The History of the Esoteric School 1904–1914, Volume Two

GA 265 — Hildesheim

Lesson from Rudolf Steiner for Prof. Hans Wohlbold

Munich (undated, ca. 1923)

The summer path is the path of the Christian Community in remembrance of a community (before birth) in the spiritual world. (Abel Way)

The winter path is the path of the anthroposophists through cold loneliness to knowledge. (Cain's Way)

Abel Way – Cain Way. The difference between these two ways is concisely and clearly characterized by Jan K. Lagutt in his writing “Grundstein der Freimaurerei” (The Foundation Stone of Freemasonry), Zurich 1958, in the section “Das Wesen des Priestertums und das Wesen der Initiation” (The Nature of the Priesthood and the Nature of Initiation): The priestly element of all religions [the Abel Way] is based on consecration. Through it, higher, non-personal forces are transferred to the bearer, the priest, which are regarded as an emanation of divine grace. Consecration has the effect that divine effects of grace can be carried into the physical world through the priest. Figuratively speaking, the 1) For explanations about the two columns, see the folder 'Images of Occult Seals and Columns. The Munich Congress at Whitsun 1907 and its Effects', CW 284; the lectures Nuremberg 25 and 26 June 1908 in 'The Apocalypse of John', CW 104; Berlin 20 June 1916 in ' Weltwesen und Ichheit», GA 169; Dornach 29 December 1918 in How can humanity find the Christ again? The threefold shadow existence of our time and the new Christ-light», GA 187; furthermore the pictorial design in the I-A-O motif in the great dome of the first Goetheanum in « Twelve Sketches for the Painting of the Great Dome of the First Goetheanum, an art portfolio Dornach 1930; also in Hilde Raske, Das Farbenwort, Stuttgart 1982. ordained priest becomes a channel through which divine effects flow into the earthly world. Thus, theoretically at least, a priest of dubious personal morality could still evoke effects because they do not come from his personal sphere, but from a superhuman-divine one. This would make the priest a magician who, by virtue of his ordination and the use of certain sacred formulas, forces the deity to let its grace flow. Such an extreme conception of the priesthood, as it occasionally comes to light, certainly misses the truth. But it points to the very ancient origin of the priesthood, to a bygone era of humanity, which is referred to as the magical. This description is not meant to be critical. It is solely a clarifying characterization. The current that underlies Freemasonry, among other things, takes a different path [Cain's way). Here, there is no consecration in the sense of the transmission of higher powers, but rather an initiation, an induction or awakening. The essence of this is characterized by the fact that it invokes powers that are already inherent in man. The symbolic-cultic acts that are usually associated with initiation have the sole purpose of awakening these latent powers and putting them into action. As in all great religions and cultures of antiquity, two currents coexist in Christianity: the priestly and the initiatory. It is as if in Jesus both currents, which are ancient, converge to flow out of him newly revitalized. When Jesus sends out his disciples (Mark 6/7, Luke 9/1), he endows them with powers that lie entirely in the priestly line and do not come from the human-personal sphere of the disciples. It says: “...and gave them authority and power... In the Gospel of John, Jesus clearly appears as the great initiator, as an initiate in the highest sense. This is already hinted at in the first chapter of the Gospel, where he calls Nathanael to discipleship. In the sense of the initiatory system, he addresses Nathanael in a special way, and the latter immediately recognizes him as a higher initiate. In all openness, Jesus appears as the great initiate, as a hierophant in the sense of the old mysteries, when he performs the resurrection of Lazarus (chapter 11). Jesus awakens anew the life of Lazarus, who has become frozen in the sleep of death. And in addition to the “external” awakening process, another profound process takes place in Lazarus, “whom the Lord loved”. In Lazarus, the eternal breaks through. And this eternal is the life of which Jesus says that He is the source. Wherever the spirit, the eternal, the higher self breaks through in a person, or, to put it another way, wherever a person, in his striving, approaches the source of his true being, he experiences the great awakening. Is it any wonder that the Gospel of John occupies such a central position in the esoteric Christian tradition? If true priesthood begins with grace of a superhuman nature, then true initiation should end in grace. If the priest is endowed with extra-personal powers of a higher nature through consecration, then it is up to him to prove himself worthy of them, to awaken to them and, as it were, to personalize them. Initiation, in so far as it is not an empty ceremony, calls upon the deeper, individual powers of the human being. And through them, the human being is to mature towards those spheres in which divine grace is at home. The highest is thus the priest who becomes an initiate, an initiate. Conversely, the initiated person acquires the priestly dignity when the deeply human, which is divine, unfolds in him. Then he stands in grace. Here the circle of apparent contradictions closes. One does not exclude the other. Both are paths on the great path of man to his true being. And this is God.