Awareness - Life - Form
GA 89
From a letter to Marie von Sivers dated 13 January 1906
The Christ as the macrocosmic human being in reverse
Essential Christ nature must be thought of as the macrocosmic human being in reverse, who, however, is the same as the second aspect of the godhead, or of the Logos. - Imagine the moment before the ‘monad’ (the totality of monads) descended to incarnate in the animal-human body which had been prepared by then. The animal world up to that time, in so far as it had come into being, that is without the mammals, had everything physically spread apart which for the lower human being needed to be concentrated in one entity. The monad world descended into this Lemurian animal-human, with manas initially separating from budhi. Thus manas was incarnated in the Lemurian human being, uniting with kama to be kamamanas; budhi-atman only remaining linked to manas as a potential. The Christ was the spirit who awakened the budhi initially as a first spark. For this it was necessary for the Christ spirit to take possession of a chela of the third degree (Jesus). This, then, is how we should see the Christ event on Earth—as the inversion of the process in the monad world, of what happened with ‘Adam’. Paul made this very clear when he called the Christ ‘Adam in reverse’.141 Corinthians 15: 45. The external historical event is merely the actual symbol for the inner spiritual process.
The matter should thus be seen more or less as shown in Fig. 1.
Das Wesen des Christus als der umgekehrte makrokosmische Mensch
Man hat sich das «Wesen» Christus als den umgekehrten makrokosmischen Menschen vorzustellen, der aber gleich ist dem zweiten Aspekt der Gottheit, oder des Logos. — Denke Dir den Augenblick, bevor die sogenannte «Monade» (die Gesamtheit der Monaden) herabsteigt, um in die bis dahin präparierten Tiermenschenkörper sich zu inkarnieren. Das Tierreich bis dahin, soweit es entstanden war, also mit Ausnahme der Säugetiere, hatte physisch ausgebreitet alles, was für den niederen Menschen in ein Wesen zusammengezogen werden mußte. In diesen lemurischen Tiermenschen steigt die Monadenwelt herab, indem sich Manas von Budhi zunächst abtrennt. In dem lemurischen Menschen ist so inkarniert Manas, das sich mit Kama zu Kama-Manas vereinigt, und Budhi-Atma bleibt nur als Anlage mit Manas noch verknüpft. Christus ist nun diejenige Wesenheit, welche die «Budhi» zunächst als ersten Funken erweckt. Dazu ist notwendig, daß das Christuswesen Besitz ergreift von einem Chela im dritten Grade (Jesus). So also haben wir das Christusereignis auf Erden anzusehen, als die Umkehrung des Prozesses innerhalb der Monadenwelt, von dem, was sich bei «Adam» vollzogen hat. Paulus spricht das ja ganz deutlich aus, wenn er den «Christus» den «umgekehrten Adam» nennt. Der äußere historische Vorgang ist nur das tatsächliche Symbol für den inneren geistigen Vorgang.
Man hat also die Sache sich etwa nach dem folgenden Schema zu versinnlichen:
The essence of Christ as the inverted macrocosmic human being
One must mentally image the “essence” of Christ as the inverted macrocosmic human being, who is, however, identical to the second aspect of the Godhead, or the Logos. — Imagine the moment before the so-called “monad” (the totality of monads) descends to incarnate in the animal-human bodies that have been prepared up to that point. The animal kingdom up to that point, insofar as it had developed, with the exception of mammals, had physically spread out everything that had to be condensed into one being for the lower human. In these Lemurian animal-humans, the monad world descends by first separating Manas from Budhi. Manas is thus incarnated in the Lemurian human, uniting with Kama to form Kama-Manas, and Budhi-Atma remains linked to Manas only as a predisposition. Christ is now the entity that first awakens the “Budhi” as the first spark. For this to happen, it is necessary for the Christ being to take possession of a chela in the third degree (Jesus). Thus, we must view the Christ event on earth as the reversal of the process within the monadic world that took place with “Adam.” Paul expresses this very clearly when he calls ‘Christ’ the “reversed Adam.” The external historical process is only the actual symbol for the inner spiritual process.
One can therefore visualize the matter according to the following scheme: