Steiner Roman Catholicism
-
Upload
omorogah-hagmo -
Category
Documents
-
view
223 -
download
0
Transcript of Steiner Roman Catholicism
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
1/25
Roman Catholicism
by
Rudolf Steiner
Lecture I
Dornach, May 30, 1920
My Dear Friends,
To carry our spiritual understanding of things farther, we shall need ore and
ore to turn our attention to certain historical facts! During the last decades our
e"ers ha#e led a pleasant life, de#oted entirely to the ac$uisition of %nowledge fro
the lectures and discussions which ha#e "een held in different places! &e#ertheless, this
has fored an ipenetra"le wall, o#er which in any cases there has "een a great
reluctance to loo% out at what was happening in the outside world! 'ut, if we want to
see what is happening in the world in the right light, if we do not wish to found a sect
"ut an historical o#eent ( soething which no other o#eent than ours can "e (
then we need to %now the historical "ac%ground for what is all around us in the world!)nd the way in which we oursel#es are treated, particularly here in this place, where we
ha#e ne#er done anything in the slightest degree aggressi#e, a%es it dou"ly necessary
for us really to loo% o#er the wall and to understand soething of what is going on in
the world! Therefore, I should li%e to co"ine what I ha#e to say in the ne*t few days
with soe historical coents, in order to draw attention to certain facts, without a
%nowledge of which we shall pro"a"ly not now "e a"le to get any further!
Today I want first of all to point out one thing! +ou %now that a"out the
"eginning of the last third of the &ineteenth entury soething found a foothold in the
#arious ci#ili-ed states of .urope and )erica, which was %nown as a realistic
conception of life, a conception of life which was in essentials "ased on theachie#eents of the &ineteenth entury and on those which had prepared the way for
that century! )t the "eginning of the last third of the &ineteenth entury people
e#erywhere spo%e in $uite a different way, their underlying tone was different fro
what it "ecae in the later decades, and still ore in the decades of the Twentieth
entury! The fors of thought which doinated wide circles "ecae during this tie
essentially different! Today I will only ention one e*aple! )t the "eginning of the
last third of the &ineteenth entury the "elief pre#ailed aong educated people that the
huan "eing ought to for his own con#ictions out of his own inner self, a"out the
ost iportant affairs of life/ and that e#en if, helped "y the disco#eries of science, he
does so, a coon social life is, ne#ertheless, possi"le in the ci#ili-ed world! There
was, so to say, a %ind of doga, "ut a doga freely recogni-ed in the widest circles,
that, aong people who had reached a certain degree of culture, freedo of conscience
1
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
2/25
was possi"le! It is true that in the decades that followed no one had the courage to attac%
this doga openly/ "ut there was ore or less unconscious opposition to it! )nd at the
present tie, after the great world catastrophe the First orld ar, straightaway this
doga is soething which in the widest circles is "eing repressed, is "eing nullified,
though, of course, that fact is ore or less disguised! In the si*ties of the &ineteenth
entury the "elief pre#ailed in the widest circles that the huan "eing ust ha#e acertain freedo as regards e#erything connected with his religion! The eergence of
this "elief was noted in certain $uarters, and I ha#e already pointed out how on the th
Dece"er, 145, 6oe launched an attac% against it! I ha#e often told you how this
whole o#eent was handled "y 6oe, how in the 7apal .ncyclical of 145, which
appeared at the sae tie as the 8ylla"us, it is e*pressly said :The #iew that freedo
of conscience and of religion is gi#en to each huan "eing as his own right is a folly
and a delusion!;
)t the tie when .urope was e*periencing the high tide, a pro#isional high tide,
of this conception of freedo of conscience and of religious worship, 6oe ade an
official pronounceent that it was a delusion!
I only want to put this "efore you as an historic fact/ and in so doing I want to
call your attention to what too% place at a tie when, for a large nu"er of people, this
$uestion had arisen and called for a response fro out the #ery springs of huan
conscience ( the $uestion :ust this world! 'ut within the cosos
it re>ects a"solutely any clai that interruption of its order and of its laws is soething
concei#a"le or in any way ore desira"le than their iuta"le #alidity! For to all thenaturalChistorical and philosophical sciences the iracle with all its iplications is
2
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
3/25
nonsense, a direct outrage on all reason and on the ost eleentary "ases of huan
%nowledge! 8cience and iracle are as contradictory as reason and unreason!;
hen, a"out the turning point of the &ineteenth and Twentieth enturies, I
"egan to spea% in pu"lic lectures on certain anthroposophical $uestions, a last echo of
the ood I ha#e >ust descri"ed still e*isted! I do not %now whether there are any herewho followed these first lectures of ine, "ut in any of the I drew attention to the
pro"les of repeated earth li#es and of the destiny of huan "eings as they pass
through one life after another! &ow in dealing with these pro"les you will find that I
always pointed out right at the end of the lecture that if one "elie#es in the old
)ristotelian idea that e#ery tie a person is "orn a new soul is created that has to "e
iplanted into the huan e"ryo, a iracle is there"y ordained for e#ery single life!
The concept of iracle can only "e o#ercoe in a sense that is >ustified if one accepts
reincarnation, where"y each single life can "e lin%ed up with the pre#ious life on earth
without any iracle! I still ree"er well that I concluded one of y 'erlin lectures
with these words :e are going to o#ercoe in the right way that ost iportant
thing, the concept of iracle!;
8ince then, of course, things ha#e changed throughout the ci#ili-ed world! That
is priarily a historical fact, y dear friends, "ut it coprises soething which is of the
utost interest to us! That is, that in the easure in which an loses the capacity to see
the spiritual in the world, to e*plain the world of nature around hi "y the spirit, in that
sae easure ust he place a special world side "y side with nature and the ordinary
world, which has as its content the world of iracle! The ore natural science ta%es its
stand on ere causality, the ore the life of huan feeling is dri#en, "y a $uite natural
reaction, to accept the concept of iracle! The ore natural science continues along its
present lines, the ore nuerous will "e those who see% refuge in a religion which
includes iracles! That is why today so any en e"race atholicis, "ecause they
siply cannot "ear the naturalCscientific conception of the world!
Ta%e that sentence which I ha#e >ust read, and copare it with what has "een
said in recent lectures here, and you will at once see what is in $uestion! In this
e*position of 6uelin occurs this sentence :It recogni-es only the iracle of all
iracles, that a world e*ists, and >ust this world! 'ut it re>ects a"solutely any clai that
within the cosos interruption of its order and of its laws is concei#a"le or in any way
ore desira"le than their iuta"le #alidity!; Thus one thin%s the prie#al iracle,
that the cosos has coe into "eing at all, "ut then, within this cosos, one studies the
Laws of Indestructi"ility of Matter and onser#ation of .nergy, and then e#erythingrolls on with a certain necessity, so to say fatalistically!
That conception of the world is untena"le, "ut it can only "e o#ercoe through
the %nowledge which I #entured to put "efore you last wee%, when I showed you that
the Laws of Indestructi"ility of Matter and onser#ation of .nergy constitute an error,
and that error is what a"o#e all has to "e #igorously co"ated in our tie! e ha#e to
do not erely with a continuous conser#ation of the uni#erse, "ut with its continual
destruction and coing into fresh e*istence! )nd if we do not esta"lish in the cosos
the idea of a continual arising and passing away, we are o"liged "ecause we are huan
to affir a special world side "y side with the cosos, a world which has nothing to do
with the laws of nature that we deonstrate so oneCsidedly, and which ust includeiracle! That un>ustified concept of iracle will only "e o#ercoe in the easure in
3
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
4/25
which we understand that e#erything in the world stands in a spiritual ordering in which
we no longer ha#e to do with an iron necessity of nature "ut with a cosic guidance full
of wisdo! The ore we %eep our ga-e fi*ed upon the spiritual world as such and upon
what we ac$uire through spiritual science, the ore do we reali-e that what natural
science puts "efore us today needs to "e pereated "y spiritual %nowledge! It ust
therefore "ecoe our tas% to direct our attention ore and ore upon e#ery science andupon all "ranches of life in such a way that they "ecoe pereated "y what only
spiritual science has to say! Medicine, >urisprudence and sociology ust all "e
pereated "y what can "e %nown and seen through spiritual science! 8piritual science
does not need any organi-ation siilar to that of the old churches, for it appeals to each
single indi#idual/ and each single indi#idual, out of his own inner conscience, through
his own healthy understanding, can su"stantiate the results of spiritualCscientific
in#estigation, and can in this sense "ecoe a follower of spiritual science! It puts
forward soething which a%es a direct appeal to e#ery single indi#iduality >ust in this
search for truth! It is the true fulfillent of what en were see%ing in the tie now past,
in the last third of the &ineteenth entury ( true freedo ( freedo in their
conception of the world, in their research and e#en in their opinions! That is >ust the tas% of spiritual scienceC to pro#ide for the genuine >ustifia"le clais ade "y the conscience
of odern huanity!
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
5/25
at that tie in #arious spheres on the part of the atholic clergy! Bne day we ust go
into all this ore closely and in great detail! 'ut today I >ust want to draw your attention
to it! )nd it was directly against this tendency inside the hurch that the .ncyclical of
145 with its 8ylla"us was proulgated, and thus "egan that conflict which cae to an
end for the tie "eing in the )ntiCModernist Bath! I ay say that in the
su"consciousness of any of the atholic clergy, e#en as late as 190@, there was a traceof inward re#olt, "ut in the atholic hurch there is no such thing as re#olt! There it
was a $uestion of ceaselessly pressing hoe the a*io that what is proulgated "y
6oe as doctrine ust "e accepted! Then those who were o"liged to go on teaching had
to coe to ters with what they had not the courage to deny, the freedo of science!
Ender the influence of what had arisen in the last third of the &ineteenth entury, the
freedo of science had "ecoe a household word, a household word that, of course,
e#en in li"eral circles, often reained nothing ore, "ut it was ne#ertheless a household
word, and e#en learned atholics had not the courage to say that they would "rea% with
the freedo of science and ha#e nothing further to do with it! 8o they had the tas% of
pro#ing that one ay only teach what is recogni-ed "y 6oe as doctrinally #alid this
they had to swear on oathG and that the freedo of science was consistent with this! Ishould li%e to read you a few sentences illustrating such a ethod of proof, gi#en "y the
atholic theologian e"er of Frei"urg in this "oo% atholic Doctrine and the Freedo
of 8cience! ust as the o"ligation of a soldier to re>oin
his regient at a certain tie does not ta%e fro hi his freedo, for he can either go
on foot or "y coach, "y slow train or e*press, so the teacher still reains free in his
scientific tas% in spite of his oath!;
That eans that one is copelled to teach a definite "ody of doctrine, and to
pro#e >ust that "ody of doctrine/ as to how one does it one is left free! ?ust as free as a
soldier who has sworn to >oin his regient at a certain tie, and who can tra#el either
on foot or "y coach, or "y the slow or the e*press train! Bne ought to as% oneself how
this going "y foot or "y coach, "y slow train or "y e*press has to end! Ender all
circustances it has to end in >oining his regient! I a not a%ing poleics, I a
siply citing a historical fact!
+ou see in the course of preceding centuries and culinating in the last third of
the &ineteenth entury there had gradually de#eloped a ood in wide circles of the
culti#ated world which seeed full of proise! 'ut all that is now dorant/ souls ha#e
gone to sleep! Those who share the ood of that tie are o"#iously now #ery old, are
aong the old discarded li"erals, and those who were young during the last decades
ha#e not "een awa%e to the #ery iportant clais of huanity!
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
6/25
not "y the echanical ordering of nature! )nd so, whereas this ood cae o#er odern
huanity li%e a %ind of drea, those who wor%ed against it were wide awa%e, and it
was out of their wa%ing consciousness that such things were "orn as the .ncyclical and
8ylla"us of the year 145, with its eighty nu"ered errors in which no atholic ight
"elie#e! In these eighty errors is to "e found e#erything which iplies a odern
conception of the world! &ow coes once ore out of the fullest wa%ing consciousness,the latest ine#ita"le achie#eent, the .ncyclical of the year 190@, culinating in the
)ntiCodernist Bath! &ot only ha#e these people "een awa%e since the last third of the
&ineteenth entury, "ut for a uch longer tie than that they ha#e wor%ed radically,
energetically and intensi#ely and the tas% they ha#e achie#ed is what I ight call the
concentration of all atholicis on 6oe ( the suppression in atholicis of all that
ine#ita"ly depri#ed the freest of all churches of its freedo/ for in its essential nature
the atholic hurch is capa"le of the greatest freedo! +ou will perhaps "e astonished
that I should say that! 'ut let us go "ac% a little way fro our enlightened freedo fro
authority into the Thirteenth entury, which we ha#e recently discussed in pu"lic
lectures! I should li%e to recall to your inds in this connection a docuent of the
Thirteenth entury, when atholicis in .urope was in full flower!
It has to do with the $uestion of the noination "y 6oe of )l"ertus Magnus,
one of the founders of 8cholasticis, as 'ishop of 6egens"urg! I need hardly say that in
the atholic hurch today there could "e no two opinions "ut that this noination to
one of the foreost "ishoprics greatly enhanced the dignity of a Doinican who up to
that tie had erely laid the foundations of a reputation "y nuerous iportant
writings and "y a pious life spent in the affairs of his Brder! For today the atholic
hurch is a copact organis, and it has "ecoe so "y ha#ing "een copletely
transfored! hen )l"ertus Magnus was a"out to "e noinated 'ishop of 6egens"urg,
the
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
7/25
historical facts as to how things ha#e de#eloped in the course of tie! &o dou"t you are
aware that ?esuit influence is "ehind any of the attac%s on us! +ou %now, for instance,
that for the ?esuit side cae the ost flagrant lies/ for instance, the accusation that I
yself had once "een a priest and had forsa%en the priesthood! )nd you %now that a
few years later the person who uttered this lie could not thin% of anything else to say
e*cept that this hypothesis could not further "e held! In the )ustrian 7arliaent ae"er naed alter%irchen once shouted at a Minister :If a an has once lied, no
one "elie#es hi e#en if afterwards he spea%s the truth!; 'ut ?esuitis stands "ehind all
these things/ one can point to any things growing on the soil of ?esuitis, "ut in this
respect also I only want today to point to a historic fact!
It is a fundaental point of the ?esuit rule to render a"solute o"edience to the
7ope! &ow in the .ighteenth entury there li#ed a 7ope who suppressed the ?esuit
Brder irre#oca"ly for all eternity ( literally for all eternity! If the ?esuits had reained
true to their own rule they would, of course, ne#er ha#e appeared on the scene again!
udgents as proceeded fro the ood which I characteri-ed as the
ood of the last third of the &ineteenth entury are less and less to "e heard today! It is
really astounding how little huan "eings today %now of what is going on in the world!
For they slept through the e#ent of the .ncyclical :7ascendi Doinici gregis; of
8epte"er , 190@, where"y the oath against Modernis was iposed on the atholic
clergy! oices such as would certainly ha#e "een raised "y such a an as the Doinican
Jeneral who preferred to see his dear son in the gra#e rather than on the .piscopalthrone of 6egens"urg, are no longer heard/ instead of that, people listen nowadays to
#oices which e*plain that a an can still "e a free scientist if he swears that he can use
any ethods he li%es to pro#e what he teaches/ it does not atter whether he tra#els "y
e*press train or slow train, in a coach or on foot!
hat leaps logic has to a%e if such proofs are to "e usedH I need not enlarge on
this! 'ut ost people ha#e no idea of the power lying in what at the present tie is
specially directed against us, who ha#e ne#er attac%ed anyone, and of what that power
signifies! It is not sufficient to say that these things are really too stupid to notice! For,
y dear friends, in the assertions constantly ade a"out us, you will only find two
things that can "e affired with truth! For instance, when :8pectator; was reproachedfor ha#ing said his source was a "oo%, the :)%ashic 6ecord,; and was told that that
@
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
8/25
ust ha#e "een a deli"erate lie, for he ust ha#e %nown that he could not possess the
:)%ashic 6ecord; in his li"rary, he e*tricated hiself as follows :First, let e say that
a printers error slipped into our second article! )%as%ic 6ecord instead of )%ashic
6ecord! This ista%e Dr! 'oos has noted with glee! u#enating 'uddhis and enriching it "y the introduction of the doctrines
of reincarnation and %ara, his own specialties!;
&eedless to say I ne#er ade any such clai, not one single sentence of what
has so far "een pu"lished is true, or at ost one thing, a thing which will perhaps
always cause a headache to those who write in this strain! The one thing which can "e
loo%ed upon as in any way true is in the passage in which he says :The Jnostics also
professed an esoteric doctrine and di#ided en into the
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
9/25
dishonesty lies in the following sentence :This path is, howe#er, not false "ut correct!;
ect we "egan here last 8unday,and I should li%e first to go "ac% to the few words I then said concerning the )ntiC
9
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
10/25
Modernist Bath! I descri"ed its nature "y saying that since the tie of its inauguration
anyone who holds a teaching office in the 6oan atholic hurch, whether as
theologian or preacher, has to ta%e this oath which for"ids anyone engaged in atholic
teaching to de#iate fro what is recogni-ed as dogatic truth "y the 6oan atholic
hurch/ which eans, in fact, what is recogni-ed as doga "y the 6oan uria!
&ow in face of such a fact the iportant $uestion to as% oneself is :hat is
there actually now a"out this )ntiCModernist Bath=;
There is nothing new in the adherence of a atholic preacher or theologian to the
doctrines of the 6oan atholic hurch/ please "e clear a"out that! hat is new is that
the person concerned has to ta%e an oath as to what is the doctrine of the hurch! I want
you to "e clear a"out this first, and then to see it in relation to the fact that there has
"een a prodigious piling up of historical deeds in the 6oan atholic hurch during the
last half century! It "egan with the definition of the Doga of the Iaculate
onception/ then cae a further e*traordinary, su"tle, and cle#er step in the .ncyclical
and 8ylla"us of the si*ties, in which 7ope 7ius I in his eighty )rticles declared allodern thin%ing to "e heretical! Then on top of that cae the definition of the Doga
of Infalli"ility, again a #ery iportant and e*traordinarily cle#er and su"tle ad#ance!
The ne*t e*treely logical step was the .ncyclical :)cterni 7atris,; which declared the
doctrine of Thoas )$uinas to "e the official doctrine of the 6oan atholic hurch!
The crowning of this whole structure for the tie "eing is this oath against Modernis,
which in effect is nothing else than the carrying o#er of soething which was always
present intellectually into the sphere of huan eotion, the sphere of will and feeling!
That which always had to "e ac%nowledged has, since the year 190@, had also to "e
sworn on oath!
)nyone who understands this grandiose draatic de#elopent will certainly not
underestiate its iportance, for it deonstrates the only wa%eful consciousness within
our sleeping ci#ili-ation! I should "e interested to %now how any people felt as if
stung "y a #iper when they read a certain sentence in the last nu"er of the :'asler
orwarts,; which illuinates as "y a flash of lightning the whole situation at the present
tie! I should really li%e to %now how any people, when reading this, felt as if stung
"y a #iperH The sentence runs :6eligion, which represents a fantastic refle* in the
inds of huan "eings concerning their relations one to another and to nature, is
dooed to natural decay through the #ictorious growth of the scientific, clear and
naturalistic grasp of reality which is "ound to de#elop parallel with the esta"lishent of
a planned society!; This sentence is to "e found in an article which has not yet appearedin its entirety, "ut has yet to "e concluded! It is to "e found in an article on the easures
ta%en "y Lenin and Trots%y against the 6ussian atholic hurch and the 6ussian
religious counities in general! This article is at the sae tie an indication of what
is regarded as the prograe for the future in these $uarters!
Bne %nows for a certainty that the nu"er of Lenins opponents who feel as if
stung "y a #iper on reading such a sentence is #ery sall! I want to ephasi-e this as
not "eing without significance, "ecause it "rings out to what an e*tent odern huanity
passes lightly o#er things, usually asleep ( how it passes o#er the weightiest facts,
facts which are decisi#e for the life of an%ind on this earth! It is, of course, not a
$uestion of any one such sentence/ the point is that in certain $uarters they will see to itthat the content of what is there e*pressed will "e ade %nown throughout the world,
10
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
11/25
that aong the widest circles of the .uropean population an outloo% will coe a"out
which can "e thus e*pressed :6eligion which represents a fantastic refle* in the inds
of huan "eings concerning their relations to one another and to nature, is dooed to
natural decay!; The soCcalled Kenlightened huanity of today is still soundly asleep to
the fact that such a #iew is coing! 'ut the 6oan atholic hurch is awa%e/ she alone
in fact is awa%e and is wor%ing systeatically against the approaching stor! 8he wor%sagainst it in her own way! )nd it is #ery iportant that we should understand that way,
for I ha#e had uch to say a"out the attac%s fro that $uarter that are "eing forged
against what we ha#e to stand for! Meanwhile the clouds are gathering! The latest is that
the "ill posters had to notify us that the an who this orning was to ha#e posted up in
6einach the announceent of 8aturdays lecture had the posters ta%en fro hi and
"urnt! +ou see, these things are getting worse, e#en here they are getting systeatically
worse!
hat was written "y a an who fre$uently hides "ehind the "ushes and calls
hiself K8pectator ( a pac% of sheer lies, I told you last tie a"out the ost egregious
of the ( now goes through the whole 6oan atholic press, and this "urning of our posters really ta%es one "ac% out of odern ties altogether!
&ow, y dear friends, I ha#e already raised the iportant $uestion as to why the
clergy of the 6oan atholic hurch today ust ta%e an oath in support of what they
were already pledged to aintain! &o one will deny that the enforceent of such an
oath strengthens the e*ternal grasp of the atter! &or will anyone deny that if it is felt
necessary to a%e people ta%e this oath, the assuption is that without such an oath
they would no longer go so firly forward! 'ut, y dear friends, there is, of course, still
a third point, which it would "e well for you to ponder! For #erily things enter in here
which ust not yet "e called "y their right naes/ yet the $uestion ay ne#ertheless "e
thrown out as an aside! Must not confidence in a thing "e already to a certain e*tent
shattered if it has to "e sworn on oath= Is it a possi"ility to adinister an oath for the
truth= an there "e such a possi"ility= Is it not necessary to assue that the truth of its
own inherent force is its own guarantee in the huan soul= 7erhaps it is not so
iportant to as% whether an oath is oral or good or useful/ perhaps it is far ore
iportant historically to as% whether it has "ecoe necessary, and if so, why=
In face of this oath soething else is now necessary! It is necessary that a certain
nu"er of huan "eings should feel how without spiritual science there ust ine#ita"ly
coe o#er .urope the conse$uence of the frae of ind e*pressed in the words
:6eligion, which represents a fantastic refle* in the inds of huan "eings concerningtheir relations to one another and to nature, is dooed to natural decay through the
#ictorious growth of the scientific, clear and naturalistic grasp of reality, which is "ound
to de#elop parallel with the esta"lishent of a planned society!;
hat is it that is to "ring a"out the decay of the old religions one and all= It is all
that has arisen during the last three to four centuries as odern science, enlightened
science ( all that is taught as o">ecti#e science in the educational institutions of
ci#ili-ed huanity! 'ourgeois teaching and "ourgeois ethods of adinistration ha#e
"een adopted "y the proletariat! hat the teachers of the uni#ersities and high schools
right down to the eleentary schools ha#e put into the souls of en, coes out through
Lenin and Trots%y! They "ring out nothing "ut what is already taught in the institutionsof ci#ili-ed huanity!
11
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
12/25
My dear friends, today there e*ists an antithesis which one should conteplate
without pre>udice! It is this! hat is to "e done to pre#ent the influence of Lenin and
Trots%y fro spreading o#er the entire ci#ili-ed world= The priary necessity is no
longer to allow our children and our youth to "e taught what has "een taught right up to
the Twentieth entury in our uni#ersities and in our secondary and eleentary schools!To grasp this seeing contradiction deands courage, and "ecause en do not want to
ha#e this courage, they go to sleep! That is why one has to say that whoe#er reads a
declaration such as the one I ha#e >ust $uoted, e#en if it only appears in a few lines of an
article, should feel as if stung "y a #iper/ for it is as if the whole situation of presentCday
ci#ili-ation were illuined "y a flash of lightning!
Face to face with this situation, what would spiritual science with all its detailed
concreteness ha#e= hat spiritual science would ha#e, I would characteri-e soewhat
as follows! The 6oan atholic hurch, as a ighty corporation, represents the last
withered reains of the ci#ili-ation of the fourth postC)tlantean .poch! It can "e well
authenticated in all detail that the 6oan atholic hurch represents the last renant of what was the right ci#ili-ation for the fourth postC)tlantean epoch, what was >ustified
right up to the iddle of the Fifteenth entury, "ut what has now "ecoe a shadow! Bf
course products of a later e#olution often herald their arri#al in an earlier period, and its
earlier products linger on into a later epoch/ "ut in essentials the 6oan atholic
hurch represents what was >ustifia"le for .urope and its colonies up to the iddle of
the Fifteenth entury!
8piritual science, howe#er, as we understand it, has to further the needs of the
fifth postC)tlantean ci#ili-ation! The 6oan atholic hurch represents in a nu"er of
dogas, as a selfCcontained structure which is dead, "ut which still e*ists as a corpse,
soething which hangs together inwardly through a wellCconstructed logic, a logic of
reality! In this structure there is spirit, the spirit of a past epoch, "ut it is spirit! The way
in which spirit is contained within it I ha#e, I thin%, shown in the lectures I held here on
8t! Thoas )$uinas! There was spirit in these teachings, in these dogas of the 6oan
atholic hurch, a spirit which had "een percei#ed "y those great ones whose last
stragglers we find in 7lotinus, and others, and with which 8t! )ugustine had yet in an
interesting way to wrestle!
8ince the iddle of the Fifteenth entury, what has appeared as philosophy,
science, pu"lic opinion, world conception, apart fro the 6oan atholic hurch, is,
for the ost part, #oid of spirit! For the spirit of the fifth postC)tlantean age "egins onlyto eerge with such principles as those of Lessing and Joethe! )nd it wants to enter
into what the naturalCscientific trend inaugurated "y opernicus, Jalilee and epler was
a"le to yield without spirit, and out of which Darwin,
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
13/25
configuration of the atholic hurch, and has its other aspect in 6oan law and the
a"stractness of the whole Latin culture, all that "elongs to the fourth cultural epoch! )nd
the atholic hurch configuration has pereated the entire of ci#ili-ation far ore than
en thin%! The onarchies, e#en if they were 7rotestant ones, were in their structure at
"otto Latin atholic institutions! For the fourth epoch it was necessary that en
should "e organi-ed according to a"stract principles, and that certain hierarchicalordinances should for the "asis of organi-ation! 'ut what is to coe as the spirit of the
fifth postC)tlantean age, which we see% to culti#ate through spiritual science, does not
re$uire such a fir structure, does not need a structure organi-ed according to a"stract
principles, "ut re$uires such a relation of one huan "eing to another as is characteri-ed
in y 7hilosophy of Freedo as ethical indi#idualis! hat that "oo% has to say on the
su">ect of ethics stands in the sae contrast to the social structure fostered "y the
6oan atholic hurch as in the last resort spiritual science stands to 6oan atholic
theology!
8piritual 8cience was #erily ne#er eant to appear in the role of "elligerent/
spiritual science was only eant to state what it saw to "e the truth! )nyone whoe*aines our acti#ities here will ha#e to adit that ne#er, ne#er ha#e I ta%en an
aggressi#e stance! Bf course, one has had constantly to defend oneself against attac%s
which cae fro outside, and that is the essential thing! 'ut it is siply a deand of
the age that what spiritual science has to gi#e should "e stated $uite concretely! Bne has
to ree"er that odern ci#ili-ation is asleep, and that 6oe is awa%e! That 6oe is
awa%e is re#ealed "y the ighty draa unrolled in the definition of the doga of the
Iaculate onception/ in the pu"lication of the .ncyclical of 145, with its 8ylla"us
condening eighty odern truths/ in the declaration of the Infalli"ility of the 7ope/ in
the naing of Thoas )$uinas as the official philosopher of the atholic priesthood/
and finally in the antiCModernist Bath for the teaching clergy!
In face of the rising tide of Darwinis, in face of the rising tide of naturalis in
the fifties, soething was done which, although it can only "e understood out of the
spiritual deands of the fourth postC)tlantean epoch ne#ertheless throws down the
gauntlet "efore all this rising aterialis! The rest of the world lets it coe, or at "est
counters it with foolish arguents such as those of .uc%en! 6oe, howe#er, sets up the
doga of the Iaculate onception, which states clearly :&aturally, no one can
accept the Iaculate onception and at the sae tie ascri"e to Darwinis/ thus we
esta"lish the incopati"ility of the two things!; &ot ore than a decade later, the whole
structure of the odern world conception, #oid of spirit, is condened "y the 8ylla"us!
The definition of the doga of the Iaculate onception was already a departurefro all the earlier traditional de#elopent of the atholic hurch! In what then in
forer ties consisted definition "y an .cuenical ouncil= ithin the atholic
hurch a fundaental condition for the definition of any doga ( I a siply
relating, not critici-ing ( was that the Fathers gathered together in the ouncil in
which the doga was to "e defined should "e illuined "y the
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
14/25
ha#e pre#iously signified an inclination towards it! Bf course, as regards these odern
definitions of doga, one was already li#ing in the e#ents of the fifth postC)tlantean
epoch/ and it was no longer so easy as in the Middle )ges so to prepare the faithful that
a coon opinion pre#ailed aong the which could then "e defined! 'ut you see, the
ground had "een well prepared ( preparations had really "een going on all through the
last three or four centuries for these latest re#elations/ that is to say, these lastre#elations so far! .#en then the 6oan atholic hurch was already awa%e/ and if you
ree"er when the ?esuit Brder was founded, you will easily draw the inference that
the foundation of that Brder is essentially connected with the fact that soe eans had
to "e found to o#ercoe the difficulties of wor%ing on the faithful in odern ties and
generally to ta%e these difficulties into account! Bne ought to pay attention to the course
things ha#e ta%en! I a only relating, I a not critici-ing! 1A@5 was the year in which
the citi-ens of Lucerne thesel#es e*pressed a desire for ?esuitis! Let e repeat that it
was anisius, the iediate disciple of Ignatius Loyola, who founded the ?esuit
ollege in Frei"urg in 1A0 which later esta"lished its colony in 8olothurn! I should li%e
too, to say that after the suppression of the ?esuit Brder "y leent I, the ?esuits
had, of course, to disappear fro 8wit-erland, and they then continued their acti#itiesonly in the countries of Frederic% II of 7russia and of atherine of 6ussia, to who the
?esuit Brder really owes its continued e*istence!
'ut in this e*traordinary interregnu "etween the suppression of the ?esuit
Brder in 1@@3 "y leent I and its reinstateent "y 7ius II in 115, strange things
ne#ertheless happened! For you see, during this inter#al, in 8ion, for e*aple, the
institution which had "een conducted "y the ?esuits naturally reained/ and as a atter
of fact for the ost part, too, the sae teachers reained in it/ only up to 1@@3 these
teachers were ?esuits, and fro that date onward they were no longer ?esuits, "ut one
spo%e of the Fathers of the Faith as teaching in such institutions! Therefore, it is not
surprising that after 7ius II had in 115 withdrawn the decree of leent I, these
?esuit colonies were again reinstated ( in 'rigue the sae year, in Frei"erg in 11, in
8chwie- in 134!
It is not y tas% to critici-e these things, "ut I want you to %now a"out the, and
I should further li%e to say this! Fro y e*planations you will ha#e seen that fro the
21st of ?uly, 1@@3, when leent I issued the 'ull :Doinus ac 6edeptor &oster;
until 7ius II caused his 'ull :8olicitude oniu .cclesiaru; to appear, the ?esuit
Brder was officially suppressed! &ow coes soething e*traordinary! There e*ist
eoirs written "y a an who was called ordara, a ?esuit, one who had gone through
all the grades of the ?esuit Brder! Fro his eoirs it is e#ident that he was not anignoraus li%e ount
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
15/25
and therefore, he does not as% a"stract $uestions "ut #ery concrete ones! ustify the
contention that the 7ope is infalli"le after 7ope leent I in 1@@3 had suppressed
the ?esuit Brder, and his successor 7ope 7ius II in 115 had reinstated it! ) goodly
nu"er of such things could "e adduced! 'ut the logic which had "een so well
culti#ated was not applied to produce sharply defined concepts! hat was needed was a
wellCfored concept which could >ustify infalli"ility! &ot what the 7ope e*presses ashis pri#ate opinion is regarded as infalli"le, only what he says Ke* cathedra! Then it was
not necessary to decide whether leent I or 7ius II was infalli"le, "ut whether
leent I or 7ius II had spo%en Ke* cathedra or pri#ately! leent I ust ha#e
spo%en pri#ately when he suppressed the ?esuit Brder, and 7ius II Ke* cathedra when
he reinstated itH 'ut, you see, the trou"le is that the 7ope ne#er states whether he is
spea%ing Ke* cathedra or pri#ately! That he has ne#er yet saidH Bne ust adit that it is
difficult to distinguish in the indi#idual instance whether it is su">ect to the doga of
infalli"ility, "ut the doga is there, and with it a good "low was struc% at what can arise
as the eleental culture of the fifth postC)tlantean epoch! It then "ecae necessary to
draw the conse$uences and that was well done "y 7ope Leo III, a an full of insight
and of #ery great intelligence! 7ope Leo III sought to adopt the philosophy of Thoas)$uinas as it was in the fourth postC)tlantean epoch! The hurch needed that
1A
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
16/25
philosophy which is so great "ut great for the last culture epoch, for, of course,
o">ecti#ely e#erything in the way of philosophy which has su"se$uently arisen is sall
copared to what "lossoed as 7hilosophy in 8cholasticis! 'ut what is sall is still a
"eginning, whereas what was in 8cholasticis was an end, a clia*!
&ow we ust ree"er that an%ind is ne#ertheless trying to progress andtherefore it happened that, "oth in the sphere of naturalCscientific research and in
historical research, strange #agaries cropped up aong the atholic clergy! ery well
then, it now "ecae necessary to adopt strong easures in support of the atholic
doctrine deri#ed fro 8t! )ugustine!
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
17/25
the word initiation, to use an ancient ter, we understand a seeing into a spiritual world
separated fro our physicalCsensi"le world "y a %ind of #eil/ a #eil which ay #ery
easily lead to illusions! hat is first gi#en to an is the physicalCsensi"le world, and he
a%es use of this either for the concerns of ordinary life or in pursuit of what today is
called science!
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
18/25
science of our uni#ersities, our recogni-ed pu"lic education, re>ects the science of
initiation, as long as an e*ternal, aterial science is alone recogni-ed, so long will
huanity "e perpetually in the grip of chaotic social conditions, such as we are now
ha#ing! The science of initiation will alone "e a"le to sa#e huanity of the future fro
such chaotic social conditions! )"o#e all, the science of initiation will "e a"le to gi#e
those huan "eings who can approach it a consciousness of the fact that the life here onearth, which we enter through the gate of "irth, is the continuation of a spiritual life
which we ha#e spent in the supersensi"le world "etween the last death and this present
"irth! &ow you %now that this spiritual life which precedes our "irth or conception is
not spo%en of in the churches of our odern ci#ili-ed world! It is ne#er spo%en of, and
for a $uite definite reason! 'ecause at a certain point of tie, which coincides with that
of the Jree% e#olution "etween 7lato and )ristotle, all consciousness of a preCnatal
spiritual life was lost! 7lato spea%s clearly of that life, "ut )ristotle #eheently
defended the theory that e#ery tie a huan "eing is "orn on the earth, a $uite new soul
unites with his physical "ody! The )ristotelian doctrine is that for each physicallyC"orn
huan "eing a new soul is created!
&ow if one holds such a #iew, one cannot say otherwise than that the life which
"egins with death, which a an "egins "y throwing off his physical "ody ( and of this
)ristotle also spea%s ( continues to e*ist and does not again descend to earth! For, of
course, unless one can spea% of a prenatal e*istence, one has no >ustification for
"elie#ing otherwise than that after his death an reains fore#er in a spiritual world!
That had already led )ristotle to draw soe #ery weighty conclusions! For instance, he
argued that if anyone "etween "irth and death here on earth has led a life which "urdens
his soul with e#il, that huan "eing is for all eternity forced to loo% "ac% on that e#il,
which can ne#er again "e "lotted out or o#ercoe! 8o that according to )ristotles #iew,
when the an dies, he has to loo% "ac% eternally on the one earth life for which he has
to pay!
This doctrine of )ristotle was ta%en o#er in its entirety "y the atholic hurch,
and when in the Middle )ges the hurch sought for a philosophy which could carry its
theology, it too% o#er, as regards the life of the soul, this )ristotelian doctrine, and one
can still today recogni-e its echo in the idea of eternal punishent in hell!
&ow, after ha#ing for thousands of years had this doctrine of the origin of the
soul with the "ody ipressed upon the, how is it concei#a"le that people can free
thesel#es fro it again and arri#e at the truth= They can only do so "y recei#ing a new
spiritual science! ithout this renewal of spiritual science an%ind will not "e a"le toaccept a life "efore "irth as a >ustified "elief or, rather, "efore conception! ?ust thin%
what it signifies for the whole e#olution of huanity not to spea% of a prenatal life!
hen in the churches of today we are told only of a life after death, that siply arouses
instincts connected with ans egotistical desire not to "e e*tinguished at death!
My dear friends, an essay, a thoroughCgoing study is needed ( :Bn the
ulti#ation of
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
19/25
)ristotelian influence, ha#e fostered in the highest degree the egotis in huan nature!
hurches, as culti#ators of the deepest egotistical instincts, is a su">ect well worthy of
study! 'y far the largest part of the religious life of the odern ci#ili-ed world today
panders to huan egotis! This egotis can "e felt in pronounceents which I could
$uote "y the do-en! )gain and again it is written, especially in pastoral letters, :that
spiritual science "usies itself with all %inds of %nowledge a"out supersensi"le worlds, "ut an does not need that! ust as it is fostered "y the religious denoinations
which spea% only of life after death! That is what is iportant for ans social well
"eing, to restore the fact of his preCe*istence to the consciousness of an%ind of the
present and of the future, and of course the idea of reincarnation is insepara"le fro that
of the preCe*istence of the huan soul!
Thus we can say that the atholic hurch itself accepted the )ristotelian
doctrine and ade it into a doga of her own/ "ut this doga ust now "e replaced "y
the higher %nowledge of repeated earth li#es, of preCe*istence, which )ristotle wasclearly the first to lea#e out of account!
+ou see, if you can estiate what iportance it has for an%ind to a"sor"
certain eleents into its inost life of soul, then you will recogni-e what it eans for
ans life of feeling in its widest sense! It eans that the huan "eing gets $uite
another consciousness of hiself! &ow, y dear friends, let us add to what has >ust "een
said, the words of 8t! 7aul, that this ordinary consciousness ust "ecoe pereated
ore and ore "y the consciousness, :&ot I, "ut hrist in e!; hen we loo% upon
oursel#es as soething different, hrist will also "ecoe different within us! If we loo%
upon oursel#es as soething which, e#en as regards the soulCspiritual, has only
originated at "irth, then of course the hrist can only "e in what has coe into e*istencewith this present "irth, and will only ha#e the tas% of carrying our souls through the gate
19
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
20/25
of death and further through all eternity! 'ut if we %now that we ha#e had a prenatal
life, we can %now also that it is the hrist ust as the statesan is always a%ing laws, so do hurchen create ore and
ore dogas, until finally e#erything "ecoes doga, doga "ecoes consolidated! It
is only since the tie when 8cholasticis was at its height that this consolidation of
doga has "een especially noticea"le in odern ci#ili-ation! )nyone who really studies
thoughtfully the 8cholasticis of )l"ertus Magnus and Thoas )$uinas will find that
in their tie e#erything to do with doga was still fluid, still a atter for discussion,
that discussion was still ta%en as a atter of course! True, in the 8cholastic period there
was already a certain opposition within the western church! There was the opposition
"etween the Doinicans and the Franciscans! The Doinican Brder, of which8cholasticis was the flower, de#eloped its %nowledge through strictly logical ideas!
The Franciscan Brder declined to do that/ the Franciscans wanted to achie#e e#erything
through a childli%e feeling! I will not now enter into the relation "etween Doinican
and Franciscan teaching, "ut I should li%e you to iagine what it would "e li%e if people
fought as #igorously today a"out the content of Doinican and Franciscan doctrine as
they did in the Middle )ges, when they discussed doga so freely! Bf course, the
6oan "ishop e#en at that tie declared people to "e heretics/ and he could ha#e gone
on doing so for a long while, had not the secular go#ernents coe to his assistance
and "urnt the people who he erely wanted to conden! In this atter one has to
adit that greater "lae falls on the secular rulers! )ll this did not pre#ent there "eing
free discussion in the atholic hurch at that tie! This free discussion has gradually "een copletely eliinated! Free discussion was soething which the atholic hurch,
20
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
21/25
as tie went on, could not stand! )nd why not= 'ecause a $uite new consciousness was
arising in huanity! This was the transforation of consciousness in an, which too%
place, as I ha#e often e*plained to you, in the iddle of the Fifteenth entury! The
huan "eing wants e#er ore and ore to for his own >udgent fro the depths of
his own soul! In the Middle )ges that was not so! Man then had a %ind of counal
consciousness, and only a few learned people, the real scholars, could get "eyond that!They were a"le to e#ol#e out of this coon unifor fol% consciousness "ecause they
had "een trained in 8cholasticis! This also applies to a certain nu"er who were
trained in the 6a""inical teaching! In general, howe#er, ans consciousness was
unifor! It was a counity consciousness, a faily consciousness! 'ut the indi#idual
consciousness was de#eloping ore and ore!
&ow, one thing that the atholic hurch had always had, "ecause it had attracted
highly educated people, was historical foresight! The atholic hurch %nows $uite well
what I a now saying, that the principle of odern de#elopent is to foster the
indi#idual consciousness of an ( "ut the atholic hurch is unwilling to let this
indi#idual consciousness arise! 8he wants to aintain that dull counalconsciousness, fro which only those will stand out who ha#e recei#ed a scholastic
education! &ow, y dear friends, there is a #ery good way of aintaining this dull
counal consciousness ( it is always a dull one! )nd this is to dap down the
ordinary consciousness which a person has whene#er he a%es use of his sense organs,
to su"due it thoroughly! ?ust as the drea daps down the ordinary consciousness,
siilarly the consciousness is su"dued for the purpose of a%ing of it a dull counal
consciousness! &ow one of the any characteristics of the drea is that in any
respects it is a liar! Br would you deny that the drea is a liar, that it represents things
which are not true= It is, howe#er, not due to the drea "ut to the su"dued
consciousness that when we drea we cannot test what is true and what is untrue!
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
22/25
coe a"out, and that the atholic hurch too% her own easures to a%e her influence
felt in those social conditions! hat the atholic hurch intends is to create a "ridge
"etween the ost radical socialis, ounis, and its own doination!
+ou see, this agnificent foresight is soething one has to recogni-e in
e#erything which has a real spiritual "asis, a spiritual foundation that is rooted in a realspiritual life, and not in ere a"straction! +ou see, with all this odern enlightenent
one arri#es at nothing which can ha#e a farCreaching significance in the course of
huan e#olution! 'ut the cereonies practiced in the atholic Mass are of far greater
significance than all the serons fro e#angelical pulpits, "ecause they are deeds
accoplished in the sensi"le world, and in their for they are at the sae tie
soething which enchants the spiritual world into the sensi"le world! For that reason
the atholic hurch has ne#er "een willing to depri#e herself of agical eans of
wor%ing on huan "eings! These agical eans do e*ist! )nd we ust not "elie#e that
anything other than reCentry into the spiritual world in all true inner sincerity and
uprightness can "e effecti#e against these things! )nd as what one ight call an e*ternal
sign that the atholic hurch has always had a connection with the spiritual world, youcan ta%e soething which I ha#e already told a few of you!
In the first decade of the Twentieth entury a 7apal .ncyclical was issued which
declared #arious things to "e heretical! 7apal .ncyclicals spea% in such a way that they
always adduce the doctrine in $uestion and then say :hoe#er "elie#es that is
anathea!; Thus it $uotes soe doctrine ta%en fro one of the "oo%s of
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
23/25
gi#en out fro 6oe! The fact that he has ta%en this oath wor%s so strongly on his
feelings that he is confused in his so"er research and can ne#er coe to see that doga
is "ound up with the historical e#olution of huanity! &ow things cannot reain in this
state if the science of initiation arises, and therefore this science of initiation ust under
all circustances "e condened!
hy a I telling you these things, y dear friends= 8o that you ay not ta%e the
atter too lightly! For in our anthroposophical spiritual science it is #erily not a $uestion
of the sort of things which go on, for instance in the Theosophical 8ociety! That the
Theosophical 8ociety is not to "e ta%en seriously is clearly to "e seen fro the fact that
one day it cae to accept "y a a>ority the whole farce of rishnaurti as the re"orn
?esus hrist of &a-areth! 8uch a coedy is only "ased on hypocrisy, e#en though this
hypocrisy "e ta%en seriously "y any! 'ut what should grow on the soil of
)nthroposophy, of spiritual science, should "e a search for truth, sincere through and
through! It is therefore soething which, as the atholic hurch is well aware,
penetrates "ehind the scenes, to what ust not "e disco#ered if that church is to
aintain the doinion in the world to which she lays clai!
)ll that I a now saying is siply to show you that these things ay not "e
ta%en lightly! For it ust "e recogni-ed that the atholic hurch has shown great
foresight! Though the indi#idual sheep follows the lead and erely o"eys orders, though
he ay "e ignorant of what this systeatic lying eans for the whole e#olution of
an%ind ( though the indi#idual %nows nothing and does as he is told, the whole
syste is thoroughly well esta"lished, for the lying will "e "elie#ed "y large nu"ers!
Bn the other side there is the naO#e "elief that all the e*ternal fa"rication of
natural laws which today fors the su">ect of our uni#ersity education can "e of
significance for the further de#elopent of huanity, that all that nonsense a"out the
conser#ation of atter and energy can "e of significance for the further de#elopent of
an%indH Today people cannot e#en loo% with an unpre>udiced eye upon the snow
which is spread "efore the e#ery winter if they are li#ing in the teperate -oneG, yet
through the co#ering of the forces of growth "y the snow crust one part of the earth goes
through a coplete transforation/ and fol% consciousness which spea%s of the purity
of the snow %nows far ore than our odern science which tal%s of the conser#ation of
atter and energy! Bf course I can only say what I a now saying "ecause I ha#e spent
any wee%s in showing you how illCfounded are the odern laws of the conser#ation of
atter and energy, how in fact in e#ery huan "eing atter and energy are destroyed,
as they wor% up towards the head, and new atter and new energy arise! )ll thesethings are "ound to "e fiercely contested in soe $uarters, and the only thing which can
help is for as any people as possi"le to "ecoe conscious of the present tas% of
an%ind ( to "e aware that the indi#idual consciousness ust lay hold of the world! It
will do so, "ut it can either lay hold of the wisdo of the world or of the "lind instincts!
If it sei-es hold of the "lind instincts there will coe a"out a copletely antisocial
condition, such as is now "eing prepared in 6ussia! That, y dear friends, will gradually
e#o%e an antisocial condition against which the .nglish or &orth )erican
go#ernents, not to spea% of the French or any other, will "e a"solutely defenseless! It
would "e childish to "elie#e that the .nglish 7arliaent will "e a"le to deal with what
will then lay hold of huanity if the indi#idual consciousness wor%s erely "y instinct!
'ut there is one power which will "e ready to deal with it, and that is the power of 6oe! It is only a $uestion of how it will "e done! 6oe can esta"lish a doinion/ it
23
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
24/25
has the necessary eans for this! Thus the only real $uestion is not whether 'olshe#is
or the )ngloC8a*on "ourgeoisie will get the upper hand/ the $uestion is whether there
will "e antisocial chaos, 6oan doination, or the resol#e on the part of an%ind to fill
itself with that spirit which in 49 at the ouncil of onstantinople the western hurch
declared it heretical to recogni-e!
There is no other alternati#e than that an%ind deterine not to go on li#ing in
the way which is natural when there are only aterialistic thoughts a"out the world!
-
8/17/2019 Steiner Roman Catholicism
25/25
Modern an%ind in its siplicity is erely retarding its own consciousness! Bn
the su">ect of the ?esuits there are a"solutely no true ideas! There are nuerous en
within that Brder of such spiritual capacity that if they were scattered a"out the world
and did not spend their tie in the way they do "ut were wor%ing at e*ternal science or
painting or poetry, they would "e honored as indi#idual geniuses/ they would "erecogni-ed as the great inds of an%ind! ithin the ?esuit Brder there are countless
en who would "e great lights if they were to appear as indi#iduals and were "usy with
soething different ( with, for instance, aterialistic science! 'ut these en suppress
their #ery naes/ they su"erge thesel#es in their Brder, and one of the conditions of
their strength is that the world should %now nothing of the way in which any a head,
clothed in "lac% cassoc% and ?esuit cap, has "een trained!
These things are intended to show you how fundaentally different the whole
for of consciousness is in different categories of huan "eings! 'ut our odern
sipletons, who consider thesel#es enlightened, will not ta%e these things seriously!
That ust "e ephasi-ed again and again, and that, y dear friends, is what I had tospea% to you a"out today!
&ow for the ne*t two wee%s while I a away we can ha#e no ore lectures
here! In conclusion to what I ha#e said, partly in pu"lic, partly in these pri#ate lectures, I
had to add all that I ha#e said here today in order that you should not ignore the
iportance of this isuse of our lecture cycles "y our own e"ers!P Bf course, when
the cycles were gi#en, I thought I had to do with people who would respect the
underta%ing which in a certain sense they had "een gi#en! 'ut I was ista%en, and it is
$uite clear fro the ru""ish that appears in articles today who has all the cycles at his
disposalH
P )ll of 6udolf 8teinerQs lectures ha#e now "een pu"lished and are in the pu"lic
doain!.d!