Cosmology, Religion and Philosophy
GA 25
I. The Three Steps of Anthroposophy
[ 1 ] It is a great pleasure to me to be able to give this series of lectures in the Goetheanum, which was founded to promote Spiritual Science. What is here called ‘Spiritual Science’ must not be confused with those things which, more than ever at the moment, appear as Occultism, Mysticism, etc. These schools of thought either refer to ancient spiritual traditions which are no longer properly understood, and which give in a dilettante manner all kinds of imagined knowledge of supersensible worlds, or they ape outwardly the scientific methods which we have to-day without realizing that methods of research which are ideal for the study of the natural world can never lead to supernatural worlds. And what makes its appearance as Mysticism is also either mere renewal of ancient psychic experiences, or muddled, very often fantastic, and deceptive introspection.
[ 2 ] As opposed to this, the attitude of the Goetheanum is one which, in the fullest sense, falls in with the present-day view of natural scientific research, and recognizes what is justified in it. On the other hand, it seeks to gain objective and accurate results on the subject of the supersensible world by means of the strictly controlled training of pure psychic vision. It counts only such results as are obtained through this vision of the soul, by which the psychic-spiritual organization is just as accurately defined as a mathematical problem. The point is that at first this organization is presented in scientifically indisputable vision. If we call it ‘the spiritual eye’, we then say: as the mathematician has his problems before him, so has the researcher into the spirit his ‘spiritual eye’. The scientific method is employed for him on that preparation which is in his ‘spiritual organs’. If his ‘science’ has its being in these organs, he can make use of them, and the supersensible world lies before him. The student of the world of the senses directs his science to outward things, to results; but the student of the spirit pursues science as a preparation of vision. And when vision begins, science must already have fulfilled its mission. If you like to call your vision ‘clairvoyance’ it is at any rate, an ‘exact clairvoyance’. The science of the spirit begins where that? of the senses ends. Above all, the research student of the spirit must have based his whole method of thought for the newer Science on the one he applied to the world of the senses.
[ 3 ] Thus it comes about that the Sciences studied to-day merge into that realm which opens up Spiritual Science in the modern sense. It happens not only in the separate realms of Natural Science and History, but also e.g., in Medicine; and in all provinces of practical life, in Art, in Morals, and in Social life. It happens also in religious experiences.
[ 4 ] In these lectures three of these provinces are to be dealt with, and it is to be shown how they merge into the modern spiritual view. The three are Philosophy, Cosmology and Religion.
[ 5 ] At one time Philosophy was the intermediary for all human knowledge. In its logos man acquired knowledge of the distinct provinces of world-reality. The different Sciences are born of its substance. But what has remained of Philosophy itself? A number of more or less abstract ideas which have to justify their existence in face of the other sciences, whose justification is found in observation through the senses and in experiment. To what do the ideas of Philosophy refer? That has to-day become an important question. We find in these ideas no longer a direct reality, and so we try to find a theoretical basis for this reality.
[ 6 ] And more: Philosophy, and in its very name, love of wisdom shows that it is not merely an affair of the intellect, but of the entire human soul. What one can ‘love’ is such a thing, and there was a time when wisdom was considered something real, which is not the case with ‘ideas’ which engage only Reason and Intellect. Philosophy, from being a matter for all mankind which once was felt in the warmth of the soul, has become dry, cold knowledge: and we no longer feel ourselves in the midst of Reality when we occupy ourselves with philosophizing.
[ 7 ] In mankind itself that has been lost which once made Philosophy a real experience. Natural Science (of the outer world) is conducted by means of the senses, and what Reason thinks concerning the observations made by the senses is a putting-together of the content derived through the senses. This thought has no content of its own; and while man lives in such knowledge he knows himself only as a physical body. But Philosophy was originally a soul-content which was not experienced by the physical body, but by a human organism which cannot be appreciated by the senses. This is the etheric body, forming the basis of the physical body, and this contains the supersensible powers which give shape and life to the physical body. Man can use the organization of this etheric body just as he can that of the physical. This etheric body draws ideas from the supersensible world, just as the physical body does, through the senses, from the sense world. The ancient philosophers developed their ideas through this etheric body, and as the spiritual life of man has lost this etheric body and its knowledge, Philosophy has simultaneously lost its character of reality. We must first of all recover the knowledge of etheric man, and then Philosophy will be able to regain its character of reality. This must mark the first of the steps to be taken by Anthroposophy.
[ 8 ] Cosmology once upon a time showed man how he is a member of the universe. To this end it was necessary that not only his body but also his soul and spirit could be regarded as members of the Cosmos; and this was the case because in the Cosmos things of the soul and things of the spirit were visible. In later times, however, Cosmology has become only a superstructure of Natural Science gained by Mathematics, Observation and Experiment. The results of research in these lines are put together to make a picture of cosmic development, and from this picture one can no doubt understand the human physical body. But the etheric body remains unintelligible, and in a still higher sense that part of man which has to do with the Soul and the Spirit. The etheric body can only be recognized as a member of the Cosmos, if the etheric essence of the Cosmos is clearly perceived. But this etheric part of the Cosmos can, after all, give man no more than an etheric organization, whereas in the Soul is internal life; so we have to take into consideration also the internal life of the Cosmos. This is just what the old Cosmology did, and it was because of this view of it that the soul-essence of man which transcends the etheric was made a part of the Cosmos. Modern spiritual life fails, however, to see the reality of the inner life of the Soul. In modern experience, this contains no guarantee that it has an existence beyond birth and death. All one knows to-day of the soul-life can have its origin in and with the physical body through the life of the embryo and the subsequent unfolding in childhood and can end with death. There was something in the older human wisdom for the soul of man of which modern knowledge is only a reflection; and this was looked upon as the astral being in man. It was not what the soul experiences in its activities of thinking, feeling and volition, but rather something which is reflected in thinking, feeling and volition. One ‘cannot imagine thinking, feeling and volition as having a part in the Cosmos, for these live only in the physical nature of man. On the other hand the astral nature can be comprehended as a member of the Cosmos, for this enters the physical nature at birth and leaves it at death. That element which, during life between birth and death, is concealed behind thought, feeling and volition—namely the astral body—is the cosmic element of man.
[ 9 ] Because modern knowledge has lost this astral element of man, it has also lost a Cosmology which could comprise the whole of man. There remains only a physical Cosmology, and even this contains no more than the origins of physical man. It is necessary once more to found a knowledge of astral man, and then we shall also again have a Cosmology which includes the whole human being.
[ 10 ] So the second step of Anthroposophy is marked out.
[ 11 ] Religion in its original meaning is based on that experience whereby man feels himself independent not only of his physical and etheric nature, the cause of his existence between birth and death, but also of the Cosmos, in so far as this has an influence on such an existence. The content of this experience constitutes the real spirit-men, that being at which our word ‘Ego’ now only hints. This ‘Ego’ once connoted for man something which knew itself to be independent of all corporeality, and independent of the astral nature. Through such an experience man felt himself to be in a world of which the one which gives him body and soul is but an image; he felt a connection with a divine world. Now knowledge of this world remains hidden to observation according to the senses. Knowledge of etheric and astral man leads gradually to a vision of it. In the use of his senses man must feel himself separated from the divine world, to which belongs his inmost being: but through supersensible cognition he puts himself once more in touch with this world. So supersensible cognition merges into Religion.
[ 12 ] In order that this may be the case, we must be able to see the real nature of the ‘Ego’, and this power has been lost to modern knowledge. Even philosophers see in the ‘Ego’ only the synthesis of soul experiences. But the idea which they have thereby of the ‘Ego’, the spiritual man, is contradicted by every sleep; for in sleep the content of this ‘Ego’ is extinguished. A consciousness which knows only such an ‘Ego’ cannot merge into Religion on the strength of its knowledge, for it has nothing to resist the extinction of sleep. However, knowledge of the true ‘Ego’ has been lost to modern spiritual life, and with it the possibility to attain to Religion through knowledge.
[ 13 ] The religion that was once available is now something taken from tradition, to which human knowledge has no longer any approach. Religion in this way becomes the content of a Faith which is to be gained outside the sphere of scientific experience. Knowledge and Faith become two separate kinds of experience of something which once was a unity.
[ 14 ] We must first re-establish a clear cognition and knowledge of the true ‘Ego’, if Religion is to have its proper place in the life of mankind. In modern Science man is understood as a true reality only in respect of his physical nature. He must be recognized further as etheric, astral and spiritual or ‘Ego’ man and then Science will become the basis of religious life.
[ 15 ] So is the third step of Anthroposophy worked out.
[ 16 ] It will now be the task of the subsequent lectures to show the possibility of acquiring knowledge of the etheric part of man, that is to say, of clothing Philosophy with reality; it will be my further business to point out the way to the knowledge of the astral part of man, that is to say, to demonstrate that a Cosmology is possible which embraces humanity; and finally will come the task to lead you to the knowledge of the ‘true Ego’, in order to establish the possibility of a religious life, which rests on the basis of knowledge or cognition.
I. Die drei Schritte der Anthroposophie
[ 1 ] Es ist mir zur großen Befriedigung, diesen Vortragszyklus im Goetheanum abhalten zu können. Diese Institution soll der Pflege der spirituellen Wissenschaft dienen. Was hier spirituelle Wissenschaft genannt wird, sollte nicht verwechselt werden mit dem, was oftmals gerade in der Gegenwart als Okkultismus, Mystik usw. auftritt. Diese Bestrebungen lehnen sich entweder an alte, nicht mehr richtig verstandene spirituelle Traditionen an und geben in laienhafter Weise allerlei vermeintliche Erkenntnisse über übersinnliche Welten; oder sie ahmen in äußerlicher Weise die gewohnten wissenschaftlichen Methoden nach, ohne Kenntnis davon, daß Forschungswege, die musterhaft ausgebildet sind für die Betrachtung der Sinnenwelt, niemals in die übersinnlichen Welten führen können. Und was an Mystik auftritt, ist entweder auch bloße Erneuerung alter Seelenerlebnisse, oder unklare, oft sehr phantastische und illusionäre Selbstbetrachtung.
[ 2 ] Demgegenüber stellt sich die Anschauungsart des Goetheanums als eine solche, die im vollen Sinne den gegenwärtigen Gesichtspunkt der naturwissenschaftlichen Forschung bejaht und da anerkennt, wo er berechtigt ist. Dagegen strebt sie, durch die streng geregelte Ausbildung des rein seelischen Anschauens, über die übersinnliche Welt objektive, exakte Ergebnisse zu gewinnen. Sie läßt als solche Ergebnisse nur das gelten, was durch ein solches Anschauen der Seele gewonnen ist, bei der die seelisch-geistige Organisation ebenso exakt überschaubar ist wie ein mathematisches Problem. Es kommt darauf an, daß zunächst diese Organisation in wissenschaftlich einwandfreier Anschauung dasteht. Nennt man diese Organisation «Geistesauge», so muß man sagen: wie der Mathematiker seine Probleme vor sich hat, so der Geistesforscher sein eigenes «Geistesauge». Für ihn wird also die wissenschaftliche Methode zuerst auf jene Vorbereitung verwendet, die in seinen «Geist-Organen» liegt. Waltet in diesen Organen «seine Wissenschaft», so kann er sich dann derselben bedienen, und die übersinnliche Welt liegt vor ihm. Der Forscher der Sinneswelt lenkt seine Wissenschaft nach außen, nach den Ergebnissen. Der Forscher des Geistes betreibt Wissenschaft als Vorbereitung des Schauens. Beginnt das Schauen, dann muß die Wissenschaft bereits ihren vollen Beruf erfüllt haben. Will man dann sein «Schauen» Hellsehen nennen, so ist es «exaktes Hellsehen». Wo die Wissenschaft des Sinnlichen endet, da beginnt diejenige des Geistes. Der Geistesforscher muß vor allem seine ganze Denkweise an der neueren Wissenschaft vom Sinnlichen herangebildet haben.
[ 3 ] Daher ist es, daß die heute getriebenen Wissenschaften in das Gebiet einmünden, das die spirituelle Wissenschaft im modernen Sinne eröffnet. Das geschieht nicht nur für die einzelnen Gebiete der Naturwissenschaft und der Geschichte. Das geschieht auch z. B. für Medizin. Und es geschieht für alle Gebiete des praktischen Lebens, für die Kunst, die Moral und für das soziale Leben. Es geschieht auch für die religiösen Erfahrungen.
[ 4 ] In diesen Vorträgen sollen drei dieser Gebiete behandelt und von ihnen gezeigt werden, wie sie in die moderne spirituelle Anschauung einmünden: Philosophie, Kosmologie und Religion.
[ 5 ] Philosophie war einst die Vermittlerin der gesamten menschlichen Erkenntnis. In ihrem Logos erwarb sich der Mensch die Erkenntnis der einzelnen Gebiete der Weltwirklichkeit. Die einzelnen Wissenschaften sind aus ihrer Substanz heraus geboren. Aber was ist von ihr selbst zurückgeblieben? Eine Summe von mehr oder weniger abstrakten Ideen, die ihr Dasein zu rechtfertigen haben gegenüber den anderen Wissenschaften, während diese ihre Rechtfertigung in der Sinnesbeobachtung und in dem Experimente finden. Auf was beziehen sich die Ideen der Philosophie? Das ist heute eine Frage geworden. Man erlebt in diesen Ideen nicht mehr eine unmittelbare Wirklichkeit; daher ist man bestrebt, diese Wirklichkeit theoretisch zu begründen.
[ 6 ] Und was noch mehr ist: Philosophie hat es schon in ihrem Namen, als Liebe zur Weisheit, daß sie nicht bloß eine Verstandessache, sondern eine Sache der ganzen menschlichen Seele ist. Was man «lieben» kann, das ist eine solche Sache. Und Weisheit wurde einst als etwas Wirkliches empfunden; das ist bei den «Ideen», die bloß Vernunft und Verstand beschäftigen, nicht der Fall. Philosophie ist aus einer Menschheitssache, die in Seelenwärme einst erlebt worden ist, zu einem trockenen, kalten Wissen geworden. Und man fühlt sich nicht mehr in einer Wirklichkeit darinnen, wenn man in der Tätigkeit des Philosophierens ist.
[ 7 ] Man hat im Menschen selbst dasjenige verloren, was einstmals die Philosophie zu einem wirklichen Erlebnis machte. Die Sinneswissenschaft wird durch die Sinne vermittelt, und was der Verstand über die Beobachtungen der Sinne denkt, das ist Zusammenfassung des durch die Sinne vermittelten Inhaltes. Dieses Denken hat keinen eigenen Inhalt. Indem der Mensch in einer solchen Erkenntnis lebt, erkennt er sich selbst nur als physischen Körper. Philosophie war aber zuerst ein Seeleninhalt, der nicht mit dem physischen Körper erlebt wurde. Er wurde erlebt mit einem menschlichen Organismus, der nicht mit den Sinnen wahrgenommen werden kann. Es ist dies ein ätherischer Körper, der dem physischen Körper zugrunde liegt, und der die übersinnlichen Kräfte enthält, die dem physischen Körper Form und Leben geben. Der Mensch kann sich der Organisation dieses ätherischen Körpers geradeso bedienen wie seines physischen. Dann aber bildet dieser ätherische Körper Ideen von einem Übersinnlichen aus wie der physische Körper durch die Sinne Ideen von dem Sinnlichen. Die alten Philosophen entwickelten ihre Ideen durch den ätherischen Körper. Indem das Geistesleben der Menschheit diesen ätherischen Körper für die Erkenntnis verloren hat, hat es zugleich den Wirklichkeitscharakter der Philosophie verloren. Philosophie ist ein bloßes Ideengebäude geworden. Es muß erst wieder die Erkenntnis des ätherischen Menschen erworben werden: dann wird auch Philosophie wieder einen Wirklichkeitscharakter gewinnen können. Das soll den ersten der Schritte kennzeichnen, die durch Anthroposophie getan werden sollen.
[ 8 ] Kosmologie hat einstmals dem Menschen gezeigt, wie er ein Glied der universellen Welt ist. Dazu war notwendig, daß nicht nur sein Körper, sondern auch seine Seele und sein Geist als Glieder des Kosmos angesehen werden konnten. Das war dadurch der Fall, daß im Kosmos Seelisches und Geistiges geschaut wurden. In der neueren Zeit ist Kosmologie nur ein Überbau dessen geworden, was die Naturwissenschaft durch Mathematik, Beobachtung und Experiment erkennt. Was auf diese Weise erforscht wird, das wird zu einem Bilde des kosmischen Werdens zusammengestellt. Aus diesem Bilde heraus kann man wohl den physischen Körper des Menschen verstehen. Es bleibt aber schon der ätherische Körper unverständlich, und in einem noch höheren Sinne das Seelische und Geistige am Menschen. Der ätherische Leib kann nur als ein Glied des Kosmos erkannt werden, wenn die ätherische Wesenheit des Kosmos durchschaut wird. Aber dieses Ätherische des Kosmos kann dem Menschen auch nur eine ätherische Organisation geben. In der Seele aber ist Innenleben. Es muß auch das Innenleben des Kosmos durchschaut werden. Eine Anschauung des Innenlebens des Kosmos war die alte Kosmologie. Durch diese Anschauung wurde auch die über das Ätherische hinausgehende seelische Wesenheit des Menschen in den Kosmos eingegliedert. Aber dem modernen Geistesleben fehlt eine Anschauung von der Wirklichkeit des Seelen-Innen-Lebens. Wie dieses erlebt wird, so liegt in dem erlebten Inhalte keine Garantie dafür, daß es über Geburt und Tod hinaus ein Dasein hat. Was man heute von dem Seelischen weiß, kann in und mit dem physischen Körper durch das Keimesleben und die weitere Entwickelung in der Kindheit entstanden sein und kann mit dem Tode enden. In der älteren Menschenerkenntnis war für das seelische Wesen des Menschen etwas enthalten, von dem das heute Gewußte nur ein Abglanz ist. Es war dies als die astralische Wesenheit des Menschen angesehen. Es war nicht das, was in Denken, Fühlen und Wollen der Seele erlebt wird, sondern etwas, das seinen Abglanz in Denken, Fühlen und Wollen hat. Man kann nun nicht das Denken, Fühlen und Wollen in den Kosmos eingegliedert denken. Denn diese leben nur in der physischen Wesenheit des Menschen. Dagegen kann die astralische Wesenheit als ein Glied des Kosmos aufgefaßt werden. Denn diese tritt mit der Geburt in die physische Wesenheit ein und tritt mit dem Tode aus dieser aus. Dasjenige, was sich während des Lebens zwischen Geburt und Tod hinter Denken, Fühlen und Wollen verbirgt - eben der astralische Leib -, ist die kosmische Wesenheit des Menschen.
[ 9 ] Indem die moderne Erkenntnis die astralische Wesenheit des Menschen verloren hat, ist ihr auch eine Kosmologie abhanden gekommen, die den Menschen umfassen könnte. Sie hat nur eine physische Kosmologie. In dieser aber sind nur die Grundlagen des physischen Menschen enthalten. Es ist notwendig, daß wieder eine Erkenntnis des astralischen Menschen erworben werde. Dann wird es auch wieder eine Kosmologie geben können, die den Menschen mit umfaßt.
[ 10 ] Damit ist der zweite Schritt der Anthroposophie gekennzeichnet.
[ 11 ] Religion im ursprünglichen Sinne ist auf dasjenige Erlebnis gebaut, durch das sich der Mensch sowohl unabhängig weiß von seiner physischen und ätherischen Wesenheit, durch die er sein Dasein zwischen Geburt und Tod hat, wie auch von dem Kosmos, insofern dieser an einem solchen Dasein mitwirkt. Der Inhalt dieses Erlebnisses bildet den eigentlichen Geistmenschen, dasjenige, worauf unser Wort «Ich» nur noch hindeutet. Dem Menschen bedeutete einst dieses «Ich» etwas, das sich unabhängig von aller Körperlichkeit und auch unabhängig von der astralischen Wesenheit wußte. Durch ein solches Erleben fühlte sich der Mensch in einer Welt, von der diejenige nur ein Abbild ist, die ihm Körper und Seele gibt. Er fühlte sich im Zusammenhange mit einer göttlichen Welt. Die Erkenntnis von dieser Welt bleibt der sinnengemäßen Beobachtung verborgen. Die Erkenntnis des ätherischen und des astralischen Menschen führt allmählich zu einer Anschauung dieser Welt hinüber. In der Sinnesanschauung muß sich der Mensch getrennt fühlen von der göttlichen Welt, der sein innerstes Wesen angehört. Durch die übersinnliche Erkenntnis verbindet er sich wieder mit dieser Welt. Dadurch mündet übersinnliche Erkenntnis in Religion ein.
[ 12 ] Damit dies der Fall sein kann, muß das wahre Wesen des «Ich» erschaut werden können. Das aber ist der modernen Erkenntnis verlorengegangen. Selbst Philosophen sehen in dem «Ich» nur die Zusammenfassung der Seelen-erlebnisse. Die Idee, die sie dadurch von dem «Ich», dem Geistesmenschen, erhalten, wird aber durch jeden Schlaf widerlegt. Denn im Schlafe wird der Inhalt dieses «Ich» ausgelöscht. Ein Bewußtsein, das nur ein solches Ich kennt, kann nicht erkenntnismäßig in Religion einmünden. Denn es hat nichts, was dem Auslöschen des Schlafes widersteht. Aber eine Erkenntnis des wahren Ich ist dem modernen Geistesleben verlorengegangen; damit aber auch die Möglichkeit, von dem Wissen aus zur Religion zu kommen. Es wird, was von Religion einstmals vorhanden war, aus der Tradition als etwas hingenommen, wozu menschliche Erkenntnis nicht mehr kommen kann. Religion wird auf diese Art Inhalt eines Glaubens, der außerhalb der wissenschaftlichen Erlebnisse errungen werden soll. Wissen und Glaube werden zwei Erlebnisweisen für etwas, das einst eine Einheit war.
[ 13 ] Es muß erst wieder eine anschauliche Erkenntnis des wahren «Ich» entstehen, wenn Religion die rechte Stellung im Leben der Menschheit haben soll. Der Mensch wird von der modernen Wissenschaft nur hinsichtlich seiner physischen Wesenheit als wahre Wirklichkeit verstanden. Er muß im weiteren erkannt werden als ätherischer, astralischer und Geistes- Mensch oder «Ich- Mensch», dann wird Wissenschaft die Grundlage des religiösen Lebens werden.
[ 14 ] Damit ist der dritte Schritt der Anthroposophie gekennzeichnet.
[ 15 ] Es wird nun für die folgenden Vorträge die Aufgabe sein, die Möglichkeit zu zeigen, daß der ätherische Mensch erkannt werden kann, das heißt, daß der Philosophie eine Wirklichkeit verliehen werden kann; es wird die weitere Aufgabe sein, die Erkenntnis des astralischen Menschen nachzuweisen, das heißt zu zeigen, daß eine Kosmologie möglich ist, die den Menschen mitumfaßt; und zuletzt wird noch die Aufgabe sich ergeben, zur Erkenntnis des «wahren Ich» zu führen, um die Möglichkeit eines religiösen Lebens darzulegen, das auf einer Erkenntnisgrundlage ruht.
I. The three steps of anthroposophy
[ 1 ] I am very pleased to be able to give this lecture cycle at the Goetheanum. This institution is to serve the cultivation of spiritual science. What is called spiritual science here should not be confused with what often appears in the present day as occultism, mysticism, etc. These endeavors are either based on old spiritual traditions that are no longer properly understood and provide all kinds of supposed knowledge about supersensible worlds in a layman's way; or they imitate the usual scientific methods in an outward manner, without any knowledge of the fact that research paths that are exemplary for the observation of the sensory world can never lead to the supersensible worlds. And what mysticism appears is either a mere renewal of old soul experiences, or unclear, often very fantastic and illusionary self-observation.
[ 2 ] In contrast, the Goetheanum's way of looking at things presents itself as one that fully affirms the current viewpoint of scientific research and recognizes it where it is justified. On the other hand, it strives to gain objective, exact results about the supersensible world through the strictly regulated training of purely spiritual perception. It only accepts as such results that which is gained through such a view of the soul, in which the soul-spiritual organization is just as precisely comprehensible as a mathematical problem. The important thing is that this organization is first of all presented in a scientifically flawless way. If one calls this organization the "mind's eye", then one must say: just as the mathematician has his problems before him, so the spiritual researcher has his own "mind's eye". For him, then, the scientific method is first applied to that preparation which lies in his "spirit-organs". If "his science" is active in these organs, he can then make use of them, and the supersensible world lies before him. The researcher of the sensory world directs his science outwards, according to the results. The researcher of the spirit pursues science as a preparation for seeing. When seeing begins, then science must already have fulfilled its full vocation. If one then wants to call his "seeing" clairvoyance, then it is "exact clairvoyance". Where the science of the sensual ends, that of the spirit begins. Above all, the spiritual researcher must have trained his entire way of thinking on the newer science of the sensual.
[ 3 ] Therefore it is that the sciences pursued today flow into the area that opens up spiritual science in the modern sense. This happens not only for the individual fields of natural science and history. It is also happening, for example, in medicine. And it happens for all areas of practical life, for art, morality and social life. It also happens for religious experiences.
[ 4 ] These lectures will deal with three of these areas and show how they flow into the modern spiritual view: Philosophy, Cosmology and Religion.
[ 5 ] Philosophy was once the mediator of all human knowledge. In its logos, man acquired knowledge of the individual areas of world reality. The individual sciences were born out of its substance. But what has remained of it? A sum of more or less abstract ideas that have to justify their existence in relation to the other sciences, while the latter find their justification in sensory observation and experimentation. What do the ideas of philosophy refer to? That has become a question today. One no longer experiences an immediate reality in these ideas; therefore one endeavors to justify this reality theoretically.
[ 6 ] And what is more: philosophy already has it in its name, as love of wisdom, that it is not merely a matter of the intellect, but a matter of the whole human soul. What one can "love" is such a thing. And wisdom was once perceived as something real; this is not the case with the "ideas" that merely occupy reason and understanding. Philosophy has been transformed from a matter of humanity that was once experienced in the warmth of the soul into dry, cold knowledge. And you no longer feel a reality within it when you are engaged in the activity of philosophizing.
[ 7 ] We have lost in man himself that which once made philosophy a real experience. Sensory science is mediated by the senses, and what the mind thinks about the observations of the senses is a summary of the content mediated by the senses. This thinking has no content of its own. By living in such knowledge, man recognizes himself only as a physical body. Philosophy, however, was first a soul content that was not experienced with the physical body. It was experienced with a human organism that cannot be perceived with the senses. It is an etheric body that underlies the physical body and contains the supersensible forces that give form and life to the physical body. Man can make use of the organization of this etheric body in exactly the same way as his physical body. But then this etheric body forms ideas of the supersensible just as the physical body forms ideas of the sensible through the senses. The ancient philosophers developed their ideas through the etheric body. As the spiritual life of mankind has lost this etheric body for knowledge, it has at the same time lost the real character of philosophy. Philosophy has become a mere structure of ideas. The knowledge of the etheric human being must first be acquired again: then philosophy will also be able to regain a character of reality. This should characterize the first of the steps to be taken through anthroposophy.
[ 8 ] Cosmology once showed man how he is a member of the universal world. For this it was necessary that not only his body, but also his soul and his spirit could be regarded as members of the cosmos. This was the case because the soul and spirit were seen in the cosmos. In more recent times, cosmology has become merely a superstructure of what natural science recognizes through mathematics, observation and experiment. What is researched in this way is compiled into a picture of cosmic becoming. The physical body of the human being can be understood from this picture. But the etheric body remains incomprehensible, and in an even higher sense the soul and spirit of man. The etheric body can only be recognized as a member of the cosmos if the etheric essence of the cosmos is understood. But this etheric of the cosmos can also only give man an etheric organization. In the soul, however, there is inner life. The inner life of the cosmos must also be seen through. A view of the inner life of the cosmos was the old cosmology. Through this view, the soul essence of man, which transcends the etheric, was also integrated into the cosmos. But modern spiritual life lacks an understanding of the reality of the inner life of the soul. Just as this is experienced, so there is no guarantee in the experienced content that it has an existence beyond birth and death. What we know of the soul today may have arisen in and with the physical body through germ life and further development in childhood and may end with death. In the older knowledge of man there was something contained for the spiritual being of man of which what we know today is only a reflection. This was regarded as the astral essence of man. It was not that which is experienced in the thinking, feeling and willing of the soul, but something that has its reflection in thinking, feeling and willing. One cannot now think of thinking, feeling and willing as being integrated into the cosmos. For these only live in the physical being of the human being. In contrast, the astral entity can be understood as a member of the cosmos. For it enters the physical entity at birth and leaves it at death. That which is hidden behind thinking, feeling and volition during life between birth and death - the astral body - is the cosmic entity of the human being.
[ 9 ] Inasmuch as modern knowledge has lost the astral essence of man, it has also lost a cosmology that could encompass man. It only has a physical cosmology. But this only contains the foundations of the physical human being. It is necessary that a knowledge of the astral man be acquired again. Then there will again be a cosmology that includes the human being.
[ 10 ] This marks the second step of anthroposophy.
[ 11 ] Religion in the original sense is built on that experience through which man knows himself to be independent of both his physical and etheric being, through which he has his existence between birth and death, as well as of the cosmos, insofar as it participates in such an existence. The content of this experience forms the actual spiritual man, that to which our word "I" only points. To man this "I" once meant something that knew itself to be independent of all corporeality and also independent of the astral entity. Through such an experience, man felt himself to be in a world of which the one that gives him body and soul is only an image. He felt himself in connection with a divine world. The knowledge of this world remains hidden from sensory observation. The knowledge of the etheric and astral man gradually leads to a view of this world. In the sensory view man must feel separated from the divine world to which his innermost being belongs. Through supersensible knowledge he reconnects with this world again. As a result, supersensible knowledge leads to religion.
[ 12 ] In order for this to be the case, it must be possible to see the true nature of the "I". But this has been lost to modern cognition. Even philosophers only see the "I" as a summary of the experiences of the soul. However, the idea that this gives them of the "I", the spirit man, is refuted by every sleep. For in sleep the content of this "I" is extinguished. A consciousness that only knows such an "I" cannot enter into religion cognitively. For it has nothing that resists the extinction of sleep. But a realization of the true I has been lost to modern spiritual life, and with it the possibility of moving from knowledge to religion. What once existed of religion is accepted from tradition as something that human knowledge can no longer attain. In this way, religion becomes the content of a belief that is to be attained outside of scientific experience. Knowledge and faith become two ways of experiencing something that was once a unity.
[ 13 ] A vivid realization of the true "I" must first arise again if religion is to have the right position in the life of humanity. Modern science understands man as a true reality only in terms of his physical being. He must be further recognized as etheric, astral and spiritual man or "I-man", then science will become the basis of religious life.
[ 14 ] This marks the third step of anthroposophy.
[ 15 ] It will now be the task of the following lectures to show the possibility that the etheric human being can be recognized, that is, that philosophy can be given a reality; the further task will be to prove the cognition of the astral man, i.e. to show that a cosmology is possible that includes the human being; and finally, the task will be to lead to the cognition of the "true I" in order to demonstrate the possibility of a religious life that rests on a basis of cognition.