The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Planetary Development: Ninth Lecture

[ 1 ] We want to give an example of the becoming of the world, we want to focus on the point where development passes through the middle of the Lemurian epoch, and we want to look at a period before and after this time. We want to show how the sense of sight arose at that time.

[ 2 ] If we could observe the Earth at the time of the first, the Polar race, we would find it to be an etheric sphere. Soon, that is, several million years later—what “soon” can mean in world development—matter became denser. We see the beginnings of what we call air developing. In the air itself, the first beginnings of what we call fire and water formed. But in the air, water existed only as fiery mist. At that time, at the beginning of the Lemurian epoch, the earth was a dense, smoking mist of fire. Real water, as we know it now, formed only later as the earth cooled, and even later still did solid matter. It must be remembered that in all these stages of development, human beings were present in some form. Human development always depends on the environment.

[ 3 ] Let us now consider how humans began to develop during the time of the fiery mist. At that time, they had the sense of hearing and the sense of temperature differences and were multi-limbed, agile beings that flew around in the fiery mist. In order to feel whether the conditions of existence were favorable, whether it was too warm or too cold, they needed an organ. At that time, the cyclopean organ was formed, which initially served as a sensory organ for the surrounding temperature, whether they could enter it or not.

[ 4 ] Then the whole mass in which it moved began to become fiery. Before that, what we now call flame did not exist; there was a temperature that was much higher than that of the current fire. This sensory organ sensed how the state of heat became flame and gradually condensed into the organ of sight. We see, then, that this sensory organ develops from within, because it initially arises from an inner need of the human being; its purpose is to indicate whether he feels comfortable or not. It is therefore originally there for the sake of the human being himself, so that he can develop as a living being under the appropriate conditions. Incidentally — initially as a side effect of feeling — the ability to perceive the cooled flame, the light, develops. The organ was located on top of the human head like a glowing lantern. With the increasing densification of matter, it transformed from a sensory organ into a visual organ.

[ 5 ] As the human body became permeated with increasingly dense matter, the result was that this sensory eye lost its significance, for it was confronted with objects that were becoming increasingly dense and were limited in their external form. Now the accompanying phenomenon, namely seeing the cold flame, came into its own. The organ became capable of seeing the externally limited object through the increasingly dense matter; it thus received a new purpose through its changed environment. Its original purpose remained, to come into its own in a later state.

[ 6 ] The new property was thus first drawn into the being from outside, in order to later acquire its significance. Every being first absorbs from its environment what it will later need for its living conditions. Humans could never perceive through their eyes if they had not been created by their environment. The organs must first be created from the environment so that this environment can be perceived. Then, through the organs that the environment has formed within them, their effect on the environment comes into its own again.

[ 7 ] Human beings can never give the world anything for which it has not itself created the conditions, just as the interaction between them and the world around them has created the eyes through which they can later act on the world again. We find the same process everywhere: first, human beings absorb from the outside what they later give back. Everything that is in us is the result of an activity. There is no being that was not first an activity. All being is the effect of an activity. This applies to all areas of existence, on all planes.

[ 8 ] When one considers the dhyanic entities in their revealing activity, this is the result of a previous activity that was absorbed. This is the law of karma in the broadest sense of the word. Every being is the result of an activity. If someone is to be a happy person, they must have created happiness themselves in a previous existence. The happiness that a person enjoys is the result of some beneficial activity that they have performed.

[ 9 ] The consideration of the karma of eye formation differs from other [karmic considerations] in that the person remains completely calm and objective during this consideration. But when they consider the karma of their being—the concept of just and unjust—their emotions become involved. And therefore, in the Vedanta and Pythagorean schools, it was customary to discuss karma in terms of emotionless objects. In this way, the thoughts were first purified so that nothing of passion or feeling flowed into them. This was the study that aimed to learn the laws of the world in such a way that nothing of emotion interfered. This was called catharsis, the detachment from the personal. Only then could the person concerned become a mystic. As long as man thinks about the fate of the soul, he is very interested in whether it is mortal or immortal. Therefore, in those days, they first had to go through catharsis before they could study the fate of the soul itself. Through calm, emotionless study, people had to free themselves from fear and self-pity, from all selfish pity. That is why Aristotle defines drama as purification through fear and pity.

[ 10 ] Thus we see how a certain sequence of stages prevails in the course of development. At one stage, the being absorbs in order to act outwardly at another stage. In this way, the being first faces the outside world, then interaction develops. This would remain the case if conditions did not change. With condensation, the activity is repelled and the being is transformed from within.

[ 11 ] In the formation of the eye, the first thing that happens is the direct contact of the sensory eye with the environment. Then the eye is separated by the denser matter that has interposed itself as a layer. Through this material layer, the fire of the inner eye was separated from the fire outside. The formation of denser layers occurs in the following way. When a uniform sphere is first present, a spherical shell is formed, which separates itself from the inner sphere by means of an intervening layer. In this way, the original atom is formed. So initially we have equally fine matter inside and outside, separated from each other by a membrane of denser matter. Imagine this process continuing. Imagine the membrane of denser matter being divided in a similar way, as if it were surrounded by a newer, denser membrane. This is how the special being is formed, by surrounding itself with increasingly dense membranes, just as the atom is formed. We must therefore think of atomic formation as a process of separating a certain part of existing matter by means of increasingly dense matter.

[ 12 ] There is then a certain difference between the inside and the outside. This difference must manifest itself in some way. Think of what we call sensation. It can be caused, for example, by a needle prick. But there must be something that causes the sensation and something that has the sensation, something active and something passive. Everything in the world comes about in this way. All being is the result of activity. All activity requires that something passive be present. These are the two poles that must be sought in all activity. Thus, even in the smallest atom, there is active and passive. The forces from outside turn the membrane surrounding the atom inside out. It then becomes concave on the outside and convex on the inside, the opposite.

[ 13 ] We are the passive part of the world, constantly absorbing and feeling impressions. These constant impressions are what is felt by the astral body. One must distinguish between activity and passivity in the astral world. Every sensation must be generated or, rather, caused. Nothing can be caused within the world of sensation that does not have an effect within the world of sensation. One must form the mental image of the entire space of sensation. If there were only a single astral body, we would never be able to attribute sensations to the actions of other beings. However, the ability to feel could not have arisen in us if we had not separated it from the entire astral world. Astral being presupposes astral activity. Likewise, mental being presupposes thought activity, and physical being presupposes physical activity.

[ 14 ] Once we have understood this, we understand something else. Human beings think. This is their being. “Cogito ergo sum” (Cartesius). Human passive thinking about things presupposes active thinking, presupposes that things are first created through thought. Our human passive thinking presupposes active thinking. Every passive thought must be preceded by an active, creative thought. Every feeling, every sensation, every passive experience in the astral body presupposes an active effect of this astral experience. Everything that appears around us in the world presupposes the bringing into being of phenomena. Light would not exist if light had not been brought about; being would not exist if it had not been brought about; perception presupposes the manifestation of phenomena.

[ 15 ] Everywhere in the world we find the threefold:

[ 16 ] Active and passive thinking,
Active and passive living,
Active and passive being.

[ 17 ] Everything that is passive being for humans is called the physical plane, which is the epitome of all passive being.

[ 18 ] The epitome of all passive life is called the astral plane.

[ 19 ] The epitome of all passive thinking is called the rupa mental plane.

[ 20 ] The epitome of all active thinking is called the arupa mental plane.

[ 21 ] The epitome of all active life is called the budhi plane.

[ 22 ] The epitome of all active existence is called the nirvana plane.

[ 23 ] These are the five [six] planes known to us. The nirvana plane has the most intense activity, for it is on this plane that existence itself is created.

[ 24 ] If one considers human beings in terms of these planes, one will see that every thought a human being thinks is followed by another, active thought on the corresponding other plane. If one harbors a thought on the lower mental plane, this creates a counter-image on the higher mental plane. If one harbors a feeling, this creates a counter-image on the budhi plane. When one is active on the physical plane, this causes a counter-image on the Nirvana plane. Just as the active thought previously created our passive thinking, so an active thought creates a corresponding passive counter-image on the higher mental plane, and so on. Thus, no thought can be conceived by us that does not have its counter-image, nor any feeling or action.

[ 25 ] The sum of all these counter-thoughts, counter-experiences, and counter-actions is called the Akashic Records. Thus, all human thoughts can be read on the higher mental plane, all feelings and experiences on the buddhic plane, and all actions on the nirvanic plane. The beings who now regulate the connection between the counter-images and human beings are of great importance. Human beings live out their thoughts on the mental plane. Everything that human beings do in their thoughts happens on the mental plane. There, in Devachan, between death and new birth, they build up the character of their thought body for their new life. There are the counter-images of their former thoughts. They draw these to their mental body, which has been freed from the physical and astral bodies, and thus form their future mental body according to the thought images they have created. On the other hand, they would not be able to connect the counter-images of their experiences and actions with themselves on their own. This is subject to external regulating beings, the lords of karma, the Lipikas, who connect the created counter-images of the feelings and deeds of the human being on the budhi and nirvana planes with him – who already has the karmic and other sheaths around him again – for the following incarnations.