The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture XXVI

[ 1 ] Today we want to discuss the fourth earth cycle. In our entire course of development, we have seven planets—Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan—and in relation to each planet, seven cycles to consider. We also call the passage through a cycle a kingdom, and we call the fourth cycle on Earth the mineral kingdom. We are now on the fourth planet, in the fourth round, and within this round on the fourth form state or globe. The physical is always the fourth globe.

[ 2 ] So we are currently in the middle of our evolution. This is often perceived as something extremely important for human beings. We have three planets, three rounds, and three globes behind us, and just as many still ahead of us. But if we were standing on the moon, we would see another planet before Saturn; if we were standing on Jupiter, we would no longer see Saturn, but instead a planet behind Vulcan. The exact middle of our current development was reached with the fourth sub-race of the fourth root race, the Ur-Turanians, the fourth Atlantean sub-race.

[ 3 ] A kind of spiritual darkness has descended at a certain moment in our development. Humanity has entered a dark age. This dark age is called Kali Yuga. What human beings know today, they know from the standpoint they occupied in earlier stages of their development. At the end of the fifth round, humanity will once again be able to see spiritually and look back and forward.

[ 4 ] The fourth earth round began when the first arupic earth globe emerged from the darkness of Pralaya, in which everything had dissolved. Everything that exists on earth today was present there in formless thoughts. We can get the right idea of this if we limit ourselves as much as possible to everything that is physical and imagine it in thought germs. The forms did not yet exist, only the thoughts before their formation. If we ask ourselves: Who has these thoughts? - we get the answer: These thoughts were then held by spiritual beings connected with the earth. Jehovah and his hosts, for example, were such spiritual beings who filled everything around us on Earth. As thoughts of the spirits, all thoughts were present in the Arupaglobus at that time.

[ 5 ] What prompted the gods to intend human thought in particular? What gave them the model for this? These were the monads that already existed at that time but were not yet connected with humanity. Slowly they developed as thoughts of the gods.

[ 6 ] Then the Arupa sphere condenses; everything grows into thought forms. The whole earth was so filled with them, as if we were looking into a larger model filled with small crystals. In it were all the forms of humans, animals, and plants, like templates. Spiritual beings work on them, like a master builder on his models. They are assembled from the outside. The whole then transforms into astral matter. The astral globe of Earth is created. In between are short pralayas. Again, it is the externally acting divine powers that emanate and fill the astral matter and forms with light and color. Here, all the astral forms of humans and animals, as well as the entire plant kingdom, are found in a great astral sea. Then it condenses more and more, and the physical Earth emerges as the fourth globe.

[ 7 ] Until then, until the beginning of the fourth round, the Sun and Moon were still united with the Earth; they formed one body with the Earth. During the great Pralaya before the first earth round, they had melted together with the earth again, and during the first three earth rounds, the three had remained together. A kind of biscuit shape then emerged. In the third earth round, the earth protruded from the earth-sun ball on one side like a bulge, and the moon protruded on the other side. At that time, the body actually carried two such sacs with it. In the fourth earth cycle, the body was initially rounded again, but then the sac-like formations reappeared in the ether and protruded from the sides.

[ 8 ] So here we are dealing with an Earth that is still united with the Sun and also with the Moon. Most life at that time was in the region between the Moon and the Earth. This has been correctly preserved in the Mohammedan paradise legend.

[ 9 ] Now the following occurs. As the second root race of the fourth earth cycle approaches, the sun splits off, and in the third root race, the moon. Everything that was previously only present on the astral globe develops physically. Now human beings also emerge physically, but now structured in such a way that they can receive the monad into their increasingly purified astral body. If human beings had received it earlier, they would have received it with the monad Manas, Buddhi, Atma, and would have become very wise, but the wisdom would have been a kind of dream wisdom.

[ 10 ] Human beings initially have no power over the physical body and the etheric body. Nor can they initially do anything about their lower passions originating from the Moon; these necessarily emerge until the time when human beings begin their earthly life. If human beings had simply taken in the monad into their refined animal nature, they could not have gone astray. He would have become what Jehovah had intended: endowed with all wisdom, but shaped into a living statue. Then those beings entered who had developed more quickly on the moon, beyond the measure of the moon's development: the Luciferic beings. Lucifer is a power that has an enthusiasm for wisdom that is as vehement as sensuality is in animals. The greed for the development of wisdom, that is Lucifer. He is endowed with all the things that originate from the moon. If Lucifer had taken on the development alone, a battle would have arisen between Lucifer and the old gods.

[ 11 ] Jehovah's endeavor was to shape form. Lucifer could have developed a passion for premature spiritualization in the astral material. The result would have been a fierce battle between the spirits of Jehovah and the hosts of Lucifer. There was a danger that some would become living statues through Jehovah and others would become rapidly spiritualized beings through Lucifer. If the possibility of finding material for a balance were to arise, this material would have to be taken from elsewhere. In order to paralyze the battle between Jehovah and Lucifer, the newly formed White Lodge had to take the material from another planet. This differed significantly from the astral matter that had come from the moon, from the astral-chemical material of animality. There was the possibility of bringing over substances from other planets: new passions, less vehement, but focused on independence. The new material was brought from Mars. In the first half of our Earth's development, astral material was introduced from Mars. A tremendous advance was achieved through the introduction of astral material from Mars.

[ 12 ] The outer culture on Earth came about because, on the one hand, hardening was prevented and, on the other hand, spiritualization was prevented. Lucifer made what was given by the forces of Mars his vehicle. The new thing on Earth is called Mars. This continued until the middle of the Atlantean race. Then a new question arose. Human beings had absorbed wisdom, but wisdom alone would not be enough to create form in the future. Lucifer could assemble the mineral kingdom, but he could not bring it to life. Human beings could never have given life under the influence of the other powers. Therefore, a sun god had to come, a higher being than Lucifer. These were the so-called Solar Pitris. The most excellent of these is Christ. Just as Lucifer represents the manas element, so Christ represents the buddhi element.

[ 13 ] The human astral bodies had to receive a third impact. This was brought down from Mercury. Christ unites his reign with that of Lucifer. If one now wants to find the way up to the gods, one needs Mercury, the messenger of the gods. He is the one who prepared the way for Christ from the middle of the Atlantean root race onwards, so that he could later enter the astral bodies that had absorbed the mercurial element.

[ 14 ] All our present metals have only gradually become what they are now. Gold, silver, platinum, and so on all behave in the same way: when heated, they first become warm, then liquid, then gaseous. Once upon a time, all metals were in the gaseous earth. Gold also first condensed with the earth; it was once completely ethereal gold. If we go back to the time when the earth was still united with the sun, there was no solid gold inside it. The parts of the white solar ether became liquid and then solid. These are the gold veins that are now in the earth. Gold is condensed sunlight, but silver is condensed moonlight. All mineral substances have gradually condensed. As humans become more and more spiritual, mercury will become solid. Just as water does now, gold and silver once formed droplets. The fact that mercury is still liquid is connected with the whole process of Earth's development. It will become solid when Mercury, the messenger of the gods, has fulfilled his task. Mercury was brought from Mercury in ethereal form in the middle of the Atlantean root race. If we did not have mercury, we would not have the Christ principle. In the drops of mercury, one can see what was incorporated into the Earth in the middle of the Atlantean period.

[ 15 ] When the Mars principle (Kama-Manas) was incorporated into the Earth, iron was brought down to Earth from Mars. Iron originates from Mars. It was first present in astral form and then condensed. If we trace the Earth back to that point in time, we find fewer and fewer warm-blooded animals. It was not until the middle of the Lemurian epoch that warm blood appeared, coinciding with the Martian impulse. Iron entered the blood at that time. Iron is what is associated with Mars in all occult writings, mercury with Buddhi-Mercury. Certain people have learned this from the adepts. The Earth is therefore understood as Mars and Mercury. Everything that does not originate from Mars and Mercury has come from the Moon.

[ 16 ] The days of the week are a reflection of planetary development. The sequence of the planets is wonderfully recorded in the days of the week:

Saturn Saturday
Sun Sunday
Moon Monday
Mars (Tiu) Tuesday
Mercury (Wotan) Wednesday, Mercredi
Jupiter (Donar) Thursday, Jeudi
Venus (Freya) Friday, Vendredi
Vulcan (the octave to Saturn) Saturday

[ 17 ] In the saying that Christ crushed the head of the serpent, we find a profound expression of esotericism. The head of the serpent is mere wisdom, which must be overcome. True wisdom lies in the heart, which is why the head of the serpent must be crushed. The same truth has already been expressed in the legend of Heracles. He kills the Lernaean Hydra, but its head keeps growing back. Pure manas will always return. He must remove the blood (kama), then the Hydra will be defeated. The blood came to earth with the wisdom of Mars (kama-manas).

[ 18 ] There is a deeper meaning in some other things. The Mars age is preceded by the separation of the moon. The moon contained silver. Even earlier, the separation of the sun took place. Gold is condensed sunlight. They are connected: sunlight and gold, hence the Golden Age; moonlight and silver – the Silver Age; Mars and iron – the Iron Age.

[ 19 ] We are now on the middle, the fourth globe. On the fifth globe, the ability to organize oneself from within emerges. Then the earth transforms into a sphere on which humans form their shape from within. The earth is then a plastic globe. The sixth globe is the one on which humans not only shape themselves plastically, but can also put their own thoughts into their shape. On the fifth globe, for example, humans can form a hand; on the sixth globe, they can then send their thoughts around. On the seventh globe, everything becomes formless again. Everything then returns to the seed state.

[ 20 ] Let us now consider our present self. It contains a multitude of ideas and concepts. When we look at the cultural world, we say: the cultural world arose from the I. All of this was once contained within the human mind, it was contained within the I. It was combined from this. All things that were created artificially were born from the I. In the middle of the Lemurian epoch, the I was still empty; human beings were not yet capable of anything. Only gradually did they learn about the outside world in the most primitive way. Their ego was like a hollow soap bubble at that time. When they looked at a stone, it was reflected in them; they perhaps saw a sharp edge in it and began to cut other stones with it. In this way they began to shape the mineral world. What was in their environment was reflected more and more in their initially empty ego. At the end of the physical globe, we will have everything as a reflection in our ego. When we have everything inside, we will shape everything from within. That is the plasticity on the next globe. The architect of Cologne Cathedral combined everything in his ego – the content of his ego is enlivened by Buddhi, and then he shapes everything plastically on the fifth globe. On the sixth globe, all of this will exist as thought, and on the seventh globe, everything will be drawn back into the atom. In the next round, the human being will then create the new plant kingdom out of the I.

[ 21 ] In the middle of the Lemurian epoch, the I was like a hole drilled into matter. All our egos were such holes in matter at that time, which we have since filled. In the next round, the content will come out as plants, because in this fifth round the same thing will happen to the plant kingdom as is now happening to the mineral kingdom. The whole earth will then be one large, living being. Human beings will then have attained conscious, sentient life and will shape it out of themselves. In the sixth round, there will no longer be a plant kingdom; human beings will then send living, sentient thoughts into their environment in the form of purely intellectual constructs. In this sixth round, on the sixth globe, in its sixth stage of development, corresponding to the sixth race, something important will be decided. Everything that can develop from all the kingdoms will have reached the devachanic state. If someone is not ready to be elevated to the devachanic stage, they remain in the animal kingdom. This is decided by the number 666, the number of the beast.

[ 22 ] By the seventh round, humanity has completely purified itself. The human kingdom then gives itself its chiseling. It is the fastest round. When man emerges from it, he has become a god and develops over to Jupiter.

[ 23 ] In each round, the first globe or form state is such that we are not actually dealing with a form yet, but the form is only contained in the seed. Therefore, esotericism does not initially count the Arupa globe among the form states, but among the life states; the same applies to the seventh globe, the archetypal one. So we actually only have five form states. The first and last globes of each round are life states. All the states of the rounds are also called life states, because passing through a realm represents a life state.

[ 24 ] In the first round, life was in the first elemental realm, in the second round in the second elemental realm, in the third round in the third elemental realm, and in the fourth round in the mineral realm. In the fifth round, life is in the plant realm, in the sixth round life is in the animal realm, and in the seventh round life is in the human realm.

[ 25 ] If we consider life in the seventh round, in the human kingdom, this is something that shines into the next round, in which human beings will already have passed into a different state of consciousness. The purpose of a round is to reach a new stage of life. The purpose of the seventh round is to transition into a new level of consciousness. Esotericists therefore count only six states of life and the seventh round as a new state of consciousness.

[ 26 ] If we want to write down states of form, life, and consciousness in numbers, we get 5 globes or states of form, 6 rounds or states of life, 10 planets or states of consciousness. If we count the entire evolution from Saturn to Vulcan, we have expressed this in what you will find in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky as the number of Prajapatis 1065, that is: 10-6-5.