The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Planetary Development: Fourth Lecture

[ 1 ] Since all evolution proceeds according to three principles: consciousness, life, and form, and every being must pass through these three principles many times, we must know exactly which stages of consciousness, life, or form we can speak of. We can know something about seven of each of these. The seven stages of consciousness are:

1. The so-called trance state of consciousness, also called deep trance
2. Dreamless sleep
3. Dream sleep
4. The waking state or object consciousness
5. The psychic state or conscious image consciousness
6. The super-psychic state or conscious life
7. The spiritual state = self-conscious universal consciousness.

[ 2 ] The first, the trance state, is characterized by the fact that it is an all-consciousness. In terms of breadth, it is the most all-encompassing consciousness, but on the other hand, it is limited by its dullness; it is the dullest state of consciousness. A being on our Earth who is put into this trance state would perceive the movements of the planets, the mineral forms, the forms of crystals, and so on, but plants, animals, and human life would not exist for this being. When this trance state is induced today, the being is able to see things in the cosmos, but not the life of physical beings. When trance occurs today in a pathological state, or when this state is induced, those in it begin to describe chains of worlds and the like, sometimes confused, but sometimes producing strange things quite similar to theosophical teachings. It is a far-reaching universal consciousness, but too dull to truly grasp living, sentient beings.

[ 3 ] The second state of consciousness is what we call the state of dreamless sleep. The way in which humans experience the state of sleep is generally still so dull that most feel unconscious in it. It is a less dull consciousness than the previous one, but a narrower one. Those who experience this state perceive what is happening in the mineral and plant kingdoms, but the animal kingdom and so on, the world of feelings and thoughts, are not there for them. Somnambulists of this degree create extraordinary arabesque drawings in this state, but do not have the ability to design world systems.

[ 4 ] The third state is dream sleep, the state of dreaming familiar to humans. Most of the time, they are unaware of the connection between their dreams and world events. This dream sleep consciousness is not comprehensive, but it reflects the inorganic, the mineral, as well as the plant and animal worlds. To the undeveloped, these dreams often appear as mirror images of their own passions, their animal nature.

[ 5 ] In the fourth, the waking state, the narrowest but also the clearest state of consciousness, one perceives the mineral kingdom, plants, animals, humans, but only the exterior, the form, not the law, not the sensation. The human being in the waking state must first construct this according to the external gesture.

[ 6 ] This is followed by the higher states of consciousness, in which the bright clarity of physical consciousness is retained. The fifth state, psychic consciousness, expands and extends beyond the astral world. In it, feelings are seen directly. For example, one sees not only a person's sour face, but also the feeling itself. The sixth state is hyperpsychic consciousness. In this state, in addition to everything physical, the person can also perceive everything that lives. They see the principle of growth, of life itself. The seventh state is spiritual consciousness: in this state, the person perceives everything that happens in the cosmos with bright, clear consciousness.

[ 7 ] Then we have the seven evolutionary stages of life, which we call:

1. The first elemental kingdom
2. The second elemental kingdom
3. The third elemental kingdom
4. The mineral kingdom
5. The plant kingdom
6. The animal kingdom
7. The human kingdom.

[ 8 ] If we want to characterize these stages in a similar way to those of consciousness, we can say:

[ 9 ] The first elemental kingdom is the most subjective. The second elemental kingdom is already less subjective. The third elemental kingdom is even less subjective. We can distinguish three degrees of subjectivity in the three elemental kingdoms. Where it begins to become objective, that is, where it acts not only from the inside out, but is also seen from the outside, it becomes the mineral kingdom. In the first elemental kingdom, being asserts itself outwardly. In the second elemental kingdom, life asserts itself outwardly. In the third elemental kingdom, sensation or consciousness pushes itself outward. In the fourth, the mineral kingdom, being has become objective (4th stage of life). The plant kingdom: here, life has become objective (5th stage of life). The animal kingdom: here, sensation and consciousness have become objective (6th stage of life). In the human kingdom, all three degrees become objective (7th stage of life). Consciousness and the I have then entered completely into objectivity.

[ 10 ] Life thus develops through the seven kingdoms, but form also passes through seven stages. These are:

1. The arupic form, the form in its very earliest stage, where it is not yet a real form, but is already pushing outward.
2. The rupic form, the spiritual form, the most delicate hint of an outer form.
3. The astral form, which begins to become visible externally.
4. The physical form.
5. The plastic form, which is no longer rigid, but asserts itself from within, in which life pushes outward into form.
6. The intellectual form, which has become even more mobile, in which the spirit pushes outward.
7. The archetypal, the primal form. This form is completely self-controlled and entirely mobile within itself. Everything pushes outward, it can shape everything, it is active.

[ 11 ] If we now want to consider the evolution of any entity, we must be clear that it must go through all these stages of consciousness, life, and form, in the following manner:

[ 12 ] Every being must go through the seven stages of consciousness, and each stage of this state of consciousness in its various forms is called a planetary system in theosophical textbooks. A being goes through a planetary system, meaning it metamorphoses into these seven states of consciousness. Now man is going through the state of waking consciousness; we call this the earthly state. Before that, man went through the state of dream consciousness. At that time, he lived in the stage of lunar development. It is said that man has completed the moon in his development.

[ 13 ] In each state of consciousness, human beings must pass through all the realms, that is, through all the states of life. Thus, on the moon, they passed through the first, second, and third elemental realms, as well as through the other four realms, in a dream-conscious state. Then, on Earth, they had to pass through the seven stages of life. At present, human beings are in the planetary system of the Earth, that is, in the waking state, in the middle stage of life, the mineral realm. In terms of form, human beings are now physical (fourth globe or fourth state of form); in terms of life, mineral (fourth round); in terms of consciousness, awake (fourth planetary system). The passage of a being through one of the life kingdoms is called a round. There are seven rounds in each planetary system. Human beings are in the fourth round on Earth. In this round, mineral development is brought to completion; in the fifth round, plant development; in the sixth round, animal development, animal consciousness; and in the seventh round, human development, human consciousness. Every being must pass through all seven forms in each of these seven realms, taking on each form. It first becomes arupic, then rupic, then astral, then physical, then plastic, then intellectual, and finally archetypal. In the early days of theosophical teaching, these seven form metamorphoses were called the seven globes:

The arupic metamorphosis is the first globe,
the rupic metamorphosis is the second globe,
the astral metamorphosis is the third globe,
the physical metamorphosis is the fourth globe,
the plastic metamorphosis the fifth globe,
the intellectual metamorphosis the sixth globe,
the archetypal metamorphosis the seventh globe.

[ 14 ] These seven globes are not really separate globes; the objective process is not such that one leaves one globe and enters another, but rather the globes together form a sphere in which these different states of form interpenetrate each other and on which the same being undergoes seven metamorphoses. In older esoteric language, this development of states of form is called phase states. This is related to something that can be described by the following train of thought.

[ 15 ] We imagine a physically seeing being and form a mental image of all these states being ever-present in the world. While human beings are at their stage, other beings are at other stages of development. In esoteric language, this is called: Here begins a higher form of space. Esotericists call this region the region of permeability. Even in the astral realm, two beings can permeate each other. We must develop within ourselves a sense of the region of permeability, of the permeation of our world by another. When we look out into the world, we can only see a part of the cosmos physically, a section of the whole. A celestial body is visible, meaning it is in the fourth state of form, in the phase of physical form, and among the stages of life it is in the mineral kingdom.

[ 16 ] A being that passes through the various forms gradually becomes visible, descending from the arupic form, and gradually disappears again until it reaches the archetypal form. That is why we also call these states of form phases. The earth went through the arupic, rupic, and astral states before it became physically visible. After the physical state, it will go through the plastic, intellectual, and archetypal states.

[ 17 ] On the physical plane, there is an occult relationship between these phases of form and the phases of the moon. Therefore, the passage of a being through the seven phases of form from the arupic state to the archetypal state is called a world month. Passing through all states of consciousness is called a world year. Between the world day (form cycle) and the world year (consciousness cycle) lies the world month (states of life), which is longer than the world day and shorter than the world year.

[ 18 ] In esoteric language, consciousness is called the sun; form is called the moon; life for us now is called the earth. A state of consciousness lasts the longest, then a state of life lasts less long, and a state of form lasts the shortest. Every state of life must pass through all seven states of form. From the arupa state to the archetypal state, it passes first through the first elemental realm, then through the second and third elemental realms, and so on. In this way, it undergoes seven times seven successive metamorphoses of life—these are the seven rounds, each of which passes through seven metamorphoses of form, the seven times seven metamorphoses or 49 that every being must undergo: 49 on Earth, 49 on the Moon, 49 on each of the seven planetary systems, i.e., seven times 49 = 343 (the cross sum is 10). These 343 states are called a world year. We are now in the fourth planetary system (the fourth state of consciousness, waking consciousness). We are on Earth, and we are passing through the fourth kingdom of life, the fourth round, the mineral kingdom. The mineral kingdom has reached the fourth globe, that is, the fourth form phase, the physical, and it will reach completion in this round, which is why the physical body of the human being will also reach perfection in its mineral components in this round. Only after completing all 343 states will the human being become what we call a “god,” but not the highest god, rather what we call the third Logos, which is in truth the Logos of form that will have passed through the 343 metamorphoses. It represents form in its highest stage. These different forms of consciousness are, in turn, form on the higher plane. Thought of as a unity, these 343 forms are the third Logos. The second Logos will represent life at its highest stage and the first Logos consciousness at its highest stage. The stages of form are represented to esotericists by colors and signs, the stages of life by sounds; life resounds. There are no signs in the physical world that can be used to characterize the stages of consciousness.