Theosophy of the Rosicrucian (Rudolf Steiner)
Lecture I: “The new form of wisdom”
Available at: http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/TheoRosic/19070522p01.html
Summary with notes

By “Theosophy according to the Rosicrucian Method,” Steiner states that he means
“the wisdom that is primeval, yet ever new.”

Here is Steiner’s brief recap of the history of Rosicrucianism: “In the year
1459, a lofty, spiritual Individuality, incarnate in the human personality who
bears in the world the name of Christian Rosenkreuz, appeared as the teacher, to
begin with of a small circle of initiated pupils. In the year 1459, within a
strictly secluded spiritual Brotherhood, the Fraternitas Roseae Crucis,
Christian Rosenkreuz was raised to the rank of Eques lapidis aurei, Knight of
the Golden Stone. What this means will become clearer to us in the course of
these lectures. The exalted Individuality who lived on the physical plane in the
personality of Christian Rosenkreuz worked as leader and teacher of the
Rosicrucian stream again and again in the same body, as occultism puts it. The
meaning of the expression ‘again and again in the same body’ will also be
explained when we come to speak of the destiny of the human being after death.”

Until far into the 18th century, he says, the teachings of the Rosicrucians were
preserved within a secret Brotherhood, but beginning in the 18th century, this
Brotherhood was charged with the mission to gradually allow these “truths” to
slowly disseminate in the wider culture, in particular the culture of “Middle
Europe.” Here is Steiner’s firm belief – still cherished by some
anthroposophists today - that “Central Europe” or “Middle Europe” has a special
spiritual destiny.

“At the time when Rosicrucian wisdom was intended to flow gradually into the
general life of culture, it happened, in a manner of which I need not speak
further now, that a kind of betrayal took place. Certain Rosicrucian conceptions
found their way into the world at large. This betrayal on the one hand, and on
the other the fact that it was necessary for Western culture during the
nineteenth century to remain for a time on the physical plane uninfluenced by
esotericism — these two facts made it imperative that the sources of Rosicrucian
wisdom, and above all its great Founder, who since its inception had been
constantly on the physical plane, should, to all appearances, withdraw. Thus
during the first half and also during a large part of the second half of the
nineteenth century, little of the Rosicrucian wisdom could be discovered. Only
now, in our own time, has it become possible again to make the Rosicrucian
wisdom accessible and allow it to flow into general culture.”

In anthroposophy, higher-ranked spiritual beings conceive and direct missions
that are enacted by beings lower in the hierarchy (sometimes humans, sometimes
angels and archangels etc.). Sometimes these plans go smoothly; often, however,
they go awry in some way, and intrigue results. Spiritual development - of
persons, peoples, races, nations, and of the cosmos - is full of glitches. So
this Brotherhood that was tasked with gradually revealing the Rosicrucian
teachings in the correct way didn’t get their mission quite right; a little too
much came out, a little too fast, and thus we have what Steiner calls a
“betrayal.” He is coy about the details (who betrayed whom?) It was apparently
for this reason that the great teacher himself “withdrew” from the physical
plane and is no longer incarnated, despite having been incarnated continuously
for centuries. Steiner doesn’t give any further details of these intrigues, but
missions gone (at least partially) awry are a common motif in anthroposophy.

(Also, sometimes esoteric wisdom “leaks out” in “exoteric” rather than
“esoteric” form, he says, citing, among others, Goethe’s poem “The Mysteries”
and “The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily.” Steiner doesn’t,
and we won’t either, explore these further here, though he describes the Fairy
Tale of the Green Snake as “one of the most profound writings in all
literature.”)

“We shall speak, first, of ‘Clairvoyance,’ and secondly, of what is sometimes
called ‘Belief in Authority.’ ‘Clairvoyance’ — the term is really
inadequate-comprises not only spiritual seeing but also spiritual hearing. These
two faculties are the source of all knowledge of the world's hidden wisdom and
true knowledge of the spiritual worlds can come from no other source.”

This, while well known to long-time students of Steiner, is worth pausing over
for those new to Steiner. Clairvoyance is the source of ALL esoteric wisdom;
such wisdom can come from NO other source. This is the epistemological basis of
anthroposophy.

(As he mentions later, all humans are said to have possessed a “dim, shadowy”
clairvoyance in a far distant cosmic eon, and some of us have some residual
memory of this, or residual powers. We are all tasked with developing this
faculty again in a new, conscious way, with the help of anthroposophy; there
will be much more about this later. The old shadowy clairvoyance is often
described as “atavistic” and is said to be inappropriate today. In disagreements
among themselves, anthroposophists sometimes accuse each other of “atavistic
clairvoyance.”)

This is one crucial distinction in the spiritual hierarchies: humans, like
beings on other levels, are distinguished by varying spiritual abilities. A few
people are clairvoyant, but most are not. However, while only those with
clairvoyant abilities can “discover” spiritual truths, the rest of us can
nevertheless “understand” them if we try, by means of our ordinary mental
faculties and ordinary reasoning.

“Clairvoyance is the necessary pre-requisite for the discovery of a spiritual
truth, but only for its discovery. For a long time to come, nothing will be
taught exoterically by any genuine Rosicrucianism that cannot be grasped by the
ordinary logical intellect. That is the essential point. The objection that
clairvoyance is necessary for understanding the Rosicrucian form of Theosophy is
not valid. Understanding does not depend upon the faculty of seership.”

For this reason, the student need not accept things from the teacher on
authority. “ … [the student] grasps these truths through their own inherent
correctness and all he needs is to understand them.”

Finally, the basics of Steiner’s conception of the human, which will be
developed in lecture II, are introduced.

The seven-fold nature of man is described, consisting of the following
“members”: physical – astral – etheric – and the “higher” members, as yet
unspecified.

Only in death can the physical body can be apprehended alone, for the rest of
the time it is conjoined with the various other members. (During sleep, the
astral body separates from the physical body, but the ether body is still
present.)

Introductory notes on the relationship of man’s physical, astral, and etheric
nature:

“The astral body is the predecessor of the etheric body and the etheric body is
the predecessor of the physical body.”

And a couple of the basic principles of anthroposophy, that speak for
themselves:

“What is not inherited is the innermost spiritual core of being, the Eternal in
man which passes through the successive incarnations.”

A point for discussion:

Steiner states that although we cannot all be clairvoyant, we can all learn
spiritual truths from those who do possess this ability. He presents this as
anti-authoritarian: the student need not take anything on faith from the
teacher, but if he/she is of normal intelligence can understand all the
teachings with his or her own reason.
Is this really anti-authoritarian?


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