Knowledge of Soul and Spirit

GA 56 — 10 October 1907, Berlin

The Mission of Esoteric Science in Our Time

Anyone who speaks of secret science today, or even, as is our topic today, of the mission of secret science in our time, must be prepared to encounter a wide variety of reactions. On the one hand, we must not hide the fact that the mere utterance of the words “secret science” is enough to provoke the opinion among a large number of our contemporaries that that this is something extremely obscure, or, as people like to say, mystical in the worst sense of the word, something that can only arise or arouse interest in people with unclear thinking, at least in those who have no idea of what we call the great advances in the field of knowledge in our time. How many will tell you that the term “esoteric science” is only used by those who stand apart from the great advances in natural science or other fields of knowledge in our time. If, on the one hand, the mere utterance of the word “secret science” provokes some opposition, we must not hide from ourselves that there is much that is justified in such opposition. For, strange as it may seem — the whole series of lectures will show you what is meant — one cannot help but say it: The true secret scientist, who is conscious of not being an obscurantist in relation to the so-called advances in science or knowledge in our time, who wants to stand firmly on the ground of our contemporary culture and only go beyond certain of its superficialities, must, yes, he must say, in accordance with his intellectual orientation and insight into the circumstances of the time, that those opponents who speak as we have just characterized them are perhaps the less dangerous contemporaries for him, less harmful to his intellectual current than others who, in a certain respect, even count themselves among the followers, indeed the apostles, of so-called secret science. It is strange when something like this is said, but it is true.

For many people today, the term “secret science” has a certain appeal. What the secret scientist is so easily accused of by his opponents is that people are too easily moved when something mysterious, something dark, or something enigmatic is spoken of, so that those who are unclear in their thinking or too comfortable to stand on the ground of knowledge, or too weak to let knowledge work on them, are drawn to it. enigmatic, so that those who are unclear in mind or too lazy to stand on the ground of knowledge, or too weak to let knowledge affect them, are full of interest when something dark and mysterious is discussed. Thus, the occult scientist has much support, and in a certain sense he counts on this strange instinct in human nature, on the pull in human nature toward the spiritual in the worst sense of the word.

It cannot be denied that in our chaotic times there are indeed many people who are driven to what is called occult science solely by this dark instinct of human nature. And when the opponents of secret science see what such apparent followers do, what they often claim, and how they often view the knowledge of our time, then it is not at all surprising that our opponents come to the conclusion just described. If the occult scientist could be afraid, one could perhaps make the grotesque but true assertion that today he should be more afraid of a large number of his followers than of his opponents. For these opponents will have to make a turn, as we will perhaps characterize in the course of today's lecture, but as will become clear in the next lecture, when we talk about “natural science at a crossroads.” For today, the aim is to clarify the task, meaning, significance, and mission of so-called secret science in our time through this characterization of left and right in a purely narrative form.

If you look through the program that has been presented to you for these winter lectures, you will see that the wording has been changed. Some lectures refer to secret science, others to Spiritual Science. This has been done deliberately in each individual case, although Spiritual Science, as represented here, is quite synonymous with what is called secret science. First of all, do not understand the word “secret” in the composition of secret science or secret scientific as meaning something absolutely secret and obscure. The lecture itself will show you why this particular word, secret science, is used for the sum of truths and insights that we want to talk about over the course of the winter.

If we want to say what secret science is based on, we must first give a very simple answer. We must say that secret science rests on two convictions: first, on the conviction that behind what our senses show us in the outer world, behind what our minds can take in through sensory perceptions and experiences, behind what our eyes can see and our hands can grasp, there is a higher, invisible, supersensible world. This is the one conviction. The other conviction is that human beings are capable of perceiving and seeing this supersensible, invisible world by developing their own powers of cognition and abilities. When we express these two things, we have said what all so-called secret science is based on.

But immediately, important objections arise from among our contemporaries. Our education today has a tendency to say: We have absolutely no need to speak of any supernatural world, any invisible world; these are the prejudices of a past that is, thank God, now gone. So say many. And not so long ago — although such voices are already becoming rarer today — those who considered themselves the most enlightened and advanced said that turning to invisible, supersensible backgrounds of things belonged to a childish, naive age of human development, when people did not yet stand firmly on the ground of scientific knowledge, when people still believed they could solve the riddles of existence through all kinds of fabrications and flights of fancy. But modern times have taught people that research, which makes use of the experience of the external senses, does not need to resort to such supernatural powers or beings, but that the world as we see it with our senses can be explained from within itself. And if we can explain the world from within itself—so say the materialists and also those who call themselves monists, and there are many of them among our contemporaries—if we can discover the sensory causes within the sensory world, then we have no reason to invoke supernatural entities.

This is a radical direction that seeks to break completely with all views of the supernatural. This view has weighty arguments in its favor, which cannot be denied. Who would want to misjudge the immeasurable progress made in the natural sciences over the last few centuries, and especially in the last century? Who would not admire these research results, which on the one hand reach up to the phenomena of the starry sky, and on the other hand delve down into the secrets of the smallest living creatures, into the secrets of matter and sensory existence? Who would not stand in awe even before the bold speculations that have emerged in recent times from such beautiful discoveries as that of radium by individual researchers? And who would not see that there is something dazzling when those who stand on the ground of such radical positivism or materialism — the name is not important here — say: The researcher is still far from solving all the mysteries of existence through sensory research; but we must be patient, for the time will come when what is still covered by a thick veil today will be clarified by natural science itself; the time will come when archaeologists will unravel the past world lying in the layers of the earth that are still covered today, nature in its creation, when purely sensory research will shed light on the past. The time will also come — as those who stand on the ground of research will rightly say — when certain substances will be mixed with inanimate substances in the laboratory, so that it will be possible to produce living substance in the laboratory itself. Perhaps this still seems like a reckless idea today, but development is moving in this direction, and then you, secret scientist, can pack up, because you will no longer have the right to speak of supernatural things once we have shown that even life can be produced through a combination of substances and forces.

The answer to such objections must be given in the entire series of lectures. It would be reckless to try to give an answer today. I will say only one thing, which should typify how misleading the objections are that are raised against the seemingly obscurantist secret science: While natural science today rightly asserts that the time will come when living beings will be created from inanimate substances, and this research, which has elevated itself to a kind of religion, believes it can thereby refute something that secret science readily demolishes, the truth is that secret science has always known this! Yes, because it knew this, it was able to stand so firm and secure! It is a complete misunderstanding of the true character of secret science to raise such objections against it. The complete answer will emerge in the course of the lectures.

There are other contemporaries who say: It may well be that there is a supersensible world behind our sensory world; but human beings, with their powers and abilities, cannot know anything about such a supersensible world and therefore must not speak about it if science is to be discussed. This is an even more widespread opinion. People do not want to decide the question of the supersensible at all; they want to leave it completely undefined, to make it the object of a purely subjective, arbitrary belief as to whether there are senses that can perceive the supersensible. Human beings cannot possibly see beyond external nature, and they stray from the ground of knowledge and move into the realm of arbitrary belief when they seek to transcend the boundaries of external nature.

Secret science counters this view in the following way. It says: You have examined the cognitive faculties available to humans. You have shown that when humans use these cognitive faculties, they cannot possibly go beyond nature, where the supernatural begins. And now you say: Because we have proven this, occult science or the science of the supersensible is impossible. Those who speak in this way assume that occult science proves them wrong. But that is not the case. Occult science agrees with them completely; it stands precisely on the same point of view. Occult science says: You have investigated your cognitive faculties and shown exactly how far they can take you. You have shown that it cannot be used to enter the supersensible world. You are absolutely right; but you are making one mistake, the mistake of not sticking to the positive, of not merely asserting what you know, but adding something that you cannot know, by asserting that no human being can know it.

Here we encounter a trait in our so-called scientifically minded contemporaries that does not come from science or knowledge at all, but from a general feeling, an unspoken instinct of our time. Of course, this instinct only becomes apparent when one examines the events of our time a little as a completely unbiased, calm observer. Try picking up a journal, a newspaper, any popular or even scholarly book that deals with questions such as those I have raised from any perspective. You will find nothing more often than some variation of the phrase that, from a higher intellectual point of view, is a fateful one: We can only know this or that. One cannot pass judgment on this or that. — See for yourself whether, when these things are discussed, this “one” or “we” is not always to be found! It is quite inconspicuous, but born of a deeply ingrained instinct. It is the belief that each individual, through what he can understand, through what he knows, has a certain infallibility for all knowledge, and that each person can say what not only he, but people in general, what “we” can and cannot know. Out of this instinct, our contemporaries cannot bring themselves to believe that there can be any real development in terms of knowledge. And yet, how absurd this view is when considered only in relation to one's own life! Just think about it: when does the point come for the individual when he can decide where the limits of his powers of discernment lie? Can they decide at the age of twenty-five, thirty-six, sixty, or even ten, where the limits of their cognitive abilities lie? Is there not development in every life? Do we not make different assertions in childhood than we do later in life? Can we entertain the idea that we have nothing to learn from anyone in the world, that no one in the world can know more than we do? But it is instinctive in the nature of our contemporaries that everyone determines the limits of their cognitive abilities for themselves. And this instinct gives rise not only to this assertion, but also to numerous works that deal with it in thousands of pages. If you look behind the scenes, they ultimately stem from nothing other than the fact that humans live by this instinct.

The secret scientist, however, counters this with the following. He says: You are completely right about the insights that you think are clear to you; you cannot recognize anything more than that. But there is a development of the faculty of cognition. If you want to penetrate the supersensible world, you must develop supersensible cognitive faculties. And that is possible! — So the position taken by occult science does not contradict what these people say at all. It even agrees with them. It only says that human beings have another faculty of cognition within them that is without these limitations and that they can develop within themselves. Now, does anyone in the world — let us consider it from the standpoint of clear logical thinking — have the right to say that there is no such thing as the development of the faculty of cognition? What can he say? He can only say, I do not know it, it is unknown to me. He can draw the boundary for himself through which he cannot see into such a development. If he says, my limits of cognition are not sufficient for this, then he is bound to say: I do not know. — Then he must not want to decide anything about such facts. It is not the one who knows nothing about the supersensible world who can say whether it exists or not, but the one who knows something about it. Esoteric science stands precisely on the standpoint of positivism in all its universality. The esoteric scientist says: No one has the right to decide what can or cannot be known, but each person has to decide only about what he himself knows.

This touches on an emotional aspect that is not without significance in our esoteric science. It is said that occult science leads to spiritual arrogance because spiritual scientists claim that they can go beyond ordinary knowledge. But the opposite is true. There is no greater arrogance than that which wants to decide not only what it does not know, but even what human beings are allowed to know or not know. That is arrogance that sets itself up as the norm for all people. On the other hand, it is spiritual humility when those who stand on the ground of esoteric science do not want to decide anything other than what they can know. We do not talk about what lies beyond the limits of our knowledge. That is the attitude that leads to true humility. Therefore, what secret science deals with will always have to bear a personal character. That is no harm. Nor does it speak against the validity of the truths of secret science. We must be clear that what human beings want to find and should find about the highest and supersensible things must be found in their innermost soul through the power that they always develop through themselves in spiritual life. But if this is the case, then basically everyone who wants to see the facts of secret science for themselves must be directed to their own inner being. Many opponents derive their objections from this, saying that something that can only be fathomed within the human being can only be left to faith and cannot claim universal validity.

The impartial observer can see how narrow-minded this conclusion is. There is something that very few people can use for comparison, but which offers a very good example for those who are in a position to do so. It is something that, like the truths of secret science, we must experience within ourselves; anything external can be nothing more than an example, a stimulus: These are mathematical truths. They are also the most universal truths. Those who can use them for comparison will find this comparison entirely appropriate. Mathematical truth is something that humans can never find through their external senses. No matter how much you measure the three angles of a triangle, you will never find the unshakeable truth that these three angles together add up to 180 degrees. You have to recognize this within yourself. This is the case with all geometric and mathematical truths.

Two things come to mind in relation to such truths that are recognized internally. The first is something that is highly unpopular today. People say: How can you expect others to agree with something that only lives inside a person? How can we believe that something is true if we only recognize it within ourselves? — Precisely

the opposite is true. The majority decides nothing when it comes to real truth. If you have learned a mathematical theorem, understood it, and become inwardly convinced of its truth, then two things apply to you: First, if a million people contradict you and disagree with you, it does not shake you at all. That is one thing. The second is that you are clear that anyone who creates the same conditions within themselves as you do in order to recognize, must agree with you, even though you have found the truth within. Just as it is true that the majority decides nothing about mathematical truths, so it is true that — if the conditions are correctly established, and this can be taught to everyone — the multitude can decide nothing about the results of secret science. We can find it within ourselves, and nothing external can dissuade us once we have recognized it within ourselves. In ancient times, the followers of secret science, who called themselves Gnostics, called this secret science Mathesis; not to say that it was mathematics, but because this secret science has the character of mathematical truths. But it has been a long time since the character of secret science was seen in this purity. It is regrettable that much has found its way into it that clouds the view, so that those who stand on the standpoint of science are horrified when they encounter something like secret science.

This leads us to questions that point us to two words that people today cannot use often enough: the words knowledge and faith. It is said that one can know something about the things that science deals with, but that one can only believe in other things, which is then a personal matter. Only because those who say this do not understand how to create the conditions for any belief to become knowledge can they speak in this way. Those who are unable to provide mathematical proof that the three angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees must believe it. Those who are unable to provide the proof that is provided in secret science for human life between death and rebirth will have to believe these things. But they will also find the opportunity to prove this for themselves, as we will see in the course of these lectures.

On the other hand, it is objected against secret science that, born out of the chaos of our time, it is something like a new religious sect, created in the minds of individual enthusiasts and dreamers. What is put forward from this side is based on such a misunderstanding of the matter that it is difficult to deal with. Secret science has nothing to do with things that could come into conflict or collision with any existing religion, nor with anything that one might want to put in the place of a new religion. The subjects that have been the subject of all religions up to now are also the subjects of the supersensible, of secret science. Therefore, there are many points of contact between the two. Only one thing can give a true, deep understanding of what is given in religions, only one thing makes it possible to understand religions, and that is: to elevate what is faith in religion to knowledge. To be a servant of what religion seeks by other means is precisely the mission of esoteric science.

Anyone who objects that it is sinful to want to explore the subjects of the supersensible world, that they are something that can never come from human nature, that human beings must have faith in a higher revelation and that it is presumptuous to want to fathom them, can be countered by saying that it is a sin to leave what is present in the world in its embryonic form untouched. For the divine foundation of the world has placed these seeds in the world so that they may sprout and bear blossoms and fruit. To those who wish to limit human cognitive power by saying that humans should not be so presumptuous, it can be replied that it would be a sin to allow cognitive power to lie fallow. We should not let it lie fallow, but develop it; that is why we have it. Anyone who can understand what a sin against human nature it is to leave these powers lying fallow, to shut oneself off from the supersensible world, will soon abandon this objection as completely impossible. This is how secret science, with its attitude, places itself in the currents of the times.

Today I do not want to prove anything to you, but rather tell you how secret science presents itself in our time. Its subject matter, the basis on which it rests, is completely unknown in the widest circles. It is unknown that there have always been individuals in human development who have devoted themselves most seriously to this secret science, who knew from their own experience the experiences that can be had in the supersensible world, for whom what we present in such lectures was personal experience. It is also unknown that even today there are people who can look into the spiritual world in this way.

Now the question may be raised: Why was such a thing hidden from the masses, why is there something that has not been made generally known? When we speak of the dangers of secret science, we will see why those who rightly called themselves secret researchers had the principle of only revealing secret science to those who had matured to it through certain qualities in their lives. Today, however, people have very different views on the dissemination of knowledge than those that have always been customary in secret science. Today, when someone knows something, they cannot wait to see what they know flow from their pen as black ink and fly out into the world in the form of letters printed in ink. But the secret researchers had their reasons for passing on their knowledge only to those who were prepared.

Why, then, do individuals come forward today and report on the findings of secret science? There are good reasons for this, too. It is connected with the overall spiritual progress of humanity. What everyone can learn today through popular writings based on our ordinary sensory perception is, when applied correctly, good preparation for secret science. On the other hand, it is a complete misjudgment of the facts to believe that our natural science must lead to the denial of the supersensible. Rather, this natural science, correctly understood, leads to the full recognition of the supersensible! Those who correctly absorb and pursue the scientific facts that are accessible to everyone today will enter directly into the sphere of the supersensible and invisible. But those who pursue these scientific truths in a false, erroneous way will arrive at a materialistic world that may not yet be so unnerving to humanity today, but will certainly be so to future humanity. That is why it is necessary today to show everyone the way to make appropriate use of these scientific truths, insofar as they are accessible. In earlier centuries, this was not the case. Everyone had to undergo a long period of preparation in which their thinking skills, logic, and character were trained. Today, scientific thinking, when applied correctly, is already a training ground for understanding what is being published from the secret science. This scientific thinking can be a blessing for humanity.

We will gradually learn that what leads people up into the supersensible world can be attained in three ways. When one speaks of these three ways, one runs the risk of being regarded by some as a dreamer, and especially when describing the third way, as a complete fool, even though those who judge in this way know nothing about what it is all about. Three paths are shown to us: imagination or clairvoyance, inspiration, and intuition. These three paths have existed for millennia in human development and have always been followed. There have always been people who, through the methods taught, have been able to walk the path into the supernatural world.

What are such initiates? Imagine there are people who live in a remote area where there are no railways and no machines. Now one of them sets off for Europe and sees that there are railways and machines. He goes home and recounts his experiences, what he himself has seen. That is someone who is initiated into such things. Such initiates also exist in relation to supersensible things. In secret schools, they are guided to gain insight into the supersensible, invisible world and can tell of what they have experienced there.

Those who are initiated in this way are divided into two classes: actual initiates and clairvoyant people. What is an initiate in the narrower sense? Here we must familiarize ourselves with a characteristic of secret science that is not generally recognized, but which nevertheless exists. The fact is that once the truths of secret science have been proclaimed, once they have been spoken before people, one does not need to be clairvoyant to see and understand them. For clairvoyance is necessary for discovering, but not for understanding, the truths of secret science. Everything that will be said in the course of this winter as a result of research in the higher world could not have been found without clairvoyant gifts, without developing the spiritual eyes and ears that lie dormant in every human being. More details about this will be discussed in connection with the initiation. But once these results have been expressed and clothed in forms that correspond to today's thinking, then everyone can understand them. The objection that one must be clairvoyant in order to understand the things communicated from secret science can never be valid. They are not incomprehensible to those who are not clairvoyant, but to those who do not want to apply their logical mind to its full extent. Once it has been expressed, everything can be understood, even in the highest realms.

Those who, without being clairvoyant themselves, understand everything that secret science has to say are initiates. But those who can enter these worlds, which we call invisible, are clairvoyants. In ancient times, which are not so long ago, there was a strict separation between clairvoyants and initiates in the secret schools. As an initiate, without being clairvoyant, one could ascend to the knowledge of the higher worlds if one applied one's intellect in the right way. On the other hand, one could be clairvoyant without being particularly highly initiated. You will already understand what this means. Imagine two people, a very learned gentleman who knows everything there is to know about physics and physiology in relation to light and light phenomena, but who is so short-sighted that he can hardly see ten centimeters ahead: he does not see much, but he is initiated into the laws of light. In the same way, someone can be initiated into the supersensible world and yet have poor vision in it. Another may see excellently in the outer sensory world, but know as good as nothing of what the learned gentleman knows. So there may also be clairvoyants whose spiritual eyes are open to the spiritual worlds. They can look into the spiritual world, but have no science, no knowledge of it. That is why, for a long time, a distinction has been made between the clairvoyant and the initiate. In order to embrace the fullness of life, it was often necessary to have not one but many people. Some were not made clairvoyant in order to progress. Others were given spiritual eyes and ears. What was present in secret science came about through communication and the exchange of ideas between secret scientists and clairvoyants.

In our time, this strict separation between clairvoyants and initiates cannot be carried out at all. Today, it is necessary that everyone who has reached a certain degree of initiation be given at least the opportunity to attain a certain degree of clairvoyance. The reason for this is that in our time, it is not possible to establish complete trust between people. Today, everyone wants to know and see for themselves. The deep, devoted faith that once prevailed between people made it possible for there to be a special kind of clairvoyant from whom one could hear what they perceived in the higher worlds. Others then systematically organized what they had perceived. Today, a kind of harmony has been created in the development of the abilities of the initiate and the clairvoyant. Therefore, a third, adeptship, can recede very strongly today. Our time is highly hostile to this adeptship. You can get an idea of the difference between an adept and an initiate if you form the mental image of the following: Imagine an area where there are railroads, and you have seen them. Now I ask you, having gained the positive conviction through your own observation that such a thing as a railroad exists, can you also build one? In order to be able to build one, practice and many other things are necessary. Now, someone who, through exercises that people today have hardly a mental image of, has acquired not only visual knowledge of the spiritual world, but also practice in handling the spiritual forces that underlie the outer sensory world, is, in contrast to a clairvoyant, an adept. This requires much longer preparation than even becoming a clairvoyant. Moreover, our present cultural development is even more hostile to teaching the use of spiritual forces than to the endeavor to penetrate the spiritual world through knowledge.

The mission of secret science is to make humanity aware that it is possible to penetrate into the higher worlds in these three ways, that it is possible to attain a deeper knowledge than the ordinary and to expand it. And when we ask ourselves: Is it curiosity, is it a mere thirst for knowledge that leads us to secret science? Then we must answer: No, it is something quite different! What it is — what many who come to secret science today, even if they do not know it clearly, at least vaguely suspect — is something that lies dormant deep within the sensory science of our time, but which can never emerge from it, and about which we can speak in the lecture on natural science. It is not about knowledge, but about life, about the continuation and enhancement of life. Many people worry that esoteric science will distract them from immediate life. But the opposite is true. It makes people capable and places them in life. They only need to have the ability and strength to enter the realm of esoteric science.

For years, lectures on a wide variety of subjects have been given here. These lectures were followed by discussions. These discussions will not be discussed in detail here. But when we speak of the mission of secret science in our time, one phenomenon should be mentioned because it must be considered particularly characteristic. It came across to us as particularly vivid when we spoke about “the Bible and wisdom.” There was not just one, but numerous personalities who objected to these things from the depths of their hearts. Objections were made that came from deep feelings, and among them was one that went something like this: In secret science, much is said about the sevenfold nature of man, about reincarnation and karma, about man's stay in the supersensible world between death and a new birth, about man's development through the various planetary states, and so on; demands are made on our spirit, on our thinking. But what we are seeking is not so much satisfaction of the mind as deepening of the soul, inner life. We want to find the divine in feeling, the divine in sensation.

This objection is made from the depths of feeling, and it is precisely people who are firmly grounded in the secret science who can fully appreciate the significance of such an objection, which says: Give us soul! We know that the divine that lives within us leads us into our own hearts, but does not bring us mental images about human beings and the world, about birth and death; it is not the spiritual that we seek.

People who say this do not realize that they themselves are the greatest obstacle to the solution of the question of their hearts. They do not realize that through what is to be given to their minds, their souls will receive precisely what they desire. They do not realize that when they speak in this way, they are rejecting precisely what their souls need. There is nothing that instills the divine in the soul as much as the knowledge of world evolution. If we know that, just as the rainbow breaks down into the seven colors of rainbow light, the human being breaks down into seven members, and we do not harden ourselves against these ideas, then these very ideas are the lifeblood for our soul to overcome what stands in the way of immersion in the spiritual. Objections of this kind are encountered above all in those natures who are just as deeply serious as the desire to find deepening of the soul in a comfortable way allows, and who shy away from penetrating into the real depths of the soul. The secret researcher cannot extract the feeling from people's souls, but must lead them into the spiritual world through knowledge, must show them how, through knowledge, the highest deepening can be attained that one can possibly strive for. A longing for satisfaction of the soul is the greatest enemy of the striving human being. But this is precisely what deters many from theosophy and spiritual research: they do not want to engage in this energetic spiritual work, which is at the same time a refreshment for the soul. There is nothing that can lift the soul up to the divine in this way except knowledge, the self-induced deepening into the spiritual world.

This brings us to the point where knowledge directly intervenes in life, where what we might call the emotional and heartfelt aspects of secret science open up. How many people in our time are plagued by doubts, by all kinds of torments relating to questions of existence and the mysteries of the world? And then materialistic writings say that a brain cannot arrive at such views as those presented by Spiritual Science without pathological changes. From the psychiatrist's point of view, it is possible to describe quite precisely the mental illness that leads to such statements as those given here. If we wanted to enjoy working as psychiatrists do, we could also classify ourselves in such a way that the scholar who otherwise does so would take great delight in us. There is a small book that you can buy very cheaply, which reports something that is absolutely true. It is as follows: a series of newspaper articles dealt with arteriosclerosis and described the symptoms by which one can observe this disease in oneself. The author of the pamphlet, a doctor, found that a large number of people came to him who imagined they had the symptoms of arteriosclerosis. And what can be deduced from this? That many people, due to the chaotic nature of our culture, even if they imagine themselves to have nerves of steel, are in a state where, when they hear about such a disease, they are immediately overcome by fear and actually become ill, albeit in a psychological form. It is also said that there are many people who only need to hear lectures by Professor So-and-so or the naturopath So-and-so to have the disease that is being discussed. But what is not considered here is that a certain form of mental illness is already involved in thinking this way in the first place! And that is a pathological trait that is still relatively harmless today, but which will become more and more harmful. We will talk about such questions and facts in the lecture on “Delusions of illness and health fever.”

The reasons for certainty on which a person can base themselves must always come from within. But the spirit must be stronger. It must have the ability to find certainty within itself. It is weakness of spirit not to believe in oneself, not to believe that one can find the reasons within oneself. It is weakness of spirit to believe only what the eyes see and the hands touch, and to want to grasp the truth only with the hand. Materialism is a sign of spiritual decadence, an erosion of the inner self. And if it were only a theoretical erosion, it would still be relatively harmless. But this theoretical erosion leads to the practical undermining of first mental and then physical health. What is true about this example is that sick, incorrect thoughts really do cause illness. In the lecture on “Illness Delusion and Health Fever,” however, we will hear how health and physical well-being depend on the true or false thoughts we harbor. We will hear how, in Theosophy, something is to be spread with healthy thoughts, how Theosophy is to be a propagator of healthy living and useful people for the world.

Even if we remain within the life of the soul itself, we see how those who are tormented by doubts every hour, who cannot gain knowledge about the questions that concern their deepest soul needs, are unfit for work, and such a soul will ultimately be unable to keep the body healthy. Basically, secret science only puts into practice and makes real what natural science has also suspected. When, for example, a natural scientist such as Karl von Baer, to whom Ernst Haeckel dedicated his work “Goals and Paths of Modern Evolutionary History,” says: It is a thought that pervades the whole world, that orders the planets, that has brought living beings forth from matter, that appears in its letters and in its meaning in the manifold forms of life, and that is, in essence, life itself — then one may well add: And if this thought, which can only be found in the supersensible world, is cherished and nurtured, if it consciously finds its way into human nature, then it will make people healthy, strong, and capable. Will it not then first dispel doubts, calm minds, lift hearts, and make human nature healthy? That is a deeper mission of secret science in our time. A science that remains on the surface of the sensual is to blame for the fact that human beings are hollowed out inside and that the age of materialism is also the age of nervousness and lack of concentration. These conditions would worsen if those who cling only to the external remained in the ascendancy.

Esoteric science will provide certainty about the greatest mysteries of existence. That is why it is called esoteric science, not because it hides anything, but because its teachings must be found in the innermost depths. It is esoteric science in the same way that mathematics is esoteric science.

In today's introductory lecture, we were only able to explain what underlies secret science as a mindset and as a challenge, and what constitutes its mission as a secret teaching. As you have seen, secret science does not indulge in any illusions, either about its followers or its opponents. It must transcend all illusions. In this way, it gives people great harmonious health in all respects. This is the attitude that underlies the individual truths in question. This attitude is what really matters. What does this attitude achieve when it is combined with real secret research? The winter lectures will show this; today's lecture was only meant to be a kind of announcement, a kind of program.

Now, perhaps those who consider themselves very clever will raise many objections to what has been said today. They may say: Just look at your followers! They are not people who are at the height of today's science! Only when you have people who are at the height of today's science will we believe in a future, in a mission of secret science. Those who speak this way do not know the secret and intimate paths that the spirit of humanity travels. Those who stand firmly on the ground that we have characterized as the ground of secret science, those who are aware that truth must be found in the soul and that approval is irrelevant, profess to the fullest extent a statement made by a great friend and researcher of truth. One such seeker of truth was Leonardo da Vinci, who was as great a researcher as he was a painter and artist, and who was familiar with the mysterious currents and laws that flow through the world. No thinking person will believe that the true secret scientific attitude did not reign in his heart. At one point, he professes his belief in the truth he found alone, which has found its mission in the world. It contains the confession: “The lie is so contemptible that when it spoke of great things from God, it robbed His divinity of its grace, and the truth is so excellent that when it praised very small things, they became noble.” — If we make such a principle the innermost motivation of our spiritual life, then we will understand how those who are versed in secret science think about the mission of secret science in our age.

Two images stand before the soul of the secret scientist. Anyone who today surveys the great cultural creation of Christianity, anyone who wants to assess what Christianity has done in the world, should place two mental images before their soul: first, ancient imperial Rome in the early centuries of Christianity. They should look at the ruins of ancient Rome, which still bear witness today to what happened in the civilized world at that time. From this image, they will be able to draw comfort and reassurance when it is said that scholars and educated people want nothing to do with theosophy or Spiritual Science. What did those who were up there in these decaying magnificent buildings want? They wanted — the spectacles of the Colosseum! And what did they think of Christianity? They turned Christians into torches and burned them! Let us remember this well.

And then let us turn our gaze to another image. However, we must look for this one in a completely different place. We must look for it underground, in the vast catacombs of Rome, where the weary and burdened were, who stood apart from education and the influential world. There, where they erected their altars, where they buried their dead and offered their sacred sacrifices, there we turn our gaze.

And after we have conjured up these images in our souls, we ask ourselves: How did the picture change over the centuries? Those who were below carried in their souls that which conquered the world, and that which took place above perished. It had to give way to that which rose up from the hidden places. Such was the course of events, and that is a source of comfort and hope for us. We know very well that, due to the peculiar circumstances of the times, we can only find ridicule and scorn. We find that we must act quietly and simply in a similar way, especially with those who may be despised by the so-called enlightened. But we also know that the picture will be similar to what it was then. We know that what was despised in the past will either seize and carry the others along with it, or it will pass them by. A correct view of secret science will transform our attitudes, our feelings, and our perceptions. Thus, even this initial consideration gives us something of the spiritual health that arises from the will to work in the world for the upward development of humanity. And to carry out this work in the spirit of our present age is the mission of secret science in our time.