The Threshold of the Spiritual World
GA 17
III. Concerning Man's Etheric Body and the Elemental World
[ 1 ] Man arrives at the recognition and knowledge of a supersensible spiritual world by overcoming certain obstacles in the way of such a recognition, which at the outset are present in his soul. The difficulty in this case is due to the fact that these obstacles, though affecting the course of the soul's inner experience, are not apprehended as such by ordinary consciousness. For there are many things present, and living, in the human soul, of which at first it knows nothing, and of which it has to gain knowledge by degrees, just as it does of beings and events belonging to the outer world.
[ 2 ] The spiritual world, before it is perceived and recognised by the soul, is to the latter something quite strange and unfamiliar, the qualities of which have nothing in common with what the soul is able to learn through its experiences in the physical world. Thus it comes about that the soul may be confronted with the spiritual world and may see in it an absolute void. The soul may feel as though it were looking into an infinite, blank, desolate abyss. Now this feeling actually exists in those depths of the soul of which it is at first unconscious. The feeling is something like fear and dread, and the soul lives in it without being aware of the fact. For the life of the soul is determined not only by what it knows, but by that which is actually present within it, without its knowledge. Now when the soul searches, in the sphere of thought, for reasons for disproving and for evidence against the spiritual world, it does so, not because those reasons are conclusive in themselves, but because it is seeking for a kind of narcotic to dull the feeling just described. People do not deny the existence of the spiritual world, or the possibility of attaining knowledge of it, as a result of being able to prove its non-existence, but because they desire to fill their souls with thoughts which will deceive them and rid them of their dread of the spiritual world. Liberation from this longing for a materialistic narcotic for deadening the dread of the spiritual world cannot be gained till a survey is made of the whole circumstances of this part of the soul's life, as here described. “Materialism as a psychic phenomenon of fear” is an important chapter in the science of the soul.
[ 3 ] This dread of the spiritual becomes intelligible when we have won our way through to a recognition of the spiritual; when we have come to see that the events and beings of the physical world are the outward expression of supersensible, spiritual events and beings. We arrive at this understanding when we can see that the body belonging to man, which is perceptible to the senses and with which alone ordinary science is concerned, is the expression of a subtle, supersensible, or etheric body, in which the material or physical body is enclosed, like a denser nucleus, as though in a cloud.
This etheric body is the second principle of human nature. It forms the basis of the life of the physical body. But as regards his etheric body man is not cut off from its corresponding outer world to the same extent to which his physical body is detached from the physical outer world. When we speak of an outer world in connection with the etheric body, it is not the physical outer world, perceived by the senses, that is meant, but a spiritual environment which is as supersensible in relation to the physical world as man's etheric body is in relation to his physical body. Man, as an etheric being, stands in an etheric, or elemental world.
[ 4 ] Man is always “experiencing” the fact, although in ordinary life he knows nothing of it, that he, as an etheric being, inhabits an elemental world. When he becomes conscious of this state of things, the consciousness is quite different from that of ordinary experience. This new consciousness sets in when man becomes clairvoyant. The clairvoyant then knows about that which is always present in life, though hidden from ordinary consciousness.
[ 5 ] Now in his ordinary consciousness man calls himself “ I,” signifying the being which presents itself in his physical body. The healthy life of his soul in the world of the senses depends on his thus recognising himself as a being separated from the rest of the world. That healthy psychic life would be interrupted if he characterised any other events or beings of the outer world as part of his ego. When man realises himself as an etheric being in the elemental world, things are different. Then his own ego-being blends with certain occurrences and beings around him. The etheric human being has to find himself in that which is not his inner being, in the same sense as “inner” is conceived in the physical world. In the elemental world there arc forces, occurrences, and beings which, although in certain respects part of the outer world, must yet be considered as belonging to one's own ego. As etheric human beings we are woven into the elemental essence of the world. In the physical world we have our thoughts, with which we are so bound up that we may look upon them as forming a constituent part of our ego. But there are forces, occurrences, and so forth which act as intimately upon the inner nature of the etheric human being as thoughts do in the physical world; and which do not behave like thoughts, but are like beings living with and in the soul. Therefore clairvoyance needs a stronger inner force than that which the soul possesses for the purpose of maintaining its own independence in the face of its thoughts. And the essential preparation for true clairvoyance consists in so strengthening and invigorating the soul inwardly, that it can be conscious of itself as an individual being, not only in the presence of its own thoughts, but also when the forces and beings of the elemental world enter the field of its consciousness as if they were a part of its own being.
[ 6 ] Now that force of the soul by means of which it maintains its position as a being in the elemental world, is present in man's ordinary life. The soul at first knows nothing of this force, although possessing it. In order to possess it consciously, the soul must first prepare itself. It must acquire that inner force of the soul which is gained during the preparation for clairvoyance. As long as a man cannot make up his mind to acquire this inner force, he has a quite comprehensible dread of recognising his spiritual environment, and he—unconsciously—has recourse to the illusion that the spiritual world does not exist or cannot be known. This illusion delivers him from his instinctive dread of the growing together or blending of his own individual essence, or ego-being, with an actual outer spiritual world.
[ 7 ] One who sees into the facts which have been described, comes to recognise an etheric human being behind the physical human being, and a supersensible, etheric, or elemental world behind the one that is physically perceptible.
[ 8 ] Clairvoyant consciousness finds in the elemental world real beings which up to a certain point have independence, just as physical consciousness finds thoughts in the physical world which are unreal and have no independence. Growing familiarity with the elemental world leads to seeing these partially independent beings in closer connection with each other. Just as someone may first look upon the limbs of a physical human body as partially independent, and afterwards acknowledge them to be parts of the body as a whole, so to clairvoyant consciousness are the several beings of the elemental world embraced within one great spiritual body, of which they are living members. In the further course of clairvoyant experience that body comes to be recognised as the elemental, supersensible, etheric body of the earth. Within the earth's etheric body an etheric human being feels himself to he a member of a whole.
[ 9 ] This progress in clairvoyance is a process of growing familiar with the nature of the elemental world. That world is inhabited by beings of the most widely different kinds. If we desire to express the activity of these force-beings, we can only do it by portraying their various peculiarities in pictures. Amongst them are beings which are found to be allied with everything which makes for endurance, solidity, and weight. They may be designated as earth-souls. (And if we do not think ourselves overwise, and are not afraid of an image which only points to reality and is not reality itself, we may speak of them as Gnomes.) We also find beings which are so constituted that they may be designated as air, water, and fire souls.
[ 10 ] Then again other beings appear. It is true that they so manifest themselves that they seem to be elemental or etheric beings, yet it may be seen that there is something in their etheric nature which is of higher quality than the essence of the elemental world. We learn to understand that it is as impossible to apprehend the real nature of these beings with the degree of clairvoyance sufficient only for the elemental world, as it is to arrive at the true nature of man with merely physical consciousness.
[ 11 ] The beings mentioned above, which may figuratively be called earth, water, air, and fire souls, are, with the activity proper to them, situated in a certain respect within the earth's elemental etheric body. Their tasks lie there. But the beings of a higher nature which have been characterised carry their activity beyond the earth-sphere. If we come to know them better, through clairvoyant experience, we ourselves and our consciousness are carried in the spirit beyond the sphere of earth. We see how this earth-sphere has been developed from another, and how it is evolving within itself spiritual germs so that in time to come a further sphere, in a sense of a new earth, may arise out of it. My book Occult Science explains why that from which the earth was formed may be designated as an “old Moon-planet,” and why the world towards which the earth aspires in the future may be called Jupiter. The essential point is that by the “old Moon,” we understand a world long gone by, from which the earth has formed itself by transformation; whilst we understand Jupiter, in a spiritual sense, to be a future world, towards which the earth is aspiring.
Von dem ätherischen Leibe des Menschen und von der ätherischen Welt
[ 1 ] Die Anerkennung einer übersinnlichen Geisteswelt und deren Erkenntnis erwirbt sich der Mensch durch die Überwindung gewisser Hindernisse, welche in der Seele zunächst gegenüber dieser Anerkennung vorhanden sind. Die Schwierigkeit, die hier vorliegt, beruht darauf, daß diese Hindernisse zwar im Bestande des seelischen Erlebens wirksam sind, daß sie aber im gewöhnlichen Leben als solche nicht zum Bewußtsein kommen. Es ist eben in der Seele des Menschen vieles lebendig vorhanden, von dem diese Seele selbst zunächst nichts weiß, von dem sie sich erst allmählich ein Wissen erwerben muß, ganz wie von Wesen und Vorgängen der äußeren Welt.
[ 2 ] Die geistige Welt ist für die Seele, bevor sie von dieser erkannt wird, etwas ganz Fremdes, etwas, das in seinen Eigenschaften nichts von dem hat, was die Seele durch ihre Erlebnisse in der sinnlichen Welt erfahren kann. So kommt es, daß die Seele vor diese geistige Welt gestellt sein könnte und in ihr ein vollkommenes «Nichts» sähe. Die Seele könnte sich fühlen wie in einen unendlichen, leeren, öden Abgrund hineinblickend. - Ein solches Gefühl ist nun in den zunächst unbewußten Seelentiefen tatsächlich vorhanden. Die Seele hat dieses Gefühl, das der Scheu, der Furcht verwandt ist; sie lebt in demselben, ohne daß sie davon weiß. Für das Leben der Seele ist aber nicht allein maßgebend dasjenige, wovon sie weiß, sondern auch dasjenige, was in ihr, ohne ihr Wissen, tatsächlich vorhanden ist. - Wenn nun die Seele aus dem Bereiche ihres Denkens nach «Gründen der Widerlegung», nach «Beweisen» gegen die geistige Welt sucht, dann geschieht dies nicht, weil diese «Gründe» durch ihren eigenen Wert zwingend sind, sondern deshalb, weil die Seele eine Art Betäubung gegen das geschilderte Gefühl sucht. Man wird nicht ein Leugner der geistigen Welt, oder der Möglichkeit ihrer Erkenntnisse, weil man deren «Nichtdasein» «beweisen» kann, sondern weil man die Seele erfüllen will mit Gedanken, die hinwegtäuschen über die «Scheu vor der Geisteswelt». Eine Befreiung von dieser Sehnsucht nach einem materialistischen Betäubungsmittel gegen die «Scheu vor der Geisteswelt» kann erst eintreten, wenn man den ganzen hier geschilderten Tatbestand des Seelenlebens überschaut. Der «Materialismus als seelisches Furchtphänomen» ist ein wichtiges Kapitel der Seelenwissenschaft.
[ 3 ] Begreiflich wird diese «Scheu vor dem Geistigen», wenn man zur Anerkennung der Wahrheit sich hindurchgerungen hat, daß die Vorgänge und Wesenheiten der Sinnenwelt der äußere Ausdruck übersinnlicher, geistiger Vorgänge und Wesenheiten sind. Dies Begreifen tritt schon dann ein, wenn man durchschaut, daß der Leib, der am Menschen sinnlich wahrnehmbar ist, und mit dem es die äußere Wissenschaft allein zu tun hat, der Ausdruck ist für einen feinen, übersinnlichen (ätherischen) Leib, in dem der sinnliche (oder physische) wie in einer Wolke als dichterer Kern enthalten ist. - Dieser ätherische Leib ist ein zweites Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit. In ihm liegt der Grund des Lebens des physischen Leibes. Nun ist in bezug auf diesen ätherischen Leib der Mensch von der Außenwelt nicht in demselben Grade abgesondert, wie er in seinem physischen Leib abgesondert von der physischen Außenwelt ist. Wenn in bezug auf den ätherischen Leib von einer Außenwelt gesprochen wird, so ist damit nicht die physische Außenwelt gemeint, welche durch die Sinne wahrgenommen wird, sondern eine geistige Umwelt, welche gegenüber der physischen Welt so übersinnlich ist wie der ätherische Leib des Menschen gegenüber seinem physischen Leib. Der Mensch steht als ätherisches Wesen in einer ätherischen (elementarischen) Welt.
[ 4 ] Wenn nun dasjenige, was der Mensch wohl stets erlebt, wovon er aber im gewöhnlichen Erleben nichts weiß, daß er nämlich als ätherisches Wesen in einer elementarischen Welt sich befindet - wenn dieser Tatbestand bewußt wird, so ist dieses Bewußtsein ein ganz anderes als das des gewöhnlichen Erlebens. Für die übersinnliche Erkenntnis tritt dieses Bewußtsein ein. Diese weiß dann von dem, was im Leben stets da ist, was sich aber vor dem gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein verbirgt.
[ 5 ] Nun sagt der Mensch im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein zu sich «Ich», indem er auf das Wesen deutet, welches in seinem physischen Leibe sich darbietet. In der Sinneswelt beruht sein gesundes Seelenleben darauf, daß er sich so als ein von der übrigen Welt abgesondertes Wesen erkennt. Dieses gesunde Seelenleben wäre durchbrochen, wenn der Mensch irgendwelche Vorgänge oder Wesenheiten der Außenwelt als zu seinem «Ich» gehörig bezeichnete. - Insofern der Mensch sich als ätherisches Wesen in der elementarischen Welt erlebt, ist dies anders. Da verschwimmt das eigene (Ich-) Wesen mit gewissen Vorgängen und Wesenheiten der Umgebung. Die ätherische Menschenwesenheit muß sich auch in dem finden, was nicht in der Art ihr Inneres ist, wie sie sich gewöhnt hat, dieses «Innere» in der Sinnenwelt anzusehen. Es gibt in der elementarischen Welt Kräfte, Vorgänge und Wesenheiten, welche man, trotzdem sie in gewisser Beziehung «Außenwelt» sind, doch so ansprechen muß, als ob sie zu dem eigenen «Ich» gehörten. Man ist als ätherisches Menschenwesen in die elementarische Weltwesenheit eingesponnen. In der physisch-sinnlichen Welt hat man seine Gedanken; man ist mit ihnen so zusammen, daß man sie als zum Bestande des «Ich» gehörig ansehen kann. In das ätherische Menschen-wesen wirken so intim in das «Innere» herein wie die Gedanken in der Sinnenwelt Kräfte, Vorgänge usw., die sich nicht so verhalten wie die Gedanken, sondern die wie Wesen sind, die mit und in der Seele leben. Die übersinnliche Erkenntnis bedarf daher einer stärkeren inneren Kraft, als diejenige ist, welche die Seele hat, um sich gegenüber ihren Gedanken als selbständig behaupten zu können. Und die Vorbereitung zur wahren Geist-Anschauung besteht im wesentlichen auch darin, die Seele so innerlich zu verstärken, zu erkraften, daß sie sich als Eigenwesen nicht nur erfühlen kann, wenn Gedanken in ihr sind, sondern auch, wenn die Kräfte und Wesenheiten der elementarischen Welt in ihrem Bewußtseinsfelde wie ein Teil ihres eigenen Wesens auftreten.
[ 6 ] Die Kraft der Seele, durch welche sie sich als Wesen der elementarischen Welt behauptet, ist in dem gewöhnlichen Leben des Menschen vorhanden. Die Seele weiß zunächst nichts von dieser Kraft, aber sie hat sie. Daß sie sie auch wissend haben kann, dazu muß sie sich erst rüsten. Sie muß sich dazu aneignen jene innere Seelenstärke, welche in der Vorbereitung zum Geist-Anschauen erworben wird. Solange sich der Mensch nicht entschließen kann, diese innere Seelenstärke sich anzueignen, hat er eine begreifliche Scheu vor der Anerkennung seiner geistigen Umwelt, und er greift - unbewußt - zu der Illusion, diese geistige Welt sei nicht vorhanden, oder nicht erkennbar. Diese Illusion hilft ihm hinweg über die instinktive Scheu vor dem Verwachsen oder Verschwimmen seines Eigenwesens (Ich) mit einer wesenhaften äußeren geistigen Welt.
[ 7 ] Wer den geschilderten Tatbestand durchschaut, der kommt zur Anerkennung eines ätherischen Menschenwesens «hinter» dem physisch-sinnlichen Menschen, und einer übersinnlichen ätherischen (elementarischen) Welt hinter der physisch-wahrnehmbaren.
[ 8 ] In der elementarischen Welt findet das hellsichtige Bewußtsein Wesenhaftes, das bis zu einem gewissen Grade Selbständigkeit hat, wie das physische Bewußtsein in der Sinnenwelt Gedanken findet, welche unselbständig und unwesenhaft sind. - Das Einleben in diese elementarische Welt führt dann dazu, die teilweise selbständigen Wesenheiten in einem größeren Zusammenhange zu sehen. Wie wenn man erst die Glieder eines physischen Menschenleibes in ihrer teilweisen Selbständigkeit betrachtete und dann erkannte, daß sie innerhalb des Gesamtleibes als Teile vorhanden sind, so fassen sich für das übersinnliche Bewußtsein die Einzelwesen der elementarischen Welt als Lebensglieder eines großen Geistleibes zusammen, welcher dann im weiteten Verlaufe des übersinnlichen Erlebens als der elementarische (übersinnliche) Lebensleib der Erde erkannt wird. Innerhalb dieses Lebensleibes der Erde erfühlt sich das ätherische Menschenwesen selbst als ein Glied.
[ 9 ] Es ist dieses Fortschreiten in der Geist-Anschauung ein Einleben in das Wesen einer elementarischen Welt. Diese Welt ist belebt von Wesenheiten der mannigfaltigsten Art. Will man das Treiben dieser wesenhaften Kräfte zum Ausdruck bringen, so kann man das nur, indem man ihre mannigfaltigen Eigenarten in Bildern zeichnet. Es gibt da Wesenheiten, die man verwandt findet mit allem, was nach Dauer, nach Festigkeit, nach Schwere drängt. Man kann sie als Erdenseelen bezeichnen. (Und wenn man nicht überklug sich dünkt und sich nicht fürchtet vor dem Bilde, das doch auch nur auf die Wirklichkeit deuten, sie nicht selber sein soll, so kann man von «Gnomen» sprechen.) Man findet Wesen, die man wegen ihrer Beschaffenheiten als Luft-, Wasser-, Feuerseelen bezeichnen kann.
[ 10 ] Dann aber zeigen sich auch andere Wesenheiten. Diese treten zwar so auf, daß sie als elementarische (ätherische) Wesen erscheinen, doch man erkennt an ihnen, daß in ihrer ätherischen Wesenheit etwas steckt, was höherer Art ist als die Wesenhaftigkeit der elementarischen Welt. Man lernt verstehen, daß man dem wahren Sein dieser Wesen mit dem Grade von übersinnlicher Erkenntnis, der nur für die elementarische Welt ausreicht, ebensowenig beikommen kann, wie man der wahren Wesenheit des Menschen mit dem bloßen physischen Bewußtsein beikommen kann.
[ 11 ] Die vorher genannten Wesen, die im Bilde Erd-, Wasser-, Luft-, Feuerseelen genannt werden können, stehen mit ihrer Tätigkeit in gewisser Beziehung innerhalb des elementarischen Lebensleibes der Erde. Sie haben in demselben ihre Aufgaben. Die charakterisierten Wesenheiten höherer Art haben eine Tätigkeit, welche über das Erdgebiet hinausreicht. Lernt man sie im übersinnlichen Erleben weiter kennen, so wird man selbst mit seinem Bewußtsein über das Erdgebiet geistig hinausgeführt. Man schaut, wie sich dieses Erdgebiet aus einem anderen herausgebildet hat, und wie es die geistigen Keime in sich entwickelt, daß aus ihm in der Zukunft ein weiteres Gebiet, gewissermaßen eine «neue Erde», entstehen kann. In meiner «Geheimwissenschaft» ist gesagt, warum man dasjenige, woraus sich die Erde gebildet hat, als einen alten «Mondplaneten» bezeichnen kann, und warum man die Welt, nach welcher die Erde in Zukunft hinstreben wird, als «Jupiter» bezeichnen kann. Das Wesentliche ist, daß man im «alten Monde» eine langvergangene Welt sieht, aus welcher die Erdenwelt durch Umwandlung sich gebildet hat, und daß man im geistigen Sinne als «Jupiter» eine zukünftige Welt versteht, nach welcher die Erdenwelt hinstrebt.
Of the etheric body of man and of the etheric world
[ 1 ] Man acquires the recognition of a supersensible spiritual world and its cognition by overcoming certain obstacles which are initially present in the soul against this recognition. The difficulty that exists here is based on the fact that these obstacles are indeed effective in the existence of the soul's experience, but that they do not come to consciousness as such in ordinary life. There are many things alive in the soul of man of which this soul itself knows nothing at first, of which it must only gradually acquire knowledge, just as of the beings and processes of the outer world.
[ 2 ] The spiritual world is for the soul, before it is recognized by it, something completely foreign, something that has in its characteristics nothing of what the soul can experience through its experiences in the sensual world. So it happens that the soul could be placed before this spiritual world and see in it a complete "nothing". The soul could feel as if it were looking into an infinite, empty, barren abyss. - Such a feeling is actually present in the initially unconscious depths of the soul. The soul has this feeling, which is akin to timidity, to fear; it lives in it without being aware of it. For the life of the soul, however, not only that of which it is aware is decisive, but also that which is actually present in it without its knowledge. - If the soul now looks for "reasons of refutation", for "proofs" against the spiritual world from the realm of its thinking, then this does not happen because these "reasons" are compelling by their own value, but because the soul is looking for a kind of anaesthetic against the described feeling. One does not become a denier of the spiritual world, or of the possibility of its knowledge, because one can "prove" its "non-existence", but because one wants to fill the soul with thoughts that cover up the "shyness of the spiritual world". A liberation from this longing for a materialistic anaesthetic against the "shyness of the spiritual world" can only occur if one takes a look at the entire facts of the life of the soul described here. "Materialism as a fear phenomenon of the soul" is an important chapter in the science of the soul.
[ 3 ] This "fear of the spiritual" becomes understandable when one has come to recognize the truth that the processes and entities of the world of the senses are the external expression of supersensible, spiritual processes and entities. This understanding already occurs when one realizes that the body which is sensually perceptible in man, and with which external science alone has to deal, is the expression of a subtle, supersensible (etheric) body, in which the sensual (or physical) body is contained as a denser core, as in a cloud. - This etheric body is a second member of the human being. In it lies the basis of the life of the physical body. Now, in relation to this etheric body, man is not separated from the outer world to the same degree as he is separated from the physical outer world in his physical body. When we speak of an external world in relation to the etheric body, we are not referring to the physical external world which is perceived through the senses, but to a spiritual environment which is as supersensible in relation to the physical world as the etheric body of man is in relation to his physical body. As an ethereal being, man stands in an ethereal (elemental) world.
[ 4 ] When now that which man certainly always experiences, but of which he knows nothing in ordinary experience, namely that he is as an etheric being in an elementary world - when this fact becomes conscious, then this consciousness is a completely different one than that of ordinary experience. For the supersensible cognition this consciousness occurs. It then knows of that which is always present in life, but which is hidden from ordinary consciousness.
[ 5 ] Now, in ordinary consciousness, man says "I" to himself by pointing to the being that presents itself in his physical body. In the sense world his healthy soul life is based on the fact that he recognizes himself as a being separated from the rest of the world. This healthy soul life would be broken if the human being were to describe any processes or entities of the outer world as belonging to his "I". - Insofar as man experiences himself as an etheric being in the elemental world, this is different. There the own (I-) being blurs with certain processes and beings of the environment. The etheric human being must also find itself in that which is not its inner being in the way it has become accustomed to seeing this "inner being" in the sense world. There are forces, processes and entities in the elementary world which, although they are in a certain sense "outer world", must be approached as if they belonged to one's own "I". As an etheric human being, one is spun into the elementary world entity. In the physical-sensual world one has one's thoughts; one is together with them in such a way that one can regard them as belonging to the existence of the "I". In the etheric human being, forces, processes, etc., which do not behave like thoughts, but are like beings living with and in the soul, work their way into the "inner being" as intimately as thoughts do in the sensory world. Supersensible knowledge therefore requires a stronger inner power than that which the soul has in order to be able to assert itself as independent of its thoughts. And the preparation for true spiritual insight also consists essentially in strengthening the soul inwardly so that it can not only feel itself as its own being when thoughts are in it, but also when the forces and entities of the elementary world appear in its field of consciousness like a part of its own being.
[ 6 ] The power of the soul, through which it asserts itself as a being of the elemental world, is present in the ordinary life of man. At first the soul knows nothing of this power, but it has it. That it can also have it knowingly, it must first prepare itself for this. It must acquire that inner strength of soul which is acquired in the preparation for looking at the spirit. As long as man cannot decide to acquire this inner strength of soul, he is understandably afraid of recognizing his spiritual environment, and he resorts - unconsciously - to the illusion that this spiritual world does not exist or is not recognizable. This illusion helps him to overcome his instinctive fear of the merging or blurring of his own being (ego) with an essential external spiritual world.
[ 7 ] Whoever sees through the facts described above comes to recognize an etheric human being "behind" the physical-sensible human being, and a supersensible etheric (elementary) world behind the physical-perceptible one.
[ 8 ] In the elementary world, clairvoyant consciousness finds entities that have a certain degree of independence, just as physical consciousness finds thoughts in the sensory world that are dependent and non-essential. - Living in this elementary world then leads to seeing the partially independent entities in a larger context. Just as if one first looked at the members of a physical human body in their partial independence and then recognized that they exist as parts within the whole body, so for the supersensible consciousness the individual beings of the elementary world come together as life members of a great spiritual body, which is then recognized in the further course of the supersensible experience as the elementary (supersensible) life body of the earth. Within this life body of the earth, the etheric human being experiences itself as a member.
[ 9 ] This progression in the spiritual view is a living into the essence of an elementary world. This world is animated by beings of the most diverse kinds. If one wants to express the activity of these essential forces, one can only do so by drawing their manifold characteristics in pictures. There are entities that are related to everything that strives for permanence, for solidity, for heaviness. They can be described as earth souls. (And if one does not think oneself overly clever and is not afraid of the image, which after all is only meant to point to reality and not be reality itself, one can speak of "gnomes"). One finds beings that can be described as air, water and fire souls because of their nature.
[ 10 ] But then other beings also appear. These appear as elemental (etheric) beings, but one recognizes in them that there is something in their etheric beingness that is of a higher nature than the beingness of the elemental world. One learns to understand that one can no more come to terms with the true being of these beings with the degree of supersensible knowledge that is only sufficient for the elementary world than one can come to terms with the true being of man with mere physical consciousness.
[ 11 ] The above-mentioned beings, which can be figuratively called earth, water, air and fire souls, stand with their activity in a certain relationship within the elementary life body of the earth. They have their tasks within it. The characterized beings of a higher kind have an activity that extends beyond the earth realm. If one gets to know them further in supersensible experience, one's consciousness is spiritually led beyond the earth realm. One sees how this area of the earth has developed out of another, and how it develops the spiritual seeds within itself so that another area, a "new earth" so to speak, can emerge from it in the future. In my "Secret Science" it is said why that out of which the earth was formed can be called an old "moon planet", and why the world towards which the earth will strive in the future can be called "Jupiter". The essential thing is that one sees in the "old moon" a long-past world from which the earth world has formed through transformation, and that one understands in the spiritual sense as "Jupiter" a future world towards which the earth world will strive.