The Body of Knowledge and Christ Light in Evolution

GA 266II — 12 June 1911, Berlin

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

My dear sisters and brothers! We must realize that there is a great difference between external, exoteric knowledge and the knowledge that theosophy imparts to us. When we allow an external view to influence us, mental images and concepts form within us; we learn about the thing we are looking at, we gain knowledge about it. Is it the same with theosophical knowledge? Here too, when we are told about the four limbs of the human being or about the planetary states of the earth or the Akashic Chronicle, we form concepts and mental images about these things, but there is something else involved. While exoteric knowledge does not enrich us and leaves nothing behind after death, it is different with all esoteric knowledge. It flows into us, into our astral body, and forms certain new members there; new threads weave themselves into the astral body and remain connected to our being. We know that the astral body surrounds the human being in an egg shape. Since an I works within it, it radiates outwards:

New threads, new insights, weave their way into it, so that we can call it the “body of knowledge.” This body of knowledge will become denser and stronger and will finally become spirit itself. By developing it, we alone make the planetary evolution of the earth possible. On Jupiter, this body of knowledge will already be as dense as our astral body, on Venus as dense as our etheric body, and on Vulcan it will finally have become as physical as our blood, for example.

How can this theosophical knowledge become so fruitful that the body of knowledge develops in the astral body? Let us clarify this with a concrete example.

We are surrounded by physical, material air. We breathe it in. That is what keeps us alive. This is described in the Bible with the words: “God breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul.” But what we breathe out, carbon dioxide, cannot sustain life; it is the air of death. Death came about because we were released from the bosom of the gods. Man ate from the tree of knowledge, which means that with the help of Lucifer, he gained his independence, his freedom. Therefore, he was expelled from paradise, which means that he is no longer an air man, as in the Lemurian era, but has become a water man and then an earth man. As long as he is on earth, Lucifer will have power over him. But that is the tragedy of this being: Lucifer's power does not extend beyond the earth. All pain and suffering arise from Lucifer and are connected with this tragedy.

On Jupiter, there will also be no more exoteric knowledge. If man had remained in paradise, he would also have eaten from the tree of life. Through the influence of Lucifer, the tree of life was taken away from him, and with it the possibility of sinking much lower than he did after eating from the tree of knowledge. Now, however, the tree of life is transformed into a sign that initially signifies death, but which contains within itself a higher life that man can attain if he makes the cross with the red roses his own.

Just as the earth is surrounded by an envelope of air that humans breathe, so too is there a spiritual substance in this air that wants to flow into humans. It is up to us whether we let this spiritual substance escape again as death air, or whether we connect it with our theosophical knowledge and weave its fruit into our astral body. But this is not only important for us, but for the entire cosmos. If we breathe in this spiritual substance without making it fruitful within us, we take something from the cosmos without giving anything back, thus hindering evolution. It depends on us whether the Jupiter state can follow on Earth, namely by increasing these spiritual forces in the Earth's orbit.

When we look at Saturn, we know that our physical body originated there in its first form. It arose from the thoughts of the gods, and these thoughts condensed into what we are today. But it was already planned on Saturn that human beings would continue the work of the gods, and we do this when we allow the spiritual substance of our environment to flow into us in order to build up our body of knowledge from it.

That was the purpose of the Mystery of Golgotha, to offer human beings this opportunity. What is it that we take in with this spiritual substance within us? It is Christ Himself. Before the Mystery of Golgotha, this was not so. People could say, “Ex Deo nascimur” (We are born from God). Those who were to be initiated at that time were prepared to return to what had been handed down by the ancient gods. But we know that with the mystery of Golgotha, the aura of our earth changed because Christ became the spirit of the earth. He poured himself substantially into this earth aura and has been contained within it ever since. And now the time has come again when this poured-out Christ substance has become condensed so that it can be taken up by human beings. In Christo morimur therefore means nothing other than to immerse oneself in this spiritual substance and take Christ completely into oneself, so that one can say: “Not I, but Christ in me.”

But we must not forget one thing: where there is much light, there is also much shadow. With the new teachings that have been given to our time, many errors will also creep in, so it is our sacred duty to examine everything we hear with our common sense. This has always been emphasized in all Rosicrucian esotericism. However, we should show tolerance toward those who err, and always say to ourselves: if what we have is really the truth, it will stand on its own. But if it is error, then through my ardent striving for truth, I will attain the certainty of finding the truth in my next incarnation.

The seed of my body lay in the spirit ...

Record B

Knowledge on the physical plane, like all science, art, and even mediumistic spiritualistic knowledge, is Luciferic knowledge, which is doomed to death, just as exhaled air is dead. Theosophical knowledge, on the other hand, is substantial, building up the body of knowledge, the future spirit self on Jupiter.

Just as the air surrounds us, so does the spiritual environment, which since the event at Golgotha has been the Christ light and has now become so condensed that we can take it in. We must take it in with the body of knowledge so that it is not killed, but works alive within us. A Rosicrucian saying goes: Man is immortal if he wants to be. The body of knowledge is the immortal part that we take with us beyond death. Rosicrucian esotericism has shaped every word in such a way that it develops the powers of logical thinking and reason, and thus everything that research communicates from the spiritual worlds must be grasped and examined. No blind faith should rule in human beings; blind faith in authority kills logical thinking and the spiritual in human beings. Lucifer is a tragic figure who knows that his power over humanity will end with the Earth. All pain and suffering in the world is Luciferic. Human beings used to be in the air circle of the Earth; it was only through Lucifer that they fell into the watery and earthy elements: this is the basis of the image of the Fall. Without Lucifer, human beings would have instinctively woven the body of knowledge into their three other members. The plan of freedom was inserted as the second plan of Earth's development. On the Sabbath, the gods rested—this is to be taken literally, since man must now continue working on his higher members himself; he must build up his body of knowledge himself through theosophical thoughts and insights, just as the gods on Saturn created our physical body through thoughts and mental images. The clairvoyance of the present time is the emergence of spiritual forms into human consciousness; human beings form them by taking in the Christ light into their bodies of knowledge. Human beings were not allowed to eat from the tree of life in Paradise because then they would have remained in Lucifer's realm on Earth with their knowledge. Now that the Tree of Life has become the Cross, dead wood from which new life—the roses—sprouts, he is to eat from the Tree of Life and drink the juice of the roses. In Christo morimur means to merge into the spiritual environment of the earth through meditation. Christ only needed to come to earth once because humanity has progressed since then and will be able to see him differently in the future.