Esoteric Lessons 1913–1923

GA 266III — Hildesheim

1. Rudolf Steiner's Remarks On The Founding Of The Esoteric Youth Circle

Excerpt from Ernst Lehr's report Entstehungsgeschichte des Jugendkreises (History of the Youth Circle)

Only the part of the report directly related to Rudolf Steiner has been excerpted here. The subheadings are by Lehrs. Deletions and underlining that do not alter the meaning have not been retained. Some of Lehrs' own comments in brackets have been omitted without marking. Other omissions that are not important for the overall context are marked with three dots. All additions by the editor are enclosed in square brackets, including the page numbers in the original, which are provided for cross-references.

It should be noted once again that these notes were written from a more or less distant memory and may not be accurate in every detail; this can be seen in the few places where they can be verified.

Words of Rudolf Steiner from various discussions
preparing for the founding of the circle.

[p. 15:] The account of the events leading up to the actual founding of the community is preceded here by a compilation of statements made by Dr. Steiner in response to the question put to him [about the formation of an esoteric community], beginning with the first meeting devoted to this question, at which it was first expressed in front of all course participants, in accordance with his instructions. The statements reproduced here correspond to the notes made by one or other of his friends, either while Dr. Steiner was speaking or afterwards from memory. Although they are therefore not complete or verbatim, they contain everything essential and give a clear picture of the way in which he guided us through this preparatory work. This [p. 16] guidance consisted in his desire to help us become as clear as possible in our active thinking about what we were striving for, and in the process to rid ourselves of various illusions we had about the coming times and the tasks we had to accomplish. These were days of worry and pain—even after the disputes with the others had been settled—but they were also days of joy and happiness at having been given a gift, which we experienced in this way.

At the first meeting, which took place with all course participants in accordance with his instructions, Dr. Steiner himself spoke only a little. After some of us had tried to describe what we saw as the nature and task of a community such as the one we were striving for, he said:

"I would like to start by saying that I would like to hear from as many different people as possible how you imagine that your future community should be held together, how it should work, and what cohesion actually means to you. Please don't misunderstand me. Of course, only what is justified by the nature of the matter can come out of what is intended here. But it will be a matter of first really saying from the most diverse sides what one imagines should come out of it, so that we can see to what extent there really is, not just supposedly, a free, a completely free personal will. You can, of course, cooperate in the most diverse ways in the sense of the general goals that are being discussed here during our joint campaign. But some of you have more specific goals, or, I would say, you intend to achieve the common goals in a more specific way. And here I would really need to hear from various sides what is actually desired before it is possible to put this matter into an objective framework, what your own mental images are of what you want.

One can only join such a cause as a completely free person. I would therefore ask you to use this hour to speak frankly and freely, without being influenced by anything else, but at the same time taking into account everything that is important to you in making a free decision. I will then say the rest once everyone has had a chance to speak from their various perspectives.

When the discussion came to a standstill at the second meeting because a considerable part of the assembly was in outright opposition or at least did not understand what was at stake, Dr. Steiner said:

"A number of you know with all your energy what you want. Another part does not yet know. A circle is to be formed. The size of the circle has not yet been determined. Those who want to do something in a certain sense—this was the point of Mr. Rath's discussion [on the evening of October 3, before Rudolf Steiner's first lecture]—want to form a circle that contains a spiritual substance within itself, that makes itself the bearer of something spiritual. This gives the circle an esoteric character – although I would ask you not to misuse this word. People have all kinds of ideas about what an “esoteric circle” is. I don't mean you, but others. It is about what one wants. The name is not important. - If I am to go into what I understand by “esoteric,” let me say this: if you want to take the esoteric seriously, you must tell yourself that it is acting according to concrete impulses from the spiritual world. One can only strive toward this. Anthroposophy is a path to this. Forming such a community would then be the decision to embark on this path. This would then lead to various measures that are suitable for achieving this goal. When you speak of “spiritual” content, you must be clear that this is something living. The spiritual is something living, and such a circle cannot therefore be something dead. In other words, it must be a circle of forces. It then has the quality [p. 17] of something living. All sorts of things emerge that have a certain analogy with an organism. Take the human organism. The health of each part is the health of the whole. And so is illness. The little finger suffers when something is wrong with the little toe. If you want a real community, you must want the whole to be influenced by the individual just as much as the individual is influenced by the whole. It is a mutual absorption of karma that is created in such a community organism. There are then common sufferings to be endured, but also (with strong emphasis and a warm voice) common joys.

This presupposes that one does not do as is customary in societies today, where one says: Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2 of the program, and then the various members are united under one program. People must see themselves as human beings, not as members of a program community, as human beings, as fellow human beings with all their imperfections. It is therefore a fundamental task to find people who want to unite under the principles outlined by Mr. Rath, Mr. Lehrs, and Mr. Maikowski. Once you have found such a circle, it can then follow its esoteric path. This will become apparent once the circle is in place. You must first have the circle in order to be able to say whether it can follow an esoteric path. We do not yet have such a circle. However, it will probably present itself. That is why I said that there are personalities who know energetically what they want, such as Mr. Lehrs, who expressed this to me in a letter [see page 393]. But not everyone has done this yet. You must first create this clarity; you must work toward it."

To characterize the essence of a true community, Dr. Steiner recalled in one of these early discussions how Herman Grimm once spoke of the friendship between Goethe and Schiller. If one wanted to express this in a mathematical formula, one should not say “G + S,” but “G + S + S + G.” A true community is always more than the mere sum of its members. To what two people find in each other in this way, there is always a new third element added.¹

Among the first fundamental words about the real essence of what we were looking for are the following:

"I will make sure that you get what you want. We will come to form such a community. Let me just give you the following advice today: What [p. 18] it will be about is that people from the most diverse walks of life will come together. One will take one path in life, another will take another. That is simply what life will bring. This life will become very, very complicated in the very near future. We will have to set the framework for this community in such a way that the most diverse professions and ways of life can be accommodated. However, it is important that each individual takes the spirit that one seeks through the community as concretely as possible. But that means that you understand the following.

What you are looking for is to find a friend in the spiritual world. Finding such a friend is not even difficult. But what matters is that once you have found him, you remain faithful to him in your soul. (This was said with infinite warmth in his voice.)

Therefore, the first condition I must tell you about (and these are always conditions I communicate to you) is that you learn very precisely what spiritual loyalty is. You must be able to promise yourself something and remain true to yourself. You will be able to get all kinds of advice from me. But that will always be only half of what you are looking for. It will be what you need as a foundation. But you must bring the other half yourself. For everything you want to achieve in the spirit, you need to be faithful to what you have set yourself in the spirit. What is the damage of the present age? People have no desire to remain faithful to what they promise themselves. This faithfulness to the promises you have made to yourself and to others is the firm rod in life.

What is alive in anthroposophy is not a “teaching.” It is rather something real, a real being that guides you through life. What you want is to establish a community that has something of this friendly guidance through life. You experience such things when you take the concrete spiritual as extending over your whole life.

Your community will have something of the primordial mystery of all human society, namely that what we do within society does not bear fruit for ourselves, but for others, and that all fruit for ourselves comes from others."

Once, during one of these meetings, which were still taking place, he gave us an example of what he meant by “speaking concretely from the spiritual,” in the sense of the goal of our striving that we had mentioned to him, which he had already discussed in general terms in one of his lectures. A young friend who worked as a farmer had tried to say something about Christ in a previous discussion. It had been a rather awkward stammer, but in our effort to be “positive,” we felt we had to acknowledge his attempt inwardly. He had also told us something about his work on the farm and talked about his experience with manure. We found the latter rather “out of place.” However, we did not voice either of these thoughts aloud. The following day, however, when some of us were again with Dr. Steiner to discuss the progress of the meetings, he suddenly said: "What the young man said yesterday about Christ was rather insignificant. But what he said about manure was excellent. I would like to say something about that myself in today's meeting." The following is an attempt to reproduce what he said. It should be noted that at that time the agricultural course² had not yet been held. Dr. Steiner said:

”It was interesting what you said yesterday as a farmer. I don't have time to stay here much longer, so I would like to say at least this much.

In agriculture, too, people are searching for the spiritual. There, too, they believe that new methods must be found, even in the treatment of material things. If you turn to today's materialistic science, you will not find much love for agriculture. Today's science believes that if you need a certain amount of nitrogen in the field, you have to put that amount into the field. They don't know that you only need to systematically plant sainfoin around the field to provide the necessary amount of nitrogen through radiation.

One brave soul among us, who did not know what plant this was, asked about it. Dr. Steiner replied immediately, and in such a way that it was clear he was not talking “about” this plant or even referring to it as something absent, but rather that the intimacy of his tone, the contemplativeness of his demeanor, and the movement of his hands made the immediate spiritual presence of what he was talking about deeply and impressively tangible. The sainfoin “emerged,” as it were, from his words and gestures. This must be attempted to be felt between the words that follow here.

“Sainfoin — these are plants — they have flower spikes — butterfly flowers — they are purple in color — they have feathery leaves —” And now continuing to talk about the plant that has been made present in this way: “This plant has the remarkable power to penetrate the soil over long distances with what humans want to put into it in the most artificial way possible. Do you think that is nonsense? No! These are things that can be understood when one is able to penetrate into the material world with spiritual knowledge.”

The following are notes from the discussions that took place after the separation from the opponents, initially in a broader context, then in the narrower circle of those involved in the actual founding. Dr. Steiner organized these discussions in a seminar-like format, asking us questions that we were to answer immediately or the next day. One of the first questions was what we envisioned as the task of a future youth movement. Among other things, a friend who had been a member of the Zionist youth movement in Austria for a time reported on her experiences there. Dr. Steiner listened with obvious interest, but then said:

"It would be good if you could incorporate something of the positive task you want to set yourselves into your speech. There is a certain vagueness flowing into the youth movement. It is peculiar that most of those who speak about the youth movement do not speak with certainty, but rather from a certain feeling. But even from feelings, one can describe some things with certainty, and at this moment it would be good if such concrete, positive feelings were expressed. You have characterized the two movements you have been through (Zionism and Wandervogel) well. In the Zionist movement, there is a certain longing for the regeneration of Judaism. But so that we do not end up in something vague with this community here, but rather in something definite, it would be good if you could try to outline what you yourself have imagined. For example, if you could address the question of what you were originally looking for in the youth movement. Not because I want to find out, but so that you yourself have to say: I was looking for this or that specific thing in the youth movement. Such things grow out of the undefined, but one can still try to characterize more precisely some of what one was striving for."

This was followed by some comments on the contrast between the older and younger generations as they were perceived, and the significance of Nietzsche and Spitteler for the opposition of the younger generation was also mentioned. Dr. Steiner took the floor again and said:

[p. 20] "You see, doesn't that tell us something that, by its very nature, can only be a transition? For, after all, we cannot avoid growing older. The question therefore arises as to whether we can remain where we are, striving for something that is complete in time, while we ourselves continue to move forward. If you take the characteristic you have just given, it is limited in time. The objection that the next generation will have it easier is not valid. It will be easier for them in part if those who grow older look back on their own youth and no longer behave toward their children as the previous generation did. But on the other hand, you must not forget that you owe the enthusiasm and great excitement you have had to the opposition. It burned like a fire within you. The next generation will not be able to have this fire if you make it easier for them.

make things easier for them. Therefore, difficulties will arise in the near future that will have to be offset by something you were able to draw from the strength of the opposition.

Life goes on and always creates new conditions. Anyone who can observe life can say: It is good that one generation, namely that of the beginning of this century, fought for something that had its character in a purely inner reason. It is true that with the end of the 19th century, completely new conditions emerged. The children born in 1897, 98, and 99 were born under completely different cosmic conditions than their predecessors. This is the real reason for the recent mood of opposition. There has always been a contrast between younger and older generations, but not this particular spirit of opposition. This is precisely what leads us to foresee great difficulties for future generations. They face the great danger of becoming rootless, of having no core. And so I would like to know what you think about how the next generation can develop a core. The next generation will want to know nothing more about Nietzsche, nor about Spitteler. When you think back to how you were in the youth movement and found something in the mysticism of Baal Schem,³ you will have to say to yourself: the next generation will not be able to be as enthusiastic as you were. That is the difficulty we now face.

What kind of picture can we paint for the next generation? We must work for the progress of humanity. That is why I would like you to say something positive. It is not necessary to use grandiose words or come up with grandiose ideals; often it depends on seemingly small things that are actually great.

(The same topic was then discussed by Dr. Steiner in the sixth lecture of the course itself⁴ where he concludes that the youth movement must have a Janus face, in that it must not only look at the demands made of older people, but also at the as yet undefined demands “that are rushing toward us with tremendous force, that the coming youth will make of us.”)

When the discussion turned to the problem of education in this sense, Dr. Steiner said:

"Among the many criticisms that have been levelled against the Waldorf School is that some of our children are not yet able to read and write perfectly at the age of nine. There is nothing to be said against this: they really cannot do it. But we ourselves do not believe that children should be able to read and write perfectly at the age of eight or nine, because for those who know the nature of human beings completely, the skills developed in today's elementary schools turn people into half-thinking automatons. Instead of giving children letters to copy, we let them play with colors. By learning to feel something in the process, they preserve the life of their soul, which would otherwise die."

[p. 21] It was only through tasks such as discussing the future tasks of a youth movement that we became aware of how difficult it was to arrive at real concepts of what we ourselves wanted. In contrast to the tendency among young people at that time, which was also prevalent among us, to remain at the level of mere feeling, Dr. Steiner made the seemingly unyouthful demand: “Formulate more precisely what you want!” ”Even if much will be destroyed physically, even if little seems to be achieved outwardly, what is created spiritually in this way will remain and retain its value for the future."

In line with this demand, he once gave one of us the task, between one meeting and the next, of thinking concretely about the goals of anthroposophical youth efforts with regard to changing the prevailing conditions among people in their external social life. This friend struggled with great concern to come up with an answer by the next day, seeking help from the rest of us in vain. He looked forward to the next meeting with considerable despondency. Then he seemed to receive a redeeming hint from the remarkably friendly manner in which he was received in the offices of the then existing anthroposophical business enterprise “Der Kommende Tag” (The Coming Day), which was remarkable compared to other offices at that time. And so this was brought up the next day with the remark that we should set ourselves the social goal of finding such friendly faces in all offices around the world. Dr. Steiner listened with an undisguised smile and said, “No⁵ - apart from whether the example is really entirely accurate“ (those familiar with the inner life of ”The Coming Day“ knew what great human difficulties had to be overcome there) - then suddenly becoming very serious - ”it really depends on something else entirely. Social life up to now has been like a mechanism, and nothing will be achieved by operating the levers and cranks of the existing mechanism with slightly smiling faces. What matters is that this mechanism be replaced by an organism." And continuing in an urgent tone: "And you must be clear that what you want can initially be nothing more than pulling a delicate little plant. Think of the deadness of today's social life as large stones and the little plant between these stones. What is dead has, in a sense, a much tougher life than what is alive, because it cannot die. At most, it can be crushed. (Emphatically) — And the stones will be crushed. But you must take care that the delicate little plant is not crushed between them."

Amidst the repeated signs of his dissatisfaction, he was immediately able to show himself animated and affirmative when occasion arose. Once, when one of us, referring to the danger of the future youth becoming rootless due to a lack of opportunity for opposition, as described by Dr. Steiner in the course, said that spiritual content must be brought to the souls of young people, because this would always give rise to new mysteries that could repeatedly spark impulses and strength for further spiritual advancement. He was particularly pleased when it was said that just as social life in the physical world consists of actions performed together, so we strive for joint actions in the spirit, that is, for social activity in the supersensible world. He immediately wanted to know what we should imagine by actions, especially joint actions, in the spirit. When someone tentatively replied that this was probably achieved by meditating on a common spiritual content, he seemed satisfied.

In this way, we found ourselves confirmed, as we would later be several times, in our view of meditation, which we wanted to see not only as a means of private self-improvement, but as an activity that has an effect on an objective spiritual sphere.

[p. 22] The following are statements by Dr. Steiner according to notes made by individual friends, whose connection with the various discussions could no longer be determined from memory.

"As a result of the general development of the human being, the souls of today's human beings have reached the boundary between intellectuality and spirit. They are like fish. When a fish reaches the surface of the water and feels the foreign element of air as it darts out, it reacts with the impulse to dive back down into the water. So you will see that in the coming time, when people unexpectedly reach the limits of intellectuality, they will have the urge to dive deep beneath the intellectual. In contrast, it will be your task to advance through intellectuality to super-intellectuality, through clarity to super-clarity."

“On the path you have chosen, you will become more sensitive than you were before to the Ahrimanic influences in the world. You will therefore suffer more than other people. And you will have to be careful not to fall into the temptation of using the same means to escape this experience that you used to acquire this sensitivity in the first place.” (We understood that we should not retreat into a primarily meditative life as if into a protective harbor.)

When one of us asked where the Ahrimanic forces were most strongly at work today, Dr. Steiner replied: "As far as I have been able to observe, this is the case in the cinema and with the typewriter. Not that there are no other machines that are more Ahrimanic in their construction. But as far as their effect on human beings is concerned, it is as I have told you.

On one occasion he said to us with great urgency: “Don't be human seekers!” (We felt this phrase was a contemporary metamorphosis of Christ's words to his disciples: “Be fishers of men.” In the age of individual freedom, ‘fishing’ becomes “seeking.”)

The human comprehensiveness of what we were striving for was expressed in the words following the discussion about the Zionist youth movement: “You don't want to establish something as small as Zionism.”

We were strongly reminded of the aspirations of the friends of God by the following statement: “There are two parallel streams of history,⁶ one that is manifest and one that is not. Only the former is generally known to people. But behind it, the other stream runs hidden. This one, which is actually the effective one, must never dry up. And for this purpose, groups of people must come together from time to time to continue working in it and shaping it. It is into this stream that you want to place yourselves through your community."

“When people come and ask the spiritual researcher for a common subject for meditation” — (we later learned that this was the first time in the history of occultism that this had been done in the way we did it) - “and if you are truly serious about it, then a greater force can arise to accomplish something in the world than even the most powerful statesman could achieve.”

"Many things seem to be going smoothly at present because they are done mechanically. But the course of the machine runs over people's heads. This is increasingly becoming a huge force that acts on its own and that people can no longer stop with their existing powers. The only way to grow against this force is through a striving that endeavors to carry spirit into the utmost consequences of its [$. 23] actions. Only this will make it possible to withstand the onslaught of the culture machine, namely by bringing spirit and love into one's will. Too few people are currently developing real initiative. There is a lot of desire, but little will.“

”One must distinguish between prayer and meditation. Ordinary prayer today mostly serves to satisfy one's own self. True meditation, however, is the fulfillment of the spiritual will that carries the spirit of the times within itself. Where such meditation is practiced, a spiritual force can work into earthly events. Spiritual worlds want to work into earthly events today, but they can only do so if space is created for them through human meditation. This creates something like a recess in the physical field into which spiritual beings can enter with their effects.“

“Now a time has come when materialism has hardened the bodies to such an extent that individuality cannot incarnate sufficiently. Many people therefore go around at present with part of their being beside them like a companion who cannot dwell in the body. This remains hidden behind the sensory world. It is necessary to penetrate to it. Meditation is a means of doing this.”

The final phase of preparation

After a few meetings of the inner circle, a day came—it was Wednesday, October 11—when Dr. Steiner let us know that he had no time for a discussion with us. Outwardly, this could be explained by his extremely varied commitments. We ourselves, however, felt that we should see this as a spiritual hint that something decisive was expected of us, something that we would once again have to achieve entirely on our own.

[...]

Looking back on how the course came about and how the new community idea gradually emerged, our thoughts inevitably turned to one thing. That was our desire to anchor our community in the spiritual world: our aspiration to serve the guiding spirit of our time, Michael.

[...] [p. 24] [...]

In our distress, at the end of a speech formation lesson, we turned⁷ to Dr. Steiner, briefly describing our situation without, however, going into the specifics of the name we had in mind. Without hesitation, she replied, making a corresponding gesture with her hand above her head: “Yes, yes, the doctor would like to hear something from you about that.” We had the immediate impression that she had been informed by Dr. Steiner himself, probably in anticipation of our struggle and in the expectation that we would turn to her.

We immediately gathered together again and, in great inner excitement, discussed how each of us would try to fulfill Dr. Steiner's expectations when he called us back together. It was now clear that one of us would have to speak to Michael about our intentions. Since it had been Wilhelm Rath who, during the preparation of the course, had first mentioned this name in the context of our spiritual striving, the rest of us agreed that he should be the one to express this to Dr. Steiner on behalf of all of us. Rath accepted this with deep seriousness.

As we left the room where we had discussed this, Dr. Steiner passed by us. Hesitantly, we asked him about the possibility of another meeting. Without hesitation, he scheduled it for the following day.

Thursday, October 12, 1922

Dr. Steiner began immediately with the question: “Well, what else do you have to say to me?” What each of us said was an attempt to express something of the spiritual-essential side of our goals, with Rath finally uttering the name Michael. The following is a summary of some of what was exchanged on that occasion.

One person said that he thought our goal should be to learn to speak spiritually about tables and chairs in the same way that one would otherwise speak about the hierarchies. Each of us was convinced that something had been said that would meet with Dr. Steiner's approval. Instead, he shook his head with a smile and said, “No, rather, you should set yourselves the task of speaking about the hierarchies as naturally as one otherwise speaks about tables and chairs.” He immediately gave an example that surprised everyone. He said that we must become able to recognize and, based on this recognition, to speak about the fact that Ibsen wrote his plays inspired by the archangel Gabriel, who had become Lucifer. He added that this should not be understood to mean that Gabriel himself was a Luciferian being. Rather, he had been seized by the impulse to extend his influence beyond the time available to him. His time had actually come to an end in 1879, but he did not want to relinquish his cultural dominance. This is how a drama such as Ibsen's Ghosts, which is entirely based on the idea of heredity, came about. [p. 25] To keep the past alive beyond its time in this way is always something Luciferic. Gabriel was therefore seized by a Luciferic impulse. And he added: “Gabriel's unlawful continued influence gives rise to cultural excesses which cause desires of a purely intellectual nature to seek their way into the supersensible in a mystical way.”

The friend who, as mentioned earlier in this report, had taken part in one of the priest training courses, picked up on what Dr. Steiner had said there about the nature of anthroposophy. He said that in order for this nature to become effective on earth, a body had to be prepared for it. Could we think that the community we had requested was to become an organ in this body? Dr. Steiner agreed in principle, but said that it was not a question of incarnation, but of incorporation of this essence. “In earthly existence, this essence can only progress to incorporation. Incarnation will only be possible under conditions other than those on earth.”

[Here a passage was omitted about the coexistence of the European peoples, which in its traditional form is certainly not authentic.]

In response to a remark by one of the friends that we were striving for a guidance common to all of us, he said: “Yes, you want to become a conscious group soul.”

After each of us had said something of the kind that we thought he wanted to hear from us, it was Rath's turn. With almost trembling lips, he uttered the decisive words, saying that we wanted to place ourselves under Michael's guidance with this community. All that Dr. Steiner did in response was to look at his watch and say:

“Unfortunately, I must leave you now because I have another appointment. But we will meet again tomorrow evening, and then you will receive from me what you have asked me for.”

Friday, October 13, 1922

We gathered at the appointed hour in the room assigned to us and waited for Dr. Steiner in a solemn and expectant mood. He entered the room together with Mrs. Steiner in a remarkably serious manner. He was holding a small book bound in purple leather [linen], from which he later read the meditations and had us copy them down. Upon entering the room, he paused for a moment in the doorway and counted us, pointing his finger at each of us [p. 26] in turn. This made us realize for the first time that there were twelve of us.

He then went to the place prepared for him at the table and sat down, inviting us to sit down as well. He then opened the book and said in a deep, very calm voice: “I have been instructed to convey the following to you.” — Then he read the words to us and instructed one of us to write them down.⁸ After that, he gave various instructions on the practice of meditation in general, as well as on specific passages from the meditations that had been handed down to us. These are reproduced in a special section attached to this report.⁹

He then spoke about the effect that meditating on such joint exercises would have: "Suppose there are ten of you, and each of you brings the power ‘two’ to the exercise. Then the total effect is not (2 \times 10), but (2^{10}). In other words, the increase in power does not occur according to the law of multiplication, but rather to the law of exponentiation.“

Regarding our personal behavior toward one another as members of the circle, he said: ”Each of you will be faced with very different cultural tasks. Not all of you will have the same degree of external influence. Some will be further ahead, others more in the background, depending on their fate and talents. Some must rejoice in the successes of others. Any feeling of rivalry must be kept at bay by the awareness that what one person achieves, he achieves through the strength of all the others."

“To unite oneself through a mutual promise to strive for a common spiritual goal, while leaving each other completely free in one's actions and judgments in life—a community based on this is something completely new in the development of humanity and something that is most needed today.”

“For someone who arrives at certain conclusions through esoteric means, there is always the danger of megalomania. A community such as yours can be a protection against this. For in it you strive together to cross the threshold of the spiritual world. And there, everyone must say to themselves that what they have achieved personally is also thanks to the efforts of all the others.”

In connection with this, Dr. Steiner cited a corresponding case in the Catholic Church. There, the idea had once arisen in a circle of clergy that the individual priest, through his words, was quoting Christ in the tabernacle, and that Christ therefore obeyed the words of the priest. When the bishop of the diocese in question noticed that this idea was beginning to cause confusion, he issued a pastoral letter¹⁰

Regarding the integration of the spiritual life into the outer life of the day, he said: "Now you must divide your life in two! (This word was pronounced with sharp emphasis.) One part takes place in your exercises, the other in your external life. In the former, you absorb the spirit, and then it will flow out into life by itself in the latter. But for this to happen, it is necessary that you place yourself completely in this external life."

[p. 27] At the end of this meeting, he returned to the subject of persevering with the exercises once they had been taken up. He described the significance of the deeds we are able to perform through such activity. "In the physical realm today, the Ahrimanic power is so strong that no individual human ego can stand up to it. Therefore, no human ego today can guarantee that it will actually be able to carry out a decision, insofar as it concerns a physical action. But the field in which you have now set yourselves to do deeds is one to which the Ahrimanic power has no access. Therefore, the execution of what you have set yourselves to do here depends solely on yourselves. Therefore, you have here the first opportunity to do deeds in freedom, and thus the first opportunity to practice loyalty."

Once again, as in the very first meeting with him, the word “loyalty” was spoken with particular warmth. This brought us back, as it were, to that other word about the necessary loyalty to a friend once found in the spiritual world.

It should be added here that before reading the exercises, Dr. Steiner spoke a few introductory words, but none of those present can remember them in detail. Only one friend thinks he clearly remembers that during his speech, Dr. Steiner allowed the three Rosicrucian sayings to resound at intervals, “as if from the depths of the primordial world.”

In conclusion, Dr. Steiner said that he wanted to give us something in the next few days that would enable us to expand the circle in the future. “We will shape your community in a way that will be close to your hearts.” He dismissed us for the time being, shaking each of us warmly by the hand, as well as Dr. Steiner, with whom he left the room. In his last words, we heard the answer to a remark we had made during the preliminary discussions, namely that we thought the significance of the community we were seeking must be expressed through the act of its founding and the form of membership.

We were then summoned to perform this act early in the morning of Monday, the 16th, before Dr. Steiner's departure for Dornach.

Encounter with the young movement for religious renewal

[pp. 27/28: It is reported here that some of the founders of the circle, in agreement with Dr. Rittelmeyer and Dr. Steiner, intended to participate in the first human dedication ceremony of the Christian Community on Sunday, October 15, at which others besides the priests could also be present. This was part of the preparations within the inner circle before the service of dedication to the human being was to be celebrated publicly for the first time in the congregations on the first Sunday of Advent. In the preceding discussion, in which details of the service were announced, Lic. Emil Bock demanded that all participants commit themselves through their participation to work for the development of the Christian Community. The founders of the circle then withdrew from their plan.

The founding of the circle on Monday, October 16, 1922

[p. 28] Due to Dr. Steiner's early departure, the meeting took place at 7 o'clock in the morning. We waited for him outside the room to which we had been summoned, on the landing of the front steps. He came down to meet us and, before entering the room, asked us with an expression of interested expectation whether we had taken part in the human dedication ceremony the day before. We replied in the negative, referring to a difficulty that had arisen on the part of the priesthood. He then said several times emphatically that as far as he was concerned, nothing stood in the way. “Come in; we will discuss it right away. You must tell me what stood in your way!”

Thus began the meeting dedicated to the solemn founding of the circle, with a report from us about what we had experienced that evening and the decision that had been forced upon us, as well as a fundamental explanation by Dr. Steiner about his relationship to the Christian Community and, in contrast, his position in the anthroposophical movement. He made it clear to us that he had a completely different opinion about the conditions for participation in the cult than the one we had been presented with there. But the Christian Community had been founded in such a way that it was not his judgment but that of the priests that was decisive, and he himself was not responsible for the judgments that prevailed in the life of this movement. He himself had neither founded the Christian Community nor was he its responsible leader. In order to understand his relationship to it correctly, subtle differences in terminology were necessary. He had only demonstrated the liturgy to the priests, but had never celebrated it himself. It had been celebrated for the first time by Dr. Rittelmeyer. His relationship to the anthroposophical movement was different. There he was responsible for ensuring that correct judgments prevailed. "But it is often the case that everything in this [p. 29] movement has originated from clear impulses. However, these have often been obscured later on, sometimes precisely because of the good intentions of the members. And this is where a circle such as yours should set itself the task of helping to ensure that the original impulses are preserved in their clarity or, where they have become obscured, are restored to clarity."

Then he moved on to other things. We remember that he took the opportunity to speak about H.P. Blavatsky, probably in connection with a presentation of the occult movements of recent times that preceded anthroposophy. However, no one can remember any details except that Dr. Steiner spoke of this personality as a “world-historical medium.”

Next, he explained something to us about our position in the world as members of our community. From now on, it would be of karmic significance for every group of people in the outer world — for example, students at a teacher training college where one of us was studying — that a member of this circle had once been among them. Likewise, he repeated, karmic effects would occur between people connected to us “physically or physically-spiritually”—for better or for worse, depending on whether we were good or bad in our endeavors. However, he warned that this could not be judged correctly without further ado. This required a skill that could be better expressed in English: occult discrimination. “Consider yourself the root of the circle,” he said with regard to its future growth.

Regarding the handling of future admissions, he only said that we should not accept anyone under the age of 21. This is because at that age, people do not yet have legal control over themselves, and this could lead to conflicts with their parents and thus with the public justice system. Under all circumstances, it must be avoided that the circle comes into contact with the authorities of public life. He also advised us not to accept married women whose husbands were not present or who were unlikely to have access to the group. Dr. Steiner concluded this part of the discussion by saying, with a noticeable change in his attitude, that he now wanted to give us a formula—he called it the “Angelobeformel”—which, when read aloud in the presence of others, would complete our entry into the community. We were to accept each other first by reading the formula aloud to one another. In future, it would then serve to expand the circle on our own responsibility. He asked someone to bring writing materials and paper, and dictated the formula¹¹ He then recited it freely, word for word, as if drawing it down from the spiritual realm, his gaze fixed pensively before him. Then he paused briefly, folded his arms and hands quietly in front of him, and said with deep seriousness and a voice in which worldly steadfastness seemed to be paired with humble silence: “And now consider your community as founded by the spiritual world itself.” Then he rose, and we rose with him. Then he went to each one of us, stood quietly before us, took our right hand in both of his, and looked into our eyes for a short time with a gaze that cannot be described in words—perhaps one may, based on a description of it in one of the Rosicrucian lectures given later (January 1924)¹²

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[p. 30] Before leaving, he asked us to inform him if anyone had decided not to join the circle after all. This surprised us, as after all that had happened, such a thing seemed inconceivable to us. Later, difficulties that arose made us understand his precaution. However, no one took advantage of this freedom that was once again made available to us at that time. At least it told us for our own future behavior that those requesting admission should be granted a final review of their decision even after becoming familiar with the contents.

It had been important to us that we had found ourselves in the idea of such a community from the beginning, regardless of mutual emotional sympathy. We also believed that we should not seek to become closer to each other in this part of our being in the future. How surprised we were, then, when Dr. Steiner turned back to us again as he was leaving and said warmly: “And now get to know each other well!” At first, this gave us the idea of telling each other about our lives when we met that evening, which then became a lasting custom for new members.In the time remaining before his departure, Dr. Steiner allowed us to ask him all kinds of questions of a more or less personal nature. One asked for advice on his studies and was given the topic for his doctoral dissertation. Another received important information for his historical research. Yet another received precise medical instructions for an ailment that was troubling him. Among these questions was one that is worth mentioning here because of the general significance of Dr. Steiner's answer.

The question concerned Dr. Steiner's position on what had existed until 1914 as a kind of esoteric sect¹³ within the society of that time and what had now been newly formed. He said the following in response: “When I began teaching, I had to try to connect with the remnants of the old tradition. What emerged in this way had to be broken off at a moment of external events. What has now happened is unprecedented in the post-Christian era: people have freely decided, out of their own initiative, to join together esoterically in the face of the spiritual world.” We would like to add the following from our later experience. When, after the end of the First World War, some older esoteric members asked Dr. Steiner about the possibility of resuming what had been interrupted at the beginning of the war, he replied that the old could not be resumed, but that new esoteric forms could well arise within society. However, this would depend on people coming to him of their own free will and asking for a common esotericism. This could only happen in Central Europe and among members of the younger generation. He would have to wait for this.¹⁴ This is how we understood his surprisingly positive behavior when Rath asked our question at that committee meeting before the first lecture of the course.

When Rudolf Steiner finally left the room to drive to Dornach in the car that was already waiting, he turned around several times at the door and waved warmly with both hands.

[End of Ernst Lehrs' report]