In the Morning Light of the Coming Christ
1933
It was the first time I heard Rudolf Steiner lecture in Berlin. All future generations would benefit from the impressions of such a talk. His lectures were already known for their different moods: delicately descriptive or powerfully motivating; intimately heartfelt or excitingly intellectual; joyfully playful or so profoundly serious that it could only be described as deadly serious. This time, his talk was marked by a gripping earnestness. Through this alone, we could already sense the proximity of a very great man. There was nothing deliberate or forced about his earnestness. It streamed directly out of a Presence; it announced that Presence. It is since that time that I understand what genuine earnestness is and how it comes into being.
Rudolf Steiner then proceeded to speak of the reappearance of Christ. When I think back, the image that always comes to me is how he held his head. This might strike you as an unimportant detail, but the entire soul of the hour really lies in that detail. It was as if, with his head, he had penetrated into a sphere far above the rest of us. There was no hint of superiority, however, only wakefulness, total wakefulness. We were below the clouds; he had pierced them into a world of light and was describing it to us, brother to brother. He took a long look, “read” what he saw, and then collected words, the way you would gently cup your hands to receive a precious substance. Each word he first seemed to lift up into the Christ sphere, where it was considered and adjusted. Then he gifted it to the earth. And we were allowed to witness the entire process. When later, during the Act of Consecration of the Human Being, we heard that the word must be purified by Christ before it is proclaimed on earth, it was this image that worked its way forward in my memory.
Rudolf Steiner indicated at that time — it was 1916 — that the years 1933 to 1934 would be very significant for humanity. In those years, we would walk through a doorway into a time of increased Christ appearances. This would be preceded, however, by a time of preparation, the way 30 years of preparation had once preceded Christ’s public activity. We had been living in this time of preparation since 1909. And then, Rudolf Steiner uttered the words that flashed into the soul like the beacon of a higher reality: He is here!
At that moment, we knew in the very depths of our being: Here speaks truth! What is approaching me now is real, more real than any sense perception. Similarly, in the side rooms of the soul, we also felt: A new prophecy is at hand! A prophecy fundamentally different from the past, yet deeply related to it, which is directed towardhumanity’s fully awake consciousness (Lichtbewusstsein). We felt the emergence of a new religious language, in which the Spirit reveals itself in the human voice and the divine life spirit speaks with the freedom of the human self. We felt a totally new era before us: The old is finished! The future of humanity is coming your way!
This kind of experience itself says to us, “You will carry this unforgettable event inside you not only for this one lifetime, but also as the seed for future lifetimes.” Those of us graced in this way asked ourselves how we came to be granted this experience.
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“So, do you believe in a new age of increasing Christ appearances just because Rudolf Steiner said so?” The questions people ask! My rebuttal question is: Why did Timothy believe in Christ? Because Paul came and proclaimed it to him? Yes and no. Certainly, we depend on human beings to bring us the highest truths. That is the meaning of Christ’s earthly incarnation. A human being had to come and radiate the divine truth out to us. It had no other way to reach us. Since the beginning of Christianity, however, true Christians have never believed because Christ told them to. On the contrary, they believed in Christ because Christ spoke the truth, because Christ was the truth. They believed in Christ because the truth “proclaimed itself” in Him. Can we still call it Christianity if this is not a given?
Failing to express gratitude for what we owe Rudolf Steiner would be the gravest of historical crimes. But we are also brave enough to trust our own sense for the truth. We put in the time, each in our own way, to confirm Rudolf Steiner’s testimonials with every means at our disposal. We researched whether it is true that higher organs form in human beings, much higher organs of perception than the human intellect. We made every possible effort to corroborate it. We researched whether new needs, new abilities really wanted to awaken in the soul depths of a still newly evolving humanity. We tried, we really tried repeatedly to perceive whether the entire spiritual atmosphere of the earth was becoming brighter. We approached Christ himself repeatedly and asked him, as best we could, how He himself felt about what was being said about him. And we can, we have been permitted to bear witness that from all sides, from everywhere we listened and asked, the response came back: It is true! He is there! He wants to come!
Is this just the power of suggestion at work? We are waiting for people who refrain from tossing these kinds of ideas out so easily; people who feel that when we encounter a truth, we also incur a certain obligation, that we gain access to it in order to own it, as best we can. We are not without helping forces who bestow those truths on us of which we are worthy. Only when we ourselves work with it intensely can a truth go from hovering above us to sinking its roots down into the sphere of our daily activity.
“But isn’t it dangerous to talk about it? Doesn’t delusion lie in wait along this path? Won’t many people be convinced by vanity, the terrible human vanity, the deeply buried human vanity that they have had ‘Christ experiences’? Won’t evil spirits seize the overwrought souls and with infernal joy play their pernicious game with them?”
Yes, if there could be a reason to keep silent, it would be this danger, this great danger. And it would not be surprising if many people again fell into this trap, as they do in every trap laid in the path of humanity. Whoever speaks about the reappearance of Christ is therefore always duty-bound to identify the protective measures human beings can use to shield themselves — protective measures given to humanity by Christ himself. Now the gospels are embarking on a brand-new mission. They are not speaking only of the past; they are also safeguarding the present and future of humanity. Take the Lord’s Prayer. Is it not the imprint of the Christ being himself onto this world? Does it not bring him astoundingly close to us? Isn’t every evil spirit — even our own vanity — forced to discard its mask in the presence of the Lord’s Prayer when it is fully alive in us? Risk trying it yourselves and having your own experiences with this prayer! And what is the Gospel of John other than the radiant countenance of Christ, whose eyes shine light upon us, whose voice becomes known to us like the voice of a shepherd, whose spirit speaks to us as a living presence? And, in addition to everything else and for exactly this time, Christ gave us The Act of Consecration of the Human Being, in which he wants to walk among us as a living being; living in a way that was unimaginable for centuries. Truly, we will be able to immerse every inner experience in the spirit of the sacrament, and everything false will dissipate like foggy mists in the sun!
This might also serve as response to those of you who have written to us about your experiences and whom we have been unable to answer {Rittelmeyer is referring here to the monthly magazine, “Die Christengemeinschaft” that he edited and in which this was originally published] Believe us when we say that Christ himself has already given all of us what we need to corroborate our experiences. Of course, numerous new experiences are coming toward human beings, and many different kinds have already begun. We must take care not to consider ourselves more exceptional or special than the next person. We should all feel our obligation with a deep sense of responsibility. We should remain silent and speak only when convinced it is vital. And remember — the Lord’s Prayer! the Gospel of John! the Act of Consecration of the Human Being!
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“So, is it better, after all, to limit ourselves to small circles?”
If we needed proof that someone has to speak out publicly today somewhere in the West, then that proof would be the news out of the East. Our readers will find in this issue an essay on the “Buddhist Apocalypse.” But unrest is not only happening in Buddhism, largely in India and China, but also in Islam. “We are expecting the year 1933 to bring us spiritual help,” asserted a Muslim in a talk about the spiritual need of the times. And another, to whom this was related, added: “We are expecting the coming of the Mahdi in that year.” The Muslim Messiah, the renewer of religion is supposed to appear now! These are a few waves from the East that travel all the way to our shores. The ocean where they originate is itself a deep mystery to us.
What would be the inevitable result, however, if the West, where the clearest and most helpful insights reside, remained silent at this time? The Orient, out of its ancient spiritual receptivity, feels that a new age is at hand, that major changes are taking place in humanity worldwide. It feels that the spiritual world is near and bending down to human beings, as they have long been yearning for.
It has always been the case that human beings could only grasp those spiritual events which lived in them beforehand. That was why prophets always had to lead the way, helping people interpret what was to come. The prophets of Christ events can now only be Christians. Where are they in the East? If the East does not learn from the West what is truly happening now, then it will make everything relate to itself. Because it cannot comprehend the true meaning of the events from its own knowledge, it will seek to use them to revive its old religions. It will feel blessed compared to the West and fortified against the West. The old respect for the West and its Christianity ended in any case with the world war. The East will maintain that its time has come…
Every voice must therefore be raised. And may angels carry such voices to the East!
What wants to happen now is not general spiritual assistance, not a reviving of ancient religions, not a blessing of tried-and-true spiritual receptivity. It is a working of Christ from the nearby starry plane, a walking of Christ above human beings and under human beings, a divine community of the Christ with us in our own lives toward a new human future. But refrain from speaking of Him the way people did before, so self-centered and limited, so disrespectfully familiar. He is the radiant Lord, for whom our most profound reverence is just barely enough.
Disappointment awaits those who expect an outwardly visible Christ to reappear. What had to take place in the visible realm, took place, and no part of it can be repeated. Are we not starting to realize in any case that our very earthly existence is an obstacle to getting close to things? That there is a state of being which is much more palpable than everything we call visible? Stronger, closer, more enduring, more certain! No one will yearn for earthly visibility once they have experienced the living intimacy of inner encounter reaching tangibility! can be (die innere lebensnahe Greifbarkeit.)
“So, what happens if the year 1933 comes to an end and nothing unusual has happened?” It would be a big mistake to think that the year 1933 ought to close with great fanfare. The most important thing to occur will have occurred in the deepest silence. Keeping quiet about it will protect it, until it can play itself out. How long did it take for the awareness of Paul’s Damascus experience to spread beyond small circles and become known even to all Christians? Today, it is part of world history.
Nonetheless, we all have our share of spiritual experiences, if it is what we decide. If certain of them remain barred to us, it is always only because “the hour” is not yet ripe for us. Spiritual experiences become true blessings only when a certain degree of purity, spiritual maturity, selflessness, and self-control has been attained. Otherwise, they would endanger both you and everyone in your circle. This is always the reason they stay away! And yet, whoever is reading this article has received their share. Or is hope, intuitive sensing (Ahnung), and insight not a gift? Yes, even hearing one single time in your life that after death the veils can fall away, means that you can experience what you heard.
Some will experience more. They will notice that the heavens are more open than before, that the spiritual world is closer, more reachable than it was, that worlds of grace want to open and let themselves be felt. Even this is an incredible benediction.
Caution: Look in the right direction! Not in the wrong one! The unrest of the times could lull us to sleep without our even noticing! Extreme danger ahead! “Wake up!”
Few people, very few will behold the living Christ. Yet some will sense Him! And many will hear about Him and feel: It is truth, what is proclaimed about him! Everyone can have their share, once they decide!
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But why did we even talk about the Far East? I recently attended a concert called, “The music of young Germany.” One young composer after another took the stage. And what do we all do in these situations? We wrack our brains trying to figure out what these young people mean and want. We listen for the music of the future to break through, and, if we don’t hear it, we blame our own shortcomings. I sat there like that for a long time. Then another self stirred. How long do you want to sit here pretending? Be yourself! So, I did what comes naturally to me. Dare to do this only with the deepest reverence. Then It is permissible and should actually be done more and more. I tried to let Christ listen to the music, as though through me. The result? In an instant, the artistry and acrobatic quality of the music changed into a gaping emptiness of soul, and the soul-torturing quality of the music became a heart-breaking cry for salvation. That is humanity — without Christ! If only we could convey to these young, talented, striving humans even a hint of what we ourselves have experienced of Christ, of how he lives in us: what symphonies would burst forth from them! That would be music! That would be proclamation! That would be revelation! — But souls grope around in the dark. And Christ is there! — How can we help them?
After this experience, I went out and watched people as they passed me by. Is this humanity 2,000 years after Christ’s appearance? Are these Christians? Are these the Christians? In a “Christian country”? After centuries of “Christian education?” Where are the eyes that let us conjure up a soul touched by the glance of our radiant Lord? Do people know that, once upon a time — Christ lived? That He is waiting for them now? That He is more real than the sun and closer to them than they are themselves?
How can Christ bear — never mind love — such humans? Then Christ once more looked through my eyes, as previously he had listened through my ears. And all my disgust was transformed into an all-encompassing compassion.
Sheep, without a shepherd. The blind, without guides. The lost, who endlessly dart and scurry about with neither purpose nor direction.
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Naturally, now comes the big question: What helpers would Christ need today to draw near to these people? Human beings surrounded by light! Disciples with the courage to let Him walk the earth by continually offering Him all their earthly goods! People who consciously and willingly bearing the painful destiny of living each day in the midst of a godless, yet absurdly self-righteous population – these will redeem it.
Dear friends, we see a Christianity growing that is more glorious than ever before. The time of dogmatic belief is truly over. It is not about dogma, but about realities. Not “creeds”, but eye-witness reports. Not sermons, but accounts from those who know. The people who are coming are walking in a higher reality — but are still among us as fellow travelers. They do not inhabit history, but a present vibrant with life. They do not dwell in the transient moment and the everyday, but are the true saviors of the age. They are nothing less than a place from which Christ works.
Christ is here! The radiant Lord! Surely there is one thing still we can offer in our lifetime: Be there for Him!
This article was translated by Gail Ritscher from the German and originally published in “Die Christengemeinschaft” in 1933. It is shared here in honor of the anniversary of the founding of the movement for religious renewal, The Christian Community, which took place on September 16th, 1922 in Dornach Switzerland.
