A missão do álcool (*)
Rudolf Steiner
Trad. Sonia von Homrich
Na Bíblia, menciona-se que Noé, que, em certo sentido, foi o progenitor de sua raça no período pós-Atlântida, foi o primeiro a beber vinho, o primeiro a experimentar o efeito do álcool. Chegamos então a um capítulo que pode ser realmente chocante para muitas pessoas. No período pós-Atlântida, surgiu um culto extraordinário: o culto a Dioniso. Todos sabem que esse culto estava ligado ao vinho. Essa substância extraordinária foi introduzida aos seres humanos pela primeira vez no período pós-Atlântida e produziu um certo efeito sobre eles. Vocês sabem que toda substância tem algum efeito sobre o ser humano e o álcool teve uma ação muito definida sobre o organismo humano. De fato, no curso da evolução humana, ele teve uma missão. Por mais estranho que pareça, ele teve a tarefa, por assim dizer, de preparar o corpo humano para que ele pudesse ser desconectado do Divino, a fim de permitir que o "EU SOU" individual emergisse. O álcool tem o efeito de romper a conexão do ser humano com o mundo espiritual no qual ele anteriormente existia. Ainda hoje produz esse efeito. Não foi sem razão que o álcool desempenhou um papel na evolução humana. No futuro da humanidade, será possível ver, no sentido mais amplo da palavra, que a missão do álcool era atrair os homens tão profundamente para a materialidade que se tornassem então, egoístas, levando-os ao ponto de reivindicar o EU para si mesmos, não mais colocando-o a serviço de toda a coletividade.
O álcool desempenhava um papel contrário àquele desempenhado pela alma coletiva humana. Privava os seres humanos da capacidade de se sentirem UNOS com o todo, no mundo espiritual. Daí o culto a Dionísio, que cultivava uma convivência em uma espécie de embriaguez externa, uma fusão com o todo sem a observância desse todo. A evolução no período pós-atlante esteve ligada ao culto a Dionísio, porque esse culto era um símbolo da função e da missão do álcool.
Cristo apela ao Eu independente em cada alma humana (EU-SOU,
onde EU é o Espírito que se difere de Alma, Corpo Astral). A “métrica” que deve
ser entendida aqui é a métrica, ou seja, discurso construído poeticamente: “Aquele que encontra Deus no ‘EU SOU’,
testemunha a Fala Divina ou a linguagem de Deus, mesmo em suas palavras
hesitantes” — e encontra o caminho para Deus. (Conhece-te a ti mesmo, não eu,
mas Cristo em mim, Cristo em meu Eu-SOU).
Agora, na atualidade, a humanidade se esforça novamente para encontrar o caminho de volta, (através de uma espiritualização do intelecto) quando o EU já se desenvolveu a tal ponto que o ser humano é novamente capaz de se unir aos poderes divino-espirituais, chegou a hora de uma certa reação existir, (inicialmente inconsciente), contra o álcool. Essa reação já está acontecendo e muitas pessoas; estas hoje já sentem que algo que antes tinha um significado muito especial não se justifica eternamente.
Ninguém deve interpretar o que foi dito sobre a missão do
álcool em um período específico como, talvez, um favorecimento ao álcool, mas
deve-se entender que isso foi para esclarecer que esta missão do álcool já foi
cumprida e que coisas diferentes se adaptam a períodos diferentes. No mesmo
período em que os homens foram levados mais profundamente ao egoísmo por meio
do álcool, surgiu uma força mais forte do que todas as outras, capaz de lhes
dar um impulso ainda maior, para
reencontrar a união com o todo divino-espiritual.
Por um lado, os seres humanos tiveram que descer ao nível
mais baixo para que pudessem se tornar independentes e, por outro lado, uma
força poderosa deve surgir para dar novamente o impulso de encontrar o caminho
de volta ao Universal, porém desta vez, sem perder o individual. Cristo indicou
que essa era a Sua missão no primeiro dos Seus sinais. Em primeiro lugar, Ele
precisava salientar que o EU devia tornar-se independente; em segundo lugar,
que Ele se dirigia àqueles que se haviam libertado do vínculo sanguíneo
(libertado da hereditariedade). Ele precisava recorrer a um casamento onde os
corpos físicos ficavam sob a influência do álcool, porque nesse casamento se
bebia vinho. E Cristo Jesus mostrou como a Sua missão deveria prosseguir nas
diferentes épocas terrenas. Quantas vezes ouvimos explicações extraordinárias
sobre o significado da transformação da água em vinho! Até mesmo do púlpito das
igrejas atualmente, ouve-se que a água insípida do Antigo Testamento deveria
ser substituída pelo vinho forte do novo. Com toda a probabilidade, eram os
amantes do vinho que sempre gostavam desse tipo de explicação, mas esses
símbolos não são tão simplórios assim. Devemos ter sempre em mente que Cristo
disse: "A minha missão aponta para um futuro muito distante, quando os
homens serão levados a uma união com a Divindade (com o Divino-Espiritual) —
isto é, ao amor pela Divindade como uma dádiva gratuita do EU
independente." Esse amor deve unir os seres humanos, agora em liberdade
(Eu independente, em liberdade à
Divindade, enquanto antes um impulso interno irresistível da alma coletiva os
tornava parte dela.
Fonte: Rudolf Steiner. O Evangelho de São João, GA 103 V. Os
Sete Graus de Iniciação. 23 de maio
de 1908, Hamburgo.
Em inglês:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA103/English/AP1962/19080523p01.html
The mission
of Alcohol
In the
Bible it is pointed out that Noah who, in a certain sense was the progenitor of
his race in the post-Atlantean period, was the first wine-drinker, the first to
experience the effect of alcohol. Then we come to a chapter which may be really
very shocking for many people. In the post-Atlantean period an extraordinary
cultus arose; this was the worship of Dionysos. You all know that this worship
was connected with wine. This extraordinary substance was first introduced to
human beings in the post-Atlantean period and produced a certain effect upon
them. You know that every substance has some effect upon the human creature and
alcohol had a very definite action upon the human organism. In fact, in the
course of human evolution, it has had a mission. Strange as it may seem, it has
had the task, as it were, of preparing the human body so that it might be cut
off from connection with the Divine, in order to allow the personal “I AM” to
emerge. Alcohol has the effect of severing the connection of the human being
with the spirit world in which he previously existed. It still has this effect
today. It was not without reason that alcohol has had a place in human
evolution. In the future of humanity, it will be possible to see in the fullest
sense of the word that it was the mission of alcohol to draw men so deeply into
materiality that they become egoistic, thus bringing them to the point of
claiming the ego for themselves, no longer placing it at the service of the
whole folk. Alcohol performed a service, the contrary of the one performed by
the human group-soul. It deprived men of the capacity to feel themselves at one
with the whole in the spirit world. Hence the Dionysian worship which
cultivated a living together in a kind of external intoxication, a merging into
the whole without observing this whole. Evolution in the post-Atlantean period
has been connected with the worship of Dionysos, because this worship was a
symbol of the function and mission of alcohol. Now, when mankind is again
endeavouring to find its way back, when the ego has been so far developed that
the human being is again able to find union with the divine spiritual powers,
the time has come for a certain reaction, an unconscious one at first, to take
place against alcohol. This reaction is now taking place and many persons today
already feel that something which once had a very special significance is not
forever justified.
No one
should interpret what has been said concerning the mission of alcohol at a
special period of time as, perhaps, favoring alcohol, but it should be
understood that this has been stated in order to make clear that this alcoholic
mission has been fulfilled and that different things are adapted to different
periods. In the same period in which men were drawn most deeply into egotism
through alcohol, there appeared a force stronger than all others which could
give to them the greatest impulse for re-finding a union with the spiritual
whole.
On the one
hand men had to descend to the lowest level in order that they might become
independent and on the other hand a strong force must come which can give again
the impulse for finding the path back to the Universal. The Christ indicated
this to be His mission in the first of His signs. In the first place He had to
point out that the ego must become independent; in the second place, that He
was addressing Himself to those who had freed themselves from the blood
relationship. He had to turn to a marriage where the physical bodies came under
the influence of alcohol, because at this marriage wine would be drunk. And
Christ Jesus showed how His mission had to proceed in the different earthly
epochs. How often we hear extraordinary explanations of the meaning of the
changing of water into wine. Even from the pulpit one hears that nothing else
is meant than that the insipid water of the Old Testament should be superceded
by the strong wine of the New. In all probability it was the wine-lovers who
always liked this kind of an explanation, but these symbols are not so simple
as that. It must be kept constantly in mind that the Christ said: My mission is
one that points toward the far distant future when men will be brought to a
union with the Godhead—that is to a love of the Godhead as a free gift of the
independent ego. This love should bind men in freedom to the Godhead while
formerly an inner compelling impulse of the group-soul had made them a part of
It.
Source: Rudolf
Steiner. The Gospel of St. John, GA 103 V. The Seven Degrees of Initiation. 23
May 1908, Hamburg.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA103/English/AP1962/19080523p01.html
V.
The Seven Degrees of Initiation.
The
First Sign
In a
consideration of the Gospel of St. John, we should never lose sight of that
most important point which was brought out in the lecture yesterday namely,
that in the original writer of the Gospel we have to do with the “Beloved
Disciple,” initiated by Christ-Jesus Himself. One might naturally ask if, aside
from occult knowledge, there exists, perhaps, some external proof of this
statement by means of which the writer of this Gospel has intimated that he
came to a higher order of knowledge about the Christ through the “raising,”
through the initiation which is represented in the so-called miracle of the
raising of Lazarus. If you will read the Gospel of St. John carefully, you will
observe, that nowhere previous to that chapter which treats of the raising of
Lazarus is there any mention of the “Disciple whom the Lord loved.” In other
words, the real author of the Gospel wishes to say: What precedes this chapter
does not yet have its origin in the knowledge which I have received through
initiation, therefore in the beginning you must disregard me. Only later does
he mention the “Disciple whom the Lord loved.” Thus the Gospel falls into two
important parts, the first part in which the Disciple whom the Lord loved is
not yet mentioned because he had not yet been initiated, and that part which
comes after the raising of Lazarus in which this Disciple is mentioned. Nowhere
in the document itself will you find any contradictions of what I have
presented in the previous lectures. Naturally, anyone who considers the Gospel
only superficially will easily pass this by, will not notice it and at the
present time when everything is popularized, when all manner of knowledge is
forced upon us, we can often experience as an extraordinary spectacle much of a
very doubtful character in this knowledge.
Who would
not consider it a blessing if all kinds of knowledge could be brought to the
people through such inexpensive literature as the Reclam'sche Universal
Bibliothek. Among the last volumes, one has appeared on the Origin
of the Bible. The author entitles himself a Doctor of Theology. He is,
then, a theologian! He believes that throughout all the chapters of the Gospel
of St. John, from the 35th verse of the 1st Chapter, John, the author of the
Gospel, is the one referred to. When this little book came into my hands, I
really could not believe my eyes and said to myself: there must be something
very extraordinary under consideration here that repudiates all previous occult
points of view that the Beloved Disciple is not mentioned before the “raising
of Lazarus.” Still, a theologian ought to know! In order not to pass judgment
too quickly, take up the Gospel of St. John and see for yourselves what stands
there: “Again the next day after, John stood and two of his disciples.” Here
John the Baptist and two of his disciples are spoken of. The most generous
point of view that one can take toward this theologian is that his
consciousness was filled with an ancient exoteric tradition which declares that
John, the author of the Gospel, is one of these two disciples. This tradition
is supported by Matthew IV 21. But, the Gospel of St. John cannot be explained
by means of the other Gospels. A theologian therefore was responsible for
introducing into popular literature a very harmful book. And if one knows how
such a thing which is brought to the people in just this way continues to
spread, it is possible to measure the harm which arises out of it. This is just
an interpellation, in order that a certain protective wall may be erected
against all kinds of objections which might perhaps be brought forward in
refutation of what has been said here.
Now let us
hold in mind that what preceded the “raising of Lazarus” is a communication of
weighty matters, but that the writer has reserved the most profound matters for
the chapters subsequent to that event. Nevertheless, he wished throughout to
indicate that the content of his Gospel is something which will be thoroughly
understood only by one who has attained a certain degree of initiation.
Therefore he indicates in various passages that what is communicated in the
first chapters has to do with a certain kind and degree of initiation. You
already know that there are different degrees of initiation. For example, in a
certain form of oriental initiation, seven degrees can be distinguished and
these seven degrees were designated by all sorts of symbolical names. The first
was the degree of the “Raven,” the second that of the ”Occultist,” the third of
the “Warrior,” the fourth that of the “Lion.” Amongst different peoples, who
still felt a kind of blood relationship as the expression of their group-soul,
the fifth degree was designated by the name of the folk itself; thus among the
Persians, for example, an initiate of the fifth degree was called in an occult
sense, a “Persian.” When we understand what these names signify, then the
justification of these titles will soon be evident.
An initiate
of the first degree is one who constitutes an intermediary between the hidden
and the outer life, one who is sent from place to place. In this first degree
the neophyte must devote himself with complete resignation to the outer life,
but what he ascertains there, he must bring back into the Mystery Places. One
speaks of the “Raven” when words have something to communicate to the inner
world of the Mystery Places from the world outside. Just call to mind the
ravens of Elias, or the ravens of Wotan, even the ravens of the Barbarossa
Saga, that had to discover when it was time to come forth. The initiate of the
second degree stood fully within the occult life. One who was of the third
degree was allowed to defend occult knowledge. The degree of the “Warrior” does
not mean one who fights, but one who defends occult teaching, what the occult
life has to give. One who is a “Lion” embodies the occult life within himself
in such a way that he defends occultism, not only in words, but also in acts,
that is, with deeds of a magical sort. The sixth degree is that of the
“Sun-hero” and the seventh that of the “Father.” The fifth degree is the one we
shall now consider.
The human
being of ancient times was especially a part of his community and therefore
when he was conscious of his ego, he felt himself more as a member of a
group-soul than as an individual. But the initiate of the fifth degree had made
a certain sacrifice, had so far stripped off his own personality that he took
the folk-soul into his own being. While other men felt their souls within the
folk-soul, he took the folk-soul into his own being, and this was because all
that belonged to his personality was of no importance to him but only the
common folk-spirit. Therefore an initiate of this kind was called by the name
of his particular folk.
Now we know
that in the Gospel of St. John it is said that Nathaniel also was one of the
first disciples of Christ-Jesus. He was brought before the Christ. He is not so
highly developed that he is able to comprehend the Christ. The Christ is, of
course, the Spirit of all-inclusive Knowledge which cannot be fathomed by a
Nathaniel, an initiate of the fifth degree. But the Christ could fathom
Nathaniel. This was shown by two facts.
How did
Christ designate him? “This man is a true Israelite!” Here we have the
designation according to the name of the folk. Just as among the Persians, an
initiate of the fifth degree is called a Persian, so among the Israelites, he
is called an Israelite. Therefore Christ calls Nathaniel an Israelite. He then
says to him: “Even before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the
fig-tree, I saw thee!” That is a symbolical designation of an initiate like the
Budha sitting under the Bodhi Tree. The fig-tree is a symbol of
Egyptian-Chaldean initiation. He meant with these words: I well know that thou
art an initiate of a certain degree, and canst perceive certain things, for I
saw thee! Then Nathaniel recognized Him: “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou
art the King of Israel!” This word “King” signifies in this connection: Thou
art one who is higher than I, otherwise thou couldst not say, “I saw thee when
thou sattest under the fig-tree.” And Christ answered, “Thou believest in me
because I said that I saw thee under the fig-tree: thou shalt see greater
things than these.” The words “verily, verily” we shall speak about later. Then
He said: “I say unto you, ye shall see the angels of Heaven ascending and
descending upon the Son of Man.” Yet greater things than they had already seen
would be seen by those who were able to recognize the Christ. Again, one may
ask: What significant words are these?
In order to
make this clear, let us call to mind what the human being really is. We have
said that he is a different creature by day than by night. During the day his
four human members, physical body, ether body, astral body, and ego are bound
closely together. They react upon each other. We may say that when the human
being is awake during the day, in a certain way his physical and etheric bodily
parts are permeated and cared for by his astral and ego spiritual parts. But we
have also shown that something else must be active within the etheric and
physical bodily parts in order that the human being be able to exist at all in
his present phase of evolution. For we have called attention to the fact that
every night he draws out those members which care for this physical and ether
body, namely, the astral body and ego, thus leaving his physical and ether
bodies to their own fate. You all, as astral body and ego, faithlessly desert
your physical and ether bodies every night. Hence you will see that Spiritual
Science points out with a certain correctness that divine-spiritual powers and
forces stream through the physical and ether bodies during the night so that
they are, as it were, invested by these divine-spiritual forces and beings. We
have also pointed out that when the astral body and ego were outside the
physical and ether bodies in those periods which we call the Jahve or Jehova
epochs, that Jehova was active as an inspirer. But it was the true Light, the
Fullness of the Godhead or of the Elohim, the Pleroma, that was also constantly
radiating through the physical and ether bodies. However, the human being, not
having yet received the necessary impulse from the Christ-principle before the
appearance of this Principle upon the earth, was not able to recognize it.
Those principles which are to come to expression in the physical body, dwell in
the higher spiritual regions of Devachan. The spiritual beings and powers which
work upon the physical body are at home in the higher heavenly spheres, in
higher Devachan, and those powers which work upon the ether body are in their
own sphere in the lower heavenly realms. So we may say that in this physical
body there are constantly active, beings from the highest regions of Devachan
and in the ether body, beings from the lower devachanic regions are active. Men
can recognize them only after having received the Impulse of the Christ into
themselves. “If you truly understand the Son of Man, you will perceive how the
spiritual forces descending from and ascending to the heavenly spheres work
upon mankind. This you will know through the impulse which the Christ gives to
the earth.”
What now
follows, was mentioned in the lecture yesterday. The Marriage at Cana in
Galilee is often called “the first of the miracles”—it were better to call it
“the first sign” which Christ-Jesus made. Now in order that we may understand
the stupendousness of the significance of the Marriage at Cana, we shall need
to consider as a whole, much of what we have been hearing in the last lectures.
In the
first place we have here a marriage—but why a marriage in Galilee? We shall
understand why it is a marriage in Galilee if we call to mind once more the
whole mission of the Christ. His mission consisted in bringing to mankind the
full force of the ego, an inner independence in the soul. The individual ego
should feel itself fully independent and separate, existing completely within
itself and people should be united in marriage because of a love which they
freely and voluntarily bestow upon one another. Through the Christ-Principle
there should come into the earth-mission a love that would rise ever higher and
higher above the material and constantly mount toward the Spirit. Love had its
beginning in its lowest form which was bound up with the senses. In the
earliest periods of human evolution, those who were bound together by the tie
of blood loved each other and they made a great deal of the idea that love was
based upon this material blood relationship.
The Christ
came in order to spiritualize this love; in order, on the one hand, to loosen
the bonds in which love had been entangled through the blood-relationship and
on the other hand to give force and intensity to spiritual Love.
Among the followers of the Old Testament we still see expressed most completely
what we may call membership in the group-soul acting as the foundation of the
individual ego within the Universal Ego. We have seen that the expression “I
and Father Abraham are one” had a definite meaning for the adherents of the Old
Testament. It meant that they felt themselves safe in the consciousness that
that blood which ran through the veins of Father Abraham flowed on down even to
themselves. Therefore they felt themselves secure within the whole and only
those were considered members of the whole who came into being through human
propagation maintained by means of this blood relationship. In the very
beginning of human evolution upon the earth, marriage took place only within
very narrow circles, within families related by blood. Endogamy, (marriage
within the tribe) was closely adhered to. Then the narrow blood-circle
gradually widened and men began to marry outside the family, but not yet within
other peoples or folk. The folk of the Old Testament held fast to the idea that
the folk blood relationship should be maintained. One is a “Jew” who in his
blood is a Jew.
Christ
Jesus did not advocate this principle. He appealed to those who had broken this
principle of mere blood relationship, and the important thing He had to
demonstrate, He demonstrated not in Judea, but outside in Galilee. Galilee was
the region where peoples of every race and tribe had mixed together. The term
Galilean means “mixed-breed,” “mongrel.” Christ Jesus went to the Galileans, to
those who were most mixed. Out of a human reproduction such as this, brought
about by a mingling of blood, something arose that was no longer dependent upon
a physical basis of love. Therefore what He wished to say, was said at a
marriage. But why at a marriage? Because at the time of a marriage reference
can be made to the reproduction of human beings. And what He wished to
demonstrate, He did not wish to show at a place where marriage took place
within narrow boundaries, within the blood-bond, but where it was entered into
independently of the tie of blood. Therefore what He had to say was said at a
marriage—and at a marriage in Galilee. If we wish to understand what is
expressed here, we must again turn our attention to the whole of human
evolution.
It has
often been said that for the occultist there is no such thing as the merely
external, the purely material. All materiality is for him the expression of
something of a soul-spirit nature, and just as your face is the expression of
something of a soul-spirit nature, so too is the light of the sun the
expression of a soul-spirit light. All that occurs apparently only in the
material physical world is at the same time the expression of deeper spiritual
processes. Occultism does not deny matter. For it, even the grossest matter is
the expression of a soul-spirit something. Thus material facts correspond to
the spiritual evolutionary processes of the world, always running parallel with
them.
If in
spirit we look back over human evolution to the time when mankind still lived
upon an ancient Continent lying between Europe and America, upon ancient
Atlantis, passing over from there into the later post-Atlantean period, we can
see how generation after generation has at last led right up to ourselves. If
we consider from the standpoint of race the whole significance of human
evolution from the 4th to the 5th Root-race, we can see, as it were, that out
of an Atlantean humanity, wholly or completely immersed in the group-soul, the
individual ego of the human personality gradually evolved and slowly matured in
the post-Atlantean period. What the Christ brought spiritually through His
powerful spiritual impulse had to be prepared gradually through other impulses.
What Jahve did was to implant the group-soul ego in the astral body and by
gradually maturing it, prepare it for the reception of the fully independent “I
AM.” But men could only comprehend this “I AM” when their physical body also
became a fit instrument for sheltering It. You can easily imagine that the
astral body might be ever so capable of receiving an ego, but if the physical
body is not a fit instrument for truly comprehending the “I AM” with a waking
consciousness then it is impossible to receive it. The physical body must also
always be a suitable instrument for what is imprinted upon it here upon the
earth. Therefore when the astral body had been matured, the physical body had
to be prepared to become an instrument of the “I AM,” and this is what occurred
in human evolution. We can follow the processes through which the physical body
was prepared to become the bearer of the self-conscious, ego-endowed human
being.
Even in the
Bible it is pointed out that Noah who, in a certain sense was the progenitor of
his race in the post-Atlantean period, was the first wine-drinker, the first to
experience the effect of alcohol. Then we come to a chapter which may be really
very shocking for many people. In the post-Atlantean period an extraordinary
cultus arose; this was the worship of Dionysos. You all know that this worship
was connected with wine. This extraordinary substance was first introduced to
human beings in the post-Atlantean period and produced a certain effect upon
them. You know that every substance has some effect upon the human creature and
alcohol had a very definite action upon the human organism. In fact, in the
course of human evolution, it has had a mission. Strange as it may seem, it has
had the task, as it were, of preparing the human body so that it might be cut
off from connection with the Divine, in order to allow the personal “I AM” to
emerge. Alcohol has the effect of severing the connection of the human being
with the spirit world in which he previously existed. It still has this effect
today. It was not without reason that alcohol has had a place in human
evolution. In the future of humanity, it will be possible to see in the fullest
sense of the word that it was the mission of alcohol to draw men so deeply into
materiality that they become egoistic, thus bringing them to the point of
claiming the ego for themselves, no longer placing it at the service of the
whole folk. Alcohol performed a service, the contrary of the one performed by
the human group-soul. It deprived men of the capacity to feel themselves at one
with the whole in the spirit world. Hence the Dionysian worship which
cultivated a living together in a kind of external intoxication, a merging into
the whole without observing this whole. Evolution in the post-Atlantean period
has been connected with the worship of Dionysos, because this worship was a
symbol of the function and mission of alcohol. Now, when mankind is again
endeavouring to find its way back, when the ego has been so far developed that
the human being is again able to find union with the divine spiritual powers,
the time has come for a certain reaction, an unconscious one at first, to take
place against alcohol. This reaction is now taking place and many persons today
already feel that something which once had a very special significance is not
forever justified.
No one
should interpret what has been said concerning the mission of alcohol at a
special period of time as, perhaps, favoring alcohol, but it should be
understood that this has been stated in order to make clear that this alcoholic
mission has been fulfilled and that different things are adapted to different
periods. In the same period in which men were drawn most deeply into egotism
through alcohol, there appeared a force stronger than all others which could
give to them the greatest impulse for re-finding a union with the spiritual
whole. On the one hand men had to descend to the lowest level in order that
they might become independent and on the other hand a strong force must come
which can give again the impulse for finding the path back to the Universal.
The Christ indicated this to be His mission in the first of His signs. In the
first place He had to point out that the ego must become independent; in the
second place, that He was addressing Himself to those who had freed themselves
from the blood relationship. He had to turn to a marriage where the physical
bodies came under the influence of alcohol, because at this marriage wine would
be drunk. And Christ Jesus showed how His mission had to proceed in the
different earthly epochs. How often we hear extraordinary explanations of the
meaning of the changing of water into wine. Even from the pulpit one hears that
nothing else is meant than that the insipid water of the Old Testament should
be superceded by the strong wine of the New. In all probability it was the
wine-lovers who always liked this kind of an explanation, but these symbols are
not so simple as that. It must be kept constantly in mind that the Christ said:
My mission is one that points toward the far distant future when men will be
brought to a union with the Godhead—that is to a love of the Godhead as a free
gift of the independent ego. This love should bind men in freedom to the
Godhead while formerly an inner compelling impulse of the group-soul had made
them a part of It.
Let us now
grasp in accordance with the prevailing thought of that time what men then
experienced. Let us especially understand the thoughts that they held. It was
declared that people were at one time united with the group-soul and felt their
union with the Godhead. Then they developed a downward tendency and this was
considered as an entanglement in matter, as a degeneration, a kind of falling
away from the Divine, and the question was asked: whence came originally what
the human being now possesses? From what has he fallen away? The further we go
back in earthly evolution, the more we find the solid, earthly matter passing
over into a fluidic state under the influence of warmer conditions. But we know
that when the earth was much more fluidic than it became later on, human beings
also existed, but they were much less detached from the Godhead than at a
subsequent period. To the degree that the earth hardened, human things became
materialized. At the time the earth was in a fluidic condition, the human being
was contained within the watery element, but he could only walk about upon the
earth after it had already deposited solid portions. Therefore, people felt the
hardening of the physical body and could say: the human being was born out of
the earth when it was still in its fluidic state, but at that time he was still
wholly united with the Godhead. All that brought him into matter defiled him.
Those who are to remember this ancient connection with the Divine were baptized
with water. This was its symbol: Let yourself become conscious of your ancient
union with the Godhead, conscious that you have become defiled, that you have
descended to your present condition.
The Baptist
also baptized in this way in order to bring mankind into a closer union with
the Godhead. And this is what all baptism signified in ancient times. It is a
radical expression, but one which brings to our consciousness what is meant.
Christ Jesus had to baptize with something different. He had to direct men, not
to the past, but to the future through the development of a spirituality in
their inner being. Through the “holy,” the undimmed and undefiled Spirit, the
human spirit could be united with the Godhead. Baptism by water was a baptism
of remembrance, that of the Holy Spirit is one of prophecy pointing to the
future. That relationship which has been wholly lost, and which baptism by
water recalls to mind has also been lost in all that was expressed in the
symbol of the wine, of the sacrificial wine. Dionysos was the dismembered God
who was drawn into the individual souls, separate parts no longer knowing
anything of one another. Humanity was split into many pieces and thrown into
matter through what alcohol has brought to the world, alcohol the symbol of
Dionysos. In the Marriage at Cana, a great principle was preserved, the
instructive principle of evolution. There are, to be sure, absolute truths, but
they cannot at all times be revealed to men without preparation. Each age must
have its special function, its special truths. Why is it that we can speak
today of reincarnation, etc.? Why are we able to sit together in such an
assembly as this and foster Spiritual Science? We can do so, because all of the
souls which are present within you today have been incarnated upon the earth in
so and so many bodies and so and so many times. Very many of the souls which
are within you now lived at one time in the Germanic countries where the Druid
priests walked among you and brought to your souls Spiritual Wisdom in the form
of myth and saga. And because your soul received it in that form at that time,
it is now in the position to receive it in another form, the Anthroposophical.
At that time it was in the form of pictures—today it is in the form of
Anthroposophy. But then it would not have been possible to impart truth in its
present form. Do not imagine that the ancient Druid priest would have been able
to impart the truth in the form in which it is presented today. Anthroposophy
is the form befitting the humanity of the present or of the immediate future.
In later incarnations truth will be proclaimed, and men will work for it in
quite different forms, and what is now called Anthroposophy will be related as
something remembered, just as we now relate the Sagas and Fairy-tales.
Anthroposophists should not be foolish enough to say that in ancient times
there existed only stupidities and childish ideas, and that we alone have
advanced the world so gloriously. Those, for example, who pretend to be monists
do this. But we are working in Spiritual Science in preparation for the next
epoch. For if our present age were not here, the next would likewise not come.
No one should, however, make the future an excuse for present conduct. Much
nonsense is indulged in also in respect of the teaching of Reincarnation. I
have met people who said that in their present incarnation they did not need to
be respectable human beings, because for this they had time enough later on. If,
however, one does not begin with it today, the consequences will appear
straightway in the next incarnation.
So we must
understand clearly that there is nothing absolutely fixed in the forms of
truth, but that what corresponds to a particular epoch of human evolution,
always becomes known. That greatest impulse of evolution had, as it were, to
descend even into the life customs of that time. For it had to clothe the
highest truth in language and functions befitting the understanding of the
particular period in question. Therefore by means of a kind of Dionysian rite
or wine sacrifice, the Christ had to tell how mankind could raise itself to the
Godhead. One should not fanatically ask why Christ changed the water into wine.
The age should be taken into consideration. Through a sort of Dionysian rite,
Christ had to prepare for what was to come.
Christ goes
to the Galileans who are jumbled together out of all kinds of nationalities
that were not bound by the blood-tie and there He performed the first Sign of
His mission and He adapted Himself so fully to their habits of life that he
turned water into wine for them. Let us hold clearly in mind what the Christ
really wished to say by this: Those who have descended to the stage of
materialism, symbolized by the drinking of wine, will I also lead to a union
with the Spirit.—So He will be there, not alone for those who can be raised by
means of the symbol of baptism, by water. It is very significant that we are
shown at once that here are six vessels of purification. We shall return to
this number. Purification is what is accomplished by means of baptism. If in
those epochs in which the Gospel had its origin one wished to express the fact
of baptism, it was spoken of as a purification. The word “baptism” was never
actually used, but they said “to baptize,” and what resulted through baptism
was called “purification.” Never will you find in the Gospel of St. John the
corresponding ΒαπτιζΩ, except in verb form. But when it is used as a noun, it is the
cleansing that is always meant, the process through which the human being is
reminded of his state of purification, his relationship with the Godhead.
Even to the
symbolical vessels of the rite of purification, Christ-Jesus undertook the Sign
through which He indicated His mission as far as it was possible at that time.
Thus in the marriage at Cana in Galilee, something of the profound mission of
the Christ is expressed. He said: “My time will come in the future, it is not
yet come. What I have to accomplish here has to do in part with what must be
overcome through My mission.” He stands in the present and at the same time
points to the future, thereby showing how He works for the age, not in an
absolute but in a cultural, educational sense. It is the mother, therefore, who
besought Him and said, “They have no wine.” But He replied: “What I have now to
accomplish has still to do with ancient times, with me and thee, for My proper
time has not yet come when wine will be transformed back again into water.” How
could it have had any meaning at all to say, “Woman, what have I to do with
thee?” when He then complied with what the mother had asked! It only has a meaning
if we are shown that the present condition of humanity has been brought about
because of the blood relationship and that a Sign has been performed in
accordance with ancient usages which still needs the employment of alcohol in
ordcr to point to the time when the independent ego shall have risen above the
tie of the blood; it has a significance only when we are shown that for the
present we must still reckon with ancient times which are symbolized by wine,
but that a later time is coming which will be “His time.”
And chapter
after chapter of the Gospel reveals to us two things. First it shows that what
was communicated was for those who, in a certain way, were able to comprehend
occult truths. In our times, exoteric Spiritual Science is presented in
lectures, but at that period spiritual-scientific truths could only be
understood by those who had been in a certain way actually initiated into this
or that degree. Who were those who were able to understand something of what
Christ-Jesus was saying about profound truths? Only those who were able to
perceive outside of the physical body—those who could withdraw from the body
and become conscious in the spirit world. If Christ-Jesus wished to speak to
those who could understand Him, it had to be to those who were in a certain way
initiated, those who could see spiritually. When, for example, He speaks of the
re-birth of the soul in the chapter concerning His conversation with Nicodemus,
we see that He is revealing these truths to someone who perceives with
spiritual senses. You only need to read the following words:—
But there
was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; the same came
to Jesus by night.
Let us
accustom ourselves to accuracy in dealing with words. We are told that
Nicodemus came to Jesus “by night;” this means that he received outside of the
physical body what Christ-Jesus had to communicate to him. “By night” means
that when he makes use of his spiritual senses, he comes to Christ-Jesus. Just
as in their conversation about the fig-tree, Nathaniel and Christ-Jesus
understood one another as initiates, so too a faculty of understanding is
indicated here also.
The second
thing shown us in the Gospel is that Christ has always a mission to perform
that has nothing to do with the mere blood tie. That is very clearly shown by
His approaching the Samaritan woman at the well. He gave her the instructions
which He gave those whose ego had been lifted above the common blood tie:
Then cometh
He to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Now Jacob's
well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on
the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
There
cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, “Give me to
drink,” for His disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat.
Then saith
the woman of Samaria unto Him, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink
of me, which am a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the
Samaritans.”
Here is
indicated that it was something very strange that Christ should go to a people
whose egos had been withdrawn, uprooted from the group-soul. That is the
important thing.
In the
narrative about the nobleman, we read further that the Christ not only breaks
the bond of blood that binds men together in a marriage within the folk, but he
breaks also that bond that separates them into classes. He came to those whose
ego had been uprooted. He healed the son of the nobleman who, according to the
interpretation of the Jews, was a stranger to Him. Throughout the Gospel it is
pointed out that Christ is the missionary of the independent ego which is
present in every human individual. Therefore, He could say:—“When I speak of
Myself in a higher sense, of the I AM, I do not at all refer to my own ego
residing within me, but to a being, to something which everyone possesses
within himself. My ego is one with the Father, but in general the ego present
in every personality is also one with the Father.” That is also the deeper
meaning of the instructions which the Christ gave to the Samaritan woman at the
well.
I should
like to call your attention especially to a passage, which if rightly
understood will enable you to come to a deep understanding. It is the passage
from the 31st to the 34th verse of the 3rd chapter which naturally must be read
so that the reader is conscious of its being John the Baptist who speaks these
words:—
He that
cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh
of the earth; he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen
and heard, to that he testifieth: and no man receiveth his testimony.
But he that
hath received his testimony hath set his seal that God is true.
For he whom
God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by
measure unto him.
I should
like to meet anyone who understands these words according to this translation.
What a contradiction! “He whom God hath sent, speaketh the word of God, for God
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.” What is the sense of these words?
In
countless utterances, Christ says: “When I speak of My Ego, I speak of the
Eternal Ego in men which is one with the spiritual foundations of the world.
When I speak of this Ego, I speak of something which dwells in the innermost
depths of the human soul. If any man hears Me (and now He is speaking only of
the lower ego which feels nothing of the Eternal) he receiveth not My
testimony. He understands nothing of what I say, for I can speak of nothing
that flows from Me to him. Otherwise he would not then be independent. Every
one must find within himself as his own eternal base, the God which I
proclaim.” A few verses back we find the passage:—
And John
also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, because there was much water there:
and they came and were baptized.
Then there
arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about
purification (this means about the form of baptism).
When such a
question was raised in these circles, they were always speaking of the union
with the Divine and of the submersion of humanity into matter and of how,
according to the old idea of God, union with the Divine took place through the
group-soul. Thus others came and said to John: “Jesus also baptizes!” And John
had to make it clear to them that what had come into the world through Jesus
was something very special and this he did by saying that Jesus does not teach
that union symbolized by the ancient form of baptism, but teaches how men will
be their own guides through the free gift of the now independent ego. And each
individual must discover the “I AM,” the God, within himself. Only in this way
is he in the position to find the Divine in his inner being. If these words are
read thus, then the reader will be aware that He, the “I AM,” was sent from
God. He who was sent from God, who was sent to enkindle the Divine in this way,
also preached God in the true sense, no longer according to the blood tie.
Let us
translate these passages according to their true meaning, for we have now the
basis for such a translation, if we understand how the teachings of the
ancients were presented. They were poetically portrayed in many books. We need
only recall the Psalms of the Old Testament where in beautifully constructed
language, the Divine was proclaimed. At that time the ancient
blood-relationship was spoken of only as a relationship with a God. This could
all be learned, but all that was learned through it was nothing more than that
one was related to this ancient divinity. But, if there was a desire to
comprehend the Christ, then all the ancient laws, all the ancient
artificialities were unnecessary. What the Christ taught could be understood to
the degree that men understood the spiritual ego within themselves. At that
time, it is true, it was not possible to have full knowledge of Divinity, but
one could understand what was heard from the lips of Christ-Jesus. The
preliminary conditions for understanding were there. The Psalms were not then
necessary, nor all the poetically constructed teachings, for all that was
needed was the simplest means of expression. One needed only to speak in
halting words to become a witness of God. Even in the simplest, stammering words
it was possible to become a witness of the Divine; it need be only single words
without metre. Anyone who felt in his ego that he was sent from God, even
though he were halting in his speech, could understand the words of the Christ.
Anyone knowing only the earthly relationship with God speaks in the poetic
measure of the Psalms, but all his metre leads him to nothing but the ancient
gods. However, anyone who felt himself deeply rooted in the spirit worlds is
above all, and can bear witness of what has been seen and heard in those
worlds. But those who accepted a testimony only in the accustomed way did not
accept His. If there were those who accepted it, they showed by their
acceptance that they felt themselves sent from God. They not only believed,
they understood what the other one said to them, and through
their understanding they bore witness of their words. “He who feels the ego,
reveals even in his stammering words the Word of God.” This is what is meant,
for the spirit here referred to does not need to express itself in metre, in
any form of syllabic measure, but it can declare itself in the simplest,
halting manner. Such words can easily be taken as a license for folly. But
whoever refuses wisdom just because, in his opinion, the most sublime mysteries
should be expressed in the simplest form possible, does so, although often
quite unconsciously, merely from an inclination toward psychic ease. When it is
said, “God giveth not the spirit by measure” (metre), it only means that the
“measure” or metre does not help towards the spirit. But where the spirit
really exists, there also is “measure.” Not everyone who has “measure” has the
“spirit;” but one who has the “spirit” will come most certainly to “measure” or
metre. Naturally, certain things cannot be reversed. It is not an evidence of
possessing the “spirit” if one has no “measure;” nor is the
possession of “measure” a proof of the “spirit.” Science is certainly no sign
of wisdom, nor is a lack of science a proof of it.
So we are
shown that Christ appeals to the independent ego in every human soul. “Measure”
you must consider here as metre, poetically constructed speech.
Then the foregoing sentence will read: “He who finds God in the ‘I AM, bears
witness of Divine Speech or God's language, even in his stammering
words”—and he finds the way to God.
