An Outline of Religious Ideas in post-Atlantean Times

Perhaps there has only been one other time in the development of humanity when architectural thoughts have been created: that is the thought of Gothic architecture. And if we contrast the Gothic idea with the Greek architectural idea, we have to say that in the Gothic we are no longer dealing with pure architecture, but with an expression of the mystical element that pushes into the feeling, only hinted at in the forms. The Gothic is not the complete expression of this idea. The Greek temple, on the other hand, is the dwelling place of the god and is to be understood entirely as such. If we imagine the god in the act of creation in space, his powers flooding the space, as it were, forming a body for himself, weaving a garment for himself, we have the Greek temple. And we know when we see it standing before us: this is the dwelling place of the god. The Gothic cathedral is not that; it is a house of prayer. It cannot be conceived without the visitor who is in it, for whom it was built to create the right mood. Imagine the Greek temple standing all by itself, inhabited only by the god, and you have the complete picture. This is not to be understood or interpreted symbolically. The devout believer belongs to the Gothic temple. And whoever does not understand space as emptiness, but as permeated by forces, whoever knows that forces crystallize in space and who feels these forces, feels that something has crystallized in the Greek temple from the dynamic forces of the world. Those who have a feeling for it, so strong that they can perceive these entities, know that forces shoot through space. The Greeks knew about the vitality of space. One can best see how thinking, feeling and willing have become concrete by comparing Greek and Romanesque architecture, in which we see in many cases how the column, for example, is elevated from its spatial task as a carrier. Romanesque architecture is also grand, but it has many decorative elements, including these columns, for which there is no deeper motivation. But the sense for it is missing, the sense of space is missing. The column is there, but it does not fulfill its purpose. All this is connected with the stages of development of the human spirit. Only through this anthropomorphism could humanity be prepared to conceive of the God-man, to conceive of God dwelling within man himself. This is why Christianity is also called theomorphism by occultism.