43. The Spiritual Guidance of Man and Humanity III

It is difficult to express; but it can be expressed in something like this: the present culture would lack the necessary gravity. Then only those forces would be at work which wanted to bring man into the spiritual with full force, and men would be only too inclined to abandon themselves to these forces. They would become enthusiasts. Everyone would only want to know about a life that spiritualizes itself as quickly as possible, and the general attitude would be: Why do I need to incarnate again and again? I can't gain anything from that. No, I want to go straight into the spiritual with full wings! - That would give way to infatuation. Just as the most beautiful things can become seducers and tempters of mankind if man follows them one-sidedly, so here there would be a great danger that all possible good aspirations would be brought into fanaticism. As true as it is that humanity is brought forward by its noble impulses, it is equally true that the worst can happen to humanity through the enthusiastic and fanatical representation of the noblest impulses. Only when we strive for the highest in humility and not in fanaticism do we strive for it correctly. So that we may have the necessary gravity on earth, so that we may have understanding for the material, for the things of the physical plan, that is why the wise guidance of the world has left behind those forces which should have completed their development then, and which now secure our view of physical life, which hold us fast and also make us love our material culture.