The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. The Secrets of the Universe: Cometary and Lunar Phenomena

[ 1 ] On a starry night, when we gaze out into the vastness of the heavens, it is first and foremost a sense of the sublime that flows through our soul as we let the countless wonders of the stars work their magic on us. This feeling of the sublime that flows through our soul will be more pronounced in some people and less so in others, depending on their particular, individual disposition. But the human being—and this may be said especially in regard to the sight of the starry sky—will very soon find their longing awakened to understand something of these wonders of the cosmos that gaze upon them. And we may well say that it is precisely in the face of the starry sky that human beings will be least deterred from understanding by the fear that they might lose the undivided, immediate feeling of the sublime if they were to attempt to penetrate the mystery of the starry world with their intellect. The feeling is justified that comprehension, that understanding, especially in this realm, cannot impair our immediate feeling. Just as it soon becomes apparent, to a greater or lesser extent, in other realms of existence as well, that spiritual scientific knowledge in particular elevates and strengthens our feelings and sensations—provided we possess sound judgment—so can human beings convince themselves and will become increasingly convinced that, especially in the face of the great, sublime facts of the universe, his feelings will not diminish in the slightest when he learns to recognize and comprehend what actually moves through space or appears to stand still.

[ 2 ] However, in any given representation of the world, we can, so to speak, ever only grasp a corner of it, and must leave it to time to enable us to learn, step by step, to comprehend the facts of the world. Today we shall concern ourselves with a part—a small, insignificant part—of the spatial world in connection with human life. Although human beings may intuit this at first, through spiritual science they come to know it more and more, ever more precisely: that they have been born out of the entirety of the universe, and that the mysteries of the universe are connected to their own mysteries. This becomes particularly evident when we examine certain mysteries of existence more closely.

[ 3 ] A contrast manifests itself in human life, as this human life first develops on our Earth. This contrast confronts us everywhere and at all times. It is the contrast between the masculine and the feminine. We know that we must look for this contrast between the masculine and the feminine on Earth in relation to the human race since the ancient Lemurian era, and we also know that it will persist for a time in our earthly existence and will eventually dissolve into a higher unity.

[ 4 ] If we take to heart what has just been said—that all human life is born out of the life of the world—we may ask ourselves: Yes, if it is indeed the case that what we have called man and woman in human life since the ancient Lemurian era has accompanied humanity on Earth for a certain stretch of its development, can we—since all life is born out of the universe—find anything in the entire universe that, so to speak, represents in a higher sense something similar to this contrast between the masculine and the feminine? Can we, in a certain sense, find that from which—as from a cosmic source—the masculine and the feminine are born on Earth?—This question may be raised.

[ 5 ] However, if we stand on the ground of spiritual science, we must not proceed according to the same formula as today’s materialists. After all, today’s materialist can imagine nothing other than what lives in his immediate surroundings, and therefore he is so easily inclined to seek this contrast—which has significance for human life only in relation to our Earth, and for animal life, in fact, at most only for the Moon and Earth—throughout the entire universe and to designate it outright as masculine and feminine. This is a folly of our time. We must firmly hold to the fact that the terms “male” and “female” apply to the human realm in that narrowly defined sense only from the Lemurian period onward and up to a certain point in Earth’s evolution; for the animal and plant realms, at most, they apply only during the lunar and Earth evolutions. But the question arises: Is the earthly male and female born out of a higher cosmic opposition? If we can find this opposition, then a wonderful, initially mysterious connection would also reveal itself to us between this phenomenon and a phenomenon in the cosmos. Now, of course, there are oppositions everywhere in the cosmos. One must only know how to find them in the right way.

[ 6 ] The contrasts in the cosmos that are most immediately relevant to human life are such that we can first mention the contrast between the Sun and the Earth. Although we have seen in our various examinations of the Earth’s development how the Sun separated from our Earth, and how both became independent bodies in space, we may also ask: How does the opposition between the Sun and the Earth repeat itself in the macrocosm, the great world? How does this opposition repeat itself in the human being, in the microcosm? Is there within the human being itself an opposition that corresponds, in human nature, to the opposition between the Sun and the Earth in our planetary solar system? Yes, this opposition does exist! And this opposition is present in the human organism—but now the entire organism, physically and spiritually, so to speak, between all that is outwardly expressed in the organ of the head and all that is outwardly expressed in the organs of human movement. Everything in the human being that expresses itself as a contrast between the organ of the head and the organs of movement—that is, the hands and feet—corresponds in the human being to that contrast, that polarity, which we can describe in the cosmos as the sun and the earth. We shall yet see how this relates to that other correspondence, where in a certain sense the sun is paralleled with the heart; but that is not what matters now; what matters now is a pair of opposites: the fact that in the human being the head is on one side and on the other side that which we call the organs of movement.

[ 7 ] You can easily see that, during the old lunar phase of development, human beings were quite different creatures in terms of their limbs than they were during the Earth phase of development. It was only our Earth that made human beings into upright beings who use their hands and feet, so to speak, in the way they do today; and on Earth, in turn, their heads could only come to gaze freely out into space because the forces of the Sun raised them up from a different position—one in which, for example, their spines were parallel to the surface of the Moon during the lunar phase of development. Of the Earth as it is today, we can say: It is responsible for the fact that human beings can use their legs and hands as they do today. The Sun, acting upon our Earth from the outside and forming the contrast to the Earth, is responsible for the fact that the human face, with the head, has, so to speak, in a certain way torn itself free from its bond to the Earth and is able to look out freely into outer space. What, then, is the contrast between Sun and Earth out there in the planetary solar system is, in the human being, the contrast between head and limbs. We find this contrast between head and limbs in all human beings, whether they are men or women, and we also find that, in essence, men and women are fundamentally alike in this respect. So that we can say: With regard to that contrast between the sun and the Earth, the corresponding contrast in human beings must also express itself in the same way in men and women. The Earth acts upon the woman to the same extent as upon the man; the woman is bound to the Earth in the same way as the man, and in the same way the Sun rends the woman’s head from its bondage to the Earth, just as it does the man’s.

[ 8 ] We will appreciate the full depth of the contrast we have just touched upon when we consider, for example, that those beings who, so to speak, fell into dense matter too early—the mammals—were unable to attain the freedom to gaze out into outer space, and are thus bound by their very nature to earthly existence. For them, the contrast between the sun and the earth did not become a contrast within their own being in the same sense. Therefore, we cannot call a mammal a microcosm. But we can call the human being a microcosm. And we now have such evidence of the microcosmic nature of the human being in the contrast between the head and the limbs.

[ 9 ] Here is an example that illustrates just how infinitely important it is not to adopt a one-sided perspective. One can count the bones of humans and the bones of higher mammals, and count the muscles in humans and mammals, and thereby establish the connection that in recent times has led a certain worldview to place humans as close as possible to higher mammals. That such a thing can happen stems solely from the fact that it is only through spiritual science that people will learn how important it is not merely to have truths, but to have something more in addition to the truths. Be aware that something very important is being said right now, something that the anthroposophist should surely take to heart and commit to memory: Many things are true, but merely knowing that a thing is true is not enough! — There is no doubt whatsoever that what modern science says, for example, about the kinship between humans and apes is true. But with a truth, it is not merely a matter of having it as a truth, but of knowing how seriously one must take that particular truth for the overall explanation of existence. So it is not enough to simply hold something as a truth; one must know how important a truth is for the overall explanation of existence. And that is why a very ordinary, seemingly everyday truth cannot be counted as decisive simply because one does not consider its importance. There is a very everyday truth that every human being knows, and one need only take it seriously in terms of its importance; then it becomes deeply, deeply significant for our entire doctrine of earthly evolution. This is the truth that the human being is the only being on Earth who, in principle, can truly and freely turn his face out into the cosmos. If we compare human beings in this regard with the ape closest to them, we can only say: even if the ape has tried to stand upright, it has, in fact, botched this very act of standing upright. — And that is what matters. One must simply grasp the weight of a truth. That human beings possess this advantage—one must first grasp its significance; then one will also be able to connect it in its significance with the other cosmic fact just described: that it is not the Earth alone, but the Sun in contrast to the Earth—that is, an extraterrestrial entity—that first makes human beings citizens of the heavens, snatching them away from earthly existence. And we may say, in a certain sense: In order to grant humanity this privileged position in our universe, this entire cosmic arrangement—which we know today as the contrast between the Sun and the Earth—had to be created. For the sake of humanity, so that it might be lifted out of the condition of the animals, this constellation of Sun and Earth had to be brought about.

[ 10 ] So, on the one hand, we look at human beings and say: We see in them the same contrast that we see on the other hand when we look out into space and observe the sun with its counterpart, the Earth.

[ 11 ] Now the question arises: Can we also find the other contrast that exists on Earth—the one we alluded to at the beginning, the contrast between male and female—can we find it in the cosmos? Is there perhaps something in the cosmos—and by cosmos I mean our solar system—arranged in such a way that this cosmic arrangement produces, as a kind of effect, as a kind of mirror image on Earth, the contrast between man and woman? Yes, there is something arranged in this way. The higher contrast is the one we can describe as the contrast between the cometary and the lunar, between the comet and the moon. This contrast between comet and moon, viewed in a similar way to the contrast between sun and Earth, applies to the contrast between the feminine and the masculine. So that we can say: Just as the sun-Earth polarity is reflected in the head and limbs, so the comet-moon polarity, the contrast between comet and moon, is reflected in the feminine and the masculine. This now leads us, in a certain sense, deep into certain mysteries of the world. Namely, as strange as it may sound to you, it is absolutely true that the various parts of human nature, which confront us in the outer physical human body, are of varying value, that is, they are to varying degrees an expression of the spiritual that lies behind them. In truth, in the human being, as he appears to us as a physical body, it is only the head—and in a certain other sense the limbs—that most closely correspond, in terms of outer form, to the inner spiritual forces that underlie them. So let us note, so that we may understand one another here: Everything that appears to us externally in the physical world is an image of something spiritual; the spiritual has shaped the external physical. Now, when a spiritual entity shapes an external physical form, it can shape it in such a way that this physical form, at a certain stage of development, resembles the spiritual entity itself to a greater or lesser extent, or that it is more or less dissimilar to it. Only the head and limbs resemble their spiritual counterparts to some degree in their external form. Everything else in the human body bears no resemblance at all to the spiritual image, so that apart from the head and limbs, the outer form of the human being is, in the truest sense, a mirage. And the person whose clairvoyant vision is trained actually always sees the human being in such a way that only the head and limbs make a true impression. In these, the clairvoyant person has the feeling: these are true, they do not lie. In contrast, with regard to the rest of the human body, the clairvoyant consciousness has the feeling: this is a false form, this is something deceptive, it bears no resemblance at all to the spiritual reality that lies behind it. In fact, everything feminine appears to the clairvoyant consciousness as if it had not progressed to a certain stage of development, but had remained behind.

[ 12 ] If we can say that development proceeds in this way—from point A to B, and C would be a kind of normal development—then at C we would have the form of a human head and limbs. In contrast, the rest of the female body’s form is such that the female body has remained at D, has not advanced to the present stage of development, and has lagged behind this stage of development. If one does not misunderstand this, one can say: The female body, as it appears today, has remained at a more spiritual stage; it has not descended as deeply into the material in its form as the average stage of development. Everything develops downward from the spiritual to the physical. The female body has remained at an earlier stage of development and has not advanced to the middle point of development. The male body, however, apart from the head and limbs, has pushed beyond the midpoint of development. It has crossed this point, leaped over it. It is therefore, as a male body, a distortion because it is more material than its spiritual archetype, because it has descended deeper into the material than corresponds to the average stage of development. Thus, in the female body we have something that has, so to speak, lagged behind normal development, and in the male body something that has descended deeper into the material than corresponds to the head and limbs in the fully developed human being.

[ 13 ] This same contrast is also found in the cosmos, in our solar system. Specifically, if we regard our Earth and the Sun as the normal stage of development, the comet has not yet reached this normal stage of development: in the cosmos, it corresponds to what is feminine in human beings. Thus we must regard the cometary existence as the archetype of the feminine organism in the cosmos out there. And the lunar existence is the counterpart to the masculine existence. You can easily understand this from our previous discussions. We have emphasized that the Moon is a piece of Earth that had to be separated. Had it remained within the Earth, the Earth would not have been able to progress in its development. The Moon had to be separated precisely because of its density. Thus, the contrast between the comet and the Moon out there is the archetype of the feminine and the masculine in the human being.

[ 14 ] This matter is, of course, extraordinarily interesting, because we see from it that when we look at a being—be it a being that walks the earth like a human, or be it the entire cosmic being—we must not simply place one part next to another as they appear to us side by side in space; for if we do so, we succumb to a completely outrageous illusion. What is side by side in space is not equivalent. Certainly, the various parts of a human organism are side by side, and the ordinary materialistic anatomist will regard all these parts as equivalent in space. But for those who view things according to their true nature, these things differ in that one has reached a certain point of development while the other is still before that point, yet has nevertheless progressed further, and the other has surpassed that point of development. The time will come when the entire human organism must be viewed in this light; only then will it be possible to provide an occult ‘anatomy in the true sense.’ For just as I have now presented it—that things stand side by side at different stages of development—so all organs in the human organism can only be understood if one knows that each has reached a completely different stage of development. One cannot simply place side by side things that stand next to one another in space, because they have different values in this respect.

[ 15 ] If you now recall that our present Earth evolution was preceded by an ancient lunar evolution, you will be able to conclude, based on what has just been discussed, that our present Moon is indeed a remnant of the ancient lunar evolution, but that it does not stand at the stage of the ancient lunar evolution, nor does it represent it. For it has not only progressed as far as the Earth, but even beyond it. It could not wait until the Earth became a Jupiter, and as a result it has fallen into solidification. Thus the Moon has skipped a step; it has advanced beyond the normal course of development and thereby fallen into solidification as regards its material aspect; though not, of course, in terms of its spiritual affiliations.

[ 16 ] In contrast, what still exists today—and corresponds to the relationship between the Moon and the Sun during a certain period of the Moon’s development in the ancient cosmos—is manifested in the comet. The comet has remained at this stage of development; it simply has to live out this stage somewhat differently now. But it has remained in the stage of the old lunar existence. The comet has therefore not progressed to the normal Earth existence. So that we have a fragment of a much too prematurely born future Jupiter in the present Moon, which has thereby become solidified and is not viable, and we have a fragment of the old lunar existence protruding into our present Earth development in our comets.

[ 17 ] As an aside, I would just like to say: Here we have a curious point at which, in a sense, our humanistic approach has experienced a small triumph. Those who were present at my lecture series in Paris in 1906 will recall that I presented certain things at that time which—though one cannot always present everything—do indeed belong to the overall development of the Earth, but are not addressed in my *Outline of Esoteric Science* because other matters had to be addressed there. One would not need just one book, but endless books, if one wanted to develop everything. So I have developed the point that relates, so to speak, more to the material-chemical aspect. I said at the time that the ancient lunar evolution—which thus extends into our present cometary existence, because the comet has remained at this stage and, as far as present conditions permit, lives out these ancient conditions in their regularity— I said that this lunar evolution differs from that of the Earth in that the ancient lunar beings needed nitrogen and certain nitrogen compounds—cyanide, hydrocyanic acid compounds—just as much as today’s earthly beings need oxygen. Cyanide and similar compounds are those that, in a certain sense, are fatal to the life of higher beings today, bringing about their downfall. But the compounds of carbon with nitrogen—the hydrocyanic acid-like and similar compounds—played a role quite similar to that of oxygen today.

[ 18 ] These are ideas that were developed back then in Paris from the full scope of spiritual science, so that those who took these ideas to heart have had to tell themselves all these years: If that were true, then surely something like compounds of carbon and nitrogen should be detectable in today’s comets. Now you may recall—the news was just brought to me during the Stockholm course in January—how the news spread through the newspapers that compounds resembling hydrocyanic acid are indeed appearing in the comet’s spectrum. This is a brilliant confirmation of what spiritual research was already able to say earlier, and which has now found its subsequent confirmation through physical science! We are always calling for such evidence, which is why this should be mentioned. When such a striking case presents itself, it is important that we anthroposophists point it out and—let this be said without arrogance—also remember this small triumph of spiritual science.

[ 19 ] So you see that we can indeed find that contrast between the masculine and the feminine in the cosmos, in a higher sense—as it were, in its archetype—in the contrast between the comet and the moon. And if we could proceed from there—which, of course, is not possible in every respect—and could now explain the full effect of the lunar body on the one hand and that of the cometary stars on the other, then you would see how magnificent and powerful, how, one might say, surpassing all other general feelings of the sublime, this sensation is for our soul: We see something reflected here on Earth, and it manifests itself on Earth in its functions exactly as the contrast between the comet and the moon does in the universe. — But only a few of these things can be pointed out. Some of these things are important, and they should be highlighted.

[ 20 ] Above all, we must become aware of the effect that contrast has on human beings, a contrast expressed in the comet and the moon. We must not merely conceive of this opposition as being expressed solely in, for example, what is male and female in humanity, but we must be clear that, so to speak, there are masculine qualities in every woman and feminine qualities in every man. We also know that the etheric body of the man is feminine, and that of the woman is masculine, and this immediately makes the matter extraordinarily complicated. We must now be clear that what is feminine in the man—namely, the etheric body—reverses the opposition to what is masculine in the woman—namely, again, the etheric body—so that, so to speak, the effect of the cometary and the lunar is reversed with regard to the etheric body. These effects are also present in relation to the astral body and the ego. Thus, the contrast between the comet and the moon has profound significance for the development of humanity on Earth. Now, the fact that the development of the Moon has a mysterious connection with the relationship between the sexes—a connection that certainly eludes exoteric observation but which you will come to know—is expressed to you, among other things, in the seemingly quite trivial fact that the result of the male and female in their interaction, the child, requires ten lunar months for its development before birth, from the moment of conception, and that even modern science still calculates not in solar months but in lunar months, because the relationship that prevails there—between the Moon, that is, the representative of the masculine in the universe, and the Earth and the cometary, that is, the representative of the feminine in the universe—is decisive and is reflected in the result of the sexes.

[ 21 ] On the other hand, we arrive at another important insight into human development when we now consider the other side, when we consider the cometary aspect. The cometary realm is, so to speak, a feminine force, and in the movements of the comet, in the entire way the comet appears from time to time, we have, so to speak, projections of the archetype of our feminine nature out in the cosmos. It is, in fact, something that appears as if it had come to a halt before a certain normal, intermediate stage of development. Now, this cosmic feminine—the term is by no means very accurate, but we lack suitable terms—this cosmic feminine that presents itself to us in cometary existence, this sometimes moves in, as it were, like something that stirs our existence from the depths of a prehistoric nature. Thus the comet, too, is in its appearance similar, so to speak, to the feminine. We could put it this way: Just as what is done by a woman—out of passion, out of feeling, out of emotion—relates to the dry, sober male judgment—mind you, to the dry, sober male judgment— so does that which arises from the regular, sober course of the moon relate to that which, seemingly irregularly, sometimes intrudes into our existence as something cometary. That is, after all, the peculiarity of the feminine spiritual life. Mind you, I do not mean the spiritual life of the woman, but the feminine spiritual life. That is a difference. The spiritual life of a woman naturally contains masculine qualities; but that which is feminine spiritual life, whether in a man or a woman, enters our existence as something that brings primal, elemental quality into our entire being. The comet does the same. And where this contrast between man and woman confronts us, we can see how it expresses itself with extraordinary clarity. People who judge everything solely by outward appearances criticize spiritual science precisely because so many women are drawn to it in our time. People fail to realize that this is something entirely natural; it is natural for the simple reason that the average male mind has, in fact, passed a certain midpoint in its development. It has become drier, more rigid; it therefore clings more strictly to traditional concepts and cannot free itself from the prejudices in which it is mired. This is something that is sometimes so difficult to accept for someone who, from the perspective of spiritual science, uses this male brain: that in this incarnation he has a male brain! For it is inflexible, it is hard, and is more difficult to handle than the female brain, which therefore more easily overcomes certain obstacles that the male brain sets for itself in its density, overcomes certain difficulties, and therefore more readily follows what enters our worldview as something new. Insofar as the masculine and feminine express themselves in the structure of the human brain, it can even be said that for our present time it is highly unpleasant and uncomfortable to have to use a male brain. The male brain must be trained much more thoroughly and radically than a female one. You will see that it is not at all so wonderful that women today find it easier to navigate something as eminently new as spiritual science. These are matters of immense cultural-historical importance, yet today they can scarcely be discussed anywhere other than on anthroposophical ground. Who would take seriously—except on an anthroposophical basis—the idea that it is more uncomfortable to have a male brain than a female one? Although, of course, this is by no means to say that some brains in women’s bodies do not possess quite masculine characteristics in relation to what has just been said. Things in the world are not as simple as we try to grasp them with our concepts today.

[ 22 ] But something so fundamental, something that stirs us and is, in a certain sense, necessary to maintain the proper course of cosmic evolution, is the cometary phenomenon. People have always sensed that this cometary phenomenon is connected in some way to earthly beings. Only today, people do not sense it, so to speak; they do not want to sense it. We need only imagine what an average scholar today would think were he to be met with the same reaction that Professor Bode received from Hegel. For Hegel once boldly asserted straight to a respectable German professor that good wine years followed comets, and sought to prove this by pointing to the years 1811 and 1819, which were good wine years preceded by comets. What profound consternation this would cause today! But Hegel said that this assertion was as well substantiated as many calculations of stellar orbits; for it was precisely an empirical matter that had been verified in these two cases. Even if we disregard such jesting matters, we can still say: People have always suspected and sensed something in this regard.

[ 23 ] We cannot go into detail here, as these matters are, so to speak, inexhaustible. But we would like to shed light on one of the main effects with regard to human development.

[ 24 ] Comets appear at long intervals. Now we ask ourselves: Do they, wherever they appear, have such a connection to the entire course of human development that they, so to speak, stimulate the feminine aspect of human nature to do something? Well, there is, for example, the so-called Halley’s Comet, which is once again in the news. We could, of course, cite similar examples from many other comets. It has a very specific task, and everything else it brings with it is connected in some way to this task. Halley’s Comet—and we are speaking first of all of its spiritual aspect —has the task of imprinting its own nature upon the whole of human nature in such a way that this human nature and being, whenever it enters the specific sphere of the Earth, whenever it comes near the Earth, then takes a step forward in the development of the I, and specifically takes that step in the development of the I which leads this I out into the physical plane in its concepts. First of all, the comet has a special influence on the two lower members of human nature, on that which is male and female; there it then joins the effects of the Moon. When it is not present, the Moon’s influence is one-sided; the effects are therefore different when the comet is present. Now the comet’s effect manifests itself as follows: Is it not true that when the human ego makes a leap forward, the physical and etheric or life bodies must also be transformed accordingly so that the whole human being can move forward? If the ego is to think differently in the 19th century than it did in the 18th century, there must also be something that changes the outer expression of the ego in the physical and etheric or life bodies, and that is the comet! The comet acts upon the human physical and etheric or life bodies in such a way that these physical and etheric or life bodies of the human being actually create organs—subtle organs—that are appropriate to the further development of the I, this I as it has developed as the I of consciousness, particularly since the impact of the Christ impulse on Earth. Since that time, cometary phenomena have signified that as the I develops further and further, stage by stage, it is endowed with such organs—that is, such physical and etheric organs—that this advanced I can indeed make use of them. For just think for a moment—as strange as it may sound and as terribly foolish as today’s contemporaries will find it—it is nevertheless true: If the ego of Büchner, the ego of Moleschott, and other materialists around 1850–60 had not possessed a suitable physical brain and a suitable etheric brain, then they would not have been able to think as materialistically as they did. Then perhaps the good Büchner would have become a respectable average pastor. In order for him to be able to carry out in thought what he accomplished in his *Force and Matter*, not only did his ego have to undergo the development necessary for this, but the corresponding organization in the physical and etheric or life body also had to be present. If we seek the development of the ego itself, we need only look around in spiritual cultural life. But if we want to know: What caused these people, the people of the 19th century, to have a physical brain suited to materialistic thinking and the appropriate etheric or life body in the first place?—then we must say that Halley’s Comet, which appeared in 1835, is to blame. And what caused what is called the “Enlightenment”—which is also a certain stage in the development of the ego—to occur in the 18th century? In the second half of the 18th century, the average person had this spiritual configuration in their brain that is called the “Enlightenment.” That was what so enraged Goethe—namely, that a few concepts were being staked out and people were content with them! What created the minds of this “Age of Enlightenment”? Halley’s Comet of 1759 created these minds. That is a central effect of Halley’s Comet.

[ 25 ] Thus, every cometary body has a very specific task. One might say that human spiritual life proceeds with a certain cosmic, or one might say, mundane regularity. Just as human beings engage in certain activities day after day with an earthly, mundane regularity—sitting down to lunch and dinner—so too does human spiritual life unfold with a certain cosmic regularity. Now other events enter into this, events that are not quite the same as the ordinary events of everyday life, events through which a certain progress becomes noticeable. For example, when a child is born into a family. Thus, with regard to the whole of human development, the cosmic, everyday regularities proceed under the influence of the Moon, the lunar body. In contrast, those things that always bring about a leap forward—which are naturally spread out over longer periods of time—unfold under the influence of the cometary body. And the various comets have their different tasks in this process. And when one has served its purpose, it shatters. Thus we see that certain comets appear as two from a certain point onward and then shatter. They dissolve when they have completed their task. So, what is, so to speak, the everyday, the regular, is of lunar influence; but what introduces the elemental, what always incorporates the new, so to speak, is of cometary influence. These phenomena also show us that what appears to wander across the sky as a wandering star has its proper place and significance within the entire structure of our universe.

[ 26 ] And now you can also imagine that what is being introduced as something new—as a result of the cosmic feminine into human development—can, in a certain sense, give rise to storms that are already quite noticeable, but which people simply do not want to acknowledge. But it could be that people might be made aware, in a very noticeable way, of just how closely certain events in earthly existence are connected with the existence of comets. It is indeed the case with comets that they are like something new, a gift from the feminine, entering into the daily life of the family. Just as when a new child is born, so it is when the return of a comet brings about something entirely new. Only, with certain comets, so to speak, the ego is in fact driven more and more out into the physical world, and we must defend ourselves against what the comets cause. For if things were to continue as they did with Halley’s Comet, then a new appearance of it could bring us a very particular intensification of Büchner’s way of thinking. That would be a terrible affair. So if Halley’s Comet were to return, it should serve as a warning sign to us that it could become a very unwelcome guest if we were to simply surrender to it, if we did not work against its influence. The point is that we must hold fast to higher, more significant effects and influences of the cosmos than those of Halley’s Comet. But it will be necessary for people to indeed regard it as a warning sign, so that they know that things are no longer as they were in earlier times, when it was, in a certain sense, fruitful for humanity that they had descended. Now this is no longer fruitful. Now people must connect with other forces to, so to speak, counteract this dangerous influence emanating from Halley’s Comet. It is truly not to revive an old superstition, but to bring a deep truth to consciousness, when it is pointed out how Halley’s Comet can be a symbol of the fact that if only what it would signify were to come to pass, if only it were to take effect, humanity would become increasingly superficial and the ego would be drawn ever more out onto the physical plane, and that this must be counteracted precisely now. This can only happen by replacing what follows the line of development brought about by Halley’s Comet with a spiritual worldview such as the anthroposophical one.

[ 27 ] One could, however, say that once again the Lord God is hanging the celestial rod from the heavens to tell humanity through this very symbol: Now is the time to kindle the spiritual life! On the other hand: isn’t it wonderful that the cometary existence intervenes in the depths of life, that it also intervenes in the life connected to humanity: in animal and plant life? Yes, anyone who pays close attention to such things can observe how, even in the blooming of flowers, there is something different everywhere than is usually the case. These things are already there; it is just that people can easily overlook them, just as they overlook the spirit altogether, not wanting to see the spirit.

[ 28 ] We may now ask ourselves: Does what we have just hinted at—the ascent to a spiritual life—also lead us out into the cosmos? Is there something out there in the cosmos that corresponds to it? We have seen how the head and the limbs have their polar opposites in the cosmos, and how the masculine and the feminine also have their polar opposites in the cosmos; so we may ask ourselves: Is there something in the cosmos that corresponds to this outpouring of the spiritual, to this ascent of the human being above itself, from the lower self to the higher self?

[ 29 ] We will address this question tomorrow in the context of the greatest challenges facing intellectual life in our time. Today, I wanted first of all to lay the groundwork so that, by considering it within a broader context, we can better understand an important contemporary issue tomorrow. It is acknowledged that some of what has been said today is more distant; but we are living in the Year of the Comet. Therefore, it is good if we are also able to say something about the mysterious connections between cometary existence and our earthly existence. Building on this, let us speak tomorrow about the great spiritual themes of our time.