Lecture VI

Thus, again and from another side, we are shown through feeling what may be called the darkness of life. If we ask why we live in this darkness between birth and death, it may be said that it is because judgements and valuations of life that are justified and natural in life between birth and death must have no value for the existence we lead in super-sensible worlds between death and a new birth. In sensory existence we have need of a life of soul that in super-sensible life no longer has validity. Therefore, if we are to gain comprehensive knowledge of the universe, we must allow all our investigations and our knowledge of the super-sensible world to be. penetrated by the light of its spirit. The greatest mistake that men can make in their view of the world is that of imagining that they can extend to super-sensible worlds the concepts and ideas gained from the world of the senses and without having the patience and endurance to await from actual investigation into the super-sensible, descriptions of all that, as spiritual light from higher worlds, radiates into the darkness of sensory existence. Here the question confronts us, “Is it indeed only those having power of vision in super-sensible worlds, those who have had the privilege of initiation, who are able to let this spiritual light of super-sensible worlds work upon them?” This belief is widely spread throughout the world. You often hear it said: “How can one understand anything of the super-sensible worlds if one has never gone through initiation?” You then hear it pointed out that the only true way must be to go through initiation, the one path leading to super-sensible worlds.