“Above all else, the spirits of darkness wanted to prevent spiritual experiences…from coming down into human souls…”
Full Lecture
Summary
Lecture 1 | The Driving Forces Behind Europe’s War
The origins of war are spiritual in origin, collectively personal in nature. Forces of destruction are behind history’s chaos, and they appear as a result of society’s lack of spiritual awareness.
Lecture 2 | Humanity’s Struggle for Morality
Steiner calls for morality; we draw wisdom from the astral plane while asleep, but not morality. It’s important that we develop an inner spiritual life so that the we do not halt our own development at age of 27.
Lecture 3 | The Search for a Perfect World
A purified mind and the objective pursuit of truth are key to finding spiritual knowledge.
Lecture 4 | The Elemental Spirits of Birth and Death
Destructive spirits guide the rise and fall of civilization. We are entering a fall period in which mankind will have access to these powers and must learn from the consequences of their own actions
Lecture 5 | Changes in Humanity’s Spiritual Make-up
As the physical world (and the human form) declines, our connection to the spiritual world becomes more inward and unseen. This calls for a strengthening of our connection to the soul. Doing so will also allow us the capacity to perceive what’s really going on in reality (world wars, Ahrimanic forces). Steiner presents the task we must take on for human evolution.
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The Driving Forces Behind Europe’s War
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The origins of war are spiritual in origin, collectively personal in nature.
Destructive forces are behind history’s chaos, and they appear as a result of society’s lack of spiritual awareness.
Spiritual vision is critical
“Merely knowing what is going on in the physical world, and knowing the laws that human minds are able to perceive as operative in this world, is no more than being asleep in a higher sense. Humanity is only fully awake when people are able to develop notions and ideas of the world of the spirit…When we are physically asleep we are wholly given up to the internal processes that go on in the body during the night and have no idea of anything in the physical world around us.”
“When we are physically asleep we are wholly given up to the internal processes that go on in the body during the night and have no idea of anything in the physical world around us.”
Man’s karma will be caused by the failure to see spiritually
“…order will not be created from the chaos of the present time until a sufficiently large number of people are prepared to recognize the truths of that science. Such will be the karma of world history.”
“For it will not come until human hearts understand the realm of the spirit. Order can only come when it is understood how this chaos has arisen.”
An ignorance of dark forces
“One way to characterize the present time is to say that the present human chaos is the revenge of the spirits who have been ignored for too long.”
Destructive forces intervene
“A mysterious connection exists between human consciousness and the destructive powers of decline and fall in the universe.”
“Spiritual awareness simply has to be greater than purely sensual and material awareness. If this had been the case during the last decades of the nineteenth century, the powers of destruction would not have had to intervene in the early decades of the twentieth century.”
A lack of spiritual life will be the cause of our destruction
“Having gone through the gate of death and entered the world of the spirit, they are thirsting for — well, what are they thirsting for, these souls who lived in materialism here? They are thirsting for destructive powers in the physical world! Those are the dues and they must be paid.”
“There is no easy way of dealing with these things. If we want to know the realities in this sphere, we must acquire a feeling for what the ancient Egyptians called ‘iron necessity’. Terrible as it may be, it was necessary that destruction should spread, for those who had gone through the gate of death were longing for the destructive powers in which they are able to live, seeing they did not receive what was due to them and had been deprived of spiritual impulses while on earth.”
“Longings have arisen in the dead in recent times, and those longings are being met with events which are truly horrifying for those of us who are alive here on the physical plane.”
If we want to know the realities in this sphere, we must acquire a feeling for what the ancient Egyptians called ‘iron necessity’
The spiritual world influences our physical world
“Right next to our physical world lies another, non-physical or spiritual world, and this has never before influenced our world as intensely as it is doing at the present time.”
History will need to be rewritten
“I have said that when the history of this ‘world war’ will be written in the future — unfortunately present-day critics have not done so, though it could be done fairly easily — it will be impossible to use the method which has produced the legend, the fairy-tale, or call it what you will, which currently goes by the name of ‘history’. This was produced by ‘scholars’ — as the world calls them — sitting in libraries for months, years and decades and studying diplomatic records in order to write their histories. Inevitably a time will come when most of these histories will have to be pulped.”
A lack of mental and spiritual clarity brings on Lucifer and Ahriman
“For as long as people watch over their conscious minds and their consciousness is not in any way clouded or inactive, neither Ahriman nor Lucifer have access to it. But when it is not fully active and one needs to use the phrase ‘I have gone out of my mind’, that is the moment when Ahriman and his cohorts enter the stage.”
“when we speak of the origins of this catastrophe in time to come, we must not do so on the basis of written records; instead we shall have to point to real facts through which Ahrimanic spirits gained access to the stage of human events.”
“These things must be taken in all seriousness; they have to be seen as concrete realities and not merely as abstract formulations. People who do not know anything about it may well laugh when one says that Ahriman gained access to human evolution. They may well laugh at people who say this, but the day will come when world history laughs them to scorn for having laughed at others today.”
People who do not know anything about it may well laugh when one says that Ahriman gained access to human evolution.
Steiner mentions significance of a papal note
Papal Note: Aug 1 1917 Pope Benedict XV issued a Peace Note to the governments of the belligerent nations
“Let us remember that the idea of the state as we know it today has been dawning since the sixteenth century.”
Humanity’s Struggle for Morality
There’s a necessity for morality here on the physical plane.
We draw wisdom from the astral plane while sleeping, but not morality.
Steiner discusses the importance of developing an inner spiritual life so that the human being does not halt his own development at age 27.
Change must be made from within us
“We are living at a time…of which we can say that much will have to change in the way people think, feel and use their will. Our inner aims will have to change.”
“…there can only be one of two things: destructive processes here on the physical plane, or the spiritual development of humanity.”
“…the number of people who have taken up spiritual life in recent decades is small, and the souls of those who have not done so are thirsting for destructive processes here on the physical plane because these will give them the powers they need for the life of soul and spirit which comes after death.”
An (al)chemical change within us occurs when we sleep (becoming mercurial and salt)
“During the day the astral body and the ego are active and aglow in it; during the night they are not.”
“During the night when we are asleep the ‘astral physical’ element in the physical body exercises powers very similar to the powers of Mercury, the mercurial powers that make mercury liquid, and so on. The part of the physical body relating to the ego acts like salt during sleep. Human beings thus have Salt and Mercury flowing through them during sleep.”
“These are some of the secrets of human nature. We say, then, that when we are asleep we look down on a body that has become mercurial and salty.”
…the ‘astral physical’ element in the physical body exercises powers very similar to the powers of Mercury, the mercurial powers that make mercury liquid…
The physical body is enriched with information (wisdom) gained from the astral world during sleep…
“On waking, the ego and astral body, having been outside in the world of the spirit during sleep, enter into the salty, or mineral, principle in the human body and into the mercurial principle, which flows within the human being as a vitalizing principle. Principles which have been separated during the night now come together. As they interact, opportunity is given for the things acquired in the world of the spirit to be brought in. Mercury and Salt have been resting; now the ego and astral body enter and fill them with what they have gained in the world of the spirit. As a result, the physical body, the instrument which has evolved from ancient Saturn, is enriched still further.”
Morality not included
“Human beings acquire morality by living here on the physical plane. In short, we bring wisdom to the physical body from the world of the spirit, but not morality.”
“This is tremendously important and significant, for it explains why humanity must inevitably lag behind when it comes to moral principles”
“It will not be until later periods, in the second half of Venus evolution, that we make connection with a moral world during sleep. Clearly, it is therefore tremendously important for us to see to it that our social life becomes truly moral.”
Morality through the Christ impulse
“For humanity here on earth, the Christ impulse is the heart of the moral life. It is therefore most important…that human beings encounter the Christ impulse here on the physical plane.”
The maya of believing your motives are based on false external scenarios
“This is an area where people find it particularly difficult to distinguish between maya — illusion — and reality. The motives we ourselves or others tend to ascribe to our actions are not the true ones.”
“People are usually completely different inside from the way they present themselves in the social sphere and also from the way they see themselves. Some think their motives are entirely selfless, when in reality they are nothing but the most brutal egotism. People are not aware of this because they have such illusions concerning themselves and their social connections.”
Johann Valentin Andreae
“…he realized that one must look more deeply into the whole scheme which lies behind the world of nature if one is to find the spirit in nature. Then one will also find the threads which truly connect human beings with the spirit.”
“…only then shall we really know the social laws that are needed.”
“Think of the borderline between maya and reality — there you have a peep-hole on nature on the one side and a peep-hole on social life on the other. And you have to look deeper before you realize that they actually only meet a long way back.”
“Andreae wanted to discover the scheme of things, and his desire to do so fills such works as his Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Rosicruci.”
“…it was an attempt to establish a social order based on truth and not illusion.”
“…one must look more deeply into the whole scheme which lies behind the world of nature if one is to find the spirit in nature. Then one will also find the threads which truly connect human beings with the spirit.”
Ancient India
“Conditions were very different then; humanity as a whole remained capable of further development beyond the 50s.”
“Today we are only capable of developing in such a way in childhood and up to a certain time of our youth, for only then is our physical development directly connected with the development of soul and spirit, and the two run parallel.”
“In ancient Indian times, development in soul and spirit continued to be dependent on physical development until well into the 50s. People went on developing the way a child develops, and this only came to an end when they were old men and women. This is the reason why people looked up with such humility to their old people.”
Humanity gets “younger” through the eras
“During the time of ancient Persia, people were no longer able to develop to such a high level but only into their 40s and early 50s; and in Egyptian and Chaldean times only into their 40s. In Graeco-Latin times, this kind of development went only as far as the thirty-fifth year. Then came a time — you will remember, the Graeco-Latin age began in the eighth century before the Mystery of Golgotha…”
“The age of humanity then matched the age at which Christ went through the Mystery of Golgotha.”
“People who do not take up anything spiritual remain 27 years old even if they live to be 100. It means they have the characteristics of 27-year-olds. And with people refusing to look for inner spiritual impulses we now have a culture and a social life that is 27 years of age. We do not grow beyond the age of 27 in our outer social life. This age now rules humanity. If we go on like this, humanity will go down to 26, 25 and 24 years, then in the sixth post-Atlantean age to the twenty-first and later to the fourteenth year.”
Pursuit of a spiritual life develops the human being beyond the age of 27
“…people prefer to give free rein to their passions, the emotions they create for themselves in the outer world and to their instincts, rather than seek to gain insight. They want to live the life of the world, basing themselves on these emotions and not on their true selves.”
The Search for a Perfect World
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In order to find spiritual knowledge, we must first possess a purified mind, and embody the objective pursuit of truth.
Perfection is not something that is achieved in the physical world
“Everything coming to the fore today in this respect — in general terms, with all kinds of political, social and other agitators making great words about it, or in specific instances, such as in education — is based on illusion because people are unable to see the connections between the physical world and the other spheres of the world. In no way can they gain an idea of what Jesus Christ meant when he said: ‘My kingdom is not of this world’, and why Jesus Christ did not want to bring a kingdom of perfection to realization here in the physical world.”
“But he made up for this lack of desire to establish paradise in the physical world by giving people something which is not of this world: to let impulses enter into their souls which are always alive in the world but are not of this physical world.”
“…people are unable to see the connections between the physical world and the other spheres of the world…”
Why human ideals fail
“Things can be extremely logical and clever, developed by applying all kinds of technical principles, and they may still be nonsense, having been thought up without taking account of reality. What matters is not to be merely clever, or logical, but to relate to reality.”
“The most unrealistic and fantasy-ridden people today are those who consider themselves to be more or less entirely realistic. One makes the strangest discoveries in this respect.”
Self-centeredness corrupts the pursuit of truth
“People with corrupt instincts who are unwilling to apply some degree of discipline to their life-styles quickly tend to take an attitude which is completely determined by the base mind, particularly when the truths to be accepted relate to the world bordering on the physical world.”
“If people do not take a healthy objective interest in what goes on in the world, if they are essentially only interested in anything that relates to themselves, this will often corrupt their mind and attitudes to such an extent that they do not have the right instincts for occult truths and particularly for truths relating to the world bordering on the physical world.”
Finding spiritual truth requires an uncorrupted mind
“When we move from the physical world into the one bordering on it, we are no longer on those leading reins; guidance has to take another form and a different, inner certainty is needed. This is only possible, however, if the mind is incorrupt as we go beyond the physical level.”
“…truths relating to the non-physical world cannot be received in the same frame of mind as truths relating to the physical world.”
Loosen the etheric and astral bodies to gain understanding of the spirit world
“…for any real understanding of the things of the spirit one has to loosen the etheric and astral bodies a little. This loosening should only be a means of gaining understanding of the world of the spirit. It must not become an end in itself; this would be a very serious matter.”
“…anyone who comes to this Society with personal interests may indeed find that spiritual truths will first of all activate low instincts, and perhaps even the lowest of the low.”
The Elemental Spirits of Birth and Death
Destructive spirits guide the rise and fall of civilization
We are entering a fall period in which mankind will have access to these powers, and must learn the consequences of their own actions
Spirits of destruction are necessary to the cycle of life and death
“Spiritual entities are involved when a human being enters this physical world from the non-physical, and then leaves it again for the non-physical world.”
“…let us call them the ‘elemental spirits of birth and death’ for the moment.”
“…in order to bring about birth and death in the physical world, the divine spirits who guide world destinies have to use elemental spirits who actually are the enemies of everything human beings seek and desire for their welfare and well-being here in the physical world.”
“If everything was done just to suit the wishes of human beings — to be comfortable in this physical world, be fit and well as we go to sleep and wake up again and go about our work…birth and death could not be.”
“To bring about birth and death the gods need entities whose minds and whole way of looking at the world give them the urge to destroy and lay waste to everything which provides for the welfare of human beings here in the physical world.”
…the divine spirits who guide world destinies have to use elemental spirits who actually are the enemies of everything human beings seek and desire…
The spiritual world exists right next to the physical one
“So we are looking at a world that is immediately next to our own…”
Elemental spirits are guiding the development of civilization
“The development of human civilization involves the participation of elemental spirits, even if people do not know about it.”
“Modern materialists imagine that the telephone and telegraph, and the steam engines driven long distances and also used by farmers, have been constructed merely on the basis of what people produce by the sweat of their brow. Everything people do in this respect is under the influence of elemental spirits. They are always involved and helping us in this. People are not taking the initiative on their own in this field — they are guided.”
The danger of technology and industry at the hands of humanity
“…as evolution proceeds, the gods always rule for a time within a particular sphere of elemental spirits and then human beings enter into this same sphere and use the elemental spirits.”
“In earlier times, the elemental spirits of birth and death essentially served the divine spirits who guided the world; since our day…the elemental spirits of birth and death are serving technology, industry and human commerce.”
“It is important to let this disturbing truth enter into our souls with all its power and intensity.”
Atlantis: a cautionary tale
“When the Atlantean age had reached its fourth period, people again began to rule the elemental spirits, which had previously been used by the gods, to govern the growth and general physiognomy of human beings. Human beings gained control of certain divine powers and made use of them.”
“The consequence was that from about the middle of the Atlantean age it was possible for individuals who desired to harm their fellow human beings to use all kinds of creative powers on them — keeping them dwarf-sized in growth or making them into giants, or letting the physical organism develop in such a way that the individual concerned would be an intelligent person or a cretin.”
“A terrible power was in human hands in the middle of the Atlantean age.”
Innovation will serve destructive ends
“Civilization must progress in the fields of technology, industry and commerce. But by its very nature such a civilization cannot serve the well-being of humanity in the physical world; it can only prove destructive to the human weal.”
“The commercial, industrial and technological civilization which is now in its beginnings harbours elements which will lead to the decline and fall of the fifth earth period.”
“…we are here beginning to work on something which must lead to catastrophe.”
We must face the matter with iron necessity (not avoid it)
“Humanity must learn from their own destructive behaviors by embracing ‘the iron necessities of human evolution. Civilization cannot continue in an unbroken upward trend; it has to go through a succession of rising and falling waves.’”
This realization must come to all, and requires letting go of personal illusions
“Insight — a clear picture of the necessity which exists — is what will have to come to all human minds. It will necessarily mean that much will have to change in the frame of mind in which we consider the world. Human beings will need to live with inner impulses which they still prefer to ignore today, for these go against the good life they want.”
Shallowness leads to a submission to false authorities, and a lack of true knowledge or wisdom
“If one looks to the unconscious depths of the human soul one finds that in the present time people are not really much concerned to develop the actual virtues.”
“It is much more important to them to be able to feel themselves to be virtuous, to give themselves up entirely to a state of mind where they can say: ‘I am truly selfless, look at all the things I do to improve myself! I am perfect, I am kind, I am someone who does not believe in authority.’ They will then, of course, eagerly follow all kinds of authorities.
“They want to feel they have the virtue rather than practise it.”
“As a result, certain secrets connected with the virtues remain hidden to them.”
Seeking perfection (extremism) in reality leads to dead ends
“…when people are actually seeking to be perfect in a particular direction, this search for perfection will after a time change into what in reality is imperfection.”
“A change occurs through which the desire for perfection becomes a weakness. Benevolence will after a time become prejudicial behaviour. And however good the right may be that you want to bring to realization — it will turn into a wrong in the course of time.”
“The reality is that there are no absolutes in this world. You work towards something that is good, and the way of the world will turn it into something bad.”
Importance of adapting with the times
“We therefore must seek ever new ways, look for new forms over and over again. This is what really matters.”
“The swing of the pendulum governs all such human efforts. Nothing is more harmful than belief in absolute ideals, for they are at odds with the true course of world evolution.”
“A virtue — perfection, benevolence — goes in this direction, but then goes in the opposite direction. Perfection becomes weakness, benevolence uncritical adoration, and right turns into wrong in the course of evolution.”
Spirits of birth and death are Ahriman’s messengers
“The elemental spirits of birth and death are, of course, messengers of Ahriman.”
“The iron necessity of world evolution forces the gods to use Ahriman’s messengers to control birth and death.”
Importance of observing technology, recognizing the devil’s influence in it, and learning from it
“…to use the messengers of the devil in our work in laboratories, workshops, banks and everywhere else. They have to use them so that civilization may progress; but they must know the devil, they must know that the keys which are used, say, to unlock the vaults have the devil’s power in them.”
Most people only want to be in possession of truth, but not receive it
“People are not inclined to receive truths; they announce themselves the possessors of truth. This is the characteristic element in the present time.”
A lack of personal growth creates a society of disjointed minds
“People do not feel they need to develop, for they cannot bear the idea of being something in the future; they want to be something now. This splits them apart into human atoms, each with his own point of view, with no one able to understand anyone else.”
“There, in this mood where no one can understand anyone else, you see the destructive powers at work in human society.”
Changes in Humanity’s Spiritual Makeup
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As the physical world (and human form) is declining, our connection to the spiritual world becomes more inward and unseen.
This calls for a strengthening of our connection to the soul.
Doing so will also allow us the capacity to perceive what’s really going on in reality (world wars, Ahrimanic forces)
Human perception is always changing, different in each era
“Souls change much more than we believe, and it is part of the sheer modern laziness of mind to think that the inner life was just the same in ancient Greece, say, as it is today.”
How the Greeks were different
“The Greeks also saw colours and heard sounds; but they still saw spiritual entities through the colours. They did not merely think spiritual entities, for there made themselves known to them through the colours.”
“The Greeks did not think thoughts in the same degree; they saw the thoughts which came to them out of the world they perceived around them. Instead of merely being blue or red, the blue and the red in the world around them told them the thoughts which they would then think. This created an intimate relationship to the world. It also created an intense feeling of being connected with an environment which had spiritual qualities.”
Greece, a recapitulation of Atlantis
“Evolution does, however, go in waves and it is possible to say that the fourth post-Atlantean period, the Greek and Roman civilization, was a kind of recapitulation of what existed in the Atlantean age.”
“It was a feature of ancient Greece that the inner life was still in complete harmony with physical development”
Genius in the past vs. genius in the future
“In the past, people were geniuses because their souls still had the power, through heredity or education, to send impulses into the physical body which caused the Intuitions, Inspirations and Imaginations of a genius to arise unconsciously. The power of genius was therefore available when the body was still in the ascendant.”
“In future, bodies will be in the descendant and the power will no longer be available. Anything resembling genius in the future will arise because the individuals concerned, whom we may also call geniuses, see more deeply into the spiritual world which is all around them.”
“The changing nature of genius provides an excellent demonstration of the break which has occurred between evolution as it was in the past and evolution as it will be in the future.”
Today, our connection to the spiritual world is more inward
“The space around us no longer speaks to us in the way it did when human bodies were ‘fresh’, as it were. The world around us is one of space, but it no longer yields up the spiritual element. Colours no longer speak to us as elements filled with spirit, sounds no longer reveal the spirit that is in them; they have become substantial. And human nature has become more inward.”
The human body is in decline
“Someone who sees the world with the eye of the spirit sees many people today who simply are not themselves. Bodies are walking around, and the soul is not entirely inside them. Why?”
“Because it is no longer the soul’s task to enter fully into the body, which is beginning to crumble away; instead the soul’s task is to prepare for what will happen on Jupiter.”
“With every incarnation we withdraw more and more from the body, so that to some extent we are hovering above it.”
The spiritual connection is now occult, or hidden in the unseen
“The part of yourself of which you have knowledge does belong to the physical world; the rest is occult; it is hidden.”
“…during the final epochs of earth evolution they will withdraw from the outer physical body.”
The spirit world will become more important
“It is really necessary for people today not to rely entirely on outer appearances if they want to form an idea; they have to base their ideas on the things which influence human beings out of the spirit.”
“Ideas coming from the natural and not from the spiritual world can no longer adequately meet human needs.”
“This is the reason why their theories and political programmes are so inadequate. We are living in an age when programmes like the one which Woodrow Wilson is presenting are no longer appropriate; the age demands world programmes created out of other depths. It will need the assistance of the spirit to make world programmes today.”
Black magic in Atlantis, creating nationalism
“The blackest of black magic was practised in Atlantean times, and order was created by establishing classes and taking these matters out of human control. This was one of the factors which led to the nations and races of today. The issue of the nation as an entity is coming up again in our present time; it is an echo of the soulless brain from Atlantean times.”
We must strengthen the soul
“The soul needs to be made strong, so that anthroposophy can enter into it. Then people will speak out of their individual reality again.”
The inward journey is crucial, and the human body risks embodying darker forces if it’s not addressed
“With the human soul withdrawing more and more from the body, the body is increasingly in danger of being filled with something else. And if human beings are not prepared to take up impulses which can only come from spiritual knowledge, the body will be filled with demonic powers. Humanity is facing a destiny where the body may be filled with Ahrimanic demonic powers.”
Possession by demonic forces
“…people in future who are Tom, Dick and Harry in ordinary life, which is something determined by social circumstances, but their bodies will be empty to such an extent that a powerful Ahrimanic spirit can live in them. One will be meeting Ahrimanic demons. Human beings will not be what they appear to be. The individual person will be deep down inside, and outwardly one will get a totally different picture.”
Reality is becoming more complex, and our perception must match it
“…people are not able to have ideas or concepts about the true nature of things, they are sliding more and more deeply into chaos — the events of the war make this quite clear. Chaos is arising because reality has changed; reality is becoming fuller and richer than anything people are able to think of or create in their heads.
And we shall have to be clear in our minds that we are faced with a choice: To go on beating each other to a pulp, shooting at one another, in the way we do now, because we do not know how to bring order into the world or, start to develop concepts and ideas to match the complexity of the situation.”
The prediction of a vaccine to eliminate soul connection
“The time will come — and it may not be far off — when…people will say: It is pathological for people to even think in terms of spirit and soul. ‘Sound’ people will speak of nothing but the body. It will be considered a sign of illness for anyone to arrive at the idea of any such thing as a spirit or a soul.”
“The soul will be made non-existent with the aid of a drug. Taking a ‘sound point of view’, people will invent a vaccine to influence the organism as early as possible, preferably as soon as it is born, so that this human body never even gets the idea that there is a soul and a spirit.”
Our task now
“We need serious, profound ideas to look ahead to the future. Anthroposophy is not a game, nor just a theory; it is a task that must be faced for the sake of human evolution.”
“We need serious, profound ideas to look ahead to the future. Anthroposophy is not a game, nor just a theory; it is a task that must be faced for the sake of human evolution.”
the inner muse 