The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Our Atlantean Ancestors

[ 1 ] Our Atlantean ancestors were more different from present-day human beings than those who limit their knowledge entirely to the world of the senses imagine. This difference extends not only to their outward appearance, but also to their intellectual abilities. Their knowledge and also their technical arts, their whole culture was different from what can be observed today. If we go back to the earliest times of Atlantean mankind, we find a mental faculty quite different from ours. The first Atlanteans completely lacked the logical mind, the mathematical combination on which everything that is produced today is based. Instead, they had a highly developed memory. This memory was one of their most outstanding mental abilities. Unlike us, for example, they did not calculate by learning certain rules and then applying them. A "multiplication table" was something completely unknown in Atlantean times. No one had memorized that three times four is twelve. The fact that he was able to find his way in the case where he had to carry out such a calculation was due to the fact that he remembered the same or similar cases. He remembered how it was on previous occasions. One only has to realize that every time a new ability develops in a being, an old one loses its strength and sharpness. Compared to the Atlantean, the human being of today has the logical mind, the ability to combine. Memory, on the other hand, has declined. Now people think in concepts; the Atlanteans thought in images. And when an image appeared in his mind, he remembered so and so many similar images that he had already experienced. He based his judgment on this. That's why all lessons were different back then than in later times. It was not calculated to equip the child with rules, to sharpen his mind. Rather, life was presented to him in vivid images so that he could later remember as much as possible when he had to act in this or that situation. When the child was grown up and came out into life, he could remember in everything he had to do that something similar had been shown to him during his apprenticeship. He found his way best when the new case was similar to something he had already seen. Under completely new conditions the Atlantean was always dependent on trial and error, whereas today's man is spared much in this respect because he is equipped with rules. He can easily apply these even in cases that he has not yet encountered. Such an educational system gave the whole of life something uniform. For very long periods of time, things were done in the same way over and over again. The faithful memory did not allow anything to emerge that would even remotely resemble the rapidity of our progress today. People did what they had always "seen" in the past. One did not think; one remembered. An authority was not someone who had learned a lot, but someone who had experienced a lot and could therefore remember a lot. It would have been impossible for anyone in the Atlantean era to have had to decide on any important matter before reaching a certain age. People only trusted those who could look back on long experience.

[ 2 ] The above does not apply to the initiates and their schools. For they are ahead of the degree of development of their age. And admission to such schools is not determined by age, but by whether the person to be admitted has acquired the ability to absorb higher wisdom in his earlier incarnations. The trust placed in the initiates and their agents during the Atlantean period was not based on the wealth of their personal experience, but on the age of their wisdom. With the Initiate, personality ceases to have meaning. He is entirely at the service of eternal wisdom. Therefore, the characteristics of any period of time do not apply to him.

[ 3 ] While the (especially earlier) Atlanteans still lacked the power of logical thought, they had something in the highly developed power of memory that gave their entire work a special character. But the essence of one human power is always connected to others. Memory is closer to the deeper natural basis of man than the power of understanding, and in connection with it other powers were developed which were even more similar to those of subordinate natural beings than the present human operating powers. Thus the Atlanteans were able to control what is called life force. Just as today the power of heat is extracted from coal and transformed into the motive power of our means of transportation, so the Atlanteans knew how to put the seed power of living beings at their technical service. You can get an idea of what was going on here from the following. Think of a grain seed. A power lies dormant in it. This power causes the stalk to sprout from the seed. Nature can awaken this power dormant in the grain. The present human being cannot. Arbitrarily. He must lower the grain into the earth and leave the awakening to the forces of nature. The Atlantean could do something else. He knew how to convert the power of a heap of grain into technical power, just as the present man is able to convert the heat-power of a heap of coal into such a power. Plants were not built in the Atlantean age merely to be used as food, but to harness their dormant powers for the purposes of transportation and industry. Just as we have devices for transforming the power dormant in coal into motive power in our locomotives, the Atlanteans had devices which they heated - so to speak - with plant seeds, and in which the life force was transformed into technically utilizable power. This is how the Atlanteans' vehicles, which hovered low above the ground, were propelled. These vehicles traveled at a height lower than the height of the mountains of the Atlantean era, and they had steering devices that allowed them to rise above these mountains.

[ 4 ] It must be imagined that with the passage of time all conditions on our earth have changed greatly. The Atlantean vehicles mentioned would be completely useless in our time. Their usability was based on the fact that at that time the air envelope surrounding the Earth was much denser than it is today. Whether one can easily imagine such a greater density of air according to today's scientific concepts should not concern us here. Science and logical thinking, by their very nature, can never decide anything about what is possible or impossible. They can only explain what has been established by experience and observation. And the discussed density of the air is as certain for occult experience as only any sensually given fact of today can be. - But equally certain is the fact, perhaps even more inexplicable to today's physics and chemistry, that the water on the whole earth was much thinner than it is today. And because of this thinness, the water could be directed by the seed power used by the Atlanteans into technical services that are impossible today. The compression of the water has made it impossible to move and direct it in such an artful way as was possible in the past. It is clear from this that the civilization of the Atlantean period was very different from ours. And it will be further understood from this that the physical nature of an Atlantean was also quite different from that of a contemporary human being. The Atlantean enjoyed a water that could be processed by the life force inherent in his own body in a completely different way than is possible in today's physical body. And that is why the Atlantean was able to use his physical powers in a completely different way than the human being of today. He had, so to speak, the means to increase the physical forces within himself when he needed them for his activities. You only get the right idea of the Atlanteans if you know that they also had completely different concepts of fatigue and energy consumption than modern man.

[ 5 ] An Atlantean settlement - as is clear from all that has been described - had a character that in no way resembled that of a modern city. In such a settlement, everything was still in harmony with nature. There is only a faintly similar picture when one says: In the first Atlantean times - approximately up to the middle of the third sub-race - a settlement resembled a garden in which the houses were built up from trees that were intertwined with their branches in an artificial way. What was created by human hands at that time grew out of nature, as it were. And man himself felt completely related to nature. That is why his social sense was quite different from that of today. After all, nature is common to all people. And what the Atlanteans built on the basis of nature they regarded as common property, just as today's man thinks only naturally when he regards what his ingenuity, his intellect, develops as his private property.

[ 6 ] Whoever familiarizes himself with the idea that the Atlanteans were endowed with such spiritual and physical powers as have been described will also learn to understand that in even earlier times mankind presents an image that is only slightly reminiscent of what we are accustomed to seeing today. And not only people, but also the nature surrounding them has changed enormously over the course of time. The forms of plants and animals have changed. The whole of earthly nature has undergone changes. Previously inhabited areas of the earth have been destroyed; others have emerged. - The ancestors of the Atlanteans lived on a part of land that had disappeared, the main area of which was south of present-day Asia. In theosophical writings they are called the Lemurians. After passing through various stages of development, most of them fell into decay. They became stunted humans whose descendants still inhabit certain parts of the earth today as so-called wild peoples. Only a small part of Lemurian mankind was capable of further development. These became the Atlanteans. - Something similar happened again later. The largest mass of the Atlantean population fell into decay, and from a small part descended the so-called Aryans, to whom our present cultural humanity belongs. Lemurians, Atlanteans and Aryans are, according to the designation of secret science, root races of mankind. If we imagine two such root races preceding the Lemurians and two following the Aryans in the future, there are seven in all. One always emerges from the other in the way that has just been indicated with regard to Lemurians, Atlanteans and Aryans. And each root race has physical and spiritual characteristics that are quite different from those of the previous one. While the Atlanteans, for example, developed memory and all that is connected with it, it is incumbent upon the Aryans in the present day to develop the power of thought and all that belongs to it. ^{1The next communication will refer to the characteristics and life of the Lemurians and the development of the Aryans up to our time. This will be followed by further information on the development of the world and humanity.}

[ 7 ] But also in each root race itself different stages must be passed through. And there are always seven of them. At the beginning of the period belonging to a root race, the main characteristics of the same are found in a youthful state, as it were; and gradually they reach maturity and finally also decay. Thus the population of a root race is divided into seven sub-races. However, one should not imagine that a sub-race would immediately disappear when a new one develops. Each one may survive for a long time if others develop alongside it. In this way, there are always populations living side by side on Earth that show different stages of development.

[ 8 ] The first Atlantean sub-race developed from a very advanced and evolved part of the Lemurians. In these, the gift of memory only appeared in the very early stages and only in the last period of their development. One must imagine that a Lemurian could indeed form ideas of what he experienced; but he could not retain these ideas. He immediately forgot again what he had imagined. The fact that he nevertheless lived in a certain culture, for example had tools, built buildings and so on, was not due to his own imagination, but to a spiritual force within him that was, to use the word, instinctive. However, this is not the instinct of today's animals, but of a different kind.^{2This too will be discussed later.}

[ 9 ] In theosophical writings, the first subrace of Atlanteans is called Rmoahals. The memory of this race was primarily focused on vivid sensory impressions. Colors that the eye had seen, sounds that the ear had heard, had a long-lasting effect on the soul. This was expressed in the fact that the Rmoahals developed feelings that their Lemurian ancestors did not yet know. Attachment to what has been experienced in the past, for example, is one of these feelings.

[ 10 ] The development of language also depended on the development of memory. As long as man did not preserve the past, there could be no communication of what he had experienced through language. And because the first beginnings of a memory took place in the last Lemurian period, the ability to name what was seen and heard could also begin at that time. Only people who have a memory can do something with a name that is attached to something. The Atlantean period is therefore also the period in which language found its development. And with language a bond was created between the human soul and things other than man. The latter produced the sound word within himself; and this sound word belonged to the objects of the outside world. And a new bond is also created between man and man through communication by means of language. All this was still in a youthful form among the Rmoahals; but it nevertheless distinguished them in a profound way from their Lemurian forefathers.

[ 11 ] Now the powers in the souls of these first Atlanteans still had something natural about them. In a sense, these humans were even more related to the natural beings around them than their successors. Their soul forces were even more natural forces than those of present-day humans. Thus the sound they produced was also something natural. They did not merely name things, but in their words lay a power over things and also over their fellow men. The words of the Rmoahals not only had meaning, but also power. When one speaks of the magic power of words, one is hinting at something that was far more real for these people than for the present. When the Rmoahals pronounced a word, this word developed a power similar to that of the object it denoted. It is because of this that words at that time had healing power, that they could promote the growth of plants, tame the rage of animals, and similar effects. All this became less and less powerful in the later Atlantean sub-races. One could say that the natural abundance of strength was gradually lost. The Rmoahals perceived this abundance of strength as a gift of mighty nature; and their relationship to nature had a religious character. Language in particular had something sacred for them. And the misuse of certain sounds, which had a significant inherent power, was something impossible. Every human being felt that such misuse would bring him tremendous harm. The magic of such words would have turned into its opposite; what, used in the right way, would have brought blessing, would, if used sacrilegiously, have become a ruin to the originator. In a certain innocence of feeling, the Rmoahals attributed their power not so much to themselves as to the divine nature at work within them.

[ 12 ] This became different with the second subrace (the so-called Tlavatli peoples). The people of this race began to feel their personal worth. Ambition, which was a trait unknown to the Rmoahals, made itself felt among them. The memory carried over in a certain sense to the concept of living together. Those who could look back on certain deeds demanded recognition from their fellow human beings. He demanded that his works be kept in memory. And it was also based on this memory of deeds that a group of people belonging together chose one person as their leader. A kind of royal dignity developed. Indeed, this recognition was preserved until after death. The memory, the memory of the ancestors or of those who had earned merit in life, developed. And this gave rise to a kind of religious veneration of the deceased among individual tribes, a cult of ancestors. This continued into much later times and took on a wide variety of forms. Even among the Rmoahals, man was only valid to the extent that he was able to assert himself at the moment through his power.^{3The following information in connection with the life of the Lemurians will shed light on the relationship between the leading, ruling entities at the time of the Rmoahals.} If someone wanted recognition for what he had done in earlier days, he had to show - through new deeds - that he still possessed the old power. In a sense, he had to recall the old through new works. What he had done as such still counted for nothing. Only the second sub-race reckoned with the personal character of a man to such an extent that they took his past life into account when estimating this character.

[ 13 ] A further consequence of the power of memory for human coexistence was the fact that groups of people formed which were held together by the memory of common deeds. Previously, such group formation was entirely determined by the forces of nature, by common descent. Through his own spirit, man added nothing to what nature had made of him. Now a powerful personality recruited a number of people to a common enterprise, and the memory of this common work formed a social group.

[ 14 ] This kind of social coexistence only really developed among the third sub-race (the Toltecs). The people of this race were therefore the first to establish what can be called a polity, the first type of state formation. And the leadership, the government of these communities passed from the ancestors to the descendants. What had previously lived on only in the memory of fellow human beings was now passed on from father to son. The works of the ancestors were not to be forgotten by the whole generation. What the ancestor had done was still valued in the descendants. You just have to realize that in those times people really did have the power to pass on their gifts to their descendants. Education was, after all, calculated to model life in vivid images. And the effect of this education was based on the personal power that emanated from the educator. He did not hone intellectual powers, but gifts of a more instinctive nature. Through such a system of education, the father's ability really did pass to the son in most cases.

[ 15 ] Under such conditions, personal experience became more and more important among the third subrace. When one group of people separated from another, they brought with them the living memory of what they had experienced in the old locality to establish their new community. But at the same time, there was something in this memory that they did not find appropriate for themselves, in which they did not feel comfortable. She then tried something new in relation to it. And so, with each new foundation, conditions improved. And it was only natural that the better things were imitated. These were the facts that led to the flourishing communities described in theosophical literature during the time of the third sub-race. And the personal experiences that were made were supported by those who were initiated into the eternal laws of spiritual development. Powerful rulers themselves received initiation so that personal efficiency would have full support. Through his personal efficiency man gradually makes himself capable of initiation. He must first develop his powers from below so that enlightenment can then be granted to him from above. This is how the initiated kings and leaders of the Atlanteans came into being. Enormous power was in their hands; and great was also the reverence in which they were held.

[ 16 ] But this fact was also the reason for their decline and decay. The development of the power of memory led to the fullness of power of the personality. The human being wanted to achieve something through this fullness of power. And the greater the power became, the more he wanted to exploit it for himself. The ambition that had developed became outright selfishness. And with it came the abuse of power. If you consider what the Atlanteans were able to do by mastering the life force, you will realize that this abuse must have had enormous consequences. A vast power over nature could be put at the service of personal self-love.

[ 17 ] This happened in full measure through the fourth subrace (the Ur-Turanians). The members of this race, who were taught to master the aforementioned powers, often used them to satisfy their willful desires and cravings. Used in this way, however, these powers destroy each other in their effect. It is as if a person's feet stubbornly moved forward while his upper body wanted to move backwards.

[ 18 ] This destructive effect could only be stopped by the development of a higher power in man. And that was the power of thought. Logical thinking has a restraining effect on selfish personal desires. We have to look for the origin of this logical thinking in the fifth sub-race (the Ursemites). People began to go beyond the mere memory of the past and to compare the various experiences. The power of judgment developed. And according to this power of judgment, desires and cravings were regulated. One began to calculate, to combine. We learned to work in our thoughts. In the past, people surrendered to every desire, but now they first asked whether the thought could also approve the desire. If the people of the fourth sub-race rushed wildly to satisfy their desires, those of the fifth began to listen to an inner voice. And this inner voice has a curbing effect on desires, even if it cannot destroy the demands of the selfish personality.

[ 19 ] So the fifth sub-race has transferred the impulses to act into the human inner being. The human being wants to decide within himself what he should or should not do. But what was thus gained in the inner power of thought was lost in the mastery of external forces of nature. With this combining thinking one can only conquer the forces of the mineral world, not the life force. The fifth sub-race thus developed thinking at the expense of mastery over the life force. But it was precisely in this way that it produced the germ for the further development of humanity. No matter how great the personality, the self-love, even the selfishness may become, mere thinking, which works entirely within and can no longer give orders directly to nature, is not capable of producing such devastating effects as the misused earlier forces. From this fifth sub-race the most gifted part was selected, and this lived over the decline of the fourth root-race and formed the germ of the fifth, the Aryan race, which has as its task the complete development of the thinking power with all that belongs to it. ^{4How this development of the thinking power takes place in the fifth root race, and what significance the present human race has within it, will be shown in the following messages.}

[ 20 ] The people of the sixth sub-race (the Akkadians) developed the thinking power even further than the fifth. They differed from the so-called proto-Semites in that they utilized this faculty in a more comprehensive sense than the latter. - It has been said that while the development of the thinking power did not allow the claims of the selfish personality to produce the disastrous effects which were possible in the earlier races, it did not destroy these claims. The primitive Semites at first regulated their personal relations in such a way as their power of thought dictated. Prudence took the place of mere desires and appetites. Other living conditions emerged. Whereas previous races were inclined to recognize as leaders those whose deeds were deeply imprinted in their memory or who could look back on a life of rich remembrance, such a role was now accorded to the smart. And whereas before, what lived in good memory was decisive, now the best was considered to be that which best illuminated the mind. Under the influence of memory, people used to hold on to something until it was found to be inadequate, and then in the latter case it was self-evident that the person who was able to remedy a deficiency would succeed with an innovation. Under the influence of the power of thought, however, a craving for innovation and change developed. Everyone wanted to implement what his wisdom dictated. Troubled conditions therefore begin among the fifth sub-race, and in the sixth they lead to the feeling of the need to bring the wayward thinking of the individual under general laws. The splendor in the states of the third sub-race 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 sub-race that one must look for the origin of legal and statutory orders. - And during the third sub-race the segregation of a group of people only happened when they were, as it were, pushed out of their community because they no longer felt comfortable within the conditions existing through memory. In the sixth it was essentially different. The calculating power of thought sought the new as such, it spurred on undertakings and new foundations. The Akkadians were therefore an enterprising people, inclined to colonization. Trade in particular had to feed the young, burgeoning power of thought and judgment.

[ 21 ] The seventh sub-race (the Mongols) also developed the power of thought. But they retained characteristics of the earlier sub-races, especially the fourth, to a much greater extent than the fifth and sixth. They remained true to their sense of memory. And so they came to the conviction that the oldest was also the cleverest, that which could best defend itself against the power of thought. The mastery of the forces of life was lost to them too, but the power of thought that developed in them had something of the natural power of this force of life. Although they had lost the power over life, they had never lost their immediate naive belief in it. This force had become their god, on whose behalf they did everything they thought was right. Thus they appeared to their neighboring peoples as if possessed by this secret power and also submitted to it themselves in blind trust. Their descendants in Asia and some European regions showed and still show much of this peculiarity.

[ 22 ] The thinking power planted in man could only attain its full value in development when it received a new impulse in the fifth root race. The fourth could only put this power at the service of what it had inherited through the gift of memory. The fifth only arrived at such forms of life for which the faculty of thought is the right tool.