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Answers Provided by Anthroposophy
Concerning the World and Life
GA 108

This translation first appeared in The Anthroposophical Quarterly, Volume 12, 1980, No. 4.

22 December 1908, Berlin

Translated by D. S. Osmond

8. The Christmas Mystery, Novalis, the Seer

Individuals appear in the world from time to time who are able to see in direct vision what has been realised through Feeling by thousands upon thousands of souls and hearts in the course of the centuries. But in the modern age only those who are familiar with the findings of spiritual ‘clear-seeing’ know that the effects of the event of Mystery of Golgotha on evolution are always perceptible to the true seer.

The entire spiritual sphere of the Earth was changed through what took place at Golgotha. And ever since then, if the eye of the soul has been opened through contemplation of this Event, the seer beholds the presence of the everlasting power of the Christ in the spiritual sphere of the Earth. Other men are impressed by the power of the impulse proceeding from the Mystery of Golgotha and the great truths connected with that Event; they realise, too, that since then the human heart has been able to experience something that could never previously have been experienced or felt on the Earth. But to a seer this is perceptible reality.

The young German poet Novalis became a seer—we might almost say ‘miraculously’—by the grace of divine-spiritual Powers. Through a deeply shattering event which made him aware, as if by a stroke of magic, of the connection between life and death, his eyes of spirit were opened and as well as a great vista of past ages of the Earth and Cosmos, the Christ Being Himself appeared before him. He was able to say of himself that he was one who with the eyes of spirit has actually seen what is revealed when ‘the stone is lifted’ and the Being who has furnished earthly existence with the proof that life in the spirit will forever overcome death, becomes visible.

In the case of Novalis we cannot really speak of a self-contained life in the ordinary sense, for his was like a remembrance of an earlier incarnation. The Initiation conferred upon him as it were through Grace, brought to life within him his achievements and experiences in earlier incarnations; there was a kind of consolidation of intuitions and insights that had been his in a previous life. And because he looked back through the ages with his own awakened eyes of spirit, he was able to affirm that nothing in his life was comparable in importance with the experience of having discovered Christ as a living reality. Such an experience is like a repetition of the happening at Damascus, when Paul, who had hitherto persecuted the followers of Christ Jesus and rejected their proclamation, received in higher vision the direct proof that Christ lives, that He is present, and that the Event of Golgotha is unique in the whole process of the evolution of humanity. Those whose eyes of spirit are open can themselves behold this Event, for in truth Christ was not only present in the Body that was once His dwelling-place. He has remained with the Earth; through Him the Sun-Power has united with the Earth.

Novalis speaks of the revelation that came to him as ‘unique’ and he maintains that only those who with their whole soul are willing to relate themselves with this Event are men in the true sense. He rightly says that the ancient Indian, with his sublime spirituality, would have allied himself with Christ had he but known Him. Not out of any dim inkling or blind faith, but out of actual knowledge, Novalis says that the Christ whom he has seen with eyes of spirit is a Power pervading all beings. This Power can be recognised by the eye in which it is working. The eye that beholds the Christ has itself been formed by the Christ-Power. The Christ-Power within the eye beholds the Christ outside the eye.

These are truly wonderful words! Novalis is also aware of the stupendous truth that since the Event of Golgotha the Being we call Christ has been the planetary Spirit of the Earth, the Spirit by whom the Earth's body will gradually be transformed. A wonderful vista of the future opens out before Novalis. He sees the Earth transfigured; he sees the present Earth in which the residue of ancient times is still contained, transformed into the Body of Christ; he sees the waters of the Earth permeated with Christ's Blood, and he sees the solid rocks as Christ's Flesh. He sees the body of the Earth gradually becoming the Body of Christ; he sees the Earth and Christ miraculously made one; he sees the Earth in future time as a great organism enshrining man, an organism whose soul is Christ.

In this sense, and out of his deep insight into occult truths, Novalis speaks of Christ as the Son of Man. Just as in a certain sense men are the ‘Sons of the Gods’, that is to say of the ancient Gods who through untold millions of years have moulded and shaped our planet, who have built the bodies in which we live and the ground upon which we move, so, by overcoming earthly things, man's task is to build, through his own powers, an Earth that will be the body of the new God, the God of the future. And whereas the men of old looked back to the primeval Gods, yearning to be united with them in death, Novalis recognises the God who in time to come will have as his body all that is best in us and that we can offer to Him. In Christ he sees the Being to whom humanity offers itself in order that this Being may have a body. He recognises Christ as the ‘Son of Man’ in this higher, cosmological sense. He speaks of Christ as the ‘God of the future’.

All these experiences and perceptions are so pregnant with meaning that they are well able to kindle the true mood of Christmas in our souls. And so we will let one who lived a brief life at the end of the eighteenth century, dying at the age of 29, describe the experiences associated with the greatest event in his life—the sublime vision of the Christ Being.

(Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner) here recited a poem from the Spiritual Songs of Novalis.)

The Christmas Tree has not been the symbol of the Christmas Festival for any length of time. We shall find no poem on the Christmas Tree among, let us say, the works of a poet such as Schiller, although had such a custom existed in his day he would certainly have recognised its poetic possibilities and would not have found it difficult to write a poem on the subject. But in Schiller's time the Christmas Tree in its now familiar form was unknown. It is a young and quite recent institution. In earlier times men celebrated this festival in a different way. However far we look back into past ages, as long as one can speak of human beings in their present form or having the rudiments of that form, we shall everywhere find an institution that is akin to our Christmas Festival; we shall find it in constantly new forms among the widespread masses of the peoples and as an enactment in the highest Mysteries.

The very fact that the festival itself is so ancient and our present symbol of it so recent, is indicative of an element of eternity, of an eternal reality from which new forms ever and again spring forth. This Christ-Festival and all the feelings and experiences it symbolises, are as ancient as humanity on Earth. But man will always be able to find new symbols, symbols that are in keeping with the times, as outward forms of expression for this festival. Just as Nature herself is rejuvenated every year and her eternal forces bud forth in forms that are forever new, so it is with the symbols of Christmas piety; in their constant rejuvenation they betoken the eternal reality of this festival. And so in the solemnity of this Christmas hour we will bring a picture before our souls of what men on Earth have experienced at the time when we now celebrate Christmas.

As pupils of Spiritual Science we can send our thoughts back to ages in the far, far past, to begin with to the times when our souls were incarnated in Atlantean bodies, bodies very unlike those of today. In that epoch there were great Teachers who were also the Leaders of humanity. Men looked out upon a different world, where there was no bright sunlight to reveal to them in clear outlines the forms of objects in the kingdoms of Nature. Everything around them was as though swathed in mist—not only because much of Atlantis was actually covered with mist and fog through which the sunlight could not penetrate to the same extent as later on, but also because man's faculty of perception had not yet developed to the stage where external objects appeared in clear outline. When men woke in the morning they saw everything around them in divine Nature swathed in mist and surrounded by auric colours, and when they went to sleep at night they passed into a spiritual world without falling into the oblivion and unconsciousness of sleep today.

When men went to sleep in the days of Atlantis, they beheld the divine-spiritual Beings who were their companions; they beheld those divine Beings who were once experienced as realities and who in later times were preserved as memories in different regions of the Earth, bearing different names: Wotan, Thor, Baldur, in Middle Europe; the names of Zeus, Pallas Athene, Ares, and so forth, were given to those divine figures who had once been visible to man's eyes of soul in old Atlantis. But in Atlantean times the divine worlds were no longer the highest, creative worlds whence man had come forth in the age of Lemuria. Our souls were once born from the womb of divine Beings of whose sublimity and majesty there can be only a dim inkling today. These same divine Beings sent forth the cosmic orbs and all the forces surrounding us. Man was within the womb of divine Beings whose outward expressions we behold in the celestial bodies; they were the Beings who flash through the air in lightning and thunder, whose expressions are the plants and animals and whose sense-organs are the crystals. All the warmth that streams to us, all the forces in play around us—all this constitutes the body of divine-spiritual Beings from whom man has come forth.

The more deeply man descended to the Earth, the more closely he united with material substances, the more he membered into himself the substances of the Earth, the less capable he became of beholding the great Gods.

In primeval times man had as yet no faculty for cognising the material world; he could neither see with eyes nor hear with ears; pictures that were not pictures of minerals, animals or plants but of divine-spiritual Beings above him, surged through his soul. In later ages he lived more and more on the physical plane, learning through the outer sense-organs to know the physical world. In the days of Atlantis, sight on the physical plane alternated with a form of clairvoyance that had remained as a relic of the ancient state of sublime spirituality in which man once had lived. But the Gods he was still able to behold on the astral plane when by night he enjoyed the bliss of living as a spiritual being among other spiritual beings, were lower in rank than the highest Gods.

As the physical plane grew clearer, man's vision on the spiritual planes grew dim. But in ancient Atlantis there were Initiates who as well as imparting the deeper teachings concerning the Gods of old whence men had come forth, proclaimed a truth which they presented in somewhat the following way.

‘Look at the seed of a plant; see how this seed develops into a plant. It grows, sends forth leaves, sepals, blossom and fruit. One who observes the plant in this way can say to himself: I look back to the seed; the seed is the creator of the leaves and the blossom I see before me, and this blossom holds within it the seed of a new plant; the blossom forms itself into a new seed. And one can also look into the future.’—Thus did the great Atlantean Initiates speak to their pupils and through their pupils to the whole people. They said: ‘You can look back to the seeds of the Gods whence men have come forth. The spiritual and physical realities you see around you are all leaves that have sprung from the seeds of the primeval Gods. See in them the forces of those divine seeds even as the forces of the seed from which the plant has come forth can be seen in its leaves. But we are able to point to something more: in future times there will spread around man something that will be akin to the blossom of a plant, something that has, it is true, issued from the ancient Gods but—as the blossom ripens a seed—contains a seed in which the new God unfolds!’

The world is born of Gods—such was the ancient teaching. That the world will give birth to a God, to the great God of the future—such was the prophecy made by the Initiates of Atlantis to their pupils and through them to the people. For like all Initiates, those of Atlantis saw into the future, foresaw the great events of the future. Their vision reached beyond the time of the great Atlantean flood, beyond that stupendous happening whereby the face of the Earth was changed. They foresaw the civilisations that would arise in the future, in the land of the holy Rishis, in the land of Zarathustra; they foresaw the ancient Egyptian culture founded by Hermes, the conditions heralded and inaugurated by Moses, the happiness prevailing in Greece, the might and strength of Rome. All this the Atlantean Initiates saw in advance, and their vision extended to our own time and even beyond it. And to their intimate pupils they imparted hope, saying to them: ‘True, you must leave the spirit-lands where now you dwell, you must be ensnared in matter, you must clothe yourselves in sheaths woven from physical substances. There will come a time when you must labour on the physical plane, when it will seem as though the ancient Gods have vanished from your ken. But your eyes will be able to turn to where the new star can appear to you, to where the new seed comes to life, where there will spring forth the new God of the future, the God who has waited through the ages in order to appear in humanity at the right and proper time!’

When the Atlantean Initiates wanted to explain to their pupils and to all the people why man was destined to descend into the vale of Earth, they said to them that all souls would at some future time see and experience the One who was to come, who was still hidden from their sight, dwelling in a realm invisible to physical eyes as well as to the eyes of spirit which while man was still resting in the womb of the Gods, had gazed upon Him.

Then came the Atlantean flood. In a comparatively short time the face of the Earth was changed, and after the migrations of the peoples from West to East, the great post-Atlantean civilisations arose, beginning with that of ancient India.

The great Teachers in that epoch, the seven holy Rishis, taught their pupils, and indeed all the Indian people, of the reality of a spiritual world, for their life was now lived on the physical plane and they needed so to be taught. Their eyes could now see only the outer form of the physical world as the expression of the Spiritual, but the Spiritual itself they could not see. Yet there lived in the soul of every Indian something that can be called a dim remembrance of what the soul had once experienced among Gods in the age of old Atlantis. This remembrance aroused a yearning of such intensity for what had been lost, that the soul could establish no close relationship with the physical plane, could only regard it as maya, illusion, unreality. Nor could souls have endured such conditions on the physical plane had not the Rishis, filled with the fire of spiritual inspiration, been able to teach them of the glories of the ancient world that had departed from them. The teachings given by the Rishis concerning the Cosmos are still very little understood today; they were teachings based on a primeval wisdom, because the Rishis were initiated into what man had experienced when he was still within the womb of the Gods.

For man was present when the Gods separated the Sun from the Earth and ordained the paths of the celestial orbs—but during his later earthly pilgrimage he had forgotten it!

This wisdom was taught by the Rishis. And something else too was taught to those who were the most advanced and able to feel its significance. To them it was said: ‘From the world in which man is now placed, the world he now sees as maya, there will spring the Being who cannot yet be visible in this world because the human soul has not reached the stage where it can unfold the power to know this Being. But He who is still beyond your world will appear!’ Vicva karman was the name of the Being proclaimed by the ancient Teachers of India as the great Spirit of the future. To the Indian people it was said: ‘You cannot see Him yet, any more than you can see in the blossom the seed of the new plant. But as truly as the blossom contains the seed, as truly does maya unfold the germinating power that will make life in the physical world a worthy existence. The Being known in later times as the Christ was proclaimed in advance by the Teachers of ancient India; they, in true humility, were his prophets. Their spiritual gaze could turn in two directions—back to that primeval wisdom according to which the world was fashioned, and forward into the future. And to men engaged in the daily tasks of life they proclaimed the coming of One whose power would penetrate into the depths of human hearts and stir human hands to activity.

There was no age when He was not proclaimed, whenever one can speak of human culture and human understanding. If in later times men have forgotten the proclamations, this is not the fault of the great Teachers of an earlier humanity.

Then came the ancient Persian civilisation of which Zarathustra was the Leader. To his intimate pupils, and again to all the people, Zarathustra proclaimed that in everything by which man is surrounded, in the forces streaming from the Sun and from the other celestial bodies to the Earth, in all that fills the airy expanse, lives a Being now revealed to man in veiled form only.—And to his Initiates, Zarathustra was able to speak of the great Sun-Aura, of Ahura Mazdao, of the God of Good. What he said to his pupils may be rendered in somewhat the following way.—‘Look at the plant. It grows from the seed, develops leaves and blossom. But the plant is pervaded by a mysterious force which arises in the heart of the blossom as the new seed. What surrounds the seed will fall away; but the innermost force that can be perceived in the heart of the blossom enables you to feel that a new plant will arise from the old. If you ponder on the power and the force of the Sun's light, Feeling that in it you are beholding merely the physical expression of a spiritual reality and letting yourselves be inspired by the spiritual power of the Sun, then you will begin to understand the prophetic announcement of the Divine Fruit that is to be born from the Earth!’

When these intimate pupils had reached a very advanced stage, they were permitted, at certain times, to listen to teachings even more secret. And in consecrated hours Zarathustra spoke to them of One who would come when men were ready to receive Him into their midst with understanding. Mighty pictures of the One who would come were presented by Zarathustra to his pupils. To one pupil he could reveal the picture itself, to a second a kind of reflection only; to the others it was only possible to give a general picture of what would come to pass in the future.—Thus He who was called Christ was also proclaimed in the civilisation of Zarathustra in ancient Persia.

So also it was in Egyptian civilisation. Hermes too had his Egyptian Initiates and through them had proclaimed the Christ in a certain way to all the people of ancient Egypt. In the legend of Osiris may be seen a reflection of the proclamation of Christ.

What was it that the legend of Osiris conveyed to men? The legend is that in olden times the people were blessed in that Osiris ruled in the Land of Egypt in true union with Isis, his spouse. His evil brother, Set, or Typhon, resolved to destroy Osiris. To this end he built a chest in which Osiris was imprisoned, and cast it into the sea. Isis eventually found the chest but could not bring Osiris to life again on the Earth. He had been transported into higher realms and since then could be seen by men only after they had passed through the gate of death. To every Egyptian it was said: After death you can be united with Osiris as truly as your hand is united with you here on Earth. After death you can be part of Osiris and call him your own higher Self, but only provided you have merited this on the physical plane. After death you can be united with the God known to you as the Most High.

To one who was an Initiate, something more could be revealed. When he had undergone all the ordeals and testings, when he had received all the teachings that must precede vision of the higher worlds, then even during physical life between birth and death the picture of Osiris was revealed to him—the picture that came before other men only after death. The Being with whom the pupil of the Egyptian Initiates must feel himself united came before him when he was outside his body, when his ether-body, astral body and ego had been raised out of the physical body; and then, one who even in his lifetime had gazed upon Osiris could proclaim to the others:- Osiris lives! But never could it have been proclaimed in ancient Egypt: Osiris dwells among us! This was expressed in the legend by saying: Osiris is a king who has never been seen on the Earth! The ‘chest’ is nothing else than the physical body. The moment Osiris is laid in the physical body, the inimical forces of the physical world, forces that are not yet ready to receive the God, assert themselves with such strength that they bring the God to destruction. The physical world is not ready yet to receive the God with whom man must be united. ‘But’—so spake those who could bear personal witness that Osiris lives—‘although we say to you that the God lives in very truth, it is only the Initiate who can behold him, when he (the Initiate) is away from the physical world. The God with whom man must become one in his inmost being, lives, but he lives in the spiritual world. He alone who leaves the physical world can be united with the God!’

At the same time men were beginning more and more to love the physical world; for it was their task and mission to work in the physical world, to establish one culture after another in the physical world. To the same extent to which the eyes looked out with clearer vision, and intelligence was better able to fathom the happenings of the physical world, to the same extent to which man's knowledge increased, enabling him to make discoveries and inventions useful for the purposes of physical life—to that same extent it became constantly more difficult for him during life between birth and death to gaze into the spiritual world. He could hear from the Initiates that the God with whom he must be united, lives in very truth; but from the physical world he could bring little that would make definite communion with Osiris possible for him in yonder world. Greater and greater darkness spread over life in the world surmised by man to be the home of the God with whom he must become one.

Then came the age of Greece when with all their delight in the physical world, men achieved that marriage between spirit and matter which bore such glorious fruit on the physical plane. In the wonderful masterpieces of ancient Greece we have a picture of how, in the epoch when the Event of Golgotha was to take place, men were related to the spiritual world. It is difficult to conceive but it is true nevertheless, that the supreme achievement of architecture—the Greek temple—corresponds with the lowest point in man's relationship with the spiritual world.

Let us picture a Greek temple towering before us. In its forms, in its perfection and wholeness, it is the very purest, noblest expression of the Spiritual—so that it could once be said, and said with truth: the God himself dwells in the Greek temple. The God was present in the temple, for the lines woven by the material were everywhere in harmony with the spiritual order of the Cosmos and with the lines pervading the physical plane as the directions of space. There is no more beautiful, no nobler example of the interpenetration of the spirit of man and physical matter than a Greek temple. It is the unparalleled example of union between the higher worlds and physical matter.

Through their works of art and the principles expressed in their creation, the Greeks were able to make the ancient Gods come down among them. And even if the Greeks did not actually behold Zeus or Pallas Athene when they had so descended, nevertheless the Gods were there, drawn and enchanted into these works of art—the Gods who had once been visible to men and among whom they had lived in the times of Atlantis. Men were able to provide a glorious dwelling-place for the ancient Gods.

And now let us see what the Greek temple represents in another respect. Suppose clairvoyant consciousness has before it a Greek temple. What will now be said holds good even of the sparse remains still surviving of the Greek temple architecture.—Think of what happens when clairvoyant consciousness has before it a relic such as one of the temples at Paestum. The harmony of the lines presented by the columns and roof coverings can literally fill one with rapture. Such perfection is there that one can picture and feel the very presence of divinity in the physical structure itself. The same feeling can arise when Greek architecture is seen through the eyes of the physical body.

And now think of clairvoyant consciousness transported into the spiritual world. There it is as if a black screen were drawn across what is to be seen in the physical world; what is to be seen there is as though obliterated. Nothing of all these splendours of the physical plane can be carried over into the spiritual world. Supreme beauty—when such indeed it is—achieved on the physical plane, is obliterated in the spiritual world. And then we realise that it is no myth when, on meeting an Initiate, one who was a leading figure in Greece uttered the words: Better it is to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of the Shades! (Homer: Odyssey, Song XI, verse 488-491)—In Greece, where man could find such bliss in the physical world, souls entered a shadowy existence when they passed into the world of the dead. Splendour in the physical world—equivalent barrenness in the spiritual world.

Let us now make two other comparisons with the experience aroused by a Greek temple.—Think of Raphael's Sistine Madonna, or Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper—works created after the Event of Golgotha and influenced by its mysteries. The sight of these pictures can fill the soul with rapture, and this is also true of clairvoyant consciousness.

When the eyes of clairvoyant consciousness rest upon these pictures on the physical plane and this consciousness then rises into the spiritual world, a man realises, although the physical is no longer seen: What I take into the spiritual world from the experience aroused by these pictures is not simply an echo of the physical; here there is not only the rapture I experienced at the sight of them, but now for the first time I realise all their glory; in the physical world I merely laid the seed of what I now experience in infinitely greater majesty and splendour!—When a man contemplates such pictures in which the mysteries connected with Golgotha are contained, he is laying the seed—but only the seed—for a greater knowledge in the spiritual world. What has made this possible? It has been made possible because the spiritual Power proclaimed so long in advance, actually appeared on the Earth. Mankind had succeeded in unfolding a blossom in which the seed of the God of the future could ripen. Through the Event of Golgotha something was communicated to Earth existence that man can not only take with him into the spiritual world but that in the spiritual worlds appears in higher glory and sublimity.

At the moment when the physical body of Christ Jesus died on Golgotha, Christ appeared among those who were living between death and a new birth. He could proclaim to them what none of the earlier Initiates, when they passed into the spiritual world, could have proclaimed. When the earlier Initiates—let us say of the Eleusinian Mysteries—passed from this physical world into the world of those living between death and a new birth, what would the Eleusinian Initiates have been able to say to those souls? They could have told them of happenings on the physical plane, but this would have caused them nothing but longing and grief. For their life had taken root entirely on the physical plane and in yonder world, where nothing physical could be found and darkness prevailed, souls could not share the Feeling which made a man of importance on the physical plane exclaim: Better it is to be a beggar on the physical plane than a king in the realm of the Shades! The Initiates who could bring such treasures to those living on the physical plane could have brought nothing to the souls then living in yonder world. Then came the Event of Golgotha. Christ appeared among the dead—and for the first time there could be proclaimed in the spiritual world an event of the physical world which forms the beginning of a bridge leading over from the physical into the spiritual world. When Christ appeared in the nether world it was as though light flashed through the spiritual worlds. For in the physical world itself incontrovertible proof had been furnished that the spiritual can forever conquer death! And thus it came to pass that man can also carry over with him into the spiritual world, experiences that come to him in the physical world.

This holds good of St. John's Gospel in an even higher degree and also of the other Gospels which tell of the Event of Golgotha. A man who studies the Gospel of St. John on the physical plane, experiences intellectual joy from the reading of this great record; but when he passes into the spiritual world he knows that what he was able to experience in the physical world was but a foretaste of what he can now perceive and behold. The fact of supreme importance is that man can now take his treasures with him from the physical plane into the spiritual world.

Since the Event of Golgotha the spiritual world has been illumined with an ever brighter, ever clearer light. Everything existing in the physical world has issued from the spiritual world. When he passed from the physical into the spiritual world, pre-Christian man could say: Here is the wellspring and origin of everything the physical world contains. What has come forth from the spiritual world are but the effects. But since the Event of Golgotha, man can say when he passes from the physical into the spiritual world: In the physical world too there is causality and what is experienced on the physical plane works over into the spiritual world.

And so it will continue—in ever-increasing measure. Everything proceeding from the work of the old Gods will die away and what will blossom forth will grow on into the future, as the workings of the God of the future. This is what will pass over into the spiritual world. It is just as when a man, looking at the seed of a new plant, says to himself: True, it has come forth from an old plant, from an earlier seed, but now the old has fallen away, has vanished, and now the new seed is there, the seed that will unfold into the new plant, the new blossom.—We too live in a world where leaves and blossom have issued from the seeds born of the ancient Gods. But more and more the new fruit, the Christ-fruit, is unfolding and everything else will fall away. What is wrought out here in the physical world will be of value for the future in so far as it is carried over into the spiritual world. Before the eyes of Spirit a world arises in the future, a world which has its roots in the physical as our world once had its roots in the spiritual. Just as men are the sons of the Gods, so, out of what men in the physical world experience by rising to an understanding of the Event of Golgotha, the body will be formed for those new Gods of the future, of whom Christ is the Leader. So do the old worlds live on into the new; the old dies utterly away, and the new springs into bud out of the old. But this could come about only because humanity was able to unfold a blossom for that spiritual Being Who was to become the God of the future.

This blossom that could unfold within it the seed of the God of the future could only be a threefold human sheath consisting of physical body, ether body and astral body, a sheath cleansed and purified by all that could be attained by man on Earth. And this sheath of Jesus of Nazareth who sacrificed himself in order that the Christ-Seed might be received, this blossom of manhood, represents the very purest essence that the spiritual endeavours of evolving mankind have been able to produce. Not until the earth was ready to bring forth her fairest blossom could the seed for the new God appear. And the birth of this blossom is commemorated in our Christmas Festival. In our Christmas Festival we celebrate the birth of the blossom which was to receive the Christ-Seed.

Christmas is a festival wherein men can gaze into the past and also into the future. For from the past has issued the blossom out of which unfolds the seed for the future. The threefold sheath of Christ was a product of the old Earth—woven and born out of the highest that it was in men's power to achieve. And no outer presentation of a mystery can make a more powerful impression upon us than the presentation of the mystery of how the fairest flower of humankind could spring from the purest calyx.

That mankind once issued from the womb of the Godhead, that man was once a spiritual being and descended into material existence—how can this be more beautifully presented than by indicating how the Spiritual gradually densifies, how man himself has densified out of the formless haze of the Spiritual? As a prophetic foreshadowing, the ancient Egyptian depicted the lion-headed Goddess, still wholly spiritual, belonging to the age when man was still hardly material, still resting as an etheric-spiritual being in the womb of the Godhead. Then, anticipating the later ‘Sistine Madonna’, we have the Egyptian portrayal of another female form: Isis with the child Horus. There we see how what is born from the clouds, that is to say from the Spirit, has densified into the calyx, into that which represents the human being developing an into the future. This conception, already foreshadowed by men of ancient time, we see in the Christian Madonna with the Child Jesus.

With supreme purity and delicacy, Raphael has breathed this mystery into form in his portrayal of the Madonna. A human being crystallises out of angels' heads and in turn brings forth Jesus of Nazareth, the blossom into which the Christ-Seed is to be received. The whole story of the evolution of humanity is contained in a most wonderful way in this picture of the Madonna. No wonder that as he stood before the Madonna, there arose in the one to whose words we have listened today, the glorious remembrance from the incarnation of which his last incarnation was again a remembrance, and who brought to life within himself all the sublime insight which this pictured mystery of mankind could awaken; no wonder that these feelings streamed to the being from whom Christ was born, to the figure who brought forth the calyx from which sprang the blossom that could allow the seed of the new God to ripen!

And so we see how in the supremely gifted Novalis, feelings free of all denominational bias quicken to life at the portrayal of this holy Mystery which was enacted at the first Christmas and is repeated at every Christmastide. It is the Mystery of the ancient Initiates, represented by the Magi, bringing their offerings to the new Mystery. The Wise Men, who are bearers of the wisdom of times past, make their offerings to that which is to go forward into the future, that which, in a human being, will one day harbour the power by which all worlds connected with the Earth are pervaded.

Novalis experienced the Christ Mystery, the Mary Mystery, in relation to the Cosmic Mystery, the light of which shone before his eyes of soul as it had shone at the first Christmas, when Beings who had not descended to the physical plane proclaimed the union between a cosmic and an earthly Power, which can become a reality in human hearts and in the Cosmos itself when the human heart unites with Christ. The Egyptian proclamation: ‘The God with whom you must be united dwells in the world that can be reached only after death’, holds good no longer. For now the God with whom man must be united lives among us here, between birth and death; and men can find Him when they unite their hearts and souls with Him in this world. Thus in the first Holy Night of Christendom the strain resounded:

Offenbarung durch die Höhen dem Gotte,
Ruhe und Stille durch die Erdenräume,
Seligkeit in den Menschen.

Revelation in the Heights to God,
Quiet and peace through all the Earth,
Blessed joy in Men.1This should be regarded as an approximate translation of the rather unusual rendering of the Christmas message.

Poems by Novalis (‘Marienlieder’) were recited by Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner) at the end of this lecture.

8. Novalis Der Seher Das Weihnachtsmysterium

Von Zeit zu Zeit stehen immer wieder Menschen auf, welche dasjenige, was nun seit vielen Jahrhunderten von Tausenden und aber Tausenden im Herzen gefühlt, in der Seele empfunden wird, auch schauen. Nur derjenige, welcher mit dem lebt, was wir in unserer neueren Zeit durch die geheimwissenschaftlichen Einsichten uns erringen, der weiß, daß dieses von Tausenden und aber Tausenden Gefühlte von den Sehern jederzeit geschaut werden kann, daß geschaut werden kann, was als Folge eingetreten ist des unsere ganze Entwickelung beleuchtenden Ereignisses von Golgatha.

Durch dasjenige, was auf Golgatha geschehen ist, hat sich die ganze geistige Sphäre unseres Erdkreises verändert. Und der Seher sieht seitdem, wenn nur sein inneres Auge durch jene Gefühle, die uns mit dem Ereignis von Golgatha verbinden können, ein wenig geöffnet ist, die Folge dieses Ereignisses: die immerwährende Anwesenheit der Christus-Macht, die seit jener Zeit dem geistigen Erdenumkreis einverleibt ist. Die anderen fühlen und empfinden, wenn sie sich hindurchringen durch die großen Wahrheiten und die gewaltigen Impulse der Verkündigung des Ereignisses von Golgatha, die Gewalt dieser Tatsache. Sie empfinden, daß seit jener Zeit des Menschen Herz etwas anderes erleben kann als vorher auf der Erde; sie wissen, daß etwas da ist, was vorher nicht in der gleichen Weise gefühlt werden konnte. Und der Seher sieht dieses.

Ein solcher Seher, wie durch die Gnade der geistig-göttlichen Mächte, man möchte fast sagen, wie durch ein Wunder zum Seher berufen, ein solcher Seher war der deutsche Jüngling-Dichter Novalis. Durch ein ihn tief erschütterndes Ereignis, das ihn wie mit einem Zauberschlage gelehrt hat die Beziehung zwischen Leben und Tod, wurde ihm das geistige Auge aufgetan, und ihm war neben dem großen Rückblick in die Vergangenheit der Erden- und Weltenzeiten auch vor dieses geistige Auge gerückt die Christus-Wesenheit. Er durfte von sich sagen gegenüber dieser Christus-Wesenheit, daß er zu denjenigen gehöre, die mit ihrem geistigen Auge selbst gesehen haben, was sich enthüllt, wenn sich der «Stein hebt», und sichtbar wird diejenige Wesenheit, die für unser Erdendasein den Beweis geliefert hat, daß das Leben im Geistigen immerdar den Tod besiegt.

Wir dürfen - wie es schon geschehen ist - Novalis nicht eigentlich einen Menschen nennen, der ein Leben hatte, sondern etwas wie eine Erinnerung an ein früheres Leben. Mit seiner wie durch Gnade ihm verliehenen Einweihung ging ihm zu gleicher Zeit alles das auf, was er sich in früheren Inkarnationen errungen hatte; es war eigentlich nur eine große Gabe der Zusammenfassung von Einsichten, die er in einem früheren Leben gehabt hatte. Und weil er den Rückblick hatte in jene Zeiten und mit geistigem Auge schauen konnte, durfte er sagen, daß ihm unvergleichlich im Leben ist das große Ereignis, da er in sich selbst entdeckt hatte, was der Christus ist. Es ist solch ein Erlebnis wie eine Wiederholung des Ereignisses von Damaskus, wo Paulus, der bis dahin die Anhänger des Christus Jesus verfolgt und nicht ihrer Verkündigung gehorcht hatte, durch höheres Schauen den unmittelbaren Beweis erhielt, daß Er da ist und lebt, daß etwas geschehen ist durch das Ereignis von Golgatha, das einzig und allein dasteht in der ganzen Menschheitsentwickelung. So können die, welchen das Auge aufgetan ist, dieses Ereignis wiederholt sehen. Der Christus ist nicht bloß in dem Leibe dagewesen, in dem er gewohnt hat. Er ist mit der Erde verbunden geblieben; die Sonnenkraft hat sich durch ihn mit der Erde verbunden.

«Einzig» nennt Novalis daher die Offenbarung, die er erhalten hat, und er nennt diejenigen Menschen allein im Grunde wirkliche Menschen, die mit ihrer ganzen Seele an diesem Ereignis teilnehmen wollen. Er sagt mit Recht, daß auch das geistig herrliche alte Indien zum Christus sich bekennen würde, wenn es diesen Christus erst erkennen würde. Und er sagt aus seiner Erkenntnis heraus, nicht aus seiner Ahnung, nicht aus blindem Glauben, sondern aus seiner Erkenntnis heraus, daß der Christus, den er geistig geschaut hat, dasselbe ist, was alle Wesen als eine Kraft durchdringt. Und das Auge kommt dahin, diese Kraft zu erkennen, wenn diese Kraft in ihm wirkt. Das Auge, das den Christus schaut, ist von der Christus-Kraft gebildet. Christus-Kraft im Auge schaut den Christus außer dem Auge.

Ein wunderbar großes und gewaltiges Wort! Und auch jenen gewaltigen Zusammenhang erkennt Novalis, daß dasjenige, was wir den Christus nennen, seit dem Ereignis von Golgatha der planetarische Geist der Erde ist, der Erdengeist, der immer mehr und mehr den Erdenleib umgestalten wird. Und ein wunderbarer Ausblick eröffnet sich dem Novalis in die Zukunft: Er sieht die Erde umgestaltet; er sieht die heutige Erde, die noch die Reste alter Zeiten in sich enthält, umgestaltet zum Leibe Christi; er sieht alles, was an Flüssigkeiten in der Erde fließt, durchdrungen von dem Blute des Christus, und er sieht alles, was an Felsen in der Erde ist, als das Fleisch des Christus. Er sieht allmählich übergehen den Leib der Erde in den Leib des Christus. Und in einem wundersamen Zusammenwirken stellt sich ihm dar das Eins-Gewordensein alles dessen, was Erde und Christus ist: die Erde in der Zukunft als ein großer Organismus, in dem der Mensch eingebettet sein wird und dessen Seele der Christus ist.

Von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus nennt Novalis tief aus seiner Empfindung der geheimwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnis heraus den Christus den Menschensohn. So wie die Menschen in gewissem Sinne die Göttersöhne sind, das heißt die Söhne der alten Götter, die uns unseren Planeten zurechtgezimmert haben durch Jahrmillionen und Jahrmillionen, die uns die Häuser gebaut haben, in denen wir wohnen, und den Boden, auf dem wir herumgehen, so wird der Mensch aus sich selber heraus, mit Überwindung des Irdischen, eine Erde aufzubauen haben, die der Leib des neuen Gottes, des zukünftigen Gottes sein wird. Und wenn alte Zeiten zurückgeschaut haben zu den uralt-heiligen Göttern, vereinigt sein wollten im Tode mit ihnen, so erkennt Novalis den Gott, der da einstmals tragen wird zu seinem Leib alles das, was unser Bestes ist, und was wir hinopfern können zu dem Leibe des Christus. Er erkennt in dem Christus dasjenige, dem sich die Menschheit hinopfert, damit es einen Leib habe. Er erkennt darin in dem höheren kosmologischen Sinne den «Menschensohn». Er nennt den Christus den «Gott der Zukunft».

Das alles sind Empfindungen so bedeutsamer Art, daß sie wohl geeignet sind, unsere Seele in die rechte Weihnachtsstimmung zu bringen. Und so lassen wir denn ihn, der da ein Leben gelebt hat am Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts, ein kurzes Leben, der da mit neunundzwanzig Jahren gestorben ist, lassen wir ihn jetzt seine Empfindungen schildern, wie sie sich in seinem Leben angegliedert haben an das größte Ereignis seines Lebens: an die einmalige große Einschau in die Christus-Wesenheit.

Hier trug Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner) das Gedicht «Wenn alle untreu werden .. .» aus den «Geistlichen Liedern» vor.

Es ist noch nicht lange her, daß der Weihnachtsbaum das Symbolum des Weihnachts-Christfestes ist. Noch nicht wird man ein Gedicht auf den Weihnachtsbaum bei einem Dichter finden, wie es zum Beispiel Schiller ist, der zweifellos die Poesie des Weihnachtsbaumes hätte empfinden müssen, wenn es ihn damals schon gegeben hätte, und dem es nicht schwer gefallen sein würde, ein Gedicht auf den Weihnachtsbaum zu finden. Es gab den Weihnachtsbaum damals noch nicht in unserer Form. Er ist eine junge Schöpfung. In anderer Weise haben vorher die Menschen dieses Fest gefeiert, und so weit wir zurückschauen können in den Lauf der Zeiten, wir werden, solange Menschen in ihrer gegenwärtigen Gestalt oder in der Anlage zu der gegenwärtigen Gestalt in Betracht kommen, so etwas wie das Weihnachtsfest überall finden. Wir werden es finden in den breiten Volksmassen überall, wir werden es finden bis in die Höhen der Mysterien hinauf in immer neuen Formen.

Gerade die Tatsache, daß das Christfest uralt und unser gegenwärtiges Symbolum dafür so neu ist, zeigt uns, daß etwas Ewiges mit diesem Fest verbunden ist, aber ein solches Ewiges, daß immer neue und neue Gestalten aus seinem Schoß hervortreibt. Wahrlich, so alt die Menschheit auf der Erde ist, so alt ist das Christfest, so alt sind Empfindungen, die mit diesem Fest symbolisiert werden. Aber immer wird die Menschheit die Kraft haben, in neuen, verjüngten Symbolen, wie sie den Zeiten angemessen sind, einen äußeren Ausdruck für dieses Fest zu haben. Wie sich die Natur alljährlich verjüngt, die ewigen Kräfte derselben in immer neuen und neuen Formen aus ihr hervorsprießen, so verjüngen sich die Symbole für die Weihnachtsandacht immer wieder und zeigen damit gerade das Ewige und das Ständige dieses Festes. Und so stehe denn heute einmal in dieser unserer feierlichen Weihnachtsstunde vor unserer Seele dasjenige, was sich ergeben kann, wenn wir den Weg durchmachen, der uns ein wenig zeigen kann, wie denn eigentlich die Menschen in der Zeit, die wir heute als unsere Weihnachtszeit feiern, empfunden haben.

Weit, weit zurückgehen können wir, wie es uns als Schülern der Geisteswissenschaft angemessen ist, in urferne, vergangene Zeiten. Wir gehen zurück in jene Zeiten zunächst, in denen unsere Seelen verkörpert waren in alten atlantischen Leibern, in Leibern, die wenig noch unseren gegenwärtigen Leibern ähnlich gesehen haben. Große Lehrer der Menschheit gab es dazumal, die zu gleicher Zeit die Führer dieser Menschheit waren. Anders hat der Mensch dazumal in die Welt hineingeschaut. Es war nicht die helle Sonne des Tages, die in scharfen Konturen, in ausgeprägten Linien die Gestalten der äußeren Gegenstände, der Naturreiche ihm schon zeigte. Alles, was um den Menschen herum war, war wie in Nebel getaucht, nicht allein deshalb, weil ein großer Teil der atlantischen Welt auch äußerlich mit Nebelmassen bedeckt war und das Sonnenlicht noch nicht wie später durch den Nebel hindurchdringen konnte, sondern auch aus dem Grunde, weil des Menschen Wahrnehmungsvermögen noch nicht dahin gediehen war, äußere Gegenstände in deutlichen Umrissen zu sehen. Wenn der Mensch des Morgens aufwachte und die äußere Welt, die Gottesnatur um sich herum wahrnehmen wollte, sah er nur verschwommen die Dinge, mit farbigen Rändern umgeben, und alles wie in Nebel getaucht. Und wenn er des Abends einschlief, schlief er hinein in eine geistige Welt. Nicht war es so, daß Selbstvergessenheit und Unbewußtheit sich um den Menschen herumlagerte, wie es heute der Fall ist, wenn der Mensch einschläft

Der Mensch sah in der atlantischen Zeit, wenn er schlief, die geistig-göttlichen Wesen, die seine Genossen waren. Um sich herum sah er alle jene Gestalten, die einmal Wirklichkeit waren für den Menschen, die Erlebnisse waren für den Menschen. Er sah auch alle diejenigen Gestalten, welche sich dann in der Erinnerung erhalten haben für die verschiedensten Gegenden der Erde unter den verschiedensten Namen: Wotan, Thor, Baldur und so weiter nannten sie unsere Vorfahren in Mitteleuropa; Zeus, Pallas, Athene, Ares und so weiter nannten die Menschen im alten Griechenland jene göttlichgeistigen Gestalten, die einstmals ihre Seelen geschaut hatten in der alten Atlantis. Aber in der atlantischen Zeit waren die göttlichen Welten nicht mehr die ganz hohen schöpferischen göttlichen Welten, aus deren Schoß der Mensch einstmals hervorgegangen ist in der lemurischen Zeit. Unsere Seelen haben sich einst erhoben aus göttlichen Wesen, deren Herrlichkeit und Größe der Mensch heute nur ahnen kann. Dieselben göttlichen Wesen enthüllten den Menschen aus ihrem Schoß, sie haben hervorgehen lassen Weltenkugeln und alle Kräfte, die um uns herum sind. Der Mensch war im Schoße von göttlichen Wesenheiten, deren äußerer Ausdruck uns von den Weltenkugeln herunterleuchtet, unter denjenigen Wesen, die wir sehen im Blitzezucken, im Donnerrollen, deren Ausdruck die Pflanzen und Tiere und für welche die Kristalle Sinnesorgane sind. Alles, was wie Wärme an uns herandringt, was an Kräften uns umspielt, ist Leib göttlich-geistiger Wesenheiten, und der Mensch ist entsprungen aus dem Schoß dieser göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten. Je mehr er herabstieg auf unsere Erde, je mehr er sich vereinigte mit den materiellen Substanzen, je mehr er sich eingliederte die Materie unserer Erde, desto geringer wurde sein Sehvermögen für die großen Götter.

Während in Urzeiten, wo in dem Menschen noch kein sinnliches Erkenntnisvermögen war, wo er noch nicht aus Augen sehen und aus Ohren heraus hören konnte, wo auf und ab wogten Bilder in seiner Seele, welche die Bilder nicht von Mineralien, Tieren und Pflanzen waren, sondern von göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten, die über ihm standen, trat dann in späteren Zeiten der Mensch immer mehr und mehr heraus auf den physischen Plan, lernte durch die äußeren Sinnesorgane den physischen Plan kennen. Es war in der atlantischen Zeit wie eine Abwechslung zwischen dem Sehen auf dem physischen Plan und einem alten Hellsehen vorhanden, das wie ein Rest zurückgeblieben war von der alten geistigen Herrlichkeit, in der der Mensch einst gelebt hat. Gegenüber den ganz hohen Göttern waren es niedere Götter, die der Mensch noch wahrnehmen konnte auf dem astralischen Plan, wenn er in der Nacht die Seligkeit genoß, ein geistiges Wesen unter geistigen Wesen zu sein.

Je heller der physische Plan wurde, desto weniger vermochte der Mensch auf den geistigen Planen zu sehen. Aber es hatte der Mensch in der alten atlantischen Zeit Eingeweihte. Diese Eingeweihten der alten Atlantis konnten neben den tieferen Lehren von den alten Göttern, aus deren Schoß der Mensch entsprungen ist, schon einiges vorherverkündigen. Vorherverkündigen konnten sie den Menschen, daß es etwas gibt in der Welt, was so anzusehen ist, daß man es etwa durch folgenden Vergleich klarmachen kann: Sieh dir an einen Pflanzenkeim; sieh dir an, wie dieser Pflanzenkeim zur Pflanze sich entwickelt. Er wächst, er treibt Blätter, Kelchblätter, Blüte und die Frucht. Wer so vor der Pflanze steht, der kann sich sagen: Ich blicke zurück auf den Pflanzenkeim; er ist der Schöpfer der Blätter und der Blüte, die vor mir stehen, und diese Blüte birgt etwas in sich; diese Blüte birgt den Keim zu einer neuen Pflanze in sich, zu einem neuen Keim formt sich die Blüte.

Und so, wie man in die Zukunft der Pflanze sehen kann und zurückblicken in deren Vergangenheit, so konnten die großen atlantischen Eingeweihten sagen zu ihren Schülern, und durch die Stimme der Schüler zum ganzen Volke sprechen: Zurück könnt ihr blicken zu den Götterkeimen in der Welt, aus deren Schoß die Menschen entsprungen sind. Was ihr um euch herum seht, Geistiges und Physisches, das alles sind Blätter, die hervorgesprossen sind aus den alten Götterkeimen. Schaut in ihnen die Kräfte dieser alten Götterkeime, wie man in den Pflanzenblättern schauen kann die Kraft des Keimes, aus dem die Pflanze entsprungen ist. Aber wir vermögen auf noch etwas anderes hinzuweisen: In der Zukunft wird etwas sich ausbreiten um den Menschen herum, was da sein wird wie die Blüte der Pflanze, was allerdings ein Ergebnis ist der alten Götter, aber was in sich enthält einen Keim, wie die Blüte einen Keim enthält und reif macht, einen Keim, der in sich entfaltet die neue Gottheit. Daß die Welt von Göttern geboren ist, das war die alte Lehre; daß die Welt einen Gott gebären wird, den großen Gott der Zukunft, das war die große Prophetie der atlantischen Eingeweihten an ihre Schüler, und damit auch an die Völker. Denn das war das Eigenartige der atlantischen Eingeweihten, daß sie wie alle Eingeweihten die großen Ereignisse der Zukunft sahen. Sie sahen hinüber über die große atlantische Flut, hinüber über das große Ereignis, das die Länder der Erde umgestaltete. Sie sahen hinter der atlantischen Zeit alle die Kulturen, die hervorsprießen werden in der späteren Zeit; sie sahen hin auf das Land der heiligen Rishis, auf das Land Zarathustras, auf die Kultur des alten Ägypten, die durch Hermes begründet wurde, auf die Vorherverkündigung des Moses; hin sahen sie auf das glückliche Griechenland, auf das starke Rom, bis auf unsere Zeit; und weiter in die Zukunft hinein. Und Hoffnung war es, was sie ihren intimen Schülern einprägten.

Sagen konnten sie ihnen dieses: Wohl müßt ihr verlassen alle die Gefilde des geistigen Landes, in denen ihr jetzt seid. Wohl müßt ihr euch hineinverstricken in die Materie, wohl müßt ihr euch ganz und gar umkleiden mit den Kleidern, die aus dem physischen Stoffe genommen sind. Eine Zeit wird kommen, wo ihr arbeiten müßt auf dem physischen Plan, wo euch wie entschwunden erscheinen werden die heiligen alten Götter. Aber hinblicken möget ihr dahin, wo euch aufgehen kann der neue Stern, wo entsprießen kann der neue Keim, der zukünftige Gott, der sich aufbewahrt hat durch die Zeiten hindurch, um zur rechten Zeit zu erscheinen in der Menschheit!

Und wenn die atlantischen Eingeweihten ihren Schülern und damit dem ganzen Volke sagen wollten, warum man heruntersteige in das irdische Tal, dann machten sie sie aufmerksam, daß einstmals von allen Seelen erlebt und gesehen werden wird Er, der dakommen wird, den sie jetzt noch nicht schauen konnten, weil er in solcher Region war, daß ihn das Auge nicht sehen konnte, das physische Auge nicht, aber auch das geistige Auge nicht mehr, das ihn einstmals gesehen hat, als der Mensch noch im Schoße der Götter ruhte.

Und die atlantische Flut kam. Das Antlitz der Erde wurde verändert. Ganz anders schaute es aus nach einiger Zeit. Nach der großen Völkerwanderung von dem Westen nach dem Osten entstanden die großen nachatlantischen Kulturen, als erste die Kultur des alten heiligen Indiens. Die Lehrer des alten Indien, die sieben heiligen Rishis, lehrten ihre Schüler, und damit das ganze indische Volk, daß es eine geistige Welt gäbe; denn das indische Volk brauchte die Lehre von der geistigen Welt. Es war herausversetzt ganz auf den physischen Plan, und während des Lebens auf dem physischen Plan konnten die Augen nur sehen die äußere Gestalt der physischen Welt, als den Ausdruck des Geistigen, nicht aber das Geistige selbst. Aber in der Seele eines jeden solchen Inders war etwas vorhanden, was man nennen kann eine dunkle Erinnerung an das, was einst die Seele unter Göttern in der alten Atlantis erlebt hatte. Diese Erinnerung weckte eine Sehnsucht, und diese Sehnsucht war so stark, daß die indischen Seelen kein intimes Verhältnis eingehen konnten mit dem physischen Plan, so daß ihnen der physische Plan erschien als Maja, als Illusion, als ein Unwirkliches, und daß die Sehnsucht immer noch nach dem Verlorenen hin ging. Die Seelen hätten es nicht ausgehalten auf dem physischen Plan, wenn nicht die mit dem Geiste durchsetzten Rishis hätten verkündigen können die Lehre von der Herrlichkeit der alten Welt, die die Menschen verloren haben. So konnten die heiligen Rishis die Lehren von dem Kosmos verkünden, die heute nur noch wenig verstanden werden, die Lehre einer Weisheit der Vorzeit, weil sie eingeweiht waren in das, was der Mensch erlebt hatte, als er noch im Schoße der Götter war. Der Mensch war ja dabei, als die Götter die Sonne von der Erde abspalteten, als sie den Weltenkugeln ihren Weg anwiesen; er hatte es nur vergessen während seiner späteren Erdenwanderung.

Diese Weisheit wurde von den Rishis gelehrt, aber auch noch etwas anderes. Es wurde gelehrt für die, welche schon eine Empfindung dafür entwickeln konnten - und das waren gerade die Vorgeschrittensten -, daß aus dieser Welt, in die der Mensch jetzt herausversetzt war, die ihm jetzt als Illusion und Maja erscheint, ersprießen wird derjenige, der jetzt noch nicht geschaut werden kann in dieser Welt, weil die Seele des Menschen noch nicht so weit ist, die Kraft zu entwickeln, um dieses Wesen zu erkennen, daß Er aber erscheinen wird, Er, von dem die Rishis sagten, er sei «jenseits ihrer», «Vilva karman». So war das Wesen genannt, das die alten Lehrer Indiens als den großen Geist der Zukunft verkündeten. Ihr könnt ihn noch nicht sehen - so wurde dem indischen Volke verkündet -, wie ihr in der Blüte noch nicht den Keim der Frucht sehen könnt. Aber so wahr wie die Blüte den Keim der Frucht enthält, so wahr entwickelt Maja den Keim dessen, was das Leben der physischen Welt lebenswert machen wird. - Und was man später den Christus nannte, die indischen Lehrer verkündeten ihn im voraus, sie waren seine bescheidenen Propheten. Nach zwei Richtungen schauten sie: zurück in die Welt der uralten Weisheit, nach deren Plan die Welt gestaltet worden ist, und vorwärts schauten sie, und den Alltagsmenschen verkündeten sie, daß Einer kommen werde, der in die Menschenherzen einziehen und alle Menschenhände regen soll.

Es gab keine Zeit, wo Er nicht verkündigt worden ist, solange Menschenkultur und Menschensinn in Betracht kommen. Wenn die Späteren die Verkündigung vergessen haben, so ist das nicht die Schuld der großen Lehrer der Menschheit.

Dann kam die uralte persische Kultur, deren Führer der Zarathustra war. Zarathustra konnte schon seinen intimen Schülern und damit seinem Volke sagen, daß in all dem, was den Menschen umgibt, in dem, was als Kraft von der Sonne zu uns dringt, was von den anderen, zu unserem Erdensystem gehörigen Sternen kommt, daß in allem, was den Luftraum erfüllt, eine Wesenheit lebt, die sich aber jetzt nur noch in verhüllter Gestalt dem Menschen zeigt. Seinen Eingeweihten konnte Zarathustra sprechen von der großen Sonnenaura, Ahura Mazdao, von dem guten Gotte. Und er sagte etwas zu seinen Schülern, was man etwa wieder durch folgenden Vergleich klarmachen könnte: Seht euch einmal die Pflanze an. Aus dem Keim entsteht sie, Blätter entwickelt sie nach allen Seiten, die Blüte entwickelt sie, aber es ist so, wie wenn ein Geheimnisvolles sich durch die ganze Pflanze durchzieht und im Mittelpunkt der Blüte als der neue Keim erscheint. Abfallen wird das, was ringsherum ist; aber die innerste Kraft, die ihr im Inneren der Blüte sehen könnt, die ist es, von der ihr schon ahnen könnt, daß eine neue Pflanze aus der alten entstehen könnte. Wenn ihr die Kraft des Sonnenlichtes betrachtet, und wenn ihr dieses Sonnenlicht so empfindet, daß ihr in ihm nur den physischen Ausdruck eines Geistigen erblickt und euch von der geistigen Sonnenkraft inspirieren laßt, dann wird euch aufgehen die Vorherverkündigung der göttlichen Frucht, die aus der Erde geboren werden soll!

Und wenn diese intimen Schüler weiter und weiter vorgerückt waren, dann konnten sie wohl auch in bestimmten Zeiten teilnehmen an geheimeren Lehren, und Zarathustra konnte ihnen in weihevoller Stunde das Bild malen von Einem, der da kommen wird, wenn die Menschen so weit sind, daß sie in ihrer Mitte verständnisvoll empfangen können diesen Einen. Gewaltige Bilder dieses Zukünftigen stellte Zarathustra vor seine Schüler hin. Einem konnte er das Bild zeigen und einem zweiten konnte er eine Art von Abglanz davon zeigen; die anderen konnten nur in einem umfassenden Bilde das, was in der Zukunft geschehen soll, empfangen.

So war es also auch in der alten persischen Kultur, in der Zarathustra-Kultur, daß vorherverkündet wurde derjenige, welcher später der Christus genannt wurde. Und es war auch in der ägyptischen Kultur so. Auch Hermes hat seinen ägyptischen Eingeweihten und damit dem ganzen ägyptischen Volke in einer gewissen Weise den Christus vorherverkündigt. Ein Abglanz dieser Christus-Vorherverkündigung kann uns erscheinen in der Osiris-Sage. Was wurde denn mit der Osiris-Sage den Menschen klargemacht? Die Osiris-Sage erzählt ja folgendes: Einst, in alten Zeiten, herrschte zum Glück seines Volkes Osiris im Ägypterlande, treu vereint mit seiner Gattin Isis. Da machte sich der böse Bruder Set oder Typhon daran, den Osiris zu verderben. Er formte dazu einen Kasten und warf ihn, mit dem Osiris darin, in das Meer hinaus. Isis fand zwar den Kasten wieder, aber sie konnte es nicht dahin bringen, daß Osiris wieder auf der Erde lebte. Er wurde in höhere Regionen entrückt, und sehen können ihn seitdem die Menschen nur, wenn sie durch das Tor des Todes durchgegangen sind. Jedem Ägypter wurde klargemacht: Du kannst nach dem Tode so mit dem Osiris vereint sein, wie deine Hand mit deiner Seele vereint ist. Du kannst einst ein Glied des Osiris sein, ihn dein höheres Ich nennen, aber nur dann, wenn du es dir auf dem physischen Plane verdient hast. Mit dem Gotte, den du deinen höchsten nennst, kannst du nach dem Tode vereinigt sein.

Dem Eingeweihten konnte man noch etwas anderes zeigen: Wenn er durchgemacht hatte alle die Erprobungen und Prüfungen, alle die Lehren, die man durchzumachen hat, um in die höheren Welten hineinzuschauen, dann wurde dem Eingeweihten schon während des physischen Lebens, schon im Leben zwischen Geburt und Tod selber das Bild des Osiris gezeigt. Was dem anderen Menschen entgegentrat, wenn er durch die Pforte des Todes geschritten war und womit er sich vereinigt fühlen sollte, das trat dem Geheimschüler der ägyptischen Eingeweihten entgegen, wenn er außer dem Leibe war, nachdem sein Ätherleib, sein astralischer Leib und sein Ich aus dem physischen Leibe herausgeholt waren. Dann konnte derjenige, der das geschaut hatte, der den Osiris schon bei Lebzeiten geschaut hatte, den anderen verkündigen, daß der Osiris lebt.

Aber niemals hat man im alten Ägypten verkünden können: Der Osiris lebt unter uns! - Man hat das gerade in der Sage dadurch ausgedrückt, daß man sagte: Osiris ist ein König, der niemals auf der Erde gesehen worden ist. - Denn der «Kasten» ist nichts anderes als der physische Leib. In dem Augenblicke, wo der Osiris in den physischen Leib gelegt wird, machen sich die feindlichen Kräfte der physischen Welt, die noch nicht reif ist, den Gott in sich aufzunehmen, so stark geltend, daß sie den Gott verderben. Die physische Welt ist noch nicht reif, den Gott, mit dem der Mensch eins werden soll, aufzunehmen. Aber wenn wir euch sagen - so sprachen die, welche persönlich Zeugnis ablegen konnten, daß der Osiris lebt, mit dem der Mensch eins werden soll seiner inneren Wesenheit nach -, wenn wir euch sagen, daß der Gott lebt: sehen kann ihn nur der Eingeweihte, wenn er die physische Welt verläßt. Es lebt der Gott, mit dem der Mensch einstens eins werden soll, aber nur in der geistigen Welt. Nur wer die physische Welt verläßt, der kann mit dem Gotte vereinigt sein!

Dabei war es so, daß die Menschen die physische Welt immer lieber und lieber gewannen; denn es war ihre Aufgabe, in der physischen Welt zu wirken und Kultur auf Kultur in der physischen Welt herbeizuführen. In demselben Maße, in dem die Augen klarer hinausschauten, in dem der Verstand besser einsehen konnte, was in der physischen Welt geschah, in demselben Maße, wie der Mensch in die Lage kam, immer mehr zu wissen und Entdeckungen und Erfindungen machte in der physischen Welt, durch die er sich das physische Leben erleichterte, in demselben Maße wurde es ihm immer schwerer, zwischen Geburt und Tod drüben in der geistigen Welt zu schauen. So konnte er zwar von den Eingeweihten hören, daß der Gott lebt, mit dem er sich vereinigen wird, aber er konnte wenig mitnehmen aus dieser Welt, was ihm das Mitleben des Osiris in der anderen Welt klar und deutlich hätte machen können. Immer mehr und mehr verdunkelte sich das Leben in der höheren Welt, so daß der Mensch nur noch vermuten konnte, daß der Gott lebt, mit dem er eins werden sollte.

Und es kam die griechische Welt, es kam das für den physischen Plan glückliche Griechenland, in dem die Menschen für den physischen Plan jene wunderbare Ehe zwischen dem Geist und der Materie geschlossen haben. Wir schauen uns an die wunderherrlichen Werke des alten Griechenland, und wenn wir diese Werke vor uns auftauchen lassen, so werden wir ein Bild davon haben, wie die Menschen in dieser Zeit, wo sich das Ereignis von Golgatha abspielen sollte, zur geistigen Welt standen. Man kann es sich nicht denken, aber es ist doch wahr, daß dem Höhepunkte in der Architektur, welcher der griechische Tempel ist, in den Beziehungen der Menschen zur geistigen Welt der tiefste Punkt entspricht.

Wir denken uns, ein griechischer Tempel stände vor uns. In seinen Formen, in seiner Geschlossenheit ist er der reinste und edelste Ausdruck des Geistigen, so daß hier einmal gesagt werden konnte, der Gott selber wohne in dem griechischen Tempel. Er war darinnen gegenwärtig. Denn die Linien, die in die Materie hineingeheimnißt waren, waren durchaus dem geistigen Weltenplane angemessen und jenen Linien angemessen, die als Raumesrichtungen den physischen Plan durchziehen. Und es gibt keine reinere, schönere, edlere Durchdringung von Menschengeist mit der physischen Materie als es ein griechischer Tempel ist. Und daher gibt es auf dem physischen Plan auch keine andere Möglichkeit, als so zu durchdringen die höhere Götterwelt mit der physischen Materie, wie es beim griechischen Tempel oder beim griechischen Kunstwerk überhaupt der Fall ist. Die Griechen haben es zustande gebracht, durch die Art, wie sie ihre Kunstwerke geschaffen haben, die Götter der alten Zeit zu sich herabsteigen zu machen. Und haben die Griechen es auch nicht gesehen, wenn Zeus oder Pallas Athene heruntergestiegen sind - es waren doch die Götter hineingebannt in diese Kunstwerke, die Götter, unter denen die Menschen einst in der atlantischen Zeit gelebt haben und die sie gesehen haben. Die Menschen konnten den alten Göttern in den alten Zeiten eine herrliche Wohnstätte gewähren. Und nun sehen wir einmal, was in einer gewissen anderen Richtung der griechische Tempel darstellt. Denken Sie sich, das hellseherische Bewußtsein stelle sich gegenüber einem griechischen Tempel. Was jetzt gesagt wird, gilt auch gegenüber den spärlichen Überresten, die noch vorhanden sind von der griechischen Tempelwelt. Denken Sie sich, das hellseherische Bewußtsein stände gegenüber einem solchen Überrest, wie Sie ihn in dem Tempel von Paestum haben: Wonne und Seligkeit für das Leben im physischen Leib kann man empfinden durch die Harmonie der Linien, die da die Säulen und die Bedachungen bilden. Alles ist von solcher Vollkommenheit, daß in dem Physischen ein Göttliches vorgestellt und empfunden werden kann. In einem solchen Gefühl kann man leben, wenn man durch die Augen des physischen Leibes schaut diese Harmonie der griechischen Architektur. Und nun denken Sie sich das hellseherische Bewußtsein hineinversetzt in die geistige Welt. Da ist es so, wie wenn sich etwas wie eine schwarze Wand vorziehen würde vor das, was Sie sehen können in der physischen Welt, und wie ausgelöscht ist das, was auf dem physischen Plan zu sehen ist. Nichts kann von diesen Wunderherrlichkeiten des physischen Planes mit hinübergenommen werden in die geistige Welt. Das Herrlichste des physischen Planes, wenn es nur so ist, löscht sich aus in der geistigen Welt. Und da begreifen wir, daß es keine Legende ist, wenn einer derjenigen, die in Griechenland zu den Führern gehört haben, von einem Eingeweihten angetroffen wurde in der anderen Welt, gesagt hat: Lieber ein Bettler sein in der Oberwelt, als ein König im Reiche der Schatten! - Gerade in Griechenland, wo man solche Wonnen erleben konnte in der physischen Welt, zogen die Seelen, wenn sie in die Welt des Todes eingingen, in ein düsteres, dunkles Schattenreich ein. Herrlich war der physische Plan geworden, aber in demselben Maße verödete die geistige Welt.

Und nun vergleichen wir mit dem, was man bei dem griechischen Tempel empfinden kann, zwei andere Dinge: Stellen wir uns Raffaels Gemälde «Madonna di San Sisto» oder Leonardo da Vincis «Abendmahl» vor! Stellen wir uns jene Bildwerke vor, die geschaffen worden sind nach dem Ereignis von Golgatha, und in die eingeflossen sind die Geheimnisse von Golgatha. Der Mensch kann Seligkeiten empfinden gegenüber diesen Bildern, kann sich damit Wonnen in seine Seele gießen. Und das ist auch bei dem hellseherischen Bewußtsein der Fall, wenn es auf dem physischen Plan durch seine Augen diese Bilder betrachtet. Wenn es sich jetzt hinausversetzt in die geistige Welt, da sagt es sich, obzwar es das Physische nicht mehr sieht: Was ich hinübernehme von dem, was ich bei diesen Bildern erlebe, das ist nicht nur ein Nachklang des Physischen, das sind nicht nur die Wonnen und Seligkeiten, die ich erlebt habe, als ich das alles gesehen habe, sondern jetzt geht mir erst alle die Herrlichkeit auf; ich habe da nur den Keim gelegt zu dem, was ich jetzt erlebe in größerer Herrlichkeit und größerer Glorie! - Man legt in der physischen Welt, wenn man solche Bilder betrachtet, wo die Geheimnisse von Golgatha hineingeflossen sind, nur den Keim zu einer größeren Erkenntnis in der geistigen Welt. Und wodurch kann das alles geschehen? Dadurch kann es geschehen, daß jene geistige Gewalt, die so lange vorherverkündet worden ist, wirklich auf der Erde erschienen ist, daß die Menschheit so weit gekommen ist, daß sie eine Blüte entfalten konnte, innerhalb welcher der Keim des zukünftigen Gottes reifen konnte. Durch das Ereignis von Golgatha ist dem Erdendasein etwas mitgeteilt worden, das nicht nur mitgenommen werden kann in die geistige Welt, sondern das in den geistigen Welten in einer höheren Glorie und höheren Seligkeit aufgeht, und der bedeutsamste Ausdruck ist eben der, der hier schon einmal charakterisiert werden durfte: In demselben Augenblick, als auf Golgatha der physische Leib des Christus Jesus starb, da erschien der Christus bei denen, die dazumal zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt waren. Er konnte ihnen zuerst verkündigen, was keiner der früheren Eingeweihten, wenn sie hinübergingen in die geistige Welt, verkünden konnte.

Wenn die früheren Eingeweihten - nehmen wir an der eleusinischen Mysterien - von der diesseitigen Welt hinübergingen zu denen, die drüben zwischen dem Tod und einer neuen Geburt waren, was hätten die eleusinischen Eingeweihten denen da sagen können? Sie hätten ihnen erzählen können von den Ereignissen des physischen Planes; aber nur Sehnsucht und Wehmut hätten sie in ihnen hervorgerufen. Denn die Menschen hatten sich ganz hineingebannt in den physischen Plan. Das Physische konnten sie aber drüben nicht finden, wo alles finster und düster geworden war, und wo sich der, welcher drüben auf dem physischen Plan ein großer Mensch war, so fühlte, daß er sagen mußte: Lieber ein Bettler sein in der Oberwelt, als ein König im Reiche der Schatten! - Nichts hatten die Eingeweihten, die denen, welche auf dem physischen Plan waren, so viel hatten bringen können, nichts hatten sie denen bringen können, die auf dem anderen Plan dazumal waren. Da geschah das Ereignis von Golgatha - und Christus erschien bei den Toten. Und das erste Mal konnte verkündet werden in der geistigen Welt ein Ereignis aus der physischen Welt, das den Anfang bildet für ein Hinübergreifen von der physischen Welt in die geistige Welt. Wie ein Lichtstrahl zuckte es auf in den geistigen Welten, als der Christus in der Unterwelt erschien. Denn jetzt war es klar, daß in der physischen Welt der Beweis geliefert worden war, daß das Geistige immer den Tod besiegen kann.

Von diesem Ereignis ging es aus, daß man nun auch in der physischen Welt etwas zu erleben vermag, was man hinüberbringen kann in die geistige Welt. Was man sagen konnte von anderen Dingen, die beeinflußt worden sind von dem Ereignis von Golgatha, das finden Sie im Johannes-Evangelium und anderen Verkündigungen, die daran anknüpfen. Wer das Johannes-Evangelium auf dem physischen Plan genießt, der erlebt die Seligkeit des Verständnisses dieser großen Urkunde auf dem physischen Plan. Wer aber dann mit hellseherischem Bewußtsein in die geistige Welt eintritt, der weiß, daß dasjenige, was er beim Johannes-Evangelium empfinden konnte, nur ein Vorgeschmack war von dem, was er jetzt einsaugen kann. Das ist das Bedeutsame dabei, daß man jetzt von dem physischen Plan Schätze mit in die geistige Welt hinübernehmen kann.

Immer heller und heller wurde es seitdem auf dem geistigen Plan. Alles, was in der physischen Welt vorhanden war, war hervorgesprossen aus der geistigen Welt. Ging man von der physischen Welt in die geistige Welt hinüber, so konnte man sagen: Hier liegen die Ursachen von allem; und drüben in der physischen Welt ist nur das, was hervorgesprossen ist aus der geistigen Welt. Da sind nur die Wirkungen, da ist nur der Widerschein aus der geistigen Welt. Geht man seit dem Ereignis von Golgatha von der physischen Welt in die geistige, dann sagt man sich: Auch in der physischen Welt liegen Ursachen, und herüber wirkt das, was erlebt wird durch das Ereignis von Golgatha auf dem physischen Plan, herüber in die geistige Welt.

So wird es immer mehr sein: alles Alte, was die Wirkung der alten Götter ist, wird absterben, und was aufblühen wird, was sich hineinleben wird in die Zukunft, das sind die Wirkungen des Gottes der Zukunft. Das wird hinüberleben in die geistige Welt. Es ist so, wie wenn man einen neuen Pflanzenkeim anschaut und sich sagt: Freilich ist er hervorgegangen aus einer alten Pflanze. Die alten Blätter und Blüten sind abgefallen und verschwunden, und es ist jetzt der neue Pflanzenkeim da, der sich zur neuen Pflanze und zur neuen Blüte entfalten wird. So leben auch wir in einer Welt, wo Blätter und Blüten abfallen und Götterkeime da sind. - Und immer mehr und mehr entfaltet sich die neue Frucht, die Christus-Frucht, und abfallen wird alles andere. Was hier in der physischen Welt erobert und erarbeitet wird, das wird von Wert sein für die Zukunft, insoweit es hineingetragen wird in die geistige Welt, und vor unserem geistigen Auge geht in der Zukunft eine Welt auf, die ihre Wurzeln in dem Physischen hat, wie einstmals unsere Welt ihre Wurzeln in der geistigen Welt hatte. Wie die Menschen die Söhne der Götter sind, so wird aus dem, was die Menschen in der physischen Welt durch die Erhebung zum Ereignisse von Golgatha erleben, der Leib gebildet der neuen Zukunftsgötter, deren Führer der Christus ist. So leben sich die alten Welten in die neuen Welten hinüber dadurch, daß das Alte ganz und gar abstirbt und das Neue aus dem Alten sproßt und sprießt. Das aber konnte für die Menschen nur dadurch eintreten, daß die Menschheit so weit reif war, daß sie jener geistigen Wesenheit, die der Gott der Zukunft werden sollte, eine Blüte entfaltete.

Diese Blüte, die da entfaltet werden konnte, die in sich aufnehmen konnte den Keim des zukünftigen Gottes, sie konnte nur eine dreifache Menschenhülle sein aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib und astralischem Leib, die vorher durch alles das, was man auf der Erde erringen konnte, auf der Erde geläutert und gereinigt worden sind. Diese Hülle des Jesus von Nazareth, der sich hingeopfert hat, um den Christus-Keim zu empfangen, wie eine Blüte, und diese Blüte des Menschentums stellt dar das Reinste, den Extrakt von dem, was die Menschheit in ihrem geistigen Entwickelungstrieb hat hervorbringen können. Und die Menschen können sich sagen: Erst dann konnte der Keim des neuen Gottes erscheinen, als die Erde reif war, die schönste Blüte hervorzubringen. - Und die Geburt dieser Blüte war in Bethlehem; das ist uns in unserem Weihnachtsfest enthalten. In unserem Weihnachtsfest feiern wir die Geburt der Blüte, die dann den Keim des Christus aufnehmen sollte.

So ist denn das Weihnachtsfest tatsächlich ein Fest, wodurch der Mensch zweifach schauen kann: in die Vergangenheit und in die Zukunft. Denn aus der Vergangenheit ist die Blüte hervorgegangen, aus der sich der Keim für die Zukunft entwickelt. Aus der alten Erde heraus ist die dreifache Hülle des Christus geworden. Aus dem Besten, was sich die Menschen haben erringen können, ist diese dreifache Hülle des Christus zusammengeflossen und geboren worden. Und es gibt keine äußere Darstellung eines Mysteriums, die eigentlich zunächst einen gewaltigeren Eindruck auf uns machen könnte als die Darstellung gerade dieses Mysteriums: wie die schönste Blüte der Menschheit aus dem reinsten Kelche entspringen konnte.

Daß die Menschheit einstmals geistig hervorgegangen ist aus dem Schoß der Gottheit, göttlich-geistig war, und sich zur Materie verdichtet hat, wie kann man es schöner darstellen als dadurch, daß man zeigt, wie allmählich das Geistige sich verdichtet, wie aus dem unbestimmten Dunkel des Geistigen der Mensch sich herausverdichter hat! Erahnend und prophetisch stellt es der alte Ägypter dar als die einstmals löwenköpfige Göttin, die noch ganz vergeistigt war, noch aus der Zeit, da der Mensch wenig verdichtet ist, fast noch im Schoße der Gottheit ätherisch-geistig ruht. Als nächste Gestalt, vorausnehmend die spätere «Madonna di San Sisto», erscheint uns in der ägyptischen Abbildung eine andere weibliche Gestalt: die Isis mit dem Horuskinde. Da sehen wir, wie dasjenige, was aus Wolken, das heißt, aus dem Geistigen geboren war, sich verdichtet hat zum Kelche, zu dem, was den in die Zukunft hinein sich entwickelnden Menschen darstellen soll. Aber ins rein Geistige gehend, sehen wir diese Vorstellung, die schon von den Alten gekannt worden ist, in der Christus-Madonna mit dem Jesuskinde.

Wunderbar zart und rein hat Raffael dieses Mysterium hingehaucht, indem er zeigt, wie aus geistigen Engelsköpfen heraus sich verdichtet die Madonna - und wiederum hervorbringt die Blüte, den Jesus von Nazareth, der den Christus-Keim aufnehmen soll. Die ganze Menschheitsevolution ist in wunderbarer Weise gerade in diesem Madonnenbilde enthalten. Nicht zu verwundern ist daher, daß derjenige, der heute bei uns das erste Wort hatte, gerade der Madonna gegenüber die schönste, die herrlichste Erinnerung hatte aus demjenigen Leben heraus, von dem sein diesmaliges Leben die Erinnerung war, aus der er aufkeimen ließ in sich alle die schönen Gefühle, die herrlichen Empfindungen, die sich angliedern können an dieses ins Bild gebrachte Menschheitsmysterium, und daß ihm diese Gefühle von da heraus zu der Christus-Gebärerin selber übergingen, zu derjenigen Gestalt, die den Keim, den Kelch hervorgebracht hat, aus dem die Blüte entsprossen ist, die in sich den Keim des neuen Gottes reifen lassen konnte.

Und so sehen wir, wie in diesem wunderbar begabten Novalis Gefühle schwingen, die frei aufgefaßt werden können von allem Hinschillern nach dieser oder jener Parteirichtung - gerade gegenüber diesem heiligen Mysterium, das sich abspielt in der ersten christlichen Weihnacht und das immer wiederholt wird in jeder christlichen Weihnacht: jenes Mysterium, dem gegenüber die alten Eingeweihten in der Gestalt der alten Magier ihre Opfer darbringen und dahin gehen, wo das neue Mysterium sich einlebte. Und sie opfern, die Weisen der alten Zeiten, geschmückt mit der Weisheit, die aus alten Zeiten kommt, sie opfern vor dem, was in die Zukunft hineingehen soll, was in sich bergen soll einstmals die Kraft in einem Menschen, die durch alle Welten zieht, die mit unserer Erde verbunden sind.

Novalis hat empfunden das Christus-Mysterium, das MarienMysterium im Zusammenhang mit dem kosmischen Mysterium. In seiner Seele leuchtete es, wie es einstmals geleuchtet hat in der ersten christlichen Weihnacht, in welcher von denjenigen Wesenheiten, die nicht heruntergestiegen sind bis zum physischen Plan, verkündet worden ist der Zusammenhang zwischen einer kosmischen und einer irdischen Macht und zwischen dem, was im Menschenherzen und im Kosmos vorgehen kann, wenn sich das Menschenherz vereinigt mit der Christus-Wesenheit. Denn heute braucht nicht mehr verkündet zu werden, was die Ägypter sagten: Der Gott, mit dem ihr euch vereinigen sollt, lebt in jener Welt, wo man nur hinkommt, wenn man den Tod durchschreitet. - Jetzt lebt der Gott, mit dem sich der Mensch vereinigen soll, unter uns zwischen Geburt und Tod, und die Menschen können ihn finden, wenn sie ihre Seelen und ihre Herzen hier mit ihm vereinigen. Deshalb erklingt der Weihnachtston in der ersten christlichen Weihnacht:

Offenbarung durch die Höhen dem Gotte,
Ruhe und Stille
durch den Erdenfrieden,
Seligkeit
in den Menschen!

Anschließend rezitierte Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner) die «Marienlieder» von Novalis.

8. Novalis The Seer The Mystery of Christmas

From time to time, people arise who see what has been felt in the hearts and souls of thousands upon thousands for many centuries. Only those who live with what we have gained in our more recent times through the insights of the secret sciences know that what thousands upon thousands have felt can be seen at any time by seers, that what has come about as a result of the event at Golgotha, which illuminates our entire development, can be seen.

Through what happened at Golgotha, the entire spiritual sphere of our earth has been transformed. And since then, whenever the seer's inner eye is opened even a little by the feelings that can connect us with the event of Golgotha, he sees the consequence of this event: the everlasting presence of the Christ power, which has been incorporated into the spiritual sphere surrounding the earth since that time. The others feel and sense, when they struggle through the great truths and the powerful impulses of the proclamation of the event of Golgotha, the power of this fact. They feel that since that time, the human heart can experience something different than before on earth; they know that something is there that could not be felt in the same way before. And the seer sees this. Such a seer, called to be a seer through the grace of spiritual-divine powers, one might almost say through a miracle, was the German young poet Novalis. Through an event that shook him deeply, teaching him as if by magic the relationship between life and death, his spiritual eye was opened, and in addition to the great retrospective view of the past of the Earth and the worlds, the Christ Being also came before this spiritual eye. He was able to say of himself in relation to this Christ being that he belonged to those who had seen with their spiritual eyes what is revealed when the “stone is lifted” and the being becomes visible who has provided the proof for our earthly existence that life in the spiritual realm always conquers death. We cannot really call Novalis a human being who had a life, but rather something like a memory of a former life. With his initiation, which was granted to him as if by grace, everything he had achieved in previous incarnations dawned on him at the same time; it was actually only a great gift of the synthesis of insights he had gained in a previous life. And because he had the ability to look back on those times and see with spiritual eyes, he was able to say that the great event of discovering what Christ is within himself was incomparable in his life. It is an experience like a repetition of the event at Damascus, where Paul, who until then had persecuted the followers of Christ Jesus and had not obeyed their proclamation, received through higher vision the immediate proof that He is there and lives, that something has happened through the event at Golgotha, which stands alone in the entire development of humanity. Thus, those whose eyes have been opened can see this event repeated. Christ was not merely present in the body in which He lived. He remained connected to the earth; the power of the sun connected itself to the earth through Him. Novalis therefore calls the revelation he received “unique,” and he calls only those people who want to participate in this event with their whole soul to be truly human. He rightly says that even the spiritually glorious ancient India would profess Christ if it only recognized this Christ. And he says from his knowledge, not from his intuition, not from blind faith, but from his knowledge that the Christ whom he has seen spiritually is the same as that which permeates all beings as a force. And the eye comes to recognize this force when this force works within it. The eye that sees Christ is formed by the power of Christ. The Christ force in the eye sees the Christ outside the eye. What a wonderfully great and powerful word! And Novalis also recognizes that powerful connection, that what we call Christ, since the event at Golgotha, is the planetary spirit of the Earth, the Earth spirit, which will increasingly transform the Earth's body. And a wonderful view of the future opens up to Novalis: he sees the Earth transformed; he sees the Earth of today, which still contains the remnants of ancient times, transformed into the body of Christ; he sees everything that flows in the Earth as liquids permeated by the blood of Christ, and he sees everything that is rock in the Earth as the flesh of Christ. He sees the body of the earth gradually merging into the body of Christ. And in a wondrous interaction, the oneness of all that is earth and Christ is revealed to him: the earth in the future as a great organism in which man will be embedded and whose soul is Christ. From this point of view, Novalis, deeply moved by his secret scientific knowledge, calls Christ the Son of Man. Just as human beings are in a certain sense the sons of the gods, that is, the sons of the ancient gods who shaped our planet over millions and millions of years, who built the houses in which we live and the ground on which we walk, so man will have to build, out of himself, by overcoming the earthly, an earth that will be the body of the new God, the future God. And when ancient times looked back to the ancient holy gods, wanting to be united with them in death, Novalis recognizes the God who will one day carry in his body all that is best in us and all that we can sacrifice to the body of Christ. He recognizes in Christ that to which humanity sacrifices itself in order to have a body. He recognizes in this, in the higher cosmological sense, the “Son of Man.” He calls Christ the “God of the future.”

All these are feelings of such significance that they are well suited to bring our souls into the right Christmas spirit. And so let us now allow him who lived at the end of the 18th century, a short life, who died at the age of twenty-nine, to describe his feelings as they became connected in his life with the greatest event of his life: the unique, great insight into the Christ being.

Here Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner) recited the poem “Wenn alle untreu werden ...” (“When all become unfaithful ...”) from the “Spiritual Songs.”

It is not long since the Christmas tree became the symbol of the Christmas festival. One has not yet found a poem about the Christmas tree by a poet such as Schiller, for example, who would undoubtedly have felt the poetry of the Christmas tree if it had existed at the time, and who would not have found it difficult to write a poem about it. The Christmas tree did not yet exist in our form at that time. It is a recent creation. People celebrated this festival in other ways before, and as far back as we can look in the course of time, we will find something like Christmas everywhere, as long as people exist in their present form or in the form that led to their present form. We will find it among the broad masses of people everywhere, we will find it up to the heights of mystery in ever new forms.

The very fact that Christmas is so ancient and our present symbol for it so new shows us that something eternal is connected with this festival, but an eternity that brings forth ever new forms from its bosom. Truly, as old as humanity is on earth, so old is Christmas, so old are the feelings symbolized by this festival. But humanity will always have the power to find an outward expression for this festival in new, rejuvenated symbols appropriate to the times. Just as nature rejuvenates itself every year, its eternal forces springing forth in ever new forms, so the symbols of Christmas devotion are constantly rejuvenated, thus revealing the eternal and constant nature of this festival. And so, in this solemn Christmas hour, let us stand before our souls with that which can arise when we walk the path that can show us a little of how people actually felt in the time we now celebrate as our Christmas season.

As students of spiritual science, we can go back far, far into the distant past. We go back to those times when our souls were embodied in ancient Atlantean bodies, bodies that bore little resemblance to our present bodies. At that time, there were great teachers of humanity who were also the leaders of humanity. People looked at the world differently back then. It was not the bright sun of the day that showed them the shapes of external objects and the natural world in sharp contours and distinct lines. Everything around man was shrouded in mist, not only because a large part of the Atlantean world was also covered with masses of fog and the sunlight could not yet penetrate the fog as it did later, but also because man's powers of perception had not yet developed to the point where he could see external objects in clear outlines. When humans woke up in the morning and wanted to perceive the external world, God's nature around them, they saw only blurred images surrounded by colored edges, and everything seemed to be shrouded in mist. And when they fell asleep in the evening, they slept into a spiritual world. It was not that self-forgetfulness and unconsciousness surrounded humans, as is the case today when humans fall asleep. In the Atlantean era, when people slept, they saw the spiritual-divine beings who were their companions. Around them they saw all those figures that were once reality for humans, that were experiences for humans. They also saw all those figures that have been preserved in memory for the most diverse regions of the earth under the most diverse names: Wotan, Thor, Baldur, and so on, as our ancestors in Central Europe called them; Zeus, Pallas, Athena, Ares, and so on, as the people of ancient Greece called those divine-spiritual figures who had once seen their souls in ancient Atlantis. But in the Atlantean era, the divine worlds were no longer the very high, creative divine worlds from whose bosom human beings once emerged in the Lemurian era. Our souls once rose from divine beings whose glory and greatness human beings today can only guess at. These same divine beings revealed themselves to human beings from their bosom; they brought forth the spheres of the world and all the forces that surround us. Human beings were in the bosom of divine beings, whose outer expression shines down on us from the spheres, among those beings whom we see in flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder, whose expression is the plants and animals, and for whom the crystals are sense organs. Everything that reaches us like warmth, everything that surrounds us in forces, is the body of divine-spiritual beings, and man sprang from the womb of these divine-spiritual beings. The more he descended to our earth, the more he united himself with material substances, the more he integrated himself into the matter of our earth, the less his ability to see the great gods became.

In primeval times, when human beings had no sensory perception, when they could not yet see with their eyes or hear with their ears, when images surged up and down in their souls, images that were not of minerals, animals, or plants, but of divine spiritual beings standing above them, human beings then emerged more and more onto the physical plane in later times. and learned to know the physical plane through the outer sense organs. In the Atlantean era, there was a kind of alternation between seeing on the physical plane and an ancient clairvoyance that remained as a remnant of the ancient spiritual glory in which humans once lived. In contrast to the very high gods, there were lower gods whom human beings could still perceive on the astral plane when they enjoyed the bliss of being a spiritual being among spiritual beings at night.

The brighter the physical plane became, the less human beings were able to see on the spiritual planes. But in the ancient Atlantean era, human beings had initiates. These initiates of ancient Atlantis were able to foretell some things in addition to the deeper teachings of the ancient gods from whose bosom human beings sprang. They could foretell to human beings that there is something in the world that can be viewed in such a way that it can be made clear by the following comparison: Look at a plant seed; look at how this plant seed develops into a plant. It grows, it sprouts leaves, sepals, flowers, and fruit. Anyone standing in front of the plant can say to themselves: I am looking back at the seed; it is the creator of the leaves and the flower that stand before me, and this flower contains something within itself; this flower contains the seed of a new plant, the flower is forming into a new seed.

And just as one can look into the future of the plant and look back into its past, so the great Atlantean initiates could say to their disciples, and through the voice of their disciples to the whole people: You can look back to the divine seeds in the world, from whose womb human beings sprang. What you see around you, spiritual and physical, are all leaves that have sprouted from the ancient divine seeds. See in them the powers of these ancient divine seeds, just as you can see in the leaves of plants the power of the seed from which the plant has sprung. But we can point to something else: in the future, something will spread around human beings that will be like the blossom of a plant, which is indeed the result of the ancient gods, but which contains within itself a seed, just as the blossom contains a seed and brings it to maturity, a seed that unfolds within itself the new divinity. That the world was born of gods was the ancient teaching; that the world will give birth to a god, the great god of the future, was the great prophecy of the Atlantean initiates to their disciples, and thus also to the peoples. For it was the peculiarity of the Atlantean initiates that, like all initiates, they saw the great events of the future. They looked beyond the great Atlantean flood, beyond the great event that transformed the lands of the earth. They saw behind the Atlantean era all the cultures that would spring forth in later times; they looked to the land of the holy Rishis, to the land of Zarathustra, to the culture of ancient Egypt founded by Hermes, to the foretelling of Moses; they looked to happy Greece, to mighty Rome, up to our time, and further into the future. And it was hope that they instilled in their intimate disciples.

They could say this to them: You must leave all the fields of the spiritual land in which you now find yourselves. You must become entangled in matter, you must clothe yourselves completely in garments taken from physical substance. A time will come when you must work on the physical plane, where the holy old gods will seem to have vanished. But you may look back to where the new star can rise, where the new seed can sprout, the future God who has preserved himself through the ages to appear at the right time in humanity!

And when the Atlantean initiates wanted to tell their disciples, and thus the whole people, why one should descend into the earthly valley, they drew their attention to the fact that one day all souls would experience and see Him who was to come, whom they could not yet see because he was in a region where the physical eye could not see him, nor could the spiritual eye that had once seen him when man still rested in the bosom of the gods.

And the Atlantean flood came. The face of the earth was changed. After some time, it looked completely different. After the great migration of peoples from the West to the East, the great post-Atlantean cultures arose, the first being the culture of ancient sacred India. The teachers of ancient India, the seven holy Rishis, taught their disciples, and thus the entire Indian people, that there was a spiritual world; for the Indian people needed the teaching about the spiritual world. It was completely transferred to the physical plane, and during life on the physical plane, the eyes could only see the outer form of the physical world as the expression of the spiritual, but not the spiritual itself. But in the soul of every such Indian there was something that can be called a dark memory of what the soul had once experienced among the gods in ancient Atlantis. This memory awakened a longing, and this longing was so strong that the Indian souls could not enter into an intimate relationship with the physical plane, so that the physical plane appeared to them as Maya, as an illusion, as something unreal, and that their longing still went out toward what had been lost. The souls would not have been able to endure the physical plane if the spirit-filled rishis had not been able to proclaim the teachings of the glory of the ancient world that humanity had lost. Thus the holy Rishis were able to proclaim the teachings of the cosmos, which are little understood today, the teachings of a wisdom of ancient times, because they were initiated into what man had experienced when he was still in the bosom of the gods. Man was there when the gods separated the sun from the earth, when they assigned the spheres of the world their paths; he had only forgotten this during his later wanderings on earth. This wisdom was taught by the Rishis, but they also taught something else. It was taught to those who were already able to develop a sense of it—and these were precisely the most advanced ones—that out of this world into which man had now been cast, which now appears to him as illusion and Maya, there will spring forth the one who cannot yet be seen in this world because the soul of man is not yet ready to develop the power to recognize this being, But He will appear, He of whom the Rishis said that He was “beyond them,” “Vilva karman.” That was the name given to the being whom the ancient teachers of India proclaimed as the great Spirit of the future. You cannot yet see Him, so it was proclaimed to the Indian people, just as you cannot yet see the seed of the fruit in the blossom. But as surely as the blossom contains the seed of the fruit, so surely does Maya develop the seed of that which will make life in the physical world worth living. And what was later called Christ, the Indian teachers proclaimed in advance; they were his humble prophets. They looked in two directions: back to the world of ancient wisdom, according to whose plan the world had been created, and forward, proclaiming to everyday people that One would come who would enter human hearts and move all human hands.

There was no time when He was not proclaimed, as long as human culture and human consciousness have existed. If later generations have forgotten the proclamation, it is not the fault of the great teachers of humanity.

Then came the ancient Persian culture, whose leader was Zarathustra. Zarathustra was already able to tell his close disciples, and thus his people, that in everything that surrounds human beings, in what comes to us as energy from the sun, in what comes from the other stars belonging to our solar system, in everything that fills the air, there lives a being that now only shows itself to human beings in a veiled form. Zarathustra could speak to his initiates about the great solar aura, Ahura Mazdao, the good God. And he said something to his disciples that could be clarified by the following comparison: Look at a plant. It arises from the seed, develops leaves in all directions, develops the flower, but it is as if something mysterious pervades the whole plant and appears in the center of the flower as the new seed. What is around it will fall away, but the innermost power that you can see inside the flower is what you can already sense as the source of a new plant that could arise from the old one. When you contemplate the power of sunlight, and when you perceive this sunlight in such a way that you see in it only the physical expression of something spiritual, and allow yourselves to be inspired by the spiritual power of the sun, then the foretelling of the divine fruit that is to be born from the earth will dawn upon you!

And when these intimate disciples had advanced further and further, they were able to participate in more secret teachings at certain times, and Zarathustra was able to paint for them in a solemn hour the picture of One who will come when human beings are ready to receive this One in their midst with understanding. Zarathustra presented his disciples with powerful images of this future being. He could show the image to one, and to another he could show a kind of reflection of it; the others could only receive in a comprehensive image what was to happen in the future.

So it was also in the ancient Persian culture, in the Zarathustra culture, that the one who would later be called Christ was foretold. And it was also so in the Egyptian culture. Hermes also foretold Christ in a certain way to his Egyptian initiates and thus to the entire Egyptian people. A reflection of this foretelling of Christ can be seen in the Osiris legend. What did the Osiris legend make clear to people? The Osiris legend tells the following story: Once, in ancient times, Osiris ruled in Egypt for the happiness of his people, faithfully united with his wife Isis. Then the evil brother Set or Typhon set out to destroy Osiris. He made a chest and threw it into the sea with Osiris inside. Isis found the chest again, but she could not bring Osiris back to life on earth. He was taken up to higher regions, and since then people have only been able to see him when they have passed through the gate of death. It was made clear to every Egyptian: After death, you can be united with Osiris as your hand is united with your soul. You can one day be a member of Osiris, call him your higher self, but only if you have earned it on the physical plane. After death, you can be united with the god you call your highest.

The initiate could be shown something else: when he had gone through all the trials and tests, all the lessons that had to be learned in order to look into the higher worlds, then the image of Osiris was shown to the initiate during his physical life, during the life between birth and death itself. What confronted other people when they passed through the gate of death, and with what they were to feel united, confronted the secret student of the Egyptian initiates when he was outside his body, after his etheric body, his astral body, and his ego had been taken out of the physical body. Then the one who had seen this, who had already seen Osiris during his lifetime, could proclaim to the others that Osiris lives.

But in ancient Egypt it was never possible to proclaim: Osiris lives among us! This was expressed in the legend by saying: Osiris is a king who has never been seen on earth. For the “coffin” is nothing other than the physical body. At the moment when Osiris is placed in the physical body, the hostile forces of the physical world, which is not yet ready to receive the god, assert themselves so strongly that they destroy the god. The physical world is not yet ready to receive the god with whom man is to become one. But when we tell you—so said those who were able to bear personal witness that Osiris lives, with whom man is to become one in his inner being—when we tell you that God lives, only the initiated can see him when they leave the physical world. The God with whom man is to become one lives, but only in the spiritual world. Only those who leave the physical world can be united with God!

It was so that human beings grew to love the physical world more and more, for it was their task to work in the physical world and to bring about culture upon culture in the physical world. To the same extent that their eyes saw more clearly, the more the mind was able to understand what was happening in the physical world, the more humans were able to know more and more and make discoveries and inventions in the physical world that made their physical lives easier, the more difficult it became for them to see between birth and death in the spiritual world. So although he could hear from the initiated that the God with whom he would unite was alive, he could take little from this world that could have made clear to him what life with Osiris in the other world would be like. Life in the higher world became increasingly obscured, so that man could only guess that the God with whom he was to become one was alive.

And then came the Greek world, Greece, which was happy on the physical plane, where people entered into that wonderful marriage between spirit and matter for the physical plane. We look at the marvelous works of ancient Greece, and when we let these works appear before us, we will have a picture of how people in that time, when the event of Golgotha was to take place, related to the spiritual world. It is hard to imagine, but it is true that the high point of architecture, which is the Greek temple, corresponds to the lowest point in people's relationship to the spiritual world.

Let us imagine a Greek temple standing before us. In its forms and its unity, it is the purest and noblest expression of the spiritual, so that it could once be said that God Himself dwells in the Greek temple. He was present there. For the lines that were mysteriously woven into the material were entirely appropriate to the spiritual world plan and to those lines that run through the physical plane as directions in space. And there is no purer, more beautiful, more noble interpenetration of the human spirit with physical matter than in a Greek temple. And therefore, on the physical plane, there is no other possibility than to permeate the higher world of the gods with physical matter in the way that is the case in Greek temples or in Greek works of art in general. The Greeks succeeded in making the gods of ancient times descend to them through the way they created their works of art. And even if the Greeks did not see Zeus or Pallas Athena descend, it was nevertheless the gods who were conjured into these works of art, the gods among whom people once lived in the Atlantean era and whom they saw. In ancient times, people were able to provide the old gods with a magnificent dwelling place. And now let us see what the Greek temple represents in a certain other direction. Imagine that clairvoyant consciousness stands opposite a Greek temple. What is now being said also applies to the sparse remains that still exist of the Greek temple world. Imagine that your clairvoyant consciousness stands before such a remnant as you find in the temple at Paestum: you can feel joy and bliss for life in the physical body through the harmony of the lines that form the columns and the roofs. Everything is so perfect that something divine can be imagined and felt in the physical. One can live in such a feeling when one looks through the eyes of the physical body at this harmony of Greek architecture. And now imagine the clairvoyant consciousness transported into the spiritual world. It is as if something like a black wall were drawn in front of what you can see in the physical world, and what can be seen on the physical plane is obliterated. Nothing of these marvelous glories of the physical plane can be taken over into the spiritual world. The most glorious things of the physical plane, if they are only that, are extinguished in the spiritual world. And there we understand that it is no legend when one of those who belonged to the leaders in Greece, having been met by an initiate in the other world, said: Better to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of shadows! Precisely in Greece, where such delights could be experienced in the physical world, the souls, when they entered the world of death, moved into a gloomy, dark shadow realm. The physical plane had become magnificent, but to the same extent the spiritual world had become desolate.

And now let us compare this with two other things that can be felt in the Greek temple: let us imagine Raphael's painting “Madonna di San Sisto” or Leonardo da Vinci's “The Last Supper”! Let us imagine those works of art that were created after the events of Golgotha and into which the mysteries of Golgotha have flowed. People can feel bliss when they look at these pictures; they can pour joy into their souls. And this is also the case with clairvoyant consciousness when it views these pictures on the physical plane through its eyes. When it now transports itself into the spiritual world, it says to itself, even though it no longer sees the physical: What I take with me from what I experience in these images is not just an echo of the physical, not just the delights and bliss I experienced when I saw all this, but now all the glory dawns on me; I have only planted the seed of what I am now experiencing in greater glory and splendor! When one looks at such pictures, in which the mysteries of Golgotha have flowed in, one plants in the physical world only the seed for greater knowledge in the spiritual world. And how can all this happen? It can happen because the spiritual power that has been foretold for so long has truly appeared on earth, because humanity has come so far that it has been able to unfold a blossom within which the seed of the future God could ripen. Through the event of Golgotha, something has been communicated to earthly existence that cannot only be taken into the spiritual world, but that blossoms in the spiritual worlds in higher glory and higher bliss, and the most significant expression of this is precisely that which has already been characterized here: At the very moment when the physical body of Christ Jesus died on Golgotha, Christ appeared to those who were then between death and a new birth. He was able to proclaim to them what none of the earlier initiates had been able to proclaim when they passed over into the spiritual world.

When the earlier initiates—let us take those of the Eleusinian mysteries—passed over from this world to those who were there between death and a new birth, what could the Eleusinian initiates have said to them? They could have told them about the events of the physical plane, but this would have aroused only longing and melancholy in them. For human beings had completely banished themselves to the physical plane. But they could not find the physical there, where everything had become dark and gloomy, and where he who had been a great man on the physical plane felt that he must say: Better to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of shadows! The initiates had nothing to bring to those who were on the physical plane, nothing to bring to those who were on the other plane at that time. Then the event of Golgotha took place, and Christ appeared among the dead. And for the first time, an event from the physical world could be proclaimed in the spiritual world, an event that marked the beginning of a transition from the physical world to the spiritual world. Like a ray of light, it flashed through the spiritual worlds when Christ appeared in the underworld. For now it was clear that proof had been provided in the physical world that the spiritual can always conquer death.

From this event, it followed that it was now possible to experience something in the physical world that could be carried over into the spiritual world. What could be said about other things that were influenced by the event at Golgotha can be found in the Gospel of John and other proclamations that follow on from it. Those who enjoy the Gospel of John on the physical plane experience the bliss of understanding this great document on the physical plane. But those who then enter the spiritual world with clairvoyant awareness know that what they were able to feel in the Gospel of John was only a foretaste of what they can now absorb. This is the significance of being able to take treasures from the physical plane into the spiritual world.

Since then, it has become brighter and brighter on the spiritual plane. Everything that existed in the physical world had sprouted from the spiritual world. If one passed from the physical world into the spiritual world, one could say: Here lie the causes of everything; and over there in the physical world is only what has sprouted from the spiritual world. There are only the effects, there is only the reflection from the spiritual world. Since the event at Golgotha, when one passes from the physical world into the spiritual, one says to oneself: There are also causes in the physical world, and what is experienced through the event at Golgotha on the physical plane has an effect over into the spiritual world.

So it will be more and more: everything old, which is the effect of the old gods, will die, and what will blossom, what will live into the future, are the effects of the God of the future. That will live on into the spiritual world. It is like when you look at a new plant seed and say to yourself: Of course it came from an old plant. The old leaves and flowers have fallen off and disappeared, and now the new seed is there, which will develop into a new plant and a new flower. So we too live in a world where leaves and flowers fall off and seeds of gods are there. And more and more the new fruit, the fruit of Christ, unfolds, and everything else will fall away. What is conquered and achieved here in the physical world will be of value for the future insofar as it is carried over into the spiritual world, and before our spiritual eye a world will dawn in the future that has its roots in the physical, just as our world once had its roots in the spiritual world. Just as human beings are the sons of the gods, so what human beings experience in the physical world through their elevation to the event of Golgotha will form the body of the new gods of the future, whose leader is Christ. In this way, the old worlds live on in the new worlds through the complete death of the old and the sprouting and blossoming of the new from the old. But this could only happen for human beings because humanity had matured to the point where it could unfold a flower for that spiritual being who was to become the God of the future.

This blossom, which was able to unfold and take in the seed of the future God, could only be a threefold human shell consisting of the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body, which had previously been purified and cleansed on earth through everything that could be achieved there. This shell of Jesus of Nazareth, who sacrificed himself in order to receive the Christ seed like a flower, and this flower of humanity represents the purest, the extract of what humanity has been able to bring forth in its spiritual evolutionary drive. And people can say to themselves: Only when the earth was ripe to produce the most beautiful flower could the seed of the new God appear. And the birth of this flower was in Bethlehem; this is contained in our Christmas celebration. In our Christmas celebration, we celebrate the birth of the flower that was to receive the seed of Christ.

Thus, Christmas is truly a festival through which human beings can see in two ways: into the past and into the future. For out of the past has come the flower from which the seed for the future develops. Out of the old earth has come the threefold shell of Christ. From the best that human beings have been able to achieve, this threefold shell of Christ has flowed together and been born. And there is no external representation of a mystery that could initially make a more powerful impression on us than the representation of this very mystery: how the most beautiful flower of humanity could spring from the purest chalice.

That humanity once emerged spiritually from the bosom of the Godhead, was divine-spiritual, and condensed into matter—how can this be represented more beautifully than by showing how gradually the spiritual condenses, how out of the indefinite darkness of the spiritual, the human being condensed out! The ancient Egyptians depicted this intuitively and prophetically as the once lion-headed goddess, who was still completely spiritual, still from the time when humans were not yet very condensed, still resting ethereally and spiritually in the bosom of the deity. As the next figure, anticipating the later “Madonna di San Sisto,” another female figure appears in the Egyptian illustration: Isis with the child Horus. Here we see how that which was born out of clouds, that is, out of the spiritual, has condensed into the chalice, into that which is to represent the human being developing into the future. But going into the purely spiritual, we see this idea, already known to the ancients, in the Christ Madonna with the baby Jesus. Raphael has breathed this mystery into life with wonderful tenderness and purity, showing how the Madonna condenses out of spiritual angel heads and in turn brings forth the flower, Jesus of Nazareth, who is to receive the Christ seed. The entire evolution of humanity is contained in a wonderful way in this image of the Madonna. It is therefore not surprising that the person who spoke first today had the most beautiful, the most glorious memories of the Madonna from the life of which his present life was a remembrance, from which he allowed all the beautiful feelings and glorious sensations to spring forth within himself that can be associated with this mystery of humanity depicted in the picture, and that these feelings passed from there to the bearer of Christ herself, to the figure who brought forth the seed, the chalice from which the flower sprouted, which was able to bring to maturity within itself the seed of the new God.

And so we see how feelings vibrate in this wonderfully gifted Novalis, feelings that can be understood freely, without any bias toward this or that political party—especially in relation to this sacred mystery that took place on the first Christian Christmas and is repeated again and again in every Christian Christmas: that mystery to which the ancient initiates, in the guise of the ancient magi, offer their sacrifices and go where the new mystery took root. And they sacrifice, the wise men of ancient times, adorned with the wisdom that comes from ancient times, they sacrifice before that which is to enter into the future, which is to contain within itself the power in a human being that runs through all the worlds connected with our earth. Novalis felt the Christ mystery, the Mary mystery, in connection with the cosmic mystery. It shone in his soul as it once shone in the first Christian Christmas, when those beings who did not descend to the physical plane proclaimed the connection between a cosmic and an earthly power and between what can happen in the human heart and in the cosmos when the human heart unites with the Christ being. For today it is no longer necessary to proclaim what the Egyptians said: The God with whom you must unite lives in that world which can only be reached by passing through death. Now the God with whom man must unite lives among us between birth and death, and people can find him if they unite their souls and hearts with him here. That is why the Christmas message resounds in the first Christian Christmas:

Revelation through the heights to God,
Peace and quiet
through peace on earth,
Blessing
in mankind!

Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner) then recited Novalis' “Marienlieder” (Songs of Mary).