The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture XXV

[ 1 ] When we look at the successive planets, each such planet is a stage of development that has seven rounds, seven times seven globes, and seven times seven times seven races. Each such planet exists to guide a state of consciousness through all stages. These stages are named differently in the various esoteric religions. In Christian esotericism, they are called:

a state of consciousness = power
a round = kingdom, wisdom
a globe = glory, splendor.

[ 2 ] When we speak of power in Christian esotericism, we mean the passage through a state of consciousness. The passage through a round is the passage through a kingdom. In the successive rounds, man passes through seven kingdoms: first elemental kingdom, second elemental kingdom, third elemental kingdom, mineral kingdom, plant kingdom, animal kingdom, human kingdom. Passing through the seven states of form or globes is called glory. Glory means that which shines outwardly, that which takes shape and form. The Lord's Prayer gives us a glimpse of world events in its conclusion: “For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.” When this is present in consciousness again, then knowledge of God is possible once more.

[ 3 ] At first, all religions, especially the exoteric ones, have fallen away [from true knowledge of God]. They are the bearers of egoism, since they are not concerned with the whole world, with power, the kingdom, and glory. When these words become living consciousness again, when they regain their meaning, then religions will once more be what they should be.

[ 4 ] The Saturn state was there to develop a very deep trance state in human beings; human beings are now almost completely unfamiliar with this. They only know dreamless sleep like plants and dream-filled sleep like on the moon, a consciousness of images. The reason why human beings no longer know deep trance is this: when human beings sleep, only the astral body lifts off, while the physical body and the etheric body remain in bed. If one could take the etheric body with one in sleep, as the chela can, then the physical body alone would remain behind; it would then have a dull consciousness. This also occurs in an abnormal way with mediums, and very strange things are brought to light. Such people then draw strange cosmic structures. For example, a girl was put into a trance by a glass of port wine and, in this state, drew peculiar structures in which one could see caricatures of our world system, and she also found echoes of our names for them. Mediums have these visions because they are able to take the etheric body out of the sleeping physical body and consciously see into the sleeping physical body. They can then also make use of the physical body, which then becomes clairvoyant in a strange way. The chela does this consciously, while the medium does it unconsciously. Through such clairvoyant consciousness, the planetary systems have been discovered. All the states into which the chelas and adepts can place themselves are nothing other than consciousness through the physical body; they do all this with complete consciousness.

[ 5 ] On Venus, complete consciousness will develop in the etheric body. While humans sleep, they will gain consciousness of the other side of the world there. On the volcano, the spirit is completely detached; it has also taken the etheric body with it. This state then enables humans to accurately perceive the entire world.

We distinguish between:
on Saturn = trance consciousness, universal consciousness
on the Sun = dreamless sleep, consciousness limited to the living
on the Moon = image consciousness
on Earth = waking consciousness
on Jupiter astral consciousness, expanded again
on Venus etheric consciousness, expanded even further
on the volcano = universal consciousness.

[ 6 ] Each of these states of consciousness must pass through all the realms, through seven rounds or realms, and in each round through seven globes. The lesser forces are developed in the so-called races. In this way, a creation gradually works out from within what was predisposed.

[ 7 ] Today, humans are most familiar with the mineral kingdom because they live in it. The mind cannot comprehend anything that occurs in the higher kingdoms. This has been a necessary phase of development. Today, however, we can no longer be satisfied with science alone. Everything is in a state of constant development.

[ 8 ] If we look at the mineral kingdom, at any stone, we see a limited space, a limited form. We see nothing of the mineral kingdom as such, but only the reflected light. The sun's rays are reflected in a certain form. When you strike a bell, you hear a sound; an effect of the bell enters our ear. Everything we perceive in the world in the mineral kingdom is a whole compressed into some form of space. If you remove the color of an object, the sound, the taste, then nothing remains. We only know what has come together. The fact that light and sound appear in such forms is what constitutes the mineral kingdom. Imagine a world in which only the qualities of perception flow through space and are not perceived in specific forms. Imagine colored clouds drifting through the world, sounds resonating through the world, all our sensory perceptions filling space without being bound to any form: then you have the third elemental realm; these are the elements of light and fire, permeating space. Even in the astral realm, the human being is a colored cloud.

[ 9 ] Let us now go a step further. When we see a thought form, it is such a colored cloud, a movement vibrating within itself. If one wants to create a thought, one must draw the relevant figure into astral space. This is the basis of the work of magicians; they draw the forms into space and then surround them [with astral matter]. Astral matter is then guided along the figure. The third elemental realm is not irregular, but a swirling confusion of such lines, all an expression of beautiful forms that have luminosity within themselves. They are like luminous bodies swirling through space, shining from within.

[ 10 ] The tones that fill the space are arranged according to numbers. What is particularly noteworthy is that things were arranged in a certain way from the outset, in certain relationships to one another. One figure could affect another in such a way that it did not harm it, or in such a way that it caused it to disintegrate. This was called the measure of things. Everything was ordered according to measure, number, and form. Imagine the sensory qualities away, the world filled with such thought figures: that is then the second elemental realm. This underlies the third. There we have only forms woven from thoughts, the world ether thoughts.

[ 11 ] The first elemental realm is difficult to describe. Let us assume that we grasp the idea of such a figure, for example a spiral, then the idea of a lemniscate. Now let us put ourselves in the intention before the form has been created, first in the intention for the spiral and then in the intention for the lemniscate. Imagine a world filled with such seeds of thought. This formless world is the first elemental realm.

[ 12 ] The fourth elemental kingdom is the mineral kingdom, which reflects back what it receives from outside. The plant kingdom not only reflects back the sensory qualities, but reflects them back internally animated. It reflects back the forms. The second elemental kingdom is the formative one of the third elemental kingdom. The mineral kingdom is condensed from the properties of the third elemental kingdom. The plant reflects the form of the second elemental kingdom, thus developing the form from within itself. The animal kingdom also reflects the intentions that lie in the first elemental kingdom.

[ 13 ] In the first round, man was in the first elemental kingdom. When he became physical at that time, he was in the first round and in the first elemental kingdom on the physical form level. In the physical state of the first elemental kingdom of the first round, the seeds of thought had become physical. At that time, the earth consisted of nothing but physical spheres, so small that they could not be seen; they were nothing but points of force. These points of force gradually condensed; at that time, they did not differ from one another. Physically, the condensed elemental kingdom already existed at that time. If one thinks of human beings as mere thought beings, then one can easily pass through such a being, even if one cannot see it. Once it has become physical, one cannot pass through it, even if one cannot see it. The physical points of force became astral again and then passed on to the next round.

[ 14 ] In the second round, the earth consisted entirely of forms. The world was a beautifully shaped sphere in which all things that emerged were already typically present. It is the prophetic embodiment of everything that emerges in the other realms. On Earth, the colors and forms were models of present-day human beings. On the next planet, the colors and forms will be models of what human beings will then be.

[ 15 ] In the plastic-astral state of the fifth round, humans will no longer need to keep their hands. The hand will only be formed when they need it, like a sensory arm, because then the whole thing will have become a plant. Every secretion will then also be a plant product. Thus, all things that emanate from humans will then be plant entities. We will then live in the plant kingdom.

[ 16 ] In the sixth round, we will live in the animal kingdom. Everything that emanates from humans, that flows out of them, will then be a living product that has life and feeling within itself. A word will then become a living being, a bird that is sent out into the world.

[ 17 ] In the seventh round, humans create themselves. They are then able to continuously duplicate and multiply themselves. In the seventh round, everyone has reached the level at which our masters stand today. Then our ego is the bearer of all earthly experiences. This is initially concentrated in the Lodge of Masters. The higher self then unites, becomes atomistic, and forms the atoms of Jupiter.

[ 18 ] The white Lodge is conceived as a unity, a self that encompasses everything. All human selves and every peculiarity are abandoned and merged into the comprehensive universal consciousness; nothing but large, ascended circles, each in a special color, all combined into a single circle. When you think of them all superimposed on each other, it gives a total color. All the egos are in it, but as a whole. This very large sphere, drawn together, gives the atom. This multiplies, generating itself. These are then the atoms that form Jupiter. The lunar adepts formed the atoms of the present Earth. One can study the atom by studying the plan of the adepts' lodge on the moon.

[ 19 ] Summary

[ 20 ] Every realm must pass through seven forms:

1. Arupa = predisposition to form
2. Rupa = form
3. Astral = shining, glowing from within
4. Physical = impenetrable in space
5. Plastic = forming itself from within
6. Intellectual
7. Archetypal