The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Report by Rudolf Steiner in Lucifer-Gnosis no. 34/1907

It was the task of the German Section of the Theosophical Society to organize this year's congress of the “Federation of European Sections”. It is therefore more fitting that here, from within the circle of the organizers, there is less talk of what has been achieved and more of what has been intended and striven for. For the organizers know only too well how little of what was achieved has been achieved, and how much has been achieved that could not be achieved on such an occasion. Therefore, the following should only be understood as a description of the underlying ideas.

Munich was chosen as the venue: the time was the days of Pentecost, May 18, 19, 20 and 21. The questions that the organizers asked themselves in their preparations were: How can the task of the Theosophical movement be expressed within the current spiritual life through such a congress? How can it give a picture of the ideals and aims of the theosophical work? Since the event is naturally limited by the circumstances, it can only provide a limited answer to these questions. It now seems particularly important that the comprehensive character of the theosophical movement be emphasized on such occasions. First of all, the focus of this movement is the cultivation of a worldview based on knowledge of the supernatural. And at such a congress, people come together who, in the spirit of such a worldview, work across all national borders and other human differences on spiritual ideals that are common to all of humanity. Mutual inspiration in the best sense will be the most beautiful fruit of such events. In addition, it will be shown how the theosophical work should really be integrated into the whole of life in our time. For the spiritual foundation of this movement cannot be called upon to express itself only in thoughts and ideas, in theories and so on; rather, as a content of the soul that has emerged in our time, it can have a fertilizing effect on all branches of human activity. Theosophy can only be grasped in the right sense if we set it the ideal of inspiring not only the imagination and the human soul, but the human being as a whole. If we wish to interpret its mission in this sense, we may recall how, for example, the world view of the corresponding time found expression in the buildings and sculptures (e.g. the Sphinx) of the Egyptians. The ideas of the Egyptian worldview were not only thought by the souls; they were made visible in the environment of the human eye. And think of how everything that is known of Greek sculpture and drama is the worldview of the Greek soul, shaped in stone and depicted in poetry. Consider how in medieval painting Christian ideas and feelings were revealed to the eye, how in the Gothic period Christian devotion took form and shape. A true harmony of the soul can only be experienced where the human senses are reflected in form, shape and color and so on as an environment, which the soul knows as its most valuable thoughts, feelings and impulses. Out of such thoughts arises the intention to give a picture of theosophical striving in the external form of the event at a congress. The room in which the meeting takes place can reflect the theosophical feeling and thinking around the visitor. According to our circumstances, we could not do more than sketch out what might be considered an ideal in this regard. We had decorated the assembly hall in such a way that a fresh, stimulating red formed the basic color of all the walls. This color was intended to express the basic mood of the celebration in an external view. It is obvious that some people will object to the use of “red” for this purpose. These objections are justified as long as one relies on an esoteric judgment and experience. They are well known to the esotericist, who nevertheless, in accordance with all occult symbolism, must use the color red for the purpose in question. For him, it is not a matter of what the part of his being feels that is devoted to the immediate sensual environment; but what the higher self experiences in the spiritual realm while the external environment is physically seen in red. And that is the exact opposite of what the ordinary sensation of “red” says. Esoteric knowledge says: “If you want to attune yourself in your innermost being as the gods were attuned when they gave the world the green plant cover, then learn to endure ‘red’ in your surroundings as they had to.” This indicates a reference to the higher human nature in relation to “red” that the genuine [esotericist] has in mind when he presents the two opposing entities of the creative world ground in the occult symbolism in such a way that, downward, the green as a sign of the earthly, upward the “red” as a sign of the heavenly (elohistic) creative powers. Much more could be said about the reasons for opposing this color, and much could be said in refutation of these arguments. However, it may suffice here to make this brief comment: this color was chosen in accordance with occultism.

On the walls (on both sides and at the back wall) were placed the so-called seven apocalyptic seals in a size appropriate for the room. They represent certain experiences of the astral world in pictures. There is a story behind them. At first, some viewers may mistake such pictorial representations for ordinary symbols. But they are much more than that. Anyone who simply wants to interpret what is depicted in them symbolically with the mind has not penetrated the spirit of the matter. One should experience the content of these seven pictures with one's whole soul, with one's undivided mind; one should shape it inwardly in one's soul in terms of form, color and content, so that it lives inwardly in the imagination. For this content corresponds to very specific astral experiences of the clairvoyant. What the clairvoyant wants to express in such images is not at all an arbitrary symbol, or even a straw-thin allegory, but something that is best illustrated by way of comparison. Take a person who is illuminated in a room by a light in such a way that his shadow is visible on a wall. The shadow is in some respects similar to the person casting the shadow. But it is a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional being. Just as the shadow relates to the person, so what is depicted in the apocalyptic seals relates to certain experiences of the clairvoyant in the astral world. The seals are, of course, in a figurative sense, silhouettes of astral processes. Therefore, they are not arbitrary representations of an individual, but anyone who is familiar with the corresponding supersensible processes will find their silhouettes in the physical world. Such things cannot be invented in their essential content, but are taken from the existing teachings of the secret scientists. A student of these matters may have noticed that some of our seals correspond with what he finds in this or that work, but others do not. The reason for this is that some of the imaginations of occult science have already been communicated in books; but the most important part – and the true part – may only now, in our time, be made public. And part of the theosophical work must consist in handing over to the public some of the material which has hitherto been kept strictly secret by the appointed custodians. This is demanded by the development of the spiritual life of our time by the exponents of occult science.

It is the development of humanity, the expression of which in the astral world must form one of the most essential foundations of occult knowledge, which is expressed in these seven seals. The Christian esotericist will recognize them in a certain way in the descriptions of the “Revelation of St. John”. But the form they presented in our festival hall corresponds to the secret-scientific spiritual current that has been the dominant one in the West since the fourteenth century. The mysteries of existence, as they are reflected in these images, represent ancient wisdom; the clairvoyants of the various epochs of humanity see them from different points of view. Therefore, according to the necessary developmental needs of the times, the forms change somewhat. In the “Revelation of St. John” it is “set in signs” what is to happen “in brief”. Those who know how to read a secret-scientific form of expression properly know that this means nothing other than a reference to the secret-scientific signs for certain imaginations that can be experienced in the astral world and that are related to the nature of man as it reveals itself in time. And the Rosicrucian Seals also represent the same. Only very sketchily, with a few words, shall the infinitely rich content of the seals be interpreted. Basically everything - even the seemingly most insignificant - in these pictures means something important. The first seal represents man's entire evolution in the most general way. In the “Revelation of St. John” this is indicated with the words: “And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about upon his chest with a golden girdle. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like brass glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the rushing of many waters. And he had seven stars in his right hand; and out of his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword; and his face shone like the bright sun.” In general terms, such words point to the most comprehensive secrets of human development. If one wanted to present in detail what each of the deeply significant words contains, one would have to write a thick volume. Our seal depicts such things. Among the physical organs and forms of expression of the human being, some represent, in their present form, the downward stages of development of earlier forms, and have thus already passed their peak. Others, however, represent the initial stages of development and are, as it were, the rudiments of what they are to become in the future. The esotericist must know these secrets of development. The organ of speech represents an organ that will be much higher and more perfect in the future than it is at present. By pronouncing this, one touches on a great secret of existence, which is often also called the “mystery of the creative word”. This gives a hint of the future state of the human speech organ, which will become a spiritual organ of production (procreation) when the human being is spiritualized. In myths and religions, this spiritual production is indicated by the appropriate image of a “sword” coming out of the mouth. In this way, every line and every point in the picture signifies something that is connected with the secret of human development. The fact that such pictures are made does not merely arise from a need for a sensualization of the supersensible processes, but it corresponds to the fact that living into these pictures - if they are the right ones - really means an arousal of forces that lie dormant in the human soul, and through the awakening of which the representations of the supersensible world emerge. It is not right for the supersensible worlds to be described only in schematic terms in theosophy; the true path is to awaken the imagination to the images presented in these seals. (If the occultist does not have such images at hand, he should verbally describe the higher worlds in appropriate images.) - The second seal, with the appropriate accessories, represents one of the first stages of development of humanity on earth. In its primeval times, humanity on earth had not yet developed what is called the individual soul. What was still present at that time, and what is still found in animals today, is the group soul. Anyone who can follow the old human group souls on the astral plane through imaginative clairvoyance will find the four types of group soul represented in the four apocalyptic animals of the second seal: the lion, the bull, the eagle and the man. This touches on the truth of what is often so dryly allegorized in the interpretation of the four animals. The third seal represents the secrets of the so-called harmony of the spheres. Man experiences these secrets in the interval between death and a new birth (in the “spirit land” or what is called “Devachan” in the usual theosophical literature). However, the account is not given as it is experienced in the “spirit realm” itself, but rather as the events of this realm are reflected in the astral world. It must be noted that all seven seals are experiences of the astral world; however, the other worlds can be seen in their reflections in the astral. The angels blowing trumpets in the picture represent the original spiritual beings of the world phenomena; the book with the seven seals indicates that the mysteries of existence are “unsealed” in the experiences illustrated in this picture. The “four horsemen of the Apocalypse” represent the stages of human development through long earth cycles. The fourth seal represents, among other things, two pillars, one rising from the sea and the other from the earth. These pillars hint at the secret of the role played by red (oxygen-rich) blood and blue-red (carbon-rich) blood in human development, and how this blood changes in line with human development from distant primeval times to distant future times. The letters on these pillars point to this developmental secret in a way known only to the initiated. (Old interpretations of the two letters given in public writings or in certain societies remain only a superficial, exoteric interpretation.) The book in the cloud points to a future state of man in which all his knowledge will be internalized. In the Book of Revelation we find the significant words: “And I took a little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up...”

The sun in the picture points to a cosmic process that will take place at the same time as the marked future stage of humanity; the earth will enter into a completely different relationship with the sun than it currently does in the cosmos. And everything is depicted in the picture so that all the arrangements of the parts, all the details and so on, correspond exactly to specific real processes. The fifth seal represents the further development of man in the future in a cosmos in which the conditions just indicated will have occurred. The future human being, who will have a different relationship to the sun than the present one, is represented by the “woman who gives birth to the sun”; and the power that he will then have over certain forces of the world, which today express themselves in his lower nature, is represented by the “sun woman” standing on the beast with the seven heads and ten horns. The woman has the moon under her feet: this points to a later cosmic relationship between the sun, earth and moon. The sixth seal represents the evolved human being with even greater power over the lower forces of the universe. The way the image expresses this is reminiscent of Christian esotericism: Michael holds the dragon bound. Finally, the seventh seal is that of the “Mystery of the Grail”, as it was in the esoteric current beginning in the fourteenth century. In the picture there is a cube, representing the world of space, from which the world serpent arises from all sides of the cube, insofar as it represents the higher forces living out in the lower: From the mouth of the snake comes the world line (as a spiral), the symbol of the purified and refined world forces; and from this arises the “holy grail,” which is confronted by the “dove.” All of this points - and quite appropriately - to the mystery of the creation of the world, of which the earthly one is a lower reflection. The deepest mysteries lie in the lines and figures and so on of this seal. Between each two seals a column was inserted. These seven columns could not be executed in plastic form; they had to be painted as a substitute. But they are definitely intended as real architectural forms and correspond to the “seven pillars” of the “true Rosicrucian temple”. (Of course, the arrangement in Munich does not quite correspond to that in the “Rosicrucian Temple of Initiation”, because there each such column is duplicated, so that when one walks from the back wall towards the front, one passes through fourteen columns, two of which are always facing each other. This is only a hint for those who know the true facts; for us, only a general idea of the meaning of this column secret should be awakened). The capitals of these columns represent the planetary development of our solar system. Our Earth is, after all, the fourth embodiment in a planetary developmental system, and in the ways it is configured it points to three future embodiments. (More exact details about this can be found in the articles in this journal headed 'From the Akasha Chronicle'. The seven successive embodiments of the Earth are referred to as the Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan states. In the representations commonly used in esoteric studies, the Vulcan state is omitted as being too far in the future, and for reasons that would take us too far afield to discuss here, the Earth's development is divided into a Martian and a Mercury state. (These reasons can also be found in the essays on the “Akasha Chronicle”. These seven embodiments of the earth: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus are now expressed in esotericism by seven column capitals. The inner life of each of these states of development is depicted in the forms of these capitals. Here, too, the intention is that one should not delve into the forms of the capitals intellectually, but entirely through the feelings, in a truly artistic experience and in the imagination. For every line, every curve, everything about these forms is such that when you immerse yourself in them, you awaken dormant powers in your soul; and these powers lead to ideas about the great mysteries of the world that underlie the cosmic and related human development of the earth. Anyone who might criticize the design of such columns should consider that the Corinthian and Ionic columns, for example, also emerged from the embodiment of the secrets of existence, and that such facts are only unknown to the materialistic way of thinking of our time. From the way the motives of world development are expressed in these column capitals, one can gauge how esotericism is to have a fruitful effect on art. The ancient columns, too, are born out of esotericism. And the architecture of the future will have to present to people what the esoteric worldview of Theosophy can give as a hint today.

In Munich, for example, an attempt has been made to sketch out an interior in the spirit of the Theosophical worldview; of course, only some of the relevant information could be provided, and even that only in general terms, and above all not in the precise order that would be most appropriate. But the aim was only to evoke a sense of what was important. The esoteric symbolism of the room in which we were meeting also included two columns at the front of the hall. What they signify can be seen from the description of the fourth seal, which also contains the two columns. They point to the mystery of blood and contain the “mystery of human development”. The color of the pillars is connected with the blood secret. One is red; the other is a deep blue-red. Esoteric science writes four deeply significant sayings on these two pillars. When the human soul immerses itself in these four sayings in meditation, then entire secrets of the world and of humanity well up from their depths. Many books would have to be written to exhaust the full meaning of these sayings, for not only is every word significant, but so is the symmetry of the words, the way they are distributed among the four sayings, the intensifications that lie within them, and much more, so that only long, patient devotion to the matter can exhaust what lies within. The four sayings of the “Pillar of Wisdom” in English are:

In pure thought you find
the self that can sustain itself.

When you transform thought into image,
you experience creative wisdom.

If you condense feeling into light,
you reveal the forming power.

If you reify will into being,
you create in the world's being.

We tried to express the fundamental mood that we wanted to express in our “inner space” in the program book that was given to visitors. After the significance of the red color in esoteric symbolism has been discussed above, there is no need to say anything more about the red cover of this book. On this cover (in the upper left corner) there is a black cross entwined with red roses in a blue oval field; to the right of it are the letters: E. D. N. - J. C.M. - P. S. S. R. - These are the ten initial letters of the words by which true Rosicrucianism is summarized in a single sentence: “Ex deo nascimur, in Christo morimur, per spiritum sanctum reviviscimus.” The cross symbol, entwined with roses, expresses the meaning of Rosicrucianism in an esoteric way. In view of the relationship that our event has established with Rosicrucianism through such things, it seems necessary to point out serious misunderstandings that are brought to it. Here and there, people have tried to form an idea of Rosicrucianism based on historical tradition. Of those who have formed an opinion of it in this way, some at present look upon it with a certain benevolence; but most look upon it as charlatanry, enthusiasm or something of that kind, perhaps worse. It may readily be conceded that If Rosicrucianism were what it appears to be to those who know of it only from historical documents and traditions, it would certainly not be worthy of the attention of any rational man. But at the present time no one knows anything about true Rosicrucianism who has not approached it through the medium of occult science. Outside the circle of occult science there are no authentic records of it, for the name stands for the spiritual current mentioned here, which has set the tone in the Occident since the fourteenth century. Only now may we begin to communicate to the public some of the secrets of Rosicrucianism. In drawing from this source in Munich, we naturally did not want to present it as the only true source of the theosophical movement, but only as one of the paths by which spiritual knowledge can be sought. It cannot be said that we gave preferential treatment to this source, while the theosophical movement should take all forms of religion and paths to truth into equal consideration. But it can never be the task of the theosophical movement to study the diversity of religions as an end in itself; it must reach the unity of religions, their core, through their forms; and we did not want to show what Rosicrucianism is, but through Rosicrucianism we wanted to show the perspective to the one core of truth in all religions. And this is precisely the true mission of the Theosophical movement. In the program book one finds five drawings. They are the motifs of the first five of the seven capitals mentioned above, transposed into vignette form. In these five drawings, too, there is something of what is called “occult writing”. Those who immerse themselves in the line forms and figures with all their soul will inwardly perceive something of what are known as the important states for [the] realization of human development (Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars and Mercury states).

This should describe the intentions of the conference organizers in preparing the framework within which the festivities were to take place. The venue for the event was the Tonhalle (Kaim-Säle), which seemed particularly suitable for this event.

The description of the proceedings of the congress must be preceded by the expression of the deepest satisfaction felt by all the participants at the presence of Mrs. Besant. The much-admired woman had just returned to Europe after spending two years in her field of activity in India; and Munich was the first place where the European members were able to greet her again and hear her powerful speech. The German committee of the Congress had invited Mrs. Besant to preside over the honorary committee; and so the esteemed leader gave the assembly its consecration and lent it the mood that her whole being communicates to all those around her and to whom the magic of her words reaches.

The visit to the congress was a thoroughly satisfying one. We had the great pleasure of welcoming many members of the other European sections, as well as those of the Indian section. The members of the German section were present in large numbers. The British section was officially represented by its General Secretary, Miss Spink; the French section by its General Secretary, Dr. Th. Pascal; the Dutch section by its General Secretary, Mr. Fricke; the Italian section by its General Secretary, Prof. Dr. Penzig; the Scandinavian section by its General Secretary, A. Knös; and the Hungarian section by its General Secretary, D. Nagy.

The opening of the congress took place on May 18 at 10 o'clock in the morning. It began with a musical introduction. Emanuel Nowotny played the Toccata in F major by Johann Sebastian Bach on the organ. - Thereupon the Secretary General of the German Section had to greet the participants on behalf of the German committee. He greeted Mrs. Besant and emphasized the importance of the fact that the Munich Congress was honored by her visit. After welcoming the representatives of the other sections and the German visitors, the speaker expressed words of love, appreciation and thanks for the founder-president H. S. Olcott, who died in February. The extensive mission of the Theosophical movement in the spiritual life of the present day was also pointed out in this opening address, and the necessity emphasized that the cultivation of spiritual life must form the basis of the Theosophical work. After that, the representatives of the European sections and the other fields of work spoke: from England (Mr. Wedgwood), from France (Dr. “Th. Pascal), from the Netherlands (Mr. Fricke), from Italy (Prof. Penzig), from Scandinavia (Mr. A. Knös ), Hungary (Mr. D. Nagy), Bohemia (Mr. Bedrnicek), Russia (Miss Kamensky, Mrs. Forsch, Miss N. v. Gernet), Bulgaria, Belgium (and others).

As at previous congresses, each speaker spoke in their national language.

Mrs. Besant then took the floor to greet the German section and emphasize the nature of the Theosophical movement, as well as to point out in a few forceful sentences the spiritual life and its fundamental importance for society.

The Saturday afternoon was devoted to lectures and talks by Mr. Alan Leo, Dr. Th. Pascal, Michael Bauer, Mr. James Wedgwood and Miss Kamensky. Mr. Alan Leo read his paper on “Astrology and Personal Fate”. The esoteric nature of astrology was discussed and free will was clearly explained in relation to predetermined fate, showing the way in which planetary forces influence human life. Dr. Th. Pascal presented the results of his long inner research in the theosophical field in a thoughtful essay. It was stimulating to follow the subtle arguments of intimate trains of thought. Michael Bauer spoke about the relationship between nature and man. This very meritorious leader of our Nuremberg branch showed in his warm-hearted and spirited way how the inner essence of nature and man's own inner being are interlinked in their depths. Mr. Wedgwood read his paper on “The Value of the Theosophical Society.” He explained how the study of occultism elevates man to an awareness of his higher destiny by giving him a knowledge of his place in the world process. It depends on the perspectives that occultism gives to the human soul. (No summary of the contents of the individual lectures and papers will be given here, as these will appear in detail in the “Congress Yearbook”. Miss Kamensky read her fascinating paper on “Theosophy in Russia” that same afternoon. Her brief but meaningful remarks showed how many Theosophical ideas are to be found in Russian literary and intellectual life. The work was a prime example of how to seek out those seeds in a nation's intellectual life that only require spiritual light in order to grow into Theosophy in the right way.

The first day of the conference ended with an evening of artistic performances. Johann Sebastian Bach's “Prelude and Fugue in B minor”, performed by Emanuel Nowotny on the organ, opened the evening. After that, Marie von Sivers recited the monologue from the beginning of the second part of Goethe's Faust, “Des Lebens Pulse schlagen frisch lebendig...”, as an example of a poem written for esoteric reasons. The two members, Ms. Alice von Sonklar and Ms. Toni Völker, performed Robert Schumann's “Pictures from the East” on the piano, which seem very suitable for promoting a mystical mood. Miss Gertrud Garmatter then sang two songs by Schubert, “An die Musik” and “Die schöne Müllerin”, in her charmingly sensitive way, and Miss Toni Völker concluded the evening with her beautiful artistic performance on the piano: “Pastorale and Capriccio” by Scarlatti.

On Sunday, May 19, the morning session was opened by the atmospheric Trio in E-flat major by Johannes Brahms (1st movement), played by Miss Johanna Fritsch (violin), Marika v. Gumppenberg (piano) and Mr. Tuckermann (French horn). Mrs. Besant then gave her momentous lecture: “The Place of Phenomena in the Theosophical Society”. She explained the role phenomena played in the early days of the Theosophical Society through H. P. Blavatsky, and how important they were in a time of doubt about higher worlds. She emphasized how the observation of phenomena related to higher worlds can never be dangerous if approached with the same spirit of research that is applied to observations in the physical world. She emphasized how little good it would do for the Theosophical Society if, for fear of the danger posed by psychic powers, it abandoned the pursuit of the goal of “studying those forces in the world and in man that are not accessible to sensory observation” to other societies.

It would be quite impossible to convey the manifold content of this lecture within the framework of a short report. Therefore, as with all earlier and later lectures of the congress, reference must be made to the “Yearbook” of the “Federation of European Sections”, which will appear following this lecture.

The second lecture of the morning was Dr. Rudolf Steiner's lecture on “The Initiation of the Rosicrucian”, in which the method of attaining knowledge of supersensible worlds in the sense of esotericism, which has set the tone in the West since the 14th century, is discussed and at the same time the necessity of these methods for the present period of human development is shown.

On Sunday afternoon (5 p.m.), Edouard Schuré's “Sacred Drama of Eleusis” was performed. The German organizers considered this performance to be an especially important part of the congress. It impressively demonstrated how theosophical ideas and sentiments can be expressed in true, high art. Edouard Schuré is the great French artist and writer who, through his works in so many directions, communicates the theosophical spirit to our contemporaries. Schuré's works “Les Grands Initiés” (“The Great Initiates”) and “Sanctuaires d'Orient” (“The Sanctuaries of the Orient”) are completely theosophical in the noblest sense of the word. And Schuré's theosophical way of looking at things is fully transformed into a vital creative power when he works as an artist. Within him lives that relationship between imagination and fantasy on which the basic secret of all high art is based. Edouard Schuré's truly mystical drama “The Children of Lucifer” is a shining example of how a world view striving towards the heights of knowledge can be fully realized in artistic form. Only a mind of this kind could have undertaken what Schuré did, to resurrect the “sacred drama” of Eleusis in the mind and eye of the modern man. This drama leads us to the door of that ancient time, where knowledge, religion and art still lived in one, where imagination was the faithful witness of truth and the sacred guide to piety; and where the reflection of imagination fell on this imagination in a transfiguring and revealing way. In Edouard Schur there lives a modern artistic soul, in which the light of that mysterious time shines, and so he was able to recreate what the priestly sages showed the audience in the “Drama at Eleusis” in Greece's distant past: the deep mystery of the world, which is reflected in the meaningful events of Eros' seduction of Persephone and her abduction by Pluto; of the pain of Demeter and the advice she to go to Eleusis, to seek advice from the “Goddess of Transformations”, Hekate; of Triptolem's initiation by Demeter as a priest in Eleusis; of Triptolem's daring journey into Pluto's realm to free Persephones; and of the emergence of a “new Dionysos”, who arises from Zeus' fire and the light of Demeter through the sacrifice of Triptolem. The congress organizers attempted to present the drama, which was inspired by Schuré, to the visitors in German. This was made possible by the dedicated work of a number of our members and by the beautiful, loving support of Bernhard Stavenhagen, who created a wonderful musical accompaniment to the Schuré drama. Stavenhagen preceded each of the four acts with a musical introduction that atmospherically prepared the audience for the dramatic action. With true congeniality, this important composer has immersed himself in the basic motifs of the mystery and rendered them musically. This musical performance was received with great enthusiasm by the participants of the congress. The willingness of the members of the German Section to work on this performance can be gauged from the fact that all the roles were played by members. Miss Fräulein v. Sivers played Demeter, Miss Sprengel played Persephone, Miss Garmatter played Eros, Mrs. v. Vacano played Hekate, Mr. Stahl played Pluto; we were delighted to have the collaboration of our member, the excellent actor Mr. Jürgas, who created an impressive figure in the role of Triptolemus; Baroness v. Gumppenberg, Dr. Peipers as Zeus, and Miss Wollisch as Dionysus. These are only the main roles; the choruses that are part of the plot were also composed of members. Special recognition must be given to our esteemed member, Mr. Linde, who took on the laborious task of creating the decorations.

The morning of Monday was introduced by the recitation of Goethe's poems “Song of the Spirits over the Waters” and “Prometheus”, by Richard Jürgas, whom the participants now got to know as an excellent reciter, just as they had been introduced to his acting skills the night before. Then the participants had the great joy of hearing the second lecture by Mrs. Besant, in which she spoke about the relationship of the Masters to the Theosophical Society. Drawing from her rich spiritual experience, she described the relationship of great individuals to spiritual progress and the way such individuals participate in the progress of the Theosophical Society. It is also impossible to give a brief overview of the wide-ranging content of this lecture in just a few words. Here too, we must refer you to the publication of the Yearbook. After this lecture, our member Frau Hempel delighted the participants with an excellent display of her vocal art. This was followed by a lecture by Dr. Carl Ungers, who spoke very interestingly about working methods in the theosophical branches and explained the relationship of the non-clairvoyant theosophist to the messages of the clairvoyants, showing how the writing “Theosophy” by Dr. Rudolf Steiner can provide a basis for shaping this relationship in the right way. Later that morning, Mrs. Elise Wolfram gave her lecture on the occult basis of the Siegfried saga. She showed subtly and vividly how the deeper spiritual development of Europe is expressed in the myth, how Germanic and even older mystery wisdom took shape in Siegfried. The lecturer's subtle interpretations were well suited to allowing the audience to enter into the mysterious life of part of the Nibelungen saga.

In the afternoon, Mrs. v. Gumppenberg read Mr. Arvid Knös's essay, “Absolute and Relative Truths”; then Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave his lecture, “Planetary Development and Human Development”. He described the development of the earth through three of its present forms, and then pointed to the connection between the development of the earth and that of man. He also showed how one could know something about the future of development.

The evening was again devoted to purely artistic performances. The Sonata in G minor by L. van Beethoven was performed by Chr. Döbereiner (cello) and Elfriede Schunk (piano). Afterwards, Gertrud Garmatter's excellent vocal performance could be heard again (two songs: “Weylas Gesang” by Hugo Wolf and “Frühlingslaube” by Franz Schubert). This was followed by solos for viola da gamba with piano, firstly “Adagio” by Handel and secondly “Aria con variazione” composed by A. Kühnel in 1695. Both pieces were performed by Chr. Döbereiner (viola da gamba) and Miss Elfriede Schunk (piano). A brilliant performance on the piano by the Italian member Mr. Kirby concluded the evening.

On Tuesday morning, the program began with: “Adagio from the Violin Concerto” by Max Bruch, op. 26, performed by Johanna Fritsch and Pauline Frieß. After that, Mr. Richard Jürgas recited some poems full of intimate feeling and mystical moods by our dear member Mia Holm. The rest of the morning was taken up with a free discussion on the topic: The necessity of cultivating occultism within society. Mr. Jules Ägoston from Budapest, Bernhard Hubo, Ludwig Deinhard, Dr. [Carl] Unger, Michael Bauer, D. Nagy, Mr. Wedgwood, Miss Severs and Mrs. Elise Wolfram took part in the discussion. The discussion was introduced by Jules Ägoston, who emphasized the necessity of maintaining the spiritualist experiment; following on from this, Bernhard Hubo developed a contrary point of view based on his many years of experience; Ludwig Deinhard discussed the necessity of acquainting theosophical circles with scientific experiments to penetrate the deeper foundations of the soul. It is impossible to report here on the rich and varied addresses of the above-mentioned speakers. Nor is it possible to do so with regard to the stimulating points of view that Mr. Nerei from Budapest gave in the afternoon during the discussion on “educational issues”. Following these points of view, Dr. Rudolf Steiner also spoke about education. — Mrs. Douglas-[Sheild] spoke about the relationship between “Theosophy and Christianity”.

The closing act of the congress took place on Tuesday at nine o'clock in the evening. It began with the spirited and heartfelt Adagio in D major by our dear member and head of the Stuttgart lodge I: Adolf Arenson, which was performed by Mr. Arenson himself (piano), Dr. Carl Unger (cello) and Johanna Fritsch (violin). This was followed by: “Tröstung” by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, performed by Hilde Stockmeyer, “Ave verum” by Mozart performed by Gertrud Garmatter, the recitation of a poem by Mrs. Ripper, solos for violin by J. S. Bach, by Johanna Fritsch and Pauline Frieß, and variations on the chorale “Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig>, for organ by J. S. Bach, by Emanuel Nowotny. The Congress then drew to a close with short closing addresses by the representatives of the individual sections: Mr. Wallace spoke for the British section, Mlle Aimée Blech (representing Dr. Pascal, who had to leave earlier due to his state of health) for the French section, Mr. Fricke for the Dutch section, and Prof. Dr. Penzig for the Italian section. Mrs. Besant then addressed some deeply moving words to the participants, and finally Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave the closing address, in which he thanked the participants, especially those from foreign sections, for coming, and also expressed his warmest thanks to all those whose dedicated work had made the congress possible.

And these thanks must be expressed to many, especially Miss Sophie Stinde, who, as secretary of the congress, has done tireless and important work; Countess Pauline Kalckreuth, who has worked tirelessly on all the preparatory work and tasks. We have these two to thank above all that we were able to pursue the intentions described above at all, and that we were able to achieve what has been achieved. Adolf Arenson took care of the musical part of the program. Our dear member Clara Rettich devoted herself selflessly to the task of painting the seven apocalyptic seals according to the occult instructions given to her; in the same way, Karl Stahl took on the task of painting the seven pillars in the perimeter of the hall. It is impossible to mention all the numerous workers individually by name. But it should not go unmentioned that dear members had set up a buffet in an adjoining room and did the necessary work, which greatly enhanced the convivial get-together, through which members were to come together.

Dr. Rudolf Steiner was authorized at his request, and indeed unanimously and out of the enthusiasm of the audience, to express the thanks of the congress to Monsieur Edouard Schure, the poet of the “Drama of Eleusis” and Bernhard Stavenhagen, the composer of the musical part.

The sculptures by our highly talented member, the sculptor Dr. Ernst Wagner, who strives for the highest artistic goals, were an excellent artistic presentation for the congress. The sculptures he provided for our exhibition were set up in the area around the main hall, and, for their inwardness, had an atmospheric background in the red wall of the hall. The following works of art were present: Portrait bust, Woman praying, Portrait bust, Relief for a sepulchral chapel, Bust, Sepulchral relief, King's child, Resolution, Sybille, Relief for a sepulchral niche, Portrait bust, Pain, Christ mask, Mask “Death”, Bronze statuette. Besides these works of art, only the interesting symbolic painting “The Great Babylon” by our member Mr. Haß, which was hung above the boardroom, and a carpet by Ms. Lehmann, which showed a fascinating utilization of mystical ideas in the applied arts, and finally a relief depicting Colonel Olcott by M. Gailland, and a sketch “H. P. Blavatsky” by Julia Wesw-Hoffmann.

The exhibition of a series of artworks and reproductions of such artworks that have a special connection to theosophical thought took place in the adjoining room. Here one could see: etchings by Hans Volkert; reproductions of two pictures by Moreau; reproductions of two pictures by Hermann Schmiechen; a statuette “The Master” by [Heyman]; a picture “Out of Deep Distress” by Stockmeyer; reproductions of various pictures by Watts; three reproductions of works by Lionardo; pictures by Kalckreuth the Elder, by Sophie Stinde (landscapes); by Haß (After the Storm, Fairy Tale. The King's Daughter, The Storm Cloud, Five Fir Tree Studies); a reproduction by the painter Knopf.

The next Federation Congress will take place in Budapest in 1909, two years hence, at the kind invitation of our Hungarian members.

The following events also took place after the congress: a public lecture by Mrs. Besant in Munich on “exertion and destiny” on 27 May; two public lectures by Dr. Rudolf Steiner in Munich on “Bible and Wisdom” on 23 and 24 May; and a “Course in Theosophy” based on the Rosicrucian method by Dr. Rudolf Steiner, which began on Wednesday, May 22 and included 14 lectures (lasting until June 8).

Photographs of the seals and pillars described above were provided by our member Mr. Kuhn, and will soon be available from Miss Marie von Sivers (Berlin W, Motzstraße 17).

It should be noted here that the first two yearbooks of the Federation (containing the communications, lectures and papers of the Amsterdam and London congresses) have been published. Those of the third (Paris) and fourth (Munich) congresses will follow shortly. The content of the books will be discussed in detail in the next issue of this journal; however, the importance of the books for every theosophist should be pointed out here, and their purchase is strongly recommended.

A group photograph of the Munich conference participants in the festival hall has been obtained by our member Otto Rietmann and can be obtained from Mr. Otto Rietmann (photographer in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Rorschacherstraße).

[We have not seen each other here for a few weeks. You know that this is because of our congress, which took place at Pentecost. These congresses will indeed] establish a kind of connection between the different nations within Europe, also in relation to our theosophical cause. The Munich congress, which is the fourth – after Amsterdam, London and Paris – should, in a certain respect, be a stage in the development of our theosophical movement.

I do not intend to give a proper report of the congress today, but just a few remarks for those who were unable to attend. It should show one thing that I have emphasized over and over again in relation to our Theosophical cause: that Theosophy should not be just a matter of personal brooding and introspection. The theosophical cause should intervene in practical life, should be a matter of education, a matter of becoming familiar with all branches of practical existence. Only those who have a deeper understanding and a deeper concept of the actual impulses of the theosophical cause already know today what possibilities this theosophy will offer in the future. It will be the harmony between what we see and look at and what we feel inwardly. For those who can see more deeply, an important reason for the absent-mindedness of today's people lies in this disharmony between what is and what Theosophy wants. Not only Theosophists have felt this, but also other important natures, such as Richard Wagner.

In earlier times, every door lock, every house, every structure was a structure of the soul. Soul substance had flowed into it. In ancient times, the work of art belonged to human feeling and thinking. The forms of Gothic churches in ancient times were in keeping with the mood of those who made the pilgrimage to the churches. They were their own soul mood. The pilgrim to the church felt the forms as a folding of hands, as the old Teuton felt a folding of hands in the growing together of the trees. In those days everything was more familiar to people. You see this wonderfully expressed in Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. The gathering of the whole village in the church was nothing other than the expression of the entire soul life of the village. The whole ether currents gathered at the place where the church stood. The materialistic age has fragmented all this. Those who cannot contemplate life do not know this. But the seer knows that when you walk through a city today, there is almost nothing but things that concern the stomach or the obsession with cleanliness. Those who know how to follow the secret threads of life also know what materialistic culture has brought to this division.

The recovery of the outside world arises from the fact that it becomes an imprint of what our innermost soul moods are. You can't immediately reach for the most perfect, but an example of this was given in Munich. The theosophical worldview was expressed in the room. You saw nothing but theosophy. The whole room was decorated in red. There is often a great deal of confusion about the color red, but the red could not be mistaken in its deeper meaning.

The development of humanity is an ascending and descending. Look at the original peoples. They have green in nature. And what do they love most? Red. The occultist knows that red has a special effect on the healthy soul. It releases the active forces in the healthy soul, those forces that inspire action, those forces that are meant to move the soul from the comfort into the discomfort of doing. A room with a holiday mood must be papered in red. Anyone who paperes a living room in red shows that they no longer know a holiday mood and profane the red color. Goethe has said the most beautiful words about such things: “The effect of this color is as unique as its nature. It gives an impression of both seriousness and dignity as well as of grace and charm. It does the latter in its dark, condensed state, and the former in its light, diluted state. And so the dignity of age and the loveliness of youth can be clothed in one color.”

These are the moods that are triggered by red; moods that can be proven in an occult way. Look at the landscape through a red glass and you get the impression: this is what it must look like on Judgment Day. Red makes you happy about what man has achieved in his development. Red is an enemy of retarding moods, of sinful moods.

Then there were seven column motifs for the time when Theosophy could also build a building. The motifs of the columns are taken from the teachings of the initiates, from ancient times. Theosophy will have the opportunity to give architecture truly new column motifs. The old columns actually no longer mean anything to people. The new ones relate to Saturn, the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, [Jupiter], Venus. [These] principles were expressed in the capitals.

Between the columns we had placed the seven apocalyptic seals in a Rosicrucian way. The Grail seal has been revealed to the public for the first time.

Theosophy can also be built. It can be built in architectonics, in education and in the social question. The principle of Rosicrucianism is to introduce the spirit into the world, to do fruitful work for the soul. We will also succeed in elevating art to a mystery art, for which Richard Wagner had such a great longing. An attempt has been made in Edouard Schur's mystery drama, which Edouard Schur has tried to recreate the mystery plays (of antiquity).

What underlay the [whole of the congress arrangements] was the intention of crystallizing theosophy into the structure of the world. The program booklet showed the festive color red and bore a black cross entwined with roses in a blue field. Rosicrucianism passes on what Christianity has given to the future. The initial letters on the program booklet reflect the basic ideas.

My dear Theosophical friends,

It is with great satisfaction that I greet you again today, after our long break. Hopefully we will be able to start a very good winter campaign with this evening.

It is gratifying to note that we have had to enlarge this room as well by expanding our branch. And above all, it is even more gratifying that we have been able to enlarge it. If, during these winter lodge evenings, the rooms have been made a little more airy and perhaps a little more pleasant, these evenings will also be a little more pleasant, and this is what is most desirable in the interest of our spiritual movement.

Our spiritual movement should indeed penetrate deeper and more intensely into the overall spiritual life of our time with each passing year. And the larger our little groups become, which we are gathered in the various German cities, the more we will also succeed not only in absorbing theosophical ideas into ourselves, but also in letting them flow into the hearts of our contemporaries. All the more will we solve the task that we can recognize as our most beautiful within our spiritual movement.

Today I do not need to speak to you about these tasks. You all know them. It is only a wish that we all have in common that we may succeed in making further progress in our work during this winter.

Before we move on to the subject of our consideration, I would like to briefly touch on a few things from the movement, namely the fact that Mrs. Annie Besant has indeed been elected president of the Theosophical Society, which you will have learned from the “Mitteilungen”. We can combine this announcement with another event related to our current president, Mrs. Besant: On October 1, our current president turned sixty. It may well be said that this celebration of the sixtieth birthday of our esteemed president, after whom our lodge is named, must also be, in a sense, a celebration of our lodge. On this occasion, we recall that Mrs. Besant has taken on the rather heavy burden of the presidential duties of the Theosophical Society at this time and that she, who has always, wherever possible, whole strength anyway, so to speak, has taken on something that was needed at that moment, and which actually requires a great deal of human strength in itself, in order to add to her already considerable efforts.

Nevertheless, we must welcome the fact that it has turned out this way, in line with the remarks I was allowed to make before the election. We can think of the way in which Mrs. Besant has devoted her energy to the Theosophical Society and movement for eighteen years now. We understand this way of working best when we remember what the foundations of this theosophical movement actually are.

When we speak of the foundations of the Theosophical Society, the members naturally first notice the three principles of our Theosophical Society. Firstly, to establish the core of a general brotherhood; secondly, to seek the core of wisdom in the various religions; and finally, thirdly, to contribute to the dissemination of those insights that relate to the higher spiritual worlds.

If we now ask ourselves whether our society has anything special in the cultivation of the first sentence, in the cultivation of universal human brotherhood, compared to other societies, we have to say that anyone who looks around the world with an unbiased eye will know that this cultivation of humanity, in the broadest sense of the word, is an item on the program of many contemporary societies and that, so to speak, today in the very broadest circles this ideal is recognized as such that every noble person must strive for. And if a particular society takes up this ideal as its banner, many people in the world will ask themselves: Why should we join this society when we can satisfy this ideal in a completely different way and in other communities? And the second point, to seek the core of the wisdom teachings in the various religious creeds, is an ideal that is already being cultivated by many circles of scholars and many individual scholars today. If we want to look at the matter from a purely scholarly point of view, then we cannot say otherwise than that at least in the circles with a scholarly education, this ideal is also striven for, and that with the means of scholarly research, which, by the very nature of things, is not supposed to be inherent in the cultivation of a society. Nevertheless, we would fail to recognize the very nerve of our Society if we did not want to hold fast to these two great ideals. If we were not clear about the fact that, in the sense of what we have come to know as esoteric Christianity, the Theosophical Society prescribes for us precisely the all-embracing ideal of brotherhood and, on the other hand, that we, the great, deep, far-reaching peace that should spread throughout the world like an emanation of this universal brotherhood, a new social force, can best be achieved by us making peace right down to the core of our soul, right down to the hearts of human beings. But as long as we cannot make peace in terms of external institutions, in terms of external deeds, in terms of law and morality, we will never seriously achieve this general peace in the world, because what ultimately divides people are their thoughts, their beliefs. So, what we call general brotherhood, will you never achieve if we do not make peace in the beliefs? And how can we make peace if we cannot see what common core of truth is in the most diverse religious beliefs? By finding harmony in our beliefs, we will also bring about world peace. It is therefore clear that this must be our great ideal.

But these ideals are also recognized outside the Theosophical Society. They are recognized by all those who look at life with some degree of impartiality. At least the first principle is recognized in its formulation, as it is also presented to us, by all people today who think more or less nobly. And the second principle is also recognized by those who have emerged from limited fanaticism. What, then, distinguishes us from them, and what entitles us to be a special society if these ideals are not special? The following: It is true that universal brotherhood is the highest humanitarian ideal; it is true that peace and harmony should be established even among the religions. But there is only one means to this great end. This means, this way, this path is what makes the Theosophical Society special. And it is only because it believes that these two great ideals can be achieved with this path alone that it has its right to exist. And this means is to make the secrets of the higher spiritual world accessible to people.

Someone may acknowledge the general ideal of brotherhood. But if he does not stand on the ground of the study of the spiritual secrets of the world, he tries to introduce it into the world with inadequate means, and he also studies the inadequacies in the religious creeds if he does not see what underlies them in the spiritual worlds as the basis, let us say, of the very right in the formulation of these ideals. But you would be convinced, if you could only follow the course of time, how the means used outside the theosophical current will never achieve this ideal. On the other hand, through the study of the spiritual world itself, the fulfillment of the first two ideals will arise as a matter of course.

Therefore, the history of our movement since 1875 has shown that those who have joined it have essentially always done so because they knew that within this society they could find something of the facts of the spiritual worlds in their true form. This exploration of the occult world was at the cradle of the Theosophical Society. It is the thing that will always keep the members united. If we were to lose this exploration of the supersensible world, then we would have no reason for the Theosophical Society to exist. Therefore, our main task must be the cultivation of occultism. A great many occult truths have come into the world through the Theosophical Society and are still coming into the world.

The theosophical movement is properly understood only by those who work in this spirit. Whether he follows this or that path or method in detail, those who consider the cultivation of occultism in society to be the main thing are of the same nature. That alone could be the point of view from which Mrs. Besant's presidency was justified. They have had this point of view from the beginning, and it will be a matter of learning within society that occultism itself is something that unites us. All the various objections that could be raised against Mrs. Besant's presidency were swept aside by the only sentence that she wrote in the various documents she sent to the public before the election. This sentence was so genuinely written in the sense of the occultist's attitude that one can see – whatever one may otherwise think of her – this sentence is written from the heart and from the attitude of an occultist. And that was the sentence, which of course today can only be understood by people with an occult mind-set, that she can refer to the approval of her master and that she prefers this single approval of her master to the vote of the entire majority, which might result from a vote in the democratic sense. That is the occultist's attitude, that is standing on the ground of truth. Truth is recognized and not found by voting on it.

While this is difficult in our time for the great masses outside - who must go the opposite way - it must increasingly become the attitude of the occultist. What we have recognized as truth, we have recognized, even if the whole world opposes us. Therefore, by appealing to the spiritual powers that stand above us, our own judgment must count for more than any other. At the same time, professing this attitude requires a certain courage, a great courage, especially today. It also takes courage within the Theosophical Society. Those who do not have this courage cannot be true occultists. However, those who have this attitude in the background know very clearly that, no matter what obstacles may stand in the way of our movement, no matter what may be done to us, this movement must find and follow its path.

Therefore, it is best for us to work on our current, which we recognize as the right one, to work properly. What we are able to advance is more important to us than what we are supposed to fight against, even within society. That Mrs. Besant stands precisely on this ground, which characterizes her as an occultist, is shown by a small example, which may nevertheless be symptomatic. Just at the last annual meeting in London, Mrs. Besant, who was presiding, was strongly attacked from various sides.

It might seem strange that only her opponents spoke at this meeting and that none of her friends stood up to try to defend her. That might seem a little strange. It no longer seems strange when it becomes clear that Mrs. Besant had asked her friends not to defend her at this meeting, whatever might happen. This is a symptom of an occultist gathering. In short, we can summarize ourselves: in the fact that Mrs. Besant stood on solid ground when she entered society, that gave society a firm basis when it was founded; that she never left that ground and that she will therefore be a guarantee that she will not leave this ground as a leading figure, that is important. Therefore, we can only welcome with great satisfaction that Mrs. Besant, so close to her sixtieth birthday, has taken on the burden of the presidency, in addition to all her other work. We can only hope that the Theosophical movement will continue to be maintained in the ways in which it must be maintained if it is to contribute to the further development of the spiritual life of humanity.

In this sense, we will celebrate the sixtieth birthday of Mrs. Annie Besant. And we are clear in such moments that the occultist knows that thoughts, feelings and sensations are not something unreal, but something real, that they are forces and that each of us can work through our thoughts, sensations and feelings. Let us resolve, from this moment on, to direct the thoughts and feelings we have for our President, thoughts of love, devotion and friendship, to him. Then we, each in our own place, will be able to be the helpers that this President needs. That is the best way to celebrate the festival, by making the thoughts that are otherwise only expressed at such festivals the basis of our actions. Let us say to ourselves: We want to send our thoughts, feelings and sensations of help. This is something we had to remind ourselves of in the Besant Lodge.

Report in the “Mitteilungen für die Mitglieder der Deutschen Sektion der Theosophischen Gesellschaft (Hauptquartier Adyar) herausgegeben von Mathilde Scholl”, No. V1/1908.

At 11:30 a.m., the Secretary General of the German Section, Dr. Rudolf Steiner, opened the fifth ordinary General Assembly.

The first item on the agenda was to determine the voting rights of the various lodges and their representatives.

Not represented were: Basel, Charlottenburg, Düsseldorf (Blavatsky branch), Esslingen a.N., Frankfurt a.M., Regensburg. - Similarly, the section members who did not belong to a branch had not exercised their right to appoint representatives.

The votes are distributed as follows:
Dr. Steiner 1
Mr. Kiem 6
Ms. von Sivers 5
Ms. von Bredow 1
Mr. Tessmar 1
Mr. Korth 1
Ms. Mücke 1
Mr. Bedrnicek-Chlumsky 2
Mrs. Peelen 2
Dr. Noll 2
Miss Scholl 3
Dr. Peipers 2
Mr. Ahner 2
Mrs. Wolfram 1
Mr. Jahn 1
Dr. Vollrath 1
Mr. Wagner 4
Ms. Stinde 2
Countess Kalckreuth 2
Baroness Gumppenberg 4
r. Arenson 5
Ms. Völker 5
Mr. von Damnitz 2
Mr. Eggers 1
Ms. Knoch 1
Ms. Stryczek 1
Mr. Kolbe 1
Mr. Walter 1
Scharlau 1
[total] 62

The secretary of the meeting, Mr. Selling, reads the minutes of the General Assembly of October 21, 1906, which is approved by the meeting.

Item II:

1. Report of the General Secretary [Dr. Steiner]: “The Fifth General Assembly is hereby opened. Before we enter into this morning's proceedings, which must of course be governed by the strict spirit of the law of the statutes, it may be permitted to greet you all most cordially in the name of the spirit of harmony and true Theosophical unity.

You have gathered again after a year to reaffirm this spirit of harmony and the spiritual, inner harmony that flows from Theosophy, and to experience it together once more during a few days together. Not only what we negotiate on such occasions [on a business level] is taken into consideration, but also the fact that we are together at all, that our thoughts touch each other even more intimately through direct contact than they could otherwise. This must also be counted among the things that come into play at such a gathering as ours. We must gain strength from such gatherings to be able to work ever more strongly, ever more vigorously, and ever more correctly in all parts of the area in which we have succeeded in spreading the Theosophical life and thought within the realm of the German language.

We can say that in the years since we have had a German section, the Theosophical thought and life within our Central European region have spread in a very gratifying and, considering the opposing factors, extraordinarily satisfying way. It is not at all unnecessary to watch with a watchful eye how, not only on the surface of our present life, but one might say in those regions that are today considered by some to be deeper, precisely the forces and powers opposed to ours prevail and how hostile waves beat against our Theosophical activity.

When the Theosophist looks at his environment with his spiritual senses, which, as it should be, are refined for all human life, he soon sees these thoughts that are opposed to the actual Theosophical life and the Theosophical world view. But perhaps it is better that we are able to let the waves of these hostile powers approach us, where we can then watch them closely and, without further engagement with them, without worrying about them, we are able to do our work. It is particularly satisfying to note that in the five years of the German Section's work, this truly peaceful and peace-loving, indeed the only peace-loving, thought has spread at least a little. The Theosophical Society cannot do its work by always saying that it is there to establish brotherhood, to make peace, to introduce good into the world, not by fighting hostile powers, but by doing positive work, by purely absorbing what flows to it from the spiritual worlds and letting it flow into the world again.

It is also a much more beautiful feeling when there are hostile powers all around, and one says nothing to these hostile powers, but simply asserts within the surging waves what one is able to do oneself. We are not really here to fight, nor to fight with words, but to do, to create, and as long as the Theosophical Society is at the present stage of development, the only deeds we can do, and perhaps the best deeds we can do, will be our words imbued with the innermost essence of the spirit. But more and more we will absorb the consciousness that such words we speak, such thoughts we harbor, such seemingly outwardly invisible actions are the seed for real future deeds, for real future events.

There are many parties, many currents and societies to promote this or that good. They all can hardly avoid spreading what is good according to their belief and fighting the opposing evil. The Theosophical Society should distinguish itself from the other societies by the fact that it can endure when hostile forces approach it from all sides, that the members of the society do not care about them, not even in words, but quietly do their work.

It is possible that we will not always be able to keep it that way; it is possible that especially the spirit that has entered into many occult circles, including those that call themselves theosophical, will sometimes force us to take a stand. It is not always possible to realize in the outer world that which is the highest ideal; but we will never be in any doubt that if we should be compelled to fight for our spiritual world-view, that fight would mean lost time. Perhaps we are forced to sacrifice lost time, to do lost work; but then we have the consciousness that these things do not belong to the main issues of our striving.

This is what, according to the intentions of the spiritual world, should flow more and more into our German, Central European, Theosophical movement; that is precisely what I would like to imbue with a spiritual greeting wish that we may work in harmony with such a spirit within the framework of the Society, within which we seek to spread the Theosophical World-View.

But it can happen to us, and it has happened to us many times in the course of these five years of work, that people who may call themselves Theosophists have attacked us and caused real discord. We have experienced it time and again, and it has occurred in the vast majority of cases, that we have remained silent in the face of all such attacks, as was emphasized in the previous year from the same place and at the same time; and we have had to experience it time and again that precisely those who attacked us, those who opposed us even from the theosophical side, subsequently reproached us: Yes, what is it then, that there is so much discord in society? Theosophy is supposed to make peace. Most of the talk about it, the ones who have previously caused the discord. This is actually an experience that we have made.

There are people who say that they are striving to establish the best non-sectarian theosophy. If any society really strives to spread a completely non-sectarian theosophy, then it is certainly the one that is attempting this in our context. Nevertheless, it is often said that Theosophy, when it vigorously advocates the occult life from any side, wants to create a sect. And people who have no understanding of the difference between sects and sectarianism and true, high freedom, which must prevail within the framework of such a society, very often speak of cult formation, and in such a way as if they had the privilege, the patent, to appear cult-free.

As I said, even if some excesses have occurred or will occur in the Theosophical Society, our attitude, our realization should be that we consider any resistance as a waste of time, even if we are forced to defend ourselves. The only thing that brings fruit is to do positive theosophical work. The idea that Theosophy is a fact has become more and more widespread. Let us emphasize that it is a fact and not a set of principles, not a set of program points. It is not theosophy to say that one wants to found a society of a certain nature; it is not theosophy to say that one has this or that principle. Rather, what is a fact is theosophy, the spiritual life that is being poured out into the world today through a number of people who are united. This positive inflow from the higher planes is what matters. That is the picture and everything else is the frame. No matter how much we argue about the best constitution for society, it is all about the best frame. But it is not the frame that matters, but that there is a picture in the frame, and that we learn to have the picture first, not the frame. This thought, which has a touch of artistic sensitivity, is something one would like to see spread in the Theosophical Society. In time, the best framework will arise by itself if the way in which the framework is designed is the same as the way in which the framework for a good picture is chosen. The one who wants a beautiful frame and then gets a picture for it will usually go astray; but the one who is able to gain the idea of the framework from the content of the picture will go the right way.

Therefore, we need not be afraid if the theosophical condition has to change here and there. As long as there is life and a picture, the frame will change and adapt to the picture. It differs from other pictures in that it is a living and not a dead picture, and as such a living picture, it will also have to constantly renew its frame.

No one who lives in the spirit of theosophy will be able to entertain any wrong thoughts about the frame. It is good if we call this truly peace-making attitude, which does not arise from the demand for peace but from the self-evident result of peace, the result of the high teachings that flow through the theosophical movement , and if we all imbibe the idea at the beginning of our gathering that Theosophy is not meant to be an abstract wisdom but a concrete one, through which we understand the world in the right sense. And why not of a concrete, rather than abstract, nature? Because in Theosophy we seek the wisdom by which the world itself came into being, not thoughts that we form, but thoughts that the divine beings had when they built the world. We seek to appropriate the same wisdom that formed the world in the Theosophical Society. The gods first created the world according to the concepts we seek in Theosophy. That is why Theosophy is a true and legitimate bearer of its name. If we imbibe these truths in this field, then we are not merely theoretical seekers of truth. To seek the thoughts of God means to seek God's own mind, to seek rest in the soul of God, not the rest of inactivity but that which arises from the true rhythm of life and is therefore the true source of work on the physical plane, which is to be the realization of the higher planes.

That is the spirit in whose name, as was said at the beginning of these remarks, you may be greeted today. This concrete spirit was the eternal thought of God, which is to shine forth in the individual human souls that unite in the Theosophical Society. It is this spirit that arises as a spark in every soul, and to which I too would like to extend my greetings.

Break

"My dear Theosophical friends! Our movement within Central Europe has increased in a very satisfying way. The current way of working, which has been carried on in the same spirit as before, has undoubtedly proven itself.

The past year not only brought us the lecture cycles that were held in Munich, Kassel, and Hannover, but also a wealth of activities that were more international in nature. On the occasion of our Munich Congress, and even before that, a plethora of administrative tasks became necessary due to the fact that we were able to elect a new president of the Society as a result of Colonel Olcott's passing.

Since many of the members who are present here were also present in Munich, and we commemorated the immense and unspeakable merits of our president-founder at the time, today it is enough just to bring the memory of him back to our dear friends, to him who administered and led the Theosophical Society with love and devotion for so long. There is no need to repeat the words that bring to each of us an awareness of the fruitful and beneficial work that Colonel Olcott has done during his term of office, which has lasted as long as the Society has existed.

In particular, the German Section, which was to go some way under Olcott's leadership, and which from the outset pursued the definite plan of fully and freely integrating itself into the general Society, was often able to feel how the spirit of truly Theosophical freedom could flourish in it through Olcott's way of understanding his task as President of the Society.

In some circles, there is talk of centralization in Adyar and even of Adyar's tyrannical and authoritarian domination. But anyone who has followed the matter here in Germany will have to say that there can be no question of any influence on free thought and thought here. That every Theosophical field may flourish and work on its own ground, under its own conditions, is what Colonel Olcott also regarded as his motto. This principle, which may have been less pronounced in the past but can now be stated as a summary, 'that one lets the right thing happen in the right place', has become more and more established in practice under Colonel Olcott's leadership.

Those who had the profound satisfaction of knowing Olcott personally knew that he was, so to speak, the self-evident president of the Society. The matter-of-factness that does not deny anyone their right because no one thinks that it could be any different is a beautiful trait that will become more and more evident in the Society.

As the German Section, we also feel that at our first General Assembly after the passing of our president-founder, our thoughts and our love will continue to belong to the spirit of this extraordinary man. We feel that we will always belong with him, because theosophical communities are communities that extend far beyond the physical plane. We feel united with him and express these our feelings as the German Section by rising from our seats.

The death of Colonel H. S. Olcott meant that a new president had to be elected. It cannot be my task to summarize the many debates and resolutions that took place during the preparation period and during the presidential election. We note the satisfying result that Mrs. Annie Besant emerged from the election with an overwhelming majority.

But even if the discussions regarding her election were lengthy [and took up a lot of time of the kind that was previously described as wasted time in the non-business part of the General Assembly, the business part, it would be far from my heart to repeat these words] – a summary would have to be given if it were not for the pleasing fact that, basically, these discussions have not affected our German section. The election in Germany went off in a calm and orderly manner and produced an almost unanimous result. Only 20 votes out of 600 were cast against Mrs. Besant.

[The others did not vote.

Thus we may well disregard the things that took place outside of our section and indulge in the satisfaction that Mrs. Besant, whose work has been devoted to the Society for many years, will continue to serve the Theosophical Society in the new form of the presidency. The Theosophical Society will thus be preserved in its historical tradition. Mrs. Besant's personality is a sufficient guarantee and basis for this. It also enters into a new phase, as the discussion has shown how necessary it is to steer the Society in the right direction.

Last year, in relation to Mrs. Besant, we not only had to report her election as president, but also her 60th birthday.

Since it was not possible to call an extraordinary meeting on such an occasion, I took the liberty of welcoming and congratulating Mrs. Besant on behalf of the Section, with the intention of seeking indemnity from today's meeting.

I wrote to Mrs. Besant at the time, which in German translation reads something like this:

“The German Section of the Theosophical Society is permitted to send its warmest love and appreciation. The members see in your tireless devotion to the ideals of the Society, in your noble cultivation of the motives of spiritual life, a spiritual example that works to give the present a spiritual ferment. The Society has taken a direction such that the members will count it an honor if they can work in harmony with the President. It is their most fervent wish that they might contribute as much as possible to shaping your high office in a way that corresponds to your views. From the heart of the members, the Secretary General of the German Section of the Theosophical Society would like to express this.”

The Theosophical Society owes its existence to the fact that, since its foundation through the mediation of Annie Besant, a great deal of occult wisdom has been imparted to the educated world. When Mrs. Besant took on the office of president at such an advanced age, in addition to the other tasks she has so far performed abundantly in the past, those who understood the importance of the Society's progress had to welcome this as a satisfying fact.

Another task that fell to us in the international arena was the holding of the Munich Congress. You were able to get an idea of our intentions from the decoration of the congress hall, the images of the seals and columns with which the hall was adorned, and the nature of the entire program. They were intended to make a start, to make Theosophy more than just a collection of abstract dogmas, and to give it influence over the life that surrounds us. No one can be under any illusion that the way in which we have achieved harmony in relation to the overall design of the congress was more than a weak beginning compared to what lives as Theosophical thought. But everything has to start somewhere. If the German Section has only shown what intentions could prevail at such a congress, shown how the life that lives in the soul can also be expressed in form, in art and in being together, then what the German Section could contribute on this occasion has been done. From such inspiration, the strength can arise that will gradually make it possible for the Theosophical Society to not only be a place for the dissemination of these or those dogmas, but to intervene deeply in the whole life of the human being. [A more detailed description of the congress is not necessary. It has been sufficiently given in the “Mitteilungen”. The only thing] that still needs to be noted is the fact that the cost of the congress, which was estimated at 4,500 marks, has been greatly exceeded. The congress has become all the more beautiful as a result. It is to be mentioned here with deep gratitude that on this occasion in particular such a profound understanding has been shown, especially in the German Section. We needed a lot of money; but it turned out that where Theosophical life is concerned, there is also understanding and a willingness to make sacrifices. Therefore, there is no deficit to report. [It is also the case that he has completely balanced himself, which was very gratifying considering that the estimate had to be exceeded by a great deal.]

No less emphasized should be the deeply satisfying fact that those who could have done so have worked in an incredibly dedicated manner. Everything that had to be done was done by our dear friends in Munich in a way that was not only dedicated but also thoroughly understanding, so that what we did was the most beautiful expression of what is called Theosophical unity and harmony. There was no one who was not willing to do the most demanding spiritual work alongside the most menial manual labor, which is necessary at such a congress. People who had never done such work in their entire lives carried large items that were needed for one purpose or another; others hammered, others painted large columns; in short, it was all dedicated work. Donations ranging from the thousand-mark note to the ten-pfennig piece were collected. The administration, which had been taken over from Munich, was prudent in everything except the work that showed how real achievement, real cooperation, makes people harmonious. We brought it to the point where the deeply satisfying performance of the Mystery Drama of Eleusis could take place. If you knew what had to be done to make it happen, from the translation from French to the sandals on the feet of the actors, who were all members and had to undergo weeks of rehearsals; if you knew how it went, how beautifully and harmoniously everything went, how the work was carried by the community spirit and the devotion of feeling, then you could appreciate the practical value of having everyone bound together by a common bond of work. Just as the plant harmoniously reaches towards the sun, so people become harmonious when they are ruled by the same feelings.

[This was demonstrated during the rehearsal of the Eleusinian Mysteries. We were able to take this satisfying and practical insight home with us, which is what it means to practically ground life and work. Working together brings you together, it makes people of one mind and one soul. There is no more arguing.]

We owe it to the good spirit of the corps of contributors to our Munich Congress that everything turned out as it did. The spirit of harmony really did live in the Munich working community during all these preparations, and in this respect it could, to a certain extent, serve as a model for the way in which people in the Theosophical Society can work together and collaborate in general. It is to be hoped that the somewhat different kind of work that the German Section has been trying to do for five years will not only be recognized in the International Theosophical Society [- but this is not necessary -] but will also have a somewhat fruitful effect. The International Theosophical Society can only flourish if each Section contributes to the altar of common, Theosophical, international activity. [The work that has been started must be continued. The Basel and Nuremberg lodges have requested lecture cycles.]

It hardly needs to be said that the warmest thanks of the German Section of the Theosophical Society go to Edouard Schuré, the author of the Mystery Drama. But it should be emphasized that we are greatly indebted to Bernhard Stavenhagen, the famous pianist and subtle composer, who, in the midst of his busy and demanding workload, took it upon himself to donate the musical part of the dramatic performance to us at my request. The deep impression that this composition made on all those present will remain in their memories. The beautiful harmony of the musical creation with the mystery was felt by all."

Rudolf Steiner then remembers the deceased members in a beautiful way: Miss Eggert and Mr. Wirschmidt, whose memory the assembly honors by standing up.

Secondly: Fräulein von Sivers, the secretary of the German Section, then gives the following report on the membership movement and the organizational structure of Theosophical life in the past year:

Number of members: 872, compared to 591 in the previous year. 303 new members joined, compared to 231 in the previous year. 12 members left, 2 were transferred to other sections, and 4 died. The addresses of 19 members could not be determined and as a result have not been included.

The members are spread across 28 branches, compared to 24 in the previous year, and 1 center. The names of the new branches are: Kassel, Düsseldorf (Blavatsky branch), Elberfeld, Esslingen a.N.

Thirdly: This is followed by the treasurer's report, Mr. Seiler.

Fourthly: After the report of the auditors, Mr. Tessmar and Ms. Motzkus, the treasurer is discharged.

Item III: Mr. Bernhard Hubo's resignation from the board has made it necessary to elect a replacement. After Dr. Steiner had emphasized the dedication and sacrifice with which Mr. Hubo had devoted himself to the Theosophical cause and announced that his efforts to persuade him to retain his office had been unsuccessful, the election of a new board member was initiated. Mr. Tessmar was elected.

Points IV and V: suggestions from the Heidelberg and Weimar branches, which had the purpose of launching a greater propaganda for what the Theosophical Society wants, gave rise to a longer discussion in which members Wolfram, Arenson, Bedrnicek-Chlumsky, Stockmeyer and Ahner participated.

Dr. Steiner remarked:

“I can well understand that friends who are somewhat removed from the matter believe that they can do something through the press by having articles printed in it. But anyone who has experience in public life and can make observations knows what “press” means today. It pains me to have to say that. [I myself see the press as something that can be loved, that corrects one's own mistakes. But we must also look at things impartially. [illegible] Sometimes they have given us reports not in the capital city press, but in the provincial towns. If we had been supposed to make use of these papers, we would have been on very shaky ground. [illegible] the people in the press themselves belong to those who must first understand what Theosophy wants. Consider that all over the world, since the modern discovery, and especially in the field of intellectual life, there is tremendous competition. That is the worst, the most corrupting thing there can be. But another question is this: do we as Theosophists have anything to gain from it? We have tried to get our articles not only into the daily press but also into weekly magazines. A new magazine has been started. It is called “Der Morgen” [The Morning]. It is not clear why the gentlemen found it necessary to found a magazine. I do not want to talk about the subordinate press, but this magazine in particular can be used to study the morals of magazines. In a much-discussed matter, it managed to publish a sensational article, and to report things that pointed to individuals. It appeared to be acting as a prosecutor, as if it wanted to intervene. I don't want to condemn anything here, anyone could report it wrongly. Above all, the newspaper felt the need to have a correction sent to it, from which it can be seen that there is not even a shadow of truth to it. The lawyer refuted point by point that the facts reported by the magazine not only appear to be untrue, but [illegible] appears. [illegible] So if something like this is possible in exclusive magazines, then it is a symptom. And I could give you many such [examples]."

After Dr. Steiner had explained the reasons at length, he concluded by asking the theosophical movement to at least do the good deed of not publishing reviews in newspapers and magazines for propaganda purposes, since, as experience has shown, this can only lead to destruction, not good,.

Since the discussion of these proposals concludes all the items on the agenda, Dr. Steiner closes the business part and announces that the factual, theosophical part of the General Assembly will begin at four o'clock.

Report in the “Mitteilungen für die Mitglieder der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft (Theosophischen Gesellschaft), herausgegeben von Mathilde Scholl”, No. 1/1913

At 10:15 a.m., Dr. Rudolf Steiner opens the meeting with the following words:

"In place of the eleventh General Assembly of the German Section, which, as you will hear, I am logically no longer able to hold in view of the events that have occurred, I hereby open the meeting of the Theosophical friends who are present.

I ask you to consider the words that, logically, I can no longer open the General Assembly of the Theosophical Society of the German Section here, in view of the facts that have occurred. What has happened will be the subject of the proceedings; what I have to say to you before anything else is what was not bound to any external organization in previous years either, but to our heartfelt theosophical empathy. And it is out of this heartfelt theosophical empathy that I greet you on this, our day of assembly. It is to be hoped that this warm and beautiful bond that has united us for so many years will also unite us this time, insofar as we have an understanding of what we wanted. And from the feeling of this unity, let me express in a few words only the warmest greeting, in a few words, because we will still have a lot to do today and the following negotiations should begin as soon as possible.

What I would like is that at least perhaps in a single act not a few dark rays shine in that could shine in later; that is, in view of the difficulties of our negotiations, we remember right at the beginning this time those who, since we last gathered here, when our dear Theosophical friends left the physical plan.

I need not, of course, particularly emphasize today, after years of talking about the feelings and emotions in such cases, that for the truly sensitive Theosophist, a person's transition from one plan to another is just a change of form of existence, and that, since we feel connected by ties that are not bound to one plan, these ties to our dear Theosophical friends will remain the same even if they are obliged to exchange one plan for another. Thus those who have passed away from us will have loving friends in us, and we will have loving friends in them, as we turn our thoughts wherever we can to those who were so often allowed to go there when they were still working with us on the physical plane.

First and foremost, I have to mention a member who worked with us theosophically for many years in such a way that her kind and loving heart brought her intimate friends everywhere. Those who have had the opportunity to be touched by Mia Holm's beautiful poetic talent are particularly aware of how significant it was to have this personality in our midst, and how we have every reason to remember this personality forever and ever, as far as we feel connected to her. There are many among us who loved Mia Holm dearly, who also had a deep love for her poetic talent, for her entire lovable personality.

Secondly, I would like to mention not only a long-standing member of our Theosophical work, but also, so to speak, the oldest Theosophist we ever had, our dear Mrs. Bontemps in Leipzig. She belonged to our way of thinking and feeling so completely with all her heart that when we spoke to her, even the most ordinary things that came from her lips felt imbued with Theosophical sentiment and warmth. And those who got to know Mrs. Bontemps well appreciate her good heart, her in so many ways great and comprehensive character, her so easily the hearts of people justifiably winning theosophical attitude. It was deeply satisfying to me that I could still say many a word to her in the last days when she was still on the physical plane, when she could no longer leave her sickbed. And just as many of the words I was able to speak to her in her healthier days will remain unforgettable to me, so too will the conversations I was able to have with her at her last sickbed.

I have to mention the young lady [Clara Brandt], who ended her life on the physical plane this summer in a regrettable accident. I emphasize explicitly, because misunderstandings have spread in many ways, that Miss [Brandt] died a very natural death, caused by a state of weakness that led to the misfortune of her unfortunate fall; it was nothing more than a very natural death. We remember how she was devoted to the Theosophical cause for many years, in spite of many difficulties, and how this Theosophical cause made her what she wanted to be.

I have many loyal and dear friends to remember, both those I have recently gained and those who have been with us for many years. If I were to say everything that is on my mind here, it would be a very long speech, and one that is only of value if we all start our thoughts about our departed friends from a loving attitude.

Thus I have to commemorate a long-standing member, Mr. Leo Ellrich from the Leipzig Lodge.

Thus I have to commemorate a particularly painful death, because we are not only painfully affected in this case by the fact that the deceased has left the physical plane, but has also left behind the deeply grieving husband, who is our dear member. When we consider the beautiful way in which Dr. [Roesel], who belonged to the Bielefeld Lodge, found her way into the Theosophical movement, how she strove to enter it, when we remember that, then we most certainly empathize with our dear friend Dr. [Roesel], who is such a loyal and much-loved member.

I have to remember two friends from Basel who were held in high regard and loved in their immediate circle, the two members Gottlieb [Hiltboldt] and Wilhelm Vockroth. They were loyal, dear, self-sacrificing, Theosophical co-workers.

Furthermore, I have to remember the man who passed away not only because of the physical suffering of his painful existence, our friend Hugo [Boltze] in Eisenach. Most of our friends know Hugo [Boltze]; he really had a lot to suffer, and we were devoted to him in loyalty and love and will remain so. After seven years of very painful illness, this disease had to lead to death. We stand before him in such a way that we will surely send him our best and most loving thoughts.

We also have to remember a dear friend, Mr. Hans Schellbach, who, after seeking healing in a southern Theosophical colony, could not be saved in the physical life. Suffice it to say that he remained true to his Theosophical beliefs until his last breath, as he had always demonstrated them in life. That they were a healing medicine for him, that he was so attached to Theosophy that it was the strength that could sustain him in the happiest as well as in the most painful moments of life.

I must also mention a friend whose death was, in a certain respect, extraordinarily tragic, who was a close friend of a man who was close to the theosophical circle, Mr. Georg Bauernfeind. It would not be appropriate here to speak about the details of our friend's life. It should only be said that Theosophy can lead us to understand every kind of seeking, every kind of spiritual experience, and that we will also understand this man's final path to death.

Furthermore, I have to mention a man who had a great deal of theosophy in his mind, but whom few got to know, Mr. Meakin, who left the physical plane last October after working with us more and more intensely and intensively for a long time.

Miss [Bloecker], Mrs. Major Herbst, Mrs. Marty, I also have to mention them. Even if they have been less prominent in our movement, we are no less called upon to feel united with them beyond the grave. We know, my dear Theosophical friends, how indissoluble our bond remains with those who have left the physical plane through death, and we know that they have entered another sphere of life. So let this moment of union be the starting point for you to feel connected to these friends of ours in the sense just expressed, and that you will continue to feel connected to these friends in the future. Let us express these loving thoughts and feelings that we send to our deceased friends by rising from our seats.

Dr. Steiner: “My dear Theosophical friends! First of all, a request has been received that I have to answer as a request regarding the agenda. The request is:

Is the resolution of the board of December 8, 1912, to expel the members of the 'Order of the Star of the East' from the German Section of the Theosophical Society, considered to have been carried out without the General Assembly having voted on it and agreed to it?

Hermann Ahner

I would just like to add a few words to this request. I would like to say that the decision to exclude the members of the “Star of the East” without further ado was never taken by the board in this version, but that the members of the “Star of the East” were asked to resign, otherwise the board would be forced to exclude them. But now a request had been received from a member of the “Star of the East” asking whether such a member would still be allowed to remain in the meeting in that case, and whether I would like this member to address a few kind words to the General Assembly. I replied that I actually had enough of interfering in the affairs of the General Assembly in any way, and that the General Assembly would have to decide on this. During my absence, the board felt compelled to ask the delegates themselves whether they wished members of the “Star of the East” to attend today's general assembly. The delegates responded almost without exception that they did not wish members of the “Star of the East” to be present. After this announcement by the delegates, I was no longer authorized to open the General Assembly to the members of the 'Star of the East'. And whatever distortions have been made in the world, those who want to check will see that I have never acted otherwise than as a representative, as the executive organ of the German Section. As Secretary General, I never wanted to follow my own will, but always that of the Section.

Furthermore, however, it must be said that, after long consideration of the matter, because the matter can no longer be otherwise, I am no longer in a position to hold the eleventh general assembly of the German section at all, but only to hold a meeting in its place with our friends, because logically a German section no longer exists. According to the board's decision of yesterday, it is no longer possible to hold this meeting in the way that previous general meetings have been held. But this means that the possibility of contesting today's meeting no longer applies. I will treat this meeting afterwards as an original meeting. Therefore, it should be considered whether there is any reason at all to decide at this meeting whether or not to implement the Executive Board's decision to expel the members of the Star of the East.

The Theosophical Society, German Section.

To the esteemed members of the German Section of the Theosophical Society who are members of the “Star of the East.

The undersigned are obliged to inform you that the Executive Board, which met in an extraordinary session on December 8, 1912, has passed the resolution set out below. This decision has not been taken because of any existing differences of opinion or divergent points of view, which may of course be represented in the Theosophical Society, but solely because the way in which the leadership of the “Star of the East” has related to the German Section appears to the Section to be quite incompatible with the first paragraph of the Constitution of the Theosophical Society. If it were to be said that the German Section excludes certain opinions and points of view, then this must be dismissed from the outset as incorrect.

The above-mentioned resolution reads: “The Executive Board of the German Section of the Theosophical Society regards membership of the Order of the Star of the East as incompatible with membership of the Theosophical Society and requests members of the Star of the East to resign from the Theosophical Society.

The board of the German Section will be forced to expel members who do not comply with this request from the German Section.

On behalf of the board of the German Section of the Theosophical Society.
The Secretary General. The Secretary.

[Dr. Steiner:] “The delegates have already agreed to this decision, but if Mr. Ahner wants to talk about it, he is of course free to do so.”

Mr. Ahner: “I can find no reason why the members of the ‘Star of the East’ should be excluded. The Theosophical Society, the all-embracing society, has a place for everyone. Therefore, I do not like to exclude such people who want to bring in a higher life and encourage a higher life. I do not know why Star members are excluded. I don't know to what extent the board has the right to do so. I would like to know whether this board decision is legally valid at all. I myself am not a star member, but I regret not understanding and I don't understand why this should happen, why disharmony should arise. I do not want the exclusion from my point of view, you can of course think differently about it. It is repugnant to me, decidedly unsympathetic, when we see our brothers in all people and then exclude them in a loveless way. I have nothing more to say about it, it was nothing more than a question to which an answer has already been given. I have nothing more to say about it."

Dr. Steiner: “Do you want a vote on this?” Mr. Ahner: “Yes, if possible.”

Dr. Steiner: “Since a vote is to take place, I ask the delegates to stand up who are in favor of excluding the Star members.”

A vote is taken. With the exception of Mr. Ahner, the delegates are in favor of the exclusion.

Dr. Steiner: “This is undoubtedly the majority, although the votes have not yet been counted. However, as a precaution, I would like the entire assembly to vote on it as well. Vote.” - With the exception of five, everyone is in favor of the exclusion.

Dr. Steiner: “Since I see myself only as an executive body, I am not able to reverse the decision of the board and to let the members of the ‘Star of the East’ call now.

My dear Theosophical friends! With a certain pain, which many of you who have worked with me over the years may feel, I begin this argument. I myself must remember that moment when we, a small number of friends, came here to this city a number of years ago to establish the German Section of the Theosophical Society. We came at that time to establish this Section because we had before us the ideal and the intention of working within the Theosophical Society for that which we regard as the high goods of human development. We entered into this movement at that time with the sole intention of working faithfully in the field indicated. A committee was elected at the first constituent General Assembly.

Not all those who were elected at the time are still on the committee; nor are all of them still on the physical plane.

The first difficulty that arose for us, after I had been preceded by a number of difficulties, was this, which originated from a man who has now once again begun the difficulties within the German Section within the Theosophical Society. After Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden, who was one of the veterans, so to speak, of the Theosophical movement, had been willingly elected to the executive council, he began writing letter after letter within a few weeks, and there was really no end to them. In the letters, which partly preceded the founding of the Section and partly followed it, there were some, for example, that contained the content: one should limit the power of the President of the Theosophical Society, the Adyar Presidium, and instead of that, set up a kind of Areopagus of members, who stand at the head of autonomous national societies, so that in no way could there be interference from a Presidium. At the time, Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden wanted a completely republican structure for the Theosophical Society. Another proposal was to exclude women from the Theosophical movement, a movement in which reason and judgment should prevail, because women were considered to have less reason and judgment than men because they had less mental ability. At the time, I raised the slight objection of whether the dead Mrs. Blavatsky, who founded the movement, should also be excluded, but I did not receive any clarification on the matter. Before the Genoa Congress, Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden suggested that he, I and a few other members, among whom not the astral element of women but the mental element of men should be represented, should negotiate before the said congress on what would be beneficial for the Society, because he was familiar with the intentions that Mrs. Blavatsky and Mrs. Besant had originally had. But then followed the request that only men of sound mind, who alone had a mental aptitude, should participate in that conference. I have not had the opportunity to ask how the writer of the letter could legitimately have mentioned the two women in the first part of the letter, since in the last part of the letter, on the same page, he gave the cited judgment.

After this mention of a later fact, I continue from the announcement that difficulties arose for us right at the beginning of the founding of the section, and that then Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden resigned from the board after a few weeks without being pushed to do so. Those of our friends who are in a position to know about this will know how I have accommodated Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden in all things in the ten years since then. I believe I may touch on these matters here, because today the objective should combine with the personal in an objective manner. I believe there are members among you who know how, out of full love, justified goodwill and justified humanity, those of our friends who need something take up – I may say so, take up – that which is called time, which is not elastic and cannot be stretched. By presenting this claim as something absolutely justified, the fact cannot be denied that enormous amounts of time have been used in the direct contact between people. From person to person, most of our time was spent in our work. And the question may arise as to whether, within this practice of Theosophical love within our society, it was possible to insist that our precious time should be sacrificed to people who only came as troublemakers. That was the reason for the various measures that have been taken. Out of these convictions, out of real insight, we have allowed the restrictions to be put in place, for no other reason than because we wanted to work in true human love, and because we did not want to just make love-dripping speeches and therefore did not want to have our time taken away by insincere disruption.

The person who was most aware that we couldn't possibly make progress if anyone could come in and disturb us was Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden. Because I can say quite objectively that Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden is one of the people who often took up the most of my time. Never would this word have crossed my lips if necessity had not forced me to utter it. It is necessary for the mask to fall away from much that is dripping with love, but carries something quite different in its heart.

No person who wishes to work peacefully with us should be excluded from our German section because of their views, their point of view, or their attitude. It goes without saying that each lodge has the right to set its own conditions. No other resolution has been adopted other than that the name of the lodge board should appear on the admission form, in addition to the names of the two guarantors, so that the general secretary is informed whether the lodge board agrees. In this case, anyone could still become a member of the section. There can be no question of an amendment to the statutes. It can therefore be said that in the practices of admitting members, this decision has not had any practical effect. All those who were rejected later would have been rejected earlier.

Before I get to what needs to be said today, a little history needs to be presented here. It is one of many things that happened that difficulties arose for all those who worked with Misses Besant. Everyone has experienced these difficulties and has expressed them numerous times, privately and publicly. One should only want to assess these things correctly. Once, and I can still show the exact place where it happened, I said to Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden that it was really quite difficult to work with Mrs. Besant. That was before 1906, before she became president. Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden told me that it was so because, first of all, she was a woman and, secondly, she had no mental education.

Then there were a series of events that followed, which were only known to the German Section to the extent that they had to be dutifully announced. Then came the unpleasant Leadbeater affair. From a circular you know that I strictly and energetically rejected Leadbeater's method because, if it became general, it would have to bring about the downfall of the entire Theosophical movement. At that time Mrs. Besant had a different opinion of Leadbeater; she sent a detailed letter to a number of members in which she stated that what Leadbeater had done could only have been done by someone who was insane on this point. That was in June 1906. I would not mention this letter if it had not since been printed in the main journals. So the publication would not happen through me. I will not speak of how I tried at the time to bring clarity to the matter, I will only mention how from 1906 to 1907 Mrs. Besant had come to the point of vigorously advocating this man whom she had called mentally ill the year before. I will not emphasize all the other things, only that when Mr. Leadbeater was to be invited to rejoin the Theosophical Society in 1909, I refused to vote for this entry. I wanted to abstain. Mrs. Besant wrote back to me that she could see from my letter that I was not against it, so she would use my vote for re-entry. I now had to demand by telegram, since there was no time for a letter, that my written instructions to abstain from voting be followed. I would just like to emphasize that Mrs. Besant later reported that it had been unanimously decided by the general secretaries to invite Leadbeater to rejoin the Theosophical Society.

As things turned out, there was no choice but to work positively and to keep ourselves free from Mrs. Besant's influence. Whether or not we succeeded in this, I leave entirely to your judgment. There was no other choice but to work positively in such a way that we made progress and paid attention to nothing but our work, until we were energetically disturbed in this work without anything having happened that would have justified this external disturbance.

One day, Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden, who had always sought my help, came and declared that he was the representative of the Star of the East Society in Germany. Among other things, he explained: Since there appeared to be a contradiction between what Mrs. Besant teaches and what Dr. Steiner teaches, I should in future formulate my teachings in such a way that my listeners could not construct any contradictions. It was even said that I should avoid the word “Christ,” because it could only lead to misunderstandings. The motivation for this was that Mrs. Besant needed this word for Bodhisattva because in Europe the word Bodhisattva was not understood. So for Bodhisattva, Mrs. Besant needs the word “Christ,” so I should therefore avoid the word Christ. These things have happened, they can be documented. Not only was I expected to listen to the distorting representations of what I had to say, but I was also expected to let them dictate the words I should use to describe my teaching. That was the inner tolerance of the representative of the Star of the East in Germany.

(I would like to insert a comment for the print here, which I make for the reason that there are still people who seek the reasons for what happened in something other than the fact that my friends and I could not sense of truth, a certain way of talking about things, listening without admitting that this way is the opposite of all theosophical sentiment and should not occur within the theosophical movement. Thus it could happen that Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden wrote me the following words in a letter dated July 4, 1911, in which he tried to justify the “Star in the East” movement: “It is inconceivable to me that a 14- to 15-year-old boy can survive the kind of testing that Krishnamurti is going through now. Mrs. Besant parades him before the world as the coming adept. Since the cultural world does not associate this with anything, Mrs. Besant says, in short, to the ecclesiastical listeners: “The coming Christ, as the type of the divine adept.” But anyone who has read the 30 past lives of Krishnamurti, which she and Leadbeater published in The Theosophist, knows that she does not mean Jesus with that. I am of the opinion that a feeling for truth and truthfulness, as expressed here, has nothing to do with Theosophy. Unfortunately, I have to share such things because otherwise people might doubt how deeply rooted everything was that came from the German Section.)

After all that had happened, which you could read about in the recently published “Mitteilungen”, our Basel friends asked me after the last Munich negotiations whether members of the “Star of the East” should be admitted to the upcoming Basel cycle. I replied by telegram that, as members of the Theosophical Society, they could not, of course, be excluded. The Basel friends then asked, really out of their sense of truth, that the members of the “Star of the East” not participate in their events, because it would have made them feel constrained in their natural sense of truth. It takes only one tongue that can speak to express love and human brotherhood on the lips; and if one has such a tongue, one can write brochures that drip with love on the first pages and then be called Jesuitical by someone who has never had anything to do with a Jesuit. Love requires true hearts, and I was able to see in Basel that it was true hearts that said to each other: We can no longer meet or work with people who behave like that. We would never have objected to the Star of the East as such.

But this “Star of the East” consists of personalities, and these personalities must be known. The Basel cycle was announced and began. After it had begun, friends came from Holland who said: A telegram has arrived in Holland reporting that the Basel cycle has been suppressed. They investigated and discovered that the telegram had been sent by a member of the “Star of the East”. This member later explained that he had done so out of goodwill, in the best of intentions, because such terrible things were being said about Dr. Steiner in Belgium and Holland that he wanted to prevent even more such talk. That is the practice of the Star of the East. There are numerous examples of this.

At the time when there was no talk of excluding members of the Star of the East from our events, when none of this was even considered, Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden circulated a written piece of propaganda for an “Undogmatic Association”. This writing is full of accusations that are completely unfounded. We were not just dealing with a member of the “Star of the East,” but with a man who fought us at every turn and wanted nothing more than to fight us. If we were still required to summon the people who would turn the rope around our necks.

There is another claim made by Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden, among many others, namely that there is not a single member of our German Section who does not copy Dr. Rudolf Steiner word for word and repeat what I have said. But it went too far when the truly loyal work of our co-workers was characterized in this way. Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden could say what he liked about me, I would remain unchanged towards him. But to present our co-workers as automatons who do nothing but repeat what I have said is an outrageous insult to our co-workers. And now judge for yourselves whether we are the intolerant ones. One of the personalities of the Stern des Ostens who attacked us most fiercely was staying in our Berlin lodge until the November days, and there was no thought of harming a hair on her head. It was only when we saw ourselves hindered in our positive work by the members of the Stern des Ostens from all sides that we decided to take defensive measures.

There are also other things to be considered; I do not need to elaborate on them, they are set out in the “Communications”. If truth is to prevail, then it must prevail above all on the physical plane. If it can happen that the president makes a decision in 1909 about a matter of which she claims in 1912 to know nothing about all these things, then one cannot imagine a more grotesque untruth. I also had to experience that there was an official in the Society who really dared to say about Mrs. Besant: She must have forgotten her letter of 1909. That it is possible for such a thing to be said must first happen so that one can believe it within the Theosophical Society.

You see what has remained the same. You see what has changed. What has remained the same? The steady progress of our positive Theosophical work, as we once began it in the German Section. What has changed? In the early years, Mrs. Besant was a joyful supporter of our positive work. But there came a time when she sensed that it was uncomfortable for her to have people saying something different from what she herself said. But it was not right to take action against these people. And when we decided in 1909 to appoint members of the board for life, Mrs. Besant was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of this decision. And it was only a few weeks ago that she seriously considered whether she herself could be elected president for life. In Budapest, where I spoke to Mrs. Besant, she expressed her enthusiastic support for the election of lifelong board members.

What has changed is that until the year he fell away, Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden wrote to me: “In all matters concerning the Theosophical movement, it is understood that your judgment comes into consideration first.” That was a few weeks before he turned against me as a representative of the “Star of the East”. You see, I prefer to tell you facts rather than characterize; but I think that those who want to be taught can be sufficiently taught by these facts.

Now the following happened. Dr. Huebbe-Schleiden had sent out all over the country his communications violently attacking the German Section in the name of the “Undogmatic Federation.” We ignored this, but when he came and wanted to found a so-called “Branch of Freedom,” as he called it, I wrote in October 1912 that I did not feel called upon to issue a diploma for this branch, but would submit the matter to the Executive Council. I explicitly wrote that I could not issue the diploma because his way of thinking did not correspond with the work of the German Section. And I went on to say that this was not about some other outlook or some other opinion, but that this was about something that violated the first sentence of our statutes, that violated all fraternity. It goes against all fraternity to present people as the automatons of one individual without any semblance of reason. That is why I could not bring myself to put my name on the diploma. They could have said whatever they wanted about me, but I could not let those people, who I know have put all their energy into this, be treated like the automatons of one individual. Judge where love lives by considering such facts; what weighs more, these facts or the love-filled words of the one who speaks with love-filled words about our work, which is the opposite of what is objectively true because he has not understood it or does not want to understand it.

I had to decline a second lodge in Leipzig for the following reason. Before I was informed of this lodge, Mrs. Besant indicated to me that it was already independently connected to Adyar. I therefore had to refuse to issue a diploma for this lodge and add that I would await a board decision on the matter, even if the positive reason for the refusal was not clearly stated. This lodge was founded with hostile intent from the outset.

Then things happened that you can see for yourselves when the “Mitteilungen” are published, which a member of the board has already been commissioned to do. It should only be mentioned that an extraordinary board meeting was convened by the board itself on December 8, 1912, which, after all that had happened, led to the regrettable but obvious decision, which is known to you all, to send a telegram to Adyar for the General Council, which met in the last days of December. The wording of the telegram is also known to you from the “Mitteilungen”. It demands the resignation of the president.

I have left a lot out today, but hopefully you have not left it out in your memory, what is already in the last few issues of the “Mitteilungen”. I may well say that after all this, it is a strong piece of work that in Adyar, so to speak, without being able to examine the justification of our measures in any way, they proceeded solely and exclusively from the assumption that we were expelling people who were entitled to belong to the German Section. We will have to speak about the cancellation of the German Section later. Before I discuss this matter, I would like to mention the following. The thing that people started shouting about was that we are excluding the members of the Star of the East. The members of the 'Star of the East' have the option of belonging to the Theosophical Society without belonging to the German Section. We did nothing but defend ourselves against people who behaved hostilely towards us. But in doing so, we did not prevent anyone from being a member of the Theosophical Society. Perhaps some of you also know from me that I took the position that although a section cannot make itself the slave of those who disturb the peace, I would never resist and would have nothing against a second section forming; because how can it be justified that a large number of people should become slaves to those who want to come in just to disrupt our work. We have not expelled anyone from the Theosophical Society because we cannot do that as the German Section; we could not expel anyone from the Theosophical Society. But consider, if we are now expelled from the Theosophical Society, is there any possibility for us to be within the Theosophical Society? I direct this question to all those who have talked so much about love and brotherhood. What will those people who have talked so much about the restriction of freedom with regard to the members of the “Star of the East” say when the General Council expels the entire German Section? I do not need to ask about our members. In view of what I have said, I now have to read a letter dated January 14, 1913, a letter from the President, which came into my hands yesterday, a few hours before our board meeting. I will add a few explanatory words afterwards. Perhaps you will understand afterwards why I am hesitant in my address.

President's Office, Theosophical Society,
Adyar, Madras, January 14, 1913. Dear Dr. Steiner!

The enclosed is self-explanatory.

After the General Council of the Theosophical Society considered the entire attitude of the German Section towards the Theosophical Society and its constitution, as demonstrated in your letter and mine, as well as in the correspondence regarding the German-Swiss and the telegram from your board, he asked me to withdraw the charter of the German Section and instead give a charter to those German lodges that are willing to work within the constitution of the Theosophical Society. Before I give in to this demand, I would like to ask you, in view of the seriousness of the situation, whether you would like to provide any explanation regarding the following matters, which, if a satisfactory explanation is not provided, would be the reasons for the withdrawal of the charter.

a) Your refusal in your letter of October 15, 1912 to give the lodge in Göttingen the charter requested by Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden and six other members of the German Section, on the grounds that because Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden represents Theosophy in a way that is contrary to the views (intentions) of the German Section and even hostile to them, and that the proposed lodge includes members who follow such a working method.

b) Your refusal in another letter of October 15, 1912, to issue a foundation charter to a lodge in Leipzig, at the request of Mr. Carl Schumann, for the (second) reason that that the persons who signed the request worked in a manner contrary to the views (intentions) of the German Section, since the working method was such that the German Section could not allow its members.

c) The decision to exclude members of the Order of the Star in the East who were members of the German Section from the Section's meetings, to which all other members have the right to attend as members, thus depriving them of their rights as members of the Theosophical Society.

d) The silence of the General Secretary in the face of letters from the President, who informed him of requests under Statute 31 and asked for the statutes of the Section.

I will await your reply to this, or, if there is no reply, I will wait another fortnight after the return of the mail from Germany before I carry out the advice of the General Council, which has been given to me as President of the Council. I deeply regret that you have forced the General Council upon us by taking a position that puts the German Section in opposition to the Constitution of the Theosophical Society and endangers the freedom of every member of the Theosophical Society. I dare to express the hope that even at this late hour the German Section, through you, will take back its steps, submit to the constitution under which it was founded, and continue its work within the Society.

If not, we can still wish them well in the path they have chosen and trust that their future as a separate society will prove their usefulness to the world.

Sincerely yours, Annie Besant President Theosophical Society

to Dr. Rudolf Steiner, General Secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society

President's Office Theosophical Society,
Adyar, Madras, S., Jan. 14, 1913

Dear Dr. Steiner,

Enclosed explains itself.

The General Council of the Theosophical Society, having considered the whole attitude of the German Section to the Theosophical Society and its Constitution, as shown in your letters and mine, the correspondence on the Swiss-German Lodges, and the telegram from your Executive, has asked me to cancel the charter of the German Section, and to issue in place thereof a charter to the German Lodges, willing to work within the Constitution of the Theosophical Society. Before complying with this request, I beg to ask you - in view of the gravity of the situation - if you wish to offer any explanation on the following matters, which will, in default of a satisfactory explanation, form the grounds of the cancelment of the Charter:

1. Your refusal, in your letter of Oct. 15th 1912, to issue a Charter for a Lodge in Göttingen, asked for by Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden and six other members of the German Section, the ground of refusal being that Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden, represents Theosophy in a way opposed and even hostile to the views (Intentionen) of the German Section, and that the proposed Lodge included members who followed such a method of work.

2. Your refusal, in another letter of October 15th, 1912, to issue a Charter for a Lodge in Leipzig, on the application of Herr Carl Schumann, on the (second) ground that the persons signing the application worked in a way opposed to the views (Intentionen) of the German Section, the method of work being one which the German Section could not permit to its members.

3. The resolution excluding members of the ‹Order of the Star in the East›, who were Fellows of the German Section, from the meetings of the Section to which all other fellows had the right of entry as Fellows thus illegitimately depriving them of their Status as Fellows of the Theosophical Society.

4. The silence of the General Secretary in the face of letters from the President, informing him of applications under Rule 31, and asking for the Rules of the Section.

I will await your answer to this, or, failing an answer, I will wait for a fortnight after the return mail from Germany, before carrying out the advice of the General Council, conveyed to me as President in Council; I deeply regret that you have forced the General Council to give this advice by an attitude which sets the German Section against the Constitution of the Theosophical Society, and imperils the liberty of every Fellow of the Theosophical Society; and I venture to express the hope that, even at this late hour, the German Section will, through you, retrace its steps, submit to the Constitution under which it was founded, and continue to work within the Society.

If not, we can still wish it all good in the path it selects, and trust that its future, as a separate society, may prove its usefulness to the world.

Sincerely Yours, Annie Besant,
President Theosophical Society

to Dr. Rudolf Steiner, General Secretary of the German Section,
Theosophical Society

The words are also read out in English: “The German General Secretary, educated by the Jesuits, has not been able to shake himself sufficiently clear of that fatal influence to allow liberty of opinion within his Section.”

[Rudolf Steiner:] “According to the report of the French General Secretary, Mrs. Besant spoke these words.

You will understand that I want nothing more to do with a personality who is capable of making such assertions, which are purely invented and fly in the face of all real facts, in an official speech to the society she represents.

(Stormy applause from the assembly.)

Anyone who wants to stand on the ground of truth may, if they want to damage their cause in such a way before the world through such an accusation, may consider this as a factual attack. I may ask you whether the assembly also sees this attack as an attack on its own cause.

Before this incident, one was allowed to look at a passage in the January issue of 'Theosophist' with very special eyes. There is the following nice piece. There is a part of a letter from me to Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden. In the first sentences one reads:

"It is impossible to attach to the German Section the Branch, for the Charter of which you applied on the 14th September last. This cannot, at least, be done on my own responsibility, but would have to be submitted to our next General Convention. The reason for this is the manner in which you have for some time chosen to represent the Theosophical cause; this is felt by the German Section to be directly opposed to their intention, and even hostile to them. Above all things I myself cannot put my name under the charter of such a Branch which includes members who follow this kind of work.

But the later sentences, where the reasons for this are given in my letter, are suppressed. This is simply an objective untruth, achieved by an incomplete quotation.

But now, immediately after I was mentioned, the following passage appears in the January number of 'Theosophist':

"The Theosophical Society is facing an organized attack, engineered by the most dangerous enemy that liberty of thought and speech has ever had – the Jesuits. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky long ago warned us that this conflict would come, and now it is upon us. They work in different lands in different disguises, but aim steadily at one thing — the destruction or the distortion of Theosophy. In America, they started a secret organization called the Universal Brotherhood (not openly identical with Mrs. Tingley's Universal Brotherhood), and within this the 'Besant Union', and cleverly induced Theosophists to think that they were working in my interests. Their chief tool has now joined the Roman Catholic Church. In Germany, they are working to secure the predominance of Christianity in the Theosophical Society, thus distorting it into a Christianising sect, and making certain its rejection in the East. They use their old weapons - misrepresentation, slander, false charges, all levelled against the leaders of the movement they seek to destroy; and all means are good ad majorem Dei gloriam. The ‹Black General›, as their Head is called, has agents everywhere. Attacks are circulated in many countries, in many tongues; money is poured out like water; one day's post brings attacks from Rome, from Stockholm, from Hong Kong. It is very interesting to watch, and one recalls the words of warning that ‹the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.› The old record bids men rejoice because it is so; of such combats the Bhagavad-Gita says that they are the open door to heaven. Therefore the word goes out to all faithful members: 'Quit you like men: be strong.'

That is to say:

"The Theosophical Society is facing an organized attack, which has been set in motion by the most dangerous enemy that freedom of thought and speech has ever had - the Jesuits. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky warned us long ago that this fight would come, and now it is here. They work in different countries under different guises, but their aim is invariably the same – the destruction or distortion of Theosophy. In America they formed a secret organization called the Universal Brotherhood (not openly showing itself as identical with Mrs. Tingley's Universal Brotherhood), and within it the 'Besant Club', and cleverly caused Theosophists to believe that they were working on my behalf. Their main tool has now joined the Roman Catholic Church. In Germany they are working to secure the supremacy of Christianity in the Theosophical Society by distorting it into a Christianizing sect, and thereby certainly provoking its rejection in the East. They use their old weapons - misrepresentation, slander, false accusations, all against the leaders of the movement, whom they seek to destroy; and all means are justified ad majorem Dei gloriam. The 'Black General', as their leader is called, has representatives everywhere. Attacks are being spread in many countries, in many languages; money is being poured out like water; one day's mail brings attacks from Rome, from Stockholm, from Hong Kong. This is very interesting to observe, and one recalls the words of warning: 'The devil has descended with great wrath because he knows he has but a short time'. The ancient scriptures urge people to rejoice because it is so; the Bhagavad Gita says that such struggles are the open door to heaven. Therefore, the word goes out to all loyal members: 'Hold yourselves like men! Be strong!'

This passage comes immediately after a matter that relates to the German Section. But just imagine if someone had said something about it the day before yesterday – before the president's letter arrived – even though the Belgian general secretary had already drawn his objectively completely untrue conclusions from such things. Then Mrs. Besant could still have said: Yes, you are not affected at all, so why are you speaking up? This passage is separated from the previous one by three asterisks. This is how a thing is written, and they speak of theosophical politics, a word that should not be used within our movement. But there is something else to be added; because even if we are not supposed to be affected by it, the matter itself is still not true! Where, in our theosophical movement, is there any influence of the Jesuits? Everything is taken out of thin air.

It is true that Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden has repeatedly toyed with the Jesuit accusation, and it is true that Mrs. Besant has officially expressed it. It would be hard to make a more untrue accusation, one that is likely to play a role in Germany and other areas if people want to cast suspicion on us.

Because that is the case, and because here, the factual is really linked to the personal, I am now asking you for something. I cannot share everything that could show you how this accusation is plucked out of thin air, how untrue and foolish it is. I ask you if you would be willing to hear a brief sketch, a brief excerpt from my life, over the next few days? I cannot otherwise prove to you how foolish and untrue Mrs. Besant's accusation is. But I do not want to impose this account on you either, so I ask you to tell me if you would be willing to listen to my memoirs, which I will summarize as briefly as possible, at a more appropriate time in the next few days?"

(The assembly accepts the offer.)

[Rudolf Steiner:] “Mrs. Besant is well aware that some of the accusations will stick. And now – I am making a point – because no expression is sufficient to characterize what has happened. It is indeed unheard of that I should have to resort to describing my life's journey. I hope that the lecture will be rewritten so that it can then be published as a brochure. People go so far as to specify the location. I only learned from a publication by Paungarten, 'Werdende Wissenschaft' (nascent science), which refutes unjust and untrue accusations, that I am supposed to have enjoyed this Jesuit education in a place in Moravia, the name of which is completely unknown to me and which I have already forgotten. Boitzenburg or something like that. I declare to you that I have never known this place or even heard it mentioned.

I therefore declare that I no longer want to have anything to do with Mrs. Besant, after she has added this piece to all the other objective untruths. I have placed the matter in the hands of the board, and I will only let this fact reach Mrs. Besant as a last resort, that I no longer want to have anything to do with someone who is so concerned with the truth.

In doing so, I am actually trying to motivate you that we are, so to speak, hovering between heaven and – I don't want to say – heaven and hell. I now ask Miss von Sivers to read out the board's decision.

Fräulein von Sivers: “At its meeting yesterday, the board decided to send the following letter in response to the president's letter to her, should it be approved by the general assembly.”

Berlin, February 2, 1913.
To the President of the Theosophical Society,
Mrs. Annie Besant.
Adyar, Madras.

The personalities present at the eleventh General Assembly of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, having taken note of the letter of January 14, 1913, from the President of the Theosophical Society, Mrs. Besant, to the Secretary General of the German Section, Dr. Steiner, stating that the General Council has demanded that Mrs. Besant revoke the German Section's diploma and that Mrs. Besant will comply with this demand if the German Section does not submit to the constitution, declare:

Never has the German Section, its executive committee or its general secretary violated the constitution of the Theosophical Society in any way. The decision of the General Council, which was made before even the published documents could be examined, must be recorded as an outrageous violation of the spirit and constitution of the Theosophical Society. Even the most primitive sense of truth and justice must be outraged by the way the German Section and its executive committee were treated for the well-founded accusations they had to make against the behavior of the president. To suspect the person of the General Secretary, who is uncomfortable with her, Mrs. Besant will stop at nothing: the climax of such a clever denigration, however, is reached with the claim, brought forward before the General Assembly, that Dr. Steiner was educated by the Jesuits. This claim is arbitrarily invented and almost senseless in the face of the facts, with the resulting insinuations.

The German Section has nothing to revoke and nothing to take back. It therefore has no choice but to regard the alternative presented to it by Mrs. Besant as an act of expulsion, which has only been carried out because the German Section has taken it upon itself to stand up for the truth and truthfulness of the Theosophical Society.

The German Section and its members would never leave the Theosophical Society of their own accord. And so, forcibly expelled, they will continue their work undeterred and will be ready to work with the Theosophical Society again as soon as truthfulness, reason, seriousness and dignity have replaced the current conditions.

Berlin, February 2nd, 1913.
To the President of the Theosophical Society,
Mrs Annie Besant.
Adyar, Madras.

Those who assembled to the 11th Convention of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, having been made acquainted with the letter of the President Theosophical Society, Mrs Besant, to the General Secretary of the German Section, Dr. R. Steiner, bearing the date of January 11th 1913, wherein it is said: That the General Council has asked Mrs Besant to cancel the charter of the German Section, and that Mrs Besant will comply with this request ‹unless the German Section shall submit to the Constitution» declare that: The German Section, its Executive Committee or its General Secretary have never in any way violated the Constitution of the Theosophical Society. The resolution of the General Council, which was taken even before the published documents could be examined, must be characterized as an unpardonable offence both to the spirit and the Constitution of the Theosophical Society. Even the most primitive sense of truth and justice must be indignant at the treatment given to the well-substantiated accusations that the German Section and its Executive Committee were forced to direct against the attitude of the President. In order to cast suspicion upon the personality of the General Secretary who is inconvenient to her, no means are too base for her to stoop to: but the culminating point of such malicious defamation is reached in the freely invented and in face of the facts simply absurd affirmation brought by her to the General Convention of the Theosophical Society that ‹Dr. Steiner has been educated by the Jesuits› and other subsequent insinuations.

Nothing exists which the German Section has to repudiate or retract. And it therefore has no Option but to consider the alternative put to it by Mrs Besant as an act of expulsion, accomplished only because the German Section has undertaken to stand for truth and veracity within the Theosophical Society. The German Section and its members would never have left the Theosophical Society on their own initiative. Being thus expelled by force they will continue their work unswervingly and will be ready to work again with the Theosophical Society as soon as veracity, reason, seriousness and dignity take the place of the present conditions.

Dr. Steiner: “My dear friends! I would never have wanted to become sentimental, even at this moment, but I may well tell you that I myself feel with a heavy heart about this departure from the Theosophical Society, that it will not be easy for us, because we can only regard it as being expelled. In Mrs. Besant's letter, the Executive Board regards the exclusion of the German Section from the Theosophical Society as a fait accompli. Therefore, we are no longer the German Section and, logically, we no longer have to hold the General Assembly of the German Section.

I believe and hope that the members of the German Section, that all those who know what is at stake have a sense of what this exclusion means. That they can appreciate what we are seeking and want. Now we are excluded and can only declare that we will work together with the Theosophical Society again at any time when it is in good order. But we respect and honor the Theosophical Society, and it is truly not our intention to leave it voluntarily. Now we can do no other than consider ourselves excluded, after the letter from the president contains the sentence: “If not, we can still wish it all good in the path it selects, and trust that its future, as a separate Society, may prove its usefulness to the world.” “If not, we can still wish it all good in the path it selects, and trust that its future, as a separate Society, may prove its usefulness to the world.” Therefore, it was logical that the board finally felt compelled to take this step. After that, we can no longer regard the German Section of the Theosophical Society as existing today, and we have no choice but to grant the Executive Council immunity for this decision.

(Vote. All but two votes agree with the decision.)

Dr. Steiner: “Does anyone have anything to say about this?”

Mr. Weidlich: (The first few words are unintelligible.) “... unjustified. You should also ask the other side. Couldn't this have been avoided?”

Mr. Ahner: “I would have liked to have said a few words before the decision was made. Isn't that customary?”

Dr. Steiner: “This is a decision of the board. “But please, speak now."

Mr. Ahner: ”I cannot hold it against Dr. Steiner that he became forceful. But I ask whether all of this was necessary. If this happens in the Theosophical Society, what should one expect in other places! I would like to say something else about the members of the “Star of the East”. There is no one present from the Star of the East. This is unlawful without any doubt. Someone can come forward and explain that it is necessary to hear the members of the “Star of the East” as well.

Mr. Weidlich: “I would like to make a further comment regarding the translation of a letter from Mrs. Besant in the ‘Mitteilungen.’ I consider this to be a mistranslation. Mrs. Besant does not write that she does not know the matter, but that she does not know right from wrong. There is a big difference, there is no doubt about it.

Dr. Steiner: “It is indeed true that we cannot be a part of this Theosophical Society with our beliefs. Anyone who looks at the sentence in question will find that the translation has been done as carefully as possible. But that is not the point. The English text is there, and anyone can consider it. The things that have been proven as facts, up to the last Jesuit accusation, are so numerous that the individual does not matter at all. It is strange that things are not said where they belong. If the gentleman in question had addressed these things to Adyar, they would be in the right place in this case.

If we were still at the eleventh general assembly of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, it could have been argued whether the delegates did well to exclude star members. But after what we have just heard, we can only be grateful to the delegates that we do not hear a lot of love-driven words again, and then something completely wrong is said. Perhaps it is a matter of good taste not to listen to everything that some people say. But if someone finds that unpleasant, I ask the meeting again whether a free assembly has to listen to those it does not want to hear, whether it has to be tyrannized by two people, whether it does not have the right to defend itself, not to let the opinions of two people be imposed on it.

(Approval.)

Mr. Fidus: “I would like to emphasize that I do not fully agree with this negotiation. At the moment when we became a free assembly, the exclusion of star members should not have taken place. They must be able to defend themselves. Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden should have been notified so that they could defend themselves. We must emphasize... (very difficult to understand, but long-lasting, causing unrest and final calls from the assembly)... we cannot know where the truth is, nobody can understand the truth. There is no truth for us, only truthfulness. What is truth... (unintelligible)... not satisfied... “

Mr. Tessmar: “We are all satisfied except for three, and they can leave...

Dr. Steiner: ‘Unfortunately, I have to call Mr. Tessmar to order because of the expression ’leave‘. But I must protest against words like: ’Nobody can understand the truth‘. But then the words ’truth‘ and ’truthfulness' are always used. There is no question of whether one can recognize the 'truth' or not when, for example, one quotes untruthfully. Everyone needs to put my books on one side and Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden's outrageous quotations on the other. I have to say that here too there is a tendency to play with words.

Fräulein Prellwitz: “We are grateful to Dr. Steiner for all we have heard. What we wished and hoped for was that what has happened might happen with not so much friction. It is impossible to unite if we sit here and want to fight each other. Any activity that can be avoided, we should avoid here. Because there are demonic powers against which there is only one thing to do: be as passive as possible, be as loving as possible. Because this being blown apart has to do with demons. We should not have started this. But now it has happened. We are a primeval gathering, now we must also carry out a full, clean divorce, make a pure beginning with as much loving sense as possible and as simply as possible. You must not make hostile faces now, you must work lovingly and faithfully for the sake of the great truth."

Dr. Steiner: ”I am in complete agreement with you. I would just like to tell you about the thing you are asking us to start at the present moment, we started that eleven years ago and have been as passive as possible during all that time. Therefore, I must ask you to address what you said as an admonishment to Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden and Mrs. Besant."

Miss Prellwitz: “We don't seem to be aware of that... It all happened so fast and we didn't understand. But you also have to be patient. We felt like we were facing something we didn't understand. These are all difficulties.

Dr. Steiner: “If you were to check, you would see how patiently and with how much forbearance the proceedings have been conducted, and that this patience and forbearance have nevertheless led to Mrs. Besant making the accusations she has against the Jesuits.

I am completely convinced of your good intentions, but your opinion arises from your inadequate examination of the facts. I know that you just haven't examined the matter enough; if you had, you would have already seen what patience has been exercised and what happens when you adopt a false passivity.

Anyone who talks about a translation error at this point is not considering the issue at hand, but only wants to [sophistically] ignore the main issues. Nothing can be said about such things.

One can truly believe that someone who decides with a heavy heart to act in this way does not decide for small reasons. It is distressing that so little goodwill is assumed by those who otherwise drip with love and then hide behind translation errors that do not even exist. You see, I left the things as they were, I did not publish them, in order to prevent Mrs. Besant from shouting untruths into the world. And what does she do? She shouts the untruth of the Jesuit accusations to the whole world. So please look for where there was passivity and where there was activity.

Fräulein Hübbe-Schleiden: “I have witnessed all these events for eleven years and I know that Dr. Steiner has done everything humanly possible. I would just like to express my thanks here for all the selfless sacrifices and for all the love that he has shown my father and me during these eleven years. That is what I would like to say to the assembly.

Dr. Steiner: “You know, dear Miss Hübbe-Schleiden, that what happened was done with good intentions. But it was important for the assembly that Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden's foster daughter speak these words, and that the assembly sympathize from the bottom of its heart with what moves Miss Hübbe-Schleiden. One speaks such words only when one must.

Mr. Fidus: “I see in this great manifestation not fanatical one-sidedness, but the gradual strengthening of theosophical life in Germany. I don't know where right and wrong lies, whether mistakes have been made on one side or the other. I don't want to settle scores. I just want to say that I am glad that the German movement feels impelled to make itself independent. In this sense, I welcome the founding of the 'Anthroposophical Society'. Those who work theosophically will always benefit Theosophy. The German movement must no longer allow itself to be led by the East. The main thing is that the spiritual life in a country becomes so strong that it does not have to turn to a central office again and again."

Dr. Steiner: “Everything is being used against us. It is already beginning in Europe, based on the objective untruths of Mrs. Besant. The Belgian General Secretary has already made a good start, because he speaks of a ‘Pangermanist’ movement. Theosophy is not a German movement; it is a completely universal human movement to which everyone can belong, regardless of race. We are dealing with the fact that we are forced to replace a caricature of Theosophy with a true Theosophy. It would be exploited if what Mr. Fidus just said with good intentions were to go unchallenged. What we want is as universally human as truth; and the spirit of the universally human knows no distinction of race, religion, people or nation that would lead to separation in the highest. Everyone in the world who strives for the theosophical ideal belongs to us, and rightly so. I had to say these words here so that well-intentioned words would not be used to attack us again.

Fräulein von Sivers: “I wanted to say this too. It is not about East and West, it is about awakening a sense of truth and truthfulness. We did not use this word in our mouths as long as it was possible to work without having stones thrown in our way. If we now have to use this word, it has been forced on us.

I would like to move on to two other points. One: the passivity that one is supposed to have; the other: that there is no pure, objective truth, that no one can decide where the truth is. I believe that there are facts on the physical plane, and if one cannot distinguish between them here, one is hopelessly lost when one enters the occult world. I would like to give just a few examples. First of all, passivity. For years, untrue things have been written about us. For years we have had to experience that the most untrue things about us have been hurled into the world in theosophical magazines, in letters and so on. We have remained unthinkably silent for a long time and aroused passionate opposition by remaining passive. This has led to serious accusations. Up until the days of Munich, the facts that had occurred were kept secret. Just one example: in 1909, Mr. Leadbeater was again asked to join the Theosophical Society. Dr. Steiner's objectivity earned him the enmity of Leadbeater's enemies in England. The fact that he was able to remain so fraternal despite their rejection of the subject provoked resentment. Then came the request for Leadbeater's readmission. You have already heard how Mrs. Besant wrote back that she would use Dr. Steiner's vote for Leadbeater's readmission. Dr. Steiner had to send a telegram asking for abstention to be recorded, as he had indicated. Then a telegram came back: 'You are the only General Secretary who acts like this.' That was not true either; the Scandinavian General Secretary had also abstained. But in 1911, a biographical sketch of Leadbeater appeared in 'Theosophist', in which it was reported: 'All the General Secretaries without exception have asked Mr. Leadbeater to rejoin the Theosophical Society'. That was in 1911. But now we learn that Mr. Mead makes it a serious reproach to Dr. Steiner that he voted for Leadbeater. I ask Mr. Fidus: Do they not know what is true here? Is there no way to distinguish the truth here? One person who knew about this has since died, his vote has fallen into the grave, and we count on our passive silence.

Another case: It is repeatedly claimed that Mrs. Besant forgot a letter. At first it was claimed that she did not receive the letter at all. We heard Mr. Schrader in Munich say that the president could not possibly have received the letter about the Vollrath affair, otherwise she would have been mentally deficient. He left this out of his later account of the Munich days, which is full of inaccuracies, but such a distorted report is taken as the basis for our point of view and used against us. It is causing great outrage.

I believe that it is useless to cite more examples, but I ask again: Do they distinguish between truth and lies here or not?

Mr. Fidus: “They should.”

Pastor Klein: “There is an expression that a lady used earlier that I cannot let go unchallenged, because I would consider it downright dangerous if one were to follow the practice recommended therein, namely, that one cannot be passive enough towards demons. On the contrary, I am of the opinion that one cannot be sufficiently on one's guard against demons and cannot be sufficiently vigilant, and in the fight against them, the best defense is still the blow, the offensive attack. Did Christ perhaps practice passivity against the demons? I recall one of his most significant words: “I have cast out the strong armed one from the house! I will not even talk about his behavior towards the other demons – but it should be noted that he took action against them with a strikingly impulsive, relentless, ruthless harshness: these were 'untruthfulness' and 'hypocrisy', as they were particularly encountered by him on the part of the Pharisee sect. Think of the famous scene of the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem, after which he carried out the terrible general reckoning with the Pharisees, who, with their untruthfulness, distorted his teaching and, with their hypocrisy, presented themselves as so pious and behaved so hypocritically, while their attitudes and their deeds loudly testified against it. Against them, Christ Jesus hurls the sharpest and most abrupt expressions: 'You hypocrites', 'you fools', 'you brood of vipers', 'you whitewashed graves' Outside full of flowers, inside full of mold and decay, you blind guides, who are blind themselves and want to lead others. He knew that sincerity and honesty are the nerve of all morality; that where they are not, but untruthfulness and hypocrisy prevail, something dissolving, corrosive, and vitriolic is present that destroys every community.

We have not summoned such demons, they have approached us with the intention of destroying our work! To be passive in the face of this would be irresponsible. What we have had to hear today about the dishonesty practised by the Adyar leadership and the members of 'Star of the East' defies belief; and can you imagine greater hypocrisy than on the first page of a writing such as 'Message of Peace', one continually recommends peace unctuously as a theosophical virtue to one's opponent, while at the end one openly calls him a Jesuit?

Against such a procedure, behind which stand the two most dangerous demons of untruthfulness and hypocrisy, let us apply the 'Passivity of Christ', namely clear, conscious, energetic, ruthless resistance, defense, which in this case is self-defense.

Mr. Fidus: “I would just like to say two words. We cannot know the truth here, but we can only practice truthfulness. I know how to distinguish what has been said here. I just think that these apparent contradictions could turn out to be misunderstandings. If the board had been a little more willing to understand...

(Call to order)

Dr. Steiner: “You must not insult the board here. I cannot understand how anyone can use the words truth and truthfulness in the face of such blatant untruths; that must be taken as an insult. You can't just say anything that comes into your head. Please continue.”

Mr. Fidus: “... I want to respond to the reproach and the accusations... I don't want to sugarcoat everything, but there are individual things that can be taken...”

(The speaker becomes completely incomprehensible in his longer remarks.) (Shout: Enough!)

Dr. Steiner: “It is impossible for you to continue speaking in this way, objectively impossible. Consider just a little that there are also people who need their time. It is not acceptable to keep bringing up things that have really been refuted objectively, and we really need our time today.

Fräulein von Sivers: “I would just like to say that we are challenged by the fact that Dr. Steiner remained silent for so long. Mrs. Besant even accused us of withholding letters. It has been spread everywhere that we withhold letters. Mrs. Besant has appealed to every section to disseminate all her letters as much as possible. We maintained passivity for as long as possible. But since she challenged us, we printed the letters.

Dr. Steiner: “I must confess that it is quite uncomfortable not to be able to discuss things. During the time of the Leadbeater affair, Mrs. Besant sent a letter to a number of members, that letter contained the words that Leadbeater could only do such things if he was insane on one point. This was in June 1906. This letter has been partially printed. At the end of this letter, after the print, are the words:

'I have erred grievously in my judgment and insight, and must bear the karma of it. I dare not believe that the White Lodge could leave unheeded such evil thoughts and acts in the Temple, which is only open to those of pure heart. “If the day of my downfall should come, I ask those who love me not to shrink from condemning my error, not to sugarcoat it or say , but rather that they ease my heavy karma as I try to ease the karma of my friend and brother by upholding the unshakable purity of the ideal and by declaring that the fall of a man leaves their faith in the Masters of Purity and Compassion unshaken.

We should not confuse what comes from the Masters of Wisdom with what we weak humans do. The Masters know how to guide us so that they direct everything for the best of human development.

A person can fall, and his fall is also directed for the benefit of his development. Leadbeater fell, Judge fell, I will probably fall too. But I will not make Leadbeater's karma more difficult by calling black white and white black. And I urge all those who love me, when I fall, not to fail to call black black and white white.

These are the words of Mrs. Besant herself. I quote them because they are in the public press. I would not have quoted from Mrs. Besant's letter. I am convinced that those who do so now, those who call black black and white white, love Mrs. Besant more than those who now flatter them. Listen to the words of Mrs. Besant spoken in a good moment! That is something I might also be allowed to recall when people keep saying: “The people in Adyar were quite nice people, if you weren't such rabbits, everything would be fine.”

Mr. von Rainer: “If I take the floor here now, I feel compelled at this moment to emphasize the way in which we are going through this important transition today. If one is to speak about what Theosophy should be and should not be, then only one side of this important moment has been considered. The second side is that the Theosophical movement, if it is led correctly, has the mission to tear humanity away from what has led to a comfortable behavior today. This must not be overlooked. And we ourselves, a relatively small number, have the task of seeing with open eyes how things are today. On the one hand, people no longer want to believe that there is a truth, and yet they demand that everything that is presented should be heard and that we should accept it all. Love for one's neighbor and brother can be summoned up in the broadest sense, even if one also has the courage to say at the given moment: This is no longer something I can support.

When someone like me has come to this movement because they felt that something was missing, they feel in the deepest and broadest sense what it means to learn to appreciate the truth and to affirm it when it is recognized. That attacks can be made and met with approval in this way proves that something has died in the face of what has been shown to be the truth. All this shows us how necessary it is to truly call upon what must be called upon in our hearts if we truly want to feel connected to the ideal of humanity. And if we want to lend expression to this, if we want to feel what it means to be united with the ideal of humanity in this hour and in this sense, then we have to vent our feelings in the form of being outraged by what has happened and rejecting this other side from the bottom of our souls. That will be the first step. What else can we do if we cannot believe in the truth? We would have to smash everything inside us if we did not feel it our duty to reject what comes from the other side in such an outrageous way. And we must commit ourselves to the truth in a much deeper sense. It is not easy, but we can find it if we want. There is only one way to go.

I would like to invite you, in this sense, to express from our deepest feelings, perhaps by rising from our seats, our outrage at how our positive work is being suspected, how precisely by bringing in the accusation of Jesuitism, we are giving our Theosophical cause a character that cannot be conceived as worse by the public. In Germany and also here in Austria, no one should be able to say that those who can express such suspicions have any understanding of what Theosophy is supposed to achieve. I would like to repeat the request to accept this expression of our outrage.

(The assembly rises from its seats.

Mr. Tessmar: “What was on my mind earlier has been said by the previous speaker in a much more beautiful way than I could have said it. However, I would like to say: I am one of those people who feel it in their hearts. Last year, Mr. Bauer spoke of being asleep. I am not asleep, but I am one who is outraged. I have already been called to order today, I regret this call to order, but I have to say that I cannot take anything back, even if Dr. Steiner had to call me to order again.

(Call to order)

Whenever tolerance is mentioned, we listen as long as we can. But there are limits. When a crowd of people express their feelings, and very few want to tyrannize the assembly, it does not work. They feel what moves me, what burns in my heart, - I am in favor of striking when it is necessary. - We did not come here to listen to two or three gentlemen who bore us and waste our time. I would ask the meeting to declare vigorously that it wants to put an end to this."

Fräulein Riege: “I heard that Mr. Fidus, when he was cut off, spoke of a letter that he had to share. There was even talk of suppressing a message. It will be good to hear that.”

Fräulein Prellwitz: “Yesterday, Dr. Hübbe-Schleiden sent us a letter from Mrs. Besant. In this insert, she answers for the first time in relation to Vollrath whether she lied or not in this affair.

Dr. Steiner: “Not to bore you, I made no mention of this insert. Mrs. Besant did write a letter in which she, as is her habit, distracts from the main issue and draws attention to a secondary matter. I didn't think, though, that there are people who would fall for this confused, this sophisticated letter. I must confess, Miss Prellwitz, that with your fine literary sensibilities, I don't understand how you can ignore the final sentence of this letter.

(The sentence is read out.)

‹As to the pamphlet, I had supposed that it contained something important, as Dr. Steiner was evidently very angry about it, saying that if its statements were true “a dog would not take food from us”. If, as Dr. Steiner now says, it was merely a rehash of the original quarrels, stated in his letter to me, the language seems a little strong.

As for the pamphlet, I felt that it must contain something very important, since Dr. Steiner was obviously very annoyed about it, and says that if the statements it contained were true, 'not even a dog would take another piece of bread from us. If, as Dr. Steiner now says, it was only a rehash of the original disputes, as he explains in his letter to me, then the language seems a little strong.

[Rudolf Steiner:] “I have the letter that Dr. Vollrath wrote to Mrs. Besant in 1908. If she can write the above sentence about it, it only means that she is covering the old objective untruths with new objective untruths.

Wherever you look, you are confronted by bundles of untruths. Do you remember the last general assembly? Was it possible to speak of annoyance there? I am not annoyed with Mrs. Besant either. I have compassion for her, a lot of compassion; but that's why I can't call black white and white black. I therefore ask you to see how the letter here distracts completely from the main issue. In 1909 she writes: 'After I have heard all the details', and then later in 1912 she says she cannot distinguish right from wrong in it. I know that she heard right and wrong. Because I reported to her exactly. Who is able to write in May 1912: 'I don't know right and wrong', while in 1909 I tried hard to explain the matter to her, to officially educate her about everything, and then comes with accusations of the other, does not need to be considered. This is insult and nothing but insults.

Pastor Klein: “I move that the debate be closed. There should be no further debate on the expulsion of the members of the ‘Star of the East.’

(The motion is carried, and there is a long break in the proceedings.

(After a long break, the meeting is reopened at six o'clock.

Fräulein von Sivers reads out the English text of the statement to be sent to Adyar by the German Section to the General Council in response to Miss Besant's last letter.

Dr. Steiner: “Does anyone wish to speak on this?

As this is not the case, I ask those who are in favor of sending this statement to the General Council to please rise from their seats.

(Everyone rises from their seats.

Dr. Steiner: “This documents that the members of the German Section who are gathered here consider themselves excluded from the Theosophical Society.

The German Section as it existed since its founding has hereby ceased to exist, and all functions of the German Section have ceased. And now it will become clear who wants to belong to us and who does not want to belong. We are now in a freer position, even if it fills us with pain.

I now ask our friends from outside the country who do not belong to the German Section to gather here with me tomorrow afternoon for a short meeting.

The next thing we have to discuss, because we have to give an account to our friends, is that we have to give a friendly report on the membership movement.

Mr. Ahner: “I am astonished that there are people here who do not belong to the German Section; I thought this meeting was only for members of the German Section.

Dr. Steiner: “You obviously have never attended a general meeting outside of the German Section, otherwise you would know that all general meetings, in whatever section they may be held, are open to all members of the Theosophical Society. This has always been the case.

Mr. Ahner: ”I beg your pardon.

Ms. von Sivers: “The number of members is 2489 compared to 2318 last year; 330 have newly joined, 132 have left or can no longer be found and have therefore been deleted, 6 have transferred to other sections, 14 have died, and 7 are in doubt. 3 new branches have been established: Augsburg, Erfurt, Hamburg II. The number of branches is 54, the number of centers is 4, and 1 center is dubious.

Mr. Seiler: “The cash report is as follows”:

Income:
Cash balance 1910/11 1446.68 marks
Foundation deeds 30,
Entry fees 1700, contributions 7781.37
Voluntary contributions 37.10
Interest 322.20
Income 11,317.35
Expenses 11,291.46
Cash balance on
August 31, 1912 25.89

Expenses:
Bureau expenses and fees 3030.70
Rent account (halls for general meeting, audiences) 1410.
Account of communications 1076.30
Postage, telegrams etc. 484.30
Expenses of various kinds 376.15
Business expenses, wages, etc. 1541.89
Adyar headquarters 1576.24
Section congress dues —,—
Printed matter 27,—
Transfer to bank account 1768.88
Expenses 11291.46 Marks

Balance of assets
Cash balance as of August 31, 1912: 25.89 marks
Balance at the bank: 3789.33
Movables: 457.65
Total assets as of August 31, 1912: 4272.87 marks

Mr. Tessmar, as auditor, reports that he and Ms. Motzkus have duly examined the books and found them to be in order.

Dr. Steiner: “Does anyone wish to speak about these reports? Since this is not the case, I ask that our friends be granted discharge.

(The discharge is granted.

Dr. Steiner: “We now come to the third point, the discussion of pending matters. Does anyone wish to speak on this? Since this is not the case, we come to the fourth point, proposals from the floor.

The first proposal is as follows:

To the Executive and the members of the
German Section of the

After the undersigned had become aware that the name of the Besant Lodge, originally founded in Berlin, had been abolished and that the same association had been given a different name, they decided to found a new lodge with several like-minded people to uphold the spirit of the principles originally prevailing in the Theosophical Society and represented by Mrs. Besant. The request to join the German Section was rejected by the Section's General Secretary, Dr. Steiner, on the grounds that the members of this new lodge belonged to the Order of the Star in the East, which he described as a “sect.” This was a purely personal opinion, which cannot possibly be decisive in such an important theosophical matter, because one could just as easily

right one could just as well make the same assertion about the “Anthroposophical Society.” In order to make the founding of the lodge in question possible, we were forced to seek affiliation with Adyar, which was readily granted to us. Nevertheless, this was only a way out for us, driven by necessity, and we cannot quietly accept the insulting, completely unfounded rejection of long-standing and completely blameless members who were always seriously endeavoring to work for the spread of the genuine theosophical spirit, nor the insulting exclusion from a community to which we belonged for so long, for the same meaningless reasons. Where is the principle of tolerance that is always mentioned first in Theosophy? We believe that it should not only respect different religious beliefs, but also allow freedom of thought in every respect, especially when it comes to such a high ethical task as that pursued by the Order of the Star in the East through its preparation for the appearance of a future world judge, as admitted by almost all religions. We believe that the equality of all world views, which is guaranteed to new members when they join the “Society”, must be upheld here if it is not to become an empty phrase and bring down the reputation of the “German Section”. We must therefore protest most strongly against the treatment we have received and ask the esteemed General Assembly for its support, so that we may be granted the right to affiliate our lodge to the German Section.

Berlin, January 6, 1913. The board of the Besant Lodge in Berlin.

[Rudolf Steiner:] “The application is signed: The board of the Besant Lodge in Berlin. I do not know the names of the board members of this branch. The second application reads:”

Proposal to the General Assembly of the
German Section (National Society) of the
Theosophical Society in Berlin in February 1913.

The undersigned propose that the General Assembly resolve:

1. The van Leer proposal adopted by the Ninth General Assembly on October 30, 1910 (Mitteilungen, Cologne, XI, page 8), according to which, in addition to the signatures of two guarantors for the admission of a new member, the third signature of the chairman of the relevant section branch is also required, is hereby repealed. 2. Furthermore, it is determined that the requirement of prior participation in a preparatory course for the admission of a member to the Society, which has been in use to date, shall no longer be applied. In the future, as in the other branches of the Society, acceptance of the purposes of the Society shall suffice for admission as a member of the German Section, without regard to the beliefs or other views of the applicant.

3. The amendment to $ 8 of the Section Statutes adopted by the Seventh General Assembly on October 26, 1908 (Mitteilungen, Cologne, VIII, page 7), according to which every member of the Executive Board who had been in office for seven years has become the non-removable holder of that office for life, is hereby repealed. From now on, the board shall be re-elected every three years at the general assembly.

Oberloschwitz - Weißer Hirsch, Jan. 7, 1913.
Hermann Ahner
Chairman of the Lodge of the Grail in Dresden,
currently Mitt. Schreiberhau i. Rsgb., Jan. 9, 13.

Hugo Höppener-Fidus, Dresden, January 11, 1913.
Rudolf Schaefer,
member of the Lodge zum Gral.

Reasons for this proposal:

1. The requirement of a third signature for the admission of a new member is an amendment to §§ 28 and 29 of the general statutes of the society. A section is not authorized to change these; it has even been explicitly stated in § 37 that the statutes of a section or national society must not contradict the statutes of the overall society ('not conflict'). In § 28, the signature of two members as guarantors is required for the admission of a new member. In § 29, the issuing of the membership diploma is then prescribed without further request. This intention is particularly strongly expressed by the word 'shall' used in the paragraph, instead of 'will', in accordance with the general rules of English legal practice.

2. and 3.: The measures to be derogated by this have the express purpose of establishing certain teachings in the Section in such a way that they, like the creed of a religious community, are required of the members of the Section. This purpose has been expressly emphasized as the motive for the introduction of these measures; this is authentically reported in the “Mitteilungen, Cologne, VIIL,

pages 6-7 and XI, page 8. These measures have always proven effective for this purpose, as world history teaches us. But it is precisely the purpose of the Theosophical Society to overcome the necessity for such measures and to make its members so spiritually independent that they can accept the esoteric truths and represent them rationally without such organizational protection. Such measures also contradict the main purpose of the Society: to form a core for the brotherhood of humanity without distinction of faith.

[Rudolf Steiner:] “The proposal is signed: Ahner, Oberloschwitz; Hugo Höppner-Fidus; Rudolph Schäfer.

I must point out that if this is correct, that every person who comes forward should be accepted without scrutiny, I would never have accepted the office of General Secretary, but would have suggested that a signature machine be purchased for the purpose. These proposals are also irrelevant, and the proposers must be referred to the fact that they now have to turn to the instance that is now being created, to those people who are willing to meet the unjustified demands of Adyar. Therefore, these proposals are to be addressed to the upcoming German section of the Society.

The next item we have to discuss is a proposal from Dr. Bachem, Frankfurt am Main. I am obliged to bring this matter before this forum because it is a purely human one.

(Letter from Dr. Bachem)

To the Theosophical Society, German Section;
for the attention of the Secretary General,
Dr. Rudolf Steiner, Berlin.

I hereby submit the following proposals to the Eleventh General Assembly:

1. The damages suffered by the Rödelheim foundation of [Fräulein] M. Stenzel, the former chairwoman of the “Goethe branch of the Theosophical Society in Frankfurt a.M., are to be compensated

a) by the funds of the German Section of the Theosophical Society

b) through a collection organized by the Secretary General within the Society.

2. The justification for proposal 1 is to be read at the General Assembly.

21.1.1913, Dr. Max Bachem, Frankfurt a.M., Finkenhofstraße 46.

Justification of the motion of Dr. med. Bachem, Frankfurt a.M., for the eleventh General Assembly of the Theosophical Society, German Section.

At the beginning of its founding, Miss M. Stenzel approached various members of the “Goethe branch” to vouch for the liabilities that had arisen. Mr. Roggenberg, deputy telegraph director, deposited 3,000 marks as a guarantee for the rent and committed himself to the rent, so Ms. Jahn and Dr. Bachem endorsed Stenzel's bill of exchange, which was used to pay for the furniture.

When Dr. Bachem was asked, he was told that this favor was a mere formality and that he would never have anything to do with the bills of exchange. He was also told that if Dr. Bachem were to be called upon to honor the bills, he would receive furniture in return.

The guarantees mentioned were taken over because [Fräulein] Stenzel stated that the Rödelheim foundation enjoyed the support and approval of Dr. Steiner. Director Roggenberg has lost 3,300 marks in cash.

In spring 1912, Dr. Bachem received a bill of exchange for almost 4,000 marks; [Fräulein] Stenzel and Frau Jahn, who had also been summoned, did not appear in court; Dr. Bachem agreed to a settlement under which he had to pay the bill of exchange in installments of 200 to 250 marks per month.

When Dr. Bachem tried to obtain furniture in the amount of his payments, he received nothing.

He had to interrupt his practice for a month in October 1912 due to illness, was then no longer able to make the payments, and was summoned to take an oath of disclosure on January 14, 1913, which [Fräulein] Stenzel and Frau Jahn had already taken.

His marital situation was largely destroyed by this affair, and his medical career was also severely hampered as a result.

During his last visit to Frankfurt am Main, Dr. Steiner stated that the injured parties should be compensated in the requested manner. Several letters from Dr. Bachem to Dr. Steiner on this matter remained unanswered; only once did he receive a letter from a lady who told him – allegedly on Dr. Steiner's orders – that Dr. Steiner would write to Dr. Bachem from his trip to Finland.

This appears to have been another case of abuse in the name of Dr. Steiner, as this letter never arrived.

Dr. Bachem's previous cash expenditure amounts to approximately 1950 Marks; he has been sentenced to pay 2792.40 Marks plus costs, and so on, and is expected to be sued this spring for a bill of exchange amounting to 8000 Marks.

January 21, 1913, Dr. Max Bachem, Frankfurt a.M.

[Rudolf Steiner:] “In addition to this letter, a letter arrived on the last day from Director Roggenberg, in which he states that he is very annoyed that Dr. Bachem is making this request and that he certainly does not want my name to be associated with this matter.

As for the matter itself, it must be said that there can be no question of Burg Rödelheim ever having been installed with my consent. It is a purely private matter for Fräulein Stenzel and has nothing to do with the Theosophical Society or with Section matters. Miss Stenzel has explained the matter. But so few of us are connected with this matter that I myself only learned of the completed foundation through the printed matter that Miss Stenzel sent out at the time. I must categorically refuse to have had anything to do with the matter before the explanation. In Frankfurt, I only said that it would be highly desirable, if possible, to compensate our Theosophical friends who have been so badly treated. Does anyone wish to speak on this matter?"

Mr. Arenson: “Dear Friends! This case that has just been presented is indeed quite distressing, but I would like to put something else forward. This case is also typical, and we should see from it what conclusions can be drawn from carelessly tossed words, how in all such cases Dr. Steiner's name is dragged into it, and how people can be found everywhere who go along with it in some way. I would now like to ask you to make a decision to the effect that we regret the harm done to our friends, but that the assembly is not in a position to grant any kind of compensation, since the former

German Section is not at all the cause of such compensation. I would like to submit my request as follows: The meeting regrets that this has taken place. But it cannot be held responsible for compensation in any way.

Dr. Steiner: “Does anyone else wish to speak on this matter?”

Mr. Daeglau: “Perhaps it would be good to point out to our Theosophical friends that this example can be a very good lesson. It is often said how necessary it is to bring Theosophy into real life. Here an attempt has been made out of enthusiasm. This example shows that goodwill alone is not enough. Those who want to do something like this must also really know practical life in order to realize the Theosophical teachings in it. Anyone who has had the opportunity, as a businessman or as someone familiar with business, to observe this undertaking from the very beginning must have felt a pang of pain in their heart when they considered the consequences, when they saw what was being prepared. Enthusiasm alone is not enough, and it is not enough to rely on the fact that, as a theosophist, you are dealing with people who understand more about life than the entrepreneur himself. The person who wants to start a business is easily inclined to listen in and interpret the knowledge and opinions of others favorably. He undertakes it without having enough knowledge and makes mistake after mistake. But if the venture fails, he believes that all the cleverer people are also responsible for it. Let us continue to apply Theosophy to practical life, but let us also be practitioners and not just enthusiasts."

Mr. Lippelt: ‘Two members have fallen on hard times. I would like to appeal to the Society in general for help. A collection could be organized.’

Dr. Steiner: “Does anyone else wish to speak? If not, Mr. Arenson will now read out his formulated request.

Mr. Arenson: ”The present assembly expresses its regret to Dr. Bachem that he has suffered damage in the manner described as a result of the Rödelheim-based company. However, it is not in a position to take any steps in the matter that could lead to the coverage of the debts he has contracted."

Dr. Steiner: ”It is really extremely difficult in such a case. If, on the one hand, Dr. Bachem has suffered damage, the situation is such that one would really like to help, but there is no end in sight to these things. Because it is not possible that if some theosophist decides to establish something here or there, and others let themselves be talked into it, and lose their money in the process, that the Theosophical Society as such can be held liable in any way. In principle, I must admit that it is difficult to understand how Dr. Bachem can sign bills of exchange and be told that this is only a formality and that he would never have anything to do with the bills. It is well-meaning, but really too careless to be told that signing bills of exchange is a mere formality. Of course, if a number of members want to do something about it, that would be very nice, but for us to do it as a whole, that really doesn't seem possible. So I ask those in favor of the Arenson motion to raise their hands.

(The request is accepted.)

Dr. Steiner: “We come to the next point. Reports of the branches. Does anyone wish to speak?”

Mrs. Dr. Grosheintz: “I just want to ask, what about the charter of the individual lodges?”

Dr. Steiner: “The question is settled. It would have been complicated if we had waited for each lodge to be asked to recognize the new General Secretary and to belong to Adyar: it is simpler, the members no longer consider themselves members of the German Section of the Theosophical Society. This is, after all, the truth. It is in the interest of the members to consider themselves as having been expelled from the section. Of course, each lodge can report to the new general secretary of the German section. A new charter (certificate of incorporation) will then be issued by the new Secretary General, who will be appointed, and those who wish to continue to belong to the Theosophical Society Adyar will have to join this new German Section or Adyar directly. In either case, they would no longer have anything to do with our movement, to which I am attached, because we want to work without being subject to the most nonsensical accusations. Those who want to have something to do with us should confess that faithfully, and those who do not want to do that can join the new German Section or Adyar. That is what it will be about in the future. The German Section and all its functions have ceased to exist. I have already explained at the opening of this friendly gathering that it was only with great pain that I and all those who understand the situation have seen what had to happen. It has happened because we considered it our duty to belong to the Theosophical Society, and we had to see with deep pain that this has been made impossible for us.

Our work has produced many things, and hardly a day has gone by recently when we have not been confronted with the obstacles and difficulties that have to be overcome when it comes to bringing a spiritual movement into the world honestly, sincerely and purely.

Let me mention one more purely symptomatic point, not to harp on trifles but to show how it is possible to arrive at a sound and healthy judgment despite constantly hearing such expressions: Everyone strives for the truth, but one cannot always know whether one is on the path of truth. But the one who seriously wants to can know in many cases what is truth and what is not truth. Anyone reading the “Message of Peace” will find that the quotations are all inaccurate. But to say that everyone strives for the truth, in such a case means that one does not want to see things as they really are. And if one does not want to see them, then one cannot understand them either. If the person who has quoted incorrectly says that he has added the word “only” to make the matter clear, then the answer is one that the author of the refutation has given very very cleverly: whether it serves to clarify if one says instead of: “My friend went on the ice and put on warm gloves,” “my friend went on the ice and just put on warm gloves.” (Great hilarity.) Clarifications are of this kind.

It would be desirable to open your eyes and see what it is actually about. For example, an announcement from a bookshop appeared with the words:

Dr. Steiner has already made a start in Germany, but the plutocratic-autocratic direction he represents is not suitable for promoting today's spiritual and social progress in an all-round way because of its one-sidedness. Therefore, a contemporary popular form had to be found that would make it possible for those treasures to be made available to the public in an undogmatic, freely accessible way and without clerical paternalism. These Rosicrucian lesson letters provide a conclusive overall picture of Rosicrucian research and world view. The beginnings of their development are to be found on German soil. They were further elaborated in the etheric atmosphere of California, which was much more favorable for Rosicrucian research.

It is necessary to be attentive, to open your eyes and not always be asleep as a theosophist. It would be advisable to see what has actually been developed in California. But I want to show you that you can draw the right conclusions if you want to by reading a letter to me from someone who is opening his eyes:

'Dear Sir, May I dare to approach you with one or even more than one question? First of all, I must mention that I am here for a short visit and that I live in Salina, Kansas, US. There, some time ago, two friends and I had a book sent to us that had been recommended by the Esoteric Library in Washington, D.C.; the book is called “Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception on Christian Occult Science by Max Heindel. In the preface, we noticed the peculiar way in which Mr. M. H. refers to the name of Dr. Rudolf Steiner, whose teachings are similar in the main lines of his teachings, etc., etc. - In short, the preface prompted me and later my friends to read your book 'Theosophy' and 'Initiation and its Results'. It is a mystery to us how it is that whole sentences in 'Cosmo-Conception' can be compared almost word for word with those contained in your books, and so we thought: 'Did that Mr. Max Heindel borrow the teaching that he is trying to spread in America, but mainly in California, from you?'

This is a letter from someone who looks at the facts and comes to a judgment. I only had to reply to him with the fact that Max Heindel lived among us under a name other than [Grasshoff] and listened to and copied many of my lectures and cycles. And it is indeed the case that in Germany, initially, a certain direction was established, and then, in a rather strange way, Max Heindel found a form that was “in keeping with the times...” (see above). Then the gentleman in question left and put something together from lectures of mine and presented it as something new.

We are learning some rather strange things. On the one hand, our work is presented here as plutocratic, as autocratic and as one-sided, and in the etheric atmosphere of California it is passed on as having matured and changed. Perhaps it will even come to the point that Max Heindel is simply translated into German, and then they will campaign against me with things that are my own. ... Therefore, I ask you to take a closer look at these things.

It was truly a martyrdom to work in the Theosophical Society, and it is also quite difficult to work when the co-workers do not take an interest in what is going on. It is then quite difficult to advance the matter.

It must be emphasized that we were faced with the fact that, for reasons of spiritual cleanliness, we were unable to join a movement, such as the Krishnamurti movement. And one must look at The Star of the East in such a way that a little boy is the head of this 'Star of the East', and if we wanted to have anything to do with this 'Star of the East', we would be sinning against the present spiritual current of our time. The father of the two boys has brought an action against Mrs. Besant to get his sons back. Anyone who is aware of the issues involved and who, out of their sense of truth, has nothing to do with the so-called 'Star of the East', can simply say in such a case: nonsensical demands become impossible demands. For I would like to know the person who, without delusion, has seriously examined the whole Krishnamurti affair and can still be a member of this Star of the East. That one could tolerate this alliance in a society seeking truth is impossible. But it is also impossible, in this case, to speak of tolerance or anything similar.

Even if, on the one hand, it causes us the deepest pain that we can no longer work within a society that has become dear to us, the truth, whatever the world may say, is this: We cannot help but stand on the ground of truth, in the face of which there is no playful skirmishing, no playful concepts. There are no different opinions about the fact that someone uses false quotations, that two letters do not match. Anyone who still speaks of the fact that one cannot decide does not want to stand on the ground of truth.

If we want to make progress, we can only do so on the basis of unvarnished truth, and we will be glad that in the future we will never again be confused with those who spread objective untruths and all kinds of nonsense. We will try to move forward. Those who join us in this way will find the way with us. But those who, even today, still find it easy to tell Adyar instead of the others that things could have been done either way, can only be told to support Adyar. But we only want to stand on the ground that has already been characterized as the ground of truth and truthfulness. There can be no other! And if anyone likes, they can use playful words to tell us that we are to blame for what has happened. In good conscience, we answer with the words that we are allowed to quote: Here we stand, we could not have done otherwise, the spirits of the world, the divine spirits, may help us. And so it may continue.”

My dear Theosophical friends! It is my honest conviction that it is basically a terrible imposition to present what I now have to present to such an assembly. You can be absolutely certain that I, feeling this, only resort to this description because things have recently come to light that make it our duty to refute suspicions and distortions with regard to our cause.

I will endeavor to present what needs to be presented as objectively as possible, and I will endeavor – since I obviously cannot present everything – to influence what I present subjectively only to the extent that the selection of what is to be presented comes into consideration. In doing so, I will be guided by the principle of mentioning what can be thought to somehow influence my entire school of thought. Do not consider the way in which I will try to present it as a form of coquetry, but rather as something that must appear to me in many respects as the natural form.

If someone had wanted to prepare themselves for a completely modern life, for a life in the most modern achievements of the present time, and had wanted to choose the appropriate conditions of existence for their present incarnation, then, it seems to me, they would have had to make the same choice in relation to their present incarnation as Rudolf Steiner made. For he was surrounded from the very beginning by the very latest cultural achievements, was surrounded from the first hour of his physical existence by the railroad and telegraph system.

He was born on February 27, 1861 in Kraljevec, which now belongs to Hungary. He spent only the first year and a half in this place, which is located on the so-called Mur Island, then half a year in a place near Vienna and then a whole number of boyhood years in a place on the border of Lower Austria and Styria, in the middle of those Austro-Styrian conditions of a mountainous region, which can make a certain deeper impression on the mind of a child receptive to such things.

His father was a minor official of the Austrian Southern Railway. The family was, after all, involved in circumstances that, given the state of affairs at the time, cannot be characterized as anything other than a “struggle against the poor pay of such low-level railway officials”. The parents – it must be emphasized, so as not to give rise to any misunderstanding – always showed a willingness to spend their last kreuzer on what was best for their children; but there were not many such last kreuzer available.

What the boy saw, one might say, every hour, were the Styrian-Austrian mountains on one side, often looking in, often shining in such beautiful sunshine, often covered by the most magnificent snowfields. On the other side, to the delight of the mind, there were the vegetation and other natural conditions of such an area, which, situated there at the foot of the Austrian Schneeberg and the Sonnwendstein, are perhaps among the most beautiful spots in Austria. On the one hand, that was what shaped the impressions that came to the boy. The other was that the view could be directed hourly to the most modern cultural conditions and achievements: to the railroad, with the operation of which his father was involved, and to what telegraphy was already able to achieve in modern traffic at that time. One might say that what the boy was confronted with was not at all modern urban conditions. The place where the station was part of, where he grew up, was a very small place and offered only modern impressions insofar as a spinning mill belonged to the place, so that one constantly had a very modern industry in front of one's eyes.

These circumstances must all be mentioned because they actually had a formative and challenging effect on the forces of the boy's soul. They were really not city conditions at all; but the shadow of city conditions came into this remote place. For it was not only – with all the effects that such a thing has – one of the most artistically designed mountain railways in the immediate vicinity, the Semmering Railway, but also close by were the springs from which the water of the Vienna mountain spring water supply was taken at that time. In addition, the entire surrounding area was frequented by people who wanted to spend their summer vacation in this mountainous area, coming from Vienna and other Austrian towns. But one must bear in mind that in the 1860s, such places were not yet as overrun with summer visitors as they were in later times, and that even as a child one entered into certain personal relationships with the people who sought out such summer retreats, so that one gained a kind of intimate relationship with what was going on in the city. Like the shadow of the city, what was revealed there extended into this small town.

What also came into consideration – anyone who has acquired a little psychological insight will see that something like this can come into consideration – were certain impressions, about which one can say nothing other than that they showed the dissolution of long-standing religious relationships in the closest circle of a small town. There was a pastor in the town where the boy grew up. I would just like to mention that I naturally omit all names and the like whose mention could cause any offense or even just hurt, since in such a presentation one often has to deal with people who are still alive or whose descendants are still alive; so that should be avoided, despite the desire to present in the most accurate way. In this place, we are dealing with a pastor who had no influence on our family other than baptizing my siblings; he didn't need to baptize me, since I had already been baptized in Kraljevec. Incidentally, he was considered a rather strange character at the train station where the boy I am talking about grew up, by the residents of the train station and by all those who were present at almost every train from the nearby spinning mill, since the arrival of a train was a big event. And the boy heard the parish priest in question referred to as nothing other than “our Father Nazl”, in a not particularly respectful way.

In contrast, there was a different parish priest in the neighboring village; he often came to our house. This other parish priest was, however, thoroughly disintegrated, firstly with Father Nazl and secondly with all the professional relationships in which he found himself. And if someone, even in the very earliest childhood that Rudolf Steiner had to live through, used the loosest words in front of the boy's ear about everything that was already called “secular” at the time – if someone used the loosest words in the presence of the four- to five-year-old boy about church affairs, it was that pastor, who felt he was a staunch liberal and who was loved in our house because of his self-evident free spirit. At the time, the boy found it extraordinarily funny what he once heard the pastor say. He had been informed of the bishop's visit. In such cases, even in such a small town, great preparations are usually made. But our free-thinking pastor had to be dragged out of bed and was told to get up quickly because the bishop was already in the church. In short, it was a situation that made it impossible for anything to develop other than what perhaps only Austrians know: a certain matter-of-factness about the circumstances of religious tradition, a matter-of-fact indifference. No one cared about it, so to speak, and took a cultural-historical interest in such an original personality as the aforementioned pastor, who was late for the bishop because he actually presented a strange sight. No one knew why he was actually a pastor. Because of everything else that interests a pastor, he never spoke; on the other hand, he often talked about which dumplings he particularly liked and what else he experienced. He sometimes went out about his authorities and told what he had to endure there. But this “pastor” certainly could not have given any guidance to zealotry.

The boy only attended the local school there for a short time. For reasons that need not be described in any detail – it is not necessary to describe anything inaccurately – which simply lay in a personal dispute between the boy's father and the school teacher, the boy was very soon taken out of the village school and then received some lessons from his father in the station office between the times when the trains were running.

Then, when the boy in question was eight or nine years old, his father was transferred to another railway station, which lies on the border between – as they say in Austria – “Cisleithania” and “Transleithania”, between the Austrian and Hungarian lands, but the station was already located in Hungary. But before we can talk about this relocation, something else must be mentioned that was of extraordinary significance and importance for the life of the young Rudolf Steiner.

In a way, the boy was an uncomfortable child for his relatives, if only because he had a certain sense of freedom in his body, and when he noticed that something was being demanded of him that he could not fully agree with, he was keen to evade that demand. For example, he avoided greeting or speaking to people who were among his father's superiors and who were also vacationing in the area. He would then withdraw and pretend not to understand the natural subservience that should be expected. It was only as a peculiarity that he refused to acknowledge this and often retreated to the small waiting room, where he tried to penetrate into strange secrets. These were contained in a picture book that had movable figures, where you pulled strings at the bottom. It told the story of a character who had a certain significance for Austria, and especially for Vienna: the character of the “Staberl.” It had become something similar, albeit with a local flavor, a cross between a Punch and a prankster.

But there was something else that presented itself to the boy. There he sat one day in that waiting room all alone on a bench. In one corner was the stove, on a wall away from the stove was a door; in the corner from which one could see the door and the stove, sat the boy. He was still very, very young at the time. And as he sat there, the door opened; he was naturally to find that a personality, a woman's personality, entered the room, whom he had never seen before, but who looked extremely like a member of the family. The woman's personality entered through the door, walked to the middle of the room, made gestures and also spoke words that can be roughly reproduced in the following way: “Try now and later to do as much as you can for me,” she said to the boy. Then she was present for a while, making gestures that cannot be forgotten by the soul that has seen them. She then went to the stove and disappeared into it. The impression made on the boy by this event was very strong. The boy had no one in his family to whom he could have spoken of such a thing, and that was because he would have had to hear the harshest words about his foolish superstition if he had told anyone about the event.

The following now occurred after this event. The father, who was otherwise a very cheerful man, became quite sad after that day, and the boy could see that the father did not want to say something that he knew. After a few days had passed and another family member had been prepared in the appropriate way, it did come out what had happened. At a place quite far from that train station in terms of the way of thinking of the people involved, a family member very close to the boy had taken his own life at the same hour that the figure had appeared to the little boy in the waiting room. The boy had never seen this family member; he had also never heard much about him, because he was actually somewhat inaccessible to the stories of the environment – this must also be emphasized – they went in at one ear and out at the other, and he actually did not hear much about the things that were spoken. So he did not know much about that personality who had committed suicide. The event made a great impression, for there can be no doubt that it was a visit by the spirit of the suicidal personality, who approached the boy to instruct him to do something for her in the period immediately following her death. Furthermore, the connections between this spiritual event and the physical plane, as just related, became equally apparent in the days that followed.

Now, anyone who experiences something like this in their early childhood and, according to their disposition, has to seek to understand it, knows from such an event onwards – if they experience it consciously – how one lives in the spiritual worlds. And since the penetration of the spiritual worlds is to be discussed only at the most immediately necessary points, it should be mentioned here that from that event onwards, a life in the soul began for the boy, to whom those worlds revealed themselves from which not only the outer trees and the outer mountains speak to the soul of man, but also those worlds that are behind them. And from that time on, the boy lived with the spirits of nature, which can be observed particularly well in such a region, with the creative entities behind things, in the same way that he allowed the external world to affect him.

After the aforementioned transfer of his father to the town on the border of Austria and Hungary, but still in Hungary, the boy went to the local farm school. It was a farm school with an old-fashioned set-up, as they existed at the time, where boys and girls were still together as a matter of course. What could be learned in this rural school did not even have a full impact on the boy in question, despite the fact that it was not particularly much, for the simple reason that the excellent teacher at this rural school – excellent in his way within the limits of what is possible – had a particular fondness for drawing. And since the boy showed an aptitude for drawing quite early on, the teacher simply took him out of the classroom while the other students were being taught how to read and write, and took him to his small room , and the boy had to draw all the time. He was taught to draw quite nicely – as some people said – one of Hungary's most important political figures, Count Széchenyi, relatively quickly.

Of course, there was also a pastor in that village. But the boy did not learn much from the pastor, who came to the rural school every week, in terms of religion. One can only say that it was not of particular interest to him. Not much was said about religious matters in the parental home, and there was no particular interest in them. On the other hand, the pastor once came to school with a small drawing he had made; it was the Copernican world system. He explained it to some boys and girls, from whom he assumed a particular understanding of it, so that the boy, who could learn nothing from the pastor in religion, understood the Copernican world system quite well through him.

The place where all this happened was a very peculiar place because, as it were, important political and cultural circumstances were looking in. It was just the time when the Hungarians began to magyarize and when a lot was happening, especially in such border areas, which resulted in the connection between different nationalities, especially between the Magyar and German nationalities. You still learned an extraordinary amount about significant cultural conditions – without everything being categorized at the time – so that the boy was also familiar with the most modern conditions.

What has now been misunderstood is that the boy, like the other schoolboys in the village, had to serve as altar boys in the village church for a very short time. It was simply said: “So-and-so has to ring the bells today and put on the altar boy clothes and do the altar boy duties.” This was not done for very long, but the boy's father insisted – for very strange reasons – that these altar boy duties should not be extended for too long. The boy was occasionally unable to avoid being late due to certain circumstances, and his father did not want his boy to receive the same blows as the other boys if he was late for ringing the bells. So he managed to have his son removed from this duty.

The circumstances at that time were also quite interesting in other respects. The pastor, who was not particularly devoted to his office, but did not let this be seen, was an extremely enraged Magyar patriot. It seemed wise to him – something that even a boy could see through – to turn against something that was emerging in this place at the time, and which shows how, even as a boy, one could study cultural-historical conditions quite well. A fierce struggle had broken out between the pastor and the Masonic lodge, which was located in the place that was already in Hungary as a border town. Such border towns were popular choices for the lodges. The local Freemasons raised the most incredible accusations against the church, in addition to the justified ones. And if you wanted to become familiar with what could be said against the clerical conditions, even in a justified way, you had plenty of opportunity to do so, even if you had not yet passed a certain youth.

Some things that do not exactly help to instill a special respect for the church in a boy should not actually be printed in a later edition, but they should be mentioned here. It did not exactly help to increase reverence for church traditions that the boy had to see the following. There was a farmer's son in the village who had become a clergyman, something of which the farmers are particularly proud. He had become a Cistercian, which the boy had not witnessed, but he saw what was happening now. At that time, a great celebration had been organized because the whole village was proud that a farmer's son had achieved so much. Five or six years had passed, the clergyman in question had been given a parish and occasionally came to his home town. Then you could see how a cart, pushed by a woman dressed in a peasant's costume and the clergyman, became heavier and heavier. It was a pram, and with each year there was one more child for this pram. From the first visit to this clergyman, one could see a remarkable increase in his family, which seemed more and more peculiar with each new year as an “add-on” to his celibacy. Perhaps it may be noted that in this way no care was taken to ensure that the boy had as much respect as possible for the traditions of the clergy.

It should also be mentioned that at the age of about eight, the boy also found a “Geometry” by Močnik in the library of the aforementioned teacher, which was widely used in the Austrian lands, and now set about studying geometry eagerly and alone, immersing himself in this geometry with great pleasure.

Then circumstances arose that could be characterized as follows: it was taken for granted in the boy's family that he should only receive an education that would enable him to pursue some modern cultural profession – every effort was made to prevent him from becoming anything other than a member of a modern cultural profession – these circumstances led to the boy being sent not to the gymnasium, but to the Realschule. So he did not receive any kind of education that could have prepared him for a spiritual vocation, because he did not attend a gymnasium, but only a Realschule, which at that time in Austria would not have provided him with the qualifications for a spiritual vocation at a later stage. He was quite well prepared for the Realschule by his talent for drawing and his inclination towards geometry.

He only had difficulties with everything related to languages, including German. That boy made the most foolish mistakes in the German language in his schoolwork until he was fourteen or fifteen years old; only the content repeatedly helped him get through the numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes. Because these are symptoms of a certain soul disposition, it may also be mentioned that the boy in question was led to disregard certain grammatical and spelling rules even of his mother tongue by the fact that he lacked a certain connection with what one might call: direct immersion in the very dry physical life. This sometimes came across as grotesque. One example: at the rural school the boy attended before entering secondary school, the children always had to write congratulations on beautiful, colorful paper for New Year and the name days of parents and so on. These were then rolled up and, after the contents had been learned by heart, the teacher put them in a so-called small paper sleeve; these were then handed out to the relatives concerned, reciting the contents, to whom they were addressed. That pastor, who once made an inevitably comical impression on the boy by shouting terribly when the local Masonic lodge was built, and because, to make an effective turn of phrase, the founder of the Masonic lodge was a Jew was - it was inextricably funny - proclaimed from the pulpit that in addition to being bad people, it was also part of being something like a Jew or a Freemason that that pastor had a boy at his parsonage - nothing bad is meant by this -. He also went to our school and wrote his congratulations there. Once, the boy Rudolf Steiner happened to glance at the greeting written by the boy who lived in the parsonage and saw that this boy did not sign his name like the others, but rather: “Your sincerely devoted nephew”. At the time, the boy Rudolf Steiner did not know what a “nephew” was; he did not have much sense of the connection between words and things when the words were rarely pronounced. But he had a remarkable sense of the sound of words, of what can be heard through the sound of words. And so the boy heard from the sound of the word “nephew” that it was something particularly heartfelt when you signed your congratulations to your relatives: “Your sincerely devoted nephew,” and he now also began to sign for his father and mother: “Your sincerely devoted nephew.” It was only through the clarification of the facts that the boy realized what a nephew is. That happened when he was ten years old.

Then the boy went to secondary school in the neighboring town. This secondary school was not so easy to reach. It was out of the question, given the parents' circumstances, that he could have lived in the city. But attending the secondary school was also possible because the city was only an hour's walk from where he lived. If – which was not very often the case – the railroad line was not snowed in during the winter, the boy could take the train to school in the morning. But especially in the times when even the footpath was not particularly pleasant, because it led across fields, the railroad tracks were actually very often snow-covered, and then the boy often had to walk to school in the morning between half past seven and eight o'clock through really knee-deep snow. And in the evening, there was no way to get home other than on foot. When I look back at the boy, who had to make quite an effort to get to and from school, I can't help but say that it is my belief that the good health I enjoy today is perhaps due to those strenuous wades through knee-deep snow and the other efforts associated with attending secondary school. It was thanks to a charitable woman in town who invited the boy to her house during the lunch hour – for the first four years of school – and gave him something to eat, that the boy's need, at least according to the information given, was alleviated. On the other hand, however, it was also an opportunity to see the most modern cultural conditions. For the husband of that woman was employed in the locomotive factory of that town, and one learned there much about the conditions of that industrial town, which were extremely important for the time. So even the most modern industrial conditions cast their shadows over the boy's life.

Now there were several things about school that interested the boy in an extraordinary way. First of all, there was the director of the secondary school, a very remarkable man. He was at the center of the scientific life of the time and devoted all his efforts to establishing a kind of world system based on the concepts and ideas of natural science at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s. As a boy, he became acquainted with one of the school's programmatic essays, 'The force of attraction considered as an effect of motion', through his director's endeavors. And the matter started right away with very powerful integrals. The boy's strongest endeavor was now to read into what he could not understand, and again and again he read about it as much as he could grasp. He understood one thing: that the forces of the world and even the force of attraction should be explained by movement. The boy now aspired to know as much mathematics as possible as soon as possible in order to be able to understand these ideas. That was not easy, because you first had to learn a lot of geometry to understand such things.

Now something else came along. At that secondary school was an excellent teacher of physics and mathematics who had written a second program essay that the boy got to see. It was an extremely interesting essay about probability theory and life insurance. And the second impetus that the boy got from it was precisely that he wanted to know how people are insured from the rules of probability theory, and that was very clearly presented in that essay.

Then a third teacher must be mentioned, the teacher of geometry. The boy was lucky enough to have this teacher already in the second year of school and to get from him what later led to descriptive geometry and is connected with geometric drawing, so that on the one hand you had arithmetic and on the other hand freehand drawing. The teacher of geometry was different from the headmaster and different from the one who wrote the essay about life insurance. The way this teacher presented geometry and taught how to use compasses and rulers was extremely practical, and it can be said that, as a result of this teacher's instruction, the boy became quite infatuated with geometry and also with geometric drawing with compasses and rulers. The clear and practical way of teaching geometry was further enhanced by the fact that the teacher demanded that the books were actually only kept as a kind of decoration. He dictated what he gave to the students and drew it on the blackboard himself; they copied it, making their own notebooks in this way, and actually needed to know nothing other than what they had worked out in their notebooks. It was a good way to work independently. In other subjects, on the other hand, there was often a very good guide to help you keep track of everything that was going on.

As luck would have it, in his third year at secondary school the boy had the opportunity to be taught by the teacher of mathematics and physics who had written the essay on probability theory and life insurance. He turned out to be an excellent teacher of mathematics and physics. And when the man who has become of the boy, something shoots through the mind here, thinking of that teacher, it is that he would always like to lay his wreath in front of that excellent teacher of mathematics and physics. Now they really began to devote themselves to mathematics and physics, and so it could happen that it had become possible to get hold of Lübsen's excellent textbooks for self-teaching in mathematics, which were much more widespread then than they are now, relatively soon. With the help of H. B. Lübsen's books, the boy was able to understand relatively quickly what his principal had written about “attraction considered as an effect of motion” and what his teacher had written about probability theory and life insurance. It was a great joy to have gradually driven this understanding.

Now, the boy's life was complicated by the fact that he had no money to have his school books bound. So he learned bookbinding from one of his father's apprentices and was able to bind his own schoolbooks during the holidays. It seems important to me to emphasize this, because it meant something for the development of that boy to get to know such a practical thing as bookbinding at a relatively early age.

But there were other factors at play as well. It was the time of which we are now talking, precisely the time when the old system of customs, feet, pounds and hundredweight was replaced in Austria by the new metric system of measurement and weight, the meter and kilogram system. And the boy experienced the full enthusiasm that took place in all circumstances when people stopped calculating in the previous way with feet and pounds and hundredweights and began to use meters and kilograms in their place. And the most read book, which he always had in his pocket, was the now forgotten one about the new system of weights and measures. And the boy quickly knew how to tell how many kilograms a number of pounds made up and how many meters a number of feet, because the book contained long tables on this.

One personality who played a role in the boy's life must not go unmentioned: a doctor, a very free-thinking doctor, who – perhaps it will not be held against me – had a certain “far-sighted view of life”. As a result, he also had his idiosyncrasies, but in some respects he was an extraordinarily good doctor. But things happened to him, for example: the doctor was already known to the boy from the first railway station where the occult phenomenon took place. At that time, the following had occurred. The pointsman at the station there had a severe toothache. The doctor in question was also a railway doctor and, although he did not live there, had to treat the pointsman. And lo and behold, the good doctor wanted to get things over with quickly and sent a telegram saying that he would come by a certain train. However, he only wanted to get off the train for as long as it stopped, in order to extract the tooth during this time and then continue his journey immediately. The scene was set, the doctor arrived on the appointed train, extracted the switchman's tooth and continued his journey. But after the doctor had left, the switchman came and said: “Now he has just pulled out a healthy tooth, but the sick one doesn't hurt me anymore!”

Then the pointsman had a stomach ache, and the doctor wanted to get rid of him in a similar way. This time, however, the train he was coming in was an express that didn't stop at the station. So he ordered the pointsman to stand on the platform and stick his tongue out at him when the train passed by, and he would then pass on the message from the next station. And so it was: the pointsman had to stand there, sticking out his tongue, while the train passed by, and the doctor then phoned the prescription back from the next station. These were some aspects of this doctor's “broad view of life”. But he was a subtle, extraordinarily humane personality

The boy had long since studied the new system of weights and measures and had read up on integral and differential calculus. But he knew nothing of Goethe and Schiller except for what was in the textbooks – a few poems – and nothing else of German literature, of literature in general. But the boy had retained a strange, natural love for the doctor, and he would walk past the doctor's windows in the city, where the secondary school was, with a sense of true admiration. He could see the doctor behind the window with a green screen in front of his eyes, and he could watch unnoticed as he sat absorbed in front of his books and studied. During a visit that the doctor made to the latter village, he invited the boy to visit him. The boy then went to him, and the doctor now became a loving advisor, providing the boy with the more important works of German literature – sometimes in annotated editions – and always dismissing him with a loving word, also receiving him in the same way when he returned the books. Thus the doctor, of whom I first told you the other side, was a personality who became one of the most respected in the boy's life. Much of the literature and related matters that entered the boy's soul came from that doctor.

Now something peculiar turned out for the boy. He felt the greatest devotion for descriptive geometry through that excellent geometry teacher, and as a result something happened that may be mentioned, which had never happened before in that school or in any other school: that the boy in question received a grade in “Descriptive Geometry and Drawing” from the fourth grade on that was otherwise never given. The highest grade, which was difficult to obtain, was “excellent”; he had received “distinguished.” He really understood much more about all these things than about literature and similar subjects.

But there were also many other sides to the school. For example, throughout a number of classes, the history teacher was a rather boring patron, and it was extremely difficult to listen to him; what he presented was the same as what was in the book, and it was easier to find out by reading it in the book afterwards. The boy had devised a remarkable system that was related to his inclinations at the time. He never had much money, but if he set aside the pennies he received here and there for weeks on end, he could eventually save up something. Now, just at that time, Reclam'sche Universal Library had been founded, and among the first works to appear were, for example, the works of Kant. The first thing the boy bought from the Universal Library was Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. He was between the ages of fourteen and fifteen at the time. His professor's history lectures bored him terribly. He didn't have much free time either, as there were many school assignments that had to be completed in the evenings and nights. The only time that could be usefully applied was the hour in which the history teacher lectured so boringly. Now the boy thought about how he could use this time. He was familiar with bookbinding. So he took the history book apart and glued the pages of Kant's “Critique of Pure Reason” neatly between the pages of the history book. And while the teacher was telling the class what was in the book, the boy was reading Kant's “Critique of Pure Reason” with great attention. And he was attentive because he managed to have thoroughly read Kant's “Critique of Pure Reason” by the age of fifteen, and then he was able to move on to working through the other works of Kant. It can truly be said, without boasting, that by the age of sixteen or seventeen the boy had managed to absorb Kant's works, insofar as they were available in the Reclam Universal Library; for in addition to studying during history lessons, there was also the study during the vacation period. He devoted himself eagerly to Kant, and it was indeed a new world that opened up to the boy from a physical point of view as he studied these Kant works.

The time at secondary school was now coming to an end. The boy had a very modern school curriculum behind him. Two things should be emphasized. In the higher classes there was also a very good chemistry teacher who did not speak much, who usually only said the most necessary things. But on a table several meters long, all kinds of apparatus were spread out, and everything was shown. The most complicated experiments were carried out and only the most necessary words were spoken. And when another interesting lesson like that was over, the students would ask: “Doctor” – he preferred to be addressed as “Doctor” rather than “Professor” – “will there be experiments or exams next time?” The answer was usually: “Experiments”, and everyone was happy again. Examinations usually only took place in the last two hours before the certificates were to be issued. But everyone had always paid attention and worked hard in their lessons, and so it came about – because he was also an excellent man – that the students were always able to do something. It may be noted that it was the brother of that now again in Austria known personality, the brother of the Austrian-Tyrolean poet Hermann von Gilm, an important lyricist. It may well be mentioned here as an exception the name of a no longer among us, since only good can be said of him.

The other thing that should be emphasized is that near that place was a castle where a man lived, Count Chambord, who was the pretender to a European throne but was never able to take that throne because of the political situation. He was a great benefactor to the local area, and much was learned of what came from this castle of the crown pretender. Of course, the boy never had the opportunity to meet the count himself; but he was the talk of the town throughout the region. Even though he was a person whose views were shared by few, the shadow of important political events spread throughout the town, which allowed people to learn about them.

Now other things came along. The boy's interest, which had been sparked by Kant, gradually went so far that he also developed an interest in other philosophical things, and he now procured psychological and logical works with his rather limited means. He felt a particular affinity for Lindner's books, which, as far as psychology was concerned, were very good teaching aids, and even before he left secondary school he had become quite familiar with Herbart's philosophy from the threads that were followed. This had caused him some difficulty, however, because his German teacher, who was an excellent man and did a great deal for the school system, did not like the fact that the boy Rudolf Steiner was reading material that tempted him to write such terribly long school essays, sometimes even filling an entire notebook. And after the school-leaving examination, when the students were together with the teachers before graduating, as was the custom, he said to the boy: “Yes, you were my strongest phraseur, I was always afraid when your notebook came.” Once, for example, after using the term “psychological freedom,” he had advised the boy: “You really seem to have a philosophy library at home; I would advise you not to spend much time on it.”

The boy was also particularly interested in a lecture by a professor from the small town about “pessimism.” It should also be mentioned that there were later years in which history was taught excellently at secondary school. And then there was the boy's really thorough immersion in the history of the Thirty Years' War, because he was able to get hold of Rotteck's “World History”, which made a great impression due to the warmth with which the first volumes of this world history are written.

Of what is significant, so to speak, it may be emphasized that the boy only attended religious education out of duty for the first four years. When he was exempt from religious education from the fourth school year onwards due to the school curriculum, he no longer attended. Due to his family's circumstances, he was never taken to confirmation either, so he has not been confirmed to this day. So you are not dealing with a confirmed person. Because in the circles in which the boy grew up, it was a matter of course that you didn't go along with anything like the clerical institutions. On the other hand, it had made a deep impression on him that he was asked a question in physics during his high school graduation exam that was so modern that it was probably asked for the first time in Austrian schools. He had to explain the telephone, which had only just become widespread at the time. There really was a connection with the very latest developments. He had to draw on the board how to make a phone call from one station to another.

Now, after school, a whole range of philosophical longings had been awakened in the boy. The school-leaving examination was over, and his father had himself transferred to a train station near Vienna so that the boy could now attend university. It was during the vacation period that followed the school-leaving examination that a deep longing for the solution of philosophical questions really arose. There was only one way to satisfy this. Over the years, a number of school books had been piled up, and these were now taken to the antiquarian bookseller, where a nice little sum was received for them. This was immediately exchanged for philosophical books. And now the boy read what he had not yet read by Kant, for example his treatise of 1763 on the “Attempt to Introduce the Concept of Negative Sizes into World Wisdom” or Kant's “Dreams of a Spirit Seer, Explained by Dreams of Metaphysics”, where reference is made to Swedenborg. But not only Kant, the whole of literature could be traced through individual representative books by Hegel, Schelling, Fichte and their students, for example Karl Leonhard Reinhold, by Darwin and so on. It came to Traugott Krug, a Kantian, who is no longer particularly esteemed today.

Now the boy was supposed to go to college. Of course, he could only go to a technical college, since he had no prior education for the studies associated with humanistic and ancient intellectual knowledge. He did indeed enrol at the Technical University in Vienna and in the early years he studied chemistry, physics, zoology, botany, biology, mineralogy, geology, mathematics, geometry and pure mechanics. He also attended lectures on German literary history by the lecturer in German literature at the Technical University, Karl Julius Schröer, who was closely connected with the boy's life.

Something very special happened in the first year of his university studies. Through a special chain of circumstances, a remarkable personality entered the boy's life, a personality who had no erudition but who had a comprehensive and profound knowledge and wisdom. Let us call this personality by his real first name, Felix, who lived with his farming family in a remote, lonely mountain village, had a room full of mystical-occult literature, had himself delved deeply into mystical-occult wisdom and who spent most of his time collecting plants. He collected the most diverse plants in the surrounding areas and, as a rare privilege for those who accompanied him on his solitary wanderings, was able to explain the essence of each individual plant and its occult origins. There were immense occult depths to this man. It was significant what could be discussed with him when he traveled to the capital with his bundle on his back, containing a large number of plants that he had collected and dried. There were very important conversations with this man, whom one calls in Austria a Dürrkräutler, one who collects and dries herbs and then carries them to the pharmacies. That was the man's external profession, but his inner one was quite different. It should not go unmentioned that he loved everything in the world and only became bitter – but that is only mentioned from a cultural-historical point of view – when he came to speak of clerical conditions and of what he too had to endure due to clerical conditions; he was not lovingly inclined towards that.

But something else soon followed. My Felix was, as it were, only the forerunner of another personality who used a means to stimulate in the soul of the boy, who was after all in the spiritual world, the regular, systematic things that one must be familiar with in the spiritual world. The personality who was now again as far removed as possible from all clericalism and naturally had nothing whatever to do with it, actually made use of the works of Fichte in order to connect certain considerations with them, from which things arose in which the germs of Occult Science, which the man who had become a youth later wrote, could be sought. And much of what later became “Occult Science” was then discussed in connection with Fichte's sentences. That excellent man was just as unsightly in his outward profession as Felix. He used a book as a point of reference, so to speak, which is little known in the outer world and which was often suppressed in Austria because of its anti-clerical orientation, but through which one can be inspired to follow very special spiritual paths and paths of the spirit. Those peculiar currents that flow through the occult world, which can only be recognized by considering an upward and a downward double current, came to life in the boy's soul at that time. It was at a time when the boy had not yet read the second part of Faust that he was initiated in this way into the occult. There is no need to say more about this point in the occult training of the present youth, for that is how the boy had grown up. For everything that presented itself to him remained in the soul of the youth; he experienced it within himself and continued on his outer path of life.

At first he was inspired by Karl Julius Schröer's lectures on literary history, on “German Literature since Goethe's First Appearance,” and by what Goethe had given, but especially by the “Theory of Colors” and the second part of “Faust,” which he studied as an 18- to 19-year-old youth. At the same time, he studied Herbartian philosophy, especially the “Metaphysics”. The young man, who had already been introduced to a great deal of philosophy, had experienced a strange disappointment, but for certain reasons he appreciated Herbartian philosophy. He had developed a joyful longing to meet one of the most important lecturers on Herbartian philosophy, namely Robert Zimmermann. This was indeed a disappointment, because one's estimation of Herbartian philosophy was greatly diminished when one heard Robert Zimmermann, who was otherwise brilliant but unbearable at the lectern.

On the other hand, there was a stimulus that was very beneficial for the mind, from a man who later also entered into the life of the personality under discussion here, the historian Ottokar Lorenz. The young man had little inclination to attend the lectures at the Technical University with pedantic regularity, although he took part in everything. In the meantime, he had also attended lectures at the university as an auditor by Robert Zimmermann on “Practical Philosophy” and also the lectures on “Psychology” by Franz Brentano, which at the time - but this was less due to the nature of the subject - did not make such a strong impression on the young man as his books did later, and which the man who had become the young man then got to know thoroughly. Ottokar Lorenz made a certain impression with his sense of freedom, because at that time – during the so-called “Austrian liberal era” – he gave very free-thinking lectures. And Ottokar Lorenz was the kind of character who could make an impression on very young people. He really spoke the harshest words in the college, set out as a historian with a lot of evidence about what was to be set out, and was a very honest person who, for example, after he had discussed some “difficult” circumstances, he was able to say: “I had to gloss over a bit; because, gentlemen, if I had said everything that could be said about it, the public prosecutor would be sitting here next time.”

It was the same Ottokar Lorenz, about whom the following anecdote is told – insofar as anecdotes are true: namely, truer than true. A colleague of his who was particularly interested in the ancillary sciences of history had a favorite student whom Lorenz had to examine when he came to do his doctorate. For example, the candidate was able to provide detailed information on the papal documents in which the dot over the i first appeared. And since he knew so much about everything, Ottokar Lorenz could not help but ask: “I would also like to ask the candidate something. Can you tell me when that Pope, in whose documents the dot over the i first appears, was born?” The candidate did not know that. Then he asked him further if he could tell him when that Pope died? He did not know that either. Then he asked what else he knew about this Pope? But the candidate couldn't answer that either. The teacher, whose favorite student the candidate was, said, “But Mr. Candidate, today you are as if a board had been nailed in front of your head!” Lorenz said, “Well, Mr. Colleague, he is your favorite student, who nailed the board in front of his head?” Such things did happen.

Lorenz was the favorite of the student body at the University of Vienna, and he was also rector at the University of Vienna for one year. It was now customary there for someone who had been rector to become pro-rector for the next year. After him, a very black radical was elected rector who was extremely unpopular. The students liked to play all kinds of cat music for him. Now Lorenz was the most vehement opponent of the cleric, who was a representative of canon law. That rector could no longer enter the university at all, because as soon as he prepared to do so, the noise started immediately. Then the vice rector had to come and restore order. As soon as Lorenz appeared, the students cheered for him. But Ottokar Lorenz stood there and said: “Your applause leaves me cold. If you – however differently we two may think – treat my colleagues as you do and cheer me, then I tell you that I, who am not worthy of scholarship to untie my opponent's shoe laces, care nothing for your applause and reject it!” - “Pereat! pereat!” it started, and that was the end of his popularity. Lorenz then went to Jena, and the speaker of this text met him several more times. He is no longer on the physical plane. He was an excellent personality. I can still vividly recall in every detail how he once gave a lecture on the relationship between the activities of Carl August and the rest of German politics. The next year, at the assembly of the Goethe Society, Ottokar Lorenz sat and we talked about this lecture that he had given, and out of his deep honesty came the words: “Yes, as far as that is concerned - when I spoke about Carl August's relationship to German politics, I made a terrible mistake!” So he was always ready to admit his wrongs.

In addition to a number of other personalities who made an impression on the young man at the time, an excellent man should be mentioned who, however, soon died, at whose lectures on the “History of Physics” the young man attended at the Vienna Technical University. It was Edmund Reitlinger, who also worked on the “Life of Kepler” and was able to present the development of physics through the ages in an excellent way.

Significant suggestions came in many respects from Karl Julius Schröer, who not only had an impact through his lectures, but also by setting up “exercises in oral presentation and written presentation”. There the students had to present, and there they learned the proper structure of a speech. In doing so, one could also catch up on some of the things one had not learned earlier in terms of sentence structure; in short, one was thoroughly instructed in oral presentation and written presentation. And I can vividly remember what the young man, who is being talked about here, presented at the time. The first lecture was on the significance of Lessing, especially on Laocoon; the second on Kant, and in particular on the problem of freedom. Then he gave a lecture on Herbart and especially on Herbart's ethics; the fourth lecture, which was given as a trial at the time, was on pessimism. At that time, a fellow student had initiated a discussion of Schopenhauer in this college through “oral lectures and written presentations,” and the young man in question said at the time in the debate: “I appreciate Schopenhauer enormously, but if what is the conclusion of Schopenhauer's view is correct, then I would rather be the wooden post on which my foot is now standing than a living being.” Such was the tenor of his soul; the young man wanted to defend himself against an ardent Schopenhauerian. That he would no longer fight him off now can probably be seen from the fact that he himself published an edition of Schopenhauer in which he tried to do justice to Schopenhauer's views.

Now at that time there was also a student association at the Vienna Technical University, and the young man in question was given the office of treasurer in this student association. But he only dealt with the cash at certain times; he was more concerned with the library. Firstly, because he was interested in philosophy, but also because he longed to become more familiar with intellectual life. This desire had become very strong, but he lacked the means to buy books, because there was little money. So it happened that after some time he became the self-evident librarian of that student association. And when books were needed, he wrote a so-called “pump letter” on behalf of the student association to the author of some work that they would like to have, informing him that the students would be extremely pleased if the author would send his book. And these “pump letters” were usually answered in an extraordinarily kind way by the books coming. In fact, the most important books written in the field of philosophy came into the student association in this way and were read – at least by the person who had written the fundraising letters. This enabled the person concerned not only to familiarize himself with Johannes Volkelt's “Theory of Knowledge” and the works of Richard Falckenberg, but also with the works of Helmholtz and with historical-systematic works. Many sent their books; even Kuno Fischer once donated a volume of his “History of Modern Philosophy.” In this way, the library came to include the complete works of Baron Hellenbach, who sent all his works at once after a collection letter was written to him. This provided ample opportunity to become familiar with philosophical, cultural studies, and literary-historical works. But one could also deepen one's view in other areas to a sufficient extent.

But then, through his personal and increasingly intimate contact with Karl Julius Schröer, who was not only a connoisseur but also a deeply significant commentator on Goethe, the young man began to take an interest in Goethe's ideas and especially in his ideas about the natural sciences. After the most diverse efforts had been made, Schröer succeeded in placing certain essays on the “Theory of Colors” written by the young man in a physics style.

He was then offered the opportunity to collaborate on the great Goethe edition, which was being prepared at the time by Joseph Kürschner as the Kürschner Edition of National Literature. When the first volume of Goethe's Scientific Writings, with Introductions by Rudolf Steiner, appeared, he felt the need to present the foundations of the sources of thought from which the whole view that had been presented here for an understanding of Goethe followed. Therefore, between the publication of the first and second volumes, he wrote The Theory of Knowledge of Goethe's World View.

From before, from the beginning of the 1980s, only a few essays are worth mentioning: one that was published under the title “Auf der Höhe”, one about Hermann Hettner, one about Lessing and one about “Parallels between Shakespeare and Goethe”. Basically, these are all the essays that were written at that time.

Soon Rudolf Steiner became involved in extensive writing by becoming a collaborator on Kürschner's German National Literature and having to take care of the publication of Goethe's scientific writings with the detailed introductions. It should also be emphasized that, just as the student association had been a kind of support for him earlier, the Vienna “Goethe Association” now became one, with Karl Julius Schröer as its second chairman. It was also a further incentive for Rudolf Steiner that Schröer invited him to give a lecture to such an assembly, as the members of the Vienna “Goethe Association” were, after the first Goethe volumes had appeared. And there Rudolf Steiner gave his lecture on “Goethe as the Father of a New Aesthetic”.

At that time, after he had left the School of Spiritual Science, the person whose life circumstances are to be presented here had become an educator. From the age of fourteen, he had to give private lessons, teach other boys, and continue this teaching later in order to make a living. While he was attending the School for Spiritual Science, he had quite a number of pupils. One could say that he was lucky to have quite a number of pupils whom he tutored or educated. This went hand in hand with his joining the Goethe Society.

Then he became a governess in a Viennese house. With regard to this house, it must be said again that something shone in here that radiated from the most modern circumstances. For the master of this house, whose boys were to be educated by Rudolf Steiner, was one of the most respected representatives of the cotton trade between Europe and America, which can lead one most deeply into modern commercial problems. He was a decidedly liberal man. And the two women, two sisters — two families lived together in this house, so to speak — were quite outstanding women who had the deepest understanding, on the one hand, for child education and, on the other hand, for the idealism that was expressed in Rudolf Steiner's “Introduction to Goethe's Scientific Writings” and in “The Theory of Knowledge”. Now it became possible to learn practical psychology, so to speak, by educating a number of boys. Practical psychology also arose from the fact that one was allowed to develop initiative in all matters concerning education, because one could encounter such a deep understanding, especially with the mother of these boys. What Rudolf Steiner undertook was an educational task that he had to carry out over many years. And he spent these years in such a way that, alongside his teaching work, he was also able to devote himself to working on his essay on the introduction to Goethe's scientific works.

Up to this time, Rudolf Steiner had completed a secondary modern school, had spent time at the Vienna University of Technology and was now living as a teacher of boys who had themselves attended secondary modern school, only one of whom had attended grammar school. Because one of them attended grammar school, Rudolf Steiner was now obliged to catch up on grammar school. So it was out of this necessity that, after he had reached the age of twenty, twenty-one, he was able to catch up on the grammar school with the boys, and only that enabled him to gain his doctorate later.

So things turned out in such a way that before the age of twenty Rudolf Steiner had nothing to do with anything other than a secondary modern school, which in Austria never prepares students for the clergy but actually discourages them from entering the ministry. Then he went through a technical college, which also does not qualify for the spiritual profession, because chemistry, physics, zoology, botany, mechanics, what relates to mechanical engineering, geology and so on, was also done, as well as newer geometry, such as the “geometry of the situation”. During my time at university, I also immersed myself in a wide range of philosophical works, and then, as I became more intimate with Schröer, I approached the Goethe editions. And then came what one might call my “professional” life: teaching, which – because I had to develop a psychological eye for the difficult circumstances of the boys, given their abnormalities – could be called “practical psychology”. So this time really did not pass, as other people want to know, at the Jesuit College in Kalksburg – now another place is being mentioned again – but the time passed in the educational work in a Viennese Jewish house, where the person in question certainly had not the slightest instruction to develop a Jesuit activity. For the understanding that the two women developed from the idealism of the time or from the educational maxims for children was not at all suited to come close to Jesuitism.

But there was something that, so to speak, looked in from the world of Jesuitism like a shadow. And that came about like this. Schröer made the acquaintance of the Austrian poet Marie Eugenie delle Grazie, who lived in the house of a Catholic priest, Laurenz Müllner, who later went on to the Faculty of Philosophy. And one need only read the writings of Marie Eugenie delle Grazie to see immediately that Müllner had no intention of bringing her under Jesuit influence. But one also came together with all kinds of university professors. Among them was one who was a scholar in Semitology, the Semitic languages, and who was a profound expert on the Old Testament. He was a very learned gentleman, of whom it was said that he knew “the whole world and three villages about it”. But the conversations I had with him that were significant to me were those that related to Christianity. What this scholar said about Christianity at the time related to the question of the “Conceptio immaculata”, the immaculate conception. I tried to prove to him that there is a complete inconsistency in this dogma, which is not only about the immaculate conception of Mary, but also about that of Mary's mother, Saint Anne; since you would then have to go further and further back. But he was one of those theologians for whom the term “theologian” was not at all onerous, a thoroughly liberal theologian, and he added: “We can't do that now; because then we would gradually arrive at Davidl, and that would be a bad thing.”

In this tone, the conversations in general took place in Professor Müllner's house at the “Jour” of delle Grazie. Müllner was a sarcastic spirit, and the professors were also liberal-minded men. What shone through from the other side actually came only from a man who had something of a Jesuit spirit, who later met a tragic end. He drowned in a shipwreck in the Adriatic. This man was a church historian at the University of Vienna. He spoke little, but what he said was not suitable for favorably representing the other element. Because there was a rumor about him that he no longer went out on the streets at night for fear of the Freemasons. So he could not arouse particular interest in Jesuitism, firstly because he was not a good church historian, and secondly because of such talk. He always disappeared before dusk.

At that time, there was also an opportunity to gain a more thorough insight into Austrian political conditions, and this came about through my being able to edit the “Deutsche Wochenschrift” founded by Heinrich Friedjung. This represented a decidedly liberal point of view with regard to Austrian conditions, which anyone can study by familiarizing themselves with what Friedjung had available. This period also brought Rudolf Steiner into contact with the other political conditions and personalities. Although this editorial work was very brief, it took place at a very important time: after the Battenberger was expelled from Bulgaria and the new Prince of Bulgaria had taken office. This provided the signature for how to get an accurate picture of the cultural-political conditions.

Now a work appeared at that time that is quite significant, even if some may consider it one-sided, namely “Homunculus” by Robert Hamerling. “Homunculus” was particularly significant for the person whose life circumstances are to be described here because Rudolf Steiner had already become acquainted with Hamerling earlier. Although Rudolf Steiner was born in Kraljevec, his family came from Lower Austria, from the so-called “Bandlkramerlandl”, where people can be seen carrying ribbons made there on their backs. That is where the family came from. And as it is, families in such occupational circumstances are scattered everywhere, and the boy never returned to Lower Austria. But in a certain respect he was, after all, from the same “Bandlkramerlandl” (a region in Lower Austria) where Hamerling also came from.

Hamerling was not given much credit. But in his case one could say that he enjoyed, if not a Jesuit, then at least a monastic education. But that is not the case with the person standing here before you. Robert Hamerling was not recognized either, because when he visited his homeland again later and said to the innkeeper there that he was Hamerling, the innkeeper replied: “Well, you... you Hamerling, you mushroom...”

It was taken as an occasion to send Hamerling the 'Epistemology of Goethe's World View'. How Hamerling received it can be seen from the 'Atomism of the Will', where it is used in a most important chapter - the chapter on the nature of mathematical judgments - in a way that seems to me today to be completely original. There was a correspondence, albeit not for very long, with Robert Hamerling, which was important for Rudolf Steiner in a certain respect, because, according to a letter he had written to Hamerling, this fine stylist told him that he wrote an extraordinarily sympathetic, beautiful style and that he had a certain talent for powerfully expressing what he wanted to express. This was extremely important for Rudolf Steiner, because in those years he did not yet have much confidence in himself, but now, with regard to the question of style in presentation, he had more confidence in himself than before thanks to Robert Hamerling. It is necessary to mention that up to the age of thirteen or fourteen the boy could write very little correctly, grammatically and orthographically, and that only the content of his essays helped him to overcome his grammatical and spelling mistakes.

When the Goethe edition was nearing completion and Rudolf Steiner had caught up on humanistic-ancient culture in teaching with his boys, the time came when he could do his doctorate. He had also been able to gain a truly artistic and architectural perspective due to the fact that the great architects of the time were living in Vienna, and he had formed relationships with them through his work at the Vienna University of Applied Arts, where he became personally acquainted with them. It should be mentioned that the Votivkirche, the Rathaus, the Parliament building and others were being built in Vienna at the time. This allowed one to stimulate many connections with art. At that time there were also - and this may also be mentioned - fierce debates with the enraged Wagner fans, because the one who is being talked about here could and only had to struggle through to recognize Richard Wagner, to an acknowledgment that is of course known from other representations.

The acquaintance with a spiritual current, which, although it had begun earlier, was only just emerging in Europe at that time, also continues to play a role in that period. It is the acquaintance with what H. P. Blavatsky spread as the theosophical direction. And the person under discussion here can point out that he was indeed one of the first buyers of A. P. Sinnett's “Esoteric Buddhism” and Mabel Collins' “Light on the Path”. He brought this book, which had just been published, to the bedside of a well-known lady who was very seriously ill at the time, and gave her a great deal of guidance to help her understand the book from her point of view. He also brought it to a man who needed to be prepared by him for the Austrian officer's examination in integral calculus and mathematics. He lived in the family home where the very seriously ill lady was.

At that time, the Viennese representatives of the Theosophical movement also approached me. The person in question developed a very friendly and intimate relationship with everyone who was associated with the recently deceased Franz Hartmann during this time, as well as with other Theosophists. That was in the years 1884 to 1885, when the Theosophical movement was just beginning to become known. At that time it was not possible for the person under discussion here to join this movement, although he knew it very well, because the whole behavior and the whole behavior of the people, the so-called inauthentic - that should used here only as a technical term - was not compatible with what had finally developed in the case of the person described here: a scientific exactitude, accuracy and authenticity anchored in the life of the senses. This is not meant as self-praise, but rather I ascribe it more to what has emerged as a result of the erudition of our time. Whatever else one may object to about this erudition, it cannot be objected that the greatest, sharpest logic could not arise from it.

So it happened that the person in question personally met valuable people within the theosophical circle, such as Rosa Mayreder, who later turned away from the theosophical direction altogether. He also became familiar with the whole movement in an outwardly historical sense, but he could have nothing to do with it and it was only later, when he was led to delve into Goethe's Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, that he was able to apply in a practical way, so to speak, what he had to say in a theosophical sense. In commenting on this fairy tale, he first applied in practice what had always lived in his soul since the first occult manifestation mentioned. That was in 1888, after he had thoroughly become acquainted with the Theosophical movement, but had not been able to join it externally, although he had met valuable people there.

One particularly strong impression should also be mentioned, an impression at an art exhibition in Vienna, where the works of Böcklin were seen for the first time in 1888 by the man whose life is described here, namely “Pietà”, “In the Play of the Waves”, “Spring Mood” and “Source Nymph”. These were works that gave him an opportunity to engage with ideas about painting in a lasting way, because he naturally wanted to get to the bottom of the matter – in a similar way to Richard Wagner, where the starting point was the debates mentioned – and then to become particularly involved in this area of art, which later found its continuation in Weimar.

Once the person to be described was ready, it was decided that the editorial work for the great Weimar Goethe Edition would be distributed among individual scholars. For those who were then commissioned by Grand Duchess Sophie of Weimar to distribute the individual works, the idea arose to initially assign only Goethe's “Theory of Colors” to him. But later, when Rudolf Steiner came to Weimar to work on the 'Theory of Colors', he was also given the task of working on Goethe's scientific works, particularly because he came into a warm and intimate relationship with Bernhard Suphan, who met such a tragic end. Thus began that Weimar period, during which a scientific and philological activity was developed by the person to be portrayed. The person concerned has never been particularly proud of the actual philological work, however. He could point out many mistakes in this regard and does not want to gloss over some of the blunders he has made.

After Rudolf Steiner had moved into the old Goethe-Schiller Archive – it was still housed in the castle – he had other important experiences. Domestic and foreign scholars came again and again, even from America, so that this Goethe-Schiller Archive became a meeting point for the most diverse scholarship. Furthermore, it was possible to see the emergence of a wonderfully ideal institution; for it was the time when the new Goethe-Schiller Archive was being built on the other side of the Ilm. At the same time, there was a unique opportunity to immerse oneself in old memories that were still linked to the Goethe-Schiller period. And it was also an opportunity to grow together with the most diverse artistic interests, because Weimar really was the meeting point for many artistic interests – Richard Strauss also started there.

After the “Fairytale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily” was interpreted by Rudolf Steiner, intensive work on Goethe came to the fore. But in addition to deepening his knowledge of Goethe, he was also working on the “Philosophy of Freedom” at the time; he had already brought the treatise on “Truth and Science” with him to Weimar. He still went to Vienna a few times, once to give a lecture at the Goetheanum on the 'Fairytale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily'; a second time to give a lecture at a scientific club on the relationship of monism to a more spiritual, more real direction. That was in 1893. The paper can be read in the 'Monatsblättern des Wissenschaftlichen Clubs in Wien'. In this lecture, Rudolf Steiner discussed in detail the relationship between philosophy and science. The lecture then ended with a clear description of his relationship with Ernst Haeckel and highlighted everything Steiner had to say about Haeckel in the negative.

It is now well into the night, so it is not possible to speak about the following in as much detail as the previous. It is not necessary either. But you could, if you were to research much more about what happened up to the Weimar period and explore the circumstances - apart from the fact that things speak for themselves enough - find the clearest evidence everywhere of what is a great perversion of the truth, if that strange accusation has been raised, which has now been repeated by the president of the Theosophical Society on a special occasion, that I was “educated by the Jesuits”. I have just been handed a copy of the magazine Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, which, as is well known, is published by Jesuits. It contains a discussion of a book about Theosophy, which includes a remarkable sentence. A book has been published that is opposed to Theosophy and written by a Jesuit priest. At the end of the review, it says: “The first part deals with the movement in general, its esotericism and false mysticism. The second part goes into detail, refuting the theosophical musings on Christ. [...] The works to which the critic usually refers are by Rudolf Steiner, the (reportedly) apostate priest and current General Secretary of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, “Christianity as Mystical Fact” and Miss Besant, the President of the Theosophical Society (Headquarters Adyar), “Esoteric Christianity; both books have already been translated into Italian.”

That Rudolf Steiner was an “apostate priest” is even stated in the Jesuit magazine itself, in the “Stimmen aus Maria-Laach”, so that the Jesuits can claim the honor of spreading this claim for themselves. But just as age does not protect against folly, so Jesuitism does not protect anyone from unjustly claiming an objective untruth. And if such a distortion of the facts is even spread by the Jesuits themselves, then one could be of the opinion that this should be all the more reason for Mrs. Besant to be suspicious of it. But Mrs. Besant goes on to explain these things, and they are carried further. I even had to confront these things myself from the podium once when I was in Graz. It is also claimed that I received a Jesuit education in Kalksburg, near Vienna. I never saw Kalksburg Abbey, even though my relatives were only three or four hours away from it. And the other place – Bojkowitz – which is mentioned in the same context, I only learned about by name in the last few days.

All these details, which I consider a kind of imposition to tell you, will probably explain to you how right one is to regret the time wasted in rejecting such foolish accusations. Therefore, no fuss was made about the accusation. But when this accusation is now raised by the President of the Theosophical Society, there is a need to counter that claim with the actual course of my upbringing, to describe how it really happened, namely as a kind of self-education. Everything I have told you about the boy, the youth and the later man Rudolf Steiner can be documented, and the facts will prove in every detail the utter foolishness and nonsense of the assertions that have been made. We need not dwell on their moral evaluation. What has been said and what can be said later are facts that can be verified at any time and can be relied upon. But the question can be raised: by what right and from what sources does Mrs. Besant speak of what she says about my “upbringing”, of which I “was not able to free myself sufficiently”? And by what right and from what sources will her followers perhaps - since they do not care about the objections made here - continue to assert these things? Perhaps some people will even come up with the idea that Mrs. Besant is clairvoyant and has therefore perhaps seen everything that she summarizes in the grandiose words: “He has not been able to free himself sufficiently from his youth education.” It would be better to correct what comes from Mrs. Besant's clairvoyance and to test this clairvoyance precisely on such a factor. There is no other way to counter this “clairvoyance” than to cite the facts. And I had to bore those who want to stand by us at the starting point of our anthroposophical movement with the fact that I presented them with the alternative: either to look at the facts, which can all be proven in detail and which , or to accept the uncharacterizable remarks made by Mrs. Besant at the last Adyar meeting of the Theosophical Society, which were probably inspired by her clairvoyance after the votes of her followers.

Address by Rudolf Steiner before and after the cycle “What significance does the occult development of the human being have for his sheaths and his self?” (GA 145)

My dear Theosophical friends!

We are gathered here for the first time for a cycle after those of our friends who were able to recognize the current state of our Theosophical endeavors joined with the members of the former German Section of the Theosophical Society who – there is no other way to put it – were expelled from our Theosophical Society. It is necessary, my dear friends, at this moment, when I have the honor of welcoming you to this particularly solemn cycle, to add a few words to this warm, theosophically sincere greeting. This is necessary because our friends may often have the opportunity in the near future to speak a word here or there about the true facts of the events that have taken place recently among us and our friends.

We have been able to see from a variety of letters and statements that here and there it has not been felt as natural that we had to choose the mode for our events, for our internal events, not to admit members of the Theosophical Society, insofar as it is administered from Adyar, to these our internal events. It has been shown that this necessary measure has not been perceived as such everywhere, and that in some places it has been thought that we would have done better not to take this measure so strictly in order to maintain peace or the like. Nevertheless, my dear friends, when you really consider everything that has happened, you will be able to, and indeed must, defend to everyone that this measure had to be taken at the appropriate moment. You must only consider that the German Section did not, as one could formally interpret it, leave the Theosophical Society, but in reality was nevertheless expelled, expelled again for a reason that can be formally defined in the very special way that one could even dare to say that the German Section had violated some statutes of the Theosophical Society! For one will say: This German Section has expelled the members of the Star of the East, thus expellers of a particular opinion, from their body. It must be borne in mind that everything had previously been done from the other side, that the German Section could not help but no longer admit to the events of the German Section, not only the members of the Star of the East, but also the personalities who came into consideration within Germany as members of the Star of the East. For the moment the 'Star of the East' made its entry into Germany, it set itself with the declared intention of being hostile to the German Section; in particular, it endeavored to express the system which, among other things, was also expressed in such a - one might say - hidden, peculiar way in the last March 'Theosophist'. The personalities who had adopted the flag of the Star of the East tried to present our work to the world as if it had ever been our intention to exclude any spiritual opinion or point of view from our endeavors.

Thus, a full-scale attack, based solely on objective untruth, was launched against the German Section. And all the measures that were of a milder nature had remained ineffective against this subversive work, which repeatedly and increasingly came to the point of vilifying the entire character of our efforts before the whole world, so that we were forced, for the sake of the possibility of our work, to declare that we could not work with those personalities in Germany who had joined the “Star of the East”. Similar attacks were indeed made by personalities of the “Star of the East” from abroad. The measure that was then taken against the “Star of the East” was nothing more than a defensive measure, and anyone who presents it differently is not telling the truth about it. A necessary defensive measure, provoked by the fact that our work would not only have been disrupted but simply made impossible if we had not resorted to this measure. Our work can truly be characterized by pointing out that there were indeed lodges among us that worked quite differently than we did, but that not a hair on their heads was touched. We “chartered” all the lodges that took a completely different position from the one we ourselves held. But when, with the subversive activities of the Star of the East in mind, lodges were to be founded that were already attacking in their title, not only our work but also the truthfulness and honesty of our Theosophical beliefs, then the defensive measure was necessary for the reason that we would have become untrue people if we had somehow created such lodges.

Thus we were forced to either become untrue deep inside or take this defensive measure against the members of the Star of the East. The tactic can always be presented in a strange light if one first wants to force someone to act and then describes this action as unlawful. It may be said that it has actually happened in few measures in the world that one has behaved in such a way; but that was reserved for the present Theosophical Society to such a high degree.

If you also read the letter that Mrs. Besant wrote to the General Secretary of the Section at that time regarding the impending expulsion of the German Section, you will see this letter as nothing other than a real expulsion. You will have to say to yourself: If the German Section had not seen it that way, then it would have been on false ground.

But then you have to bear in mind that this was preceded by a circular letter from me to the General Secretaries, in which the actual state of affairs was explained in detail. This circular letter contained real documents for the assessment of the situation. It was a distressing experience that apart from the General Secretary of the Scandinavian Section, who has since resigned, there was not a single person in the body of General Secretaries and the General Council who was willing to respond to what I had put forward. Everything that came from the General Secretary was worded in such a way that it was assumed from the outset that all the representations from Adyar were the only authoritative ones that could serve as a basis for assessing the facts. It is a sad fact that resulted from my circular letter at the time. One could say that one might be overcome by a justified sense of pain at the fate of the Theosophical Society when one sees the general deafness of an entire body to the facts that have been openly stated.

And the crowning touch to the whole system was provided by a speech delivered by Mrs. Besant at the representative assembly at Adyar during this convention, in which she showed how completely she lacks any ability to gain a relationship with that necessary sense of duty that one must have to first examine the facts and then make an assertion. Mrs. Besant has, as is well known, made the assertion that my education was conducted by Jesuits. One cannot say anything that would more absurdly and foolishly belie the truth than this claim, which was hurled into the assembly by the leadership of the Theosophical Society at the same time when we had our lecture cycle in Cologne, in the presence of numerous friends, including some from this country, in which we were once again able to affirm how we were trying to stand firmly and truly on the good ground of the old Theosophical Society. My dear Theosophical friends, you should feel the full anomaly of such a fact. Not only that this had happened, but Mrs. Besant had the audacity, the unenviable audacity, to carp an answer to the facts I had presented in the booklet of “Mitteilungen,” where I was first forced to describe the facts, at the end of which she placed the words, these are her last words in this matter.

My dear Theosophical friends, based on our experiences so far, it is possible that there are still people in the Theosophical Society who could add something to this answer. In this answer, one could look for a word that would correspond to objective truth: one would find nothing, because in this answer, almost everything is turned upside down, and in such a way that with an enormous verbiage, this turning of things upside down has been carried out. It is truly wonderful that someone can be found who is capable of turning things upside down in such a way; each sentence includes something that is the opposite of what has taken place.

I did not refer to this document at all at the Berlin General Assembly or the meeting of the Anthroposophical Society, so as not to take up even more of the already heavily taken up time. And I do not want to go into this document today either, which everyone only needs to read to see the spirit in which it was written. I would like to go into just one point, because it cannot be immediately seen from the document itself. At the end there is a sentence that goes something like this: Dr. Steiner says that the pamphlet by Dr. Vollrath – he is referring to the printed pamphlet that was so unpleasantly discussed at the previous general assembly – contains nothing more than certain remarks that Mrs. Besant addressed to me regarding his expulsion. Anyone who can read can see. Here she says that this document from Dr. Vollrath's appeal... was present... indeed she says more, she says: “If that pamphlet contains nothing more than the document that Dr. Vollrath addressed to me, then it must be very harmless.” But the fact that she claims that the pamphlet must be harmless, that the repeated accusations contained in Dr. Vollrath's appeal to Mrs. Besant at the time, because she says that they were harmless. Well, these accusations included, for example, the point that Dr. Vollrath should have turned against me because I greedily enjoyed a large salary and because my exercises were so strongly black magic in nature that numerous people had become ill, some had even died... and that all those exercises were intended only to acquire magical powers and not knowledge and the like. Dr. Vollrath claims that he is willing to prove all these things if Mrs. Besant demands it. That was the document that Vollrath sent to Adyar. ... This letter

was produced by Mrs. Besant, and the above was an integral part of it. Mrs. Besant says about it: “If Dr. Steiner claims that this pamphlet contains only repetitions of that appeal of his, then this pamphlet must be very harmless.” So Mrs. Besant makes the world believe that the accusations that Dr. Steiner had wanted to enrich himself while refusing any salary, and that he had given exercises that were of a black magical nature, that made people ill and even killed them, these accusations, which were indeed made at the time, were called harmless by Mrs. Besant, in order to present the case to the world in her own way. Such are the things that Mrs. Besant has recently been dishing up to her followers in the February issue of “The Theosophist.”

I don't want to add anything else to these things for the moment; after all, the more you add, the less tolerable things become – I just want to ask whether our feelings in Berlin when our friends decided to work towards finally drawing a line under it were justified, whether we can assume, take for granted, that our friends would feel: It is impossible for me to speak to those who continue to call themselves confessors of Misses Besant. It would be a violation of all occult principles to speak to those people who have thrown one out – the expression may be used – who have presented one in such a way as Misses Besant has liked.

I am so reluctant to go into things like the March Theosophist that I don't want to do it. Because what is dipped in sugar-sweet sauce is the most hidden attack that can be imagined.

In principle – as you have seen from the statutes of the Anthroposophical Society – we take the view that anyone can join us. But those who are unable to see the truth of the matter we are dealing with declare in principle, even if [they want to join us], that they actually wanted to leave our organization. And the way the general secretaries have behaved proves that it would be untruthful of us to have taken other measures now than to have drawn a line between what we want and what is being done within this Theosophical Society, not according to the principles, but contrary to all the principles, of the old Theosophical Society.

But I may also say the other side of the matter, my dear Theosophical friends, to the whole affair. And actually it was only necessary so that our friends are not, so to speak, embarrassed when this or that is spoken in the future; it was only necessary to say the words that have just been spoken, as it were, as a background to what I have to say to you further as a kind of greeting. Actually, my dear Theosophical friends, I must admit that I myself, if I may speak to you for a moment – and the friendship you have shown me entitles me to do so to some extent – I myself feel that, in addition to everything that has been bitter and painful, I also feel it as a great liberation, as a liberation from a narrowness that has weighed heavily on me for years in the life of the Theosophical Society since that Congress of European Sections in Munich, where an attempt was made to bring a new note, then still timidly emerging, into the Theosophical Society, not on the basis of some national and one-sided opinion, but on a really broad basis of the present day. There one could hear the judgment: What you have done is not Theosophy, it is something quite different.

A society based on occultism, even if individuals may free themselves from its limits and boundaries to a certain extent, still has forces that work psychically or spiritually, and it was simply not possible within the framework of the Theosophical Society to bring to bear in all its breadth and adaptability for our present cycle of humanity that which is justifiably called occultism. And I hope that if we are granted the opportunity to continue the Anthroposophical Society, our friends will be convinced that our liberation from the Theosophical Society will not lead to a narrowing, but rather to an expansion of our occult endeavors. Much of what was impossible to achieve within the Theosophical Society because of its prejudices, because it was opposed to narrowly defined traditions, can be achieved in the Anthroposophical Society, and those who want to see will see that the breadth of perspective that we need in our present time is to be tried out now, so that what flows down from the spiritual worlds in our time, in the way of spiritual wisdom and spiritual will impulses, can benefit a part of humanity that has an understanding for it. That is why this first cycle, which is being held here before you, my dear Theosophical friends, and which is the first cycle of the established Anthroposophical Society, seems to me to be particularly worthy of celebration.

Address by Rudolf Steiner after the cycle “What significance does the occult development of the human being have for his sheaths and his self?” (GA 145)

As I mentioned at the beginning of this lecture cycle, this lecture cycle itself was a solemn, serious event for me in a certain way; a solemn, serious event because we have, so to speak, the first lecture cycle within the circle of our Theosophical friends after - let's call it today from the one aspect from which we can also look at it - after our liberation from that which, in a certain way, fettered us after all, fetters that we, if we really want to progress with the demands of the spiritual development of humanity, should have found increasingly unbearable and unbearable.

I think it was quite palpable at some points in this lecture cycle that certain inhibiting spiritual forces have now been cast off, and that many things – I don't know if it was felt much – that many things could be brought before the ears of our revered friends in a less inhibited way from the secrets of higher existence, more than was the case in earlier times, when we still carried around the sorrow - which in some respects was a sorrow for us - that thought forms were introduced into our society that came from sources that gave these thought forms, even if they had only spread to people through books, a certain inhibiting influence.

Because when we are dealing with spiritual matters, we are dealing with real forces. We are dealing with a liberation, with the fact that thoughts that used to inhibit us are now – I don't want to say how – withdrawing from our ranks, really withdrawing; thoughts that previously – I don't want to say how – worked within our work. Perhaps in the not too distant future the world will be able to see for itself what these thought forms and various elemental forces are that used to mingle with our ranks from some quarters, but in more recent times have poured into our work only in the form of a distortion veiled in the well-known objective untruths.

We will increasingly feel that what has happened is a liberation; but many things will have to be understood, my dear friends. We have noticed in particular in Germany that a certain movement with pretensions has emerged, the truthful description of which would be nothing short of an outrage; because the way, for example, our opponents in Germany have , which led to the necessary defense, showed everywhere, in every point, the opposite of what must be striven for by a real occult movement, showed everywhere a desire for tyranny poured into objective untruths. A true occultist can only come to want to have nothing to do with those whom he knows cannot belong to him; that is, not to want them in his ranks. That is the only principle that can prevail in an occult movement: positive work and the right not to want to take care of others who work on a different ground. That was the only thing that was claimed within our ranks. And the one who examines will be able to find this ancient, sacred criterion of real understanding of the occult realized precisely in our ranks.

Mocking real occultism was the demand that, for example, the German section had to accept anyone who, in their own opinion, but not in the opinion of this section, had to belong to it. What our opponents demanded of us in the past, and why they hurled every kind of untruth at us, was the same as the demand that people should not walk on their legs but on their heads; only in our time things are not pursued to their ultimate consequences.

It has come to the point that in the last “Mitteilungen” it had to be said that one of the representatives of the “Besant system” in Germany went so far as to say that he did not understand how that strange boy could have gone through the kind of development he was supposed to have gone through. Because, says the gentleman, Annie Besant parades with him as the coming Christ; the expression 'parades' was used; but anyone who has read the so-and-so many incarnations of that strange boy will already know that Annie Besant does not mean the Christ of the Gospels by this; she only says - says that gentleman - to European humanity that he who she does not consider the Christ is the Christ. Well, I believe that if it is possible for someone to write such things, it is proof enough for a cause that should not be further characterized.

So it can mean a relief, which is what happened. You may also have felt this way about this cycle, which was in a sense a solemn and serious one for me because it was the first in our new work, in our new creative endeavor; and indeed there could be nothing else but a feeling of gratitude for this work, which has offered us the opportunity to accept with a certain equanimity all that has come our way in such a repulsive and intrusive and often so brazen manner.

So let this series of lectures, my dear friends, who have taken part in it, be felt in your hearts as a kind of inauguration of a new period of our work. That is how I greeted you at the beginning of this cycle; and I think that in a way we were in agreement; and if we, my dear friends, have not seen some people sitting here who might have been here if events had not taken the turn they did, then another thing, if we feel it right, may lift us above all that: This lecture cycle has shown us, right before our eyes and close to our hearts, that the personality who is so

has become so dear to us and will remain so dear: our dear, highly esteemed Edouard Schuré, who has done so much for modern esotericism in the West in the form of an immensely valuable literature. That this personality has graced us with his presence at this lecture cycle of the Anthroposophical Society is a gift that we cannot value highly enough.

I just wanted to give color and nuance to the words of greeting that I am addressing to you at the end of this lecture cycle, to the effect that we feel united in our souls, in our hearts, in the old theosophical sense that we mean, even where we and that we will feel, feel like a spatial, a physical togetherness, as with such a cycle, as the starting point of a belonging together of souls, of hearts for the spiritually lasting, for that which may work on the spiritual development of humanity.

Address by Rudolf Steiner on the eve of the first Anthroposophical College Course at the Goetheanum.

My dear friends!

With the start of the School of Spiritual Science here in Dornach tomorrow, we are undoubtedly standing at a very important stage in our movement in anthroposophically oriented spiritual science. And even if it is only very briefly, I would like to be allowed to say a few words today about the development of this spiritual science, after I already did so to a certain extent here some time ago, a few months ago, due to [opposing] attacks. Nevertheless, today I would like to draw your attention to a few things in this regard.

We will open this course for spiritual scientific knowledge in the Goetheanum itself, in the construction of the Goetheanum, in a building that is still unfinished but has progressed so far that work will be able to begin in it in the next few weeks. And when I now consider the name 'Goetheanum', which was given to this building in the way you know, I cannot help thinking of one of the starting points of this movement. As I have often indicated, and also printed in a few sentences in the introduction to my book Mysticism in the Dawn of Modern Spiritual Life, our movement originates from the lectures I gave in Berlin at the beginning of the century to a small circle. This inner circle in Berlin consisted partly of people who at that time called themselves Theosophists; but it also included such personalities who were quite distant from what the others called Theosophy. This circle met once a week in the house of Countess Brockdorff in Berlin, and there lectures were given from the most diverse areas of intellectual and public life; some artistic activities were also cultivated. Once I was invited to give a lecture in this circle. And I accepted, although I had never been in this circle before and did not know whether I had met one or other of the personalities in this circle; in any case, I did not know the lady of the house or the master of the house. But there are moments in life when one is polite. So after I had agreed through an intermediary to give the requested lecture on Nietzsche - it was, after all, quite some time after the writing of my essay “Nietzsche, a Fighter Against His Time” - it occurred to me: You have to be polite, you are now going to the housewife and the head of the household. So I first wrote a letter to Countess Brockdorff, asking her for permission to pay a courtesy call before giving the lecture at the house. Countess Brockdorff wrote back to me that it was not necessary, I should just come to the lecture – I no longer remember on which day it was, just the next lecture [evening]. And so I came into this circle and gave a lecture on Nietzsche. At the end of this lecture, I was invited to give another lecture during the winter season. And I immediately said: Yes, I would give a lecture on the same topic that I had written about in the “Magazin für Literatur”, which I was editing at the time, for Goethe's hundred and fiftieth birthday.

I had written on the occasion of Goethe's hundred and fifth birthday: “Goethe's Secret Revelation”. I said that I wanted to speak about this topic, “Goethe's Secret Revelation”, at the lecture evening to which I had been invited. The lecture took place. And I tried to present everything that can be connected to Goethe's “Fairytale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily” in this lecture at the time.

That was actually, I would say, the original cell of this movement, my dear friends. The original cell was that lecture on Goethe's secret revelation. I have to mention this when we begin an important stage in our movement here at the Goetheanum tomorrow. Actually, it is very nice that this movement is returning to its beginning – at least for me and what I have to do in the movement.

It began with Goethe, and tomorrow we begin something extraordinarily important in the building that was given its name by Goethe. So you see, there is something of consistency and continuity in the whole course of our movement.

The lecture I gave [at that time] on Goethe's secret revelation then led to me having to present the essentials of what is now contained in my essay 'Mysticism in the Dawn of Modern Spiritual Life' in connection with modern natural science in that circle during the following winter. Thus, having arisen from Goethe, it was then continued in that writing. I then presented to a wider circle what is contained in my book “Christianity as Mystical Fact”.

What is contained in my book “Mysticism” has already led to a large part of this “mysticism” being translated into English. And that led to me being invited to give lectures on what, in its various forms, was the “Theosophical Society”.

Now I will never allow anyone to take away the right to give lectures, to give what I have to advocate in order to advocate it, where I am invited to do so. Therefore, I also gave lectures for those who called themselves Theosophists, among other lectures, but which, as I told everyone from the outset who wanted to or should hear it, did not contain anything that had not arisen from my own research.

I then took part in various Theosophical congresses. In the meantime, this movement, which had come into being in this way, had gained members within Central Europe, members who stuck together mainly because of the world view that I had already advocated at the time. When I gave the lecture on Goethe's Secret Revelation, it didn't mean much that what was advocated there was advocated at the invitation of the Theosophical Society.

At one of the congresses in London, I also saw Olcott, the president of the Theosophical Society. He said to me at the time, “Yes, with this German Section, it's an awkward business.” I said: Why? – Yes, the membership lists are so difficult for us. – I said: I am not interested in the membership lists, I am more interested in the members; and if the members are there, I don't really care if they are on the list. – Well, similar comments were made more often.

After going through various stages [a congress was held in Munich – it was 1907 –] with the other Theosophists. And at that time, people were very surprised that this movement had sprung up so quickly within Central Europe, as it was put. For there was a dictum that had been passed from one to the other among members of the Theosophical Society, especially in the circles of those who were “advanced” - that's what they called those who directed something here or there; and this dictum, which was constantly being uttered among these people, was: Germany is not ripe for this.

Now, this dictum was somewhat suppressed in Munich at the time. But actually, this dictum did not seem entirely unjustified to me; because we were not ripe for what the Theosophical [Society] held in its bosom, nor are we today, and I don't think we care about it at all.

What this “immaturity” led to was that we did not mature to recognize this Hindu boy, Alcyone – or something like that was his name – who had been chosen to carry the soul of Christ Jesus, when others who had been chosen as suitable candidates for the incarnation of the soul of Christ Jesus had proved unsuitable. We proved ourselves to be completely immature. And so we were thrown out.

And so, more and more developed outwards into the clarity that is the Anthroposophical Movement. But it simply developed outwards only what was originally, very originally there.

You see, I had just been invited to lecture at the Theosophical Society, and I had just founded a German Section in Berlin in 1902; but during the founding, founding negotiations, founding meeting, I had to leave because I had to give a lecture in another venue that was part of a cycle called “Anthroposophical Reflections on World History”. And so you see that while the Theosophical Society was founding its German Section, I was speaking about anthroposophy.

Today there is nothing else there but what actually arose from this original cell, 'Goethe's Secret Revelation'. And the Anthroposophical Society is just that, even in its external name, which was always intended by me.

In 1909 there was a Theosophical Congress in Budapest. At that time all kinds of curious things were already simmering in the center of the Theosophical Society, the Adyar Center. I believe that a part of the more reasonable people at the time had split off from the Theosophical Society, and this part needed a name. They turned to me. I did not think the time had come then to come out openly under the real flag of the Anthroposophical Movement. And so I said at the time: I already know a name that should be given when this movement takes on a reasonable form; but I need it later, I don't want it misused yet. So I said in 1909. I had in mind the name “Anthroposophical Society”.

And then in 1913 the Anthroposophical Society was founded. Those who were then there as members, insofar as they were still members of the Theosophical Society, were thrown out of the latter, lock, stock and barrel.

These things must be faced if we want to see the whole continuity of what is before us today, my dear friends; for here beginning and end are truly connected. And in the course of development, too, you will basically not perceive any breaks if you do not artificially construct them.

Then came the time that had often been pointed out in our anthroposophical lectures, the time when the decline of modern civilization became most evident: the terrible years since 1914 came, and with them the collapse of Central Europe, which in reality is a collapse of modern civilization as a whole. And it was necessary to include this in the current of our anthroposophical movement, which now, I would say, is moving as a social wing within this movement.

Anyone who follows the movement internally can see how the threefold social order movement has grown out of this anthroposophical movement in a completely organic way.

The threefolding movement brought all sorts of new elements into the anthroposophical movement. However, the personalities who were the bearers of these elements were already there at the same time; admittedly, others were added, but as I said, the personalities who were the bearers of these elements were there at the same time. But for a number of personalities, the idea of threefolding had the effect of awakening a new impetus, a new impulse in them. It is not clear to me how this impetus could have arisen from within the Theosophical Society. Because, you see, when I consider these real, actual moments of the genesis of the anthroposophical movement, I always think of such things, as I have mentioned before.

I was once at a Theosophical event in Paris. There, for the most part, the people who were “advanced” spoke. And afterwards, people would express their judgments about what had been said. I can't say they talked about what had been said, but the advanced ones, especially the ladies, moved around partly nimbly, partly a little drowsily, and declared everywhere: There were such wonderful vibrations in this room while so-and-so was speaking! And everywhere you heard praise for these very brilliant “vibrations”.

And from everything that had been said behind the various lectures, I could only imagine that one actually did not use one's ears as a mediator for what was going on in the hall, but it seemed to me that one's nose was used. Because the way people talked afterwards was actually as if they had smelled these “vibrations”. So that one actually had to smell theosophy.

But I have to say: I don't think that much of a social nature could have been sensed from these reports, from these speeches! For there was nothing in all of this that was native to it, nothing of an impact that would have gone so far as to directly grasp the living existence, the full humanity.

The need to grasp this full humanity, however, came to the fore with great force in the second decade of the twentieth century. And if the anthroposophical movement had not sensed that it had to absorb social elements within itself, or rather, had to allow them to emerge from itself, then it would have proved to be just any old sect standing in the corner, but not as that which it was meant to be from the very beginning: the renewal of spiritual life from the original spiritual source for the developmental needs of modern humanity.

This should be fully understood within our movement. And above all, it should be understood that if anthroposophy is to fulfill its task, then it must actually pour its currents into all the individual branches of modern knowledge, it must take hold of all science.

In this respect, nothing was similar in all that had been achieved on anthroposophical ground to what had been achieved on the ground of the Theosophical Society. Because, you see, there they had also made all kinds of compromises with science, but they were compromises. If, on the other hand, you could impress people in Italy or England or elsewhere with a professorial conquest that you had made in this or that, of course, brilliant name, then you were happy: Professor so and so became a member of the Theosophical Society – a brilliant achievement! That's how you drew the line to the sciences.

But the anthroposophical movement should not draw its lines in this way. Of course, one could have some success by bowing and scraping to ordinary science, but we did not do that. So I made myself unpopular, at least in that respect. I could give many examples, but I will give only one.

There was a man [...] within the Theosophical Society who was actually quite charming. He once came to a place where we had an anthroposophical branch. He was a botanist. I was always interested in those things that I thought might incidentally interest him. And so I spoke to the professor of botany, and I talked about some details of botanical science. He was not at all interested, not in the least. He was even a little annoyed, because he was fond of “theosophy” and he assumed that it would not interfere with his botany. He thought to himself: “A botanist – that's someone in the style of modern scientific development. It's a matter of course that everything is in order there. And then, if you have any needs on the side, you also take up theosophy. But there you have two neatly separate drawers: here botany, here theosophy. And there the one does not interfere with the other. Therefore, it became extremely uncomfortable for him to hear about botany from an anthroposophical point of view. One example among many.

But we could not refrain from pouring into everything that comes from the sources of anthroposophical research, into the specific activity of life, into everything that belongs to the world. This became unpleasant for many people, quite unpleasant. Because, right, you could be a good botanist in the sense of the demands of the time, because you had graduated from high school, then did your specialized studies, wrote your dissertation, then became a private lecturer, wrote your book, became a professor – well, you also had your botanical collection – it was all in order; you had that behind you. Why interfere in any way? But because it was unsatisfactory, something was needed for the other needs of the human being. So one took up Theosophy. It was easy to grasp in relation to the many books one had studied before finally becoming a university professor. So one bought a few more, that is, Theosophical books. Now one also had something for the other. The circles should not be disturbed.

But we couldn't do it that way. I, in particular, could not become that well-behaved, my dear friends. And so I was obliged to speak out against this from an anthroposophical basis, to tell people: No, this is not right; we do not need to approach things with a hide; instead, each of the other subjects needs to be properly cleaned up; everything has become dead and must come to life again.

The whole matter is connected with our social demands. For if we had not this ghastly specialization in individual sciences alien to life, if we did not have this lack of understanding of life through these separate individual sciences, then we would not have been driven into the misfortune of recent years. And we must get out of it by starting at the right end and properly penetrating into the pigeonholes. So that the spirit, which alone can carry the development of humanity, is also present in all the individual activities of the life of knowledge. And everything that was to emerge from this life of knowledge was in our anthroposophical movement. And when the new elements came, who felt inspired by the idea of threefolding and by many other things that have been going on in the anthroposophical movement in recent years, the impetus also came to take the path that now leads to what is to begin tomorrow as our anthroposophical college course here.

Above all, it was Dr. Boos, the founder and leader of the Swiss Threefolding Union, who had the inner strength that led to what we will begin tomorrow.

In a certain way, one had to be completely immersed in the realization of the necessity to fertilize all scientific, all artistic, all social life from anthroposophy. You had to be equipped with the inner audacity to really combine absolutely clear, sharply defined thinking with the necessary intuition that sees that what flows through the currents of anthroposophy can really deliver what needs to be delivered to the sciences. Then you have to have that sacred fire that is dedicated to such work. This has been done in a way for which we cannot thank our friend Dr. Roman Boos enough, and it is actually thanks to him that we have his work in front of us, this anthroposophical university course that is to begin tomorrow.

Of course, we must not forget all those who have worked and contributed in abundance; but a driving force must be behind all of this. And this driving force must, I would say, be a social impetus. That was necessary above all. We have had that in relation to these enterprises, and I would just like to wish that we still had many more ventures with Dr. Boos; then we will certainly make progress.

And so we can follow the growth of what I took the liberty of presenting to you today in the original cell, how it branched out into the life of the individual sciences, how it summoned all the friends whom we cannot greet warmly enough and who will now devote themselves as lecturers to the development of anthroposophy in the individual sciences and branches of life. If we can show the world how Anthroposophy is working in the individual branches of science, we will also gain the necessary momentum for the social work of Anthroposophy.

And that, my dear friends, is what should inspire us as we experience this course of the anthroposophical higher education system. We hope that many new seeds will arise from everything that is done, spoken and shown here.

[The following remarks are not directly related to the history of the society from 1902 to 1913:]

"According to the program, we will begin tomorrow with this anthroposophical college course. The first event tomorrow will be what is intended to be the starting point, so to speak. We will begin tomorrow at five o'clock with a musical prelude by our friend Stuten. Then there will be a series of addresses, which I am supposed to open with one about science, art and religion, but which will hopefully lead to a whole series of addresses that briefly point out the significance of the moment, which is so embedded in the present that from here, from this Goetheanum, we are really trying to lead that impulse into the world, which, above all, aims at a renewal of scientific life.

Then there will be a rehearsal of the musical settings of our friend Schuurman, namely his setting of a poetic insertion in the “Chymischen Hochzeit des Christian Rosenkreutz”. Then there will be a break. After a break, declamations and other musical performances will follow. Then this morning celebration will close with a eurythmic performance. So we will first point out the different lines of activity that are to be cultivated here at this Goetheanum.

Today, my dear friends, it would probably be our task first of all to think about how to accomplish the work that falls to us, since we have to ensure that the entire three-week event runs in a dignified but also practical manner. To do this, the gentlemen from our Swiss threefold social order, the gentlemen from the Goetheanum, from the Association of Goetheanism and so on, the ladies and gentlemen, need to be supported by a number of other personalities who - please don't be offended by me, I don't always mean it to sound so bad - order, right, because if they have already been standing outside the entrance before, it is really not necessary to spend another hour until everyone is sitting in their seats, but to make sure that everyone finds their seat as quickly as possible, that what is done is that which leads to sitting still and listening as soon as possible. I have to say that I am actually sorry that I have to speak tomorrow: I would much rather be a steward, because you can develop such wonderful talents when you are a steward. Firstly, a steward, if he is really agile, if he is not clumsy, when he gets a ticket in his hand – excuse me, I don't mean any harm – first looks at it from all sides, just like a clumsy clumsy postal clerk at the counter with the letter, so that you get desperate until you get your ticket for a registered letter, but with a quick movement you immediately know: there is the place - so that the person in question can walk and immediately get to his seat. So direct them quickly, but calmly, and be charming at the same time, not rough, so that the person who is directed to the seat is very happy; so that no one can think: You're being snarled at. So I think this is a good opportunity to develop your best talents; it's actually extremely desirable. And so I ask the gentlemen in particular to be charming. I think it will be especially nice in this case if the gentlemen are officially charming, so to speak; the ladies without office are charming in between. I ask the gentlemen to strive for two things: to get the blue ribbon here, which is to distinguish the folder, into the buttonhole. I think that it will really be a worthwhile goal, especially for those who come from monarchical states, where nothing else is available now in the buttonhole, will be a contemporary ideal. So we will adorn all those who endeavor to view the tickets so quickly, to show them to their seats and to be charming, with a blue ribbon - not a red one, for example, so that the Swiss don't think we're socialists or something like that; right, you can get into all sorts of trouble with the minister Kully if you give people red ribbons; so you will get blue ribbons and all of you will be charming and nimble ushers. I ask you to consider this from these two points of view. The one point of view is that if you know you are one of those who can be nimble and charming, then don't refrain from helping to maintain order. And if you should know that you may have absorbed too much militarism in the course of the last few years, so that you cannot develop such qualities - but this is only said in parenthesis and really not meant badly - so if someone in the course of the last few years has absorbed too strong military tendencies , which are then not suitable for being charming and the like, so if you have got into the habit of commanding too much, then you may practice anthroposophical self-restraint and refrain from participating in the ordering. But as I said, I am only saying this as one would say in the old science: “for the sake of wilderness.” I will present alternatives in a moment. One must be complete in science. We have a scientific course now. Right? There's no need to be as radical as the one person from the neighborhood who, when she came up here for the first time, didn't want to miss the opportunity to reprimand us right away because we — who wanted to be an “innovator” wanted to be – now, wherever you look, we have “old hat, as the Berliners say, about doctor titles and so on; if you are going to start renewing, the personality said, then you should leave out such titles.

Well, that's not true, you can have different opinions about whether you want to do this or that, whether you should dress in a new style; but we don't want to see our ideals in outward appearances, and that's why I mentioned the second point for the sake of completeness, and I sincerely hope that it was not necessary for me to mention it.

Now, that would be part of what we have to complete today, if the personalities concerned, who, as stewards, now feel particularly called upon to do so after what has been said, let us know that they want to get this blue ribbon in their buttonhole for the next few days, and especially for tomorrow. Perhaps it could be the case that Dr. Boos himself or someone he appoints will take the names of those who feel called to such a high office at the end, after all the others have been addressed. That will be one thing.

The other thing would be for me to ask those of the honored gentlemen who are presenting and are already here today to perhaps contact me at the end of this evening, because there is still a lot to be discussed.

That is what I have to say for the time being. And now, since I have only been here since today and have not been able to participate in the rather extensive preparations that were necessary to launch this course, I will ask Dr. Boos to take over the management of this evening and to suggest to us what else needs to be done in this direction.

But then, when we have completed the things to be discussed for tomorrow and the following “days”, we will have to discuss some other things for this evening that relate to some other events. But first we want to discuss the agenda for the course.

Dr. Boos introduces the necessary measures and arrangements for discussion.

At the end, Dr. Steiner takes the floor again:

"I would just like to mention for those friends from out of town who have come as members of the Anthroposophical Society that, as before, anthroposophical lectures will take place on Saturday and Sunday when I am present in Dornach, and I also believe there will be eurythmy performances on Saturday and Sunday. The lectures will take place after the eurythmy at eight o'clock or, if there are no performances on Saturday and Sunday, at half past seven, and if we can accommodate everyone, here in the carpentry workshop, otherwise over in the building. The eurythmy performances will also be here in the carpentry workshop.” Dr. Boos reports on various activities that are intended to incite and slander, and calls for a statement to be made regarding a proposal that has been made to him to send something to the press from the meeting, which is now already in session.

Dr. Schmiedel says that the number of guests should be indicated.

Dr. Boos says that he had also considered drafting a resolution through a mass meeting here, in which those not yet present here could also be included according to the mood; one does not need to come up with numbers; a resolution would be extremely effective in a concise, short form. Adoption of the resolution is proposed. Since no amendments have been proposed, he will ask again. There is unanimity. This matter is thus also brought to a conclusion with regard to this resolution.

Rudolf Steiner: “I do not think it is necessary to say much about the meeting that apparently took place here in Dornach and was evidently convened by the machinations of Pastor Kully and Pastor Arnet, I think it is not necessary to say much about this meeting after the press report.

Certain things have been reported that might perhaps lead one to notice this or that. For example, it is a remarkable fact that these gentlemen, who now, out of absolute untruthfulness and dishonesty, collect all kinds of things that are not true, that these gentlemen are, or at least are supposed to be, able to have accurate reports, for example, of the celebration of our laying of the foundation stone and the like. All the signs are that our people, our members, are basically willing to give the two gentlemen, who are the soul of the counter-action and the emerging movement, just about anything the gentlemen want.

My dear friends, it will soon be nonsense to hold closed meetings when everything from our circle is carried to Father Kully and similar people. It has to be said, because things express themselves. The assembly itself is no concern of ours; what people want to decide among themselves, they may decide among themselves, they may be as indecent as they like; they were indecent enough, as we already know. The thing that the resolution we have just been proposed by Dr. Boos is directed against is precisely what they have excreted as garbage, and what has even been spread by a Swiss newspaper. Of course we have to take a stand against that. Let them decide among themselves what they decide among themselves. Unless we hear that it is happening through spiritual-scientific communications from our members, about things that should be kept within our circles. It is said, for example, that the gentleman who is reported to have spoken in original Swiss German, that he is said to have spoken such filth that people are now said to have felt compelled to simply leave out the dirty bits. But as I said, people can discuss whatever they like among themselves, that's none of our business for the time being. I notice that they should really settle it among themselves. Because those who did not belong and are said to have gone to that meeting were shown in a very indecent manner that they had no business talking, and they were thrown out in an indecent manner. So that in the end, or at least during part of the meeting, some people who did not belong to the group do not appear to have been present at all. There may have been only a few there.

On the other hand, I would like to warn against being too lulled and again giving in to the sleep that has often been characterized here. This sleep in the face of the dangers that come to us from that side is the very worst thing that could actually happen in our ranks. And there is a lot of sleep in this direction.

Today, too, after I barely returned, I heard again that news is spreading in a certain comfort that the Catholics' behavior in such a disgraceful way, as it has happened, has brought us good friends everywhere among the non-Catholics. So for a large number of our members it is not a matter of facing the facts, but of finding another excuse for themselves to lie comfortably on their backs, on the other side, when one ear what is negotiated in the Dornacher “Ochsen” - in that meeting, of which it is said - I don't know if it is true, I emphasize this expressly - of which it is said: Such a great “Ochsen” event has never taken place in Dornach before. - But that was only because the meeting was in the “Ochsen”.

But to those who would like to go back to their cozy comfort zone, I would like to recommend paying attention to a certain statement in the report that has been written about this meeting, a statement that is already intended to be understood and that could show how significant the attacks actually are. It is said there – I don't have it verbatim right now, but it is in one of the reports – that the way Pastor Kully spoke at that Catholic gathering was quite remarkable. The person reporting this was apparently strangely touched, struck by Pastor Kully's particular turn of phrase. He says: “A unified thought did not go further through the speech; the speech did not make much sense either; but it was made up of nothing but individual images, which were presented to the people in a certain way, and which were only summarized by everything that hatred could do to present these images and these imaginations to the people, held together by the element of hatred. Anyone who is aware of the nature of the methods and polemics on certain sides also knows that such a message means an extraordinary amount, and that these things are effective.

It is necessary, or at least would be necessary, that finally, after decades of practicing anthroposophy, it could be known on our side that such things cannot be ignored, and that one cannot calm oneself by saying: Now they are being stirred up on that side, and stirred up in a very shameless way... This only wins us special friends on the other side. The point is to try to look things squarely in the eye; because the people - I have said this before - the people who are fighting on that side, they know very well what they want, they know very well how they should work, and how they should escalate things, and how they should then finally reach their goal through this clever escalation and sentiment.

So it would be better to try to face the matter squarely and realize that the situation is indeed a very dire one for us, here where we have just put what should be most sacred to us. And it would be necessary to consider that we should wake up, and to consider that it is always possible that things that should remain among us are immediately also carried to Father Arnet. Or is it not very strange, for example, when there is a message here: Pastor Arnet has spoken of how many people have been seriously affected in their health by the effects of my exercises; if he wanted to talk further about what is being reported to him, he would have to violate the seal of confession.

So, it would be a good idea to keep an eye on what is coming to the surface again and again as a result of such things, even within our ranks.

Furthermore, I consider it unworthy of us to concern ourselves with the assembly; because, right, certain things simply cannot be negotiated about anymore. When they begin to consider a certain level below decency as their own, you can no longer negotiate, you can no longer talk about the matter seriously at all. But that should not encourage anyone not to be vigilant about what comes from there.

I don't think we have anything else to discuss today. I would therefore ask those honored friends who wish to acquire the blue ribbon in their buttonhole to report to Dr. Boos.

And in a few minutes I will be back here and ask those friends who will be speaking in the next few days and are here today to come together for a very short meeting to discuss a few points on which we need to agree. So I will be back here in a few minutes.

It is incumbent upon me at this moment to inform this larger circle of an intention from the narrower circle of those who already know about it. But allow me to say a few words beforehand. It should be specified that what is said now has nothing to do with what occurred at this General Meeting or what is otherwise related to previous actions – which however does not exclude the possibility to consider them later should it be so desired.

When we look around in the world today we must say to ourselves: the contemporary world is full of ideals – and when we ask ourselves: Is the representation of these ideals by those who believe in them and are in the service of them sincere and honest? In many cases we will find the answer is: Yes, that is the case. It is the case with respect to the belief and dedication the individuals are capable of. When we then ask: How much is generally demanded when such a representation of ideals is brought to life, whether by an individual or a society? From an observation of life we will find the answer to be that in most cases all is demanded; but what is mostly demanded is that the asserted ideal finds an absolute, unconditional recognition. And the basis for such an assertion of the ideal is that an absolute agreement is demanded. And usually a lack of agreement is expressed in some kind of derogatory criticism. Those words characterize how the principle of an association of people has occurred in a natural way during the course of human development and the justification of such a principle is not meant to be doubted in any way.

But above all the possibility I wish to present is this: one was always convinced that opinions were never authoritative in respect to the realities of what went on within the societies; whatever a person might think, in the moment he uttered it, by the very fact of uttering it he entered into a contradiction with the reality. Much must be said in this moment which is not in agreement with much that is valid in the world. Thus it must be said: the avowal to a thing may not be true when this avowal is spoken of. I would like to give a simple example from which you can see that the danger can exist of being untruthful simply by pronouncing it. And I would like that this simple truth be understood as being in agreement with Rosicrucian principles.

Let's assume that someone expresses his agreement using the words: “I am silent“, which cannot be true. When someone says: “I say nothing“ and wants to describe a present condition, what he says is not true. The possibility exists that by verbally avowing a thing he denies it. From this simple example: “I say nothing”, you can see that it is applicable to innumerable instances in the world and can happen again and again.

What is the consequence of such a fact? The consequence is that the people who want to associate in order to represent such and such a thing find themselves in a most difficult position if the reasons for associating are not those of the sense world but the super-sensible world.

And when we understand what we have been able to receive from the new occultism in the course of time, then we will perceive that it is absolutely necessary in the immediate future to represent certain aspects of this occultism before the world. Therefore the attempt must be made against all the principles of occult societies and their heretofore possible organizations with something completely new, something born from the spirit of that new occultism about which we have often spoken in our circle.

This can only be done, however, if we turn our view only towards something positive, only toward something which exists in the world as a reality and which can be cultivated as such a reality. Realities in our sense are only the things which primarily belong to the super-sensual world. Therefore the attempt will for once be made to realize something that comes from the super-sensible world: an attempt not to found a community of people, but to endow it.

In other opportunities I have already emphasized the difference between founding and endowing. It was many years ago. It was not understood then, and since then hardly anyone has thought about this difference. Therefore the spiritual powers which stand before you under the symbol of the Rose Cross have also overlooked bringing this difference to the world.

A renewed attempt must be now made, this time in an energetic way, not to found but to endow a community. If it is not successful, it will have failed for a certain amount of time.

Therefore I am announcing to you now that among the appropriate persons a method of working is endowed of which the individual, whom we have called Christian Rosenkreuz since western pre-history, is the originator.

What has been said today is preliminary. For what has happened until now refers only to a part of the endowment, which, if possible, should enter the world; it refers to the artistic representation of Rosicrucian occultism.

The first point I want to make is that a method of working shall enter the world as an endowment under the direct protectorate of that individual whom we designate by the name which he had for the outer world during two incarnations: Christian Rosenkreuz; and that this endowment shall be called by the provisional name: “Gesellschaft für theosphische Art und Kunst“ (“Society for the Theosophical Way and Art“)

This named is not definitive, but a definitive name will be introduced once the first preparations for bringing this work into the world have been accomplished. What is described as the “Theosophical Way” is in a beginning stage, for the preparations must still be made in order to understand what is meant.

But what is understood with the concept of theosophical art has already begun in many ways by the performances in Munich and above all the meaningful beginnings in Stuttgart; and an additional important advance for the understanding of these things is shown by the Johannes building [in Munich].

In a certain sense what has been tried provides the required sanction. Within this working group a purely spiritual task should develop, a task which is to result in a spiritual method of working and in its results.

Obviously no one can be a member of this working group who holds to a different viewpoint, but only if he has the will to dedicate his strength to the positive aspects.

Perhaps you may say that I am talking a lot of words that are not understandable. That must be so with things such as these – for they must be grasped directly in life. And what must happen within this endowment is that according to purely occult laws what is a very small circle at first is formed which sees its duty as cooperating on this project.

A very small circle has been created. It has been created in the sense of our stream for this endowment; thus in a certain sense a beginning has been made, to be detached from me and to have its own substance.

Thus this small circle that has been sanctioned stands before you, which has received its task with its own recognition of our spiritual stream, and thereby the sovereignty and the independence of all spiritual striving, which is an absolute necessity for the future to be introduced to humanity.

Therefore within the endowment I will only serve as interpreter of the basic principles, which as such only exist in the spiritual world – as interpreter of what is to be said about the intentions behind the thing itself. Therefore a curator will be named for the outer cultivation of the endowment. And with the positions which will be created only duties are associated, no honors, no laurels, so that it is impossible for rivalries or other misunderstandings to occur if it is correctly understood.

At first Miss von Sivers will be recognized by the endowment itself. This recognition is none other than what is interpreted from out of the endowment; there are no namings, only interpretations. It will be her task in the immediate future to do what can be done in the sense of the endowment, to gather a corresponding circle of members - not in the usual sense, but rather that they come on their own.

Furthermore within this branch of our endowment a number of associate branches will be created. And as the leading personalities of these associated branches – insofar as these already exist – several of the proven personalities from within our spiritual movement will be placed with the corresponding responsibilities.

This is also an interpretation: for each of these associate branches an archdeacon will interpret.

We will have an associate branch for general art; arch-deacon will be Miss von Eckhardstein – and that is a specific recognition for what this personality has done in recent years for this art.

Literature will be published: provisional Curator Miss von Sivers. Further architectural subjects: Dr. Felix Peipers; for Music: Mr. Adolf Arenson; for painting: Mr. Hermann Linde. The work to be done is essentially interior. What will appear in public will be what has been done in total freedom by these personalities.

A certain coordination of the personalities involved in this work will be necessary; this coordination will take place in a completely different way than is the case with normal organizations. The office of Conservator will be served by Miss Sophie Stinde, in charge of this coordination.

The way in which these personalities coordinate requires work very soon. In order for the organization to come into being a Keeper of the Keeper of the Seal will be necessary: Miss Sprengel, and the Secretary will be Dr Carl Unger.

At first this will be a tiny circle. Don't think of it as something which appears immodestly in the world and says: Here I am. Rather think of it as nothing more than a seed around which the thing itself will develop.

It will be organized so that by next Three-Kings Day (Epiphany) a number of members of the community will be interpreted [sic]. This means that by that time a number of members will have been given to understand that they may participate. So that for the beginning the most ample freedom in this direction must be assured in that the will to be a member should not come from anyone except the one who desires to be a member. And the fact that he is a member is brought about by his being recognized as a member. This will only be for the time between now and the next Three Kings' Day, January 6, 1912.

Thus we have before us something which because of its peculiarity reveals itself as something which flows from the spiritual world. Furthermore it will present itself as flowing from the spiritual world in that the membership will be always and exclusively concerned with spiritual interests and the recognition of spiritual interests – with the exclusion of everything personal.

This announcement constitutes a deviation from older occult principles, and this deviation consists in the fact of the announcement itself. Therewith no use is made of that assertion of the man who says: I say nothing.

The initiative will be announced; and in full consciousness that it will be announced, this should be the result. But as soon as someone indicates that he somehow does not agree with what is announced today, then he should of course not be expected to adhere to such a way of working. For nothing but complete free will for such a way of working is applicable. You will see though, if something like this should come into being – if our time with its peculiarities allows that it come into being – then really through recognition of the spiritual world work can be done, the principle that not only all nature and all history, but everything done in the world, all human deeds are based on the spiritual, super-sensible world.

You will see that it is impossible for someone to belong to such a community if he is not really in agreement with it. If you think that what I am saying is somewhat curious, then please understand it thus: that it happens in full consciousness that what is therewith preserved is everything which belongs to the eternal laws of being. And what also belongs is that the principles of becoming are taken into consideration.

At this moment one can sin against the spirit of what is to happen if he goes out into the world and says: this or that has been founded. Not only has nothing been founded, but the fact is also that to give a definition to what is to be done will never be possible – for everything is to be in continual becoming. And what is to happen because of what has been said today cannot be described. It is based on what happens, not on words, but on persons, and not even on persons, but on what the persons will do.

It will be in a living stream, a living becoming, and everything that is said about it will be untrue at the same moment. Thus also today the principle is none other than the first principle: Recognition of the spiritual world as the basic reality. All other principles are to be formed as the thing develops. As a tree in the next instant is no longer what it was, but has added something new, so should this be like a living tree. Never should what it is to become be compromised in any way by what it is.

Therefore if someone wanted to define outside in the world as a founding what has been described here as a beginning, then he would commit the same untruth as someone who says: I say nothing. Whoever uses in this way this or that word in order to characterize the matter, he says something incorrect. Therefore at the beginning it is a question of the people who want something like this coming together. Then the matter will progress. And it will profoundly differentiate itself from what the Theosophical Society is. For not one attribute described here today can pertain to the Theosophical Society.

I had to say these things for the simple reason that the matters which the endowment deals with are also publicly connected to the Theosophical Society. Because through this endowment – in the sense of intentions the contents of which do not lie in the physical world and have nothing to do with Ahriman – a spiritually ideal counterbalance to everything connected to a founding in the outer world must be created. Only in the context can a connection be seen with what already exists, that this branch of our endowment, the branch for Theosophical Art, should create a counterweight for what is connected to the Ahrimanic. It may be hoped that an excellent model will be created by the existence of this branch of our endowment. And the other branch will do its duty in the corresponding manner.

What figures as art in the movement for spiritual science must flow into our culture from the spiritual world. Spiritual life must be the basis for everything we do. It will be impossible to confound this ideal spiritual movement with any other, which also calls itself “Theosophical Movement” and will wish to participate.² Wherever we may be, the spiritual moment is our foundation. The example of the festival in Munich, the building in Stuttgart – at the limits of possibility at first, but it was everywhere attempted that the spirit be the most important, was the conditio sine qua non.³ Those who are already somewhat familiar with what this is all about will understand me. These words are spoken less for their content than that the guidelines be indicated.

When the next Three Kings Day passed and no further nominations had been made known, one of the people who had heard his address asked Dr. Steiner when that would happen, he replied: the fact that it didn't happened could be considered an answer. The year 1912/1913 was overburdened with the dispute with Annie Besant, her proclamation of the new messiah and her “Star of the East” being active also in Germany. The President [A. Besant] received from the adherents of the western spiritual movement inaugurated by Rudolf Steiner a demand for a precise statement about the agreements reached in Munich and Budapest, instead of her evasiveness, her hide-and-seek games and behind-the-scenes acting. These were the same people who together with members from many provinces founded the “Bund”, which was followed in 1913 by the founding of the Anthroposophical Society after the expulsion of the German section by the President of the Theosophical Society. Meanwhile work was undertaken in various areas through the nomination of the intimate circle: the Johannesbau-Verein [St. John Building Society], in the completion of Society's house in Stuttgart, the so-called “Art-and-People's-rooms” in Munich and Berlin, one of Miss von Eckardstein‘s initiatives. The most spiritually outstanding publication was the Calendar of the Soul, a result of Dr Steiner's cooperation with Miss von Eckardstein; here the wonderfully transparent nuances of speech allow spirit and soul to interact and become one with nature. Various other things sought a peaceful unfolding in the future. But the World War started and its associated commotions, which deeply affected the living conditions and relations between the members from various nations in Dornach. We tried to overcome such blood [national] ties, but every now and again commotion and disruption occurred. The most irritating crisis for Dornach was in the summer of 1915. A Dr. Gösch, a typical representative of psychoanalysis, stepped front and center. He convinced himself that the Keeper of the Seal had opened his eyes about promises that Dr. Steiner gave and didn't comply with. He published this according to psychoanalytical methodology in a brochure. At the same time he wrote a letter to Dr. Steiner in which he described his theories based on the “revelations” made to him by the Keeper of the Seal. The Keeper of the Seal could not have understood the task given her by this name other than in a most personal sense. She felt herself to be the inspiration for the spiritual teaching given to humanity by Dr. Steiner. And as she also played the role of Theodora in Rudolf Steiner's Mystery Dramas in Munich, she took all this as evidence of a symbolic promise of marriage, for the fulfillment of which she had waited “seven years”. The many complaining letters revolving around this point gave Dr. Gösch the opportunity for a psychological interpretation in Freudian sense for the illumination of her case. He had been for a long time himself in Freudian treatment for a nervous disorder, which had deeply infected his person. His open letter of complaint provided the opportunity for strictly carried out actions by which the membership was to obtain clarity about the case. Descriptions about the case exist and constituted the basis for the special number of the magazine „Anthroposophie“ [and] the book published in Stuttgart: Anthroposophie und Psychoanalyse. Here is only mentioned what has to do directly with the case Sprengel – alias Proserpina – alias Theodora – alias Keeper of the Seal, and what she experienced in such a mystical, personal way as megalomania. Of course symptoms existed of her conceit even before the war. Because of this unfortunate megalomania, the possibility of further nominations to the existing circle of eight personalities failed – caused by egoistical conceit on one hand and the absurdity of false mysticism on the other. The Keeper of the Seal “sprang” the seal in the most common human sense. The necessity of women being active participants in the cultural tasks of the future is non-negotiable and will be accomplished despite failures in individual cases. - That's what happened in the case of the Keeper of the Seal.

Dr. Steiner expressed himself in the following way about this affair in an address during the so-called crisis in 1915:

“It was announced in autumn that because certain impossible symptoms had become apparent in our Society it was necessary to found a certain smaller society whereby I had attempted to attribute certain titles to a number of close associates who have been a long time in the Society in that I required of them that they would act independently in the sense of these titles. I said at that time: If something happens, the members will be informed by Three Kings Day. Nothing was informed and it is therefore obvious that the Society for the Theosophical Way and Art does not exist. It is self-evident because nobody informed anything. It is self-evident that the information would have been sent if the thing had been realized. The manner in which it was conceived in a certain case made it impossible. It was an attempt.⁴

The circle of nominees, as an internal matter, was shattered; outside the war raged; in Dornach the practical work continued no less intensively despite the external circumstances. Due to the recall to the fronts of so many artists and helpers, the burden of work fell heavily on the women. Few men were able to remain, Hermann Linde for one. From early morning on clanged the hammering and chiseling from wood which grew up out of the cement foundation to the curved domes. The outer and inner walls bore the organically moving forms, warmed and waved by the human hands grooving them. In the interior space the columns rose with their bases, capitals and architraves, until they reached the place where both domes merged into each other – a symbol of the soul's experience of how the cosmos separates and unites simultaneously.

The painters and their helpers were gathered around Hermann Linde. Dr. Steiner had drafted the motives for the painting of the domes, copies of which are preserved in Alinari's reproductions (Rudolf Steiner's drafts of the great dome in the first Goetheanum – realized by Alinari, Florence.) With diligence and zeal new priming methods were tried through which the effect of vegetable colors unfolded in glowing brilliance; plants were rubbed zealously by a group of helpers, from which the new colors for the dome paints derived. Weekly eurythmy performances provided the opportunity for the development of personal fantasy and to practice with the outlines Dr. Steiner had prepared.

In Germany a most capable replacement was soon found for the “sprung” Keeper of the Seal in the person of Miss Berta Meyer. During the months of the war years we spent in Germany, she often came from Bremen to Berlin to perfect her knowledge of jewelry art by means of Dr. Steiner's suggestions. A happy opportunity for new motivation was the return of a member from the orient with a collection of precious stones. Stones were selected whose inner substance and brilliance were especially appropriate. It was a peculiar experience to feel the cool ripple of the stones on one's hand and their penetration in one's etheric body. This grasp in the coolness of the stone kingdom and the almost exciting affecting glow of melting metal in fire, especially gold, brought the elements of nature's force clearly to consciousness. Dr. Steiner's drawing for the Mystery Dramas' seals provided the basis for the spiritual studies of this predestined [new] Keeper of the Seal, who left us so many excellent artistic works.⁵ Death tore her from us at the very moment that a place for her work, a Jewelry art school, could have been arranged in Dornach. The form forces of eurythmy, carried by etheric impulses and the musical art seeking new ways, which by experiencing the sharps and flats, over the fifth, to grasp the force of their origin in tone, to which they thanked their being, were also rehearsed with these seals. Thus feeling the way to lost words.

The new architectural style created by Dr. Steiner, which incorporated the plant movements and did not shut itself off from the outer world, but opened to the world, was also faithfully used in the glass windows.⁶ Floods of light had to stream into the space; differentiated according to the rainbow, but retaining the basic tones brought the hovering and weaving light colorings into the room. The delicateness of the nuances were intensified by the different thickness of the glass which acquired the motive during the grinding and etching; its spiritual content related to the path of initiation of humanity into the future. Whereas the motive of the larger and smaller domes followed the macrocosmic and microcosmic evolution of humanity leading to the fulfillment of his I.

The new art of black-white line drawing given by Dr. Steiner developed alongside the creative colors.⁷ And all these, artistically created from the most varied elements, were brought to life in the art of the spoken word – speech formation⁸ – which divines the original forces of the lost “Word” and to a certain extent grasps it. Through the little that was achieved by hard work it was possible to partly fulfill what Dr. Steiner referred to as the mission of the spiritual movement inaugurated by him: to allow the forgotten spiritual stream around Goethe and Schiller to flow again into culture.

We have lived in the plenitude of his impulses. He was torn from us by death in 1925. He had to pay with death for the immeasurable richness of his gifts. We were enlivened and carried by his encouraging spiritual force.

• 2. Rudolf Steiner may be referring here to the strong differences which occurred during this time, the end of 1911, because Rudolf Steiner refused to allow the members of the order founded by Annie Besant, “The Star of the East“ to attend events of the German Section [of the Theosophical Society] led by him.
• 3. Translator Note: gaps in all three manuscripts
• 4. lecture of August 1915 in Dornach – unpublished.
• 5. Kleinodienkunst. Die Dramasiegel. Nach himweisen und Entwerfen von Rudolf Steiner mitgeteilt und aussgearbeitet durch Beerta Meyer-Jabobs.
• 6. Die Goetheanum-Fenster-Motive Rudolf Steiners, Assja Turgenierff
• 7. Die schöpferische Kraft der Farbe, Hilde Boos-Hamburger
• 8. Sprachgestaltung