Universe, Earth and Man
GA 105
8 Aug 1908, Stuttgart
Lecture V
In earlier lectures we have seen that the conditions of our earth have gradually developed out of the cosmos; that in a far distant past the earth was one with the orb which shines in the heavens today as the sun, and that at a certain period this body separated off from the earth.
Now, I have already stated that the Beings who at first sent their own forces down from the sun to the earth, thus bringing about the evolution of humanity, are the Spirits of Form. They are the Beings nearest to earthly evolution. After the separation of the sun the leader of the Spirits of Form remained with the earth, and later departed from it with the moon. We can therefore speak of a moon-deity; he is that deity who in the Biblical records is called Jehovah, and the Sun Powers, those who sent light to earth from outside, are called in the Bible the Elohim, or Spirits of Light. Under the influence of the Elohim on one hand and Jehovah on the other, balance was maintained in the evolution of man. You have learnt that not only man goes through development, but that all the Beings in the cosmos are undergoing development also. Those exalted Beings who sent down their forces to us with the light—the Spirits of Form—have also passed through a development; previously they were at a lower stage and have gradually struggled upwards to their present position.
What was said just now regarding the Elohim and Jehovah applies to the most mature of these spirits, those who have made themselves fully capable of carrying on their development from the genesis of the earth, either upon the sun or the moon; but there are Beings everywhere who have fallen behind at some stage. Yesterday we heard that planets, such as Venus and Mercury, owe their existence to the circumstance that Beings have remained behind, between man on the one hand and exalted Sun-Spirits on the other. They required a dwelling-place more exalted than the earth, but were unable to inhabit the sun because they were not sufficiently mature. These beings are far beyond the evolution of humanity, but have not yet reached the condition of the Sun spirits. They form a very important group of beings as regards human evolution. On one hand we have very mature Beings, on the other, between them and mankind, are others whom we designate generally the Luciferic Beings, after their leader Lucifer.
Now we must try clearly to understand how Jehovah and the Elohim on one hand, Lucifer and his hosts on the other, are concerned with the evolution of man. Through the cooperation of the Sun-Gods with the Moon-God a duality arose, and we shall best understand what entered evolution at this point if we consider what the evolution of man had been previously.
Once more we will remind ourselves that the earth passed through an incarnation, that of Saturn, when conditions were primeval; then, after having passed through a state of rest, it entered the Sun incarnation, then the Moon incarnation, and lastly that of our Earth.
Man in the course of his evolution has been connected with all these embodiments of the earth. As we know him he is a very complicated Being; he consists of physical body, etheric body, astral body, and ego, and these four principles play one into the other in a very complicated manner.
If any Being in our physical world had only a physical body it would be a stone—a mineral; in fact our mineral kingdom here on the earth does only possess a physical body. A Being possessing in addition to a physical body an etheric body has a plant-nature; our vegetable kingdom consists of such Beings. A Being having physical etheric, and astral bodies is at the animal stage; and only that Being which in addition to these possesses an ego is at the stage of human existence on earth. Now it is only a rough way of speaking to say that man has these four principles within him; and we shall understand how sketchy it is if we cast a glance over his long, very long, evolution.
Let us enquire which of these four principles is the oldest? It might easily be supposed that as the human ego is the highest, that which first makes man, man, it would be the oldest principle; but this is not the case. Neither the ego nor the astral body nor the etheric body was owned first by man, but the physical body—it is the oldest. The first rudiments of the physical body were formed as far back as on ancient Saturn, but you must not imagine that this body looked then anything like the body of today. When you consider the present physical body you observe in the first place something solid, a skeleton, that firmly constituted part described as “solid”; next you observe fluid constituents of many kinds; further, the physical body is permeated by air or gas; lastly, you find in it something which, considered occultly, is substantial—namely, warmth, inner warmth.
Let us now consider man as regards this inner warmth and his outer environment. His warmth does not depend upon his environment, in a cold environment he does not, like the minerals, become cold, he is not forced to regulate himself according to his environment, he has within him the source of his own heat. Were you now to think everything solid away from man, also everything liquid and everything gaseous; if you imagine his physical body formed only of warmth, such warmth as pulses in your blood, you will have what was present on ancient Saturn. But that body was not formed as it is now, it had only the most rudimentary germs of a form. This was particularly the case in the middle of the Saturn period, for Saturn had initial, middle, and final conditions. It would be very difficult to describe the early condition of Saturn, because few people have developed the capacity which would enable them to think of the conditions of Saturn before it became condensed to the consistency of warmth.
When in spirit you transport yourselves to those times of a primeval past, you must not imagine that had you been able to observe Saturn from somewhere in space you would have seen anything. Saturn had no light, it did not shine; only towards the end of its development did it begin to do so. Had you approached it in the middle of its evolution you would only have perceived its warmth, it was like an oven without external limits, but which limited itself: you would have entered an area of warmth.
You must not imagine this body of warmth as being uniform or homogeneous; if you had been sensitive to differences of warmth you would have found that there were lines of warmth within it in all directions, that they stretched on every side; you would have “felt out” warmth formations. The whole of Saturn consisted of forms of warmth alone, and these were the original foundations of the human physical body. Saturn did not go beyond this in any way that was fruitful for human evolution.
We will now pass on to the Sun evolution. After a period of rest Saturn changed into the Sun formation. Externally it is the case that in the middle of the Sun period a condensation of its substance took place. The Sun consisted not only of warmth, but also of gas and air (in the occult sense), and everything within the Sun passed through its evolution under conditions only possible in warmth and air.
To begin with, the following took place: The human being, who as he consisted only of warmth could not assume an etheric body, was permeated on the Sun by an etheric body; he now consisted of two principles, namely, a physical body and an etheric body. Man's physical body on the Sun was, however, quite different to what it is now. Let us try to form an idea, if only a rough one, of the physical body upon the ancient Sun. Imagine that we have breathed in air and that the breathed-in air has passed into us. This air is now permeated with a certain degree of warmth. Now think away everything but the in-breathed air, which in effect forms an image of the whole human body; think away all the solid and the liquid parts, keeping only the air and the warmth in mind. You then have in imagination a form before you such as would appear if you considered merely the in-breathed air and its activity. If you observed the form of this in-breathed air and the warmth the human being contains you would have approximately the form man had at the middle of the Sun period.
You might now ask: If we have lines of warmth and, in addition to these, currents of gas which form the physical body, how does the clairvoyant see this gas in the Akashic Record? He perceives it in a special way. When the warmth condenses into air and no other conditions are present (as is the case now on earth, where the sun pours in from outside) the moment this gas or air separates from the form of warmth it begins to shine. Hence upon the Sun the physical body was a kind of germinal body of warmth, composed of gaseous or airy currents, which glittered in the most wonderful way and shone with varied colours. The entire Sun-globe consisted of shining warmth-bodies, which were the primary rudiments of our human physical bodies. On the Sun man rose a stage higher; he added an etheric body to the physical body. It was man himself who, as part of the structure of the Sun, radiated forth the illuminating power of light into space; his physical body, through taking into itself the etheric body, became luminous. The physical body was now at the second stage of its progress towards perfection, but the etheric body, which first became luminous on the Sun, was only at its first stage.
Let us now follow man's further progress. The Sun gradually passed over into the Moon incarnation, having meanwhile entered into a condition of rest. On the material side the airy formation condensed to a watery one, and thus the fluid element arose. The ancient Moon was in fact a fluidic body, in it you might again have found physical human bodies as plastic structures, consisting now of flowing sap, or watery constituents, in which currents of air coursed just as breath and warmth intermingle in man's body today. The physical body now consisted of three parts water, gas or air, and warmth; and the etheric body which it had previously possessed now passed over with it into the Moon period. Man was now in a position to assimilate an astral body, and from this time onwards he consisted of three principles: the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body.
During the Moon period it was not possible for all the Beings connected with it to maintain the same rate of progress in their development. It was not only during the development of our Earth, but also earlier, during the Moon development, that the Sun separated off from the common world-body; so that in the middle of the Moon period we have two spheres—the Moon (earth plus moon) and the Sun, which as you know had departed along with the most advanced of the Spiritual Beings. Through the withdrawal of the finer forces and higher Beings the grosser had been left behind upon the Moon; this planet therefore (Earth plus Moon) began to densify and harden. You must realize that even during the ancient Moon period the Sun with its Beings worked for a time from outside upon the backward Moon-body.
It will now be necessary to describe more in detail these bodies which had remained behind after the departure of the Sun, for we went through a portion of our evolution upon them.
On Saturn there was only the physical body of man; he was at the mineral stage. Upon the Sun he raised himself to the vegetable stage, he had then physical body and etheric body, but at this stage certain beings became backward, they did not rise so high as to the human-plant existence upon the ancient Sun, they remained at the Saturn stage. These were the forerunners of certain animals of the present day. Man's past reaches back to ancient Saturn, whereas the forerunners of a certain portion of our present animal kingdom had its origin only on the Sun as a second kingdom to that of man. From the same cause (the remaining behind of certain beings) man, when he had worked himself upward on the Moon to a condition when he was the possessor of three principles, was surrounded by two other kingdoms; one a kingdom which on the Moon had remained behind at the stage of plants, and one that was still at the stage of minerals, these last were the forerunners of our present plants.
Our mineral kingdom did not as yet exist on the Moon. It came into existence last, as a sort of deposit from the other kingdoms. Of course anyone who affirms such things knows very well that it seems nonsense according to present ideas to say that plants could originate without the basis of a mineral kingdom, but formerly conditions were entirely different. In fact, upon the ancient Moon man developed in the animal kingdom; animals in the vegetable kingdom; and at the time when the Moon was separated from the Sun all the kingdoms were arranged in the following way:—
- The human kingdom (really animal kingdom, consisting of physical body, etheric, and astral bodies).
- The animal kingdom (really vegetable kingdom, consisting of physical and etheric bodies).
- The vegetable kingdom (really mineral kingdom, because it consisted only of a physical body).
Our present mineral kingdom did not as yet exist.
Now, when the Moon and Sun separated the Beings and forces of the Sun were completely liberated from the gross material of the Moon, so that they could act all the more strongly. The result was that all three kingdoms were raised about half a stage higher. The human astral body was lifted out of its close connection with the lower principles, so that viewing man at the beginning of the Moon period with his physical, etheric, and astral bodies, one would later have perceived a change. Through the Sun having departed and having begun to shine from outside, the astral and etheric bodies were partly liberated. The consequence was that something happened which we must try to picture in the following way: Imagine that the man of today consisted only of physical body, etheric body, and astral body; and that there now came an external force which pushed out man's etheric and astral bodies; to the clairvoyant these would now exist outside him, but through these two bodies being liberated from the weight of the physical body man could be raised about half a stage upward in evolution.
Something like this took place at the time of which I am speaking; man was lifted up, he became a Being standing midway between the present man and the present animal. In a Spiritual sense he was, however, guided and directed by the exalted Sun-Powers.
In like manner the two other kingdoms were raised about half a stage, so that about the middle of the Moon period we do not find our present kingdoms, but intermediate ones: we have a human-animal kingdom, an animal-vegetable kingdom, and a vegetable-mineral kingdom.
We on the earth walk upon a solid mineral ground; the Beings of the ancient Moon walked on what was the lowest kingdom of the Moon—the vegetable-mineral. This basic substance of the Moon was not a mineral substance such as we have on the earth, but something that was half-alive. One has an approximate idea of what this basic substance of the Moon was if we think of something resembling a mossy bog or boiled spinach, a kind of mush, but living, bubbling. There were no rocks projecting out of this mass, but there was something like dense, woody, vegetable masses, horny structures; and these took the place of our present rocks. To clairvoyant vision it appears as if man moved upon a vegetable-mineral foundation which later underwent condensation and became the stones of today. From out this substance grew the animal-plants. These were more or less firmly rooted; they were more movable, it is true, than plants are now, but they grew out of this viscous element and had a certain degree of sensation when touched. Animal-man rose from out the finest substances; he by no means reached down into the grossest, but formed his physical body from the finest substances.
This physical body, which was in a continual state of transformation, had a very strange appearance: the clairvoyant is unable to discover upon the ancient Moon a human head such as man possesses today. Although the physical body was still soft and fluidic, he can find only animal-like heads, and from out this animal-head formation the etheric and astral bodies projected.
To physical sight all these animal-men had various forms that recall our present animals, but they only remind us of these; it is only when we rise from physical sight to astral vision that we perceive the higher nature of the animal-man of the Moon. Such were the denizens of the ancient Moon.
When we examine closely the course of human development and culture, in so far as it is of a mental and spiritual nature, we find in many instances that the myths and legends that have been handed down to us are in many respects wiser than our present-day science. When more is known about the spiritual foundations of the world men will recognize in many of the myths, legends, and fairy tales a truly deep wisdom, deeper than science, which has apparently progressed so far.
Let us return for a moment to the ancient Moon, in the basic substance of which only the ancient animal-plants could flourish, and let us leave the study of the further development of the Moon itself. We must clearly understand that all these Moon-beings were the forerunners of the present Earth-beings. Our present mineral kingdom has sprung from the vegetable-mineral of the Moon epoch, from the animal-plants have sprung our present plants, and from the backward animals, men. From those men who do not progress have sprung the largest portion of our present day animals. Thus we see that our minerals, our plants, our animals, and our human beings are really the descendants of the Beings of the ancient Moon.
There is today a remarkable plant which does not thrive in a mineral soil, namely, the mistletoe. It is remarkable because when observed clairvoyantly it is seen to be different from other plants. It exhibits rudiments of an astral body passing into the mistletoe, as is the case with animals. Although this plant has no sensation it has something appertaining to the outer form of animals. This is because it belongs to those backward plant-animals of the Moon period, which were unable to become plants, and on this account cannot thrive on a mineral soil, but require other plants on which to take root.
The mistletoe has preserved the condition of the ancient Moon. The ancestors of some of the European peoples knew this fact and embodied the knowledge in a wonderful legend. The Germanic and Norse peoples recognized in Loki a power still belonging to those forces which passed from the field of activity on ancient Moon to the Earth. When the earth became Earth it came under the influence of other forces, which these ancient peoples symbolized in the God Baldur. He represents all those forces which work upon mature earth-beings, but those who had remained at the Moon stage felt an inner relationship to Loki, the Moon-God. Hence arose the wonderful legend telling how once upon a time when the Gods were playing, all creatures swore an oath that they would not injure Baldur; the mistletoe alone did not take this oath. Why? Because it is not related to the earth forces incarnated in Baldur, but is a backward Moon-creation, and so has power to injure the basic earth-force—Baldur. Loki had to be served by a being belonging to himself. This legend has its origin deep down in the hidden foundations of the world. Further, when we know that in many respects what is opposed to healthy development must be of service to unhealthy development, we understand the wise intuition of our forefathers which led them to look to the mistletoe for special curative forces and juices. They knew that of which we have just spoken, hence the role they gave to the mistletoe. From this example we can see that profound wisdom regarding the evolution of the world is frequently hidden in myth and legend.
Through the withdrawal of a part of the etheric and astral body of the animal-man upon the Moon the necessity arose, even at that time, for a change of consciousness. But we must first speak of another development which ran parallel with this.
Each of the stages of development—that on Saturn, Sun, Moon, and Earth—was at the same time a stage in the development of consciousness. Upon Saturn, consciousness was dim ... it was at the first stage. Such consciousness as we have in dreamless sleep—the consciousness possessed by eternally sleeping plants—is clearer than that which man had upon Saturn, which may be compared to the consciousness of minerals. Only on the Sun did man rise to a consciousness such as is possessed by plants; through the astral body, which he received upon the Moon, his consciousness rose one degree higher, to that which we designate picture-consciousness. This may be compared in a certain sense with our present dream-consciousness, although our dreams have meaning only in exceptional cases. Upon the Moon this was different, the pictures which then rose and disappeared signified something. When another being approached a man he was unable to perceive its outer form and colour, but he perceived something which rose within himself (much as is now the case in dreams); a picture rose within him of the inner nature of the approaching being, and in accordance with the colour and character of this picture he knew whether this being was friendly towards him or the reverse—whether he should remain or flee.
As already stated, a change of consciousness took place upon the Moon during the time when the Sun was outside; there were periods of alternating consciousness, times when consciousness was more vivid, and times when it was dimmer. Today we have interchanging periods of day and night. In the morning man draws into his physical body and etheric body, and the eternal world with its beings and objects rises before him. Everything around him becomes light and clear because he makes use of his senses, but at night when he goes forth with his ego and astral body, he has no instruments wherewith to perceive; everything is dark around him.
In the same way, dreamless-sleep consciousness, which was first given to man on the Sun, alternated with the waking, earth-consciousness. These conditions were already prepared for on the ancient Moon. At that time the etheric and astral bodies were not continuously outside man, there were periods when they sank into his physical body; for the ancient Moon already moved round the Sun, and this rotation brought about conditions in which man was shone upon by the Sun at certain times, and not at others. Through this an exit and entrance of the etheric and astral bodies into the physical body were brought about. The change was certainly not so strongly contrasted as at present.
During the periods of the withdrawal of these bodies from the Moon, when man was shone upon by the forces of the Sun, he was in clear consciousness—in spiritual consciousness he perceived that which was spiritual clearly, and when his etheric and astral bodies sank back into the physical body his consciousness became darkened. You see, it was the reverse of present conditions.
For long, long periods of time, alternating states of clear and dim consciousness occurred upon the Moon, and it was in the dim state of consciousness that—without man being aware of it—what is called fructification took place. In order that the powers of reproduction might be developed, and that man might bring forth, his higher being had to sink down into the physical body, and when it was released it rose again into the higher world. At that time preparation was gradually made for what has since been fully developed upon earth. Through the separation of the Sun, and because of its having given stronger forces to its creatures, man along with all the other beings was able to develop more highly. If the Sun had been limited for a longer period by the ancient Moon it could not have acted so powerfully; but once it was released from the hindrance of the Moon-substances, the Moon and all its denizens were advanced rapidly. After a time the Moon had attained such maturity that it could again be absorbed by the Sun. This was followed by a condition when all the planets which had been separated could also be again absorbed, when they all reentered the spiritual state of rest which we call Pralaya.
After this pause there came forth once more what we may call the first etheric germs of the Earth-body, out of which at a later period—everything was again differentiated.
Now let us enquire: Whence came the physical body upon Saturn, whence came the etheric body on the Sun, and the astral body on the Moon?
These questions go to the very root of the matter. Anthroposophists do not enquire like many who imagine they are enquiring philosophically. For there are people who ask: Whence comes this or that? and when answered they ask further and further without end. This is only done as long as the inquirer has not risen to a spiritual observation of the world. Reasonably, one must come at last to a point where the significance of questions ceases. One might ask: Whence come these furrows on the road? The answer is: A cart passed this way. Then comes the further question: Whence came the cart? And one might answer: A man on certain business was using it. They then ask: What kind of business? At length the questions would come to an end; you would have been led so far that you would have arrived in quite different realms. If the subject of the interrogation is concerned with an idea, one only arrives if one remains in abstractions, at endless questions. But in concrete observations one arrives at last at Spiritual Beings, and one then inquires no longer: Why are they doing this? But one asks: What are they doing? It is necessary that one should educate oneself to see the limitations of questions.
Occult observation reveals that in the beginning, when ancient Saturn began to be formed, certain Spiritual Beings poured forth the fundamental substance of Saturn—warmth—from their own substance as a sacrifice. They had matured so far that they did not need to absorb anything as nourishment, they were even in a position to sacrifice themselves to pour out their own substance. These Beings are the Thrones. It is they who through their sacrifice formed the foundations of the human physical body. One who can occultly observe the physical body on Saturn can say: It has flowed forth from the substance of the Thrones. The physical body changes from stage to stage, it develops ever higher, but that which we bear within us is always the transformed substance of the Thrones.
We will now pass on to the Ancient Sun. Here the etheric body was added to the physical body. Here again are Spiritual Beings lower than the Thrones, whom we call Spirits of Wisdom. They had not developed far enough on Saturn to be able to pour out their own being, but on the Sun they had progressed far enough, and there now flowed from them the substance of their etheric body. Since the Sun period we carry within us our etheric bodies; these are of the substance of the Spirits of Wisdom.
Upon the Moon the astral body was added to us. Here again there were Spiritual Beings who sacrificed their substance. These were the Spirits of Motion. Lastly we pass from the Moon to the Earth.
Here other Beings pour their force into us—we receive the Ego. To the three members we already possess is now added the “I.” This is bestowed on us by the Spirits of Form or Exusiai; they are the Elohim, who give to us their Sun-light, also Jehovah, who, from the moon, gives form to the human spirit. Herein we see the cooperation of the two categories of Spirits of Form who from outside endow man with the rudiments of his Ego.
Thus we find that from stage to stage Spiritual Beings incorporate within human evolution: on Saturn the Thrones; on the Sun the Spirits of Wisdom; on the Moon the Spirits of Motion or Dynamis; and on the Earth the Spirits of Form—Jehovah and the Elohim. From all these Beings man has received his present shape and formation, they have allowed their own Being to pour into him. In the Bible we are clearly shown how the Being of one of the Spirits of Form streamed into the Being of man. Profound secrets lie behind what is found in the Torah.
Imagine that one of the Spirits of Form united himself to the Moon as Jehovah, that from thence he worked as a Spirit of Form upon man, and, bestowing on him that which gave to him his divine form, “God made man after His Own image.” He gave to him the form of the Gods. The Spirits of Form gave to man the human form, that is, the divine form. The Elohim poured the sun-force as light upon the earth. The God Jehovah renounced the outer form of light; he streamed to earth as a darker God, thus limiting Himself to the period between birth and death. Through the air, which the light penetrates, the Spirits of the air made themselves his companions. If we wish to form a picture of what streams physically and spiritually from the sun to the earth we have to see the sun's rays caught by the moon and returned to man; we have to see these rays bringing with them that which streams to us from the Jehovah Spirit; and how with them comes also that which exists spiritually in the air.
The moment in which Jehovah poured forth His principle of force, permitting part of His Being to flow into man, is indicated in the Bible in the words: “Jehovah poured into man the living breath, and he became a living soul.”
Such a statement ought to be taken quite literally, and we must try to understand what it really contains. A thrill of awe pervades us when we begin to understand such a statement, and when we learn its meaning; telling as it does that after the Thrones on Saturn, the Spirits of Wisdom on the Sun, the Spirits of Motion on the Moon had poured their principles into man, then—on the Earth—the Spirits of Form pervaded him. It is this mighty moment that is referred to in words of the Bible quoted above.
In the next lecture we shall learn further of the Elohim and Jehovah, and how they cooperated with Luciferic Beings throughout the Atlantean epoch and on into our own.
Fünfter Vortrag
Wir haben gesehen, wie sich unsere Erdenverhältnisse in ihrer Entwickelung aus dem Kosmos herausgestaltet haben. Wir haben gesehen, wie unsere Erde in einer urfernen Vergangenheit mit dem, was heute als Sonne vom Himmel herunterstrahlt, verbunden war, und wie dann in einem gewissen Zeitpunkt sich diese Sonne von der Erde getrennt hat. Später ist aus jener Weltenwesenheit, die nach der Abspaltung der Sonne noch den jetzigen Mond in sich hatte, auch dieser Mond hinausgezogen, und gestern haben wir nun betrachtet, wie diese Trennung einer ursprünglichen Gemeinschaft in drei Weltkörper mit der ganzen Evolution des Menschen und unseres Kosmos in geistiger Beziehung aufs innigste zusammenhängt. Mit den Kräften der Sonne sind nämlich auch gewisse Wesenheiten aus unserer Erdmasse herausgegangen, die früher innerhalb unserer Erde, sozusagen von innen gewirkt haben, die aber seit dieser Spaltung von Sonne und Erde auf die verschiedenen Wesenheiten, und also auch auf den Menschen, von außen her wirken. Dadurch haben sich natürlich alle Verhältnisse des Erdenmenschen geändert; und später änderten sie sich wiederum dadurch, daß der Mond sich auch heraustrennte. Also dasjenige, was wir eine Zeitlang als Erde plus Mond kennen, das erfuhr dann neuerdings eine Veränderung durch das Hinausgehen des Mondes. Und der Sinn der ganzen Evolution war, wie wir gesehen haben, daß der Mensch, wenn er ausschließlich unter dem Einflusse der Sonnenkräfte geblieben wäre, ein zu rasches Tempo der Entwickelung eingeschlagen hätte; hätte andrerseits sich die Sonne ganz von der Erde getrennt und ihr ihre Kräfte entzogen, dann hätte die Weiterentwickelung der Erde sich so vollzogen, daß die Erdenwesen, namentlich der Mensch, unter dem Einflusse der Mondkräfte erstarrt wären. So wird also in bezug auf die Menschheitsentwickelung ein Gleichgewicht erhalten.
Nun habe ich Sie auch schon darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß diejenigen Wesenheiten, die zunächst mit der Sonne ihre eigene geistige Kraft der Erde zustrahlten und so die Evolution der Menschheit bewirkten, die Geister der Form oder die Gewalten sind. Sie sind es, die sozusagen der Erdentwickelung am nächsten stehen. Der Führer dieser «Gewalten» mit seiner Schar, können wir sagen, hat sich abgetrennt; er bewohnte nach der Abtrennung der Sonne die Erde und trennte sich später mit dem Monde von der Erde ab. So daß wir zunächst eine Mondßgottheit haben, jene Gottheit, welche die biblische Urkunde als Jehova bezeichnet. Jene anderen Sonnengewalten aber, die ihr Licht von außen zustrahlen und als Formgeister wirken, die werden in der biblischen Urkunde die Elohim, die Geister des Lichts genannt. Unter dem Einflusse der Elohim auf der einen Seite und des Jehova auf der anderen Seite wird dem Menschen in seiner Entwickelung das Gleichgewicht erhalten. Wir haben aber gesehen, daß nicht nur der Mensch eine Entwickelung erfährt, sondern daß alle Wesen im Kosmos ihre Entwickelung durchmachen. Auch jene erhabenen Wesenheiten, die uns ihre Kräfte mit dem Lichte zusenden, die Geister der Form, auch sie haben ihre Entwickelung durchgemacht; sie waren früher auf einer niedrigeren Stufe, sie haben sich bis zu der heutigen Stufe erst emporgerungen. Das, was wir jetzt von den Elohim und von Jehova gesagt haben, gilt auch von den reifsten dieser Geister, die sich vollständig fähig gemacht haben, ihre Weiterentwickelung von dem Zeitpunkte der Erdentstehung an entweder auf der Sonne oder auf dem Monde zu finden. Aber es gibt überall solche Wesenheiten, die auf irgendeiner Stufe zurückgeblieben sind. Wir haben ja gestern schon gesehen, daß Planeten wie Venus oder Merkur ihr Dasein dem Umstande verdanken, daß Wesenheiten zurückgeblieben sind mitten zwischen den Menschen auf der einen und den erhabenen Sonnengeistern auf der anderen Seite; siebrauchten einen Wohnplatz, der erhabener als die Erde ist, aber die Sonne konnten sie nicht bewohnen, weil sie dazu noch nicht reif waren. Das sind erhabene Wesenheiten, die weit über die Entwickelung des Menschen hinausgehen, die aber den Zustand der Sonnengeister noch nicht erreicht haben. Sie bilden eine sehr wichtige Klasse von Wesenheiten in bezug auf die Entwickelung der Erdenmenschheit. Während wir also auf der einen Seite die reifen Wesenheiten haben, haben wir zwischen ihnen und den Menschen stehend diese eben geschilderten Wesenheiten, die wir in ihrer Gesamtheit als luziferische Wesenheiten bezeichnen; wir benennen sie nach demjenigen, der sozusagen ihr Anführer ist, nach der Gestalt, die wir Luzifer nennen.
Nun müssen wir uns klarmachen, wie Jehova und die Elohim auf der einen, und die luziferischen Wesenheiten auf der anderen Seite mit der Menschenentwickelung zusammenhängen. Durch das Zusammenwirken der Sonnengötter und des Mondgottes entsteht ein Zweifaches, und was da entsteht, werden wir begreifen, wenn wir beobachten, wie die Entwickelung des Menschen vorher war. Noch einmal wollen wir uns daran erinnern, daß die Erde einen uralten Verkörperungszustand durchgemacht hat, den des Saturn; daß dann nach einem Ruhezustande die Sonne, dann der Mond, und dann erst unsere Erde daraus wurde. Der Mensch ist in bezug auf seine Evolution mit all diesen Verkörperungen unserer Erde verbunden; der Mensch, wie er uns heute entgegentritt, ist ein sehr kompliziertes Wesen. Er besteht ja heute aus physischem Leib, aus dem Äther-, dem Astralleib und dem Ich. Diese vier Glieder der menschlichen Wesenheit spielen in sehr komplizierter Weise ineinander. Ein Wesen, das in unserer physischen Welt nur einen physischen Leib haben würde, wäre ein Stein, ein Mineral; unser Mineralreich hat in der Tat nur einen physischen Leib hier auf der Erde. Ein Wesen, das außer dem physischen Leibe noch einen Ätherleib hat, ist pflanzlicher Natur; unsere Pflanzenwelt besteht aus solchen Wesen. Ein Wesen mit physischem, ätherischem und astralischem Leibe steht auf der Tierstufe, und erst ein Wesen, das dazu noch ein Ich besitzt, das steht auf unserer Erde auf unserer Stufe, auf der Stufe des Menschendaseins. Aber das ist nur ganz skizzenhaft beschrieben, wenn wir sagen, daß der Mensch heute diese vier Glieder seiner Wesenheit hat. Und wie skizzenhaft es ist, wird uns klar werden, wenn wir einen Blick auf die lange, lange Entwickelung des Menschen werfen.
Wir fragen uns da: Welches ist denn das älteste der vier Glieder unserer menschlichen Wesenheit? — Leicht könnte man glauben, weil das menschliche Ich zunächst als das Höchste erscheint, als das, was den Menschen erst zum Menschen macht, daß dieses Ich auch das älteste Glied sei. Das ist aber nicht der Fall. Weder das Ich noch der Ätheroder Astralleib, sondern der physische Leib ist das, was der Mensch zuallererst gehabt hat. Dieser physische Leib ist in seiner ersten Anlage auf dem alten Saturn schon gebildet worden, aber Sie dürfen sich nicht vorstellen, daß er etwa so wie heute ausgesehen hat. Wenn Sie den heutigen physischen Leib betrachten, dann haben Sie zunächst feste Glieder, ein festes Knochensystem, kurz, Bestandteile, die wir als fest bezeichnen; dann haben wir auch noch flüssige Bestandteile von allen möglichen Beschaffenheiten; ferner durchzieht den physischen Leib nach allen Seiten Luftförmiges, Gasförmiges; und schließlich finden Sie in ihm etwas, was, okkult betrachtet, substantiell Wärme, innere Wärme ist. Denken Sie sich einmal den Menschen in bezug auf seine Wärme und auf seine Umgebung. Seine Wärme ist nicht von seiner Umgebung abhängig, er muß sich nicht wie das Mineral nach seiner Umgebung richten; in einer kalten Umgebung wird er nicht wie das Mineral kalt, sondern er trägt im Inneren den Quell seiner eigenen Wärme. Denken Sie sich einmal von dem Menschen alles weg, was fest, flüssig und was gasförmig ist, denken Sie sich leiblich im Raume, aus Wärme gebildet, den physischen Leib des Menschen, so aus Wärme gebildet, wie die Wärme in Ihrem Blute pulsiert, dann haben Sie das, was auf dem alten Saturn vorhanden war. Nur war es nicht in der Form wie heute, sondern in der ersten Keimanlage. Insbesondere war das in der Mitte der Saturnentwickelung der Fall. Der Saturn hatte einen Anfangszustand, einen mittleren und einen Endzustand. Den Anfangszustand zu schildern, würde sehr schwer halten, weil nur wenige Menschen die Fähigkeit ausgebildet haben, um sich die Eigenschaften denken zu können, die der Saturn gehabt hat, ehe er sich so verdichtete, daß er aus Wärme bestand. Wenn Sie sich im Geiste in diese Zeiten urferner Vergangenheit zurück versetzen, so müssen Sie sich nicht vorstellen, daß, wenn Sie den Saturn von irgendwo im Weltenraum hätten beobachten können, Sie da irgend etwas von ihm gesehen hätten. Licht hat er nicht gehabt, geleuchtet hat der Saturn nicht. Erst gegen das Ende seiner Entwickelung fing er an zu leuchten. Wenn Sie sich ihm in der Mitte seiner Entwickelung hätten nähern können, dann hätten Sie nur gespürt, daß es warm wird wie in einem Backofen, der aber keine Grenzen von außen hat, sondern der sich selbst begrenzt: in einen Wärmeraum wären Sie eingetreten. Diesen Wärmekörper müssen Sie sich aber nicht gleichmäßig vorstellen. Wenn Sie eine Empfindung für Wärmeunterschiede hätten, dann würden Sie finden, daß da Wärmelinien in allen Richtungen sind, nach allen Seiten; Sie würden Wärmeformen herausfühlen. Der ganze Saturn bestand aus Formen, die nur in Wärme gebildet waren, und diese Formen, das waren die Uranlagen des physischen menschlichen Leibes. Weiter bringt es der Saturn überhaupt nicht, während er für die Menschheitsentwickelung fruchtbar ist; später, als er abflutet, bringt er es allerdings weiter, aber im tieferen Sinne ist das nicht fruchtbar für die Menschheitsentwickelung.
Jetzt gehen wir über zur Sonnenentwickelung. Nach einer Ruhepause verwandelt sich der Saturn in die Sonnenform. Äußerlich materiell ist es so, daß in der Mitte der Sonnenentwickelung eine Verdichtung des Materiellen eingetreten ist. Die Sonne besteht nicht nur aus Wärme, sondern auch aus Gas und Luft, im okkulten Sinne also Wärme und Luft. Und wiederum erfährt alles, was in der Sonne ist, seine Entwickelung innerhalb der Bedingungen, die in Wärme und Luft statthaben können. Zunächst geschieht nun folgendes: Der Mensch, der, als er nur aus Wärme bestand, noch keinen Ätherleib aufnehmen konnte, wird jetzt auf der Sonne durchdrungen von einem Ätherleib, so daß er aus zwei Gliedern, aus dem physischen und dem ätherischen Leib besteht. Aber immer noch ist dieser physische Leib auf der Sonne ganz anders, als er jetzt ist. Wir wollen versuchen, uns eine wenn auch grobe Vorstellung von dem physischen Leibe auf der alten Sonne zu machen. Wir denken uns, daß wir eingeatmet haben, daß die eingeatmete Luft in uns hineingegangen ist. Denken Sie sich also den Einatmungszug gemacht und die Wirkung in einer gewissen Wärmewirkung. Und nun denken Sie sich alles weg außer der eingeatmeten Luft, die sozusagen in ihrer Wirkung den ganzen menschlichen Leib nachbildet — alles andere, Festes und Flüssiges, denken Sie sich fort, und halten nur die Luft und die Wärme fest. Denken Sie also, es entstünde vor Ihnen eine solche Form, wie sie entsteht, wenn Sie bloß auf den Einatmungszug und auf seine Wirkung sehen. Nun verfolgen Sie die Form der eingeatmeten Luft und die Wärme, die der Mensch enthält, dann haben Sie ungefähr die Gestalt, die der Mensch in der Mitte der Sonnenentwickelung gehabt hat. Sie können nun fragen: Wenn wir Wärmelinien haben, und außerdem Gasströmungen, die diesen physischen Leib bilden, wie sieht denn der Hellseher dieses Gas in der AkashaChronik? Er nimmt es an etwas ganz Bestimmtem wahr. Wenn sich nämlich die Wärme zu Luft verdichtet und keine anderen Verhältnisse da sind - nicht wie heute auf der Erde, wo die Sonne von außen hereinstrahlt —, da beginnt es in dem Augenblicke, wo das Gas, die Luft, sich abspaltet von der Wärmeform, zu leuchten. So daß Sie den physischen Leib auf der Sonne so gestaltet haben, daß er eine Art von keimhafter Wärmeform ist und eine Form von Gasluftströmungen, die in der wunderbarsten Weise erglänzt und in den verschiedensten Farben leuchtet. Dieser ganze Sonnenball besteht zunächst aus leuchtenden Wärmekörpern, die die Uranlage unseres menschlichen physischen Leibes sind, und die durchdrungen sind von dem Ätherleibe. Der Mensch ist zu einer höheren Stufe heraufgestiegen, er hat zu dem physischen Leib den Ätherleib erlangt. Er selbst ist es, der als ein Teil des Sonnengebildes die Leuchtkraft des Lichtes in den Weltenraum hinausstrahlt. Der physische Leib ist ein Leuchtkörper geworden dadurch, daß er den Atherleib in sich aufgenommen hat. Auf der zweiten Stufe seiner Vollkommenheit ist also der physische Leib; während der Ätherleib, der ja erst eben auf der Sonne eingestrahlt ist, sich noch auf der ersten Stufe befindet.
Jetzt verfolgen wir den Menschen weiter. Die Sonne verwandelt sich nach und nach in den Mondleib, nachdem sie wiederum eine Pause, einen Ruhezustand durchgemacht hat. Materiell tritt das ein, daß die Luftform sich zum Wäßrigen verdichtet: es entsteht Flüssiges. In der Tat, der alte Mond war ein flüssiger Weltkörper, und darin würden Sie als plastische Gebilde wiederum die physischen Menschenleiber finden, die jetzt aus verfließenden Säften, aus wäßrigen Bestandteilen bestehen, in welchen, sagen wir, Luftströmungen kursieren wie heute die Atmung und Wärmeströmung. Der physische Leib besteht jetzt aus drei Gliedern: aus Wasser, aus Gas oder Luft und aus Wärme. Und der frühere Ätherleib, den er gehabt hat, geht wieder hinein in dieser Mondzeit, aber jetzt ist der Mensch imstande, auch den Astralleib aufzunehmen, so daß er aus drei Gliedern besteht: dem physischen, dem Äther- und dem Astralleibe. Nun tritt schon während dieser Mondzeit die Unmöglichkeit ein, daß alle Wesen, die mit dem Monde verbunden sind, gleichen Schritt in der Entwickelung halten. Nicht bloß während unserer Erdentwickelung, sondern vorbereitend schon während der Mondentwickelung geht die Sonne einmal heraus aus dem gemeinsamen Weltenkörper; so daß wir in der Mitte der Mondentwickelung zwei Körper haben, den Mondleib - Erde plus Mond - und die Sonne, die mit den vorgeschrittensten Wesenheiten sich herausgetrennt hat, weil diese Wesenheiten für ihre Weiterentwickelung einen erhabeneren Schauplatz brauchten. Dadurch nun, daß die feineren Kräfte und Wesenheiten hinausgingen, blieben auf der Erde die gröberen zurück, und dieser Weltkörper — Erde plus Mond - erfuhr dadurch sozusagen eine Verdichtung. Wir sehen also, daß schon damals in der alten Mondzeit die Sonne mit ihren Wesenheiten von außen her während einiger Zeit auf den zurückbleibenden Mondkörper gewirkt hat.
Nun wird es nötig sein, Ihnen diesen zurückbleibenden Körper ein wenig näher zu beschreiben, denn wir haben ja einen Teil unserer Entwickelung auf ihm durchgemacht. Auf dem Saturn gab es nur den physischen Leib; der Mensch hatte den Wert eines Minerals. Auf der Sonne erhob sich der Mensch zu dem Werte einer Pflanze, denn er hatte physischen und Ätherleib. Nun waren aber gewisse Wesenheiten zurückgeblieben, indem sie auf der alten Sonne nicht mit hinaufstiegen zum Menschen-Pflanzendasein, sondern auf der Stufe des Saturn stehen blieben. Das sind die Vorläufer gewisser heutiger Tiere. Sie sehen, der heutige Mensch reicht in bezug auf seine Vergangenheit zurück bis zu dem alten Saturn, während erst auf der Sonne die Vorläufer eines Teiles unserer heutigen Tiere auftreten als ein zweites Reich neben dem Menschen. Aus demselben Grunde, aus einem Zurückbleiben gewisser Wesenheiten, war der Mensch, der sich auf dem Monde zu einem dreigliedrigen Wesen emporgearbeitet hatte, von zwei anderen Reichen umgeben: von einem Reiche, das auf dem Monde in der Stufe der Pflanze zurückgeblieben war — die Vorläufer unserer heutigen Tiere -, und von dem, was sich jetzt auf dem Monde noch auf der Stufe des Minerals befand, die Vorläufer unserer heutigen Pflanzen. Das, was heute Mineral ist, das gab es noch nicht auf dem Monde, das ist erst am spätesten entstanden als eine Aussonderung der anderen Reiche. Natürlich weiß derjenige, der solche Dinge behauptet, ganz genau, daß es Unsinn ist, im heutigen Sinne davon zu reden, daß die Pflanzen ohne die Grundlage eines Mineralreichs entstehen könnten; aber es waren eben früher ganz andere Verhältnisse. In der Tat entwickelte sich auf dem alten Monde der Mensch sozusagen im Tierreich, das Tier im Pflanzenreich, die Pflanze im Mineralreich, und als der Mond sich von der Sonne trennte, erfuhren alle Reiche eine Verschiebung, die in folgender Weise geschah.
Wenn wir uns den alten Mond denken, dann sind zunächst die drei oben genannten Reiche vorhanden:
1. das Menschenreich - eigentlich Tierreich, aus physischem, ätherischem und Astralleib bestehend;
2. das Tierreich — eigentlich Pflanzenreich, aus physischem und ätherischem Leibe bestehend;
3. das Pflanzenreich - eigentlich Mineralreich, weil es nur physischen Leib hat.
Unser heutiges Mineralreich also besteht noch nicht. Als nun Mond und Sonne sich trennen, sind die Wesenheiten und Kräfte der Sonne ganz befreit von den groben Stoffen des Mondes und können um so stärker wirken. Dadurch werden nun alle drei Reiche um eine Stufe heraufgehoben. Das, was menschlicher Astralleib ist, wird aus seiner innigen Verbindung mit physischem und Ätherleib herausgehoben, so daß, wenn Sie sich den Menschen mit seinem physischen, seinem Äther- und Astralleib im Beginn des Mondendaseins denken, Sie später eine wesentliche Veränderung wahrnehmen: Dadurch, daß die Sonne heraustritt und von außen zu scheinen beginnt, werden der Astralleib und der Atherleib zum Teil befreit. Die Folge davon ist, daß etwas entsteht, was Sie sich etwa so vorstellen müssen: Denken Sie sich einmal, der heutige Mensch bestünde aus physischem Leib, Atherleib und Astralleib, und nun käme eine äußere Kraft, die den Astralleib und den Ätherleib heraustriebe; dann würden für den Hellseher Ihr Astralleib und Ihr Atherleib außerhalb Ihrer vorhanden sein. Sie selbst aber würden dadurch, daß diese beiden Leiber von der Schwere des physischen Leibes befreit werden, um eine halbe Stufe hinaufgehoben werden. Und so etwas geschah auch damals. Der Mensch wurde auch hinaufgehoben, er wurde ein Wesen, welches zwischen dem heutigen Menschen und dem heutigen Tiere mitten drinnen steht, welches aber in geistiger Beziehung gelenkt und geleitet wurde von den erhabenen Sonnenmächten. Ebenso wurden die beiden anderen Reiche um ein Stück hinaufgehoben, so daß wir in der Mitte der Mondentwickelung nicht unsere heutigen Reiche haben, sondern Zwischenreiche: ein Tiermenschenreich, ein Reich zwischen Tier und Pflanze stehend, und ein Pflanzenmineralreich. Und geradeso wie unsere Mineralien den festen Boden bilden, auf dem wir herumwandeln, so gingen die Wesenheiten des alten Mondes herum auf dem, was das niedrigste Reich des Mondes war, auf dem Pflanzenmineral. Diese Grundsubstanz des Mondes war nicht wie auf der Erde heute eine mineralische Substanz, sondern eine Art halblebendigen Wesens. Wenn Sie sich heute denken würden etwas wie Torfmoor oder wie Kochsalat oder gekochten Spinat, einen solchen Brei, aber dabei lebendig, aufbrodelnd - dann ungefähr hätten Sie eine Vorstellung von dem, was damals die Grundmasse war. Und nicht Felsen ragten aus dieser Masse heraus, sondern Gebilde wie etwa das Holz, verdichtete Pflanzenmasse, Horngebilde, das war damals anstelle der heutigen Felsen. Und für den hellseherischen Blick zeigt sich das so, daß man auf einer pflanzlich-mineralischen Grundlage wandelte, die eine Verdichtung erfuhr, und das sind die Gesteine. Da wachsen nun heraus, mehr oder weniger festgewurzelt, die Tierpflanzen, viel beweglicher als heute; aus dem zähflüssigen Element wachsen sie heraus, Sie hatten eine Art von Empfindung, wenn man sie anrührte. Und aus den feinsten Substanzen hob sich der Tiermensch heraus, der keineswegs bis in die gröbsten Substanzen hinunterreichte, sondern seinen physischen Leib aus den feinsten Substanzen hatte. Und dieser physische Leib, der in fortwährender Verwandlung sich befand, sah recht merkwürdig aus; einen solchen Menschenkopf, wie ihn der Mensch heute hat, den kann der Hellseher nicht entdecken auf dem alten Monde. Er entdeckt im physischen Leibe, wenn dieser auch noch so weich und flüssig ist, nur tierähnliche Kopfformen, und was aus dieser tierähnlichen Kopfform herausragt, das ist der Ather- und der Astralleib. Für den physischen Blick hatten alle Tiermenschen also die verschiedensten Formen, die an Tiere erinnern, aber auch nur erinnern, und erst wenn man vom physischen Sehen zum astralischen Schauen aufsteigt, dann erblickt man die höhere Natur dieses Mondtiermenschen. So ist die Bevölkerung des alten Mondes.
Wenn wir in die Tiefen der menschlichen Kulturentwickelung, sofern sie geistiger Art ist, hineinblicken, so finden wir an vielen Stellen, daß in der Tat die Mythen und Sagen, die uns überliefert worden sind, in vieler Beziehung weiser sind, als es unsere heutige Wissenschaft ist. Und wenn der Mensch einst die geistige Grundlage der Welt wieder erkennen wird, dann wird er in manchem Mythos, in manchen Sagen und Märchen eine tiefe Weisheit erkennen, tiefer als unsere scheinbar so vorgeschrittene Wissenschaft. Denken wir uns noch einmal den alten Mond, in dem nur die alte Tierpflanze gedeihen kann, und lenken wir eine Weile den Blick ab von der Weiterentwickelung des Mondes. Seien wir uns klar, daß alle diese Mondwesenheiten Vorläufer unserer heutigen Menschenwesen waren. Aus den Mineralpflanzen ist durch einen Herunterstieg unser heutiges Mineralreich entstanden, aus den Tierpflanzen unsere heutigen Pflanzen und aus den zurückgebliebenen Tiermenschen, aus denen, die nicht fortgeschritten sind, zum größten Teile unsere heutigen Tiere. So sehen wir, wie unsere heutigen Mineralien, unsere Pflanzen, Tiere und Menschen wirklich Nachkommen sind jener alten Mondwesen. Nun gibt es heute sehr merkwürdige Pflanzen, die nicht in einem mineralischen Boden gedeihen, zum Beispiel die Mistel. Sie ist deshalb so merkwürdig, weil sie sich als Pflanze für den hellseherischen Blick sehr von den anderen Pflanzen unterscheidet. Sie zeigt nämlich etwas von einem Astralleib, der, wie bei dem Tierleibe, in die Mistel hineingeht. Trotzdem sie keine Empfindung hat, zeigt sie etwas von der äußeren Gestalt des Tierwesens. Das rührt davon her, daß sie zu jenen Pflanzentieren des Mondes gehört, die zurückgeblieben sind; die jetzt nicht Pflanzen haben werden können und die deshalb auch nicht auf einem mineralischen Boden gedeihen. So weit konnten sie nicht fortschreiten, und deshalb brauchen sie andere Pflanzen, in die sie sich hineinsenken können. Die Mistel ist bei dem alten Mondbrauch geblieben. Das haben die alten Vorfahren der europäischen Völker gewußt, indem sie es zunächst in einem wunderbaren Sagengebilde verkörpert haben. Diese alten germanischen und nordischen Völkerschaften sahen in Loki eine Gewalt, welche noch jenen alten Mondkräften angehörte, die sich von dem alten Mondschauplatz auf unsere Erde herübergefunden haben. Als die Erde Erde geworden ist, kam sie unter den Einfluß derjenigen Kräfte, welche sich diese alten Völkerschaften in dem Gotte Baldur symbolisierten. Er repräsentiert alle die Kräfte, die auf die reifen Erdenwesen wirkten. Diejenigen Wesenheiten unserer Erde aber, die auf der Mondstufe zurückgeblieben sind, fühlen innige Verwandtschaft zu dem, der zu dem Gotte des Mondes gehört, zu Loki. Daher stammt die wunderbare Sage, daß einst, als die Götter spielten, alle Wesen einen Eid geleistet haben, daß sie Baldur nicht verletzen wollten — nur die Mistel schwur diesen Eid nicht. Weshalb? Weil sie nicht verwandt ist mit den Erdenkräften, die in Baldur verkörpert sind; sie ist degeneriert, ein zurückgebliebenes Geschöpf des Mondes. Sie kann die Grundkraft der Erde, Baldur, verletzen. Loki muß sich eines Wesens bedienen, das zu ihm gehört. Tief aus dem geheimen Weltenzusammenhange heraus ist diese Sage entstanden. Und wenn wir wissen, daß in vieler Beziehung dasjenige, was der gesunden - Entwickelung widerstrebt, gerade der kranken Entwickelung dienen muß, dann begreifen wir, daß es eine große, weise Intuition unserer Vorfahren war, die sie dazu führte, in der Mistel besonders heilende Kräfte und Säfte zu suchen. Sie wußten das, was wir eben besprochen haben; daher das Ansehen, welches der Mistel überhaupt gegeben worden ist. Das ist so ein Beispiel, an dem wir sehen können, wie in den Sagen und Mythen Weisheit der Weltentwickelung verborgen ist. Dadurch nun, daß auf dem Monde sozusagen ein Teil von dem Ather- und dem Astralleib herausgezogen ist beim Tiermenschen, dadurch entsteht bereits auf dem alten Monde die Notwendigkeit eines Bewußtseinswechsels. Und jetzt müssen wir von einer anderen Entwickelung sprechen, die parallel mit dieser vor sich geht. Jede einzelne dieser Entwickelungsstufen auf dem Saturn, der Sonne, dem Monde und der Erde ist zugleich eine Stufe der Bewußtseinsentwickelung. Auf dem Saturn war das Bewußtsein ganz dumpf, es war die erste Stufe. Unser Bewußtsein im traumlosen Schlafe, das, was die ewig schlafende Pflanzenwelt hat, ist schon heller als das, was der Mensch auf dem Saturn hatte und was sich mit dem Bewußtsein des Minerals vergleichen läßt. Erst auf der Sonne erhob sich der Mensch zu einem Bewußtsein, wie das der Pflanze ist, und dadurch, daß der Mensch auf dem Monde den Astralleib eingegliedert erhielt, stieg auch sein Bewußtsein noch einen Grad höher, zu dem, was wir als das Bilderbewußtsein bezeichnen. Mit dem heutigen Traumbewußtsein können wir es nur in gewisser Beziehung vergleichen, denn unsere Träume haben ja nur in Ausnahmefällen etwas zu bedeuten. Aber auf dem Monde war das anders. Die auf- und absteigenden Bilder, die sich dem Menschen da zeigten, hatten etwas zu bedeuten. Wenn sich ihm ein anderes Wesen näherte, so konnte er nicht äußere Form und Farbe wahrnehmen, aber er empfand etwas in sich aufsteigen, so wie es heute der Mensch im Traume tut; es stieg in ihm auf ein Bild von der inneren Natur des Wesens, und je nach der Farbe und dem Charakter dieses Bildes wußte er, ob das Wesen ihm freundlich oder feindlich gesinnt sei, ob er bleiben oder fliehen sollte.
Aber es gab schon, wie gesagt, auf dem Monde, während der Zeit, wo die Sonne draußen war, einen Bewußtseinswechsel; es gab Zeiten, in denen das Bewußtsein lebhafter, und Zeiten, wo es dumpfer war. Heute wechseln Tag- und Nachtzeiten ab. Der Mensch geht heute des Morgens in seinen physischen und Ätherleib hinein; dadurch taucht die Welt der äußeren Gegenstände und Wesenheiten vor ihm auf. Es wird licht und hell um ihn dadurch, daß er sich seiner Sinne bedient. Dann aber, wenn er abends mit seinem Ich und dem Astralleib hinausgeht, dann hat er zunächst kein Werkzeug, um wahrzunehmen; es wird dunkel um ihn. So wechselt das traumlose Schlafbewußtsein, das dem Menschen zuerst auf der Sonne geschenkt worden ist, mit dem Wachbewußtsein, mit dem Erdenbewußtsein ab. Vorbereitet hat sich das schon auf dem alten Monde. Schon da waren der Ätherleib und der Astralleib nicht fortwährend herausgehoben, sondern es gab Zeiten, wo sie sich in den physischen Leib hineinsenkten; denn der alte Mond bewegte sich schon um die Sonne herum, und diese Umdrehung bewirkte, daß der Mensch zu Zeiten von der Sonne beschienen wurde, zu Zeiten nicht. Dadurch geschah ein Aus- und Eintreten des Atherleibs und des Astralleibs in den physischen Leib. Freilich war der Wechsel nicht von solchem Kontrast wie heute. Wenn der Mensch auf dem alten Monde herausrückte, wenn er von den Kräften der Sonne beschienen wurde, dann war er in einem hellen Bewußtsein, in einem geistigen Bewußtsein; er nahm intensiv das Geistige wahr. Und wenn sich sein Ather- und Astralleib in den physischen Leib hineinsenkten, dann verdunkelte sich sein Bewußtsein — Sie sehen, es war umgekehrt wie heute. So wechselten also auf dem Monde in viel, viel längeren Zeiten helle und dunkle Bewußtseinszustände ab, und in den dunklen Bewußtseinszuständen war es, daß, ohne daß der Mensch es wußte, dasjenige vor sich ging, was man die Befruchtung nennt. Um die Fähigkeit der Fortpflanzung zu entwickeln, um die Befruchtung zu bewirken, um zu gebären, senkte sich die höhere Wesenheit des Menschen nieder in seinen physischen Leib, und wenn der Vorgang abgeschlossen war, dann ging sie wieder hinauf in die höhere Welt. Es hat sich nach und nach vorbereitet, was sich auf der Erde vollständig entwickelt hat. Und dadurch, daß die Sonne sich abgesondert hatte, dadurch, daß sie ihren Wesenheiten stärkere Kraft gegeben hatte, konnte der Mensch, und alle anderen Wesenheiten, höher entwickelt werden. Wenn nämlich die Sonnenkräfte die Hemmung durch den alten Mond weiter gehabt hätten, dann hätten sie nicht so kräftig wirken können. Nun waren sie selbst befreit von dem Hemmnis der Mondsubstanzen, und dadurch rückte der Mond mit allen seinen Wesenheiten so rasch vorwärts, daß er nach einer bestimmten Zeit die Reife erlangt hatte, wieder von der Sonne aufgenommen zu werden. Es trat ein Zustand ein, wo alle abgesonderten Weltkörper wieder aufgenommen werden konnten, wo sie gemeinsam in einen geistigen, in einen Ruhestand traten, den wir Pralaya nennen. Und dann trat nach dieser Pause das wieder hervor, was wir den ersten ätherischen Keim des Erdenkörpers nennen können, und aus dem sich später wieder alles abgesondert hat.
Und nun fragen wir uns: Woher kommt der physische Leib auf dem Saturn, woher der Ätherleib auf der Sonne, und woher der Astralleib auf dem Monde? — So philosophisch ungeschickt fragt der Schüler der Geisteswissenschaft nicht wie viele, die da glauben, philosophisch zu fragen. Es gibt Menschen, die fragen: Woher kommt dies oder jenes? - und wenn man antwortet, dann fragen sie weiter und immer weiter, ohne Ende. Das tut man nur, solange man sich nicht selbst zur geistigen Betrachtung der Welt erhebt. Vernünftigerweise muß man ja mit dem Fragen an einen Punkt schließlich kommen, wo der Sinn der Frage ein Ende nimmt. Denken Sie sich, Sie finden auf der Straße Furchen in dem Straßenmaterial. Sie fragen: Woher kommt das? - Die Antwort lautet: Ein Wagen fuhr darin. — Jetzt können Sie weiter fragen: Woher kam der Wagen? — Man kann antworten: Den benützte ein Mensch, der ein bestimmtes Geschäft hatte. - Nun können Sie allerdings fragen: Woher kam das Geschäft? — Aber einmal werden Sie doch dahin kommen, daß die Fragen ein Ende nehmen, daß Sie so weit vom Gegenstande abkommen, daß Sie in ein ganz anderes Gebiet hineingelangen. Beginnt der Sinn der Fragestellung bei einer Idee, so kommt man nur, wenn man im Abstrakten bleibt, zu endlosen Fragen. Aber im konkreten Betrachten kommt man zuletzt zu geistigen Wesenheiten, und dann frägt man nicht mehr: Warum tun sie das? - sondern man frägt: Was tun sie? — Dazu muß man sich erst erziehen, daß man die Grenzen des Fragens einsieht.
So sagt uns nun die okkulte Beobachtung, daß einst, als der alte Saturn anfing sich zu bilden, gewisse geistige Wesenheiten die Grundsubstanz des Saturn, die Wärme, aus ihrer eigenen Substanz als ein Opfer ausströmten. Sie sind zu solcher Reife gelangt, daß sie nicht nur nichts als Nahrung aufzunehmen brauchten, sondern daß sie sogar imstande waren, ihre eigene Substanz hinzuopfern, auszuströmen. Das sind die Throne. Diese Throne gießen ihre Substanz während der alten Saturnzeit aus, und sie sind es, die durch ihr Opfer die Grundlage zum physischen Menschenleibe bilden. Derjenige, der diesen physischen Leib auf dem Saturn okkult betrachtet, sagt: Er ist ausgeflossen aus der Substanz der Throne. Wir sehen, daß dieser physische Leib sich von Stufe zu Stufe verwandelt, höher entwickelt hat, aber was wir in uns haben, ist immer die umgewandelte Substanz der Throne. Dann gehen wir hinüber zu der alten Sonne. Da hat sich der Ätherleib dem physischen Leibe zugesellt. Da sind es wiederum geistige Wesenheiten, unter den Thronen stehend, die wir die Geister der Weisheit, die Kyriotetes nennen. Sie waren auf dem Saturn noch nicht so weit, daß sie ihre eigene Wesenheit hätten ausströmen können, Auf der Sonne aber waren sie so weit, und aus ihrem Leibe floß die Substanz des Atherleibes. In unserem Ätherleib tragen wir seit der Sonnenzeit die Substanz der Geister der Weisheit. Auf dem Monde gesellte sich der Astralleib hinzu. Wieder sind es geistige Wesenheiten, die ihre Substanz hinopfern: die Geister der Bewegung, Dynameis oder Mächte. Und endlich gehen wir von dem Monde auf die Erde herüber; da strömt eine andere Wesenheit ihre Kraft in uns hinein, wir erlangen das Ich; zu den drei anderen Leibern kommt das Ich. Dieses Ich wird uns verliehen von den Geistern, die da lenken die kosmische Entwickelung, von den Geistern der Form, von den Gewalten oder Exusiai. Diese Geister der Form treffen wir hier wieder an: es sind die Elohim, die uns ihr Sonnenlicht zustrahlen, und Jehova, der von der Mondseite her an dem Menschengeiste formt. Hier haben wir sie in ihrem Zusammenwirken, die Geister der Form, die von außen herein dem Menschen die Anlage zu seinem Ich gaben.
So sehen wir von Stufe zu Stufe gewisse geistige Wesenheiten sich hineingliedern in die Menschenentwickelung: auf dem Saturn die Throne, auf der Sonne die Geister der Weisheit, auf dem Monde die Geister der Bewegung oder Dynameis, und auf der Erde die Geister der Form: Jehova und die Elohim. Alle diese Wesenheiten sind es, die dem Menschen seine jetzige Gestalt und Form gegeben haben, die ihre eigene Wesenheit haben einströmen lassen. In der biblischen Urkunde werden wir deutlich darauf hingewiesen, wie das Wesen eines der Geister der Form einströmte in das Wesen des Menschen. Ein tiefes Geheimnis verbirgt sich hinter dem, was in der Thora steht. Denken Sie sich, daß einer der Geister der Elohim sich als Jehova mit dem Monde verbunden hat, daß er von dort aus als Geist der Form wirkte, den Menschen zu dem machte, was ihm die göttliche Form gibt: Der Gott bildete den Menschen nach seinem Bilde, er gab ihm die Gestalt der Götter. — Die Geister der Form sind es, die ihm die menschliche Gestalt, das heißt die göttliche Form gaben. Die Elohim strömen im Lichte die Sonnenkraft auf die Erde nieder. Der Jehovagott hat verzichtet auf das äußere Kleid, auf die äußere Gestalt des Lichtes; als ein finsterer Gott strömt er auf die Erde ein, indem er sich beschränkt auf die Zeit zwischen Geburt und Tod. Durch die Luft, welche das Licht durchdringt, gesellen sich zu ihm die Geister der Luft. So daß, wenn wir uns ein Bild machen wollen von dem, was geistig und physisch von der Sonne auf die Erde strömt, wir sehen, wie die Sonnenstrahlen aufgefangen werden von der Erde und an den Menschen herankommen, und wie diese Strahlen auch das mitbringen, was vom Jehovageiste uns zuströmt: da kommt dasjenige hinzu, was in der Luft als Geistiges lebt. Und auf diesen Augenblick, wo Jehova seine Kraftwesenheit, ein Stück der Jehovagottheit einströmen läßt in den Menschen, darauf wird hingewiesen mit den Worten der Bibel: «Und Jehova strömte dem Menschen den lebendigen Odem ein, und er ward eine lebendige Seele.»
Wir müssen uns klarmachen, daß wir solche Worte ganz wörtlich nehmen müssen, daß wir lesen müssen, was wirklich darinnen steht. Und Schauer der Ehrfurcht durchdringen uns, wenn wir anfangen, ein solches Wort zu verstehen; wenn wir begreifen den Sinn dieses Ausspruches, der uns verkündet, daß, nachdem auf dem Saturn, der Sonne und dem Monde die Throne, die Geister der Weisheit und die Geister der Bewegung ihre Wesenheiten eingegossen haben in den Menschen, nun auf der Erde auch die Geister der Form gleichsam hineingefahren sind in ihn. Dieser große, gewaltige Moment ist es, der in dem biblischen Worte ausgedrückt ist.
Und nun werden wir weiter sehen, wie diese Elohim und Jehova zusammenwirkten mit den luziferischen Wesenheiten durch die atlantische Periode bis in unsere Zeit hinein.
Fifth Lecture
We have seen how our earthly conditions developed out of the cosmos. We have seen how, in the distant past, our earth was connected with what today shines down from the sky as the sun, and how, at a certain point in time, this sun separated from the earth. Later, from that world entity which, after the separation of the sun, still contained the present moon, this moon also withdrew, and yesterday we considered how this separation of an original community into three world bodies is intimately connected with the entire evolution of man and our cosmos in a spiritual sense. For certain beings left our Earth's mass with the forces of the sun. These beings had previously worked within our Earth, so to speak from within, but since the separation of the sun and the Earth, they have been working from outside on the various beings, including human beings. This naturally changed all the conditions of human life on Earth, and later they changed again when the moon also separated. So what we know for a time as Earth plus Moon then underwent a change through the departure of the Moon. And the meaning of the whole evolution was, as we have seen, that if human beings had remained exclusively under the influence of the forces of the Sun, they would have developed too rapidly; on the other hand, if the sun had separated itself completely from the earth and withdrawn its forces, the further development of the earth would have taken place in such a way that the earth beings, especially human beings, would have become frozen under the influence of the moon forces. Thus, a balance is maintained in relation to human evolution.
Now I have already pointed out to you that those beings who first radiated their own spiritual power to the earth with the sun, and thus brought about the evolution of humanity, are the spirits of form or the forces. They are, so to speak, closest to the development of the earth. The leader of these “forces,” with his host, we may say, separated himself; after separating from the sun, he dwelt on the earth and later separated himself from the earth with the moon. Thus, we first have a moon deity, the deity whom the biblical record calls Jehovah. But those other solar forces, which shine their light from outside and act as form spirits, are called the Elohim, the spirits of light, in the biblical record. Under the influence of the Elohim on the one hand and Jehovah on the other, human beings maintain their balance in their development. But we have seen that it is not only man who undergoes development, but that all beings in the cosmos undergo development. Even those exalted beings who send us their powers with the light, the spirits of form, have also undergone development; they were formerly on a lower level, and have only now risen to their present level. What we have now said about the Elohim and Jehovah also applies to the most mature of these spirits, who have made themselves completely capable of finding their further development from the time of the Earth's creation either on the Sun or on the Moon. But there are beings everywhere who have remained behind at some stage. We saw yesterday that planets such as Venus and Mercury owe their existence to the fact that beings have remained behind between human beings on the one side and the exalted sun spirits on the other; they needed a place to live that was more exalted than the earth, but they could not inhabit the sun because they were not yet mature enough. These are exalted beings who are far beyond human development but have not yet reached the state of sun spirits. They form a very important class of beings in relation to the development of humanity on Earth. So while we have the mature beings on one side, between them and human beings we have the beings just described, which we refer to collectively as Luciferic beings; we name them after the one who is, so to speak, their leader, after the figure we call Lucifer.
Now we must understand how Jehovah and the Elohim on the one side, and the Luciferic beings on the other, are connected with human development. Through the interaction of the sun gods and the moon god, a twofold entity arises, and we will understand what arises when we observe how human development was before. Let us remember once again that the earth went through an ancient state of embodiment, that of Saturn; that after a period of rest, the sun, then the moon, and only then our earth came into being. In terms of its evolution, man is connected with all these embodiments of our earth; man as he appears to us today is a very complicated being. Today, it consists of the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the I. These four members of the human being interact in a very complex way. A being that had only a physical body in our physical world would be a stone, a mineral; our mineral kingdom indeed has only a physical body here on Earth. A being that has an etheric body in addition to its physical body is of a plant nature; our plant world consists of such beings. A being with a physical, etheric, and astral body stands on the animal level, and only a being that also possesses an ego stands on our Earth at our level, at the level of human existence. But this is only a very sketchy description when we say that human beings today have these four members of their being. And how sketchy it is will become clear to us when we take a look at the long, long development of human beings.
We ask ourselves: Which is the oldest of the four members of our human being? — It would be easy to believe that because the human ego appears at first as the highest, as that which makes the human being human, that this ego is also the oldest member. But that is not the case. Neither the ego nor the etheric or astral body, but rather the physical body is what human beings had first of all. This physical body was already formed in its initial state on ancient Saturn, but you must not imagine that it looked anything like it does today. When you look at the physical body today, you first see solid limbs, a solid skeleton, in short, components that we call solid; then we also have liquid components of all kinds of compositions; furthermore, airy, gaseous substances permeate the physical body on all sides; and finally, you find something in it which, from an occult point of view, is substantial warmth, inner warmth. Think about the human being in relation to his warmth and his environment. His warmth does not depend on his environment; he does not have to adapt to his environment like a mineral. In a cold environment, he does not become cold like a mineral, but carries the source of his own warmth within him. Imagine taking away everything from the human being that is solid, liquid, and gaseous, imagine the physical body in space, formed from warmth, the physical body of the human being, formed from warmth, just as the warmth pulsates in your blood, then you have what existed on the old Saturn. Only it was not in the form it is today, but in its first embryonic state. This was especially the case in the middle of Saturn's development. Saturn had an initial state, a middle state, and an end state. It would be very difficult to describe the initial state, because only a few people have developed the ability to imagine the properties that Saturn had before it condensed to the point of consisting of warmth. If you transport yourself back in your mind to those times in the distant past, you must not imagine that if you had been able to observe Saturn from somewhere in space, you would have seen anything of it. It had no light; Saturn did not shine. It was only towards the end of its development that it began to shine. If you could have approached it in the middle of its development, you would only have felt that it was getting warm, like in an oven, but one that had no outer boundaries, one that was self-contained: you would have entered a space of heat. However, you must not imagine this body of heat as uniform. If you had a sense of temperature differences, you would find that there were lines of heat in all directions, on all sides; you would feel forms of heat. The entire Saturn consisted of forms that were formed only in warmth, and these forms were the primordial structures of the physical human body. Saturn does not take this any further, although it is fruitful for human evolution; later, when it ebbs away, it does take it further, but in a deeper sense this is not fruitful for human evolution.
Now let us move on to the development of the Sun. After a period of rest, Saturn transforms into the Sun. Outwardly, in material terms, what happens is that in the middle of the Sun's development, a condensation of matter takes place. The Sun consists not only of heat, but also of gas and air, in the occult sense, therefore, of heat and air. And again, everything in the sun undergoes its development within the conditions that can exist in heat and air. First, the following happens: The human being, who, when he consisted only of heat, could not yet take on an etheric body, is now permeated by an etheric body on the sun, so that he consists of two members, the physical and the etheric body. But this physical body on the sun is still very different from what it is now. Let us try to form a rough idea of the physical body on the old sun. We imagine that we have inhaled, that the inhaled air has entered us. So imagine the act of inhaling and the effect in a certain warmth. Now imagine everything away except the inhaled air, which, so to speak, reproduces the entire human body in its effect — imagine everything else, everything solid and liquid, away, and hold on to only the air and the warmth. Imagine, then, that a form arises before you, such as arises when you look only at the inhalation and its effect. Now follow the form of the inhaled air and the warmth contained in the human being, and you will have approximately the form that the human being had in the middle of the Sun's development. You may now ask: If we have lines of warmth and, in addition, gas currents that form this physical body, how does the clairvoyant see this gas in the Akashic Record? He perceives it as something very definite. When the warmth condenses into air and there are no other conditions—not like today on Earth, where the sun shines in from outside—it begins to glow at the moment when the gas, the air, separates from the form of warmth. So you have formed the physical body on the sun in such a way that it is a kind of germ-like form of heat and a form of gas-air currents that shine in the most wonderful way and glow in the most varied colors. This entire sun ball consists primarily of luminous bodies of heat, which are the uranium element of our human physical body and are permeated by the etheric body. Man has ascended to a higher stage; he has attained the etheric body in addition to the physical body. It is he himself who, as part of the solar structure, radiates the luminosity of light into the universe. The physical body has become a luminous body by taking the etheric body into itself. The physical body is thus on the second stage of its perfection, while the etheric body, which has only just been radiated onto the sun, is still on the first stage.
Now let us follow the human being further. The sun gradually transforms itself into the lunar body after it has again undergone a pause, a state of rest. In material terms, this means that the air form condenses into a watery substance: a liquid is formed. In fact, the old moon was a liquid world body, and in it you would find, as plastic formations, the physical human bodies, which now consist of flowing juices, of watery components in which, let us say, air currents circulate as today do respiration and heat currents. The physical body now consists of three members: water, gas or air, and heat. And the former etheric body that it had returns during this lunar period, but now the human being is able to take up the astral body as well, so that it consists of three members: the physical, the etheric, and the astral bodies. Now, already during this lunar period, it becomes impossible for all beings connected with the moon to keep the same pace in their development. Not only during our Earth's development, but already in preparation during the Moon's development, the Sun once left the common world body, so that in the middle of the Moon's development we have two bodies, the Moon body — Earth plus Moon — and the Sun, which separated itself with the most advanced beings, because these beings needed a more sublime arena for their further development. Now, because the finer forces and beings left, the coarser ones remained on Earth, and this world body — Earth plus Moon — underwent, so to speak, a condensation. We see, then, that even back then, in the ancient lunar period, the Sun with its beings acted from outside for some time upon the remaining lunar body.
Now it will be necessary to describe this remaining body a little more closely, for we have undergone part of our development on it. On Saturn there was only the physical body; man had the value of a mineral. On the Sun, human beings rose to the value of a plant, for they had a physical and etheric body. But certain beings remained behind, for they did not ascend with the human-plant existence to the old Sun, but remained at the level of Saturn. These are the precursors of certain animals of today. You see, in relation to its past, the human being of today reaches back to the old Saturn, while it was only on the Sun that the precursors of some of our present-day animals appeared as a second kingdom alongside the human being. For the same reason, because certain beings remained behind, the human being who had worked his way up to a threefold being on the Moon was surrounded by two other kingdoms: by a kingdom that had remained on the moon at the plant stage — the precursors of our present-day animals — and by what was still at the mineral stage on the moon, the precursors of our present-day plants. What is mineral today did not yet exist on the moon; it arose only at the very latest as a separation from the other kingdoms. Of course, anyone who asserts such things knows very well that it is nonsense to speak in today's sense of plants arising without the foundation of a mineral kingdom; but conditions were very different in the past. In fact, on the old moon, humans developed, so to speak, in the animal kingdom, animals in the plant kingdom, and plants in the mineral kingdom, and when the moon separated from the sun, all the kingdoms underwent a shift that happened in the following way.
If we think of the old moon, then the three kingdoms mentioned above are initially present:
1. the human kingdom — actually the animal kingdom, consisting of the physical, etheric, and astral bodies;
2. the animal kingdom — actually the plant kingdom, consisting of the physical and etheric bodies;
3. the plant kingdom — actually the mineral kingdom, because it has only a physical body.
Our present mineral kingdom therefore does not yet exist. When the moon and sun separate, the beings and forces of the sun are completely freed from the coarse substances of the moon and can work all the more powerfully. This raises all three kingdoms up one level. What is the human astral body is lifted out of its intimate connection with the physical and etheric bodies, so that if you think of human beings with their physical, etheric, and astral bodies at the beginning of the lunar existence, you will later perceive a significant change: As the sun emerges and begins to shine from outside, the astral body and etheric body are partially liberated. The result is that something arises which you must imagine as follows: Imagine that the human being of today consists of a physical body, an etheric body, and an astral body, and now an external force comes and drives out the astral body and the etheric body; then, for the clairvoyant, your astral body and your etheric body would exist outside of you. But you yourself would be raised half a step higher by the fact that these two bodies are freed from the heaviness of the physical body. And something like this also happened back then. Man was also raised up, he became a being that stands in the middle between today's human beings and today's animals, but which was guided and directed in a spiritual relationship by the exalted solar powers. Similarly, the other two realms were raised a little, so that in the middle of the Moon's development we do not have our present realms, but intermediate realms: a realm of animal-humans, a realm standing between animal and plant, and a plant-mineral realm. And just as our minerals form the solid ground on which we walk, so the beings of the old moon walked on what was the lowest realm of the moon, on the plant-mineral. This basic substance of the moon was not a mineral substance as it is on earth today, but a kind of semi-living being. If you were to imagine something like peat bog or cooked lettuce or cooked spinach, a kind of mush, but alive and bubbling, then you would have some idea of what the basic substance was like at that time. And it was not rocks that protruded from this mass, but formations such as wood, condensed plant matter, horn-like structures; these were what replaced the rocks of today. And to the clairvoyant eye, this appears as if one were walking on a plant-mineral foundation that had undergone a process of condensation, and that is what the rocks are. From this, the animal plants grow, more or less firmly rooted, much more mobile than today; they grow out of the viscous element, and they had a kind of sensation when you touched them. And out of the finest substances arose the animal-human being, who by no means reached down into the coarsest substances, but had his physical body made of the finest substances. And this physical body, which was in a state of constant transformation, looked quite strange; the clairvoyant cannot discover a human head like the one humans have today on the ancient Moon. In the physical body, even though it is still soft and fluid, he discovers only animal-like head forms, and what protrudes from these animal-like head forms is the etheric and astral bodies. To the physical eye, all animal-people had the most diverse forms, reminiscent of animals, but only reminiscent, and only when one rises from physical seeing to astral seeing does one perceive the higher nature of these lunar animal-people. Such is the population of the old moon.
When we look into the depths of human cultural development, insofar as it is of a spiritual nature, we find in many places that the myths and legends that have been handed down to us are in many ways wiser than our present-day science. And when human beings once again recognize the spiritual foundation of the world, they will recognize a deep wisdom in many myths, legends, and fairy tales, a wisdom deeper than our seemingly advanced science. Let us think once more of the ancient moon, where only the ancient animal plants could thrive, and let us turn our gaze away for a moment from the further development of the moon. Let us be clear that all these moon beings were the precursors of our present human beings. Through a descent, our present mineral kingdom arose from the mineral plants, our present plants arose from the animal plants, and our present animals arose for the most part from the animal-people who remained behind, those who did not advance. Thus we see how our present minerals, our plants, animals, and humans are truly descendants of those ancient moon beings. Nowadays, there are very strange plants that do not thrive in mineral soil, for example mistletoe. It is so strange because, to the clairvoyant eye, it differs greatly from other plants. It shows something of an astral body which, as in the animal body, enters into the mistletoe. Although it has no feelings, it shows something of the outer form of the animal being. This comes from the fact that it belongs to those plant animals of the moon that have been left behind; they cannot now have plants and therefore cannot thrive on mineral soil. They could not progress that far, and so they need other plants into which they can sink. Mistletoe has remained part of the old lunar custom. The ancient ancestors of the European peoples knew this, embodying it first in a wonderful mythological structure. These ancient Germanic and Nordic peoples saw in Loki a force that still belonged to those ancient lunar powers that had found their way from the old lunar scene to our Earth. When the Earth became Earth, it came under the influence of those forces which these ancient peoples symbolized in the god Baldur. He represents all the forces that acted upon the mature Earth beings. However, those beings on our Earth who remained on the lunar stage feel a deep kinship with the god of the moon, Loki. This is the origin of the wonderful legend that once, when the gods were playing, all beings swore an oath that they would not harm Baldur — only the mistletoe did not swear this oath. Why? Because it is not related to the earthly forces embodied in Baldur; it is degenerate, a backward creature of the moon. It can harm the fundamental force of the earth, Baldur. Loki must make use of a being that belongs to him. This legend arose from deep within the secret connections of the world. And when we know that in many respects that which opposes healthy development must serve sick development, then we understand that it was a great, wise intuition of our ancestors that led them to seek particularly healing powers and juices in mistletoe. They knew what we have just discussed; hence the esteem in which mistletoe has always been held. This is an example that shows us how wisdom about the development of the world is hidden in legends and myths. Now, because a part of the etheric and astral bodies was, so to speak, withdrawn from the animal human beings on the Moon, the necessity for a change of consciousness already arose on the old Moon. And now we must speak of another development that took place parallel to this. Each of these stages of development on Saturn, the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth is also a stage in the development of consciousness. On Saturn, consciousness was very dull; it was the first stage. Our consciousness in dreamless sleep, which is what the eternally sleeping plant world has, is already brighter than what humans had on Saturn and can be compared to the consciousness of minerals. It was only on the Sun that man rose to a consciousness like that of plants, and through the incorporation of the astral body on the Moon, his consciousness rose another degree higher, to what we call image consciousness. We can only compare it to our present dream consciousness in a certain respect, for our dreams have meaning only in exceptional cases. But on the moon it was different. The ascending and descending images that appeared to humans there had meaning. When another being approached, he could not perceive its external form and color, but he felt something rising within himself, just as humans do today in dreams; an image of the inner nature of the being arose within him, and depending on the color and character of this image, he knew whether the being was friendly or hostile, whether he should stay or flee.
But, as already mentioned, there was a change of consciousness on the Moon during the time when the Sun was outside; there were times when consciousness was more lively and times when it was more dull. Today, day and night alternate. Today, human beings enter their physical and etheric bodies in the morning; as a result, the world of external objects and beings appears before them. It becomes light and bright around them because they use their senses. But then, when they go out in the evening with their ego and astral body, they initially have no tools for perception; it becomes dark around them. Thus, the dreamless sleep consciousness that was first given to human beings on the sun alternates with waking consciousness, with earth consciousness. This had already been prepared on the old moon. Even then, the etheric body and the astral body were not continuously separated, but there were times when they sank into the physical body; for the old moon was already moving around the sun, and this rotation caused the human being to be illuminated by the sun at times and not at other times. This caused the etheric body and the astral body to enter and leave the physical body. Of course, the change was not as contrasting as it is today. When human beings emerged on the old moon, when they were illuminated by the forces of the sun, they were in a bright consciousness, in a spiritual consciousness; they perceived the spiritual intensely. And when their etheric and astral bodies sank into the physical body, their consciousness darkened — you see, it was the opposite of today. Thus, on the Moon, in much, much longer periods of time, light and dark states of consciousness alternated, and it was in the dark states of consciousness that what we call fertilization took place without human beings being aware of it. In order to develop the ability to reproduce, to bring about fertilization, to give birth, the higher being of the human being descended into its physical body, and when the process was complete, it ascended again into the higher world. What has developed completely on Earth was prepared gradually. And through the separation of the sun, through its giving stronger power to its beings, human beings and all other beings were able to develop higher. For if the forces of the sun had continued to be inhibited by the old moon, they would not have been able to work so powerfully. Now they were themselves freed from the hindrance of the lunar substances, and as a result the moon advanced so rapidly with all its beings that after a certain time it had reached maturity and was ready to be taken up again by the sun. A state came about in which all the separated world bodies could be taken up again, where they entered together into a spiritual state of rest, which we call pralaya. And then, after this pause, what we can call the first etheric germ of the Earth body emerged again, from which everything later separated again.
And now we ask ourselves: Where does the physical body on Saturn come from, where does the etheric body on the sun come from, and where does the astral body on the moon come from? — The student of spiritual science does not ask such philosophically clumsy questions as many who believe they are asking philosophical questions. There are people who ask: Where does this or that come from? — And when you answer, they ask further and further, without end. One does this only as long as one does not rise to a spiritual contemplation of the world. Reasonably, one must eventually come to a point with one's questions where the meaning of the question comes to an end. Imagine you find ruts in the road surface. You ask: Where do they come from? The answer is: A car drove over them. Now you can ask further: Where did the car come from? One can answer: It was used by a person who had a specific errand to run. Now, of course, you can ask: Where did the errand come from? But eventually you will reach a point where the questions come to an end, where you stray so far from the object that you enter a completely different realm. If the meaning of the question begins with an idea, then you will only arrive at endless questions if you remain in the abstract. But in concrete observation, you ultimately arrive at spiritual beings, and then you no longer ask: Why do they do that? — Instead, you ask: What are they doing? — To do this, you must first train yourself to recognize the limits of questioning.
Occult observation tells us that once, when ancient Saturn began to form, certain spiritual beings poured out the basic substance of Saturn, warmth, from their own substance as a sacrifice. They had reached such a stage of maturity that they not only needed nothing as nourishment, but were even able to sacrifice their own substance, to pour it out. These are the Thrones. These Thrones poured out their substance during the old Saturn period, and it is they who, through their sacrifice, formed the basis for the physical human body. Anyone who looks at this physical body occultly on Saturn says: It flowed out of the substance of the Thrones. We see that this physical body has been transformed from stage to stage, has developed higher, but what we have within us is always the transformed substance of the thrones. Then we move on to the old Sun. There the etheric body has joined the physical body. There again are spiritual beings standing beneath the thrones, whom we call the spirits of wisdom, the Kyriotetes. On Saturn, they were not yet ready to let their own essence flow out, but on the sun they were ready, and the substance of the etheric body flowed out of their bodies. Since the time of the sun, we have carried the substance of the spirits of wisdom in our etheric body. On the moon, the astral body joined it. Once again, it is spiritual beings who sacrifice their substance: the spirits of movement, dynameis or powers. And finally, we pass from the moon to the earth; there another being pours its power into us, we attain the I; the I joins the three other bodies. This I is given to us by the spirits who guide cosmic development, by the spirits of form, by the powers or exusiai. We encounter these spirits of form again here: they are the Elohim, who shine their sunlight upon us, and Jehovah, who shapes the human spirit from the moon. Here we have them in their interaction, the spirits of form, who from outside gave man the predisposition for his I.
Thus we see certain spiritual beings integrating themselves into human development from stage to stage: on Saturn the thrones, on the sun the spirits of wisdom, on the moon the spirits of movement or dynameis, and on the earth the spirits of form: Jehovah and the Elohim. All these beings are those who have given human beings their present shape and form, who have allowed their own essence to flow into them. In the biblical record, we are clearly shown how the essence of one of the spirits of form flowed into the essence of human beings. A profound mystery lies behind what is written in the Torah. Imagine that one of the spirits of the Elohim connected itself with the moon as Jehovah, that from there it worked as a spirit of form, making man what the divine form gives him: God formed man in his own image, he gave him the form of the gods. — It is the spirits of form that gave him the human form, that is, the divine form. The Elohim pour the sun's power down onto the earth in light. The Jehovah God has renounced the outer garment, the outer form of light; as a dark God, he pours himself onto the earth, limiting himself to the time between birth and death. Through the air, which is permeated by light, the spirits of the air join him. So that when we want to form a picture of what flows spiritually and physically from the sun to the earth, we see how the sun's rays are caught by the earth and come to the human being, and how these rays also bring with them what flows to us from the Jehovah spirit: there is added that which lives in the air as spirit. And this moment, when Jehovah pours his power, a piece of the Jehovah deity, into human beings, is referred to in the words of the Bible: “And Jehovah breathed into the man the breath of life, and he became a living soul.”
We must realize that we must take such words quite literally, that we must read what is really written there. And we are filled with awe when we begin to understand such words; when we comprehend the meaning of this statement, which tells us that after the spirits of wisdom and the spirits of movement poured their essences into human beings on Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon, now the spirits of form have also entered into them on Earth. It is this great and powerful moment that is expressed in the biblical words.
And now we will see how these Elohim and Jehovah worked together with the Luciferic entities through the Atlantean period and into our time.