The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture Fourteen

[ 1 ] Yesterday, we looked back at the past of humankind from the perspective of its physical form. Today, let us return to its past states of consciousness.

[ 2 ] People often ask themselves: Are humans the only beings on Earth that possess self-awareness? Or: What is the relationship between our human consciousness and that of animals, plants, and metals? Do these beings have consciousness at all?

[ 3 ] Imagine a small insect walking across a human body and seeing nothing but a finger. It would have no concept of the physical organism or the soul of the human being. We are in exactly the same position in relation to the whole earth and the other beings that live on it. A materialist has no concept of the soul of the earth, because he lacks the perception of his own soul. If, accordingly, the little insect feels nothing of the soul of the human being, the reason for this is that it itself has no soul to feel it.

[ 4 ] The soul of the Earth stands far above the soul of man, and man knows nothing about it. In reality, all beings have consciousness, but man differs from them in that his self-consciousness today is completely related to the physical plane.

[ 5 ] Outside of the waking state, which corresponds to this physical plane, he knows other states of consciousness that bring him closer to the states of consciousness of other realms. During dreamless sleep, human consciousness lives on the Devachan plane, as is continually the case with the consciousness of plants. When a plant suffers, this suffering causes a change in the devachanic consciousness. The consciousness of the animal, which resembles dream consciousness, is located on the astral plane, which means that the animal has an astral consciousness of the world, just as humans do in dreams.

[ 6 ] These three states of consciousness are very different. On the physical plane, we form ideas and concepts through the sensory organs and the external realities with which they connect us. On the astral plane, we perceive our surroundings only in the form of images, while at the same time feeling completely connected to them.

[ 7 ] Why does the human being in waking consciousness on the physical plane feel separated from everything that is not himself? The reason is that they receive all their impressions from an environment that they see clearly outside their body. In contrast, on the astral plane, one does not perceive with the senses, but through sympathy, which allows one to penetrate into the heart of everything one encounters. Astral consciousness is not confined to a relatively closed area. It is, in a sense, fluid, flowing. In the field of devachan, consciousness is as fleeting as only a gas can be. There is no order there that can be compared to that of physical consciousness, into which nothing penetrates except through the senses.

[ 8 ] What, then, was the purpose of this restriction of consciousness in place of imaginative consciousness? Without it, man could never have said “I” to himself. The divine germ that is in man could only penetrate him in the course of evolution through the densification of his physical body. And this divine spirit — where was it before the solidification of the earth and consciousness? Genesis tells us: “The Spirit of God hovered over the waters.” This divine spirit, this spark of the self, was still on the astral plane, where all kinds of consciousness have their origin, like the waves in the ocean.

[ 9 ] In the upper Devachan, above the fourth level—called Arupa [= formless]—where this antimatter called Akasha begins, is where the consciousness of minerals resides. One must acquire a true understanding of what minerals actually are and discover what moral bond unites us with them. The Rosicrucians of the Middle Ages had their students admire the chastity of minerals. Imagine, they said, if human beings, while remaining entirely human in thought and feeling, became as pure and desireless as minerals — they would possess an infallible spiritual power. If one can say that the spiritual entities of the various minerals are in Devachan, one can conversely also say that the spiritual entity of the mineral is comparable to a human being who would live only with a Devachanic consciousness.

[ 10 ] Therefore, one need not deny consciousness to other beings. Man has passed through all these degrees of consciousness on the descending line of his development. Originally, he was similar to minerals in the sense that his ego was at home in a higher world and guided him from above. But the goal of development is to free them from dependence on beings who are at a higher level of consciousness than their own and to bring them to a point where they remain fully conscious at higher levels of existence.

[ 11 ] All these levels of consciousness intersect in humans today:

[ 12 ] First: mineral consciousness. This is the consciousness of deep sleep (modern humans are losing it).

[ 13 ] Second: plant consciousness. This is the consciousness of ordinary sleep.

[ 14 ] Third: animal consciousness, which corresponds to dream consciousness.

[ 15 ] Fourth: Physical object consciousness. This is the normal waking state, while the two preceding ones are atavistic relics.

[ 16 ] Fifth: A consciousness that repeats the third degree, but retains the acquired objectivity. The images have specific colors and differ from the one who perceives them; subjective attraction or repulsion disappears. At this new imaginative level of consciousness, the reason acquired in the physical world retains its rights.

[ 17 ] Sixth: Now it is no longer the dream, but sleep that ascends to a new state of consciousness. We no longer perceive images alone, but we penetrate the being of beings and things and perceive their inner resonance. On the physical plane, we give each thing a name, but this name remains outside the thing. Only we ourselves can define ourselves from within by saying: I – that inexpressible name of conscious individuality. That is the fundamental fact of all psychology. Through this word we distinguish our personality from the rest of the universe. But when we reach the world of sounds with our consciousness, every thing tells us its inexpressible name. Through clairvoyance, we perceive the sound that expresses the innermost essence of each thing and makes it a note in the universe, different from all others.

[ 18 ] Seventh: One step further, and deep sleep becomes conscious. This state cannot be described because it transcends all comparison. One can only say that it exists.

[ 19 ] These are the seven states of consciousness that humans pass through. They will pass through others as well. There is always one main state in the middle, three after the past, and three after the future, with the latter reproducing the three lower ones in a more elevated way. The traveler who moves forward is always in the middle of their field of vision.

[ 20 ] Each state of consciousness develops in the course of seven states of life, and each state of life in the course of seven states of form. Seven states of form always form one state of life; seven states of life together constitute a planetary development, such as that of our Earth.

[ 21 ] The seven states of life lead to the formation of seven kingdoms, four of which are currently visible: the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the human kingdom.

[ 22 ] The passage through a state of life is called a round.

[ 23 ] Human beings thus pass through 7 times 7 states of form in each state of consciousness; this means 7 times 7 times 7 metamorphoses, or 343 metamorphoses, which represent the same number of stages of human nature.

[ 24 ] If someone could imagine the 343 states of form on a single tablet, they would have a picture of the third Logos.

[ 25 ] If they could imagine the 49 states of life, they would have a picture of the second Logos.

[ 26 ] If they could imagine the seven states of consciousness, they would have a concept of the first Logos.

[ 27 ] Development consists of the reciprocal activity of all these forms. To pass from one form to another requires a new spirit—that is the effect of the Holy Spirit. To pass from one state of life to another requires a new power—that is the effect of the Son. To pass from one state of consciousness to another requires a new consciousness—that is the effect of the Father.

[ 28 ] Christ Jesus introduced a new state of life into humanity and truly became the incarnate Logos. With the appearance of Christ, a new power entered the world to prepare for a new earth that stands in a new relationship to the heavenly worlds.