Egypto-Chaldæic period to fall short in their evolution, our contemporary
civilization would have been wanting in necessary weight. In that
case only those forces would be operative which would bring man into
the spiritual world by main force. People would be only too ready to
yield themselves up to those forces, and would become dreamers. The
only life they would wish to know about would be one which is being
spiritualized as fast as possible, and their standard of action would
be a view of life which showed a certain degree of contempt for what is
physical and material. But the present epoch of civilization can only
fulfill its mission if the forces of the material world are brought
to the fullest perfection, and if thus by degrees their sphere too is
won for spirituality. Just as the fairest things may become corrupters
and tempters of mankind if pursued in a one-sided way, so if this
one-sidedness took root, there would be great danger that all kinds of
good efforts would come into manifestation as fanaticism. True though
it is that humanity is helped forward by its noble impulses it is also
true that wild and fanatical advocacy of the noblest impulses may bring
about the worst of results as far as true evolution is concerned. Only
when people strive after the highest modestly and sensibly, not out of
wild fanaticism, can anything beneficial to the progress of humanity take
place. In order that the work done on earth at the present day may have
the necessary weight, and that material beings of the physical plane may
be understood, the wisdom which directs the government of the world left
those forces behind which would normally have completed their evolution
during the Egyptian period; and it is they who are now directing man’s
attention to physical life.
It is obvious from the foregoing that evolution takes place under the
influence both of normally progressive beings and of those who lag
behind. Clairvoyant vision is able to trace the co-operation of both
classes of beings in the supersensible world, and hence is able to
comprehend the spiritual events of which the physical facts surrounding
humanity are the manifestations.
We observe that, in order to understand cosmic events, it is not enough
to have spiritual eyes and ears opened to the spiritual world by some
kind of exercise. This only means that we _see_ what is there, that we
are cognizant of spiritual beings and know that they are entities of
the soul-world or spirit-sphere. But it is also necessary to recognize
what kinds of beings they are. We may meet some being of the soul or
spirit world, but we do not necessarily know whether it is progressing
in its evolution, or whether it belongs to the category of powers that
have lagged behind; whether therefore it is pushing evolution onwards,
or hindering it. Those people who acquire clairvoyant faculties and do
not at the same time gain complete understanding of the conditions of
human evolution which we have described may know absolutely nothing
of the nature of the beings whom they meet. Mere clairvoyance must be
supplemented by clear judgment of what is seen in the supersensible
world. There is urgent necessity for this especially in our own time, but
it had not always to be so much considered. If we go back to very ancient
civilizations, we find different conditions. If in the most ancient
Egyptian times a person was clairvoyant, and was confronted with a being
from the supersensible world, the latter had, as it were, written on his
forehead who he was. The clairvoyant could not mistake him. Now, however,
the possibility of misunderstanding is very great. Whereas humanity
in early times still stood very near the kingdom of the spiritual
hierarchies and could see what beings it was meeting, it is now very easy
to be mistaken, and the only protection against being severely injured is
the effort to gain ideas and conceptions like those indicated above.
A person who is able to look into the spiritual world is called
esoterically a “clairvoyant,” but merely to be clairvoyant is not
enough, for such a man might be able to see well enough but not able to
discriminate. He who has acquired the faculty of distinguishing one from
another the beings and events of higher worlds, is called an “Initiate.”
Initiation brings with it the possibility of distinguishing between
different kinds of beings. Thus it is possible to be clairvoyant in the
higher worlds without being an Initiate. In ancient times distinguishing
between spirits was not specially important, for when the ancient occult
schools had brought a pupil so far as clairvoyance, there was no great
danger of error. Now, however, this danger exists to a high degree.
Therefore in all esoteric training, care should be taken that initiation
should be acquired in condition to clairvoyance. In proportion to the
extent of his clairvoyance must a man become capable of distinguishing
between the various kinds of supersensible beings and events.
In modern times the powers guiding humanity are faced by the special task
of bringing about a balance between the two principles of clairvoyance
and initiation. Leaders of spiritual training had necessarily to pay
attention to this at the beginning of the modern era. Therefore the
esoteric spiritual movement which is adapted to present conditions,
always makes a point of maintaining the right proportion between
clairvoyance and initiation. This became necessary at the time when
mankind was passing through a crisis with regard to its higher knowledge.
That time was the thirteenth century. About the year 1250 was the point
of time when mankind felt itself most shut out from the spiritual world.
A clairvoyant looking back upon that period sees the following: The most
eminent minds of that time who were striving after some kind of higher
knowledge, could only say to themselves, “What our reason, our intellect,
our spiritual knowledge are able to find out is limited to the physical
world around us. With all our human endeavor and power of perception,
we cannot reach a spiritual world. We only know of it by accepting the
information concerning it which our forefathers bequeathed us.” This was
the time when direct view of the higher worlds was obscured. That this
can be said of the era in which scholasticism flourished, is not without
significance.
About the year 1250 was the time when men were compelled to fix a
boundary between what they were able to apprehend for themselves,
and what they had to believe from the impression made upon them by
the traditions which had been handed down. What they could find out
for themselves then became limited to the physical world of sense.
Afterwards, however, came the time when there was more and more
possibility of again winning a view of the spiritual world. But the
new clairvoyance was of a different kind from the old, which virtually
became extinct just about the year 1250. In the new form of clairvoyance,
western esotericism was obliged strictly to uphold the principle that
initiation must be the guide of spiritual sight and hearing. This was
the special task assigned to an esoteric current which then entered the
stream of European civilization. As the year 1250 drew near there arose a
new kind of guidance into the supersensible worlds.
This guidance was prepared by the spirits then standing behind outer
historical events, who centuries before had provided for the kind of
esoteric training which would be rendered necessary by the conditions
prevailing in 1250. If the term “modern esotericism” be not misused,
it may be applied to the spiritual work of those very highly evolved
personalities. External history knows nothing of them, but what they did
is apparent in every form of civilization which has developed since the
thirteenth century.
The importance of the year 1250 for the spiritual evolution of humanity
is specially apparent if we look at the result of clairvoyant research
given in the following fact: Even those individualities who had attained
high stages of spiritual development, in previous incarnations, and who
were reincarnated about 1250, were compelled for a while to undergo a
complete clouding over of their direct view of the spiritual world.
Quite enlightened individuals were as though cut off from the spiritual
world, and their only knowledge of it was through their remembrance of
earlier incarnations. Thus we see how necessary it was that from that
time onwards a new element should be brought into the spiritual guidance
of humanity. This element was true modern esotericism. By its means it is
for the first time possible rightly to understand how that which we call
the “Christ-impulse” may intervene to guide the whole of mankind and the
individual also, in all possible eventualities.
Between the accomplishment of the Mystery of Golgotha and the beginnings
of modern esotericism, lies the first period of the working of the
Christ-principle in human souls. During that period, people received
Christ to a certain degree unconsciously as far as their higher
spirit-forces were concerned, and this caused them afterwards, when
they were obliged to receive them consciously, to make all kinds of
mistakes, and to lose themselves in a maze instead of understanding
Christ. In primitive Christian times we may trace the adoption of the
Christ-principle by the lower soul-forces. Then came a new period, in
which mankind of to-day is still living. Indeed, in a certain respect,
people are only now beginning to understand the Christ principle with
the higher faculties of their souls. In the further course of this work
it will be shown that the decline of supersensible knowledge down to the
thirteenth century, and on the other hand its slow revival since that
time, coincide with the interposition of the Christ-impulse in human
evolution.
We may therefore take modern esotericism to mean the raising of the
Christ-impulse to be the motive power in the guidance of souls desiring
to work their way to a knowledge of higher worlds, in accordance with the
evolutionary conditions of modern times.
LECTURE III.
In accordance with what has been said in the preceding chapters, the
spiritual guidance of the course of human evolution may be sought for
among those beings who went through their stage of humanity during the
previous embodiment of the Earth-planet, _i.e._, during the ancient Moon
period. This guidance stood contrasted with another which checked, and
yet in a certain sense furthered, whilst checking the first, and which
was carried out by those beings who had not completed their own evolution
during the Moon-period. Reference is made in both these cases to those
guiding beings immediately above man--to those who lead humanity forward,
and to those who provoke resistance, thereby strengthening and confirming
the forces arising through the progressive beings, by bestowing on them
balance and individuality. In Christian Esotericism, these two classes of
superhuman beings are called Angels (Angeloi). Above these beings in an
ascending order, stand those of the higher hierarchies, the Archangels,
the Archai, etc., who likewise take part in the guidance of humanity.
Within the ranks of these different beings there are all possible
gradations in regard to perfection. In the category of the Angels there
are at the beginning of the present Earth-evolution, some standing
high and others less developed. The former have progressed far beyond
the minimum of their Moon-development. Between these and those who had
just reached this minimum when the Moon-evolution had come to an end,
and the Earth-evolution had begun, there are all possible gradations.
Conformably with this gradation of rank, the beings in question entered
during the Earth-period upon the leadership of human evolution. Thus the
evolution of the Egyptian civilization was effected under the guidance
of beings who had become more perfected on the Moon than those who were
the leaders of the Graeco-Roman period, and these again were more perfect
than those who have the leadership at the present time. In the Egyptian
as also in the Greek Period, those who later on assumed the direction,
were meanwhile developing, and making themselves ready to guide the
civilization of later periods.
Since the time of the great Atlantean catastrophe, seven consecutive
epochs of civilization have to be differentiated; the first is the
ancient Indian epoch, and it is followed by the ancient Persian.[2]
The third is the Egypto-Chaldæic, the fourth is the Graeco-Roman,
and the fifth is our own, which, since about the twelfth century, has
been gradually developing and in which we are still living. And as the
separate periods overlap, we see already in our times those early events
preparing which will lead over into the sixth post-Atlantean epoch. And a
seventh epoch will succeed the sixth in due course. On closer observation
we find the following evidence with regard to the guidance of mankind.
It was during the third epoch of civilization, the Egypto-Chaldæic, that
the Angels (or lower dhyanic beings according to Oriental mysticism)
were to some extent independent leaders of humanity. They were not so
during the ancient Persian civilization. For then they were subject to
a higher direction in a much greater degree than in the Egyptian times,
and had to regulate everything in conformity with the impulses of the
hierarchies immediately above them. In this way everything was under the
immediate guidance of the Angels, but these themselves submitted to the
rulership of the Archangels. And in the Indian epoch when post-Atlantean
life had reached such a height in spiritual matters as has never been
attained since--a natural height under the direction of great human
teachers--then the Archangels themselves were subject in a similar sense
to the guidance of the Archai or Primal Powers. Thus if we trace the
evolution of humanity from the Indian epoch through the ancient Persian
and Egypto-Chaldæic civilization, we may say that certain beings of the
higher hierarchies withdrew as it were, ever more and more from the
direct guidance of humanity. And in the fourth post-Atlantean period of
civilization, _i.e._, the Graeco-Roman epoch, man had become in a certain
sense quite independent. The guiding superhuman beings were certainly
intervening to develop humanity, but only in such a way that the reins
were tightened as little as possible, and also that the spiritual leaders
themselves might profit as much through the deeds of men as men profited
through them. Hence arose that peculiar and quite “human” civilization in
the Graeco-Roman time in which man was made to rely entirely on himself.
For all the distinctive characteristics of Art and political life in
Greek and Roman times are traceable to the fact that man had to live out
his own life in his own way.
So, when we look back to the most ancient times of civilization, we then
find evolution guided by beings who had accomplished their evolution
as far as the human stage, in earlier planetary conditions. But the
fourth post-Atlantean period of civilization was intended as a time
when man should be put to the test as much as possible, and consequently
was the time when the whole spiritual guidance of humanity had to be
re-organized. We are now living in the fifth post-Atlantean period of
civilization. The leading beings of this period belong to the same
hierarchy as that which ruled the ancient Egyptians and Chaldæans. In
fact those beings who then took the lead, have again begun to be active
in our times, for it has been stated that certain beings remained behind
during the Egypto-Chaldæic civilization, and that these are to be found
manifested in the materialistic feelings and perceptions of our own
period.
Now the progress made by the beings of each class of Angels or lower
dhyanic beings--the class which leads mankind forward and the class which
obstructs--consists in their being able to be leaders among the Egyptians
and Chaldæans by means of those qualities which they had acquired in
primordial times, and which they had further developed by their work as
leaders. Thus the progressive Angels are intervening to guide the fifth
post-Atlantean civilization by means of capacities which they themselves
had won during the third or Egypto-Chaldæic civilization. Through the
progress they make they are acquiring for themselves quite special
capabilities, for they are qualifying themselves to receive the influx
of forces emanating from the most important Being in the whole evolution
of the Earth. The power of the Christ is working in them; for that power
works not only on the physical world through Jesus of Nazareth--but also
in the spiritual worlds upon the superhuman beings. The Christ exists
not only for the earth but also for these other beings. The beings who
guided the old Egypto-Chaldæic civilization were not at that time under
the direction of the Christ, but have only placed themselves under His
guidance since. And their progress consists in their following Him in the
higher worlds, so that they may guide our fifth post-Atlantean period of
civilization in accordance with His influence. And the remaining behind
of those beings of whom it has been said that they operate as obstructive
powers, is due to their not having put themselves under the leadership of
the Christ, and thus they continue to work independently of Him. Hence
the following state of things will become more and more evident in human
evolution: There will be a materialistic movement under the guidance
of the backward Egypto-Chaldæic spirits. It will have a materialistic
character, and the greater part of what in all countries, may be called
contemporary materialistic science is under this influence. There
are, for example, people to-day who say that our earth in its primary
origin consisted of atoms. Who instils this thought into men’s minds?
It is the superhuman angel beings who had remained behind during the
Egypto-Chaldæic period. But, side by side with this movement, there
is another making itself felt, the one which has as its goal that man
shall eventually find in all that he does, that which may be called the
Christ-principle.
Now what will those beings teach who attained their goal in the old
Egypto-Chaldæic sphere of civilization, and who then learned to know
the Christ? They will be able to instill into man other thoughts than
that there are only material atoms; for they will be able to teach that,
even to the minutest particle of the world, the substance is permeated
with the Spirit of the Christ. And, strange as it may seem, there will
be in the future, chemists and physicists who will not teach chemistry
and physics as they are now taught under the influence of the backward
Egypto-Chaldæic spirits; but who will teach that “Matter is built up
in the way in which the Christ gradually ordained it.” The Christ will
be found working even in the very laws of chemistry and physics. It is
a spiritual chemistry, and spiritual physics that will come in the
future. To-day such a statement appears certainly to many people as
something fanciful or worse than that, but in many cases the sense of the
future is folly to the past. The factors which in this sense enter into
the evolution of human civilization are already there for the careful
observer; but such an one will know quite well the objections which may,
with apparent justice, be urged against such alleged folly from the
modern scientific or philosophic point of view.
From such hypotheses we are able to understand what advantage the guiding
superhuman beings have compared with man. Humanity learned to know Christ
in the fourth civilization period of the post-Atlantean times, _i.e._,
in the Graeco-Roman epoch, for it was in the course of this civilization
that the Christ-event found its place in evolution, and it was then
that man learned to know the Christ. The guiding superhuman beings,
however, learned to know Him during the Egypto-Chaldæic times, and worked
themselves up to Him. Then during the Graeco-Roman civilization they had
to leave man to his own fate in order that, later on, they might re-enter
the sphere of human evolution. And if nowadays theosophy is cultivated,
that signifies nothing else than a recognition of the fact that the
superhuman beings who formerly guided humanity are now continuing their
task as leaders in such a way as to be under the direct guidance of the
Christ themselves. Thus it is with other beings also.
In the ancient Persian epoch, the leadership of humanity was apportioned
to the Archangels. They put themselves under the direction of the Christ
earlier than did the beings in the rank next below them. Of Zarathustra
it can be said that pointing to the sun, he spoke to his followers and
his people in some such words as these: “In the sun there lives the
great Spirit Ahura Mazdao, who will one day come down to the earth.” For
the beings out of the region of the Archangels who guided Zarathustra,
pointed to the great sun-leader, who had not at that time come down upon
the earth, but had only begun his journey thither in order, later on,
to enter directly into the earth evolution. And the guiding beings who
directed the great teachers of the Indians, also pointed these to the
Christ of the future; for it is a mistake to think that these teachers
had no foreknowledge of the Christ. They said that He was “beyond their
sphere” and that they “could not attain” unto Him.
As now in our fifth period of civilization, it is the Angels who bring
down the Christ into our spiritual evolution, so the sixth period of
civilization will be directed by beings who belong to the ranks of the
Archangels who guided the ancient Persian civilization. And spirits of
Personality--the Primal Powers--or Archai--who guided humanity during the
ancient Indian epoch will have to guide humanity in the seventh period
of civilization. In the Graeco-Roman period, the Christ descended from
the heights of the spirit-world and revealed Himself in the physical body
of Jesus of Nazareth. He then came down as far as the physical world. It
will be possible to find Him in the world immediately above ours when
humanity shall have become sufficiently ripe. It will not be possible
in the future to find Him in the physical world, but only in the world
immediately above, for human beings will not always remain the same; they
will become more mature, and will then find the Christ in the spiritual
world, as Paul found Him in his experience before Damascus, which event
prophetically foreshadowed the future means of finding the Christ. And
since in our times the same great teachers who have already guided
mankind through the Egyptian Civilization are working, so also in the
twentieth century it will be these same teachers who will lead men out
to behold the Christ as Paul beheld Him. They will show mankind how the
Christ not only works upon the earth, but how He spiritualizes the whole
solar system. And those who will be the reincarnated holy teachers of
India in the seventh period of civilization will proclaim the Spirit Who
was foreshadowed through the undivided Brahma, to whom however the right
content and meaning could only be given through the Christ, as the great,
the immense Spirit, of Whom they formerly said that He hovered above
their sphere. Thus will humanity be led upwards from stage to stage into
the spiritual world.
To speak in this way about the Christ--how He is the leader of the higher
hierarchies also in the successive worlds, is to teach the science which,
under the title of modern esotericism, has endured into our civilization
since the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and which, as has been shown,
had from that time become necessary. If from this aspect we observe more
closely the Being Who lived in Palestine, and Who consummated the Mystery
of Golgotha, then we find the following:
Up to the present time many ideas concerning the Christ have found
expression. There was for instance the idea of certain Christian Gnostics
in the first centuries, who said that the Christ Who lives in Palestine
was not present in any physical body of flesh at all; that He had only an
apparent body--an etheric body which had become physically visible; so
that His death on the Cross had been no real death but only an apparent
one, for the very reason that only an etheric body was present. Then we
find the various disputes among those who professed Christianity, as for
example, the well-known controversy between the Arians and Athenatians,
etc., and the most varied explanations concerning what the Christ really
was. And indeed right up to our own times people express and have
expressed the most varied ideas concerning the Christ.