The Rudolf Steiner Archive

2. The Earth's Interior and Volcanic Eruptions

[ 1 ] As announced, today's lecture will follow up on a shocking event that has taken place in recent days: the eruption of Vesuvius. Of course, we will not be discussing the details of this natural event in particular, but rather our task will be to awaken a spiritual scientific understanding of such natural phenomena in general. I would therefore like to bring together a few building blocks to facilitate such an understanding. I would like to note in advance that even among occultists, it is considered one of the most difficult tasks to speak about the mysterious structure and composition of our planet Earth. It is a well-known “fact” — and anyone who is even slightly familiar with occult matters will have heard of it — that it is easier to experience something of the astral and mental worlds, of Kamaloka and Devachan, and to bring it into ordinary daily consciousness than it is to penetrate the mysteries of our own planet Earth. In fact, these mysteries belong to the so-called inner mysteries, which are reserved for a higher, second degree of initiation. The interior of the Earth has not yet been discussed publicly at all, not even within the theosophical movement. Therefore, I would like to emphasize from the outset that today's lecture is absolutely not intended for newcomers to theosophy. Not because of any difficulties in purely conceptual understanding — for its content may be easier to grasp than many other things — but because anyone who is not sufficiently familiar with spiritual scientific research methods will immediately ask: How do you know all this? I will only give a rough outline of the facts and at the same time point out the paths that lead to the exploration of these connections. Certainly, there will be listeners who are not accustomed to hearing about extraordinary things and who may therefore find today's messages fantastical. But please bear in mind that one can never understand everything. We are dealing here with matters that belong to the most advanced areas of occultism.

[ 2 ] I will therefore be compelled to speak about the interior of our Earth from an occult point of view. As is well known, physical science provides very little information about the interior of our Earth. Over the last few decades, almost every five years, it has repeatedly put forward new theories about the formation of volcanoes, the occurrence of earthquakes, and volcanic activity in general. Physical science would dismiss what is to be said today with a slight wave of the hand as something that does not belong to science at all. However, by way of introduction, I would like to characterize how this objection from physical science would appear to the occultist.

[ 3 ] External science sets itself the task of understanding, in purely mechanical terms, these devastating outpourings of an inner earth substance onto the surface, these terrible tremors that occasionally destroy thousands upon thousands of human lives. Either one imagines a molten earth's interior, something like an overheated furnace, or the origin of volcanic phenomena is assumed to lie in surface hotspots that do not reach deep into the earth's interior. The latter is advocated in particular in more recent theories. Everything that external science has to say on the subject can be heard in popular scientific lectures or gleaned from a wide range of more or less good literature. What could be argued from the point of view of geophysics against an approach such as the one to be applied here can be compared to an everyday occurrence. Let us assume that someone owes a piece of furniture to a person who wanted to give them a pleasure. A third party could now describe the love and care with which the person in question selected the individual pieces of furniture, how this selection was based on certain ideas, and so on. Another observer, however, might object: Why should ideas be decisive here? The furniture was made by the carpenter, so it can be traced back to him. Both are right, both the observer who describes how the furniture was made by the carpenter and the other who knows what was going on in the mind of the giver who commissioned the carpenter to make the furniture. Thus, natural science is quite right in its own way, but it should rise to the occasion and admit that two very different points of view are possible. This is certainly not a rejection of the scientific knowledge of carpentry, but rather an attempt to illustrate the ideas according to which everything has been formed and brought about, that is, the spiritual.

[ 4 ] Now I would like to speak without further ado about the interior of the Earth. Of course, this can only be done schematically. You can well imagine that the interior of the Earth will look a little different when viewed from different points on the Earth's surface. Therefore, only a schematic representation is possible. For the spiritual researcher, a planet is by no means the dead product that natural science presents it as. It is animated and permeated by soul and spirit, just as the human body is not merely what anatomy tells us it is. Just as the human body is animated and spiritualized, so too is the entire body of the Earth. And just as blood is not only what the chemist can determine in this blood, certain substances and layers of material in our earth are by no means merely what the metallurgist, the crystallographer, or the chemist can determine in them. Just as the nerves are not merely what can be recognized anatomically, but, like what can be determined anatomically, have a very special significance as an expression of the soul, so too does everything that makes up our earth correspond to something spiritual and soulful.

[ 5 ] Incidentally, physical research can only penetrate to a very shallow depth into the Earth's interior. How little do the few thousand meters that can be penetrated mean. Natural science can only deal with the outermost shell of the Earth. Clairvoyant research, on the other hand, has no specific limits when it explores our Earth. In fact, it is possible for it to penetrate the Earth planet to its very center. For clairvoyant research, too, the Earth consists of layers, and it turns out that these layers become perceptible in stages.

[ 6 ] Those who have heard the lectures on the Gospel of John will remember that there are seven stages of Christian initiation. These consist, first, of the washing of the feet; second, of the scourging; third, of the crowning with thorns; fourth, of the carrying of the cross; fifth, of the mystical death; sixth, of the burial; and seventh, of the resurrection. In fact, something particularly remarkable comes to light for each of these stages of initiation in relation to the exploration of the earth, namely, for each of these stages of initiation, a layer of our earth that lies one degree deeper proves to be transparent, so that those who have reached the first stage of initiation can initially see through the first layer of the earth. Those who have reached the second stage see through a second layer, which looks completely different. Those who have experienced the crowning with thorns see a third layer. Then comes the stage of carrying the cross, which makes the fourth layer visible. The fifth stage, mystical death, opens up another layer. Then comes the sixth stage, the stage of burial. The seventh layer corresponds to the resurrection, so that you have seven successive layers. Then, beyond these seven layers, for those stages to which human beings ascend when they have completed these seven stages of initiation, there are two further layers of the Earth planet, an eighth and a ninth layer of the Earth's interior, so that we have constructed our Earth's interior from nine superimposed layers. I have drawn these layers as essentially equal in width (see drawing); in reality, they are not, but vary in width. However, the width of the layers will be of less interest to us today.

[ 7 ] Let us try to describe these nine successive layers a little. The uppermost layer is the one that contains everything that natural science knows, everything that exists in the form of solid rock or material that can be turned into solid rock. Everything mineral is contained in this uppermost layer, everything that forms the solid earth's crust as matter.

[ 8 ] Then comes the second layer. This differs externally from the one above it mainly in that it is in a relatively soft, liquid state. Everything it contains is such that in occultism it is called the layer of liquid or soft earth. The outer layer is called solid or mineral earth. Everything contained in this second layer of the earth are things of which ordinary physics cannot have any idea, for it is not possible, at first, to bring about conditions on the surface of our earth in which what is present as substance within this layer could be contained at all. It cannot be contained on the surface of the earth at all, because it requires the enormous pressure exerted by the uppermost layer to hold together what is contained in the second layer. If you were to remove the upper layer, what lies beneath it would scatter into outer space at an incredible speed. That is the second layer.

[ 9 ] The third layer is called the earth vapor. It is a layer that is even more difficult to characterize than the second. You can imagine water in the form of vapor. In addition to its vaporous state, it is also dense and animated. So we have a layer that is essentially animated, while the other two layers of the earth, i.e., the first and second layers, do not actually have life as such. However, the second layer has an enormous capacity for expansion, a tendency to fragment. The third layer, on the other hand, possesses life in every point.

[ 10 ] The fourth layer is now such that all those things that are present in the three higher layers and still have more or less something of our ordinary substances no longer exhibit any materiality as it can be found on earth. In this layer, therefore, the substances are such that they cannot be perceived by any external sense. They are in an astral state. Everything that exists in the three uppermost layers of the earth and is still related in a certain way to what is on the earth's surface is present here in the astral state. We can say, in the sense of the Bible, “The Spirit of God hovered over the waters.” Let us call this layer the water earth, as it is also called in occultism. This water earth is at the same time the origin, the primal source of all material things on earth, all external material things, regardless of whether they are contained in minerals, plants, animals, or humans. This material, which every earthly being carries within itself, is present in this water earth, evaporated into the astral. You must imagine that all our physical forces also contain astral primal forces, that these astral primal forces condense into the physical, and that these primal forces are contained in the fourth layer, the water earth.

[ 11 ] The fifth layer is called the fruit earth. It is called this for a very special reason. Natural scientists, and indeed people in general, ask: How did life come into being? This is discussed again and again, not only in popular lectures but also in scientific writings. But only those who are complete amateurs in the field of spiritual research ask this question. For spiritual research, the question of how living things came into being cannot arise at all, but only the question: How did dead things come into being? — I have already tried to explain this to you using a comparison. Take coal, for example: it is now nothing more than rock, and yet if you could trace back millions of years in the evolution of our Earth, you would discover that what is in coal originated from huge fern forests that have been carbonized. So what is coal? It originated from entire forests; the coal that is dead today was once completely alive.

[ 12 ] If you could look at the sea floor, you would find all kinds of limestone formations. If you observed sea creatures, you would see that these animals constantly secrete limestone. This calcareous shell is what remains as solid material. Here again, you have the dead as a product of the living. If you had developed the supersensible organs of perception to go back far enough in the earth's development, you would find that everything dead comes from the living, that even rock crystal and diamonds, indeed everything dead, originates from the living. In the external world, fossilization is a process similar to the formation of the skeletal system in us. You know that there are also fish that do not yet have a skeletal system. In humans, too, in earlier stages you will find no bones, only cartilage. The entire skeletal system is a kind of incipient lifelessness in humans. It is the same process of densification.

[ 13 ] This is how you should imagine the living body of the earth. The entire body of the earth is a living organism. So the right question is: How did the dead, the lifeless, come into being? It is one of the most nonsensical questions: How did the living arise from the dead? — because the living came first and the dead separated itself as petrification, as hardening. So there was once life on our entire earth, and the life that existed at that time, when there was no dead yet, was originally living matter. This is still contained in this fruit soil. It does not only live, like the things of the past, a life similar to the present life. Here in the fruit soil, the most original life is present, as it was also present on the earth's surface when there was still nothing lifeless there. So this is how we should imagine the fifth layer, the fruit soil.

[ 14 ] The sixth layer is the fire earth. Just as the fruit earth contains all life, so the fire earth contains all instinctual life. It contains in its original sources everything that is animal life, life that can experience pleasure and pain. It may seem strange to you, but it is true that this fire earth feels as soon as it is expanded. This can be observed. It is a layer of the earth that truly feels. Everything that exists on earth and has filled the whole earth is present in certain layers. Just as the dead comes from the living, so everything that is merely alive comes from the soul. The merely alive does not come from the physical. Feeling, the soul, is the first, and from this arises the physical. Everything that is material can be traced back to the soul.

[ 15 ] The seventh layer is called the Earth's mirror, also known as the Earth's refractor or reflector, for a very special reason. Now comes something that is perhaps the most difficult to imagine. Those who are not familiar with what are known as the seven unspeakable secrets of occultism will find it grotesque what this seventh layer of the Earth's interior contains. It holds within itself all the forces of nature, transformed into the spiritual. Let me explain: think of magnetism, electricity, heat, light, or any other force of nature, but transferred into the spiritual realm. A magnet, for example, attracts iron. That is an inorganic effect. Imagine this transformed into the spiritual realm, as if the magnet were attracting the iron out of an inner soul sympathy, and imagine the electrical conduction transformed into the spiritual-moral realm, as if our natural forces were not mechanical, indifferent forces, but had moral effects. Imagine the forces of heating, repulsion, and attraction as spiritual-moral; imagine them as if they wanted to do people a favor and had a spiritual feeling in doing so. In this way, you can imagine the whole of nature as moral at first.

[ 16 ] So everything you can imagine as moral in human nature, imagine it reversed into its opposite. Then you have what appears in this mirror of the earth. So, for example, there is nothing there that we call good here on earth; on the contrary, all the effects that are strongest there are the opposite of what humans call good. Such qualities are possessed by the material components of this layer of our Earth. Originally, it had much more of these qualities, but they are becoming better and better in the course of the development of morality, so that the moral development of our Earth means a complete transformation of the forces in this Earth mirror from the immoral to the moral. The moral process in human society is significant not only for this society itself, but also for the entire planet. This is expressed in the fact that the forces of this layer are transformed into moral forces of nature. When our human race has progressed to the point where it has produced the highest morality, then everything anti-moral in this Earth mirror will have been overcome and transformed into the moral. That is the meaning of this seventh layer.

[ 17 ] The eighth part of the Earth's interior is referred to by various names. In the Pythagorean school of antiquity, this eighth stage was called the number generator. In the Rosicrucian school, it is called the splitter. This eighth layer, which is again composed of a number of forces, has a most remarkable property that can only be discovered in a peculiar way. When the spiritual student has reached a degree that in Christian initiation is attained only after the resurrection, he must do the following in order to gain any idea of what is going on here. For example, he must take a flower and visualize it mentally, then concentrate on this place inside the earth, as if he were looking through the flower into this place. Then everything appears a hundredfold and a thousandfold through the flower. Hence the name splitter. If you take something formless, such as a piece of wood, this is not the case. If, on the other hand, you take a plant, an animal, or even a human being, they will appear to you in countless copies. In a similar way, a work of art will also appear to you in multiple copies. So not a mere piece of unformed matter, but a work of art, no matter what kind it is, as long as it is material: it appears in countless copies. This is a peculiarity of this layer; that is why it is called the fragmenter or, in the Pythagorean school, the number generator, the latter because it shows in multiple numbers what is present on earth in a single copy.

[ 18 ] Then comes the ninth layer, which immediately surrounds the center of the earth. This is extremely difficult for today's human beings, even for advanced spiritual students, to understand. One can only say that one can become aware of how certain parts of the earth's interior have a certain relationship to individual organs of the human and animal body. Above all, you will find forces there that are transferred to the periphery. These are forces whose mode of action is difficult to describe. They are in a living connection with the human brain and, further inward, with human brain functions. Even further inward in this sphere lie forces that are connected with the reproductive forces of humans and animals.

[ 19 ] In this way, we have the structure of our Earth as it appears in clairvoyant observation and as it has been taught in all occult schools since such schools have existed. What you find recorded here is a mystery that is truly taught in all occult schools.

[ 20 ] However, there are manifold connections between the individual layers, just as in the human body the individual organs are connected in manifold ways by the blood and the nerves. Connections radiate out from the center in various directions. In particular, two clearly perpendicular lines of force pass through the exact center of the Earth. These are not strands, but directions of force. Then there are many other directions to note. The following facts are important for consideration. When we explore the uppermost layer, we find it pierced by a cavity within this outermost layer. This cavity is connected by a kind of channel to the fifth layer, which is called the fruit earth.

[ 21 ] When it comes to a natural disaster such as a volcanic eruption, the deeper layers of the earth that I have described here are involved. This applies to both volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The material in the uppermost layers is set in motion by the forces emanating from the fruit earth towards the aforementioned cavity. We are dealing with effects that have their essential origin in the fifth layer of our earth's interior. However, what we call the fire earth is also involved, as it becomes agitated. It is actually in a state of constant agitation, but becomes particularly agitated during times when abnormal phenomena such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions occur. Now, this fruit earth—which is the source of all life—is connected to everything that lives. The fire earth, however, is connected to that which feels, to that which experiences pleasure and pain, to the lower soul, its passions and drives.

[ 22 ] I can only shed a little light on this vast subject, illuminating some of the connections between what is happening on Earth and the disturbances in the earth of fire and fruit. When modern humans on our Earth were first imbued with a higher soul and began to be human, powerful drives were still at work under the influence of the fruit and fire earth. All this raged and stormed in a completely different way than is the case today. The people of the Lemurian race were engaged in powerful activity. The entire Lemurian continent, which stretched across the area between present-day Australia, Asia, and South Africa, was destroyed by volcanic eruptions, by a violent raging of the fruit and fire elements of the earth. This was connected with what was happening in the people of that time, who still lived entirely in instincts and impulses. At that time, there was still an intimate connection between the instincts, desires, and passions and the forces of volcanic activity. The end of the Lemurian continent was brought about by the grandiose egoism of the last Lemurian races, who practiced black magic, which we can no longer imagine today.

[ 23 ] Similarly, the downfall of Atlantis, described as the Flood, is connected with the morality of the Atlantean peoples. However, only traces of all this remain. Nevertheless, we can prove to a certain extent a real connection between human life and such phenomena in nature. However, one must be extremely careful when proving such connections, because fantasies can easily creep in here. Therefore, one must rely only on facts researched through occult means. Occultists attempt to determine what happened during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, the earthquake in Calabria, the earthquake at the time of Christ, or the earthquake in Lisbon in 1755. A large number of people perished in these natural disasters. The people who lost their lives in these events may not have been responsible for this in their previous lives. However, it is part of the karma of the people concerned that they suffer this demise. That is one reason why the karma of those who perished is investigated. The other reason is this: in theosophical manuals, you will often find Kamaloka and Devachan described in such a way that they appear to be merely a consequence, an effect of the previous earthly life. In fact, however, the dead still have an influence on this earthly life. The dead play a role in changes on earth, in cultural and natural phenomena. Imagine that you were born in the early years of Christianity and now again in the present time. The fauna and flora in Europe have changed enormously. Many animal and plant species have become extinct and been replaced by others. In terms of spiritual research, all this is not explained by supernatural forces, but rather by the forces that humans have when they are not in their bodies, which actually interact with the forces of nature, so that humans influence their future lives with the forces found in Devachan or Kamaloka. If you encounter different animals today than you did thousands of years ago, it is because they have come into being through the cooperation of human beings. In a certain sense, human beings are involved in what we call the forces of nature. The dead continue to work on the transformation of nature, so that in many cases we see in natural phenomena the expression of what dead human beings are working into this world.

[ 24 ] The situation is not so simple when it comes to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Nevertheless, they have something to do with people who have not yet been reincarnated. They are clearly related to the souls that are to be incarnated at the time when such earthquakes occur. As an occultist, one therefore has two tasks to solve: first, the question of what happens to the people who perish in earthquakes, and second, the question of what kind of people are born at the time of the earthquake in order to come down to this visible earth. Both investigations provide a picture of the connection between cataclysms and what we observe as moral and intellectual within humanity. It turns out that the people who perish in such a devastating event, apart from all their other karmic predispositions, are brought together by karmic factors with souls at the place where an earthquake occurs. All souls who perish in such upheavals thereby find the opportunity to overcome a final obstacle that still stands in the way of their karma, to transform from materialists into idealists, and to attain spiritual knowledge.

[ 25 ] Those who are born under such circumstances, on the other hand, are strangely enough souls who have a certain attraction to drives, instincts, and passions and who are born as true materialists. Those who are born under the influence of such an event develop into materialists, mostly practical ones, those who are moral in life. The force of nature is connected with what people develop as their power in Devachan, and the forces that arise as a reaction of fire and fruit earth in such catastrophes have an inner connection with those souls who are destined to have a practical-materialistic attitude in their next life. So it is the souls born under the auspices of volcanic eruptions who are actually materialistic, the unbelievers, those who want to know nothing of a spiritual life.

[ 26 ] These are the two facts that can really be stated, so that you can easily deduce from them how progress in the development of the earth will be in this direction: the more real materialism is pushed back, the less such catastrophes will actually occur on our Earth. There is an attraction between materialism and what is present in the fire and fruit earth, so that our Earth will become calmer and more harmonious to the same extent that humanity frees itself from materialism.

[ 27 ] However, there has been a remarkable development in relation to materialism in recent centuries. You know that I have repeatedly emphasized that the Middle Ages were more spiritual than our age. The majority of people, at least within Europe, felt more spiritually. The more recent era, with its emerging materialism, brought numerous volcanic eruptions. Vesuvius is the only volcano on the European mainland that is still active. Compare the number of Vesuvius eruptions: particularly severe eruptions were recorded in the years 79, 203, 472, 512, 652, 982, 1036, 1139 ... 1872, 1885, 1891 ... 1906.

[ 28 ] Everyone can take from these figures what they wish to take from them. I can only emphasize that the popularization of occult teachings arose for much deeper reasons than people usually believe. Those who initiated them knew full well what was to happen, namely an intensive spiritual development of humanity in harmony with the great cosmic processes. To the layman, all that has been decided in the spiritual science movement in terms of great, comprehensive ideas not only about human events but also about world events may seem insignificant. Apparently, we are dealing with a doctrine, but in reality it is something of tremendous depth and significance for the entire cosmos.

[ 29 ] These are things that must be emphasized again and again. So once more: I have tried, for those who are somewhat accustomed to receiving spiritual messages in a manner appropriate to the subject, to deal with something that is otherwise hardly ever discussed, even in our theosophical movement. I have tried to point out a few points that are connected with the deepest mysteries of occultism. They are suitable for making events such as those we have experienced in recent days morally comprehensible in an inner way. Of course, there is something that must always be kept in mind. When considering such comprehensive connections, beware of any fantasy that might attach itself to such things. Only that which is based on sound methods that have proven themselves not just for millennia, but since the emergence of occultism, should be considered. Only that which truly has its origin in initiation, which has access to such mysteries, and only that which is based on real research, should be considered here. What I have told you today about the significance of such events is based on real research: their significance both for the person who perishes and for the person who is born at the time of these events, who is thus compelled by his own urge to incarnate. These are connections that allow us to look deeply into human nature.

[ 30 ] The occultist must not shy away from saying incredible things. And so, in conclusion, I would like to share something incredible, but which has been thoroughly researched. During the famous eruption of Vesuvius, which buried Herculaneum and Pompeii in 79 AD, something remarkable happened. As is well known, the famous Roman writer Pliny the Elder perished in the disaster. It is extremely significant to follow his fate occultly, but in our present context we shall not go into his individual karma, but into something else. You all know what is meant by the “Akashic Records.” You know that with the help of the Akashic Records, one can be transported back to certain points in time, including the time of the first eruption of Vesuvius. Something strange now becomes apparent. In the course of my lecture, I spoke about the peculiarity of the eighth layer, which is called the splitter or number generator. This layer is also of great significance for the physical body of the human being. What we usually call the human body perishes physically and materially after death. It dissolves in the uppermost layers of the earth, but not the sum of forces that holds the physical body in form. You can find these in the seventh layer, the so-called Earth Mirror. So if you record in the Akashic Records the moment when a person has just died on earth, and then follow the whereabouts of their individual elements, you will see how the physical corpse perishes, but how the physical form can be found as permanent in the Earth Mirror, in the seventh layer. This is where the things that can be researched in the Akashic Records are stored. In fact, this is a kind of reservoir for the forms that remain present. The matter perishes, but the form remains preserved.

[ 31 ] If you now follow such a preserved human form, you will see that it remains in this seventh layer for a while. Then it is actually fragmented in the eighth layer, the fragmenter or number generator. What happens is exactly the same as what I described to you earlier for the flower. This form body of a human being will appear to you as divided many times. It then reappears in the construction of later human beings. So, mind you, the human being as he lives among us does not merely have his individuality, his innermost being; he also carries other human beings within himself in form, in the center of his body. And it is indeed possible to show the influence that the fragmented physical form of Pliny has had on the thinking of materialistic natural scientists, who have absorbed this fragmented form into themselves.

[ 32 ] So mysterious are the connections that reveal themselves to us when we penetrate the constitution of the earth. You will now find it understandable that, in a certain sense, the outer aspect, the structure of our bodies, is also karmically dependent on such previous events. An event such as the demise of Pliny has an effect on the structure of later brains, not on the souls, but on the physical forms. These are particularly subtle processes that are very important if one wants to understand the connections between human beings and the Earth.

[ 33 ] The secrets of the Rosicrucians, whose profound wisdom I have spoken to you about before, included insights of the kind I have shared with you today. The Rosicrucians did not see the earth as a lifeless lump, as modern natural scientists do. Goethe, the great poet and theosophist, also knew that the earth is not something dead and lifeless. It was not a poetic expression, but an image of a spiritual reality when he let the earth spirit speak:

In floods of life, in storms of action
I surge up and down,
Weaving back and forth!
Birth and grave,
An eternal sea,
A changing weaving,
A glowing life,
Thus I work at the whirring loom of time
And weave the living garment of the deity.

[ 34 ] For Goethe, this earth was the outer garment of divine powers. Today I would like to describe some of their work to you.