5. The Introduction of “Lucifer-Gnosis”

January 1904

For the first time, “ Lucifer” appears in public in association with “Gnosis”. It was only natural that the dress should be changed somewhat, in order to make the union of the two magazines apparent in the outward appearance. Inside, neither the readers of “Lucifer” nor those of “Gnosis” will notice any change. Both magazines were striving to serve a world and life view that represents science, religion, morality and philosophy in a higher unity. Such a goal cannot be realized today if the forces are split up, but only if they work together in harmony. And true knowledge can never lead to the promotion of special interests, but only to unity. The tendency to seclusion in the pursuit of the high goals of the soul life and spiritual culture only proves that selfish inclinations still overgrow the selfless devotion to the ideals of genuine humanity. Contemporary science shows more and more that it itself is pushing towards the world of ideas that is expressed in this journal. Those who judge this science not according to the dogmas that some of its representatives put forward, but according to the facts that it brings to light, must realize that both natural and spiritual research of the present no longer make a materialistic world view seem possible. Error upon error, narrow-minded concepts upon narrow-minded concepts must be heaped up by those who still want to uphold the materialistic interpretation of world phenomena. - In addition, for many who, out of a natural healthy feeling, cannot find satisfaction in materialistic science and view of life, a more or less strong despair of solving the great riddles has set in. Others have become completely indifferent to these things. Many a person loses the courage to search when he is confronted with the confusing views that are coming at him from all sides today, not least from scientific research, which is gradually striving for an authoritative influence that makes the influence of religious systems in earlier times seem very small. And those who lose their courage in this way are not far from indifference towards the most sublime matter of humanity.

Those who know how to interpret the signs of the times cannot doubt that the aims of the now united journals are a necessity in our present time. And these aims will be realized more and more as the realization of their importance spreads. With the best hopes, therefore, the Lucifer, associated with the Gnosis, appears before the public. Its program is to be as comprehensive as possible. It will always go hand in hand with true science. All fields of research, from religious studies to mathematics, from astronomy and geology to biology and the history of peoples and cultures, should present their results here, insofar as they serve as the basis for a genuine spiritual worldview or can lead to it. Mysticism, theosophy and the observation and experimental investigation of phenomena of the soul, moral, philosophical and higher artistic questions should appear here united. And in the sense of the great spiritual movement, which has been spreading as “theosophical” for more than a quarter of a century in all civilized countries, the motto of Lucifer-Gnosis will be: No individual human opinion stands above the investigation of truth.

Berlin W., Motzstraße 17
Dr. Rudolf Steiner