Foundation Course
Spiritual Discernment, Religious Feeling, Sacramental Action
GA 343
29 September 1921 p.m., Dornach
VII. Formation of Speech
Emil Bock opened the discussion hour and formulated the following questions:
- Out of the previous lecture this morning, how can we take the power of formative speech to which we still need to gain access, and accomplish a new speech technique, perhaps new forms and a new gestural technique?
- How do we actually now really speak of a new understanding of the Bible, of a new Bible text? Furthermore, we ask Dr Steiner on occasion to discuss in more detail the two chapters from the synoptic Gospels, Matthew 13 and Mark 13.
- What is the reality behind the Apostolic succession, the tradition and the ordination of priests in the technical sense, and how can such a reality be made more accessible again in the future?
[ 1 ] Rudolf Steiner: With regards to the first question: You would already have seen, my dear friends, that out of what I said this morning, that in the illustration, the soul contents related to the supersensible and also what leads to the power of formative speech, must be searched for. Regarding the power of speech formation: we actually have no direct understanding of sound anymore today; we basically have no more understanding for words, so our words remain signs. Naturally our starting point needs to be out of the spiritual milieu of our time. Man must be responsible for these intimate things out of what currently is available. Precisely such a question brings us naturally into the area of the purely technical. First of all one has to make the understanding for the sound active again, within oneself. One doesn't easily manage the free use of speech when one isn't able to allow the sound as such, to stir within oneself. I would like to continue in such a way that I first draw your attention to certain examples.
[ 2 ] You see, when we say "head" (Kopf) in German, we hardly have anything else in mind than the total perception of what reaches us through the ear, which indicates the head. When we say "foot" (Fuss) it is hardly any different to what we experience in the tonality and sound content in relation to some foot. Now we only need, for instance, to refer to the Romance languages where head is testa, tête, foot is pedum, pied, and we get the feeling at the same time that the term is taken from something completely different. When we say the word Kopf in German, the term has come out of the form, from looking at the form. We are not aware of this any longer, yet it is so. When we say Fuss, it is taken from walking where furrows are drawn in the ground. Thus, it has come into existence out of a certain soul content and coined in a word. When we take a word formation like, let's say, "testament" and all other word formations which refer in Romance language terms to head, testa, then we will feel that the term Kopf in the Romantic languages originate through the substantiation and thus not out of the form, but through the human soul with the help of the head, and particularly activating the mouth organs. Pied didn't originate from walking or drawing furrows but from standing, pressing down while standing. Today we no longer question the motives which have come out of the soul and into speech formation. We can only discover what can be called, in the real sense, a feeling for the language when we follow the route of making language far more representational than it is currently, abstraction at most. When someone uses a Latin expression in terminology, some Latin expressions are even more representational, but some people use them to denote even more. For example, today one can hardly find the connection between "substance" and "subsist" while the concept of "subsist" has basically been lost. Someone who still has the original feeling for substance and subsistence would say of the Father-God, not that He "exists" but that he "subsists."
[ 3 ] Researching language in this way and in another way which I want to mention right now, in order to develop a lively feeling for language again, leads then to something I would like to call a linguistic conscience (Sprachgewissen). We need a linguistic conscience. We speak really so directly these days because as human beings we act more as automatons towards language than we do as living beings. Until we are capable of connecting language in a living way to ourselves, like our skin is connected to us, we will not come to the right symbolization. The skin experiences pain when it is pricked. Language even tolerates being maltreated. One must develop a feeling regarding language that it can be maltreated because it is a closed organism, just like our skin. We can gain much in this area, when we have a lively experience in some or other dialect.
Consider how often we have performed the Christmas Plays, and in these plays there is a sentence spoken by one or more of the innkeepers. When Joseph and Mary come to Bethlehem in search of lodging, they are refused by three innkeepers. Each one of the three innkeepers says: Ich als a wirt von meiner gstalt, hab in mein haus und ligament gwalt.—Just imagine what this means to a person today. He could hear: "I as a host of my stature ..."—and think that what the host is saying means he is an attractive man, or something like that, or a strong man who has stature within his hostel, in his house. This is certainly not meant. If we want to translate that into High German we'll have to say: "I as a host, who is placed in such a way as to have abundant comfort, I am not dependent on such poor people finding lodgings within, with me." This means: "I as a host in my social position, in my disposition." This shows them it is necessary not only to listen to him—words one often enough hears in speech—but to enter into the spirit of the language. We say Blitz" (lightening) in High German. In Styria a certain form of lightening is called 'heaven's lashers' (Himmlatzer). In the word "Blitz" there is quite another meaning than in the word Himmlatzer.
[ 4 ] So we start becoming aware of different things when we approach the sense of speech. You see, such an acquisition of the sense of language sometimes leads to something extraordinarily important. Goethe once uttered a sentence, when already in his late life, to the Chancellor von Müller, a statement which has often been quoted and is often used, to understand the entire way in which Faust, written by Goethe, originated. Goethe said that for him the conception of Faust had for 60 years been clear "from the beginning" (von vornherein); the other parts less extensively. Now commentary upon commentary have been written and this sentence was nearly always recalled, because it is psychologically extraordinarily important, and the commentators have it always understood like this: Goethe had a plan from the beginning for his Faust and in the 60 years of his life—since he was twenty or about eighteen—he used this plan, he had "from the start," to work from.
In Weimar I met August Fresenius who bemoaned the fact that it was a great misfortune, if I could use such an expression, which had entered into the entire Goethe research, and at the time I had urged an unusually thoughtful and slow philologist to publish this thing as soon as possible in order that it doesn't continue, otherwise one would have a few dozen more such Goethe commentaries. It is important to note that Goethe used the expression "from the start" in no other way than in a descriptive way, not in the sense of a priori but "from the beginning" in a very descriptive manner so that in the strictest sense one could refer to Goethe not having an overall plan, but that "at the beginning" he only wrote down the first pages (i.e. to begin with) and of the further sections, only single sentences. There can be no argument of an overall plan. It very much depends on how one really experiences words. Many people have, when they hear the word vornherein totally have no conscience that it has a vorn (in front) and a herein (in) and that one sees something spiritual when one pronounces it. This simple dismissal of a word without contemplation is something upon which a tremendous amount depends, if one wants to attain a symbolic manner of speech. Precisely about this direction there would be extraordinarily much to say.
[ 5 ] You see, we have the remarkable appearance of the Fritz Mauthner speaking technique where all knowledge and all wisdom is questioned, because all knowledge and wisdom is expressed though speech, and so Fritz Mauthner finds nothing expressed in speech because it does not point to some or other reality. [ 6 ] How harsh my little publication "The spiritual guidance of man and of mankind" has been judged in which I mention that in earlier times, all vowel formation expressed people's inner experiences, and all consonant unfolding comes from outer observed or seen events. All that man perceives is expressed in consonants, while vowels are formed by inner experiences, feelings, emotions and so on. With this is connected the peculiar manner in which the consonants are written differently to the vowels in Hebrew. This is also connected to areas where more primitive people used to dwell, where they have not strongly developed their inner life, so predominantly consonant languages occur, not languages based on vowels. This extends very far, this kind of in-consonant-action of language. Only think what African languages have from consonants to click sounds.
[ 7 ] So you see, in this way we gain an understanding for what sounds within language. One would be brought beyond the mere sign, which the word is today. Only with today's feeling for language which Fritz Mauthner believes in, can you believe that all knowledge actually depends on language and that language has no connection to some or other reality. A great deal can be accomplished when one enters into one's mother tongue and try to go back into the vernacular. In the vernacular one finds much, very much if you really behave like a human being, that is, respond to what you feel connected to the language. In the vernacular one has the rich opportunity to feel in speech and experience in sound, but also the tendency towards the descriptive, and you have to push it so far that you really, one could say, get into a kind of state of renunciation in regard to expressions that are supposed to phrase something completely separate from human experiences.
Something which thoroughly ruins our sense of language is physics, and in physics, as it is today, it only aspires to study objective processes and refrains from all subjective experience, there it should no longer be spoken at all. According to physics, when one body presses (stoßen) against another, for example in the theory of elasticity, then you are anthropomorphising, because the experience of pressure as soon as you sense sound, means you're only affected by the same kind of pressure as the pressure your own hand makes. Above all, one gets the feeling with the S-sound that nothing other can be described as something like this (a waved line is drawn on the blackboard). The word Stoß" (push/impacts—ß is the symbol for ss—translator) has two s's, at the end and beginning; it gives the entire word its colouring; so when the word Stoß or stoßen (to push/thrust) is pronounced one actually can feel how, when your ether body would move, it would not only move but be shoved forwards and continuously be kept up.
[ 8 ] Thus, there are already methods through which one comes to the power of speech formation, which is then no longer far from symbolizing, for the symbolum must be hacked out of the way so that one experiences language as a living organism, because much is to be experienced within language. Someone recently told me that there are certain things in language which only need to be pronounced and one is surprised at how they reveal themselves as self-evident.
The Greeks recited in hexameter. Why? Well, hexameter is an experience. A person produces speech, as I've already said, in his breathing. However, breathing is closely connected to other elements of rhythm in the human being; with the pulse, with blood circulation. On average, obviously not precisely, we have 18 breaths and 72 heat beats; 72 equals 4 times 18. Four times 18 heart beats gives a rhythm, a collective inner beat. In a time when man sensed in a more primordial and more elementary way according to what was taking place within him, man experienced, when he could, in uttering the relationship of the heart beat to the breathing, bring the totality of himself into expression. This relationship, not precisely according to time, this relationship can be brought to bear; you only have to add the turning point as the fourth foot (reference plate 3 ... not available In German text) then you have a Greek hexameter half-line, in the ration of 4 to 1 as a pulse beat to breathing rhythm. The hexameter was born out of the human structure, and other measures of verse were all born out of the rhythmic system of the human being. You can already feel, when you treat language artistically, how, in the process of treating human speech in an artistic way, language is alive. This makes it possible to acquire a far more inner relationship to language, yet also far more objectivity. The most varied chauvinistic feelings in relation to language stops, because the configurations of different languages stop, and one acquires an ear for the general sound. There are such things which are found on the way to gaining the power of creative speech. It does finally lead to listening to oneself when one speaks. In a certain way it's actually difficult but it can be supported. For various reasons it seems to me that for those who are affected by it, it is also necessary not to treat the Scripture in the way many people treat it today. You will soon see why I say these things.
[ 9 ] In relation to writing, there are two kinds of people. The majority learn to write as if it's a habit of staking out words. People are used to move their hands in a certain way and write like this: in the majority. The writing lesson is very often given in such a way that one just comes to it. The minority actually don't write in the sense of reality, but they draw (a word is written on the blackboard: Kann [meaning can; be able to]). They look at the signs of the letters simultaneously as being written, and as an artistic treatment of writing, it is far more an intimate involvement. I have met people who have been formally trained to write. For instance, once there was a writing method which consisted in people being trained to make circles and curves, to turn them and thus acquire a feeling of connecting them and so form letters out of them. Only in this way, out of these curves, could the letters come about. With a large number of them I have seen that they, before they start writing, make movements in the air with their pen. This is what brings writing into the unconsciousness of the body. However, our language comes out of the totality of the human being and when one spoils oneself by writing you also spoil yourself for the language. Precisely the one who is dependent on handling the language needs to get used to the meditation that writing should not be allowed to just flow out of his hand, but he should look at it, really look at what he is writing, when he writes.
[ 10 ] My dear friends, this is something which is extraordinarily important in our current culture, because we are on our way to dehumanizing ourselves. I have already received a large number of letters which have not been written with a pen but with the typewriter. Now you can imagine the difference between a letter written with a typewriter or written with a pen. I'm not campaigning against the typewriter, I consider it as an obvious necessity in civilization, but we do also need the counter pole. By us dehumanizing ourselves in this way, by us changing our relationship towards the outer world in an absolute mechanistic and dead manner, we need in turn to take up strong vital forces again. Today we need far greater vital forces than in the time in which man knew nothing yet about the typewriter.
[ 11 ] Therefore, for someone who handles words, he must also acquire an understanding for the continuous observation, while he is writing, that what he is writing pleases him, that he gets the impression that something hasn't just flowed out of a subject but that, by looking simultaneously at it, this thing lives as a totality in him. Mostly, the thing that is needed for the development of some capability is not arrived at in a direct but in an indirect way. I must explain this route because I have been asked how one establishes the power for speech formation. This is the way, as I have mentioned, which comes first of all. As an aside I stress that language originates in the totality of mankind, and the more mankind still senses the language, so much more will there be movement in his speech. It is extraordinary, how for instance in England, where the process of withdrawal of a connection with the surroundings is most advanced, it is regarded as a good custom to speak with their hands in their trouser pockets, held firmly inside so they don't enter the danger of movement. I have seen many English people talk in this way. Since then I've never had my pockets made in front again, but always at the back, for I have developed such disgust from this quite inhuman non-participation in what is being said. It is simply a materialistic criticism that speech only comes from the head; it originates out of the entire human being, above all from the arms, and we are—I say it here in one sentence which is obviously restricted—we are on this basis no ape or animal which needs its hands to climb or hold on to something, but we have them as free because with these free hands and arms we handle speech.
In grasping with our arms, creating with our fingers, we express something we need in order to model language. So it has a certain justification to return mankind to its connection with language, bringing the whole person into it, to train Eurythmy properly, which really exists in drawing out of the human organism what is not fulfilled in the human body, but is however fulfilled in the ether body, when we speak. The entire human being is in movement and we are simply transposing though the eurhythmic movements, the etheric body on to the physical body. That is the principle. It is really the eurythmization of something like a necessity which needs to be regularly brought out of the human being, like the spoken language itself. It must stand as a kind of opposite pole against all which rises in the present and alienate people towards the outer world, allowing no relationship to be possible between people and the outer world any more. The eurythmization enables people in any case to return to being present in the language and is on this basis, as I've often suggested, even an art. Well, if you take into account the things I've just proposed, then you arrive at the now commonplace speech technique basically under the scheme of pedantry.
The great importance given to teaching through recitation and that kind of thing, only supports the element of a materialistic world view. You see, just as one would in a school for sculpture or a school of painting not really get instructions of the hand movements but corrects them by life forces coming into them, so speech techniques must not be pedantically taught with all kinds of nose-, chest- and stomach resonances. These things may only be developed though living speech. When a person speaks, he might at most be made aware of one or the other element. In this respect extraordinary atrocities are being committed today and the various vocal and language schools can actually be disgusting, because it shows how little lives within the human being. The formation of speech happens when those things are considered which I mentioned. Now if the question needs to be answered even more precisely, I ask you to please call my attention to it.
[ 12 ] Now there is a question about new commentary regarding the Bible, in fact, how one can arrive at a new Bible text.
[ 13 ] You see, the thing is like this, one will first have to penetrate into an understanding of the Bible. Much needs to precede this. If you take everything which I have said about language, and then consider that the Bible text has originated out of quite another kind of experience of language than we have today, and also as it was experienced centuries before in Luther's time, you can hardly hope to somehow discover an understanding of the Bible through some small outer adjustment. To understand the Bible, a real penetration of Christianity is needed above all, and actually this can only emerge from a Bible text as something similar for us as the Gospels had once appeared for the first Christians. In the time of the first Christians one certainly had the feeling of sound and some of what can be experienced in the words in the beginning of St John's Gospel which was of course experienced quite differently in the first Christian centuries as one would be able to do today. "In the primal beginnings was the Word"—you see, today there doesn't seem to be much more than a sign in this line, I'd say. We come closer to an understanding when we substitute "Word," which is very obscure and abstract, with "Verb" and also really develop our sense of the verb as opposed to the noun. In the ancient beginnings it was a verb and not the noun. I would like to say something about this abstraction.
The verb is quite rightly related to time, to activity, and it is absurd to think of including a noun in the area which has been described as in "the primal beginning." It has sense to insert a verb, a word related to activity. What lies within the sentence regarding the primal origins is however not an activity brought about by human gestures or actions, because it is the activity which streams out of the verb, the active word. We are not transported back into the ancient mists of the nebular hypothesis by the Kant-Laplace theory, but we will be led back to the sound and loud prehistoric power. This returning into a prehistoric power is something which was experienced powerfully in the first Christian centuries, and it was also strongly felt that it deals with a verb, because it is an absurdity to say: In the prehistoric times there was a noun.—We call it "Word" which can be any part of speech. Of course, it can't be so in the case of St John's Gospel.
[ 14 ] In even further times in the past, things were even more different. They were so that for certain beings, for certain perceptions of beings one had the feeling that they should be treated with holy reserve, one couldn't just put them in your mouth and say them. For this reason, a different way had to be found regarding expression, and this detour I can express by saying something like the following. Think about a group of children living with their parents somewhere in an isolated house. Every couple of weeks the uncle comes, but the children don't say the uncle comes, but the "man" comes. They mean it is the uncle, but they generalise and say it is "the man." The father is not the "man"; they know him too well to call him "man." In this way earlier religious use of language hid some things which they didn't want to express outwardly because one had the inner reaction of profanity, and so it was stated as a generalization, like also in the first line of St John's Gospel, "in the beginning was the Word." However, one doesn't mean the word which actually stands there but one calls it something which has been picked out, a singular "Word." It was after all something extraordinary, this "Word." There are as many words as there are men, but children said, "the man," and so one didn't say what was meant in St John's Gospel, but instead one said, "the Word." The word in this case was Jahveh, so that St John's Gospel would say: "In the primal beginnings was Jahveh," so one doesn't say "God," but "the Word."
[ 15 ] Such things must be acquired again by living within Christianity and what Christianity has derived from the ritual practice of the Old Testament. There is no shortcut to understanding the Gospels; a lively participation in the ancient Christian times is necessary for Gospel understanding. Basically, this is what has again become enlivened through Anthroposophy, while such things have in fact only risen out of Anthroposophic research. We then have the following: In the primordial times was he word—in primordial time was Jahveh—and the word was with God—and Jahveh was with God. In the third line: And Jahveh was one of the Elohim.—This is actually the origin, the start of the St John Gospel which refers to the multiplicity of the Elohim, and Jahveh as one of them—in fact there were seven—as lifted out of the row of the Elohim. Further to this lies the basis of the relationship between Christ and Jahveh.
Take sunlight—moonlight is the same, it is also sunlight but only reflected by the moon—it doesn't come from some ancient being, it is a reflection. In primordial Christianity an understanding existed for the Christ-word, where Christ refers to his own being by saying: "Before Abraham was, I am" and many others. There certainly was an understanding for the following: Just as the sunlight streams out of itself and the moon reflects it back, so the Christ-being who only appeared later, streamed out in the Jahveh being. We have a fulfilment in the Jahveh-being preceding the Christ-being in time. Through this St John's Gospel becomes deepened through feeling from the first line to the line which says: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us." Even today we don't believe a childlike understanding suffices for the words of the Bible, when we research the Bible by translating it out of an ancient language until we penetrate what lies in the words. Of course, one can say, only through long, very long spiritual scientific studies can one approach the Bible text. That finally, is also my conviction.
[ 16 ] Basically, the Bible no longer exists; we have a derivative which we have put together more and more from our abstract language. We need a new starting point in order to try and find what really, in an enlivened way, is in the Bible. For this I have suggested an approach which I will speak about tomorrow, in the interpretation of Mathew 13 and Mark 13. You will have to state in any case that even commenting on the Bible makes it necessary to deal with the Bible impartially. If it is stated that something is mentioned which had only taken place in the year 70, therefore the relevant place could not have been mentioned before other than what had happened after this event, this could be said only if it is announced at the beginning of the Bible explanation that the Bible will be explained completely from a materialistic point of view; then it may be done like this. The Bible itself does not follow the idea that it should be explained materialistically. The Bible itself makes it necessary that the foreseeing of coming events is first and foremost ascribed to Christ Jesus himself, and also ascribed to the apostles. Thus, as I've said, this outlook is what I want to enter into tomorrow on the basis of Mathew 13 and Mark 13, by giving a little interpretation as it has been asked for.
[ 17 ] Another question asks about the reality behind the apostolic succession and the priest ordination. This question can hardly be answered briefly because it relates deeply to the abyss which exists between today's evangelist-protestant religious understanding and all nuances of Catholic understanding. It is important that in the moment when these things are spoken about, one must try to acquire a real understanding beyond the rational or rationalistic and beyond the intellectualistic. This is acquired even by those who have little right to live in the sense of such an understanding. In the past I have become acquainted with a large number of outstanding theosophical luminaries, Leadbeater also among them, about whom you would have heard, and some other people, who worked in the Theosophical Society. I have recently had the opportunity—otherwise I would not have worried about it again—to experience, that some of these people are Catholic bishops; it struck me as extraordinary that a part of them were Catholic priests. Leadbeater in any case had, after various things became known about him, not exactly the qualification to become a Catholic bishop. Still this interested me about how people become Catholic priests. One thing is observed with utmost severity, which is the succession. In order for me to see which people have the right to be Catholic bishops, I was given a document which revealed that in a certain year a Catholic bishop left the Catholic church, but one who was ordained, and he then ordained others—right up to Mr Leadbeater—and ordination proceeds in an actual continuation, in an absolutely correct progress; they actually have created a "family tree" by it. I don't want to talk about the start of the "family tree" but you must accept that if it would be a natural progression that there once was an ordained bishop in Rome who dropped away, who then however ordained all the others, so all these Theosophical luminaries would refer back to a real descent of their priesthood to that which once existed. Therefore, awareness of this succession is everywhere present and such things are, according to their understanding, taken completely as the reality.
[ 18 ] Something like this must be taken as a reality within the Roman Catholic Church. The old Catholic church more or less didn't have the feeling—but within the Roman Catholic church it is certain accepted this way—that the moment the priest crosses the stole he no longer represents a single personality or attitude but he is then only a member of the church and speaks as a representative, as a member of the church. The Roman Catholic Church considered itself certainly as a closed organism, where the individual loses his individuality through ordination; they see it this way increasingly.
[ 19 ] Now something else is in contrast to this. You may think about what I've said as you wish, but I can only speak from my point of view, from the viewpoint of my experience. I have seen much within the transubstantiation. Today in the Catholic Church there is quite a strict difference according to which priest would perform the transubstantiation, yet I have always seen how during the transformation, during the transubstantiation, the host takes on an aura. Therefore, I have come to recognise within the objective process, that when it is worthily accomplished, it is certainly fulfilled. I said, you may think about this as you wish, I say it to you as something which can be looked at from one hand, and on the other hand also as a basic conviction of the church being valid while it was still Catholic, when the evangelist church hadn't become a splintering off. We very soon come back to reality when we look at these things and it must even be said within the sacrament of mass being celebrated there is something like a true activity, which is not merely an outer sign but a real act. If you now take all the sacraments of mass together which had been celebrated, you will create an entirety, a whole, and this is something which stands there as a fact. It is something which certainly touches things, where the evangelical mind would say: Yes, there is something magical in the Catholic Mass.—This it does contain. It also contained within it the magical part, one can experience in the evangelist mind as something perhaps heathen. Good, talk to one another about this. In any case this underscores it as being a reality, which one can't without further ado, without approaching the bearer of this reality, celebrate a mass. I say celebrate; it can be demonstrated, one can show everything possible, but one can't celebrate with the claim that through the mass what should happen at the altar will only happen when it is read without any personal imprint, in absolute application.
You see, it is ever present there where one works with the mysteries; it is simply so, when one works with the mysteries. Just as no Masonic ceremony may be carried out by a non-Mason in the consciousness of the Freemason, nor may a non-ordained person in true Catholicism work from out of Catholicism and perform with full validity the ceremony in consciousness.
[ 20 ] This is where we are being directed and must consult. I want you to take note that in this case the Catholic rules were actually very strict. Please don't take things up in such a way as if I am saying this towards pro-Catholicism; I only want to point out the situation. It isn't important for us to be for, or opposed, to Catholicism, because it's about something quite different. Particular customs were very strictly adhered to in the Catholic Church—not at all what is today in Rome's mood and procedure. If a priest became so unworthy as to be excommunicated, then his skin would be ripped off, scraped off from his fingers where he had held the sacred host in his hands. His skin would be scraped off. Sometimes such things are referred to but legally it is so, and I know such processes quite well, that after the priest's excommunication the skin of the fingers which touched the host, were scraped off. You can certainly set the objective instead of the succession that goes from the apostles through the priesthood to the priest celebrating today. You can set that which goes through consecration and through the sacraments themselves. You can exclude priesthood, but you can only exclude that by taking things objectively, right to a certain degree, objectively, that the priest no longer may have skin on his fingers when he is no longer authorised to celebrate the sacrificial mass.
[ 21 ] Isn't it true, if you have Catholic feeling, it is something as definite to you as two plus two making four? It is something definite according to religious feeling. When you don't have that then you as modern people must have a certain piety, which says to you the Catholic church has also just preserved the celebration of mass and if this is carried outside the circle to which it had been entrusted—other circles have not preserved the sacrifice of mass—if it is being performed in other circles it is pure theft. Real theft. These things must also be understood from such concepts. I believe to some it appears very difficult to understand what I am saying but in conclusion it has as such a certain validity which needs to be achieved through understanding. We don't have to worry about it here because you can experience the mass according to what there is to experience. As far as the training of a new ritual is concerned, it would not be disturbed at all by this, that the Catholic mass regards the mass to be something so real that it may certainly not to be removed from the field of Catholicism.
[ 22 ] This is firstly something which I wanted to say during our limited time. When I speak about the mass itself, and I will do so, I will still have a few things to add.
Siebenter Vortrag
Emil Bock eröffnet die Diskussionsstunde und formuliert folgende Fragen:
1. Wie kann man aus der heute vormittag beschriebenen sprachbildenden Kraft heraus, in die man irgendwie ja doch den Zugang suchen muß, auch eine neue Technik des Sprechens und vielleicht auch eine neue Technik der Geste und des Gestaltens überhaupt bekommen?
2. Wie kommen wir tatsächlich jetzt real gesprochen zu einem neuen Bibelverständnis, zu einem neuen Bibeltext? Ferner bitten wir Herrn Dr. Steiner, gelegentlich etwas genauer zu besprechen zwei Kapitel aus den synoptischen Evangelien, Matthäus 13 und Markus 13.
3. Was steht für eine Realität hinter der apostolischen Sukzession, der Tradition und der Priesterweihe im technischen Sinn, und wie ist etwa in Zukunft eine solche Realität wieder zugänglich zu machen?
[ 1 ] Rudolf Steiner: Nun, bezüglich der ersten Frage: Sie werden schon gesehen haben, meine lieben Freunde, aus dem, was ich heute morgen gesagt habe, daß gesucht werden muß in der Veranschaulichung der auf das Übersinnliche bezüglichen Seeleninhalte auch dasjenige, was auf den Weg zur sprachbildenden Kraft führt. Sprachbildende Kraft: Wir haben heute eigentlich kein direktes Lautverständnis mehr, wir haben im Grunde genommen nurmehr ein solches Verständnis für die Worte, daß unsere Worte Zeichen bleiben. Nun muß ja der Mensch natürlich von demjenigen ausgehen, was, möchte ich sagen, das Geistesmilieu seiner Zeit ist. Es muß also der Mensch aus der gegenwärtigen Zeit gerade für solche intimen Dinge von dem ausgehen, was gegenwärtig vorhanden ist. Gerade eine solche Frage aber bringt natürlich zunächst auf Gebiete, die in das rein Technische hineinführen. Zunächst hat man nötig, das Verständnis für den Laut wiederum in sich rege zu machen. Man kommt nicht leicht zu einem freien Gebrauch der Sprache, wenn man nicht den Laut als solchen in sich rege macht. Ich möchte so vorgehen, daß ich Sie vielleicht zunächst auf gewisse Beispiele aufmerksam mache.
[ 2 ] Sehen Sie, wenn wir im Deutschen sagen «Kopf», dann haben wir ja heute im Bewußtsein kaum etwas anderes, als daß wir die Gesamtperzeption, die wir durch das Ohr bekommen, nun eben auf den menschlichen Kopf beziehen. Wenn wir sagen «Fuß», haben wir kaum etwas anderes, als daß wir den Toninhalt, den Lautinhalt empfinden und beziehen auf irgendeinen Fuß. Nun brauchen wir ja nur, sagen wir, zu den romanischen Sprachen zu gehen, Kopf ist testa, tete, Fuß ist pedum, pied, da haben wir sogleich das Gefühl, daß da die Bezeichnung von etwas ganz anderem her genommen ist. Wenn wir das deutsche Wort «Kopf» aussprechen, so ist diese Bezeichnung von der Form her genommen, vom Anschauen der Form. Wir sind uns dessen heute nicht mehr bewußt, aber es ist doch so. Wenn wir sagen «Fuß», so ist das hergenommen vom Gehen, wo Furchen gezogen sind im Boden. Es ist also aus einem ganz gewissen Seeleninhalt heraus immer dasjenige zustandegekommen, was im Wort geprägt ist. Wenn wir eine Wortbildung wie, sagen wir, «Testament» nehmen und alle anderen Wortbildungen, die mit der romanischen Bezeichnung für Kopf, testa, zusammenhängen, so werden wir fühlen, daß die Bezeichnung «Kopf» im Romanischen hervorgeht aus dem Bekräftigen, also nicht aus der Bezeichnung der Form, sondern aus dem durch die menschliche Seele mit Hilfe des Kopfes, und zwar speziell der Mundwerkzeuge Bewirkten. «Pied» ist nicht vom Gehen, vom Furchenziehen, hergenommen, sondern es ist hergenommen vom Stehen, vom Aufdrücken im Stehen. Wir beurteilen heute gar nicht mehr die Motive, welche aus dem Seelischen heraus zur Sprachbildung führen. Wir können nur dann zu dem kommen, was man im echten Sinne ein Sprachgefühl nennen kann, wenn wir Wege einschlagen, die die Sprache viel gegenständlicher machen, als sie heute in ihrem abstrakten Zustande zumeist ist. Wenn heute jemand in der Terminologie lateinische Ausdrücke gebraucht, so sind bei manchem allerdings die lateinischen Ausdrücke noch gegenständlicher, bei manchem aber bezeichnen sie noch mehr. Zum Beispiel wird heute kaum klar empfunden der Zusammenhang zwischen «Substanz» und «subsistieren», weil der Begriff «subsistieren» im Grunde genommen ganz verlorengegangen ist. Von dem Vater-Gotte würde derjenige, der das ursprüngliche Gefühl der Substanz und des Subsistierens noch hatte, nicht gesagt haben: der Vater-Gott «existiert», sondern er «subsistiert».
[ 3 ] Gerade das Verfolgen der Sprachen in dieser Weise und in einer anderen Weise, die ich gleich erwähnen will, führt dazu, wiederum ein lebendiges Sprachgefühl zu entwickeln, und das führt dann zu dem, was ich nennen möchte ein Sprachgewissen. Wir brauchen ein Sprachgewissen. Wir reden ja heute wirklich nur so drauflos, indem wir uns als Menschen der Sprache gegenüber mehr zu Automaten machen als zu einem lebenden Wesen. Ehe wir nicht dazu kommen, die Sprache so lebendig mit uns zu verbinden, wie unsere Haut mit uns verbunden ist, eher werden wir nicht zum richtigen Symbolisieren kommen. Die Haut tut Ihnen weh, wenn Sie gestochen werden. Die Sprache hält man durchaus auch dann aus, wenn sie malträtiert wird. Man muß gegenüber der Sprache eben dieses Gefühl bekommen, daß sie malträtiert werden kann, weil sie ein in sich geschlossener Organismus ist wie unsere Haut. Wir können uns dadurch viel erwerben nach dieser Richtung, daß wir uns ein lebendiges Empfinden aneignen für den einen oder anderen Dialekt. Sehen Sie, wir haben hier des öfteren Weihnachtsspiele aufgeführt, und in diesen Weihnachtsspielen kommt auch der Satz eines Wirtes vor oder ein Satz, den mehrere Wirte aussprechen. Als Josef und Maria nach Bethlehem gehen und Herberge suchen, da werden sie zurückgestoßen von drei Wirten, und jeder der drei Wirte sagt: I als a wirt von meiner gstalt, hab in mein haus und logament gwalt. — Ja, was stellt sich der heutige Mensch da vor? Er versteht: Ich als ein Wirt von meiner Gestalt - und wird etwa denken, der Wirt sagt, er sei ein schöner Mann oder so irgend etwas, oder ein kräftiger Mann, der hat Gewalt in seiner Herberge, in seinem Haus. Das ist durchaus nicht gemeint. Wollten wir es ins Hochdeutsche übersetzen, müßten wir sagen: Ich als ein Wirt, der so gestellt ist, daß er reichlichen Zuspruch hat, der ist nicht angewiesen darauf, daß solche armen Leute ein Logament bei ihm finden; es heißt: Ich als ein Wirt in meiner sozialen Position, von meinem Gestelltsein. Das zeigt Ihnen, daß es notwendig ist, nicht bloß auf das hinzuhorchen, was man eben heute vielfach in der Sprache hört, sondern zugleich schon auf den Geist der Sprache einzugehen. Wir sagen im Hochdeutschen «Blitz». In der Steiermark heißt eine gewisse Form des Blitzes «Himmlatzer». In dem Wort «Blitz» haben Sie etwas ganz anderes gemeint als in dem Wort «Himmlatzer».
[ 4 ] Sie kommen dazu, aufmerksam zu sein auf verschiedene Dinge, wenn Sie sich dieses Sprachgefühl aneignen. Sehen Sie, solches Sichaneignen von Sprachgefühl führt zuweilen noch zu etwas außerordentlich Wichtigem. Goethe hat einmal im späten Alter, ich glaube dem Kanzler von Müller, einen Satz gesagt, der viel zitiert worden ist und der viel gebraucht worden ist, um die ganze Entstehungsweise des «Faust» bei Goethe zu erklären. Goethe hat gesagt, daß ihm die Konzeption des «Faust» vor 60 Jahren «von vorne herein» klar war, die weiteren Partien weniger ausführlich. Nun ist Kommentar auf Kommentar geschrieben worden, und auf diesen Satz hat man sich fast immer berufen, denn er ist ja psychologisch außerordentlich wichtig, und die Kommentatoren haben immer folgendes verstanden: Goethe hätte gewissermaßen von vornherein eine Art Plan für den «Faust» gehabt und hätte seine sechzig Jahre Leben - seit seinen Zwanziger- oder Achtzehnerjahren ungefähr — dazu verwendet, diesen «von vorne herein» vorhandenen Plan auszuarbeiten. Ich lernte in Weimar August Fresenius kennen, der zuerst beklagte, daß dieses große Unheil, wenn ich den Ausdruck gebrauchen darf, in die ganze Goethe-Forschung eingezogen war, und ich habe dazumal den sonst außerordentlich bedächtigen und langsamen Philologen dazu veranlaßt, so schnell als möglich die Sache zu veröffentlichen, damit es nicht so fortgeht, sonst hätte man noch ein paar Dutzend solcher Goethe-Kommentare bekommen. Es handelt sich darum, daß Goethe den Ausdruck «von vorne herein» nie anders gebrauchte als anschaulich, nicht im Sinne von «a priori», sondern «von vorne herein» in ganz anschaulicher Weise, so daß man strikte nachweisen konnte, daß Goethe nicht einen Gesamtplan hatte, sondern nur «von vorne herein», nur die ersten Seiten hingeschrieben hatte, von den weiteren Partien nur einzelne Sätze. Von einem Gesamtplan kann gar nicht die Rede sein. Es hängt sehr viel davon ab, daß man ein Wort richtig empfindet. Viele Menschen haben, wenn das Wort «von vornherein» ausgesprochen wird, überhaupt nicht mehr das Gewissen, daran zu denken, daß «vornherein» ein «vorn» und ein «herein» enthält, und daß man etwas im Geiste sehen sollte, wenn man es ausspricht. Dieses Nicht-das-Wort-einfach-Entlassen ohne Anschauung, das ist etwas, worauf ungeheuer viel ankommt, wenn man zu einer symbolisierenden Sprachweise kommen will. Und gerade nach dieser Richtung wäre ja außerordentlich viel zu sagen.
[ 5 ] Sehen Sie, wir haben ja diese merkwürdige Erscheinung der Fritz Mauthnerschen Sprachkritik, wo alles Wissen und alles Erkennen in Frage gestellt wird, weil alles Wissen und alles Erkennen sich in der Sprache ausdrückt, und weil Fritz Mauthner in der Sprache nichts mehr findet, was auf irgendeine Realität hindeutet.
[ 6 ] Wie herb ist es beurteilt worden, daß ich in meiner kleinen Schrift «Die geistige Führung des Menschen und der Menschheit» den Satz ausgesprochen habe, daß früher alles Vokalisieren darauf ausging, das innere Erleben des Menschen zu bezeichnen, und alles Konsonantisieren darauf ausging, die äußeren Vorgänge, die man sieht oder sonst wahrnimmt, nachzubilden; immer dasjenige, was der Mensch perzipiert, drückt sich im Konsonantischen aus, und im Vokalisieren die inneren Erlebnisse, Gefühle, Emotionen und dergleichen. Damit hängt dann die eigentümliche Art und Weise zusammen, wie im Hebräischen der Konsonant verschieden vom Vokal in der Schrift behandelt wird. Damit hängt es auch zusammen, daß in Gegenden, in denen primitivere Völker wohnen, die kein stark entwickeltes Innenleben haben, vorzugsweise konsonantisierte Sprachen auftreten, nicht Vokalsprachen. Das geht sehr weit, diese Art und Weise des In-den-Konsonanten-Gehens der Sprache. Man denke nur, was afrikanische Sprachen an Konsonanten bis zu Schnalzlauten haben.
[ 7 ] Sehen Sie, so kommt man dahinter, ein Verständnis zu gewinnen für dasjenige, was in der Sprache lautet. Man wird über das bloße Zeichen, das ja das Wort heute ist, hinausgeführt. Denn nur bei dem heutigen Sprachgefühl kann man das glauben, was Fritz Mauthner glaubt, daß alles Erkennen eigentlich auf der Sprache beruhe und die Sprache keinen Zusammenhang habe mit irgendeiner Realität. Nun kann man schon sehr viel dadurch erreichen, daß man gerade für diejenige Sprache, die man selber spricht, versucht, bis zum Mundartlichen zurückzugehen. Im Mundartlichen findet man noch sehr, sehr viel, wenn man sich dann wirklich etwas als Mensch benimmt, das heißt eingeht auf dasjenige, was man fühlen kann an der Sprache. Im Mundartlichen hat man noch reichlich Gelegenheit, das Sprachliche zu fühlen und zu empfinden im Lauten, aber auch in der Anlehnung an das Anschauliche, und man muß das soweit treiben, daß man wirklich, ich möchte sagen, in eine Art von Entsagungszustand kommt in bezug auf Ausdrücke, die nun ganz und gar abgesondert vom menschlichen Erleben irgend etwas ausdrücken sollen. Etwas, was unser Sprachgefühl gründlich ruiniert, ist die Physik, und in der Physik, so wie sie heute ist, wo bloß angestrebt wird, objektive Vorgänge zu studieren und abzusehen von allem subjektiven Erleben, da sollte überhaupt nicht mehr gesprochen werden. Denn wenn Sie in der Physik davon sprechen, daß ein Körper den anderen stößt, wie zum Beispiel in der Elastizitätslehre, dann anthropomorphisieren Sie, denn eine Erfahrung vom Stoßen, sobald Sie ein Lautgefühl haben, haben Sie nur von dem Stoßen, das Ihre eigene Hand ausführt. Dann vor allen Dingen im S-Laut hat man durchaus ein Gefühl, das nicht anders bezeichnet werden kann als etwa so (es wird an die Tafel gezeichnet: Wellenlinie). Nun hat das Wort «Stoß» zwei S, am Anfang und am Ende; das gibt dem ganzen Worte seine Färbung, so daß derjenige, der das Wort «Stoß» oder «stoßen» ausspricht, nun tatsächlich sich so fühlen muß, wie wenn sein Ätherleib gehen würde, aber nicht nur gehen, nach vorn drängen würde und fortwährend aufgehalten wäre.
[ 8 ] Also es gibt schon Methoden, durch die man zur sprachbildenden Kraft kommt, die dann nicht mehr weit ist vom Symbolisieren, denn das Symbolum muß man eben auf diese Weise erhaschen, daß man die Sprache als lebendigen Organismus erlebt, daß man an der Sprache viel erlebt. Gewisse Dinge der Sprache, so sagte mir neulich jemand, brauchen nur ausgesprochen zu werden, und man ist überrascht, wie sie sich zeigen wie selbstverständlich. Die Griechen haben im Hexameter rezitiert. Warum? Ja, weil der Hexameter ein Erlebnis im Menschen ist. Der Mensch bringt die Sprache hervor, indem er, wie ich schon gesagt habe, seiner Atmung etwas einverleibt. Aber die Atmung hängt innig zusammen mit einem anderen Element des rhythmischen Menschen, mit dem Pulsschlag, mit der Blutzirkulation. Im Durchschnitt, natürlich nicht absolut, haben wir 18 Atemzüge und 72 Pulsschläge. 72 ist 4 mal 18. Viermal 18 Pulsschläge, das gibt einen Rhythmus, ein Zusammenschlagen im Innern. Und in einer Zeit, in der man noch ursprünglicher, noch elementarer gespürt hat, was im Innern vorgeht, empfand man, wenn es einem gelingt, im Sprechen ein solches Verhältnis herzustellen, wie es der Pulsschlag gibt im Verhältnis zum Atemzug, daß dann der Vollmensch sich ausspricht. Und dieses Verhältnis, nicht das absolute Zeitmaß, dieses Verhältnis kann herbeigeführt werden, die Zäsur muß man nur dazurechnen als vierten Fuß (Tafel 3, links oben), dann haben Sie in der griechischen Hexameter-Halbzeile das Verhältnis von 4 zu 1 wie im Pulsschlag zum Atemrhythmus. Aus der menschlichen Struktur heraus ist der Hexameter geboren, und andere Versmaße sind durchaus in ähnlicher Weise aus dem rhythmischen Menschen heraus geboren. Man kann schon, wenn die Sprache künstlerisch behandelt wird, auch fühlen, wie bei der wirklich künstlerischen Behandlung der Sprache der Mensch in der Sprache lebt. Das gibt die Möglichkeit, ein viel innigeres Verhältnis zur Sprache zu bekommen, aber auch ein viel objektiveres. Die verschiedenen chauvinistischen Gefühle im Verhältnis zur Sprache hören auf, weil die Konfigurationen der verschiedenen Sprachen aufhören und man für das Allgemeine des Lautens ein Ohr bekommt. Das sind solche Dinge, die auf dem Wege liegen zu einer Erlangung sprachbildender Kraft. Das führt aber zuletzt dahin, sich selber zu hören, wenn man spricht. Das ist eigentlich in gewisser Beziehung schwierig, aber es kann sogar unterstützt werden. Mir scheint, aus verschiedenen Gründen heraus, daß für denjenigen, der durch das Wort aufzutreten hat, auch notwendig ist, die Schrift nicht so zu behandeln, wie sie heute von vielen behandelt wird. Sie werden gleich sehen, warum ich dies sage.
[ 9 ] In bezug auf das Schreiben gibt es zweierlei Menschen. Die Majorität lernt schreiben wie eine Art von gewohnheitsmäßigem Hinpfahlen der Worte. Man ist gewöhnt, die Hände in einer gewissen Weise zu bewegen und schreibt so; das ist die Majorität. Der Schreibunterricht wird sogar sehr häufig so erteilt, daß man dazu kommt. Die Minorität schreibt eigentlich nicht in diesem Sinne in Wirklichkeit, sondern sie zeichnet (es wird an die Tafel geschrieben: Kann). Sie schaut zugleich beim Zeichnen die Buchstaben an, die hingeschrieben werden, es ist eine künstlerische Behandlung des Schreibens, es ist ein viel innigeres Dabeisein. Ich habe Menschen kennengelernt, die sind zum Schreiben förmlich dressiert worden. Da war zum Beispiel einmal eine Schreibmethode, die bestand darin, daß die Menschen vollständig dressiert worden sind, Kreise, Kurven zu machen, zu drehen, um dieses Gelenkgefühl zu bekommen, und dann mußten sie daraus die Buchstaben formen; sie konnten dann auch nur in dieser Weise aus diesen Kurven heraus die Buchstaben zustandekriegen. Bei einer großen Anzahl davon habe ich dann gesehen, daß sie überhaupt, bevor sie anfingen zu schreiben, Bewegungen in der Luft machten mit der Feder. Das ist dasjenige, was das Schreiben in das Unbewußte des Körpers hineinholt. Nun geht aber unsere Sprache aus dem ganzen Menschen hervor, und wenn man sich durch das Schreiben verdirbt, verdirbt man sich auch für die Sprache. So daß gerade derjenige, der darauf angewiesen ist, die Sprache zu handhaben, eigentlich schon an diese Reflexion sich gewöhnen sollte, nicht nur aus der Hand heraus sein Schreiben fließen zu lassen, sondern es anzuschauen, es richtig anzuschauen, wenn er schreibt.
[ 10 ] Das ist nun aber etwas, meine lieben Freunde, was in unserer gegenwärtigen Kultur ein Außerordentliches bedeutet. Denn wir sind ja überhaupt auf dem Wege, uns zu entmenschen. Ich habe schon eine große Anzahl von Briefen bekommen, die nicht mit der Feder geschrieben sind, sondern mit der Schreibmaschine. Nun denken Sie sich, was das anderes ist, wenn man einen Brief mit der Schreibmaschine geschrieben bekommt statt mit der Feder. Ich agitiere nicht gegen die Schreibmaschine, ich betrachte sie als eine selbstverständliche Notwendigkeit der Zivilisation, aber wir brauchen den Gegenpol doch auch. Indem wir uns in dieser Weise entmenschen, indem wir den Zusammenhang mit der Außenwelt auf diese Weise absolut in ein Mechanistisches, in ein Totes verwandeln, müssen wir dafür wiederum Lebenskraft in uns aufnehmen. Wir brauchen heute stärkere Lebenskräfte als in der Zeit, in welcher man von der Schreibmaschine noch nichts wußte.
[ 11 ] Also derjenige, der das Wort handhaben soll, sollte sich auch ein gewisses Verständnis aneignen für das fortwährende Anschauen, während er schreibt, daß es ihm auch gefällt, was er schreibt, daß er einen Eindruck hat, daß die Sache nicht bloß ein aus dem Subjekt Hinausgeflossenes ist, sondern etwas, was man zu gleicher Zeit anschaut, so daß die gesamte Sache in einem lebt. Meistens liegen eben die Dinge, die man braucht, um irgendeine Fähigkeit auszubilden, nicht auf einem direkten, sondern auf einem indirekten Weg. Und ich mußte diesen Weg sagen, weil ich gefragt wurde, wie man zu einer Ausgestaltung der sprachbildenden Kraft kommt. Denn auf diesem Wege, von dem ich gesprochen habe, liegt die Sache zunächst. Ich betone nur nebenbei, die Sprache stammt aus dem gesamten Menschen, und je mehr der Mensch die Sprache noch fühlt, desto mehr bewegt er sich beim Sprechen. Es ist merkwürdig, wie zum Beispiel gerade in England, wo ja der Prozeß des Ahrimanisierens, des Loskommens des Menschens von der Verbindung mit der Umgebung, am weitesten fortgeschritten ist, wie es da gute Sitte ist, zu sprechen mit den Händen in der Hosentasche fest darinnen gehalten, damit sie ja nicht in Gefahr kommen, sich zu bewegen. Ich habe viele Engländer so sprechen gesehen. Ich habe mir seither die Taschen nie mehr vorn machen lassen, sondern immer rückwärts, solchen Abscheu habe ich bekommen vor diesem ganz unmenschlichen Nichtdabeisein bei dem, was man spricht. Es ist einfach ein materialistisches Vorurteil, daß die Sprache nur aus dem Kopf kommt; sie kommt eben aus dem ganzen Menschen, vor allen Dingen aber aus den Armen, und wir sind — ich sage hiermit einen Satz, der natürlich eingeschränkt gilt —, wir sind aus dem Grund keine Affen oder Tiere, die ihre Hände benützen müssen zum Klettern oder zum Sichanhalten, sondern sie frei haben, weil wir durch diese freien Hände und freien Arme gerade die Handhabung der Sprache haben. In dem, was wir mit den Armen greifen, mit den Fingern bilden, drückt sich dasjenige aus, was wir brauchen, um in der Sprache zu modellieren. So daß es eine gewisse Berechtigung hat, um wieder in die Menschheit diesen Zusammenhang der Sprache mit dem ganzen Menschen hineinzubringen, nun wirklich sachgemäß die Eurythmie auszubilden, die ja eben wirklich darin besteht, aus der menschlichen Organisation herauszuholen, was im physischen Leibe sich nicht vollzieht, was aber im Ätherleibe sich immer vollzieht, wenn wir sprechen. Der ganze Mensch ist in Bewegung, und wir übertragen einfach, indem wir eurythmisieren, die Bewegung des ätherischen Leibes auf den physischen Leib. Das ist das Prinzip. Es ist wirklich das Eurythmisieren etwas, was so mit einer Notwendigkeit, mit einer Gesetzmäßigkeit aus dem Menschen herausgeholt wird wie die Lautsprache selbst. Es muß eben eine Art von Gegenpol da sein gegen alles das, was in der Gegenwart auftritt, um den Menschen fremd zu machen gegenüber der Außenwelt, kein Verhältnis mehr eintreten zu lassen zwischen dem Menschen und seiner Umgebung. Das Eurythmisieren bringt jedenfalls die Menschheit wiederum dazu zurück, bei der Sprache dabei zu sein und ist, aus den Gründen, die ich oftmals auseinandergesetzt habe, eben eine Kunst. Nun, wenn man die Dinge berücksichtigt, die ich gerade auseinandergesetzt habe, dann kommt die [heute übliche] Technik des Sprechens im Grunde genommen unter das Schema der Pedanterie. Dasjenige, worauf heute gerade so großer Wert gelegt wird in Rezitationsschulen und dergleichen, das ist wiederum nur eine Begleiterscheinung der materialistischen Weltanschauung. Sehen Sie, geradeso wie man in einer Bildhauerschule, in einer Malerschule, nicht eigentlich die Handgriffe lehrt, sondern korrigiert, ins Leben hineinführt, so sollte auch Sprachtechnik nicht so pedantisch gelehrt werden mit allen möglichen Nasen-, Brust- und Bauchresonanzen. Diese Dinge dürfen nur an der lebendigen Sprache, am Sprechen selbst entwickelt werden. Indem der Mensch spricht, darf er höchstens auf das eine oder andere aufmerksam gemacht werden. In dieser Beziehung wird ja heute außerordentlich Gräßliches geleistet, und die verschiedenen Gesangs- und Sprachschulen können einem eigentlich zum Ekel sein, denn es zeigt sich, wie wenig der Mensch noch Innerlichkeit hat. Die Gestaltung des Sprechens ergibt sich, wenn die Dinge beachtet werden, von denen ich gesprochen habe. Nun, wenn die Frage noch genauer beantwortet werden soll, bitte ich, mich entsprechend darauf aufmerksam zu machen.
[ 12 ] Nun wurde gefragt nach einem neuen Bibelkommentar, überhaupt, wie man zu einem neuen Bibeltext kommt.
[ 13 ] Sehen Sie, die Dinge liegen ja so, daß man zu einem Bibelverständnis erst wiederum wird vordringen müssen. Da muß manches vorangehen. Denn wenn Sie alles das nehmen, was ich gerade mit Bezug auf die Sprache gesagt habe, und dann sich überlegen, daß ja der Bibeltext hervorgegangen ist aus einem ganz anderen Erleben der Sprache, als wir es heute haben und auch, als man es Jahrhunderte vorher zu Luthers Zeiten hatte, dann können Sie gar nicht hoffen, daß nur durch kleine äußere Veränderungen irgendwie zu einem Bibelverständnis vorgedrungen werden kann. Zum Bibelverständnis gehört vor allen Dingen ein wirkliches Eindringen in das Christentum, und eigentlich kann nur aus einem solchen auch ein Bibeltext hervorgehen, der für uns etwas ähnliches sein kann, wie es die Evangelien einmal für die ersten Christen waren. In der Zeit der ersten Christen hatte man durchaus das Lautgefühl, und manches, was man in der Sprache erleben kann im Eingange des JohannesEvangeliums, erlebte natürlich auch der Mensch der ersten christlichen Jahrhunderte noch ganz anders, als man es heute erleben kann. «Im Urbeginne war das Wort» —, ja, sehen Sie, heute ist in dieser Zeile nicht viel mehr gegeben als ein Zeichen, möchte ich sagen. Wir kommen schon dem Verständnis näher, wenn wir statt «Wort», was ja für uns schon furchtbar schattenhaft und abstrakt ist, «Verbum» setzen und wirklich auch unser Gefühl für das Verbum im Gegensatz zum Substantivum entwickeln. Im Urbeginne war das Verbum, nicht das Substantivum. Ich will es zunächst in dieser Abstraktion sagen. Verbum ist für uns ganz richtig das Zeitwort, das Tätigkeitswort; und es ist ein Unding, daran zu denken, in die Region, die man bezeichnet hat als «im Urbeginne», etwa das Substantivum hinzusetzen. Es hat nur einen Sinn, das Verbum, das Tätigkeitswort, hinzusetzen. Es liegt in diesem Satze schon das darin, daß im Urbeginne eine Tätigkeit war, welche aber nicht die Tätigkeit ist, die der Mensch mit Gebärden oder mit Handhabungen verrichtet, sondern die Tätigkeit, die aus dem Verbum, aus dem Tätigkeitswort herausströmt. Wir werden nicht wie durch die Kant-Laplacesche Nebularhypothese in einen Urnebel versetzt, sondern wir werden in eine tönende und lautende Urgeschehnismacht zurückgeführt. Dieses Zurückgeführtwerden in eine Urgeschehnismacht ist etwas, was in den ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten stark gefühlt worden ist; und stark wurde da auch gefühlt, daß es sich um das Verbum handelt, und daß es ein Unding wäre zu sagen: Im Urbeginne war das Substantivum. — Wir sagen «Wort», das kann jeder beliebige Redeteil sein. Das kann es natürlich nicht sein im Sinne des Johannes-Evangeliums.
[ 14 ] Nun liegt aber in weiter zurückliegenden Zeiten die Sache wieder anders. Da liegt sie so, daß man für gewisse Wesenheiten, für gewisse Perzeptionen von Wesenheiten das Gefühl hatte, man muß sie mit heiliger Scheu behandeln, und man darf sie nicht so einfach in den Mund nehmen und aussprechen. Daher hat man einen Umweg gesucht zum Aussprechen, und diesen Umweg kann ich Ihnen veranschaulichen, wenn ich etwa folgendes sage: Denken Sie sich irgendwo eine Kinderschar mit den Eltern, sie wohnen in einem Hause ziemlich einsam; alle paar Wochen kommt der Oheim, die Kinder sagen aber nicht: der Oheim kommt — sondern: der «Mann» kommt. — Sie meinen ja den Oheim, aber sie generalisieren, es ist eben der «Mann». Der Vater ist aber nicht der «Mann», den kennen sie zu genau, als daß sie «Mann» zu ihm sagen. Und so verbarg man im früheren religiösen Sprachgebrauch manches, was man nicht auszusprechen willens war, weil man es nur innerlich erleben wollte, weil man es profaniert fand im Aussprechen, man setzte dann etwas Generelles, und so auch in der ersten Zeile des Johannes-Evange liums «Im Urbeginne war das Wort». Aber man sagte nicht das Wort, das da eigentlich stand, sondern man nannte etwas Herausgegriffenes, Herausgegliedertes «Wort». Das war noch etwas besonderes, das «Wort». Es gibt viele Worte, wie es viele Männer gibt, aber die Kinder sagen «der Mann», und so sagte man im Johannes-Evangelium nicht dasjenige, was man meinte, sondern man sagte «das Wort». Und das «Wort» war in diesem Falle Jahve, so daß das Johannes-Evangelium beginnt: Im Urbeginne war Jahve. Aber man spricht «Jahve» nicht aus, man sagt «das Wort».
[ 15 ] Man muß solche Dinge durchaus durch das Hineinleben in das Christentum und wiederum in das, was das Christentum aus dem Kultusgebrauch des Alten 'Testamentes aufgenommen hat, gewinnen. Es gibt nicht eine kurze Anweisung, um das Evangelium zu verstehen, sondern das lebendige Hineinleben in die christliche Urzeit ist notwendig zum Evangelien-Verständnis. Und das ist etwas, was ja im Grunde genommen wiederum so recht lebendig geworden ist durch die Anthroposophie, weil solche Dinge überhaupt nur herauskommen durch anthroposophische Forschung. Wir haben dann: Im Urbeginne war das Wort - im Urbeginne war Jahve -, und das Wort war bei Gott - und Jahve war bei Gott. Und die dritte Zeile: Und Jahve war einer der Elohim. — Das ist eigentlich der Ursprung, der Anfang des Johannes-Evangeliums, in dem hingewiesen wird auf die Mehrheit der Elohim, und Jahve als einer - in Wahrheit waren es sieben — herausgehoben wird aus der Reihe der Elohim. Und weiter liegt dem zugrunde das Verhältnis, das besteht zwischen Christus und Jahve. Nehmen Sie das Sonnenlicht; das Mondenlicht ist dasselbe, es ist auch Sonnenlicht, nur ist es vom Monde zurückgeworfen; es kommt nicht von dem ureigenen Wesen, es ist eine Reflexion. In dem Urchristentum war durchaus noch ein Verständnis vorhanden für das Christus-Wort, wo Christus seine Wesenheit selbst bezeichnet, indem er sagt: «Ehe denn Abraham war, bin Ich» und noch manches andere. Es war durchaus ein Verständnis dafür vorhanden: So wie im Raume das Sonnenlicht sich verbreitet und vom Monde zurückgestrahlt wird, so strahlte die Christus-Wesenheit, die erst später erschien, schon zurück in der Jahve-Wesenheit. Wir haben eine der Christus-Wesenheit in der Zeit vorangehende Erfüllung in der Jahve-Wesenheit. Da wird das Johannes-Evangelium von den ersten Zeilen bis zu der Zeile «Und das Wort ist Fleisch geworden und hat unter uns gewohnt» wirklich gefühlsmäßig vertieft. Wir glauben eben heute nicht, daß das kindliche Verständnis des Bibelwortes ausreicht, wenn wir die Übersetzung der Bibel aus einer alten Sprache weiter zurück verfolgen, bis wir zu demjenigen kommen, was in dem Bibelworte liegt. Natürlich kann man sagen, da ist ja zu einem Bibeltext nur zu kommen durch lange, lange geisteswissenschaftliche Studien. — Das ist zuletzt auch meine Überzeugung.
[ 16 ] Wir haben im Grunde die Bibel nicht mehr, wir haben ein Derivat, das wir uns immer mehr und mehr für unsere abstrakt gewordene Sprache zurechtlegen. Wir brauchen einen neuen Ausgangspunkt, um zu versuchen, dasjenige, was wirklich lebendig in der Bibel liegt, wiederum zu finden. Damit habe ich den Gesichtspunkt angegeben, den ich dann morgen einhalten werde, indem ich versuchen werde, Ihnen Matthäus 13 und Markus 13 zu interpretieren. Sie werden allerdings dabei festhalten müssen, daß auch das Kommentieren der Bibel schon notwendig macht, daß man unbefangen auf die Bibel eingeht. Wer zum Beispiel sagt, da oder dort stehe etwas, was erst im Jahr 70 stattgefunden hat, also könne die betreffende Stelle nicht früher gesagt worden sein, als nachdem dieses Ereignis geschehen ist, der mag das sagen, aber man möchte dann nur, daß er an die Spitze seiner Bibelerklärung schreibt, er wolle die Bibel ganz materialistisch erklären; dann mag er es nur tun. Aus der Bibel selber folgt aber nicht, daß man sie materialistisch erklärt. Die Bibel macht schon notwendig, daß das Voraussehen kommender Ereignisse vor allen Dingen dem Christus Jesus selber, und auch den Aposteln zugeschrieben werde. Also wie gesagt, auf diesen Gesichtspunkt möchte ich morgen lieber anhand des Beispieles eingehen, wenn ich Ihnen Matthäus 13 und Markus 13 ein wenig interpretieren werde, wie es gewünscht wurde.
[ 17 ] Dann ist die Frage aufgeworfen worden, welche Realität hinter der apostolischen Sukzession und hinter der Priesterweihe steht. Die Frage ist kaum in Kürze so schnell zu beantworten, denn mit dieser Frage hängt ja viel von dem zusammen, was doch einen tiefen Abgrund zwischen dem heutigen evangelisch-protestantischen religiösen Verständnis und dem katholischen Verständnis aller Schattierungen darstellt. Es handelt sich durchaus darum, daß in dem Augenblick, wo man auf diese Dinge zu sprechen kommt, man auch versuchen muß, sich ein wirklich über das Rationelle oder Rationalistische und über das Intellektualistische hinausgehendes Verständnis zu erwerben. Das erwerben sich sogar diejenigen, die wenig Recht dazu haben, dann im Sinne eines solches Verständnisses zu leben. Ich habe in früherer Zeit eine große Anzahl hervorragender theosophischer Koryphäen kennengelernt, unter anderen auch Leadbeater, von dem Sie einiges werden gehört haben, und noch andere Leute, die in der Theosophischen Gesellschaft gewirkt haben. Ich hatte neulich Gelegenheit — sonst habe ich mich nicht weiter darum gekümmert —, die Erfahrung zu machen, daß ein Teil von diesen Leuten katholische Bischöfe sind; es fiel mir das außerordentlich auf, daß ein Teil von diesen Leuten katholische Priester sind. Leadbeater jedenfalls hat, nach den verschiedenen Dingen, die von ihm bekannt geworden sind, nicht gerade die Qualifikation, ein katholischer Bischof zu sein. Aber es hat mich die Sache doch interessiert, wie die Leute eben katholische Bischöfe werden. Eines wird dort mit aller Strenge eingehalten, [das ist die Sukzession]. Und damit ich sehe, daß die Leute ein Recht haben, katholische Bischöfe zu sein, wurde mir eine Schrift gegeben, aus welcher hervorgeht, daß in einem bestimmten Jahre ein katholischer Bischof aus der richtigen katholischen Kirche ausgetreten ist, also einer, der die Weihen hatte, der hat dann einen anderen wiederum geweiht, und bis zu Herrn Leadbeater geht heute das Weihen durchaus im richtigen Fortgang, im absolut richtigen Fortgang, sie haben absolut einen «Stammbaum» darin. Also vom Anfang des «Stammbaumes» will ich nicht reden, aber nehmen Sie an, das sei der natürliche Fortgang, daß einmal ein wirklich von Rom geweihter Bischof abgefallen war, der aber dann die anderen alle geweiht hat, so können alle diese theosophischen Koryphäen hinweisen auf eine wirkliche richtige Abstammung ihres Priestertums von dem, was einmal war. Also ein Bewußtsein der [Sukzession] ist schon durchaus vorhanden, und solche Dinge werden von denjenigen, die sie in ihrer Bedeutung verstehen, durchaus als Realitäten genommen.
[ 18 ] So etwas muß als Realität genommen werden innerhalb der römisch-katholischen Kirche. Die altkatholische Kirche hat das mehr oder weniger nicht mehr im Gefühl, aber innerhalb der römischkatholischen Kirche muß es durchaus so genommen werden, daß der Priester in dem Augenblick, wo er die Stola kreuzt, nicht mehr die einzelne Persönlichkeit vorstellt, auch nicht gehalten sein kann dazu, seine persönliche Überzeugung oder Meinung geltend zu machen, er ist nur ein Glied der Kirche und redet als Vertreter, als Glied der Kirche. Die römisch-katholische Kirche betrachtet sich durchaus als einen in sich geschlossenen Organismus, in dem der Einzelne seine Individualität durch die Priesterweihe verliert; immer mehr und mehr betrachtet sie sich so.
[ 19 ] Nun, dem steht einiges andere gegenüber. Sie mögen über das, was ich Ihnen jetzt sage, denken wie Sie wollen, aber ich kann ja nur von meinem Gesichtspunkt, vom Gesichtspunkte meiner Erfahrung aus sprechen. Ich habe viel beobachtet die Transsubstantiation. Nun ist heute innerhalb der katholischen Kirche allerdings eine starke Differenzierung vorhanden, je nachdem, ob der eine oder der andere Priester die Transsubstantiation bewirkt, aber immerhin habe ich doch gesehen, namentlich während meiner letzten Reise in Italien, wie während der Wandlung, während der Transsubstantiation, die Hostie eine Aura bekam. Also ich habe den objektiven Vorgang, der sich, wenn die Wandlung würdig vollzogen wird, vollzieht, durchaus als eine Realität kennengelernt. Ich sage, Sie mögen darüber denken wie Sie wollen, ich sage Ihnen eben dasjenige, was auf der einen Seite beobachtet werden kann, und was auf der anderen Seite auch als eine Grundüberzeugung der Kirche galt in denjenigen Zeiten, als die Kirche noch eine einige katholische war, und die evangelische Kirche noch nicht als eine Abzweigung da war. Also wir kommen schon zu Realitäten zurück, wenn wir diese Dinge anschauen, und da muß dann eben gesagt werden, es ist allerdings das Meßopfer, indem es zelebriert wird, etwas, das eine reale Handlung ist, das nicht bloß ein äußeres Zeichen ist, sondern eine reale Handlung. Und wenn Sie alle Messen zusammennehmen, die jemals gehalten worden sind, so bilden sie alle wiederum ein zusammenhängendes Ganzes, und das ist etwas, was als solches unmittelbar eben als eine Tatsache dasteht. Es ist etwas, wo man allerdings an Dinge rührt, wo das evangelische Gemüt sagt: Ja, dann liegt ja in der katholischen Messe etwas Magisches. — Das liegt auch darin. Das liegt eben auch darin, und das Magische darin empfindet dann das evangelische Gemüt vielleicht als ein Heidnisches. Gut, darüber ließe sich diskutieren. Aber jedenfalls begründet das, daß man es durchaus mit einer Realität zu tun hat, daß man nicht ohne weiteres, ohne heranzugehen an den Träger dieser Realität, eine Messe heute zelebrieren kann. Ich sage zelebrieren; man kann sie demonstrieren, man kann alles mögliche zeigen, aber man kann sie nicht zelebrieren mit dem Anspruch, daß durch die Messe dasjenige geschieht, was am Altar geschehen soll, ohne daß sie gelesen wird [von einer Persönlichkeit] mit dem absoluten Auftrag. Sehen Sie, so ist es überall da, wo mit Mysterien gearbeitet wird; es ist einmal so, wo mit Mysterien gearbeitet wird. Und ebensowenig, wie im Bewußtsein des Freimaurers eine freimaurerische Zeremonie von einem Nichtfreimaurer vollzogen werden darf, ebensowenig darf im Bewußtsein der katholischen Kirche von einem Nichtgeweihten eine richtige katholische, aus dem Katholizismus heraus gearbeitete und gewordene Zeremonie zelebriert werden, ausgeführt werden mit voller Geltung.
[ 20 ] Das ist dasjenige, worauf wir da geführt werden, was durchaus eingesehen werden muß. Ich mache Sie darauf aufmerksam, daß in dieser Beziehung ja die katholischen Regeln eigentlich sehr streng sind. Bitte fassen Sie die Dinge nicht so auf, als ob ich pro Katholizismus reden würde, sondern ich will nur auf das hinweisen, was ist, Es handelt sich nicht darum, dem Katholizismus pro oder contra zu reden, sondern um etwas ganz anderes. Gerade gewisse Gebräuche werden in der katholischen Kirche — jetzt gar nicht aus dem heraus, was heute in Rom Stimmung und Vorgehen ist - sehr streng eingehalten. Wenn ein Priester sich so unwürdig erweist, daß er exkommuniziert werden muß, dann wird ihm die Haut abgezogen, abgeschabt hier an den Fingern, mit denen er die geweihte Hostie in der Hand gehabt hat; die Haut wird ihm abgeschabt. Es wird manchmal über solche Dinge hinweggesehen, aber rechtlich ist es so, und ich kenne solche Vorgänge durchaus, daß nach der Priesterexkommunikation die Haut von den Fingern, die die geweihte Hostie berührt haben, abgeschabt worden ist. Sie können ja an die Stelle der Sukzession, die von den Aposteln durch die Priesterschaft bis zum heutigen zelebrierenden Priester geht, durchaus das Objektive setzen. Sie können dasjenige setzen, was durch die Weihe und durch die Sakramente selbst geht. Sie können ja ausschließen die Priesterschaft, aber Sie können sie gerade dadurch ausschließen, daß Sie die Sache objektiv nehmen, bis zu einem gewissen Grade objektiv nehmen, da der Priester gar nicht mehr die Fingerhaut haben darf, wenn er nicht mehr befugt ist, das Meßopfer zu zelebrieren.
[ 21 ] Nicht wahr, wenn Sie katholisches Gefühl haben, dann würde Ihnen das etwas sein, was ungefähr so sicher ist wie daß zwei mal zwei vier ist. Es ist eben etwas, was gefühlsmäßig religiös sicher ist. Wenn Sie das nicht haben, dann müssen Sie aber als moderne Menschen das Gefühl einer gewissen Pietät haben, das Ihnen sagt, die katholische Kirche hat eben bewahrt das Zelebrieren der Messe, und wird das ausgeführt außerhalb des Kreises, dem sie es selbst überträgt — andere Kreise haben ja das Meßopfer nicht bewahrt —, wird es ausgeführt in anderen Kreisen, dann ist es Diebstahl, richtiger Diebstahl. Man muß in solchen Sachen durchaus auch von solchen Begriffen auszugehen verstehen. Ich glaube, es wird manches sehr schwer verständlich erscheinen, was ich sage, aber schließlich hat es ja doch insofern einen Wert, als es ganz nützlich ist, wenn man sich für solche Dinge ein Verständnis aneignet. Uns braucht es hier nicht zu stören, denn Sie können über die Messe eben dasjenige erfahren, was darüber zu erfahren ist. Und was die Ausbildung eines neuen Kultus betrifft, das wird gar nicht dadurch gestört, daß man in der katholischen [Kirche die] Messe als etwas so Reales ansieht, daß es ganz gewiß nicht aus dem Gebiete der Katholizität herausgenommen werden darf.
[ 22 ] Das ist zunächst dasjenige, was ich in der beschränkten Zeit zu sagen habe. Wenn ich über die Messe selber spreche, und das werde ich tun, werde ich noch einiges darüber zu ergänzen haben.
Seventh lecture
Emil Bock opens the discussion hour and formulates the following questions:
1. How can we get a new technique of speaking and perhaps also a new technique of gesture and of forming out of the language-forming power described this morning, to which we must somehow seek access?
2. How can we actually arrive at a new understanding of the Bible and a new Bible text? We would also like to ask Dr. Steiner to discuss two chapters from the synoptic gospels, Matthew 13 and Mark 13, in more detail on occasion.
3. What reality lies behind apostolic succession, tradition and priestly ordination in the technical sense, and how can such a reality be made accessible again in the future?
[ 1 ] Rudolf Steiner: Now, regarding the first question: You will have seen, my dear friends, from what I said this morning, that we must seek in the visualization of the soul contents related to the supersensible, that which leads to the path to the power of forming language. We no longer have a direct understanding of sounds. We only have an understanding of words to the extent that our words remain signs. Now, of course, a person must start from what I would call the intellectual milieu of his time. For such intimate matters, a person in the present time must start from what is currently available. But such a question naturally leads first to areas that lead into the purely technical. First of all, it is necessary to stimulate one's understanding of the sound again. It is not easy to achieve a free use of language if one does not stimulate the sound as such within oneself. I would like to proceed in such a way that I may first draw your attention to certain examples.
[ 2 ] When we say “head” in German,we are hardly aware of anything other than the fact that we relate the overall perception we get from the ear to the human head. When we say “foot”, we are hardly aware of anything other than the fact that we perceive the tone content and relate it to some kind of foot. Now, if we go to the Romance languages, for example, we find that 'head' is testa, tete, and 'foot' is pedum, pied, and we immediately have the feeling that the designation of something quite different has been taken. When we speak the German word 'Kopf', the designation has been taken from the form, from looking at the form. We are no longer aware of this today, but it is the case. When we say 'foot', it is taken from walking, where furrows are drawn in the ground. It is therefore always the case that what is imprinted in the word has emerged from a very specific content of the soul. If we take a word formation such as, say, “testament” and all the other word formations that are related to the Romance term for head, testa, we will feel that the term “head” in Romance derives from the act of affirming, that is, not from the designation of form, but from what is brought about by the human soul with the help of the head, and specifically the mouth. “Pied” is not taken from the verb ‘to walk’ but from the verb ‘to stand’. Today we no longer judge the motives that lead from the soul to the formation of language. We can only arrive at what can truly be called a feeling for language if we take paths that make language much more objective than it usually is today in its abstract state. If someone uses Latin expressions in terminology today, in some cases the Latin expressions are even more objective, but in some cases they denote even more. For example, the connection between “substance” and “to subsist” is hardly felt clearly today because the term “to subsist” has basically been lost. Of the Father-God, the one who still had the original feeling of substance and subsisting would not have said: the Father-God “exists”, but rather he “subsists”.
[ 3 ] It is precisely the study of languages in this way, and in another way that I will mention in a moment, that leads to the development of a lively sense of language, and that leads to what I would like to call a linguistic conscience. We need a language conscience. Today we really only speak at random, making ourselves more like machines than living beings when we use language. Until we connect language to us as vitally as our skin is connected to us, we will not be able to symbolize correctly. You feel pain when you are pricked by a needle in your skin. But you can endure language even when it is maltreated. We must develop this feeling for language, that it can be mistreated because it is a self-contained organism like our skin. We can gain a great deal in this respect by acquiring a living sense of one dialect or another. You see, we have often performed Christmas plays here, and in these Christmas plays there is also a sentence from an innkeeper or a sentence that several innkeepers say. When Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem and look for shelter, they are turned away by three innkeepers, and each of the three innkeepers says: 'I, as an innkeeper of my form, have the right to my house and lodging. Yes, what does the modern man imagine? He understands: I as an innkeeper of my form – and will think, the innkeeper says, he is a handsome man or something like that, or a strong man, who has power in his inn, in his house. That is not meant at all. If we wanted to translate it into High German, we would have to say: I, as an innkeeper who is so well-positioned that he has plenty of business, do not rely on such poor people finding lodging with him; it means: I, as an innkeeper in my social position, in my circumstances. This shows you that it is necessary not only to listen to what is often heard in language today, but also to respond to the spirit of language at the same time. We say “flash” in High German. In Styria, a certain form of flash is called “Himmlatzer”. In the word “flash” you have meant something quite different from in the word “Himmlatzer”.
[ 4 ] You will begin to pay attention to various things when you develop this sense of language. You see, such an acquisition of a sense of language sometimes leads to something extraordinarily important. Goethe once said, at a late age, something that has been much quoted and much used to explain the entire genesis of Goethe's “Faust.” I believe it was to Chancellor von Müller. Goethe said that the conception of “Faust” was clear to him “from the very beginning” 60 years ago, but the other parts were less detailed. Now commentary upon commentary has been written, and this sentence has almost always been referred to, because it is, after all, extraordinarily important psychologically, and the commentators have always understood the following: Goethe would have had a kind of plan for Faust from the outset and would have used his sixty years of life - since his twenties or eighteen years, roughly speaking - to elaborate this plan that was present from the very beginning. In Weimar I met August Fresenius, who at first lamented that this great misfortune, if I may use the expression, had befallen all of Goethe research. At the time, I prompted the otherwise extraordinarily deliberate and slow philologist to publish the matter as quickly as possible so that things would not continue this way. Otherwise, we would have had a few dozen more such Goethe commentaries. The point is that Goethe never used the expression “von vorne herein” (“from the outset”) in any other way than in a vivid, descriptive manner, not in the sense of “a priori”, but “von vorne herein” in a very vivid way, so that it could be strictly proven that Goethe did not have an overall plan, but only wrote “von vorne herein”, only the first pages, of the further parts only individual sentences. There can be no question of an overall plan. It depends very much on one's correct perception of a word. Many people, when the word “von vornherein” is pronounced, no longer have the conscience to remember that “vornherein” contains a “vorn” and an “herein” and that one should see something in one's mind when pronouncing it. This not simply releasing the word without looking at it is something that is tremendously important if one wants to arrive at a symbolizing way of speaking. And there is an extraordinary amount to be said precisely in this direction.
[ 5 ] You see, we have this strange phenomenon of Fritz Mauthner's linguistic criticism, where all knowledge and all cognition is called into question because all knowledge and all cognition is expressed in language, and because Fritz Mauthner no longer finds anything in language that points to any reality.
[ 6 ] How harshly it was judged that in my little book “The Spiritual Guidance of Man and Humanity” I had expressed the sentence that in the past all vocalizing was aimed at designating the inner experience of man, and that all consonantal speech was intended to reproduce external events that one sees or otherwise perceives; everything that a person perceives is expressed in consonants, and in vowels the inner experiences, feelings, emotions and the like are expressed. This is connected with the peculiar way in which consonants and vowels are treated differently in writing in Hebrew. This also explains why in areas inhabited by primitive peoples who do not have a highly developed inner life, consonantal languages tend to occur, not vowel languages. This tendency of language to focus on consonants goes a long way. Just think of the consonants in African languages, including clicks.
[ 7 ] You see, that's how you get behind it, to gain an understanding of what language is. You are led beyond the mere sign, which is of course the word today. Because only with today's sense of language can you believe what Fritz Mauthner believes, that all knowledge is actually based on language and that language has no connection with any reality. Now, one can achieve a great deal by going back to the dialectal stage, especially for the language one speaks oneself. In the dialectal stage, one still finds a great deal if one then really behaves as a human being, that is, engages with what one can feel in language. In dialect, you still have plenty of opportunities to feel and sense language in sounds, but also to draw on the visual. You have to take this as far as to really, I would say, enter into a kind of state of renunciation with regard to expressions that are supposed to express something entirely separate from human experience. Something that thoroughly ruins our sense of language is physics, and in physics, as it is today, where the only thing that is striven for is to study objective processes and to refrain from all subjective experience, there should be no more speaking at all. For if you speak in physics of one body pushing another, as for example in the theory of elasticity, then you anthropomorphize, because you only have an experience of pushing, as soon as you have a feeling of sound, when your own hand pushes. Then, above all, in the S-sound you have a feeling that cannot be described differently than something like this (it is drawn on the board: a wavy line). Now the word 'Stoß' has two Ss, one at the beginning and one at the end; this gives the whole word its coloring, so that the person who pronounces the word 'Stoß' or 'stoßen' must actually feel as if his etheric body were leaving, but not only leaving, but pushing forward and being continually held back.
[ 8 ] So there are already methods by which one comes to the language-forming power, which is then not far from symbolizing, because the symbolum must be caught in this way, that one experiences language as a living organism, that one experiences a lot in language. Certain things in language, someone said to me recently, only need to be spoken to be revealed and one is surprised at how they present themselves as a matter of course. The Greeks recited in hexameters. Why? Yes, because the hexameter is an experience in man. Man produces language by incorporating something into his breathing, as I said before. But breathing is intimately connected with another element of the rhythmic human being: the pulse and the blood circulation. On average, of course not absolutely, we have 18 breaths and 72 pulses. 72 is 4 times 18. Four times 18 pulse beats, that gives a rhythm, a beating together within. And at a time when one sensed more originally, more elementarily, what was going on within, one sensed that if one succeeded in establishing such a relationship in speaking as the pulse beat gives in relation to the breath, then the full human being would express himself. And this relationship, not the absolute time measure, this relationship can be brought about, you just have to add the caesura as the fourth foot (plate 3, top left), then you have the ratio of 4 to 1 in the Greek hexameter half-line, as in the pulse to the breathing rhythm. The hexameter is born out of the human structure, and other verse forms are certainly born in a similar way out of the rhythmic human being. When language is treated artistically, one can feel how, in the truly artistic treatment of language, the human being lives in language. This makes it possible to develop a much more intimate relationship to language, but also a much more objective one. The various chauvinistic feelings in relation to language cease because the configurations of the various languages cease and one develops an ear for the general sound. These are the kinds of things that lie on the path to acquiring speech-forming power. Ultimately, however, this leads to hearing oneself when one speaks. This is actually difficult in a certain respect, but it can even be supported. It seems to me, for various reasons, that for the one who has to perform through the word, it is also necessary not to treat the written word as it is treated by many today. You will see in a moment why I say this.
[ 9 ] With respect to writing, there are two types of people. The majority learns to write as if it were a kind of habitual piling of words. They are accustomed to moving their hands in a certain way and write that way; that is the majority. Writing instruction is even very often taught in this way. The minority does not actually write in this sense, but draws (it is written on the board: Kann). At the same time as drawing, she looks at the letters that are written down; it is an artistic treatment of writing, it is a much more intimate involvement. I have met people who have been formally trained to write. For example, there was a writing method that consisted of people being fully trained to make circles and curves, to turn, in order to get this feeling of joint movement, and then they had to form letters out of it; they could only create the letters in this way out of these curves. With a large number of them, I then saw that before they even started writing, they made movements in the air with the pen. This is what writing brings into the unconscious of the body. But our speech emerges from the whole human being, and if you corrupt yourself through writing, you also corrupt yourself for speech. So that precisely those who depend on handling language should actually get used to this reflection, not just letting their writing flow out of their hands, but looking at it, really looking at it when they write.
[ 10 ] But this, my dear friends, is something extraordinary in our present culture. For we are indeed in the process of dehumanizing ourselves altogether. I have already received a large number of letters that are not written with a pen but with a typewriter. Now imagine what the difference is between being written a letter with a typewriter instead of a pen. I am not agitating against the typewriter; I consider it a self-evident necessity of civilization, but we also need the opposite pole. By dehumanizing ourselves in this way, by transforming the connection with the outside world into a mechanistic, dead one, we have to absorb life force into ourselves in return. We need stronger life forces today than in the time when we knew nothing of the typewriter.
[ 11 ] So the one who is to handle the word should also acquire a certain understanding for the continuous looking while he writes, so that he also likes what he writes, that he has an impression that the thing is not just something that has flowed out of the subject, but something that one looks at at the same time, so that the whole thing lives in one. Most of the time, the things you need to develop any skill are not found in a direct way, but in an indirect way. And I had to say this way because I was asked how to develop the power of language. For in this way, of which I have spoken, the matter lies initially. I emphasize only in passing that language comes from the whole human being, and the more the human being still feels language, the more he moves when speaking. It is remarkable how, for example, in England, where the process of Ahrimanization, of man's detachment from the connection with his surroundings, has progressed furthest, it is the custom to speak with the hands in the trouser pockets, held firmly in them so that they do not run the risk of moving. I have seen many Englishmen speak like that. Since then, I have never had my pockets done up the front, but always at the back, such disgust has I acquired for this completely inhumane lack of involvement in what one is speaking. It is simply a materialistic prejudice that language comes only from the head; it comes from the whole person, but above all from the arms, and we are—I am saying here a sentence that of course applies to a limited extent—we are not apes or animals for the reason that they have to use their hands for climbing or for holding on, but have them free because we have precisely the use of language through these free hands and free arms. What we grasp with our arms, what we form with our fingers, expresses what we need to shape in speech. So it has a certain justification to bring this connection between language and the whole human being back into humanity, to really train eurythmy appropriately, which consists precisely in taking from the human organization what is not carried out in the physical body, but what is always carried out in the etheric body when we speak. The whole human being is in motion, and we simply transfer the movement of the etheric body to the physical body by doing eurythmy. That is the principle. Eurythmy is something that is brought out of the human being with a necessity, with a lawfulness, just like spoken language itself. There must be a kind of counter-pole to everything that arises in the present, to make the human being alien to the outside world, to no longer allow a relationship to arise between the human being and his surroundings. In any case, eurythmics brings humanity back to being present in language and is, for the reasons that I have often discussed, an art. Now, if you consider the things I have just discussed, then the technique of speaking [as is common today] basically comes under the heading of pedantry. What is so highly valued today in schools of recitation and the like is in turn only a by-product of the materialistic worldview. You see, just as in a sculpture school or a painting school one does not actually teach the steps, but rather corrects and guides them into life, so speech technique should not be taught so pedantically with all possible nasal, chest and abdominal resonances. These things can only be developed in the living language, in speaking itself. When a person speaks, attention can only be drawn to one or the other at most. In this respect, dreadful things are being done today, and the various singing and speech schools can actually be disgusting, because it shows how little inwardness people still have. The shaping of speech results when the things I have spoken about are observed. Now, if the question is to be answered more precisely, I would ask to be made aware of it accordingly.
[ 12 ] Now the question was asked about a new Bible commentary, in general, how one comes to a new Bible text.
[ 13 ] You see, the situation is such that one must first again penetrate to an understanding of the Bible. A lot has to be done first. If you take everything I have just said with regard to language, and then consider that the Bible text emerged from a completely different experience of language than we have today and also than it was in Luther's time centuries before, then you cannot hope that an understanding of the Bible can somehow be achieved only through small external changes. Above all, an understanding of the Bible requires a real penetration into Christianity, and only from such a real penetration can a Bible text emerge that can be for us something similar to what the Gospels once were for the first Christians. In the time of the first Christians, one had the sound feeling, and many things that one can experience in the language at the beginning of the Gospel of John were, of course, experienced quite differently by the people of the first Christian centuries than one can experience them today. “In the beginning was the Word” – yes, you see, today this line is not much more than a sign, I would say. We come closer to understanding if we replace ‘Word’, which is already terribly shadowy and abstract for us, with ‘Verbum’ and really develop our feeling for the Verbum in contrast to the noun. In the beginning was the Verbum, not the noun. I will say it in this abstraction for the time being. For us, the verb is quite correctly the word for action; and it is absurd to think of adding the noun to the region that has been described as “in the beginning”. It only makes sense to add the verb, the word for action. This sentence already implies that in the beginning there was an activity, but this is not the activity that man performs with gestures or with movements, but the activity that flows out of the verb, out of the action word. We are not transported into a primeval nebula, as in the Kant-Laplacean nebular hypothesis, but we are led back into a sounding and resounding power of the primeval event. This being led back into a primal event power is something that was strongly felt in the first Christian centuries; and it was also strongly felt that it was the Verbum, and that it would be an absurdity to say: In the beginning was the noun. — We say “word”, which can be any arbitrary part of speech. Of course, it cannot be that in the sense of the Gospel of John.
[ 14 ] But in more distant times, the matter is different again. It is the case that one has the feeling that certain entities, certain perceptions of entities, must be treated with holy awe, and one must not simply put them into one's mouth and pronounce them. Therefore, a detour was sought to pronounce it, and I can illustrate this detour to you if I say something like the following: Imagine a group of children with their parents, they live in a house quite alone; every few weeks the uncle comes, but the children do not say: the uncle is coming — but: the “man” is coming. — They mean the uncle, but they generalize, it is just the “man”. But the father is not the “man”; they know him too well to call him “man.” And so, in the earlier religious language, one hid many things that one was not willing to pronounce because one only wanted to experience them inwardly, because one found it profane to pronounce them; one then put something general, and so also in the first line of the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the word.” But they did not say the word that was actually there, but they called something singled out, something singled out, a “word”. That was still something special, the “word”. There are many words, as there are many men, but children say “the man”, and so in the Gospel of John they did not say what they meant, but they said “the word”. And the “Word” was in this case Jahve, so that the Gospel of John begins: In the beginning was Jahve. But one does not pronounce “Jahve”; one says “the Word”.
[ 15 ] One must gain such things entirely by living one's way into Christianity and, in turn, into what Christianity has taken from the cultic usage of the Old Testament. There is no short instruction for understanding the Gospel; rather, living one's way into the primeval Christian time is necessary for understanding the Gospels. And that is something that, in principle, has come to life through anthroposophy, because such things only come about through anthroposophical research. We then have: In the beginning was the Word - in the beginning was Yahweh -, and the Word was with God - and Yahweh was with God. And the third line: And Yahweh was one of the Elohim. — This is actually the origin, the beginning of the Gospel of John, in which reference is made to the majority of the Elohim, and Yahweh as one — in truth there were seven — is singled out from the series of Elohim. And further, it is based on the relationship that exists between Christ and Yahweh. Take sunlight; moonlight is the same, it is also sunlight, only it is reflected from the moon; it does not come from the original being, it is a reflection. In early Christianity there was still an understanding of the word of Christ, where Christ himself describes his being by saying: “Before Abraham was, I am” and many more. There was certainly an understanding of this: Just as sunlight spreads through space and is reflected back from the moon, so the Christ-Being, which only appeared later, already radiated back in the Yahweh-Being. We have a fulfillment in the Yahweh-Being that precedes the Christ-Being in time. There the Gospel of John is truly deepened emotionally from the first lines to the line “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. We do not believe today that the childlike understanding of the Bible word is sufficient when we trace the translation of the Bible from an ancient language further back until we come to what lies in the Bible word. Of course one can say that one can only arrive at a Bible text through long, long spiritual studies. — That is ultimately also my conviction.
[ 16 ] We basically no longer have the Bible, we have a derivative that we are increasingly adapting for our language, which has become abstract. We need a new starting point in order to try to rediscover what is truly alive in the Bible. This, then, is the point of view that I will adopt tomorrow when I attempt to interpret Matthew 13 and Mark 13 for you. However, you will have to bear in mind that even commenting on the Bible requires that you approach it with an open mind. For example, someone who says that something is mentioned there or there that only took place in the year 70, and therefore the passage in question could not have been said earlier than after this event happened, may say that, but then one would just like him to write at the top of his Bible explanation that he wants to explain the Bible in a completely materialistic way; then he may do so. But it does not follow from the Bible itself that it should be explained in a materialistic way. The Bible itself makes it necessary that the foresight of future events be attributed above all to Christ Jesus himself, and also to the apostles. So, as I said, I would rather like to deal with this point of view tomorrow on the basis of the example, when I will interpret Matthew 13 and Mark 13 a little, as requested.
[ 17 ] Then the question was raised as to what reality lies behind the apostolic succession and behind priestly ordination. This question can hardly be answered briefly and quickly, because it is connected with much of what represents a deep abyss between today's Protestant religious understanding and the Catholic understanding in all its shades. It is absolutely essential that at the moment when one comes to speak about these things, one must also try to acquire an understanding that really goes beyond the rationalist or rational and intellectualist. Even those who have little right to do so then acquire this in the sense of such an understanding. In earlier times I got to know a large number of outstanding Theosophical luminaries, including Leadbeater, of whom you will have heard, and other people who were active in the Theosophical Society. Recently I had occasion – otherwise I didn't pay much attention to it – to experience that some of these people are Catholic bishops; it struck me as extraordinary that some of these people are Catholic priests. Leadbeater, in any case, judging from the various things that have become known about him, is not exactly qualified to be a Catholic bishop. But I was interested in how people become Catholic bishops. One thing is strictly adhered to there, [that is the succession]. And to show me that the people have a right to be Catholic bishops, I was given a document stating that in a certain year a Catholic bishop left the true Catholic Church, so one who had the consecrations, then he consecrated another one, and up to Mr. Leadbeater today the consecrations are absolutely in the right succession, in the absolutely right succession, they have an absolute “family tree” in it. I do not want to talk about the beginning of the “family tree”, but suppose that it was the natural progression that once a bishop ordained by Rome had fallen away, but then ordained all the others. So all these theosophical luminaries can point to a real and correct descent of their priesthood from what once was. So there is definitely an awareness of succession, and those who understand its significance take such things absolutely as realities.
[ 18 ] Something like this must be taken as a reality within the Roman Catholic Church. The Old Catholic Church no longer has this feeling to any great extent, but within the Roman Catholic Church it must be taken as read that the priest, at the moment when he crosses himself with the stole, no longer represents the individual personality, nor can he be required to assert his personal convictions or opinions; he is only a member of the Church and speaks as a representative, as a member of the Church. The Roman Catholic Church regards itself as a closed organism in which the individual loses his individuality through ordination; more and more it regards itself in this way.
[ 19 ] Now, there is a lot of other stuff. You can think about what I am going to tell you now, but I can only speak from my point of view, from the point of view of my experience. I have observed transubstantiation a lot. Now, within the Catholic Church today, there is a strong differentiation depending on whether one or the other priest effects transubstantiation, but at least I have seen, especially during my last trip to Italy, how during the consecration, during transubstantiation, the host received an aura. So I have come to know the objective process that takes place when the consecration is worthily performed as a reality. I say you can think about it as you want, I just tell you what can be observed on the one hand, and on the other hand was also considered a fundamental conviction of the church in those times when the church was still a unified Catholic church and the Protestant church did not yet exist as a branch. So we are coming back to reality when we look at these things, and then it must be said that the sacrifice of the Mass, in that it is celebrated, is something that is a real action, that is not just an external sign, but a real action. And if you take all the masses that have ever been celebrated, they all form a coherent whole, and that is something that stands as such, directly, as a fact. It is something where you certainly touch on things that make the Protestant mind say, “Yes, then there is something magical about the Catholic mass.” That is also part of it. That is also in it, and the Protestant mind then feels the magic in it perhaps as a pagan thing. Well, that could be discussed. But in any case, it is clear that one is dealing with a reality, that one cannot easily celebrate a mass today without approaching the bearer of this reality. I say celebrate; you can demonstrate it, you can show everything, but you cannot celebrate it with the claim that what is supposed to happen at the altar will happen through the Mass without it being read [by a personality] with the absolute mandate. You see, it is the same everywhere where mysteries are worked with. And just as a Masonic ceremony may not be performed in the consciousness of a Mason by a non-Mason, so a true Catholic ceremony, worked out and developed from Catholicism, may not be celebrated in the consciousness of the Catholic Church by a non-ordained person, with full validity.
[ 20 ] This is what we are led to, and it must be fully understood. I would like to point out that in this respect the Catholic rules are actually very strict. Please do not interpret things as if I were speaking in favor of Catholicism. I am only pointing out the facts. It is not a matter of speaking in favor of or against Catholicism, but of something quite different. Certain customs in particular are very strictly observed in the Catholic Church, and this has nothing to do with the current mood and practice in Rome. If a priest proves himself so unworthy that he must be excommunicated, then the skin is scraped off from here on the fingers that have held the consecrated host; the skin is scraped off. Sometimes such things are overlooked, but it is the law, and I am thoroughly familiar with such proceedings, that after the excommunication of a priest, the skin is scraped off the fingers that touched the consecrated host. You can certainly replace the succession that goes from the apostles through the priesthood to the present-day celebrating priest with the objective. You can set the objective, which goes through the consecration and through the sacraments themselves. You can exclude the priesthood, but you can exclude it precisely by taking the matter objectively, to a certain extent objectively, since the priest is no longer allowed to have the skin of the fingers if he is no longer authorized to celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass.
[ 21 ] Isn't it true that if you have Catholic feelings, then something would matter to you that is about as certain as two plus two equals four. It is something that is emotionally and religiously certain. If you don't have that, then as a modern person you must have a sense of a certain piety that tells you that the Catholic Church has preserved the celebration of the Mass, and when it is performed outside the circle to which it itself confers it — other circles have not preserved the Mass sacrifice — when it is performed in other circles, then it is theft, real theft. In such matters, one must also know how to proceed from such concepts. I believe that some of what I say will seem very difficult to understand, but in the end it is of value in that it is quite useful to acquire an understanding of such things. It need not bother us here, because you can learn just what there is to learn about the Mass. And as for the formation of a new cult, that is not disturbed at all by the fact that in the Catholic Church the Mass is regarded as something so real that it certainly must not be taken out of the sphere of catholicity.
[ 22 ] That is, for the time being, what I have to say in the limited time available. When I talk about the mass itself, and I will do that, I will have a few more things to add about it.