The Rudolf Steiner Archive

V. The Division into Sexes

[ 1 ] As different as the form of man was from his present form in the ancient times described in the previous excerpts "From the Akashic Chronicle", if one goes back even further in the history of mankind, one arrives at even more different states. For even the forms of man and woman have only emerged over the course of time from an older basic form in which the human being was neither one nor the other, but both at the same time. Anyone who wants to form an idea of these distant times of the past must, however, free himself completely from habitual ideas taken from what man sees around him. - The times into which we are now looking back lie somewhat before the middle of the epoch which has been described in the previous sections as the Lemurian. At that time the human body was still made up of soft, malleable materials. The other formations of the earth were also still soft and malleable in contrast to their later solidified formations, the earth was still in a swelling, more fluid state. Because the human soul embodied itself in matter at that time, it was able to adapt itself to this matter to a much greater degree than later. For the fact that the soul takes on a male or female body stems from the fact that the development of the outer earth nature imposes one or the other on it. As long as the substances were not yet solidified, the soul could force these substances under its own laws. It made the body an imprint of its own being. But when the matter had become dense, the soul had to submit to the laws imposed on it by the outer earthly nature. As long as the soul could still rule over the material, it shaped its body neither male nor female, but gave it characteristics that were both at the same time. For the soul is male and female at the same time. It carries these two natures within itself. Its masculine element is related to what is called will, its feminine to what is called conception. - The external formation on earth has led to the body taking on a one-sided formation. The male body has taken on a form that is determined by the element of will, whereas the female body bears more the imprint of imagination. Thus it is that the bisexual, male-female soul dwells in a unisexual, male or female body. In the course of development the body had therefore taken on a form determined by the external earth forces, so that from then on it was no longer possible for the soul to pour out all its inner strength into this body. It had to keep some of this power within itself and could only let a part of it flow into the body.

[ 2 ] Following the Akashic Chronicle reveals the following. In an ancient time, human forms appear before us, soft, pictorial, quite different from the later ones. They still carry the male and female natures equally within them. In the course of time the substances become denser; the human body appears in two forms, one of which becomes similar to the later male and the other to the later female formation. When this difference had not yet arisen, each human being could give birth to another. Fertilization was not an external process, but something that took place within the human body itself. When the body became male or female, it lost this possibility of self-fertilization. It had to work together with another body in order to produce a new human being.

[ 3 ] The separation into sexes occurs when the earth reaches a certain state of compaction. The density of the material prevents part of the reproductive force. And that part of this force which is still active needs to be supplemented from outside, by the opposite force of another human being. But the soul must retain a part of its former power within itself, both in the man and in the woman. It cannot use this part in the bodily external world. - This part of the power is now directed towards the inside of the human being. It cannot go outside; therefore it becomes free for internal organs. - And this is an important point in the development of mankind. Previously, what is called spirit, the faculty of thinking, could not find a place in man. For this faculty would not have found an organ in which to operate. The soul had used all its power outwardly to build up the body. But now the power of the soul, which has no outward use, can enter into connection with the power of the spirit; and through this connection the organs develop in the body which later make man a thinking being. Thus man was able to use part of the power which he had previously used to produce his own kind to perfect his own being. The power by which mankind forms a thinking brain is the same power by which man fertilized himself in ancient times. Thinking is bought through monosexuality. By no longer fertilizing themselves but each other, people can turn part of their productive power inwards and become thinking creatures. Thus the male and female bodies each represent an imperfect outward shaping of the soul; but they become more perfect creatures within themselves as a result.

[ 4 ] This transformation takes place very slowly and gradually with the human being. Gradually, the younger unisexual human forms appear alongside the old bisexual ones.

[ 5 ] It is again a kind of fertilization that occurs in man when he becomes a spiritual being. The inner organs, which can be built up by the surplus power of the soul, are fertilized by the spirit. The soul is twofold in itself: male and female. This is also how it formed its body in ancient times. Later it can only form its body in such a way that it works together with another body for the external; it itself thereby receives the ability to work together with the spirit. Henceforth man is fertilized from without for the external, and from within by the spirit for the internal. It can now be said that the male body has a female soul, the female body a male soul. This inner one-sidedness in man is now balanced by fertilization with the spirit. The one-sidedness is abolished. The male soul in the female body and the female soul in the male body both become bisexual again through fertilization with the spirit. Thus man and woman are different in outward form; inwardly, the one-sidedness of the soul in both merges into a harmonious whole. Inwardly, spirit and soul merge into a unity. The spirit has a feminine effect on the male soul in the woman and thus makes her male-female; the spirit has a masculine effect on the female soul in the man and thus also makes her male-female. The bisexuality of man has retreated from the outside world, where it existed in pre-Lemurian times, into the interior of man.

[ 6 ] You can see that the higher inner being of man has nothing to do with man and woman. But the inner equality comes from a male soul in the woman, and correspondingly from a female soul in the man. The union with the spirit ultimately brings about equality; but that there is a difference before this equality comes about: this includes a secret of human nature. The realization of this secret is of great importance for all secret science. For it is the key to important riddles of life. For the time being, it is not permitted to lift the veil that is spread over this secret.

[ 7 ] So the physical human being has evolved from bisexuality to monosexuality, to the separation into man and woman. And this is how man has become the spiritual being that he is now. But one must not believe that cognizing beings were not in contact with the earth before. If one follows the Akashic Chronicle, it becomes clear that in the first Lemurian period the later physical human being was a completely different being due to his double sex than what we call a human being today. He could not combine sensory perceptions with thoughts: he did not think. His life was one of instinct. His soul merely expressed itself in instincts, desires, animalistic wishes and so on. His consciousness was a dreamlike one; he lived in dumbness. - But there were other beings in the midst of this humanity. These, of course, were also bisexual. For in the state of the earth's development at that time, no male or female human body could be produced. The external conditions were still lacking. But there were other beings who were able to acquire knowledge and wisdom despite their bisexuality. This was possible because they had undergone a completely different development in an even more distant past. It became possible for their soul to fertilize itself with the spirit without first waiting for the inner organ development of the physical body of mankind. The present human soul can only think with the help of the physical brain what it receives from outside through the physical senses. This is what the development of the human soul has brought with it. The human soul had to wait until there was a brain which became the mediator with the spirit. Without this detour this soul would have remained spiritless. It would have remained at the level of dream-like consciousness. It was different with the characterized superhuman beings. Their soul had developed spiritual organs on earlier levels which needed nothing physical in order to come into contact with the spirit. Their knowledge and wisdom was supersensibly acquired. Such knowledge is called intuitive. The present human being only comes to such intuition at a later stage of his development, which makes it possible for him to come into contact with the spirit without sensory mediation. He must make the detour through sensual materiality. This detour is called the descent of the human soul into matter or, popularly, the "fall into sin". - Due to a different kind of earlier development, the superhuman natures did not need to take part in this descent. Because their soul had already attained a higher level, their consciousness was not dreamlike, but inwardly bright. And the perception of knowledge and wisdom through them was a bright vision that needed no senses and no organ of thought. The wisdom according to which the world is built radiated directly into their souls. This enabled them to be the leaders of young humanity, which was still in a stupor. They were the bearers of an "ancient wisdom", which humanity was only beginning to understand in the detour indicated. They differed from what is called "man" in that the wisdom radiated to them like sunlight to us, as a free gift "from above". Man" was in a different position. He had to acquire wisdom through the work of the senses and the thinking organ. At first it did not come to him as a free gift. He had to ask for it. Only when the desire for wisdom lived in man did he acquire it through the senses and the thinking organ. Thus a new drive had to awaken in the soul: the desire, the desire for knowledge. The human soul could not have this desire in its earlier stages. Its instincts only sought to form itself in that which took on external form, that which took place within it as a dream-like life; but not for knowledge of an external world, not for knowledge. With the separation of the sexes, the drive for knowledge emerges first.

[ 8 ] The superhuman beings became aware of wisdom through clairvoyance precisely because they did not have this desire for it. They waited until wisdom shone into them, just as we wait for the sunlight, which we cannot produce in the night, but which must come to us of its own accord in the morning. - The desire for knowledge is brought about precisely by the soul developing inner organs (brain and so on) through which it puts itself in possession of knowledge. This is a consequence of the fact that a part of the soul's power no longer works outwardly, but inwardly. The superhuman beings, however, who have not accomplished this separation of their soul forces, direct all their soul energy outwards. They therefore also have at their disposal for outward fertilization by the spirit that power which the "human being" turns inward to build the organs of cognition. - Now the power through which man turns outwards in order to work together with another is love. The superhuman beings directed all their love outwards in order to let the wisdom of the world flow into their souls. The "human being", however, can only direct part of it outwards. The "human being" became sensual; and thus his love became sensual. He withdraws that part of his being from the outside world which he turns towards his inner development. And this is what is called selfishness. When "man" became man or woman in the physical body, he could only devote himself with one part of his being; with the other he separated himself from the environment. He became selfish. And his outward effect became selfish, his striving for inner development selfish. He loved because he desired, and he thought because he also desired, namely knowledge. - As selfless, all-loving natures, the leaders, the superhuman beings, stood opposite the still childishly selfish human being. - The soul, which does not dwell in a male or female body, is itself male-female. It loves without desire. This is how the innocent soul of man loved before the separation of the sexes; but at that time, because it was still on a subordinate level - in dream consciousness - it could not recognize. The soul of the superhuman beings loves in the same way, but it can still recognize because of its advanced development. The "human being" must go through selfishness in order to reach selflessness again on a higher level, but then with a completely clear consciousness. This was the task of the superhuman natures, the great leaders, to impress their own character, that of love, on the young people. They could only do this with that part of the soul's power that was directed outwards. This gave rise to sensual love. This is therefore the accompanying phenomenon of the soul's activity 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. The progress of physical humanity is based on this love. - Only over this love did the aforementioned superhuman natures have power. That part of the human soul-power which goes inwards and is supposed to bring knowledge by a detour through sensuality is beyond the power of those superhuman beings. They themselves had never descended to the development of corresponding inner organs. They were able to clothe the outward drive in love because they had the outward love as their own essence. This created a gulf between them and young humanity. They were able to implant love, initially in sensual form, into man; they could not give knowledge, for their own knowledge had never taken the detour through the inner organs which man was now developing in himself. They could not speak a language that a brain being could understand.

[ 9 ] Now the aforementioned inner organs of man only became ripe for contact with the spirit at the stage of earthly existence, which lies in the middle of the Lemurian period; however, they were already formed in an imperfect state at a much earlier stage of development. For the soul had already passed through physical incarnations in previous times. It did not live on earth, but on other celestial bodies in condensed matter. The details of this can only be explained later. For the present it is only necessary to say that the earthly beings had previously lived on another planet and had developed according to the conditions on that planet to the point where they were when they arrived on earth. They shed the substances of this previous planet like a garment and, on the stage of development thus attained, became pure soul-germs, with the ability to sense, to feel and so on, in short, to lead that dream-like life which remained characteristic of them on the first stages of their earthly existence. - The above-mentioned superhuman beings, the leaders in the field of love, were already so perfect on the previous planet that they no longer needed to descend until the development of those inner organs. - But there were other beings who were not as far advanced as these leaders of love, who on the previous planet still belonged to the 'human beings', but who at that time were ahead of the human beings. Thus, at the beginning of the formation of the earth they were indeed further advanced than human beings, but still at the stage where knowledge must be acquired through inner organs. These beings were in a special position. They were too far to pass through the physical human body, the male or female, but still not yet so far to be able to work through full clairvoyance like the guides of love. Love beings they could not yet be, they could no longer be "humans". Thus it was only possible for them to continue their own development as half superhumans, but with the help of humans. They were able to speak to brain beings in a language they could understand. This stimulated the inward-looking power of the human soul and enabled it to connect with knowledge and wisdom. This was the first time that wisdom of a human kind came to earth. The so-called "half supermen" were able to draw on this human wisdom in order to achieve what they still lacked in perfection. Thus they became the agents of human wisdom. That is why they are called bringers of light (Lucifer). Childlike humanity therefore had two guides: love beings and wisdom beings. Human nature was caught between love and wisdom when it took on its present form on this earth. Through the beings of love it was stimulated to physical development, through the beings of wisdom to the perfection of the inner being. As a result of physical development, humanity progresses from generation to generation, forming new tribes and races; through inner development, individuals grow to inner perfection, becoming knowledgeable, wise, artists, technicians, etc. Physical humanity progresses from race to race; each race passes on its sensually perceptible qualities to the next through physical development. Here the law of heredity prevails. The children carry within them the physical characters of their fathers. Beyond this lies a spiritual-soul perfection which can only take place through the development of the soul itself. - and thus we stand before the law of the soul's development within the earthly existence. It is connected with the law and mystery of birth and death.