Supersensible Man
GA 231
17 November 1923, The Hague
Lecture III
My dear Friends,
We tried in the first lecture of this Course to form some idea of the way in which man, here on Earth, is related to Beings and forces belonging to worlds beyond the Earth. Then, in the second lecture we spoke of the life of the human being in the super-sensible world between death and a new birth. In the present lecture I want to follow this up a little further. As our study proceeds, we shall find that a complete and inwardly harmonious picture will rise up before us.
We have seen that when a human being has passed through the gate of death and come into the super-sensible world, he reveals himself there to Imaginative vision in a spirit-form. You must understand, of course, that perception of the spiritual is quite different from perception of an object in the world of sense. For instance, those who are endowed with the faculty of spiritual vision will say: “Yes, I saw the phenomenon, but I could not tell you anything about the size of it.” The phenomena of the spiritual world are not spatial in the sense that a material object presented to the eye is spatial. Nevertheless, we can only describe them in such a way that they seem to resemble a visual image seen by the physical eye—or whatever other sense-impression we make use of in our description. You must bear this in mind in connection with all the descriptions I shall now be giving of what takes place in the super-sensible.
When a human being has passed through the gate of death, the spirit-form, of his head gradually fades away. On the other hand, the whole of the rest of his form becomes “physiognomy,” a physiognomy which expresses, for instance, how far the man was, in earthly life, a good man or a bad man, a wise man or a fool. These qualities can remain hidden in the material world; an out-and-out villain can walk about with an absolutely innocent face. But when the gate of death has been passed, they can no longer be concealed. There is no doing it with the face, for the face fades right away; and the rest of the form, which grows more and more like a physiognomy, allows nothing to be hid. We have, moreover, to remember that when a human being passes into the spiritual world, his whole relation to the universe changes. The faculty of thinking, especially that abstract thinking by which men set so much store on Earth, is by no means prized yonder in the spiritual world. No value is attached in the spiritual world to the faculty of which the head is the instrument; it is quite useless there. We have to leave behind us the thinking of which we are so proud and by means of which we evolve thoughts about the phenomena of the material world. It is only on Earth that there are philosophers! The kind of philosophy that consists in abstract thinking must be left behind. The further we pass out into the spiritual, super-sensible world, the more does our life of soul become a beholding, a perceiving. The thoughts which are in the objects come to us with the very act of perception. Here on Earth we evolve the thoughts; yonder in the spiritual world the thoughts are revealed by the things themselves; the thoughts come to us. Thought is achieved by means of perception. Nor is this true only of thought. Everything man has to undergo comes to him, in the spiritual world, in perception.
We have around us in the world of sense-perception certain phenomena which help us to describe the spiritual world in which man lives between death and a new birth. We look up to the stars. What the stars and planets of our system reveal to sense-perception on Earth is merely their outward aspect. In their inner reality they are something quite different; they are hosts of Spiritual Beings who have gathered together in diverse ways at the places where the stars appear in the heavens. When we look at a star with our physical eyes—what it really means is that there, in that particular direction, is a colony of Spiritual Beings in the Cosmos. The physical star we see merely gives us the direction; it is, if you like, a kind of signpost. Descriptions of the stars as given by physical science are of quite secondary importance, for physical science is dealing with what are no more than signs to indicate direction. The fact that somewhere in the sky we see a star means that in that direction there is a colony of Spiritual Beings.
The first sphere into which the human being passes after death is the sphere of the Moon; that is to say, he enters the region of the Spiritual Beings who have their dwelling-place in the Moon. What kind of Beings are these?
From what has been said in my book Occult Science, you will know that the Moon was not always out in the heavens where it is now. As a matter of fact, there are many strange things to be observed about the Moon. It is curious, for instance, that in ordinary text-books and school-books no mention is made, as a rule, of the fact that every year the Moon is coming nearer to the Earth. Most people are not aware of this, because they do not find it in the text-books; it is true, nevertheless. The Moon was not always out there in the Cosmos; there was a time when the Moon and its substance were within the Earth. The Moon then separated from the Earth and passed out into the Cosmos. It is therefore only in the course of Earth evolution that the Moon has become a dwelling place in itself for Spiritual Beings. And for what kind of Spiritual Beings?
In my books and lectures I have often spoken of the great primeval Teachers who lived among men in very ancient times of Earth evolution. When we look back with real understanding to ancient times, we cannot but be filled with deep inner reverence for the marvellous wisdom that was given long since to men on Earth by these great, superhuman Teachers. For the first Teachers of the human race on Earth were not themselves human; they were Beings standing higher in the scale of evolution than man, and in the Mysteries they appeared not in physical but in ether bodies—which, since then, they have for the most part laid aside, for they are now in astral bodies. These primeval Teachers left the Earth and passed out into the Cosmos—to the Moon. The heavenly body we know as the Moon is therefore the colony, out in the Cosmos, of the primeval Teachers of mankind. There they have their dwelling, in the Moon. To crude perception the outer aspect of the Moon reflects merely the light of the Sun. But for a finer perception the Moon mirrors a vast number of cosmic forces. And what is reflected thence to the Earth from the forces of the Cosmos is connected with all that is sub-human in man—with what man has to-day in common with animal nature. We find, therefore, in the Moon these high Spiritual Beings who were once the primeval Teachers of mankind, and at the same time, together with them, the animal forces of man's nature.
This is the first region the human being enters when he has passed through the gate of death; here his first experiences are undergone. Try to form a living picture of how, with his moral—or immoral—physiognomy, a human being comes into the region of the physical and spiritual radiations of the Moon and how, to begin with, he sees himself and other human beings each with his physiognomy. He does not see with physical eyes; he becomes aware of the others through a kind of “feeling” perception—almost a kind of touching, but touching from a distance. Let me try to describe it to you in the following way. A human being comes into the vicinity of another being in this region. He has his physiognomy which is mobile in itself—as it were, soft and pliable. He draws near to the other being, and at once tries to give himself a physiognomy similar to that revealed by the other being. But if a man who was an out-and- out villain in earthly life and has now passed through the gate of death were to attempt to do this in the proximity of one who has been a saintly man, in order that he might perceive and feel what the saintly man is in his physiognomy, he would not find it possible. Despite all his efforts he would continue to give himself the physiognomy of a villain. He can do no otherwise. You will realise from this that for a certain period of time after death a man is only capable of seeing other human beings who in respect of their moral qualities were of like nature with himself in Earthly life. This is the first impression that is experienced by the human being, the first of many powerful impressions that are at the same time like so many judgements passed upon him. For man really feels the experience as a dispensation of strict justice. He stands there under the constant impression: As those others are, so are you yourself; you can move only among human beings who are like yourself! It is so, indeed. Man does not see those who are different from himself; to begin with, he simply cannot see them.
Now the particular forces which are contained in this Moon environment do not permit of the Angels drawing near to man. The Angels—in their lovely form—cannot, to begin with, come into the neighbourhood of the human being. For the Moon is the heavenly body of which the Earth has rid herself; she has, as it were, put it out into the Cosmos. It is true that with the Moon have gone also, as we saw, the holy Teachers and Sages; but there are present, in addition, in its vicinity Ahrimanic Beings. Ahrimanic forms are to be seen there. And so it comes about that when a man sees other human beings in physiognomies that are the reverse of good, and has the impression that he is seeing himself along with them, then he and they seem, to his despair, to resemble the Ahrimanic forms that appear in this region. The Angels are hidden from his sight because they have forms into which he cannot yet find his way again. He sees other human beings in forms that are all differing expressions of evil, and he notes the resemblance of these to the Ahrimanic forms. This, then, is the second impression which comes to man in the Moon sphere: You yourself resemble the Ahrimanic forms! Once again is a stern judgement passed upon man after death.
The third experience makes an impression which never leaves the human being. It begins with the realisation that in the first region through which he has to pass are the wise and holy primeval Teachers of early humanity. But now he cannot help feeling that a mysterious connection exists between the Ahrimanic beings with whom he comes in contact in the way described, and these primeval Teachers of mankind. From the human point of view it is of course quite understandable that men will judge such things as I am telling you in the attitude of the famous King of Spain who was once shown a map of the stars and their movements and the whole solar system and, finding it very difficult to grasp, said that if God had left him to create the Universe he would have made it much simpler, it was all far too complicated! It is not to be wondered at that numbers of people think very much the same and are for ever wanting to correct something in the Divine Plan of the Universe. Human beings have, as you know, infinite faith in their own power of insight. There was actually a philosopher who said: “Give me matter, and I will make a universe.” That philosopher was Kant. It is a good thing he was not given matter, for he would have made something perfectly horrible out of it!
So, too, when people hear about Ahrimanic beings, they cannot understand why these beings have not long ago given up all hope of gaining the victory over the Earth Spirits. Human beings know quite well that the ultimate victory will not be with the Ahrimanic beings. But Ahriman does not know it! He strives unceasingly for victory. And out of this striving for victory there arises a strange and remarkable connection between those Ahrimanic beings who belong chiefly to the Moon sphere and the wise, primeval Teachers of mankind. Let me put it in this way. The Ahrimanic beings are continually trying, in their sinister way, to flatter and cajole these primeval Teachers, they would so much like to win them over to their side! For what is it these Ahrimanic beings are trying to achieve? They would like to hold the Earth fast at a certain point in its development and not allow it to make any further progress. It is Ahriman who is constantly saying: “The evolution of human beings has reached a certain point, and now it must come to a standstill; they must not evolve any further. I have resolved that human beings shall harden at this point and continue their further journey in the Cosmos as hardened, rigidified beings—not as beings involved in a progressive evolution.” This is what is whispered every night into the ears of men by the Ahrimanic beings. And it is what the Ahrimanic beings desire in regard also to the Earth itself; they want to hold it fast at a given point in its evolution.
And now think of the great primeval Teachers of man. It was they who left behind them on Earth what we know as the ancient, primordial Wisdom. This ancient Wisdom has grown dim in the course of the ages and is no longer understood. Once upon a time, in the old Mystery-sanctuaries, it was taught to men; but that could not continue. For if human beings had gone on receiving this Wisdom, they would not have made progress. Above all, they would not have attained to freedom, to free inner spiritual activity; they would not have acquired free will. The wisdom was by its very nature able to speak only to the instincts of men, not to clear, self-conscious deliberation. It was thus for the well-being of humanity that at a certain moment these great Teachers should withdraw. If they had never lived on Earth man would have been without an initial impetus for his evolution. But when they had once given the impetus which enabled him henceforth to continue his evolution independently, they withdrew from the Earth and went to the Colony of the Moon. As long as the primeval Teachers were still upon Earth, the Ahrimanic beings did their utmost to keep them there in order that the instinctive Wisdom should remain as it was. Even to-day, when a man has passed through the gate of death and come into the Moon sphere, they think they can still do something; and so they try again and again to cajole and persuade these primeval Teachers to approach the dead. They cannot achieve their end, least of all in the case of those human beings who wear a physiognomy of evil. None the less, the Ahrimanic beings continue to draw near to the souls of human beings in the Moon sphere and goad them on by pointing to the great primeval Wisdom and saying: “That was once all there for you!” Human beings who wear features of evil have, therefore, now to pass through a third experience. The Ahrimanic beings speak to them of the primeval Teachers of mankind. But they, with their nature, cannot see these Teachers. They gaze into an empty void.
This experience makes a profound and lasting impression. Once again man feels that a judgement has been passed upon him. For the thought lies heavy on his soul: “Those who gave the human race its first impulse are hidden from me; I cannot see them, I am spurned and rejected.” Powerful and acute is the experience that comes thus to human beings who do not show a physiognomy expressive of the good.
These are the three impressions which must needs come to man when, with a physiognomy of evil, he passes over into the world that lies beyond the gate of death. And it must of course be remembered, that no human being is wholly good; in the very best of men there is, after all, a great deal that is bad. Hence it falls to the lot of a great many human beings to undergo, at any rate in part, the experiences here described. But the more a man is able to assume the physiognomy of the good after death, the more readily will he behold those whom he has through his goodness come to resemble, and the less will he respond to the Ahrimanic beings. Their influences will fall away from him; on the other hand he will have understanding for the Angel Beings who now enter the sphere in which he is living. And that will enable him to permeate his being with forces,—to begin with, forces especially of will. For it is not thought or reflection, but first and foremost the faculty of will that man possesses after death. Will becomes itself perception, becomes man's whole world of life. He has to perform an act of will whenever he wants to perceive anything. For he must form. and fashion himself in accordance with what he wants to see. That is, he must will. He must become like what he wills to perceive. It is above all the will that is developed when a man has passed through the gate of death, and upon it work, for good or ill, the impressions of which I have spoken in connection with the Moon sphere.
The next sphere into which the human being passes is that of Mercury. By this time—and often at the cost of great suffering—the human being has been able so far to adjust his physiognomy to the forces of the super-sensible world that he has laid aside the physiognomy of evil and has gradually come to resemble the forms of the Angels, Archangels and Archai. The process is in many cases slow, but eventually man enters the sphere of Mercury, the dwelling-place of the beings of the Third Hierarchy, and has to live there among them and undergo what I have already described. This is the sphere in which he gradually unfolds understanding of what, previously, was more or less blank perception—although it exercised a potent influence upon the domain of his will. In the Mercury-sphere understanding for all that has been perceived begins to dawn within man. In the present age human life is such that those who investigate these matters with Imaginative perception have tragic experiences. For the state in which the souls of the dead find themselves in this Mercury sphere depends to a great extent upon whether, here on Earth, they were materialists and rejected in thought and deed everything of a super-sensible nature, or whether they had understanding for the super-sensible. A man who in earthly life rejected all that transcends the material, confronts the Beings in the Mercury sphere with comparatively little understanding. It is the same when he comes to the next sphere, where he lives among Beings who also belong to the Hierarchy of Angels, Archangels and Archai but have reached a somewhat higher stage of development. If a man was a rank materialist in earthly life, he has no understanding at all of the Beings in the Venus sphere. For here the forces of cosmic love pour down upon him. If he has not acquired on Earth the capacity of love, the region he now enters is strange and foreign to him in the highest degree. The forces of cosmic love flood his being in the Venus sphere if, on Earth, he possessed the faculty of love; but if, on Earth, he consciously or unconsciously harboured hatred in his breast, these forces of the Venus sphere are changed within him into forces of wrath. This is the mystery of man's sojourn in the Venus sphere. For those who bring with them from Earth considerable remains of forces of hatred, it is as though metamorphosed forces of love—forces, that is, of wrath and fury—were to rise up within them from out of their will. Man sees himself in a manifestation that impels him to say: It must all be subdued, it must be chastened and brought into harmony with the Cosmos. It is ultimately always the will that receives, shall I say, special care and nurture in the Venus sphere—the will, which in earthly man has its seat in the limb and metabolic system in the lower part of his organism, that is to say, in the part of man that becomes after death “physiognomy.” It is therefore the will that comes to expression in this physiognomy.
All this time man is coming, by degrees, to resemble the Beings that are present in the spiritual Cosmos, and he is gradually passing on into the sphere of the Sun. In the Sun sphere the forces work chiefly on that in man which in its earthly reflection we know as feeling. What the Sun shows us, when we look up to it with our physical eyes, is its outward aspect only. In its inner aspect the Sun is the great cosmic meeting-place of all those Spiritual Beings who guide and direct the destinies of the Earth and of the men on Earth. The Sun is, above all, the colony of the Beings of the Second Hierarchy—the Exusiai, Kyriotetes, Dynamis. Whereas before entering the Sun sphere man lives only among human beings with whom he is linked by destiny, others now approach him. His circle of acquaintances—if one may be allowed the expression—grows wider and wider. This takes place in the sphere of the Sun. Here, too, a new and particularly vivid experience befalls man.
There below him lies another world—the Earth he has left behind but which he must tread again. In the Sun sphere, as you have heard, the metamorphosis of man's being takes place; here is wrought out the great change of which I have told you, when man's lower being is transformed into the upper being in preparation for the next earthly life. The legs are wrought into the spirit-form of the lower jaw, the arms into the spirit-form of the upper jaw and cheek-bones, and so on. This is a wonderful work which proceeds in the spiritual world, and in comparison with it any work that is done on earth in whatsoever domain is utterly insignificant. Great and majestic is the work that is accomplished by man in the spiritual world in union with higher spiritual Beings! There, in the sphere of the Sun (using the word in its wider sense) the secret of man's being is worked out. But now comes another experience.
If we are healthy in soul and spirit during our life on Earth, we are bound to realise that there is another world, a spiritual world, even if we cannot pierce through to it with actual knowledge. We take the existence of the spiritual world for granted; we say that beyond the material world there is a super-sensible world. This is how it is in earthly life. But during existence in the Sun sphere between death and a new birth, it is the other way round. In his Sun existence, an experience befalls man that teaches him to speak of a world beyond—but this “world beyond” is the Earth! It is an intensely living experience, not so much now of one's own destiny, but of the whole intrinsic character of Earth existence. And there is one feature of it which you can observe and should test for yourselves. People of to-day can hardly yet succeed in this, but you must try. When you are reading history and following it back through the centuries, it may well be that you have a curious experience. You are living now in the year 1923. You go back through history—through the world war, through still earlier events, until you come at length to the period, let us say, between the years 1500 and 1550. There you begin to feel that it is all familiar to you. Consider for a moment an intimate experience of this kind. You seem to know all about events that happened several centuries ago. You say to yourself: Surely I must have had a share in these events! A superficial student will immediately conclude that this was the period of his previous incarnation on Earth. This is, however, in most cases incorrect. As a rule it is that period between death and rebirth when, in the Sun sphere, you experienced most vividly your connection with earthly existence. Earth life presented itself to you then as a “beyond,” very much as the super-sensible life presents itself to you on Earth as a “beyond.”
Let us now pause for a moment in our study of man's path of evolution after death. We have seen that when man has gone away from the Earth he completes first the Moon existence, then enters upon the Mercury existence, then Venus and then the Sun. Of what follows we shall speak later on. But now it must be clearly understood that these events and processes are not isolated events and processes in the spiritual world but are all related to what happens on the physical Earth. And the relationship is of a distinctive character. The Moon existence is permeated through and through with the Beings of whom we have been speaking to-day—the great primeval Teachers of the human race. In a remote age of antiquity they left the Earth and went out into the Cosmos to form the cosmic colony of the Moon. But in later times we may still find here and there human beings, initiated in the Mysteries, who were possessed of quick inner sight and hearing, and could apprehend the wisdom which had once been living on Earth thanks to the presence of these primeval Initiates. Thus, in the ancient Indian period of civilisation there was still present in the Mysteries a living knowledge of the Wisdom of the Moon Initiates. There must we look, to find the source of all that can so deeply stir our wonder and admiration in the echoes we still possess of ancient Indian Wisdom. Nor is this all. Influences continue to pour down from the super-earthly world in which man lives between death and a new birth,—and the influences change with each succeeding epoch. As time goes on, their power grows continuously weaker; that is to say, human beings grow gradually less and less conscious of these influences. The Mercury influences, for example, were particularly strong during the period of ancient Persian civilisation, but human beings were already becoming less conscious of them: the myth of Ahura Mazdao is the outcome of a somewhat darkened knowledge of the influence exercised upon the Earth by Mercury. During the Egypto-Chaldean epoch the Venus influences were principally at work. Then came the wonderful epoch of Greek culture, continuing on into the Latin, when the Sun influences worked upon the Earth with greatest strength. Man was, however, in this Graeco-Latin epoch still less observant of such influences. Two factors were working together. When in his existence between death and a new birth man entered the Sun sphere, he felt an urgent desire to experience the Earth from the Sun. That is one factor. The second is that everything connected with the Sun and the nature of the Sun had a very strong influence upon the Greeks. All that the forces of the Sun give to the Earth had a deep meaning for them, especially for those generally known as the Athenians, in contrast to the Spartans. Yet everywhere in Greece the Sun, in its spiritual aspect as well, exercised a remarkably deep influence on the whole form and development of civilisation. Throughout this phase of evolution there was a strong aptitude on Earth for the perception of the spiritual, the purely spiritual, in the starry heavens. Perception of the material aspect of the heavens did not really begin until the time of our fifth Post-Atlantean period, which is, as you know, only a few hundred years old. The fact that these influences are working in our time indicates that we have passed out of the region where men feel themselves related, on Earth, to the feeling they had of being in the Sun-existence between death and a new birth. We to-day are much more susceptible to what follows. After the time spent in the Sun man comes to the domain of Mars. The strongest cosmic influence working upon humanity to-day is the impulse which comes from Mars existence. We can become acquainted with these Mars influences between death and a new birth when the Noontide hour of existence has been passed and we begin once again to approach the Earth. It must not, however, be thought that the influences connected with the Sun existence cease to work upon a man when he has passed into the Mars sphere. The Sun extends the sphere of its activity over those planetary phases of existence which follow. The Sun's influences remain; but the Mars existence begins to be a significant factor in what happens on Earth. I shall speak further of the journey of the human being through the Mars existence, but I want now to connect what we have just been learning of the spiritual world with what we find at work precisely in our own, fifth Post-Atlantean age.
In our time we are learning what cosmic battle is. We can “sense” it taking place. Most of us cannot unravel its mysteries; but we know that in cosmic existence war is being waged to-day between all manner of good and evil spirits. And here the Sun existence acquires a particular significance for our age. It is exceedingly difficult to-day for the results of spiritual insight to make any headway in face of material science! People are so proud of the fact that physics has investigated the Sun! The Sun is described for us in scientific text-books; but these descriptions, instead of stimulating in us a true conception of the Sun, really serve only to put our minds off the track. What then is actually the influence of the Sun in regard to the Earth to-day? I will indicate one only of its activities. It may seem to you that I am descending here into very material realms that are in strange contrast to the spiritual events of which we have been speaking; but what I am now going to say is of importance for the further progress of the studies upon which we are engaged.
You are, of course, familiar with the phenomenon of the Sunspots which appear with a certain regularity. Dark spots are observed on the Sun. These Sun-spots and their meaning are the cause of much dispute in material science, but a more accurate research would reveal the following. A constant impulse arises from within the Sun to throw out Sun-substance into the Universe through these dark portals. And the Sun-substance thus thrown out appears within our solar system in the form of comets, meteors and shooting stars. Now it is particularly in our age that the Beings who rule over the Universe from within the Sun are casting forth these comets, meteors and shooting stars. They did so in earlier times as well, but in our time this activity of theirs has a new significance. You will remember I said how in earlier times it was the purely spiritual impulses in the starry system that were particularly at work. In our time it is the impulses contained in the iron thrown out from the Sun that have special significance for human beings. And these impulses are used by Him whom we know as the Michael Spirit, in the service of the spiritual in the Cosmos. In our age there are thus present in the Cosmos impulses which were not working with the same strength in earlier periods of civilisation. This cosmic iron, in its spiritual nature, makes it possible for the Michael Spirit to mediate between the super-sensible and the material on Earth. We find, therefore, on the one side a spirit of warfare abroad in the world man enters, when in our time he reaches to what lies behind outer sense-existence. When a man crosses the Threshold with super-sensible sight and instead of directing his gaze to matters which concern him personally turns his attention to great affairs of the Universe which underlie our whole civilisation, then he sees warfare and battle, spiritual battle. There is strife, there is war and conflict in the spiritual, behind the veils of existence. And the iron which, even to the point of physical manifestation, is thrown out by the Sun Spirits into the Cosmos—with this iron Michael arms Himself for His task in the cosmic war. For Michael has the task of helping humanity to go forward in the right way in face of these Powers of Strife behind the veils of civilisation. On the one hand—battle and warfare. On the other hand—the labours and strivings of Michael.
Moon—Ancient Indian civilisation
Mercury—Ancient Persian civilisation
Venus—Egypto-Chaldean civilisation
Sun—Greco-Latin civilisation
Mars (Iron)—
Now all this is again connected with the development of man's freedom, man's free spiritual activity. As earthly men we have iron in our blood. If we were beings with no iron in our blood, the feeling and impulse of freedom would still be able to arise in our souls, but we should not have bodies which could be used for putting this impulse into operation. That we are able not only to conceive the idea of freedom, but also to feel in our body the power to make the body itself into a bearer of the impulse of freedom, is due to the fact that in our age we can learn how Michael takes the cosmic iron, which was cast out also in former times, into His service. And we ourselves, if we understand the Michael impulse aright, can learn how to place the iron that we have within us into the service of the impulse of spiritual freedom. Matter in any case has meaning for us only when we learn to understand it as an expression of the Spiritual in the Universe. In this age what we have to learn is to make the right use of the iron in our blood. For wherever iron is, there too is the impulse for the development of freedom. This is true in the Cosmos and true also in man. It was out of a deep instinct that the Initiates of old ascribed iron to Mars—iron which has a significance for human blood, and therewith also a cosmic significance.
These things can be known to-day through Spiritual Science, It is not a question of a revival of ancient traditions but of a re-discovery by Spiritual Science itself. If Anthroposophy is found to be in agreement with ancient lore, that does not show that Anthroposophy is merely a revival of the old. Anthroposophy investigates things by studying them in their own intrinsic nature. Their significance is then brought home to one anew when one finds that men had this same knowledge long ago under the influence of the ancient Divine Wisdom possessed by those Beings who afterwards took their departure to the Moon and to-day people the cosmic colony of the Moon.
The age in which we live is, therefore, also bound up with the experiences through which man passes between death and rebirth. Perception of what is happening on Earth is strongest during the period of existence in the Sun-sphere, but it is always there after death in greater or less degree. From the super-earthly regions in which he lives between death and a new birth, man is perpetually looking down at the earthly world. If it were not so, the earthly world would become foreign to him during the long journey between death and a new birth.
The experiences of man in the super-sensible world can be described in many ways. Yesterday I described them to you in another way; now I have been describing them to you in connection with the world of stars and with what takes place on Earth in the consecutive epochs of civilisation. All these descriptions must gradually be built up together into one whole. It would be a mistake to say: Yes, but how is it that on one occasion you describe man's life between death and rebirth in one way and on another occasion in quite a different way? If a man goes to a city once or twice or three times, he will certainly describe things differently, as his knowledge of the city grows. The details of all his descriptions have then to be put together. In the same way must the descriptions of man's experiences in the super-sensible world be brought together, be considered and pondered in all their connections. Thus alone can we gain an impression of what the super-sensible world really is and what man experiences there. This was the point I wanted to reach in the present lecture. In the lecture this evening I will speak of further experiences undergone by the human being in his existence between death and a new birth.
Vierter Vortrag
Heute nachmittag haben wir gesehen, wie man sich das Leben zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt vorstellen kann als einen Durchgang durch geistige Gebiete, und wir haben zugleich gesehen, wie man Gesichtspunkte für dieses Durchgehen durch gewisse geistige Gebiete dadurch gewinnen kann, daß man hinweist auf gewisse Sternenorte. Wir wollen aber, bevor wir weitergehen, uns noch genauer davon unterrichten, wie dieses Durchgehen durch solche Gebiete, die angezeigt werden durch Sternenorte, zu denken ist.
Es könnte ja scheinen, als ob es genügend wäre, den Durchgang durch das zwischen zwei Erdenleben befindliche übersinnliche Dasein nur so darzustellen, wie ich es etwa in meiner «Theosophie» getan habe. Gewiß, für den Anfang ist es zunächst durchaus richtig, diese Gebiete in dieser Art kennenzulernen. Allein, man muß ja auch in der Erkenntnis weiterschreiten. Da ist es dann schon notwendig, daß man diese Dinge auch so behandelt, daß man die Einheit der Welt, das harmonisch-einheitliche Zusammenwirken von übersinnlicher und sinnlicher Welt wirklich berücksichtigt. Und in bezug darauf kann man sagen: Das ganze Verhältnis der einzelnen Gebiete, die der Mensch zwischen dem Tode und der neuen Geburt betritt, kommt äußerlich zum Ausdruck wiederum in dem räumlich-zeitlichen Verhältnis, das die betreffenden Sterne zueinander haben, so daß eigentlich dasjenige, was man schildern will, in einem richtigen Abbilde gegeben ist, wenn man es, sagen wir, sternengemäß schildert. Und es ist ja auch wirklich so: Wenn man äußerlich auf den Stern hinweist, hat man den betreffenden Ort, auf den man hinweisen muß, wenn es sich um irgendein übersinnliches Gebiet handelt.
Man kann dagegen nun einwenden: Die Dinge, die zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt liegen, können doch nicht räumlich vorgestellt werden, oder sie können wenigstens nur bis zu einem gewissen Grade räumlich vorgestellt werden. Das ist zwar richtig, aber sie spielen in den Raum herein. Alles, was überräumlich und überzeitlich ist, spielt in Raum und Zeit herein, und da der Mensch schon einmal darauf angewiesen ist, sein Vorstellen nach Raum und Zeit zu richten, so ist gerade das Sternenbild das allerbeste Bild, das, wenn wir es in unserer Seele haben, uns das betreffende Bild am allerbesten wiedergibt. Nur kommt eines dazu. In der Physik kann der Mensch lernen, daß diejenigen Vorgänge, die wir in der physischen Welt haben und die der Schwerkraft unterliegen, Veränderungen erleiden, wenn wir in den Weltenraum hinausgehen. Der Physiker gibt an, in welchem Verhältnis die Schwerkraft an Intensität abnimmt: sie nimmt ab im Quadrat der Entfernung. Auch die Leuchtekraft nimmt ab im Quadrat der Entfernung. Nur das eine gibt der Mensch nicht zu, daß alle die Erkenntnisse über sinnliche Dinge, die er hier auf der Erde gewonnen hat, von dieser Erde her genommen sind, und daß es sehr plausibel ist, wenn das, was für die Erdenumgebung in bezug auf Schwerkraft, Licht und so weiter richtig ist, in seiner Richtigkeit abnimmt, wenn wir in den Weltenraum hinausgehen, so daß wir dann auch nur berechtigt sind, von den Erkenntnissen, die heute überall vertreten werden, zu reden als von solchen, die im Umkreise der Erde gelten. So wie die Schwerkraft abnimmt im Quadrat der Entfernung, so nimmt die Wahrheit unserer Urteile ab, wenn wir uns von der Erde entfernen. Wenn heute der Astronom oder der Astrophysiker mit dem gewöhnlichen Denken feststellen will, was zum Beispiel in einem Spiralnebel draußen vorgeht, so wäre das ebenso, wie wenn man nach den Erdenverhältnissen berechnen wollte, wie schwer ein Stein sein würde in diesem Spiralnebel draußen. Daher sollte man nicht überrascht sein, wenn die Geisteswissenschaft sagen muß: Ja, hier auf der Erde sehen die Sachen so aus, aber draußen in der Wirklichkeit sind sie ganz anders. Hier auf der Erde sieht der Mond so aus, wie wir ihn gewohnt sind zu erblicken, in der Wirklichkeit aber ist der Mond eben die kosmische Kolonie, die das enthält, was ich heute nachmittag beschrieben habe. So also verhält es sich mit den Sternen und Sternbildern. Und das muß schon berücksichtigt werden, wenn ich nun die andere Schilderung gebe, die jetzt Gegenstand unserer Betrachtung sein muß.
Wir haben nun die Betrachtungen bis dahin fortgesetzt, wo der Mensch zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt in das Sonnengebiet hineinkommt. In diesem Sonnengebiete geht eben das vor, was ich beschrieben habe als die Umarbeitung der unteren menschlichen Geistgestalt in das, was das Haupt im nächsten Erdenleben sein wird. Nun müssen wir aber berücksichtigen, daß der Mensch seinen Weg zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt so nimmt, daß er eigentlich alle diese Sternengebiete zweimal passiert. Der Mensch kommt in die Mondennähe, indem er durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, er kommt dann in die Merkurnähe, in die Venusnähe, in das Sonnengebiet. Soweit sind wir gekommen. Da beginnt dann in der Tat das, was Umarbeitung des unteren Menschen in den oberen Menschen ist, so daß das, was Gliedmaßen des Menschen waren, in das Kopfsystem, zunächst geistig, umgearbeitet werden. Aber diese Umarbeitung ist etwas außerordentlich Grandioses. Und derjenige, der das menschliche Haupt nur in physischer Beziehung betrachtet, ahnt eigentlich gar nicht, was alles im Weltenall zusammenwirken muß, um die Geistanlage dieses menschlichen Hauptes zustandezubringen. Es beginnt diese Arbeit - die Arbeit an der Geistanlage des menschlichen Hauptes, die dann die Embryonalanlage im Physischen ergreift -, wenn der Mensch auf seinem Wege nach dem Tode zunächst im Sonnengebiete ist; er tritt dann ein in das Marsgebiet, dann in das Jupitergebiet und in das Saturngebier. Dieses letztere ist tatsächlich, denn Uranus und Neptun kommen dafür nicht in Betracht, das letzte Gebiet, das der Mensch dann betritt. Während all dieser Zeit, in welcher der Mensch durch diese Gebiete durchgeht, wird gearbeitet an der Geistanlage seines Hauptes. Dann geht der Mensch sozusagen weiter in das Weltenall, in die Wogen des Weltenalls hinaus, und da geschieht diese Umarbeitung immer noch, bis der Mensch seinen Weg wieder zurücknimmt — zurück wieder durch das Saturngebiet, durch das Jupiter-, Marsgebiet zum Sonnengebiet, bis er wieder zur Mondensphäre kommt. Wir werden hören, wie dieses Erleben weiter vor sich geht. Jetzt aber wollen wir einmal vor unsere Seele stellen, was der Mensch durchmacht, wenn er das Sonnengebiet durchlebt hat.
Bis der Mensch zum Sonnengebiete hinkommt, erlebt er zumeist das, was noch ziemlich eng mit ihm selber zusammenhängt. Ich konnte Ihnen am Nachmittag schildern, wie der Mensch die Physiognomie seines Guten und Bösen an sich trägt, wie er dadurch die Anschauung bekommt von anderen, ähnlich gearteten Wesen, wie er dann immer mehr und mehr seine Gestalt verändert, ähnlich wird den Wesenheiten, die der übersinnlichen Welt angehören, so daß er ansichtig wird der Wesenheiten der dritten Hierarchie, auch derjenigen der zweiten Hierarchie. Wenn man also den Menschen bis zum Sonnendasein hin schildern will, muß man ihn so schildern, daß man zunächst an seine Geistgestalt anknüpft und diese schildert. Aber indem der Mensch in das Sonnengebiet eintritt, kommt auch zugleich dasjenige über ihn, was ich - ohne Anlehnung an das Astronomische - ja schon in den vorigen Stunden geschildert habe: es kommt über ihn das Sich-Hineinleben in die Weltenmusik. Da hört er den Sinn alles Zusammenwir kens der Sternenwelten in den Weltenharmonien, in der Weltenmelodik. Denn dieses Zusammenwirken der Sterne, in dem sich aber zugleich ausdrückt das Zusammenwirken aller der geistigen Wesenheiten, die in diesen Gebieten sind, das gibt eben zuletzt jene Erscheinung, die als Weltenmelodik und Weltenharmonie zum Ausdruck kommt. Es ist vorzugsweise das Gefühlsleben in seiner geistigen Metamorphose, das da angeregt wird, wenn der Mensch das Sonnendasein betritt. Und alles, was der Mensch erlebt, erlebt er so, wie wenn er durchvibriert würde durch die Weltenmelodik und Weltenharmonie.
Wir brauchen, wenn wir in diesem Stadium des Lebens zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt sind, nicht Theorien, wir brauchen auch zunächst nicht das, was sich in Worten aussprechen läßt, sondern wir brauchen das universelle, uns ausfüllende Gefühl, wie harmonisch und melodisch die einzelnen Wesenhaftigkeiten des Weltalls zusammenwirken. Und da tritt wieder etwas ein, was uns so recht zeigt das Verhältnis der beiden Welten, der physisch-sinnlichen Welt und der übersinnlich-überphysischen Welt.
In dem Augenblick, wo wir das Sonnendasein betreten und aus dem Kosmos von überallher an uns herankommt Weltenmelodik und Weltenharmonie, kurz Weltenmusik, in diesem Augenblick fühlen wir noch die letzten Reste desjenigen, was wir während des Erdendaseins hatten als eine unserer geistigsten Fähigkeiten: die letzten Reste der Sprache. Wenn während des Durchganges zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt schon selbst die Geistgestalt von uns abgefallen ist, wenn wir selbst schon während des Sonnendaseins in unserer eigenen, zur Kopfbildung umgewandelten Gestalt ähnlich geworden sind der Weltensphäre, wenn also schon das, was uns in äußerer Gestaltigkeit noch an das Erdendasein erinnert, von uns weggefallen ist, dann geht dasjenige, was sich in uns ausgedrückt hat während wir Erdenmenschen waren, dadurch daß wir sprechen können, daß wir unsere Gedanken in Worte hineingießen können - kurz, es geht dasjenige, was sich seelisch in der Sprache ausgelebt hat, uns nach und bringt - wenigstens wie es jetzt die Menschen auf der Erde haben in der Erinnerung eine Art Mißklang in die Weltenmusik hinein. Es ist in der Tat ein Mißklang, der in die Weltenmusik dadurch hineinkommt, daß der Mensch die Reste seines sprachlichen Vermögens noch bis in das Sonnendasein hineinträgt. Und dies, was der Mensch so durch seine Sprache hineinträgt in das Sonnendasein, das ist im wesentlichen die Unterlage für gewisse höhere Geister, die die Aufgabe haben, an dem Erdendasein von außen her, vom Kosmos her zu arbeiten, indem sie sehen, was im Erdendasein degeneriert ist, schlecht geworden ist, und was sich ausdrückt durch die menschliche Sprache, namentlich so wie die Sprache heute ist.
Diese menschliche Sprache ist ja heute eigentlich in keiner der europäischen oder amerikanischen Formen mehr etwas, was sich mit elementarer Gewalt aus dem Menschen heraus entwickelt. Man möchte sagen, was die Sprache einmal war, das kann vielleicht wieder einmal auf die Erde kommen in der folgenden Weise. Es lernen heute einige von uns Eurythmie. Was geschieht denn da eigentlich, wenn die Menschen Eurythmie lernen? Man spricht heute leicht irgendein Wort aus, ohne eine Ahnung zu haben, wie die ganze Konfiguration dieses Wortes mit dem inneren seelischen Erleben zusammenhängt. Worte aussprechen heißt heute vielfach, sich nur einer Konvention fügen. Daß wir, wenn wir, abgesondert von aller anderen Buchstabenmäßigkeit, einfach ein A sagen, dann etwas ausdrücken, was seiner Lautlichkeit nach aus dem Erstaunen, aus der Verwunderung über etwas entspringt, daran denken ja die Menschen nicht mehr. Und wenn wir ein B aussprechen, so ist das etwas, was bedeutet, wir schaffen eine Umhüllung, wir umhüllen irgend etwas mit etwas. Konsonanten bedeuten immer Formen, Vokale bedeuten immer Gefühle. Das Innere der Menschenseele bedeutet Vokale, Konsonanten bedeuten immer Formen. Daher ist mit dem B-Laut ursprünglich verbunden das Umhüllen, eigentlich das Haus, das Häuschen. Sage ich B, so meine ich das Umhüllende. Sage ich A, so ist das etwas wie ein tief in der Seele-Sitzen von Verwundern. Sage ich T, so bedeutet das als Konsonant ein Sich-Festsetzen, Absatzmachen mit etwas, Stehenbleiben bei etwas, D ist ein sanfteres Stehenbleiben. Wenn ich also etwa - verzeihen Sie, daß ich jetzt ein deutsches Wort gebrauche (es wurde ja in Holland gesprochen) - das Wort Bad ausspreche, so müßte ich, wenn ich auf den Ursprung zurückgehe, wo das Wort noch voll empfunden und angeschaut wird, mir etwa sagen: Da ist die Umhüllung, da ist das Wasser - B, wenn es mir richtig erwärmt ist - ah! jetzt bin ich beim A -, und jetzt bleibe ich drinnen - D. Das ganze Erlebnis liegt in dem Wort. Wenn man das nun heute auseinandersetzt, so erscheint es etwas leise humoristisch, da die Leute heute die Worte nicht mehr erleben. Wollte man aber das Wort Bad in dieser Weise erleben, so müßte man sagen: das Haus, in dem für mich die Verwunderung ist, in der ich sitze. Und so ist die Sprache eigentlich überall durchzogen von seelischem Erleben, das menschliche seelische Erleben fließt konkret in die Sprache aus. Die Sprache war einstmals so, daß man sie in dieser Weise empfunden hat. In den ursprünglichen, primitiven Sprachen war die Sprache durchaus überall Gefühls- und Formanschauung: Gefühlsanschauung in den Vokalen, Formanschauung in den Konsonanten. Heute hat sich das losgelöst und alles ist Konvention geworden. Wir leben schon so, daß die Worte für uns fast nur noch gedächtnismäßig sind.
Nun verwandeln wir das, was das B, das A, das D ist, wieder zurück in der Eurythmie in die entsprechende Gebärde. Indem der Eurythmiker die Gebärde ausführt, muß er wieder dazu kommen, die Sprache zu erleben. Und man kann hoffen, wenn die Eurythmie einmal in weiteren Kreisen beliebt wird, daß dann der Mensch wieder den Weg zurückfindet zur angeschauten und empfundenen Sprache, zu dem, was die primitiven Sprachen waren. So wird Eurythmie in der Zukunft nicht nur etwas sein, was sie als neue Kunst jetzt ist, sondern sie wird wiederum der Wegweiser dazu sein, das seelisch-geistige Leben auf den Wellen und Wogen der Sprache zu tragen. Wir haben es heute schon dahin gebracht, daß die Sprache so wenig artikuliert wird - ich denke jetzt gar nicht an eine Durchseelung der Sprache -, daß eine Anzahl Menschen im Grunde genommen gar nicht mehr spricht, sondern die Worte «spuckt». So wenig ist aus dem Seelischen herausgeboren, was heute in der Sprache liegt. Es ist manchmal zum Verzweifeln, wie die Worte nicht mehr durchseelt und durchlebt, ja nicht einmal mehr artikuliert sind!
So ist es schon, daß heute ein schriller Mißton von der Erde hineinklingt in die Weltenmusik, wenn der Mensch nach dem Tode im Sonnendasein angekommen ist. Und gerade aus dieser Beschaffenheit der Sprache registrieren gewisse geistige Wesenheiten, was Niedergangserscheinungen im Erdendasein sind, und wie man die Kräfte, die Impulse finden kann, um wieder zu einer Art Aufstieg zu kommen.
Und dann geht die Wanderung des Menschen zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt weiter, und er kommt in das Marsdasein hinein. Was heißt das: er kommt in das Marsdasein? Jetzt kann ich schon nicht mehr so sprechen, daß ich anknüpfe an die menschliche Geistgestalt, denn der Mensch ist ja ganz und gar verwandelt, ist eine im Geistigen erschaffene Nachahmung der Weltensphäre geworden. So geht jetzt schon die Wanderung weiter, durch Mars, Jupiter und Saturn hin, in die Wogen und Wellen des Kosmos. Aber indem der Mensch in die Marsregion kommt, erlebt er dort die Marsbevölkerung, wenn ich mich so ausdrücken darf, jene Marsbevölkerung, die eben nur sich darstellt entweder aus den entkörperten Menschenseelen oder aus den Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien, vor allen Dingen aber aus den Wesenheiten jener höheren Hierarchien, welche aus ihrem ganzen Sein heraus die Weltensprache in das Weltengebiet hinaustönen lassen. Damit tritt der Mensch in das Gebiet ein, wo Weltenmusik zur Weltensprache wird, wo er zunächst hört, dann aber selbst einverwoben wird in die Weltensprache, wo er also nicht jene bloß nachahmende Sprache des Menschen vernimmt, sondern die schöpferische Sprache, aus der die Dinge werden. Das ist während des Marsdurchganges. Da lernt der Mensch von den Wesenheiten dieser Region nun schon in einer bewußten Weise. Die geistige Marsbevölkerung besteht aus den Kennern der Weltensprache, neben denjenigen Wesenheiten, die Kampfnaturen sind und dergleichen. - Aber die für den Menschen wichtigsten Wesenheiten der geistigen Marsbevölkerung sind diejenigen, die eigentlich ihrer ganzen Natur nach bestehen aus ertönendem Weltenwort. Sie sind die Bewahrer desjenigen, was Weltensprache ist.
Dann geht des Menschen Wanderung weiter. Er kommt in die Region des Jupiter. Dort sind diejenigen Wesenheiten, welche die Bewahrer der Weltgedanken sind. Wesenheiten, die dort vorhanden sind, strahlen aus in unser Planetensystem und in dessen Nachbarschaft Gedanken-Wesenheiten. Da geht der Mensch jetzt auch hindurch. Er macht jetzt die Verwandlung durch, die ich in der folgenden Weise, nur schematisch, bezeichnen kann. Denken Sie sich also, der Mensch wird selber eine Art Abbild der Weltensphäre, das, was die Geistanlage seines späteren, auf der Erde zu tragenden Kopfes ist. Nachdem er im Sonnendasein an der Empfindung des schrillen Mißklanges der Erdensprache ablegen gelernt hat diese Erdensprache, wächst er hinein während des Marsdurchganges in die Weltensprache, und er bekommt die erste Anlage dazu, diese Weltensprache zu verstehen. Das heißt, nachdem die Umgestaltung seines unteren Menschen begonnen hat, wie ich es beschrieben habe, der Beingliedmaßen in den Unterkiefer, der Arme in den Oberkiefer und so weiter, bildet der Mensch zuerst mit den Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien zusammen eben die Geistanlage seines künftigen Hauptes aus. Aber zunächst wird dieses Haupt dazu veranlagt, verständnisvoll das Weltenall aufzufassen — nicht die Erde! Es lernt zuerst die Weltensprache, lernt zuerst die Weltengedanken. Diese Weltengedanken und diese Weltensprache leben sich in das menschliche Haupt ein, und so wie der Mensch hier auf der Erde etwas weiß vom Mineralien-, Pflanzen- und Tierreich, so weiß er in der Tat während dieses Durchganges durch Mars und Jupiter Bescheid von den Geheimnissen des geistigen Weltenalls. Der Mensch bekommt ja eigentlich erst die richtige Empfindung gegenüber der Menschennatur, wenn er sich dessen bewußt wird, daß er beim Durchgang durch das Leben zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt zunächst gelernt hat alle Namen der wunderbaren majestätischen Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien, daß er gelernt hat zu verstehen, was ins Weltenall hinaus schaffend diese Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien wirken, daß er gelernt hat, Urteile aufzufassen, die sich nicht darauf beziehen: Wie legt man den Weg vom Haag nach Amsterdam zurück? - sondern die sich darauf beziehen: Wie werden Weltenepochen aus Weltenepochen geboren durch die Wirkungen der höheren Hierarchien? Dies beim Jupiterdurchgang.
Es folgt dann der Saturndurchgang. Der Saturn bringt an den Menschen das heran, was man nennen möchte Weltengedächtnis, denn der Saturn ist diejenige Sphäre im Weltendasein, wo die geistigen Wesenheiten lokalisiert sind, die ein Gedächtnis an alles bewahren, was in unserem Planetensystem jemals passiert ist. Der Saturn ist der große Gedächtnis- und Erinnerungsträger aller Geschehnisse unseres Planetensystems. So wie der Mensch zunächst lernt die Sprache der Götter im Marsgebiet, die Gedanken der Götter im Jupitergebiet, so lernt er während seines ersten Durchganges durch das Saturndasein alles das erkennen, woran sich die Götter des Planetensystemes erinnern. Dadurch ist seinem Sphärenhaupte, das die geistige Anlage seines künftigen Erdenhauptes ist, alles das eingestaltet, was er braucht, um ein Bürger des Kosmos zu sein und im Kosmos unter den Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien so zu leben, wie er auf der Erde unter den ihm untergeordneten Wesen des mineralischen, pflanzlichen und tierischen Reiches lebt.
Und indem der Mensch in seinem Geistdasein so innerlich bereichert ist, daß er verstehen gelernt hat die Sprache der großen Welt, des Makrokosmos im weitesten Sinne des Wortes, kommt er hinüber in dasjenige Gebiet, das man früher die Sphäre der Ruhesterne genannt hat. Da geht nicht mehr Planetenwirken vor sich, sondern da wirkt das Fixsternsystem. Und da wird erst im rechten Sinne aus unendlichen Geisteswelten heraus dasjenige vorgebildet, was alles zum menschlichen Haupte in seiner Uranlage gehört.
Dann tritt wieder der Mensch seinen Weg zurück an. Er kommt wieder zurück ins Saturngebiet. - Das alles können wir morgen noch besprechen. - Der Umstand, daß er im Saturndasein zuerst die planetarische Erinnerung in sich aufgenommen hat, gibt die Grundlage dafür, daß er jetzt in sein Haupt eingestaltet bekommen kann die Grundlage für die Erinnerungsfähigkeit, die er dann auf der Erde braucht. Es wird das, was in ihm eingepflanzt war als Weltengedächtnis, sozusagen verirdischt. Zurückverwandelt in die Fähigkeit des Menschengedächtnisses wird das Weltengedächtnis. Und wenn der Mensch wiederum in der Jupitersphäre angelangt ist, wird zurückverwandelt, was er erlangt hat durch die Anschauung der Göttergedanken, in die Fähigkeit, Menschengedanken zu fassen, die dann im gewöhnlichen Bewußtsein widergespiegelt werden können, wenn die Kopfanlage des Menschen sich vereinigt mit der physischen Embryonalanlage. - Aber jetzt kann auch bei diesem Durchgang durch den Saturn das einzelne beginnen, genauer ausgearbeitet zu werden das, was Umwandlung des unteren Menschen in die Glieder der Kopforganisation ist. Und das ist eine wunderbare Art, wie da ein Mensch an dem anderen arbeitet, wie diese Arbeit im Einklange geschieht mit den Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien, wie tatsächlich da am Menschenhaupt so gearbeitet wird, daß diese Arbeit wie ein Schaffen ist einer ganzen Welt für sich. Denn jedes Menschenhaupt, angesehen in der Sphäre, wo es auf dem Gebiete ist zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, von dem ich spreche, ist eine wunderbare Welt mit unzähligen Einzelheiten. Und die Arbeit daran erfordert eben die Hingabe derjenigen Menschen, die schicksalsmäßig miteinander verbunden sind, und die dazugehörige Arbeit derjenigen Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien, die aus dem Geheimnis des Kosmos heraus verstehen, wie solch ein Menschenhaupt gebildet werden muß. Es ist schon in der Tat etwas ganz Wunderbares, auf diese Art wissen zu lernen, was am Menschen ist. Und schließlich - zur Überhebung soll das ja eigentlich nicht führen, denn daß wir nicht in Überhebung verfallen zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt, dafür sorgt die Welt, in der wir drinnen sind. Es wäre in der Tat absurd, unter den Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien, unter den Seraphim, Cherubim, Thronen, in menschlichen Größenwahn zu verfallen, denn da ist man noch immer klein unter diesen Wesenheiten, unter denen man schafft. Und wenn man schließlich hier im Erdendasein erfährt, was der Mensch im großen Welten- Makrokosmos zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt ist, so ist ja auch alle Gelegenheit dazu gegeben, sich zu sagen: Nun, gar sehr viel hast du ins Erdendasein nicht hereingebracht, furchtbar viel darfst du dir also nicht einbilden auf deine gegenwärtige Lage, und auf das, was du unter Göttern warst, brauchst du nicht besonders stolz zu sein. - Aber das, was wachsen kann durch eine solche Anschauung über das, was sich mit dem Menschen zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt abspielt, ist das menschliche Verantwortlichkeitsgefühl, das ihm sagt: Man muß schon recht sehr sich bestreben, es auch im irdischen Dasein wert zu sein, ein Mensch zu sein, wenn man die ganze Bedeutung des Menschseins ermißt an dem, was für die Götter das Arbeiten am Menschen zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt ist.
Und wir kommen dann zurück in das Marsdasein. In diesem Marsdasein wird an dem Menschen wieder weitergearbeitet. Da aber werden schon angesetzt die Geistanlagen für den späteren neuen Körper, für die Brustanlage und für die Gliedmaßenanlage, die dann der Mensch im späteren Erdenleben tragen wird. Denn so ist es durchaus, daß die Gliedmaßenanlage vom vorigen Erdenleben als Kopfanlage erscheint im neuen Erdenleben, und daß neu angesetzt sind beim Durchgange durch die Sternenwelt zum neuen Erdenleben die Brust- und Gliedmaßenanlage für das neue Erdenleben. Nur daß dasjenige, was da angesetzt ist, eben alles noch im Geistigen geschieht. Wenn der Mensch durch das Marsdasein wieder durchgeht, dann wird das, was sich ihm in höchster Geistigkeit beim ersten Durchgange durch das Marsdasein eingegliedert hat, was ihn befähigt hat, das Weltenwort zu vernehmen, das wird jetzt aus dem höheren Geistigen in das etwas niedrigere Geistige, in jene geistige Substanz verwandelt, aus der dann später das menschliche Ich sich offenbart. Und es wird dann während dieses Durchganges durch das Marsdasein angegliedert die ganze Kehlkopf- und Lungengestaltung in der Geistanlage.
Dann kommt ja der Mensch wieder zum Sonnendasein zurück. Der zweite Durchgang durch das Sonnendasein ist von ganz besonderer Bedeutung. Denn der Mensch ist ja eigentlich bisher vom ersten Sonnendasein ausgegangen, ist durchgegangen durch Mars, Jupiter und Saturn zur Sternenwelt und macht jetzt den Weg wieder zurück durch Saturn, Jupiter, Mars. Während dieser ganzen Zeit ist er völlig an das Weltenall hingegeben, er ist ganz eins geworden mit dem Weltenall. Er lebt im Weltenall, er hat gelernt die Weltensprache, hat gelernt sich einzuverweben die Weltengedanken, lebt nicht in seiner Erinnerung, die erst später wieder aufgeht, sondern lebt in der Erinnerung des ganzen Planetensystems. Er lebt so, daß er sich eins fühlt mit den Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien in der Erinnerung von Weltengedanken und Weltensprache und kommt jetzt wieder zum Sonnendasein zurück. Da beginnt der Mensch gewissermaßen sich wiederum als Einzelwesen abzuschließen. Es dämmert leise das Gefühl auf: Du gliederst dich heraus aus der Welt. - Das ist aber damit verbunden, daß nun die Uranlage des menschlichen Herzens dem Menschen eingegliedert wird.
Und dann geht der Mensch weiter zurück, wiederum durch das Venusgebiet und das Merkurgebiet. Da wird ihm dann in der Uranlage eingegliedert, was weiter an Organen als Geistanlage an ihn herankommen muß.
Von dem Moment ab, wo der Mensch durch das zweite Sonnendasein durchgeht - das alles erfordert ja längere Zeiten - und lange eigentlich, bevor er das Erdendasein betritt, geschieht für ihn schon eine bedeutsame Schicksalswendung. In dem Moment, wo wir draußen im Kosmos die Geistanlage des menschlichen Herzens beim Zurückgange zur Erde gewinnen, steht natürlich nicht etwa bloß eine physische Herzform da - die ist schon angedeutet -, aber diese physische Herzform ist umgeben und verbunden mit alledem, was der Mensch wert geworden ist durch seine bisherigen Erdenleben. Nicht so sehr ist wichtig, daß wir die Uranlage des physischen Herzens in uns aufnehmen, sondern von ganz besonderer Wichtigkeit ist, daß da der Mensch sich zusammenkonzentriert in bezug auf das, was er seelisch, moralisch und geistig ist, denn das alles ist im menschlichen Herzen konzentriert. Und ehe die Herzanlage sich verbindet mit der Embryonalanlage des künftigen Menschenleibes, ist das Herz im Kosmos ein geistig-moralisch-seelisches Wesen im Menschen. Es verbindet dann der Mensch dieses geistig-moralisch-seelische Wesen - das jetzt in ihm erlebt, errungen ist beim Wiederzurückgang zur Erde - mit der Embryonalanlage. Dieses Zusammenkonzentrieren seines Seelisch-Moralisch-Geistigen erlebt der Mensch in Gemeinschaft mit den hohen Sonnenwesen, mit jenen Sonnenwesen, die eigentlich die schöpferischen Kräfte des Planetensystems und damit des Erdendaseins in der Hand haben.
Wenn ich mich bildlich ausdrücken darf - die Ausdrücke klingen etwas paradox, aber sie sind doch treffend -, ist es so, daß der Mensch in dem Augenblick, wo er sein kosmisches Herz bekommt, zugleich in der Umgebung derjenigen geistigen Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien ist, die sozusagen die Führerschaft in bezug auf das ganze Planetensystem im Zusammenhange mit dem Erdendasein in der Hand haben. Und da werden wir auf etwas ganz Grandioses, auf etwas ganz Wunderbares gewiesen. Man gewinnt eigentlich nur schwer Worte, um das zu schildern, was der Mensch da erlebt. Er fühlt in einer gewissen Beziehung so, wie er im physischen Dasein fühlt. Wie er sich in diesem verbunden fühlt mit seinem Herzschlag, mir der ganzen Herztätigkeit, so fühlt er sich da im Makrokosmos wie verbunden durch sein makrokosmisches geistiges Herz mit seiner ganzen geistig-seelisch-moralischen Wesenheit. Was er geworden ist im Weltenall bis zu diesem Augenblicke seines Geist-Erlebens als seelisch-moralisch-geistiges Wesen, das ist in ihm so, wie wenn es als geistiger Herzschlag in ihm wäre. Er fühlt sein ganzes Wesen jetzt im Kosmos wie seinen eigenen Herzschlag in sich, und er fühlt mit diesem Herzschlag verbunden auch eine Art Zirkulation. Wie wir hier auf der Erde im Herzschlag die ihn verursachende Blutzirkulation und Atmung fühlen, so empfinden wir, indem wir da draußen unser geistig-makrokosmisches Herz beim Rückgange durch das Sonnendasein, wenn ich mich bildhaft ausdrücken darf, geistig schlagen fühlen, dann so etwas, wie wenn von da aus die Strömungen zu den Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie hingehen. So wie von den Adern und aus den Adern im physischen Organismus das Blut zum Herzen rollt, so geht in unser geistig-seelisches Wesen herein, jetzt lokalisiert im Menschen, dasjenige, was Exusiai, Kyriotetes und Dynameis über die Welt, von der Welt, richtend über den Menschen, zu sagen haben. Der Geist des Weltenalls in seinen Worten und in seinen Tönen ist die Zirkulation, die sich konzentriert in diesem makrokosmisch-geistig schlagenden Herzen, diesem moralisch-geistig-seelischen menschlichen Wesen. Da schlägt das menschliche geistige Herz. Zugleich ist das der Herzschlag der Welt selber, in der der Mensch drinnen ist. Und in dieser Welt ist der Blutstrom das, was die schaffenden Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie tun, was von ihnen als Kräfte ausströmt. Und wie der Blutstrom im Menschen sich konzentriert im Herzen, so daß er vom Menschen unbewußt gefühlt wird - denn das Herz ist ein Sinnesorgan, das die Blutbewegung wahrnimmt, es ist nicht, wie es die Physiker meinen, ein Pumpwerk, sondern durch die Geistigkeit und Vitalität des Menschen bewegt sich das Blut -, so ist es dem Menschen gnadevoll erlaubt, in diesem Zeitpunkte zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt in sich zu hegen eines der Wahrnehmungsorgane, eines der kosmischen Herzen, welche geschaffen werden aus dem Pulsschlag des Makrokosmos heraus, der durch die Taten der Wesen der zweiten Hierarchie gebildet wird.
Und indem der Mensch dann weiter zurückgeht, kommt er wiederum, wie ich schon gesagt habe, durch das Merkur- und Venusdasein. Aber vorher, gerade in dem kosmischen Augenblick, wo der Mensch sich wahrhaftig fühlen darf im geistigen Herzen der Welt, da fällt sein Blick schon hinunter auf die Generationenreihe, an deren Ende das Elternpaar steht, durch das er geboren wird, so daß der Mensch mit seiner Generationenreihe verhältnismäßig früh verbunden ist. Wir werden geboren als Menschen von einem Vater und einer Mutter, unsere Eltern haben wieder Vater und Mutter, diese haben ebenfalls wieder Vater und Mutter, da sind wir schon fast über ein Jahrhundert gegangen, wenn wir in der Generationenreihe zurückgehen. Dann gehen wir weiter hinauf - und wir müssen durch mehrere Jahrhunderte hindurchgehen, denn schon lange, bevor der Mensch auf der Erde geboren ist, hat er sich mit der Generationenreihe verbunden, die in seiner Familie ihr Ende findet. Früh bestimmt sich der Mensch hinein in die Generationenreihe, wenn er in der Weise, wie ich es geschildert habe, durch das Sonnendasein geht. Und das, was dann der Mensch nötig hat, um sein Schicksal, soweit es möglich ist, zusammenzubringen mit dem, was ihm nun als äußeres Erlebnis dadurch entgegentritt, daß er ja in einer bestimmten Familie, in einem bestimmten Volke geboren werden muß, das kann er sich etwas erarbeiten, sich bestimmen, indem er durch die Weltenkolonie von Venus und Merkur durchgeht.
Dann kommt er wieder in den Bereich des Mondes. Bedenken wir: Als der Mensch zum ersten Male durch das Mondengebiet durchgegangen ist auf dem Wege zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, da war er im Bösen und im Guten dazu veranlaßt, an die Urweisen und an die Erde zu denken, an den Ausgangspunkt des Erdendaseins, wo übermenschliche Lehrer übermenschliche Weisheit dem Erdenmenschen gegeben haben. Jetzt, wenn er wieder zurückgeht, ist er in seiner Aufmerksamkeit weniger veranlaßt, sich demjenigen zuzuwenden, was einstmals auf der Erde war. Jetzt ist die Sache so, daß er dieselbe Zeit oben, kosmisch, im Mondendasein zubringt, die unten auf der Erde verläuft zwischen der Empfängnis und der Geburt, so daß in der Tat der Mensch seine Embryonalzeit mit einer kosmischen Entwickelung begleitet. Der Mensch macht oben im Mondengebiete eine gewisse Entwickelung durch, und unten wird ihm als das, womit er sich allmählich verbindet, mittlerweile zubereitet, sukzessive, der physische Embryo. Was macht er nun oben, makrokosmisch, während seiner zweiten Mondenentwickelung durch?
Ja, das Bewußtsein, das der Mensch in allen diesen Erlebnissen hat, die ich geschildert habe, ist ein viel helleres und wacheres, als wir es auf der Erde im normalen Leben haben. Es ist außerordentlich wichtig, daß wir uns darüber klar sind: Das Bewußtsein während des Träumens ist dumpf, das Bewußtsein während des Wachens ist hell, das Bewußtsein nach dem Tode ist noch heller, und alles Leben hier auf der Erde verhält sich wie Traum zur Wirklichkeit im Verhältnis zu dem, was wir an Helligkeit des Bewußtseins durchleben nach dem Tode. Aber mit jedem Erreichen einer neuen Etappe wird das Bewußtsein noch wacher, noch heller. Gehen wir zuerst durch das Mondendasein durch beim Aufstieg, dann wird unser Bewußtsein heller dadurch, daß wir in die Umgebung der weisen Urlehrer der Menschheit in der Mondenregion kommen. Gehen wir durch Merkur und Venus durch, immer wird unser Bewußtsein heller. Und so erhellt sich unser Bewußtsein jedesmal, wenn wir in eine neue Sternenregion eintreten. Nur, wenn wir wieder zurückgehen, dem neuen Erdenleben entgegen, wird dieses Bewußtsein wiederum stufenweise abgedämpft. Wenn wir aber beim Merkurdasein ankommen, haben wir noch immer ein helleres Bewußtsein, als irgendein Bewußtsein ist, das im gewöhnlichen Erdendasein verharrt. Aber wir kommen dann in die Mondenregion, und kommen in jene Mondenregion, die uns das darstellt, was der Mensch im Anfange der Erdenentwickelung war. Diese Region löscht unser Bewußtsein aus, wenn wir wieder zurückgehen. Da, wo wir für die übersinnliche Welt die erste Erleuchtung erhalten haben schon im wacheren Bewußtsein, als wir auf der Erde haben können, da wird beim Rückgang zur Erde das Bewußtsein herabgedämpft, bis es so weit herabgedämpft ist, daß es jetzt bloß Wachstumskraft werden kann, so Wachstumskraft werden kann, wie sie beim träumenden Kinde vorhanden ist. Bis zur Traumhaftigkeit wird das Bewußtsein herabgedämpft. Und erst, wenn es bis zur Traumhaftigkeit herabgedämpft ist, kann der Mensch das, was sich ihm als geistig-seelisches Wesen entwickelt hat, wie ich es dargestellt habe, mit seinem Embryo vereinigen. Zu dieser einzigen Tatsache, daß der Mensch in einer bestimmten Etappe seiner Entwickelung den gehörigen Zusammenhang haben kann mit dem physischen Embryo, ist es notwendig, daß er, ebenso wie unten der Embryo die zehn Mondmonate im Leibe der Mutter durchmacht, so oben in der Gemeinschaft der Urlehrer der Menschheit eine Mondenentwickelung durchmacht - eine Mondenentwickelung, die darin besteht, daß eine ganze Bevölkerung von Lehrern der Menschheit mitarbeitet, um jenes kosmische Bewußtsein, das der Mensch noch während des Merkurdaseins hatte, zu dämpfen zu jenem Traumbewußtsein, das vorhanden ist, wenn der Mensch das Erdendasein betritt.
Alles, was uns hier im physisch-sinnlichen Menschen entgegentritt, ist nur zu verstehen, wenn man es aus dem übersinnlichen Menschen heraus verstehen kann. Und der übersinnliche Mensch wiederum kann nicht auf der Erde oder aus den Erdentatsachen heraus begriffen werden, sondern der übersinnliche Mensch kann nur aus den Weltentatsachen, aus den makrokosmischen Tatsachen heraus begriffen werden. Und so waren die Vorträge bisher dazu zusammengefügt, um Ihnen zu zeigen, wie der Mensch als Erdenmensch herausgeboren sein muß aus dem geistigen Kosmos als Geistesmensch.
Es wird uns für den morgigen Vortrag noch übrigbleiben, daß wir nun auch in diesem Zusammenhange verstehen lernen die Bedeutung des Erdenlebens selbst, insofern das, was Übermensch ist, in dieses Erdenleben übergeht, und verstehen lernen die Bedeutung des Umstandes, daß der Mensch ja vom Erdenleben aus wiederum durch die Pforte des Todes die Reste desjenigen, was er sich im Erdenleben erwirbt, hinausträgt in die geistige Welt.
Jetzt, nachdem wir wenigstens in einigen Zügen die Geist-Natur des Menschen, seine übersinnliche Wesenheit, kennengelernt haben, wollen wir dann morgen wieder zurückgehen auf das Begreifen des Verhältnisses zwischen dem übersinnlichen und dem sinnlichen Menschen.
Fourth Lecture
This afternoon we have seen how life between death and the new birth can be imagined as a passage through spiritual realms, and at the same time we have seen how points of view for this passage through certain spiritual realms can be gained by pointing to certain star locations. But before we go any further, we want to inform ourselves more precisely about how this passage through such areas, which are indicated by star locations, is to be thought of.
It might seem as if it would be sufficient to describe the passage through the supersensible existence between two earthly lives only as I have done in my “Theosophy”. Certainly, for the beginning it is quite right to get to know these areas in this way. However, one must also progress in knowledge. It is then necessary to treat these things in such a way that one really takes into account the unity of the world, the harmonious and unified interaction of the supersensible and the sensible world. And with regard to this one can say: The whole relationship of the individual regions which the human being enters between death and the new birth is expressed externally again in the spatial-temporal relationship which the relevant stars have to each other, so that actually that which one wants to describe is given in a correct image if one describes it, let us say, according to the stars. And it really is like this: if you point outwardly to the star, you have the relevant place to which you must point if it is a matter of some supersensible area.
One can now object to this: The things that lie between death and a new birth cannot be imagined spatially after all, or at least they can only be imagined spatially to a certain extent. That is true, but they do enter into space. Everything that is supra-spatial and supra-temporal plays into space and time, and since man is already dependent on directing his imagination towards space and time, the star image is the very best image that, if we have it in our soul, gives us the image in question in the very best way. But there is one more thing. In physics man can learn that those processes which we have in the physical world and which are subject to gravity undergo changes when we go out into space. The physicist indicates the ratio in which gravity decreases in intensity: it decreases as the square of the distance. The luminous force also decreases with the square of the distance. There is only one thing that man does not admit, that all the knowledge of sensory things which he has gained here on earth is taken from this earth, and that it is very plausible if what is correct for the earth's surroundings with regard to gravity, light, and so on, decreases in its correctness when we go out into the universe, so that we are then only entitled to speak of the knowledge which is held everywhere today as that which is valid in the circumference of the earth. Just as the force of gravity decreases with the square of the distance, so the truth of our judgments decreases as we move away from the earth. If today the astronomer or the astrophysicist wants to determine with ordinary thinking what is going on, for example, in a spiral nebula outside, it would be the same as if one wanted to calculate how heavy a stone would be in this spiral nebula outside according to the earth's conditions. Therefore, one should not be surprised when spiritual science has to say: Yes, here on earth things look like this, but outside in reality they are quite different. Here on earth the moon looks as we are used to seeing it, but in reality the moon is precisely the cosmic colony that contains what I have described this afternoon. So it is the same with the stars and constellations. And this must already be taken into account when I now give the other description, which must now be the subject of our consideration.
We have now continued our observations to the point where the human being enters the solar region between death and new birth. What I have described as the transformation of the lower human spirit form into that which will be the head in the next life on earth takes place in this solar region. But now we must bear in mind that the human being takes his path between death and new birth in such a way that he actually passes through all these stellar regions twice. Man comes into the vicinity of the moon by passing through the gate of death, he then comes into the vicinity of Mercury, into the vicinity of Venus, into the solar region. We have come this far. This is where the reworking of the lower human being into the upper human being begins, so that what were the limbs of the human being are reworked into the head system, initially spiritually. But this reworking is something extraordinarily grandiose. And he who looks at the human head only in physical terms does not really realize what everything in the universe has to work together to bring about the spiritual system of this human head. This work - the work on the spiritual disposition of the human head, which then takes hold of the embryonic disposition in the physical - begins when the human being on his path after death is first in the solar region; he then enters the Mars region, then the Jupiter region and the Saturn region. The latter is in fact the last region which man then enters, for Uranus and Neptune are out of the question. During all this time in which man passes through these regions, work is being done on the spiritual disposition of his head. Then man goes on, so to speak, into the universe, out into the waves of the universe, and there this reworking still takes place until man takes his way back again - back again through the Saturn region, through the Jupiter and Mars regions to the solar region, until he comes again to the lunar sphere. We will hear how this experience continues. But now let us place before our souls what man goes through when he has lived through the solar region.
By the time the human being reaches the solar sphere, he mostly experiences what is still quite closely connected with himself. I was able to describe to you in the afternoon how man carries the physiognomy of his good and evil about him, how he thereby acquires the vision of other beings of a similar nature, how he then changes his form more and more, becomes similar to the beings belonging to the super-sensible world, so that he becomes aware of the beings of the third Hierarchy, also of those of the second Hierarchy. So if you want to describe the human being up to the solar existence, you have to describe him in such a way that you first tie in with his spiritual form and describe it. But as the human being enters the solar realm, that which I have already described in the previous lessons - without reference to the astronomical - also comes over him at the same time: he comes to live into the music of the world. There he hears the meaning of all the interplay of the starry worlds in the world harmonies, in the world melodies. For this interaction of the stars, in which, however, the interaction of all the spiritual beings that are in these regions is expressed at the same time, ultimately gives rise to the phenomenon that is expressed as world melody and world harmony. It is primarily the emotional life in its spiritual metamorphosis that is stimulated when the human being enters the solar existence. And everything that man experiences, he experiences as if he were vibrated through by the world melody and world harmony.
When we are in this stage of life between death and new birth, we do not need theories, nor do we initially need what can be expressed in words, but we need the universal feeling that fills us, how harmoniously and melodically the individual beings of the universe work together. And this is where something occurs again that really shows us the relationship between the two worlds, the physical-sensual world and the supersensible-supersensible-physical world.
The moment we enter the solar existence and world melody and world harmony, in short world music, approaches us from everywhere in the cosmos, at this moment we still feel the last remnants of what we had during our earthly existence as one of our most spiritual abilities: the last remnants of language. If, during the passage between death and new birth, the spirit form itself has already fallen away from us, if we ourselves have already become similar to the world sphere in our own form, transformed into head formation, during the sun's existence, if therefore that which still reminds us in outer form of our earthly existence has already fallen away from us, then that which has expressed itself in us while we were earth-men, through the fact that we can speak, that we can pour our thoughts into words - in short, that which has lived itself out soulfully in language follows us and brings - at least as men on earth now have it in memory - a kind of discordant sound into the music of the world. It is indeed a discord that enters the music of the world through the fact that man still carries the remnants of his linguistic faculty into his solar existence. And this, what man thus carries through his language into the sun existence, is essentially the basis for certain higher spirits who have the task of working on the earth existence from the outside, from the cosmos, by seeing what has degenerated in the earth existence, has become bad, and what expresses itself through human language, especially as language is today.
This human language today is actually no longer something that develops out of the human being with elemental force in any of its European or American forms. One would like to say that what language once was can perhaps once again come to earth in the following way. Some of us are learning eurythmy today. What actually happens when people learn eurythmy? Today it is easy to pronounce a word without having any idea how the whole configuration of this word is connected with the inner experience of the soul. Pronouncing words today often means merely conforming to a convention. People no longer think about the fact that when we simply say an A, separated from all other literalness, we are expressing something that arises from astonishment, from amazement at something. And when we pronounce a B, it is something that means we are creating an envelope, we are enveloping something with something. Consonants always mean forms, vowels always mean feelings. The inside of the human soul means vowels, consonants always mean forms. Therefore, the B sound is originally associated with enveloping, actually the house, the little house. When I say B, I mean the enveloping. If I say A, it is something like a deep-seated sense of wonder. If I say T, as a consonant it means settling down, settling with something, standing still with something, D is a softer standing still. So if I say - forgive me for using a German word now (it was spoken in Holland) - the word bath, for example, if I go back to the origin, where the word is still fully felt and looked at, I would have to say to myself: There is the envelope, there is the water - B, when it has warmed up properly - ah! now I am at A -, and now I stay inside - D. The whole experience lies in the word. The whole experience lies in the word. If you now explain this today, it seems a little slightly humorous, as people today no longer experience the words. But if you wanted to experience the word ‘bath’ in this way, you would have to say: the house in which I sit in amazement. And so language is actually permeated everywhere by spiritual experience, human spiritual experience flows out concretely into language. Language was once such that it was felt in this way. In the original, primitive languages, language was everywhere the expression of feeling and form: the expression of feeling in the vowels, the expression of form in the consonants. Today this has become detached and everything has become a convention. We already live in such a way that words are almost only memorable for us.
Now we transform what is the B, the A, the D back into the corresponding gesture in eurythmy. By performing the gesture, the eurythmist must come to experience the language again. And one can hope that once eurythmy becomes popular in wider circles, people will find their way back to language as it is seen and felt, to what primitive languages were. Thus in the future eurythmy will not only be something that it is now as a new art, but it will again be the signpost for carrying the soul-spiritual life on the waves and billows of language. Today we have already reached the point where language is so little articulated - I am not even thinking of a soulification of language - that a number of people basically no longer speak at all, but “spit” the words. So little is born out of the soul that lies in language today. It is sometimes despairing how the words are no longer soulful and lived through, or even articulated!
So it is that today a shrill discordant tone sounds from the earth into the music of the world when man has arrived in the existence of the sun after death. And it is precisely from this nature of language that certain spiritual beings register what the phenomena of decline are in earthly existence and how one can find the forces, the impulses, to come to a kind of ascent again.
And then the human being's journey between death and new birth continues, and he enters the Martian existence. What does that mean: he enters the Martian existence? Now I can no longer speak in such a way that I tie in with the human spiritual form, for the human being is completely transformed, has become a spiritual imitation of the world sphere. Thus the journey continues through Mars, Jupiter and Saturn into the waves and billows of the cosmos. But as man enters the region of Mars, he experiences there the Martian population, if I may express myself in this way, that Martian population which only represents itself either from the disembodied human souls or from the beings of the higher hierarchies, but above all from the beings of those higher hierarchies, which let the world language sound out of their whole being into the world sphere. Thus man enters the realm where world music becomes world language, where he first hears, but is then himself interwoven into the world language, where he therefore does not hear the merely imitative language of man, but the creative language from which things become. This is during the Mars transit. There man learns from the beings of this region in a conscious way. The spiritual population of Mars consists of those who know the language of the world, besides those beings who are fighting natures and the like. - But the most important beings of the spiritual Martian population for human beings are those whose whole nature actually consists of sounding world words. They are the keepers of that which is world language.
Then man's wandering continues. He comes to the region of Jupiter. There are those beings who are the keepers of world thoughts. Beings who are present there radiate out into our planetary system and into its neighborhood thought-beings. The human being is now also passing through there. He is now undergoing the transformation which I can describe in the following way, only schematically. Imagine, then, that the human being himself becomes a kind of image of the world sphere, that which is the spiritual system of his later head to be carried on earth. After he has learned to discard this earthly language in his solar existence through the sensation of the shrill discordance of the earthly language, he grows into the world language during the passage through Mars, and he acquires the first disposition to understand this world language. In other words, after the transformation of his lower human being has begun, as I have described, of the limbs into the lower jaw, of the arms into the upper jaw and so on, the human being first forms the spiritual disposition of his future head together with the beings of the higher hierarchies. But first this head is predisposed to comprehend the universe - not the earth! It first learns the world language, first learns the world thoughts. These world thoughts and this world language settle into the human head, and just as the human being here on earth knows something of the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms, so he does indeed know about the secrets of the spiritual universe during this passage through Mars and Jupiter. The human being actually only acquires the right feeling towards human nature when he realizes that in passing through life between death and a new birth he has first learned all the names of the wonderful majestic beings of the higher Hierarchies, that he has learned to understand what these beings of the higher Hierarchies do in creating the universe, that he has learned to grasp judgments that do not refer to them: How does one cover the distance from The Hague to Amsterdam? - but which refer to this: How are world epochs born from world epochs through the effects of the higher hierarchies? This during the transit of Jupiter.
Then follows the transit of Saturn. Saturn brings to the human being what we might call world memory, for Saturn is the sphere in world existence where the spiritual entities are localized that preserve a memory of everything that has ever happened in our planetary system. Saturn is the great bearer of memory and remembrance of all the events of our planetary system. Just as man first learns the language of the gods in the Mars region, the thoughts of the gods in the Jupiter region, so during his first passage through Saturn's existence he learns to recognize everything that the gods of the planetary system remember. In this way, everything he needs to be a citizen of the cosmos and to live in the cosmos among the beings of the higher hierarchies in the same way as he lives on earth among the beings of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms subordinate to him, is incorporated into his spherical head, which is the spiritual structure of his future earthly head.
And when the human being is so inwardly enriched in his spiritual existence that he has learned to understand the language of the great world, of the macrocosm in the broadest sense of the word, he crosses over into that realm which used to be called the sphere of the resting stars. Planetary activity no longer takes place there, but the fixed star system is at work. And only then is that which belongs to the human head in its primordial position prefigured in the right sense out of infinite spiritual worlds.
Then man starts his way back again. He returns to the Saturn region. - We can discuss all this tomorrow. - The fact that he first absorbed the planetary memory in his Saturnian existence provides the basis for the fact that he can now have the basis for the ability to remember incorporated into his head, which he then needs on earth. That which was implanted in him as world memory is, so to speak, earthified. The world memory is transformed back into the ability of human memory. And when man has again arrived in the Jupiter sphere, what he has attained through the contemplation of the thoughts of the gods is transformed back into the ability to grasp human thoughts, which can then be reflected in ordinary consciousness when the human head constitution unites with the physical embryonic constitution. - But now, during this passage through Saturn, the individual can also begin to work out more precisely what is the transformation of the lower human being into the members of the head organization. And this is a wonderful way in which one human being works on another, how this work is done in harmony with the beings of the higher hierarchies, how work is actually done on the human head in such a way that this work is like the creation of a whole world in itself. For every human head, considered in the sphere where it is in the region between death and new birth, of which I speak, is a wonderful world with innumerable details. And the work on it requires the dedication of those human beings who are linked together by destiny, and the corresponding work of those beings of the higher hierarchies who understand from the mystery of the cosmos how such a human head must be formed. It is indeed something quite wonderful to learn in this way to know what is in man. And finally - this should not actually lead to arrogance, because the world in which we live ensures that we do not fall into arrogance between death and a new birth. It would indeed be absurd to fall into human megalomania among the beings of the higher hierarchies, among the seraphim, cherubim, thrones, for there one is still small among these beings, among whom one creates. And when one finally experiences here in earthly existence what man is in the great world macrocosm between death and new birth, then every opportunity is given to say to oneself: Well, you have not brought very much into earthly existence, so you must not imagine terribly much about your present situation, and you need not be particularly proud of what you were among gods. - But what can grow through such a view of what happens to man between death and rebirth is the human sense of responsibility, which tells him: You have to make a real effort to be worthy of being a human being in earthly existence if you measure the whole meaning of being a human being by what the gods see as working on man between death and rebirth.
And then we come back to the Martian existence. In this Martian existence the work on the human being is continued again. There, however, the spiritual dispositions for the later new body, for the chest disposition and for the limb disposition, which the human being will then bear in later life on earth, are already being prepared. For it is certainly the case that the limb system from the previous earthly life appears as the head system in the new earthly life, and that the breast and limb systems for the new earthly life are newly formed during the passage through the starry world to the new earthly life. The only difference is that what is set there still happens in the spiritual. When the human being passes through the Martian existence again, then that which was incorporated into him in highest spirituality during the first passage through the Martian existence, that which enabled him to hear the world word, is now transformed from the higher spiritual into the somewhat lower spiritual, into that spiritual substance from which the human ego later reveals itself. And then, during this passage through the Martian existence, the whole larynx and lung formation is attached to the spiritual system.
Then the human being returns to the solar existence. The second passage through the solar existence is of particular importance. For the human being has actually started from the first solar existence, has passed through Mars, Jupiter and Saturn to the starry world and is now making his way back through Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. During this whole time he has been completely devoted to the universe, he has become completely one with the universe. He lives in the universe, he has learned the world language, he has learned to interweave the world thoughts, he does not live in his memory, which will only arise again later, but lives in the memory of the whole planetary system. He lives in such a way that he feels at one with the beings of the higher hierarchies in the memory of world thoughts and world language and now comes back to the existence of the sun. Here man begins, as it were, to close himself off again as an individual being. The feeling quietly dawns: You are separating yourself from the world. - But this is connected with the fact that the primordial position of the human heart is now incorporated into the human being.
And then the human being goes further back, again through the Venus region and the Mercury region. There he is then incorporated into the primordial layer what further organs must come to him as a spiritual disposition.
From the moment man passes through the second solar existence - all this requires longer times - and actually long before he enters the earth existence, a significant change of fate already happens for him. At the moment when we outside in the cosmos gain the spiritual disposition of the human heart on returning to earth, there is of course not merely a physical heart form - that has already been indicated - but this physical heart form is surrounded and connected with all that the human being has become worth through his previous earth lives. It is not so much important that we absorb the primordial position of the physical heart into ourselves, but it is of particular importance that the human being concentrates together in relation to what he is mentally, morally and spiritually, for all this is concentrated in the human heart. And before the heart anlage connects with the embryonic anlage of the future human body, the heart in the cosmos is a spiritual-moral-soul being in the human being. The human being then connects this spiritual-moral-soul being - which is now experienced in him, attained in the return to earth - with the embryonic structure. Man experiences this concentration of his soul-moral-spiritual being in communion with the high solar beings, with those solar beings who actually have the creative powers of the planetary system and thus of earthly existence in their hands.
If I may express myself figuratively - the expressions sound somewhat paradoxical, but they are nevertheless apt - it is so that man, at the moment when he receives his cosmic heart, is at the same time in the environment of those spiritual beings of the higher hierarchies who have, so to speak, the leadership in relation to the whole planetary system in connection with earth existence in their hands. And here we are pointed to something quite grandiose, something quite wonderful. It is actually difficult to find words to describe what man experiences. He feels in a certain way the way he feels in his physical existence. Just as he feels connected with his heartbeat, with the whole activity of his heart, so he feels connected in the macrocosm through his macrocosmic spiritual heart with his whole spiritual-soul-moral being. What he has become in the universe up to this moment of his spiritual experience as a spiritual-moral-spiritual being is in him as if it were in him as a spiritual heartbeat. He now feels his whole being in the cosmos like his own heartbeat within him, and he also feels a kind of circulation connected with this heartbeat. Just as we here on earth feel in the heartbeat the blood circulation and respiration that cause it, so when we feel our spiritual-macrocosmic heart beating spiritually, if I may express myself figuratively, as we go back through the sun's existence, we feel something like the currents going from there to the beings of the second Hierarchy. Just as the blood rolls from the veins and from the veins in the physical organism to the heart, so that which Exusiai, Kyriotetes and Dynameis have to say about the world, from the world, judging man, enters into our spiritual-soul being, now localized in man. The spirit of the universe in its words and in its sounds is the circulation that is concentrated in this macrocosmic-spiritual beating heart, this moral-spiritual-soulful human being. There beats the human spiritual heart. At the same time, this is the heartbeat of the world itself, in which the human being is inside. And in this world the bloodstream is what the creative beings of the second hierarchy do, what flows out from them as forces. And just as the blood stream in man is concentrated in the heart, so that it is unconsciously felt by man - for the heart is a sense organ which perceives the movement of the blood, it is not, as the physicists think, a pumping mechanism, but through the spirituality and vitality of man the blood moves -, so it is graciously permitted to man, at this time between death and a new birth, to nurture within himself one of the organs of perception, one of the cosmic hearts, which are created out of the pulse of the macrocosm, which is formed by the deeds of the beings of the second hierarchy.
And as man then goes further back, he comes again, as I have already said, through the Mercury and Venus existence. But before that, just at the cosmic moment when man is allowed to feel himself truly in the spiritual heart of the world, his gaze already falls down to the line of generations, at the end of which stands the pair of parents through whom he is born, so that man is connected with his line of generations relatively early. We are born as human beings from a father and mother, our parents have a father and mother again, they also have a father and mother again, so we have already gone back almost a century if we go back in the line of generations. Then we go further up - and we have to go through several centuries, because long before man is born on earth, he has already connected himself to the line of generations that ends in his family. Early on, man determines himself into the line of generations when he passes through the sun's existence in the way I have described. And that which man then needs in order to bring his destiny together, as far as it is possible, with that which now confronts him as an external experience through the fact that he must be born into a certain family, into a certain people, he can work this out somewhat, determine it for himself, by passing through the world colony of Venus and Mercury.
Then he comes again into the realm of the moon. Let us consider this: When man passed through the lunar region for the first time on the way between death and new birth, he was prompted in evil and in good to think of the primal wisdom and of the earth, of the starting point of earthly existence, where superhuman teachers gave superhuman wisdom to earthly man. Now, when he goes back again, he is less inclined to turn his attention to what was once on earth. Now the matter is such that he spends the same time above, cosmically, in the moon existence, which runs below on earth between conception and birth, so that in fact man accompanies his embryonic time with a cosmic development. Man undergoes a certain development above in the lunar region, and below, as that with which he gradually unites, the physical embryo is meanwhile prepared for him, successively. What does it now go through above, macrocosmically, during its second lunar development?
Yes, the consciousness that the human being has in all these experiences that I have described is much brighter and more alert than we have on earth in normal life. It is extremely important that we are clear about this: Consciousness during dreaming is dull, consciousness during waking is bright, consciousness after death is even brighter, and all life here on earth is like a dream in relation to the brightness of consciousness we experience after death. But each time we reach a new stage our consciousness becomes even more awake, even brighter. If we first pass through the lunar existence in the ascent, then our consciousness becomes brighter because we come into the environment of the wise primal teachers of humanity in the lunar region. When we pass through Mercury and Venus, our consciousness always becomes brighter. And so our consciousness brightens every time we enter a new star region. Only when we go back again, towards the new life on earth, is this consciousness again gradually dimmed. But when we arrive at the Mercury existence, we still have a brighter consciousness than any consciousness that remains in the ordinary earth existence. But we then come into the lunar region, and come into that lunar region which represents to us what man was at the beginning of earth's evolution. This region extinguishes our consciousness when we go back again. There, where we have already received the first enlightenment for the super-sensible world in a more awake consciousness than we can have on earth, the consciousness is dampened down when we return to earth, until it is so far dampened down that it can now only become growth-power, such growth-power as is present in the dreaming child. Consciousness is dampened down to dreamlike quality. And only when it has been dampened down to dreamlike quality can man unite with his embryo that which has developed in him as a spiritual-soul being, as I have described it. For this single fact, that man can have the proper connection with the physical embryo at a certain stage of his development, it is necessary that, just as below the embryo undergoes the ten lunar months in the womb of the mother, so above in the community of the primal teachers of mankind he undergoes a lunar development - a lunar development, which consists in the fact that a whole population of teachers of mankind work together to dampen that cosmic consciousness which man still had during the Mercury existence to that dream consciousness which is present when man enters the earth existence.
Everything that confronts us here in the physical-sensual human being can only be understood if it can be understood from the supersensible human being. And the supersensible human being, in turn, cannot be understood on earth or from the facts of earth, but the supersensible human being can only be understood from the facts of the world, from the macrocosmic facts. And so the lectures so far have been put together to show you how the human being as an earthly human being must be born out of the spiritual cosmos as a spiritual human being.
It will still remain for tomorrow's lecture that we now also learn to understand in this context the meaning of earth life itself, insofar as that which is superhuman passes over into this earth life, and learn to understand the meaning of the circumstance that from earth life man again carries out through the gate of death the remains of that which he acquires in earth life into the spiritual world.
Now that we have become acquainted with the spiritual nature of man, his supersensible being, at least in a few traits, we will then tomorrow return to the understanding of the relationship between the supersensible and the sensible man.