The Temple Legend I
GA 92, 93
7 October 1904, Berlin
4. The Prometheus Saga
I tried to show you last time how initiation took place in the ancient Druid Lodges. Today I should like to speak about a related subject, but one which may appear a little remote. But we shall see how our understanding of human development will grow ever more profound.
You have certainly gathered from the Friday lectures 1 During 1904 Rudolf Steiner not only spoke at the regular Group Meetings, which took place on Mondays, but occasionally also on Fridays to a very small circle which gathered in the flat of Fraulein Klara Motzkus in the Schluterstrasse. The main subject dealt with was the myths and sagas. We do not have reports from all the lectures which were held there; at the most they are very fragmentary notes. These lectures of 1904, except for lecture 1 of 23rd May 1904, were all held for this small circle of friends. The May and June lectures of 1905 (lectures 11 to 14), and lecture 20 of 2nd January 1906, were held on the Mondays for the official Berlin Group. The October lectures of 1905 (lectures 15 to 19) were held for the General Meeting audience of the German Section. that the sagas of the different nations have a very deep content, and that myths are an expression of profound esoteric truths. I should like to speak today about one of the most interesting sagas, which has to do with the whole development of our fifth Great Epoch. At the same time you will see how a pupil of spiritual science passes through three stages in the understanding of sagas.
To begin with, sagas live in a particular nation, and are understood exoterically in an outer literal meaning. Next, disbelief sets in with regard to their interpretation, and an attempt is made by scholars to arrive at a symbolic meaning. Behind these two interpretations, however, five others can be found, for every saga can be interpreted in seven ways. The third is the one that can be taken literally again up to a point. But certainly one must learn to understand the language of sagas first. Today I wish to speak about a saga which is not easy to understand; it is the Prometheus saga.
You will find something about it in a chapter in the second volume of H.P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine, and from this conclude what a profound meaning lies hidden in it. Nevertheless, it is not always possible to write about ultimate truths in something which is to be published. Today we are able to take the subject a little further than did H.P. Blavatsky in The Secret Doctrine.
Prometheus belongs to the world of the Greek sagas. He and his brother, Epimetheus, are the sons of one of the Titans, called Iapetus. And the Titans themselves are the sons of the oldest of the Greek gods, of Uranus and his wife, Gaia. A translation of the word Uranus would be the ‘heavens ‘ and of Gaia, the ‘earth’. I would emphasise especially that the Uranus of the Greeks is the same as Varuna of India. Prometheus, therefore, is one of the Titans and a descendant of the sons of Uranus and Gaia, likewise his brother, Epimetheus. The youngest of the Titans, Chronos or ‘Time’, usurped the throne from his father Uranus, and was himself dethroned by his son Zeus and, along with the other Titans, was cast into Tartarus or Hades. Only the two brothers, Prometheus and Epimetheus, remained loyal to Zeus. They rallied round Zeus and fought against the other Titans.
Zeus, however, wished to destroy the race of man, which had become insolent. Prometheus became the protagonist of man. He pondered how he could give man something which would enable him to save himself and make himself independent of the help of Zeus. So, we are told, Prometheus gave man writing and the other arts and, more especially, he instructed him in the use of fire. Through this, however, he drew down the wrath of Zeus upon himself, and because of the wrath of Zeus he was chained to the Caucasus and made to languish there for a long time in great torment.
It is further recounted how the gods, with Zeus at their head, caused a female statue to be made by Hephaestus, the heavenly smith. This female statue was endowed with all the outward attributes of the man of the fifth great epoch. This female statue was Pandora. She was required to bring gifts to mankind, but in the first place to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Indeed, Prometheus warned his brother about accepting the gifts, but Epimetheus let himself be persuaded and took the proffered presents. All the gifts were showered upon mankind; only one thing was retained: hope. The gifts consisted mostly of plagues and suffering for humanity; only hope was retained in Pandora's box.
Prometheus, therefore, was chained to the Caucasus and a vulture gnawed incessantly at his liver. Here he languished. He was aware, however, of something which was a pledge for his deliverance. He knew a secret which was unknown even to Zeus himself and which Zeus was anxious to learn. He would not disclose it, however, even though Zeus sent the messenger of the gods, Hermes, to him.
In the course of the tale his strange deliverance is recounted. We are told that Prometheus can only be set free through the intervention of an initiate. And such an initiate was the Greek Heracles; Heracles who performed the twelve labours. The enactment of these labours is the achievement of an initiate. They are the symbolic representation of the twelve tests which have to be performed by someone undergoing initiation. In addition, it is said that Heracles underwent initiation in the Eleusinian mysteries. He was able to rescue Prometheus. Someone else had to sacrifice himself, however, and the Centaur Chiron did this for Prometheus. He was suffering from an incurable illness. He was half beast and half man. He suffered death and thereby released Prometheus. That is the outer form of the Prometheus saga.
In this saga lies the whole history of the fifth Great Epoch and true mystery wisdom is revealed in it. This was actually recounted as a saga in Greece. But also in the mysteries it was so portrayed that the candidate for initiation was actually confronted by the destiny of Prometheus. And in this destiny he was enabled to visualise the whole of the past and the future of the fifth Great Epoch. An understanding of this is only possible when you take one thing into account.
It was only during the middle of the Lemurian epoch that what is described as human incarnation came about; incarnation in the sense in which people are born on earth today. Humanity of that time was under the leadership of great teachers and guides, whom we call the ‘Sons of Fire-Mist’. At present, humanity of the fifth Great Epoch is also led by great initiates, but our initiates today are of a different kind from the leaders of that time.
You must now become quite clear about what constitutes this difference. There is an enormous difference between the leaders of the two previous Root Races and the leaders of our present fifth Root Race. The leaders of those former Root Races were also united in a White Brotherhood. Its members, however, had not undergone their previous development on our Earth, but on other planets. They descended to Earth already in the state of more highly developed, mature human beings in order to instruct the rest of humanity, still in its infant stage, into the primal arts of which it had need. This time of instruction lasted throughout the third, fourth and even into the fifth epoch.
This fifth Great Epoch took its start from a handful of men, who had been sifted out from the previous Great Epoch. They were collected together and prepared in the Gobi Desert and from there radiated out over the whole of the world. The first of these leaders, who was the founder of this impulse in the development of mankind, was one of the so-called Manus—the Manu 2 The name ‘Manu’ comes from the Sanskrit root ‘man’ = ‘thinking.’ In Indian theosophical terminology this denotes high spiritual beings, who have the task of forming new cultures or epochs. For further details concerning the Manu of the fifth epoch see Rudolf Steiner's Cosmic Memory, Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1971; Occult Science, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1969, and a lecture given in Heidelberg on 21st January 1909; Some Aspects of Reincarnation and the Life After Death, typescript copy Z 360. of the fifth Root Race. This Manu was still one of that company of leaders who descended to earth at the time of the third Root Race—He was one of the leaders who underwent development not on the earth only, but who came to earth with fully developed maturity.
It is only during the fifth Root Race that the development is beginning to take place of such Manus as are akin to ourselves; who have risen, as it were, from the ranks of humanity. We have men, therefore, who are already great masters and advanced leaders of humanity, and we have those who are striving to become such. In the fifth Root Race we have Chelas and masters who have experienced all that can be undergone by human beings only since the middle of the Lemurian epoch. One of these great masters who are leaders of the fifth Root Race is predestined to take over the leadership of the sixth Root Race. The sixth Root Race will be the first great epoch to have as its Manu one who is a brother to earthly man. The earlier masters, the Manus from other worlds, are handing over their leadership to a fellow human being.
The development in the realm of the arts coincides with the dawn of the fifth Root Race. The man of Atlantean times had a quite different mode of life. He did not make inventions or discoveries as we do. He worked in quite a different way, It is only during the fifth Root Race that everything connected with technical science and the arts, in our sense of the term, has taken place. The most important discovery was the use of fire. Be clear on that point.
Just call to mind all the things in technology, industry and art which depend for their existence on the use of fire. I think that an engineer would be inclined to agree with me when I say that, without the use of fire, nothing of all our modern technology would be possible; so that we may say that the discovery of the use of fire was the main discovery which gave the impulse for all later discoveries.
To that you must add that at the time when the Prometheus saga arose, fire was comprehended as including everything which had to do with warmth. The causes of lightning and all other natural phenomena connected with heat were also included under that heading. The consciousness of the fact that man of the fifth Root Race himself stood under the Fire Sign 3 This is expressed in H.P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine, Volume 3, ‘Esotericism,’ p. 330, in the following way: ‘Prometheus is a symbol and a personification of the whole of mankind in relation to an event which occurred during its childhood,—“Baptism by Fire”—which is a mystery within the great Promethean Mystery, one that may be at present mentioned only in its broad general features.’ came to expression in the saga of Prometheus. Prometheus himself is nothing else than a representative of the whole of the fifth Great Epoch.
The brother of Prometheus is Epimetheus. First let us translate these two words: Prometheus can be interpreted as being the one who thinks in advance, Epimetheus as the one who thinks about things after they have happened. Here you have expressed quite clearly the two activities of human thinking in the foresight and hindsight of these two human beings. The one with hindsight is the one who lets the things of this world work upon him and then thinks about them afterwards. A kind of thinking such as this is ‘Kama-manasic’ thinking (earthly consciousness, or intellectual soul activity). Considered from a certain point of view, this is what this kind of thinking is: letting the world work upon, one and thinking about it afterwards. The man of the fifth Root Race thinks chiefly in the manner of Epimetheus.
But in so far as a man does not merely let the things of his surroundings work upon him, but creates something for the future, is an inventor and discoverer, just so far is he a Prometheus, one who thinks ahead. There would never be any inventions made if men were all like Epimetheus. An invention comes about because man is able to create something which was not there previously. First of all the thought is there and then the thought is transformed into reality. This is Promethean thinking. Promethean thinking is the ‘Manas’ thinking of the fifth Root Race (the thinking of spiritual thoughts). Earthly thinking and spiritual thinking flow side by side in the fifth Root Race. Gradually the spiritual thinking will become more and more widespread.
This ‘Manas’ thinking of the fifth Root Race has one particular feature which we shall understand if we look back to the Atlantean epoch. At that time thinking was more instinctive and was still connected with the life forces. The people of Atlantean times were still able to transform the power inherent in seeds into a driving force. Just as man today has a kind of reservoir of power stored up in the coal seams, which can produce steam to drive locomotives and move loads, so Atlantean man had great storehouses of plant seeds containing a force which could be used to drive vehicles, as described by Scott-Elliot 4 The Story of Atlantis, by W. Scott-Elliot, The Theosophical Publishing Society, London. See also: Cosmic Memory, Atlantis and Lemuria, by Rudolf Steiner, Rudolf Steiner Publications. in his booklet about Atlantis. This art has been lost to mankind. The spiritual power of the Atlanteans could control living nature and make use of the latent power in seeds. The spiritual powers of the fifth Root Race are only sufficient to control the forces of the inorganic world of minerals. Thus the Manas of the fifth Great Epoch is bound up with the mineral forces in the same way as the man of Atlantean times was bound up with the life forces. All Promethean powers are chained to the rock, to the solid earth. For that reason, the apostle Peter is the ‘rock’ upon which Christ founded His Church. It is the same as the rock of the Caucasus. Man belonging to the fifth epoch has to seek his destiny on the physical plane alone. He is bound up with inorganic mineral forces.
Just try to imagine what is meant when one speaks about the technology of the fifth epoch. What is it there for? If you are able to form a comprehensive view of it you will see that, however great and impressive the result may be, when the forces of the intellect and Manas are applied to the inorganic mineral world, it is nevertheless, in the main, only self-interest and egoism which is the motive behind the application of all these forces of discovery and invention.
Start with the first discoveries and inventions and carry your thoughts through to the most modern inventions of the telephone and so on. You will see how great and mighty are the forces which have been put at our disposal, certainly—but to what end? What is it that is being conveyed to us from distant lands by means of railways and steamships? We transport foodstuffs; we order foodstuffs by telephone. Basically it is human greed and the substance of our wishes and desires which creates a demand for all these inventions and discoveries during the fifth epoch. It is this which must become dear to us in objective considerations. Then we will understand how it is that the higher human being, which has been placed into physical existence, is actually chained to matter during the fifth epoch, through the fact that man's astral body seeks its satisfaction within the realm of matter.
If you consider the principles of man's nature from an esoteric point of view, you will see that they stand in definite relationship to certain bodily organs. I shall elaborate on this theme still further, but today I will only indicate those specific organs with which our seven principles 5 These seven principles and the organs with which they are occultly connected are enumerated as follows:
Physical body—base of the nose.
Etheric body—liver.
Kama or Kama-Rupa (astral body)—digestive system, stomach.
Kama-Manas (astral-ego)—umbilical cord.
Higher Manas (Spirit Self)—heart and blood circulation.
Buddhi (Life Spirit)—larynx.
Atma (Spirit Man)—the Akasha. are connected.
First of all we have the so-called physical principle. This stands in occult relationship to the upper part of the human face, to the root of the nose. Man's physical frame—man was only astral at first and then incorporated into the physical—took its start from this point. The physical Organisation spread out and formed the base of the nose first of all, so that the occultist ascribes the mineral-physical to this part of the anatomy.
The second principle is Prana, the etheric parallel body. This is ascribed to the liver, with which it stands in occult relationship. Next comes the astral body, Kama, which has developed its activity in building up the digestive organs, having their seat in the stomach. If the astral body had not borne this particular character that it has in man, then the human digestive organs and stomach would not have had the special form which they have today.
If you behold the human being, first with regard to his physical body, next with regard to his etheric body, and thirdly with regard to his astral body, you there have the basis for what, as you see, is chained by the mineral fetters in the fifth Great Epoch.
Through his higher bodies, man frees himself again from these fetters and rises to higher worlds. Kama-Manas, in which the ego is active, works its way upwards again. Man frees himself again from the purely physical basis given by nature. For this reason there is an occult connection between this principle and that which raises man up again out of the physical, by which man is severed, so to speak, from the physical basis given by nature This occult connection is what exists between that principle in man and his umbilical cord. If this principle in man were not developed the embryo would never be severed from the body of its mother in the way it is.
It we, then proceed to Higher Manas, or Spirit Self, this is connected in a similar way with heart and blood circulation. Buddhi, or Life Spirit, has an occult connection with the larynx, with the larynx and the gullet. And Atma, or Spirit Man, has an occult connection with something which extends through man's whole being, namely the Akasha, or immortal part of man's being.
Those are the seven occult relationships. If you pay attention to these, then you will discover that the most important ones for our epoch are the relationships with the etheric and astral principles. And if you add to that what I said before about the Atlantean's control over the life forces—the life forces are those forces which weave in the etheric parallel body—then you will be able to understand that, in a certain way, Atlantean man was at a stage lower than we are. His etheric parallel body still retained its original connection with the etheric forces around him and he controlled with his own etheric body the Prana, or etheric forces of the outside world. Through the fact that man has progressed one stage higher, the field of his activities lies one stage lower. That is an occult law: that when, on the one hand, progress takes place, on the other hand, a retrograde step accompanies it. Whereas man previously worked upon the astral plane out of his etheric forces, he now has the task of working upon the physical plane out of his astral forces.
Now you will understand how profoundly these occult connections are symbolised in the Prometheus saga. A vulture is gnawing at the liver of Prometheus. Astrality is symbolised by the vulture, which truly devours the forces of the fifth epoch. The vulture gnaws at man's liver, at the foundation of his existence, and thus this energy belonging to the fifth Root Race really gnaws at the life forces of mankind, because man is chained to mineral nature, to the Petrine rock, the Caucasus. Through that, man has to pay for his affinity with Prometheus. And thereby man is obliged to become master over his own nature, so that he need no longer remain chained to the mineral world, to the Caucasus.
Only those who are initiated as human beings of the fifth epoch can bring release to fettered mankind. Heracles, who was a human initiate of this kind, had himself to press through to the Caucasus in order to free Prometheus. But this is how initiates raise up man from his fetters and all that is predestined to perish must sacrifice itself.
Man who still has an affinity with his animal nature, the Centaur Chiron, has to sacrifice himself. The man of previous epochs must be sacrificed. The sacrifice of the Centaur Chiron is just as important for the progress of the fifth epoch as the freeing through the initiate.
It is said that in the Greek mystery schools the future was foretold to the people. It was no vague, abstract account of what was to happen to man in the future, but instructions which would lead him along the pathway to the future, and he was shown what he had to do for his future development. And what still remained to be unfolded as human strength was portrayed in the mighty mystery drama of Prometheus.
One has to imagine the three races of the gods, Uranus, Chronos and Zeus, as three successive great leaders of humanity. Uranus denotes heaven, Gaia the earth. If we go back in time beyond the middle of the Lemurian epoch, we do not find man in the form we know him today, but one called Adam Cadmon 6 Compare also: Man's Life on Earth and in the Spiritual Worlds, second lecture, Oxford, 22nd August 1922. by occult science, who is still asexual, and who had never belonged to the earth previously, who had not developed organs of sight for physical observation, but was still a part of Uranus, of the heavens. Through the union of Uranus with Gaia, man was born, man who descended to the earth and at the same time became involved in time. Chronos (Time) was the leader of the second divine race from the middle of Lemurian times until the beginning of Atlantis. These leading figures were symbolised by the Greeks, first under the name Uranus, then Chronos, and later Zeus. Zeus, however, is one of those leaders who underwent his training elsewhere than on the earth. He is one of the great immortals, as are all the rest of the Greek gods.
Mortal man has to learn to stand on his own feet during the fifth Great Epoch. He is represented by Prometheus. Man was the inaugurator of the arts and, above all, of the primal art of the use of fire. Zeus is jealous of him because he is predestined to produce his own initiates, who will take over the leadership in the sixth epoch. Mankind has first to pay for that, however. That is why the first great initiate of humanity must take upon himself the whole of life's suffering.
Prometheus is the archetypal initiate of the fifth epoch, who has undergone initiation, not only in knowledge, but also in deed. He it was who underwent the whole of suffering and will be released from his bondage by him who is becoming mature enough to set free the whole of humanity in gradual stages and to raise it up out of the mineral realm.
Great cosmic truths are thus portrayed to us in the sagas. That is why I said to you at the beginning: whoever reaches the third stage in their interpretation is able to take their meaning literally once more. ... [Here follow a few unclear sentences] 7 The unclear sentences are as follows: ‘Every saga undergoes change. It derives from the most ancient tradition and undergoes change at a certain definite point. It is the same in the case of every saga, even those which can again be taken literally.’ In the case of the Prometheus saga one is confronted by the picture of the vulture gnawing at the liver. That is to be taken quite literally. The vulture really is gnawing at the liver of the people of the fifth epoch. It portrays the fight which is going on between the stomach and the liver. In every single human being of the fifth epoch, this Promethean struggle is being repeated. We can take what is here said in a completely literal sense. If this struggle were not present in the man of the fifth epoch, our destiny would be entirely different at the present day.
There are thus three ways of interpreting the sagas: firstly, the exoteric literal rendering; secondly, the allegorical one—the struggle within human nature; thirdly, the occult understanding, in which again the literal meaning can be taken. From this you can judge that all sagas—at least those which bear a significance of this kind—are derived from the mystery schools, and are no less than a representation of what was enacted therein as the great drama of human destiny. As I was able to show you in connection with the Druidic mysteries that [the saga of] Baldur was no less than a portrayal of what took place in the mysteries, so, in the saga of Prometheus, you have a portrayal of what was experienced by the pupil for initiation in the inner sanctuaries of the mystery schools of Greece to provide energy and new strength for life in the future.
4. Die Prometheussage
Ich habe das letzte Mal versucht, Ihnen zu zeigen, wie die Einweihung in den alten Druidenlogen geschah. Heute möchte ich etwas ausführen, was damit zwar verwandt ist, was vielleicht aber doch scheinbar etwas weiter abliegt. Aber wir werden sehen, wie wir das Verständnis unserer Menschheitsentwickelung immer mehr und mehr in seiner Tiefe kennenlernen werden.
Sie haben wohl aus meinen verschiedenen Freitagsvorträgen ersehen, daß die Sagenwelt der verschiedenen Völker einen tiefen Gehalt hat, und daß die Mythen der Ausdruck von tiefen esoterischen Wahrheiten sind. Nun möchte ich heute sprechen von einer der interessantesten Sagen, von einer Sage, die im Zusammenhange steht mit der ganzen Entwickelung unserer fünften Wurzelrasse. Dabei werden Sie zu gleicher Zeit sehen, wie der Esoteriker immer drei Stufen des Verständnisses der Sagenwelt durchmachen kann.
Zunächst leben die Sagen in irgendeinem Volke, und sie werden exoterisch, äußerlich-wörtlich genommen. Dann beginnt der Unglaube an diese wörtliche Auffassung der Sagen, und es versuchen die Gebildeten eine symbolische, eine sinnbildliche Deutung der Sagen. Hinter diesen zwei Deutungen stecken aber noch fünf andere Deutungen; denn jede Sage hat sieben Deutungen. Die dritte ist diejenige, wo Sie in der Lage sind, die Sagen wiederum in einer gewissen Weise wörtlich zu nehmen. Allerdings müssen Sie erst die Sprache verstehen lernen, in der die Sagen verfaßt sind. Heute möchte ich über eine Sage sprechen, deren Verständnis nicht so leicht zu erlangen ist, über die Prometheussage.
In einem Kapitel im zweiten Bande der «Geheimlehre» von H. P. Blavatsky werden Sie etwas darüber finden, und daraus auch ersehen, welch tiefer Gehalt in dieser Sage steckt. Dennoch ist es nicht immer möglich, in gedruckten Schriften die letzten Dinge zu sagen. Heute können wir noch ein wenig über die Ausführungen in der «Geheimlehre» von H. P. Blavatsky hinausgehen.
Prometheus gehört der griechischen Sagenwelt an. Er und sein Bruder Epimetheus sind die Söhne eines Titanen, Japetos. Und die Titanen selbst sind die Söhne der ältesten griechischen Gottheit, von Uranos und seiner Gemahlin, der Gaia. Uranos würde, ins Deutsche übersetzt, bedeuten «der Himmel» und Gaia «die Erde». Ich bemerke noch ausdrücklich, daß Uranos im Griechischen dasselbe ist wie Varuna im Indischen. Ein Titan also, ein Nachkomme der Söhne des Uranos und der Gaia, ist Prometheus und ebenso sein Bruder Epimetheus. Der jüngste der Titanen, Kronos, die Zeit, hat seinen Vater Uranos entthront und sich selbst der Herrschaft bemächtigt. Dafür wurde er wiederum von seinem Sohne Zeus entthront und mit allen Titanen in den Tartaros, den Abgrund oder die Unterwelt verstoßen. Nur der Titan Prometheus und sein Bruder Epimetheus hielten zu Zeus. Sie standen damals auf der Seite des Zeus und kämpften gegen die anderen Titanen.
Nun wollte Zeus aber auch das Menschengeschlecht, das übermütig geworden war, vertilgen. Da machte sich Prometheus zum Anwalt des Menschengeschlechts. Er sann darauf, wie er dem Menschengeschlecht etwas geben könne, womit es sich selbst retten könne und nicht mehr bloß angewiesen sei auf die Hilfe des Zeus. So wird uns erzählt, daß Prometheus den Menschen den Gebrauch der Schrift und der Künste gelehrt habe, namentlich aber den Gebrauch des Feuers. Dadurch aber hat er den Zorn des Zeus auf sich geladen. Er wurde wegen dieses Zornes des Zeus an den Kaukasus angeschmiedet und mußte dort lange Zeit große Qual erdulden.
Es wird uns ferner noch erzählt, daß nunmehr die Götter, Zeus an der Spitze, den Hephaistos, den Gott der Schmiedekunst, veranlaßt haben, eine weibliche Bildsäule zu verfertigen. Diese weibliche Bildsäule war mit allen Eigenschaften ausgestattet, welche die äußere Dekoration des Menschengeschlechts der fünften Wurzelrasse sind. Diese weibliche Bildsäule war die Pandora. Pandora wurde veranlaßt, Gaben an die Menschheit heranzubringen, zunächst an den Bruder des Prometheus, an den Epimetheus. Zwar warnte Prometheus den Bruder, diese Gaben anzunehmen; dieser ließ sich aber dennoch bereden und nahm die Gaben der Götter an. Es wurde alles auf die Menschheit ausgeschüttet, nur eines wurde zurückbehalten: die Hoffnung. Diese Gaben sind zum größten Teile Plagen und Leiden für die Menschheit; nur die Hoffnung wurde in der Büchse der Pandora zurückbehalten.
Prometheus wird also angeschmiedet am Kaukasus, und an seiner Leber nagt fortwährend ein Geier. Hier duldet er. Er weiß aber etwas, was eine Bürgschaft für seine Rettung ist. Er weiß ein Geheimnis, das selbst Zeus nicht weiß, das dieser aber wissen will. Er verrät es indessen nicht, trotzdem Zeus den Götterboten Hermes zu ihm schickt.
Nun wird uns im Laufe der Sage seine merkwürdige Befreiung erzählt. Es wird erzählt, daß Prometheus nur befreit werden kann durch das Eingreifen eines Eingeweihten, eines Initiierten. Und ein solcher Initiierter war der Grieche Herakles; Herakles, der die zwölf Arbeiten verrichtet hat. Die Verrichtung dieser zwölf Arbeiten ist die Leistung eines Initiierten. Es sind die zwölf Initiationsprüfungen, symbolisch ausgedrückt. Außerdem wird von Herakles gesagt, daß er sich in die Eleusinischen Mysterien habe einweihen lassen. Er vermag Prometheus zu retten. Es mußte sich aber noch jemand opfern, und es opferte sich für Prometheus der Kentaur Chiron. Der litt da schon an einer unheilbaren Krankheit. Er war halb Tier, halb Mensch. Er erleidet den Tod und Prometheus wurde dadurch gerettet. Das ist die äußere Struktur der Prometheussage.
In dieser Sage liegt die ganze Geschichte der fünften Wurzelrasse, und es ist in ihr wirkliche Mysterienwahrheit eingeschlossen. Diese Sage wurde in Griechenland wirklich als Sage erzählt. Aber auch in den Mysterien wurde sie wirklich dargestellt, so daß der Mysterienschüler das Schicksal des Prometheus vor sich sah. Und in diesem sollte er die Vergangenheit und Zukunft der ganzen fünften Wurzelrasse schen. Das Verständnis hierfür können Sie nur erlangen, wenn Sie eines berücksichtigen.
In der Mitte der lemurischen Rasse war erst das [erreicht], was man als die Menschwerdung bezeichnet; Menschwerdung in dem Sinne, wie wir heute Menschen haben. Diese Menschheit wurde geführt von großen Lehrern und Führern, die wir als die «Söhne des Feuernebels» bezeichnen. Heute wird die Menschheit der fünften Wurzelrasse auch geführt von großen Eingeweihten, aber unsere Eingeweihten sind anderer Art als die damaligen Führer der Menschheit.
Diesen Unterschied müssen Sie sich jetzt klarmachen. Es ist ein großer Unterschied zwischen den Führern der zwei vorhergehenden Rassen und den Führern unserer fünften Wurzelrasse. Auch die Führer jener Rassen waren vereinigt in einer weißen Bruderloge. Diese hatten aber ihre vorherige Entwickelung nicht auf unserem Erdplaneten durchgemacht, sondern auf anderen Schauplätzen. Sie waren auf die Erde herabgestiegen schon als reife höhere Menschen, um die Menschen, die noch in ihrer Kindheit waren, bei ihrer ersten Entstehung zu unterrichten, sie die ersten Künste zu lehren, die sie brauchten. Diese Lehrzeit dauerte durch die dritte, vierte, ja bis in die fünfte Wurzelrasse herein.
Diese fünfte Wurzelrasse hat ihren Ursprung genommen von einem kleinen Häuflein Menschen, die ausgesondert worden waren aus der vorhergehenden Wurzelrasse. Sie wurden herangezogen in der Wüste Gobi und verbreiteten sich dann strahlenförmig über die Erde. Der erste Führer, der den Impuls gegeben hat zu dieser Menschheitsentwickelung, das war einer der sogenannten Manus, der Manu der fünften Wurzelrasse. Dieser Manu gehört noch zu jenen Führern des Menschengeschlechts, die zur Zeit der dritten Wurzelrasse herabgestiegen sind. Das war noch einer der Führer, die ihre Entwickelung nicht nur auf der Erde durchgemacht haben, sondern die ihre Reife hereingebracht haben auf unsere Erde.
Erst in der fünften Wurzelrasse beginnt die Entwickelung von solchen Manus, die Menschen wie wir selbst sind, die wie wir ihre Entwickelung nur auf der Erde durchgemacht haben, die sozusagen von der Pike auf sich auf der Erde entwickeln. Wir haben also Menschen, die höhere Führer- und Meisterpersönlichkeiten schon sind, und solche, die sich bemühen, Führer- und Meisterpersönlichkeiten zu werden; so daß wir innerhalb der fünften Wurzelrasse Chelas und Meister haben, die zur früheren Rasse gehören, und Chelas und Meister, die alles durchgemacht haben, was Menschen von der Mitte der lemurischen Zeit an durchgemacht haben. Einer der Meister, die die Führung der fünften Wurzelrasse haben, ist dazu ausersehen, die Führung der sechsten Wurzelrasse zu übernehmen. Die sechste Wurzelrasse wird die erste sein, die von einem Erdenbruder als Manu geleitet sein wird. Die früheren Meister, die Manus der anderen Welten, geben dem Erdenbruder die Führung der Menschheit ab.
Mit dem Aufdämmern unserer fünften Wurzelrasse fällt zusammen alles das, was wir die Entwickelung der Künste nennen. Die Atlantier hatten noch ein ganz anderes Leben. Erfindungen und Entdekkungen hatten sie nicht. Sie arbeiteten in ganz anderer Weise. Ihre Technik und ihre Kunst waren ganz anders. Erst mit unserer fünften Wurzelrasse entwickelte sich das, was wir in unserem Sinne Technik und Künste nennen. Die wichtigste Erfindung ist die Erfindung des Feuers. Machen Sie sich das einmal klar. Machen Sie sich klar, was heute in unserer ausgebreiteten Technik, Industrie und Kunst von dem Feuer abhängt. Ich glaube, der Techniker wird mir Recht geben, wenn ich sage, daß ohne das Feuer gar nichts von der ganzen Technik möglich wäre, so daß wir sagen dürfen, mit der Erfindung des Feuers war die grundlegende Erfindung, der Impuls für alle anderen Erfindungen gegeben.
Dazu müssen Sie noch nehmen, daß man unter dem Feuer in der Zeit, als die Prometheussage entstand, alles dasjenige verstand, was irgendwie mit Wärme zusammenhing. Man verstand darunter auch die Ursache des Blitzes. Die Ursachen aller Wärmeerscheinungen wurden zusammengefaßt unter dem Ausdruck des Feuers. Das Bewußtsein davon, daß die Menschheit der fünften Rasse unter dem Zeichen des Feuers steht, das drückt sich zunächst in der Prometheussage aus. Und Prometheus ist nichts anderes als der Repräsentant der ganzen fünften Wurzelrasse.
Sein Bruder ist Epimetheus. Zunächst übersetzen wir uns einmal die zwei Worte: Prometheus heißt auf deutsch der Vordenkende, Epimetheus heißt der Nachdenkende. Da haben Sie die zwei Tätigkeiten des menschlichen Denkens klar auseinandergelegt in den nachdenkenden Menschen und in den vordenkenden Menschen. Der nachdenkende Mensch ist derjenige, welcher die Dinge dieser Welt auf sich wirken läßt und dann hinterher denkt. Ein solches Denken ist das kama-manasische Denken. Von einem gewissen Gesichtspunkt aus gesehen heißt Kama-Manas-Denken: zuerst die Welt auf sich wirken lassen und dann hinterher denken. Der Mensch der fünften Wurzelrasse denkt heute noch hauptsächlich wie Epimetheus.
Insofern aber der Mensch nicht das, was schon da ist, auf sich wirken läßt, sondern Zukunft schafft, Erfinder und Entdecker ist, insofern ist er ein Prometheus, ein Vordenker. Niemals würden Erfindungen gemacht werden können, wenn der Mensch nur Epimetheus wäre. Eine Erfindung wird dadurch gemacht, daß der Mensch etwas schafft, was noch nicht da ist. Zuerst ist es im Gedanken da, und dann wird der Gedanke umgesetzt in die Wirklichkeit. Dieses ist das Prometheusdenken. Dieses Prometheusdenken ist innerhalb der fünften Wurzelrasse das manasische Denken. Kama-manasisches und manasisches Denken gehen wie zwei Ströme nebeneinander her in der fünften Wurzelrasse. Allmählich wird das manasische Denken immer weiter und weiter ausgebreitet.
Dieses manasische Denken der fünften Wurzelrasse hat noch eine besondere Eigentümlichkeit. Das verstehen wir, wenn wir zurückblicken auf die atlantische Wurzelrasse. Diese hatte mehr ein instinktives Denken, welches noch in Verbindung war mit der Lebenskraft. Die atlantische Wurzelrasse war noch imstande, aus der Samenkraft sich eine Bewegungskraft zu bilden. Wie heute der Mensch in den Kohlenlagern eine Art Reservoir hat an Kraft, die er in Dampf verwandelt zur Fortbewegung der Lokomotiven und Lasten, so hatte der Atlantier große Lager von Pflanzensamen, welche Kräfte enthielten, die er umwandeln konnte in Fortbewegungskraft, von der getrieben wurden jene Fahrzeuge, die in Scott-Elliots Broschüre über die Atlantis beschrieben werden. Diese Kunst ist verlorengegangen. Der Geist des atlantischen Menschen bezwang noch die lebendige Natur, die Samenkraft. Der Geist der fünften Rasse kann nur die leblose Natur, die im Stein, in den Mineralien liegenden Werdekräfte besiegen. So ist das Manas der fünften Wurzelrasse gefesselt an die mineralischen Kräfte, wie die atlantische Rasse gebunden war an die Lebenskräfte. Alle Prometheuskraft ist gefesselt an den Felsen, an die Erde. Daher ist auch Petrus der Fels, auf den Christus baute. Es ist dasselbe wie der Fels des Kaukasus. Der Mensch der fünften Rasse hat auf dem rein physischen Plan seine Entwickelung zu suchen. Er ist gefesselt an unorganische, an mineralische Kräfte.
Versuchen Sie einmal, sich einen Überblick darüber zu verschaffen, was es heißt, wenn man von dieser Technik der fünften Rasse spricht. Wozu ist sie da? Wenn Sie sich einen Überblick verschaffen, so werden Sie sehen, daß - so großartig und gewaltig auch die Resultate sind -, wenn die Verstandeskraft, das Manasische angewendet wird auf das Unorganische, das Mineralische, daß trotzdem im großen und ganzen es der menschliche Egoismus ist, das menschliche persönliche Interesse, wozu alle diese ganzen Kräfte der Erfindungen und Entdeckungen der fünften Wurzelrasse zuletzt angewendet werden.
Gehen Sie von der ersten Entdeckung und Erfindung aus und gehen Sie herauf bis zum Telephon, bis zu unseren neuesten Erfindungen und Entdeckungen, so werden Sie sehen, wie zwar große und gewaltige Kräfte durch diese Erfindungen und Entdeckungen uns dienstbar gemacht worden sind, aber wozu dienen sie? Was holen wir mit Eisenbahn und Dampfschiffen aus fernen Ländern? Wir holen uns Nahrungsmittel, wir verlangen durch das Telephon Nahrungsmittel. Im Grunde ist es das menschliche Kama, das nach diesen Erfindungen und Entdeckungen in der fünften Wurzelrasse verlangt. Das ist das, was man sich in objektiver Betrachtung einmal klarlegen muß. Dann wird man auch wissen, wie jener höhere Mensch, welcher hineinversetzt wird in die Materie, in der Tat während der fünften Wurzelrasse an die Materie gefesselt ist dadurch, daß sein Kama die Befriedigung innerhalb der Materie verlangt.
Wenn Sie im Esoterischen sich umsehen, so werden Sie finden, daß die Prinzipien des Menschen in Beziehung stehen zu ganz bestimmten Organen des Körpers. Ich werde Ihnen dieses Thema noch genauer ausführen; heute will ich nur anführen, mit welchen Organen unsere sieben Prinzipien in einer bestimmten Beziehung stehen.
Zunächst haben wir das sogenannte Physische. Das steht in einer okkulten Beziehung zu dem oberen Teil des menschlichen Gesichts, zur Nasenwurzel. Der physische Bau des Menschen, der einmal angefangen hat — früher war der Mensch ja bloß astral und baute sich hinein in das Physische -, nahm seinen Ursprung von dieser Partie aus. Die Physis ging aus und baute zuerst an der Nasenwurzel, so daß der Esoteriker die Nasenwurzel dem eigentlichen Physisch-Mineralischen zugeteilt erkennt.
Das zweite ist Prana, der Ätherdoppelkörper. Ihm ist esoterisch zugeteilt die Leber. Dieses Organ steht zu ihm in einer gewissen okkulten Beziehung. Dann kommt Kama, der Astralkörper. Der hat wieder seine Tätigkeit entwickelt beim Aufbau der Ernährungsorgane, die ihr Sinnbild im Magen haben. Würde der Astralkörper nicht diese ganz bestimmte Ausprägung haben, die er im Menschen hat, dann würde auch nicht dieser menschliche Ernährungsapparat mit dem Magen diese bestimmte Form haben, die er heute hat.
Wenn Sie den Menschen betrachten, erstens in seiner physischen Grundlage, zweitens in seinem Ätherdoppelkörper und drittens in seinem Astralkörper, so haben Sie die Grundlage, die, wie Sie sehen, gefesselt ist an das, was die mineralische Fessel der fünften Wurzelrasse ausmacht.
Durch die höheren Körper hebt sich der Mensch schon wieder heraus aus dieser Fessel und steigt zu Höherem hinauf. Kama-Manas arbeitet sich schon wieder herauf. Da befreit sich der Mensch schon wieder von der reinen Naturgrundlage. Deshalb gibt es eine okkulte Beziehung von Kama-Manas zu dem, wodurch der Mensch aus der Naturgrundlage herausgehoben, abgeschnürt wird. Dieser okkulte Zusammenhang ist der zwischen dem niederen Manas und der sogenannten Nabelschnur. Gäbe es kein Kama-Manas in der menschlichen Gestalt, dann würde der Embryo nicht in dieser Weise von der Mutter abgeschnürt werden.
Gehen wir zum höheren Manas, so hat es eine ebensolche okkulte Beziehung zum menschlichen Herzen und zum Blut. Buddhi hat eine okkulte Beziehung zu dem menschlichen Kehlkopf, zu dem Schlund und zu dem Kehlkopf. Und Atma hat eine okkulte Beziehung zu etwas, was den ganzen Menschen ausfüllt, nämlich zu dem im Menschen enthaltenen Akasha.
Das sind die sieben okkulten Beziehungen. Wenn Sie sich diese vorhalten, so haben wir als die wichtigsten für unsere fünfte Rasse hervorzuheben diejenigen zu dem Ätherdoppelkörper und zu Kama. Und wenn Sie das dazunehmen, was ich vorhin gesagt habe von der Beherrschung des Prana durch die Atlantier - die Lebenskraft ist das, was den Ätherdoppelkörper durchzieht -, so werden Sie sich sagen können, daß der Atlantier in einer gewissen Beziehung noch um eine Stufe tiefer stand. Sein Ätherdoppelkörper hatte noch die ursprüngliche Verwandtschaft mit allem Ätherischen der Außenwelt, und er beherrschte dadurch das Prana der Außenwelt. Dadurch, daß der Mensch eine Stufe höher gestiegen ist, ist die Arbeit eine Stufe tiefer geworden. Das ist ein Gesetz: daß wenn auf der einen Seite Aufstieg erfolgt, auf der anderen Seite ein Abstieg erfolgen muß. Während der Mensch früher an Kama gearbeitet hat von Prana aus, muß er jetzt mit Kama auf dem physischen Plane arbeiten.
Nun werden Sie verstehen, wie tief die Prometheussage diesen okkulten Zusammenhang symbolisiert. Ein Geier nagt dem Prometheus an der Leber. Kama ist symbolisiert in dem Geier, der eigentlich wirklich die Kräfte der fünften Rasse verzehrt. Der Geier nagt dem Menschen an der Leber, an der Grundlage, und so nagt diese Kraft der fünften Rasse an der eigentlichen Lebenskraft des Menschen, weil der Mensch gefesselt ist an die mineralische Natur, an den Petrus, den Fels, den Kaukasus. Damit mußte der Mensch seine PrometheusÄhnlichkeit bezahlen. Deshalb muß der Mensch seine eigene Natur bezwingen, damit er nicht mehr angeschmiedet ist an das Mineralische, an den Kaukasus.
Nur diejenigen, welche während der fünften Wurzelrasse als menschliche Eingeweihte entstehen, können dem gefesselten Menschen die Befreiung bringen. Herakles, ein menschlicher Eingeweihter, muß selbst zum Kaukasus dringen, um den Prometheus zu befreien. Aber so werden die Initiierten den Menschen herausheben aus der Fesselung, und opfern muß sich, was dem Untergang geweiht ist.
Opfern muß sich der Mensch, der noch im Zusammenhang ist mit dem Tierischen: der Kentaur Chiron. Der Mensch der Vorzeit muß geopfert werden. Das Opfer des Kentauren ist für die Entwickelung der fünften Rasse ebenso wichtig wie die Befreiung durch die Eingeweihten, durch die Initiierten der fünften Rasse.
Man sagt, daß in den griechischen Mysterien den Leuten die Zukunft prophezeit wurde. Darunter verstand man aber nicht ein vages, abstraktes Erzählen dessen, was in der Zukunft geschehen sollte, sondern die Angabe derjenigen Wege, die den Menschen in die Zukunft hineinführen, was der Mensch zu tun hat, um sich in die Zukunft hinein zu entwickeln. Und was sich als Menschenkraft entwickeln sollte, das wurde vorgestellt in dem großen Mysteriendrama Prometheus”.
Man hat sich nun vorzustellen unter den drei Göttergeschlechtern Uranos, Kronos und Zeus drei aufeinanderfolgende führende Wesenheiten der Menschen. Uranos heißt der Himmel, Gaia die Erde. Wenn wir zurückgehen hinter die Mitte der dritten Rasse, der Lemurier, dann haben wir noch nicht den Menschen, den wir jetzt kennen, sondern einen Menschen, den die Geheimlehre «Adam Kadmon» nennt, den Menschen, der noch ungeschlechtlich ist, den Menschen, der vorher noch nicht der Erde angehörte, der noch nicht die Organe entwickelt hat zum irdischen Schauen, der noch dem Uranischen, dem Himmel angehörte. Durch die Vermählung des Uranos mit der Gaia entstand der Mensch, der in die Materie herabstieg und damit zu gleicher Zeit in die Zeit einrückt. Kronos (= Chronos, die Zeit) wird der Herrscher des zweiten Göttergeschlechts von der Mitte der lemutischen Zeit an bis herein in den Anfang der atlantischen Zeit. Die führenden Wesenheiten symbolisierten die Griechen zuerst unter dem Uranos, später unter dem Kronos, und dann gingen sie über auf Zeus. Zeus aber ist noch einer derjenigen Führer, welche ihre Schule nicht auf der Erde durchgemacht haben. Er ist noch einer, der zu den Unsterblichen gehört, wie eben die ganzen griechischen Götter noch zu den Unsterblichen gehörten.
Die sterbliche Menschheit soll sich während der fünften Rasse auf eigene Füße stellen. Diese Menschheit wird repräsentiert durch den Prometheus. Sie erst brachte die menschlichen Künste und die Urkunst des Feuers. Auf sie ist Zeus eifersüchtig, da die Menschen heranwachsen zu ihren eigenen Eingeweihten, die in der sechsten Wurzeltasse die Führung in die Hand nehmen werden. Das muß sich aber die Menschheit erst erkaufen. Daher muß ihr Ureingeweihter die ganzen Leiden zunächst auf sich nehmen.
Prometheus ist der Ureingeweihte der fünften Wurzelrasse, derjenige, der nicht nur in die Weisheit, sondern auch in die Tat eingeweiht ist. Er macht die ganzen Leiden durch, und er wird befreit durch denjenigen, der heranreift, um die Menschheit allmählich frei zu machen und sie hinauszuheben über das Mineralische.
So stellen uns die Sagen die großen kosmischen Wahrheiten dar. Deshalb sagte ich Ihnen auch im Eingang: derjenige, der zur dritten Deutung aufsteigt, vermag sie wieder wörtlich zu nehmen... [Es folgen einige unklare Sätze, vgl. unter Hinweise.] Bei der Prometheussage haben Sie das Fressen des Geiers an der Leber. Das ist ganz wörtlich zu nehmen. Der Geier frißt wirklich an der Leber der fünften Wurzelrasse. Es ist der Kampf des Magens mit der Leber. In jedem einzelnen Menschen wiederholt sich während der fünften Wurzelrasse dieser prometheische Leidenskampf. Vollständig wörtlich ist das zu nehmen, was hier in der Prometheussage ausgedrückt ist. Wäre dieser Kampf nicht da, dann wäre das Schicksal der fünften Rasse ein ganz anderes.
Es gibt also drei Ausdeutungen der Sagen: erstens die exoterischwörtliche, zweitens die allegorische - der Kampf der menschlichen Natur -, drittens die okkulte Bedeutung, wo wieder eine wörtliche Interpretation der Mythen eintritt. Daraus können Sie ersehen, daß diese Sagen alle — wenigstens alle diejenigen, welche eine solche Bedeutung haben - aus den Mysterienschulen herrühren und nichts anderes sind als die Wiedergabe dessen, was in den Mysterienschulen als das große Drama des Menschheitsschicksals dargestellt worden ist. Wie ich Ihnen bei den Druidenmysterien zeigen konnte, daß [die Sage von] Baldur nichts anderes darstellt als das, was im Inneren der Druidenmysterien sich vollzogen hat, so haben Sie im Prometheus das, was der griechische Mysterienschüler im Inneren der Mysterien erlebt hat, um Kraft und Energie zum Leben in der Zukunft zu gewinnen.
4. The Legend of Prometheus
Last time, I attempted to demonstrate 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 will come to understand the development of humanity in ever greater depth.
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.
First, legends live in a particular people, and they are taken exoterically, outwardly, literally. Then disbelief in this literal interpretation of 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.
You will find something about this in a chapter in the second volume of The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, and from this you will also see the profound 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.
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 deity, 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 the sons 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.
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 the Caucasus and had to endure great suffering there for a long time.
We are also told that the gods, led by Zeus, then had Hephaestus, the god of blacksmithing, make a female statue. This female statue was endowed with all the characteristics that are the external decoration of the human race of the fifth root race. This female statue was Pandora. Pandora was persuaded to bring 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 gifts of the gods. Everything was poured out upon humanity, except for one thing: hope. These gifts are for the most part plagues and sufferings for humanity; only hope was left in Pandora's box.
Prometheus is chained to the Caucasus, and a vulture gnaws at his liver. 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. However, he does not reveal it, even though Zeus sends the messenger of the gods, Hermes, to him.
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, who performed the twelve labors. The performance of these twelve labors is the achievement of an initiate. They are the twelve initiation trials, expressed symbolically. It is also said of Heracles that he was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. He is able to save Prometheus. But someone else had to sacrifice himself, and the centaur Chiron sacrificed himself for Prometheus. He was already suffering from an incurable disease. He was half animal, half human. He suffered death and Prometheus was thus saved. This is the outer structure of the Prometheus legend.
This legend contains the entire history of the fifth root race, and it contains real mystery truth. This legend was actually told as a legend in Greece. But it was also actually portrayed in the mysteries, so that the mystery student could see the fate of Prometheus before him. And in this they were to see the past and future of the entire fifth root race. You can only understand this if you take one thing into account.
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.
You must now understand this difference. There is a great difference between the leaders of the two previous races and the leaders of our fifth root race. The leaders of those 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.
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 impetus 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 who also brought their maturity to our Earth.
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 race, 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 the other worlds, will hand over the leadership of humanity to the Earth brother.
With the dawn of our fifth root race, everything we call the development of the arts coincides. 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 engineers will agree with me when I say that without fire, none of our technology would be possible, so that we can say that the invention of fire was the fundamental invention, the impetus for all other inventions.
You must also take into account that, at the time when the Prometheus myth 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 humanity of the fifth 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.
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 you have the two activities of human thinking clearly distinguished in 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. This kind of 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. People of the fifth root race still think mainly like Epimetheus today.
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.
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 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 race must seek his development on the purely physical plane. He is bound to inorganic, mineral forces.
Try to get an overview of what it means when we speak of the technology of the fifth race. What is it for? If you gain 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 human egoism, human personal interest, to which all these powers of invention and discovery of the fifth root race are ultimately applied.
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 are they used for? 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. That 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.
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 principles are related.
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 emerged 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.
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 has developed its activity in the formation of the organs of nutrition, 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.
If you look at the human being, first in his physical foundation, secondly in his etheric double body, and thirdly in his astral body, you have the foundation which, as you can see, 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. Here the human being is already freeing itself 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.
Moving on to the higher manas, it has an occult relationship to the human heart and blood. Buddhi 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.
These are the seven occult relationships. If you consider these, we must emphasize those to the etheric double body and to Kama as the most important for our fifth 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. Their etheric double still had its original connection with everything etheric in the outer world, and through this they 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 humans used to work on Kama from Prana, they now have to work with Kama on the physical plane.
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, which actually consumes the forces of the fifth race. The vulture gnaws at the liver of man, at his foundation, and thus this force of the fifth race gnaws at the actual life force of man, because man is bound to the mineral nature, to Peter, the rock, the Caucasus. This is the price man had to pay for his similarity to Prometheus. That is why human beings must conquer their own nature so that they are no longer bound to the mineral, to the Caucasus.
Only those who emerge as human initiates during the fifth root race can bring liberation to bound humanity. Heracles, a human initiate, must himself venture to the Caucasus to free Prometheus. But in this way the initiates will lift humanity out of its bondage, and that which is doomed to destruction must sacrifice itself.
The human being who is still connected with 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 race as the liberation by the initiates, by the initiates of the fifth race.
It is said that in the Greek mysteries, people were told their future. However, this was not understood as a vague, abstract account 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 Prometheus.
One 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 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, descended into matter and at the same time entered into 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 Greeks first symbolized the leading beings under Uranus, later under Kronos, and then they passed over to Zeus. Zeus, however, is still one of those leaders who did not go through their schooling on Earth. He is still one of the immortals, just as all the Greek gods still belonged to the immortals.
During the fifth 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 them, because they are growing up to become his 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.
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... [Some unclear sentences follow, see Notes.] 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 race would be completely different.
There are thus 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.