Christ's I Am and the Initiate's Path to Knowledge

GA 266I — 27 May 1909, Berlin

Esoteric Lesson

In the time before Christ came to earth and became human, such a strong darkening had set in that even the masters in physical life no longer had the clear insight into the supersensible that they had possessed earlier. Only very gradually, after Christ came in the flesh, did an enlightenment begin again. That is why we find that among the initiated contemporaries of Christ Jesus, for example in the Gospels [?], there is no understanding of the significance of the event at Golgotha; even a great initiate, who in his Egyptian incarnation was hidden from almost nothing of the spiritual goods that had been revealed to human beings, could not clearly remember it.

First, knowledge is always revealed to humanity from above, from higher beings, through its great initiates and also through their disciples; then the initiates must pass on these revelations as teachings. And no one can come to knowledge without first being given as teaching what has already been revealed. That is quite impossible. Therefore, esoteric schools have always taught what can lead students to knowledge. Therefore, theosophy teaches what may be given publicly in order to give those who long for it the opportunity to come to the knowledge of the truth, to Christ.

The childhood of the great initiates differs little from that of other children; perhaps only a few points indicate what kind of spirit lives in the child. They must learn and enrich their knowledge like others and thereby attain what they were in previous incarnations. This was also the case with Christian Rosenkreutz. Some may have been surprised that he did not know the significance of the events at Golgotha from the outset. This was because the I of Christ Jesus had been placed within him, just as the etheric body was placed within Augustine and the astral body within St. Francis of Assisi.¹ But because it was the I, it first had to work its way to knowledge in order to then bring it to full effect. He thus had a high and important mission.

The true and only name of Christ is “I am”; whoever does not know this, does not understand it, and calls him by another name knows nothing about him. “I am” is his only name.