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The Foundations of Esotericism
GA 93a

4 October 1905, Berlin

Lecture IX

We will try to understand the physical body somewhat more exactly. At the present time we distinguish within the constitution of man four members: physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego. In studying the physical body we must now enter into greater detail. Man was already something when he came into the Old Saturn existence from a far-distant past. The physical body is the oldest and most developed member at present possessed by man. It is fourfold, which is not the case with the other bodies. On Old Saturn the groundwork was already laid as a germ. The etheric body was first added on the Old Sun. There the physical body evolved a stage further. The astral body was added on the Old Moon and the physical body underwent a still further stage of development. On the Earth the ego was now added, and the physical body went through a fourth stage. So we may say that the physical body is, as it were, in the fourth grade, while the etheric body is in the third, the astral body in the second and the ego in the first.

This is why it is only the physical body as such that has self-awareness, not the other three bodies. In the moment when man closes his physical sense organs in sleep, awareness of self ceases: when he opens them to what is outside, self-awareness returns. Man gains consciousness of self because his organs enable him to observe his surroundings. Only the physical body is so far advanced that it is able to open its organs to what is outside. If the etheric and astral bodies were able with their organs to observe their surroundings, man would attain self-awareness in them also. But for this, organs are necessary. The physical body has self-awareness only through its organs. These organs of the physical body are the senses.

Let us consider the senses in their successive stages. There are in fact twelve senses.34See The Wisdom of man of the Soul and of the Spirit. The Twelve Senses and the Seven Life Processes (Golden Blade 1975). Of these, five are already physical and two others will become physical during the further development of the Earth.

The five senses which we already have are smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing. In time man will develop two other senses into proper physical senses. These two are located in the pituitary gland (hypophysis) and the pineal gland (epiphysis). These will develop the two future senses in the physical body which will then have seven senses. To understand the successive stages of the senses we must make it clear that in so far as man is a being conscious of self, he is on a descending curve. So though the body is on an ascending curve, the senses are on a descending curve.35Theosophy teaches that all development proceeds in cycles, first on a descending curve from spiritual to material and then back on an ascending curve from material to spiritual. In a lecture to the same audience in Berlin 17.10.1904 Rudolf Steiner says ‘Theosophical writings have described certain evolutionary developments as ascending and descending ... during the descent development is slowed down while during the ascent it becomes ever faster. This accelerated development does not apply to the whole physical plane but only to individual beings.’ In a lecture in Berlin 27.1.1908 there is a further clarification: ‘... so that when we are at a particular moment of our development we can always say: Yes, there are certain forces there that draw into man and pass out of him, forces that descend and forces that rise. For every such force there is always a moment when it changes from a descending to an ascending force. All forces that become ascending forces have been at first descending. They descend down to man, so to speak, and in man they achieve the strength to rise’.
In this sense ‘when the body is on the ascending curve the senses are on the descending curve’ should be understood as meaning that the physical body in general is on the rising curve because it has passed the deepest point of its material densification, while the senses are on the descending curve since there are two senses which still have to develop as physical senses.

Of the higher principles in man, Atma developed on Old Saturn, Buddhi on Old Sun and Manas on Old Moon. There was a time when the Monad assembled itself bit by bit, and then in the Lemurian Age entered into its self-constructed house. Now the Monad has descended to the fourth stage, Atma, Buddhi, Manas, Kama-Manas. This descending curve is expressed in the development of the senses. Actually, in the beginning, on Old Saturn, only one sense was present, the sense of smell. The senses that developed later had to descend from higher to ever lower regions.

In Nature we differentiate the solid, the fluid, the gaseous, the warmth ether, light ether, chemical ether and the life ether. These are the seven stages of matter. In his descent man experienced these stages from above downwards. At the beginning of evolution the first human life-germ could only manifest itself in the Life Ether. What corresponds to this stage as sense, is the sense of smell. Then man possessed the first sense, that of smell, of which only an after effect is present today. The solid has its life, as we saw a few days ago on the Maha-para-nirvana plane, the fluid on the Para-nirvana plane, the gaseous on the Nirvana plane, the Warmth Ether on the Buddhi plane, the Light Ether on the Mental plane, the Chemical Ether on the astral plane, the Life Ether on the physical plane. We can therefore also speak of the atomistic ether.

Correspondences of the Planes

Conditions of Matter

The Senses

1. Physical plane

Life ether

Smell

2. Astral plane

Chemical ether

Taste

3. Mental plane

Light ether

Sight

4. Buddhi or Shushupti plane

Warmth ether

Touch

5. Nirvana plane

Gaseous, Air

Hearing

6. Para-nirvana plane

Fluid

Pituitary gland

7. Maha-para-nirvana plane

Solid

Pineal gland

An object can only be smelt when it impinges on the organ of smell, comes into contact with it. The organ of smell must unite itself with the material. To smell means to perceive with a sense that enters into a relationship with the material itself.

As second stage we have the Chemical Ether. Here the sense of taste develops. This depends on dissolving what is to be tasted. We have to do, not with matter itself, but with what is made out of it. This is a chemical, physical process through which matter is changed into something different. The tongue can do this: it can first dissolve and then taste.

The third stage is to be found in the Light Ether. There sight develops. Now we do not perceive what is broken down by chemical, physical processes, but we perceive a picture of the object which is brought about by the external light.

The fourth is the Warmth Ether. In this, the sense of touch is developed. Here one no longer perceives a picture. Warmth is a passing condition of the body, a condition experienced only in the moment. We are speaking here of the sense of touch as the perception of warmth and cold; it is in fact a ‘Warmth sense’.

Fifthly we have what is of the nature of air. This corresponds to the sense of hearing. Here we no longer perceive a condition of the body in question, but what the body says to us. Now we enter into the inner nature of the body. At the sound of a bell it is not the bell itself that interests us, not the outer form, the matter, but what it has to disclose of its inner nature. Hearing is a uniting with what reveals itself as the spiritual in matter. At this stage the life of the senses goes over from the passive to the active. The passively received sound becomes in man active in speech. Through speech man gives utterance to his soul being.

As the sixth stage we have the fluid element. The sense organ corresponding to the fluid is the pituitary gland. This is situated in the brain in an elongated cylindrical form.

As seventh stage we have the solid. The appropriate sense organ is the pineal gland.

As now, when man speaks he influences the air, so later he will gain an influence over what is fluid.36For further clarification of this passage see lecture 12.6.1907 Occult Seals and Pillars (typescript). The ‘I think’, and thought in general, will express itself in the air and indeed in forms, for example as crystals. At the next stage feeling will also be involved with thinking. Development will work backwards. The warmth of the heart will then express itself in oscillations, and flow outwards together with thought. And the last stage will be achieved by man when he will create actual beings which remain; when through the word he will externalise what he wills. The expression of feeling is merely a transition. When man becomes creative through the will, then the beings which he brings forth will have actual existence.

In times to come man will bring forth into his surroundings what he feels. This will be imparted to the fluid element. The entire fluid element of the planet which will follow next (the future Jupiter) will be an expression of what people feel. Today man sends out words; they are inscribed into the Akasha. There they remain, even though the airwaves vanish. Out of these words the Future Jupiter will later be formed. When therefore today man uses evil, blasphemous language, then on Jupiter terrible formations will be brought about. This is why one should be so very careful of what one says, and why it is so immensely important that man should be master of his speech. In the future man will also send out his feelings; the conditions of the fluids on Jupiter will be a result of feelings on the Earth. What man speaks today will give Jupiter its form; what he feels will engender its inner warmth; what he wills determines the separate beings inhabiting Jupiter. The Future Jupiter will be constructed out of the basic powers of the human soul.

Just as today we can trace the rock formation of the Earth back to earlier conditions, so will the rock formation of the Future Jupiter be the result of our words. The ocean of Jupiter, the warmth of Jupiter, will arise out of the feelings of present-day humanity. The beings of Jupiter will arise out of human will. Thus the inhabitants of a previous planet create the basic conditions for its successor. And beings who today still [Gap in text ...] hover over the earth, as was once the case with the Monads, will enter into incarnation on the Future Jupiter. There will then exist a kind of Jupiter-Lemurian race. Beings will be there which we have created as the Pitris did. Just as we inhabited the grotesque forms of the Old Moon, so these beings will inhabit the forms which we develop by means of our pineal gland.

We are building the house for future Monads. A similar procedure took place when the development of the human being led over from the Old Moon to the Earth. This makes absolutely clear how everything external is actually created from within outwards.

It is difficult to distinguish the pure physical body from what has been formed through human error. A hunchback owes his deformity to the astral, to Karma. The external form, the physiognomy and so on, are dependent on Karma. Modifications of the physical body are therefore dependent on the higher bodies. When one eliminates everything that depends on Karma we find that the physical body is in fact wisely ordered. All forms of illness are errors which find their expression in the physical body. All illnesses have been wrong-doing in the past, all wrong-doing will be illness in the future. When human beings become truly worthy, the bodies of the beings they create will be equally imbued with wisdom.

All wisdom, feeling and will, in the next evolution, will actually be present as form and being. The physical body is called a temple in all ancient religions because its structure is so filled with wisdom. It is not correct to speak of the physical body as the lower nature, for what is lower in man does in fact lie in the higher bodies which today are still in infancy.

Here we can consider an important karmic connection. We live in a materialistic age and this is the result of a preceding age. This materialistic age has accomplished much, not only outwardly but also inwardly. We may think for instance of the decrease in mortality through hygienic measures. This is actually a step forward, brought about by hygienic means. Such external progress is always a karmic result of progress which earlier has been made inwardly. These steps forward in the physical are the result of inner steps forward in the Middle Ages. Today therefore it would be quite wrong to look back on the ‘dark’ Middle Ages. Our most significant materialists have been educated idealistically; for instance, Haeckel, Büchner, Moleschott. This is why their systems are thought out so admirably; but this they owe to their idealistic education. Present day materialism is actually the outer expression of the preceding idealistic period.

Now too we must work in preparation for the future. Just as the karmic result of the earlier idealistic period made its appearance in materialism, so again a new beginning must be made in regard to Idealism and spiritual impulses. It was in accordance with this law that the leading personalities acted when they called the Theosophical Movement into life.

The 14th century was the time of the creation of towns. Within a few hundred years independent towns had developed in all civilised European countries. The burgher is the founder of materialism in practical life. This comes to expression in the Lohengrin myth.37The Lohengrin figure first appears in Eschenbach's ‘Parzifal’ as a knight of the Grail and son of Parzifal. The saga was further developed in a poem in middle high German dating from the end of the 13th century. A simpler form is Conrad von Würzburg's Schwanenritter. See also Rudolf Steiner's lecture 29.3.1906 on Parzifal and Lohengrin (Typescript). Lohengrin, the emissary of the Grail Lodge, was the wise leader who took hold in the Middle Ages and prepared the way for the establishment of towns. The swan was his symbol; the initiate of the Third Grade is the Swan. Consciousness is always represented as something feminine. Elsa of Brabant represents the consciousness of the materialistic civic sense. The spiritual life had, however, to be saved; this happened through the fact that Christian Rosenkreuz38See: The Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz lecture 1912-13. founded the Rosicrucian Order. Spiritual life remained in the Mystery Schools. Today materialism has been driven to uttermost extremes. This is why in our time something new must break in. At that time the same movement took hold which today through Theosophy makes popular the elementary teachings of spiritual life in order to create once again a new inner impulse that will later be able to reveal itself outwardly. The inner always comes later to outer expression. An illness is the karmic result of earlier wrongdoing, for instance, lying. When something of this kind becomes outer reality, it manifests as illness. Epidemics can be traced far back to the misdeeds of a people. They are something imperfect which from being inward has been exteriorised. The sixth sense is the Kundalini light radiating warmth;39see lecture 18.10.1904 in History of the Middle Ages (Typescript) the seventh is the synthesizing sense.

IX

Wir wollen versuchen, den physischen Körper etwas genauer zu verstehen. Bei der Zusammensetzung des Menschen unterscheiden wir gegenwärtig vier Glieder: den physischen Körper, den Ätherkörper, den Astralkörper und das Ich. Bei dem Studium des physischen Körpers müssen wir jetzt auf Einzelheiten eingehen. Der Mensch war schon etwas, als er von einem sehr weit zurückliegenden Dasein zum Saturndasein herüberkam. Der physische Körper ist das älteste und vollkommenste Glied, das der Mensch heute hat. Der physische Körper ist vierteilig, das sind die anderen Körper nicht. Er war schon auf dem Saturn in der Anlage entwickelt. Der Ätherkörper kam erst auf der Sonne hinzu. Da entwickelte sich der physische Körper zu größerer Vollkommenheit. Der Astralkörper kam auf dem Monde dazu; da machte der physische Körper noch eine weitere Stufe durch. Auf der Erde kam nun noch das Ich hinzu, und der physische Körper machte eine vierte Stufe durch. So ist der physische Körper sozusagen schon in der vierten Schulklasse, während der Ätherkörper in der dritten, der Astralkörper in der zweiten und das Ich in der ersten Klasse sind.

Daher hat nur der physische Körper als solcher ein Selbstbewußtsein, die anderen drei Körper nicht. In dem Augenblick, wo der Mensch seine physischen Sinnesorgane schließt, wenn er schläft, hört das Selbstbewußtsein auf; wenn er sie nach außen aufschließt, hat er Selbstbewußtsein. Selbstbewußtsein gewinnt man dadurch, daß man mit seinen Organen die Umgebung beobachten kann. Nur der physische Körper ist so weit, daß er seine Organe nach außen aufschließen kann. Wenn der Äther- und der Astralkörper mit ihren Organen die Umgebung beobachten könnten, würde der Mensch auch in ihnen Selbstbewußtsein erlangen. Aber dazu gehören Organe. Der physische Körper hat sein Selbstbewußtsein auch nur durch seine Organe. Diese Organe des physischen Körpers sind die Sinne.

Wir wollen die Sinne in ihrer Stufenfolge betrachten. In Wahrheit gibt es zwölf Sinne. Davon sind fünf schon physisch und zwei andere werden während der weiteren Entwickelung auf der Erde noch physisch werden. Die fünf Sinne, die wir schon haben, sind Geruch, Geschmack, Sehen, Tasten, Hören. Zwei andere Sinne wird der Mensch nach und nach noch zu richtigen physischen Sinnen entwickeln. Diese zwei sind veranlagt im Schleimkörper (Hypophyse) und in der Zirbeldrüse (Epiphyse). Diese werden die zwei künftigen Sinne noch herausbilden in dem physischen Körper. Sieben Sinne kommen in Betracht für den physischen Körper. Um die Sinne in ihrer Stufenfolge zu verstehen, müssen wir uns klarmachen, daß der Mensch, sofern er ein selbstbewußtes Wesen ist, auf einem absteigenden Bogen ist. Wenn auch der Körper auf dem aufsteigenden Bogen ist, so sind doch die Sinne auf dem absteigenden.

Von den oberen Grundteilen des Menschen entwickelte sich auf dem Saturn Atma, auf der Sonne Buddhi und auf dem Monde Manas. Die Monade hat sich einst auch stückweise zusammengefügt und zog dann in der lemurischen Zeit in das selbstgezimmerte Haus ein. Jetzt ist die Monade heruntergestiegen auf die vierte Stufe: Atma, Buddhi, Manas, Kama-Manas. Der absteigende Bogen drückt sich in der Sinnesentwickelung aus. Eigentlich war anfangs auf dem Saturn nur ein Sinn vorhanden, der Geruchssinn. Die später entstehenden Sinne müssen von höheren zu immer tieferen Regionen herabsteigen.

In der Natur unterscheiden wir das Feste, das Flüssige, das Luftförmige, den Wärmeäther, den Lichtäther, den chemischen Äther und den Lebensäther. Das sind die sieben Stufen des Stofflichen. Beim Heruntersteigen hat der Mensch diese Stufen von oben nach unten durchgemacht. Als die Entwickelung begann, konnte der erste menschliche Lebenskeim sich erst im Lebensätherischen äußern. Dem entspricht als Sinn der Geruch. Da hatte der Mensch den ersten Sinn, den Geruchssinn, von dem jetzt nur noch ein Nachklang vorhanden ist. Das Feste hat, wie wir vor einigen Tagen gesehen haben, sein Leben eigentlich auf dem Mahaparinirvanaplan, das Flüssige auf dem Parinirvanaplan, das Luftförmige auf dem Nirvanaplan, das Wärmeätherische auf dem Buddhiplan, das Lichtätherische auf dem Mentalplan, das Chemischätherische auf dem Astralplan, das Lebensätherische auf dem physischen Plan; daher können wir da auch von dem atomistischen Äther sprechen.

Verhältnisse der Plane Stoffzustände und Sinne
Physischer Plan Lebensätherisches Geruch
Astralplan Chemischätherisches Geschmack
Mentalplan Lichtätherisches Sehen
Buddhi- oder Shushuptiplan Wärmeätherisches Tasten
Nirvanaplan Gasartiges, Luft Hören
Parinirvanaplan Flüssiges Schleimkörper
Mahaparinirvanaplan Festes Zirbeldrüse

Ein Körper kann nur dann gerochen werden, wenn er bis an das Geruchsorgan herantritt, mit ihm in Berührung kommt. Das Geruchsorgan muß sich mit dem Stoffe selbst vereinigen. Riechen heißt, mit einem Sinn wahrnehmen, der mit dem Stoffe selbst eine Verwandtschaft eingeht.

Als zweite Stufe haben wir das Chemischätherische. Da entwickelte sich der Geschmackssinn. Der beruht darauf, daß das, was man schmecken soll, sich auflöst. Da haben wir es nicht mit dem Stoff selbst zu tun, sondern mit dem, was aus dem Stoff gemacht wird. Es ist dies ein chemisch-physischer Prozeß, durch den erst etwas anderes aus dem Stoffe gemacht wird. Die Zunge kann das vornehmen, sie kann erst auflösen und dann schmecken.

Die dritte Stufe befindet sich im Lichtätherischen. Dort entwickelt sich das Sehen. Da nehmen wir nicht wahr, was chemisch-physisch zerlegt ist, sondern wir nehmen wahr ein Bild des Gegenstandes, welches durch das äußere Licht zubereitet wird.

Das vierte ist das Wärmeätherische. In dem entwickelt sich der Tastsinn. Da nimmt man nicht mehr ein Bild wahr, sondern weniger als ein Bild. Die Wärme ist ein am Körper vorübergehender Zustand, ein dem Körper nur in dem Momente eigener Zustand. Vom Tastsinn sprechen wir hier als Wärme und Kälte empfindend, er ist eigentlich «Wärmesinn».

Fünftens haben wir das Luftförmige. Das entspricht dem Gehörsinn. Da nehmen wir nicht mehr einen Zustand des betreffenden Körpers wahr, sondern was uns der Körper sagt. Da gehen wir in das Innere des Körpers hinein. Beim Ton der Glocke interessiert uns diese selbst nicht mehr, nicht das Äußere der Glocke, der Stoff, sondern was sie von ihrem Inneren zu verraten hat. Das Hören ist ein SichVerbinden mit dem, was sich als das Geistige im Stofflichen ankündigt. Auf dieser Stufe geht die Sinnestätigkeit vom Passiven ins Aktive über. Der passiv aufgenommene Ton wird im Menschen aktiv in der Sprache. Darin gibt der Mensch das Seelische von sich.

Als sechstes haben wir das Flüssige. Der Sinn für das Flüssige ist der Schleimkörper. Dieser ist im Gehirn lokalisiert, in einem länglich zylindrischen Körper.

Als siebentes folgt das Feste. Die Zirbeldrüse ist der Sinn für das Feste.

Später wird der Mensch, so wie er jetzt spricht und auf die Luft Einfluß hat, auch auf das Flüssige einen Einfluß gewinnen. Das «ich denke» und der Gedanke überhaupt bringt sich in der Luft zum Ausdruck, und zwar in Formen wie zum Beispiel ein Kristall. Auf der nächsten Stufe wirkt auch das Gefühl in dem Gedanken mit. Die Entwickelung geht zurück. Die Wärme des Herzens drückt sich dann in Schwingungen aus und fließt mit dem Gedanken zusammen nach außen. Und die letzte Stufe hat der Mensch erreicht, wenn er wirkliche Wesen schafft, die bleibend sind; wenn er durch das Wort den Willen hinausbringt. Das Gefühl hinauszubringen, ist ein bloßer Übergang. Wenn der Mensch durch den Willen schaffend wird, dann werden die Wesen, die er hervorbringt, wirklich da sein.

Der Mensch wird später in die Umgebung hinausbringen, was er fühlt. Das wird sich dem Element des Flüssigen mitteilen. Das ganze Flüssige des nächstfolgenden Planeten (des Jupiter) wird ein Ausdruck dessen werden, was die Menschen fühlen. Heute sendet der Mensch die Worte hinaus; sie sind im Akasha eingeschrieben. Da bleiben sie, wenn auch die Luftwellen zerrinnen. Daraus wird später der Jupiter geformt. Wenn also der Mensch heute heillose Reden führt, so werden auf dem Jupiter heillose Baugerüste aufgeführt werden! Darum muß so viel geachtet werden auf das, was man spricht, darum muß so viel Wert darauf gelegt werden, daß der Mensch seine Rede beherrscht. Später wird der Mensch auch sein Gefühl hinaussenden; der Zustand der Jupiterflüssigkeit wird ein Ergebnis der Gefühle auf Erden sein. Was der Mensch heute spricht, wird dem Jupiter die Gestalt geben; was er fühlt, wird ihm die innere Wärme geben. Was nun der Mensch heute in seinen Willen hineinlegt, das werden die einzelnen Wesen sein, die den Jupiter bewohnen werden. Der Jupiter wird aufgebaut werden von den Grundkräften der menschlichen Seele.

Wie wir heute das Felsengerüst der Erde ableiten können aus früheren Zuständen, so wird das Felsengerüst des Jupiter das Ergebnis unserer Worte sein. Das Meer des Jupiters, die Wärme des Jupiters entsteht aus den Gefühlen der jetzigen Menschen. Die Wesen des Jupiters entstehen aus dem menschlichen Willen. So schafft der Bewohner des vorhergehenden Planeten tatsächlich die Grundlage für den nächstfolgenden. Und Wesen, die heute noch über... (Lücke im Text) schweben, wie einstmals die Monade über unserer Erde, werden sich auf dem Jupiter darin verkörpern. Es wird dann eine Art jupiterlemurische Rasse geben. Dann werden die Wesen da sein, die wir als die Pitris geschaffen haben. So wie wir die grotesken Gestalten vom Monde bezogen haben, werden diese Wesen dann die Gestalten bewohnen, die wir mit unserer Zirbeldrüse entwickeln.

Wir bauen weiter an dem Hause für nachfolgende, zukünftige Monaden. Eine ganz ähnliche Prozedur lag zugrunde, als der Mensch vom Monde sich zur Erde herüberentwickelte. Das wird so recht anschaulich machen, wie alles Äußere im Grunde genommen von innen heraus geschaffen wird.

Der bloß physische Körper ist schwer zu sondern von dem, was sich durch des Menschen Verirrungen gebildet hat. Ein Buckliger hat seinen Buckel dem Astralen, dem Karma zu verdanken. Die äußere Gestalt, die Physiognomie und so weiter sind vom Karma abhängig. Was den physischen Körper modifiziert, ist also von den höheren Körpern abhängig. Wenn man alles abzieht, was von dem Karma abhängt, so ist der physische Körper tatsächlich weise eingerichtet. Alles was krank ist, sind Verirrungen, die sich im physischen Körper ausdrücken. Alle Krankheiten sind Unrechte in der Vergangenheit gewesen; alles Unrecht wird Krankheit in der Zukunft sein. Wenn die Menschen würdig sein werden, werden sie die festen Wesen, die sie schaffen werden, auch zu ebensolchen weisheitsvollen Körpern schaffen.

Alle Weisheit, Gefühl und Wille werden in der nächsten Evolution wirklich als Gestalt und Wesen da sein. In allen alten Religionen wird der physische Körper, da er so weisheitsvoll aufgebaut ist, ein Tempel genannt. Es ist nicht recht, vom physischen Körper als von der niederen Natur zu sprechen, denn das Niedrige im Menschen liegt eigentlich in den höheren Körpern, die heute noch babyhaft sind.

Hier können wir auch einen wichtigen karmischen Zusammenhang betrachten. Wir leben in einer materialistischen Zeit und sie ist die Folge einer vorhergehenden Zeit. Diese materialistische Zeit hat nicht nur äußerlich, sondern auch innerlich viel geleistet. Man denke zum Beispiel an so etwas wie die Abnahme der Sterblichkeit durch hygienische Maßnahmen. Das ist in der Tat ein Fortschritt, durch die äußeren hygienischen Einrichtungen hervorgebracht. Ein solcher äußerer Fortschritt ist immer eine karmische Wirkung der Fortschritte, die früher im Inneren gemacht wurden. Diese physischen Fortschritte sind die Folge der innerlichen Fortschritte des Mittelalters. Es wird deshalb heute sehr zu Unrecht auf das «finstere» Mittelalter zurückgeblickt. Unsere bedeutendsten Materialisten sind zuerst idealistisch erzogen worden, zum Beispiel Faeckel, Büchner, Moleschott. Daher sind ihre Systeme gedanklich so schön geschlossen, aber das verdanken sie ihrer idealistischen Erziehung. Der heutige Materialismus ist in der Tat der äußere Ausdruck der vorhergehenden idealistischen Periode.

Man muß auch jetzt für die Zukunft vorarbeiten. Als die karmische Wirkung der früheren idealistischen Periode im Materialismus eintrat, da mußte auch ein neuer Anfang des Idealismus und des Spiritualismus gemacht werden. Nach diesem Gesetz richteten sich die führenden Individualitäten, als sie die theosophische Bewegung ins Leben riefen.

Im 14. Jahrhundert stand man mitten in der Zeit der Städtegründung. In wenigen Jahrhunderten waren in allen europäischen Kulturländern selbständige Städte entstanden. Der Bürger ist nun der Begründer des Materialismus im praktischen Leben. Im Mythus von Lohengrin wurde dies zum Ausdruck gebracht. Lohengrin, der Abgesandte der Gralsloge, war der weise Führer, der im Mittelalter eingriff und die Städtegründung vorbereitet hat. Er hat den Schwan bei sich als Symbol; der Initiierte des dritten Grades ist der Schwan. Das Bewußtsein wird immer als etwas Weibliches dargestellt. Elsa von Brabant repräsentiert das Bewußtsein des materialistischen Städtesinns. Das spirituelle Leben aber muß gerettet werden; das geschieht dadurch, daß Christian Rosenkreutz den Rosenkreuzerorden begründete. Das spirituelle Leben blieb in den Geheimschulen. Heute nun ist der Materialismus auf die Spitze getrieben. Darum mußte in unserer Zeit ein neuer Einschlag kommen. Dieselbe Bewegung griff damals ein, die heute durch die Theosophie die elementaren Lehren des spirituellen Lebens populär macht, um wieder ein neues Inneres zu schaffen, das sich später im Äußeren zeigen kann. Das Innere drückt sich immer später im Äußeren aus. Eine Krankheit ist die karmische Folge einer früheren verkehrten Tat, zum Beispiel einer Lüge. Wenn eine solche real wird, so wird sie eine Krankheit. Seuchen gehen auf weit zurückliegendes Unrecht der Völker zurück. Sie sind etwas Unvollkommenes, das von innen nach außen gerückt ist.

Der sechste Sinn ist das Kundalinilicht im ausstrahlenden Wärmegefühl; der siebente ist der synthetische Sinn.

IX

Let us try to understand the physical body in more detail. We currently distinguish four components in the human being: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the ego. In studying the physical body, we must now go into detail. Human beings were already something when they came over to Saturn from a very distant existence. The physical body is the oldest and most perfect member that human beings have today. The physical body has four parts, which the other bodies do not have. It was already developed in its rudimentary form on Saturn. The etheric body was only added on the Sun. There, the physical body developed to greater perfection. The astral body was added on the Moon, where the physical body underwent a further stage of development. On Earth, the I was added, and the physical body underwent a fourth stage of development. Thus, the physical body is, so to speak, already in the fourth grade, while the etheric body is in the third, the astral body in the second, and the I in the first.

Therefore, only the physical body as such has self-consciousness; the other three bodies do not. The moment a person closes their physical sense organs when they sleep, self-consciousness ceases; when they open them to the outside world, they have self-consciousness. Self-consciousness is gained by being able to observe one's surroundings with one's organs. Only the physical body is capable of opening its organs to the outside world. If the etheric and astral bodies could observe their surroundings with their organs, human beings would also gain self-awareness in them. But this requires organs. The physical body also has its self-awareness only through its organs. These organs of the physical body are the senses.

Let us consider the senses in their sequence. In truth, there are twelve senses. Five of these are already physical, and two others will become physical during further development on Earth. The five senses we already have are smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. Humans will gradually develop two other senses into true physical senses. These two are predisposed in the mucous body (hypophysis) and in the pineal gland (epiphysis). These will develop the two future senses in the physical body. Seven senses are possible for the physical body. In order to understand the senses in their sequence, we must realize that human beings, insofar as they are self-conscious beings, are on a descending arc. Even if the body is on an ascending arc, the senses are on a descending one.

From the upper fundamental parts of the human being, Atma developed on Saturn, Buddhi on the Sun, and Manas on the Moon. The monad also came together piece by piece and then moved into the self-built house in the Lemurian period. Now the monad has descended to the fourth level: Atma, Buddhi, Manas, Kama-Manas. The descending arc is expressed in the development of the senses. Actually, in the beginning, only one sense existed on Saturn, the sense of smell. The senses that developed later had to descend from higher to ever deeper regions.

In nature, we distinguish between the solid, the liquid, the gaseous, the ether of warmth, the ether of light, the chemical ether, and the ether of life. These are the seven stages of matter. In descending, human beings have passed through these stages from top to bottom. When development began, the first human germ of life could only express itself in the life ether. This corresponds to the sense of smell. Human beings then had their first sense, the sense of smell, of which only an echo now remains. As we saw a few days ago, the solid has its life on the Mahaparinirvana plane, the liquid on the Parinirvana plane, the gaseous on the Nirvana plane, the heat etheric on the Buddhi plane, the light etheric on the mental plane, the chemical etheric on the astral plane, and the life etheric on the physical plane; Therefore, we can also speak of the atomistic ether.

Conditions of the Plane States of Matter Senses
Physical plane Life etheric Smell
Astral plane Chemical etheric Taste
Mental plane Light etheric Sight
Buddhi or Shushupti plane Heat etheric Touch
Nirvana plane Gaseous, air Hearing
Parinirvana plane Liquid Mucous body
Mahaparinirvana plane Solid Pineal gland

A body can only be smelled when it approaches the olfactory organ and comes into contact with it. The olfactory organ must unite with the substance itself. Smelling means perceiving with a sense that enters into a relationship with the substance itself.

The second stage is the chemical-etheric. This is where the sense of taste developed. It is based on the fact that what is to be tasted dissolves. Here we are not dealing with the substance itself, but with what is made from the substance. This is a chemical-physical process through which something else is made from the substance. The tongue can do this; it can first dissolve and then taste.

The third stage is in the light etheric. This is where vision develops. Here we do not perceive what has been chemically and physically broken down, but rather we perceive an image of the object, which is prepared by the external light.

The fourth is the heat etheric. This is where the sense of touch develops. Here we no longer perceive an image, but less than an image. Heat is a temporary state of the body, a state that is only present in the body at that moment. We speak here of the sense of touch as perceiving heat and cold, but it is actually a “sense of warmth.”

Fifth, we have the airy. This corresponds to the sense of hearing. Here we no longer perceive a state of the body in question, but what the body tells us. Here we go inside the body. With the sound of the bell, we are no longer interested in the bell itself, not the exterior of the bell, the material, but what it has to reveal from within. Hearing is connecting with what announces itself as the spiritual in the material. At this stage, sensory activity transitions from passive to active. The passively received sound becomes active in humans in language. In this, humans express their soul.

Sixth, we have the fluid. The sense for the fluid is the mucous body. This is located in the brain, in an elongated cylindrical body.

Seventh comes the solid. The pineal gland is the sense for the solid.

Later, just as humans now speak and influence the air, they will also gain influence over the fluid. The “I think” and the thought itself are expressed in the air, in forms such as crystals, for example. At the next stage, feeling also plays a part in thought. Development goes backwards. The warmth of the heart is then expressed in vibrations and flows outward together with the thought. And humans reach the final stage when they create real beings that are permanent; when they express their will through the word. Expressing feelings is merely a transition. When human beings become creative through the will, the beings they bring forth will truly be there.

Human beings will later express what they feel in their surroundings. This will be communicated to the element of liquid. The entire liquid of the next planet (Jupiter) will become an expression of what human beings feel. Today, human beings send out words; they are inscribed in the Akasha. They remain there, even when the air waves dissipate. Jupiter will later be formed from this. So if people today speak recklessly, reckless scaffolding will be erected on Jupiter! That is why so much attention must be paid to what one says, why so much importance must be attached to people controlling their speech. Later, human beings will also send out their feelings; the state of the Jupiter fluid will be a result of the feelings on Earth. What human beings say today will give Jupiter its form; what they feel will give it its inner warmth. What human beings put into their will today will be the individual beings that will inhabit Jupiter. Jupiter will be built up from the fundamental forces of the human soul.

Just as we can deduce the rocky structure of the Earth today from earlier states, so the rocky structure of Jupiter will be the result of our words. The sea of Jupiter, the warmth of Jupiter, arises from the feelings of present-day human beings. The beings of Jupiter arise from the human will. In this way, the inhabitants of the previous planet actually create the foundation for the next one. And beings that still hover above... (gap in the text) today, as the monad once hovered above our Earth, will incarnate on Jupiter. There will then be a kind of Jupiter-Lemurian race. Then the beings that we have created as the Pitris will be there. Just as we have inhabited the grotesque forms of the Moon, these beings will then inhabit the forms that we develop with our pineal gland.

We continue to build the house for subsequent, future monads. A very similar procedure was at the basis of the development of man from the moon to the earth. This will make it very clear how everything external is basically created from within.

The mere physical body is difficult to separate from what has been formed by man's aberrations. A hunchback owes his hump to the astral, to karma. The outer form, the physiognomy, and so on, are dependent on karma. What modifies the physical body is therefore dependent on the higher bodies. If one subtracts everything that depends on karma, the physical body is actually wisely constructed. Everything that is sick is aberration expressed in the physical body. All illnesses have been injustices in the past; all injustice will be illness in the future. When people become worthy, they will create the solid beings they will create as equally wise bodies.

All wisdom, feeling, and will will truly be present in the next evolution as form and being. In all ancient religions, the physical body is called a temple because it is so wisely constructed. It is not right to speak of the physical body as the lower nature, for what is low in man actually lies in the higher bodies, which are still infantile today.

Here we can also consider an important karmic connection. We live in a materialistic age, which is the result of a previous age. This materialistic age has achieved a great deal, not only externally but also internally. Consider, for example, the decline in mortality through hygienic measures. This is indeed progress, brought about by external hygienic facilities. Such external progress is always a karmic effect of the progress that was made internally in the past. These physical advances are the result of the internal progress of the Middle Ages. It is therefore very wrong to look back on the “dark” Middle Ages today. Our most important materialists were initially educated to be idealistic, for example, Faeckel, Büchner, and Moleschott. That is why their systems are so beautifully coherent in their thinking, but they owe this to their idealistic education. Today's materialism is in fact the external expression of the preceding idealistic period.

We must also work now for the future. When the karmic effect of the earlier idealistic period entered into materialism, a new beginning of idealism and spiritualism had to be made. The leading individuals followed this law when they brought the theosophical movement into being.

The 14th century was the height of the city-building era. Within a few centuries, independent cities had sprung up in all European cultural regions. The citizen is now the founder of materialism in practical life. This was expressed in the myth of Lohengrin. Lohengrin, the emissary of the Grail Lodge, was the wise leader who intervened in the Middle Ages and prepared the way for the founding of cities. He has the swan as his symbol; the initiate of the third degree is the swan. Consciousness is always represented as something feminine. Elsa of Brabant represents the consciousness of the materialistic city spirit. But spiritual life must be saved; this happens through Christian Rosenkreutz founding the Rosicrucian Order. Spiritual life remained in the secret schools. Today, materialism has been taken to extremes. That is why a new impact had to come in our time. The same movement that is now popularizing the elementary teachings of spiritual life through theosophy intervened at that time in order to create a new inner life that can later manifest itself in the outer world. The inner always expresses itself later in the outer. An illness is the karmic consequence of a previous wrongdoing, for example, a lie. When such an act becomes real, it becomes an illness. Epidemics can be traced back to injustices committed by peoples long ago. They are something imperfect that has moved from the inner to the outer.

The sixth sense is the kundalini light in the radiating feeling of warmth; the seventh is the synthetic sense.