Cosmic Memory
GA 11
xix. Answers to Questions
[ 1 ] If we are to acquire new capacities through repeated incarnations in the successive races, if in addition nothing of what the soul has acquired through experience is again to be lost from its storehouse—how is it to be explained that in mankind of today absolutely nothing remains of the capacities of the will, of the imagination, of the mastery of natural forces which were so highly developed in those periods?
[ 2 ] It is a fact that of the capacities which the soul has acquired in its transition through a stage of development, nothing is lost. But when a new capacity is acquired, the one previously gained assumes a different form. It then no longer manifests itself in its own character, but as a basis for the new capacity. Among the Atlanteans for instance, it was the faculty of memory which was acquired. Contemporary man indeed can form only a very weak conception of what the memory of an Atlantean could accomplish. But all that appears as innate concepts in our fifth root race, in Atlantis was only acquired through the memory. The concepts of space, time, number, etc. would present difficulties of a quite different order if contemporary man were obliged to be the first to acquire them. For the faculty which this contemporary man is to acquire is the combinatory understanding. Logic did not exist among the Atlanteans. But each previously acquired power of the soul must withdraw, in its own form, become submerged beneath the threshold of consciousness if a new one is to be acquired. For example, if the beaver were suddenly to become a thinking being, it would have to change its capacity for intuitively erecting its artful constructions into something else.
The Atlanteans also had for example, the capacity to control the life force in a certain way. They constructed their wonderful machines through this force. But on the other hand, they had nothing of the gift for story-telling which the peoples of the fifth root race possess. There are as yet no myths and fairy tales among them. The life-mastering power of the Atlanteans first appeared among the members of our race under the mask of mythology. In this form it could become the basis for the intellectual activity of our race. The great inventors among us are incarnations of “seers” of the Atlanteans. In their inspirations of genius is manifested what has as its basis something else, something that was like life-producing power in them during their Atlantean incarnation. Our logic, knowledge of nature, technology and so forth, grow from a foundation which was laid in Atlantis. If, for instance, an engineer could transform his combining faculty backward, something would result which was in the power of the Atlantean. All of Roman jurisprudence was the transformed will power of a former time. In this the will as such remained in the background, and instead of itself assuming forms, it transformed itself into the forms of thought which are manifested in legal concepts. The aesthetic sense of the Greeks is built up on the basis of directly acting forces which among the Atlanteans were manifested in a magnificent breeding of plant and animal forms. In the imagination of Phidias lived something which the Atlantean used directly for the transformation of actual living beings.
[ 3 ] What is the relation of the science of the spirit, of theosophy, to the so-called secret sciences?
[ 4 ] Secret sciences have always existed. They were cultivated in the so-called mystery schools. Only the one who underwent certain tests could learn something of them. He was always told only as much as was appropriate for his intellectual, spiritual, and moral faculties. This had to be so, for when properly used, the higher insights are the key to a power which must lead to misuse in the hands of the unprepared. Some of the elementary teachings of mystery science have been popularized by the science of the spirit. The reason for this lies in the conditions prevailing in our time. With respect to the development of the understanding, mankind today, in its more advanced members, has progressed to the point where sooner or later it would of itself attain certain conceptions which were previously a part of secret knowledge. But it would acquire these conceptions in an atrophied, caricatured, and harmful form. Therefore some of those who are initiated into secret knowledge have decided to communicate a part of it to the public. It will thus become possible to measure human advances which take place in the course of cultural development, with the measuring rod of true wisdom. Our knowledge of nature, for example, does lead to ideas about the causes of things. But without a deepening through mystery science these ideas can only be distortions. Our technology is approaching stages of development which can only redound to the good of mankind if the souls of men have been deepened in the sense of the spiritual scientific conception of life. As long as the peoples had nothing of modern knowledge of nature and modern technology, the form was salutary in which the highest teachings were communicated in religious images, in a manner which appealed merely to the emotional. Today mankind needs the same truths in a rational form. The world outlook of the science of the spirit is not an arbitrary development, but results from an insight into the historical fact just mentioned.
However, even today certain parts of secret knowledge can only be communicated to those who undergo the tests of initiation. Only those will be able to make use of the published part who do not limit themselves to an external noting of it, but who really assimilate these things internally and make them the content and the guiding principle of their lives. It is not a matter of mastering the teachings of the science of the spirit with the understanding, but of permeating feelings, emotions, the whole life with them. Only through such a permeating does one learn something of their truth. Otherwise they remain something which “one can believe or not believe.” When correctly understood, the truths of the science of the spirit will give man a true foundation for his life, will let him recognize his value, his dignity, and his essence, and will give him the highest zest for living. For these truths enlighten him about his connection with the world around him; they show him his highest goals, his true destiny. They do this in a way which corresponds to the demands of the present, so that he need not remain caught in the contradiction between belief and knowledge. One can be a modern scientist and a scientist of the spirit at the same time. But, however, one must be one and the other in a true sense.
Fragenbeantwortung
[ 1 ] Es liegt folgende Frage vor: Wenn wir durch immer neue Verkörperungen in den aufeinanderfolgenden Rassen uns neue Fähigkeiten aneignen sollen, wenn ferner nichts von dem, was die Seele durch Erfahrung sich angeeignet hat, aus ihrem Vorratsschatz wieder verlorengehen soll, — wie erklärt es sich, daß in der Menschheit von heute so gar nichts übriggeblieben ist von den zu jenen Zeiten so hochentwickelten Fähigkeiten des Willens, der Vorstellung, der Beherrschung von Naturkräften?
[ 2 ] In der Tat geht nichts verloren von den Fähigkeiten, welche sich die Seele bei ihrem Durchgang durch eine Entwickelungsstufe erworben hat. Aber wenn eine neue Fähigkeit erworben wird, so nimmt die vorher erworbene eine andere Form an. Sie lebt sich dann nicht mehr für sich selbst aus, sondern als Grundlage für die neue Fähigkeit. Bei den Atlantiern war zum Beispiel die Fähigkeit des Gedächtnisses angeeignet worden. Der gegenwärtige Mensch kann sich in der Tat nur sehr schwache Vorstellungen von dem machen, was das Gedächtnis eines Atlantiers zu leisten vermochte. Alles das nun, was in unserer fünften Wurzelrasse als gleichsam angeborene Vorstellungen auftritt, ist in Atlantis durch das Gedächtnis erst erworben worden. Die Raum-, Zeit-, Zahlenvorstellungen usw. würden ganz andere Schwierigkeiten machen, wenn sich sie der gegenwärtige Mensch erst erwerben sollte. Denn die Fähigkeit, die sich dieser gegenwärtige Mensch aneignen soll, ist der kombinierende Verstand. Eine Logik gab es bei den Atlantiern nicht. Nun muß aber jede früher erworbene Seelenkraft in ihrer eigenen Form zurücktreten, hinuntertauchen unter die Schwelle des Bewußtseins, wenn eine neue erworben werden soll. Der Biber müßte seine Fähigkeit, intuitiv seine künstlichen Bauten aufzuführen, in etwas anderes verwandeln, wenn er zum Beispiel plötzlich ein denkendes Wesen würde. — die Atlantier hatten zum Beispiel auch die Fähigkeit, die Lebenskraft in einer gewissen Weise zu beherrschen. Ihre wunderbaren Maschinen konstruierten sie durch diese Kraft. Aber sie hatten dafür gar nichts von dem, was die Völker der fünften Wurzelrasse als Gabe zu erzählen haben. Es gab bei ihnen noch nichts von Mythen und Märchen. In der Maske der Mythologie trat zunächst bei den Angehörigen unserer Rasse die Lebenbeherrschende Kraft der Atlantier auf. Und in dieser Form konnte sie die Grundlage werden für die Verstandestätigkeit unserer Rasse. Die großen Erfinder unserer Rasse sind Inkarnationen von «Sehern» der atlantischen Rasse. In ihren genialen Einfällen lebt sich etwas aus, das ein anderes zur Grundlage hat, etwas, das während ihrer atlantischen Inkarnation als Lebenschaffende Kraft in ihnen war. Unsere Logik, Naturkenntnis, Technik und so weiter wachsen aus einem Boden heraus, der in der Atlantis gelegt worden ist. Könnte zum Beispiel ein Techniker seine kombinierende Kraft zurückverwandeln, so käme etwas heraus, was der Atlantier vermochte. Die gesamte römische Jurisprudenz war umgewandelte Willenskraft einer früheren Zeit. Der Wille selbst blieb dabei im Hintergrunde, und statt selbst Formen anzunehmen, verwandelte er sich in die Gedankenformen, die sich in den Rechtsbegriffen ausleben. Der Schönheitssinn der Griechen ist auf der Grundlage unmittelbarer Kräfte erbaut, die sich bei den Atlantiern in einer großartigen Züchtung von Pflanzen und Tierformen ausleben. In Phidias Phantasie lebte etwas, was der Atlantier unmittelbar zur Umgestaltung von wirklichen Lebewesen verwandte.
[ 3 ] Eine weitere Frage ist die folgende: Wie verhält sich die Geisteswissenschaft (Theosophie) zu den so genannten Geheimwissenschaften?
[ 4 ] Geheimwissenschaften hat es immer gegeben. Sie wurden in den sogenannten Geheimschulen gepflegt. Nur derjenige konnte von ihnen etwas erfahren, der sich gewissen Prüfungen unterzog. Es wurde ihm immer nur so viel mitgeteilt, als seinen intellektuellen, geistigen und moralischen Fähigkeiten entsprach. Das mußte so sein, weil die höheren Erkenntnisse, richtig angewendet, der Schlüssel zu einer Macht sind, die in den Händen der Unvorbereiteten zum Mißbrauch führen muß. Durch die Geisteswissenschaft sind nun einige, die elementaren Lehren der Geheimwissenschaft popularisiert worden. Der Grund dazu liegt in den gegenwärtigen Zeitverhältnissen. Die Menschheit ist heute in ihren vorgeschritteneren Mitgliedern in bezug auf die Ausbildung des Verstandes so weit, daß sie über kurz oder lang von selbst zu gewissen Vorstellungen kommen würde, die vorher ein Glied des Geheimwissens waren. Allein sie würde sich diese Vorstellungen in einer verkümmerten, karikierten und schädlichen Form aneignen. Deshalb haben sich Geheimkundige entschlossen, einen Teil des Geheimwissens der Öffentlichkeit mitzuteilen. Dadurch wird die Möglichkeit geboten sein, die in der Kulturentwickelung auftretenden menschlichen Fortschritte mit dem Maßstabe wahrer Weisheit zu messen. Unsere Naturerkenntnis führt zum Beispiel zu Vorstellungen über die Gründe der Dinge. Aber ohne geheimwissenschaftliche Vertiefung können diese Vorstellungen nur Zerrbilder werden. Unsere Technik schreitet Entwickelungsstadien zu, welche nur dann zum Heile der Menschheit ausschlagen können, wenn die Seelen der Menschen im Sinne der geisteswissenschaftlichen Lebensauffassung vertieft sein werden. So lange die Völker nichts hatten von moderner Naturerkenntnis und moderner Technik, war die Form heilsam, in der die höchsten Lehren in religiösen Bildern, in einer zum bloßen Gefühle sprechenden Art mitgeteilt worden sind. Heute braucht die Menschheit dieselben Wahrheiten in einer verstandesmäßigen Form. Nicht der Willkür ist die geisteswissenschaftliche Weltanschauung entsprungen, sondern der Einsicht in die angegebene historische Tatsache. — Gewisse Teile der Geheimkunde können allerdings auch heute nur solchen mitgeteilt werden, die sich den Prüfungen der Einweihung unterwerfen. Und auch mit dem veröffentlichten Teile werden nur diejenigen etwas anzufangen wissen, welche sich nicht auf ein äußerliches Kenntnisnehmen beschränken, sondern die sich die Dinge wirklich innerlich aneignen, sie zum Inhalt und zur Richtschnur ihres Lebens machen. Es kommt nicht darauf an, die Lehren der Geisteswissenschaft verstandesmäßig zu beherrschen, sondern Gefühl, Empfindung, ja das ganze Leben mit ihnen zu durchdringen. Nur durch eine solche Durchdringung erfährt man auch etwas von ihrem Wahrheitswert. Sonst bleiben sie doch nur etwas, was «man glauben und auch nicht glauben kann»). Richtig verstanden, werden die geisteswissenschaftlichen Wahrheiten dem Menschen eine wahre Lebensgrundlage geben, ihn seinen Wert, seine Würde und Wesenheit erkennen lassen, den höchsten Daseinsmut geben. Denn sie klären ihn über seinen Zusammenhang mit der Welt rings um ihn her auf; sie verweisen ihn auf seine höchsten Ziele, auf seine wahre Bestimmung. Und sie tun dies in einer Weise, wie es den Ansprüchen der Gegenwart gemäß ist, so daß er nicht in dem Zwiespalt zwischen Glauben und Wissen befangen zu bleiben braucht. Man kann moderner Forscher und Geistesforscher zugleich sein. Allerdings muß man dann auch beides im echten Sinne sein.
Answer to the question
[ 1 ] The following question arises: If, through ever new incarnations in successive races, we are to acquire new faculties, if, furthermore, nothing of what the soul has acquired through experience is to be lost again from its storehouse, - how is it to be explained that in the human race of to-day so absolutely nothing remains of the faculties of will, of imagination, of the mastery of natural forces, which were so highly developed in those times?
[ 2 ] In fact, nothing is lost of the faculties which the soul has acquired in its passage through a stage of development. But when a new ability is acquired, the previously acquired one takes on a different form. It then no longer lives itself out for itself, but as a foundation for the new ability. In the case of the Atlanteans, for example, the ability to remember was acquired. Present-day man can in fact only form a very faint idea of what the memory of an Atlantean was capable of. Everything that appears in our fifth root race as inherited ideas, as it were, was first acquired in Atlantis through memory. The concepts of space, time, numbers, etc. would cause quite different difficulties if the present human being were to acquire them first. For the ability that this present human being is to acquire is the combining mind. Logic did not exist among the Atlanteans. Now, however, every previously acquired soul-power must recede in its own form, dive down below the threshold of consciousness, if a new one is to be acquired. The beaver would have to transform its ability to intuitively perform its artificial constructions into something else if, for example, it suddenly became a thinking being. - The Atlanteans, for example, also had the ability to control the life force in a certain way. They constructed their wonderful machines using this power. But they had nothing of what the peoples of the fifth root race have to tell as a gift. They still had nothing of myths and fairy tales. The life-dominating power of the Atlanteans first appeared among the members of our race in the mask of mythology. And in this form it could become the basis for the intellectual activity of our race. The great inventors of our race are incarnations of "seers" of the Atlantean race. In their ingenious ideas something is expressed that has another as its basis, something that was in them as a life-creating force during their Atlantean incarnation. Our logic, knowledge of nature, technology and so on grow out of a ground that was laid in Atlantis. If, for example, a technician could transform back his combining power, something would emerge that the Atlantean was able to do. The entire Roman jurisprudence was the transformed willpower of an earlier time. The will itself remained in the background, and instead of assuming forms, it transformed itself into the thought forms that are expressed in legal concepts. The Greeks' sense of beauty was built on the basis of immediate forces, which the Atlanteans expressed in the magnificent cultivation of plants and animal forms. Something lived in Phidias' imagination that the Atlanteans used directly to transform real living beings.
[ 3 ] Another question is the following: How does spiritual science (theosophy) relate to the so-called secret sciences?
[ 4 ] Secret sciences have always existed. They were cultivated in the so-called secret schools. Only those who underwent certain tests could learn about them. They were only ever told as much as corresponded to their intellectual, spiritual and moral abilities. This had to be the case because higher knowledge, when used correctly, is the key to a power which, in the hands of the unprepared, must lead to abuse. Through spiritual science some of the elementary teachings of secret science have now been popularized. The reason for this lies in the present circumstances. The more advanced members of mankind are today so far advanced in the training of the intellect that they would sooner or later arrive by themselves at certain ideas which were previously a part of secret knowledge. But it would acquire these ideas in a stunted, caricatured and harmful form. This is why those in the know have decided to share some of the secret knowledge with the public. This will make it possible to measure human progress in the development of culture by the yardstick of true wisdom. Our knowledge of nature, for example, leads to ideas about the causes of things. But without a deeper understanding of the mysteries of science, these ideas can only become distorted images. Our technology is progressing towards stages of development which can only be beneficial to mankind if the souls of men are deepened in the sense of the spiritual-scientific conception of life. As long as the peoples had nothing of modern knowledge of nature and modern technology, the form in which the highest teachings were communicated in religious images, in a way that spoke to mere feelings, was salutary. Today, humanity needs the same truths in an intellectual form. The spiritual-scientific view of the world did not spring from arbitrariness, but from insight into the stated historical fact. - Even today, however, certain parts of the Secret Doctrine can only be communicated to those who submit to the tests of initiation. And only those will know what to do with the published part who do not confine themselves to an external knowledge, but who really appropriate the things inwardly, making them the content and guiding principle of their lives. It is not a matter of mastering the teachings of spiritual science intellectually, but of penetrating feeling, sensation, indeed the whole of life with them. Only through such penetration does one experience something of their truth value. Otherwise they remain only something that "one can believe and also not believe"). Properly understood, spiritual-scientific truths will give man a true basis for life, allow him to recognize his value, dignity and essence, and give him the highest courage to exist. For they enlighten him about his connection with the world around him; they point him to his highest goals, to his true destiny. And they do this in a way that is in keeping with the demands of the present, so that he need not remain caught in the dichotomy between faith and knowledge. One can be a modern researcher and a spiritual researcher at the same time. However, one must then also be both in the true sense.