The Rudolf Steiner Archive

21. Cosmology According to Genesis

[ 1 ] The first two chapters of Genesis can be better understood if one is familiar with the various topics we have already covered. The first chapter describes the development of our planet through the first three Earth cycles up to and including the fourth cycle, up to the moment when humankind is created. It thus concludes with the creation of humankind, at the point where the human of the fourth cycle enters the first incarnation within the third root race. In a very similar way, the Mosaic Genesis depicts this as does Greek mythology. It is only expressed more clearly in Greek mythology, which depicts three streams emerging from the three Logoi: Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus. At the beginning of our earthly development, Uranus represents the first Logos, which first brings about the division from the undifferentiated state that existed in the preceding Pralaya. The driving force was Uranus; his opposite was Gaia. In them lies the origin of the Earth. Uranus, in conjunction with Gaia, is thus the creative principle. One could therefore also say: In the beginning were Uranus and Gaia. The second current is the soul current, Kronos, who represents the purely psychic aspect of the soul. Then comes what is called the pilgrimage of the soul, the union with Zeus, the god of Kama-Manas.

[ 2 ] And what does Genesis actually say?

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And the earth was formless and empty,
and darkness covered the deep;
and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1–2)

[ 3 ] This is the arupa state; it has no form yet.

And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.
And God saw that the light was good.
Then God separated the light from the darkness,
and called the light “day,” and the darkness “night.”
And there was evening and there was morning—the first day. (Genesis 1:3–5)

[ 4 ] This is the first form, the initial rupa state. The second globe is there.

And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,”
“and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
So God made the firmament, and separated the waters under the firmament from the waters above the firmament.
And so it was. And God called the firmament “heaven.”
And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. (Genesis 1:6–8)

[ 5 ] When Genesis refers to water, it always means astral matter.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, so that the dry land may appear.”
And it was so.
And God called the dry land “Earth,” and the gathering of the waters He called “Seas.”
And God saw that it was good.
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth.” And it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass and plants bearing seed, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit with their own seed in them, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening and morning, the third day. (Genesis 1:9–13)

[ 6 ] That was the time when the plant kingdom came into being. In the past, the plant kingdom was a chaotic jumble; there were no distinct plants yet. Therefore, each plant shall now have its own seed according to its kind. It is only now that distinct plants are emerging.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He also made the stars.

And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning—the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14–19).

[ 7 ] This is the astral world, the third globe—the sea of stars, the symbol of astral existence.

[ 8 ] Now we come to the actual globe of the Earth. Here, matter gradually took shape. First came etheric matter. During the first two epochs, we are primarily dealing with etheric matter. This condenses during the third root race, during the Lemurian epoch. At the same time, a condensation of materiality takes place, so that during the Lemurian epoch we see an ever-increasing densification of physical materiality.

And God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”
And God created great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters teemed, each according to its kind, and every winged bird, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
And there was evening and morning, the fifth day. (Genesis 1:20–23)

[ 9 ] This is not the animal kingdom described in natural history, but rather the one described in the Dzyan stanzas in the second part of Blavatsky’s *The Secret Doctrine*.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures, each according to its kind: livestock, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And so it was.

And God made the animals of the earth, each according to its kind, and the livestock according to its kind, and every kind of creature that moves on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:24–25)

[ 10 ] He made the animals stand apart, whereas before they had been mingling.

And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, and over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that crawl on the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; (Genesis 1:26–27)

[ 11 ] and he created him male and female, that is, asexual.

And God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and over every living creature that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

[ 12 ] Multiply in a non-sexual manner, not through reproduction, but simply by splitting apart, as in the astral realm.

And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)

[ 13 ] We are now at the point where the third root race of the fourth round begins, the third great age of the Earth.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, along with all their hosts.

And so on the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had been doing.

And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, ... (Genesis 2:1–3)

[ 14 ] “He rested” means that he has now entrusted the task to humanity. Before that, he had stirred everything that needed to be stirred from within. Now the cosmic Pentecost took place: the spirits descended and continued the work.

... because on that day he had rested from all the work that God had done and created.

Thus the heavens and the earth came into being, as they were created at the time when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. And every kind of tree in the field was not yet on the earth, and every kind of plant in the field had not yet grown; for the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground.

But a mist rose from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And so man became a living being. (Genesis 2:3–7)

[ 15 ] Now man was there.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man whom he had formed.

And the Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8–9)

[ 16 ] It describes the transition from the ethereal races to the physical races. These are formed from the four directions—east, west, south, and north—and from the four elements, which correspond to the faculties of the spirit-soul. The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil are symbols of the Higher Self that has united with humanity.

And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided into four main streams.
The first is called Pison; it flows around the entire land of Havilah, and there is gold found there.
And the gold of that land is of excellent quality; and there is found bdellium and the precious stone onyx. (Genesis 2:10–12)

[ 17 ] The other rivers are called Gehon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates. The four rivers symbolize the four astral forms of matter that converge. In esoteric language, water always signifies the astral. In esoteric language, gold is the symbol of the spiritual; onyx is the symbol of matter that descends to the deepest level. Onyx is the symbol of how the living must be transformed before it can be absorbed into the higher principle. The living, the prana, must pass through a state of purification; this is referred to as the onyx state. In Goethe’s “Fairy Tales,” one also finds the transformation of the pug into an onyx.

And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden;

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:15–18)

[ 18 ] Now the fourth round begins; before that there was a brief Pralaya. When the fourth round begins, the ethereal human races come to an end. The first being of the fourth round is the human. And what now comes into being arises through the human; it becomes a product of decadence, it falls away.

Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground every kind of animal that moves in the field and every kind of bird that flies in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

And the man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every creature of the field; but for the man no suitable helper was found.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he fell asleep. (Genesis 2:19–21)

[ 19 ] Sleep signifies that transition, which one must understand very precisely. Let us imagine a light in the center [of the room] that is reflected all around in the most varied ways. Let us imagine that the light in the center goes out, and the outer lights continue to shine. This is how Manas sinks into the bodies, which now begin to shine from within when Manas ceases to illuminate people from without. Dream consciousness forms the transition between the initial radiance within and the disappearance of the light on the outside. Sexuality is the opposite pole of Kama-Manas, just as the South Pole is the opposite pole of the North Pole.

And he took one of his ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

And the Lord God fashioned a woman from the rib he had taken from the man, and brought her to him.

Then the man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:21–24)

[ 20 ] Everyone will leave their father and mother; that is to say, they will leave behind what once defined them.

[ 21 ] The first two chapters of Genesis contain the Egyptian esoteric teachings. Moses was initiated in Egypt; he then brought these teachings back with him and imparted them to his people.