The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Fourteenth Lecture

[ 1 ] Yesterday we characterized the various areas through which students of Oriental and Christian training attain higher knowledge; today I would like to describe to you in a similar way the stages through which Rosicrucian training ascends.

[ 2 ] One must not imagine that this Rosicrucian training contradicts the other two. It has existed since about the 14th century, and it had to be introduced at that time because humanity needed another form of training. In the circles of the initiates, it was foreseen that people would come who would be confused in their faith by the gradually developing knowledge. Therefore, a form had to be created for those who would find themselves caught between faith and knowledge. In the Middle Ages, the greatest scholars were also the most devout and pious people; but even long afterwards, those who were advanced in the natural sciences could not conceive of any contradiction between faith and knowledge. It is said that the Copernican system shook faith, but this is completely unjustified, since Copernicus dedicated his book to the Pope! Only in the very last period has this conflict gradually arisen. The Masters of Wisdom foresaw this, and therefore a new path had to be found for those who had been led astray from faith by science. For those people who are deeply involved in science, it is necessary to follow this Rosicrucian path in order to become an initiate, for the Rosicrucian method shows that the highest knowledge of the worldly can coexist with the highest knowledge of the supersensible spiritual truths; and it is precisely through the Rosicrucian method that those who would otherwise have fallen away from the Christian faith through apparent science can recognize it all the more. Through this method, everyone can understand the truth of Christianity even more clearly and with deeper understanding. There is only one truth, but it can be reached in different ways, just as the different paths diverge at the foot of the mountain but converge at the summit.

[ 3 ] The essence of Rosicrucian training can be described with the words: true self-knowledge. To achieve this, two things must be distinguished, and as a Rosicrucian student, one must not only distinguish them theoretically, but also practically, that is, introduce them into practical life. There are two kinds of self-knowledge. The lower self-knowledge, which the Rosicrucian student calls self-reflection, through which one should overcome the lower self; and the higher self-knowledge, born of self-renunciation.

[ 4 ] What, then, is lower self-knowledge? It is the knowledge of our everyday self, of what we already are, of what we carry within us, as they say, a look into our own soul life. But we must realize that this does not lead us to the higher self, for when a person looks at himself, he finds only what he is; but it is precisely this that he must grow beyond in order to overcome this self of ordinary life. But how? Most people are convinced that their characteristics are the very best, and they dislike those who do not share them. Those who go beyond this opinion, not only in theory but also in feeling, are already on the path to true self-knowledge. You can go beyond this self-reflection through a special method that can always be applied when you find five minutes of time. You must start from the following statement: All your characteristics are one-sided; you must recognize in what ways your characteristics are one-sided and try to harmonize them. This is a statement that is not only suitable in theory, but also in practice. Those who are diligent must examine themselves to see if they are not in the wrong place. Agility is also one-sided; I must complement it with careful deliberation. Every characteristic has its opposite; one must acquire it and then try to harmonize the contrasting characteristics, for example: haste with deliberation, being quick yet thoughtful, being thoughtful yet not sluggish. Then one begins to work beyond oneself. This is not part of meditation; it must be achieved alongside it.

[ 5 ] This harmonizing consists in particular in paying attention to small traits. For example, if you have the trait of not letting others finish speaking, you must pay careful attention to this and resolve to do the following for six weeks: Now you will remain silent in front of the other person for as long as possible. Then get used to speaking neither too loudly nor too quietly. Such things, which people usually do not consider at all, are part of this intimate self-development of the inner self, and the more insignificant the characteristics you address, the better. If you manage not only to acquire certain moral, intellectual, or emotional characteristics, but also to break some external habit, this is particularly effective. It is less a matter of exploring the inner self in the usual sense than of perfecting the qualities that one has not yet sufficiently developed and supplementing what one already has with an opposite quality. Self-knowledge is one of the most difficult things for human beings, and it is precisely those who believe they know themselves best who are most easily deceived. They think too much about themselves. The constant staring at oneself and the constant saying of the word “I”: I think, I believe, I consider this to be right – one should break this habit in one's speech. Above all, one must break the habit of thinking that one's own opinion is more important than the opinions of other people. Let us assume, for example, that someone is a very intelligent person. If they now display their intelligence in a group of people who are at a much lower level, it is very out of place: they are only displaying it for their own sake. However, they should act in accordance with the spirit of the others. Agitators in particular very easily violate this rule.

[ 6 ] In addition, there must be what is called patience in the occult sense. Most people who want to achieve something cannot wait because they believe they are already ready to receive everything. This patience flows from strict self-discipline. This, too, is related to self-knowledge.

[ 7 ] Higher self-knowledge only begins when we start to say: Our higher self does not lie in what our everyday self is. It is in the whole world outside, up among the stars, in the sun and the moon, in stones, in animals: everywhere is the same essence that is within us. When someone says, “I want to cultivate my higher self and withdraw, I want nothing to do with anything material,” they completely fail to recognize that the self is everywhere outside and that their own higher self is only a small part of this great self outside. Certain “spiritual” healing methods make this mistake, which can be very disastrous; they teach the sick person that there is nothing material and therefore no illness. This is based on a false self-knowledge and, as already noted, is very dangerous. While such a healing method bears a Christian name, it is actually anti-Christian.

[ 8 ] Christianity is a view that sees everything as a revelation of the divine. In everything material, we have an illusion if we do not see it as an expression of the divine. If we deny the outside world, we deny the divine; if we deny the matter in which God has revealed himself, we deny God. It is not a matter of looking within ourselves, but rather of seeking to recognize the greater Self that shines within us. The lower self says: I am standing here and I am cold. The higher self, on the other hand, says: I am also the cold, for I live as the one Self in the cold and make myself cold. The lower self says: I am here, I am in the eye that sees the sun. The higher self, on the other hand, says: I am in the sun and see into your eyes in the sunbeam.

[ 9 ] To truly step outside of oneself means self-renunciation. Therefore, Rosicrucian training aims to bring out the lower self from within the human being. In the theosophical movement, the worst mistake was made at the beginning by saying: One must look away from the outside and look within oneself. — That is a great illusion. One finds only one's lower self, the fourth principle, the lower ego, which imagines itself to be divine, but is not divine at all. One must step outside of oneself in order to recognize the divine. “Know thyself” means at the same time “overcome thyself.”

[ 10 ] The areas covered by Rosicrucian training are as follows, and they must go hand in hand with the development of the six qualities already mentioned: control of thought, initiative in action, serenity, impartiality or positivity, faith, and inner balance.

[ 11 ] The training itself consists of the following:

[ 12 ] 1. Study. Without study, today's Europeans cannot come to their own realization. They must first try to bring forth the thoughts of all humanity within themselves. They must learn to think with the world system. They must say to themselves: If others have thought this, then it must be human, and I want to try to see how it is possible to live with it. One does not need to swear to it as if it were a dogma, but one must get to know it through study. The student must learn about the development of the suns and planets, the earth, and humanity. These thoughts, which have been handed down to us for study, purify our minds. We climb up the strict lines of thought to form strictly logical thoughts ourselves. This study also purifies our thoughts, so that we learn to think strictly logically. When we study a very difficult book, for example, it is less important to understand the content than to follow the author's train of thought and learn to think along with him. That is why one should not find any book too difficult; that would simply mean that one is too lazy to think. The best books are precisely those that one has to study over and over again, that one does not understand immediately, that one has to think through sentence by sentence. When studying, it is not so much the what as the how that matters. Through the great truths, such as the laws of the planets, we create great lines of thought, and that is the essence of the matter. There is also a lot of selfishness in this when someone says: I want more moral teachings and none about planetary systems. — True wisdom brings about a moral life.

[ 13 ] 2. The second is imagination, the acquisition of imaginative knowledge. What is it and how is it attained? It is attained in the following way: one goes through the world and observes it strictly according to Goethe's principle that “everything transitory is only a parable.” For Goethe was a Rosicrucian, and he can introduce us to the life of the soul. Every thing must become a parable in multiple ways. Let us suppose I walk past a colchicum: its shape and color make it a symbol of mourning for me. Another flower, the windflower, is a symbol of helplessness; a red flower boldly raising its leaves high may be a sign of cheerfulness for me, and so on. A colorful animal can be a parable for coquetry. Often the parables are already expressed in the names, for example, weeping willow, forget-me-not, and so on. The more one thinks in this way, that external things become symbols for the moral, the easier it is to ascend to this imaginative knowledge. Such parables can also be found in human beings. For example, one can study a person's temperament by observing their gait. Just observe the sluggish, slow steps of the melancholic, the firm, determined steps of the choleric, and the light, more tiptoeing steps of the sanguine.

[ 14 ] Once you have practiced this for a while, you can move on to the exercises for actual imagination. For example, you hold a natural plant in front of you, look at it closely, immerse yourself completely in it, bring out the innermost part of your soul and place it, so to speak, into the plant, as described in my essays “How to Gain Knowledge of Higher Worlds.” This brings forth the imagination. In this way, you attain astral vision. After a while, you will actually notice a small flame emerging from the plant; this is the astral meaning of what is growing. Another example: you place a seed in front of you and then see the whole plant, as it will actually be later, appear in your mind's eye. These are exercises for the imagination, to which the Rosicrucians devote a great deal of attention.

[ 15 ] 3. The third is what is called learning occult writing. There is an occult writing through which one can penetrate more deeply into things. I will give you an example so that you can see what I actually mean: With the demise of ancient Atlantis, a new, ancient Indian culture began. The sign of such a stage of development, where one cultural epoch ends and another begins, is the vortex. Such vortices also exist in nature, for example, in nebulae such as the Orion Nebula. There, too, one world comes to an end and a new one emerges. At the dawn of ancient Indian culture, the sun was in Cancer; during the Persian culture, the sun was in Gemini; during the Egyptian culture, it was in Taurus; and during the Greco-Latin culture, it was in Aries. Since Cancer is the astronomical sign, it was also the sign for the dawn of ancient Indian culture.

[ 16 ] Another example is the letter M. Every letter can be traced back to an occult origin. M is the sign of wisdom. It originated from the formation of the upper lip and is also the symbol for ocean waves; therefore, wisdom is symbolized by water. These signs always echo meaningful things. Numerous such symbols are taught in Rosicrucian training.

[ 17 ] 4. Rhythmic living. Transition from chaotic to rhythmic living. Children have the advantage of going to school; unfortunately, adults often lack a schedule. One must try to set aside certain hours of the day for meditation. The rhythmization of the breath does not play as important a role as it does for Easterners, but it is also part of the training, and Rosicrucians know that meditation alone improves the air we breathe.

[ 18 ] 5. The correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm. This is the connection between the large and small worlds, or between the human being and the outside world. You know that the human being came into being gradually, its individual members forming in the course of evolution. On the ancient sun, the human being did not yet have an astral body. Therefore, certain organs could not yet develop. One such organ is the liver, for example. A being that has only an etheric body does not have a liver, not even in its rudimentary form. Although the liver is not possible without the etheric body, it is only created by the astral body. Similarly, a being can never have warm blood that did not develop at the time when the ego was formed.

[ 19 ] Higher animals also have warm blood, but they separated from humans when the ego was formed. Thus, every organ of the human body, even the smallest, belongs to one of its constitutional elements. The liver corresponds to the astral body, the blood to the ego. And when the human being now directs his attention objectively to himself, as to a thing, when he concentrates, for example, on the point at the root of the nose and associates it with a certain word given to him by the occult teacher, he is led to what corresponds to this point and learns to know it. Thus, the person who concentrates on this point under specific guidance will come to know the nature of the ego. Another, much later exercise focuses on the interior of the eye; through this, one learns about the inner nature of light and the sun. One learns about the nature of the astral by concentrating on the liver with certain words.

[ 20 ] This is true self-development, when one is led out of oneself through each organ on which one focuses one's attention. This method has become particularly effective in recent times because humanity has become so materialistic. In this way, through the material, one comes to the cause of the material, to the creative forces that formed these organs.

[ 21 ] 6. Dwelling or immersing oneself in the macrocosm. This is the same as what has been described as dhyanam, spiritual contemplation. It is done as follows: one immerses oneself in the organ of contemplation, for example, in the interior of the eye. After concentrating on this for a while, one lets go of the idea of the external organ, so that one thinks only of what the eye has pointed to: the light. This leads one to the creator of the organ and out into the macrocosm. Then you feel your body becoming larger and larger, as large as the whole earth, even growing beyond the earth, and all things are within it. You then live in all things within it.

[ 22 ] 7. The seventh state corresponds to the Oriental samadhi; in Rosicrucian training it is called godliness. One lets go of the last idea, but retains the power of thought. The content of thought ceases, but the activity of thought remains. Through this, one rests in the divine-spiritual world.

[ 23 ] These stages of Rosicrucian training are more inner stages and require subtle cultivation of the higher soul life. In our material age, widespread superficiality is a strong obstacle to the necessary internalization of the entire soul life; it must be overcome. This training is tailored to Europeans; it requires a certain amount of spiritual energy, but it is not difficult. Anyone who seriously wants to can do it. But Goethe's statement also applies here: “It is easy, but the easy is difficult.”

[ 24 ] My dear friends! We have now discussed the various methods of training, and I would like to conclude these lectures by giving you some insight into the connection between the human being and the whole earth, so that you can see how the human being is connected with everything else that goes on on earth.

[ 25 ] I have described to you the development of the human being, how he can become an ever higher being. Humanity as a whole will achieve in the course of its development everything that each individual can achieve for himself through occult training. What is happening to the earth while human beings and humanity are developing in this way? For the occultist, the earth is not what it is for the ordinary geologist or natural scientist, who sees it as nothing more than a large lifeless ball, which looks much the same on the inside as on the outside, except that the substances inside are liquid. It is quite incomprehensible how this dead ball should produce all kinds of beings.

[ 26 ] We know that our Earth exhibits very specific phenomena that play a profound role in the fate of many beings; yet today's natural science regards this as unrelated to that fate. For example, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions intervene in the fate of hundreds and thousands of people. Does human will have an influence on this, or is it coincidence? Are there dead laws that rage blindly, or is there a connection between these events and the will of human beings? What about the person who perishes in an earthquake? What does the occultist say about the interior of the Earth?

[ 27 ] The secret science of all ages says the following about the interior of the Earth: We have to imagine the Earth as consisting of a series of layers, which are not precisely separated from each other as in an onion, but merge gently into one another. The uppermost layer, the mineral mass, relates to the interior as the shell relates to the whole egg. This uppermost layer is called the mineral earth. Beneath it is something that cannot be compared to any substance on earth; it is called the liquid earth. However, this is not actually a liquid, because our liquids are also mineral; this layer has special properties. This substance begins to have spiritual properties here, consisting in the fact that, when brought together with something living, it would immediately drive out and destroy this life. The occultist can examine this layer through pure concentration.

[ 28 ] 3. The air earth: This is a substance that destroys sensation; if, for example, it is brought together with pain, it transforms it into pleasure, and vice versa. The sensation, so to speak, is extinguished in the way it exists, just as the second layer extinguishes life.

[ 29 ] 4. The water or form earth: This layer consists of forces that make every thing materially what happens spiritually in Devachan. There we have the negative images of physical things. Here, for example, a cube would be destroyed, but its negative would be created. The form is transformed into its opposite, so to speak, and all its properties are transferred to the environment. The space itself that the cube occupied is empty.

[ 30 ] 5. The fruit earth: This substance is full of bursting growth energy. Every particle of it immediately continues to grow like a sponge, becoming ever larger and can only be held together by the upper layers. It serves as the underlying life force for the forms of the previous layer.

[ 31 ] 6. The fire earth: This substance has sensation and will as such. It feels pain; it would scream if it were kicked. It consists, so to speak, entirely of passions.

[ 32 ] 7. The earth mirror, earth reflector: This layer gets its name from the fact that its substance, when one concentrates on it, transforms all the properties of the earth into their opposites. If one does not want to see everything above it, but looks directly down at this layer in one's mind and then, for example, places something green in front of it, the green appears red; every color appears in its complementary color. A polar reflection is created, a reflection into the opposite. Sadness would be transformed into joy by this substance.

[ 33 ] 8. The Splitter: If you concentrate on it with developed occult powers, something very strange appears. For example, a plant appears there, multiplied countless times, as does everything else. But the essential thing is that this layer also fragments moral qualities. It is to blame for the fact that there is strife and disharmony on earth at all, because of the power it radiates onto the surface of the earth. People must work together in harmony to overcome the fragmenting power of this layer. To this end, this power was placed in the earth so that people could develop harmony themselves. All evil is substantially prepared and organized here. Quarrelsome people are organized in such a way that this layer has a special influence on them. All those who have written about occultism knew this. Dante describes this layer in his “Divine Comedy” as Cain's Ravine. The quarrel between the two brothers Cain and Abel comes from there. This layer has substantially brought evil into the world.

[ 34 ] 9. The Earth's Core: This is substantially that through whose influence black magic arises in the world. From here emanates the power of spiritual evil.

[ 35 ] From the above, we can conclude that human beings have a connection to all these layers, because they constantly radiate their power. Human beings are under the influence of these layers and must constantly overcome their forces. Once human beings on Earth begin to radiate life themselves, once they exhale life-giving energy, they will overcome the fire-earth. When they overcome pain spiritually through serenity, they will overcome the air-earth, and so on. When harmony prevails, the fragmenter will be defeated. When white magic prevails, there will be no more evil in the world. Thus, the evolution of human beings means a transformation of the earth's interior. In the beginning, the earth's body was such that it inhibited everything that developed. Ultimately, the whole earth, transformed by the power of humanity, will be a spiritualized earth. In this way, humans share their essence with the earth.

[ 36 ] Now it may happen that the substantial passion of the fire earth becomes rebellious. Stimulated by the passions of human beings, it penetrates through the fruit earth, then forces its way through the channels into the upper layers and even flows into the solid earth, shaking it and causing an earthquake. When this passion of the fire layer expels inner earth substance, a volcano is created. This has a great deal to do with human beings. In the Lemurian race, the upper layer was still very soft, and the fire layer was still far above. Now there is a relationship between human passion and the passionate substance of this layer. So when a human being is very evil, he intensifies this passion. This happened at the end of the Lemurian period. Through his passion, the Lemurian made the fire-earth more rebellious and thus destroyed the entire Lemurian continent. Nowhere else can they find the true cause of this destruction than in what they themselves have drawn up from the earth. Today, the layers have become denser and more solid, but human passions are still connected to the passion layer of the inner earth; an accumulation of evil passions and forces still causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

[ 37 ] How human beings are connected with their fate and will to what happens there can be seen in two examples that have been truly occultly investigated. It has been found that people who perished in an earthquake became spiritual, spiritually believing people in their next incarnation. They had progressed so far that only this one blow was needed to show them the transience of earthly things. This had such an effect in the Devachan that they learned as fruit for their next life that the material is transitory, but the spirit is what overcomes it. Not all of them understood this, but many now live in this way as people who belong to various spiritual, theosophical movements.

[ 38 ] In the other example, people whose birth coincided with an earthquake or volcanic eruption were studied. It was found that, strangely enough, all of these people had become very materialistic. The earthquake or volcanic eruption was not the cause, but rather the many materialistic souls who, ripe for birth, worked their way into the physical world through their astral will and unleashed the forces of the fire layer, which then shook the earth at their birth.

[ 39 ] Thus, the will of human beings is connected with what happens on Earth. Human beings transform their place of residence along with themselves. With their own spiritualization, they spiritualize the Earth. One day, on the next planet, they will have ennobled this Earth through their own creative power. Every moment we think and feel, we are working on the great edifice of the earth. The leaders of humanity look into such connections and seek to bring to humanity those forces that work in the sense of development. One of the latest of these movements is theosophy. It is intended to have a harmonizing and balancing effect down to the deepest foundations of the human soul. Those who still put their opinion about love, their desire to be right, above peace, have not yet fully understood the theosophical idea. The attitude of love must work its way into our opinions. Those who are engaged in occult development learn this as a natural necessity, otherwise they cannot progress. They renounce their own opinion altogether and want only to be an instrument of the objective truth that comes from the spirits and flows through the world as the one great truth. The more one renounces oneself and becomes a mouthpiece for the one great truth, no longer considering one's own opinion, the more one practices the true theosophical attitude. This is extremely difficult today. But theosophical teaching is itself a peacemaker. When we come together to live in the teaching, it brings peace. But when we bring in what is outside, we bring in discord, and that should actually be impossible.

[ 40 ] Thus, the theosophical worldview must transition into a feeling, into something I would call a spiritual atmosphere in which theosophy lives. You must have the will to understand, then theosophy will hover like a unified spirit over the gatherings, and then it will also have an effect on the world.

Questions and Answers

[ 41 ] In earlier times, the etheric body of the human being was still outside the physical body, as was, of course, the ego consciousness. The soul worked on the physical body from outside. The same is still true of the etheric body of today's horse.

Where do the names of the zodiac constellations come from?

[ 42 ] The entire animal kingdom was once contained within humans, meaning that humans stood on a level between today's animal kingdom and the human kingdom. In order to continue developing, humans had to separate themselves from the parts that could not keep up with their development. At that time, they separated themselves from what now forms our animal kingdom. Originally, animals were much less different from humans than they are now. They then gradually degenerated. However, the separation of the animal kingdom did not happen suddenly, but very gradually. First the fish, then the reptiles and amphibians, then the birds and mammals. And within these groups, there was also only a gradual separation. For example, the predators were separated earlier than the apes. When lions disappeared, the constellation in which the sun stood was called Leo, and when humans disappeared, the constellation was called Taurus. The names of the four apocalyptic animals in the Revelation of John point to the same thing. They are called eagle, lion, bull, and man. But that does not explain the names of all the zodiac signs.

[ 43 ] The moon of earlier times – before the earth was separated – consisted of soft plant matter, like living moorland or spinach, interwoven with a wood-like framework that has now hardened into rock. The moon plants, actually plant animals, lived in this soft mass, standing between today's animals and plants. They lived in plant matter. When the Earth separated, forming the four kingdoms of nature—minerals, plants, animals, and humans—some did not undergo the full transformation into today's plants. This is how parasitic plants came into being.

“Before the masters can speak, they must unlearn how to wound.” (From “Light on the Path” by Mabel Collins.)

[ 44 ] When we send out a thought of love, it forms a beautiful thought form, looking like a flower that gently opens and completely envelops the one to whom the thought of love is directed. When we think a thought of hatred, it forms a pointed, angular shape, closed at the top, in order to wound. What we call the “Master” is the divine voice that speaks within us. It always speaks, but we do not always let it out. The thought of love is open, so the voice of the Master can sound through it. But the closed thought form of hatred leaves no way out for the divine thought form, so that it must remain unheard.

A lie is murder in the astral realm.

[ 45 ] Let us suppose I think the following thought: I have met a person. This creates a very specific thought form. Now I say the same thing to someone else: I met a person. — Again, the same thought form is created. The two thought forms meet and reinforce each other. But if I lie and say: I did not meet the person — then a thought form is created that is opposite to the first one. The two thought forms collide and destroy each other. The explosion takes place in the astral body of the liar.

How can one protect one's astral body from bad influences?

[ 46 ] The best way is to be pure and true yourself. As a special means of protection, however, you can also form an astral shell, a blue moon, through energetic concentration of will. Tell yourself firmly and emphatically: All my good qualities shall surround me like a shield!

Why did the early Christians have the symbol of the fish in addition to that of the lamb?

[ 47 ] In fish, especially in amphioxus, the spinal cord begins to form. Man once stood in this early stage, he still had the nature of a fish within him, was all soul and worked on his body from the outside. Then they separated from the fish. The brain later formed from the spinal cord. Goethe already knew this. Dr. Steiner found this written as a small note in pencil in a notebook when he was working in the Goethe Archive in Weimar. This is how humans become themselves. But this self is ennobled by Christianity, and that is why the fish is the symbol of Christians. The same is said in the legend of Jonah. Jonah — the human being — is first outside the fish, that is, working as a soul from outside. Then he becomes a self and slips into the fish, the physical body. At initiation, the human being leaves the physical body again.

Can one see physical objects after death?

[ 48 ] After death, one sees nothing physical, but the corresponding astral, astral power images, and devachanic images. The mineral is missing; it appears as a void, like a photographic negative. You can see a clock in the devachan because there is human intention involved. In this way, you can see every human creation there.

	Atma	Transformed physical body
	Budhi	transformed etheric body
	Manas
Kama Manas	I
Kama	Astral body
Prana	Etheric body
	Physical body

[ 49 ] The general life force is called prana. It flows like water; but when it is shaped, like water poured into a vessel, poured into the physical body, it is called the etheric body. Similarly, the general astral matter is called kama, which means desire matter. When it is formed into a body, it is called the astral body. The ego is the center of the person. Kama protrudes into it, as does manas. The ego is therefore a mixture of kama and manas. Kama should be completely transformed and refined so that it becomes manas. When the etheric body is refined, budhi arises, and atma arises through the transformation of the physical body.

		The mental level
Arupa	VII	Causal body
	VI	Causal body
	V	Causal body
		Akasha Chronicle
Rupa	IV	Etheric body
	III	Air body
	II	Oceanic realm, like the blood in the human body
	I	Continental realm

[ 50 ] The continental region contains everything physical, the oceanic region all life, the air circle all sensations, and the etheric circle all thoughts. At the boundary of the etheric circle is the Akashic Record. It contains everything that has ever been thought. Beyond the Akashic Record lies everything not yet thought, Arupa. Everything newly thought, all inventions and so on come from the Arupa region. Those who have developed Kama Manas reach the etheric sphere after death, where they have independent thoughts. The ego shapes the astral body so that it becomes Manas. All Manas that has not yet been drawn into the astral is Arupa.

Negation and affirmation of life.

[ 51 ] Schopenhauer says that the irrational will builds the world. Reason must therefore destroy it so that the world perishes. This will redeem humanity. Schelling, Hegel, and Fichte represent a different direction, which can be expressed in the words: “From God - to God!” Let us consider the denial and affirmation of life in a parable: I show someone a piece of magnetic iron and tell him that there is an invisible force in the iron called magnetism. He replies: I don't want to know anything about this force, I affirm the iron. - Those who say they affirm the world do something very similar when they say they affirm the things in the world. Certainly, they affirm the world, but they deny the invisible forces within it. Only those who seek spiritual beings truly affirm life. The others deny half of life. Some theosophists say: I don't care about the world, I only want to develop my higher self. — In truth, they are only seeking the lower human being. The higher human being is everywhere outside. When I feel the whole world within me, then I have found myself, my higher self. My self is outside of me. Knowledge of the world is knowledge of the self!

What effect does suggestion have?

[ 52 ] Suggestion affects the ego. The higher bodies are lifted out of the physical body, and the ego body then unconsciously follows the hypnotist without the physical brain. The physical brain, which controls actions, is released. It is different for the initiate. He retains control and consciousness even without the physical brain and therefore cannot be hypnotized.

The “Pistis Sophia.”

[ 53 ] This book is written in Coptic and contains many of Christ's speeches during the initiation of his disciples, as well as many inner interpretations of the parables. The most significant chapter is the 13th. The αίμαρμένη (Haimarmene) is Devachan. The entire supernatural world is divided into twelve eons. These are the seven divisions of the astral plane and the five lowest divisions of Devachan. From Devachan, stray spirits can be purified. The purifier of light before Christ is Melchizedek. He is referred to when speaking of the ἐπίσκοπος (Episkopos) of light.

[ 54 ] The evil powers are to be understood as ἄρχοντες (Archontes).

Question not noted.

[ 55 ] Struggle and discussion are not the domain of theosophy. We should not waste time arguing, but only speak to those who have a heart and mind for theosophy.

Why does Christ say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” – when great religious founders before him already showed the way?

[ 56 ] First, one must put oneself in the mindset of that time. Back then, when one heard the outer word, one also heard the spiritual content of the word. Then consider the following: Christ was the embodiment of the second person of God. No religious founder before him had embodied the fullness of the Logos. But what was embodied in his predecessors was already part of the Logos, that is, Christ himself. So he includes everything before him in the words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Then these words can also be taken literally in another sense. The founders of religions before Christ showed the way and taught the truth, but they did not exemplify the mystery of God to humanity. They could therefore say: I am the way and the truth. - Christ alone can say: I am the way, the truth, and the life. - Now Elijah means “way” and Moses means “truth.” At the Transfiguration, Christ appears with Elijah and Moses. The Transfiguration thus says: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Buddha's entry into Nirvana, his death, is the same as Christ's Transfiguration. So where Buddha's work ends, Christ's work, his life, actually begins.