The Rudolf Steiner Archive

7. The Legend of Prometheus

[ 1 ] Last time, I attempted to show you how initiation into the ancient Druid lodges took place. Today, I would like to elaborate on something that is related to this, but which may seem somewhat more distant. However, we will see how we can gradually gain a deeper understanding of the development of humanity.

[ 2 ] You have probably seen from my various Friday lectures that the legends of different peoples have a deep meaning and that myths are the expression of profound esoteric truths. Today I would like to talk about one of the most interesting legends, a legend that is connected with the entire development of our fifth root race. At the same time, you will see how the esotericist can always go through three stages of understanding the world of legends.

[ 3 ] First, the legends live in a particular people, and they are taken exoterically, outwardly, literally. Then disbelief in this literal interpretation of the legends begins, and the educated attempt a symbolic, allegorical interpretation of the legends. Behind these two interpretations, however, there are five other interpretations, for every legend has seven interpretations. The third is the one where you are able to take the legends literally again in a certain way. However, you must first learn to understand the language in which the legends are written. Today I would like to talk about a legend that is not so easy to understand, the legend of Prometheus.

[ 4 ] In a chapter in the second volume of The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, you will find something about this and also see the deeper meaning behind this legend. Nevertheless, it is not always possible to say everything in printed writings. Today, we can go a little further than the explanations in The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky.

[ 5 ] Prometheus belongs to Greek mythology. He and his brother Epimetheus are the sons of a Titan, Japetus. And the Titans themselves are the sons of the oldest Greek deities, Uranus and his wife, Gaia. Uranus, translated into English, means “the sky,” and Gaia means “the earth.” I would like to point out that Uranus in Greek is the same as Varuna in Indian mythology. Prometheus is therefore a Titan, a descendant of Uranus and Gaia, as is his brother Epimetheus. The youngest of the Titans, Kronos, the god of time, deposed his father Uranus and seized power for himself. For this, he was in turn dethroned by his son Zeus and banished with all the Titans to Tartarus, the abyss or the underworld. Only the Titan Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus remained loyal to Zeus. They sided with Zeus and fought against the other Titans.

[ 6 ] But Zeus also wanted to destroy the human race, which had become arrogant. Prometheus then became the advocate of the human race. He pondered how he could give the human race something with which it could save itself and no longer be dependent on the help of Zeus. We are told that Prometheus taught humans the use of writing and the arts, but especially the use of fire. This, however, incurred the wrath of Zeus. Because of this, he was chained to a rock in the Caucasus and had to endure great suffering there for a long time.

[ 7 ] We are also told that the gods, led by Zeus, then had Hephaistos, the god of blacksmithing, make a female statue. This female statue had been endowed by the gods with all the characteristics that are the outward adornment of the human race of the fifth root race. This female statue was Pandora. Pandora was persuaded by Zeus to bring disastrous gifts to mankind, first to Prometheus' brother, Epimetheus. Prometheus warned his brother not to accept these gifts, but he allowed himself to be persuaded and accepted the disastrous gifts of the gods from Pandora. Everything was poured out upon humanity, except for one good gift: hope. The other gifts were plagues and suffering for humanity; only hope was kept in Pandora's box.

[ 8 ] Prometheus is thus chained to the Caucasus, and a vulture gnaws at his liver continuously. Here he endures. But he knows something that is a guarantee of his salvation. He knows a secret that even Zeus does not know, but which Zeus wants to know. Prometheus does not reveal it, even though Zeus sends the messenger of the gods, Hermes, to him.

[ 9 ] Now, in the course of the legend, we are told of his remarkable liberation. It is said that Prometheus can only be freed through the intervention of an initiate, someone who has been initiated. And such an initiate was the Greek Heracles—Heracles, who had performed the twelve labors. The performance of these twelve labors is the achievement of an initiate. These are twelve initiation tests, symbolically expressed. It is also said of Heracles that he was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. He is able to save Prometheus. However, someone else had to sacrifice himself in his place, and the centaur Chiron, who was half animal, half human, sacrificed himself for Prometheus. He was already suffering from an incurable disease, [but was actually immortal. In order to die, he sacrifices himself.] He suffers death, and Prometheus is thereby saved. This is the outer structure of the Prometheus legend.

[ 10 ] This legend contains the entire history of the fifth root race, and it holds real mystery truths. This legend was actually told in Greece. But it was also presented in the mysteries, so that the mystery student could actually see the fate of Prometheus before him. And in this he was to see the past and future of the entire fifth root race. You can only understand this if you take one thing into account.

[ 11 ] In the middle of the Lemurian race, what is called the incarnation of the human being was first achieved — incarnation in the sense in which we have human beings today. This humanity was guided by great teachers and leaders whom we call the “sons of the fire mist.” Today, the humanity of the fifth root race is also guided by great initiates, but our initiates are of a different kind than the leaders of humanity at that time.

[ 12 ] You must now understand this difference. There is a great difference between the leaders of the two previous root races and the leaders of our fifth root race. The leaders of those root races were also united in a white brotherhood. However, they had not undergone their previous development on our planet Earth, but in other places. They had descended to Earth as mature, higher human beings in order to teach the people who were still in their infancy during their first emergence, to teach them the first arts they needed. This period of teaching lasted through the third, fourth, and even into the fifth root race.

[ 13 ] This fifth root race originated from a small group of people who had been separated from the previous root race. They were raised in the Gobi Desert and then spread out across the Earth in a radial pattern. The first leader who gave the impulse for this development of humanity was one of the so-called Manus, the Manu of the fifth root race. This Manu still belongs to those leaders of the human race who descended at the time of the third root race. He was one of the leaders who not only underwent their development on Earth, but also brought their maturity to our Earth.

[ 14 ] It is only in the fifth root race that the development of such Manus begins, who are human beings like ourselves, who, like us, have undergone their development only on Earth, who, so to speak, develop from scratch on Earth. So we have people who are already higher leaders and master personalities, and those who are striving to become leaders and master personalities, so that within the fifth root race we have chelas and masters who belong to the earlier root races, and chelas and masters who have gone through everything that human beings have gone through since the middle of the Lemurian period. One of the masters who has the leadership of the fifth root race is destined to take over the leadership of the sixth root race. The sixth root race will be the first to be led by an Earth brother as Manu. The former masters, the Manus of other worlds, will hand over the leadership of humanity to the Earth brother.

[ 15 ] The dawn of our fifth root race coincides with everything we call the development of the arts. The Atlanteans had a completely different life. They had no inventions or discoveries. They worked in a completely different way. Their technology and art were completely different. It was only with our fifth root race that what we call technology and art in our sense developed. The most important invention is the invention of fire. Think about that for a moment. Think about how much of our widespread technology, industry, and art today depends on fire. I believe that technicians will agree with me when I say that without fire, none of our technology would be possible. So we can say that with the invention of fire, the fundamental invention, the impulse for all other inventions, was given.

[ 16 ] You must also take into account that at the time when the Prometheus legend arose, fire was understood to mean everything that was somehow connected with heat. It was also understood to be the cause of lightning. The causes of all heat phenomena were summarized under the term “fire.” The awareness that the fifth root race stands under the sign of fire is expressed first in the Prometheus legend. And Prometheus is nothing other than the representative of the entire fifth root race.

[ 17 ] His brother is Epimetheus. Let us first translate the two words: Prometheus means “the one who thinks ahead,” and Epimetheus means “the one who thinks after.” Here we have clearly distinguished the two activities of human thinking: the thinking person and the forward-thinking person. The reflective person is the one who allows the things of this world to affect them and then thinks about them afterwards. Such thinking is kama-manas thinking. From a certain point of view, kama-manas thinking means first allowing the world to affect you and then thinking about it afterwards. The human being of the fifth root race still thinks mainly like Epimetheus today.

[ 18 ] But insofar as human beings do not allow what is already there to affect them, but instead create the future and are inventors and discoverers, they are Prometheans, forward thinkers. Inventions would never be possible if human beings were only Epimetheans. An invention is made when human beings create something that does not yet exist. First it exists in thought, and then the thought is translated into reality. This is Promethean thinking. This Promethean thinking is the manasic thinking within the fifth root race. Kama-manasic and manasic thinking run side by side like two streams in the fifth root race. Gradually, manasic thinking spreads further and further.

[ 19 ] This manasic thinking of the fifth root race has another special characteristic. We understand this when we look back at the Atlantean root race. This race had more instinctive thinking, which was still connected with the life force. The Atlantean root race was still able to form a force of movement from the seed force. Just as humans today have a kind of reservoir of energy in coal deposits, which they convert into steam to propel locomotives and loads, so the Atlanteans had large stores of plant seeds containing forces that they could convert into the power of movement that drove the vehicles described in Scott-Elliot's brochure on Atlantis. This art has been lost. The spirit of the Atlantean human being still conquered living nature, the seed power. The spirit of the fifth root race can only conquer lifeless nature, the forces of becoming that lie in stone and minerals. Thus, the manas of the fifth root race is bound to the mineral forces, just as the Atlantean race was bound to the life forces. All Promethean power is bound to the rock, to the earth. That is why Peter is the rock on which Christ built. It is the same as the rock of the Caucasus. The human being of the fifth root race must seek his development on the purely physical plane. He is bound to inorganic, mineral forces.

[ 20 ] Try to get an overview of what it means when we speak of this technique of the fifth root race. What is its purpose? If you get an overview, you will see that, however magnificent and powerful the results may be when the power of the intellect, the manasic, is applied to the inorganic, the mineral, it is nevertheless, on the whole, human egoism, human personal interest, to which all these powers of invention and discovery of the fifth root race are applied.

[ 21 ] Start with the first discovery and invention and work your way up to the telephone, to our latest inventions and discoveries, and you will see how great and powerful forces have been made available to us through these inventions and discoveries — but what do they serve? What do we get from distant countries with railroads and steamships? We obtain food; we demand food by telephone. Basically, it is human Kama that demands these inventions and discoveries in the fifth root race. This is what must be clearly understood from an objective point of view. Then we will also know how that higher human being, who is placed into matter, is in fact bound to matter during the fifth root race because his Kama demands satisfaction within matter.

[ 22 ] If you look around in esotericism, you will find that the principles of the human being are related to very specific organs of the body. I will explain this topic in more detail later; today I just want to mention the organs with which our seven human principles are related in a specific way.

[ 23 ] First, we have the so-called physical. This is occultly related to the upper part of the human face, to the root of the nose. The physical structure of the human being, which once began — in earlier times, the human being was merely astral and built itself into the physical — originated from this part. The physical began there and first built itself at the root of the nose, so that esotericists recognize the root of the nose as belonging to the actual physical-mineral realm.

[ 24 ] The second is prana, the etheric double body. Esoterically, the liver is assigned to it. This organ has a certain occult relationship to it. Then comes kama, the astral body. It in turn developed its activity in the formation of the digestive organs, which have their symbol in the stomach. If the astral body did not have this very specific form that it has in humans, then the human digestive system with the stomach would not have the specific form that it has today.

[ 25 ] If you look at the human being, first in his physical foundation, second in his etheric double body, and third in his astral body, you see that you have the foundation that is bound to what constitutes the mineral bond of the fifth root race. Through the higher bodies, the human being already rises out of this bondage and ascends to something higher. Kama-manas is already working its way up again. There, the human being frees itself again from the pure natural foundation. That is why there is an occult relationship between Kama-manas and that which lifts the human being out of the natural foundation and cuts it off. This occult connection is between the lower manas and the so-called umbilical cord. If there were no Kama-Manas in the human form, the embryo would not be cut off from the mother in this way.

[ 26 ] Moving on to the higher manas, it has an occult relationship to the human heart and blood. Budhi has an occult relationship to the human larynx, the throat, and the voice box. And Atma has an occult relationship to something that fills the entire human being, namely the akasha contained within the human being.

[ 27 ] These are the seven occult relationships. If you consider these, we must emphasize those relating to the etheric double body and to Kama as the most important for our fifth root race. And if you add to this what I said earlier about the Atlanteans' control of prana—the life force that permeates the etheric double body—you will be able to say that the Atlanteans were, in a certain sense, one step lower. His etheric double still had its original connection with everything etheric in the outer world, and through this he controlled the prana of the outer world. Because human beings have risen one step higher, the work has become one step lower. It is a law that when there is an ascent on one side, there must be a descent on the other. Whereas in earlier times man worked on the Kama from the prana, he must now work with the Kama on the physical plane.

[ 28 ] Now you will understand how deeply the Prometheus legend symbolizes this occult connection. A vulture gnaws at Prometheus' liver. Kama is symbolized in the vulture; it actually consumes the forces of the fifth root race. The vulture gnaws at the liver of the human being, at the foundation, and thus this force of the fifth root race gnaws at the actual life force of the human being, because the human being is bound to the mineral nature, to Peter, the rock, the Caucasus. This is how the human being had to pay for his similarity to Prometheus. That is why man must conquer his own nature so that he is no longer bound to the mineral, to the Caucasus.

[ 29 ] Only those who emerge as human initiates during the fifth root race can bring liberation to bound man. Heracles, a human initiate, must himself go to the Caucasus to free Prometheus. In this way, the initiates will lift humanity out of its bondage, and that which is doomed to destruction must be sacrificed. The human being who is still connected to the animal must sacrifice himself: the centaur Chiron. The human being of ancient times must be sacrificed. The sacrifice of the centaur is just as important for the development of the fifth root race as the liberation by the initiates, by the initiates of the fifth root race.

[ 30 ] It is said that in the Greek mysteries, people were told their future. However, this was not understood as a vague, abstract narrative of what was to happen in the future, but rather as an indication of the paths that would lead people into the future, what people had to do in order to develop into the future. And what was to develop as human power was presented in the great mystery drama of Prometheus.

[ 31 ] We must now imagine three successive leading beings of humanity among the three divine families of Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus. Uranus is the sky, Gaia is the earth. If we go back beyond the middle of the third root race, the Lemurians, we do not yet have the human beings we know today, but rather a human being whom the Secret Doctrine calls “Adam Kadmon,” a human being who is still asexual, who does not yet belong to the earth, who has not yet developed the organs for earthly vision, who still belongs to Uranus, to the heavens. Through the marriage of Uranus and Gaia, man came into being, descending into matter and thus entering time. Kronos — Chronos, time — became the ruler of the second race of gods from the middle of the Lemurian period until the beginning of the Atlantean period. The leading beings were symbolized by the Greeks first under Uranus, later under Kronos, and then they passed over to Zeus. Zeus, however, is still one of those leaders who did not complete their schooling on Earth. He is still one of the immortals, just as all the Greek gods still belonged to the immortals.

[ 32 ] During the fifth root race, mortal humanity is to stand on its own feet. This humanity is represented by Prometheus. It was he who first brought the human arts and the primal art of fire. Zeus is jealous of him, because humanity is giving rise to its own initiates, who will take the lead in the sixth root race. However, humanity must first pay for this. Therefore, its original initiate must first take all the suffering upon himself. Prometheus is the original initiate of the fifth root race, the one who is initiated not only into wisdom but also into action. He goes through all the suffering and is liberated by the one who matures to gradually free humanity and lift it out of the mineral realm.

[ 33 ] This is how the legends present the great cosmic truths to us. That is why I said at the beginning: those who ascend to the third interpretation are able to take them literally again. In the Prometheus legend, you have the vulture eating the liver. This is to be taken quite literally. The vulture really eats the liver of the fifth root race. It is the battle of the stomach with the liver. This Promethean struggle is repeated in every single human being during the fifth root race. What is expressed here in the Prometheus legend is to be taken completely literally. If this struggle did not exist, the fate of the fifth root race would be completely different.

[ 34 ] So there are three interpretations of the legends: first, the exoteric-literal; second, the allegorical—the struggle of human nature; and third, the occult meaning, where a literal interpretation of the myths comes into play again. From this you can see that all these legends — at least all those that have such a meaning — originate from the mystery schools and are nothing more than a reproduction of what was presented in the mystery schools as the great drama of human destiny. Just as I was able to show you in the Druid mysteries that [the legend of] Baldur represents nothing other than what took place within the Druid mysteries, so in Prometheus you have what the Greek mystery student experienced within the mysteries in order to gain strength and energy for life in the future.