Theosophic/Esoteric Cosmology
GA 89
9 June 1904, Berlin
Lecture III
A week ago, I tried to explain the manner of thinking, so strange to western minds, through which the theosophist attains his insights and knowledge of the cosmos. The sketchy character these lectures necessarily have prevents me from delving more profoundly into theosophical cosmology. Nevertheless, I will attempt today to give you at least a picture in descriptive form of the origin of the world based on Theosophy. I beg those who have scientific bents to bear in mind that in the course of three short lectures it isn't possible to go into scientific explanations of what I will say today. These scientific explanations will be included in a subsequent lecture cycle, in which I will speak in more detail about this subject. Also, in the second volume of my Theosophy, which will soon be published, cosmology will be discussed.1The second volume of Theosophy never appeared. Instead, Steiner's An Outline of Esoteric Science, which includes a detailed description of cosmological evolution, was published in 1909.
Allow me first of all to mention an important thought, which is basically very simple, but which must be clear to whoever wishes to understand evolution in the theosophical sense. When we speak of development, or evolution in a broad sense, we don't only mean the development of animal or plant life from a previous form, but we also mean the great transformations within the universe, and we include the origin of matter, the matter we can today perceive with our physical senses.
We said last time that in the history of the evolution of our planet there are seven consecutive stages, and I also briefly described these to you. You must therefore think of how our earthly planet goes through seven stages, which we call Rounds, in rhythmical sequence. Everything that exists and lives on our Earth was also existent before our present Earth come into being; it was existent in a kind of seed state, just as a whole plant is present in a seed, sleeps in the seed, so to speak, before it takes on form in the outer world. Such a slumber stage is called a “Pralaya”. On the other hand, the state in which everything awakens, gradually emerges and progresses from a beginning to a high point of perfection, we call “Manvantara”. When the state of perfection is reached, a Pralaya, a sleeping state, occurs once more, and this is followed again by a state of waking and growth. Thus the planet goes through this sequence seven times, reawakening seven times to a new Round.
The time between one Manvantara and the next passes in a state in which everything living on the earth sleeps, so to speak. But it isn't comparable to normal human sleep. In normal sleep only the activities of understanding and sense are interrupted, but you can see the physical body. The sleeping state of the Earth must be thought of differently. No earthly being is visible during this sleeping state. This state would be perceptible only to the opened eye of the so-called Dangma, the highest developed seer. This state is indescribable in words, for our words are inadequate for this kind of existence. I find no words in any language for this state. Therefore the developed seer says something quite different in order to give an idea of this state. He says: imagine a plant. You see this plant. Now imagine a kind of plaster impression of the plant, but in such a way that the plant itself is empty space and a Round is the plaster. Consider that the plaster is spiritual and only perceptible for certain senses. Whoever can see the plant cannot see the plaster impression at the same time, that is, the negative of the plant. Something similar is what the developed seer would perceive of the Earth during the Pralaya sleep. The Earth is not there. It is the hollow form, swimming in a great, mighty sea of the highest spiritual beings that is gradually disappearing and out of which the Being of the Earth itself flows.
Then something begins to originate within this hollow space, something not yet perceptible to the physical senses; it is only perceptible to the highly developed seer who can consciously move in the spiritual plane. At the beginning of the Earth's existence he would see a sphere in space, a purely spiritual sphere in which only the spiritual is present. Every time before a new Round begins, our Earth exists in such a spiritual state. When it awakens from the Pralaya sleep, it does so as such a sphere. The spiritual seer perceives it in a wonderful reddish glimmer. But that Earth contains everything that later becomes Earth. The densest bodies are also contained in this sphere.
How can we imagine this? It can be made clear by means of a simple process. Imagine a glass full of water. The water is fluid. When you cool the temperature sufficiently, the water becomes ice. You have the same thing in front of you as previously—ice is nothing other than water, only in another form. Raise the temperature and the ice reverts to water, with higher temperatures even to steam. By this example you can imagine how all matter derives from the spirit through densification. The spiritual sphere—seen only by the seer's developed eye—densifies gradually after it passes through a small Pralaya. It can then be seen by a less developed seer's eye. Then follows a kind of short sleeping state, and now the sphere is visible to the astral eye, that is, for whoever has developed this sense on the astral plane. Again a Pralaya state follows, and the sphere appears again as physical solid matter. Only now can physical eyes see it, physical ears hear it, physical hands grasp it. That is the fourth stage. Then a short Pralaya comes again. This stage disappears and again an astral sphere presents itself, but with much more highly developed beings. An analogous state appears in the sixth Round, also only visible to the spiritual seer. Thereafter another Pralaya and then a state only visible to the highest developed seer. Then follows what is invisible even to the Dangma. A long Pralaya follows and then the whole process begins again. This happens seven times. In this way the Earth is transformed from the lowest to the highest level.
Let us now follow the first Round. We can study it best by observing what exists on our Earth where it is most solid. In the first Round there were no mineral forms yet, no physical nature energy and no chemical energy. The Earth had carried out the previous evolution only to create a foundation for physical existence; it created this foundation in order to prepare a physical existence in the fourth Round. Our Earth looked like a fiery mass, with such tremendous temperatures that none of our present substances could have the form they now have. All substances were jumbled up in that fiery primal porridge—allow me to use that trivial word—in homogeneous, undifferentiated matter. Theosophy says: the Earth was in the fiery stage. Common fire is not meant, however, but fire of a higher, spiritual nature. There were no chemical elements involved. But what was in the interior of this matter was active. Two kinds of spiritual beings were active: those we call “Dhyani Chohans”,2Dhyani Chohans: in Christian terminology these are archangels. and those beings who had not yet descended to physical materiality, who had a partially spiritual body, and who flowed through the fiery matter with tremendous rapidity. We see here a continuous emergence and disappearance of irregular forms, also of forms that remind us of those that will exist on Earth at a much later time.
The emerging and disappearing seems to follow a pattern. Forms arise which are reminiscent of later crystals and plants—even something that takes on human form, and then disperses. The humans who would later incarnate lived in that fire, modeling and preparing their bodies. That is how the Earth's first Round appears to us. Then followed the transition from this fiery, flowing Earth to the sleep-state.
The second Round began in the same spiritual way. “Ether” is finer than our present-day gas, but denser than the Earth was in the previous stage. In this very fine matter what we call chemical elements formed. You can find this second stage wonderfully described in religious books, where it is written that the divine beings ordered everything according to mass, number and weight. What had earlier been irregular was now organized in chemical elements according to number. The chemist will understand me, for he knows the regular periodic system of the elements. The individual substances were not yet related to each other. Now, however, as matter became differentiated, we see the most wonderful forms coming into existence which remind us of later forms, only they are not yet solid: star-like forms, angular forms, tetrahedrons, polyhedrons, round forms and so on. The forms that will later constitute nature are intimated. As in the first Round crystal forms were prearranged, the plant forms were constituted in the second Round. Then all flowed away; the astral and spiritual natures went through a Pralaya stage again and re-appeared in the third Round.
When we consider the physical state of the third Round, we find matter in a quite different state. It is not yet differentiated as air and water, but forms a kind of mist, or steam. It is no longer an ether form, but rather somewhat as cloud formations are today. And within these mist formations, which we find described in old sagas—the sagas of Nebelheim (home of mist) and Niflheim describe this state—we see matter in another form, no longer organized according to number, but equipped with energy. The esoteric researcher speaks here of the Law of Selected Relationships. The chemical substances organize themselves according to the Law of Selected Relationships. Now, however, in the third Round, energy emerged, which allowed the small to become larger and expand. The substances could organize themselves from within, energize themselves. Not only the first plant forms, which we met in the second Round, appeared, but growth was also possible. The first animal forms appeared, which we would consider to be extremely grotesque today. Gigantically large, colossal shapes formed themselves out of the mass of mist. For the occultist there is something of truth when he looks at the clouds and sees that one cloud looks like a camel, another like a horse. In the third Round the beings were mist-like forms, which reproduced by one transforming itself into the other, one deriving from the other, like the lower cell organisms, which are reminiscent of this process. These animal bodies, which formed out of the mist, could now provide the basis for those individualities who came from previous worlds to find bodies. The human being could now incarnate. He found a body which allowed him to appear, at first in an imperfect, primitive, groping way. Failed incarnations were also possible. We could say that during the third Round beings existed on the Earth who were intermediate beings between man and animal, in which the human being did not feel completely right, but could nevertheless incarnate.
Then another Pralaya occurred, and then the fourth Round. That is the Round to which we belong today. The Earth passed through the spiritual state, went through the astral and etheric states and finally arrived at the physical state which we have now reached. During the first Round the foundation for the mineral kingdom was formed, during the second Round the foundation for the vegetable kingdom was formed, during the third Round the possibility for animal forms was established. And now, during the fourth Round, the human being acquired the ability to take on the form he has today.
Let us consider the state of our physical Earth somewhat more closely. The state of the Earth in this fourth Round must be described as being much denser than the states of the previous Rounds. First there was a fiery state, then a misty one, then one between air and water. Still during the beginning of the fourth Round we had a kind of gushing matter, similar to protein. Gradually it all condensed, and what we have today as matter is nothing other than the condensed, originally gushing matter, exactly as ice is condensed water. At the beginning of the fourth Round all beings were created so they could live in this gushing matter. Man had a form similar to the one he has now, but his consciousness was extremely dim, comparable to that of a dreaming person. He dreamed his being in a kind of sleeping consciousness; the spirit was still lacking. Let us consider this state more closely. The human being was possible in that flowing, gushing state. We call these people of the first race3“Race” in this sense is a theosophical term. Steiner later used the expression “cultural epoch” and similar ones. dream-men. It is difficult to describe them. Another stage followed this one, in which matter became denser and separated into a more spiritual and a more physical materiality, comparable to the North and South Poles.
Now I ask you to consider the difference between the esoteric and the usual understanding of Darwinism. We have the human being present in the indicated stage of the earth, as well as the vegetable kingdom. The animal kingdom was also present, but without sexual reproduction capability, without warm blood and not yet capable of bringing forth sounds. The human being was also mute. He could not yet think, not even dim thoughts. The spirit had not yet entered the bodies. In the following, second race, matter separated into two poles. The human beings withdrew the matter that was useful to them and separated out the less useful matter, from which a kind of lateral branch of the higher animals formed. The lower animals were similar to today's mollusks, even fish-like forms developed.
The human being developed further and at the third stage discarded the matter that would not enable him to become the bearer of a higher consciousness. He gave it up as material for the animals, which now looked like amphibians with gigantic forms. They are described in fables and myths as flying dragons and so on. Until then, no being possessed sexual reproductive capacities. Not until the middle of the third race, the Lemurian epoch, does this appear, albeit primitively. The scene of this development, Lemuria, was in Asia in the Indian Ocean.
During the middle of the Lemurian age the great event occurred which allowed man to become a human being. The human beings who came over from previous planetary states were not all at the same level of development. Those who had reached a normal evolution during the previous misty earth cycle were able to incarnate during the third epoch. Among them, however, there were some who had already reached a higher stage; they could not incorporate during the third race at all. During every Round there are humans who develop to a normal stage and others who are more advanced. These are the masters. They are more highly developed individuals. In Theosophy they are called solar pitris or sun pitris. They had reached a higher spirituality, but could no more incarnate in the bodies of the men of those times than a contemporary person could incarnate in a plant. They waited for further evolution until the appropriate time had come, during the fourth race, when their incarnation could take place. Thus a spiritually highly developed humanity arose. The sagas and myths relate how at that time personalities existed who rose far above their fellow men. Individuals such as Prometheus, the Indian Rishis, Fire-Rishis, who were the leaders of humanity, including Manus, who gave later humanity laws. Only these solar Pitris could incarnate as adepts.
I already mentioned that at the start of the fourth Round sexuality did not yet exist. The separation of the sexes occurred only during the Lemurian time. Therewith the first incarnations were possible, the taking over of a body which hadn't already existed. Previously one being derived from another. With the separation of the sexes during the middle of the Lemurian age, birth and death arose and therefore the possibility of the effects of karma. The human being could burden himself with guilt. Everything we know as “human” arose at that time.
The Lemurian continent was destroyed by a fire-like catastrophe, and the Atlantean continent arose on the floor of what is now the Atlantic Ocean. During the Atlantean time another important event occurred to which I drew your attention when I spoke of the Whitsun holiday. I said that, with the exception of the solar Pitris, all beings lived in a lower spiritual condition. The solar Pitris could only take on selected bodies. Other bodies would only have allowed them to live with a dim consciousness. Dull-minded individuals would have resulted had they used the existent bodies. The Pitris therefore waited until certain animal-like forms evolved further. On the one hand they sank deeper into instinctual desires, but on the other hand, by this means the prerequisites for the later development of the brain were given. Matter was differentiated into nervous matter and sexual matter. The Pitris who had waited for that later time incarnated in this inferior matter. Religion indicates this as the biblical fall from paradise: the incarnation in worsened matter. If that hadn't happened, they would have remained in a much less conscious state. They would not have attained the clear thinking we now posses, but would have remained in a much duller state. They paid for this by allowing their bodies to be inferior, which however was compensated for by refined brain matter, thereby allowing them to achieve a higher level of consciousness and spirituality. A particular result of the evolution of the Atlantean race was the development of a phenomenal memory.
After Atlantis was destroyed by water, continued evolution resulted in our contemporary fifth race, during which deductive reasoning was a special achievement. This enabled the human race to bring art and science to a high level of development, which previously had not been possible. During the fifth sub-race of the fourth Round humanity reached a high-point: control by the spirit, which had incarnated in matter, so that humanity could ascend to higher and higher stages of evolution.
We have seen how the cosmos evolved in rhythmic stages to the point where we now stand. In previous Rounds the following developed:
1. the mineral kingdom
2. the vegetable kingdom
3. the animal kingdom
and then—
4. the human being
Theosophical cosmology is a self-contained whole, derived from the wisdom of the most developed seers. If I had a little more time I would be able to indicate to you how certain natural scientific facts are conducive to testifying to the accuracy of this image of the world. Look at Haeckel's famous phylogenic trees, for example, in which evolution is materialistically explained. If instead of matter you consider the spiritual stages, as Theosophy describes them, then you can make the phylogenic trees as Haeckel did—only the explanation is different.
In order that you do not confuse what I have said with what is described in many theosophical books as the various astral or physical states, I would like to bring the following to your attention. Evolution is often described as if they were concurrent stages. You find spheres placed next to each other, so that it appears as though life went from one sphere to another. In reality only one sphere exists, and only its conditions change. It is always the same sphere which goes through the various metamorphoses: spiritual, astral, physical, and so on.
We have seen that the introduction to these lectures, which we took from Goethe's words, is completely justified—that it is after all the human being who is the goal, the task of the earthly planet. The esotericist knows that every planet has its specific task. Nothing in the cosmos is coincidental.
The task of physical evolution is that what is created for us humans achieve its objective. You will not find a human being as he is today on Earth on any other planet. Beings, yes—but not human beings. The Earth exists in order that “I”-conscious human beings could be created. Through the first four Rounds the kingdoms of nature evolved in order that in the fourth man could be made a self-conscious being, who could reflect himself in his body. He will rise to higher levels of evolution, something that few can understand correctly. In the next, the fifth Round, the mineral kingdom will disappear. All mineral matter will be transformed to vegetable matter. Then the vegetable kingdom will reach its culmination and in the next Round the animal kingdom will form the lowest kingdom. During the seventh Round the human being will achieve his highest level of evolution. He will have become what planetary evolution intends.
Whoever understands this can have a profounder insight into the religious documents. There was a time when people believed like children in the religious documents. Then the Enlightenment came, and nothing is believed any more. But a time will come when people will learn to understand the images preserved for us in religious documents, fairy tales and fables. Thus we have the seven Rounds as the seven days of creation in the Bible. The first three days of creation have gone by, we are now in the fourth day of creation and the last three days of creation are yet to come. The first three days of creation in Genesis represent the past Rounds, and the last three indicate what is to come in the future. Rightly understood, Moses wanted to say with the description of the first three days, that we live in the fourth Round; he describes the fourth day of creation in a quite special way. That is why you find a double creation in Genesis.4Double creation: This may refer to Genesis 1, 26, where God creates humankind. In Genesis 2, 7, this creation is described again, albeit differently. Those who judge the Bible with their intellect only will never understand it. The human being of the seventh day of creation has not been created. That man was made of clay is a symbol of our fourth Round. The double creation tells us in images of what has been created, the stage in which we now find ourselves, and of the stage at the end of the seventh Round. When we see the Bible's message in this way, a meaning of these documents suddenly arises which we could not have previously understood. Humanity will finally see that there is such a profound meaning there that one would almost have to become a different person in order to understand it.
It is necessary that in our times the high, spiritual meaning of these old documents be revealed, and that is the task of the theosophical movement. It doesn't criticize the materialism of our times because it considers it to be necessary. But it strives to enable people to again recognize the spiritual meaning of these documents. We will work on this during the coming winter. Today's lecture is the last of this cycle. We will, however, still meet here every Monday at eight o'clock.
Dritter Vortrag
Vor acht Tagen versuchte ich, die dem Abendlande so fremde Denkweise zu erläutern, durch die der Theosoph zu seinen Einsichten und Erkenntnissen in den Kosmos kommt. Der skizzenhafte Charakter, den diese Vorträge haben müssen, hindert mich, in aller Ausführlichkeit die theosophische Kosmologie auseinanderzusetzen. Indessen werde ich versuchen, Ihnen heute wenigstens in erzählender Form ein Bild von der Weltentstehung zu geben, wie es der Theosophie zugrundeliegt. Ich bitte diejenigen, die wissenschaftliche Anforderungen stellen, zu bedenken, daß es mir natürlich nicht möglich ist, in der Kürze von drei Vorträgen irgendwelche wissenschaftlich ausschauende Begründung dessen zu geben, was ich heute sagen werde. Wer eine solche wissenschaftliche Begründung haben will, wird sie in einem späteren Zyklus finden, wo ich ausführlicher über diesen Gegenstand sprechen werde. Und auch ein zweiter Band meiner «Theosophie», der bald erscheinen wird, soll von der Kosmologie handeln.
Vor allem lassen Sie mich eine wichtige Vorstellung voraussetzen, die im Grunde genommen sehr einfach ist, die aber derjenige sich vergegenwärtigen muß, der die Entwicklung im theosophischen Sinne verstehen will. Wenn wir von der Entwicklung im Großen sprechen, dann meinen wir damit nicht nur das Hervorgehen des tierischen oder pflanzlichen Lebens aus einem anderen, sondern wir meinen die großen Umwandlungen innerhalb dieses Weltenalls, und wir zählen dazu auch die Entstehung der Materie, der Materie im eigentlichen Sinne, die wir heute durch unsere physischen Sinne wahrnehmen können.
Wir haben das letzte Mal davon gesprochen, daß wir in der Entwicklungsgeschichte unseres Planeten sieben aufeinanderfolgende Stufen zu unterscheiden haben, und ich habe Ihnen diese auch beschrieben, wenigstens andeutungsweise. Sie müssen sich also denken, daß unser irdischer Planet gleichsam in rhythmischer Folge sieben Stufen, die wir Runden nennen, durchmacht. Alles, was heute auf unserer Erde ist und lebt, war auch vorhanden, bevor unsere heutige Erde entstanden ist; es war aber vorhanden in einer Art von Keimzustand, so wie ja auch die ganze Pflanze im Keime schon vorhanden ist, gleichsam im Keime schläft, bevor sie sich in der äußeren Welt gestaltet. Einen solchen Schlummerzustand aller menschlichen Wesen bezeichnen wir in der Theosophie als ein «Pralaya». Dagegen nennt man den Zustand, in dem alles zum Leben erwacht, nach und nach herauskommt und von Anfängen bis zur Vervollkommnung, bis zu einem Höhepunkt fortschreitet, ein «Manvantara». Wenn der Zustand der Vollkommenheit eingetreten ist, dann folgt neuerdings wieder ein Pralaya, ein Schlafzustand, und auf diesen folgt wiederum ein Zustand des Wachens und Wachsens. So geht der Planet siebenmal durch diese Folge von Zuständen hindurch, siebenmal wieder erwachend zu einem neuen Rundenleben. Die Zeit zwischen einem Manvantara und dem anderen verfließt also in einem solchen Zustand, in dem alles, was lebt und webt auf unserer Erde, gleichsam schläft. Aber es ist das kein Schlaf, der sich vergleichen läßt mit dem gewöhnlichen menschlichen Schlaf. Beim gewöhnlichen menschlichen Schlaf ist nur die Verstandestätigkeit und die Sinnestätigkeit des Menschen unterbrochen, aber Sie sehen sein physisches Leben. Den Schlafzustand der Erde müssen Sie sich ganz anders vorstellen. Es ist so, daß von keinem Wesen auf unserer Erde irgend etwas während dieses Schlafzustandes zu sehen ist. Nur für das geöffnete Auge des höchstentwickelten Sehers, des sogenannten Dangma, wäre dieser Zustand der Erde wahrnehmbar. Unbeschreibbar mit unseren Worten ist dieser Zustand, denn unsere Worte sind nicht geprägt für diese Art des Seins. Ich finde in keiner Sprache Worte für diesen Zustand. Daher sagt der entwickelte Seher, um eine Vorstellung von diesem Zustande hervorzurufen, etwas ganz anderes. Er sagt: Stellt euch eine Pflanze vor. Diese Pflanze seht ihr. Nun stellt euch von dieser Pflanze eine Art Gipsabdruck vor, aber so, daß alles, was die Pflanze ist, hohl ist, leerer Raum, und ringsherum die Gipsmasse. Nehmen Sie nun an, alles dasjenige, was Gips ist, wäre geistig und nur für bestimmte Sinneswahrnehmungen bemerkbar. Derjenige welcher die Pflanze sehen kann, kann dann nicht zugleich den Gipsabdruck sehen, also das Negativ der Pflanze. So etwa würde sich dasjenige verhalten, was der entwickelte Seher von der Erde im Pralayaschlafe wahrzunehmen vermag. Die Erde ist nicht da. Sie ist die Aushöhlung, die Hohlform, sie ist wie in einem nach allen Seiten verschwimmenden, allmählich aufhörenden, großen, gewaltigen Meer höchster geistiger Wesenheiten, aus dem gleichsam herausfließt das Dasein der Erde selbst.
Nun beginnt innerhalb dieses Hohlraumes etwas zu entstehen, aber was da entsteht, ist immer noch nicht wahrnehmbar für sinnliche Augen, es ist nur wahrnehmbar für einen hochentwickelten Seher, der sich auf dem Gebiete des Devachanplanes bewußt bewegen kann. Derjenige, der dieses Sehen hat, würde im Beginne des irdischen Daseins im Raume eine Kugel sehen, eine rein geistige Kugel, auf der alles nur geistig vorhanden ist und die nur für das devachanische Seherauge wahrnehmbar wäre. Jedesmal bevor eine neue Runde beginnt, ist unsere Erde in einem solchen geistigen Zustande. Wenn sie erwacht aus dem Pralayaschlafe, so erwacht sie zu einer solchen Kugel. In einem wunderbaren rötlichen Schimmer sieht sie der das Devachanische Schauende. Selbst für den astralen Seher ist die Kugel nicht sichtbar. Aber dennoch enthält die Kugel schon alles, was später Erde wird. Auch die dichtesten Körper sind schon in dieser Kugel enthalten.
Wie haben wir uns. das nun vorzustellen? Wir können uns das durch einen einfachen Vorgang klarmachen. Stellen Sie sich ein Gefäß mit Wasser vor. Das Wasser ist flüssig. Wenn Sie die Temperatur abkühlen, wird das Wasser zu Eis erstarren. Sie haben dasselbe vor sich wie vorher - Eis ist nichts anderes als Wasser, nur in einer anderen Form. Erhöhen Sie die Temperatur, so geht das Eis wieder in Wasser über, bei noch weiterer Erhitzung sogar in Dampf. So können Sie sich auch vorstellen, daß alle Materialität durch Verdichtung aus dem Geistigen hervorgeht. Die geistige Kugel - nur für das entwickelte Seherauge zu sehen - verdichtet sich immer mehr und mehr, nachdem sie durch ein kleines Pralaya durchgegangen ist. Sie ist dann auch zu sehen für ein minder entwickeltes Seherauge. Dann kommt wieder eine Art von kurzem Schlafzustand, und dann tritt die ganze Kugel uns wiederum in einem verdichteteren Zustand entgegen, und jetzt ist diese Kugel sichtbar für das astrale Auge, also für denjenigen, dessen Sinne auf dem astralen Plan geöffnet sind. Es kommt wieder ein Pralayazustand, und wieder taucht die Kugel auf, jetzt als ganz dicht gewordene physische Materie. Jetzt erst können physische Augen sie sehen, physische Ohren hören, physische Hände greifen. Das ist der vierte Zustand. Danach kommt wiederum ein kurzes Pralaya. Der Zustand löst sich wieder auf und neuerdings tritt eine astrale Kugel uns entgegen, aber mit viel höher entwickelten Wesen. Ein analoger Zustand tritt auf in der sechsten Runde, der wiederum nur für den devachanischen Seher sichtbar ist. Danach wieder ein Pralaya und dann ein nur für das höchste Seherauge sichtbarer Zustand. Dann folgt das Hinschwinden selbst für den Dangma. Nun folgt ein großes Pralaya und dann beginnt der ganze Prozeß sich zu wiederholen. Dies geschieht siebenmal. So verwandelt sich die Erde vom Niedersten zum Höchsten.
Lassen Sie uns jetzt die erste Runde verfolgen. Diese können wir am besten dadurch studieren, daß wir uns klarmachen, was auf unserer Erde vorhanden ist, da, wo sie am dichtesten ist. In der ersten Runde sind noch keine mineralischen Formen vorhanden, auch keine physischen Naturkräfte und keine chemischen Kräfte. Die Erde hat die bisherige Entwicklungsarbeit nur verrichtet, um die Grundlage für das physische Dasein zu schaffen; sie hat diese Grundlagen geschaffen, um ein physisches Dasein in der vierten Runde vorzubereiten. Wie eine feurige Masse erscheint hier unsere Erde, von so gewaltig hoher Temperatur, daß darin keiner unserer gegenwärtigen Stoffe die Form haben könnte, die er jetzt hat. Alle Stoffe sind in diesem Feuer-Urbrei - lassen Sie mich dieses triviale Wort gebrauchen -, in einer einheitlichen, undifferenzierten Materie durcheinandergeflutet. Die Theosophie sagt: Die Erde ist im Zustande des Feuers. - Damit ist aber nicht ein gewöhnliches Feuer gemeint, sondern ein Feuer höherer, geistiger Art. Da finden sich noch keine chemischen Elemente. Aber das, was im Innern dieser Materie ist, ist doch schon tätig. Zweierlei Arten von geistigen Wesenheiten sind darin tätig: diejenigen, die wir als «Dhyani Chohans» bezeichnen und solche Wesenheiten, die noch nicht zur physischen Materialität heruntergestiegen sind, die zum Teil nur einen Geistkörper haben, zum Teil eingehüllt sind in astrale Materie, und die mit ungeheurer Schnelligkeit die Feuermaterie durchfluten. Wir sehen da ein fortwährendes Entstehen und Vergehen von regellosen Formen, auch von solchen Formen, die schon erinnern an das, was später auf der Erde vorhanden ist. Wie eine Art Schablonen erscheint das, was fortwährend entsteht und vergeht. Es sprudelt etwas auf, was uns an die Gestalten von späteren Kristallen und von späteren Pflanzen erinnert; ja sogar etwas, das schon menschliche Formen annimmt und dann wieder zerstiebt. Die Menschen, die später inkarniert sein werden, sie lebten in diesem Feuer, die Körper ausmodellierend, sie vorbereitend. So erscheint uns dieser Zustand der ersten Runde der Erde. Dann folgt der Übergang dieser feurigfließenden Erde in den Schlafzustand.
Die zweite Runde beginnt in derselben geistigen Weise. Betrachten wir wieder die Erde da, wo sie am dichtesten ist. Jetzt hat dieser Zustand eine. ganz andere Form als früher. Jetzt hat er eine Form, welche die heutige Physik schon kennt; der heutige Physiker nennt sie «Äther». Äther ist feiner als unsere heutigen Gase, aber dichter als die Erde in der früheren Runde war. In dieser ganz feinen Materie bildet sich dasjenige aus, was wir chemische Elemente nennen. Diese zweite Stufe können Sie in allen Religionsbüchern in wunderbar schöner Weise angedeutet finden, indem gesagt wird, daß die göttlichen Wesenheiten alles nach Maß, Zahl und Gewicht ordneten. Was früher regellos war, ordnete sich jetzt in chemische Elemente, und diese ordneten sich durch die Zahl. Der Chemiker wird mich verstehen, denn er kennt das regelmäßige periodische System der Elemente. So ist die Materie in bestimmte Maß- und Zahlenverhältnisse zueinander gekommen, nachdem sie als Materie eine gewisse Dichtigkeit, eine ätherische Form angenommen hat. Die einzelnen Stoffe haben auf dieser Stufe noch nichts miteinander zu tun. Sie stehen sich fremd gegenüber. Erst jetzt, wo sich die Materie differenziert, sehen wir die wunderbarsten Formen sich bilden, die uns an die späteren erinnern, sie sind nur noch nicht festbestehend: sternförmige Formen, eckige Formen, Tetraeder, Polyeder, runde Formen und so weiter. Da sind die Formen angedeutet, welche später im Naturreich auftreten. Wie in der ersten Runde die Kristallformen vorgebildet wurden, so bildet sich jetzt in der zweiten Runde das Pflanzenreich vor. Dann flutet das Ganze wieder ab; das Astralische und das Devachanische gehen wieder durch einen Pralaya-Zustand hindurch und erscheinen dann wieder in der dritten Runde.
Wenn wir den physischen Zustand in der dritten Runde betrachten, so finden wir da die Materie schon in einem wesentlich anderen Zustand. Sie ist noch nicht geordnet nach Luft und Wasser, sondern sie hat eine Art von Nebelform, von Dampfform. Nicht mehr in Ätherform, sondern wie eine Art von Wasserdampf, von Nebel oder wie Wolkengebilde heute sind, so würden wir uns die Erde auf dieser dritten Stufe vorzustellen haben. Und innerhalb dieser Nebelgebilde, die wir in alten Sagen erhalten finden - die Sagen von Nebelheim, Niflheim, zeigen uns diesen Zustand -, zeigt sich uns die Materie in anderer Form, nicht mehr nach der Zahl geordnet, sondern mit Kräften ausgestattet. Der okkulte Forscher spricht hier von dem Gesetz der Wahlverwandtschaften. Die chemischen Stoffe regeln sich nach dem Gesetz der Wahlverwandtschaft. Jetzt aber, in der dritten Runde, tritt Kraft auf, die bewirkt, daß das Kleine größer werden kann, sich ausdehnen kann. Die Stoffe können sich von innen heraus durchorganisieren, durchkraften. Nicht nur die Anfänge des Pflanzentums, die wir in der zweiten Runde kennengelernt haben, treten auf, sondern Wachstum ist jetzt möglich. Die ersten tierischen Bildungen treten auf, die uns heute höchst grotesk anmuten würden. Riesig große, kolossale Formen bildeten sich selbst aus dieser Nebelmasse. Es hat für den Okkultisten etwas von Wahrheit an sich, wenn er in die Wolken hinaufschaut und sieht, daß die eine Wolke wie ein Kamel, die andere wie ein Pferd ausschaut. In dieser dritten Runde sind die Wesen nebelhafte Gestalten, die sich dadurch fortpflanzen, daß eines in das andere sich verwandelt, eines aus dem anderen hervorgeht, so wie niedere Zellorganismen, die eine Erinnerung daran sind. Diese tierischen Körper, die aus dem Nebel entstanden sind, können jetzt die erste Grundlage abgeben, damit diejenigen Individualitäten, die von früheren Welten herübergekommen sind, einen Körper finden. Jetzt kann der Mensch sich verkörpern, er findet ein Gehäuse vor, das ihm gestattet, sich zum Ausdruck zu bringen, zuerst allerdings in unvollkommener, in primitiver, täppischer Weise. Auch mißglückte Inkarnationen sind möglich. Man kann davon sprechen, daß während der dritten Runde sich Wesen auf der Erde befunden haben, Zwischenwesen zwischen Mensch und Tier, in denen sich der Mensch zwar nicht ganz wohl fühlte, sich aber doch inkarnieren konnte.
Nun kommt wieder ein Pralaya und dann die vierte Runde. Das ist die Runde, der wir selbst heute angehören. Die Erde machte also erst den devachanischen Zustand durch, ging dann herunter durch den astralen und den ätherischen Zustand und kommt endlich in den physischen Zustand, den wir jetzt erreicht haben. Während der ersten Runde hat sich die Grundlage für das Mineralreich gebildet, während der zweiten Runde bildete sich die Grundlage für das Pflanzenreich, während der dritten Runde entstand die Möglichkeit, daß tierische Bildungen auftreten konnten. Und jetzt, während der vierten Runde, bekommt der Mensch die Fähigkeit, die Gestalt anzunehmen, die er heute hat.
Betrachten wir den Zustand unserer physischen Erde, unserer jetzigen Runde etwas genauer. Der Zustand der Erde auf dieser vierten Stufe muß als sehr viel dichter bezeichnet werden als die Zustände in den früheren Runden. Zuerst war ein feuriger Zustand, dann ein nebliger, dann ein solcher zwischen Luft und Wasser. Jetzt aber, im Anfang der vierten Runde, haben wir eine Art quellende Materie, ähnlich dem Eiweiß. In diesem Zustand befand sich die ganze Erde im Anfang der vierten Runde. Allmählich hat sich aber alles verdichtet, und was wir heute auf der Erde als Materie kennen, ist nichts anderes als die verdichtete, ursprünglich quellende Materie — genauso, wie das Eis verdichtete Wassermaterie ist. Im Anfang dieser vierten Runde waren alle Wesenheiten so beschaffen, daß sie in dieser quellenden Materie leben konnten. Der Mensch hatte eine Gestalt, die schon ähnlich war der heutigen, aber er war noch in einem völlig dumpfen Bewußtseinszustand, der zu vergleichen ist mit dem Zustand eines träumenden Menschen. Er träumte sein Dasein dahin in einer Art von Schlafbewußtsein; es fehlte ihm noch der Geist. Betrachten wir diesen Zustand etwas genauer. Der Mensch war also in dieser quellenden Materie schon möglich. Traum-Menschen nennen wir den Menschen dieser ersten Rasse. Es ist schwer, eine Beschreibung des Menschen der ersten Rasse zu geben. Diesem Zustand folgte ein anderer, in dem die Materie sich weiter verdichtete und sich getrennt hat in eine mehr geistige und eine mehr physische Materialität, gleichsam in Nordpol und Südpol. Nur bitte ich Sie, dabei zu berücksichtigen den Unterschied zwischen der okkulten Auffassung und der landläufigen Auffassung des Darwinismus. Wir haben also in diesem angedeuteten Zustand der Erde ursprünglich den Menschen vorhanden, und wir haben das Pflanzenreich; auch das Tierreich war vorhanden, aber in denjenigen Formen, wo noch keine geschlechtliche Fortpflanzung da ist und kein warmes Blut. Diese Wesen waren noch nicht fähig, Töne aus dem Inneren hervorzubringen. Der Mensch selbst ist noch stumm. Und er kann noch nicht denken, nicht einmal dumpfe Vorstellungen kann er sich bilden. Der Geist ist noch nicht in den Körper eingezogen. In der folgenden, der zweiten Rasse, sondert sich die Materie in zwei Pole. Der Mensch zieht sich gleichsam diejenige Materie heraus, die für ihn brauchbar ist und sondert das minder Brauchbare aus, woraus sich als eine Art Seitenzweige die höheren Tiere heranbilden. Die unteren Tierarten sind schon ähnlich den Formen der heutigen Mollusken, sogar fischähnliche Formen entwickeln sich schon.
Der Mensch entwickelt sich immer höher und auf der dritten Stufe der Rassenbildung sondert er wiederum Materie aus, die er nicht zum Träger eines höheren Bewußtseins machen kann. Er gibt sie wieder ab als Material für die Tiere, die nun aussehen etwa wie Amphibien, die riesige Formen haben. Sie werden uns in den Fabeln und Mythen der Völker beschrieben als fliegende Drachen und so weiter. Auch jetzt hat noch kein Wesen, das sich entwickelt hat, eine geschlechtliche Fortpflanzung. Erst ist der Mitte der dritten Rasse, in der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit, treten die Anfänge davon auf. Der Schauplatz dieser Ereignisse befand sich in Lemurien, in der Gegend von Hinterindien im Indischen Ozean.
In der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit geschah das große Ereignis, das den Menschen zum Menschen gemacht hat. Unter den menschlichen Wesen, die herübergekommen sind von früheren planetarischen Zuständen befanden sich nicht alle auf der gleichen Entwicklungsstufe. Diejenigen, die schon während des früheren Zyklus auf der Nebelerde eine normale Entwicklung erreicht hatten, konnten sich während der dritten Rasse verkörpern. Unter diesen aber war eine Anzahl, die schon eine höhere Stufe erlangt hatte; diese konnten sich während der dritten Runde überhaupt nicht verkörpern. In jeder Runde entwickeln sich Menschen zu einer normalen Stufe und andere zu einem solchen Stadium, das darüber hinausgeht. Meister sind diejenigen, welche über das normale Maß hinausgeschritten sind. Sie sind höherentwickelte Individualitäten. Diese höherentwickelten Individualitäten, die über das normale Maß schon hinausgeschritten sind, nennt man in der Theosophie Solarpitris oder Sonnenpitris. Sie haben schon eine höhere Geistigkeit erlangt, aber sie konnten sich in den Körper des damaligen Menschen ebensowenig verkörpern, wie der heutige Mensch im Pflanzenbau sich verkörpern könnte. Sie warteten die weitere Entwicklung ab, bis der richtige Zeitpunkt gekommen war und in der vierten Rasse ihre erste wirkliche Verkörperung stattfinden konnte. Jetzt erst konnten diese höher entwickelten Individualitäten, die Solarpitris, von den vorhandenen Formen Besitz ergreifen. Es entstand eine geistig hochentwickelte Menschheit. Die Sagen und Mythen berichten davon, daß es seinerzeit Persönlichkeiten gegeben hat, welche weit über ihre Mitmenschen hinausragten. Individualitäten wie Prometheus, die Rishis der Inder, Feuer-Rishis, die dann zu den eigentlichen Führern der Menschheit wurden, zu den Manus, die den späteren Menschen:die Gesetze gaben. Nur diese Solarpitris konnten sich zu Adepten verkörpern.
Ich habe Ihnen erzählt, daß im Beginn der vierten Runde noch keine Geschlechtlichkeit vorhanden war. Erst in der lemurischen Zeit trat die Trennung der Geschlechter auf. Dadurch wurde auch erst die Inkarnation möglich, das Inbesitznehmen eines Körpers, das es vorher nicht gab. Früher ging ein Wesen aus dem anderen hervor. Mit der Trennung der Geschlechter in der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit trat Geburt und Tod ein und damit war auch die Möglichkeit der Wirkung von Karma gegeben. Der Mensch konnte eine Schuld auf sich laden. Alles, was wir als «menschlich» kennen, entstand damals.
Der Kontinent Lemurien ging durch feuerähnliche Katastrophen zugrunde, und nun entstand der atlantische Kontinent auf dem Boden des heutigen Atlantischen Ozeans. In der atlantischen Zeit trat wieder ein wichtiges Ereignis ein, auf das ich Sie aufmerksam gemacht habe, als ich über das Pfingstfest sprach. Ich habe da gesagt, daß mit Ausnahme der Solarpitris alle Wesenheiten in niedrigem Geisteszustande lebten. Nur ausgewählte Körper konnten die Solarpitris aufnehmen. Die anderen Körper hätten diesen Wesen nur die Möglichkeit geboten, im Zustand eines dumpfen Bewußtseins zu leben. Gemütlose Menschen wären entstanden, wenn die damaligen Körper benutzt worden wären. Es warteten deshalb die Pitris, bis sich gewisse tierische Formen weiter ausgebildet hatten. Diese waren auf der einen Seite tiefer in das Triebleben gesunken, aber andererseits hatten sich dadurch die Vorbedingungen für die spätere Entwicklung eines Gehirns gebildet. Die Materie hatte sich differenziert in eine Nervenmaterie und eine Geschlechtsmaterie. In dieser verschlechterten Materie haben sich dann diejenigen Pitris verkörpert, die gewartet haben bis zu diesem späteren Zustand. Das ist das, was die Religion als den Sündenfall der Menschheit bezeichnet hat: das Hinabsteigen in die schlechter geartete Materie. Wäre das unterblieben, so wären sie alle in einem viel weniger bewußten Zustande geblieben. Sie wären nicht zu dem klaren Gedankenleben brauchbar gewesen, wie wir es heute haben, sondern in einem viel dumpferen Zustand geblieben. Das haben sie erkauft dadurch, daß sie den Körper auf der einen Seite sich verschlechtern ließen, um ihn auf der anderen Seite zu Gehirn-Materie zu veredeln, um ein höheres Bewußtsein erreichen zu können. Dadurch konnten sie schon damals zu einer gewissen geistigen Höhe emporsteigen. Ein besonderes Ergebnis der Entwicklung der atlantischen Rasse war die Ausbildung eines phänomenalen Gedächtnisses.
Nachdem die Atlantis untergegangen war - durch Wasser -, entwickelte sich als spätere Fortsetzung unsere gegenwärtige fünfte Rasse, die als besondere Errungenschaft den kombinierenden Verstand ausgebildet hat, der sie befähigt, Kunst und Wissenschaft zu höchster Entwicklung zu bringen, was vorher nicht möglich war. In der fünften Unterrasse der vierten Runde erreicht der Mensch einen Höhepunkt: Die Beherrschung durch den Geist, der herabgestiegen ist in die Materie, damit er nun wiederum hinaufgetragen werden kann zu immer höher und höheren Stufen. Wir haben gesehen, wie sich der Kosmos in rhythmischer Stufenfolge entwickelt hat bis zu dem Punkt, wo wir heute stehen. In den früheren Runden wurden entwickelt:
1. das Mineralreich,
2. das Pflanzenreich,
3. das Tierreich, und dann
4. der Mensch.
Die theosophische Kosmologie ist ein in sich geschlossenes Gebäude, das aus der Weisheit der höchstentwickelten Seher entsprungen ist. Wenn ich nur einigermaßen mehr Zeit hätte, so würde ich Ihnen zeigen können, wie gerade gewisse naturwissenschaftliche Tatsachen dazu hindrängen, dieses Weltbild aus der Wissenschaft heraus zu bezeugen. Sehen wir uns zum Beispiel die berühmten Stammbäume Haeckels an, in denen alle Entwicklung rein materiell gedeutet ist. Wenn Sie aber statt der Materie, anstelle des Kristalles, die geistigen Zustände nehmen, wie die Theosophie sie beschreibt, dann können Sie die Stammbäume machen, wie Haeckel sie gemacht hat - nur die Erklärung ist eine andere.
Damit Sie das, was ich gesagt habe, nicht verwechseln mit dem, was in manchen theosophischen Büchern als die verschiedenen astralen oder physischen Zustände beschrieben wird, mache ich auf folgendes aufmerksam: Die Entwicklung wird oft so beschrieben, als ob das nebeneinanderliegende Zustände wären; Sie finden Kugeln nebeneinandergestellt, so daß es scheint, als ob das Leben von einer Kugel zur anderen ginge. In Wirklichkeit ist aber nur eine einzige Kugel vorhanden, und nur der Zustand derselben ändert sich. Es ist immer dieselbe Kugel, welche die verschiedenen Metamorphosen durchmacht: geistig, astral, physisch und so weiter.
So haben wir gesehen, daß der Ausgangspunkt, den wir von den Worten Goethes genommen haben, vollberechtigt ist, die Worte, daß es zuletzt doch der Mensch ist, was sozusagen als ein Ziel, als eine Aufgabe des irdischen Planeten erscheint. Der Okkultist weiß, daß jeder Planet seine bestimmte Aufgabe hat. Nichts ist in dem ganzen Kosmos zufällig. Daß das, was für uns Menschen entsteht, sein Ziel erreicht, das ist die Aufgabe der physischen Entwicklung. Einen Menschen, der so ist wie der heutige Mensch, würden Sie auf keinem anderen Planeten finden. Wesen - ja, aber nicht Menschen. Daß der Mensch als ich-bewußtes Wesen entstehen konnte, dazu ist die Erde da. Durch die ersten vier Runden haben sich die Reiche der Natur entwickelt, um in der vierten den Menschen zum selbstbewußten Wesen zu machen, das sich im Körper bewußt spiegeln kann. Nun wird er weiter zu höheren Zuständen aufsteigen, von denen nur sehr wenige sich einen richtigen Begriff machen können. In der nächsten, der fünften Runde wird das Mineralreich ganz verschwinden. Alle mineralische Materie wird in Pflanzenmaterie verwandelt sein. Alles wird leben im Pflanzengedanken - okkultistisch gesprochen. Dann wird das Pflanzenreich auch seine Vollendung erreichen und in der nächsten Runde wird das Tierische das unterste Reich bilden. In der siebenten Runde wird dann der Mensch die Höhe seiner Entwicklung erreicht haben. Da wird er das sein, was er in seiner planetarischen Entwicklung werden soll.
Wer das versteht, der kann wiederum einen tiefen Einblick haben in die religiösen Urkunden. Es gab eine Zeit, wo die Menschen an die Religionsurkunden glaubten wie Kinder. Dann kam die Zeit der Aufklärung, wo nichts mehr geglaubt wurde, und nun kommt eine Zeit, wo die Menschen wiederum die Bilder begreifen lernen werden, die uns in religiösen Urkunden, in Märchen und in Fabeln aufbewahrt sind. So haben wir die sieben Runden als die sieben Schöpfungstage in der Bibel. Die drei ersten Schöpfungstage sind vergangen, im vierten Schöpfungstage stehen wir jetzt, und die drei letzten Schöpfungstage werden noch kommen. Die drei ersten Schöpfungstage der Genesis stellen die vergangenen Runden dar, in den drei letzten wird angedeutet, was in der Zukunft kommen wird. Richtig aufgefaßt will Moses mit der Beschreibung des vierten Schöpfungstages sagen, daß wir in der vierten Runde leben; er beschreibt auch den vierten Schöpfungstag besonders. Deshalb finden Sie auch in der Genesis eine zweifache Schöpfung. Diejenigen, die die Bibel nur mit dem Verstande messen, können das niemals verstehen. Der Mensch des siebenten Schöpfungstages ist noch nicht erschaffen. Daß der Mensch aus Ton und Lehm gemacht ist, ist ein Sinnbild für unsere vierte Runde. Die zweifache Schöpfung sagt uns in bildlicher Form von dem Geschaffenen, von dem Zustand, in dem wir uns jetzt befinden, und von dem Zustand am Ende der siebenten Runde. Wenn wir das durch die Bibel Überlieferte so ansehen, dann kommt plötzlich ein Sinn aus diesen Urkunden, den wir früher nicht ahnen konnten. Nun wird die Menschheit endlich sehen, daß darin ein so tiefer Sinn liegt, daß man fast ein anderer Mensch werden muß, um ihn zu verstehen. Es ist notwendig, daß in der gegenwärtigen Zeit der hohe, spirituelle Sinn dieser ältesten Urkunde den Menschen wieder erschlossen wird, und das ist die Aufgabe der theosophischen Bewegung. Sie tadelt nicht das Materialistische unserer Zeit, weil sie dies für etwas Notwendiges hält. Aber sie arbeitet daran, daß die Menschen den spirituellen Sinn dieser Urkunden wieder erkennen sollen. Daran lassen Sie uns auch im kommenden Winter arbeiten. Unter den Zyklus-Vorträgen ist dieser heutige der letzte. Unsere Montage aber bleiben. Jeden Montag um acht Uhr abends treffen wir uns wieder hier.
Third Lecture
Eight days ago, I attempted to explain the way of thinking so foreign to the West, through which the theosophist arrives at his insights and knowledge of the cosmos. The sketchy nature of these lectures prevents me from discussing theosophical cosmology in detail. However, today I will try to give you at least a narrative picture of the origin of the world as it is understood in theosophy. I ask those who have scientific requirements to bear in mind that it is of course not possible for me to give any scientific-looking justification for what I am going to say today in the brevity of three lectures. Anyone who wants such a scientific justification will find it in a later cycle, where I will speak in more detail on this subject. And a second volume of my “Theosophy,” which will appear soon, will also deal with cosmology.
First of all, let me assume an important mental image that is basically very simple, but which must be kept in mind by anyone who wants to understand development in the theosophical sense. When we speak of development in the grand scheme of things, we do not mean only the emergence of animal or plant life from another, but we mean the great transformations within this universe, and we also include the emergence of matter, matter in the true sense, which we can perceive today through our physical senses.
Last time we spoke about the fact that we can distinguish seven successive stages in the evolutionary history of our planet, and I also described these to you, at least in outline. You must therefore imagine that our earthly planet undergoes seven stages, which we call rounds, in a rhythmic sequence, as it were. Everything that exists and lives on our Earth today was also present before our present Earth came into being; but it was present in a kind of embryonic state, just as the whole plant is already present in the seed, sleeping in the seed, so to speak, before it takes shape in the outer world. In Theosophy, we refer to this state of slumber of all human beings as a “Pralaya.” In contrast, the state in which everything awakens to life, gradually emerges and progresses from beginnings to perfection, to a climax, is called a “Manvantara.” When the state of perfection has been reached, a new Pralaya, a state of sleep, follows, and this is followed in turn by a state of waking and growing. Thus, the planet goes through this sequence of states seven times, awakening seven times to a new cycle of life. The time between one Manvantara and the next thus passes in a state in which everything that lives and breathes on our Earth is, as it were, asleep. But this is not a sleep that can be compared to ordinary human sleep. In ordinary human sleep, only the mental and sensory activities of the human being are interrupted, but you can see his physical life. You must form a completely different mental image of the sleeping state of the earth. It is so that nothing can be seen of any being on our earth during this sleeping state. Only to the open eye of the most highly developed seer, the so-called Dangma, would this state of the earth be perceptible. This state is indescribable with our words, because our words are not suited to this kind of being. I cannot find words for this state in any language. Therefore, in order to evoke a mental image of this state, the developed seer says something completely different. He says: Imagine a plant. You see this plant. Now imagine a kind of plaster cast of this plant, but in such a way that everything that is the plant is hollow, empty space, and surrounded by the plaster mass. Now suppose that everything that is plaster is spiritual and only perceptible to certain senses. The one who can see the plant cannot at the same time see the plaster cast, that is, the negative of the plant. This is roughly how the developed seer perceives the earth in the Pralaya sleep. The earth is not there. It is the hollow, the hollow form, it is like a large, mighty sea of highest spiritual beings, blurring on all sides, gradually ceasing, from which the existence of the earth itself flows out, as it were.
Now something begins to arise within this hollow space, but what arises there is still not perceptible to the sensory eyes; it is only perceptible to a highly developed seer who can consciously move in the realm of the Devachan plane. Those who have this vision would see a sphere in space at the beginning of earthly existence, a purely spiritual sphere on which everything exists only spiritually and which would only be perceptible to the devachanic seer's eye. Every time before a new cycle begins, our Earth is in such a spiritual state. When it awakens from the Pralaya sleep, it awakens to such a sphere. The Devachanic seer sees it in a wonderful reddish glow. Even for the astral seer, the sphere is not visible. But nevertheless, the sphere already contains everything that will later become Earth. Even the densest bodies are already contained in this sphere.
How do we form a mental image of this? We can clarify this through a simple process. Imagine a vessel filled with water. The water is liquid. If you cool the temperature, the water will freeze into ice. You have the same thing in front of you as before—ice is nothing other than water, only in a different form. If you increase the temperature, the ice turns back into water, and if you heat it further, it even turns into steam. In the same way, you can form the mental image that all materiality arises from the spiritual through condensation. The spiritual sphere – visible only to the developed seer's eye – condenses more and more after passing through a small pralaya. It can then also be seen by a less developed seer's eye. Then comes another kind of brief sleep state, and then the whole sphere appears to us again in a more condensed state, and now this sphere is visible to the astral eye, that is, to those whose senses are open on the astral plane. Another pralaya state occurs, and the sphere reappears, now as physical matter that has become completely dense. Only now can physical eyes see it, physical ears hear it, and physical hands grasp it. This is the fourth state. After that, another short pralaya occurs. The state dissolves again and a new astral sphere appears before us, but with much more highly developed beings. An analogous state occurs in the sixth round, which is again only visible to the devachanic seer. After that, another Pralaya and then a state visible only to the highest seer's eye. Then follows the disappearance even for the Dangma. Now a great Pralaya follows, and then the whole process begins to repeat itself. This happens seven times. Thus, the earth is transformed from the lowest to the highest.
Let us now follow the first round. We can best study this by realizing what is present on our earth where it is densest. In the first round, there are no mineral forms yet, nor are there any physical forces of nature or chemical forces. The earth has only carried out its development work so far in order to create the basis for physical existence; it has created these foundations in order to prepare for physical existence in the fourth round. Our earth appears here as a fiery mass, of such enormously high temperature that none of our present substances could have the form they now have. All substances are mixed together in this primordial fire – let me use this trivial word – in a uniform, undifferentiated matter. Theosophy says: The Earth is in a state of fire. However, this does not mean ordinary fire, but a fire of a higher, spiritual nature. There are no chemical elements yet. But what is inside this matter is already active. Two kinds of spiritual beings are active within it: those we call “Dhyani Chohans” and those beings who have not yet descended into physical materiality, some of whom have only a spirit body, some of whom are enveloped in astral matter, and who flood through the fire matter with tremendous speed. We see a continuous emergence and disappearance of irregular forms, including forms that are reminiscent of what will later exist on Earth. What continuously emerges and disappears appears like a kind of template. Something bubbles up that reminds us of the shapes of later crystals and plants; even something that already takes on human forms and then disperses again. The people who will later be incarnated lived in this fire, modeling the bodies, preparing them. This is how the state of the first round of the Earth appears to us. Then follows the transition of this fiery, flowing Earth into a state of sleep.
The second round begins in the same spiritual way. Let us again consider the Earth where it is densest. Now this state has a completely different form than before. Now it has a form that is already known to today's physics; today's physicists call it “ether.” Ether is finer than our present gases, but denser than the Earth was in the earlier round. In this very fine matter, what we call chemical elements are formed. You can find this second stage indicated in a wonderfully beautiful way in all religious books, which say that the divine beings arranged everything according to measure, number, and weight. What was previously disordered now arranged itself into chemical elements, and these arranged themselves according to number. Chemists will understand me, for they know the regular periodic system of elements. Thus, matter came into certain proportions and numerical relationships with each other after it had assumed a certain density, an ethereal form, as matter. At this stage, the individual substances still have nothing to do with each other. They stand opposite each other as strangers. Only now, when matter differentiates, do we see the most wonderful forms taking shape, reminiscent of those that will appear later, but not yet fixed: star-shaped forms, angular forms, tetrahedrons, polyhedrons, round forms, and so on. Here we see the beginnings of the forms that will later appear in the natural world. Just as the crystal forms were prefigured in the first round, so now in the second round the plant kingdom is prefigured. Then the whole thing floods away again; the astral and the devachanic pass through a pralaya state again and then reappear in the third round.
When we look at the physical state in the third round, we find matter already in a significantly different state. It is not yet ordered according to air and water, but has a kind of misty, vaporous form. No longer in etheric form, but like a kind of water vapor, mist, or cloud formations today, this is how we would have to form a mental image of the Earth at this third stage. And within these mist formations, which we find preserved in ancient legends – the legends of Nebelheim and Niflheim show us this state – matter appears to us in a different form, no longer ordered according to number, but endowed with forces. The occult researcher speaks here of the law of elective affinity. Chemical substances are governed by the law of elective affinity. But now, in the third round, a force appears that causes the small to become larger, to expand. Substances can organize themselves from within, empower themselves. Not only do the beginnings of plant life, which we learned about in the second round, appear, but growth is now possible. The first animal formations appear, which would seem highly grotesque to us today. Huge, colossal forms formed themselves out of this mass of mist. There is something of truth in it for the occultist when he looks up into the clouds and sees that one cloud looks like a camel, another like a horse. In this third round, the beings are nebulous forms that reproduce by one transforming into the other, one emerging from the other, like lower cellular organisms that are a reminder of this. These animal bodies that arose from the mist can now provide the first basis for those individualities that have come over from earlier worlds to find a body. Now human beings can incarnate; they find a shell that allows them to express themselves, albeit at first in an imperfect, primitive, clumsy way. Failed incarnations are also possible. It can be said that during the third round there were beings on earth, intermediate beings between humans and animals, in which humans did not feel entirely comfortable, but in which they were nevertheless able to incarnate.
Now another Pralaya is coming, and then the fourth round. That is the round to which we ourselves belong today. So the earth first went through the devachanic state, then descended through the astral and etheric states, and finally arrived at the physical state we have now reached. During the first round, the basis for the mineral kingdom was formed; during the second round, the basis for the plant kingdom was formed; during the third round, the possibility arose for animal formations to appear. And now, during the fourth round, humans are gaining the ability to take on the form they have today.
Let us consider the state of our physical Earth, our present cycle, in more detail. The state of the Earth at this fourth stage must be described as much denser than the states in the earlier cycles. First there was a fiery state, then a misty one, then one between air and water. But now, at the beginning of the fourth round, we have a kind of springing matter, similar to egg white. The whole Earth was in this state at the beginning of the fourth round. Gradually, however, everything became denser, and what we know today on Earth as matter is nothing other than the densified, originally springing matter — just as ice is densified water matter. At the beginning of this fourth round, all beings were constituted in such a way that they could live in this swelling matter. Human beings had a form that was already similar to today's, but they were still in a completely dull state of consciousness, comparable to the state of a dreaming person. They dreamed their existence away in a kind of sleep consciousness; they still lacked the spirit. Let us consider this state a little more closely. Human beings were already possible in this gushing matter. We call the human beings of this first race dream people. It is difficult to describe the human beings of the first race. This state was followed by another in which matter became more dense and separated into a more spiritual and a more physical materiality, like the North Pole and South Pole. But I ask you to take into account the difference between the occult view and the common view of Darwinism. So, in this suggested state of the Earth, we originally have humans, and we have the plant kingdom; the animal kingdom was also present, but in forms where there is no sexual reproduction and no warm blood. These beings were not yet capable of producing sounds from within. Man himself is still mute. And he cannot yet think, he cannot even form mental images. The spirit has not yet entered the body. In the following, the second race, matter separates into two poles. Humans draw out, as it were, the matter that is useful to them and separate out the less useful matter, from which the higher animals develop as a kind of side branch. The lower animal species are already similar to the forms of today's mollusks, and even fish-like forms are already developing.
Human beings continue to develop higher and higher, and in the third stage of racial formation, they again separate out matter that they cannot make the carrier of a higher consciousness. They give it back as material for the animals, which now look something like amphibians and have gigantic forms. They are described to us in the fables and myths of the peoples as flying dragons and so on. Even now, no being that has developed has sexual reproduction. Only in the middle of the third race, in the middle of the Lemurian period, do the beginnings of this appear. The scene of these events was in Lemuria, in the area of Hinterindia in the Indian Ocean.
In the middle of the Lemurian epoch, the great event took place that made humans into humans. Among the human beings who came over from earlier planetary states, not all were at the same stage of development. Those who had already achieved normal development during the earlier cycle on the Nebula were able to incarnate during the third race. Among these, however, there were a number who had already attained a higher stage; they were unable to incarnate at all during the third round. In each round, some humans develop to a normal stage and others to a stage that goes beyond it. Masters are those who have progressed beyond the normal level. They are more highly developed individualities. These more highly developed individualities, who have already advanced beyond the normal level, are called solar pitris or sun pitris in theosophy. They have already attained a higher spirituality, but they were just as unable to incarnate in the bodies of the people of that time as today's humans would be unable to incarnate in plants. They waited for further development until the right moment had come and their first real incarnation could take place in the fourth race. Only then could these more highly developed individualities, the Solar Pitris, take possession of the existing forms. A spiritually highly developed humanity arose. Legends and myths tell of personalities who far surpassed their fellow human beings at that time. Individualities such as Prometheus, the rishis of the Indians, fire rishis, who then became the actual leaders of humanity, the Manus, who gave the laws to later humans. Only these Solar Pitris could incarnate as adepts.
I have told you that at the beginning of the fourth round, sexuality did not yet exist. It was not until the Lemurian period that the separation of the sexes occurred. This also made incarnation possible, the taking possession of a body, which did not exist before. Previously, one being emerged from another. With the separation of the sexes in the middle of the Lemurian period, birth and death occurred, and with them the possibility of karma. Human beings could incur guilt. Everything we know as “human” came into being at that time.
The continent of Lemuria was destroyed by fire-like catastrophes, and now the Atlantic continent arose on the floor of what is now the Atlantic Ocean. In the Atlantean period, another important event occurred, which I drew your attention to when I spoke about the feast of Pentecost. I said then that, with the exception of the Solar Pitris, all beings lived in a low state of consciousness. Only selected bodies could accommodate the Solar Pitris. The other bodies would have offered these beings only the possibility of living in a state of dull consciousness. If the bodies of that time had been used, soulless human beings would have come into being. The Pitris therefore waited until certain animal forms had developed further. On the one hand, these had sunk deeper into the life of instincts, but on the other hand, this had created the preconditions for the later development of a brain. Matter had differentiated into nerve matter and sexual matter. In this deteriorated matter, those Pitris who had waited until this later state then incarnated. This is what religion has called the Fall of Man: the descent into inferior matter. Had this not happened, they would all have remained in a much less conscious state. They would not have been capable of the clear thinking we have today, but would have remained in a much duller state. They paid for this by allowing the body to deteriorate on the one hand, in order to refine it into brain matter on the other, so that they could attain a higher consciousness. This enabled them to rise to a certain spiritual height even then. A special result of the development of the Atlantean race was the formation of a phenomenal memory.
After Atlantis sank – through water – our present fifth race developed as a later continuation, which has developed the combining mind as a special achievement, enabling it to bring art and science to the highest level of development, which was not possible before. In the fifth sub-race of the fourth round, humanity reaches a peak: mastery by the spirit, which has descended into matter so that it can now be carried up again to ever higher and higher levels. We have seen how the cosmos has developed in a rhythmic sequence of stages to the point where we stand today. In the earlier rounds, the following were developed:
1. the mineral kingdom,
2. the plant kingdom,
3. the animal kingdom, and then
4. the human being.
Theosophical cosmology is a self-contained edifice that has sprung from the wisdom of the most highly developed seers. If I had a little more time, I could show you how certain scientific facts urge us to attest to this worldview from a scientific perspective. Let us look, for example, at Haeckel's famous family trees, in which all development is interpreted in purely material terms. But if, instead of matter, instead of crystals, you take the spiritual states as described by theosophy, then you can construct family trees like Haeckel's – only the explanation is different.
So that you do not confuse what I have said with what is described in some theosophical books as the various astral or physical states, I would like to point out the following: Development is often described as if these were juxtaposed states; you find spheres placed side by side, so that it seems as if life passed from one sphere to another. In reality, however, there is only one sphere, and only its state changes. It is always the same sphere that undergoes the various metamorphoses: spiritual, astral, physical, and so on.
So we have seen that the starting point we took from Goethe's words is entirely justified, the words that ultimately it is the human being who appears, so to speak, as the goal, as the task of the earthly planet. The occultist knows that every planet has its specific task. Nothing in the entire cosmos is accidental. It is the task of physical development to ensure that what arises for us humans achieves its goal. You would not find a human being like today's human being on any other planet. Beings – yes, but not humans. The Earth is there so that humans could arise as self-conscious beings. Through the first four rounds, the kingdoms of nature have developed in order to make humans, in the fourth round, self-conscious beings who can consciously reflect themselves in their bodies. Now they will continue to ascend to higher states, of which very few can form a correct concept. In the next, fifth round, the mineral kingdom will disappear completely. All mineral matter will be transformed into plant matter. Everything will live in the plant concept – occultistically speaking. Then the plant kingdom will also reach its completion, and in the next round, the animal kingdom will form the lowest kingdom. In the seventh round, humans will have reached the height of their development. There they will be what they are meant to become in their planetary development.
Those who understand this can in turn gain a deep insight into religious documents. There was a time when people believed in religious documents like children. Then came the Age of Enlightenment, when nothing was believed anymore, and now a time is coming when people will once again learn to understand the images preserved for us in religious documents, fairy tales, and fables. Thus, we have the seven cycles as the seven days of creation in the Bible. The first three days of creation have passed, we are now in the fourth day of creation, and the last three days of creation are yet to come. The first three days of creation in Genesis represent the past cycles, while the last three hint at what is to come in the future. Correctly understood, Moses wants to say with his description of the fourth day of creation that we are living in the fourth round; he also describes the fourth day of creation in particular. That is why you also find a twofold creation in Genesis. Those who measure the Bible only with their intellect can never understand this. The human being of the seventh day of creation has not yet been created. The fact that man is made of clay and mud is a symbol of our fourth round. The twofold creation tells us in pictorial form about what has been created, about the state we are in now, and about the state at the end of the seventh round. When we look at what has been handed down through the Bible in this way, a meaning suddenly emerges from these documents that we could not have guessed before. Now humanity will finally see that there is such a deep meaning in it that one almost has to become a different person to understand it. It is necessary that in the present time the high spiritual meaning of this oldest document be made accessible to people again, and that is the task of the theosophical movement. It does not condemn the materialism of our time, because it considers it to be something necessary. But it works to ensure that people recognize the spiritual meaning of these documents again. Let us continue to work on this in the coming winter. Today's lecture is the last in the series. But our Mondays remain. Every Monday at eight o'clock in the evening, we meet here again.