The Foundations of Esotericism
GA 93a
30 September 1905, Berlin
Lecture V
It is always stressed that in order to progress in occult matters one should be as positive as possible and as little as possible negative; that one should speak less about what is not, than about what is. When this is practised in ordinary life it is a preparation for work in the sphere of the occult. The occultist must not ask: Has the stone life? but: Where is the life of the stone? Where is the consciousness of the mineral kingdom to be found? That is the highest form of non-criticism. Particularly in regard to the highest questions this is the attitude of mind that must be cultivated.
In ordinary life we differentiate three bodily conditions: the solid, the fluid and the gaseous or airy. The solid must be distinguished from the mineral. Air and water are also mineral. Theosophical writings add to these, four other finer conditions of matter. The first element which is finer than the air is the one which causes it to expand, which always increases its spatial content. What expands the air in this way is warmth; it is really a fine etheric substance, the first grade of ether, the Warmth Ether. Now follows the second kind of ether, the Light Ether. Bodies which shine send out a form of matter which is described in Theosophy as Light Ether. The third kind of ether is the bearer of everything which gives form to the finest matter, the formative ether, which is also called the Chemical Ether. It is this ether which brings about the union of oxygen and hydrogen. And the finest of all the ethers is that which constitutes life: Prana, or Life Ether.
Science throws together all four kinds of ether. Nevertheless it will gradually distinguish them in this way. Our description tallies with that of the Rosicrucians, while Indian literature speaks of four different grades of ether.
To begin with, let us take everything that is solid. What is solid has apparently no life. When one transposes oneself into the life of the solid, which becomes possible through living in waking consciousness in the condition described as the dream world, and when one then seeks to discover the solid, for instance by entering into a rocky mountain landscape, then one feels in oneself that one's own life is altered, one feels life rippling through one. One is not there with consciousness, but with one's own life, the etheric body; one is then at a place, in a condition which is called the Maha-para-nirvana plane. On this Maha-para-nirvana plane the life of the solid is to be found. This plane is the other pole of the solid. Through life on the Maha-para-nirvana plane one acquired another means of perception. When one returns one has experienced the activity of beings in the Maha-para-nirvana plane. It is there that the solid stone has its life.
Secondly there follows what is fluid, water. When in the dream condition one transposes oneself into the sea, then one becomes imbued with the life of the fluid, on the Para-nirvana plane. Through this procedure one learns to know something of the different planes.
Thirdly, when one transposes oneself in dream into the air-forming element, one finds oneself on the Nirvana plane. Nirvana means literally, ‘to be extinguished’, as one extinguishes a fire. When one seeks for life in it, one is with one's own life on the Nirvana plane. Man breathes in the air. When he experiences in himself the life of the air, then that is the way to reach the Nirvana plane. This is the reason for the breathing exercises of the Yogis. No one can attain to the Nirvana plane if he does not actually practise breathing exercises. They are only Hatha-Yoga exercises when they are carried out on the wrong level. Otherwise they are Raja-Yoga exercises. One actually inhales life: the Nirvana plane.
Fourthly, below the Nirvana plane is the Buddhi or Shushupti plane. There warmth has its life. When Buddhi is developed in man, all Kama is transformed into selflessness, into love. Those animals which develop no warmth are also without passion. At higher levels man must again achieve this passionless condition, because he has his life on the Shushupti plane.
Fifthly comes the Devachan or Mental plane; hence the inner connection between wisdom and light. When in dream consciousness one experiences the light, one experiences wisdom within it. This was always the case when God revealed himself in the light. In the burning thorn bush, that is to say, in the light, Jehovah appeared to Moses in order to reveal wisdom.
The sixth is the astral plane. On this plane the chemical ether has its life. A somnambulist perceives on the astral plane the qualities of the chemicals, the chemical characteristics, because here the chemical ether actually has its life.
The seventh is the physical plane. There the life ether lives in its own element. With the life ether one perceives life. This ether is also called the atomic ether, because on this plane it has its own life, its own central point. What lives on a particular plane has on this same plane its central point.
As an actual fact everything we have around us contains the seven planes. We must only ask: Where has each element, the solid, the gaseous, etc., its life?
We have now heard that warmth has its own life on the Buddhi or the Shushupti plane. Thus between all things definite relationships exist. Very striking is the relationship between the ear and speech. In evolution the ear was present much earlier than speech. The ear is the receptive organ; speech is the organ which produces sound. These two, ear and speech, essentially belong together. Sound as it manifests is the result of vibrations in the air, and each single sound arises from a particular vibration. When you study what exists outside, outside yourself, as sound, then you are studying the arithmetic of the air.

Undifferentiated space would be soundless. Space which is arithmetically organised produces sound. Here we have an example of how one can look into the Akashic Record. If one can rise to the perception of the inner arithmetic which is preserved from sound in space, then at any time one can hear again a sound which someone has spoken. For instance one can hear what was spoken by Caesar at the crossing of the Rubicon. The inner arithmetic of sound is still present in the Akashic Record. Sound corresponds to something we call Manas. What the ear experiences as sound is the wisdom of the world. In the perception of sound one hears the wisdom of the world. In the act of speaking one brings forth the wisdom of the world. What is arithmetical in our speech remains in the Akashic Record. When he hears or speaks man expresses himself directly in wisdom. At the present time thinking is the form in which man can bring his will to expression in speech. Today it is only in thinking that we can unfold the will. Only later will it be possible for man, rising above the level of thought, to unfold the will in speech.
The next step is connected with warmth. Man's activity is to be sought in what streams out from him as inner warmth. Out of what proceeds from warmth: passions, impulses, instincts, desires, wishes and so on, Karma arises. Just as the parallel organ to the ear is the organ of speech, so the parallel organ to the warmth of the heart is the pituitary gland, the Hypophysis. The heart takes up the warmth from outside, as the ear does sound. Thereby it perceives world warmth. The corresponding organ which we must have, in order to be able to produce warmth consciously, is the pituitary gland in the head, which at the present time is only at the beginning of its development. Just as one perceives with the ear and produces with the larynx, so one takes up the warmth of the world in the heart and lets it stream forth again through the pituitary gland in the brain. Once this capacity has been achieved, the heart will have become the organ it was intended to be. There is a reference to this in words from ‘Light on the Path’:22Light on the Path by Mabel Collins. ‘Before the soul can stand in the presence of the Masters, its feet must be washed in the blood of the heart.’ Then our heart's blood streams out as today our words stream out into the world. In the future, warmth of soul will flood over mankind.
Somewhat deeper in evolution than the warmth organ stands the organ of sight. In the course of evolution the organs of hearing, warmth and sight, follow in sequence; the organ of sight is only at the stage of receiving, but the ear already perceives, for instance in the sound of a bell, its innermost being. Warmth must flow from the being itself. The eye has only an image, the ear has the perception of innermost reality. The perception of warmth is the receiving of something that rays outwards. There is an organ which will also become the active organ of vision. This is today germinally present in the pineal gland, the Epiphysis, the organ which will give reality to the images which today are produced by the eye. These two organs, the pineal gland and the pituitary gland as active organs, must develop into the organ of vision (eye) and the organ of warmth (heart). Today fantasy is the preliminary stage leading to a later power of creation. Now man has at most imagination. Later he will have magical power. This is the Kriya-shakti power. It develops in proportion to the physical development of the pineal gland.
In the reciprocal relationship between ear and larynx we have a prophetic model (Vorbild). Thinking will later be interpenetrated with warmth, and still later man himself will learn to create. First he learns to create a picture; then to create and send forth radiations; then to create beings. Freemasonry calls these three forces wisdom, semblance (beauty) and power. (See Goethe's Fairy Tale.)23was first published in 1795. See: Rudolf Steiner's ‘Goethe's Standard of the Soul’.
Warmth has its life on the Shushupti plane. To make conscious use of this is possible for one who understands and controls the life of warmth, as in a certain sense man today controls the life of the air. In his development man must now approach the forces of the Shushupti plane (Buddhi-Manas). The Fifth Sub-Race has mainly the task of developing Kama-Manas. One finds Manas in everything which is placed in the service of the human spirit. Our age has placed its highest powers at the service of these needs, whereas the animal is satisfied without such achievements.
Now however Buddhi-Manas must also begin its development. Man must learn something beyond speech. Another force must be united with speech, such as we find in the writings of Tolstoi. It is not so much a matter of what he says, but that behind what he says stands an elemental force that has in it something of Buddhi-Manas, which must now enter into our civilisation. Tolstoi's writings work so powerfully because they are consciously opposed to West[ern] European culture and contain something new and elemental. A certain barbarism which is still contained in them will later be brought into balance. Tolstoi is just a small instrument of a higher spiritual power which also stood behind the Gothic initiate Ulfilas. This spiritual power uses Tolstoi as its instrument.
V
Es wird immer betont, daß man, um okkult vorwärtszukommen, möglichst positiv und möglichst wenig negativ sein soll, daß man weniger sprechen soll von dem, was nicht ist, als von dem, was ist. Wenn das im gewöhnlichen Leben gefördert wird, so ist das eine Vorbereitung für die Arbeit im Okkulten. Der Okkultist muß nicht fragen: Hat der Stein Leben? -, sondern: Wo ist das Leben des Steins, wo ist das Bewußtsein des Mineralreiches zu finden? — Das ist die höchste Form des Nichtkritisierens. Gerade den höchsten Fragen gegenüber muß man diese Gesinnung ausbilden.
Im gewöhnlichen Leben unterscheidet man drei Zustände der Körper: das Feste, das Flüssige und das Gas- oder Luftförmige. Fest muß man unterscheiden von mineralisch. Auch Luft und Wasser sind mineralisch. In den theosophischen Schriften rechnet man noch vier andere feinere Stoffarten dazu. Das nächste nämlich, was feiner ist als die Luft, ist dasjenige Element, das sie ausdehnt, sie dem Rauminhalt nach immer größer macht. Was die Luft so auseinandertreibt, ist die Wärme; es ist eigentlich ein feiner ätherischer Stoff, der erste Äthergrad, der Wärmeäther. Nun folgt als zweite Ätherart der Lichtäther. Körper, die leuchten, senden einen Stoff aus, den man in der Theosophie als Lichtäther bezeichnet. Die dritte Ätherart ist der Träger alles dessen, was die feinsten Stoffe formt, der formende Äther, auch chemischer Äther genannt. Daß sich Sauerstoff und Wasserstoff verbinden, bewirkt dieser Äther. Und der allerfeinste Äther ist der, der das Leben bildet: Prana oder Lebensäther.
Die Wissenschaft wirft alle vier Ätherarten zusammen. Aber sie wird sie allmählich doch in dieser Weise herausfinden. Unsere Bezeichnung ist die im Sinne der Rosenkreuzer, während die indische Literatur von vier verschiedenen Graden des Äthers spricht.
Nehmen wir zunächst alles das, was fest ist. Was fest ist, hat scheinbar kein Leben. Wenn man sich mit dem Leben in das Feste hineinversetzt, was dadurch geschieht, daß man wach in dem Zustand lebt, den man als Traumwelt bezeichnet und dann das Feste aufsucht, zum Beispiel sich in eine felsige Gebirgslandschaft hineinversetzt, dann fühlt man in sich selbst das eigene Leben verändert, man fühlt sich von einem Leben durchrieselt. Man ist nicht mit dem Bewußtsein dort, sondern mit dem eigenen Leben, dem Ätherkörper; man ist dann an einem Ort, in einem Zustande, den man den Mahaparinirvanaplan nennt. Auf diesem Mahaparinirvanaplan ist das Leben des Festen. Dieser Plan ist der andere Pol des Festen. Daß man dann mit dem Leben auf dem Mahaparinirvanaplan war, kann man aus anderen Wirkungen wahrnehmen. Wenn man von dort zurückkommt, hat man die Einwirkung von Wesen im Mahaparinirvana-Zustande erfahren. Dort hat der feste Stein sein Leben.
Als zweites folgt das Flüssige, das Wasser. Wenn man sich im Traumzustand ins Meer versetzt, als ob man selbst Meer wäre, dann versetzt man sich mit dem Leben des Flüssigen auf den Parinirvanaplan. Durch diese Prozedur weiß man etwas von den verschiedenen Planen.
Drittens, wenn man sich in das Luftförmige versetzt im Traum, so befindet man sich auf dem Nirvanaplan. Nirvana heißt wörtlich «verlöschen», in Luft verlöschen, so wie man ein Feuer auslöscht. Wenn man darin das Leben sucht, ist man mit dem eigenen Leben auf dem Nirvanaplan. Der Mensch atmet Luft ein. Wenn er das Leben der Luft in sich erlebt, dann ist das der Weg, um auf den Nirvanaplan zu kommen. Daher die Atemübungen der Jogis. Niemand kann den Nirvanaplan erreichen, wenn er nicht wirklich Atemübungen macht. Es sind nur dann Hathajoga-Übungen, wenn sie auf der falschen Stufe gemacht werden. Sonst sind sie Rajajoga-Übungen. Man atmet tatsächlich das Leben ein, den Nirvanaplan.
Viertens: Unter dem Nirvanaplan ist der Buddhi- oder Shushuptiplan. Da hat die Wärme das Leben. Wenn Buddhi im Menschen entwickelt wird, wird alles Kama in Selbstlosigkeit, in Liebe umgewandelt. Diejenigen Tiere, welche keine Wärme entwickeln, sind auch leidenschaftslos. Auf höheren Stufen muß der Mensch diese Leidenschaftslosigkeit wieder erreichen, weil er sein Leben auf dem Shushuptiplan hat. Fünftens kommt der Devachan- oder Mentalplan. Da hat der Lichtäther sein Leben. Das Sonnenlicht lebt auf dem Devachanplan; daher die innere Beziehung zwischen Weisheit und Licht. Wenn man das Licht im Traumbewußtsein erlebt, so erlebt man darin die Weisheit. Immer, wenn Gott sich im Lichte offenbarte, ist das der Fall gewesen. Im brennenden Dornbusch, das heißt im Licht, erschien Jehova dem Moses, um die Weisheit zu offenbaren.
Der sechste ist der Astralplan. Auf dem lebt der chemische Äther. Wenn man somnambul ist, nimmt man auf dem Astralplan die Eigenschaften der Chemikalien, die chemischen Eigenschaften wahr, weil auf dem Astralplan der chemische Äther wirklich sein Leben hat.
Der siebente ist der physische Plan. Da lebt der Lebensäther in seinem eigentlichen Elemente. Beim Lebensäther nimmt man das Leben wahr. Der Lebensäther wird auch atomistischer Äther genannt, weil er auf diesem Plan sein eigenes Leben, seinen eigenen Mittelpunkt hat. Was auf demselben Plan lebt, hat auf demselben Plan seinen Mittelpunkt.
Tatsächlich enthält alles, was wir um uns haben, die sieben Plane. Sie sind tatsächlich um uns. Man muß nur fragen: Wo hat das Feste, wo das Gasförmige sein Leben? - und so weiter.

Wir haben nun gehört, daß die Wärme ihr eigenes Leben auf dem Buddhi- oder Shushuptiplan hat. So bestehen bestimmte Beziehungen zwischen allen Dingen. Auffällig ist die Beziehung zwischen dem Ohr und dem Sprechen. Das Ohr war in der Evolution viel früher vorhanden als das Sprechen. Das Ohr ist das Aufnahmeorgan, die Sprache ist das Hervorbringungsorgan für den Ton. Diese zwei Dinge, Ohr und Sprache, gehören im wesentlichen zusammen. Der Ton, wie er erscheint, ist die Wiedergabe von Schwingungen in der Luft, und ein jeder Ton entspringt einer besonderen Schwingung. Die Pythagoreer sagten: Wenn ihr studiert, was draußen, außer euch im Ton ist, dann studiert ihr die Arithmetik der Luft. - Der gleichförmige Raum wäre ein tonloser, der arithmetisch durchorganisierte ist ein tönender Raum. Da hat man ein Beispiel, wie man hineinblicken kann in die Akasha-Chronik. Kann man sich aufschwingen, die innere Arithmetik, die vom Ton im Raume bleibt, wahrzunehmen, so kann man jederzeit einen Ton wiederhören, den ein Mensch gesprochen hat. Zum Beispiel kann man hören, was Cäsar beim Übergang über den Rubikon gesprochen hat. Die innere Arithmetik des Tones bleibt vorhanden in der Akasha-Chronik. Dem Ton entspricht etwas von dem, was man Manas nennt. Was dem Ohr Ton ist, ist Weisheit der Welt. Man hört die Weisheit der Welt, indem man den Ton wahrnimmt. Man bringt die Weisheit der Welt hervor, indem man selber spricht. Das, was in unserem Sprechen arithmetisch ist, bleibt in der AkashaChronik vorhanden. Der Mensch drückt sich unmittelbar in der Weisheit aus, wenn er hört oder spricht. Das Denken ist die Form, in der der Mensch jetzt seinen Willen in der Sprache zum Ausdruck bringen kann. Nur im Denken können wir jetzt den Willen entfalten. Erst später kann der Mensch über das Denken hinaus seinen Willen im Wort entfalten.
Die nächste Stufe hängt zusammen mit der Wärme. Die Aktivität des Menschen haben wir zu suchen in dem, was er als innere Wärme ausstrahlt. Aus dem, was aus der Wärme folgt: Leidenschaften, Triebe, Instinkte, Begierden, Wünsche und so weiter, entsteht das Karma. Wie nun das Parallelorgan zum Ohr das Sprechorgan ist, so ist zu der Wärme des Herzens das Parallelorgan der Schleimkörper, die Hypophyse. Das Herz nimmt von außen die Wärme auf, wie das Ohr den Ton. Dadurch nimmt es die Wärme der Welt wahr. Das entsprechende Organ, das wir haben müssen, damit wir bewußt die Wärme hervorbringen können, ist der Schleimkörper im Kopfe, der jetzt nur am Anfange seiner Entwickelung steht. So wie man mit dem Ohr wahrnimmt und mit dem Kehlkopfe hervorbringt, nimmt man die Wärme der Welt auf im Herzen und strömt sie wieder aus durch den Schleimkörper im Gehirn. Ist diese Fähigkeit erworben, dann ist das Herz zu dem Organ geworden, wozu es eigentlich werden soll. Darauf beziehen sich die Worte in «Licht auf den Weg»: «Eh’ vor den Meistern stehen kann die Seele, muß ihres Herzens Blut die Füße netzen.» Dann strömt unser Herzblut aus, wie jetzt unsere Worte die Welt überfluten. Später wird die Seelenwärme die Menschen überfluten.
Etwas tiefer in der Evolution als das Wärmeorgan, steht das Sehorgan. In der Entwickelung folgten aufeinander Hörorgan, Wärmeorgan, Sehorgan. Das Sehorgan ist noch ganz auf der Stufe, daß es nur aufnehmen kann. Das Ohr nimmt schon aus dem Ton, zum Beispiel aus dem Glockenton, das innerste Wesen wahr. Die Wärme muß uns von dem Wesen selbst zuströmen. Das Auge hat nur ein Bild, das Ohr hat die Wahrnehmung des innersten Wesens. Das Wahrnehmen der Wärme ist ein Aufnehmen einer Ausstrahlung. Ein Organ wird nun auch das aktive Organ zum Auge werden. Das ist heute veranlagt in der Zirbeldrüse, Epiphyse, welches Organ den Bildern, die das Auge heute erzeugt, Wirklichkeit verleihen wird. Diese beiden Organe, Zirbeldrüse und Schleimkörper, müssen sich als aktive Organe zum Sehorgan (Auge) und Wärmeorgan (Herz) hinzuentwikkeln. Die Phantasie ist heute die Anlage zu dem späteren Schaffen. Jetzt hat der Mensch höchstens die Imagination. Später wird er magische Kraft haben. Das ist die Kriyashakti. Diese Kraft entwickelt sich in demselben Maße, in dem sich physisch die Zirbeldrüse entwickelt.
In dem gegenseitigen Verhältnis von Ohr und Kehlkopf haben wir ein Vorbild. Das Denken wird dann später durchdrungen von der Wärme, und noch später lernt der Mensch selbst schaffen. Zuerst lernt er ein Bild schaffen; dann Ausstrahlung schaffen, hinaussenden; dann Wesenheiten schaffen. Die Freimaurerei nennt diese drei Kräfte: Weisheit, Schein (Schönheit) und Gewalt. (Siehe Goethes «Märchen».)
Die Wärme hat ihr Leben auf dem Shushuptiplan. Diese in bewußter Weise zu verwerten, ist dem möglich, der das Leben der Wärme kennt und beherrscht, wie der Mensch heute das Leben der Luft in gewisser Weise beherrscht. In der Entwickelung muß sich der Mensch jetzt nähern den Kräften des Shushuptiplanes (BuddhiManas). Die fünfte Unterrasse (Kulturperiode) hat hauptsächlich die Aufgabe, Kama-Manas zu entwickeln. Manas findet man in allem, was in den Dienst des Menschengeistes gestellt ist. Doch im Grunde genommen steht alles dies jetzt im Dienste von Kama. Die höchsten Errungenschaften des Geistes sind in den Dienst von Kama gestellt. Unsere Zeit hat die höchsten Kräfte in den Dienst dieser Bedürfnisse gestellt, die das Tier auch ohne diese Errungenschaften befriedigt.
Jetzt muß aber auch schon Buddhi-Manas entwickelt werden. Der Mensch muß etwas mehr lernen als Sprechen. Es muß sich mit dem Sprechen eine andere Kraft verbinden, wie wir das in den Schriften von Tolstoj finden. Es kommt dabei nicht so sehr auf das an, was er sagt, sondern daß hinter dem, was er sagt, eine elementare Kraft steht, die etwas von dem Buddhi-Manas hat, das in unsere Kultur hineinkommen muß. Tolstojs Schriften wirken deshalb so stark, weil sie in bewußtem Gegensatz zu westeuropäischer Kultur etwas Neues, Elementares enthalten. Die Art Barbarei, die noch darin liegt, wird später ausgeglichen werden. Tolstoj ist bloß ein ganz kleines Werkzeug einer höheren geistigen Kraft, die auch hinter dem gotischen Initiierten Ulfilas stand. Diese geistige Kraft gebraucht Tolstoj als ihr Werkzeug.
V
It is always emphasized that in order to advance in the occult, one should be as positive and as little negative as possible, that one should speak less about what is not than about what is. If this is encouraged in everyday life, it is a preparation for work in the occult. The occultist must not ask: Does the stone have life? — but rather: Where is the life of the stone, where is the consciousness of the mineral kingdom to be found? — This is the highest form of non-criticism. It is precisely in relation to the highest questions that one must develop this attitude.
In ordinary life, we distinguish between three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gaseous or airy. Solid must be distinguished from mineral. Air and water are also mineral. In theosophical writings, four other finer types of matter are added to this list. The next thing that is finer than air is the element that expands it, making it ever larger in terms of volume. What drives air apart is heat; it is actually a fine ethereal substance, the first degree of ether, the heat ether. The second type of ether is the light ether. Bodies that glow emit a substance that is referred to in theosophy as light ether. The third type of ether is the carrier of everything that forms the finest substances, the forming ether, also called chemical ether. This ether causes oxygen and hydrogen to combine. And the very finest ether is that which forms life: prana or life ether.Science lumps all four types of ether together. But it will gradually discover them in this way. Our designation is that of the Rosicrucians, while Indian literature speaks of four different degrees of ether.
Let us first take everything that is solid. What is solid apparently has no life. When one transports oneself with life into the solid, which happens by living awake in the state that is called the dream world and then seeking out the solid, for example, transporting oneself into a rocky mountain landscape, then one feels one's own life changed within oneself, one feels oneself permeated by life. You are not there with your consciousness, but with your own life, your etheric body; you are then in a place, in a state called the Mahaparinirvana plane. On this Mahaparinirvana plane is the life of the solid. This plane is the other pole of the solid. That you were then with life on the Mahaparinirvana plane can be perceived from other effects. When one returns from there, one has experienced the influence of beings in the Mahaparinirvana state. There, the solid stone has its life.
Second is the liquid, water. When one transports oneself into the sea in the dream state, as if one were the sea itself, then one transports oneself with the life of the liquid to the Parinirvana plane. Through this procedure, one learns something about the different planes.
Thirdly, when one transports oneself into the air-like state in a dream, one finds oneself on the Nirvana plane. Nirvana literally means “to extinguish,” to extinguish in air, just as one extinguishes a fire. When one seeks life there, one is on the Nirvana plane with one's own life. Human beings breathe in air. When they experience the life of the air within themselves, that is the way to reach the Nirvana plane. Hence the breathing exercises of the yogis. No one can reach the Nirvana plane unless they really do breathing exercises. They are only Hatha Yoga exercises when they are done at the wrong level. Otherwise, they are Raja Yoga exercises. One actually breathes in life, the Nirvana plane.
Fourth: Below the Nirvana plane is the Buddhi or Shushupti plane. There, warmth has life. When Buddhi is developed in humans, all Kama is transformed into selflessness, into love. Those animals that do not develop warmth are also passionless. At higher levels, humans must regain this passionlessness because their life is on the Shushupti plane. Fifth is the Devachan or mental plane. This is where the light ether has its life. Sunlight lives on the Devachan plane; hence the inner relationship between wisdom and light. When one experiences the light in dream consciousness, one experiences wisdom in it. Whenever God revealed himself in light, this has been the case. In the burning bush, that is, in the light, Jehovah appeared to Moses to reveal wisdom.
The sixth is the astral plane. This is where the chemical ether lives. When one is somnambulistic, one perceives the properties of chemicals, the chemical properties, on the astral plane, because the chemical ether truly has its life on the astral plane.
The seventh is the physical plane. This is where the life ether lives in its actual element. With the life ether, one perceives life. The life ether is also called the atomistic ether because it has its own life, its own center, on this plane. What lives on the same plane has its center on the same plane.
In fact, everything around us contains the seven planes. They are actually around us. One only has to ask: Where does the solid, where does the gaseous have its life? - and so on.

We have now heard that heat has its own life on the Buddhi or Shushupti plane. Thus, certain relationships exist between all things. The relationship between the ear and speech is striking. The ear existed much earlier in evolution than speech. The ear is the organ of reception, speech is the organ of production for sound. These two things, ear and speech, essentially belong together. Sound, as it appears, is the reproduction of vibrations in the air, and each sound arises from a particular vibration. The Pythagoreans said: When you study what is outside of you in sound, you are studying the arithmetic of the air. Uniform space would be a soundless space, while arithmetically organized space is a sounding space. This is an example of how one can look into the Akashic Records. If one can rise to perceive the inner arithmetic that remains from the sound in space, one can hear again at any time a sound that a person has spoken. For example, one can hear what Caesar said when he crossed the Rubicon. The inner arithmetic of the sound remains present in the Akashic Records. The sound corresponds to something called Manas. What is sound to the ear is the wisdom of the world. One hears the wisdom of the world by perceiving sound. One brings forth the wisdom of the world by speaking oneself. That which is arithmetic in our speech remains present in the Akashic Records. Human beings express themselves directly in wisdom when they hear or speak. Thought is the form in which humans can now express their will in language. Only in thought can we now unfold the will. Only later can humans unfold their will in words beyond thought.
The next stage is related to warmth. We must seek human activity in what they radiate as inner warmth. Karma arises from what follows from warmth: passions, drives, instincts, desires, wishes, and so on. Just as the parallel organ to the ear is the speech organ, so the parallel organ to the warmth of the heart is the mucous body, the pituitary gland. The heart absorbs warmth from the outside, just as the ear absorbs sound. In this way, it perceives the warmth of the world. The corresponding organ that we must have in order to consciously produce warmth is the mucous body in the head, which is now only at the beginning of its development. Just as one perceives with the ear and produces with the larynx, one absorbs the warmth of the world in the heart and flows it out again through the mucous body in the brain. Once this ability has been acquired, the heart has become the organ it is meant to be. This is referred to in the words in “Light on the Path”: “Before the soul can stand before the Masters, the blood of its heart must wet its feet.” Then our heart's blood flows out, just as our words now flood the world. Later, the warmth of the soul will flood over people.
Somewhat lower in evolution than the warmth organ is the organ of sight. In development, the organ of hearing was followed by the warmth organ and then the organ of sight. The organ of sight is still at the stage where it can only receive. The ear already perceives the innermost essence from sound, for example from the sound of a bell. The warmth must flow to us from the being itself. The eye has only an image, the ear has the perception of the innermost essence. The perception of warmth is the reception of a radiation. An organ will now also become the active organ for the eye. This is now predisposed in the pineal gland, the epiphysis, which organ will give reality to the images that the eye produces today. These two organs, the pineal gland and the mucous body, must develop as active organs alongside the organ of sight (eye) and the organ of warmth (heart). Imagination today is the predisposition for later creativity. At present, human beings have at most the power of imagination. Later, they will have magical power. This is kriyashakti. This power develops to the same extent as the pineal gland develops physically.
We have a model in the mutual relationship between the ear and the larynx. Thinking is then later permeated by warmth, and even later, humans learn to create themselves. First, they learn to create an image; then to create radiance, to send it out; then to create beings. Freemasonry calls these three powers: wisdom, appearance (beauty), and power. (See Goethe's “Fairy Tales.”)
Warmth has its life on the Shushupti plane. Those who know and master the life of warmth can consciously utilize it, just as human beings today master the life of air in a certain way. In their development, human beings must now approach the forces of the Shushupti plane (Buddhi-Manas). The main task of the fifth sub-race (cultural period) is to develop Kama-Manas. Manas is found in everything that is placed at the service of the human spirit. But basically, all of this is now at the service of Kama. The highest achievements of the spirit are placed at the service of Kama. Our time has placed the highest powers at the service of these needs, which the animal satisfies even without these achievements.
But now Buddhi-Manas must also be developed. Human beings must learn more than just how to speak. Speaking must be combined with another power, as we find in the writings of Tolstoy. It is not so much what he says that matters, but that behind what he says there is an elemental power that has something of the Buddhi-Manas that must enter our culture. Tolstoy's writings have such a powerful effect because, in conscious contrast to Western European culture, they contain something new and elemental. The barbarism that still lies within them will be balanced out later. Tolstoy is merely a very small tool of a higher spiritual power, which also stood behind the Gothic initiate Ulfilas. Tolstoy uses this spiritual power as his tool.