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Rudolf Steiner
(1889) Lecture 2. (Copenhagen, 24th May,
1912.) [Human Participation in
Evolution] IT would be a grave error if one were to
believe that the question as to the meaning of life and existence could be
put in such a simple way that one could ask: �What is the meaning of life
and existence?� and then someone could give a simple answer in a few
words, saying perhaps: �This or that is the meaning of life.� In this way
no real feeling, no idea could ever be gained of the sublimity, majesty,
and power which lie behind this question as to the meaning of life. It is
true that an abstract answer might be given, but you will realise by what I say later on how little satisfactory
such an answer would be. It might be said that the meaning of life
consists in the fact that spiritual beings to whom we look up as Divine
Beings gradually bring man to the stage where he is permitted to
co-operate in the evolution of existence, so that man who was imperfect in
the beginning of his development and was incapable of taking part in the
whole construction of the universe, might in the course of evolution
gradually be trained to participate more and more in this
evolution. That would be an abstract
answer, telling us very little. Rather must we penetrate into certain
secrets of existence and life, if we would grasp something like an answer
to a question of such far-reaching importance. So
we may take as a basis the facts considered yesterday: penetrating yet a
little more deeply into the mysteries of existence. When we observe the
world around us, it is not really enough that we see growth and decay.
Yesterday we drew attention to the fact that this growth and decay affect
our souls mysteriously when we ask ourselves what is the meaning of it
all. But there is something that is a still more difficult problem. We see
already in the origin and growth of things something that is highly
remarkable, which if only observed superficially gives us a feeling of
sadness and of tragedy. If, with the knowledge gained from the physical
world, we look into the depths of the ocean or into the vast fields of any
other form of existence, we know that countless microorganisms of life
arise and that but few of these become fully developed beings. Only think
how many microorganisms of different fish are produced yearly in the sea
which do not reach their goal of development, but disappear again before
reaching it, and how only a small number of these microorganisms attain
maturity. Yesterday we turned our
attention to the fact that everything which comes into existence perishes
again. But now the other fact forces itself on our attention, that out of
a limitless domain of immeasurable possibilities but few realities emerge,
and that already in the origin of things there is something enigmatical in
the fact that what strives to come into existence cannot really
develop. Let us take a concrete case. If we sow a
field with corn, we see springing up a great number of ears of corn. We
know quite well that out of every single grain in these ears of corn a new
ear of corn can come into existence. And now we ask: �How many of
all those grains of corn we see on the cornfield reach this goal?� Let us
think for a moment of the numberless grains which go quite a different way
from that which is their object, namely to become ears of corn in their
turn. In concrete form we can therefore assert that the life surrounding
us only comes into existence as such through the fact that, in its birth,
it seems to push down numberless life-organisms as if into an abyss of
non-fulfilment. Everywhere in our surroundings,
what exists is built on a groundwork of
infinitely rich possibilities which may become realities in the ordinary
sense of the word. Let us keep in mind that on such a foundation of
possibilities realities do arise, and let us regard this as one view of
the mysterious life-existence that is presented to
us. Now we shall look at the other
side of the picture which also exists, but of which we are only aware when
we enter deeply into spiritual truths. The other side is that which
presents itself to man when he follows the path to Anthroposophy. This
path is sometimes described, as you know, as dangerous. And why? Simply
for the reason that if we wish to follow the path to spiritual knowledge
we enter a realm which may on no account be accepted off-hand in the form
in which it presents itself to us. Let us suppose that a person
were following the spiritual path by methods known to you, and which are
to be found in my book How to Attain
Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, and that such a person reached the
point when what we call imaginative pictures arose out of the depths of
his soul. We know what imaginative pictures are. They are visionary
images, confronting a man when he is following the spiritual path as an
entirely new world. If a person is really seriously following this path,
he comes to the stage at which the whole of the physical world around him
grows dim. In the place of this physical world there appears a world of
moving images, a world of surging impressions of the nature of sounds,
smell, taste and light. This presses on and whirls within our spiritual
horizon and we experience what may be called imaginative visions which
then surround us on all sides and constitute the world in which our souls
live and move. Now let us suppose that a
person were convinced that in the visionary world which appeared before
him, he had something entirely real; such a person would be subject to a very
grave mistake. And here we are at the point where danger begins. The realm
of visionary life is immeasurable as long as we do not ascend from
Imagination, which conjures up a visionary world, to Inspiration. It is
the latter which first tells us to direct our attention to one particular
picture, to turn our spiritual gaze to it, and that then we shall
experience truth; and the countless other pictures that surround this one
must vanish into lifeless space. This one picture will arise from
countless others and will prove itself to be an expression of the
truth. Thus, when we find ourselves
on the spiritual path, we enter a realm where countless visions are
possible and we must develop, so that we can select, as it were, out of
this realm of infinite possibilities of vision, those which express a true
spiritual reality. No other guarantee is possible than the one just
mentioned, for if anyone were to come and say: �I enter a realm infinitely
rich in visions, tell me which are true and which are false, can you not
give a rule whereby I can distinguish the one from the other?� � no genuine occultist or spiritual investigator would
answer these questions with a rule, but he would have to say: �If you wish
to learn to discriminate, you must go on developing yourself. Then it will
be possible for you to direct your vision to what remains. The visions
which endure are those that have reached a certain level; but those which
must be wiped out by you are merely misty images.� Now danger lies in the fact
that many people feel themselves extremely pleased and comfortable in the
realm of visions. When once surrounded by a visionary world they do not
trouble to develop themselves further, or go on striving, because this
visionary world pleases them extremely well. But it is impossible to
attain reality in the spiritual life when we simply surrender ourselves to
this feeling of bliss, to revelling, as it were,
in the visionary world. We cannot then ascend to reality of truth. It is
necessary to go on striving with all the means at our disposal; for only
then does spiritual reality really emerge out of the limitless possibility
of visions. Now compare the two things which I have described. On the one
hand, the world without, where we find numberless possibilities for
life-germs, whereof only a few can attain their goal; on the other hand
the inner world to which the path of knowledge leads us: an infinite world
of visions which is to be compared with the world of infinite
possibilities for the microorganisms. A few of these are such visions to
which we at last attain, and which may be compared to the few real lives
which emerge from among the numerous life-germs. These two things
correspond completely; they belong entirely to each other in the
world. Now let us carry this thought
a little further: �Is that person right who is faint-hearted and sad about
life and existence because in this life numberless microorganisms can
only, so to speak, half emerge and but few reach their goal?� Is it
possible for us to be sad about these facts? Is it possible to say: �All
around there is a wild struggle for existence from which only a few
accidentally escape?� Let us consider our concrete example of the
cornfield. Let us suppose that all the grains of corn which grow there
were really to reach their goal and become ears of corn. What would be the
result? The world would then be impossible, for the things which are
nourished on the grains of corn would have no food. In order that certain
things or beings well known to us may reach their present stage of
development, other things or beings have to fall short of their goal, have
to sink down into the abyss as far as their own destiny is concerned. But
notwithstanding that, we have no reason for sadness, for if we concern
ourselves with the world, if we concern ourselves with its existence, the
world consists only of beings and those beings must be able to find
nourishment. If they are to be nourished, then other beings must sacrifice
themselves. Therefore, only few organisms can really reach their goal. The
others must go another way. They have to go a different way because the
world has to exist, because it is really the only way in which the world
can be wisely ordered. We are thus surrounded by a world which is such as
it is because certain beings sacrifice themselves before they have reached
their goal. If we follow the way of those which are sacrificed, we find
them within other beings which are more highly organised; beings who have
need of this sacrifice in order that they may exist. Here, in a nutshell,
we can grasp the meaning of existence, which is so seemingly difficult to
understand in the coming forth of beings into existence and their
annihilation. Yet we have discovered that it is precisely in this that
wisdom and meaning in existence are revealed, and that it is only our
reflection that does not go far enough, when we lament that so many things
must apparently disappear without reaching their
goal. Now let us turn to the other,
the spiritual side. Let us take what we have called the limitless world of
visions. Here we must in the first place understand what this boundless
world of vision really means. It is not simply false in such a sense that
we can say: that which disappears is false, that which finally remains is
true. Not in this sense is this world false. That would be as
short-sighted a judgment as if we were to believe that the life-germs
which do not come to fruition are not really life-germs at all. Just as in
external life the fact confronts us that only a few beings reach their
goal, so it is only possible for a few things out of the limitless
spiritual life to enter our horizon. And why? This question as to the �why�
will be extremely instructive for us. Let us suppose that a person simply
surrenders himself to the visions floating in on him in immeasurable
variety. If once this visionary world is opened, the visions pour in
incessantly, one after another, they come and go and surge and flow into
one another. It is quite impossible to shut ourselves off from the
pictures and impressions which pulsate around us in the spiritual world.
But on closer observation we find something very peculiar in a person who
thus simply surrenders himself to this visionary world. In the first place
we find when we encounter a person who does not want to develop any
further, but just wishes to remain at the visionary stage, that he has
experienced something, that he has had this or that
experience. Good, we say, you have
experienced things that are realities to you. Excellent,
that is a manifestation from the spiritual world. But very soon we
shall notice that when another person comes and tells us what visions he
had in connection with the same thing, and this second one is no further
advanced than the first, that his visions about the same thing have quite
a different form, so that two different statements may be presented on the
same subject. Indeed, we may even make worse discoveries. We find that
such people who wish to remain at the mere visionary world even give
different statements about one and the same matter; that sometimes they
tell us one thing and sometimes another. Only it is unfortunate that
visionaries generally have bad memories and have forgotten what they
related the first time. They are not themselves aware of what they have
related. In short, we have to do with a numberless variety of phenomena.
If, as human beings with our present I, we would rightly judge of
everything which presents itself in the visionary world, we should have to
compare an infinite number of visions. But that would lead to no result.
It must be taken as a principle that this visionary world is in the first
pace a manifestation of the spirit, but that it has not the slightest
value as information. However many visions may come to us, they are
manifestations of the spiritual world, but they are not realities. If they
are to become truths, the different visions of many persons would have to
be compared and that is impossible. Instead of that there is the
possibility of further development to the stage of Inspiration. Then there
are no more differences; nothing which appears differently to different
persons. Then the experiences are actually the same in the case of all who
have reached the same stage of development. Now we pass to the other
question, which also in a certain way corresponds to what we find in the
outer world. There the few microorganisms which reach their goal can be
compared to the many which sink down into the abyss. We know that this
loss is necessary in order that the outer world may exist. But how is it
in the spiritual world, with these visions and inspirations? Here we must
first of all understand that what we have before us, when we have selected
the visions, stands before us as a spiritual reality, that in them we have
not mere images which only give us knowledge in the ordinary sense of the
word. That is not the case, and the fact that it is not so I shall make
clear to you by a very important example. I shall explain how the selected
visions stand in relation to the world just as we previously made it clear
to ourselves how the life-germs which have reached their goal stand
related to life-germs in general. These are used as nourishment by the
others. How is it now with the selected visions, with those which really
live in man as visions? Here I must draw attention to
one thing. You must not believe that the person who has become clairvoyant
has reached a point at which the world of the spirit lives in him and does
not live in others. You must not think of clairvoyance in such a way that
you say: �Here is a clairvoyant and here is another person; in the soul of
that clairvoyant lives the expression of the spiritual reality, but not in
the soul of the other.� That would not be right. Rather must you say, if
you would express it correctly: �Here we have two indivisuals, the one is clairvoyant, the other not.
That which the clairvoyant sees lives in both. In the non-clairvoyant as
well as in the clairvoyant the same things, the same spiritual impulses
live; these things are also present in the soul of the non-clairvoyant.�
The clairvoyant only differs from the non-clairvoyant in the fact that he
sees them, whereas the other does not. The one bears them within him and
sees them, the other bears them within him and
does not see them. Whoever believes that the clairvoyant has something
within him which the other has not would be making a great mistake. Just
as the existence of a rose does not depend on whether man sees it or not,
so it is with the clairvoyant. The reality lives in the soul of the
clairvoyant and in the soul of the non-clairvoyant. The distinction
consists in the fact that the one sees it and the other does not. Thus the
fact is that there live in the souls of all men on earth all the things
which the clairvoyant can perceive by means of his clairvoyance.
It is the same with all
animals. The group-soul, that which lies behind the whole animal species,
causes one animal to be a wolf, another a lamb,
one a lion, and another a tiger. We must however form clear ideas
regarding the group-souls. The ideas which we generally form of the animal
world are very incomplete. That they are incomplete is due to the fact
that man in his present condition penetrates but very little into
realities, that he really only clings to the surface of things. Were he to
penetrate more deeply, then on forming the idea of a wolf, he would have
not only the abstract idea in his mind, but he would have the state of
feeling which corresponds to this idea. With the idea, a state of feeling
would be evoked, and while forming the idea of the wolf, man would
experience that which constitutes wolf-nature; he would feel the ferocity
of the wolf, the patience of the lamb. That this is not the case
today is due to the fact that man, after having come under the Luciferic influence, was prevented by the gods from
having the �life� as well as the �knowledge.� He was not to eat of the
�Tree of Life.� Therefore he has only the knowledge and cannot experience
the reality of the life. This he can only do when, in an occult or
spiritual way, he penetrates into this realm. Then he not only has the
abstract idea, but lives in that which we describe with the expressions
�the ferocity of the wolf� and �the patience of the lamb.� Now you will
understand how great is the difference between these two
things; how all these things are surging within us because our
ideas are permeated by the most inward life of the substance of the soul.
But these ideas the occultist and the clairvoyant must form for himself;
he must rise to these ideas. When the clairvoyant has ascended thus far it
may be said that something of the soul-substance is already living in him.
Indeed a living reflection of the whole animal world that is without does
live within him. One might say here: �How fortunate it is for those who
have not become clairvoyants.� But I have already pointed out that in this
connection the clairvoyant does not differ from other people. What is in
the one is also in the other. The difference is that the one sees it and
the other does not. The whole world of which I have spoken is really
within the soul of every man, only the ordinary man does not see it. This
whole world surges up out of the hidden depths of the soul, makes man
restless, throws him into doubt, draws him hither and thither, and makes
him unbalanced in his desires and instincts. That which does not rise
beyond a certain threshold and which only faintly finds expression, is none the less present. The person whose
mental disposition makes him sensitive to these influences is so connected
with the world that these feelings possess him, enter into his life
struggles and bring him into serious relations with men and other beings.
This is a fact � and why? If this were not so, then the
development of our earth along with the animal kingdom would in a certain
respect come to an end. The animal kingdom, as it is, would then have been
a kind of final stage, it could not have progressed. All the group-souls
of the animals which live around us would not be able to carry their
development over into subsequent incarnations of our earth. That would be
a remarkable thing. These group-souls of the animals would be in the
position (pardon the comparison, but it will make it clear to you what is
meant) of a community of Amazons where never a man was allowed, which
would of necessity die out as a community of human beings. It is true that
it would not die out spiritually, for its soul would pass over into other
realms, but as a community of Amazons this would be its fate. In the same
way the community of the animal group-souls would have to die out if
nothing else were there. For that which lives in the animal group-souls
must be fertilised, and it cannot otherwise
bridge the gulf in earthly evolution, which leads to the Jupiter
incarnation [future incarnation of the earth - ed.], if not fertilised as I have described. The outer forms of the
animals of the earth die out, but the group-souls are fertilised and appear on Jupiter ready for a higher
state of being and thus they attain their next stage of
development. What is it that takes place
through man�s furthering the development of the living form of the
group-souls? He provides thereby the fertilising
seed for souls which otherwise could not develop further. If we keep this
in mind, then we can say: Hence we see that where man looks on the animal
kingdom outwardly, he evolves from within certain inner impulses which
have to be stimulated from without; these are fertilising seed for the animal group-souls. These
impulses, which are the fertilising seed for the
animal group-souls, arise through stimulus from without. But not from
outward stimulus do the visions of the clairvoyant arise, nor those
visions either which are selected as real. These exist only in the
spiritual world, and live within the souls of men. But you must not believe that
nothing takes place in the spiritual world when out of a multitude of
grains of corn certain of them are consumed, while but few develop again
into heads of corn. While the grains are consumed, the spiritual part
connected with the grain passes over into man. This is most evident to
clairvoyant vision when directed towards a sea in which there are many
fish organisms, and it is seen how few develop into full-grown fish. In
those which develop into full-grown fish small flames may be observed, but
those which do not develop physically, which disappear into the abyss
physically, develop huge flaming light-forms. In these the spiritual
element is so much the more considerable. So it is also with the grains of
corn which are eaten. The material part of them is eaten. When crushed, a
spiritual force which fills the space around, issues from those grains of
corn which have not reached their goal. It is just the same for the
clairvoyant when he looks at a man who is eating rice, or something
similar. When he assimilates the material, the spiritual forces connected
with the corn flow forth in streams. All this is not such a simple matter
for spiritual observation, especially when the nourishment is not of a
vegetable kind. But I will not enter into this to-day, because
Anthroposophy must not agitate for any party movement, and therefore not
even for vegetarianism. Thus it is that spiritual
beings are linked together. Everything that apparently perishes, gives up
its spiritual part to the environment. This actually unites with what
lives within man when he becomes clairvoyant, or is by any other means in
his visionary world; and the selected visions (after Inspiration) are what
fertilise the spiritual part that has been
forced out of those life-seeds that do not reach their goal; the visions
fertilise it and bring it to further
evolution. So our inner nature, through
that which it inwardly evolves, is in continual relationship with the
outer world, and works in connection with this outer world. This outer
world would be condemned to perish, could not develop further, if we did
not bring to meet it fertilising germs. Outside
in the world spirituality exists, but only a half
spirituality, as it were. In order that this spirituality outside may have
offspring, the other spirituality that is within us must approach it. That
which lives within us is by no means a mere reflection of the other,
perceived mentally, but something that appertains to it. It unites with
that which is outside us, and evolves further, just as the north and south
poles have to come together as magnetism or electricity in order that
something may be achieved. That which takes form in our inner world of
visions must unite with that which flashes forth from those things which
apparently perish. These are wonderful mysteries, which are however,
gradually solved, and which show us how the inner is connected with the
outer. Now let us glance at what
surrounds us in the outer world and at what we possess as selected
visions, singled out from the measureless possibility of visions. That
which we exalt as a vision that is worthy serves for our inner
development. That which sinks down when we overlook all the immeasurable
field of visionary life, that which disappears,
does not sink away into nothingness; it merges with the outer world and
fertilises it. What we have selected from the
visions serves to our further development. The other visions leave us, and
unite with what is around us, with the life which has not reached its
goal. Just as living beings must assimilate that which has not attained to
life, so we must absorb that which we do not hand over to the outer world
in order to fertilise it. This has also its aim.
All that is continually coming to birth spiritually in the world must
perish, if we do not let our visions go, and do not select those only
which are revealed in accordance with Inspiration. Now we come to the
second point, to the danger of the visionary life. What does the person do
who simply takes the innumerable and varied visions for truth, who does
not select what is right for him, and extinguish by far the greater number
of the visions! What does such a person do? He does spiritually the same
as a man would do (when we interpret it physically you will at once see
what he does) who, confronting a cornfield would not use the greater part
of the corn for nourishment but who would utilise all the grains as seed. It would not be long
before there was no room on the earth for all the corn. Such a thing could
not go on, for all other creatures would die out, there would be no
nourishment left for them. It is the same with the man who looks on
everything as truth, who does not destroy a single vision and retains
everything within him. He does the same as if he were to gather all the
grains of corn and sow them again. Just as the world would soon be covered
with nothing but cornfields and grains of corn, so the man who did not
select his visions would be overwhelmed by them. I have described what is
around us, physically as well as spiritually, the animals and also the
ideas which man forms of them. I have also shown how man has to assign an
aim to his visions, and how this visionary world must be united with the
outer world in order that evolution may proceed. But how is it now when we
turn our attention to man? He meets an animal, considers its group-soul,
and says: �wolf,� that is, he has formed the idea �wolf,� and while saying
�wolf� the picture has arisen in him of which the
non-clairvoyant, to be sure, has not the �feeling-substance,� but only the
abstract idea. That which lives in the �feeling-substance� unites with the
group-soul and fertilises it at the moment the
man pronounces the word �wolf.� If he were not to pronounce the name, the
animal kingdom as such would die out. And the same holds good for the
vegetable kingdom. What I have
described with regard to man holds good for him alone; not for the
animals, nor for the angels; these have quite other missions. Man alone
exists in order that with his own being he can confront the world around
him, so that life-giving germs may arise that
find expression in �names.� It is thus that the possibility of further
development is implanted in the inner nature of man. Let us now go back to
the starting point we chose yesterday. Jahve or
Jehovah was asked by the ministering angels for what purpose he wished to
create man. The angels could not understand why. Then Jehovah gathered the
plants and the animals and asked the angels what were the names of these
beings. They did not know. They have tasks other than fertilisation of the group-souls. Man, however, was
able to tell the names. In this way Jahve shows
that He has need of man, because otherwise creation would die
out. In man those things evolve
which have come to an end, and which have to be stimulated anew in order
that evolution may go forward. Man had therefore to be created, so that
the life-giving germ might be born which finds expression in
�names.� Thus we see that we are not
placed in creation without a purpose. Think man away, and the transitional
kingdoms would not be able to develop further. They would meet the fate
which would befall a plant world that is not fertilised. Only through the fact that man is placed
into Earth existence, is the bridge built between the world which was and
the world which is to be, and man takes for his own path of development
that which exists as �name� in the vast sum of created beings; thus does
he bring about his own ascent together with that of the rest of
evolution. Here, but in no simple
abstract way, we have answered the question, �What is the meaning of
life?� although, after all, the abstract answer is contained therein. Man
has become a co-worker with spiritual beings. He has become so through his
whole nature. What he is has come about through his whole nature. He must
exist, and without him there could be no creation. Knowing himself to be a part of creation, man thus feels that
he is a participator in Divine spiritual activity. Now he knows also why his
inner life is such as it is, why outside is the world of stars, the
clouds, the kingdoms of nature, with all that spiritually belongs thereto,
and within there is a world of the soul. He now sees that these two worlds
belong to one another, and that only through their mutually reacting on
each other does evolution proceed. Outside in space, the infinite world is
unfolding to our view. Within is our soul-world. We do not notice that
that which lives within us shoots forth and blends with that which is
outside, we are not aware that we are the stage on which this union is
carried out. What is within us forms as it were the one pole, what is
outside in the universe � the other; these two must unite in order that
the evolution of the world may proceed. Our meaning, the meaning of man,
consists in this � that we take part in it. The ordinary knowledge of the
normal consciousness knows little of these things. But the more we
progress in the knowledge of such things, the more we become conscious
that in us lies the point where the North and the South Poles of the world
(if I may make the comparison) exchange their opposite forces, and unite,
so that evolution may advance. Through the teaching of the spiritual world
we learn that in us is the stage where the adjustment of forces takes
place. We feel how within us, as in a focal point, the Divine world of
spirit dwells, how it unites with the world outside, and how these two
mutually fructify one another. When we feel ourselves to be
the scene where all this takes place, and know that we take part in it, we
find our right place in life, grasp the whole meaning of life and realise that what at first is unconscious in us will
become more and more conscious through our progress in Anthroposophy. All
magic is based on this. While it is not given to the normal consciousness
to know that something within us unites with something outside, it is
given to the magic consciousness to see it all. That which belongs to the
outer world develops of its own free will. Hence it is necessary that a
certain state of maturity be reached and that what is within should not be
indiscriminately mixed up with what is without. For as soon as we ascend
to a higher stage of consciousness, what lives in us is reality; it is
appearance only as long as we live in the ordinary consciousness. We shall
participate in Divine spiritual activity. But why shall we thus
participate? Is there then, after all, sense in the whole thing if we are
only an apparatus for balancing opposing forces? A very simple
consideration shows us how the matter stands. Suppose that here is a
certain quantity of force: one part within, the other without. That they
confront each other is not owing to us. At first we keep them apart. Their
coming together depends on us. We bring them together within ourselves.
This is a thought that stirs the very deepest mysteries within us if we
consider it rightly. The gods present the world to us as a duality:
without is the objective world, within us the life of the soul [or mind].
We are present and we close the current, as it were, and thus bring the
two poles together. All this takes place within us, on the stage of our
consciousness. Here enters freedom for us.
With this we become independent beings. We have to regard the whole
universe not merely as a stage, but as a field for co-operation. It is
true that this induces a thought which the world does not easily
understand, not even if it be presented philosophically, for that is what
I tried to do years ago in my booklet Truth
and Science, in which it is stated that first
sense-activity appears and then the inner world, but that union and
co-operation between them are necessary. There the thought is developed
philosophically. I did not at that time try to show the spiritual
mysteries behind, but the world did not at that time understand even the
philosophy of it. Now we see in what way we have
to think of the meaning of our life. Meaning enters into it. We become
co-actors in the world process. That which is in the world is divided into
two opposing camps and we are placed in the midst in order to bring them
together. It is by no means the case that we have to imagine this as a
work within narrow limits. I know a humorous gentleman in
Now, after we have gained an
idea of the immeasurable greatness of the problems, we can proceed to the
abstract answer, for we know that in us fertilising germs are springing up for a spiritual
world, which without us would not be able to develop further. Now we shall
see also how it is with regard to the meaning of life, for now we are
working on a broad basis. Now we can say: �Once, at the beginning of
evolution, there was the Divine consciousness.� It was there in its
infinity. Therewith we stand at the beginning of existence. This Divine
consciousness first forms copies of itself. In what way do the copies
differ from the Divine consciousness? In that they are many, whilst the
Divine consciousness is one. Further, in that they are empty, whilst the
Divine consciousness is full of content, so that in the first place the
copies exist as a multiplicity, and further they are empty, just as our
empty Ego was confronted by a Divine Ego that contained a whole world. But
this empty Ego becomes the stage where the Divine contents which are
divided into two opposing camps continually unite, and because the empty
consciousness is continually bringing about adjustment it becomes more and
more filled with what was originally in the Divine consciousness. Thus
evolution proceeds in such a way that the individual consciousness becomes
filled with what in the beginning was contained in the Divine
consciousness. This is brought about through the perpetual adjustment of
individuals. Has the Divine consciousness
need of this for its own development? So ask many who do not quite
understand the meaning of life. Does the Divine consciousness need this
for its own perfection, for its own development? No, the Divine
consciousness does not need it. It has everything within itself. But the
Divine consciousness is not egoistic. It wishes that an infinite number of
beings may have the same content as itself. But these beings must first
fulfil the law, so that they may have the Divine
consciousness within them and that thereby the Divine consciousness may be
multiplied. What existed at the beginning of world-evolution as unity then
appears in multiplicity, but in the course of time it falls away again on
the path of complete permeation with Divinity. Evolution as it has now been
described was really always so as regards humanity; it was so during the
Saturn period; it was similar during the Sun and Moon periods [previous
incarnations of the earth - ed.]. We have explained it clearly today as
regards the earthly period. On Saturn this activity created the first
rudiments of the physical body and at the same time fructified in an
outward direction; on the Sun it created the first beginnings of the
etheric body and so on. The process is the same, only it becomes more and
more spiritual. There remained outside ever less and less which still
needed fructification. As humanity evolves further, ever more and more
will enter into life and ever less will remain outside that has still to
be fructified. Therefore, in the end, man will have more and more within
him of what had been outside. The outer world will have become his inner
world. Making things �inward� is the other side of forward
development. To unite Divinity with what is
external, to make inward what is external � these are the two directions
in which man makes progress in evolution. He will resemble Divinity more
and more and will at last become more and more inwardly enriched. In the
Vulcan stage of evolution everything will have been fructified. Everything
external will have become internal. To become inwardly enriched � is to
become Divine. That is the aim and the meaning of
life. But we only get at the truth
of the matter when we think of it in such a way that we do not merely set
up abstract ideas, but really enter into details. Man must go deeply into
the matter and so enter into details, that when he pronounces the name of
plants or animals, something rises within him that unites the content of
the word with that which lies at the basis of the plant or animal germ,
and then lives on in the spiritual world. Our view of life needs
improvement in the course of its evolution; for what has Darwinism
performed in this direction? It speaks of the struggle for existence, but
it does not take into account that that which,
from its point of view, is defeated and destroyed, is also undergoing
further development. The Darwinist sees only the beings which reach their
goal and the others which perish. The spirit, however, flashes out of
those which perish so that it is not only that which conquers in the
physical struggle which is developing. That which apparently perishes goes
through a spiritual development. That is the important
point. In this way we penetrate into
the meaning of life; nothing, not even that which is defeated, or that
which is eaten, is destroyed, it is being spiritually fertilised and springs up again spiritually. Much has
disappeared in the whole course of the evolution of this earth and of
humanity without man having anything directly to do with it. Let us take
the whole of pre-Christian development. We know what this pre-Christian
development was like. In the beginning man came forth from the spiritual
world and gradually descended into the physical sense-world. That which he
possessed in the beginning, that which lived in him, has vanished, just as
have the life germs which have not reached their goal. Throughout human
evolution we see countless things sink down as into an abyss. Whilst
innumerable things are perishing in the outer development of human civilisation and of human life, the Christ-Impulse is
developing above. Just as man develops life-giving germs for the world
that is around him, so does the Christ-Impulse give what is necessary for
the development of that which apparently perishes in man. Then the Mystery
of Golgotha took place. This is the fructification from above of what has
apparently perished. Here actually a change takes place in that which
apparently had fallen away from the Divine and sunk into the abyss. The
Christ-Impulse enters and fertilises it. And
from the Mystery of Golgotha onwards, we see in the course of the further
development of the earth a renewed blossoming and a continuation through
the fructification received with the Christ-Impulse. Thus what we have learned
about polarity is also proved true in this greatest event of the earthly
evolution. In our epoch the seeds of civilisation sown in the old Egyptian civilisation are coming to life. They are there in the
earth evolution. The Christ-Impulse has come and has fertilised them and as a result of this fertilisation we have a repetition in our own epoch of
the Egypto-Chaldean civilisation. In the civilisation which will follow our own, the old
Persian civilisation will re-appear fructified
by the seed of the Christ-Impulse. In the seventh age the old Indian civilisation, that lofty spiritual civilisation which came from the holy Rishis, will
reappear in a new form, fructified by the
Christ-Impulse. We see in this continuous
development, that what we have learned with regard to man may also become
a reciprocity; an inner and an outer, a spiritual
and a physical, mutually fertilising each other.
Fertilisation with the Christ-Impulse is active
above and below. Below the progressing earthly civilisation; from above, entering with the Mystery of
Golgotha � the Christ-Impulse. Now we can also understand the
meaning of the Christ-Event. The earth has to participate in the cosmic
mysteries just as the individual man has to participate in the Divine
mysteries. Through this, polarity was implanted in man, as it is in the
earth. That which is above the earth and that which, through the Mystery
of Golgotha, first united with the earth, have evolved like two opposite
poles. Christ and the earth belong to one another. In order to be able to
unite they had first to develop apart from one another. Thus we see that
it is necessary, in order that things may really come to fruition, that
they differentiate into polarities, and that the polarities then reunite
in order that life may progress. That is the meaning of life. If we look
at it like this, then it is true that we feel ourselves standing in the
centre of the world, feel that the world would be absolutely nothing
without us. As deep a mystic as Angelus Silesius
made the remarkable statement which at first may astound people: �I know
that without me no God can live; were I brought
to naught, he would of necessity have to give up the ghost.� Sectarian
Christians may disagree with such a statement, but they should not forget
the historical fact that Angelus Silesius, even before
he became a Roman Catholic (which he did in order according to his opinion
to stand entirely on the ground of Christianity), was a very pious man,
and yet he pronounced this dictum. Whoever knows Angelus Silesius will know that this statement was not
prompted by impiety. All things in the world would stand opposed to other
things, like poles that cannot meet, were man to be thought away. Man
stands in the midst and forms a part of it. If man thinks, the world
thinks in him. He is the stage on which the action takes place; he only
brings the thoughts together. When man thinks and when he wills, it is
even so. We can now estimate what it
means when, directing our gaze into the vastness of space we say: It is
Divinity that fills it, and Divinity is that which must be united with the
Earth-seed. �In me is the meaning of life!� � man
may exclaim. The gods have set before them certain aims; but they have
also chosen the stage on which these aims are to be carried out. The souls
of men are the stage. Therefore, if the human soul looks but deeply enough
into itself, and does not only try to solve problems in the vastness of
space, it finds within itself the stage where gods are accomplishing their
deeds � and man himself is taking part in them. That is what I tried to
express in the words which can be found in my Mystery Play, The Soul's
Probation how in man�s inner being the gods work, how the meaning of
the world finds expression in the soul of man and how the meaning of the
world will live on in the soul of man. What is the meaning of life? It is
that this meaning lives in man himself. This I tried to express in the
words which the soul addresses to itself: � �Within thy thinking cosmic thought doth
live, See: Four Mystery
Plays If we wish to say something
that is true, not something which has merely occurred to us, it must
always be said out of the depths of spiritual secrets. That is extremely
important. Therefore you must not think that words which are used in
occult works, be it in the form of prose or poetry, arise in the same way
as do words in other works. Such spiritual or occult works which really
spring from truth, truth about the world and its mysteries, come into
existence when the soul really allows world-thoughts to speak through it,
really lets world-feelings, not its own personal feelings, inflame it and
has really created these feelings and thoughts from beings of cosmic or
universal will. It is part of the mission of
the Anthroposophical movement that man should learn to discriminate
between what is sounding forth out of the cosmic mysteries and that which
his own arbitrary imagination has invented. Ever more and more the
development of civilisation will rise to the
point where, in the place of arbitrary invention, there will appear that
which lives in the human soul in such a way that it is the other pole of
the corresponding spirituality. Things created in this way are in their
turn life-giving seed which unite with the spirit. They have a purpose in
the world process. It gives us quite a different feeling of responsibility
as regards what we do ourselves, when we know that what we bring about are
living germs � not sterile ones which simply perish. Then we must allow
these germs too to spring up from the depths of the
World-Soul. Now it may be asked: But how
is this to be attained? By patience. By approaching more and more to the
stage where all personal ambition is eliminated. Personal ambition tempts
us ever more and more to produce that which is merely personal, without
listening to that which is the expression of the Divine. How are we to
know that the Divine is speaking in us? We must eliminate everything that
only comes from ourselves and first of all we must eliminate every
tendency to ambition. This generates the right polarity in us and produces
real fructifying germs in the soul. Impatience is the worst guide in life.
It is that which destroys the world. If we are successful in this, you
will see, as I have been explaining to you, that the meaning of life is
reached in the way described, through the fructification of what is
outward by that which is inward. Then we shall also understand that if our
inner nature is not right, we sow wrong fertilising seed in the world. What is the result of
that? The result is that deformities are born into the world. Our present
civilisation is rich in such deformities. All
over the world, books are written today one could almost say by
steam-power; whilst even in the eighteenth century a celebrated author
wrote: �A single country today produces five times as many books as the
earth requires for its good.� Today it is much worse. These are things
which surround the present civilisation with
spiritual entities which are not fit for life, which would not and should
not come into existence, if man had the requisite patience. That will also
come to birth within the human soul as a kind of opposite pole � patience:
so that the human soul does not simply scatter around what is merely a
product of ambition and egoism! This must not be taken as a kind of moral
sermon, but as the representation of a fact. It is a fact that productions
springing from ambition and desire for renown
give rise in our souls to such seeds as bring deformities to birth in the
spiritual world. To suppress these and also gradually to transform them is
a fruitful task for the far future. It is the mission of Anthroposophy to
accomplish this task, and it is the meaning of life that in doing so the
anthroposophical world conception should take its place in the whole
meaning of life; that everywhere meaning should flow in on us in life,
that everywhere life should be full of meaning. What Spiritual Science
desires to teach men is this: that we are in the midst of this meaning,
and can express it truly thus: � �Within thy thinking cosmic thought doth
live, That, my dear anthroposophical
friends, is the meaning of life, as man must understand it at present.
This is what I wished to consider with you. If we understand it fully and
make it entirely our own, the souls which have become Divine will make it
effective in your souls. What is difficult to
understand in these lectures you must ascribe to the circumstance that
Karma obliges us to restrict such an important subject as �The Meaning of
Life� to two short lectures; much could therefore merely be hinted at,
which can only be developed in the soul of each one for himself. Consider
this also as a polarity: an impulse must be given which through meditation
is developed further, that through this further development all our
intercourse acquires meaning � reality; it ought to become so full of
meaning that our souls should be able to play one into the other. It is of
the essence of real love that it is also an
equilibrium of polarities. At the point where anthroposophical
thoughts find entrance to a soul, the other pole is stimulated and
agreement found. It is this that can work like an anthroposophical �Music
of the Spheres.� When we work thus in harmony with the spiritual world,
when we really are living anthroposophical life, we also live united in
this life. This is the way in which I
should like you to take our meeting here in these two days. Such spiritual
subjects are an expression of the Spirit of Love and are consecrated to
the Spirit of Love amongst true anthroposophists. This love, through the
touchstone we possess, will be instrumental in the exchange of our
spiritual content; it will be something through which we not only receive,
but through which we are also stimulated more and more to anthroposophical
efforts. In this way Anthroposophy will become a means of spreading a love
that touches the innermost depths of the human soul. Such love lives on.
For as members of the Anthroposophical Movement we have something that
causes the love of those who are separated in space to endure until Karma
again unites us on the physical plane. So we remain united and find the
true cause for remaining so in the fact that with all the best in our
souls, with the best of our spiritual powers, we have together risen to
Divine spiritual heights. In this way, we also desire, my dear friends, to
continue to be united with one another.
Thanks to The Rudolf Steiner Archive.
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