The Lost Word

19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, a hugely controversial figure on many levels in our times as back then, was a man of great sensitivity and depth of soul. One of his many interests was the relationship – or lack thereof – between language and the world. One of his convictions about this absent relationship was that language is man's way of creating a world apart from the real one. A world he can control and dominate. Language, Nietzsche seemed to think, sort of 'flattens out' the real world into a controllable thing by grouping individual objects into a word, and so glossing over the individual differences of actual objects. I'll let him explain:

“Just as it is certain that one leaf is never totally the same as another, so it is certain that the concept 'leaf' is formed by arbitrarily discarding these individual differences and by forgetting the distinguishing aspects.”

In 1889 a young and industrious academic called Rudolf Steiner reads Nietzsche's Beyond Good

and Evil for the first time. As he will remember later on during his extremely productive life, he

saw this encounter with Nietzsche as a work of destiny. This year would be, in fact, part of a

singular turning point for the talented young scholar, who was not only a rising star in the academic world, but would also eventually leave academia behind to bring his genius and spiritual clairvoyance to bear upon what is perhaps an historically unmatched array of subjects for a single human being. Nietzsche's writings will leave a lasting impression on Steiner, and will play an important role in the formation of his own vision.

In 1894, at the age of 33, Steiner meets Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth, a fiercely controversial figure in her own right. The association wouldn't last long, but just long enough to be of great impact. During this time she allows Steiner access to Nietzsche's yet unpublished Antichrist. He reads the rest of Nietzsche's works enthusiastically, and in the Autumn of the same year, begins writing his own book about the philosopher entitled Friedrich Nietzsche: A Fighter Against his Time, which stands to this day as one of the most comprehensive and perceptive critical appreciations of the philosopher's work and person. Two years later Nietzsche's sister will introduce Steiner to her brother in person. They would meet then for the first and only time. By this time the inexhaustible fire in Nietzsche's soul had consumed his mind. In Steiner's own words:

“His was indeed a strange and remarkable destiny. I saw him only once during his

life....when his mind was already seriously deranged. In the afternoon, about half-past-

two, his sister took me into his room. He lay on the couch, listless and unresponsive,

with eyes unable to see that someone was standing by him. He lay there with the

remarkable, beautifully formed brow that made such a striking impression upon one.

Although the eyes were expressionless, one nevertheless had the feeling: This is not a

case of insanity, but rather of a man who has been working spiritually the whole

morning with great intensity of soul, has had his mid-day meal and is now lying at rest,

pondering, half dreamily pondering on what his soul worked out in the morning.

Spiritually seen, there were present only a physical body and an etheric body,

especially in respect of the upper parts of the organism, for the being of soul-and-spirit

was already outside, attached to the body as it were by a stubborn thread only. In reality

a kind of death had already set in, but a death that could not be complete because the

physical organisation was so healthy. The astral body and the ego that would fain

escape were still held by the extraordinarily healthy metabolic and rhythmic

organisations, while a completely ruined nerves-and-senses system was no longer able

to hold the astral body and the ego. So one had the wonderful impression that the true

Nietzsche was hovering above the head.”

(Karmic Relationships: Esoteric Studies, Volume I, pages 153–158; published by the Anthroposophical Publishing Co., London, 1955.)

F. Nietzsche

R. Steiner

The state Steiner describes Nietzsche as being in during their in-person encounter is identical to his descriptions of what happens during sleep and dreaming, when the 'astral body' and the 'ego' detach from the physical and etheric bodies and travel the cosmos. Essentially, he is saying that Nietzsche was in what is known as dreamtime in the shamanic lexicon. In the teachings of Carlos Castaneda this would be described as a movement of the assemblage point, only without an experienced sorcerer's control.

As a spiritual scientist, Steiner would always retain an educated admiration towards Nietzsche, never, however, falling short of voicing a respectful but pointed criticism with regards to the philosopher's materialistic views and his vehement hatred

of Christianity. Steiner bounces off Nietzsche, reaching into a level of reality that had always escaped the great philosopher. What this results in is something that is nothing short of a revelation.

At the height of the 1st World War, in 1917, Steiner gave a series of lectures in Berlin known as Building Stones for an Understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha. Having developed a keen interest in Steiner's work, and having made it my task to help dynamise some aspects of his beautiful work, I have been reading these lectures with some attention to detail. Simply put, in Lecture 11 Steiner tackles the problem of language and its relationship to reality. A few days ago, while working my way into the weeds of this lecture, which has its fair share of Steiner's characteristically strange and beautiful ideas, something happened that surprised me greatly. But first I will do my best to present what Steiner writes about language in the shortest understandable form possible.

In this lecture Steiner explains that one of the main blind-spots of modern scientific thought pertains to the complete separation between the 'natural order' and the 'moral order'. In other words, the modern mind is unable to comprehend or consider the possibility that nature is imbued with the good, and is therefore approached unspiritually in mechanistic terms. This causes the modern mind to observe and study nature exclusively as an 'outward' phenomenon in which the spirit is completely absent. According to Steiner this limit is a result of man's 'Fall from Grace', which in my interpretation can be described as man's identification with the rational mind. We must keep in mind that the word 'rational' is rooted in the meaning of 'dividing into portions (rations)', and therefore expresses a fragmented and conflictual understanding of natural reality. This violent streak is certainly observable in nature, but the truth is, according to Steiner, that this streak is itself a result of man's blindness to the spirit which came about when man let himself be seduced by the luciferic entities. In Steiner's own words, thinking “must be redeemed.”

But one is tempted to ask, What is the alternative? What does this 'redemption' consist of?

This redemption is a restoration of an original 'innocence'. As paradoxical as this might sound, understanding what this is all about requires that we remember what Nietzsche wrote about how language and thought reduce the infinite diversity of manifested forms into linguistic packages, making it impossible for human beings to relate to the world directly, as it is. In Nietzsche's own words, “there are no facts, only interpretations.” A thought that will inevitably lead the strongest of sensitive souls into despair. So how can language and thinking be redeemed from the despair that materialistic reason inevitably condemns them to spawn? The simple answer is, by remembering. Steiner serves as a messenger of how this remembering can come alive within us.

Before falling into the luciferic trap, Steiner tells us, man was a mighty being. So mighty that as he fell into the trap he pulled down with him the whole of creation. The crime of ignorant, arrogant reason is exceptionally huge. And nowhere does this become as clear as in Steiner's spiritual scientific research. In the state of original innocence before the Fall there was only one language, which was different in essence to the ones we speak and think with today. Man is the only creature on earth that still holds within him, in dormant form, the potential of that original vitality, and therefore a dull echo of that original language; or as Steiner calls it, 'the lost word'.

In the catastrophe of the Fall the world got broken. The Fall, Steiner is keen to point out, is essentially a moral event, one that nonetheless had a huge impact on the natural order. The moral and natural order, harmoniously united before the luciferic trap enslaved man and creation, now are “intolerable” to each other. As a result of this fragmentation man becomes a consumer rather than a creator, the world becomes a collection of exploitable objects, and death becomes normal and necessary. Not least, the one language of innocence is fragmented by guilt into a variety of languages that now have a common characteristic; permanence. The flow of innocence is arrested, and languages become increasingly 'fixed' as mediators between guilty man and a broken world.

His description of the innocent language is fabulous and inspiring. When innocent man received an 'impression' from the outside he would not only perceive the thing outwardly (as we do), but would also perceive its spirit. Each leaf, as different from every other leaf, would elicit in man its specific sound, coming from its spirit. This is how Nietzsche's despair is redeemed.

Steiner explains it thus;

“With each individual impression a sound would be elicited from man. Instead of there being a language with the quality of permanence, each thing, each impression would immediately be answered by a sound from within.”

As I was reading these words of Steiner for the first time, something like a joy stirred in my chest, a joy of a surprise, like recognising something long lost... and without any volition, thought or decision, I uttered a sound, a deep beautiful sound, something between a sigh of relief and a gasp of surprise. Immediately at that moment I knew that I had just experienced the lost word.

Ro-Wan