Universe, Earth and Man
GA 105
5 Aug 1908, Stuttgart
Lecture II
We shall enter best into our subject if in the first place we try to form a clear conception of the two extremes which have to be considered when Universe and Man are brought into relationship with each other. These two extremes are the spirit-soul and the psycho-material. We will endeavour to discuss these, starting with a phenomenon which, to the man of the present day, is more or less of a riddle, but which is found in the ancient Egyptian conception of the world and life. I mean what is called “temple-sleep.”
The unique fact lying at the foundation of temple-sleep is that among the Egyptian priests, and in ancient civilizations in general, wisdom was held to be very closely bound up with the art of healing and with health.
The man of today has but a dim conception of those ancient ideas regarding the inner relationships between wisdom and health, between science and the art of healing; and it will be the task of the Anthroposophical movement to direct humanity once more to that conception of the spiritual through which wisdom and the art of healing will be brought again into close connection. This recalls what was said in the last lecture. It recalls that ancient figure of which we were reminded when we looked at the picture of the Madonna and child, as painted by Raphael—it reminds us of Isis with the child Horus, the Goddess on whose temple was inscribed the words: “I AM, who was, who is, who will be; my veil no mortal can raise.”
This Goddess was mysteriously connected with the art of healing; she was regarded as the teacher of the Egyptian priesthood in this respect. There is a remarkable statement taking us back to the very earliest ages of antiquity that shows how Isis was particularly interested in the health of mankind at the time when she was placed among mortals.
This points to a very mysterious fact.
We must now sketch in a few words, and bring before your souls, the nature of temple-sleep, which was one of the remedies employed by the priests of Egypt. Anyone who had suffered loss of health in any way in those days was not treated as a rule with external remedies; there were only a few of these, and they were seldom used. Sufferers were in most cases taken to the temple and there put into a kind of sleep. It was not an ordinary sleep, but a kind of somnambulistic sleep which was so intensified that the patient became capable of having not chaotic dreams merely but of seeing orderly visions. During this sleep the patient perceived etheric forms in the spiritual world, and the wise priests understood the art of influencing these etheric pictures which passed before the sleeper; they could control and guide them.
Let us suppose that an invalid was put into a temple-sleep. The priest skilled in medicine was at his side when he fell into this somnambulistic sleep, the invalid then entered a world of etheric forms, and the priest, because of the power he possessed through his initiation (and which was only possible in those ancient times when conditions of existence were such as no longer or very seldom exist today), was able to control the entire sleep. He formed and fashioned the etheric visions and beings in such a way that there actually appeared before the sleeper, as if by magic, those forms which at one time the ancient Atlanteans had looked on as their Gods. These Divine forms—concerning which the various peoples still possessed a remembrance, in the German and Norse, and the Greek mythologies—were now placed before the soul of the person who was in the temple-sleep. He saw in particular certain figures which were connected with the healing principle.
Had the patient remained conscious, as in the waking consciousness of today, it would not have been possible for such forces to act upon him; this was only possible in somnambulistic sleep. The wise priest guided this dream-life in such a way that powerful forces were liberated during the etheric visions, and these restored to order and harmony the forces of the body which had fallen into disorder and discord. This was only possible when the self-consciousness of the patient had been suppressed. Temple sleep had therefore a very real significance, and we can see how the healing art of the priests was connected with knowledge only accessible to man through initiation. The connection lies clearly before us. It was the priests who, through the revival of the ancient vision of higher worlds, possessed in their wisdom the forces which came from these worlds, whereby spirit could work upon spirit. They acquired the capacity of allowing spirit to work upon spirit, and through this wisdom was brought into inner connection with health.
In the uplifting of the self to what was spiritual there was, in ancient times, a healing element, and it would be well if man were to learn to understand this again, for he would then understand the great mission of the Anthroposophical movement, which is to lead man up to the spiritual world, so that he may again enter those worlds from which he has descended. It is true that in future people will not be put into a somnambulistic condition; self-consciousness will be fully maintained, all the same, strong spiritual forces will become active in man, and the possession of wisdom and insight into higher worlds will then be capable of acting on human nature to harmonize and heal. Today this connection between spirituality and the healing art is hidden, those who are not initiated into the deeper wisdom of the Mysteries cannot discern the connection, they cannot even observe the more subtle facts that confront them. Those who look more deeply know upon what profound inner conditions a case of healing may depend. Let us suppose for example that a certain illness befalls a person and that it has an inner cause, not a fractured thigh-bone or a disordered stomach, for these are external causes.
Anyone wishing to go deeply into this will very soon find that in the case of a person who occupies himself much with mathematical ideas conditions of health are very different to the case of another who does not occupy himself with such things. This fact indicates the remarkable connection between the mental life of a person and the state of his external health. It is not, of course, as if mathematical thinking healed the man. Let us look at this more closely: that different conditions of healing are necessary in the case of one applying himself to mathematics and one who does not. Suppose two people have exactly the same illness—in reality this never happens, but we may suppose it. One of them does not care to know anything about mathematical ideas; the other is intensely interested in them. It might happen that it was quite impossible to cure the non-mathematical person whereas it might be possible to heal the other with suitable remedies. What I have stated is an actual fact.
Take another example. We have two people before us; one is an Atheist in the worst sense, the other a deeply religious man. Again it might happen that if both have the same disease and the same remedy is used that the religious man can be cured and the other not. These are things which to modern thinking—at least to the greater part of humanity—will seem absurd; however, they are not so. How is this? It depends on the fact that an entirely different influence is exercised upon human nature by so-called “sense free” ideas, and by those filled with sense perception. Think for a moment of the difference between a man who likes mathematics and one who does not. The latter says: “I ought to think about these things! but I only want to think of things which I can perceive with my senses!” Nevertheless, it is of great use to the inner being of man to dwell on conceptions of that which cannot be seen. Hence it is useful to have religious conceptions, for these also relate to things which cannot be grasped with the hands, nor have any connection with outer, material things—in a word with things which are sense-free. These are matters which one day, when man will look up more to that which is spiritual, will have a great influence on educational principles.
For example, let us take the simple conception 3 x 3=9. Children form such a conception best when they do it without the help of anything material. It is not good when they put 3 x 3 beans next each other for too long, for then they do not rise at all above the sense conception; but if you accustom children, to begin with, not for too long, to count on their fingers, and then follow it with pure mathematical thinking, such thought has a curative, harmonizing effect upon the children. How little people of the present day understand such things can be seen from the fact that in their system of instruction the exact opposite occurs. Has not the abacus been introduced into our schools whereby addition, subtraction, etc., are made clear to sense-eyes by means of different coloured balls? In this way that which ought to be comprehended purely in the mind is said “to be made clear” to the senses. It may be convenient, but those who consider this to be educational know nothing of that deeper curative education which is rooted in the power of the spirit. A man who from childhood has been accustomed to live with sense conceptions will not, because his nerve system has lived under sickly conditions, be able to be cured as easily as one who from his youth has been accustomed to sense-free ideas. The more a person is accustomed to think apart from objects the easier it is to cure him.
In ancient times when a person was ill it was customary to place before him all kinds of symbolic figures, triangles, and combinations of numbers. The object, besides the other value these things possessed, was to uplift him from the mere outward vision of things. If I place a triangle before me and merely look at it, that has no particular value but if on the other hand I see it as the symbol of the higher triad of man it becomes a healing conception of the mind.
Observe how the conceptions of Spiritual Science lead us to the vision of things Spiritual. We are led from what takes place on earth to what has taken place on the ancient Sun, Moon, and Saturn. With physical eyes we cannot see the events of those times, nor with sensely hands can we reach up to the ancient Moon or ancient Sun; but without the aid of the external crutches of our senses we can uplift ourselves to the things which existed once upon a time; we can acquire conceptions which have an equalizing and harmonizing effect upon our whole life and likewise upon our body.
Spiritual Science will again prove to be a great, a universal remedy, as it was formerly in the hands of the Egyptian priests; at that time, however, it necessitated the suppression of the ego, as in temple-sleep. The spiritual conception of the world is a curative conception.
Many people will say in answer to this assertion: Are all Anthroposophists healthy people? Are there no invalids among them?
We must understand that fundamentally the individual can do very little for his health and his sickness. A large proportion of the causes of disease lies outside the individual personality. A person may have the healthiest ideas, which, if he were to live under quite healthy conditions, would result in his never being ill from internal causes; but there are other causes lying outside the power of the individual of today, the secret causes of heredity for example, the influences passing from one human being to another, the influences of unnatural environment, etc. All these influences, which, in a hidden way, are external causes of disease, can only be done away with gradually by a healthy Anthroposophical method of thought. Although we may observe that a person who is inwardly most healthy may fall ill, even dangerously ill, we must not regard this as a sign that Spiritual Science will fail to act curatively upon humanity in the course of centuries—I say centuries, not thousands of years. There is a future before spiritually thinking men, in whom no inner cause of sickness will exist for those able to provide the inward and outward conditions of Spiritual wisdom. External causes there will always be, these can only be eradicated as a spiritually scientific art of healing gains more and more ground.
When we rightly understand the effect of that which is Spiritual we find that temple-sleep is not unintelligible to us. What was it that was conjured up before the sleeper in the temple in his etheric visions? It was the picture of the Atlantean Gods whom we once knew as etheric forms; among whom we once lived, when we were able to be conscious outside the physical body and could exercise etheric clairvoyance. If we go still farther back in human evolution, far beyond the Atlantean epoch, we reach a period in which man first became what he now is, when he first appeared as the individual personality he is today. This period is called the Lemurian epoch. The Atlantean continent, from which the people spread to Africa, Europe, and Asia, came to an end through mighty water catastrophes.
Lemuria, which was that portion of the earth upon which humanity dwelt before the Atlantean epoch, was destroyed through the forces of fire, by volcanic catastrophes. It was during the Lemurian epoch that man first gained consciousness of his ego. This was a mighty impulse in the evolution of man.
How was it that man attained to his “I” or ego consciousness?
It is very difficult for the materialist thought of the present day to imagine this ancient condition of humanity. Were you to imagine the man of that time as similar to the man of today, with flesh and blood, bones and muscles, your idea would be entirely wrong. At that time man possessed a far more impermanent, a far softer form; his body was comparatively fluidic. That which later became muscles and bones has only grown hard in the course of time. At that period also the propagation of humanity was entirely different. Man lived more in the surroundings of the earth—in the atmosphere, which at that time was not pure air as it is today, but was filled with all kinds of vapours. In this man lived as a true airy form, and the currents surrounding the earth passed in and out of him. Man's form was almost the same as some cloud we see today which continually changes its form, only the form of man at that time was firmer and more defined. There appeared then, also for the first time, what are now described as the sexes; at that period of evolution an ancient, non-sexual kind of propagation was replaced by a sexual one.
This took place, however, millions and millions of years ago.
Simultaneously with sexual reproduction came the embodiment of the earliest germ of the ego. Previous to this man was impelled to produce his like from himself through external influences which lay in the sphere around him. That was the form of reproduction at a time when man did not as yet possess an ego, when he still had a dim clairvoyant consciousness, when he rested “Entirely in the bosom of the Deity,” and could not say, “I am.” His perception was somewhat as follows: he was aware that when he did anything it made an impression upon his spiritual environment, and he felt his existence to be within this environment. He was not able to say: “I am here,” but “my environment lets me be here.” He lay within the bosom of the living earth, and the living forces of the earth streamed out and in of him. At that time there were no unhealthy forces; disease did not exist; there was no death such as we know it. It was only when, with sexual reproduction, man was endowed with his ego, that sickness and death entered. At that time the human being was not fertilized by his like but just as today he breathes, so he then absorbed substances from his environment, and in this environment the fertilizing forces were to be found; that which then entered into him fertilized him, and caused him to bring forth his kind.
These forces in man were healthy, and so was that which, as his kind, he produced.
The priests of ancient Egypt knew this, and they said: The further we guide man's vision back into previous conditions the more do we bring him into conditions in which there is no disease. The vision of the old Atlantean Gods acted curatively, and this was still more the case when the priests guided these visions so that the temple-sleeper had before him those primeval forms which were fertilized, not from their like, but from that which was in their environment. The invalid who lay in the temple-sleep beheld the form of her who was the mother of her kind without having received fertilization from her kind. Before him stood the generating woman, the woman with child, yet who is virgin; the Goddess who in the Lemurian epoch was the companion of man, and who has since disappeared from the sight of man. In ancient Egypt she was called Holy Isis.
Isis could only be seen by men in a normal way when death had not as yet appeared on earth. At that time men were, in normal consciousness the companions of such forms as floated around them, and they brought forth their kind virginally.
When Isis was no longer the visible companion of humanity, when she was withdrawn into the circle of the Gods, she continued to interest herself in the health of man from the Spiritual World so said the priests—and when a person was raised to the vision of those ancient forms in an abnormal way, as in temple-sleep, the pictured Isis still acted curatively on him. She is that principle in man which was present in him before he received his mortal covering. HER veil has no mortal raised, for she is the form which was there when death had not as yet come into the world. She is the ONE ROOTED IN THE ETERNAL; she is the great HEALING PRINCIPLE to which humanity will again attain, when it steeps itself anew in Spiritual Wisdom.
We see what has remained of this in the wonderful symbol of the Virgin Mother with the child; speaking from the standpoint of Spiritual Science we say with emphasis that we see it in many pictures of the Madonna. We assert these pictures have a curative effect; for, within the limits which have been discussed, a picture of the Madonna is a means of healing. When it is viewed and studied in such a way that it has an after effect upon the human soul, when this human soul can dream during sleep about the Madonna picture, it then possesses a healing power even today.
Let us now ask what were the fertilizing forces at a time when the human being was not fertilized by his own kind?
Think of our earth at that time as being a solid kernel surrounded by all kinds of viscous, seething, substances, mingled with vapour, and in this half-watery structure dwelt Lemurian humanity. The earth was shone upon by the sun, which could not then be perceived by human eyes, because our sense organs had not developed; the sun's influence, however, penetrated through the veils of mist and cloud, and with the power of the sun's rays the earth received also powers of fructification. The earth did not only receive the forces of warmth, but at the same time the forces which today live in the power of fructification. That which the human being absorbed streamed to the earth from invisible Spiritual Sun-beings. Such was the relationship between sun and earth. The power which acted at that time upon those sexless self-propagating human forms was perceived as a masculine power. This was poured out over the whole earth as a product of the sun. Such were the conditions during the early part of the Lemurian epoch.
Let us now go back still further, to a period in which the conditions were again quite different, to a primeval past when the sun, which is now separate, was bound up with our earth. At one time the earth and the sun formed a single body. All the finer and more etheric parts were still within this common body. We will consider this body at the time when the two were connected as somewhat resembling in shape a fancy biscuit, one part, a smaller globe (namely the earth-plus-moon) hanging as it were on to the other.
We must imagine the sun as a vast etheric body on which earth-plus-moon hung. The rays of force from the sun still mingled with the earth, they passed from the sun to the earth and back from earth to sun—for the two were in a certain way one body. We shall best understand the purpose of this development if we enquire: What would have happened if, without anything further taking place, the sun had turned entirely away from the earth after the separation, and had no longer sent its beams and currents to the earth? All life upon the earth would in this case have dried up and hardened. It was necessary to the earth that the fertilizing influences from the sun should remain. We have to regard this interaction between sun and earth as the interaction between two principles: one leading to destruction, the other giving life. This was also the case later; invigorating life flowed continually from the sun to the earth.
We have now briefly recapitulated the various stages in the evolution of our earth. First there was a primeval past when the earth was still within the sun-body; then a second stage in which the earth was more loosely connected with the sun; then a third, when the two bodies were completely separated from each other. It was only in this third epoch that the ego really entered into man and at this stage sexual reproduction began. Then followed the fourth epoch, the Atlantean, and lastly the post-Atlantean epoch, that in which we are now living. To those who look more deeply into the structure of the world, all that happens visibly, all that is external, takes place under the influence of Spiritual Beings. At one time the sun and the earth were one. (We will go into the Moon development later.) This common body was then permeated with harmoniously working Divine Spiritual Beings. Such lofty beings were necessary to govern the forces that at that time were still undifferentiated.
Now think of development as having progressed: the sun withdrew. What took place then? With the sun went forth the highest beings and the finest substances; henceforward they worked upon the earth from outside. Beings who represented truly living ever-accelerating life, dwelt upon the sun; and on the earth the beings who, if they had been left to themselves, would have suffered stiffening, darkness, destruction. At this second stage of evolution light and darkness were both at work.
At the third stage of evolution the earth-man is endowed with his ego, and the time begins when his self-conscious “I” dwells within him. He becomes aware of this ego by its opposite, and he gradually passes into one condition in which he has a clear consciousness, and into another in which he has a dim consciousness; the first comes to him from the sun, and the other preferably from the earth. The ego, the eternal germ, has to alternate between two forms, one an eternal form, and the other a form which can be born and can die. Those beings, who always possess what man has only occasionally, have forsaken their earth bodies. First that being who brings about fertilization, who lives principally on the sun, went forth from the moon-earth, then the being who makes the human form static or more permanent goes forth with the moon.
Sun and moon gradually separated from the earth. With the sun went forth the beings who, had they remained united with it, would have brought a too precipitate life to earth; and with the moon all those forces withdrew which would have brought about a hardening and stiffening; everything which would have tended to make form permanent. The earth remained in the midst, as it were between the two. Man on earth alternates between these two, he is influenced on the one hand by the sun, and on the other by the forces of the moon. The beings who were previously man's companions had now withdrawn, some to the sun and some to the moon.
In the fourth epoch of the earth's evolution, those companions of man were met with who had condensed so far as to an etheric body, and they were in certain respects subject to human weaknesses. These were the etheric Gods with whom men lived during the Atlantean period. In post-Atlantean times he lost his connection with these etheric Gods, he entered entirely into the physical world and the door leading to spiritual worlds was shut.
There remained to man, however, from these ancient times something that was like a remembrance of the spiritual worlds, and, in accordance with the law of repetition everything he had passed through in life at one time woke up within him later as knowledge.
Man had lived through numerous epochs in which he was variously related to the Gods. He now passed through the same stages again, but with knowledge.
After the great Atlantean flood, in the first holy ancient Indian civilization, man passed once again in soul and spirit through that epoch when earth and sun were united. The very exalted Deity who guided and adjusted everything that man experienced in the first post-Atlantean civilization was called by a name which remained, as a tradition, into later times. Man called this Deity Brahman, the All-One.
This Deity actually dwelt among men at one time—in the first epoch of the evolution of our earth man was the companion of Brahman, who was reverenced in the ancient Indian civilization, and was known to man when in a higher state of abstraction.
Then followed the Persian civilization during which mankind experienced consciously the second epoch, when the sun with its all-invigorating forces separated itself from the forces of darkness. Therefore man perceived a duality in the Godhead in the second age of civilization, and this duality is represented as the opposition of Ormuzd, the good Deity, and Ahriman, the destroying Deity. This was nothing but a repetition—but in knowledge—of that which man had passed through in fact in earlier ages.
We then come to the memory of the epoch when the sun and moon went forth from the previously united celestial body, the sun with its fertilising forces and the moon with forces which gave form: to man a transitory form, and to the Gods a permanent one. In the Egyptian age this difference was perceived in the opposition of earlier forces to those still at work, but now their opposition was in a different form. In Egypt the solar forces were perceived as the forces of Osiris. Osiris was the power of the sun as it worked in the third epoch of earthly evolution, and the religion of Osiris arose and flourished in this age. Isis represents the power of the moon before its complete separation from the earth, before the division of sex, when the virginal power of reproduction was still operative. Later Isis escaped to the moon, where she became numb—congealed.
In the fourth age, that of the Greco-Latin civilization, humanity experienced in polytheism a remembrance of the Atlantean epoch with its numerous etheric figures of the Gods.
In our age of civilization, the fifth, we have nothing to repeat. Let us bring this thought before our minds: we have nothing to repeat, no ancient remembrances. We have given birth to a fifth age of civilization, one whose results will be seen in the future, while the four previous ages were repetitions of the four preceding cosmic epochs. Our age must give birth not merely to an ancient wisdom, but to a new wisdom, a wisdom which points not only to the past, but which must work prophetically—apocalyptically—into the future. In the mysteries of past ages of civilization we see an ancient wisdom preserved, but our wisdom must be an apocalyptic wisdom, the seed for which must be sown by us. Once again we have need of a principle of initiation so that the primeval connection with spiritual worlds may be renewed.
The task of the Anthroposophical movement is to supply this principle. No wonder that wisdom has been lost to so many, for without the principle of initiation it is very difficult nowadays to obtain wisdom, more difficult than formerly, when the memory of ancient experiences had only to be refreshed, and when the results of earlier development could be brought to the consciousness of man. Today this is difficult; therefore we can understand that the sense-world seems to be without a God, and to be barren and empty; but although it appears as if the ancient spirit-world had died out, it is there; it is working and fructifying, and if man wills he can find connection with the spiritual world.
Care was taken, precisely at the moment when the ancient memories seemed to be disappearing during the Greco-Latin age, that a wonderful new seed for all future time should be laid within the cold ground of the earth; this seed is what we describe as the Christ-Principle. The apocalyptic wisdom, the true new Spiritual Wisdom, will be found in conjunction with this Christ Principle, which does not point back only to memories of past epochs, but prophetically to the future, and precisely through this it summons man to action, to creative work. This productive wisdom has sprung freely from seed that was sown in the past. So we see a far horizon of the future rise before us when we speak of Universe, Earth, and Man. In what follows we shall have to speak not merely of the past, but also of the forces of the future. The world is not merely concerned with what is past, it evolves towards the future, and our epoch has still a long period to pass through before it comes to an end. Man will, however, live on after the earth has disappeared, and, if we are to know him completely, we must look not to the past alone, but must study what is active today, and what will go on working into the great tomorrow of the world.
Zweiter Vortrag
Wir werden uns am besten hineinfinden in unser Thema mit dem weiten Horizont, den wir uns gestellt haben, wenn wir versuchen, uns zuerst einmal eine intimere Vorstellung zu bilden von den beiden Gegensätzen, die zunächst für uns in Betracht kommen, wenn wir Welt und Erde miteinander in Beziehung setzen. Diese beiden Gegensätze sind: das Geistig-Seelische und das Physisch-Materielle. Wir wollen versuchen, sie an einer Erscheinung zu erörtern, die für den heutigen Menschen mehr oder weniger rätselhaft ist und die uns gerade aus der alten ägyptischen Weltanschauung und Lebensführung entgegentritt in dem sogenannten Tempelschlaf. Der Tempelschlaf liegt ja der anderen eigentümlichen Tatsache zugrunde, daß bei den ägyptischen Priesterweisen, und überhaupt in der alten Kultur der Menschheit, die Weisheit in innigem Zusammenhange mit der Heilkunst, mit der Gesundheit gedacht wurde. Von den innigen Beziehungen zwischen Weisheit und Gesundheit, zwischen Wissenschaft und Heilkunst macht sich der heutige Mensch gegenüber jenen alten Vorstellungen doch nur einen sehr schwachen Begriff; und es wird die Aufgabe der Geisteswissenschaft sein, die Menschheit wiederum hinzuweisen auf jenen Begriff des Geistigen, durch den Weisheit und Heilkunst und Gesundheit wieder in einen näheren Zusammenhang gebracht werden. Wir erinnern uns dabei auch an etwas, das an allerlei Ausführungen anklingt, die wir gestern gemacht haben. Wir erinnern uns dabei jener alten Gestalt, an die wir denken mußten, als wir uns das Bild der Madonna mit ihrem Kinde, so wie Raffael es in der Sixtinischen Madonna gemalt hat, vor die Seele stellten, wir erinnern uns der Isis mit dem Horuskinde. Es ist die Göttin, deren Tempel die Aufschrift trug: «Ich bin, die da war, die da ist, die da sein wird — meinen Schleier kann kein Sterblicher lüften.» Diese Göttin wurde in einen geheimnisvollen Zusammenhang mit aller Heilkunst gebracht, sie wurde geradezu als die Lehrerin der ägyptischen Priester in bezug auf die Heilkunst betrachtet. Und eine merkwürdige Rede führte man noch in den letzten Zeiten des Altertums von jener Isis; in dieser Rede werden wir darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß Isis sich noch in der Zeit, in der sie unter die Unsterblichen versetzt wurde, für die Heilkunst, für die Gesundheit der Menschen besonders interessiert hat. Das alles deutet auf sehr geheimnisvolle Zusammenhänge hin.
Nun müssen wir mit einigen Strichen uns einmal das Wesen des Tempelschlafs, der zu den Heilmitteln der ägyptischen Priester gehörte, vor die Seele stellen. Derjenige, der in irgendeiner Weise an seiner Gesundheit Schaden gelitten hatte, wurde in der Regel nicht mit äußeren Heilmitteln behandelt in jenen Zeiten; es gab deren überhaupt nur wenig, und nur in seltenen Fällen wurden sie angewendet. Dagegen wurde der Betreffende in den meisten Fällen in den Tempel gebracht und dort in eine Art Schlaf versetzt. Es war das aber kein gewöhnlicher Schlaf, sondern eine Art von somnambulem Schlaf, der so gesteigert war, daß der Betreffende fähig wurde, nicht nur chaotische Träume zu haben, sondern regelrechte Gesichte zu sehen. Er nahm während dieses Tempelschlafes ätherische Gestalten in der geistigen Welt wahr, und die Priesterweisen verstanden die Kunst, auf diese ätherischen Bilder des Menschen einzuwirken; sie konnten sie lenken und leiten. Nehmen wir an, ein solcher Kranker wurde in den Tempelschlaf versetzt. Der heilkundige Priester war an seiner Seite. Wenn der somnambule Schlaf eingetreten war, so daß der Kranke also in einer Welt von ätherischen Gestalten lebte, dann lenkte der Priester durch die Macht, die ihm durch seine Einweihung innewohnte und die nur in jenen alten Zeiten möglich war, wo noch Daseinsbedingungen herrschten, die heute gar nicht mehr oder doch nur ganz selten vorhanden sind, da lenkte er durch diese Macht, durch diese Kräfte den ganzen Schlafzustand. Und er formte und gestaltete die ätherischen Gesichte und Wesenheiten so, daß tatsächlich wie durch einen Zauber vor dem Schlafenden die Gestalten auftauchten, die einst der alte Atlantier als seine Götter gesehen hatte. Solche Göttergestalten, an die die verschiedenen Völker nur noch eine Erinnerung bewahrt haben, zum Beispiel in der germanischen, der nordischen und auch in der griechischen Mythologie, besonders aber bestimmte Gestalten, die mit dem heilenden Prinzip verbunden waren, wurden nun vor die Seele dessen gestellt, der sich im Tempelschlaf befand. Wäre der Mensch bewußt geblieben wie in seinem Tagesbewußtsein, so wäre niemals die Möglichkeit vorhanden gewesen, solche Kräfte auf ihn wirken zu lassen; das war nur in einem solchen somnambulen Schlaf möglich. Die Priesterweisen lenkten das 'Traumleben also, daß starke Kräfte in diesem ätherischen Anschauen entfesselt wurden, und diese Kräfte wirkten ordnend und harmonisierend auf die in Unordnung und Disharmonie gebrachten Leibeskräfte. Bei diesem herabgestimmten Ich-Bewußtsein war das möglich. Der Tempelschlaf hatte also eine sehr reale Bedeutung. Aber wir sehen nun auch, warum eigentlich diese heilende Wirkung der Priesterweisen in solchen Zusammenhang mit der Weisheit gebracht wurde, die den Menschen nur durch ihre Einweihung zuteil werden konnte. Dieser Zusammenhang liegt klar vor uns. Die Priesterweisen waren es ja, die durch Wiederbelebung des alten Hineinschauens in die höheren Welten gerade in ihrer Weisheit die höheren Kräfte hatten, die aus dem Geistigen strömten, wo Geistiges auf Geistiges wirken konnte. So bekamen sie die Fähigkeit, Geistiges auf Geistiges wirken zu lassen, und dadurch kam die Weisheit überhaupt in jenen innigen Zusammenhang mit dem Gesundheitsleben.
In diesem Sich-Hinaufheben zum Geistigen war in alten Zeiten ein gesundendes Element, und es wäre gut, wenn die Menschen so etwas wieder verstehen lernten, denn dann würden sie auch die große Mission der anthroposophischen Bewegung verstehen lernen. Was ist sie denn anderes, diese Mission, als den Menschen hinaufzuführen in die geistigen Welten, daß er wieder hineinschauen kann in die Welten, aus denen er heruntergestiegen ist! Zwar wird in zukünftigen Zeiten kein somnambuler Schlaf über die Menschen verhängt werden, das Selbstbewußtsein wird voll aufrechterhalten bleiben, aber dennoch wird die starke spirituelle Kraft wirksam werden in der Menschennatur, und dann wird der Besitz von Weisheit und Einsicht in die höheren Welten wiederum etwas sein, was ordnend und gesundend auf die Menschennatur einwirken kann. Heute liegt dieser Zusammenhang des Geistigen mit dem Heilenden so verborgen, daß die Menschen, die nicht in irgendeiner Weise in die tiefere Mysterienweisheit eingeweiht sind, nicht viel davon wissen; sie können eben die feinen Tatsachen, die vorliegen, gar nicht beobachten. Wer aber tiefer hineinschauen kann, der weiß, von welchen tief innerlichen Bedingungen eine Heilung abhängen kann. Nehmen wir zum Beispiel an, ein Mensch wird von einer gewissen Krankheit befallen, von einer Krankheit, die innere Ursachen hat, nicht also etwa Schenkelbruch oder verdorbener Magen, denn dabei handelt es sich auch um äußere Ursachen. Jeder, der tiefer in diese Dinge eindringen will, wird sehr bald einsehen, daß bei einem Menschen, der sich viel und gern mit mathematischen Vorstellungen beschäftigt, ganz andere Bedingungen der Heilung vorhanden sind als bei einem anderen, der sich nicht damit beschäftigen mag. Das ist eine Tatsache, die Sie darauf hinweist, welch ein merkwürdiger Zusammenhang besteht zwischen dem geistigen Leben eines Menschen und dem, was die Bedingungen seiner äußeren Gesundheit sind. Natürlich ist das nicht so, als ob das mathematische Denken den Menschen heilte. Wir müssen das genauer erfassen: andere Bedingungen der Heilung sind notwendig bei einem Menschen, der mathematische Vorstellungen aufnehmen kann, als bei einem, der es nicht tut. Setzen wir den Fall, zwei Menschen seien von der ganz gleichen Krankheit befallen. In Wirklichkeit kommt das ja nicht vor, aber als Hypothese können wir es ja hinstellen. Der eine will nichts wissen von mathematischen Vorstellungen, der andere beschäftigt sich intensiv damit. Es könnte dann der Fall eintreten, daß es ganz unmöglich wäre, den Nichtmathematiker gesund zu machen, während Sie den anderen mit den entsprechenden Mitteln heilen können. Das ist ein ganz realer Fall.
Ein anderes Beispiel: Es liegen wieder ganz andere Gesundheitsbedingungen vor bei zwei Menschen, von denen der eine ein Atheist im schlimmsten Sinne und der andere ein tief religiös veranlagter Mensch ist. Wieder kann es geschehen, daß, wenn beide von derselben Krankheit befallen werden, Sie mit denselben Heilmitteln den religiösen gesund machen und den anderen nicht. Das sind Zusammenhänge, die dem heutigen Denken — wenigstens bei dem größten Teil der Menschheit - geradezu absurd erscheinen. Und dennoch verhält es sich so.
Woher kommt das? Das beruht darauf, daß ein ganz anderer Einfluß auf die menschliche Natur ausgeübt wird von den sogenannten sinnlichkeitsfreien als von den sinnlichkeitserfüllten Vorstellungen. Denken Sie sich einmal den Unterschied zwischen einem Menschen, der die Mathematik haßt, und einem, der sie liebt. Der eine sagt: Das alles soll ich mir denken? Ich will aber nur das haben, was ich äußerlich mit meinen Sinnen anschauen kann! - Es ist jedoch für das innerste Wesen des Menschen von großen Nutzen, in Vorstellungen zu leben, die man nicht anschauen kann; und ebenso ist es nützlich, in religiösen Vorstellungen zu leben, denn auch diese beziehen sich auf Dinge, die man eben nicht mit den Händen greifen kann, die sich nicht auf Äußeres, Materielles beziehen, die mit einem Wort sinnlichkeitsfrei sind. Das sind Dinge, die einst, wenn man wieder mehr auf das Spirituelle sehen wird, einen großen Einfluß auf pädagogische Prinzipien haben werden. Nehmen wir zum Beispiel die einfache Vorstellung: drei mal drei ist neun. Am besten bilden sich die Kinder eine solche Vorstellung, wenn es sinnlichkeitsfrei geschieht. Es ist nicht gut, wenn sie zu lange drei mal drei Bohnen nebeneinander legen, denn dann kommen sie gar nicht über die sinnliche Vorstellung hinaus. Wenn Sie aber die Kinder daran gewöhnen, vielleicht zuerst, aber nicht zu lange, an den Fingern abzuzählen, dann es aber mit dem reinen Denken mathematisch zu verfolgen, dann wirkt diese Vorstellung gesundend und ordnend auf die Kinder. Wie wenig die jetzige Zeit von solchen Dingen versteht, das sehen wir daran, daß gerade in der Pädagogik das Gegenteil geschieht. Ist nicht in unsere Schulen die Rechenmaschine eingezogen, wo an allerlei Kugeln die Addition, Subtraktion und so weiter für das sinnliche Auge klargemacht werden soll? Das, was bloß im Geiste erfaßt werden sollte, will man, wie man sagt, auf diese Weise sinnlich veranschaulichen. Das mag bequem sein, aber wer das für pädagogisch hält, weiß nichts von jener tieferen Heilpädagogik, die in der Kraft des Geistigen wurzelt. Einen Menschen, den Sie von Kindheit auf daran gewöhnt haben, in sinnlichen Vorstellungen zu leben, werden Sie, weil sein Nervensystem unter krankhaften Bedingungen lebt, nicht so leicht heilen können wie denjenigen, der von seiner Jugend auf an sinnlichkeitsfreie Vorstellungen gewöhnt ist. Je mehr Sie den Menschen daran gewöhnen, abgesehen von den Dingen zu denken, desto leichter wird es sein, ihn zu heilen. Daher war es unter den alten Traditionen immer üblich, allerlei symbolische Figuren, Dreiecke, Zahlenkombinationen zu geben; das hatte den Zweck, neben dem übrigen Wert, den diese Dinge hatten, den Menschen zu erheben von dem bloßen Anschauen dessen, was aufgezeichnet ist. Wenn ich ein Dreieck vor mich hinstelle und es bloß anschaue, so hat das keinen besonderen Wert. Wenn ich dagegen in ihm die Symbolisierung der höheren Dreiheit des Menschen erfasse, so ist das eine für den Geist gesundende Vorstellung. Und nun denken Sie sich, daß die Geisteswissenschaft den Menschen zur Anschauung des Geistigen führen wird. Wir werden hingelenkt von dem, was sich auf der Erde abspielt, zu dem, was sich auf der alten Sonne, dem Monde, dem Saturn abgespielt hat. Mit physisch-sinnlichen Augen können Sie heute die Ereignisse von damals nicht sehen, nicht mit Sinneshänden hinaufgreifen zum alten Mond, zur alten Sonne. Aber wenn Sie ohne Zuhilfenahme der äußeren sinnlichen Krücken sich hinaufheben zu den Dingen, die da einst waren, dann eignen Sie sich Vorstellungen an, die ausgleichend und harmonisierend auf Ihr ganzes Leben einwirken, auch auf das leibliche. Daher wird die Geisteswissenschaft wieder ein großes, umfassendes Heilmittel sein, wie sie es einst war in der Handhabung der alten ägyptischen Priester, die allerdings eine Herabstimmung des Ich dazu benötigten, wie sie im Tempelschlaf ausgeübt wurde.
Die spirituelle Weltanschauung ist eine gesundende Weltanschauung. Freilich wird da mancher einwenden: Sind denn die Anthroposophen lauter gesunde Menschen, sind unter ihnen nicht auch Kranke? Wir müssen uns darüber klarwerden, daß der einzelne Mensch im Grunde genommen sehr wenig für seine Gesundheit und Krankheit kann. Ein großer Teil der Krankheitsursachen liegt außerhalb der einzelnen Persönlichkeit. Sie können heute die gesündesten Begriffe haben, die, wenn Sie unter ganz gesunden Bedingungen leben würden, Sie niemals von innen heraus krank werden ließen; aber es gibt andere Ursachen, die nicht in der Macht des individuellen Menschen von heute liegen, zum Beispiel die geheimen Ursachen von Vererbung, des Einflusses von Mensch zu Mensch, des Einflusses einer unnatürlichen Umgebung und so weiter. Das alles sind Dinge, die in geheimnisvoller Art äußere Krankheitsursachen sind; sie alle können nur durch eine gesunde anthroposophische Denkweise im Laufe der Zeiten beseitigt werden. Aber wenn man auch sieht, daß heute selbst die innerlich gesündesten Menschen krank, sogar schwer krank werden können, so darf man dennoch darin nicht ein Zeugnis dafür erblicken, daß die Geisteswissenschaft nicht im Laufe der Jahrhunderte — und ich sage Jahrhunderte, nicht Jahrtausende - gesundend auf die Menschheit wirken werde. O, es steht vor dem Blicke des Geist-Erkennenden eine Zukunft, wo es innere Krankheitsursachen nicht geben wird für diejenigen, die die inneren und äußeren Bedingungen spiritueller Weisheit herbeiführen. Äußere Ursachen wird es immer geben, die können nur dadurch beseitigt werden, daß eine im geisteswissenschaftlichen Sinne gehaltene Heilkunst immer mehr und mehr Platz greift. Wir sehen: wenn wir die Wirkung des Geistigen richtig verstehen, dann ist der Tempelschlaf nichts Rätselhaftes für uns.
Was also wurde in den ätherischen Gesichten als eine gesundheitlich wirkende Macht vor den Tempelschläfer gezaubert? Die Bilder der atlantischen Götter, die wir selbst als ätherische Gestalten kannten, unter denen die Menschen einst lebten, wenn sie außerhalb ihrer physischen Leiber waren und sich im ätherischen Hellsehen befanden.
Und wenn wir nun noch weiter in der Menschheitsentwickelung zurückgehen, weit hinter die atlantische Zeit zurück, dann gelangen wir in eine Zeit, wo der Mensch erst das wurde, was er heute ist, wo der Mensch erst eintrat in die individuelle Persönlichkeit, die er heute hat. Wir nennen diese Zeit die lemurische Zeit. Der atlantische Kontinent, von dem aus sich die Völker nach Afrika, Europa, nach Asien hin verbreiteten, ging zugrunde durch gewaltige Wasserkatastrophen. Die Lemuria, jener Erdteil, auf dem die Menschheit vor der atlantischen Zeit wohnte, ging zugrunde durch Feuergewalten, durch vulkanische Katastrophen. In der lemurischen Zeit aber war es, wo der Mensch zum ersten Male überhaupt sein Ich-Bewußtsein erworben hat. Ein gewaltiger Einschnitt in der Menschheitsentwickelung war das. Wodurch erlangt der Mensch sein Ich-Bewußtsein? Es ist im allgemeinen für das heutige materialistische Denken schwer, sich diesen alten Zustand der Menschheit vorzustellen. Wenn Sie sich den damaligen Menschen so vorstellen würden, wie er heute ist, das heißt mit Fleisch und Blut, Knochen und Muskeln, dann würden Sie eine ganz falsche Vorstellung haben. Der Mensch von damals hatte eine weit flüchtigere, weichere Gestalt; fast flüssig war alles. Das, was später zu Muskeln und Knochen geworden ist, hat sich erst im Laufe der Zeiten verhärtet. Wir kommen da in eine Zeit zurück, wo noch eine ganz andere Art der Menschheitsfortpflanzung war. Der Mensch lebte damals mehr in der Umgebung der Erde, die aber nicht wie heute reine Luft war, sondern die mit allerlei Dämpfen angefüllt war. Als eine wahre Luftgestalt lebte der Mensch da, und es zogen die äußeren Strömungen ein und aus. Es war tatsächlich beinahe so, als ob wir heute eine Wolke ansehen, die fortwährend ihre Gestalt ändert, nur etwas fester und bestimmter war die Gestalt des einstigen Menschen. Damals trat auch zuerst das ein, was wir heute als die Geschlechter bezeichnen; es wurde in jenen Zeiten innerhalb des Menschengeschlechtes eine alte ungeschlechtliche Fortpflanzungsart ersetzt durch eine geschlechtliche. Das liegt allerdings Millionen und Millionen von Jahren zurück vor der gegenwärtigen Zeit.
Mit der geschlechtlichen Fortpflanzung trat erst die Einverleibung des Ich im ersten Keime in die Menschheit ein. Früher wurde der Mensch noch durch ganz andere Einflüsse dazu angeregt, seinesgleichen aus sich hervorgehen zu lassen; durch äußere Einflüsse wurde er dazu veranlaßt, durch Einflüsse, die in der Sphäre um ihn herum lagen. Das war die Fortpflanzung jener Zeit, wo der Mensch noch nicht sein Ich hatte, wo er noch mit einem dumpfen, hellseherischen Bewußtsein ausgestattet war, wo er sozusagen noch ganz im Schoße der Gottheit ruhte. Er konnte nicht sagen: «Ich bin». Was er empfand, war etwa folgendes: Er sah, daß, wenn er irgend etwas tat, es einen Eindruck auf seine Umgebung machte, und er fühlte sein Dasein in seiner Umgebung. Er konnte nicht sagen: Ich bin da -, sondern er sagte: Meine Umgebung läßt mich da sein. — Er lag im Schoße der lebendigen Erde, und die lebendigen Erdenkräfte strömten aus und ein. Damals gab es noch keine ungesunden Kräfte, da gab es noch nicht Krankheit, nicht einmal Tod in unserer heutigen Auffassung. Erst als dem Menschen mit der geschlechtlichen Fortpflanzung sein Ich ausgeliefert wurde, da erst zogen Krankheit und Tod in die Menschheit ein. Wenn wir das alles uns richtig vorstellen, dann müssen wir sagen: Damals wurde das Menschenwesen nicht von seinesgleichen befruchtet, sondern so, wie es heute atmet, so nahm es damals die Stoffe aus seiner Umgebung in sich auf; und in dieser Umgebung waren die Kräfte der Befruchtung enthalten. Was da eindrang, das befruchtete ihn, das veranlaßte ihn, seinesgleichen hervorzubringen. Und das waren gesunde Kräfte im Menschen selber und in dem, was er als seinesgleichen hervorbrachte. Die alten ägyptischen Priester aber wußten das, und sie sagten sich: Je weiter man das Anschauen der Menschen zurücklenkt in frühere Zustände, desto mehr bringt man ihn in die Bedingungen, wo es keine Krankheiten gibt. Schon das Anschauen der alten atlantischen Göttergestalten konnte gesundend wirken, mehr aber noch war das der Fall, wenn die Priester die Gesichte so lenkten, daß der Tempelschläfer jene uralten Menschengestalten vor sich hatte, die noch nicht von ihresgleichen befruchtet wurden, die aus der Umgebung heraus ihre Befruchtung erhielten. Da stand vor dem im Tempelschlaf liegenden Kranken die Gestalt der Gebärerin ihresgleichen ohne die Befruchtung durch ihresgleichen. Da stand vor ihm die hervorbringende Frau, die Frau mit dem Kinde, die da jungfräulich ist, die Göttin, die in jener lemurischen Zeit eine Genossin der Menschen war, und die mittlerweile dem Blick der Menschheit entschwunden ist. Die nannte man die heilige Isis im alten Ägypten. Die Menschheit konnte diese Isis normalerweise nur damals sehen, als der Tod noch nicht eingezogen war; da waren die Menschen in normalem Bewußtseinszustande Genossen solcher Gestalten, die sie umschwebten und die ihresgleichen auf jungfräuliche Art hervorbrachten. Und als die Isis nicht mehr die sichtbare Genossin der Menschheit war, als sie in den Kreis der Götter entrückt wurde, da interessierte sie sich immer noch aus der geistigen Welt heraus für die Gesundheit der Menschen, so sagten die Priester. Und wenn man den Menschen in abnormer Weise, wie im Tempelschlaf, zu einer Anschauung jener alten Gestalten, jenes heiligen Isisbildes brachte, dann wirkte die Göttin immer noch gesundend, denn sie ist das Prinzip im Menschen, das da war, bevor die sterbliche Hülle den Menschen umgab. Ihren Schleier hat kein Sterblicher gehoben, denn sie ist die Gestalt, die da war, als der Tod überhaupt noch nicht in die Welt gekommen war. Sie ist das im Ewigen Wurzelnde, sie ist die große heilende Wesenheit, die die Menschheit wieder erringen wird, wenn sie sich aufs neue vertiefen wird in die spirituelle Weisheit.
So sehen wir, was geblieben ist in jenem wunderbaren Symbolum der jungfräulichen Mutter mit dem Kinde, die sich im Madonnenbilde, wir können es auf geisteswissenschaftlichem Boden mit aller Kraft sagen: in dem gesundend wirkenden Madonnenbilde erhalten hat. Denn das Madonnenbild ist — in jenen Grenzen, die erörtert worden sind - ein Heilmittel. Wenn es so behandelt wird, daß die menschliche Seele noch eine Nachwirkung hat, wenn sie im Schlafe liegt und etwa träumen kann von diesem Madonnenbilde, dann hat dieses auch heute noch eine heilende Kraft.
Und nun fragen wir uns: Wo lagen denn in jener Zeit, als das Menschenwesen noch nicht von seinesgleichen befruchtet wurde, wo lagen denn da die befruchtenden Kräfte?
Stellen Sie sich unsere Erde vor als einen festen Kern, umgeben von allerlei zähflüssigen, brodelnden Substanzen, Wasserdämpfen, und darinnen halbwässerige Bildungen, darinnen den lemurischen Menschen. Dieser Erdkörper wird bestrahlt von der Sonne, die damals noch kein menschliches Auge wahrnehmen konnte, weil die Sinnesorgane noch nicht entwickelt waren. Aber diese Sonne wirkt durch die Nebel- und Wolkenhülle hindurch, und mit der Kraft der Sonnenstrahlen nimmt die Erde auch die Befruchtungskräfte auf. Das also, was die Menschenwesen einsaugen, das fließt der Erde von den unsichtbaren geistigen Sonnenwesenheiten zu. So haben wir eine Erde, die außen beschienen wird von der Sonne, die der Mensch noch nicht sehen kann, diese Erde wird aber nicht nur von den Kräften der Wärme bestrahlt, sondern zu gleicher Zeit von derselben Kraft, die heute in der Befruchtungskraft lebt. So haben wir Sonne und Erde miteinander in Beziehung. Diese Kraft, die da auf jene ungeschlechtlich sich fortpflanzenden Menschengestalten wirkt, empfand man als eine männliche Kraft, sie war ausgegossen als ein Produkt der Sonne über die ganze Erde. So waren die Verhältnisse in der allerersten lemurischen Zeit.
Und dann schreiten wir in eine Zeit zurück, in welcher wiederum ganz andere Verhältnisse herrschten, in eine urferne Vergangenheit, wo noch verbunden war der heute abgespaltene Sonnenkörper mit unserer Erde. Denn einst war unsere Erde und die Sonne ein Leib. Alles Feinere und Ätherische hängt in gewisser Weise noch zusammen in diesem gemeinsamen Körper. Wir betrachten jenen Zeitpunkt, da Sonne und Erde noch wie eine Biskuitform zusammenhängen, und zwar so, daß der eine Teil, eine kleinere Kugel, nämlich die Erde und der Mond, an der Sonne hängt. Also wir stellen uns vor: die Sonne als ein großer ätherischer Leib, und daran hängend Erde und Mond zusammen. Da flossen noch die Kraftstrahlen von der Sonne mit der Erde zusammen, von der Sonne zur Erde, von der Erde zur Sonne, denn beide waren ja in gewisser Weise ein Leib.
Wir verstehen am besten den Sinn dieser Entwickelung, wenn wir uns einmal fragen, was geschehen wäre, wenn die Sonne sich ohne weiteres ganz abgewendet hätte von der Erde, nachdem sie sich herausgespalten hatte; wenn sie nicht mehr ihre Strahlungen und Strömungen der Erde zugesandt hätte, wenn sozusagen die Erde gleich nach der Abspaltung ganz allein geblieben wäre. Vertrocknet, verknöchert, erstarrt wäre alles Leben auf der Erde, Der befruchtende Einfluß der Sonne mußte bleiben. Man muß dieses Zusammenwirken von Sonne und Erde empfinden wie ein Zusammenwirken von zwei Prinzipien: das eine zur Verdichtung, zur Erstarrung führend, das andere anfeuernd, fortschreitendes Leben gebend. Und so war es auch später. Von der Sonne floß immer das, was fortschreitendes Leben ist.
Und jetzt kommen wir in eine noch frühere Zeit zurück, in eine Zeit, wo beide Körper noch eines waren, wo die Kräfte der Sonne und der Erde noch ganz zusammenflossen.
Sie sehen: wir haben da verschiedene Entwickelungsstadien unserer Erde absolviert. Wir haben eine uralte Vergangenheit, wo die Erde noch im Sonnenleib drinnen war, wo sie noch eines mit der Sonne war; dann eine zweite Zeit, da war die Erde nurmehr lose mit der Sonne verbunden, dann eine dritte, wo beide Körper sich völlig voneinander getrennt haben. In dieser dritten Zeit ist das Ich eigentlich erst in den Menschen eingetreten, und da beginnt auch erst die geschlechtliche Fortpflanzung. Dann folgt die vierte Zeit, die atlantische Zeit, und schließlich die nachatlantische Zeit, in der wir leben.
Für denjenigen, der tiefer hineinsieht in das Weltengewebe, steht alles das, was äußerlich sichtbar geschieht, unter der Einwirkung von geistigen Wesenheiten. Einstmals waren Sonne und Erde eines. Auf die Mondentwickelung wollen wir später noch eingehen. Da war auch dieser gemeinsame Körper von einheitlich wirkenden geistig-göttlichen Wesenheiten durchzogen. Da waren hohe geistige Wesenheiten notwendig, die das Regiment über die damals noch ungeteilten Kräfte ausüben konnten.
Und nun denken wir uns die Entwickelung ein Stück fortgeschritten, den Sonnenleib sich herausziehend. Was geschieht da? Mit der Sonne gehen die höchsten Wesenheiten und die feinsten Substanzen fort; sie wirken alsdann von außen auf die Erde ein. Diejenigen Wesenheiten, die das eigentlich Lebendige, das immer sich beflügelnde Leben darstellen, sie wohnen auf der Sonne; und auf dem Erdengebiet wohnen die Wesenheiten, die, wenn sie allein bleiben würden, die Verdichtung, die Erstarrung, die Finsternis herbeiführen müßten. In diesem zweiten Stadium wirken also Licht und Finsternis zusammen.
Im dritten Stadium der Erdentwickelung tritt für den Menschen die Begabung mit dem Ich ein. Es beginnt für ihn die Zeit, wo in ihm sein selbstbewußtes Ich wohnt. Er empfindet dieses selbstbewußte Ich namentlich in seinem Gegensatz: der Mensch verfällt immer mehr in einen Zustand, wo er ein Bewußtsein hat, das heller ist, und ein anderes, dunkles; das eine kommt ihm von der Sonne, das andere vorzugsweise von der Erde. Das Ich, der ewige Kern, muß wechseln zwischen einer Gestalt, wo er in einer ewigen Form ist, und einer solchen, die geboren werden kann und stirbt. Diejenigen Wesenheiten aber, die das, was der Mensch nur abwechselnd haben kann, immer haben, die gehen heraus aus dem Erdenkörper. Zunächst geht diejenige Wesenheit heraus, welche befruchtend wirkt, sie nimmt vorzugsweise ihren Aufenthalt auf der Sonne. Und diejenige Wesenheit, welche die Gestalt in Ständigkeit, in der Dauer erhält, die geht hinaus mit dem Monde. Es trennen sich Sonne und Mond nach und nach von der Erde ab. Mit der Sonne gehen alle die Wesenheiten hinaus, welche die Erde in ein sich überstürzendes Leben gebracht hätten, wenn sie mit ihr vereint geblieben wären; mit dem Monde ziehen die Kräfte hinaus, die Verhärtung und Erstarrung bewirkt hätten, die dauernd in ihrer Gestalt bleiben. Die Erde ist wie in der Mitte zwischen beiden. Der Mensch auf der Erde wechselt also ab in Verrichtungen, die auf der einen Seite von der Sonne und auf der anderen Seite von den Kräften des Mondes beeinflußt werden. Diese Gestalten, die früher Genossen der Menschen waren, sind sozusagen jetzt zur Sonne und zum Monde hin entrückt.
In der vierten Periode sind diejenigen Genossen da, welche selbst schon bis zu einem ätherisch-göttlichen Leibe verdichtet sind, und die in gewisser Beziehung menschlichen Schwächen unterworfen sind. Das sind ätherische Götter, und mit ihnen lebte der Mensch während der atlantischen Zeit zusammen. Und in der nachatlantischen Zeit verliert er auch mit diesen ätherischen Göttern den Zusammenhang, er ist ganz herausgestellt in die physische Welt; wie zugeschlossen ist das Tor, das zur höheren geistigen Welt führt.
Aber aus diesen alten Zeiten verbleibt ihm etwas, was wie eine Erinnerung an die geistigen Welten wirkt, und nacheinander tritt im Menschen durch das Gesetz der Wiederholung alles das in der Erkenntnis auf, was er einst im Leben durchgemacht hatte. Im Leben hatte er einst durchgemacht eine Anzahl von Perioden, in denen er in immer verschiedenem Verhältnis zu den Göttern gestanden hatte. Jetzt macht er dieselben Perioden noch einmal durch, aber in der Erkenntnis. Auf die große atlantische Flut folgte eine Zeit der uralten indischen Kultur, wo die Menschen in ihrer Seele, in ihrem Geiste noch einmal durchlebten jene Zeit mit ihren hohen Göttern, da Erde und Sonne noch vereinigt waren. Die hohe erhabene Gottheit, die damals alles, was war, leitete und lenkte, sie durchlebte der Mensch in der ersten nachatlantischen Kulturepoche, und er nannte diese Gottheit mit einem Namen, der für spätere Zeiten als Tradition blieb: Brahman, das All-Eine. Die Gottheit, die wirklich einmal da war unter den Menschen - denn der Mensch war in der ersten Zeit der Erdenentwickelung ein Genosse des Brahman gewesen -, sie wurde in der uralt-indischen Kultur verehrt; der Mensch erlebte sie erkennend, in hoher Abstraktion.
Und dann folgte eine Kultur, da erlebte der Mensch erkennend die zweite Zeit, wo die Sonne mit den allbelebenden Kräften getrennt war von den Kräften der Finsternis. Daher empfand der Mensch dieser zweiten Kulturepoche in seiner Erkenntnis eine Gott-Zweiheit. Er wiederholte, was einst im Leben da war, in der religiösen Erkenntnis, und diese Zweiheit hat sich erhalten, als sich der Gegensatz zwischen Ormuzd und Ahriman, die gute und die verneinende Gottheit, als die persische Kultur ausbildete. Sie war nichts anderes als ein nochmaliges Durchleben dessen — aber jetzt in der Erkenntnis -, was der Mensch einst wirklich durchlebt hatte.
Und dann kommen wir in die Zeit, wo Sonne und Mond herausgetreten waren, die Sonne mit den befruchtenden Kräften, der Mond mit den Kräften, die Gestalt gaben: für den Menschen eine vergängliche allerdings, für die Götter aber eine dauernde Gestalt. Und der Mensch empfand diesen Unterschied wiederum in dem Gegensatz zwischen jenen früheren Sonnenkräften und denen, die jetzt wirkten, und anders wirkten als vorher. Und er empfand diese Sonnenkräfte als die Kräfte des Osiris in Ägypten. Osiris ist die Kraft der Sonne, wie sie gewirkt hat in der dritten Zeit der Erdentwickelung, und wir sehen die Osirisreligion in der dritten Kulturepoche entstehen. Und Isis ist die Kraft des Mondes vor der völligen Trennung von der Erde, vor der Geschlechtertrennung, wo sie noch als jungfräuliche Fortpflanzungskraft gewirkt hat. Isis ist zum Monde entflohen, wo sie erstarrt ist.
Und in der vierten Epoche, in der griechisch-lateinischen Kultur, erlebte die Menschheit in ihrem Polytheismus einen erinnernden Nachklang an die atlantische Zeit mit ihren vielen ätherischen Göttergestalten.
Und wir nun, in der fünften Kulturepoche, wir haben nichts zu wiederholen. Diesen Gedanken lassen Sie uns vor die Seele führen: Wir haben nichts zu wiederholen, keine alte Erinnerung. Denn wir haben herausgeboren eine in die Zukunft wirkende fünfte Zeit, während die vier früheren Zeiten Wiederholungen waren. Unsere Zeit muß nicht eine uralte Weisheit gebären, sondern eine neue Weisheit, die nicht nur in die Vergangenheit hineinweisen kann, sondern die prophetisch, apokalyptisch wirken muß in die Zukunft hinein. Wir sehen eine uralte Weisheit, bewahrt in den Mysterien der vergangenen Kulturepochen; eine apokalyptische Weisheit, zu der wir den Samen legen müssen, muß unsere Weisheit sein. Wir brauchen wieder ein Einweihungsprinzip, damit die ursprüngliche Verbindung mit der geistigen Welt wieder hergestellt werden kann. Das ist die Aufgabe der anthroposophischen Weltbewegung. Kein Wunder, daß so viele Menschen die Weisheit verloren haben, denn ohne das Einweihungsprinzip ist es heute schwer, Weisheit zu erringen, schwerer als früher, wo nur die Erinnerung an alte Erlebnisse aufgefrischt werden durfte, wo die Früchte früherer Entwickelungen erlebt werden konnten. Heute ist es schwer — daher begreifen wir, daß heute für den Menschen die Sinneswelt ohne Gott öde und leer ist. Aber wenn es auch erscheint, als ob die alte Geisteswelt erstorben wäre, sie ist dennoch da, wirksam und befruchtend ist sie da, und wenn die Menschen wollen, werden sie wieder Zusammenhang finden mit der geistigen Welt. Es ist dafür gesorgt worden, indem gerade da, als auszugehen schienen in der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit die alten Erinnerungen, ein wunderbarer Keim für alle folgenden Zeiten in den kalten Boden der Erde gelegt wurde, der Keim, den wir als das Christus-Prinzip bezeichnen. In der Anknüpfung an dieses Christus-Prinzip wird die apokalyptische Weisheit, die wahre, neue Geist-Erkenntnis, gefunden werden, die nicht nur erinnernd zurückweist auf vergangene Zeiten, sondern die prophetisch auf die Zukunft hindeutet und gerade dadurch den Menschen zur Tätigkeit, zum Schaffen ruft. Jene tätige, jene produktive Weisheit ist freilich hervorgegangen aus dem, was in der Vergangenheit als Same gelegt worden ist.
So sehen wir den Zusammenhang zwischen der Vergangenheit und der Zukunft, die uns auch heute schon als ein Arbeitsfeld vorliegt. Wir sehen vor uns auftauchen den ganzen Horizont der Zukunft, und wenn wir von Welt, Mensch und Erde sprechen, werden wir nicht bloß von der Vergangenheit zu sprechen haben, sondern auch von den Kräften der Zukunft; denn die Welt ist nicht bloß etwas, was mit der Vergangenheit zu tun hat, sondern was sich hineinentwickelt in die Zukunft, und unsere Erde hat noch ein großes Stück Zukunft zu absolvieren. Der Mensch aber wird noch zukünftiger sein als die Erde, und wenn wir ihn ganz kennenlernen wollen, dann müssen wir nicht nur hineinschauen in die Vergangenheit, dann müssen wir studieren, was heute wirkt und was wirken wird im großen Weltenmorgen.
Second lecture
The best way to approach our topic, with the broad horizon we have set ourselves, is to first try to form a more intimate idea of the two opposites that initially come to mind when we relate the world and the earth to each other. These two opposites are: the spiritual-soul and the physical-material. We will try to discuss them in relation to a phenomenon that is more or less mysterious to people today and that we encounter in the ancient Egyptian worldview and way of life in the so-called temple sleep. Temple sleep is based on the other peculiar fact that among the Egyptian priest-wise men, and in the ancient culture of humanity in general, wisdom was thought to be intimately connected with the art of healing and with health. Modern man has only a very vague idea of the intimate relationship between wisdom and health, between science and healing arts, compared to those ancient conceptions; and it will be the task of spiritual science to point humanity once again to that concept of the spiritual through which wisdom, healing arts, and health are brought back into a closer connection. In doing so, we also recall something that echoes in all kinds of remarks we made yesterday. We recall that ancient figure we had to think of when we placed before our minds the image of the Madonna with her child, as painted by Raphael in the Sistine Madonna; we recall Isis with the infant Horus. She is the goddess whose temple bore the inscription: “I am she who was, who is, and who will be — no mortal can lift my veil.” This goddess was placed in a mysterious connection with all healing arts; she was regarded as the teacher of the Egyptian priests in relation to healing arts. And a strange speech was made in the last days of antiquity about this Isis; in this speech, we are made aware that Isis, even in the time when she was transferred to the immortals, was particularly interested in healing arts and the health of humans. All of this points to very mysterious connections.
Now we must briefly consider the nature of temple sleep, which was one of the remedies used by Egyptian priests. In those days, anyone who had suffered damage to their health in any way was not usually treated with external remedies; there were very few of these, and they were only used in rare cases. Instead, in most cases, the person concerned was taken to the temple and put into a kind of sleep. However, this was no ordinary sleep, but a kind of somnambulistic sleep that was so intense that the person concerned was able not only to have chaotic dreams, but to see actual visions. During this temple sleep, he perceived ethereal figures in the spiritual world, and the priestly sages understood the art of influencing these ethereal images of human beings; they could direct and guide them. Let us assume that such a sick person was put into temple sleep. The healing priest was at his side. When somnambulistic sleep had set in, so that the sick person was living in a world of ethereal figures, the priest, through the power inherent in his initiation, which was only possible in those ancient times, when conditions of existence still prevailed that no longer exist today, or only very rarely, he guided the entire state of sleep through this power, through these forces. And he formed and shaped the ethereal images and beings in such a way that, as if by magic, the figures that the ancient Atlanteans had once seen as their gods appeared before the sleeping person. Such god-figures, of which the various peoples have only preserved a memory, for example in Germanic, Nordic, and also in Greek mythology, but especially certain figures associated with the healing principle, were now placed before the soul of the person who was in temple sleep. If the person had remained conscious as in his daytime consciousness, it would never have been possible for such forces to act upon him; this was only possible in such a somnambulistic sleep. The priestly sages guided the 'dream life' in such a way that powerful forces were unleashed in this etheric contemplation, and these forces had an ordering and harmonizing effect on the bodily forces that had been thrown into disorder and disharmony. This was possible because of the lowered ego consciousness. The temple sleep therefore had a very real meaning. But we now also see why this healing effect of the priestly wisdom was brought into connection with the wisdom that could only be imparted to human beings through their initiation. This connection is clear to us. It was the priestly sages who, by reviving the ancient practice of looking into the higher worlds, had the higher powers flowing from the spiritual realm, where the spiritual could act upon the spiritual. This gave them the ability to let the spiritual act upon the spiritual, and through this, wisdom came into its intimate connection with health.
In ancient times, this elevation to the spiritual was a healing element, and it would be good if people learned to understand this again, for then they would also learn to understand the great mission of the anthroposophical movement. What else is this mission but to lead human beings up into the spiritual worlds so that they can look back into the worlds from which they descended! In future times, no somnambulistic sleep will be imposed on people; self-consciousness will remain fully intact. Nevertheless, the powerful spiritual force will become effective in human nature, and then the possession of wisdom and insight into the higher worlds will once again be something that can have an ordering and healing effect on human nature. Today, this connection between the spiritual and the healing is so hidden that people who are not initiated in any way into the deeper mysteries of wisdom do not know much about it; they are simply unable to observe the subtle facts that are present. But those who can look deeper know what deep inner conditions healing can depend on. Let us take, for example, a person who is afflicted by a certain illness, an illness that has inner causes, not a broken thigh or a stomach upset, for these are external causes. Anyone who wants to delve deeper into these things will very soon realize that a person who enjoys engaging in mathematical concepts has completely different conditions for healing than someone who does not. This is a fact that points to the remarkable connection between a person's spiritual life and the conditions of their external health. Of course, it is not as if mathematical thinking heals people. We need to understand this more precisely: different conditions for healing are necessary for a person who can absorb mathematical ideas than for someone who cannot. Let us assume that two people are afflicted with exactly the same illness. In reality, this does not happen, but we can pose it as a hypothesis. One wants nothing to do with mathematical ideas, the other is intensely preoccupied with them. It could then be the case that it would be completely impossible to cure the non-mathematician, while you could cure the other with the appropriate means. This is a very real case.
Another example: Two people have completely different health conditions, one of whom is an atheist in the worst sense of the word and the other a deeply religious person. Again, it may happen that if both are afflicted with the same illness, you can cure the religious person with the same remedies and not the other. These are connections that seem downright absurd to today's thinking—at least to the majority of humanity. And yet this is how it is.
Where does this come from? It is based on the fact that a completely different influence is exerted on human nature by so-called non-sensual ideas than by sensual ideas. Think of the difference between a person who hates mathematics and one who loves it. One says: “I am supposed to think all this? But I only want what I can see with my senses!” However, it is of great benefit to the innermost being of human beings to live in ideas that cannot be seen; and it is equally beneficial to live in religious ideas, for these too refer to things that cannot be grasped with the hands, that do not refer to the external, material world, that are, in a word, free of sensuality. These are things that will once have a great influence on educational principles when people begin to see more of the spiritual again. Take, for example, the simple idea that three times three is nine. Children form such ideas best when they are free from the senses. It is not good for them to lay three beans next to each other for too long, because then they will never get beyond the sensory idea. But if you get children used to counting on their fingers, perhaps at first, but not for too long, and then pursuing it mathematically with pure thinking, then this idea has a healthy and ordering effect on children. How little the present age understands such things can be seen from the fact that the opposite is happening in education. Hasn't the calculating machine found its way into our schools, where addition, subtraction, and so on are to be made clear to the sensory eye by means of all kinds of balls? What should be grasped purely in the mind is, as they say, to be illustrated sensually in this way. That may be convenient, but anyone who considers this to be educational knows nothing of the deeper curative education that is rooted in the power of the spirit. A person whom you have accustomed from childhood to living in sensory perceptions will not be as easy to heal as someone who has been accustomed to perceptions free of sensuality from their youth, because their nervous system is living under pathological conditions. The more you accustom people to thinking apart from things, the easier it will be to heal them. That is why it was always customary in the old traditions to give all kinds of symbolic figures, triangles, and combinations of numbers; the purpose of this, apart from the other value these things had, was to lift people up from merely looking at what was recorded. If I place a triangle in front of me and simply look at it, it has no particular value. If, on the other hand, I perceive in it the symbolization of the higher trinity of man, it is a concept that is healing for the spirit. And now think that spiritual science will lead people to the perception of the spiritual. We are led from what is happening on Earth to what happened on the ancient Sun, the Moon, and Saturn. With your physical, sensory eyes, you cannot see the events of that time today, nor can you reach up with your sensory hands to the old moon or the old sun. But if you lift yourself up to the things that once were without the aid of external sensory crutches, you will acquire ideas that have a balancing and harmonizing effect on your whole life, including your physical life. Therefore, spiritual science will once again become a great, comprehensive remedy, as it once was in the hands of the ancient Egyptian priests, who, however, needed a lowering of the ego, as practiced in temple sleep.
The spiritual worldview is a healing worldview. Of course, some will object: Are anthroposophists all healthy people? Are there not also sick people among them? We must realize that the individual human being can do very little for his or her health and illness. A large part of the causes of illness lie outside the individual personality. You may have the healthiest ideas today, which, if you lived under completely healthy conditions, would never allow you to become ill from within; but there are other causes that are beyond the power of the individual human being today, for example, the secret causes of heredity, the influence of one person on another, the influence of an unnatural environment, and so on. These are all things that are mysterious external causes of illness; they can only be eliminated over time through a healthy anthroposophical way of thinking. But even if we see that today even the healthiest people can become ill, even seriously ill, we must not see this as proof that spiritual science will not have a healing effect on humanity over the centuries — and I say centuries, not millennia. Oh, the spiritually perceptive person sees a future in which there will be no inner causes of illness for those who bring about the inner and outer conditions of spiritual wisdom. There will always be external causes, but they can only be eliminated by the increasing prevalence of a healing art based on spiritual science. We see that if we understand the effect of the spiritual correctly, then temple sleep is no mystery to us.
So what was conjured up in the etheric visions as a healing power before the temple sleepers? The images of the Atlantean gods, whom we ourselves knew as etheric beings, among whom people once lived when they were outside their physical bodies and in etheric clairvoyance.
And if we go back even further in human evolution, far beyond the Atlantean era, we arrive at a time when humans first became what they are today, when humans first entered into the individual personalities they have today. We call this time the Lemurian period. The Atlantean continent, from which the peoples spread to Africa, Europe, and Asia, was destroyed by enormous water catastrophes. Lemuria, the continent on which humanity lived before the Atlantean period, was destroyed by forces of fire, by volcanic catastrophes. However, it was during the Lemurian period that human beings first acquired their sense of self-awareness. This was a tremendous turning point in human evolution. How did human beings acquire their sense of self-awareness? It is generally difficult for today's materialistic thinking to imagine this ancient state of humanity. If you were to imagine the people of that time as they are today, that is, with flesh and blood, bones and muscles, you would have a completely false idea. The human beings of that time had a much more fleeting, softer form; everything was almost liquid. What later became muscles and bones only hardened in the course of time. We are going back to a time when there was a completely different way of human reproduction. People back then lived more in the environment of the Earth, which was not pure air as it is today, but filled with all kinds of vapors. Humans lived there as true air beings, and external currents flowed in and out. It was actually almost as if we were looking at a cloud today that is constantly changing its shape, only the shape of the former human beings was somewhat more solid and definite. At that time, what we now call the sexes first appeared; in those days, an ancient asexual form of reproduction was replaced by a sexual one within the human race. However, this was millions and millions of years ago.
With sexual reproduction, the incorporation of the I into humanity first entered the first germ. In earlier times, human beings were stimulated to produce their own kind by completely different influences; they were prompted to do so by external influences, by influences that lay in the sphere around them. That was the reproduction of that time, when humans did not yet have their ego, when they were still endowed with a dull, clairvoyant consciousness, when they were, so to speak, still resting entirely in the bosom of the deity. They could not say, “I am.” What he felt was something like this: he saw that when he did something, it made an impression on his surroundings, and he felt his existence in his surroundings. They could not say, “I am here,” but rather, “My surroundings allow me to be here.” They lay in the bosom of the living earth, and the living forces of the earth flowed in and out. At that time, there were no unhealthy forces, there was no illness, not even death as we understand it today. It was only when human beings were subjected to sexual reproduction that illness and death entered the human race. If we imagine all this correctly, we must say that in those days human beings were not fertilized by their own kind, but just as they breathe today, they absorbed substances from their environment, and this environment contained the forces of fertilization. What entered him fertilized him and caused him to produce his own kind. And these were healthy forces in man himself and in what he produced as his own kind. The ancient Egyptian priests knew this, and they said to themselves: The further back you trace the observation of human beings to earlier states, the more you bring them into conditions where there is no disease. Just looking at the ancient Atlantean god figures could have a healing effect, but this was even more so when the priests directed the vision so that the temple sleeper saw before him those ancient human figures who had not yet been fertilized by their own kind, who received their fertilization from their surroundings. Standing before the sick person lying in the temple sleep was the figure of the woman who gave birth to her own kind without being fertilized by her own kind. Standing before him was the woman who gave birth, the woman with the child, who is a virgin, the goddess who was a companion of humans in that Lemurian time and who has since disappeared from the sight of humanity. She was called the holy Isis in ancient Egypt. Humanity could normally only see this Isis back then, when death had not yet entered the world; at that time, people in a normal state of consciousness were companions of such beings who surrounded them and brought forth their own kind in a virginal manner. And when Isis was no longer the visible companion of humanity, when she was taken up into the circle of the gods, she was still interested in the health of humans from the spiritual world, according to the priests. And when people were brought in an abnormal way, as in temple sleep, to a vision of those ancient figures, of that sacred image of Isis, then the goddess still had a healing effect, for she is the principle in human beings that was there before the mortal shell surrounded them. No mortal has lifted her veil, for she is the figure who was there when death had not yet come into the world. She is rooted in eternity; she is the great healing being whom humanity will regain when it once again immerses itself in spiritual wisdom.
Thus we see what has remained in that wonderful symbol of the virgin mother with the child, which has been preserved in the image of the Madonna. On the basis of spiritual science, we can say with all conviction that it has been preserved in the healing image of the Madonna. For the image of the Madonna is — within the limits that have been discussed — a remedy. If it is treated in such a way that the human soul still has an after-effect when it lies asleep and can dream of this image of the Madonna, then it still has a healing power today.
And now we ask ourselves: where did these fertilizing forces lie at that time, when human beings were not yet fertilized by their own kind?
Imagine our Earth as a solid core surrounded by all kinds of viscous, bubbling substances, water vapors, and within them semi-watery formations, within which the Lemurian humans lived. This earth body is irradiated by the sun, which at that time could not yet be perceived by the human eye because the sense organs were not yet developed. But this sun works through the veil of mist and clouds, and with the power of the sun's rays, the earth also absorbs the fertilizing forces. So what human beings absorb flows to the earth from invisible spiritual sun beings. Thus we have an earth that is illuminated from outside by the sun, which human beings cannot yet see, but this earth is not only irradiated by the forces of heat, but at the same time by the same force that today lives in the fertilizing power. Thus we have the sun and the earth in relationship with each other. This force, which acts upon those asexually reproducing human forms, was perceived as a male force, poured out as a product of the sun over the whole earth. Such were the conditions in the very earliest Lemurian period.
And then we go back to a time when completely different conditions prevailed, to a distant past when the sun, which is now separated from our Earth, was still connected to it. For once upon a time, our Earth and the Sun were one body. Everything subtle and ethereal is still connected in a certain way in this common body. We consider the moment when the Sun and Earth were still connected like a biscuit mold, in such a way that one part, a smaller sphere, namely the Earth and the Moon, hung from the Sun. So we imagine the sun as a large ethereal body, with the earth and moon hanging together from it. At that time, the rays of energy still flowed from the sun to the earth and from the earth to the sun, because both were, in a certain sense, one body.
We can best understand the meaning of this development if we ask ourselves what would have happened if the sun had simply turned away from the earth after it had split off, if it had no longer sent its rays and currents to the earth, if, so to speak, the earth had remained completely alone immediately after the split. All life on Earth would have dried up, ossified, and frozen. The fertilizing influence of the sun had to remain. One must perceive this interaction between the sun and the Earth as an interaction between two principles: one leading to condensation and solidification, the other inspiring and giving progressive life. And so it was later on. From the sun always flowed that which is progressive life.
And now we go back to an even earlier time, to a time when both bodies were still one, when the forces of the sun and the earth still flowed together completely.
You see, we have gone through different stages of development on our Earth. We have an ancient past when the Earth was still inside the Sun, when it was still one with the Sun; then a second period when the Earth was only loosely connected to the Sun, then a third when both bodies separated completely from each other. It was in this third period that the I actually entered into human beings, and it was then that sexual reproduction began. Then came the fourth period, the Atlantean period, and finally the post-Atlantean period in which we live.
For those who look more deeply into the fabric of the world, everything that happens outwardly is under the influence of spiritual beings. Once upon a time, the sun and the earth were one. We will discuss the development of the moon later. At that time, this common body was also permeated by uniformly acting spiritual-divine beings. High spiritual beings were necessary to exercise control over the forces, which at that time were still undivided.
Now let us imagine the development a little further along, with the sun body withdrawing. What happens then? The highest beings and the finest substances depart with the sun; they then act on the earth from outside. Those beings that represent the actual living, the ever-inspiring life, dwell on the sun; and on the earth dwell those beings which, if they were left alone, would bring about condensation, solidification, and darkness. In this second stage, light and darkness work together.
In the third stage of Earth's development, humans are endowed with the ego. For them, the time begins when their self-conscious ego dwells within them. They perceive this self-conscious I especially in its opposite: human beings fall more and more into a state where they have one consciousness that is lighter and another that is darker; one comes to them from the sun, the other mainly from the earth. The I, the eternal core, must alternate between a form where it is eternal and one that can be born and die. But those beings that always have what humans can only have alternately leave the earthly body. First, the being that has a fertilizing effect leaves; it prefers to dwell on the sun. And the being that maintains the form in permanence, in duration, leaves with the moon. The sun and moon gradually separate from the earth. With the sun depart all those entities which would have brought the earth into a turbulent life if they had remained united with it; with the moon depart those forces which would have caused hardening and solidification, which remain permanently in their form. The earth is as if in the middle between the two. The human being on earth thus alternates between activities that are influenced on the one hand by the sun and on the other by the forces of the moon. These forms, which were formerly companions of human beings, are now, so to speak, removed to the sun and the moon.
In the fourth period, there are those companions who have themselves already condensed into an ethereal-divine body and who are subject to human weaknesses in a certain sense. These are etheric gods, and man lived together with them during the Atlantean period. In the post-Atlantean period, he loses his connection with these etheric gods and is completely brought out into the physical world; the gate leading to the higher spiritual world is closed.
But something remains from these ancient times that acts as a memory of the spiritual worlds, and through the law of repetition, everything that humans once experienced in life appears in their consciousness one after the other. In life, he had once gone through a number of periods in which he had stood in ever-changing relationships with the gods. Now he goes through the same periods again, but in knowledge. The great Atlantic flood was followed by a time of ancient Indian culture, when people relived in their souls, in their spirits, that time with their high gods, when the earth and the sun were still united. The high, exalted deity who at that time guided and directed everything that was, was experienced by human beings in the first post-Atlantean cultural epoch, and they gave this deity a name that remained a tradition for later times: Brahman, the All-One. The deity that truly once existed among human beings—for in the first period of Earth's development, human beings had been companions of Brahman—was worshipped in ancient Indian culture; human beings experienced it cognitively, in a highly abstract form.
Then a culture followed in which human beings cognitively experienced the second epoch, when the sun with its life-giving forces was separated from the forces of darkness. Therefore, in their cognition, human beings of this second cultural epoch perceived a duality of God. They repeated what had once been in life in their religious knowledge, and this duality was preserved when the opposition between Ormuzd and Ahriman, the good and the negative deity, developed as Persian culture. It was nothing other than a repetition — but now in knowledge — of what human beings had once really experienced.
And then we come to the time when the sun and moon emerged, the sun with its fertilizing forces, the moon with its forces that gave form: for humans, however, a transitory form, but for the gods a lasting form. And humans again perceived this difference in the contrast between those earlier solar forces and those that were now at work, and working differently than before. And they perceived these solar forces as the forces of Osiris in Egypt. Osiris is the power of the sun as it worked in the third epoch of Earth's development, and we see the Osiris religion emerging in the third cultural epoch. And Isis is the power of the moon before its complete separation from the earth, before the separation of the sexes, when it still worked as a virginal reproductive power. Isis fled to the moon, where she became frozen.
And in the fourth epoch, in the Greek-Latin culture, humanity experienced in its polytheism a remnant memory of the Atlantean era with its many ethereal god figures.
And now, in the fifth cultural epoch, we have nothing to repeat. Let us keep this thought in mind: we have nothing to repeat, no old memories. For we have given birth to a fifth epoch that will have an effect on the future, while the four previous epochs were repetitions. Our time must not give birth to ancient wisdom, but to a new wisdom that can not only point to the past, but must also have a prophetic, apocalyptic effect on the future. We see an ancient wisdom preserved in the mysteries of past cultural epochs; an apocalyptic wisdom, the seeds of which we must sow, must be our wisdom. We need a principle of initiation again so that the original connection with the spiritual world can be restored. This is the task of the anthroposophical world movement. No wonder so many people have lost wisdom, for without the principle of initiation it is difficult to attain wisdom today, more difficult than in the past, when only the memory of old experiences could be refreshed, when the fruits of earlier developments could be experienced. Today it is difficult — hence we understand that today the sensory world without God is barren and empty for human beings. But even if it seems as if the old spiritual world has died, it is still there, effective and fruitful, and if human beings want to, they will find connection with the spiritual world again. Provision has been made for this by the fact that just when the ancient memories seemed to be dying out in the Greek-Latin period, a wonderful seed for all subsequent ages was planted in the cold soil of the earth, the seed we call the Christ principle. In connection with this Christ principle, apocalyptic wisdom, true, new spiritual knowledge, will be found, which not only recalls past times, but also points prophetically to the future and, precisely through this, calls people to action, to creativity. This active, productive wisdom has, of course, emerged from what was sown in the past.
Thus we see the connection between the past and the future, which is already before us today as a field of work. We see the entire horizon of the future emerging before us, and when we speak of the world, of human beings, and of the earth, we will not only have to speak of the past, but also of the forces of the future; for the world is not merely something that has to do with the past, but something that develops into the future, and our earth still has a great deal of future to complete. But human beings will be even more future than the earth, and if we want to know them completely, then we must not only look into the past, but we must study what is at work today and what will be at work in the great world of tomorrow.