The Apocalypse of St. John
GA 104
26 June 1908, Nuremberg
Lecture IX
In our description of the evolution of man we have now reached the point when, after the epoch characterized by the sounding of the seven trumpets, the earth with all its beings passes into another condition, when the physical dissolves, so to speak, and changes into spiritual, but first into astral. An astral earth arises and into it pass all the beings who are ripe for it, that is, who have become capable of overcoming even their material part, and using it in the service of the spiritual. On the other hand, those who are unable to spiritualize the bodily, material part, who cling to the material, are thrown out and form a sort of secondary earth, the study of which is very instructive for gaining knowledge of the future destiny of humanity. But to this end it is necessary that we clearly understand what has become, during this astralizing of our earth, of those who have reached the necessary degree of maturity, who have taken the Christ-principle into themselves and allowed it to become active. We shall now occupy ourselves with what can develop out of man.
We shall best understand this if we have the patience again to consider what man has become and what possibilities of development lie within him for the future. At present man consists of four principles. The first is the so-called physical body; this is the principle man has in common with all the present creations of the mineral kingdom; this part of man one can see with the eyes and grasp with the hands; it is the lowest principle of human nature, which alone remains as the corpse at death. But this physical body would every moment have the same fate as the corpse at death, it would fall to pieces were it not permeated by what we call the etheric body or life body. This etheric body man no longer has in common with the mineral kingdom, he has it in common with the beings of the earthly vegetable kingdom. In every man the etheric body is a combatant which between birth and death holds together the parts of the physical body which continually have the tendency to disintegrate. What is the physical body of man, in reality? It is that which, when death has destroyed the form, after a short time becomes ashes. It is a little heap of ashes, so wonderfully arranged in the life body that the whole man makes the impression he now does upon those who look at him. The second principle, then, is the ether or life body. The third principle, which man has in common with the animals, is the so-called astral body, the vehicle of instincts, desires, passions, thoughts, ideas, etc., all that is usually called the soul in main. Finally we have the fourth principle in human nature, that which makes man the crown of earthly creation, which makes him stand out above all the other beings, and enables him to develop as “I,” as an individual self-conscious being in earthly existence. In the future the evolution of man will unfold in such manner that he will gradually work from his

“I” upon the lower principles, so that the “I” becomes their ruler. When the “I” has thoroughly worked upon the astral body and taken possession of it, so that in this astral body there are no more unconscious and unguarded impulses, instincts and passions, then the “I” will have developed what we call Spirit Self or Manas. Spirit-Self is none other than the astral body, only the astral body is the third principle before it is transformed by the “I.” When the “I” transforms the etheric body also, Life-Spirit or Budhi is produced; and when in the remotest future the “I” transforms the physical body so that this is completely spiritualized by the “I” itself (this is the most difficult work, because the physical body is the densest), then the physical body develops into the highest principle of human nature, namely, Atma or Spirit-Man. Thus, if we conceive of man in his seven-fold nature, we have the physical body, the etheric body or life-body, the astral body and the “I.” Further, we have that which man will develop in the future; Spirit-Self or Manas, Life-Spirit or Budhi and Spirit-Man or Atma. That is the sevenfold being of man. However, he will only develop these higher principles in the far-distant future. It is not yet in man's power while on the earth to work so far upon himself as to bring all these higher spiritual parts to full development.
If we consider the sevenfold man in this way we shall, however, not fully comprehend the man we see before us to-day. It is indeed true that if we survey man as a whole we may speak of these seven principles, but if we wish to understand the present man we must be more exact. You will remember that the physical body was developed on Saturn, the etheric body on the Sun, the astral body on the Moon, and that the Ego is to be developed on the Earth. It has already developed to a certain high degree.
We must now observe this earthly evolution of man somewhat more closely. The greater portion of humanity will only have gained the power to work quite consciously in the Spirit-Self, in the transformed astral body, at the close of the earth evolution. On the other hand, during our earthly evolution man had to pass through a kind of preparation which made it possible for him to work half-consciously and half-unconsciously, as it were, on his three lower principles.
This half-conscious and half unconscious work began in the Lemurian epoch, to which we have already referred. At that time the “I” began to work in a very dim consciousness, and at first, in fact, on the astral body. If therefore, you follow the earth development from the Lemurian epoch into the first portion of the Atlantean, you will find the “I” worked at first in a very dim consciousness, half unconsciously only on his astral body. That which then appeared on the earth as the product of the transformation of the astral body, we call sentient-soul. Then during the Atlantean epoch, when the air was filled with dense volumes of water-vapour, the “I” worked in dim consciousness on the etheric body and produced what we call intellectual-soul or mind-soul; and from the time when, from the country in the neighbourhood of the present Ireland, the great impulse came which drove the peoples from the West towards the East and led beyond the great Atlantean flood to our new culture, from the beginning of the last third of the Atlantean epoch, the “I” worked unconsciously on the physical body. It worked into what one calls the consciousness-soul, that which gave man the foundation to work out of the group-soul nature a more or less self-conscious “I” which first received the great impulse towards complete individuality with the appearance of Christ Jesus. Then only did we really become capable of what one may call working more or less consciously on the astral body. Really only since the advent of the Christ impulse on earth have we begun to work consciously on our astral body. So that if we speak of man to-day we have to say that he has developed physical body, etheric body, astral body, then sentient-soul (the astral body which was formerly transformed in dim consciousness); the intellectual-soul (the etheric body which was dimly trans-formed in the Atlantean epoch); and the consciousness-soul (the physical body which was dimly transformed in the later portion of the Atlantean epoch), so that he gradually matured to where he could develop Spirit-Self (Manas) as far as it can be observed in man to-day.
All men now possess the rudiments of the Spirit-Self, but one has more, another less. Many will still have to go through many incarnations before they have developed the Spirit-Self far enough to become aware of what they are working upon within their human nature. But when the earth has reached its goal, when the seventh trumpet begins to sound, the following will he observed: that which exists of the physical body will be dissolved like salt in warm water. The human Spirit-Self will be developed to a high degree, so that man will repeat again and again the words of Paul, “Not I, but Christ in me does everything.” This will enable him to dissolve the physical nature and make the ennobled etheric into a being which can live in the astralized earth. Thus man, a new being, will live over into this spiritualized earth.
We might say that the important stage of passing over into the earth which has become spiritualized, is wonderfully expressed in the Bible where it says that everything which man now accomplishes within himself in the physical body during the earth period is like a sowing whose fruit will appear when the earth has become spiritual. “And that which thou sowest is not the body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain. But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body” (1 Cor. xv. 37), That is, the body which is the expression of the soul of the individuality. “There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial body is one, and the glory of the terrestrial body is another.” The earthly bodies will be dissolved, the celestial will appear as the luminous expression of what the soul is. “It is sown corruptible and will rise incorruptible.” The incorruptible body will then be resurrected. “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” Paul calls the etheric or life-body, spiritual body, after the physical has dissolved and the etheric passes into the astral earth. Paul here sees beforehand the incorruptible spiritual body, as he calls it.
And now let us consider what it is that man will embody as the expression of his capacity for receiving the Christ. It is the same that hovered before Paul in spirit, and that he calls “the last Adam,” while he calls the first man who entered into existence in a physically visible body “the first Adam.”. At the end of the Lemurian epoch we already find various animals below, but man is not yet visible to external eyes; he is still etheric. He condenses, and absorbs mineral constituents and appears in his first form; the physical man gradually appears, just as water condenses into ice, Physical evolution then proceeds so far that what is earthly can dissolve and eventually disappears. Hence the man who has the etheric body appears as the last Adam. The first Adam has the capacity of seeing the earth in the physical body through the physical senses; the last Adam, who assumes a spiritual body, is an expression of the inner capacity for receiving the Christ. Hence Christ is called by Paul the last Adam. This comprises the whole of human evolution; in spirit we see what man will become in the future, whereas before we saw how he descended to the earth.
Now to understand the following we must look a little more deeply into the mysteries of becoming man. If you could observe man before his body became physical, that is to say, when he was still invisible to physical eyes, when he first descended from the etheric, so to speak, by becoming first an airy, watery structure, then a cartilaginous structure—if you could follow him thus you would see that our earth was also quite different. In the time before the descent of man there was really no mineral kingdom. The earth only possessed the heritage of the Moon. The lowest kingdom was the vegetable kingdom, and the earth was much softer. The distribution of the watery and gaseous substances was quite different. If you had looked at the earth before man had descended from the surrounding atmosphere to the solid ground it would not have appeared to you as the abstract product described in modern geology, etc.; one might say that our earth as a whole was at that time more like an organism. It was permeated with all kinds of ordered currents, and was more like a living being than it is now. And man, who existed in that ancient time more as a spiritual etheric being, was not born as he is to-day, but he was, so to say, brought forth out of mother earth herself. It was mother earth herself that produced man, that still spiritually etheric being. Before man separated front the whole earth, he was a being who was really bound up with the whole earth. imagine a body which is soft, and in it hardened parts appear; this will give you a picture of how men were at that time born from mother earth. They were connected with the earth by all kinds of currents, and remained connected with it. Hence man had an entirely different life; for example, the circulation of the blood, which is now confined within the limits of its skin, extended everywhere into the surrounding earth—it existed in the form of natural forces. If we wished to draw a picture of what it was like at that time we should have to say: there arose within the earth—not perceptible to physical eyes, but to spiritual vision—a part which was raised and could be distinguished from the rest of the environment; but the forces in it were connected by innumerable threads with the rest of the whole earth. That was the beginning of a physical human being. There was a time when the human beings were connected in this way by threads with the rest of the earth.

As we have said, we are now touching upon an important and deep mystery, the last traces of which may be seen in the fact that when man is born at the present time, the connection with the maternal organism made by the umbilical cord is severed. This connection with the organism of the mother is the last remains of the connection man had with mother earth. And just as to-day man is a son of man, born from man, he was once a son of earth, born from the earth, when the earth was still a living being. He became independent through the umbilical cord—by which he was connected with the whole earth—being severed, so to speak; he thereby became a being born from his like. We must clearly understand that the paths of the blood now existing in man are nothing more than continuations of currents which in the ancient condition of the earth permeated the whole earth, it is the same with the nerves. All the nerves extended into mother earth. These are now sundered, as it were, from that which streamed through the whole earth as nerves. And the other parts of the human being in the same way. Man is born out of mother earth. That which is now enclosed within the skin has been drawn into him from the whole earth. The being of man is taken from the earth, the forces of the whole earth are in him. Before he became a son of man, he was a son of earth. The name Adam really means son of earth. All these ancient names point to important secrets. But when we are aware of this we shall understand that before the visible man appeared on the earth, the latter already contained within it all the forces of this visible man. Before man became a human being the earth was the bearer of all the human forces. Thus the earth is the mother of the human race. Just as little as you can imagine that man could ever grow out of the present stony earth, just as little could he spring forth from the earth, unless it were a living being. What we have just briefly indicated took place in the Lemurian epoch.
This earth was extremely important to man, for in its original form it contained all that man later possessed within him. In one part the heart was prepared, in another the brain; in our earth every nerve fibre was prepared. And just as our inner being was prepared in the earth, in the same way, in that which we shall have developed as our new body when the earth has reached its goal, do we carry within us the form which the future planet, the future embodiment of our earth must assume. To-day man works upon his soul; in this way he makes his body more and more like the soul, and when the earth has arrived at the end of its mission his body will have become an outward image of the soul which has taken Christ into itself. Such a man will survive and implant in the next embodiment of our earth the forces he has thus developed. Jupiter will have an appearance such as men are able to bring about by constructing it out of their own bodies. This Jupiter will, to begin with, receive its form from that which man has made for himself. Imagine that all the bodies you have fashioned are united in a single cosmic globe; that will be Jupiter. In your soul you have the germs of the future form of Jupiter, and of the forces it will contain. And out of Jupiter will be born the Jupiter beings. Thus man is now preparing for the birth of the Jupiter bodies.
What, therefore, must man do in order to give a worthy form to the future embodiment of our earth? He must take care that the work he can now do consciously is done in the Christine way, so that the etheric body which will be an image of this work will enter worthily into the spiritualized earth. All the parts of this body will be just as man has made them. He will bring into this spiritual earth what he has made of his physical body, and this will be the foundation for his future evolution. Just as your present soul develops in your present body, which you have inherited from the Moon, the future soul will develop in that which you yourselves make out of your own body. Hence the body is described as that which envelops the soul, which clothes the “I,” which is inhabited by the “I,” as the temple of the selfhood within, the temple of the Divinity dwelling in man, the temple of God. When, therefore, you form this body, you are building a future temple, that is to say, the new incarnation of the earth. You build up Jupiter in the right way by shaping the human body in the right way.
What, therefore, must appear when the earth has reached its goal? A temple of the soul harmonious in all its measurements. Hence the Initiate is commissioned to examine this temple which man will then have built. When this temple of God is measured it will be made manifest whether the soul has done what is right. “And there was given use a reed like unto a rod, and the angel said: Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But leave out the outer court” (Rev. xi. 1). This means, all that was there as a preparation must be thrown out of the temple. Man had first to have physical body and etheric body before he could work on them. These bodies are the outer court, and must fall away, they must be thrown out. That alone which man has made does he keep. That is the temple in which are to live the new beings in the Jupiter period.
We shall live, then, in an earth which has become spiritual. We see how the pattern of this Jupiter period is already being prepared. We see foreshadowed how men bring with them the fruits of their earth existence. And now we must clearly under-stand that all that was there before reappears in this spiritual condition on the earth, in a higher state of evolution. Most prominent are the bearers of the spiritual currents upon which the earth is founded, and from which it has proceeded. The bearers of these currents appear in living form. If we follow Christian tradition we shall see in Elias and Moses the personal representatives of what we found in yesterday's lecture in the two pillars. In Christian esotericism Elias and Moses are looked upon as those who give the teachings of the two pillars. Elias was the one who brought to man the knowledge and message of the one pillar, the pillar of strength, Moses the one who brought the message of the pillar of wisdom. Moses means wisdom or truth, and Elias means the directing force, that which gives the impulse—it is difficult to express the words in ordinary language. Thus we see these two appear in the spiritualized earth und, indeed, at the stage of evolution they will then have reached. In the Transfiguration of Christian tradition Christ appeared between Moses and Elias, and this entire procedure appears again at the end of the earth evolution in such a way that the sun, the spiritual sun of love, the manifestation of the earth mission of love appears supported by Sun-Mars, and Moon—Mercury, by Elias and Moses. Just as yesterday we saw the two pillars which at first appear before the Initiate as the symbols of strength and wisdom, and above the sun of love, so we may now picture the evolution of the earth a stage further, and the one pillar will appear in its living nature, in its personal form, as Elias, and the other as Moses, and what is above, as the veritable Christ-principle.
If we now turn our attention away from the earth itself and what is upon it, and consider it in connection with the whole space of heaven, we shall find we have arrived at a very important matter at the time of which we are now speaking. Earth and Sun comprised one body. The earth has developed out of the sun, and the moon has split off. We have said that this had to take place to obtain the right speed of evolution. But now, when man has passed through these stages of development, after he has spiritualized himself, he is ready to unite again with the forces upon the sun, he can proceed at the same tempo as the sun. An important cosmic event now takes place; the earth reunites with the sun. While that of which we have spoken is taking place, the earth unites with the sun. We said that the sun-spirits descended to the earth at the event of Golgotha, that this Christ-principle will be the means of bringing evolution to the point we have described. The earth will then be ready to unite with the sun; and that which was necessary in order that evolution should not proceed too quickly, namely, the moon, will be over-come, for man will no longer need it. The forces of the moon will be overcome. At this stage man can unite with the sun; he will live in the spiritualized earth and at the same time be united with the force of the sun; and he will be the conqueror of the moon. This will be seen on examination to be represented by the symbolical figures of the fifth seal; the woman who bears the sun within her and has the moon under her feet. [The fifth seal in Dr. Steiner's Seals and Symbols].
Thus we have arrived at the moment when man is spiritualized, when he reunites with the forces of the sun, when earth and sun form one body and the moon forces are overcome. Now, we must remember that only the most advanced beings, who have been impregnated by the principle of Christ, have passed through this development. They have reached thus far; but those who have hardened in matter have fallen away and formed, so to speak, a kind of secondary planet of hardened, flesh-like matter. Now remember what man looked like to astral vision before he descended to the earth as a physical being. We pointed out that he appeared in the four types of his group-soul, in the form of the Lion, the Eagle, the Bull and the Man. These four types of the group-soul meet us, so to speak, before man descends into the physical, before he is individualized. These four typical forms which man had before he entered into the physical body are invisible in the present physical human being. They arc in the soul-force, pressed, as it were, into the human form like india-rubber. It is, in fact, the case that when man loses control over himself, when his soul becomes silent either by going to sleep, or otherwise falling into a more or less unconscious condition, then one still sees to-day how the corresponding animal type comes out. But, on the whole, man has overcome this animal type by having descended to the physical plane. When did he receive the power to overcome in the astral world the animal type?
Now you will remember that we spoke of the seven ages of the Atlantean evolution. These seven ages comprise the first four and the last three. In the first four man was completely group-soul. Then in the fifth age the first impulse to the “I-soul” originated. Therefore we have four stages of development in Atlantis during which man first progresses as group-soul, and each of the first four Atlantean races corresponds to one of the typical animal forms—lion, eagle, bull and man. This passes over into the human stage in the fifth age. These typical forms are then lost. Now imagine that in the present epoch man permeates himself with the Christ-principle and thereby conquers his animal nature more and more; but if he does not permeate himself with the Christ-principle, he does not over-come the animal nature. The four typical heads, lion, eagle, bull and man, remain, so to speak, as something which assumes its form again as soon as it has the opportunity, and in addition come three others, those of the last three races of the Atlantean epoch, when man had already begun to be man. These three also remain if man does not work in his soul so that this animal nature disappears. How then will a man appear on the spiritualized earth who during our epoch has not taken into himself the Christ-principle? He will appear in materiality; he will reappear in the shapes from which he has come. He has had these animal forms and has passed through three others as well. He has left unused that which could have overcome the animal nature. The animal nature springs forth again, and, indeed, in seven forms. As once in Atlantis there emerged the four heads, the animal man, so out of the transformed earth, the astralized earth, seven such typical heads will again emerge, and the drama that took place at that time will again be enacted. The germ of the spiritual man was there, but he could not yet develop an individual form; he developed the four animal heads. The embryo human being of that epoch is also represented by the woman who brings forth man. The man of the future is also represented by the woman who gives birth to the spiritual man. But that which has remained in the flesh is represented on the secondary earth by the animal with seven heads, just as there were four heads in the period before man had the possibility of overcoming the animal nature, so those who have remained in the animal nature will appear as one entity, as the beast with the seven heads. Thus in the future, after the earth has united with the sun, while the spiritualized earth is above, there actually appears below, all that has not taken into itself the spiritual principle. The animal heads reappear which were there formerly, except that now they are out of their time. They are now the “adversary;” previously they were in the right period, the period of preparation. Thus we see that as at that time there arose from the physical, there now arises from the astral sea—the sun is also astralized—the monster with the seven heads, the seven-headed beast. All that was deposited in man by the etheric body is called in the mystery language—which the Apocalyptist also uses—a head, because when seen clairvoyantly it produces a typical form of head, e.g. a lion's head.
The etheric forces have to work upon it. If we follow the Atlantean evolution we find that the etheric body was still outside the head. That disposition in man due to the etheric is called in the language of the Apocalyptic mysteries “head.” This, therefore, refers to what is seen by clairvoyant vision chiefly as a head. But that which is brought about physically in man through some part of the etheric body is called a “horn.” Thus in the language of the mysteries a horn is a very mysterious thing. For example, that which has been brought about physically in man through his having passed through that race of the Atlantean epoch in which the lion was the typical group-soul, is called a horn. Thus the physical part which comes from some member of the etheric body is called a horn. A horn is the organ which is the external physical expression for something etheric. I will now speak to you in a concrete manner. All the physical organs of man are really densified etheric organs, they have proceeded from the condensed etheric body. Let us consider the human heart; to-day it is a physical organ, but it has condensed from an etheric organ. This present human heart received its rudiments when man went through the group-soul nature designated as the lion. Thus the heart is the horn of the lion head, for when the etheric body had progressed so far that man appeared with the group-soul symbolized by the lion's head, the rudimentary foundations were formed for that which later developed into the human heart. From this germ of the lion-man originated the present human physical heart. While, therefore, we trace back the origin of the etheric body to the changing of one head into another, to the addition of one head to another, we understand the human physical body as the addition of one horn to another. The human etheric body actually consists of “heads,” the human physical body of “horns.” That is the language of the mysteries. All the organs of man have developed out of the etheric body, they are, therefore, nothing but horns.
We have now to reflect upon all that we have heard; for this is something of which even the Apocalyptist says: “Here is wisdom.” We shall only understand this wisdom, which the writer of the Apocalypse has put into the appearance of the seven-headed beast with ten horns, if we carefully ponder over what “horn” really is in relation to “head” in the language of the mysteries. We shall see that the beings who have kept these seven heads, because they have remained behind in evolution, have, in fact, acquired in the abyss a physical body which consists of ten hardened members of the physical body.
Neunter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Gestern sind wir in unserer Schilderung von der Entwickelung des Menschen bis zu dem Punkte gelangt, wo nach jener Zeit, die durch die sieben Posaunenstöße charakterisiert wird, die Erde mit all ihren Wesenheiten übergeht in einen anderen Zustand, wo sozusagen das Physische sich auflöst und verwandelt in Geistiges, zunächst in Astralisches. Es entsteht eine astralische Erde, und in diese astralische Erde gehen alle diejenigen Wesenheiten ein, welche dazu reif geworden sind, das heißt, welche fähig geworden sind, selbst ihr Materielles zu überwinden, zu verwenden im Dienste des Geistigen. Dagegen wird alles das, was nicht imstande ist, das Leibliche, das Materielle in Geistiges zu verwandeln, was haftet am Materiellen, ausgeworfen werden und eine Art Nebenerde bilden, deren Betrachtung recht lehrreich ist, um das Schicksal der zukünftigen Menschheit zu erkennen. Dazu ist es aber vor allen Dingen nützlich, daß wir uns einmal klarmachen, was bei dieser Astralisierung unserer Erde aus denjenigen Menschen geworden ist, die den Reifegrad erlangt haben, die das Christus-Prinzip in sich aufgenommen und wirksam haben werden lassen. Was aus dem Menschen werden kann, das soll uns nun einmal beschäftigen.
[ 2 ] Wir werden am besten verstehen, was aus dem Menschen werden kann, wenn wir die Geduld haben, den Menschen nochmals zu betrachten, wie er geworden ist und welche Entwickelungsmöglichkeiten für die Zukunft in ihm sind. Wenn wir den Menschen heute betrachten, so steht er vor uns als ein viergliedriges Wesen. Das erste, was wir am Menschen erkennen, ist der sogenannte physische Leib. Das ist dasjenige Glied, das der Mensch gemeinschaftlich hat mit allen heutigen Geschöpfen des Mineralreiches, das man am Menschen mit Augen sehen, mit Händen greifen kann. Es ist das niederste Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit, dasjenige, was allein zurückbleibt als Leichnam im Tode. Aber dieser physische Leib würde jeden Augenblick das Schicksal haben, das der Leichnam im Tode hat, er würde zerfallen, wenn er nicht durchdrungen wäre von dem, was wir nennen den Äther- oder Lebensleib. Diesen Ätherleib hat der Mensch nicht mehr gemeinschaftlich mit den Geschöpfen des mineralischen Reiches, er hat ihn gemeinschaftlich mit den Wesen des Pflanzenreiches auf der Erde. Der Ätherleib ist in jedem Menschen ein Kämpfer gegen den Tod, der zwischen Geburt und Tod die Teile des physischen Leibes, die sich fortwährend trennen wollen, zusammenhält. Was ist in Wahrheit des Menschen physischer Leib? Das, was er nach einiger Zeit wird, wenn der Tod die Gestalt zerstört hat: Asche, ein Häuflein Asche, das nur so künstlich in seinen Teilen hineingeordnet ist in den Lebensleib, daß das Ganze des Menschen den Eindruck macht, den es heute auf den Beschauer ausübt. Das zweite Glied also ist der Ätheroder Lebensleib. Das dritte, das der Mensch mit allen Tieren gemein hat, ist der sogenannte astralische Leib, der Träger von allen Instinkten, Leidenschaften, Begierden, von allen Gedanken und Vorstellungen und so weiter, das, was man gewöhnlich das Seelische nennt im Menschen. Dann haben wir als viertes jenes Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit, das den Menschen zur Krone der Erdenschöpfung macht, welches verursacht, daß er hinausragt über alle übrigen Wesenheiten der Erdenschöpfung und das den Menschen vorzugsweise dazu befähigt, sich als Ich, als individuelles, selbstbewußtes Wesen des Erdendaseins zu entwickeln.
[ 3 ] In der Zukunft wird die Entwickelung des Menschen so verlaufen, daß der Mensch nach und nach von seinem Ich aus die niederen Teile, die unter dem Ich liegen, bearbeitet, durcharbeitet, daß er das Ich zum Herrn der anderen Teile macht. Wenn das Ich durchgearbeitet, zu seinem Eigentum gemacht hat den astralischen Leib, so daß nichts mehr von unbewußten und unbewachten Trieben, Instinkten und Leidenschaften in diesem Astralleib ist, dann hat es ausgebildet, was wir Geistselbst oder Manas nennen. Das ist nichts anderes, als was der astralische Leib auch ist, nur ist dieser eben vor seiner Umwandlung durch das Ich das dritte Glied. Wenn das Ich dann auch den Ätherleib umwandelt, so entsteht Buddhi oder Lebensgeist, und wenn das Ich einstmals in urferner Zukunft den physischen Leib umwandelt, so daß dieser durch das Ich selbst ganz vergeistigt ist — und das ist die schwierigste Arbeit, weil der physische Körper der dichteste ist —, dann hat sich der physische

[ 4 ] So haben wir, wenn wir uns diesen Menschen vorstellen in seiner Siebengliedrigkeit, den physischen Leib, den Äther- oder Lebensleib, den astralischen Leib, das Ich, ferner dasjenige, was der Mensch in der Zukunft entwickelt, Geistselbst oder Manas, Lebensgeist oder Buddhi und Geistmensch oder Atma. Das ist der siebengliedrige Mensch. Doch wird der Mensch diese höheren Glieder erst in urferner Zukunft entwickeln. Auf unserer Erde ist es dem Menschen noch nicht beschieden, so weit auf sich zu wirken, daß er alle diese höheren geistigen Teile zur Ausbildung bringt.
[ 5 ] Wenn wir so diesen siebengliedrigen Menschen betrachten, dann haben wir aber den Menschen, der heute vor uns steht, doch noch nicht ganz begriffen. Zwar ist es richtig, daß, wenn wir im großen und ganzen den Menschen überschauen, wir von diesen sieben Gliedern reden können. Aber wir müssen, wenn wir den heutigen Menschen verstehen wollen, noch genauer reden.
[ 6 ] Sie werden sich erinnern, daß der physische Leib auf dem Saturn entwickelt worden ist, der Ätherleib auf der Sonne, der astralische Leib auf dem Monde, und daß das Ich auf der Erde sich ausbilden soll und sich bis zu einem bestimmten hohen Grad schon ausgebildet hat. Nun aber müssen wir diese Erdenentwickelung des Menschen noch etwas genauer ins Auge fassen. Dasjenige, was man Geistselbst, umgewandelten Astralleib nennt, daß der Mensch ganz vollkommen bewußt innerhalb dieses Geistselbstes, seines astralischen Leibes, wirkt und arbeitet, das wird für die große Zahl der Menschen erst am Ende der Erdenentwickelung erreicht sein. Dagegen mußte der Mensch während unserer Erdenentwickelung eine Art Vorbereitung durchmachen, die es schon im Laufe der Erdenentwickelung möglich machte, sozusagen halb bewußt und halb unbewußt an seinen drei niedrigen Gliedern zu arbeiten.
[ 7 ] Dieses halb bewußte und halb unbewußte Arbeiten begann in der lemurischen Zeit, auf die wir ja schon hingewiesen haben. Damals fing das Ich im ganz dumpfen Bewußtsein an zu arbeiten, und zwar zunächst an dem astralischen Leib. Wenn Sie also die Erdenentwickelung verfolgen von der lemurischen Zeit aus in die erste atlantische herein, dann werden Sie finden, daß das Ich zuerst halb unbewußt, nur dämmerhaft bewußt, an seinem astralischen Leib arbeitete. Was damals zuerst auf der Erde als Umwandlungsprodukt des astralischen Leibes erschienen ist, nennen wir Empfindungsseele. Dann arbeitete während der atlantischen Zeit, während dem die Luft durchzogen war von Nebelwassermassen, das Ich im dumpfen Bewußtsein am Ätherleib und arbeitete dasjenige aus, was man Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele nennt. Und von dem Zeitpunkte an, wo von der Gegend in der Nähe des heutigen Irlands aus der große Impuls gekommen ist, der die Völker vom Westen nach dem Osten getrieben und herübergeführt hat über die große atlantische Flut zu unserer neuen Kultur, von dem Beginn des letzten Drittels der atlantischen Zeit an arbeitete das Ich unbewußt am physischen Leib, und es arbeitete dasjenige hinein, was man die Bewußtseinsseele nennt, was dem Menschen die Anlage gab, ein mehr oder weniger selbstbewußtes Ich aus der Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit herauszuarbeiten, das erst mit der Erscheinung des Christus Jesus den großen Impuls der völligen Individualität erlangte. Da wurde der Mensch eigentlich erst fähig zu dem, was man Arbeiten im astralischen Leib mit mehr oder weniger Bewußtsein nennen kann. Wir haben eigentlich erst seit der Einprägung des Christentums auf der Erde damit begonnen, bewußt an unserem astralischen Leibe zu arbeiten. So daß, wenn wir heute vom Menschen sprechen, wir sagen müssen: Der Mensch hat entwickelt physischen Leib, Ätherleib, Astralleib, dann Empfindungsseele, den einstmals im dämmerhaften Bewußtsein umgewandelten Astralleib, die Verstandesseele, den in der atlantischen Urzeit dämmerhaft umgewandelten Ätherleib, und die Bewußtseinsseele, den in der letzten atlantischen Zeit dämmerhaft umgewandelten physischen Leib, so daß er sich allmählich heranbildete, um nach und nach Manas so weit zu entwickeln, wie es heute im Menschen zu beobachten ist.
[ 8 ] Es ist heute im Menschen überall der Anfang von Manas da. Der eine hat es mehr, der andere weniger. Manche müssen noch durch viele Verkörperungen hindurchgehen, um Manas so weit ausgebildet zu haben, daß sie sich bewußt werden dessen, woran sie innerhalb ihrer menschlichen Wesenheit arbeiten. Aber wenn die Erde an ihrem Ziel angelangt sein wird, wenn also die siebente Posaune zu klingen beginnt, dann wird folgendes eintreten: Das, was vom physischen Leib vorhanden ist, wird aufgelöst wie Salz von warmem Wasser. Das menschliche Manas, Geistselbst, wird in hohem Grade entwickelt sein, so daß der Mensch sich immer wieder die Worte des Paulus sagen wird: Nicht ich, sondern Christus in mir tut alles. — So wird der Mensch leben. Dadurch wird er das Physische an seinem Wesen auflösen und das ätherisch Veredelte zu einem Wesen machen, welches innerhalb der astralisierten Erde leben kann. So wird der Mensch als ein neues Wesen hinüberleben in diese geistig gewordene Erde.
[ 9 ] Wir dürfen sagen, daß dieser große Moment des Hinüberlebens in die geistig gewordene Erde uns in der Bibel in einer wunderbaren Weise ausgedrückt wird, indem uns gesagt wird, daß alles, was der Mensch jetzt während der Erdenzeit im physischen Leib sich erarbeitet, wie eine Saat ist, die aufgehen wird als Frucht, wenn die Erde geistig geworden sein wird. 1. Korinther 15, 37: «Und das du säest, ist ja nicht der Leib, der werden soll, sondern ein bloß Korn, nämlich Weizen oder der anderen eins. Gott aber gibt ihm einen Leib, wie er will, und einem jeglichen von den Samen seinen eigenen Leib», das heißt den Leib, welcher der Ausdruck ist des Seelischen, der Individualität. «Und es sind himmlische Körper und irdische Körper. Aber eine andere Herrlichkeit haben die himmlischen und eine andere die irdischen.» Die irdischen Körper werden aufgelöst, die himmlischen erscheinen als der lichtvolle Ausdruck dessen, was die Seele ist. «Es wird gesäet verweslich und wird auferstehen unverweslich.» Der unverwesliche Leib, der wird dann auferstehen. «Es wird gesäet ein natürlicher Leib und wird auferstehen ein geistiger Leib.» «Geistiger Leib» nennt Paulus den Äther- oder Lebensleib, nachdem das Physische sich aufgelöst hat und der Ätherleib sich in die astralische Erde hineinbewegt. Da sieht Paulus voraus den unverweslichen, geistigen Leib, wie er ihn nennt.
[ 10 ] Und jetzt betrachten wir dasjenige, was der Mensch hineinlegt als Ausdruck seiner eigenen Christus-Fähigkeit. Es ist dasselbe, was Paulus im Geiste vorschwebt und was er nennt den «letzten Adam», während er den ersten Menschen, der in einem physisch sichtbaren Leibe ins Dasein getreten ist, den «ersten Adam» nennt. In der lemurischen Zeit, an der Grenze des lemurischen Zeitalters, finden wir unten schon verschiedene Tiere, der Mensch aber ist noch nicht für äußere Augen sichtbar, er ist noch ätherisch. Er verdichtet sich, nimmt mineralische Bestandteile auf, er erscheint in seiner ersten Gestalt. Wie wenn Wasser sich verdichtet zu Eis, so kommt der physische Mensch heraus. Dann geht die physische Entwickelung so weit, daß sich auflösen kann, was irdisch ist, und da entschwindet das Irdische. Daher erscheint der Mensch, der den ätherischen Leib hat, als der «letzte Adam». Der «erste Adam» hat die Fähigkeit, im physischen Leib durch die physischen Sinne auf die Erde zu sehen, der letzte Adam, der einen geistigen Leib annimmt, ist eine Physiognomie der inneren Christus-Fähigkeit. Christus wird daher auch von Paulus der «letzte Adam» genannt. So schließt sich dasjenige, was die Menschwerdung enthält, zusammen. Wir sehen im Geiste aufleuchten, was aus dem Menschen einst werden wird, während wir vorher gesehen haben, wie der Mensch herunterstieg auf unsere Erde.
[ 11 ] Um nun das Folgende zu verstehen, müssen wir noch ein wenig tiefer in die Mysterien der Menschwerdung hineinschauen. Wenn Sie den Menschen verfolgen könnten bis vor seiner physischen Leibwerdung, also bis in die Zeit, wo er noch nicht für physische Augen sichtbar gewesen wäre, wo er sozusagen aus dem Ätherischen erst herunterstieg, indem er erst ein luftförmig-wässeriges Gebilde wurde, dann ein knorpeliges, wenn Sie ihn so verfolgen könnten, dann würden Sie sehen, wie auch unsere Erde noch ganz anders war. In jener Zeit, bevor der Mensch heruntergestiegen ist, gab es eigentlich noch kein Mineralreich. Die Erde hatte erst die Erbschaft des Mondes angetreten. Das niederste Reich war das Pflanzenreich sozusagen. Die Erde war viel weicher. Alle Verteilung der flüssigen, der gasförmigen Stoffe war eine ganz andere. Wenn Sie die Erde also geschaut hätten in jener Zeit, bevor der Mensch aus ihrem atmosphärischen Umkreis zum festen Grund heruntergestiegen war, so würde sie Ihnen nicht vorgekommen sein wie das, was in der heutigen Geologie und so weiter abstrakt beschrieben wird, sondern unsere Erde als Ganzes war dazumal viel näher, man möchte sagen, einem Organismus.

[ 12 ] Es war diese Erde durchzogen von allerlei regelmäßigen Strömungen. Die Erde glich eher einem lebendigen Wesen als dem, was sie heute ist. Und der Mensch, der mehr als geistig-ätherisches Wesen in jener alten Zeit vorhanden war, wurde damals nicht so geboren wie heute, sondern er wurde sozusagen herausgeboren aus der Mutter Erde selber. Die Mutter Erde selber war es, die diesen Menschen, diesen noch geistig-ätherischen Menschen, werden ließ, und der Mensch war, bevor er sich absonderte von der ganzen Erde, ein Wesen, das wirklich mit der ganzen Erde verbunden war. Denken Sie sich einmal, wie in irgendeinem Körper, der weich ist, verhärtete Stellen entstehen, dann würden Sie ein Bild haben, wie dazumal aus der Mutter Erde selber die Menschen herausgeboren wurden. Ja, die Menschen waren durch allerlei Strömungen mit der Erde verbunden, blieben mit ihr verbunden. Es war also ein ganz anderes Leben der Menschen. Dasjenige, was Sie heute zum Beispiel als Blutkreislauf im Menschen drinnen haben, abgeschlossen im Innern von seiner Haut, das hatte seine Fortsetzung — es war in Form natürlicher Kräfte vorhanden — überall hinaus in die umliegende Erde. Wollten wir uns ein Bild davon entwerfen, wie es damals war, so müßten wir sagen: Nicht für das physische Auge, aber dem hellseherischen Blick fühlbar, entstand innerhalb der Erde eine Stelle, welche sich abhob und sich unterscheiden ließ von der übrigen Umgebung; aber dasjenige, was da als Kräfte drinnen waltete, hing an zahlreichen Fäden zusammen mit der ganzen übrigen Erde. — Das war der Anfang eines physischen Menschen.
[ 13 ] Es gab eine Zeit, in der so die Menschen mit Fäden zusammenhingen mit der übrigen Erde. Wir berühren, wie gesagt, da ein bedeutsames und ernstes Mysterium, das Mysterium, welches seine letzten Spuren hinterlassen hat dadurch, daß der Mensch, wenn er heute in die Welt tritt, den Zusammenhang mit dem mütterlichen Organismus in der Nabelschnur gelöst erhält. Dieser Zusammenhang mit dem mütterlichen Organismus ist der letzte Rest jenes Zusammenhanges, den der Mensch hatte mit der Mutter Erde. Und wie der Mensch heute ein Menschensohn ist, vom Menschen geboren, so ist der Mensch einstmals ein Erdensohn gewesen, von der Erde geboren, da die Erde noch ein lebendiges Wesen war. Und damit wurde der Mensch selbständig, daß die Nabelschnur, an der er zusammenhing mit der ganzen Erde, sozusagen für ihn abgeschnitten wurde. Dadurch wurde er ein Wesen, das von seinesgleichen geboren wurde.
[ 14 ] Klar müssen wir uns sein darüber, daß die Blutsbahnen, die heute im Menschen sind, nichts anderes sind als die Fortsetzungen von Strömungen, die in dem alten Erdenzustand die ganze Erde durchdrangen. Ebenso die Nervenbahnen: alles, was Sie als Nerven haben, erhielt seine Fortsetzung hinaus in die Mutter Erde. Das ist gleichsam jetzt herausgeschnitten von dem, was die ganze Erde als Nerven durchströmte. Und ebenso die anderen Glieder der menschlichen Wesenheit. Herausgeboren aus der Mutter Erde ist der Mensch. Was heute abgeschlossen ist im Menschen durch seine Haut, ist hineingezogen in ihn aus der ganzen Erde. Aus der Erde ist des Menschen Wesenheit genommen und hineingezogen in ihn. Der Mensch war, bevor er Menschensohn wurde, ein Erdensohn. Und «Erdensohn» heißt eigentlich «Adam». Alle diese alten Namen weisen auf bedeutsame Geheimnisse hin. Wenn wir uns aber dessen bewußt sind, so werden wir begreifen, daß die Erde, bevor auf ihr der sichtbare Mensch entstand, schon alle Kräfte dieses sichtbaren Menschen in sich enthielt. Bevor der Mensch ein Mensch wurde, war die Erde die Trägerin aller menschlichen Kräfte. Die Erde ist also die Gebärerin des Menschengeschlechtes. Ebensowenig wie Sie sich denken können, daß aus der heutigen steinernen Erde jemals der Mensch entspringt, ebensosehr konnte der Mensch entspringen aus der Erde, als sie noch ein Lebewesen war. In der lemurischen Zeit ist das vor sich gegangen, was wir mit wenigen Worten andeuten konnten.
[ 15 ] Wenn Sie sich nun fragen: Hatte denn nun nicht diese Erde eine ungeheure Wichtigkeit für den Menschen? — so müssen wir sagen: Ja, denn sie enthielt in ihrer Uranlage alles, was der Mensch später in sich aufgenommen hat. Irgendwo war das Herz vorgebildet, irgendwo das Gehirn, jeder Nervenstrang war vorbereitet in unserer Erde. Ebenso aber wie vorbereitet war unsere Innerlichkeit in der Erde, ebenso tragen wir in dem, was wir als unsere neue Leiblichkeit ausgebildet haben werden, wenn die Erde an ihrem Ziele ist, die Gestalt in uns, welche der künftige Planet, die künftige Verkörperung unserer Erde annehmen muß. Heute arbeitet der Mensch an seiner Seele; dadurch macht er sich seinen Leib immer ähnlicher und ähnlicher der Seele. Er wird, wenn die Erde am Ende ihrer Bahn, ihrer Mission angelangt sein wird, seinen Leib so gestaltet haben, daß er ein äußeres Abbild der Seele ist, die den Christus in sich aufgenommen hat. Dieser Mensch wird hinüberleben und wird seine so gebildeten Kräfte der nächsten Verkörperung unserer Erde einpflanzen. Der Jupiter wird so ausschauen, wie der Mensch ihn machen kann, indem er ihn aus seinen eigenen Leibern zusammensetzt. Dieser Jupiter wird zunächst seine Gestalt von dem erhalten, was der Mensch aus sich selbst gemacht hat. Denken Sie sich, daß all die Leiber, die sich so gebildet haben, sich zusammenfügen zu einer einzigen Weltenkugel: das wird der Jupiter sein. Sie haben als Anlage in Ihrer Seele dasjenige, was die Gestalt des Jupiters sein wird, was er an Kräften in sich enthalten wird. Und aus dem Jupiter werden herausgeboren werden die Jupiter-Wesen. So arbeitet der Mensch heute vor für die Geburt der Jupiter-Körper.
[ 16 ] Was muß der Mensch also tun, damit er der künftigen Verkörperung unserer Erde eine würdige Gestalt gibt? Er muß dafür sorgen, daß die Arbeit, die er jetzt bewußt leisten kann, in der Christus-gemäßen Weise vor sich geht, damit der ätherische Leib, der ein Abbild dieser Arbeit sein wird, in würdiger Weise sich hineinlebt in die vergeistigte Erde. Alle Teile dieses Leibes werden so sein, wie der Mensch sie gemacht hat. Was der Mensch gemacht haben wird aus seinem physischen Leibe, das wird er in diese geistige Erde hineinbringen, und dasjenige, was daraus sich gestalten wird, das wird die Grundlage sein für seine Weiterentwickelung. Wie sich Ihre heutige Seele in Ihrem heutigen Leibe, den Sie vom Monde ererbt haben, entwickelt, so wird sich die künftige Seele in demjenigen entwickeln, was Sie selber aus ihrem Leibe machen. Daher bezeichnet man den Leib, dasjenige, was die Seele, das Ich umkleidet, umhüllt, was von diesem Ich bewohnt wird, als den Tempel der im Innern befindlichen Ichheit, den Tempel der im Menschen lebendigen Göttlichkeit, den Tempel Gottes. Indem Sie also diesen Leib gestalten, bauen Sie einen künftigen Tempel, das heißt die neue Verkörperung der Erde,.auf. Sie bauen in den richtigen Maßen den Jupiter auf, indem Sie den menschlichen Leib in der richtigen Weise ausgestalten. Was muß daher zum Vorschein kommen, wenn die Erde am Ziel angekommen sein wird? Ein in allen Maßen stimmender Tempel der Seele. Daher wird dem Eingeweihten der Auftrag gegeben, diesen Tempel, den der Mensch dann gebaut haben wird, zu untersuchen. Daß die Seele das Richtige gemacht hat, wird dadurch zum Vorschein kommen, daß er gemessen wird, dieser Tempel Gottes. «Und es ward mir ein Rohr gegeben, einem Stecken gleich, und er sprach: Stehe auf und miß den Tempel Gottes und den Altar und die darinnen anbeten. Aber den Vorhof außerhalb des Tempels wirf hinaus!» (Kapitel 11, 1.) Das heißt: Alles dasjenige muß hinausgeworfen werden aus dem Tempel, was zur Vorbereitung da war. Der Mensch mußte erst physischen Leib und Ätherleib haben, bevor er drinnen arbeiten konnte. Dieser physische Leib und der Ätherleib, die sind der Vorhof: die müssen abfallen, die wirf hinaus. — Dasjenige, was der Mensch allein gemacht hat, das behält er. Das ist der Tempel, in dem wohnen sollen neue Wesen zur Zeit des Jupiter-Daseins.
[ 17 ] Also wir leben da innerhalb einer geistig gewordenen Erde. Wir sehen, wie sich schon vorbereitet vorbildlich diese Jupiter-Zeit. Wie die Menschen mitbringen die Früchte des Erdendaseins, das alles sehen wir vorgebildet. Und jetzt müssen wir uns klar sein darüber, daß innerhalb dieses geistigen Zustandes der Erde auf einer höheren Entwickelungsstufe alles das wiedererscheint, was früher da war. Vor allen Dingen erscheinen die Träger der geistigen Strömungen wieder, auf denen die Erde feststeht, aus denen sie hervorgegangen ist. Die Träger dieser Strömungen erscheinen lebendig wieder. Es werden in Elias und Moses, wenn wir der christlichen Tradition folgen, die persönlichen Vertreter dessen gesehen, was uns gestern in den zwei Säulen erschienen ist. Die, welche die Lehren der zwei Säulen geben, werden in der christlichen Esoterik angeschen als Elias und Moses. Elias war derjenige, der dem Menschen die Kundschaft und Botschaft brachte von der einen Säule, der Säule der Stärke, Moses derjenige, der sie brachte von der Säule der Weisheit. «Moses» heißt: Weisheit oder Wahrheit, und «Elias» heißt — ja es ist schwer, das Wort im Deutschen auszudrücken — die weisende Kraft, das, was die Richtung, den Impuls gibt. So sehen wir diese beiden in der geistig gewordenen Welt auftreten, und zwar auf der Entwickelungsstufe, zu der sie es dann gebracht haben werden. Denn wie bei der «Verklärung» nach der christlichen Tradition der Christus erschienen ist zwischen Moses und Elias, so erscheint der ganze Vorgang am Ende der Erdenentwickelung so, daß die Sonne, die geistige Sonne der Liebe, die Offenbarung der Erdenmission der Liebe erscheint, gestützt durch Sonne-Mars und MondMerkur, durch Elias und Moses. Wie wir gestern gesehen haben die beiden Säulen, die zunächst vor dem Eingeweihten erscheinen als die Symbole von Stärke und Weisheit, und darüber die Sonne der Liebe, so können wir uns jetzt ein Stück weiter die Erdenentwickelung vorstellen, und in seiner Lebendigkeit, in seinem Persönlichen wird uns dasjenige, was die eine Säule ist, als Elias erscheinen, und die andere als Moses, und was darüber ist, als das eigentliche Christus-Prinzip.
[ 18 ] Wenn wir nunmehr den Blick ein wenig hinwegwenden von der Erde selber, von dem, was auf ihr ist, und sie im Zusammenhang mit dem ganzen Himmelsraum betrachten, so sind wir gerade in dem Zeitpunkt, den wir jetzt besprechen, bei einer sehr wichtigen Sache angelangt. Erde und Sonne waren ein Körper. Die Erde hat sich aus der Sonne herausentwickelt und der Mond hat sich abgespalten. Wir haben gesagt, daß das hat geschehen müssen wegen des richtigen Maßes der Entwickelung. Nun aber, wo der Mensch diese Entwickelungsstufen durchgemacht hat, nachdem er sich vergeistigt hat, ist er reif, sich wiederum mit den Kräfteverhältnissen zu vereinigen, welche auf der Sonne sind. Er kann das Tempo der Sonne mitmachen. Es findet nun ein wichtiger Weltenvorgang statt: die Erde vereinigt sich wiederum mit der Sonne. Während dasjenige vorgeht, was wir besprochen haben, vereinigt sich die Erde mit der Sonne. Wir haben gesagt, daß die Sonnengeister auf die Erde herabgestiegen sind bei dem Ereignis von Golgatha. Wir haben gesagt, daß dieses Christus-Prinzip es so weit bringen wird, wie wir es haben beschreiben können. Jetzt wird die Erde reif, sich mit der Sonne zu vereinigen. Und das, was notwendig war, damit die Entwickelung nicht zu schnell vor sich geht, der Mond, der wird überwunden sein, den braucht der Mensch nicht mehr. Der Mond wird in seinen Kräften überwunden werden. Der Mensch kann sich in dieser Zeit mit der Sonne vereinigen. Er wird in der vergeistigten Erde drinnen leben und zu gleicher Zeit verbunden sein mit der Kraft der Sonne, und er wird der Überwinder des Mondes sein. Das wird, indem es geschaut wird, dargestellt durch diese symbolische Figur des fünften Siegels: das Weib, das die Sonne in sich trägt und den Mond zu ihren Füßen hat. Wir sind an dem Zeitpunkt angekommen, da der Mensch vergeistigt ist, da der Mensch sich wiederum mit den Kräften der Sonne verbindet, da Erde und Sonne ein Körper ist und die Mondenkräfte überwunden sein werden. (Siehe das fünfte Siegelbild.)
[ 19 ] Und nunmehr müssen wir uns erinnern, daß nur der fortgeschrittenere Teil der Wesenheiten, der vom Prinzip des Christus imprägnierte Teil, diese Entwickelung durchgemacht hat. Der ist so weit gekommen; diejenigen aber, die in der Materie verhärtet sind, sind herausgefallen, haben sozusagen eine Art Nebenplaneten von verhärteter, verfleischlichter Materie gebildet. Nun erinnern wir uns einmal, wie, astralisch gesehen, für den Hellseher der Mensch hervortrat, bevor er auf die Erde herunterstieg als physisches Wesen. Erinnern wir uns, daß wir genau hingewiesen haben darauf, daß der Mensch in den vier Typen seiner Gruppenseele erschien, in der Gestalt des Löwen, des Adlers, des Ochsen und des Menschen. Diese vier Typen der Gruppenseele treten uns sozusagen entgegen, bevor der Mensch heruntersteigt ins Physische, bevor er individualisiert wird. Diese vier typischen Gestalten, die der Mensch gehabt hat, bevor er in den physischen Leib hereingetreten ist, sind am heutigen physischen Menschen nicht sichtbar; die sind in der Gewalt der Seele. Wie Kautschuk ist es hereingepreßt in die menschliche Form. In der Tat ist es so: Wenn der Mensch sich nicht in seiner Gewalt hat, wenn seine Seele schweigt, entweder dadurch, daß er schläft oder sonst in einem mehr oder weniger bewußtlosen Zustand ist, dann sieht man heute noch, wie der entsprechende Tiertypus herauskommt. Aber der Mensch hat im Grunde genommen dadurch, daß er heruntergestiegen ist auf den physischen Plan, diesen Tiertypus überwunden. Wann ist dem Menschen die Fähigkeit gegeben worden, im Astralischen den Tiertypus zu überwinden?
[ 20 ] Erinnern wir uns, daß wir gesprochen haben von den sieben Zeiträumen der atlantischen Entwickelung. Diese sieben Zeiträume umfassen vier erste und drei letzte. Die vier ersten waren so, daß der Mensch noch durchaus Gruppenseele war. Dann, im fünften Zeitraum, ist der erste Impuls zur Ich-Seele entstanden. Wir haben also vier Entwickelungsstufen in der Atlantis, in denen der Mensch erst als Gruppenseele aufrückt, und jeder der vier ersten atlantischen Rassen entspricht eine der typischen Tiergestalten, Löwe, Adler, Kalb oder Stier, und Mensch. Das geht in den Menschen über im fünften Zeitraum, da verlieren sich diese typischen Gestalten. Denken Sie sich nun einmal, daß der Mensch in seiner jetzigen Zeit sich durchdringt mit dem Christus-Prinzip und dadurch immer mehr und mehr überwindet das Tierische. Wenn er sich aber nicht durchdringt mit dem Christus-Prinzip, dann überwindet er das Tierische nicht. Die vier typischen Köpfe, Löwe, Adler, Stier und Mensch, die bleiben sozusagen als etwas, was seine Gestalt wiederum annimmt, wenn es nun wiederum hervortreten kann, und dazu kommen noch drei andere, die von den drei letzten Rassen der atlantischen Entwickelung, wo der Mensch schon angefangen hatte, Mensch zu sein. Diese drei bleiben auch, wenn der Mensch nicht durch seine Seele daran arbeitet, daß dieses Tierische verschwindet. Wie wird also der Mensch, der während unserer Zeit das ChristusPrinzip nicht aufgenommen hat, auf der vergeistigten Erde erscheinen? Er wird in der Materialität erscheinen; in den Gestalten, aus denen er gekommen ist, wird er sich wieder zeigen. Er hat diese Tiergestalten gehabt und hat noch drei dazu durchgemacht. Das, was die Tierheit hätte überwinden können, ist nun von ihm unbenützt gelassen worden. Die Tierheit springt wieder hervor, und zwar in sieben Gestalten. Wie einst in Atlantis die vier Köpfe auftauchten, der Tier-Mensch, so werden auftauchen aus der verwandelten Erde, aus der astralisierten Erde sieben solche typische Köpfe, und es wird sich das Schauspiel wiederholen, welches sich dazumal abgespielt hat. Der geistige Mensch war in seiner Anlage vorhanden, aber er konnte noch nicht eine individuelle Gestalt ausbilden, er bildete die vier Tierköpfe aus. Der geistige Mensch in seiner Anlage wird dargestellt auch für die damalige Zeit durch das Weib, das den Menschen gebiert. Es wird auch der Mensch der Zukunft dargestellt durch das Weib, das den geistigen Menschen gebiert. Aber dasjenige, was im Fleisch geblieben ist, wird auf der Nebenerde dargestellt durch das Tier mit den sieben Köpfen. Wie damals vier Köpfe da waren, bevor der Mensch die Möglichkeit hatte, die Tierheit zu überwinden, so erscheinen diejenigen, die in der Tierheit geblieben sind, als eine Gesamtheit, als das Tier mit den sieben Köpfen.
[ 21 ] So also tritt tatsächlich in der Zukunft einmal, nachdem sich die Erde mit der Sonne vereinigt hat, während oben die vergeistigte Erde ist, unten alles dasjenige auf, was nicht in sich aufgenommen hat das geistige Prinzip, und es erscheinen wiederum die Tierköpfe, die einstmals da waren, nur daß sie jetzt außer ihrer Zeit sind. Jetzt sind sie die Widersacher; vorher, in der Zeit der Vorbereitung, waren sie in der richtigen Zeit. So sehen wir, daß, wie damals aus dem physischen, jetzt aus dem astralischen Meer aufsteigt — die Sonne ist auch astralisiert — das Ungeheuer mit den sieben Köpfen, das siebenköpfige Tier. Alles dasjenige, was im Menschen veranlagt wird durch den ätherischen Leib — bitte das zu beachten -, das nennt man in der Mysteriensprache, der sich auch der Apokalyptiker bedient, einen «Kopf» oder ein Haupt, weil es eine solche typische Hauptgestalt wie den Löwenkopf hervorruft, wenn man es hellseherisch sieht. Daran müssen wirken die ätherischen Kräfte. Wenn wir die atlantische Entwickelung verfolgen, so war da der Ätherleib noch außerhalb des Kopfes. Das, was vom Ätherischen aus im Menschen veranlagt wird, nennt man in der Sprache der apokalyptischen Mysterien «Kopf». Damit meint man also das, was dem hellseherischen Blick vorzugsweise als Kopf erscheint. Dasjenige aber, was physisch im Menschen bewirkt wird durch irgendein Glied des Ätherleibes, das nennt man ein «Horn». Ein «Horn» ist in der Sprache der Mysterien also eine sehr geheimnisvolle Sache. Dasjenige, was zum Beispiel im Menschen physisch bewirkt worden ist dadurch, daß er einmal durchgegangen ist durch diejenige Rasse der atlantischen Zeit, in welcher typisch der Löwe als Gruppenseele da war, das nennt man ein Horn. Also das Physische, das von irgendeinem Glied des Ätherleibes herkommt, nennt man ein «Horn». Ein Horn ist zum Beispiel das Organ, welches der äußere physische Ausdruck für irgend etwas Ätherisches ist.
[ 22 ] Nun will ich Ihnen konkret sprechen. Alle physischen Organe des Menschen sind eigentlich verdichtete Ätherorgane, sind aus dem verdichteten Ätherleib hervorgegangen. Betrachten wir das menschliche Herz. Es ist heute ein physisches Organ, aber es ist aus einem Ätherorgan heraus verdichtet. Dieses heutige menschliche Herz hat seine Anlage erhalten damals, als der Mensch durch die Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit hindurchgegangen ist, die mit dem Löwen bezeichnet wird. Also ist das Herz das «Horn» des Löwenkopfes, denn als der Ätherleib so weit war, daß der Mensch erschien mit der Gruppenseele, die im Löwenkopf symbolisiert wird, da hat sich die Anlage gebildet, die später das physische Herz wurde. Aus dieser Anlage des Löwenmenschen entstand die heutige menschliche physische Herzanlage. Während wir also den Ätherleib zurückführen in seiner Entstehung auf die Verwandlung eines «Kopfes» in den anderen, auf das Hinzufügen des einen Kopfes zum anderen, fassen wir den menschlich physischen Leib auf als das Hinzufügen eines «Hornes» zum andern. Tatsächlich besteht der menschliche Ätherleib aus «Köpfen», der menschliche physische Leib aus «Hörnern». Das ist die Sprache der Mysterien. Alle Organe des Menschen sind aus dem Ätherleib herausgebildet, sind also lauter «Hörner».
[ 23 ] Und nun haben wir alles das, was wir gehört haben, einmal zu überdenken, denn das ist etwas, wozu selbst der Apokalyptiker sagt: Hier ist Weisheit. — Wir werden erst verstehen diese Weisheit, die der Apokalyptiker hineingelegt hat in die Erscheinung des siebenköpfigen Tieres, das aber zehn Hörner hat, wenn wir uns genau überlegen, was eigentlich «Horn» in bezug auf «Kopf» in der Mysteriensprache ist. Wir werden sehen, daß diejenigen Wesenheiten, welche sich diese sieben Köpfe bewahrt haben, weil sie stehengeblieben sind in der Entwickelung, daß die in der Tat im Abgrund einen physischen Leib angenommen haben, der aus zehn verhärteten physischen Leibesgliedern besteht.
Ninth Lecture
[ 1 ] Yesterday, in our description of human development, we reached the point where, after the period characterized by the seven trumpet blasts, the earth with all its beings passes into another state, where, so to speak, the physical dissolves and is transformed into the spiritual, initially into the astral. An astral earth comes into being, and all those beings who have become ripe for it, that is, who have become capable of overcoming their own material nature and using it in the service of the spiritual, enter into this astral earth. On the other hand, everything that is incapable of transforming the physical, the material, into the spiritual, everything that clings to the material, will be cast out and form a kind of secondary earth, the observation of which is very instructive for recognizing the fate of future humanity. To this end, however, it is useful above all to clarify what has become of those people who have attained maturity, who have taken the Christ principle into themselves and allowed it to become effective, during this astralization of our Earth. What can become of human beings is what we should now concern ourselves with.
[ 2 ] We will best understand what can become of human beings if we have the patience to look again at how human beings have become and what possibilities for development lie within them for the future. When we look at human beings today, they stand before us as four-membered beings. The first thing we recognize in human beings is the so-called physical body. This is the member that human beings have in common with all present-day creatures of the mineral kingdom, which can be seen with the eyes and touched with the hands. It is the lowest member of the human being, that which alone remains as the corpse at death. But this physical body would have the same fate as the corpse at death every moment; it would decay if it were not permeated by what we call the etheric or life body. Humans no longer share this etheric body with the creatures of the mineral kingdom; they share it with the beings of the plant kingdom on Earth. The etheric body is a fighter against death in every human being, holding together the parts of the physical body that constantly want to separate between birth and death. What is the physical body of the human being in reality? It is what it becomes after a certain time, when death has destroyed the form: ashes, a pile of ashes that are only artificially arranged in their parts within the life body in such a way that the whole human being makes the impression it makes on the observer today. The second member is therefore the etheric or life body. The third, which humans have in common with all animals, is the so-called astral body, the carrier of all instincts, passions, desires, all thoughts and ideas, and so on, what is commonly called the soul in humans. Then we have the fourth member of the human being, which makes man the crown of earthly creation, which causes him to stand out above all other beings of earthly creation and which enables man in particular to develop as an I, as an individual, self-conscious being of earthly existence.

[ 3 ] In the future, human development will proceed in such a way that human beings will gradually work through and process the lower parts that lie beneath the ego, making the ego the master of the other parts. When the ego has worked through and made the astral body its own, so that nothing remains in this astral body of unconscious and unguarded drives, instincts, and passions, then it has developed what we call the spirit self or manas. This is nothing other than what the astral body is, only that before its transformation by the ego, it is the third member. When the ego then also transforms the etheric body, Buddhi or the life spirit arises, and when the ego, in the distant future, transforms the physical body so that it is completely spiritualized by the ego itself — and this is the most difficult work, because the physical body is the densest — then the physical body has been transformed.
[ 4 ] Thus, when we imagine this human being in his sevenfold nature, we have the physical body, the etheric or life body, the astral body, the ego, and further, that which the human being will develop in the future: the spirit self or manas, the life spirit or buddhi, and the spirit man or Atma. This is the sevenfold human being. But human beings will only develop these higher members in the distant future. On our Earth, human beings are not yet destined to influence themselves to such an extent that they can develop all these higher spiritual parts.
[ 5 ] When we consider the sevenfold human being in this way, we have not yet fully understood the human being who stands before us today. It is true that when we look at the human being as a whole, we can speak of these seven members. But if we want to understand the human being of today, we must speak more precisely.
[ 6 ] You will remember that the physical body was developed on Saturn, the etheric body on the Sun, the astral body on the Moon, and that the I is to be formed on the Earth and has already been formed to a certain high degree. Now, however, we must take a closer look at this earthly development of the human being. What is called the spirit self, the transformed astral body, through which the human being acts and works in complete consciousness within this spirit self, his astral body, will only be attained by the vast majority of human beings at the end of earthly evolution. During our earthly development, however, human beings had to undergo a kind of preparation which made it possible, already in the course of earthly development, to work, so to speak, half consciously and half unconsciously on their three lower members.
[ 7 ] This half-conscious, half-unconscious work began in the Lemurian epoch, to which we have already referred. At that time, the I began to work in a very dull consciousness, initially on the astral body. If you follow the development of the earth from the Lemurian period into the first Atlantic period, you will find that the I first worked on its astral body in a semi-unconscious state, only dimly conscious. What first appeared on Earth at that time as a product of the transformation of the astral body is what we call the sentient soul. Then, during the Atlantean period, when the air was filled with misty water vapors, the ego worked in dull consciousness on the etheric body and developed what we call the intellectual or emotional soul. And from the moment when the great impulse came from the region near present-day Ireland, driving the peoples from the West to the East and bringing them across the great Atlantean flood to our new culture, from the beginning of the last third of the Atlantean epoch, the I worked unconsciously on the physical body, and it worked into it what is called the consciousness soul, which gave human beings the capacity to develop a more or less self-conscious ego out of their group soul nature, which only attained the great impulse of complete individuality with the appearance of Christ Jesus. It was then that human beings actually became capable of what can be called working in the astral body with more or less consciousness. It was only with the introduction of Christianity on earth that we actually began to consciously work on our astral body. So that when we speak of human beings today, we must say: Human beings have developed a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body, then a sentient soul, the astral body that was once transformed in a dim consciousness, the intellectual soul, the etheric body, which was transformed in the Atlantean primeval era, and the consciousness soul, the physical body, which was transformed in the last Atlantean era, so that it gradually developed in order to gradually develop the manas to the extent that can be observed in human beings today.
[ 8 ] Today, the beginning of manas is present everywhere in human beings. Some have more of it, others less. Some must still go through many incarnations in order to develop manas to such an extent that they become conscious of what they are working on within their human being. But when the earth has reached its goal, when the seventh trumpet begins to sound, the following will happen: That which is present in the physical body will dissolve like salt in warm water. The human manas, the spirit self, will be highly developed, so that human beings will repeatedly say the words of Paul: Not I, but Christ in me does everything. — Thus will man live. Through this he will dissolve the physical in his being and make the etherically refined into a being that can live within the astralized Earth. Thus will man pass over as a new being into this spiritually transformed Earth.
[ 9 ] We may say that this great moment of passing over into the spiritualized earth is expressed in a wonderful way in the Bible, where we are told that everything that human beings now work out in their physical bodies during their time on earth is like a seed that will sprout as fruit when the earth has become spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15:37: “And that which you sow is not the body that is to be, but a seed, something, and God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each seed its own body,” that is, the body which is the expression of the soul, of individuality. “There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the heavenly bodies have a different glory than the earthly ones.” The earthly bodies are dissolved, the heavenly ones appear as the luminous expression of what the soul is. ”It is sown corruptible, it is raised incorruptible.” The imperishable body will then rise again. “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” Paul calls the etheric or life body the “spiritual body” after the physical body has dissolved and the etheric body has moved into the astral earth. Here Paul foresees the imperishable, spiritual body, as he calls it.
[ 10 ] And now let us consider what man puts into it as an expression of his own Christ ability. It is the same thing that Paul has in mind and calls the “last Adam,” while he calls the first man who came into existence in a physically visible body the “first Adam.” In the Lemurian period, at the end of the Lemurian epoch, we already find various animals below, but human beings are not yet visible to the outer eye; they are still ethereal. They become denser, take on mineral components, and appear in their first form. Just as water condenses into ice, so the physical human being emerges. Then physical development progresses to the point where what is earthly can dissolve, and the earthly disappears. Therefore, the human being who has the etheric body appears as the “last Adam.” The “first Adam” has the ability to see the earth through the physical senses in the physical body; the last Adam, who takes on a spiritual body, is a physiognomy of the inner Christ ability. Christ is therefore also called the “last Adam” by Paul. Thus, what the Incarnation contains comes together. We see in the spirit what will one day become of human beings, whereas before we saw how human beings descended to our earth.
[ 11 ] In order to understand what follows, we must look a little deeper into the mysteries of the Incarnation. If you could follow human beings back to before their physical incarnation, that is, to the time when they were not yet visible to the physical eye, when they descended, so to speak, from the etheric realm, first becoming airy-watery formations and then cartilaginous ones, if you could follow them in this way, you would see how different our Earth also was. At that time, before human beings descended, there was actually no mineral kingdom. The earth had only just inherited the moon. The lowest kingdom was the plant kingdom, so to speak. The earth was much softer. All the distribution of liquid and gaseous substances was completely different. So if you had looked at the earth at that time, before man descended from its atmospheric envelope to solid ground, it would not have appeared to you as it is described abstractly in today's geology and so on, but our earth as a whole was much closer, one might say, to an organism.
[ 12 ] This Earth was permeated by all kinds of regular currents. The Earth resembled a living being more than it does today. And human beings, who existed in those ancient times as more than spiritual-etheric beings, were not born as they are today, but were, so to speak, born out of Mother Earth herself. It was Mother Earth herself who allowed these humans, these still spiritual-etheric humans, to become what they were, and before they separated from the whole Earth, humans were beings who were truly connected to the whole Earth. Imagine how hardened areas develop in any soft body, and you will have a picture of how humans were born out of Mother Earth herself in those days. Yes, human beings were connected to the earth through all kinds of currents and remained connected to it. So human life was completely different then. What you have today, for example, as the blood circulation inside the human being, enclosed within the skin, had its continuation — it existed in the form of natural forces — everywhere out into the surrounding earth. If we wanted to form a picture of how it was then, we would have to say: not perceptible to the physical eye, but to the clairvoyant gaze, a place arose within the earth which stood out and could be distinguished from the rest of its surroundings; but what reigned there as forces was connected to the rest of the earth by numerous threads. That was the beginning of the physical human being.

[ 13 ] There was a time when human beings were connected to the rest of the earth by threads. As we have said, we are touching upon a significant and serious mystery, the mystery that has left its final traces in the fact that when a human being enters the world today, the connection with the maternal organism is severed in the umbilical cord. This connection with the maternal organism is the last remnant of the connection that the human being had with Mother Earth. And just as human beings today are sons of man, born of man, so human beings were once sons of the earth, born of the earth, when the earth was still a living being. And human beings became independent when the umbilical cord connecting them to the whole earth was cut, so to speak. This made them beings born of their own kind.
[ 14 ] We must be clear that the blood vessels that are in humans today are nothing more than the continuations of currents that permeated the entire Earth in the old state of the Earth. The same is true of the nerve pathways: everything you have as nerves continued out into Mother Earth. This has now been cut out, as it were, from what flowed through the whole earth as nerves. And the same applies to the other members of the human being. Man was born out of Mother Earth. What is now enclosed in man through his skin has been drawn into him from the whole earth. Man's being was taken from the earth and drawn into him. Before he became the Son of Man, man was a son of the earth. And “son of the earth” actually means “Adam.” All these ancient names point to significant mysteries. But if we are aware of this, we will understand that before visible man came into being on it, the earth already contained all the forces of this visible man. Before man became man, the earth was the bearer of all human forces. The earth is therefore the mother of the human race. Just as you cannot imagine that human beings could ever have sprung from today's stony earth, so human beings could have sprung from the earth when it was still a living being. What we have been able to indicate in a few words took place in the Lemurian epoch.
[ 15 ] If you now ask yourselves: Did this Earth not have tremendous importance for human beings? — we must say: Yes, because it contained in its primordial structure everything that human beings later absorbed into themselves. Somewhere the heart was preformed, somewhere the brain, every nerve strand was prepared in our Earth. But just as our inner nature was prepared in the Earth, so too do we carry within us, in what we will have developed as our new physical body when the Earth has reached its goal, the form that the future planet, the future embodiment of our Earth, must take. Today, man works on his soul; in this way he makes his body more and more like his soul. When the earth has reached the end of its path, its mission, he will have shaped his body so that it is an outer image of the soul that has taken Christ into itself. This man will live on and implant the powers he has thus formed into the next embodiment of our earth. Jupiter will look like what humans can make it by putting it together from their own bodies. This Jupiter will first get its shape from what humans have made out of themselves. Think about all the bodies that have formed like this coming together to make one world sphere: that will be Jupiter. You have within your soul what will be the form of Jupiter, what powers it will contain. And from Jupiter will be born the Jupiter beings. This is how humans are working today for the birth of the Jupiter bodies.
[ 16 ] What must human beings do, then, to give the future embodiment of our Earth a worthy form? They must ensure that the work they are now consciously able to do is carried out in a Christ-like manner, so that the etheric body, which will be a reflection of this work, can live its way into the spiritualized Earth in a worthy manner. All parts of this body will be as human beings have made them. What man will have made of his physical body, he will bring into this spiritual earth, and what will be formed from this will be the basis for his further development. Just as your present soul is developing in your present body, which you have inherited from the moon, so will the future soul develop in what you yourself make of your body. That is why the body, that which surrounds and envelops the soul, the I, that which is inhabited by this I, is called the temple of the inner self, the temple of the divinity living in man, the temple of God. By shaping this body, you are building a future temple, that is, the new embodiment of the earth. You build Jupiter in the right proportions by shaping the human body in the right way. What must therefore come to light when the earth has reached its goal? A temple of the soul that is harmonious in all proportions. That is why the initiate is given the task of examining this temple that man will then have built. That the soul has done the right thing will become apparent when this temple of God is measured. “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and he said unto me, Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court that is without the temple, these cast out.” (Chapter 11, 1.) This means that everything that was there in preparation must be thrown out of the temple. Man first had to have a physical body and an etheric body before he could work inside. This physical body and the etheric body are the outer court: they must fall away, throw them out. — What man has made himself, he keeps. This is the temple in which new beings are to dwell at the time of Jupiter's existence.
[ 17 ] So we live within a spiritually evolved Earth. We see how this Jupiter age is already being prepared in an exemplary manner. We see how people bring with them the fruits of their earthly existence; we see all this prefigured. And now we must be clear that within this spiritual state of the earth, at a higher stage of development, everything that was there before will reappear. Above all, the carriers of the spiritual currents on which the earth stands and from which it emerged will reappear. The carriers of these currents appear alive again. If we follow Christian tradition, we see in Elijah and Moses the personal representatives of what appeared to us yesterday in the two pillars. Those who give the teachings of the two pillars are referred to in Christian esotericism as Elijah and Moses. Elijah was the one who brought the message and revelation to humanity from the one pillar, the pillar of strength, while Moses was the one who brought it from the pillar of wisdom. “Moses” means wisdom or truth, and “Elijah” means — it is difficult to express the word in English — the guiding force, that which gives direction and impetus. Thus we see these two appear in the spiritual world, at the stage of development they will have reached. For just as in the “Transfiguration” according to Christian tradition, Christ appeared between Moses and Elijah, so at the end of the Earth's development the whole process appears in such a way that the sun, the spiritual sun of love, the revelation of the Earth's mission of love, appears supported by the sun-Mars and the moon-Mercury, by Elijah and Moses. As we saw yesterday, the two pillars that first appear to the initiate as symbols of strength and wisdom, with the sun of love above them, allow us to imagine the evolution of the earth a little further, and in its liveliness, in its personality, what is one pillar appears to us as Elijah, and the other as Moses, and what is above them as the actual Christ principle.
[ 18 ] If we now turn our gaze away from the earth itself, from what is on it, and consider it in relation to the whole of the heavens, we arrive at a very important point in our discussion. The earth and the sun were one body. The earth developed out of the sun, and the moon split off. We have said that this had to happen because of the right measure of development. But now that human beings have gone through these stages of development, after becoming spiritualized, they are ripe to reunite with the forces that are in the sun. He can keep pace with the sun. An important world event is now taking place: the earth is reuniting with the sun. While what we have discussed is happening, the earth is reuniting with the sun. We have said that the sun spirits descended to earth at the event of Golgotha. We have said that this Christ principle will bring things to the point we have described. Now the earth is becoming ripe to unite with the sun. And that which was necessary to prevent development from proceeding too quickly, the moon, will be overcome; human beings will no longer need it. The moon will be overcome in its powers. During this time, human beings can unite with the sun. They will live in the spiritualized earth and at the same time be connected with the power of the sun, and they will be the conquerors of the moon. This is represented by the symbolic figure of the fifth seal: the woman who carries the sun within her and has the moon at her feet. We have arrived at the point in time when man is spiritualized, when man is once again connected with the forces of the sun, when the earth and the sun are one body and the forces of the moon will be overcome. (See the fifth seal image.)
[ 19 ] And now we must remember that only the more advanced part of the beings, the part imbued with the principle of Christ, has undergone this development. They have come this far; but those who are hardened in matter have fallen away, forming, so to speak, a kind of secondary planet of hardened, incarnated matter. Now let us remember how, from an astral point of view, the human being appeared to the clairvoyant before descending to earth as a physical being. Let us remember that we pointed out precisely that the human being appeared in the four types of his group soul, in the form of the lion, the eagle, the ox, and the human being. These four types of group soul appear to us, so to speak, before the human being descends into the physical, before he becomes individualized. These four typical forms that the human being had before entering the physical body are not visible in the physical human being of today; they are under the control of the soul. Like rubber, they are pressed into the human form. In fact, it is so: when human beings are not in control of themselves, when their souls are silent, either because they are asleep or in some other more or less unconscious state, then one can still see the corresponding animal type emerging. But human beings have basically overcome this animal type by descending to the physical plane. When was man given the ability to overcome the animal type in the astral realm?
Let us remember that we spoke of the seven periods of Atlantean development. These seven periods comprise four earlier and three later periods. In the first four, man was still entirely a group soul. Then, in the fifth period, the first impulse toward the I-soul arose. We thus have four stages of development in Atlantis, in which human beings first advance as group souls, and each of the first four Atlantean races corresponds to one of the typical animal forms: lion, eagle, calf, or bull, and human being. This passes into human beings in the fifth period, when these typical forms are lost. Now imagine that human beings in their present state are permeated by the Christ principle and thereby increasingly overcome their animal nature. But if they are not permeated by the Christ principle, they cannot overcome their animal nature. The four typical heads, lion, eagle, bull, and human, remain, so to speak, as something that takes on its form again when it can emerge once more, and to these are added three others, those of the last three races of the Atlantean evolution, where human beings had already begun to be human. These three also remain if human beings do not work through their souls to make this animal nature disappear. How, then, will the human being who has not taken up the Christ principle during our time appear on the spiritualized earth? He will appear in materiality; he will reappear in the forms from which he came. He has had these animal forms and has gone through three more. What could have overcome animal nature has now been left unused by him. Animal nature springs forth again, in seven forms. Just as the four heads appeared in Atlantis, the animal-human, so seven such typical heads will emerge from the transformed Earth, from the astralized Earth, and the spectacle that took place then will be repeated. The spiritual human being was present in his potential, but he could not yet form an individual shape; he formed the four animal heads. The spiritual human being in his potential is also represented for that time by the woman who gives birth to the human being. The human being of the future is also represented by the woman who gives birth to the spiritual human being. But that which remained in the flesh is represented on the side earth by the animal with seven heads. Just as there were four heads before human beings had the opportunity to overcome animal nature, so those who remained in animal nature appear as a whole, as the animal with seven heads.[ 21 ] Thus, after the earth has united with the sun, while the spiritualized earth is above, everything that has not absorbed the spiritual principle will appear below, and the animal heads that once existed will reappear, only now they will be out of their time. Now they are the adversaries; before, in the time of preparation, they were in the right time. So we see that, just as then from the physical sea, now from the astral sea — the sun is also astralized — the monster with the seven heads, the seven-headed beast, rises. Everything that is predisposed in the human being through the etheric body — please note this — is called a “head” or a “head” in the language of mystery, which is also used by the apocalyptic writers, because it produces such a typical head shape as the lion's head when seen clairvoyantly. The etheric forces must act upon this. If we follow the Atlantean development, the etheric body was still outside the head. That which is predisposed in human beings from the etheric is called a “head” in the language of apocalyptic mysteries. This refers to that which appears to clairvoyant vision primarily as a head. But what is physically brought about in the human being by any member of the etheric body is called a “horn.” A “horn” is therefore a very mysterious thing in the language of the mysteries. For example, what has been physically brought about in human beings by their passing through the race of the Atlantean epoch, in which the lion was typically present as the group soul, is called a horn. So the physical that comes from any member of the etheric body is called a “horn.” A horn, for example, is the organ that is the outer physical expression of something etheric.
[ 22 ] Now I will speak to you concretely. All physical organs of the human being are actually condensed etheric organs, emerging from the condensed etheric body. Let us consider the human heart. Today it is a physical organ, but it is condensed from an etheric organ. The present human heart received its structure at the time when the human being passed through the group soul stage symbolized by the lion. So the heart is the “horn” of the lion's head, because when the etheric body had developed to the point where human beings appeared with the group soul symbolized in the lion's head, the foundation was laid for what later became the physical heart. From this foundation of the lion man arose the present-day physical heart of human beings. So while we trace the origin of the etheric body back to the transformation of one “head” into another, to the addition of one head to another, we understand the human physical body as the addition of one “horn” to another. In fact, the human etheric body consists of “heads,” and the human physical body consists of “horns.” This is the language of mysteries. All human organs are formed from the etheric body and are therefore nothing but “horns.”
[ 23 ] And now we must reconsider everything we have heard, for this is something about which even the apocalyptic writer says: Here is wisdom. We will only understand this wisdom that the apocalyptic writer has placed in the appearance of the seven-headed beast, which has ten horns, when we consider carefully what “horn” actually means in relation to “head” in the language of the mysteries. We will see that those beings who have retained these seven heads because they have remained stationary in their development have in fact taken on a physical body in the abyss, consisting of ten hardened physical limbs.