, ho-ever, the human being has moved -ith his e/ erience to the sensuous -orld, the -orld of the e/ternal henomena' 5n this -orld of the e/ternal henomena the modern human being is at home' 6e as0s ho- does this a ear to the eye, ho- does that feel to the touching hand ho- can one understand this or that -ith the reason' 6e only sees the -orld of the e/ternal henomena' Thus this -orld of the sensory e/ erience lies before him o enly' 4et us have a loo0 once at that -hich this sensory e/ erience can give us' 8e -ant to understand ho- this sensory e/ erience faces us' 8e loo0 at something that belongs to these e/ternal henomena' 8e loo0 at any being, at any thing of the -orld' 8e can sho- that all these things of the -orld have come into being onceE they formed and -ere not there once' They -ere built u either by nature or by human hand, and after some time they -ill have disa eared' This is the Cuality of all things -hich belong to the e/ternal e/ erience that they come into being and ass' 8e can say this not only of the lifeless thingsE -e can say this also of all living things, also of the human being' 6e comes into being and asses if -e loo0 at him as an e/ternal henomenon' 8e can say the same about -hole nations' Fou need only to thro- a glance at the -orld history and you see ho- eo les -hich have been setting the tone for centuries -hich have done big, tremendous actions disa eared from the -orld history, for e/am le, the 2strogoths and 7isigoths' 8e move on from there to the henomena -hich one calls human creations, to that -hich is regarded as the highest and most marvellous human erformances' 5f -e loo0 at a -or0 of )ichelangelo or of Ra hael (Raffaello San.io), or to something other, to a significant -or0 of technology, you have to say to yourselves( such a -or0 remains for centuries or millenniaE and may the human eyes feel contented at the sight of the -or0s of Ra hael or )ichelangelo, may human hearts be delighted at the sight of such -or0s G but you cannot ignore the thought that that -hich a ears here as an e/ternal henomenon
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erishes once and disa ears in the dust' ,othing remains of the e/ternal a earance' Fes, -e can still go on' ,atural sciences teach us today that our earth that our sun originated in a articular oint of the cosmic evolution and the hysicist already states that one can almost calculate -hen that oint in time must have ha ened at -hich our earth has arrived at the end of its develo ment at -hich it goes to a state of infle/ibility, so that it cannot continue its develo ment' Then the end of the e/ternal a earance has come' Then everything sense@ erce tible has disa eared' Thus you can study the -hole realm of e/ternal forms, of e/ternal henomena G you find every-here in this -orld( coming into being and assingE or if -e go to the realm of the living beings( birth and death' Birth and death hold s-ay in the realm of the forms, in that realm -hich is accessible to the sensory e/ erience' 8e as0 ourselves( is this realm the only one -hich is to us; 8e as0 ourselves( is the realm, in -hich birth and death hold s-ay continually, the only one -hich is accessible to the human beings; :or somebody -ho only acce ts the sensory vie- -ho -ants to 0no- nothing about self@0no-ledge of the mind, of abilities -hich e/ceed the mere consideration of forms, the consideration of the e/ternal henomena to him it may robably a ear in such a -ay, as if everything is contained in the a earing and disa earing henomena, in the rocesses of originating and assing, in birth and death' Fou can also not get to a higher vie- if you consider nature and s irit as you gain the e/ternal e/ erience' Fou cannot go far beyond birth and death in the same -ay, by means of the senses' Fou need to become absorbed in higher mental abilitiesE not in abnormal mental abilities -hich only articular eo le have, no, only in those soul forces -hich are beneath the e/ternal su erficial layer' 5f anybody trans orts himself into that soul region, he is able to obtain another vie- about the things and beings -ith dee er consideration' 4oo0 at the sim lest one( the lant life' There you see birth and death er etually changing' Fou see a lily originating from the germ and you see the lily disa earing again, after it has delighted your eye some time and has leased your heart' 5f you do no longer see -ith the eye of your body, but -ith the eye of your mind, you see even more' Fou see the lily develo ing from the germ and becoming a germ after its develo ment again' Then a ne- lily comes into being -hich roduces a germ again' 4oo0 at a seedE there you see ho- in this -orld a form comes into being and asses, but any figure already contains the seed and the germ of a ne- figure' This is the nature of the livingE this is the nature of that -hich one calls force -hich e/ceeds the mere form and the mere figure' There -e come to a ne- realm -hich -e can see only -ith the eyes of the mind -hich is as absolutely true for the eye of the mind as the e/ternal form for the bodily eye' The forms originate and assE -hat a ears, ho-ever, again and again -hat is there -ith every ne- figure time and again is life itself' :or you cannot sei.e life rationally -ith natural sciences, -ith e/ternal observation rationally' 6o-ever, you can see it flo-ing through the originating and assing figures -ith your s iritual eye' 8hich is the character of life; 5t a ears time and again' As -ell as birth and death are the Cualities of the e/ternal henomena and forms, rebirth and er etual rene-al are the Cualities of life' The form -hich -e call alive has enclosed in itself the force, the same force -hich is able to let come into being a ne- figure in a ne- birth instead of the old one' Rebirth and once more rebirth is the being, the ty ical in the realm of the living beings as birth and death is the ty ical in the realm of the forms, the e/ternal figures' 5f -e ascend to the human being if the human being considers himself, ta0es a loo0 at his soul, then he finds that something e/ists in him that re resents a higher level than life -hich -e have seen -ith the lantE that this life must have, ho-ever, the same Cuality li0e the life in the lant, going from figure to figure' 8e have said that it is the force -hich allo-s the ne- figure to be reborn from the old one' 4oo0 at the little seedE its e/ternal a earance is insignificant' 8hat you cannot see, ho-ever, is the force, and this force, not the e/ternal a earance, is the creator of the ne- lant' The ne- lily comes from the insignificant seed because the force of the nelily slumbers in the seed' 5f you loo0 at a seed, you see something e/ternally insignificant, and of the -ay, as it has formed life, you can ma0e an idea of the force to yourselves' 5f you see, ho-ever, in your o-n soul -ith your s iritual eye, then you are able to erceive the force in yourselves -ith -hich this soul -or0s, -ith -hich this soul is active in the -orld of forms' 8hich are the forces of the soul; These forces -hich cannot be com ared at all -ith other forces, but are on a higher level and are not immediately identical to the life@force of the lant, these forces are sym athy and anti athy' The soul is thereby active in life and does actions' 8hy do 5 carry out an action; Because any sym athy located in my soul drives me' 8hy do 5 feel revulsion; Because 5 feel a force in myself -hich one can call anti athy' 5f you try to understand this er etually surging soul@life by means of internal observation, you find these t-o forces in the soul again and again and you can attribute them to sym athy and anti athy' That must induce the thoughtful soul observer to as0( -hat about it; 8hich forces must e/ist in the soul; G 5f you as0ed( -here from has the lily originated G and you -ould say( this lily has originated from nothing, then one did not imagine that it has come from the seed in -hich already the force -as ut by the former lantE then one did not assume that from the seed a ne- figure could originate' The ne- figure o-es its e/istence to the old, dead figure -hich has left behind nothing but the force of the creation of a
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ne- one' As -e never understand ho- a lily comes into being if not another lily releases the forces to the creation of a ne- lily, Bust as little -e can understand ho- the surging soul@life -hich consists of sym athy and anti athy could be there if -e did not -ant to trace it bac0 to the origin' Dust as -e must be a-are of the Cuestion that every lant and its figure must be traced bac0 to a receding one, -e must also realise that the force cannot have originated from nothing' Dust as little the force of the lily can disa ear into nothing, Bust as little the force of the soul can disa ear into nothing' 5t must find its effect, its further sha ing in the e/ternal reality' 8e find rebirth in the realm of life, -e also find it G considering our soul intimately G in the sychic realm' 8e only need to ay attention to these thoughts in the right -ay' 8e only need to imagine that infinite conseCuence, and -e can easily move from the thought of rebirth or reincarnation on the force -hich must enliven the soul, -ithout -hich the soul cannot be thought at all, if one does not -ant to imagine that a soul has originated from nothing and disa ears into nothing' 8ith it -e also come in the sychic life to reincarnation, and -e only need to as0 ourselves( ho- must reincarnation be in the sychic life; G The matter here is that you do not 0ee to the sensory vie-, but that you develo the vie- of the s iritual life in yourselves to understand the er etual change of the figures in connection -ith the unchanging life' There you only need to ta0e a great German s irit, then you -ill get an idea ho- you can loo0 -ith the s iritual eye at the life flo-ing from figure to figure' There you only need to ta0e Goethe>s scientific -ritings, -hich are -ritten so gracefully, -here you have lively considerations of life seen -ith the s iritual eye and you -ill recognise ho- one has to loo0 at life' 5f you transfer these considerations to the vie- of the soul@life, you are led to the fact that our sym athies and anti athies have develo ed that they have arisen from a germ, as -ell as the lant has come from a germ -ith regard to its figure' This is the first rimitive mental icture that forms the basis of a main thought of the theoso hical -orld vie-, the idea of the reincarnation of the sychic life' 8hat -e as0 from the oint of vie- of the thoughtful reflection is( ho- have -e to imagine the intricate soul@life if -e do not -ant to believe in the reincarnation of the soul; G 2ne may argue( certainly, it -ould be a sychic miracleE it -ould be a sychic su erstition if 5 had to admit that my soul@life has originated all at once, and that it has to have its effect, too' 2ne could argue( yes, but the receding figure of the soul does not need to have been on our earth, and its effect also does not need to be any-here on this earth' G 6o-ever, also there you can overcome the a arent cliff -ith some thoughtful reflection' The soul enters the -orldE the soul has a sum of dis ositions, these are develo ed and have not originated from nothing' As little the sychic from the hysical, as little anything sychic has originated from the material as little an earth-orm has come into being from mud' As -ell as life comes into being only from something living, the soul can have originated only from something sychic' The origin of the soul must be on our earth' 5f its abilities came from distant -orlds, they -ould not fit into our -orld, and then the soul -ould be not ada ted to the life of the -orld of a earance' As -ell as any being is ada ted to its surroundings, the develo ing soul is ada ted directly to its surroundings' 6ence, you have not to search for the reconditions of the resent soul@life any-here in an un0no-n -orld, but in this -orld first of all' 8ith it -e have conceived the thought of reincarnation' Thus everybody can get the idea of the reincarnation of the soul only using ure thoughtful reflection if he -ants to become engrossed really' This has forced all the e/cellent s irits, -ho understood the living nature, to the idea of transmigration in this sense, in the sense of transmigration from form to form, a transmigration -hich -e call reincarnation, reincarnation or re@embodiment' 5 still -ant to refer to one of the most e/cellent s irits of the ne-er time, to Giordano Bruno -ho e/ ressed the reincarnation of the soul as his creed considering the human being' Bruno died a martyr>s death because he agreed o enly as the first to the father of modern natural sciences, 1o ernicus' Thus you admit that he 0ne- to assess the e/ternal figure in its sensory a earance' 6o-ever, he understood even more' 6e 0ne- ho- to loo0 at life flo-ing from figure to figure, and that is -hy he -as led to the idea of reincarnation by itself' 5f -e go on, -e find this teaching of reincarnation -ith 4essing in his Education of the uman Race' 8e find it touched also -ith 6erder' 8e find it indicated in various forms -ith Goethe even if Goethe did not e/ ress himself very clearly in his careful 0ind' Dean 9aul and countless other -riters could still be mentioned' 8hat these modern s irits induced, on -hom our -hole cultural life is de endent -ho also have influenced the most im ortant conce tions, is not only the endeavour to satisfy the human being, but that, above all, an image is created by this teaching -hich ma0es the -orld e/ lanation only ossible' The soul incarnates er etually' Sym athy and anti athy have been there and -ill al-ays be there' The theoso hical -orld vie- has to tell this about the soul' 8e return no- to our starting oint' 8e have seen that figure transforms to figure, form to form in our sensory -orld that everything emerges and disa ears, is birth and death' 8e have seen that also the most -onderful -or0s -hich are created ass' 5f -e as0 ourselves, ho-ever( is only the -or0 involved in the -or0; 5s -ith the creation of Ra hael
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(Raffaello San.io) or )ichelangelo or -ith the sim lest, rimitive human creations, is nothing else involved there than this -or0; G ,evertheless, -e have to distinguish the -or0 and the activity -hich the human being has used, the activity -hich any being has used to achieve a -or0 or something that can be called a creation' The -or0 is given a-ay to the e/ternal -orld of the figures and forms, and in this e/ternal form the -or0 is subBected to the destiny of these e/ternal figures, to emergence and disa earance' But the activity -hich ta0es lace in the being itself, that -hich too0 lace in the souls of Ra hael or )ichelangelo in those days -hen they created their -or0s, this activity is also that -hich the soul, so to s ea0, dra-s bac0 again in its o-n being' This is the activity -hich did not flo- out into the -or0' As -ell as a seal im ression remains in the seal, this activity remained in the soulE and -ith it -e get to something that remains in the soul not only for a short time, but that remains as something im erishable in the soul' 5f -e loo0 at )ichelangelo some time later, has his activity assed him -ithout a trace; ,o+ This activity has increased his internal abilities, and he moves u to a ne- -or0, he creates not only -ith that -hich -as before in him, but he creates -ith the hel of that force -hich has only originated from his activity in former -or0s' 6is forces are raised, are consolidated, have been enriched on account of his first activity' Thus the activity of the soul creates ne- abilities -hich transform again in the -or0, ta0e action again, -ithdra- again into the soul and give forces to a ne- activity' ,o activity of the soul can get lost' 8hat the soul develo s as an activity is al-ays the origin, the cause of a rise of the soul being, of develo ing a ne- activity' This is the activity and life of the soul, this is the im erishable, and this is really formative force, this is not only a figure, not only life, this is a creative force' 8ith my activity 5 create not only the -or0, but 5 cause a ne- activity, and 5 al-ays create a ne- activity through the receding one' This forms the basis of all great -orld vie-s' 5n a very nice -ay an old 5ndian -riting tells ho- one has to imagine this activity inside of a being' 5t tells ho- all figures disa ear in an endless -orld of figures ho- birth and death hold s-ay in the e/ternal -orld of the forms ho- the soul is born re eatedly' But even if lily on lily comes into being, a time comes -hen no ne- lily originates, a time comes -hen the soul does no longer live in sym athy or anti athy' The living is born time and againE -hat does not sto , ho-ever, is the activity -hich al-ays increases -hich is im erishable' This third level of e/istence, the al-ays increasing activity, is characterised by the fact that it does not belong to the transient or to the constantly creative' 2n the first level our figure is a sensuous being, it is a being born re eatedly as a soul, and it is an im erishable higher being as s irit' The consideration of the s irit itself and its demands sho-s us that sym athy and anti athy must originate and also ass, even if their time of e/istence is much longer than that of the e/ternal figure' 8hat does the s irit demand from the human being if he immerses himself in this s irit; This s irit has the Cuality to remind us energetically and strongly time and again that it can never be content -ith the soul only, -ith sym athy and anti athy' This s irit says to us that the one sym athy is Bustified the other is not' This s irit is the guide of our soul activity' 8e have the tas0 if -e -ant to develo as human beings to arrange our sym athy and anti athy according to the demands of the cultural life, -hich should lead us to the heights of develo ment' 8ith it the s irit has the control over the -orld of mere sym athy and anti athy from the start, over the mere sychic' 5f the s irit overcomes the -orld of the unBustified lo-er sym athy and anti athy again and again, the soul ascends to the s irit' There are initial states of the soulE then it is involved in the figures of the e/ternal reality' At that time its sym athy -ent to e/ternal forms' But the higher develo ed soul listens to the demand of the s irit, and the soul develo s from the tendency to the sensuous to the sym athy for the s irit that -ay' Fou can still ursue that in other -ay' The soul is a demanding being at first' The soul is fulfilled -ith sym athy and anti athy, -ith the -orld of desire' 6o-ever, the s irit sho-s the soul after some time that it is not allo-ed to demand only' 5f the soul has overcome the desire by the decision of the s irit, it is not inactive, and then love flo-s from the soul Bust as desire flo-s from the undevelo ed soul' %esire and love are the o osite forces bet-een -hich the soul develo s' The soul -hich still clings to sensuousness and e/ternal a earance is the demanding soulE the soul -hich develo s its relationshi to and harmony -ith the s irit is that -hich loves' This leads the soul in its run from reincarnation to reincarnation that it turns from a desiring soul to a loving soul that its -or0s become -or0s of love' 8e have sho-n the third form of the feelings, and -e have re resented the basic Cualities of the s irit at the same time, have sho-n its effectiveness in the human being and have sho-n that it is the great educator of the soul from desire to love, and that it ulls u the soul to itself li0e -ith magnetic forces' 2n the one side, -e see the -orld of the figures and forms, on the other side, the -orld of the im erishable s irit, and both associated -ith the -orld of the sychic' 5n this discussion 5 have merely ta0en a thoughtful self@reflection into consideration -hich every human being G if he finds the necessary rest in himself and is involved not only in e/ternal observation G can see -ith the eye of the s irit'
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Somebody, ho-ever, -ho has develo ed the higher s iritual abilities in himself, an occultist, learns something else' 6e 0no-s not only ho- to reach these three -orlds -ith the a t consideration, but he has a vie- of life and s irit, Bust as the e/ternal eye has a vie- of the e/ternal sensory reality' As the eye distinguishes light and dar0ness, as the eye distinguishes different colours, the s iritual, the develo ed, o en eye of the occultist distinguishes the higher, brilliant light of the s irit -hich is no sensory light -hich is a brighter shining light in higher -orlds, in higher s heres, and this radiant light of the s irit is for the occultist also reality as our sunlight is reality for our vie-' 8e see that the sunlight is reflected at single things' 5n the same -ay the occultist distinguishes the self@illuminating s irit from the eculiar glimmering of the light, -hich is reflected by the -orld of figures, as sychic flame' The soul is reflected light of the s irit, s irit is radiating creative light' These three fields are the s iritual -orld, the soul@-orld and the -orld of figures, because they a ear to the occultist that -ay' ,ot only are the fields of e/istence different' G The e/ternal figure is for the occultist the em tiness, the dar0ness, -hat is basically nothing, and the great, only reality is the sublime, shining light of the s irit' 8hat -e feel as a brilliant light, -hat is ut around the figures is the -orld of the sychic -hich is born again and again, until it is got by the s irit, until this has com letely moved it u to itself and Boins -ith it' This s irit a ears in manifold figure in the -orld, but the figure is the e/ternal e/ ression of the s irit only' 8e have recognised the s irit in its activity, in its al-ays increasing activity, and -e have called this activity 0arma' 8hat is no- the really im ortant and ty ical as ect of this activity of the s irit; This s irit cannot remain unaffected in its activity by the action -hich it has done once on the level -hich it had then' 5 -ould li0e to ma0e clear to you hothis activity of the s irit must have its effect' 5magine the follo-ing( you have a vessel -ith -ater before yourselves and you thro- a -arm metal ball into this vessel' This ball heats u the -aterE this is the -or0 of the ball' 6o-ever, the ball itself has e/ erienced a change -hile it caused a change' The change remains as long as a ne- change ha ens' 5f the ball has done this -or0, then it has the im rint of its -or0, then it carries this character -ith it' 5f you thro- the ball into a second vessel, it -ill not be able to -arm u this second -ater again because of its first activity' Briefly ho- it -or0s the second time is a result of its first activity' By this sim le meta hor one can realise ho- the s irit -or0s in its activity' 5f the s irit does a articular -or0, then not only the -or0 is characterised, but also the activity of the s irit gets the same im rint' As the ball has cooled do-n and has received something ermanent that -ay, the s irit has got its ermanent signature, its character from its action' 8hether good deeds -hether bad deeds, the deeds do not sim ly ass -hat clings to the soul' As -ell as the action -as, the im rint e/ists -hich the action has received and -hich it carries from no- on' That leads us to recognise that G as the great mystic Dacob BPhme says G on any action a sign is im rinted that cannot be ta0en a-ay from it from no- on, only if a ne- action ta0es lace, so that the old im rint is re laced -ith a neone' This is the 0arma -hich the individual human being e/ eriences' 8hile the soul rogresses from rebirth to rebirth, the im rints of its actions remain on it, the signature -hich it has attained during the actions, and a ne- e/ erience only results from old e/ eriences' This is the strict teaching of 0arma develo ing the conce ts of cause and effect -hich the theoso hical -orld vie- re resents' 5 am the result of my former actions, and my resent actions have their effects in future e/ eriences' 8ith it you have the la- of 0arma' Somebody -ho -ants to consider himself in his actions com letely as a s irit must consider himself in this sense, he has to realise that any action has an effect that there is also the la- of cause and effect in the moral -orld as it is in the e/ternal sensory -orld of forms' These are the three basic la-s of the theoso hical -orld vie-( birth and death hold s-ay only in the -orld of forms, reincarnation holds s-ay in the -orld of life, and 0arma, or the er etually forming and increasing activity, holds s-ay in the realm of s irit' The form is transient, life bears itself over and over again, and ho-ever, the s irit is eternal' These are the three basic la-s of the theoso hical -orld vie-, and -ith it you have also received everything that the theoso hical -orld vie- can introduce in the human life' The s irit educates the desiring soul to love' The s irit is felt by all -ithin the human nature if this human nature is engrossed in its inside' The single figure is only interested in that -hich belongs to it as a single figure' 6ence, this single figure -or0s only for itself, and this -or0ing for itself is -or0ing in selfishness, is -or0ing in egoism' This egoism is all over the -orld of figures, of the e/ternal forms, the rinci al la-' But the soul does not consist only of the single figureE it goes from figure to figure' 5t is longing for er etually returning to a ne- birth' 6o-ever, the s irit ma0es every effort to develo the er etually transforming higher and higher, to form it from the im erfect to the erfect figure' Thus the soul leads in its desire from birth to birth, the s irit educating the soul leads from the undivine to the divineE for the divine is nothing else than the erfect to -hich the s irit educates the soul' The education of the soul by the s irit from the undivine to the divine, this is the theoso hical -orld consideration' Thus you also have the ethics of the theoso hical -orld vie-' As -ell as the s irit cannot avoid educating the soul to love and to transform desire into love, the theoso hical -orld vie- has as its first rinci le to found a human community
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-hich is built on love' The moral hiloso hy of the theoso hical -orld vie- has got to harmony -ith the eternal la-s of the s irit that -ay' ,othing else than -hat the s irit has to recognise as its innermost being, the transformation of desire into love, has led to the foundation of the Theoso hical Society encom assing the -hole human0ind -ith the soul@fire of love' This ethical -orld vie- illuminates the theoso hical movement' 8e as0 ourselves no-( does the modern human being find his satisfaction in this -orld vie-; G The modern human being is used to no longer believe in e/ternal traditions, in e/ternal observation and in any authority' The human being rather develo s in such a -ay that he loo0s for a -orld vie- -hich satisfies his thoughts -hich satisfies the self@ 0no-ledge of his mind' 5f the modern human being is eager to attain this self@0no-ledge, then there is for him nothing else than this theoso hical vie- -hich e/cludes no confession basically, ho-ever, encloses everything' Because this theoso hical vie- really offers to the soul -hat it loo0s for' The soul continually uts Cuestions about the human destiny and his dissimilarity to itself' 1an a thoughtful soul endure that on one side innocent human beings live in bitterness and misery, and on the other side, eo le live a arently in ha iness -ho do not deserve it; This is the big Cuestion -hich the human soul has to ut to destiny' As long as -e consider life only bet-een birth and death, -e never find an ans-er to this riddle' 8e never find consolation for the soul' 5f -e loo0, ho-ever, at the la- of 0arma, -e 0no- that any bitterness, any misery is the result of causes -hich -ere there in former lives' Then -e say on one side( -hat the soul e/ eriences today as its destiny is the effect of former e/ eriences' This cannot be anything else' 1onsolation becomes this e/ lanation immediately -hen -e loo0 at the future because -e say( somebody -ho e/ eriences something ainful or bitterness and grief today can com lain of his destiny not only, but he has to say to himself( bitterness, heartache have effect on the future' 8hat is your ain today is for your future life in such a -ay as the ain of a child if it falls( it learns to go' Thus any grief is the cause of a rise of the soul@life, and the soul finds consolation immediately if it says to itself( nothing is -ithout effect' The life -hich 5 e/ erience today must bear its fruit for the future' 5 -ant to mention another henomenon, the conscience' This henomenon is ine/ licable at first' 5t becomes immediately clear to us if -e loo0 at its develo ment' 5f -e 0no- that every soul sho-s a articular level of develo ment, then -e admit that the urge for figure lives in the undevelo ed soul' 6o-ever, if the s irit has dra-n the soul to itself, has united more and more -ith it, the s irit s ea0s at any moment of sym athy and anti athy' The human being hears the s irit s ea0ing from his soulE he erceives this as the voice of conscience' This conscience can a ear only on a articular level of the human develo ment' 8e never see the voice of conscience -ith rimitive eo les' 4ater -hen the soul has gone through different ersonalities, the mind s ea0s to the soul' These are the main conce ts of the theoso hical -orld vie-, and you have seen ho- clear this vie- is for that -orld of the e/ternal forms' Fes, -e -ould never understand this -orld of forms if -e did not understand them from our mind' 6o-ever, somebody -ho lives only in the e/ternal figure -ho can be carried a-ay in the -orld of forms is on the level of the transient, is on that level -here he develo s selfishness and egoism because our e/ternal form only has interest in the form' But he develo s out of selfishness because the s irit becomes more and more s ea0ing' 6o-ever, -e only recognise this s irit, -hich is the same in any human being, if -e bring ourselves to consider the eternally im erishable, the innermost core of the human being' 8e recognise the human being only in his innermost being if -e get to his s irit' 5f -e recognise the innermost core of the human being, -e recognise the s irit in ourselves' 6o-ever, only that -ho regards the other human being as a brother understands the s irit in the other human beingE he understands him only if he com letely a reciates brotherliness' That is -hy the theoso hical movement calls brotherliness the ideal -hich the s iritual develo ment of human0ind -ants to achieve under the influence of this -orld vie-' %ear audience, the modern human being finds this in the theoso hical movement' Because this movement offers to the modern human being -hat he loo0s for, it has s read in the course of 2" years over all the countries of the earth' 8e find it in 5ndia, Australia, America, in all countries of 8estern *uro e' 5t is to be found every-here because it brings clear conce tions to this modern human being' Theoso hy offers this to the modern human being' 5t is something that the modern human being loo0s for, it is something that the modern human being feels, something that any human being has felt clearly -ho 0ne- ho- to loo0 -ith thoughtful loo0 at nature and human life and found -hat a lies itself to this vieof the s irit and im resses that -hich gives satisfaction, consolation, courage and life' 5t is the vie- that the transient that birth and death are not the only one, but that in this transient, assing creative life of the e/ternal being the inner being of the s irit enBoys life' Then -e safely loo0 at the ast and full of courage at the
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future if this vie- has become our conviction' Then -e say from the dee est soul full of consolation and courage -hat the oet e/ ressed by full conviction( Time is a flourishing countryside And nature a big living being, *verything is fruit, everything is seed'
,otes( Giordano Bruno (!5&=I!H##), 5talian %ominican mon0, hiloso her, mathematician, astrologer and astronomer' c f' R' Steiner 18 J #"stics after #odernism, cha ter on G' B' Gotthold * hraim 4essing (!J2"I!J=!), German -riter, hiloso her' /ie ErGiehung des #enschengeschlechts 0!n the Education of the uman Race1 01*601 Dohann Gottfried 6erder (!J&&I!=#$), German theologian, oet, hiloso her Dean 9aul (!JH$I!=25), German -riter Dacob BPhme (!5J5I!H2&), German mystic' cf' R' Steiner 18 J #"stics after #odernism, cha ter on D' B' (Anthro oso hic 9ress, 2###)

/ourse * " .ecture II# What 6o Our Scholars =now about Theosophy<
Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(8$%
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin 5pril 46th, 190. 5f a school of thought should be successful in the course of human evolution, a school of thought, -hich does not find acce tance or may even not enBoy the 0no-ledge of the so@called authoritative circles, of the ruling s iritual circles, then it has to fight -ith the reluctant o-ers all the time -hich distinguish themselves -ithin the human civilisation' 8e only need to remind of that -hich ha ened as 1hristianity had to assert itself against old ideas, against an old s iritual current in the -orld' 8e need only to remind that in the beginning of the ne- school of thought Galileo, 1o ernicus, Giordano Bruno had to fight against the so@called authoritative circles' 8e are allo-ed to su ose that the school of thought inaugurated by Giordano Bruno had to fight against traditions' 5n a similar situation is today that school of thought that is re resented under the name theoso hy in the literature, in tal0s and the li0e since several years' 5f you remember of the destiny of such schools of thought more or less un0no-n at the moment of their a earance, you find that the -ay ho- the ruling circles, the so@called authoritative circles face them, indeed, changes -ith the fashions of civilisation that, ho-ever, the essential art, the lac0 of understanding, combined -ith a certain narro-@mindedness, a ears over and over again' 5t is no longer standard today to burn heretics, and in articular liberal circles -ould rotest to be lum ed together -ith such eo le -ho burnt heretics' But it may less de end on that' Today the burning of heretics is no longer really trendy' But if -e e/amine the attitude, from -hich the ersecution of heretics arose, and the reasons of such a ersecution and com are it -ith that -hich ta0es lace in the soul of somebody -ho fights against the theoso hical school of thought more or less today or o oses against it, then -e find a similar attitude and similar inner soul rocesses -ith the adversaries' 8e do not -ant to enter into discussion -ith the -hole circle of the adversaries of the theoso hical -orld vie-' 8e -ant to confine ourselves rather to that -hich is connected -ith our contem orary scholarshi E -e -ant to consider the relation of our contem orary scholarshi to the theoso hical or s iritual@scientific -orld vie- as 5 call it since some time' 9erha s, it is not meaningless if one starts this consideration -ith small sym toms' 5 start -ith a very -ides read small encyclo aedia, a so@called oc0et encyclo aedia, -hich says on its title@ age or at least in its reface that it is collated by the best scientific eo le' 5f -e o en it under the catch-ord ?Theoso hy,A -e find as an e/ lanation only t-o
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-ords( ?God@see0er, dreamer'A Such a 0ind of learnt consideration of the theoso hist is no- no longer common in all similar reference boo0s, of course' But somebody does robably not become cleverer from this short remar0 -ho -ants to get to 0no- something about theoso hy also not from the other similar reference boo0s' 5 have tried to e/amine in the real hiloso hical reference boo0s at least e/ternally -hat is to be found there' 5 do not -ant to give an anthology of Cuotations from such reference boo0s' 5 -ould li0e to give an e/am le only -hat is to be found in the /ictionar" of 'hilosophical $oncepts and Terms , ublished in Berlin in !"##' 5n one of the ne-est -or0s -hich lists the most of theoso hical conce ts the follo-ing you can read( WGa in the shorthand notes'X ''' these are about three lines -ith these names' 8ho -ants to get an idea of theoso hy from this short re resentation has to say to himself( also in such hiloso hical dictionaries -e find nothing else than a not correct translation of the term and some names' Also, other-ise, it does not loo0 es ecially good if -e -ant to orientate ourselves about that -hich is re resented here as theoso hy -hat the contem orary scholarshi 0no-s about that' But the easier this contem orary scholarshi -ants to condemn theoso hy on account of a fe- little things -hich it has ic0ed u from any theoso hical brochure' 8e can ma0e the strange e/ erience( a shrug and the remar0, ?-hat the theoso hical literature s reads is nothing else than -arming u a fe- Buddhist conce ts,A or( ?it is nothing else than s iritistic su erstition e/ ressed some-hat differently'A Fou can hear such things in abundance' 8hat you hardly hear, ho-ever, is a real ans-er to the Cuestion( -hat is, actually, theoso hy; Fou -ill find G maybe not only in coffee arties G that -hich has really ha ened in a coffee arty recently -hich is, ho-ever, not at all so unty ical for the stand oint of our contem oraries to theoso hy' There a lady said to another( ho- is it that you have become a theoso hist; This is something terrible, something a-ful' Ta0e into account -hat you do to your familyE consider ho- you are in contradiction to that -hich other eo le thin0' G She -as silent for a fe- seconds and said then( -hat is really theoso hy; This did not ha en in learnt circles, but you could find something of that 0ind also in the learnt circles' Fou can find the Budgement again and again that theoso hy is nothing scientific at all that it is only enthusiasm of some fantastic eo le that they bring for-ard assertions -hich one cannot rove' 5 -ant to criticise by no means -here 5 -ant to characterise the relation of our scholarshi to theoso hy, not even our relation to the circles of scholars' Because nobody else than that -ho has an overvie- of our resent bringing u of scholars from the theoso hical oint of vie- 0no-s better that from this education, from the conce ts and ideas of it nothing else can arise than a high@s irited and a some-hat snooty shrug about that -hich theoso hy asserts and -hich can really a ear to that scholarshi G because it cannot understand it better G as ra ture and as a com letely unscientific gossi ' 8e really -ant to be fair to-ards this scholarshi ' The theoso hist stands on a oint of vie- and has to stand on one -hich 5 -ant to sho- at an e/am le -hich has not ta0en lace on theoso hical ground -hich could have ta0en lace, ho-ever, easily on theoso hical ground' The theoso hist is in a similar osition to the contem orary scholarshi reBecting the sneering and the re roach of ra ture, as Bust in the e/am le the recently deceased hiloso her *duard von 6artmann to the materialistic@%ar-inist inter retation of nature' 5 do not -ant to ta0e sides of the 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious by *duard von 6artmann' But over and over again one -ould have to oint to the -ay ho- he faced his adversaries' G 5n !=H", the 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious a eared, a boo0 of -hich the theoso hist not needs to ta0e sides e/actly, a boo0 -hich -as, ho-ever, a courageous action at that time' Dust the relation of this boo0 to the scholarshi of that time can give an e/am le ho- today the s iritual scientist or theoso hist faces his adversaries' This 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious -as a courageous action in a certain -ay' At that time, the -aves of the materialistic science surged -hen the materialistic science had gro-n u into a 0ind of materialistic religion, Boo0s li0e Energ" and #atter by BNchner, other boo0s by 7ogt, )oleschott and the li0e -ho considered energy and matter, the urely sensuous e/istence as the only one, they caused great sensation, have e/ erienced many editions and conCuered hearts and souls' 5n that time, everybody -as regarded as being a oor devil and a fool -ho did not Boin in this choir of materialism -ho s o0e about a self@creative s irit' 5n this time, -hen one -as of the o inion that %ar-in>s -or0 delivered the scientific -ay of thin0ing for materialism, in this time, -hen hiloso hy itself -as a -ord -hich one considered as something that -as overcome, in this time, *duard von 6artmann let his 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious a ear, a hiloso hy -hich has one advantage in s ite of its big shortcomings that it attributes the -orld directly to something s iritual every-here, loo0s for the basis of something s iritual in all henomena, even if the s iritual is considered as something unconscious, even if it ta0es a articularly high ran0' 2ne thing is certain( there the s irit offers shar resistance to the materialistic attitude' 8hile at that time the %ar-inist school of thought e/ lained nature com letely from energy and matter, *duard von 6artmann tried to
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understand it in such a -ay that the s irit should become evident as the inner effectiveness of a s iritual -or0' G Then those came -ho believed to be entitled to loo0 do-n -ith a shrug on everything that s o0e of s irit and Budged( there -as never anything dilettantish li0e this 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious' A man s ea0s there, actually, -ho has learnt nothing about all the henomena -hich %ar-inism no- e/ lains so scientifically' There -as a lot of counter -ritings at that time' 2ne also a eared by an un0no-n author' 5ts title -as The :nconscious from the Standpoint of the Theor" of E)olution and /ar+inism' 5t -as a thorough refutation of the 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious' The author sho-ed that he -as familiar -ith the latest develo ment of natural sciences' *rnst 6aec0el said in a brochure that it -ould be a ity that the author did not call himself, because he himself could have resented nothing better against *duard von 6artmann than -hat is in this -riting' 2scar Schmidt -rote a brochure and said that no naturalist -ould have been able to say anything better against the limitless dilettantism of *duard von 6artmann than the anonymous author of this brochure' ?6e may reveal his name to us and -e consider him as one of ours'A G The brochure -as soon out of stoc0 and the second edition a eared -ith the name of the author' That -as enough to silence the eo le' 5t -as *duard von 6artmann' Since that time the chorus -as silent of those -ho had -ritten about the dilettantism of the 'hilosoph" of the :nconscious' Fou can argue something against such a rocedure, but you cannot deny that it -as thoroughly effective' Somebody -ho -as regarded at first as a man -ho 0no-s nothing has sho-n to the scientific circles that he could be cleverer than they could ever be' 4et me use this trivial e/ ression, it -ould be good even if some-hat anachronistic to do the same' But that -ho is at the summit of the theoso hical -orld vie- could also easily, very easily -rite together all that stuff -hich one can today roduce against theoso hy' This has to be em hasised above all( theoso hy is nothing that is directed against the real, true science if it is ro erly understood' Theoso hy is able to understand the true, real science any time as *duard von 6artmann could understand his adversaries' The reverse is not so easy in the one and the other case' 6o-ever, -e have also to understand -here from this could come that -ay' 5f 5 held a lecture only about that -hich our scholars 0no- about theoso hy, then this lecture could have become rather short, and 5 -ould have hardly needed to stand before you longer than for a fe- seconds' But 5 -ould li0e to go dee erE 5 -ould li0e to s ea0 of the reasons -hy our contem orary scholarshi can 0no- so little about theoso hy -hich o ens a ne- -ay of thin0ing about the matters of the -orld' 5f -e loo0 around today in our contem orary scholarly literature, -e find that these considerations differ, already e/ternally, from all the literature about hundred years ago' 5f -e ta0e a boo0 -hich has, for e/am le, the title( ?The 2rigin of the 6uman Being, the 6uman Being and 6is 9osition to the 8orld,A -e hardly find anything else than that once the human being did not live on earth that he began his e/istence on earth in a childish, half animal condition' Then -e are made a-are of the fact that animal ancestors lived before this time on earth and that these develo ed to the resent@ day human being' G 5f -e ta0e another boo0 -hich should inform us about the secrets of the universe, then -e find that it deals -ith that -hich you can see through the telesco e and -hat you can achieve -ith mathematics' 5n other -ords( every-here something that 5 have called factual fanaticism in my boo0 Hoethe=s WorldA<ie+, that factual fanaticism -hich 0ee s to the sensuous facts G to the sense@ erce tible facts, at most to that -hich the armed senses can erceive' *verything belongs to that -hich is resented today in the most detailed -ay in any ossible o ular -riting, and -hat the human being is solely able to rovide of the riddles and secrets of the -orld on account of scientific facts' 5f -e loo0 around in the circles -hich dra- their 0no-ledge only from such boo0s, then -e find that there are, actually, all 0inds of intermediate stages that, ho-ever, these intermediate stages are to be found bet-een t-o e/tremes' The one e/treme is the sober scholars' They only acce t as scientific -hat they can see and infer -ith their reason from the seen' There the -orld is e/ lored -ith instruments in all directions' There one searches for -ritten documents, there the time and the develo ment of human0ind is investigated according to ure facts' The one is said to be natural sciences, the other is said to be history' 5n history you find Cuite strange things sometimes' 5n articular if one deals -ith e/ eriences of s iritual science' Fou find that there are eo le -ho -rite thic0 boo0s about the old Gnostics, for e/am le, or about any branch of ancient s iritual -isdom -ho do not -ant at all to 0no- anything about this s iritual -isdom itself' They loo0 at this urely historicallyE they only register the -ritten documents and are contented -ith it' Today one does not need to be a gnostic to -rite about Gnosticism' Today scholarly circles regard this almost as a rinci le' And as the best rinci le is regarded to be ossessed as little as ossible from the matters about -hich one -rites, actually' 5f you ta0e this factual fanaticism on one side, you have nearly -hat induces such scholarly circles to say( -e can notice these matters, -e 0no- these mattersE -hat goes beyond them is the obBect of faith' *verybody can believe or not believe -hat he -ants' G The result of this attitude is a certain indifference to all the obBects, thoughts and beings -hich go beyond the only sensuous facts' Then one says( if anybody needs them for his faith, -e leave them to him, but science has nothing to do -ith them'
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A thic0 dividing -all is raised there bet-een science and faith, and science should be nothing else than -hat can be erceived urely -ith the eye and -ith the ear, nothing else than the consideration of facts and -hat one abstracts from it' Anything else should not be investigated' G Then, ho-ever, something else a ears -hich ossibly says( it is not right that science sto s any-here, but this is right that the human being develo s more and more and that he unfolds more and more forces in his -or0s, so that he can 0no- everything that there are no limits of 0no-ledge' 5ndeed, the last obBects of 0no-ledge are to be attained only in infinite distance, but they are in such a -ay that -e can a roach them more and more' 4imits must not be raised any-here' 5t seems to be a summit of arrogance if such re resentatives a ear -ho claim that this ability slumbers in every human being' %evelo it and you -ill see that the obBects -hich once -ere obBects of your faith can become obBects of your 0no-ledge, of your -isdom' 5t is not different -ith the obBects -hich refer to the immortality of the soul, to the s iritual -orld, to the big and to the small -orld in s ace and to the -hole develo ment of the human beingE it is not different from the matters -hich -e also meet in the usual natural sciences' 2r, -hat does a human being, -ho ta0es a o ular boo0 about astronomy, 0no- from o-n e/ erience about that -hich the boo0 says to him; 5 as0 you( ho- many 0no-ing eo le are among those -ho believe in the materialistic history of creation; 6o- many are among those -ho s-ear on the materialistic s irit -ho have seen through a microsco e and 0no- ho- to investigate these matters; 6o- many are there -ho believe in 6aec0el and ho- many -ho 0no- in this field; *verybody can become a researcher if he has the time and the energy for it' This also a lies to the s iritual matters' 5t is brainless if one says that the matters come to an end' 5t is brainless as -ell if one says that you have to believe -hat is in 6aec0el>s history of creation, that you yourselves cannot investigate this' 5n no other sense theoso hy s ea0s of obBects and matters of the higher -orld' 2ne has been accustomed to use the term theoso hy for this s iritual science' ,ot because it has God solely as the obBect of its consideration, but because it ma0es a distinction bet-een the e/ternal sensuous human being -ho sees, hears, smells, tastes -ith his five senses, and combines the sense@ erce tion -ith his reason G and the other human being -ho lives in this bodily human being -ho slumbers in it and can be -o0en and uses such s iritual organs, s iritual sensory tools, as the body has the hysical sensory tools' As the body sees -ith the hysical eye, the mind sees -ith the s iritual eye' 4i0e the body hears -ith the hysical ear, the mind hears -ith the s iritual ear' 5f the human being ta0es care of his s iritual develo ment himself, these s iritual organs of erce tion can be trained, so that the inner human being is able to loo0 into a s iritual -orld' Because one calls such an inner human being the divine one, 5 ma0e the difference' 8hat the e/ternal sensuous human being beholds, gives sensuous -isdom, -hat the inner divine human being beholds is, in contrast to sensuous -isdom, theoso hy, divine -isdom' Thus it is meant if one s ea0s of theoso hy' 2ne does not s ea0 of theoso hy, because God is the obBect of research, because God is something that becomes obvious to the occultist only at the end of the things, on the summit of erfection' The theoso hist -ill dare least of all to investigate God, although -e 0no- that -e live, -or0 and e/ist in 6im' Dust as little as somebody, -ho is sitting on the beach and dives his hand in the sea, believes that he can e/haust the -hole sea, the theoso hist believes Bust as little that he can embrace God' 6o-ever, li0e somebody, -ho is sitting on the beach and gets out a handful of -ater, 0no-s that the scoo ed -ater is of the same being as the -hole big encom assing sea, the theoso hist also 0no-s that he carries a divine s ar0 in himself that is of the same 0ind and being as God' The theoso hist does not claim that his being can embrace God, he does also not claim that in his human soul the infinite God lives, or that the human being himself is God' 6e -ill never come u -ith such a thing' 6o-ever, -hat he says, -hat he can e/ erience and get to 0no- is something different, this is Bust this that in the human being a art of God lives, -hich is of the same 0ind and being as the -hole godhead, as -ell as the handful of -ater is of the same 0ind as the -hole encom assing ocean' As the -ater in the hand and the -ater in the sea are of the same 0ind and being, also that -hich lives in the soul is of the same 0ind and being as God' Therefore, -e call heavenly -hat is inside of the human being, and -e call the -isdom divine -isdom or theoso hy -hich the human being can investigate in his innermost core' This is a thought rocess -hich everybody -ould have to admit if he -anted to thin0 only logically' 2ften someone obBects to theoso hy( you demand that the human being goes through a develo ment' 6o-ever, not everybody is able to verify everything the theoso hy maintains' G Somebody -ho understands the matters -ill never maintain that any human being if he can have only the necessary atience, force and endurance cannot get to that condition -hich single human beings have got in the course of human develo ment' But something else is in the so@called roofs of theoso hical truths' Something is to be found in the theoso hical literature and in theoso hical tal0s or can be heard, other-ise, some-here -ithin the theoso hical movement about -hich somebody -ho has a modern education says to himself( these are assertions' 2ne can acce t them, but no theoso hist does rove themE he Bust maintains them' G This s ea0ing of
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roofs is something that a ears over and over again that one obBects to theoso hy over and over again' 6o- is it; G 5t behaves as follo-s' 8hat theoso hy s reads as a higher s iritual -isdom can be investigated if those forces -hich slumber in every human soul are -o0en' These forces and abilities, -hich -e call the forces and abilities of the seer, of the s iritual beholding, are necessary to investigate the matters' 5f one -ants to investigate, to discover the facts of the s iritual -orld, these abilities and forces are necessary' 6o-ever, it is something different to understand -hat the s iritual researcher has found' )ind you, one needs the forces of the seer to find the s iritual truths, but that one only needs the clear, logical human mind going u to the last conseCuences to understand them' That is essential' Someone -ho states that he cannot understand -hat theoso hy maintains has not yet thought enough about it' 2n the contrary, -e can better understand -hat science maintains today' Dust -hat -e understand, if -e sto at true science, about the facts of nature, about the matters of the a arently lifeless and of the living nature G even if -e ta0e the facts of the history of civilisation G if -e -ant to understand them, -e can never understand them if -e a roach them only -ith the materialistic scholarshi -hich is nothing else than materialistic fantasy' 8e can understand -hat true science delivers to us if -e 0no- the true science of the s iritual -orld' To somebody -ho sees dee er science as it is resented by *rnst 6aec0el, for e/am le, becomes only understandable if one has theoso hy as a recondition, as a basis' A com arison should ma0e clear -hat 5 -ant to say' 5magine that you have a icture before yourselves -hich sho-s any scene, any saint>s legend' Fou can try to understand this icture in double -ay' 2nce you lace yourselves before the icture and try to let revive in your soul -hat has lived in the soul of the ainter' Fou try to rouse in your soul -hat the icture sho-s as s iritual contents' Something lives in it that raises your soul, ma0es it lofty, and invigorates it' 6o-ever, you can still react differently to this icture' Fou can go and say that this does not interest you' Also -hat the ainter has imagined does not interest you articularly' 6o-ever, you -ant to get to 0no- ho- he mi/ed the aints -hich substances are mi/ed in the aint -hich he ainted on the canvas' Fou -ant to test ho- this is there on the canvas, ho- much of the red and green aints -ere used -here straight and -here croo0ed lines -ere a lied' These are t-o different a roaches to a icture' 5t -ould be brainless to say about the one( you loo0 at something that is false' G ,o, he loo0s at something that is absolutely true' 6e loo0s ho- the aint stic0s to the canvas and ho- it is com osed' 6e loo0s -hether and ho- the aints have crac0ed et cetera' This can be real truth' Then there the other comes and says to the first( this is not the right thing -hat you thin0' This is only a thought' Fou can obBectively find -hat 5 investigate' 5 -ant to give an additional e/am le, so that -e understand each other recisely' Somebody lays a sonata on a iano' Fou listen to this sonata -ith musical earE you indulge in the marvellous realm of sounds -hich this sonata delivers to you' This is a -ay ho- you can investigate -hat ta0es lace here' 6o-ever, another -ay could also be the follo-ing' Anybody comes there and says that this does not interest him -hich one hears -ith the musical ear' But there stands a iano, in it strings are stretched' These strings move' 5 -ant to hang u little a er tabs on these strings' They Bum off if the string moves and thereby 5 can study -here the strings move and -here they are in rest' 5 -ant to com letely refrain from that -hich you hear there -ith your ear' 2ne cannot rove that obBectively' As -ell as this second vie-er behaves to the first vie-erE the characterised scholars behave to the theoso hists' ,o theoso hist thin0s of denying scholarshi ' Dust as little as that -ho goes into ra tures about the s iritual contents of a icture says that that is not true -hich the other investigates about the aints, Bust as little that -ho has a musical ear -ill say that that is not true -hich the other investigates -ith the little a er tabs G because it is true, it is true -hat the naturalist investigates about his material' ,othing should be argued against it' But that esca es these natural sciences -hich is essential in the -orld rocess' Dust as that -hich is essential esca es somebody -ho loo0s only at the little a er tabs and -hat also esca es somebody -ho only investigates the aint and maybe still the material, the canvas' Then some eo le come and say( there is something subBective, this lives only in the soul and cannot be roven obBectively' 2ne has to investigate -hat can be really found' 2utside only the oscillatory etheric matter, the oscillatory substance e/ists' 5ndeed' 2ne ans-ers as a theoso hist to such eo le( if you only investigate the matter, you only find your matter outside, as -ell as that -ho bloc0ed his ears can only find -hat one can see in the little a er tabs' Still a fe- years ago one got u the obBectivity of science to mischief' 5t is this the so@called atomistic theory -here one calls that subBective -hich the human being erceives as sensory sensation -hat he erceives as sound, colour et cetera, and traces it bac0 to obBective rocesses' These rocesses should be oscillations of any substance' At that time G as an e/am le G one called it al-ays only red' Red, one said, is only in your eye' 2utside in s ace is nothing else than an
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oscillation of the ether of so and so many millions oscillations' G This seudoscience, -hich is no longer science but religion, transformed the -orld of erce tion into a huge sum of atoms -hich are in oscillatory movements' This nonsense of transforming everything that -e e/ erience as colour@fresh and lively contents into abstract rocesses -hich are nothing else than calculated things, nothing else than results of brooding and s eculation, this nonsense lately -ithdra-s some-hat' 8e see that already the atom and its oscillatory movement is regarded by reasonable naturalists only as a calculation a roach and in the better circles of thin0ers one does no longer ta0e care of the inaccuracy of the atomic hy otheses et cetera' But it has collected in the brains of the human beings to loo0 at the -orld as an obBective nothing, as only materialistic oscillation rocesses, so that it has enetrated the theoso hical movement and theoso hy itself in the first years' 8e had to e/ erience that the most s iritual movement -as severely infected by materialism' 8e had to e/ erience that one could read in the most different theoso hical boo0s over and over again that this is this or that vibration' 5n articular the *nglish boo0s did not get tired to tal0 about vibrations' 5t is a characteristic of our time that this materialistic tendency could come into the most s iritual movement' 8e still have much to do for long time to overcome this childhood disease of theoso hy' 6o-ever, only if the time has come -hen -ithin theoso hy one no longer s ea0s about moving atoms, then that cleverly thought@out construction of monads has disa eared -hich -hirl do-n from the heights and ta0e in everything G an absurd materialistic idea' 2ne has to realise that theoso hy concerns the recognition of the s iritual as such and one has to be a-are of the fact that one lets the materialistic science have the s-inging little a er tabs and lets it investigate the aints and the canvas' Theoso hy deals -ith the develo ment of the higher senses, the 0no-ledge of the higher senses, it includes -hat the human being sees, summarises, surveys -ith the higher soul forces, and -hat he hears -ith the musical ear G the s-inging string e/ resses it s atially' 5f you have understood this, you 0no- to some e/tent -hat theoso hy is' 6ence, -e have also to com letely renounce to believe that a 0ind of harmony is ossible bet-een the modern scholarshi and theoso hy' 5t is not ossible' G This harmony only comes if scholarshi itself has rogressed so far that it can understand theoso hy' 5ndeed, -e have to do it -ith the chemical investigation of the aints, -ith the investigation of the lines, -ith the investigation of the canvas, -ith the investigation of the little a er tabs on the moved strings, but this does not e/clude that -ith the higher develo ment of the s iritual forces the higher s iritual is revealed to us in that -hich -e investigate e/ternally' The modern scholarshi is far a-ay from understanding this matter' 2ne becomes mild to-ards this scholarshi if one sees, for e/am le, that somebody -ho has been born out of this scholarshi cannot understand anything that is scholarly in the dee est sense and has originated from s iritual science at the same time' 5 0no- that 5 say something e/tremely offensive for many listeners -ho have learnt hysics' But it is something sym tomatic about -hich 5 have to s ea0' 8hich hysicist -ould not dis arage -hat one calls Goethe>s theory of colours' 5t is a matter of im ossibility to s ea0 about it, but times -ill come G and they are not far , -hen one recognises the obBections against GoetheLs theory of colours as outdated reBudices' Fou can read further details about Goethe>s theory of colours in my boo0 about Hoethe=s World <ie+' Goethe>s theory of colours -as born out of a s iritual -orld vie- and for that -ho can understand this, this theory of colours is the roof of Goethe>s dee thin0ing' But it does not start from the reBudice that colour is an oscillatory ether' 5t stands rather on a ground -hich can be circumscribed as 5 try it no-' 5 as0 you to follo- me in my subtle thought rocess' 5f anybody sees the red colour outside, his eye sees red at first' ,o- there comes the hysicist and says( this red colour is only subBective' This is a rocess in s ace or in the brain' 6o-ever, -hat is real outside is nothing but an oscillatory movement of the ether' 5f no- anybody comes -ho says( -hat you see there is only an oscillatory movement of the ether, then re ly the follo-ing( try to imagine this oscillatory movement of the ether' 5s this colourless; 5t must be colourless, because you -ant to e/ lain the colour from the oscillations' 6ence, -hat is outside must be colourless' Then 5 as0( does it still have maybe other CualitiesE does it maybe have the Cuality of heat; There the hysicist ans-ers( heat even comes from oscillatory movement' 6o-ever, these eo le are funniest if they say( these oscillations do not have sensory Cualities, but only those Cualities -hich -e can thin0' 5f one regards no- that -hich the senses say as subBective, one must also regard that -hich one thin0s as subBective' Then one must also say( -hat you have calculated there as an oscillatory nebulous mass is subBective all the more, is never erceived, but is only calculated' *verything is calculated subBectively' 8ho realises that that -hich -e e/ erience in ourselves is obBective and that the obBective can become the most subBective has a right to s ea0 about the fact that also the calculated has an obBective e/istence' 6e also does not regard red and green, 1 shar and G as only subBective henomena'
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,o- 5 have said a number of matters -hich are dreadful heresies to scientifically thin0ing eo le' 2ne tal0s a lot that times have changed' Fes, times have changed since Giordano Bruno' At his time the dogma of infallibility -as not yet valid' Today the dogma of infallibility is valid, as you 0no-, in certain 1atholic circles' But this dogma of infallibility is not born only out of 1atholicism' 5t came into being as an e/ternal la-, as an e/ternal dogma' 6o-ever, the infallibility dogma also lives as an attitude in the minds of the materialistically thin0ing, monistic freethin0ers' They regard themselves G 5 do not say that everybody regards himself as a little o e G but as so infallible that they regard everything as su erstitious that does not come from their circles' 5f one counters these infallible hysicists and sychiatrists G they do not say that they are infallible, but one feels it , then he is dismissed' 6e is no longer burnt, but he is made a fool -ith the means -hich is trendy today' The theoso hist does not necessarily loo0 for a roval' 1om ared -ith truth a roval is something indifferent' 8ho has understood the truth of a mathematical theorem does not care -hether a million eo le agree or not' Truth is not decided by maBority' Someone -ho has recognised a truth has recognised it and needs no a roval' Thus the theoso hical movement refers the careful su orters' 5t does not -ant to have children but such human beings -ho form a Budgement, -ith all care, after the most rofound e/amination' The demand to be careful is something that gives me the dee est sym athy' :rom that -hich 5 have tried to sho- you can infer that theoso hy is far a-ay to criticise the contem orary scholarshi ' Should the theoso hist fight against it; 6e -ould do something very foolish, because it -ould be as if that -ho loo0s at a icture -ith dis leasure -anted to fight against somebody -ho studies the chemical com osition of the aints' 5f, for e/am le, an a earance li0e *rnst 6aec0el is defended from theoso hical side, this does not need to be -rong' 2ne can defend him if one recognises him from a higher oint of vie- sees ho- he a ears there and 0no-s hoto classify the matters in the -orld evolution' The theoso hist is able to give the right osition to the contem orary develo ment in any field' Thus the relation of the ne-ly arising s iritual current is -hich tries to loo0 at the -orld in such a -ay as single e/traordinary s irits loo0ed al-ays at it' But it -as not ossible during the last centuries to give this s iritual science as it -as given once' 8hat one calls theoso hy today is a small art of encom assing -orld -isdom, of occult science' This is something that has al-ays e/isted -ith e/traordinary human individualities since millennia, even since there are human beings' 5n the form, ho-ever, as single great s irits have o-ned it, it could not been given to the big mass' ,evertheless, it -as not -ithheld from the big mass' 5f you chec0 the legends and myths of the nations im artially, you see that these legends and myths are the meta horical e/ ressions of a science -hich contains more -isdom than the resent@day science offers' This science -ould regard it as fantasy if one said that -isdom is in these fairy tales' This -orld -isdom has been announced in the most different religionsE de ending on ho- the one or the other eo le needed it according to its tem erament and the climate' 5f -e have an overvie- of everything that -as given to human0ind in the most different forms, -e are led to a common core, to encom assing -orld -isdom' Today not everything can be already handed over to the bigger art of human0ind, because somebody -ho rises to-ard this -orld -isdom has to go through articular inner ordeals' This -orld -isdom can be handed over only to somebody -ho goes through these ordeals' 5n former times also the elementary art -as handed over only in the closest circle to -ell re ared u ils -ith the corres onding intellectual, moral and mental Cualities' There are even today ersons -ho regard it as -rong to deliver the occult rofundities by theoso hy to the big mass of the human beings' 6o-ever, the re roach is unfounded because there is no alternative today' 8ho understands the structure of the s irit of the resent age 0no-s that inner truth and -isdom of the religious -orld vie- feel alienated because one can no longer understand them' This -as different once' Then the -isdom -hich is announced today by theoso hy -as the ro erty of the single human being' 2ne gave the big mass the a ro riate -isdom in ictures' The feeling nature of the big mass -as suited to ta0e it u in the ictures' The big mass could live -ith these ictures only' Truth -as in the religions, truth -as in the basic religious vie-s' Theoso hy only ma0es this clear again to us in the dee est -ay' The human being could understand it -ith his feeling in ancient times' 2ur time demands that he can also understand -hat is contained in the religions' Thus occult science is forced to come out a little bit, to contribute something to the verification of the religions, to give the elementary art of s iritual truth at least' A time -ould be dreary and desolate if human0ind -ere alienated from all 0no-ledge of the s iritual -orlds and from any relation to them' 2nly that -ho does not understand the case can believe that human0ind could e/ist -ithout relation to the s iritual, -ithout belief in s irit and immortality' 4i0e the lant needs food Buices, the soul needs something s iritual that forms its basis' Theoso hy does not -ant to found a nereligion' But it -ants to bring truth home to the human being again in a form -hich is suited to the modern human being, in the form of thin0ing com rehension' Thus theoso hy brings the old truth in ne- form to our contem oraries, un erturbed by those -ho, going out from the materialistic su erstition, turn against this s iritual current'
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As -ell as the e/ternal natural science rests u on that -hich it investigates and calculates -ith the hel of the microsco e and telesco e, theoso hy uses the most significant instrument of -hich Goethe s ea0s( -hat the s0illed ear of the musician is, this is the human soul com ared -ith all tools , and further( ,ature, mysterious in day>s clear light, lets none remove her veil, and -hat she -on>t discover to your understanding you can>t e/tort from her -ith levers and -ith scre-s' ,aust &, verses HJ2IHJ5 8ho understands the -orld is the most erfect instrument, and su roduce such instruments more and more' orted on the s iritual beholding theoso hy -ill

The ans-er to the Cuestion( -hat do our scholars 0no- about the real basis of theoso hy is( nothing' G They can 0no- nothing because all their -ays of thin0ing can bring them to nothing else than to loo0 at theoso hy as a fantastic stuff' 8ho has understood, ho-ever, that scholarshi cannot get involved in theoso hy, -hich has gone out from Cuite different bases, also understands that this scholarshi -ill be in need to illuminate the structure of s irit more intensely' This scholarshi rovides such flo-ers' But a real com rehension of the soul only can ma0e such things com rehensible, -hich the modern scholarshi 0no-s' 2r( -hat has somebody to thin0 -ho regarded Goethe, Scho enhauer, 1onrad :erdinand )eyer and others as great s irits if this materialistic scholarshi has brought it so far that you can find in a little boo0 about Goethe>s illness, about Scho enhauer>s illness G also in other -or0s G these illnesses considered from the oint of vie- of the materialistic sychiatry; 2ne calls a articular ty e of insanity manic de ression, schi.o hrenia another, and aranoia a third one' These three forms of insanity are ta0en to sho- that one can also find sym toms of insanities -ith the great s irits -ho are regarded as leaders of human0ind' 2ne found the sym toms of manic de ression -ith Scho enhauer, aranoia -ith Tasso, Rousseau and others' 5ndeed, the same author has called an even bigger number of eo le feeble@minded' 6e is the author of the boo0 !n the 'h"siological &dioc" of Women -hich concerns one half of the -hole human0ind' 5t -ould be easy to consider the author from his o-n vie- oint and to scrutinise him' G 6o-ever, one must not laugh at these matters' The materialistic science must get to this because these are artial truths' But one can get only to the right insight if one sees the s irit -or0ing behind it' Then one sees that often a higher s iritual develo ment must be urchased for the same sym toms, as on the other side health for other sym toms' 2ne is able to do this only if one e/ lains them from the theoso hical stand oint' 5 -ould li0e to tell something else' Fou 0no- that 5 have ointed to ancient times of develo ment -hen our civilisation did not yet e/ist -hen there has been a continent bet-een this *uro e and America, the continent of the old Atlantis' 5 have already ointed to the fact that this Atlantis has been found again by the naturalists' 5n the maga.ine <osmos, !#th issue, a naturalist s ea0s of animals and lants -hich lived on this Atlantis' 5ndeed, such a naturalist admits this, but he does not admit that other human beings lived in those days' 6e does not admit that the old Atlantean land -as covered by a -ide nebulous sea that the ground -as not covered by such an air as it forms our atmos here today, that the e/ ression -hich the old 1entral *uro ean eo les have in their myths( ,iflheim, nebulous home, means something real that our Atlantean ancestors lived in a nebulous country' 5 have sometimes ointed to that' :e- days ago a lecture -as held in a famous society of naturalists in -hich -as ointed out to the fact that most robably in the time of our Atlantean ancestors on the earth very large land masses -ere covered -ith fog' 2ne concludes this s eculatively from different other henomena' Above all, it is ointed out to the fact that the lants, -hich need sunshine -hich gro- in the desert, are of a later date and did not yet e/ist at that time, -hile those, -hich need little sunshine -hich could e/ist at ,iflheim, the nebulous home, are the older ones' 6ere you see that natural science lagging behind says to you -hat theoso hy has said before' 8e have a time ahead -hen also the other matters must be gradually admitted by these natural sciences' Theoso hy does not have to get used to the fantastic, obBective atomic theories, but the facts -hich theoso hy announces from the higher stand oint -ill be roven by the e/ternal natural sciences' This is the course of the future develo ment' *ven if the modern scholars 0nonothing about it, their o-n rogress leads them to it' G ,o thin0er should doubt that one can see more, can behold more -ith a develo ed soul than -ith mere senses and mere intellect' 5t is the recognition of the develo ed human being as the most erfect instrument to investigate the -orld G theoso hy -ants this to be acce ted' *verything else results automatically' 5f you say that the human being has reached the highest levels and -ill not 0ee on develo ing, then you do not need theoso hy' 5f you say, ho-ever, the la-s -hich
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have held s-ay in the ast, -ill also hold s-ay in the future, single human beings have al-ays stood higher than others of their surroundings G if you admit this, then you have already a theoso hical attitude, in rinci le' 2ne does not become a theoso hist because one uses the -ords theoso hy, brotherliness, unity et cetera' Brotherliness is something that all good eo le understand' 5f 5 see eo le al-ays tal0ing about brotherliness and then also behold them feeling an inner lust if they tal0 about brotherliness, harmony, unity, then 5 al-ays thin0 of the oven and the first rinci le of the Theoso hical Society -hich demands to establish the core of a general human fraternisation' 5t is for nothing if one says to the oven( dear oven, heat the room and ma0e it -arm' G 5f one -ants that the oven gives off heat, then one must ut heating material into it and 0indle it' 2ne must ut heating material into it' This is the s iritual force, the ability to behold on account of the develo ment of the higher -orlds' By the develo ment of the s iritual -orld that truth and -isdom in the human souls ta0e lace -hich must lead as -isdom and 0no-ledge automatically to the general human brotherhood' Then -e arrive at that -hich is e/ ressed in the first rinci le of the theoso hical rogram if the human being can be an instrument to behold into the s iritual -orlds' 5f the organs of erce tion concealed in the human being are got out of the soul, theoso hy is a rogress -hich one is able to ursue' 5f one com ares this theoso hical attitude -ith the attitude of theoso hists, of great, lofty ersonalities -ho lived in rehistoric time, then -e find it also in a sentence from 6erder>s en( our tender, feeling and sensitive nature has develo ed all senses -hich God has given it' 5t cannot do -ithout them, because that -hich results from the -hole use of the organs shines to all' These are the vo-els of life and so on' *ven if -e only ta0e the e/ternal hysical senses into consideration, -e can say in the theoso hical sense, nevertheless( the hysical and s iritual senses must be develo ed, because by the harmony of the s iritual and hysical organs of erce tion the vo-els not only of life, but also those of the eternal, infinite, s iritual life are 0indled' Fou read in Goethe>s oem The Secrets( :rom the o-er -hich ties all beings esca es that human being -ho overcomes himself' The human being is neither free nor not free, he is develo ing'
,otes( <arl Robert *duard von 6artmann (!=&2I!"#H), German hiloso her *duard 2scar Schmidt (!=2$I!==H), German .oologist' Hoethes <erhIltnis Gu den organischen Wissenschaften 016>31, /escendenGlehre und /ar+inismus J The /octrine of /escent and /ar+inism 016*31 1onrad :erdinand )eyer (!=25I!="=)), S-iss oet and historical novelist manic de ression( Steiner uses the obsolete term ?.ir0ulQres 5rreseinA (circular insanity, :rench( folie circulaire)' This form of insanity is today called manic de ression or bi olar disorder' author of the boo0 !n the 'h"siological &dioc" of Women( 9aul Dulius )Pbius (!=5$I!"#J), German neurologist' Kber das 'athologische bei Hoethe 0169612 Kber Schopenhauer 016991 Atlantis( cf' R' Steiner 18 !! $osmic #emor" <osmos( Theodor Arldt (!=J=I!"H#), German geogra her' /as 5tlantisproblem

/ourse * " .ecture III# Is Theosophy Unscientific<

Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(832
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin !ctober 6th, 190.

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*ight days ago 5 tried to sho- -hat the modern human being can today find -ithin theoso hy' Before 5 continue this cycle of tal0s, the s ecial Cuestion of theoso hy is to be discussed and its relation to the big tas0s of the resent civilisation, to the significant s iritual currents of our time' That is -hy 5 -ould li0e to enter into the so im ortant Cuestion -hether theoso hy is unscientific' This is that re roach -hich affects the theoso hical movement most seriously in a time, in -hich science has the conceivably biggest authority, maybe the only real authority' 6o-ever, in such a time this misunderstanding -eighs a lot' Thus it must u set the theoso hist articularly if the re roach is done re eatedly from the art of science, in articular from the art of those -ho -ant to create a configuration of life and -orld on scientific basis that theoso hy is unscientific' A henomenon of the last years, -hich must be sym tomatic of the interests of our time to us, sho-s that the maBority of eo le loo0 Bust for this authority of science' 6o-ever, the Cuestion -hich 5 only -ant to touch no- -ill be e/actly discussed in the tal0 on science' ,evertheless, 5 -ould li0e to oint to the big sensation -hich 6aec0el>s Riddle of the :ni)erse made to sho- that Bust the teachings of this boo0 ma0e obvious to someone -ho recognises its value as 5 do -here the interest lies' This boo0 -ants to build u a -hole -orld@ icture on the basis of natural sciences' )ore than ten thousand co ies of it -ere soldE then a chea o ular edition -as organised for one mar0, and more than hundred thousand co ies of this edition -ere sold during fe- years since its a earance' The boo0 is translated into almost any im ortant language' 6o-ever, this seems to me less significant than that -hich 5 say no-' 6aec0el received more than 5### letters concerning scientific Cuestions' The letters contain almost the same Cuestions, and -e see that -ith it an im ortant central need has been met' A su lement of the boo0 The Riddle of the :ni)erse is the boo0 The Wonders of ?ife' 5n the reface 6aec0el tells to us -hat 5 have Bust said' 5n this boo0 you can also read the re roach -hich is done to theoso hy, the re roach to be unscientific' The Cuestion is a burning one' 6ence, -e have to understand ho- the -hole osition of our theoso hical s iritual movement is com ared to science' 8ho only has an overvie- of the last centuries cannot at all get it clear in his mind' 2ne has to go bac0 to the origin of human 0no-ledge, to a time -hich is far a-ay from our time, to the daybrea0 of human 0no-ledge or at least to that -hich -e call human 0no-ledge today' To understand com letely ho- immense the contrast is bet-een the vie- of the scientific roblems today and in that daybrea0 of human 0no-ledge, -e have to realise that modern science declares itself to be absolutely inca able to ans-er the big Cuestions of e/istence' 5n the reface of The Wonders of ?ife you find re eated -hat 6aec0el has often said( he re resents the stand oint of science against the medieval su erstition and the revelation' Bet-een truth and su erstition there is no mediation, there is only either@or ossible' 6e states -ith it that that -hich he has gained on the basis of his scientific studies is the only truth and that everything that other millennia roduced is error, su erstition and unscientific, already because the researchers of the former centuries 0ne- nothing about the big discoveries of the !"th century' The natural sciences of our time declare to be unable to ans-er articular Cuestions' 5ndeed as 5 have indicated already in the revious tal0, these natural sciences try to lead us bac0 to bygone times, they try to find the rimeval animals and lants and lead us bac0 to the oint in time -hen robably the first life came into being on earth' But the Cuestions, these im ortant central Cuestions -hich Bois@Reymond ut and 6aec0el tried to ans-er in the boo0 The Riddle of the :ni)erse, the Cuestions of the origin of life find no ans-er in natural sciences' Today, of course, the naturalist tries to give an ans-er to these Cuestions, in articular 6aec0el attem ts it' 6e sho-s ho- the earth came from a fire@liCuid state, cooled off bit by bit, became more solid, ho- then -ater could form and collect, and ho- finally the conditions -ere there that the living beings originated' 6e tries to sho- ho- one could imagine that life has come into being from the lifeless' This is -hat he -anted to o ose to all older convictions( that life once came into being from the lifeless and that everything that de ends on life G also the human being G is nothing else than a roduct of the inorganic matter that it is based on nothing else than -hat -e have in hysics and in chemistry' 6o-ever, 6aec0el tries in vain to sho- that the human being is nothing else than the result of the miraculous dynamics and mechanics of the human organism' Because the big Cuestion comes no-' The naturalist a roaches the oint in time -hen on our earth the conditions should have e/isted that the first living being originated from the lifeless matter' And there you find a concession -ith the researchers, even -ith 6aec0el( -e cannot form any mental icture of the condition in -hich our earth -as at that time -hen the first life a eared' 8e do not 0no- ho- the e/ternal nature -as at that time, and, therefore, -e cannot say ho- at that time the lifeless changed into life' This is one grou of the researchers' They had many follo-ers in the first third of the !"th century, as -ell as even today' 5f, for e/am le, the great *nglish researcher %ar-in -as as0ed for his o inion in the first time -hen one said that one must understand life from matter, he himself -ould have conceded that it is im ossible to understand life from lifeless' 6u/ley said, on account of his study of com arative anatomy, in the last time of his life that -e are Bust -ithin the -orld evolutionE -hy should -e not be able to thin0 that that -hich -e see round ourselves could not develo higher; 8e cannot declare the realm of beings finishedE -e have to loo0 u from the lo-er beings to the higher beings -hich are
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not accessible to us, because -e do not have senses for them' The reasonable naturalists made such thoughts and obBections to themselves' 5t is interesting that the German biologist 9reyer has come because of his studies -hich -ere based on %ar-inism to Cuite different vie-s about life' 6e did not consider that life has develo ed from the lifeless, but he got to the result that at that time -hen the earth develo ed the first living being of our ty e the earth -as not lifeless but one single living being, and that at that time generally nothing lifeless e/isted on our earth' The lifeless has develo ed only from life' Fou see that the %ar-inist 9reyer transformed the vie-, -hich other naturalists re resented, Bust into the o osite, considering the earth as a huge living being' This -as, as 9reyer assumes, millions of years ago' A huge living being -as our earth -hich you can com are -ith a human organism or an animal organism of today' Today also the human being has life and something a arently lifeless in him' 2ur bony system is a arently something lifeless' 5t se arated from the living as something lifeless' 9reyer imagines a ro/imately that the earth -as once a huge living being, and that the living earth has reci itated the lifeless, the dead, the roc0 and the roc0 masses, as the human being the s0eleton' This is an im ortant ste -hich the naturalists and the hiloso hers have done in the last time' And this ste has to lead inevitably to an additional oneE it has to lead to the ste that not only the lifeless has develo ed from life, but that also all hysical, the living and the lifeless have develo ed from the higher, from the s iritual' 5f the researchers ursue the -ay -hich they have ta0en today initially, they get to the sentence( not only the lifeless develo ed from life, but life itself develo ed from the s iritual' The s iritual -as first, it se arated life at first, and then life se arated the lifeless' 6o-ever, this is nothing else than the basis of the theoso hical -orld vie-' The theoso hical -orld vie- differs from the resent, materialistic@scientific vie- because it ma0es the s irit the first and everything else de endent of the s irit' The materialist ma0es matter the first and derives everything from matter' 5 have already suggested last time that the teaching of the senses oints to the reason -hy the modern naturalist -ants to insist on his sentence that life can be derived from the lifeless, from the s iritless' 5 have ointed to the great sentence that the hysiologist Dohannes )Nller and other significant hysiologists e/ ressed first' 6elmholt. and then 4ot.e ut it in the formula( the -orld round us -ould be dar0 and dumb if -e did not have eyes and ears, -hich transform the oscillations of the air into that -hich is colours and sounds to us' G ,atural sciences themselves say to us that everything that -e see in the hysical -orld round us is de endent on us' 5f -e did not have articular eyes and ears, -e could not see and hear the -orld in this articular -ay' The hysiologist can give the reasons to us -hy the eye and the ear form in a articular -ay' This is due to the fact that -e ta0e art in the hysical -orld -ith our eyes' Theoso hy no- sho-s the basic conce ts of -hich 5 s ea0 in eight days' 8e see a thing because -e ut the eye in the correct osition to the thing -hich -e -ant to see' 8e understand a thing because -e have reason and a ly it to get a -orld vie- from the ictures of the obBects' 6ence, -e are able to ma0e a -orld vie- to ourselves' Theoso hy e/ resses this that -ay( the human being is a-are of the hysical -orld' 6o-ever, -e have no- to ut the Cuestion( does the human being live only -ithin the hysical -orld; By -ay of a hint -e can e/ lain to ourselves this Cuestion if -e imagine that anybody has no earsE he does not hear the sounds of his fello- men' They could roduce sounds and -ords, but -ithout ears you -ould not erceive the sounding manifestations of the e/ternal hysical -orld' Fou must have ears to realise the hysical -orld' G %oes the human being consist, ho-ever, only of such hysical manifestations; ,o, you 0no- that -ithin the body, in -hich the human being and also the animal are enclosed, not only hysical activities e/ist, but that in the human being also feelings, desires, assions, and -ishes e/ist' These desires, -ishes, im ulses and assions are also realities li0e the hysical functions, the hysical activities' Dust as you digest and s ea0, you feel, -ish and desire' %igesting and s ea0ing are hysical manifestations, and -e can erceive them -ith hysical senses for our hysical consciousness' 8hy can -e not erceive the other reality, -hich is also in us, the -ishes, desires, emotions and assions; 5t is s o0en fully in line -ith natural sciences if -e say( -e cannot erceive them because -e have no senses for them' 6o-ever, Bust the -orld vie- underlying the theoso hical movement sho-s that the human being can not only become a-are of a hysical, but also of a higher -orld' 5f -e loo0 at the manifestations of this higher -orld, then the -ishes, desires, assions and im ulses are as discernible realities as the hysical erce tion is, as language is the hysical e/ ression of a hysical activity' Then one says that the consciousness of the so@called astral -orld has a-o0en' The human being stands then as a being of im ulses, of desires and of assions before us as he a-a0es as a hysical being and can thro- bac0 the light im ressions for our hysical eye' 6o- these higher senses a-a0e ho- the human being can attain the higher consciousness, -e hear this in the lecture cycle about The Basic $oncepts of Theosoph"' The human being lives in this higher -orld, but his consciousness, in so far as he is an average modern human being, has not a-o0en for this higher -orld' Then there is still a third -orld, a -orld of thin0ing, and a -orld of the higher s iritual life -hich lies above the assions, desires, -ishes and im ulses' This -orld of thoughts, the -orld of s irituality, is still less accessible to the hysical consciousness' Anybody should not deny this -orld of the ure s irit -ho stands on the stand oint of modern
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hiloso hy, but ta0e into account that only the modern human being is lac0ing the organs to erceive it' The human being lives also in this third -orld' 6e thin0s in this -orld, but he cannot erceive it' 6ence, -e have to say( the human being lives in three -orlds' 8e call these three -orlds( the hysical -orld, the sychic -orld and the mental -orld' 5n the common theoso hical arlance -e call them( the hysical -orld, the astral -orld and the s iritual -orld' The human being is only a-are of the first, the hysical -orld, and, hence, he can only find something of the hysical -orld scientifically' 6e can find anything of the other -orlds only if he sees, erceives and is conscious in them as he is in the hysical -orld today' So -e have in the human being a threefold living being before ourselves -hich forms a -hole of body, soul and mind -hich is a-are, ho-ever, only in the hysical -orld' Therefore, the naturalist doing research -ithin the hysical -orld can loo0 bac0 only as far as the hysical -orld resents itself to his scientific eye' Also to the scientific eye, eCui ed -ith any means of science, no other -orld comes u than that -hich comes u to the usual sensory life' *ven if he loo0s bac0 to the evolution of the earth for millions of years, he loo0s bac0 to the oint -here from the astral daybrea0 G it is more luminous than any hysical light G the hysical has gradually condensed' 2nly the eye -hich has become clairvoyant can enetrate to those evolutionary conditions -here the hysical from the astral and the astral from the s iritual have arisenE -here the s irit gradually condensed to the living and later to the lifeless' That is -hy the hysical researcher can no longer use his method of research -here as it -ere the hysical flashes -here it has develo ed from the sycho@s iritual' That is -hy the hysiologist rises to the eri hery, to that condition -here the living becomes the s iritual' To a more distant ast the s iritual researcher rises and -ith it he creates a more encom assing -orld@ icture, a -orld@ icture -hich e/tends far beyond that -hich the hysical researcher 0no-s' 8e have sho-n that the theoso hical -orld vie- does not need to be unscientific, because it designs a some-hat different -orld vie- than the hysical research' 2ther e/ eriences are underlying it G the a-a0ening on the s iritual lane' As you have to move in a room -hich is dar0 gro ing the -ay and erceive touching, and as another im ression originates if the dar0 room is illuminated, everything a ears ne- to the s iritual researcher, -hose eyes are o ened, in ne- activity, in another light' This researcher did not become unscientific because his e/ erience -as enriched' The logic of the theoso hist is as certain as the logic of the best naturalist' 2nly this logic moves in another field' 5t is a strange ignorance if one -ants to deny the scientific nature of our research, before one has tested it' 8e thin0 in the same -ay on the higher lanes as the hysical researcher does on the hysical laneE this harmonises the theoso hical method of research and the hysical one' ,o- -e have to e/ lain -hy the modern researcher e/ resses this hard either@or and reBects everything that is not hysical' The theoso hical researcher realises -hy this has to be that -ay( this is connected -ith the develo ment of human0ind' Because the theoso hist considers the develo ment of human0ind in a higher light and because he can erceive the events, so to s ea0, in the s iritual realm, the theoso hist is able to recognise by the develo ment -hy the sole authority is attributed to the hysical intellectual science' 8hat one calls science today has not al-ays been there' */actly the same -ay as any lant, as any animal has develo ed, as the genders and human races have develo ed, the s iritual life has also develo ed' )odern science itself has not al-ays been in the same stage' 5t is a roduct of develo ment' 6o-ever, there -as in the oldest times a -ay of human consideration although it -as not scientific in the modern sense' Therefore, one has to go bac0 to that time -hen the rudiments of our human life come into being' *verything is in develo ment' The human race -as more different from that of today millions of years ago than one imagines it' This difference comes also u in the tal0s about the Basic $oncepts of Theosoph"' Another human race, the Atlantean one, has led the -ay of the human race of today' 9lato still tells about it' This race is a fact that cannot be denied by the natural sciences' 5t has differently imagined, differently lived, and develo ed other forces than the human0ind of today' 8ho -ants additional information, can read u more about this human race in my maga.ine ?uGifer' After the decline of this human race, this ?root race,A such imagination, such thin0ing and loo0ing develo ed finally as it is today' 8ithin our resent root race -e distinguish seven sub@races again according to the theoso hical vie- from -hich our o-n is the fifth one' 6uman0ind of today develo ed slo-ly, the cultural life develo ed slo-ly' 5f -e go bac0 to the s iritual life of the first sub@race of our root race, this s iritual life resents itself Cuite differently than our resent@day s iritual life' The thin0ing of these human beings -as different' 5t cannot be com ared -ith our inferring rational 0no-ledge at all' This thin0ing -as s iritual, -hich came about by intuition, by a 0ind of mental instinct G but also this is not the correct term, it is more a s iritualised 0ind of thin0ing' This s iritualised 0ind of thin0ing contained all the other human mental activities li0e in a germ, lying side by side today, harmoniously in itself' 8hat is se arated today as imagination, as religious devoutness, as moral feeling and at the same time as scientific nature -as a unity in those days' As -ell as the -hole lant is enclosed in the seed, in a unity, that -hich is se arated in many mental activities today -as enclosed in a
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unity' 5magination -as not that imagination -hich -e regard as an unreal one' 5magination -as fertilised by the s iritual contents of the -orld, so that it roduced truth' 5t -as not -hat -e call artistic imagination todayE it -as that -hich contained truth in its images at the same time' The feeling and the ethical -ill -ere connected intimately -ith this imagination' The -hole human being -as a unity, a s iritual cell' 8e can imagine it e/ternally if -e chec0 -hat has still remained to us' 5f you study the ancient cultural roducts, as for e/am le the 7edas of the ancient 5ndians, you find art, oetry and s irit flo-ing li0e from a s ring' At that time truth, oetry and sense of duty flo- li0e from a single centre of the human being, from common intuition' 8e can also study the images -hich have remained from the oldest druidic times -hich form the basis of ours, G and -e find that the tem le constructions, the stone settlements of the druids are modelled on cosmic measures' *verything sho-s us a former develo ment' Then -e come to the ne/t sub@races' There -e see that the mental activities se arate that they have s read out in the beginning li0e the branches of a tree' 8e see later, in the 1haldean@*gy tian age, that the science of astronomy se arates from the urely ractical scienceE that art by art se arates from that -hich -as a uniform vie- and becomes s ecial attem ts' 8e can ursue a articular la- in our fifth root race( the human being of this fifth root race gradually conCuers all fields of the hysical -orld' 5f -e consider the Bust described s iritual human being of the outset of our age, -e see that everything is s irit -ith him' The old 7edic riest did not yet 0no- the tendency to the hysical' The hysical -as something un-orthy to himE he only loo0ed at the eternal course of the events, his loo0 -as directed to the heaven, the earthly matters hardly touched him' 5n our time this 7edic vie- a ears li0e an anachronismE -e see that these vie-s do no longer co e -ith the hysical, and that Bust the 5ndian eo le suffers from the fact that its inner loo0 gets dar0er, is forced bac0 by a -orld -hich can no longer understand this vie-' The human being had to conCuer the hysical -orld -ith his mindE the human being has dived in the hysical -orld and has to -or0 on the hysical -orld more and more' The loo0 -as directed to the inner self at first, then, -ith the 1haldeans and *gy tians, it -as directed to the stars' 5f -e rogress to the Gree0s, -e see ho- -ith them bit by bit that -hich -as once united, hiloso hy, religion and art meet us as three com letely se arate mental activities' The ancient 7edic riest -as a oet, researcher and religious ro het at the same timeE if -e rogress to 6ellenism, -e see the hiloso her, the artist, the riest a earing a art' 8hat has ha ened according to the la- of develo ment in ancient Greece; The hysical -orld -as first conCuered by means of one of the mental activities, by imagination' The tremendous Gree0 art is the conCuest of the hysical -orld -ith the means of imagination' 8e rogress to the first 1hristian time' 5t re ared already in the 2ld Testament, in the antiCuity, but the ne- field -as only conCuered by the s irituality of the 1hristian time' 5t is the ethical field, the moral life' 5f you go to the older Greece, you see the moral a earing not se arated from the general -orld vie-' 2nly -ith Socrates and 9lato it begins that the moral being se arates itself' 1hristianity conCuers the moral -orld' As -ell as the old 6ellenism conCuered the hysical in the art by imagination s iritually, 1hristianity conCuered the hysical morality, the moral life on earth, s iritually' This is the second hase of develo ment' 5f -e s0i over some time, -e see around the turn of the !5th century to the !Hth century s litting again -hat -as combined once' 8e see the -orld vie-er, the hiloso her, and the researcher se arating' There -as still no se aration bet-een hiloso hers and scientific@ hysical researchers before' 4oo0 bac0 at the first time of the )iddle Ages, loo0 at Scotus *riugena, at Albertus )agnus, at those -ho cared for the cultural life in the -orld, you -ill see that there everything goes hand in hand' Bet-een s iritual@ hiloso hical researchers and urely hysical researchers -as no se aration' Fou can still find reminiscences of the unity of hiloso hy and science -ith %escartes and S ino.a' The hiloso hical thin0ing -ent once hand in hand -ith the natural sciences' 5n the !5th, !Hth centuries this se aration ta0es lace( science se arates from hiloso hyE science becomes inde endent' A ne- field of the hysical life is conCuered( the field, -hich is to be conCuered by hysics, astronomy et cetera, briefly by urely hysical rational science' ,o- -e see -hat -as united once G science, art, hiloso hy, religion, ethics G going se arate -ays' Attem ts -ere made later re eatedly to reunite -hat -as a unity once' 8e see this as iration also -ith Goethe' 8e see him trying hard to create s iritual natural sciences and to find a bridge bet-een science and art' A sentence sho-s this( ?The beautiful is a manifestation of secret la-s of nature -hich -ould have remained hidden to us -ithout its a earance'A Also Richard 8agner tried to combine the myth of the religions in a ne- art form -hich should be more than the art founded on ure imagination' These attem ts remind of something that e/isted at all times' Beside the se arate -ays -hich religion, art, science and ethics have gone there -as al-ays -hat one calls the big unity' Beside science, art and hiloso hy there -ere the
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mysteries' The -hole -orld vie- -as erformed to the initiate of the mysteries' 2ne did not e/ lain to him scientifically -hat -as once and ho- the -orld la-s are( an image of life -as created there' 5n the %ionysus drama one revealed to him ho- the human being, the s irit@man, has submerged into the hysical matter ho- the s iritual has condensed to matter to rise to the s iritual again in future' 5n great ictures this iece of art, this %ionysus drama, -as erformed in the ancient Gree0 mysteries' 5t -as sho-n ho- %ionysus, the son of Keus and Semele, is saved by 9allas Athena and ho- his heart is saved by Keus' This is the erformance of a great human dramaE it should sho- nothing else than the life -ithin our earth' 5t should be sho-n ho- the human being has dived in the hysical body ho- he has saved his soul -ith the hel of the s iritual in his innermost being and ho- he develo s again to a ne- divine e/istence' 5n the Gree0 culture then a ears that se arate -hich constitutes a unity in the dee ness of the mystery tem les' 8hat Socrates tells and -hat 9lato sho-s in his hiloso hy is nothing else than an e/ternal image, a se aration of that -hich -as found in the mysteries' 5f you read 9lato, you see the hiloso hical resentation of the mystery dramaE if you read the tragic destinies of the heroes, you have a -ea0 reflection of the mystery drama in these heroic dramas' 9hiloso hy has develo ed from the ancient art' 5n our time the last se aration ha ened( the rational science -hich is limited to the hysical -orld has conCuered the -orldE the microsco e and the telesco e have conCuered the -orld' As -ell as the 1hristian art conCuered the internal feeling -orld the hysical science conCuered the outer nature' This -as the tas0, the big -orld mission( to conCuer -hat -as a unity once in se arate fields' 5t is the mission of a ne- da-ning time to ave the -ay for the unity of all four, of science, hiloso hy, ethics and artE theoso hy -ants to re are the mission of ne- human0ind' That is -hy the first significant -or0, the Secret /octrine by 6elena 9etro-na Blavats0y, a eared -ith the subtitle( The S"nthesis of Science, Religion, and 'hilosoph"' G The theoso hical -orld vie- behaves that -ay to the single branches -hich bury the mental life today' Fou see -hy it cannot find consolation, if the scientific -orld vie- confronts it -ith an either@or' Fou see -hy the theoso hist -ho loo0s at the -hole can loo0 reconciling at science and can almost e/ ect an additional rise in the scientific s here from the future develo ment of science' This is the ideal of theoso hy' Because human0ind is a -hole in every single human being, this ideal is the big human ideal of our time' 2n se arate -ays the human beings of our root race had to arrive at their goal' 6o-ever, the big -orld la- is that the -ays go a art for a -hileE then they must reunite' ,o- it is the time of reunification' A unifying -orld vie- can be only a tolerant -orld vie-' That is -hy the big rinci le of tolerance stands at the head of our movement' 5t -ould be a misunderstanding if one -anted to assess the theoso hical movement on account of any truth' 8e do not unite on account of a articular single truth, of a dogma, not of that -hich this or that erson has recognised or believes to have recognised' Anybody -ho e/ resses a truth in the theoso hical movement, even if resolutely and energetically, does not e/ ress it in the sense as others demand that one must confess to it' 6ave a loo0 at the single confessions, also at the schools of scientific thin0ing, materialism, monism, dualism et cetera, every-here you can see one thing( the follo-er of such a confession or school believes to o-n the only truth and eliminates everything else' *ither@or is the motto' The Cuarrel of the sects, of the vie-s is the result' Theoso hy differs Cuite basically from that' Truth has to develo in every single human being' 8ho e/ resses his 0no-ledge, e/ resses it only to stimulate his fello-men' The theoso hical teacher is a-are that in every human being truth has to be got out' 5n doing so, absolutely tolerant human beings unite in brotherliness to a common big goalE they unite in the Theoso hical Society, in the s iritual@scientific movement' The most tolerant attitude, tolerance in feeling and thin0ing is to be found in this movement' The theoso hist realises, Bust if he has advanced in his -ay of 0no-ledge, that in the breast of any human being the truth core rests that he only needs to be surrounded -ith a s iritual atmos here to develo ' 5t is all the coo eration on -hich it de ends' 8here theoso hists unite, they create that atmos here round themselves in -hich the single human germ can thrive' They regard this coo eration as their ro er tas0' This distinguishes the theoso hical movement basically from all others' 2thers combat each other G but -e unite' 2thers are monists and consider dualism as -rongE ho-ever, -e 0no- that dualism and monism find a unity in an even higher harmony if anybody goes on searching s iritually in himself' The great s irits have e/ ressed this, also Goethe G connecting -ith his -ords to old masters G ho- in the human being the divine truth must develo ho- it has to come forth from the single human heart' 6e headed one of his scientific -or0s -ith the follo-ing motto that could be also a motto of our theoso hical movement( 8ere not the eyes li0e the sun, 6o- could -e see the light; %id not God>s o-n force live in us, 6o- could delight us the divine;
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Theor" of $olours' %idactic 9art

,otes( 8illiam Thierry 9reyer (!=&!I!="J), *nglish hysiologist' The "potheses of the !rigin of ?ife in (atur+issenschaftliche Thatsachen und 'robleme 016601 J Scientific ,acts and 'roblems2 Dohannes 9eter )Nller (!=#!I!=5=), German hysiologist 6ermann von 6elmholt. (!=2!I!="&), German hysician and hysicist 6ermann 4ot.e (!=!JI!==!), German hiloso her and logician' HrundGLge der 's"chologie 0The 'rinciples of 's"cholog"1 016601 The Basic $oncepts of Theosoph"( contained in 18 5$ The !rigin and Hoal of the uman Being

/ourse * " .ecture I*# Is Theosophy Buddhist 9ropa;anda<

Sch-idt 0u-ber# S"(344
On"line since# $%st &arch' !(%)

Berlin /ecember 6th, 190. This lecture is intended to discuss one of the most o ular reBudices about the theoso hical movement( that theoso hy is nothing but Buddhist ro aganda' 2ne has even coined the -ord for this movement( ,e- Buddhism' 5t is -ithout doubt that our contem oraries -ould have to argue something against the theoso hical movement if in this reBudice -ere anything right' Someone -ho stands, for e/am le, on the 1hristian oint of vie- as0s himself rightly( -hat does a religion li0e Buddhism mean to somebody -ho has a 1hristian confession or is educated in a 1hristian surrounding' 5s Buddhism not a religion that -as intended for Cuite different circumstances, for another eo le, for Cuite different conditions; And someone -ho stands on the oint of vie- of modern science may say to himself( -hich im ortant matters can Buddhism deliver to us -ho -e live -ith the scientific conce ts -hich have been obtained in the course of the last centuries, because everything that it com rises belongs to a range of thoughts -hich originated many centuries before our calendar; G Today -e -ant to deal -ith the Cuestion ho- this Budgement could originate, and -hich value it has, actually' Fou 0no- that the theoso hical movement -as brought to life by )rs' 6elena 9etro-na Blavats0y and 1olonel 2lcott in !=J5 that it has s read since that time over all civilised countries of the earth that thousands u on thousands of eo le -ho loo0 for the solutions of the Cuestions of life have found satisfaction in the dee est sense that it has roduced researches -hich dee ly s ea0 to the soul of the modern human being' This movement has a rich literature and has roduced a number of men and -omen -ho are able to inde endently s ea0 in its sense' Fou cannot deny this' And -e have to as0 ourselves( ho- is the relation of this movement to the religions of the *ast, to 6induism, and in articular to Buddhism; The title of one of the most o ular boo0s in our field is to blame considerably for this reBudice -hich 5 have mentioned' 5t is the boo0 by -hich countless human beings -ere -on over for the movement, the Esoteric Buddhism by Sinnett' 5t is an unfortunate coincidence that the title of this boo0 could be misunderstood so thoroughly' )rs' Blavats0y says about this boo0 that it is neither Buddhist nor esoteric, although it is called Esoteric Buddhism' This Budgement is e/ce tionally im ortant for the assessment of the theoso hical movement' 6o-ever, Buddhism stands on the title@ age of
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Sinnett>s boo0, but this Buddhism -ould not have to be s elt -ith t-o d>s, as if it came from Buddha, but -ith one d, because it comes from budhi, the si/th human rinci le, the rinci le of enlightenment, the 0no-ledge' Budhi means nothing else than -hat -as called Gnosticism during the first 1hristian centuries' <no-ledge by the internal light of the s irit, doctrine of -isdom' 5f -e understand the term ?BudhismA in such a -ay, -e are soon able to admit that the teaching of Buddha is nothing else than one of the manifold forms in -hich this teaching of -isdom is s read in the -orld' ,ot only Buddha, but all great teachers of -isdom have s read this Buddhism( the *gy tian 6ermes, the old 5ndian Rishis, Karathustra, the 1hinese teachers of -isdom 4ao.i (4ao Tse) and 1onfucius, the initiates of the old De-s, also 9ythagoras and 9lato, and, finally, the teachers of 1hristianity' They have s read nothing else than Budhism in this sense, and esoteric Buddhism is nothing else than the internal teaching, in contrast to the e/ternal teaching' All great religions of the -orld made this difference bet-een internal and e/ternal teaching' 1hristianity 0ne- this difference bet-een esoteric and e/oteric content, in articular in the first centuries' The esoteric differs Cuite substantially from the e/oteric' The e/oteric is that -hich a teacher announces before the community, -hat is s read by means of -ords and boo0s' 5t is that -hich everybody understands -ho is on a certain level of education' The esoteric teaching is not s read by means of boo0sE the esoteric art of every religion of -isdom is s read only by mouth to ear and still in Cuite different -ay' There must be an intimate relation of the teacher to his u il to bring esoteric contents to a human being' The teacher must be a guide to his u il at the same time' An immediate ersonal band has to e/ist bet-een teacher and u il' This relation bet-een teacher and u il has to e/ ress -hat goes far beyond the mere information, beyond the mere -ord' Something s iritual has to be in this relation bet-een teacher and u ilE the mental o-er of the teacher must have an effect on the u il' The -ill e/ercised in -isdom lets something stream into that -hich moves on the u il or the little community immediately -hich shall arta0e in the esoteric lessons solely as a little community' This little community shall be ta0en u ste by ste to the higher levels' 2ne cannot recognise the third level if one has not ado ted the first and second com letely' *sotericism com rises not only a study, but a com lete transformation of the human being, a higher education and disci line of his soul forces' The human being -ho has gone through the esoteric school has learnt not only somethingE he has become more different concerning his tem erament, feeling nature and character, not only concerning his insight and 0no-ledge' 8hat is entrusted to the e/ternal -orld or to an e/ternal boo0 can be only a -ea0 reflection of a real esoteric instruction' 6ence, )rs' Blavats0y says rightly that Sinnett>s boo0 is no esoteric Buddhism, because -henever any teaching is generally given by a boo0 or ublicly, it is no longer esotericE it has become e/oteric, because the eculiar shading caused by the finer soul forces, the -hole s iritual breath -hich must enetrate and -arm u that -hich esotericism com rises, all that has disa eared from the information that a boo0 delivers' 6o-ever, one thing is ossible( somebody -hose slumbering abilities can be easily aroused, and -ho has the intention and the tendency to read not only bet-een the lines of a boo0, but to suc0 as it -ere at the -ords, that can suc0 out from a boo0 -hat as esotericism forms the basis of this e/oteric boo0' 2ne can come under circumstances u to a lofty degree in the esoteric teaching -ithout receiving immediate ersonal esoteric lessons' But this changes nothing of the fact that an immense difference is bet-een any 0ind of esotericism and e/otericism' The 1hristian Gnostics of the first centuries tell that in the -ords of 2rigen, of 1lement of Ale/andria if they s o0e to their intimate u ils, the immediate soul fire, the immediate s iritual force had an effect, and that these -ords had another life then, as if they -ere s o0en before a big community' Those -ho got the intimate lessons of these great 1hristian teachers 0no- to tell ho- their souls -ere com letely transformed and changed' 5n the last third of the !"th century it became necessary to -a0e u the s iritual life in human0ind as a counterbalance for the materialistic -orld vie- -hich has not only sei.ed the scientific, but also the religious circles, because the religions have ta0en on a com letely materialistic character' 5t had become necessary to revive the internal s iritual life' This internal life can be aroused only by somebody -ho goes out in his -ords from the force that is created in esotericism' 5t had become necessary that some eo le s o0e about the matters again -ho 0ne- not only from boo0s and instructions, but from immediate ersonal observation something about the -orlds -hich are above the hysical lane' Dust as somebody can be an e/ ert in the fields of the natural sciences, somebody can also be an e/ ert in the fields of the soul@life and the s iritual life' 2ne can have immediate 0no-ledge of these -orlds' At all times there have been such human beings -ho had s iritual e/ eriencesE and those -ho had such e/ eriences -ere the im ortant rulers and guides of human0ind' 8hat has flo-ed in as religions onto human0ind has come from the s iritual and sychic e/ erience of these religious founders' These religious founders -ere nothing else than envoys of the great brotherhoods of sages -ho have the real guidance of the human develo ment' They transmit their -isdom, their
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s iritual 0no-ledge into the -orld every no- and then to give a ne- im ulse, a ne- im act in the rogress of human0ind' To the big mass of the human beings it is not visible -here from these inflo-s come to human0ind' 6o-ever, those 0no- -here from these im ulses come -ho can do o-n e/ eriences, -ho have the connection -ith the advanced brothers of human0ind, -ho have arrived at a level -hich human0ind reaches only in distant times' This connection itself by -hich the -ord of the s irit s ea0s to the co@brothers and co@sisters from -ithin through the advanced brothers of human0ind is esoteric' 5t cannot be attached by an e/ternal societyE it is attached immediately by the s iritual force' :rom such a brotherhood of advanced individualities a current of -isdom, a ne- s iritual -ave had to flo- in again onto human0ind in the last third of the !"th century' )rs' Blavats0y -as nobody else than an emissary of such higher human individualities -ho have attained a lofty degree of -isdom and divine -ill' 2f such 0ind as they come from such advanced human brothers -ere also the communications -hich form the basis of the Esoteric Buddhism' 5t ha ened no- G due to a necessary, but not yet easily understandable concatenation of -orld@historical s iritual events G that the first influence of the theoso hical movement -ent out from the *ast, from oriental masters' But already -hen 6elena 9etro-na Blavats0y -rote her Secret /octrine, not only oriental sages as great initiates rovided the teachings, -hich you can find in the Secret /octrine, to )rs' Blavats0y' An *gy tian initiate and a 6ungarian one had already added -hat they had to contribute to the ne- big im act' Since that time some ne- currents have still flo-ed into this theoso hical movement' That is -hy for somebody -ho 0no-s -hat roceeds behind the scenery from o-n 0no-ledge G it roceeds inevitably behind the scenery because it can enetrate the theoso hical current only slo-ly G it does no longer ma0e sense to maintain that in this theoso hical movement only a ne- Buddhism is contained today' ,ot only the average human being is de ending on his surroundings, on his age and his nation, but also the most advanced human being' Also somebody -ho has attained a lofty level of -isdom and divine -ill is still de ending on his surroundings in certain -ay' The great sages of the movement em hasised that immediately in the outset of this movement' The great sages had come from oriental 0no-ledge, from the oriental -orld' They belonged to a brotherhood -hich is rooted in that -hich one calls the rofound Buddhism of the *ast' This brotherhood has its roots not in the so@ called southern Buddhism -hich you can find in articular on 1eylon, but in the northern Buddhism -hich com rises not only the ure and noble doctrine of moral and Bustice of the southern Buddhism, but also a sublime doctrine of the s iritual life of the -orld' This northern Buddhism can be regarded in certain sense as a 0ind of esoteric doctrine, in contrast to the southern Buddhism' 8hy had the rene-al of the s iritual life to be stimulated from this side; 8as this necessary; 8e are not fooled by the -hole state of affairs -hich is here, but -e e/ ress it in such a -ay as it resents itself to the im artial 0no-er' All great -orld religions and all great -orld vie-s come from envoys of these great brotherhoods of advanced human beings' But -hile these great religions do their -andering through the -orld, they must ada t themselves to the different national vie-s, to the reason, to the times and the nations' 2ur materialistic time, in articular since the !5th, !Hth centuries, has not only materialised science, but also the confessions of the 8est' 5t has forced bac0 the understanding of the esoteric, of the s iritual, of the real s iritual life more and moreE and thus it ha ened that in the !"th century only very little understanding -as there of a more rofound -isdom' ,evertheless, -ith regard to the origin of the *uro ean religion -e have to say that those -ho have a s iritual conscience loo0ed for the s iritual but that they found very little stimulation in the 9rotestant confession of the !"th century that they -ere dissatisfied -ith that -hich they could hear from the confessions and theologians' Dust those -ho had the dee est religious needs found the least satisfaction in the confessions of the !"th century' These confessions of the !"th century -ere revived in the core by the esoteric core of the universal teachings of -isdom' Theoso hy led countless eo le bac0 to 1hristianity -ho had turned a-ay from 1hristianity because of the interesting scientific facts' The theoso hical movement has dee ened this 1hristianity again, it has sho-n the true, real form of 1hristianity, and it also has led many of those to 1hristianity -ho had no longer been able to satisfy their souls and hearts -ith it' This is because theoso hy does nothing else than to rene- the internal core of 1hristianity, and to sho- it in its true figure' 6o-ever, it -as necessary that the stimulation -ent out from the little circle of the *ast in -hich still a continuous flo- had been reserved from the times of an advanced s iritual life in the beginning of our root race' :rom the )iddle Ages u to the modern times there -ere great sages also in *uro eE and there -ere also such brotherhoods' 5 have to mention the Rosicrucians over and over againE but the materialistic century could only acce t little from this Rosicrucian brotherhood' Thus it ha ened that the last Rosicrucians had already united -ith the oriental brothers at the beginning of the !"th century -ho then gave the stimulus' The *uro ean civilisation had lost any s iritual o-er, and that is -hy the big stimulations had to come from the *ast at first' 6ence, the -ord( e/ oriente lu/' G Then ho-ever, -hen this light had come, one found the s ar0 again, so that also in *uro e the religious confessions could be 0indled'
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Today -e do not in the least need to adhere to the reminiscences of Buddhism' Today -e are able to sho- the matter absolutely from our *uro ean culture, from the 1hristian culture -ithout ointing to Buddhist s rings or origins or other oriental influence' 5t is note-orthy -hat one of the most significant theoso hists of 5ndia said about the -orld mission of the theoso hical movement on the congress of religions in 1hicago' 1ha0ravarti delivered a s eech and said( also in the 5ndian nation, the old s iritual life has got lost' The -estern materialism has also entered in 5ndia' 2ne has also become haughty and refusing in 5ndia to-ards the doctrines of the old Rishis, and the theoso hical movement has acCuired the merit of bringing the s iritual teaching also to 5ndia' G So little it is correct that -e s read 5ndian -orld vie- that Bust the reverse holds true( that rather the theoso hical movement brought the -orld vie-, -hich it has to re resent, to 5ndia again' The scholars -ho dealt -ith the investigation of Buddhism in the course of the !"th century argued from their oint of vie- against the term ?esoteric Buddhism'A They said( Buddha never taught anything that one could call esotericism' 6e taught a o ular religion -hich referably concerned the moral life, and s o0e -ords -hich can be understood by everybodyE ho-ever, a secret doctrine is out of the Cuestion -ith Buddha' 6ence, some also said that there cannot be an esoteric Buddhism at all' A lot of incorrect things -ere -ritten about Buddha and Buddhism' Fou can see this already from assages of the little boo0 -hich a eared -ith Reclam' There you can read( ?that is even more -hich 5 recognise and do not announce than -hat 5 have announced to you' And truly 5 have not announced this to you because it brings you no rofit because it does not romote the holy life because it does not lead to the resistance, not to the su ression of desire, not to eace, 0no-ledge, enlightenment and nirvana' That is not -hy 5 have announced that to you' 8hat have 5 announced to you; This is the suffering, this is the origin of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering, and this is the -ay -hich leads to the cessation of suffering' 5 have announced this to you'A Such a assage sho-s us immediately that Buddhism is a doctrine -hich -as not announced ublicly' 8hy it -as not announced ublicly; Because an esoteric teaching cannot be announced ublicly+ Buddha -anted nothing else from his eo le than to announce u lifting ethics and moral doctrine -ith -hich everybody can become mature to be acce ted to a school of -isdom, to esotericism, after he had develo ed the necessary virtue, tem erament and character' Buddha announced to his most intimate disci les -hat he had to say beyond the e/oteric' The northern Buddhism has reserved this secret doctrine of Buddhism and all great religions of -isdom in a living s iritual flo-' That is -hy that influence -hich has led to the foundation of the Theoso hical Society could go out from them' 5n articular our contem oraries are reluctant to receive any favourable influence, -hether from Buddhism, from 6induism or any other oriental religion' As -e meet there a reBudice of the most unbelievable 0ind, one could also rove -ith regard to countless other matters ho- little the oriental confessions have been understood in *uro e, and ho- those tal0 about these confessions in *uro e -ho have never ta0en ains to enetrate into them and behave in such a -ay, as if anything com letely strange to the -estern -isdom has to flo- into the 8est' Thus one says that Buddhism leads to asceticism that it leads to estimate non@e/istence higher than life' 2ne says also that such asceticism, such hostility to life does not befit the active modern human being' They say( -hat does such asceticism mean to us; 2ne only needs to re ort a assage of the Buddhist -ritings to sho- ho- little reasonable the re roach of asceticism is -ith regard to Buddhism' The term ?Bhi0shu (Bhi00hu)A signifies a u il in Buddhism' 5f any Bhi0shu de rives a human being of his life, holds a eulogy on death or stirs u others to suicide and says( -hat is this life of use for you; %eath is better than life+ G 5f he gives reasons for the ost@mortal life that -ay, he has fallen off and belongs no longer to the community' G A strict order of Buddhism reads that -ay and a ban to s ea0 to anybody of the fact that death is more valuable than life( this is one of the biggest sins in the true Buddhism' 5f you ta0e such a thing, you can estimate, from there going out, ho- little a ro riate the ideas are -hich are announced over and over again by those -ho have dealt -ith this matter insufficiently' 5t is difficult to get rid of reBudices -hich have nested in such a -ay' 2ne can only oint to the true figure of these matters time and again' 5ndeed, one has s o0en then, but the same obBections come soon again' 2ne can say a hundred times that the nirvana is not non@e/istence, but fullness and -ealth of being that it is the highest summit of consciousness and being that there is no assage G also not in the e/oteric -ritings G from -hich it follo-s that a true e/ ert imagines nirvana as non@e/istence( one can re eat a hundred times, but over and over again eo le s ea0 of renunciation of life' ,irvana is e/actly the same about -hich also 1hristianity s ea0s' But only those -ho -ere initiated into the dee er secrets of 1hristianity can oint to it' 2ne cannot deny that the true 1hristians that the scholastics and mystics -ere dee ly influenced by %ionysius the Areo agite' Fou find -ith him that if one s ea0s of the divine being -ith -hich the human must unite at the end of the evolution one should attribute no redicate -hich is got from our earthly conce tions to this highest being' 8e have obtained everything that -e can say about Cualities in this -orld' 5f -e attribute such a Cuality to the divine being G as this 1hristian esotericist says , then -e say of the divine that it is identical to the limited, it is identical to that -hich is in
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the -orld' 6ence, %ionysius the Areo agite s ea0s in his -ritings of the fact that one should not even say God, but Su er@God, and that one has to ta0e care above all not to attribute any -orldly Cuality to this divine being to reserve the holiness of this conce t' 2ne has to realise that the divine being cannot have the Cualities -e can e/ erience in the -orld but much more' The great cardinal ,icholas of 1usa rene-ed this vie- in the !5th century, also the 1hristian mystics, )aster *c0hart, Tauler, Dacob BPhme, generally all mystics -ho had received insight of the big riddles of e/istence from immediate e/ erience' Thus the -estern Buddhists also s o0e of nirvana' 8e may get a better idea of nirvana if -e loo0 for the *uro ean, 1hristian terms of it' Somebody -ho goes bac0 to the !Hth century and e/amines the -ords of that time finds that it is more difficult to detect their sense' 6ence, it is also com letely incorrect -hat is said about nirvana from hilological side' That -ho s ea0s of the theoso hical movement as of a ,eo@Buddhist movement is not able to say anything correct about the Buddhist school of thought' Those -ho have s read the reBudice do not 0no- at all of -hat they tal0' :or it is not necessary to resort to the oriental sources' 2nly the first stimulation -ent out from this oriental s ring' 8hat -e have today does not our out to us from Buddhism' 2n the contrary, since the first times of the theoso hical movement the life, the immediate s iritual life has become more and more active in the theoso hical s iritual current' 5f today anybody -ho -ants to announce the original theoso hical doctrine -anted to announce a Buddhist confession only, it -ould be Bust in such a -ay, as if anybody -ho -ants to teach mathematics today does not teach -hat he himself 0no-s but to teach the old *uclid or the old %escartes' This is the im ortant feature of the theoso hical movement that the first great teachers -ere only the great initiators, and that since then men and -omen a eared -ho have really s iritual e/ erience, -ho are able to im art the s iritual 0no-ledge' 8hat are to us Karathustra, Buddha, 6ermes et cetera; They are to us the great initiators before -hom -e stand in reverence and admiration because if -e loo0 at them the forces are stimulated in us -hich -e need' <no-ledge cannot be conveyed by the greatest sages on account of their authority' There is good reason, if -e still are in another relation to Buddha, Karathustra, 1hrist than to the great teachers of mathematics or hysics' 8hat is announced as a rinci le of -isdom becomes immediate e/ternal life in the human being' 5t is not e/ternal 0no-ledge li0e mathematics or natural sciences, but it is a lively life' 8hat the science of -isdom conveys s ea0s to the -hole human being' 5t runs through the -hole human being u to the fingerti s' 5f it flo-s out of him, -isdom itself flo-s outE it flo-s out from one being to the others' 6o-ever, -e stand to Desus, 6ermes, and Buddha not in such a -ay as -e stand to science, but in such a -ay that -e stand -ith them in a common life that -e live and -or0 in them' 2n the other hand, they are the initiators only' 5f -isdom has become ours, they consider their tas0 as fulfilled' That is -hy it does not de end on dogmas, not on doctrines or on anything you find in boo0s but on the fact that the lively life is in movement, is ulsating' Somebody -ho does not 0no- in his dee est heart that a lively life enetrates any single member, any single human being -ho belongs to the theoso hical movement, that he is flo-ed through by lively s iritual currents does not understand the theoso hical movement in the right -ay' 8e do not have a boo0 in the hand and announce the tenets of the boo0, -e are life, and -e -ant to im art life' As much life -e im art, as much theoso hy -ill -or0' 5f -e understand this, -e also realise that it does not de end on the te/t of the doctrine, but on the immediate s iritual e/ erience -hich somebody has to announce -hich he himself has to tell' This is the big misunderstanding that one believes that one has to s-ear on the -ords of any masters in theoso hy, or one has to re eat these or those dogmas or tenets -hich come from higher individualities, and then this is theoso hy' 2ne believes that somebody is a theoso hist if he s ea0s of the astral -orld and of devachan, and s reads -hat he reads in the boo0s' This does not yet ma0e anybody a theoso hist' 5t does not de end on that -hich is announced, but ho- it is announced that it is announced as immediate life' 6ence, somebody -ho lives the life correctly -hich comes from these boo0s )rs' Blavats0y or somebody else -rote lives this life individually' This is the best stimulation -hich somebody can receive -hich he can also attain from Blavats0y if he is able to receive something s iritual in himself and to s read it again' 8e need human beings -ho 0no- ho- to announce out of themselves -hat they have e/ erienced in the higher -orlds' Then it is a matter of indifference -hether it ha ens in -ords of the *ast, in -ords of 1hristianity, or -ith the ne-@coined -ords' 5n the true theoso hist -ords and not conce ts do live, the s irit lives in him' The s irit has neither -ords nor conce ts, it has immediate life' All conce ts and -ords are only e/ternal forms of this s irit living in the human being' This -ill be the rogress of the theoso hical movement' 5t becomes the more theoso hical, the more -e have men and -omen -ho understand the theoso hical life -ho understand that it does not de end on s ea0ing about 0arma and about reincarnation, but on that( to ma0e the s irit, -hich lives in them, the moulder, the creator of the -ords' Then -e do
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not s ea0 at all -ith the -ords -hich -ere valid in the theoso hical movement, and, nevertheless, -e are better theoso hists' 8e do not have orthodo/ adherers and heretics again in the theoso hical movement' 5f -e distinguished orthodo/ adherers and heretics, -e -ould no longer have understood the theoso hical movement at the same moment' :or no other reason -e can have neither a 6indu confession nor a Buddhist one' 8e s ea0 to every human being in such a -ay that he can understand it according to his rogress and the conditions of time' 5t is not correct if -e s ea0 to our *uro eans in Buddhist hrases because for our *uro ean hearts and souls Buddhism is something strange in its form' 8e really have to ut ourselves in the souls, but not to force anything strange on them' 5t -ould be contrary to the sense of the theoso hical movement if -e -anted to force a foreign religion -hich is not rooted in the eo le>s life' This -as Bust the secret of the teachers of -isdom that they found -ords and conce ts to s ea0 to everybody, so that he understood them' Among the teachers of -isdom 6ermes, )oses, 9ythagoras, Buddha, 1hrist Desus sho- that to us' They announced to the eo les -hat they could understand at their laces and at their times' 6ermes -ould never have taught anything else than -hat -as suitable for the *gy tian heart' Buddha -ould never have taught anything else than -hat -as for the 5ndian heart' And -e have to teach -hat is for the -estern heart' 8e must cling to -hat already lives in the eo le' This -as the secret of the great teachers of all times' 8e dee en the core of -isdom of the great religions that -ay again and above all -e find access to every heart' 8e must forget to s-ear on dogmas, forget to loo0 for the right thing recognising a tenet' 8e have to loo0 at life only' Then -e no longer give grounds for such reBudices, as if -e -anted to announce a neBuddhism, as if -e -anted to do Buddhist ro aganda' Those -ho understand theoso hy as a modern s iritual movement s ea0 to the 1hristians in 1hristian images, to the scientists scientifically' The human being can err in detail, but in his dee est inside he must find truth in -hichever form it e/ resses itself' But one tal0s, as if one -ants to give stones that somebody -ho loo0s for bread if one s ea0s to him in strange forms' This gives us a hint at the same time ho- -rong and inaccurate it is if -e ma0e any dogmatism in the sense of an old church to that -hich -e are based on' 8e have no such dogmatism' Those -ho 0no- ho- it really stands -ith the theoso hical movement do not loo0 at dogmas' 8hat -e have to teach is dee ly inscribed in any soul' The theoso hist does not have to loo0 for that -hich he has to announce in a boo0 or in a tradition, this issues from no dogma, this issues from his heart only' 6e has to do nothing else than to get his listeners to read -hat is inscribed in their souls' Somebody -ho -ants to hel has to be an initiator' Thus the theoso hist stands before the life of any single soul, and -ants to be nothing but the initiator -ho hel s to self@0no-ledge' )ore and more eo le -ill understand the theoso hical movement that -ay and then achieve it by ositive -or0 that such a reBudice can no longer e/ist li0e that that -e -ant to do Buddhist ro aganda, as if -e -anted to inoculate anything strange to 1hristianity' ,o, the ast is dead unless it is revived' ,ot that has life -hich -e read in the boo0s and documents, but that -hich comes into being in our hearts every day ane-' 5f -e understand this, -e are right theoso hists only' Then is in our society theoso hical freedom, theoso hical self striving of everybody, no oath on any dogma, merely research, merely striving, merely longing for o-n 0no-ledge' Then there is no heresy, also not anything that could be recognised as not accessible, not fight, but combined striving to al-ays united s iritual life+ This -as al-ays the attitude of the great s irits' This -as also Goethe>s attitude he nicely e/ ressed in the -ords( 6e only merits freedom and e/istence -ho -ins them every day ane-' ,aust &&, verses !!5J5I!!5JH

,otes( Budhi G Buddhi( the correct s elling of the si/th human member is buddhi' Bhi00hu( cf' htt (TTen'-i0i edia'orgT-i0iTBhi00hu %ionysius the Areo agite( in his -riting 2n the %ivine ,ames (%e divinis nominibus) ,icholas of 1usa (!&#!I!&H&), German theologian, hiloso her, astronomer, cf' 18 J #"stics after #odernism (Anthro oso hic 9ress, 2###, J!ff)
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