The Michael Mystery
GA 26
XII. Before the Door of the Spiritual Soul
Continuation of the Second Contemplation: Hindrances and helps to the Michael Forces in the dawning age of the Spiritual Soul.
[ 1 ] The incorporation of the Spiritual Soul also brought about a disturbance throughout the whole of Europe in men's inner relation towards the articles of religious faith and the ritual of worship. This disturbance announces itself unmistakably, at the turn of the eleventh to the twelfth centuries, by the sudden appearance on the scene of Proofs of the Existence of god (in particular with Anselm of Canterbury). The existence of god was to be proved by arguments of reason. Such a desire could only arise when the old method of knowing God—by direct realization through the soul's inherent forces—was already passing away. What one knows by direct living experience, one does not prove by logic.
[ 2 ] The earlier method had been a direct perception by the soul of the life-forms of the individual Intelligences, up to the highest Godhead. The new method now became, to work out intellectually a system of thoughts about the ‘First Causes’ of the universe. For the first method, there had been the powers of Michael in the spiritual region immediately adjoining the earthly one—powers which, behind the thinking-forces directed to the externals of sense, equipped the soul with other faculties, that could behold within the universe the life-forms of Intelligent Being. The second method required that the soul's link with the Michael Powers should be first fully developed.
[ 3 ] What happens in the field of religious worship is that, far and wide, from Wycliffe in England (15th century) to Huss in Bohemia, over broad ranges of religious life amongst men, a doctrine so central as that of the Sacrament of the Communion begins to waver. In the Sacrament of the Communion, Man could find individual human union with the spirit-world which Christ had opened to him; for therein he could so unite himself with the being of the Christ, that the fact of sensible union was at the same time a spiritual one.
[ 4 ] The consciousness of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul was able to picture such a communion for this Soul still possessed ideas, both of Spirit and of Matter, which were closely akin to each other, so that the one could be conceived passing over into the other—Matter into Spirit. But such ideas must not be intellectual ones, of the kind that demand proofs for the existence of god. They must be such as still have something of Imagination in them; for here can be felt in Matter the active Spirit at work within it, and in the Spirit, the striving after Matter. Ideas of such a kind have the cosmic force of Michael behind them.
[ 5 ] If we only consider how much it was, of which the foundations were shaken in men's minds at that time, how much of all that was involved in their most sacred, innermost life! There were persons, in whom the very essence of the spiritual Soul shot forth its brightest rays, who, by the constitution of their souls, were united to the Michael Forces with a strength which for others would only come centuries later. Individualities such as Huss, Wycliffe and others came on the scenes. Following Michael's voice in their hearts, they used the ripeness of their Spiritual Soul to soar to a comprehension of the profoundest mysteries of religion. The intellectual power, now coming in with the Spiritual soul, must—they felt—be able to bring within the range of their ideas what in ancient times had been sought and reached through Imagination.
[ 6 ] In contrast to all this was the old historic position of the human soul, as traditionally handed down, which throughout large circles of mankind had lost all inner staying power. What is historically known as the Disorder of the Faith, which occupied the great reforming councils in the age when the Spiritual soul first began to be active, is all involved with the life of those human souls who neither as yet felt the Spiritual Soul within them, nor could any longer draw from the traditional life of the Intellectual or Mind-Soul anything to give them inner strength and security.
[ 7 ] Such historic currents of inner human life and feeling as come to light in the Councils of Constance and Bâle, may really be said to shew: above, in the spirit-world, the down-pouring of the cosmic Intellectuality, trying to find its way into Man, and below, in the earthly region, an Intellectual of Mind-Soul which is no longer suited to the times. Between the two hover the Michael Forces, looking back to their past union with the divine spirit-world, and looking down upon the world of Man, once united by the same bond, but which now has passed unavoidably into a sphere where Michael must send his aid from the spirit, but with which he himself must enter into no inner union. In this struggle of Michael's—necessary in the cosmic evolution, yet signifying in the first instance a disturbance of the cosmic balance—are to be found the grounds of all that mankind had to go through at this period, even in respect of their most cherished and sacred truths.
[ 8 ] We look deep into the peculiar characteristics of this age, if we fix our eyes on Cardinal Nicholas Cusanus. (See what is said about him in my ‘Mysticism and Modern Thought.’) The personality of Cusanus is like a monument of his age. Everywhere he seeks to give effect to such views as would rectify the abuses of the physical world, not be combating them in a high-flown spirit of fanaticism, but rather by endeavouring, through sound human sense, to guide what has gone wrong, into the right track again. This is directly observable, if one watches the way in which his influence was exerted at the Council of Bâle, and in general amongst his ecclesiastical community.
[ 9 ] If in this respect Cusanus shows himself all inclined towards the change coming into evolution with the development of the Spiritual Soul, one sees him, on the other hand, displaying views which bear shining witness to the forces of Michael. He translates into his own times the good old Ideas, which once had guided the soul and mind of Man to the evolution of faculties by which he could perceive the living forms of the Intelligences in the Cosmos—in that age, when Michael still was regent of cosmic Intellectuality. The ‘Learned Ignorance’ of which Cusanus speaks, is an active comprehension, which lies above the passive perceptions directed to the world of Sense—a comprehension which carries Thought above and beyond Intellectuality, the common form of ‘Knowing,’ into a region where in Unknowingness or ‘Ignorance,’ but with the vision of living realization, the Spiritual is actually grasped.
[ 10 ] So in this Cardinal of Cusa we have a person who in his own soul-life experiences the disturbance brought by Michael into the cosmic balance, and intuitively tries to do his utmost towards directing this disturbance to the welfare of mankind.
[ 11 ] In between all which thus came, spiritually, to the open surface, there was something else which led a hidden life. There were, here and there, persons who had a sense and understanding for the position held by the Michael Powers in the universe, and who devoted themselves to so training the powers of their own souls, that they could find conscious access to that spiritual region bordering on the earthly one, in which Michael carries on his labours on Man's behalf.
[ 12 ] They sought to quality themselves for this spiritual enterprise by behaving externally, in their daily calling and the general affairs of life, in such a way that their ordinary existence was not distinguishable from that of other people. In this manner-by fulfilling their duties in the normal way, in all love towards the things of earth—they were enabled to apply their inner man freely to the spiritual task above mentioned. What they did in this direction was their own concern and that of those with whom they associated ‘in secret.’ In respect of what occurred on the physical plane, the world was not, to immediate appearance, in any way affected by these spiritual pursuits. And yet it all was necessary, in order to bring human souls into the needful connection with Michael's world. There was no question here of ‘secret societies’ in any bad sense—nothing that haunts the dark because it shuns the light of day. It was a case of people coming together, who in the actual coming together would convince themselves that every one of them had a fitting consciousness of the Michael Mission. Those who are working together in this way, do not then talk of their work before persons who from lack of understanding might only spoil the tasks on which they are engaged. These tasks, as we have seen, belonged to spiritual streams which do not run within the borders of earthly life, but in the neighbouring spirit-world—although they send their impulses across into this earthly life.
[ 13 ] The spiritual work to which allusion is here made is that of men who stand within the physical world, but work in union with beings of the spirit-world—with beings who themselves do not enter the physical world, do not incarnate in it. We here allude to what is referred to in the world at large—in very little accordance with the facts—as the ‘Rosicrucians.’ True Rosicrucianism lies along the same line of actions as that pursued by the Michael Mission. It assisted on earth to prepare the spirit-work of Michael, which it was his will to prepare for a later age.
[ 14 ] What this made possible, we can best estimate from the following considerations.
[ 15 ] The difficulties—impossibilities indeed—which Michael meets with, as already described, in conveying his impulses to the souls of men, are connected with the fact that he himself will not bring his own being into any sort of contact with the physical Present of earth-life. His will is to abide by the same interconnection of forces which existed for spirits of his kind—and also for men—in the Past. Any contact with that element with which Man, being situated in present physical earth-life, of necessity comes in contact could only be felt by Michael as a defilement of his being. Now in ordinary human life, as we know, what the soul realizes in her spiritual life, works on from thence into her physical earth-life; conversely, the physical earth-life reacts upon the other: a reaction which, in particular, finds its expression in a man's tone of mind, and in his inclination towards some particular feature of earthly life. Some such interaction of the two things is more especially the case—as a rule, though not always—with persons in public life. That is why, with many of the reformers, the obstacles to Michael's work were really very great.
[ 16 ] The Rosicrucians overcame this side of the difficulty by carrying on their external life with its earthly duties quite apart from whatever they did in Michael's work. When Michael came with his impulses to the soul of a Rosicrucian and met with what was there prepared for him, he in no way found himself exposed to the danger of coming upon earthly matter. For this was kept at a distance by the very thing which brought the Rosicrucian into union with Michael—the specially prepared constitution of his soul.
[ 17 ] In this manner, Rosicrucian will and purpose made for Michael a road upon earth, by which he could find the way to his own approaching earthly mission.
Leading Thoughts
[ 18 ] At the beginning of the Age of the Spiritual Soul, the emancipated intellectual power in Man begins to busy itself in examining the truths of religious faith and worship. Man's soul-life is thereby inevitably thrown into uncertainty. Essential realities which men had formerly realized in the inner life of the soul, they now seek to prove logically. Contents of religious ritual, which should be grasped in Imaginations, they now try to grasp by logical deduction—and even to determine the forms accordingly.
[ 19 ] This is all connected with the fact, that Michael under all circumstances is resolved to avoid every contact with the present earth-world, on which Man is obliged to set foot; but that nevertheless Michael has to remain with the stream of Cosmic Intellectuality, of which he was regent in the past, and to conduct it further within Man. Hereby there arises through the Michael Forces—necessarily for the progress of human evolution—a disturbance of the cosmic equilibrium.
[ 20 ] The difficulty of Michael's mission is lightened by certain persons—the genuine Rosicrucians—who so arrange their external way of life on earth that it exerts no sort of influence upon the inner life of their souls. By this means they are able, in their inner-life, to develop forces by which they can work with Michael in the spiritual field, without Michael's incurring the danger of becoming involved with the present doings of earth-life—which, for him, would be impossible.
Fortsetzung der zweiten Betrachtung: Hemmung und Förderung der Michael-Kräfte im aufkommenden Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele
[ 1 ] Die Einverleibung der Bewußtseinsseele bewirkte durch ganz Europa hindurch auch eine Störung in den religiösen Bekenntnis- wie in den Kulterlebnissen. Man sieht um die Wende des elften und zwölften Jahrhunderts eine deutliche Ankündigung dieser Störung in dem Auftauchen des «Gottesbeweises» (besonders durch Anselm von Canterbury). Die Existenz Gottes sollte durch Verstandesgründe bewiesen werden. Eine solche Sehnsucht konnte nur eintreten, als die alte Art, «Gott» mit den Kräften seiner Seele zu erleben, im Schwinden war. Denn, was man so erlebt, das beweist man nicht logisch.
[ 2 ] Die vorige Art war, die wesenhaften Intelligenzen - bis zur Gottheit hinauf -seelisch wahrzunehmen; die neue Art wurde die, auf intellektuelle Art über die «Urgründe» des Weltalls sich Gedanken auszubilden. Für die erstere Art hatte man in dem an den Erdbereich unmittelbar angrenzenden geistigen Bereich die Kräfte Michaels, welche die Seele hinter den auf das Sinnliche gerichteten Gedankenkräften mit Fähigkeiten ausrüsteten, das wesenhaft Intelligente im Weltall wahrzunehmen; für die zweite Art mußte erst der Zusammenschluß der Seele mit den Michael-Kräften ausgebildet werden.
[ 3 ] Im Kultgebiet kam von Wiclif in England (vierzehntes Jahrhundert) bis zu Hus in Böhmen auf weiten Bereichen menschlichen religiösen Erlebens eine solche Mittelpunktslehre wie die Abendmahlslehre ins Wanken. Im Abendmahl konnte der Mensch seine Verbindung mit der Geistwelt finden, die ihm durch Christus eröffnet war, denn er konnte mit dem Christus in seiner Wesenheit sich so vereinigen, daß die Tatsache der sinnlichen Vereinigung zugleich eine geistige war.
[ 4 ] Vorstellen konnte das Bewußtsein der Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele diese Vereinigung. Denn diese Seele hatte sowohl von dem Geiste wie von der Materie noch Ideen, die sich nahe standen, so daß die eine (Materie) in den ändern (Geist) im Übergange gedacht werden konnte. Solche Ideen dürfen aber nicht solch intellektualistische sein, die auch Beweise für das Dasein Gottes verlangen; es müssen solche sein, die noch etwas von der Imagination haben. Dadurch wird in der Materie der in ihr tätige Geist, in dem Geiste das Streben nach der Materie empfunden. Ideen dieser Art haben hinter sich die kosmischen Kräfte Michaels.
[ 5 ] Man bedenke nur, wieviel in dieser Zeit für die Menschenseele ins Wanken kam! Wieviel von dem, was mit ihrem innersten heiligsten Erleben zusammenhing! Persönlichkeiten, in denen das Wesen der Bewußtseinsseele am hellsten aufstrahlte, die von einer Seelenverfassung waren, die sie mit den Michael-Kräften in einer Stärke verband, die für die ändern erst nach Jahrhunderten kommen sollte, Huß, Wicliff und andere, traten auf. Sie machten aus der Michael-Stimme in ihrem Herzen heraus das Recht der Bewußtseinsseele geltend, sich aufzuschwingen zum Ergreifen der tiefsten religiösen Geheimnisse. Sie fühlten: die Intellektualität, die mit der Bewußtseinsseele heraufzog, muß fähig sein, in den Bereich ihrer Ideen das einzubeziehen, was in alten Zeiten durch Imagination zu erreichen war.
[ 6 ] Demgegenüber stand, daß die alte, geschichtlich überbrachte Stellung der Menschenseele in den weitesten Kreisen alle innere Kraft verloren hatte. Was man in der Geschichte die Übelstände des Bekenntnislebens nennt, womit sich die großen Reformkonzilien in dem Zeitalter der beginnenden Wirksamkeit der Bewußtseinsseele beschäftigten, das hängt alles mit dem Leben derjenigen Menschenseelen zusammen, die in sich die Bewußtseinsseele noch nicht fühlten, aber die in der überkommenen Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele auch nicht mehr etwas haben konnten, das ihnen innere Kraft und Sicherheit gab.
[ 7 ] Man kann wirklich sagen, solche geschichtliche menschliche Erlebnisse, wie sie auf den Konzilien zu Konstanz, zu Basel, zutage traten, zeigen oben in der Geistwelt das Herabströmen der Intellektualität, die zu den Menschen will, und unten den Erdbereich mit der nicht mehr der Zeit entsprechenden Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele. Dazwischen schweben die Michael-Kräfte, zurückblickend auf ihre vergangene Verbindung mit dem Göttlich-Geistigen und hinunterblickend nach dem Menschlichen, das ebenso diese Verbindung hatte, das aber jetzt in eine Sphäre übergehen mußte, in der ihm Michael vom Geiste aus helfen soll, das er aber selbst innerlich nicht mit sich vereinigen soll. In diesem Bestreben Michaels, das in der kosmischen Entwickelung notwendig ist, das aber zunächst doch eine Störung des Gleichgewichts im Kosmos bedeutet, liegt begründet, was die Menschheit in diesem Zeitalter auch in bezug auf die heiligsten Wahrheiten erleben mußte.
[ 8 ] Man schaut tief in das Charakteristische dieser Zeit hinein, wenn man den Kardinal Nicolaus Cusanus ins Auge faßt. (Man lese über ihn in meinem Buche «Die Mystik im Aufgange des neuzeitlichen Geisteslebens».) Seine Persönlichkeit ist wie eine Merksäule der Zeit. Er möchte Ansichten zur allgemeinen Geltung bringen, die die Mißstände der physischen Welt nicht in schwarmgeistigen Tendenzen bekämpfen, sondern durch den gesunden Menschensinn das, was aus dem Geleise gekommen ist, wieder in dieses zurückführen. Man sehe sein Wirken auf dem Basler Konzil und auch sonst innerhalb seiner kirchlichen Gemeinschaft; und man wird dieses bemerken.
[ 9 ] Ist der Cusaner damit dem Umschwung der Entwickelung mit der Entfaltung der Bewußtseinsseele voll zugeneigt, so sieht man ihn andrerseits Anschauungen offenbaren, die Michaels Kräfte in leuchtender Art an sich zeigen. Er stellt in seine Zeit die guten alten Ideen hinein, die den Menschenseelensinn zur Entfaltung von Fähigkeiten für das Wahrnehmen der wesenhaften Intelligenzen im Kosmos führten, als Michael noch die Welt-Intellektualität verwaltete. Die «gelehrte Unwissenheit», von der er spricht, ist ein über dem auf die Sinneswelt gerichteten Wahrnehmen gelegenes Begreifen, das das Denken über die Intellektualität - das gewöhnliche Wissen - hinaus in eine Region führt, wo — im Unwissen - dafür aber im erlebenden Schauen das Geistige erfaßt wird.
[ 10 ] So ist der Cusaner diejenige Persönlichkeit, die in dem eigenen Seelenleben die Störung des kosmischen Gleichgewichtes durch Michael empfindend intuitiv möglichst viel dazu beitragen möchte, daß diese Störung zum Heile der Menschheit hin orientiert werde.
[ 11 ] Zwischen dem, was auf diese Art geistig zutage trat, lebte im Verborgenen ein anderes. Einzelne Persönlichkeiten, die Sinn und Verständnis für die Stellung der Michael-Kräfte im Weltenall hatten, wollten die Kräfte ihrer Seele so zubereiten, daß sie den bewußten Zugang zu dem an den Erdbereich angrenzenden Geistbereich fanden, in dem Michael seine Anstrengungen für die Menschheit macht.
[ 12 ] Sie suchten sich die Berechtigung zu diesem geistigen Unterfangen dadurch zu erwerben, daß sie äußerlich im Leben beruflich und auch sonst sich so verhielten, daß ihr Dasein von dem anderer Menschen nicht zu unterscheiden war. Dadurch, daß sie so gegen das Irdische im ganz gewöhnlichen Sinne ihre Pflichten in Liebe vollführten, konnten sie das Innere ihres Menschentums frei dem gekennzeichneten Geistigen zuwenden. Was sie nach dieser Richtung taten, war ihre und derjenigen Sache, mit denen sie sich «im Geheimen» verbanden. Die Welt wurde mit Bezug auf das, was im Physischen geschah, zunächst scheinbar gar nicht von diesem Geiststreben berührt. Doch war dies alles notwendig, um die Seelen in die nötige Verbindung mit der Michael-Welt zu bringen. Es handelte sich nicht um «Geheimgesellschaften» in irgendeinem schlimmen Sinne, nicht um irgend etwas, das das Verborgene aufsucht, weil es das Licht des Tages scheut. Es handelte sich vielmehr um das Zusammenfinden von Menschen, die in diesem Zusammenfinden sich überzeugen, daß, wer zu ihnen gehört, ein rechtes Bewußtsein der Michael-Mission hat. Die so Zusammenarbeitenden sprechen dann nicht von ihrer Arbeit vor denen, die durch Verständnislosigkeit nur ihre Aufgaben stören könnten. Diese Aufgaben lagen ja zunächst in dem Wirken in Geistesströmungen, die nicht innerhalb des irdischen Lebens verlaufen, sondern in der angrenzenden Geist-Welt, die aber in das irdische Leben ihre Impulse hineinwerfen.
[ 13 ] Es ist damit auf die Geist-Arbeit von Menschen verwiesen, die innerhalb der physischen Welt stehen; aber die mit Wesen der Geist-Welt zusammenwirken; mit Wesen, die selbst nicht die physische Welt betreten, sich nicht in derselben verkörpern. Was - recht wenig tatsachengemäß - als die «Rosenkreutzer» vor der Welt genannt wird, darauf ist hier verwiesen. Das wahre Rosenkreutzertum liegt durchaus in der Linie der Wirksamkeit der Michael-Mission. Es half Michael auf der Erde vorzubereiten, was er als seine Geistarbeit für ein späteres Zeitalter vorbereiten wollte.
[ 14 ] Was damit geschehen konnte, wird man ermessen, wenn man den Sinn auf das Folgende lenkt.
[ 15 ] Die Schwierigkeiten, ja Unmöglichkeiten Michaels, in Menschenseelen hineinzuwirken, die charakterisiert worden sind, hängen damit zusammen, daß er selbst mit seinem Wesen in keinerlei Berührung mit der physischen Gegenwart des Erdenlebens kommen will. Er will in den Kräftezusammenhängen verbleiben, die für Geister seiner Art und für Menschen in der Vergangenheit bestanden haben. Jede Berührung mit dem, womit als im gegenwärtigen physischen Erdenleben der Mensch in Berührung kommen muß, könnte Michael nur als eine Verunreinigung seiner Wesenheit betrachten. Nun wirkt ja im gewöhnlichen Menschenleben das geistige Erleben der Seele in das physische Erdenleben herein und umgekehrt, dieses wirkt auf jenes zurück. Ein Zurückwirken, das sich namentlich in der Stimmung des Menschen und in der Orientierung auf irgend etwas Irdisches hin zum Ausdruck bringt. Ein derartiges Ineinanderwirken ist in der Regel - nicht immer - insbesondere bei den Persönlichkeiten der Fall, die in der Öffentlichkeit stehen. Daher waren die Hemmungen für Michaels Wirken bei manchen Reformatoren wirklich sehr groß.
[ 16 ] Das Schwierige von dieser Seite bezwangen die Rosenkreutzer dadurch, daß sie ihr äußeres Leben im Sinne der Erdenpflichten ganz abseits hielten von ihrem Arbeiten mit Michael. Wenn dieser mit seinen Impulsen auf das aufstieß, was ein Rosenkreutzer in seiner Seele für ihn zubereitete, so fand er sich in keiner Weise der Gefahr ausgesetzt, auf Irdisches aufzutreffen. Denn dies ward ja eben von dem, was den Rosenkreutzer mit Michael verband, durch die besonders hergestellte Seelenverfassung ferngehalten.
[ 17 ] Dadurch bildete für Michael das echte Rosenkreutzerwollen den auf der Erde befindlichen Weg zu seiner kommenden Erden-Mission.
(Die dritte Betrachtung folgt.)
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden (Mit Bezug auf das Vorangehende der zweiten Betrachtung über Hemmungen und Förderungen der Michael-Kräfte im aufkommenden Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele)
[ 18 ] 131. Im beginnenden Zeitalter der Bewußtseinsseele will sich die im Menschen emanzipierte Intellektualität mit den Bekenntnis- und Kultuswahrheiten beschäftigen. Das menschliche Seelenleben muß dadurch ein Schwanken erleben. Man will Wesenhaftes, das vorher seelisch erlebt worden ist, logisch beweisen. Man will Kultusinhalte, die in Imaginationen ergriffen werden müssen, mit der logischen Schlußfolgerung ergreifen; ja sie nach dieser gestalten.
[ 19 ] 132. Das alles ist damit zusammenhängend, daß Michael unter allen Umständen jede Berührung mit der gegenwärtigen Erdenwelt, die der Mensch betreten muß, vermeiden will, daß er aber dennoch die kosmische Intellektualität, die er in der Vergangenheit verwaltet hat, weiter im Menschen geleiten soll. Dadurch entsteht durch die Michael-Kräfte eine dem Fortgang der Welt-Entwickelung notwendige Störung des kosmischen Gleichgewichtes.
[ 20 ] 133. Erleichtert wird Michael dadurch seine Mission, daß gewisse Persönlichkeiten - die echten Rosenkreutzer - ihr äußeres Erdenleben so einrichten, daß es mit gar nichts in ihr inneres Seelenleben hineinwirkt. Sie können dadurch in ihrem Innern Kräfte ausbilden, durch die sie im Geistigen mit Michael zusammenwirken, ohne daß dieser in die Gefahr kommt, in das gegenwärtige Erdengeschehen verstrickt zu werden, was ihm unmöglich wäre.
Continuation of the second observation: Inhibition and promotion of the Michael forces in the emerging age of the consciousness soul
[ 1 ] The incorporation of the consciousness soul also caused a disturbance in religious confession and cult experiences throughout Europe. Around the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, one sees a clear announcement of this disturbance in the emergence of the "proof of God" (especially by Anselm of Canterbury). The existence of God was to be proven by reason. Such a longing could only arise when the old way of experiencing "God" with the powers of one's soul was on the wane. For what one experiences in this way cannot be proven logically.
[ 2 ] The previous way was to perceive the essential intelligences - all the way up to the Godhead - psychically; the new way was to form intellectual thoughts about the "primal causes" of the universe. For the first kind, the powers of Michael, which equipped the soul behind the powers of thought directed towards the sensual with the ability to perceive the essentially intelligent in the universe, were to be found in the spiritual realm immediately adjacent to the earth realm; for the second kind, the union of the soul with the powers of Michael had to be developed first.
[ 3 ] In the cult area, from Wiclif in England (fourteenth century) to Hus in Bohemia, such a central doctrine as the doctrine of the Lord's Supper began to falter in wide areas of human religious experience. In the Lord's Supper, man could find his connection with the spiritual world, which was opened to him through Christ, because he could unite with Christ in his essence in such a way that the fact of sensual union was at the same time a spiritual one.
[ 4 ] The consciousness of the intellectual or emotional soul was able to imagine this union. For this soul still had ideas of both spirit and matter that were close to each other, so that the one (matter) could be thought to be in transition into the other (spirit). Such ideas, however, must not be intellectualistic ones that also demand proof of God's existence; they must be ones that still have something of the imagination. Thus the spirit active in matter is perceived in matter, and the striving for matter is perceived in the spirit. Ideas of this kind have behind them the cosmic powers of Michael.
[ 5 ] Just think how much was shaken for the human soul during this time! How much of what was connected with their innermost, most sacred experience! Personalities in whom the essence of the consciousness soul shone most brightly, who were of a soul constitution that connected them with the Michael forces in a strength that would only come after centuries for the changes, Huß, Wicliff and others, appeared. From the Michael voice in their hearts they asserted the right of the soul of consciousness to soar up to grasp the deepest religious mysteries. They felt: the intellectuality that arose with the consciousness soul must be able to include in the realm of its ideas what in ancient times could be achieved through imagination.
[ 6 ] On the other hand, the old, historically transmitted position of the human soul had lost all inner strength in the widest circles. What in history is called the ills of the confessional life, which the great reform councils dealt with in the age of the incipient effectiveness of the consciousness soul, is all connected with the life of those human souls who did not yet feel the consciousness soul within themselves, but who could no longer have anything in the traditional intellectual or emotional soul that gave them inner strength and security.
[ 7 ] It can truly be said that such historical human experiences, as they came to light at the Councils of Constance and Basel, show above in the spirit world the downward flow of intellectuality that wants to reach people, and below the earth realm with the intellectual or emotional soul that no longer corresponds to the times. In between hover the Michael-forces, looking back to their past connection with the divine-spiritual and looking down to the human, which also had this connection, but which now had to pass over into a sphere in which Michael is to help it from the spirit, but which he himself is not to unite inwardly with himself. In this endeavor of Michael, which is necessary in the cosmic development, but which initially means a disturbance of the balance in the cosmos, lies the reason for what mankind had to experience in this age, also with regard to the most sacred truths.
[ 8 ] One looks deeply into the characteristics of this time when one considers Cardinal Nicolaus Cusanus. (You can read about him in my book "Die Mystik im Aufgange des neuzeitlichen Geisteslebens"). His personality is like a pillar of the times. He would like to bring views to general acceptance which do not fight the abuses of the physical world in swarm-spiritual tendencies, but which, through the healthy sense of man, lead back into it that which has gone off the rails. Look at his work at the Council of Basel and elsewhere within his ecclesial community; and you will notice this.
[ 9 ] If the Cusan is thus fully inclined towards the turnaround of development with the unfolding of the soul of consciousness, then on the other hand one sees him revealing views that show Michael's powers in a luminous way. He places in his time the good old ideas which led the human soul-sense to the unfolding of abilities for the perception of the essential intelligences in the cosmos, when Michael still administered the world-intellectuality. The "learned ignorance" of which he speaks is a comprehension that lies above perception directed towards the sensory world, which leads thinking beyond intellectuality - ordinary knowledge - into a region where - in ignorance - but in experiential seeing, the spiritual is grasped.
[ 10 ] So the Cusan is the personality who, intuitively sensing the disturbance of the cosmic balance by Michael in his own soul life, wishes to contribute as much as possible to orienting this disturbance towards the salvation of humanity.
[ 11 ] Between what emerged spiritually in this way, another lived in secret. Individual personalities who had a sense and understanding of the position of the Michael forces in the universe wanted to prepare the forces of their soul in such a way that they found conscious access to the spiritual realm adjacent to the earth realm, in which Michael makes his efforts for humanity.
[ 12 ] They sought to acquire the authorization for this spiritual undertaking by behaving outwardly in life, professionally and otherwise, in such a way that their existence was indistinguishable from that of other people. By thus carrying out their duties in love towards the earthly in the quite ordinary sense, they were able to freely turn the interior of their humanity towards the marked spiritual. What they did in this direction was their own business and that of those with whom they united "in secret". With regard to what happened in the physical, the world was at first apparently not touched by this spiritual striving. But all this was necessary in order to bring the souls into the necessary connection with the Michael world. It was not a matter of "secret societies" in any bad sense, not something that seeks out the hidden because it shies away from the light of day. Rather, it was a matter of people coming together who, in this coming together, convince themselves that whoever belongs to them has a true awareness of Michael's mission. Those who work together in this way do not speak of their work in front of those who could only disturb their tasks through lack of understanding. These tasks initially lay in the work in spiritual currents that do not run within earthly life, but in the neighboring spirit world, which, however, throw their impulses into earthly life.
[ 13 ] This refers to the spirit work of people who stand within the physical world; but who work together with beings of the spirit world; with beings who themselves do not enter the physical world, do not embody themselves in it. What is called - rather untruthfully - the "Rosicrucians" before the world is referred to here. True Rosicrucianism is very much in line with the effectiveness of Michael's mission. It helped Michael to prepare on earth what he wanted to prepare as his spiritual work for a later age.
[ 14 ] What could happen with it will be appreciated if one directs the mind to the following.
[ 15 ] The difficulties, even impossibilities, of Michael to work into human souls, which have been characterized, are connected with the fact that he himself does not want to come into any contact with the physical presence of earthly life with his being. He wants to remain in the contexts of forces that have existed for spirits of his kind and for human beings in the past. Any contact with what man must come into contact with in his present physical life on earth could only be regarded by Michael as a defilement of his being. Now in ordinary human life the spiritual experience of the soul works into the physical life on earth and vice versa, the latter works back on the former. This retroactive effect is expressed particularly in the mood of the human being and in his orientation towards something earthly. This kind of interaction is usually - but not always - the case, especially with personalities who are in the public eye. This is why some reformers were very inhibited by Michael's work.
[ 16 ] The Rosicrucians overcame the difficulties from this side by keeping their outer life in the sense of earthly duties completely apart from their work with Michael. When he encountered with his impulses what a Rosicrucian was preparing for him in his soul, he found himself in no way exposed to the danger of encountering earthly things. For this was kept away from that which connected the Rosicrucian with Michael by the specially created state of soul.
[ 17 ] Thus, for Michael the genuine will of the Rosicrucian formed the path on earth to his coming earth mission.
(The third observation follows.)
Further Guiding Principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society (With reference to the foregoing of the second meditation on inhibitions and stimulations of the Michael forces in the emerging age of the consciousness soul)
[ 18 ] 131 In the dawning age of the consciousness soul, the intellectuality emancipated in man wants to occupy itself with the truths of confession and cult. The life of the human soul must experience a wavering as a result. One wants to prove logically what has previously been experienced in the soul. One wants to grasp cult contents, which must be grasped in imagination, with the logical conclusion; indeed, to shape them according to this conclusion.
[ 19 ] 132 This is all connected with the fact that Michael wants to avoid under all circumstances any contact with the present earth-world, which man must enter, but that he should nevertheless continue to guide the cosmic intellectuality, which he has administered in the past, in man. In this way, a disturbance of the cosmic equilibrium necessary for the progress of the world's development arises through the Michael forces.
[ 20 ] 133 Michael's mission is facilitated by the fact that certain personalities - the true Rosicrucians - arrange their outer life on earth in such a way that it has no effect at all on their inner soul life. In this way they can develop powers within themselves through which they can work together with Michael in the spiritual realm without the latter running the risk of becoming entangled in present earthly events, which would be impossible for him.