The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Planetary Development: Seventh Lecture

[ 1 ] We have considered what has an effect on human beings on the physical plane. The tendency in the development of the globes is toward the physical plane. Human beings, who are currently at the mineral stage, first had to be in the previous states in order to prepare their existence on the physical plane. In every field or plane, one must look at the section that is important. What we are now considering is the actual human being.

[ 2 ] In the seven successive states of the first plane (Saturn), the human being is a completely imperfect entity, a kind of mulberry ball, an entity that is constantly developing. First planet: The sinking of consciousness into the abyss. Beings who had already undergone earlier developments and were already dhyanic entities at the beginning of this earth development, as humans will only be at the end of the 343 stages or phases, are also involved in the evolution of humans. These entities had acquired all kinds of powers.

[ 3 ] Humans take in the first half of each cycle and give it back in the second half. And so, in the first half of one cycle, the mineral kingdom, which is a hindrance to humans, is separated; they use all the power that would otherwise serve to further the development of this kingdom for themselves, and later they absorb it again. Thus, in the second half of the cycle, the mineral kingdom is redeemed, metamorphosed by humans. In the second half, after separating it out, humans give the mineral kingdom the achievements of their own development. There is nothing in human development that is not subject to the metamorphosis of taking and giving. This determines our ethical behavior to the highest degree. Everything we acquire, we may only take in order to give it back later.

[ 4 ] The dhyanic beings had also gone through the stage of taking in the earlier stages of their development. On Earth, they are therefore the giving entities. From the beginning, they were the actual creators, guides, and organizers. When the one mulberry sphere (Saturn) split into many spheres, such Dhyanic entities had to form many spheres out of this one sphere. On the second stage (Sun), they arranged these spheres according to size, number, and weight. On the third stage (Moon), they brought the law of elective affinity, sympathy, and antipathy between them. The Dhyanis of the fourth stage (Earth) rule over birth and death, over karma; they are the lords of karma, the Lipikas, who are exalted above all taking, above sympathy and antipathy. They intervene at the fourth stage of consciousness, the stage of daytime consciousness. Ever new and ever new formers intervene at the stage of evolution that man has attained.

[ 5 ] Let us understand what the essence of the formers consists of: the entities at the human stage alternately receive and give. We can only give what we have previously received, so that man is alternately subject to so-called perception and activity. Perception is subject to the law of taking, activity to the law of giving. But the law of the formers is the law of revealing. Their activity is called the revealing activity. (The ordering of the world according to measure, number, and weight, according to sympathy and antipathy, the division into good and evil, and so on).

[ 6 ] There is a great difference between these revealing beings and us humans. Human evolution, considered in isolation, proceeded in such a way that humans were initially submerged in the abyss (appearing physically as spheres), followed by arrangement according to measure, number, and weight, and so on. At each successive stage of development, humans also become more spiritual at the same time. If we go from the outside to the inside in human evolution, we arrive at the higher faculties.

[ 7 ] We have said that humans develop toward the principle of brotherhood. Today, at the fourth stage, Manas emerges, and Budhi and Atma are predisposed. At a later stage, Budhi also emerges, and at an even later stage, Atma. When brotherhood then forms around him from the outside, as he develops from the inside out, he applies these principles from the outside to the same extent that they develop from the inside. For example: the human being has developed Manas, and Budhi begins to shine in his predisposition. By developing Budhi, he transforms his entire astral body, and the other pole of Kama (Budhi) develops. The Kama that previously filled him internally, that previously drew everything inward, will go outward and surround him as Budhi. This is an inversion, the reversal of the astral. All Kama is received by benevolent, outward-directed forces. Then Atma appears in Budhi. The same transformation then takes place outwardly with the etheric body. The etheric body is able to act outwardly, not only morally and beneficially, but also magically; it then acquires magical powers, life forces. Through the workings of Atma and Budhi, the human being is poured outwards. He spreads himself outwards in a beneficial way. In a more highly developed brotherhood, there is the ability to work magically outwards and influence the life ether.

[ 8 ] The next stage is that at which the Atma, the divine Self, will shine forth. The human being then becomes aware that he belongs not only to the earth, but to the whole world. He gains Logos consciousness. He becomes a creator of the world, for the ability to master the physical awakens in him, just as he previously mastered the life force. The human being first developed from the outside in; then he develops from the inside out. When human beings have reached the point where they are able to master the outermost circle, they have become dhyanic beings. In the beginning they were powerless in terms of their effectiveness, but now they become all-powerful ... [gap in the records).

[ 9 ] In the middle of the Lemurian period, dhyanic beings were also active. They had decided within themselves to connect the spark of actual spiritual life with what is the physical body. They were able to create in the physical realm from the beginning. But they could not give the manasic into the physical realm before they had created measure, number, and weight, elective affinity, sympathy, and antipathy in the physical realm. Now, with the introduction of birth and death, they had the opportunity to connect the manasic with the physical body, so that the physical body was able to think. On the Moon, they were able to implant Kama in the Moon Man. The Dhyanic Beings descended so far into matter in their work that they were able to pour the manasic spark drop by drop into what they had previously prepared. The physical body was now able to receive the spark of thought.

[ 10 ] If the body had undergone only this one evolution, it would have been capable of becoming an extraordinarily powerful thinker. But now the people of the Moon have come to Earth with a Kama developed to the highest perfection.

[ 11 ] The very first development: the Dhyanic beings form the physical body of the human being out of matter, with the participation of the human beings who have come over as lunar souls with the kamaic development (Pitris). They also work in the body, but their further development is brought about by the fact that the formers raise the body with them one step higher than they were on the Moon.

[ 12 ] If the Dhyanis alone were active in forming the body out of virgin matter, humans would become thinking automatons. But the fact that humans are warm-hearted beings capable of sympathy and antipathy is the work of the Moon Pitris. The virgin matter is worked on, on the one hand, by the revealing Dhyan-Chohans and, on the other hand, by the Moon Pitris who connected with it in the middle of the Lemurian period. In this way, human beings are created who can think and who can also attach sympathies and antipathies to their thoughts.

[ 13 ] Human beings have thus become thinking souls dwelling in a body. On the moon, they were souls in a body. What we call the ego has been present from the beginning as a soul being and has undergone development on the third planet.

[ 14 ] On the fourth planet, the ego takes in the manasic, the spiritual, in addition to the soul. Previously, the ego was the highest, but now it takes in the manasic as well. From now on, we are dealing with a spiritually gifted ego. Previously, the ego was called Ahamkara, which is now the shell of the spiritual ego. If human beings today can say “I” to themselves, this ability stems from the middle of the Lemurian epoch. Every human being was previously a thought of God. The soul had already developed through three states. In the middle of the Lemurian epoch, the thought of God united with the soul to form a spiritually gifted soul.

[ 15 ] What works within us, this eternal essence within us, was first the divine thought within us. We initially rested in the bosom of the deity. From the beginning, the creators prepared vessels for this divine thought, in which we ourselves were allowed to participate. The souls inhabited these vessels in order to prepare them to receive the divine thought. Thus, the soul, body, and spirit were united in the human being. At that time, the Manasic was poured into the Kama of human beings. Then Budhi was bestowed upon them by other Dhyanic beings, and later Atma by still others.

[ 16 ] What was predisposed when human beings appeared as lunar souls, what only appears complete at the end of development, is Atma. In lunar human beings, the Manasic shines forth first. This spark of the manasic is destined to bring Budhi and Atma into being later on. The lunar humans who entered the earth in the middle of the Lemurian period, when their physical house was ready and prepared to receive Manas, are called Pitris, fathers. It therefore depends on how the Pitris developed earlier, when they received the spark of Manas. A Pitri can also lag so far behind in development that by the middle of the Lemurian epoch he has not yet reached the stage where he can connect with the human body and the Dhyanic spirit.

[ 17 ] Now, all evolutions proceed in seven cycles. At each stage of the seven cycles, there is the possibility of lagging a little behind the normal development. Those who lag behind will have to use the last phase to catch up with those who have gone before them. Thus, we can distinguish seven classes of Moon Pitris, depending on how far behind they were. These were present in the middle of the Lemurian epoch. At that time, only the most highly developed Pitris were able to incarnate; the others could not yet do anything with their bodies. Therefore, new Pitris kept coming until the end of the Atlantean epoch, and even into the post-Atlantean epoch. Even now, incarnations of Pitris still take place in very low-level peoples, and even in the lowest-level populations of our large cities, one can still find very childlike, undeveloped Pitris. However, there are now rarely any who are incarnating for the first time. Only a few very young Pitris occur who are still completely dominated by their kama.

[ 18 ] Among these Pitris on the moon, there were also those who had not only achieved the normal level, but had already striven for the development that we now strive for in order to become leading beings. On the moon, dhyanic beings had to think for the Pitris, so that there were no independently thinking or acting beings on the moon. But the dhyanic beings found in some Pitris a more willing instrument than in others, as we now find, for example, in animals. These are all guided by other thinking beings, each species by one being. Therefore, a high degree of training is not surprising. Thinking originates from another spiritual center.

[ 19 ] During the development of the moon, individual beings became more suitable tools for the dhyanic beings. Two types were considered: those whose more willing tool was the astral body, and those whose more willing tool was the life body. For if the physical body had been ready as a tool, they could have entered the ranks of the dhyanic beings, albeit as lower dhyanis with a lesser sphere of power. We can therefore imagine that, in addition to the seven classes of Pitris, two higher classes of Pitris had developed on the Moon, those who had power over their astral body and their pranic body. These were the solar Pirris.

[ 20 ] So on Earth we have:

[ 21 ] Firstly: the Pitris, who have gone through the various stages of development up to the highest normal; they begin to undergo human evolution in the middle of the Lemurian period — Mongpitris;

[ 22 ] Second: Pitris who are half-Dhyanic, who in the middle of the Lemurian period had progressed so far that they incarnated the higher Divine within themselves in a short time — Sun Pitris;

[ 23 ] Third: those beings who were already Dhyanic beings.

[ 24 ] In the middle of the Lemurian epoch, we consider the dhyanic beings, the manasic Dhyanis, who are active in throwing the spark of Manas into human beings. Then we consider those who cast the spark of budhi into human beings. These dhyanis, who live on a higher plane and gradually cast the spark of budhi into human beings, are actually called Buddhas in a higher sense, or Christos in Christianity. These are the fourth dhyanis, the budhi-dhyanis. These are real gods. Now we have broadened our view. The spark that the Budhi-Dhyanis have to give can first be cast into the Solar Pitris. Such a Solar Pitri, into which the spark of Budhi is cast, is called a Bodhisattva.

[ 25 ] Only much later can the spark of Budhi descend to the Lunar Pitris. The first lunar Pitri who was filled with Budhi, in whom man and deity are united, is Jesus Christ. And here it should be noted that in Jesus Christ the Budhi deity rose to its deepest level.

[ 26 ] The spark of Budhi can descend into the Kama-Manasic. Then the human being becomes a teacher. Such teachers were Buddha, Zarathustra, Krishna, Moses, Hermes, and so on. These people are born with the goal of becoming teachers. If the influence of the buddhi now extends to the kama itself, then at a later point in life the Christ principle must descend into a body already occupied by kama. This was the case with Jesus, who was only able to receive the Christ in his 30th year. Insofar as we consider the development of Jesus, he had already incurred karma because Kama was developed in him from the beginning. This was not the case with the solar Pitris, who were one step beyond Kama. The lunar Pitris, however, had begun as mere kamic beings and then began to take on human earthly karma. If Christ wanted to become our brother, he had to enter the karma-laden body. The body to receive Christ, the buddhi principle, had been formed by a higher chela of the third degree of initiation (Zarathustra). This body was made into the building of the deity, Christ.

[ 27 ] Even dhyanic entities cannot realize a thought unless it has been prepared beforehand. Thus, the human body had to be prepared before these entities could give humans the ability to think.

Lord of Form: Yahweh-Elohim
Lord of Life: Christos
Lord of Consciousness

[ 28 ] When we speak of a trinity of the soul, we must say Father, Mother, and Son: Osiris, Isis, Horus.

[ 29 ] When we speak of a trinity of the spirit, we must speak of Father, Word, and Holy Spirit.

[ 30 ] Later, a confusion arose between the soul trinity and the spirit trinity.