Part i: Contents

COSMIC MEMORY
Prehistory of Earth and Man
Atlantis and Lemuria

CONTENTS

I. Introduction
II. Contemporary Civilization in the Mirror of the Science of the
Spirit (1904)
III. From the Akasha Chronicle (Preface)
IV. Our Atlantean Ancestors
V. Transition of the Fourth into the Fifth Root Race
VI. The Lemurian Race
VII. The Division into Sexes
VIII. The Last Periods before the Division into Sexes
IX. The Hyperborean and the Polarean Epoch
X. Beginning of the Present Earth -- Extrusion of the Sun
XI. Extrusion of the Moon
XII. Some Necessary Points of View
XIII. On the Origin of the Earth
XIV. The Earth and Its Future
XV. The Life of Saturn
XVI. The Life of the Sun
XVII. Life on the Moon
XVIII. The Life of Earth
XIX. The Fourfold Man of Earth
XX. Answers to Questions
XXI. Prejudices Arising from Alleged Science (1904)

 

Part I: Introduction

Introduction
RUDOLF STEINER: THE MAN AND HIS WORK

RUDOLF STEINER is one of those figures who appear at critical moments
in human history, and whose contribution places them in the vanguard
of the progress of mankind.

Born in Austria in 1861, educated at the Technische Hochschule in
Vienna, where he specialized in the study of mathematics and science,
Steiner received recognition as a scholar when he was invited to edit
the well-known Kurschner edition of the natural scientific writings of
Goethe. Already in 1886 at the age of twenty-five, he had shown his
comprehensive grasp of the deeper implications of Goethe's way of
thinking by writing his Grundlinien einer Erkenntnistheorie der
Goetheschen Weltanschauung (Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe's
Conception of the World). Four years later he was called to join the
group of eminent scholars in residence at Weimar, where he worked with
them at the Goethe-Schiller Archives for some years. A further result
of these activities was the writing of his Goethes Weltanschauung
(Goethe's Conception of the World) which, together with his
introductions and commentary on Goethe's scientific writings,
established Steiner as one of the outstanding exponents of Goethe's
methodology.

In these years Steiner came into the circle of those around the aged
Nietzsche. Out of the profound impression which this experience made
upon him, he wrote his Friedrich Nietzsche, Ein Kampfer gegen seine
Zeit (Friedrich Nietzsche, a Fighter Against his Time), published in
1895. This work evaluates the achievements of the great philosopher
against the background of his tragic life-experience on the one hand,
and the spirit of the nineteenth century on the other.

In 1891 Steiner received his Ph.D. at the University of Rostock. His
thesis dealt with the scientific teaching of Fichte, and is further
evidence of Steiner's ability to evaluate the work of men whose
influence has gone far to shape the thinking of the modern world. In
somewhat enlarged form, this thesis appeared under the title, Wahrheit
und Wissenschaft (Truth and Science), as the preface to Steiner's
chief philosophical work, Die Philosophie der Freiheit, 1894. Later he
suggested The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity as the title of the
English translation of this book.

At about this time Steiner began his work as a lecturer. This activity
was eventually to occupy the major portion of his time and was to take
him on repeated lecture tours throughout Western Europe. These
journeys extended from Norway, Sweden and Finland in the north to
Italy and Sicily in the South, and included several visits to the
British Isles. From about the turn of the century to his death in
1925, Steiner gave well over 6,000 lectures before audiences of most
diverse backgrounds and from every walk of life.

First in Vienna, later in Weimar and Berlin, Steiner wrote for various
periodicals and for the daily press. For nearly twenty years,
observations on current affairs, reviews of books and plays, along
with comment on scientific and philosophical developments flowed from
his pen. Finally, upon completion of his work at Weimar, Steiner moved
to Berlin in 1897 to assume the editorship of Das Magazin fur
Litteratur, a well-known literary periodical which had been founded by
Joseph Lehmann in 1832, the year of Goethe's death.

Steiner's written works, which eventually included over fifty titles,
together with his extensive lecturing activity brought him into
contact with increasing numbers of people in many countries. The sheer
physical and mental vigor required to carry on a life of such broad,
constant activity would alone be sufficient to mark him as one of the
most creatively productive men of our time.

The philosophical outlook of Rudolf Steiner embraces such fundamental
questions as the being of man, the nature and purpose of freedom, the
meaning of evolution, the relation of man to nature, the life after
death and before birth. On these and similar subjects, Steiner had
unexpectedly new, inspiring and thought-provoking things to say.
Through a study of his writings one can come to a clear, reasonable,
comprehensive understanding of the human being and his place in the
universe.

It is noteworthy that in all his years of work, Steiner made no appeal
to emotionalism or sectarianism in his readers or hearers. His
scrupulous regard and deep respect for the freedom of every man shines
through everything he produced. The slightest compulsion or persuasion
he considered an affront to the dignity and ability of the human
being. Therefore, he confined himself to objective statements in his
writing and speaking, leaving his readers and hearers entirely free to
reject or accept his words.

Rudolf Steiner repeatedly emphasized that it is not educational
background alone, but the healthy, sound, judgment and good will of
each individual that enables the latter to comprehend what he has to
say. While men and women eminent in cultural, social, political and
scientific life have been and are among those who have studied and
have found value in Steiner's work, experience has shown repeatedly
that his ideas can be grasped by the simplest people. His ability to
reach, without exception, all who come to meet his ideas with the
willingness to understand, is another example of the well-known
hallmark of genius.

The ideas of Rudolf Steiner address themselves to the humanity in men
and women of every race and of every religious and philosophical point
of view, and included them. However, it should be observed that for
Steiner the decisive event in world development and the meaning of the
historical process is centered in the life and activity of the Christ.
Thus, his point of view is essentially Christian, but not in a limited
or doctrinal sense. The ideas expressed in his Das Christentum als
mystische Tatsache und die Mysterien des Altertums (Christianity as
Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity), 1902, and in other
works, especially his cycles of lectures on the Gospels (1908-1912),
have brought to many a totally new relationship to Christianity,
sufficiently broad to include men of every religious background in full
tolerance, yet more deeply grounded in basic reality than are many of
the creeds current today.

From his student days, Steiner had been occupied with the education of
children. Through his own experience as tutor in Vienna and later as
instructor in a school for working men and women in Berlin, he had
ample opportunity to gain first-hand experience in dealing with the
needs and interests of young people. In his Berlin teaching work he
saw how closely related are the problems of education and of social
life. Some of the fundamental starting-points for an educational
praxis suited to the needs of children and young people today, Steiner
set forth in a small work titled Die Erziehung des Kindes vom
Gesichtspunkte der Geisteswssenshaft (The Education of the Child in
the Light of the Science of the Spirit), published in 1907.

Just forty years ago, in response to an invitation arising from the
need of the time and from some of the ideas expressed in the essay
mentioned above, Rudolf Steiner inaugurated a system of education of
children and young people based upon factors inherent in the nature of
the growing child, the learning process, and the requirements of
modern life. He himself outlined the curriculum, selected the faculty,
and, despite constant demands for his assistance in many other
directions, he carefully supervised the initial years of activity of
the first Rudolf Steiner Schools in Germany, Switzerland and England.
The story of the successful development of the educational movement
over the past forty years cannot be told here. However, from the
opening of the first Rudolf Steiner School, the Waldorf School in
Stuttgart, Germany, to the present time, the success of Rudolf Steiner
Education sometimes referred to as Waldorf Education) has proven the
correctness of Steiner's concept of the way in which to prepare the
child for his eventual adult role in his contribution to modern
society, existence in seventeen countries of the world, including the
United States, Canada, Mexico, and South America.

In 1913, at Dornach near Basel, Switzerland, Rudolf Steiner laid the
foundation of the Goetheanum, a unique building erected in consonance
with his design and under his personal supervision. Intended as the
building in which Steiner's four dramas would be performed, the
Goetheanum also became the center of the Anthroposophical Society
which had been founded by students of Rudolf Steiner in 1912. The
original building was destroyed by fire in 1922, and subsequently was
replaced prepared by Rudolf Steiner.

Today the Goetheanum is the world headquarters of General
Anthroposophical Society, which was founded at Dornach at Christmas,
1923, with Rudolf Steiner as President. Audiences of many thousands
come there each year to attend performances of Steiner's dramas, of
Goethe's Faust (Parts I and II in their entirety), and of plays by
other authors, presented on the Goetheanum stage, one of the finest in
Europe. Eurythmy performances, musical events, conferences and
lectures on many subjects, as well as courses of study in various
fields attract people to the Goetheanum from many countries of the
world, including the United States.

Among activities springing from the work of Rudolf Steiner are
Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening, which aims at improved nutrition
resulting from methods of agriculture outlined by him; the art of
Eurythmy, created and described by him as "visible speech and visible
song"; the work of the Clinical and Therapeutical Institute at
Arlesheim, Switzerland, with related institutions in other countries,
where for the past thirty years the indications given by Rudolf
Steiner in the fields of Medicine and Pharmacology have been applied;
the Homes for Children in need of special care, which exist in many
countries for the treatment of mentally retarded children along lines
developed under Steiner's direction; the further development of
Steiner's indications of new directions of work in such fields as
Mathematics, Physics, Painting, Sculpture, Music Therapy, Drama,
Speech Formation, Astronomy, Economics, Psychology, and so on. Indeed,
one cannot but wonder at the breadth, the scope of the benefits which
have resulted from the work of this one man!

A full evaluation of what Rudolf Steiner accomplished for the good of
mankind in so many directions can come about only when one comprehends
the ideas which motivated him. He expressed these in his writings, of
which the present volume is one. Taken together, these written works
comprise the body of knowledge to which Steiner gave the name, the
science of the spirit, or Anthroposophy. On page 249 of this book he
writes of the benefits of this science of the spirit:

"When correctly understood, the truths of the science of the spirit
will give man a true foundation for his life, will let him recognize
his value, his dignity, and his essence, and will give him the highest
zest for living. For these truths enlighten him about his connection
with the world around him; they show him his highest goals, his true
destiny. And they do this in a way which corresponds to the demands of
the present, so that he need not remain caught in the contradiction
between belief and knowledge."

Many of the thoughts expressed in this book may at first appear
startling, even fantastic in their implications. Yet when the prospect
of space travel, as well as modern developments in technology,
psychology, medicine and philosophy challenge our entire understanding
of life and the nature of the living, strangeness as such should be no
valid reason for the serious reader to turn away from a book of this
kind. For example, while the word "occult" or "supersensible" may have
undesirable connotations for many, current developments are fast
bringing re-examination of knowledge previously shunned by
conventional research. The challenge of the atomic age has made
serious re-evaluation of all knowledge imperative, and it is
recognized that no single area of that knowledge can be left out of
consideration.

Steiner himself anticipated the reader's initial difficulties with
this book, as he indicates on page 112: "The reader is requested to
bear with much that is dark and difficult to comprehend, and to
struggle toward an understanding, just as the writer has struggled
toward a generally understandable manner of presentation. Many a
difficulty in reading will be rewarded when one looks upon the deep
mysteries, the important human enigmas which are indicated."

On the other hand, a further problem arises as a result of Steiner's
conviction regarding the purpose for which a book dealing with the
science of the spirit is designed. This involves the form of the book
as against its content. Steiner stressed repeatedly that a book on the
science of the spirit does not exist only for the purpose of conveying
information to the reader. With painstaking effort, he elaborated his
books in such a manner that while the reader receives certain
information from the pages, he also experiences a kind of awakening of
spiritual life within himself. Steiner describes this awakening as
"...an experiencing with inner shocks, tensions and resolutions." In
his resolutions." In his autobiography he speaks of his striving to
bring about such an awakening in the readers of his books: "I know
that with every page my inner battle has been to reach the utmost
possible in this direction. In the matter of style, I do not so
describe that my subjective feelings can be detected in the sentences.
In writing I subdue to a dry mathematical style what has come out of
warm and profound feeling. But only such a style can be an awakener,
for the reader must cause warmth and feeling to awaken in himself. He
cannot simply allow these to flow into him from the one setting forth
the truth, while he remains passively composed." (The Course of My
Life, Note)

In the present translation, therefore, careful effort has been made to
preserve as much as possible such external form details as sentence
and paragraph arrangement, italics, and even some of the more
characteristic punctuation of the original, regardless of currently
accepted English usage.

The essays contained in this book occupy a significant place in the
life-work of Rudolf Steiner. They are his first written expression of
a cosmology resulting from that spiritual perception which he
described as "a fully conscious standing-within the spiritual world."
In his autobiography he refers to the early years of the present
century as the time when, "Out of the experience of the spiritual
world in general developed specific details of knowledge.'' (Op. cit.
pp. 326, 328.) Steiner has stated that from his early childhood he
knew the reality of the spiritual world because he could experience
this spiritual world directly. However, only after nearly forty years
was it possible for him to transmit to others concrete, detailed
information regarding this spiritual world.

As they appear in the present essays, these "specific details" touch
upon processes and events of extraordinary sweep and magnitude. They
include essential elements of man's prehistory and early history, and
shed light upon the evolutionary development of our earth. Published
now for the first time in America, just a century after Darwin's
Origin of the Species began its transformation of Man's view of
himself and of his environment, these essays clarify and complement
the pioneer work of the great English scientist.

Rudolf Steiner shows that the insoluble link between man and cosmos is
the fundamental basis of evolution. As man has participated in the
development of the world we know today, so his achievements are
directly connected with the ultimate destiny of the universe. In his
hands rests the freedom to shape the future course of creation.
Knowledge of his exalted origins and of the path he followed in
forfeiting divine direction for the attainment of his present
self-dependent freedom, are indispensable if man is to evolve a future
worthy of a responsible human being. This book appears now because of
its particular significance at a moment when imperative and grave
decisions are being made in the interests of the future of mankind.

PAUL MARSHAL ALLEN
Englewood, New Jersey
June 1959

 

Part II: Contemporary Civilization in the Mirror of the Science of the
Spirit (1904)

CONTEMPORARY CIVILIZATION IN THE MIRROR OF
THE SCIENCE OF THE SPIRIT (1904)

THE OBSERVER of the course of scientific development in the last
decades cannot doubt that a great revolution is in preparation. Today
when a scientist talks about the so-called enigmas of existence, it
sounds quite different than it did a short time ago.

Around the middle of the nineteenth century some of the most daring
spirits saw in scientific materialism the only creed possible to one
familiar with the then recent results of research. The blunt saying of
that time has become famous: "Thoughts stand in about the same
relationship to the brain as gall to the liver." This was stated by
Karl Vogt, who in his Kohlerglauben und Wissenschaft (Blind Faith and
Science) ana in other writings, declared everything to be
superannuated which did not make spiritual activity and the life of
the soul proceed from the mechanism of the nervous system and of the
brain in the same manner in which the physicist explains that the
movement of the hands proceeds from the mechanism of the clock. That
was the time when Ludwig Buechner's Kraft und Stoff (Force and Matter)
became a sort of gospel among wide circles of the educated. One may
well say that excellent, independently thinking minds came to such
convictions because of the powerful impression made by the successes
of science in those times. A short time before, the microscope had
shown the synthesis of living beings out of their smallest parts, the
cells. Geology, the science of the formation of the earth, had come to
the point of explaining the development of the planets in terms of the
same laws which still operate today. Darwinism promised to explain the
origin of man in a completely natural way and began its victorious
course through the educated world so auspiciously that for many it
seemed to dispose of all "old belief." A short time ago, all this
became quite different. It is true that stragglers who adhere to these
opinions can still be found in men like Ladenburg at the Congress of
Scientists in 1903, who proclaim the materialistic gospel; but against
them stand others who have arrived at a quite different way of
speaking through more mature reflection on scientific questions. A
work has just appeared which bears the title, Naturwissenschaft und
Weltanschauung (Science and World Conception). Its author is Max
Verworn, a physiologist of the school of Haeckel. In this work one can
read the following: "Indeed, even if we possessed the most complete
knowledge of the physiological events in the cells and fibers of the
cerebral cortex with which psychic events are connected, even if we
could look into the mechanism of the brain as we look into the works
of a clock, we would never find anything but moving atoms. No human
being could see or otherwise perceive through his senses how
sensations and ideas arise in this mechanism. The results which the
materialistic conception has obtained in its attempt to trace mental
processes back to the movements of atoms illustrates its efficiency
very clearly. As long as the materialistic conception has existed, it
has not explained the simplest sensation by movements of atoms. Thus
it has been and thus it will be in future. How could it be conceivable
that things which are not perceptible by the senses, such as the
psychic processes, could ever be explained by a mere splitting up of
large bodies into their smallest parts? The atom is still a body after
all, and no movement of atoms is ever capable of bridging the gulf
between the material world and the psyche. However fruitful the
materialistic point of view has been as a scientific working
hypothesis, however fruitful it will doubtless remain in this sense in
the future -- I point only to the successes of structural chemistry --
just as useless is it as the basis for a world conception. Here it
shows itself to be too narrow. Philosophical materialism has finished
playing its historical role. This attempt at a scientific world
conception has failed for ever." Thus, at the beginning of the
twentieth century, a scientist speaks about the conception which
around the middle of the nineteenth was proclaimed as a new gospel
demanded by the advances of science.

It is especially the 'fifties, the 'sixties, and the 'seventies of the
nineteenth century which may be designated as the years of the high
tide of materialism. The explanation of mental and spiritual phenomena
on the basis of purely mechanical processes exercised a really
fascinating influence at that time. The materialists could tell
themselves that they had won a victory over the adherents of a
spiritual world conception. Those also who had not started from
scientific studies joined their ranks. While Buechner, Vogt,
Moleschott and others still built on purely scientific premises, in
his Alten und neuen Glauben (Old and New Belief, 1872), David
Friedrich Strauss attempted to obtain bases for the new creed from his
theological and philosophical ideas. Decades before he had already
intervened in the intellectual life with his Leben Jesu (Life of
Jesus) in a manner which caused a sensation. He seemed to be equipped
with the full theological and philosophical culture of his time. He
now said boldly that the materialistic explanation of the phenomena of
the universe, including man, had to form the basis for a new gospel,
for a new moral comprehension and formation of existence. The descent
of man from purely animal ancestors seemed about to become a new
dogma, and in the eyes of scientific philosophers, all adherence to
spiritual-soul origin of our race amounted to an antiquated
superstition from the infancy of mankind, with which one did not have
to disturb oneself further.

The historians of culture came to the aid of those who built on the
new science. The customs and ideas of savage tribes were made the
object of study. The remains of primitive cultures, which are dug out
of the ground like the bones of prehistoric animals and the
impressions of extinct plants were to bear witness to the fact that at
his first appearance on earth man was distinguished only in degree
from the higher animals, and that mentally and spiritually he had
risen to his present eminence from the level of animalism pure and
simple. A time had come when everything in this materialistic edifice
seemed to be right. Under a kind of coercion which the ideas of the
time exercised on them, men thought as a faithful materialist has
written: "The assiduous study of science has brought me to the point
where I accept everything calmly, bear the inevitable patiently, and
for the rest help in the work of gradually reducing the misery of
mankind. The fantastic consolations which a credulous mind seeks in
marvelous formulas I can renounce all the more easily since my
imagination receives the most beautiful stimulation through literature
and art. When I follow the plot of a great drama or, under the
guidance of scientists, make a journey to other stars, an excursion
through prehistoric landscapes, when I admire the majesty of nature on
mountain peaks or venerate the art of man in tones and colors, do I
not then have enough of the elevating? Do I then still need something
which contradicts my reason? The fear of death, which torments so many
of the pious, is completely unknown to me. I know that I no more
survive after my body decays than I lived before my birth. The agonies
of purgatory and of hell do not exist for me. I return to the
boundless realm of Nature, who embraces all her children lovingly. My
life was not in vain. I have made good use of the strength which I
possessed. I depart from earth in the firm belief that everything will
become better and more beautiful." Vom Glauben zum Wissen. Ein
lehrreicher Entwickelungsgang getreu nach dem Leben geschildert von
Kuno Freidank. (On the Belief in Knowledge. An Instructive Course of
Development Described in a Manner Faithfully True to Life by Kuno
Freidank.) Many people who are still subject to the compulsive ideas
which acted upon the representatives of the materialistic world
conception in the time mentioned above, also think in this manner
today.

Those however who tried to maintain themselves on the heights of
scientific thought have come to other ideas. The first reply to
scientific materialism, made by an eminent scientist at the Congress
of Scientists in Leipzig (1876), has become famous. Du Bois-Reymond at
that time made his "Ignorabimus speech." He tried to demonstrate that
this scientific materialism could in fact do nothing but ascertain the
movements of the smallest material particles, and he demanded that it
should be satisfied with doing this. But he emphasized at the same
time that in doing this it contributes absolutely nothing to an
explanation of mental and spiritual processes. One may take whatever
attitude one pleases toward these statements of Du Bois-Reymond, but
this much is clear: they represented a rejection of the materialistic
interpretation of the world. They showed how as a scientist one could
lose confidence in this interpretation.

The materialistic interpretation of the world had thereby entered the
stage where it declared itself to be unassuming as far as the life of
the soul is concerned. It admitted its "ignorance" (agnosticism). It
is true that it declared its intention of remaining "scientific" and
of not having recourse to other sources of knowledge, but on the other
hand it did not want to ascend with its means to a higher
world-conception. In recent times Raoul France, a scientist, has shown
in comprehensive fashion the inadequacy of scientific results for a
higher world-conception This is an undertaking to which we would like
to refer again on another occasion.

The facts now steadily increased which showed the impossibility of the
attempt to build up a science of the soul on the investigation of
material phenomena. Science was forced to study certain "abnormal"
phenomena of the life of the soul like hypnotism, suggestion,
somnambulism. It became apparent that in the face of these phenomena a
materialistic view is completely inadequate for a truly thinking
person. The facts with which one became acquainted were not new. They
were phenomena which had already been studied in earlier times and up
to the beginning of the nineteenth Century, but which in the time of
the materialistic flood had simply been put aside as inconvenient.

To this was added something else. It became more and more apparent on
how weak a basis the scientists had built, even as far as their
explanations of the origin of animal species and consequently of man
were concerned. For a while, the ideas of ''adaptation'' and of the
''struggle for existence-' had exercised an attraction in the
explanation of the origin of species. One learned to understand that
in following them one had followed mirages. A school was formed under
the leadership of Weismann which denied that characteristics which an
organism had acquired through adaptation to the environment could be
transmitted by inheritance, and that in this way a transformation of
organisms could occur. One therefore ascribed everything to the
"struggle for existence" and spoke of an "omnipotence of natural
selection." A stark contrast to this view was presented by those who,
relying on unquestionable facts, declared that a "struggle for
existence" had been spoken of in cases where it did not even exist.
They wanted to demonstrate that nothing could be explained by it. They
spoke of an "impotence of natural selection." Moreover, in the last
years de Vries was able to show experimentally that changes of one
life-time into another can occur by leaps, mutation. With this, what
was regarded as a firm article of faith by the Darwinists, namely that
animal and plant forms change only gradually, was shaken. More and
more the ground on which one had built for decades simply disappeared
beneath one's feet. Even earlier, thinking scientists had realized
that they had to abandon this ground; thus W. H. Rolph, who died
young, in 1884 declared in his book, Biologische Probleme, zugleich
als Versuch zur Entwicklung einer rationellen Ethik (Biological
Problems, with an Attempt at the Development of Rational Ethics):
"Only through the introduction of insatiability does the Darwinian
principle of the struggle for life become acceptable. Because it is
only then that we have an explanation for the fact that wherever it
can, a creature acquires more than it needs for maintaining the status
quo, that it grows to excess where the occasion for this is given....
While for the Darwinists there is no struggle for existence wherever
the existence of a creature is not threatened, for me the struggle is
an omnipresent one. It is primarily a struggle for life, a struggle
for the increase of life, not a struggle for existence."

It is only natural that in view of these facts the judicious confess
to themselves: "The materialistic universe of thought is not fit for
the construction of a world-conception. If we base ourselves on it, we
cannot say anything about mental and spiritual phenomena." Today there
are already numerous scientists who seek to erect a structure of the
world for themselves, based on quite different ideas. One need only
recall the work of the botanist, Reineke, Die Welt als Tat (The World
as Deed). However, it becomes apparent that such scientists have not
been trained with impunity amidst purely materialistic ideas. What
they utter from their new idealistic standpoint is inadequate, can
satisfy them for a while, but not those who look more deeply into the
enigmas of the world. Such scientists cannot bring themselves to
approach those methods which proceed from a real contemplation of the
mind and the soul. They have the greatest fear of "mysticism, of
"gnosis" or "theosophy." This appears clearly, for example, in the
work of Verworn quoted above. He says: "There is a ferment in science.
Things which seemed clear and transparent to everybody have become
cloudy today. Long-tested symbols and ideas, with which everyone dealt
and worked at every step without hesitation a short time ago, have
begun to totter and are looked upon with suspicion. Fundamental
concepts, such as those of matter, appear to have been shaken, and the
firmest ground is beginning to sway under the scientist's steps.
Certain problems alone stand with rocklike firmness, problems on which
until now all attempts, all efforts of science have been shattered. In
the face of this knowledge one who is despondent resignedly throws
himself into the arms of mysticism, which has always been the last
refuge when the tormented intellect could see no way out. The sensible
man looks for new symbols and attempts to create new bases on which he
can build further." One can see that because of his habits of
conceptualization the scientific thinker of today is not in a position
to think of "mysticism" otherwise than as implying intellectual
confusion and vagueness. What concepts of the life of the soul does
such a thinker not reach! At the end of the work referred to above, we
read: "Prehistoric man formed the idea of a separation of body and
soul in face of death. The soul separated itself from the body and led
an independent existence. It found no rest and returned as a ghost
unless it was banned by sepulchral ceremonies. Man was terrorized by
fear and superstition. The remains of these ideas have come down to
our time. The fear of death, that is, of what is to come after, is
widespread today. How differently does all this appear from the
standpoint of psychomonism! Since the psychic experiences of the
individual only take place when certain regular connections exist,
they cease when these connections are in any way disturbed, as happens
numberless times in the course of a day. With the bodily changes at
death, these connections stop entirely. Thus, no sensation and
conception, no thought and no feeling of the individual can remain.
The individual soul is dead. Nevertheless the sensations and thoughts
and feelings continue to live. They live beyond the transitory
individual in other individuals, wherever the same complexes of
conditions exist. They are transmitted from individual to individual,
from generation to generation, from people to people. They weave at
the eternal loom of the soul. They work at the history of the human
spirit. Thus we all survive after death as links in the great
interconnected chain of spiritual development." But is that something
different from the survival of the wave in others which it has caused,
itself meanwhile disappearing? Does one really survive when one
continues to exist only in one's effects? Does one not have such a
survival in common with all phenomena, even those of physical nature?
One can see that the materialistic world conception had to undermine
its own foundations. As yet it cannot lay new ones. Only a true
understanding of mysticism, theosophy, and gnosis will enable it to do
so. The chemist Osterwald spoke several years ago at the Congress of
Scientists at Luebeck of the "overcoming of materialism," and for this
purpose founded a new periodical dealing with the philosophy of
nature. Science is ready to receive the fruits of a higher
world-conception. All resistance will avail it nothing; it will have
to take into account the needs of the longing human soul.

 

Part III: From the Akasha Chronicle (Preface)

FROM THE AKASHA CHRONICLE

PREFACE

BY MEANS OF ordinary history man can learn only a small part of what
humanity experienced in prehistory. Historical documents shed light on
but a few millennia. What archaeology, paleontology, and geology can
teach us is very limited. Furthermore, everything built on external
evidence is unreliable. One need only consider how the picture of an
event or people, not so very remote from us, has changed when new
historical evidence has been discovered. One need but compare the
descriptions of one and the same thing as given by different
historians, and he will soon realize on what uncertain ground he
stands in these matters. Everything belonging to the external world of
the senses is subject to time. In addition, time destroys what has
originated in time. On the other hand, external history is dependent
on what has been preserved in time. Nobody can say that the essential
has been preserved, if he remains content with external evidence.

Everything which comes into being in time has its origin in the
eternal. But the eternal is not accessible to sensory perception.
Nevertheless, the ways to the perception of the eternal are open for
man. He can develop forces dormant in him so that he can recognize the
eternal. In the essays, Wie erlangt man Erkenntnisse der hoheren
Welten? (How Does One Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds?), which
appear in this periodical, this development is referred to. These
present essays will also show that at a certain high level of his
cognitive power, man can penetrate to the eternal origins of the
things which vanish with time. A man broadens his power of cognition
in this way if he is no longer limited to external evidence where
knowledge of the past is concerned. Then he can see in events what is
not perceptible to the senses, that part which time cannot destroy. He
penetrates from transitory to non-transitory history. It is a fact
that this history is written in other characters than is ordinary
history. In gnosis and in theosophy it is called the "Akasha
Chronicle." Only a faint conception of this chronicle can be given in
our language. For our language corresponds to the world of the senses.
That which is described by our language at once receives the character
of this sense world. To the uninitiated, who cannot yet convince
himself of the reality of a separate spiritual world through his own
experience, the initiate easily appears to be a visionary, if not
something worse.

The one who has acquired the ability to perceive in the spiritual
world comes to know past events in their eternal character. They do
not stand before him like the dead testimony of history, but appear in
full life. In a certain sense, what has happened takes place before
him.

Those initiated into the reading of such a living script can look back
into a much more remote past than is represented by external history;
and -- on the basis of direct spiritual perception -- they can also
describe much more dependably the things of which history tells. In
order to avoid possible misunderstanding, it should be said that
spiritual perception is not infallible. This perception also can err,
can see in an inexact, oblique, wrong manner. No man is free from
error in this field, no matter how high he stands. Therefore one
should not object when communications emanating from such spiritual
sources do not always entirely correspond. But the dependability of
observation is much greater here than in the external world of the
senses. What various initiates can relate about history and prehistory
will be in essential agreement. Such a history and prehistory does in
fact exist in all mystery schools. Here for millennia the agreement
has been so complete that the conformity existing among external
historians of even a single century cannot be compared with it. The
initiates describe essentially the same things at all times and in all
places.

Following this introduction, several chapters from the Akasha
Chronicle will be given. First, those events will be described which
took place when the so-called Atlantean Continent still existed
between America and Europe. This part of our earths surface was once
land. Today this forms the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Plato tells of
the last remnant of this land, the island Poseidon, which lay westward
of Europe and Africa. In The Story of Atlantis and lost Lemuria, by W.
Scott-Elliot, the reader can find that the floor of the Atlantic Ocean
was once a continent, that for about a million years it was the scene
of a civilization which, to be sure, was quite different from our
modern ones, and the fact that the last remnants of this continent
sank in the tenth millennium B.C. In this present book the intention
is to give information which will supplement what is said by
Scott-Elliott. While he describes more the outer, the external events
among our Atlantean ancestors, the aim here is to record some details
concerning their spiritual character and the inner nature of the
conditions under which they lived. Therefore the reader must go back
in imagination to a period which lies almost ten thousand years behind
us, and which lasted for many millennia. What is described here
however, did not take place only on the continent now covered by the
waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but also in the neighboring regions of
what today is Asia, Africa, Europe, and America. What took place in
these regions later, developed from this earlier civilizations.

Today I am still obliged to remain silent about the sources of the
information given here. One who knows anything at all about such
sources will understand why this has to be so. But events can occur
which will make a breaking of this silence possible very soon. How
much of the knowledge hidden within the theosophical movement may
gradually be communicated, depends entirely on the attitude of our
contemporaries.

Now follows the first of the writings which can be given here.

 

Part IV: Our Atlantean Ancestors

OUR ATLANTEAN ANCESTORS

OUR ATLANTEAN ancestors differed more from present-day man than he
would imagine whose knowledge is confined wholly to the world of the
senses. This difference extended not only to the external appearance
but also to spiritual faculties. Their knowledge, their technical
arts, indeed their entire civilization differed from what can be
observed today. If we go back to the first periods of Atlantean
humanity we find a mental capacity quite different from ours. Logical
reason, the power of arithmetical combining, on which everything rests
that is produced today, were totally absent among the first
Atlanteans. On the other hand, they had a highly developed memory.
This memory was one of their most prominent mental faculties. For
example, the Atlantean did not calculate as we do, by learning certain
rules which he then applied. A "multiplication table" was something
totally unknown in Atlantean times. Nobody impressed upon his
intellect that three times four is twelve. In the event that he had to
perform such a calculation he could manage because he remembered
identical or similar situations. He remembered how it had been on
previous occasions. One need only realize that each time a new faculty
develops in an organism, an old faculty loses power and acuteness. The
man of today is superior to the Atlantean in logical reasoning, in the
ability to combine. On the other hand, memory has deteriorated.
Nowadays man thinks in concepts; the Atlantean thought in images. When
an image appeared in his soul he remembered a great many similar
images which he had already experienced, He directed his judgment
accordingly. For this reason all teaching at that time was different
from what it became later. It was not calculated to furnish the child
with rules, to sharpen his reason. Instead, life was presented to him
in vivid images, so that later he could remember as much as possible
when he had to act under particular conditions. When the child had
grown and had gone out into life, for everything he had to do he could
remember something similar which had been presented to him in the
course of his education. He could manage best when the new situation
was similar to one he had already seen. Under totally new conditions
the Atlantean had to rely on experiment, while in this respect much
has been spared modern man due to the fact that he is equipped with
rules. He can easily apply these in those situations which are new to
him. The Atlantean system of education gave a uniformity to all of
life. For long periods things were done again and again in the same
way. The faithful memory did not allow anything to develop which was
even remotely similar to the rapidity of our present-day progress. One
did what one had always "seen" before. One did not invent; one
remembered. He was not an authority who had learned much, but rather
he who had experienced much and therefore could remember much. In the
Atlantean period it would have been impossible for someone to decide
an important matter before reaching a certain age. One had confidence
only in a person who could look back upon long experience.

What has been said here was not true of the initiates and their
schools. For they are in advance of the stage of development of their
period. For admission into such schools, the decisive factor is not
age, but whether in his previous incarnations the applicant has
acquired the faculties for receiving higher wisdom. The confidence
placed in the initiates and their representatives during the Atlantean
period was not based on the richness of their personal experience, but
rather on the antiquity of their wisdom. In the case of the initiate,
personality ceases to have any importance. He is totally in the
service of eternal wisdom. Therefore the characteristic features of a
particular period do not apply to him.

While the power to think logically was absent among the Atlanteans
(especially the earlier ones), in their highly developed memory they
possessed something which gave a special character to everything they
did. But with the nature of one human power others are always
connected. Memory is closer to the deeper natural basis of man than
reason, and in connection with it other powers were developed which
were still closer to those of subordinate natural beings than are
contemporary human powers. Thus the Atlanteans could control what one
calls the life force. As today one extracts the energy of heat from
coal and transforms it into motive power for our means of locomotion,
the Atlanteans knew how to put the germinal energy of organisms into
the service of their technology. One can form an idea of this from the
following. Think of a kernel of seed-grain. In this an energy lies
dormant. This energy causes the stalk to sprout from the kernel.
Nature can awaken this energy which reposes in the seed. Modern man
cannot do it at will. He must bury the seed in the ground and leave
the awakening to the forces of nature. The Atlantean could do
something else. He knew how one can change the energy of a pile of
grain into technical power, just as modern man can change the heat
energy of a pile of coal into such power. Plants were cultivated in
the Atlantean period not merely for use as foodstuffs but also in
order to make the energies dormant in them available to commerce and
industry. Just as we have mechanisms for transforming the energy
dormant in coal into energy of motion in our locomotives, so the
Atlanteans had mechanisms in which they -- so to speak -- burned plant
seeds, and in which the life force was transformed into technically
utilizable power. The vehicles of the Atlanteans, which floated a
short distance above the ground travelled at a height lower than that
of the mountain ranges of the Atlantean period, and they had steering
mechanisms by the aid of which they could rise above these mountain
ranges.

One must imagine that with the passage of time all conditions on our
earth have changed very much. Today, the above-mentioned vehicles of
the Atlanteans would be totally useless. Their usefulness depended on
the fact that then the cover of air which envelops the earth was much
denser than at present. Whether in face of current scientific beliefs
one can easily imagine such greater density of air, must not occupy us
here. Because of their very nature, science and logical thinking can
never decide what is possible or impossible. Their only function is to
explain what has been ascertained by experience and observation. The
above-mentioned density of air is as certain for occult experience as
any fact of today given by the senses can be.

Equally certain however is the fact, perhaps even more at that time
the water on the whole earth was much thinner than today. Because of
this thinness the water could be directed by the germinal energy used
by the Atlanteans into technical services which today are impossible.
As a result of the increased density of the water, it has become
impossible to move and to direct it in such be sufficiently clear that
the civilization of the Atlantean period was radically different from
ours. It will also be understood that the physical nature of an
Atlantean was quite different from that of a contemporary man. The
Atlantean took into himself water which could be used by the life
force inherent in his own body in a manner quite different from that
possible in today's physical body. It was due to this that the
Atlantean could consciously employ his physical powers in an entirely
different way from a man of today. He had, so to speak, the means to
increase the physical powers in himself when he needed them for what
he was doing. In order to have an accurate conception of the
Atlanteans one must know that their ideas of fatigue and the depletion
of forces were quite different from those of present-day man.

An Atlantean settlement -- as must be evident from everything we have
described -- had a character which in no way resembled that of a modern
city. In such a settlement everything was, on the contrary, still in
alliance with nature. Only a vaguely similar picture is given if one
should say that in the first Atlantean periods -- about to the middle of
the third subrace -- a settlement resembled a garden in which the houses
were built of trees with artfully intertwined branches. What the work
of human hands created at that time grew out of nature. And man
himself felt wholly related to nature. Hence his social sense also was
quite different from that of today. After all, nature is common to all
men. What the Atlantean built up on the basis of nature he considered
to be common property just as a man of today thinks it only natural to
consider as his private property what his ingenuity, his intelligence
have created for him.

One familiar with the idea that the Atlanteans were equipped with such
spiritual and physical powers as have been described, will also
understand that in still earlier times mankind presented a picture
which reminds him in only a few particulars of what he is accustomed
to see today. Not only men, but also the surrounding nature has
changed enormously in the course of time. Plant and animal forms have
become different. All of earthly nature has been subjected to
transformations. Once inhabited regions of earth have been destroyed;
others have come into existence.

The ancestors of the Atlanteans lived in a region which has
disappeared, the main part of which lay south of contemporary Asia. In
theosophical writings they are called the Lemurians. After they had
passed through various stages of development the greatest part of them
declined. These became stunted men, whose descendants still inhabit
certain parts of the earth today as so-called savage tribes. Only a
small part of Lemurian humanity was capable of further development.
From this part the Atlanteans were formed.

Later, something similar again took place. The greatest part of the
Atlantean population declined, and from a small portion are descended
the so-called Aryans who comprise present-day civilized humanity.
According to the nomenclature of the science of the spirit, the
Lemurians, Atlanteans and Aryans are root races of mankind. If one
imagines that two such root races preceded the Lemurians and that two
will succeed the Aryans in the future, one obtains a total of seven.
One always arises from another in the manner just indicated with
respect to the Lemurians, Atlanteans, and Aryans. Each root race has
physical and mental characteristics which are quite different from
those of the preceding one. While, for example, the Atlanteans
especially developed memory and everything connected with it, at the
present time it is the task of the Aryans to develop the faculty of
thought and all that belongs to it.

In each root race various stages must also be gone through. There are
always seven of these. In the beginning of a period identified with a
root race, its principal characteristics are in a youthful condition;
slowly they attain maturity and finally enter a decline. The
population of a root race is thereby divided into seven sub-races. But
one must not imagine that one subrace immediately disappears when a
new one develops. Each one may maintain itself for a long time while
others are developing beside it. Thus there are always populations
which show different stages of development living beside each other on
earth.

The first subrace of the Atlanteans developed from a very advanced
part of the Lemurians who had a high evolutionary potential. The
faculty of memory appeared only in its rudiments among the Lemurians,
and then only in the last period of their development. One must
imagine that while a Lemurian could form ideas of what he was
experiencing, he could not preserve these ideas. He immediately forgot
what he had represented to himself Nevertheless, that he lived in a
certain civilization, that, for example, he had tools, erected
buildings and so-forth -- this he owed not to his own powers of
conception, but to a mental force in him, which was instinctive.
However, one must not imagine this to have been the present-day
instinct of animals, but one of a different kind.

Theosophical writings call the first subrace of the Atlanteans that of
the Rmoahals. The memory of this race was primarily directed toward
vivid sense impressions. Colors which the eye had seen, sounds which
the ear had heard, had a long after-effect in the soul. This was
expressed in the fact that the Rmoahals developed feelings which their
Lemurian ancestors did not yet know. For example, the attachment to
what has been experienced in the past is a part of these feelings.

With the development of memory was connected that of language. As long
as man did not preserve what was past, a communication of what had
been experienced could not take place through the medium of language.
Because in the last Lemurian period the first beginnings of memory
appeared, at that time it was also possible for the faculty of naming
what had been seen and heard to have its inception. Only men who have
the faculty of recollection can make use of a name which has been
given to something. The Atlantean period, therefore, is the one in
which the development of language took place. With language a bond was
established between the human soul and the things outside man. He
produced a speech-word inside himself, and this speech-word belonged
to the objects of the external world. A new bond is also formed among
men by communications through the medium of language. It is true that
all this existed in a still youthful form among the Rmoahals, but
nevertheless it distinguished them profoundly from their Lemurian
forefathers.

The soul powers of these first Atlanteans still possessed something of
the forces of nature. These men were more closely related to the
beings of nature which surrounded them than were their successors.
Their soul powers were more connected with forces of nature than are
those of modern man. Thus the speech-word which they produced had
something of the power of nature. They not only named things, but in
their words was a power over things and also over their fellow-men.
The word of the Rmoahals not only had meaning, but also power. The
magic power of words is something which was far truer for those men
than it is for men of today. When a Rmoahals man pronounced a word,
this word developed a power similar to that of the object it
designated. Because of this, words at that time were curative; they
could advance the growth of plants, tame the rage of animals, and
perform other similar functions. All this progressively decreased in
force among the later sub-races of the Atlanteans. One could say that
the original fullness of power was gradually lost. The Rmoahals men
felt this plenitude of power to be a gift of mighty nature, and their
relationship to the latter had a religious character. For them
language was something especially sacred. The misuse of certain
sounds, which possessed an important power, was an impossibility. Each
man felt that such misuse must cause him enormous harm. The good magic
of such words would have changed into its opposite; that which would
have brought blessings if used properly would bring ruin to the author
if used criminally. In a kind of innocence of feeling the Rmoahals
ascribed their power not so much to themselves as to the divine nature
acting within them.

This changed among the second subrace, the so-called Tlavatli peoples.
The men of this race began to feel their own personal value. Ambition,
a quality unknown to the Rmoahals, made itself felt among them. Memory
was in a sense transferred to the conception of communal life. He who
could look back upon certain deeds demanded recognition of them from
his fellow-men. He demanded that his works be preserved in memory.
Based upon this memory of deeds, a group of men who belonged together
elected one as leader A kind of regal rank developed. This recognition
was even preserved beyond death. The memory, the remembrance of the
ancestors or of those who had acquired merit in life, developed. From
this there emerged among some tribes a kind of religious veneration of
the deceased, an ancestor cult. This cult continued into much later
times and took the most varied forms. Among the Rmoahals a man was
still esteemed only to the degree to which he could command respect at
a particular moment through his powers. If someone among them wanted
recognition for what he had done in earlier days, he had to
demonstrate by new deeds that he still possessed his old power. He had
to recall the old works to memory by means of new ones. What had been
done was not esteemed for its own sake. Only the second subrace
considered the personal character of a man to the point where it took
his past life into account in the evaluation of this character.

A further consequence of memory for the communal life of man was the
fact that groups of men were formed which were held together by the
remembrance of common deeds. Previously the formation of groups
depended wholly upon natural forces, upon common descent. Man did not
add anything through his own mind to what nature had made of him. Now
a powerful personality recruited a number of people for a joint
undertaking, and the memory of this joint action formed a social
group.

This kind of social communal life became fully developed only among
the third subrace, the Toltec. It was therefore the men of this race
who first founded what a a state. The leadership, the government of
these communities, was transmitted from one generation to the next.
The father now gave over to the son what previously survived only in
the memory of contemporaries. The deeds of the ancestors were not to
be forgotten by their whole line of descent. What an ancestor had done
was esteemed by his descendants. However, one must realize that in
those times men actually had the power to transmit their gifts to
their descendants. Education, after all, was calculated to mold life
through vivid images. The effectiveness of this education had its
foundation in the personal power which emanated from the educator -- He
did not sharpen the power of thought, but in fact, developed those
gifts which were of a more instinctive kind. Through such a system of
education the capacities of the father were generally transmitted to
the son.

Under such conditions personal experience acquired more and more
importance among the third subrace. When one group of men separated
from another for the foundation of a new community, it carried along
the remembrance of what it had experienced at the old scene. But at
the same time there was something in this remembrance which the group
did not find suitable for itself, in which it did not feel at ease.
Therefore it then tried something new. Thus conditions improved with
every one of these new foundations. It was only natural that what was
better was imitated. These are the facts which explain the development
of those flourishing communities in the period of the third subrace,
described in theosophic literature. The personal experiences which
were acquired found support from those who were initiated into the
eternal laws of spiritual development. Powerful rulers themselves were
initiated, so that personal ability might have full support. Through
his personal ability man slowly prepares himself for initiation. He
must first develop his powers from below in order that the
enlightenment from above can be given to him. In this way the
initiated kings and leaders of the Atlanteans came into being.
Enormous power was in their hands, and they were greatly venerated.

But in this fact also lay the reason for decline and decay. The
development of memory led to the pre-eminent power of a personality.
Man wanted to count for something through his power. The greater the
power became, the more he wanted to exploit it for himself. The
ambition which had developed turned into marked selfishness. Thus the
misuse of these powers arose. When one considers the capabilities of
the Atlanteans resulting from their mastery of the life force, one
will understand that this misuse inevitably had enormous consequences.
A broad power over nature could be put at the service of personal
egotism.

This was accomplished in full measure by the fourth subrace, the
Primal Turanians. The members of this race, who were instructed in the
mastery of the above-mentioned powers, often used them in order to
satisfy their selfish wishes and desires. But used in such a manner,
these powers destroy each other in their reciprocal effects. It is as
if the feet were stubbornly to carry a man forward, while his torso
wanted to go backward.

Such a destructive effect could only be halted through the development
of a higher faculty in man. This was the faculty of thought. Logical
thinking has a restraining effect on selfish personal wishes. The
origin of logical thinking must be sought among the fifth subrace, the
Primal Semites. Men began to go beyond a mere remembrance of the past
and to compare different experiences. The faculty of judgment
developed. Wishes and appetites were regulated in accordance with this
faculty of judgment. One began to calculate, to combine. One learned
to work with thoughts. If previously one had abandoned oneself to
every desire, now one first asked whether thought could approve this
desire. While the men of the fourth subrace rushed wildly toward the
satisfaction of their appetites, those of the fifth began to listen to
an inner voice. This inner voice checks the appetites, although it
cannot destroy the claims of the selfish personality.

Thus the fifth subrace transferred the impulses for action to within
the human being. Man wishes to come to terms within himself as to what
he must or must not do. But what thus was won within, with respect to
the faculty of thought, was lost with respect to the control of
external natural forces. With this combining thought mentioned above,
one can master only the forces of the mineral world, not the life
force. The fifth subrace therefore developed thought at the expense of
control of the life force. But it was just through this that it
produced the germ of the further development of mankind. New
personality, self-love, even complete selfishness could grow freely;
for thought alone which works wholly within, and can no longer give
direct orders to nature, is not capable of producing such devastating
effects as the previously misused powers. From this fifth subrace the
most gifted part was selected which survived the decline of the fourth
root race and formed the germ of the fifth, the Aryan race, whose
mission is the complete development of the thinking faculty.

The men of the sixth subrace, the Akkadians, developed the faculty of
thought even further than the fifth. They differed from the so-called
Primal Semites in that they employed this faculty in a more
comprehensive sense than the former.

It has been said that while the development of the faculty of thought
prevented the claims of the selfish personality from having the same
devastating effects as among the earlier races, these claims were not
destroyed by it. The Primal Semites at first arranged their personal
circumstances as their faculty of thought directed. Intelligence took
the place of mere appetites and desires. The conditions of life
changed. If preceding races were inclined to acknowledge as leader one
whose deeds had impressed themselves deeply upon their memory, or who
could look back upon a life of rich memories, this role was now
conferred upon the intelligent. If previously that which lived in a
clear remembrance was decisive, one now regarded as best what was most
convincing to thought. Under the influence of memory one formerly held
fast to a thing until one found it to be inadequate, and in that case
it was quite natural that he who was in a position to remedy a want
could introduce an innovation. But as a result of the faculty of
thought, a fondness for innovations and changes developed. Each wanted
to put into effect what his intelligence suggested to him. Turbulent
conditions therefore began to prevail under the fifth subrace, and in
the sixth they led to a feeling of the need to bring the obdurate
thinking of the individual under general laws. The splendor Of the
communities of the third subrace was based on the fact that common
memories brought about order and harmony. In the sixth, this order had
to be brought about by thought-out laws. Thus it is in this sixth
subrace that one must look for the origin of regulations of justice
and law.

During the third subrace, the separation of a group of men took place
only when they were forced out of their community so to speak, because
they no felt at ease in the conditions prevailing as a result of
memory In the sixth this was considerably different. The calculating
faculty of thought sought the new as such; it spurred men to
enterprises and new foundations. The Akkadians were therefore an
enterprising people with an inclination to colonization. It was
commerce, especially, which nourished the waxing faculty of thought
and judgment.

Among the seventh subrace, the Mongols, the faculty of thought was
also developed. But characteristics of the earlier sub-races,
especially of the fourth, remained present in them to a much higher
degree than in the fifth and sixth. They remained faithful to the
feeling for memory. And thus they reached the conviction that what is
oldest is also what is most sensible and can best defend itself
against the faculty of thought. It is true that they also lost the
mastery over the life forces, but what developed in them as the
thinking faculty also possessed something of the natural might of this
life force. Indeed they had lost the power over life, but they never
lost their direct, naive faith in it. This force had become their god,
in whose behalf they did everything they considered right. Thus they
appeared to the neighboring peoples as if possessed by this secret
force, and they surrendered themselves to it in blind trust. Their
descendants in Asia and in some parts of Europe manifested and still
manifest much of this quality.

The faculty of thought planted in men could only attain its full value
in relation to human development when it received a new impetus in the
fifth root race. The fourth root race, after all, could only put this
faculty at the service of that to which it was educated through the
gift of memory. The fifth alone reached life conditions for which the
proper tool is the ability to think.

 

Part V: Transition of the Fourth into the Fifth Root Race

TRANSITION OF THE FOURTH INTO THE FIFTH ROOT RACE

IN THIS CHAPTER we shall learn about the transition of the fourth, the
Atlantean root race, into the fifth, the Aryan, to which contemporary
civilized mankind belongs. Only he will understand it aright who can
steep himself in the idea of development to its full extent and
meaning. Everything which man perceives around him is in process of
development. In this sense, the use of thought, which is
characteristic of the men of our fifth root race, had first to
develop. It is this root race in particular which slowly and gradually
brings the faculty of thought to maturity. In his thought, man decides
upon something, and then executes it as the consequence of his own
thought. This ability was only in preparation among the Atlanteans It
was not their own thoughts, but those which flowed into them from
entities of a higher kind, that influenced their will. Thus, in a
manner of speaking, their will was directed from outside.

The one who familiarizes himself with the thought of this development
of the human being and learns to admit that man -- as earthly man --
was a being of a quite different kind in prehistory, will also be able
to rise to a conception of the totally different entities which are
spoken of here. The development to be described required enormously
long periods of time.

What has previously been said about the fourth root race, the
Atlanteans, refers to the great bulk of mankind. But they followed
leaders whose abilities towered far above theirs. The wisdom these
leaders possessed and the powers at their command were not to be
attained by any earthly education. They had been imparted to them by
higher beings which did not belong directly to earth. Therefore it was
only natural that the great mass of men felt their leaders to be
beings of a higher kind, to be "messengers" of the gods. For what
these leaders knew and could do would not have been attainable by
human sense organs and by human reason. They were venerated as "divine
messengers," and men received their orders, their commandments, and
also their instruction. It was by beings of this kind that mankind was
instructed in the sciences, in the arts, and in the making of tools.
Such "divine messengers" either directed the communities themselves or
instructed men who were sufficiently advanced in the art of government.
It was said of these leaders that they "communicate with the gods" and
were initiated by the gods themselves into the laws according to which
mankind had to develop. This was true. In places about which the
average people knew nothing, this initiation, this communication with
the gods, actually took place. These places of initiation were called
temples of the mysteries. From them the human race was directed.

What took place in the temples of the mysteries was therefore
incomprehensible to the people. Equally little did the latter
understand the intentions of their great leaders. After all, the
people could grasp with their senses only what happened directly upon
earth, not what was revealed from higher worlds for the welfare of
earth. Therefore the teachings of the leaders had to be expressed in a
form unlike communications about earthly events. The language the gods
spoke with their messengers in the mysteries was not earthly, and
neither were the shapes in which these gods revealed themselves. The
higher spirits appeared to their messengers "in fiery clouds" in order
to tell them how they were to lead men. Only man can appear in human
form; entities whose capacities tower above the human must reveal
themselves in shapes which are not to be found on earth.

Because they themselves were the most perfect among their human
brothers, the "divine messengers" could receive these revelations. In
earlier stages they had already gone through what the majority of men
still had to experience. They belonged among their fellow humans only
in a certain respect. They could assume human form. But their
spiritual-mental qualities were of a superhuman kind. Thus they were
divine-human hybrid beings. One can also describe them as higher
spirits who assumed human bodies in order to help mankind forward on
their earthly path. The real home of these beings was not on earth.

These divine-human beings led men, without being able to inform them
of the principles by which they directed them. For until the fifth
subrace of the Atlanteans, the Primal Semites, men had absolutely no
capacities for understanding these principles. The faculty of thought,
which developed in this subrace, was such a capacity. But this evolved
slowly and gradually. Even the last sub-races of the Atlanteans could
understand very little of the principles of their divine leaders. They
began, at first quite imperfectly, to have a presentiment of such
principles. Therefore their thoughts and also the laws which we have
mentioned among their governmental institutions, were guessed at
rather than clearly thought out.

The principal leader of the fifth Atlantean subrace gradually prepared
it so that in later times, after the decline of the Atlantean way of
life, it could begin a new one which was to be wholly directed by the
faculty of thought.

One must realize that at the end of the Atlantean period there existed
three groups of man-like beings: 1. The above-mentioned "divine
messengers," who in their development were far ahead of the great mass
of the people, and who taught divine wisdom and accomplished divine
deeds. 2. The great mass of humanity, among which the faculty of
thought was in a dull condition, although they possessed natural
abilities which modern men have lost. 3. A small group of those who
were developing the faculty of thought. While they gradually lost the
natural abilities of the Atlanteans through this process, they were
advancing to the stage where they could grasp the principles of the
"divine messengers" with their thoughts.

The second group of human beings was doomed to gradual extinction. The
third however could be trained by a being of the first kind to take
its direction into its own hands.

From this third group the above-mentioned principal leader, whom
occult literature designates as Manu, selected the ablest in order to
cause a new humanity to emerge from them. These most capable ones
existed in the fifth subrace. The faculty of the sixth and seventh
sub-races had already gone astray in a certain sense and was not fit
for further development.

The best qualities of the best had to be developed. This was
accomplished by the leader through the isolation of the selected ones
in a certain place on earth -- in inner Asia -- where they were freed
from any influence of those who remained behind or of those who had
gone astray.

The task which the leader imposed upon himself was to bring his
followers to the point where, in their own soul, with their own
faculty of thought, they could grasp the principles according to which
they had hitherto been directed in a way vaguely sensed, but not
clearly recognized by them. Men were to recognize the divine forces
which they had unconsciously followed. Hitherto the gods had led men
through their messengers; now men were to know about these divine
entities. They were to learn to consider themselves as the
implementing organs of divine providence.

The isolated group thus faced an important decision. The divine leader
was in their midst, in human form. From such divine messengers men had
previously received instructions and orders as to what they were or
were not to do. Human beings had been instructed in the sciences which
dealt with what they could perceive through the senses. Men had
vaguely sensed a divine control of the world, had felt it in their own
actions, but they had not known anything of it clearly.

Now their leader spoke to them in a completely new way. He taught them
that invisible powers directed what confronted them visibly, and that
they themselves were servants of these invisible powers, that they had
to fulfill the laws of these invisible powers with their thoughts. Men
heard of the supernatural-divine. They heard that the invisible
spiritual was the creator and preserver of the visible physical.
Hitherto they had looked up to their visible divine messengers, to the
superhuman initiates, and through the latter was communicated what was
and was not to be done. But now they were considered worthy of having
the divine messenger speak to them of the gods themselves. Mighty were
the words which again and again he impressed upon his followers:
"Until now you have seen those who led you: but there are higher
leaders whom you do not see. It is these leaders to whom you are
subject. You shall carry out the orders of the god whom you do not
see; and you shall obey one of whom you can make no image to
yourselves." Thus did the new and highest commandment come from the
mouth of the great leader, prescribing the veneration of a god whom no
sensory-visible image could resemble, and therefore of whom none was
to be made. Of this great fundamental commandment of the fifth human
root race, the well-known commandment which follows is an echo: "Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any
thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth...." (Exodus 20:1).

The principal leader, Manu, was assisted by other divine messengers
who executed his intentions for particular branches of life and worked
on the development of the new race. For it was a matter of arranging
all of life according to the new conception of a divine administration
of the world. Everywhere the thoughts of men were to be directed from
the visible to the invisible. Life is determined by the forces of
nature. The course of human life depends on day and night, on winter
and summer, on sunshine and rain. How these influential visible events
are connected with the invisible, divine powers and how man was to
behave in order to arrange his life in accordance with these invisible
powers, was shown to him. All knowledge and all labor was to be
pursued in this sense. In the course of the stars and of the weather,
man was to see divine decrees, the emanation of divine wisdom.
Astronomy and meteorology were taught with this idea. Man was to
arrange his labor, his moral life in such a way that they would
correspond to the wise laws of the divine. Life was ordered according
to divine commandments, just as the divine thoughts were explored in
the course of the stars and in the changes of the weather. Man was to
bring his works into harmony with the dispensations of the gods
through sacrificial acts.

It was the intention of Manu to direct everything in human life toward
the higher worlds. All human activities, all institutions were to bear
a religious character. Through this, Manu wanted to initiate the real
task imposed upon the fifth root race. This race was to learn to
direct itself by its own thoughts. But such a self-determination can
only lead to good if man also places himself at the service of the
higher powers. Man should use his faculty of thought, but this faculty
of thought should be sanctified by being devoted to the divine.

One can only understand completely what happened at that time if one
knows that the development of the faculty of thought, beginning with
the fifth subrace of the Atlanteans, also entailed something else.
From a certain quarter men had come into possession of knowledge and
of arts, which were not immediately connected with what the
above-mentioned Manu had to consider as his true task. This knowledge
and these arts were at first devoid of religious character. They came
to man in such a way that he could think of nothing other than to
place them at the service of self-interest, of his personal needs* . .
. To such knowledge belongs for example that of the use of fire in
human activities. In the first Atlantean time man did not use fire
since the life force was available for his service. But with the
passage of time he was less and less in a position to make use of this
force, hence he had to learn to make tools, utensils from so-called
lifeless objects. He employed fire for this purpose. Similar
conditions prevailed with respect to other natural forces. Thus man
learned to make use of such natural forces without being conscious of
their divine origin. So it was meant to be. Man was not to be forced
by anything to relate these things which served his faculty of thought
to the divine order of the world. Rather was he to do this voluntarily
in his thoughts. It was the intention of Manu to bring men to the
point where, independently, out of an inner need, they brought such
things into a relation with the higher order of the world. Men could
choose whether they wanted to use the insight they had attained purely
in a spirit of personal self-interest or in the religious service of a
higher world.

If man was previously forced to consider himself as a link in the
divine government of the world, by which for example, the domination
over the life force was given to him without his having to use the
faculty of thought, he could now employ the natural forces without
directing his thoughts to the divine.

Not all men whom Manu had gathered around him were equal to this
decision, but only a few of them. It was from this few that Manu could
really form the germ of the new race. He retired with them in order to
develop them further, while the others mingled with the rest of
mankind. From this small number of men who finally gathered around
Manu, everything is descended which up to the present, forms the true
germs of progress of the fifth root race. For this reason also, two
characteristics run through the entire development of this fifth root
race. One of these characteristics is peculiar to those men who are
animated by higher ideas, who regard themselves as children of a
divine universal power; the other belongs to those who put everything
at the service of personal interests, of egotism.

The small following remained gathered around Manu until it was
sufficiently fortified to act in the new spirit, and until its members
could go out to bring this new spirit to the rest of mankind, which
remained from the earlier races. It is natural that this new spirit
assumed a different character among the various peoples, according to
how they themselves had developed in different fields. The old
remaining characteristics blended with what the messengers of Manu
carried to the various parts of the world. Thus a variety of new
cultures and civilizations came into being.

The ablest personalities from the circle around Manu were selected for
a gradual direct initiation into his divine wisdom, so that they could
become the teachers of the others. A new kind of initiate thus was
added to the old divine messengers. It consisted of those who had
developed their faculty of thought in an earthly manner just as their
fellow-men had done. The earlier divine messengers -- and also Manu --
had not done this. Their development belonged to higher worlds. They
introduced their higher wisdom into earthly conditions. What they gave
to mankind was a "gift from above." Before the middle of the Atlantean
period men had not reached the point where by their own powers they
could grasp what the divine decrees were. Now -- at the time indicated
-- they were to attain this point. Earthly thinking was to elevate
itself to the concept of the divine. The human initiates united
themselves with the divine. This represents an important revolution in
the development of the human race. The first Atlanteans did not as yet
have a choice as to whether or not they would consider their leaders
to be divine messengers. For what the latter accomplished imposed
itself as the deed of higher worlds. It bore the stamp of a divine
origin. Thus the messengers of the Atlantean period were entities
sanctified by their power, surrounded by the splendor which this power
conferred upon them. From an external point of view, the human
initiates of later times are men among men. But they remain in
relation with the higher worlds, and the revelations and
manifestations of the divine messengers come to them. Only
exceptionally, when a higher necessity arises, do they make use of
certain powers which are conferred upon them from above. Then they
accomplish deeds which men cannot explain by the laws they know and
which therefore they rightly regard as miracles.

But in all this the higher intention is to put mankind on its own
feet, fully to develop its faculty of thought. Today the human
initiates are the mediators between the people and the higher powers,
and only initiation can make one capable of communication with the
divine messengers.

The human initiates, the sacred teachers, became leaders of the rest
of mankind in the beginning of the fifth root race. The great priest
kings of prehistory, who are not spoken of in history, but rather in
the world of legend, belong among these initiates. The higher divine
messenger's retired from the earth more and more, and left the
leadership to these human initiates, whom however they assisted in
word and deed. Were this not so, man would never attain free use of
his faculty of thought. The world is under divine direction, but man
is not to be forced to admit this; he is to realize and to understand
it by free reflection. When he reaches this point, the initiates will
gradually divulge their secrets to him. But this cannot happen all at
once. The whole development of the fifth root race is a slow road to
this goal. At first Manu himself led his following like children. Then
the leadership was gradually transferred to the human initiates. Today
progress still consists in a mixture of the conscious and unconscious
acting and thinking of men. Only at the end of the fifth root race,
when throughout the sixth and seventh sub-races a sufficiently great
number of men are capable of knowledge, will the greatest among the
initiates be able to reveal himself to them openly. Then this human
initiate will be able to assume the principal leadership just as Manu
did at the end of the fourth root race. Thus the education of the
fifth root race consists in this, that a greater part of humanity will
become able freely to follow a human Manu as the germinal race of this
fifth root race followed the divine one.

 

Part VI: The Lemurian Race

THE LEMURIAN RACE

A PASSAGE from the Akasha Chronicle referring to a very distant
prehistoric period in the development of mankind, will be set forth in
this chapter. This period precedes the one depicted in the
descriptions given above. We are here concerned with the third human
root race, of which it is said in theosophical books that it inhabited
the Lemurian Continent. According to these books this continent was
situated south of Asia, and extended approximately from Ceylon to
Madagascar. What is today southern Asia and parts of Africa also
belonged to it.

While all possible care has been taken in the deciphering of the
Akasha Chronicle it must be emphasized that nowhere is a dogmatic
character to be claimed for these communications If, to begin with,
the reading of things and events so remote from the present is not
easy, the translation of what has been seen and deciphered into the
language of today presents almost insuperable obstacles.

Dates will be given later. They will be better understood when the
whole Lemurian period and also the period of our fifth root race up to
the present, have been discussed.

The things which are communicated here are surprising even for the
occultist who reads them for the first time -- although the word
"surprising" is not quite exact. Therefore he should only communicate
them after the most careful examination.

The fourth, the Atlantean root race, was preceded by the so-called
Lemurian. During its development, events of the very greatest
importance occurred with respect to the earth and to men. Here,
however, something will first be said of the character of this root
race after these events, and only then will the latter be discussed.
By and large, memory was not yet developed among this race. While men
could have ideas of things and events, these ideas did not remain in
the memory. Therefore they did not yet have a language in the true
sense. Rather what they could utter were natural sounds which
expressed their sensations, pleasure, joy, pain and so forth, but
which did not designate external objects.

But their ideas had a quite different strength from those of later
men. Through this strength they acted upon their environment. Other
men, animals, plants, and even lifeless objects could feel this action
and could be influenced purely by ideas. Thus the Lemurian could
communicate with his fellow-men without needing a language. This
communication consisted in a kind of "thought reading." The Lemurian
derived the strength of his ideas directly from the objects which
surrounded him. It flowed to him from the energy of growth of plants,
from the life force of animals. In this manner he understood plants
and animals in their inner action and life. He even understood the
physical and chemical forces of lifeless objects in the same way. When
he built something he did not first have to calculate the load-limit
of a tree trunk, the weight of a stone; he could see how much the tree
trunk could bear, where the stone in view of its weight and height
would fit, where it would not. Thus the Lemurian built without
engineering knowledge on the basis of his faculty of imagination which
acted with the sureness of a kind of instinct. Moreover, to a great
extent, he had power over his own body. When it was necessary, he
could increase the strength of his arm by a simple effort of the will.
For example, he could lift enormous loads merely by using his will. If
later the Atlantean was helped by his control of the life force, the
Lemurian was helped by his mastery of the will. He was -- the
expression should not be misinterpreted -- a born magician in all
fields of lower human activities.

The goal of the Lemurians was the development of the will, of the
faculty of imagination. The education of children was wholly directed
toward this. The boys were hardened in the strongest manner. They had
to learn to undergo dangers, to overcome pain, to accomplish daring
deeds. Those who could not bear tortures, who could not undergo
dangers, were not regarded as useful members of mankind. They were
left to perish under these exertions. What the Akasha Chronicle shows
with respect to this raising of children surpasses everything
contemporary man can picture to himself in his boldest imaginings -- The
bearing of heat, even of a searing fire, the piercing of the body with
pointed objects, were quite common procedures.

The raising of girls was different. While the female child was also
hardened, everything else was directed toward her developing a strong
imagination. For example, she was exposed to the storm in order calmly
to feel its dreadful beauty; she had to witness the combats of the men
fearlessly, filled only with a feeling of appreciation of the strength
and power she saw before her. Thereby propensities for dreaming and
for fantasy developed in the girl, and these were highly valued.
Because no memory existed, these propensities could not degenerate.
The dream or fantasy conceptions in question lasted only as long as
there was a corresponding external cause. Thus they had a real basis
in external things. They did not lose themselves in bottomless depths.
It was, so to speak, nature's own fantasy and dreaming which were put
into the female soul.

The Lemurians did not have dwellings in our sense, except in their
latest times. They lived where nature gave them the opportunity to do
so. The caves which they used were only altered and extended insofar
as necessary. Later they built such caves themselves and at that time
they developed great skill for such constructions. One must not
imagine, however, that they did not also execute more artful
constructions. But these did not serve as dwellings. In the earliest
times they originated in the desire to give to the things of nature a
man-made form. Hills were remodeled in such a way that the form
afforded man joy and pleasure. Stones were put together for the same
purpose, or in order to be used for certain activities. The places
where the children were hardened were surrounded with walls of this
kind.

Toward the end of this period, the buildings which served for the
cultivation of "divine wisdom and divine art" became more and more
imposing and ornate. These institutions differed in every respect from
what temples were later, for they were educational and scientific
institutions at the same time. He who was found fit was here initiated
into the science of the universal laws and into the handling of them.
If the Lemurian was a born magician, this talent was here developed
into art and insight. Only those could be admitted who, through all
kinds of discipline, had acquired the ability to overcome themselves
to the greatest extent. For all others what went on in these
institutions was the deepest secret. Here one learned to know and to
control the forces of nature through direct contemplation of them. But
the learning was such that in man the forces of nature changed into
forces of the will. He himself could thereby execute what nature
accomplishes. What later mankind accomplished by reflection, by
calculation, at that time had the character of an instinctive
activity. But here one must not use the word "instinct" in the same
sense in which one is accustomed to apply it to the animal world. For
the activities of Lemurian humanity towered high above everything the
animal world can produce through instinct. They even stood far above
what mankind has since acquired in the way of arts and sciences
through memory, reason and imagination. If one were to use an
expression for these institutions which would facilitate an
understanding of them, one could call them "colleges of will power and
of the clairvoyant power of the imagination."

From them emerged the men who, in every respect, became rulers of the
others. Today it is difficult to give in words a true conception of
all these conditions. For everything on earth has changed since that
time. Nature itself and all human life were different, therefore human
labor and the relationship of man to man differed greatly from what is
customary today.

The air was much thicker even than in later Atlantean times, the water
much thinner. And what forms the firm crust of our earth today was not
yet as hard as it later became. The world of plants and animals had
developed only as far as the amphibians, the birds, and the lower
mammals, and as far as vegetable growths which resemble our palms and
similar trees. However, all forms were different from what they are
today. What now exists only all in forms was then developed to
gigantic sizes. At that time our small ferns were trees and formed
mighty forests. The modern higher mammals did not exist. On the other
hand a great part of humanity was on such a low stage of development
that one cannot but designate it as animal. What has been described
here was true only of a small part of mankind, The rest lived their
life in animalism. In their external appearance and in their way of
life these animal men were quite different from the small group. They
were not especially different from the lower mammals, which resembled
them in form in certain respects.

A few more words must be said about the significance of the
above-mentioned temple localities. What was cultivated there was not
really religion. It was "divine wisdom and art." Man felt that what
was given to him there was a direct gift from the spiritual universal
forces. When he received this gift he considered himself a "servant"
of these universal forces. He felt himself "sanctified" from
everything unspiritual. If one wishes to speak of religion at this
stage of the development of mankind, one could call it "religion of
the will." The religious temper and dedication lay in the fact that
man guarded the powers granted to him as a strict, divine "secret,"
and that he led a life through which he sanctified his power. Persons
who had such powers were regarded by others with great awe and
veneration. And this awe and veneration were not called forth by laws
or something similar, but by the immediate power which these persons
exercised. The uninitiated of course stood under the magical influence
of the initiated. It was also natural that the latter considered
themselves to be sanctified personages. For in their temples they
participated in direct contemplation of the active forces of nature.
They looked into the creative workshop of nature. They experienced a
communion with the beings which build the world itself. One can call
this communication an association with the gods. What later developed
as "initiation," as "mystery," emerged from this original manner of
communication of men with the gods. In subsequent times this
communication had to become different, since the human imagination,
the human spirit, took other forms.

Of special importance is something which occurred in the course of
Lemurian development by virtue of the fact that the women lived in the
manner described above. They thereby developed special human powers.
Their faculty of imagination which was in alliance with nature, became
the basis for a higher development of the life of ideas. They took the
forces of nature into themselves, where they had an after-effect in
the soul. Thus the germs of memory were formed. With memory was also
born the capacity to form the first and simplest moral concepts.

The development of the will among the male element at first knew
nothing of this. The man followed instinctively either the impulses of
nature or the influences emanating from the initiated.

It was from the manner of life of the women that the first ideas of
"good and evil" arose. There one began to love some of the things
which had made a special impression on the imagination, and to abhor
others. While the control which the male element exercised was
directed more toward the external action of the powers of the will,
toward the manipulation of the forces of nature, beside it in the
female element there developed an action through the soul, through the
inner, personal forces of man. The development of mankind can only be
correctly understood by the one who takes into consideration that the
first progress in the life of the imagination was made by women. The
development connected with the life of the imagination, with the
formation of memory, of customs which formed the seeds for a life of
law, for a kind of morals, came from this side. If man had seen and
exercised the forces of nature, woman became the first interpreter of
them. It was a special new manner of living through reflection which
developed here. This manner had something much more personal than that
of the men. One must imagine this manner of the women to have been
also a kind of clairvoyance, although it differed from the magic of
the will of the men. In her soul woman was accessible to another kind
of spiritual powers. The latter spoke more to the feeling element of
the soul, less to the spiritual, to which man was subject. Thus there
emanated from men an effect which was more natural-divine, from women
one which was more soul-divine.

The development which woman went through during the Lemurian period
had the result that at the appearance of the next -- the Atlantean --
root race on earth, an important role devolved upon her. This
appearance took place under the influence of highly developed
entities, who were familiar with the laws of the formation of races
and capable of guiding the existing forces of human nature into such
paths that a new race could come into being. These beings will be
specially mentioned further on. May it suffice for the moment to say
that they possessed superhuman wisdom and power. They now isolated a
small group out of Lemurian mankind and designated these to be the
ancestors of the coming Atlantean race. The place where they did this
was situated in the tropical zone. Under their direction the men of
this group had been trained in the control of the natural forces. They
were very strong, and knew how to win the most diverse treasures from
the earth. They could cultivate the fields and use their fruits for
their subsistence. They had become characters of strong will through
the discipline to which they had been subjected. Their souls and
hearts were developed only in small measure. On the other hand these
had been developed among the women. Memory and fantasy and everything
connected with them were to be found among the latter.

The above-mentioned leaders caused the group to divide itself into
smaller groups. They put the women in charge of ordering and
establishing these groups. Through her memory, woman had acquired the
capacity to make the experiences and adventures of the past useful for
the future. What had proved helpful yesterday she used today and
realized that it would also be useful tomorrow. The institutions for
communal life therefore emanated from her. Under her influence the
concepts of "good and evil" developed. Through her thoughtful life she
had acquired an understanding for nature. Out of the observation of
nature, those ideas developed in her according to which she directed
the actions of men. The leaders had arranged things in such a way that
through the soul of woman, the willful nature, the vigorous strength
of man were ennobled and refined. Of course one must represent all
this to oneself as childish beginnings. The words of our language all
too easily call up ideas which are taken from the life of the present.

By way of the awakened soul life of the women the leaders first
developed the soul life of the men. In the colony we have described,
the influence of the women was therefore very great. One had to go to
them for advice when one wanted to interpret the signs of nature. The
whole manner of their soul life however was still dominated by the
"hidden" human soul forces. One does not describe the matter quite
exactly, but fairly closely, if one speaks of a somnambulistic
contemplating among these women. In certain higher dreams the secrets
of nature were divulged to them and they received the impulses for
their actions. Everything was animated for them and showed itself to
them in soul powers and apparitions. They abandoned themselves to the
mysterious weaving of their soul forces. That which impelled them to
their actions were "inner voices," or what plants, animals, stones,
wind and clouds, the whispering of the trees, and so on, told them.

From this state of soul originated that which one can call human
religion. The spiritual in nature and in human life gradually came to
be venerated and worshiped. Some women attained a special preeminence
because out of special mysterious depths they could interpret what the
world contained.

Thus it could come to pass among such women that that which lived
within them could transpose itself into a kind of natural language.
For the beginning of language lies in something which is similar to
song. The energy of thought was transformed into audible sound. The
inner rhythm of nature sounded from the lips of ''wise" women. One
gathered around such women and in their songlike sentences felt the
utterances of higher powers. Human worship of the gods began with such
things.

For that period there can be no question of "sense" in that which was
spoken. Sound, tone, and rhythm were perceived. One did not imagine
anything along with these, but absorbed in the soul the power of what
was heard. The whole process was under the direction of the higher
leaders. They had inspired the "wise" priestesses with tones and
rhythms in a manner which cannot now be further discussed. Thus they
could have an ennobling effect on the souls of men. One can say that
in this way the true life of the soul first awakened.

In this realm, beautiful scenes are shown by the Akasha Chronicle. One
of these will be described. We are in a forest, near a mighty tree.
The sun has just risen in the east. The palmlike tree, from around
which the other trees have been removed, casts mighty shadows. The
priestess, her face turned to the east, ecstatic, sits on a seat made
of rare natural objects and plants. Slowly in rhythmical sequence, a
few strange, constantly repeated sounds stream from her lips. A number
of men and women are sitting in circles around her, their faces lost
in dreams, absorbing inner life from what they hear.

Other scenes too can be seen. At a similarly arranged place a
priestess "sings" in a similar manner, but her tones have in them
something mightier, more powerful. Those around her move in rhythmic
dances. For this was the other way in which "soul" entered into
mankind. The mysterious rhythms which one had heard from Nature were
imitated by the movements of the limbs. One thereby felt at one with
nature and with the powers acting in her.

The place on earth in which this stock of a coming race of men was
developed was especially suited for this purpose. It was one where the
then still turbulent earth had become fairly calm. For Lemuria was
turbulent. After all, the earth at that time did not yet have its
later density. The thin ground was everywhere undermined by volcanic
forces which broke forth in smaller or larger streams. Mighty
volcanos existed almost everywhere and developed a continuous
destructive activity. Men were accustomed to reckoning with this fiery
activity in everything they did. They also used this fire in their
labors and contrivances. Their occupations were often such that the
fire of nature served as a basis for them in the same way as
artificial fire does in human labor today.

It was through the activity of this volcanic fire that the destruction
of the Lemurian land came about. While the part of Lemuria from which
the parent race of the Atlanteans was to develop had a hot climate, it
was by and large free of volcanic activity.

Human nature could unfold more calmly and peacefully here than in the
other regions of the earth. The more nomadic life of former times was
abandoned, and fixed settlements became more and more numerous.

One must represent to oneself that at that time the human body still
had very malleable and pliant qualities. This body still changed form
whenever the inner life changed. Not long before, men had still been
quite diverse as regards their external form. At that time the
external influence of region and climate were still decisive in
respect to their form. Only in the colony described did the body of
man Increasingly become an expression of his inner soul life.
Moreover, this colony had an advanced externally more nobly formed
race of men. One must say that through the things which they had done,
the leaders had really first created what is the true human form. This
occurred quite slowly and gradually. It happened in such a way that
the soul life of man was first developed and that the still soft and
malleable body adapted itself to this. It is a law in the development
of mankind that, as progress continues, man has less and less of a
molding influence on his physical body. This physical human body in
fact received a fairly unchanging form only with the development of
the faculty of reason and with the hardening of the rock, mineral, and
metal formations of earth connected with this development. For in the
Lemurian and even in the Atlantean period, stones and metals were much
softer than later.

This is not contradicted by the fact that there exist descendants of
the last Lemurians and Atlanteans who today exhibit forms as fixed as
the human races which were formed later. These remnants had to adapt
themselves to the changed environmental conditions of earth and thus
became more rigid. Just this is the reason for their decline. They did
not transform themselves from within; instead, their less developed
interior was forced into rigidity from the outside and thus compelled
to stagnation. This stagnation is really a regression, for the inner
life, too, has degenerated because it could not fulfill itself within
the rigid external bodily structure.

Animal life was subject to even greater changeability. We shall speak
further about the animal species existing at the time of the
development of man and about their origin, as well as about the
development of new animal forms after man already existed. Here we
shall say only that the existing animal species continually
transformed themselves and that new ones were developing. This
transformation was of course a gradual one. The reasons for the
transformation lay in part in a change of habitat and of the manner of
life. The animals had a capacity of extraordinarily rapid adaptation
to new conditions. The malleable body changed its organs comparatively
rapidly, so that after a more or less brief period the descendants of
a particular animal species resembled their ancestors only slightly.
The same was the case in even greater measure for the plants. The
greatest influence on the transformation of men and animals was
exercised by man himself. This was true whether he instinctively
brought organisms into such an environment that they assumed certain
forms, or whether he achieved this by experiments in breeding. The
transforming influence of man on nature was immeasurably great at that
time, compared with the conditions of today. This was especially the
case in the colony we have described. For there the leaders directed
this transformation in a way of which men were not conscious. This was
the case to such a degree that when men left the colony in order to
found the different Atlantean races, they could take with them a
highly developed knowledge of the breeding of animals and plants. The
labor of cultivation in Atlantis was then essentially a consequence of
the knowledge thus brought along. But here again it must be emphasized
that this knowledge had an instinctive character. In this state
essentially it remained among the first Atlantean races.

The preeminence of the feminine soul, which has been described, was
especially strong in the last Lemurian period and continued into the
Atlantean times, during which the fourth subrace was preparing itself.
But one must not imagine that this was the case among all of mankind.
It was true, however, for that part of the population of earth from
which the truly advanced races later emerged. This influence exercised
the strongest effect upon all that which in man is "unconscious." The
development of certain constant gestures, the refinements of sensory
perception, the feeling for beauty, a good part of the general life of
sensations and feelings which is common to all men -- all this
originally emanated from the spiritual influence of woman. It is not
an over-statement if one interprets the reports in such a way as to
affirm, "The civilized nations have a bodily form and expression, as
well as certain bases of physical-soul life, which were imprinted upon
them by woman."

In the next chapter we shall go back to earlier periods of the
development of mankind, during which the population of earth still
belonged to only one sex. The development of the two sexes will then
be described.

 

Part VII: The Division into Sexes

THE DIVISION INTO SEXES

MUCH AS THE HUMAN FORM in those ancient times described in the
preceding chapters differed from the form of present-day man, one
comes to conditions still more dissimilar if one goes even further
back in the history of mankind. For only in the course of time did the
forms of man and woman develop from an older, basic form in which
human beings were neither the one nor the other, but rather were both
at once. He who wants to form an idea of these enormously distant
periods of the past must however liberate himself completely from the
habitual conceptions taken from what man sees around him.

The times into which we now look back lie somewhat before the middle
of the epoch which in the preceding passages was designated as the
Lemurian. At that time the human body still consisted of soft and
malleable materials. The other forms of earth also were still soft and
malleable. As opposed to its later hardened condition, earth was still
in a welling, more fluid one. As the human soul at that time embodied
itself in matter, it could adapt this matter to itself in a much
greater degree than later. That the soul takes on a male or a female
body is due to the fact that the development of external terrestrial
nature forces the one or the other upon it. While the material
substances had not yet become rigid, the soul could force these
substances to obey its own laws. It made of the body an impression of
its own nature. But when became denser the soul had to submit to the
laws impressed upon this matter by external terrestrial nature. As
long as the soul could still control matter, it formed its body as
neither male nor female, but, instead gave it qualities which embraced
both at the same time. For the soul is simultaneously male and female.
It carries these two natures in itself its male element -- is related
to what is called will, its female element to what is called
imagination.

The external formation of earth resulted in that the body assumed a
one-sided form. The male body has taken a form which is conditioned by
the element of will; the female body on the other hand, bears the
stamp of imagination. Thus it comes about that the two-sexed,
male-female soul inhabits a single-sexed, male or female body. In the
course of development the body had taken a form determined by the
external terrestrial forces, so that it was no longer possible for the
soul to pour its whole inner energy into this body. The soul had to
retain something of this energy within itself and could let only a
part of it flow into the body.

If one continues with the Akasha Chronicle, the following becomes
apparent. In an ancient period, human forms appear before us which are
soft, malleable and quite different from later ones. They Still carry
the nature of man and woman within themselves to an equal degree. In
the course of time, the material substances become denser; the human
body appears in two forms, one of which begins to resemble the
subsequent shape of man, the other that of woman. When this difference
had not yet appeared, every human being could produce another human
being out of himself. Impregnation was not an external process, but
was something which took, place inside the human body itself. By
becoming male or female, the body lost this possibility of
self-impregnation. It had to act together with another body in order
to produce a new human being.

The division into sexes takes place when the earth enters a certain
stage of its densification. The density of matter inhibits a portion
of the force of reproduction. That portion of this force which is
still active needs an external complementation through the opposite
force of another human being. The soul however must retain a portion
of its earlier energy within itself, in man as well as in woman. It
cannot use this portion in the physical external world.

This portion of energy is now directed toward the interior of man. It
cannot emerge toward the exterior; therefore it is freed for inner
organs.

Here an important point in the development of mankind appears.
Previously that which is called spirit, the faculty of thought, could
not find a place in man. For this faculty would have found no organs
for exercising its functions. The soul had employed all its energy
toward the exterior, in order to build up the body. But now the energy
of the soul, which finds no external employment, can become associated
with the spiritual energy, and through this association those organs
are developed in the body which later make of man a thinking being.
Thus man could use a portion of the energy which previously he
employed for the production of beings like himself, in order to
perfect his own nature. The force by which mankind forms a thinking
brain for itself is the same by which man impregnated himself in
ancient times. The price of thought is single-sexedness. By no longer
impregnating themselves, but rather by impregnating each other, human
beings can turn a part of their productive energy within, and so
become thinking creatures. Thus the male and the female body each
represent an imperfect external embodiment of the soul, but thereby
they become more perfect inwardly.

This transformation of man takes place very slowly and gradually.
Little by little, the younger, single-sexed male or female forms
appear beside the old double-sexed ones.

It is again a kind of fertilization which takes place in man when he
becomes a creature endowed with spirit. The inner organs which can be
built up by the surplus soul energy are fructified by the spirit. In
itself the soul is two-sided: male-female. In ancient times it also
formed its body on this basis. Later it can form its body only in such
a way that for the external it acts together with another body;
thereby the soul itself receives the capacity to act together with the
spirit. For the external, man is henceforward fertilized from the
outside, for the internal, from the inside, through the spirit. One
can say that the male body now has a female soul, the female body a
male soul. This inner one-sidedness of man is compensated by
fertilization through the spirit. The one-sidedness is abolished. Both
the male soul in the female body and the female soul in the male body
again become double-sexed through fructification by the spirit. Thus
man and woman are different in their external form; internally their
spiritual one-sidedness is rounded out to a harmonious whole.
Internally, spirit and soul are fused into one unit. Upon the male
soul in woman the action of the spirit is female, and thus renders it
male-female; upon the female soul in man the action of the spirit is
male, and thus renders it male-female also. The double-sexedness of
man has retired from the external world where it existed in the
pre-Lemurian period, into his interior.

One can see that the higher inner essence of a human being has nothing
to do with man or woman. The inner equality, however, does result from
a male soul in woman, and correspondingly from a female soul in man.
The union with the spirit finally brings about the equality; but the
fact that before the establishment of this equality there exists a
difference involves a secret of human nature. The understanding of
this secret is of great significance for all mystery science. It is
the key to important enigmas of life. For the present we are not
permitted to lift the veil which is spread over this secret....

Thus physical man has developed from double-sexedness to
single-sexedness, to the separation into male and female. In this way
man has become a spiritual being of the kind which he is now. But one
must not suppose that no beings which possessed cognition had been in
contact with the earth before then. When one follows the Akasha
Chronicle it does indeed appear that in the first Lemurian period,
later physical man, because of his double sex, was a totally different
being from that which one today designates as man. He could not
connect any sensory perceptions with thoughts; he did not think. His
life was one of impulses. His soul expressed itself only in instincts,
in appetites, in animal desires and so on. His consciousness was
dreamlike; he lived in dullness.

But there were other beings among these men. These of course were also
double-sexed. For at the stage of terrestrial development of that time
no male or female human body could be produced. The external
conditions did not yet exist for this. But there were other beings
which could acquire knowledge and wisdom in spite of their
double-sexedness. This was possible because they had gone through a
quite different development in a still more remote past. It was
possible for their soul to be fructified by the spirit without first
awaiting the development of the inner organs of the physical body of
man. By means of the physical brain, the soul of contemporary man can
think only that which it receives from the outside through the
physical senses. This is the condition to which the development of
man's soul has led. The human soul had to wait until a brain existed
which became the mediator with the spirit. Without this detour, this
soul would have remained spiritless. It would have remained arrested
at the stage of dreamlike consciousness. This was different among the
superhuman beings mentioned above. In previous stages their soul had
developed organs which needed nothing physical in order to enter into
contact with the spirit. Their knowledge and wisdom were supersensibly
acquired. Such knowledge is called intuitive. Contemporary man attains
such intuition only at a later stage of his development; this
intuition makes it possible for him to enter into contact with the
spirit without sensory mediation. He must make a detour through the
world of sensory substance. This detour is called the descent of the
human soul into matter, or popularly, "the fall of man."

Because of a different earlier development, the superhuman beings did
not have to take part in this descent. Since their soul had already
attained a higher stage, their consciousness was not dreamlike, but
inwardly clear. Their acquisition of knowledge and wisdom was a
clairvoyance which had no need of senses or of an organ of thought. The
wisdom according to which the world is built shone into their soul
directly. Therefore they could become the leaders of youthful humanity
which was still sunk in dullness. They were the bearers of a "primeval
wisdom," toward the understanding of which mankind is only now
struggling along the detour mentioned above. They differed from what
one calls "man" through the fact that wisdom shone upon them as the
sunlight does upon us, as a free gift "from above." "Man" was in a
different position. He had to acquire wisdom by the work of the senses
and of the organ of thought. Originally it did not come to him as a
free gift. He had to desire it. Only when the desire for wisdom lived
in man, did he acquire it through his senses and his organ of thought.
Thus a new impulse had to awaken in the soul: the desire, the longing
for knowledge. In its earlier stages the human soul could not have had
this longing. The impulses of the soul were directed only toward
materialization in that which assumed form externally -- in what took
place in it as a dreamlike life -- but not toward cognition of the
external world, nor toward knowledge. It is with the division into
sexes that the impulse toward knowledge first appears.

The superhuman beings received wisdom by way of clairvoyance just
because they did not have this desire for it. They waited until wisdom
shone into them, as we wait for the sunlight, which we cannot produce
at night, but which must come to us by itself in the morning.

The longing for knowledge is produced by the fact that the soul
develops inner organs, the brain and so forth, by means of which it
gains possession of knowledge. This is a consequence of the
circumstance that a part of the energy of the soul is no longer
directed toward the outside, but toward the inside. The superhuman
beings however, which have not carried out this separation of their
spiritual forces, direct all the energy of their soul toward the
outside. Therefore that force is also available to them externally for
fructification by the spirit, which "man" turns inward for the
development of the organs of cognition.

Now that force by means of which one human being turns toward the
outside in order to act together with another is love. The superhuman
beings directed all their love outward in order to let universal
wisdom flow into their soul. "Man" however can only direct a part of
it outward. "Man" became sensual, and thereby his love became sensual.
He draws away from the outside world that part of his nature which he
directs toward his inner development. And thus that arises which one
calls selfishness. When he became man or woman in the physical body,
"man" could surrender himself with only a part of his being; with the
other part he separated himself from the world around him. He became
selfish. And his action toward the outside became selfish; his
striving after inner development also became selfish. He loved because
he desired, and likewise he thought because he desired wisdom.

The selfless, all-loving natures, the leaders, the superhuman beings,
confronted man, who was still childishly selfish.

The soul, which among these beings does not reside in a male or female
body, is itself male-female. It loves without desire. Thus the
innocent soul of man loved before the division into sexes, but at that
time it could not understand, because it was still at an inferior
stage, that of dream consciousness. The soul of the superhuman beings
also loves in this manner, however, with understanding because of its
advanced development. "Man" must pass through selfishness in order to
attain selflessness again at a higher stage, where, however, it will
be combined with completely clear consciousness.

The task of the superhuman natures, of the great leaders, was that
they impressed upon youthful man their own character, that of love.
They could do this only for that part of the spiritual energy which
was directed outward. Thus sensual love was produced. It is therefore
a consequence of the activity of the soul in a male or female body.
Sensual love became the force of physical human development. This love
brings man and woman together insofar as they are physical beings.
Upon this love rests the progress of physical humanity.

It was only over this love that the superhuman natures had power. That
part of human soul energy which is directed inward and is to bring
about cognition by the detour through the senses -- that part is
withdrawn from the power of those superhuman beings. However, they
themselves had never descended to the development of corresponding
inner organs. They could clothe the impulse toward the external in
love, because love acting toward the external was part of their own
nature. Because of this, a gulf opened between them and youthful
mankind. Love, at first in sensual form, they could plant in man;
knowledge they could not give, for their own knowledge had never made
the detour through the inner organs which man was now developing. They
could speak no language which a creature with a brain could have
understood.

The inner organs of man mentioned above first became ripe for a
contact with the spirit only at that stage of terrestrial existence
which lies in the middle of the Lemurian period; but they had already
been formed incompletely, at a much earlier stage of development. For
the soul had already gone through physical embodiments in preceding
times. It had lived in dense substance, not on earth but on other
celestial bodies. Details about this must be given later. At present
we shall say only that the terrestrial beings previously lived on
another planet, where, in accordance with the prevailing conditions,
they developed up to the point at which they were when they arrived on
earth. They put off the substances of this preceding planet like
clothing and, at the level of development which they thus attained,
became pure soul germs with the capacity to perceive, to feel and so
forth -- in short, to lead that dreamlike life which remained peculiar
to them in the first stages of their terrestrial existence.

The superhuman entities previously mentioned, the leaders in the field
of love, had already been so perfect on the preceding planet that they
did not have to descend to develop the rudiments of those inner
organs.

But there were other beings, not as far advanced as these leaders of
love, who on the preceding planet were still numbered among "men," but
at that period were hurrying ahead of men. Thus, at the beginning of
the formation of the earth, they were further advanced than men, but
still were at the stage where knowledge must be acquired through inner
organs. These beings were in a special position. They were too far
advanced to pass through the physical human body, male or female, but
on the other hand, were not so far advanced that they could act
through full clairvoyance like the leaders of love. They could not yet
be beings of love; they could no longer be "men." Thus they could only
continue their own development as half superhuman beings, in which
they were aided by men. They could speak to creatures with a brain in
a language which the latter could understand. Thereby the human soul
energy which was turned inward was stimulated, and could connect
itself with knowledge and wisdom. It was thus that wisdom of a human
kind first appeared on earth. The "half superhuman beings" mentioned
above could use this human wisdom in order to achieve for themselves
that of perfection which they still lacked. In this manner they became
the stimulators of human wisdom. One therefore calls them bringers of
light (Lucifer). Youthful mankind thus had two kinds of leaders:
beings of love and beings of wisdom. Human nature was balanced between
love and wisdom when it assumed its present form on this earth. By the
beings of love it was stimulated to physical development, by the
beings of wisdom to the perfection of the inner nature. As a
consequence of physical development, humanity advances from generation
to generation, forms new tribes and races; through inner development
individuals grow toward inner perfection, become knowing and wise men,
artists, technicians etc. Physical mankind strides from race to race;
each race hands down its sensorily perceptible qualities to the
following one through physical development. Here the law of heredity
holds sway. The children carry within themselves the physical
characteristics of the fathers. Beyond this lies a process of
spiritual-soul perfection which can only take place through the
development of the soul itself.

With this we stand before the law of the development of the soul
within terrestrial existence. This development is connected with the
law and mystery of birth and death.

 

Part VIII: The Last Periods before the Division into Sexes

THE LAST PERIODS BEFORE THE DIVISION INTO SEXES

WE SHALL NOW DESCRIBE the state of man before his division into male
and female. At that time the body consisted of a soft malleable mass.
The will had a much greater power over this mass than later. When man
separated from his parent entity he appeared as a truly articulated
organism, but as an incomplete one. The further development of the
organs took place outside the parent entity. Much of what later
matured inside the mother organism was at that time brought to
completion outside of it by a force which was akin to our will power.
In order to bring about such an external maturation the care of the
parent being was necessary. Man brought certain organs into the world
which he later cast off. Others, which were quite incomplete at his
first appearance, developed more fully. The whole process had
something which can be compared with the emergence from an egg-form
and the casting off of an eggshell, but here one must not think of a
firm eggshell.

The body of man was warm-blooded. This must be stated explicitly, for
in even earlier times it was different, as will be shown later. The
maturation which took place outside the mother organism occurred under
the influence of an increased warmth which also was supplied from the
outside. But one must by no means think that the egg-man -- as he will be
called for the sake of brevity -- was brooded. The conditions of heat and
fire on the earth of that time were different from those of later
times. By means of his powers man could confine fire, or respectively,
heat, to a certain space. He could, so to speak, contract,
(concentrate) heat. He was thus in a position to supply the young
organism with the warmth which it needed for its maturation.

The most highly developed organs of man at that time were the organs
of motion. The sense organs of today were as yet quite undeveloped.
The most advanced among them were the organs of hearing and of
perception of cold and hot, the sense of touch; the perception of
light lagged far behind. Man came into the world with the senses of
hearing and touch; the perception of light developed somewhat later.

Everything which is said here applies to the last periods before the
division into sexes. This division took place slowly and gradually.
Long before its actual occurrence, human beings were already
developing in such a way that one individual would be born with more
male, another with more female characteristics. Each human being
however also possessed the opposite sexual characteristics, so that
self-impregnation was possible. But the latter could not always take
place, because it depended on the influences of external conditions in
certain seasons. With respect to many things and to a great extent,
man was generally dependent on such outer conditions. Therefore he had
to regulate all his institutions in accordance with such external
conditions, for example, in accordance with the course of the sun and
the moon. But his regulation did not take place consciously in the
modern sense, but was accomplished in a manner which one must call
instinctive. With this we already indicate the soul life of man of
that time.

This soul life cannot be described as a true inner life. Physical and
soul activities and qualities were not yet strictly separated. The
outer life of nature was still experienced by the soul. Each single
disturbance in the environment acted powerfully on the sense of
hearing especially Every disturbance of the air, every movement was
"heard." In their movements wind and water spoke an "eloquent
language" to man. In this manner a perception of the mysterious
activity of nature penetrated into him. This activity reverberated in
his soul. His own activity was an echo of these impressions. He
transformed the perceptions of sound into his own activity. He lived
among such tonal movements and expressed them by his will. In this way
he was impelled to all his daily labors.

He was influenced in a somewhat lesser degree by the influences which
act upon the touch. But they also played an important role. He "felt"
the environment in his body and acted accordingly. From such
influences upon the touch he could tell when and how he had to work.
He knew from them where he should rest. In them he recognized and
avoided dangers which threatened his life. In accordance with these
influences he regulated his food intake.

The remainder of the soul life took its course in a manner quite
different from that of later periods. In the soul lived images of
external objects, not conceptions of them. For instance, when man
entered a warmer space from a colder one, a certain colored image
arose in his soul. But this colored image had nothing to do with any
external object. It originated in an inner force which was akin to the
will. Such images continuously filled the soul. One can compare this
only with the flowing dream impressions of man. At that time the
images were not completely irregular, but proceeded according to law.
Therefore, in relation to this stage of mankind, one should speak of
an image consciousness rather than of a dream consciousness. For the
most part, colored images filled this consciousness. But these were
not the only kind. Thus man wandered through the world, and through
his hearing and touch participated in the events of this world: but in
his soul life this world was mirrored in images which were very unlike
what existed in the external world. Joy and sorrow were associated
with the images of the soul to a much lesser degree than is the case
today with the ideas of men which reflect their perceptions of the
external world. It is true that one image awakened happiness, another
displeasure, one hate, another love; but these feelings had a much
paler character.

On the other hand, strong feelings were aroused by something else. At
that time man was much more active than later. Everything in his
environment as well as the images in his soul, stimulated him to
activity, to movement. When his activity could proceed without
hindrance, he experienced pleasure, but when this activity was
hindered in any way, he felt displeasure and discomfort. It was the
absence or presence of hindrances to his will which determined the
content of his sensations, his joy and his pain. This joy, or this
pain were again released in his soul in a world of living images.
Light, clear, beautiful images lived in him when he could be
completely free in his actions; dark, misshapen images arose in his
soul when his movements were hindered.

Until now the average man has been described. Among those who had
developed into a kind of superhuman beings,( cf. page 17) soul life
was different. Their soul life did not have this instinctive
character. Through their senses of hearing and touch they perceived
deeper mysteries of nature, which they could interpret consciously. In
the rushing of the wind, in the rustling of the trees, the laws, the
wisdom of nature were unveiled to them. The images in their souls did
not merely represent reflections of the external world, but were
likenesses of the spiritual powers of the world. They did not perceive
sensory objects, but spiritual entities. For example, the average man
experienced fear, and an ugly, dark image arose in his soul. By means
of such images the superhuman being received information and
revelation about the spiritual entities of the world. The processes of
nature did not appear to him as dependent on lifeless natural laws, as
they do to the scientist of today, but rather as the actions of
spiritual beings. External reality did not yet exist, for there were
no external senses. But spiritual reality was accessible to the higher
beings. The spirit shone into them as the sun shines into the physical
eye of man today. In these beings, cognition was what one may call
intuitive knowledge in the fullest sense of the word. For them there
was no combining and speculating, but an immediate perception of the
activity of spiritual beings. Therefore, these superhuman individuals
could receive communications from the spiritual world directly into
their will. They consciously directed the other men. They received
their mission from the world of spirits and acted accordingly.

When the time came in which the sexes separated, these beings
considered it their task to act upon the new life in accordance with
their mission. The regulation of sexual life emanated from them.
Everything which relates to the reproduction of mankind originated
with them. In this they acted quite consciously, but the other men
could only feel this influence as an instinct implanted in them.
Sexual love was implanted in man by immediate transference of thought.
At first all its manifestations were of the noblest character.
Everything in this area which has taken on an ugly character comes
from later times, when men became more independent and when they
corrupted an originally pure impulse. In these older times there was
no satisfaction of the sexual impulse for its own sake. Then,
everything was a sacrificial service for the continuation of human
existence. Reproduction was regarded as a sacred matter, as a service
which man owes to the world. Sacrificial priests were the directors
and regulators in this field.

Of a different kind were the influences of the half superhuman beings.
The latter were not developed to the point of being able to receive
the revelations of the spiritual world in an entirely pure form. Along
with these impressions of the spiritual world, the effects of the
sensible earth also arose among the images of their souls. The truly
superhuman beings received no impressions of joy and pain through the
external world. They were wholly given over to the revelations of the
spiritual powers. Wisdom flowed to them as light does to sensory
beings; their will was directed toward nothing but acting in
accordance with this wisdom. In this acting lay their highest joy.
Wisdom, will, and activity constituted their nature. This was
different among the half superhuman entities. They felt the impulse to
receive impressions from the outside, and with the satisfaction of
this impulse they connected joy, with its frustration, displeasure.
Through this they differed from the superhuman entities. To these
entities, external impressions were nothing but confirmations of
spiritual revelations They could look out into the world without
receiving anything more than a reflection of what they had already
received from the spirit. The half-superhuman beings learned something
new, and therefore they could become leaders of men when in human
souls mere images changed into likenesses and conceptions of external
objects. This happened when a portion of the previous reproductive
energy of man turned inward, at the time when entities with brains
were developed. With the brain man also received the capacity to
transform external sensory impressions into conceptions.

It must therefore be said that by half-superhuman beings man was
brought to the point of directing his inner nature toward the sensuous
external world. He was not permitted to open the images of his soul
directly to pure spiritual influences. The capacity of perpetuating
the existence of his kind was implanted in him as an instinctive
impulse by superhuman beings. Spiritually, he would at first have had
to continue a sort of dream existence if the half-superhuman beings
had not intervened. Through their influence the images of his soul
were directed toward the sensuous, external world. He became a being
which was conscious of itself in the world of the senses. Thereby it
came about that man could consciously direct his actions in accordance
with his perceptions of the world of the senses. Before this he had
acted from a kind of instinct. He had been under the spell of his
external environment and of the powers of higher individualities,
which acted on him. Now he began to follow the impulses and
enticements of his conceptions. Therewith free choice became possible
for man. This was the beginning of "good and evil."

Before we continue in this direction, something will be said
concerning the environment of man on earth. In addition to man there
existed animals, which, for their kind, were at the same stage of
development as he. According to current ideas one would include them
among the reptiles. Apart from them, lower forms of animal life
existed. Between man and the animals there was an essential
difference. Because of his still malleable body, man could live only
in those regions of the earth which had not yet passed over into the
most solid material form. And in these regions animal organisms which
had a similarly plastic body lived with him. But in other regions
lived animals which already had dense bodies and also had developed
separate sexedness and the senses. Where they had come from, will be
explained later. These animals could not develop further because their
bodies had taken on this denser materiality too soon. Some species of
these became extinct, others have perpetuated their kind to the point
of contemporary forms. Man could attain higher forms because he
remained in the regions which corresponded to his state at that time.
Thereby his body remained so pliant and soft that he could develop the
organs which were to be fructified by the spirit. With this
development his external body had reached the point where it could pass
over into denser materiality and become a protective envelope for the
more delicate spiritual organs.

Not all human bodies, however, had reached this point. There were few
advanced ones. These were first animated by spirit. Others were not
animated. If the spirit had penetrated into them it could have
developed only in a defective manner because of the as yet incomplete
inner organs. Therefore, at first these human beings were compelled to
develop further without spirit. A third kind had reached the point
where weak spiritual impulses could act in them. They stood between
the two other kinds. Their mental activity remained dull. They had to
be led by higher spiritual powers. All possible transitions existed
between these three kinds. Further development was now possible only
in that a portion of the human beings attained higher forms at the
expense of the others. First, the completely mindless ones had to be
abandoned. A mingling with them for the purpose of reproduction would
have pulled the more highly developed down to their level. Everything
which had been given a mind was therefore separated from them. Thereby
the latter descended more and more to the level of animalism. Thus,
alongside man there developed manlike animals. Man left a portion of
his brothers behind on his road in order that he himself might ascend
higher. This process had by no means come to an end. Among the men
with a dull mental life those who stood somewhat higher could advance
only if they were raised to an association with higher ones, and
separated themselves from those less endowed with spirit. Only thus
could they develop bodies which would be fit to receive the full human
spirit. After a certain time the physical development had come to a
kind of stopping-point, in that everything which lay above a certain
boundary remained human. Meanwhile, the conditions of life on earth
had changed in such a way that a further thrusting down would no
longer produce animal-like creatures, but such as were no longer
capable of living. That which had been thrust down into the animal
world has either become extinct or survives in the different higher
animals. Therefore, one must consider these animals as beings which
had to stop at an earlier stage of human development. They have not
retained the form which they had at the time of their separation,
however, but have gone from a higher to a lower level. Thus the apes
are men of a past epoch who have regressed. As man was once less
perfect than he is at present, they were once more perfect than they
are now.

That which has remained in the field of the human, has gone through a
similar process, but within these human limits. Many savage tribes
must be considered to be the degenerated descendants of human forms
which were once more highly developed. They did not sink to the level
of animalism, but only to that of savagery.

The immortal part of man is the spirit. It has been shown when the
spirit entered the body. Before this, the spirit belonged to other
regions. It could only associate itself with the body when the latter
had attained a certain level of development. Only when one understands
completely how this association came about, can one recognize the
significance of birth and death, and can understand the nature of the
eternal spirit.

 

Part IX: The Hyperborean and the Polarean Epoch

THE HYPERBOREAN AND THE POLAREAN EPOCH

THE FOLLOWING passages from the Akasha Chronicle go back to the
periods which precede what was described in the last chapters. In view
of the materialistic ideas of our time, the risk we undertake with
these communications is perhaps even greater than that connected with
what has been described in the preceding passages. Today such things
are readily met with the accusation of fantasy and baseless
speculation. When one knows how far from even taking these things
seriously someone can be who has been trained scientifically in the
contemporary sense, then only the consciousness that one is reporting
faithfully in accordance with spiritual experience can lead one to
write about them. Nothing is said here which has not been carefully
examined with the means provided by the science of the spirit. The
scientist need only be as tolerant toward the science of the spirit as
the latter is toward the scientific way of thinking. [Compare my
Welt-und Lebensanschauungen im neunzehnten Jahrhundert (Conception's
of the World and of Life in the Nineteenth Century), where I think I
have shown that I am able to appreciate the materialistic-scientific
view.] For those however who incline toward these matters of the
science of the spirit, I would like to make a special remark
concerning the passages reproduced here. Especially important matters
will be discussed in what follows. And all this belongs to periods
which are long past. The deciphering of the Akasha Chronicle is not
exactly easy in this area. The author of this present book in no way
claims that he should be believed blindly. He merely wishes to report
what his best efforts have enabled him to discover. He will welcome
any correction based on competent knowledge. He feels obliged to
communicate these events concerning the development of mankind because
the signs of the times urge it. Moreover, a long period of time had to
be described in outline here in order to afford a general view.
Further details on much that is only indicated now will follow later.

Only with difficulty can the writings in the Akasha Chronicle be
translated into our colloquial language. They are more easily
communicated in the symbolical sign language used in mystery schools,
but as yet the communication of this language is not permitted.
Therefore the reader is requested to bear with much that is dark and
difficult to comprehend, and to struggle toward an understanding, just
as the writer has struggled toward a generally understandable manner
of presentation. Many a difficulty in reading will be rewarded when
one looks upon the deep mysteries, the important human enigmas which
are indicated. A true self-knowledge of man is, after all, the result
of these "Akasha Records," which for the scientist of the spirit are
realities as certain as are mountain ranges and rivers for the eye of
sense. An error of perception is of course possible, here and there.

It should be noted that in the present section only the development of
man is discussed. Parallel to it, of course, runs that of the other
natural realms, of the mineral, the botanical, the animal. The next
sections will deal with these. Then much will be spoken of which will
make the discussion concerning man appear in a clearer light. On the
other hand, one cannot speak of the development of the terrestrial
realms in the sense of the science of the spirit, until the gradual
progress of man has been described.

If one traces the development of the earth even further back than was
done in the preceding essays, one comes upon increasingly refined
material conditions of our planet. The substances which later became
solid were previously in a fluid, still earlier, in a vaporous and
steam-like, and in an even more remote past, in the most refined
(etheric) condition. The decreasing temperature caused the hardening
of substances. Here we shall go back to the most refined etheric
condition of the substances of our earthly dwelling place. Man first
entered upon the earth in this epoch of its development. Before that,
he belonged to other worlds, which will be discussed later. Only the
one immediately preceding will be indicated here. This was a so-called
astral or soul world. The beings of this world did not lead an
external, (physical) bodily existence. Neither did man. He had already
developed the image consciousness mentioned in the previous essay. He
had feelings and desires. But all this was enclosed in a soul body.
Only to the clairvoyant eye would such a man have been perceptible.

As a matter of fact, all the more highly developed human beings of
that time possessed clairvoyance, although it was quite dull and
dreamlike. It was not a self-conscious clairvoyance.

These astral beings are in a certain sense the ancestors of man. What
is today called "man" carries the self-conscious spirit within him.
This spirit united with the being which had developed from the astral
ancestor in about the middle of the Lemurian period. This union has
already been indicated in the previous essays. In the description of
the course of development of the ancestors of man up to that period
which is to follow here, the matter will be discussed again in greater
detail.

The soul or astral ancestors of man were transported to the refined or
etheric earth. So to speak, they sucked the refined substance into
themselves like a sponge, to speak coarsely. By thus becoming
penetrated with substance, they developed etheric bodies. These had an
elongated elliptical form, in which the limbs and other organs which
were to be formed later were already indicated by delicate shadings of
the substance. All processes in this mass were purely
physical-chemical, but they were regulated and dominated by the soul.

When such a mass of substance had attained a certain size it split
into two masses, each of which was similar to the form from which it
had sprung, and in it the same processes took place as in the original
mass of substance.

Each new form was as much endowed with soul as the mother being. This
was due to the fact that it was not a certain number of human souls
which entered upon the earthly scene, but rather a kind of soul tree
which could produce innumerable single souls from its common root. As
a plant sprouts ever anew from innumerable seeds, so the soul life
appeared in the countless shoots produced by the continual divisions.
It is true that from the beginning there was a narrowly circumscribed
number of kinds of souls, of which fact we shall speak later. But
within these kinds the development proceeded in the manner which we
have described. Each kind of soul put forth innumerable off-shoots.

With their entry into terrestrial materiality, an important change had
taken place within the souls themselves. As long as the souls were not
connected with anything material, no external material process could
act on them. Any action upon them was purely of the nature of soul,
was a clairvoyant one. They thus shared in the life of everything
pertaining to soul in their environment -- All that existed at that
time was experienced in this way. The actions of stones, plants, and
animals, which then existed only as astral (soul-like) forms, were
felt as inner soul experiences.

With the entering upon the earth, something totally new was added to
this. External material processes exercised an effect on the soul,
which now appeared in material garb. At first it was only the
processes of motion in this material outside world which produced
movements within the etheric body. As today we perceive the vibration
of the air as sound, these etheric beings perceived the vibrations of
the etheric matter which surrounded them. Such a being was basically a
single organ of hearing. This sense developed first. But one can see
from this that separate organs of hearing developed only later.

With the increasing densification of terrestrial matter, the spiritual
being gradually lost the ability to mold this matter. Only the bodies
which had already been formed could produce their like out of
themselves. A new manner of reproduction arose. The daughter being
appeared as a considerably smaller form than the mother being and only
gradually grew to the size of the latter. While before there had been
no organs of reproduction, these now made their appearance.

At this time, however, it is no longer merely a physical-chemical
process which takes place in these forms. Such a chemical-physical
process could not effect reproduction now. Because of its
densification, external matter is no longer such that the soul can
give life to it without mediation. Therefore, a certain portion within
the form is isolated. This portion is withdrawn from the immediate
influences of external matter. Only the body outside of this isolated
portion remains exposed to these influences. It is in the same
condition in which the whole body was before. In the separated
portion, the soul element continues to act. Here the soul becomes the
carrier of the life principle, called Prana in theosophical
literature. Thus the bodily ancestor of man now appears endowed with
two organs. One is the physical body, the physical envelope. It is
subject to the chemical and physical laws of the surrounding world.
The other is the sum of the organs which are subject to the special
life principle.

A portion of soul activity is freed in this manner. This activity no
longer has any power over the physical part of the body. This part of
the soul activity now turns inward and forms a portion of the body
into special organs. With this an inner life of the body begins. The
body no longer merely participates in the vibrations of the outside
world, but begins to perceive them within itself as special
experiences. Here is the starting point of perception. This perception
at first appears as a kind of sense of touch. The organism feels the
movements of the outside world; the pressure which substances
exercise, and so forth. The beginnings of a perception of heat and
cold also appear.

With this an important stage in the development of mankind is reached.
The immediate influence of the soul has been withdrawn from the
physical body. The latter is totally given over to the physical and
chemical world of matter. It disintegrates at the moment the soul can
no longer dominate it with its activity. Thereupon occurs that which
one calls "death." In connection with the preceding conditions, there
could be no question of death. When a division took place, the mother
form survived wholly in the daughter forms. For in these the entire
transformed soul energy acted as it did before in the mother form. In
the division there was nothing left which did not contain soul. Now
this becomes different. As soon as the soul no longer has any power
over the physical body, the latter becomes subject to the chemical and
physical laws of the outside world, that is, it dies away. As activity
of the soul there remains only that which acts in reproduction and in
the developed inner life. This means that descendants are produced by
the force of reproduction, and at the same time these descendants are
endowed with a surplus of organ-forming energy. In this surplus the
soul being is constantly reviving. As previously at the time of
division, the whole body was filled with soul activity, so the organs
of reproduction and perception are now filled with it. We are thus
dealing with a reincarnation of the soul life in the newly-developing
daughter organism.

In theosophical literature these two stages of the development of man
are described as the first two root races of our earth. The first is
called the Polarean, the second, the Hyperborean race.

One must imagine the perceptual world of these ancestors of man to
have been a quite general and indefinite one. Only two of the types of
perception of today had already become separated: the sense of hearing
and the sense of touch. Because of the changes that had taken place in
the body as well as in the physical environment, the entire human form
was no longer capable of being, in a manner of speaking, an "ear." A
special part of the body remained capable of reverberating to delicate
vibrations. It furnished the material from which our organ of hearing
gradually developed. However, approximately the whole remainder of the
body continued to be the organ of touch.

It can be seen that up to this point the entire process of the
development of man is connected with a change in the temperature
conditions of earth. It was the heat in man's environment which had
brought him to the level we have described. But now the external
temperature had reached a point where further progress of the human
form would no longer have been possible. Within the organism a
counter-action against the further cooling of the earth now begins.
Man starts to produce his own source of heat. Up to this point he had
shared the temperature of his environment. Now organs develop in him
which make him able to create the degree of heat necessary for his
life. Previously, the circulating substances which passed through him
had been dependent on the environment in this respect. Now he himself
could develop heat for these substances. The bodily fluids now became
warm blood. With this he attained a much higher degree of independence
as a physical being than he had possessed before. The whole inner life
became more active. Perception still depended entirely on the
influences of the outside world. Filled with its own heat, the body
acquired an independent physical inner life. Now the soul had a basis
inside the body upon which it could develop a life which was no longer
merely a participation in the life of the outside world.

Through this process, the life of the soul was drawn into the realm of
the earthly-material. Previously, desires, wishes, passions, joy and
grief of the soul could only be produced by something that was itself
soul-like. That which proceeded from another soul-being awakened
sympathy or aversion in the soul, excited the passions, and so forth.
No external physical object could have had such an effect. Now only did
it become possible for such external objects to have a significance
for the soul. For the latter experienced the enhancement of the inner
life, which had awakened when the body produced its own heat, as
something pleasant, the disturbance of this inner life as something
disagreeable. An external object suitable for contributing to physical
well-being could be desired, could be wished for. What in theosophical
literature is called Kama -- the body of wishes -- became connected
with earthly man. The objects of the senses could now become objects
of desire. Through his body of wishes man became tied to earthly
existence.

This fact coincides with a great event in the universe, with which it
is causally connected. Up to this point there had been no material
separation between sun, earth, and moon. In their effect on man these
three were one body. Now the separation took place; the more delicate
substantiality, which includes everything which had previously made it
possible for the soul to act in an immediately vitalizing manner,
separated itself as the sun; the coarsest part was extruded as the
moon; and the earth, with respect to its substantiality, stood in the
middle between the two others. This separation was of course not a
sudden one; rather the whole process proceeded gradually while man was
advancing from the stage of reproduction by division to the one
described last. It was indeed by the universal processes just
mentioned that this development of man was brought about. The sun
first withdrew its substance from the common heavenly body. Thereby it
became impossible for the soul element to vitalize the remaining
earthly matter without mediation. Then the moon began to form itself.
Thus the earth entered the condition which made possible the capacity
for perception characterized above.

In association with this process, a new sense developed. The
temperature conditions of earth became such that bodies gradually took
on the fixed limits which separated the transparent from the opaque.
The sun, which had been extruded from the terrestrial mass, received
its task as light giver. In the human body the sense of seeing
developed. At first this seeing was not as we know it today. Light and
darkness acted upon man as vague sensations. For instance, under
certain conditions he experienced light as pleasant, as promoting his
physical life, and sought it, strove toward it. At the same time his
soul life proper still continued in dreamlike pictures. In this life,
colored images which had no immediate relation to external objects
arose and vanished. Man still related these colored images to
spiritual influences. Light images appeared to him when he was
affected by pleasant soul influences, dark images when he was touched
by unpleasant soul influences.

Up to now, what was caused by the development of bodily heat has been
described as "inner life." But it can be seen that it was not an inner
life in the sense of the later development of mankind. Everything
proceeds by stages, including the development of the inner life. As it
was meant in the preceding essay, this true inner life begins only
with the fertilization by the spirit, when man begins to think about
that which acts upon him from the outside.

Everything which has been described here shows how man grew into the
condition pictured in the preceding chapter. Essentially one is
already moving in the period which was characterized there when one
describes the following: The soul learns more and more to apply to
external bodily existence that which it had previously experienced
within itself and related only to the soul-like. This now happens with
the colored images. As before, a pleasing impression of something
soul-like had been connected with a luminous image in the soul, now a
bright impression of light from the outside became connected with such
an image. The soul began to see the objects around it in colors. This
was connected with the development of new instruments of sight. At
previous stages, for the perception of light and darkness, the body
had had an eye which no longer exists today. (The legend of the
Cyclops with one eye is a recollection of these conditions-) The two
eyes developed when the soul began to connect the light impressions
from the outside more intimately with its own life. With this, the
capacity for the perception of the soul-like in the environment
disappeared. More and more the soul became the mirror of the external
world. The outside world is repeated within the soul as image.

Hand in hand with this went the division into sexes. On one side, the
human body became receptive only to fertilization by another human
being; on the other side there developed the physical "soul organs"
(the nervous system) through which the sense impressions of the
outside world were mirrored in the soul.

With this, the entry of the thinking spirit into the human body had
been prepared.

 

Part X: Beginning of the Present Earth -- Extrusion of the Sun

BEGINNING OF THE PRESENT EARTH
EXTRUSION OF THE SUN

WE SHALL now follow the Akasha Chronicle back into that remote past in
which our present earth had its beginning. By "earth" is to be
understood that condition of our planet by virtue of which it can
support minerals, plants, animals, and men in their form of today. For
this condition was preceded by others in which the natural realms just
mentioned existed in considerably different forms. That which one now
calls earth went through many changes before it could become the
carrier of our present mineral, plant, animal, and human worlds.
Minerals for instance also existed under the preceding conditions, but
they looked quite different from those of today. These past conditions
will be discussed further below. Now we shall only call attention to
the manner in which the immediately preceding condition changed into
the present one.

One can conceive of such a transformation to some extent by comparing
it to the passage of a plant through the seed stage. Imagine a plant
with root, stalk, leaves, blossom, and fruit. It takes in substances
from its environment and secretes others. But everything in it which
is substance, form, and process disappears, except for the small seed.
Life develops by passing through it, and in the new year it rises
again in the same form. Thus everything which existed on our earth in
its preceding condition has disappeared, only to arise again in its
present condition. What for the preceding condition one might call
mineral, plant, animal has passed away, as in the plant, root, stalk,
and so forth, pass away. There as well as here, a germinal stage has
remained, from which the old form develops anew. The forces which will
cause the new form to emerge lie hidden in the seed.

At the period discussed here we are dealing with a kind of earth germ.
This contained within itself the forces which led to the earth of
today. These forces were acquired through earlier conditions. This
earth germ however must not be imagined as a densely material one,
like that of a plant. It was rather of a soul character. It consisted
of that delicate, malleable, mobile substance which is called "astral"
in occult literature.

In this astral germ of earth there are only human rudiments at first.
These are the rudiments of the later human souls. Everything in
preceding conditions which was already present as a mineral; plant,
or animal nature has been drawn into these human rudiments and become
fused with them. Before man enters upon the earth he is a soul, an
astral entity. As such he appears on earth. The latter exists in a
state of the most highly-refined substantiality, which in occult
literature is called the most refined ether. Whence this etheric earth
originated will be described in the next essays.

The astral human beings combine with this ether. They impress their
nature upon this ether, in order that it can become a likeness of the
astral human entity. In this initial condition we are dealing with an
ether earth which really consists only of these ether men, which is
only a conglomerate of them. Actually the astral body or the soul of
man is for the most part still outside the ether body and organizes it
from without. To the scientist of the spirit, the earth appears
approximately as follows. It is a sphere which in turn is composed of
innumerable small ether spheres -- the ether men -- and is surrounded
by an astral envelope just as the present earth is surrounded by an
envelope of air. It is in this astral envelope (atmosphere) that the
astral men live and whence they act upon their ether likenesses. The
astral human souls create organs in their ether likenesses and produce
a human ether life in them. Within the whole earth there exists only
one condition of matter, the refined living ether. In theosophical
books this first humanity is called the first (the Polarean) root
race.

The further development of earth takes place in such that from the one
condition of matter there develop two. A denser substantiality is
secreted, so to speak, and leaves a thinner one behind. The denser
substantiality resembles our present air; the thinner one is that
which causes chemical elements to develop from previously
undifferentiated substance. Along with these, a remainder of the
previous substantiality, the living ether, continues to exist. Only a
part of it is transformed into the so-called material conditions. We
now are dealing with three substances within the physical earth. While
the astral human beings in the envelope of earth previously acted only
upon one kind of substantiality, they must now act upon three. They
act upon them in the following way: That which has become airlike at
first resists their activity. It does not accept everything which is
rudimentarily present in the complete astral men. As a consequence,
astral humanity must divide itself into two groups. One group works on
the air-like substantiality and creates in it a likeness of two other
substantialities; it can create a likeness of itself which consists of
the living ether and of the other kind of ether which brings the
elementary chemical substances into being. This ether will here be
called the chemical ether. This second group of astral men has
acquired its higher capacity, however, only by separating from itself
a part of the astral nature -- the first group -- and condemning it to
a lower kind of labor. Had it retained within itself the forces which
accomplish this lower labor, it could not have risen higher itself.
here we are dealing with a process which consists in the development
of the higher at the expense of something else, which is separated
from it.

Within the physical earth the following picture now presents itself.
Two kinds of entities have come into being First, entities which have
an airlike body on which the astral being belonging to it is working
from the outside. These beings are animal-like. They form a first
animal realm on earth. These animals have shapes which, were they to
be described here, would strike mankind of today as very peculiar.
Their shape -- one must keep in mind that this shape is based only on
an airlike substance -- does not resemble any of the animal forms
existing now. At most they have a remote similarity to the shells of
certain snails and mussels which exist today. Beside these animal
forms the development of physical man progresses. The astral man, who
has now ascended higher, produces a physical likeness of himself which
consists of the two kinds of matter, of the life ether and of the
chemical ether. One thus deals with a man who consists of the astral
body and is working himself into an ether body which in turn consists
of two kinds of ether: life ether and chemical ether. Through the life
ether this physical likeness of man is endowed with the capacity to
reproduce itself, to cause beings of its own kind to emerge from it.
Through the chemical ether it develops certain forces which are
similar to the present forces of chemical attraction and repulsion.
Thereby this likeness of man is in a position to attract certain
substances from the environment and to combine them with itself,
secreting them again later by means of the repelling forces. These
substances, of course, can only be taken from the animal realm
described above, and from the realm of man. This constitutes a
beginning of nutrition. Thus these first likenesses of man were eaters
of animals and of men.

Besides these beings, the descendants of the earlier beings, composed
merely of life ether, continue to exist, but they become atrophied,
since they have to adapt to the new terrestrial conditions. After they
have undergone many transformations, the unicellular animal beings
develop from them, and also the cells which later make up the more
complicated living organisms.

The following process then takes place. The airlike substantiality
divides itself into two, of which one becomes denser, watery, while
the other one remains airlike. The chemical ether also divides itself
into two conditions of matter; one of them becomes denser and forms
that which we shall here call the light ether. It endows the entities
which possess it with the gilt of luminosity. On the other hand, a
portion of the chemical ether continues to exist as such.

We are now dealing with a physical earth which is composed of the
following kinds of matter: water, air, light ether, chemical ether.
and life ether. In order that the astral entities can act on these
kinds of matter, another process takes place by which the higher
develops at the expense of the lower, which becomes separated from it.
Thereby physical entities of the following kind are produced. First,
those whose physical body consists of water and air. Now coarse astral
entities which have been split off, act on these. Thus a new group of
animals of coarser materiality than the earlier ones is produced.

Another new group of physical entities has a body which consists of
air and light ether mixed with water. These are plantlike entities,
which however are very different in form from the plants of today.
Finally, the third new group represents man of that period. His
physical body consists of three kinds of ether: the light ether, the
chemical ether, and the life ether. If one considers that descendants
of the old groups also continue to exist, one can judge what a variety
of living beings there already were at that stage of terrestrial
existence.

There now follows an important cosmic event. The sun is extruded.
Thereby certain forces simply leave the earth. These forces are
composed of a part of what hitherto had existed on earth in the life
ether and in the chemical and light ether. These forces, so to speak,
were withdrawn from the earth. A radical change thereby took place
among groups Of terrestrial beings which previously had contained
these forces within themselves. They all suffered a transformation.
Those which have been called plant beings above, first suffered such a
transformation. A part of their light ether forces was taken from
them. They could then develop as organisms only when the force of
light, which had been withdrawn from them, acted upon them from the
outside. Thus the plants came under the influence of the sunlight.

Something similar happened with human bodies. From then onward, their
light ether also had to act together with the light ether of the sun
in order to be capable of life. But not only those beings themselves
which lost the light ether were affected; the others were affected
too. For in the world everything interacts. Those animal forms, too,
which did not contain light ether themselves had previously been
irradiated by their fellow beings on earth and had developed under
this irradiation. Now they also came under the immediate influence of
the external sun.

The human body in particular developed organs receptive to the
sunlight, that is, the first rudiments of human eyes.

The consequence of the extrusion of the sun was a further material
densification of the earth. Solid matter developed from fluid;
likewise the light ether separated into another kind of light ether,
and into an ether which gives bodies the capacity to increase
temperature. With this, the earth became an entity which developed
heat within itself. All its beings came under the influence of heat.
In the astral element a process similar to the previous ones again had
to take place; some beings developed to a higher level at the expense
of others. A group of beings split off which were well suited to work
on coarse solid substantiality. With this there had developed the firm
skeleton of the mineral realm of earth. At first the higher natural
realms did not act upon this rigid mineral skeleton. Thus, on the
earth there exist a mineral realm which is solid, and a plant realm
which has water and air as its densest substantiality. In the latter
realm, through the events we have described, the air body had become
condensed to a water body. There also existed animals of the most
varied forms, some with water and some with air bodies. The human body
itself had become subject to a process of densification. It had
condensed its most compact corporeality to the point of wateriness.
The newly-developed heat ether coursed through this water body. This
gave to his body a substantiality which could perhaps be called
gas-like. This material condition of the human body is described in
works on mystery science as that of the fire mist. Man was embodied in
this body of fire mist.

With this, the examination of the Akasha Chronicle has reached a point
shortly before the cosmic catastrophe caused by the extrusion of the
moon from the earth.

 

Part XI: Extrusion of the Moon

EXTRUSION OF THE MOON

ONE MUST be quite clear about the fact that only later did man assume
the dense substantiality which he has today, and that he did this very
gradually. If one wants to form an idea of his corporeality on the
level of development which is being discussed, one can best do this by
imagining it as similar to water vapor or to a cloud suspended in the
air. But of course this idea approaches reality in a completely
external way. For the fire cloud "man" is internally alive and
organized. In comparison to what man became later, however, one must
imagine him at this stage as in a state of soul slumber, and as only
very dimly conscious. Everything which can be called intelligence,
understanding, reason is lacking in this being. Floating rather than
striding, it moves forward, aside, backward, to all sides, by means of
four limb-like organs. For the rest, something has already been said
about the soul of this being.

One must not think however that the movements or vital activities of
these beings occurred in an irrational or irregular fashion. On the
contrary, they were completely regular. Everything which happened had
sense and significance. But the directing force of understanding was
not in the beings themselves. They were directed by an understanding
which was outside of them. Higher, more mature beings than they,
surrounded and directed them. For the important, basic quality or the
fire mist was that on the level of their existence which we have
characterized, human beings could embody themselves in it, but that at
the same time higher beings also could take on a body in it and could
enter into a fully reciprocal relationship with men. Man had brought
his impulses, instincts, and passions to the point where they could be
formed in the fire mist. The other beings mentioned, however, could
create within this fire mist by means of their reason and their
intelligent activity. These beings had higher capacities by which they
reached into the upper regions. Their decisions and impulses emanated
from these regions, but the actual effects of these decisions appeared
in the fire mist. Everything men did on earth resulted from the
regular association of the fire mist body with that of these higher
beings.

One can say that man was striving to ascend. He was to develop
qualities in the fire mist which in a human sense were higher than
those he had previously possessed. The other beings, however, were
striving downward toward the material They were on the way to bringing
their creative powers to bear on increasingly dense material forms.
This does not represent a degradation for them in the broader sense of
the term. One must be quite clear on this point. It requires a higher
power and capacity to direct denser forms of substantiality than to
control those less dense. In earlier periods of their development,
these higher beings too had had a limited power like that of man
today. Like present-day man, they once had power only over what took
place "within them." At that time, coarse, external matter did not
obey them. Now they were striving toward a condition in which they
were to direct outer events magically. Thus they were ahead of man in
the period described. Man strove upward in order that he might first
embody the understanding in more refined matter, so that later it
could act toward the external; they had already incorporated the
understanding into themselves at an earlier period, and now received
magic power in order to articulate the understanding into the world
around them. Man was moving upward through the stage of the fire mist;
they were penetrating downward through the same stage, toward an
extension of their power.

Those forces especially, which man knows as the forces of his lower
passions or impulses, can be active in the fire mist. Man, as well as
the higher beings, makes use of these forces at the stage of the fire
mist. These forces act in such a way within the human form described
above that man can develop the organs which enable him to think, and
thus to develop a personality. On the other hand, these forces work in
the higher beings at this stage in such a manner that they can employ
them impersonally to create the arrangements of the earth. In this
way, forms which are images of the rules of the understanding, come
into existence on earth through these beings. Through the action of
the forces of passion, organs of personal understanding develop in
man; through the same forces, organizations filled with wisdom develop
around him.

One should now imagine this process to be somewhat further advanced;
or rather, one should represent to oneself what is written in the
Akasha Chronicle concerning a somewhat later point in time. At that
moment the moon split off from the earth. This event caused a great
revolution. The objects which surround man lost a great part of their
heat. These objects thereby entered into a coarser and denser
substantiality. Man must live in this cooler environment. He can do
this only if he changes his own substantiality. With this
densification of substance is connected a change in form. For the
condition of fire mist on earth has been replaced by a completely
different state. As a consequence, the higher beings which we have
described no longer have the fire mist available to them as a medium
for their activity. Now they can no longer exercise their influence on
those soul activities of man which had previously constituted their
main field of action. They have received power over the forms of man
which they themselves had previously created from the fire mist.

This change in influence goes hand in hand with a transformation of
the human form. One half of this form, together with two organs of
movement, now becomes the lower half of the body, which functions
mainly as the carrier of nutrition and reproduction. The other half of
this form is turned upward, so to speak. The remaining two organs of
movement become the rudiments of hands. Those organs which previously
had served for nutrition and reproduction are transformed into organs
of speech and thought. Man has become upright. This is the immediate
consequence of the extrusion of the moon. With the moon all those
forces disappeared from the earth through which, during his fire mist
period, man could still impregnate himself and produce beings like
himself without external influence. His whole lower half -- that which
one often calls the lower nature -- now came under the rationally
formative influence of the higher entities. What these entities
previously could regulate within man, since the mass of forces now
split off with the moon was then still combined with the earth, they
now have to organize through the interaction of the two sexes. It is
therefore understandable that the moon is regarded by the initiates as
the symbol of the force of reproduction. After all, these forces do
inhere in it, so to speak. The higher beings we have described have an
affinity with the moon, are in a sense, moon gods. Before the
separation of the moon and, through its power, they acted within man;
afterwards, their forces acted from outside on the reproduction of
man. One could also say that those noble spiritual forces which
previously had acted on the still higher impulses of man through the
medium of the fire mist, had now descended in order to exercise their
power in the area of reproduction. Indeed, noble and divine forces
exercise a regulating and organizing action in this area. With this an
important proposition of the secret doctrine has been expressed,
namely, the higher, more noble divine forces have an affinity with the
-- apparently -- lower forces of human nature. The word "apparently"
must here be understood in its full significance. For it would be a
complete misconception of occult truths if one were to see something
base in the forces of reproduction as such. Only when man misuses
these forces, when he compels them to serve his passions and
instincts, is there something pernicious in them, but not when he
ennobles them through the insight that a divine spiritual power lies
in them. Then he will place these forces at the service of the
development of the earth, and through his forces of reproduction he
will carry out the intentions of the higher entities we have
characterized. Mystery science teaches that this whole subject is to
be ennobled, is to be placed under divine laws, but is not to be
mortified. The latter can only be the consequence of occult principles
which have been understood in a purely external fashion and distorted
into a misconceived asceticism.

It will be seen that in his second, his upper half, man has developed
something upon which the higher beings we have described have no
influence. Other beings now acquire power over this upper half. In
earlier stages of their development, these beings advanced further than
men, but not as far as the moon gods. They could not exercise their
power in the fire mist. But now that something they themselves had
lacked previously has been formed in the human organs of understanding
through the fire mist, their time has come. At an earlier time, the
moon gods had attained an understanding capable of acting externally.
This understanding already existed in them when the period of the fire
mist began. They could act externally on the things of earth. In
earlier times, the lower beings we have just mentioned had not
attained such an understanding which acts outwardly. Therefore, the
time of the fire mist found them unprepared. Now, however, an
understanding is present. It exists in men. These beings seize upon
this human understanding in order to act on the things of earth by
means of it. As the moon gods previously had acted on the whole man,
they now act only on his lower half, while the influence of the lower
entities just mentioned acts on his upper half. Thus man comes under a
double leadership. In his lower part he is under the power of the moon
gods; in his developed personality, however, he comes under the
leadership of those entities which are summed up under the name
"Lucifer," (See pg. 17) the name of their regent. The Luciferic gods
thus complete their own development by making use of the awakened
human powers of understanding. Previously they had not been able to
attain this level. At the same time they give man the predisposition
to freedom, to the discrimination between "good" and "evil." (*) While
it is true that the human organ of understanding has been formed
entirely under the leadership of the moon gods, these gods would have
left it to slumber; they were not interested in making use of it. They
possessed their own powers of understanding. In their own interest,
the Luciferic beings were concerned with developing the human
understanding and directing it toward the things of earth. Thereby for
men they became the teachers of all that can be accomplished by the
human understanding. But they could not be anything more than
stimulators. They could not develop an understanding within
themselves, but only in man. Thus there developed two directions of
activity on earth. One proceeded directly from the moon divinities and
was lawfully regulated and rational from the very beginning. The moon
gods had already served their apprenticeship and were now beyond the
possibility of error. The Luciferic gods which acted on men had yet to
win their way to such illumination. With their guidance man had to
learn to find the laws of his being. Under Lucifer's leadership he
himself had to become as "one of the gods."

Here the question arises: If in their development the Luciferic
entities had not reached the stage of intelligent creation in the fire
mist, at what stage had they stopped? To what point in earth
development were they able to work together with the moon gods? The
Akasha Chronicle gives information on this. They could participate in
earthly creation up to the point at which the sun split off from the
earth. It appears that while they performed somewhat lesser work than
the moon gods up to this time, nevertheless they belonged to the host
of divine creators. After the separation of earth and sun, an activity
began on the earth -- the work in the fire mist -- for which only the
moon gods, but not the Luciferic spirits, were prepared. Therefore, a
period of pause and of waiting began for these spirits. The Luciferic
spirits could emerge once more from their state of rest when the human
beings began to work at the development of their organs of
understanding, after the ebbing of the general fire mist. For the
creation of the understanding is related to the activity of the sun.
The dawn of the understanding in human nature is the lighting up of an
inner sun. This is said not only in a metaphorical, but also in a
quite real sense. When the epoch of the fire mist had ebbed from the
earth, these spirits found within man an opportunity to resume their
activity connected with the sun.

It now becomes clear whence the name Lucifer, that is, "the bearer of
light," originates, and why these beings are designated as "sun gods"
in mystery science.

All that follows can only be understood if one looks back to periods
preceding the development of the earth. This will be done in the next
chapters of the "Akasha Chronicle." The development through which the
beings connected with earth passed on other planets before appearing
on the earth, will be shown there. In addition, one will become more
fully acquainted with the nature of the "moon gods" and of the "sun
gods." Simultaneously, the development of the animal, plant and
mineral realms Will become entirely clear.

 

Part XII: Some Necessary Points of View

SOME NECESSARY POINTS OF VIEW

WE SHALL NEXT NEXT consider the development of man and of the entities
connected with him in the time which preceded the earthly period." For
when man began to unite his destiny with the planet one calls "earth,"
he had already passed through a series of developmental steps in the
course of which he had prepared himself for earthly existence, as it
were. One must distinguish three such steps, which are designated as
three planetary developmental stages. The names used in mystery
science for these stages are the Saturn, Sun and Moon periods. It will
become apparent that these designations at first have nothing to do
with the heavenly bodies of today which bear these names in physical
astronomy, although in a broader sense a relationship to them exists,
which is known to the advanced mystic.

One will sometimes say that man inhabited other planets before he
appeared upon earth. But under these "other planets" one must only
understand earlier developmental conditions of the earth itself and of
its inhabitants. Before it became "earth," the earth with all the
beings which belong to it passed through the three conditions of the
Saturn, Sun, and Moon existence. Saturn Sun, and Moon are, as it were,
the three incarnations of the earth in primeval times. What in this
connection is called Saturn, Sun, and Moon no more exists today as a
physical planet than the previous physical incarnations of a human
being continue to exist alongside his present one.

This "planetary development" of man and of the other beings belonging
to earth will form the subject of the following discussions "From the
Akasha Chronicle." By this we do not wish to say that the three
conditions were not preceded by others. But everything which precedes
these three is lost in a darkness which for the present the research
of mystery science cannot illuminate. For this research is not based
on speculation, on a day dreaming in terms of mere concepts, but on
actual spiritual experience. As our physical eye can see outdoors only
as far as a certain boundary line and cannot look beyond the horizon,
so the "spiritual eye" can look only as far as a certain point in
time. Mystery science is based on experience and is content to remain
within this experience. Only in a conceptual splitting of hairs will
one want to find out what was "at the very beginning" of the world, or
"why God really created the world." For the scientist of the spirit it
is rather a matter of realizing that at a certain stage of cognition
one no longer poses such questions. Everything man needs for the
fulfillment of his destiny on our planet is revealed to him within
spiritual experience. The one who patiently works his way into the
experiences of scientists of the spirit will see that within spiritual
experience man can obtain full satisfaction concerning all those
questions which are vital to him. In the following essays for example,
one will see how completely the question concerning the "origin of
evil" is resolved, as well as much else which man must desire to know.

We by no means intend to imply that man can never receive
enlightenment concerning questions about the "origin of the world"
and similar matters. He can. But in order to be able to be
enlightened, he must first absorb the knowledge revealed within more
proximate spiritual experience. He then comes to realize that he must
ask these questions in a different manner than heretofore.

The more deeply one works his way into true mystery science, the more
modest he becomes. Only then does he realize how one must very
gradually make oneself ready and worthy for certain insight. Pride and
arrogance finally become names for human qualities which no longer
make sense at a certain level of cognition. When one has understood a
little, he sees how immeasurably long is the road which lies ahead of
him. Through knowledge one gains insight into "how little one knows."
He also acquires a feeling for the immense responsibility he assumes
when he speaks of supersensible cognition. But mankind cannot live
without the latter. However, he who promulgates such knowledge needs
modesty and true self-criticism, an unshakable striving for
self-knowledge and the utmost caution.

Such remarks are necessary here, since now the ascent toward even
higher knowledge than is to be found in the preceding sections of the
"Akasha Chronicle," is to be undertaken.

To the vistas which in the following essays will be opened toward the
past of man, others will be added upon the future. For the future can
be revealed to true spiritual cognition, if only to the extent to
which this is necessary for man in order that he can fulfill his
destiny. The one who will have nothing to do with mystery science and
from the judgment-seat of his prejudices, simply consigns everything
coming from that quarter to the realm of fantasy and dreams -- he will
understand this relationship to the future least of all. Yet a simple
logical consideration could make clear what is in question here. But
such logical considerations are accepted only when they coincide with
the preconceptions of men. Prejudices are mighty enemies of logic.

If sulphur, oxygen, and hydrogen are brought together under certain
definite conditions, sulphuric acid must be produced, according to an
inevitable law. The student of chemistry can predict what must happen
when these three elements come into contact with one another under
given conditions. Thus, such a student of chemistry is a prophet in
the limited field of the material world. His prophecy could only prove
false if the laws of nature were suddenly to change. Now the scientist
of the spirit investigates spiritual laws in which the physicist or the
chemist investigates material laws. He does this in the manner and
with the exactness which are requisite in the spiritual field.
However, the development of mankind depends on these great spiritual
laws. Just as little as oxygen, hydrogen, and sulphur will combine at
some future time in a manner contrary to laws of nature, so little
will anything occur in the spiritual life which is contrary to
spiritual laws. The one who knows these spiritual laws can look into
the orderliness of the future.

The use of precisely this comparison for the prophetic prediction of
the coming destinies of mankind is intentional here, because true
mystery science really understands this prediction in just this sense.
For the one who forms a clear idea of this conviction of occultism,
the objection that any human freedom is made impossible because events
can be predicted in a certain sense, becomes void. That can be
predicted which is in accordance with a law. But the will is not
determined by a law. Just as it is certain that in each case oxygen,
hydrogen, and sulphur are combined into sulphuric acid only according
to a definite law, just so is it equally certain that the establishing
of the conditions under which the law will act, can depend on the
human will. Thus it will be with the great world events and human
destinies of the future. As a scientist of the spirit, one foresees
them, although they are to be brought about only by human choice. He
foresees what is accomplished by the freedom of man. The following
essays will show that this is possible.

However, one must be clear about one essential difference between the
prediction of events through physical science and that through
spiritual cognition. Physical science is based on the insights of the
understanding, and therefore its prophecy is only based on the
intellect, which has to rely on judgments, deductions, combinations,
and so forth. Prophecy through spiritual cognition, on the contrary,
proceeds from an actual higher seeing or perceiving. The scientist of
the spirit must strictly avoid even representing anything to himself
which is based on mere reflecting, combining, speculating, and so
forth. Here he must practice the most far-reaching renunciation and be
quite clear that all speculating, intellectual philosophizing, and so
forth is a hindrance to true seeing. These activities still belong
entirely to the lower nature of man, and truly higher cognition begins
only when this nature raises itself to the higher nature in man. Here
nothing is really said against these activities which are not only
wholly justified in their field, but are there the only justified
ones. In itself, a thing is neither higher nor lower; it is higher or
lower only in relation to something else. What is high in one respect
can be very low in another.

However, what must be understood through seeing cannot be understood
through mere reflection or through even the most magnificent
combinations of the intellect. A person may be ever so "ingenious" in
the usual sense of the word, but this "ingenuity" will avail him
absolutely nothing with respect to the cognition of supersensible
truths. He must even renounce it, and abandon himself solely to the
higher seeing. Then he will perceive things without his "ingenious"
reflecting, just as he perceives the flowers in the fields without
further reflection. It does not help one to reflect about the
appearance of a meadow; all intellect is powerless there. The same is
true of the seeing into higher worlds.

What can be said prophetically in this way about the future of man is
the basis for all ideals which have a real, practical significance. If
they are to have value, ideals must be rooted as deeply in the
spiritual world as are natural laws in the natural world. Laws of
development must be such true ideals. Otherwise they spring from a
gushing enthusiasm and a fantasy which are valueless, and can never be
fulfilled. In the broadest sense, all great ideals of world history
have proceeded from clear cognition. For, in the final analysis, all
these great ideals originate with the great scientists of the spirit
or initiates, and those lesser ones who collaborate in the development
of humanity direct themselves either consciously or -- most often --
unconsciously in accordance with the instructions of the spiritual
scientists. Everything unconscious must finally have its origin in
something conscious. The bricklayer who works on a house
"unconsciously," directs himself according to matters of which others
are conscious who have determined the place where the house is to be
built, the style in which it is to be erected, and so forth. But this
determining of place and style is based on something of which the
determiners remain unconscious, but of which others are or were
conscious. An artist, for example, knows why a particular style
requires a straight line here, a curved line there, and so forth. The
one who uses this style for his house perhaps does not become
conscious of this "why."

This is also the case with the great events in the development of the
world and of mankind. Behind those who work in a certain field stand
higher, more conscious workers, and thus the scale of consciousness
goes up and down.

Behind the general mass of men stand the inventors, artists,
scientists, and so forth. Behind them stand the initiates of mystery
science, and behind them stand superhuman beings. The development of
the world and of mankind becomes comprehensible only if one realizes
that ordinary human consciousness is but one form of consciousness,
and that there are higher and lower forms. But here too one must not
misapply the expressions "higher" and "lower." They have a
significance only in relation to the point where one happens to be
standing. It is no different with this than with "right and left."
When one stands at a certain place, some objects are "right" or "left"
of him. If one moves a little to the "right," objects which before
were on the right, are now on the left. The same is true of the levels
of consciousness which lie "higher" or "lower" than ordinary human
consciousness. When man himself develops more highly, his relations to
the other levels of consciousness change. But these changes are
connected with his development. It is therefore important to indicate
such other levels of

The beehive or that magnificent commonwealth embodied in an ant hill
provide bases of such an indication. The collaboration of the various
kinds of insects (females, males, workers) proceeds in a completely
systematic fashion. The distribution of tasks among the several
categories can only be described as an expression of true wisdom. What
happens here is just as much the result of a consciousness as the
institutions of man in the physical world (technology, art, state, and
so forth) are an effect of his consciousness. However, the
consciousness at the base of the beehive or the ant society is not to
be found in the same physical world in which the ordinary human
consciousness exists. In order to describe the situation, one can
express oneself somewhat as follows. One finds man in the physical
world. His physical organs, his whole structure are such that at first
one looks for his consciousness also in this physical world. It is
otherwise with the beehive or the ant hill. Here it would be quite
wrong to confine oneself to the physical world with respect to the
consciousness in question, as was done in the case of man. No, here
one must say that to find the ordering principle of the beehive or the
ant hill, one cannot confine oneself to the world where the bees or
ants live in their physical bodies. In this case, the "conscious mind"
must be sought directly in another world. The same conscious mind
which in man lives in the physical world, in the case of these animal
colonies must be sought in a supersensible world. If with his
consciousness man could raise himself into this supersensible world,
he would be able to greet the "ant or bee spirit" there in full
consciousness as his sister being. The seer can actually do this.
Thus, in the examples given above, we are confronted by beings which
are conscious in other worlds and which reach into the physical world
only through their physical organs -- the individual bees and ants. It
is quite possible that a consciousness like that of the beehive or of
the ant hill existed in the physical world in earlier periods of its
development, as that of man does now, but then raised itself and left
behind in the physical world only its acting organs, that is, the
individual ants and bees. Such a course of development will actually
take place in the future with respect to man. In a certain manner it
has already taken place among the seers in the present. That the
consciousness of contemporary man functions in the physical world is
due to the fact that its physical particles -- the molecules of brain
and nerves -- exist in a quite definite relation with one another.
What has been discussed in greater detail in another connection in my
book. Wie erlangt man Erkentnisse der hoheren Welten? (How Does One
Attain Knowledge of Higher Worlds?) will also be indicated briefly
here. In the course of the higher development of man the ordinary
connection of the brain molecules is dissolved. They are then
connected more "loosely," so that the brain of a seer can really be
compared with an ant hill in a certain respect, although the
segmentation is not demonstrable anatomically. In different activities
of the world these processes occur in quite different ways. At a time
long past, the individual molecules of the ant hill -- that is, the
ants themselves -- were firmly connected, just as are the molecules of
the human brain today. At that time, the consciousness corresponding
to them was in the physical world, as that of man is today. When human
consciousness will travel into "higher" worlds in the future, the
connection between the material parts in the physical world will be as
loose as is that between the individual ants today. What in time will
occur physically in all men, already takes place today in the brain of
the clairvoyant, but no instrument of the world of the senses is
sufficiently delicate to show the loosening which comes about through
this anticipatory development. Just as among the bees three
categories, queens, drones, workers, are formed, so three categories
of molecules are formed in the "seer brain," molecules which are
actually individual, living beings, brought into conscious
collaboration by the consciousness of the seer, which is in a higher
world.

Another level of consciousness is represented by what one usually
calls the folk- or racial spirit, without representing anything very
definite to oneself by this. For the scientist of the spirit, a
consciousness also exists at the base of the common and wise
influences which appear in the communal life of the members of a
people or of a race. Through occult research, one finds this
consciousness to be in another world, just as was the case with the
consciousness of a beehive or of an ant hill. However, there are no
organs for this "folk" or "racial consciousness" in the physical
world; rather these organs are to be found only in the so-called
astral world. As the consciousness of the beehive works through the
physical bees, so the folk-consciousness works by means of the astral
bodies of the human beings belonging to a people. In these "folk and
racial spirits" one is therefore confronted with kinds of entities
quite different from those in man or in the beehive. Many more
examples would have to be given in order to show clearly how
subordinate and superior entities exist in relation to man. But it is
hoped that what has been given will be sufficient to introduce the
avenues of human development described in the following chapters. For
the development of man himself can only be understood when one
considers that he develops together with beings whose consciousness
exists in other worlds than his own. What happens in his world is also
dependent on these beings who are connected with other levels of
consciousness, and therefore can be understood only in relation to
this fact.

 

Part XIII: On the Origin of the Earth

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

As INDIVIDUAL man has to pass through different stages after his
birth, as he must ascend from infancy through childhood and so on to
the age of the mature adult, so too must mankind as a whole go through
a similar process. Humanity has developed to its present condition by
passing through other stages. With the methods of the clairvoyant one
can discern three principal stags of this development of mankind which
were passed through before the formation of the earth took place and
before this sphere became the scene of that development. Therefore at
present we are concerned with the fourth stage in the great universal
life of man. For now we shall relate the relevant facts here. The
deeper explanation will appear in the course of the description,
insofar as is possible in the words of ordinary language, that is,
without having recourse to the form of expression of mystery science.

Man existed before there was an earth. But one must not imagine -- as
has already been suggested -- that perhaps he had previously lived on
other planets and then at a certain time migrated to earth. Rather,
the earth has developed together with man. Just as man has passed
through three main stages of development, so has the earth, before
becoming that which one now calls "earth.' For the time being, as has
been indicated above, one must completely liberate oneself from the
significance which contemporary science connects with the names
"Saturn," "Sun," and "Moon," if one wants to see the explanations of
the scientist of the spirit in this area in their proper light. For
the present one should connect with these names no other significance
than that directly given to them in the following communications.

Before the heavenly body on which the life of man takes place became
"earth," it had had three other forms which one designates as Saturn,
Sun, and Moon. On can thus speak of four planets on which the four
principal stages of the development of mankind take place Moon, before
that Sun, and yet earlier, Saturn. One is justified, as will appear
from the following communications, to assume three further principal
stages which the earth, or better the heavenly body which developed
into the present earth, still has to pass through. In mystery science
these have been named Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. Thus the heavenly
body with which human destiny is connected has passed through three
stages in the past is now in its fourth, and will in the future have
to pass through three more until all the talents which man has within
himself are developed, until he arrives at the peak of his perfection.

One must realize that the development of man and of his heavenly body
does not proceed as gradually as for instance the passage of an
individual human being through infancy, adolescence and so forth,
where one condition goes over into another more or less imperceptibly.
Rather there are certain interruptions. The Saturn condition does not
go over immediately into the Sun stage. Between Saturn development and
Sun development, and similarly between the subsequent forms of the
heavenly body inhabited by man, there are intermediate conditions
which can be compared with the night between two days or with the
sleeplike condition of a plant seed before it again develops into a
full plant.

In imitation of oriental descriptions of this state of affairs,
contemporary theosophy calls a stage of development in which life is
externally furthered, Manvantara, the intermediate condition of rest,
Pralaya. In accordance with the usage of European mystery science, one
can use the word "open cycle" for the former condition, and on the
other hand, "hidden or closed cycle" for the latter. But other
designations are also in common use. Saturn, Sun, Moon, earth, and so
forth, are "open cycles," and the periods of rest between them are
"closed" ones.

It would be quite erroneous to think that in the periods of rest all
life is extinct, although today this idea can be encountered in many
theosophical circles. Just as little as man ceases to live during his
sleep, so little does his life and that of his heavenly body become
extinct during a "closed cycle" (Pralaya). It is only that the
conditions of life in the periods of rest cannot be perceived with the
senses which have been developed during the "open cycles," just as
during his sleep man does not perceive what is taking place around
him. Why one uses the expression "cycle" for the stages of development
will become sufficiently clear in the course of the following
discussion. Only later can we speak about the enormous periods of time
which are required for these "cycles."

One can find a thread through the course of the cycles by following
for a moment the development of human consciousness through them.
Everything else can suitably arise out of this consideration of
consciousness.

The consciousness which man develops during his life-course on earth
will be called -- in accordance with European mystery science -- the
"clear consciousness of day." The latter consists in the fact that
through his present senses, man perceives the things and beings of the
world and that he forms conceptions and ideas concerning these things
and beings with the help of his understanding and of his reason. He
then acts in the world of the senses according to these perceptions,
conceptions, and ideas. Man formed this consciousness only in the
fourth principal stage of his cosmic development; on Saturn, Sun, and
Moon it did not yet exist. There he lived in other conditions of
consciousness. As a result, one can describe the three previous stages
of development as the unfolding of lower conditions of consciousness.

The lowest condition of consciousness was passed through during the
Saturn development; the Sun condition is higher, then follows the Moon
consciousness and finally that of earth.

These former consciousnesses are primarily distinguished from the
earthly one by two characteristics: by the degree of clarity, and by
the area over which the perception of man extends.

The Saturn consciousness has the lowest degree of clarity. It is
entirely dull. It is difficult to give an exact idea of this dullness,
since even the dullness of sleep is somewhat clearer than this
consciousness. In abnormal, so-called deep states of trance, modem man
can still fall back into this state of consciousness. The clairvoyant
in the sense of mystery science can also form a correct conception of
it. But by no means does he himself live in this state of
consciousness. On the contrary, he ascends to a much higher one, which
however in certain respects is similar to the original one. In the
ordinary man at the contemporary terrestrial stage, this condition,
through which he once passed, has been effaced by the "clear
consciousness of day." The "medium" who falls into a deep trance,
however, is transported back into it, so that he perceives in the same
way in which all men perceived during the "Saturn period." Either
during the trance or after awaking, such a medium can then tell of
experiences which are similar to those of the Saturn stage. One must
be careful to say that they are "similar," not "identical," for the
events which took place on Saturn are once and for all past; only
events which have a certain affinity with them still take place in the
environment of man. These can only be perceived by a "Saturn
consciousness."

Like the medium, the clairvoyant in the above sense acquires such a
Saturn consciousness, but in addition to it he keeps his "clear
consciousness of day," which man did not yet have on Saturn, and which
the medium loses in the state of trance. Such a clairvoyant is not in
the Saturn consciousness itself, but he can form a conception of it.

While this Saturn consciousness is by some degrees inferior to the one
of today with respect to clarity, it is superior to the latter with
respect to the extent of what it can perceive. In its dullness it can
not only perceive everything which takes place on its own heavenly
body down to the last detail, but it can also observe the objects and
beings on other heavenly bodies which are connected with Saturn. It
can also exercise a certain influence on these objects and beings.
(It hardly need be said that this observation of other heavenly bodies
is quite different from that which contemporary man can undertake by
means of his scientific astronomy. This astronomical observation is
based on the "clear consciousness of day" and therefore perceives
other heavenly bodies from the outside. The Saturn consciousness, on
the other hand, is immediate sensation, an experiencing of what takes
place on other heavenly bodies. One does not speak altogether
accurately, but still fairly so, if one says that an inhabitant of
Saturn experienced objects and events of other heavenly bodies -- and
of his own -- as a man of today experiences his heart and his
heartbeat or something similar in his own body.)

This Saturn consciousness developed slowly. As the first principal
stage in the development of mankind it passed through a series of
subordinate stages, which in European mystery science are called
"small cycles." In theosophical literature it has become customary to
call these "small cycles," "rounds," and their further sub-divisions
-- still smaller cycles -- "globes." These subordinate cycles will be
dealt with in subsequent discussions. For the sake of greater clarity,
we shall first follow here the principal stages of development. For
the moment we shall speak only of man, although the development of
subordinate and superior entities and objects proceeds concurrently
with his own. That which concerns the development of other entities
will then follow the discussion of man's progress.

When the development of the Saturn consciousness was completed, there
occurred one of the long rest periods (a Pralaya) mentioned above.
After this there developed out of the heavenly body of man what in
mystery science is called the "Sun." On the Sun, the human beings
again emerged from their sleep. The previously developed Saturn
consciousness was present in them as a predisposition. First they
again developed it from this germ. One can say that on the Sun man
repeated the condition of Saturn before ascending to a higher one.
However, it is not a simple repetition which is meant here, but one in
another form. These transformations of forms will be discussed later
when we deal with the smaller cycles. At that time the differences
between the individual "repetitions" will also become apparent. Now we
shall describe only the development of consciousness.

After the repetition of the Saturn condition, the "Sun consciousness"
of man appears. This is somewhat clearer than the preceding
consciousness, but on the other hand it has lost something with
respect to broadness of vision. In the deep, dreamless sleep of his
present life, man has a condition of consciousness similar to that
which he once had on the Sun. However, he who is not a clairvoyant or
a medium cannot perceive the objects and beings corresponding to the
Sun consciousness. With the trance of a medium reduced to this
condition, and with the higher consciousness of the true clairvoyant,
the case here is similar to what has been said with respect to the
Saturn consciousness.

The extent of the Sun consciousness is limited to the Sun and the
heavenly bodies most closely connected with it. It is only these and
their events which the inhabitant of the Sun can experience as -- to
use once again the simile employed above -- man of today experiences
his heartbeat. In this way the inhabitant of Saturn could also
participate in the life of those heavenly bodies which did not belong
to the immediate sphere of Saturn.

When the Sun stage has, passed through the appropriate subordinate
cycles, it also enters a period of rest. From this the heavenly body
of man awakes to its "Moon existence." Before ascending higher, again
man passes through the Saturn and Sun stage in two smaller cycles.
Then he enters his Moon consciousness. One can more easily form an
idea of the latter, for there is a certain similarity between this
stage of consciousness and a sleep filled with dreams. It must be
explicitly stated that here again one can only speak of a similarity,
not of an identity. It is true that the Moon consciousness is composed
of images such as appear in dreams, but these images correspond to the
objects and events around man in a way similar to the ideas of the
present "clear consciousness of day." But everything in this
correspondence is still dull, in fact, image-like. One can represent
this state of affairs to oneself in approximately the following way.
Assume that a Moon-being comes near an object, let us say near salt.
(Of course, at that time there was no "salt" in its present form, but
after all, in order to be understood, one must remain in the area of
images and similes.) This Moon-being -- the precursor of present-day
man -- does not perceive an object with spatial extension and a
definite coloring and form outside itself; instead, the approach to
this object causes a certain image -- similar to a dream image -- to
arise as it were within this being. This image has a certain coloring
which depends on the characteristics of the object. If the object is
agreeable to the being and useful for its existence, the coloring is
light in yellow nuances, or in green; if the object is disagreeable or
is one which is harmful to the being, a blood-like, reddish color
nuance appears. The clairvoyant also sees in this way today, only he
is fully conscious during this seeing, while the Moon inhabitant had
only a dreamlike, dim consciousness. The images appearing "within"
these inhabitants had an exactly defined relationship to the
environment. There was nothing arbitrary in them. It was possible to
direct oneself by them; one acted under the impression of these images
as today one acts under the impression of sensory perceptions.

The development of this dreamlike consciousness -- the third principal
stage -- was the task of the "Moon cycle." When the "Moon" had passed
through the appropriate "small cycles," a period of rest (Pralaya)
again occurred. After this, the "Earth" emerged from the darkness.

 

Part XIV: The Earth and Its Future

THE EARTH AND ITS FUTURE

THE FOURTH principal stage of human development is lived on earth.
This is that condition of consciousness in which man finds himself at
present. But before he attained it, he, and with him the whole earth,
first had to repeat successively the Saturn, Sun, and Moon stages in
three smaller cycles (the so-called "rounds" of theosophical
literature). Man now lives in the fourth earth cycle. He has already
advanced a little past the middle of this cycle. At this stage of
consciousness man no longer perceives in a dreamlike manner the images
which arise in his soul through the influence of his environment only,
but objects appear to him "outside in space." On the Moon and also
during the stages of repetition on earth, there arose for example, a
colored image in his soul when a particular object came near him. All
of consciousness consisted of such images, tones, and so forth, which
flowed and ebbed in the soul. Only with the appearance of the fourth
condition of consciousness does color no longer appear merely in the
soul, but on an external, spatially circumscribed object; sound is no
longer merely an inner reverberating of the soul, but the resounding
of an object in space. In mystery science therefore, one also calls
this fourth, the earthly condition of consciousness, the "objective
consciousness." It has been formed slowly gradually in the course of
development in the way that the physical organs of sense slowly arose
and thus made perceptible the most diverse sensory qualities in
external objects. Apart from the senses which are already developed,
others exist in an as yet germinal state which will become fully
developed in the subsequent earth period, and which will show the
world of the senses in a diversity still greater than is the case
today. The gradual growth of this earth consciousness has been
described in the preceding pages, and in the discussions which are to
follow this description will be amplified and supplemented in
essential points.

The colored world, the sounding world, and so forth, which earlier man
had perceived within himself, confronts him outside in space during
his life on earth. But on the other hand, a new world appears within
him: the world of ideas or thoughts. One cannot speak of ideas and
thoughts in relation to the Moon consciousness. The latter consists
solely of the images we have described. Around the middle of the
development of earth -- although this state of affairs was already
preparing itself at a somewhat earlier time -- there developed in man
the capacity to form ideas and thoughts about objects. This capacity
constitutes the basis for memory and for self-consciousness. Only
conceptualizing man can develop a memory of that which he has
perceived; and only thinking man reaches the point where he
differentiates himself from his environment as an independent,
self-conscious being, where he recognizes himself as an "I." The first
three stages we have described were stages of consciousness; the
fourth is not only consciousness, but self-consciousness.

But within the self-consciousness, the present-day life of thoughts,
there is already developing a disposition toward still higher states
of consciousness. Man will live through these states of consciousness
on the next planets into which the earth will change after its present
form. It is not absurd to say something about these future conditions
of consciousness, and therewith about life on the following planets.
For in the first place, the clairvoyant -- for certain reasons which
are to be given elsewhere -- strides ahead of his fellows in his
development. Thus those states of consciousness which all of mankind
must attain with the advance of planetary development are already
developing in him at this time. In the consciousness of the
clairvoyant one finds an image of the future stages of mankind.
Moreover, the three subsequent conditions of consciousness are now
already present in all men in germinal states; and clairvoyant
research has means for indicating what will emerge from these germinal
states.

When it is said that the clairvoyant is already developing in himself
the states of consciousness to which in future all of mankind will
advance, this must be understood with one restriction. The
clairvoyant, for example, is developing a seeing in the spiritual
world today which in future will appear in man in a physical way. But
this future physical condition of man will be a faithful likeness of
the corresponding contemporary spiritual one in the clairvoyant. The
earth itself is going to develop, and therefore quite different forms
from those which exist today will appear in its future physical
inhabitants; but these physical forms are being prepared in the
spiritual and mental ones of today. For example, what the clairvoyant
today sees in the form of a cloud of light and color around the human
physical body as a so-called "aura," will later change into a physical
form; and other organs of sense than those of today will give the man
of the future the capacity to perceive other forms. However, already
today the clairvoyant sees the spiritual models of the later material
entities with his spiritual senses (thus for example, the aura). A
view into the future is possible for him, although it is very
difficult to give an idea of the character of this view through the
language of today and for present-day human conceptions.

The conceptions of the present state of consciousness are shadowy and
pale in comparison with the colorful and sounding objects of the
external world. Man therefore speaks of conceptions as of something
which is ''not real." A "mere thought"- is contrasted with an object
or a being which is "real" because it can be perceived through the
senses. But conceptions and thoughts bear within themselves the
potentiality of again becoming real and image-like. If man speaks of
the conception "red" today without having a red object before him,
then this conception is, as it were, only a shadow image of real
"redness." Later, man will reach the point where he can not only let
the shadowy conception of the "red" arise in his soul, but where, when
he thinks "red," "red" will actually be before him. He will be able to
create images, not merely conceptions. Thereby something will be
achieved by him similar to that which already existed for the Moon
consciousness. But the images will not ebb and flow in him like
dreams; instead he will evoke them in full self-consciousness, as he
does today's conceptions. The thought of a color will be the color
itself; the conception of a sound will be the sound itself, and so
forth. In the future, a world of images will flow and ebb in the soul
of man through his own power, whereas during the Moon existence such a
world of images filled him without his acting. In the meantime the
spatial character of the objective external world will not disappear.
The color which arises together with the conception of color will not
be merely an image in the soul but will appear in outside space. The
consequence of this will be that man will be able to perceive beings
and objects of a higher kind than those of his present environment.
These are objects and beings which are of a more delicate spiritual
and soul nature, hence they do not clothe themselves in the objective
colors which are perceptible to the present physical sense organs;
however, these are objects and beings which will reveal themselves
through the more delicate spiritual and mental colors and sounds which
the man of the future will be able to create from his soul.

Man is approaching a condition in which he will have a self-conscious
image consciousness* appropriate for such perceptions. On the one
hand, the coming development of earth will raise the present life of
conceptions and thoughts to an ever higher, more delicate, and more
perfect condition; on the other hand, the self-conscious image
consciousness will gradually develop itself during this time. The
latter, however, will attain full life in man only on the next planet
into which the earth will transform itself, and which is called
"Jupiter" in mystery science. Then man will be able to enter into
intercourse with beings which are completely hidden from his present
sensory perception. It will be understood that not only does the life
of perception thereby become totally different, but that actions,
feelings, and all relations to the environment, are completely
transformed. While today man can consciously influence only sensory
beings, he will then be able to act consciously on very different
forces and powers; he himself will receive what to him will be fully
recognizable influences from very different realms than at present. At
that stage there can no longer be any question of birth and death in
the present sense. For "death" occurs only because the consciousness
has to depend on an external world with which it enters into
communication through the physical sense organs. When these physical
sense organs fail, every relation to the environment ceases. That is
to say, the man "has died." However, when his soul is so far advanced
that it does not receive the influences of the outside world through
physical instruments, but receives them through the images which the
soul creates out of itself, then it will have reached the point where
it can regulate its intercourse with the environment independently,
that is, its life will not be interrupted against its will. It has
become lord over birth and death. All this will come to be with the
developed self-conscious image consciousness on "Jupiter " This state
of the soul is also called the "psychic consciousness."

The next condition of consciousness to which man develops on a further
planet, "Venus," is distinguished from the previous one by the fact
that the soul can now create not only images, but also objects and
beings. This occurs in the self-conscious object consciousness or
supra-psychic consciousness. Through the image consciousness man can
perceive something of supersensible beings and objects, and he can
influence them through the awakening of his image conceptions. But in
order for that to take place which he desires of such a supersensible
being, at his instigation, this being must use its own forces. Thus
man is the ruler over images, and he can produce effects through these
images. But he is not yet lord over the forces themselves. When his
self-conscious object consciousness is developed, he will also be
ruler over the creative forces of other worlds. He will not only
perceive and influence beings, but he himself will create.

This is the course of the development of consciousness: at first it
begins dimly; one perceives nothing of other objects and beings, but
only the inner experiences (images) of one's own soul; then perception
is developed. At last the perceptive consciousness is transformed into
a creative one. Before the condition of earth goes over into the life
of Jupiter -- after the fourth earthly cycle -- there are three more
smaller cycles to be passed through. These serve for the further
perfection of the consciousness of earth in a manner to be described
in the following essays, when the development of the smaller cycles
and of their subdivisions will be described for all seven planets.
When, after a period of rest (Pralaya), earth has changed into
Jupiter, and when man has arrived on the latter planet, then the four
preceding conditions -- Saturn, Sun, Moon, and earth condition -- must
again be repeated during four smaller cycles; and only during the
fifth cycle of Jupiter does man attain the stage which has been
described above as the real Jupiter consciousness. In a corresponding
manner does the "Venus consciousness" appear during the sixth cycle of
Venus.

A fact which will play a certain role in the following essays will be
briefly indicated here. This concerns the speed with which the
development on the different planets takes place. For this is not the
same on all the planets. Life proceeds with the greatest speed on
Saturn, the rapidity then decreases on the Sun, becomes still less on
the Moon and reaches its slowest phase on the earth. On the latter it
becomes slower and slower, to the point at which self-consciousness
develops. Then the speed increases again. Therefore, today man has
already passed the time of the greatest slowness of his development.
Life has begun to accelerate again. On Jupiter the speed of the Moon,
on Venus that of the Sun will again be attained. The last planet which
can still be counted among the series of earthly transformations, and
hence follows Venus, is called "Vulcan" by mystery science. On this
planet the provisional goal of the development of mankind is attained.
The condition of consciousness into which man enters there is called
"piety" or spiritual consciousness. Man will attain it in the seventh
cycle of Vulcan after a repetition of the six preceding stages. Not
much can be publicly communicated about the life on this planet. In
mystery science one speaks of it in such a way that it is said, "No
soul which, with its thinking is still tied to a physical body, should
reflect about Vulcan and its life." That is, only the mystery students
of the higher order, who may leave their physical body and can acquire
supersensible knowledge outside of it, can learn something about
Vulcan.

The seven stages of consciousness are thus expressed in the course of
the development of mankind in seven planetary developments. At each
stage, the consciousness must now pass through seven subordinate
conditions. These are realized in the smaller cycles already
mentioned. (In theosophical writings these seven cycles are called
"rounds.") These subordinate states are called "conditions of life" by
the mystery science of the Occident, in contrast with the
super-ordinated "conditions of consciousness." Or, one says that each
condition of consciousness moves through seven "realms." According to
this calculation, one must distinguish seven times seven in the whole
development of mankind, that is, forty-nine small cycles or "realms"
(according to common theosophical usage, "rounds"). And again, each
small cycle has to pass through seven yet smaller ones, which are
called "conditions of form" (in theosophical language, "globes"). For
the full cycle of humanity this amounts to seven times forty-nine or
three hundred and forty-three different "conditions of form."

The following discussions which deal with this development, will show
that a survey of the whole is not as complicated as might at first
appear at the mention of the number three hundred and forty-three. It
will become apparent how man can only truly understand himself when he
knows his own development.

 

Part XV: The Life of Saturn

THE LIFE OF SATURN

IN ONE IN ONE of the preceding descriptions, the great development of
humanity through the seven stages of consciousness from Saturn to
Vulcan has been compared with the progress through life between birth
and death, through infancy, childhood, and so on, to old age. One can
extend this comparison further. As among contemporary humanity, men of
different ages do not only follow upon one another, but also exist
side by side, so it is with the development of the stages of
consciousness, The aged man, the mature man or the mature woman, the
youth, travel through life side by side. Thus the ancestors of man
existed on Saturn not only as beings with the dull Saturn
consciousness, but also along with these as beings which had already
developed the higher stages of consciousness. When the Saturn
development began, there already existed natures with Sun
consciousness, others with image consciousness (Moon consciousness)
those with a consciousness similar to the present consciousness of
man, then a fourth kind with self-conscious (psychic) image
consciousness, a fifth with self-conscious (supra-psychic) object
consciousness, and a sixth with creative (spiritual) consciousness.
This does not exhaust the series of beings. After the Vulcan stage,
man will develop yet further, and will ascend to still higher levels
of consciousness. As the external eye looks into misty gray distances,
so the inner eye of the seer looks upon five more forms of
consciousness, as far off as distant spirits, of which a description,
however, is quite impossible. In all, one can speak of twelve stages
of consciousness.

The Saturn man was surrounded by eleven other kinds of beings. The
four highest had had their tasks on levels of development which
preceded the life of Saturn. When this life began they had already
arrived at such a high stage of development that their further
existence took place in worlds which lie beyond the realms of man.
Therefore, we cannot and need not speak of them here.

The other kinds of beings, however -- seven of them in addition to the
Saturn man -- are all concerned in the human development. In this they
act as creative powers, performing their services in a way which will
be described in the following pages.

When the Saturn development began, the most sublime of these beings
already had attained a level of consciousness which man will reach
only after his Vulcan life, that is, a high creative (supra-spiritual)
consciousness. These "creators," too, once had to pass through the
stages of man. This took place on heavenly bodies which preceded
Saturn. However, the connection of these beings with the development
of mankind lasted until the middle of the life of Saturn. Because of
their sublime, delicate body of rays, in mystery science they are
called "Radiating Lives" or "Radiating Flames." Because the substance
of which this body consisted had a remote resemblance to the will of
man, they are also called "Spirits of Will."

These spirits are the creators of the man of Saturn. From their bodies
they pour the substance which becomes the carrier of the human Saturn
consciousness. The period of development during which this takes place
is called the first small Saturn cycle. (In the language of theosophy,
this is the "first round.") The material body which man receives in
this way is the first rudiment of his later physical body. One can say
that the germ of the physical human body is planted during the first
Saturn cycle by the Spirits of Will, and that at that time this germ
has the dull Saturn consciousness.

This first smaller Saturn cycle is followed by six others. In the
course of these cycles man does not attain a higher degree of
consciousness. But the material body which he has received is further
elaborated. The other kinds of beings indicated above participate in
this elaboration in the most diverse ways.

After the "Spirits of Will" there follow beings with a creative
(spiritual) consciousness, similar to that which man will attain on
Vulcan. They are called "Spirits of Wisdom." Christian mystery science
calls them "Dominions" (Kyriotetes), while it calls the ",Spirits of
Will." "Thrones."* During the second cycle of Saturn they advance
their own development to some extent, and at the same time work on the
human body in such a way that a "wise arrangement," a rational
structure is implanted in it. To be more exact, their work on man
already begins shortly after the middle of the first cycle and is
completed in about the middle of the second.

The third kind of spirits with the self-conscious (supra-psychic)
object consciousness is called "Spirits of Motion" or of "Activity."
In Christian mystery science they are called "Principalities"
(Dynamis). (In theosophical literature, the expression Mahat is to be
found for them.) From the middle of the second Saturn cycle onward
they combine with the progress of their own development, the further
elaboration of the human material body, in which they implant the
capacity of movement and of forceful activity. This task comes to a
conclusion around the middle of the third Saturn cycle.

After this point, the work of the fourth kind of beings, the so-called
"Spirits of Form," begins. They have a self-conscious image
consciousness (psychic consciousness). Christian esoteric teaching
names them "Powers" (Exusiai). Through their work, the human material
body, which previously was a kind of mobile cloud, receives a bounded,
plastic form. This activity of the "Spirits of Form" is completed
around the middle of the fourth Saturn cycle.

Then follows the activity of the "Spirits of Darkness." which are also
called "Spirits of Personality" or of "Self-hood" (Egoism). At this
stage they have a consciousness similar to the present human earthly
consciousness. They inhabit the formed human material body as "souls"
in a way similar to that in which the human soul inhabits its body
today. They implant a kind of sensory organs in the body, which are
the germs of the sensory organs which later develop in the human body
in the course of the development of earth.

One must realize, however, that these "sensory germs" are still
substantially different from the present sensory instruments of man.
Earth man could not perceive through such "sensory germs." For him,
the images of the sensory instruments must first pass through a more
refined ether body, which forms on the Sun, and through an astral
body, which owes its existence to the Moon development (All this will
become clear in the following chapters) But the "Spirits of
Personality" can treat the images of the "sensory germs" through their
own soul in such a way that, with their aid, they can perceive
external objects, as does man during his earthly development. In their
work on the human body, the "Spirits of Personality" pass through
their own "stage of humanity." Thus they are men from the middle of
the fourth to the middle of the fifth Saturn cycle.

These spirits implant selfhood, egoism in the body of man. Since they
only attain their stage of humanity on Saturn, they remain connected
with the development of mankind for a long time. Thus they have
important work to perform on man in subsequent cycles as well. This
work always acts as an inoculation with selfhood. The degenerations of
selfhood into selfishness must be ascribed to their activity, while on
the other hand they are the originators of all of man's independence.
Without them man would never have become a self-enclosed entity, a
"personality." Christian esoteric teaching uses the expression "Primal
Beginnings" (Archai) for them, and in theosophical literature they are
designated as Asuras.

The work of these spirits is succeeded around the middle of the fifth
Saturn cycle by that of the "Sons of Fire," who, at this stage, still
have a dull image consciousness, similar to the Moon consciousness of
man. They attain the stage of humanity only on the next planet, the
Sun. Their work here is therefore to a certain degree still
unconscious and dreamlike. But it is through them that the activity of
the "sensory germs" from the previous cycle is enlivened. The light
images produced by the "fire spirits" shine outward through these
sensory germs. The ancestor of man is thereby elevated to a kind of
shining entity. While the life of Saturn is otherwise dark, man now
shines in the general darkness.

The "Spirits of Personality" on the other hand, were still awakened to
their human existence in this general darkness.

The human being himself can make no use of his luminosity on Saturn.
The luminosity of his sensory germs could not express anything in
itself, but through it other more exalted beings are given the
possibility to reveal themselves to the life of Saturn. Through the
sources of light of the ancestors of man, these beings radiate
something of their nature down to the planet. These are exalted beings
from among those four ranks of which it has been said above that they
have grown beyond all connection with human existence in their
development. Without any necessity for them to do it, they now radiate
something of their nature out of "free will." Christian esoteric
teaching here speaks of the revelation of the Seraphime (Seraphim),
the "Spirits of Love." This condition lasts until the middle of the
sixth Saturn cycle.

After this begins the work of those beings which at this stage have a
dull consciousness such as is found in man today when he is in a deep,
dreamless sleep. These beings are the "Sons of Twilight," the "Spirits
of Dusk." (In theosophical writings they are called Lunar Pitris or
Barhishad-Pitris.) They attain the stage of humanity only on the Moon.
On earth they, as well as their predecessors, the Sons of Fire, have
already grown beyond the stage of humanity. On earth they are higher
beings which Christian esoteric teaching calls "Angels" (Angeloi),
while for the Sons of Fire it uses the expression "Archangels"
(Archangeloi). These Sons of Twilight develop in the ancestor of man a
kind of understanding, of which however, in his dull consciousness, he
himself cannot yet make use. Through this understanding, exalted
entities now again reveal themselves, as previously the Seraphim did
through the sensory germs. Through the human bodies, understanding is
now poured out over the planet by those spirits whom Christian
esoteric teaching calls Cherubime (Cherubim).

Around the middle of the seventh Saturn cycle a new activity begins.
Man has now reached the point where he can work unconsciously on his
own material body. Through his activity in the utter dullness of
Saturn existence, man produces the first germinal predisposition to
the true "spirit man," who reaches his full development only at the
end of the development of mankind. In theosophical literature this is
called Atma. It is the highest member of the so-called monad of man.
In itself it would be quite dull and unconscious at this stage. But as
the Seraphim and the Cherubim reveal themselves out of their free will
in the two preceding human stages, so the Thrones now reveal
themselves, those beings who, at the very beginning of Saturn
existence, radiated the human body out of their own nature. The
germinal predisposition of "spirit man" (Atma) is completely
penetrated by the power of these Spirits of Will and retains this
power through all subsequent stages of development. In his dull
consciousness at this stage man as yet cannot realize anything of this
germinal predisposition; but he develops further, and later this
germinal predisposition becomes clear to his own consciousness. This
work is not yet completed at the end of the life of Saturn; it
continues into the first Sun cycle. One should consider that the labor
of the higher spirits which has been described here does not coincide
with the beginning and end of a smaller cycle (of a round), but that
it continues from the middle of one to the middle of the next. Its
greatest activity is developed in the periods of rest between the
cycles. It increases from the middle of a cycle (Manvantara) onward,
becomes strongest in the middle of a period of rest (Pralaya), and
then ebbs in the next. (It has already been mentioned in the preceding
chapters that life by no means ceases during the periods of rest.)

From the above it also becomes apparent in what sense Christian
esoteric science says that in the "beginning of time" the Seraphim,
Cherubim, and Thrones first revealed themselves.

With this, the course of Saturn has been followed to the time where
its life develops through a period of rest into that of the Sun. Of
this we shall speak in the following discussions.

For the sake of greater clarity, here we shall give a summary of the
facts of development of the first planet.

I. This planet is the one on which the dullest human consciousness
develops (a deep trance consciousness). Together with this, the first
rudiment of the physical human body develops.

II. This development passes through seven subsidiary stages (smaller
cycles or "rounds"). At each of these stages higher spirits begin
their work on the development of the human body, namely in the

1st cycle, the Spirits of Will (Thrones),
2nd cycle, the Spirits of Wisdom (Dominions),
3rd cycle, the Spirits of Motion (Principalities)
4th cycle, the Spirits of Form (Powers),
5th cycle, the Spirits of Personality (Primal Beginnings),
6th cycle, the Spirits of the Sons of Fire (Archangels),
7th cycle, the Spirits of the Sons of Twilight (Angels).

III. In the fourth cycle, the Spirits of Personality raise themselves
to the stage of humanity.

IV. From the fifth cycle onward, the Seraphim reveal themselves.

V. From the sixth cycle onward, the Cherubim reveal themselves.

VI. From the seventh cycle onward, the Thrones, the true "creators of
man," reveal themselves.

VII. Through the latter revelation, there develops in the seventh
cycle of the first planet, the predisposition to the "spiritual man,"
to Atma.

 

Part XVI: The Life of the Sun

THE LIFE OF THE SUN

AFTER THE GREAT AFTER THE GREAT cosmic era of Saturn, which has been
described in the preceding pages, there follows that of the Sun.
Between them lies a period of rest (Pralaya). During this period,
everything human which has developed on Saturn takes on a character
which stands in the same relation to the subsequently to be developed
Sun man as the seed to the plant which emerges from it. Saturn man, as
it were, has left behind his seed, which is sunk in a kind of sleep,
after which it will develop into Sun man.

Man now passes through his second stage of consciousness on the Sun.
It resembles that into which today man sinks during a calm and
dreamless sleep. This condition, which interrupts man's state of
wakefulness today, is a remainder, as it were, a memory of the time of
the Sun development. One can also compare it with that dull state of
consciousness in which the world of plants exists today. As a matter
of fact, in the plant one must see a sleeping being.

In order to understand the development of mankind, one must realize
that in this second great cycle the Sun was still a planet, and that
only later did it advance to the existence of a fixed star. In the
sense of mystery science, a fixed star is one which sends life forces
to one or several planets situated at a distance from it. During the
second cycle this was not yet the case with the Sun. At that time it
was still united with the beings to which it gave force. These beings
-- and also man at his level of development of that time -- still
lived on it. A planetary earth, separated from Sun and Moon, did not
exist. Everything in the way of substances, forces, and beings which
exists on and in the earth today, and everything which now belongs to
the Moon, was still within the Sun. It formed a part of its
substances, forces, and beings. Only during the next (third) great
cycle did that detach itself from the Sun which in mystery science is
called the Moon. This is not the present moon, but the predecessor of
our earth, its previous embodiment (reincarnation), as it were. This
Moon became the earth, after it in turn had detached from its
substance and cast off what one today designates as moon. In the third
cycle two bodies thus existed in place of the former planetary Sun,
namely, the fixed star Sun and the split-off planetary Moon. Man and
the other beings which had developed as man's companions during the
course of the Sun, had been taken out of the Sun along with the Moon.
The Sun now provided the Moon beings from the outside with those
forces which they had previously obtained directly from it as their
dwelling-place.

After the third (Moon) cycle there occurred another period of rest
(Pralaya). During this period the two separate bodies (Sun and Moon)
became united and together passed through the condition of the
sleeping seed. In the fourth cyclic period, Sun and planetary Moon at
first emerged from the obscurity of sleep as one body. During the
first half of this cycle our earth, along with man and his companions,
split off from the Sun. A little later it cast off the present moon,
so there now exist three members as descendants of the former Sun
planet.

On the Sun planet, man and the other beings mentioned in the course of
the discussion of Saturn passed through another stage of their
development in the second great cosmic era. The rudiment of the later
physical body of man, which had gradually developed on Saturn, emerges
like a plant from the seed at the beginning of the Sun cycle. But here
it does not remain in the same state in which it was previously. It is
permeated by a second, more delicate, but in itself more powerful
body, the ether body. While the Saturn body of man was a kind of
automaton (quite lifeless), now, through the ether body which
gradually permeates it completely, it becomes an animated being. Man
thereby becomes a kind of plant. His appearance, however, is not that
of the plants of today. Rather in his forms he already somewhat
resembles present-day man. But, the rudiment of the head like the
plant root of today, is turned downward, toward the center of the Sun,
and the rudiments of the feet turned upward like the blossom of the
plant. This plant-man organism has as yet no capacity of voluntary
movement.*

But man only develops into this form during the second of the seven
smaller cycles (rounds) through which the Sun passes. For the duration
of the first of these small cycles there is as yet no ether body in
the human organism. Everything which occurred during the Saturn era is
then repeated in brief. The physical body of man still retains its
automatic character, but it changes its previous form somewhat. If it
were to remain as it was on Saturn, it would not be capable of
harboring an ether body. It is changed in such a way that it can
become a carrier of this body. During the following six cycles the
ether body is developed further and further, and through its forces,
which act on the physical body, the latter also gradually receives a
more and more perfect form.

The work of transformation which is performed on man here is carried
out by the spirits which have already been mentioned in connection
with man in our discussion of the Saturn development.

Those spirits which are called "Radiating Lives" or "Flames" (in
Christian esoteric science, "Thrones"), are now no longer in question.
They have performed their labor in this respect during the first half
of the first Saturn cycle. What can be observed during the first Sun
cycle (round) is the labor of the "Spirits of Wisdom" (Dominions or
Kyriotetes in Christian esoteric doctrine). They have intervened in
the development of man around the middle of the first Saturn cycle
(see the previous chapter). They now continue their labor during the
first half of the first Sun cycle by repeating in successive stages
the wise arrangement of the physical body. A little later this labor
is joined by that of the "Spirits of Motion" (Dynamis in Christianity.
Mahat in theosophical literature). Thereby that period of the Saturn
cycle is repeated during which the human body received the capacity of
motion. It thus again becomes mobile. In the same way the "Spirits of
Form" (Exusiai), those of "Darkness'' (in Christianity, Archai, in
theosophy, Asuras), then the "Sons of Fire" (Archangels), and finally
the "Spirits of Twilight" (Angels, Lunar Pitris) successively repeat
their labors. Therewith we have characterized six smaller periods of
the first course of the Sun (of the first solstice).

In a seventh of these smaller periods the "Spirits of Wisdom" again
intervene. While in their preceding period of labor they had given a
wise structure to the human body, they now bestow on the limbs, which
have become mobile, the capacity to render their motion a wisdom
directed one. Previously it was only the structure which was an
expression of inner wisdom; now the motion too becomes such an
expression. With this, the first Sun cycle attains its end. It
consists of seven successive smaller cycles, of which each one is a
short repetition of a Saturn cycle (a Saturn round). In theosophical
literature one has become accustomed to calling these seven smaller
cycles, which make up a so-called "round," "globes." (A round thus
takes place in seven "globes.")

Now, after a period of rest (Pralaya), the first Sun cycle is
succeeded by the second. The individual "smallest cycles" or "globes"
will be discussed in detail later; at present we shall proceed to the
subsequent course of the Sun cycle.

At the end of the first, the human body is already prepared for the
reception of the ether body, because the "Spirits of Wisdom" have
given him the possibility of wisdom-filled motion.

In the meantime however, these "Spirits of Wisdom" themselves have
developed further. Through the labor which they have performed, they
have become capable of pouring their substance out of themselves just
as the "Flames" poured theirs out in the beginning of the Saturn
cycle, thereby giving the physical body its material basis. The
substance of the "Spirits of Wisdom" is the "ether," that is, mobile
and power-filled wisdom, in other words, "life." The ether or life
body of man is thus an emanation of the "Wisdom Spirits."

This emanation continues until around the middle of the second Sun
cycle, when the "Spirits of Motion" can again begin with a new
activity. Their labor previously could only extend to the physical
body of man; now it is transferred to the ether body and implants a
powerful activity in it. This continues until the middle of the third
Sun cycle. Then the action of the "Spirits of Form" begins. Through
them the ether body, which before had had only a cloudlike mobility,
receives a definite shape (form).

In the middle of the fourth course of the Sun, these "Spirits of Form"
receive a consciousness like that which man will have on "Venus." the
second planet on which he will appear after his earthly existence.
This is a supra-psychic consciousness. These spirits attain this as a
fruit of their activity during the third and fourth course of the Sun.
Thereby they acquire the capacity to transform the sensory germs
developed during and after the Saturn period, and which until this
time were only physical instruments, into animated senses by means of
the ether.

Through a similar process the "Spirits of Darkness" (in Christianity,
Archai, in theosophy, Asuras) have at this time attained the level of
psychic consciousness, which man will develop only on Jupiter as
conscious image consciousness. Thereby they become capable of acting
consciously from the astral world. Now the ether body of a being can
be influenced from the astral world. The ''Spirits of Darkness" did
this with respect to the ether body of man. They now implanted in it
the Spirit of selfhood (independence and selfishness), as they had
previously done in the physical body. One can see how these spirits
imparted egoism in all the members of the human entity in turn.

At the same time the "Sons of Fire" attained the stage of
consciousness which man today possesses as his waking consciousness.
One can say of them that they now become men. Now they can make use of
the physical human body for a kind of intercourse with the outside
world. In similar fashion the "Spirits of Personality" made use of the
physical body from the middle of the fourth Saturn cycle on. But they
had used the sensory germs for a kind of perception. The nature of the
"Sons of Fire," however, is such that they pour the warmth of their
soul out into their environment. The physical human body is now so far
advanced that they can do this through it. Their warmth acts
approximately like the warmth of the hen on the egg which she is
hatching, that is, it has a life-awakening power. Everything of such a
life-awakening power that lies in man and in his companions was
implanted into the ether body at that time by the Sons of Fire. We are
dealing here with the origin of that warmth which is a condition for
the reproduction of all living beings. Later it will become apparent
what kind of a transformation this power of warmth went through when
the Moon split off from the Sun.

Around the middle of the fifth cycle the "Sons of Fire" have developed
so far that they can inoculate the ether body with the capacity which
they previously exercised through the physical human body. They now
relieve the "Spirits of Personality" in the work on this ether body,
which thereby becomes the initiator of a reproductive activity.

In this period they abandon the physical body to the Sons of Twilight
(in Christianity, Angels, in theosophy, Lunar Pitris). In the
meantime, the latter have acquired a dull image consciousness such as
man will have on the Moon. On Saturn they had given the ancestor of
man a kind of organ of understanding. Now they further develop the
physical instruments of the human spirit, which he will consciously
use at later stages of his development. Thereby, through the human
body the Seraphim can already reveal themselves on the Sun before the
middle of the fifth cycle in a more complete manner than was possible
on Saturn.

From the middle of the sixth course of the Sun onward, man himself is
so far advanced that he can unconsciously work on his physical body.
In this respect he now relieves the "Sons of Twilight." Through this
activity in dullness, he creates the first germinal predisposition to
the living spiritual being, which one calls life-spirit (Buddhi). Only
at later stages of his development will he become conscious of this
spirit of life. As from the seventh Saturn cycle onward, the Thrones
voluntarily poured their power into the predisposition to spirit-man
which was formed at that time, so the Cherubim now pour out their
wisdom, which thenceforward is preserved for the life-spirit of man
through all subsequent stages of development. From the middle of the
seventh course of the Sun onward, the germ of spirit-man (Atma),
already formed on Saturn, appears again. It combines with the
life-spirit (Buddhi), and the animated monad (Atma Buddhi) thus comes
into being.

While man works unconsciously on his physical body in this time, the
Sons of Twilight take over what must now be done on the ether body in
order to develop it further. In this respect they are the successors
of the Sons of Fire. They radiate the images of their consciousness
into this ether body and thereby, in a kind of dreamlike condition,
enjoy the power of reproduction of this body, which has been
stimulated by the Sons of Fire. By this, they prepare the development
of the pleasure in this power, which later (on the Moon) appears in
man and in his fellow-beings.

On Saturn, man's physical body had been formed. The latter was
completely lifeless at that time. Such a lifeless body is called
mineral by mystery science. One can therefore also say that on Saturn
man was mineral, or he passed through the mineral realm. This human
mineral did not have the form of a present-day mineral. Minerals as
they are at present, did not yet exist at that time.

As has been shown, this human mineral which reemerged from the
obscurity of sleep as from a germ, was animated on the Sun. It became
a human plant; man passed through the realm of plants.

But not all human minerals are animated in this manner This could not
have happened, for the plant man needed the mineral basis for his
life. As today there can be no plants without a mineral realm from
which they take in their substances, so was it on the Sun with respect
to the plant man. For the sake of his further development, the latter
had to leave a portion of the human rudiments behind at the level of
the minerals. Since on the Sun conditions were quite different from
those of Saturn, these minerals which had been thrust back assumed
forms quite different from those they had had on Saturn Thus,
alongside the human plant realm, a second province, a special mineral
realm came into being. It can be seen that man ascends into a higher
realm by thrusting a part of his companions down into a lower. We
shall see this process repeating itself many times in the subsequent
stages of development. It corresponds to a fundamental law of
development.

Here again, for the sake of greater clarity, we shall give a summary
of the facts of development on the Sun.

I. The Sun is the planet on which develops the second human condition
of consciousness, that of dreamless sleep. The physical human body
rises to a kind of plant existence through the incorporation of an
ether body into it.

II. This development passes through seven subsidiary stages (smaller
cycles or "rounds").

1. In the first of these cycles the stages of development of Saturn
are repeated, with respect to the physical body, in a somewhat altered
form.

2. At the end of the first cycle begins the pouring out of the ether
body by the "Spirits of Wisdom."

3. In the middle of the second cycle, the work of the "Spirits of
Motion" on this body begins.

4. In the middle of the third cycle the action of the Spirits Of Form"
on the ether body has its beginning.

5. From the middle of the fourth cycle onward, this body receives
selfhood through the Spirits of Personality."

6. In the meantime, the physical body has advanced so far through the
action of the forces which have been working on it since earlier
periods that from the fourth cycle onward the "Spirits of Fire" can
elevate themselves to humanity through it.

7. In the middle of the fifth cycle the "Spirits of Fire," which have
previously passed through the stage of humanity, take over the work on
the ether body. The "Sons of Twilight" are active in the physical body
at this time.

8. Around the middle of the sixth cycle the work on the ether body is
transferred to the "Sons of Twilight." Man himself now works on the
physical body.

9. In the course of the seventh cycle the animated monad has come into
existence.

 

Part XVII: Life on the Moon

LIFE ON THE MOON

IN THE UNIVERSAL ERA of the Moon, which follows that of the Sun, man
develops the third of his seven states of consciousness. The first had
developed during the seven Saturn cycles, the second during the Sun
development; the fourth is that which man is at present developing
during the course of the earth; three others will come into being on
subsequent planets. The condition of consciousness of Saturn man
cannot be compared with any state of consciousness of present-day man,
for it was duller than that of dreamless sleep. The Sun consciousness,
however, can be compared to this condition of dreamless sleep, or to
the present consciousness of the sleeping plant world. But in all
these instances one is dealing only with similarities. It would be
quite erroneous to think that in the great universal eras anything
repeats itself in a completely identical manner.

It is to be understood in this way if the Moon consciousness is now
compared with one with which it has some similarity, namely with that
of dream-filled sleep. Man attains the so-called image consciousness
on the Moon. The similarity consists in that in the Moon consciousness
as well as in dream consciousness, images arise within a being which
have a certain relation to objects and beings of the outside world.
But these images are not likenesses of these objects and beings as in
present-day man when he is awake. The dream images are echoes of the
experiences of the day, or symbolical expressions for events in the
dreamer's environment, or for what is taking place in the interior of
the dreaming person. Examples of these three types of dream
experiences are easy to give. First, everyone knows those dreams which
are nothing but confused images of more or less remote daily
experiences. An example of the second type would be if the dreamer
thinks he perceives a passing train and then, upon awakening, realizes
that it was the ticking of the watch lying beside him which was
perceptible in this dream image. An example of the third kind is that
it seems to someone that he is in a room where ugly animals are
sitting on the ceiling, and upon awaking from this dream he realizes
that it was his own headache which expressed itself in this way.

If one now wants to attain a conception of the Moon consciousness on
the basis of such confused dream images, one must realize that while
the image-like character is also present there, complete regularity
instead of confusion and arbitrariness prevails. It is true that the
images of the Moon consciousness have even less similarity than the
dream images to the objects to which they are related, but on the
other hand there is a complete correspondence of image and object. At
present in the earth development, the conception is a likeness of its
object; thus for instance the conception "table" is a likeness of the
table itself. This is not the case with the Moon consciousness.
Assume, for instance, that the Moon man approaches an object which to
him is pleasing or advantageous. Then a colored image of a light tone
arises in his soul; when something harmful or displeasing comes near
him, he beholds an ugly, dark image. The conception is not a likeness.
but a symbol of the object which corresponds to it in a quite definite
and regular way. Hence the being which has such symbolical conceptions
can direct its life in accordance with them.

The inner life of man's ancestor on the Moon thus took its course in
images which have the character of the volatile, the floating and the
symbolical in common with dreams of today, but are distinguished from
these dreams by their completely regular character.

The basis for the development of this image consciousness in man's
ancestors on the Moon was the formation of a third member in addition
to the physical body and the ether body. This third member is called
the astral body.

This formation, however, only occurred in the third smaller Moon cycle
-- the so-called third Moon round. The first two revolutions of the
Moon must be seen merely as a repetition of what took place on Saturn
and on the Sun. But this repetition must not be imagined as a
re-enactment of all the events which took place on Saturn and on the
Sun. That which repeats itself, namely the development of a physical
body and of an ether body, at the same time is subject to such a
transformation that in the third Moon cycle these two members of the
nature of man can be united with the astral body, a union which could
not have taken place on the Sun.

In the third Moon period-actually the process already starts around
the middle of the second-the Spirits of Motion pour the astral element
out of their own nature into the human body. During the fourth cycle
-- from the middle of the third onward -- the Spirits of Form shape
this astral body in such a way that its form, its whole organization
can develop inner processes. These processes have the character of
what at present in animals and man is called instinct, desire -- or
the appetitive nature. From the middle of the fourth Moon cycle
onward, the Spirits of Personality begin with their principal task in
the fifth Moon era: they inoculate the astral body with selfhood, as
they have done in the preceding cosmic eras with respect to the
physical and the ether body. But in order for the physical and the
ether body to be so far advanced that they can harbor an independent
astral body, at the time indicated, that is, in the middle of the
fourth Moon cycle, they must first be brought to this point by the
shaping spirits in the successive stages of development. This takes
place in the following manner. The physical body is brought to the
necessary maturity in the first course of the Moon (round) by the
Spirits of Motion, in the second by those of Form, in the third by
those of Personality, in the fourth by the Spirits of Fire, and in the
fifth by those of Twilight. To be exact, this labor of the Spirits of
Twilight takes place from the middle of the fourth Moon cycle onward,
so that at the same time that the Spirits of Personality are engaged
on the astral body the same is the case with the Spirits of Twilight
with respect to the physical body.

In regard to the ether body the following is the case. Its necessary
qualities are implanted in it in the first course of the Moon by the
Spirits of Wisdom, in the second by those of Motion, in the third by
those of Form, in the fourth by those of Personality, and in the fifth
by those of Fire. To be exact, this activity of the Fire Spirits takes
place concurrently with the labor of the Spirits of Personality on the
astral body, that is, from the middle of the fourth course of the
Moon, onward into the fifth.

If one considers the entire ancestor of man as he developed on the
Moon at that time, there is this to be said: Starting from the middle
of the fourth Moon cycle, man consists of a physical body in which the
Sons of Twilight perform their labor, of an ether body in which the
Spirits of Fire perform theirs, and finally of an astral body in which
the Spirits of Personality perform theirs.

That the Spirits of Twilight work on the physical body of man in this
period of development, means that they now rise to the level of
humanity, as did the Spirits of Personality in the same cycle on
Saturn and the Fire Spirits on the Sun. One must imagine that the
"sensory germs" of the physical body, which by that time have become
further developed, can be used by the Spirits of Twilight from the
middle of the fourth course of the Moon onward in order to perceive
external objects and events on the Moon. Only on the earth will man be
so far advanced that, from the middle of the fourth cycle onward, he
can make use of these senses. On the other hand, around the middle of
the fifth course of the Moon, he reaches the point where he can be
engaged unconsciously on the physical body. Through this activity in
the dullness of his consciousness he creates for himself the first
germinal predisposition to what is called "spirit self" (Manas). This
"spirit self" attains its full unfolding in the course of the
subsequent development of mankind. In its union with Atma, the
"spirit-man," and with Buddhi, the "life-spirit," it is what later
forms the higher, spiritual part of man. As on Saturn the Thrones or
Spirits of Will permeated the "spirit-man" (Atma), and as on the Sun
the Cherubim permeated the life-spirit (Buddhi) with wisdom, so now the
Seraphim accomplish this for the "spirit-self" (Manas). They permeate
it, and thereby implant in it a capacity which at later stages of
development -- on the earth -- becomes that conceptualizing faculty of
man by means of which, as a thinking being, he can enter into a
relation with the world which surrounds him.

From the middle of the sixth course of the Moon onward, the
"life-spirit" (Buddhi), from the middle of the seventh onward, the
"spirit-man" (Atma) appear again, and these unite with the
"spirit-self," so that at the end of the whole Moon era the "higher
man" has been prepared. Then, together with all else that has
developed on the Moon, the latter sleeps through a period of rest
(Pralaya), in order to continue the course of his development on the
earth planet.

While from the middle of the fifth Moon cycle onward into the sixth,
man is working on his physical body in dullness, the Spirits of
Twilight are engaged on his ether body. As has been shown, through
their work on the physical body in the preceding epoch (round), they
have now prepared themselves for relieving the Fire Spirits in the
ether body, who in turn take over from the Spirits of Personality the
work on the astral body. At this time, these Spirits of Personality
have ascended to higher spheres.

The work of the Spirits of Twilight on the ether body means that they
connect their own states of consciousness with the images of the
consciousness of the ether body. They thereby implant in these images
the joy and the pain which are caused by things. On the Sun the scene
of their corresponding activity had still been the merely physical
body. Hence joy and pain were there connected only with the functions
of this body and with its conditions. Now this becomes different. Joy
and pain now become attached to the symbols which arise in the ether
body. In the dim human consciousness the Spirits of Twilight thus
experience a world of emotions. This is the same world of emotions
which man will experience for himself in his earth consciousness.

At the same time, the Fire Spirits are active in the astral body. They
enable it to carry on an active perception and feeling of the
environment. Joy and pain, such as have been produced in the ether
body by the Spirits of Twilight in the manner just described, have an
inactive (passive) character; they present themselves as inactive
mirrorings of the outside world. But what the Fire Spirits produce in
the astral body are vivid emotions, love and hate, rage, fear, horror,
stormy passions, instincts, impulses and so forth. Because the Spirits
of Personality (the Asuras) have previously inoculated this astral
body with their nature, these emotions now appear with the character
of selfhood, of separateness. One must now represent to oneself how at
that time the ancestor of man is constituted on the Moon. He has a
physical body through which in dullness he develops a "spirit self"
(Manas). He has an ether body, through which the Twilight Spirits feel
joy and pain; and finally he possesses an astral body which, through
the Fire Spirits, is moved by impulses, emotions, and passions. But
these three members of the Moon man still completely lack the object
consciousness. In the astral body images flow and ebb, and in these
there glow the emotions named above. When the thinking object
consciousness will make its appearance on the earth, this astral body
will be the subordinate carrier or the instrument of conceptual
thinking. Now however, it unfolds in its own entire independence on
the Moon. In itself it is more active here, more agitated than later
on the earth. If one wishes to characterize it, one can say that it is
an animal man. As such, it is on a higher level than the present-day
animals of earth. It possesses the qualities of animality in a more
complete way. In a certain respect these are more savage and unbridled
than present-day animal qualities. Therefore, at this stage of his
existence, one can call man a being which in its development stands
midway between present-day animals and man. If man had continued to
advance in a straight line along this path of development, he would
have become a wild, unrestrained being. The development of earth
represents a toning down, a taming of the animal character in man.
This is caused by the thinking consciousness.

If, as he had developed on the Sun, man was called plant man, the man
of the Moon can be called animal man. That the latter can develop
presupposes that the environment also changes. It has been shown that
the plant-man of the Sun could only develop because an independent
mineral realm was established alongside the realm of this plant man.
During the first two Moon eras (rounds) these two earlier realms,
plant realm and mineral realm, again emerge from the darkness. They
are changed only in that they both have become somewhat coarser and
denser. During the third Moon era a part of the plant realm splits
off. It does not take part in the transition to coarseness. It thereby
provides the substance out of which the animal nature of man can be
formed. It is this animal nature which, in its union with the more
highly formed ether body and with the newly developed astral body,
produces the threefold nature of man which we have described above.
The entire plant world which had been formed on the Sun could not
develop into animality. For animals require the plant for their
existence. A plant world is the basis of an animal world. As the Sun
man could only elevate himself into a plant by thrusting a portion of
his companions down into a coarser mineral realm, so this is now the
case with the animal man of the Moon. A portion of the beings which on
the Sun still had the same plant nature as himself, he leaves behind
him on the level of coarser plantlike-ness. As the animal man of the
Moon is not like the animals of today, but rather stands midway
between present animal and present man, so too the mineral of the Moon
lies between the mineral of today and the plant of today. The mineral
of the Moon is something plantlike. The Moon rocks are not stones in
the sense of today; they have an animated, sprouting, growing
character. Similarly, the Moon plant has a certain character of
animality.

The animal man of the Moon does not yet have firm bones. His skeleton
is still cartilaginous. His whole nature is soft, compared to that of
today. Hence his mobility too is different. His locomotion is not a
walking, but rather a leaping, even a floating. This could be the case
because the Moon of that time did not have a thin, airy atmosphere
like that of present-day earth, but its envelope was considerably
thicker, even denser than the water of today. He moved forward and
backward, up and down in this viscous element. In this element also
lived the minerals and animals from which he absorbed his nourishment.
In this element was even contained the power which later on the earth
was wholly transferred to the beings themselves -- the power of
fertilization. At that time man was not yet developed in the form of
two sexes, but only in one. He was made out of his water air. But as
everything in the world exists in transitional stages, in the last
Moon periods, two-sexedness was already developing in a few animal man
beings as a preparation for the later condition of the earth.

The sixth and seventh Moon cycles represent a kind of ebbing of all
the processes we have described, but also the development of a kind of
over-ripe condition, until the whole enters the period of rest
(Pralaya) in order to pass in sleep into the existence of earth.

The development of the human astral body is connected with a certain
cosmic process which must also be described here. When, after the
period of rest which succeeds the cosmic era of the Sun, the latter
again awakes and emerges from the darkness, then everything which
lives on the thus developing planet still inhabits it as a whole. But
this re-awakening Sun is nevertheless different from what it was
before. Its substance is no longer luminous through and through, as it
was previously; rather it now has darker portions. These separate out
of the homogeneous mass, as it were. From the second cycle (round)
onward, these portions appear more and more as an independent member;
the Sun body thereby becomes biscuit-like. It consists of two parts, a
considerably larger and a smaller one, which however are still
attached to one another by a connecting link. In the third cycle these
two bodies become completely separated. Sun and Moon are now two
bodies, and the latter moves around the former in a circular orbit.
Together with the Moon, all of the beings whose development has been
described here, leave the Sun. The development of the astral body
alone takes place on the split-off Moon. The cosmic process which we
have characterized is the precondition of the further development
described above. As long as the beings belonging to man absorbed their
forces from their own solar habitat, their development could not
attain the stage we have described. In the fourth cycle (round) the
Moon is an independent planet, and what has been described concerning
that period takes place on this Moon planet.

Here again, we shall present the development of the Moon planet and of
its beings in a clearly summarized form.

I. The Moon is that planet on which man develops the image
consciousness with its symbolical character.

II. During the first two cycles (rounds) the Moon development of man
is prepared through a kind of repetition of the Saturn and Sun
processes.

III. In the third cycle the human astral body comes into being through
an outpouring of the Spirits of Motion.

IV. Concurrently with this process the Moon splits off from the
re-awakened unified Sun body and revolves around the rest of the Sun.
The development of the beings connected with man now takes place on
the Moon.

V. In the fourth cycle the Spirits of Twilight inhabit the human
physical body and thereby elevate themselves to the level of humanity.

VI. The developing astral body is inoculated with independence by the
Spirits of Personality (Asuras).

VII. In the fifth cycle man begins to work in dullness on his physical
body. Thereby the "spirit self" (Manas) joins the already existing
monad.

VIII. In the ether body of man a kind of joy and pain develop during
the Moon existence, which have a passive character. In the astral body
on the other hand develop the emotions of rage, hate, the instincts,
passions, and so forth.

IX. The two former realms, the plant and the mineral realm, which are
thrust down to a lower level, are now joined by the animal realm, in
which man himself exists at this time.

Toward the end of the whole universal era the Moon approaches more and
more closely to the Sun, and when the time of rest (Pralaya) begins,
again the two have become united in a whole, which then passes through
the stage of sleep in order to awaken in a new universal era, that of
the earth.

 

Part XVIII: The Life of Earth

THE LIFE OF EARTH

IN IN THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS has been shown how the components were
successively formed which make up the so-called "lower nature of man"
-- the physical body, the ether body and the astral body. It has also
been described how, with the appearance of a new body, the old ones
must always be transformed so that they can become carriers and
instruments of the one formed later. An advance of human consciousness
is also associated with this progress. As long as the lower man has
only a physical body, he possess merely an utterly dull consciousness,
which is not equivalent even to that of dreamless sleep of the
present, although for man of today this latter state of consciousness
is in fact an "unconscious" one. In the time when the ether body
appears, man reaches the consciousness which is his today in dreamless
sleep. With the formation of the astral body a dim image consciousness
makes its appearance, similar to, but not identical with the one man
at present ascribes to himself while he is dreaming. The fourth, the
current condition of consciousness of earth man, will now be
described.

This present condition of consciousness develops in the fourth great
universal era, that of earth which follows the preceding Saturn, Sun,
and Moon eras.

On Saturn the physical body of man was developed in several stages. At
that time it could not have been the carrier of an ether body. And the
latter was added only during the course of the Sun. Simultaneously,
the physical body was so transformed in the successive Sun cycles that
it could become the carrier of this ether body, or in other words,
that the ether body could work in the physical body. During the Moon
development the astral body was added, and again the physical body and
the ether body were transformed in such a way that they could provide
suitable carriers and instruments for the then appearing astral body.
Thus, on the Moon, man is a being composed of physical body, ether
body, and astral body. Through the ether body he is enabled to feel
joy and pain; through the astral body he is a being with emotions,
rage, hate, love and so forth.

As has been shown, higher spirits actively work on the different
members of his being. On the Moon the ether body received the capacity
for joy and pain through the Spirits of Twilight; the emotions were
implanted in the astral body by the Fire Spirits.

At the same time, something else was taking place during the three
great cycles on Saturn, Sun, and Moon. During the last Saturn cycle
the spirit man (Atma) was formed with the help of the Spirits of Will.
(Thrones). During the penultimate Sun cycle, the life-spirit (Buddhi)
was joined to it with the assistance of the Cherubim. During the third
from the last Moon cycle, the spirit-self (Manas) united with the two
others through the help of the Seraphim. Thus actually two origins of
man were formed during these three great cycles: a lower man,
consisting of physical body, ether body, and astral body, and a higher
man, consisting of spirit man (Atma), life-spirit (Buddhi), and
spirit-self (Manas). The lower and the higher nature of man followed
separate paths at first.

The earth development serves to bring the two separate origins of man
together.

But first, after the seventh small cycle, all of Moon existence enters
a kind of sleeping state (Pralaya). Thereby everything becomes mixed
together, so to speak, in a homogeneous mass. The Sun and the Moon
too, which were separate in the last great cycle, again become fused
during the last Moon cycles.

When everything again emerges from the sleeping state there must first
be repeated in their essentials the Saturn condition during a first
small cycle, the Sun condition during a second, and the Moon cycle
during a third. During this third cycle the beings on the Moon, which
has again been split off from the Sun, resume approximately the same
forms of existence which they already had on the Moon. There the lower
man is a being intermediate between man of today and an animal; the
plants stand midway between the animal and plant natures of today, and
the minerals only half bear their lifeless character of today, while
for the rest they are still half plants.

During the second half of this third cycle something else is already
in preparation. The minerals harden, the plants gradually lose the
animal character of their sensibility, and out of the uniform species
of animal man there develop two classes. One of these remains on the
level of animality, while the other is subjected to a division of the
astral body into two parts. The astral body splits into a lower part,
which continues to be the carrier of the emotions, and a higher part,
which attains to a certain independence, so that it can exercise a
kind of mastery over the lower members, over the physical body, the
ether body, and the lower astral body. Now the Spirits of Personality
seize upon this higher astral body and implant in it just that
independence we have mentioned, and therewith also selfishness. Only
in the lower human astral body do the Fire Spirits now accomplish
their work, while in the ether body the Spirits of Twilight are
active, and in the physical body that power entity begins its work
which one can describe as the real ancestor of man. It is the same
power entity which formed the spirit man (Atma) with the help of the
Thrones on Saturn, the life-spirit (Buddhi) with the assistance of the
Cherubim on the Sun, and the spirit-self (Manas) together with the
Seraphim on the Moon.

But now this changes. Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim ascend to higher
spheres, and the higher man now receives the assistance of the Spirits
of Wisdom, of Motion, and of Form. These are now united with
spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man (with Manas-Buddhi-Atma). With
the assistance of these entities the human power being characterized
above develops its physical body during the second half of the third
earth cycle. It is the Spirits of Form which act here in the most
significant way. They already form the human physical body so that it
becomes a kind of precursor of the later human body of the fourth
cycle (the present one, or the fourth round)

In the astral body of the animal beings which have been left behind,
it is exclusively the Fire Spirits which remain active, while in the
ether body of the plants it is the Spirits of Twilight. 0n the other
hand, the Spirits of Form participate in the transformation of the
mineral realm. They make the latter hard, that is, implant rigid and
fixed forms in it.

One must not imagine, however, that the sphere of activity of the
spirits we have mentioned was confined only to what has been
characterized. Always it is only the Main directions of their
activities which are meant, in a subordinate way all the spirit beings
participate everywhere. Thus at the time indicated, the Spirits of
Form also have certain functions to perform in the physical plant and
animal bodies, and so forth.

After all this has taken place, around the end of the third earth
cycle all the entities -- including Sun and Moon -- again become fused
and then pass through a shorter stage of sleep (a small Pralaya). At
that time everything is again a uniform mass (a chaos), and at the end
of this stage the fourth earth cycle begins in which we are at
present.

At first, everything which already previously had had a being in the
mineral, plant, animal, and human realms, begins to separate out of
the uniform mass in germinal form. First there can re-emerge as
independent germs only those human ancestors on whose higher astral
bodies the Spirits of Personality have worked in the preceding small
cycle. All other beings of the mineral, plant, and animal realm do not
yet lead an independent existence here. At this stage everything is
still in that high spiritual condition which is called the "formless"
or Arupa condition. At the present stage of development, only the
highest human thoughts -- for example, mathematical and moral ideals
-- are woven of that substance which was proper to all beings at the
stage we are describing. That which is lower than these human
ancestors can only appear as an activity in a higher being. The
animals exist only as states of consciousness of the Spirits of Fire,
the plants as states of consciousness of the Spirits of Twilight. The
minerals have a double existence in thought. First they exist as
thought germs in the human ancestors mentioned above, then as thoughts
in the consciousness of the Spirits of Form. The "higher man"
(spirit-man, life-spirit, spirit-self also exists in the consciousness
of the Spirits of Form.

By degrees a densification of everything now occurs. But at the next
stage, the density as yet does not exceed the density of thoughts. At
this stage, however, the animal beings which originated in the
preceding cycle, can emerge. They separate out of the consciousness of
the Fire Spirits and become independent thought beings. This stage is
called that of the "formed" or Rupa condition. Man advances in it
insofar as his previously formless, independent thought body is
clothed by the Spirits of Form in a body of coarser, formed thought
substance. The animals as independent beings, here consist exclusively
of this substance.

Now a further densification takes place. The condition which is now
attained can be compared with that out of which the conceptions of the
dreamlike image consciousness are woven. One calls this the "astral"
stage.

The human ancestor again advances. In addition to the other two
components, his being receives a body which consists of the substance
just characterized. He now has the inner formless core of being, a
thought body, and an astral body. The animals receive a similar astral
body, and the plants emerge from the consciousness of the Spirits of
Twilight as independent astral entities.

In the further course of the development, the densification now
advances to that condition which is called physical. At first we deal
with the most refined physical condition, with that of the most
refined ether. From the Spirits of Form the human ancestor receives
the most refined ether body as an addition to his earlier components.
He consists of a formless thought core, a formed thought body, an
astral body, and an ether body. The animals have a formed thought
body, an astral body, and an ether body; the plants have an astral and
an ether body; the minerals first emerge here as independent ether
forms. At this stage of development we are concerned with four realms:
a mineral, a plant, an animal, and a human realm. Along with these
however, in the course of the development up to this point three other
realms have come into existence. In the time when the animals
separated from the Fire Spirits at the thought stage (Rupa stage), the
Spirits of Personality also separated certain entities out of
themselves. These consist of indefinite thought substance which
gathers together, dissolves in a cloudlike manner, and thus flows
along. One cannot speak of them as of independent entities, but only
of an irregular, general mass. This is the first elementary realm. At
the astral stage something similar separates from the Fire Spirits. It
consists of shadowy images or phantoms similar to the conceptions of
the dreamlike image consciousness. They form the second elementary
realm. In the beginning of the physical stage, indefinite image-like
entities finally separate out of the Spirits of Twilight. They too
have no independence, but they can manifest forces which are similar
to the passions and emotions of men and animals. These
non-independent, buzzing emotions form the third elementary realm. For
beings which are endowed with a dreamlike image consciousness, or with
conscious image consciousness, these creations of the third elementary
realm are perceptible as a flooding light, as flakes of color, as
smell, taste, as various tones and sounds, but all such perceptions
must be imagined to be phantom-like.

One must therefore imagine the earth, when it condenses as a refined
etheric body out of its astral precursor, to be a conglomerate of an
etheric mineral basic mass and of etheric plant, animal, and human
beings. Filling the interstices as it were, and also permeating the
other beings, are the creatures of the elementary realms.

This earth is inhabited by the higher spiritual entities, which, in
the most diverse ways, are active in the realms we have mentioned.
They form a spirit community, so to speak, a spirit state, and their
dwelling-place and workshop is the earth, which they carry with them
as a snail does its shell. In all this it must be borne in mind that
what today is separated from the earth as Sun and Moon, is still
entirely united with the earth. Only later do both heavenly bodies
separate from the earth.

The "higher man" (spirit-man, life-spirit, spirit-self,
Atma-Buddhi-Manas) has as yet no independence at this stage. He still
constitutes a member of the spirit state, and for the time being is
bound to the Spirits of Form, as a human hand is bound to a human
organism as a dependent member.

With this we have followed the formation of the earth to the beginning
of its physical condition. In what follows, we shall show how
everything in this condition develops further. The previous
development will then pass over into what has already been said in
preceding chapters of the Akasha Chronicle about the progress of
earth.

States of development such as those which have been mentioned here as
a formless, a formed, an astral, and a physical condition, which thus
constitute differences in a smaller cycle (a round), are called
'globes' in theosophical texts. In this respect one therefore speaks
of an Arupa, a Rupa, an astral and a physical globe. Some have
considered such a designation incorrect. But here we shall not speak
further of matters of nomenclature. Indeed, it is not names which are
important, but rather the things themselves. It is better to endeavor
to describe the latter as well as possible than to worry very much
about names. These must after all always be incorrect in a certain
sense. For to facts of the spiritual world one must give names which
have come from the world of the senses, and therefore one can speak
only by way of similes.

The description of the development of the world of man has been brought
to the point where the earth reaches the beginning of its physical
densification. One should now represent to oneself the condition of
development of this world of man at this stage. What later appears as
sun, moon, and earth is still united in a single body. This body
possesses only refined etheric matter. It is only within this matter
that the beings which later will appear as men, animals, plants, and
minerals have their existence, For the further progress of the
development, the one heavenly body must first separate into two, of
which one becomes the later sun, while the other contains the later
earth and the later moon in a still united form. Only later does a
process of division also take place in this latter heavenly body; that
which becomes the present-day moon is extruded, and the earth alone
remains as the dwelling-place of man and of his fellow-creatures.

The student of ordinary theosophical literature should understand
clearly that the separation of the one heavenly body into two took
place in the period in which this literature places the development of
the so-called second principal human race. The human ancestors of this
race are described as forms with refined etheric bodies. But one must
not imagine that they could have developed on our present earth after
it had already separated itself from the sun and had expelled the
moon. After this separation, such etheric bodies were no longer
possible.

If one follows the development of mankind in that cycle to which our
description has now come, and which leads us into the present, one
becomes aware of a series of principal conditions, of which our
current one is the fifth.

The preceding expositions from the Akasha Chronicle have already dealt
with these conditions. Here we shall only repeat what is necessary for
a further deepening of the discussion.

The first principal condition shows the human ancestors as highly
refined etheric entities. The usual theosophical literature somewhat
inexactly calls these entities the first principal race. This
condition essentially continues during the second epoch, in which this
literature places the second principal race. Until this stage of
development sun, moon, and earth are still one heavenly body. Now the
sun splits off as an independent body. It thereby takes those forces
through which the human ancestors could be maintained in their etheric
condition. With the splitting-off of the sun a densification of the
human forms and also of the forms of man's fellow-creatures takes
place. These creatures must now adapt themselves to their new
dwelling-place, as it were.

But it is by no means only the material forces which are taken away
from this dwelling-place. Spiritual entities, of whom it has been said
that they formed a spirit community on the one heavenly body we have
described, also leave at the same time. Their existence remains more
intimately connected with the sun then with the heavenly body which
the sun has thrust out from itself. If these entities had remained
united with the forces which later develop on the earth and on the
moon, they themselves could not have developed further to their
appropriate levels. They needed a new dwelling-place for this further
development. This is provided for them by the sun after it -- so to
speak -- has cleansed itself of the earth and moon forces. At the
stage at which these beings now are, they can act on earth and moon
forces only from the outside, from the sun.

One can see the reason for the separation we have described. Until
this time, certain entities which are higher than man have gone
through their development on the one heavenly body characterized
above; they now lay claim to a part of it for themselves, and leave
the rest to man and his fellow-creatures.

The consequence of the splitting-off of the sun was a radical
revolution in the development of man and of his fellow-creatures. They
fell as it were from a higher level of existence to a lower. They had
to do this, for they lost the immediate connection with those higher
beings. They would have entered entirely into a blind alley in their
own development if other universal events had not taken place, through
which progress was stimulated anew and the development directed into
quite different channels.

With the forces which at present are united in the split-off moon, and
which at that time were still within the earth, further progress would
have been impossible. Present-day mankind could not have been produced
with these forces, but, instead, only a kind of being in which the
emotions of rage, hate and so forth, developed during the third great
cycle, the Moon existence, would have increased to the point of the
immoderate and animal.

During a certain period, this was in fact the case. The immediate
consequence of the splitting-off of the sun was the arising of the
third principal condition of the ancestors of man, which in
theosophical literature is designated as the third principle race, the
Lemurian. Again, the designation "race" for this condition of
development is not an especially fortunate one. For in a real sense,
the human ancestors of that time cannot be compared with what today
one designates as "race." One must be completely clear about the fact
that the evolutionary forms of the distant past as well as of the
future are so entirely different from those of today that our present
appellations can only serve as makeshifts, and really lose all meaning
in relation to these remote epochs.

Actually, one can only begin to speak of "races" in connection with
the development attained in about the second third of the third
principal condition identified above (the Lemurian). Only then is
formed what today one calls "races." This "racial character" is
retained in the period of the Atlantean development, and further into
our time of the fifth principal condition. But already at the end of
our fifth era, the word "race" will again lose all sense. In future,
mankind will be divided into parts which it will be impossible to
designate as "races." In this respect, ordinary theosophical
literature has caused much confusion. This has especially been done by
Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism, the book which, on the other hand, has
the great merit of having been the first to popularize the
theosophical world-outlook in recent times. In this book the universal
development is described as if, throughout the cosmic cycles, the
"races" forever repeated themselves in the same way. But this is by no
means the case. That which deserves to be called "race" also comes
into being and perishes. One should only use the expression "race" for
a certain span in the development of mankind. Before and after this,
there are evolutionary forms which are something totally different
from "races."

Only because the true deciphering of the Akasha Chronicle fully
authorizes one to make such a remark have we presumed to make it here.
In this the decipherer knows himself to be in complete accord with
true occult spiritual investigation. Otherwise it could never occur to
him to make such objections against the meritorious books of
theosophical literature. He might also make the really quite
superfluous remark that the inspirations of the great teachers
mentioned in Esoteric Buddhism are not contradicted by what has been
described here, but that the misunderstanding has only been produced
by the fact that the author of that book has transposed the wisdom of
these inspirations, which is difficult to express, into modern
every-day human language, in his own way.

The third principal condition of the development of mankind presents
itself as the one in which the "races" first came into being. This
event was brought about by the separation of the moon from the earth.
This separation was accompanied by the originating of the two sexes.
This stage of the development o

mankind has been repeatedly referred to in the descriptions from the
"Akasha Chronicle." When the earth, still united with the moon, split
off from the sun, a male and a female sex did not as yet exist within
mankind. Each human being combined the two sexes within its still
highly refined body.

It must be remembered however that these double-sexed human ancestors
were on a low level of development as compared with present-day man.
The lower impulses acted with immeasurable energy, and nothing of a
spiritual development as yet existed. That the latter was stimulated
and that thereby the lower impulses were confined within certain
bounds, is connected with the fact that, at the same time at which
earth and moon separated, the former came into the sphere of influence
of other heavenly bodies. This extremely significant co-operation of
the earth with other heavenly bodies, its meeting with foreign
planets, in the time which theosophical literature calls the Lemurian,
will be related in a further chapter of the "Akasha Chronicle."

The same course of development will be described once more, but from a
different point of view. This is done for a quite definite reason. One
can never look at the truths about the higher worlds from too many
aspects. One should realize that from any one aspect it is possible to
give only the poorest sketch. And when one looks at the same thing
from the most diverse aspects, the impressions one receives in this
way only gradually complement each each other to form an ever more
animated picture. Only such pictures, not dry, schematic concepts, can
help the man who wants to penetrate into the higher worlds. The more
animated and colorful the pictures, the more can one hope to approach
the higher reality.

It is obvious that it is just the pictures from the higher worlds
which arouse mistrust in many today. A person is quite content to be
given conceptual schemes and classifications -- with as many names as
possible -- of Devachan, of the development of the planets, and so
forth; but he becomes more difficult when somebody presumes to
describe the supersensible worlds as a traveller describes the
landscapes of South America. Yet one should realize that it is only
through fresh, animated pictures that one is given something useful,
not through dead schemes and names.

 

Part XIX: The Fourfold Man of Earth

THE FOURFOLD MAN OF EARTH

IN THIS DESCRIPTION, we shall take man as our point of departure. As
he lives on the earth, man at present consists of the physical body,
the ether or life body, the astral body and the "I." This fourfold
human nature has in itself the dispositions for a higher development.
The "I" by its own initiative transforms the "lower" bodies, and
thereby incorporates into them higher parts of human nature. The
ennobling and purifying of the astral body by the "I" causes the
development of the "spirit self" (Manas), the transformation of the
ether or life body creates the life spirit (Buddhi), and the
transformation of the physical body creates the true "spirit man"
(Atma). The transformation of the astral body is in full progress in
the present period of the development of the earth; the conscious
transformation of the ether body and of the physical body belongs to
later times; at present it has begun only among the initiates -- those
trained in the science of the spirit and their pupils.

This threefold transformation of man is a conscious one; it was
preceded by one more or less unconscious during the previous
development of the earth. It is in this unconscious transformation of
astral body, ether body, and physical body that one must seek the
origin of the sentient soul, of the intellectual soul, and of the
consciousness soul.

One must now make clear to oneself which one of the three bodies of
man (the physical, the ether, and the astral body) is in its way most
perfect. One can easily be tempted to consider the physical body as
the lowest and therefore as the least perfect. However, in this one
would be in error. It is true that the astral body and the ether body
will attain a high degree of perfection in the future, but at present
the physical body is more perfect in its way than are they in theirs.
Only because man has this physical body in common with the lowest
natural realm on earth, the mineral realm, is it possible for the
error we have mentioned to arise. For man has the ether body in common
with the higher plant realm, and the astral body with the animal
realm.

Now it is true that the physical body of man is composed of the same
substances and forces which exist in the wider mineral realm, but the
manner in which these substances and forces interact in the human body
is the expression of wisdom and perfection in the structure. One will
soon convince himself of the truth of this statement if he undertakes
to study this structure not merely With the dry intellect but with his
whole feeling soul. One can take any part of the human physical body
as the subject for this contemplation, for instance the highest part
of the upper thigh bone. This is not an amorphous massing of
substance, but rather is joined together in the most artful manner,
out of diminutive beams which run in different directions. No modern
engineering skill could fit a bridge or something similar together
with such wisdom. Today such things are still beyond the reach of the
most perfect human wisdom. The bone is constructed in this wise fashion
so that, through the arrangement of the small beams, the necessary
carrying capacity for the support of the human torso can be attained
with the least amount of substance. The least amount of matter is used
in order to achieve the greatest possible effect in terms of force. In
face of such a "masterwork of natural architecture," one can only
become lost in admiration. No less can one admire the miraculous
structure of the human brain or heart, or of the totality of the human
physical body. One should compare with it the degree of perfection
which for example the astral body has attained at the present stage of
development of mankind. The astral body is a carrier of pleasure and
distaste, of the passions, impulses and desires and so forth. But what
attacks this astral body perpetrates against the wise arrangement of
the physical body! A large part of the stimulants which man consumes
are poisons for the heart. From this it can be seen that the activity
which produces the physical structure of the heart proceeds in a wiser
manner than the activity of the astral body, which even runs counter
to this wisdom. It is true that in future the astral body will advance
to higher wisdom; at present, however, it is not as perfect in its way
as is the physical body. Something similar could be shown to be true
for the ether body, and also for the I," that being which, from moment
to moment, must struggle gropingly toward wisdom through error and
illusion.

If one compares the levels of perfection of the parts of the human
being, one will easily discover that at present the physical body is
in its way the most perfect, that the ether body is less perfect, the
astral body still less, and that in its way the least perfect part of
man at present is the "I." This is due to the fact that in the course
of the planetary development of the human dwelling-place the physical
body of man has been worked on the longest. What man today carries as
his physical body has lived through all the developmental stages of
Saturn, Sun, Moon, and earth, up to the present stage of the latter.
All the forces of these planetary bodies have successively worked on
this body, so that gradually it has been able to attain its present
degree of perfection. It is thus the oldest part of the present-day
human entity.

The ether body, as it now appears in man, did not exist at all during
the Saturn period. It was only added during the Sun development. Hence
the forces of four planetary bodes have not worked on it as on the
physical body, but only those of three, namely, of Sun, Moon, and
earth. Therefore only in a future period of development can it become
as perfect in its way as is the physical body at present. The astral
body joined the physical body and the ether body only during the Moon
period, and the "I" did so only during the earth period.

One must represent to oneself that the physical human body attained a
certain stage of its development on Saturn, and that this development
was carried forward on the Sun in such a way that from that time on
the physical body could become the carrier of an ether body. On Saturn
this physical body had attained a point where it was an extremely
complex mechanism, which however had nothing in it of life. The
complicatedness of its structure finally caused it to disintegrate.
For this complicatedness had reached such a degree that this physical
body could no longer maintain itself by means of the merely mineral
forces which were acting in it. It was through this collapse of the
human bodies that the decline of Saturn was brought about.

Of the present natural realms, namely the mineral realm, the plant
realm, the animal realm, and the human realm, Saturn had only the
last-named. What one knows today as animals, plants, and minerals did
not yet exist on Saturn. Of the present four natural realms, there
existed on this heavenly only man in his physical body, and this
physical body was in fact a kind of complicated mineral. The other
realms came into existence because not all beings could attain full
development on the successive heavenly bodies. Thus only a part of the
human bodies developed on Saturn attained the full Saturn goal. Those
human bodies which did attain this goal were awakened, so to speak, to
a new existence in their old form during the Sun period, and this form
was permeated with the ether body. They thereby developed to a higher
level of perfection. They became a kind of plant men. That portion of
the human bodies however which had not been able to attain the full
goal of development on Saturn had to continue during the Sun period
what they had previously not completed, but under considerably more
unfavorable conditions than those which existed for this development
on Saturn. They therefore fell behind the portion which had attained
the full goal on Saturn. Thus on the Sun another natural realm came
into being in addition to the human realm.

It would be erroneous to believe that all the organs in the
present-day human body already began to be developed on Saturn. This
is not the case. Rather it is particularly the sensory organs in the
human body which have their origin in this ancient time. It is the
first rudiments of eyes, ears and so forth which have such an early
origin, rudiments which formed on Saturn in somewhat the same way that
"lifeless crystals" now form on earth; the corresponding organs then
attained their present form by again and again transforming themselves
in the direction of greater perfection in each of the succeeding
planetary periods. On Saturn they were physical instruments, and
nothing else. On the Sun they were transformed, because an ether or
life body permeated them. They were thereby brought into the life
process. They became animated physical instruments. To them were added
those parts of the human physical body which cannot develop at all
except under the influence of an ether body: the organs of growth, of
nourishment, and of reproduction. Of course the first rudiments of
these organs, as they developed on the Sun, again do not resemble in
perfection the form which they have at present.

The highest organs which the human body at that time acquired through
the interaction of physical body and ether body were those which at
present have developed into the glands. The physical human body on the
Sun is thus a system of glands, on which sensory organs of a
corresponding level of development are impressed.

The development continued on the Moon. To the physical body and the
ether body is added the astral body. Thereby the first rudiment of a
nervous system is integrated into the glandular sensory body. One can
see that the physical human body becomes more and more complicated in
the successive planetary development periods. On the Moon it is
composed of nerves, glands, and senses. The senses have behind them a
two-fold process of transformation and perfection, while the nerves
are at their first stage. If one looks at the Moon man as a whole, he
consists of three parts: a physical body, an ether body, and an astral
body. The physical body is tripartite; its partition is the result of
the work of the Saturn, Sun, and Moon forces. The ether body is only
bipartite. It has in itself only the effect of the work of Sun and
Moon, and the astral body is still unipartite. Only the Moon forces
have worked on it.

Through the absorption of the astral body on the Moon, man has become
capable of a life of sensation, of a certain inwardness. Within his
astral body he can form images of what takes place in his environment.
These images in a certain respect are to be compared with the dream
images of present-day human consciousness, but they are more vivid and
colorful, and, most important, they relate to events in the outside
world, while present-day dream images are mere echoes of daily life or
are otherwise unclear mirrorings of inner or outer events. The images
of the Moon consciousness corresponded completely to whatever they
were related to externally. Assume for instance that a Moon man as he
has just been characterized, consisting of physical body, ether body,
and astral body, had approached another Moon being. It is true that he
could not have perceived the latter as a spatial object, for this has
become possible only in the earth consciousness of man; but within his
astral body would have arisen an image which in its color and shape
would have quite exactly expressed whether the other being was well or
ill disposed toward this Moon man, whether it would be useful or
dangerous to him. As a result, the Moon man could regulate his
behavior entirely in accordance with the images which arose in his
image consciousness, These images were a complete means of orientation
for him. The physical instrument which the astral body needed in order
to enter into relation with the lower natural realms was the nervous
system, integrated into the physical body.

In order that the transformation of man described here could occur
during the Moon period, the assistance of a great universal event was
needed. The integration of the astral body and the related development
of a nervous system in the physical body was only made possible by the
fact that what had previously been one body, the Sun, split into two
-- into Sun and Moon. The former advanced to the state of a fixed
star, the latter remained a planet -- which the Sun also had been --
and began to circle around the Sun, from which it had split off.
Through this a significant transformation took place in everything
which lived on Sun and Moon. Here for the moment we shall follow this
process of transformation only insofar as it concerns the life of the
Moon. Man, consisting of physical body and astral body, had remained
united with the Moon when it split off from the Sun. He thereby
entered into entirely new conditions of existence. For the Moon took
with it only a part of the forces contained in the Sun, and this part
now acted on man from his own heavenly body; the Sun had retained the
other part of the forces within itself. This latter part is now sent
from the outside to the Moon and hence also to its inhabitant, man. If
the previous relationship had remained in existence, if all the Sun
forces had continued to reach man from his own scene of activity, that
inner life which shows itself in the arising of the images of the
astral body could not have developed. The Sun force continued its
activity on the physical body and ether body from the outside; it had
already acted on both of these previously. But it liberated a portion
of these two bodies for influences which emanated from the Moon, the
heavenly body newly created by a splitting-off. Thus, on the Moon man
was under a two-fold influence, that of the Sun and that of the Moon.
It is to be ascribed to the influence of the Moon that out of the
physical and the ether body there developed those parts which
permitted the imprinting of the astral body. An astral body can only
create images when the Sun forces reach it from outside rather than
from its own planet. The Moon influences transformed the sensory
rudiments and the glandular organs in such a way that a nervous system
could be integrated into them; and the sun influences brought it about
that the images for which this nervous system was the instrument
corresponded to the external Moon events in the manner described
above.

The development could only progress to a certain point in this manner.
Had this point been over-stepped, the Moon man would have become
hardened in his inner life of images, and thereby he would have lost
all connection with the Sun. When the time had come, the Sun again
absorbed the Moon, so that again for some time both were one body. The
union lasted until man was far enough advanced so that his hardening,
which would' have had to take place on the Moon, could be prevented by
a new stage of development. When this had occurred a new separation
took place, but this time the Moon took Sun forces along with itself
which previously it had not received. Through this it came about that
another separation took place after some time. What had last split off
from the Sun was a heavenly body which contained all the forces and
beings at present living on earth and moon. Thus the earth still
contained within itself the moon which now circles around it. If the
latter had remained within it, it could never have become the scene of
any human development, including the present one. The forces of the
present moon first had to be cast off, and man had to remain on the
thus purified earthly scene and continue his development there. In
this way three heavenly bodies developed out of the old Sun. The
forces of two of these heavenly bodies, the new sun and the new moon,
are sent to the earth and hence to its inhabitant from the outside.

Through this progress in the development of the heavenly bodies it
became possible that into the tripartite human nature, as it still had
been on the Moon, the fourth part, the "I," integrated itself. This
integration was connected with a perfecting of the physical body, the
ether body, and the astral body. The perfecting of the physical body
consisted in that the system of the heart was incorporated in it as
the preparer of warm blood. Of course, now the sensory system, the
glandular system, and the nervous system had to be transformed in such
a way that in the human organism they would be compatible with the
newly added system of the warm blood. The sensory organs were so
transformed that out of the mere image consciousness of the old Moon
the object consciousness could develop, which makes possible the
perception of external objects, and which man at present possesses
from the time he awakes in the morning until he falls asleep in the
evening. On the old Moon the senses were not yet open to the outside;
the images of consciousness arose from within, and just this opening
of the senses to the external is the achievement of the earth
development.

It has been stated above that not all of the human bodies formed on
Saturn attained the goal which was set for them there, and that on the
Sun, alongside the human realm in its form of that time, a second
natural realm developed. One must realize that at each of the
subsequent stages of development, on Sun, Moon, and earth, there were
always beings which fell short of their goals and that through this
the lower natural realms came into existence. The animal realm, which
is closest to man, had already fallen behind on Saturn, but partially
made up the development under unfavorable conditions on Sun and Moon,
so that while on the earth it was not as far advanced as man, in part
it still had the capacity to receive warm blood as he did. For warm
blood existed in none of the natural realms before the period of
earth. The present-day cold-blooded (or variably warm) animals and
certain plants came into existence because certain beings of the lower
Sun realm again fell short of the stage which the other beings of this
realm attained. The present-day mineral realm came into existence
last, in fact only during the earth period.

The fourfold man of earth receives from sun and moon the influences of
those forces which have remained connected with these heavenly bodies.
From the sun those forces reach him which further progress, growth,
and becoming; from the moon come the hardening, forming forces. If man
stood only under the influence of the sun he would dissolve in an
immeasurably rapid process of growth It is for this reason that
formerly, after an appropriate time, he had to leave the Sun and to
receive a retarding of his over-rapid progress on the split-off old
Moon. But if then he had remained permanently connected with the
latter, this retarding of his growth would have hardened him in a
rigid form. Therefore he advanced to the development of earth, within
which the two influences counterbalance each other in an appropriate
way. At the same time the point is reached where something higher --
the soul -- is integrated as an inner entity within the quadripartite
human being.

In its form, in its activities, movements and so forth, the physical
body is the expression and the effect of what takes place in the other
parts, in the ether body, the astral body, and the "I." In the
descriptions from the "Akasha Chronicle" which we have given up to
this point, it has become apparent how, in the course of development,
these other parts of the human entity gradually intervened in the
formation of the physical body. During the Saturn development none of
these other parts was as yet associated with the physical human body.
But the first beginning of its development was made in that time
However, one must not think that the forces which later acted on the
physical body from the ether body, the astral body, and the "I" did
not already act on it during the Saturn period. They were already
acting at that time, but in a certain sense from the outside, not from
within. The other parts had not yet been formed, had not yet been
united with the physical human body as individual entities; but the
forces which were later united in them acted as it were from the
environment -- the atmosphere -- of Saturn and formed the first
beginning of this body. This beginning was then transformed on the Sun
because a part of those forces now formed the separate human ether
body, and now acted on the physical body no longer merely from the
outside, but from the inside. The same thing occurred on the Moon with
respect to the astral body. On the earth the physical body was
transformed for the fourth time by becoming the dwelling place of the
"I," which now works within it.

One can see that, to the eye of the scientist of the spirit, the
physical body is not something fixed, something permanent in its form
and manner of acting. It is undergoing a constant process of
transformation. And such a transformation is also taking place in the
current earth period of the body's development. One can only
understand human life if one is in a position to form a conception of
this transformation.

A consideration of the human organs from the point of view of the
science of the spirit shows that these are at very different stages of
development. There are organs in the human body which, in their
present form, are in a descending, others which are in an ascending
development. In future, the former will lose their importance for man
more and more. The time of the flowering of their functions is behind
them; they will become atrophied and finally disappear from the human
body.

Other organs are in an ascending development; they contain much which
now is only present in a germinal state, as it were: in future they
will develop into more perfect forms with a higher function. Among the
former organs belong, for instance, those which serve for
reproduction, for the bringing into existence of like beings. In
future their function will pass to other organs and they themselves
will sink into insignificance. There will come a time when they will
be present on the human body in an atrophied condition, and one will
then have to regard them only as evidences of the preceding
development of man.

Other organs, as for instance the heart and neighboring formations,
are at the beginning of their development in a certain respect. What
now lies in them in a germinal state will reach its full flower only
in the future. For in the conception of the science of the spirit, the
heart and its relation to the so-called circulation of the blood are
seen as something quite different from what contemporary physiology,
which in this respect is completely dependent on
mechanistic-materialistic concepts, sees in them. In so doing, this
science of the spirit succeeds in casting light on facts which are
well-known to contemporary science, but for which with the means at
its disposal, the latter cannot give anything like a satisfactory
explanation. Anatomy shows that in their structure the muscles of the
human body are of two kinds. There are those whose smallest parts are
smooth bands, and those whose smallest parts show a regular transverse
striation. Now the smooth muscles in general are those which in their
movements are independent of human volition. For instance, the smooth
muscles of the intestine push the food pulp along in regular
movements, upon which the human volition has no influence. Those
muscles which are found in the iris of the eye are also smooth. These
muscles bring about the movements through which the pupil of the eye
is enlarged when the latter is exposed to a small amount of light, and
contracted when much light flows into the eye. These movements too are
independent of human volition. On the other hand, those muscles are
striated which mediate movements under the influence of human
volition, for example, the muscles by which the arms and legs are
moved. The heart, which after all is also a muscle, constitutes an
exception to this general condition. In the present period of human
development, the heart is not subject to volition in its movements,
yet it is a "transversely striated" muscle. The science of the spirit
indicates the reason for this. The heart will not always remain as it
is now. In the future it will have a quite different form and a
changed function. It is on the way to becoming a voluntary muscle. In
the future it will execute movements which will be the effects of the
inner soul impulses of man. It already shows what significance it will
have in the future, when the movements of the heart will be as much an
expression of the human will as the lifting of the hand or the
advancing of the foot are today.

This conception of the heart is connected with a comprehensive insight
of the science of the spirit into the relation of the heart to the
so-called circulation of the blood. The mechanical-materialistic
doctrine of life sees in the heart a kind of pumping mechanism which
drives the blood through the body in a regular manner. Here the heart
is the cause of the movement of the blood. The insight of the science
of the spirit shows something quite &fferent. For this insight, the
pulsing of the blood, its whole inner mobility, are the expression and
the effect of the processes of the soul. The soul is the cause of the
behavior of the blood. Turning pale through feelings of fear, blushing
under the influence of sensations of shame, are coarse effects of
processes of the soul in the blood. But everything which takes place
in the blood is only the expression of what takes place in the life of
the soul. However, the connection between the pulsation of the blood
and the impulses of the soul is a deeply mysterious one. The movements
of the heart are not the cause, but the consequence of the pulsation
of the blood.

In the future, through voluntary movements, the heart will carry what
takes place in the human soul into the external world.

Other organs which are in a similarly ascending development are the
organs of respiration in their function as instruments of speech. At
present by their means man can transform his thoughts into air waves.
He thereby impresses upon the external world what he experiences
within himself.

He transforms his inner experiences into air waves. This wave motion
of the air is a rendering of what takes place within him. In the
future he will in this way give external form to more and more of his
inner being. The final result in this direction will be that through
his speech organs which have arrived at the height of their
perfection, he will produce his own kind. Thus the speech organs at
present contain within themselves the future organs of reproduction in
a germinal state. The fact that mutation (change of voice) occurs in
the male individual at the time of puberty is a consequence of the
mysterious connection between the instruments of speech and
reproduction.

The entire human physical body can be considered in this way from the
point of view of the science of the Spirit. It was only intended to
give a few examples here. In the science of the spirit, both an
anatomy and a physiology exist. The anatomy and physiology of the
present will have to let themselves be fertilized by the anatomy and
physiology of the science of the spirit in a not very distant future,
and will even transform themselves completely into the latter.

In this area it becomes especially apparent that results such as those
given above must not be built on mere inferences, on speculations such
as conclusions by analogy, but must only proceed from the true
research of the science of the spirit. This must necessarily be
emphasized, for it happens only too easily that once they have gained
some insights, zealous adherents of the science of the spirit continue
to spin their ideas in empty air. It is no miracle when only phantasms
are produced in this way, and, in fact, they do abound in these areas
of research.

One could, for instance, proceed to draw the following conclusion from
the description given above: Because the human organs of reproduction
in their present form will in the future be the first to lose their
importance, they therefore were the first to receive it in the past,
hence they are in a sense the oldest organs of the human body. Just
the contrast of this is true. They were the last to receive their
present form and will be the first to lose it again.

The following presents itself to spiritual scientific research. On the
Sun, the physical human body had in a certain respect moved up to the
level of plant existence. At that time it was permeated only by an
ether body. On the Moon it took on the character of the animal body,
because it was permeated by the astral body. But not all organs
participated in this transformation into the animal character. A
number of parts remained on the plant level. On the earth, after the
integration of the "I," when the human body elevated itself to its
present form, a number of parts still bore a decided plant character.
But one must not imagine that these organs looked exactly like our
present-day plants. The organs of reproduction belong among these
organs. They still exhibited a plant character at the beginning of the
earth development. This was known to the wisdom of the old Mysteries.
The older art which has retained so much of the traditions of the
Mysteries, represents hermaphrodites with plant-leaf like organs of
reproduction. These are precursors of man which still had the old kind
of reproductive organs (which were double-sexed). For example, this
can be seen clearly in a hermaphrodite figure in the Capitoline
Collection in Rome. When one looks into these matters one will also
understand for instance the true reason for the presence of the fig
leaf on Eve. One will accept true explanations for many old
representations, while contemporary interpretations are, after all,
only the result of a thinking which is not carried to its conclusion.
We shall only remark in passing that the hermaphrodite figure
mentioned above shows still other plant appendages. When it was made,
the tradition still existed that in a very remote past certain human
organs changed from a plant to an animal character.

All these changes of the human body are only the expression of the
forces of transformation which lie in the ether body, the astral body,
and the "I." The transformations of the physical human body accompany
the acts of the higher parts of man. One can therefore understand the
structure and the activity of this human body only if one absorbs
oneself in the "Akasha Chronicle," which shows how the higher changes
of the more spiritual and mental parts of man take place. Everything
physical and material finds its explanation through the spiritual.
Light is shed even on the future of the physical if one studies the
spiritual.

 

Part XX: Answers to Questions

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

If we are If we are to acquire new capacities through repeated
incarnations in the successive races, if in addition nothing of what
the soul has acquired through experience is again to be lost from its
storehouse,-how is it to be explained that in mankind of today
absolutely nothing remains of the capacities of the will, of the
imagination, of the mastery of natural forces which were so highly
developed in those periods?

It is a fact that of the capacities which the soul has acquired in its
transition through a stage of development, nothing is lost. But when a
new capacity is acquired, the one previously gained assumes a
different form. It then no longer manifests itself in its own
character, but as a basis for the new capacity. Among the Atlanteans
for instance, it was the faculty of memory which was acquired.
Contemporary man indeed can form only a very weak conception of what
the memory of an Atlantean could accomplish. But all that appears as
innate concepts in our fifth root race, in Atlantis was only acquired
through the memory. The concepts of space, time, number, etc. would
present difficulties of a quite different order if contemporary man
were obliged to be the first to acquire them. For the faculty which
this contemporary man is to acquire is the combinatory understanding.
Logic did not exist among the Atlanteans. But each previously acquired
power of the soul must withdraw, in its own form, become submerged
beneath the threshold of consciousness if a new one is to be acquired.
For example, if the beaver were suddenly to become a thinking being,
it would have to change its capacity for intuitively erecting its
artful constructions into something else.

The Atlanteans also had for example, the capacity to control the life
force in a certain way. They constructed their wonderful machines
through this force. But on the other hand, they had nothing of the
gift for story-telling which the peoples of the fifth root race
possess. There are as yet no myths and fairy tales among them. The
life-mastering power of the Atlanteans first appeared among the
members of our race under the mask of mythology. In this form it could
become the basis for the intellectual activity of our race. The great
inventors among us are incarnations of "seers" of the Atlanteans. In
their inspirations of genius is manifested what has as its basis
something else, something that was like life-producing power in them
during their Atlantean incarnation. Our logic, knowledge of nature,
technology and so forth, grow from a foundation which was laid in
Atlantis. If, for instance, an engineer could transform his combining
faculty backward, something would result which was in the power of the
Atlantean. All of Roman jurisprudence was the transformed will power
of a former time. In this the will as such remained in the background,
and instead of itself assuming forms, it transformed itself into the
forms of thought which are manifested in legal concepts. The esthetic
sense of the Greeks is built up on the basis of directly acting forces
which among the Atlanteans were manifested in a magnificent breeding
of plant and animal forms. In the imagination of Phidias lived
something which the Atlantean used directly for the transformation of
actual living beings.

What is the relation of the science of the spirit, of theosophy, to
the so-called secret sciences?

Secret sciences have always existed. They were cultivated in the
so-called mystery schools. Only the one who underwent certain tests
could learn something of them. He was always told only as much as was
appropriate for his intellectual, spiritual, and moral faculties. This
had to be so, for when properly used, the higher insights are the key
to a power which must lead to misuse in the hands of the unprepared.
Some of the elementary teachings of mystery science have been
popularized by the science of the spirit. The reason for this lies in
the conditions prevailing in our time. With respect to the development
of the understanding, mankind today, in its more advanced members, has
progressed to the point where sooner or later it would of itself
attain certain conceptions which were previously a part of secret
knowledge. But it would acquire these conceptions in an atrophied,
caricatured, and harmful form. Therefore some of those who are
initiated into secret knowledge have decided to communicate a part of
it to the public. It will thus become possible to measure human
advances which take place in the course of cultural development, with
the measuring rod of true wisdom. Our knowledge of nature, for
example, does lead to ideas about the causes of things. But without a
deepening through mystery science these ideas can only be distortions.
Our technology is approaching stages of development which can only
redound to the good of mankind if the souls of men have been deepened
in the sense of the spiritual scientific conception of life. As long
as the peoples had nothing of modern knowledge of nature and modern
technology, the form was salutary in which the highest teachings were
communicated in religious images, in a manner which appealed merely to
the emotional. Today mankind needs the same truths in a rational form.
The world outlook of the science of the spirit is not an arbitrary
development, but results from an insight into the historical fact just
mentioned.

However, even today certain parts of secret knowledge can only be
communicated to those who undergo the tests of initiation. Only those
will be able to make use of the published part who do not limit
themselves to an external noting of it, but who really assimilate
these things internally and make them the content and the guiding
principle of their lives. It is not a matter of mastering the
teachings of the science of the spirit with the understanding, but of
permeating feelings, emotions, the whole life with them. Only through
such a permeating does one learn something of their truth. Otherwise
they remain something which "one can believe or not believe." When
correctly understood, the truths of the science of the spirit will
give man a true foundation for his life, will let him recognize his
value, his dignity, and his essence, and will give him the highest
zest for living. For these truths enlighten him about his connection
with the world around him; they show him his highest goals, his true
destiny. They do this in a way which corresponds to the demands of the
present, so that he need not remain caught in the contradiction
between belief and knowledge. One can be a modern scientist and a
scientist of the spirit at the same time. But, however, one must be
one and the other in a true sense.

 

 

Part XXI: Prejudices Arising from Alleged Science (1904)

PREJUDICES ARISING FROM ALLEGED SCIENCE (1904)

IT IS CERTAINLY TRUE that much in the intellectual life of the present
makes it difficult for one who is seeking the truth to accept
spiritual scientific (theosophical) insights. And what has been said
in the essays on the Lebensfragen der theosophischen Bewegung (Vital
Questions of the (Theosophical Movement) can be taken as an indication
of the reasons which exist especially for the conscientious seeker of
truth in this respect. Many statements of the scientist of the spirit
must appear entirely fantastic to him who tests them against the
certain conclusions which he feels obliged to draw from what he has
encountered as the facts of the research of natural science. To this
is added the fact that this research can point to the enormous
blessings it has bestowed and continues to bestow on human progress.
What an overwhelming effect is produced when a personality who wants
to see a view of the world built exclusively on the results of this
research, can utter the proud words: "For there lies an abyss between
these two extreme conceptions of life: one for this world alone, the
other for heaven. But up to the present day, traces of a paradise, of
a life of the deceased, of a personal God, have nowhere been found by
human science, by that inexorable science which probes into and
dissects everything, which does not shrink back before any mystery,
which explores heaven beyond the stars of the nebula, analyzes the
infinitely small atoms of living cells as well as of chemical bodies,
decomposes the substance of the sun, liquefies the air, which will
soon telegraph by wireless transmission from one end of the earth to
the other, and already today sees through opaque bodies, which
introduces navigation under the water and in the air, and opens new
horizons to us through radium and other discoveries; this science
which, after having shown the true relationship of all living beings
among themselves and their gradual changes in form, today draws the
organ of the human soul, the brain, into the sphere of its penetrating
research." (Prof. August Forel, Leben und Tod (Life and Death) Munich,
1908, page 3). The certainty with which one thinks it possible to
build on such a basis betrays itself in the words which Forel joins to
the remarks quoted above: "In proceeding from a monistic conception of
life, which alone takes all scientific facts into account, we leave
the supernatural aside and turn to the book of nature." Thus, the
serious seeker after truth is confronted by two things which put
considerable obstacles in the way of any inkling he may have of the
truth of the communications of the science of the spirit. If a feeling
for such communications lives in him, even if he also senses their
inner well-founded-ness by means of a more delicate logic, he can be
driven toward the suppression of such impulses when he has to tell
himself two things. First of all, the authorities who know the cogency
of positive facts consider that everything "supersensible" springs
only from day-dreams and unscientific superstition. In the second
place, by devoting myself to these transcendental matters, I run the
risk of becoming an impractical person of no use in life. For
everything which is accomplished in practical life must be firmly
rooted in the "ground of reality."

Not all of those who find themselves in such a dilemma will find it
easy to work their way through to a realization of how matters really
stand with respect to the two points we have cited. If they could do
it, with respect to the first point they would, for instance, see the
following: The results of the science of the spirit are nowhere in
conflict with the factual research of natural science. Everywhere that
one looks at the relation of the two in an unprejudiced manner, there
something quite different becomes apparent for our time. It turns out
that this factual research is steering toward a goal which in a by no
means distant future, will bring it into full harmony with what
spiritual research ascertains in certain areas from its supersensible
sources. From hundreds of cases which could be adduced as proof for
this assertion, we shall cite a characteristic one here.

In my lectures on the development of the earth and of mankind, it has
been pointed out that the ancestors of the present-day civilized
peoples lived in a land-area which at one time was situated in that
part of the surface of the earth which today is occupied by a large
portion of the Atlantic Ocean. In the essays, From the Akasha
Chronicle, it is rather the soul-spiritual qualities of these
Atlantean ancestors which have been indicated. In oral presentations
also has often been described how the earth surface looked in the old
Atlantean land. It was said that at that time the air was saturated
with water mist vapors. Man lived in the water mist, which in certain
regions never lifted to the point where the air was completely clear.
Sun and moon could not be seen as they are today, but were surrounded
by colored coronas. A distribution of rain and sunshine, such as
occurs at present, did not exist at that time. One can clairvoyantly
explore this old land; the phenomenon of the rainbow did not exist at
that time. It only appeared in the post-Atlantean period. Our
ancestors lived in a country of mist. These facts have been
ascertained by purely supersensible observation, and it must even be
said that the spiritual researcher does best to renounce all
deductions based on his knowledge of natural science, for through such
deductions his unprejudiced inner sense of spiritual research is
easily misled. With such observations one should now compare certain
ideas toward which some natural scientists feel themselves impelled at
present. Today there are scientists who find themselves forced by
facts to assume that at a certain period of its development the earth
was enveloped in a cloud mass. They point out that at present also,
clouded skies exceed the unclouded, so that life is still to a large
extent under the influence of sunlight which is weakened by the
formation of clouds, hence one cannot say that life could not have
developed under the cloud cover of that Atlantean time. They further
point out that those organisms which can be considered among the
oldest of the plant world are of a kind which also develop without
direct sunlight. Thus, among the forms of this older plant world those
desert-type plants which need direct sunlight and dry air, are not
present. And also with respect to the animal world, a scientist,
Hilgard, has pointed out that the giant eyes of extinct animals, for
instance, of the Ichthyosaurus, indicate that a dim illumination must
have prevailed on the earth in their time. I do not mean to regard
such views as not needing correction. They interest the spiritual
researcher less through what they state than through the direction
into which factual research finds itself forced. Even the periodical
Kosmos, which has a more or less Haeckelian point of view, some time
ago published an essay worthy of consideration which, because of
certain facts of the plant and animal world, indicated the possibility
of a former Atlantean Continent.

If one brought together a greater number of such matters one could
easily show how true natural science is moving in a direction which in
the future will cause it to join the stream which at present already
carries the waters of the springs of spiritual research. It cannot be
emphasized too strongly that spiritual research is nowhere in
contradiction with the facts of natural science. Where its adversaries
see such a contradiction, this does not relate to facts, but to the
opinions which these adversaries have formed, and which they believe
necessarily result from the facts. But in truth there is not the
slightest connection between the opinion of Forel quoted above, for
instance, and the facts of the stars of the nebulas, the nature of the
cells, the liquefaction of the air, and so forth. This opinion
represents nothing but a belief which many have formed out of a need
for believing, which clings to the sensory-real, and which they place
beside the facts. This belief is very dazzling for present-day man. It
entices him to an inner intolerance of a quite special kind. Its
adherents are blinded to the point where they consider their own
opinion to be the only "scientific" one, and ascribe the views of
others merely to prejudice and superstition. Thus it is really strange
when one can read the following sentences in a newly-published book on
the phenomena of the soul life [Hermann Ebbinghaus, Abriss der
Psychologie (Outline of Psychology) ]: "As a help against the
impenetrable darkness of the future and the insuperable might of
inimical powers, the soul creates religion for itself. As in other
experiences involving ignorance or incapacity, under the pressure of
uncertainty and the terror of great dangers, ideas as to how help can
be found here, are quite naturally forced upon man in the same way in
which one thinks of water when in danger from fire, of the helpful
comrade in the peril of combat." In the lower stages of civilization,
where man still feels himself to be quite impotent and to be
surrounded by sinister dangers at every step, the feeling of fear, and
correspondingly, the belief in evil spirits and demons naturally
entirely prevail. In higher stages on the other hand, where a more
mature insight into the interconnection of things and a greater power
over them produce a certain self-confidence and stronger hopes, a
feeling of confidence in invisible powers comes to the fore and with
it the belief in good and benevolent spirits. But on the whole, both
fear and love, side by side, remain permanently characteristic of the
feeling of man toward his gods, except that their relation to one
another changes according to the circumstances." -"These are the roots
of religion . . . fear and need are its mothers, and although it is
principally perpetuated by authority once it has come into existence,
still it would have died out long since if it were not constantly
being reborn out of these two."

Everything in these assertions has been shifted and thrown into
disorder, and this disorder is illuminated from the wrong points of
view. Furthermore, he who maintains this opinion is firm in his
conviction that his opinion must be a generally binding truth. First
of all, the content of religious conceptions is confused with the
nature of religious feelings. The content of religious conceptions is
taken from the region of the supersensible worlds. The religious
feeling, for example, fear and love of the supersensible entities, is
made the creator of this content without further ado, and it is
assumed without hesitation that nothing real corresponds to the
religious conceptions. It is not even considered remotely possible
that there could be a true experience of supersensible worlds, and
that the feelings of fear and love then cling to the reality which is
given by this experience, just as no one thinks of water when in
danger from fire, of the helpful comrade in the peril of combat, if he
has not known water and comrade previously. In this view, the science
of the spirit is declared to be day-dreaming because one makes
religious feeling the creator of entities which one simply regards as
non-existent. This way of thinking totally lacks the consciousness
that it is possible to experience the content of the supersensible
world, just as it is possible for the external senses to experience
the ordinary world of the senses.

The odd thing that often happens with such views is that they resort
to the kind of deduction to support their belief which they represent
as improper in their adversaries. For example, in the above-mentioned
work of Forel the sentence appears, "Do we not live in a way a hundred
times truer, warmer, and more interestingly when we base ourselves on
the ego, and find ourselves again in the souls of our descendants,
rather than in the cold and nebulous fata morgana of a hypothetical
heaven among the equally hypothetical songs and trumpet soundings of
supposed angels and archangels, which we cannot imagine, and which
therefore mean nothing to us." But what has that which "one" finds
"warmer," "more interesting," to do with the truth? If it is true that
one should not deduce a spiritual life from fear and hope, is it then
right to deny this spiritual life because one finds it to be "cold"
and "uninteresting"? With respect to those personalities who claim to
stand on the "firm ground of scientific facts," the spiritual
researcher is in the following position. He says to them, Nothing of
what you produce in the way of such facts from geology, paleontology,
biology, physiology, and so forth is denied by me. It is true that
many of your assertions are in need of correction through other facts.
But such a correction will be brought about by natural science itself.
Apart from that, I say "yes" to what you advance. It does not enter my
mind to fight you when you advance facts. But your facts are only a
part of reality. The other part are the spiritual facts, through which
the occurrence of the sensory ones first becomes understandable. These
facts are not hypotheses, not something which "one" cannot imagine,
but something lived and experienced by spiritual research. What you
advance beyond the facts you have observed is, without your realizing
it, nothing other than the opinion that those spiritual facts cannot
exist. As a matter of fact, you advance nothing as the proof of your
assertion except that such spiritual facts are unknown to you. From
this you deduce that they do not exist and that those who claim to
know something of them are dreamers and visionaries. The spiritual
researcher does not take even the smallest part of your world from
you; he only adds his own to it. But you are not satisfied that he
should act in this way; you say -- although not always clearly -- " 'One'
must not speak of anything except of that of which we speak; we demand
not only that that be granted to us of which we know something, but we
require that all that of which we know nothing be declared idle
phantasms." The person who wants to have anything to do with such
"logic" cannot be helped for the time being. With this logic he may
understand the sentence: "Our I has formerly lived directly in our
human ancestors, and it will continue to live in our direct or
indirect descendants." (Forel, Leben und Tod (Life and Death), page
21.) Only he should not add, "Science proves it," as is done in this
work. For in this case science "proves" nothing, but a belief which is
chained to the world of the senses sets up the dogma: That of which I
can imagine nothing must be considered as delusion; and he who sins
against my assertion offends against true science.

The one who knows the development of the human soul finds it quite
understandable that men's minds are dazzled for the moment by the
enormous progress of natural science and that today they cannot find
their way among the forms in which great truths are traditionally
transmitted. The science of the spirit gives such forms back to
mankind. It shows for example how the Days of Creation of the Bible
represent things which are unveiled to the clairvoyant eye.* A mind
chained to the world of the senses finds only that the Days of
Creation contradict the results of geology and so forth. In
understanding the deep truths of these Days of Creation, the science
of the spirit is equally far removed from making them evaporate as a
mere "poetry of myths," and from employing any kind of allegorical or
symbolical methods of explanation. How it proceeds is indeed quite
unknown to those who still ramble on about the contradiction between
these Days of Creation and science. Further, it must not be thought
that spiritual research finds its knowledge in the Bible. It has its
own methods, finds truths independently of all documents and then
recognizes them in the latter. This way is necessary for many
present-day seekers after truth. For they demand a spiritual research
which bears within itself the same character as natural science. And
only where the nature of this science of the spirit is not recognized
does one become perplexed when it is a matter of protecting the facts
of the supersensible world from opinions which appear to be founded on
natural science. Such a state of mind was even anticipated by a man of
warm soul, who however could not find the supersensible content of the
science of the spirit. Almost eighty years ago this personality,
Schleiermacher, wrote to the much younger Lucke: "When you consider
the present state of natural science, how more and more it assumes the
form of an encompassing account of the universe, what do you then feel
the future will bring, I shall not even say for our theology, but for
our evangelical Christianity? . . . I feel that we shall have to learn
to do without much of what many are still accustomed to consider as
being inseparably connected with the nature of Christianity. I shall
not even speak of the Six Days' Work, but the concept of creation, as
it is usually interpreted . . . How long will it be able to stand
against the power of a world-outlook formed on the basis of scientific
reasonings which nobody can ignore? . . . What is to happen, my dear
friend? I shall not see this time, and can quietly lie down to sleep;
but you, my friend, and your contemporaries, what do you intend to
do?" (Theologische Studien und Kritiken von Ullmann und Umbreit
(Theological Studies and Criticism by Ullmann and Umbreit), 1829, page
489). At the basis of this statement lies the opinion that the
"scientific reasonings" are a necessary result of the facts. If this
were so, then "nobody" could ignore them, and he whose feeling draws
near the supersensible world can wish that he may be allowed "quietly
to lie down to sleep" in the face of the assault of science against
the supersensible world. The prediction of Schleiermacher has been
realized, insofar as the "scientific reasonings" have established
themselves in wide circles. But at the same time, today there exists a
possibility of coming to know the supersensible world in just as
"scientific" a manner as the interrelationships of sensory facts. The
one who familiarizes himself with the science of the spirit in the way
this is possible at present, will be preserved from many superstitions
by it, and will become able to take the supersensible facts into his
conceptual store, thereby divesting himself of the superstition that
fear and need have created this supersensible world.

The one who is able to struggle through to this view will no longer be
held back by the idea that he might be estranged from reality and
practical life by occupying himself with the science of the spirit. He
will then realize how the true science of the spirit does not make
life poorer, but richer. It will certainly not mislead him into
underestimating telephones, railroad technology, and aerial
navigation; but in addition he will see many other practical things
which remain neglected today, when one believes only in the world of
the senses and therefore recognizes only a part of the truth rather
than all of it.

 

 

Rudolf Steiner

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