The Rudolf Steiner Archive

7. The World of the Spirit, or Devachan I

[ 1 ] Ladies and gentlemen! Eight days ago, I took the liberty of describing the structure of the realm that everyone must traverse upon entering the state between two incarnations—the so-called mental realm, or the world of Devachan. I explained to you that we must first distinguish three distinct regions there, and I also noted that the words available to us in our everyday language are insufficient to convey the perceptions in the mental realm, so that we are often able to express only in hints and sometimes only symbolically what can be perceived in this realm that the human being traverses between two incarnations. Those who, as initiates, know of this realm describe it in words that are to be taken more as hints than as a true representation of reality. Therefore, you must also accept the descriptions I gave last time more as hints, for it is almost inexpressible what is perceived by one whose senses are open to the devachanic world.

[ 2 ] I have described three regions of Devachan to you and noted that these correspond to the three regions on our Earth: the solid, mountainous region—which is the continental region of Devachan—the liquid region—which is the oceanic region of Devachan—and the region of the air sea.

[ 3 ] One of the German poets who knew something about this country was, as I mentioned last time, Goethe. Goethe had this country described more superficially through his Mephistopheles. But even from this description, you can see that Goethe knew how difficult it is to speak of this country. He depicts it by having Mephistopheles point out to Faust what he will find there. Mephistopheles says the following:

And had you swum across the ocean,
Beheld the boundless expanse there,
You would still see wave upon wave rolling in,
Even if you dread the coming of the end.
You would still see something! You would surely see, amidst the greenery,
of the calm seas,
You would see clouds drifting, the sun, moon, and stars
You will see nothing in the eternally empty distance,
You will not hear the step you take,
You will find nothing solid where you rest!

[ 4 ] We can regard this—for those who view it rationally—as an approximate description of this realm. Elsewhere, Mephistopheles says to Faust:

Take this key! ...
The key will sense the right place;
Follow it down: it will lead you to the mothers.

[ 5 ] Even in Plutarch’s time, people spoke of the realm of mothers; for Goethe, it is the realm of the unformed. That is why he has Mephisto say to Faust:

[ 6 ] Sink, then! I might as well say: rise!

[ 7 ] So Devachan is neither above nor below, but everywhere.

Escape from what has come into being
Into realms untethered from form!
Delight in what has long since ceased to exist!

[ 8 ] This is a European’s account. I will now give you the account of a Hindu sage; it is colored by Eastern thought, yet conveys the same meaning; it states: There are many thousands of world systems. Underlying this world is a realm of bliss. The realms are bounded by seven rows of fences, governed by the Tathagata, and belong to the Bodhisattvas. Waters flow through these realms, and they possess seven characteristics.

[ 9 ] I have described to you the three realms of Devachan, which correspond to our solid earth, our ocean, and the sea of air. I have said that in Devachan the land looks different from our present-day land, and I have said that we find there forms that we also see here, but engraved like a seal impression. This continental mass forms the foundation of Devachan. Within it moves the living sea mass; pink in color, it permeates all being and forms the source of life for all forms, all structures that are to arise as plants, humans, and animals. The air sphere is of a very special nature in Devachan. We see our physical air sphere as blue; the air sphere in Devachan is radiantly reddish. It possesses an extraordinary capacity for sensation, which resides in each of its atoms and animates every single atom. Everything that manifests itself in the air sphere is a life of sensation. Everything I experience in the lower realms as pain and pleasure is expressed in the air sphere of Devachan. The one who perceives on this plane understands what an initiate of the Christian religion, Paul, says: All creation groans in pain, awaiting adoption as children. — The air sphere is also permeated by a celestial sound, by a music that the ancient Pythagoreans called the harmony of the spheres. Those who have already heard this harmony, which is the expression of the harmony of the cosmos, hear it everywhere, even though it is drowned out by the noise of everyday life. This is expressed in the description of the Hindu sage as fences.

[ 10 ] Now we come to the fourth region of the spiritual realm. This is a very special realm; the creators and animators of all things are at work there. The so-called akashic substance is the substance, the clay, from which everything is formed. This is an image that all magicians speak of. Goethe also speaks of it in the passage where he discusses “fire-air.” It is the substance possessing the greatest plasticity, the substance into which one can impress material forms on one side and spirit on the other. It is the substance that had been forgotten since the beginning of Christianity, forgotten until the Theosophical Society emerged. When the first request was made to Sinnett to inform the Western world of these things, we find in his book *The Occult World* a description of this substance, which is said to contain magical powers. And we read there, as the Master himself puts it, that Western civilized people will only come to understand the significance of the substance Akasha with great difficulty and slowly.

[ 11 ] As I described eight days ago, the Devachanic world can be divided into three lower realms and three higher realms. The three higher realms radiate their light and sound into the three lower realms. If we have designated the lower Devachanic realms—in theosophical terminology, the “Rupa realms”—as the mainland, the ocean, and the airspace, then beyond the fourth realm—[Akasha]—extend the three highest realms of Devachan, which are called “Arupa realms” in theosophical terminology. All that exists on this side of Devachan—that is, the astral realm and the physical realm—has its primordial states present in the higher Devachan. These Arupa realms are inhabited by beings of the most sublime nature. The Masters of the original Christian wisdom have described these realms; they were known in Christian wisdom up until the 13th century; then knowledge of them was lost. No one can understand the Christian wisdom of earlier centuries unless they recognize that some writings speak of the three highest realms of Devachan. These three realms are, as mentioned, inhabited by sublime beings who direct and guide all processes in the lower realms.

[ 12 ] Goethe also alludes to the first stage of the higher Devachan in a passage from the fairy tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. There you can read:

[ 13 ] We now ascend to even higher regions. There we encounter beings who can no longer be seen, but who can speak to human beings when they are ready to receive their message. The first teachers of Christian wisdom referred to them as Dynamis. These are beings who radiate far and wide as creative forces. In the next realm we find the Lordships, the Kyriotetes. Thus we have the hierarchy of these exalted beings, who resound throughout the three highest realms of Devachan. In Christian esotericism, there are indications that these insights were still alive in the first centuries of Christianity, but that they were lost because there were fewer and fewer Christian initiates.

[ 14 ] Even in the realm I described earlier, in the air sphere of Devachan, there are beings whose garments are woven from the air sphere of Devachan, but who possess characteristics entirely opposite to those of us humans. It is difficult to describe the qualities possessed by these beings who live in the air sphere of Devachan. Just as we humans attribute sensations to ourselves, we must attribute to these beings not that they receive or accept sensations, but that they radiate sensations out through the air sphere. They are, therefore, beings of a completely different kind. Wherever they go, they radiate forces of sensation, whereas for us humans, sensations flow in. Only in this way can I describe what characterizes these beings. In Christian esotericism, this was expressed by calling these beings archangels. Today this term is no longer understood. It must not be applied to physical forces; that would be superstition. It must be applied to devachanic beings who carry the message of sensation through the air-circle of Devachan and spread everywhere that which is purest sensation.

[ 15 ] The ocean of Devachan is like a rose-colored stream that flows over everything. It is animated by a host of beings known as messengers, or Angeloi. These do not carry sensation; they carry life through the realms of Devachan; they are bearers of life.

[ 16 ] And the solid realm, the continental realm of Devachan, is animated and animated by the beings known in Christian esotericism as Archai—or, in German, Urkräfte. The lower realm of Devachan, the solid realm, the continental realm, is animated by these Archai. It is they who breathe life into everything.

[ 17 ] These are the beings referred to in Christian esotericism as the hierarchies of the Archai, the Archangeloi, and the Angeloi. These beings are encountered by those whose devachanic senses are open, but they are also encountered by every person who has died and is passing through the states of the interim period between two incarnations. I have already pointed out that when a person has shed their body, they must spend some time in the astral world. I will return to this later. For now, I would only like to describe what takes place in this realm, where the person is prepared to enter Devachan. Everything that a person has brought with them from the physical realm is purified of the forces of desire in the astral world. Even the so-called sense of self slowly dissolves in the astral world; all chaotic forces dissolve when a person is to enter Devachan.

[ 18 ] I will now once again mention the four higher realms of the astral realm, which are also called the layers of sympathy. They are filled with fine astral substance, the substance of sympathy—in contrast to the substance of egoism found in the lower three levels. In the fourth realm, egoism—the sense of self—dissolves; in the fifth realm, sensual pleasure dissolves. In this fifth part of the astral realm, the human being learns to admire the beauty of the world not because it is pleasant, but because everything eternal and pure is meant to be beautiful. And in the sixth astral realm, the human being comes to know the deeper forces of compassion, benevolence, and devotion to the world. In the seventh realm, all life that the human being has brought with them from the lower realms melts away like snow in the sunlight. And then the human being must pass through the four lower stages of Devachan, which I described earlier. Life on these four stages is of great significance.

[ 19 ] I have said that the primordial forces, the Archai, are to be found in this first realm of Devachan. It is with these that the human being comes into contact. There we find the disembodied souls, gathering new strength for their future lives. What has held people together in family ties, in tribal affiliations, in national associations, in state associations—in short, everything that more or less points to the blood kinship of the human race—all of this is spiritualized in this realm of the primordial forces, so that the human being may be purified through what he has learned and endowed with higher abilities. The purpose of the Devachan realm for human beings is that what they have learned during their earthly life can be developed into higher abilities. Human beings are meant to gather experiences in the physical world, and these are to be transformed into abilities. We are meant to emerge from the school of life improved and strengthened.

[ 20 ] Now the human being enters the second region of Devachan. The ocean of Devachan is the realm that constitutes the unifying force. Just as water connects the lands, so in Devachan the flowing, rose-colored water connects everything that has boundaries in the lower realm. Boundaries are established wherever family, tribal, national, and state associations exist. These boundaries must exist, but at the same time, the sense of belonging and the harmony of all beings must be established. Beings must come together in the stream that flows through everything. When a person enters this stream that flows through everything, they enjoy the fruits of what they have sown. There, everyone will find what elevates them above the barriers of existence; humanity is purified of what must cling to them as limitations within the earthly realm. They are led to acquire new abilities. Though these are merely seeds, the flowers that blossom from them are the abilities they cultivate and bring with them into the new life.

[ 21 ] The third is what I have described as the air circle of Devachan. Man also enters this air circle between two incarnations. There, where within the air circle the deep sighing of nature can be perceived, where every clap of thunder signifies an evocation of pain, where the sunlight corresponds to what we call eternal bliss and beatitude—there takes shape that which later, upon reincarnation, emerges as a sense of philanthropy and noble humanity. Here active and intelligent devotion arises, working love, and this is the plant that flourishes here above all else, which the human being cultivates within themselves. Here the human being will behold in its fruits what they have experienced in the egoistic world. Here he becomes a person of active service, the person who first comes to know the words “humanity” and “philanthropy” in the full sense of the word.

[ 22 ] Then comes the fourth realm [Akasha], the realm of the sound of all worldly existence. Here, human beings learn to recognize that which gives form and shape to beings and things throughout all worldly existence. Here, the human being learns to recognize how sound blends with sound to form a symphony, how natural force blends with natural force and transforms into “tools.” Here, the human being comes to know the beings who discover and invent. Here, they learn not only to recognize what the forces are as such, but they come to know them as living entities. Here, human beings become imbued with the living, productive creative power. They learn to recognize not only what is created here in terms of expressions of human existence—the human institutions that bring the human sphere to life and make it suitable for human life—but also that which belongs to the realm of the higher arts. In all of this, laws live that are experienced in the Akasha as living beings. As the human being immerses himself in their radiance, he immerses himself in the fourth realm of Devachan in the manner in which the fabric is woven “on the rushing loom of time.” He learns to recognize this.

[ 23 ] These are the four stages in which a person lives out what they have prepared during their earthly existence and develops new abilities. This marks an important moment for the individual. Once they have passed through this fourth realm, the moment arrives when they are transported to the other side of our world system, into the true realm of the spiritual, into the realm where impressions are formed from the other side. Human beings can spend only a short time there; only those who have already attained a higher level of development remain for a longer period. The still undeveloped human beings have only a momentary glimpse of this higher realm before descending once more into the lower realms to gather experiences there, so that when they return, they may remain there for ever longer periods. When the human being re-enters this realm, the abilities that were previously restricted by the material world begin to develop. I call it a crucial moment because what was previously held together by matter is completely shed and removed. What was once narrow now becomes wide; what was once clinging to one another and intertwined now unfolds; it becomes fluid, and the human being becomes free. The abilities are no longer constrained by materiality. One can only compare this, for example, to a plant that cannot grow freely, but must grow between rock crevices and adapt its form to the crevices; it grows upward, but is constrained by the crevice. So it is also for the human soul. Suppose the crevice becomes softer and softer, so that the plant can unfold a little more. Once the human soul has entered the Akashic realm, there is absolute equality. For those whose devachanic eye is open, it is a marvel to behold how the soul unfolds during the transition from the Akashic realm to the higher realms of Devachan. We see it as a fine, ethereal substance within an egg- or sphere-shaped, floating substance. It sheds layer upon layer. The fine, ethereal color of the Akasha is shed, and the pure essence unfolds, radiant in a new light—a light that cannot be described in earthly terms. It takes on a completely free form. Every ability that was constrained in earthly life and was not fully free even in the lower Devachan realms is now set free. The human being becomes free in every respect. He can bring all his abilities to full growth. The more abilities the human being develops, the more he “swells” and the more he takes with him into the new incarnation. As long as he is permitted to remain there, he also makes the acquaintance of the Masters of Wisdom and Compassion. This is the realm where, by grace, they may receive from the even more exalted beings the intentions that underlie the cosmos. From here, they weave the garment of the world, which is woven from the fabrics of the lower Devachan realms, the astral realm, and the realm of earthly substances. Up there, the intentions—the basic lines of cosmic development—are mapped out, and there, too, those who have further developed their abilities in the course of evolution may become acquainted with the threefold hierarchy of beings I have enumerated.

[ 24 ] In the first sphere of the upper Devachan, he learns from the beings who have ascended to the rank of Exusiai about the wondrous flower that springs forth from the seeds of the cosmos. He learns how it grows; he comes to know the eternal forces of the universe. In this sphere, he meets the beings who possess the power of thought; he sees how thought works through them.

[ 25 ] The next higher sphere is home to the beings of the Dynamis. They possess not only the power of thought but also the power of the Source; they are the beings who, so to speak, possess the seeds of thought. Compare the Exusiai to a flower. Then turn to the seed, which is now transparent, bright, and clear, but which also possesses the power to become a flower. The spiritual power of the entire universe lies in the hands of the Dynamis. That is why they are called rays of power. Thus, through these beings, the seed of thought can be formed, and then, from the other side, the whole can be imprinted into the Akasha, which is the tone of the entire cosmic structure. Thus, as Goethe has his Faust describe it, things are formed there, where the Mothers sit, enthroned in solitude and working at the glowing tripod. I have already mentioned that in Plutarch’s time, this realm was also called the Realm of the Mothers. If you read about the Realm of the Mothers in Plutarch, this story will take on a whole new meaning for you.

[ 26 ] In the highest realm, the beings we call Kyriotetes resound. Only the most highly evolved can gain a brief glimpse into this realm. There, everything is in harmony and unity; all sense of individuality has vanished.

[ 27 ] The Exusiai, the Dynamis, and the Kyriotetes—these are the three highest realms in which human abilities become completely free, the realms we enter in the interval between two incarnations in order to draw strength from what lies on the other side for our work in the earthly world of

[ 28 ] Existence. What takes place in this earthly existence, what we ourselves do and bring about—that is the world of results, the world of effects. The world of causes lies beyond the earthly realm. When we

[ 29 ] return to a new incarnation, then new strength for existence flows to us from the world of causes, and everything that a human being accomplishes in this world—what shines within them as moral ideals, as abilities for creative work, as active love for humanity, as compassion for all beings, what shines forth as the mastery of natural forces in technology—rests hidden within the human soul; it has brought it with itself from the realm of the higher Devachan, where the causes are the effects of this world.

[ 30 ] Goethe alludes to this beautifully in his fairy tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, where he speaks of the river—which we can compare to the Akashic Stream—and calls the other shore the Garden of the Flower, the Garden of the Beautiful Lily. Such a flower is also mentioned in the Teachings of the Hindu Sage. It is the force that flows through the entire Devachan. Fruits grow from this flower, and these fruits are the archetypes for this world. If a person wishes to act, they must draw strength to do so by finding nourishment in these fruits. Then the person begins to develop; they become active and powerful.

[ 31 ] As I have said, Theosophy is not meant to withdraw people from the world. It does not seek to transport them to a realm where they become weak and listless in their earthly existence; that is not its aim. It seeks something entirely different. It seeks to point them toward a realm where they can draw strength and abilities to be vigorous in earthly life and capable of their work. A person who does not know what lies behind and ahead of them in their development is like a blind person who merely stumbles along, not knowing where they are going or what they are bumping into. And a person who knows their path both forward and backward is like one who can see.

[ 32 ] The specific entities we will encounter next will be the subject of the upcoming lectures. We will hear more about life in Devachan as a whole, as well as about individual experiences and the influence of the Devachanic world on our own. These introductory lectures should make it clear that Theosophy is not a doctrine alien to reality, but rather one that is friendly to reality and full of creative joy, because it does not lead people away from earthly existence, but rather equips them with powers that, while living within earthly existence, are not visible within it. Human beings must recognize these powers as they strive upward into the realms that are inaccessible to those who cling solely to the sensory world. And to all those hostile to the spiritual realm, to all those who say there is nothing beyond the sensory world, we wish to call out Goethe’s words: “/p”

Go right ahead! Let’s get to the bottom of it:
In your nothingness, I hope to find the universe.