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Supersensible Man
GA 231

17 November 1923, The Hague

Lecture IV

My dear Friends,

In the lecture this afternoon the life between death and a new birth was pictured as a journey, and we considered the sense in which the positions of certain stars in the heavens can be taken as viewpoints whence we may behold this journey of man through certain spiritual regions. Before proceeding further, we will study in a little more detail how we must picture this journey through regions indicated for us by certain heavenly bodies.

It might seem that the super-sensible existence of man between two earthly lives has been adequately presented in such a book as Theosophy. For the early stages of study, that is quite true, but you will surely agree that knowledge must also progress and expand. As we go further in our study we have constantly to bear in mind the oneness of the Universe, we have to remember that there is an unbroken, harmonious interplay between the super-sensible and the sensible worlds. The conditions of existence in the different regions through which man passes between death and a new birth express themselves outwardly in the relationships of space and of time that exist between the heavenly bodies concerned. When, therefore, we speak of these spiritual regions in terms of heavenly bodies, we are using a correct picture. There is a connection between the place of a visible star in the heavens and some particular region of super-sensible life. As an objection to this it could be said that the life which stretches between death and a new birth cannot be conceived in terms of space or at most only to a very limited degree. That is perfectly true, but super-sensible existence is nevertheless reflected into space. The world that is beyond space and beyond time, plays into space and into time; and as man's thinking and ideation have necessarily to be in terms of space and time, the imagery of the stars in the heavens is an excellent one for giving a picture of the super-sensible. One thing, however, we must not omit to make clear. We are taught in physics that the processes we have in the physical world—processes that are subject to the force of gravity—undergo a change, when we go out into space. Physical science tells us the exact proportion in which the force of gravity decreases. We are taught that the force of gravity (and also the intensity of light) decreases in proportion to the square of the distance. Science will not, however, admit that the same is true in relation to all knowledge of material things which has been acquired here on Earth. Science has derived this knowledge from the Earth; and if the figures which apply to gravity and light in the immediate environment of the Earth have to be modified as we go out into space, it is not unreasonable to suppose that only so long as we remain in the actual environment of the Earth are we justified in applying the scientific knowledge of to-day. Just as the power of gravity decreases in proportion to the square of the distance, so does the truth of our conclusions decrease, the further we are away from the Earth. When the astronomer or astro-physicist tries with ordinary thinking to determine, for instance, what is happening in some nebula out in cosmic space, it is just the same as if one set out to calculate, according to the conditions prevailing on the Earth, the weight of a stone in that nebula far away in the heavens. It ought not therefore to surprise us when Spiritual Science says: Here on Earth things present such and such an aspect, but out in the cosmos they are in reality quite different. On Earth we see the Moon as it appears in the sky. In reality the Moon is a cosmic colony of many Beings—I described it to you in the last lecture. It is the same with all the stars and constellations. This fact must be borne in mind throughout our present study.

The lectures so far have brought us to the point where, during his life between death and a new birth, man passes into the Sun sphere. In this region the spirit-form of the lower part of the human being is transformed into the head of the next earthly life. It must of course be remembered that man's path between death and new birth is such that he passes through all these planetary spheres twice. After death he passes, first of all, into the Moon sphere, then he goes on into the Mercury sphere, the Venus sphere and the Sun sphere. That is as far as we came in our description. In the Sun sphere the lower man begins to be transformed into the upper man. The limb structures are transformed—spiritually, of course, at this stage—into the future head-system. This work of metamorphosis is a work of infinite grandeur and sublimity. Those who study the human head merely as a physical structure have no notion of all the manifold work that has to be performed in the Cosmos in order to bring into being the spirit-germ of the human head,—which later on will unite with the physical embryo. After this work has been begun in the Sun sphere, man passes into the Mars sphere, then into the Jupiter sphere and into the Saturn sphere. The Saturn sphere is really the last, for Uranus and Neptune do not come into consideration here. During all this time, work is proceeding upon the spirit-germ of the head. Man's path then leads him still further out into the cosmic expanse, out into the wide ocean of the cosmos, where the work of metamorphosis continues, until the time comes for him to take the path of return. Then, going back through the regions of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars to the region of the Sun, he comes again at length to the sphere of the Moon. Of the path of return we shall hear later on; at this point we will consider the experiences through which the human being passes, after his time in the region of the Sun is over.

Before he reaches the Sun sphere, man's experiences are for the most part closely connected with himself. In the last lecture I told you how man wears a physiognomy which expresses his good and bad qualities and how this enables him to see other beings similar in nature to himself. I told you how he gradually changes his spirit-form and comes to resemble the beings who belong to the super-sensible world, and how then he is able to behold the Beings of the Third Hierarchy and the Beings also of the second Hierarchy. If we want to describe the human being up to the stage of the Sun existence we must fix our attention on his spirit-form or figure, and describe that. But having entered the Sun region man undergoes an experience which I called living his way into the Cosmic Music, the Music of the Spheres. He hears, in cosmic harmony and cosmic melody, the meaning, as it were, of all the interworking of the starry worlds. For this working together of the stars, which is at the same time an expression of the working together of the Spiritual Beings that are in these regions—this it is, ultimately, that comes to revelation in cosmic harmony and cosmic melody. It is chiefly the life of feeling in its spiritual metamorphosis that is quickened and stimulated in the Sun existence. Every experience man has is like cosmic melody and cosmic harmony vibrating through his entire being. What we need at this stage of life between death and a new birth is not anything of the nature of theory, nor indeed anything that lends itself at all to expression in words. What we need is to feel—with a universal feeling that fills our being through and through—the harmonies and melodies born from the inter-workings of the different orders of Beings in the Cosmos.

Then a further experience comes to us, an experience which reveals unmistakably the connection between the physical world of sense and the super-sensible, superphysical world. When we pass into the Sun existence where the melodies and harmonies of the spheres—the whole Music of the Spheres—sound to us from every direction of the Cosmos, we are still aware of the last remnants of one of the spiritual faculties we possessed during earthly existence, we can still feel the last remnants of speech. At this stage of existence between death and a new birth, our spirit-form has already fallen away and we have come to resemble in form the cosmic sphere itself; our form has undergone metamorphosis into what will become head in the next incarnation. Everything about it that was still reminiscent of the form we bore in earthly existence has by this time fallen right away. But the faculty of soul that enabled us to speak, to make our thought articulate in words, follows us, and being present with us in memory brings a kind of discord into the Music of the Spheres. Yes, discord is introduced into the Music of the Spheres, by reason of the fact that man carries right up into Sun existence the remnants of his faculty of speech. And this discordant element that is brought by man into the Sun existence becomes the basis for the work of certain higher Spirits whose task it is to help forward Earth existence from the Cosmos. For it is when they see what comes to expression in human speech and language as it is to-day, that they take knowledge of how things have degenerated on the Earth and grown corrupt. In none of its European or American forms to-day is speech a faculty that emerges from the being of man with elemental power. It may be that what speech once was will be able to come again on Earth in the following way. Some of us are learning Eurythmy. What happens when one learns Eurythmy? To-day we lightly utter words without the faintest inkling of how the configuration of the words is connected with the inner life and experience of the soul. To speak words to-day is really nothing but an acquiescence in convention. It never occurs to people that when they say “a” (ah)—as a sound, by itself—they are expressing something which as pure sound springs from astonishment or wonder in the soul. When we utter the sound “b,” we mean that we are covering something, enveloping it, wrapping it round. Consonantal sounds invariably signify forms; vowel sounds express feelings, the inner life and being of the soul. The “b” sound is primordially connected with an act of covering. “B” is really the “house.” If I say “a” (ah), this is an expression of a wonder that is felt in the very depths of the soul. The consonantal sound of “t” expresses a settling oneself down, making a halt, staying there. “D” is the same, but has a gentler shade of meaning, less abrupt. Suppose I utter the (German) word “Bad.”* [* English “bath.”] If I were to go back to the origin of the word, to the time when it was still felt and seen, I would have to say: The water is around me like an enveloping sheath: “b.” It is comfortably warm: ah! (Now I am at the sound “a.”) I shall stay in it: “d.” The whole experience is contained in the word itself. To speak in such a way seems to us almost absurd, for nowadays no actual experience is any longer connected with words. If we wanted to experience the word “B-a-d” we should have to say: “The house in which I feel wonder, in which I sit.” In reality speech is filled through and through with soul; man's inner experience of soul streams into and permeates it.

In days of yore this was felt and known. In the original, primitive tongues, speech was born from perception of feeling and of form—feeling in the vowel, form in the consonant. To-day these elements are no longer associated with speech; it has become a mere matter of convention. In Eurythmy, however, the sounds—“b,” “a,” “d”—are changed back again into the gestures that correspond to them. In making the gestures, the Eurythmist begins again to experience speech. One may cherish the hope that if love for Eurythmy is born in ever widening circles, humanity will be able to find its way back to what was contained in primitive tongues,—to a speech that is felt and seen. So will Eurythmy in the future be something more than it is to-day; it will be man's guide and show him how the life of soul and spirit can be borne along on the surging waves of speech. To-day we have come to the point when speech is so little articulated—let alone, ensouled—that numbers of people cannot really be said to “speak” at all. They “spit” the words out! Speech as it is to-day is certainly not born from the life of soul! It is enough to make one despair, when one has to listen to words that have no longer any soul in them, any life,—nay, are not even articulated.

So it comes about that in our day a shrill discord sounds up from Earth into the Cosmic Music when man enters the Sun existence after death. And this quality that has crept into speech makes manifest to certain Spiritual Beings the degeneration that earthly existence has suffered, showing them too at the same time how the right forces and impulses can be found that will lead once again to an ascent.

Man continues his wandering and comes into the Mars existence. What do we mean when we say: Man conies into the Mars existence? It is now no longer possible, you must remember, to speak of man in his spirit-form, for by this time he is wholly changed; he has become a spiritual image of the great cosmic sphere. On and on leads the path, through the spheres of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, out into the surging waves of the Cosmos. In the Mars region the human being lives among the “population” of Mars—if I may so express myself. The inhabitants of Mars are discovered to be either discarnate human souls or Beings of the Hierarchies, but above all those of the Hierarchies from whose entire being Cosmic Speech sounds forth into universal space. For man is now in the region where Cosmic Music becomes Cosmic Speech. At first he hears it; then he is himself interwoven into the Cosmic Speech. Instead of the imitative speech of humanity, he hearkens to a speech that is creative, a speech out of which things are born and have their being. During man's passage through the sphere of Mars he acquires conscious knowledge of the Beings who people this region. The spiritual population of Mars consists of Beings who are the Knowers of the Cosmic Speech. There are other Beings too,—for example. Beings who are warlike in nature. But so far as man is concerned, the most important Beings in the Mars sphere are those who in their whole nature are Cosmic Word. They are the Guardians of the Cosmic Speech.

Man's journey then leads him into the region of Jupiter where dwell the Beings who are the guardians of the Cosmic Thoughts. These Beings radiate thought-beings into our planetary system and its environment. Through this region also man must pass, and he is involved there in a process of metamorphosis which I can only describe in a rather prosaic way.

Picture to yourselves that man becomes a kind of image of the cosmic sphere; that is to say, his whole being is really the spirit-germ of the head as it will be in his next life on Earth. In the Sun existence, having experienced the shrill discord set up by earthly speech, he learns to lay aside this earthly speech. During his passage through Mars he becomes part of the Cosmic Speech, he grows one with it, and begins also to lay the foundation for an understanding of Cosmic Speech. For it is like this. The metamorphosis of the lower man has begun—the legs into the lower jaw, the arms into the upper jaw, and so on. In community with the Beings of the Hierarchies the human being builds the spirit-germ of his future head. But, to begin with, this head is built for understanding the Cosmos—not the Earth! It learns first to understand Cosmic Speech, Cosmic Thoughts. Cosmic Thoughts and Cosmic Speech find a home in the human head; just as here on Earth man knows of minerals, plants and animals, so, during his journey through the spheres of Mars and Jupiter, he is made acquainted with the mysteries of the spiritual Universe. We shall never have a true feeling or perception of the nature of man until we realise in clear consciousness that between death and rebirth the human being has learned to know the names of the wonderful and majestic Beings of the higher Hierarchies, has learned to understand the work and creative activities of these Beings in the Cosmos, has learned to follow in his thought—not little everyday problems of personal life, such as, How am I to get back to Amsterdam?—but such a question as: How is one world-epoch born out of another through the workings of the higher Hierarchies? So much for man's experience in his passage through Jupiter.

Now comes the passage through the Saturn existence. Saturn bestows upon the human being what I will call Cosmic Memory—for in the Saturn sphere dwell those Spiritual Beings who preserve the memory of everything that has ever come to pass in our planetary system. Saturn is the mighty bearer of the memory of all the happenings of our planetary system. Just as in the Mars sphere man learns the speech of the Gods, and in the Jupiter sphere the thoughts of the Gods, so in his first passage through the Saturn existence he learns to know all that lives in the memory of the Gods of our planetary system. Hence it comes about that man's head in the spiritual spheres—which is the spirit-germ of his future earthly head—receives incorporated into it everything that enables him to be a citizen of the Cosmos and to live in the Cosmos among the Beings of the higher Hierarchies, even as he lives on earth among the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms.

Then, having been so deeply enriched in his spirit-existence that he has learned to understand the speech of the great world, the speech of the Macrocosm in the widest sense of the word, man passes out of the spheres of planetary activity and enters the sphere of activity of the Fixed Stars. Here the work upon the primal germ of the human head, the pre-figuring and shaping of it, is brought to completion by influences pouring in from infinitudes of spiritual worlds.

The time has now come for man to take the path of return. He comes again, first, into the Saturn sphere. The fact that during his earlier sojourn in the Saturn sphere he received into himself the planetary memories, enables the foundation to be laid now in his head for the faculty of memory that will be necessary in his life on Earth. The cosmic memory implanted into his being is, as it were, made “earthly.” Cosmic memory is transformed again into the germ of the faculty of human memory. And in the Jupiter sphere, all that man acquired through having perceived the thoughts of the Gods, is transformed on the path of return into the faculty to conceive human thoughts which can then be reflected in ordinary consciousness when the germ of the head unites with the physical embryo.

On the return path through the Saturn sphere the detailed elaboration of the metamorphosis of the lower man into the various parts of the head-organisation can also begin. This is a wonderful work,—one human being working upon another, in accord too with the Beings of the higher Hierarchies. Verily, the work that is wrought here for the forming of the human head is like the creation of a whole world. For in the sphere of existence between death and rebirth of which I am now speaking, each single human head is seen to be a wonderful world,—a world of infinite variety and detail; and the work upon it calls for the devotion of human beings who are linked together by destiny, with the co-operation also of Beings of the Hierarchies who, knowing the mysteries of the Cosmos, understand how such a human head must be built and formed.

Wonderful it is beyond all telling, to come in this way to a knowledge of what is in man. Nor can such knowledge ever lead to pride or conceit. Yonder, between death and a new birth, the world in which we live sees to it that we do not succumb to pride! It would be, my dear friends, an absurdity to fall victim to human pride and arrogance among the Beings of the Hierarchies, among Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones! The human being must remain for ever little in comparison with the Beings among whom he works. And when in this earthly existence a man comes to learn of what he is in the great Macrocosm between death and a new birth, he has good reason to say to himself: “You have not brought very much with you into earthly existence! You have no great cause to pride yourself upon your present condition; nor have you any occasion to be particularly proud of what you were among the Gods!” What can grow within us as the result of looking upon the life of man between death and a new birth is a sense of responsibility which makes us say: “We must strive with all our might to be worthy even here on earth, of being ‘man.’” For this is indeed what we feel, when we measure the significance of being “man” by the work performed upon the human being by the Gods in the period that lies between death and a new birth.

Going now further on his path of return, man comes again into the Mars existence, where the work upon his being continues. It is here that the spirit-germs for the new body are added—for the breast system and for the limb structures, as they will be in the next earthly life. For it is really so, that the foundations of the limbs of the previous earthly life come forth as the foundations of the head in the new incarnation, and so now during man's passage through the planetary world on the way to his next earthly life the germs for breast system and limb structures have to be laid anew. It must of course always be remembered that these germs are spiritual; the whole process is a spiritual process. As man passes again through Mars existence, the lofty spirituality with which he was imbued during his first passage through the Mars sphere, and which enabled him to experience the cosmic Word, is now transformed into spiritual substance of a somewhat lower order—into that spiritual substance from out of which, later on, the human Ego manifests itself. It is also during this return journey through the Mars sphere that the spirit-germ of the larynx and lung formations are added.

Man comes then again to the Sun. The second passage through the Sun sphere is significant in the highest degree. Since he completed his first sojourn in the Sun existence, man has passed through the spheres of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, to the world of the Stars, and then made the return journey through Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. All this time his whole being has been given over to the Cosmos; he has become one with the Cosmos, one with the World-All. He has been living in the Cosmos; he has learned cosmic speech, he has learned to weave cosmic thoughts into his being, he has been living, not within his own life of memory—that only dawns for him later—but within the memory of the whole planetary system. He has felt himself one with the Beings of the higher Hierarchies in his memory of the cosmic thoughts and of the cosmic speech. Now however, when he returns once again to the Sun, he begins to shut himself off more as an individual being. Very faintly the feeling dawns that he is becoming separate from the Cosmos. This is connected with the fact that the first foundations of the heart are now being laid within him. The return journey continues. For the second time man passes through the Venus sphere and the Mercury sphere, where the spirit-germs of the other organs have to be implanted within him.

At the moment of entrance for the second time into the Sun existence—all these happenings and processes take a very long time, and long before man enters upon earthly existence he experiences, as we shall see, what is for him a very significant turn of destiny—at the moment when, out in the Cosmos, the spirit-germ of the heart is laid within our being on the return journey to the earth, there is of course not yet a physical heart. True, there is already an indication of a physical heart form, but it is surrounded and inter-woven with all that constitutes the worth of the human being as the outcome of his previous earthly lives. The fact that we receive into ourselves in the Sun sphere the first germ of the physical heart is less important than the fact that in this germ of the heart is concentrated all that we are morally, all our qualities of soul and spirit. Before the spirit-germ of the heart unites with the embryonic germ of the future body, the heart in man is a spiritual being, a moral being of soul and spirit out in the Cosmos; only later does this moral being of spirit and soul—which man now feels living within him, which man has, as it were, acquired in the course of his return journey to Earth—unite with the embryo. This concentration, in the germ of the heart, of his whole soul-and-spirit being is experienced by man in communion with the sublime Sun Beings—those Sun Beings who rule over the creative forces of the planetary system and therewith of earthly existence. Let me try to describe it to you in a picture. The expressions may sound strange but they are really appropriate.

At the time when this cosmic heart is bestowed upon man, he is living among those Spiritual Beings of the Hierarchies in whose hand lies the leadership of the whole planetary system in its connection with earthly existence. The experience is one of infinite grandeur and splendour. It is difficult to find words to describe what the human being experiences in this phase of existence. In a certain respect his feeling resembles a feeling he can have in physical existence. For just as in physical existence he feels that he is bound up with his heart-beat, with the whole activity of the heart, so, out in the Macrocosm, through his macrocosmic spiritual heart, he feels himself at one with his whole being of soul and spirit. The moral being of soul and spirit which he has become at this moment of his experience is, as it were, a spiritual heart-beat within him. His whole being seems now to be in the Cosmos, in the same way as his heartbeat is in him; he becomes aware also of a kind of circulation in connection with this heart-beat. Just as on Earth we feel in the heart-beat the blood circulation and breathing which give rise to it, so, when on the return journey through the Sun existence we begin to be aware of the beating of our spiritual, macrocosmic heart, it feels to us as though streams or currents were uniting this spiritual heart-beat with the Beings of the Second Hierarchy. Even as the blood flows to the heart from the veins in the physical organism, so into our being of spirit-and-soul pour the words of the Exusiai, Kyriotetes, Dynamis,—what they have to say concerning the World and the World's judgement upon man. The words and sounds of the spirit of the World-All are the circulation that now centres itself in this spiritual, macrocosmic heart, in this human being of soul and spirit. There, at the centre, beats the spiritual heart of man. And the beat of the spiritual heart of man is the heart-beat of the world in which he is living. The blood-stream of this world is the deeds of the creative Beings of the Second Hierarchy, the forces which stream out from them. And just as the blood-stream on Earth centres itself in the heart where it is unconsciously experienced by man, so at this point of time between death and a new birth it is given to man, as a grace bestowed, to hold and cherish within him a cosmic heart—one of the organs of perception, one of the cosmic hearts, created out of the pulse-beat of the Macrocosm, even the deeds of the Beings of the Second Hierarchy. For let it be remembered that the physical heart is a sense organ, which perceives the movement of the blood, not a “pump” as the physiologists imagine. The spirituality and vitality of the human being—these it is that cause the movement of the blood.

The return journey continues—through the Mercury and the Venus spheres. But before this, indeed in that cosmic moment when the human being feels himself living in very truth within the spiritual heart of the Cosmos, his gaze has already fallen upon the hue of generations, at the end of which stand the parents who will give him birth. The connection with the line of generations is, as you see, made relatively soon. We are born of father and mother, our parents again have each of them father and mother, and these too have their father and mother. This takes us back about a hundred years. But we must go further back, through many centuries; for long before a human being is born on Earth, he has united himself with the line of generations which culminates in the family into which he is born. It is quite early that the connection with the line of generations is determined, namely, when man is passing through the Sun existence for the second time. And in his passage through the cosmic colonies of Venus and Mercury he can, so to speak, arrange for his destiny to be brought as closely as possible into line with the outer experiences that must come to him through being born into a particular family and a particular nation.

After this, man comes again into the sphere of the Moon. Let me remind you how during his first passage through the Moon sphere man's thoughts were directed, for good and also for ill, to the primeval Teachers of the human race, to the starting-point of earthly existence, when superhuman Teachers imparted superhuman wisdom to the men of Earth. When he comes down into the Moon existence for the second time, there is less inducement for him to turn his attention to what was on Earth long ago. For now the period of time that man spends—above, in the Cosmos—in this Moon existence, is the same period of time as takes its course on Earth below between conception and birth. Man's embryonic life runs hand in hand with a particular cosmic development. Up there in the Moon sphere he is passing through a definite phase of evolution while below, stage by stage, the physical embryo is being prepared—the physical embryo with which he then gradually unites.

How does this macrocosmic life of the human being take its course during this second period of evolution in the Moon sphere? What does man accomplish there?

In all the experiences I have been describing, man's consciousness is far clearer and more awake than the ordinary consciousness of his life on Earth. It is most important to distinguish the various degrees of human consciousness. Consciousness during dream-life is dull, consciousness during waking life is clear, consciousness after death still clearer. As a dream is to reality, so is all our life on Earth in comparison with the clarity of our consciousness in the life after death. Moreover, at each new stage in the life after death, consciousness becomes still clearer, still more alert.

When we pass through the Moon existence on the upward journey, consciousness grows clearer owing to the fact that in the Moon sphere we come into the environment of the wise, primeval Teachers of humanity. Clearer and ever clearer grows our consciousness as we pass on through the spheres of Mercury and Venus; and its clarity continues to be intensified every time we enter a new sphere of the heavens. But when we are returning again and approaching a new life on Earth, consciousness is dimmed and darkened stage by stage. During the phase of Mercury existence on the return journey, we still have a consciousness that is clearer than any consciousness can be in ordinary earthly existence. But when we come to the Moon sphere, and are in an environment that reveals to us what man was at the beginning of earthly evolution, then our consciousness begins to be obliterated. In the same sphere where, on the upward journey, the super-sensible world first lit up for us in a clearer consciousness than was possible on Earth, consciousness is now dimmed. We are returning to the Earth and consciousness becomes ever dimmer and dimmer, until it remains in us only as growth-force—the power of growth that is present in the little child, the dreaming little child. Consciousness has dimmed into dream! This is the moment when the being of soul-and-spirit can unite with the physical embryo. In order that this momentous event may come to pass, in order that the human being at a certain point of his development make connection with the physical embryo, he must pass through a Moon evolution in communion with the primeval Teachers of humanity, while the physical embryo down below is passing through its ten lunar months in the body of the mother. And the Moon evolution that he has to undergo consists in this—that a whole host of the Teachers of mankind are engaged in the task of dimming down the cosmic consciousness which the human being still possessed during his Mercury existence, toning it down to the dream consciousness in which he lives at the beginning of his life on Earth.

Physical man, with all that we can see of him here on Earth, is, in truth, only to be understood in the light of a knowledge of super-sensible man. And super-sensible man can never be explained by the facts of Earth, but only by the facts of the great World, the Macrocosm. My object in these lectures has been to show you how earthly man is born as Spirit-man out of the Spiritual Cosmos.

It remains for us in the lecture tomorrow to study in this connection the significance of earthly life itself, in so far as the being who is spiritual and superhuman passes over into this earthly life. We shall come to understand the significance of the fact that when he passes through the gate of death the human being carries out again into the spiritual world what remains to him of all he has acquired and experienced in earthly life. Having, therefore, learned to understand, in some of its aspects, the spirit nature of man, his super-sensible being, we will return tomorrow to the study of the connection between super-sensible man and physical man.

Dritter Vortrag

In der ersten Vortragsstunde haben wir versucht, uns eine Vorstellung darüber zu bilden, wie der Mensch, wenn er auf der Erde steht, Beziehungen hat zu den außerirdischen Wesenheiten und Kräften. Wir haben dann in der zweiten Stunde versucht, uns eine Vorstellung davon zu bilden, wie der Durchgang des Menschen durch die übersinnliche Welt, von einem gewissen Gesichtspunkte aus angesehen, in der Zeit zwischen dem Tode und der nächsten Geburt ist. Ich möchte jetzt in diesem Vortrage einiges hinzufügen zu dem, was schon gesagt worden ist, gewissermaßen die Dinge weiter ausführen. Wir werden dann dazu kommen, die ganze Sache abzurunden, und ein in sich harmonisches Bild im Laufe der Vorträge erhalten.

Wir haben gesehen, wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes durchgegangen ist, wenn er also in der übersinnlichen Welt angekommen ist, so ist es zunächst so, daß er der imaginativen Anschauung sich noch immer offenbart wie in einer Geistgestalt. Natürlich müssen Sie sich darüber klar sein, daß dieses Anschauen des Geistigen doch etwas anderes ist als das Anschauen des Sinnenhaften. Es wird Ihnen zum Beispiel jeder, der eine Anschauung des Geistigen hat, sagen: Ja, ich habe dies geschaut, aber ich könnte nicht sagen, wie «groß» die Erscheinung war - und dergleichen. Also ganz so räumlich wie ein sinnliches Augenbild sind die Dinge natürlich nicht. Dennoch aber, wenn Sie sie beschreiben wollen, müssen Sie sie so beschreiben, daß die Sache ganz aussieht wie ein sinnliches Augenbild oder wie das, was man sonst zu dessen Beschreibung verwendet. In diesem Sinne bitte ich auch die Darstellungen aufzufassen, die ich von diesen Dingen geben werde.

Wenn der Mensch nun durch die Todespforte durchgegangen ist, so verblaßt allmählich in diesem Bilde der Geistgestalt das Haupt, die Kopfgestalt verblaßt. Dagegen wird die ganze übrige Gestalt des Menschen Physiognomie, und zwar, wie ich schon dargestellt habe, so Physiognomie, daß diese Physiognomie der Ausdruck dafür ist, inwiefern der Mensch in dem Erdenleben, das sich bis zum Durchgange durch die Pforte des Todes abgespielt hat, ein mehr oder weniger guter oder böser Mensch oder ein weiser Mann oder ein Tor war und dergleichen. Das alles, was der Mensch in der sinnlichen Welt verbergen kann, wo man mit dem unschuldigsten Gesicht ein Bösewicht sein kann, das ist nicht möglich, wenn man durch die Todespforte gegangen ist. Mit dem Gesicht läßt es sich nicht machen, weil dieses Gesicht verblaßt; und durch die übrige Gestalt, die immer mehr und mehr einen physiognomischen Ausdruck bekommt, läßt es sich nicht verleugnen. Aber es handelt sich darum, daß, wenn der Mensch in die geistige Welt eintritt, sein ganzes Verhältnis zur Welt ein anderes ist. Sie müssen schon auffassen, daß das auf der Erde am höchsten Geschätzte, das Denken, namentlich das abstrakte Denken, drüben in der geistigen Welt gar nicht geschätzt wird. Das, wofür der Kopf das Instrument ist, wird in der geistigen Welt gar nicht geschätzt, man kann es gar nicht anwenden. Dieses stolze Denken, durch das wir uns Vorstellungen verschaffen über die sinnlichen Dinge auf Erden, müssen wir zurücklassen. Philosophen gibt es nur auf Erden, denn gerade die Philosophie, die im abstrakten Denken besteht, muß auf der Erde zurückgelassen werden. Alles Seelenleben wird immer mehr und mehr, je weiter wir in die geistige, übersinnliche Welt hineinkommen, ein bildhaftes Vorstellen, ein Anschauen, und zwar ein solches Anschauen, daß die Gedanken, die in den Dingen sind, mit dem Anschauen kommen. Hier auf der Erde bilden wir uns die Gedanken, da drüben werden uns die Gedanken durch die Sachen selber geoffenbart, sie kommen an einen heran. Also, der Gedanke wird dort durch Anschauung errungen. Da handelt es sich darum, daß auch in der Anschauung alles, was der Mensch nun durchmachen soll, in der geistigen Welt an ihn herankomme.

Nun haben wir schon auch für die Sinnesanschauung gewisse Anhaltspunkte, an die wir anknüpfen können, wenn wir die geistige Welt, durch die der Mensch zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt durchgeht, schildern wollen. Wir sehen in der Sinneswelt die Sterne. Die Sterne, auch die Planeten unseres Planetensystems, zeigen uns, ich möchte sagen, für das sinnliche Anschauen auf die Erde herunter, im Grunde genommen nur ihre Außenseite. Innen sind sie etwas ganz anderes. Innen sind sie die Versammlung von geistigen Wesenheiten, von solchen geistigen Wesenheiten, die in der verschiedensten Weise an den Orten sich angesammelt haben, wo diese Sterne sind. Und wenn wir irgendwo nach einem Sterne mit dem bloßen physischen Auge hinsehen, so bedeutet das: In dieser Richtung ist eine Kolonie von geistigen Wesenheiten im Weltenall, und was ich als physischen Stern dort sehe, das gibt mir gewissermaßen nur die Richtung, das ist ein Merkzeichen, eine Tafel. Was die physische Wissenschaft von den Sternen beschreibt, ist alles nur von ganz geringer Bedeutung, denn das handelt von nichts anderem als von Merkzeichen, von Merktafeln, von Richtungs-, Orientierungstafeln. Daß wir irgendwo einen Stern sehen bedeutet nichts anderes, als daß in dieser Richtung die Wohnung geistiger Wesenheiten ist.

Das erste Gebiet nun, in das der Mensch hineinkommt, wenn er die Todespforte durchschritten hat, ist das Gebiet des Mondes, das heißt, er kommt in das Gebiet derjenigen Wesenheiten, welche im Monde ihren Aufenthaltsort haben. Was sind das für Wesenheiten?

Aus meiner Darstellung in der «Geheimwissenschaft» wissen Sie, daß der Mond nicht immer dort war, wo er jetzt ist. Mit diesem Monde hat es überhaupt eine merkwürdige Eigentümlichkeit. Es ist zum Beispiel ganz sonderbar, daß von diesem Monde in den gebräuchlichen Lehrbüchern, in den Schul- und Handbüchern ganz verschwiegen wird, daß er jetzt in einem Zustande ist, wo er uns jedes Jahr etwas näher kommt. Das merken die meisten Menschen nicht, weil sie es in diesen Handbüchern nicht finden, aber wahr ist es doch. Es ist aber mit diesem Monde so, daß er nicht immer so wie jetzt draußen im Weltenall war, sondern er war einmal sogar - Sie können es in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft» nachlesen - mit seiner Substanz in der Erde drinnen, hat sich aus der Erde herausgespalten und ist dann heraufgegangen ins Weltenall, so daß er erst im Laufe der Erdenentwickelung sich selber zu einem Wohnhaus für geistige Wesenheiten gebildet hat. Welches sind nun diese geistigen Wesenheiten?

In meinen Büchern und Vorträgen habe ich oft beschrieben, wie der Mensch in sehr alten Zeiten der Erdenentwickelung den großen Urlehrern des Erdendaseins gegenübergestanden hat. Wir werden ja, wenn wir wirklich verständnisvoll zurückblicken in die Erdenentwieckelung, mit einer ungeheuren Ehrfurcht innerlich durchtränkt vor jener ungeheuren Weisheit, die einmal durch große, übermenschliche Lehrer den Menschen auf der Erde gegeben worden ist. Die ersten Lehrer des Menschengeschlechtes auf Erden waren eben nicht Menschen, sondern Wesenheiten, die höher stehen als der Mensch, die überhaupt nicht in einem physischen Leibe in den Mysterien erschienen, sondern in einem ätherischen Leibe, den sie seither zum großen Teile sogar abgelegt haben, so daß sie in einem astralischen Leibe sind. Diese Urlehrer haben dann den Auszug aus der Erde durchgemacht und sind ihrerseits nach dem Monde in den Kosmos hinausgegangen; so daß heute dieser Weltenkörper, den wir als Mond ansprechen, im Kosmos draußen die Kolonie der Urlehrer der Menschheit ist. Da sind sie drinnen. Wenn wir die Außenseite des Mondes ansehen, so spiegelt sie uns für das grobe Betrachten eigentlich nur das Licht der Sonne, für das feinere Betrachten aber spiegelt sie uns eine ungeheuer große Summe von Kräften des Weltenalls überhaupt. Aber was wir da von den Kräften des Weltenalls vom Monde auf die Erde hineingespiegelt erhalten, das hängt zusammen mit all dem, was im Menschen eigentlich untermenschlich ist, was der Mensch heute mit der animalischen Natur gemeinschaftlich hat. So daß der Mond merkwürdigerweise in sich vereinigt diese geistigen hohen Wesenheiten, die einmal die Urlehrer der Menschheit waren, mit den animalischen Kräften der Menschennatur.

In diesen Bereich kommt zunächst der Mensch, wenn er durch die Pforte des Todes hindurchgeschritten ist. Da macht er seine ersten Erfahrungen. Stellen Sie sich also ganz lebendig vor, wie der Mensch mit seiner moralischen oder auch unmoralischen Physiognomie in den Bereich der Mondenstrahlung, der physischen und der geistigen Mondenstrahlung kommt, und stellen Sie sich vor, wie der Mensch zunächst sich und die anderen Menschen mit dieser Physiognomie sieht. Aber es sind ja nicht physisch-sinnliche Augen, mit denen er schaut, sondern es ist ein Empfinden, gewissermaßen ein Betasten, aber ein Betasten auf Entfernung hin, wie der Mensch diejenigen Wesen wahrnimmt, die da in seinen Bereich kommen. Wenn ich Ihnen beschreiben soll, wie das ist, so möchte ich es in der folgenden Weise beschreiben. Nehmen Sie an, der Mensch kommt in diesem Gebiete nun wirklich an ein anderes Wesen heran. Er hat nun seine Physiognomie, die aber in sich beweglich ist, gewissermaßen weich ist. Er versucht nun, wenn er ein anderes Wesen in seiner Nähe hat, sich selber eine ähnliche Physiognomie zu geben, wie sie das andere Wesen zeigt. Wenn aber ein Mensch, der ein richtiger Bösewicht im Erdenleben war, durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist, drüben ankommt und nun versuchen würde, gegenüber einem sehr guten Menschen diese Prozedur zu machen, damit er empfände, was der gute Mensch in seiner Physiognomie ist, so würde er das nicht können. Er kann sich nur wieder die Physiognomie von Bösewichtern geben. Das andere gelingt ihm nicht. - Daraus sehen Sie, daß der Mensch eine gewisse Zeit nach dem Tode nur diejenigen anderen menschlichen Wesen sehen kann, die schon durch die Pforte des Todes durchgegangen sind, und die in moralischer Beziehung so waren wie er hier auf der Erde. Das ist der erste, ich möchte sagen, richtende Eindruck, den der Mensch erlebt. Dieser Eindruck übt eine scharfe Justiz, denn der Mensch steht da fortwährend unter dem Eindruck: So wie diese, so bist du auch! Du kannst dich überhaupt nur bewegen unter solchen Menschen, die so sind wie du! - Die anderen sieht man nicht, man nimmt sie zunächst nicht wahr.

Diese Umgebung des Mondes sendet aber nun durch die besonderen Kräfte, die sie hat, nicht gleich die Angeloi in ihrer schönen Form in die Nähe des Menschen, sondern der Mond ist ja dasjenige, dessen sich die Erde entledigt hat, der Mond ist derjenige Weltenkörper, den die Erde aus sich herausgesetzt hat in den Kosmos — allerdings sind dann mit ihm gegangen die großen, heiligen Urlehrer und Weisen der Menschheit -, so aber, wie der Mond jetzt allein draußen im Weltenall ist, so sind da in seiner Nähe durchaus die ahrimanischen Gestalten. Ahrimanische Gestalten sind dort zu sehen. Und da ist es so: Wenn der Mensch andere Menschen sieht in nicht guten Physiognomien, so hat er den eigentümlichen Eindruck, daß er sich sieht mit denjenigen, die er so sehen kann - und das sieht dann zum Verzweifeln ähnlich all den ahrimanischen Gestalten, die da erscheinen. Die Angeloi kann er noch nicht sehen, weil diese Gestalten haben, in die er sich wieder nicht hineinfinden kann. So sieht also der Mensch die anderen Menschen in gewissen Gestaltungen des Bösen, und er kann dann den Vergleich anstellen, wie dies ähnlich ist den ahrimanischen Gestalten. Das ist der zweite Eindruck, den der Mensch in der Mondensphäre bekommt: Du bist ja so ähnlich den ahrimanischen Gestalten! - Wiederum eine sehr wirksame Justiz nach dem Tode.

Und das dritte ist, daß der Mensch nun nicht entkommt dem deutlichen Eindruck: Da sind in der ersten Region, die ich zu durchwandern habe, die weisen, die guten Urlehrer der Menschheit. — Diesen Eindruck muß er bekommen, denn es besteht ein eigentümliches Verhältnis zwischen den ahrimanischen Wesenheiten, die einem in der geschilderten Weise entgegenkommen, und diesen Urlehrern der Menschheit.

Es ist ja vom menschlichen Standpunkte aus ganz begreiflich, daß die Menschen in bezug auf diese Dinge so ähnlich urteilen werden wie jener bekannte König von Spanien, dem man einmal eine Zeichnung von den Bewegungen der Sterne- und von dem ganzen Stande des Sonnensystems vorgelegt hat. Das war für ihn schwer zu begreifen, und da hat er denn gesagt: Wenn Gott ihm die Weltenschöpfung übertragen hätte, so hätte er es viel einfacher gemacht. - Er fand das zu kompliziert. Es ist nicht zu verwundern, daß viele Menschen etwas Ähnliches in ihren Urteilen ausdrücken; sie möchten immer gerne den göttlichen Weltenplan etwas korrigieren. Die Menschen trauen sich überhaupt in ihrer Einsicht ungeheuer viel zu. Es hat sogar einen Philosophen gegeben, der den Ausspruch getan hat: Gebt mir Materie, und ich forme ein Weltall daraus! - Kant nämlich. Es ist nur gut, daß man ihm keine Materie gegeben hat, denn er hätte etwas Schauderhaftes daraus gemacht.

So ist es auch, daß die Menschen, wenn sie von ahrimanischen Wesenheiten und Gestalten hören, dann nicht begreifen können, wie diese ahrimanischen Gestalten nicht längst alle Hoffnung verloren haben, daß sie in ihrem Sinne einen Sieg über die Erdengeister erringen werden. Denn die Menschen wissen das so gut, daß die ahrimanischen Wesenheiten nicht siegen werden. Aber Ahriman weiß es nicht. Er strebt immerfort den Sieg an. Und aus diesem Anstreben des Sieges entsteht ein eigentümliches Verhältnis zwischen denjenigen ahrimanischen Wesenheiten, die vorzugsweise zur Mondensphäre gehören, und den weisen Urlehrern der Menschheit, ich möchte sagen, es ist ein furchtbares Schmeicheln von seiten dieser ahrimanischen Wesenheiten gegenüber diesen Urlehrern der Menschheit, sie möchten sie für sich gewinnen. Denn was streben diese ahrimanischen Wesenheiten an? Sie möchten die Erde auf einem bestimmten Punkte ihrer Entwickelung festhalten, möchten sie nicht weiterkommen lassen. Es ist immer Ahriman, der da sagt: Die Menschen haben es bis hierher in ihrer Entwickelung gebracht, nun sollen sie auf diesem Standpunkte stehen bleiben, sich nicht weiterentwickeln. Ich will, daß sie sich auf diesem Standpunkte verhärten und dann ihre weitere Weltenreise antreten als verhärtete, nicht als solche Menschen, die sich weiterentwickeln. — Das ist es, was jede Nacht den Menschen von den ahrimanischen Wesenheiten in die Ohren geträufelt wird. Und das ist ja auch das, was die ahrimanischen Wesenheiten mit der Erde überhaupt wollen, sie wollen sie auf einem bestimmten Punkte ihrer Entwickelung festhalten.

Nun denken Sie in diesem Punkte an die großen Urlehrer der Menschheit. Diese Urlehrer haben ja auf der Erde das zurückgelassen, was wir als die alte Urweisheit kennen, die im Laufe der Zeit verglommen ist, die die Menschen heute nicht mehr verstehen, aber die einstmals in den alten Mysterienstätten den Menschen gelehrt worden ist. Diese alte Weisheit konnte nicht weiter gelehrt werden. Denn hätten die Menschen fortwährend diese Weisheit empfangen, so wären sie nicht weitergekommen, vor allen Dingen wären sie nicht zur Freiheit aufgerückt, sie hätten nicht ihren freien Willen bekommen können. Diese Weisheit war eine solche, die nur zu den Instinkten der Menschen sprechen konnte, nicht zur vollen selbstbewußten Besonnenheit. Daher haben sich diese Lehrer zum Heile der Menschheit in einem bestimmten Zeitpunkte von ihr zurückgezogen. Der Mensch hätte nicht für seine Entwickelung einen Ausgangspunkt, einen Anfang finden können, wenn diese Urlehrer nicht dagewesen wären. Nachdem sie aber einmal einen Anstoß gegeben haben, so daß der Mensch diesen Anstoß benützen kann, um sich selbständig weiterzuentwickeln, haben sie sich von der Erde zurückgezogen, sind eben in die Mondenkolonie gegangen. Und nachdem die ahrimanischen Wesenheiten dazumal, als diese Urlehrer noch auf der Erde waren, sich alle Mühe gegeben haben, diese Urlehrer auf der Erde zu erhalten und es bei der instinktiven Weisheit zu belassen, glauben sie heute noch immer, sie könnten, wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen und bei der Mondensphäre angelangt ist, wenigstens noch da etwas machen, und so versuchen sie durch ihre Schmeicheleien immerzu, diese Urlehrer der Menschheit dazu zu bewegen, jetzt an die eben verstorbenen Menschen heranzutreten. Doch das kann nicht erreicht werden, insbesondere nicht bei den Menschen, die die Physiognomie des Bösen an sich tragen. Aber es ist so, daß die ahrimanischen Wesenheiten sich auch fortwährend an die Menschen heranmachen und sie damit aufstacheln, daß sie ihnen sagen: Das war einmal da! - Und so entsteht jetzt als ein drittes für diese bösen Menschen, daß die ahrimanischen Gestalten ihnen die Urlehrer beschreiben, aber sie können sie mit ihrem Wesen nicht sehen, sie schen ins Leere hinein.

Das ist wieder ein sehr bedeutender, richtender Eindruck, den die Menschen dadurch bekommen. Und da lastet sich dann auf die Seele des Menschen die Empfindung: Ich sehe diejenigen nicht, von denen die Menschheit den Ausgangspunkt genommen hat, ich bin verworfen worden! - Das ist eine sehr starke, lebensvolle Empfindung, die diejenigen Menschen haben, die nicht die Physiognomie des Guten zeigen.

Das sind also die drei Eindrücke, die der Mensch dann haben muß, wenn er mit der Physiognomie des Bösen hinüberrückt in die Welt, die er betritt, wenn er durch die Pforte des Todes gegangen ist.

Nun muß man schon sagen: In einer gewissen Beziehung ist ja im Menschen nicht lauter Gutes, sondern selbst in dem besten Erdenmenschen ist viel Böses, so daß viele Menschen wenigstens teilweise diese Eindrücke empfangen, von denen ich gesprochen habe. Aber je mehr der Mensch selber die Physiognomie des Guten annehmen kann, um so mehr wird er auch drüben nach dem Tode diejenigen sehen, denen er durch das Gute ähnlich geworden ist, und er wird um so eher, je mehr er mit der Physiognomie des Guten hinüberkommt, weniger Sinn für die ahrimanischen Gestalten haben. Damit wird alles das, was ich erzählt habe, was von den ahrimanischen Gestalten ausgeht, wegfallen, und damit wird der Mensch dann mehr Sinn haben für die Angeloigestalten, die dann in seinen Bereich treten. Und das gibt dann in den Menschen hinein dasjenige, mit dem er sich jetzt durchdringt als mit Kräften, und zunächst sind es Kräfte des Wollens. Es ist so, daß man überhaupt nach dem Tode in der Hauptsache nicht das Nachdenken hat, sondern das Wollen. Das Wollen wird zur Empfindung, wird zur ganzen Lebenswelt. Sie sehen: Man muß wollen, wenn man überhaupt wahrnehmen will. Wenn man so etwas sehen will, muß man sich selbst entsprechend gestalten. Man muß also wollen. Dem muß man ähnlich werden, das man wahrnehmen will. Der Wille vorzugsweise ist es, der da ausgebildet wird, wenn der Mensch durch die Pforte des Todes geschritten ist, und auf den Willen wirken auch die Eindrücke im Guten und Bösen, die ich für den Mondenbereich geschildert habe.

Das nächste nun, wo hinein der Mensch kommt, ist dann der Merkurbereich. In diesem Merkurbereich hat der Mensch seine Physiognomie schon so weit den Mächten und Kräften der übersinnlichen Welt angepaßt, daß er, zuweilen unter starken Schmerzen, abgelegt hat seine Physiognomie des Bösen, daß er allmählich ähnlich geworden ist - obwohl es bei vielen Menschen mit diesem Ähnlichwerden nicht sehr rasch geht - den Gestalten der Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. Aber jedenfalls kommt der Mensch jetzt in den Bereich des Merkur und damit in den Bereich der Wesen der dritten Hierarchie, muß unter ihnen leben und muß das durchmachen, was ich schon beschrieben habe. Es ist dies derjenige Bereich, wo man sich allmählich das Verständnis erwirbt für das, was vorher eine bloße mehr oder weniger blinde Anschauung war, aber eine blinde Anschauung, die sehr stark gerade auf die menschliche Willenssphäre gewirkt hat. Im Merkurbereiche erwirbt man sich dafür nach und nach das Verständnis. - Heute, in diesem unserem Zeitalter ist es so, daß wirklich derjenige, der mit imaginativer Anschauung nach diesen Dingen hinsieht, recht tragische Empfindungen hat. Denn wie man sich gerade in diese Merkursphäre hineinfindet als Toter, das hängt schon etwas davon ab, ob man hier auf der Erde als Materialist alles Übersinnliche in Denken und Tun abgewiesen, oder ob man sich hier Verständnis für das Übersinnliche erworben hat. Man steht schon ziemlich verständnislos den Wesenheiten in der Merkursphäre gegenüber, wenn man hier auf der Erde alles, was über das Materielle hinausgeht, abgewiesen hat. Und man steht ebenfalls verständnislos den Wesenheiten gegenüber, die im nächsten Bereiche sind, die auch noch zur Kategorie der Angeloi, Archangeloi und Archai gehören, nur etwas weiter entwickelt sind, wenn man im Erdenleben Materialist war, und man nun in den Venusbereich kommt, denn da wird man gerade überstrahlt von den Kräften der kosmischen Liebe. Hat man auf der Erde sich nicht erworben die Kraft des Liebenkönnens, so kommt man da in einen fremdesten Bereich. Und das, was einen sonst, wenn man sich auf der Erde Liebefähigkeit erworben hat, im Venusbereich dann überstrahlt mit Liebeskräften, das verwandelt sich in einem Menschen, der auf der Erde viel oder unbewußt gehaßt hat, in Zorneskräfte. Es ist das Geheimnis des Venusaufenthaltes, daß der, welcher sich von der Erde viele Reste von Hassenskräften mitbringt, die in ihm gewaltet haben, sich dann im Bereich der Venus so finden wird, wie wenn ihm aus seinem Willen heraus aufsteigen würden die umgewandelten Liebeskräfte, die Zorn- und Wutkräfte sind. Er schaut sich da in demjenigen, von dem er sich sagen muß, das alles muß gemildert, muß in Einklang mit dem Weltenall gebracht werden. Und es ist im Grunde genommen immer das Wollen, das in diesem Gebiete, ich möchte sagen, eine besondere Pflege erhält, das Wollen, das ja auch beim Erdenmenschen an dem StoffwechselGliedmaßen-Menschen sitzt, an dem unteren Menschen. Der wird aber gerade nach dem Tode zur Gesamtphysiognomie, und so ist es auch schon das Wollen, das da zum Ausdruck kommt.

Aber mittlerweile entwickelt sich der Mensch in der Weise weiter — alles übrige, was ich schon beschrieben habe, kommt dann dazu, aber das gibt wieder neue Gesichtspunkte, die danach erörtert werden müssen —, daß er allmählich ähnlich wird den Wesenheiten, die im geistigen Kosmos vorhanden sind, und er kommt allmählich in den Sonnenbereich. In diesem Sonnenbereiche wirken die Kräfte vorzugsweise dann auf das alles, was wir auf der Erde im Abglanz des Fühlens haben. Die Sonne ist nun wiederum nur ihrer Außenseite nach das, was sie uns zeigt, wenn wir mit physischen Augen zu ihr hinaufschauen. Die Sonne ist innerlich der große Weltversammlungsort aller derjenigen geistigen Wesenheiten, die eben von diesem Zentrum aus die Geschicke der Erde und der Erdenmenschen und alles, was dazu gehört, lenken und leiten. Die Sonne ist vor allen Dingen die Kolonie der Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie, der Exusiai, Kyriotetes, Dynameis. Indem der Mensch in den Sonnenbereich tritt, kommt alles das an ihn heran, was ich das letzte Mal beschrieben habe. Während er vorher nur zusammen war mit denjenigen Wesen, die mit ihm schicksalsmäßig verknüpft sind, treten jetzt auch andere an ihn heran. Sein «übersinnlicher Bekanntenkreis», wenn man so sagen darf, wird größer und größer. Das alles geschieht jetzt im Sonnenbereiche.

In diesem Sonnenbereiche ist es nun auch, wo ein besonders starkes inneres Erleben beim Menschen auftritt. Da unten ist eine andere Welt, die Erde, die er verlassen hat, die er aber wieder betreten muß. In diesem Sonnenbereiche kommt nun das zustande, was ich beschrieben habe als die Umarbeitung des Menschen: Die untere Natur des Menschen wird für das nächste Erdenleben in die obere Natur umgearbeitet, so daß die Beine umgearbeitet werden in die Geistgestalt des Unterkiefers, die Arme in die Gestalt des Oberkiefers mit den Jochbeinen und so weiter. Das alles bedeutet in dem Bereich des Geistigen eine wunderbare Arbeit, gegen die alles, was die Menschen auf den verschiedensten Gebieten auf der Erde arbeiten, etwas höchst Unbedeutendes ist. Eine große, majestätische Arbeit an dem Geheimnis des Menschen wird die Arbeit, die da vom Menschen im Verein mit den höheren geistigen Wesenheiten geleistet wird. Das alles geschieht innerhalb des Sonnenbereiches im weiteren Sinne des Wortes.

Aber der Mensch bekommt gerade in diesem Sonnenbereich noch ein anderes inneres Erlebnis. Wenn wir hier auf der Erde leben, muß eigentlich, wenn wir innerlich seelisch und geistig vollkommen gesunde Menschen sind, in uns die Empfindung auftauchen: Es gibt noch eine andere, eine geistige Welt, wenn wir auch erkenntnismäßig nicht in sie eindringen können. Wir setzen die geistige Welt sozusagen voraus, wir sprechen davon, daß außer derjenigen Welt, die wir im Sinnlichen erleben, eine übersinnliche Welt da ist. Jetzt, während des Sonnendaseins zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, ist das Umgekehrte der Fall. Da kommt gerade während des Sonnendaseins über den Menschen so etwas, daß er sprechen lernt von einer jenseitigen Welt. Das ist aber die Erde. Und da tritt erst die allerlebendigste Empfindung, jetzt nicht so sehr für sein eigenes Schicksal, sondern für die ganze Eigentümlichkeit des Irdischen hervor. Da gibt es eine gewisse Eigentümlichkeit, auf die Sie kommen können. Sie müssen es nur einmal probieren - aus sich selbst heraus kann das der heutige Mensch in der Regel noch nicht.

Wenn Sie Geschichte lesen, sie studiert haben, so können Sie, indem Sie die Geschichte zurückverfolgen, immer auf folgendes Erlebnis kommen. Ich will also sagen, Sie leben jetzt im Jahre 1923. Sie gehen nun durch die Geschichte hindurch, gehen durch den Weltkrieg und alles, was früher war, zurück: Sie können dann irgendwo, wenn Sie Geschichte studieren, einen geschichtlichen Bereich finden, sagen wir meinetwillen das Jahr 1500 oder 1550 oder so etwas, dem gegenüber Sie die Empfindung haben können, das kommt Ihnen bekannt vor.

sehen Sie nur einmal hin auf solche intime menschliche Erkenntnis. Es kommt Ihnen irgend etwas bekannt vor in der Vergangenheit, das vor einigen oder vor mehreren Jahrhunderten da war. Sie sagen sich, das müssen Sie erlebt haben. Oberflächlinge reden dann gleich davon, daß sie gerade in diesem Jahr in einem vorherigen Erdenleben waren. Das ist meistens nicht der Fall, sondern es ist meistens dasjenige Jahr, in welchem der Mensch zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt in dem Sonnendasein den lebhaftesten Zusammenhang mit dem Erdendasein hatte, wo das irdische Leben nun jenseits so an den Menschen herantritt, wie auf der Erde umgekehrt das übersinnliche Leben als jenseitiges an den Menschen heranrritt.

Bleiben wir nun zunächst einmal einen Augenblick bei dieser Entwickelung stehen, so können wir sagen, der Mensch absolviert das Mondendasein, wenn er von der Erde weggegangen ist, er kommt in das Merkurdasein, kommt in das Venusdasein, kommt in das Sonnendasein, dann geht es weiter. - Davon wollen wir noch später sprechen. - Alle diese Dinge sind im Grunde genommen in der geistigen Welt nicht bloß isolierte Dinge und Vorgänge, sondern das steht wieder alles im Zusammenhange mit dem, was auf der physischen Erde geschieht, und da ergibt sich ein ganz besonderer Zusammenhang. Dies, was Mondendasein ist, das ist ja ganz durchdrungen von jenen Ihnen heute öfter erwähnten großen Urlehrern der Menschheit. Die sind in einem Zeitpunkte, der sehr weit zurückliegt, aus dem Erdendasein hinausgegangen in die kosmischen Welten, in die kosmische Kolonie des Mondes. Aber einzelne Menschen, Initiierte in den Mysterien, hatten auch nachher noch ein recht lebhaftes inneres Hören und Schauen für das, was bei diesen Ur-Initiierten einmal auf der Erde da war. So war in der urindischen Zeit noch ein ganz lebendiges Wissen in den Mysterien vorhanden von den Weisheiten der Monden-Initiierten. Gerade das, was heute noch bewundert werden kann in den Nachklängen der urindischen Weisheit, ist auf diese Art zustande gekommen.

Dann trat ein Zweifaches ein. Auch für die verschiedenen Zeitalter bestehen noch Einflüsse von diesem Überirdischen, das der Mensch durchwandelt zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, nur kommen diese Einflüsse immer weniger durch, das heißt, der Mensch wird sich immer weniger dieser Einflüsse bewußt. Die Merkureinflüsse zum Beispiel sind besonders stark gewesen während der urpersischen Zeit, aber die Menschen waren sich weniger dessen bewußt, und sie haben dann dafür die Mythe von dem Ahura Mazdao ausgestaltet, die noch ein dunkles Wissen war von dem, was Einfluß ist vom Merkur auf die Erde. Während der ägyptisch-chaldäischen Kultur waren vorzugsweise die Venuseinflüsse wirksam. Und dann kam die wunderbare griechische Kultur, die sich dann weiter fortgesetzt hat in der lateinischen; die griechisch-lateinische Kultur, wo am stärksten ist, aber am wenigsten von den Menschen bemerkt, der Sonneneinfluß von der übersinnlichen Welt her auf die Erde. Und in dieser Zeit war es auch, wo zweierlei zusammenfiel: das eine, daß der Mensch, wenn er durchgeht durch das Dasein zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt und gerade in die Sonnensphäre kommt, den größten Hang dazu hat, die Erde von dem Sonnendasein aus zu empfinden -, auf der anderen Seite kam bei den Griechen das dazu, daß alles, was Sonnenmäßiges ist, auf sie einen großen Eindruck gemacht hat. Das, was die Kräfte des Sonnenmäßigen der Erde geben, das hat auch für die Griechen ungemein viel bedeutet, insbesondere für diejenigen Griechen, die man gewöhnlich als die athenischen Griechen bezeichnet - Athener im Gegensatz zu Spartanern -, aber überhaupt übte in Griechenland vom Kosmos aus das Sonnenmäßige, auch als Geistiges, auf die ganze Konfiguration der griechischen Zivilisation einen außerordentlich tiefgehenden Einfluß aus. Während dieser ganzen Entwickelung war auf der Erde besonders stark die Begabung dafür, das Geistige, das rein Geistige des Sternenhimmels zu empfinden. Es beginnt eigentlich erst in unserem fünften nachatlantischen Kulturzeitalter mehr die Empfindung des Materiellen des Sternenhimmels.

Unser fünftes nachatlantisches Zeitalter beginnt ja mit dem 15. nachchristlichen Jahrhundert, ist also erst ein paar Jahrhunderte alt. Wir sind aber schon mit diesen Einflüssen aus derjenigen Region herausgekommen, wo die Menschen sich auf der Erde verwandt fühlen diesem Fühlen innerhalb des Sonnendaseins zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Wir fühlen heute vielmehr das, was nun darauf folgt. Und in der Tat kommt der Mensch, wenn er eine Zeitlang das Sonnendasein durchlebt hat, in den Bereich des Marsdaseins. Was vom Weltenall auf die heutige Menschheit den größten Einfluß hat, das sind die Impulse des Marsdaseins. Und wir können diese Marseinflüsse kennenlernen, schon wenn wir, nachdem wir die Mittagshöhe des Daseins zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt überschritten haben, uns wiederum dem Erdendasein nähern. Aber die Sache ist ja nicht so, daß das Sonnendasein mit seinen Wirkungen nun für den Menschen aufhört, wenn der Mensch zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt in das Marsdasein eintritt. Die Sonne dehnt die Sphäre ihrer Wirksamkeit auch über die folgenden planetarischen Zustände hinüber aus. Das bleibt, aber eine Bedeutung gewinnt für das, was auf der Erde nun vorgeht, das Marsdasein.

Ich werde den Durchgang des Menschen durch das Marsdasein weiter schildern, aber ich möchte jetzt fortschreiten von dem, was wir so von der geistigen Welt kennenlernen, zu dem, was da gerade in unserem fünften nachatlantischen Zeitalter wirkt.

Man lernt erkennen, was ein Weltenkampf ist. Man spürt es. Die meisten Menschen können es sich nicht enträtseln, aber im Weltendasein wirkt ein Weltenkampf zwischen allerlei guten und allerlei bösen Geistern. Und was wir als das Sonnendasein bezeichnet haben, gewinnt für dieses Zeitalter eine besondere Bedeutung. Es ist ja heute so schwer, mit geistigen Einsichten aufzukommen gegen das, was äußere materialistische Wissenschaft ist. Die Leute sind so stolz darauf, daß sie physikalisch die Sonne erforscht haben. Sie beschreiben in ihren wissenschaftlichen Handbüchern das Sonnendasein, aber diese Beschreibungen sind nicht dazu angetan, daß man eine richtige Vorstellung bekommt von dem, was die Sonne ist, sondern daß man von den richtigen Vorstellungen abgelenkt wird. Wie wirkt denn heute ganz besonders die Sonne mit Bezug auf das Erdendasein? - Nun will ich nur eine dieser Wirkungsweisen Ihnen andeuten. Ich komme damit scheinbar jetzt in sehr materielle Bereiche hinein, die sich sonderbar ausnehmen innerhalb des Spirituell-Geistigen, das ich geschildert habe, aber diese Dinge werden uns wichtig sein im weiteren Fortgang der Betrachtungen, denen wir uns dann widmen wollen.

Es ist Ihnen ja bekannt die Erscheinung der Sonnenflecken, die mit einer gewissen Regelmäßigkeit auf der Sonne auftreten. Die Sonne bekommt dunkle Flecken. Es wird in der äußeren materiellen Wissenschaft viel gestritten über diese Sonnenflecken und was sie für eine Bedeutung haben. Wenn man aber genauer verfolgen würde, was die Bedeutung dieser Sonnenflecken ist, so würde man finden: Da wird vom Inneren der Sonne fortwährend die Anregung gegeben, daß Sonnensubstanz durch diese dunklen Tore ausgeworfen wird ins Weltenall. Und was so von der Sonne als Sonnensubstanz in den Kosmos hinausgeworfen wird, das erscheint dann innerhalb unseres Sonnensystems als Kometen und Meteore, auch als die bekannten Sternschnuppen. Diejenigen Wesenheiten, die innerhalb der Sonne die Welt verwalten, sie werfen, insbesondere in unserem Zeitalter, diese Dinge in unser Zeitalter hinein. Sie haben es schon früher getan, die Dinge sind nicht erst heute aufgetreten, aber sie bekommen nun eine andere Bedeutung, als sie früher gehabt haben. Deshalb sagte ich: In den früheren Zeitaltern haben vorzugsweise die geistigen Impulse gewirkt, die im Sternensystem da sind. Nun beginnen diese Impulse, die da im ausgeworfenen Eisen liegen, eine besondere Bedeutung zu haben für den Menschen. Diese Impulse sind es, die nun ein besonderer Geist, der hier wieder seine besondere Bedeutung gewinnt und den wir den Michael-Geist nennen, im Kosmos anwendet - im Dienste des Geistigen im Kosmos. So daß für unser Zeitalter dasjenige im Kosmos eingetreten ist, was in den früheren Zeitaltern nicht in demselben Grade vorhanden war: daß das kosmische Eisen in seiner geistigen Bedeutung dem Michael-Geist die Möglichkeit gibt, zu vermitteln zwischen dem Übersinnlichen und dem Sinnlichen der Erde. Und so haben wir auf der einen Seite eine Art kriegerischen Geistes in der Welt, die man betritt, wenn man in unserem Zeitalter hinter das sinnliche Dasein kommt. Wenn in unserem Zeitalter der Mensch zum übersinnlichen Schauen kommt, wenn er die Schwelle übertritt und nun nicht den Blick auf die Dinge richtet, die ihn zunächst menschlich-persönlich angehen, sondern auf die Dinge, welche die großen Weltangelegenheiten sind und unserer ganzen Zivilisation zugrunde liegen, dann dringt sein Blick in diese Welt hinein, und er erschaut dort Kampf, Streit, geistigen Kampf. Es streitet, es kriegt hinter den Kulissen des Daseins im Geistigen. Und das, was bis zur physischen Deutlichkeit von den Sonnengeistern als Eisen hineingeworfen wird in den Kosmos, das wird dann im umfassendsten Sinne kosmische Rüstung des Michael, der nun seine Aufgabe in diesem kosmischen Kampfe hat, um gegenüber diesen Mächten des Kampfes und Krieges hinter den Kulissen der Zivilisation der Menschheit im rechten Sinne vorwärtszuhelfen. So daß einem auf der einen Seite entgegentritt Streit und Kampf, auf der anderen Seite die Bemühungen des Michael.

Das alles hängt aber wieder zusammen mit der Entwickelung der menschlichen Freiheit. Denn sehen Sie, wir haben als Erdenmenschen Eisen in unserem Blut. Wären wir Wesen, die kein Eisen in ihrem Blute hätten, so könnte in unseren Seelen ganz gut auch das Freiheitsgefühl, der Freiheitsimpuls auftauchen, aber wir hätten nie einen Körper, den wir benutzen könnten, um diesen Freiheitsimpuls zur Ausführung zu bringen. Daß wir die Freiheitsidee, den Freiheitsimpuls nicht nur fassen können, sondern daß wir in unserem Körper auch die Kraft fühlen, diesen Körper zu einem Träger des Freiheitsimpulses zu machen, das rührt davon her, daß wir in unserem Zeitalter lernen können, wie Michael das kosmische Eisen, das auch früher ausgeworfen worden ist, in seinen Dienst zu stellen vermag, und daß wir lernen können, wenn wir immer mehr und mehr den Michael-Impuls verstehen, das innere Eisen in uns in den Dienst des Freiheitsimpulses zu stellen. Das äußere Materielle bekommt immer erst dann einen Sinn, wenn wir es als Ausdruck des Geistigen in der Welt verstehen lernen. Und das Eisen in unserem Blute müssen wir in diesem Zeitalter in der richtigen Weise zu gebrauchen lernen, denn überall da, wo das Eisen auftritt, ist der Impuls gegeben aus dem Kosmos heraus, aus dem Menschen heraus, daß sich die Freiheit entwickele. Aus einem tiefen Instinkt heraus haben daher die alten Initiierten dem Mars das Eisen zugeschrieben, das mit seiner Wichtigkeit im Blut zugleich die Wichtigkeit im Kosmos bekommt.

Man kann heute durch die wiedergewonnene Geisteswissenschaft diese Dinge einsehen. Das ist nicht ein Erneuern alter Traditionen, sondern ein Wiederfinden der Dinge aus der Geisteswissenschaft selber heraus. Und durch ein Zusammenstimmen mit den alten Zeiten wird mit der Anthroposophie nicht etwas Altes nur historisch erneuert, sondern es werden die Dinge aus ihrem Wesen heraus gesucht. Dann bekommen sie wieder ihre Bedeutung, wenn man sieht, wie die Menschen das schon einmal gewußt haben unter dem Einfluß der uralten göttlichen Weisheit, die jene Wesen besessen haben, die dann ihren Auszug in den Mond bewirkt haben, und die heute die kosmische Kolonie des Mondes bevölkern. Und so hängt auch unser Zeitalter eben zusammen mit dem, was der Mensch durchlebt zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt. Daher ist die Empfindung von dem, was auf der Erde ist, am stärksten während des Durchganges durch die Sonnensphäre, aber sie ist eigentlich mehr oder weniger immer vorhanden. Immerdar schaut der Mensch auch von seinem überirdischen Bereich, den er durchmacht im Dasein zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, auf das Irdische herab. Denn würde er nicht auf das Irdische herabschauen, so würde es ihm fremd werden während seines Durchganges durch die Zeit zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt, der ja immerhin lange währt.

So kann man in der verschiedensten Weise schildern, was der Mensch in der übersinnlichen Welt durchlebt. Im vorigen Vortrag habe ich es Ihnen in einer anderen Weise geschildert, jetzt schildere ich es Ihnen im Zusammenhange mit der Sternenwelt, schildere es auch im Zusammenhange mit dem, was in den aufeinanderfolgenden Zeitaltern auf der Erde vorgeht. Alle diese Dinge müssen nach und nach zusammengefaßt werden. Es darf nicht jemand kommen und sagen: Ja, er hat uns ja den Durchgang des Menschen durch die Zeit zwischen dem Tode und einer neuen Geburt das eine Mal so, das andere Mal so geschildert! - Wenn jemand in eine Stadt reist, einmal, ein zweites Mal und so weiter, so beschreibt er auch, je nachdem er die Stadt kennenlernt, die Dinge verschieden. Man muß dann die Einzelheiten zusammenfassen. So handelt es sich auch darum, daß die verschiedenen Schilderungen der Erlebnisse des Menschen in der übersinnlichen Welt eben zusammengefaßt, zusammengeschaut, zusammengedacht werden. Dann erst bekommt man einen Eindruck von dem, was die übersinnliche Welt ist, und was der Mensch in dieser übersinnlichen Welt erlebt.

So weit wollte ich die Sache jetzt schildern. Ich werde dann im zweiten heutigen Vortrag daran anknüpfen und darstellen, was der Mensch weiter durchlebt, wenn er durchgeht durch das Dasein zwischen Tod und neuer Geburt.

Third Lecture

In the first hour of the lecture we tried to form an idea of how man, when he is on earth, has relations with the extraterrestrial beings and forces. In the second lesson we then tried to form an idea of how man's passage through the supersensible world is, from a certain point of view, in the time between death and the next birth. In this lecture I would now like to add a few things to what has already been said, to expand on things, so to speak. We will then come to round off the whole matter and obtain a harmonious picture in the course of the lectures.

We have seen that when a person has passed through the gate of death, that is, when he has arrived in the supersensible world, it is initially the case that he still reveals himself to the imaginative view as if in a spirit form. Of course, you must realize that this contemplation of the spiritual is something different from the contemplation of the sensual. For example, anyone who has a vision of the spiritual will tell you: Yes, I have seen this, but I could not say how “great” the apparition was - and the like. So of course things are not quite as spatial as a sensory eye image. Nevertheless, if you want to describe them, you must describe them in such a way that the thing looks quite like a sensory eye image or like whatever else is used to describe it. In this sense I also ask you to understand the descriptions I will give of these things.

When the human being has now passed through the gate of death, the head gradually fades in this image of the spirit form, the head form fades. On the other hand, the rest of the human form becomes physiognomy, and indeed, as I have already described, physiognomy in such a way that this physiognomy is the expression of the extent to which the human being was a more or less good or evil person or a wise man or a fool and the like in the earthly life that took place up to the passage through the gate of death. All that man can hide in the sensual world, where one can be a villain with the most innocent face, is not possible when one has passed through the gate of death. It cannot be done with the face, because this face fades; and it cannot be denied by the rest of the figure, which acquires more and more of a physiognomic expression. But the point is that when man enters the spiritual world, his whole relationship to the world is different. You must realize that what is most highly valued on earth, thinking, especially abstract thinking, is not valued at all in the spiritual world. That for which the head is the instrument is not valued at all in the spiritual world, it cannot be used at all. We must leave behind this proud thinking, through which we form ideas about sensual things on earth. Philosophers exist only on earth, for it is precisely philosophy, which consists in abstract thinking, that must be left behind on earth. All soul-life becomes more and more, the further we enter the spiritual, supersensible world, a pictorial imagining, a gazing, and indeed such a gazing that the thoughts which are in the things come with the gazing. Here on earth we form our thoughts, over there the thoughts are revealed to us through the things themselves, they come to us. So thought there is attained through contemplation. There it is a matter of everything that the human being is now to go through coming to him in the spiritual world through contemplation.

Now we also have certain points of reference for the sensory perception, which we can tie in with if we want to describe the spiritual world through which man passes between death and new birth. We see the stars in the sensory world. The stars, including the planets of our planetary system, show us, I would like to say, for the sensory view down to earth, basically only their outside. Inside they are something completely different. Inside they are the gathering of spiritual entities, of such spiritual entities that have gathered in the most diverse ways in the places where these stars are. And when we look somewhere at a star with the naked physical eye, it means: In this direction there is a colony of spiritual beings in the universe, and what I see there as a physical star only gives me the direction, so to speak, it is a marker, a sign. What the physical science describes of the stars is of very little significance, for it deals with nothing other than signs, markers, direction and orientation signs. That we see a star somewhere means nothing else than that in this direction is the dwelling place of spiritual beings.

Now the first area into which man enters when he has passed through the gate of death is the area of the moon, that is, he enters the area of those entities which have their abode in the moon. What kind of beings are these?

You know from my account in the “Secret Science” that the moon was not always where it is now. There is a strange peculiarity about this moon. It is quite strange, for example, that in the usual textbooks, in the school books and manuals, it is completely concealed that this moon is now in a state where it comes a little closer to us every year. Most people do not realize this because they do not find it in these manuals, but it is true. But it is so with this moon that it was not always as it is now outside in the universe, but it was once even - you can read it in my “Secret Science” - with its substance inside the earth, split out of the earth and then went up into the universe, so that only in the course of the earth's development it formed itself into a dwelling place for spiritual beings. What are these spiritual beings?

In my books and lectures I have often described how man in very ancient times of earthly development stood opposite the great primal teachers of earthly existence. If we really look back with understanding into the development of the earth, we are imbued with a tremendous reverence for the immense wisdom that was once given to people on earth by great, superhuman teachers. The first teachers of the human race on earth were not human beings, but beings higher than man, who did not appear at all in a physical body in the Mysteries, but in an etheric body, which they have since discarded for the most part, so that they are in an astral body. These primal teachers then went through the exodus from the earth and for their part went out into the cosmos after the moon; so that today this world body, which we address as the moon, is the colony of the primal teachers of humanity in the cosmos outside. There they are inside. When we look at the outside of the moon, it actually only reflects the light of the sun to us when we look at it roughly, but when we look at it more finely it reflects an immense sum of the forces of the universe in general. But what we receive reflected to the earth from the moon of the forces of the universe is connected with all that which is actually sub-human in man, what man today has in common with animal nature. So that the moon strangely unites in itself these spiritual high beings, who once were the original teachers of mankind, with the animal forces of human nature.

Man first enters this realm when he has passed through the gate of death. That is when he has his first experiences. Imagine quite vividly how man with his moral or even immoral physiognomy enters the realm of lunar radiation, the physical and spiritual lunar radiation, and imagine how man first sees himself and other people with this physiognomy. But it is not physical-sensual eyes with which he looks, but a feeling, a touching, so to speak, but a touching at a distance, how man perceives those beings who come into his area. If I am to describe to you what this is like, I would like to describe it in the following way. Let us assume that the human being really approaches another being in this area. He now has his physiognomy, but it is flexible in itself, soft, so to speak. Now, when he has another being near him, he tries to give himself a physiognomy similar to that of the other being. But if a person who was a real villain in earthly life, who has passed through the gate of death, were to arrive on the other side and now try to perform this procedure on a very good person so that he could feel what the good person is like in his physiognomy, he would not be able to do so. He can only give himself the physiognomy of a bad person again. He cannot do the other. - From this you see that for a certain time after death man can only see those other human beings who have already passed through the gate of death and who were morally like him here on earth. This is the first, I would say, judgmental impression that man experiences. This impression exercises a sharp justice, for man is constantly under the impression that he is like them! You can only move among people who are like you! - You don't see the others, you don't notice them at first.

This environment of the moon, however, does not immediately send the Angeloi in their beautiful form into the vicinity of man through the special powers it has, but the moon is that which the earth has got rid of, the moon is that world body which the earth has put out of itself into the cosmos - however, the great, holy original teachers and wise men of mankind have then gone with it - but just as the moon is now alone outside in the universe, so there are definitely the ahrimanic figures in its vicinity. Ahrimanic figures can be seen there. And there it is like this: When man sees other people in not good physiognomies, he has the peculiar impression that he sees himself with those whom he can see in this way - and that then looks desperately like all the Ahrimanic figures that appear there. He cannot yet see the Angeloi because they have forms into which he again cannot find his way. Thus man sees other men in certain forms of evil, and he can then compare how this is similar to the Ahrimanic forms. This is the second impression that man gets in the lunar sphere: You are so similar to the Ahrimanic figures! - Again, a very effective justice after death.

And the third is that man now cannot escape the clear impression: There are the wise, the good original teachers of mankind in the first region, which I have to wander through. - He must get this impression, for there is a peculiar relationship between the ahrimanic entities, which approach one in the manner described, and these primal teachers of mankind.

It is quite understandable from a human point of view that people will judge these things in a similar way to that famous king of Spain who was once presented with a drawing of the movements of the stars and the whole state of the solar system. It was difficult for him to understand, and so he said: If God had entrusted him with the creation of the world, he would have made it much simpler. - He found it too complicated. It is not surprising that many people express something similar in their judgments; they would always like to correct the divine world plan a little. People generally have an enormous amount of confidence in their insight. There was even a philosopher who said: Give me matter, and I will form a universe out of it! - Kant, that is. It's just as well that he wasn't given any matter, because he would have made something horrible out of it.

So it is also that men, when they hear of ahrimanic beings and figures, then cannot understand how these ahrimanic figures have not long since lost all hope that they will gain a victory over the earth spirits in their sense. For people know so well that the Ahrimanic entities will not be victorious. But Ahriman does not know this. He is always striving for victory. And from this striving for victory arises a peculiar relationship between those ahrimanic beings who preferably belong to the lunar sphere and the wise primal teachers of mankind, I would like to say it is a terrible flattery on the part of these ahrimanic beings towards these primal teachers of mankind, they would like to win them over for themselves. For what are these ahrimanic entities striving for? They want to keep the earth at a certain point in its development, they do not want to let it progress. It is always Ahriman who says: "People have come this far in their development, now they should remain in this position, not develop any further. I want them to harden themselves in this position and then start their further journey through the world as hardened people, not as people who develop further. - That is what the ahrimanic beings drip into people's ears every night. And that is also what the ahrimanic entities want with the earth in general, they want to hold it at a certain point in its development.

Now think of the great primal teachers of humanity in this respect. These primal teachers left behind on earth what we know as the old primal wisdom, which has faded away in the course of time, which people no longer understand today, but which was once taught to people in the old mystery places. This ancient wisdom could no longer be taught. For if people had continued to receive this wisdom, they would not have progressed, above all they would not have been able to attain freedom, they would not have been able to acquire their free will. This wisdom was one that could only speak to people's instincts, not to full self-conscious reflection. Therefore, for the good of mankind, these teachers withdrew from it at a certain point in time. Man could not have found a starting point for his development, a beginning, if these primal teachers had not been there. But once they had given an impulse so that man could use this impulse to develop further independently, they withdrew from the earth and went to the lunar colony. And after the Ahrimanic beings, when these original teachers were still on earth, made every effort to keep these original teachers on earth and to leave it at instinctive wisdom, they still believe today that they can at least still do something there when the human being has passed through the gate of death and arrived at the lunar sphere, and so they constantly try through their flattery to persuade these original teachers of humanity to now approach the recently deceased human beings. But this cannot be achieved, especially not with people who have the physiognomy of evil about them. But it is the case that the ahrimanic entities are also constantly approaching people and inciting them by telling them: This was once there! - And so the third thing that arises for these evil people is that the ahrimanic figures describe the original teachers to them, but they cannot see them with their being, they look into the void.

This is again a very significant, judging impression that people receive as a result. And then the feeling weighs on the human soul: I do not see those from whom humanity has taken its starting point, I have been rejected! - This is a very strong, vivid feeling that those people have who do not show the physiognomy of goodness.

So these are the three impressions that man must have when he crosses over into the world with the physiognomy of evil, which he enters when he has passed through the gate of death.

Now it must be said: In a certain respect there is not all good in man, but even in the best earthly man there is much evil, so that many people receive at least partly these impressions of which I have spoken. But the more man himself can take on the physiognomy of the good, the more he will also see over there after death those whom he has become like through the good, and the more he comes over with the physiognomy of the good, the sooner he will have less sense for the ahrimanic figures. Thus all that which I have told you, which emanates from the ahrimanic figures, will fall away, and thus man will then have more sense for the Angeloi figures, which will then enter his realm. And this then gives into man that with which he now permeates himself as with forces, and at first they are forces of will. It is so that after death one does not have thinking in the main, but volition. Volition becomes sensation, becomes the whole world of life. You see: You have to want if you want to perceive at all. If you want to see something like this, you have to shape yourself accordingly. So you have to want. One must become like that which one wants to perceive. It is preferably the will that is formed when the human being has passed through the gate of death, and the impressions of good and evil that I have described for the lunar realm also have an effect on the will.

The next area into which the human being enters is the area of Mercury. In this Mercury region man has already adapted his physiognomy so far to the powers and forces of the supersensible world that he has, sometimes with great pain, shed his physiognomy of evil, that he has gradually become similar - although with many people this becoming similar does not happen very quickly - to the forms of the Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. But in any case, man now enters the realm of Mercury and thus the realm of the beings of the third hierarchy, must live among them and must go through what I have already described. This is the realm where one gradually acquires an understanding of what was previously a mere more or less blind perception, but a blind perception that had a very strong effect on the human sphere of will. In the realm of Mercury one gradually acquires an understanding of this. - Today, in this age, it is the case that those who look at these things with an imaginative view have quite tragic feelings. For how one finds one's way into this sphere of Mercury as a dead person depends somewhat on whether one has rejected everything supersensible in thought and action here on earth as a materialist, or whether one has acquired an understanding for the supersensible here. One is quite uncomprehending of the beings in the sphere of Mercury if one has rejected everything here on earth that goes beyond the material. And one is also without understanding towards the beings who are in the next realm, who also belong to the category of the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai, only they are a little more developed if one was a materialist in earthly life and one now comes into the Venusian realm, because there one is just outshone by the forces of cosmic love. If you have not acquired the power of the ability to love on earth, you enter a most alien realm. And that which otherwise, if you have acquired the ability to love on earth, outshines you in the Venusian realm with powers of love, is transformed into powers of anger in a person who has hated much or unconsciously on earth. It is the secret of the Venus sojourn that he who brings with him from earth many remnants of the forces of hatred that have prevailed in him will then find himself in the realm of Venus as if the transformed forces of love, which are forces of anger and rage, were to rise out of his will. He sees himself there in that of which he must say to himself that all this must be softened, must be brought into harmony with the universe. And basically it is always the will that receives, I would like to say, special care in this area, the will that is also located in the metabolic limb man, in the lower man. But it is precisely after death that this becomes the overall physiognomy, and so it is also the will that is expressed there.

But in the meantime man develops further in such a way - everything else I have already described is then added, but that again gives new points of view which have to be discussed afterwards - that he gradually becomes similar to the entities which are present in the spiritual cosmos, and he gradually comes into the solar realm. In this solar realm the forces then preferentially affect all that we have on earth in the reflection of feeling. The sun is now again only according to its outer side what it shows us when we look up to it with physical eyes. Inwardly, the sun is the great world gathering place of all those spiritual beings who, from this very center, direct and guide the destinies of the earth and the people of the earth and everything that belongs to it. The sun is above all the colony of the beings of the second hierarchy, the Exusiai, Kyriotetes, Dynameis. When man enters the solar realm, everything that I described last time comes to him. Whereas before he was only together with those beings who are linked to him by destiny, now others also approach him. His “supersensible circle of acquaintances”, if one may say so, is growing larger and larger. All this is now happening in the solar realm.

It is also in this solar realm that a particularly strong inner experience occurs in the human being. Down there is another world, the earth, which he has left, but which he must enter again. It is in this solar region that what I have described as the transformation of the human being comes about: The lower nature of man is reworked into the upper nature for the next life on earth, so that the legs are reworked into the spirit form of the lower jaw, the arms into the form of the upper jaw with the zygomatic bones, and so on. All this is a marvelous work in the spiritual realm, compared to which everything that people do in the most diverse areas on earth is something extremely insignificant. The work done by man in union with the higher spiritual beings will be a great, majestic work on the mystery of man. All this happens within the solar realm in the broader sense of the word.

But it is precisely in this solar realm that the human being has another inner experience. When we live here on earth, the feeling must actually arise in us if we are inwardly soulfully and spiritually completely healthy people: There is another, a spiritual world, even if we cannot penetrate it cognitively. We presuppose the spiritual world, so to speak, we speak of a supersensible world in addition to the world we experience in the senses. Now, during the sun's existence between death and new birth, the reverse is the case. It is precisely during the sun's existence that something comes over man so that he learns to speak of a world beyond. But that is the earth. And only there does the most vivid feeling emerge, now not so much for his own fate, but for the whole peculiarity of the earthly. There is a certain peculiarity that you can discover. You just have to try it once - today's people are generally not yet able to do this on their own.

If you read history, if you have studied it, you can always arrive at the following experience by retracing history. So I want to say that you are now living in 1923. You are now going back through history, going back through the world war and everything that came before it: you can then find somewhere, if you study history, a historical area, let's say the year 1500 or 1550 or something like that, which you can have the feeling that it looks familiar to you.

Just look at such intimate human knowledge. Something in the past seems familiar to you, something that was there a few or several centuries ago. You say to yourself that you must have experienced it. Superficial people then immediately talk about the fact that they were in a previous earthly life just this year. This is usually not the case, but it is usually the year in which the human being had the most vivid connection with the earthly existence between death and new birth in the solar existence, where the earthly life now approaches the human being from the other side in the same way as the supersensible life on earth approaches the human being from the other side.

If we now stop for a moment with this development, we can say that man completes the moon existence when he has left the earth, he comes into the Mercury existence, comes into the Venus existence, comes into the sun existence, then it goes on. - We will talk about this later. - Basically, all these things are not just isolated things and processes in the spiritual world, but they are all connected with what happens on the physical earth, and there is a very special connection. That which is moon existence is indeed completely permeated by those great primal teachers of mankind mentioned to you several times today. At a time very far in the past, they went out of earthly existence into the cosmic worlds, into the cosmic colony of the moon. But individual people, initiates in the Mysteries, still had a very lively inner hearing and seeing for what was once there on earth with these original initiates. Thus in the primeval Indian time there was still a very lively knowledge in the Mysteries of the wisdom of the Moon initiates. Precisely that which can still be admired today in the echoes of primeval Indian wisdom came about in this way.

Then a twofold occurred. For the various ages, too, there are still influences from this supernatural, which man passes through between death and new birth, only these influences come through less and less, that is, man becomes less and less conscious of these influences. The influences of Mercury, for example, were particularly strong during the Urperian period, but people were less aware of them, and they then developed the myth of Ahura Mazdao, which was still a dark knowledge of the influence of Mercury on the earth. During the Egyptian-Chaldean civilization, the Venusian influences were the most effective. And then came the wonderful Greek culture, which then continued in the Latin culture; the Greek-Latin culture, where the sun's influence from the supersensible world on the earth was strongest, but least noticed by people. And in this time it was also where two things coincided: on the one hand, that man, when he passes through the existence between death and new birth and comes straight into the sphere of the sun, has the greatest tendency to feel the earth from the existence of the sun - on the other hand, with the Greeks it was added that everything that is solar made a great impression on them. That which the powers of the solar nature gave to the earth also meant a great deal to the Greeks, especially to those Greeks who are usually called the Athenian Greeks - Athenians as opposed to Spartans - but in general in Greece the solar nature from the cosmos, also as spiritual, exerted an extraordinarily profound influence on the whole configuration of Greek civilization. Throughout this entire development, there was a particularly strong talent on earth for sensing the spiritual, the purely spiritual of the starry heavens. It is really only in our fifth post-Atlantean cultural age that we begin to perceive the material aspects of the starry sky.

Our fifth post-Atlantean age begins in the 15th century AD, so it is only a few centuries old. But with these influences we have already come out of the region where people on earth feel related to this feeling within the solar existence between death and new birth. Today we feel rather what follows. And indeed, when man has lived through the solar existence for a while, he enters the realm of the Martian existence. What has the greatest influence from the universe on mankind today are the impulses of the Martian existence. And we can get to know these Martian influences as soon as we have passed the midday height of existence between death and a new birth and approach earthly existence again. But it is not the case that the sun's existence with its effects now ceases for man when man enters the Martian existence between death and new birth. The sun also extends the sphere of its activity beyond the following planetary states. This remains, but Martian existence gains significance for what is now happening on earth.

I will continue to describe the passage of man through the Martian existence, but I would now like to move on from what we get to know from the spiritual world to what is at work in our fifth post-Atlantean age.

You learn to recognize what a world struggle is. You can feel it. Most people cannot decipher it, but in the world existence a world struggle is at work between all kinds of good and all kinds of evil spirits. And what we have described as the existence of the sun takes on a special significance for this age. It is so difficult today to come up with spiritual insights against what is external materialistic science. People are so proud of the fact that they have physically researched the sun. They describe the sun's existence in their scientific manuals, but these descriptions are not intended to give us a correct idea of what the sun is, but to distract us from the correct ideas. What effect does the sun have today in relation to earthly existence? - Now I will only hint at one of these effects. I am apparently now entering into very material areas which seem strange within the spiritual-mental that I have described, but these things will be important to us in the further course of the considerations to which we then want to devote ourselves.

You are familiar with the phenomenon of sunspots, which appear on the sun with a certain regularity. The sun gets dark spots. There is much debate in external material science about these sunspots and what they mean. However, if one were to look more closely at the meaning of these sunspots, one would find that From the interior of the sun the stimulus is continually given that solar substance is ejected through these dark gates into the universe. And what is thus ejected from the sun as solar substance into the cosmos then appears within our solar system as comets and meteors, also as the well-known shooting stars. Those beings who administer the world within the sun, especially in our age, throw these things into our age. They have done it before, the things have not just appeared today, but now they take on a different meaning than they had before. That is why I said: In the earlier ages, it was primarily the spiritual impulses that were at work in the star system. Now these impulses, which lie there in the ejected iron, are beginning to have a special meaning for man. It is these impulses that a special spirit, which here again gains its special significance and which we call the Michael spirit, now uses in the cosmos - in the service of the spiritual in the cosmos. So that for our age that has occurred in the cosmos which was not present to the same degree in the earlier ages: that the cosmic iron in its spiritual meaning gives the Michael-spirit the possibility to mediate between the supersensible and the sensible of the earth. And so, on the one hand, we have a kind of warlike spirit in the world, which one enters when one comes beyond the sensual existence in our age. When in our age man comes to supersensible vision, when he crosses the threshold and now directs his gaze not to the things that initially concern him in a human-personal way, but to the things that are the great world affairs and underlie our whole civilization, then his gaze penetrates into this world, and there he beholds struggle, strife, spiritual battle. It fights, it wars behind the scenes of existence in the spiritual realm. And that which is thrown into the cosmos as iron by the sun spirits to the point of physical clarity then becomes, in the most comprehensive sense, the cosmic armour of Michael, who now has his task in this cosmic struggle to help mankind forward in the right sense against these powers of struggle and war behind the scenes of civilization. So that on the one side one is confronted by strife and struggle, on the other side by the efforts of Michael.

But all this is again connected with the development of human freedom. For you see, as earthlings we have iron in our blood. If we were beings who had no iron in our blood, the feeling of freedom, the impulse of freedom, could very well arise in our souls, but we would never have a body that we could use to carry out this impulse of freedom. That we can not only grasp the idea of freedom, the impulse of freedom, but that we also feel the power in our body to make this body a carrier of the impulse of freedom, stems from the fact that in our age we can learn how Michael is able to put the cosmic iron, which was also thrown out earlier, into his service, and that we can learn, if we understand the Michael impulse more and more, to put the inner iron in us into the service of the impulse of freedom. The outer material only becomes meaningful when we learn to understand it as an expression of the spiritual in the world. And we must learn to use the iron in our blood in the right way in this age, for wherever iron appears, the impulse is given out of the cosmos, out of the human being, for freedom to develop. Out of a deep instinct, the ancient initiates therefore ascribed iron to Mars, which, with its importance in the blood, also becomes important in the cosmos.

These things can be seen today through the regained spiritual science. This is not a renewal of old traditions, but a rediscovery of things out of spiritual science itself. And by reconciling with the old times, anthroposophy does not merely renew something old historically, but seeks things out of their essence. Then they regain their meaning when we see how people once knew this under the influence of the ancient divine wisdom possessed by those beings who then brought about their exodus to the moon, and who today populate the cosmic colony of the moon. And so our age is also connected with what man experiences between death and rebirth. Therefore, the sensation of what is on earth is strongest during the passage through the solar sphere, but it is actually more or less always present. The human being is always looking down on the earthly from his supernatural realm, which he passes through in the existence between death and new birth. For if he did not look down on the earthly, it would become alien to him during his passage through the time between death and new birth, which after all lasts a long time.

So one can describe in various ways what man experiences in the supersensible world. In the previous lecture I described it to you in a different way, now I will describe it to you in connection with the starry world, I will also describe it in connection with what happens on earth in the successive ages. All these things must be summarized bit by bit. No one may come and say: Yes, he has described to us the passage of man through the time between death and a new birth one time like this, the other time like this! - When someone travels to a city, once, a second time and so on, he also describes things differently depending on how he gets to know the city. You then have to summarize the details. Thus it is also a matter of summarizing the various descriptions of man's experiences in the supersensible world, of looking together, of thinking together. Only then does one get an impression of what the supersensible world is and what man experiences in this supersensible world.

This is how far I wanted to describe the matter now. In today's second lecture, I will follow on from this and describe what the human being continues to experience when he passes through the existence between death and new birth.