Donate books to help fund our work. Learn more→

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

a project of Steiner Online Library, a public charity

The Gospel of St. John
in Relation to the Other Three Gospels
GA 112

28 Jun 1909, Kassel

5. Human Evolution within the Embodiments of our Earth

If we observe with clairvoyant consciousness the present form of a human being, composed as it is of physical body, etheric body, astral body, and ego, there emerges most clearly the important fact that as regards size and shape—at least in the upper portions—the physical and etheric bodies are approximately equal. The head in particular, if we think of it as it appears physically, coincides almost completely with its etheric counterpart: the latter protrudes only slightly beyond the physical head. This is by no means the case in animals. Even in the higher animals there is a tremendous difference between the shape and size of the etheric head and the physical head. If you observe, for example, a horse clairvoyantly, you see that the etheric head extends far beyond the physical head and has a decidedly different shape. If I were to draw a picture of what hovers above the trunk and head of an elephant you would be greatly astonished at the true being of that animal; for all that physical perception sees of such an animal is merely the solidified part in the center.

Let us examine this fact. The degree of man's perfection on our physical plane is basically due to the fact that his etheric body so nearly coincides with his physical body, that they so nearly cover. But that was not always the case. There have been periods in the evolution of our Earth, treated in the foregoing lectures, in which man's etheric body by no means thus coincided with his physical body, as it does today. In fact, man's progress during the course of his development is due to the circumstance that gradually his protruding etheric body crept into his physical body, as it were, until in time the two came to coincide. Here it is essential to keep in mind that this interpenetration of the etheric and physical bodies had to take place at a very special moment in Earth evolution if mankind was to achieve its development in the right way. Had it occurred earlier, man would have reached a certain stage of development too soon: he would have hardened there, and not been able to proceed. But a possibility for him to develop resulted from the fact that his etheric and physical bodies came to coincide at just the right time.

In order to understand this, let us examine more closely evolution as we viewed it in its larger outlines yesterday and the day before. Visualize once more how, at the beginning of our Earth evolution, the earth was united with the sun and the moon. At that time man had arisen again out of the potential germ that comprised the physical, etheric, and astral bodies. He existed, so to speak, in his first earth form, that is, the only form possible for him at a time when the Earth still contained both sun and moon. In spiritual-scientific literature this period of Earth evolution which man passed through, together with his planet, is usually called the Polarian period. It would lead too far afield today to explain this name, so let us simply accept it. Then came the time when the sun prepared to withdraw from the Earth, and when the beings that could not continue, so to speak, with the denser and constantly solidifying substances of the Earth departed with the finer substances of the sun. This period we call the Hyperborean. And then followed an epoch in which only the moon remained united with the Earth, a time in which increasing barrenness spread over our Earth life. Yesterday we learned how human souls abandoned this Earth and only withered human forms remained. In spiritual-scientific literature this period is called the Lemurian. It is the period in which the splitting off of the moon occurred, resulting in a revival on earth of all the kingdoms established there. The mineral kingdom stood least in need of reanimation, the plant kingdom more, and still more, the animal kingdom, while the further development of the human race called for the most outstanding and powerful forces.

This revival commenced with the moon's exit. As mentioned yesterday, only a handful of human beings were left, and these consisted of the three principles acquired during the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions, to which the potential ego was added on the Earth. But at the time of the moon's exit the human being did not bear the flesh substance in which we encounter him later: he was composed of the most tenuous matter of that time. In the Lemurian period the solid minerals of today were still liquid, dissolved in the other substances that nowadays are segregated as aqueous matter, like water. The air was still saturated with dense vapors composed of a great variety of substances. Pure air and pure water, as we know them today, did not exist at that time except in very limited areas of the earth.

It was out of the purest substances of the period, then, that man molded his evanescent, tenuous body. Had he employed coarser substances his body would have acquired a form with definite outline, with sharply defined contours; and these contours would have been inherited by the descendants, and the human race would there have come to a standstill. But it was not intended that man should create his form in matter of that sort: rather had he to see to it that he could freely move his corporeal substance according to the impulses of his soul. The matter forming his body was at that time so soft that it obeyed the impulses of will in all directions. Nowadays you can stretch out your hand, but by no effort of the will can you make it ten feet long. You cannot coerce matter because form, as it is today, is bequeathed. At the time of which we are speaking that was not the case. The human being could be shaped at will, could build the form according to the dictates of his soul. His further development demanded, so to speak, that he incorporate himself, after the withdrawal of the moon, in the softest possible substances, leaving his body plastic and flexible, capable of obeying the soul's every wish.

Then came the time when certain elements, indispensable for our present-day life—air and water—were purged of all they contained in the way of dense matter: what had formerly been dissolved in the water was now precipitated. Just as dissolved substances precipitate in cooling water, so the dissolved matter sank, as it were. The water became pure water and the air was rid of denser matter: air and water were reconditioned, and man was able to use this rarefied matter for his physical development.

From this third age human beings gradually passed over into an evolutionary epoch we call the Atlantean, because during that time the greater part of the human race inhabited a continent, now submerged, situated in the area now occupied by the Atlantic Ocean—between America, and Europe-Africa. So after the Lemurian age had continued yet a while, the human race carried on its evolution on the Atlantean Continent; and that was the scene of all that I shall now describe, as well as of much that was mentioned yesterday.

At the time the moon withdrew from the earth only a small number of the human souls that were to incarnate later were on the earth: most of them were distributed over the various cosmic bodies; but during the last part of the Lemurian and the first part of the Atlantean age these souls descended to the earth. Only few human beings, as I told you, had been able to experience the crisis of the Lemurian epoch, for only the most robust—those capable of living in the ever hardening substance prior to the moon's exit—had survived the moon crisis of the earth. But when everything that had solidified during the moon crisis began to soften again, when descendants appeared who were no longer compressed within fixed outlines through hereditary exigency, but were mobile, then the souls gradually descended from the various planets and moved into these bodies. Those forms, however, that incorporated very soon after the withdrawal of the moon retained their rigid form through heredity, and could not receive human souls even after the separation.

We can visualize the process accurately by imagining the craving of these souls to return to earth. Down there, forms came into being in the greatest variety, descendants of those that had been left over after the separation; and among these, many different degrees of solidification obtained. Those human souls—in fact, all soul beings—that in a certain respect felt as yet the least urge to unite completely with a physical substance now selected the softest forms for occupation, and soon abandoned them again. But the others, those that united at this early stage with the hardened forms, were imprisoned in them and consequently were compelled to remain behind in evolution. In fact, the animals ranking closest to man came into being as a consequence of this impatience on the part of certain souls descending from cosmic space. These souls sought earth bodies prematurely and made definitely bounded forms of them before they could be wholly permeated by etheric bodies. The human form remained plastic until such time as it could adapt itself completely to the etheric body; and it was thus that the physical and etheric bodies came to cover, as explained, approximately during the last third of the Atlantean age. Previously, the human soul principle that descended kept the earthly body in a fluid state and guarded against a complete amalgamation of the etheric body with any part of the physical body. This interpenetration of the etheric and physical bodies came about at a definite point in time. The Atlantean epoch was already under way when the physical human body assumed a definite form and began to harden.

Had nothing else occurred at this point in the Atlantean development, had no other factor intervened, evolution would have taken a different course: man would have passed rather rapidly from an earlier to a later state of consciousness. Before he became a complete unit as regards the principles of body and soul he was a clairvoyant being, but his clairvoyance was dim and dull. He was able to see into the spiritual world but he could not address himself as “I”, could not distinguish himself from his surroundings. What he lacked was self-consciousness, for this only entered during the period of evolution in which the physical body united with the etheric body.

Well, if nothing else had intervened, the following is what would have occurred in a comparatively short time: Hitherto man had had a consciousness of the spiritual world. Plants, animals, and so on, he could not see distinctly, but what he did see was spirit enveloping them. He would not have seen the form of an elephant, for instance, very clearly, but he would have seen the etheric principle extended over its physical body. This form of human consciousness would have gradually disappeared, the ego would have evolved along with the coincidence of the physical and etheric bodies, and man would have seen the world confronting him as though from another side. While previously he had beheld clairvoyant pictures he would thenceforth have perceived an outer world; but at the same time he would have perceived as well the spiritual beings and spiritual forces underlying this outer world. He would not have seen the physical image of the plant as we see it today: he would have perceived the spiritual being of the plant coincident with the physical image.

We may ask why, in the course of evolution, the dim, clairvoyant form of consciousness was not simply superseded by a consciousness of objects which at the same time would have provided perception and knowledge of spirit. That is because precisely during the moon crisis, when man was reviving, he began to be influenced by beings that must be characterized as retarded, although they are on a higher plane than man. We have already acquainted ourselves with a. number of such higher beings and we know that some of them ascended to the sun, others to various planets. But there were also spiritual beings that had failed to complete the tasks they were obligated to perform on the moon. These beings, ranking lower than the Gods and higher than man, we designate Luciferic beings after their leader, Lucifer, the highest and most powerful among them.
At the time of the moon crisis man had evolved to the point of possessing a physical body, etheric body, astral body, and ego. For his ego, he was indebted to the influence of the Spirits of Form; for his astral body, to the Spirits of Motion; for his etheric body, to the Spirits of Wisdom; and for his physical body, to the Thrones. The Spirits of Form—Exusiai, or Mights, in Christian esotericism—were those who made it possible for the germinal ego to join the other principles. Now, if man had been involved only in the normal stream of development, and if all the beings surrounding him had properly absolved their tasks, certain beings would have worked on his physical body, others on his etheric body, others on his astral body, and still others on his ego—as they should have done, to put it that way—each being working on the principle assigned to him. But here were those beings that had lagged behind on the Moon, the Luciferic beings. If they had been able to carry on their work in the right way they would have been appointed to work on the ego; but on the Moon they had only learned to work on the astral body, and that entailed a significant consequence. Had it not been for these Luciferic spirits man would have received his ego principle; and his further development would have taken a course, in the last third of the Atlantean age, involving the exchange of his dim, clairvoyant consciousness for the consciousness of outer objects. As it was, however, the effects of the Luciferic spirits penetrated his astral body like powerful rays.

And the nature of these effects? Well, the astral body is the vehicle of impulses, desires, passions, instincts, and so forth; and in the constitution of his astral body man would have developed quite differently had he not been affected by the Luciferic spirits. He would have developed only such impulses as would have guided him surely and advanced him unfailingly. The spirits would have led him to see the world as consisting of objects behind which the spiritual beings revealed themselves. But what would have been lacking is freedom, enthusiasm, the sense of independence—a passion for these loftier considerations. Man would have lost his former clairvoyant consciousness and would have regarded the glories of the world as a sort of God, for he would have become a component part of divinity. Furthermore, such a view of the world would have induced a perfect reflection of itself in his mind, but in all his perfection he would have remained a reflection of the universe.

But before this could occur the Luciferic spirits filled his astral body with passions, instincts, desires which merged with all that became part of him in the course of his evolution. This meant that he was able not only to perceive the stars, but at the same time to warm to a rapturous enthusiasm in beholding them; not merely to follow the divinely inspired instincts of his astral body, but to unfold impulses of his own through freedom. That is what the Luciferic spirits had infused into man's astral body; but it implied another factor, something else that they had given him as well: the potentiality of evil, of sin. This would not have existed had he been led forward step by step by the more sublime Gods. The Luciferic spirits made man free and endowed him with the capacity for enthusiasm; but at the same time they created the eventuality of base desires. Given a normal course of development, man would in every case have associated the normal sensations with whatever cropped up, so to speak. As it was, however, he derived greater pleasure from things of the sense world than he should, he clung to these with undue interest. And the result was that the process of physical solidification set in at an earlier stage than it would have done otherwise.

So man attained to a solid form sooner than the divine-spiritual beings had intended, so to speak. It was in the last third of the Atlantean age that he really should have descended from a gaseous to a solid form; as it was, however, he descended prematurely and became a solid being. That is what the Bible describes as the “fall of man”.

But during the period just considered there were also lofty spiritual beings at work on the ego with which they had endowed man. In the same measure as these human beings descend again and unite with human bodies, the spiritual beings infuse the forces that advance man on his cosmic path: they hold a protecting hand over him. But on the other hand we have the activity of those beings who failed to learn to work on the ego, who now work on the human astral body, and there develop quite special instincts.

Observing the physical life of man in this period we see an image of these two mutually antagonistic powers: the divine-spiritual powers at work upon the ego, and the Luciferic beings. Let us now trace the spiritual factor of this process. During the time of desolation on earth the human souls ascended to the various cosmic bodies belonging to our solar system. Now they returned in as far as they were able to find bodies in the line of physical heredity. Remembering that the earth was most sparsely populated precisely at the time of the moon's withdrawal, you can imagine that the expansion of the human race started from a mere handful of people. Gradually the number increased, more and more souls descended and occupied the bodies coming into being on earth. Throughout a long period there were descendants only of the few who were present at the time of the moon's exit, and upon these the lofty sun forces themselves acted: these human beings had retained sufficient vigor to present to the sun forces a point of contact, even during the moon crisis. They and their descendants felt themselves to be sun men, so to say.

Let us understand this clearly. For simplicity's sake, imagine that during the moon crisis there existed all told but one human couple. (I do not wish to decide whether this was actually the case.) This couple has descendants, these in turn have descendants, and so on; and thus the human race branched out. Now, as long as there existed only the progeny, in the narrower sense, of the old sun men, all these enjoyed a quite special form of consciousness by reason of their ancient clairvoyance. At that time human memory included not only experiences that had occurred since birth, or as is the case today, since a certain point of time after birth, but everything that the father, grandfather, and even early progenitors, had experienced. Memory reached back to the ancestors, to all with whom a man was related by blood. That was because in a certain sense the sun forces held a protecting hand over those of blood relationship, those who traced their descent to the human beings who had survived the moon crisis. The sun forces had engendered the ego consciousness and maintained it throughout the line of blood generation.

Now the human race multiplied and the souls that had ascended into cosmic space returned to earth. Those souls, however, in whom the sun forces were strong enough still felt these forces, although they had descended and become related to spheres quite different from those of the sun. But then came the time when these souls, as later descendants, lost that connection, and with it the common ancestral memory. The more the human race multiplied, the dimmer became this living consciousness that was connected with blood heredity. This was because the powers that led men forward and implanted the ego in them were opposed by the Luciferic powers that influenced the astral body. The Luciferic powers obstructed everything that cemented men into a unit. What they wanted to teach them was freedom, self-consciousness.

So the oldest survivors of the moon's withdrawal thought of the word “I” as referring not only to what they experienced themselves, but to what their ancestors had experienced. They felt the common sun being that worked in their blood. And even after this state, too, had passed, those who had come down, for instance, from Mars felt the bond that united them with the protecting Spirit of Mars. Having been recruited from Mars souls, the descendants of those who had come down from Mars felt the protecting hand of the Mars Spirit.

It was against this group feeling, in which love held sway, that the Luciferic spirits attempted their attack. They learned how to cultivate the individual human ego, as opposed to the common ego developed by such groups. The farther back we seek, the more firmly we find the community consciousness bound up with consanguinity, and passing on in time we see it decreasing: man's feeling of independence becomes ever stronger, and he senses the necessity for developing an individual ego, as opposed to the common ego.

Thus two realms were at work in the human being, the realm of the Luciferic spirits and that of the divine-spiritual beings. The divine-spiritual powers brought men together, but did so by means of blood ties, while the Luciferic beings sought to separate them, to segregate them individually. These two forces were active throughout the Atlantean age, and they remained so even after the Atlantean Continent perished through the great catastrophies, and Europe, Asia, and Africa on one side, and America on the other, had assumed their present form. They are still active in the fifth earth epoch, right into our own time.

Thus we have described five earth epochs: the Polarian, in which the earth was still united with the sun, the Hyperborean, in which the moon was still united with the earth, and the Lemurian; then the Atlantean; and finally, the post-Atlantean, our own age. We learned how the Luciferic spirits intervened and worked against the divine-spiritual powers that drew men together, and we have come to understand that something very different would have occurred had the Luciferic spirits not taken a hand in human evolution. In the last third of the Atlantean epoch the old form of clairvoyant consciousness would have been exchanged for a consciousness of objects—but an object consciousness permeated by spirit. As it was, however, the Luciferic spirits brought about a premature hardening of the physical body, enabling man to get his bearing in the physical world at an earlier stage than would otherwise have been the case; and the result of all this was that man entered upon the last third of the Atlantean age in a totally different state than he would have done if the divine-spiritual beings alone had guided him. Instead of an outer world aglow and spiritualized by higher beings, he now beheld a physical world only, for the divine world had withdrawn from him.

The Luciferic spirits had taken a hand in the shaping of man's astral body; and now, because he had united with the physical world, Zarathustra's “Ahrimanic spirits”—we can also call them “Mephistophelian” spirits—interfered with his outer perception, with the relation of his ego to the outer world, with his ability to distinguish his ego from the outer world. The constitution of his physical, etheric, and astral bodies is not as it would have been had only the superior Gods worked on them. Beings we term Luciferic gained access to his astral body and expelled him from Paradise sooner than was intended; and the consequence of this Luciferic activity was the interference of the Ahrimanic, or Mephistophelian, spirits in his perception of the outer world, which they now showed him in its physical form only, not as it is in reality. That is why these spirits that dupe mankind with what is spurious are called by the Hebrew People mephiz-topel: mephiz, the corrupter, and topel, the liar. This eventually became Mephistopheles; and it is merely another name for Ahriman.

Now, what did Ahriman effect in man, as opposed to Lucifer? Lucifer brought about a deterioration of the forces of the astral body greater than it should have been, as well as the premature induration of man's physical substance though it must be kept in mind that thereby the attainment of freedom was made possible. The Mephistophelian spirits, on the other hand, prevented man from discerning the spiritual basis of the world, tricking him instead with a mere illusion of it. Mephistopheles induced in men the belief that the outer world is nothing but a material existence, that there is no such thing as spirit underlying and permeating all material substance. The scene so beautifully portrayed in Goethe's Faust has been enacted by mankind throughout the ages. On the one hand we see Faust seeking the path into the spiritual world; on the other, Mephistopheles, who calls that spiritual world “nothingness”, because it is to his interest to represent the sense world as being all that exists. Faust replies, as would every spiritual scientist in this case, “In what is nothingness to thee I hope to find my all”.—Only when we know that in every tiniest particle of matter there is spirit and that the idea of matter is a lie; only when we recognize Mephistopheles as that spirit in the world who vitiates our conceptions—only then can the outer world appear to us as it really is.

What was needed to carry mankind onward, to prevent its succumbing to the fate prepared for it by Lucifer, by Ahriman? As early as in the Atlantean age the influence of the Luciferic beings had to be checked. Even then there were men who worked on themselves in such a way as to counteract the Luciferic influence in their astral bodies, who were on the alert for what emanated from Lucifer, who examined their own souls for Luciferic passions, instincts, and desires. And as a result of eradicating these Luciferic qualities they recaptured the capacity for seeing in its pure form what all men would have seen had they not been exposed to the influence of the Luciferic, and later of the Ahrimanic, spirits. By means of pure living and conscientious self-knowledge certain human beings of the Atlantean epoch sought to rid themselves of this Luciferic influence; and this enabled them, at a time when remnants of the old clairvoyance still survived, to see into the spiritual world and discern loftier things than could the others, whose physical substance had hardened as a result of the Luciferic influence. Such men—those that cast out the Luciferic influence by means of strong-minded self-knowledge—became the leaders of the Atlantean age. We can call them the Atlantean Initiates.

Now what, exactly, was the nature of Lucifer's activity? In the main, Lucifer directed his attack against everything that united human beings, against blood ties that expressed themselves in love. But the leaders just mentioned knew how to resist Lucifer's influence, and by doing so they acquired the ability to envision this connection spiritually: they came to realize that the factor conditioning man's progress lies not in separation, in segregation, but in that which unites men. Hence these initiates endeavored to restore, as it were, the ancient state of affairs in which the upper spiritual world was not yet threatened by Lucifer's power. They aimed at eradicating the personal element: Kill that which endows you with a personal ego! Gaze back to olden times when the ties of blood spoke so eloquently that a descendant experiened his ego as reaching back to his earliest forebear; when the first ancestor, long since dead, was still held sacred!—The age of the primeval human community—that is the age into which the Atlantean leaders endeavored to lead men back. Throughout this whole period of evolution there appeared such leaders of mankind again and again, proclaiming, Endeavor to resist the influences that would drive you to a personal ego; try to learn what it was that bound men together in olden times! Then you will find the way to the divine spirit.

This attitude had retained its purest form among those we know as the ancient Hebrew People. Just recall and try to understand the exhortations of the leaders of this old Hebrew nation. They stood before their people and proclaimed: You have reached a state in which each of you stresses the personal ego in him—each of you seeks his being within himself alone. But development will be furthered only by subduing the personal ego and exerting all those forces that guide you to the consciousness of being all connected, of having descended one and all from Abraham, of being members of a great organism reaching back to Abraham. If you are told, “I and Father Abraham are one”, and you take these words to heart, ignoring all that is personal, then you have the right consciousness that will lead you to the divine; for the path to the divine leads by way of the original ancestor.—The vital impulse determining the leadership of those who contended against the Luciferic influence was preserved longest by the Hebrew People. But man had been entrusted with the mission to develop and cultivate the ego, not to destroy it. The old initiates had no quarrel with the personal ego, but they maintained that the ascent to the old Gods should be made by way of the early forebears.

With the coming to earth of the great impulse, as we characterized it yesterday—the Christ impulse—a new utterance resounded for the first time clearly and distinctly; and it was among the Hebrew People that it could be heard with special clarity and distinctness, because this was the people that had longest preserved what we may consider an echo of the old Atlantean initiate teaching.

Christ transmuted that teaching of the old initiates, and said: It is possible for man to cultivate his own personality. He need not obey the physical bonds of blood brotherhood alone: he can look into his own ego and there seek, and find, the divine.—What we have characterized as the Christ impulse bears within it the force which, if we unite with it, offers us the possibility of establishing a spiritual bond of brotherhood among human beings, in spite of the individuality of the ego. Thus the Christ force was very different from the one prevailing in the community into which He was placed. There the idea was, I and Father Abraham are one. That is what I must know if I am to find the way back to the divine.—But Christ said: There is another Father through Whom the ego will find the way to the divine; for the ego, or the I am, is one with the divine. There is something eternal thou canst find if thou remainest within thyself.

That is why Christ could characterize the force He would transmit to men with the words we find in the Gospel of St. John, Before Abraham was, was the I am. And the “I am” was nothing other than the name which Christ called Himself. If men can enkindle the thought within them: Within me there dwells something that existed long before Abraham; I have no need to go back to Abraham, for I find the divine Father Spirit within me—then they can turn into good all that Lucifer contributed to the cultivation and fostering of the ego, which had proved an obstacle in the path of humanity. The transformation of Lucifer's influence into good: that was the deed of Christ.

Supposing that only the high divine-spiritual beings had been at work, those who had restricted love to blood ties, who kept demanding of men that they go back through the whole line of descent if they would find the way to the Gods. Had that occurred, mankind would have been herded together into one human community without enjoying full consciousness; and never would men have risen to a complete awareness of their freedom and independence. But that is what the Luciferic spirits inoculated in man's astral body before the advent of Christ. They segregated men, tried to make them independent of each other. But Christ turned to good the evil that would inevitably have resulted had the Luciferic influence become extreme. If the latter had run its full course mankind would have lost its capacity for love. Lucifer endowed man with freedom and independence; Christ transmuted this freedom into love. And the bond Christ brought mankind is what will lead men to spiritual love.

This point of view throws a different light on the deeds of the Luciferic spirits. Are we still justified in thinking of their once having lagged behind as due to indolence and laziness? No indeed, for it was done in order to fulfill a definite mission in Earth evolution: to prevent men from becoming fused into a mere mass through purely natural ties, as well as to prepare the way to Christ. It is as though they had said to themselves on the Moon: We will renounce our present goal in order to be able to work on the Earth in conformity with progressive development. This is one of the examples that show how an ostensible evil, a seeming error, can turn out for the best in the whole context of world events. To enable the Christ to intervene in Earth evolution at the right moment, certain Moon spirits had to sacrifice their Moon mission and prepare for Him. This shows us that Lucifer's retardation on the Moon can also be regarded in the light of a sacrifice.

In this way we come ever closer to a truth which should be engraved in the human soul as a lofty moral maxim: When you see something evil in the world, do not say, Here is evil—that is, imperfection; ask, rather, How can I attain to the enlightenment which will show me that on a higher plane this evil is transformed into good by the wisdom of the cosmos? How can I learn to tell myself: Here you see naught but imperfection because you are as yet unable to grasp the perfection of this imperfect thing?

Whenever man sees evil he should look into his own soul and ask himself, Why am I not yet able to recognize the good in this evil that confronts me?

Fünfter Vortrag

Wenn wir den Menschen in seiner heutigen Gestalt betrachten, wie er sich zusammensetzt aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib, astralischem Leib und Ich, so stellt sich für das hellseherische Bewußtsein vor allen Dingen die wichtige Tatsache heraus, daß-der physische Leib und der Ätherleib in bezug auf Größe und Form — wenigstens für die oberen Partien des Menschen — annähernd gleich sind. Namentlich wenn wir uns den Kopf des Menschen denken, wie er sich uns physisch darstellt, so fällt er fast ganz mit dem Ätherteil des Kopfes zusammen; nur etwas ragt nach allen Seiten der Ätherkopf des Menschen über den physischen Kopf hinaus. Das ist bei den Tieren durchaus nicht der Fall. Schon bei den höheren Tieren ist ein gewaltiger Unterschied vorhanden zwischen der Form und Größe des Ätherteils des Kopfes und dem physischen Kopfe. Wenn Sie ein Pferd zum Beispiel mit hellseherischem Bewußtsein betrachten, werden Sie sehen, daß weit über den physischen Kopf und in ziemlich anderer Gestalt, als dieser ist, der Ätherkopf hinausragt. Wenn ich Ihnen aufzeichnen würde, was für ein Gebilde der Elefant über seinem Rüssel und über dem Kopfe hat, würden Sie recht erstaunt sein über die Wesenheit eines solchen Tieres. Denn was die physische Wahrnehmung von einem solchen Tiere sieht, ist ja nur der verfestigte physische Teil in der Mitte. Diese Tatsache wollen wir einmal ins Auge fassen.

Des Menschen Vollkommenheit auf unserem physischen Plan beruht im Grunde genommen darauf, daß sich sein Ätherleib so stark mit seinem physischen Leibe deckt. Das war aber nicht immer der Fall. Es gab in den Zeiten unserer Erdentwickelung, die wir in den letzten Betrachtungen verfolgt haben, auch Epochen, wo des Menschen Ätherleib durchaus nicht in dieser Weise zusammenfiel mit dem physischen Leibe, wie es heute der Fall ist. Ja es besteht der Fortschritt des Menschen im Laufe seiner Entwickelung darin, daß nach und nach der über den physischen Leib hinausragende Ätherleib hineinkroch gleichsam in den physischen Leib und allmählich mit ihm zur Deckung kam. Nun ist es wesentlich, ins Auge zu fassen, daß dieses Durchdringen von Ätherleib und physischem Leib zu einer ganz bestimmten Zeit der Erdentwickelung stattfinden mußte, wenn die Menschheit in der richtigen Art ihre Entwickelung durchmachen sollte. Wäre der Ätherleib des Menschen früher zur Deckung gekommen mit dem physischen Leib, so würde der Mensch eine gewisse Stufe der Entwickelung zu früh erlangt und sich in ihr verhärtet haben, so daß er hätte stehen bleiben müssen. Daß er eine gewisse Entwickelungsmöglichkeit erlangte, das rührt davon her, daß dieses Decken in einem ganz bestimmten Zeitpunkt stattgefunden hat. Dazu müssen wir uns einmal genauer die Entwickelung anschauen, die wir in großen Umrissen gestern und vorgestern vor unser geistiges Auge führten.

Wir stellen uns noch einmal vor, daß im Beginne unserer Erdentwickelung die Erde vereinigt war mit der Sonne und dem Monde. Damals war der Mensch aus seiner Keimanlage, die den physischen Leib, Ätherleib und astralischen Leib in sich hatte, wiedererstanden. Er war sozusagen in seiner ersten Erdenform so da, wie er eben sein konnte, als die Erde noch die Sonne und den Mond in sich enthielt. Diese Zeit der Erdentwickelung, die der Mensch durchmachte und sein Planet mit ihm, nennt man gewöhnlich in der geisteswissenschaftlichen Literatur die «polarische Zeit» der Erdentwickelung. Zu erklären, warum sie die polarische Zeit heißt, würde heute zu weit führen, nehmen wir diesen Namen einfach hin. Dann kommt die Zeit, in der die Sonne sich anschickt aus der Erde herauszugehen, wo diejenigen Wesenheiten, die sozusagen nicht mit den gröberen oder gröber werdenden Substanzen der Erde weitergehen können, sich mit den feineren Substanzen der Sonne von der Erde trennen. Diese Zeit nennen wir die hyperboräische Zeit. Dann kommt ein Zeitalter, in dem die Erde nur noch mit dem Monde vereint ist, wo ein fortdauerndes Veröden unseres Erdenlebens stattfindet. Wir haben gestern gesehen, wie die Menschenseelen diese Erde verlassen, und wie da nur verkümmerte Menschengestalten zurückbleiben. Es ist die Zeit, die man in der geisteswissenschaftlichen Literatur die lemurische Zeit nennt. In dieser Zeit findet die Abtrennung des Mondes von der Erde statt, und es erfolgt auf der Erde eine Wiederbelebung aller Reiche, die sich auf ihr begründet haben. Die geringste Wiederbelebung braucht das Mineralreich; das Pflanzenreich braucht schon etwas mehr, das Tierreich noch mehr, und das Menschengeschlecht braucht der bedeutsamsten, stärksten Kräfte, damit es sich weiterentwickeln kann. Diese Neubelebung beginnt mit dem Austritt des Mondes. Wir haben da nur eine kleine Anzahl von Menschen, wie wir es gestern besprochen haben, und diese Menschen bestehen aus den drei Gliedern, die sie während der Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondentwickelung aufgenommen haben, zu denen die Anlage zum Ich sich auf der Erde zugesellt hat.

Aber der Mensch ist dazumal, beim Austritt des Mondes aus der Erde, noch nicht in jener fleischlichen Substanz vorhanden, in der er uns später entgegentritt. Er ist in den feinsten Materien jener Zeit vorhanden. In der lemurischen Zeit war die Erde in einem Zustand, daß zum Beispiel vieles von dem, was heute als festes Mineral vorhanden ist, noch flüssig, aufgelöst war in den andern Substanzen, die heute als Wässeriges abgetrennt sind, wie zum Beispiel das Wasser. Es war die Zeit, wo die Luft noch durchsetzt war mit dichten Dämpfen der mannigfaltigsten Stoffe. Reine Luft, reines Wasser im heutigen Sinne war im Grunde genommen in dieser Zeit nicht vorhanden, oder wenigstens nur in den kleinsten Gebieten der Erde. Also in den damals reinsten Substanzen prägte der Mensch seinen flüchtigen, feinen Leib aus. Hätte er dazumal in einer gröberen Substanz seinen Leib ausgeprägt, so würde sich die Form dieses Leibes zu einem ganz bestimmten Umriß, zu einer Gestalt mit scharfen Konturen ausgebildet haben. Diese Konturen würden sich vererbt haben auf die Nachkommen, und das Menschengeschlecht wäre dabei stehengeblieben. In einer solchen Materie durfte der Mensch seine Gestalt nicht schaffen, er mußte vielmehr dafür sorgen, daß er die Materie seiner Leiblichkeit frei nach den Impulsen der Seele bewegen konnte. So weich war die Materie dazumal, in der sich sein Leib ausprägte, daß sie nach allen Richtungen hin dem Antriebe des Willens folgte. Heute können Sie Ihre Hand ausstrecken, aber Sie können nicht durch Ihren Willen die Hand drei Meter lang machen. Sie können nicht Materie bezwingen, weil die Form sich so vererbt, wie sie heute ist.

Das war damals nicht der Fall. Der Mensch konnte beliebig gestaltet werden, konnte die Form ausprägen, wie es seine Seele wollte. Das war sozusagen Bedingung für die weitere Entwickelung des Menschen, daß er nach dem Herausgang des Mondes sich in den weichsten Massen verkörperte, so daß sein Leib noch plastisch und biegsam war und der Seele in einer jeden Beziehung folgte.

Nun kam die Zeit, in welcher allmählich gewisse Teile der Materie, die heute zu unserem Leben so notwendig sind, das Wasser und die Luft, sich reinigten von dem, was sie an dichter Materie enthielten, wo sich sozusagen aus dem Wasser heraustrennte, was früher darin aufgelöst war. Wie in einem erkaltenden Wasser aufgelöste Substanzen zu Boden fallen, so fiel die aufgelöste Materie gleichsam zum Erdboden herunter. Das Wasser wurde frei, aus der Luft wurde die Materie herausgetrennt, Luft und Wasser bildeten sich. Der Mensch war imstande, zu seinem Aufbau diese verfeinerte Materie zu benutzen.

Aus diesem dritten Zeitalter lebten die Menschen allmählich hinüber in eine Zeit der Erdentwickelung, die wir die atlantische nennen, weil während dieser Zeit der Hauptteil des Menschengeschlechtes auf einem heute untergegangenen Weltteillebte, der zwischen dem heutigen Amerika und Europa und Afrika gelegen war, da, wo jetzt der Atlantische Ozean ist. Nachdem also der lemurische Zeitraum noch eine Weile gedauert hatte, entwickelten sich die Menschen auf dem atlantischen Kontinent weiter. Und da geschah alles das, was ich Ihnen jetzt zu beschreiben habe, und auch vieles von dem, was wir gestern schon anzuführen hatten.

In dem Augenblicke, als der Mond die Erde verließ, waren ja auf der Erde die wenigsten von den Menschenseelen, die später verkörpert waren. Da waren ja die Menschenseelen verteilt auf die verschiedenen Weltenkörper. Während der letzten lemurischen Zeit und der ersten atlantischen Zeit kamen diese Menschenseelen herunter. Wenige Menschen, sagte ich Ihnen, hatten die Krisis während der lemurischen Epoche erleben können, denn nur die Stärksten, die vor dem Mondenaustritt diese erhärtende, noch nicht wieder erweichte Materie beziehen konnten, hatten sich über diese Mondkrisis der Erde erhalten. Als sich aber dann alles aufweichte, was sich während der Mondkrisis verhärtet hatte, als sich Nachkommen bildeten, die nicht durch die Vererbungsverhältnisse in feste Konturen gepreßt, sondern beweglich waren, da kamen nach und nach wieder die Seelen von den verschiedenen Planeten herunter und bezogen diese Leiber. Diejenigen Gestalten allerdings, welche ganz früh physisch wurden nach der Mondabtrennung, behielten die feste Gestalt durch Vererbung und konnten menschliche Seelen auch nicht nach der Mondabtrennung aufnehmen. Wir können uns geradezu den Vorgang so vorstellen, daß diese Seelen das Bedürfnis haben, wieder herunterzukommen auf die Erde. Da unten entstehen die mannigfaltigsten Gestalten, Nachkommen der Gestalten, die übriggeblieben waren nach der Mondabtrennung, und unter diesen gibt es die verschiedensten Grade der Verhärtung. Diejenigen Menschenseelen, überhaupt diejenigen Scelenwesenheiten, die in einer gewissen Beziehung am wenigsten jetzt schon den Drang hatten, sich ganz mit einer Materie zu vereinigen, wählten sich nun die weichsten dieser Gestalten und verließen sie auch bald wieder. Dagegen waren die anderen Seelenwesen, die sich jetzt schon mit den verhärteten Gestalten vereinigten, an diese Gestalten gefesselt, und infolgedessen blieben sie zurück in der Entwickelung. Gerade die dem Menschen nächststehenden Tiere sind dadurch entstanden, daß gewisse Seelen, die aus dem Weltenraum heruntergestiegen sind, nicht haben warten können. Sie haben zu früh die Leiber unten aufgesucht und sie zu festbegrenzten Gestalten gemacht, bevor sich diese Leiber ganz durchdringen konnten mit dem Ätherleib. Die Menschengestalt ist so lange plastisch geblieben, bis sie sich ganz an den Ätherleib anpassen konnte. Dadurch entstand jene Deckung, von der ich gesprochen habe, und die sich ungefähr im letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit vollzog. Vorher war es so, daß der menschliche Seelenteil, der daherunterkam, den Leib flüssig erhielt und dafür sorgte, daß der Ätherleib nicht vollständig mit irgendeinem Teildes physischen Leibes zusammenschmolz. Dieses Zusammengreifen von Ätherleib und physischem Leib geschah an einem ganz bestimmten Zeitpunkt. Erst während der atlantischen Epoche nahm der menschliche physische Leib eine bestimmte Konfiguration an und fing an, sich zu verhärten.

Wäre an diesem Zeitpunkt der atlantischen Entwickelung nichts anderes geschehen, wäre sonst gar nichts eingetreten, dann würde die Entwickelung anders verlaufen sein, als es in Wirklichkeit geschehen ist, Dann würde der Mensch von einem früheren Bewußtseinszustand zu einem späteren ziemlich rasch übergegangen sein. Bevor der Mensch völlig vereint war in bezug auf seinen physischen und seelischen Teil, war er ein hellseherisches Wesen, aber dieses Hellsehen war ein dämmerhaftes, ein dumpfes. Der Mensch hatte die Möglichkeit, in die geistige Welt hineinzuschauen, aber er konnte nicht zu sich «Ich » sagen, er konnte sich nicht von der Umgebung unterscheiden. Selbstbewußtsein fehlte ihm. Das trat in dem Punkt der Entwickelung ein, wo sich der physische Leib mit dem Ätherleib vereinigte. Und wenn nichts anderes geschehen wäre, hätte in verhältnismäßig kurzer Zeit das Folgende stattgefunden.

Der Mensch hatte vor diesem Zeitpunkt ein Bewußtsein von der geistigen Welt. Er konnte die Tiere, Pflanzen und so weiter nicht deutlich sehen, wohl aber ein Geistiges um sie herum. Er würde zum Beispiel die Gestalt des Elefanten nicht deutlich gesehen haben, aber das Ätherische, das sich über dem physischen Leibe des Elefanten ausdehnt, das würde er gesehen haben. Dieses Bewußtsein der Menschen würde nach und nach geschwunden sein, das Ich würde sich ausgebildet haben beim Zusammenfallen des physischen und ätherischen Leibes, und der Mensch würde wie von einer anderen Seite her die Welt an sich haben herankommen sehen. Während er früher hellseherische Bilder geschaut hatte, würde er von diesem Zeitpunkt an eine Außenwelt wahrgenommen haben, aber zugleich auch die geistigen Wesenheiten und geistigen Kräfte, die dieser Außenwelt zugrunde liegen. Er würde das physische Bild der Pflanze nicht so gesehen haben, wie wir es heute sehen, sondern gleichzeitig mit diesem physischen Bild hätte er das geistige Wesen der Pflanze wahrgenommen. Warum ist nicht im Verlaufe der Entwickelung das dumpfe Hellscherbewußtsein einfach abgelöst worden von einem Gegenstandsbewußtsein, das aber zugleich den Menschen Geistiges hätte wahrnehmen und wissen lassen?

Das ist deshalb nicht geschehen, weil gerade während der Mondenkrisis, als der Mensch wieder auflebte, Wesenheiten auf ihn Einfluß nahmen, die man als zurückgeblieben bezeichnen muß, die aber höher sind als der Mensch. Wir haben schon verschiedene solcher höheren Wesenheiten kennengelernt. Wir wissen, daß es solche gibt, die zur Sonne hinaufgestiegen sind, und andere, die zu anderen Planeten gegangen sind. Aber es gab auch geistige Wesenheiten, die das Pensum, das sie auf dem Monde hätten erledigen sollen, nicht erledigt hatten. Diese Wesenheiten, tieferstehend als die Götter, höherstehend als der Mensch, bezeichnen wir nach ihrem Führer, nach dem höchsten, stärksten unter ihnen, dem Luzifer, als die luziferischen Wesenheiten.

In der Zeit der Mondenkrisis hatte sich der Mensch so weit entwikkelt, daß er seinen physischen Leib, Ätherleib, astralischen Leib und sein Ich hatte. Das Ich verdankte er dem Einfluß der «Geister der Form», wie er seinen astralischen Leib den «Geistern der Bewegung», seinen Ätherleib den «Geistern der Weisheit» und seinen physischen Leib dem Einfluß der «Throne» verdankt. Die Geister der Form «Exusiai» oder «Gewalten» in der christlichen Esoterik — waren es, die es möglich machten, daß der Keim des Ich hinzukam zu den anderen drei Gliedern. Wenn nun der Mensch nur in der normalen Entwickelung gestanden hätte und alle die Wesenheiten um ihn herum ihre entsprechenden Aufgaben durchgemacht hätten, dann würden gewisse Wesenheiten auf seinen physischen Leib gewirkt haben, andere auf seinen Ätherleib, andere auf seinen astralischen Leib und wieder andere auf sein Ich, wir können sagen, so wie es sich gehört hätte, jede Art auf das Glied, zu dem sie gehörte. Jetzt aber waren diese auf der Mondesstufe zurückgebliebenen Wesenheiten da, die luziferischen Wesenheiten. Hätten sie richtig weiterwirken können, dann wären sie berufen gewesen, auf das Ich zu wirken. Sie hatten auf dem Monde aber nur gelernt, auf den astralischen Leib zu wirken, und das hatte etwas Bedeutsarnes zur Folge. Wären diese luziferischen Geister nicht dagewesen, so würde der Mensch seine Ich-Anlage in sich aufgenommen haben und sich bis zum letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit so entwickelt haben, daß er das dämmerhafte Hellseherbewußtsein vertauscht hätte mit dem äußeren Gegenstandsbewußtsein. So aber drangen, gleichsam wie Strahlen von Kräften, die Wirkungen der luziferischen Geister in seinen astralischen Leib hinein. Worin bestanden diese Wirkungen?

Der astralische Leib ist der Träger der Triebe, Begierden, Leidenschaften, Instinkte und so weiter. Der Mensch würde ganz anders im Aufbau seines astralischen Leibes geworden sein, wenn die luziferischen Geister nicht an ihn herangekommen wären. Er würde dann nur Triebe entwickelt haben, die ihn mit Sicherheit geführt und nur vorwärts gebracht hätten. Die Geister würden ihn geleitet haben zu dem Anschauen der Welt in Gegenständen, hinter denen die geistigen Wesenheiten sichtbar geworden wären. Aber Freiheit, Enthusiasmus, Selbständigkeitsgefühl und Leidenschaft für dieses Höhere würden ihm gefehlt haben. Der Mensch würde verloren haben das alte Hellseherbewußtsein. Die Herrlichkeit der Welt hätte er angeschaut wie eine Art Gott, denn er wäre ein Glied der Gottheit geworden. Und diese Anschauung der Welt hätte in seinem Verstande ihr Spiegelbild erschaffen mit einer großen Vollkommenheit. Aber der Mensch wäre eben nur wie ein großer Spiegel des Universums in seiner Vollkommenheit gewesen.

Nun gossen die luziferischen Geister vor diesem Zeitpunkt in den astralischen Leib hinein Leidenschaften, Triebe, Begierden, die sich mit dem vereinigten, was der Mensch auf seinem Entwickelungsweg in sich aufnahm. Dadurch konnte er nicht nur der Sterne ansichtig werden, sondern zu gleicher Zeit dafür aufflammen, Enthusiasmus entfachen und Leidenschaft, nicht nur den vergöttlichten Trieben des astralischen Leibes folgen, sondern eigene Triebe entfalten aus seiner Freiheit heraus. Das hatten ihm die luziferischen Geister in seinen astralischen Leib hineingegossen. Aber damit hatten sie ihm zugleich etwas anderes gegeben: die Möglichkeit zum Bösen, zur Sünde. Die hätte er nicht gehabt, wenn er Schritt für Schritt von den erhabeneren Göttern geführt worden wäre. Die luziferischen Geister haben den Menschen frei gemacht, ihm Enthusiasmus eingepflanzt, aber ihm zu gleicher Zeit die Möglichkeit der niederen Begierden gegeben. Der Mensch hätte, bei einem normalen Entwickelungsgange, sozusagen mit einem jeglichen Ding die normalen Empfindungen verknüpft. So aber konnten ihm die Dinge der Sinneswelt mehr gefallen, als sie ihm hätten gefallen sollen. Er konnte mit seinem Interesse haften an den Dingen der Sinneswelt. Und die Folge war, daß er früher, als es sonst geschehen wäre, in diese physische Verhärtung hineinkam.

Der Mensch ist also früher zu einer festen Gestalt gekommen, als es bei den göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten sozusagen beschlossen war. Eigentlich hätte er in dem letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit aus einer luftigen zu einer festen Gestalt heruntersteigen sollen. So aber ist er vor dieser Zeit heruntergestiegen und ein festes Wesen geworden. Es ist das, was uns in der Bibel als der Sündenfall beschrieben wird. Das ist der luziferische Einfluß, der sich da geltend macht. Wir haben aber auch in den Zeiten, die wir jetzt betrachtet haben, hohe geistige Wesenheiten, die auf das Ich des Menschen wirken, das sie ihm geschenkt haben. Die lassen die Kräfte einströmen, die den Menschen vorwärts bringen in seiner Bahn im Kosmos in demselben Maße, als wiederum diese Menschenwesenheiten herunterkommen und sich mit den Menschenkörpern vereinigen. Sie halten ihre Hand schützend über ihn. Auf der anderen Seite aber sind jene Wesenheiten, die sich nicht aufgeschwungen haben, um auf das Ich zu wirken. Die wirken nun auf den astralischen Leib des Menschen und entwickeln in ihm ganz besondere Triebe.

Wenn wir das physische Menschenleben während dieser Zeit betrachten, so stellt sich uns ein Abbild dieser beiden widerstrebenden Mächte dar, der göttlich-geistigen Mächte, die auf das Ich wirken, und der luziferischen Wesenheiten. Wenn wir ein wenig die geistige Seite des Vorganges verfolgen, so können wir uns sagen: Während die Erde verödet war, sind die Menschenseelen hinaufgegangen zu den verschiedenen Weltenkörpern, die zu unserem Sonnensystem gehören. Jetzt kehren diese Seelen wieder zurück, je nachdem sie Leiber finden in der physischen Vererbungslinie. Wenn Sie daran denken, daß gerade bei der Mondabtrennung die Erde am wenigsten bevölkert ist, so können Sie sich vorstellen, daß sich das Menschengeschlecht von wenigen Menschen aus verzweigte. Nach und nach vermehrt es sich, und immer mehr und mehr Seelen steigen herunter und bevölkern die Leiber, die auf der Erde entstehen. Lange Zeit hindurch war es so, daß nur von den wenigen Menschen, die zur Zeit der Mondabtrennung da waren, Nachkommen entstanden. Auf diese Menschen wirkten die hohen Sonnenkräfte selber. Diese Menschen hatten sich ja stark genug gehalten, um den Sonnenkräften einen Angriffspunkt zu geben auch während der Mondenktrisis. Alle diese Menschen und ihre Nachkommen fühlten sich sozusagen als «Sonnenmenschen». Machen wir uns das einmal klar.

Stellen Sie sich der Einfachheit wegen vor, daß überhaupt während der Mondenkrisis nur er Menschenpaar da war. Ich will nicht darüber entscheiden, ob es wirklich so war. Dieses Menschenpaar hat Nachkommen, diese haben wiederum Nachkommen, und so weiter. So verzweigte sich das Menschengeschlecht. Solange nun im engeren Sinne eine bloße Nachkommenschaft der alten Sonnenmenschen da war, so lange war bei all diesen Menschen vermöge ihres alten Hellsehens auch noch ein ganz besonderer Bewußtseinszustand vorhanden. Der Mensch hatte damals nicht nur ein Gedächtnis für das, was er selber erlebte von seiner Geburt an oder, wie es heute der Fall ist, von einem Zeitpunkt an, der später liegt als die Geburt, sondern er erinnerte sich an alles, was der Vater, der Großvater und so weiter erlebt hatte. Das Gedächtnis ging hinauf bis zu den Vorfahren, zu all denen, mit denen er blutsverwandt war. Das kam davon her, weil in gewisser Beziehung über alle diejenigen, die miteinander blutsverwandt waren und die ihre Abstammung noch zurückleiteten bis zu den Menschen, welche die Mondabtrennung überdauert hatten, die Sonnenkräfte ihre Hand hielten. Die Sonnenkräfte hatten das Ichbewußtsein hervorgerufen und hielten es aufrecht durch die ganze Blutslinie hindurch. Nun vermehrte sich das Menschengeschlecht, und die Seelen, die in den Weltenraum gegangen waren, kamen zurück auf die Erde. Aber diejenigen Seelen, in denen die Sonnenkräfte stark genug waren, fühlten, trotzdem sie herunter gekommen und mit ganz anderen Sphären als mit der Sonne verwandt waren, immer noch diese Sonnenkräfte.

Dann aber kamen Zeiten, in denen diese Seelen, wenn sie spätereNachkommen waren, den Zusammenhang mit den Sonnenkräften verloren. Und damit verloren sie diese gemeinsame Erinnerung mit ihren Vorfahren. Und je mehr sich das Menschengeschlecht vermehrte, desto mehr ging dieses lebendige Bewußtsein verloren, das mit der Blutsvererbung verbunden war. Und zwar ging es dadurch verloren, daß denjenigen Mächten, welche die Menschen vorwärts leiteten und ihnen das Ich einpflanzten, gegenübertraten die luziferischen Mächte, die auf den astralischen Leib wirkten. Sie wirkten all dem entgegen, was die Menschen zusammenkittete. Sie wollten dem Menschen Freiheit, Selbstbewußtsein beibringen. Es war also so, daß die ältesten Menschen nach der Mondabtrennung «Ich » sagten nicht nur zu dem, was sie selbst erlebten, sondern auch zu dem, was ihre Vorfahren erlebt hatten. Sie fühlten das gemeinsame Sonnenwesen, das im Blute wirkte. Und auch als das schon erstorben war, fühlten zum Beispiel diejenigen, welche vom Mars gekommen waren, das Band, das sie mit dem schützenden Geiste des Mars vereinigte. Die Nachkommen der vom Mars Niedergestiegenen fühlten, eben weil sie sich aus Mars-Seelen rektutierten, das Schützende, das von dem Mars-Geist ausging.

Gegen dieses Gefühl von Gruppen, in denen die Liebe waltet, versuchten die luziferischen Geister ihren Angriff. Sie wußten gegenüber dem gemeinsamen Ich, das in solchen Gruppen sich ausprägte, das individuelle Ich des Menschen zu kultivieren.

Wenn wir in die alten Zeiten zurückblicken, finden wir überall, je weiter wir zurückgehen um so mehr, Gemeinschaftsbewußtsein gebunden an die Blutsverwandtschaft. Und je mehr wir vorwärts kommen, desto mehr schwindet dieses Bewußtsein, und immer mehr fühlt der Mensch sich selbständig, fühlt er, daß er ein individuelles Ich gegenüber dem gemeinsamen Ich entwickeln soll. So wirken zwei Reiche in dem Menschen: das Reich der luziferischen Geister und das der göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten. Die göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten führen den Menschen zum Menschen, aber durch die Blutsbande. Die luziferischen Wesenheiten suchen zu trennen, suchen Mensch vom Menschen abzusondern. Diese beiden Kräfte wirken durch die atlantische Zeit hindurch. Und sie wirken auch dann noch, als der atlantische Kontinent durch große Katastrophen zugrunde geht und Europa, Asien, Afrika und auf der anderen Seite Amerika die heutige Gestalt bekommen. Sie wirken weiter in der fünften Erdenepoche, bis in unsere Zeit hinein.

So haben wir fünf Erdenepochen schildern können: die polarische Zeit, wo die Erde noch mit der Sonne vereinigt war, die hyperboräische Zeit,wo der Mond noch mit der Erde vereinigt war, dann die lemurische Zeit, dann die atlantische Zeit und endlich die nachatlantische, unsere eigene Zeit. Wir sahen, wie die luziferischen Geister eingegriffen haben, und wie sie den göttlich-geistigen Mächten, welche die Menschen zusammengeführt haben, entgegenwirkten. Und wir müssen uns sagen: Es wäre etwas ganz anderes geschehen, wenn die luziferischen Geister nicht eingegriffen hätten in die Menschheitsentwickelung. Es wäre im letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit das alte Hellseherbewußtsein vertauscht worden gegen ein Gegenstandsbewußtsein, aber gegen ein geistdurchsetztes Gegenstandsbewußtsein. So aber haben die luziferischen Geister den Menschen früher zu einem verhärteten physischen Leibe geführt. Der Mensch hat dadurch früher hinausgesehen in die physische Welt, als er sonst hätte hinaussehen können. Und die Folge davon war, daß der Mensch das letzte Drittel der atlantischen Zeit in einem ganz anderen Zustand antrat, als es geschehen wäre, wenn nur die göttlichgeistigen Mächte führend gewesen wären.

Während der Mensch sonst eine Außenwelt gesehen hätte, wie durchglüht und durchgeistigt von höheren Wesenheiten, war es jetzt so, daß er nur eine physische Welt sah, und daß die göttliche Welt sich von ihm zurückgezogen hatte. In seinen astralischen Leib hinein hatten sich gemischt die luziferischen Geister. In seine äußere Anschauung, in das Verhältnis des Ich zur Außenwelt, in das Unterscheiden des Ich von der Außenwelt, da mischten sich nun hinein, weil der Mensch sich mit der Sinnenwelt verbunden hatte, die ahrimanischen Geister des Zarathustra, die wir auch die mephistophelischen Geister nennen können. Der Mensch hat seinen physischen Leib, den Ätherleib und den astralischen Leib nicht so in sich, wie er sie haben würde, wenn nur die oberen Götter gewirkt hätten. Er hat aufgenommen in seinen astralischen Leib Wesenheiten, die wir als die luziferischen bezeichnen, und die ihn früher aus dem Paradiese geführt haben, als er eigentlich hätte herauskommen sollen. Und die Folge der Wirkung der luziferischen Geister ist, daß sich in sein Anschauen hineingemischt haben die ahrimanischen, die mephistophelischen Geister, die ihm die Außenwelt jetzt in der bloßen Sinnesgestalt zeigen, nicht wie sie in ihrer Wahrheit ist. Deshalb nennt die hebräische Welt diese Geister, die dem Menschen ein Falsches vorgaukeln: «mephiz -topel» — «mephiz» der Verderber, und «topel» der Lügner. « Mephistopheles » ist dann daraus geworden. Das ist derselbe Geist wie Ahriman. Was hat nun Ahriman im Menschen bewirkt im Gegensatz zu Luzifer?

Luzifer hat bewirkt, daß die Kräfte des astralischen Leibes schlechter geworden sind, als sie sonst hätten werden sollen, und daß der Mensch früher als sonst seine physische Materie verdichtet hat. Allerdings hat der Mensch auch dadurch seine Freiheit erlangt, zu der er sonst nicht gekommen wäre. Die mephistophelischen Geister haben bewirkt, daß der Mensch nicht die geistige Grundlage der Welt sieht, sondern daß ihm vorgegaukelt wird eine Illusion der Welt. Mephistopheles hat dem Menschen die Meinung beigebracht, daß die Außenwelt nur ein materielles Dasein hat, daß nicht in jedem und hinter jedem Materiellen ein Geistiges ist. In der ganzen Menschheit hat sich immer schon die Szene abgespielt, die Goethe in seinem «Faust» so wunderbar malt. Da sehen wir auf der einen Seite Faust, der den Weg sucht in die geistige Welt, auf der anderen Seite Mephistopheles, der diese geistige Welt als ein Nichts bezeichnet, weil er ein Interesse daran hat, ihm die Sinneswelt als das Ganze vorzustellen. Faust entgegnet ihm, was jeder Geistesforscher in diesem Falle sagen würde: «In deinem Nichts hoff' ich das All zu finden!» Erst wenn man weiß, wie in jedem kleinsten Teile der Materie Geist ist, und wie die Vorstellung der Materie Lüge ist, erst wenn man erkennt, daß Mephistopheles der die Vorstellungen verderbende Geist in der Welt ist, dann erst kommt man zu einer wirklichen Vorstellung von der Außenwelt.

Was war notwendig für die Menschheit, um die Menschheit wieder vorwärts zu bringen, um sie nicht in das Schicksal versinken zu lassen, das ihr durch Luzifer, durch Ahriman bereitet worden wäre?

Schon während der atlantischen Zeit mußte dahin gewirkt werden, daß der Einfluß der luziferischen Wesenheiten nicht ein zu großer werde. Es gab schon in den alten atlantischen Zeiten Menschen, die so an sich arbeiteten, daß der luziferische Einfluß in ihrem astralischen Leibe nicht zu groß werden konnte, die achtgaben auf das, was von Luzifer kam, die in der eigenen Seele die Leidenschaften, Triebe und Begierden aufsuchten, die von Luzifer herrührten. Was geschah dadurch, daß sie diese Eigenschaften ausrotteten, die von Luzifer kamen? Dadurch verschafften sie sich wieder die Möglichkeit, in reiner Gestalt zu schauen, was der Mensch erblickt haben würde, wenn er nicht den Einfluß der luziferischen und später der ahrimanischen Geister erlitten hätte. Durch eine reine Lebensweise und sorgfältige Selbsterkenntnis suchten gewisse Menschen der atlantischen Zeit diesen Einfluß Luzifers aus sich herauszuwerfen. Und dadurch war es ihnen möglich in jenen Zeiten, als noch die Reste des alten Hellsehertums vorhanden waren, hineinzuschauen in die geistige Welt und Höheres zu sehen, als es die anderen konnten, die in sich die physische Materie durch den luziferischen Einfluß verhärtet hatten. Solche Menschen, die durch eine charaktervolle Selbsterkenntnis den luziferischen Einfluß ausrotteten, wurden die Führer der atlantischen Zeit, wir können auch sagen: die atlantischen Eingeweihten. - Was hat denn Luzifer eigentlich getan?

Luzifer hat seinen Angriff vorzugsweise gerichtet gegen das, was die Menschen zusammenhielt, was in der Liebe an das Blut geknüpft war. Nun wußten diese Menschen den Einfluß Luzifers zu bekämpfen. Dadurch erlangten sie, daß sie diesen Zusammenhang geistig schauen konnten, daß sie sagen konnten: Nicht in der Trennung, nicht in der Absonderung liegt das, was den Menschen vorwärts bringt, sondern in dem, was die Menschen vereint. So haben diese Menschen, die dem luziferischen Einfluß entgegenarbeiteten, gleichsam den uralten Zustand wieder herbeizuführen gesucht, da noch nicht durch Luzifers Macht die obere geistige Welt gefährdet war. Sie waren bemüht, das persönliche Element auszurotten: Tötet das, was euch ein persönliches Ich gibt, und blickt hinauf in diejenigen alten Zeiten, wo die Blutsverwandtschaft noch so rege sprach, daß der Nachkomme sein Ich bis zum ersten Vorfahren hinauf empfand, wo der erste Ahne, der längst verstorben war, noch als heilig galt! - In jene Zeiten uralter Menschengemeinschaft wollten die Führer der atlantischen Zeit die Menschen hinaufführen. Durch die ganze Entwickelung hindurch gab es solche Führer der Menschheit, die immer von neuem auftraten und sagten: Suchet nicht zu verfallen den Einflüssen, die euch in das persönliche Ich hineintreiben wollen; suchet das zu erkennen, was die Menschen in alten Zeiten zusammengehalten hat! Dann werdet ihr den Weg finden zum göttlichen Geiste!

Im Grunde hatte sich diese Gesinnung am reinsten bei denen erhalten, die wir als das alte hebräische Volk kennen. Versuchen Sie einmal die Predigten derer, die die Führer dieses alten hebräischen Volkes waren, richtig zu verstehen. Da traten sie hin vor ihr Volk und sagten ihnen: Ihr seid bis dahin gekommen, daß ein jeder sein persönliches Ich in sich betont, daß jeder nur in sich selber sein Wesen sucht. Aber ihr fördert die Entwickelung, wenn ihr das persönliche Ich ertötet und alle diejenigen Kräfte anspannt, die euch zu dem Bewußtsein hinbringen, daß ihr alle abstammt von Abraham und zusammenhängt bis hinauf zu Abraham, daß ihr Glieder seid an dem großen Organismus bis zu Abraham hinauf. Wenn euch gesagt wird: «Ich und der Vater Abraham sind eins», und ihr dies mit Außerachtlassung alles Persönlichen in euch aufnehmet, dann habt ihr das rechte Bewußtsein, das euch zum Göttlichen führt, denn über den Urvater geht der Weg zum Göttlichen. - Am längsten hatte sich das hebräische Volk das bewahrt, was der Grundnerv ist in der Führerschaft derer, die den luziferischen Einfluß bekämpft haben.

Aber die Menschen waren mit der Mission betraut, das Ich nicht zu ertöten, sondern es auszubauen und zu kultivieren. Die alten Eingeweihten vermochten nichts gegen das persönliche Ich vorzubringen, als daß man über die Urahnen hinauf zu den alten Göttern steigen sollte.

Als der große Impuls auf die Erde kam, wie wir das gestern charakterisieren konnten, als der Christus-Impuls kam, da erklang zuerst ganz klar und deutlich eine andere Rede. Und sie konnte so klar und deutlich gerade innerhalb des hebräischen Volkes vernommen werden, weil sich dieses Volk bis in die späteste Zeit hinein das bewahrt hatte, was wir als den Nachklang der alten atlantischen Eingeweihten hinstellen können.

Christus verwandelte jene Rede der alten Eingeweihten und sagte: Es gibt eine Möglichkeit, daß der Mensch seine eigene Persönlichkeit pflegt, daß er nicht bloß den physischen Banden der Blutsbrüderschaft folgt, sondern daß er in sein Ich schaut und dort das Göttliche sucht und findet! In dem, was wir charakterisiert haben als den Christus-Impuls, liegt die Kraft, die, wenn wir uns mit ihr vereinen, es uns ermöglicht, trotz der Individualität des Ich ein geistiges Bruderband von Mensch zu Mensch zu stiften. So war die Kraft des Christus eine andere als die, welche in dem Kreise herrschte, in den er hineingestellt war. Da sagte man: «Ich und der Vater Abraham sind eins! Das muß ich wissen, wenn ich den Weg zum Göttlichen zurückfinden will.» Der Christus aber sagte: «Es gibt einen anderen Vater, durch den das Ich den Weg zum Göttlichen finden wird; denn das Ich oder Ich-bin und das Göttliche sind eines! Es gibt ein Ewiges, das du finden kannst, wenn du in dir bleibst.» Daher konnte Christus die Kraft, die er den Menschen mitteilen wollte, bezeichnen mit den Worten des Johannes-Evangeliums: «Ehe denn Abraham war, war das Ich-bin!» Und das Ich-bin war kein anderer Name als der, den sich der Christus selber beilegte. Und entzündet der Mensch dieses Bewußtsein: In mir lebt etwas, was viel früher als Abraham vorhanden war; ich brauche nicht bis zu Abraham zu gehen, ich finde in mir den göttlichen Vater-Geist! - dann kann er das, was durch Luzifer gebracht wurde zur Pflege und Kultivierung des Ich, und was zur Hemmung der Menschheit geführt hat, umwandeln ins Gute. Das ist die Tat des Christus, daß er den Einfluß des Luzifer ins Gute gewandelt hat.

Nehmen wir an, es hätten nur die oberen geistig-göttlichen Wesenheiten gewirkt, diejenigen, welche die Liebe nur an die Blutsbande geknüpft haben, die immer nur von dem Menschen verlangten: Du mußt durch die ganze Blutsreihe hinaufgehen, wenn du den Weg zu den Göttern finden willst! - dann wären die Menschen, ohne daß ihr volles Bewußtsein dabei gewesen wäre, zu einer Menschengemeinschaft zusammengetrieben worden, und nie hätten sie ein volles Bewußtsein ihrer Freiheit und Selbständigkeit erlangt. Das haben die luziferischen Geister dem Menschen eingeimpft in seinen astralischen Leib vor der Erscheinung des Christus. Sie haben die Menschen abgesondert, haben jeden auf die eigenen Füße stellen wollen. Der Christus aber hat das, was notwendig hätte kommen müssen, wenn der luziferische Einfluß ins Extrem gegangen wäre, ins Gute gewandelt. Wäre der luziferische Einfluß ins Extrem gegangen, dann wären die Menschen in Lieblosigkeit verfallen. Luzifer hat den Menschen Freiheit und Selbständigkeit gebracht; Christus hat diese Freiheit in Liebe umgewandelt. Und durch das Christus-Band werden die Menschen zur geistigen Liebe geführt.

Von diesem Gesichtspunkt aus fällt ein anderes Licht auf das, was die luziferischen Geister getan haben. Dürfen wir es immer noch als Lässigkeit und Trägheit bezeichnen, daß sie einstmals «zurückgeblieben » sind? Nein! Sie sind zurückgeblieben, um eine bestimmte Mission zu erfüllen während der Erde: um zu verhindern, daß die Menschen wie zu einem bloßen Brei durch nur natürliche Bande zusammengeschmiedet werden. Und vorbereiten sollten sie den Weg zu dem Christus. Sie haben gleichsam auf dem Monde gesagt: Wir wollen verzichten auf unser Mondesziel, damit wir auf der Erde im Sinne der Fortentwickelung wirken können! — Das ist eines der Beispiele dafür, wie ein scheinbar Böses, ein scheinbarer Irrtum im ganzen Zusammenhange der Welt doch zum Besten gewendet wird. Damit der Christus in der rechten Zeit eingreifen konnte in die Erdentwickelung, mußten gewisse Mondgeister ihre Mondenmission opfern und den Christus vorbereiten. Wir sehen daraus, daß wir Luzifers Zurückbleiben auf dem Monde ebensogut als ein Opfer auffassen können.

Wir werden dadurch immer näher einer Wahrheit kommen, die sich der Mensch als eine hohe Moral in die Seele schreiben soll: Wenn du in der Weit ein Böses siehst, so sage nicht: Hier ist ein Böses, also ein Unvollkommenes, sondern frage: Wie kann ich mich zu der Erkenntnis hinauf entwickeln, daß dieses Böse in einem höheren Zusammenhange von der Weisheit, die im Kosmos ist, in ein Gutes verwandelt wird? Wie gelange ich dahin, mir zu sagen: Daß du hier ein Unvollkommenes siehst, rührt davon her, daß du noch nicht so weit bist, die Vollkommenheit auch dieses Unvollkommenen einzusehen. -— Wo der Mensch ein Böses sicht, soll er in seine eigene Seele schauen und sich fragen: Wie kommts, daß ich hier, wo das Böse mir entgegentritt, nicht so weit bin, das Gute in diesem Bösen zu erkennen?

Davon morgen weiter.

Fifth Lecture

If we consider the human being in his present form, as he is composed of the physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego, the important fact emerges for the clairvoyant consciousness above all that the physical body and the etheric body are approximately the same in terms of size and form - at least for the upper parts of the human being. In particular, if we think of the human head as it appears to us physically, it coincides almost completely with the etheric part of the head; the human etheric head only protrudes slightly beyond the physical head on all sides. This is not at all the case with animals. Even in the higher animals there is an enormous difference between the shape and size of the etheric part of the head and the physical head. If you look at a horse, for example, with clairvoyant consciousness, you will see that the etheric head protrudes far beyond the physical head and in a rather different shape than it is. If I were to show you what kind of structure the elephant has over its trunk and head, you would be quite astonished at the nature of such an animal. For what physical perception sees of such an animal is only the solidified physical part in the middle. Let us take a closer look at this fact.

Man's perfection on our physical plan is basically based on the fact that his etheric body coincides so strongly with his physical body. But this was not always the case. In the times of our development on earth, which we have followed in the last observations, there were also epochs when man's etheric body did not coincide with his physical body in the same way as it does today. Indeed, the progress of man in the course of his development consists in the fact that the etheric body, which protrudes beyond the physical body, gradually crept into the physical body, as it were, and gradually came to coincide with it. Now it is essential to realize that this interpenetration of etheric body and physical body had to take place at a very specific time in the earth's evolution if humanity was to undergo its development in the right way. If the etheric body of man had come to coincide with the physical body earlier, man would have reached a certain stage of development too early and would have hardened in it, so that he would have had to remain standing. The fact that he attained a certain possibility of development stems from the fact that this covering took place at a very specific point in time. For this we must take a closer look at the development that we saw in broad outline yesterday and the day before yesterday.

We imagine once again that at the beginning of our earth evolution the earth was united with the sun and the moon. At that time the human being was resurrected from his germinal plant, which contained the physical body, etheric body and astral body. He was, so to speak, in his first earthly form, just as he could be when the earth still contained the sun and the moon. This period of the earth's evolution, which man and his planet went through with him, is usually called the “polar period” of the earth's evolution in the literature of spiritual science. To explain why it is called the polar time would go too far today, let us simply accept this name. Then comes the time when the sun prepares to leave the earth, when those entities that cannot continue with the coarser or coarser substances of the earth, so to speak, separate from the earth with the finer substances of the sun. We call this time the hyperborean time. Then comes an age in which the earth is only united with the moon, where a continuous desolation of our earthly life takes place. We saw yesterday how the human souls leave this earth and how only atrophied human forms remain behind. This is the time that is called the Lemurian period in the literature of spiritual science. In this time the separation of the moon from the earth takes place, and a revival of all the kingdoms that were founded on it takes place on the earth. The mineral kingdom needs the least revitalization; the plant kingdom needs a little more, the animal kingdom even more, and the human race needs the most significant, strongest forces so that it can develop further. This revitalization begins with the exit of the moon. We have only a small number of human beings, as we discussed yesterday, and these human beings consist of the three members which they have absorbed during the Saturnian, solar and lunar evolution, to which the ego disposition has been added on earth.

But at that time, when the moon emerged from the earth, the human being was not yet present in the carnal substance in which he later confronts us. He is present in the finest matter of that time. In Lemurian times the earth was in such a state that, for example, much of what is present today as a solid mineral was still liquid, dissolved in the other substances that are separated today as aqueous matter, such as water. It was the time when the air was still permeated with dense vapors of the most diverse substances. Pure air, pure water in today's sense was basically not present at that time, or at least only in the smallest areas of the earth. So it was in the purest substances of that time that man formed his volatile, delicate body. If he had formed his body in a coarser substance at that time, the form of this body would have developed into a very definite outline, into a shape with sharp contours. These contours would have been passed on to the descendants, and the human race would have stood still. Man was not allowed to create his form in such matter, he had to ensure that he could move the matter of his body freely according to the impulses of his soul. At that time the matter in which his body was formed was so soft that it followed the impulses of the will in all directions. Today you can stretch out your hand, but you cannot make your hand three meters long by your will. You cannot conquer matter because the form is inherited as it is today.

That was not the case back then. Man could be shaped as he wished, could develop the form as his soul wished. It was, so to speak, a condition for the further development of man that after the moon had gone forth he embodied himself in the softest masses, so that his body was still plastic and pliable and followed the soul in every respect.

Now came the time when certain parts of matter, which today are so necessary for our life, the water and the air, gradually purified themselves of what they contained of dense matter, where, as it were, what had formerly been dissolved in the water separated out of it. Just as substances dissolved in cooling water fall to the ground, so the dissolved matter fell to the ground, as it were. The water became free, the matter was separated from the air, air and water were formed. Man was able to use this refined matter for his construction.

From this third age mankind gradually lived over into a period of the earth's development which we call the Atlantean, because during this time the main part of the human race lived on a part of the world that has now disappeared, which was situated between present-day America and Europe and Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean is now. So after the Lemurian period had lasted a while, humans continued to develop on the Atlantic continent. And there everything happened that I have to describe to you now, and also much of what we had to mention yesterday.

At the moment when the moon left the earth, there were very few of the human souls on earth that were later embodied. The human souls were distributed among the various world bodies. During the last Lemurian period and the first Atlantean period, these human souls came down. Few people, I told you, were able to experience the crisis during the Lemurian epoch, for only the strongest, who were able to obtain this hardening, not yet softened matter before the moon's exit, were able to survive this lunar crisis on earth. But when everything that had hardened during the lunar crisis softened, when descendants were formed who were not pressed into fixed contours by hereditary conditions but were mobile, then little by little the souls came down again from the various planets and occupied these bodies. Those forms, however, which became physical very early after the separation from the moon, retained the fixed form through heredity and could not receive human souls after the separation from the moon. We can almost imagine the process in such a way that these souls have the need to come down to earth again. Down there the most varied forms arise, descendants of the forms that remained after the separation from the moon, and among these there are the most varied degrees of hardening. Those human souls, those soul beings in general, who in a certain respect had the least urge to unite completely with matter, chose the softest of these forms and soon left them again. The other soul beings, on the other hand, who had already united themselves with the hardened forms, were bound to these forms, and as a result they remained behind in their development. It was precisely the animals closest to man that came into being because certain souls that had descended from world space could not wait. They sought out the bodies below too early and turned them into limited forms before these bodies could fully penetrate the etheric body. The human form remained plastic until it was able to adapt itself completely to the etheric body. This gave rise to the covering of which I have spoken, and which took place approximately in the last third of the Atlantean period. Before that, the human part of the soul that came down from there kept the body fluid and ensured that the etheric body did not completely melt together with any part of the physical body. This merging of the etheric body and the physical body happened at a very specific point in time. It was only during the Atlantean epoch that the human physical body took on a certain configuration and began to harden.

If nothing else had happened at this point in the Atlantean development, if nothing else had occurred, then the development would have proceeded differently than it did in reality, then man would have passed from an earlier state of consciousness to a later one quite rapidly. Before man was completely united with regard to his physical and spiritual parts, he was a clairvoyant being, but this clairvoyance was a dim, dull one. Man had the possibility of looking into the spiritual world, but he could not say “I” to himself, he could not distinguish himself from his surroundings. He lacked self-consciousness. This occurred at the point of development when the physical body united with the etheric body. And if nothing else had happened, the following would have taken place in a relatively short time.

Before this time man had an awareness of the spiritual world. He could not see the animals, plants and so on clearly, but he could see a spiritual world around them. For example, he would not have seen the shape of the elephant clearly, but he would have seen the etheric that extends above the physical body of the elephant. This consciousness of man would have gradually dwindled, the ego would have developed as the physical and etheric bodies collapsed, and man would have seen the world approaching him as if from another side. Whereas previously he had seen clairvoyant images, from this point on he would have perceived an external world, but at the same time also the spiritual entities and spiritual forces that underlie this external world. He would not have seen the physical image of the plant as we see it today, but at the same time as this physical image he would have perceived the spiritual essence of the plant. Why, in the course of development, has the dull consciousness of light not simply been replaced by a consciousness of objects which would have allowed man to perceive and know spiritual things at the same time?

This did not happen because precisely during the lunar crisis, when the human being came to life again, beings took influence on him which must be described as retarded, but which are higher than the human being. We have already become acquainted with various such higher beings. We know that there are those who have ascended to the sun and others who have gone to other planets. But there have also been spiritual beings who did not complete the work they were supposed to do on the moon. We call these beings, lower than the gods and higher than man, the Luciferian beings, after their leader, the highest and strongest of them all, Lucifer.

In the time of the lunar crisis man had developed to such an extent that he had his physical body, etheric body, astral body and his ego. He owed his ego to the influence of the “spirits of form”, just as he owed his astral body to the “spirits of movement”, his etheric body to the “spirits of wisdom” and his physical body to the influence of the “thrones”. It was the spirits of the form “Exusiai” or “Powers” in Christian esotericism - that made it possible for the germ of the ego to be added to the other three members. Now if man had only stood in the normal development and all the entities around him had gone through their corresponding tasks, then certain entities would have worked on his physical body, others on his etheric body, others on his astral body and still others on his ego, we can say, as would have been appropriate, each kind on the member to which it belonged. But now there were these entities left behind on the lunar level, the Luciferic entities. If they had been able to continue working properly, they would have been called upon to work on the ego. But on the moon they had only learned to work on the astral body, and this resulted in something significant. If these Luciferic spirits had not been there, man would have absorbed his ego system and by the last third of the Atlantean period would have developed in such a way that he would have exchanged the dim clairvoyant consciousness for the outer object consciousness. Thus, however, the effects of the Luciferic spirits penetrated his astral body like rays of power. What were these effects?

The astral body is the carrier of drives, desires, passions, instincts and so on. Man would have become quite different in the structure of his astral body if the Luciferic spirits had not come to him. He would then have developed only instincts that would certainly have guided him and only brought him forward. The spirits would have led him to see the world in objects behind which the spiritual entities would have become visible. But he would have lacked freedom, enthusiasm, a sense of independence and passion for these higher things. Man would have lost the old clairvoyant consciousness. He would have looked upon the glory of the world as a kind of God, for he would have become a member of the Godhead. And this view of the world would have created its mirror image in his mind with a great perfection. But man would only have been like a great mirror of the universe in its perfection.

Now, before this time, the Luciferic spirits poured into the astral body passions, instincts, desires, which united with what man absorbed on his path of development. This enabled him not only to become aware of the stars, but at the same time to flare up for them, to kindle enthusiasm and passion, not only to follow the deified drives of the astral body, but to develop his own drives out of his freedom. This is what the Luciferian spirits had poured into his astral body. But at the same time they had given him something else: the possibility of evil, of sin. He would not have had this if he had been guided step by step by the more exalted gods. The Luciferian spirits made man free, implanted enthusiasm in him, but at the same time gave him the possibility of base desires. In a normal course of development, man would, so to speak, have connected the normal sensations with every thing. In this way, however, the things of the sense world could please him more than they should have pleased him. He could cling with his interest to the things of the sense world. And the result was that he entered into this physical hardening earlier than would otherwise have happened.

Thus man came to a solid form earlier than was, so to speak, decided with the divine-spiritual beings. Actually, he should have descended from an airy to a solid form in the last third of the Atlantean period. But he descended before this time and became a solid being. This is what is described in the Bible as the Fall of Man. This is the Luciferian influence that asserts itself. But in the times we have now considered, we also have high spiritual beings who have an effect on the ego of man, which they have given him. They allow the forces to flow in that bring man forward in his path in the cosmos to the same extent as these human beings come down and unite with the human bodies. They hold their hand protectively over him. On the other side, however, are those beings who have not risen to work on the ego. They now have an effect on the astral body of the human being and develop very special instincts in it.

If we look at the physical life of the human being during this time, we see an image of these two opposing forces, the divine-spiritual forces that work on the ego and the Luciferic entities. If we follow the spiritual side of the process a little, we can say to ourselves: While the earth was desolate, the human souls went up to the various world bodies that belong to our solar system. Now these souls return again, depending on where they find bodies in the physical line of inheritance. If you remember that the earth is least populated at the time of the separation of the moon, you can imagine that the human race branched out from a few people. Little by little it multiplied, and more and more souls descended and populated the bodies that came into being on earth. For a long time it was the case that only the few people who were there at the time of the separation of the moon produced descendants. The high solar forces themselves had an effect on these people. These people had remained strong enough to give the solar forces a point of attack even during the lunar crisis. All these people and their descendants felt themselves to be “sun people”, so to speak. Let us realize this for a moment.

Imagine, for the sake of simplicity, that during the lunar crisis there was only one human couple. I do not want to decide whether this was really the case. This human couple had descendants, who in turn had descendants, and so on. This is how the human race branched out. As long as there was a mere offspring of the old sun people in the narrower sense, a very special state of consciousness was still present in all these people as a result of their old clairvoyance. At that time man not only had a memory of what he himself had experienced from the time of his birth or, as is the case today, from a time later than his birth, but he remembered everything that his father, grandfather and so on had experienced. His memory went all the way back to his ancestors, to all those to whom he was related by blood. This was because, in a certain sense, the solar forces held a hand over all those who were related by blood and who traced their ancestry back to the people who had survived the separation from the moon. The solar forces had called forth the ego consciousness and maintained it throughout the bloodline. Now the human race multiplied, and the souls who had gone into world space came back to earth. But those souls in whom the solar forces were strong enough still felt these solar forces, even though they had come down and were related to spheres quite different from the sun.

But then came times when these souls, if they were later descendants, lost their connection with the solar forces. And so they lost this shared memory with their ancestors. And the more the human race multiplied, the more this living consciousness, which was connected with blood inheritance, was lost. It was lost because the powers that guided people forward and implanted the ego in them were opposed by the Luciferic powers that worked on the astral body. They worked against everything that cemented people together. They wanted to teach man freedom and self-consciousness. So it was that after the separation of the moon the oldest people said “I” not only to what they themselves experienced, but also to what their ancestors had experienced. They felt the common solar being that worked in their blood. And even when this had already died out, those who had come from Mars, for example, felt the bond that united them with the protective spirit of Mars. The descendants of those who had descended from Mars, precisely because they had been reincarnated from Martian souls, felt the protective force emanating from the Martian spirit.

It was against this feeling of groups in which love reigns that the Luciferic spirits attempted their attack. They knew how to cultivate the individual ego of the human being against the common ego that developed in such groups.

If we look back to ancient times, the further back we go, the more we find community consciousness bound to blood relations. And the more we advance, the more this consciousness fades, and the more man feels independent, feels that he must develop an individual ego in relation to the common ego. Thus two realms are at work in man: the realm of the Luciferic spirits and that of the divine-spiritual beings. The divine-spiritual entities lead the human being to the human being, but through the bonds of blood. The luciferic entities seek to separate, to separate man from man. These two forces have been at work throughout the Atlantean period. And they are still at work when the Atlantean continent perishes through great catastrophes and Europe, Asia, Africa and, on the other side, America take on their present form. They continue to have an effect in the fifth earth epoch, right up to the present day.

Thus we have been able to describe five earth epochs: the polar time, when the earth was still united with the sun, the hyperborean time, when the moon was still united with the earth, then the Lemurian time, then the Atlantean time and finally the post-Atlantean time, our own time. We saw how the Luciferian spirits intervened and how they worked against the divine-spiritual powers that brought people together. And we must say to ourselves: something quite different would have happened if the Luciferic spirits had not intervened in the development of humanity. In the last third of the Atlantean period the old clairvoyant consciousness would have been exchanged for an object consciousness, but for a spirit-infused object consciousness. In this way, however, the Luciferic spirits previously led man to a hardened physical body. As a result, man saw out into the physical world earlier than he would otherwise have been able to see out. And the consequence of this was that man entered the last third of the Atlantean period in a completely different state than would have happened if only the divine-spiritual powers had been guiding him.

Whereas otherwise man would have seen an outer world, as if glowing and spiritualized by higher beings, it was now the case that he saw only a physical world, and that the divine world had withdrawn from him. The Luciferic spirits had mingled with his astral body. The ahrimanic spirits of Zarathustra, which we can also call the Mephistophelean spirits, now mingled into his outer perception, into the relationship of the ego to the outer world, into the differentiation of the ego from the outer world, because man had connected himself with the sense world. Man does not have his physical body, the etheric body and the astral body within him as he would have them if only the upper gods had been at work. He has taken into his astral body entities which we call the Luciferic beings and which led him out of paradise earlier than he should have come out. And the consequence of the action of the Luciferic spirits is that the Ahrimanic, the Mephistophelean spirits have mingled into his vision, which now show him the outer world in mere sensory form, not as it is in its truth. That is why the Hebrew world calls these spirits, who make man believe a falsehood: “mephiz -topel” - “mephiz” the corrupter, and “topel” the liar. “Mephistopheles” is what it became. This is the same spirit as Ahriman. What did Ahriman achieve in man in contrast to Lucifer?

Lucifer has caused the powers of the astral body to become worse than they should otherwise have become, and that man has condensed his physical matter earlier than usual. However, man has also thereby attained his freedom, to which he would otherwise not have come. The Mephistophelean spirits have had the effect that man does not see the spiritual basis of the world, but that he is made to believe an illusion of the world. Mephistopheles has taught man the opinion that the outer world has only a material existence, that there is not a spiritual being in and behind every material thing. The scene that Goethe paints so wonderfully in his “Faust” has always played out in the whole of humanity. On the one side we see Faust, who is seeking the way into the spiritual world, and on the other Mephistopheles, who describes this spiritual world as nothing, because he has an interest in presenting the sensory world to him as the whole. Faust replies to him what any spiritual scientist would say in this case: “In your nothingness I hope to find the universe!” Only when one knows how spirit is in every smallest part of matter, and how the idea of matter is a lie, only when one recognizes that Mephistopheles is the spirit in the world that corrupts ideas, only then does one arrive at a real idea of the outside world.

What was necessary for mankind in order to bring mankind forward again, in order not to let it sink into the fate that would have been prepared for it by Lucifer, by Ahriman?

Already during the Atlantean period it was necessary to work so that the influence of the Luciferic entities would not become too great. Already in the old Atlantean times there were people who worked on themselves in such a way that the Luciferic influence in their astral body could not become too great, who paid attention to what came from Lucifer, who sought out in their own souls the passions, instincts and desires that came from Lucifer. What happened when they eradicated these qualities that came from Lucifer? By doing so, they restored to themselves the possibility of seeing in a pure form what man would have seen if he had not suffered the influence of the Luciferic and later the Ahrimanic spirits. Through a pure way of life and careful self-knowledge, certain people of the Atlantean period sought to cast this influence of Lucifer out of themselves. And thus it was possible for them in those times, when the remnants of the old clairvoyance were still present, to look into the spiritual world and to see higher things than the others could, who had hardened physical matter within themselves through the Luciferian influence. Such people, who eradicated the Luciferic influence through a self-knowledge full of character, became the leaders of the Atlantean period, we can also say: the Atlantean initiates. - What did Lucifer actually do?

Lucifer directed his attack primarily against that which held people together, that which was linked to blood in love. Now these people knew how to fight the influence of Lucifer. This enabled them to see this connection spiritually, to say: Not in separation, not in segregation lies that which brings man forward, but in that which unites men. Thus these people, who worked against the Luciferic influence, tried, as it were, to bring about the ancient state again, when the upper spiritual world was not yet endangered by Lucifer's power. They endeavored to eradicate the personal element: “Kill that which gives you a personal ego, and look back to those ancient times when consanguinity still spoke so vividly that the descendant felt his ego right up to the first ancestor, when the first ancestor, who had long since died, was still considered sacred! - The leaders of the Atlantean period wanted to lead mankind up to those times of ancient human community. Throughout the entire development there were such leaders of mankind who always appeared anew and said: “Do not seek to fall prey to the influences that want to drive you into the personal ego; seek to recognize that which held people together in ancient times! Then you will find the way to the divine spirit!

Basically, this attitude was preserved most purely among those whom we know as the ancient Hebrew people. Try to understand the sermons of those who were the leaders of this ancient Hebrew people. They stood before their people and told them: You have come so far that everyone emphasizes his personal ego within himself, that everyone seeks his being only within himself. But you promote development when you kill the personal ego and tense all those forces that bring you to the awareness that you all descend from Abraham and are connected up to Abraham, that you are members of the great organism up to Abraham. When you are told: “I and the Father Abraham are one”, and you accept this with disregard of all personal things, then you have the right consciousness which leads you to the Divine, for the path to the Divine goes through the Original Father. - For the longest time the Hebrew people had preserved that which is the basic nerve in the leadership of those who fought the Luciferic influence.

But the people were entrusted with the mission not to kill the ego, but to develop and cultivate it. The ancient initiates had nothing to say against the personal ego except that one should rise above the ancestors to the old gods.

When the great impulse came to earth, as we were able to characterize it yesterday, when the Christ-impulse came, another speech resounded very clearly and distinctly at first. And it could be heard so clearly and distinctly precisely within the Hebrew people, because this people had preserved until the latest times what we can present as the echo of the old Atlantean initiates.

Christ transformed that speech of the ancient initiates and said: “There is a possibility that man may cultivate his own personality, that he may not merely follow the physical bonds of blood brotherhood, but that he may look into his ego and there seek and find the Divine! In what we have characterized as the Christ impulse lies the power which, if we unite ourselves with it, enables us to create a spiritual brotherly bond from person to person despite the individuality of the ego. Thus the power of Christ was different from that which prevailed in the circle into which he was placed. Then it was said: “I and the Father Abraham are one! I must know that if I want to find my way back to the divine.” But the Christ said: “There is another Father through whom the I will find the way to the Divine; for the I or I-am and the Divine are one! There is an eternal that you can find if you remain within yourself.” This is why Christ was able to describe the power that he wanted to communicate to people with the words of the Gospel of John: “Before Abraham was, there was the I-am!” And the I-am was no other name than the one Christ gave himself. And man kindles this awareness: Something lives in me that was there much earlier than Abraham; I do not need to go as far as Abraham, I find in me the divine Father-Spirit! - then he can transform into good that which was brought by Lucifer for the cultivation and cultivation of the ego, and which has led to the inhibition of humanity. This is the deed of the Christ, that he has transformed the influence of Lucifer into good.

Let us suppose that only the upper spiritual-divine entities had been at work, those who have tied love only to the blood ties, who have always demanded of man: “You must go up through the whole line of blood if you want to find the way to the gods! - then people would have been driven together into a human community without their full consciousness being present, and they would never have attained a full awareness of their freedom and independence. This is what the Luciferic spirits implanted in man's astral body before the appearance of Christ. They separated people, they wanted to put everyone on their own feet. The Christ, however, transformed into good what would have been necessary if the Luciferic influence had gone to extremes. If the Luciferian influence had gone to the extreme, people would have fallen into unkindness. Lucifer brought people freedom and independence; Christ transformed this freedom into love. And it is through the bond of Christ that people are led to spiritual love.

From this point of view, a different light falls on what the Luciferian spirits have done. May we still call it laxity and indolence that they once “lagged behind”? No! They stayed behind to fulfill a certain mission while on earth: to prevent people from being forged together as if into a mere pulp by only natural bonds. And they were to prepare the way to the Christ. They said, as it were, on the moon: We want to renounce our lunar goal so that we can work on earth in the sense of further development! - This is one example of how an apparent evil, an apparent error in the whole context of the world can be turned to the best. In order that the Christ could intervene in earth evolution at the right time, certain moon spirits had to sacrifice their moon mission and prepare the Christ. We see from this that we can just as well understand Lucifer's remaining behind on the moon as a sacrifice.

We will thereby come ever closer to a truth which man should write into his soul as a high moral: If you see an evil in the world, do not say: Here is an evil, that is, an imperfection, but ask: How can I develop into the realization that this evil will be transformed into a good in a higher context by the wisdom that is in the cosmos? How do I come to say to myself: The fact that you see something imperfect here is due to the fact that you are not yet ready to recognize the perfection of this imperfection? -- Where a man sees an evil, he should look into his own soul and ask himself: How is it that here, where evil confronts me, I am not ready to recognize the good in this evil?

More of this tomorrow.