The Apocalypse of St. John
GA 104
27 June 1908, Nuremberg
Lecture X
We have seen that in the Apocalypse of John we have a description of what takes place in Initiation, or rather, the experience of a Christian during Initiation. In the concluding lectures, when we have briefly considered the whole of the Apocalypse, we shall still have to answer the question: What, really, is this document from an historical point of view? Why does such a document exist? But now, as we have reached the important point revealed in our last lecture, when our earth passes into a spiritual condition, though first of all into an astral condition, when certain remarkable beings appear in what has condensed in matter and split away from the normal progress of our earth evolution, it will be useful before we proceed further to make a general survey of certain things contained in the outline of our anthroposophical world conception. For you have seen that in all we have had to consider, certain conceptions as to numbers play a role, and now we are about to form a conception of what the seven-headed and ten-horned beast is, and what the two-horned beast is.
To begin with, we must find our bearings with regard to the outline of the evolution of the world. This runs its course in absolute conformity with certain numerical relations. The layman will be tempted to say—when he hears that the number seven and other numbers play such a great rôle in our studies—“Oh yes, these Anthroposophists are dishing up those old superstitions connected with the number seven, twelve and so on.” And when our contemporaries hear of something which develops regularly according to the number seven, they then begin to speak of superstition, although they themselves are really living in exactly the same superstition with respect to something of which they have a little knowledge; for they say, for example, that the rainbow consists of seven colours, the scale of seven tones, since the eighth is only a repetition of the first. And in many other realms one speaks of the number seven—and rightly so. In our study of the great cosmic relationships we speak of the number seven in no other sense than the physicist does when he speaks of the seven colours, and, in acoustics, of seven tones. For us the number seven is simply the result of occult experience, just as the scientist observes and counts the seven colours, so does the spiritual investigator count seven consecutive conditions in the world's evolution. And because the initiates in the Mysteries always knew about these things and expressed them, they passed over into the common consciousness; and the number seven was found to be of a particular significance. Exactly because the number seven was founded on cosmic relationships, it passed over into common belief, and of course, also into superstition. If we remember what has been said concerning the secret of the seven trumpets, the seven seals, the seven Letters, and what has been said concerning the seven consecutive ages of the Atlantean epoch, we see that in the evolution of the world there are really consecutive periods which are repeated in conformity with the number seven. We shall now give an outline of cosmic evolution, showing that this number governs all its parts.
We have heard that the Earth before it was Earth was Moon, before it was Moon it was Sun planet, and before it was Sun it was Saturn. After the Earth-condition it will pass over into the Jupiter-condition, and then into the Venus-condition, and lastly into the Vulcan-condition, so that we have seven consecutive planetary embodiments of our earth; Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. Now these are the greatest divisions in our whole evolution which with spiritual vision we are able to survey to a certain extent. We have described the three preceding conditions of the Earth. We shall now try to understand the purpose of this evolution and why the Earth passes through these seven conditions. These seven conditions coincide with the development of human consciousness. Each of these conditions: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan, characterizes a definite condition of human consciousness. Let us turn our attention back to the ancient Saturn period. We know that the various parts of which man is now constituted, did not exist at that time, but only the very first beginnings of his physical body. Obviously these first rudiments could not develop such a consciousness as man has to-day. Other beings had a human consciousness, but at that time the present man had a consciousness such as the minerals now have on the physical plane. We call this a deep trance-consciousness. The first germ of man had this consciousness upon Saturn. This Saturn evolution was gone through in order that man night gradually rise to higher states of consciousness. That was the first stage of consciousness, the deep trance-consciousness. Of course it must not be imagined that the degree of consciousness remained the same throughout the whole of the Saturn period, but on the whole the consciousness of man upon Saturn may be characterized as a deep trance-consciousness. It is dimmer even than the consciousness which man has to-day in dreamless sleep, for that was then the consciousness he passed through at the second stage, during the Sun evolution. This is the consciousness now possessed by the plants around us in the physical world.
Then came the Moon stage of evolution. Man then possessed a consciousness which can be understood more easily because in dream-consciousness man has at least a last remnant of the Moon-consciousness. To-day this dream-consciousness is an intermediate condition between dreamless sleep and the ordinary, waking, clear day-consciousness. Thus the third stage of consciousness was reached on the Moon, and it may be compared to the present dream-filled sleep, but it was much more vivid and real. Dream-filled sleep yields a consciousness which consists of odds and ends of ideas and pictures and is but slightly related to the real external world. The Moon-consciousness, which was a consciousness of dream-pictures, had very significant relations with the outer world. It corresponded exactly to what was present in the soul-spiritual environment. There was a repetition of this during the Atlantean epoch. We call it the dream-picture-consciousness; it might also be called the somnambulic-consciousness. The fourth state of consciousness is reached and passed through on our Earth; it is what we call the clear day-consciousness or objective-consciousness.
During the Jupiter period man will rise to a still higher degree of consciousness of which most people to-day have no inkling, when all that we have described has taken place and all that is yet to be added from the Apocalypse of John which is still to be described. Then, when man is saved, so to speak, when he has risen from the abyss or escaped from decadence, when he has risen into the astralized and spiritual earth, this will be the foundation for his attainment upon Jupiter of the consciousness which we may call the “conscious picture-consciousness.” If this is to be described it can only be done from the experiences of the Initiates. For initiation is indeed nothing but the acquisition of the capacity to attain at an earlier stage of evolution what normal humanity will gain at a later stage. In the conscious picture-consciousness man is just as self-conscious as he is to-day from morning to evening, but he perceives not only the external objects, but in his soul's field of vision he has pictures; indeed, they are pictures which are by no means dim, but rather are incorporated in the clear consciousness of day. Thus the clear day-consciousness plus the Moon-consciousness gives the Jupiter-consciousness. Man keeps what he now has and in addition gains the capacity of perceiving the element of soul and spirit. To-day the Initiate not only sees man as he is physically, but shining around him he perceives all kinds of spiritual forms which are the expression of his desires, instincts and thoughts; in a word, his aura. It glows and sparkles around the human form like delicate flames, partly like a cloud of light. All this can be seen in the human astral body by the Initiate, just as the outline of the physical body is seen by the ordinary physical eyes; all this is a picture of what takes place in the soul. The Initiate experiences a consciousness which may be described as Moon-consciousness plus Earth-consciousness.
Then upon Venus comes a sixth state of consciousness which may be described as the inspired-consciousness, the consciousness of inspiration. It is called the consciousness of inspiration because at this stage of consciousness the Initiate perceives not only the feelings, desires, impulses, etc., of the soul, but also its whole inner character as a uniform sound. He begins to perceive that which pervades the world of—shall we say—colour and form-structures as the music of the spheres, so that each single being stems like a musical form within that which had previously been perceived as an astral picture.
The seventh stage of consciousness which will exist on Vulcan we may call the Intuitive-consciousness. Intuition is not the triviality ordinarily understood by the word to-day when one imagines one is able to divine something through a vague feeling—that is a misuse of the word. In the schools of the Initiates, Intuition is applied to the highest stage of consciousness we can imagine, when the soul identifies itself with the spiritual beings and lives within them. Although the soul remains quite individual, it rests within all the objects and beings of its field of vision.
The seven stages of the earth's whole evolution thus present to its seven consecutive states of consciousness. Now each of these must in its turn also be attained in seven stages, and we call these seven stages, which must be passed through every time, Stages of Life. So that we distinguish seven stages of consciousness, and in each of these, seven stages of life. It is difficult in our language to find words to express these seven stages of life. If we merely take our earth into account, we may describe the stages of life by speaking of the seven kingdoms, for the stages of life on earth coincide with the kingdoms. Here we may describe the first stage of life as the first elementary kingdom, the second as the second, the third as the third elementary kingdom, the fourth as the mineral kingdom, the fifth as the vegetable kingdom, the sixth as the animal kingdom and the seventh as the human kingdom. Now we might say that at each of these stages of consciousness seven such stages of life, or kingdoms, are passed through. But if we were similarly to describe the seven stages of life on Saturn as the first, second and third elementary kingdoms, as mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms, this would only give rise to false conceptions, for the expressions for these kingdoms are coined in accordance with our earthly experiences. And in those primeval times the kingdoms were formed quite differently from what they now are on the earth. We can only say that analogous to these kingdoms there were seven kingdoms on Saturn and seven on the Sun. The seven kingdoms of the Moon were more like the present kingdoms; and as far as the seven stages of life on the earth are concerned, these have become the seven kingdoms of the earth. And on the earth we can, indeed, describe these more easily, although it is extremely difficult to give an idea of the three elementary kingdoms. People think they have a true conception of the mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms, though this is not really the case. Perhaps you will succeed in forming some kind of idea of the three elementary kingdoms if you consider the following. Imagine parts of the mineral kingdom, stones, metals, etc., becoming finer and finer, so that you see less and less of them; they dissolve, so to speak, into finer and finer substance. Suppose it all volatilizes into an extremely delicate, transparent, invisible substance. If you continually refined these substances you would at length produce something which is no longer mineral kingdom but the third elementary kingdom. Then we should rise to a second and a first elementary kingdom. It is difficult for our present qualities of perception to form ideas about these kingdoms which are secreted in and condensed into our world. It is as if these elementary kingdoms had condensed and disappeared, so to speak, into our world. They precede our mineral kingdom. We have seen when this mineral kingdom itself was formed. In earlier periods of the earth's evolution the mineral kingdom existed in the condition of the elementary kingdoms.
Now the other four kingdoms. We see the mineral kingdom around us, also the vegetable, animal and human kingdoms. But we must clearly understand that these designations are really not quite correct in the spiritual scientific sense. The layman describes the present minerals as belonging to the mineral kingdom, the plants as belonging to the vegetable kingdom, the animals as belonging to the animal kingdom and man to the human kingdom. From the lay point of view this is correct, and for all the trivial things of life it suffices, but in the occult sense it is incorrect. For at the present time man is perfected alone in the mineral kingdom. Only in future periods of evolution will he rise to the plant, animal and. human kingdoms. As man has an “I”-consciousness at the present time we may certainly call him man, but we must not yet say that he is incarnated in the human kingdom in the sense of Spiritual Science. To this end something else is necessary of which we must now speak.
What can man comprehend to-day? That is the point. He can to-day understand only the mineral kingdom. As soon as the comes to the vegetable kingdom he no longer understands it, the mineral kingdom he can understand. From the forces of the mineral kingdom he can construct houses, machines, etc. When he comes to learn in the same way to observe what the forces are in a plant which makes it grow tall, only this will lift him with his consciousness into the vegetable kingdom. And by learning to comprehend how an animal can feel—at the present time he has only an external view of it—he becomes a member of the animal kingdom. And when he understands not only his own “I” but that of another, when he fully understands a man inwardly, then only does he belong to the human kingdom.
You will best understand that man can now comprehend only the mineral kingdom if you make the following observation. Imagine that a great number of learned men say that plants and animals are nothing more than complicated minerals. And these learned men are expecting a time when they will so combine material substances that these will become plants and animals. They are under the illusion that one can understand the plants as mineral beings, because they have no idea that there is any-thing else besides the mineral kingdom. Indeed, many say, “You Anthroposophists dream that there is an etheric body, something which extends beyond the merely mineral; but you will dream no more when we succeed in making a living being in our laboratory just as we now produce sulphuric acid from the separate substances, from carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, etc.” It is believed that a living being can be constructed in the same way in which sulphuric acid can be produced; it is believed that purely materialistic science will one day be able to do this. It is believed that Anthroposophists are foolish enough to doubt that the time will come when plants will actually be produced in the retort. This time will come. But students of Spiritual Science have always known that this time will come; they know that the time will come when man will take the plant nature into his own being, just as he now has the mineral nature within him. And just as he builds houses of minerals, just as he now uses the forces of the mineral kingdom, so will he in the future, out of the familiar forces of the plant kingdom, produce plant forms and still higher things in the laboratory, without resorting to seeds, without having to call to his aid forces of nature unfamiliar to him. But if this possibility of producing a living organism in the laboratory were to come prematurely, from the point of view of true Spiritual Science this is what would be called black magic. Man must first become ripe for each succeeding step of evolution. There is a saying well known in Spiritual Science, which runs: Man will only produce living organisms in the experimental laboratory, as he now produces mineral products, when the laboratory-table has become the altar and the mixing of the chemical substances a sacramental act. This is a saying which has always been found in occult circles. Truly, as long as a person enters the laboratory in the belief that he can work with unholy feelings the same as with holy ones, so long will he never be able, with the will of those who guide evolution in the right way, to produce anything living in the laboratory. This will only be possible when it is realized that a mineral product may indeed be produced, even if a scoundrel is standing at the laboratory table, but that a living thing can never be produced under these circumstances. For into the living being flows—when it is put together—something which is M. the man himself. If the man were a villain, what was villainous would flow over, and the being produced would be an expression of villainy. Only when it is realized that man as a whole being works with his whole inner being in what he produces, will the world be ready to produce something that is alive, plants, animals and human beings, in free activity. Man will then have risen into the plant kingdom when he understands the plant nature as he now understands the mineral. He will have risen to the animal kingdom when he understands feelings in such a way that he can make a sensitive being through his own spirit-power, just as he now makes as external object. And he will have ascended to the human kingdom when he can form man anew in free activity.
Thus man is now living in the mineral kingdom; and he is fundamentally the only being which has developed fully in the mineral kingdom, whilst the beings in the other kingdoms stand in many respects at much lower stages than the one designated in Spiritual Science as the mineral kingdom. Thus the plants show as a kind of preparatory stage what man will experience when he himself shall one day be in the plant kingdom. But the plants arc not really in the plant kingdom; they are, at the most prototypes; not archetypes, but pointers to a future kingdom in which man will be, when he inwardly passes through the plant nature, just as he is now passing through the mineral nature. This plant kingdom in which man will be, will be distinguished by other things, its nature may be characterized by a moral statement which is, indeed, often repeated intellectually but by no means comprehended. To-day man lives in such a way that the individual, even if he does not acknowledge it, is convinced that it is possible for a person to be happy although his neighbour may be unhappy. It is certainly quite possible for one person to feel happy in spite of others being unhappy. Even if it be acknowledged, speaking intellectually, that the highest moral principle is that which makes all men happy, in practice, people are convinced that the happiness of one is quite possible without others being just as happy as he. When man is in the plant kingdom he will have reached a stage of evolution morally, at which it will be impossible to feel happy as an individual if others of his kind are unhappy. “The happiness of the individual is inseparably connected with the happiness of all.” This statement will rule when man is taken up into the plant kingdom. No man could then feel happy in any way if his happiness were obtained at the expense of others.
Thus you see that there are very few who are capable of perceiving such subtle ideas as we must have in Spiritual Science if we wish to understand everything. But you also see that man still has long vistas of evolution in front of him. All this he must attain, and very little of it exists as yet.
Thus we speak of seven kingdoms through which man himself passes. Upon Jupiter there will be again seven kingdoms which will still be somewhat similar to the seven earth kingdoms, but they will nevertheless be quite different from these. Upon Venus there will again be seven, and again upon Vulcan. Here we can by no means call them kingdoms any longer, the idea “kingdom” is no longer suitable. If we bear all this in mind we must say that we have (primarily) seven stages of development of consciousness, the Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan stages, and at each stage of consciousness seven stages of life, through which every single being which gods through the degree of consciousness must pass. Each stage of life must again pass through seven stages of form, and, indeed, in such a way that you have to consider your present physical stage of farm to be in the very middle. Before anything becomes physical it is astral; before it is astral, it is at a certain spiritual stage which is called lower devachan; and before anything descends to this stage it is in a higher stage of devachan. Here we have three stages of form. The first may be designated as formless. The next stage of form we designate as the stage of lower devachan. Then we come to the astral stage. When the astral condenses it becomes physical. Then the physical dissolves again and returns to a more perfect astral; this passes to a more perfect lower devachanic, and this to a higher devachanic. The physical condition of form is in the middle.

Each kingdom (each stage of life) passes through seven conditions of form. You must distinguish between physical and mineral, for they are not the same. As to-day the physical coincides with the mineral in appearance, the two may easily be confused. The mineral kingdom or stage of life passes through all the stages of form; it can be laid down as mineral kingdom above in the higher region of devachan. It then descends into the lower spiritual region (lower devachan) and is still the mineral kingdom, then into the astral—here it is astrally prepared—and then it condenses to the physical. Thus in each kingdom we have seven conditions of form.
Each condition of consciousness can only run its course in seven conditions of life; each condition of life in seven conditions of form. That is 7 x 7 x 7 conditions. In fact, an entire evolution such as that of the earth passes through 7 x 7 x 7 conditions of form. Our earth was once Saturn; this went through seven conditions of life and each condition of life through seven conditions of form, Therefore you have forty-nine conditions of form upon Saturn, forty-nine upon the Sun, forty-nine upon the Moon, etc.; 7 x 49 = 343 conditions of form. Man passes through 343 conditions of form in the course of his evolution. When Saturn was at the very outset of its evolution it began in the highest spiritual to which we can attain, as a structure in the highest part of devachan. That was the first condition of form, and it was entirely mineral. As such it descended to the physical kingdom, and reascended to higher devachan. And here begins the great difficulty, for you must now say, if you wish to use the expressions named: Man passes into the next kingdom. But these expressions do not apply to Saturn. Upon Saturn man passes in this way through forty-nine conditions. The curious thing is that you may now ask: “Man had to pass through conditions of life on Saturn, but he only acquired an etheric body on the Sun. How, then, can one say that he goes through conditions of life?” They were not yet as they were later when he had a life body, they were vicarious. This is brought about through the activity of higher beings. Man has no independent life upon Saturn, but higher beings permeate him with their etheric body, with their astral body, “I,” etc. In any case you must understand that upon Saturn man has passed through forty-nine conditions, upon the Sun forty-nine, and forty-nine upon the Moon. Upon the earth of these forty-nine conditions he has only passed through the first three conditions of life and is now in the fourth—in the mineral kingdom. In the first condition of life he was in the first elementary kingdom and there passed through seven conditions of form; in the second condition of life he was
in the second elementary kingdom and passed through seven conditions of form; he was in the third elementary kingdom and passed through the seven conditions of form. He is now in the fourth elementary kingdom, which is the same as the mineral kingdom, and he is approximately in the middle of this, somewhat beyond the middle.
From all that we have outlined you will have seen that the whole earth passes through 343 conditions. I beg you to picture it in this way: Saturn originates and passes through forty-nine conditions; it is primarily a fiery mass, a body of heat, and goes through various conditions, but it is always the same globe that passes through these forty-nine conditions. In the same way, the Sun is always one and the same globe which passes through the forty-nine conditions. But there are intermediate conditions. It is as if between the several embodiments of the earth there were a kind of spiritual interval. It is the same with the planets as with man, the planets also pass through spiritual intervals, which lie between the periods of manifestation.
If you clearly understand that in the course of our evolution we have seven conditions of consciousness, you will also perceive how this is connected with what is described in our various books. They are cosmic systems. You will there read that our Earth developed out of an ancient planetary system which is described as Moon. We then went further back from the Moon to the Sun, and from the Sun to Saturn. Each of these conditions is divided into the seven conditions of life—formerly called Rounds; Rounds are the same as conditions of life. And those now called conditions of form were formerly called globes. The latter expression was extremely misleading, for it led to the idea that these seven globes were side by side.
These conditions, from the most remote form, which was almost formless, down through the physical and up again to the formless, are not seven globes existing side by side, but seven successive conditions. The same globe that is now physical was first of all spiritual, then it became denser and denser. It is the same globe simply condensed. Then a portion of it became astral, then a portion physical; it is always the same globe. It dissolves again like salt in warm water, it again becomes astral. We have ascended to this astral where, in the Apocalypse, the vials of wrath are described; there the earth becomes astral again.

Thus you see how the number seven governs the whole of evolution. In the last few days we have given a skeleton outline of this, as it were, in the form of pictures, sometimes truly grotesque pictures, and in any case, such as deviate very much from what can be seen to-day in the physical world. If you conceive of it in this way it is approximately as if you were to erect the scaffolding for a house, the most external part that is intended to be used by the masons. That has, however, nothing to do with the subject; these are only thoughts about the subject, so to speak. We must rise from this purely intellectual scheme, which assists us indeed to understand, to the living structure, by using the pictures which are to be seen in the astral for the various conditions; then only have we what is called occult wisdom. As long as you build up a scaffolding you remain in the thought customary to you in the physical world. The whole scheme we have sketched is only physical thought. This is related to the full reality not at all like the inner framework of a house to the complete building, but only like the outer scaffolding upon which the builders stand. This has to be taken down again when the building is completed. In the same way the scaffolding of thought has to be taken down again if one wishes to have the truth before one as it really is. If one considers this abstraction as the reality, then one is not by any means speaking of true Spiritual Science but only of the concept which the man of the present day can form regarding the spiritual facts. The way in which spiritual facts are presented abstractly at the present time may be seen in such a diagram as I have made, but this in itself is unfruitful. I had to put it before you because we also need such a diagram, but fundamentally it is of no use to one who wishes to progress upon the truly spiritual path. If you describe the whole world, up to the highest spiritual facts, by means of such diagrams, this only has meaning for your present incarnation. In the next you must learn another diagram. This can only be thought by using the brain; it is only adapted for the brain. But as the brain disintegrates at death, the whole schematic presentation then falls to pieces. On the other hand, if you comprehend—at first in pictures of fantasy—that which really happens, what we have described as the consecutive pictures of the seals seen by spiritual vision, that is something which is not bound up with your physical brain, and which you retain because it does not originate from physical thinking, but from facts seen clairvoyantly. Therefore one must take care not to mistake for spiritual wisdom that which is striven for after the pattern of physical comprehension, which would also schematize the higher worlds. This is a description by means of the ordinary physical intellect. Of course, the physical intellect must play a part; on this account it is even useful to present such a diagram, and we may now carry it a step further.
We have seen that we pass through 343 conditions of form. Now, the subject grows more complicated when we learn that the matter does not end here, but that man must also pass through various conditions with each condition of form. In our mineral condition of life during the Earth period three conditions of form have preceded the present physical condition of form and three others will follow it. But now the physical again passes through seven conditions, and these are the seven of which we have spoken in previous lectures; the first when the sun is still united with the earth, the second when it separates, the third when the moon withdraws, the fourth that of the Atlantean humanity. The Atlantean humanity lives in the fourth epoch of the development of the physical condition of form. Thus within each condition of form you have again seven epochs or so-called root-races, although the expression “race” applies only to the middle condition. We are now living in the fifth epoch, the post-Atlantean epoch, between the great Atlantean flood and the great War of All against All. The sixth will follow this and then the seventh. The sixth epoch is indicated in the Apocalypse of John by the seven seals, and the seventh by the seven trumpets. Then the earth passes over into the astral. That is a new condition of form which again will have its seven epochs.
And still our diagram is not at an end. Each epoch as it runs its course between such events as the great Atlantean flood and the great War of All against All must again be divided into seven ages. As regards the fifth epoch there are the Indian age of civilization, the Persian age of civilization, the Assyrian-Babylonian-Chaldean-Egyptian-Jewish age, the Graeco-Latin age, our own age, then the sixth, which is indicated in the Apocalypse by the community of Philadelphia, and the seventh age of civilization which will follow that.
Thus if we imagine the whole of evolution consisting of nothing but short ages such as these—which, however, are long enough—we have 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 stages of development such as the ancient Indian or the ancient Persian. The number of different conditions of this nature which man passes through between Saturn and Vulcan is 16807:
7 x 7 x 7 = 343.
7 x 343 = 2401.
7 x 2401 = 16807.
Thus you see how the number 7 governs development in the successive periods throughout the whole of evolution. Just as the tones in music progress from octave to octave, so does the whole of evolution take place in octaves of development.
Let us now recall that we have seven of these conditions out of the 16807 in our epoch between the great Atlantean flood and the great War of All against All, and that previously we had seven more in the Atlantean epoch. But we also remember that man went through four of these seven ages of the Atlanteans epoch under quite different conditions from the last three. You know the kind of conditions we have to enumerate. Four of the conditions out of the total number, man went through during the Atlantean epoch in such a way that he felt himself as a group-soul, as we have described, as eagle, lion, bull and man. He gradually developed these four group-souls during these four root-races of the Atlantean epoch. Now because races always continue, just as, for instance, the Indian has continued, although later ones have developed (they pass into one another), for this reason the four heads indicating the group-souls also remained at the beginning of the fifth age of Atlantean civilization and we have this four-headed beast. Now when man began to harden himself from the etheric into the physical, he developed four different parts of the body in accordance with his fourfold group-soul. And through the former group-soul consciousness changing into the individual-consciousness, man had within him a con-junction of the earlier four-foldness at the beginning of the fifth age of Atlantis. He bears within him the four heads which are summed up in his head which gradually arises. It is composed of the four group-heads as it developed in the course of the fifth period. Man has four parts of the physical body corresponding to the four heads. These are the four horns. So that you may imagine that because man was etheric, he had four heads, four animal heads, only the last is already human-animal, for that is what is meant. He was four-headed, and each force-system corresponding to one of these heads formed physical organs. We saw in our last lecture that there was a force-system which formed the heart, namely, that which is connected with the lion head. The various organs of man are like condensations of the corresponding parts of the etheric body. This is the view of the writer of the Apocalypse. He says: That which is physical is a densification of the etheric. Just as you would think: “This skin thickens and forms a callosity,” so the Apocalyptist thinks: “man exists etherically and this condenses and becomes physical.” And because man is fourfold, consisting of four group-souls, four condensations are formed. These constitute his physical body. This is the reason why one described as “horn” that which in the physical body corresponds to the etheric body. Horn is a callous thickening. Man is described, as far as he had developed in the fourth age of the Atlantean epoch, as an animal with four heads and four horns. He then evolves further towards an individual human being. This begins in the neighbourhood of the present Ireland. Man passes through the last three ages in such a way that he possesses the germ of the ego-being. He no longer develops an animal body outwardly, but has risen to the human stage. He matures his human nature more and more until he absorbs the Christ-principle. If we regard present-day man, we see that he was not always as he appears to-day. In order for him to become what he now is, he had to pass through four animal group-souls, he had to be incarnated in bodies corresponding to the present lion form, the bull form, the eagle form and the human form. He then pressed forward and became more and more human, and the form of the earlier group-soul disappeared. It is no longer there, man has assumed human shape.
We must now understand an important event which then took place when man assumed human form, for without this under-standing one cannot comprehend the Apocalypse of John; it was an event of the greatest importance. Up to this event when man passed into the human soul-nature, something was totally hidden from his vision which later was revealed. Man had a kind of dim, hazy consciousness. When he wakened in the morning he saw everything surrounded by misty formations, so to speak; and when he went to sleep he was in the spiritual world. This appeared to him in pictures; for such is the nature of the spiritual world. I shall now describe something which took place before man passed over physically into the human condition, before he passed from the group-soul nature to full “I”-consciousness.
That which he lived through here upon the earth consisted only of a number of experiences. He then went to sleep and during his sleep was in a dim consciousness in a spiritual world where he lived among gods and spirits, of which an echo remains in the myths and legends. He then experienced mighty pictures; for example, the picture in which he encountered two other beings who threw stones behind them, and out of these stones other beings like themselves grew out of the earth. These were experiences which man had throughout the fourth age of the Atlantean epoch. To express it plainly, we must say that reproduction took place in sleeping-consciousness, not in the waking-consciousness. When man was outside his physical body and in the spiritual world, he accomplished in this condition of picture-consciousness deeds which had to be brought about. The whole act of reproduction was veiled in a spiritual element and appeared to him in the picture of throwing stones behind him. The act of reproduction was enveloped in spiritual consciousness; it lay behind the day-consciousness. Man had no knowledge of sex. In the day-consciousness he did not see himself as existing in two sexes, his soul was untouched by any thought of sex. Not that it did not exist; it did exist, but it rested in the obscurity of a spiritual consciousness; during the day-consciousness he knew nothing of it. With the acquisition of the first germ of the “I”-consciousness man first became aware of sex. That is the moment presented to us in the Bible when Adam and Eve become aware that there is such a thing as sex. This important event took place at this stage in the earth's evolution.
If with spiritual vision you look back to the time which preceded that time, you see only that part of man which is the instrument of the spirit. The other part was invisible, Only the upper part of man could be seen. From the point of time we have mentioned the whole man began to be seen. It is now comprehensible why men began to cover themselves up. Previously they saw nothing which required covering. In this way man gradually emerged into the external world.
If we consider the outer human form as the condensed part of the etheric, we have in the fourth Atlantean age the four horns in addition to the four group-soul heads. Now, however, in the last three ages of Atlantis something twofold begins to develop physically. At each stage where a group-soul head was to develop, a double physical, male and female, was formed. In the first four stages you find man formed with four heads, the condensed etheric with four horns. We now have three more heads which are invisible because the external human form absorbs then. These three are only perceptible to spiritual vision, three etheric heads, a principal human head between two others which are like shadows beside it, like a double shadow. Thus when the Atlantean flood burst, we have seven group-soul heads, of which the last three always appear in such a way that they have their physical part in a double form, as male and female. From this you see that at the end of the Atlantean epoch the entire group-soul nature of man—although the later portion remains invisible—has seven heads and ten horns. The horns of the first four heads are not separated into male and female, but only the last three. Man has the seven heads and ten horns within him. He must now work upon these through the reception of the Christ-principle so that they shall be destroyed, so to speak. For each time a man dies the sevens-headed and ten-horned nature can clearly be seen in his astral body. This is merely held together like a piece of India-rubber which has been correspondingly formed. Now suppose a person hardened himself during our epoch against the Christ-principle and were to come to the time of the great War of All against All without having had the Christ-experience, suppose he were to come to this time and had thrust the Christ away from him, then when the earth passes over into the astral, that which was there and which he ought to have changed, would spring forth, it would spring forth in its old form. The beast with the seven heads and ten horns would appear, whereas in those who have received the Christ-principle, sex will again be overcome. The hardened ones will keep the six-horned sexuality and will appear in their totality as the beast with the seven heads and ten horns of which the rudiments were laid down in the Atlantean epoch. They will be transformed through the reception of the Christ-impulse, but if Christ is rejected they will remain and will reappear in the epoch indicated by the falling of the vials of wrath and the earth splitting, as it were, into two parts, one in which the Christ-men appear with white garments as the elect, even in the epoch of the seals; and the other part in which men appear in the form of the beast with seven heads and ten horns. Then appears another beast with two horns, symbolized by the number 666.
Zehnter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Daß wir in der Apokalypse des Johannes eine Beschreibung der Einweihungsvorgänge haben, oder vielleicht besser gesagt, der Einweihungserlebnisse des christlich Einzuweihenden, das haben wir gesehen. Nachdem wir in den letzten Vorträgen den ganzen Stoff der Apokalypse an unserer Seele haben vorüberziehen lassen, werden wir noch auf die Frage zu antworten haben: Was ist denn eigentlich, geschichtlich genommen, diese Urkunde? Warum existiert sie als eine solche Urkunde? — Jetzt aber, wo wir bei jenem wichtigen Punkt angelangt sind, der sich uns das letztemal enthüllt hat, bei dem Übergang unserer Erde in einen geistigen, zunächst in einen astralischen Zustand, bei dem Auftreten gewisser merkwürdiger Wesenheiten in dem, was sich also in der Materie verdichtet und abgespalten hat von dem normalen Fortgange unserer Erdenentwickelung, jetzt wird es gut sein, bevor wir vorwärtsschreiten, uns sozusagen eine Art von Generalüberblick zu verschaffen über gewisse Dinge, die im Grundriß unserer anthroposophischen Weltbetrachtung liegen. Denn Sie haben gesehen, daß bei alledem, was wir zu betrachten hatten, gewisse Zahlenbegriffe eine Rolle spielen. Und jetzt stehen wir dabei, uns einen Begriff von dem zu verschaffen, was das siebenköpfige und zehnhörnige Tier ist und was das zweihörnige Tier ist.
[ 2 ] Wir müssen uns einmal orientieren über den Grundriß der Weltenentwickelung. Die verläuft nämlich durchaus in Gemäßheit ganz bestimmter Zahlenverhältnisse. Der Laie in solchen Dingen wird sehr leicht sagen, wenn er hört, daß die Siebenzahl und andere Zahlen eine so große Rolle spielen in unseren Betrachtungen: Nun ja, diese Anthroposophen wärmen wieder jenen alten Aberglauben auf, der sich an die Siebenzahl, an die Zwölfzahl und dergleichen knüpft. — Und schon wenn unsere lieben Zeitgenossen von so etwas hören, was in einer regelmäßigen Weise nach der Siebenzahl vorwärtsschreitet, dann sprechen sie von Aberglauben, obwohl diese unsere Zeitgenossen eigentlich in bezug auf das, wovon sie etwas verstehen, in genau demselben Aberglauben leben, denn unsere Zeitgenossen sprechen zum Beispiel davon, daß der Regenbogen sieben Farben hat, die Tonskala sieben Töne, da der achte nur eine Wiederholung der Prim ist. Und noch auf manch anderem Gebiete spricht man von der Siebenzahl, und mit Recht. In keinem anderen Sinne als der Physiker es tut, wenn er von der Siebenzahl der Farben spricht, und ebenso wie man in der Tonlehre spricht von den sieben Tönen, so sprechen wir, wenn wir die großen Weltenverhältnisse betrachten in bezug auf die Siebenzahl. Die Siebenzahl ist uns dabei gar nichts anderes als ein Ergebnis der okkulten Erfahrung. So wie sich der Mensch hinstellt und die sieben Farben zählt, so zählt der Okkultist sieben aufeinanderfolgende Zustände der Weltenentwickelung. Und weil die Weisheit der Welt immer von diesen Dingen wußte und sprach, deshalb ging das in das allgemeine Bewußtsein über und man fand etwas besonders Bedeutungsvolles in dieser Siebenzahl. Gerade weil die Siebenzahl zum Beispiel in den Weltverhältnissen begründet war, ging sie in den allgemeinen Glauben, natürlich auch Aberglauben, über.
[ 3 ] Wenn wir uns daran erinnern, was wir gesagt haben über das Geheimnis der sieben Posaunen, der sieben Siegel, der sieben Sendbriefe, was wir über die sieben aufeinanderfolgenden Perioden der atlantischen Zeit gesagt haben, so sehen wir schon, daß wir eigentlich in der Weltenentwickelung fortlaufend Perioden haben, die sich in Gemäßheit der Siebenzahl wiederholen, und wie einen Grundriß der Weltenentwickelung wollen wir uns vor Augen rücken, daß die Siebenzahl alle Teile der Weltenentwickelung beherrscht.
[ 4 ] Wir haben gehört, daß die Erde, bevor sie Erde war, Mond war, bevor sie Mond war, Sonnenplanet und bevor sie Sonne war, Saturn war. Die Erde wird, nachdem sie Erde gewesen sein wird, in den Jupiterzustand, dann in den Venus- und zuletzt in den Vulkanzustand übergehen, so daß wir sieben aufeinanderfolgende planetarische Verkörperungen unserer Erde haben, Saturn, Sonne, Mond, Erde, Jupiter, Venus und Vulkan. Das sind nun die größten Abteilungen innerhalb unserer ganzen Entwickelung, die wir bis zu einem gewissen Grade hellseherisch überschauen können. Wir haben ja die drei der Erde vorangehenden Zustände beschrieben.
[ 5 ] Jetzt wollen wir uns klar sein darüber, was denn der Sinn der ganzen Entwickelung ist, warum die Erde durch diese sieben Zustände durchgeht. Diese sieben Zustände fallen nämlich zusammen mit der Entwickelung des menschlichen Bewußtseins. Jeder dieser Zustände, Saturn, Sonne, Mond, Erde, Jupiter, Venus und Vulkan, charakterisiert einen bestimmten menschlichen Bewußtseinszustand. Richten wir den Blick zurück in die uralte Saturnzeit. Wir wissen, was gegenwärtig vom Menschen vorhanden ist, war damals noch nicht vorhanden, sondern erst die allererste Anlage seines physischen Leibes. Diese erste Anlage konnte selbstverständlich beim Menschen nicht ein solches Bewußtsein entwickeln, wie es heute der Mensch hat. Andere Wesen hatten ein menschliches Bewußtsein; der Mensch hatte damals ein Bewußtsein, wie es heute die mineralische Welt hier auf dem physischen Plan hat. Wir nennen das ein tiefes Trancebewußtsein. Das hatte die erste Menschenanlage auf dem Saturn. Diese Saturnentwickelung ist aus dem Grunde durchgemacht worden, damit der Mensch nach und nach aufrücken kann zu seinen höheren Bewußtseinszuständen. Damals hat er den ersten durchgemacht. Also haben wir die Saturnentwikkelung zusammenfallend mit dem tiefen Trancebewußtsein. Das ist die erste Bewußtseinsstufe.
[ 6 ] Natürlich müssen Sie sich nicht vorstellen, daß der Grad des Bewußtseins durch die ganze Saturnentwickelung derselbe bleibt, aber im wesentlichen ist es so, daß der Bewußtseinsgrad des Menschen auf dem Saturn mit tiefem Trancebewußtsein charakterisiert werden kann. Es ist dumpfer als selbst das, was heute der Mensch im traumlosen Schlafe hat, denn da hat heute der Mensch das Bewußtsein, das er durchgemacht hat auf der zweiten Stufe, während der Sonnenentwickelung. Also während der zweiten Stufe, während der Sonnenentwickelung, hat der Mensch durchgemacht das traumlose Schlafbewußtsein. Es ist dasselbe Bewußtsein, das heute die Pflanzenwelt um uns herum auf dem physischen Plan hat.
[ 7 ] Dann kam die Mondenstufe in der Entwickelung. Da hat der Mensch ein Bewußtsein durchgemacht, welches schon leichter zum Verständnis gebracht werden kann, weil der Mensch im Traumbewußtsein wenigstens einen letzten Rest hat von diesem Mondenbewußtsein. Das Traumbewußtsein von heute ist ja ein Zwischenzustand zwischen traumlosem Schlaf und dem gewöhnlichen, vom Morgen bis zum Abend dauernden hellen, wachen Tagesbewußtsein. Also der dritte Zustand des Bewußtseins wurde erreicht auf dem Mond, und er läßt sich vergleichen mit dem heutigen traumerfüllten Schlaf, aber mit einer ganz anderen Lebendigkeit und Lebhaftigkeit. Der traumerfüllte Schlaf gibt ein Bewußtsein, das sich aus einzelnen Vorstellungsfetzen und Bildern zusammensetzt und nur einen geringen Grad von Beziehung hat zur realen Außen. welt. Das Mondenbewußtsein, das ein Traumbilderbewußtsein war, hatte sehr bedeutsame Beziehungen zur Außenwelt. Es entsprach genau dem, was in der seelisch-geistigen Umwelt vorhanden war. Eine Wiederholung hat das während der atlantischen Zeit des Menschen gefunden. Wir nennen es das Traumbilderbewußtsein, könnten es auch das somnambule Bewußtsein nennen.
[ 8 ] Das vierte Bewußtsein wird erreicht und durchgemacht auf unserer Erde, und es ist dasjenige Bewußtsein, welches wir das helle Tagesbewußtsein oder Gegenstandsbewußtsein nennen.
[ 9 ] Zu einem erhöhteren Bewußtseinsgrad, von dem die meisten Menschen von heute keine Ahnung haben, werden die Menschen aufsteigen während der Jupiterzeit, wenn das alles geschehen ist, was wir schon beschrieben haben und was im Anschluß an die Apokalypse des Johannes noch zu beschreiben ist. Dann, wenn der Mensch sozusagen gerettet vom Abgrund hervorgegangen und dem Verfall entgangen ist, wenn er hinaufgestiegen ist in die astralisierte und vergeistigte Erde, dann wird das die Grundlage dafür sein, daß er auf dem Jupiter dasjenige Bewußtsein erlangt, das wir nennen können das bewußte Bilderbewußtsein. Wenn man es schildern soll, so kann das nur aus den Erfahrungen der Eingeweihten heraus geschehen. Denn die Einweihung ist ja nichts anderes als die Aneignung der Fähigkeit, in einer früheren Entwickelungsstufe zu erreichen, was die normale Menschheit auf einer späteren Stufe erreicht. Im bewußten Bilderbewußtsein ist der Mensch genau ebenso selbstbewußt wie heute vom Morgen bis zum Abend, aber er nimmt nicht nur wahr die äußeren Gegenstände, sondern im Blickfeld seiner Seele hat er Bilder, und zwar Bilder, die nicht etwa mit einer gewissen Dumpfheit verknüpft sind, die vielmehr eingebettet sind in das helle Tagesbewußtsein. Also helles Tagesbewußtsein und Mondenbewußtsein zusammen, das gibt das Jupiterbewußtsein. Der Mensch erhält sich, was er jetzt hat und erwirbt sich dazu die Fähigkeit, das Seelisch-Geistige wahrzunehmen.
[ 10 ] Heute ist es so, daß der Eingeweihte nicht nur den Menschen sieht, wie er physisch ist, sondern daß er wahrnimmt um den Menschen herum, ihn umstrahlend, allerlei geistige Gebilde, die der Ausdruck sind der Leidenschaften, Instinkte, Gedanken, mit einem Wort: die Aura. Sie umglänzt, umglüht den Menschen wie feine Flammen, zum Teil wie ein Lichtnebel. Alles das, was so im menschlichen Astralleib gesehen werden kann vom Eingeweihten, ebenso wie von dem gewöhnlichen physischen Auge der physische Leib mit seinen Grenzen gesehen wird, alles das ist Bild dessen, was in den Seelen vorgeht. In einer solchen Eingeweihtenseele ist ein Bewußtsein vorhanden, das wir bezeichnen können als Mondenbewußtsein plus Erdenbewußtsein.
[ 11 ] Dann kommt auf der Venus ein sechster Bewußtseinszustand, den wir bezeichnen können als das inspirierte Bewußtsein, das Bewußtsein der Inspiration, Bewußtsein der Inspiration aus dem Grunde, weil auf dieser Bewußtseinsstufe der Eingeweihte nicht bloß wahrzunehmen vermag, was der Seele an Gefühlen, Trieben, Leidenschaften und so weiter eigen ist, sondern weil er da den ganzen inneren Charakter der Seele in einem einheitlichen Ton wahrnimmt. Er fängt an wahrzunehmen dasjenige, was die Welt der, sagen wir, Farben- und Formengebilde wie eine Sphärenmusik durchdringt, so daß jede einzelne Wesenheit innerhalb dessen, was früher als astralisches Bild wahrgenommen worden ist, wie ein Tongebilde erscheint. Die siebente Bewußtseinsstufe, die auf dem Vulkan vorhanden sein wird, wir können sie nennen das intuitive Bewußtsein. Intuition ist nicht jenes Triviale, was gewöhnlich heute darunter verstanden wird, wo jemand durch dunkles Gefühl etwas glaubt erkennen zu können; das ist ein Mißbrauch des Wortes. In den Eingeweihtenschulen wird Intuition für jene denkbar höchste Bewußtseinsstufe angewendet, wo die Seele eins ist, identisch ist mit den Wesenheiten, wo sie darinnen ist im Innern der Wesenheiten und sich mit ihnen identifiziert. Trotzdem die Seele vollständig individuell bleibt, steckt sie in all den Dingen und Wesenheiten ihres Blickfeldes drinnen.
[ 12 ] So stellen uns die sieben Stufen dieser ganzen Erdenentwickelung sieben aufeinanderfolgende Bewußtseinszustände dar. Jeder Bewußtseinszustand nun muß seinerseits in sieben Stufen erreicht werden. Diese sieben Stufen, die jedesmal durchgemacht werden müssen, nennen wir Lebensstufen, so daß wir unterscheiden sieben Bewußtseinsstufen und in jeder Bewußtseinsstufe sieben Lebensstufen. Es ist schwer, aus unserer Sprache heraus Worte zu finden für diese sieben Lebensstufen. Wenn wir bloß auf unsere Erde Rücksicht nehmen, so können wir die Lebensstufen dadurch bezeichnen, daß wir reden von den sieben Reichen, denn es fallen die Lebensstufen auf der Erde zusammen mit den sieben Reichen. Da bezeichnen wir die erste Lebensstufe als das erste Elementarreich, die zweite als das zweite, die dritte als das dritte Elementarreich, die vierte als das Mineralreich, die fünfte als das Pflanzenreich, die sechste als das Tierreich und die siebente als das Menschenreich. Nun könnten wir ja sagen: Auf jeder dieser Bewußtseinsstufen werden sieben solche Lebensstufen durchgemacht oder sieben Reiche absolviert. — Aber wenn wir die sieben Lebensstufen des Saturn ebenso bezeichnen würden, als erstes, zweites, drittes Elementarreich, als Mineral-, Pflanzen-, Tier- und Menschenreich, so würde das nur falsche Vorstellungen wachrufen, denn die Ausdrücke für diese Reiche sind geprägt nach unseren Erdenerfahrungen und es waren eben die Reiche ganz anders gestaltet in dieser uralten Zeit, als das heute bei den Erdreichen der Fall ist. Wir können nur sagen: Analog diesen Reichen gab es sieben Reiche auf dem Saturn, sieben auf der Sonne. Schon näher kamen die sieben Reiche des Mondes, und was die sieben Lebensstufen der Erde sind, das sind eben die sieben Reiche auf der Erde geworden. Und auf der Erde können wir sie schon leichter beschreiben, obwohl es heute außerordentlich schwer ist, dem Menschen eine Vorstellung von den drei Elementarreichen zu geben. Von Mineral-, Pflanzen-, Tier- und Menschenreich glaubt ja der Mensch eine gesunde Vorstellung zu haben, obwohl das auch nicht der Fall ist.
[ 13 ] Vielleicht wird es Ihnen gelingen, sich eine Art Vorstellung von den drei Elementarreichen zu bilden, wenn Sie sich folgendes sagen. Also Sie denken sich Steine, Metalle und so weiter, und diese Glieder des Mineralreiches immer feiner und feiner werdend, so daß Sie immer weniger und weniger sehen, daß sie sich sozusagen auflösen in immer feinere Substantialität. Nehmen wir an, Sie lassen sie alle verdunsten, so daß sie eigentlich nur noch ganz feine Substantialität hätten, durch die Sie hindurchschauen könnten, die Ihnen nicht mehr sichtbar wäre. Aus solchen Gebilden würde, wenn man sie zu noch immer größerer Verfeinerung brächte, etwas hervorgehen, was schließlich nicht mehr ein mineralisches Reich ist, sondern das dritte Elementarreich. Dann würden wir zum zweiten, zum ersten Elementarreich aufsteigen. Es ist für die heutigen Empfindungsqualitäten schwer, sich Vorstellungen zu machen von diesen Reichen, die hineingeheimnißt, verdichtet sind in unsere Welt. So ist es nämlich, wie wenn diese Elementarreiche verdichtet in unsere Welt hinein, sagen wir, verschwunden wären. Sie gehen unserem Mineralreich voran. Wir haben ja gesehen, wann dieses Mineralreich selber sich gebilder hat. In früheren Perioden der Erdenentwickelung war dieses Mineralreich eben im Zustande der Elementarreiche vorhanden.
[ 14 ] Nun die anderen vier Reiche. Das mineralische Reich sehen Sie um sich herum und ebenso das pflanzliche, das tierische und das menschliche. Aber wir werden uns klar sein müssen, daß diese Benennungen im eigentlichen geheimwissenschaftlichen Sinn doch nicht ganz richtig sind. Der Laie nennt die heutigen Mineralien als dem Mineralreich angehörig, die Pflanzen als dem Pflanzenreich angehörig, die Tiere als dem Tierreich und die Menschen als dem Menschenreich angehörig. Das ist zwar laienhaft gesprochen richtig, das ist für alle trivialen Dinge des Lebens durchaus ausreichend, aber im okkultistischen Sinn ist es unrichtig. Denn es ist heute der Mensch erst im Mineralreich vollendet. Er wird erst aufsteigen in künftigen Entwickelungsperioden zum Pflanzen-, Tier- und Menschenreich. Wir können den Menschen heute, weil er ein IchBewußtsein hat, durchaus Mensch nennen, aber wir dürfen noch nicht sagen, er sei im Sinne der Geheimwissenschaft im Menschenreich verkörpert, denn dazu ist etwas anderes notwendig. Das müssen wir besprechen.
[ 15 ] Was kann der Mensch heute begreifen? Darauf kommt es an. Er kann heute bloß das mineralische Reich verstehen. Sowie er an das Pflanzenreich kommt, versteht er es nicht mehr. Das Mineralreich kann er verstehen, aus den Kräften des Mineralreichs kann er Maschinen, Häuser und so weiter zusammensetzen. Daß er ebenso durchschauen lernt, was in einer Pflanze die Kräfte sind, die diese Pflanze groß werden lassen, das erst wird ihn mit seinem Bewußtsein ins Pflanzenreich erheben. Und daß er begreifen lernt, wie ein Tier empfinden kann — jetzt kann er nur eine äußerliche Anschauung davon bekommen —, das macht ihn zum Angehörigen des Tierreichs. Und wenn er nicht nur sein eigenes Ich begreift, sondern ein anderes, wenn er einen Menschen innerlich ganz begreift, dann erst gehört er dem Menschenreich an.
[ 16 ] Sie werden am besten verstehen, daß der Mensch heute erst das mineralische Reich begreifen kann, wenn Sie folgende Betrachtung machen. Denken Sie einmal, daß eine große Anzahl von Gelehrten sagt: Ja, die Pflanzen und die Tiere sind nichts anderes als komplizierte Mineralien. — Und diese Gelehrten warten darauf, daß sie die Stoffe so zusammenfügen können, daß sie Pflanzen und Tiere werden. Sie geben sich der Illusion hin, man könne die Pflanzen als mineralische Wesen begreifen, weil sie keine Vorstellung davon haben, daß es außer dem Mineralreich noch etwas anderes gibt. Es sagen ja viele: Ihr Anthroposophen träumt davon, daß es einen Ätherleib gibt, etwas, was über das bloß Mineralische hinausgeht, aber ihr sollt nicht mehr träumen, wenn es uns gelingen wird, im Laboratorium so, wie man heute Schwefelsäure zusammensetzt, aus den einzelnen Stoffen, aus Kohlenstoff, Stickstoff, Sauerstoff, Wasserstoff und so weiter, ein lebendiges Wesen aufzubauen. — Man glaubt, das Lebendige läßt sich ebenso aufbauen, wie sich etwa Schwefelsäure zusammensetzen läßt; man glaubt, die rein materialistische Wissenschaft wird das einmal können. Man glaubt, die Anthroposophen wären so töricht, daran zu zweifeln, daß einstmals die Zeit kommen wird, wo tatsächlich in der Retorte die Pflanzen erzeugt werden.
[ 17 ] Diese Zeit wird kommen. Das haben aber diejenigen, die auf okkultem Boden stehen, schon immer gesagt. Sie wissen, daß die Zeit kommen wird, wo der Mensch die Pflanzenheit so in die eigene Natur aufnehmen wird, wie er heute das Mineralreich aufgenommen hat. Und wie er aus Mineralien Häuser aufbaut, wie er die Kräfte des Mineralreiches heute benutzt, so wird er einstmals aus den ihm dann wohlbekannten Kräften des Pflanzenreiches, ohne zum Samen zu greifen, ohne die Naturkräfte in ihrer unbegriffenen Weise zu Hilfe rufen zu müssen, das Pflanzengebilde und Höheres noch im Laboratorium erzeugen. Aber würde diese Möglichkeit, im Laboratorium ein lebendiges Wesen zu erzeugen, vorzeitig eintreten, so wäre sie für den auf dem wahren Boden der Geheimwissenschaft Stehenden das, was man schwarze Magie nennt. Die Menschen müssen für jeden Schritt der Entwickelung erst reif werden.
[ 18 ] Es gibt einen okkulten Satz, der lautet: Erst dann werden die Menschen auf dem Experimentiertisch lebende Wesen erzeugen, wie sie heute mineralische Produkte herstellen, wenn der Laboratoriumstisch zum Altar und die chemische Verrichtung zu einer sakramentalen Handlung geworden ist. — Das ist ein okkulter Satz, der immer ausgesprochen worden ist. Wahrlich, solange man ins Laboratorium geht und glaubt, daß man mit unheiligen Gefühlen dasselbe tun kann wie mit heiligen, so lange wird man mit dem Willen derjenigen, die in rechter Weise die Entwickelung leiten, niemals im Laboratorium ein lebendiges Wesen erzeugen können. Erst dann wird das möglich sein, wenn man wissen wird, daß ein mineralisches Produkt zwar erzeugt werden kann, wenn auch am Laboratoriumstisch ein Schurke steht, daß aber niemals ein lebendiges Wesen hervorgebracht werden kann, wenn dies der Fall ist. Denn in das lebendige Wesen fließt, wenn es zusammengebaut wird, etwas, was in dem Menschen selbst drinnen ist. Würde der Mensch ein Schurke sein, so würde das Schurkische hinüberfließen und das entstandene Wesen wäre ein Abdruck der Schurkerei. Erst wenn man begreifen wird, was es heißt, daß der Mensch als ganze Wesenheit mit seinem ganzen Innern wirkt in dem, was er erzeugt, erst dann wird die Welt reif sein, das Lebendige, das Pflanzliche, Tierische und Menschliche, in freier Tätigkeit zu erzeugen. Dann wird der Mensch aufgestiegen sein in das Pflanzenreich, wenn er das Pflanzliche ebensogut durchschauen wird, wie er heute das Mineralische durchschaut. Zum Tierreich wird er aufgestiegen sein dann, wenn er die Empfindung so durchschaut, daß er ebenso ein empfindendes Wesen machen kann durch seine eigene Geisteskraft, wie er heute einen Gegenstand herstellt. Und zum Menschenreich wird er aufgestiegen sein, wenn er den Menschen in freier Tätigkeit neu gestalten kann.
[ 19 ] So ist der Mensch heute in dem mineralischen Reich vorhanden, und dieses Wesen als Mensch, das wir sind, ist im Grunde genommen das einzige Wesen, welches schon ganz im mineralischen Reich sich ausgebildet hat, während die anderen Reiche in vieler Beziehung auf viel niedrigerer Stufe stehen als diejenige ist, die man im Okkultismus mit dem Mineralreich bezeichnet. So zeigen uns die Pflanzen eine Art Vorstufe dessen, was der Mensch erleben wird, wenn er einmal selbst im Pflanzenreich sein wird. Aber die Pflanzen sind nicht im Pflanzenreich, sondern höchstens Vorbilder, nicht Urbilder, sondern Hinweise auf ein künftiges Reich, in dem der Mensch sein wird, in dem er die Pflanzennatur innerlich durchleben wird wie heute die mineralische Natur.
[ 20 ] Dieses Pflanzenreich, in dem der Mensch sein wird, das wird noch durch andere Dinge sich auszeichnen. Es wird vor allen Dingen durch einen heute zwar manchmal mit dem Verstand gesagten, aber noch lange nicht begriffenen moralischen Satz ausgezeichnet sein. Heute lebt der Mensch so, daß man sagen kann: Der einzelne, wenn er sich es auch nicht gesteht, ist überzeugt davon, daß das Glück des einzelnen möglich ist, wenn daneben auch das Unglück eines anderen herrscht. — Es ist.durchaus möglich, daß heute sich einer glücklich fühlt, trotzdem andere Menschen unglücklich sind. Wenn es auch dem Verstande nach zugestanden wird, daß die höchste Moral diejenige sei, die alle Menschen beglückt, in der Praxis ist der Mensch überzeugt, daß das Glück des einzelnen ganz gut möglich ist, ohne daß der andere ebenso glücklich sei wie er. Der Mensch wird, wenn er im Pflanzenreich sein wird, eine Entwickelungsstufe in moralischer Beziehung erreicht haben, wo es ihm unmöglich sein wird, sich als Einzelner glücklich zu fühlen, wenn andere seinesgleichen unglücklich sind. «Das Glück des einzelnen ist untrennbar mit dem Glück aller verbunden»: dieser Satz wird herrschen, wenn der Mensch in das Pflanzenreich aufgenommen sein wird. Es könnte sich kein Mensch irgend glücklich fühlen, wenn sein Glück herausfallen würde aus dem Glücke aller.
[ 21 ] So sehen Sie, daß für so feine Begriffe, wie wir sie im Okkultismus haben müssen, wenn wir alles verstehen wollen, heute sehr wenig Empfindungsmöglichkeiten bestehen. Aber Sie sehen auch, daß der Mensch lange Entwickelungsreihen noch vor sich hat. Das alles muß er erreichen, und es ist noch sehr wenig davon vorhanden.
[ 22 ] Wir sprechen also von sieben Reichen, durch die der Mensch selber hindurchgeht. Auf dem Jupiter wird es wieder sieben Reiche geben, die noch etwas ähnlich sind den sieben Erdenreichen, aber sich doch schon sehr von diesen unterscheiden. Auf der Venus werden es wieder sieben sein und auf dem Vulkan wieder. Hier kann man sie gar nicht mehr Reiche nennen, der Begriff Reich paßt hier nicht mehr. Wenn wir das alles ins Auge fassen, müssen wir sagen: Wir haben zunächst sieben Entwickelungsstufen des Bewußtseins, die Saturn-, Sonnen-, Mond-, Erden-, Jupiter-, Venusund Vulkanstufe, und auf jeder Bewußtseinsstufe sieben Lebensstufen, durch die sich hindurchentwickeln muß jegliches Wesen, das durch die Bewußtseinsgrade hindurchgeht. Jede Lebensstufe muß wiederum sieben Formenstufen durchlaufen, und zwar so, daß Sie die sogenannte physische Formstufe, die Sie jetzt um sich haben, als die mittelste zu betrachten haben. Bevor etwas physisch wird, ist es astralisch, bevor es astralisch wird, ist es auf einer gewissen geistigen Stufe, die man das niedere Devachan nennt, und bevor etwas zu dieser Stufe hinabsteigt, ist es in einer höheren Devachanstufe. Da haben wir drei Formstufen. Die erste kann man noch formlos nennen, dann ist die nächste eine Formstufe, die wir als die niedere Devachanstufe bezeichnen, dann kommen wir zur astralischen Stufe. Wenn sich das Astralische verdichtet, wird es physisch. Dann löst sich das Physische wieder auf und geht zurück zu einem vollkommeneren Astralischen, das geht zu einem vollkommeneren niederen Devachanischen und dies zum höheren Devachanischen. Der physische Formzustand ist der mittlere.

[ 23 ] Sieben Formzustände durchläuft ein jedes Reich. Sie müssen unterscheiden zwischen Physischem und Mineralischem; das ist nicht dasselbe. Man kann, weil heute das Physische mit dem Mineralischen im Anblick zusammenfällt, beide leicht miteinander verwechseln. Das mineralische Reich geht durch alle Formstufen hindurch. Es kann als mineralisches Reich oben in der höchsten Devachanstufe veranlagt sein. Es steigt dann herunter in die niedere geistige Stufe und ist immer Mineralreich, dann ins Astralische, da ist es astralisch vorgebildet, und dann verdichtet es sich zum Physischen. So also haben wir in jedem Reich sieben Formzustände (siehe Schema).
[ 24 ] Jeder Bewußtseinszustand kann nur so durchlaufen werden, daß er in sieben Lebenszuständen verläuft. Jeder Lebenszustand verläuft in sieben Formzuständen. Das gibt 7 mal 7 mal 7 Zustände. In der Tat geht eine ganze Entwickelung, wie die Erde eine hat, durch 7 mal 7 mal 7 Zustände hindurch. Unsere Erde war einstmals Saturn; der hat 7 Lebenszustände durchgemacht, jeder Lebenszustand 7 Lebensformen oder Formzustände. Da haben Sie 49 Formzustände auf dem Saturn, 49 auf der Sonne, 49 auf dem Monde und so weiter, 7 mal 49 = 343 Formzustände. Durch 343 Zustände läuft der Mensch durch. Als der Saturn ganz im Anfang seiner Entwickelung war, begann er zuerst im höchsten Geistigen, das wir erreichen können, als ein Gebilde, das da war im obersten Devachan. Das war der erste Formzustand; der war ganz mineralisch. Er stieg herunter als solches Wesen bis in das physische Reich, stieg wieder hinauf bis zum oberen devachanischen. Und hier beginnt die große Schwierigkeit, denn Sie müßten jetzt sagen, wenn Sie die genannten Ausdrücke gebrauchen wollen: Der Mensch geht in das nächste Reich über. Aber es passen auf den Saturn diese Ausdrücke nicht. Es geht der Mensch auf dem Saturn auf diese Weise durch 49 Zustände hindurch. Das Sonderbare ist nur, daß Sie jetzt fragen können: Da müßte der Mensch doch auf dem Saturn durch Lebenszustände durchgehen. Nun bekommt er aber erst auf der Sonne einen Ätherleib. Wie kann man da sagen, daß er durch Lebenszustände geht? — Sie sind nur noch nicht so wie später, wo er einen Lebensleib hat, sie sind stellvertretend. Das wird dadurch bewirkt, daß höhere Wesen hereinwirken. Der Mensch hat kein selbständiges Leben auf dem Saturn, aber höhere Wesen durchdringen ihn mit ihrem Ätherleib, mit ihrem Astralleib, Ich und so weiter.
[ 25 ] Jedenfalls müssen Sie begreifen, daß der Mensch auf dem Saturn 49, auf der Sonne 49, auf dem Monde 49 Zustände durchgemacht hat. Auf der Erde hat der Mensch von diesen 49 Zuständen erst die drei ersten Lebenszustände durchgemacht. Er steht heute in dem vierten Lebenszustand, eben im Mineralreich. Er war im ersten Lebenszustand im ersten Elementarreich und hat da sieben Formzustände durchgemacht, er war im zweiten Lebenszustand im zweiten Elementarreich und hat da sieben Formzustände durchgemacht, er war im dritten Elementarreich und hat die sieben Formzustände durchgemacht und ist jetzt im vierten Elementarreich, welches dasselbe ist wie das Mineralreich, und ist in diesem ungefähr in der Mitte darinnen. Er ist etwas über die Mitte hinaus in dem Mineralreich.
[ 26 ] Jedenfalls haben Sie aus alledem, das wir da wie einen Grundriß betrachtet haben, gesehen, daß die ganze Erde durch 343 Zustände hindurchgeht. Dies bitte ich Sie jetzt so sich vorzustellen: Der Saturn entsteht und geht durch 49 Zustände hindurch. Der Saturn ist zuerst eine feurige, eine Wärmemasse und macht verschiedene Zustände durch, aber es ist immer dieselbe Kugel, die diese 49 Zustände durchmacht. Ebenso ist die Sonne immer wieder ein und dieselbe Kugel, welche die 49 Zustände durchmacht. Nur gibt es Zwischenzustände. Es ist, wie wenn zwischen den einzelnen Verkörperungen eine Art von geistigem Zwischenraum wäre. Es ist beim Planeten wie beim Menschen. So machen auch die Planeten eine solche geistige Zwischenstufe durch; die liegt überall zwischen diesen Zuständen drinnen.
[ 27 ] Wenn Sie sich also klar werden, daß wir im Verlauf unserer Entwickelung sieben Bewußtseinszustäinde haben, so werden Sie auch durchschauen, wie das zusammenhängt mit dem, was Sie in verschiedenen Büchern der theosophischen Literatur beschrieben erhalten. Das sind kosmische Systeme. Es wird gesagt, daß unsere Erde einmal einen Anfang genommen hat und aus einem alten planetarischen System sich entwickelt hat, was als Mond bezeichnet wird. Man müßte weiter zurückgehen von dem Mond zur Sonne, von der Sonne zum Saturn. Jeder dieser Zustände zerfällt in die sieben Lebenszustände, gewöhnlich «Runden» genannt. «Runden» ist dasselbe wie Lebenszustände. Und das, was hier Formzustände genannt wird, wird gewöhnlich «Globen» genannt. Das ist ungeheuer irreführend. Es haben sich Menschen die Vorstellung gemacht, als wenn diese sieben Globen nebeneinanderliegende Kugeln wären:

[ 28 ] Diese Zustände von der äußersten, noch ans Formlose grenzenden Form durch das Physische bis wiederum hinauf zum Formlosen sind keine sieben nebeneinander bestehenden Kugeln, sondern das sind sieben aufeinanderfolgende Zustände. Erst war dasjenige, was heute physisch ist, als dieselbe Kugel geistig, dann wurde es dichter und dichter. Es ist dieselbe Kugel, einfach verdichtet. Dann wurde ein Teil astralisch, dann ein Teil physisch; das ist immer dieselbe Kugel. Sie löst sich wieder auf wie Salz im lauen Wasser, wird wiederum astralisch. Zu diesem Astralischen sind wir aufgestiegen da, wo uns in der Apokalypse die «Zornesschalen» beschrieben werden. Da wird die Erde wieder astralisch.
[ 29 ] So sehen Sie, wie die Siebenzahl die ganze Entwickelung beherrscht, und was wir in den verflossenen Tagen geschildert haben durch mancherlsi Bilder — manchmal mit recht grotesken Bildern und jedenfalls mit solchen, die weit abweichen von dem, was heute der Mensch in der physischen Welt sehen kann —, das haben wir jetzt dargestellt als ein Gerippe, als ein Gerüst. Wenn Sie das so darstellen, ist es ungefähr so, wie wenn Sie das Gerüst von einem Haus aufführen, das alleräußerste, das für die Maurer bestimmte. Das hat noch nichts mit der Sache zu tun, das sind sozusagen erst Gedanken über die Sache. Wir müssen aufsteigen von diesem reinen Gedankenschema, das uns ja zum Verständnis hilft, zu dem lebendigen Aufbau, indem wir zum Beispiel für die verschiedenen Zustände die Bilder gebrauchen, die zu sehen sind im Astralischen; dann haben wir erst dasjenige, was man überhaupt okkulte Weis“ heit nennt. Solange Sie solch ein Gerüst aufbauen, bleiben Sie bei dem Denken, das Sie gewohnt sind, in der physischen Welt zu haben. Das ganze Schema, das wir hinzeichneten, ist nur physisches Denken. Das verhält sich zur vollen Wirklichkeit nicht einmal wie das innere Gerüst eines Hauses zum voll aufgeführten Bau, sondern nur wie das Gerüst außen, auf dem die Maurer stehen. Das muß wieder abgerissen werden, wenn der Bau fertig ist. Und so muß das Gedankengerüst wieder abgerissen werden, wenn man die Wahrheit, wie sie sich in Wirklichkeit verhält, vor sich haben will. Betrachtet man diese Abstraktion schon als das Wirkliche, dann spricht man gar nicht vom wirklichen Okkultismus, sondern nur von der Vorstellung, die sich der Mensch in der gegenwärtigen Zeit von den okkulten Tatsachen machen kann. Wie sich der Mensch heute die okkulten Tatsachen zurechtschneidet, das ist in solch einem Schema enthalten. Das ist aber unfruchtbar. Ich mußte es hinstellen, weil wir ein solches Schema auch brauchen. Aber im Grunde genommen hilft es dem, der auf wirklich okkulter Bahn vorschreiten will, gar nichts. Wenn Sie die ganze Welt bis hinauf in die höchsten okkulten Tatsachen durch solche Schemen beschreiben, so hat das nur eine Bedeutung für Ihre gegenwärtige Inkarnation. In der nächsten müssen Sie solch ein Schema wieder lernen. Das kann man nur dadurch denken, daß man sich des Gehirns bedient, das ist nur für das Gehirn zugeschnitten. Da dieses aber abgebaut wird beim Tode, so wird diese ganze Beschreibung nach dem Schema da ganz zerstreut. Wenn Sie dagegen dasjenige, was wirklich geschieht, was wir beschrieben haben als die Aufeinanderfolge der Siegelbilder, was das hellseherische Bewußtsein gibt, wenn Sie das erfassen, im Phantasiegebilde zunächst, so ist das etwas, was nicht gebunden ist an Ihr physisches Gehirn, was Ihnen bleibt nach dem Tode, weil es nicht dem physischen Denken entspringt, sondern die Tatsachen hellseherisch gibt. Man muß sich also hüten, dasjenige, was heute angestrebt wird nach dem Muster physischer Begreiflichkeit, was auch die höheren Welten schematisieren will, für wirklichen Okkultismus zu halten. Das ist Beschreibung mit den Mitteln des gewöhnlichen physischen Verstandes. Natürlich muß der physische Verstand eine Rolle spielen. Es ist deshalb auch nützlich, ein solches Schema hinzustellen, und wir können noch weitergehen in unserem Schema.
[ 30 ] Wir haben gesehen, daß wir durch 343 Zustände hindurchgehen. Aber nun wird die Sache erst kompliziert, wenn wir uns klarmachen, daß es damit noch nicht sein Bewenden hat, daß vielmehr der Mensch innerhalb eines Formzustandes auch noch durch verschiedene Zustände hindurchgehen muß. Dem jetzigen physischen Formzustand sind drei andere vorangegangen und drei andere folgen nach. Jetzt geht aber der physische wiederum durch sieben Zustände durch, und das sind erst die sieben, von denen wir in den vorhergehenden Tagen gesprochen haben: der erste, wo die Sonne noch mit der Erde verbunden ist, der zweite, wo sie sich herauslöst, der dritte, wo der Mond weggeht, der vierte derjenige der atlantischen Menschheit. Die atlantische Menschheit lebt in der vierten Entwickelungsperiode des physischen Formzustandes. Und damit haben Sie für jeden Formzustand wiederum sieben sogenannte Rassenzustände, obwohl der Ausdruck «Rasse» nur von unserem mittleren Zustand gilt. Und jetzt haben wir selbst den fünften Zustand, den, in dem wir leben: die nachatlantische Zeit zwischen der großen atlantischen Flut und dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle. In dieser Periode leben wir. Dann folgt eine andere, die sechste, dann die siebente. Die sechste Periode wird uns angedeutet in der Apokalypse des Johannes durch die sieben Siegel, die siebente durch die sieben Posaunen. Dann geht es über in das Astralische. Das ist ein neuer Formzustand, der wiederum sieben Zustände haben wird. Unser Schema ist noch nicht zu Ende. Wir müssen jeden solchen Zustand, wie er verfließt zwischen einem solchen Ereignis, wie die große Flut eines war, und dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle, wir müssen jeden solchen Zustand wiederum in sieben Zustände zerteilen. Für den fünften Zustand heißen diese: indische Kulturepoche, persische Kulturepoche, chaldäisch-babylonisch-assyrisch-ägyptisch-jüdische Epoche, griechisch-lateinische Epoche, unsere Epoche, dann die sechste, angedeutet in der Apokalypse durch die Gemeinde von Philadelphia, und die siebente Kulturepoche, die diese wiederum ablöst.
[ 31 ] Also wenn wir uns denken die ganze Evolution aus lauter solchen kleinen Zuständen — die aber noch immer lang genug sind — bestehend, so haben wir 7 mal 7 mal 7 mal 7 mal 7 solche Entwickelungsstufen wie die altindische oder die altpersische. So viele verschiedene solche Zustände macht der Mensch zwischen Saturn und Vulkan durch.

[ 32 ] So sehen Sie, wie die Siebenzahl in aufeinanderfolgenden Perioden aufbauend die ganze Entwickelung beherrscht. Wie die musikalischen Töne von Oktave zu Oktave weiterschreiten, so verfließt das ganze Werden in Werde-Oktaven.
[ 33 ] Nun wollen wir uns einmal daran erinnern, daß wit sieben dieser Zustände von den 16807 in unserer Zeit zwischen der großen atlantischen Flut und dem großen Kriege aller gegen alle haben, daß wir vorher auch sieben hatten in der atlantischen Zeit. Aber wir erinnern uns auch, daß der Mensch vier von diesen sieben Zuständen der atlantischen Zeit unter ganz anderen Verhältnissen durchgemacht hat als die drei späteren. Also jetzt wissen wir, was das für Zustände sind, wie wir sie zu zählen haben. Vier von diesen Zuständen der großen Zahl hat der Mensch während der atlantischen Zeit so durchgemacht, daß er sich fühlte als eine Gruppenseele, wie wir sie angegeben haben als Adler, Löwe, Stier und Mensch. Diese vier Gruppenseelen bildete er nach und nach aus während dieser vier Grundrassen der atlantischen Zeit. Weil nun immer Rassen übrigbleiben, wie die indische zum Beispiel übriggeblieben ist, obwohl sich spätere entwickelt haben — die Dinge leben ineinander —, darum blieben auch die vier Köpfe, welche die Gruppenseelen angaben am Beginn der fünften atlantischen Kulturepoche. Wir haben dieses vierköpfige Tier.
[ 34 ] Nun bildete sich der Mensch zu gleicher Zeit, als er begann sich vom Ätherischen ins Physische zu verhärten, gemäß seiner viergruppigen Seele viererlei verschiedene Körperglieder aus. Und dadurch, daß sich dasjenige, was früher Gruppenseelenbewußtsein war, ins Individualbewußtsein verwandelt hat, dadurch hat der Mensch bei Beginn des fünften Zeitraums der Atlantis einen Zusammenfluß der früheren Vierheit. Er trägt die vier Köpfe in sich, die sich summieren in seinem Kopfe, der allmählich entsteht. Der ist aus den vier Gruppenköpfen zusammengesetzt, wie er im Verlaufe der fünften Periode sich herausentwickelt. Diesen vier Köpfen entsprechend hat der Mensch vier Teile seines physischen Leibes. Das sind zunächst die vier «Hörner», so daß Sie sich denken können: Weil der Mensch ein ätherischer Mensch war, hatte er vier Köpfe, vier Tierköpfe — nur der letzte ist schon Menschentier —, denn das ist damit gemeint. Er war vierköpfig, und jedes Kraftsystem, das einem dieser Köpfe entspricht, bildete physische Organe. Wir haben gestern gesehen, daß es ein Kraftsystem war, das unser Herz bildete, nämlich dasjenige, das mit dem Löwenkopf zusammenhängt. Es sind die einzelnen Organe des Menschen wie Verdichtungen der entsprechenden Glieder des ätherischen Leibes.
[ 35 ] So denkt der Apokalyptiker. Er sagt sich: Dasjenige, was physisch ist, ist Verdickung des Ätherischen. — So wie Sie sich denken würden: Diese Haut verdickt sich und bildet eine Schwiele, so denkt sich der Apokalyptiker: Der Mensch ist vorhanden ätherisch, und das verdickt sich, wird physisch. — Und weil der Mensch vierfach vorhanden ist als vier Gruppenseelen, bilden sich vier solche Verdickungen. Die setzen seinen physischen Leib zusammen. Das ist der Grund, warum man dasjenige, was im physischen Leib dem Ätherleib entspricht, als «Horn» bezeichnet. Horn ist eine schwielige Verdickung. Man bezeichnet den Menschen, wie er gerade in der vierten Periode der atlantischen Zeit geworden ist, als ein Tier mit vier Köpfen und vier Hörnern.
[ 36 ] Jetzt entwickelt er sich zum individuellen Menschen weiter. Das beginnt dann in der Nähe des heutigen Irland. Der Mensch geht durch drei letzte Perioden durch, und zwar so, daß er die Anlage zum Ich-Menschen hat. Da bildet er zunächst, wenn Sie äußerlich seinen physischen Entwickelungsgang verfolgen, keinen Tierkörper mehr aus, sondern ist zum Menschen aufgestiegen. Er bildet die Menschheit immer mehr aus, bis er das Christus-Prinzip aufnimmt. Wenn wir den heutigen Menschen ansehen, so werden wir sagen: Wie er heute vor uns steht, war er einstmals nicht. Damit er das werden konnte, mußte er durch vier tierische Gruppenseelen hindurchgehen, mußte er verkörpert werden in Körpern, die der heutigen Löwengestalt, der Stiergestalt, der Adler- und der Menschengestalt entsprechen. Dann stieg er höher herauf und wurde immer menschenähnlicher, und die Gestalt der früheren Gruppenseele verschwand. Die ist nicht mehr da, der Mensch ist menschenähnlich geworden.
[ 37 ] Jetzt müssen Sie sich aber auch klarwerden über ein wichtiges Ereignis, das damals eintrat, als der Mensch menschenähnlich wurde, und ohne dessen Verständnis man nimmermehr begreifen kann die Apokalypse des Johannes, ein Ereignis von größter Wichtigkeit. Bis zu diesem Ereignis, wo der Mensch überging in die Menschenseelenhaftigkeit, da war den Blicken der Menschen total verborgen, was später offenbar geworden ist. Der Mensch hatte eine Art dumpfen, dämmerhaften Bewußtseins. Wenn er morgens aufwachte, sah er alles sozusagen wie von Nebelgebilden umgeben, und wenn er einschlief, war er in der geistigen Welt. Die erschien ihm in Bildern, denn das ist die Natur der geistigen Welt. Nun will ich Ihnen etwas beschreiben, was sich abspielte, bevor der Mensch physisch in den Menschenzustand übergegangen ist, bevor er eingetreten ist aus der Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit zum vollen Ich-Bewußtsein.
[ 38 ] Was der Mensch hier auf der Erde erlebte, das bestand nur in einer Anzahl von Erfahrungen. Dann schlief er ein und war während des Schlafes in dumpfem Bewußtsein in einer geistigen Welt, wo er zwischen Göttern und Geistern lebte, wovon ein Nachklang in den Mythen und Sagen vorhanden ist. Da erlebte er gewaltige Bilder, zum Beispiel das Bild, daß er zwei anderen Wesen begegnete, daß die beiden Steine hinter sich warfen und daß aus den Steinen, die hingeworfen waren, andere gleichgeartete Wesen aus der Erde herauswuchsen, Wesen, wie sie selber waren. Das waren Erlebnisse, wie sie der Mensch noch die ganze vierte Periode der atlantischen Zeit hindurch hatte. Wenn wir das deutlich aussprechen wollen, so müssen wir sagen: Alle Fortpflanzung des Menschen geschah nicht im Bewußtsein des Wachens, sondern im Bewußtsein des Schlafes. — Wenn der Mensch außer seinem physischen Leib und in der geistigen Welt war, da brachte er sozusagen in diesem Bewußtseinszustand, wo ihm alles in Bildern erschien, dasjenige, was an Tatsachen für die Fortpflanzung zu geschehen hatte, in Bewegung, und der ganze Fortpflanzungsakt war in Geistiges gehüllt, erschien ihm in dem Bilde des Steinwerfens hinter sich. Der ganze Fortpflanzungsakt war gehüllt in geistiges Bewußtsein, lag hinter dem Tagesbewußtsein. Der Mensch wußte nichts vom Geschlechtlichen. Im Tagesbewußtsein sah er sich nicht so, als ob er in zwei Geschlechtern vorhanden wäre, und seine Seele war unberührt von jedem Gedanken an das Geschlechtliche. Nicht, als ob es nicht vorhanden gewesen wäre. Es war vorhanden, aber es ruhte im Dunkel eines geistigen Bewußtseins. Es war für den Menschen während des Tagesbewußtseins nicht vorhanden.
[ 39 ] Mit der Erringung der ersten Anlage zum Ich-Bewußtsein wird dem Menschen die Geschlechtlichkeit erst bewußt. Das ist der Moment, der uns in der Bibel dargestellt wird, wo Adam und Eva gewahr werden, daß es etwas wie eine Geschlechtlichkeit gibt. Diesen bedeutungsvollen dramatischen Moment, hierher haben wir ihn in der Erdenentwickelung zu setzen. Und wenn Sie hellseherisch zurückblicken auf die Zeit, die voranging, so sehen Sie von dem Menschen eben nur dasjenige, was die Werkzeuge des Geistes sind. Das andere war überhaupt nicht zu sehen. Der Mensch war nur seiner oberen Gestalt nach zu sehen. Und von dem genannten Zeitpunkt an fing man an, den Menschen ganz zu sehen. Es ist uns jetzt begreiflich, warum die Menschen sich nun verhüllten. Vorher sahen sie nichts, was sie hätten verhüllen sollen. So trat der Mensch allmählich ins Äußere heraus.
[ 40 ] Wenn wir die äußere Menschengestalt als das Verdichtete des Ätherischen betrachten, so haben wir in der vierten atlantischen Stufe zu den vier Gruppenseelenköpfen die vier Hörner. Jetzt aber beginnt sich für die drei letzten atlantischen Epochen im Physischen ein Doppeltes auszubilden. Für jede Stufe, wo sich weiter ein Gruppenseelenkopf ausbilden sollte, bildete sich ein doppeltes Physisches, männlich und weiblich, aus. Sie haben für die vier ersten Stufen den Menschen gebildet mit vier Köpfen, das verdickte Ätherische mit vier Hörnern. Jetzt haben wir drei folgende Köpfe, die nicht sichtbar sind, weil die äußere Menschengestalt sie aufnimmt, weil sie nicht zur Darstellung kommen. Diese drei sind nur für den Hellseher wahrzunehmen, drei ätherische Köpfe, die Hauptmenschenköpfe, und dazu je zwei Hörner, die wie Schatten neben ihm sind, wie Doppelschatten. So haben wir, als die atlantische Flut hereinbrach, sieben Gattungs- oder Gruppenseelenköpfe, wovon die drei letzten immer so erscheinen, daß sie ihr Physisches in zweifacher Gestalt haben, immer als Männliches und Weibliches. Daraus sehen Sie, daß die ganze Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit des Menschen am Ende der atlantischen Zeit, wenn auch das Spätere unsichtbar bleibt, sieben Köpfe und zehn Hörner hat. Die vier ersten Köpfe bekommen kein Männliches und Weibliches getrennt an Hörnern, die drei letzten bekommen aber Männliches und Weibliches getrennt.
[ 41 ] Die sieben Köpfe und zehn Hörner hat der Mensch in sich. Das muß er nun so bearbeiten durch die Aufnahme des Christus-Prinzipes, daß sie sozusagen vernichtet werden. Denn jedesmal, wenn heute der Mensch stirbt, ist in seinem astralischen Leibe sehr wohl zu sehen die Siebenköpfigkeit und Zehnhörnigkeit. Das wird nur zusammengehalten wie Kautschuk, der entsprechend gebildet wird. Nehmen Sie an, der Mensch verhärtete sich während unserer Zeit gegen das Christus-Prinzip und käme an in der Zeit des großen Krieges aller gegen alle, ohne das Christus-Erlebnis gehabt zu haben, käme an und hätte den Christus von sich gestoßen, dann würde, wenn die Erde ins Astralische übergeht, dasjenige, was da war, wozu er es gebracht hat, was er hätte umwandeln sollen, hervorspringen, hervorspringen in seiner alten Gestalt. Das Tier würde erscheinen mit den sieben Köpfen und zehn Hörnern, während für diejenigen, die das Christus-Prinzip aufgenommen haben, die Geschlechtlichkeit wiederum überwunden sein wird. Die Verhärteten werden die sechshörnige Geschlechtlichkeit wohl bewahren und werden in ihrer Ganzheit erscheinen als das Tier mit den sieben Köpfen und zehn Hörnern, die veranlagt worden sind in der atlantischen Zeit. Sie können umgewandelt werden durch die Aufnahme des Christus-Impulses. Wenn aber der Christus zurückgewiesen wird, werden sie bleiben und wieder erscheinen in jener Zeit, die damit angedeutet wird, daß die Zornesschalen ausgegossen werden und die Erde sozusagen gespalten erscheint in zwei Teile: in den Teil, wo die Christus-Menschen mit weißen Kleidern erscheinen als die Auserwählten, schon zur Zeit der Siegel, und in den anderen Teil, wo die Menschen erscheinen in der Gestalt des Tieres mit den sieben Köpfen und zehn Hörnern. Dann erscheint auch ein anderes Tier mit zwei Hörnern, symbolisiert durch die Zahl 666.
Tenth Lecture
[ 1 ] We have seen that in the Apocalypse of John we have a description of the initiation processes, or perhaps better said, of the initiation experiences of those to be initiated into Christianity. After we have allowed the entire content of the Apocalypse to pass before our souls in the last lectures, we will still have to answer the question: What is this document, historically speaking? Why does it exist as such a document? — But now that we have reached that important point which was revealed to us last time, at the transition of our Earth into a spiritual, initially into an astral state, with the appearance of certain strange beings in what has thus condensed in matter and split off from the normal course of our Earth's evolution, it will now be good, before we go forward, to obtain, so to speak, a kind of general overview of certain things that lie at the foundation of our anthroposophical view of the world. For you have seen that certain numerical concepts play a role in everything we have considered so far. And now we are about to gain an understanding of what the seven-headed and ten-horned beast is and what the two-horned beast is.
[ 2 ] We must first orient ourselves to the outline of world evolution. This proceeds entirely in accordance with very specific numerical relationships. The layman in such matters will very easily say, when he hears that the number seven and other numbers play such an important role in our considerations: Well, these anthroposophists are reviving that old superstition associated with the numbers seven and twelve and the like. — And as soon as our dear contemporaries hear of such things, which progresses in a regular manner according to the number seven, they speak of superstition, although these contemporaries of ours actually live in exactly the same superstition with regard to what they understand, for our contemporaries speak, for example, of the rainbow having seven colors, the tonal scale having seven tones, since the eighth is only a repetition of the prime. And in many other areas, too, people speak of the number seven, and rightly so. In no other sense than the physicist does when he speaks of the seven colors, and just as one speaks in music of the seven tones, so do we speak when we consider the great world relationships in relation to the number seven. The number seven is nothing more than the result of occult experience. Just as a person stands and counts the seven colors, the occultist counts seven successive states of world development. And because the wisdom of the world has always known and spoken of these things, they entered into the general consciousness and something particularly meaningful was found in the number seven. Precisely because the number seven was grounded in worldly circumstances, it became part of general belief, including superstition, of course.
[ 3 ] If we remember what we have said about the mystery of the seven trumpets, the seven seals, the seven epistles, what we have said about the seven successive periods of the Atlantean era, we can already see that we actually have continuous periods in the development of the world that repeat themselves in accordance with the number seven, and as a blueprint for the development of the world, we want to keep in mind that the number seven governs all parts of the development of the world.
[ 4 ] We have heard that before the Earth was Earth, it was the Moon, before it was the Moon, it was a solar planet, and before it was a sun, it was Saturn. After it has been Earth, it will pass into the state of Jupiter, then into the state of Venus, and finally into the state of Vulcan, so that we have seven successive planetary incarnations of our Earth: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. These are now the greatest divisions within our entire development, which we can, to a certain extent, survey clairvoyantly. We have already described the three states that preceded the Earth.
[ 5 ] Now let us be clear about the meaning of the whole development, why the Earth passes through these seven states. These seven states coincide with the development of human consciousness. Each of these states—Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan—characterizes a particular state of human consciousness. Let us look back to the ancient Saturn period. We know that what is present in human beings today did not yet exist then, but only the very first beginnings of their physical body. This first rudiment could not, of course, develop the kind of consciousness that humans have today. Other beings had human consciousness; humans at that time had a consciousness similar to that of the mineral world here on the physical plane today. We call this a deep trance consciousness. This was the first human predisposition on Saturn. This Saturn development was undergone for the reason that human beings could gradually advance to their higher states of consciousness. At that time, they underwent the first stage. So we have the Saturn development coinciding with the deep trance consciousness. This is the first stage of consciousness.
[ 6 ] Of course, you must not imagine that the degree of consciousness remains the same throughout the entire Saturn evolution, but essentially it is true that the degree of consciousness of human beings on Saturn can be characterized by deep trance consciousness. It is duller than even what humans have today in dreamless sleep, because today humans have the consciousness they went through on the second stage, during the solar evolution. So during the second stage, during the Sun's development, human beings went through dreamless sleep consciousness. It is the same consciousness that the plant world around us has today on the physical plane.
[ 7 ] Then came the Moon stage in evolution. During this stage, human beings experienced a consciousness that is easier to understand because human beings still have at least a remnant of this lunar consciousness in their dream consciousness. Today's dream consciousness is an intermediate state between dreamless sleep and the ordinary, bright, waking consciousness that lasts from morning to evening. So the third state of consciousness was reached on the moon, and it can be compared to today's dream-filled sleep, but with a completely different liveliness and vividness. Dream-filled sleep gives a consciousness that is composed of individual fragments of ideas and images and has only a slight degree of connection to the real external world. The lunar consciousness, which was a dream image consciousness, had very significant relationships with the external world. It corresponded exactly to what was present in the soul-spiritual environment. This was repeated during the Atlantean period of human evolution. We call it dream image consciousness, but we could also call it somnambulistic consciousness.
[ 8 ] The fourth consciousness is attained and experienced on our Earth, and it is the consciousness we call bright daytime consciousness or object consciousness.
[ 9 ] Human beings will ascend to a higher level of consciousness, of which most people today have no idea, during the Jupiter age, when everything we have already described and what is yet to be described following the Apocalypse of John has come to pass. Then, when human beings have emerged, so to speak, saved from the abyss and escaped decay, when they have ascended into the astralized and spiritualized Earth, this will be the basis for their attainment on Jupiter of what we can call conscious image consciousness. If one is to describe it, this can only be done from the experience of the initiated. For initiation is nothing other than the acquisition of the ability to attain in an earlier stage of development what normal humanity attains at a later stage. In conscious image consciousness, the human being is just as self-aware as he is today from morning to evening, but he does not only perceive external objects; in the field of vision of his soul he has images, and these are not images associated with a certain dullness, but rather embedded in bright daytime consciousness. So bright daytime consciousness and lunar consciousness together make up Jupiter consciousness. Man retains what he now has and acquires the ability to perceive the soul-spiritual.
[ 10 ] Today, the initiate not only sees the physical human being, but also perceives all kinds of spiritual formations surrounding and radiating from the human being, which are the expression of passions, instincts, thoughts—in a word, the aura. It surrounds and envelops the human being like fine flames, partly like a mist of light. Everything that can be seen in this way in the human astral body by the initiate, just as the physical body with its limitations is seen by the ordinary physical eye, is an image of what is going on in the souls. In such an initiated soul there is a consciousness that we can describe as lunar consciousness plus earth consciousness.
[ 11 ] Then, on Venus, a sixth state of consciousness arises, which we can describe as inspired consciousness, the consciousness of inspiration, consciousness of inspiration because at this level of consciousness the initiate is not only able to perceive what is inherent in the soul in terms of feelings, drives, passions, and so on, but because he perceives the entire inner character of the soul in a unified tone. He begins to perceive that which permeates the world of, let us say, color and form structures like the music of the spheres, so that every single entity within what was previously perceived as an astral image appears as a sound structure. The seventh level of consciousness, which will exist on the volcano, we can call intuitive consciousness. Intuition is not the trivial thing that is commonly understood today, where someone believes they can recognize something through a vague feeling; that is a misuse of the word. In the schools of the initiated, intuition is used for the highest conceivable stage of consciousness, where the soul is one, identical with the beings, where it is within the beings and identifies with them. Although the soul remains completely individual, it is contained within all the things and beings in its field of vision.
[ 12 ] Thus, the seven stages of the entire evolution of the earth represent seven successive states of consciousness. Each state of consciousness must in turn be attained in seven stages. We call these seven stages, which must be passed through each time, stages of life, so that we distinguish between seven stages of consciousness and seven stages of life in each stage of consciousness. It is difficult to find words in our language for these seven stages of life. If we consider only our Earth, we can describe the stages of life by speaking of the seven kingdoms, for the stages of life on Earth coincide with the seven kingdoms. We designate the first stage of life as the first elemental kingdom, the second as the second, the third as the third elemental kingdom, the fourth as the mineral kingdom, the fifth as the plant kingdom, the sixth as the animal kingdom, and the seventh as the human kingdom. Now we could say: At each of these stages of consciousness, seven such stages of life are passed through or seven kingdoms are completed. But if we were to describe the seven stages of life on Saturn in the same way, as the first, second, and third elemental kingdom, as the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, this would only give rise to false ideas, because the terms for these kingdoms are based on our earthly experiences, and in those ancient times the kingdoms were structured very differently from what is the case today on Earth. We can only say: analogous to these realms, there were seven realms on Saturn and seven on the sun. The seven realms of the moon were already closer, and what the seven stages of life on Earth are has become the seven realms on Earth. And on Earth, we can describe them more easily, although it is extremely difficult today to give people an idea of the three elemental realms. People believe they have a healthy conception of the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, although this is not the case.
[ 13 ] Perhaps you will succeed in forming some kind of conception of the three elemental kingdoms if you say the following to yourself. Imagine stones, metals, and so on, and these members of the mineral kingdom becoming finer and finer, so that you see less and less of them, so that they dissolve, as it were, into ever finer substance. Let us suppose that you allow them all to evaporate, so that they are actually only very fine substance through which you can see, but which is no longer visible to you. From such formations, if they were refined even further, something would emerge that is ultimately no longer a mineral kingdom, but the third elemental kingdom. Then we would ascend to the second, to the first elemental kingdom. It is difficult for today's sensibilities to imagine these kingdoms that are hidden and condensed within our world. It is as if these elemental realms had disappeared into our world in a condensed form. They precede our mineral realm. We have seen when this mineral realm itself was formed. In earlier periods of the Earth's development, this mineral realm existed in the state of the elemental realms.
[ 14 ] Now to the other four kingdoms. You see the mineral kingdom around you, and likewise the plant, animal, and human kingdoms. But we must be clear that these names are not entirely correct in the true esoteric sense. The layman calls today's minerals belonging to the mineral kingdom, plants to the plant kingdom, animals to the animal kingdom, and humans to the human kingdom. This is correct in layman's terms and is perfectly adequate for all trivial things in life, but in the occult sense it is incorrect. For today, human beings are only complete in the mineral kingdom. Only in future periods of development will he ascend to the plant, animal, and human kingdoms. We can certainly call human beings human today because they have an ego consciousness, but we cannot yet say that they are embodied in the human kingdom in the sense of secret science, because something else is necessary for that. We must discuss this.
[ 15 ] What can human beings comprehend today? That is what matters. Today they can only understand the mineral kingdom. As soon as they come to the plant kingdom, they no longer understand. They can understand the mineral kingdom; from the forces of the mineral kingdom they can assemble machines, houses, and so on. Only when they learn to see through what forces in a plant make that plant grow will their consciousness lift them into the plant kingdom. And when they learn to understand how an animal feels—now they can only get an external view of this—that makes them members of the animal kingdom. And when he understands not only his own self, but also another, when he understands a human being completely inwardly, only then does he belong to the human kingdom.
[ 16 ] You will understand best that human beings today can only understand the mineral kingdom if you consider the following. Consider that a large number of scholars say: Yes, plants and animals are nothing more than complicated minerals. And these scholars are waiting to be able to combine substances in such a way that they become plants and animals. They give themselves over to the illusion that plants can be understood as mineral beings because they have no idea that there is anything else besides the mineral kingdom. Many say: You anthroposophists dream that there is an etheric body, something that goes beyond the merely mineral, but you should stop dreaming when we succeed in the laboratory in constructing a living being from individual substances, from carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and so on, just as sulfuric acid is composed today. — People believe that living beings can be constructed in the same way that sulfuric acid can be synthesized; they believe that purely materialistic science will one day be able to do this. They believe that anthroposophists are foolish to doubt that a time will come when plants will actually be produced in the laboratory.
[ 17 ] That time will come. But those who stand on occult ground have always said so. They know that the time will come when human beings will absorb plant life into their own nature in the same way as they have absorbed the mineral kingdom today. And just as he builds houses from minerals, just as he uses the forces of the mineral kingdom today, so will he one day create plant structures and even higher forms in the laboratory from the forces of the plant kingdom, which will then be well known to him, without having to resort to seeds or call upon the forces of nature in their incomprehensible manner. But if this possibility of creating a living being in the laboratory were to arise prematurely, it would be what is called black magic for those who stand on the true ground of occult science. Human beings must first become ripe for each step of development.
[ 18 ] There is an occult saying that goes: Only when the laboratory table has become an altar and chemical work a sacramental act will human beings be able to produce living beings on the experiment table in the same way that they now produce mineral products. This is an occult saying that has always been spoken. Truly, as long as people go into the laboratory and believe that they can do the same thing with unholy feelings as with holy ones, they will never be able to create a living being in the laboratory with the will of those who are rightly guiding evolution. This will only be possible when people realize that a mineral product can indeed be produced, even if a villain is standing at the laboratory table, but that a living being can never be produced if this is the case. For when a living being is assembled, something flows into it that is within the human being himself. If the human being were a villain, the villainy would flow over and the being that came into being would be an imprint of villainy. Only when we understand what it means that the human being as a whole, with his entire inner being, works in what he creates, only then will the world be ready to create living beings, plants, animals, and human beings in free activity. Then humans will have ascended into the plant kingdom when they understand the plant world as well as they now understand the mineral world. They will have ascended into the animal kingdom when they understand sensation so well that they can create a sentient being through their own spiritual power, just as they now create an object. And he will have ascended to the human kingdom when he can freely recreate the human being.
[ 19 ] Thus, human beings exist today in the mineral kingdom, and this being that we are as human beings is, in essence, the only being that has already developed completely in the mineral kingdom, while the other kingdoms are in many respects at a much lower level than that which occultism refers to as the mineral kingdom. Thus, plants show us a kind of preliminary stage of what humans will experience when they themselves are in the plant kingdom. But plants are not in the plant kingdom; they are at most models, not archetypes, but indications of a future kingdom in which humans will be, in which they will experience plant nature inwardly as they experience mineral nature today.
[ 20 ] This plant kingdom in which human beings will exist will be distinguished by other things as well. Above all, it will be distinguished by a moral principle that is sometimes expressed today with the intellect, but is still far from being understood. Today, human beings live in such a way that one can say: the individual, even if he does not admit it, is convinced that the happiness of the individual is possible even if the unhappiness of another prevails alongside it. It is quite possible today for one person to feel happy even though other people are unhappy. Even if it is conceded intellectually that the highest morality is that which makes all people happy, in practice people are convinced that the happiness of the individual is quite possible without others being as happy as they are. When humans reach the plant kingdom, they will have attained a stage of moral development where it will be impossible for them to feel happy as individuals if others like them are unhappy. “The happiness of the individual is inseparably linked to the happiness of all”: this statement will prevail when humans are accepted into the plant kingdom. No human being could feel happy if his happiness were to fall outside the happiness of all.
[ 21 ] You see, then, that very few of today's sensibilities are capable of grasping such subtle concepts as we must have in occultism if we want to understand everything. But you also see that human beings still have a long series of developments ahead of them. They must achieve all this, and very little of it is yet present.
[ 22 ] We are therefore speaking of seven realms through which human beings themselves pass. On Jupiter there will again be seven realms, which are still somewhat similar to the seven realms of Earth, but already very different from them. On Venus there will again be seven, and on Vulcan again. Here they can no longer be called realms; the term realm no longer fits here. When we consider all this, we must say: we have first of all seven stages of consciousness, the Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan stages, and on each stage of consciousness there are seven stages of life through which every being must pass as it progresses through the degrees of consciousness. Each stage of life must in turn pass through seven stages of form, in such a way that you must regard the so-called physical stage of form, which you now have around you, as the middle one. Before something becomes physical, it is astral; before it becomes astral, it is on a certain spiritual stage called the lower Devachan; and before something descends to this stage, it is in a higher Devachan stage. So we have three stages of form. The first can still be called formless, then the next is a form stage that we call the lower Devachan stage, then we come to the astral stage. When the astral becomes denser, it becomes physical. Then the physical dissolves again and returns to a more perfect astral, which goes to a more perfect lower Devachan and this to the higher Devachan. The physical state of form is the middle one.

[ 23 ] Every realm passes through seven states of form. You must distinguish between the physical and the mineral; they are not the same thing. Because today the physical coincides with the mineral in appearance, it is easy to confuse the two. The mineral realm passes through all stages of form. It can be predisposed as a mineral realm at the highest Devachanic stage. It then descends to the lower spiritual stage and is always a mineral realm, then to the astral realm, where it is preformed as astral, and then it condenses into the physical. Thus, we have seven states of form in each realm (see diagram).
[ 24 ] Each state of consciousness can only be passed through by passing through seven states of life. Each state of life passes through seven states of form. This gives 7 times 7 times 7 states. In fact, an entire development, such as that of the Earth, passes through 7 times 7 times 7 states. Our Earth was once Saturn; it went through 7 states of life, each state of life having 7 life forms or form states. So you have 49 form states on Saturn, 49 on the sun, 49 on the moon, and so on, 7 times 49 = 343 form states. Man passes through 343 states. When Saturn was at the very beginning of its development, it began first in the highest spiritual realm that we can reach, as a structure that existed in the highest Devachan. That was the first state of form; it was entirely mineral. It descended as such a being into the physical realm, then ascended again to the upper Devachan. And here the great difficulty begins, because you would now have to say, if you want to use the terms mentioned: Man passes into the next realm. But these terms do not apply to Saturn. In this way, the human being passes through 49 states on Saturn. The strange thing is that you can now ask: Surely the human being must pass through states of life on Saturn. But he only receives an etheric body on the Sun. How can one say that he passes through states of life? — They are not yet as they will be later, when he has a life body; they are representative. This is brought about by the influence of higher beings. Man has no independent life on Saturn, but higher beings permeate him with their etheric body, their astral body, their I, and so on.
[ 25 ] In any case, you must understand that human beings have passed through 49 states on Saturn, 49 on the Sun, and 49 on the Moon. On Earth, human beings have only passed through the first three states of life out of these 49. Today, they are in the fourth state of life, namely in the mineral kingdom. In the first state of life, they were in the first elemental kingdom and went through seven form states; in the second state of life, they were in the second elemental kingdom and went through seven form states; in the third elemental kingdom, they went through the seven form states and are now in the fourth elemental kingdom, which is the same as the mineral kingdom, and are approximately in the middle of it. It is slightly beyond the middle of the mineral kingdom.
[ 26 ] In any case, from all that we have considered as a basic outline, you have seen that the whole earth passes through 343 states. I ask you now to imagine this: Saturn comes into being and passes through 49 states. Saturn is first a fiery, warm mass and passes through various states, but it is always the same sphere that passes through these 49 states. Likewise, the sun is always one and the same sphere that passes through the 49 states. There are only intermediate states. It is as if there were a kind of spiritual space between the individual incarnations. It is the same with planets as with human beings. Thus, the planets also pass through such a spiritual intermediate stage, which lies everywhere between these states.
[ 27 ] So when you realize that we have seven states of consciousness in the course of our development, you will also understand how this relates to what you find described in various books of theosophical literature. These are cosmic systems. It is said that our Earth once had a beginning and developed from an ancient planetary system called the Moon. One would have to go further back from the Moon to the Sun, from the Sun to Saturn. Each of these states breaks down into the seven states of life, usually called “rounds.” “Rounds” are the same as states of life. And what are called states of form here are usually called “globes.” This is extremely misleading. People have imagined these seven globes as spheres lying next to each other:

[ 28 ] These states, from the outermost, still bordering on the formless, through the physical, and back up to the formless, are not seven spheres existing side by side, but seven successive states. First, what is physical today existed as the same sphere in a spiritual form, then it became denser and denser. It is the same sphere, simply condensed. Then part of it became astral, then part physical; it is always the same sphere. It dissolves again like salt in lukewarm water and becomes astral once more. We have ascended to this astral realm, where the “bowls of wrath” are described to us in the Apocalypse. There, the earth becomes astral again.
[ 29 ] So you see how the number seven dominates the entire development, and what we have described in the past through various images — sometimes with quite grotesque images and in any case with images that differ greatly from what what human beings can see today in the physical world — we have now presented as a skeleton, as a framework. When you present it in this way, it is roughly like erecting the framework of a house, the outermost part, the part intended for the bricklayers. This has nothing to do with the thing itself; these are, so to speak, only thoughts about the thing. We must ascend from this pure thought scheme, which helps us to understand, to the living structure, for example by using the images that can be seen in the astral world for the various states; only then do we have what is called “occult wisdom.” As long as you build such a framework, you remain with the thinking you are accustomed to in the physical world. The entire scheme we have outlined is merely physical thinking. It bears no more relation to complete reality than the internal framework of a house bears to the finished building, but only to the scaffolding outside on which the builders stand. This must be torn down again when the building is finished. And so the framework of thought must be torn down again if one wants to see the truth as it really is. If one regards this abstraction as reality, then one is not talking about real occultism at all, but only about the idea that people in the present age can form of occult facts. The way people today tailor occult facts to suit themselves is contained in such a scheme. But that is fruitless. I had to present it because we also need such a scheme. But basically, it is of no help whatsoever to those who want to advance on a truly occult path. If you describe the whole world, right up to the highest occult facts, by means of such schemes, this has only meaning for your present incarnation. In the next one, you have to learn such a scheme again. You can only think this by using your brain; it is only tailored to the brain. But since this is broken down at death, this whole description according to the scheme is completely scattered. If, on the other hand, you grasp what really happens, what we have described as the succession of seal images, what the clairvoyant consciousness gives, if you grasp this, initially in the imagination, then this is something that is not bound to your physical brain, something that remains with you after death, because it does not arise from physical thinking, but gives the facts clairvoyantly. One must therefore be careful not to regard what is sought today according to the pattern of physical comprehensibility, which also seeks to schematize the higher worlds, as real occultism. That is description by means of the ordinary physical mind. Of course, the physical mind must play a role. It is therefore useful to set up such a scheme, and we can go even further in our scheme.
[ 30 ] We have seen that we pass through 343 states. But now the matter becomes complicated when we realize that this is not the end of the story, but that human beings must also pass through various states within a form state. The present physical form state has been preceded by three others and will be followed by three others. But now the physical state in turn passes through seven states, and these are the seven we spoke of in the previous days: the first, where the sun is still connected to the earth; the second, where it detaches itself; the third, where the moon disappears; the fourth, that of the Atlantean humanity. The Atlantean humanity lives in the fourth period of development of the physical form state. And so you have seven so-called race states for each form state, although the term “race” only applies to our middle state. And now we ourselves have the fifth state, the one in which we live: the post-Atlantean time between the great Atlantean flood and the great war of all against all. We live in this period. Then another follows, the sixth, then the seventh. The sixth period is hinted at in the Apocalypse of John through the seven seals, the seventh through the seven trumpets. Then it passes into the astral. This is a new form state, which in turn will have seven states. Our scheme is not yet complete. We must divide each such state, as it flows between an event such as the great flood and the great war of all against all, into seven states. For the fifth state, these are called: the Indian cultural epoch, the Persian cultural epoch, the Chaldean-Babylonian-Assyrian-Egyptian-Jewish epoch, the Greek-Latin epoch, our epoch, then the sixth, indicated in the Apocalypse by the church of Philadelphia, and the seventh cultural epoch, which in turn replaces it.
[ 31 ] So if we think of the whole evolution as consisting of such small states — which are still long enough — we have 7 times 7 times 7 times 7 times 7 such stages of development as the ancient Indian or the ancient Persian. Humans go through so many different states between Saturn and Vulcan.

[ 32 ] So you see how the number seven dominates the entire development in successive periods. Just as musical tones progress from octave to octave, so the whole process of becoming flows in octaves of becoming.
[ 33 ] Now let us remember that we have seven of these states from the 16,807 in our time between the great Atlantic flood and the great war of all against all, and that we also had seven in the Atlantean time. But we also remember that man went through four of these seven states of the Atlantean era under completely different circumstances than the three later ones. So now we know what these states are and how we are to count them. Man went through four of these states of the great number during the Atlantean era in such a way that he felt himself to be a group soul, as we have indicated in the forms of the eagle, the lion, the bull, and man. He gradually formed these four group souls during the four root races of the Atlantean era. Because races always remain, as the Indian race has remained, for example, even though later ones have developed — things live within each other — the four heads that represented the group souls also remained at the beginning of the fifth Atlantic cultural epoch. We have this four-headed animal.
[ 34 ] Now, at the same time as human beings began to harden from the etheric into the physical, they formed four different body members in accordance with their fourfold soul. And because what was formerly group soul consciousness has been transformed into individual consciousness, human beings at the beginning of the fifth epoch of Atlantis have a confluence of the former fourfold nature. They carry the four heads within themselves, which are summed up in their head, which gradually emerges. This is composed of the four group heads as they develop during the fifth period. Corresponding to these four heads, human beings have four parts of their physical body. These are, first of all, the four “horns,” so that you can imagine: because human beings were etheric beings, they had four heads, four animal heads—only the last one is already human—for that is what is meant. They were four-headed, and each force system corresponding to one of these heads formed physical organs. Yesterday we saw that it was a force system that formed our heart, namely the one connected with the lion's head. The individual organs of the human being are like condensations of the corresponding limbs of the etheric body.
[ 35 ] This is how the apocalyptic thinker thinks. He says to himself: That which is physical is a thickening of the etheric. — Just as you would think: This skin thickens and forms a callus, so the apocalypticist thinks: The human being exists etherically, and this thickens and becomes physical. — And because the human being exists fourfold as four group souls, four such thickenings form. These make up his physical body. That is why what corresponds to the etheric body in the physical body is called “horn.” Horn is a calloused thickening. Man, as he has just become in the fourth period of the Atlantean epoch, is described as an animal with four heads and four horns.
[ 36 ] Now it develops further into the individual human being. This begins in the vicinity of present-day Ireland. The human being goes through three final periods in such a way that he has the potential to become an I-human being. If you follow their physical development externally, you will see that they no longer form animal bodies, but have ascended to the human stage. They develop humanity more and more until they take in the Christ principle. When we look at human beings today, we say: They were not always as they are now. In order to become what he is, he had to pass through four animal group souls, he had to be embodied in bodies corresponding to the present-day forms of the lion, the bull, the eagle, and the human being. Then he rose higher and became more and more human-like, and the form of the earlier group soul disappeared. It is no longer there; the human being has become human-like.
[ 37 ] Now, however, you must also become clear about an important event that occurred at that time when the human being became human-like, and without understanding which you can never comprehend the Apocalypse of John, an event of the greatest importance. Until this event, when man passed into human soul life, what later became apparent was completely hidden from human sight. Man had a kind of dull, dim consciousness. When he woke up in the morning, he saw everything as if surrounded by mist, and when he fell asleep, he was in the spiritual world. This appeared to them in images, for that is the nature of the spiritual world. Now I will describe to you something that took place before human beings physically entered the human state, before they emerged from group soulhood into full ego consciousness.
[ 38 ] What human beings experienced here on earth consisted only of a number of experiences. Then they fell asleep and during sleep were in a dull state of consciousness in a spiritual world where they lived among gods and spirits, echoes of which can be found in myths and legends. There they experienced powerful images, for example, the image of encountering two other beings who threw stones behind them, and from the stones that were thrown, other beings of the same kind grew out of the earth, beings like themselves. These were experiences that human beings had throughout the entire fourth period of the Atlantean epoch. If we want to express this clearly, we must say that all human reproduction took place not in waking consciousness, but in sleeping consciousness. When humans were outside their physical bodies and in the spiritual world, they set in motion, in this state of consciousness where everything appeared to them in images, the facts that had to happen for reproduction, and the entire act of reproduction was shrouded in the spiritual and appeared to them in the image of throwing stones behind them. The entire act of procreation was shrouded in spiritual consciousness, lay behind daytime consciousness. Man knew nothing of sexuality. In daytime consciousness, he did not see himself as existing in two sexes, and his soul was untouched by any thought of sexuality. Not that it did not exist. It existed, but it lay dormant in the darkness of spiritual consciousness. It did not exist for humans during daytime consciousness.
[ 39 ] With the attainment of the first seed of ego-consciousness, humans become aware of sexuality for the first time. This is the moment depicted in the Bible when Adam and Eve become aware that there is such a thing as sexuality. This is the momentous and dramatic moment in the evolution of the earth. And if you look back clairvoyantly to the time that preceded it, you see only those aspects of human beings that are the tools of the spirit. The rest was completely invisible. Human beings could only be seen in their upper form. And from the moment mentioned above, people began to see human beings in their entirety. We can now understand why people began to cover themselves. Before, they saw nothing that needed to be covered. Thus, human beings gradually emerged into the outer world.[ 40 ] If we regard the outer human form as the condensation of the etheric, then in the fourth Atlantean stage we have the four horns corresponding to the four group soul heads. Now, however, a duality begins to develop in the physical realm for the last three Atlantean epochs. For each stage in which a group soul head was to develop further, a dual physical form, male and female, developed. For the first four stages, they formed the human being with four heads, the condensed etheric with four horns. Now we have three further heads, which are not visible because they are absorbed by the outer human form and cannot be represented. These three can only be perceived by clairvoyants: three etheric heads, the main human heads, each with two horns that are like shadows beside them, like double shadows. Thus, when the Atlantean flood came, we had seven generic or group soul heads, the last three of which always appear in such a way that they have their physical form in two forms, always as male and female. From this you can see that the entire group soul nature of the human being at the end of the Atlantean epoch, even if what comes later remains invisible, has seven heads and ten horns. The first four heads do not have male and female horns separately, but the last three do have male and female horns separately.
[ 41 ] Human beings have the seven heads and ten horns within themselves. They must now work on these through the acceptance of the Christ principle so that they are, so to speak, destroyed. For every time a human being dies today, the seven heads and ten horns can be clearly seen in their astral body. This is only held together like rubber that has been formed accordingly. Suppose that human beings hardened themselves against the Christ principle during our time and arrived at the time of the great war of all against all without having had the Christ experience, arrived and rejected Christ, then when the earth passes into the astral, what was there what it had brought about, what it should have transformed, would spring forth, spring forth in its old form. The beast would appear with seven heads and ten horns, while for those who have accepted the Christ principle, sexuality will once again be overcome. The hardened will probably preserve the six-horned sexuality and will appear in their entirety as the beast with the seven heads and ten horns, which were predisposed in the Atlantean era. They can be transformed by accepting the Christ impulse. But if Christ is rejected, they will remain and reappear in the time indicated by the pouring out of the bowls of wrath, when the earth appears, as it were, split into two parts: in the part where the Christ-people appear in white robes as the chosen ones, already at the time of the seals, and in the other part, where people appear in the form of the beast with seven heads and ten horns. Then another beast appears with two horns, symbolized by the number 666.