The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture XXIII

[ 1 ] Let us recall the moment when human beings in the middle of the Lemurian race rose to spirituality. Only then was fertilization with the spirit, with the monad, possible. Gradually, through separation from human beings, other beings had emerged from the chaotic earth and lived on earth as companions to human beings. Human beings had developed a physical body, an etheric body, and an astral body. The astral body had been purified and was then ready to receive Manas, Buddhi, and Atma.

[ 2 ] Everything on Earth came into being very gradually, so that humanity, which had no intellect and no ability to speak, arose from the indeterminate mass of the Earth. We now ask: How did this come about? A plant does not grow out of nothing. A seed has been sunk into the earth. The same was true of the human beings who were there at that time. Human beings also sprouted from the earth, and for this to happen, there had to be a seed on the earth. A similar entity had already existed once before. This seed human being had come into being on the old moon. There it passed into the seed state, went through a pralaya, and then reappeared on earth.

[ 3 ] The stage of development of the earth had three preliminary stages: (Saturn, Sun, and Moon). In the first three earth cycles, these three preliminary stages were briefly repeated. In the first earth epoch, the Saturn existence was repeated, in the second epoch the Sun existence, and in the third epoch the Moon existence. In the fourth cycle, the actual Earth existence emerged, and man had reached a slightly higher stage than on the Moon. On the Moon, his development was not yet complete, not yet pure enough to receive the monad. On the Moon, the astral body was still wild and passionate. It first had to purify itself on Earth in order to be able to receive the higher principles. This purification was completed in the middle of the Lemurian period.

[ 4 ] The last humans during the lunar existence are our physical ancestors. They initially developed a little further on Earth. The Earth humans of the pre-Lemurian period are the true descendants of the lunar inhabitants. That is why we also call the lunar inhabitants the fathers or Pitris of the Earth humans. These Earth humans were initially unable to use their front limbs for work. They were animal-like creatures of a certain great beauty. They were made of much softer material than today's physical matter; their matter was even softer than that which we now find in lower animals. It was translucent, and the inner fire shone through it. At the time when humans had gone through an earlier stage of development, they were even more beautiful and nobler in form.

[ 5 ] In the time that preceded the Lemurian era, we have the Hyperborean era on Earth, the era of the Sun people, the Apollo people. They were made of an even more noble and softer matter. Then we go back even further, to the very first race, the Polar people. They lived in the tropical polar climate at that time, a race that was able to reach a special height because they received remarkable help. The most beautiful forms of the Moon Pitris came down to Earth. The polar people were very similar to four-legged animals, but they were made of a soft, flexible material, similar to a jellyfish, but much warmer. The people with the best forms, the noblest components, were helped by something special at that time, namely that beings who had previously reached a higher level were still connected to the earth.

[ 6 ] In all esotericism, the sun is first recognized as a planet; it only later became a fixed star. The sequence of stages that the Earth has gone through is: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth. When the sun itself was a planet, everything that is now on the moon and on Earth was still in the sun. Later, the sun and moon separated from the Earth.

[ 7 ] Let us now think back to the time of the ancient Sun. At that time, everything that now lives on Earth lived on the Sun. These beings were very different in form at that time. Back then, human beings had only a physical body, which was far less dense than it is now, and an etheric body. The whole way of life of human beings at that time was plant-like. The beings lived in the light of the sun. At that time, this light came to them from the center of their own planet. They were very different from today's humans. Compared to today's humans, the sun humans stood on their heads and the light shone on their heads. Everything related to reproduction developed freely on the other side. Humans at that time stretched their legs into the air, so to speak. Plants have remained at this stage; they are still rooted in the ground today and stretch their reproductive organs, stamens and pistils, into the air (plants). These sun humans developed in seven different stages. They stand on the planet in the same way that today's plants are rooted in the earth. Then, during the third incarnation of the Earth, he became a moon human. He bent down: the vertical became horizontal (animal). The predisposition for a spine developed within him. The symbol for this is the tau = T. On Earth, he turned completely around. The symbol for this is the cross. The cross symbolizes the development from the sun through the moon to the Earth. On Earth, it has reached the cross in its uppermost beam. It continues to progress by carrying the cross on its back.

[ 8 ] The sun people had also reached a certain high level of development. There were also adepts of the sun who had progressed further than the other sun people. They went over to the moon. There, too, they had the opportunity to be higher than the moon people, and they developed to a very special height there. They were the ancestors of the earth people, but far ahead of the others. When, in the second epoch of the fourth globe, the Hyperboreans lived in their soft forms, these sons of the sun were able to incarnate and formed a particularly beautiful race. They were the Solar Pitris. They had already formed an upright form in the Hyperborean period. They completely transformed the Hyperborean body; the other humans would not have been capable of this at that time. In the Hyperborean period, the Solar Pitris became the beautiful Apollo humans, who were already upright in the second race.

[ 9 ] The sun contained everything that was later ejected as the moon and the earth. All life and all warmth flowed from the center of the sun. Then, in the next manvantara (the old moon), the following takes place: The sun emerges from the darkness of Pralaya. Part of the sun's matter wants to detach itself. First, a kind of biscuit shape is formed.

[ 10 ] Then one part detaches completely, and the two bodies travel side by side as the sun and moon. The sun retains the ability to shine and give warmth. The moon retained the ability to bring forth life. It could bring forth again the beings that had been on the sun, but they had to be illuminated and warmed by the sun. On the unilluminated moon, the beings had to turn toward the sun. All plants therefore turned around on the moon. The animals turned halfway around, and humans did so only halfway as well. But on the moon they received the astral body, the kama, as a substitute, and through this they developed warmth from within. At that time, the kama was still an essentially warming force. Therefore, they did not turn completely toward the sun even then. There was also life in the darkness. At that time, the moon also revolved around the sun, but not like our earth does now. The moon revolved around the sun in such a way that it always faced only one side of it. A lunar day therefore lasted as long as half a year does today. This created tremendous heat on one side and tremendous cold on the other.

[ 11 ] On the old moon, the predecessors of humans underwent a certain normal development. But there are also lunar adepts who are ahead of the rest of humanity. These Pitri beings at the end of the moon's development are much further ahead than the rest, similar to how adepts today are ahead of other humans.

[ 12 ] Now we come to the actual development of the Earth. In the next Pralaya, after the development of the Moon, the Moon fell back into the Sun. Together they went through the Pralaya. When the Earth emerged from the darkness, the entire mass of the Sun was one with it. At that time, the first or polar race began. Due to the conditions at that time, the former sun people are able to form this privileged race of sun sons, because the sun is still connected to the earth.

[ 13 ] During the Hyperborean period, the whole divides again. One part separates again and the earth emerges from the sun. At this point, the Kant-Laplace theory begins to apply. The state at that time is the Kant-Laplace primordial nebula. On the outside, this looked like the rings around Saturn. Now the second or Hyperborean race emerges. Gradually, the seeds of the moon people, the Pitris in various stages of perfection, emerge on Earth. At that time, they all still have the ability to reproduce from within themselves through self-fertilization.

[ 14 ] Then a second separation took place. With the moon, everything on Earth that is self-generating power disappears, so that now there are three bodies: sun, Earth, moon. The possibility of self-fertilization ceases; the moon has withdrawn what gave the possibility of self-fertilization. Now the moon stands outside, and we have beings that are no longer capable of reproducing through themselves, and now, in the Lemurian epoch, two sexes arise.

[ 15 ] Such developments only take place under the guidance of higher beings, the devas. The purpose of this is to ensure that development progresses in a certain way. The leader of the entire movement is the same deity that Hebrew tradition calls Yahweh, Jehovah. He was a moon deity. He had, in the highest sense, the power that had developed on the moon, and he strove to further develop humanity in this sense. Within the earthly world, Yahweh represents the deity who gives beings the possibility of physical reproduction. Everything else (intellect) was not part of Yahweh's intention. If Yahweh's intention had developed on its own, however, humans would one day have ceased to reproduce because the power of reproduction would have been exhausted. They would then have concerned themselves only with creating beautiful forms, because they were indifferent to the inner, intellectual aspect. Jehovah wanted to create beautifully formed humans, a kind of beautiful statues. According to his intention, the power of reproduction was to continue until it died out. He wanted to have a planet that carried only beautiful but completely rigid forms. If the Earth, with the Moon within it, had continued to develop, it would have developed into a rigid, icy form. Jehovah would have immortalized his planet as a monument to the intention of his development. This would undoubtedly have happened if those adepts who had rushed beyond the moon's development had not now come forward. They came forward at the same time. They had already developed on the moon what we have only developed on Earth: mind and spirit. They now took charge of the rest of humanity and rescued them from the fate that would otherwise have befallen them. A new spark was kindled in the human astral body. They gave the astral body of that time the impetus to develop beyond the critical point. Yahweh could then save himself in no other way than by changing his mode of action. He created man alongside woman. What could not be preserved in one gender was distributed between two genders.

[ 16 ] There were now two currents, that of Yahweh and that of the moon adepts. The moon adepts were interested in spiritualizing humanity. But Yahweh wanted to turn them into beautiful statues. These two forces fought each other at that time.

[ 17 ] So we are dealing with a force on Earth that has the power of self-creation: Kriyashakti. Today, this force is only present on Earth in the highest mysteries. At that time, everyone had it within themselves. Through this force, humans were able to reproduce themselves; at that time, it was split into two halves. This gave rise to the two genders on Earth.

[ 18 ] Jehovah drew all the power of self-generation out of the earth and placed it in the moon next to the earth. This is the connection between the power of reproduction and the moon beings. Now we have humans with weakened reproductive power, but not yet with the possibility of spiritualization. These were the predecessors of the current human race. The moon adepts came to them and said: You must not follow Jehovah, he will not let you come to knowledge; but you shall attain knowledge. — That is the serpent. The serpent stands opposite the woman, for the woman had the power to reproduce from herself. Now Jehovah says: Man has become like us — and now brings death into the world and everything associated with it.

[ 19 ] The lunar adepts are called “Lucifer”; they are the givers of what is human intellectuality. They gave this to the astral and physical bodies, otherwise the monad would not have been able to enter them and the earth would then have become a planetary monument to Jehovah's greatness. Through the intervention of the Luciferic principle, human independence and spirituality were saved. Jehovah then halved the power of self-creation so that man would not become completely spiritual. But what would also have been lost if Jehovah had worked alone is now reappearing in the sixth root race; there, man will be so spiritualized that he will regain Kriyashakti, the creative power of reproduction. He will be able to produce his own kind again. Thus, humanity was saved from the precipice.

[ 20 ] Through Jehovah's power, man therefore carries within himself the possibility of becoming rigid. If one observes the three lower bodies, they have within them the seed to return to the physical state of the earth. The upper parts: Atma, Buddhi, Manas were only able to enter into man through the addition of the serpent. This gave humans new life and the power to remain on the earthly planet. But the power of procreation became bisexual, and thus birth and death came into the world; before that, there was no birth and death.

[ 21 ] When humans work through the physical body from the spirit, they overcome death. The individual forces exhaust themselves when they take on specific forms. The power enters the form, becoming increasingly dense, and therefore life in the Lemurian race had to take on a new direction, which was brought about by a rotation of the globe. The Earth's axis was gradually turned around. Previously, the North Pole had a tropical climate, but later, due to the rotation of the Earth's axis, the tropical climate moved to the center. This reversal took place with relative rapidity, but still lasted perhaps four million years. The Lemurian period was twenty-two million years ago. It took the Moon Pitris four million years to turn the axis. The intelligence of the Moon Pitris was already much more developed than that of today's humans at that time.

[ 22 ] Thus, the single-sex human being developed into a two-sex human being. In the early days, there were very backward individuals among the single-sex humans, but also very advanced ones. Only a small part was a suitable place for the descending monads to dwell. At that time, humans divided into two sexes. Animals had already transitioned to two sexes earlier. Male and female animals lived on Earth alongside humans at that time. They were very grotesque creatures that were able to live on the very different Earth of that time. They also had the ability to fly. They carried within them the precursors of what humans have today. Esoteric religions refer to humans who were able to reproduce themselves as bulls, which is reflected in certain animal symbols. The bull is a symbol of fertility; it was preceded by the lion, the symbol of courage, and before that by the eagle. In Ezekiel's vision, with regard to earlier times, the animals have wings because they were able to rise above the earth. Later, humans first appear.

[ 23 ] So we have humans, as they develop from single-sex to dual-sex, and alongside them already dual-sex animals, male and female. Humans have only just become mature enough through the Lunar Pitris to have a body capable of receiving the monad. However, only the most highly developed specimens take them and develop a noble human form; they must refrain completely from contact with everything else, otherwise they would lose their noble form. Only then did the body take shape according to the monad. The other forms, which were less advanced, did not please the descending monads; therefore, they gave only part of their spiritual power to the imperfect human bodies, and the third wave refused to incarnate at all. As a result, there were some human bodies that were only very weakly fertilized spiritually and others that were completely devoid of spirit.

[ 24 ] In the middle of the Lemurian period, we thus have the first sons of the fire nebula; they incarnate in the fiery element that surrounded the Earth at that time. The sons of the fire nebula were the first arhats. Then the other two types arose. Those who had received only a small spark were ill-suited to forming a culture in the first Lemurian human race and soon perished. On the other hand, those who received nothing at all expressed their lower nature particularly strongly. They mingled with the animals. From this arose the last races of the Lemurians. Wild, animal instincts lived in wild, animal-like human forms. This caused a deterioration of the entire human substance.

[ 25 ] If all humans had been fertilized with monads at that time, the entire human race would have become much better. The first evil arose when some monads refused to incarnate. This resulted in deterioration through intermingling. Thus, humans had been significantly degraded physically. It was a time when the human race was oppressed. It was not until the Atlantean period that the monads repented of their earlier refusal, came down, and populated all human beings. This gave rise to the various Atlantean races.

[ 26 ] We have come to the realization of a time when something happened that caused the deterioration of the Earth. The entire deterioration of the races also caused a deterioration of the Earth. This is the origin of primordial karma. At that time, the first seed of karma was sown. Everything that followed is a consequence of primordial karma; for if the monads had all slipped into human forms at the right time, humans would have had the security of animals, they would not have been able to err, but they would not have been able to develop freedom. The original arhats cannot err; they are angels in human form. The moon adepts have now caused certain monads to wait with incarnation. This brought the principle of asceticism into the world, the desire not to inhabit the earth. This incompatibility between higher and lower nature arose at that time. It made humans uncertain; they now have to try to find their way in the world through various experiences. Because they have primordial karma, their further karma also comes. This can cause them to err.

[ 27 ] The intention was for humans to attain knowledge. This could only be brought about by primordial karma. The Luciferic principle, the lunar adepts, wanted humans to develop more and more toward freedom and independence. This is beautifully expressed in the legend of Prometheus: Zeus does not want humans to have fire, but Prometheus gives them fire, the ability to develop higher and higher. In doing so, he condemns humans to suffering. They must now wait until a sun hero comes, until the principle of the sun hero in the sixth race enables humans to develop further without Luciferic knowledge. Those who are as advanced as Prometheus are sun heroes.

[ 28 ] Thus we have a twofold human being: one who has fallen prey to the principle of Jehovah, to perfect the physical earth, and then the spiritual human being who develops higher. Jehovah and Lucifer are engaged in a constant struggle. Lucifer wants to develop everything toward knowledge, toward light. In Devachan, man can mature the one principle, that of Lucifer, a little further. The longer he remains in Devachan, the more he can develop it. He must go through as many incarnations as necessary until he has fully developed this principle.

[ 29 ] So there is a Jehovah principle and a Lucifer principle in the world. If only the Jehovah principle were taught, humans would fall into decay on Earth. If the teachings of reincarnation and karma were to disappear completely from the Earth, all monads would be reclaimed for Jehovah and physical humans would be handed over to the Earth, a petrified planet. But if reincarnation and karma are taught, humans are led toward spiritualization. Therefore, Christianity formed the most correct compromise and for a time taught not reincarnation and karma, but the importance of the one earthly existence, so that man would grow to love the earth until he was ripe for a new Christianity with the teaching of reincarnation and karma, which saves the earth and brings the whole seed into Devachan. In Christianity itself, the two principles are fighting today: one without reincarnation and karma, the other with this teaching. In the first teaching, everything that Lucifer could bring about would be taken away from people. They would actually fall out of reincarnation and turn their backs on the earth, becoming fallen angels. The earth would then face destruction. If Jehovah's hosts were to prevail on earth, the earth would remain as a kind of moon, a solidified body. The duty of spiritualization would then have been neglected. The battle in the Bhagavad Gita describes the battle between Jehovah and Lucifer and their hosts.

[ 30 ] It might still be possible today for Christianity to prevail without the teachings of reincarnation and karma. Then the earth would be lost to the principle of Lucifer. The whole Earth is still a battlefield between these two principles. The principle that leads the Earth to spirituality is Lucifer. In order to live according to this principle, one must first learn to love the Earth; one must descend to the Earth. Lucifer is the prince who rules in the fields of science and art. But he cannot descend completely to the Earth; his power is not sufficient for that. Lucifer alone would be unable to lift up what is on earth. This requires not only the power of a moon adept, but also that of a sun adept, who also takes in the life that is expressed in the togetherness of human beings, not in art and science. Lucifer is depicted as a winged dragon; in Ezekiel as a winged bull.

[ 31 ] Now came a solar hero, similar to those who appeared in the Hyperborean era, represented in Ezekiel by the winged lion. This hero, who gives the second impetus, is Christ, the lion from the tribe of Judah. The representative of the eagle will come later; he represents the Father principle. Christ is a solar hero, a lion nature, a sun pitri.

[ 32 ] The third is what will represent an adept who was already an adept on Saturn. Such a one cannot yet incarnate on Earth. Only when human beings are able not only to develop their higher nature, but also to renounce their lower nature completely and act creatively, can this highest adept, the Saturn adept, the Father principle—the hidden God—incarnate.