The Foundations of Esotericism
GA 93a
26 October 1905, Berlin
Lecture XXIV
We are now living in the Fifth Sub-Race of the Fifth Root-Race. This Root-Race is usually called the Aryan Race and includes as the First Sub-Race the Ancient Indian, which developed in the region of Southern Asia. A primeval Southern Asiatic population dwelt there long, long before the coming into being of the Vedas. Everything we have in the Vedas is a faint echo of that infinitely profound religious wisdom which was taught by the Ancient Rishis. Later we find in the near East the Ancient Persian Race which received its religious teaching and its culture from Zarathustra.65This refers to the actual or first Zarathustra. In the public lecture on ‘Zarathustra’ 19.1.1911 Turning Points in Spiritual History, Rudolf Steiner says: ‘Greek historians have frequently pointed out that the period ascribed to Zarathustra must be placed very far back, between 5000 to 6000 years before the Trojan War’. The later Zarathustrian cultures in Asia are but echoes of this teaching. Then as the Third Sub-Race, we find the Egyptian, Chaldean, Babylonian, Assyrian peoples, out of which the Semitic-Jewish civilisation gradually developed. There then arose the Fourth Sub-Race, the Graeco-Roman civilisation in Southern Europe, which lasted until the ascent of the Germanic peoples in Northern, Central and Western Europe. Two further civilisations are yet to follow. Seven Sub-Races together form a Root-Race.
The preceding Root-Race inhabited Atlantis, that part of the Earth which later was flooded by the Atlantic Ocean. To this Root-Race belong the following Sub-Races: Firstly the Rmoahals, secondly the Tlavtlis, thirdly the Toltecs, fourthly the original Turanians, fifthly the original Semites, sixthly the Akkadians, seventhly the Mongols.
Still further back we come to the continent of Lemuria, between Africa, Asia and Australia. There we come into times with quite other conditions. Then we go still further back to the Second Root-Race, the Hyperborean, and to the First Root-Race, the Polarian. Now therefore two Sub-Races and two Root-Races are still to follow.
As we go back we come to a human being composed of an ever finer and finer substance. At the beginning of its evolution, the Earth consisted of fine etheric substance. At that time all beings were also made up of such substance. At the end of its evolution the Earth will again consist of this fine etheric substance. Such conditions through which the Earth passes, beginning with the finest etheric substance, then becoming densified and again returning to a condition of fine physical etheric substance, constitute a Globe. Thus the physical Globe develops out of a still finer condition than that of the finest physical ether. The etheric develops out of the astral and returns to the astral.
On the preceding Globe all beings were in an astral condition. Today the astral Globe no longer floats somewhere or other in heavenly space but the beings which were upon it densified and the astral Globe densified with them. This Globe is the Earth itself. The transition from the astral Globe to the physical is a transformation of condition. On the astral Globe also seven successive conditions developed. One has become accustomed in theosophical literature to call these conditions Races; thus there were seven astral Races. The astral Globe also densified only gradually to astral substance. Earlier the astral Globe was still finer and indeed consisted of substance out of which our thoughts are woven today. For this reason it is called mental substance and the Globe a Mental-Globe. There on this Mental-Globe existed seven successive Mental-Races of humanity with all that was connected with them. Preceding this there was a still finer condition of development, of even finer substance; the Arupa Mental-Globe; ‘Arupa’ because no actual forms existed, but everything was only indicated. These one calls four Globes; in reality however, they are four successive forms of the Earth. Thus we have seven Rounds.
Now let us follow the course of the physical Earth until it reaches the end of its evolution. It again passes over into an etheric Earth, then into an astral Earth. On the previous astral Earth the beings were still indeterminate, receiving their form from forces outside themselves. When man is again on an astral Earth he will be able to give himself his own form. On the previous astral Earth Jehovah and his hosts had given man his form. On the plastic-astral Earth however man will give himself his form out of his inner force; hence this is called the ‘plastic’ Globe and in this respect the following Globes, a Rupa and an Arupa Globe will have similar conditions. Man must refine himself so completely that finally he will only be like a seed, in a germinal condition containing everything which he has absorbed into himself. All experiences are then within him, as though concentrated in a point as force. The seeds that were present on the First Globe did not yet contain this. On the Last Globe however the seeds contain everything that they experienced on the different Globes.
Between the single material stages of these Globes there is no gradual differentiation, but a somewhat abrupt process. Just as one can take salt, dissolve it in water and let it crystallise again, so a Globe comes into a sleeping condition (Pralaya) and out of this emerges the following Globe. Between two waking conditions the Globes go through a short sleeping condition. When man arrives at the last, seventh stage he goes through a longer sleeping condition. He is enriched and can again proceed on his way at a higher stage. For this reason he must first go through a longer Pralaya. This longer Pralaya is however not an undifferentiated, uniform sleep condition but very differentiated.
When someone has so far developed occult faculties that he sleeps consciously in dreamless sleep he has developed a Devachanic consciousness. This enables him to follow what takes place between death and a new birth. This consciousness can be enhanced. Then he has the faculty of observing what takes place between the Globes. As a third stage of consciousness he becomes able to observe what goes on between the Rounds. This third condition therefore corresponds to a consciousness between two Rounds. To be able to observe what takes place between two Earth lives is the first degree of higher consciousness; between two Globes the second, and between two Rounds the third degree. Conscious sleep, which leads to this awareness is of a quite different nature.
Between the last Round of a Planetary condition and the first of the one which follows, five further conditions lie on the other side of consciousness. The seven Rounds and the five conditions of Pralaya are together called the twelve stages of the Cosmic Year. Then the whole thing is gone through again, but at a higher stage.
We are now in the Fourth Round of the Earth and three others preceded it. Before the germs of man as he is today were there, the human being was already three times present in a seed-like condition; once in every Round. In each Round we have seven stage of development which are called Globes, and again seven on every Globe, which are called Races. Seven such Rounds together make up a Planetary condition or evolution. The First Round began with an Arupa condition and densified to the Earth. Four times already has our Earth become physical. Three times will it become so again. Every such densification and dissolution belongs to a Round. Seven such Rounds are called a Planetary System or Evolution.
When the first Earth Round emerged, everything that had descended from what had developed on the Old Moon was there germinally. Between the last Moon-Round and the first Earth-Round there was a long Pralaya condition. At that time the Moon-men were the human forefathers, standing between present day man and present day animals, according to their lower nature. Present-day animals are Moon-men descended to a lower level and human beings are Moon-men who have ascended higher. But on the Moon the plants too are different from those of today. The plant kingdom stood between the present mineral and plant kingdoms, similar to a peat bog that is half mineral and half plant. The Old Moon was actually a great plant. Its ground consisted of intertwined plants. At that time rocks did not exist. The plant-like mineral kingdom first densified on the Earth to the present mineral kingdom. Our present quartz, malachite and so on have consolidated out of the Moon plants; the Dolomites have arisen out of primeval plants. Thus on the Moon there was a kingdom lying between the mineral and the plant. In this was rooted the Moon vegetation; it needed the Moon ground. The kinds of vegetation that on the Earth have not found a connection with the soil have become parasitic, they must still always grow on plants, for example the mistletoe. This grows on plants, just as on the Old Moon all vegetation grew on a half plant-like foundation. Loki, the Moon god, killed Baldur with the mistletoe, the Moon plant. So we find on the Moon:
A kingdom between the mineral and plant kingdoms
A kingdom between the plant and animal kingdoms
A kingdom between the animal and human kingdoms.
These were the seeds which came over to the Earth.
During the First Earth Round the human kingdom gradually separated itself off. Man became more human, the animal more animal. The external body of man became slowly more human. During the Second Round the animal kingdom separated itself off, during the Third the plant kingdom, during the Fourth the mineral kingdom. Then man made a further ascent. The first three Rounds were repetitions of earlier conditions and a preparation, in order in the Fourth Round, in the Lemurian Race, to take up something new. Now man works upon the mineral kingdom. A time will come when, as the product of his activity, he will have worked over and transformed the mineral kingdom, so that no particle will then remain whose nature has not been changed by the artifice of man. Then the whole can be transmuted into pure astral forms.
That is the redemption of a kingdom. In the Fourth Round man will have redeemed the mineral kingdom, when he will have transformed it by his work upon it. Then everything goes into Pralaya; no mineral kingdom will be there, but the whole Earth will have become a plant. Man will then have been raised half a stage higher and everything else with him; for example in the Fifth Round, Cologne Cathedral will grow as a plant.
One is not working in vain when one gives form to the mineral kingdom. The Cologne Cathedral will eventually grow as plant world out of what will then be the ground. In the atmosphere of the Fifth Round, we find in living cloud formations everything which today has been painted. There we have to do with a repetition at a higher stage where all our work in the mineral world around us grows.
In the Fifth Round we redeem the plant world, in the Sixth the animal and in the Seventh Round the human kingdom. Then man will be mature enough to tread a new Planet. In order that he might develop upwards, the other kingdoms had to some extent to be pushed downwards and he must later redeem them. After the Seventh Round and a Pralaya he will go over to another Planet.
Seven Rounds plus seven Globes, and added to each of the latter, seven Races, together make up three hundred and forty three conditions of the Earth. The entire Earth evolution has the purpose of creating in man waking day-consciousness, whereas the purpose of the entire Moon evolution had the purpose of developing in man picture consciousness. This was preceded by dreamless sleep consciousness on the Sun; at that time man was still a sleeping plant. A still earlier condition, that of deep trance, was present on Saturn, a condition which today still appears in certain pathological cases. Thus the purpose of single planetary evolutions is to develop successive conditions of consciousness.
- Old Saturn = Deep Trance-consciousness
- Old Sun = Dreamless Sleep-consciousness
- Old Moon = Dreaming Sleep or picture consciousness
- Earth = Waking consciousness or awareness of objects
- (Future) Jupiter = Psychic or conscious picture-consciousness
- (Future) Venus = Super-pyschic or conscious life-consciousness
- (Future) Vulcan = Spiritual or self-conscious universal consciousness
Just as now human circumstances conform to fundamental laws of Nature, so in the future will they conform to what is moral. They will be graded in accordance with the stages of Karma, seven degrees of morality (ethical human categories). The caste system is a precursor of this later moral gradation. Categories of Karma will be indicated in this way.
XXIV
Wir stehen jetzt innerhalb der fünften Wurzelrasse in der fünften Unterrasse. Diese fünfte Wurzelrasse wird gewöhnlich die arische Rasse genannt und umfaßt als erste Unterrasse die alte indische Rasse, welche sich auf dem Boden Südasiens entwickelte. Dort war eine uralte südasiatische Bevölkerung, lange, lange Zeit bevor die Veden entstanden sind. Alles was wir in den Veden haben, ist ein schwacher Nachklang von dem, was als unendlich tiefe Religionsweisheit von den alten Rishis verkündet worden ist. Nachher finden wir in Vorderasien die altpersische Rasse, die ihre Religionslehren und ihre Kultur von Zarathustra erhalten hat. Nur Nachklänge davon sind die späteren Zarathustra-Kulturen Asiens. Dann finden wir als dritte Unterrasse die ägyptisch-chaldäisch-babylonisch-assyrischen Volksstämme, aus denen sich nach und nach die semitisch-jüdische Kultur entwickelt. Dann geht als vierte Unterrasse hervor die griechisch-lateinische Kultur in Südeuropa, bis zum Aufgange der germanischen Völker in Nord-, Mittel- und Westeuropa. Zwei weitere folgen noch. Sieben Unterrassen bilden zusammen eine Wurzelrasse.
Die vorhergehende Wurzelrasse hat Atlantis bewohnt, denjenigen Teil der Erde, der später vom Atlantischen Ozean überflutet wurde. Dazu gehören folgende sieben Unterrassen: Erstens die Rmoahals, zweitens die Tlavatlis, drittens die Tolteken, viertens die Urturanier, fünftens die Ursemiten, sechstens die Akkadier, siebentens die Mongolen.
Noch weiter zurück kommen wir zu dem Kontinent Lemurien zwischen Afrika, Asien und Australien. Wir kommen da in Zeiten hinein mit ganz anderen Verhältnissen. Dann geht es noch weiter zurück zur zweiten Wurzelrasse, der hyperboräischen, und zur ersten Wurzelrasse, der polarischen. Es folgen also jetzt noch zwei Unterrassen und zwei Wurzelrassen.
Beim Zurückgehen kommt man zu einem Menschen aus einer viel feineren und immer feineren Materie. Im Anfange ihrer Entwickelung war die Erde feine ätherische Materie; alle Wesen waren damals auch aus solcher feiner Äthermaterie. Am Ende ihrer Entwickelung wird die Erde wieder aus einer solchen feinen Äthermaterie sein. Einen solchen Zustand, durch den die Erde hindurchgeht von der feinsten Äthermaterie anfangend und sich dann verdichtend und wieder zurückgehend in einen Zustand feiner physischer Äthermaterie, nennt man einen Globus. Der physische Globus entwickelt sich also aus einem noch feineren Zustande als dem des feinsten physischen Äthers. Das Ätherische entsteht aus dem Astralen und geht zurück in das Astrale.
Alle Wesen sind auf dem vorhergehenden Globus in einem astralen Zustande. Der astrale Globus schwebt heute nicht irgendwo im Himmelsraume, sondern die Wesenheiten, die auf demselben waren, verdichteten sich und der astrale Globus verdichtete sich mit. Dieser Globus ist die Erde selbst. Das Übergehen vom astralen Globus zum physischen ist eine Verwandlung des Zustandes. Es entwickelten sich auf dem astralen Globus auch sieben aufeinanderfolgende Zustände. Man hat sich in der theosophischen Literatur angewöhnt, auch diese Zustände Rassen zu nennen; es gab also sieben astrale Rassen. Auch der Astralglobus hat sich erst nach und nach zur Astralmaterie verdichtet. Der astrale Globus war früher noch viel feiner, und zwar aus der Materie, aus der heute unsere Gedanken gewoben sind. Man nennt sie daher mentale Materie und den Globus Mentalglobus. Dort auf dem mentalen Globus waren sieben aufeinanderfolgende mentale Rassen der Menschheit mit alledem, was dazugehört. Dem geht voran ein noch feinerer Entwickelungszustand von noch feinerer Materie, der Arupa-Mentalglobus: arupa, weil noch keine Formen vorhanden sind, sondern alles nur angedeutet ist. Man nennt das vier Globen, es sind aber in Wirklichkeit vier aufeinanderfolgende Formen der Erde. So haben wir sieben Globen:
Nun verfolgen wir die physische Erde, bis sie am Ende angekommen sein wird. Sie geht wieder über in eine Äthererde, dann in eine astrale Erde. Auf der früheren astralen Erde sind die Wesen noch unbestimmte Wesen, welche durch Kräfte, die außerhalb sind, ihre Formen bekommen. Wenn der Mensch wieder auf einer astralen Erde sein wird, wird er sich selbst seine Form geben können. Auf der früheren astralen Erde haben Jehova und seine Scharen dem Menschen die Form gegeben. Aber auf der plastisch-astralen Erde wird der Mensch sich aus seiner inneren Kraft heraus selber seine Form geben, daher nennt man dies den plastischen Globus, und ähnlich verhalten sich die folgenden Globen, ein Rupa- und ein Arupaglobus. Der Mensch muß sich vollständig verfeinern, bis er zuletzt nur noch wie ein Keim, wie ein Samenzustand sein wird von dem, was er alles in sich aufgenommen hat. Alle Erlebnisse sind dann zuletzt in ihm wie in einem Punkt als Kraft konzentriert. Die Keime, die auf dem ersten Globus vorhanden waren, enthielten das noch nicht. Aber auf dem letzten Globus enthalten die Keime alles, was sie auf den verschiedenen Globen erfahren haben.
Zwischen den einzelnen materiellen Stufen dieser Globen ist kein gradueller Unterschied, sondern ein etwas schroffer Zustand. So wie wenn man Salz nimmt, es in Wasser auflöst und es dann wieder hervorgehen läßt, so kommt ein Globus in einen Schlafzustand (Pralaya) und daraus geht der folgende Globus hervor. Zwischen zwei Wachzuständen gehen die Globen durch einen kleinen Schlafzustand hindurch. Wenn der Mensch auf der letzten, der siebenten Stufe angelangt ist, dann macht er einen längeren Schlafzustand durch. Er ist bereichert und kann den Weg nun wieder durchmachen auf einer höheren Stufe. Dazu muß er vorher durch ein längeres Pralaya hindurchgehen. Dieses längere Pralaya ist aber nicht ein undifferenzierter, gleichförmiger Schlafzustand, sondern er ist sehr differenziert.
Wenn der Mensch okkulte Fähigkeiten so weit entwickelt hat, daß er bewußt schläft im traumlosen Schlaf, dann hat er ein devachanisches Bewußtsein entwickelt. Das ermöglicht ihm zu verfolgen, was zwischen dem Tode und einer nächsten Geburt vorgeht. Dieses Bewußtsein kann noch gesteigert werden. Dann wird er fähig, zu beobachten, was zwischen den Globen vorgeht. Als dritten Grad des Bewußtseins erlangt man die Fähigkeit, zu beobachten, was zwischen den Runden vorgeht. Dieser dritte Zustand entspricht also einem Bewußtsein zwischen zwei Runden. Zwischen zwei Erdenleben beobachten können, ist der erste Grad des höheren Bewußtseins; zwischen zwei Globen der zweite, und zwischen zwei Runden der dritte Grad. Der bewußte Schlaf, der dazu befähigt, ist ganz andersgeartet.
Zwischen der letzten Runde eines planetarischen Zustandes und der ersten des nächsten liegen jenseits des Bewußtseins noch fünf weitere Zustände. Die sieben Runden und die fünf Zustände des Pralaya nennt man zusammen die zwölf Stufen des Weltenjahres. Dann wird die ganze Sache wiederum, aber auf einer höheren Stufe, durchgemacht.
Wir sind jetzt in der vierten Runde der Erde und es gingen drei andere voran. Bevor die Keime zum jetzigen Menschen da waren, war der Mensch schon dreimal samenhaft vorhanden; in jeder Runde einmal. In jeder Runde haben wir sieben Entwickelungszustände, die man Globen nennt, und wiederum sieben auf jedem Globus, die man Rassen nennt. Sieben solche Runden machen zusammen einen Planeten aus. Die erste Runde begann mit einem Arupazustand und verdichtete sich bis zur Erde. Viermal ist unsere Erde schon physisch geworden. Dreimal wird sie es noch werden. Eine jede solche Verdichtung und Auflösung gehört einer Runde an. Sieben solche Runden nennt man ein planetarisches System.
Als die erste Erdenrunde aufging, war die ganze Nachkommenschaft dessen, was sich auf dem Mondplaneten entwickelt hatte, keimhaft da. Zwischen der letzten Mondenrunde und der ersten Erdenrunde war ein langer Pralayazustand. Damals waren die Mondenmenschen Menschenvorfahren, die auf einer Zwischenstufe standen zwischen den jetzigen Menschen und der jetzigen Tierheit, der niederen Natur nach. Die jetzigen Tiere sind etwas hinabgestiegene Mondenmenschen, und die Menschen sind hinaufgestiegene Mondenmenschen. Aber auch die Pflanzen waren auf dem Monde anders als die jetzigen. Das Pflanzenreich stand zwischen dem heutigen Mineralreich und dem Pflanzenreich, ähnlich wie jetzt ein Torfmoor halb mineralisch und halb pflanzenartig ist. Der Mond war im Grunde genommen eine große Pflanze. Sein Boden bestand aus ineinandergeschlungenen Pflanzen. Felsen gab es damals noch nicht. Dieses pflanzenartige Mineralreich verdichtete sich erst auf der Erde zu dem jetzigen Mineralreich. Unsere heutigen Quarze, Malachite und so weiter sind verdichtet aus den Mondpflanzen; die Dolomitenmassen sind aus ursprünglichen Pflanzen entstanden. Auf dem Monde war also ein Reich eingeschaltet zwischen dem heutigen Mineral und der Pflanze. Darin wurzelten die Mondgewächse, sie brauchten den Boden des Mondes. Solche Gewächse, die auf der Erde den Anschluß nicht gefunden haben, wurden parasitär, müssen noch immer auf Pflanzen wachsen, zum Beispiel die Mistel. Diese wächst auf Pflanzen, wie auf dem Monde alle Pflanzen auf einer halb pflanzlichen Grundlage gewachsen sind. Loki, der Mondengott, tötet den Baldur mit der Mistel, der Mondpflanze. So finden wir auf dem Monde:
ein Reich zwischen Mineralreich und Pflanzenreich
ein Reich zwischen Pflanzenreich und Tierreich
ein Reich zwischen Tierreich und Menschenreich.
Dies waren die Samen, die herüberkamen auf die Erde.
Während der ersten Erdenrunde gliederte sich allmählich das Menschenreich ab. Der Mensch wurde menschlicher, das Tier tierischer. Die äußeren Körper der Menschen fingen in der ersten Erdenrunde an menschlicher zu werden. Während der zweiten Runde gliederte sich das Tierreich heraus, während der dritten das Pflanzenreich, während der vierten das Mineralreich. Dann machte der Mensch einen neuen Aufstieg. Die ersten drei Runden waren Wiederholungen früherer Zustände und eine Vorbereitung, um in der vierten Runde, im mineralischen Reich, das Neue aufzunehmen. Jetzt verarbeitet der Mensch das Mineralreich. Wenn er das Mineralreich zum Produkt seiner Tätigkeit umgearbeitet haben wird, dann wird eine Zeit kommen, in der er das alles so umgearbeitet haben wird, daß kein Bröselchen vom Mineralreich mehr da sein wird, das der Mensch nicht künstlich verarbeitet hat. Dann kann sich das Ganze umwandeln in lauter astrale Formen.
Das ist die Erlösung eines Reiches. Der Mensch erlöst in der vierten Runde das Mineralreich, wenn er es zum Kunstwerke gestaltet haben wird. Dann geht alles durch ein Pralaya hindurch, es ist dann kein Mineralreich mehr da, sondern die ganze Erde ist dann eine Pflanze geworden. Der Mensch wird dann um eine halbe Stufe höher gehoben und alles andere mit ihm; zum Beispiel wird der Kölner Dom in der fünften Runde als Pflanze aufgehen.
Man arbeitet nicht umsonst, wenn man das Mineralreich formt. Die Maschine, der Kölner Dom wachsen nachher als Pflanzenwelt hervor aus dem, was dann Boden sein wird. In der Atmosphäre der fünften Runde finden wir in lebendigen Wolkengebilden alles das, was heute gemalt worden ist. Wir haben es da zu tun mit einer Wiederholung auf höherer Stufe, wo all unsere Arbeit in der mineralischen Welt rings um uns herum aufwächst.
In der fünften Runde erlösen wir die Pflanzenwelt, in der sechsten die Tierheit, in der siebenten Runde das Menschenreich. Dann ist der Mensch reif, einen neuen Planeten zu betreten. Damit er sich hinaufentwickeln konnte, mußten die anderen Reiche etwas hinuntergestoBen werden und er muß sie später erlösen. Nach der siebenten Runde und einem Pralaya geht er dann über auf einen anderen Planeten. Sieben Runden zu sieben Globen zu je sieben Rassen sind im ganzen 343 Zustände auf der Erde. Die ganze Erdenentwickelung hat den Sinn, im Menschen waches Tagesbewußtsein zu erzeugen, während die ganze Mondenentwickelung den Sinn hatte, im Menschen das Bilderbewußtsein zu entwickeln. Voraus ging der traumlose Schlafzustand auf der Sonne; da war der Mensch noch eine schlafende Pflanze. Ein noch früherer Zustand, ein tiefer Trancezustand, war vorhanden auf dem Saturn, der heute noch in gewissen pathologischen Fällen eintritt. Die einzelnen Planeten haben also den Sinn, die aufeinanderfolgenden Bewußtseinszustände auszubilden:
1. Saturn = Tieftrancebewußtsein
2. Sonne Traumloses Schlafbewußtsein
3. Mond = Traumschlaf oder Bilderbewußtsein
4. Erde = Wach- oder Gegenstandsbewußtsein
5. Jupiter = Psychisches oder bewußtes Bilderbewußtsein
6. Venus = Überpsychisches oder bewußtes Lebensbewußtsein
7. Vulkan = Spirituelles oder selbstbewußtes Allbewußtsein.
Wie sich jetzt die menschlichen Verhältnisse nach der Naturgrundlage richten, so werden sie sich später nach dem Sittlichen richten. Sie werden sich gliedern nach Karmastufen, nach sieben Sittlichkeitsgraden (ethische Menschheitskategorien). Die Kastenbildung ist eine Vorausnahme dieser späteren sittlichen Gliederung. Karmakategorien sollten dadurch angedeutet werden.
XXIV
We are now in the fifth root race, in the fifth sub-race. This fifth root race is usually called the Aryan race and includes, as its first sub-race, the ancient Indian race, which developed in South Asia. There was an ancient South Asian population there long, long before the Vedas came into being. Everything we have in the Vedas is a faint echo of what was proclaimed as infinitely profound religious wisdom by the ancient rishis. Later, we find the ancient Persian race in the Near East, which received its religious teachings and culture from Zarathustra. The later Zarathustra cultures of Asia are only echoes of this. Then we find as a third sub-race the Egyptian-Chaldean-Babylonian-Assyrian tribes, from which the Semitic-Jewish culture gradually developed. Then, as a fourth sub-race, the Greek-Latin culture emerged in southern Europe, until the rise of the Germanic peoples in northern, central, and western Europe. Two more follow. Seven sub-races together form a root race.
The previous root race inhabited Atlantis, the part of the earth that was later flooded by the Atlantic Ocean. It includes the following seven sub-races: First, the Rmoahals; second, the Tlavatlis; third, the Toltecs; fourth, the Urturanians; fifth, the Ursemites; sixth, the Akkadians; seventh, the Mongols.
Going even further back, we come to the continent of Lemuria between Africa, Asia, and Australia. There we enter into times with completely different conditions. Then we go back even further to the second root race, the Hyperborean, and to the first root race, the Polar. So now there are two more sub-races and two root races to follow.
Going back, we come to a human being made of much finer and ever finer matter. At the beginning of its development, the Earth was fine etheric matter; all beings were also made of such fine etheric matter at that time. At the end of its development, the earth will again be made of such fine etheric matter. Such a state, through which the earth passes, beginning with the finest etheric matter and then condensing and returning to a state of fine physical etheric matter, is called a globe. The physical globe thus develops from a state even finer than that of the finest physical ether. The etheric arises from the astral and returns to the astral.
All beings are in an astral state on the preceding globe. Today, the astral globe does not float somewhere in space, but the beings that were on it condensed, and the astral globe condensed with them. This globe is the Earth itself. The transition from the astral globe to the physical globe is a transformation of state. Seven successive states also developed on the astral globe. In theosophical literature, it has become customary to call these states races; so there were seven astral races. The astral globe also gradually condensed into astral matter. The astral globe used to be much finer, made of the matter from which our thoughts are woven today. It is therefore called mental matter and the globe is called the mental globe. There on the mental globe were seven successive mental races of humanity with everything that belongs to them. This is preceded by an even finer state of development of even finer matter, the Arupa mental globe: arupa because no forms are yet present, but everything is only hinted at. These are called the four globes, but in reality they are four successive forms of the earth. So we have seven globes:
Now let us follow the physical Earth until it reaches its end. It will transition back into an etheric Earth, then into an astral Earth. On the former astral Earth, beings are still indeterminate beings that receive their forms through forces that are external. When humans are back on an astral Earth, they will be able to give themselves their own form. On the earlier astral earth, Jehovah and his hosts gave humans their form. But on the plastic-astral earth, humans will give themselves their own form from their inner power, which is why it is called the plastic globe, and the following globes, a rupa and an arupa globe, behave similarly. Human beings must refine themselves completely until they are finally like a germ, like a seed state of everything they have absorbed within themselves. All experiences are then finally concentrated in them as a point of power. The germs that were present on the first globe did not yet contain this. But on the last globe, the germs contain everything they have experienced on the various globes.
There is no gradual difference between the individual material stages of these globes, but rather a somewhat abrupt transition. Just as when one takes salt, dissolves it in water, and then lets it emerge again, a globe enters a state of sleep (Pralaya) and the following globe emerges from it. Between two states of wakefulness, the globes pass through a short state of sleep. When a person has reached the last, seventh stage, they go through a longer state of sleep. They are enriched and can now go through the path again at a higher stage. To do this, they must first go through a longer pralaya. However, this longer pralaya is not an undifferentiated, uniform state of sleep, but is very differentiated.
When a person has developed occult abilities to such an extent that they sleep consciously in dreamless sleep, they have developed devachanic consciousness. This enables them to follow what happens between death and the next birth. This consciousness can be further enhanced. Then they become able to observe what happens between the globes. As a third degree of consciousness, one attains the ability to observe what happens between the rounds. This third state thus corresponds to a consciousness between two rounds. Being able to observe between two earthly lives is the first degree of higher consciousness; between two globes is the second, and between two rounds is the third degree. The conscious sleep that enables this is of a completely different nature.
Between the last round of a planetary state and the first of the next, there are five more states beyond consciousness. The seven rounds and the five states of Pralaya are together called the twelve stages of the world year. Then the whole thing is gone through again, but on a higher level.
We are now in the fourth round of the Earth, and three others preceded it. Before the seeds of the present human being existed, the human being was already present three times in seed form, once in each round. In each round, we have seven stages of development, which are called globes, and again seven on each globe, which are called races. Seven such rounds together make up a planet. The first cycle began with an Arupa state and condensed into the Earth. Our Earth has already become physical four times. It will become physical three more times. Each such condensation and dissolution belongs to a cycle. Seven such cycles are called a planetary system.
When the first Earth round began, the entire progeny of what had developed on the Moon planet was present in embryonic form. Between the last Moon round and the first Earth round there was a long Pralaya state. At that time, the Moon people were human ancestors who stood at an intermediate stage between present-day humans and present-day animals, in terms of their lower nature. The present animals are somewhat descended lunar humans, and humans are ascended lunar humans. But the plants on the moon were also different from the present ones. The plant kingdom stood between the present mineral kingdom and the plant kingdom, similar to how a peat bog is now half mineral and half plant-like. The moon was basically a large plant. Its soil consisted of intertwined plants. There were no rocks at that time. This plant-like mineral kingdom only condensed on Earth into the present mineral kingdom. Our present-day quartz, malachite, and so on are condensed from the moon plants; the Dolomite masses originated from original plants. On the moon, therefore, there was a kingdom between today's mineral and plant kingdoms. The moon plants took root there; they needed the soil of the moon. Such plants, which did not find a connection on Earth, became parasitic and still have to grow on plants, for example mistletoe. This grows on plants, just as on the moon all plants grew on a semi-plant basis. Loki, the moon god, kills Baldur with mistletoe, the moon plant. So we find on the moon:
a kingdom between the mineral kingdom and the plant kingdom
a kingdom between the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom
a kingdom between the animal kingdom and the human kingdom.
These were the seeds that came over to Earth.
During the first Earth cycle, the human kingdom gradually separated. Humans became more human, animals more animal. The outer bodies of human beings began to become more human during the first earth cycle. During the second cycle, the animal kingdom separated out, during the third the plant kingdom, and during the fourth the mineral kingdom. Then human beings made a new ascent. The first three cycles were repetitions of earlier states and a preparation for receiving the new in the fourth cycle, in the mineral kingdom. Now human beings are processing the mineral kingdom. When they have transformed the mineral kingdom into the product of their activity, a time will come when they will have transformed everything in such a way that not a crumb of the mineral kingdom will remain that humans have not artificially processed. Then the whole can be transformed into pure astral forms.
This is the redemption of a kingdom. In the fourth round, humans redeem the mineral kingdom when they have transformed it into works of art. Then everything goes through a pralaya, and there is no longer a mineral kingdom, but the whole earth has become a plant. Humans are then raised half a step higher, and everything else with them; for example, Cologne Cathedral will blossom as a plant in the fifth round.
One does not work in vain when shaping the mineral kingdom. The machine and Cologne Cathedral will later emerge as plant life from what will then be soil. In the atmosphere of the fifth round, we find everything that has been painted today in living cloud formations. We are dealing here with a repetition on a higher level, where all our work in the mineral world around us grows.
In the fifth round we redeem the plant world, in the sixth the animal world, and in the seventh round the human realm. Then man is ready to enter a new planet. In order for him to evolve upwards, the other realms had to be pushed down somewhat, and he must redeem them later. After the seventh round and a Pralaya, he then moves on to another planet. Seven rounds of seven globes, each with seven races, make a total of 343 states on Earth. The whole purpose of Earth's development is to create waking daytime consciousness in humans, while the whole purpose of the Moon's development was to develop image consciousness in humans. This was preceded by a dreamless sleep state on the Sun, when humans were still sleeping plants. An even earlier state, a deep trance state, existed on Saturn, which still occurs today in certain pathological cases. The individual planets therefore have the purpose of developing successive states of consciousness:
1. Saturn = deep trance consciousness
2. Sun dreamless sleep consciousness
3. Moon = dream sleep or image consciousness
4. Earth = waking or object consciousness
5. Jupiter = psychic or conscious image consciousness
6. Venus = supra-psychic or conscious life consciousness
7. Vulcan = spiritual or self-conscious universal consciousness.
Just as human relationships are now based on nature, they will later be based on morality. They will be structured according to karmic levels, according to seven degrees of morality (ethical categories of humanity). The formation of castes is a precursor to this later moral structure. Karmic categories should be indicated by this.