The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Planetary Development: Fifth Lecture

[ 1 ] The consciousness of the first planet was deep trance consciousness; it had the widest horizon, but was also the dullest consciousness. In it, man surveyed the entire planetary system. This was followed on the second planet by the somewhat brighter but also more restricted consciousness of dreamless sleep, and on the third planet by the much brighter and more restricted consciousness of dream sleep. In the consciousness of dreamless sleep, human beings could perceive life, and in dream sleep they could also perceive sensations. The consciousness of the fourth planet is daytime consciousness; it is the most restricted, but called upon to perceive the conscious self in others. It is the clearest consciousness. The psychic level of consciousness on the fifth planet will be much brighter than the present one; consciousness will extend over everything astral. On the sixth planet, the hyperpsychic level of consciousness follows; in it, the lower world of thought will be revealed to man. On the seventh planet, man then reaches the spiritual stage of consciousness; in it, the higher mental world lies open before man. Each phase of development within such a level of consciousness is called a “planet” or a planetary development. This division encompasses the development of consciousness.

[ 2 ] Now follows an overview of the development of life: Each stage of consciousness must pass through seven stages of life, namely through the first, second, and third elemental kingdoms, through the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms. Each phase of passing through a stage of life is called a “round.” So we have seven rounds on each planet, or a total of 49 metamorphoses of life on the seven planets.

[ 3 ] The stages of form: Each stage of life must pass through seven stages of form, namely the form of:

1. Arupic
2. Rupic
3. Astral
4. Physical
5. Plastic (physically mobile: life dominates form)
6. Intellectual (not only mobile, but penetrable by thought)
7. Archetypal (the whole self lies naked before the outer world).

[ 4 ] These stages of form are called globes. Each stage has a specific task. Let us consider these tasks for human beings.

[ 5 ] Human beings first pass through the seven realms in the seven stages of form in a deep trance consciousness. The densest stage is the middle one on each planet (see number 25 in the diagram on page ...to page 21).

[ 6 ] So we have the first elemental kingdom in the arupic, rupic, astral, physical, plastic, intellectual, and archetypal stages; then the second elemental kingdom in the same seven stages, and likewise the third elemental kingdom. Furthermore, we have the mineral kingdom in the same states. However, these kingdoms existed only as seeds; in reality, only one kingdom existed. Number 49 is the human kingdom in the archetypal stage, as the last globe on the last round: form, life, spiritual consciousness.

[ 7 ] The characteristic physical form is passed through in the middle of the 49 stages. Man has entered into development as a universal being. He then becomes a special being. First, he separated himself as an individual sphere from a general sphere. These individual human spheres went through various transformations. One of the later transformations gave rise to the so-called etheric double body. This stage of the first separation from the universal being is called the “sinking of consciousness into the abyss.” This is achieved at the physical stage of the first planet. It is preceded by 24 stages and followed by 24 stages. The middle stage, the 25th, is the densest. The physical structure arose as a coarse physical sphere. At that time, the Earth resembled our ether or the light matter of our present Earth and, after the fall of consciousness into the abyss, had the form of a kind of mulberry.

[ 8 ] On the second planet, in deep sleep consciousness (dreamless sleep), man immersed himself in numbers. The spheres created on the first planet work in a certain regular harmony. What remains from this second state is that the chemical elements are not connected in any arbitrary way; colors and sound vibrations are arranged according to their wave number. Thus, on the second planet, we find arrangement according to measure, number, and weight.

[ 9 ] In the first stage (Saturn), there was only one realm; in the second stage (Sun), when humans immersed themselves in numbers, the possibility of a separation into two realms existed. First, a realm arose that remained continuous up to man; second, a realm of everything that was not suitable for developing up to man; this was separated out as a special second realm (appendix to the animal and plant kingdoms, to lower life forms). Law: no higher development can be achieved without something being separated out and left behind at a lower level. The measure of development is a specific one and is indicated in this appendix of the first planet. From this follows the law of life. This is the law of unequal but full development: no taking without giving. The first obligation of the esotericist is to give back.

[ 10 ] On the third planet, a third element was added to the number: the law of elective affinity. It consists in people developing sympathy and antipathy for one another. This law is found in all kingdoms, for example in chemistry, in the mineral kingdom. This also made it possible for a new kingdom to form. The animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, and the mineral kingdom were formed. The human being we see today did not yet exist at that time. At that time, he was still a kind of animal, on the kamic stage. The spirit had not yet entered the body.

[ 11 ] On the fourth planet, in daytime consciousness, the possibility develops in certain beings that they are not subject to the law of elective affinity. A comprehensive form of life must come into being. This is birth and death, which did not exist before. This could only come about because beings no longer existed in isolation, but were held together by a supersensible thread of life. The individual incarnations are strung together like beads on a thread. The being now becomes manifold in time through birth and death. Previously, humans were only manifold in space. Multiplication on the third planet (the moon) took place through separation, division, and everything lived in sympathy and antipathy with each other. Everything that multiplies through division is materially immortal. Therefore, the lowest animal creatures, monads (according to Weismann), are immortal. Death is only possible when fertilization is added to division. Birth and death can only be achieved by continuing to divide beings and developing at the expense of other beings. That is why birth and death are also imposed on all other beings that do not have individual karma. Man had to push down the realms below him by one each.

[ 12 ] What is connected with birth and death is human karma. On the next planet, with their heightened consciousness, humans will no longer be aware only of the effects of karma, but will be conscious within karma itself. Their inner strength will have grown to such an extent that they will have the will to represent this karma. They will carry it in their form, in their physiognomy. Then their physiognomy will show what is in their astral and mental bodies. Then it will be the case that the good will truly be recognizable as good on the outside, and the evil as truly evil. Such evil will then only exist among those who have trained themselves as black magicians. There the great decision will take place, the separation between good and evil. This will happen on the fifth planet. From the fifth planet onwards, one can only speak of the evolution of the good.

[ 13 ] On the sixth planet, everything that is meaningless, everything that appears nonsensical and illogical on the lower mental plane, is eliminated in the further development. This sixth planet is the planet of the Logos, of the Word, because the Word gives meaning. On the seventh planet, a completely purified state prevails, where the tasks of the previous planets will be fulfilled, where the fruits will be reaped — this is the state of godliness.

[ 14 ] During the development of the human body, which goes through all these stages, the spirit was also present the entire time. But at first it hovered above the body, then, in the middle of the Lemurian period, it connected with the body. The spirit is supposed to gain experience on the lower planes through the body. In esotericism, the soul of a human being is called a bee that collects honey from planetary developments, from the fall into the abyss on the first planet to godliness on the seventh planet. Thus, redemption is constantly taking place, a liberation and redemption of those enchanted by matter. Human beings only gather experiences from the moment they inhabit the body, but first they are the builders who construct the whole in order to inhabit it themselves afterwards.

[ 15 ] Human beings thus undergo the following development:

[ 16 ] First planet (trance consciousness):

[ 17 ] I. Elemental realm Form:

1. arupic
2. rupic
3. astral
4. physical
5. plastic
6. intellectual
7. archetypal

[ 18 ] Pralaya

[ 19 ] II. Elemental realm Form:

[ 20 ] 8. arupic to 14. archetypal

[ 21 ] Pralaya

[ 22 ] II. Elemental realm Form: 15th arupic to 21st archetypal

[ 23 ] Pralaya

[ 24 ] IV. Mineral realm Form: 22nd arupic to 28th archetypal

[ 25 ] Pralaya

[ 26 ] V. Plant realm Form: 29th arupic to 35th archetypal

[ 27 ] Pralaya

[ 28 ] VI. Animal realm Form: 36th arupic to 42nd archetypal

[ 29 ] Pralaya

[ 30 ] VII. Human kingdom Form: 43rd arupic to 49th archetypal

[ 31 ] Greater Pralaya

[ 32 ] Second planet (consciousness of dreamless sleep):

[ 33 ] I. Elemental kingdom

[ 34 ] Everything as on the first planet.

[ 35 ] The 25th stage, the middle one, is always the deepest, densest. We are now on the fourth planet, on the 25th stage, i.e., in the densest state. On the seventh planet, in the seventh realm, the human realm, and the seventh form, the archetypal one, the highest perfection of human development is achieved. Humans then have the archetypal form, are truly godlike, and have an all-encompassing, spiritual consciousness.