The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The First, Second, and Third Sonship of God

[ 1 ] I. First sonship of God, the first reflection of the primordial being, which proclaims nothing in thought, name, and desire but the deity itself, and is therefore nothing other than the sole proclaimer of the All-One. There is no mention here of any differentiation or individualization. What we can perceive in any point of this self-illuminating infinity is only the One Godhead.

[ 2 ] World consciousness: The consciousness of the All has this All as knowledge.

[ 3 ] II. Second Sonship of God, the second reflection of the primordial being, which permeates everything with the will to exist and allows the primordial spirit to shine forth from the isolated entities. This will to exist is a unified one. It is the primordial spirit, which is not merely, but wills itself. For example, when it wills itself as a thought, it wills itself as an individual thought. The thought proclaims itself, but it proclaims itself as a thought, as a member of God.

[ 4 ] [It is as if the hand were to say of itself: I am the hand, but I am only a member of the organism].

[ 5 ] The All-One proclaims itself in manifold ways.

[ 6 ] The manifoldness of beings has the All as divine unity in consciousness.

[ 7 ] III. Third Sonship of God, the third reflection of the primordial being, which permeates everything with individual will and keeps the primordial spirit hidden in this isolation. The will to exist is manifold. It is the primordial spirit that is not merely itself and does not merely will itself, but wills every being. The will of the primordial spirit thus becomes perceptible in the individual being, that is, the individual being perceives the will as its own will.

[ 8 ] The groaning of the creature.

[ 9 ] Evolution as salvation through the unified spirit hovering above the manifoldness of will.

[ 10 ] The spirit is the third son. The manifold beings are conscious of the manifold.

[ 11 ] I. In descending order, we first find Jiva, Mahat, and Fohat. The universal consciousness proclaims itself through all three elements.

[ 12 ] Basic judgment [All is All]

[ 13 ] Through proclamation, the manifold comes into being.

[ 14 ] II. In further descent, the manifold proclaims divine unity in manifold ways.

[ 15 ] [I am All]

[ 16 ] III. In further descent, each manifold proclaims itself.

[ 17 ] [I am I]

[ 18 ] In further descent, the proclamation becomes objective being.

[ 19 ] [Nature is I]

[ 20 ] Sensory perceptions and intellectual concepts are I. Here we encounter our human being in experience.

[ 21 ] Psyche Manas Prana

[ 22 ] In the ascending spiritual development, the original punctual I becomes manifold.

[ 23 ] [Intuitions are I.]
Verbal: Sa - Vitarka
Wordless: Intuition Nir - Vitarka

[ 24 ] We go through III

[ 25 ] In further ascent, we close our individual consciousness; this individual consciousness (as subject) does not allow special consciousness to prevail, but rather, through its passivity, allows universal consciousness to prevail. It receives intuitions directly as they are. In the ascending development, they now gradually reveal their own life, no longer as thoughts, but as beings.

[ 26 ] We pass through II.

[ 27 ] In the further ascent, the unity of their being is revealed in the manifoldness of intuitions.

[ 28 ] We approach I.