Awareness - Life - Form
GA 89
19 October 1904, Berlin
Planetary Evolution II
We left human evolution at the point where the human being entered into what we would call the mineral realm. He had now become mineral. A brain had been developing from the middle of the Lemurian age. The mineral world achieved its highest quality when the brain developed, with intellectuality establishing itself within it. This descent of humanity to the mineral world was only possible because earlier stages of evolution had taken the human being through the first, second and third elemental worlds.51Luke 18:19, Matthew 19:17. Before going through the three elemental worlds the human being was pure monad, pure spirit (atman, budhi, manas). He then descended through the three elemental worlds into the fourth. The mineral world is the fourth world. Who was actively involved in this development?
Spirits called 'dhyani of wisdom' were active, putting the body together in its mineral form from the outside. And it was only when the brain was finished that the stream of evolution could continue from inside. If the dhyanic spirits of wisdom had continued to work from outside for themselves at this time, the human being would have grown harder even than the mineral world; he would have had no inwardness, no spirituality to counter the hardening tendencies of matter, and he would have been lost to cosmic life. He would have dropped away like a cinder in the course of evolution, cast out from the successive natural worlds. If a life in mind and spirit had not intervened from inside, a world of completely petrified human concretions would have arisen that would have been incapable of evolving further. Such a petrified world must drop out from the succession of worlds. Occultists call this hypothetical world the 'eighth sphere'.
As they were lagging behind at the time, the dhyani of wisdom would have taken humanity to a dead end. At this point the dhyani that had lagged behind before and were now ascending took hold of humanity. This spiritual principle took humanity, then moving towards hardening, to bring spirituality into human evolution. The dhyani working from inside sought to spiritualize the human being more and more, and in that case there would have been wisdom only. The human being then had two avenues open to him—to fall to the eighth sphere,52See Note 6. or to be wholly spiritualized. Either would inevitably have led to something other than humanity is today—humanity would either have vanished into the eighth sphere, or it would have been steadily getting more spiritual. These two streams worked against each other from the middle of the Lemurian age. The situation would have remained like this if the dhyani that had built up the human being from outside and would have taken him onward into the eighth sphere had not taken in budhi or love. (In Marie Steiner-von Sivers’ notes, this sentence reads: ‘It would have remained like this if the dhyanic spirits of love had not incarnated in order to bring love also into matter.’) They thus saved the material aspect of the human being from perdition. They joined the others as a third stream; these were working from the outside.
With the three streams acting together, part of the material, mineral world became this tripartite human being made up of matter, or body, of soul and spirit. Anything that could not be taken along because the streams were not equal did indeed turn into cinders. That is [today’s] moon. It is a piece of the eighth sphere; cinder. In the moon we have a symbol, for the time being, of what the first dhyani might have achieved. The activity of the dhyanic spirits, which had given the human being his form until then is thus symbolized in the moon. In Jewish esoteric language they are collectively called Yahveh or Jehovah, the god of macrocosmic wisdom, of form. H. P. Blavatsky therefore calls him a moon god, the god of form. In [A. P. Sinnet’s] Esoteric Buddhism, the moon is seen as part of the eighth sphere. It is only a part of it, however, a symbol of what the human being would have been in the eighth sphere. Yahveh is the elohim of the fourth round, the lord of wisdom-filled form (the fourth elohim).
From the middle of the fourth round, the lord of love was active—the Christ, the world's love, the second Logos. The lord of form, the fourth elohim, was wisdom, the third Logos. Jehovah is the spirit of the third Logos. In the spirit, the Christ principle, the principle of love, began in the middle of the Lemurian age. Lucifer intervened at the same time. We must get to know the difference between things perishable and imperishable. Greek sculptors, for example, created magnificent, glorious works, but a time will come when they will all have perished. If those works were all, we would have to say that they are perishable. Everything on the physical plane is mortal in this way. But the fact that artists work on the physical plane means something that will remain for the artist's spirit, something that would not exist if he had not been working on the physical plane. Taking in something done on a lower plane is the faculty of the spirit on a higher plane—that is evolution. It is only by incarnating that human beings gain riches in their spirit which they would not otherwise have. That is what the perishable means for the imperishable.
The skeletal system is the most mineral aspect of the human being. It also gives physical human beings at the present time their most perfect form. In future Earth evolution, the digestion, the heart, and so on will be more and more perfect, but not the skeletal system. This will gradually vanish. Standing firm in the physical world with one’s skeletal system is important. Human beings will be able to take with them what they have become through their skeletal system.
The fact that the bones of the Christ must not be broken means that the part of him which belonged to the mineral world must not be destroyed, had to be left intact. The symbols from the mysteries were then for the first time lived out in the world. The Christ becoming a human being was one of the most important cosmic events in the fourth sub-race of the fifth root race. The founders of earlier religions had taught wisdom; the Christ teaches love.
The sub-races of the fifth root-race
| 1st sub-race | Indians, The race of spirituality |
| 2nd sub-race | Persians (Zoroastrian religion), The race of flames |
| 3rd sub-race | Chaldaeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, the earliest Greeks, Romans, Celts. Zeus had remained behind from the 2nd sub-race. The heroes Heracles, Theseus and Jason were sun heroes of the third sub-race. The race of stars. |
| 4th sub-race | The later Greek and Latin peoples, The race of personality |
| 5th sub-race | The Germanic, Anglo-Saxon nations, making the personality a free personality that conquers the world; called The race of the world. |
| 6th sub-race | The Slav race |
| 7th sub-race | The American peoples.53See the 6th and 12th lectures in this series. Also lectures given in Berlin on 9 and 16 October 1915, in Foundations of Esotericism, note 13, and the lecture given on 18 October in The Occult Movement, note 23. The race of egotism. |
Zweiter Vortrag
Wir haben die Entwicklung des Menschen an dem Punkte verlassen, wo er in das eintritt, was man Mineralreich nennt. Der Mensch ist jetzt ein mineralisches Wesen. Seit der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit hat sich ein Gehirn gebildet. Höchste Fähigkeiten hat das Mineralreich erreicht, in dem sich das Gehirn mit darin platzgreifender Intellektualität bildete. Dieses Herabsteigen des Menschen bis zum Mineralreich war nur dadurch möglich, daß der Mensch in früheren Zeiten seiner Entwicklung die drei vorhergehenden Reiche, das erste, zweite und dritte Elementarreich durchgemacht hatte. Vor dem Durchgang durch die drei Elementarreiche war der Mensch reine Monade, reiner Geist - Atma, Budhi, Manas. Dann stieg er herunter durch die drei Elementarreiche in das vierte Elementarreich. Das Mineralische ist das vierte Reich. Wer hat sich an dieser Ausgestaltung betätigt?
An dieser Ausgestaltung betätigten sich die sogenannten Dhyanis der Weisheit, indem sie von außen den Körper mineralisch zusammenbauten; und erst als das Gehirn fertig war, konnte von innen der Entwicklungsstrom weitergehen. Wenn nun in diesem Zeitpunkt die dhyanischen Wesenheiten der Weisheit für sich allein weiter von außen gewirkt hätten, dann wäre der Mensch noch härter geworden als das Mineralreich. Keine Innerlichkeit, keine Geistigkeit hätte er der materiellen Verhärtung entgegengesetzt, und er wäre für das kosmische Leben verlorengegangen; er wäre wie eine Schlacke abgefallen in der Evolution, aus der Reihe der Naturreiche hinausgeworfen worden. Ohne das Eingreifen des geistigen Lebens von innen heraus wäre eine Welt vollständig versteinerter Menschenkrusten entstanden, die keiner Evolution fähig gewesen wären. Eine solche starre Welt fällt heraus aus der Reihe der Reiche. Diese hypothetische Welt nennt man im Okkultismus die «achte Sphäre».
Weil die Dhyanis der Weisheit in der Verzögerung begriffen waren, hätten sie den Menschen in die Sackgasse geführt. Nun ergriffen ihn die aufsteigenden, früher zurückgebliebenen Dhyanis. Dieses geistige Prinzip hat sich des der Verhärtung entgegengehenden Menschen bemächtigt, um die Menschenentwicklung zu vergeistigen. Die von innen wirkenden Dhyanis waren bestrebt, den Menschen immer mehr und mehr zu vergeistigen, so daß nur Weisheit gekommen wäre. Der Mensch stand nun vor den zwei Wegen, entweder in die achte Sphäre zu verfallen oder sich ganz zu vergeistigen. Beide hätten zu etwas anderem führen müssen, als zu dem, was die gegenwärtige Menschheit ist, entweder zum Verschwinden des Menschen in die achte Sphäre oder zu stetiger Vergeistigung des Menschen. Diese zwei Strömungen arbeiten von der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit an gegeneinander. Dies wäre so geblieben, wenn nicht die dhyanischen Wesen, die den Menschen von außen aufgebaut haben und ihn weiter in die achte Sphäre geführt haben würden, sich Budhi einverleibt hätten, die Liebe. (In den Notizen von Marie Steiner-von Sivers lautet dieser Satz: Dies wäre so geblieben, wenn nicht die dhyanischen Wesenheiten der Liebe sich verkörpert hätten, um auch die Materie mit Liebe zu durchdringen.) Dadurch bewahrten sie die materielle Seite des Menschen vor dem Untergang. Sie gesellen sich zu den anderen hinzu als dritte Strömung; von außen wirken diese.
Weil die drei Strömungen zusammengreifen, wird ein Teil des Materiellen, des Mineralreiches, zu diesem dreigeteilten Menschen, der zugleich materiell, seelisch und geistig ist — Leib, Seele, Geist. Was wegen der Ungleichheit der Strömungen nicht mitgenommen werden kann, wird wirklich Schlacke. Das ist der [heutige] Mond. Er ist ein Stück achter Sphäre, Schlacke. Im Monde sehen wir ein vorläufiges Symbol dessen, was die ersten Dhyanis hatten erreichen können, so daß diejenigen dhyanischen Wesenheiten, die bis dahin die Form des Menschen gestaltet haben, in ihrer Tätigkeit im Monde versinnbildlicht sind. Sie zusammen nennt die jüdische Esoterik Jahve oder Jehova, den Gott der makrokosmischen Weisheit, den Gott der Form. Deshalb nennt H. P. Blavatsky ihn eine Mondgottheit, als Gottheit der Form. Im «Esoterischen Buddhismus» [von A.P. Sinnett] wird der Mond in die achte Sphäre gerechnet. Er. ist aber nur ein Stück von ihr, ein Symbol für das, was der Mensch in der achten Sphäre sein würde. Jahve ist der Elohim der vierten Runde, der Herr der weisheitsvollen Form, der vierte Elohim.
Von der Mitte der vierten Runde an wirkt der Herr der Liebe: Christus, die Liebe der Welt, der zweite Logos. Der Herr der Form, der vierte Elohim, war die Weisheit, der dritte Logos; Jehova ist der Geist des dritten Logos. Das Christus-Prinzip, das Liebesprinzip, begann geistig in der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit. Zu gleicher Zeit griff Luzifer ein.
Wir müssen den Unterschied kennenlernen zwischen dem Vergänglichen und dem Unvergänglichen. In der griechischen Plastik zum Beispiel sind großartige, wunderbare Werke geschaffen worden, die doch bis zu einem gewissen Zeitpunkt alle zugrundegegangen sein werden. Wären die Werke alles, müßte man sagen, sie sind vergänglich; alles auf dem physischen Plan ist auf diese Weise vergänglich. Aber daß der Künstler auf dem physischen Plan arbeitet, bringt etwas Bleibendes für den Geist des Künstlers, das nicht da wäre, wenn er nicht auf dem physischen Plan gearbeitet hätte. Die Aufnahme der Leistung auf einem niederen Plan ist die Fähigkeit des Wesens auf einem höheren Plan; das ist Evolution. Nur durch die Verkörperung gewinnt der Mensch eine Bereicherung des Geistes, die er sonst nicht bekommen würde. Das ist die Bedeutung des Vergänglichen für das Unvergängliche.
Das Mineralischste an dem Menschen ist sein Knochensystem. Das hat auch bei dem jetzigen physischen Menschen die vollkommenste Gestalt. In der zukünftigen Erdenentwicklung werden auch Verdauung, Herz und so weiter immer vollkommener werden, das Knochensystem aber nicht, das wird allmählich verschwinden. Das Feststehen im Physischen durch das Knochensystem ist wichtig. Das, was der Mensch in dieser Zeit erwirbt, nimmt er mit hinüber.
Daß Christus die Knochen nicht zerbrochen wurden, bedeutet, daß das, was von der mineralischen Welt an ihm war, nicht zerstört werden sollte, unangetastet bleiben mußte. Die Symbole der Mysterien wurden damals zum ersten Male äußerlich gelebt.
In der vierten Unterrasse der fünften Wurzelrasse ist die Menschwerdung Christi eines der wichtigsten kosmischen Ereignisse. Die früheren Religionsstifter waren Weisheitslehrer, Christus ist der Liebeslehrer.
Übersicht über die Unterrassen. der fünften Wurzelrasse:
1. Unterrasse: die Inder, die Rasse der Spiritualität
2. Unterrasse: die Perser (Zarathustra-Religion), die Rasse der Flammen.
3. Unterrasse: Chaldäer, Assyrer, Babylonier, Ägypter, die ältesten Griechen, Römer, Kelten. Zurückgeblieben aus der zweiten Unterrasse ist Zeus und die Heroen Herakles, Theseus, Jason, ‚sie sind Sonnenhelden der dritten Unterrasse. Die Rasse der Sterne.
4. Unterrasse: Die späteren griechischen und lateinischen Völker, die Rasse der Persönlichkeit.
5. Unterrasse: Die germanischen, angelsächsischen Nationen, die die Persönlichkeit zur freien Persönlichkeit macht, die die Welt erobert, die Rasse der Welt genannt.
6. Unterrasse: Die slawische Rasse.
Zusatz eines unbekannten Mitschreibers: 7. Unterrasse: Die amerikanischen Völker. Rasse des Egoismus.
Second Lecture
We left the development of man at the point where he enters what is called the mineral kingdom. Human beings are now mineral beings. Since the middle of the Lemurian epoch, a brain has formed. The mineral kingdom has attained the highest abilities, in which the brain formed with the intellectuality that occupies it. This descent of human beings to the mineral kingdom was only possible because human beings had passed through the three preceding kingdoms, the first, second, and third elemental kingdoms, in earlier stages of their development. Before passing through the three elemental kingdoms, man was a pure monad, pure spirit — Atma, Budhi, Manas. Then he descended through the three elemental kingdoms into the fourth elemental kingdom. The mineral is the fourth kingdom. Who was involved in this formation?
The so-called Dhyanis of Wisdom were active in this formation, building the body from the outside in a mineral way; and only when the brain was finished could the stream of development continue from within. If, at this point, the Dhyanic beings of Wisdom had continued to work from the outside on their own, then human beings would have become even harder than the mineral kingdom. He would have had no inner life, no spirituality to counteract his material hardening, and he would have been lost to cosmic life; he would have fallen away like slag in evolution, thrown out of the series of natural kingdoms. Without the intervention of spiritual life from within, a world of completely petrified human crusts would have come into being, incapable of evolution. Such a rigid world falls out of the order of the kingdoms. In occultism, this hypothetical world is called the “eighth sphere.”
Because the Dhyanis of wisdom were delayed, they would have led humanity into a dead end. Now the ascending Dhyanis, who had previously been left behind, took hold of him. This spiritual principle took hold of the human being who was resisting hardening in order to spiritualize human development. The Dhyanis, working from within, strove to spiritualize the human being more and more, so that only wisdom would come. Humanity now stood before two paths: either to fall into the eighth sphere or to become completely spiritualized. Both would have led to something other than what humanity is today, either to the disappearance of humanity into the eighth sphere or to the constant spiritualization of humanity. These two currents have been working against each other since the middle of the Lemurian epoch. This would have remained so if the dhyanic beings, who built up humanity from outside and would have led it further into the eighth sphere, had not incorporated Budhi, love. (In the notes by Marie Steiner-von Sivers, this sentence reads: This would have remained so if the dhyanic beings of love had not incarnated in order to permeate matter with love as well.) In this way, they saved the material side of the human being from destruction. They join the others as a third current; these work from outside.
Because the three currents interact, part of the material, the mineral kingdom, becomes this threefold human being, who is at once material, soul, and spirit — body, soul, spirit. What cannot be taken along due to the inequality of the currents becomes slag. This is the [present-day] moon. It is a piece of the eighth sphere, slag. In the moon we see a provisional symbol of what the first Dhyanis had been able to achieve, so that those Dhyanic beings who had hitherto shaped the form of man are symbolized in their activity in the moon. Together, Jewish esotericism calls them Yahweh or Jehovah, the God of macrocosmic wisdom, the God of form. That is why H. P. Blavatsky calls him a moon deity, as the deity of form. In Esoteric Buddhism [by A.P. Sinnett], the moon is counted as the eighth sphere. However, it is only a part of it, a symbol of what man would be in the eighth sphere. Yahweh is the Elohim of the fourth round, the Lord of Wisdom Form, the fourth Elohim.
From the middle of the fourth round onwards, the Lord of Love is at work: Christ, the love of the world, the second Logos. The Lord of Form, the fourth Elohim, was Wisdom, the third Logos; Jehovah is the Spirit of the third Logos. The Christ principle, the principle of love, began spiritually in the middle of the Lemurian period. At the same time, Lucifer intervened.
We must learn to distinguish between the transitory and the imperishable. In Greek sculpture, for example, magnificent, wonderful works have been created, but they will all perish at some point. If the works were everything, one would have to say that they are transitory; everything on the physical plane is transitory in this way. But the fact that the artist works on the physical plane brings something lasting to the artist's spirit that would not be there if he had not worked on the physical plane. The reception of achievement on a lower plane is the ability of the being on a higher plane; that is evolution. Only through embodiment does man gain an enrichment of the spirit that he would not otherwise receive. This is the significance of the transitory for the imperishable.
The most mineral aspect of the human being is his skeletal system. This also has the most perfect form in the present physical human being. In the future development of the earth, digestion, the heart, and so on will also become more and more perfect, but not the skeletal system, which will gradually disappear. The stability provided by the skeletal system is important. What human beings acquire during this time, they take with them.
The fact that Christ's bones were not broken means that what was mineral in him was not to be destroyed, but had to remain untouched. The symbols of the mysteries were lived out externally for the first time at that time.
In the fourth subrace of the fifth root race, the incarnation of Christ is one of the most important cosmic events. The earlier founders of religions were teachers of wisdom; Christ is the teacher of love.
Overview of the subraces of the fifth root race:
1st sub-race: the Indians, the race of spirituality
2nd sub-race: the Persians (Zoroastrian religion), the race of flames.
3rd sub-race: Chaldeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, the oldest Greeks, Romans, Celts. Remaining from the second sub-race are Zeus and the heroes Heracles, Theseus, Jason, ‘they are sun heroes of the third sub-race. The race of the stars.’
4th sub-race: The later Greek and Latin peoples, the race of personality.
5th Subrace: The Germanic, Anglo-Saxon nations, which make personality into free personality, which conquer the world, called the race of the world.
6th subrace: The Slavic race.
Addition by an unknown co-writer:
7th subrace: The American peoples. Race of egoism.