The Stages of Higher Knowledge
GA 12
Preface by Marie Steiner
[ 1 ] The magazine Lucifer, edited by Rudolf Steiner in the service of spiritual science, was enlarged in 1904 through the merger with the Austrian magazine, Gnosis. Thenceforth it bore the double name, Lucifer-Gnosis. In it were published Rudolf Steiner's articles that later appeared as the book, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment, which, with the books, Theosophy and Occult Science, an Outline, belongs to the basic works of the anthroposophically oriented science of the spirit.
A continuation of these articles appeared under the title, The Stages of Higher Knowledge. They were intended, later on, to be formed into a second volume in continuation of Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment. But an overabundance of work and the heavy demands that lecturing made upon his time gradually prevented Rudolf Steiner from devoting the necessary attention to the magazine, although there was a steady increase in the number of its readers. As a result, its publication had to cease, and the further appearance of the articles on The Stages of Higher Knowledge had to be interrupted.
We have often been asked to make them available again through a new edition. The present books complies with this wish. Since the text suddenly breaks off, the book cannot claim the value of completeness. It was, therefore, justifiable to question the advisability of a new edition. The views presented here, but not brought to a conclusion, have been published many times in other written works of Rudolf Steiner in a different form and under different titles. But for the searcher of the spirit the fact remains that the conquest of spiritual reality is possible only by returning again and again to the spiritual contents once worked over but never sufficiently assimilated, and by experiencing ever anew the path that once has shown the direction into the realm of the spirit. The soul life of the person working meditatively must be kept so mobile that the view afforded him by one path makes him all the more receptive to views from other aspects.
[ 2 ] The articles published here are of historical value. They indicate the starting-point of Rudolf Steiner's esoteric instructions; they show us how he has become the pioneer in this very domain in which, through his indications, man for the first time has been allowed freedom. With a world encompassing outlook, and a high sense of responsibility he had to build a basis and create a spiritual attitude through which man—by finding within himself the solid moral support—might still in this freedom avoid falling prey to temptation and aberration. In order to accomplish such a deed at a decisive turning-point in history, in the midst of opposing forces, relying solely upon one's own self, there was needed the tremendous ethical power that permeates Rudolf Steiner's entire life-work, its goals the welfare of mankind, the rescue of the Western world from the threatening collapse. He laid the foundations for his work in a way that corresponded with the demands of the age. To achieve this required the synthesis of all knowledge.
[ 3 ] If one takes up these articles, written at the beginning of an astonishing life work that continued until March 30, 1925, and that, in the first years of this century, had received an impulse willed by destiny through its connection with theosophical groups fed from oriental sources—the question arises: How is it to be understood that Rudolf Steiner, who pointed the way to freedom also in esoteric life, to full self-reliance, and who let the pupil pledge to his own higher ego the obedience he must otherwise pledge to the teacher—how is it to be understood that Rudolf Steiner still urges in these articles the necessity of a strict reliance of the student upon the teacher, making the student as it were dependent upon the teacher?
[ 4 ] In truth, Rudolf Steiner is only describing the pupil teacher relationship as one of trust. From the very beginning he has avoided and rejected the authoritative element. In ancient times, the initiating priests took full responsibility for initiation of the neophyte into the mysteries of spiritual existence and exerted their will upon him. Thus the pupil was at the same time protected and guided, and was able to escape the dangers that otherwise would have overpowered him. His ego still hovered above his physical sheaths; his consciousness of self had not yet awakened. To awaken it more and more was the task of the progressing mystery training.
By drawing attention to the Cosmic Teacher, Christian initiation lessened the dependency upon the personal teacher, without wholly eliminating it. In the Rosicrucian training this dependency gradually loses its personal character and transforms itself into a relationship of trust. The teacher assists the student, shows him the way he seeks but cannot find unaided. The teacher gives him moral support, points out the dangers of vanity and the trickery of deceptive images that he must learn to distinguish from true spiritual reality. Thus the teacher is a helper ready to withdraw when trust is lacking.
At the turning-point of history at which we stand, the teacher working for the present had to point to the past, present, and future of human spiritual striving and, beginning with the education of the individual, had to erect his work so that it constituted a deed for mankind: a newly gained element of life for posterity. Thus, Rudolf Steiner created a science of initiation in which henceforth every serious, morally striving human being can find the fundament that carries him; he will be able to take hold of the elements that sharpen his power of discrimination while new worlds open up to him. He need not grope uncertainly, having received enough instruction to guide him until he finds the leader in the lands of spirit.
[ 5 ] This was not the case before Rudolf Steiner began his spiritual work. His deed is the science of initiation. Through it is revealed what lay hidden in the Mysteries of the ancient temples: namely, alongside the knowledge of cosmic evolution, the knowledge of the imminent descent of Christ, and what was sealed up in the Church: the redeeming deed of the liberation of mankind through the Christ and the gradual permeation of the ego of the individual with His power. Instead of personal guidance, the requirement now is that the human being find the way to the Ego of Mankind, to the Christ, through the forces of the time spirit. The consciousness of the individual human being is made mature for the acceptance of the higher ego force; self-consciousness is raised to spirit self.
[ 6 ] It is the work of the future. But only by standing on the ground of the past and preparing the future can man work fruitfully for the present. By any other course he strives in the void. Here, too, the laws of metamorphosis govern. The future is created through transformation of the present that is rooted in the past. New elements appear, just as the new spring follows the winter. The power of the sun glows through the earth; all that decays, undergoing transformation, is kindled to new life through grace descending from above.
[ 7 ] Also in the esoteric realm happenings unfold in historical continuity, in accordance with the law of ascending evolution and the flood tide and ebb tide of diminishing and flourishing life until the seemingly sudden moment when the rays of grace break forth, like the miracle of the radiant blossom in the green plant world. Yet without this transformation from form to form carried out by wise powers, and the constant enhancement in all domains of life, the new values, the gifts of the spirit, the fiery tongues of the Word would not descend upon us. Without knowledge of such happenings, the recipients of these gifts would not be in a position to grasp what it is that wants to take place among them. The great new power could not become effective, the future could not be saved.
[ 8 ] The souls striving for spiritual knowledge who approached Rudolf Steiner were the human material willed by destiny and led to him by the age with whom Rudolf Steiner had to work. Out of their needs and requirements he had to form the science of initiation, based on cognition. It was his task to tear men away from the indolence of the age in regard to the spirit, so that they could become a bridge for the demands of the future.
[ 9 ] Most difficult was the awakening of a sense for inner freedom, self-reliance, fully answerable to itself. With scrupulous regard for this goal, Rudolf Steiner desired no other role among men than that of instructor and, when so requested, advisor, awakener to spiritual goals of mankind. He was able to present spiritual facts because his thinking and beholding were permeated with life and unfolded, step by step, with the power of an organism of nature. His spiritual work stands before us—the restored unity of science, art and religion.
Vorwort von Marie Steiner
[ 1 ] Die von Rudolf Steiner im Dienste der Geisteswissenschaft herausgegebene Zeitschrift «Luzifer» erfuhr im Jahre 1904 eine Erweiterung durch ihre Vereinigung mit der in Österreich erscheinenden Zeitschrift «Gnosis». Unter dem Doppelnamen «Lucifer-Gnosis» brachte sie dann jene Aufsätze Rudolf Steiners, die später, gesammelt, das Buch wurden, das neben der «Theosophie» und «Geheimwissenschaft» zu den grundlegenden Werken gehört für die Einführung in die anthroposophisch orientierte Geisteswissenschaft. Eine Fortsetzung jener Aufsätze erschien unter dem Titel «Die Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis». Es war gedacht, sie späterhin zu einem zweiten Bande zu gestalten, als Weiterführung der in «Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten?» begonnenen Betrachtungen. Die Überfülle der Arbeit jedoch, die außerordentliche Inanspruchnahme Rudolf Steiners durch Vortragstätigkeit, machte es allmählich unmöglich, sich der Zeitschrift in genügendem Maße zu widmen, obgleich sie an Verbreitung stetig gewann. Aus Mangel an Zeit mußte sie eingestellt werden. So wurde denn auch das weitere Erscheinen jener Aufsätze über «Die Stufen der höheren Erkenntnis» unterbrochen. Es ist öfters die Bitte an uns herangetreten, durch eine Neuausgabe sie wieder zugänglich zu machen. Diesem Wunsche wird hiermit nachgekommen. Da der Text plötzlich abbricht, kann das Buch nicht den Wert der Vollständigkeit beanspruchen. So war es berechtigt, sich die Frage zu stellen, ob die Herausgabe nicht besser unterbleiben solle. Die hier in Aussicht gestellten nicht zum Abschluß gekommenen Darlegungen sind ja vielfach in anderer Form, unter anderen Titeln schon veröffentlicht worden. Doch bleibt es für den Geistessucher eine Tatsache, daß die Eroberung der geistigen Wirklichkeit nur dann möglich ist und keine Illusion, wenn immer wieder zurückgegriffen wird zu den einmal durchgearbeiteten, nie genug verarbeiteten geistigen Inhalten, wenn immer wieder der Weg neu erlebt wird, der einmal die Richtung zum Geistgebiet gewiesen hat. Das Seelenleben des meditativ Arbeitenden muß so beweglich gehalten werden, daß die Ausblicke, die ihm der eine Weg gegeben hat, ihn um so empfänglicher machen für die Fernblicke von anderen Gesichtspunkten aus.
[ 2 ] Die hier veröffentlichten Aufsätze haben zugleich einen historischen Wert. Sie zeigen den Ausgangspunkt, den die esoterischen Unterweisungen Rudolf Steiners haben nehmen müssen; sie zeigen uns, wie er der bahnbrechende Führer geworden ist auch auf diesem Gebiet, auf welchem zum erstenmal durch ihn der Mensch der Freiheit übergeben werden durfte. Dazu mußte mit weltumspannendem Blick und größtem Verantwortlichkeitsgefühl eine Grundlage vorgebaut, eine Geisthaltung geschaffen werden, die es dem Menschen möglich macht, in sich selbst den festen moralischen Halt findend, in dieser Freiheit nicht den Versuchungen, der Verirrung anheimzufallen. Um eine solche Tat am entscheidenden Wendepunkte historischer Umwälzungen, inmitten feindlicher Gegenkräfte, nur auf sich selbst gestellt, zu vollbringen, war das ungeheure Ethos notwendig, welches das ganze Lebenswerk Rudolf Steiners durchpulst und nichts anderes mehr für ihn in Betracht kommen ließ als das Wohl der Menschheit, die Rettung des Abendlandes vor dem drohenden Untergange. Dazu mußte von den Fundamenten aus gebaut werden in einer Art, die den Forderungen der Zeit entsprach. Die Synthese alles Wissens war dazu notwendig.
[ 3 ] Greift man zu diesen Aufsätzen, die am Anfang jenes erstaunlichen Lebenswerkes geschrieben worden sind, das am 30. März 1925 seinen Abschluß fand und, bald nach der Jahrhundertwende, einen schicksalsgewollten Einschlag erhalten hatte durch die Verbindung mit den aus orientalischen Quellen gespeisten theosophischen Kreisen, so wird man zur Frage gedrängt: Wie ist es zu verstehen, daß Rudolf Steiner, der uns auch auf dem Gebiete der Esoterik zur Freiheit führte, auch hier uns auf uns selber stellte und nur unsermeigenen höhern Ich uns geloben ließ, was sonst der Schüler dem Lehrer als Gelöbnis zu leisten hatte, daß Rudolf Steiner hier in diesen Aufsätzen noch von der Notwendigkeit des strengen Anschlusses an den Führer spricht, den Schüler gleichsam in die Abhängigkeit des Lehrers stellt?
[ 4 ] In Wahrheit handelt es sich bei Rudolf Steiner nur um die Beschreibung eines Vertrauensverhältnisses. Das Autoritative hat er von Anfang an vermieden und von sich gewiesen. In alten Zeiten übernahmen die initiierenden Priester die volle Verantwortung für den in die Mysterien des geistigen Seins Einzuweihenden und wirkten mit ihrem Willen in ihn hinein. So war er zugleich geschützt und geführt und konnte den Gefahren entrinnen, die ihn sonst überwältigt hätten. Sein Ich schwebte ja noch über seinen physischen Hüllen, sein Selbstbewußtsein war nicht erwacht. Dieses immer mehr zur Erweckung zu bringen, war der Weg der fortschreitenden Mysterienschulung. Und in der christlichen Einweihung sehen wir durch den Hinweis auf den Weltenlehrer die Abhängigkeit vom persönlichen Lehrer schon gemildert, wenn auch noch vorhanden. Sie verliert immer mehr ihren persönlichen Charakter in der rosenkreuzerischen Schulung und gestaltet sich um zum Vertrauensverhältnis. Der Lehrer steht dem Schüler bei, zeigt ihm den Weg, den jener sucht und allein nicht finden kann, stützt ihn moralisch, weist ihn auf die Gefahren hin, die seinem Charakter drohen — aus Eitelkeit, aus der Vorgaukelung trügerischer Bilder, die er unterscheiden lernen muß von wahrer geistiger Wirklichkeit. So ist der Lehrer ein Helfer, der sich in dem Augenblicke sogleich zurückziehen würde, wo das Vertrauen abhanden käme. An dem Schicksalswendepunkte, in dem wir stehen, mußte der für die Jetztzeit wirkende Lehrer hinweisen auf die Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft menschlichen Geistesstrebens und, indem er mit der Erziehung des Einzelnen begann, sein Werk so ausbauen, daß es als Menschheitstat dastehen konnte: ein für die Nachwelt neuerrungenes Lebenselement. So schuf Rudolf Steiner eine Initiationswissenschaft, in der von nun an jeder ernste, sittlich strebende Mensch den Boden wird finden können, der ihn trägt, die Elemente wird greifen können, die ihm das Unterscheidungsvermögen schärfen, während sich ihm neue Welten eröffnen. Er braucht nicht unsicher zu sein, er hat genug, um sich durchzutasten, bis er in geistigen Landen den Führer findet.
[ 5 ] Ein solches war nicht vorhanden, bevor Rudolf Steiner sein Geisteswerk begann. Seine Tat ist — die «Wissenschaft» von der Initiation. Durch sie wird entsiegelt, was verborgen lag in den Mysterien der alten Tempel: neben dem Wissen des Werdens der Welten das Wissen vom kommenden Niederstieg des Christus; und was versiegelt ward in der Kirche: die erlösende Tat der Menschheitsbefreiung durch den Christus, die im Laufe der Zeit durch Ihn sich vollziehende Ich-Durchdringung des Einzelnen. Statt der persönlichen Führung wird es nun Aufgabe, durch die Kräfte des Zeitgeistes den Menschen den Weg finden zu lassen zum Menschheits-Ich, zum Christus. Das Bewußtsein des einzelnen Menschen wird reif gemacht zum Entgegennehmen der höheren Ichkraft, das Selbstbewußtsein wird emporgehoben zum Geistselbst.
[ 6 ] Es ist die Arbeit der Zukunft. Aber nur auf dem Boden der Vergangenheit stehend, kann man, Künftiges vorbereitend, die Gegenwart befruchten. Sonst schafft man ins Leere. Metamorphose auch hier. Die Zukunft wird gestaltet, indem die auf dem Boden der Vergangenheit stehende Gegenwart umgeformt wird. Neues tritt hinzu, wie der neue Frühling dem Winter folgt. Sonnenkraft durchfeuert die Erde; Ersterbendes, in Wesenhaftes sich Umwandelndes wird zu neuem Leben entfacht, indem sich von oben die Gnade hinuntersenkt.
[ 7 ] Auch auf dem Gebiet der Esoterik entwickelt sich kontinuierliches historisches Geschehen durch das Gesetz der steigenden Entwickelung und der auf- und abflutenden Welle des vergehenden und aufblühenden Lebens bis zu dem scheinbar plötzlichen Augenblick, wo die Gnade überstrahlend hereinbricht, gleich dem Wunder der aufleuchtenden Blüte in der grünen Pflanzenweit. Doch ohne diese durch weise Mächte von Form zu Form durchgeführte Wandlung und stete Steigerung auf allen Gebieten der Lebensäußerung würden die neuen Werte, die Gaben des Geistes, die feurigen Zungen des Wortes, sich nicht zu uns herniedersenken. Ohne Kenntnis solchen Geschehens wären die Empfangenden nicht in der Lage, zu ermessen, was unter ihnen sich vollziehen will. Das neue Große könnte sich nicht auswirken, die Zukunft nicht gerettet werden.
[ 8 ] Die nach geistigen Erkenntnissen ringenden Seelen, die an Rudolf Steiner herantraten, waren das Schicksalgewollte, von der Zeit ihm zugeführte Menschenmaterial, mit dem Rudolf Steiner zu arbeiten hatte, aus deren Bedürfnissen und Voraussetzungen heraus er das zu gestalten hatte, was auf Grund eines erkenntnismäßig fundamentierten Aufbaus zur Wissenschaft der Initiation werden konnte. Aus der Trägheit der Zeit dem Geiste gegenüber galt es, Menschen herauszureißen, die Brücke würden sein können für die Forderungen der Zukunft.
[ 9 ] Am schwersten war es, den Sinn zu wecken für die innere Freiheit und das Aufsich-selbst-gestellt-Sein in eigener Verantwortung. In peinlichster Berücksichtigung dieses Zieles hat Rudolf Steiner nichts anderes den Menschen sein wollen als Unterweiser und — wo man ihn darum bat, Berater, Erwecker von menschheitlichen Geistimpulsen. Er konnte Darsteller werden von geistigen Tatsachen, weil sein Denken und Schauen lebendurchtränkt war und sich von Glied zu Glied entfaltete mit der Kraft eines naturhaften Organismus. Sein Geisteswerk steht vor uns: die wiederhergestellte Einheit von Wissenschaft, Kunst und Religion.
Foreword by Marie Steiner
[ 1 ] The journal "Lucifer", published by Rudolf Steiner in the service of spiritual science, was expanded in 1904 through its merger with the journal "Gnosis", which was published in Austria. Under the double name "Lucifer-Gnosis" it then published those essays by Rudolf Steiner which later, when collected, became the book which, alongside "Theosophy" and "Secret Science", is one of the fundamental works for the introduction to anthroposophically oriented spiritual science. A continuation of those essays appeared under the title "The Stages of Higher Knowledge". It was intended to later form a second volume as a continuation of the reflections begun in "How does one attain knowledge of the higher worlds?". However, the overabundance of work and Rudolf Steiner's extraordinary demand for lectures gradually made it impossible to devote sufficient time to the journal, even though its circulation was steadily increasing. It had to be discontinued due to lack of time. Thus the further publication of those essays on "The Stages of Higher Knowledge" was also interrupted. We have often been asked to make them available again in a new edition. This request is hereby granted. As the text suddenly breaks off, the book cannot claim to be complete. It was therefore justified to ask whether it would not be better not to publish it. After all, many of the incomplete statements presented here have already been published in other forms and under other titles. But it remains a fact for the spiritual seeker that the conquest of spiritual reality is only possible, and not an illusion, if one repeatedly returns to the spiritual content that has once been worked through and never sufficiently processed, if the path that once pointed the way to the spiritual realm is repeatedly experienced anew. The soul life of the meditatively working person must be kept so flexible that the views that one path has given him make him all the more receptive to the distant views from other points of view.
[ 2 ] The essays published here also have a historical value. They show the starting point that Rudolf Steiner's esoteric teachings had to take; they show us how he became the pioneering leader in this field too, in which for the first time man was allowed to be handed over to freedom through him. For this, a foundation had to be laid with a world-embracing view and the greatest sense of responsibility, an attitude of mind had to be created which made it possible for man to find a firm moral hold in himself, so that in this freedom he would not fall prey to temptation and aberration. In order to accomplish such an act at the decisive turning point of historical upheavals, in the midst of hostile opposing forces, left to his own devices, the tremendous ethos was necessary, which pulsated through Rudolf Steiner's entire life's work and allowed nothing else to come into consideration for him but the good of humanity, the salvation of the West from its impending doom. To achieve this, it was necessary to build from the foundations in a way that met the demands of the time. The synthesis of all knowledge was necessary for this.
[ 3 ] If we turn to these essays, which were written at the beginning of his astonishing life's work, which came to an end on March 30, 1925 and, soon after the turn of the century, received a fateful impact through the connection with theosophical circles fed by oriental sources, we are forced to ask the question: How is it to be understood that Rudolf Steiner, who also led us to freedom in the field of esotericism, here too placed us on ourselves and only made us pledge to our own higher self what otherwise the pupil had to pledge to the teacher, that Rudolf Steiner here in these essays still speaks of the necessity of strict connection to the guide, placing the pupil as it were in dependence on the teacher?
[ 4 ] In truth, Rudolf Steiner is only describing a relationship of trust. He avoided the authoritative from the very beginning and rejected it. In ancient times, the initiating priests took full responsibility for those to be initiated into the mysteries of spiritual being and worked into them with their will. In this way, he was both protected and guided and was able to escape the dangers that would otherwise have overwhelmed him. His ego still hovered above his physical shells, his self-consciousness had not awakened. To awaken it more and more was the path of progressive mystery training. And in the Christian initiation we see the dependence on the personal teacher already lessened, though still present, by the reference to the World Teacher. It loses more and more of its personal character in Rosicrucian training and is transformed into a relationship of trust. The teacher stands by the student, shows him the path he is seeking and cannot find on his own, supports him morally, points out the dangers that threaten his character - out of vanity, out of the illusion of deceptive images, which he must learn to distinguish from true spiritual reality. Thus the teacher is a helper who would immediately withdraw at the moment when confidence would be lost. At the turning point in our destiny, the teacher working for the present time had to point to the past, present and future of human spiritual striving and, by beginning with the education of the individual, develop his work in such a way that it could stand as an act of humanity: an element of life newly acquired for posterity. Thus Rudolf Steiner created an initiatory science in which from now on every serious, morally striving human being will be able to find the ground that supports him, to grasp the elements that sharpen his powers of discernment while new worlds open up to him. He need not be uncertain, he has enough to feel his way until he finds the guide in spiritual lands.
[ 5 ] There was no such thing before Rudolf Steiner began his spiritual work. His work is - the "science" of initiation. Through it, what lay hidden in the mysteries of the ancient temples is unsealed: alongside the knowledge of the becoming of the worlds, the knowledge of the coming descent of the Christ; and what was sealed in the church: the redemptive act of the liberation of humanity through the Christ, the ego-permeation of the individual that takes place through Him in the course of time. Instead of personal guidance, it is now the task of the forces of the spirit of the age to help people find their way to the human ego, to Christ. The consciousness of the individual human being is made ready to receive the higher ego power, the self-consciousness is lifted up to the spirit self.
[ 6 ] It is the work of the future. But only by standing on the ground of the past can one fertilize the present in preparation for the future. Otherwise you create into the void. Metamorphosis here too. The future is shaped by transforming the present, which stands on the ground of the past. New things are added, just as the new spring follows the winter. Solar power fires through the earth; that which is dying, that which is being transformed into essence, is kindled into new life as grace descends from above.
[ 7 ] In the field of esotericism, too, continuous historical events develop through the law of rising development and the rising and falling wave of passing and blossoming life until the seemingly sudden moment when grace bursts in radiantly, like the miracle of the illuminating blossom in the green expanse of the plant. But without this transformation and constant increase in all areas of the expression of life, carried out by wise powers from form to form, the new values, the gifts of the spirit, the fiery tongues of the word, would not sink down to us. Without knowledge of such events, the recipients would not be in a position to assess what wants to take place among them. The new greatness could not take effect, the future could not be saved.
[ 8 ] The souls who approached Rudolf Steiner, struggling for spiritual knowledge, were the human material that Rudolf Steiner was destined to work with, brought to him by time, and from whose needs and preconditions he had to shape what could become the science of initiation on the basis of an epistemologically founded structure. The task was to tear people out of the inertia of the time towards the spirit who could be a bridge for the demands of the future.
[ 9 ] The most difficult thing was to awaken a sense of inner freedom and self-reliance in one's own responsibility. In the most scrupulous consideration of this goal, Rudolf Steiner wanted to be nothing other than an instructor and - where he was asked to do so - an advisor, an awakener of human spiritual impulses. He was able to become an exponent of spiritual facts because his thinking and seeing were imbued with life and unfolded from limb to limb with the power of a natural organism. His spiritual work stands before us: the restored unity of science, art and religion.