The Cosmic New Year
GA 195
31 December 1919, Stuttgart
IV. The Breaking-in of Spiritual Revelations Since the Last Third of the Nineteenth Century
On New Year's Eve it is always fitting to remember how past and future are linked together in life and in the existence of the world, how past and future are linked in the whole life of the Cosmos of which man is a part, how past and future are linked in every fraction of that life with which our own individual existence is connected, is interwoven through all that we were able to do and to think during the past year, and through all that we are able to plan for the coming year.
The thoughts which, almost in answer to an inward need, we call up before our souls in reviewing what we have done during the past year, and what we intend to do next year, should be pervaded with adequate earnestness and dignity, in accordance with the spirit of Anthroposophical Spiritual Science, so that we may illumine these thoughts with the Higher Light which we can receive from Spiritual Science, through contemplation of the great Cosmic events. How does this human life of ours stand with regard to past and future? It is like a mirror. Indeed, comparison with a mirror approaches reality far more than it may seem to do at first. Striving a little to attain self-knowledge is indeed like standing before a mirror. We stand, looking into a mirror and there in that mirror lies the past, of which we know its reflection is in the mirror. Behind the mirror lies that into which at first we cannot look, just as it is not possible to see in space, what lies behind a mirror. Perhaps the question should be raised here: What is it that corresponds in our world-mirror to the silver covering at the back which turns the transparent glass into a mirror? In the ordinary mirror the glass is coated behind so that we cannot see through it. What constitutes the coating of the world-mirror that reflects the past for us, and at first keeps the future hidden from our gaze? The world-mirror is coated with our own being, with our own human being. We have only to bear in mind that with the usual means of knowledge we are really unable to see ourselves, to see what we ourselves are. We cannot see through ourselves, we see through ourselves just as little as we see through a mirror. When we look into ourselves, many things are mirrored back to us, things which we have experienced, things which we have learnt; but our own being remains hidden from us, because we can see through ourselves at first just as little as we can see through an ordinary mirror. Looking at the matter generally, or I might say, in the abstract, we may consider this comparison with a mirror as I have just described it. But when we come to details modifications are needed. Trying to look back on our life through this mirroring process (for looking back on our life, on what our inner soul reflects, is a mirroring process), we must confess: What we see mirrored there, is only a part of our experiences. When you try to look back on your experiences, you will find that these experiences are continually subject to interruptions. You look back on what the day has brought you; but you do not look back on what the preceding night has brought you. The experiences of the night are an interruption. You look back on yesterday, you do not look back on the night before yesterday, and so on. Stretches of nighttime, not filled in by thoughts upon our experiences, are continually inserting themselves. It is an illusion to think that we survey our entire life when looking back upon it; we only piece together to some extent, what the days contain. In reality, the course of our life comes before us with continual interruptions.
We might now ask: Are these interruptions in the course of our life necessary? Yes, they are necessary. Were there no such interruptions in the course of our life, or, to speak more correctly, in the retrospection upon our life's course, then, as human beings, we should be quite unable to perceive our Ego. We should see the course of our life filled merely by the world outside, and in our life there would be no ego-consciousness at all. That we are able to experience, to feel our Ego, depends on the fact that our life's course is continually being broken up piece-wise. It is precisely with respect to this ego-perception, brought about by interruptions in the course of life, that present-day humanity faces a critical period. When a human being of today looks back on life and, as has just been explained, attains his Ego through this looking back, this Ego of present-day man is, in a certain respect, empty, we only know that we have an Ego. In earlier periods of earth evolution men knew more. Just as in ordinary daily life, the dreams of an individual dimly emerge out of his nightly experiences, so the clairvoyant-atavistic perceptions of the human beings of earlier periods emerged out of the Ego. These clairvoyant-atavistic perceptions were dreams only in their form; what they contained was reality. We may say: The Ego of present-day man has been emptied of the clairvoyant-atavistic content which was the support of men of past ages, permeating them with the conviction that they had something in common with a divine element, that they were connected with something divine. Out of these atavistic-clairvoyant visions, there arose in man's sentient life that which condensed into religious feeling and religious veneration towards those beings to whom religious cult and religious sacrifice were dedicated. How does the case stand today? Today the Ego is empty of these atavistic-clairvoyant visions, and when we look back on the Ego it is more or less only a point in our soul-life. The content of this Ego is a firm point of support, but it is nevertheless only a point. Now, however, we are living in an age in which the point must again become a circle, an age in which the Ego must again receive a content. Since the last third of the nineteenth century, the Spiritual World has made a mighty inroad into our Sense-world, in order that the Ego may again receive a content. This is why, ever since the seventies of the nineteenth century, the Spiritual World has willed to re-enter our physical existence through revelations in a new way. What we are striving for in Anthroposophical Spiritual Science is this: To receive with goodwill all that is seeking to enter through spiritual revelation from another world—from a world, however, which bears within it this world of ours—and to clothe these revelations in terms by which they can be communicated to man. These revelations are nothing less than that which definitely (in a certain respect) guarantees the future of mankind. It is not, indeed, a direct glance behind the mirror, but it is a guarantee for this, viz., that when we as human beings, hasten to meet the future i.e., hasten to step behind the mirror—which means facing the future—then that which we have to do in the future will be able to come to pass in full power, if we have first tested our forces, if we have first strengthened them through that, which, by means of Spiritual Science, reveals itself to us out of the Spiritual World.
Just as in the past, man's Ego was filled with an atavistic clairvoyant content, which guaranteed his connection with the divine, so today our Ego must be filled with a new spiritual content, received in full consciousness, a content which gives us again the link uniting our soul with the divine Soul-being. The men of the past possessed an atavistic clairvoyance. The last inheritance of this atavistic clairvoyance is abstract reflection, the abstract power of cognition possessed by modern men. It is a much diluted remnant of the early clairvoyance. The man of today can feel that this dilution, this logical dialectic dilution of a former atavistic clairvoyance, is no longer able to support his soul. Then the longing will arise within him to receive something new into his Ego. But that which has formed the end in the evolution of mankind from primeval times up to the present, must now be made the beginning. In olden times, man had clairvoyant revelations and did not understand them. Today man must first understand, must exert to the utmost his intellectual power, must exert to the utmost his reason. If he so exerts it through that which lies before him in Spiritual Science, then mankind will again develop the power of receiving the Spiritual clairvoyantly. This is certainly something that most people today wish to avoid, viz., to make use of their healthy human reason in order to understand Spiritual Science. Were it possible to avoid the use of man's reason, it would also be possible to avoid altogether the entrance of spiritual revelations into our earthly world.
Thus past and future are linked together on this New Year's Eve, this Cosmic New Year's Day. For today, what is impending is indeed a kind of Cosmic New Year's Day. The future stands before us as a formidable question, not an indefinite abstract question, but as a concrete question. How can we approach that which, as a question put to mankind, in the form of a spiritual revelation, is striving more and more since the last third of the nineteenth century, to enter our earthly world? And how are we to place it in relation to revelations of the past? These questions should be livingly experienced. Then we should feel how important it is to direct our longings towards that which is presented here as Anthroposophical Spiritual Science. Then we should realize the earnestness and the dignity of the striving for Spiritual Science. It is especially needful to have this feeling at the present time. For we are not dealing with any kind of arbitrary human will (“Willkur”); we are dealing with something that as Cosmic knowledge wills to reveal itself to us from out of the world's evolution; we are dealing in very truth with what the gods will to make of man. But here we are faced with the fact that when we on the one hand turn towards the spirit, on the other hand those who wish only to worship the past, are drawn away by the Spirit of contradiction, by the Spirit of opposition. And the more we try with all our might to grasp the spirit of the future state of man, the more surely will the people of the past be possessed by the spirit of opposition. It is to be noticed among people of today that religious feeling is seeking to assume new life. Groping attempts are numerous. The attempts of Spiritual Science must not be groping. Through such attempts the real, concrete world of the Spirit ought to be grasped. Almost like a premonition of what it ought to be, we are faced by those who say: “Mere religious tradition is not enough for us; we want to have an inner religious experience, we do not only want to hear the message that, according to tradition, Christ lived and died in Palestine so many, or so many years ago—we want to experience in our souls the Christ-experience.” In many quarters we find such ideas arising among men, among people who believe that something of the Christ-experience has arisen in the depths of their souls.
These are groping attempts, often even questionable attempts, because at the same time people are content in the egoism of their soul, and then turn away from all inclination to the Spirit. These longings after inner spiritual experience are there nevertheless, and even groping attempts towards such inner spiritual experience, towards a new interest in the spiritual world, should be recognized. But the spirit of opposition will surely arise.
To judge by what he himself has printed, such a representative of the spirit of the past has recently uttered quite remarkable words at Stuttgart, contrasting attempts, groping attempts, to rouse a new religious interest, a new religious experience, with attempts to reach a really new concrete knowledge of the spiritual world, as in the case of Anthroposophical Spiritual Science. In the Shepherd-Play, performed at the Waldorf School, one of the shepherds, who has had a spiritual vision, says that he very nearly lost his power of speech. When I read the last page of Gogarten's Spiritual Science and Christianity, I must say that I very nearly lost my power of speech, for it is indeed surprising that anyone should say such things in the present age. It is things such as this that, on the Cosmic New Year's Eve, should stimulate contemplation of the comparison of the past with the inevitable future. What does this representative of religion really say? I do not know if the full import has been realized. He says: “Today—I ought to say at all times—the chief task is to safeguard the elementary feeling of piety of which I have spoken. It is almost wholly lacking today. We are occupied with religious ‘interests’ with religious ‘experiences’. Since Anthroposophy provides such good material for ‘interest’, and is such a good medium for ‘experiences’, people are helpless and without power of resistance when they meet it. People know even less of that fundamental, elementary bond, the bond brought into life by piety, which drives away every religious ‘interest’, and scatters every religious ‘experience’, the bond between God and creature. And because man knows little of this bond, he knows still less of that other bond, the unconditioned direct union between God and man.”
Here in the name of religion we see every religious interest repudiated, every religious experience scattered. A wholly undefined “bond” which cannot of course be differentiated, and which the speaker does not wish to differentiate, takes the place of religious interest, and of religious experience. We do indeed lose our power of speech when a teacher of religion says: “True piety must drive away every religious interest and scatter every religious experience.” We have gone so far that we are unable to realize what it means when an official representative of religion says: “Away with religious interest! Away with religious experience!” You see, apart from the fact that Gogarten does not know that he himself would be quite unable to speak of religion at all, if in the past there had never been atavistic religious interests and religious experience; apart from the fact that he as official representative of religion, could never have stood before an audience had not religion entered into the evolution of mankind, through religious interest and religious experience; apart from all this, everything I have told you just now proves what I told you before, that in the present day the very people who consider themselves the true representatives of religious life, work for the destruction of all that is essential in religion. Have these men lost every possibility of understanding what pertains to the human soul? Can these men no longer understand that when man turns his attention to anything, attention is guided by interest, and that everything entering the consciousness of man is based on experience? It seems as if human beings no longer speak from such consciousness at all, but only from a spirit of opposition. We should bear this in mind in all seriousness when we look into the mirror which so mysteriously unveils the past and conceals the future—though in a certain way the mirror unveils the future, too, in the way I have described.
It is the aim of Anthroposophical Spiritual Science to serve religious interest, and to give a content to religious experience. With what result? In the course of this year (1919) the question was brought forward before the Holy Roman Congregation whether the teaching that is termed theosophical is in keeping with the teaching of the Catholic Church, and whether it is permissible to belong to theosophical societies, to attend theosophical meetings, and to read theosophical papers and periodicals. The answer was: “No”, in every case, No, “in omnibus”. This is the spirit of opposition, of contradiction, and the Jesuit Zimmermann interprets it more particularly by applying this veto of the Holy Roman Congregation to Anthroposophy also. I need not set Zimmermann's writings before you in detail. You all know the wind that blows from a certain quarter against Anthroposophical Spiritual Science, and that it is the breath of the Spirit of contradiction. The Spirit carried in this wind can be felt in the following words, penned by that same Zimmermann, who for years spread abroad the lie that I was a renegade priest: “Through the defection of their General Secretary, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, who took along with him most of the members, the Theosophical Society picked up again to some extent in the course of years, and now owns about twenty-five lodges, one-fifth of which are certainly somewhat dormant, and publishes at Dusseldorf, as its official organ, Das Theosophische Streben (The Theosophic Endeavour). The followers of Steiner, who named his theosophy ‘Anthroposophy’ after his exit, complained recently that he was becoming unproductive, that he had no new ‘visions’, that he always lectures upon the same things, that he would soon have to throw himself into something new, etc.” This paves the way for another article dealing in the same intelligent fashion with the “Threefold Social Organism”. You see what Spirit of truth backs up this Jesuit? A Jesuit does not merely represent his personal opinion, but the opinion of the Catholic Church. He speaks only as a member of the Catholic Church. What he says represents the opinion of the Catholic Church. We must judge such things from a moral point of view. We must ask whether anyone who deals with truth as this man does—a man, moreover, held in high esteem by a particular religious community, can be held in high esteem by the true spirit of humanity.
As long as questions of this kind are not considered with due earnestness, we have not arrived at the right understanding of the Cosmic New Year's Eve. At the present moment, it is essential to reach this right understanding. It is essential for us to extend our sympathies—alas, our sympathies often arise from egoistic sources—to the great human relations, and to feel for the whole of mankind that human sympathy which impels us to make a spiritual movement like this effectively fruitful for the evolution of mankind. May you experience, my dear friends, at this very time, that it is the Spirit of the Cosmos itself, which for decades has been seeking entrance. May you experience during the coming night, that this Spirit which seeks to enter humanity, shall here so be served that the souls of those, who will to feel with and who will to think with Anthroposophical Spiritual Science, may feel their union with this new Spirit which wills to enter the world—the Spirit which alone can bring to the earthly world, the world that is destroying itself—the new upbuilding impulse out of Heaven. In this hour, a symbolic hour every year, demanding that we experience it as the decisive hour between past and future—in this hour may you unite your souls with the new Spirit; may you so experience in your souls the contact of the past year with the coming year, that the Cosmic Year which is passing away, may contact itself with the dawning Cosmic Year.
But the passing Cosmic Year will still send many an after-effect into the future; destructive forces into the spheres of Spirit, of Equity, of Economics. Therefore it is all the more needful, that as many men as possible shall be seized in the innermost depths of their souls by the New Year of the Spiritual Future, and shall develop a Will which may be the foundation of a new spiritual world, a world to be built into the future evolution of mankind. Those who care for the future of mankind are not those who would kill religious interest, who would do away with religious experience, but those only, those alone who can see how, through the intellectuality of our age, the old religious interest has faded away, the old religious life has been crippled. Those only care for the future, who see how a new interest must seize mankind, how new religious experience must spring up in mankind, so that man may bring into the Cosmos new germs for a future existence.
Vierter Vortrag
An diesem Abende geziemt es uns immer, zu gedenken, wie im Leben und im Weltendasein sich verketten Vergangenheit und Zukunft, wie sich verketten Vergangenheit mit Zukunft im ganzen kosmischen Leben, in das der Mensch einverwoben ist, wie sich verketten Vergangenheit und Zukunft in jedem Stück des Lebens, in das zunächst unser eigenes individuelles Dasein eingesponnen ist, durch alles das, was es hat tun dürfen, denken dürfen in dem verflossenen Jahreslauf, und was es sich vornehmen darf für den kommenden Jahreslauf. Im Sinne unserer anthroposophischen Geisteswissenschaft sollen sich diejenigen Gedanken, durch die wir uns gewissermaßen bedürfnismäßig vor die Seele führen, wie wir es getrieben haben im vergangenen Jahreslauf und wie wir es zu treiben gedenken im kommenden, mit dem entsprechenden Ernst, mit der entsprechenden Würde dadurch’ durchdringen, daß wir sie mit einem höheren Lichte beleuchten durch das, was wir gerade geisteswissenschaftlich in uns aufnehmen können durch die Betrachtung der großen kosmischen Ereignisse. Wie stellt sich denn eigentlich dieses unser Menschenleben im Verhältnis zu Vergangenheit und Zukunft hin? Es ist wie ein Spiegel. Ja, dieser Vergleich mit einem Spiegel entspricht viel mehr der Wirklichkeit, als man sich zunächst vorstellen möchte. Wir stehen in der Tat gerade dann, wenn wir ein wenig Selbsterkenntnis anstreben, wie vor einem Spiegel. Vor dem Spiegel, wo wir uns selbst befinden und in ihn hineinschauen, da liegt dasjenige der Vergangenheit, wovon wir wissen: das spiegelt sich in dem Spiegel. Und hinter dem Spiegel liegt dasjenige, in das zunächst nicht hineingeschaut werden kann; in das so wenig hineingeschaut werden kann, als man räumlich sehen kann, was hinter einem Spiegel liegt. Die Frage muß man sich da vielleicht besonders aufwerfen: Was ist eigentlich in diesem unserem Weltenspiegel der Spiegelbelag, durch den das Durchsichtige eben zum Spiegel wird? Beim räumlichen Spiegel ist das Glas hinten belegt, so daß unser Blick nicht durch dieses Glas dringt. Mit was ist denn jener Weltenspiegel belegt, der uns spiegelnd das Vergangene zeigt, der uns zunächst das Zukünftige hinter sich verbirgt? Der ist, meine lieben Freunde, mit unserem eigenen Wesen belegt, mit unserem menschlichen Wesen belegt.
Wir brauchen ja nur dessen zu gedenken, daß es uns in der Tat nicht gelingt, vor der gewöhnlichen Erkenntnis uns anschaulich zu machen, was wir selber sind. Wir durchschauen uns nicht; wir durchschauen uns so wenig, wie wir einen Spiegel durchschauen. Vieles strahlt uns zurück, wenn wir in uns selbst hineinschauen. Dasjenige, was wir erlebt haben, was wir gelernt haben, das strahlt zurück; aber unser eigenes Wesen, es verbirgt sich, weil wir in unserem Selbst zunächst so wenig uns durchschauen können, wie wir den Spiegel im Raum durchschauen können. Im Großen betrachtet, und ich möchte sagen, im Abstrakten betrachtet, können wir diesen Spiegel-Vergleich so ansehen, wie ich ihn Ihnen jetzt dargestellt habe; aber im Einzelnen modifiziert er sich etwas. Blicken wir einmal zunächst in unser Leben und versuchen wir durch das Spiegeln - denn das Zurückblicken in unser Leben ist ja im Hinblick auf das, was gespiegelt wird durch unser Seelen-Inneres, ein Spiegel - zurückzublicken in unser Leben, so müssen wir uns gestehen: es ist ja doch nur ein Teil dessen, was wir erlebt haben, was uns da erscheint, was sich da spiegelt. Wenn Sie versuchen zurückzuschauen auf Ihre Erlebnisse, so sind ja diese Erlebnisse fortwährend unterbrochen. Sie blicken zurück auf das, was Ihnen der heutige Tag gebracht hat, aber Sie blikken nicht zurück auf das, was Ihnen die vorige Nacht gebracht hat. Die Erlebnisse der Nacht sind eine Unterbrechung. Und wiederum blicken Sie zurück auf den gestrigen Tag und wiederum blicken Sie nicht zurück auf die vorgestrige Nacht und so weiter. Fortwährend schalten sich ein die von den Gedanken an die Erlebnisse unausgefüllten nächtlichen Zeitspannen. Es ist eine Täuschung, wenn wir zurückblicken und glauben, wir überschauen unser ganzes Leben: wir stückeln gewissermaßen nur das aneinander, was die Tage enthalten; aber in Wirklichkeit müßten wir unsere Lebensfahrt mit fortwährenden Unterbrechungen uns vor die Seele führen.
Wir können uns nun fragen: Sind diese Unterbrechungen in unserem Lebensverlauf notwendig? Ja, sie sind notwendig. Wenn wir diese Unterbrechungen nicht hätten in unserem Lebenslauf, besser gesagt, in der Rückschau auf unseren Lebenslauf, dann würden wir als Menschen unser Ich gar nicht gewahr werden. Wir würden unseren Lebenslauf wie von der bloßen Außenwelt erfüllt sehen und es würde sich in unserem Lebenslaufe das Ich-Bewußtsein gar nicht einstellen. Daß wir unser Ich empfinden, fühlen, das rührt davon her, daß dieser Lebenslauf stückweise immer unterbrochen ist. Gerade mit Bezug auf diese durch die Unterbrechungen des Lebenslaufes herbeigeführte Ich-Wahrnehmung steht die Menschheit der Gegenwart in einer kritischen Zeit. Wenn der Mensch der Gegenwart zurückblickt und durch den Rückblick sein Ich auf die eben angeführte Weise hat, dann ist dieses Ich des Menschen der Gegenwart in einer gewissen Beziehung leer; wir wissen nur von unserem Ich. Die Menschen früherer Epochen der Erdenentwickelung wußten mehr. Wie im gewöhnlichen Tageslauf herausschimmern für den einzelnen Menschen die Träume aus seinem nächtlichen Erleben, so kamen herüber aus dem Ich die hellseherisch-atavistischen Wahrnehmungen, die die Menschen in früheren Epochen hatten. Es waren diese hellseherisch-atavistischen Wahrnehmungen nur der Form nach Träume; was sie in sich enthielten, waren Wirklichkeiten. Man kann sagen: Das Ich ist entleert worden für den Menschen der Gegenwart seines hellseherisch-atavistischen Inhaltes, der die Menschen abgelaufener Epochen getragen hat, der sie durchdrungen hat mit der Überzeugung, daß sie ein Gemeinsames haben mit einem Göttlichen, daß sie zusammenhängen mit einem Göttlichen. Aus den atavistisch-hellseherischen Schauungen ist dem Menschen dasjenige aufgegangen, was sich für das Gefühlsleben als religiöse Empfindung und als religiöse Verehrung gegenüber denen verdichtet hat, denen der religiöse Kultus, der religiöse Opferdienst gewidmet wurde.
Wie steht die Sache heute? Heute ist das Ich entleert von diesen atavistisch-hellseherischen Schauungen, und wenn wir zurückblikken auf das Ich, ist es gewissermaßen mehr oder weniger nur ein Punkt in unserem Seelenleben. Es ist für jeden der Inhalt dieses Ichs ein fester Stützpunkt, aber eben nur ein Punkt. Zugleich aber leben wir in der Zeit, in der der Punkt wiederum zum Kreise werden soll, in der das Ich wiederum Inhalt bekommen soll. Damit das Ich wiederum Inhalt bekomme, ragt seit dem letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts die Geisteswelt so mächtig in unsere sinnliche Welt herein; deshalb ist es, daß seit den letzten siebziger Jahren des 19. Jahrhunderts die geistige Welt in ihren Offenbarungen in einer neuen Art wiederum herein will in unser physisches Dasein. Und was wir auf dem Boden der anthroposophisch orientierten Geisteswissenschaft wollen, das ist: alles das willig aufzunehmen und in Formen zu kleiden, die es menschlich mitteilbar machen, was herein will durch spirituelle Offenbarungen aus einer anderen, aber doch diese Welt tragenden Welt. Was ist das, was da herein will? Oh, es ist nichts Geringeres als das, was uns in einer gewissen Beziehung die Menschenzukunft garantiert. Es ist, wir können sagen, zwar nicht unmittelbar ein Blick hinter den Spiegel, aber es ist eine Garantie dafür, daß, wenn wir der Zukunft entgegeneilen als Menschheit, das heißt, den Weg hinter den Spiegel antreten - und das ist ja der Zukunft entgegenleben -, daß dann kraftvoll wird geschehen können, was wir in der Zukunft zu tun haben, wir und alle Menschen zu vollbringen haben, wenn wir die Kräfte erst gestählt haben, erst erstarkt haben durch das, was sich uns aus der geistigen Welt heraus geisteswissenschaftlich offenbart. So wie das Ich sich erfüllt hat für den Menschen der Vergangenheit mit atavistisch-hellseherischem Inhalt, der ihm garantiert hat seinen Zusammenhang mit dem Göttlichen, so soll sich in unserer Zeit erfüllen unser Ich mit einem neuen, vollbewußt aufgenommenen geistigen Inhalt, der uns wiederum das Band abgibt, das unsere Seele mit der göttlichen Seelenwesenheit verbindet. Die Menschen der Vorzeit haben das atavistische Hellsehen gehabt, und was als die letzte Erbschaft des atavistischen Hellsehens geblieben ist, das ist das abstrakte Nachdenken, das abstrakte Wissen der Menschen der Gegenwart. Verdünnt aus dem früheren atavistischen Hellsehen ist dies geblieben. Der Mensch der Gegenwart kann das Gefühl haben, daß diese Verdünnung, diese logisch-dialektische Verdünnung des alten atavistischen hellseherischen Wesens, sein Seelenhaftes nicht mehr zu tragen vermag. Dann wird er die Sehnsucht empfangen, etwas Neues in das Ich hereinzubekommen. Aber mit dem, was das Ende gebildet hat bei der Entwickelung der Menschheit von Urzeiten bis in die Gegenwart herein, mit dem muß jetzt der Anfang gemacht werden.
In alten Zeiten haben die Menschen hellseherische Offenbarungen gehabt und sie haben sie nicht verstanden; sie haben sie erst später verstehen gelernt. Heute muß der Mensch zuerst verstehen, muß anstrengen seine Intellektualität, muß anstrengen seinen Verstand, und wenn er ihn anstrengt durch das, was in der Geisteswissenschaft vorliegt, dann wird die Menschheit sich hinentwickeln wiederum zum hellseherischen Aufnehmen des Geistigen. Das ist allerdings etwas, was die meisten Menschen heute noch vermeiden möchten: ihren gesunden Menschenverstand anzuwenden, um die Geisteswissenschaft zu verstehen. Würde man es vermeiden wollen, so würde man auch vermeiden wollen, überhaupt die geistigen Offenbarungen in unsere irdische Welt hereinzulassen.
So verketten sich Vergangenheit und Zukunft an diesem in der Gegenwart liegenden Silvester-, Weltsilvestertag. Es ist schon einmal eine Art Weltsilvester, was heute vorhanden ist. Die Zukunft steht wie eine gewaltige Frage vor uns, aber nicht wie eine unbestimmte, abstrakte Frage, sondern wie eine konkrete Frage. Wie nähern wir uns demjenigen, was als eine Frage an die Menschheit eben als geistige Offenbarung, seit dem letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts immer mehr und mehr herein will in unsere irdische Welt? Und wie haben wir das ins Verhältnis zu dem zu stellen, was in der Vergangenheit sich geoffenbart hat? Das müßte lebendig empfunden werden, dann würde man fühlen, welche Bedeutung es doch hat, hinzuneigen mit seinen Sehnsuchten zu dem, was hier als anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft gemeint ist. Dann würde man den Ernst und die Würde des geisteswissenschaftlichen Strebens empfinden. Gerade in der Gegenwart wäre es nötig, diese Empfindung zu haben; denn wir appellieren ja eigentlich nicht an irgendeine menschliche Willkür, wir appellieren an dasjenige, was uns als Welterkenntnis aus der Weltentwickelung heraus selber sich offenbaren will, wir appellieren gewissermaßen an das, was die Götter mit den Menschen wollen. Aber da liegt die Tatsache vor, daß, wenn man auf der Seite an den Geist sich wendet, dann werden auf der anderen Seite die Menschen, die das Vergangene allein anbeten möchten, zu dem Geist des Widerspruchs, zu dem Geist des Widerstandes hingezogen. Und je mehr wir versuchen, mit aller Kraft zu ergreifen den Geist des Zukunft-Menschenseins, desto mehr werden gewissermaßen die Vergangenheitsmenschen besessen sein von dem Geist des Widerstandes.
In der Menschheit ist es heute bemerkbar, wie das religiöse Empfinden versucht, ein neues Leben in sich hereinzubekommen. Es sind tastende Versuche vielfach. Geisteswissenschaftliche Versuche sollen keine tastenden sein; durch sie soll die wirkliche, konkrete Geisteswelt ergriffen werden. Aber, ich möchte sagen, wie eine Ahnung davon, daß es so sein soll, stehen die Menschen vor uns, die da sagen: Die bloß religiöse Tradition genügt uns nicht, wir wollen ein inneres religiöses Erleben haben; wir wollen nicht bloß die Kunde vernehmen davon, daß der Christus nach den Traditionen, Überlieferungen, vor so und soviel Jahren in Palästina gelebt hat und gestorben ist, wir wollen das Christus-Erlebnis in der eigenen Seele erleben. - Auf vielen Gebieten sehen wir solches auftreten bei Menschen, die da glauben, daß ihnen in der innersten Seele etwas aufgegangen ist von dem Christus-Erlebnis. Es sind tastende Versuche, die oftmals sogar bedenklich sind, weil dann die Menschen gleich in ihrer seelischen Selbstsucht zufrieden sind und alle Hinneigung zum Geiste ablehnen. Aber sie sind da, diese Sehnsuchten nach innerem geistigem Erleben, und beachtet werden sollten auch die durchaus tastenden Versuche nach solchem inneren Geist-Erleben, nach einem neuen Interesse an der geistigen Welt. Dann aber regen sich die Geister des Widerspruchs.
Und nach dem, was davon gedruckt worden ist, was er selbst hat drucken lassen, soll ja neulich hier in Stuttgart ein solcher Vertreter des Vergangenheitsgeistes ganz merkwürdige Worte gesprochen haben über diese Versuche, die auf der einen Seite tastende Versuche sind, ein neues religiöses Interesse, ein neues religiöses Erleben heraufzubekommen, die auf der anderen Seite die Versuche sind, zu wirklich neuen konkreten Erkenntnissen der geistigen Welt zu kommen, wie sie sich durch die anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft geltend machen wollen. Ich weiß nicht, wie viele von Ihnen das Hirtenspiel gesehen haben, das jetzt in der Waldorfschule aufgeführt worden ist, wo der eine Hirte, da er eine geistige Erscheinung hat, sagt, er hätte bald die Sprache verloren. Nun, als ich die letzte Seite von Gogartens «Geisteswissenschaft und das Christentum» las, mußte ich sagen, ich hätte auch bald die Sprache verloren; denn man steht tatsächlich staunend davor, daß es möglich ist, daß dergleichen Dinge in der Gegenwart gesprochen werden können. Gerade solche Dinge sollten anregen zur Weltsilvesterbetrachtung, zur Vergleichung des Vergangenen mit dem notwendigen Zukünftigen. Denn was hat der betreffende Religionsmann eigentlich gesagt? Ich weiß nicht, ob es in seinem ganzen Gewicht empfunden worden ist. Er hat gesagt: «Es ist heute - was sage ich heute, es ist immer die wichtigste Aufgabe der Frömmigkeit dies Elementare, von dem ich sprach, zu bewahren. Es fehlt uns heute so gut wie ganz. Wir stecken im religiösen «Interesse» und im religiösen «Erleben». Und weil die Anthroposophie für das « Interesse» ein so guter Stoff und für das «Erleben > ein so gutes Mittel ist, darum ist man ihr gegenüber so gut wie ohne Hilfe und Widerstand. Man weiß eben wenig mehr von jener letzten elementaren Spannung, die von der Frömmigkeit ins Leben getragen wird und die jedes religiöse « Interesse» verjagt und jedes religiöses «Erleben» sprengt, jene Spannung zwischen Gott und Geschöpf. Und weil man von dieser Spannung wenig weiß, darum weiß man gerade so wenig von dem anderen, dem bedingungslosen, unmittelbaren Einssein von Gott und Mensch.» Hier sehen wir im Namen der Religion verpönt jedes religiöse Interesse, gesprengt jedes religiöse Erleben; und eine ganz unbestimmte Spannung, die ja selbstverständlich nicht weiter differenziert werden kann, die er auch nicht weiter differenzieren will, die soll treten an die Stelle des religiösen Interesses, des religiösen Erlebens. Man könnte die Sprache verlieren, wenn ein Religionsmann so spricht, daß er sagt, die wahre Frömmigkeit müsse jedes religiöse Interesse verjagen und jedes religiöse Erleben sprengen! So weit haben wir es gebracht! Und so weit haben wir es gebracht, daß gar nicht empfunden wird, was eigentlich darinnen liegt, wenn von einem offiziellen Religionsvertreter gesagt wird: Weg mit dem religiösen Interesse, weg mit dem religiösen Erleben!
Sehen Sie, abgesehen davon, daß der Mann nicht weiß, daß er selber niemals überhaupt von einer Religion sprechen könnte, wenn es nicht früher atavistisches religiöses Interesse und religiöses Erleben gegeben hätte; abgesehen davon, daß der Herr als offizieller Religionsvertreter niemals vor Zuhörern stehen würde, wenn nicht auf dem Weg des religiösen Interesses und religiösen Erlebens die Religion eingezogen wäre in die menschliche Entwickelung, abgesehen davon, weist ja dasjenige, was ich Ihnen eben vorgeführt habe, darauf hin, daß heute gerade die Menschen, die sich die rechten Vertreter des Religionswesens zu sein dünken, für die Ausrottung jeglichen religiösen Wesens wirken. Haben denn diese Menschen alle Möglichkeit verloren, das Menschlich-Seelische noch zu verstehen? Können denn diese Menschen gar nicht mehr verstehen, daß alles das, wonach sich der Mensch wendet mit seiner Aufmerksamkeit, geleitet sein muß von seinem Interesse, daß alles das, was überhaupt in das menschliche Bewußtsein hereinkommen soll, getragen sein muß vom Erleben? Es ist ja, als ob überhaupt nicht mehr das Menschenwesen aus solchem Bewußtsein heraus spräche, sondern nur noch der Geist des Widerstandes. Das ist es, was in allem Ernste vor unsere Seele treten sollte, wenn wir in den Spiegel schauen, der so geheimnisvoll das Vergangene enthüllt und das Zukünftige verhüllt, aber es doch in einer gewisser Weise offenbart, nämlich in derjenigen Weise, wie ich es eben auseinandergesetzt habe.
Ja, aber da will nun anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft dem religiösen Interesse dienen, da will anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft dem religiösen Erleben Inhalt zuführen. Und was geschieht? Sehen Sie, der römischen Kongregation wurde die Frage vorgelegt im Laufe dieses Jahres, ob die Lehren, die man heute theosophische nennt, sich mit den katholischen Lehren vereinigen lassen, und ob es denn erlaubt sei, sich theosophischen Gesellschaften anzuschließen, theosophischen Versammlungen beizuwohnen und theosophische Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zu lesen. Die Antwort hieß: Nein in allen Punkten, «negative in omnibus». Dies ist der Geist des Widerstandes, und der Jesuit Zimmermann interpretiert das insbesondere dahin, daß er diese Verfügung der römischen heiligen Kongregation auf die Anthroposophie anwendet. Nun, was jener Zimmermann schreibt, wird Ihnen ja bekannt sein, und ich brauche es Ihnen nicht besonders auseinanderzusetzen; aber wissen müssen Sie doch alle, welcher Wind von einer gewissen Seite her, durchsetzt von dem Geiste des Widerstandes, heute gegen anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft weht.
Welcher Geist in diesem Winde durch die Welt geht, man kann es ja auch spüren, wenn man weiß, daß aus der Feder jenes selben Zimmermann, der jahrelang die Lüge kolportiert hat, daß ich ein entsprungener Priester sei, die folgenden Worte stammen: «Durch den Abfall ihres Generalsekretärs Dr. Rudolf Steiner, der die meisten Mitglieder mit sich riß, anfänglich sehr geschwächt, hat sie sich» die Theosophische Gesellschaft - «mit den Jahren wieder einigermaRen erholt, zählt gegenwärtig etwa 25 Logen, darunter freilich etwa ein Fünftel «schlafende», und gibt in Düsseldorf als ihr Organ für Deutschland und Österreich das «Theosophische Streben » heraus. Über Steiner, der seine Theosophie nach dem Abfall «Anthroposophie» genannt hatte, klagte man in der letzten Zeit unter seiner Umgebung, daß er steril werde, keine neuen «Schauungen» mehr habe und immer nur dasselbe vortrage; er werde vermutlich sich bald auf etwas Neues werfen» und so weiter. Damit bereitet man einen folgenden Artikel vor, der dann in eben so gescheiter Weise über die Dreigliederung handelt. Sie sehen, von welchem Geiste der Wahrheit dieser Jesuit getragen ist. Ein Jesuit vertritt nicht bloß seine persönliche Meinung, sondern die Meinung der katholischen Kirche; denn er spricht nur als ein Glied der katholischen Kirche. Daher ist dasjenige, was er sagt, zu beziehen auf die katholische Kirche. Diese Dinge müssen heute auch vom moralischen Gesichtspunkt aus beurteilt werden. Vom moralischen Gesichtspunkt aus muß gefragt werden, ob jemand, der es so mit der Wahrheit hält wie dieser Mensch, der ja allerdings durch die gegenwärtigen Verhältnisse gar sehr in Betracht kommt für eine gewisse Religionsgesellschaft hier auf Erden, ob er vor dem echten Geist der Menschheit überhaupt in Betracht kommen kann. Solange nicht die Fragen solcher Art mit dem nötiigen Ernst betrachtet werden, solange sind wir nicht bei der richtigen Weltsilvesterbetrachtung angelangt. Aber heute ist es notwendig, daß wir bei dieser richtigen Weltsilvesterbetrachtung anlangen. Es ist notwendig, daß wir das oftmals leider egoistischen Ursprüngen entstammende sogenannte Mitleid ausdehnen auf die großen Menschheitsverhältnisse und jenes Menschheitsmitleid empfinden, das uns antreibt, eine geistige Bewegung wie diese wirklich für die Entwickelung der Menschheit fruchtbar zu machen. Möchten Sie, meine lieben Freunde, gerade am heutigen Tage empfinden, daß es ja der Geist der Welt selber ist, der herein will seit Jahrzehnten; möchten Sie empfinden am heutigen Abend, daß hier gedient werden will diesem in die Menschheit hereinwollenden Geiste; möchten Sie empfinden, daß hier diesem Geist so gedient werden will, daß die Seelen derer, die da mitempfinden und mitdenken wollen mit dieser anthroposophisch orientierten Geisteswissenschaft, ihre Vereinigung fühlen mit dem in die Welt hereinwollenden neuen Geist, der allein der sich zerstörenden irdischen Welt den aus dem Himmel wirkenden neuen Aufbauimpuls bringen kann! Möchten Sie in dieser Stunde, die immer in jedem Jahre symbolisch ist, weil gewissermaßen sie uns auffordert, sie als Scheidestunde zu empfinden zwischen der Vergangenheit und der Zukunft, möchten Sie in dieser Stunde Ihre Seelen vereinigen mit dem neuen Geist; möchten Sie das Berühren des vergangenen Jahres mit dem zukünftigen Jahre in Ihrer Seele so empfinden, daß sich da berührt das abgelaufene Weltenjahr mit dem anbrechenden Weltenjahr!
Das ablaufende Weltenjahr wird aber noch manche Nachwirkungen hineinsenden in die Zukunft; es werden geistige und rechtliche und wirtschaftliche zerstörende Kräfte sein. Um so notwendiger wird es sein, daß möglichst viele Menschen ergriffen werden in ihrer tiefsten Seele von dem Neujahr der Geisteszukunft und ein Wollen entwickeln, welches die Grundlage sein kann für ein Hineinbauen einer neuen geistigen Welt in die Zukunft der Menschheitsentwickelung. Nicht diejenigen werden für die Zukunft der Menschheit sorgen, die ertöten wollen religiöses Interesse, die wegschaffen wollen religiöses Erleben, sondern einzig und allein diejenigen, die durchschauen, wie durch unsere intellektualistische Zeit das alte religiöse Interesse verglommen ist, das alte religiöse Leben gelähmt ist, wie ein neues religiöses Interesse die Menschheit ergreifen muß, wie ein neues religiöses Erleben ersprießen muß in der Menschheit, damit die Menschen in den Kosmos neue Keime eines künftigen Daseins hineintragen können.
Fourth Lecture
On this evening it is always fitting for us to reflect on how the past and the future are intertwined in life and in the existence of the world, how the past is intertwined with the future in all of cosmic life, in which the human being is interwoven, how how the past and the future are linked in every part of life, in which our own individual existence is interwoven, through everything that it has been allowed to do and think in the past year and what it may plan for the coming year. In the spirit of our anthroposophical spiritual science, the thoughts by which we lead ourselves before our soul, as it were, in accordance with our needs, as we have done in the past year and as we intend to do with the appropriate seriousness and dignity, by illuminating them with a higher light, through that which we can take up spiritually in ourselves through the contemplation of great cosmic events. How does our human life actually relate to the past and the future? It is like a mirror. Yes, this comparison with a mirror corresponds much more closely to reality than one would initially like to imagine. We do indeed stand before a mirror when we strive for a little self-knowledge. In front of the mirror, where we find ourselves looking into it, there is that part of the past that we know is reflected in the mirror. And behind the mirror lies that which cannot be looked into at first; as little can be looked into as one can see spatially what lies behind a mirror. The question that arises here is perhaps: What exactly is the mirror coating in this world mirror of ours, through which the transparent becomes a mirror? In the case of the three-dimensional mirror, the glass is coated on the back so that our gaze does not penetrate through this glass. What then is the coating on that mirror of the world that reflects the past to us, that initially hides the future behind it? That, my dear friends, is coated with our own nature, coated with our human nature.
We need only remember that we do not in fact succeed in visualizing ourselves before ordinary knowledge. We do not see through ourselves; we see through ourselves as little as we see through a mirror. Much radiates back to us when we look into ourselves. What we have experienced, what we have learned, that radiates back; but our own being, it hides, because we can see through ourselves in our self as little as we can see through the mirror in space. Considered on a large scale, and I would say considered in the abstract, we can look at this mirror comparison as I have presented it to you now; but in the particular, it modifies itself somewhat. If we look at our lives and try to reflect on them – because looking back at our lives is, in fact, looking back at a mirror, which reflects what is going on in our soul – we have to admit that only part of what we have experienced appears to us, is reflected. When you try to look back on your experiences, these experiences are continually interrupted. You look back on what today has brought you, but you do not look back on what last night has brought you. The experiences of the night are an interruption. And again you look back on yesterday and again you do not look back on the night before yesterday and so on. The nightly periods that are not filled with thoughts of experiences are continually turning on. It is an illusion when we look back and believe that we can see our whole life: we are, so to speak, only piecing together what the days contain; but in reality we should be leading our life's journey with continuous interruptions before our soul.
We can now ask ourselves: are these interruptions in our life's journey necessary? Yes, they are necessary. If we did not have these interruptions in our life's journey, or rather, in retrospect on our life's journey, then we would not become aware of our self as human beings. We would see our life as being fulfilled by the mere outside world and the sense of self would not arise at all in our life. The fact that we feel and sense our self comes from the fact that this life is always interrupted in pieces. It is precisely with regard to this perception of the self, brought about by the interruptions in the course of life, that humanity stands at a critical time in the present day. When the person of the present day looks back and, through the act of looking back, has his or her self in the way just described, then this self of the person of the present day is, in a certain respect, empty; we only know of our self. The people of earlier epochs of the earth's development knew more. Just as in the ordinary course of the day dreams from a person's nightly experiences shine through, so too did clairvoyant-atavistic perceptions come from the ego, which people in earlier epochs had. These clairvoyant-atavistic perceptions were only dreams in form; what they contained within them were realities. We can say that for people in the present day, the ego has been emptied of its clairvoyant-atavistic content, which carried people through past epochs and imbued them with the conviction that they have something in common with the divine, that they are connected to the divine. From these atavistic clairvoyant visions, something has emerged for the human being that has taken shape in the emotional life as religious feeling and as religious worship towards those to whom the religious cultus, the religious sacrificial service, was dedicated.
What is the situation today? Today, the self is emptied of these atavistic-clairvoyant visions, and when we look back at the self, it is, to a certain extent, more or less just a point in our soul life. For everyone, the content of this self is a solid point of reference, but it is just a point. At the same time, however, we live in a time in which the point should become a circle again, in which the self should acquire content again. In order for the I to receive content again, the spiritual world has been intruding so powerfully into our sensual world since the last third of the 19th century; that is why, since the last seventy years of the 19th century, the spiritual world, in its revelations, wants to enter our physical existence again in a new way. And what we want on the basis of anthroposophically oriented spiritual science is to willingly accept all of this and to clothe it in forms that make it humanly communicable, what wants to come in through spiritual revelations from another world, but one that still sustains this world. What is it that wants to come in? Oh, it is nothing less than what, in a certain respect, guarantees the future of humanity. We can say that it is not directly a glimpse behind the mirror, but it is a guarantee that if we, as humanity, hurry towards the future, that is, set out on the path behind the mirror - and that is, after all, to live towards the future - then, once we have steeled our strength, once we have gained strength through what is revealed to us from the spiritual world through spiritual science, we will be able to powerfully accomplish what we and all people have to accomplish in the future, once we have steeled our strength, once we have gained strength through what is revealed to us from the spiritual world through spiritual science. Just as the ego was fulfilled for people of the past with atavistic clairvoyant content, which guaranteed their connection to the divine, so in our time our ego should be fulfilled with a new, fully consciously absorbed spiritual content, which in turn provides us with the bond that connects our soul to the divine soul. Men of the past had atavistic clairvoyance, and what has remained as the final inheritance of atavistic clairvoyance is abstract reflection, the abstract knowledge of men of the present. It has remained diluted from the earlier atavistic clairvoyance. The person of the present time can have the feeling that this dilution, this logical-dialectical dilution of the old atavistic clairvoyant being, is no longer able to sustain his soul. Then he will receive the longing to get something new into the I. But it must now be done with what the end has formed in the development of humanity from primeval times to the present day.
In ancient times, people have had clairvoyant revelations and did not understand them; they only learned to understand them later. Today, man must first understand, must exert his intellectuality, must exert his mind, and if he exerts it through what is available in spiritual science, then humanity will develop again towards clairvoyant reception of the spiritual. This is certainly something that most people today still want to avoid: applying their common sense to understand spiritual science. If one wanted to avoid it, one would also want to avoid letting spiritual revelations into our earthly world at all.
Thus, past and future are linked on this New Year's Eve, the world's New Year's Day, which lies in the present. What we have today is already a kind of world New Year's Eve. The future stands before us like a mighty question, but not like an indefinite, abstract question, but like a concrete one. How do we approach what, as a question to humanity, has increasingly wanted to enter our earthly world since the last third of the 19th century precisely as spiritual revelation? And how do we relate this to what has been revealed in the past? This should be felt in a living way, then one would feel the importance of leaning with one's longings towards what is meant here as anthroposophically oriented spiritual science. Then one would sense the seriousness and dignity of spiritual scientific striving. It is especially necessary in the present time to have this feeling, for we are not appealing to human arbitrariness, but to that which wants to reveal itself to us as world knowledge out of the evolution of the world. But the fact is that if you turn to the spirit on the one hand, then on the other hand people who want to worship the past alone are drawn to the spirit of contradiction, to the spirit of resistance. And the more we try to grasp with all our strength the spirit of being human in the future, the more the people of the past will be possessed, as it were, by the spirit of resistance.
In humanity today, it is noticeable how religious feeling is trying to take in a new life. In many cases, these are groping attempts. Spiritual scientific attempts should not be groping; through them the real, concrete spiritual world is to be grasped. But, I would like to say, like a presentiment of how it should be, people stand before us saying: mere religious tradition is not enough for us, we want to have an inner religious experience; we do not want not merely hear the report that according to tradition the Christ lived and died in Palestine so and so many years ago, we want to experience the Christ-experience in our own soul. In many fields we see this kind of thing happening among people who believe that something of the Christ-experience has dawned on them in their innermost soul. These are groping attempts, which are often even alarming, because then people are immediately satisfied in their selfishness and reject all inclination towards the spirit. But these longings for inner spiritual experience are there, and attention should also be paid to the groping attempts at such inner spiritual experience, to a new interest in the spiritual world. But then the spirits of contradiction stir.
And according to what has been printed of it, what he himself has had printed, a representative of the spirit of the past is said to have spoken very strange words here in Stuttgart about these attempts, which on the one hand are tentative attempts to evoke a new religious interest, a new religious experience, and on the other hand, they are attempts to arrive at truly new, concrete insights into the spiritual world, as they want to assert themselves through anthroposophically oriented spiritual science. I don't know how many of you have seen the play performed at the Waldorf School, in which one of the shepherds, after having a spiritual experience, says he would soon have lost his voice. Well, when I read the last page of Gogarten's “Geisteswissenschaft und das Christentum” (Spiritual Science and Christianity), I had to say that I would have been speechless too; because one is actually amazed that it is possible that such things can be spoken in the present. Such things should inspire us to contemplate the world on New Year's Eve, to compare the past with what is necessary for the future. For what did the religious man in question actually say? I do not know whether it has been felt in all its weight. He said, “Today, what do I say today, it is always the most important task of piety to preserve this elementary element of which I spoke. We lack it almost entirely today. We are stuck in religious 'interest' and religious 'experience'. And because anthroposophy is such good material for 'interest' and such a good means for 'experience', people are almost without help and resistance towards it. We simply know little more about that ultimate elementary tension that is carried from piety into life and that chases away all religious 'interest' and explodes all religious 'experience', that tension between God and creature. And because we know little about this tension, we know just as little about the other, the unconditional, direct oneness of God and man.” Here we see every religious interest proscribed in the name of religion, every religious experience blown up; and a completely indeterminate tension, which of course cannot be further differentiated, and which he does not want to further differentiate, is to take the place of religious interest, of religious experience. One could lose one's voice when a man of religion speaks in such a way as to say that true piety must chase away all religious interest and break up every religious experience! This is how far we have come! And this is how far we have come that there is no sense at all of what is actually involved when an official representative of religion says: Away with religious interest, away with religious experience!
You see, apart from the fact that the man does not know that he himself could never speak of a religion at all if it had not previously existed atavistic religious interest and religious experience would have existed; apart from the fact that the gentleman, as an official representative of religion, would never stand before an audience if it were not for the fact that religion and religious experience religion would have been left out in the evolution of man, quite apart from what I have just shown you, namely, that today it is precisely those people who think of themselves as the true representatives of religion who are working to eradicate all religious feeling. Have these people lost all possibility of understanding the human soul? Can these people no longer understand that everything to which a person turns his attention must be guided by his interest, that everything that is to enter into human consciousness at all must be borne by experience? It is indeed as if it is no longer the human being speaking out of such consciousness at all, but only the spirit of resistance. This is what should come before our soul in all seriousness when we look into the mirror, which so mysteriously reveals the past and veils the future, but in a certain way still reveals it, namely in the way I have just explained.
Yes, but anthroposophically oriented spiritual science wants to serve religious interest, anthroposophically oriented spiritual science wants to provide religious experience with content. And what happens? You see, the Roman Congregation was asked the question during the course of this year, whether the teachings that are now called theosophical can be reconciled with Catholic teachings, and whether it is permissible to join theosophical societies, attend theosophical meetings and read theosophical journals and newspapers. The answer was: No in all points, “negative in omnibus”. This is the spirit of the resistance, and the Jesuit Zimmermann interprets this in particular to mean that he applies this decree of the Holy Congregation of Rome to anthroposophy. Now, you are no doubt familiar with what Zimmermann writes, and I do not need to present it to you in detail. But you all need to know what wind is blowing today from a certain quarter, imbued with the spirit of resistance, against spiritual science oriented towards anthroposophy.
What spirit is in this wind that is blowing through the world can be sensed when one knows that the following words come from the pen of the same carpenter who for years has been spreading the lie that I am an escaped priest: “Due to the defection of its General Secretary Dr. Rudolf Steiner, who took most of the members with him, initially very weakened, it has over the years somewhat recovered. It currently has about 25 lodges, including about a fifth of “dormant” lodges, and publishes the “Theosophical Striving” in Düsseldorf as its organ for Germany and Austria. Recently, people close to Steiner, who had called his theosophy “anthroposophy” after his breakaway, complained that he was becoming sterile, had no more new “visions” and always presented the same things; presumably he would soon “throw himself at something new” and so on. This is how they prepare for a subsequent article, which then deals with the threefold order in just as clever a way. You see what spirit of truth this Jesuit is imbued with. A Jesuit does not merely represent his personal opinion, but the opinion of the Catholic Church; for he speaks only as a member of the Catholic Church. Therefore what he says is to be related to the Catholic Church. These things must also be judged today from the moral point of view. From a moral point of view, it must be asked whether someone who has such a relationship to the truth as this person, who, of course, is very much considered in relation to the present circumstances of a certain religious community here on earth, whether he can be considered at all in relation to the genuine spirit of humanity. As long as questions of this kind are not considered with the necessary seriousness, we have not arrived at the right New Year's Eve contemplation. But today it is necessary that we arrive at this right New Year's Eve contemplation. It is necessary that we expand our so-called compassion, which unfortunately often stems from selfish origins, to the great conditions of humanity and feel that compassion for humanity that drives us to make a spiritual movement like this one truly fruitful for the development of humanity. My dear friends, may you feel, especially on this day, that it is the spirit of the world itself that has been wanting to come in for decades; may you feel this evening that this spirit, which wants to come into humanity, wants to be served; may you feel that this spirit wants to be served that the souls of those who want to feel and think with this anthroposophically oriented spiritual science feel their union with the new spirit that wants to enter the world, which alone can bring the destructive earthly world the new impulse for building from heaven! In this hour, which is always symbolic in every year because, in a sense, it calls upon us to feel it as a dividing hour between the past and the future, would you like to unite your souls with the new spirit; would you like to feel in your soul the touching of the past year with the future year, so that the past world year touches the dawning world year!
The passing world year will still send many repercussions into the future; they will be destructive spiritual, legal and economic forces. It will be all the more necessary that as many people as possible are seized in their deepest souls by the new year of the spiritual future and develop a will that can be the basis for building a new spiritual world into the future of human development. It is not those who want to kill religious interest, who want to remove religious experience, but only those who see through how the old religious interest has been extinguished by our intellectualistic time, how old religious life is paralyzed, how a new religious interest must take hold of humanity, how a new religious experience must spring up in humanity, so that people can carry new seeds of a future existence into the cosmos.