44. The Holy Grail
Many are the interpretations of the poems that exist concerning the Holy Grail. The most serious scholars and researchers have occupied themselves with this mystery. Much of this has high moral value, yet everything bears within itself the great flaw that it only shows a structure from the earthly upwards, while the main thing – the ray of light from above, which alone could bring quickening and enlightenment – is missing. Everything that strives from below upwards must halt at the boundary of materiality, even if the highest attainable is granted to it. In most cases, however, even under favourable conditions, barely half of this distance can be covered. How far, then, remains the path to the true knowledge of the Holy Grail!
This sense of unattainability finally makes itself felt among researchers. The result of this is that they now attempt to take the Grail merely as a purely symbolic designation of a concept, in order thereby to confer upon it its loftiness, the necessity of which they quite rightly perceive for this designation. In doing so, however, they actually move backward, not forward. Downward instead of upward. They deviate from the right path, which the poems already contain in part. These alone permit the truth to be surmised. But even then, only surmised, because the high inspirations and dreamlike images of the poets were rendered too earthly by the intellect cooperating in the transmission. To the reproduction of that which was spiritually received, they imparted the image of their current earthly environment, in order thereby to make the meaning of their poetry more intelligible to humankind, which, nevertheless, they failed to do, because they themselves could not come close to the actual core of the truth.
Thus, from the very outset, an insecure foundation was given to subsequent research and seeking; to every success therewith, a narrow limit was set. That one could ultimately think only of a pure symbolism, and transferred the redemption through the Grail into the innermost self of every human being, is therefore not surprising.
The existing interpretations are not without great moral value, but they can lay no claim to being an explanation of the poems, much less to coming close to the truth of the Holy Grail.
Neither is the Holy Grail meant to be the vessel used by the Son of God at the Last Supper with His disciples at the end of His earthly Mission, into which His blood was then collected at the Cross. This vessel is a sacred reminder of the high Work of Redemption of the Son of God, but it is not the Holy Grail, which the poets of the legends were graced to sing of. These poems have been wrongly understood by humankind.
They were meant to be promises from the Highest Heights, the fulfillments of which humanity had to await! Had they been understood as such, another path would surely also have been found long ago, which could have led research somewhat further than before. It followed, however, that a dead end was bound to occur eventually in all the interpretations, because a full, flawless solution could never be reached, since the starting point of every research, owing to the previous false conception, stood from the very outset upon false ground. — —
Never will a human spirit, even were it ultimately in its greatest perfection and immortality, be able to stand face to face with the Holy Grail itself! For this reason, comprehensive tidings about it can also never reach from there down toward the earth into the World of Matter, unless it be through a Messenger who was sent out from there. To the human spirit, therefore, the Holy Grail must always and eternally remain a mystery.
Let humans abide by that which they are capable of grasping spiritually, and let them seek above all things to fulfill and to bring to its noblest blossoms that which lies within their powers. Unfortunately, however, in their desiring, they only too gladly reaches ever far beyond this, without developing their actual ability, whereby they commit a negligence which does not even permit them to attain that which they would be capable of, while they can never attain the object of their desire anyway. They thereby deprive themselves of the most beautiful and the highest of their true being; they achieve only a complete failure in the fulfillment of the purpose of their existence. — — —
Parsifal is a great promise. The flaws and errors added by the poets of the legends through their all-too-earthly thinking distort the true nature of this figure. Parsifal is one with the Son of Man, whose coming the Son of God Himself foretold. An Emissary of God, He would have to go through the most arduous of earthly hardships as a man among humankind, with a blindfold over His spiritual eyes. Freed from this blindfold after a specific time, He must then recognize His origin and thereby Himself once more, as well as see His Mission clearly before Him. This Mission would likewise bring a redemption to seriously seeking humanity, combined with a severe Judgment. For this, however, no arbitrary human being could be assumed, still less is it meant to be understood as the possible experience of numerous or even all human beings; rather, only a single, completely specific, Chosen One, a specially Sent One, would bear these possibilities within Himself.
Within the immutable lawfulness of all Divine Will, it is impossible for things to be otherwise: following the course of development, every entity can return in its highest perfection to the origin of its original essence, but never beyond it. So it is with the human spirit. It originates as a spiritual seed-germ from the Realm of Spiritual Essentiality, to which it can return as a conscious spirit in its essential form after its journey through the World of Matter, provided it has achieved highest perfection and living purity. In the best-case scenario, its path can lead it into the forecourt of the Grail Castle, which stands as the highest point within the Spiritual Essentiality, forming the gateway to the steps of the Throne. There, the Origin of all Being, God the Father, in His Inessential-Divinity, temporarily wraps Himself in the mantle of the Essential-Divinity, thus assuming Form. No being of the Spiritual Essentiality, no matter how high, pure, and radiant, can cross the boundary into the Divine. Here, as in the spheres or planes of the material creation, the boundary and the impossibility of crossing it lie simply in the nature of things – in the fundamental difference of species.
As the supreme and highest stands God Himself in His Inessential-Divinity. Next, somewhat lower down, comes Spiritual Essentiality. Both are Eternal. Only below this, extending deeper and deeper, does the material Work of Creation attach itself, beginning with the gaseous ethereal materiality and becoming denser and denser in descending planes or spheres, down to the final coarse materiality that is visible to humans. The ethereal materiality within the Creation is what mankind calls the Beyond – that which lies beyond their earthly, coarse-material vision. Both, however, belong to the Work of Creation; they are not eternal in their form, but are subject to change for the purpose of renewal and regeneration.
Now, at the highest point of origin within the eternal Spiritual Essentiality stands the Grail Castle – spiritually visible and tangible because it is still of the same spiritual-essential nature. This Grail Castle houses a Room which, in turn, lies at the outermost boundary facing the Divine, and is thus even more etherealized than all the rest of Spiritual Essentiality. In this Room rests, as a pledge of the Eternal Goodness of God the Father and as a symbol of His purest Divine Love, as well as the direct point of origin of the Divine Force: The Holy Grail!
It is a Chalice in which there is a continuous welling and surging like red blood, without ever overflowing. Encircled by the most radiant Light, only the purest of all Spiritual Essentiality are permitted to look into this Light. These are the Guardians of the Holy Grail! When it is said in the poems that the purest of men are destined to become Guardians of the Grail, this is a point which the inspired poet has made far too earthly, because he was unable to express himself otherwise. No human spirit can enter this sacred space. Even in its most perfect Spiritual Essentiality, upon its return from its journey through materiality, it still does not possess the ethereality required to cross the threshold, the boundary into this space. Even in its highest perfection within essentiality, it is still too dense for this. Any further ethereality for the human spirit would be equivalent to complete disintegration or combustion, since its nature from the very origin is not suited to become still more radiant and luminous, that is, still more ethereal. It cannot endure it.
The Guardians of the Grail are Eternal, Purely Spiritual Beings who were never human – the very pinnacles of all Spiritual Essentiality. Yet they stand in need of the Inessential-Divine Force; they are dependent upon It, just as everything is dependent upon the Inessential-Divinity, the Source of all Force, God the Father.
From time to time, on the Day of the Holy Dove, the Dove appears above the Vessel as a renewed sign of the Father’s immutable Divine Love. It is the hour of connection, which brings a renewal of Force. The Guardians of the Grail receive it in humble devotion, and are then able to pass on this received miraculous Force.
Upon this hangs the existence of the entire Creation!
It is the moment when, in the Temple of the Holy Grail, the Creator’s Love pours forth radiantly to bring new life, a fresh urge to create, which distributes itself downward through the whole universe like a heartbeat. A tremor passes through all the spheres – a holy thrill of expectant joy and boundless happiness. Only the spirit of earthly humans stand apart, failing to intuitively perceive what is happening to them at that very moment, and what an immeasurable gift they dully receives; for the self-limitation within their intellect no longer permits the comprehension of such greatness.
It is the moment when Life-Force is infused into the entire Creation!
It is the constant, necessary recurrence of a confirmation of the Covenant which the Creator maintains toward His Work. Should this infusion ever be cut off, should it fail to appear, then everything in existence would slowly wither, age, and decay. The end of all days would then arrive, and God alone would remain, just as it was in the beginning! Because He alone is Life.
This process is recounted in the legend. It is even indicated how everything must age and perish if the Day of the Holy Dove – the "unveiling" of the Grail – does not return, seen in the aging of the Knights of the Grail during the time when Amfortas no longer unveils the Grail, up to the hour when Parsifal appears as the King of the Grail.
Humans should refrain from regarding the Holy Grail merely as something intangible; for it truly exists! However, by virtue of Its very nature, the human spirit is barred from ever being able to behold It. Yet human spirits can receive and enjoy the blessing that streams forth from It, which can be – and indeed is – passed on by the Guardians of the Grail. In this sense, certain interpretations cannot exactly be called false, provided they do not attempt to drag the Holy Grail Itself into their explanations. They are correct, and yet again they are not.
The appearance of the Dove on the specific Day of the Holy Dove signals each periodic sending of the Holy Spirit; for this Dove stands in close connection with Him. Yet this is something which the human spirit is capable of grasping only figuratively; because, by the very nature of things, even at its highest evolution, it is in reality capable of thinking, knowing, and intuitively perceiving only up to the point from whence it came, that is, up to that homogeneity which is one with the purest essentiality of its origin. This is the Eternal, Pure Spiritual Essentiality. This boundary it will never be able to cross, not even in thought. Anything else it can never comprehend. This is so self-evident, logical, and simple, that every human being is capable of following this line of thought.
What lies beyond this, however, will and must for this reason always be and remain a mystery to humankind!
Therefore, it is an illusion to imagine that one carries God within oneself, or that one is divine, or can become so. They carry the Pure-Spiritual within themselves, but not Divinity. And therein rests an unbridgeable difference. They are creatures, not a parts of the Creator, as so many people try to convince themselves. Humans are and remain a work; they will never be able to become the Master.
It is therefore also incorrect when it is stated that the human spirit originates from God the Father Himself and returns to Him. Human origin is Spiritual Essentiality, not in Divine Inessentiality. Therefore, even when perfection is attained, they can only return as far as Spiritual Essentiality. Correctly stated, the human spirit originates from the Kingdom of God, and therefore, if it becomes perfect, it is also capable of returning to the Kingdom of God, but not to God Himself. The Kingdom of God is Pure Spiritual Essentiality.
The Son of God became the Mediator between Divine Inessentiality and Pure Spiritual Essentiality. He crossed over from Divine Inessentiality into Spiritual Essentiality, just as He once also came into the World of Matter. The coming of the Son of Man brings the completion of the high Divine Mission of the Son of God. After this fulfillment, the Son of God will return entirely into Divine Inessentiality, while the Son of Man assumes the office of Mediator in His place, thereby becoming the Leader of the Guardians of the Holy Grail – the Grail King who guards the Holy Vessel.
The Son of Man will then be the Alpha and the Omega for the human spirit, because He represents the Beginning and the End for the human spirit’s understanding; for He is able to cross the boundary into Divine Inessentiality, and thus to oversee everything.
