Universe, Earth and Man
GA 105
12 Aug 1908, Stuttgart
Lecture VIII
For the more exact understanding of our particular subject let us first consider the great world and then look down to the limited circle of our immediate earthly existence. We shall be able in this way to form a clear idea of what in Spiritual or Occult Science is understood in connection with the three conceptions we have brought together—Universe, Earth, and Man.
You will have already gathered from what has been said that in Spiritual Science one can by no means speak of the world as a mere material thing. We have seen how the manifold world beings (we may not say world-bodies) that have been brought before you as the different embodiments of our earth—Saturn, Sun, and Moon are quite other than mere material globes, each being, as we have seen, the dwelling-place of a host of spiritual beings, and created only according to the needs of the spiritual beings that live on them.
We saw how the sun separated from the earth because it had to be the home of certain highly exalted Beings who could only make use of the finer substances for their evolution, while man had to retain the other substances on the earth. Were we to investigate the whole wide world we should nowhere find anything that is material alone, everything is connected with a spiritual part. We have seen how the various earth-beings are connected with spiritual-beings. Stones and the minerals of the earth have their ego in that which surrounds us in the universe. Plants have their ego localised in the centre of the earth-planet, while their astral principle, which brings about the development of the flower, encircles them above the earth. Everything is pervaded by spirit, and thus our conception of a world-body is enlarged. We look up to some heavenly body and we know that it is but the expression of certain spiritual beings connected with a material planet.
Now, by developing certain capacities which are to be found slumbering within him, man is actually in a position to gain knowledge for himself regarding these bodies existing in space, and today we shall consider man in relation to the various planets.
We are surrounded on earth by minerals, plants, animals, and human beings, moreover we know that earthly affairs are regulated by higher beings who in Christian esotericism are described as Angels, Archangels, and Archai; we also know that there are other beings concerned with the earth, even though they send their forces from the sun and the moon. Today we have something to add to this. The question might rise in the mind of anyone: To what extent may one of the planets of our solar system be compared with another in respect to its inner nature?
To help us, let us consider the beings that visibly confront us in the present cycle of humanity, and enquire: How are the beings which surround us here as minerals, plants, animals, and men related to other beings in the universe? Of course we are dealing with this question from the standpoint of Spiritual Science, from knowledge gained through the development of clairvoyant consciousness; and of this development we shall speak later. In the first place let us ask: Are there on the other planets men such as those developing on our earth? Can clairvoyant consciousness discover such men? Clairvoyant consciousness answers: We do not find men on other planets in exactly the same form as upon earth, but we do discover that each planet, each heavenly body, has its particular mission. Nothing in the universe is repeated, other planets have other missions.
Our earth has originated from three preceding embodiments; the stage of existence we are now passing through (the human stage) has been passed through already by other beings; by Angels, for example, on the ancient Moon, by Archangels on the ancient Sun, and by Archai upon ancient Saturn. It is easy to make the mistake that these were men like ourselves, but we must bear in mind that on the ancient Moon there was no solid stone or mineral and therefore the beings who passed through their human stage there did so under entirely different conditions.
We know this, but we have to speak of it as the human stage. The Archangels, or Fire-Spirits, passed through their human stage in entirely different conditions, for the ancient Sun consisted only of warmth and gas, and beings passing through their human development there could not have bodies such as we have, with solid muscles, bones, etc. In earthly evolution nothing is repeated, every stage has its particular mission in the great household of cosmic existence.
Let us now consider for a time the evolution of our earth. If it is observed occultly we see it as a body inhabited by man on which he carries out his development. This development has only been made possible through the sun and the moon having separated from the earth, so that its forces were held in balance between the two. At the time when the earth was itself still sun (if we may call it so), it passed through an evolution in which it was incorporated with the sun. The sun was then itself at the planetary stage of existence, and was inhabited by Archangels, but because of advancing development it was possible for part of that which was embodied in it to rise to a higher existence at the cost of that other part which it sent forth as the earth-moon. In the great universe evolution proceeds in such a way that things which for a time have progressed side by side separate; the one expanding into higher regions, the other descending into a lower state. In order that certain beings might develop high enough the sun had itself to become a body fitted for their habitation; it advanced from planetary existence to fixed-star existence. We have to realize that a world-being like our sun has developed occultly from a planet to a sun. A sun is a planet that has progressed.
As was pointed out in the last lecture, after everything had united again, and the sun had once more at a certain period separated from the moon-plus-earth, man continued to dwell for a long period upon the earth, on into the present earth-period, without the spiritual Sun-Forces. Then through the advent of Christ the spiritual forces of the sun found again a place upon the earth. Now, if the Christ is embodied in the earth man must become more and more mature through receiving into him the Christ-Principle; the material form of a planet depends on what it evolves in the way of beings.
Exactly in the same way as the sun evolved to its present exalted position, by withdrawing the finer substances because the Sun-being had need of them, so also will the earth. The substances of the earth will have then so changed as to be suited to man, or rather to what, in the distant future, will have developed from man and from the earth-beings he bears along with him; for when man has become powerful he will draw other earth-beings along with him. What will happen then? If man fills himself ever more and more with the Christ-Principle, if he absorbs more and more of the Sun-Forces which descended to earth with the Christ, he will himself grow ever more Christ-like, and will irradiate the whole heart with the Christ-Principle.
What is this Christ-Principle? Before we can know what it is we must know what the mission of the earth is, so that we can describe it by one special word. What is the mission of earthly existence? Let us ask first, What was the mission of the Moon's existence?
If we cast our clairvoyant vision back to the ancient Moon we find at the beginning, in the ancestors of all the beings on our earth, a very remarkable quality. These beings possessed a great deal, but one thing they lacked at the very beginning of the Moon period, and this thing we now find everywhere around us on our earth. The forces of the Moon, the predecessor of our earth, worked at first unwisely; the conditions on the Moon to begin with were such that nowhere could one have perceived a harmonious working together in wisdom. If one follows the evolution of the ancient Moon clairvoyantly one sees how the wisdom of the cosmos was gradually embodied in the beings who dwelt upon the Moon, by other beings who were round about it and who worked on it from without. Because of this the ancient Moon is called the Planet of Wisdom.
When the Moon period came to an end, wisdom was in all things. Life on the Moon then went through an intermediate condition resembling a world-sleep called “pralaya,” and when the beings again came forth from pralaya, and the earth appeared, they brought with them the wisdom with which they had been imbued on the ancient Moon. The consequence of this is that wisdom is implanted in all we observe around us. In all the creations which are the result of the Moon evolution, and which have a yet further mission, we find wisdom. Look where you will: take, for example, the leaf of any plant; the more closely you observe it the more wonderful it appears, because the several parts are arranged according to the highest wisdom. Take a portion of the human thigh-bone; there also the constituent parts are arranged according to the highest wisdom so as to form a support capable of carrying the upper part of the body.
No engineering skill of today can equal the bridge-building of this mighty wisdom. In all the other human organs, and indeed in all the surrounding world, we see wisdom at the root of everything. Man can only absorb this wisdom in a bungling way into his inner being on the earth. Microcosmic wisdom is something only to be learnt from the objects that surround man here. Wisdom is in all things, including those parts of man in which he does not consciously participate.
Following the course of history, we often extol human wisdom. How wonderful it seems to us when we learn that at a particular time man made this or that discovery. The art of paper making, for example, was discovered in recent times; it was an accomplishment of human intelligence—but wasps knew how to do it long before man. A wasp's nest, however, is not built by individual wasps, but by the group-soul of wasps; it is built of exactly the same material as our paper. These group-souls possessed long ago something which human wisdom will only gain gradually. This wisdom, which is found deeply ingrained in everything that exists on earth, had to take form gradually, and we shall see how this was brought about throughout the Moon period; how at that time wisdom warred against un-wisdom, and how the ancient Moon then bequeathed to the Earth the germs of beings in whom wisdom had been implanted.
What is to be implanted in a similar way in the beings of our Earth? Just as wisdom was implanted in our predecessors on the ancient Moon, so love has to be implanted on our planet. Our planet (the Earth) is the planet of love. The development of this, the first instilling of love, had to be in its lowest form. This happened during the Lemurian epoch, when the ego of man took shape; at that time the development of love in its lowest form began through the separation of the sexes. All further development consists in the continual refinement, the spiritualizing, of this love-principle. Just as in the Moon-period wisdom was instilled into Moon-beings, so one day, when our earth shall have attained its goal, all earthly beings will be filled with love.
Let us now turn for a moment to the next planetary existence, that which is to succeed our Earth—the Jupiter planet. When the beings reappear who will inhabit Jupiter they will regard all those in their environment with their own spiritual powers of perception; and just as with our intellect we admire the wisdom contained in stones, plants, and animals, and indeed in everything that surrounds us—just as we draw wisdom from them that we also may have it—the Jupiter-beings will direct their forces to all that surrounds them, and the love which had been implanted in them during the Earth evolution will be wafted to those who now surround them. In the same way that we analyse objects and learn from the wisdom contained in them, so the Jupiter-beings will edify themselves with the outpourings of love that proceed from the beings about them. This love which is to develop on Earth can only develop through earthly egos being related one to another in the way described. Development in this direction can only take place through men being torn away from group-soul qualities; through one man drawing close to another; only thus can true love develop. Where egos are united within the group-soul there is no true love. Beings must be separated from each other so that love may be offered as a free gift. Only by such a separation as has come about in the human kingdom, where ego meets ego as independent individual, has love as a free gift become possible. This is why an increasing individualism and a uniting of separate individuals had to come about on earth.
Think of the various beings that are united within a group-soul; the group-soul directs them as to how they shall act. Can it be said that the heart loves the stomach? No, the heart is united to the stomach by the being within who holds them together. In the same way the several animals in a group are united one with the other within the group-soul nature, and what they have to do is regulated by the wise group-soul.
Only when the group-nature is overcome, and individual confronts individual ego, can the sympathy of love be offered as a free gift from one being to another.
Man could only be prepared for this mission gradually, and we see how he passes through a kind of preparatory school for love before he is fully individualized. We see how, before he possessed a complete ego of his own, he was gathered into groups that were related by blood by guiding beings, and the members of these groups loved each other because of the blood tie. This was a great time of preparation for humanity. We have already pointed out that at this stage love was not a free gift, but was directed by a remnant of the cosmic wisdom; we have seen how Luciferic beings worked here and opposed with their strong liberating force everything that gathered mankind into families and peoples through the power of the blood; these Luciferic beings strove to make man independent.
Thus man continued gradually to mature that he might eventually receive the highest potency of love—the Christ Principle, which expressed its nature in the words, “He who does not forsake father, mother, son, and daughter, he who does not take up his cross and follow Me, is not worthy of Me.” These words are not to be understood trivially, but in the sense that, through reception of the Christ Principle the ancient blood brotherhood had to assume a new form, a feeling of “belonging to each other” which, regardless of material foundations, must pass from soul to soul, from man to man. The Christ-Principle has given the impulse by which man can love man, and that through being Christened human love may become more and more spiritual. Love will become more psychic and more spiritual, and through this man will also draw along with him the lower creations, and will thus transform the earth. In a far distant future he will transform the entire substance of the earth, and so mature the earth-body that it will be enabled to unite again with the sun. Christ as Spiritual Sun has given the impulse by which the earth and the sun can again be united in one body at a future day.
We have surveyed the course of the evolution of the world; we have seen how the body of the sun first separated from the earth, and how the mighty Christ Impulse descended, and how the impulse was thereby given towards a reunion of earth and sun so that they might rise to higher stages of existence. We have also realized that the earth is to produce human beings who have this as their mission. Therefore, when we look around upon the human kingdom, and desire to learn about man, we can find him only on the earth, for only here are conditions produced for such men as exist today. You may now ask: How is it with the other kingdoms of the earth? Let us consider the vegetable kingdom. When clairvoyant vision sweeps out into the universe and we investigate the other planets belonging to our system, we find in all those belonging to our sun a vegetable kingdom entirely corresponding to our own—so that in our vegetable kingdom we have something that in its systematic life is a part of our whole universe.
Our solar system is peopled by a vegetable creation, and were the whole matter to be considered occultly we should see that each planet is peopled also by its own kind of human beings. It is easy to perceive an inner relationship between plants and the sun, and how the life of the plant is intimately connected with the life of the sun. If this is the case it must also be connected with all the planets belonging to the solar system. When we allow our thoughts to sweep back to the condition of the earth when it was still a Sun planet, we know that man consisted of physical and etheric body, that is, he was at the stage of a plant. Man at that time had the value of a plant; he was in the position in which the vegetable kingdom is now. This kingdom is composed of beings consisting of physical body and etheric body. These confront us in a way that moves us to say that they have remained true to the sun; even now they clearly reveal their relationship with the sun.
Let us consider the nature of a plant according to Rosicrucian wisdom. We see the plant fixed in the ground by its roots, that is, the organ which leads it towards the centre of the earth—to its ego and we see how it turns its organs of reproduction to the sun and absorbs its chaste rays.
Let us now turn to man. It is not difficult to imagine man as a reversed plant. If we think of a plant exactly reversed in position we have a man; his reproductive organs are turned to the centre of the earth, and his root towards space. The animal stands half-way between these. Hence one can say in a spiritual sense, when the soul-nature of the world passed through the various kingdoms it passed through a vegetable, an animal, and a human existence. Plato expresses this in a beautiful way. He says: “The world-soul is crucified on the cross of the world body.” Man has passed through the plant stage which directed him to the centre of the earth. The position of animals is expressed in the horizontal position of the spine. Man's position is that of the plant, only reversed. Thus the cross arose.
On it the world soul is crucified; this is the profound esoteric meaning of the cross. In the plant of today we have a being which strives towards the sun, which has, in a certain sense, remained united with the sun, hence it has the opposite direction to man. Animal forms on the various planetary existences are partly alike and partly different; even here the animal stands midway between man and plant.
If we now pass to the mineral kingdom we find in the forms of crystals something that directs us into space far beyond our solar system. In the formative forces of the mineral kingdom we find forces which reach far beyond the solar system. We are led, especially when considering those forms of the mineral kingdom through which the light passes, to a perception of what takes place far beyond our solar system. The most abstract thing, and that which has least individual existence, yet forms at present the foundation of our life, is the mineral. It has a universal existence; the higher the being the more it is suited to the system of our earth and sun.
We will now consider this point with regard to man. If man were adapted to forces that ruled on the earth alone he would be condemned to exist only on the earth; he could never become a citizen of the universe; he could speak of nothing that takes place beyond the earth. Though he is adapted, through his outward form, to the conditions of the earth, he has also through his higher powers a part in all the higher beings who are connected with the earth. That which limits man to the earth has reference to his body alone; the spiritual powers with which he is furnished lead him far beyond the earth. Here again we have to distinguish between different forces. In order that we may understand them let us dwell first on those forces that can be easily classified.
We have in the first place the power which called up pictures before our spiritual eyes during the Atlantean epoch. Man's consciousness, to begin with, was a picture consciousness; only as evolution progressed was he gradually able to comprehend external objects by means of his objective consciousness. The consciousness which at the present time presents the sense world to us so that we see colours with our eyes, hear sounds with our ears, smell, and taste, was only differentiated at one time from out the general perception of warmth by the organ which was then like a kind of lantern—the pineal gland. Objective consciousness is purely of the earth. Wonderful as it may seem, all the sensations man is aware of, such as the colour of objects, resounding tones, have only existence on earth, and if we were to consider the beings of another planet we would find that at first we could not understand them. For instance, if we were to say something to these beings about the colour red they would not know what was meant; on their planet they have a different way of perceiving beings and things. What we call sense-perception applies only to our particular planet.
I have already explained that before sense perception was differentiated it was inwardly connected with reproduction. Precisely as sense perception is of the earth, so also is the form of reproduction (as it exists at present) of the earth, and is only adapted to this planetary existence: it exists for the purpose of providing the first foundation of that which is the mission of the earth, namely, love—for love is to be developed upon the earth.
We now come to another human power. Suppose you observe some object; as long as your eyes are turned to it you know that you are in correspondence with the object; it acts upon you; now turn your eyes away and hold the idea-picture of it in your memory; the object has gone but the image remains. If man had not the capacity of retaining such images he would be an entirely different being, for as soon as his gaze left the object the image of it would also have disappeared, and in consequence he would not have power to connect the qualities of the things observed with his own qualities. That capacity of consciousness which makes the man of today able to retain the image of an object even when the object itself is gone, was his even on the ancient Moon; it is the same capacity which then enabled him to see what was external to him in pictures. He could not at that time see outer objects as he does today, but when anything approached him an astral vision rose before him like a vivid dream picture, but it was related in a particular way to the object he perceived.
Man's consciousness was then a picture consciousness, not an objective consciousness. Now he is in touch with the objects themselves, the picture he sees is the object. A last remnant of picture consciousness has remained in our power to form memory pictures. These are of greater value than the mere observation of external objects. In observing a number of objects that are similar to each other we bring them under one general idea. For instance, you have here so many pieces of chalk you group them under the general conception “chalk.” In this way man rises to general conceptions for which no outer object exists. Man can work inwardly with his ideas, and if with this inward activity—with this power of ideation—he were to come in touch with beings outside our planetary existence he would be able, without having to refer to any object, to make himself more easily understood by them. Both the picture consciousness (which man possessed before he could perceive outer objects, and which was a dim clairvoyance) and also the imaginative consciousness which he will develop later are more far reaching than mere sense observation.
When picture consciousness is acquired through occult development and man is able to perceive not only outer objects, but also, for instance the human aura; when in pictures he sees around him things of a soul and spirit nature; when that which exists in the world rises before him in pictorial symbols, he has gained with his imaginative consciousness the power to connect himself with other things inhabiting other planets.
There is a yet higher degree of consciousness. This was possessed by man dimly during the Sun period, and to a slight extent he has it still—it is dreamless sleep consciousness. Man is not without consciousness when asleep; neither is a plant without consciousness; its consciousness is the same as that of man in ordinary sleep. Sleep is only a lower degree of consciousness, when things escape man's attention and he does not observe them.
Through developing certain forces man can gain the power to perceive what is around him during the state of dreamless sleep. This is a higher state of consciousness than picture consciousness; it is the consciousness plants have, but in a sleeping form. If one rises to this consciousness but permeates it with one's ego in clear day-consciousness one has attained to the degree of inspiration or, in occult development, to inspired consciousness. This consciousness does not act merely by means of pictures. When something flows from the object and passes into the observer it is a tone-consciousness, and cannot be compared with picture-consciousness. The man who experiences it enters into a spiritual world of tone; this is the consciousness described by Pythagoras as “the Harmony of the Spheres.” The whole world then utters forth its nature, and when man is asleep at night and the astral body and ego are withdrawn from his physical and etheric bodies, the harmonies and melodies of cosmic music pervade his astral body. The astral body is then immersed in true spiritual existence, and from the music of the spheres it draws power by which to restore its exhausted forces. Man is plunged at night within the music of the spheres, and through the tones ringing within him he feels strengthened and refreshed anew when morning comes. When conscious of this he is Inspired, and is capable of perceiving all that is contained within the solar system.
Through his ordinary senses and the intellect associated with them man perceives only the things of the earth; through Imagination he comes in touch with the various planets; when he has attained to Inspiration he comes in contact with the solar system. This fact has always been known in certain circles. Goethe, who was an Initiate, knew it; hence in the prologue to Faust, the scene of which is set in the spiritual world in heaven—he represents the Angel as saying: “The sun intones his ancient song, 'Mid rival chant of brother spheres.”
From this we see that he knew that the secrets of the solar system are expressed in tones, and that one who can raise himself to Inspiration can learn these secrets. Goethe did not write this by chance, as we can see, for he maintains the character. In the second part of Faust, when he takes us up into the spiritual world he says again very much the same thing:
“Sounding loud to spirit ears,
Lo! the new-born day appears.”
Spirit ears are the ears of the clairvoyant, who is able to perceive the harmonies of the solar system. If you could perceive the Sun-Forces streaming down on to the bodies of plants as they grow (these bodies whose roots and leaves terminate in flowers bathed round by the astral body, into which stream the forces of the sun); if you could perceive these forces secretly entering the earth through the flower, you would perceive them as spiritual music—the music of the spheres. This can, however, only be heard by spiritual ears.
Spiritual sound enters into flowers, that is the secret of the development of plants, each separate flower is the expression of the tones which give it form, and give to the fruit its character. The sun tones are caught up by the plant, and these rule within it as spirit.
You perhaps know how form can be imparted by sound in the material world; you may remember the experiment of the Chladnic sound forms. How dust scattered upon a disc assumes certain figures as the result of sound; in these figures we have the expression of the sound that produces them. Just as physical sound is caught up, as it were, in this dust, so the spiritual sound of the sun is caught up and absorbed by flower and fruit. It is hidden mysteriously in the seed, and when a new plant grows from the seed it is the sun-tone it has absorbed that conjures forth its form.
Clairvoyant consciousness looks around upon the vegetable kingdom, and in the flowers which form the variegated carpet of the earth's surface it sees everywhere the reflection of sun-tones. What Goethe says is true, “The sun intones his ancient song,” but it is also true that these sun tones stream to earth, are absorbed by plants, and reappear when new plants spring from the seed. For in the forms of plants is heard the sun-tones which re-echo into space the music of the spheres.
Herein we see how universe and earth, how fixed star and planet, are spiritually in touch with each other, and we learn not only to look at what is in our environment in the physical world, but we also gain an inkling of how those who partake of Inspiration ascend to the sun.
There is a still higher state of consciousness, which, in the true sense of the word, we call Intuition; through it man can creep within the very nature of things. This is more than inspirational consciousness; here a man sinks himself into beings, he identifies himself with them. This leads him still further. Where does inspirational consciousness lead him? It leads him to where he feels one with the earth planet, for the egos of the plants are in the centre of the earth. When he perceives the sun-tone he becomes one with the planetary being that dwells in the centre of the earth; he becomes one with his planet; he can also become one with all other beings. He then goes through experiences that reach far beyond our solar system; his vision is extended from system-consciousness to cosmic-consciousness-intuition carries him beyond the several solar systems.
Thus we see that in the mineral kingdom we have something which in a homogeneous form furnishes us with a basis that extends far beyond our ordinary existence. We see that the present human form is a physical earthly form, but that man will raise himself once more from ordinary earthly consciousness to planetary-consciousness through imagination; to system-consciousness through inspiration; to cosmic-consciousness through intuition.
This is the path humanity has to travel in so far as it is connected with the entire evolution of the world. In the next lecture we shall descend from this study, which has led us outwards to that which has taken place in more recent ages of earthly existence, in the Egyptian and Grecian ages, and in our own age. We shall see how the macrocosm, the mighty universe of which we have formed some idea today, is reflected in the life and conception of individual man—the microcosm.
Achter Vortrag
Wir werden auch heute zum genauen Verständnis dessen, was uns als unser eigentliches Ziel in den nächsten Vorträgen entgegentreten wird, einen Blick werfen in die großen Welten und dann wieder herunterschauen auf den engeren Kreis unseres irdischen unmittelbaren Daseins. Auf diese Weise werden wir die Möglichkeit gewinnen, uns eine genaue Vorstellung von dem zu machen, was man im geisteswissenschaftlichen oder okkulten Sinne unter den drei Begriffen eigentlich zu verstehen hat, die wir zusammengestellt haben als Welt, Erde und Mensch. Denn aus gar mancherlei, was in diesen Vorträgen schon vorgekommen ist, werden Sie entnommen haben, daß man im geheimwissenschaftlichen Sinne von einer Welt als einem bloß materiellen Inhalte gar nicht sprechen kann. Wir haben gesehen, daß die verschiedenen Weltwesen — wir möchten gar nicht sagen Weltkörper -, die uns entgegengetreten sind, wie die verschiedenen Verkörperungen unserer Erde als Saturn, Sonne und Mond, wie auch schließlich dasjenige, was wir als den Gegensatz bezeichnen zwischen der Erde als Planeten und der Sonne als Fixstern, daß alles das etwas ganz anderes ist als ein bloß Materielles: Ein jedes solcher Weltwesen ist ja, wie wir gesehen haben, der. Schauplatz einer Summe von geistigen Wesenheiten, das heißt im Grunde genommen materiell nur so beschaffen, wie diese geistigen Wesenheiten, die auf den Weltkörpern wohnen, es brauchen. Dann haben wir gesehen, daß die Sonne sich herausgetrennt hat aus der Erde, weil auf ihr der Schauplatz sein mußte für gewisse erhabene Wesenheiten, die nur die feineren Substanzen zu ihrer Entwickelung brauchen konnten, während der Mensch auf der Erde die anderen Substanzen zurückbehalten mußte. Und wenn wir den ganzen weiten Weltenraum durchforschen würden, wir würden überall finden, daß wir nichts Materielles für sich auskundschaften könnten, daß alles mit einem Geistigen verknüpft ist. Ferner sahen wir, inwiefern die verschiedenen Erdenwesen mit geistigen Wesen verknüpft sind. Die Steine, die Mineralien unserer Erde haben im Umkreise unserer Welt, im Universum ihr Ich; die Pflanzen haben ihr Ich lokalisiert im Mittelpunkt unseres Erdplaneten, und dann haben wir gesehen, daß die Pflanzen eine astrale Wesenheit haben, die sie sozusagen von außen umkreist und den Abschluß der Blüte bewirkt. So haben wir alles durchgeistigt gefunden, und dadurch erweitert sich der Begriff oder die Vorstellung eines Weltkörpers. Wir sehen hinauf zu irgendeinem Weltkörper und wissen, er ist nur der Ausdruck für geistige Wesenheiten, die materiell mit ihm verknüpft sind. Nun ist der Mensch in der Tat durch die Entwickelung der in ihm befindlichen schlummernden Fähigkeiten in der Lage, sich eine gewisse Kenntnis zu verschaffen von solchen Weltkörpern, die draußen im Raume ausgebreitet sind, und wir werden heute den Menschen im Zusammenhang mit den verschiedenen Weltkörpern vor unsere Seele zu führen haben.
Wir auf unserer Erde sind ja umgeben von Mineralien, Pflanzen, Tieren und Menschengenossen! Wir wissen, daß daneben aber die Angelegenheiten unserer Erde besorgt werden von höheren Wesenheiten, von Wesenheiten, die wir im christlichen Sinne als Engel, Erzengel und Urkräfte bezeichnet haben; wir wissen auch, daß noch andere Wesenheiten, wenn sie auch von der Sonne oder dem Monde aus ihre Kräfte senden, mit der Erde zu tun haben. Heute soll nun noch etwas anderes hinzukommen, Es kann uns zunächst einmal die Frage vor die Seele treten: Inwiefern läßt sich einer der Planeten unseres Sonnensystems mit dem anderen hinsichtlich seiner Wesenheit vergleichen? Und wir wollen der Leichtigkeit halber auf diejenigen Wesenheiten sehen, die uns im heutigen Menschheitszyklus sozusagen sichtbar entgegentreten können. Wir fragen: Wie verhält es sich mit den Wesen, die uns als Mineralien, Pflanzen und Tiere und Menschen umgeben, in bezug auf andere Weltenwesen?
Selbstverständlich behandeln wir diese Frage von dem geisteswissenschaftlichen Standpunkte aus, der sich ergibt durch die Entwickelung derjenigen Kräfte, die dem hellseherischen Bewußtsein offen liegen, und von deren Entwickelung wir noch sprechen werden, von dem also, was das hellseherische Bewußtsein wissen kann. Da fragen wir uns zunächst: Gibt es solche Menschen, wie sie sich auf unserer Erde entwickeln, für das hellseherische Bewußtsein auch auf anderen Planeten? — Und da antwortet uns das hellseherische Bewußtsein: Solche Menschen wie auf der Erde, in genau derselben Gestalt, finden wir auf anderen Planeten nicht. — Und wir finden erhärtet, daß jeder Planer, jeder Himmelskörper seine besondere Aufgabe, seine besondere Mission hat. Nichts wiederholt sich im Weltall, andere Weltenschauplätze haben auch andere Missionen. Diese unsere Erde ist entstanden aus drei vorhergehenden Verkörperungen. Sie wissen, daß diejenige Stufe des Menschendaseins, die wir jetzt durchmachen, das Menschsein, allerdings gewisse Wesenheiten schon durchgemacht haben, zum Beispiel die Engel auf dem Monde. Andere Wesenheiten, die Feuergeister, haben diesen Zustand auf der Sonne durchgemacht, und noch andere, die Geister der Persönlichkeit, auf dem Saturn. Da könnte nun leicht der Irrtum entstehen: Dann gab es aber doch Menschen auf den vorhergehenden Planeten! — Sie müssen aber vor Augen haben, daß es auf dem Monde kein festes Gestein und Mineral gab, und daß daher die Wesenheiten, die dort ihre Menschheitsstufe durchgemacht haben, es unter ganz anderen Verhältnissen getan haben. Wir reden daher von der Stufe der Menschheit, wissen aber, daß die Menschheit unter ganz anderen Verhältnissen durchgemacht worden ist. Unter verschiedenen Verhältnissen zum Beispiel haben auch die Feuergeister auf der alten Sonne ihre Menschheit durchgemacht, denn die Sonne bestand ja nur aus Luft und Gas. Eine solche Menschwerdung konnten natürlich nur Wesen durchmachen, die nicht einen Körper wie den unsrigen mit fester Substanz, Muskeln und so weiter brauchten. Auch im Werden auf der Erde wiederholt sich nichts, und jeder einzelne Punkt hat seine besondere Mission im großen Haushalt des kosmischen Daseins. Betrachten wir jetzt einmal das Werden unserer Erde. So wie wir sie okkult betrachten, sehen wir sie als einen Körper, den der Mensch bewohnt, auf dem sich der Mensch entwickelt. Nur dadurch ist diese Entwickelung ermöglicht worden, daß sich die Sonne und der Mond abgetrennt haben von der Erde, und daß seine Kräfte zwischen Sonne und Mond im Gleichgewicht gehalten werden. Damals, als die Erde, wenn wir so sagen dürfen, selbst noch Sonne war, machte sie ihre Entwickelung so durch, daß die Sonne mit der Erde vereint war. Die Sonne selbst war also noch auf der Stufe des Planetendaseins und war bewohnt von den Feuergeistern. Nun aber durch die fortschreitende Entwickelung war es möglich, daß ein Teil dessen, was der Erde einverleibt war, zu höherem Dasein aufstieg, auf Kosten dessen, was sich als Erdenmond aus der Erde heraussetzte. So sehen wir, daß im großen Weltenall die Entwickelung so vor sich geht, daß etwas, das eine Weile mit anderem zusammengeht, sich trennt, und zwar steigt das eine dann hinauf in höhere Regionen, und das andere geht hinunter in eine tiefere Region. Damit gewisse höhere Wesenheiten sich hoch genug entwickeln konnten, mußte die Sonne für sich ein solcher Körper werden, daß er der Schauplatz höherer Wesenheiten sein konnte. Die Sonne ist also gleichsam avanciert, aufgestiegen aus dem Planetendasein zu einem Fixsterndasein, sagen wir einmal. So müssen wir überhaupt ein Weltwesen wie unsere Sonne betrachten, daß sie geworden ist, daß sie hervorgegangen ist aus einem Planeten; okkult sehen wir daher in einer Sonne einen aufgestiegenen Planeten. Nun aber haben wir gestern darauf hingewiesen, wie, nachdem alles sich vereinigt hatte und die Sonne in einem gewissen Zeitpunkt sich wieder abgetrennt hatte, auch innerhalb unseres engeren Erdendaseins der Mensch eine Zeitlang auf der Erde lebte ohne die geistigen Sonnenkräfte, und wie durch das Eintreten des Christus die geistige Sonnenkraft auf unserer Erde Platz gefaßt hat. Wenn nun der Christus unserer Erde sich einverleibt, so wird der Mensch durch die Aufnahme des Christus-Prinzips immer reifer und reifer, und die materielle Gestalt, die ein Planet annimmt, ist abhängig von dem, was dieser Planet für Wesenheiten entwickelt. Geradeso wie die Sonne so wurde, wie sie ist, indem sie die feinsten Substanzen herausholte, weil die Wesenheiten diese Substanzen brauchten, so wird es auch die Erde machen, so werden auch die Substanzen der Erde sich umwandeln, daß sie dem angemessen sein werden, was in einer fernen Zukunft aus dem Menschen geworden sein wird und aus den Erdenwesen, die der Mensch mit sich zieht; denn der Mensch wird, wenn er einmal mächtig geworden ist, auch die anderen Erdenwesen nachziehen. Was wird dann geschehen? Der Mensch, wenn er sich immer mehr mit dem Christus-Prinzip durchzieht, wenn er immer mehr die hohen Sonnenkräfte, die mit dem Christus auf die Erde herabstiegen, aufnimmt, wird selber immer christushafter werden. Dann durchstrahlt er selbst die ganze Erde mit dem ChristusPrinzip.
Was ist dieses Christus-Prinzip? Wir wollen es uns einmal so klar machen, wie wir es brauchen. Dazu müssen wir wissen, was die Mission unseres Erdendaseins ist, so daß wir diese Mission in einer bestimmten Weise, mit einem bestimmten Wort bezeichnen können. Was ist nun die Mission unseres Erdendaseins? Was war zum Beispiel die Mission des der Erde vorhergehenden Mondes? Wenn wir den geistigen Blick einmal zurückschweifen lassen auf unseren alten Mond, dann werden wir im Anfange seines Daseins etwas sehr Merkwürdiges finden innerhalb derjenigen Wesenheiten, die die Vorläufer unserer Erdenwesen sind. Vieles haben diese Wesenheiten, doch eines fehlt ihnen noch ganz im Beginn der alten Mondentwickelung: es fehlt ihnen dasjenige, was wir heute überall um uns herum im Erdendasein sehen. Unweise wirkten die Kräfte des Mondes, des Vorgängers unserer Erde, zusammen; alles im Beginn des Mondendaseins ist noch so, daß man nirgends ein harmonisches Zusammenwirken in Weisheit wahrnehmen kann. Wenn man das Werden des alten Mondes hellseherisch verfolgt, so sieht man, wie von denjenigen Wesenheiten, welche im Umkreis des Mondes wirken, den Wesen, die auf dem Monde lebten, aus dem Kosmos heraus die Weisheit einverleibt wurde. Deshalb nennen wir den alten Mond den Planeten der Weisheit. So daß, als das Mondendasein beendet war, Weisheit war in allen Dingen. Und als dann das Mondendasein durchging durch einen Zwischenzustand wie durch einen Weltenschlaf und als Erdendasein wieder heraustrat, und als die Wesen wieder herauskamen aus dem Pralaya, da brachten sie auch die auf dem Monde ihnen einverleibte Weisheit mit. Und die Folge davon ist, daß in allen Wesenheiten der Erde die Weisheit drinnen ist; daß eingeimpft ist die Weisheit auf dem Grunde aller Dinge. Wir betrachten die Wesenheiten um uns herum, die die Ergebnisse der Mondentwickelung sind und noch eine weitere Mission haben, und wir finden Weisheit überall. Betrachten Sie, was Sie wollen; nehmen Sie zum Beispiel irgendeine Pflanzenblüte, je genauer Sie sie betrachten, desto wunderbarer wird es Ihnen erscheinen, wie die einzelnen Teile im Sinne einer höheren Weisheit angeordnet sind. Nehmen Sie ein Stück Knochen aus dem menschlichen Oberschenkel: Sie werden sehen, wie in höchster Weisheit die Balken zu einem Gerüst angeordnet sind, so daß der Oberleib getragen wird. Und keine Ingenieurkunst ist heute imstande, beim Brückenbau die hohe Weisheit dieses Gerüstes nachzuahmen. So sehen wir in allen übrigen menschlichen Organen, ja in der ganzen uns umgebenden Welt, Weisheit auf dem Grunde der Dinge. Der Mensch sollte auf der Erde erst in seinem Inneren diese Weisheit, man könnte sagen, wie ein Stümper aufnehmen; die mikrokosmische Weisheit ist etwas, was der Mensch erst hier von den Dingen lernt. Aber im Grunde der Dinge und im Grunde all dessen im Menschen, woran der Mensch im Inneren unbeteiligt ist, da ist die Weisheit bereits eingeformt. Wenn man die Geschichte entwickelt, rühmt man oft die menschliche Weisheit. Wie wunderbar nimmt es sich aus, wenn wir in der Schule lernen, daß der Mensch in einer bestimmten Zeit diese oder jene Erfindung oder Entdeckung gemacht hat. Wie wurde es uns zum Beispiel eingeimpft, daß so gegen die neuere Zeit die Menschen die Kunst entdeckt haben, Papier zu fabrizieren: menschliche Intelligenz hat es dahin gebracht. Nun, die Wespen können das schon lange, sie haben es viel früher als der Mensch gekonnt. Allerdings nicht die einzelne Wespe, aber die Gruppenseele der Wespen baut im Wespennest etwas, was genau aus demselben Stoff wie unser Papier ist! Diese Gruppenseelen sind längst so weit, wie es menschliche Weisheit allmählich wird. Diese Weisheit, die sich im Grunde aller Wesen auf unserer Erde befindet, mußte auch erst nach und nach einverleibt werden, und wir werden sehen, wie sich im Verlaufe des Mondendaseins einverleibt hat diese Weisheit, wie da die Weisheit gegen die Unweisheit kämpfte, und wie dann der alte Mond der Erde die Wesenskeime übergab, denen die Weisheit eingeimpft worden war.
Was soll in gleicher Weise den Wesen auf unserer Erde eingeimpft werden? So wie auf unserem Vorgänger, dem Monde, die Weisheit eingeimpft worden ist, so soll auf unserem Planeten eingeimpft werden die Liebe. Unser Planet ist der Planet der Liebe. Deshalb hat begonnen die Entwickelung, sozusagen die Einträufelung der Liebe in ihrer niedrigsten Form. Da alles herausgekommen war in der Zeit der Lemuria, als das Ich des Menschen Form annahm, da begann durch die Geschlechterteilung die Entwickelung der Liebe in ihrer niedrigsten Form. Und alle Weiterentwickelung besteht in einer zunehmenden Veredelung bis zur Vergeistigung dieses Liebeprinzips. Und ebenso wie auf dem Monde | Weisheit den Wesen eingeträufelt worden ist, so wird, wenn unsere Erde einst an ihrem Ziele angelangt sein wird, Liebe auf dem Grunde aller Wesen sein.
Und jetzt lassen Sie uns kurz den Blick richten auf das nächste Planetendasein, das unsere Erde ablösen wird, auf den Planeten Jupiter. Wenn da wieder erscheinen werden die ihn bewohnenden Wesenheiten, dann werden sie in ihren Umkreis blicken auf die Wesenheiten mit ihren eigenen geistigen Kräften. Und wie wir mit dem Intellekt bewundern im Stein, in der Pflanze, im Tier, in allen Wesenheiten um uns herum die Weisheit, die da waltet in allem, wie wir die Weisheit heraussaugen, daß wir sie auch in derselben Weise haben können: so wird es bei den Wesenheiten des Jupiters sein, daß sie ihre Kräfte richten auf die Umwesen, und es wird ihnen entgegenduften die Liebe, die während der Erdentwickelung in sie eingeimpft worden ist. Wie wir analysieren ein Wesen und uns erbauen an der Weisheit, so werden sich die Jupiterwesen erbauen an den aus den Wesen herauskommenden Liebesströmungen. Diese Liebe, die auf der Erde sich entwickeln soll, kann nur dadurch sich entwickeln, daß die Erden-Iche so einander gegenübertreten, wie wir es gesehen haben; nur dadurch konnte die Entwickelung beginnen, daß die Wesen in ihrer Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit auseinandergerissen wurden und Wesen dem Wesen gegenübertrat, nur so konnte die wahre Liebe sich entwickeln. Wo die Iche in der Gruppenseele miteinander verbunden sind, da ist nicht die richtige Liebe. Getrennt muß das Wesen vom Wesen sein und die Liebe darbieten als freie Gabe. Erst durch die Spaltung der Wesen, wie sie im Menschenreiche eingetreten ist, wo Ich dem Ich als selbständige Einzelheit gegenübertritt, erst da ist die Liebe als freie Gabe von Ich zu Ich möglich geworden. So mußte auf Erden ein immer mehr zunehmender Individualismus eintreten und ein Zusammenführen der einzelnen Wesenheiten. Denken wir uns die einzelnen Wesenheiten, die in einer Gruppenseele miteinander verbunden sind; die Gruppenseele dirigiert sie, wie sie sich verhalten sollen. Kann irgend jemand sagen, daß das
1272 ‚opyright Rudolf Steiner Nachlass-Verwaltung Buch: 105 Seite: 133 Herz den Magen liebt? Nein, das Herz ist mit dem Magen verbunden durch die innere Wesenheit, die sie zusammenhält. So sind auch die Tiergruppen miteinander verbunden in der Gruppenseelenhaftigkeit, und was sie zu tun haben, wird ihnen angeordnet von der weisheitsvollen Gruppenseele. Erst wenn diese Gruppenhaftigkeit überwunden wird, wenn das einzelne Ich dem einzelnen Ich gegenübertritt, da kann die Sympathie der Liebe als freie Gabe von Wesen zu Wesen dargeboten werden.
Zu dieser Mission konnte der Mensch erst allmählich vorbereitet werden. Daher sehen wir, wie er eine Art Vorschule durchmacht zu dieser Liebe, bevor der Mensch völlig individualisiert wird. Ehe er sein Ich völlig als sein eigen hat, sehen wir, wie er durch die leitenden Wesenheiten in Gruppen vereinigt wird, die blutsverwandt sind, und die sich lieben, insofern sie blutsverwandt sind. Das ist die große Vorbereitungszeit der Menschheit. Wir haben schon angedeutet, wie die Liebe noch keine freie Gabe ist, sondern von einem Rest der Weisheit geleitet wird; wir haben gesehen, wie da hineinwirken die Geister der luziferischen Wesenheiten, die dem Zusammenwirken der Menschen in Stämmen und Völkern durch die Blutskraft ihre stark befreiende Kraft entgegensetzen: Alles, was da wirkt, um die Menschen selbständig zu machen, das wirkt durch die luziferischen Geister. Und so reift der Mensch heran, um nach und nach die höchste Potenz der Liebe zu empfangen, das Christus-Prinzip, jenes Prinzip, das seine Wesenheit ausdrücken durfte in den Worten: Wer nicht verläßt Vater, Mutter, Sohn, Tochter, wer nicht sein Kreuz auf sich nimmt und folget mir nach, der ist meiner nicht wert. — Das ist nicht in trivialer Weise aufzufassen, sondern so, daß die alte Blutsverwandtschaft durch die Aufnahme des Christus-Prinzips neue Formen der Zusammengehörigkeit ausbilden soll, die ohne Rücksicht auf materielle Grundlagen, von Seele zu Seele, von Mensch zu Mensch gehen. Daß der Mensch den Menschen liebt, dazu hat das Christus-Prinzip den Impuls gegeben. Und so wird durch die Verchristung die Menschheit immer mehr vergeistigt werden in der Liebe. Die Liebe wird immer seelenhafter und geistiger werden, und damit wird der Mensch auch die niedrigen Wesen der Erde mitreißen, er wird die ganze Erde dadurch umformen. In einer urfernen Zukunft wird er das ganze Material der Erde umformen und diesen Erdenleib wieder reif machen zur Vereinigung mit der Sonne. So hat der Christus als die geistige Sonne den Impuls gegeben, daß Erde und Sonne dereinst sich wieder zu einem Leibe vereinigen.
So sehen wir den Gang durch die Weltentwickelung: wie sich die Sonne erst von der Erde körperlich trennt, wie dann der mächtige Impuls des Christus-Prinzips heruntergeschickt wird, und wie dadurch der Anstoß zu einer Wiedervereinigung von Erde und Sonne gegeben wird, um zu höheren Daseinsstufen hinaufzugehen. Und wir haben erkannt, daß unsere Erde nur solche Menschen mit solcher Mission bergen kann. Wenn wir also im Menschenreiche Umschau halten und den Erdenmenschen kennenlernen wollen, so können wir ihn nur auf der Erde finden, denn hier wurden die Bedingungen geschaffen zu solchen Menschen, wie sie heute hier sind.
Nun aber fragen wir uns: Wie steht es mit den anderen Reichen? Betrachten wir zunächst das Pflanzenreich. Wenn der hellseherische Blick umherschweift in unserer Welt und die zum Sonnensystem gehörigen anderen Planeten untersucht: ein Pflanzenreich ganz im Sinne unseres Pflanzenreiches finden wir überall bei den Planeten, die zu unserer Sonne gehören; so daß wir in unserem Pflanzenreich etwas haben, was sozusagen Systemdasein hat, was zu unserem System gehört. Wir sehen also unser Sonnensystem bevölkert von Pflanzenwesen, und wenn wir die Sache okkult betrachten würden, dann würden wir auch jeden Planeten mit seiner Eigenart von Menschenwesen bevölkert sehen, Sie werden aber eine innige Verwandtschaft zwischen Pflanze und Sonne sehr bald einsehen können, und dann werden Sie auch glauben können, daß das Pflanzendasein innig verbunden mit dem Sonnendasein ist. Wenn das aber so ist, so muß es auch mit allen Planeten, die zu diesem Sonnensystem gehören, verbunden sein. Lassen wir den Blick zurückschweifen zu demjenigen Zustand, da die Erde noch der Sonnenplanet war, so wissen wir, daß damals der Mensch aus physischem und Ätherleib bestand, also auf der Stufe des Pflanzendaseins war. Der Mensch hatte damals den Wert einer Pflanze, er war sozusagen in der Lage, in der die Pflanzenwelt heute ist. Unsere Pflanzenwelt um uns herum hat Wesen, die aus physischem und Ätherleib bestehen. Diese Wesen treten uns so entgegen, daß wir sagen können: sie sind der Sonne treu geblieben, sie zeigen uns auch heute noch klar ihre Beziehungen zur Sonne. Betrachten wir ein solches Pflanzenwesen im Sinne der rosenkreuzerischen Weisheit. Da sehen wir, wie die Pflanze mit der Wurzel im Boden haftet. Das ist das Organ, das sie hinlenkt zum Mittelpunkt der Erde, also zu ihrem Ich; und ihre Befruchtungsorgane lenkt sie der Sonne zu. Da nimmt sie auf den keuschen Sonnenstrahl. Stellen wir uns jetzt den Menschen vor: Es ist nicht schwer, sich den Menschen als eine umgekehrte Pflanze vorzustellen; denken Sie sich die Pflanze in genau der umgekehrten Lage, so haben Sie den Menschen: Er hat die Befruchtungsorgane dem Mittelpunkt der Erde zugewandt, und die Wurzel in den Weltenraum hinaus. Das Tier steht mitten darin. Daher sagt man in geistiger Beziehung: Als die Seelenhaftigkeit der Welt durch die verschiedenen Reiche hindurchging, ging sie durch Pflanzen-, Tier- und Menschendasein. Plato drückt es in einer großartigen Weise aus: Die Weltenseele ist am Kreuze des Weltenleibes gekreuzigt.
Das Pflanzendasein hat der Mensch durchgemacht, dem Mittelpunkt der Erde zugekehrt; das Tier hat in seinem Rückgrat die entsprechende Richtung horizontal; der Mensch ist der Pflanze gegenüber völlig umgekehrt: so entsteht das Kreuz. Die Weltenseele ist gekreuzigt, das ist die tiefste esoterische Bedeutung des Kreuzes. So daß wir in der heutigen Pflanze ein Wesen vor uns haben, das nach der Sonne strebt, das gewissermaßen mit der Sonne verbunden geblieben ist, daher hat es die umgekehrte Richtung wie der Mensch. Die Tierformen sind zum Teil gleich, zum Teil verschieden auf den verschiedenen planetarischen Daseinsformen; das Tier steht auch hier in der Mitte zwischen Mensch und Pflanze.
Gehen wir jetzt zum mineralischen Reich, so finden wir, daß wir in den Kristallformen etwas haben, das uns hinausführt über unser Sonnensystem in den Weltenraum; wir können in den Gestaltungskräften des Mineralreichs Kräfte finden, die weit hinaus über unser Sonnensystem reichen. Wenn wir auf die Gestalten des Mineralreichs unseren Blick richten, vorzugsweise auf diejenigen Gestalten, die es bis zur Lichtdurchlässigkeit bringen, so werden wir also hinausgeführt, daß wir eine Ahnung erhalten können von dem, was weit über unser Sonnensystem hinaus in der Welt vor sich geht. Das Abstrakteste, dasjenige, was am wenigsten bestimmtes Dasein hat, was jetzt die Grundlage unseres Daseins ist, das Mineralische, hat ein universelles Dasein, und je höher die Wesenheiten stehen, desto mehr sind sie unserem Sonnen- und Erdensystem angepaßt.
Nun aber wollen wir einmal dieselbe Frage in bezug auf den Menschen aufwerfen! Würde der Mensch nur an diejenigen Kräfte angepaßt sein, die auf der Erde walten, dann würde er verurteilt sein, nur auf der Erde zu existieren, nur auf der Erde sein Dasein zu fristen; er könnte niemals sich zu einem Weltenbürger machen, er könnte überhaupt nicht sprechen von irgend etwas, was über die Erde hinausgeht. Wenn er also auch in seiner äußerlichen Gestalt an die Erdenverhältnisse angepaßt ist, so hat er doch durch seine höheren Kräfte teil an dem, was die höheren Wesenheiten sind, die mit unserer Erde in Verbindung stehen. Was den Menschen auf die Erde beschränkt, bezieht sich nur auf seine Leiblichkeit; was in ihm an geistigen Kräften veranlagt ist, das führt ihn wiederum über die Erde hinaus. Auch da müssen wir unterscheiden zwischen den verschiedensten Kräften. Bleiben wir zunächst, damit wir uns verstehen, bei den Kräften, welche wir leicht einteilen können. Da haben wir zuerst diejenige Kraft, die wir sozusagen unter unseren geistigen Augen haben entstehen sehen in den voratlantischen Zeiten. Wir haben gesehen: der Mensch ist eingetreten mit einem Bilderbewußtsein, und erst im Laufe des Erdendaseins konnte er äußere Gegenstände im Gegenstandsbewußtsein erfassen. Und dieses Gegenstandsbewußtsein, das uns heute die Sinneswelt so darstellt, daß wir mit den Augen die Farben sehen können, daß wir Töne hören, daß wir riechen, schmecken, das hat sich, wie wir gesehen haben, erst aus der Wärmewahrnehmung heraus differenziert aus jenem Organ, das wie eine Art von Laterne da war, aus der Zirbeldrüse. Und es ist rein irdisch, dieses Gegenstandsbewußtsein. Nur auf der Erde ist diese Sinnesempfindung heimisch. So sonderbar es erscheinen mag: alle unsere Empfindungen, wie der Mensch die Farben über die Dinge hingezogen sieht, wie er die Töne erklingen hört, alles das hat nur ein irdisches Dasein, und wenn Sie die Wesen anderer Planeten betrachten würden, dann würden Sie sehen, daß Sie sich mit ihnen nicht unmittelbar verständigen können. Wenn Sie diesen Wesen etwas von Rot sagen, dann wissen sie nichts davon; sie haben auf ihrem Planeten eine andere Art, Gegenstände und Wesenheiten wahrzunehmen. Das, was wir Sinnesempfindung nennen, ist für unseren besonderen Planeten dienlich.
Nun haben wir auch gesehen, wie die Sinnesempfindung, bevor sie sich differenziert hat, innig verbunden war mit der Befruchtung. Genauso wie die Form unserer Sinnesempfindung irdisch ist, so ist nun auch die Form der Befruchtung, wie sie heute im Menschenreiche ist, irdisch und eignet diesem Planetendasein; sie ist dazu da, um die erste Grundlage zur Erdenmission, zur Liebe, auszubilden. Denn auf unserer Erde entwickelt sich die Liebe. Da haben wir also im Menschen in bezug auf seine äußere Fähigkeit etwas, was nur für die Erde gilt.
Nun kommen wir zu einer anderen Kraft. Betrachten Sie einen Sinnesgegenstand. Solange Sie das Auge darauf richten, wissen Sie, daß Sie mit dem Gegenstande in Korrespondenz sind: er wirkt auf Sie. Jetzt drehen Sie sich um und behalten das Vorstellungsbild des Gegenstandes im Gedächtnis. Der Gegenstand ist fort, aber das Bild bleibt Ihnen. Wenn der Mensch nicht die Fähigkeit hätte, solche Bilder zu behalten, würde er ein ganz anderes Wesen sein. Denn die Bilder würden, sobald Sie den Blick abwenden, verschwunden sein; Sie würden also auch nicht die Fähigkeit haben, die Eigenschaften der Wesen mit Ihrem eigenen Wesen zu verbinden. Das, was den heutigen Menschen fähig macht, ein Bild zu behalten, auch wenn der Gegenstand fort ist, sich die Dinge wieder vorzustellen, diese Bewußtseinsfähigkeit hatte der Mensch schon auf dem alten Monde, denn es ist dieselbe Fähigkeit, die es ihm damals möglich machte, das Äußere im Bilde zu sehen. Äußere Gegenstände konnte er damals nicht sehen wie heute, aber wenn er sich einem Gegenstande genähert hätte, würde ihm ein astrales Bild aufgestiegen sein, wie ein lebhaftes Traumbild, das aber in einer bestimmten Beziehung zu dem Gegenstande stand. Nicht ein Gegenstands-, sondern ein Bilderbewußtsein hatte der Mensch. Heute stellt sich der Mensch in Korrespondenz mit den Gegenständen, er hat das Bild über die Gegenstände ausgebreitet. Von dieser Fähigkeit ist ein letzter Rest zurückgeblieben in dem Erinnerungsbild. Dafür aber ist dies Erinnerungsbild auch etwas, was schon eine weitere Geltung hat als die bloße Betrachtung des äußeren Gegenstandes. Wenn Sie mehrere gleiche äußere Gegenstände betrachten, so bringen Sie sie unter einen gemeinschaftlichen Begriff. Es gibt viele Stücke Kreide, Sie bringen sie alle unter den gemeinschaftlichen Begriff Kreide. So kommt der Mensch hinauf zu allgemeinen Begriffen, für die keine äußeren Wesen existieren. Er kann innerlich arbeiten mit seinen Vorstellungen; und wenn Sie mit diesem innerlichen Arbeiten, mit diesem Vorstellen, ohne daß es auf Gegenstände bezogen ist, in Beziehung treten würden zu Wesen außerhalb unseres planetarischen Daseins, da würden Sie sich schon leichter verständigen können. Das Bilderbewußtsein, das der Mensch hatte, bevor er äußere Gegenstände wahrnehmen konnte, und das ein dämmerhaft-hellseherisches war, und auch das imaginative Bewußtsein, das sich später einmal entwickeln wird, beide sind schon umfassender. Wenn der Mensch sich durch die okkulte Entwickelung das Bilderbewußtsein aneignet, so daß er nicht nur darauf angewiesen ist, äußere Gegenstände wahrzunehmen, sondern wenn er zum Beispiel die Aura eines Menschen ausströmen sieht, wenn er in Bildern das Seelisch-Geistige um sich herum sieht, wenn ihm in bildhaften Symbolen vor Augen tritt, was in der Welt lebt, dann ist er zu der Fähigkeit aufgestiegen mit diesem Bewußtsein, sich mit anderen Wesenheiten in Verbindung zu setzen, die die planetarische Welt bewohnen.
Dann gibt es noch einen höheren Grad des Bewußtseins. In dumpfer Art hat der Mensch ihn gehabt während der Sonnenzeit, und in dumpfer Art er ihn heute noch, während er schläft. Das ist das traumlose Schlafbewußtsein. Der Mensch ist nicht ohne Bewußtsein, wenn er schläft, und auch die Pflanze ist nicht ohne Bewußtsein; sie hat dasselbe Bewußtsein, auch bei Tage, wie der Mensch es schlafend hat. Und es ist nur ein niedrigerer Grad des Bewußtseins; die Dinge entschlüpfen seiner Aufmerksamkeit, er kann sie nicht ins Auge fassen. Aber dadurch, daß er gewisse Kräfte in sich entwickelt, kann er sich zu der Fähigkeit aufschwingen, wahrzunehmen, was während des Zustandes des traumlosen Schlafes um ihn ist. Das ist ein höherer Bewußtseinszustand als das Bilderbewußtsein, es ist ein Bewußtsein, das auch die Pflanze hat, aber in schlafender Form. Wenn Sie zu dem Bewußtsein der Pflanze hinaufsteigen, es aber mit Ihrem Ich im hellen Tagesbewußtsein durchdringen, dann haben Sie in der okkulten Entwickelung die Stufe der Inspiration, des inspirierten Bewußtseins erreicht. Dies inspirierte Bewußtsein wirkt nicht bloß bildhaft. Wenn das, was aus den Dingen fließt, in das andere Wesen hineingeht: dieses Bewußtsein läßt sich nicht mit dem Bilderbewußtsein vergleichen, es ist ein tönendes Bewußtsein. In eine geistige Tonwelt tritt da der Mensch hinein, Es ist jenes Bewußtsein, von dem schon Pythagoras als von der Sphärenharmonie spricht. Die ganze Welt tönt ihr Wesen hinaus, und wenn der Mensch abends einschläft, wenn sein Astralleib mit dem Ich hinausgeht aus seinem physischen und Ätherleibe, dann dringen die Harmonien und Melodien der Weltenmusik durch diesen Astralleib; dann ist er eingebettet in sein eigentliches geistiges Dasein, und da erlangt er aus der Sphärenmusik heraus die Fähigkeit, die abgenützten Kräfte zu ersetzen. Der Mensch taucht unter in der Nacht in die Sphärenmusik, und dadurch, daß ihn die Töne durchklingen, fühlt er am Morgen sich neu gekräftigt und gestärkt. Und wenn der Mensch das zum Bewußtsein bringt, dann ist er in der Inspiration, dann wird er fähig, alles das wahrzunehmen, was innerhalb seines Sonnensystems ist. Während der Mensch durch sein gewöhnliches Vorstellen nur die Dinge der Erde wahrnimmt, wird er durch die Imagination befähigt, in Korrespondenz mit den Wesenheiten der einzelnen Planeten zu treten; mit dem Sonnensystem wird er in Zusammenhang treten, wenn er zur Inspiration dringt. Das hat man in gewissen Kreisen immer gewußt. Goethe, der ein unbewußter Eingeweihter war, wußte das. Deshalb läßt er im «Faust» im Prolog, der in der geistigen Welt, im Himmel spielt, die Engel sagen:
Die Sonne tönt nach alter Weise
in Brudersphären Wettgesang.
Da sehen wir, wie ihm bewußt ist, daß alles das, was die Geheimnisse eines Sonnensystems sind, sich in Tönen ausdrückt, und daß der, der sich zur Inspiration erhebt, die Geheimnisse des Sonnensystems kennenlernt. Daß Goethe nicht zufällig sich so ausdrückt, das sehen wir daran, daß er in der Rolle bleibt. Denn da, wo Goethe im zweiten Teile Faust hinaufführt in die geistige Welt, spricht er dasselbe nochmals aus:
Tönend wird für Geistes-Ohren
Schon der neue Tag geboren.
Geistesohren sind die Ohren des Hellsehers, der die Sphärenharmonie eines Sonnensystems wahrnimmt. Und könnten Sie jene Sonnenkräfte wahrnehmen, die auf die Pflanzenleiber niederströmen, wenn sie aus der Erde herauswachsen, diese Pflanzenleiber mit ihren Wurzeln und Blättern, die oben sich abschließen in der Blüte, wo der Astralleib sie umspült, und in die die geistigen Kräfte der Sonne hineinwirken, könnten Sie diese Kräfte geistig wahrnehmen, die durch die Blüte geheimnisvoll einziehen, Sie würden sie wahrnehmen als die geistige Sphärenmusik, die allerdings nur Geistesohren hören können. Geistige Töne ziehen geheimnisvoll hinein in die Pflanzenblüte. Das ist das Geheimnis des Pflanzenwerdens, daß man in jeder einzelnen Blüte einen Ausdruck hat für die Töne, die diese Blüte formen und der Frucht ihren Charakter geben. Aufgefangen werden die Sonnentöne von der Pflanze und walten darin als Geist. Vielleicht wissen Sie, wie man durch den Ton in der materiellen Welt Form geben kann. Denken Sie einmal an das Experiment der Chladnischen Klangfiguren, wie da auf einer Platte der Staub durch die Einwirkung des Tones zu Figuren angeordnet wird; in diesen Figuren finden Sie den Ausdruck für den Ton, der sie angeordnet hat. Und wie in diesem Staube gleichsam der physische Ton aufgefangen wird, so wird der geistige Ton der Sonne aufgefangen und aufgesogen von der Blüte und der Frucht. Im Samen ist er verborgen, geheimnisvoll, und wenn aus dem Samen die Pflanze herauswächst, dann ist es der eingefangene, der aufgesogene Sonnenton, der die Form der Pflanze herauszaubert. Das hellseherische Bewußtsein blickt auf unsere Pflanzenwelt rings umher, und in den Blüten, die den Teppich unserer Erdoberfläche bilden, schaut er überall den Reflex der Sonnentöne, und so ist es wahr, was Goethe gesagt hat: «Die Sonne tönt nach alter Weise.» Aber wahr ist es auch, daß diese Sonnentöne niederströmen, aufgesogen werden von den Pflanzen und wiedererscheinen, wenn aus dem Samen die neue Pflanze entsteht; denn in den Pflanzenformen tönen die Sonnentöne, die Widerspiegelung der Sphärenmusik, in den Raum hinaus. - So sehen wir, wie Welt und Erde, wie Fixstern und Planet innerlich geistigen Zusammenhang haben. Wir lernen nicht nur anschauen, was in unserer Umgebung in der physischen Welt ist; wir erhalten eine Ahnung davon, wie der, der teilhaft ist der Inspiration, aufsteigt zur Sonne.
Und dann gibt es noch eine höhere Stufe des Bewußtseins, die wir im echten Sinne des Wortes die Intuition nennen, wo der Mensch sozusagen hineinkriechen kann in die Dinge. Das ist nicht nur inspiriertes Bewußtsein. Da taucht der Mensch gleichsam in die Wesenheiten hinein, er identifiziert sich mit ihnen. Das führt ihn noch weiter. Wohin kann das inspirierte Bewußtsein ihn führen? Es führt den Menschen dahin, daß er sich eins fühlt mit seinem Erdenplaneten, denn die Iche der Pflanzen sind im Mittelpunkt der Erde. Ergreift er den Sonnenton, dann wird er eins mit dem planetarischen Wesen, das im Mittelpunkt der Erde verkörpert ist: er wird eins mit seinem Planeten. Aber er kann eins werden mit einem jeglichen Wesen. Dann macht er allerdings Erfahrungen, die über unser Sonnensystem hinausreichen. Dann erweitert sich sein Blick vom Systembewußtsein zum Weltenbewußtsein. Die Intuition führt über die einzelnen Sonnensysteme hinaus.
So sehen wir, daß wir in dem Mineralreiche etwas haben, das uns in seiner einheitlichen Gestaltung einen Grundboden liefert, der weit hinausreicht über unser gewöhnliches Dasein. Wir sehen, daß die heutige Menschengestalt eine physisch-irdische Gestalt ist, daß der Mensch sich aber wieder erheben wird von dem gewöhnlichen Erdenbewußtsein zum Planetenbewußtsein in der Imagination, zum Systembewußtsein in der Inspiration und zum Weltenbewußtsein in der Intuition.
Das ist der Gang der Menschheit, insofern dieser Gang mit der ganzen Evolution unserer Welt verknüpft ist. Und wir werden nun im nächsten Vortrag heruntersteigen von dieser Betrachtung, die uns hinaufgeführt hat, zu dem, was sich abgespielt hat in den letzten Zeiten unseres Erdendaseins durch die ägyptische, durch die griechische Zeit und durch die Jetztzeit. Und wir werden sehen, wie sich im einzelnen Menschen in der Weltanschauung und im Leben, wie sich im Mikrokosmos spiegelt dasjenige, wovon wir uns heute ein Ahnung verschafft haben: wie sich da spiegelt das große Weltendasein.
Eighth Lecture
Today, in order to gain a precise understanding of what will confront us as our actual goal in the next lectures, we will again take a look at the great worlds and then look down again at the narrower circle of our immediate earthly existence. In this way, we will gain the opportunity to form a precise idea of what is actually meant in the spiritual scientific or occult sense by the three terms we have brought together as world, earth, and human being. For from many things that have already been said in these lectures, you will have gathered that in the secret science sense, one cannot speak of a world as a merely material content. We have seen that the various world beings — we do not want to say world bodies — that we have encountered, such as the various embodiments of our Earth as Saturn, Sun, and Moon, and finally that which we call the opposition between the Earth as a planet and the Sun as a fixed star, that all of this is something completely different from mere matter: Each of these world beings is, as we have seen, the scene of a sum of spiritual entities, which means that it is essentially only materially constituted in such a way as these spiritual entities, who dwell on the world bodies, require. Then we saw that the sun separated itself from the earth because it had to be the scene for certain exalted beings who could only use the finer substances for their development, while man on earth had to retain the other substances. And if we were to explore the whole vast space of the universe, we would find everywhere that we could discover nothing material in itself, that everything is connected with something spiritual. Furthermore, we saw how the various earthly beings are connected with spiritual beings. The stones, the minerals of our earth, have their “I” in the circumference of our world, in the universe; the plants have their “I” located in the center of our earth, and then we saw that the plants have an astral entity that, so to speak, circles them from outside and brings about the completion of the flower. Thus we found everything permeated by spirit, and this broadens our concept or idea of a world body. We look up at any world body and know that it is only the expression of spiritual beings that are materially connected to it. Now, through the development of the dormant abilities within them, human beings are indeed able to acquire a certain knowledge of such world bodies that are spread out in space, and today we will have to bring human beings before our souls in connection with the various world bodies.
We on our Earth are surrounded by minerals, plants, animals, and fellow human beings! We know that, in addition, the affairs of our Earth are taken care of by higher beings, beings whom we have called angels, archangels, and primordial forces in the Christian sense; we also know that other beings, even though they send their forces from the Sun or the Moon, have something to do with the Earth. Today, something else is to be added. The question may arise in our minds: To what extent can one of the planets in our solar system be compared to another in terms of its nature? And for the sake of simplicity, let us look at those beings that can, so to speak, appear visibly to us in the present cycle of human evolution. We ask: What is the relationship between the beings that surround us as minerals, plants, animals, and human beings, and other beings in other worlds?
Of course, we are approaching this question from the spiritual scientific standpoint that arises from the development of those forces that are open to clairvoyant consciousness, and we will speak more about this development later, about what clairvoyant consciousness can know. We first ask ourselves: Are there beings like those who develop on our Earth also on other planets, as perceived by clairvoyant consciousness? And clairvoyant consciousness answers us: We do not find beings like those on Earth in exactly the same form on other planets. And we find confirmation that every planner, every heavenly body, has its own special task, its own special mission. Nothing repeats itself in the universe; other world stages also have other missions. Our Earth arose from three previous incarnations. You know that the stage of human existence we are now going through, human existence, has already been gone through by certain beings, for example, the angels on the moon. Other beings, the fire spirits, went through this stage on the sun, and still others, the spirits of personality, on Saturn. This could easily lead to the mistake of thinking that there were humans on the previous planets! But you must bear in mind that there was no solid rock or minerals on the moon, and that the beings who went through their human stage there did so under completely different conditions. We therefore speak of the stage of humanity, but we know that humanity has been through this under completely different conditions. For example, the fire spirits also went through their humanity under different conditions on the old Sun, because the Sun consisted only of air and gas. Naturally, only beings that did not need a body like ours with solid substance, muscles, and so on could go through such a process of becoming human. Nothing repeats itself in the process of becoming on Earth, and every single point has its own special mission in the great economy of cosmic existence. Let us now consider the becoming of our Earth. When we view it occultly, we see it as a body that humans inhabit and on which humans develop. This development was only made possible by the separation of the sun and the moon from the earth and by the forces between the sun and the moon being kept in balance. At that time, when the earth was, so to speak, still a sun itself, it underwent its development with the sun united with the earth. The sun itself was thus still at the stage of planetary existence and was inhabited by fire spirits. But now, through progressive development, it became possible for a part of what was incorporated into the earth to ascend to a higher existence at the expense of what separated from the earth as the earth's moon. Thus we see that in the great universe, development proceeds in such a way that something that is united with something else for a while separates, and one part rises up into higher regions, while the other descends into a lower region. In order for certain higher beings to develop high enough, the sun had to become a body capable of being the scene of higher beings. The sun has thus, as it were, advanced, ascended from planetary existence to fixed-star existence, let us say. We must therefore regard a world being such as our sun as having come into being, having emerged from a planet; occultly, we therefore see in a sun an ascended planet. But yesterday we pointed out how, after everything had united and the sun had separated again at a certain point in time, human beings also lived on earth for a time without the spiritual forces of the sun, and how, through the coming of Christ, the spiritual force of the sun took hold on our earth. When Christ now becomes incorporated into our Earth, human beings become more and more mature through the reception of the Christ principle, and the material form that a planet takes on depends on what this planet develops for beings. Just as the sun became what it is by extracting the finest substances, because the beings needed these substances, so will the Earth do, so will the substances of the Earth transform themselves so that they will be appropriate to what will have become of human beings in the distant future and of the Earth beings that human beings draw with them; for once human beings have become powerful, they will also draw the other Earth beings after them. What will happen then? When human beings become increasingly imbued with the Christ principle, when they increasingly absorb the high solar forces that descended to earth with Christ, they themselves will become more and more Christ-like. Then they themselves will radiate the Christ principle throughout the whole earth.
What is this Christ principle? Let us clarify this for ourselves as clearly as we need to. To do this, we must know what the mission of our earthly existence is, so that we can describe this mission in a certain way, with a certain word. What, then, is the mission of our earthly existence? What, for example, was the mission of the moon that preceded the earth? If we cast our spiritual gaze back to our old moon, we will find something very remarkable in the beings that are the precursors of our earthly beings at the beginning of its existence. These beings have many things, but one thing is still missing at the very beginning of the old lunar development: they lack what we see everywhere around us today in earthly existence. The forces of the moon, the predecessor of our Earth, worked together unwisely; at the beginning of the moon's existence, everything is still such that nowhere can one perceive a harmonious interaction in wisdom. If one follows the development of the old moon clairvoyantly, one sees how the beings who lived on the moon were imbued with wisdom from the cosmos by those beings who worked in the moon's orbit. That is why we call the old moon the planet of wisdom. So when the moon's existence came to an end, wisdom was in all things. And when the moon's existence passed through an intermediate state, like a world sleep, and emerged again as the earth's existence, and when the beings came out of pralaya, they also brought with them the wisdom that had been incorporated into them on the moon. And the result of this is that wisdom is within all beings on earth; that wisdom is implanted at the foundation of all things. We look at the beings around us, which are the results of the moon's development and still have another mission, and we find wisdom everywhere. Look at whatever you want; take any flower, for example. The more closely you look at it, the more wonderful it will seem to you how the individual parts are arranged in the sense of a higher wisdom. Take a piece of bone from the human thigh: you will see how, with the highest wisdom, the beams are arranged into a framework so that the upper body is supported. And no engineering skill today is capable of imitating the high wisdom of this framework in bridge building. Thus we see wisdom at the root of all things in all other human organs, indeed in the whole world around us. Man should first take up this wisdom within himself, as it were, like a novice; microcosmic wisdom is something that man first learns here from things. But at the bottom of things and at the bottom of everything in man, in which man is not involved internally, wisdom is already formed. When one studies history, one often praises human wisdom. How wonderful it seems when we learn in school that man made this or that invention or discovery at a certain time. For example, how was it instilled in us that, in more recent times, humans discovered the art of making paper: human intelligence brought it about. Well, wasps have been able to do this for a long time; they learned it much earlier than humans. Not the individual wasp, of course, but the group soul of the wasps builds something in the wasp nest that is made of exactly the same material as our paper! These group souls have long since reached the level of human wisdom. This wisdom, which is at the core of all beings on our Earth, also had to be incorporated gradually, and we will see how this wisdom has been incorporated in the course of the Moon's existence, how wisdom fought against ignorance, and how the old Moon then handed over the seeds of being to the Earth, into which wisdom had been instilled.
What should be instilled in the same way in the beings on our Earth? Just as wisdom was instilled in our predecessor, the moon, so love should be instilled in our planet. Our planet is the planet of love. That is why the development, so to speak, the instillation of love in its lowest form, has begun. Since everything had come out in the time of Lemuria, when the human ego took shape, the development of love in its lowest form began through the division of the sexes. And all further development consists in an increasing refinement until the spiritualization of this principle of love. And just as wisdom was instilled in beings on the moon, so, when our Earth has reached its goal, love will be at the foundation of all beings.
And now let us briefly turn our gaze to the next planetary existence that will replace our Earth, to the planet Jupiter. When the beings inhabiting it reappear, they will look around them at the beings with their own spiritual powers. And just as we admire with our intellect the wisdom that reigns in everything in the stone, in the plant, in the animal, in all beings around us, just as we extract that wisdom so that we may have it in the same way: so it will be with the beings of Jupiter, that they will direct their powers toward the beings around them, and the love that has been instilled in them during the Earth's development will flow toward them. Just as we analyze a being and are edified by its wisdom, so the beings of Jupiter will be edified by the streams of love flowing out of the beings. This love, which is to develop on earth, can only develop in this way: through the earth-egos facing each other as we have seen; only in this way could development begin, through the beings being torn apart in their group soul nature and beings facing beings; only in this way could true love develop. Where the egos are connected with each other in the group soul, there is no true love. Beings must be separate from one another and offer love as a free gift. Only through the division of beings, as it occurred in the human kingdom, where the I stands opposite the I as an independent individuality, only then did love become possible as a free gift from I to I. Thus, an ever-increasing individualism had to arise on earth, along with a bringing together of the individual beings. Let us imagine the individual beings that are connected to each other in a group soul; the group soul directs them how they should behave. Can anyone say that the
1272 'Copyright Rudolf Steiner Estate Administration Book: 105 Page: 133 heart loves the stomach? No, the heart is connected to the stomach through the inner being that holds them together. In the same way, groups of animals are connected to each other in group soulhood, and what they have to do is directed by the wise group soul. Only when this group nature is overcome, when the individual I stands opposite the individual I, can the sympathy of love be offered as a free gift from being to being.
Human beings could only be prepared for this mission gradually. That is why we see them going through a kind of preschool for this love before they become completely individualized. Before they have their ego completely as their own, we see them being united by guiding entities into groups that are related by blood and love each other insofar as they are related by blood. This is the great preparatory period of humanity. We have already indicated how love is not yet a free gift, but is guided by a remnant of wisdom; we have seen how the spirits of the Luciferic beings work in this, counteracting the interaction of human beings in tribes and peoples with their powerful liberating force through the power of blood: everything that works to make human beings independent works through the Luciferic spirits. And so human beings mature to gradually receive the highest potency of love, the Christ principle, that principle which was allowed to express its essence in the words: Whoever does not leave father, mother, son, daughter, whoever does not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me. This is not to be understood in a trivial way, but rather in such a way that the old blood relationship, through the acceptance of the Christ principle, is to develop new forms of togetherness that go from soul to soul, from person to person, regardless of material foundations. The Christ principle has given the impulse for human beings to love one another. And so, through Christianization, humanity will become increasingly spiritualized in love. Love will become ever more soulful and spiritual, and in this way human beings will also carry along the lower beings of the earth, thereby transforming the whole earth. In a distant future, they will transform all the material of the earth and make this earthly body ripe again for union with the sun. Thus, Christ, as the spiritual sun, gave the impulse that the earth and the sun will one day unite again into one body.
Thus we see the course of world evolution: how the Sun first separates physically from the Earth, how the powerful impulse of the Christ principle is then sent down, and how this gives the impetus for a reunification of the Earth and the Sun in order to ascend to higher stages of existence. And we have recognized that our Earth can only harbor such human beings with such a mission. So when we look around the human kingdom and want to get to know the people of Earth, we can only find them on Earth, because it is here that the conditions were created for people to become what they are today.
But now we ask ourselves: What about the other kingdoms? Let us first consider the plant kingdom. When the clairvoyant gaze wanders around our world and examines the other planets belonging to the solar system, we find a plant kingdom entirely in keeping with our plant kingdom everywhere among the planets belonging to our sun, so that we have something in our plant kingdom that has, so to speak, a systemic existence, that belongs to our system. We therefore see our solar system populated by plant beings, and if we were to look at the matter from an occult point of view, we would also see each planet populated by human beings with their own characteristics. However, you will very soon be able to see a close relationship between plants and the sun, and then you will also be able to believe that plant existence is closely connected with solar existence. But if this is so, then it must also be connected with all the planets that belong to this solar system. Let us cast our gaze back to the state when the earth was still a solar planet. We know that at that time, human beings consisted of a physical and etheric body, that is, they were at the stage of plant existence. At that time, human beings had the value of a plant; they were, so to speak, in the same position as the plant world is today. The plant world around us consists of beings that are made up of physical and etheric bodies. These beings appear to us in such a way that we can say: they have remained faithful to the sun; even today, they clearly show us their relationship to the sun. Let us consider such a plant being in the sense of Rosicrucian wisdom. We see how the plant clings to the ground with its roots. This is the organ that directs it toward the center of the earth, that is, toward its ego; and its organs of fertilization direct it toward the sun. There it absorbs the chaste rays of the sun. Now let us imagine the human being: it is not difficult to imagine the human being as an inverted plant; think of the plant in exactly the opposite position, and you have the human being: he has his fertilizing organs turned toward the center of the earth, and his roots extend out into the world space. The animal stands in the middle. That is why, in a spiritual sense, it is said that when the soul passed through the various realms, it passed through plant, animal, and human existence. Plato expresses this magnificently: The world soul is crucified on the cross of the world body.
Human beings have passed through plant existence, facing the center of the earth; animals have the corresponding direction horizontally in their spine; human beings are completely opposite to plants: this is how the cross comes into being. The world soul is crucified; this is the deepest esoteric meaning of the cross. So that in today's plants we have before us a being that strives toward the sun, that has remained connected to the sun, so to speak, and therefore has the opposite direction to humans. Animal forms are partly the same, partly different in the various planetary forms of existence; here too, animals stand in the middle between humans and plants.
If we now turn to the mineral kingdom, we find that in the crystal forms we have something that leads us beyond our solar system into outer space; we can find forces in the formative forces of the mineral kingdom that reach far beyond our solar system. When we turn our gaze to the forms of the mineral kingdom, especially those forms that are transparent, we are led out so that we can gain an inkling of what is going on in the world far beyond our solar system. The most abstract, that which has the least definite existence, that which is now the basis of our existence, the mineral, has a universal existence, and the higher the beings stand, the more they are adapted to our solar and terrestrial system.
But now let us raise the same question in relation to human beings! If human beings were adapted only to the forces that prevail on Earth, they would be condemned to exist only on Earth, to eke out their existence only on Earth; they could never become citizens of the world, they could not speak of anything that goes beyond Earth. So even though he is adapted to earthly conditions in his outer form, he nevertheless participates through his higher forces in what the higher beings are that are connected with our Earth. What limits man to the Earth relates only to his physicality; what is inherent in him in terms of spiritual forces leads him beyond the Earth. Here, too, we must distinguish between the most diverse forces. To begin with, let us stick to the forces that we can easily classify, so that we understand each other. First, we have the force that we saw, as it were, arise before our spiritual eyes in pre-Atlantean times. We have seen that human beings entered the world with an image consciousness, and only in the course of their earthly existence were they able to grasp external objects in their object consciousness. And this object consciousness, which today presents the sensory world to us in such a way that we can see colors with our eyes, hear sounds, smell, and taste, has, as we have seen, first differentiated itself from the perception of warmth out of that organ which was there like a kind of lantern, out of the pineal gland. And this object consciousness is purely earthly. This sensory perception is only at home on Earth. Strange as it may seem, all our perceptions, such as the way humans see colors drawn over things, the way they hear sounds, all of this has only an earthly existence, and if you were to observe beings from other planets, you would see that you cannot communicate with them directly. If you tell these beings something about red, they know nothing about it; they have a different way of perceiving objects and beings on their planet. What we call sensory perception is useful for our particular planet.
Now we have also seen how sensory perception, before it became differentiated, was intimately connected with fertilization. Just as the form of our sensory perception is earthly, so too is the form of fertilization, as it is today in the human realm, earthly and appropriate to this planetary existence; it is there to form the first foundation for the Earth mission, for love. For love is developing on our Earth. So in relation to their outer abilities, we have something in human beings that is unique to the Earth.
Now we come to another force. Consider an object of the senses. As long as you focus your gaze on it, you know that you are in correspondence with the object: it has an effect on you. Now turn around and keep the image of the object in your mind. The object is gone, but the image remains with you. If human beings did not have the ability to retain such images, they would be completely different beings. For as soon as you turned your gaze away, the images would disappear; you would therefore also be incapable of connecting the properties of beings with your own being. What enables modern humans to retain an image even when the object is gone, to imagine things again, is a faculty of consciousness that humans already possessed on the old moon, for it is the same faculty that enabled them at that time to see the external world in images. At that time, they could not see external objects as we do today, but when they approached an object, an astral image would arise, like a vivid dream image, but one that was in a certain relationship to the object. Humans had not an object consciousness, but an image consciousness. Today, humans place themselves in correspondence with objects; they have spread the image over the objects. A last remnant of this ability remains in the memory image. But this memory image is also something that has a further validity than the mere observation of the external object. When you look at several identical external objects, you bring them under a common concept. There are many pieces of chalk, and you group them all under the common concept of chalk. In this way, humans arrive at general concepts for which no external beings exist. They can work internally with their ideas; and if you were to relate this internal work, this imagining, without referring to objects, to beings outside our planetary existence, you would find it easier to communicate. The image consciousness that humans had before they could perceive external objects, which was a dimly clairvoyant consciousness, and also the imaginative consciousness that will develop later, are both already more comprehensive. When humans acquire image consciousness through occult development, so that they are no longer dependent on perceiving external objects, but can, for example, see the aura emanating from a human being, see the soul and spirit around them in images, and see what lives in the world in pictorial symbols, then they have risen to the level of being able to use this consciousness to connect with other beings inhabiting the planetary world.
Then there is a higher degree of consciousness. Humans possessed it in a dull form during the Sun era, and they still possess it in a dull form today while they sleep. This is dreamless sleep consciousness. Humans are not without consciousness when they sleep, and neither are plants; they have the same consciousness during the day as humans have when they sleep. And it is only a lower degree of consciousness; things slip away from his attention, he cannot grasp them. But by developing certain powers within himself, he can raise himself to the ability to perceive what is around him during the state of dreamless sleep. This is a higher state of consciousness than image consciousness; it is a consciousness that plants also have, but in a dormant form. If you ascend to the consciousness of the plant, but penetrate it with your ego in clear daytime consciousness, then you have reached the stage of inspiration, of inspired consciousness, in occult development. This inspired consciousness does not merely work in images. When what flows out of things enters into another being, this consciousness cannot be compared with image consciousness; it is a sounding consciousness. The human being enters a spiritual world of sound. It is the consciousness of which Pythagoras spoke as the harmony of the spheres. The whole world resounds with its essence, and when the human being falls asleep in the evening, when his astral body leaves his physical and etheric bodies with the I, then the harmonies and melodies of the music of the worlds penetrate through this astral body; then he is embedded in his actual spiritual existence, and there he gains the ability to replace his worn-out forces from the music of the spheres. Man plunges into the music of the spheres during the night, and because the tones resound through him, he feels renewed and strengthened in the morning. And when human beings bring this to consciousness, they are inspired and become capable of perceiving everything that is within their solar system. While human beings perceive only the things of the earth through their ordinary imagination, they are enabled by imagination to enter into correspondence with the beings of the individual planets; they come into contact with the solar system when they attain inspiration. This has always been known in certain circles. Goethe, who was an unconscious initiate, knew this. That is why, in the prologue to Faust, which takes place in the spiritual world, in heaven, he has the angels say:
The sun resounds in ancient fashion
in brotherly spheres in competitive song.
Here we see how conscious he is that everything that constitutes the secrets of a solar system is expressed in sounds, and that those who rise to inspiration come to know the secrets of the solar system. That Goethe does not express himself in this way by chance is evident from the fact that he remains in character. For when Goethe leads Faust up into the spiritual world in the second part, he says the same thing again:
Resounding to spiritual ears
The new day is already born.
Spiritual ears are the ears of the clairvoyant who perceives the harmony of the spheres of a solar system. And if you could perceive those solar forces that stream down onto the bodies of plants as they grow out of the earth, these plant bodies with their roots and leaves, which end above in the flower, where the astral body surrounds them and into which the spiritual forces of the sun work, if you could perceive these forces spiritually, which mysteriously enter through the flower, you would perceive them as spiritual sphere music, which, however, only spiritual ears can hear. Spiritual tones mysteriously enter the plant flower. This is the secret of plant growth, that in each individual flower there is an expression of the tones that shape this flower and give the fruit its character. The sun's sounds are captured by the plant and reign within it as spirit. Perhaps you know how sound can give form in the material world. Think of Chladni's experiment with sound figures, how dust on a plate is arranged into figures by the influence of sound; in these figures you find the expression of the sound that arranged them. And just as the physical sound is captured in this dust, so the spiritual sound of the sun is captured and absorbed by the flower and the fruit. It is hidden in the seed, mysterious, and when the plant grows out of the seed, it is the captured, absorbed sound of the sun that conjures up the form of the plant. The clairvoyant consciousness looks at the plant world around us, and in the flowers that form the carpet of our earth's surface, it sees everywhere the reflection of the sun's tones, and so it is true what Goethe said: “The sun sounds in the old way.” But it is also true that these sun tones flow down, are absorbed by the plants, and reappear when the new plant emerges from the seed; for in the forms of plants, the sun tones, the reflection of the music of the spheres, resound out into space. Thus we see how the world and the earth, how fixed stars and planets, are inwardly connected. We learn not only to see what is in our surroundings in the physical world; we gain an inkling of how those who are part of inspiration ascend to the sun.
And then there is a higher level of consciousness, which we call intuition in the true sense of the word, where human beings can, so to speak, crawl into things. This is not just inspired consciousness. Here, human beings dive into the essences, identifying with them. This takes them even further. Where can inspired consciousness lead him? It leads him to feel at one with his earthly planet, for the I-beings of the plants are at the center of the earth. If he grasps the sun tone, he becomes one with the planetary being embodied at the center of the earth: he becomes one with his planet. But he can become one with any being. Then, however, he has experiences that go beyond our solar system. His view expands from system consciousness to world consciousness. Intuition leads beyond the individual solar systems.
Thus we see that in the mineral kingdom we have something that, in its unified form, provides us with a foundation that reaches far beyond our ordinary existence. We see that the present human form is a physical, earthly form, but that human beings will rise again from ordinary earthly consciousness to planetary consciousness in imagination, to system consciousness in inspiration, and to world consciousness in intuition.
This is the course of humanity, insofar as this course is linked to the entire evolution of our world. And in the next lecture, we will now descend from this observation, which has led us upward, to what has taken place in the last periods of our earthly existence through the Egyptian, Greek, and present times. And we will see how, in the individual human being, in their worldview and in their life, how the microcosm reflects what we have gained an inkling of today: how the great world existence is reflected there.