Awareness - Life - Form
GA 89
17 October 1904, Berlin
Planetary Evolution I
We have to realize that the microcosm does to some degree relate to the macrocosm. Human beings have dual nature the way they present themselves today—body and soul from the outside, and the spirit which they have been developing from the inside, beginning in the middle of the Lemurian age. Soul and body are vestments for the evolving spirit. Human beings will gradually be more and more spiritual. The soul is the mediator between the physical aspect and the spirit. Today’s spirit human being had no part in the process in which hosts of sublime spirits worked to develop this organism with its body and soul. This has been created out of great wisdom. The most perfect photographic apparatus would be child’s play compared to the structure of the eye, which shows such wisdom, and this also holds true if we compare a piano with the structure of the ear, which also shows wisdom. The human skeleton is configured in a way showing the greatest wisdom. Every bone is made up of countless numbers of small struts that support one another. This is a much more profound wisdom than any wisdom human beings have ever gained through their activities in the outside world. How does the human being show his dual nature? Where the vestments are concerned, in a perfect structure; where the spirit is concerned, as the beginning of a gradual evolution.
The development of the human being is the work of two hosts of sublime cosmic builders.48See also Cosmic Memory (note 12, chapter on gender division), and lecture given in Berlin on 25 October 1905, in The Temple Legend (note 22). They are gradually handing their work over to others. Wisdom is the essential quality of these cosmic builders. At the time when human beings began to develop the spirit, in the middle of the Lemurian age, one of these hosts really handed over to others who are now helping human beings to take mind and spirit onward through their incarnations. The wise cosmic builders who created the human being as a microcosm have also evolved further themselves, for everything is in evolution. They learned their task on the [old] Moon where they went through the highest level of evolution that was possible on the Moon. This enabled them to undertake the construction of the human body on Earth. In the middle of the Lemurian age the next higher quality developed in them. This was love. Their manas had been perfected on the Moon; now they rose to the level of budhi. Love is the outer macrocosmic form taken by budhi. On the Moon, they had learned everything that could be learned there, and they were therefore able to construct the wonderful edifices of the microcosm.
They developed their budhi in the middle of the Lemurian age, as they had developed their manas earlier, on the Moon. From then onwards the human race was no longer constructed out of wisdom coming from outside but guided out of love. The new task the macrocosmic spirits had taken on was to achieve ennoblement through love.
Higher development of any kind can, however, only be achieved by letting others lag behind. On the Moon, a group of spirits had lagged behind in their development. They entered into the phase of Earth evolution in a latent state and were only then able to develop further in their individual manas. They were only able to emerge very gradually. These are the spirits full of wisdom which in esoteric terms are called the luciferic principle. Lucifer, leader of the human intellect, was now intervening, whilst the other spirits were the leaders of love.
Let us consider the next level of planetary evolution, which is Jupiter. Everything mineral will then have vanished, been absorbed. Wisdom will have been transformed wholly into love. The result will be that because the macrocosm is love, the astral body will then be able to reach its highest level of development. The plant world will be the lowest then, and the human being will have such a soft astral body that the astral will be formcreator, law of nature. Karma will be a thing of the past and love will have become a reality. The consequence will be that everything people feel will also come to immediate expression in the world of form. The human being will reflect his karmic balance sheet. One will then be able to see what kind of karma he has brought with him. Love will be an immediate reality, as the law of nature is now. Budhi will thus come to expression at this fifth level.
At the sixth level, the macrocosmic atman will come to expression. The divine self will be present at first hand, coming to expression in manasic matter... [text missing]. Today the word can only exist physically in the spoken word. At the sixth level the word will flow through the world as an immediate presence, resounding. The human being will then have become sound. This is what the author of John's gospel referred to as the Logos. Just as with everything that is to come, one individual always develops in advance in order to assume leadership, and so the word has become flesh now in the Christ. At the sixth level, however, humanity will be word become sound.
To understand the position of the principle of spiritual evolution we have to consider a significant development in the Atlantean race. Spirits that had initially been [full of wisdom] now became rebels, agitators wanting to gain their independence. Suras became asuras. Until then they had been latent on Earth. They are the powers which now, at the present time, represent the intellectual and mental side of humanity. This aspect of Lucifer is also the one which represented Christianity in the early centuries.
Two documents relating to this exist—one in the Vatican, and a copy of it in the possession of the most initiated Christian in the West, the Count of St Germain.
This Lucifer-nature had also represented Christianity in the early centuries. Then Lucifer had gradually changed into a kind of adversary in the Christian tradition. Originally his position had been that of the human being’s friend.
Evolution thus means that the different streams in the universe do not develop at the same rate. Part has to go ahead, something else needs to catch up later. This lagging behind of evolutionary streams leads to opposing interests in the world. This is an important occult law. Certain evolutions have been shown as ascending and descending in theosophical books. We have 7 planets with 7 rounds each and always 7 form states, a total of 343 states. These were at about their halfway point by the middle of the Atlantean age. The ascent thus began with an intervention from the luciferic principle. In the descent, evolution became delayed, and in its ascent it came to be faster and faster. This accelerated development did not, however, address itself to the whole of the physical plane but only to individual spirits. The lords of wisdom had initially been in ascending evolution. They had reached a peak by the middle of Atlantean evolution. Where love is concerned they are at a beginning; they carved love into the macrocosm, but they are in the descending line and in delay. The lords of the luciferic principle, on the other hand, are in the ascending line of development. Because of this, intellectuality is increasing rapidly, whilst ennoblement through love is very slow. Example: piano maker working with loving care would be out of place in a concert hall; there you have to have the perfect virtuoso pianist. Disharmony would result if the former wanted to go on to do his hammering with the same loving devotion in the concert hall.49See also lecture of 2 November 1904 in this volume, and the lecture of 23 May 1904 in GA 93 [in German].
Two streams must therefore always come together. Relative evil arises when two streams, perfect in themselves, interact. Jesus said to his disciples: 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God only.'50See lecture of 18 November 1903 [in German] in GA 88. Nothing in the world is good, only the principle of the beginning, which is the Father. So this is how the godlike atman and budhi qualities develop macrocosmically in the hosts of the world's disposers.
Erster Vortrag
Wir müssen in Betracht ziehen, daß der Mikrokosmos in einer gewissen Beziehung zum Makrokosmos steht. Wie uns der Mensch gegenwärtig entgegentritt, ist er eine Art zweilachen Wesens, von außen Körper und Seele, und von innen bildet er seit der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit den Geist aus. Seele und Körper sind Hüllen des Geistes, der in Entwicklung begriffen ist. Nach und nach wird der Mensch immer mehr Geist sein. Die Seele bildet die Vermittlerin zwischen dem Physischen und dem Geist. Ohne daß der jetzige Geistmensch mitbauen konnte, haben Scharen erhabener Wesen gebaut an diesem körperlich-seelischen Organismus. Dieser ist in weisheitsvoller Weise aufgebaut. Der vollkommenste photographische Apparat würde nur ein Kinderspiel sein gegenüber dem Weisheitsbau des Auges oder der Bau eines Klaviers gegenüber dem Weisheitsbau des Ohres. Das Knochensystem ist auf die weisheitsvollste Weise eingerichtet. Jeder Knochen ist aufgebaut aus einer unzähligen Anzahl kleiner Balken, die sich gegenseitig stützen. Viel tiefer ist solche Weisheit als alle Weisheit, zu der der Mensch es in seinem äußeren Schaffen gebracht hat. Wie erscheint uns nun der Mensch in seiner Zweiheit? Seinen Hüllen nach als ein vollendeter Aufbau, seinem Geiste nach als der Anfang zu einer allmählichen Entwicklung.
Zwei Scharen erhabener Weltenbauer arbeiten an dem Menschen. Sie lösen sich nach und nach in ihrer Arbeit ab. Die Grundeigenschaft dieser beiden Scharen ist Weisheit. Die eine Schar der weisen Weltenbauer hat eigentlich damals, in der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit, als der Mensch anfing seinen Geist zu entwickeln, ihr Amt abgegeben an diejenigen, welche jetzt dem Menschen helfen, seinen Geist. durch die Inkarnationen zu führen. Diese weisen Weltenbauer, die den Menschen als Mikrokosmos aufgebaut haben, haben sich auch ihrerseits entwickelt, denn alles ist in Entwicklung. Sie haben ihre Aufgabe gelernt auf dem [alten] Monde und haben den höchsten Grad ihrer Entwicklung durchgemacht, der auf dem Monde zu erreichen möglich war und waren daher befähigt, die Konstruktion des Körpers auf der Erde vorzunehmen. In ihnen entwickelte sich während der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit die nächsthöhere Eigenschaft: die Liebe. Ihr Manas war auf dem Mond vollkommen; jetzt stiegen sie bis Budhi auf. Liebe ist die äußere, makrokosmische Form für Budhi. Sie hatten auf dem Monde alles gelernt, was dort zu lernen war, daher waren sie geeignet, die wunderbaren Bauwerke des Mikrokosmos zu konstruieren. In der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit entwickelten sie ihr Budhi, wie früher auf dem Monde ihr Manas. Von jener Zeit ab wird das Menschengeschlecht nicht mehr von außen durch Weisheit gebaut, sondern durch Liebe weiter gelenkt. Veredelung durch Liebe ist die neue Aufgabe, welche die makrokosmischen Wesenheiten übernommen haben. Jede Höherentwicklung kann aber nur dann erreicht werden, wenn andere Wesenheiten zurückbleiben. Eine Schar von Wesenheiten war auf dem Monde in ihrer Entwicklung zurückgeblieben. Diese traten ein in die Phase der Erdenentwicklung in latentem Zustand und konnten sich erst jetzt im individuellen Manas weiter entwickeln. Nur ganz allmählich konnten sie herauskommen. Diese Wesenheiten sind diejenigen, die als weisheitsvolle Wesen esoterisch das luziferische Prinzip genannt werden. Immer mehr greifen diese Wesen jetzt ein. Als der Führer des menschlichen Intellektes greift Luzifer jetzt ein, während die andere Schar die Führer der Liebe sind.
Denken wir uns die nächste planetarische Entwicklungsstufe, den Jupiter. Alles Mineralische wird dann verschwunden, wird absorbiert sein. Die Weisheit wird sich völlig in Liebe verwandelt haben. Die Folge wird sein — weil der Makrokosmos Liebe ist -, daß dann der Astralkörper seine höchste Entwicklung erreichen kann. Das Pflanzenreich wird dann das niederste sein, und der Mensch wird einen so weichen astralischen Körper haben, daß das Astralische formend sein wird, Naturgesetz sein wird. Karma ist dann vorbei und die Liebe hat wirkliches Dasein. Die Folge wird sein, daß alles, was der Mensch fühlt, in der plastischen Welt auch unmittelbar zum Ausdruck kommt. Der Mensch wird ein Abdruck seines karmischen Kontos sein. Man wird dann erkennen, welches Karma er mit sich bringt. Die Liebe wird unmittelbares Dasein haben, so wie jetzt das Naturgesetz. Auf dieser fünften Stufe kommt also Budhi zum Ausdruck.
Auf der sechsten Stufe wird das makrokosmische Atma zum Ausdruck kommen. Das göttliche Selbst wird unmittelbar da sein, sich aussprechend in der manasischen Materie ... [Lücke in den Aufzeichnungen].
Heute ist das Wort nur physisch möglich, im ausgesprochenen Worte. In der sechsten Stufe wird das Wort unmittelbar durch die Welt fluten, es wird ein tönendes Wesen sein. Dann ist der Mensch Ton geworden. Dies ist es auch, was der Verfasser des JohannesEvangeliums unter Logos versteht. Und wie für alles, was in der Zukunft sein soll, sich eines voraus entwickelt, um die Führung zu übernehmen, so ist jetzt in Christus das Wort Fleisch geworden. In der sechsten Stufe wird aber die Menschheit tongewordenes Wort sein.
Wollen wir die Stellung des geistigen Evolutionsprinzips begreifen, müssen wir eine bedeutungsvolle Begebenheit in der Zeit der atlantischen Wurzelrasse feststellen. Diejenigen, die im Anfang [weisheitsvolle] geistige Wesen waren, die erschienen nun als die Empörer, als die Aufrührer, die sich jetzt ihre Unabhängigkeit erobern wollten. Suras wurden jetzt zu Asuras; bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt waren sie latent auf der Erde. Es sind diejenigen Mächte, welche gerade in der gegenwärtigen Epoche die intellektuelle und geistige Seite der Menschheit vertreten.
Zwei Dokumente gibt es davon, eines im Vatikan, und eine Abschrift davon hat der initiierteste Christ des Abendlandes: der Graf von $t. Germain.
Diese Natur Luzifers ist diejenige, die auch das Christentum in den ersten Jahrhunderten vertreten hat. Erst nach und nach hat sich Luzifer in der christlichen Tradition in eine Art Feind verwandelt. Ursprünglich hatte er eine dem Menschen befreundete Stellung.
Die Evolution besteht also darin, daß sich die Strömungen im Universum nicht mit gleicher Geschwindigkeit entwickeln. Einiges muß vorausgehen, anderes. den Anschluß nachher suchen. Durch dieses Zurückbleiben von Evolutionsströmungen entstehen gegensätzliche Interessen in der Welt. Das ist ein wichtiges okkultes Gesetz. Theosophische Schriften haben gewisse Evolutionen absteigend und aufsteigend dargestellt. Wir haben sieben Planeten mit je sieben Runden zu je sieben Form-Zuständen, also zusammen 343 Zustände. Diese geben, bei der Hälfte angelangt, ungefähr dasjenige, was in die Mitte der atlantischen Zeit fällt. Das Aufsteigen fängt also an mit dem Eingreifen des luziferischen Prinzips. Während des Absteigens ist die Entwicklung in der Verzögerung begriffen, während des Aufsteigens wird sie immer schneller. Diese beschleunigte Entwicklung richtet sich aber nicht nach dem ganzen physischen Plan, sondern nach den einzelnen Wesen. Die Herren der Weisheit hatten sich im Anfang in aufsteigender Entwicklung befunden. Die Mitte der atlantischen Entwicklung war für sie ein Höhepunkt. In bezug auf die Liebe sind sie in einem Anfange; sie meißeln die Liebe in den Makrokosmos hinein, aber sie sind in absteigender Linie und in der Verzögerung. Die Herren des luziferischen Prinzips sind in ihrer aufsteigenden Entwicklung, daher nimmt die Intellektualität sehr schnell zu, die Veredelung durch die Liebe dagegen sehr langsam. Beispiel: Der Klavierbauer, der mit größter Liebe ein Klavier baut, ist im Konzertsaal fehl am Platze; in den Konzertsaal muß der vollkommene Klaviervirtuose kommen. Würde ersterer mit derselben Liebe noch im Konzertsaal hämmern wollen, entstünde Disharmonie.
So müssen immer zwei Strömungen ineinandergreifen. Durch das Ineinanderwirken zweier an sich vollkommener Strömungen entsteht das relative Böse. Jesus sagt: Warum nennt ihr mich gut? Niemand ist gut, denn der Vater. - Nichts, was in der Welt ist, ist gut, nur das Anfangsprinzip, der Vater. So bilden sich in den Scharen der Weltenlenker makrokosmisch die atma-budhischen Gotteseigenschaften aus.
First Lecture
We must consider that the microcosm stands in a certain relationship to the macrocosm. As human beings currently appear to us, they are a kind of dual being, consisting of body and soul on the outside, and since the middle of the Lemurian epoch, they have been developing spirit on the inside. The soul and body are shells for the spirit, which is in the process of development. Gradually, human beings will become more and more spiritual. The soul acts as a mediator between the physical and the spiritual. Without the help of the current spiritual human beings, multitudes of sublime beings have built this physical and spiritual organism. It is constructed in a wise manner. The most perfect photographic apparatus would be child's play compared to the wisdom of the eye, or the construction of a piano compared to the wisdom of the ear. The skeletal system is arranged in the most wise way. Each bone is made up of countless small beams that support each other. Such wisdom is much deeper than all the wisdom that man has achieved in his external work. How does man appear to us in his duality? According to his outer shell, as a perfect structure; according to his spirit, as the beginning of a gradual development.
Two groups of sublime world builders work on man. They gradually take turns in their work. The basic characteristic of these two groups is wisdom. The one group of wise world builders actually relinquished their office in the middle of the Lemurian period, when man began to develop his spirit, to those who now help man to guide his spirit through incarnations. These wise world builders, who built man as a microcosm, have also developed themselves, for everything is in development. They learned their task on the [old] Moon and passed through the highest degree of development that was possible to attain on the Moon, and were therefore able to undertake the construction of the body on Earth. During the middle of the Lemurian epoch, the next higher quality developed in them: love. Their manas was perfect on the Moon; now they rose to budhi. Love is the outer, macrocosmic form of budhi. They had learned everything there was to learn on the moon, and were therefore suited to constructing the wonderful edifices of the microcosm. In the middle of the Lemurian epoch they developed their budhi, as they had previously developed their manas on the moon. From that time on, the human race is no longer built from outside through wisdom, but is guided further through love. Refinement through love is the new task that the macrocosmic beings have taken on. However, higher development can only be achieved if other beings remain behind. A group of beings had remained behind in their development on the Moon. They entered the phase of Earth's development in a latent state and could only now develop further in their individual manas. They were only able to emerge very gradually. These beings are those who, as wise beings, are esoterically called the Luciferic principle. These beings are now intervening more and more. As the leader of the human intellect, Lucifer now intervenes, while the other group are the leaders of love.
Let us imagine the next stage of planetary development, Jupiter. Everything mineral will then have disappeared, will have been absorbed. Wisdom will have been completely transformed into love. The result will be — because the macrocosm is love — that the astral body can then reach its highest development. The plant kingdom will then be the lowest, and human beings will have such a soft astral body that the astral will be formative, will be natural law. Karma will then be over and love will have real existence. The result will be that everything that man feels will also be immediately expressed in the plastic world. Man will be an imprint of his karmic account. One will then recognize what karma he brings with him. Love will have immediate existence, just as natural law does now. So on this fifth stage, Budhi comes to expression.
On the sixth stage, the macrocosmic Atma will be expressed. The divine Self will be immediately present, expressing itself in manasic matter ... [gap in the notes].
Today, the word is only physically possible in the spoken word. In the sixth stage, the word will flood directly through the world; it will be a sounding being. Then man will have become sound. This is also what the author of the Gospel of John understands by Logos. And just as for everything that is to be in the future, something develops in advance to take the lead, so now in Christ the word has become flesh. In the sixth stage, however, humanity will be the word become sound.
If we want to understand the position of the spiritual principle of evolution, we must note a significant event in the time of the Atlantean root race. Those who were [wise] spiritual beings in the beginning now appeared as rebels, as insurgents who now wanted to gain their independence. Suras now became Asuras; until that time, they had been latent on Earth. These are the forces that represent the intellectual and spiritual side of humanity in the present epoch.
There are two documents of this, one in the Vatican, and a copy of it is held by the most initiated Christian in the West: the Count of St. Germain.
This nature of Lucifer is the one that Christianity also represented in the first centuries. Only gradually did Lucifer transform into a kind of enemy in the Christian tradition. Originally, he had a position that was friendly to humans.
Evolution therefore consists in the fact that the currents in the universe do not develop at the same speed. Some must precede, others must seek to catch up later. This lagging behind of evolutionary currents gives rise to conflicting interests in the world. This is an important occult law. Theosophical writings have depicted certain evolutions as descending and ascending. We have seven planets, each with seven rounds of seven form states, making a total of 343 states. Halfway through, these correspond approximately to the middle of the Atlantean epoch. The ascent thus begins with the intervention of the Luciferic principle. During the descent, development is in a state of delay, while during the ascent it becomes faster and faster. However, this accelerated development is not directed according to the entire physical plan, but according to the individual beings. In the beginning, the Lords of Wisdom were in an ascending state of development. The middle of the Atlantean development was a high point for them. In terms of love, they are in their infancy; they are carving love into the macrocosm, but they are in a descending line and in delay. The Lords of the Luciferic principle are in their ascending development, which is why intellectuality is increasing very rapidly, while refinement through love is progressing very slowly. Example: The piano builder who builds a piano with the greatest love is out of place in the concert hall; the perfect piano virtuoso must come to the concert hall. If the former were to want to hammer away in the concert hall with the same love, disharmony would arise.
Thus, two currents must always intertwine. The interaction of two currents that are perfect in themselves gives rise to relative evil. Jesus says: Why do you call me good? No one is good except the Father. Nothing in the world is good except the original principle, the Father. Thus, the atma-buddhic divine qualities develop macrocosmically in the multitudes of world rulers.