Nature and Spirit Beings
Their Effects in Our Visible World
GA 98
8 February 1908, Stuttgart
VII. The Influence of Other Worlds on the Earth I
Today, we want to look at some details of the occult world. Some of what will be said today will build on the observations we made last time. Some of it is meant to broaden your perspective in the direction we headed the last time, allowing us to see more and more how the space around us is alive and spiritualised by supersensible facts and supersensible beings.
Last time,1In the lecture dated 7 December 1907, GA98-02-03—The relation of the Human Being to Nature. we observed how the different realms of nature that surround us—the mineral, the plant, and the animal kingdom—contain beings who we can call group-Egos. We have explained how underlying the animal world are group-Egos, self-contained individualities, or, one could say, personalities, who can be found on the astral plane and how they, as it were, encircle the Earth.
We have seen how the plant-Egos are located in the centre of the Earth. We did not name a particular location where the group-Egos of the minerals are located, as they reside in the higher regions of Devachan.
From this you will have seen that beings are constantly around us, through which we walk all the time, who penetrate us, and who live in the same space as we do. For example, an animal group-soul that belongs to a whole group of similarly shaped animals is able to pass through us. This is because in the astral the principle of penetration, of permeability, holds sway, in contrast to our physical world where the principle of impermeability prevails.
First, I would like to add a note in order to expand on what was said before. Previously, you have seen that we have to think of a plant’s root as its head stuck in the ground; then the stem grows out of it and develops leaf by leaf, and so on. Depicted schematically, we would have to search for the group-Egos at the centre of the Earth. What we see with our eyes is the plant’s physical body. This is embedded into what we call the etheric body of the plant. What is the characteristic of the plant’s etheric body? Everything we know as the etheric body has, as a characteristic, the property of repetition. Where the etheric body as such is active, the principle of repetition rules. We see how in the plant, growth leaf by leaf is repeated. Why? Because underlying this repetition is the power of the etheric body. In a human being too, this principle of the etheric body holds sway. For example, we find it in the spinal cord, where it attaches itself ring by ring. Indeed, when the clairvoyant observes the plant in its entirety, he sees the etheric body underlying the whole plant, but above it, the plant is enveloped by astral clouds. Thus, we see the physical body of a plant, which consists of roots, leaves, and so on, saturated by the etheric body and surrounded from above by a kind of glow-light, or astral light. And the astral that works on the plant produces its completion in blossom and fruit. If the etheric body only had an effect, then the plant would endlessly unfold leaf by leaf; the astral body brings this to a close. The etheric body will be subdued, so to speak, by the astral. Clairvoyantly, we can see the Ego of the plant as if it were a sheath2Re: “like a sheath” refer to the drawing: “Astral substance above the plant” in a previous lecture, dated 6 December, evening, GA98-02-06. that extends to the centre of the Earth.
When you approach the plant from the outside, you will first see only the physical and etheric bodies. The glow surrounding the plant is part of the astral atmosphere of the whole Earth. Thus, you can see how the spiritual, as it were, washes around the globe. The sequence of the spinal marrow vortices, is the effect of the etheric body principle that you have within yourself. This is brought to a close by the strongly intervening astral force which surrounds the spinal cord. As the astral body unfolds, the spinal vortices are closing themselves off as cranial bones. Thus, one could actually track the collaboration of the etheric with the astral everywhere in the world. Underlying this is a mystery, namely the secret that everything alive must be dampened, or, as it were, killed by the astral. The purpose of this killing in the astral is to bring the etheric to a close. If we imagine it as a powerful effect, then it is called Azote.3Azote: Expression for nitrogen (N), ‘Azote” French for Nitrogen, from the Greek “A” = not and “zoe” = life. Thinking spiritually, Azote means the force in the cosmos that prevents the etheric unfolding with an overabundant power without ever coming to an end. The call to that which is alive to become conscious, is based on the power of Azote, for without the astral there would be no consciousness.
Everything spiritual also has its expression in the physical, just as for a spiritual observer all physical matter is nothing but the embodiment of the spirit. Spiritually speaking, we have now seen the collaboration of the continuously developing etheric, and the astral that holds back the etheric, and contained in the holding back is consciousness.
If you observe the interaction of the two substances contained in our air, oxygen and nitrogen, you will find the physical expression of this as it applies to humans and animals. The oxygen in our air is the embodiment of the etheric, the great life-body of the Earth. You would devour yourself in a vehement life if you breathed only oxygen. You would be old right away after your birth, so to speak. Consciousness as such couldn’t develop in the way it exists for human beings and animals. Therefore, the developing life, the oxygen principle, must be subdued. It is being subdued by the admixture of nitrogen. This regulates and limits the effect of oxygen. If you only breathed nitrogen, you would die instantly. The interaction of both creates the balance that moderates life so that it can become conscious. The physical embodiment of Azote is the power that finds its expression in nitrogen. Thus, you are learning the spiritual background of what you continuously take in and what you give out.
You now have an example of how all life comes into being through the establishment of a balance between opposing powers. This equilibrium between two powers can also be seen in the larger cosmos, for example in our solar system. Thus, we arrive at a chapter where we can point out that our solar system does not only represent a range of bodies of physical substance, but that all those bodies that belong to our system, are in the physical world solely as an expression of something spiritual. Just as you have a physical body that belongs to a soul, likewise, every planetary body belongs to something of “soul” and of “spirit”; and the spiritual sheaths of the individual world bodies are very varied.
If one could look at our Earth clairvoyantly from the outside, one would see not only rocks, and so on, of material substance, as well as animal and human shapes walking around in between, but above all, the group-souls of plants, animals, and so on. This is already a spiritual population on our Earth. Furthermore, the clairvoyant would see the individual human souls, the folk-soul, and so on. In any case, one must not imagine the spirit of a celestial body simply as a sphere in space with a spirit and a soul, but rather as a complete spiritual population that forms an entity and resides on this celestial body. And all these individual spirits, group-souls and so on are, in a sense, subordinate to one we can call a leader. And all of this together corresponds to the total spirit of our Earth, to the one we call the Earth-spirit.
Even from these hints, you can see that the spiritual life of a planet is complicated. We now endeavour to delve deeper and deeper into the details of the spiritual life of a planet. You must be patient; we will always progress a bit further.
Today, we can follow our planetary system a bit further, remembering that our Earth was not always like it is now and that it only became so through slow evolution. As you are aware, Earth was a different planet prior to becoming Earth. We call the earlier embodiment of our Earth the “old Moon.” This is not our current Moon, which is only a fragment of it. Even earlier, the Earth was what we call the Sun-planet. This does not, once again, refer to the current Sun. Even earlier, our Earth was Saturn. What is the relationship of our current Sun to the old Sun, when our Earth was still the Sun?
The position of the Sun in the cosmos was not like it is nowadays, because then a sun, separate from the Earth, did not exist. That which you all were at that time was the preparation for the current physical, etheric, and astral body that lived within the old Sun itself. The first rudiments of the physical body had been given on Saturn, the rudiments of the etheric body on the Sun, the rudiments of the astral body on the Moon, and then it is on the Earth that the Ego is added. If you put this together with the current state, then you will understand how you have lived on the old Sun. Your life consisted only of a physical and an etheric body. Your Ego was not yet in the body and neither was your astral body. If you wish to imagine the old Sun-life, you will gain an idea of this if you imagine that all of you here have suddenly fallen asleep. The physical and the etheric bodies will remain seated on the chairs, while the astral body and your Ego floats in the air above you. The conditions on the Sun were permanently like this—that’s how it used to be on the old Sun. You floated around the Sun, following behind your Ego and your astral body, governing and leading from above what was below. Your physical body, of course, was not like it is today. If you imagine it like today’s plants, you will gain an idea of what the physical body was like. Flesh, in the present sense, didn’t yet exist. What you had was a kind of plant life. But it was impossible for the Sun to hold onto such a shape because then an Earth with such human beings as you are today could never have emerged.
During the transition to the Moon, those beings capable of bearing the solar existence needed to split off from the Earth, because the solar existence was swift and fast-paced. As a result, the Sun, with all of those substances that necessitated a fast-paced, rushing life, split itself off from the Earth. Hence, the Sun took along with it all those substances and beings that developed swiftly, and Earth was left behind with all those beings that were not able to cope with the rapid pace. The human being was one of those beings. The best of all beings and substances on the old Sun separated and took on a life of their own. We see, in the fiery, gaseous masses of the current Sun, the bodies of highly exalted beings, who have developed far beyond human beings. They are able to endure today’s Sun-existence because they are already so far advanced that they no longer need to live within a body. The Sun is an existence that developed out of a planetary existence—it is a fixed star, as it is called in occultism.
A fixed star is an advanced planet that has ejected anything that couldn’t keep up. The higher entities have founded an existence for themselves on the fixed star. Each fixed star has arisen from a planet. Advancement, or upward movement, is also taking place in the cosmos. Our Earth, too, will go through the following embodiments: it will become Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. On Venus, Earth will have already reached a kind of fixed star existence. We will transform ourselves, together with the Earth, into beings of a higher kind, who will be able to endure the fixed star existence.
As we have seen, a fixed star comes into being by a planet expelling its bad materials and beings and retaining the better substances and beings to lead them upwards to a more exalted existence. You might ask: if such a fixed star continues to advance upwards, what will become of it then? What will become of the Sun with all the sublime beings?—First of all, there is still a while to go, because what happens next will be that our Earth will once again unite with this Sun. But then there will be a further separation because our Earth will gradually become a fixed star. Once our Earth has reached its Venus or Vulcan-existence, then, what the Sun is today will also slowly have become something different. What will become of a Sun?—A sun becomes what we see today glittering down from the sky as the Zodiac. The higher stage of development of a Sun is that it unfolds into a Zodiac. A Zodiac consists of twelve constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. For the materialistic astronomer, these are simply group pictures. Though the clairvoyant knows, that they have not simply been placed into space, but that their constellations correspond to spiritual beings who are grouped around in this belt in the sky. Once beings have completed their sun-existence, they will become such a Zodiac. This too goes through a kind of evolution.
The Zodiac is known today as a particular spatial order of certain stars, which is related in a certain way to our life and existence—but it was not always this way. It has developed out of a type of nebulous substance. Imagine the old Saturn that once represented the Earth, then evolved into the Sun, the Moon, and finally became today’s Earth. Saturn was already surrounded by our Zodiac, but the stars in our Zodiac were not distinct then, and the matter was like foggy rain. With the advancement of Saturn to the Sun and to the Moon, the matter grouped itself together and the constellations lit up.
Where did this Zodiac, that surrounded Saturn at that time come from, and which will vanish because it will have served its purpose as soon as our Sun becomes a Zodiac? Now, you can imagine that Saturn was preceded by other evolutionary stages. An earlier Sun, that shone above the earlier embodiments of our Earth when it was Saturn, had sacrificed itself and had become this Zodiac. When we look from an occult perspective at this Zodiac, we can see that it has only come about through a great sacrifice. Substances and beings that preceded our existence have sacrificed themselves and formed this Zodiac, initially as a nebulous formation of matter and then as a grouping of stars. That which was described to you as the creative entities of our beings, all of that was united with the old Zodiac when Earth was still Saturn. All those sublime beings, who had already passed through a higher stage before, had to work downwards; they streamed out the rudiments of the physical body. This is what exists as the secret of the genesis of the world: that all beings will ascend from beings that receive, to become beings that produce and create. It is the aim of beings to become creators.
Once they have ascended from “receiving” to “giving”, the beings gather together in a Zodiac. The matter for the first rudiments of a human being’s physical body flowed from the Zodiac. Thus, we learn to look more and more into the cosmos and at what floats through it. And the physical bodies appear to us to be only the physical expression of higher spiritual beings. Those higher spiritual beings have exuded matter through their will. This is the powerful, magical work where the will becomes so strong that it can pour out substance. The substance that rained down out of these beings, who were called upon to create this matter on the old Saturn, has transformed itself over time into our present physical body. We call those exalted beings the Thrones or the Spirits of Will, who have developed to such a height that they were able to trickle down the cosmic rain that was the first rudiment of the physical human body.
This is another new point we would like to capture, there will come a time when a confluence of all these viewpoints comes about. But one must have patience to discover all the details, so that by and by a more complete picture of the greatness of the cosmos emerges.
We now move on from these global spaces to another chapter. We will return to that point in our Earth’s evolution where the Sun has separated itself off from our Earth—to where once, in the pre-historic past, the Sun and Earth were still forming one body. The Sun, together with the higher developed beings, left our Earth behind as a setting suitable for us slower-developing beings. The Sun then shone on the Earth from the outside. The Sun beings are sublime and powerful beings, but they are creative in a different way than the Thrones, the spirits of the Zodiac. What streams from the Sun to the Earth is light. This is also an enormous deed, but it is cosmically less than the trickling down of matter itself.
What we call the Moon today was originally still united with the Earth. Our Moon was created by the shedding of less developed substances and beings that were still connected with the Earth. If Earth had kept the Moon in itself, then our development would also not have proceeded correctly. The development would have become too slow. Earth would have become, so to speak, mummified like a statue. Life would have perished. Too much would have been killed off, and eventually, the Earth would have become a field of the dead. That is why the Moon had to depart, and the Earth, which remained, was able to maintain balance. As a result, the Sun and Moon are now affecting the Earth from the outside; they maintain the Earth’s equilibrium so that human evolution can take place. Everything is kept in balance through opposing forces. Only by both opposing forces, those of the Sun and of the Moon influencing Earth, was the human Ego able to gain a foothold in mankind. And now recall our first elementary description of the human being. A human being consists of a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, and an Ego. The Ego works on the astral body and transforms it into Manas, the etheric body into Buddhi, and the physical body into Atma or Spirit-Man. But it would have been impossible for this development to happen right from the start. Here, the Sentient Soul, the Rational Soul, and the Consciousness Soul had to insert themselves. These sheaths that lie between the human body—the physical, the etheric, and the astral body—and the spirit—Manas, Buddhi, and Atma, were temporary transformations. Now the Ego, at its level of spiritual development, integrates the Spirit-Self, Manas, into the astral body. Everything that happens now is purely the work of Manas or the Spirit-Self. But that was not long ago—we did not start doing this until the Atlantean era. However, it had been prepared earlier, albeit unconsciously, through the three middle sheaths: the Sentient Soul, the Rational Soul, and the Consciousness Soul.
When the human being came over from the Moon to the Earth, he consisted of only three bodies: the physical, the etheric, and the astral body, and a bridge had to be built. The human being was not able to build such a bridge by himself; he needed help. In Lemurian and Atlantean times, work on it had already been done unconsciously, as you are now working consciously on this. First work was undertaken on the astral body, and the Sentient Soul emerged. Then work was done on the etheric body and the Rational Soul emerged. Finally, work was even done on the physical body out of which the Consciousness-Soul unfolded, which came about by enabling the physical body to drive its physical organs outwards. With this development, the clairvoyant stage of Atlantean consciousness transitioned into today’s consciousness. Thus, as a manifestation the Consciousness-Soul will be lit up last.
Only in the old Atlantean times did man gain the maturity to work on himself. Who helped him during that time when the human being wanted to evolve out of a being that had a physical, etheric, and astral body into someone who possessed a Sentient-Soul, a Rational-Soul, and Consciousness-Soul? We will understand who helped when we look at our Earth-development, how it happened through the Sun, Moon, and so on. As you know, Earth has separated itself from the Sun and has sent out the Moon. The Sun had highly exalted beings who were so advanced creatively that they were able to send light into the cosmos. I have often mentioned that not only may one have to repeat a grade in school, but also in cosmic development. The human being had come so far as to be able to endure on Earth, and the higher beings had come so far that they could endure life on the Sun. The beings who live on the Sun today had a human existence previously. But during this initial development, some beings had fallen behind, for whom it was impossible to complete their set tasks. They could not yet readily live on the Sun. If they had gone there, they would have fared badly—the human being also would not have been able to endure it. However, these beings stood between the Sun-gods and human beings. For this reason, they had to obtain a different world body where the conditions were suitable for their existence. In fact, these beings were also taken care of during cosmic development. Even before our Sun separated Earth from itself, our Jupiter separated himself from the Sun at about the same time. Later, after the Sun had already released the Earth, our current Venus separated itself from the Sun, and even later, our current Mercury separated from the Sun.
Thus, for those beings who had not kept up, planetary existence stages were created, and they now inhabit those planets. At the time when the Moon also separated from Earth, a very occult process took place in our karmic development, called the Passage of Mars through our Earth, which is very difficult to explain. Indeed this process is extremely difficult to explain because when the Earth was still connected with the Sun, the Mars substance was within the Earth. The Sun then separated itself from the Earth, and Mars stepped out, leaving behind the substance known as iron on Earth. Mars, too, became a location for those beings who had fallen behind. These Mars beings are the initiators of the development of the Sentient Soul. If they had not exerted their influence on our planet, then the Sentient Soul would not have been able to form itself. This illustrates to you the importance of those beings who we pointed out at the beginning of this lecture, and who spiritually belong to the physical substances of the solar system and stand in an interrelationship with what we have within ourselves.
Just as the Sentient Soul has been stimulated by the Mars beings, so has the Rational Soul been stimulated by the Mercury beings, and the Consciousness Soul by the Jupiter beings. Already at the time when the Sentient Soul, the Rational Soul, and the Consciousness Soul were stimulated, the impulse was given to set Manas into motion. Because this too still needed an initial impulse. Once it was in flow, the human being could, so to speak, take his development into his own hands.
This happened in the last third of Atlantean time. The initiators were those beings who resided on Venus. Thus, you will be able to gain an idea of the interactions between the various parts of our planetary system. We must remember that the human being has brought along his physical body, his etheric body, and his astral body. Then three more sheaths develop: the Sentient Soul, the Rational Soul, and the Consciousness Soul, and eventually Manas. The Consciousness Soul has its strength from Jupiter, the Rational Soul has its from Mercury, the Sentient Soul has its from Mars, and the Spirit-Self has received its impulse from Venus. Thus, you must look up at the relevant stars if you want to track down the forces within yourself. Man is a complicated being; he has come into being because the powers of the cosmos have converged within him. Finally, all of this shall be presented in a picture. Imagine, someone would see here on the wall a small Sun spectrum, a rainbow, i.e. the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Imagine that this is not projected onto the wall but only visible in the sun-dust. This is what you would look at first. Then, when you investigate how this comes about, you would see how the sunlight enters the room through a crack and that through different contraptions, through a prism, or through another type of light-breaking substance, this spectrum, this “spectre” comes about. You cannot remove it, but if you take away the separate parts of it that are outside the spectrum, then the spectre disappears. Take the outer light away—gone is the ghost—take away the prism, the wall with the light—and the ghost disappears. It had formed itself purely as a result of outside influences.
When a clairvoyant looks at a human being, it is the same with him as it is here with the spectrum. Man is actually nothing in and of himself, for what the clairvoyant sees, where the human being stands, are forces from Venus, from Mercury, and from Mars. Take away the Venus forces—and the human being vanishes. Take away the influences of Mercury and Mars—and the human being vanishes. The clairvoyant sees the human being as a convergence of cosmic forces. For the clairvoyant, the only thing that solely remains real in this spectre is the “Ego”. This working “Ego” is the true reality; it is the reason for everything flowing together; it works on the absorption of all such influences. Under the gaze of the clairvoyant, all converging streams disappear, leaving solely the “Ego” behind as the only truth. This Ego, that so few people nowadays recognise as reality, is the only thing that remains. What the physical perception considers to be a human being, is in reality only a ghost whose individual parts are held together by the almost magnetic force of the Ego. Everything about the human being, apart from the working Ego, is an optical illusion.
Now we have gone through a thought process together. Please, now transform this into a feeling, because only then will this become truly valuable. Go through the world with this feeling. Imagine our earthly beings dissolved into ghosts, apart from the Egos working within. When you feel this, you feel what the materialistic mind calls existence, reality, dissolve like a mist, and you will see the true reality in the spiritual Ego. Only then will you feel something of what, in the Oriental world-view, is meant by the expression “Reality is Maya.” All other talk is just phrases. If one starts right away with the phrase, “The world is Maya”, then this is an absurdity. We do not even want to say the word Maya without first having gained this kind of sentiment through such an observation.
You will now have gained a certain idea about what true occult training with its long preparation aims for. You see, it is actually quite a blatant phrase to tell people that existence is only an illusion. First, such contemplations need to proceed patiently and calmly so that the spiritual sensations become ignited. First, we all want to learn to pronounce the words we need in the proper way. To a large extent, our words are spoken only like empty sounds by people, whilst these words indeed, when they were spoken in those cultures where they originated from, were connected with deeply meaningful feelings.
Such an observation that shows us what Maya is, and that shows us the true reality inside the illusion, first pours into our soul what we must extract as a feeling from Theosophy. Therefore, it is necessary that you not only leave with knowledge but also with an emotional tone, with this emotional colour that falls on such a word. In this way, the imaginative observation joins with what we take along into life, what lives within our soul as an emotion, as a feeling.
Über Einige Übersinnliche Tatsachen und Wesenheiten
[ 1 ] Heute wollen wir uns einmal einige Einzelheiten aus der okkulten Welt vor Augen führen. Manches von dem, was heute zu sagen ist, soll sich anschließen an die Betrachtung, die wir das letzte Mal hier gepflegt haben; manches soll Ihren Blick erweitern nach derjenigen Richtung hin, die ja schon das letzte Mal eingeschlagen worden ist, daß man immer und immer mehr sieht, wie der Raum um uns herum durchlebt und durchgeistigt ist von übersinnlichen Tatsachen, von übersinnlichen Wesenheiten. Wir haben das letzte Mal in unserer Betrachtung gesehen, wie die verschiedenen Reiche — das mineralische, das pflanzliche und das tierische Reich - um uns herum Wesenheiten enthalten, die wir nennen können Gruppen-Iche. Wir haben ausgeführt, wie der Tierwelt Gruppen-Iche zugrunde liegen, wie diese Gruppen-Iche als abgeschlossene Individualitäten, man könnte sagen, als Persönlichkeiten, auf dem astralischen Plane zu finden sind, wie sie sozusagen die Erde umkreisen. Wir haben gesehen, wie die pflanzlichen Iche im Mittelpunkt der Erde sind und wie wir von den Gruppen-Ichen der Mineralien keinen bestimmten Ort angaben, weil diese sich in höheren Partien des Devachan aufhalten. Daraus schon haben Sie gesehen, daß fortwährend um uns herum Wesenheiten sind, die wir immer sozusagen durchschreiten, die in uns eindringen, die in demselben Raume leben wie wir. Das, was zum Beispiel eine tierische Gruppenseele ist, was einer ganzen Gruppe gleichgestalteter Tiere angehört, kann durch uns hindurchgehen. Denn im Astralischen herrscht das Gesetz der Durchdringung, der Durchgängigkeit, im Gegensatz zu unserer physischen Welt, wo das Gesetz der Undurchdringlichkeit herrscht.
[ 2 ] Nun möchte ich zuerst zur Erweiterung dessen, was damals gesagt wurde, eine Art Notiz geben. Sie haben damals gesehen, daß wir uns die Wurzel der Pflanze als deren Kopf zu denken haben, der in der Erde steckt; dann wächst der Stengel heraus, der Blatt nach Blatt entwickelt und so weiter. Im Mittelpunkte der Erde würden wir, schematisch dargestellt, die Gruppen-Iche der Pflanzen zu suchen haben. Das, was wir von der Pflanze mit unseren Augen sehen, ist ja der physische Leib der Pflanze. Dieser ist eingebettet in das, was wir den Ätherleib der Pflanzen nennen. Was für eine Eigenschaft hat dieser Ätherleib der Pflanze? Alles, was wir als Ätherleib kennen, hat das Charakteristikum, das Merkmal der Wiederholung. Wo der Ätherleib als solcher tätig ist, herrscht das Prinzip der Wiederholung. Wir sehen, wie bei der Pflanze sich Blatt auf Blatt wiederholt. Warum? Weil dieser Wiederholung die Kraft des Ätherleibes zugrunde liegt. Auch im Menschen herrscht dieses Prinzip des Ätherleibes. Wir finden es zum Beispiel in seiner Wirbelsäule, wo Ring für Ring sich ansetzt. Wenn nun der Hellsichtige die Pflanze in ihrer Vollständigkeit betrachtet, so sieht er allerdings in der ganzen Pflanze den Ätherleib zugrunde liegen, aber oben wird die Pflanze wie von einer Hülle astraler Wolken umkleidet, so daß wir den physischen Leib der Pflanze, bestehend aus Wurzeln, Blättern und so weiter, durchtränkt sehen mit dem Ätherleib und oben umglüht von einer Art Glimmlicht, vom astralischen Licht. Und dieses Astralische, was auf die Pflanze wirkt, bewirkt ihren Abschluß in der Blüte und Frucht. Würde nur der Ätherleib wirken, dann würde die Pflanze endlos Blatt für Blatt entfalten; durch den Astralleib wird das zum Abschluß gebracht. Der Ätherleib wird sozusagen abgedämpft durch das Astralische. Das Ich der Pflanze können wir hellseherisch sehen wie eine Scheide, die nach dem Mittelpunkt der Erde geht.
[ 3 ] Wenn Sie die Pflanze von außen verfolgen, haben Sie nur zunächst physischen und Ätherleib. Das, was die Pflanze umglüht, gehört der astralischen Atmosphäre der ganzen Erde an. Sie sehen also, wie das Geistige unseren Erdball umspült. Dasjenige, was Sie selber als Wirkung des Ätherleibprinzipes in sich haben, ist die Aufeinanderfolge der Rückenmarkswirbel. Sie wird dadurch zum Abschluß gebracht, daß die Wirbelsäule von dem mächtig eingreifenden Astralischen umgeben ist. Durch die Entfaltung des Astralleibes schließen sich die Rückenmarkswirbel ab zu Gehirnknochen. So würden Sie überhaupt überall in der Welt das Zusammenwirken des Ätherischen mit dem Astralischen zu verfolgen haben. Es liegt dem ein Mysterium zugrunde, das Geheimnis, daß alles Lebendige durch das Astralische gedämpft, gleichsam getötet werden muß. Diese Tötung im Astralischen ist so, daß das Ätherische einen Abschluß findet. Wenn wir sie uns als Kraftwirkung vorstellen, wird sie als Azot bezeichnet. Geistig gedacht, bedeutet Azot jene Kraft im Kosmos, die verhindert, daß das Ätherische mit einer üppigen Gewalt sich entfaltet, ohne daß es je zum Abschluß kommt. Daß das Lebendige zum Bewußtsein aufgerufen wird, dem liegt die Kraft des Azot zugrunde; denn ohne Astralisches gäbe es kein Bewußtsein.
[ 4 ] Alles was geistig ist, hat auch seinen Ausdruck im Physischen; wie aller physische Stoff für den geistigen Betrachter nichts anderes ist als die Verkörperung des Geistigen gleichsam. Wir haben jetzt, geistig gesprochen, das Zusammenwirken des immer und immer sich entwickelnden Ätherischen und des Astralischen, das das Ätherische aufhält, gesehen, und im Aufhalten ist das Bewußtsein enthalten. Den physischen Ausdruck nun für Menschen und Tiere finden Sie, wenn Sie das Zusammenwirken beobachten der zwei in unserer Luft enthaltenen Substanzen: Sauerstoff und Stickstoff. Sauerstoff ist in unserer Luft die Verkörperung des Ätherischen, des großen Lebensleibes der Erde. Würden Sie nur Sauerstoff atmen, dann würden Sie sich in einem vehementen Leben verzehren, Sie würden sozusagen gleich nach der Geburt alt sein. Das Bewußtsein als solches würde sich nicht so entwickeln können, wie es im Menschen und Tiere da ist. Da muß das sich entwickelnde Leben, das Sauerstoffprinzip, gedämpft werden. Es wird gedämpft durch Beimischung des Stickstoffes. Der regelt und begrenzt die Wirkung des Sauerstoffes. Würden Sie nur Stickstoff einatmen, dann würden Sie sogleich sterben. Das Zusammenwirken von beiden bewirkt die Balance, die das Leben abdämpft, so daß es bewußt werden kann. Die physische Verkörperung von Azot ist die Kraft, welche im Stickstoff ihren Ausdruck findet. So lernen Sie die geistigen Hintergründe dessen kennen, was Sie fortwährend in sich hineinnehmen und von sich geben.
[ 5 ] Sie haben nun ein Beispiel davon, daß alles Leben dadurch entsteht, daß eine Balance zwischen einander entgegenstrebenden Gewalten herbeigeführt wird. Dieses Gleichgewicht zwischen zwei Mächten sehen wir auch im großen Weltall, in unserem Sonnensystem zum Beispiel. Und da kommen wir auf ein Kapitel, wo wir darauf hinweisen können, daß unser Sonnensystem nicht nur eine Reihe von Körpern physischer Substanz darstellt, sondern daß alle diese Körper, die zu unserem System gehören, im Physischen nur einen Ausdruck eines Geistigen haben. So wie Sie einen physischen Leib haben, der zu einer Seele gehört, so gehört jeder planetarische Körper zu einem Seelischen und einem Geistigen, und sehr verschieden sind die geistigen Glieder der einzelnen Weltkörper. Wenn man unsere Erde hellseherisch von außen betrachten könnte, so würde man nicht nur Felsen und so weiter aus materiellem Stoff wahrnehmen und dazwischen tierische und menschliche Gestalten einherwandern sehen, sondern man würde vor allen Dingen Gruppenseelen der Pflanzen, der Tiere und so weiter sehen. Das ist schon eine geistige Bevölkerung unserer Erde. Der Hellseher würde ferner die einzelnen Individualseelen der Menschen, die Volksseele und so weiter sehen. Sie müssen sich überhaupt den Geist eines Himmelskörpers nicht etwa nur so einfach vorstellen, daß Sie sich im Raume eine Kugel denken, die einen Geist und eine Seele hat, sondern daß eine ganze geistige Bevölkerung, die ein Ganzes ausmacht, diesen Himmelskörper bewohnt. Und alle diese einzelnen Geister, Gruppenseelen und so weiter, stehen wiederum unter einem Anführer, wie wir es nennen können, und alles dies zusammen entspricht dem gesamten Geist unserer Erde, demjenigen, was wir den Erdgeist nennen.
[ 6 ] Unser Bestreben ist es, immer besser und besser in die Einzelheiten des geistigen Lebens eines Planeten einzudringen. Schon aus diesen Andeutungen werden Sie ersehen, daß das geistige Leben eines Planeten kompliziert ist. Sie müssen Geduld haben, wir kommen immer ein Stück weiter.
[ 7 ] Wir werden heute unser Planetensystem ein Stück weiter verfolgen können, wenn wir uns erinnern, daß unsere Erde nicht immer so gewesen ist, wie sie jetzt ist. Sie ist in langsamer Entwickelung erst so geworden. Sie wissen, daß die Erde, bevor sie Erde wurde, ein anderer Planet war. Wir nennen die frühere Verkörperung unserer Erde den alten Mond. Das ist nicht unser heutiger Mond, der ist nur ein abgetrennter Teil davon. Noch früher war die Erde das, was wir den Sonnenplaneten nennen. Wiederum ist damit nicht die heutige Sonne gemeint. Und noch früher war unsere Erde Saturn. Wie verhält sich nun unsere heutige Sonne zur alten Sonne, als unsere Erde noch Sonne war?
[ 8 ] Die Stellung der Sonne war im Weltenraume noch nicht so, wie sie heute ist, denn damals gab es noch keine von der Erde abgetrennte Sonne. Das, was Sie alle damals waren, das, was die Vorbereitung war zu dem jetzigen physischen, ätherischen und astralischen Leib, das lebte in dieser alten Sonne selbst darin. Auf dem Saturn war ja die erste Anlage zum physischen Leib gegeben worden, auf der Sonne die Anlage zum Ätherleib, auf dem Mond diejenige zum Astralleib und auf der Erde kommt dann das Ich dazu. Wenn Sie das zusammenhalten mit dem jetzigen Zustand, dann werden Sie verstehen, wie Sie auf der alten Sonne gelebt haben. Ihr Leben bestand nur aus physischem und Ätherleib, Ihr Ich war noch nicht im Leibe und auch nicht Ihr Astralleib. Wenn Sie sich das alte Sonnenleben vorstellen wollen, so bekommen Sie eine Idee davon, wenn Sie sich denken, daß Sie alle hier plötzlich einschlafen würden. Dann würden auf den Stühlen sitzenbleiben der physische und der Ätherleib und über Ihnen würden schweben der astralische Leib und Ihr Ich. Das war andauernd der Sonnenzustand. So war es auf der alten Sonne. Sie selbst, Ihrem Ich und dem Astralleib nach, umschwebten die Sonne und regierten und leiteten von oben das, was da unten war. Natürlich war Ihr physischer Leib nicht so wie heute. Eine Vorstellung davon, wie damals Ihr physischer Leib beschaffen war, bekommen Sie, wenn Sie sich ihn nach der Art der heutigen Pflanze vorstellen; Fleisch im heutigen Sinne gab es noch nicht. Es war eine Art von Pflanzenleben, was Sie hatten. Aber es konnte unmöglich diese Sonne eine solche Gestalt behalten, da hätte nie eine Erde mit solchen Menschen entstehen können, wie Sie es heute sind.
[ 9 ] Bei dem Übergang zum Monde mußten diejenigen Wesenheiten, welche dieses Sonnendasein ertragen konnten, sich abspalten von der Erde, denn dieses Sonnendasein war ein rasches, schnellebiges. Und so kam es, daß die Sonne mit denjenigen Substanzen, welche ein schnelles, sich überstürzendes Leben nötig machten, sich abtrennte von der Erde. Die Sonne nahm also mit sich die sich rasch entwickelnden Substanzen und Wesenheiten und die Erde blieb zurück mit denjenigen Wesenheiten, die das rasche Tempo nicht mitmachen konnten. Und unter diesen Wesenheiten befand sich der Mensch. Das, was auf der alten Sonne das Beste war an Wesen und Substanzen, ist ausgetreten und hat sich verselbständigt. Wir sehen in der heutigen Sonne, in den feurigen, gasförmigen Massen, die Leiber hocherhabener Wesenheiten, die weit schon über die Menschen hinausgediehen sind. Weil sie längst so weit sind, daß sie nicht mehr im Leibe zu leben nötig haben, können sie heute das Sonnendasein ertragen. So ist die Sonne ein Dasein, welches entstanden ist aus einem planetarischen Dasein, und da haben Sie das, was man im Okkultismus einen Fixstern nennt.
[ 10 ] Ein Fixstern ist ein vorgerückter Planet, der die Dinge, die nicht mitkommen konnten, abgestoßen hat. Die höheren Wesenheiten haben sich auf dem Fixstern ein Dasein gegründet. Jeder Fixstern ist entstanden aus einem Planeten. Auch im Kosmos findet ein Avancement, ein Aufrücken statt. Unsere Erde wird ja auch folgende Verkörperungen durchmachen: sie wird Jupiter, Venus, Vulkan werden. Schon auf der Venus wird unsere Erde bei einer Art Fixsterndasein angekommen sein. Wir verwandeln uns mit der Erde in Wesenheiten höherer Art, die dann das Fixsterndasein ertragen können.
[ 11 ] Jetzt haben wir gesehen, wie ein Fixstern dadurch entsteht, daß ein Planet seine schlechten Stoffe und Wesenheiten absondert und die besseren Substanzen und Wesenheiten zu einem erhabeneren Dasein hinaufführt. Nun fragen Sie vielleicht: Wenn solch ein Fixstern weiterhin hinaufrückt, was wird dann aus ihm? Was wird aus der Sonne mit all den erhabenen Wesenheiten? — Das hat zunächst noch eine Weile Zeit, denn das nächste wird sein, daß sich unsere Erde noch einmal mit dieser Sonne vereinigt. Dann aber geschieht eine weitere Trennung, weil unsere Erde nach und nach zum Fixstern wird. Ist unsere Erde einmal im Venus- oder Vulkandasein angelangt, dann ist aus dem, was heute die Sonne ist, auch langsam etwas anderes geworden. Was wird aus einer Sonne? — Aus einer Sonne wird dasjenige, was wir heute vom Himmel herunterglitzern sehen als den Tierkreis. Die höhere Entwickelungsstufe einer Sonne ist, daß sie sich zum Tierkreis entfaltet. Der Tierkreis besteht aus den zwölf Sternbildern: Widder, Stier, Zwillinge, Krebs, Löwe, Jungfrau, Waage, Skorpion, Schütze, Steinbock, Wassermann, Fische. Für den materialistischen Astronomen sind es einfach Gruppenbilder. Der Seher aber weiß, daß sie nicht einfach in den Raum gesetzt sind, sondern daß sie in ihrer Konstellation geistigen Wesenheiten entsprechen, die herumgruppiert sind in diesem Gürtel am Himmel. Wenn Wesenheiten das Sonnendasein absolviert haben, dann wird aus ihnen ein solcher Tierkreis. Auch dieser hat eine Art von Entwickelung.
[ 12 ] Sie kennen heute den Tierkreis, der zu unserem Leben und Dasein in einer gewissen Beziehung steht, als eine gewisse räumliche Anordnung gewisser Sterne; so war es nicht immer. Das hat sich herausentwickelt aus einer Art Nebelsubstanz. Stellen Sie sich den alten Saturn vor, der einmal die Erde darstellte, der dann zur Sonne, zum Mond und endlich zur heutigen Erde geworden ist. Der war umgeben schon von unserem Tierkreis, aber damals war unser Tierkreis nicht differenziert in Sterne, sondern wie ein Nebelregen war die Masse. Mit dem Vorrücken des Saturn zur Sonne und zum Mond gruppierte sich die Masse zusammen und leuchteten die Sternbilder auf.
[ 13 ] Woher ist dieser Tierkreis gekommen, der damals den Saturn umgab und der, wenn unsere Sonne einst Tierkreis wird, verschwinden wird, weil er seinen Dienst getan hat? Nun, Sie können sich ja denken, daß dem Saturn andere Entwickelungsstufen vorangegangen sind. Eine frühere Sonne, die geleuchtet hat über frühere Verkörperungen unserer Erde, als sie der Saturn war, hat sich hingeopfert und ist dieser Tierkreis geworden. Wenn wir okkultistisch hinblicken auf diesen Tierkreis, dann sehen wir: er ist erst durch ein großes Opfer geworden. Substanzen und Wesenheiten, die unserem Dasein vorangegangen sind, haben sich hingeopfert und bildeten diesen Tierkreis, zunächst eine Nebelgruppe und dann zu Sternen sich gruppierend. Dasjenige, was Ihnen beschrieben wurde als die schöpferischen Wesenheiten für unsere Wesenheiten, als die Erde noch Saturn war, das war damals mit dem alten Tierkreis vereint. Alle die erhabenen Wesenheiten, die früher schon eine hohe Stufe durchgemacht hatten, mußten herunterwirken; sie strömten die Anlage zum physischen Leib aus. Das ist das, was als Geheimnis des Werdens der Welt vorliegt: daß alle Wesenheiten aufsteigen von Wesen, die empfangen, zu Wesen, die produzieren und schaffen. Schöpfer werden ist das Ziel der Wesen.
[ 14 ] Im Tierkreis versammeln sich die Wesenheiten, wenn sie aufgestiegen sind vom Empfangen zum Geben. Aus dem Tierkreis floß die Materie zusammen zu der ersten Anlage des physischen Leibes des Menschen. So lernen wir immer mehr und mehr hineinblicken in den Weltenraum und auf das, was ihn durchschwebt. Und die physischen Körper erscheinen uns nur als der physische Ausdruck höherer geistiger Wesenheiten. So haben jene höheren geistigen Wesenheiten durch ihren Willen Stoff ausgeströmt. Das ist das mächtige, magische Wirken, daß der Wille so stark wird, daß er Stoff ausströmen kann. Es regnete nieder der Stoff aus jenen Wesenheiten, die dazu berufen waren, den Stoff auf dem alten Saturn zu bilden, der sich umgestaltet hat im Laufe der Zeit bis zum heutigen physischen Leib. Die Throne oder die Geister des Willens nennen wir diese erhabenen Wesenheiten, die sich zu solcher Höhe entwickelt hatten, daß sie niederträufeln konnten jenen kosmischen Regen, der die erste Anlage zum physischen Menschenleib war.
[ 15 ] Das ist wieder ein solcher Ausblick, den wir gewinnen möchten. Es wird die Zeit kommen, wo sich das ergeben wird, was man einen Zusammenfluß aller dieser Ausblicke nennen könnte; nur müssen Sie Geduld haben, alle die Einzelheiten kennenzulernen, damit sich nach und nach die Größe des Kosmos ergibt.
[ 16 ] Wir gehen jetzt ab von diesen Weltenweiten zu einem anderen Kapitel. Wir gehen zu demjenigen Punkte unserer Erdentwickelung zurück, wo die Sonne sich losgetrennt hat von unserer Erde, wo also einstmals in urferner Vergangenheit, als Sonne und Erde noch einen Körper bildeten, die Sonne mit den höher entwickelten Wesenheiten fortging und unsere Erde zurückließ als einen Schauplatz, der für uns sich langsamer Entwickelnde taugte. Die Sonne beschien dann die Erde von außen. Die Wesenheiten der Sonne sind erhabene und mächtige Wesenheiten, aber in einer anderen Art schöpferisch als die Throne, jene Geister des Tierkreises. Das, was von der Sonne zur Erde strömt, ist Licht. Das ist auch eine gewaltige Tat, aber sie ist kosmisch minder als das Herabträufeln des Stoffes selber.
[ 17 ] Mit dieser Erde war zuerst noch vereinigt das, was wir heute den Mond nennen. Unser Mond ist ja dadurch entstanden, daß die schlechteren Stoffe und Wesenheiten, die damals noch mit der Erde verbunden waren, abgestoßen worden sind. Denn hätte die Erde den Mond in sich behalten, dann wäre auch unsere Entwickelung nicht richtig vor sich gegangen, die Entwickelung wäre zu langsam geworden. Die Erde wäre sozusagen mumifiziert worden wie Statuen. Das Leben wäre erstorben. Es wäre zuviel getötet worden und die Erde wäre schließlich ein Acker von Toten geworden. Darum mußte der Mond hinaus, und die Erde blieb zurück und konnte die Balance halten. So aber wirken jetzt von außen auf die Erde die Sonne und der Mond ein: sie halten das Gleichgewicht auf der Erde, so daß die Menschenentwickelung stattfinden kann. Alles wird durch sich entgegenstrebende Kräfte im Gleichgewicht gehalten. Nur dadurch konnte das Ich in der Menschheit Platz greifen, daß die beiden einander entgegenstrebenden Kräfte, Sonne und Mond, auf die Erde einwirken.
[ 18 ] Und nun erinnern Sie sich an unsere erste elementarische Darstellung des Menschen. Der Mensch besteht aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib, Astralleib und Ich. Das Ich arbeitet am Astralleib und arbeitet ihn um zu Manas, den Ätherleib zu Budhi, den physischen Leib zu Atma oder Geistesmensch. Aber es wäre unmöglich gewesen, daß diese Entwickelung gleich von Anfang an so hätte vor sich gehen können. Es mußten sich hier einschieben die Empfindungsseele, die Verstandesseele und die Bewußtseinsseele. Diese Glieder, die zwischen dem Leib — dem physischen, ätherischen und astralischen Leib - und dem Geiste - Manas, Budhi, Atma - liegen, sind vorläufige Umwandlungen gewesen. Jetzt arbeitet auf seiner geistigen Entwickelungsstufe das Ich in den Astralleib das Geistselbst Manas - hinein. Alles das, was jetzt geschieht, ist eine reine Arbeit von Manas oder Geistselbst. Aber das ist noch nicht lange her, wir haben damit erst in der atlantischen Zeit begonnen. Es wurde indes schon früher vorbereitet, allerdings unbewußt, und zwar durch die drei Mittelglieder: Empfindungsseele, Verstandesseele und Bewußtseinsseele.
[ 19 ] Als der Mensch herüberkam vom Mond auf die Erde, bestand er nur aus den drei Leibern: aus dem physischen, ätherischen und astralischen Leib, und es mußte eine Brücke geschlagen werden. Der Mensch konnte diese Brücke nicht schlagen, es mußte ihm geholfen werden. In der lemurischen und in der atlantischen Zeit wurde schon unbewußt daran gearbeitet, so wie Sie jetzt bewußt daran arbeiten. Zuerst wurde an dem Astralleib gearbeitet und die Empfindungsseele herausgestellt, dann an dem Ätherkörper, aus dem die Verstandesseele hervorging und endlich sogar an dem physischen Leib, aus dem sich die Bewußtseinsseele entfaltete, die dadurch entstand, daß der physische Leib instand gesetzt wurde, seine physischen Organe nach außen zu treiben. Mit dieser Entwickelung ging der alte hellseherische Zustand des atlantischen Bewußtseins in den heutigen Bewußtseinszustand über. So wird in der Erscheinung die Bewußitseinsseele zuletzt entzündet.
[ 20 ] Der Mensch aber wurde erst in der alten atlantischen Zeit reif, an sich selbst zu arbeiten. Wer half ihm nun in jener Zeit, wo der Mensch sich herausentwickeln wollte von einem Wesen, das physischen, ätherischen und astralischen Leib hatte, zu einem Empfindungsseele, Verstandesseele und Bewußitseinsseele besitzenden? Wir werden verstehen, wer mithalf, wenn wir diese unsere Erdenentwikkelung betrachten, wie sie durch Sonne, Mond und so weiter geschah. Also Sie wissen, die Erde hat sich abgetrennt von der Sonne und hat den Mond hinausgeschickt. Die Sonne hatte hoch erhabene Wesenheiten, die schöpferisch so weit waren, daß sie Licht in den Weltenraum senden konnten. Nun habe ich schon oft erwähnt, daß man nicht nur in der Schule sitzenbleiben kann, sondern auch in der kosmischen Entwickelung. Der Mensch war so weit gekommen, daß er die Erde ertragen konnte, die hohen Wesenheiten so weit, daß sie die Sonne ertrugen. Nun haben diese Wesenheiten, die heute die Sonne bewohnen, früher das Menschendasein gehabt, aber es sind in dieser Entwickelung Wesenheiten zurückgeblieben, denen es unmöglich war, ihr Pensum zu absolvieren, sie konnten die Sonne nicht ohne weiteres bewohnen. Wären sie hineingekommen, dann wäre es ihnen schlecht ergangen; auch der Mensch hätte es nicht ertragen können. Diese Wesenheiten aber standen zwischen den Sonnengöttern und den Menschen. So mußten sie sozusagen einen anderen Weltenkörper erhalten, auf dem die Bedingungen ihrem Dasein gemäß waren. Da wurde tatsächlich auch in der kosmischen Entwickelung für diese Wesenheiten gesorgt. Noch ehe unsere Sonne die Erde aus sich herausgesetzt hatte, etwa gleichzeitig damit, trennte sich aus der Sonne heraus unser Jupiter. Später, nachdem die Sonne schon die Erde herausgesetzt hatte, trennte sich von der Sonne ab unsere heutige Venus; und noch später, wiederum durch Abtrennung von der Sonne, der heutige Merkur.
[ 21 ] So wurden planetarische Daseinsstufen geschaffen für diese nicht mitgekommenen Wesenheiten; sie bewohnen diese Planeten jetzt. In der Zeit, als nun noch der Mond sich von der Erde loslöste, da vollzog sich ein sehr geheimnisvoller Vorgang in unserer kosmischen Entwickelung, der sehr schwer zu erklären ist und den man bezeichnet als den «Durchgang des Mars durch unsere Erde». Er ist, wie gesagt, außerordentlich schwer zu erklären, denn als die Erde noch mit der Sonne verbunden war, war diese Marsmasse darin; dann trennte sich die Sonne von der Erde und dann ging der Mars heraus und ließ zurück auf der Erde die Substanz, die man als das Eisen bezeichnet. Auch der Mars wurde ein Schauplatz für solche nicht mitgekommenen Wesenheiten. Diese Marswesen sind die Anreger für die Entwickelung der Empfindungsseele. Hätten sie ihren Einfluß nicht auf unseren Planeten ausgeübt, die Empfindungsseele hätte sich nicht gestalten können. Das zeigt Ihnen, welche Bedeutung jene Wesenheiten haben, auf die wir am Anfang hingewiesen haben, die geistig zu den physischen Substanzen des Sonnensystems gehören und die in Wechselbeziehung stehen zu dem, was wir in uns selbst haben.
[ 22 ] Ebenso wie die Empfindungsseele angeregt worden ist durch die Marswesenheiten, so die Verstandesseele durch die Merkurwesenheiten und die Bewußtseinsseele durch die Jupiterwesen. Und damals, als schon die Empfindungsseele, die Verstandesseele und die Bewußtseinsseele angeregt waren, da wurde der Anstoß gegeben, Manas in Fluß zu bringen. Denn dazu mußte zuerst auch noch eine Anregung gegeben werden. War es einmal in Fluß gebracht, dann konnte der Mensch sozusagen seine Entwickelung selbst in die Hand nehmen. Das war im letzten Drittel der atlantischen Zeit. Die Anreger waren die Wesenheiten, die auf der Venus waren. So können Sie sich eine Vorstellung machen von der Wechselwirkung der verschiedenen Glieder unseres Planetensystems. Wir müssen uns denken, daß der Mensch mitgebracht hatte seinen physischen Leib, seinen Ätherleib und seinen Astralleib. Dann entwickeln sich drei Glieder: die Empfindungsseele, Verstandesseele und Bewußtseinsseele und endlich Manas. Die Bewußtseinsseele hat ihre Kraft vom Jupiter, die Verstandesseele vom Merkur, die Empfindungsseele vom Mars und das Geistselbst empfing seinen Anstoß von der Venus. So müssen Sie, wenn Sie an sich selbst die Kräfte aufspüren wollen, die in Ihnen sind, zu den betreffenden Sternen aufschauen. Der Mensch ist ein kompliziertes Wesen; er ist dadurch geworden, daß die Kräfte des Kosmos in ihm zusammengeflossen sind.
[ 23 ] Zum Schluß sei das Ganze in einem Bilde hingestellt. Denken Sie sich, irgend jemand sieht an der Wand hier ein kleines Sonnenspektrum, einen Regenbogen; also die Farben Rot, Orange, Gelb, Grün, Blau, Indigo, Violett. Denken Sie sich, daß es nicht an die Wand geworfen würde, sondern nur im Sonnenstaub sich zeigte. Das würden Sie zunächst anschauen. Dann, wenn Sie nachforschen, wie das zustande kommt, würden Sie sehen, wie das Sonnenlicht durch einen Spalt ins Zimmer dringt und daß durch verschiedene Vorrichtungen, durch ein Prisma oder irgendeine andere lichtbrechende Substanz dieses Spektrum, dieses «Gespenst» zustande kommt. Das können Sie nicht wegnehmen, aber nehmen Sie die einzelnen Teile weg, die außerhalb des Spektrums sind, da verschwindet das Gespenst. Nehmen Sie das äußere Licht weg — weg ist das Gespenst, nehmen Sie das Prisma, die Wand mit dem Licht weg — weg ist das Gespenst. Es bildete sich als das Ergebnis lauter äußerer Einflüsse.
[ 24 ] Wenn der Hellseher den Menschen ansieht, ist es ebenso mit dem Menschen wie hier mit dem Spektrum. Er ist eigentlich gar nichts an sich, dieser Mensch, denn der Hellseher sieht da, wo der Mensch steht, Kräfte aus der Venus, aus dem Merkur, aus dem Mars. Nehmen Sie weg die Venuswirkung — weg ist der Mensch. Nehmen Sie weg die Merkur-, die Marswirkung - weg ist der Mensch. Es erscheint dem Hellseher der Mensch als ein Zusammenfluß von Weltenwirkungen. Einzig und allein real bleibt in diesem Gespenst für den Hellseher das «Ich». Das ist die wahre Realität, dieses arbeitende Ich, das die Veranlassung ist, daß alles zusammenfließt, das daran arbeitet, daß alle solche Einflüsse aufgenommen werden. Vor dem Blick des Hellsehers verschwinden alle Zusammenflüsse, das Ich allein ist dasjenige, was als einzige Wahrheit zurückbleibt. Das Ich, das so wenige Menschen heute als Wirklichkeit ansehen — das ist das einzige, was zurückbleit. Das, was der physische Sinn für den Menschen hält, das ist in Wahrheit ein Gespenst, dessen einzelne Teile zusammengehalten werden durch die gleichsam magnetische Kraft des Ich. Eine optische Täuschung ist alles im Menschen außer dem arbeitenden Ich.
[ 25 ] Jetzt haben wir einen Gedankengang zusammen durchgemacht. Bitte, verwandeln Sie ihn in ein Gefühl, dann erst erhält er einen rechten Wert. Gehen Sie mit diesem Gefühl durch die Welt. Denken Sie sich einmal zum Gespenst aufgelöst unsere Erdenwesen, nur die Iche darin arbeitend. Wenn Sie das fühlen, dann fühlen Sie das, was der materialistische Sinn Dasein, Wirklichkeit nennt, wie einen Dunst sich auflösen, und die wahre Wirklichkeit sehen Sie im geistigen Ich. Da erst spüren Sie etwas von dem, was in der morgenländischen Weltanschauung gemeint ist, wenn es heißt, daß die Wirklichkeit Maya ist. Alles andere Reden ist Phrase. Wenn man gleich mit der Phrase anfängt: Die Welt ist Maja -, so ist das ein Unding. Wir wollen das Wort Maja gar nicht aussprechen, ohne uns vorher eine solche Empfindung durch eine derartige Betrachtung angeeignet zu haben.
[ 26 ] So werden Sie jetzt eine gewisse Vorstellung bekommen haben von dem, was die wahre Geheimschulung will mit ihren langen Vorbereitungen. Sie sehen, es ist doch eigentlich eine krasse Phrase, wenn man den Menschen sagt, das Dasein sei eine bloße Illusion. Erst müssen solche Betrachtungen geduldig und ruhig vorangehen, damit die Seelenempfindungen entzündet werden. Wir alle wollen erst lernen, die Worte in der richtigen Weise auszusprechen, die wir brauchen. Unsere Worte werden zum größten Teil nur wie ein leerer Klang von den Menschen ausgesprochen, während in der Tat diese Worte, wenn sie in denjenigen Kulturen ausgesprochen wurden, in denen sie entstanden, verbunden waren mit tiefen, bedeutsamen Empfindungen.
[ 27 ] Eine solche Betrachtung, die uns zeigt, was Maja ist, die uns innerhalb der Illusion die wahre Wirklichkeit zeigt, gießt erst in unsere Seele das, was wir als Empfindung herausholen sollen aus der Theosophie. Daher ist es notwendig, daß Sie nicht bloß mit Wissen fortgehen, sondern mit diesem Empfindungston, mit dieser Empfindungsfarbe, die auf ein solches Wort fällt. So gliedert sich zusammen vorstellende Betrachtung mit dem, was wir mitnehmen ins Leben, was in unserer Seele als Gefühl, als Empfindung lebt.
About Some Supernatural Facts and Beings
[ 1 ] Today we want to consider some details from the occult world. Some of what we will say today will follow on from the considerations we engaged in last time; some will broaden your view in the direction we already took last time, so that you will see more and more how the space around us is alive and permeated by supernatural facts, by supernatural beings. Last time, we saw how the different realms—the mineral, plant, and animal realms—contain beings that we can call group egos. We explained how group egos underlie the animal world, how these group egos can be found on the astral plane as complete individualities, one might say as personalities, how they circle around the earth, so to speak. We have seen how the plant Iches are at the center of the earth and how we did not specify a particular location for the group Iches of the minerals because they reside in higher parts of the Devachan. From this you have already seen that there are constantly beings around us that we always pass through, so to speak, that penetrate us, that live in the same space as we do. That which is, for example, an animal group soul, which belongs to a whole group of animals of the same form, can pass through us. For in the astral world the law of interpenetration, of permeability, prevails, in contrast to our physical world, where the law of impenetrability prevails.
[ 2 ] Now I would first like to add a kind of note to expand on what was said earlier. You saw then that we must think of the root of the plant as its head, which is stuck in the earth; then the stem grows out, developing leaf after leaf, and so on. Schematically speaking, we would have to look for the group egos of the plants in the center of the earth. What we see of the plant with our eyes is, of course, the physical body of the plant. This is embedded in what we call the etheric body of the plants. What is the nature of this etheric body of the plant? Everything we know as etheric body has the characteristic of repetition. Where the etheric body is active as such, the principle of repetition prevails. We see how leaves repeat themselves in plants. Why? Because this repetition is based on the power of the etheric body. This principle of the etheric body also prevails in humans. We find it, for example, in the spine, where ring upon ring is attached. When the clairvoyant views the plant in its entirety, he sees the etheric body underlying the whole plant, but above, the plant is enveloped as if by a shell of astral clouds, so that we see the physical body of the plant, consisting of roots, leaves, and so on, saturated with the etheric body and surrounded at the top by a kind of glowing light, the astral light. And this astral element, which acts upon the plant, brings about its completion in the flower and fruit. If only the etheric body were at work, the plant would unfold leaf after leaf endlessly; the astral body brings this to completion. The etheric body is, so to speak, dampened by the astral. We can see the plant's ego clairvoyantly as a sheath that goes to the center of the earth.
[ 3 ] If you observe the plant from the outside, you initially see only the physical and etheric bodies. What surrounds the plant belongs to the astral atmosphere of the entire earth. You can thus see how the spiritual surrounds our globe. What you yourself have within you as the effect of the etheric body principle is the succession of spinal vertebrae. This is completed by the spine being surrounded by the powerfully intervening astral. Through the unfolding of the astral body, the spinal vertebrae close to form the bones of the brain. In this way, you would have to trace the interaction of the etheric with the astral everywhere in the world. Underlying this is a mystery, the secret that everything living must be dampened, as it were killed, by the astral. This killing in the astral is such that the etheric finds a conclusion. If we imagine it as a force, it is called azot. In spiritual terms, azot means the force in the cosmos that prevents the etheric from unfolding with exuberant power without ever coming to completion. The force of azot is the basis for the living being called to consciousness, for without the astral there would be no consciousness.
[ 4 ] Everything that is spiritual also has its expression in the physical; just as all physical matter is nothing other than the embodiment of the spiritual, so to speak, for the spiritual observer. We have now seen, spiritually speaking, the interaction between the ever-evolving etheric and the astral, which holds back the etheric, and consciousness is contained in this holding back. You can find the physical expression of this in humans and animals when you observe the interaction of the two substances contained in our air: oxygen and nitrogen. Oxygen in our air is the embodiment of the etheric, the great life body of the earth. If you breathed only oxygen, you would consume yourself in a vehement life; you would be old, so to speak, immediately after birth. Consciousness as such would not be able to develop as it does in humans and animals. The developing life, the oxygen principle, must be dampened. It is dampened by the addition of nitrogen, which regulates and limits the effect of oxygen. If you only breathed nitrogen, you would die immediately. The interaction of the two creates the balance that dampens life so that it can become conscious. The physical embodiment of azot is the force that finds expression in nitrogen. In this way, you learn about the spiritual background of what you continually take in and give out.
[ 5 ] You now have an example of how all life comes into being through the establishment of a balance between opposing forces. We also see this balance between two forces in the vast universe, in our solar system, for example. And this brings us to a chapter where we can point out that our solar system is not just a series of bodies of physical substance, but that all these bodies belonging to our system are only an expression of something spiritual in the physical realm. Just as you have a physical body that belongs to a soul, so every planetary body belongs to a soul and a spirit, and the spiritual members of the individual world bodies are very different. If one could view our Earth clairvoyantly from outside, one would not only perceive rocks and so on made of material substance and see animal and human figures wandering among them, but one would above all see group souls of plants, animals, and so on. This is already a spiritual population of our Earth. The clairvoyant would also see the individual souls of human beings, the soul of a people, and so on. You must not imagine the spirit of a heavenly body as simply a sphere in space that has a spirit and a soul, but rather as an entire spiritual population that forms a whole and inhabits this heavenly body. And all these individual spirits, group souls, and so on, are in turn under a leader, as we might call it, and all this together corresponds to the entire spirit of our Earth, to what we call the Earth spirit.
[ 6 ] Our aim is to penetrate ever more deeply into the details of the spiritual life of a planet. Even from these hints you can see that the spiritual life of a planet is complicated. You must be patient; we are always making progress.
[ 7 ] Today we will be able to follow our planetary system a little further if we remember that our Earth has not always been as it is now. It has only become so through a slow process of development. You know that before it became Earth, it was another planet. We call the earlier embodiment of our Earth the old moon. That is not our present moon; it is only a separated part of it. Even earlier, the Earth was what we call the sun planet. Again, this does not mean the present sun. And even earlier, our Earth was Saturn. How does our present sun relate to the old sun, when our Earth was still the sun?
[ 8 ] The position of the sun in space was not yet as it is today, for at that time there was no sun separated from the earth. What you all were at that time, what was the preparation for the present physical, etheric, and astral bodies, lived in this old sun itself. The first foundation for the physical body was laid on Saturn, the foundation for the etheric body on the Sun, the foundation for the astral body on the Moon, and then the I was added on Earth. If you hold this together with the present state, you will understand how you lived on the old Sun. Your life consisted only of the physical and etheric bodies; your I was not yet in your body, nor was your astral body. If you want to imagine life on the old sun, you can get an idea of it by thinking that you are all suddenly falling asleep here. Then the physical and etheric bodies would remain sitting on the chairs, and the astral body and your I would float above you. That was the constant state of the sun. That is how it was on the old sun. You yourselves, your I and the astral body, floated around the sun and ruled and directed from above what was below. Of course, your physical body was not as it is today. You can get an idea of what your physical body was like back then if you imagine it as a plant of today; flesh in the modern sense did not yet exist. What you had was a kind of plant life. But it was impossible for this sun to retain such a form, for then a world with human beings such as you are today could never have come into being.
[ 9 ] During the transition to the moon, those beings who could endure this solar existence had to separate themselves from the earth, for this solar existence was a rapid, fast-moving one. And so it came to pass that the sun, with those substances that required a fast, hasty life, separated itself from the earth. The sun thus took with it the rapidly developing substances and beings, and the earth remained behind with those beings that could not keep up with the rapid pace. And among these beings was man. The best of the beings and substances on the old sun emerged and became independent. In today's sun, in the fiery, gaseous masses, we see the bodies of exalted beings who have long since surpassed human beings. Because they have long since reached a stage where they no longer need to live in a body, they can now endure existence in the sun. Thus, the sun is an existence that arose from a planetary existence, and there you have what is called a fixed star in occultism.
[ 10 ] A fixed star is an advanced planet that has repelled the things that could not keep up. The higher beings have established an existence on the fixed star. Every fixed star originated from a planet. Advancement, or upward movement, also takes place in the cosmos. Our Earth will also undergo the following incarnations: it will become Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. Already on Venus, our Earth will have arrived at a kind of fixed star existence. Together with the Earth, we will transform into higher beings who will then be able to endure fixed star existence.
[ 11 ] Now we have seen how a fixed star comes into being when a planet separates its bad substances and beings and elevates the better substances and beings to a more exalted existence. Now you may ask: If such a fixed star continues to ascend, what will become of it? What will become of the sun with all its exalted beings? — That will take some time, because the next thing will be that our earth will unite once again with this sun. But then another separation will occur, because our earth will gradually become a fixed star. Once our earth has reached the state of Venus or Vulcan, then what is now the sun will also slowly become something else. What will become of a sun? — A sun will become what we see today glistening down from the sky as the zodiac. The higher stage of development of a sun is that it unfolds into the zodiac. The zodiac consists of the twelve constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. For the materialistic astronomer, these are simply group images. But the seer knows that they are not simply placed in space, but that in their constellation they correspond to spiritual beings grouped together in this belt in the sky. When beings have completed their solar existence, they become such a zodiac. This too has a kind of development.
[ 12 ] Today you know the zodiac, which has a certain relationship to our life and existence, as a certain spatial arrangement of certain stars; but this was not always so. It developed out of a kind of nebular substance. Imagine the old Saturn, which once represented the Earth, which then became the Sun, the Moon, and finally the Earth as we know it today. It was already surrounded by our zodiac, but at that time our zodiac was not differentiated into stars, but was a mass like a misty rain. With the advancement of Saturn to the Sun and the Moon, the mass grouped together and the constellations shone forth.
[ 13 ] Where did this zodiac come from, which once surrounded Saturn and which, when our sun once becomes the zodiac, will disappear because it has served its purpose? Well, you can imagine that Saturn was preceded by other stages of development. An earlier sun, which shone over earlier incarnations of our Earth when it was Saturn, sacrificed itself and became this zodiac. When we look at this zodiac from an occult perspective, we see that it only came into being through a great sacrifice. Substances and beings that preceded our existence sacrificed themselves and formed this zodiac, first as a group of nebulae and then grouping themselves into stars. What has been described to you as the creative beings for our beings when the Earth was still Saturn was united with the old zodiac at that time. All the exalted beings who had already passed through a high stage had to work downwards; they poured out the predisposition for the physical body. This is what lies behind the mystery of the world's becoming: that all beings ascend from beings who receive to beings who produce and create. Becoming a creator is the goal of beings.
[ 14 ] The beings gather in the zodiac when they have ascended from receiving to giving. From the zodiac, matter flowed together to form the first outline of the physical body of man. In this way, we learn more and more to look into the world space and at what floats through it. And physical bodies appear to us only as the physical expression of higher spiritual beings. Thus, those higher spiritual beings have poured out matter through their will. This is the powerful, magical workings of the will becoming so strong that it can pour out matter. The substance rained down from those beings who were called upon to form the substance on the old Saturn, which has been transformed over time into the physical body of today. We call these exalted beings, who had developed to such a height that they could pour down that cosmic rain which was the first seed of the physical human body, the Thrones or Spirits of Will.
[ 15 ] This is again one of the insights we would like to gain. The time will come when what might be called a confluence of all these perspectives will come about; but you must be patient in learning all the details, so that the greatness of the cosmos may gradually become apparent.p>
[ 16 ] We now leave these world expanses and move on to another chapter. We return to that point in the evolution of our Earth where the Sun separated from our Earth, where, in the distant past, when the Sun and Earth still formed one body, the Sun departed with the higher developed beings and left our Earth behind as a stage suitable for us who were developing more slowly. The sun then shone on the earth from outside. The beings of the sun are sublime and powerful beings, but creative in a different way than the thrones, those spirits of the zodiac. What flows from the sun to the earth is light. This is also a mighty deed, but it is cosmically less than the dripping down of the substance itself.
[ 17 ] At first, what we now call the moon was still united with this earth. Our moon came into being when the inferior substances and beings that were still connected with the earth at that time were repelled. For if the earth had retained the moon, our development would not have proceeded properly; it would have become too slow. The earth would have been mummified, so to speak, like statues. Life would have died out. Too much would have been killed, and the earth would eventually have become a field of the dead. That is why the moon had to leave, and the earth remained behind and was able to maintain its balance. But now the sun and the moon act on the earth from outside: they maintain the balance on earth so that human evolution can take place. Everything is kept in balance by opposing forces. Only through the action of these two opposing forces, the sun and the moon, on the earth could the I find a place in humanity.
[ 18 ] And now remember our first elementary description of the human being. The human being consists of a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, and the I. The I works on the astral body and transforms it into manas, the etheric body into buddhi, and the physical body into atma or the spiritual human being. But it would have been impossible for this development to take place in this way right from the start. The sentient soul, the intellectual soul, and the conscious soul had to intervene. These members, which lie between the body—the physical, etheric, and astral bodies—and the spirit—manas, buddhi, and atma—were provisional transformations. Now, at its stage of spiritual development, the I works into the astral body, the spirit self, manas. Everything that happens now is the pure work of manas or the spirit self. But this is not long ago; we only began with it in the Atlantean epoch. It was prepared earlier, however, albeit unconsciously, through the three middle members: the sentient soul, the intellectual soul, and the conscious soul.
[ 19 ] When human beings came over from the moon to the earth, they consisted only of three bodies: the physical, etheric, and astral bodies, and a bridge had to be built. Human beings could not build this bridge themselves; they had to be helped. In the Lemurian and Atlantean epochs, unconscious work was already being done on this, just as you are now consciously working on it. First, work was done on the astral body and the sentient soul was brought forth, then on the etheric body, from which the intellectual soul emerged, and finally even on the physical body, from which the consciousness soul unfolded, which came into being through the physical body being restored to its ability to drive its physical organs outward. With this development, the old clairvoyant state of the Atlantean consciousness passed into the present state of consciousness. Thus, in appearance, the consciousness soul is finally ignited.
[ 20 ] But it was not until the ancient Atlantean era that human beings became mature enough to work on themselves. Who helped them at that time, when human beings wanted to evolve from beings with physical, etheric, and astral bodies into beings with a sentient soul, a rational soul, and a conscious soul? We will understand who helped when we consider our earthly development as it took place through the sun, moon, and so on. As you know, the earth separated from the sun and sent out the moon. The sun had highly exalted beings who were so creative that they could send light into the world space. Now, I have often mentioned that one cannot just sit in school, but also in cosmic development. Human beings had progressed to the point where they could endure the Earth, and the high beings had progressed to the point where they could endure the Sun. Now, these beings who inhabit the sun today had previously existed as human beings, but in this development, some beings were left behind who were unable to complete their task; they could not simply inhabit the sun. If they had entered it, they would have fared badly; even human beings would not have been able to endure it. But these beings stood between the sun gods and humans. So they had to be given another world body, so to speak, where the conditions were right for their existence. In this way, these beings were actually provided for in the cosmic evolution. Even before our sun had pushed the earth out of itself, at about the same time, our Jupiter separated from the sun. Later, after the sun had already brought forth the earth, our present Venus separated from the sun; and still later, again by separation from the sun, the present Mercury.
[ 21 ] Thus planetary stages of existence were created for these beings who had not come along; they now inhabit these planets. At the time when the moon was still separating from the earth, a very mysterious process took place in our cosmic development, which is very difficult to explain and which is referred to as the “passage of Mars through our earth.” As I said, it is extremely difficult to explain, because when the Earth was still connected to the Sun, this mass of Mars was within it; then the Sun separated from the Earth and Mars left, leaving behind on Earth the substance that we call iron. Mars also became a place for those beings that did not come along. These Martian beings are the stimulators for the development of the sentient soul. Had they not exerted their influence on our planet, the sentient soul could not have developed. This shows you the significance of those beings we referred to at the beginning, which belong spiritually to the physical substances of the solar system and which are in interaction with what we have within ourselves.
[ 22 ] Just as the sentient soul was stimulated by the Mars beings, so the intellectual soul was stimulated by the Mercury beings and the conscious soul by the Jupiter beings. And at that time, when the sentient soul, the intellectual soul, and the conscious soul had already been stimulated, the impetus was given to set manas in motion. For this, too, a stimulus had first to be given. Once it had been set in motion, human beings could, so to speak, take their development into their own hands. This was in the last third of the Atlantean epoch. The initiators were the beings who were on Venus. This gives you an idea of the interaction between the different members of our planetary system. We must imagine that human beings brought with them their physical body, their etheric body, and their astral body. Then three members developed: the sentient soul, the intellectual soul, and the conscious soul, and finally manas. The consciousness soul draws its power from Jupiter, the intellectual soul from Mercury, the sentient soul from Mars, and the spirit self received its impetus from Venus. So if you want to discover the powers that are within you, you must look up to the corresponding stars. Human beings are complex beings; they have become so because the forces of the cosmos have flowed together within them.
[ 23 ] Finally, let us summarize the whole picture. Imagine that someone sees a small solar spectrum on the wall here, a rainbow; that is, the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Imagine that it is not projected onto the wall, but only appears in the sun's dust. That is what you would see at first. Then, if you investigate how this comes about, you would see how the sunlight enters the room through a crack and that this spectrum, this “ghost,” is created by various devices, by a prism or some other light-refracting substance. You cannot remove this, but if you remove the individual parts that are outside the spectrum, the ghost disappears. Remove the external light — the ghost is gone; remove the prism, the wall with the light — the ghost is gone. It was formed as the result of purely external influences.
[ 24 ] When the clairvoyant looks at a person, it is the same with the person as with the spectrum here. This person is actually nothing in themselves, because the clairvoyant sees forces from Venus, Mercury, and Mars where the person stands. Remove the influence of Venus, and the person is gone. Remove the influence of Mercury and Mars, and the person is gone. The person appears to the clairvoyant as a confluence of world forces. The only thing that remains real in this phantom for the clairvoyant is the “I.” That is the true reality, this working I, which is the cause of everything flowing together, which works to ensure that all such influences are absorbed. Before the clairvoyant's gaze, all confluences disappear; the I alone is what remains as the only truth. The “I,” which so few people today regard as reality, is the only thing that remains. What the physical senses perceive as human beings is in truth a phantom whose individual parts are held together by the magnetic force of the “I.” Everything in human beings except the working “I” is an optical illusion.
[ 25 ] Now we have gone through a train of thought together. Please transform it into a feeling; only then will it acquire real value. Go through the world with this feeling. Imagine our earthly beings dissolved into ghosts, with only the egos working within them. When you feel this, you will feel what the materialistic sense calls existence, reality, dissolve like a mist, and you will see true reality in the spiritual self. Only then will you sense something of what is meant in the Eastern worldview when it says that reality is Maya. All other talk is mere phraseology. To begin with the phrase, “The world is Maya,” is absurd. We do not want to utter the word Maya without first having acquired such a feeling through such contemplation.
[ 26 ] You will now have gained some idea of what true secret schooling aims at with its long preparations. You see, it is actually a crude phrase to tell people that existence is a mere illusion. First, such contemplations must proceed patiently and calmly so that the soul's feelings are kindled. We all first want to learn to pronounce the words we need in the right way. For the most part, our words are uttered by people as empty sounds, whereas in fact, when they were spoken in the cultures in which they originated, these words were connected with deep, meaningful feelings.
[ 27 ] Such a consideration, which shows us what Maya is, which shows us the true reality within the illusion, first pours into our soul what we are to draw out of Theosophy as a feeling. It is therefore necessary that you do not leave here merely with knowledge, but with this tone of feeling, with this color of feeling that falls on such a word. In this way, imaginative contemplation is integrated with what we take with us into life, what lives in our soul as feeling, as sensation.