Dear Readers, Many apologies for the absence of updates following the posting in which the question was posed: "Can a Free Being Be Created?" Preparations for its first update finally resulted in a small, illustrated book some 50 pages long entitled "The Mystery of Golgotha and Human Freedom." Today, the introduction to it entitled "The Reason for this Small Book," is reprinted here as well as a link to the book itself, which can be found at the end of this introductory material.
The following is taken from a lecture to be found in "The Christian Mystery," a collection of early lectures by Rudolf Steiner. It is to be found under the title: “Christianity Began as a Religion but is Greater than a Religion.”
“Reviewing what we have been considering in brief outline, let us ask ourselves: Why has all this happened as it has, why is it that man has developed to the stage of impressing the inner into outer form ?—The answer is that the development of his organism has impelled him to do so. The ancient Atlanteans were able to perceive in the supersensible world because in them the etheric body had not drawn completely into the physical body; one point in the etheric body did not coincide with the corresponding point in the physical head. The complete coincidence of the two bodies is the cause of the fact that man is now being impelled more and more into the external world.
When the gates of vision of the supersensible world were closed, men needed in their artistic development a link between the material and supersensible worlds. Earlier, in the Atlantean epoch, they had no such need, for at that time they were still able to know the supersensible world in immediate experience. It was not necessary for men to be told of the gods and spirits until they had lost the power of perceiving these Beings, just as one need only tell of the existence of plants to those who have never seen them. That is the basis ofreligious development in the Post-Atlantean epoch. Why, then, was it necessary for a super-sensible Being such as Christ to appear in a finite personality, in Jesus, and sojourn on the Earth? Why had Christ to become an historical personality? Why had the gaze of men to be rivetted on this Divinity—We have heard that men were no longer able to gaze into the supersensible world. What had to take place in order that the god might become for them an experienced reality? The god had to become perceptible to the senses, to incarnate in a physical body. —There you have the answer to the question.—As long as men were able to perceive the spiritual, as long as in supersensible experience they could be aware of the gods, no god need have become man. But now the god must be present within the world of sense. Words of the disciples to the effect that they had laid their hands in His wounds, are a confirmation of this fact. Thus the very nature of men of the Post-Atlantean epoch explains the appearance of Christ-Jesus, and we understand why Christ had inevitably to reveal Himself to the eyes of sense. The most intensely real historical fact had to be presented to men; the Spirit-Self had to become a reality in the world of sense in order that men might have a means of achieving connection with the supersensible world.
Science is increasingly becoming a collection of directives for technical achievements; the universities are steadily turning into technical training schools. This is regarded as right and proper to-day. But the spiritual will develop into a free possession of men, one that is not fettered to science. Science will then appear in quite a different setting, in quite a different form. Therefore for man to-day one thing must happen: the link with the momentous experience of the supersensible world must be renewed.
How essential this is will be clear to you if you realise what will befall if this link is not re-established. The etheric head has now drawn completely into the human being; the connection of the etheric body with the physical body has now reached its deepest point. Hence the percentage of human beings capable of super-sensible experience has never been lower than it is at the present time.—But the evolution of humanity advances in such a way that a re-emergence of the etheric body conies about of itself. With the coining of Christ the etheric body began to loosen again from the physical body; it is becoming more and more independent and free and in future time will again be outside the physical body as it was in the days of yore. The process of the loosening of the etheric body has already begun. But man must take with him in his emerging etheric body everything that he has experienced in the physical body, above all, the knowledge of the Event of Golgotha which has come to him in earthly existence. Otherwise he will have lost something irrevocably; the etheric body will emerge without bearing with it one essential reality, and such a man will face emptiness in the etheric body. But those who have experienced the realities of spiritual Christianity will possess in the etheric body the abundant fruits of what they have experienced in the physical body.
The danger is greatest among those who, misguided by external science, have turned away from the spiritual truths. But the emergence of the etheric body is already in process and the nervous symptoms in evidence in our time are a sign of it. These nervous troubles will steadily increase if man does not take with him in the loosening etheric body the greatest of all experiences possible to him in the physical body. True, he has still plenty of time, for in respect of the great masses of the people the process is a very lengthy one. But for all that there are individuals who already now reach the point of achievement. If there were any human being who in physical existence has never recognised through experience the greatest of all Events in the physical world, who has never known or incorporated in his etheric body the deep realities contained in Christianity, he would face what is called spiritual death. Spiritual death will be the consequence of the emptiness of the etheric body.
Atlantean man with his clairvoyance needed no religion, because experience of the supersensible was to him immediate reality. All human development proceeded from such conditions. Vision of the spiritual world then faded away. Religere means "to bind back "; religion is thus the binding of the sensible with the supersensible. In the age of approaching materialism men needed religion. But the time will come when they can again experience the supersensible world; then they will no longer need religion. The necessary antecedent of the new vision is that man shall be a bearer of spiritual Christianity.”
Click here to read online or print
The Reason for this Small Book
“Reviewing what we have been considering in brief outline, let us ask ourselves: Why has all this happened as it has, why is it that man has developed to the stage of impressing the inner into outer form ?—The answer is that the development of his organism has impelled him to do so. The ancient Atlanteans were able to perceive in the supersensible world because in them the etheric body had not drawn completely into the physical body; one point in the etheric body did not coincide with the corresponding point in the physical head. The complete coincidence of the two bodies is the cause of the fact that man is now being impelled more and more into the external world.
When the gates of vision of the supersensible world were closed, men needed in their artistic development a link between the material and supersensible worlds. Earlier, in the Atlantean epoch, they had no such need, for at that time they were still able to know the supersensible world in immediate experience. It was not necessary for men to be told of the gods and spirits until they had lost the power of perceiving these Beings, just as one need only tell of the existence of plants to those who have never seen them. That is the basis ofreligious development in the Post-Atlantean epoch. Why, then, was it necessary for a super-sensible Being such as Christ to appear in a finite personality, in Jesus, and sojourn on the Earth? Why had Christ to become an historical personality? Why had the gaze of men to be rivetted on this Divinity—We have heard that men were no longer able to gaze into the supersensible world. What had to take place in order that the god might become for them an experienced reality? The god had to become perceptible to the senses, to incarnate in a physical body. —There you have the answer to the question.—As long as men were able to perceive the spiritual, as long as in supersensible experience they could be aware of the gods, no god need have become man. But now the god must be present within the world of sense. Words of the disciples to the effect that they had laid their hands in His wounds, are a confirmation of this fact. Thus the very nature of men of the Post-Atlantean epoch explains the appearance of Christ-Jesus, and we understand why Christ had inevitably to reveal Himself to the eyes of sense. The most intensely real historical fact had to be presented to men; the Spirit-Self had to become a reality in the world of sense in order that men might have a means of achieving connection with the supersensible world.
Science is increasingly becoming a collection of directives for technical achievements; the universities are steadily turning into technical training schools. This is regarded as right and proper to-day. But the spiritual will develop into a free possession of men, one that is not fettered to science. Science will then appear in quite a different setting, in quite a different form. Therefore for man to-day one thing must happen: the link with the momentous experience of the supersensible world must be renewed.
How essential this is will be clear to you if you realise what will befall if this link is not re-established. The etheric head has now drawn completely into the human being; the connection of the etheric body with the physical body has now reached its deepest point. Hence the percentage of human beings capable of super-sensible experience has never been lower than it is at the present time.—But the evolution of humanity advances in such a way that a re-emergence of the etheric body conies about of itself. With the coining of Christ the etheric body began to loosen again from the physical body; it is becoming more and more independent and free and in future time will again be outside the physical body as it was in the days of yore. The process of the loosening of the etheric body has already begun. But man must take with him in his emerging etheric body everything that he has experienced in the physical body, above all, the knowledge of the Event of Golgotha which has come to him in earthly existence. Otherwise he will have lost something irrevocably; the etheric body will emerge without bearing with it one essential reality, and such a man will face emptiness in the etheric body. But those who have experienced the realities of spiritual Christianity will possess in the etheric body the abundant fruits of what they have experienced in the physical body.
The danger is greatest among those who, misguided by external science, have turned away from the spiritual truths. But the emergence of the etheric body is already in process and the nervous symptoms in evidence in our time are a sign of it. These nervous troubles will steadily increase if man does not take with him in the loosening etheric body the greatest of all experiences possible to him in the physical body. True, he has still plenty of time, for in respect of the great masses of the people the process is a very lengthy one. But for all that there are individuals who already now reach the point of achievement. If there were any human being who in physical existence has never recognised through experience the greatest of all Events in the physical world, who has never known or incorporated in his etheric body the deep realities contained in Christianity, he would face what is called spiritual death. Spiritual death will be the consequence of the emptiness of the etheric body.
Atlantean man with his clairvoyance needed no religion, because experience of the supersensible was to him immediate reality. All human development proceeded from such conditions. Vision of the spiritual world then faded away. Religere means "to bind back "; religion is thus the binding of the sensible with the supersensible. In the age of approaching materialism men needed religion. But the time will come when they can again experience the supersensible world; then they will no longer need religion. The necessary antecedent of the new vision is that man shall be a bearer of spiritual Christianity.”
Click here to read online or print
Click on the evelope to email this to a friend
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments moderated. Please keep language appropriate to the content.