The Being of Man and His Future Evolution
GA 107
8 December 1908, Berlin
III. Original Sin
We will keep to our set programme, and in the group meetings this winter we will work through a series of apparently widely divergent aspects of human health and illness. And later on these various aspects will group themselves into a whole and culminate in an understanding of certain things towards which we will gradually work our way. In the first lecture of this series we made a kind of classification of illness types, and last time we attempted to portray the text of The Ten Commandments. All that goes beyond this text will follow in the course of the coming meetings. Our main concern last week was to acquaint ourselves with the content and the actual trend of the Commandments. Today we want to speak of other aspects that will not appear to be directly connected with the preceding or following talks, for they are a series of aspects the comprehensive meaning of which will not dawn on us until later.
We will start today by looking at an important moment in man's earthly evolution. Those of you who have been working in the anthroposophical movement for some time have long been familiar with it; the others will gradually accustom themselves to this way of thinking.
The moment in human evolution we want to recall lies a long way back. If we go back through post-Atlantean times and then through Atlantean times as far as ancient Lemuria we come to that moment when the division of the sexes took place in the kingdom of man on earth. You know that before this we cannot speak of such a division of the sexes in the human kingdom. I want to emphasise that we are not speaking of the very first appearance altogether of two sexes in earthly evolution or in evolution as a whole, in so far as it comprises the kingdoms that are around us. Phenomena that doubtlessly belong to bisexuality occur earlier. But what we call the human kingdom did not divide into two sexes until Lemurian times. Prior to that the human shape was formed differently, and both sexes were in a way contained within it undifferentiated. We can form an external picture of the transition from dual sexuality to the division into sexes if we visualise how the earlier dual sexed human being gradually developed in such a way that in one group of individuals the characteristics of the one sex, the female, became more pronounced, whilst in the other group the characteristics of the male sex developed more strongly. This was still a long time before the sexes separated, when there was progressive development in one direction or the other, at a time when man still lived in a very insubstantial material body.
We have focused our attention on this moment in time to start with, because we want to enquire into the meaning of the arising of the two sexes. It is only when we have a spiritual scientific basis that we can enquire into such a meaning, for physical evolution receives its meaning from higher worlds. As long as we are in the physical world, if we consider it let us say philosophically, it is somewhat childish to talk of purposes. And Goethe and others were right to make fun of the people who talked of the purposes in nature, as though nature in her wisdom had created cork so that man could make stoppers with it. This is a childish way of looking at things and can only lead to our missing the main point at issue. This view would be similar to thinking of a clock as having little demonic beings behind it wise enough to make the hands go round. In actual fact if we want to know how the clock works we must go to the mind that produced it, namely the clockmaker. And similarly, when we want to understand purpose in our world, we must step beyond the physical world and enter the spiritual. Thus purpose, meaning and goal are words that we can apply to evolution only when we consider them on a spiritual scientific basis. It is in this sense that we ask the question: What is the meaning behind the two sexes gradually developing and then inter-working?
The meaning will become clear to you when you see what we call fructification, the reciprocal influence of the sexes, (as) replacing something else that had previously existed. You must not think that fructification appeared for the first time at the moment when the division into sexes occurred in human evolution. That was not so. We must picture to ourselves that in the times preceding bisexuality this fructification took place in quite a different way. Clairvoyant vision can see that there was a time in mankind's earthly evolution when fructification happened in connection with the intake of food, and those beings which in those early times were male-female received fructifying forces with their food. This food was still of course of a much more delicate nature, and when human beings partook of nourishment in those times there was something else contained in these nourishing fluids which gave these beings the possibility of bringing forth another being of like kind. You must realise, however, that the nourishing fluids taken from the substance of their surroundings did not always contain these fructifying fluids, but only at quite definite times. This depended on the changes that took place, comparable to today's seasonal changes, changes of climate, and so on. The nourishing foods imbibed from the surroundings by these beings of bisexuality had the power of fructification as well at quite definite times.
If with clairvoyant consciousness we look further back still, we find another peculiarity in the propagation of ancient times. What you know (of) today as the difference between the various individualities, which expresses itself in the multiformity of life in our present cycle of humanity, these differences did not exist before the arising of the sexes. A great uniformity was there then. The beings that arose then were similar to one another and to their forefathers. All these beings that were still undivided into two sexes were outwardly very similar, and their characters were more or less the same too. That men were so much alike did not have the disadvantage in those times that it would have at the present time. Just imagine how infinitely dull human life would be if people were to come into the world today with identical appearance and character, and how little could actually happen in human life, as everybody would want to do the same thing as everybody else. But in ancient times this was not the case. When man was still as it were more etheric, more spiritual, and not so firmly embedded in matter, then at birth and on into childhood human beings were really very similar to one another, and the teachers would not have needed to notice whether the one child was a scamp and the other a gentle little being. Although the people were different in character at different times, they were in a certain way all fundamentally alike. Each person, however, did not remain the same throughout his life. Because man was still in a softer, more spiritual body he was much more open to the permanent influences coming from the environment, so that in those ancient times these influences brought about tremendous changes in him. Man became in a certain way individualised because, having a nature as soft as wax, he became more or less an impress of his surroundings. At a quite definite time in his life, which would coincide nowadays with puberty, it became possible for him to let everything that happened in his environment work upon him. The difference between the various times that were comparable to our present day seasons was very great, and it was of great importance to a man whether he lived in one part of the earth or another. If he traveled just a short distance over the earth, that had a great influence on him. If people go on a long journey nowadays, however much they see, they return on the whole the same as when they went away, unless they are very impressionable. This was different in olden times. Everything had the greatest influence on people, and so long as they had a body of soft material they could actually become gradually individualised in the course of life. Then this possibility ceased.
Something further that reveals itself to us is that the earth itself became denser and denser, and to the same extent as the substance, let us say the earthy nature of the earth intensified, this uniformity became harmful. For this gradually reduced mans capacity to change. He became as it were very dense at birth. This is the reason why men nowadays change so little during their life. And this led Schopenhauer to think that men were absolutely incapable of bringing about any basic changes in their character. The reason for this is that men are embodied in such dense substance. They cannot easily work on the substance or change it. If, as once was the case, men could still alter their limbs at will, and make them long or short according to their need, then man would, of course, still be very impressionable. Then he would really be able to take into his individuality the power to change himself Man always has an inner contact with his environment, especially his human environment. To make this quite clear I would like to tell you something that you may not have noticed before but which is nevertheless true.
Imagine you are sitting facing someone and speaking to him. We are referring to ordinary human relationships in the normal course of life and not to someone who is specially deeply schooled in occultism. Two people are sitting together, one talking and the other just listening. It is generally imagined that the one who is listening is doing nothing. But that is not true. In things like this we still see the influence of the environment. It is not noticeable to outer perception, but inwardly it is very clear, in fact striking, that the one who is merely listening is joining in everything the other one is doing.
He even imitates the movements of the vocal cords, and speaks with the speaker. Everything you hear you also say with a gentle movement of the vocal cords and the other speech organs. It makes a great difference whether the speaker has a croaky voice and those are the movements you have to imitate, or whether he has a pleasant voice. In this respect the human being does everything the other person is doing, and as this is really happening all the time, it has a great influence on a man's whole development, though only in this limited respect. If you imagine this last remains of man's participation with his surroundings vastly increased, you get an idea of how the man of ancient times lived and felt with his environment. Man's faculty of imitation, for instance, was developed on a tremendous scale. If one person made a gesture, then everyone else made the same gesture too. Only a few insignificant things in certain particular directions remain of this today, like for instance when one person yawns, other people do too. But remember that in these ancient times it was entirely a question of their having a dim consciousness with which this power of imitation was connected.
Now as the earth and everything upon it became denser and denser man became less and less capable of transforming himself through the influence of his environment. In comparatively late Atlantean times a sunrise, for instance, had a powerfully creative effect upon man, because he was completely open to its influence and underwent sublime inner experiences, which, if they continually recurred, changed him tremendously in the course of his life. This diminished more and more and gradually disappeared altogether the more humanity progressed.
In Lemurian times, before the moon left the earth, mankind was in a dangerous predicament. It was in danger of becoming rigid to the point of mummification. Through the gradual departure of the moon from the evolution of the earth this danger was averted. At the same time as the moon departed, however, the division into sexes took place, and with this division came a new impulse for the individualisation of man. If it had been possible for human beings to propagate without the two sexes, this individualising would not have taken place. The present diversity among men is due to the inter-working of the sexes. If there was only the female element, human individuality would be extinguished, and men would all become alike. Through the co-operation of the male element human beings are individual characters from birth. So the significance and meaning of the inter-working of the sexes is to be found in the fact that through the separating off of the male element the individualising of man at birth has replaced the old kind of individualisation. What was achieved in earlier times by the whole surrounding environment was compressed into the inter-working of the sexes, so that individualisation was pushed back to the arising of the physical human being at birth. That is the significance of the inter-working of the two sexes. Individualisation happens by way of the effect of the male sex on the female.
Now this came about at the expense of something else, and when I describe the situation I beg you to take it as applying strictly to human beings, for when we are based on spiritual science we must not assume that what applies to man also applies to animals. Health and illness, in their more delicate aspects, are subject to quite different causes in human beings than in animals. So what is being said applies solely to man, and we will begin by looking at the finer aspects.
Imagine yourself actually there in those ancient times when man was entirely given up to his surroundings, and the surroundings entered into him and on the one hand fructified him with the nourishing juices it offered him, and on the other hand he became individualised through its influence upon him. Now we know when we base ourselves on spiritual science that everything around us which influences us, be it light or sound, heat or cold, hardness or softness or this or that colour, is the revelation, the external expression of something spiritual. And in those ancient times man did not at all perceive external sense impressions, he perceived the spiritual. When he looked up to the sun he did not see the physical ball of the sun but that which is preserved in the Persian religion as ‘Ahura Mazdao, the Great Aura’. The spiritual part, all the spiritual sun beings appeared to him, and it was the same with the air, water and the whole environment. Today when you drink in the beauty of a picture, you can have something that is as it were distilled from it, only in those times it was far richer. If we wanted to speak as they did in those times we would not be able to say: ‘This or that tastes in some particular way’; but we would have to say: ‘This or that spirit does me good!’ This is what it was like when men were eating—an activity quite different from what it is today—and quite different, too, was the time when the forces of fructification were received: it was a phenomenon of the spiritual environment. Spirits overshadowed man and stimulated him to bring forth his kind, and this was also experienced and seen as a spiritual process.
Then little by little it became impossible for men to see the spiritual in their environment. It became more and more veiled from sight, especially during their day consciousness. Little by little men lost sight of the spirit behind things, and they only perceived the external objects which are the outer expression of these. They learnt to forget the spiritual background, and the influence of the spirit grew less and less the denser man's body became. Through this densification man became a more and more independent being and shut himself off from his spiritual surroundings. The further we go back into these ancient times the more spiritually godlike was this influence that came from the surroundings. Human beings were really organised in such a way that they were a likeness of the spiritual beings hovering round them in their environment; images of the gods who in older times were present on earth.
Through the inter-working of the two sexes in particular this was lost more and more, and the spiritual world withdrew from men's sight. Men beheld the sense world more and more clearly. We must picture this situation vividly: Just imagine, in those times man was fructified from the spiritual world of the gods. It was the gods themselves who gave forth their forces and made men like themselves. That is why in those ancient times what we call illness did not exist. There was no inner disposition to illness, and it could not be there because everything that was in man and that worked upon him came from the health giving divine-spiritual cosmos. The divine-spiritual beings are full of health, and in those days they made men in their image. Man was healthy. But the nearer he came to the time when the inter-working of the sexes came about and together with it the withdrawal of the spiritual worlds, and the more independent and individual man became, the more the health of divine-spiritual beings withdrew from him and something else took its place. What happened in reality was that this inter-working of the sexes was accompanied by passions and instincts aroused in the physical world. We must look for this incitement in the physical world after human beings had reached the point when the two sexes were sensually attracted to one another. This was a long time after the sexes already existed. The effect of the sexes one upon the other—even in Atlantean times—happened when physical consciousness was actually asleep, during the night. It was not until the middle of Atlantean times that what we call the attraction of the sexes began, what we might call passionate love; that is, sensual love that mingled with pure super-sensual or platonic love. There would be much more platonic love if sensual love did not enter into it. And whereas everything that formerly helped to form man came from the divine-spiritual environment it now came more from the passions and instincts of the two sexes working one upon the other. The kind of sensual longing that is stimulated by seeing the outer appearance of the opposite sex is bound up with the working together of the two sexes. And therefore something was incorporated into man at birth that is connected with the particular kind of passions and feelings human beings have in physical life. Whilst in earlier times man still received what was in him from the divine-spiritual beings of his surroundings, he now acquired something through the act of fructification which, as an independent, self-contained being, he had taken into himself from the world of the senses.
After human beings had been separated into two sexes they passed on to their descendants what they themselves experienced in the sense world. So we now have two types of human being. These two types live in the physical world and perceive the world through their senses, and this leads them to develop various externally aroused impulses and longings, especially those arising from their own externally stimulated sensual attraction to one another. What now confronts man in an external way has been drawn down into the sphere of the independent human being, and it is no longer in full harmony with the divine-spiritual cosmos. That is imparted to men through the act of fructification, it is implanted into them. And this worldly life of theirs, received not from the world of the gods but from the external side of the divine-spiritual world, is passed on to their offspring through fructification. If a man is bad in this respect, then he passes worse qualities on to his descendants than another person who is good and pure.
And this is the true meaning of ‘original sin’. That is the concept of original sin. Original sin is brought about by man coming to the point of transferring to his offspring his own individual experiences in the physical world. Every time the sexes glow with passion the ingredients of the two sexes combine in the human being who is descending from the astral world. When a human being incarnates he comes down from the Devachanic world and forms his astral sphere in accordance with his particular individuality. Something of what belongs to the astral bodies of his parents—their impulses, passions and desires—combines with this astral sphere so that he thereby shares in the experiences of his forefathers. What descends through the generations in this way, what is actually acquired as human attribute through the generations and is handed down as such, is what we have to understand as the concept of original sin. And now we come to something else: an entirely new impetus entered humanity through the individualisation of man.
In earlier times the divine-spiritual beings—and they were absolutely healthy—made man in their own likeness. But now man, as an independent being, detached himself from the all-embracing harmony of divine-spiritual health. In a certain respect he set himself up in his individualism against the whole of this divine-spiritual environment. Imagine that you have a being developing entirely under the influence of his environment. What he expresses will be the environment. Imagine, though, that he shuts himself off in his skin, then in addition to the characteristics of his environment he has his own characteristics as well. And indeed, with the division into sexes men became individual and developed their own individual characteristics. And there was contradiction between the great divine-spiritual harmony with its health and the individualism of man. And through this individuality continuing to work, through it becoming a really effective factor, the possibility of becoming ill has entered into human evolution. This is the moment when the possibility of illness first occurred in human evolution, for it is bound up with the individualisation of man. When man was still connected with the divine-spiritual world the possibility of illness did not exist. It came about at the same time as individualisation, and that is the same time as the division into sexes. This holds good for human evolution, and you must not apply it in the same way to the animal world.
Illness is indeed a result of these processes I have just described, and you can see that it is really the astral body in particular that is originally influenced in this way. The human being draws the astral body into his organism himself to begin with as he comes down from the Devachanic world, and there it encounters what flows into it through the inter-working of the two sexes. So the astral body is the part of man that shows most clearly the non-divine. The etheric body is more divine, for man does not have so great an influence on that, and the physical body is the most divine of all; it is God's temple, for it is completely withdrawn from man's influence. Whereas in his astral body man seeks all kinds of pleasures and can have all sorts of desires that have a harmful effect on the physical body, even today his physical body is still such a wonderful instrument that it can withstand heart poisons and other harmful influences of the astral body for decades. And so we have to admit that because of all these things that occur in the human astral body it has become the worst part of man. Whoever looks deeper into human nature will find that the deepest causes of illness lie in the astral body and in its bad effects on the etheric body, and by way of the etheric body on the physical body. Now we will understand a number of things that cannot be understood otherwise. I will now speak of ordinary mineral medicaments.
A medicament from the mineral kingdom works in the first place on man's physical body. Now what is the significance of man giving his physical body a mineral medicament? Please note that we are not going to speak of any plant medicaments but purely mineral ones, what is prescribed in the way of metals and salts and so on. Suppose someone takes one or another mineral medicament. Something very remarkable is then seen by clairvoyant consciousness. This clairvoyant consciousness can carry out the following feat—it always has the ability to divert its attention away from something. It is possible to divert the attention from the whole physical body. Then you still see the etheric body, the astral body and the ego aura. You have suggested away the physical body through strongly negative attention. Now if someone has taken a mineral medicament, you can remove everything from your attention and just direct your clairvoyant vision to the mineral or metal that he now has within him. That is, you suggest away everything in him of the nature of bone, muscle, blood and so on, and turn your attention solely to the particular mineral substance that has permeated him. Something very remarkable presents itself to clairvoyant consciousness. This mineral substance has become very thinly diffused and has itself acquired the human form. You have before you a human form, a human phantom consisting of the substance taken in by the man. Supposing the person has taken antimony, you have before you a human form of very finely diffused antimony, and it is the same with every mineral medicament a man takes. You create a new man within you consisting of this mineral substance; you incorporate it. Now let us ask ourselves what the purpose and significance of this is?
The significance is that if you were to leave a man as he is and withhold from him the medicine he really needs, then because of certain bad forces in his astral body the astral body would work on the etheric body and the latter on the physical body and gradually destroy it. You have put a double into the physical body. This works to prevent the physical body obeying the influences of the astral body. Imagine you have a bean plant. If you give it a prop it winds up it and is no longer blown by the wind. This double made out of the incorporated substance is a prop like this for the man. It attaches the physical body to itself and removes it from the influences of the astral and etheric body. In this way you make the human being's physical body independent as it were of his astral and etheric body. This is the effect of a mineral medicament. But you will immediately see the bad side of it, for it has a very serious drawback. Since you withdraw the physical body artificially from its connection with the other bodies you have weakened the influence of the astral and etheric body on the physical body and have made the physical body independent. And the oftener you take such medicines the more the influence of the astral and the etheric body disappears, making the physical body a hardened, independent being, subject to its own laws. Imagine what people are doing who take mineral medicaments of this sort all their lives. A man who has in course of time taken a lot of these mineral medicaments has within him a phantom of all these minerals, a round dozen of them. It is as though the physical body were surrounded by solid walls. And what kind of influence can the astral and etheric body still have on it? Such a person is actually dragging his body around with him and has very little power over it. If a man who has been dosing himself in this way for a long time applies for treatment to someone who wants to treat him psychologically and work especially on his finer bodies, he will discover that he has become more or less unreceptive to psychological influences. For by making his physical body independent in the first place, he has deprived it of the possibility of being affected by anything that might take place in his finer bodies. And this has happened mainly because the human being has so many phantoms in him that are not in harmony, that they pull him hither and thither. If the human being has deprived himself of the possibility of working from out of his soul and spirit, he need not be surprised if spiritual treatment is not very successful either. In cases of psychological treatment, therefore, you should always give consideration to the kind of person the patient is. If he has made his astral or etheric body powerless by making his physical body independent, then it will be very difficult to help such a person by means of spiritual treatment.
So now we understand how mineral substances affect a man. They create doubles in him that preserve his physical body and remove it from the possible harmful effects of his astral or etheric body. Because materialistic medicine is ignorant of man's higher members, almost all our present-day medicine works in the direction of treating the physical body in some way or another only.
We have begun today by looking at the effects of mineral substances. Some time we shall have to speak of the effects of plant forces and animal substances on the human organism, and then we shall go on to those influences or remedies that work from one being to another in a psychic or spiritual way. But you will see that it is essential for our studies for us to acquire once again such concepts as the concept of original sin and understand it correctly. With certain things nowadays people just do not see what lies in front of them and show no understanding for them at all.
Zehnter Vortrag
Wir werden unserem angegebenen Programm treu bleiben und im Laufe dieses Winters hier in diesen Zweigversammlungen eine Reihe von scheinbar weit auseinanderliegenden Einzelheiten über das menschliche gesunde und kranke Leben zusammentragen. Und diese Einzelheiten werden sich uns später zusammengliedern zu einem Ganzen, um dann in einer bestimmten Erkenntnis zu gipfeln, zu der wir uns allmählich hinaufarbeiten. Wir haben in dem ersten der für diese Serie in Betracht kommenden Vorträge eine Art Einteilung des Krankheitswesens gegeben, und wir haben uns dann das letztemal vor die Seele zu führen versucht, was wir eigentlich nur bezeichnen dürfen als den Wortlaut der Zehn Gebote. Alles Weitere, was über den Wortlaut hinausgeht, wird sich uns schon im Verlaufe der nächsten Zweigversammlungen ergeben. Das letztemal handelte es sich vor allem darum, daß wir den Inhalt und die eigentliche Tendenz der Gebote kennenlernten. Heute wollen wir über andere Einzelheiten sprechen, die kaum einen unmittelbaren Zusammenhang mit dem Vorhergehenden und Späteren zeigen werden, denn es ist ein Zusammentragen von Einzelheiten, deren umfassender Sinn uns erst später aufgehen soll.
Zunächst werden wir es heute zu tun haben mit einem Hinblick auf einen bedeutungsvollen Moment in der menschlichen Erdenentwicklung. Diejenigen, welche längere Zeit schon innerhalb der anthroposophischen Bewegung gearbeitet haben, sind damit längst vertraut; die anderen werden sich erst nach und nach in diese Gedankengänge hineinleben.
Der Moment in der menschlichen Evolution, an den wir uns erinnern wollen, liegt weit zurück. Wenn wir durch die nachatlantische Zeit, durch die atlantische Zeit bis in die alte lemurische Zeit zurückgehen, so begegnen wir da jenem Moment, wo für das Menschenreich unserer Erde die Teilung in die Geschlechter eingetreten ist. Sie wissen, daß man vorher von einer solchen Teilung in Geschlechter im menschlichen Reich nicht sprechen kann. Ausdrücklich sei darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß wir jetzt nicht etwa sprechen von einem allerersten Auftreten des zweigeschlechtlichen Wesens überhaupt in der Erdentwicklung oder in unserer ganzen Entwicklung, sofern sie unsere uns umgebenden Reiche umfaßt. Erscheinungen, die zu der Zweigeschlechtlichkeit gerechnet werden müssen, treten schon früher auf. Aber das, was wir heute Menschenreich nennen, spaltet sich erst in der lemurischen Zeit in die beiden Geschlechter. Vorher haben wir es zu tun mit einer anders geformten Menschengestalt, die in einer gewissen Weise die beiden Geschlechter undifferenziert in sich enthalten hat. Wir können uns äußerlich den Übergang von der Doppelgeschlechtlichkeit zu der Teilung in die zwei Geschlechter so vorstellen, daß wir uns denken, allmählich bildete sich die frühere doppelgeschlechtliche Menschengestalt so aus, daß eine Gruppe von Individuen die Merkmale des einen Geschlechtes, des weiblichen, mehr ausgestaltete, die andere Gruppe hingegen mehr die Merkmale des männlichen Geschlechtes herausbildete. Damit ist aber noch lange nicht die Teilung in die Geschlechter gegeben, sondern erst durch eine immer noch zunehmende Ausbildung der Einseitigkeit, und zwar in einer Zeit, als die Menschheit noch in einer sehr dünnen Stofflichkeit lebte.
Wenn wir diesen Zeitpunkt uns zunächst vor die Seele gerückt haben, so geschieht es namentlich aus dem Grunde, weil wir uns heute nach dem Sinn der Entstehung der beiden Geschlechter fragen wollen. Nur wenn man auf dem Boden der Geisteswissenschaft steht, kann man nach einem solchen Sinn fragen, denn der physischen Entwicklung kommt ihr Sinn aus den höheren Welten zu. Solange wir in der physischen Welt stehen und die physische Welt auch, meinetwillen, philosophisch betrachten, ist es eine gewisse kindliche Anschauung, von Zwecken zu sprechen, und Goethe hat sich mit Recht mit noch anderen darüber lustig gemacht, wenn man so über die Zwecke in der Natur spricht, daß man sagt, die Natur habe in ihrer Weisheit den Kork entstehen lassen, damit sich der Mensch Stöpsel daraus machen könne. Solch eine Betrachtung ist eine kindliche Betrachtung, und die kann nur dazu führen, daß wir über das Wesentliche, worauf es dabei ankommt, uns hinwegtäuschen. Es wäre eine solche Betrachtung gerade so, wie wenn wir eine Uhr betrachteten und uns da kleine dämonische Wesen dahinter denken würden, die weisheitsvoll die Uhrzeiger vorwärtsbewegen. In Wahrheit müssen wir aber, wenn wir die Uhr erkennen wollen, zu dem Geist, der die Uhr hervorgebracht hat, gehen, zu dem Uhrmacher. Und ebenso müssen wir, wenn wir die Zweckmäßigkeit in unserer Welt einsehen wollen, die physische Welt überschreiten und in das Geistige hineingehen. Also Zweck und Sinn und Ziel sind Worte, die wir erst dann auf die Entwicklung anwenden dürfen, wenn wir sie von dem Boden der Geisteswissenschaft aus betrachten. In dieser Weise stellen wir die Frage: Welchen Sinn hat es, daß sich die beiden Geschlechter nach und nach ausbildeten und in Wechselwirkung miteinander kamen?
Der Sinn wird Ihnen klar werden, wenn man in Betracht zieht, wie dasjenige, was man Befruchtung nennt, was man den gegenseitigen Einfluß der Geschlechter nennen kann, vorher durch etwas anderes ersetzt war. Man darf nicht etwa glauben, daß mit dem Zeitpunkt, wo in der Menschheitsentwicklung die Teilung in die Geschlechter sich vollzog, auch erst dasjenige aufgetreten wäre, was man die Befruchtung nennen kann. Das ist nicht der Fall. Nur müssen wir uns vorstellen, daß in den Zeiten, die der Zweigeschlechtlichkeit vorausgehen, diese Befruchtung auf eine ganz andere Weise geschah. Dem hellseherisch rückblickenden Bewußtsein zeigt es sich, daß es eine Zeit in der irdischen Menschheitsentwicklung gab, wo Befruchtung schon geschah im Zusammenhange mit der Ernährung, so daß die Wesenheiten, die in einer früheren Zeit männlich und weiblich zugleich waren, mit der Ernährung gleichzeitig die Kräfte zur Befruchtung aufnahmen. Wenn also in dieser Zeit, wo natürlich die Ernährung auch noch eine viel feinere war, die Menschenwesen sich ernährten, so war in den Ernährungssäften gleichzeitig das enthalten, was den Wesen die Möglichkeit gab, ein Wesen gleicher Art aus sich selbst hervorzubringen. Das eine allerdings müssen Sie dabei in Betracht ziehen, daß die Nahrungssäfte, die aus der umgebenden Materie genommen wurden, diese Befruchtungssäfte nicht immer enthielten, sondern nur zu ganz bestimmten Zeiten. Das hing ab von den Veränderungen, die da vorgingen und die wir heute vergleichen könnten mit den Veränderungen in dem Ablauf eines Jahres, mit Klimawechsel und so weiter. Zu ganz bestimmten Zeiten hatten die Nahrungssäfte, die aus der Umgebung entnommen wurden von den doppelgeschlechtlichen Wesen, gleichzeitig die Kraft der Befruchtung.
Wenn wir mit dem hellseherischen Bewußtsein weiter zurückblikken in diese Zeiten, dann finden wir eine andere Eigentümlichkeit der alten Fortpflanzung. Was Sie heute kennen als die Verschiedenheit der einzelnen Menschen, was sich heute auswirkt als die Individualität der einzelnen Menschen, auf der die Vielgestaltigkeit des Lebens für unseren gegenwärtigen Menschheitszyklus beruht, diese Mannigfaltigkeit war vor der Entstehung der Geschlechter nicht vorhanden. Da war eine große Einförmigkeit. Die Wesen, die entstanden, waren sich untereinander ähnlich, und auch ihren Vorfahren waren sie Ähnlich. Alle diese Wesen, die noch nicht in die zwei Geschlechter geteilt waren, boten äußerlich einen ähnlichen Anblick dar, und auch innerlich hatten sie sogar alle einen ziemlich gleichen Charakter. Und daß die Menschen so einander ähnlich waren, hatte für jene Zeiten nicht denselben Nachteil, den es für unsere Gegenwart haben würde. Denken Sie sich, wenn heute die Menschen so zur Welt kämen, daß sie alle gleiche Gestalt und auch gleichen Charakter hätten, wie unendlich langweilig wäre das Menschenleben dann, wie wenig könnte im menschlichen Leben eigentlich geschehen, da doch ein jeder dann dasselbe wollen würde wie der andere. Aber das war in den alten Zeiten nicht der Fall. Als der Mensch sozusagen noch ätherischer, geistiger war, noch nicht so dicht in die Stofflichkeit hineinverflochten, da waren wirklich die Menschen, wenn sie geboren wurden und auch noch durch eine gewisse Kindheit hindurch, einander schr gleich, und die Erzieher hätten damals gar nicht nötig gehabt, darauf zu achten, ob das eine ein wilder Range und das andere ein sanftes Wesen ist. Die Menschen waren ja in verschiedenen Zeiten von verschiedenem Charakter, aber sie waren in gewisser Weise doch grundähnlich. Während des Lebens der einzelnen Menschen aber blieb es nicht so. Der Mensch war dadurch, daß er noch in einer weicheren, geistigeren Körperlichkeit war, viel mehr zugänglich den fortdauernden Einflüssen, die aus seiner Umgebung kamen, so daß er sich unter diesen Einflüssen in dieser alten Erdenzeit ungeheuer veränderte. Es individualisierte sich der Mensch in einer gewissen Weise dadurch, daß er eine, man könnte sagen, wachsartig weiche Natur hatte, Er wurde dadurch mehr oder weniger ein Abdruck seiner Umgebung. Insbesondere trat in einer ganz bestimmten Zeit des Lebens, die heute mit der Geschlechtsreife zusammenfallen würde, die Möglichkeit ein, alles, was in seiner Umgebung vorging, auf sich einwirken zu lassen. Die Verschiedenheit der einzelnen Zeiten, die wir heute mit der Verschiedenheit der Jahreszeiten vergleichen könnten, war damals eine große, und ob der Mensch auf dem einen ‚oder auf dem anderen Stück der Erde lebte, war für ihn von großer Bedeutung. Wenn der Mensch dazumal nur einen kurzen Weg über die Erde machte, so war das von einem bedeutsamen Einfluß für ihn. Heute, wenn die Menschen weite Reisen machen und noch so viel sehen, im großen ganzen kommen sie doch so zurück, wie sie fortgegangen sind, oder der Mensch müßte schon eine ganz besondere Eindrucksfähigkeit haben. Das war in alten Zeiten nicht so. Da war alles noch für den Menschen von größtem Einfluß, so daß die Menschen, solange sie in der weichen Materialität waren, tatsächlich sich erst nach und nach im Leben individualisieren konnten. Diese Möglichkeit hörte dann auf.
Etwas Weiteres, was sich uns zeigt, ist, daß die Erde selbst immer mehr an Dichtigkeit zunahm, und in demselben Maße, als die Stofflichkeit, sagen wir das Erdenartige der Erde, intensiver wurde, wurde diese Einförmigkeit schädlich. Denn damit trat immer mehr und mehr für die Menschen die Möglichkeit zurück, sich im Leben noch zu verändern. Er wurde sozusagen ungeheuer dicht geboren. Das ist ja der Grund, warum sich die Menschen heute während des Lebens so wenig ändern. Das hat auch Schopenhauer dazu geführt, daß er meinte, im Grunde könnten sich die Menschen in ihrem Charakter überhaupt nicht ändern. Das hat seinen Grund darin, daß die Menschen in einer so dichten Materie sind. Sie können die Materie nicht so leicht bearbeiten und ändern. Würden die Menschen noch, wie es damals der Fall war, ihre Glieder ändern können, zum Beispiel nach Belieben, wie sie es brauchen, ein Glied kurz oder lang machen, dann würde natürlich der Mensch noch sehr starker Eindrücke fähig sein. Dann würde er im Grunde genommen dasjenige in seine eigene Individualität aufnehmen, was ihm gestattete, in sich selber eine Veränderung mit sich vorzunehmen. Immer steht der Mensch in einem innigen Kontakt mit der Umgebung, insbesondere mit der menschlichen Umgebung. Damit wir uns ganz genau verstehen, möchte ich Ihnen etwas sagen, was Sie vielleicht noch nicht beachtet haben, was aber durchaus der Fall ist.
Nehmen Sie an, Sie sitzen einem Menschen gegenüber und sprechen mit ihm. Wir erzählen das jetzt für den gewöhnlichen normalen Verlauf des Lebens und für den Verkehr der Menschen untereinander im gewöhnlichen Leben, also nicht etwa für den Fall, daß jemand tief okkult geschult ist. Es sitzen also zwei Menschen sich gegenüber; der eine redet, der andere hört nur zu. Da glaubt man gewöhnlich, der andere, der zuhört, tut nichts. Das ist nicht richtig. An solchen Dingen zeigt sich noch immer, wie der Einfluß der Umgebung ist. Für das äußere Wahrnehmen ist es nicht bemerkbar, aber für das innere Leben ist es sehr deutlich, auffällig sogar, daß von einem, der nur zuhört, alles mitgemacht wird, was der andere tut, sogar die Bewegungen der physischen Stimmbänder werden nachgemacht, und der Zuhörende spricht das mit, was der andere sagt. Alles, was Sie anhören, sprechen Sie mit einer leisen Bewegung der Stimmbänder und des anderen Apparates, der beim Reden in Betracht kommt, mit. Und es ist ein großer Unterschied, ob derjenige, der da spricht, eine krächzende Stimme hat und Sie dann die entsprechenden Bewegungen mitmachen, oder ob er eine angenehme Stimme hat. In dieser Beziehung macht der Mensch alles mit, und da das im Grunde genommen fortwährend geschieht, so ist es auch von einem großen Einfluß auf die ganze Bildung des Menschen, allerdings nur in diesen engen Beziehungen. Wenn Sie sich dies, was als ein letzter Rest geblieben ist vom Mitleben der Umgebung, nun in ausgiebigstem Maße denken, dann haben Sie eine Vorstellung davon, wie der Mensch in alten Zeiten mit seiner Umgebung mitlebte und empfand. Da war zum Beispiel das Nachahmungsvermögen der Menschen ganz grandios ausgebildet. Wenn der eine eine Bewegung machte, so machten alle sie durchaus mit. Es sind ja nur noch auf ganz bestimmten Gebieten unbedeutende Dinge heute davon übrig geblieben: Wenn der eine gähnt, gähnen die anderen auch. Aber erinnern Sie sich, daß es sich dabei in diesen alten Zeiten durchaus um ein dämmerhaftes Bewußtsein handelt, und damit ist ein solches Imitationsvermögen verbunden.
Indem sich nun die Erde mit allem, was darauf ist, immer mehr und mehr verdichtete, wurde der Mensch immer weniger fähig, sich selbst umzubilden unter dem Einfluß seiner Umgebung. Ein Sonnenaufgang zum Beispiel war noch in verhältnismäßig gar nicht so alten Zeiten der Atlantis eine gewaltig bildende Kraft für den Menschen, weil dieser eben ganz unter seinem Einfluß stand und innerlich großartige Erlebnisse hatte, die, wenn sie immer wieder auftraten, ihn im Laufe seines Lebens sehr veränderten. Das alles wurde immer geringer und verschwand nach und nach, je weiter die Menschheit vorwärtsschritt.
In der lemurischen Zeit, bevor der Mond sich herausbewegte aus der Erde, war eine große Gefahr für die Menschen vorhanden. Es war die Gefahr, ganz zu erstarren, zu mumifizieren. Durch das nach und nach geschehende Herausrücken des Mondes aus unserer Erdenentwicklung wurde diese Gefahr hintangehalten. Gleichzeitig aber mit dem Hinausgang des Mondes ging die Trennung in die Geschlechter vor sich, und mit dieser Trennung in die Geschlechter ist ein neuerlicher Impuls für die Individualisierung der Menschen gegeben. Wenn es möglich gewesen wäre, daß sich die Menschheit ohne die zwei Geschlechter hätte fortpflanzen können, dann würde sie nicht in diese Individualisierung eingetreten sein. Dem Zusammenwirken der Geschlechter ist es zu verdanken, daß die heutige Art der Verschiedenheit der Menschen eingetreten ist. Würde das bloß Weibliche wirken, so würde die Individualität der Menschen ausgelöscht werden, die Menschen würden alle gleich werden. Durch das Dazuwirken des Männlichen werden die Menschen von der Geburt an als individuelle Charaktere geboren. So ist der Sinn des Zusammenwirkens der Geschlechter eigentlich dadurch gegeben, daß mit dem Auftreten, mit dem Absondern des männlichen Elementes die Individualisierung von Geburt aus an die Steile der alten Individualisierung getreten ist. Was früher ringsherum die ganze Umgebung bewirkt hatte, wurde zusammengedrängt in die gegenseitige Einwirkung der Geschlechter, so daß die Individualisierung zurückgedrängt wird bis zur Entstehung des physischen Menschen, bis zur Geburt. Das ist der Sinn des Zusammenwirkens der beiden Geschlechter. Individualisierung geschieht durch die Einwirkung des männlichen Geschlechts auf das weibliche.
Nun wurde aber damit etwas anderes für den Menschen in Kauf genommen, und wenn das, was da in Kauf genommen wurde, geschildert wird, so bitte ich, es ganz genau als für die Menschheit charakteristisch zu betrachten, denn wenn wir auf dem Boden der Geisteswissenschaft stehen, dürfen wir es nicht in gleicher Art für die Menschen wie für die Tiere ansehen. Gesundheit und Krankheit unterliegen in ihren feineren Kräften bei den Tieren ganz anderen Ursachen als bei den Menschen. Also das, was gesagt wird, gilt ausschließlich für die Menschen, und es werden uns da die feineren Verhältnisse zunächst vor die Seele zu treten haben.
Versetzen Sie sich so recht in jene alte Zeit, wo der Mensch ganz und gar hingegeben war seiner Umgebung, wo die Umgebung den Menschen durchdrang und ihm auf der einen Seite durch die Nahrungssäfte, die sie ihm bot, die Befruchtung gab, während er auf der anderen Seite durch die Wirkung der Umgebung individualisiert wurde. Nun wissen wir ja, wenn wir auf dem Boden der Geisteswissenschaft stehen, daß alles, was um uns herum ist, was auf uns einwirkt, gleichgültig ob Licht oder Ton, Wärme oder Kälte, Härte oder Weiche, diese oder jene Farbe, alles, was auf uns einwirkt, die Offenbarung, der äußere Ausdruck eines Geistigen ist. Und in jenen alten Zeiten nahm der Mensch gar nicht die äußeren Sinneseindrücke wahr, sondern er nahm das Geistige wahr. Wenn er zur Sonne emporblickte, erblickte er nicht den physischen Sonnenball, sondern das, was in der persischen Religion als «Ahura Mazdao», als die «Große Aura», sich erhalten hat. Das Geistige, die Summe der geistigen Sonnenwesen erschien ihm, und so war es in Luft und Wasser und in der ganzen Umgebung. Wenn Sie heute die Schönheit eines Bildes einsaugen, können Sie etwas wie ein Destilliertes davon haben, nur war es damals vollsaftiger. Wollten wir in dem alten Sinne sprechen, so dürften wir nicht sagen: Dieses oder jenes schmeckt so ‚oder so; sondern wir müßten sagen: Dieser oder jener Geist tut mir wohl! - So war es, wenn die Menschen sich essend - was eine ganz andere Tätigkeit war, als es heute ist - mit ihrer Umgebung auseinandersetzten, und ebenso war die Zeit, wo die Befruchtungskräfte aufgenommen wurden, etwas ganz anderes: eine Erscheinung der geistigen Umgebung. Geister kamen über den Menschen, überschatteten ihn und regten ihn an, seinesgleichen hervorzubringen, und das wurde auch als ein solcher geistiger Vorgang erlebt und beobachtet.
Nun trat ja immer mehr und mehr für den Menschen die Unmöglichkeit ein, das Geistige seiner Umgebung zu schen. Das verhüllte sich immer mehr, namentlich im Tagesbewußtsein. Nach und nach nahm der Mensch nicht mehr die geistigen Hintergründe wahr, die hinter den Dingen sind, sondern nur die äußeren Gegenstände, die der äußere Ausdruck dafür sind, und er lernte vergessen, was als Geistiges dahinter ist. Und indem er sich immer mehr in der Gestalt verdichtete, wurde auch der geistige Einfluß immer geringer. Der Mensch wurde durch diese Verdichtung immer mehr ein selbständiges Wesen und schloß sich dadurch ab von seiner geistigen Umgebung. Je weiter wir zurückgehen in diesen alten Zeiten, desto mehr ist auch dieser Einfluß, der von der Umgebung geschieht, ein geistig-göttlicher. Die Menschen waren wirklich so organisiert, daß sie ein Abbild und ein Ebenbild der Umgebung waren, der um sie herumschwebenden geistigen Wesenheiten, Abbilder von Göttern, die in den alten Zeiten der Erde vorhanden waren.
Das ging immer mehr verloren insbesondere durch das Zusammenwirken der beiden Geschlechter. Dadurch zog sich die geistige Welt vor dem Anblick der Menschen zurück. Die Menschen sahen immer mehr und mehr in die Sinneswelt hinein. Wir müssen uns dieses Verhältnis ganz lebhaft vorstellen: Denken Sie sich, der Mensch wurde in jenen alten Zeiten aus der göttlich-geistigen Welt heraus befruchtet. Die Götter selber waren es, die ihre Kräfte hergaben und den Menschen sich ähnlich machten. Dadurch war in jener alten Zeit nicht vorhanden das, was man Krankheit nennt. Innere Krankheitsanlage gab es nicht, die konnte nicht da sein, weil alles, was im Menschen vorhanden war und an ihm arbeitete, von dem gesunden göttlich-geistigen Kosmos kam. Die göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten sind gesund, und sie machten dazumal den Menschen zu ihrem Abbild. Der Mensch war gesund. Je mehr er aber dem Zeitpunkt entgegenlebte, wo das Zusammenwirken der Geschlechter eintrat und damit das Zurückziehen der geistigen Welten, je mehr der Mensch selbständig und individuell wurde, zog sich auch die Gesundheit der göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten von ihm zurück und es trat nun etwas anderes an dessen Stelle. Es geschah ja, daß in der Tat diese Aufeinanderwirkung der Geschlechter eingehüllt, begleitet wurde von Leidenschaften und Instinkten, wie sie angeregt wurden in der physischen Welt. Namentlich müssen wir diese Anregung aus der physischen Welt suchen, nachdem die Menschen so weit gekommen waren, daß sich die beiden Geschlechter gefielen, physisch-sinnlich sich gefielen. Das war ja noch lange nicht da, als die Geschlechter schon vorhanden waren. Die Wirkung der beiden Geschlechter aufeinander - auch noch in der atlantischen Zeit - geschah dann, wenn das physische Bewußtsein eigentlich schlief, sozusagen in der nachtschlafenden Zeit. Erst in der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit trat das ein, was wir das Gefallen der Geschlechter, die leidenschaftliche Liebe nennen könnten, also alles das, was sich an sinnlicher Liebe beimischte der reinen übersinnlichen Liebe, wenn wir es so nennen wollen - der Ausdruck ist heute abgebraucht, aber er brauchte es nicht zu sein -: der platonischen Liebe. Die platonische Liebe wäre in einem viel größeren Maße vorhanden, wenn sich nicht die sinnliche Liebe beimischte. Und während früher alles, was an dem Menschen gestaltend wirkte, eine Folge der geistig-göttlichen Umgebung war, wurde es jetzt mehr eine Folge der Leidenschaften und Triebe der beiden Geschlechter, die aufeinander wirkten. Es ist mit dem Zusammenwirken der beiden Geschlechter die sinnliche Begierde verknüpft worden, die angeregt wurde durch das äußere Auge, durch das äußere Sehen des andersgeschlechtlichen Wesens. Daher wurde dem Menschen mit seiner Geburt etwas einverleibt, was mit der besonderen Art der Leidenschaften und Gefühle der Menschen, die im physischen Leben stehen, zusammenhängt. Während früher der Mensch das, was in ihm war, noch von den geistig-göttlichen Wesen seiner Umgebung erhielt, bekam er jetzt durch den Befruchtungsakt etwas mit, was er als ein in sich selbständiges, abgeschlossenes Wesen aus der Sinneswelt in sich aufgenommen hatte.
Nachdem die Menschen in die Zweigeschlechtlichkeit eingetreten waren, gaben sie das, was sie selber erlebten in der Sinneswelt, ihren Nachkommen mit. Da haben wir also jetzt zwei Menschenwesen. Diese zwei Menschenwesen leben in der physischen Welt und nehmen die Welt durch die Sinne wahr, entwickeln dadurch diese oder jene durch Äußerliches angeregten Triebe und Begierden, insbesondere entwickeln sie Triebe und Leidenschaften durch ihre eigene, von außen angeregte, sinnliche Neigung zueinander. Was jetzt von außen an die Menschen herantritt, ist in die Sphäre des selbständigen Menschen herabgezogen, ist nicht mehr im vollen Einklang mit dem göttlich-geistigen Kosmos. Das wird dem Menschen mitgegeben durch den physischen Befruchtungsakt, das impft sich in die Menschen ein. Und dieses ihr eigenes weltliches Leben, das sie nicht aus den göttlichen Welten haben, sondern aus der Außenseite der göttlichgeistigen Welt, das geben die Menschen durch die Befruchtung ihren Nachkommen mit. Ist ein Mensch in dieser Beziehung schlechter, so gibt er schlechtere Qualitäten seinen Nachkommen mit als der andere, der rein und gut ist.
Und damit haben wir jetzt das, was wir uns im echten, wahren Sinne vorzustellen haben unter der «Erbsünde». Das ist der Begriff der Erbsünde. Die Erbsünde wird dadurch herbeigeführt, daß der Mensch in die Lage kommt, seine individuellen Erlebnisse in der physischen Welt auf seine Nachkommen zu verpflanzen. Jedesmal, wenn die Geschlechter in Leidenschaften erglühen, mischen sich in den aus der astralischen Welt herabkommenden Menschen die Ingredienzien der beiden Geschlechter hinein. Wenn sich ein Mensch inkarniert, kommt er aus der devachanischen Welt herunter und bildet sich seine astralische Sphäre nach der Eigenart seiner Individualität. Dieser eigenen astralischen Sphäre mischt sich etwas bei aus dem, was den astralischen Leibern, den Trieben, Leidenschaften und Begierden der Eltern eigen ist, so daß dadurch der Mensch das mitbekommt, was seine Vorfahren erlebt haben. Was so durch die Generationen geht, was so innerhalb der Generationen wirklich menschlich erworben ist und als solches sich vererbt, das ist es, was unter dem Begriff der Erbsünde zu verstehen ist. Und jetzt kommen wir zu etwas anderem noch: Ein ganz neues Moment trat ein in die Menschheit durch die Individualisierung des Menschen.
Früher bildeten die göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten, und die waren ganz gesund, den Menschen zu ihrem Ebenbilde. Jetzt aber gliederte sich der Mensch als selbständiges Wesen aus der Gesamtharmonie der göttlich-geistigen Gesundheit heraus. Er widersprach in gewisser Beziehung in seiner Eigenheit dieser ganzen geistig-göttlichen Umgebung. Denken Sie, Sie haben ein Wesen, das sich nur unter den Einflüssen der Umgebung ausbildet. Da zeigt es das, was diese Umgebung ist. Denken Sie sich aber, es schließt sich ab mit einer Haut, dann hat es zu den Eigenschaften seiner Umgebung auch noch seine eigenen Eigenschaften. Als die Menschen mit der Teilung in die Geschlechter individuell wurden, entwickelten sie also ihre eigenen Eigenheiten in sich selber. Dadurch war ein Widerspruch vorhanden zwischen der großen, in sich gesunden göttlich-geistigen Harmonie und dem, was als Individuelles in dem Menschen war. Und indem dieses Individuelle fortwirkt, ein real wirksamer Faktor wird, gliedert sich in die Menschheitsentwicklung überhaupt erst die Möglichkeit einer innerlichen Erkrankung ein. Jetzt haben wir den Moment erfaßt, wo überhaupt in der Menschheitsentwicklung die Möglichkeit der Erkrankung auftritt, denn sie ist gebunden an die Individualisierung der Menschen. Vorher, als der Mensch mit der geistig-göttlichen Welt noch in Zusammenhang stand, gab es diese Möglichkeit der Erkrankung nicht. Sie trat mit der Individualisierung ein, und das ist der gleiche Zeitpunkt wie die Trennung in die Geschlechter. Das gilt für die Menschheitsentwicklung, und Sie dürfen das nicht in gleicher Weise auf die Tierwelt übertragen.
Die Krankheit ist in der Tat eine Wirkung dieser Ihnen eben geschilderten Vorgänge, und namentlich können Sie sehen, daß es im Grunde genommen der astralische Leib ist, der ursprünglich auf diese Art beeinflußt wird. Dem astralischen Leib, den sich der Mensch zunächst selbst eingliedert, wenn er aus der devachanischen Welt herunterkommt, wird dasjenige entgegengebracht, was durch die Wirkung der beiden Geschlechter in ihn einfließt. Der astralische Leib ist also der Teil, der am schärfsten das Ungöttliche zum Abdruck bringt. Göttlicher ist schon der Ätherleib, denn auf den hat der Mensch keinen so großen Einfluß, und am göttlichsten ist der physische Leib, dieser Tempel Gottes, denn der ist zu gleicher Zeit dem Einfluß des Menschen gründlich entzogen worden. Während der Mensch in seinem astralischen Leib alle möglichen Genüsse sucht und alle möglichen Begierden haben kann, die in schädlicher Weise auf den physischen Leib wirken, hat er seinen physischen Leib heute noch als ein so wundervolles Instrument, daß es jahrzehntelang den Herzgiften und den sonstigen störenden Einflüssen des astralischen Leibes widerstehen kann. Und so müssen wir sagen, daß der menschliche astralische Leib durch alle diese Vorgänge das Schlechteste am Menschen geworden ist. Wer tiefer hineingeht in die menschliche Natur, wird die tiefsten Krankheitsursachen im astralischen Leib und in den schlechten Einflüssen des astralischen Leibes auf den Ätherleib finden, und dann erst auf dem Umwege durch den Ätherleib in dem physischen Leib. Jetzt werden wir manches verstehen, was sonst nicht verstanden werden kann. Ich will jetzt von gewöhnlichen mineralischen Heilmitteln reden.
Ein Heilmittel aus dem Mineralreich wirkt zunächst auf den physischen Leib des Menschen. Welchen Sinn hat es nun, daß der Mensch seinem physischen Leib ein mineralisches Heilmittel übergibt? Also, beachten Sie wohl: Nicht von irgendwelchen pflanzlichen Heilmitteln soll jetzt gesprochen werden, sondern von rein mineralischen, was an Metallen, Salzen und so weiter verabreicht wird. Nehmen Sie an, der Mensch nimmt irgendein mineralisches Heilmittel zu sich. Dann bietet sich dem hellseherischen Bewußtsein etwas ganz Merkwürdiges dar. Das hellseherische Bewußtsein kann dann nämlich folgendes Kunststück ausführen: Es hat ja immer die Fähigkeit, die Aufmerksamkeit von etwas abzulenken. Sie können von dem ganzen physischen Menschenleib die Aufmerksamkeit ablenken. Sie sehen dann noch den Ätherleib, den astralischen Leib und die Ich-Aura. Den physischen Leib haben Sie sich also absuggeriert durch eine starke negative Aufmerksamkeit. Wenn nun jemand irgendein mineralisches Heilmittel zu sich genommen hat, dann können Sie alles aus Ihrer Aufmerksamkeit herausrücken und bloß auf das Mineral oder das Metall, das jetzt in ihm ist, Ihre hellseherische Aufmerksamkeit richten. Also Sie suggerieren sich ab, was an Knochen, Muskeln, Blut und so weiter in ihm ist, und wenden Ihre Aufmerksamkeit nur auf das, was ihn als eine bestimmte mineralische Substanz durchdrungen hat. Da tritt für das hellseherische Bewußtsein etwas ganz Merkwürdiges auf: Diese mineralische Substanz hat sich ganz fein verteilt und hat selber die Gestalt des Menschen angenommen. Sie haben eine menschliche Gestalt vor sich, ein menschliches Phantom, aus der Substanz bestehend, die der Mensch eingenommen hat. Nehmen Sie an, der Mensch hätte das Metall Antimon zu sich genommen, dann haben Sie eine menschliche Gestalt aus ganz fein verteiltem Antimon vor sich und so ist es bei jedem mineralischen Heilmittel, das der Mensch zu sich nimmt. Sie machen einen neuen Menschen in sich selber, der aus dieser mineralischen Substanz besteht; den gliedern Sie sich ein. Nun fragen wir uns: Was hat denn das für einen Zweck und für einen Sinn?
Der Sinn ist der folgende: Wenn Sie den Menschen, der so etwas nötig hat, so ließen, wie er ist, wenn Sie ihm das Heilmittel nicht geben würden und er es wirklich nötig hat, da würde es geschehen, weil gewisse schlechte Kräfte in seinem Astralleib sind, daß der Astralleib auf den Ätherleib und der Ätherleib auf den physischen Leib wirkte und diesen nach und nach zerstörte. Jetzt haben Sie den physischen Leib mit einem Doppelgänger durchsetzt. Der wirkt so, daß der physische Leib den Einflüssen des astralischen Leibes nicht folgt. Denken Sie, Sie haben eine Bohnenpflanze: Wenn Sie ihr einen Stock geben, so windet sie sich daran herauf und folgt nun nicht mehr den Bewegungen des Windes. So ein Stock ist dieser Doppelgänger für den Menschen aus der eingegliederten Substanz. Das hält den physischen Leib an sich und entzieht ihn den Einflüssen vom astralischen und Ätherleib. Auf diese Weise machen Sie den Menschen seinem physischen Leibe nach sozusagen unabhängig von seinem astralischen und seinem Ätherleib. Das ist die Wirkung eines mineralischen Heilmittels. Aber Sie werden auch gleich das Schlimme der Sache einsehen, denn es hat das auch eine sehr schlimme Gegenseite. Da Sie künstlich den physischen Leib aus dem Zusammenhange mit den anderen Leibern herausgenommen haben, so haben Sie den Einfluß des astralischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes auf den physischen Leib geschwächt, haben den physischen Leib verselbständigt, und je mehr Sie Ihrem Körper solche Heilmittel zuführen, desto mehr schwindet auch der Einfluß des astralischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes dahin, und der physische Leib wird ein in sich verhärtetes und in sich verselbständigtes Wesen, das dann seinen eigenen Gesetzen unterliegt. Denken Sie nun, was die Menschen tun, die ihr ganzes Leben lang ihrem Körper solche verschiedenen mineralischen Heilmittel zuführen. Ein Mensch, der nach und nach viel an mineralischen Heilmitteln zu sich genommen hat, trägt dann in sich das Phantom dieser Mineralien; er hat ein ganzes Dutzend von mineralischen Heilmitteln in sich. Die halten den physischen Leib wie in festen Wänden. Ja, was soll denn da noch der astralische Leib und der Ätherleib auf ihn für einen Einfluß haben? Ein solcher Mensch schleppt in der Tat seinen physischen Leib mit sich herum und ist ziemlich machtlos gegen ihn. Versucht dann ein solcher Mensch, der lange Zeit so mediziniert hat, an einen anderen zu kommen, der ihn psychisch behandeln will, der besonders auf die feineren Leiber wirken will, da erfährt dann der Betreffende, daß er für psychische Einflüsse mehr oder weniger unempfänglich geworden ist. Denn er hat seinen physischen Leib erst verselbständigt und ihm die Möglichkeit entzogen, daß das, was in den feineren Leibern geschehen könnte, bis in den physischen Leib hineinwirkt. Und das ist namentlich dadurch geschehen, daß der Mensch so viele Phantome in sich hat, die dann gar nicht zusammenstimmen, das eine zerrt ihn dahin, das andere dorthin. Wenn der Mensch sich die Möglichkeit entzogen hat, vom geistig-seelischen Teile aus zu wirken, dann braucht er sich gar nicht zu wundern, wenn dann auch eine geistige Heilkur von geringerem Erfolge ist. Daher müssen Sie, wenn es sich um psychische Einwirkungen handelt, immer in Erwägung ziehen, was das für ein Mensch ist, der da kuriert werden soll. Hat der Mensch seinen astralischen Leib oder seinen Ätherleib in die Machtlosigkeit versetzt, indem er den physischen Leib in die Selbständigkeit versetzte, dann ist es sehr schwer geworden, einem solchen Menschen durch eine spirituelle Kur beizukommen.
So also verstehen wir jetzt, wie mineralische Substanzen auf den Menschen wirken. Sie erzeugen in ihm Doppelgänger, die seinen physischen Leib konservieren und ihn den Einflüssen seines Astralleibes oder Ätherleibes, die schädlich sein könnten, entziehen. Fast alle unsere Medizin geht heute darauf hinaus, weil diese materialistische Medizin die feineren Glieder des Menschen nicht kennt, nur den physischen Leib in irgendeiner Weise zu behandeln.
Wir haben das heute zunächst einmal für die Einflüsse der mineralischen Stoffe betrachtet. Wir werden einmal zu sprechen haben von den Einflüssen der pflanzlichen Heilkräfte und von den Einflüssen der tierischen Stoffe auf den menschlichen Organismus, und dann werden wir übergehen zu denjenigen Einflüssen, zu den Heilmitteln, die von Wesen zu Wesen psychisch, also spirituell sein können. Sie sehen aber, daß es notwendig ist, für unsere Betrachtungen erst wieder einmal solche Begriffe zu bekommen wie den Begriff der Erbsünde, und ihn richtig zu verstehen. Gewisse Dinge sind heute durchaus so, daß die Menschen darüber hinweglesen und kein Verständnis dafür haben.
Tenth Lecture
We will remain faithful to our stated program and, in the course of this winter, gather together in these branch meetings a series of seemingly disparate details about human life in health and sickness. These details will later come together to form a whole, culminating in a specific insight that we will gradually work our way up to. In the first of the lectures planned for this series, we gave a kind of classification of disease, and last time we tried to bring to mind what we can really only describe as the wording of the Ten Commandments. Everything else that goes beyond the wording will become clear to us in the course of the next branch meetings. Last time, it was mainly a matter of getting to know the content and the actual tendency of the commandments. Today we want to talk about other details that will hardly show any direct connection with what has gone before or what is to come, for it is a collection of details whose comprehensive meaning will only become clear to us later.
First, we will deal with a significant moment in human evolution on Earth. Those who have been working within the anthroposophical movement for some time are already familiar with this; others will gradually become attuned to these ideas.
The moment in human evolution that we want to remember lies far back in time. If we go back through the post-Atlantean period, through the Atlantean period, to the ancient Lemurian period, we encounter the moment when the division into sexes occurred in the human kingdom on our Earth. You know that before this, there was no such division into sexes in the human kingdom. It should be expressly pointed out that we are not talking here about the very first appearance of the two-sex being in the evolution of the earth or in our entire evolution, insofar as it encompasses the realms surrounding us. Phenomena that must be counted as belonging to two-sex being appeared earlier. But what we today call the human kingdom only divided into the two sexes in the Lemurian epoch. Before that, we are dealing with a differently formed human figure that in a certain way contained both sexes undifferentiated within itself. We can imagine the transition from dual sexuality to the division into two sexes by thinking that the earlier dual-sex human form gradually developed in such a way that one group of individuals developed the characteristics of one sex, the female, more fully, while the other group developed more of the characteristics of the male sex. However, this does not mean that the division into sexes has been established, but only through an ever-increasing development of one-sidedness, at a time when humanity still lived in a very thin material world.
If we have first brought this point in time to mind, it is precisely because we want to ask ourselves today about the meaning of the emergence of the two sexes. Only when one stands on the ground of spiritual science can one ask about such a meaning, for the meaning of physical development comes from the higher worlds. As long as we stand in the physical world and, for my part, view the physical world philosophically, it is a somewhat childish view to speak of purposes, and Goethe was right to mock others who spoke of purposes in nature in such a way as to say that nature, in its wisdom, had created cork so that humans could make stoppers out of it. Such a view is a childish view, and it can only lead us to deceive ourselves about what is essential and what matters. It would be just like looking at a clock and imagining little demonic beings behind it, wisely moving the hands forward. In truth, however, if we want to understand the clock, we must go to the spirit that created it, to the clockmaker. And in the same way, if we want to understand the purposefulness of our world, we must transcend the physical world and enter into the spiritual. Purpose, meaning, and goal are words that we can only apply to development when we view it from the standpoint of spiritual science. In this way, we ask the question: What is the meaning of the gradual development of the two sexes and their interaction with each other?
The meaning will become clear to you when you consider how what we call fertilization, what we can call the mutual influence of the sexes, was previously replaced by something else. One must not believe that at the moment when the division into sexes took place in human evolution, what we call fertilization also occurred for the first time. That is not the case. We must imagine that in the times preceding the development of the two sexes, this fertilization took place in a completely different way. To clairvoyant retrospective consciousness, it is apparent that there was a time in the earthly development of humanity when fertilization already took place in connection with nutrition, so that the beings who in an earlier time were both male and female at the same time, absorbed the forces for fertilization at the same time as they were nourished. So when human beings nourished themselves during this time, when nutrition was naturally much more refined, the nutritional juices contained within them also contained that which enabled beings to produce beings of the same kind from themselves. You must bear in mind, however, that the nutritional juices taken from the surrounding matter did not always contain these fertilizing juices, but only at very specific times. This depended on the changes that were taking place, which we could compare today with the changes in the course of a year, with climate change and so on. At very specific times, the nutritive juices taken from the environment by the hermaphroditic beings simultaneously possessed the power of fertilization.
If we look back further into these times with clairvoyant awareness, we find another peculiarity of ancient reproduction. What you know today as the diversity of individual human beings, what today manifests itself as the individuality of each person, on which the diversity of life in our present human cycle is based, did not exist before the emergence of the sexes. There was great uniformity. The beings that came into being were similar to each other, and they were also similar to their ancestors. All these beings, which were not yet divided into the two sexes, presented a similar appearance outwardly, and inwardly they all had a fairly similar character. And the fact that people were so similar to one another did not have the same disadvantage for those times as it would have for us today. Imagine if people were born today with the same appearance and the same character; how infinitely boring human life would be, how little could actually happen in human life, since everyone would want the same thing as everyone else. But that was not the case in ancient times. When humans were, so to speak, more ethereal, more spiritual, not yet so densely interwoven with materiality, people were really similar to each other when they were born and also throughout a certain period of childhood, and educators at that time did not need to pay attention to whether one was a wild child and another a gentle creature. People had different characters in different times, but in a certain sense they were fundamentally similar. However, this did not remain the case throughout the life of the individual. Because they were still in a softer, more spiritual physical state, people were much more receptive to the ongoing influences from their environment, so that they changed enormously under these influences in this ancient period of Earth's history. People became more individual in a certain way because they had, you could say, a waxy, soft nature. They became more or less an imprint of their environment. In particular, at a very specific time in life, which today would coincide with sexual maturity, the possibility arose of allowing everything that was happening in their environment to have an effect on them. The differences between the individual periods, which we could compare today with the differences between the seasons, were great at that time, and whether a person lived in one part of the earth or another was of great importance to them. If people at that time only traveled a short distance across the earth, this had a significant influence on them. Today, when people travel far and see so much, they generally return as they left, unless they have a very special receptiveness. This was not the case in ancient times. Then everything was of the greatest influence on man, so that as long as people were in the soft materiality, they could actually only gradually individualize themselves in life. This possibility then ceased.
Something else that becomes apparent to us is that the earth itself became increasingly dense, and to the same extent that the materiality, let us say the earthiness of the earth, became more intense, this uniformity became harmful. For this meant that the possibility for people to change during their lives receded more and more. They were born, so to speak, incredibly dense. That is the reason why people today change so little during their lives. This also led Schopenhauer to believe that, fundamentally, people cannot change their character at all. The reason for this is that people are in such dense matter. They cannot easily work on and change matter. If people were still able to change their limbs as they did in the past, for example, making them shorter or longer as they needed, then humans would naturally be capable of much stronger impressions. Then they would basically absorb into their own individuality that which allowed them to bring about a change within themselves. Human beings are always in close contact with their environment, especially with their human environment. To ensure that we understand each other perfectly, I would like to tell you something that you may not have noticed, but which is nevertheless the case.
Suppose you are sitting opposite someone and talking to them. We are talking here about the normal course of life and about people interacting with each other in everyday life, not about someone who is deeply trained in the occult. So, two people are sitting opposite each other; one is talking and the other is just listening. We usually think that the person who is listening is doing nothing. That is not correct. Such things still show how influential the environment is. It is not noticeable to the outer perception, but for the inner life it is very clear, even striking, that someone who is only listening participates in everything the other person does, even imitating the movements of the physical vocal cords, and the listener repeats what the other person says. Everything you hear, you repeat with a slight movement of the vocal cords and the other apparatus involved in speech. And there is a big difference between whether the person speaking has a croaky voice and you then imitate the corresponding movements, or whether he has a pleasant voice. In this respect, people do everything, and since this happens continuously, it also has a great influence on the entire education of the human being, albeit only in these close relationships. If you now think about this, which is what remains of living with the environment, to the fullest extent, then you will have an idea of how people in ancient times lived with their environment and how they felt. For example, people's ability to imitate was highly developed. When one person made a movement, everyone else followed suit. Today, only insignificant traces of this remain in very specific areas: when one person yawns, the others yawn too. But remember that in those ancient times this was a matter of a dim consciousness, and such an ability to imitate was connected with it.
As the earth and everything on it became more and more densified, human beings became less and less able to transform themselves under the influence of their environment. In the relatively recent times of Atlantis, for example, sunrise was still a powerful formative force for humans because they were completely under its influence and had magnificent inner experiences which, when they recurred again and again, changed them greatly in the course of their lives. All this became less and less and gradually disappeared as humanity progressed.
In the Lemurian era, before the moon moved away from the earth, there was a great danger for humans. It was the danger of becoming completely petrified, of mummifying. This danger was averted by the gradual withdrawal of the moon from our Earth's development. At the same time, however, with the departure of the moon, the separation into the sexes took place, and with this separation into the sexes, a new impulse for the individualization of human beings was given. If it had been possible for humanity to reproduce without the two sexes, it would not have entered into this individualization. It is thanks to the interaction of the sexes that the present diversity of human beings has come about. If only the feminine were at work, the individuality of human beings would be wiped out and all human beings would become the same. Through the interaction of the male element, human beings are born with individual characters. Thus, the meaning of the interaction of the sexes is actually given by the fact that with the appearance, with the separation of the male element, individualization from birth has entered the steep slope of ancient individualization. What had previously been brought about by the entire environment was compressed into the mutual interaction of the sexes, so that individualization was suppressed until the emergence of the physical human being, until birth. This is the meaning of the interaction of the two sexes. Individualization occurs through the influence of the male sex on the female.
But now something else was accepted for human beings, and when what was accepted is described, I ask you to consider it very carefully as characteristic of humanity, for if we stand on the ground of spiritual science, we cannot view it in the same way for human beings as for animals. Health and illness in their finer forces are subject to completely different causes in animals than in human beings. So what is being said applies exclusively to human beings, and we must first bring the finer relationships to the fore in our minds.
Put yourself back in those ancient times when humans were completely devoted to their environment, when the environment permeated humans and, on the one hand, fertilized them through the nutrients it provided, while on the other hand, they were individualized through the effects of the environment. Now, if we stand on the ground of spiritual science, we know that everything around us, everything that affects us, whether light or sound, warmth or cold, hardness or softness, this or that color, everything that affects us, is the revelation, the outer expression of something spiritual. And in those ancient times, human beings did not perceive external sensory impressions at all, but rather perceived the spiritual. When they looked up at the sun, they did not see the physical ball of the sun, but rather what has been preserved in the Persian religion as “Ahura Mazdao,” the “Great Aura.” The spiritual, the sum of the spiritual sun beings, appeared to them, and so it was in the air and water and in the entire environment. When you take in the beauty of a picture today, you can have something like a distillation of it, only it was more succulent back then. If we wanted to speak in the old sense, we should not say: This or that tastes like this or that; but we would have to say: This or that spirit does me good! This was how it was when people engaged with their surroundings while eating—which was a completely different activity than it is today—and likewise, the time when the forces of fertilization were absorbed was something completely different: a manifestation of the spiritual environment. Spirits came over people, overshadowed them, and inspired them to produce their own kind, and this was also experienced and observed as such a spiritual process.
Now, it became increasingly impossible for humans to perceive the spiritual in their environment. It became more and more veiled, especially in daytime consciousness. Gradually, humans no longer perceived the spiritual background behind things, but only the outer objects that were the outer expression of it, and they learned to forget what was spiritual behind it. And as they became more and more condensed in form, the spiritual influence also became less and less. Through this condensation, human beings became more and more independent beings and thus closed themselves off from their spiritual environment. The further back we go in these ancient times, the more this influence from the environment is a spiritual-divine one. Human beings were truly organized in such a way that they were a reflection and image of their surroundings, of the spiritual beings floating around them, images of gods that existed in the ancient times of the Earth.
This was increasingly lost, especially through the interaction of the two sexes. As a result, the spiritual world withdrew from human sight. People looked more and more into the sensory world. We must imagine this relationship very vividly: think of how, in those ancient times, human beings were fertilized from the divine-spiritual world. It was the gods themselves who gave their powers and made themselves similar to humans. As a result, what we call illness did not exist in those ancient times. There was no inner predisposition to illness; it could not exist because everything that was present in humans and worked within them came from the healthy divine-spiritual cosmos. The divine-spiritual beings are healthy, and they made human beings in their image at that time. Human beings were healthy. However, the closer they came to the time when the interaction of the sexes began and with it the withdrawal of the spiritual worlds, the more independent and individual human beings became, the more the health of the divine-spiritual beings withdrew from them and something else took its place. It happened that this interaction between the sexes was enveloped and accompanied by passions and instincts as they were stimulated in the physical world. We must seek this stimulation in the physical world, especially after humans had progressed to the point where the two sexes found each other physically and sensually attractive. This was not yet the case when the sexes already existed. The effect of the two sexes on each other — even in the Atlantean epoch — occurred when physical consciousness was actually asleep, so to speak, during the nighttime hours. It was not until the middle of the Atlantean epoch that what we might call the attraction of the sexes, passionate love, came into being, that is, everything that was mixed with pure supersensible love, if we want to call it that — the expression is worn out today, but it did not need to be —: Platonic love. Platonic love would exist to a much greater extent if sensual love had not been added to it. And whereas in earlier times everything that had a formative effect on human beings was a consequence of the spiritual-divine environment, it now became more a consequence of the passions and instincts of the two sexes interacting with each other. Sensual desire has become linked to the interaction of the two sexes, stimulated by the outer eye, by the outer sight of the opposite sex. Therefore, something was incorporated into human beings at birth that is connected with the special nature of the passions and feelings of human beings in physical life. Whereas in earlier times human beings still received what was within them from the spiritual-divine beings of their environment, they now received something through the act of fertilization that they had taken into themselves from the sensory world as an independent, self-contained being.
After human beings entered into dual sex, they passed on to their descendants what they themselves experienced in the sensory world. So now we have two human beings. These two human beings live in the physical world and perceive the world through their senses, thereby developing this or that impulse and desire stimulated by external influences. In particular, they develop impulses and passions through their own sensual inclinations toward each other, which are stimulated from outside. What now approaches human beings from outside has been drawn down into the sphere of the independent human being and is no longer in full harmony with the divine-spiritual cosmos. This is passed on to human beings through the physical act of fertilization and becomes ingrained in them. And this worldly life of their own, which they do not have from the divine worlds but from outside the divine-spiritual world, is what human beings pass on to their offspring through fertilization. If a human being is worse in this respect, he passes on worse qualities to his offspring than another who is pure and good.
And with that we now have what we must imagine in the true, real sense under the term “original sin.” That is the concept of original sin. Original sin is brought about by the fact that human beings are able to pass on their individual experiences in the physical world to their descendants. Every time the sexes are inflamed with passion, the ingredients of both sexes mix together in the human beings descending from the astral world. When a human being incarnates, he comes down from the devachanic world and forms his astral sphere according to the nature of his individuality. Something from what is peculiar to the astral bodies, the instincts, passions, and desires of the parents mixes with this individual astral sphere, so that the human being receives what his ancestors have experienced. What is passed down through the generations, what is truly acquired within the generations and is inherited as such, is what is meant by the term original sin. And now we come to something else: a completely new moment entered into humanity through the individualization of the human being.
In the past, the divine-spiritual beings, who were completely healthy, formed human beings in their own image. But now the human being, as an independent being, separated itself from the overall harmony of divine-spiritual health. In a certain sense, they contradicted this entire spiritual-divine environment in their individuality. Imagine you have a being that develops solely under the influence of its environment. It will reveal what that environment is. But imagine that it closes itself off with a skin, then it has its own characteristics in addition to the characteristics of its environment. When human beings became individual with the division into sexes, they developed their own peculiarities within themselves. This created a contradiction between the great, inherently healthy divine-spiritual harmony and what was individual in human beings. And as this individuality continues to work, becoming a real effective factor, the possibility of inner illness becomes part of human development in the first place. We have now grasped the moment when the possibility of illness arises in human development, for it is bound up with the individualization of human beings. Before, when human beings were still connected to the spiritual-divine world, this possibility of illness did not exist. It arose with individualization, and that is the same moment as the separation into the sexes. This applies to human development, and you must not transfer it in the same way to the animal world.
Illness is indeed an effect of the processes I have just described to you, and you can see that it is basically the astral body that is originally influenced in this way. The astral body, which the human being first integrates into himself when he comes down from the devachanic world, is confronted with what flows into him through the influence of the two sexes. The astral body is therefore the part that most clearly reflects the ungodly. The etheric body is already more divine, because humans do not have such a great influence on it, and the most divine is the physical body, this temple of God, because it has been completely removed from human influence. While humans seek all kinds of pleasures in their astral body and can have all kinds of desires that have a harmful effect on the physical body, they still have their physical body as such a wonderful instrument that it can resist the poisons of the heart and other disturbing influences of the astral body for decades. And so we must say that through all these processes the human astral body has become the worst part of the human being. Anyone who delves deeper into human nature will find the deepest causes of illness in the astral body and in the evil influences of the astral body on the etheric body, and only then, indirectly through the etheric body, in the physical body. Now we will understand many things that cannot otherwise be understood. I will now speak of ordinary mineral remedies.
A remedy from the mineral kingdom first acts on the physical body of the human being. What is the point of giving a mineral remedy to the physical body? Now, please note: we are not talking about any kind of plant remedies, but purely mineral remedies, such as metals, salts, and so on. Suppose a person takes a mineral remedy. Then something very strange presents itself to clairvoyant consciousness. The clairvoyant consciousness can then perform the following feat: it always has the ability to divert attention from something. You can divert attention from the entire physical human body. You then remove the etheric body, the astral body, and the ego aura. You have thus removed the physical body through strong negative attention. Now, if someone has taken some kind of mineral remedy, you can remove everything from your attention and focus your clairvoyant attention solely on the mineral or metal that is now in them. So you suggest to yourself that what is in them in the form of bones, muscles, blood, and so on, no longer exists, and you turn your attention only to what has permeated them as a specific mineral substance. Something very strange then occurs to the clairvoyant consciousness: this mineral substance has distributed itself very finely and has taken on the form of the person. You have a human form in front of you, a human phantom, consisting of the substance that the person has ingested. Suppose the person had taken the metal antimony; then you would have a human form made of finely distributed antimony before you, and so it is with every mineral remedy that a person takes. You create a new person within yourself, consisting of this mineral substance; you incorporate it into yourself. Now we ask ourselves: What is the purpose and meaning of this?
The meaning is as follows: if you left a person who needs something like this as they are, if you did not give them the remedy and they really needed it, then certain evil forces in their astral body would cause the astral body to act on the etheric body and the etheric body to act on the physical body, gradually destroying it. Now you have interposed a double in the physical body. This double acts in such a way that the physical body does not follow the influences of the astral body. Imagine you have a bean plant: if you give it a stick, it winds itself up the stick and no longer follows the movements of the wind. This double, made of the incorporated substance, is like a stick for the human being. It holds the physical body in place and withdraws it from the influences of the astral and etheric bodies. In this way, you make the human being, in terms of his physical body, independent of his astral and etheric bodies, so to speak. That is the effect of a mineral remedy. But you will also immediately see the bad side of this, because it also has a very bad counterpart. Since you have artificially removed the physical body from its connection with the other bodies, you have weakened the influence of the astral body and the etheric body on the physical body, you have made the physical body independent, and the more you give your body such remedies, the more the influence of the astral body and the etheric body disappears, and the physical body becomes a hardened and independent entity, subject to its own laws. Now consider what people do who administer such various mineral remedies to their bodies throughout their lives. A person who has gradually taken in a lot of mineral remedies then carries within themselves the phantom of these minerals; they have a whole dozen mineral remedies within them. These hold the physical body as if in solid walls. Yes, what influence can the astral body and the etheric body still have on them? Such a person actually carries their physical body around with them and is quite powerless against it. If such a person, who has been medicated for a long time, then tries to find someone else who wants to treat them psychologically, who wants to work on the finer bodies in particular, they will find that they have become more or less impervious to psychological influences. This is because they have first made their physical body independent and deprived it of the possibility of allowing what might happen in the finer bodies to have an effect on the physical body. This has happened because the person has so many phantoms within themselves that they are not in harmony with each other; one pulls them in one direction, another in another. If a person has deprived themselves of the possibility of acting from their spiritual-soul part, then they should not be surprised if a spiritual healing treatment is less successful. Therefore, when it comes to psychic influences, you must always consider what kind of person it is who is to be cured. If the person has rendered his astral body or his etheric body powerless by making his physical body independent, then it becomes very difficult to help such a person through spiritual treatment.
So now we understand how mineral substances affect humans. They create doppelgangers within them that preserve their physical body and protect it from the potentially harmful influences of their astral or etheric body. Almost all of our medicine today boils down to this because this materialistic medicine does not recognize the finer members of the human being and only treats the physical body in some way.
Today we have considered this in relation to the influences of mineral substances. We will have to talk about the influences of plant healing powers and the influences of animal substances on the human organism, and then we will move on to those influences, those remedies, which can be psychic, that is, spiritual, from being to being. But you see that it is necessary for our considerations to first regain concepts such as that of original sin and to understand it correctly. Certain things are such today that people read over them and have no understanding of them.