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The Apocalypse of St. John
GA 104

19 June 1908, Nuremberg

Lecture II

Yesterday we described the spirit of the Apocalypse of John in a general way. We tried to give a few broad outlines showing that in this Apocalypse is described what may be called a Christian initiation. To-day it will be my task to present to you in general the nature of initiation, to describe what takes place in a man when through initiation he is enabled to see for himself those spiritual worlds which lie behind the sense worlds; and further it will be my task to give in broad outline a description of the experiences in initiation. For only by entering a little more closely into the nature of initiation can we gradually understand this significant religious record known as the Apocalypse.

First of all we must again consider closely the two states of human consciousness, the one lasting from morning when a person awakes until evening when he goes to sleep, and the other which begins when he goes to sleep and ends when he awakes. We have often brought to mind that man as we know him in his present form is, to begin with, a fourfold being; that he consists of the physical, etheric and astral bodies and the “I.” To spiritual vision these four principles appear in their external form as if the human physical body is enclosed in the centre like a kind of kernel. During the day this physical body is permeated by the so-called etheric or life-body which projects very slightly round about the head as a luminous halo, but which also completely permeates the head; further down it becomes more cloudy and indistinct and the more it approaches the lower parts of man the less definitely does it show the form of the physical body.

Now these two principles of the human being are during the day enveloped by what we call the astral body, which projects on all sides like an ellipse, in the shape of an egg, and in its fundamental form it has luminous rays which look as if their direction really were from outside inward, as if they would penetrate from outside to the inner part of the man. Within this astral body are outlined a great number of different figures, every possible kind of lines and rays, many like flashes of lightning, many in curious twists; all this surrounds the human being in the most varied manifestations of light. The astral body is the expression of his passions, instincts, impulses and desires, as also of all his thoughts and ideas. The clairvoyant consciousness sees portrayed in this astral body all that one calls soul-experiences, from the lowest impulses to the highest ethical ideals.

Then we have the fourth principle of the human being, which one might sketch as if something were sending in rays to a point lying about one centimetre (3/8 inch) behind the forehead. That would be the diagrammatic representation of the fourfold man. In the course of these lectures we shall see how the several parts are distinguished in the whole.

This is a picture of man during the day from moving when he wakes, until night when he goes to sleep. Now, when he goes to sleep, the physical and etheric bodies remain on the bed and a kind of streaming-out of the astral body takes place. “Streaming-out” does not express it quite exactly; it is really as if a kind of mist formed. So that in the night we see the astral body which has withdrawn from the physical and the etheric bodies like a kind of spiral mist around the man, while the fourth principle of the human being disappears almost entirely towards one side, that is, it disperses and becomes vague. The lower part of the astral body can only just be seen; it is the upper part which is indicated as the “astral body which has withdrawn.”

Yesterday we emphasized what has to happen to a person if he is to receive initiation. If he occupies himself only with the customary activities of the present day he is unable to receive initiation. He must be so prepared that during ordinary daily life he performs the exercises of meditation, concentration, etc., prescribed for him by the schools of initiation. The effect produced by these exercises is, on the whole, the same in all kinds of initiation. They only differ in that the further we go back into pre-Christian schools of initiation, they are directed more to the training of thought, to the exercise of the power of thinking. The nearer we approach to Christian times the more are these exercises directed to train the forces of feeling; and the nearer we come to modern times the more we see how, in the so-called Rosicrucian training—conditioned by the demands and requirements of humanity—a particular kind of will culture, the exercise of the will is introduced. Although the meditations are at first similar to those of pre-Christian schools, there nevertheless prevails everywhere at the basis of the Rosicrucian exercises a particular training of the element of Will. The chief aim is, so to influence a person during the day—even if only for a short time, perhaps five to fifteen minutes—that the effect continues when the pupil falls asleep and the astral body withdraws. This effect was produced by the exercises given in the Oriental Mysteries, in the Egyptian Mysteries, in the Pythagorean schools, and it also resulted from the exercises of meditation based chiefly upon the Gospel of John. The astral body of a man who performs such, shall we say, occult exercises, gradually manifests many different changes at night. It manifests different light-effects; it shows that plastic formation of the organs of which we have already spoken and this becomes ever more distinct. The astral body gradually acquires an inner organization such as the physical body possesses in its eyes, ears, etc.

Yet this would never lead one to see much, particularly in the case of the man of the present day; the pupil, however, has some slight perception when his inner organs have been developed to a certain extent. He begins to become conscious during sleep. A spiritual environment gleams forth from the otherwise universal darkness. He perceives wonderful pictures of plant life; this was more especially the case in ancient times: to-day it takes place more seldom. These are the most primitive achievements of clairvoyance. Where previously there had been only the darkness of unconsciousness there now arises something of a dreamlike plant structure yet living and real. Much of what is described in the mythologies of ancient peoples was seen in this way. When we read in legends that Woden, Willy and Weh found a tree on the seashore and that from it they created man, this indicates that it was first seen in such a picture. In all the mythologies you may perceive this primitive kind of sight, this vision of plants. Paradise is also the description of such a vision, Paradise with its two trees of knowledge and of life. It is the result of this astral vision. It is not without cause that in Genesis itself is indicated that Paradise, together with all that is described in the beginning of the Bible, was seen in this manner. First we must learn to read the Bible, then we shall understand how closely and significantly it portrays this mysterious condition in its descriptions. In former times they did not teach of Paradise, of the beginning of the Bible, as we do now. The early Christians were told that “Adam fell into a sleep,” and that this was the sleep in which Adam, looking back, perceived the visions described in the beginning of Genesis. It is only in our day that the belief has grown that such words as “Adam fell into a sleep” are just an accident. They are no accident. Every word in the Bible has a deep meaning and only he can understand the Bible who knows how to value every single word.

That is the first thing. Then, however, in the pre-Christian Mysteries something special had to take place. When the pupil had performed his exercises for a long period—and this lasted for a very long time—when he had received what was necessary to produce order in the soul., when he had absorbed what we now call Anthroposophy, then he was at last able to participate in the old initiation proper. In what did this old initiation consist?

It is not sufficient that organs be formed in the astral body. They must be imprinted in the etheric body. Just as the letter of a seal is imprinted in sealing wax, so must the organs of the astral body be imprinted in the etheric body. For this purpose the neophyte in ancient initiations was brought into a particular condition. For three and a half days he lay in a death-like condition. We shall see more and more that this condition cannot and may not be brought about in our day, but that there are now other means of initiation. I am now describing the pre-Christian initiation, in which the neophyte was for three and a half days put into a death-like condition by the hierophant. Either he was laid in a kind of small chamber, a kind of grave where he lay in a death-like sleep, or he was bound in a particular position with outstretched hands on a cross, for this facilitated the arrival of the condition aimed at.

From many different lectures we know that death takes place in a man through the etheric withdrawing together with the astral body and the “I,” and only the physical body remaining behind, At death something takes place which otherwise has never occurred between birth and death in the ordinary course of life. The etheric body never, even in the deepest sleep, leaves the physical body, but is always within it. At death it leaves the physical body. Now during the death-like condition part at least of the etheric body leaves the physical body, so that a part of the etheric body which was within it before, in this condition finds itself outside. This is described, as you know, in more exoteric lectures by saying that the etheric body is withdrawn. That is not actually the case, for we can only now make the necessary fine distinctions. In the three and a half days during which the Priest-Initiate carefully watched over the neophyte, only the lower part of the body of the pupil was united with the etheric body. This is the stage when the astral body, with all the organs formed in it, imprints itself in the etheric body. At this moment illumination takes place. When the neophyte was awakened after three and a half days, what is called illumination had come to him, that which had to follow after purification, which consists merely in the development of the organs of the astral body. The pupil was now a “knower” in the spiritual world; what he had previously seen was only a preparatory stage of vision. This world consisting of forms somewhat resembling plants was now supplemented by essentially new structures.

We have now to describe more exactly what the initiate then began to see. When he had been led to illumination it was clear to him when he was awakened, that he had seen something which he had previously never been able consciously to grasp. What then had he seen? What was he able to call up in a certain sense before his soul as an important memory-picture of his vision? If we wish to understand what he had seen we must cast a glance at the evolution of man. We must remember that man has only gradually gained the degree of individual consciousness he now possesses. He could not always say “I” to himself as he does to-day. We need only go back to the time when the Cherusci, the Heruli, etc., lived in the parts now inhabited by the Germans. The different human beings did not then feel themselves as separate human egos, but as members of the tribe. Just as a finger does not feel itself to be something existing independently, so each Cheruscan did not feel that he could unconditionally say “I” to himself; his “I” was the “I” of the whole tribe. The tribe represented a single organism and a group of men who were related by blood had one “I”-soul in common. In those days you yourselves were members of a great community, just as to-day your two arms belong to your “I.” This may be clearly seen in the case of the people dealt with in the Old Testament. Each single member felt himself to be a member of the race. The individual did not speak of himself in the highest sense when he uttered the ordinary “I,” but he felt something deeper when he said “I and the Father Abraham are one.” For he felt a certain “I”-consciousness which descended from Abraham through all the generations to each member of the race. That which was related by blood was included in one “I.” It was like a common group-soul-“I” which included the whole race and those that understood the matter said: That which really forms our inmost immortal being dwells not in the separate members but in the entire race. All of the several members belong to this common “I.” Hence one who understood the matter knew that when he died he united himself with an invisible being which reached back to Father Abraham. The individual really felt that he returned into Abraham's bosom. He felt that his immortal part found refuge, as it were, in the group-soul of the race. This group-soul of the entire race could not descend to the physical plane. The people themselves saw only the separate human forms, but these were to them not the reality, for this was in the spiritual world. They dimly felt that that which flowed through the blood was the Divine. And because they had to see God in Jehovah they called this Divinity “Jahve” or also his Countenance, “Michael.” They considered Jahve as the spiritual group-soul of the people.

The individual human being on the physical plane could not see these spiritual beings. The initiate, on the other hand, who experienced the great moment when the astral body was imprinted in the etheric body, was able to see first of all the most important group-souls. When we look back into ancient periods of humanity we everywhere find that the present “I” has developed from such a group-consciousness, a group-ego; so that when the seer looks back he finds that the individual human beings flow together more and more into the group-souls. Now there are four chief types of group-souls, four prototypes. If we observe all the various group-souls of the different souls we notice a certain similarity but there are also differences. If we classify them there are four groups, four types. The spiritual observer sees them clearly when he looks back to the time when man was not yet in the flesh, when he had not descended to the earth. We must now consider more exactly the moment when from the spiritual regions man descended into flesh. This can only be represented in great symbols.

There was a time when our earth was composed of very much softer material than it is now, when rock and stone were not so solid, when the forms of the plants were quite different, when the whole was as if embedded like a primeval ocean in water-caves, when air and water were not separated, when all the beings now dwelling on the earth, the animals and plants, were developed in water. When the minerals began to assume their present form, man emerged from invisibility. The neophyte saw it in this way: Surrounded by a kind of shell, man descended from the regions which are now the regions of air. He was not yet as physically condensed when the animals already existed in the flesh. He was a delicate airy being even in the Lemurian epoch and he so developed that the spiritual picture presents the four group-souls: On one side something like the image of a Lion, on the other the likeness of a Bull, up above something like an Eagle and below something similar to Man. Such is the spiritual picture. Thus man moves forth from the darkness of the spirit-land. And the force which formed him appears as a kind of rainbow. The more physical powers surround the entire structure of this human being like a rainbow (Rev. 4). We have to describe this development of man in various realms and in various ways. The above description represents the way it appears to the investigator when he looks back and sees how these four group-souls have developed out of the common Divine-human which descends. From time immemorial this stage has been symbolized in the form represented in the second of the so-called seven seals.1Dr. Steiner is referring to the seven symbolic Seals which had been drawn from his indications. They showed stages of human evolution visible in the astral world to the seer. See Occult Seals and Columns with introduction by Rudolf Steiner. That is the symbolic representation, but it is more than a mere symbol.

There you see these four group-souls emerging from an indefinite background, the rainbow surrounding it and the number twelve. Now we must understand what this number twelve signifies. When that which has just been described is seen coming forth, there is a clairvoyant feeling that it is surrounded by something of an entirely different nature from that which emerges from the indeterminate spiritual. In ancient times that by which it is surrounded was symbolized by the Zodiac, by the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The moment of entering into spiritual vision is connected with many other experiences. The first thing perceived by one whose etheric body goes forth is that it seems to him as if he grew larger and larger and extended himself over what he then perceives. The moment comes when the initiate says: “I do not merely see these four forms, but I am within them, I have expanded my being over them.” He identifies himself with them. He perceives that which is symbolized by the constellations, by the number twelve. We shall best understand that which spreads itself around, that which reveals itself, if we remember that our earth has passed through previous incarnations. We know that before the earth became earth it went through the condition of Saturn, then through that of Sun, then through that of Moon, and only then did it become our present earth. This was necessary, for only in this way was it possible for the beings we see on the earth around us to come forth as they have done. They had gradually to work through those changing forms.

So when we look back into the primeval past we see the first condition of our earth, that of ancient Saturn which at the beginning of its existence did not even shine. It consisted of a kind of warmth. You would not have been able to see it as a shining globe, but had you approached you would have come into a warmth space, because it then consisted only of warmth.

Someone might now ask: Did then the development of the world begin with Saturn? Have not perhaps other conditions brought about that which became Saturn? Was not Saturn preceded by other incarnations? It would be difficult to go back before Saturn because only with Saturn begins something without which it is impossible to go beyond Saturn, namely, that which we call time. Previously there were other forms of being; that is to say, we cannot really speak of a “before,” because time did not yet exist. Even time had a beginning! Before Saturn there was no time, there was only eternity, duration. All was then simultaneous. Only with Saturn did it come about that events followed one another. In that state of the world where there is only eternity, duration, there is also no movement. For time belongs to movement. There is no circulation, no revolution; there is duration and rest. As one says in Spiritual Science: there is blissful rest in duration. That is the expression for it. Blissful rest in duration preceded that Saturn condition. The movement of the heavenly bodies only entered with Saturn. The path indicated by the twelve signs of the Zodiac was conceived of as signs, and the time during which a planet passed through one of these constellations was spoken of as a cosmic hour; twelve cosmic hours, twelve hours of day and twelve of night! To each cosmic body, Saturn, Sun and Moon, is reckoned a consecutive number of cosmic hours which are grouped into cosmic days; and of these periods of time seven are outwardly perceptible and five are more or less outwardly imperceptible. We distinguish there-fore seven Saturn revolutions or seven great Saturn days and five great Saturn nights. We might also say five days and seven nights, for the first and last “days” are twilight days. We are accustomed to call these seven revolutions, these seven cosmic days, Manvantaras, and the five cosmic nights, Pralayas. If we wish to have it exactly correspond to our reckoning of time, we reckon two planetary conditions together, that is, Saturn and Sun, Moon and Earth; and we then get twenty-four revolutions. These twenty-four revolutions form important epochs in the representation of the world and we picture these twenty-four revolutions ruled by beings in the universe who are represented in the Apocalypse as the twenty-four Elders, the twenty-four rulers of the cosmic revolutions, the cosmic periods. In the seal (shown by Dr. Steiner) they are typified as the cosmic clock. The numbers on the clock are here only interrupted by the double crowns of the Elders to indicate that these are the Time-Kings because they rule the revolutions of the cosmic bodies. The initiate sees this when he first looks back into the picture of the past.

We must now ask: Why does the initiate see this picture? Because in it are represented symbolically in astral pictures the forces which have formed the human etheric body in its present shape, and corresponding with this the physical body. Why this is so you may easily imagine. Imagine a man lying in bed. With his astral body and “I” he leaves the physical body and etheric body. But now the physical and etheric bodies as they are to-day, belong to the present physical human body; and to the present etheric body belong the astral body and the “I.” This physical and this etheric body cannot exist alone. They have become what they are because the astral body and “I” have been membered into them. Only a physical body which contains neither blood nor nerves can exist without an astral body and “I.” That is the reason why the plant can exist without astral body and “I,” because it has neither blood nor nervous system, for the nervous system is connected with the astral body and the blood with the “I.” There is no being having a nervous system in the physical body which is not permeated by an astral body and there is no human being having a blood system in the physical body into which the “I” has not entered. Think of what you do every night. You callously desert your physical and etheric bodies and leave them with the blood and nervous systems to themselves. If it merely depended upon you, your physical body would have to die every night through your deserting your nervous and blood systems; it would die the very moment the astral body and “I ” left the physical and etheric bodies. But the spiritual investigator sees how other beings, higher spiritual beings, then occupy it. He sees how they pass into it and do what man does not do in the night, namely, take care of the blood and nervous systems. These are the same beings, however, who have created man, in so far as he consists of a physical body and etheric body, not only to-day but from incarnation to incarnation. They are the same beings who caused the first rudiments of the physical body to originate upon ancient Saturn and who formed the etheric body upon the Sun. These beings who from the very beginning of the Saturn and Sun periods have ruled in the physical and etheric bodies, now rule every night while man is asleep and basely leaves his physical and etheric bodies, surrendering them to death, so to speak; they penetrate and take care of his blood and nervous systems.

Hence, too, it is comprehensible that at the moment when the astral body touches the etheric body in order to imprint itself in it, man is then pervaded by those forces which have formed him; he then sees the picture of the forces which are symbolized in the seal. That which upholds him in life and connects him with the whole universe flashes out at this moment of initiation. He sees what has formed the two members of his being, the physical body and etheric body, that which preserves their life every night; but he himself has still no share in it for he cannot yet work into these two principles of his being. If it depended upon man, the physical body and the etheric body, which during the night lie on the bed, would be condemned to a plant existence, for he leaves them to themselves. Hence to man the state of sleep is an unconscious condition such as the plant always possesses.

Now what has happened, in the case of an ordinary man, with that which has withdrawn during sleep? What has become of the astral body and the “I”? These also are unconscious during the night. The ordinary man experiences nothing in his astral body during sleep at night. But suppose a person were passing through the seven stages of the John-initiation—those important stages in Christian initiation—he experiences not merely what has been described up to now; quite apart from the fact that when the astral body touches the etheric body he is able to develop clairvoyant power, something else would come about. He becomes conscious of the soul-peculiarities, the human soul-qualities of the astral and devachanic worlds from which his soul is really born. To this picture is added a still higher symbol which seems to fill the whole world. To this symbol of the old initiation there is added for one who passes through the stages of the initiation of John something else which may best be represented by the first seal. The Christian initiation possessed this as the symbol of the old initiation. We are now presenting these things from the standpoint of Christianity, which, however, has to receive then and change them into something different. He sees a spiritual vision (Rev. i, 12) of the Priest-king with the golden girdle, with feet which seem to consist of cast metal, his head covered with hair as of white wool, out of his mouth a fiery sword flaming and in his hand the seven cosmic-stars, Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus.

The form in the centre of the second picture seal was only indicated in the old initiation as the fifth of the group-souls. It is that which only existed germinally in ancient humanity and only came forth as what is described as the Son of Man who rules the stars when he fully appears to man in his true form.

Thus from this symbolical representation we must first of all clearly understand that the separation of the various principles in present-day humanity—physical body and etheric body on the one hand and astral body and “I” upon the other—may be so considered, that each may contribute its part, as it were, to initiation, first of all through the form of initiation when the astral body touches the etheric body, when the four group-souls flash out, and then in the treatment of the astral body so that this too acquires the ability to see. Previously the highest vision in the super-sensible world had only reached as far as a kind of plant experience of the world. Through the Christian initiation a higher stage of initiation is reached in the astral body. Here you have the two things mentioned at the beginning of the Apocalypse described from the principle of initiation itself. The writer of the Apocalypse has, however, described them in the reverse order, and rightly so. He first describes the vision of the Son of Man, the appearance of Him Who is, Who was and Who is to come—and then the other. Both are symbols of what the initiate experiences during initiation.

Thus we have described what happens in certain cases of initiation and what at first is experienced. In our next lecture we shall proceed further to the details of these real, actual experiences and we shall find them reflected in the mighty presentation given in the Apocalypse of John.

Zweiter Vortrag

[ 1 ] In einer Art Einleitung haben wir gestern den Geist der Apokalypse des Johannes im allgemeinen charakterisiert. Wir versuchten einige große Richtlinien hinzustellen, durch die uns klarwerden kann, daß in dieser Apokalypse dasjenige geschildert ist, was man nennen kann eine christliche Einweihung oder eine christliche Initiation. Es wird heute meine Aufgabe sein, Ihnen das Wesen der Einweihung oder Initiation im allgemeinen darzustellen, Ihnen zu schildern, was vorgeht im Menschen, wenn er durch die Einweihung in die Lage versetzt werden soll, selber hineinzuschauen in jene geistigen Welten, die hinter den sinnlichen Welten liegen, und es wird ferner meine Aufgabe sein, in einigen größeren Zügen zu schildern, welcher Art die Erlebnisse innerhalb der Einweihung sind. Denn nur dadurch, daß wir uns ein wenig genauer einlassen auf das Wesen der Einweihung, nur dadurch können wir diese bedeutende religiöse Urkunde der Apokalypse nach und nach zu unserem Verständnis bringen.

[ 2 ] Zunächst müssen wir noch einmal die beiden Bewußtseinszustände des Menschen genau betrachten, also jenen Bewußtseinszustand, der vom Morgen, wenn der Mensch aufwacht, dauert bis zum Abend, wenn er einschläft, und den anderen Bewußtseinszustand, der mit dem Einschlafen beginnt und mit dem Aufwachen endigt. Wir haben uns oft vor die Seele geführt, daß der Mensch, so wie er uns in seiner heutigen Gestalt entgegentritt, zunächst eine vierfache Wesenheit ist, daß er besteht aus dem physischen Leib, dem Ätherleib, dem astralischen Leib und dem Ich. In der äußeren Form erscheinen dem hellsehenden Bewußtsein diese vier Glieder so, daß zunächst, wie eine Art Kern, in der Mitte der physische Menschenleib ist. Lassen Sie uns nur ganz schematisch die Sache vor unsere Augen stellen (es wird gezeichnet). Dieser physische Leib ist durchdrungen während des Tages von dem sogenannten Ätherleib, der nur ganz wenig, zunächst um den Kopf herum, wie ein heller Lichtschein hervorragt, der aber den Kopf ganz durchdringt. Weiter nach unten wird der Äther- oder Lebensleib immer nebelhafter und undeutlicher, und je mehr wir uns den unteren Gliedern des Menschen nähern, desto weniger zeigt er die Form des physischen Leibes in so strengem Sinne.

[ 3 ] Diese zwei Glieder der menschlichen Wesenheit sind nun wiederum bei Tage eingehüllt von dem, was wir den astralischen Leib nennen, der nach allen Seiten wie ein Ellipsoid, wie eine Eiform herausragt und in seiner Grundform leuchtende Strahlen hat, die eigentlich so aussehen, wie wenn sie von außen nach innen laufen und von außen nach innen den Menschen durchdringen würden. In diesen Astralleib sind hineingezeichnet eine Unsumme von verschiedenerlei Figuren, alle möglichen Arten von Linien und Strahlen, manche blitzartig, manche in sonderbaren Windungen. Das alles umgibt in den mannigfaltigsten Lichterscheinungen den Menschen. Der astralische Leib ist der Ausdruck seiner Leidenschaften, seiner Instinkte, Triebe und Begierden, aber auch aller seiner Gedanken und Vorstellungen. In diesem astralischen Leib sieht das hellseherische Bewußtsein alles abgebildet, was man seelische Erlebnisse nennt, von dem niedersten Triebe an bis hinauf zum höchsten sittlichen Ideale. Und dann haben wir das vierte Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit, das man so zeichnen möchte, als ob etwas Strahlen hereinsendet an den Punkt, der etwa einen Zentimeter hinter der Stirne liegt. Das würde die schematische Darstellung des viergliedrigen Menschen sein. Wir werden im Laufe dieser Vorträge sehen, wie sich die einzelnen Teile im Ganzen ausnehmen.

[ 4 ] Das also ist der Mensch während des Tages, vom Morgen, wenn er aufwacht, bis zum Abend, wenn er einschläft. Abends nun, wenn er einschläft, bleiben im Bette liegen der physische und der Ätherleib, und es zeigt sich eine Art Herausströmen dessen, was wir als den astralischen Leib bezeichnet haben. Das «Herausströmen» ist etwas ungenau ausgedrückt. Eigentlich ist es, wie wenn eine Art Nebel sich bildete, so daß wir also in der Nacht den aus dem physischen und ätherischen Leib herausgegangenen astralischen Leib wie eine Art von spiraligem Nebel um den Menschen herum sehen, währenddem das vierte Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit nach der einen Seite hin fast ganz verschwindet, das heißt ins Unbestimmte verläuft. Der nach unten verlaufende Teil des Astralleibes ist nur sehr schwach zu sehen, der obere Teil wird als der herausgetretene astralische Leib angesprochen.

[ 5 ] Nun haben wir schon gestern betont, was für den Menschen zu geschehen hat, wenn er die Einweihung empfangen soll. Wenn der Mensch sich nur mit dem beschäftigt, womit sich die Menschen in unserem Zeitalter gemeiniglich befassen, so kann er keine Einweihung erhalten. Der Mensch muß so vorbereitet werden, daß er während des gewöhnlichen Tageslebens jene Übungen macht, die ihm von den Eingeweihtenschulen vorgeschrieben werden, Meditation, Konzentration und so weiter. Diese Übungen sind im Grunde genommen in bezug auf ihre Bedeutung für den Menschen bei allen Einweihungsschulen dieselben. Sie sind nur insofern ein wenig voneinander verschieden, als sie, je weiter wir zurückgehen in die vorchristlichen Einweihungsschulen, mehr darauf gerichtet sind, das Denken, die Denkkräfte zu üben, zu trainieren. Je mehr wir uns den christlichen Zeiten nähern, desto mehr sind sie darauf gerichtet, die Gemütskräfte zu schulen, und je näher wir den neueren Zeiten kommen, desto mehr sehen wir, wie in den sogenannten Rosenkreuzerschulungen, durch die Forderungen und Bedürfnisse der Menschheit bedingt, eine besondere Art der Willenskultur, der Willensübungen eingeführt wird. Wenn auch die Meditationen zunächst ähnliche sind wie in den anderen vorchristlichen Schulen, so herrscht doch überall auf dem Grunde der Rosenkreuzerübungen eine besondere Schulung des Willenselementes. Worauf es aber ankommt und was ebenso erreicht wurde durch die Übungen der orientalischen Mysterienschulung, wie bei der ägyptischen und der pythagoräischen Schule und so weiter, und was auch die Wirkung jener Übungen ausmacht, die vorzugsweise von der Meditation des Johannes-Evangeliums ausgehen, das ist, daß auf den Menschen während des Tageslebens, wenn auch nur durch kurze Zeit, meinerwegen nur fünf oder fünfzehn Minuten, so-gewirkt wird, daß die Wirkung auch dann bleibt, wenn jener Zustand beim schlafenden Menschen eintritt, wo der astralische Leib herausgeht. Bei einem Menschen, der solche, sagen wir, okkulte Übungen macht, bei dem zeigt nach und nach der astralische Leib in der Nacht die mannigfaltigsten Veränderungen. Er weist andere Lichterscheinungen auf, er zeigt jene plastische Gliederung der Organe, von der wir schon gesprochen haben; und dann wird das immer deutlicher und deutlicher. Der astralische Leib bekommt nach und nach eine innere Organisation, wie sie der physische Leib in seinen Augen, Ohren und so weiter hat.

[ 6 ] Das würde aber noch immer nicht dahin führen, viel zu schauen, insbesondere nicht beim heutigen Menschen. Allerdings, einiges nimmt der Mensch schon wahr, wenn seine inneren Organe eine Weile ausgebildet sind. Dann beginnt er, während des Schlafes ein Bewußtsein zu haben. Geistige Umwelten dämmern heraus aus der sonstigen allgemeinen- Finsternis. Was da der Mensch wahrnehmen kann, was namentlich in den älteren Zeiten der Mensch wahrgenommen hat, denn heute ist es schon seltener, das sind wunderbare Bilder pflanzlichen Lebens. Das sind die primitivsten Errungenschaften des Hellschertums. Wo früher nur die Finsternis der Bewußtlosigkeit war, steigt etwas wie ein traumhaft Lebendiges, aber Wirkliches von einer Art Pflanzengebilde auf. Und vieles von dem, was Ihnen geschildert ist in den Mythologien der alten Völker, ist auf diese Art gesehen worden. Wenn geschildert wird in Sagen, daß Wotan, Wile und We einen Baum am Strande fanden und daß sie daraus den Menschen gebildet haben, so weist das darauf hin, daß es zuerst in einem solchen Bilde geschaut worden ist. In allen Mythologien können Sie diese primitive Art des Schauens, des pflanzlichen Schauens wahrnehmen. Die Schilderung eines solchen Schauens ist auch das Paradies, namentlich mit seinen beiden Bäumen der Erkenntnis und des Lebens; das ist das Ergebnis dieses astralischen Schauens. Und nicht umsonst wird Ihnen in der Genesis selber angedeutet, daß das Paradies und das, was überhaupt in dem Beginn der biblischen Darstellung geschildert wird, geschaut worden ist. Man muß nur erst die Bibel lesen lernen, dann wird man schon verstehen, wie tief und bedeutsam sie diesen geheimnisvollen Zustand festhält in ihren Schilderungen. So wie man heute lehrt über das Paradies, über den Beginn der Bibel, hat man früher nicht gelehrt. Da hat man hingewiesen darauf: Adam verfiel in einen Schlaf — und das war jener Schlaf, so sagte man den ersten Christen, in welchem Adam rückschauend die Erscheinungen wahrnahm, die im Beginne der Genesis geschildert werden. Erst heute glaubt man, daß solche Worte wie «Adam verfiel in einen Schlaf» zufällig dastehen. Sie stehen nicht zufällig da. Jedes Wort in der Bibel ist von einer tiefen Bedeutung, und erst derjenige kann die Bibel verstehen, der jedes einzelne Wort zu würdigen weiß.

[ 7 ] Das ist also das Erste. Dann aber mußte in den vorchristlichen Mysterien noch erwas Besonderes eintreten, Wenn der Mensch also lange Zeit hindurch — und das dauerte sehr lange — seine Übungen gemacht hatte, wenn er das ungefähr aufgenommen hatte, was nötig war, um Ordnung zu schaffen in seiner Seele, wenn er in sich aufgenommen hatte das, was wir etwa heute Anthroposophie nennen, dann wurde er zuletzt der eigentlichen alten Initiation teilhaftig. Worin bestand diese alte Einweihung?

[ 8 ] Es genügt nicht, daß im astralischen Leib die Organe ausgebildet werden. Sie müssen sich abdrucken im Ätherleib. Wie das Petschaft seine Buchstaben abdruckt im Siegellack, so müssen die Organe des astralischen Leibes abgedruckt werden im Ätherleib. Zu diesem Zwecke wurde in alten Einweihungen der einzuweihende Schüler in eine ganz besondere Lage gebracht. Er wurde nämlich dreieinhalb Tage hindurch in einen todähnlichen Zustand gebracht. Wir werden immer mehr erkennen, daß jener Zustand heute nicht mehr durchgeführt werden kann und darf, sondern daß man jetzt andere Mittel der Einweihung hat. Ich schildere jetzt die vorchristliche Einweihung. In dieser wurde der Einzuweihende durch dreieinhalb Tage von dem, der das verstand, in einen todähnlichen Zustand gebracht. Entweder wurde er in eine Art kleinen Gemaches gelegt, in eine Art Grab. Da ruhte er in einem Zustand von Todesschlaf. Oder aber er wurde in einer besonderen Lage an ein Kreuz gebunden mit ausgestreckten Händen, denn das fördert das Eintreten jenes Zustandes, den man erzielen wollte.

[ 9 ] Wir wissen aus den mannigfaltigsten Vorträgen, daß der Tod beim Menschen dadurch eintritt, daß der Ätherleib mit dem astralischen Leib und dem Ich herausgeht und nur der physische Leib zurückbleibt. Da tritt etwas im Tode ein, was niemals sonst zwischen Geburt und Tod im regelmäßigen Verlauf des Lebens eingetreten ist. Der Ätherleib hat niemals, auch im tiefsten Schlafe nicht, den physischen Leib verlassen, sondern war immer darinnen. Im Tode verläßt der Ätherleib den physischen Leib. Während jenes todesähnlichen Zustandes nun verließ wenigstens ein Teil des Ätherleibes auch den physischen Leib, so daß also ein Teil des Ätherleibes, der sonst darinnen war, in diesem Zustand sich draußen befand. Man schildert das, wie Sie wissen, in mehr exoterischen Vorträgen dadurch, daß man sagt, der Ätherleib werde herausgezogen. Das ist nicht eigentlich der Fall. Aber diese feinen Unterscheidungen können wir erst jetzt machen. So also haben wir während dieser dreieinhalb Tage, während welcher der Priester-Initiator den Einzuweihenden wohl überwachte, den Menschen in einem Zustande, daß nur sein unterer Teil mit dem Ätherleib vereinigt war. Das ist der Moment, wo sich der astralische Leib mit all dem, was er an Organen in sich ausgebildet hat, abdruckt im Ätherleibe. In diesem Moment tritt die Erleuchtung ein. Wenn der Einzuweihende nach dreieinhalb Tagen erweckt wurde, dann war bei ihm das eingetreten, was man die Erleuchtung nennt, dasjenige, was folgen mußte auf die Reinigung, die bloß in der Ausbildung der Organe des astralischen Leibes besteht. Jetzt war der Schüler ein Wissender in der geistigen Welt. Was er früher geschen hatte, war nur eine Vorstufe des Schauens. Diese Welt, die aus einer Art von Gebilden bestand, die vorzugsweise Pflanzen nachbildete, sie ergänzte sich jetzt durch wesentlich neue Gebilde.

[ 10 ] Nun kommen wir dahin, genauer zu charakterisieren, was der Eingeweihte anfing zu schauen. Jetzt, wo er bis zur Erleuchtung geführt war, da war es ihm klar, wenn er erweckt wurde, daß er etwas gesehen hatte, was er vorher niemals in sein Wissen hatte aufnehmen können. Was hatte er denn gesehen? Was konnte er sich in gewisser Beziehung als bedeutsames Erinnerungsbild seines Schauens vor die Seele rufen? Wenn wir uns klarmachen wollen, was der Betreffende gesehen hatte, dann müssen wir ein wenig hinblicken auf die Entwickelung des Menschen. Wir müssen uns erinnern, daß erst allmählich der Mensch jenen Grad individuellen Bewußtseins bekommen hatte, den er heute hat. Daß er in einer solchen Weise zu sich Ich sagen kann, wie er es heute tut, das war nicht immer der Fall. Wir brauchen nur zurückzugehen in die Zeit, als die Cherusker, Heruler und so weiter in den Gegenden wohnten, wo heute die Deutschen leben. Da fühlte sich der einzelne nicht als Einzelmenschen-Ich, sondern als Glied seines Stammes. Wie die Finger sich nicht fühlen als etwas für sich Bestehendes, so fühlte der einzelne Cherusker nicht in der Weise, daß er zu sich unbedingt Ich sagte. Das Ich war das Ich des ganzen Stammes. Der Stamm stellte einen Organismus dar, und zusammengehörige Gruppen von Menschen, die in der Blutsverwandtschaft verbunden waren, hatten sozusagen eine gemeinschaftliche Ich-Seele. Wie heute Ihre zwei Arme zu Ihrem Ich gehören, so waren Sie selbst Glieder einer größeren Gemeinschaft in jenen Zeiten.

[ 11 ] Das ist ja noch deutlich ausgesprochen bei dem Volke, das sich bekennt zum Alten Testamente. Da fühlte sich als ein Glied des Volkes jeder einzelne. Es ist so, daß der einzelne nicht im höchsten Sinne von sich sprach, wenn er das gewöhnliche Ich aussprach, sondern daß er etwas Tieferes fühlte, wenn er sagte: «Ich und der Vater Abraham sind eins.» Denn für ihn ging bis Abraham hinauf ein gewisses Ich-Bewußtsein, das durch alle Generationen von Abraham bis zum einzelnen herunterkam. Was blutsverwandt war, das war in einem Ich beschlossen. Es war wie eine gemeinsame IchGruppenseele, die das ganze Volk umfaßte, und diejenigen, die die Dinge durchschauten, sagten sich: Das, was wirklich unser innerstes, unvergängliches Wesen ausmacht, das wohnt nicht im einzelnen, das wohnt im ganzen Volke. Alle einzelnen Glieder gehören zu diesem gemeinsamen Ich. — Daher war sich auch jeder solcher Bekenner klar: Stirbt er, dann vereinigt er sich mit einer unsichtbaren Wesenheit, die hinaufgeht bis zum Vater Abraham. Wirklich fühlte der einzelne, daß er hinaufkam in den Schoß Abrahams. Da fühlte er sich wie im Unvergänglichen geborgen in der Gruppenseele des Volkes. Diese Gruppenseele des ganzen Volkes konnte nicht heruntersteigen auf den physischen Plan. Da sahen sie nur einzelne Menschengestalten. Aber die waren ihnen nicht die Wirklichkeit, sondern die Wirklichkeit war in der geistigen Welt. Sie ahnten, daß das, was durch das Blut fließt, das Göttliche sei. Und weil sie den Gott sehen mußten in Jehova, nannten sie dieses Göttliche Jahve, oder auch sein Antlitz: Michael. Als geistige Gruppenseele des Volkes betrachteten sie Jahve.

[ 12 ] Der einzelne Mensch hier konnte diese geistigen Wesenheiten nicht sehen. Der Eingeweihte, der den großen Moment erlebte, wo der astralische Leib in den Ätherleib hineingedruckt wurde‘ der bekam zuerst die wichtigsten Gruppenseelen zu schauen. Wenn wir nämlich zurückschauen in die alten Zeiten der Menschheit, so finden wir überall, daß das gegenwärtige Ich sich herausentwickelt hat aus solchem Gruppenbewußtsein, Gruppen-Ich, so daß für den Seher, wenn er zurückschaut, die einzelnen Menschen immer mehr zusammenströmen in die Gruppenseelen. Nun gibt es hauptsächlich vier Typen von Gruppenseelen, vier Urbilder von Gruppenseelen. Wenn man alle verschiedenen Gruppenseelen der verschiedenen Seelen nimmt, so haben sie eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit, aber auch Verschiedenheiten. Teilt man sie ein, so erhält man vier Gruppen, vier Urbilder. Man bekommt sie deutlich zu sehen, wenn man hellseherisch zurückschaut in jene Zeit, als der Mensch noch nicht im Fleische war, noch nicht herabgestiegen war auf die Erde. Denn jetzt müssen wir uns genauer darstellen den Moment, wo der Mensch herabgestiegen ist ins Fleisch aus den geistigen Regionen. Wir können diesen Moment nur in großen Symbolen schildern.

[ 13 ] Einmal gab es eine Zeit, wo unsere Erde eine viel weichere Materie hatte als heute, wo noch nicht Fels und Stein so verfestigt waren wie heute, wo die Pflanzenformen noch anders aussahen, wo das Ganze wie ein Urmeer in Wasserhöhlen eingebettet war, wo Luft und Wasser nicht geschieden waren, wo von all den Wesen, die heute auf der Erde wohnen, Tiere und Pflanzen im Wasser ausgebildet waren. Als die mineralischen Wesen anfingen ihre heutige Form zu bekommen, da konnte man sagen: Der Mensch trat aus der Unsichtbarkeit hervor. So stellte er sich dem Einzuweihenden dar. Außen mit einer Art von Schale umgeben, stieg er aus den Regionen herunter, die heute die Luftregionen sind. Der Mensch war noch nicht dicht physisch da, als das Tier schon im Fleisch vorhanden war. Er war eine feine Luftwesenheit, selbst in den lemurischen Zeiten noch. Und er hat sich so herausgegliedert, daß sich das hellseherische Bild darstellt mit den vier Gruppenseelen: auf der einen Seite wie ein Löwenbild, auf der anderen wie das Bild eines Stieres, oben wie das eines Adlers, und in der Mitte unten etwas, was schon menschenähnlich ist. So zeigt sich das hellseherische Bild. So kommt aus dem Dunkel des Geisterlandes heraus der Mensch. Und das, was ihn an Kraft ausgebildet hat, das erscheint in einer Art Regenbogenbildung. Die mehr physischen Kräfte umgeben die ganze Bildung dieses Menschen wie ein Regenbogen. — Man muß auf den verschiedensten Gebieten und in der verschiedensten Weise dieses Menschwerden schildern. Jetzt wird es geschildert, wie es dem Forscher im Rückblick erscheint: wie diese vier Gruppenseelen sich herausgestaltet haben aus dem gemeinsamen Göttlich-Menschlichen, das heruntersteigt. Man hat von jeher diesen Moment symbolisch in die Form gebracht, die Sie auf dem zweiten der sogenannten sieben okkulten Siegel dargestellt finden. Das ist die symbolische Darstellung, sie ist aber mehr als ein bloßes Symbolum. Da haben Sie herauskommend aus dem unbestimmten Geistigen diese vier Gruppenseelen, den Regenbogen ringsherum und eine Zwölfzahl. Wir müssen auch verstehen, was diese Zwölfzahl bedeutet.

[ 14 ] Wenn Sie das herauskommen sehen, was eben geschildert worden ist, so haben Sie hellseherisch das Gefühl: Das ist von etwas umgeben, was ganz anderer Wesenheit und Art ist als das, was da heraustritt aus dem unbestimmten Geistigen. Und das, wovon es umgeben ist, das symbolisierte man in alten Zeiten in dem Tierkreis, in den zwölf Zeichen des Tierkreises. — Der Moment des Eintretens in das Hellsehen ist noch mit mancherlei anderen Erlebnissen verknüpft. Das erste, was der, dessen Ätherleib heraustritt, wahrnimmt, ist: er kommt sich vor, wie wenn er größer und größer würde und sich ausdehnte über das, was er da wahrnimmt. Es kommt der Moment, wo der Eingeweihte sich sagt: Ich sehe nicht bloß diese vier Gestalten, sondern ich bin da drinnen, ich habe mein Wesen darüber ausgedehnt. — Er identifiziert sich damit. Er nimmt das wahr, was durch die zwölf Sternbilder, durch die Zwölfzahl symbolisiert wird. Was sich da ausdehnt ringsherum um das, was sich enthüllt, das werden wir am besten verstehen, wenn wir uns wieder daran erinnern, daß unsere Erde frühere Verkörperungen durchgemacht hat. Wir wissen ja: Bevor die Erde Erde wurde, ging sie durch den Zustand des Saturns, dann durch den der Sonne, dann durch den des Mondes, und dann erst wurde sie Erde im heutigen Sinne. Das war notwendig. Denn nur dadurch war es möglich, daß auf der heutigen Erde die Wesenheiten herauskamen, die eben herausgekommen sind. Die mußten sich allmählich durch solche Verwandlungsformen hindurcharbeiten.

[ 15 ] Wenn wir also in urferne Vergangenheit zurückblicken, so schauen wir auf den ersten Zustand unserer Erde, den des alten Saturns, der im Anfange seines Daseins noch nicht einmal leuchtete. Er war eine Art \Wärmezustand. Sie hätten ihn nicht so sehen können wie eine glänzende Kugel, sondern wenn Sie sich dem Saturn genähert hätten, würden Sie in einen wärmeren Raum hineingekommen sein, weil er eben bloß in einem Wärmezustand war.

[ 16 ] Nun könnte man fragen: Hat denn mit dem Saturn das Weltwerden begonnen? Haben nicht andere Zustände vielleicht erst das herbeigeführt, was Saturn geworden ist? Gingen dem Saturn nicht noch andere Verkörperungen voran? — Es würde schwer sein, vor den Saturn zurückzugehen, weil nämlich erst beim Saturn etwas beginnt, ohne das wir gar nicht hinter den Saturn zurückgehen können. Mit dem Saturn beginnt nämlich erst das, was wir Zeit nennen. Vorher gab es andere Formen des Seins, das heißt, eigentlich können wir gar nicht von vorher sprechen, weil noch keine Zeit da war. Die Zeit hat auch einmal angefangen. Vor dem Saturn gab es keine Zeit, da gab es nur Ewigkeit, Dauer. Da war alles gleichzeitig. Daß die Vorgänge einander folgen, das trat erst mit dem Saturn ein. In derjenigen Weltenlage, wo nur Ewigkeit, Dauer ist, da gibt es auch keine Bewegung. Denn zur Bewegung gehört Zeit. Da gibt es keinen Umlauf, da ist Dauer und Ruhe, wie man auch sagt im Okkultismus: Da ist selige Ruhe in der Dauer. Das ist der Ausdruck dafür. Selige Ruhe in der Dauer ging dem Saturnzustand voran. Die Bewegung der Weltenkörper trat erst mit dem Saturn ein, und man faßte die Bahn, die angedeutet wird durch die zwölf Zeichen des Tierkreises, als Anzeichen dafür auf. Und während ein Planet in einem solchen Sternbilde lief, sprach man von einer Weltenstunde. Man betrachtete das als eine Weltenstunde. Zwölf Weltenstunden, Tagstunden zwölf und Nachtstunden zwölf! Einem jeden Weltenkörper, dem Saturn, der Sonne und dem Monde wird zugezählt eine Aufeinanderfolge von Weltenstunden, die sich zu Weltentagen gruppieren, und zuletzt so, daß von diesen zwölf Zeiträumen sieben äußerlich wahrnehmbar sind und fünf mehr oder weniger äußerlich unwahrnehmbar verlaufen. Man unterscheidet daher sieben Saturnkreisläufe oder sieben große Saturntage und fünf große Saturnnächte. Sie können auch sagen, fünf Tage und sieben Nächte, denn der erste und letzte Tag sind Dämmerungstage. Man ist gewohnt, solche sieben Kreisläufe, sieben Weltentage «Manvantara» zu nennen und die fünf Weltennächte «Pralaya». Wenn man es ganz entsprechend unserer Zeitenzählung haben will, dann zählt man je zwei planetarische Zustände zusammen, also Saturn und Sonne, Mond und Erde. Dann erhält man je vierundzwanzig Kreisläufe. Diese vierundzwanzig Kreisläufe bilden wichtige Epochen in der Weltendarstellung, und diese vierundzwanzig Epochen denkt man sich geregelt durch Wesenheiten im Weltenall, die Ihnen in der Apokalypse als die vierundzwanzig Ältesten angedeutet werden, die vierundzwanzig Regler der Weltenumläufe, der Weltenzeiten. Auf dem Siegelbild sind sie angedeutet als die Weltenuhr. Die einzelnen Ziffern der Uhr sind hier nur unterbrochen durch die Doppelkronen der Ältesten, um anzudeuten, daß das die Zeitenkönige sind, weil sie die Umläufe der Weltenkörper regeln. (Siehe das zweite Siegelbild.)

[ 17 ] So sieht der Eingeweihte zunächst zurück in dieses Bild der Vorzeit. Nun aber müssen wir uns fragen: Warum sieht der Eingeweihte dieses Bild? — Weil in diesem Bilde symbolisch-astralisch dargestellt werden die Kräfte, die in seiner heutigen Gestalt den menschlichen Ätherleib und danach den physischen gebildet haben. Wie das ist, können Sie sich leicht denken. Denken Sie sich, der Mensch liegt im Bette, verläßt mit seinem Astralleib und Ich den physischen Leib und Ätherleib. Nun gehören aber zum physischen Leib und Ätherleib, wie sie heute sind, zum heutigen physischen Menschenleib und Ätherleib der astralische Leib und das Ich. Für sich kann dieser physische Leib und kann dieser Ätherleib nicht bestehen. Sie sind so geworden, weil ihnen der astralische Leib und das Ich eingegliedert sind. Nur ein physischer Leib, in dem kein Blut fließt und kein Nervensystem ist, kann ohne astralischen Leib und Ich sein. Deshalb kann die Pflanze ohne astralischen Leib und Ich sein, weil sie kein Blut und kein Nervensystem hat. Denn das Nervensystem hängt zusammen mit dem astralischen Leib und das Blut mit dem Ich. Kein Wesen hat im physischen Leib ein Nervensystem, das nicht durchdrungen ist von einem astralischen Leibe, und kein Wesen hat im physischen Leibe ein Blutsystem, in das nicht das Ich eingezogen ist. Denken Sie, was Sie jede Nacht tun. Sie verlassen schnöde Ihren physischen und Ätherleib und überlassen sie mit dem Blut- und Nervensystem sich selber. Wenn es bloß auf Sie ankäme, würde in jeder Nacht dadurch, daß Sie Ihr Nerven- und Blutsystem verlassen, der physische Leib zugrunde gehen müssen. Er würde in demselben Augenblicke sterben, wo der astralische Leib und das Ich den physischen und den Ätherleib verlassen. Aber der hellsehende Blick sieht, wie dann andere Wesenheiten, höhere geistige Wesenheiten ihn ausfüllen. Er sieht, wie sie in ihn hineingehen und das tun, was der Mensch in der Nacht eben nicht tut: das Blut- und Nervensystem versorgen. Das sind dieselben Wesenheiten aber, welche den Menschen, soweit er aus einem physischen und Ätherleib besteht, geschaffen haben; nicht bloß heute, von Inkarnation zu Inkarnation. Es sind die gleichen Wesenheiten, die auf dem alten Saturn die erste Anlage des physischen Leibes entstehen ließen und die auf der Sonne den Ätherleib herausgebildet haben. Diese Wesenheiten, die gewaltet haben vom Urbeginn des Saturn- und Sonnendaseins an im physischen und Ätherleib, sie walten in ihm jede Nacht, während der Mensch schläft und den physischen und den Ärherleib schnöde verläßt, sozusagen sie dem Tode preisgibt; sie dringen hinein und versorgen sein Nerven- und Blutsystem.

[ 18 ] Daher ist es auch begreiflich, daß in dem Moment, wo der Astralleib den Ätherleib berührt, um sich in ihm abzudrucken, daß, da der Mensch von diesen Kräften, die ihn gebildet haben, durchdrungen ist, daß er da das Bild dieser Kräfte sieht, die in dem zweiten Siegel symbolisiert sind. Was ihn erhält und zusammenhängend macht mit dem ganzen kosmischen Weltall, das leuchtet auf in diesem Moment der Einweihung. Er sieht dasjenige, was die beiden Glieder seiner Wesenheit, den physischen und den Ätherleib, gebildet hat, was sie jede Nacht in ihrem Leben aufrecht erhält. Er selbst aber hat noch keinen Anteil daran, denn er kann noch nicht in diese beiden Glieder seines Wesens hineinarbeiten. Dem Menschen nach würde der physische und der Ätherleib, die in der Nacht im Bette liegen, zum Pflanzendasein verdammt sein, denn er überläßt beide sich selbst. Daher ist für den Menschen der Schlafzustand ein unbewußter, wie ihn die Pflanze immer hat.

[ 19 ] Wie steht es nun mit dem, was während des Schlafes herausgerückt ist beim gewöhnlichen Menschen, wie steht es mit dem astralischen Leib und dem Ich? Diese sind ja auch nicht bewußt in der Nacht. Beim gewöhnlichen Menschen wird während des Nachtschlafes nichts innerhalb des astralischen Leibes erfahren. Aber denken Sie jetzt einmal, Sie übten die sieben Stufen der Johannes-Einweihung, diese bedeutungsvollen Momente der christlichen Gemütseinweihung. Dann würde für Sie nicht bloß das auftreten, was bisher geschildert worden ist. Ganz abgesehen davon, daß Sie bei der Berührung des astralischen Leibes mit dem Ätherleibe hellseherische Kraft entwickeln können, würde noch etwas anderes auftreten. Der Mensch wird sich bewußt der seelischen Eigenheiten, der seelisch-menschlichen Eigenschaften der astralischen Welt und der devachanischen Welt, aus der er eigentlich herausgeboren ist seiner Seele nach. Und es tritt zu diesem Bilde ein noch höheres Symbolum, das die ganze Welt zu erfüllen scheint. Zu diesem Symbolum der alten Einweihung tritt für den, der durch die Johannes-Einweihungsstufen geht, etwas hinzu, was am besten durch das erste Siegel dargestellt wird. Als eine hellseherische Erscheinung sieht er den Priesterkönig mit goldenem Gürtel, mit Füßen, die aus Metallguß zu bestehen scheinen, das Haupt bedeckt mit Haaren wie von weißer Wolle, aus dem Munde ein feuriges Schwert flammend und in der Hand die sieben Weltensterne: Saturn, Sonne, Mond, Mars, Merkur, Jupiter, Venus.

[ 20 ] Die Gestalt, die in der Mitte auf dem zweiten Siegelbild ist, war in der alten Einweihung nur als die fünfte der Gruppenseelen angedeutet. Sie ist das, was in der Menschheit der alten Zeit erst in der Keimanlage vorhanden war und erst in der christlichen Einweihung herausgekommen ist als das, was man auch als Menschensohn bezeichnet, der die sieben Sterne beherrscht, wenn er völlig in seiner wahren Gestalt vor dem Menschen auftritt.

[ 21 ] So also soll uns durch diese zunächst symbolische Art der Darstellung vor allen Dingen klar sein, daß man dasjenige, was beim heutigen Menschen als Trennung der verschiedenen Glieder auftritt — physischer und Ätherleib auf der einen Seite, astralischer Leib und Ich auf der anderen —, so behandeln kann, daß beides sozusagen zur Einweihung sein Stück beitragen kann, zunächst durch die Einweihungsform bei der Berührung des astralischen Leibes mit dem Ätherleib, wo die vier Gruppenseelen aufleuchten, dann bei der Behandlung des Astralleibes, so daß dieser im besonderen sehend wird. Früher war ein eigentliches Sehen in der übersinnlichen Welt höchstens bis zu einer Art pflanzlicher Durchlebung der Welt gekommen. Durch die christliche Einweihung ist das gegeben, was eine höhere Einweihungsstufe im astralischen Leib bedeutet und was symbolisch angedeutet wird durch das zweite Bild.

[ 22 ] Da haben Sie die beiden Dinge aus dem Einweihungsprinzip heraus selber geschildert, die Sie an der Spitze der Apokalypse geschildert finden. Nur hat der Apokalyptiker sie in umgekehrter Reihenfolge geschildert, und dies mit Recht. Er hat geschildert zuerst das Gesicht des Menschensohnes, das Gesicht dessen, der da ist, der da war und der da sein wird, und dann das andere. Beide sind Symbole für das, was der Eingeweihte während der Einweihung erlebt.

[ 23 ] So haben wir vor unsere Seele treten lassen, was in gewissen Fällen der Einweihung geschieht und zunächst erlebt wird. Morgen wollen wir zu den Einzelheiten weiterschreiten dieser realen wirklichen Erlebnisse, und wir werden sie sich spiegeln sehen in der grandiosen Darstellung der Apokalypse des Johannes.

Second Lecture

[ 1 ] Yesterday, in a kind of introduction, we characterized the spirit of the Apocalypse of John in general. We tried to establish some broad guidelines by which we can realize that this apocalypse describes what can be called a Christian initiation or a Christian initiation. It will be my task today to present to you the essence of initiation or initiation in general, to describe to you what happens in man when, through initiation, he is to be put in a position to look into those spiritual worlds that lie behind the sensual worlds, and it will also be my task to describe in a few major lines what the experiences within the initiation are like. For it is only by delving a little more deeply into the nature of initiation that we can gradually bring this important religious document of the Apocalypse to our understanding.

[ 2 ] First, we must again take a close look at the two states of consciousness of the human being, that is, the state of consciousness that lasts from morning, when the person wakes up, until evening, when he falls asleep, and the other state of consciousness that begins with falling asleep and ends with waking up. We have often explained to the soul that man, as he appears to us in his present form, is first of all a fourfold being, that he consists of the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body and the I. In the outer form, these four members appear to the clairvoyant consciousness in such a way that first, like a kind of core, in the middle is the physical human body. Let us visualize the matter schematically (it is drawn). During the day, this physical body is permeated by the so-called etheric body, which only protrudes very slightly, initially around the head, like a bright halo, but which permeates the head completely. Further down, the etheric or life body becomes increasingly misty and indistinct, and the more we approach the lower limbs of the human being, the less it shows the form of the physical body in such a strict sense.

[ 3 ] During the day, these two members of the human being are in turn enveloped by what we call the astral body, which protrudes in all directions like an ellipsoid, like an egg, and in its basic form has luminous rays that actually look as if they run from the outside in and penetrate the human being from the outside in. An enormous number of different figures, all kinds of lines and rays, some lightning-like, some in strange coils, are drawn into this astral body. All this surrounds the human being in the most diverse light phenomena. The astral body is the expression of his passions, his instincts, drives and desires, but also of all his thoughts and ideas. In this astral body, clairvoyant consciousness sees reflected everything that is called psychic experience, from the lowest instinct up to the highest moral ideal. And then we have the fourth limb of the human being, which could be drawn as something that sends rays into the point that lies about an inch behind the forehead. This would be the schematic representation of the fourfold human being. In the course of these lectures, we will see how the individual parts look in the whole.

[ 4 ] This, then, is the human being during the day, from the moment he wakes up in the morning until he falls asleep in the evening. In the evening, when he falls asleep, the physical and etheric bodies remain in bed, and a kind of outpouring of what we have called the astral body can be seen. The term 'outpouring' is somewhat imprecise. Actually, it is as if a kind of mist were forming, so that at night we see the astral body that has emerged from the physical and etheric bodies as a kind of spiral mist around the person, while the fourth limb of the human being almost disappears completely to one side, that is, it fades into the indefinite. The part of the astral body that extends downwards can only be seen very weakly, while the upper part is addressed as the externalized astral body.

[ 5 ] Yesterday we emphasized what has to happen for a person to receive the initiation. If a person occupies himself only with the things that people generally occupy themselves with in our age, he cannot receive an initiation. He must be prepared in such a way that he does, during the ordinary course of his daily life, those exercises which are prescribed for him by the schools of initiates: meditation, concentration, and so forth. These exercises are basically the same in all schools of initiation in terms of their significance for the human being. They differ only to the extent that the further we go back in time to the pre-Christian schools of initiation, the more they are directed towards training and exercising the powers of thought. The more we approach Christian times, the more they are directed towards training the powers of the mind, and the closer we come to more recent times, the more we see, as in the so-called Rosicrucian training, a special kind of will culture, of will exercises, being introduced due to the demands and needs of humanity. Even if the meditations are at first similar to those in the other pre-Christian schools, a special schooling of the will element is found everywhere at the basis of the Rosicrucian exercises. But what is important, and what was likewise achieved by the exercises of the oriental mystery schools, as with the Egyptian and Pythagorean schools and so on, and what also constitutes the effect of those exercises that preferably start from the meditation of the Gospel of John, is that during the day, even if only for a short time, five or fifteen minutes is enough for me, the effect is such that when that state occurs in the sleeping person, where the astral body goes out, the effect remains even then. In a person who does such occult exercises, let us say, the astral body gradually shows the most diverse changes at night. It exhibits other light phenomena, it shows the plastic structure of the organs that we have already spoken of; and then this becomes clearer and clearer. The astral body gradually acquires an inner organization similar to that of the physical body in its eyes, ears, etc.

[ 6 ] But that would still not lead to seeing much, especially not in today's man. However, man does perceive some things when his internal organs have been developed for a while. Then he begins to have consciousness during sleep. Spiritual environments dawn from the usual general darkness. What a person can perceive there, and what people perceived in the older times, because today it is rarer, are wonderful images of plant life. These are the most primitive achievements of clairvoyance. Where there used to be only the darkness of unconsciousness, something like a dreamlike living but real plant form arises. And much of what has been described to you in the mythologies of ancient peoples has been seen in this way. When it is described in legends that Wotan, Wile and We found a tree on the beach and that they formed man from it, this indicates that it was first seen in such an image. In all mythologies you can perceive this primitive way of seeing, of plant-based seeing. The description of such a vision is also Paradise, especially with its two trees of knowledge and of life; that is the result of this astral vision. And it is not without reason that it is hinted to you in Genesis itself that Paradise and what is described at the beginning of the Biblical account was seen. One must only learn to read the Bible, then one will understand how deeply and significantly it captures this mysterious state in its descriptions. What is taught today about Paradise, about the beginning of the Bible, was not taught in the past. They pointed out: Adam fell into a sleep – and that was the sleep, as the first Christians were told, in which Adam, looking back, perceived the phenomena described at the beginning of Genesis. Only today do we believe that such words as “Adam fell into a sleep” are there by chance. They are not there by chance. Every word in the Bible has a deep meaning, and only those who know how to appreciate every single word can understand the Bible.

[ 7 ] So that is the first thing. But then something special had to happen in the pre-Christian mysteries. When a person had practised for a long time — and that took a very long time — when he had roughly absorbed what was necessary to create order in his soul, when he had absorbed within himself what we might call today anthroposophy, then in the end he became partaking of the actual old initiation. What did this ancient initiation consist of?

[ 8 ] It is not enough that the organs are formed in the astral body. They must imprint themselves on the etheric body. Just as a seal imprint its letters on sealing wax, so the organs of the astral body must imprint themselves on the etheric body. For this purpose, in the old initiations, the disciple to be initiated was placed in a very special position. He was brought into a death-like state for three and a half days. We will increasingly recognize that this condition can no longer be carried out today, but that we now have other means of initiation. I am now describing the pre-Christian initiation. In this initiation, the person to be initiated was brought by someone who understood it into a death-like state for three and a half days. Either he was placed in a kind of small chamber, in a kind of tomb. There he rested in a state of death-sleep. Or he was tied to a cross in a special position with outstretched hands, because that promotes the entering into that state which one wanted to achieve.

[ 9 ] We know from the most varied lectures that death occurs in man because the etheric body leaves with the astral body and the ego, leaving only the physical body behind. Something occurs at death that never otherwise occurred between birth and death in the regular course of life. The ether body never left the physical body, not even in deepest sleep, but was always within it. In death the ether body leaves the physical body. During that death-like state at least a part of the ether body also left the physical body, so that a part of the ether body, which was otherwise within, was outside in this state. As you know, this is described in more exoteric lectures by saying that the etheric body is drawn out. That is not actually the case. But we can only make these fine distinctions now. So during these three and a half days, while the priest-initiator was watching over the person to be initiated, we have the human being in a state in which only his lower part is united with the etheric body. This is the moment when the astral body, with all the organs it has developed within it, is imprinted in the etheric body. At this moment, enlightenment occurs. When the person to be initiated was awakened after three and a half days, what happened to him was what is called enlightenment, which is what had to follow the purification, which consists only in the formation of the organs of the astral body. Now the disciple was a knower in the spiritual world. What he had experienced earlier was only a preliminary stage of seeing. This world, which consisted of a kind of formation that mainly resembled plants, was now supplemented by essentially new formations.

[ 10 ] Now we come to a more exact characterization of what the initiate began to see. Now that he had been led to enlightenment, it was clear to him when he was awakened that he had seen something that he could never have taken into his knowledge before. What had he seen? What could he call up in his soul as a significant memory of his vision in a certain respect? If we want to understand what the person in question had seen, we have to look a little at the development of the human being. We have to remember that it was only gradually that man acquired the degree of individual consciousness that he has today. It was not always the case that he can say “I” to himself in such a way as he does today. We need only go back to the time when the Cheruscians, Heruli and so on lived in the areas where the Germans live today. There, the individual did not feel as an individual human being, but as a member of his tribe. Just as fingers do not feel as separate entities, so the individual Cheruscan did not feel in the sense of saying “I” to himself. The “I” was the “I” of the entire tribe. The tribe represented an organism, and groups of people who belonged together and were connected by blood had, so to speak, a shared “I” soul. Just as today your two arms belong to your ego, so in those days you yourself were members of a larger community.

[ 11 ] This is still clearly expressed in the people who profess the Old Testament. Every individual felt that he was a member of the people. It is the case that the individual did not speak of himself in the highest sense when he spoke the usual “I”, but that he felt something deeper when he said, “I and my father Abraham are one.” For for him, a certain sense of self extended up to Abraham, and came down through all generations from Abraham to the individual. What was related by blood was united in one self. It was like a common soul of the group, which embraced the whole nation, and those who saw through things said to themselves: That which really constitutes our innermost, immortal being does not dwell in the individual, it dwells in the whole nation. All the individual members belong to this common self. Therefore, every such confessor was also clear: if he dies, he unites with an invisible essence that goes up to Father Abraham. Truly, the individual felt that he was coming into the bosom of Abraham. There he felt secure in the group soul of the people. This group soul of the whole people could not descend to the physical plane. They only saw individual human forms there. But for them these were not the reality; the reality was in the spiritual world. They sensed that what flows through the blood is divine. And because they had to see the God in Jehovah, they called this divine being Yahweh, or also his countenance: Michael. They regarded Yahweh as the spiritual group soul of the people.

[ 12 ] The individual person here could not see these spiritual entities. The initiate who experienced the great moment when the astral body was imprinted in the etheric body was the first to see the most important group souls. If we look back to the ancient times of humanity, we find everywhere that the present self has developed out of such group consciousness, group self, so that for the seer, when he looks back, the individual people merge more and more into the group souls. Now there are mainly four types of group souls, four archetypes of group souls. If you take all the different group souls of the various souls, they have a certain similarity, but also differences. If you classify them, you get four groups, four archetypes. You can see them clearly when you clairvoyantly look back to the time when man was not yet in the flesh, had not yet descended to earth. For now we must picture to ourselves more exactly the moment when man descended into the flesh from the spiritual regions. We can describe this moment only in great symbols.

[ 13 ] Once upon a time our earth had a much softer matter than today, where rock and stone were not yet as solidified as today, where plant forms still looked different, where the whole thing was embedded in water caves like a primeval sea, where air and water were not separated, where of all the creatures that live on earth today, animals and plants were formed in the water. When the mineral beings began to take on their present form, it could be said that man emerged from invisibility. This is how he presented himself to those to be initiated. Surrounded on the outside by a kind of shell, he descended from the regions that are now the air regions. Man was not yet physically present when the animal was already present in the flesh. He was a fine air being, even in the Lemurian times. And he has developed in such a way that the clairvoyant picture presents itself with the four group souls: on the one hand like a lion's image, on the other like the image of a bull, above like that of an eagle, and in the middle below something that is already human-like. This is how the clairvoyant picture presents itself. Thus man comes out of the darkness of the spirit world. And that which has developed his strength appears in a kind of rainbow formation. The more physical powers surround the whole formation of this human being like a rainbow. One must describe this becoming human in the most diverse fields and in the most diverse ways. Now it is described as it appears to the researcher in retrospect: how these four group souls have emerged from the common Divine-Human that descends. From time immemorial this moment has been given a symbolic form, which you will find depicted on the second of the so-called seven occult seals. This is the symbolic representation, but it is more than a mere symbol. There you have these four group souls emerging from the indeterminate spiritual, the rainbow all around and a number twelve. We must also understand what this number twelve means.

[ 14 ] When you see what has just been described emerging, then you have the clairvoyant feeling that it is surrounded by something that is of a completely different nature and essence than that which emerges from the indeterminate spiritual. And that which surrounds it was symbolized in ancient times in the zodiac, in the twelve signs of the zodiac. The moment of entering clairvoyance is also linked to many other experiences. The first thing that the person whose etheric body is emerging perceives is that he feels as if he is getting bigger and bigger and expanding to include what he perceives. There comes a moment when the initiate says to himself: I do not just see these four figures, but I am in them, I have expanded my being beyond them. He identifies with them. He perceives what is symbolized by the twelve constellations, by the number twelve. What is expanding around that which is revealing itself can best be understood if we remember that our Earth has undergone previous embodiments. We know that before the Earth became Earth, it went through the state of Saturn, then through that of the Sun, then through that of the Moon, and only then did it become Earth in the present sense. This was necessary. For only through this was it possible for the entities that have just emerged to come out on today's Earth. They had to gradually work their way through such transformations.

[ 15 ] Thus, when we look back into the remote past, we see the first state of our Earth, that of ancient Saturn, which at the beginning of its existence did not even shine. It was a kind of state of warmth. You would not have been able to see it as a shining sphere, but if you had approached Saturn, you would have entered a warmer space because it was simply in a state of warmth.

[ 16 ] Now one might ask: Did world-becoming begin with Saturn? Did not other conditions perhaps first bring about what Saturn became? Did not other embodiments precede Saturn? — It would be difficult to go back before Saturn, because something begins only with Saturn, without which we cannot go back before Saturn at all. For it is only with Saturn that what we call time begins. Before that, there were other forms of being, that is to say, we cannot really speak of a before, because there was no time yet. Time also began at some point. Before Saturn there was no time, there was only eternity, duration. Everything was simultaneous. That processes follow one another only occurred with Saturn. In that state of the world, where there is only eternity, duration, there is also no movement. Because time is part of movement. There is no revolution, there is duration and rest, as it is also said in occultism: there is blessed rest in duration. That is the expression for it. Blessed rest in duration preceded the state of Saturn. The movement of the world bodies only began with Saturn, and the path indicated by the twelve signs of the zodiac was understood as a sign of this. And while a planet was moving in such a constellation, it was spoken of as a world hour. It was regarded as a world hour. Twelve world hours, twelve hours of day and twelve hours of night! A succession of world hours is reckoned to each of the world bodies, Saturn, the Sun and the Moon, grouped into world days, and finally so that of these twelve periods seven are outwardly perceptible and five pass more or less outwardly imperceptibly. Therefore one differentiates between seven Saturn cycles or seven great Saturn days and five great Saturn nights. You can also say five days and seven nights, because the first and last days are days of twilight. It is customary to call such seven cycles, seven world days “Manvantara” and the five world nights “Pralaya”. If you want to have it completely in line with our counting of time, then you count two planetary states together, Saturn and Sun, Moon and Earth. Then you get twenty-four cycles each. These twenty-four cycles form important epochs in the world picture, and these twenty-four epochs are thought of as regulated by entities in the universe, who are indicated to you in the Apocalypse as the twenty-four elders, the twenty-four regulators of the world cycles, the world times. On the seal image, they are indicated as the world clock. The individual numbers of the clock are only interrupted by the double crowns of the elders, to indicate that these are the kings of time because they regulate the orbits of the world bodies. (See the second seal image.)

[ 17 ] Thus the initiate first looks back into this picture of prehistoric times. But now we must ask ourselves: Why does the initiate see this picture? — Because in this picture the forces are symbolically and astraly represented, which in his present form have formed the human etheric body and then the physical body. You can easily imagine what that is like. Imagine a person lying in bed, leaving the physical body and etheric body with his astral body and I. But the astral body and the I belong to the physical body and etheric body, as they are today, to the present physical human body and etheric body. This physical body and this etheric body cannot exist by themselves. They have become what they are because the astral body and the I have been incorporated into them. Only a physical body in which no blood flows and which has no nervous system can be without an astral body and I. Therefore, the plant can be without an astral body and I because it has no blood and no nervous system. For the nervous system is connected with the astral body and the blood with the ego. No being has a nervous system in the physical body that is not permeated by an astral body, and no being has a blood system in the physical body that is not permeated by the ego. Think about what you do every night. You abandon your physical and etheric bodies and leave them to their own devices with their blood and nervous systems. If it were only up to you, your physical body would have to perish every night as a result of you leaving your nervous and blood systems. It would die at the same moment as the astral body and the ego leave the physical and etheric bodies. But the clairvoyant gaze sees how other entities, higher spiritual entities, then fill it. It sees how they enter into it and do what the human being does not do at night: take care of the blood and nervous systems. But these same entities have created man, insofar as he consists of a physical and etheric body, not only today, from incarnation to incarnation. These are the same entities that gave rise to the first formation of the physical body on ancient Saturn and that formed the etheric body on the sun. These beings, which have been active in the physical and etheric bodies since the very beginning of Saturn and the Sun's existence, are active in them every night while man sleeps and disdainfully leaves the physical and etheric bodies, so to speak, abandoning them to death; they penetrate them and take care of his nervous and blood systems.

[ 18 ] Therefore it is also understandable that at the moment when the astral body touches the etheric body in order to imprint itself in it, that, since man is permeated by these forces that have formed him, that he sees the image of these forces, which are symbolized in the second seal. What sustains him and connects him to the entire cosmic universe, that is illuminated in this moment of initiation. He sees that which has formed the two limbs of his being, the physical and etheric bodies, that which sustains them every night of their life. But he himself has no part in it yet, because he cannot yet work into these two limbs of his being. In the human being, the physical and etheric bodies, lying in bed at night, would be condemned to a plant-like existence, for he leaves them to their own devices. Therefore, for the human being, the state of sleep is unconscious, as a plant always is.

[ 19 ] What about what has been moved out during sleep in the ordinary person, what about the astral body and the ego? These are also not conscious at night. In the ordinary person, nothing is experienced within the astral body during the night's sleep. But just imagine you were practising the seven steps of the St. John's initiation, these momentous moments of the Christian initiation of the soul. Then you would experience more than just what has been described so far. Quite apart from the fact that you can develop clairvoyant power when the astral body comes into contact with the etheric body, something else would happen. Man becomes aware of the soul-like qualities of the astral world and the devachanic world, from which he is actually born according to his soul. And there is a still higher symbol that appears to fulfill the whole world. For those who go through the stages of the John initiation, something is added to this symbol of the old initiation, which is best represented by the first seal. In a clairvoyant vision, he sees the Priest-King with a golden girdle, with feet that seem to be made of cast metal, his head covered with hair like white wool, a flaming fiery sword from his mouth and in his hand the seven world stars: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus.

[ 20 ] The figure in the center of the second seal image was only hinted at in the old initiation as the fifth of the group souls. It is that which was only present in the germinal stage in humanity of ancient times and only emerged in the Christian initiation as that which is also referred to as the Son of Man, who rules the seven stars when he appears before man fully in his true form.

[ 21 ] So then, through this initially symbolic form of presentation, it should be clear to us above all that what occurs in today's human being as a separation of the various limbs — physical and etheric body on the one hand, astral body and I on the other — can be treated in such a way that both can, so to speak, contribute to the initiation, firstly through the form of initiation when the astral body comes into contact with the ether body, where the four group souls shine forth, and then during the treatment of the astral body, so that the astral body becomes particularly clairvoyant. In the past, actual clairvoyance in the supersensible world had at most reached a kind of vegetative experiencing of the world. Through the Christian initiation, what a higher level of initiation means in the astral body is given and what is symbolically indicated by the second picture.

[ 22 ] There you have described the two things from the initiation principle itself, which you find described at the top of the Apocalypse. Only the apocalyptic has described them in reverse order, and rightly so. He first described the face of the Son of Man, the face of him who is, who was and who is to come, and then the other. Both are symbols for what the initiate experiences during initiation.

[ 23 ] Thus we have allowed ourselves to be confronted by what happens in certain cases of initiation and is initially experienced. Tomorrow we will proceed to the details of these real experiences, and we will see them reflected in the grandiose presentation of the Apocalypse of John.