78. Theosophy and German Culture

The following is a short excerpt of what Dr. Rudolf Steiner (as General Secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society) said in London on July 3, 1903 on the occasion of the first assembly of the Federation of European Sections of the Theosophical Society (compare the previous article): The European sections have agreed to meet annually for the common care of the Theosophical Society. On these occasions, the individual contributions that the various regions of Europe are able to make to our great international task will come together, and the representatives of the individual sections will take the inspiration of the congresses back to their home regions to continue to work there. Our German section is not even a year old. It is therefore natural that it can only point to limited successes in the past. But it may be said that we have the best hopes for the future of Theosophy in Germany. For the whole essence of the German national spirit is one that is drawn to Theosophy. Where German intellectual culture has produced its most beautiful blossoms, there a hidden but no less effective theosophical attitude has always been found among the bearers of this culture. For not only did the deep mysticism of a Meister Eckhart and a Tauler, of a Valentin Weigel, Jacob Boehme, Angelus Silesius and of the secret mystical societies flow from this attitude and way of thinking; but also the world views of our more recent German thinkers, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel, rest on this foundation. And what found expression in these outstanding personalities has its roots in the depths of the German national soul. That is why the greatest of modern German poets, Goethe, was imbued with such an attitude, with such a way of thinking. Goethe can only be fully understood when one sees through the theosophical way of looking at things, which is not to be discovered on the surface but in the depths of his creations. This side of Goethe's work has remained almost completely misunderstood. Once it is understood, what Goethe created will become an important promoter of the theosophical movement in Germany. Goethe's whole view of nature is based on theosophical principles. Much of what he, according to his own saying, has “secretly incorporated” into his Faust are theosophical truths. And then there is also his world view, which he summarized in his deeply symbolic fairy tale of “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily”. This fairy tale is nothing less than Goethe's “secret revelation”. It must be read as one reads esoteric writings, its meaning must be studied as one studies the meaning of secret representations of deeply hidden truths. Until one has done this, one does not know the whole of Goethe. Under the influence of such study, a new light is thrown on many other things in Goethe's life and work; and above all, it is proved that in him the Germans have a theosophical poet. And let us turn to Novalis, whose “magical idealism” is also Theosophical; and finally to Schelling, who in the forties appeared at the University of Berlin with his views, gained through long, deep research, in his lectures on “Philosophy of Mythology” and “Philosophy of Revelation”. Only one thing is missing in all these theosophical efforts of the Germans: a deeper understanding of the great world laws of reincarnation and karma. For even if Jean Paul represented the doctrine of re-embodiment out of his intuition, it has never been organically connected with the currents mentioned earlier. The theosophical movement will incorporate these comprehensive truths into German culture. In this way it will bring the great personalities of the Germans, indeed their own national soul, closer to them; and Theosophy itself will receive the most beautiful fertilization from this side. As much as it is true that German life has much to expect from Theosophy, it is equally true that it has much to contribute to the Theosophical world movement.