from drafts by Ita Wegman, 1931
"...In his biography
you have read how his youth and the time of his later work transpired,
and how Rudolf Steiner's development culminated in his seeing
into the supersensible world. He called this seeing the seeing
consciousness. With this seeing into the supersensible world,
he proclaimed a spiritual science which had as its content the
teaching of the gods, the teaching of the true human being and
his relationship to the earth and the heavens, and the teaching
of the cosmos.
Here I would like to mention
something of tremendous importance for the appraisal of Rudolf
Steiner's personality. With this way of seeing, something entirely
new had arrived, something which had never existed before in
any human being. In earlier times receiving such knowledge had
indeed been possible, but it had always happened semi-consciously
or through mediums.
The consciousness with which
Rudolf Steiner obtained knowledge from the spiritual world was
a phenomenon which occupied all occultists of the present time,
because according to them it wasn't possible to acquire a consciousness
that differed from the one with which the moon sphere could be
reached. It was their opinion that it was not possible to know
anything beyond the moon mysteries, and so those in occult circles
who knew anything at all, were puzzled by how Rudolf Steiner
could speak as he did about sun mysteries, planetary mysteries,
or the evolution of the earth in relation to the entire cosmos.
The Christ Being was clearly revealed as a cosmic being, and
thus the relationship of the Christ to the sun and the earth
was made known. Shattering mysteries about the relationship of
the Christ to the human soul were told not only to a group of
people who had gathered about him and who later constituted the
Anthroposophical Society, but were revealed also to all who wanted
to hear.
Opposition was thereby created,
resistance to Rudolf Steiner, which originated in people who,
as Rudolf Steiner expressed it, had antiquated views of the relationships
between worlds of the sensible and the supersensible. Thus opposition
arose from among the leading figures within the Theosophical
Society who did not want to accept Rudolf Steiner's wisdom, his
'sun wisdom', and who were not inclined to try to come to terms
with Rudolf Steiner's consciuos seeing. A different form of opposition
arose among occult societies which everywhere had their pawns
appear as opponents to battle with the teachings of Rudolf Steiner.
And Rudolf Steiner states
the exact time when opposition against him became public, namely
after the conclusion of his lecture cycle, 'From Jesus to Christ'
(1911, GA 131.)
In spite of all the attacks,
Rudolf Steiner calmly continued along his path. He explored the
spiritual world as precisely as the geologist explores the earth,
and brought his experiences down in such a way that contemporary
thinking could grasp it. That is what was so extraordinarily
interesting about Rudolf Steiner, that unbeknown to people opposing
him, he transformed scientific thinking into imaginative thinking,
which was then grasped anew by day consciousness, thus changing
what was imagined into concepts and ideas. So there was a continual
transformation of day consciousness into seeing consciousness
and vice versa.
I often heard him say of himself
that the imaginations were actually always present, and that
day consciousness had to penetrate them to regulate and order
them. "Yes" he once said, " I am on the earth
and in the heavens at the same time, and while I am looking at
you, I experience you, and your supersensible being tells me
significant things. I know what is around you." Anf what
often happened was that suddenly, when I had been together with
Rudolf Steiner, he would take paper and pencil and draw a picture,
be it of a face, a landscape, a pillar form, or of scenes, stemming
from ancient times and having a relationship to him or me or
some other person. Often when I asked this or that question the
answer would come in a wonderful lecture. Many people had this
experience, that the answer to their questions would be given
in the lectures....
.....Many Members carry the burning question: is Rudolf Steiner
still connected with us, now that he has died. If we did not
understand him during his life, is it possible to understand
him now and will he continue to be a leader of those on earth
who recognize him, even though he is no longer incarnated in
a physical body? My dear friends,: after death only reality rules.
If such feelings, expressing reverence and true love, rise up
to him, and a new connection with him develops in freedom, then
he will in reality remain with us and will continue to be our
leader beyond death and life.
The peculiar conception that
Rudolf Steiner cannot be perceived as being truly active amongst
us since his death, can only be had by someone who has no feeling
of connectedness with Rudolf Steiner.
If the feeling of connectedness
is there, as it is with a loving person, Then Rudolf Steiner's
presence can be felt everywhere and no force on earth will be
able to sever it. Then one feels his help, his love in all that
one does, even though there may be many mistakes in the doing.
What now must be understood,
are the courageous deeds which, in the Michaelic era, were laid
upon those, to help in the refashioning of earthly relationships.
Michael is not to be found in contemplativeness, but in the battle
against obsolete concepts and ideas which no longer fit into
our contemporary civilization.
(From "Who was Ita Wegman" by
J. E. Zeylmans van Emmichoven - Mercury Press - NY- 1990)