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The Spiritual Hierarchies
GA 110

Düsseldorf, April 16, 1909

Lecture VII

[ 1 ] I should like to make an observation to-day at the beginning of this lecture in connection with the end of yesterday's lecture. I have seen that some of our respected listeners have given a certain importance to the fact — and one can very well understand it — that, in the sketch which I made each planet stood in a line with the Sun, that a sort of general relationship had been drawn, but I must expressly observe to you that this has no importance, and has nothing to do with that which concerns us here. It will be considered later on. We must not get wrong ideas.

[ 2 ] First, we draw the Sun, in accordance with the Copernican system; then, that which is called Mercury to-day — but which is esoterically called Venus; then Venus — which is Mercury in the esoteric sense. Then (according to the Copernican system), comes the earth, with its moon. Then comes the orbit of Mars, of Jupiter, ending up with the orbit of Saturn.

[ 1 ] This then would be the world system of Copernicus. Now, as I have said, I should like to put the thing before you as it was taught in a school of Zarathustra. Zarathustra however was not always himself the teacher; these are elementary truths which were taught in the Zarathustra schools. [ 3 ] If we suppose that here is the constellation Gemini, we take these points which simply lie in this line (from x or Gemini, to the Sun), and join the Sun with the constellation of Gemini, whether there is such a conjunction or not does not matter. I have drawn this here only to show the orbits of the planets, not the points where they stand. These are the boundary marks for the different Hierarchies. [ 4 ] Now, if we want, for instance, to designate the realm of Saturn, we must think of the earth and not the Sun as the centre, and we must draw a sort of circle — which in reality is not circular but egg-shaped, so that the earth becomes the centre point. We must do the same with the other heavenly bodies. I beg you not to take the things of secondary importance in this drawing for the chief thing. The chief thing consists in getting into your minds the figures, which agree with the corresponding realms of power, of the Hierarchies.

[ 5 ] To-day we shall consider more in detail the nature of those members of the Hierarchies, standing immediately above man. It is good to study this and to begin for once with man. For only if we have quite clearly in our minds all that has been repeatedly said about the nature of man and of his developments, can we rise to the consideration of the nature of the members of the higher Hierarchies.

[ 6 ] We know that man, as he first appeared upon earth, and as he has developed, consists essentially of four parts. These four members are the physical, the etheric, the astral body and the ‘I.’ We will draw these schematically to-day, as we have need. First we draw the human physical body as a circle, the same with the etheric body, the astral and lastly the ‘I’ or Ego as a small circle. You know how the development of man proceeds. During the course of his earthly evolution man begins to work on his astral body, with his Ego.

Generally speaking we may say: as much of his astral body as man has developed by the help of his ‘I’, so that this refashioned part of his astral body is completely ruled by the ‘I’, so much of it is called Manas or Spirit self, this — as has been often said — must not be looked upon as something new that has entered man, but simply as a transformed product of the astral body. It must be carefully noted that all that has just been said applies to man only. It is important that we should not generalise, but make it clear to ourselves that the Beings of the universe differ very much from each other. [ 7 ] Let us then draw the fifth part of man the transformed astral body, that is to say Manas, as a separate circle: in reality it ought to have been drawn inside the astral body. In the same way we must draw above it the transformed etheric body. The transformed part of the etheric body, we designate Budhi or life spirit: when the whole of it is transformed it becomes completely Budhi. In the same way the physical body is transformed into Atma, when we consider man in his perfected state, which he will attain in the course of his development through Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. Thus when man will have reached his highest perfection in the Vulcan condition, we might make a schematic drawing of him in the following way: we could say that we have here his Atma, Budhi, Manas, the ‘I’ or Ego, the astral body, the etheric and the physical body. And we would see in Diagram I that the most characteristic thing we have to observe in man is, that with his seven principles he is an entire being, that these seven principles are all within each other. This is the most important thing.

[ 8 ] When we now turn to the members of the next Hierarchy, the Angels, the case is different. This scheme applies to man, but not to the angels.

Here, in Diagram II, we must say that the Angel has developed physical body (1) etheric (2) and astral body (3). But now the Ego (4) must be drawn as separated from these, then come Manas (5) Budhi (6) and Atma (7). If you want to be clear about the nature of an Angel you must think that his higher parts to which he seeks to develop himself float above that part of him which is in the physical world; at first he has really only Manas completely developed, the other two parts he will develop later. If one wanted therefore to study the nature of an Angel one would have to say that the Angel has not an Ego which dwells on earth as the man has. Nor is he developing his Manas present stage of evolution upon earth. Therefore, that which there is of him upon earth, does not look as if it belonged to a spiritual Being. When you meet a man and you look at him, you see he has his principles in him, therefore all his parts are organised within him. If you want to look for an Angel, you must keep in mind that his physical part is something like a mirrored reflection of his spiritual principles, which are to be found only in the spiritual world. In flowing and running water, in mists dissolving into water, also in the winds and the lightning flashing through the air, in all these, you have to look for the physical body of Angelic beings. The difficulty for man consists in his fixed idea that a physical body must necessarily have a definite outline. It is difficult for a man to say to himself: I see fog rising, I see a stream of water dissolving into spray, I stand in the blowing wind, I see lightning dart from the clouds, and I know that all these are revelations of Angels; behind this physical body, which is by no means so limited as the human one I have to recognise the spirit. [ 9 ] Man has to develop all his principles enclosed within him; because of this he cannot realise that a physical body can be so liquid and evanescent that it does not even have to be enclosed or outlined with precision. You must realise that eighty Angels may be associated with and have the most solid part of their physical body in some one sheet of water. The physical body of an Angel need not be understood as having any boundary; one piece of water may belong to it here, and far away another piece. In short, all that surrounds us as the water, fire, and air of the earth, we have to imagine as containing the bodies of the Hierarchy which stands next above man. One has to look clairvoyantly into the astral world in order to perceive the Angel's Ego and his Manas that gazes down on us from the higher world.

The realm of the solar system which we must investigate when we seek the Angels, is that whose limits are marked by the Moon. With the Angels, investigation is still comparatively easy, for their condition is such, that if for instance, we have an Angel's physical body in a piece of water or the like, and we consider that water or that wind clairvoyantly, we find within it an etheric or astral body. Hence, in the drawing these three are represented together. Of course, we must not only see the material image in the rushing wind, the flowing or broken water, which common perception sees; the etheric and astral parts of the Angels live in the most varied way in water, air, and fire. But if you want to look for the spiritual being, the soul of the Angel, you must seek it in the astral realm, you must seek it clairvoyantly.

[ 10 ] The next stage, that of the Archangels, is again different. That which we have drawn here as the astral body is, in the case of the Archangels, not at all united with the etheric and physical bodies. The lowest part of them which we can find, we must draw like this: physical body, etheric body (Diagram III – 1,2); this they have separated off, and all the higher principles are above in the higher worlds, so that we can only have a complete image of the Archangel when we look for it in two places, and realise, that it is not the same as with man who unites all in one being. The spiritual part is above, and at the same time it mirrors itself below. A physical and etheric body can only unite when the physical consists of air or fire. For instance you could not perceive the physical bodies of these Archangels rushing along in the water; you could recognise them only in air and in fire, and you would have to find clairvoyantly, and only in the spiritual world, the spiritual counter-part of that rushing wind and that fire. This is joined neither to his physical, nor to his etheric body.

[ 11 ] And then we come to those Beings whom we designate as Archai, Primeval Beginnings or Spirits of Personality. Here below, we can draw only the physical body (Diagram IV); all the rest is above in the spiritual world. Such a physical Body can live only in fire; only in flames of fire can you recognise the physical body of the Archai. Whenever you see the flashing fire of the lightning you may say to yourselves: in it is contained something of the Archai; but in the spiritual world above I shall find the spiritual counter-part which, in this case is separated from its physical body.

It is specially in the Archai or Spirits or Personality that the clairvoyant can accomplish this with comparative ease.

These Spirits of Personality have a realm which reaches up to the astronomical Venus (Mercury in the occult sense of the Mysteries). Let us imagine that someone has progressed so far that he is able to observe what is evolving up there on Venus. (Occult Mercury). There he can recognise these highly evolved Beings, the Spirits of Personality. When he directs his clairvoyant vision to Venus so as there to observe the assembly of the spirits of Personality, and then sees the lightning flash through the clouds, he sees in that flash of lightning the reflection of the Spirits of Personality, for in it they have their physical body.

[ 12 ] Now we come to yet higher spiritual Beings, to those who reach up to the Sun. These Powers, these Exusiai, or Spirits of Form interest us less at the present time; only it must be kept in view that the beings of Venus and of Mercury are their organs of execution, the beings of Venus who have their physical body in fire, and those of Mercury who have it in air. Translate this so that you say: the Beings who live in the Sun make use of the spirits of Venus (occult Mercury) in the fire flames, and the spirits of Mercury (occult Venus) in the rushing wind as their executive. ‘And God makes flames of fire into his servants and winds into his messengers.’ Sayings such as these found in ancient religious documents are taken absolutely from spiritual facts, and correspond with what the clairvoyant is able to observe.

[ 13 ] Thus we see that the three hierarchies who stand next above us are closely attached to our own existence. Man is the being he is, because he has partaken of solidity from the earth. This separates him from other Beings, it makes him into a self-contained being composed of separate organs. On the Moon, man was still a being like others; there he passed through transformations, just as the masses of water do which have a body that is ever in a state of transformation. On the earth man was for the first time imprisoned, as it were, within his skin; and became a self-contained being, so that it is possible to say, man is composed of a physical, etheric, astral body and an Ego. This isolation really originated not so very long ago. If we return to the first epoch of old Atlantean times, we find a man who did not yet feel his Ego completely within him, who was still waiting to receive his Ego. And if we go still further back in earthly evolution we find that what there is of man down on earth consists as yet only of a physical, etheric and astral body. And if we go back to Lemurian times, we find a man who in his way has no more of a physical, etheric and astral body down here upon earth than the Angels have. From this point of time, with the growth of the Ego the union begins, and continues through post-Atlantean times. In Lemurian times men walked the earth who had only a physical, and etheric and an astral body. But these were not men who could think, in the sense of to-day, or who could develop humanly — in the sense of to-day.

[ 14 ] And now something very remarkable happened upon earth. Those men of Lemuria who had only physical, etheric and astral bodies were helpless, they could not help themselves, they did not know what they had to do on earth. From heavenly regions the inhabitants of astronomical Venus first came down to the earth, to these helpless beings; because they had a certain relationship, to the physical body, they were enabled to send their light through, and ensoul the physical body of the first inhabitants of the earth. Thus, we find some among the Lemurians, who passed among the mass of humanity in quite a remarkable way; they had a different physical body to the others. A man, so particularly graced, had not an ordinary physical body, but a body ensouled by a spirit of Venus, a Spirit of Personality. Because that man of ancient Lemuria moved about with a spirit of Venus within his physical body, he had a powerful influence on all his surroundings. Such Lemurians did not appear different from their companions externally; but because a Spirit of Personality was translated into their bodies, these selected individuals acted suggestively, in the highest sense of the word, upon their surroundings. To-day, there is nothing to compare to the obedience, the reverence and awe that was felt for them. All the attempts at colonisation which were undertaken, to people the different regions of the earth, were led by such Beings, into whom a Spirit of Personality had descended. No speech was needed — for there was no speech then — no signs were needed, but the fact alone that such a Spirit of Personality was there, sufficed. And when it was held necessary that large masses of people should be led from one place to another, those masses simply followed without thinking about it. Thought did not exist, it only developed later.

[ 15 ] Thus the Spirits of Personality came down to earth, as Spirits of Venus, in ancient Lemurian times. And we can say, that the distinctive features of these messengers from Venus — such as the human countenances of that time could wear — signified something quite new with regard to the whole Universe. If we take their cosmic significance, it reaches as far as Venus, and their actions had a meaning, an influence on the whole concatinations of the Solar System. They could lead the people from one place to another, for they knew the connections that can only be known by those, who are acquainted with the surroundings of the earth, and not only with the Earth itself.

[ 16 ] The development of humanity progressed further. The necessity arose that Archangels, spirits of astronomical Mercury, should act upon the human development. These were now obliged to ensoul and give life to that which dwelt below upon earth. This was principally in Atlantean times. At that time the Archangels, or Spirits of Mercury descended upon earth, and inspired the physical and etheric bodies of the men of that period. So in Atlantis there were also men who were not outwardly very different from the others, but whose physical and etheric bodies were ensouled by an archangel. And if you remember what was said yesterday, that the Archangels have the task of directing whole nations, you will understand that a man who had an Archangel within him could actually give to the whole Atlantean race those laws which he received directly from heaven. [ 17 ] The great leaders of old Lemurian times, when it was still necessary to act much more generally, were ensouled by Spirits from Venus. Those who, in Atlantean times had to direct smaller masses of people, were ensouled by Archangels. Those who are called the priest-kings of Atlantis, were in truth — Maya. They were not at all what they outwardly appeared to be. An Archangel lived in their physical and etheric bodies, he was the real active agent..

If we go back to Atlantean times, we can seek out the secret stations of these leaders of mankind. From these hidden centres they worked, there they investigated the mysteries of Space One might ascribe the name of ‘Oracle’ to what was investigated, and commanded from those ancient Atlantean places of the Mysteries, even though this word originated in later times. The name ‘Place of the Oracles’ is quite suitable to these centres of instruction, and government. From them the great teachers worked, so that others might there be trained to become priests and servants of men.

[ 18 ] It is important that one should know that there were men in ancient Atlantis who in reality were Archangels, bearing an Archangel incarnated within their physical and etheric bodies. If such a man had been seen by someone endowed with clairvoyance, the latter would in fact have seen a physical man and behind him an enormous figure, rising high above him, and losing itself in indefinite regions — the figure of the inspiring Archangel. Such a personality was of a two-fold nature, as if behind the physical man, growing out of indefinite Space, was the inspiring Archangel. When such men died, the physical body was destroyed according to the laws of Atlantis. That physical body, which had been naturally ensouled by the Archangel, dissolved, but the etheric body did not dissolve. There is a spiritual economy which demands exceptions to the general truths expounded by Anthroposophy. We say — and in general it is correct — that when a man dies, he lays aside his physical body and after a certain time also his etheric body, which dissolves with the exception of an extract. But this is only generally the case. There is an enormous difference between an etheric body like that of the Initiates of the Atlantean Oracles, which was permeated by an Archangel, and an ordinary etheric body. Such a precious etheric body is not lost, but is preserved in the spiritual world. In the first place, the great leader of the Atlantean Oracles preserved the seven most important etheric bodies of the seven great initiators of these Oracles. These ether bodies were originally built up through being inhabited by Archangels, who, at their death, naturally returned to the higher worlds. Such things are certainly not preserved in boxes, but according to spiritual laws. The Atlantean Initiate of the Sun-Oracle is no other than Manu, who has been often mentioned, and who guided the remnant of the Atlantean nation over to Asia to establish the new post-Atlantean civilisation. He took his little handful of people with him and led them over to Asia. He trained the people through generations, and when the seven most adaptable ones had been bred and educated sufficiently, he wove into their individual etheric bodies the substance of the seven preserved etheric bodies, which had been woven by Archangels in ancient Atlantis. Those seven, who were sent down by the great Leader, to lay the foundation of the first Post-Atlantean civilisation, were the seven holy Rishis of ancient India; they bore within their etheric garment, the etheric bodies of the great Atlantean Leaders, who had themselves acquired these bodies through the Archangels. Thus the past, the present, and the future acted in harmony. Those seven men who are called the holy Rishis would have appeared to you as simple people, for with their astral body and their Ego, they had not reached the height of their etheric bodies.

All that they were capable of was interwoven with their etheric bodies. There were certain hours during which inspiration acted within their etheric bodies, and then they spoke of things which they themselves could never have known. Then from their lips flowed that which had been inspired into their etheric bodies. Thus they were simple, plain people when they were left to their own understanding; but in their hours of inspiration, when the etheric body was active, they spoke of the greatest mysteries of our solar system and of the whole universe.

[ 19 ] In the post-Atlantean times men had not yet advanced so far that they could do without help from above, inspiration was still necessary; and a sort of ensouling still took place from above. We have seen how such ensouling occurred in Lemurian times, because a spirit of Personality ensouled the physical. body; in the Atlantean times the physical and the etheric bodies were ensouled by Archangels, and now the great leaders of the post-Atlantean times were ensouled through an Angel descending into their physical, etheric and astral bodies. The great leaders of humanity in the post-Atlantean times did not possess merely a physical, etheric and astral body, but an Angel also lived within them. Therefore, these great leaders could look back into their former incarnations. The ordinary man cannot do so as yet, because he has not yet developed. his Manas; he must himself first become an Angel. These leaders, who were born out of the ordinary inhabitants, carried an Angelic Being within their physical, etheric and astral bodies, who ensouled and, interpenetrated them. This is again Maya, again we have Beings who are something different from what they appear to be on earth. The great leaders of humanity of grey antiquity were quite different from what they outwardly seemed to be. They were personalities in whom an Angel dwelt and gave what they needed, so that they might become Teachers and Leaders of men. The great founders of religions were men possessed by Angels. Angels spoke through them. [ 20 ] The affairs of the world have to be described indeed as entirely regular, but the processes of development always slide one within the other, they overlap. That which we describe as exhibiting complete regularity does not work itself out with such regularity. It is certainly true that, as a general principle, Spirits of Personality did speak through human entities in the Lemurian times, Archangels in the Atlantean, and Angels in the post-Atlantean times. But such beings arose, also even in the post Atlantean times, who were penetrated by a Spirit of Personality down to their physical body, who, therefore, were in the same position, although they lived in the post Atlantean times, as were those beings through whom in Lemuria the Spirits of Personality spoke. Thus it was possible to have men also in the post-Atlantean times, who bore externally all the characteristics of their nation, but who, because humanity still needed such great leaders, carried within them a Spirit of Personality — and who were the external incarnation of such a Spirit. Then there were also men in the post Atlantean times who had an Archangel, a Spirit of Mercury, within them, who ensouled their physical and etheric bodies. And lastly, a third category of men was ensouled, inspired in their physical, etheric and astral bodies by an Angel Being, one through whom an Angel spoke. [ 21 ] In the spirit of the Eastern Teaching such personalities received particular names. Thus a personality who outwardly resembles a man of our post-Atlantean times, but who really is the bearer of a Spirit of Personality, who is ensouled by that Spirit down to his physical body, is called Dhyani-Buddha in the Eastern Teaching. Dhyani-Buddha is a generic name for human individualities in whom the Spirits of Personality are active, even as far as their physical body.

Those personalities who are ensouled down to their etheric body, who were bearers of Archangels in the post-Atlantean times, are called Bodhi-Sattva And those who are the bearers of an Angel, who are, therefore, ensouled in their physical, etheric and astral bodies, are called human Buddhas

Thus we have three degrees: that of the Dhyani-Buddha, the Bodhi-Sattva and the human Buddha. This is the true teaching of the Buddhas, of the classes and categories of Buddhas, which we have to recognise in connexion with the whole manner and means by which the Hierarchies fulfil their ends. [ 22 ] This is the marvel which meets us, when we look back to earlier undeveloped men, that among these men we find those, through whom the Hierarchies speak The great Hierarchies speak out of the Cosmos downwards into the Planets, and only by degrees do these Spirits of the higher Hierarchies, who were active before the appearance of our earth, emancipate the planetary men who live down here, when they have reached the necessary degree of ripeness. Here we gaze into unfathomable depths of wisdom. And what is of extraordinary importance is, that we understand this wisdom exactly as it was taught in all the ages, when primeval wisdom was taught to men.

[ 23 ] Thus, when you hear of the Buddhas, for they do not speak of the one Buddha only in the Eastern teaching, but of many, among whom there are naturally different grades of perfection — give attention to the fact: a Buddha walks on earth, but behind the Buddha, was the Bodhi-Sattva and even the Dhyani-Buddha.

Matters, however, might be so, that the Dhyani-Buddha or the Bodhi-Sattva did not reach so far as to ensoul the physical body, but that the Bodhi-Sattva descended only as far as to be able to ensoul the etheric body, so that you can imagine a Being who does not reach so far as to ensoul and inspire the mans physical body, but only the etheric body. It can, however, happen when such a Bodhi-Sattva is not physically visible (for when he appears only in an etheric body he is not physically visible, and there were such Bodhi-Sattva who were physically invisible) that he can, as a higher Being, inspire quite exceptionally the human Buddha. So that we have the human Buddha, who is already inspired by an Angelic Being, being further inspired in his etheric body by an Archangel Being. [ 24 ] It is essential that we should look into this wonderful complexity of the human nature. Many Individualities to whom we look back into former times can only be understood, when we accept them as the meeting point of different higher Beings, who proclaim and express themselves through the man. For, in truth, many periods do not possess a sufficient number of great men to be inspired by the Spirits who have to be active. Thus sometimes one single personality has to be ensouled by different individualities of the higher Hierarchies. And sometimes it is not only the inhabitants of Mercury who speak with us, when we have a certain personality standing before us, but the inhabitants of Venus also.

Such ideas lead us to the understanding of human evolution, so that we may recognise the true nature of those personalities who, when met as physical men, represent merely Maya. [ 25 ] To-morrow we shall begin by trying to comprehend the origin of each individual planet, which up to now we have considered only as boundary marks, and then we shall gain an idea of them as the dwelling-places of the corresponding spiritual Beings.2EDITORIAL NOTES —
A Spirit of Personality enters the Physical and the entity is called a Dyani-Buddha in Post-Atlantis.
An Archangel enters the Physical and Etheric and the entity is called a Bodhi-Sattva in Post-Atlantis.
An Angel enters the Physical, Etheric and Astral and the entity is called a human Buddha in Post-Atlantis
But there are different degrees of each, and it is possible for a being to be inspired by all three Spiritual Beings. The student should avoid making hard and fast rules. There is much overlapping and also some departure from diagrams.

Siebenter Vortrag

[ 1 ] Gerne möchte ich im Beginne des heutigen Vortrages noch eine Bemerkung machen, die sich auf den Schluß des gestrigen Vortrages bezieht. Ich habe gesehen, daß einige der verehrten Zuhörer einen gewissen Wert darauf gelegt haben — und natürlich kann man das durchaus als einen Gedanken fassen -, daß in der skizzenhaften Zeichnung, die ich gegeben habe, die einzelnen Planeten mit der Sonne alle in einer Reihe standen, also eine Art von allgemeiner, wie man sagt, Konjunktion aufgezeichnet worden ist, aber ich bemerke ausdrücklich, daß es darauf bei dem, um was es sich handelt, gar nicht ankommt. Wir brauchen das später nämlich. Es ist notwendig, daß wir uns keinen falschen Vorstellungen hingeben.

[ 2 ] Wir zeichnen uns zunächst auf im Sinne des Kopernikanischen Systems die Sonne; dann dasjenige, was man jetzt nennt den Merkur, was man im Esoterischen aber nennt die Venus; dann die Venus, respektive den Merkur im esoterischen Sinn. Dann kommt im Sinne des Kopernikanischen Systems die Erde mit ihrem Mond, dann folgt die Marsbahn, dann die Jupiterbahn, schließlich die Saturnbahn. Das würde also Kopernikanisches Weltensystem sein. Und nun habe ich gesagt, ich möchte gerne die Sache so machen, wie es gelehrt worden ist in einer Zarathustra-Schule. Sie dürfen nicht denken, daß das Zarathustra immer selber gelehrt haben muß; das sind elementare Wahrheiten, die sind gelehrt worden in den Zarathustra-Schulen. [Dieselbe Zeichnung wie auf Seite 103.]

[ 3 ] Wenn wir uns nun denken, da sei das Sternbild der Zwillinge, dann nahm man diejenigen Punkte, die einfach in dieser Linie II bis Sonne, liegen. Verbinden Sie — es ist gleichgültig, ob eine solche Konjunktion vorhanden ist oder nicht - einfach die Sonne mit dem Sternbild der Zwillinge. Wo auch immer Saturn, Jupiter, Mars stehen, darauf kommt es nicht an, ich habe nur, um die Bahnen zu bezeichnen, dies hierher gezeichnet. Das sind zunächst die Grenzpunkte für die einzelnen Hierarchien.

[ 4 ] Nun müssen wir, wenn wir den Bereich des Saturn zum Beispiel aufzeichnen wollen, uns nicht die Sonne, sondern die Erde als Mittelpunkt denken und müssen eine Art von Kreis - es ist in Wirklichkeit kein Kreis -, eine Art von Eiform zeichnen, so daß die Erde Mittelpunkt wird. Ebenso müssen wir das für die anderen Himmelskörper tun. Also ich bitte, nicht das Nebensächliche in dieser Zeichnung für die Hauptsache zu halten. Die Hauptsache besteht darin, daß wir die entsprechenden Figuren für die Herrschaftsgebiete der betreffenden Hierarchien herausbekommen.

[ 5 ] Heute wollen wir uns eingehender beschäftigen mit der Wesenheit derjenigen Glieder der höheren Hierarchien, die unmittelbar über dem Menschen stehen. Es ist gut, wenn wir, um das zu studieren, einmal vom Menschen ausgehen. Denn nur dadurch, daß wir uns vollständig klarmachen, was wir wiederholt über das Wesen des Menschen und seine Entwickelung gesagt haben, können wir aufsteigen zum Wesen der Glieder höherer Hierarchien.

[ 6 ] Wir wissen, daß der Mensch, so wie er zunächst die Erde betreten hat und sich auf der Erde entwickelt, im wesentlichen aus vier Gliedern besteht. Diese vier Glieder sind also der physische Leib, der Ätherleib, der astralische Leib und das Ich. Wir wollen heute schematisch einmal hinzeichnen, so wie wir es gerade brauchen, diese vier Glieder der menschlichen Wesenheit. Wir zeichnen zunächst des Menschen physischen Körper als einen Kreis, ebenso den Ätherleib, den astralischen Leib und endlich das Ich als einen kleinen Kreis. Sie wissen nun, wie des Menschen Entwickelung vor sich geht. Der Mensch beginnt im Laufe seiner Erdenentwickelung vom Ich aus den Astralleib zu bearbeiten. Und wir können im allgemeinen sagen: So viel der Mensch von seinem Ich aus am astralischen Leib verarbeitet hat, so daß dieser verarbeitete Teil des Astralleibes unter die Herrschaft des Ich gekommen ist, so viel nennt man Manas oder Geistselbst; so daß also eigentlich Manas oder Geistselbst, wie oft betont worden ist, nicht wie irgend etwas neu Angeflogenes anzusehen ist, sondern einfach ein umgewandeltes Produkt des Astralleibes des Menschen ist. Wohlgemerkt, alle diese Dinge, die jetzt hier gesagt werden, gelten für den Menschen. Es ist wichtig, daß wir uns das nicht verallgemeinern, sondern uns klarwerden, daß die Wesen der Welt sehr, sehr verschieden voneinander sind.

[ 7 ] Nun zeichnen wir als ein fünftes Glied den umgewandelten Astralleib, also Manas als einen besonderen Kreis — eigentlich müßte es ja in den Astralleib hineingezeichnet werden. Ebenso müssen wir hier darüber zeichnen den umgewandelten Ätherleib, denn so viel von dem Ätherleib umgewandelt ist, bezeichnen wir als Budhi oder Lebensgeist, und wenn er ganz umgewandelt ist, so ist er eben ganz Budhi. Ebenso ist der physische Körper zu Atma umgewandelt, wenn wir den Menschen in der Vollkommenheit betrachten, die er erlangen kann in der Entwickelung durch Jupiter, Venus und Vulkan. Wenn der Mensch also im Vulkanzustand seine höchste Vollkommenheit erreicht haben wird, so können wir ihn schematisch in der folgenden Art zeichnen: Wir müßten sagen, wir haben sein Atma, Budhi, Manas, das Ich, den astralischen Leib, den Ätherleib, den physischen Leib. Und wir würden dann in diesem Schema als das Charakteristische anzusehen haben, daß der Mensch mit seinen sieben Prinzipien ein Ganzes ist, daß diese sieben Prinzipien alle ineinander sind. Das ist das Wesentliche.

[ 8 ] Denn wenn wir jetzt gehen zu den Gliedern der nächsten Hierarchie, zu den Engeln, so ist das bei ihnen nicht der Fall. Wir können dieses Schema auf den Menschen anwenden, aber nicht auf irgendein Engelwesen. Da müssen wir sagen: Dieser Engel hat physischen Leib, 1, Ätherleib, 2, und Astralleib, 3, entwickelt, so daß diese in gewisser Beziehung ein Ganzes geben. Aber nun müssen wir das Ich, 4, davon getrennt zeichnen, Manas, 5, Budhi, 6, und Atma, 7. Wenn Sie sich die Natur eines Engels klarmachen wollen, so müssen Sie sich denken, daß die höheren Glieder, die er hat und zu denen er sich ja entwickeln kann - in Wirklichkeit hat er ja erst das Manas vollständig ausgebildet, die anderen zwei wird er erst später entwickeln -, daß diese höheren Glieder sozusagen in einer geistigen Welt über demjenigen schweben, was von ihm im Physischen vorhanden ist. Wenn man also die Natur eines Engels studieren wollte, so würde man sich sagen müssen: Der Engel hat nicht ein solches auf der Erde in einem Körper unmittelbar herumwandelndes Ich wie der Mensch. Er entwickelt auch nicht sein Manas auf der jetzigen Stufe seiner Entwickelung auf der Erde. Daher schaut auch das, was von ihm auf der Erde ist, gar nicht so aus, als wenn es zu einem geistigen Wesen gehören würde. Wenn Sie einem Menschen begegnen, so sehen Sie ihm an: Der hat seine Prinzipien in sich, der hat daher alles organisch gegliedert. Wenn Sie einen Engel aufsuchen wollen, dann müssen Sie berücksichtigen, daß sein Physisches hier unten nur etwas ist wie ein Spiegelbild seiner geistigen Prinzipien, die auch nur im Geistigen zu schauen sind. Im fließenden und rieselnden Wasser, in dem sich in Dunst auflösenden Wasser, ferner in den Winden der Luft und in den durch die Luft zuckenden Blitzen und dergleichen, da haben Sie den physischen Körper der Engelwesen zu suchen. Und die Schwierigkeit besteht zunächst für den Menschen darin, daß er glaubt, ein Körper müsse ringsherum bestimmt begrenzt sein. Dem Menschen wird es schwer, sich zu sagen: Ich stehe vor einem aufsteigenden oder herabfallenden Nebel, ich stehe vor einer sich zerstäubenden Quelle, ich stehe im dahinbrausenden Wind, ich sehe den Blitz aus den Wolken schießen und weiß, daß das die Offenbarungen der Engel sind; und ich habe zu sehen hinter diesem physischen Leib, der eben nicht so begrenzt ist wie der menschliche, ein Geistiges.

[ 9 ] Der Mensch soll alle seine Prinzipien in sich abgeschlossen entwikkeln; damit hängt es zusammen, daß er sich nicht vorstellen kann, daß ein physischer Leib verschwimmend, verschwebend sein kann, daß er gar nicht einmal richtig abgeteilt zu sein braucht. Sie müssen sich durchaus denken, daß achtzig Engel zusammengehören, die in einer einzigen Partie dieser oder jener Wasserfläche den dichtesten Teil ihres physischen Leibes haben. Es braucht auch gar nicht dieser physische Leib der Engel so aufgefaßt zu werden, daß er überhaupt begrenzt sein müßte, es kann hier ein Stück Wasser dazu gehören, weit weg ein anderes Stück. Kurz, wir sehen, daß wir uns alles, was uns umgibt als Wasser, Luft und Feuer der Erde, daß wir uns das vorzustellen haben als in sich enthaltend die Körper der nächsten über dem Menschen stehenden Hierarchie. Und es muß mit hellseherischem Blick hineingeschaut werden in die astralische Welt, um das Engel-Ich und Engel-Manas zu erblicken - das schaut uns aus der höheren Welt an. Und das Gebiet in dem Sonnensystem, wo wir zu forschen haben, wenn wir nach den Engelwesen suchen, das geht bis zu der Marke des Mondes. Bei diesen Engeln ist die Sache nun noch verhältnismäßig einfach, denn da liegt sie so, daß wenn wir zum Beispiel da unten den physischen Leib eines Engels in einer Wassermasse oder dergleichen haben und wir hellseherisch dieses Wassergebiet oder einen Wind betrachten, daß wir darin einen Ätherleib und einen astralischen Leib finden. Daher sind diese drei Dinge auch hier zusammengezeichnet worden. Natürlich ist das, was im Wind dahinsaust, was im Wasser dahinfließt oder zerstiebt, nicht nur das materielle Abbild, das der grobe Verstand sieht, es lebt eben in der mannigfaltigsten Weise in Wasser, Luft und Feuer Ätherisches und Astralisches der Engel, der nächsten Hierachie über dem Menschen. Wollen Sie dafür die geistig-seelische Wesenheit dieser Engel suchen, dann müssen Sie im astralischen Gebiet suchen, dann müssen Sie dort hinein hellseherisch schauen.

[ 10 ] Wollen wir aber gleich die nächste Stufe, die der Erzengel, zeichnen, da liegt die Sache noch anders. Die Erzengel haben überhaupt dasjenige, was wir hier als den astralischen Leib gezeichnet haben, gar nicht verbunden mit physischem Leib und Ätherleib; und was wir von ihnen suchen können als ihr unterstes Glied, das müssen wir so zeichnen: physischer Leib, Ätherleib, 1, 2, das haben sie sozusagen getrennt, und alle die höheren Prinzipien sind jetzt in einer höheren Welt da droben. So daß wir von den Erzengeln das vollständige Bild nur haben, wenn wir an zwei Orten suchen, wenn wir uns sagen: Da ist nicht, wie beim Menschen, alles in einer einzigen Wesenheit vereinigt; da ist gleichsam oben das Geistige und unten spiegelt sich das Geistige. - Es kann sich ein physischer Leib und ein Ätherleib für sich nur vereinigen, wenn dieser physische Leib nur in Luft und Feuer ist. Also die Erzengel könnten Sie zum Beispiel nicht in irgendeiner Wassermasse daherbrausen fühlen ihrem physischen Leibe nach, sondern Sie könnten sie nur in Wind und Feuer wahrnehmen, und zu diesem dahinbrausenden Wind und zu diesem Feuer müssen Sie also hellseherisch in der geistigen Welt das geistige Gegenstück suchen. Das ist nicht mit seinem physischen Leib, auch nicht einmal mit seinem Ätherleib vereint.

[ 11 ] Und endlich kommen wir zu denjenigen Wesenheiten, die wir als Archai, Urbeginne, Urkräfte, Geister der Persönlichkeit bezeichnen. Da können wir unten überhaupt nur den physischen Leib zeichnen, alles andere ist oben in der geistigen Welt. Solch ein physischer Leib, der kann nur im Feuer leben. Nur in Feuerflammen können Sie den physischen Leib der Urkräfte wahrnehmen. Wenn Sie das dahinzüngelnde Feuer des Blitzes sehen, so können Sie sich jedesmal sagen: Da drinnen ist etwas vom Leib der Urkräfte, aber oben in der geistigen Welt, hellseherisch, werde ich das geistige Gegenbild finden, das getrennt ist in diesem Falle von seinem physischen Leibe. Gerade bei diesen Archai, bei den Urbeginnen oder Geistern der Persönlichkeit kann sich das hellseherische Vermögen die Sache verhältnismäßig einfach machen. Denken Sie sich, daß diese Geister der Persönlichkeit in dem Bereiche sind, der bis zum astronomischen Merkur, das ist bis zur Venus im Sinne der Mysterien, reicht. Nehmen wir an, daß es jemand dahin gebracht hat, das, was da droben auf dem Merkur sich entwickelt, beobachten zu können: Da kann er diese hoch entwikkelten Wesenheiten wahrnehmen, diese Geister der Persönlichkeit. Wenn er hellseherisch den Blick hinaufrichtet zur Venus, um da droben die Versammlung der Geister der Persönlichkeit zu beobachten, und dann den Blitzstrahl durch die Wolken zucken sieht, da sieht er in diesem Blitzstrahl sich spiegeln die Geister der Persönlichkeit, denn da drinnen haben sie ihren Leib.

[ 12 ] Wir kommen dann zu den höheren geistigen Wesenheiten hinauf, die bis zur Sonnenmarke reichen. Sie interessieren uns heute weniger, diese Gewalten, Exusiai. Nur das sei hervorgehoben, daß ihre ausführenden Organe die Venuswesen und die Merkurwesen sind - die Venuswesen, welche im Feuer, die Merkurwesen, welche im Feuer und Wind ihren physischen Leib haben. Übersetzen Sie sich das so, daß Sie sagen: Diejenigen Wesenheiten, die in der Sonne leben, machen zu ihren untergeordneten Organen die Venusgeister in Feuerflammen und die Merkurgeister im Windesbrausen. «Und der Gott macht Feuerflammen zu seinen Dienern und die Winde zu seinen Boten» [heißt es in der Bibel]. Lesen Sie das, diese Dinge in den religiösen Urkunden sind absolut herausgeholt aus den geistigen Tatsachen und entsprechen den Beobachtungen des hellseherischen Vermögens.

[ 13 ] Also wir haben gesehen, daß mit unserem eigenen Dasein verknüpft sind zunächst diese drei über uns stehenden Hierarchien. Der Mensch ist dieses Wesen, was er ist, dadurch, daß er etwas abbekommen hat vom Festen, von der Erde. Das macht ihn so getrennt von allen anderen Wesen, das macht ihn zu einem zusammengehörigen, aus einzelnen Gliedern bestehenden Wesen. Der Mensch war auf dem Monde auch noch ein solches Wesen wie die anderen, da hat er Verwandlungen durchgemacht, wie eben Wassermassen, die einen immerfort sich wandelnden Leib bilden. Erst auf der Erde ist der Mensch sozusagen eingefangen worden in seine Haut und bildet nun ein abgeschlossenes Wesen, so daß wir sagen können: Der Mensch besteht aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib, astralischem Leib und Ich. Diese Abgeschlossenheit ist im Grunde genommen noch gar nicht so lange her. Wenn wir zurückgehen in die alte atlantische Zeit, dann treffen wir noch in der ersten Epoche der atlantischen Zeit einen Menschen, der noch nicht das Ich vollständig in sich fühlte, der gewissermaßen noch darauf wartete, das Ich vollständig zu empfangen. Und würden wir weiter zurückgehen in der Erdenentwickelung, dann müßten wir sagen: Was wir da unten vom Menschen haben auf der Erde, das besteht doch erst aus physischem Leib, Ätherleib und astralischem Leib. Und gehen Sie zurück in die lemurische Zeit, so finden Sie einen Menschen unten auf der Erde, der in seiner Art unten nicht mehr physischen Leib, Ätherleib und astralischen Leib hat, als auch die Engel unten haben. Mit dem Ich-Werden der Menschen, von diesem Zeitpunkt an durch die atlantische Zeit hindurch, kommt die Vereinigung. Also es wandeln in der lemurischen Zeit auf der Erde herum Menschen, die nur physischen Leib, Ätherleib und Astralleib haben; aber das sind keine Menschen, die im heutigen Sinne denken, die sich im heutigen Sinne menschlich entwickeln können.

[ 14 ] Und jetzt geschieht auf unserer Erde etwas höchst Merkwürdiges. Diese Menschen, die da in der lemurischen Zeit herumwandeln und nur den physischen Leib, den Ätherleib und den Astralleib haben, die können sich selber nicht helfen; sie kennen sich nicht aus auf der Erde, wissen nicht, was sie tun sollen auf der Erde. Zu diesen Wesenheiten steigen nun herunter aus dem Gebiete des Himmels zunächst die Bewohner der Venus, die, weil sie sozusagen zu einem physischen Leibe eine Beziehung haben, gerade dadurch den physischen Leib der ersten Erdenbewohner durchstrahlen und beseelen können. So haben wir also einzelne unter diesen lemurischen Menschen, die wandeln unter der ganzen Masse der Menschen auf ganz eigentümliche Art herum, sie haben einen anderen physischen Leib als die anderen. Ein solcher besonders begnadeter Mensch hatte nicht einen gewöhnlichen physischen Leib, sondern einen solchen, der von einem der Venusgeister, der Geister der Persönlichkeit, beseelt, durchseelt war. Dadurch aber, daß dieser Mensch der alten lemurischen Zeit mit einem Venusgeist in seinem physischen Leibe herumwandelte, hatte er einen gewaltigen Einfluß auf seine ganze Umgebung. Solche Lemurier unterschieden sich äußerlich gar nicht besonders von ihren Genossen; aber weil in ihrem physischen Leibe stellvertretend ein Geist der Persönlichkeit war, wirkten diese auserlesenen Individuen suggestiv im höchsten Sinne des Wortes auf ihre Umgebung. Die Achtung und Ehrfurcht, der Gehorsam, den man ihnen entgegenbrachte — demgegenüber gibt es heute gar nichts Gleiches. Alle Wanderzüge auf der Erde, die unternommen wurden, um die einzelnen Gebiete der Erde zu bevölkern, wurden geführt von solchen Wesenheiten, in die hineingefahren waren Geister der Persönlichkeit. Da bedurfte es keiner Sprache, die gab es damals nicht, es bedurfte auch keiner Zeichen, sondern daß eine solche Persönlichkeit da war, das genügte. Und wenn sie es für notwendig hielt, große Menschenmassen von einem Ort zum anderen zu geleiten, dann folgten diese Menschenmassen, ohne irgendwie darüber nachzudenken. Nachdenken gab es damals auch noch nicht, das entwickelte sich erst später.

[ 15 ] So stiegen herunter die Geister der Persönlichkeitals Venusgeisterin der alten lemurischen Zeit. Und wir können daher sagen, daß diese Venusgeister, dieauf der Erde Menschenantlitz trugen, so eben wiedieses Menschenantlitz damals sein konnte, im ganzen Weltenzusammenhang etwas ganz anderes bedeuteten. Nimmt man ihre kosmische Bedeutung, so reichte sie bis hinauf zur Venus, und ihre Handlungen bedeuteten etwas im ganzen Zusammenhange des kosmischen Systems. Sie konnten die Menschen von einem Ort zum anderen führen, weil sie das wußten aus dem Zusammenhang, der eingesehen werden kann, wenn man die Nachbarschaft der Erde kennt und nicht nur die Erde.

[ 16 ] Die Entwickelung der Menschheit schritt weiter. Da stellte sich die Notwendigkeit heraus, daß Erzengel, Merkurgeister in die Entwickelung eingreifen mußten; diese mußten nun beseelen und beleben, was da unten auf der Erde war. Das war vorzugsweise in der atlantischen Zeit. Da stiegen Geister des Merkur, Erzengel, Archangeloiherab. Diekonnten physischen Leib und Ätherleibderbetreffenden Menschen durchseelen, begeisten. So gab es unter den Atlantiern wieder solche Menschen, die äußerlich sich nicht besonders unterschieden von den anderen, die aber in ihrem physischen und Ätherleib von einem Erzengel beseelt waren. Und wenn Sie bedenken, daß wir gestern gesagt haben, die Erzengel haben die Aufgabe, ganze Völkerschaften zu dirigieren, so werden Sie verstehen, daß ein solcher Mensch, der einen Erzengel in sich trug, tatsächlich einem ganzen atlantischen Volksstamm ohne weiteres die entsprechenden, vom Himmel abgelesenen Gesetze geben konnte.

[ 17 ] So waren die großen Führer der alten lemurischen Zeit, wo es noch notwendig war, viel allgemeiner zu wirken, beseelt von Venusgeistern. Diejenigen, die in der atlantischen Zeit kleinere Völkermassen zu dirigieren hatten, waren beseelt von Erzengeln. Was man Priesterkönige der atlantischen Zeit nennt, das ist Maja; sie sind gar nicht so, wie sie sich äußerlich darstellen. In ihrem physischen Leib und Ätherleib lebt ein Erzengel, der ist der eigentlich Handelnde. Und wir können zurückgehen in die atlantische Zeit, wir können da aufsuchen die geheimen Stätten dieser Menschheitsführer. Von den atlantischen Geheimstätten aus wirkten sie, da erforschten sie die Geheimnisse des Weltenraums. Man kann dasjenige, was da in den alten atlantischen Geheimstätten erforscht und befohlen wurde, umschreiben mit dem Namen Orakel, obwohl dieses Wort aus späteren Zeiten stammt. Der Name Orakelstätte paßt sehr gut auf die eigentlichen Lehrstätten und Regierungsstätten dieser atlantischen Menschen, die die Erzengel in sich trugen. Von da aus wirkten sie als große Lehrer, so daß sie auch andere Menschen nun heranziehen und zu Dienern und Priestern in den Orakelstätten der Atlantier machen konnten.

[ 18 ] Es ist wichtig, daß man weiß, daß in der alten Atlantis Menschen vorhanden waren, die eigentlich Erzengel waren, die in ihrem physischen und Ätherleib verkörpert trugen einen Erzengel. Würde der hellseherische Blick gegenübergetreten sein einem solchen Menschen, so würde er in der Tat gesehen haben den physischen Menschen und hinter dem physischen Menschen sich erheben, wie in einer riesigen Gestalt nach oben in unbestimmte Regionen sich verlierend, den ihn inspirierenden Erzengel. Eine zweifache Wesenheit war eine solche Persönlichkeit, wie wenn hinter dem physischen Menschen, aus dem Unbestimmten herauswachsend, der ihn inspirierende Erzengel da gewesen wäre. Wenn nun diese Menschen starben, so ging der physische Leib eben nach den Gesetzen der Atlantis zugrunde. Er löste sich auf, der physische Leib, den natürlich der Erzengel ebenso inspiriert hatte, aber der Ätherleib, der löste sich nicht auf. Es gibt eine spirituelle Ökonomie, die Ausnahmen erheischt gegenüber dem, was im allgemeinen als geisteswissenschaftliche Wahrheit hingestellt werden muß. Wir sagen, und im allgemeinen ist das durchaus richtig: Wenn ein Mensch stirbt, dann legt er seinen physischen Leib ab, nach einiger Zeit auch seinen Ätherleib, und der Ätherleib löst sich auf mit Ausnahme eines Extraktes. So ist es aber nur im allgemeinen. Es ist ein gewaltiger Unterschied zwischen einem solchen Ätherleib, wie ihn diese Eingeweihten der atlantischen Orakel hatten, der von einem Erzengel durchsetzt war, und einem gewöhnlichen Ätherleib. Ein solch wertvoller Ätherleib geht nicht verloren, der wird in der geistigen Welt aufbewahrt. Und es wurden aufbewahrt zunächst durch den höchsten Führer der atlantischen Orakel die sieben bedeutendsten Ätherleiber der sieben großen Anführer dieser Orakel. Sie waren also ursprünglich gewoben dadurch, daß in diesen Ätherleibern Erzengel gewohnt hatten, die bei dem Tode natürlich wieder in die höheren Welten zurückkehrten. So etwas wird aufbewahrt, natürlich nicht in Schachteln, sondern nach spirituellen Gesetzen. Der atlantische Eingeweihte des Sonnenorakels ist aber kein anderer als derjenige, der so oft der Manu genannt wird, der herüberführte nach Asien die atlantische Bevölkerung in ihrem Rest, um die nachatlantischen Kulturen zu begründen. Er nahm sein kleines Häuflein und führte es nach Asien herüber. Durch Generationen kultivierte er die Menschen, und als die geeigneten Sieben gezüchtet und herangezogen waren, da wob er ihnen ein in ihren eigenen Ätherleib die sieben aufbewahrten Ätherleiber, die in der alten Atlantis durch Erzengel gewoben waren. Jene Sieben, die hinuntergeschickt wurden von dem großen Führer, um die erste nachatlantische Kultur zu begründen, die sieben heiligen Rishis der indischen Kultur, sie trugen in ihrem Gewebe die Ätherleiber der großen atlantischen Führer, die wiederum diese Ätherleiber erworben hatten durch die Erzengel selber. So wirkten Vergangenheit und Gegenwart und Zukunft zusammen. In diesen sieben Menschen, die man die heiligen Rishis nennt, würden Sie schlichte Leute gefunden haben, denn sie standen mit ihrem Astralleibe und ihrem Ich nicht auf der Höhe des Ätherleibes. In den Ätherleib war einverwoben dasjenige, was sie eigentlich konnten; daher hatten sie gewisse Stunden, wo in ihrem Ätherleib die Inspiration wirkte. Da sagten sie Dinge, die sie selbst nicht hätten erreichen können, da floß von ihren Lippen, was durch ihren Ätherleib in sie hinein inspiriert worden war. So waren sie schlichte Leute, wenn sie ihrem eigenen Urteil überlassen waren; wenn sie aber die Stunden der Inspiration hatten, wo der Ätherleib wirkte, da sprachen sie die größten Geheimnisse unseres Sonnensystems, der Welt überhaupt, aus.

[ 19 ] In der nachatlantischen Zeit war es auch noch nicht so weit, daß die Menschen sozusagen gar nichts mehr brauchten von oben, daß sie gar keine Beseelung mehr nötig hatten, sondern auch da fand noch eine Art Beseelung von oben statt. Wir haben gesehen, wie eine solche Beseelung bei der lemurischen Bevölkerung dadurch geschah, daß der physische Leib beseelt wurde von Geistern der Persönlichkeit; in der atlantischen Zeit wurde der physische und der Ätherleib durchseelt von Erzengeln; und jetzt wurden die großen Menschheitsführer der nachatlantischen Zeit zunächst beseelt dadurch, daß die Engel zu ihnen herunterstiegen in ihren physischen Leib, Ätherleib und Astralleib hinein. Die großen Führer der ersten nachatlantischen Zeit hatten also nicht bloß ihren menschlichen physischen Leib, Ätherleib und Astralleib, sondern da drinnen steckte ein Engel. Dadurch konnten diese großen Führer zurückschauen in ihre früheren Inkarnationen. Das kann der gewöhnliche Mensch nicht, weil er sich noch nicht bis zum Manas hinauf entwickelt hat; er muß erst selbst ein Engel werden. Diese Führer, die herausgeboren waren aus der gewöhnlichen Bevölkerung, diese trugen in ihrem physischen Leib, Ätherleib und Astralleib ein Engelwesen, das sie beseelte, das sie durchsetzte. Das war also wiederum Maja, das waren wiederum Wesen, die etwas anderes sind, als was sie darstellen auf der Erde. Und die großen Menschheitsführer des grauen Altertums waren eben durchaus etwas ganz anderes, als sie äußerlich schienen. Es waren Persönlichkeiten, in denen ein Engel war, der ihnen eingab, was sie brauchten, um Lehrer und Führer der Menschen zu sein. Die großen Religionsstifter und Religionsführer waren solche von Engeln besessene Menschen. Engel sprachen aus ihnen.

[ 20 ] Nun sind aber die Dinge in der Welt wohl in vollständiger Regelmäßigkeit zu schildern, aber es schieben sich immer die Entwickelungsvorgänge ineinander. Was wir so in vollkommener Regelmäßigkeit schildern, das spielt sich nicht auch in vollständiger Regelmäßigkeit ab. Gewiß, in der Hauptsache gilt es, so daß also in der lemurischen Zeit durch menschliche Wesen Geister der Persönlichkeit sprachen, in der atlantischen Zeit Erzengel und in der nachatlantischen Zeit Engel. Aber es ragen auch solche Wesen noch in die nachatlantische Zeit herein, die bis in ihren physischen Leib von Geistern der Persönlichkeit durchsetzt sind, die also eigentlich, trotzdem sie in der nachatlantischen Zeit leben, in derselben Lage sind, wie einstmals jene Wesen in der lemurischen Zeit waren, aus denen Geister der Persönlichkeit sprachen. Also, es kann Menschen geben in der nachatlantischen Zeit, die durchaus die Charakterzeichen der äußeren Völker tragen, die aber, weil die Menschheit auch solche großen Führer brauchte, noch in sich tragen einen Geist der Persönlichkeit, die die äußere Verkörperung eines solchen Geistes sind. Dann gibt es auch solche Menschen in der nachatlantischen Zeit, die nun wiederum in sich einen Erzengel, einen Merkurgeist tragen, der ihren physischen und namentlich ihren Ätherleib durchseelt. Und endlich gibt es die dritte Sorte von Menschen, die durchseelt, die inspiriert sind im physischen Leib, Ätherleib und Astralleib von einem Engelwesen, aus denen also ein Engel spricht.

[ 21 ] Im Sinne der östlichen Lehre bekommen nun solche Menschheitspersönlichkeiten wieder besondere Namen. Also eine Menschheitspersönlichkeit, die zwar äußerlich ein Mensch unserer nachatlantischen Zeit ist, die aber eigentlich einen Geist der Persönlichkeit in sich trägt, die bis in ihren physischen Leib hinein von einem Geist der Persönlichkeit durchseelt ist, nennt man in östlicher Lehre DhyaniBuddha. Dhyani-Buddha ist also ein Generalname für menschliche Individualitäten, die von einem Geist der Persönlichkeit bis hinein in ihren physischen Leib beseelt sind. Diejenigen Persönlichkeiten, die bis in ihren Ätherleib hinein beseelt sind, die einen Erzengel in sich tragen in der nachatlantischen Zeit, die nennt man Bodhisattva. Und diejenigen, die einen Engel in sich tragen, die also durchseelt sind in ihrem physischen Leib, Ätherleib und astralischen Leib, die nennt man menschliche Buddhas. So daß wir drei Stufen haben: die DhyaniBuddhas, die Bodhisattvas und die menschlichen Buddhas. Das ist die wahre Lehre der Buddhas, von den Klassen und Kategorien der Buddhas, die wir anzusehen haben im Zusammenhang mit der ganzen Art und Weise, wie sich die Hierarchien ausleben.

[ 22 ] Das ist das Wunderbare, was uns da begegnet, wenn wir zurückblicken auf die früheren, unentwickelten Menschen, daß wir unter diesen Menschen solche finden, durch die eigentlich die großen Hierarchien aus dem Kosmos herunter in den Planeten hinein sprechen, und daß erst nach und nach die Geister der oberen Hierarchien, die schon vor unserer Erdenentstehung gewirkt haben, die Menschen, die da unten wohnen, die Planetenmenschen, entlassen in dem Grade, als diese reif werden. In eine ungeheure Weisheit sehen wir da hinein. Und das ist außerordentlich wichtig, daß wir diese Weisheit gerade in diesem Sinne durchschauen, wie sie gelehrt wurde in alten Zeiten, da der Menschheit die Urweltweisheit gelehrt wurde.

[ 23 ] Wenn Sie also hören von den Buddhas - und es wird in der östlichen Lehre nicht nur von dem einen Buddha gesprochen, sondern von vielen, unter denen natürlich wieder verschiedene Vollkommenheitsgrade sind -, so beachten Sie: Ein Buddha wandelt auf der Erde, aber hinter dem Buddha sozusagen kam noch der Bodhisattva und sogar der Dhyani-Buddha. Nun konnte aber auch die Sache so sein, daß zum Beispiel der Dhyani-Buddha und der Bodhisattva gar nicht heruntergingen bis zur Durchseelung des physischen Leibes, sondern daß der Bodhisattva nur herunterging bis zur Beseelung des Ätherleibes, so daß Sie also eine Wesenheit vermuten können, die nicht so weit geht, auch den physischen Leib des Menschen zu durchseelen und zu inspirieren, sondern nur den Ätherleib. Da kann es aber geschehen, daß ein solcher Bodhisattva, der also physisch gar nicht sichtbar ist — denn wenn er nur ineinem Ätherleib erscheint, so ister physisch nicht sichtbar, und es gab durchaus solche Bodhisattvas, die physisch nicht sichtbar waren -, daß ein solcher Bodhisattva als höheres Wesen den menschlichen Buddha wiederum besonders inspirieren kann. So daß wir haben den menschlichen Buddha, der schon inspiriert ist von einem Engelwesen, der aber in seinem Ätherleib noch inspiriert ist von einem Erzengelwesen.

[ 24 ] Das ist das Wesentliche, daß wir da hineinblicken in eine wunderbare Kompliziertheit der menschlichen Wesenheit. Und gar manche Individualität, zu der wir zurückblicken in der früheren Zeit, verstehen wir eigentlich nur, wenn wir sie auffassen wie einen Sammelpunkt verschiedener Wesenheiten, die sich durch den Menschen ausleben und ankündigen. Denn wahrhaftig, manches Zeitalter hat nicht genügend viele große Menschen, die inspiriert werden können von den Geistern, die zu wirken haben. Da muß manchmal eine einzige Persönlichkeit von den verschiedensten Individualitäten der höheren Hierarchien durchseelt und beseelt werden. Und manchmal spricht sozusagen nicht nur die Bevölkerung von Merkur, sondern es sprechen die von Merkur und Venus zu uns, wenn wir irgendeine Persönlichkeit vor uns haben. Das also, sehen Sie, sind die Begriffe, welche uns führen zum Verständnis der menschheitlichen Entwickelung, so daß wir Persönlichkeiten in ihrer wahren Gestalt erkennen, während sie, wenn sie uns als physische Menschen entgegentreten, eigentlich bloß Maja sind.

[ 25 ] Morgen werden wir nun damit beginnen, den einzelnen physischen Planeten in seiner Entstehung zu begreifen, den wir bis jetzt nur als Marke betrachtet haben, um ihn dann als Wohnsitz für die entsprechenden Wesenheiten auffassen zu können.

Seventh Lecture

[ 1 ] At the beginning of today's lecture, I would like to make a further comment that relates to the end of yesterday's lecture. I have seen that some of the honored audience have attached a certain importance to the fact - and of course this can be taken as a thought - that in the sketchy drawing I gave, the individual planets with the sun were all in a row, so a kind of general, as one says, conjunction was drawn, but I expressly note that this does not matter at all, what it is about. We need this later, namely, it is necessary that we do not indulge in false ideas.

[ 2 ] First, we draw the sun in the sense of the Copernican system; then what is now called Mercury, but in the esoteric is called Venus; then Venus, or Mercury in the esoteric sense. Then, in the sense of the Copernican system, comes the Earth with its moon, followed by the orbit of Mars, then Jupiter and finally Saturn. That would be the Copernican system. And now I said that I would like to do it the way it was taught in a Zarathustra school. You must not think that Zarathustra himself always had to teach; these are elementary truths that were taught in the Zarathustra schools. [The same drawing as on page 103.]

[ 3 ] If we now imagine that the constellation of Gemini is there, then we take the points that simply lie on this line II to the Sun. Connect – it does not matter whether such a conjunction exists or not – simply connect the Sun with the constellation of Gemini. Wherever Saturn, Jupiter, Mars are, it does not matter, I have only drawn this here to indicate the orbits. These are the initial boundary points for the individual hierarchies.

[ 4 ] Now, if we want to depict the realm of Saturn, for example, we have to think of the Earth, not the Sun, as the center and draw a kind of circle – it is not a circle in reality – a kind of egg shape, so that the Earth becomes the center. Likewise, we have to do this for the other heavenly bodies. So I beg you not to mistake the unimportant for the important in this drawing. The main thing is that we get the corresponding figures for the domains of the respective hierarchies.

[ 5 ] Today we want to take a closer look at the nature of those members of the higher hierarchies who stand immediately above the human being. It is good if we start from the human being to study this, because only by fully realizing what we have repeatedly said about the nature of the human being and his development can we ascend to the nature of the members of higher hierarchies.

[ 6 ] We know that man, as he first came upon the earth and developed on it, essentially consists of four members. These four members are thus the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body and the I. Today, we want to sketch these four members of the human being schematically, as we need them. We begin by drawing the human physical body as a circle, then the etheric body, the astral body and finally the I as a small circle. You now know how the development of the human being takes place. In the course of their earthly development, human beings begin to work on the astral body from the I. And in general we can say: the part of the astral body that the human being has worked on from the I, so that this processed part of the astral body has come under the control of the I, is called Manas or spirit self; so that, as has often been emphasized, Manas or spirit self is not to be seen as something newly acquired, but simply as a transformed product of the human being's astral body. It should be noted that all these things that are said here apply to man. It is important that we do not generalize, but realize that the beings of the world are very, very different from each other.

[ 7 ] Now, as a fifth link, we draw the transformed astral body, that is, Manas as a special circle — actually it would have to be drawn inside the astral body. Likewise, we have to draw the transformed etheric body above it, because as much of the etheric body as is transformed is designated as Budhi or spirit of life, and when it is completely transformed, it is just completely Budhi. Likewise, the physical body is transformed into Atma when we look at the human being in the perfection that he can attain in his development through Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. When man has reached his highest perfection in the Vulcan state, we can draw him schematically in the following way: We would have, we would say, his Atma, Budhi, Manas, the I, the astral body, the etheric body, the physical body. And we would then have to regard as characteristic in this scheme that the human being with his seven principles is a whole, that these seven principles are all within one another. That is the essential thing.

[ 8 ] Because if we now go to the members of the next hierarchy, to the angels, this is not the case with them. We can apply this scheme to man, but not to any angelic being. There we have to say: This angel has developed a physical body, 1, an etheric body, 2, and an astral body, 3, so that these form a whole to a certain extent. But now we have to draw the I, 4, separately, Manas, 5, Budhi, 6, and Atma, 7. If you want to understand the nature of an angel, you have to imagine that the higher limbs that he has and towards which he can develop – in reality he has only fully developed the manas, he will only develop the other two later – that these higher members hover, so to speak, in a spiritual world above that which is present in him in the physical. If one wanted to study the nature of an angel, one would have to say: the angel does not have an ego that directly wanders around on earth in a body like the human being. He also does not develop his manas on the present level of his development on earth. Therefore, what is of him on earth does not look at all as if it belonged to a spiritual being. When you meet a human being, you can see that he has his principles within him, and that everything about him is therefore organically structured. If you want to see an angel, you have to bear in mind that their physical body down here is only a reflection of their spiritual principles, which can only be seen in the spiritual realm. In the flowing and trickling water, in the water dissolving into vapor, further in the winds of the air and in the lightning flashing through the air and the like, there you have to seek the physical body of the angelic beings. And the difficulty for man consists first in the fact that he believes that a body must be definitely limited all around. It is difficult for a person to say to himself: I stand before a rising or falling mist, I stand before a spring that sprays in all directions, I stand in the rushing wind, I see lightning shoot out of the clouds and know that these are the revelations of the angels; and I have to see behind this physical body, which is not as limited as the human one, a spiritual one.

[ 9 ] A person should develop all of his principles in a self-contained way; this is why he cannot imagine that a physical body can be blurred, floating, that it does not even need to be clearly divided. You must realize that eighty angels belong together, who have the densest part of their physical body in a single part of this or that water surface. Nor need this physical body of the angels be conceived as having any limits at all. One piece of water here, another piece far away there. In short, we see that everything around us is water, air and fire of the earth, and that we have to imagine it as containing within itself the bodies of the Hierarchy standing next above man. And clairvoyant vision must be used to look into the astral world in order to see the angelic ego and angelic manas - that looks at us from the higher world. And the area in the solar system where we have to search when we are looking for the angelic beings extends to the orbit of the moon. With these angels, the matter is still relatively simple, because it is so that if, for example, we have the physical body of an angel down there in a mass of water or something similar and we clairvoyantly observe this water area or a wind, we find an etheric body and an astral body in it. That is why these three things have been drawn together here. Of course, what rushes along in the wind, what flows or disperses in the water, is not only the material image that the coarse mind sees; the ethereal and astral of the angels, the next hierarchy above man, lives in the most diverse ways in water, air and fire. If you want to find the spiritual essence of these angels, then you have to look in the astral realm, then you have to look into it clairvoyantly.

[ 10 ] But if we want to draw the next level, that of the archangels, the matter is different. The archangels do not have what we have drawn here as the astral body at all connected to the physical body and etheric body; and what we can seek from them as their lowest level, we have to draw it like this: physical body, etheric body, 1, 2, they have that, so to speak, separately, and all the higher principles are now in a higher world up there. So that we only have the complete picture of the archangels when we search in two places, when we say to ourselves: Not everything is united in a single entity, as it is in humans; the spiritual is, as it were, above and below the spiritual is reflected. - A physical body and an etheric body can only unite if this physical body is only in air and fire. So you could not feel the archangels, for example, rushing along in some mass of water, according to their physical body, but you could only perceive them in wind and fire, and so you would have to seek their spiritual counterpart clairvoyantly in the spiritual world, in this rushing wind and this fire. This is not united with its physical body, nor even with its etheric body.

[ 11 ] And finally we come to those entities which we call archai, primal beginnings, primal forces, spirits of personality. Below we can only draw the physical body, everything else is up in the spiritual world. Such a physical body can only live in fire. Only in fire flames can you perceive the physical body of the primal forces. When you see the fire of lightning flickering, you can say to yourself each time: There inside is something of the body of the elemental forces, but above in the spiritual world, clairvoyantly, I will find the spiritual counterpart, which in this case is separated from its physical body. Especially with these archai, with the primal beginnings or spirits of personality, the clairvoyant faculty can make things relatively easy for itself. Imagine that these spirits of personality are in the realm that extends to the astronomical planet Mercury, which is to say, to Venus in the sense of the Mysteries. Let us assume that someone has managed to observe what is developing up there on Mercury: They can perceive these highly developed entities, these spirits of personality. If he looks up clairvoyantly to Venus to observe the assembly of the spirits of personality up there, and then sees the flash of lightning through the clouds, he sees the spirits of personality reflected in this flash of lightning, because that is where their body is.

[ 12 ] We then come up to the higher spiritual beings, which reach up to the sun mark. We are not so much interested in these forces, exusiai, today. Only this should be emphasized, that their executive organs are the Venus beings and the Mercury beings - the Venus beings, which have their physical body in fire, and the Mercury beings, which have their physical body in fire and wind. Translate it to yourself as saying: Those entities that live in the sun make the Venus spirits in fire flames and the Mercury spirits in wind their subordinate organs. “And God made fire flames his servants and the winds his messengers” [as it says in the Bible]. Read that, these things in the religious records are absolutely taken out of the spiritual facts and correspond to the observations of the clairvoyant faculty.

[ 13 ] So we have seen that these three hierarchies, which are above us, are closely connected with our own existence. Man is the being that he is because he has received something from the solid, from the earth. This is what makes him so separate from all other beings, this is what makes him a coherent being, consisting of individual members. On the moon, man was still one of many such beings, but on Earth he has undergone transformations, just like masses of water that form a constantly changing body. It is only on Earth that man has become, so to speak, trapped in his skin and now forms a self-contained being, so that we can say: man consists of a physical body, an etheric body, an astral body and an I. This self-contained state is, in fact, not so very long ago. If we go back to the ancient Atlantean times, we find that even in the first epoch of the Atlantean period, there were people who did not yet feel the I within them fully, who were still waiting, so to speak, to receive the I completely. And if we go further back in the evolution of the earth, we would have to say: What we have down there on earth in the form of human beings consists only of a physical body, an etheric body and an astral body. And if you go back to the Lemurian period, you will find a human being down on earth who, in his species, no longer has a physical body, an etheric body and an astral body down there, as the angels also have down there. With the development of the human sense of self, from that point on through the Atlantean period, unification occurs. So in the Lemurian period, people walk around on Earth with only a physical body, etheric body and astral body; but they are not people who think in today's sense, who can develop in today's sense as human beings.

[ 14 ] And now something very strange is happening on our earth. These people, who live in the Lemurian period and have only the physical body, the etheric body and the astral body, cannot help themselves; they do not know their way around on earth and do not know what to do on earth. From the region of heaven, the inhabitants of Venus now descend to these beings. They are able to penetrate and inspire the physical body of the first inhabitants of Earth precisely because they have a relationship to a physical body, so to speak. Thus, among these Lemurian people, we find individuals who walk among the masses of people in a very peculiar way; they have a different physical body from the others. One such particularly gifted person did not have an ordinary physical body, but one that was inspired by a Venus spirit, the spirit of personality. But the fact that this human being of the ancient Lemurian times walked around with a Venus spirit in his physical body gave him tremendous influence over his entire environment. Such Lemurians did not outwardly differ particularly from their fellow men; but because a spirit of personality was vicariously present in their physical body, these select individuals had a suggestive effect on their surroundings in the highest sense of the word. The respect and reverence, the obedience shown to them – there is nothing like it today. All the migrations on earth that were undertaken to populate the individual areas of the earth were led by such entities, into which the spirits of personality had entered. No language was needed, there was none at that time, nor were signs needed, but the presence of such a personality was enough. And when it considered it necessary to guide large crowds from one place to another, then these crowds followed without thinking about it. There was no thinking at that time either, that only developed later.

[ 15 ] Thus the spirits of personality descended as Venus spirits in the old Lemurian time. And we can therefore say that these Venus spirits, who wore the human face on earth, just as this human face could be at that time, meant something quite different in the whole context of the world. If we consider their cosmic significance, it extended right up to Venus, and their actions had a meaning in the context of the entire cosmic system. They could lead people from one place to another because they knew this from the context, which can be understood if one knows the neighborhood of the earth and not just the earth.

[ 16 ] The development of humanity progressed further. Then it became necessary for archangels, Mercury spirits, to intervene in the development; they now had to inspire and enliven what was down there on earth. This was mainly during the Atlantean period. Then spirits of Mercury, archangels, archangeloi descended. They could inspire the physical body and etheric body of the people concerned. Among the Atlanteans, there were again people like that who did not particularly differ from the others on the outside, but who were inspired by an archangel in their physical and etheric bodies. And if you consider that we said yesterday that the archangels have the task of directing entire nations, you will understand that such a person, who carried an archangel within him, could indeed give the corresponding laws, read from heaven, to an entire Atlantean tribe without further ado.

[ 17 ] Thus the great leaders of the ancient Lemurian times, when it was still necessary to work on a much more general level, were inspired by Venus spirits. Those who had to direct smaller masses of people in the Atlantean times were inspired by archangels. What are called the priest-kings of the Atlantean times are Maya; they are not at all what they appear to be. In their physical body and etheric body lives an archangel, who is the actual doer. And we can go back to the Atlantean times, we can visit the secret places of these human leaders. From the Atlantean secret places they worked, there they explored the secrets of space. One can describe that which was researched and commanded there in the old Atlantean secret places with the name oracle, although this word comes from later times. The name oracle site is very suitable for the actual teaching and government sites of these Atlantean people, who carried the archangels within them. From there they worked as great teachers, so that they could now also train other people and make them into servants and priests in the oracle sites of the Atlanteans.

[ 18 ] It is important to know that in ancient Atlantis there were people who were actually archangels, who, embodied in their physical and etheric bodies, carried an archangel. If the clairvoyant gaze had been confronted with such a person, it would indeed have seen the physical human being and, behind the physical human being, rising up as in a huge figure, losing itself in the indefinite regions above, the archangel inspiring him. Such a personality was a twofold entity, as if the archangel inspiring him had been there behind the physical man, growing out of the indefinite. When these people died, the physical body perished according to the laws of Atlantis. It dissolved, the physical body, which of course the archangel had also inspired, but the etheric body did not dissolve. There is a spiritual economy that requires exceptions to what must generally be presented as spiritual scientific truth. We say, and in general this is quite correct: when a person dies, he discards his physical body, after some time also his etheric body, and the etheric body dissolves with the exception of an extract. But this is only true in general. There is an enormous difference between an ether body like that of these initiates of the Atlantean oracles, which was permeated by an archangel, and an ordinary ether body. Such a valuable ether body is not lost; it is stored in the spiritual world. And initially, the seven most important etheric bodies of the seven great leaders of these oracles were stored by the highest leader of the Atlantean oracles. They were originally woven because archangels had dwelled in these etheric bodies, who of course returned to the higher worlds at death. Such things are stored, not in boxes, of course, but according to spiritual laws. The Atlantean initiate of the oracle of the sun is none other than the one who is so often referred to as the Manu, who led the remnant of the Atlantean population to Asia to found the post-Atlantean cultures. He took his small group and led them to Asia. For generations he cultivated the people, and when the appropriate seven had been bred and raised, he wove for them an etheric body into their own etheric body, which had been woven in ancient Atlantis by archangels. Those seven who were sent down by the great leader to found the first post-Atlantean culture, the seven holy Rishis of Indian culture, they carried in their etheric bodies the etheric bodies of the great Atlantean leaders, who in turn had acquired these etheric bodies through the archangels themselves. Thus past, present and future worked together. You would have found these seven people, who are called the holy Rishis, to be simple folk, for their astral bodies and their I were not on a par with their ether bodies. Interwoven into the ether body was that which they were actually able to do; therefore they had certain hours when inspiration worked in their ether body. Then they said things they could not have achieved themselves; then flowed from their lips what had been inspired into them through their etheric body. Thus they were simple folk when left to their own judgment; but when they had those hours of inspiration, when the etheric body was at work, then they spoke the greatest secrets of our solar system, of the world in general.

[ 19 ] In the post-Atlantean era, people did not yet need anything from above, so to speak, they no longer needed inspiration at all, but even then a kind of inspiration from above still took place. We have seen how such an inspiration took place in the Lemurian population in that the physical body was inspired by spirits of personality; in the Atlantean period, the physical and etheric bodies were by archangels; and now the great leaders of the post-Atlantean time were first ensouled by the angels descending into their physical body, etheric body and astral body. The great leaders of the first post-Atlantean period therefore did not just have their human physical body, etheric body and astral body, but an angel was inside them. This enabled these great leaders to look back at their previous incarnations. The average person cannot do this because they have not yet developed to the level of manas; they must first become an angel themselves. These guides, who were born out of the ordinary population, carried an angelic being in their physical body, etheric body and astral body, which inspired them and permeated them. This was again Maya, these were again beings that are something other than what they represent on earth. And the great human leaders of gray antiquity were quite something else than they appeared on the outside. They were personalities in whom there was an angel who inspired them as they needed to be in order to be teachers and guides for people. The great founders and leaders of religions were people possessed by angels. Angels spoke through them.

[ 20 ] Now, however, things in the world can be described with complete regularity, but the developmental processes always interlock. What we describe with such complete regularity does not always take place with complete regularity. Of course, this applies in the main, so that in the Lemurian period spirits of the personality spoke through human beings, in the Atlantean period through archangels, and in the post-Atlantean period through angels. But there are also beings that still exist in the post-Atlantean time, who are permeated by spirits of personality in their physical body, who, despite living in the post-Atlantean time, are actually in the same situation as those beings were in the Lemurian time, from whom spirits of personality spoke. So, there may be people in the post-Atlantean time who do have the characteristics of the outer peoples, but who, because humanity also needed such great leaders, still carry within themselves a spirit of personality, who are the outer embodiment of such a spirit. Then there are also people in the post-Atlantean era who, in turn, carry an archangel, a Mercury spirit, which animates their physical and especially their etheric body. And finally, there is the third type of person, who is inspired by an angelic being in their physical, etheric and astral bodies, and thus an angel speaks through them.

[ 21 ] In the sense of Eastern teaching, such human personalities now receive special names again. Thus, a human personality who, although outwardly a person of our post-Atlantic time, actually carries a spirit of personality within them, who is inspired by a spirit of personality right down to their physical body, is called a Dhyani Buddha in Eastern teachings. Dhyani Buddha is therefore a general name for human individuals who are inspired by a spirit of personality right down to their physical body. Those personalities who are ensouled even in their etheric body, who carry an archangel within them in the post-Atlantean time, are called Bodhisattva. And those who carry an angel within them, who are ensouled in their physical body, etheric body and astral body, are called human Buddhas. So we have three levels: the Dhyani Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas and the human Buddhas. This is the true teaching of the Buddhas, of the classes and categories of the Buddhas, which we have to look at in the context of the way the hierarchies express themselves.

[ 22 ] This is the wonderful thing that we encounter when we look back at the earlier, undeveloped people, that among these people we find those through whom the great hierarchies actually from the Cosmos down into the planet, and that only gradually the spirits of the higher hierarchies, which have already worked before our earth's formation, release the people who live down there, the planetary people, to the degree that they mature. We see into this with tremendous wisdom. And it is extremely important that we see through this wisdom precisely in this sense, as it was taught in ancient times, when the primal wisdom of the world was taught to mankind.

[ 23 ] So when you hear about the Buddhas – and in the Eastern teachings, there is not only talk of the one Buddha, but of many, among whom, of course, there are different degrees of perfection again – please note: a Buddha walks on earth, but behind the Buddha, so to speak, there was still the Bodhisattva and even the Dhyani Buddha. But now it could also be the case that, for example, the Dhyani Buddha and the Bodhisattva did not descend to the ensoulment of the physical body at all, but that the Bodhisattva only descended to to inspire the etheric body, so that you can assume an entity that does not go so far as to also ensoul and inspire the physical body of the human being, but only the etheric body. But it can happen that such a bodhisattva, who is not physically visible at all - because if he only appears in an etheric body, he is not physically visible, and there were certainly such bodhisattvas who were not physically visible - that such a bodhisattva, as a higher being, can in turn inspire the human Buddha in a special way. So we have the human Buddha, who is already inspired by an angelic being, but who is still inspired in his etheric body by an archangelic being.

[ 24 ] This is the essential thing, that we are looking into a wonderful complexity of the human being. And many an individuality, to which we look back in earlier times, we actually only understand when we see it as a gathering point of various entities that live and express themselves through the human being. For truly, many an age does not have enough great people to be inspired by the spirits that are to work. Sometimes a single personality has to be inspired and animated by the most diverse individualities of the higher hierarchies. And sometimes it is not only the population of Mercury that speaks, but those of Mercury and Venus speak to us when we have any personality before us. These, then, you see, are the concepts that lead us to an understanding of human evolution, so that we recognize personalities in their true form, while when they appear to us as physical human beings, they are actually merely Maja.

[ 25 ] Tomorrow we will begin to understand the formation of the individual physical planets, which we have so far only considered as brands, in order to then be able to understand them as a residence for the corresponding beings.