Egyptian Myths and Mysteries
GA 106
3 September 1908, Leipzig
Second Lecture
The Reflection of Cosmic Events in the Religious Views of Men
Yesterday we looked at certain connections in the spiritual relationships of the so-called post-Atlantean time. We saw how the first cultural epoch of this period will repeat itself in the last, the seventh; how the Persian culture will repeat itself in the sixth; and how the Egyptian culture, which will occupy us during the next few days, repeats itself in our own lives and destinies in the fifth period. Of the fourth culture, the Greco-Latin, we were able to say that it occupies an exceptional position in that it experiences no repetition. Thus we could point in a sketchy way to the mysterious connections in the cultures of the post-Atlantean time, which follows after the time of the Atlantis that perished through powerful water-catastrophes. This age that follows Atlantis will perish in turn. At the end of our fifth great epoch, the post-Atlantean, there will be catastrophes that will work in a way similar to those at the close of the Atlantean epoch. Through the War of All Against All, the seventh culture of the fifth epoch will find its conclusion. These are interesting connections that are indicated in certain repetitions, and when we follow them more closely they will throw light into the depths of our soul life.
In order to lay a proper foundation, we must today allow still other repetitions to pass before our mind's eye. We will let our glance rove far into the evolution of our earth, and we will see that these wide horizons must have an intimate interest for us.
But let us begin with an admonition, a warning against a mechanical approach to the repetitions. When in the realm of occultism we speak of such repetitions, saying that the first cultural epoch repeats itself in the seventh, the third in the fifth, etc., it is easy to let a certain gift for combinations get the upper hand, so that we try to apply such schemes or diagrams in other contexts also. It is easy to believe that we can do this, and many books on theosophy actually contain a good deal of rubbish of this sort. Hence there must be a strong warning that such combinations are not controlling, but only perception, spiritual vision, without which we go astray. Such combinations must be warned against. What we can read in the spiritual world may be understood, but not discovered, through logic. It can be discovered only through experience.
If we wish to understand the cultural epochs more clearly, we must achieve a general view of the evolution of the earth as it presents itself to the seer who can direct his spiritual gaze to the events of the most remote past. If we look far back into the evolution of the earth, we can say that our earth has not always appeared as it does today. It did not have the firm mineral base of today; the mineral kingdom was not as it is today; the earth did not bear the same plants and animals, and men were not in such a fleshly body as they have today; men had no bony system. All that was formed later. The farther we look back, the nearer we come to a condition which, if we could have observed it from cosmic distances, we would have seen as a mist, as a fine etheric cloud. This mist was much larger than our present earth, for it extended as far as the outermost planets of our solar system and even farther. It included a far-reaching nebular mass, wherein was contained all that went into the formation of the earth, and also of the planets and even of the sun.
If we could have examined this mass of mist closely, if an observer could have approached it, it would have seemed to be composed entirely of fine etheric points. When we see a swarm of gnats from a distance, it looks to us like a single cloud; close-up, however, we see the single insects. Thus, in the most remote past, the mass of our earth would have appeared, although then it was not material in our sense but was condensed only to an etheric condition. This earth-formation consisted of single ether-points, but something special was connected with these ether-points. Had the human eye been able to see these points, it would not have seen what the clairvoyant would have seen or what he actually sees now when he looks back. Let us make this clear by a comparison. Take the seed of a wild rose, a fully developed seed. What does one see who observes this? He sees a body that is very small, and if he did not know how a rose seed looked he would never imagine that a rose could grow from it. He would never derive this from the mere form of the seed. But a person who was endowed with a certain clairvoyant capacity would experience the following. The seed would gradually disappear from his sight, but to his clairvoyant eye would appear a flower-like form growing spiritually out of the seed. It would stand before his clairvoyant view, a real form, but one that could be seen only in the spirit. This form is the archetype of what later grows out of the seed. We would err if we believed that this form was exactly like the plant that grows from the seed. It is not at all like it. It is a wonderful light-form, containing streams and complicated formations. One could say that what later grows out of the seed is only a shadow of this wonderful spiritual light-form beheld by the clairvoyant.
Holding fast to this picture of how the clairvoyant sees the archetype of the plant, let us now return to the primeval earth and the single etheric points. If now, as in the previous example, the clairvoyant contemplated such an etheric point in the primeval substance, there would arise for him from the point (as from the seed in the previous example) a light-form, a beautiful form, which in reality is not there but rests slumbering in the point. What is this form that the seer perceives, looking back at the primal earth atom? What is it that arises? It is a form that is different from physical man, as different as is the archetype from the physical plant. It is the archetype of the present human form. At that time the human form slumbered spiritually in the etheric point, and the whole earth-evolution was necessary in order that what rested there might develop into present-day man. Many, many things were necessary for this, just as much is also necessary for the seed. This seed must be sunk in the earth, and the sun must send its warming rays, before it can develop itself into a plant. We will gradually understand how these points became men if we make clear to ourselves all that has happened in the meanwhile.
In the primeval past all the planets were connected with our earth. However, we will first consider the sun, moon, and earth because they are of special interest to us. At that time our sun, our moon, and our earth were not separate, but were all together. If we could stir these three bodies together like a broth in a great world-kettle, and if we thought of this as one cosmic body, we would have what the earth in its original condition was—sun plus earth plus moon. Naturally, man could live there only in a spiritual condition. He could live only in this condition because what is in the present sun was then united with the earth. For a long, long time the cosmic body contained our earth, sun, and moon within itself, as well as all the beings and forces connected with them. In those times man was still only present spiritually in the primal human atom. This changed only in a time when something important occurred in world-evolution, when the sun split off and became a separate body, leaving earth and moon behind. After this, what was formerly a unity appears as a duality, as two cosmic bodies, the sun and the earth-plus-moon. Why did this occur?
All that happens has, naturally, a deep meaning, and we understand this when, looking backward, we find that there dwelt on earth at that time not only men but also other beings of a spiritual nature who were connected with them. These were not perceptible to the physical eye but were nevertheless present, as truly present as men and the other physical beings. Thus, for example, there are connected with our earth, living in its environs, beings whom Christian esotericism calls angels, Angeloi. We can best conceive these beings if we reflect that they stand at the stage at which man will be when the earth completes its evolution. Today these beings are already as far along as man will be at the end of his evolution on earth. A still higher stage is occupied by the archangels, Archangeloi, or Spirits of Fire, beings whom we can perceive when we direct our glance to what concerns entire peoples. Such concerns are guided by the beings called archangels or Archangeloi. A still higher type of being is called the Primal Beginnings or Archai or Spirits of Personality. We find these when we look at whole epochs of time and at many peoples, with all their connections and contrasts, contemplating what is usually called the Zeitgeist or Spirit of the Time. When we examine our own time, for example, we find that it is guided by higher beings called Archai or Primal Beginnings. Then there are still higher beings called, in Christian esotericism, Powers or Exusiai or Spirits of Form. Thus there are innumerable beings connected with our earth who are related to man in a sort of ladder of successive stages.
If we begin with the mineral and rise from the mineral to the plant, from the plant to the animal, and then to man, man is the highest physical being, but the others are also there; they are among us and permeate us. In the beginning of things, when the earth emerged from the womb of eternity as a sort of primeval mist, all these beings were bound up with the earth, and the clairvoyant would have seen how other beings pervade this picture at the same time as the human form. These were the beings named above, and beings of still higher types such as the Virtues, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim, and finally the Seraphim. All of these beings were intimately connected with that powerful etheric dust, but they are at various stages of development. There are those whose sublimity man cannot fathom, but others are closer to him.
Since these beings were at different stages, they could not go through their evolution in the same way as man. A dwelling place had to be created for them. Among these high beings there were some who would have been greatly handicapped had they remained bound to lower beings. Therefore they split off. They took the finest substances out of the mist and built their dwelling in the sun. They created their heaven there, and there they found the proper tempo for their evolution. Had they remained in the inferior substances that they left behind in the earth, they would not have been able to continue their evolution. This would have hindered their development like a lead weight. This shows how material occurrences, such as the split in the cosmic substance, do not proceed from merely physical causes but rather from the forces of beings who need a site for their development. It happens because they must build their cosmic house. We must emphasize that spiritual causes lie at the foundation.
Man remained behind on the earth-plus-moon, and with him higher beings of the lowest hierarchy, such as angels and archangels, as well as beings who stood lower than man. But a single mighty being, who was already ripe enough to migrate to the sun, sacrificed himself and stayed with earth-plus-moon. This was the being who was later named Yahweh or Jehovah. He left the sun and became the leader of affairs on earth-plus-moon. Thus we have two dwelling-places: the sun and earth-plus-moon. On the sun were the most exalted beings, under the leadership of an especially high and sublime being whom the Gnostics attempted to conceive under the name Pleroma. We must picture this being as the regent of the sun. Yahweh is the leader of earth-plus-moon. We must make it especially clear that the noblest loftiest spirits went out with the sun, leaving the earth behind with the moon. The moon was not yet split off; it was still within the earth.
How should one conceive this cosmic event of the separation of the sun from the earth? Above all, one must feel the sun and its inhabitants to be the most august, pure, and sublime element that was formerly connected with the earth, whereas earth-plus-moon was the lower element. At that time its condition was still lower than that of our present earth. The latter stands higher because there came a later period during which the earth unburdened itself of the moon and its grosser substances, in the presence of which man could not have developed further. The earth had to expel the moon.
Just before this, however, was the darkest and most dreadful time for our earth. Everything with a noble evolutionary disposition came under the control of bad forces, so that man could progress further only by eliminating the worst conditions of existence along with the moon.
We must realize that a sublime light-principle, that of the sun, was opposed to the principle of darkness, that of the moon. Had one clairvoyantly observed the sun, which had already withdrawn, one would have seen the beings who wished to inhabit it, but also something else would have been perceived. What had withdrawn itself as the sun would have shown itself not only as a cluster of spiritual beings, nor would it have appeared as something etheric, for that belongs to a coarser realm; it would have appeared as something astral, as a mighty light-aura. What one would have sensed as a light-principle, one would have seen as a shining aura in cosmic space. The earth, through allowing this light to go forth, would suddenly have appeared densified, though not yet coming to a firm mineral consistency. A good and an evil, a bright and a dark principle, stood opposed to each other at that time.
Now let us see how the earth looked before it expelled the moon. It would be entirely wrong to think of it as resembling our present earth. The core of the earth was then a fiery seething mass. This core would have appeared as a nucleus of fire surrounded by powerful water-forces, although these would not have been like our water of today, for they contained the metals in fluid form. In the middle of all this was man, but in entirely different form.
Thus the earth appeared when it expelled the moon. Air was not to be found on the earth; it simply was not there. The beings then existing needed no air; they had an entirely different breathing system. Man had become a sort of fish-amphibian, but he consisted of soft fluid material. What he sucked into himself was not air but what was contained in the water. This is approximately the way the earth looked at that time. We must see that the earth at that time was in a lower condition than at present. It had to be so. Otherwise man could never have been able to find the right tempo and the means for his evolution, if the sun and moon had not separated themselves from the earth. Had the sun remained in the earth, everything would have gone too fast; whereas everything would have gone too slowly with the forces that now work on the moon. As the moon withdrew from the earth amid tremendous catastrophes, there prepared itself slowly what we may call the separation of an air-sheath from the water-element. Air was then entirely different from the air of today, for all kinds of vapors were still contained in it. But the being that was then gradually preparing itself was a sort of sketch of the man of today. We will describe all this more fully later.
We have learned to know man in three relationships. First, as he lived in earth-plus-sun-plus-moon with all the higher beings in a single cosmic body. Here he presented himself to the clairvoyant eye in the way described above. Next we see him under unfavorable conditions on earth-plus-moon. Had he remained in this condition, he would have become a malicious and savage being. When the sun had separated itself, there was the contrast of the sun on one side and moon-plus-earth on the other side. The sun, in all its streaming glory, glittered as a great sun-aura in space. On the other side remained earth-plus-moon with all the sinister forces that drag down the nobler elements in man. A twofoldness arises, which is followed by a threefoldness. The sun remains as it is, but the earth separates itself from the moon. The grosser substances withdraw and man remains behind upon the earth.
Looking at the third period, man feels the forces as a threefold principle. He asks: Whence come these forces? In the first period man was still connected with all the high forces of the sun. The forces that developed in the second period then went out with the moon. Man felt this as a redemption, but he had a memory of the first period in which he was still united with the sun-beings. He learned to know what longing was; he felt himself to be a cast-off son. With the forces that had gone out with sun and moon he could feel himself as a son of the sun and of the moon.
So, our earth evolved from a unity to a duality to a trinity: sun, earth, and moon.
The time when the moon split away, when man first received the possibility of developing himself, is designated as the Lemurian epoch. After great fire-catastrophes had terminated this Lemurian epoch, our earth gradually entered a condition that could produce the relationships prevailing in ancient Atlantis. The first beginnings of land emerged from the water-masses. This was long after the moon broke away, yet it was only because of that breaking-away that the earth was able to evolve as it did.
In Atlantis man was entirely different from today, but he had reached the point where he could move about within the air-sheath as a soft, swimming, floating mass. Only gradually did he develop a bony system. About the middle of Atlantis he had progressed so far as somewhat to resemble our present form.
But in Atlantis man had a clairvoyant consciousness. Our present consciousness developed only in much later times, and if we wish to understand the man of that time we must bear this clairvoyant consciousness in mind. We can understand this best through a comparison with the consciousness of today. Today man perceives the world from morning to evening by means of his senses. Through his sense-activity he continually receives impressions of sight, hearing, etc. But at night this sense-world sinks into an ocean of unconsciousness. For the occultist, this is really not so much a lack of consciousness as a lower grade of consciousness.
At this point we must make it clear that today man has a double consciousness, a bright day-consciousness and a sleep or dream consciousness. This was not at all the case in the first Atlantean times. Let us examine the alternation between waking and sleeping in those early times. During a certain period man dipped down into his physical body, but he did not perceive objects in the same sharp outlines as today. If we picture ourselves walking through a dense fog when the street lamps seem surrounded by a light-aura, we will have a rough idea of the Atlantean's object-consciousness. For the man of that time, everything was surrounded by such a fog; everything was as though enveloped in mist. That was the look of things by day. By night things looked entirely different, although still not the same as today. When the Atlantean went out of his body, he did not sink into unconsciousness but found himself in a world of divine spiritual beings, ego-beings, whom he perceived around him as his companions. As truly as man today does not see these beings at night, so truly did he in those times plunge into an ocean of spirituality, in which he actually perceived the divine beings. By day he was the companion of the lower kingdoms; by night he was the companion of the higher beings. Man lived in a spiritual consciousness, though this was dim; and, though he had no self-consciousness, he dwelt among these divine spiritual beings.
Now let us recapitulate the four epochs in the evolution of our earth. First, let us bring to mind the epoch in which sun and moon were still united with the earth. We must say that the beings of this earth are pure ideal beings, while man is present only as an etheric body, visible only to spiritual eyes. Then we come to the second epoch. We see the sun as a separate body, visible as an aura, and moon-plus-earth as a world of evil. Then we come to a third epoch, where the moon separates itself and on earth there work the forces that are the result of this threeness. Then we come to a fourth epoch. Here man is already a being in the physical world, which seems misty to him, and in sleep he is still the companion of divine beings. This is the epoch that closes with huge water-catastrophes, the time of Atlantis.
Now let us go one step further, to the man of the post-Atlantean time. As stated earlier, he has evolved through many thousands of years. We see him pass through the cultural epochs of the post-Atlantean time; the ancient Indian, the ancient Persian, the Egypto-Chaldean-Babylonian, the Greco-Latin culture, and our fifth culture. What, above all things, had man lost? He had lost something that we can conceive when we bear the description of Atlantis in mind.
Let us try to imagine the sleep-condition of the Atlantean. Man was then still the companion of the gods; he actually perceived a world of the spirit. This he had lost after the Atlantean catastrophe. The darkness of night surrounded him. In recompense there came a brightening of the day-consciousness and the development of the ego. All this man had achieved, but the old gods had vanished from his sight; they were now only memories. In fact, during the first post-Atlantean time all that his soul had experienced was merely a memory, a memory of his earlier inter-course with these divine beings.
We know that souls endure, that they reincarnate. Just as in ancient Atlantean times our souls were already present, were already living in bodies, so were they also present at the separation of moon and sun from the earth, and also in the earliest times of all. Man existed in the etheric dust or points, and the five cultural periods of the post-Atlantean time, in their views of the world, in their religions, are nothing else than memories of the ancient epochs of the earth.
The first period, the primeval Indian, developed a religion that seems like an inner lighting-up, an inner repetition, in ideas and feelings, of the very first period, when sun and moon were still bound up with the earth, when the lofty beings of the sun still dwelt on earth. We may imagine that this had to awaken a sublime view. The spirit who, in the first condition of the earth, in the primeval mist, connected himself with all angels, archangels, high gods, and spiritual beings, was for Indian consciousness summed up as a single high individuality under the name of Brahm or Brahma.1It may occur to the reader that India, even in ancient times, was notable for the multiplicity of its gods rather than for their unity. In this connection the following passage from the Upanishads may be illuminating:
Then Vidagda Sakayla questioned him: “How many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?”
He answered: “As many as are mentioned in the Hymn to All the Gods, namely three hundred and three, and three thousand and three.”
“Yes, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?”
“Thirty-three.”
“Yes, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?”
“Six.”
“Yes, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?”
“Two.”
“Yes, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?”
“One and a half.”
“Yes, but just how many gods are there, Yajnavalkya?”
“One.”
(Brih. Upan., ii, 2, iv, 4.) This first post-Atlantean culture recapitulated in the spirit what had happened earlier. It is a repetition of the first epoch of the earth, in its inner aspect.
Now let us look at the second cultural period. In the principles of light and darkness we have the religious consciousness of the primeval Persian period. The great initiate saw an opposition between two beings, one of which was personified in the sun and the other in the moon. Ahura Mazdao or Ormuzd, the Light-aura, is the being whom the Persians venerated as the highest god. Ahriman is the evil spirit, the representative of all the beings who belonged to earth-plus-moon. The religion of the Persians is a remembrance of the second epoch of the earth.
In the third cultural epoch, man had to say to himself, “In me are the forces of the sun and of the moon; I am a son of the sun and a son of the moon. All the forces of the sun and of the moon appear as my father and my mother.” Thus we have unity in the primeval past as the attitude of the Indian; while the duality that appeared with the separation of the sun is reflected in the religion of the Persians; and in the religious views of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Babylonians we find the trinity that appeared in the third epoch, after the separation of sun and moon. Trinity appears in all the religions of the third period, and in Egypt it is exemplified in Osiris, Isis, and Horus.
But what man had experienced in his consciousness in the fourth earth-epoch, the Atlantean, as a companion of the gods, emerges as a memory in the Greco-Latin period. The gods of the Greeks are nothing other than memories of the gods whose companion man was in Atlantis, the gods whom he saw clairvoyantly in etheric forms when he had risen out of his physical body at night. As truly as man today sees outer objects, so truly at that time did he see Zeus, Athena, etc. For him these were real figures. What the Atlantean felt and experienced in his clairvoyant condition reappeared, for the man of the fourth post-Atlantean period, in the pantheon. As the Egyptian time was a memory of the trinity that prevailed in the Lemurian epoch, the experience of Atlantis remained as a memory in the Hellenic hierarchy of gods. In Greece and elsewhere in Europe these were the same gods whom the Atlantean had seen, but under other names. These names were not invented; they are names for the same forms that walked beside man in the Atlantean time when he went out of his physical body.
So we see how the epochs of cosmic events find their symbolical expression in the religious views of the different post-Atlantean cultural periods. What took place during sleep in the Atlantean time lives again in the fourth period.
We are in the fifth post-Atlantean period. What can we remember? In the first period the ancient Indians could conceive the first earth-epoch; in the second period the Persians had the principles of good and evil; the ancient Egyptians could picture the third epoch in its trinity. The period of the Greeks, the old Germans, the Romans, had its Olympus. It remembered the godlike figures of Atlantis. Then came the modern time, the fifth period. What can it remember?
It can remember nothing. This is the reason why in this period, godlessness has been able to make headway in many respects. This is why the fifth period is driven to look toward the future rather than the past. It must look toward the future, when all the gods must arise again. This reunion with the gods was prepared in the time of the bursting-in of the Christ-force, which worked so powerfully that it could again endow man with a godly consciousness. The god-pictures of the fifth period cannot be memories. Only if man looks forward will life again become spiritual. In the fifth post-Atlantean period, consciousness must become apocalyptic.
Yesterday we examined the relations of the single cultures of the Post-Atlantean time. Today we have seen how cosmic events are reflected in the religious views of these cultures.
Our fifth period stands at a central point in the world, hence it must look forward. The Christ must for the first time be fully grasped in this period, for our souls are deeply interwoven in mysterious connections. We shall see how the repetition of the Egyptian time in our fifth period gives us a point of departure, and how we can actually pass over into the future.
Zweiter Vortrag
Wir haben gestern versucht, gewisse Zusammenhänge in den Lebensverhältnissen, namentlich auch in den geistigen Verhältnissen der sogenannten nachatlantischen Zeit, vor unsere Augen zu stellen. Wir haben gesehen, wie die erste Kulturepoche dieser Zeit sich wiederholen wird in der letzten, der siebenten Kulturepoche, wie die persische Kultur sich wiederholen wird in der sechsten Kulturepoche, und wie die Kulturepoche, die uns in den nächsten Tagen beschäftigen wird, die ägyptische, sich wiederholt in dem Leben und den Schicksalen von uns selbst, in der fünften Kultur. Von der vierten Kultur, der griechisch-lateinischen Zeit, konnten wir sagen, daß sie sich eine Ausnahmestellung bewahrt hat, daß sie keine Wiederholung erlebt. Damit haben wir skizzenhaft hinweisen können auf geheimnisvolle Zusammenhänge in den Kulturen der nachatlantischen Zeit, die auf die Zeit der Atlantis folgte, der Atlantis, die durch gewaltige Wasserkatastrophen zugrunde gegangen ist. Auch diese der Atlantis nachfolgende Zeit wird untergehen.
Am Ende unserer fünften großen Epoche, der nachatlantischen, werden auch Katastrophen folgen, die ähnlich wirken werden wie jene am Schluß der atlantischen Epoche. Durch den Krieg aller gegen alle wird die siebente Kultur der fünften Epoche ihren Abschluß finden. Es waren interessante Zusammenhänge, die da angedeutet worden sind in gewissen Wiederholungen, die, wenn wir sie genauer verfolgen werden, tief hineinleuchten werden in unser Seelenleben.
Heute müssen wir, womit wir uns einen Unterbau schaffen wollen, noch andere Wiederholungen vor unser geistiges Auge treten lassen. Wir werden den Blick weit hinausschweifen lassen in das Werden unserer Erde und werden sehen, daß die weiten Horizonte uns ganz intim interessieren müssen.
Nur eine Mahnung sei noch an den Anfang gestellt, eine Warnung vor schematischen Wiederholungen. Wenn auf dem Gebiete des Okkultismus von solchen Wiederholungen die Rede ist, wie: die erste Kulturepoche wiederholt sich in der siebenten, die dritte in der fünften, dann kann leicht irgendeine Kombinationsgabe sich betätigen wollen und solche Schemata auch für andere Verhältnisse aufsuchen wollen. Man könnte glauben, daß man das könnte, und in der Tat wird in vielen Büchern über Theosophie mancher Unfug dadurch getrieben. Da muß denn streng gewarnt werden, daß nicht solche Kombinationen entscheiden, sondern einzig die Anschauung, die geistige Anschauung, sonst wird man fehlgehen. Vor solchen Kombinationen muß gewarnt werden. Das was wir lesen können in der geistigen Welt, läßt sich zwar durch Logik begreifen, aber nicht finden. Erleben läßt es sich nur durch die Erfahrung.
Wir müssen, wenn wir genauer die Kulturepochen verstehen wollen, uns einen Überblick verschaffen über das Werden der Erde überhaupt, wie es sich darstellt dem Scher, der in das Geschehen urferner Vergangenheit seinen geistigen Blick richten kann.
Wenn wir innerhalb dieses Werdens der Erde weit zurückblicken, dann können wir uns sagen, daß unsere Erde nicht immer so aussah wie heute. Sie hatte nicht den festen mineralischen Grund wie heute, das Mineralreich war nicht so wie heute, auch trug sie nicht solche Pflanzen und Tiere wie heute, und die Menschen waren nicht in einem fleischlichen Leibe wie heute, der Mensch hatte kein Knochensystem. Das hat sich alles erst später gebildet. Je weiter wir zurückschauen, desto mehr nähern wir uns einem Zustand, den wir, wenn wir ihn aus den Weltenfernen hätten betrachten können, gesehen haben würden nur wie einen Nebel, wie eine feine, ätherische Wolke. Dieser Nebel würde zwar viel größer gewesen sein als unsere heutige Erde, denn dieser Nebel würde gereicht haben bis in die Fernen der äußersten Planeten unseres Sonnensystems und darüber hinaus. Das alles hätte umfaßt eine weitreichende Nebelmasse, worin nicht allein das war, woraus sich unsere Erde gebildet hat, sondern alle Planeten, auch die Sonne selbst waren darin. Und wenn wir diese Nebelmasse genauer hätten untersuchen können — vorausgesetzt, der Beschauer hätte sich ihr nähern können -, so würde sie für uns so ausgesehen haben, wie wenn sie aus lauter feinen ätherischen Punkten zusammengesetzt gewesen wäre. Wenn wir einen Mückenschwarm von ferne ansehen, dann erscheint dieser uns wie eine Wolke, in der Nähe aber sehen wir die einzelnen Tierchen. So etwa hätten wir damals die Masse der Erde in urferner Vergangenheit gesehen, die damals nicht materiell war in unserem Sinne, sondern bis zum ätherischen Zustande verdichtet war. Diese Erdenbildung bestand also aus einzelnen Ätherpunkten, aber mit diesen Ätherpunkten war etwas ganz Besonderes verbunden. Wenn wir allerdings daran festhalten, daß das menschliche Auge die Punkte hätte sehen können, so hätte dieses nicht so etwas wahrgenommen, wie der Hellscher das gesehen haben würde, was er heute auch noch in der Tat rückblickend sieht. Das wollen wir uns durch einen Vergleich näherbringen.
Nehmen wir ein Samenkorn einer Rose, einer wilden Rose, ein völlig ausgebildetes Samenkorn. Was sieht der, der es betrachtet? Er sieht einen Körper, der sehr klein ist, und wenn er nicht gelernt hat, wie das Samenkorn der wilden Rose aussieht, so wird er niemals herauskriegen können, daß da eine Hundsrose herauswachsen kann. Das würde er aus der bloßen Form des Korns niemals erraten. Der aber, der mit einer gewissen hellseherischen Fähigkeit begabt ist, der wird folgendes erleben können. Das Samenkorn wird allmählich vor seinem Blick verschwinden, aber vor sein hellseherisches Auge wird treten eine blumenähnliche Gestalt, die aus dem Korn geistig herauswächst. Sie steht vor dem hellseherischen Blick, eine wirkliche Form, die nur im Geiste erschaut werden kann. Diese Form ist das Urbild dessen, was später herauswächst aus dem Korn. Nun würden wir uns irren, wenn wir glaubten, daß dieses Bild ganz der Pflanze gleich sei, die dem Samenkorn entspricht. Es ist ganz und gar nicht gleich. Es ist eine wunderbare Lichtgestalt, die in sich Strömungen und komplizierte Bildungen zeigt, und man könnte sagen, daß das, was später herauswächst aus dem Korn, bloß ein Schatten dieser wunderbaren geistigen Lichtgestalt sei, die der Hellseher in dem Samenkorn sehen kann. Halten wir dieses Bild fest, wie der Hellseher sieht das Urbild der Pflanze, und jetzt sehen wir wieder auf unsere Urerde, auf die einzelnen ätherischen Punkte zurück.
Wenn nun der Hellseher, ebenso wie in dem vorigen Beispiele, sich gegenüberstellte einem solchen ätherischen Staubpunkte der Ursubstanz, so würde für ihn aus diesem ätherischen Staubkorn, ganz in ähnlicher Weise wie aus dem Samenkorn, eine Lichtgestalt herauswachsen, eine prächtige Gestalt, die in Wirklichkeit nicht da ist, die schlummernd in diesem Staubkorn ruht. Und was ist es denn, was da als eine Gestalt der Seher sehen kann, rückblickend auf dieses Urerdenatom? Was ist es denn, was da herauswächst? Das ist eine Gestalt, die wiederum verschieden ist — so verschieden wie das Urbild der Pflanze von der sinnlichen Pflanze - von dem physischen Menschen: Es ist das Urbild der heutigen Menschengestalt. Damals schlummerte geistig die Menschengestalt in dem ätherischen Staubkorn, und die ganze Erdenentwickelung war notwendig, damit das, was da ruhte, zum heutigen Menschen sich entwickelte. Dazu waren viele, viele Dinge notwendig, so wie für das Samenkorn auch vieles notwendig ist, wie der Samen in die Erde gesenkt werden muß, und wie die Sonne ihm ihre Wärmestrahlen schicken muß, damit er sich zur Pflanze entwickelt. Und wir werden allmählich verstehen, wie das zum Menschen wurde, wenn wir uns klarmachen, was alles geschehen ist in der Zwischenzeit.
In der urfernen Vergangenheit waren mit unserer Erde alle Planeten verbunden. Wir wollen jedoch zunächst einmal Sonne, Mond und Erde betrachten, die uns ja auch heute besonders interessieren. Unsere Sonne, unser Mond und unsere Erde waren damals auch nicht allein, sondern sie waren beisammen. Wenn wir diese drei heutigen Körper zusammenrühren würden wie zu einem Brei in einem großen Weltentopfe, und wir uns das als einen Weltenkörper denken würden, so würden wir das bekommen, was die Erde in ihrem Urzustand war, nämlich: Sonne plus Erde plus Mond. Natürlich konnte da der Mensch nur in einem geistigen Zustande leben. Damals konnte er nur in diesem Zustande leben, weil mit der Erde auch verbunden war, was in der heutigen Sonne ist. Und es dauerte eine lange, lange Zeit hindurch, daß der Weltenkörper, unsere Erde, Sonne und Mond noch in sich hatte und noch zusammen war mit all den Wesenheiten und Kräften, die damit verbunden waren. In diesen Zeiten war der Mensch noch in dem Uratom des Menschen nur geistig vorhanden. Das ist erst anders geworden in der Zeit, in der sich etwas ganz Bedeutsames in unserer Weltenentwickelung vollzogen hatte, nämlich, als sich die Sonne als ein selbständiger Körper abspaltete und zurückgelassen hat Erde und Mond. Jetzt haben wir, was früher eine Einheit war, als eine Zweiheit, zwei Weltenkörper, die Sonne und andererseits die Erde plus Mond. Warum ist das geschehen?
Alles was geschieht, hat natürlich einen tiefen Sinn, den wir verstehen werden, wenn wir rückschauend finden, daß damals auf der Erde nicht nur Menschen lebten, sondern daß auch andere Wesen geistiger Art mit ihnen verbunden waren, die zwar nicht für physische Augen wahrnehmbar waren, die aber doch vorhanden waren, so wahr vorhanden wie die Menschen und die anderen physischen Wesen. So sind zum Beispiel mit unserer Welt Wesen verbunden, im Umkreis der Erde lebend, die die christliche Esoterik Engel, Angeloi nennt. Diese Wesenheiten können wir uns am besten vorstellen, wenn wir bedenken, daß ein solches Wesen auf der Stufe steht, auf welcher der Mensch sein wird, wenn die Erde ihre Entwickelung beendet haben wird. Heute sind diese Wesen schon so weit, wie der Mensch am Ziel seiner Erdenentwickelung sein wird. Eine noch höhere Stufe nehmen die Erzengel, Archangeloi oder Feuergeister ein, Wesenheiten, welche wir erblicken können, wenn wir unseren geistigen Blick richten auf die Angelegenheiten ganzer Völker. Diese Angelegenheiten werden gelenkt von Wesenheiten, die man Erzengel oder Archangeloi nennt. Eine noch höhere Art von Wesenheiten nennt man die Urbeginne oder Archai oder die Geister der Persönlichkeit, und wir finden diese, wenn wir den Blick schweifen lassen über ganze Zeiten und viele Völker und deren Beziehungen und Gegensätze und ins Auge fassen das, was man gewöhnlich den Zeitgeist nennt. Wenn man zum Beispiel unsere Zeit betrachtet, so wird diese geleitet von höheren Wesen, die man Urbeginne oder Archai nennt. Dann gibt es noch höhere Wesenheiten, die man in der christlichen Esoterik Gewalten oder Exusiai oder Geister der Form nennt. So sind also mit unserer Erde verbunden unzählige Wesenheiten, die sich sozusagen wie in einer Art von Stufenleiter dem Menschen angliedern.
Wenn wir bei dem Mineral anfangen und aufsteigen vom Mineral zur Pflanze, von der Pflanze zum 'Tier und dann zum Menschen, so ist der Mensch das höchste physische Wesen; die anderen aber sind ebenso da, sie sind zwischen uns, durchdringen uns. Im Beginne unserer Erdenentwickelung nun, von der wir eben gesprochen, als die Erde gleichsam als Urnebel auftaucht aus dem Schoße der Ewigkeit, da sind alle solchen Wesen verbunden mit der Erde, und es würde sich für den Hellseher ergeben, wie zu gleicher Zeit mit der Menschengestalt auch andere Wesen jenes Bild durchdringen. Es sind die oben genannten Wesen und Wesen noch höherer Art, wie die Mächte, die Herrschaften, die Throne, die Cherubim und dann die Seraphim. Das sind alles Wesen, die innig verbunden waren mit jenem gewaltigen ätherischen Staub, aber sie stehen auf verschiedenen Stufen der Entwickelung. Es gibt solche, welche eine Erhabenheit haben, von der der Mensch keine Ahnung hat, doch gibt es auch Wesen, die den Menschen näherstehen. Weil solche Wesenheiten auf verschiedener Stufe standen, konnten sie ihre Entwickelung nicht in der Art durchmachen wie der Mensch, es mußte für sie ein Wohnplatz geschaffen werden. Es waren unter den hohen Wesenheiten solche, die sehr viel eingebüßt hätten, wenn sie mit den niederen Wesen verbunden geblieben wären. Daher sonderten sie sich ab. Sie nahmen aus dem Nebel die feinsten Substanzen heraus und bildeten sich in der Sonne ihren Wohnsitz. Sie bildeten sich dort ihren Himmel; da fanden sie das rechte Tempo ihrer Entwickelung. Wären sie in den geringeren Substanzen geblieben, die sie in der Erde zurückgelassen haben, dann würden sie dadurch ihre Entwickelung nicht haben fortsetzen können. Das wäre eine Hemmung, wie ein Bleigewicht in ihrer Entwickelung gewesen. Wir sehen daraus, wie das, was materiell geschieht, wie die Spaltung der Weltsubstanz, nicht bloß aus physikalischer Ursache geschieht, sondern durch die Kräfte der Wesenheiten, die einen Wohnsitz für ihre Entwickelung notwendig haben; es geschieht, weil sie ihr Weltenhaus bauen müssen. Das müssen wir betonen, daß geistige Ursachen zugrunde liegen.
So ist zurückgeblieben auf der Erde plus Mond der Mensch und mit ihm höhere Wesen der untersten Hierarchie, wie Engel und Erzengel und Wesenheiten, die tiefer standen als er selbst. Nur eine einzige mächtige Wesenheit, die eigentlich schon reif war, mit auf den Schauplatz der Sonne zu wandern, hat sich geopfert und ist mitgegangen mit Erde plus Mond. Es ist die Wesenheit, die später Jahve oder Jehova genannt wurde. Er hat die Sonne verlassen und wurde dann der Leiter der Angelegenheiten auf der Erde plus Mond. So haben wir zwei Wohnplätze: die Sonne mit den erhabensten Wesen, unter der Führung einer besonders hohen, erhabenen Wesenheit, die die Gnostiker zum Beispiel sich vorzustellen versuchten unter dem Namen Pleroma. Wir sollen uns dieses Wesen vorstellen als den Regenten der Sonne. Jahve ist der Leiter der Erde plus Mond. Wir wollen das ganz besonders festhalten, daß die edelsten, erhabensten Geister mit der Sonne herausgegangen sind und die Erde mit dem Monde zurückgelassen haben. Der Mond war noch nicht abgespalten, er war noch in der Erde darinnen. Wie kann man nun diesen kosmischen Vorgang der Abtrennung der Sonne von der Erde empfinden? Man muß vor allen Dingen die Sonne mit ihren Bewohnern empfinden als das Hehrste, Reinste, Erhabenste, was mit der Erde früher in Verbindung gewesen war, und dann muß man empfinden das, was Erde plus Mond ist, als das, was sich dagegen als das Niedere herausgebildet hat. Der Zustand war damals noch niedriger als der unserer heutigen Erde. Diese steht wiederum höher, denn es trat ein späterer Zeitpunkt ein, in dem die Erde sich des Mondes entledigte und mit ihm ihrer gröberen Substanzen, mit denen der Mensch sich nicht weiter hätte entwickeln können. Die Erde mußte den Mond herauswerfen.
Vorher aber war die finsterste, schauervollste Zeit für unsere Erde, da war das, was die edlen Entwickelungsanlagen hatte, unter die Gewalt schlimmer, sehr schlimmer Kräfte gekommen, und erst dadurch konnte der Mensch weiterkommen, daß er die schlimmsten Daseinsbedingungen mit dem Monde heraussetzte.
Wir müssen empfinden, daß da ein Lichtprinzip, ein Prinzip der Erhabenheit, das Prinzip der Sonne, entgegensteht dem Prinzip der Finsternis, dem Prinzip des Mondes. Hätte man da hellseherisch angesehen die Sonne, die damals herausgetreten war, man würde die Wesen gesehen haben, die sie bewohnen wollten. Aber noch etwas anderes hätte man wahrgenommen. Es würde, was sich als Sonne herausgezogen hatte, sich nicht nur gezeigt haben als ein Zusammenhang von geistigen Wesen, es hätte sich auch nicht ätherisch gezeigt, denn das gehörte zum Gröberen: es hätte sich gezeigt als etwas Astralisches, wie eine mächtige Lichtaura. Was man als Lichtprinzip empfunden hätte, das hätte man als eine leuchtende Aura im Weltenraum gesehen. Dadurch, daß die Erde aber dieses Licht herausgelassen hatte, würde sie plötzlich verdichtet ausgesehen haben, wenn auch noch nicht fest mineralisch. Ein gutes und ein böses, ein helles und ein finsteres Prinzip standen sich dazumal gegenüber.
Nun wollen wir einmal sehen, wie die Erde aussah, bevor sie den Mond heraussetzte. Ganz falsch würde die Vorstellung sein, wenn man sie sich denken würde wie unsere heutige Erde. Der Kern der damaligen Erde war eine feurige, brodelnde Masse. Dieser Kern würde als ein Feuerkern erschienen sein, der aber umgeben war von mächtigen Wassergewalten, jedoch nicht wie unser heutiges Wasser, denn darinnen waren ja auch enthalten die Metalle in flüssiger Form. In all dem drinnen war der Mensch, aber in ganz anderer Gestalt.
So war die Erde damals, als sie den Mond heraussonderte. Vor allen Dingen war damals auf der Erde nicht die Luft zu finden, die war gar nicht darinnen. Die Wesen, die damals da waren, brauchten gar keine Luft, sie hatten ein ganz anderes Atmungssystem. Der Mensch war eine Art Fisch-Amphibium geworden. Aber aus ganz weicher, flüssiger Materie bestand er. Das, was er in sich sog, war nicht Luft, sondern dasjenige, was in dem Wasser enthalten war. So etwa sah die Erde in der damaligen Zeit aus. Wir müssen die damalige Zeit empfinden als etwas, wo die Erde tiefer stand als unsere heutige Erde. Das mußte so sein. Der Mensch hätte sonst niemals das richtige Tempo und die Mittel zu seiner Entwickelung finden können, hätten sich nicht Sonne und Mond von der Erde abgespalten. Mit der Sonne in der Erde wäre alles zu schnell gegangen, aber viel zu langsam wäre alles gegangen mit den Kräften, die jetzt auf dem Monde wirken. Als der Mond unter mächtigen Katastrophen sich herauszog aus der Erde, da bereitete sich nach und nach vor, was man nennen könnte die Trennung einer Lufthülle und des Wasserelements. Die Luft war damals ganz und gar nicht die Luft von heute, sondern alle möglichen Dämpfe waren noch darinnen enthalten. Aber dasjenige Wesen, was sich damals allmählich vorbereitete, war erst eine gewisse Anlage zum heutigen Menschen. Wir werden das alles noch genauer zu schildern haben.
So haben wir den Menschen in drei Verhältnissen kennengelernt. Erstens in dem Verhältnis, wo er zusammenlebte mit Erde plus Sonne plus Mond und allen höheren Wesenheiten in dem einen Weltenkörper. Da würde er sich für den hellsehenden Blick so darstellen, wie wir das beschrieben haben. Dann können wir ihn unter recht ungünstigen Verhältnissen kennenlernen auf der Erde plus Mond. Wäre er in diesem Verhältnis geblieben, er wäre ein sehr bösartiges, ein furchtbar wildes Wesen geworden. Als die Sonne sich getrennt hatte, da haben wir den Gegensatz von Sonne auf der einen Seite, und Mond plus Erde auf der anderen Seite. Die Sonne erglänzte, als die große gewaltige Sonnenaura im Raum, in ihrer strahlenden Glorie. Auf der anderen Seite blieben die Erde plus Mond mit all den unheimlichen Kräften, welche auch die edleren Elemente im Menschen herunterzogen. So war die Zweigliedrigkeit entstanden. Und dann kommt die Dreigliedrigkeit. Die Sonne bleibt, was sie ist, die Erde aber trennt sich von dem Monde, die gröbsten Substanzen treten heraus; der Mensch aber bleibt auf der Erde zurück.
Als ein dreifaches Prinzip empfindet der Mensch die Kräfte, wenn er auf den dritten Zeitraum blickt. Er fragt sich: Woher kommen diese Kräfte? — Im ersten Zeitraum war der Mensch noch mit all den hohen Kräften der Sonne verbunden. Die Kräfte, die sich in dem zweiten Zeitraum entwickelten, waren dann mit dem Monde hinausgegangen. Wie eine Erlösung empfand das der Mensch, aber er hatte auch die Erinnerung an den ersten Zeitraum, als er noch mit den Sonnenwesen vereint war. Der Mensch hatte die Sehnsucht kennengelernt, er empfand sich als der verstoßene Sohn. Und mit den Kräften, die mit Sonne und Mond hinausgegangen waren, mit diesen Kräften konnte er sich fühlen als ein Sohn von Sonne und Mond.
So entwickelt sich unser Erdenkörper von der Einheit zur Zweiheit, bis zur Dreiheit: Sonne, Erde, Mond. Die Zeit, wo der Mond sich herausspaltete, wo der Mensch erst die Möglichkeit erhielt, sich zu entwickeln, diese Zeit bezeichnet man als das lemurische Zeitalter. Und nachdem gewaltige Feuerkatastrophen die lemurische Zeit abgeschlossen hatten, da trat allmählich ein Zustand unserer Erde ein, der herbeiführen konnte die Verhältnisse, die in der alten Atlantis sich entwickeln konnten. Die ersten Anfänge von Land ragten aus den Wassermassen empor. Das war lange Zeit nach der Herausspaltung des Mondes. Aber durch diese Herausspaltung konnte die Erde sich erst so entwickeln. In der Atlantis war der Mensch auch noch ganz anders als heute — das werden wir später noch berühren können -, aber in der atlantischen Zeit war er doch schon so weit, daß er als eine weiche, sozusagen schwimmende, schwebende Masse sich fortbewegte und die Lufthülle belebte. Erst ganz allmählich entwickelte sich das Knochensystem. Um die Mitte der Atlantis ist der Mensch erst soweit, daß er einigermaßen unserer heutigen Gestalt ähnlich sieht. Aber der Mensch hatte in der Atlantis ein hellseherisches Bewußtsein, und unser heutiges Bewußtsein hat sich erst in viel späteren Zeiten entwickelt, und wollen wir den damaligen Menschen verstehen, so müssen wir dieses damalige Hellseherbewußtsein uns vor Augen führen. Wir verstehen es am besten im Vergleich mit dem heutigen Bewußtsein.
Heute nimmt der Mensch von dem Morgen bis zum Abend die Welt sinnlich wahr. Er nimmt durch seine Sinnestätigkeit fortwährend Gesichts- und Gehörseindrücke auf. Mit dem Einbruch der Nacht jedoch sinkt diese sinnliche Welt in ein Meer von Bewußtlosigkeit für den Menschen unter. Allerdings für den Okkultisten ist das in Wirklichkeit keine Bewußtlosigkeit, sondern nur ein niederer Grad von Bewußtsein. Jetzt wollen wir uns klarmachen, daß heute der Mensch ein doppeltes Bewußtsein hat, ein helles Tagesbewußtsein und ein Schlaf- oder Traumbewußtsein. So war es nun nicht in den ersten Zeiten der Atlantis.
Betrachten wir den Wechsel zwischen Wachen und Schlaf in dieser ersten Zeit. Da war es auch so, daß der Mensch während einer bestimmten Zeit untertauchte in seinen physischen Leib, aber er nahm da die Gegenstände nicht in den scharfen Konturen wahr wie heute. Wenn wir uns etwa vorstellen, wir gingen aus in einem dichten Winternebel, und wir sähen abends die Laternen wie umgeben von einer Lichtaura, so haben wir eine ungefähre Vorstellung von dem Gegenstandsbewußtsein des Atlantiers. Alles war für den damaligen Menschen umgeben von solchem Nebel, alles war wie in einem Nebel darinnen. Das war damals der Tagesanblick. Des Nachts bot sich ein ganz anderer dar. Der Nachtanblick war aber auch nicht der, wie er heute ist. Wenn der Atlantier herausstieg aus seinem Leibe, so versank er nicht in Bewußtlosigkeit, sondern er befand sich in einer Welt göttlich-geistiger Wesen, von Ich-Wesen, die er um sich herum wahrnahm als seine Genossen. So wahr der Mensch heute während der Nacht diese Wesen nicht sieht, so wahr ist er in jenen Zeiten in ein Meer von Geistigkeit untergetaucht, in dem er in der Tat die göttlichen Wesen wahrnahm. Bei Tage war er der Genosse der niederen Reiche, bei Nacht war er der Genosse der höheren Wesenheiten. So lebte der Mensch in einem Geistesbewußtsein, wenn auch dämmerhaft; wenn er auch kein Selbstbewußtsein hatte, er lebte unter diesen göttlich-geistigen Wesenheiten.
Jetzt verfolgen wir einmal die vier Zeiträume in unserer Erdenentwickelung. Wir verfolgen zuerst den Zeitraum, in dem Sonne und Mond noch verbunden waren mit der Erde. Diesen Zeitraum stellen wir vor unsere Seele. Wir müssen uns sagen: reine, ideale Wesen sind die Wesen dieser Erde eigentlich, und der Mensch ist eigentlich nur als ein Ätherkörper vorhanden und nur geistigen Augen erschaubar. Dann kommen wir zu dem zweiten Zeitraum. Wir schen die Sonne als einen Körper für sich, sichtbar als Aura, und Mond plus Erde als eine Welt des Bösen. Dann kommen wir zu einem dritten Zeitraum: der Mond trennt sich auch von der Erde, und auf die Erde wirken die Kräfte, die das Ergebnis dieser Dreiheit sind. Und dann kommen wir zu einem vierten Zeitraum. Der Mensch ist da schon ein Wesen in der physischen Welt, die ihm nebelhaft erscheint; im Schlafe ist er noch der Genosse göttlicher Wesenheiten. Das ist der Zeitraum, der abschließt mit gewaltigen Wasserkatastrophen, die Zeit der Atlantis.
Und jetzt gehen wir einmal einen Schritt weiter, gehen wir zu dem Menschen der nachatlantischen Zeit. Wie gesagt, er hat sich durch viele Jahrtausende entwickelt. Wir sehen ihn zunächst in den ersten Kulturepochen der nachatlantischen Zeit: der urindischen, der urpersischen, der ägyptisch-chaldäisch-babylonischen und der griechisch-lateinischen Kultur und in unserer fünften Kultur. Was hatte der Mensch vor allen Dingen verloren? Eines hatte er verloren, das wir uns vorstellen können, wenn wir die Schilderung der Atlantis uns vor Augen halten.
Versuchen wir uns den Schlafzustand der Atlantier vorzustellen. Da war der Mensch noch der Genosse des Geistigen, der Götter, er nahm eine Welt des Geistigen wahr, wirklich wahr. Das hatte der Mensch nach der atlantischen Katastrophe verloren. Nächtliches Dunkel breitete sich um ihn aus. Dafür trat eine Aufhellung des Tagesbewußtseins ein und die Entwickelung des Ichs. Das alles hatte sich der Mensch errungen, aber die alten Götter waren für ihn entschwunden, sie waren nur noch Erinnerungen, und alles, was die Seele erlebt hatte, war in der ersten nachatlantischen Zeit bloß Erinnerung, Erinnerung an den früheren Umgang mit diesen Götterwesenheiten.
Nun wissen wir, daß die Seelen dieselben bleiben, daß sie sich wiederverkörpern. Gerade wie in den alten Zeiten der Atlantis unsere Seelen schon dabei waren, schon wohnten in den Körpern, so waren auch diese Seelen bei der Trennung von Mond und Sonne von der Erde und auch schon in der allerersten Zeit da. Der Mensch war schon da im ätherischen Staub. Und jetzt sind die fünf Kulturepochen der nachatlantischen Zeit in ihren Weltanschauungen, in dem, was ihre Religionen sind, nichts anderes als die Erinnerungen an die alten Epochen der Erde.
Der erste, der urindische Zeitraum, der entwickelte eine Religion, die wie ein inneres Aufleuchten erscheint, wie eine innere Wiederholung in Vorstellungen und Gefühlen des allerersten Zeitraums, wo Sonne und Mond noch mit der Erde verbunden waren, wo jene erhabenen Wesen der Sonne noch auf der Erde wohnten. Wir können uns denken, daß da eine erhabene Vorstellung geweckt werden mußte. Und den Geist, der sich mit allen Engeln und Erzengeln, mit allen Geistern, hohen Göttern und Wesenheiten verband, in dem ersten Zustande der Erde, dem Urnebel, den faßte das indische Bewußtsein zusammen unter einer hohen Individualität, unter dem Namen Brahm, Brahma. Im Geiste wiederholte die erste Kulturepoche der nachatlantischen Zeit das, was geschehen war. Sie ist nichts anderes als eine Wiederholung der ersten Erdepoche im inneren Anschauen.
Nun fassen wir die zweite Kulturperiode ins Auge. In dem Prinzip des Lichtes und der Finsternis, da haben wir das Religionsbewußtsein der urpersischen Kulturperiode. Da stellten die großen Eingeweihten zwei Wesenheiten, von denen sie die eine in der Sonne personifiziert sahen, die andere im Monde, die stellten sie einander gegenüber. Ahura Mazdao, die Lichtaura, Ormuzd, ist das Wesen, das die Perser als den höchsten Gott verehrten; Ahriman ist der böse Geist, der Repräsentant aller der Wesen, die die Erde plus Mond besaß. Eine Erinnerung an die zweite Erdepoche ist die Religion der Perser.
Und in der dritten Kulturperiode war es so, daß der Mensch sich sagen mußte: In mir sind die Kräfte der Sonne und des Mondes, ich bin ein Sohn der Sonne und ein Sohn des Mondes. Alle die Kräfte der Sonne und des Mondes stellen sich wie Vater und Mutter dar. Haben wir Einheit in der Urzeit als die Anschauung der Inder, die Zweiheit nach der Trennung der Sonne sich spiegelnd in der Religion der Perser, so finden wir niedergelegt in der religiösen Anschauung der Ägypter, Chaldäer, Assyrer, Babylonier die Dreiheit, wie sie in der dritten Erdepoche da war, nach der Trennung von Sonne und Mond. Die Dreiheit tritt in allen Religionsanschauungen des dritten Zeitraumes auf, und im Ägyptertum wird sie vertreten durch Osiris, Isis und Horus.
Was aber der Mensch in der vierten Erdepoche, der atlantischen, erlebt hatte in seinem Bewußtsein, als Genosse der Götter, die Erinnerung daran tritt in der griechisch-lateinischen Kulturperiode auf. Die Götter der Griechen sind nichts anderes als Erinnerungen an die Götter, deren Genosse der Mensch während der Atlantis war, die Götter, die er geistig hellseherisch erschaut hatte als ätherische Gestalten, wenn er nachts herausgestiegen war aus seinem physischen Leibe. So wahr wie heute der Mensch die äußeren Gegenstände sieht, so wahr hat er damals den Zeus, die Athene und so weiter geschen. Es waren für ihn wirkliche Gestalten. Was der Atlantier in seinem hellseherischen Zustande erlebte und empfand, das kehrte für die Menschen der vierten nachatlantischen Kulturperiode wieder in dem Pantheon. Und wie die ägyptische Zeit eine Erinnerung der Dreiheit während der lemurischen Zeit war, so war das Erleben in der Atlantis geblieben als Erinnerung in der griechischen Hierarchie der Götter. In Griechenland wie auch sonst in Europa waren es wieder dieselben Götter, die der Atlantier gesehen hatte, nur unter anderen Namen. Sie sind nicht erfunden, diese Namen; es sind Namen für dieselben Gestalten, die neben dem Menschen umherwandelten, wenn er in der atlantischen Zeit herausstieg aus seinem physischen Leib.
So sehen wir, wie die Epochen des kosmischen Geschehens ihren symbolischen Ausdruck finden in den religiösen Anschauungen der verschiedenen nachatlantischen Kulturperioden. Das was sich abgespielt hat während des Schlafes in der atlantischen Zeit, das lebte in der vierten Kulturperiode wieder auf. Wir sind im fünften nachatlantischen Zeitraum. Woran können wir uns jetzt zurückerinnern? Die erste Kulturperiode, die alten Inder, konnten sich die erste Erdenepoche vorstellen, die Perser die zweite, das Prinzip des Guten und Bösen. Die alten Ägypter stellten sich die dritte Epoche vor in ihrer Dreiheit. Die griechische, die altgermanische, die römische Kulturperiode hatte ihren Olymp. Sie erinnerte sich an die Göttergestalten der Atlantis. Dann kam die neuere Zeit, der fünfte Zeitraum. Woran kann er sich erinnern ?
An nichts! — Das ist der Grund, warum in diesem Zeitraum in so vieler Beziehung die götterlose Zeit Platz greifen konnte, und warum dieser fünfte Zeitraum darauf angewiesen ist, nicht in die Vergangenheit, sondern in die Zukunft zu schauen. Der fünfte Zeitraum muß in die Zukunft blicken, wo alle die Götter wieder auferstehen müssen. Diese Wiedervereinigung mit den Göttern wurde vorbereitet in der Zeit, wo die Christus-Kraft hereinbrach, die allein so stark wirkte, daß sie dem Menschen wieder ein göttliches Bewußtsein geben konnte. Nicht Erinnerungen können die Götterbilder des fünften Zeitraumes sein; vorausschauen müssen die Menschen des fünften Zeitraumes, dann wird erst wieder das Leben spirituell. Das Bewußtsein muß im fünften Zeitraum der nachatlantischen Epoche apokalyptisch werden.
Erinnern wir uns, daß wir gestern die Zusammenhänge der einzelnen Kulturen der nachatlantischen Zeit gesehen haben. Heute haben wir gesehen, wie das kosmische Geschehen sich widerspiegelt in den religiösen Anschauungen der Kulturen.
Unser fünfter Zeitraum steht mitteninne in der Welt, deshalb muß er vorausschauen. Erst muß der Christus ganz begriffen werden in unserer Zeit, denn unsere Seelen sind tief hineinverwoben in geheimnisvolle Zusammenhänge. Wir werden sehen, wie die Wiederholung der ägyptischen Zeit in unserer fünften Kulturperiode uns einen Anknüpfungspunkt geben wird, wie wir wirklich in die Zukunft hinüberkommen können.
Second lecture
Yesterday we attempted to present certain connections in the conditions of life, particularly in the spiritual conditions of the so-called post-Atlantean epoch. We saw how the first cultural epoch of this period will repeat itself in the last, the seventh cultural epoch, how the Persian culture will repeat itself in the sixth cultural epoch, and how the cultural epoch that will occupy us in the coming days, the Egyptian, repeats itself in our own lives and destinies, in the fifth culture. We could say that the fourth culture, the Greco-Latin period, has retained its exceptional position and will not be repeated. This has enabled us to sketch out mysterious connections between the cultures of the post-Atlantean period that followed Atlantis, which was destroyed by enormous water catastrophes. This period following Atlantis will also come to an end.
At the end of our fifth great epoch, the post-Atlantean epoch, there will also be catastrophes similar to those at the end of the Atlantean epoch. The seventh culture of the fifth epoch will come to an end through a war of all against all. These are interesting connections that have been hinted at in certain repetitions which, if we follow them more closely, will shine deeply into our soul life.
Today, in order to build a foundation, we must allow other repetitions to appear before our spiritual eye. We will let our gaze wander far into the future of our Earth and see that the broad horizons must be of great interest to us.
Let us begin with just one warning against schematic repetitions. When such repetitions are mentioned in the field of occultism, such as: the first cultural epoch repeats itself in the seventh, the third in the fifth, then some combination of ideas may easily want to come into play and seek such schemata for other circumstances as well. One might believe that this is possible, and indeed, many books on theosophy contain a great deal of nonsense based on this idea. We must therefore warn strictly that it is not such combinations that are decisive, but solely perception, spiritual perception, otherwise we will go astray. We must warn against such combinations. What we can read in the spiritual world can be understood through logic, but it cannot be found. It can only be experienced through experience.
If we want to understand the cultural epochs more precisely, we must gain an overview of the becoming of the earth as a whole, as it presents itself to the mind that can direct its spiritual gaze into the events of the distant past.
If we look far back within this development of the earth, we can say that our earth did not always look as it does today. It did not have the solid mineral foundation that it has today, the mineral kingdom was not as it is today, nor did it bear such plants and animals as it does today, and human beings did not have physical bodies as they do today; human beings did not have a skeletal system. All of this was formed later. The further back we look, the closer we come to a state which, if we could have viewed it from distant worlds, we would have seen only as a mist, like a fine, ethereal cloud. This mist would have been much larger than our Earth today, for it would have extended to the farthest planets of our solar system and beyond. All of this would have comprised a vast mass of mist, containing not only that from which our Earth was formed, but also all the planets, including the Sun itself. And if we had been able to examine this mass of mist more closely—assuming that the observer could have approached it—it would have looked to us as if it were composed of nothing but fine, ethereal points. When we look at a swarm of mosquitoes from a distance, it appears to us as a cloud, but when we get closer, we see the individual creatures. This is roughly how we would have seen the mass of the Earth in the distant past, which at that time was not material in our sense, but was condensed to an ethereal state. This formation of the Earth thus consisted of individual ether points, but something very special was connected with these ether points. However, if we insist that the human eye could have seen these points, it would not have perceived anything like what Hellscher saw, which he still sees today when looking back. Let us illustrate this with a comparison.
Let us take a seed of a rose, a wild rose, a fully formed seed. What does the observer see? He sees a body that is very small, and if he has not learned what the seed of a wild rose looks like, he will never be able to figure out that a dog rose can grow out of it. He would never guess that from the mere form of the seed. But someone who is gifted with a certain clairvoyant ability will be able to experience the following. The seed will gradually disappear from view, but a flower-like form will appear before their clairvoyant eye, growing out of the seed in a spiritual way. It stands before the clairvoyant gaze, a real form that can only be seen in the mind. This form is the archetype of what will later grow out of the grain. Now we would be mistaken if we believed that this image is completely identical to the plant that corresponds to the seed. It is not at all the same. It is a wonderful light form that reveals currents and complex formations within itself, and one could say that what later grows out of the grain is merely a shadow of this wonderful spiritual light form that the clairvoyant can see in the seed. Let us hold this image in mind, as the clairvoyant sees the archetype of the plant, and now let us look back at our primordial earth, at the individual etheric points.
If the clairvoyant, as in the previous example, were to place himself opposite such an etheric dust particle of the primordial substance, then a light form would emerge from this etheric dust particle, in much the same way as from the seed, a magnificent form that is not really there, but lies dormant in this dust particle. And what is it that the seer can see as a form when looking back at this primordial atom of earth? What is it that emerges? It is a form that is again different — as different as the archetype of the plant is from the physical plant — from the physical human being: it is the archetype of the present human form. At that time, the human form slumbered spiritually in the etheric speck of dust, and the entire evolution of the earth was necessary for what rested there to develop into the human being of today. Many, many things were necessary for this, just as many things are necessary for the seed: the seed must be placed in the earth, and the sun must send its rays of warmth to it so that it can develop into a plant. And we will gradually understand how this became human when we realize what has happened in the meantime.
In the distant past, all the planets were connected to our Earth. However, let us first consider the sun, moon, and Earth, which are of particular interest to us today. Our sun, moon, and Earth were not alone at that time, but were together. If we were to stir these three bodies together as if they were a porridge in a large world pot, and if we were to think of this as a world body, we would get what the Earth was in its original state, namely: Sun plus Earth plus Moon. Of course, human beings could only live in a spiritual state. At that time, they could only live in this state because what is in today's Sun was also connected to the Earth. And it took a long, long time for the world body, our Earth, Sun, and Moon, to still contain and be united with all the beings and forces connected with it. In those times, human beings still existed only spiritually in the primordial atom of humanity. This only changed at the time when something very significant took place in the development of our world, namely when the sun split off as an independent body and left behind the earth and moon. Now we have what used to be a unity as a duality, two world bodies, the sun on the one hand and the earth plus moon on the other. Why did this happen?
Everything that happens naturally has a deep meaning, which we will understand when we look back and find that at that time not only humans lived on Earth, but that other beings of a spiritual nature were also connected with them, beings that were not perceptible to the physical eye, but which nevertheless existed, as truly as humans and other physical beings. For example, beings connected to our world, living in the vicinity of the Earth, are called angels or angeloi in Christian esotericism. We can best imagine these beings if we consider that such a being stands at the level at which humans will be when the Earth has completed its development. Today, these beings are already as far along as humans will be at the end of their earthly development. An even higher level is occupied by the archangels, archangeloi, or fire spirits, beings that we can see when we turn our spiritual gaze to the affairs of entire peoples. These affairs are guided by beings called archangels or archangeloi. An even higher type of being is called the Urbeginn or Archai or the spirits of personality, and we find these when we let our gaze wander over entire ages and many peoples and their relationships and opposites and consider what is commonly called the spirit of the age. If we consider our own time, for example, it is guided by higher beings called Urbeginnings or Archai. Then there are even higher beings, which in Christian esotericism are called Powers or Exusiai or Spirits of Form. Thus, countless beings are connected to our earth, which are, so to speak, linked to human beings in a kind of ladder.
If we start with minerals and ascend from minerals to plants, from plants to animals, and then to humans, humans are the highest physical beings; but the others are also there, they are between us, they permeate us. At the beginning of our Earth's development, which we have just spoken about, when the Earth emerged as a kind of primordial nebula from the bosom of eternity, all such beings were connected to the Earth, and it would be apparent to the clairvoyant that at the same time as the human form, other beings also permeated that image. These are the beings mentioned above and beings of an even higher order, such as the powers, the dominions, the thrones, the cherubim, and then the seraphim. These are all beings that were intimately connected with that mighty etheric dust, but they stand on different stages of development. There are those who possess a sublimity of which human beings have no conception, but there are also beings who are closer to human beings. Because such beings stood at different stages, they could not undergo their development in the same way as human beings; a dwelling place had to be created for them. Among the higher beings there were those who would have lost a great deal if they had remained connected with the lower beings. Therefore, they separated themselves. They took the finest substances out of the mist and formed their dwelling place in the sun. There they formed their heaven; there they found the right pace for their development. If they had remained in the lower substances they left behind on earth, they would not have been able to continue their development. That would have been an impediment to their development, like a lead weight. We can see from this that what happens materially, such as the division of the world substance, does not happen merely for physical reasons, but through the forces of beings who need a place to live for their development; it happens because they have to build their world home. We must emphasize that spiritual causes are at work here.
Thus, human beings remained behind on Earth and the Moon, along with higher beings of the lowest hierarchy, such as angels and archangels and beings who were lower than themselves. Only one powerful being, who was actually already mature enough to move to the Sun, sacrificed himself and went along with Earth and the Moon. This is the being who was later called Yahweh or Jehovah. He left the sun and became the leader of affairs on Earth and the moon. Thus, we have two places of residence: the sun with the most exalted beings, under the leadership of a particularly high, exalted being, whom the Gnostics, for example, tried to imagine under the name Pleroma. We should imagine this being as the ruler of the sun. Yahweh is the leader of the earth and moon. We want to emphasize that the noblest, most exalted spirits left with the sun and left the earth with the moon behind. The moon had not yet been separated; it was still inside the earth. How can we perceive this cosmic process of the separation of the sun from the earth? First of all, we must perceive the sun with its inhabitants as the most noble, purest, and most sublime thing that was formerly connected with the earth, and then we must perceive what the earth plus the moon is as that which has developed in contrast to this as the lower. The state at that time was even lower than that of our Earth today. The latter is higher because a later stage occurred in which the Earth got rid of the Moon and with it its coarser substances, with which human beings could not have developed further. The Earth had to throw out the Moon.
Before that, however, was the darkest, most terrifying time for our Earth, when that which had the noble potential for development had fallen under the power of evil, very evil forces, and it was only by casting out the worst conditions of existence with the moon that human beings were able to progress.
We must feel that there is a principle of light, a principle of sublimity, the principle of the sun, which stands in opposition to the principle of darkness, the principle of the moon. If one had looked clairvoyantly at the sun that had emerged at that time, one would have seen the beings that wanted to inhabit it. But something else would have been perceived as well. What had emerged as the sun would not have appeared merely as a collection of spiritual beings, nor would it have appeared ethereal, for that belonged to the coarser realm: it would have appeared as something astral, like a powerful aura of light. What would have been perceived as the principle of light would have been seen as a luminous aura in the world space. However, because the earth had let this light out, it would have suddenly appeared denser, even if not yet solidly mineral. A good and an evil, a light and a dark principle stood opposite each other at that time.
Now let us see what the earth looked like before it brought forth the moon. It would be completely wrong to imagine it as our Earth today. The core of the Earth at that time was a fiery, seething mass. This core would have appeared as a fire core, but it was surrounded by powerful forces of water, though not like our water today, for it also contained metals in liquid form. Inside all this was man, but in a completely different form.
This is what the Earth was like when it separated the Moon. Above all, there was no air on Earth at that time; it was not there at all. The beings that existed then did not need air; they had a completely different respiratory system. Humans had become a kind of fish-amphibian. But they consisted of a very soft, liquid matter. What they sucked into themselves was not air, but what was contained in the water. That is roughly what the Earth looked like at that time. We must think of that time as a time when the Earth was lower than our Earth today. It had to be that way. Otherwise, human beings would never have been able to find the right pace and the means for their development if the sun and moon had not separated from the Earth. With the sun in the earth, everything would have gone too fast, but with the forces now acting on the moon, everything would have gone much too slowly. When the moon withdrew from the earth amid mighty catastrophes, what might be called the separation of an air envelope and the water element gradually prepared itself. The air at that time was not at all like the air of today, but contained all kinds of vapors. But the essence that was gradually preparing itself at that time was only a certain predisposition for the human being of today. We will have to describe all this in more detail later.
Thus we have come to know human beings in three relationships. First, in the relationship where they lived together with the earth, the sun, the moon, and all higher beings in the one world body. To clairvoyant vision, they would appear as we have described. Then we can get to know him under rather unfavorable conditions on the earth plus the moon. Had he remained in this relationship, he would have become a very malicious, a terribly wild being. When the sun separated, we have the contrast of the sun on one side and the moon plus the earth on the other. The sun shone as the great, mighty solar aura in space, in its radiant glory. On the other side remained the Earth and the Moon with all the sinister forces that also pulled down the nobler elements in human beings. Thus the twofold division arose. And then comes the threefold division. The Sun remains what it is, but the Earth separates from the Moon, the coarsest substances emerge; but human beings remain behind on Earth.
When looking back on the third period, human beings perceive the forces as a threefold principle. They ask themselves: Where do these forces come from? In the first period, human beings were still connected to all the high forces of the sun. The forces that developed in the second period then left with the moon. Human beings experienced this as a kind of redemption, but they also had memories of the first period when they were still united with the sun beings. Human beings had experienced longing; they felt like the prodigal son. And with the forces that had gone out with the sun and moon, they were able to feel themselves as sons of the sun and moon.
Thus our earthly body developed from unity to duality, to trinity: sun, earth, moon. The time when the moon split off, when human beings first received the opportunity to develop, is called the Lemurian epoch. And after tremendous fire catastrophes had brought the Lemurian era to an end, a state gradually arose on our Earth that could bring about the conditions that allowed the ancient Atlantis to develop. The first beginnings of land rose out of the waters. This was long after the moon had split off. But it was only through this splitting off that the Earth was able to develop in this way. In Atlantis, human beings were also very different from today — we will touch on this later — but in the Atlantean era they had already progressed to the point where they moved about as a soft, floating, so to speak, mass and enlivened the air envelope. Only very gradually did the skeletal system develop. By the middle of Atlantis, humans had reached the point where they looked somewhat similar to us today. But humans in Atlantis had clairvoyant consciousness, and our present consciousness only developed much later. If we want to understand the humans of that time, we must visualize this clairvoyant consciousness. We can best understand it by comparing it with our present consciousness.
Today, humans perceive the world through their senses from morning to night. Through their sensory activity, they continuously take in visual and auditory impressions. With the onset of night, however, this sensory world sinks into a sea of unconsciousness for humans. For the occultist, however, this is not really unconsciousness, but only a lower degree of consciousness. Now let us realize that today human beings have a double consciousness, a clear daytime consciousness and a sleep or dream consciousness. This was not the case in the early days of Atlantis.
Let us consider the transition between waking and sleeping in those early times. Then it was also the case that human beings submerged themselves in their physical bodies for a certain period of time, but they did not perceive objects with the sharp contours that we do today. If we imagine, for example, that we went out in a thick winter fog and saw the lanterns in the evening as if surrounded by an aura of light, we would have an approximate idea of the object consciousness of the Atlantean. Everything was surrounded by such fog for the people of that time; everything was as if in a fog. That was what they saw during the day. At night, it was completely different. But nighttime was not what it is today either. When the Atlantean stepped out of his body, he did not sink into unconsciousness, but found himself in a world of divine spiritual beings, of I-beings, whom he perceived around him as his companions. As true as it is that human beings today do not see these beings during the night, it is equally true that in those times they were immersed in a sea of spirituality in which they actually perceived the divine beings. During the day, he was the companion of the lower realms; at night, he was the companion of the higher beings. Thus, human beings lived in a spiritual consciousness, albeit dimly; even though they had no self-consciousness, they lived among these divine spiritual beings.
Let us now trace the four periods in our earth's development. We first trace the period when the sun and moon were still connected with the earth. We place this period before our soul. We must say to ourselves: pure, ideal beings are actually the beings of this earth, and human beings actually exist only as etheric bodies and are visible only to spiritual eyes. Then we come to the second period. We see the sun as a body in itself, visible as an aura, and the moon plus the earth as a world of evil. Then we come to a third period: the moon also separates from the earth, and the forces that are the result of this trinity act upon the earth. And then we come to a fourth period. Man is already a being in the physical world, which appears to him as a mist; in sleep he is still the companion of divine beings. This is the period that ends with enormous water catastrophes, the time of Atlantis.
And now let us go one step further, let us go to the human being of the post-Atlantean era. As I said, he has developed over many millennia. We see him first in the early cultural epochs of the post-Atlantean era: the ancient Indian, the ancient Persian, the Egyptian-Chaldean-Babylonian, and the Greek-Latin cultures, and in our fifth culture. What had humans lost above all else? They had lost one thing that we can imagine if we keep the description of Atlantis in mind.
Let us try to imagine the state of sleep of the Atlanteans. At that time, humans were still companions of the spiritual, of the gods; they perceived a spiritual world, truly perceived it. Humans lost this after the Atlantean catastrophe. Nighttime darkness spread around them. In its place came a brightening of daytime consciousness and the development of the ego. Humans had achieved all this, but the old gods had disappeared for them; they were now only memories, and everything the soul had experienced in the first post-Atlantean period was merely a memory, a memory of its former contact with these godlike beings.
Now we know that souls remain the same, that they reincarnate. Just as in the ancient times of Atlantis our souls were already present, already dwelling in bodies, so too were these souls present at the separation of the moon and sun from the earth, and even in the very earliest times. Man was already there in the etheric dust. And now the five cultural epochs of the post-Atlantean time, in their worldviews, in what their religions are, are nothing other than memories of the ancient epochs of the Earth.
The first, the primordial Indian period, developed a religion that appears like an inner illumination, like an inner repetition of the ideas and feelings of the very first period, when the sun and moon were still connected to the earth, when those sublime beings of the sun still lived on earth. We can imagine that a sublime idea must have been awakened there. And the spirit that connected with all angels and archangels, with all spirits, high gods, and beings in the first state of the earth, the primordial mist, was summarized by the Indian consciousness under one high individuality, under the name Brahm, Brahma. In the spirit, the first cultural epoch of the post-Atlantean time repeated what had happened. It is nothing other than a repetition of the first epoch of the earth in inner contemplation.
Now let us consider the second cultural period. In the principle of light and darkness, we have the religious consciousness of the original Persian cultural period. There the great initiates placed two beings, one of whom they saw personified in the sun, the other in the moon, and they placed them opposite each other. Ahura Mazdao, the light aura, Ormuzd, is the being whom the Persians worshipped as the highest god; Ahriman is the evil spirit, the representative of all the beings that possessed the earth and the moon. The religion of the Persians is a reminder of the second earth epoch.
And in the third cultural period, man had to say to himself: Within me are the forces of the sun and the moon; I am a son of the sun and a son of the moon. All the forces of the sun and the moon represent themselves as father and mother. If we have unity in primeval times as the view of the Indians, duality after the separation of the sun reflected in the religion of the Persians, we find laid down in the religious view of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Babylonians the trinity as it existed in the third earth epoch after the separation of the sun and moon. The trinity appears in all religious views of the third epoch, and in Egyptian culture it is represented by Osiris, Isis, and Horus.
But what humans experienced in their consciousness during the fourth epoch, the Atlantean epoch, as companions of the gods, the memory of this appears in the Greek-Latin cultural period. The gods of the Greeks are nothing more than memories of the gods with whom humans were companions during the Atlantean epoch, the gods whom they had seen spiritually, clairvoyantly, as etheric figures when they had stepped out of their physical bodies at night. As truly as humans today see external objects, so truly did they then see Zeus, Athena, and so on. They were real figures for them. What the Atlanteans experienced and felt in their clairvoyant state returned to the pantheon for the people of the fourth post-Atlantean cultural period. And just as the Egyptian period was a memory of the Trinity during the Lemurian period, so the experience remained in Atlantis as a memory in the Greek hierarchy of gods. In Greece, as elsewhere in Europe, it was again the same gods that the Atlantean had seen, only under different names. These names are not invented; they are names for the same figures who walked alongside humans when they emerged from their physical bodies during the Atlantean period.
Thus we see how the epochs of cosmic events find their symbolic expression in the religious views of the various post-Atlantean cultural periods. What took place during the sleep in the Atlantean period was revived in the fourth cultural period. We are now in the fifth post-Atlantean period. What can we remember now? The first cultural period, the ancient Indians, could imagine the first epoch of the Earth; the Persians, the second, the principle of good and evil. The ancient Egyptians imagined the third epoch in their trinity. The Greek, Old Germanic, and Roman cultural periods had their Olympus. They remembered the god figures of Atlantis. Then came the newer time, the fifth period. What can it remember?
Nothing! — That is why in this period the godless age was able to gain ground in so many respects, and why this fifth period must look not to the past but to the future. The fifth period must look to the future, where all the gods must rise again. This reunion with the gods was prepared during the time when the Christ force broke forth, which alone was so powerful that it could give human beings a divine consciousness again. Memories cannot be the images of the gods of the fifth epoch; the people of the fifth epoch must look ahead, and only then will life become spiritual again. Consciousness must become apocalyptic in the fifth period of the post-Atlantean epoch.
Let us remember that yesterday we saw the connections between the individual cultures of the post-Atlantean period. Today we have seen how cosmic events are reflected in the religious views of cultures.
Our fifth period stands in the middle of the world, which is why it must look ahead. First, Christ must be fully understood in our time, for our souls are deeply woven into mysterious connections. We will see how the repetition of the Egyptian period in our fifth cultural period will give us a point of connection, how we can truly pass into the future.