The Temple Legend E-Book

Rudolf Steiner

• Herausgeber: Rudolf Steiner Press
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

In these unique lectures, given to members of his Esoteric School (1904-14), Rudolf Steiner's main intention is to throw light on the hidden content of the picture-language of myths, sagas and legends. Pictures, he explains, are the real origin of all things - the primeval spiritual causes. In order to work in a healthy way with pictures or symbols today, however, it is necessary that one should first become acquainted with their esoteric content - to understand them. At the time of these lectures Steiner was planning to inaugurate the second section of the Esoteric School, which was to deal in a direct way with a renewal - out of his own spiritual research - of ritual and symbolism. He gave these lectures as a necessary preparation, to clarify the history and nature of the cultic tradition. He thus discusses principally Freemasonry and its background, but also the Rosicrucians, Manichaeism, the Druids, the Prometheus Saga, the Lost Temple, Cain and Abel - and much else besides.

Leseprobe

RUDOLF STEINER (1861–1925) called his spiritual philosophy ‘anthroposophy’, meaning ‘wisdom of the human being’. As a highly developed seer, he based his work on direct knowledge and perception of spiritual dimensions. He initiated a modern and universal ‘science of spirit’, accessible to anyone willing to exercise clear and unprejudiced thinking.

From his spiritual investigations Steiner provided suggestions for the renewal of many activities, including education (both general and special), agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, philosophy, religion and the arts. Today there are thousands of schools, clinics, farms and other organizations involved in practical work based on his principles. His many published works feature his research into the spiritual nature of the human being, the evolution of the world and humanity, and methods of personal development. Steiner wrote some 30 books and delivered over 6000 lectures across Europe. In 1924 he founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world.

THE TEMPLE LEGEND AND THE GOLDEN LEGEND

Freemasonry & Related Occult Movements

From the Contents of the Esoteric School

RUDOLF STEINER

Twenty Lectures given in Berlin between 23 May 1904 and 2 January 1906

RUDOLF STEINER PRESS

Translated by John M. Wood

Rudolf Steiner Press Hillside House, The Square Forest Row, East Sussex RH18 5ES

www.rudolfsteinerpress.com

Published by Rudolf Steiner Press 2012

Originally published in German under the title Die Tempellegende und die Goldene Legende (volume 93 in the Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe or Collected Works) by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach. This authorized translation published by kind permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach

Revised translation © Rudolf Steiner Press 1997

The moral right of the translator has been asserted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 85584 318 9

Cover: art by Anne Stockton; design by Andrew Morgan Typeset by DP Photosetting, Aylesbury, Bucks.

CONTENTS

Synopsis

Preliminary Remarks by the Editor

PART I

1. Whitsuntide—Festival of the Liberation of the Human Spirit Berlin, Whit Monday, 23 May 1904

2. The Contrast Between Cain and Abel Berlin, 10 June 1904

3. The Mysteries of the Druids and the ‘Drottes’ Berlin, 30 September 1904 (Notes)

4. The Prometheus Saga Berlin, 7 October 1904

5. The Mystery Known to Rosicrucians Berlin, 4 November 1904

6. Manichaeism Berlin, 11 November 1904

7. The Essence and Task of Freemasonry from the Point of View of Spiritual Science—I Berlin, 2 December 1904

8. The Essence and Task of Freemasonry from the Point of View of Spiritual Science—II Berlin, 9 December 1904

9. The Essence and Task of Freemasonry from the Point of View of Spiritual Science—III Berlin, 16 December 1904

10. Evolution and Involution as they are Interpreted by Occult Societies Berlin, 23 December 1904

PART II

11. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored—I (In connection with the Legend of the True Cross, or Golden Legend) Berlin, 15 May 1905

12. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored—II Berlin, 22 May 1905

13. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored—III Berlin, 29 May 1905

14. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored—IV Berlin, 5 June 1905, Whit Monday

15. Atoms and the Logos in the Light of Occultism Berlin, 21 October 1905 (Notes)

PART III

16. The Relationship of Occultism to the Theosophical Movement Berlin, 22 October 1905

17. Freemasonry and Human Evolution—I Berlin, 23 October 1905 (lecture for men only), 10.00 am

18. Freemasonry and Human Evolution—II Berlin, 23 October 1905 (lecture for women only), 11.30 am

19. The Relationship Between Occult Knowledge and Everyday Life Berlin, 23 October 1905 (evening lecture)

20. The Royal Art in a New Form Berlin, 2 January 1906 (lecture to a mixed audience of men and women)

Goethe and his Connection with Rosicrucianism (presumably 1906)

Notebook Entries in Connection with Lecture in Berlin on 2 January 1906 (Facsimile)

Notes

Publisher’s Note

SYNOPSIS

PART I

1. Whitsuntide—Festival of the Liberation of the Human Spirit

Berlin, Whit Monday, 23 May 1904

Whitsuntide and its connection with world evolution, according to a manuscript in the Vatican Library and one in the possession of the Count of Saint-Germain. The two great world philosophies of the fifth Root Race: the Egypto-Indo-South European outlook depending on the intuition of the Devas; the Persian-Germanic world outlook connected with the intuition of the Asuras. The contrast between these two currents. The beginning of human reincarnation during Lemuria and the events connected therewith. The Fall of Man as prerequisite of freedom-seeking mankind. Prometheus as representative of man’s striving for freedom. The reference to the Whitsuntide Mystery in St John’s Gospel. Whitsuntide as a symbol of man’s striving for freedom.

2. The Contrast Between Cain and Abel

Berlin, 10 June 1904

The occult core in the Mosaic story of Adam and Eve and their descendants; asexual and sexual propagation. Sexual propagation only since the time of Seth. The transition from Adam to Seth; Cain and Abel. Contrast between Cain (male spirit) and Abel (female spirit): the principle connected with the intellect and the principle of inspiration. The birth of egoism through the intellect. The struggle against the occult enemies of mankind; the race of the Rakshasas. The fulfilment of Nostradamus’s prophecy through the founding of the Theosophical Society and the re-establishment of the original Mysteries. The doctrine of reincarnation and karma.

3. The Mysteries of the Druids and the ‘Drottes’

Berlin, 30 September 1904 (Notes)

Drottes or Druids, the ancient Germanic initiates. The three stages of initiation. The Edda as a description of what actually took place in the ancient Drottic Mysteries. The Druid priest as architect of the human race; a faint copy of that in the beliefs of the Freemasons.

4. The Prometheus Saga

Berlin, 7 October 1904

The exoteric, allegorical and occult interpretation of sagas. The Prometheus saga. Its interpretation as Mystery account of the history of post-Atlantis. The Lemurian, Atlantean and post-Atlantean times. The discovery of fire, and Prometheus as representative of post-Atlantean times. The contrast of kama-manasic thinking of Epimetheus and the manasic thinking of Prometheus, the initiated leader, in wisdom and deed, of post-Atlantean mankind.

5. The Mystery Known to Rosicrucians

Berlin, 4 November 1904

The myth of Cain and Abel and of Hiram and Solomon (the Temple Legend) given by Christian Rosenkreutz to the Rosicrucian Brotherhood in the fifteenth century. The legend as a symbolic representation of the destiny of the third, fourth and fifth Sub-Races of the fifth Root Race in connection with the development of Christianity. The Christian principle of the equality of man in the sight of God and its application in a worldly sense during the French Revolution. The Count of Saint-Germain and the French Revolution. The Christianity of the Crucified One and the future Christianity of the Rose Cross. The secret of the Molten Sea and golden triangle.

6. Manichaeism

Berlin, 11 November 1904

The spiritual current of Manichaeism. The life of its founder Mani. The great opponent of Manichaeism: Augustine. The legend of Manichaeism and the Manichaean interpretation of evil. Evil as unseasonable good, and the Manichaean principle of one’s own spiritual enlightenment (Faustus) in contradistinction to the principle of external authority (Augustine and Luther). The interaction of good and evil in connection with the principle of life and form. Life and form in the evolution of Christianity. The conquest of evil through gentleness as the task of the Manichaean spiritual stream. Augustine’s opposition to Faustus and the battle of Jesuitism against Freemasonry.

7. The Essence and Task of Freemasonry from the Point of View of Spiritual Science—I

Berlin, 2 December 1904

The Temple Legend as the basis of Freemasonry. Ceremonies of initiation in Craft Masonry (‘Blue’ Masonry). The Master degree and the Temple Legend. The symbolic proceedings as an image of occult events on the astral plane. Freemasons were in fact practising masons in olden times. Architecture in relationship to a knowledge of the universe. Freemasonry has outgrown its real task; its justified existence during the fourth Sub-Race.

8. The Essence and Task of Freemasonry from the Point of View of Spiritual Science—II

Berlin, 9 December 1904

Freemasonry, an outer sheath lacking its proper contents. Goethe and Freemasonry. The holy Royal Arch. Operative Masonry and architecture. The higher degrees. The Manifesto of the Grand Orient of Memphis and Misraim Masonry in Germany. The meaning of the Temple Legend, of Operative Masonry; intuitive knowledge which had to disappear. Our epoch (fifth Sub-Race) as the true epoch of human understanding. The transmutation of the mineral world by human spirituality as the meaning of the Molten Sea. The speech of the English Prime Minister, Lord Balfour, about the meaning of electricity; a reference to a turning-point in human thinking. The very ancient origin of Freemasonry establishments.

9. The Essence and Task of Freemasonry from the Point of View of Spiritual Science—III

Berlin, 16 December 1904

Freemasonry of the higher degrees. The Combined Rite of Memphis and Misraim. Cagliostro and the Higher Degrees. The Philosopher’s Stone (immortality) and the Mystic Pentagram in the teaching of Cagliostro. The French Revolution and the Count of Saint-Germain. The difference between the step by step initiation in the higher degrees and the democratic administration of knowledge in Craft Masonry. The four teaching methods of the Memphis and Misraim Rites. The reality of the occult establishments; the significance of outer forms. The new knowledge about the atom, and future knowledge of the connection between the atom, electricity and human thought.

10. Evolution and Involution as they are Interpreted by Occult Societies

Berlin, 23 December 1904

The significance of occult knowledge in promoting conscious prolongation of life, immortality. The universal law of the development of consciousness. The task of our epoch to permeate the mineral world with human spirit. Spiritualized natural kingdoms as future soul-content of man, resting on the law of evolution and involution. Future penetration of man’s spirit into the atom. Relationship of the atom, thought and electricity. The destruction of the fifth Root Race through the War of All Against All. The significance of forms in connection with future stages of development. Their correspondence with the higher degrees of Freemasonry. The fifth Sub-Race as epoch of pure intellect, as epoch of egoism and its necessary defeat.

PART II

11. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored—I

(In connection with the Legend of the True Cross, or Golden Legend)

Berlin, 15 May 1905

Theosophy and practical life (example: tunnel building). Knowledge of the laws of human co-operation as prerequisite for the building up of human society. The substitution of the old priest-state culture by the worldly-wise culture of the fourth Sub-Race. The Trojan War. The foundation of Rome. The first seven kings of Rome as representation of the seven stages of the fourth cultural epoch. Their connection with sevenfold man. The Temple Legend and its connection with the lost temple in need of being rebuilt.

12. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored—II

Berlin, 22 May 1905

Solomon’s temple as a symbol that man is a dwelling place of the Divine. Noah’s Ark, Solomon’s temple and the measurements of man’s body. The interior of Solomon’s temple. The concept of Solomon’s temple. The Knights Templar and their teachings. Two currents at the inception of the race of mankind: the children of this world (Sons of Cain) and the children of God (Abel-Seth Sons). The aim of the Rosicrucians, as continuators of the Order of the Knights Templar, was no different from that of theosophy; the building of the great temple of humanity.

13. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored—III

Berlin, 29 May 1905

The Legend of the True Cross and the world historic significance of Solomon’s temple. The contrast of the two currents within mankind: the Sons of God (descendants of Abel-Seth) and the Sons of Man (descendants of Cain). The uniting of the two streams in Christ Jesus. The construction of the three-stage world temple (corresponding to physical body, etheric body and astral body of man) throughout the time of the Old Covenant by the Sons of Cain, the servants of the world. Work performed in the service of the Divine World Order by the Sons of God, the servants of the Ark of the Covenant. Solomon’s temple, an external expression of what the Ark of the Covenant should become. Man’s earthly evolution in connection with the symbol of the Cross. The Pauline distinction between the law and grace. The connection of law and sin in the Old Covenant and law and love in the New Covenant.

14. Concerning the Lost Temple and How it is to be Restored—IV

Berlin, 5 June 1905, Whit Monday

The Lost Word to be rediscovered—an allegory connected with the Whitsuntide festival. Whitsuntide, the festival of mankind’s freedom. Freedom of choice between good and evil. The Fall of Man. The evolution of the world throughout the aeons: Rounds, Globes and Races or epochs. The seven kings of Solomon’s Dynasty during the seven epochs of the Astral Globe. The construction of the macrocosmos by Spirit, Son and Father; the inner working of man from the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father. Post-Atlantean culture until the time of the Christ event in its connection with the principles Father, Son and Spirit. The awakening of the Inner Word; the resurrection of the etheric body as the secret of the Whitsuntide festival.

15. Atoms and the Logos in the Light of Occultism

Berlin, 21 October 1905 (Notes)

The task for the future of the theosophical world current. The plan for the guidance of mankind by the Masters of the White Lodge. Logos, earth evolution, and atoms. Comments about the Atoms in Connection with Freemasonry.

PART III

16. The Relationship of Occultism to the Theosophical Movement

Berlin, 22 October 1905

The essence of occult societies is their heirarchical structure; the essence of the Theosophical Society is its democratic basis. The connection of these two lies in the fact that the Theosophical Society is intended as a centre for the expression of occult truths. The task of true occultism is inner training; within the theosophical movement the aim is to popularize occult knowledge. The task of the Theosophical Society is to foster occult teachings and occult life by means of understanding. Rigid contrast between the occult current and the organization within the Theosophical Society.

17. Freemasonry and Human Evolution—I

Berlin, 23 October 1905 (lecture for men only), 10.00 am [Content—see Lecture 18 below.]

18. Freemasonry and Human Evolution—II

Berlin, 23 October 1905 (lecture for women only), 11.30 am

Physical severance of the bi-sexual into male and female during Lemurian times. A kind of recapitulation of this on a spiritual level during post-Atlantean times; division of knowledge into wisdom tending towards the male and wisdom showing affinity with the female. Cain and Abel as the representatives of this ancient Mystery teaching and the Freemasonry Temple Legend as the symbolic expression of this. The Freemasonry interpretation of the future generative forces centred in the Word. One-sided endeavours in Freemasonry and Jesuitism. The conquest of ancient wisdom through the new wisdom of theosophy which has its origin in superior asexuality.

19. The Relationship Between Occult Knowledge and Everyday Life

Berlin, 23 October 1905 (evening lecture)

The involvement of occult information in the life of our immediate surroundings. Man’s astral body. Importance of education. ‘Intermediary’ astral substance. The transformation of the astral substance through feelings, concepts and decisions of will. Astral thought forms. Individual astral bodies and astral substance of whole nations. Expression of national tasks on the astral plane. The temperament and character of whole nations. Slavonic and American peoples beginning to be inspired by the thought of their nationhood. Spirituality of national inspiration in the east (the Slavs), psychic inspiration in the west (the Americans). Their affinities—in the east with the Mongolian element, in the west with the Negro element.

20. The Royal Art in a New Form

Berlin, 2 January 1906 (lecture to a mixed audience of men and women)

Misunderstandings and errors about Freemasonry. The Taxil swindle. Origin of the name ‘Freemasonry’. The three spheres or pillars of civilization: Wisdom, Beauty and Strength. Consideration of the twelfth century and the saga of the Holy Grail according to Masonic interpretation. Contrast between the male-Masonic and female-priestly principles; mastery over inanimate nature and acceptance of God-bestowed living forces. The sign of the Cross. The Holy Grail as a symbol of the mastery over the forces of life to be attained in the future; the Royal Art in a new form.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS BY THE EDITOR OF THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION

The lectures here presented, in so far as their content is concerned, really belong to the teaching material of Rudolf Steiner’s Esoteric School.* In them a form of esoteric work was being prepared which was put into practice from 1906 onwards.

By means of explanations related to the esoteric content of the picture language of myths, sagas and legends, especially that of ‘The Temple Legend’ and ‘The Legend of the True Cross’ usually called ‘The Golden Legend’ by Rudolf Steiner, a ‘basis was to have been created for the practice of a kind of cultic symbolism. It is only through everything pertaining to a cult,† not just the outward form of a cult, but the understanding of the world by means of pictures,’ through meditating in pictures, that one is led to the true knowledge of man and of the world (Dornach, 27 April 1924, Karmic Relationships, Vol. II). It is through pictures, as they appear through imaginative thinking, that all things are created. ‘Pictures are the real origin of things, pictures lie behind all that surrounds us ... it is these pictures which are meant when people speak of primeval spiritual causes’ (Berlin, 6 July 1915, ‘Thoughts for the Times’, lecture 12). These pictures were wrapped in myths and legends by the wise men of old. For modern consciousness the true effect depends upon the extent to which picture language can be penetrated by an understanding of the ideals.

As the pictures belonging to the Temple Legend and the Golden Legend form an integral part of the section dealing with cult and symbolism, the present series of lectures deals mainly with their interpretation for present-day consciousness. Rudolf Steiner regarded it as a necessary preliminary to working with pictures—that is, with symbols—that one should first become acquainted with their esoteric content. That entailed the Rosicrucian training as given by him, of which the first step is study and only the second is imaginative thinking.

Concerning the remarks about Freemasonry, one thing is to be especially noted. Rudolf Steiner was at that time about to inaugurate the second section of his Esoteric School, dealing with cult and symbolism. As a new form of the ‘Royal Art’, created out of his own spiritual investigation, was to have been presented in the School, the preparatory lectures were concerned with clarifying its history and nature, and pointing out that mankind is standing at the threshold of a new phase of evolution, indicating what its future content would be.

When in later years he spoke in some of his lectures about what happened in connection with Freemasonry, it is because he always rigorously condemned the mixing of occultism and a striving after power, wherever it occurred. (Compare, for example, The Karma of Human Vocation, Dornach, 4–27 November 1916; The Occult Movement in the Nineteenth Century, Dornach, 10–25 October 1915; The Challenge of the Times, Dornach, 29 November-8 December 1918; How Can Mankind Find the Christ Again?, Dornach, 25–29 December 1918.)

The outbreak of the First World War had proved to him that ‘certain pieces of knowledge’ had been misused by particular occult brotherhoods of the West ‘to stir up the necessary political atmosphere conducive to bringing about the world catastrophe and influencing world events’. Thus Rudolf Steiner saw himself obliged to draw attention to the fact that an originally good and necessary thing, which was intended to serve ‘the whole of mankind without distinction of race or personal interests’, must necessarily turn to something bad when used ‘as a means of power in the hands of isolated groups of people’ (from an unsigned foreword to Karl Heise’s Entente-Freimaurerei und Weltkrieg, Basle 1918).

Regarding the connection which Rudolf Steiner made in a quite definite external form with the Symbolic-Cultic Section of the Misraim-Memphis Freemasonry of John Yarker, often deliberately misconstrued by his enemies, see Rudolf Steiner, The Course of My Life, Chapter 36, and also publications on the history of the Esoteric School, containing letters, circulars and other documents.*

As Rudolf Steiner still taught within the Theosophical Society when these lectures were given, he made use of the customary terminology of that time. For historical reasons we have forborne substituting the expression ‘theosophy’ for ‘anthroposophy’, as was usually done at the specific request of Rudolf Steiner after the German Section of the Theosophical Society had re-formed under the title Anthroposophical Society. The reader must be aware, however, that the theosophy taught by Rudolf Steiner—as represented in his fundamental book Theosophy, an Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man—has always been identical with what he later only referred to as ‘anthroposophy’ or ‘anthroposophically-orientated spiritual science’.

Concerning the texts, it must be stressed that, in common with most of the early transcripts, where professional stenographers were not employed, they are noticeably incomplete, sometimes only existing in the form of notes. Stylistic and logical imperfections must not, therefore, be laid at Rudolf Steiner’s door. But even though we are not always dealing with a word-for-word transcript, the contents as they have been conveyed to us form a unique and indispensable part of the complete works of Rudolf Steiner. In order to guarantee as far as possible a text that is free from mistakes, all sources have been tested and compared, and where shorthand notes exist these too have been used in checking. In the notes at the end of the book the sources have been given for each lecture separately. Words and phrases in the text enclosed in square brackets are the insertions of the editor,* whereas those enclosed in ordinary brackets are original to the text. The copious notes are intended to compensate as far as possible for the deficiencies of the text. Pertinent books from Rudolf Steiner’s own library were the chief source material used.

H.W.

* The Esoteric School from 1904 until the outbreak of the First World War in summer 1914 existed in three sections or classes (see GA 264, 265 and 266—the latter was previously 245).

†The word ‘cult’ is used here in the sense of ritual.

* See the following volumes from the collected works of Rudolf Steiner: GA 264—Zur Geschichte und aus den Inhalten der ersten Abteilung der Esoterischen Schule 1904 bis 1914; GA 265—Zur Geschichte und aus den Inhalten der erkenntniskutischen Abteilung der Esoterischen Schule von 1904 bis 1914; GA 266—Aus den Inhalten der esoterischen Stunden: Band I, Stunden der Jahre 1904–1909; Band II, Stunden der Jahre 1910–1912; Band III, Stunden der Jahre 1913–1914.

* And in a few cases by the translator of the English edition.

PART I

LECTURE 1

Whitsuntide—Festival of the Liberation of the Human Spirit

Berlin, Whit Monday, 23 May 1904

It was to be expected1 that only a small company would gather here today. I have nevertheless decided to hold our meeting this evening to talk to those of you who are present about something connected with Whitsuntide.

Before I start I would like to report to you one result of my latest visit to London, which is that in all likelihood Mrs Besant will be visiting us here2 in the autumn. We shall have the opportunity then of hearing again one of the personalities belonging to the most powerful spiritual influences of our time. The next two public lectures3 will be held in the Architektenhaus—on spiritualism a week hence, and on somnambulism and hypnotism the following week. Then the usual Monday arrangements will take place again regularly. On the coming Thursdays4 I shall speak about theosophical cosmology, about theosophical ideas concerning the creation of the universe. Those of you who are interested in such things may hear much that is not already known from the usual theosophical literature. I wish to hold over till a later date the lectures on the rudiments of theosophy.5

What I wish to talk about today comes from an old occult tradition. The subject cannot, of course, be dealt with exhaustively today. Some of it may appear incredible. I would request, therefore, that today’s lecture be treated as an episode in which nothing is to be proved, but only things related.

People celebrate their festivals today without having an inkling of what is signified by them. In the newspapers, which constitute the main source of the education and enlightenment of most of our contemporaries, one can read many and various articles dealing with such festivals, the writers of which have not the slightest idea of the meaning of such a festival. But for theosophists it is necessary to look again at their inner meaning. And so I want today to direct your attention to the origin of such an age-old festival: the source of the Whitsuntide festival.

Whitsuntide is one of the most important festivals and one of the most difficult to understand. For Christian consciousness it commemorates the coming of the Holy Ghost. This event is described as a miracle: the Holy Spirit was poured out over the Apostles so that they started to speak in all manner of tongues. This means that they could enter into every heart and speak according to each one’s understanding. That is one of the interpretations of Whitsuntide. If we wish to reach a more fundamental understanding of it, we must go still deeper into the matter. Whitsuntide—as symbolical festival—is connected with the most profound mysteries, with the holiest spiritual qualities of humanity; that is why it is so difficult to talk about it. Today I should like at least to touch on just a few things.

What the Whitsuntide festival symbolizes, the underlying principle from which it receives its deep inner meaning, is preserved in a single manuscript copy6 which is to be found in the Vatican Library, where it is guarded with the greatest care. To be sure, no mention is made of Whitsuntide in this manuscript, but it certainly tells of that for which Whitsuntide is only the outer symbol. Hardly anyone has seen this manuscript, unless he has been initiated into the deepest secrets of the Catholic Church, or has been able to read it in the Astral Light.7 One copy is possessed by a personality who has been very much misunderstood in the world, but who is beginning to interest today’s historians. I could equally well have said ‘was possessed’ instead of ‘is possessed’, but it would thereby cause a lack of clarity. Therefore I say again: a copy is in the possession of the Count of Saint-Germain,8 who is the only existing source of information about it.

I should like to give a few hints about this from a theosophical point of view. We shall be led thereby to something intimately connected with the evolution of mankind during the fifth Root Race. Man assumed his present-day form during the third Root Race (the time of ancient Lemuria), developed it further during the fourth Root Race (the time of ancient Atlantis), and then progressed to the fifth Root Race with what he had thus acquired. Whoever heard my Atlantis lectures9 will remember that a vivid memory of those times still existed among the Greeks.

To find our bearings,10 we must get a little insight into two currents belonging to our fifth Root Race, which are active as hidden powers in the souls of men and are often in conflict with one another. The one current is most clearly and best represented by what we call the Egyptian, Indian and South European outlook on life. Everything belonging later to Judaism and even to Christianity contains a little of that. But in our European culture, on the other hand, this has been intermingled with that other current which is to be found in ancient Persia and—if we disregard what the anthropologists and etymologists say and go deeper into the matter—we find it again stretching westwards from Persia to the regions of the Teutons.

Of these two currents11 I would maintain that two mighty and important spiritual intuitions underlie them. The one was best understood by the ancient Rishis. To them was revealed the intuition of beings of a higher order, the so-called Devas.12 He who has undergone occult training and can carry out investigations into these matters will know what Devas are. These purely spiritual beings, of the astral or mental plane, have a twofold inner nature, whereas man’s nature is threefold. For man consists of body, soul and spirit, but the Deva nature—as far as can be investigated—consists only of soul and spirit. It may possess other members, but we are unable to find them, even by occult means. The Deva is an ensouled spirit. The impulses, emotions, desires and wishes that live invisibly within man, but are seen as light effects by the seer, these soul powers, this soul body, which constitutes man’s inner being, supported by the physical body, is the lowest body that the Devas possess. We can regard it as their body. The intuitive faculty of the Indian was concerned mainly with the worshipping of these Devas. The man of India sees these Devas all around. He sees them as creating powers when he penetrates the veil of outward appearance. This intuition is fundamental to the outlook on life of the peoples of the Southern Zone.13 It is expressed most powerfully in the Egyptians’ conception of the world.

The other intuition was the basis upon which the ancient Persian mysticism was founded, and this led to the veneration of beings who were also only twofold in their nature: the Asuras. They, too, possessed what we call soul, but the soul organ was enclosed within a physical body developed in sublime and titanic fashion. The Indian view of the world, which clung to the Deva worship, looked upon the Asuras as something inferior, whereas those who inclined to the viewpoint of the Northern peoples14 adhered to the Asuras,15 to physical nature. Thus there developed in the Northern Zone more especially the impulse towards controlling the things of the sense world in a material way, towards an ordering of the world of realities by means of the highest technical advancement, through physical arts and so on. Nowadays there is nobody who still persists in Asura worship, but there are many among us who still have something of this within them. Thence comes the tendency towards the materialistic side of life and that is the basic tendency of the Northern peoples.16 Whoever acknowledges purely materialistic principles can be sure that he has something of the Asuras in his nature.

Among the Asura adherents there then developed a strange undertone of feeling. It first made its appearance in the spiritual life of Persia. The Persians developed a kind of fear of the Deva nature. They experienced fear, apprehension and dread in face of what was of a purely soul-spirit nature. That was the reason for the great contrast which we now observe between the Persian and the Indian attitude. In the Persian attitude those things were often venerated which to the Indians were bad and inferior, and just those things were avoided by the Persians which the Indians held in veneration. The Persian experience of the world was steeped in a mood of soul that feared and avoided a being of the nature of a Deva. In short, it was the picture of Satan which arose in this view of the world. Lucifer, the being of Spirit and Soul, became an object of fear and dread. That is where we have to look for the origin of the belief in the Devil. This mood of soul has also been absorbed into the modern view of the world; Lucifer became a much feared and avoided figure in the Middle Ages. Lucifer was definitely shunned.

We learn particulars about it17 in the manuscript already mentioned. If we follow in it the course of earth evolution we shall find that in the middle of the third Root Race, the Lemurian epoch, mankind was clothed in physical matter. It is a wrong conception when theosophists believe that reincarnation had no beginning and will have no ending. Reincarnation started in the Lemurian age and will cease again at the beginning of the sixth Root Race or age. It is only a certain period of time in earth evolution during which mankind reincarnates. It was preceded by a most spiritual condition that precluded any necessity for reincarnation, and there will follow again a spiritual state that will likewise obviate the necessity for reincarnation.

Simultaneously with its first incarnation in the Lemurian Age the untarnished human spirit, consisting of Atma-Buddhi-Manas, sought its primal physical incarnation. The physical development of the earth with its animal-like creatures had not evolved so far at that time, the whole of this animal-human organism was not so far advanced then that it could have incorporated the human spirit. But a part of it, a certain group of animal-like beings, had evolved so far that the seed of the human spirit could descend into it to give form to the human body.

Some of the individualities who incarnated at that time formed the small nucleus of those who later spread over the whole earth as the so-called Adepts. They were the original Adepts, not those whom we call initiates today. Those whom we call initiates today did not go through incarnation at that time. Not all incarnated at that time who would have been able to find human-animal bodies, only some of them. Some others were opposed to the process of incarnation for a particular reason. They delayed that until the time of the fourth age. The Bible hints at that in a concealed and profound way: ‘The Sons of God saw the daughters of men18 that they were fair and they took them wives of all which they chose.’

That is to say, the incarnation of those who had waited began at a later time. We call this group the ‘Sons of Wisdom’, and it almost appears as if there were a kind of arrogance, a sort of pride about them. We shall make an exception of the small group of Adepts. Had these other ones also incarnated at the earlier period, mankind would never have been able to acquire the clarity of consciousness that he possesses today. He would have been held fast in a dull trancelike state of consciousness. He would have developed that kind of consciousness which is to be found in people who have been hypnotized, sleepwalkers and the like. In short, man would have remained in a kind of dreamlike state. But one thing would have been lacking then, one thing of great importance if not of the utmost importance—he would have lacked a feeling of freedom, a capacity to exercise his individual discrimination with regard to good and evil by means of his own consciousness, his own human ego.

This postponement of incarnation—in the form it assumed in consequence of that feeling of dread of the Devas which I characterized—this is called in the Book of Genesis the ‘Fall of Man’. The Devas delayed their incarnation and only descended to the earth to take possession of physical bodies when humanity had reached a further stage in its development. Through this they were able to evolve a more mature form of consciousness than would have been the case earlier.

Thus, you see, the cost of man’s freedom was the deterioration of his nature, by waiting for his incarnation till he could descend into denser physical conditions. A deep understanding of this has been preserved in Greek mythology. Had man descended earlier into incarnation—so says the Greek myth—then that would have happened which Zeus wanted when man was still living in Paradise. He wished to make man happy, but as an unconscious being. Clear consciousness would have been possessed solely by the gods, and man would have been without a feeling of freedom. The rebellion of the Lucifer Spirit, the Deva Spirit within humanity, who wished to descend in order to rise up again out of his own freedom, is symbolized by the saga of Prometheus.19 But Prometheus had to suffer for his endeavours by having an eagle—symbol of inordinate desire—gnawing at his liver and causing him the most deadly pain.

Man had thus descended more deeply and now had to achieve through his own free conscious activity what he would have attained by magical arts and powers. But because he had descended deeper he must suffer pains and torment. This is also indicated in the Bible with the words: ‘In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.20 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,’ etc. That is no less than to say: mankind must raise itself again with the help of culture.

Through the figure of Prometheus, Greek mythology has symbolized free humanity struggling towards culture. He is the representative of suffering mankind, but at the same time the giver of freedom. The one who sets Prometheus free is Heracles, of whom it is said that he underwent initiation in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Whoever descended to the underworld was an initiate, for the descent into the underworld is a technical term denoting initiation. This journey to the underworld is attributed to Heracles, Odysseus and to all who are initiates, who wish to lead man of his epoch to the source of primeval wisdom, to a life of the spirit.

Had mankind retained the attitude of Lemurian times we would have been dreamers today. Through his Deva nature, mankind fructified his lower nature. Out of his self-awareness, out of his awareness of freedom, man now has to reawaken that spark of awareness which he brought down from heaven in justified presumption; he has to reawaken that spiritual knowledge which he had received without his own striving when he was still unfree. There lies in human nature itself that satanic rebelliousness which, however, in the form of luciferic aspiration is the only safeguard of our freedom. And out of this freedom we shall again wrest spiritual life. It will be reawakened in the man of the fifth Root Race, our present epoch. This form of consciousness will again be conveyed through initiates. It will not be a dreamy, but a clear consciousness. It is the Heraclean spirits, the initiated ones, who will help mankind forward and reveal to him his Deva nature, his knowledge of the spirit. That was also the endeavour of all the great founders of religion, that they should restore to mankind the knowledge of the spirit which had been lost in physiological existence. The Atlanteans had a high physical civilization and our fifth epoch still contains much of the material life within it. This materialistic culture of the present time shows us how far man has become embedded in purely physical-physiological nature, as Prometheus was enmeshed in his chains. But it is equally certain that the vulture, the symbol of lust and craving, gnawing at our liver, will be thrust aside by spiritual men. That is the goal to which the initiates would lead mankind through consciousness of self, by means of such movements as the theosophical movement, so that it can raise itself up in full freedom.

The moment which we have to regard as the one in which spiritual life poured into the self-conscious human being is indicated precisely in the New Testament. It is alluded to in the profoundest of the Gospels, the one which is misunderstood by today’s theologians, the St John’s Gospel, when it speaks of the Feast of the Tabernacles which was attended by Jesus. The founder of Christianity there speaks of the outpouring of spiritual life with which humanity was to be endowed. It is a remarkable passage. For the Feast of the Tabernacles, the people had to visit a spring from which water flowed. There followed a festival which intimated to man that he should call to mind again his spiritual nature, his Deva and spiritual strivings. The water that flowed there was to remind him of the soul and spirit world. After repeated refusals Jesus finally went up to the feast. The following happened on the last day of the feast (John 7:37): ‘In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.’ Those who drank celebrated a feast in which the spiritual life was brought to recollection. But Jesus connected something else with it, as can be seen in the following words of St John’s Gospel: ‘He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified).’

Here the Whitsuntide mystery is indicated. It is intimated that man has to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the moment arrives in which man is able to kindle the spark of spiritual life within him, when the physiological nature of man is able to attempt the ascent by means of its own forces, then will the Holy Spirit descend upon him and the time of spiritual awakening will be at hand.

Man descended as far as the physical body and so, in contrast to the nature of the Devas, he is built up out of three principles: spirit, soul and body. The Devas are at a higher stage than man, but they do not have to surmount physical nature as man does. This physical nature has to be transfigured so that it can absorb the life of the spirit. Man’s consciousness in the body, his physiological consciousness of today, will itself be able to enkindle the spark of spiritual existence in freedom.

Christ’s sacrifice is an example which shows that man will be able to unfold a higher form of consciousness out of his life on the physical plane. His lower individuality lives in the physical body, but it must be enkindled so that the higher personality can develop. Only then can the ‘rivers of living water’ flow from man’s ‘belly’. Then can the Holy Spirit appear and be poured forth upon humanity. Man, as an ego being, must be as though dead to physiological existence.

Herein lies what is truly Christian, and it also embodies the deeper mystery contained in the Whitsuntide festival. Man lives primarily in his lower organism, in his consciousness imbued with desires. It is right that this is so, because it is only this consciousness which can provide him with awareness of his true goal, to attain freedom. He should not remain there, however, but must raise his ego to the nature of a Deva. He must develop the Deva within him, bring it to birth so that it becomes a spirit of healing—a Holy Spirit. To that end he must consciously sacrifice his earthly body, he must experience that ‘dying and becoming’, so that he does not remain a ‘gloomy guest’21 on this dark earth.

Thus the Easter mystery is only revealed in its fullness when taken together with the Whitsuntide mystery. We see the human ego, exemplified in its Divine Representative, divesting itself of the lower ego and dying in order to be completely transfigured in its physical nature and offered up again to the Godhead. Ascension is the symbol of this. When man has become transfigured in the physical body, has offered it up again to the Spirit, he will be ripe to receive the outpouring of spiritual life, to experience what is called the ‘coming of the Holy Spirit’ according to the explanation of One who is mankind’s greatest Representative. Therefore it is also said: ‘And there are three that bear witness in earth,22 the Spirit, the water and the blood.’ Whitsuntide is the outpouring of the Spirit into man.

The highest goal of humanity is symbolically expressed by means of the Whitsuntide festival; that is, that mankind must progress once more from an intellectual to a spiritual life. Just as Prometheus was set free from his suffering by Heracles, so will mankind be set free by the power of the Spirit. By descending into matter, mankind has attained self-consciousness. Through the fact that he ascends again, he will become a self-aware Deva. Those who worshipped the Asuras and regarded the Devas as beings of a satanic nature, who did not wish to descend into the innermost depths, regarded this descent as something devilish.

That, too, is referred to in Greek mythology. The one whose state of consciousness is not free—the contemplator—the one who does not wish to win redemption in complete freedom, and therefore is the opponent of Prometheus, is Epimetheus. Zeus gives him Pandora’s box, the contents of which—sufferings and plagues—fall on mankind when it is opened. The only gift that is left behind is hope—the hope that one day, in a future state, he will also progress to this higher, clear consciousness. He is left with the hope that he will be set free. Prometheus advises him against accepting this doubtful gift from the god Zeus. Epimetheus does not listen to his brother, but accepts the gift. The gift that Epimetheus receives is not worth as much as the one belonging to his brother Prometheus.

Thus we see that there are two ways of life open to men. Some of them cling to a feeling of freedom and—although it is dangerous to develop spirituality—they search for it in freedom nevertheless. The others are the ones who find their satisfaction in the dull round of life and in blind faith, and who suspect danger in the luciferic endeavours of their fellow men. The founders of the Church’s outward doctrine have distorted the deeper meaning of luciferic striving. The ancient teachings on the subject are contained in hidden manuscripts23 in undisclosed places, where they have hardly been seen by anyone. They are available to a few people who are able to see them in the Astral Light, and otherwise only to a few initiates. The path is fraught with danger, but it is the only one which leads to the sublime goal of spiritual freedom.

The spirit of man should be free and not dull. That is also the aim of Christianity. Health and healing are connected with holiness. A spirit that is holy is able to heal; it sets men free from sufferings and torments. Healthy and free is the human being who is released from the bondage of his physiological state. For only the free spirit is the healthy one, whose body is no longer gnawed by an eagle.

Thus Whitsuntide can be looked upon as the symbol of the freeing of the human spirit, as the great symbol of mankind’s struggle for freedom, for consciousness of his own freedom.

If the Easter festival is the festival of resurrection in nature, then the Whitsuntide festival is the symbol of the becoming conscious of the human spirit, the festival of those who know and understand and—penetrated through and through by this—go in search of freedom.

Those spiritual movements of modern times which lead to a perception of the spiritual world in clear day consciousness—not in trance or under hypnosis—are the ones that lead to an understanding of such important symbols as this. The clear consciousness, which only the spirit can set free, is what unites us in the Theosophical Society. Not the word alone, but the spirit gives it its meaning. The spirit which emanates from the great Masters, which flows through a few people only who are able to say, ‘I know they are there, the great Adepts, who are the founders of our spiritual movement, not our society,’24 this spirit flows into our present civilization and bestows on it the impulse for the future.

Let a spark of understanding of this Holy Spirit flow again into the misunderstood Whitsuntide festival, then it will be revivified and gain meaning once more. We want to live in a world that makes sense. Whoever celebrates festivals without sparing them a thought is a follower of Epimetheus. Man must see what binds him to his surroundings and also to what is invisible in nature. We have to know where we stand. For we humans are not confined to a dull, dreamy, semi-existence, we are destined to develop a free, fully conscious unfolding of our whole being.

LECTURE 2

The Contrast Between Cain and Abel

Berlin, 10 June 1904

I mentioned already1 last time that a great number of occult secrets lie hidden in the story of Cain and Abel. I wish to point out certain things today, but right at the beginning I would stress that the relationship between Cain and Abel—with regard to its deeper aspect, of course—is an allegory for very profound Mysteries,2 which we will only be able to reveal in part on the basis of the conceptions we hold.

If we take the five books of the Pentateuch, we shall find therein many things that indicate the development of mankind since the Lemurian epoch. The story of Adam and Eve and their descendants is not simply to be taken literally, in a naive fashion. I would ask you to take into account that in the Pentateuch, in Enoch,3 in the Psalms and some important chapters in the Gospels, in the Epistle to the Hebrews and some Epistles of Paul and in the Apocalypse, we are dealing wholly with the work of initiates, so that in these writings it behoves us to search for an occult meaning. In the occult schools this meaning was everywhere discussed. If the Bible is not just read thoughtlessly—thoughtlessly in a higher sense—many things will become apparent. And I should like to draw your attention to something which may easily be overlooked, but must be taken quite literally if we are to see that nothing is without a meaning in the Bible and that it is quite easy for this meaning to escape us.

Take the first sentence from the fifth chapter of Genesis:4

This is the book of the generations of man. In the days that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male-female created he him; and blessed him, and called his name Adam, in the day when he was created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

One must take the literal rendering. Adam himself was simply called a man. Male-female created he him; not yet sexually defined, asexual. And how was he created? In the likeness of God.

And moreover, in the second sentence, ‘In so and so many years’—that indicates a long span of time—‘Adam begat a son Seth, after his likeness.’ In the beginning of the time of Adam we have men in the likeness of God; at the end of Adam’s time after the likeness of Adam, after a human likeness. Earlier, man was made in the likeness of God; later, in Adam’s likeness.

We thus have, to start with, human beings who are all similar in appearance and all created after the image of God. They were propagated by asexual means. We must be clear about the fact that they all retained the same form which they had at the beginning, so that father looked like son and grandson also looked like son. What first caused mankind to change, to become differentiated? In what way did it change? Through the fact that two were engaged in propagation. The son or daughter looked like the father on the one hand, like the mother on the other.

Now just imagine you have a race of people that were originally similar to God in appearance and they were propagated not by sexual means, but asexually; the descendants are all similar in appearance to their forebears. There is no mixing of the race. The differentiation first came about in the Seth period. But between the times of Adam and Seth something else occurred. Namely, before the transition from Adam to Seth two others were born, who were important representatives: Cain and Abel. They came between and represent a transitional stage. They were not born at a time when propagation had already taken on a strongly marked character of sexuality. We can infer this from the meaning of the names Cain and Abel. Abel is the same as pneuma in Greek,5 which means ‘spirit’, and if we look at that from the point of view of sexuality, it denotes a decidedly female character. Cain, on the other hand, means almost literally ‘the masculine’, so that in Cain and Abel the masculine and feminine principles confront one another. Not yet on an organic level: they tend to differentiate on a spiritual level.

Now I would ask you to hold that fast in your minds. Originally mankind was male-female. Later on it was divided into a male and a female gender. The male, the more material race, was represented in Cain, the female, the more spiritual, in Abel-Seth. A differentiation has occurred. That is symbolized in the words: ‘Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground’ (Genesis 4:2).

‘Ground’ (Boden) has the significance of the ‘physical plane’ in all ancient languages and the three aggregate conditions of the physical plane are: the solid earth, the water and the air. ‘Cain was a tiller of the ground’ in its original sense means: he learnt to live on the physical plane, he became a man on the physical plane. That was the male characteristic. It consisted of being strong and robust in order to cultivate the soil and then retire again from the physical to the higher planes.

‘Abel was a keeper of sheep.’ As a shepherd one accepts life as the Creator has presented it. One does not cultivate the herds, one tends them. Therefore Abel is the representative of the sex that does not reach spirituality through its own individual effort of understanding, but only receives it as a revelation of the Godhead and then merely tends it. The keeper of flocks, the guardian of that which has been placed on the earth, that is Abel. The one who creates things for himself, that is Cain. Cain lays the foundation of zither playing and other arts (Genesis 4:21–2).

Now comes a contrast in their attitude towards the God-head. Abel receives from the spirit and offers up the best, the highest fruits of the spirit. God regards the offering of Abel with satisfaction—of course, because it is what He Himself has bestowed on the earth. Cain makes a different claim. He turns to God with the products of his own intelligence. That is something quite foreign to the nature of God, because it is something that man has achieved out of his own freedom.

Cain is the type of man who aspires to the arts and sciences. That has nothing to do with the Deity to begin with. A profound truth is expressed here. He who has occult experience knows that the arts and sciences, in spite of having made man free, do not lead him to the spirit. Rather are they the things that lead him away from what is truly spiritual. The arts have sprung up from man’s inner being, which have their roots in the earthly plane. That has no immediate appeal for the Deity. It produces the conflict that arises when the smoke of Abel’s offering, the spirit implanted in the earth by God himself, is accepted by the divine worlds but the smoke from Cain’s offering is rejected and remains on the earth. What is independently produced remains on the earth, like the offering of Cain.

That, too, is the same as the contrast between male and female. Female is inspired by what is received directly from God. Pneuma is achieved through conception. What Cain has to offer is human work on the physical plane itself. That is the contrast between female and male spirit. Here these two are fundamentally opposed to one another.

Man is not only a physical being but is spiritually both male and female at the same time; he is both the one who receives and allows himself to be inspired and the one who works upon the inspirations and combines them through his intellect. These two functions were now separated—we can regard male and female simply as a symbol from now on. From now on the principle of inspiration was transferred to those who were like Abel, who remained shepherds and priests. It was not transferred to the others. They dedicated themselves to the worldly things of science and the arts and confined themselves purely to earthly activities.

That could not have taken place without a change occurring in the human being. While man was still male-female, it was impossible for him to separate spiritual wisdom and scientific knowledge. Only through a definite separation into the two sexes could man’s brain be brought to the pitch where it could function. The brain became male,6 the deeper nature became female. Mankind can only be productive through his physical nature. Through that he produces something, namely, descendants. But a spirit, inasmuch as it is connected with the brain, is male and confined to productivity on the physical plane. Therefore Cain and Abel are the representative types of these two kinds of thinking.

Through this separation, it came about that in the propagation of the human species the offspring ceased to be merely identical copies of their parents and became differentiated. I would ask you to visualize the following. The greater the importance attached to sex, the more the differentiation that resulted. If we were dealing with purely asexual propagation then the new generation would look just like the one that had gone before. A variation would not occur in the sequence of the generations. Variation only comes about when a mixture occurs. And how was this mixture made possible? Through the fact that the masculine element committed itself to the earth. Cain was the one who became a tiller of the soil and transformed it. This outward difference in the generations would not have come about in man if a part of humanity had not descended onto the physical plane. It was no longer as it had been before when propagation had descended on mankind from the higher planes. Something was now introduced into man’s make-up because he had extracted something from the physical earth. Now man takes on the likeness of what he has won for himself on the physical plane and he carries it up with him to higher planes. The physical is the mark of Cain. The physical plane and the effect it has on man is the mark set upon Cain.

Now man is fully united with the earth so that there is a contrast between Cain and Abel, a contrast between the Sons of God and the sons of the physical plane, between the Abel-Seth generation who are the Sons of God and the Cain generation, the sons of the physical plane.