Ancient myths : their meaning and connection with evolution

273 Pages·0.753 MB·English

by  Rudolf Steiner

ANCIENT MYTHS

Their Meaning and
Connection with
EVOLUTION
by
RUDOLF STEINER

Seven lectures given in Dornach. 4th to 13th
January, 1918
Translated from shorthand reports unrevised by
the lecturer, by M. Cotterell. The original German
text of these lectures are published under the title:
“Alte Mythen und ihre Bedeutung” (Vol. 180 in
the Bibliographical Survey, 1961). This English
edition is published in agreement with the Rudolf
Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach,
Switzerland.

Printed in Great Britain by Bookprint
International Ltd. England 1971
Ancient Myths:
Their Meaning and Connection with Evolution

The following lectures were given by Rudolf
Steiner to an audience familiar with the general
background and terminology of his
anthroposophical teaching. It should be
remembered that in his autobiography, ‘The
Course of My Life’, he emphasises the distinction
between his written works on the one hand and, on
the other, reports of lectures which were given as
oral communications and were not originally
intended for print.
It should be borne in mind that certain premises
were taken for granted when the words were
spoken. ‘These premises,’ Rudolf Steiner writes,
‘include at the very least, the anthroposophical
knowledge of Man and of the Cosmos in its
spiritual essence; also what may be called
“anthroposophical history”, told as an outcome of
research into the spiritual world.’
For the benefit of readers a brief list of
publications relevant to the main theme have been
added at the end of this volume.
Contents

Lecture I, 4th January 1918
The nature of mythical thinking. Egyptian, Greek
and Hebrew way to connect oneself with the
Universe. Osiris-Isis Myth and the generation of
the Gods of the Greeks. What had been spiritual
experience in Egyptian and Greek myth became
teaching in Old Testament.
Lecture II, 5th January 1918
Looking back on the change of soul in
development of consciousness. Change from
picture writing to letter script. Separation of the
word from the soul experience. Formerly a change
of consciousness at puberty. Forces underlying the
feelings of nationalism. Development of abstract
thought. Meaning of the cross.
Lecture III, 6th January 1918
How can Osiris be awakened to new life? Man
must work towards the experiencing of
Imaginations. The Veil of Isis. Man to learn to lift
the veil of knowledge. He must lay hold of the
Word. Instead, today, Man flees from Wisdom.
Eulenspiegelism.
Lecture IV, 8th January 1918
The theory of heredity. The old Isis inscription and
the motto which completes it for the present and
the future. In the present time man is estranged
from reality. Man turned gaze to the earth and now
must turn to the spiritual. Inner mission of our
time is the development of a spiritually free
humanity.
Lecture V, 11th January 1918
The getting younger of humanity while advancing
in time. In consequence the possibility of
development of the single human being
diminishes. Materialism must bring unhappiness
and can be countered by Spiritual Science. Art of
education is wanting. Friedrich Schlegel's
demands for a spiritualization of science fails.
Cannot build on old but through a new impulse.
Lecture VI, 12th January 1918
Duality of human being. Head-man and trunk-
man. Transformation of head knowledge into heart
knowledge. Transformation of education needed.
Concepts of a mechanical universe have to be
overcome so that child may feel himself to be a
member of whole cosmos. When secrets of the
world and of man become social wisdom of life
then a social theory is possible that grasps real life.
Lack in religion, also. Hatred of Czarism.
Lecture VII, 13th January 1918
Man is solution of world riddle. His being unites
with a cosmic auric substance that streams into
earth and out again. Today, no relation between
head-man and heart-man. Mankind unable to find
connection of its soul with its thoughts. Task of
future educational science to enable child to feel
how he is built up out of Cosmos. Value of myth
and legend. What it accomplishes is rejuvenation
of man and proper reaction between head and
heart. Socialism is head knowledge and the head
not of this earth. A spirituality connected with the
earth's future must be found.
Lecture I
4th January 1918.

In the course of the public lectures lately given in
Switzerland I have frequently remarked that that
knowledge, that way of thinking which prevails
among the men of our time and has taken root in
human souls, is not adapted to grasp the social-
moral life. Present conditions can only be brought
to a healthy state if men are able to come again to
such a thinking, such a grasp of the universe, as
will give what lives in the soul a direct link with
reality.
I said that what prevails in the historical, the
social, the ethical life is more or less dreamt, slept
through by mankind, that in any case abstract
ideas are not fitted to take hold of the impulses
which must be active in the social life. I stated that