The first Esoteric Class after the separation from the Esoteric School of Theosophy, on the separation of the Eastern and Western Schools:
Munich, June 1, 1907
My dear Sisters and Brothers,
To a greater or lesser extent, all of you have progressed in occult training. Today we intend to become clear about the essence of such a training. Esoteric students must be quite clear about the fact that they are constantly surrounded by invisible (to ordinary people) beings. Just as we walkthrough air, we also constantly walk through countless invisible beings where ever we turn. Every single thing that surrounds us is the expression of such beings. When we breathe we inhale not only air, but, at the same time, a high spiritual being, whose physical body is composed of air, which streams into us and entirely fills our organism. When we exhale, this being flows out of us again. We should be aware that with every breath we take, a divine spiritual being takes up residence within us, and we should realize that we shall one day become such a being ourselves. This being that incarnates into the air is at a much higher stage of development that we are today, but at one time it was at our present stage, and there will come a time when we shall have progressed as far as it has.
Now, when we belong to an Esoteric School, the exercises, however they are given, are arranged so that we gain a living consciousness of the in-streaming spirit. So, what is it that says "I" in us? It is the stream of the inhaled air. It creates the red blood within us, and only after the red blood started to flow in our bodies could we learn to say "I" to ourselves. But it is not only with the in-streaming air that a spiritual being works in upon us. Spiritual beings are at work in every part of our body - in muscles, nerves, and bones. Knowledge of this, however, does not yet make us into esotericists. If I say to myself: "the air penetrates my body," I am a materialist. If I know and recognize the fact that a spiritual being penetrates me when I inhale, that makes me a "knower" but not yet an esotericist. But when, full of awe and filled with the deepest reverence towards the divine being that penetrates my organism, I allow the in-streaming breath to flow into me, when a living consciousness of this higher being entirely fills me, then I am an esotericist.
What is this air-embodied spirit doing in me? It enters my blood, penetrating my whole organism, so that a body composed of air is formed within me, surrounded by bones, muscles, sinews, and so on. Through the exercises I have to become quite conscious of this airy body. It is the same as what says "I" within me. If one carries out one's exercises in this way, one becomes more and more free. It is as though a quite different human being were born within one. One then no longer says "I" to one's bones, muscles and sinews. One feels entirely united with this body built of air. One discovers one's self in the spirit of this God incorporated into the air.
What are we actually doing when we perform exercises? We have to be quite clear about this. When we do exercises we are living the way everyone will live at some time in the future. During the time of such exercises, esoteric pupils find themselves in a future state of humankind. In the future everyone will only do this conditionally. Only in a very far distant future will it be the natural thing for all human beings to breathe in this way. But when that time comes, human bodies will have to become quite different. They will have developed so that it will be quite natural to breathe as esotericists sometimes do today. An esoteric pupil is actually doing something in anticipation of what will happen later. It is, in a certain sense, not yet quite timely. The physical body is not yet adapted for it. Esotericists thus live ahead of their time and work into the future.
But only in this way can progress occur. Our Earth could never develop further if it were not inhabited by people who live as all of humanity will live in a far distant future. If no one on Earth was willing to do esoteric exercises, Earth would become more and more rigid. It is true that everyone shares in the transformation of Earth during Devachan, but if those incarnated on Earth merely tried to preserve everything as it is now, and, at the same time, those in Devachan tried to transform the Earth, then there would be no harmony in their efforts respectively. The human beings on Earth would cause Earth to become quit bone-like and rigid, whereas, through the efforts of those in Devachan who wish to transform the rigid Earth, the Earth would finally split up and disintegrate. For that reason esotericists must be quite clear about the sacred duty they have to fulfill for the progress of humankind when they do esoteric exercises.
In itself, it is quite a contradiction of present circumstances if the esotericist lives in a way that can be natural only in the future. But only in this way can progress be achieved. Human beings always find it necessary to make use of the bodies that are the natural and possible ones for their stage of evolution. A being that ought to belong to Jupiter or Venus [epochs] according to its stage of development must, nevertheless, make use of the physical bodies available to all humankind if it would live among us. But in spirit, it leads a life belonging to a far distant future, and through this it gradually carries this future down into us and enables us to attain it.
Now someone might say: Would it not also be possible for one to go through such development on one's own, without any Esoteric School? Certainly, it would Everyone will, for example, undergo a transformation of the breathing process during the course of development. But that is like saying: I would like to study mathematics completely on my own without a teacher. One would then, of course, also have to forego the use of any textbooks. Certainly, one could also learn mathematics in this way, but it should take about 3,000 years to learn what could be picked up in about five months with the aid of a teacher.
In itself it would be quite possible - yes, certainly it would - for one to find out for oneself all that can now be learned through esoteric exercises. For all the exercises are basically a part of human nature. But it would not be 3,000 years, but many hundreds of thousands of years that would be needed. The way can be shortened by means of esoteric training. It has no other purpose than this. By undertaking such esoteric exercises a person grows spiritually toward the future, and experiences within what will come to pass in the future, and what one thus experiences is what is known to us as "the higher worlds". The higher worlds represent future human conditions. At every moment, therefore, we must be conscious of our sacred duty. With every breath we must experience the Divine that pours into us. The Godhead flows into us with every inhalation, but with every exhalation we kill His body by making the air unusable. But ultimately, our exercises will gradually teach us how to exhale the air in the same purity as we inhaled it. Anyone not inclined to learn this through exercises will, of course, eventually attain it by natural means, but will have to wait, until in the future, the human body has been so transformed that this kind of breathing comes as naturally, through our present constitution, as the way we now breathe.
The air flows in and out of us today and transforms the used-up blood into blood that can be reused. Was that always so? No! There was a time when everything that today constitutes the warmth of our blood was not within us, but streamed in and out of our organism as air does today. Just as the air-spirits flow into us today, so it was the fire-spirits at that time. Then human beings inhaled and exhaled warmth. And just as warm blood could be formed through the influence of the air-spirits so another kind of substance flowed through us when the fire-spirits were at work on our organism: milk. What flows in all beings who suckle their young is a remnant of that time; but the functions within the human body connected with milk are directed by other spirits.
During the time when a young humanity was developing on Earth - for example, at the time of Atlantis and the first epochs following - the leaders of humanity were not yet human, but fire-spirits. It is to them, therefore, that we must first turn when we try to advance. Today not all people advance at the same rate; some remain behind, so it was then as well. A number of the fire-spirits remained behind the others and created a resistance to new development. The spirits of the air and wind had already commenced their activity among humankind, having succeeded the fire-spirits, when the retarded fire-spirits obstructed their way. The Northern Sagas give people a notion of what these retarded spirits were like in the myth of God Loki. He represents such a retarded fire-spirit and opposes the Aesir. He was the cause of Baldur's death. Wotan, the One who lives in the flowing air, is a God of the winds. He was experienced by the ancient Northern peoples when they heard the storm brewing, and when they drew breath into their bodies.
These Northern peoples were not without their Mysteries. We know how the peoples of our post-Atlantean epoch poured out of the West toward the East from Ancient Atlantis. As the Mysteries had flourished in Atlantis, so they also remained in the new Epoch being formed. Four cultural epochs have formed our fifth Root-Race [Great Epoch]: 1) the Indian, 2) the Persian, 3) the Chaldean-Babylonian-Egypto-Semitic, and 4) the Greco-Roman Epoch. But not all the multitudes coming from Atlantis reached the regions in the East: some of them stayed in the Western areas belonging to modern Europe. This group also had its Mysteries, which developed later into what we know as the Druidic and Drottic Mysteries. But this Western culture did not remain isolated from what grew up in the East. What eventually blossomed in the East culminated in the foundation of Old and New Testament wisdom. It reached the West and united with what had developed quietly there with great impact. This impact brought untold blessings.
We must clearly see that Atlantis is the source of all Eastern and Western wisdom.
Atlantis was a land thickly shrouded in mists. These mists had a very special connection to humanity. Human beings of that time experienced something through the mists; their souls were made receptive toward the speech of the Gods. In the bubbling springs, in the rustle of leaves, the people of Atlantis heard the voice of God speaking to them. And when they were alone and sunk into their own inner beings, they could perceive a sound that was the Voice of God speaking to them. They did not need laws and commandments. God told them what they had to do. And the sound reverberating throughout Atlantis and echoing out of the hearts of those people during silent hours of communion, was later fixed in Egypt into the Tau symbol: "T". This is also the original form of the cross.
If we are now clear about the way these mists provided a link with the Divine - so that people could take up into themselves and understand Divine wisdom in a direct way - we shall turn our attention to the water that flows in our country. If we look at a drop of dew glistening on the grass in the morning sunlight, then our hearts are filled with piety. This tiny glistening dewdrop is a reminder for us - a reminder of those times in Atlantis when fogs covered the land and when people had an inkling of the Divine wisdom that enveloped them.
The wisdom of Atlantis was embedded in the water, in a drop of dew. And the word "dew" [Tau in German] is nothing other than the ancient Atlantean sound. Thus we should view with awe and reverence every drop of dew that glistens in a blade of grass, and regard it as a sacred legacy of the time when the link between human beings and the gods was not yet broken. The Tau symbol, the ancient sign of the Cross, is Crux in Latin. And what is the name for dew in Latin? Ros, Ros-Crux is our "Rose-Cross". Now we recognize its true significance. It is the Tao of Atlantis, the wisdom of Atlantis, that twinkles at us today from every dewdrop. The Rose-Cross conveys exactly this to us. It is the symbol for the new life that will blossom forth in spirit in the future.
Thus our Northern Race remained in intimate connection with ancient Atlantis. It was different in the case of those Races that wandered towards the East and formed the four epochs of India, Persia, Egypt, and Greco-Roman. They developed independently. But it is a rule of the spiritual world that every culture that has evolved independently through its own effort must also perish if it cannot receive a new impulse from the regions from which it sprang, from its mother country. So it was necessary for the exalted culture of the East to receive an impulse from our territories, to merge itself with the spiritual culture that had grown up quietly in our lands.
The exalted spiritual individuality who recognized this fact was Christian Rosenkreutz. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, he took up the great task of uniting the Eastern and Western cultures. He has always lived among us and he is still with us today as the leader of the spiritual life. He brought the spiritual culture of the East - revealed in its greatest blossoming in the Old and New Testaments - into intimate harmony with the ancient wisdom of Atlantis.
Thus he gave us the form of Christianity that had already been prepared and introduced through that mysterious "Unknown One from the Highlands" who visited Johannes Tauler. "Highlands" is the name for the spiritual world, the Kingdom of Heaven. That spiritual individual who was concealed in the "Unknown One from the Highlands" was none other than the Master Jesus himself, in whose body the Christ had lived on Earth. He is also still with us today.
The Master Jesus and the Master Christian Rosenkreutz have prepared two paths of initiation for us: the Christian-Esoteric path and the Christian-Rosicrucian one. These two paths have existed ever since the Middle Ages. But spiritual life disappeared more and more from human consciousness when materialism arose. At the end of the last century, materialism had reached such a degree that a new spiritual impulse was required if humankind were not to perish.
A single personality, through her psychic capacities, could perceive the voice of the Masters. This was H.P. Blavatsky. Not all occult traditions had been lost by the time she began her work. Rather, the Eastern brotherhoods had received occult knowledge, but in a rigid, ossified form, without any life in them. When Blavatsky wrote Isis Unveiled, these brotherhoods assumed that this was their knowledge, for they were familiar with many symbols and teachings, and they tried in every way to put obstacles in her way.
So H.P. Blavatsky was hindered in the worst possible way in accomplishing her work in the sense of Christian esotericism as she originally intended. She really had to suffer terrible things at that time. And those occult brotherhoods actually succeeded in forcing her to present what she had to offer in her second work, The Secret Doctrine, in an Eastern guise. We are still accustomed to receiving most of our occult terminology in Eastern language. But this Eastern form of truth is not for us Western peoples. It can only restrict us and divert us from our goal. Here in the West are the people who will form the nucleus for the coming epochs.
That should be the true answer to what was proclaimed recently as the voice of the Masters from the East. Our Western Masters have also spoken, even though it was accompanied by less fanfare. And we should inscribe what they have said deep into our hearts. They summoned us to share in the future development of humankind, and to remain steadfast and endure in all the battles that remain ahead of us; to hold on to what we possess of the sacred living tradition. This summons will continue to sound in our souls. But no one should believe that there is disharmony between the Masters of the East and West. However, an incisive change has occurred lately regarding the Esoteric Schools of the East and of the West.
Until now, both Schools have been united in a large circle under the combined leadership of the Masters. Now, however, the Western Schools has become independent, and there are two comparable Schools: one in the East, the other in the West - two smaller circles instead of the one large one. The Eastern School is being led by Mrs. Annie Besant, and those who feel more attracted to her in their hearts can no longer remain in our School. People should sound exactly their hearts' longing to discover which way they are being led. At the head of our Western School there are two Masters: the Master Jesus and the Master Christian Rosenkreutz. And they lead us along two paths: the Christian and the Christian-Rosicrucian way. The Great White Lodge leads all spiritual movements, and the Master Jesus and the Master Christian Rosenkreutz belong to this Lodge. Let that be the answer - the true, factual answer - to the question that many of you must have been asking because of the most recent events.
We stand at the dawning of the Sixth Day of Creation. We have to develop the sixth and seventh cultural epochs out of ourselves. The future in its rising light is already present within us. Apprehending this, receive into yourselves what the Mater Christian Rosenkreutz has spoken. (The reading of the Master's words followed.)
Notes from memory relating to the final part of the same lesson on June 1, 1907
...In 1459 Christian Rosenkreutz saw it was necessary for the wisdom of the Tau to unite with Christianity so that it could be led into the new evolution. He brought to the people of Middle Europe the wisdom of the Tau or Ros-Crux that united with the wisdom of the Old and New Testaments.
At the time of Johannes Tauler, a personality lived who was called "the Unknown One from the Highlands." This person instructed Johannes Tauler, who then preached so powerfully that some of his audience remained as if dead. The individuality that appeared in the personality was the individuality of the Master Jesus, who has always been the leader of the development of the West - although this has been concealed. Together with this individuality there was another Master-Individual at work in the West: Christian Rosenkreutz. They are still the Masters of the West, who guide the development of Middle-Europe. A brotherhood is formed by the Lodge of the Masters, but the work they perform for human progress is nevertheless varied. Just as the other two Masters are working for the East, so these two Masters work for the West.
Of all the learned ones living in the West during the last third of the nineteenth century, none were suited to the task of introducing the new spiritual impulse, which the Great White Lodge found necessary to protect the Western world from destruction by materialism. But in H.P.B. the Masters found the desired tool to introduce the new teachings to the world - the wisdom that would bring in the future. H.P.B. incorporated the Western wisdom, given her at that time, in Isis Unveiled. This is an important work, containing great treasures of the highest truth, but in part they are portrayed in a distorted way. That is why H.P.B. was not understood in the West then.
There are also great occult brotherhoods in the West. Many of them were not in agreement with what H.P.B. was doing. Among these brotherhoods, a strong persecution arose against her, causing H.P.B to suffer immensely, in a way of which no one has any inkling. These occult brotherhoods were anxious to propagate occult knowledge only in an orthodox sense. They therefore joined together to oppose H.P.B. who merely wanted to bring future knowledge to the West, but because she was not understood she turned to the East and allowed herself to be inspired by Eastern wisdom, which she wrote down in The Secret Doctrine. That is Eastern wisdom. At first she just wanted to bring Western future knowledge.
The questions that have arisen concerning the appearances (of the Masters) in Adyar must be answered. It is not for occultists to decide whether these appearances are genuine or not. The voice of the Western Masters is less clamorous than that of the Eastern Masters. The call of the Western Masters goes out to all those in the West, to know if they wish to unite themselves with the two Masters of the West. If we want to introduce the Eastern wisdom here and follow the Eastern teachings, this would indicate the decline of the West. We need the Western teaching given to us by these two Masters.
Previously the Western School was only an appendage to the Eastern one, was subordinate to it; now, however, both are simply linked by a bond of brotherhoods, each going its separate way, independent of one another. The Western School is no longer subordinate t the Eastern School, but they are coordinated. What is given through me by order of the Masters of the West goes alongside what is given through Mrs. Besant on the orders of the Masters of the East, quite independently of it.
The Christian teaching and the Christian-Rosicrucian teaching now exist in the West. The former educates through feelings, the latter through understanding. The dying cultures of the East still need the Eastern teachings. The Western teachings are for future cultures.
...The Masters also must incarnate physically to aid development. The Master of the "Sixth Dawning" is Christian Rosenkreutz. Jesus of Nazareth-Christian Rosenkreutz. If we try to take that into our feelings and allow it to become perception, we will understand why there must be an Esoteric School of the West and an Esoteric School of te East. They stand side by side, of equal value. Each possesses its two Masters: Mahatma K [Kut Hoomi] and Mahatma M [Morya]; Master Jesus of Nazareth and Master Christian Rosenkreutz. One of these schools is led by Mrs. Besant, the other by Dr. Steiner. But we have to decide which one to follow.
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