Life on the Moon
IN THE UNIVERSAL ERA of the Moon, which
follows that of the Sun, man develops the third of his seven states
of consciousness. The first had developed during the seven Saturn
cycles, the second during the Sun development; the fourth is that
which man is at present developing during the course of the earth;
three others will come into being on subsequent planets. The
condition of consciousness of Saturn man cannot be compared with any
state of consciousness of present-day man, for it was duller than
that of dreamless sleep. The Sun consciousness, however, can be
compared to this condition of dreamless sleep, or to the present
consciousness of the sleeping plant world. But in all these instances
one is dealing only with similarities. It would be quite erroneous to
think that in the great universal eras anything repeats itself in a
completely identical manner.
It is to be understood in this way if the Moon
consciousness is now compared with one with which it has some
similarity, namely with that of dream-filled sleep. Man attains the
so-called image consciousness on the Moon. The similarity consists in
that in the Moon consciousness as well as in dream consciousness,
images arise within a being which have a certain relation to objects
and beings of the outside world. But these images are not likenesses
of these objects and beings as in present-day man when he is awake.
The dream images are echoes of the experiences of the day, or
symbolical expressions for events in the dreamer's environment, or
for what is taking place in the interior of the dreaming person.
Examples of these three types of dream experiences are easy to give.
First, everyone knows those dreams which are nothing but confused
images of more or less remote daily experiences. An example of the
second type would be if the dreamer thinks he perceives a passing
train and then, upon awakening, realizes that it was the ticking of
the watch lying beside him which was perceptible in this dream image.
An example of the third kind is that it seems to someone that he is
in a room where ugly animals are sitting on the ceiling, and upon
awaking from this dream he realizes that it was his own headache
which expressed itself in this way.
If one now wants to attain a conception of the
Moon consciousness on the basis of such confused dream images, one
must realize that while the image-like character is also present
there, complete regularity instead of confusion and arbitrariness
prevails. It is true that the images of the Moon consciousness have
even less similarity than the dream images to the objects to which
they are related, but on the other hand there is a complete
correspondence of image and object. At present in the earth
development, the conception is a likeness of its object; thus for
instance the conception “table” is a likeness of the
table itself. This is not the case with the Moon consciousness.
Assume, for instance, that the Moon man approaches an object which to
him is pleasing or advantageous. Then a colored image of a light tone
arises in his soul; when something harmful or displeasing comes near
him, he beholds an ugly, dark image. The conception is not a
likeness. but a symbol of the object which corresponds to it
in a quite definite and regular way. Hence the being which has such
symbolical conceptions can direct its life in accordance with
them.
The inner life of man's ancestor on the Moon thus
took its course in images which have the character of the volatile,
the floating and the symbolical in common with dreams of today, but
are distinguished from these dreams by their completely regular
character.
The basis for the development of this image
consciousness in man's ancestors on the Moon was the formation of a
third member in addition to the physical body and the ether body.
This third member is called the astral body.
This formation, however, only occurred in the
third smaller Moon cycle — the so-called third Moon round. The
first two revolutions of the Moon must be seen merely as a repetition
of what took place on Saturn and on the Sun. But this repetition must
not be imagined as a re-enactment of all the events which took place
on Saturn and on the Sun. That which repeats itself, namely the
development of a physical body and of an ether body, at the same time
is subject to such a transformation that in the third Moon cycle
these two members of the nature of man can be united with the astral
body, a union which could not have taken place on the Sun.
In the third Moon period-actually the process
already starts around the middle of the second-the Spirits of Motion
pour the astral element out of their own nature into the human body.
During the fourth cycle — from the middle of the third onward
— the Spirits of Form shape this astral body in such a way that
its form, its whole organization can develop inner processes. These
processes have the character of what at present in animals and man is
called instinct, desire — or the appetitive nature. From the
middle of the fourth Moon cycle onward, the Spirits of Personality
begin with their principal task in the fifth Moon era: they inoculate
the astral body with selfhood, as they have done in the preceding
cosmic eras with respect to the physical and the ether body. But in
order for the physical and the ether body to be so far advanced that
they can harbor an independent astral body, at the time indicated,
that is, in the middle of the fourth Moon cycle, they must first be
brought to this point by the shaping spirits in the successive stages
of development. This takes place in the following manner. The
physical body is brought to the necessary maturity in the first
course of the Moon (round) by the Spirits of Motion, in the second by
those of Form, in the third by those of Personality, in the fourth by
the Spirits of Fire, and in the fifth by those of Twilight. To be
exact, this labor of the Spirits of Twilight takes place from
the middle of the fourth Moon cycle onward, so that at the same time
that the Spirits of Personality are engaged on the astral body the
same is the case with the Spirits of Twilight with respect to the
physical body.
In regard to the ether body the following is the
case. Its necessary qualities are implanted in it in the first course
of the Moon by the Spirits of Wisdom, in the second by those of
Motion, in the third by those of Form, in the fourth by those of
Personality, and in the fifth by those of Fire. To be exact, this
activity of the Fire Spirits takes place concurrently with the labor
of the Spirits of Personality on the astral body, that is, from the
middle of the fourth course of the Moon, onward into the fifth.
If one considers the entire ancestor of man as he
developed on the Moon at that time, there is this to be said:
Starting from the middle of the fourth Moon cycle, man consists of a
physical body in which the Sons of Twilight perform their labor, of
an ether body in which the Spirits of Fire perform theirs, and
finally of an astral body in which the Spirits of Personality perform
theirs.
That the Spirits of Twilight work on the physical
body of man in this period of development, means that they now rise
to the level of humanity, as did the Spirits of Personality in
the same cycle on Saturn and the Fire Spirits on the Sun. One must
imagine that the “sensory germs” of the physical body,
which by that time have become further developed, can be used by the
Spirits of Twilight from the middle of the fourth course of the Moon
onward in order to perceive external objects and events on the Moon.
Only on the earth will man be so far advanced that, from the middle
of the fourth cycle onward, he can make use of these senses. On the
other hand, around the middle of the fifth course of the Moon, he
reaches the point where he can be engaged unconsciously on the
physical body. Through this activity in the dullness of his
consciousness he creates for himself the first germinal
predisposition to what is called “spirit self”
(Manas). This “spirit self” attains its full
unfolding in the course of the subsequent development of mankind. In
its union with Atma, the “spirit-man,” and with
Buddhi, the “life-spirit,” it is what later forms
the higher, spiritual part of man. As on Saturn the Thrones or
Spirits of Will permeated the “spirit-man” (Atma),
and as on the Sun the Cherubim permeated the life-spirit
(Buddhi) with wisdom, so now the Seraphim accomplish
this for the “spirit-self” (Manas). They permeate
it, and thereby implant in it a capacity which at later stages of
development — on the earth — becomes that conceptualizing
faculty of man by means of which, as a thinking being, he can enter
into a relation with the world which surrounds him.
From the middle of the sixth course of the Moon
onward, the “life-spirit” (Buddhi), from the
middle of the seventh onward, the “spirit-man”
(Atma) appear again, and these unite with the
“spirit-self,” so that at the end of the whole Moon era
the “higher man” has been prepared. Then, together with
all else that has developed on the Moon, the latter sleeps through a
period of rest (Pralaya), in order to continue the course of
his development on the earth planet.
While from the middle of the fifth Moon cycle
onward into the sixth, man is working on his physical body in
dullness, the Spirits of Twilight are engaged on his ether body. As
has been shown, through their work on the physical body in the
preceding epoch (round), they have now prepared themselves for
relieving the Fire Spirits in the ether body, who in turn take over
from the Spirits of Personality the work on the astral body. At this
time, these Spirits of Personality have ascended to higher
spheres.
The work of the Spirits of Twilight on the ether
body means that they connect their own states of consciousness with
the images of the consciousness of the ether body. They thereby
implant in these images the joy and the pain which are
caused by things. On the Sun the scene of their corresponding
activity had still been the merely physical body. Hence joy and pain
were there connected only with the functions of this body and with
its conditions. Now this becomes different. Joy and pain now
become attached to the symbols which arise in the ether body. In the
dim human consciousness the Spirits of Twilight thus experience a
world of emotions. This is the same world of emotions which man will
experience for himself in his earth consciousness.
At the same time, the Fire Spirits are active in
the astral body. They enable it to carry on an active perception and
feeling of the environment. Joy and pain, such as have been produced
in the ether body by the Spirits of Twilight in the manner just
described, have an inactive (passive) character; they present
themselves as inactive mirrorings of the outside world. But what the
Fire Spirits produce in the astral body are vivid emotions,
love and hate, rage, fear, horror, stormy passions, instincts,
impulses and so forth. Because the Spirits of Personality (the
Asuras) have previously inoculated this astral body with their
nature, these emotions now appear with the character of selfhood, of
separateness. One must now represent to oneself how at that time the
ancestor of man is constituted on the Moon. He has a physical body
through which in dullness he develops a “spirit self”
(Manas). He has an ether body, through which the Twilight
Spirits feel joy and pain; and finally he possesses an astral body
which, through the Fire Spirits, is moved by impulses, emotions, and
passions. But these three members of the Moon man still completely
lack the object consciousness. In the astral body images flow and
ebb, and in these there glow the emotions named above. When the
thinking object consciousness will make its appearance on the earth,
this astral body will be the subordinate carrier or the instrument of
conceptual thinking. Now however, it unfolds in its own entire
independence on the Moon. In itself it is more active here, more
agitated than later on the earth. If one wishes to characterize it,
one can say that it is an animal man. As such, it is on a higher
level than the present-day animals of earth. It possesses the
qualities of animality in a more complete way. In a certain respect
these are more savage and unbridled than present-day animal
qualities. Therefore, at this stage of his existence, one can call
man a being which in its development stands midway between
present-day animals and man. If man had continued to advance in a
straight line along this path of development, he would have become a
wild, unrestrained being. The development of earth represents a
toning down, a taming of the animal character in man. This is caused
by the thinking consciousness.
If, as he had developed on the Sun, man was called
plant man, the man of the Moon can be called animal man. That the
latter can develop presupposes that the environment also changes. It
has been shown that the plant-man of the Sun could only develop
because an independent mineral realm was established alongside the
realm of this plant man. During the first two Moon eras (rounds)
these two earlier realms, plant realm and mineral realm, again emerge
from the darkness. They are changed only in that they both have
become somewhat coarser and denser. During the third Moon era a part
of the plant realm splits off. It does not take part in the
transition to coarseness. It thereby provides the substance out of
which the animal nature of man can be formed. It is this animal
nature which, in its union with the more highly formed ether body and
with the newly developed astral body, produces the threefold nature
of man which we have described above. The entire plant world which
had been formed on the Sun could not develop into animality. For
animals require the plant for their existence. A plant world is the
basis of an animal world. As the Sun man could only elevate himself
into a plant by thrusting a portion of his companions down into a
coarser mineral realm, so this is now the case with the animal man of
the Moon. A portion of the beings which on the Sun still had the same
plant nature as himself, he leaves behind him on the level of coarser
plantlike-ness. As the animal man of the Moon is not like the animals
of today, but rather stands midway between present animal and present
man, so too the mineral of the Moon lies between the mineral of today
and the plant of today. The mineral of the Moon is something
plantlike. The Moon rocks are not stones in the sense of today; they
have an animated, sprouting, growing character. Similarly, the Moon
plant has a certain character of animality.
The animal man of the Moon does not yet have firm
bones. His skeleton is still cartilaginous. His whole nature is soft,
compared to that of today. Hence his mobility too is different. His
locomotion is not a walking, but rather a leaping, even a floating.
This could be the case because the Moon of that time did not have a
thin, airy atmosphere like that of present-day earth, but its
envelope was considerably thicker, even denser than the water of
today. He moved forward and backward, up and down in this viscous
element. In this element also lived the minerals and animals from
which he absorbed his nourishment. In this element was even contained
the power which later on the earth was wholly transferred to the
beings themselves — the power of fertilization. At that time
man was not yet developed in the form of two sexes, but only in one.
He was made out of his water air. But as everything in the world
exists in transitional stages, in the last Moon periods,
two-sexedness was already developing in a few animal man beings as a
preparation for the later condition of the earth.
The sixth and seventh Moon cycles represent a kind
of ebbing of all the processes we have described, but also the
development of a kind of over-ripe condition, until the whole enters
the period of rest (Pralaya) in order to pass in sleep into
the existence of earth.
The development of the human astral body is
connected with a certain cosmic process which must also be described
here. When, after the period of rest which succeeds the cosmic era of
the Sun, the latter again awakes and emerges from the darkness, then
everything which lives on the thus developing planet still inhabits
it as a whole. But this re-awakening Sun is nevertheless different
from what it was before. Its substance is no longer luminous through
and through, as it was previously; rather it now has darker portions.
These separate out of the homogeneous mass, as it were. From the
second cycle (round) onward, these portions appear more and more as
an independent member; the Sun body thereby becomes biscuit-like. It
consists of two parts, a considerably larger and a smaller one, which
however are still attached to one another by a connecting link. In
the third cycle these two bodies become completely separated. Sun and
Moon are now two bodies, and the latter moves around the former in a
circular orbit. Together with the Moon, all of the beings whose
development has been described here, leave the Sun. The development
of the astral body alone takes place on the split-off Moon. The
cosmic process which we have characterized is the precondition of the
further development described above. As long as the beings belonging
to man absorbed their forces from their own solar habitat, their
development could not attain the stage we have described. In the
fourth cycle (round) the Moon is an independent planet, and what has
been described concerning that period takes place on this Moon
planet.
Here again, we shall present the development of
the Moon planet and of its beings in a clearly summarized form.
- The Moon is that planet on which man develops the image
consciousness with its symbolical character.
- During the first two cycles (rounds) the Moon development of
man is prepared through a kind of repetition of the Saturn and Sun
processes.
- In the third cycle the human astral body comes into being
through an outpouring of the Spirits of Motion.
- Concurrently with this process the Moon splits off from the
re-awakened unified Sun body and revolves around the rest of the
Sun. The development of the beings connected with man now takes
place on the Moon.
- In the fourth cycle the Spirits of Twilight inhabit the human
physical body and thereby elevate themselves to the level of
humanity.
- The developing astral body is inoculated with independence by
the Spirits of Personality (Asuras).
- In the fifth cycle man begins to work in dullness on his
physical body. Thereby the “spirit self” (Manas)
joins the already existing monad.
- In the ether body of man a kind of joy and pain develop during
the Moon existence, which have a passive character. In the astral
body on the other hand develop the emotions of rage, hate, the
instincts, passions, and so forth.
- The two former realms, the plant and the mineral realm, which
are thrust down to a lower level, are now joined by the animal
realm, in which man himself exists at this time.
Toward the end of the whole universal era the Moon
approaches more and more closely to the Sun, and when the time of
rest (Pralaya) begins, again the two have become united in a
whole, which then passes through the stage of sleep in order to
awaken in a new universal era, that of the earth.
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