VI
HUMANITY
BEFORE THE DIVISION OF SEX
ALTHOUGH
the form of man, in those ancient times which have been already described,
was very different from his present form, yet, if we go still further
back in the history of humanity, we find conditions differing even
much more widely. For it was only in the course of time that the
forms of man and woman arose from an earlier, original form in which
the human being was neither the one nor the other, but both at the
same time. He who would gain for himself a conception of those
primeval ages must free
himself entirely from those customary ideas which are drawn from
present conditions. The times to which we are looking back lie
somewhat before the middle of that epoch called in the preceding
extracts the Lemurian. The human body then consisted of soft plastic
matter; and the rest of the earthly forms also were both soft and
plastic. Compared with its later firmness, the earth was still in a
bubbling and more fluid state. The human soul, being embodied in that
matter, could then adapt itself in a much greater degree than later.
For the clothing of the soul in a male or female body is due to the
fact that the one or the other is forced upon it by the
development of external nature. So long as matter had not
become firm, the soul could enforce its own laws upon it. It moulded
the body in its own likeness; but when matter had grown dense the
soul had to suit itself to the laws stamped on that matter by
external nature. So long as the soul was master of matter, it formed
its body neither male nor female, but gave to it qualities common to
both. For the soul is at once both male and female. In itself it
bears these two natures. Its male element is related to that which we
call Will, its female element to what is designated Imagination. The
external formation of the earth has led the body to adopt a one-sided
evolution. The male body has assumed a form determined by the element
of Will; the female, on the contrary, bears rather the impress of
Imagination. Thus it is that the bisexual male-female soul
inhabits a unisexual male or female body. And so the body had
in the course of evolution assumed so decided a form through the
influence of external earth-forces that thereafter it was no longer
possible for the soul to pour its entire force into this body. It had
to retain within itself something of the force that belonged to
it, and could allow only a part to flow into the body.
When we study the Ākāshic
Records we see that, at a period in the far
past, human forms appear soft, plastic, and quite unlike those of
later times. They still retain in equal measure the nature of man and
woman. As time passes and matter densifies, the human body appears in
two forms, one of which resembles the man's later form, the other the
woman's. Before the appearance of these differentiated forms,
every human being could of itself bring forth another. The
fructification was no outer process, but one which took place
within the human body itself. When the body took on a male or a
female form, it lost the possibility of self-fructification.
Co-operation with another body was necessary in order to produce a
new human being.
The separation of the sexes appears when the
earth attains a certain condition of density. The density of matter
partly checks the power of reproduction, and that portion of the
reproductive force which is still effective requires completion
from outside by the opposite force in another human being. But the
soul must retain within itself a part of its earlier force, in man as
well as in woman. It cannot expend this part in the outer corporeal
world. Now this portion of his force is directed inwards in man. It
cannot appear outwardly; therefore it is set free for the use of
inner organs —
and here comes an important point in the evolution of mankind. Before
it, that which we call mind — the ability to think —
could have found no place in man, for this capacity would have had no
organ through which to act. The soul turned its whole force outwards
to the building up of the body. But now the soul-force, which cannot
find an object for its activity without, can unite itself with the
mind-force; and, by such union, those organs of the body are evolved
which, at a later period, make man a thinking being. Thus could man
direct a part of the force that in earlier times he had turned to the
bringing forth of his kind, to the perfecting of his own being.
The force by means of which mankind formed for itself a thinking
brain is the same force by which, in ancient times, man fructified
himself. Thought is attained by unisexuality. Since man no longer
fructifies himself, but the opposite sexes fructify one another, they
can turn a part of their productive force inwards and become thinking
beings. Thus the male and female bodies respectively present
externally an imperfect picture of the soul, but because of
this they become inwardly more perfect beings.
Very slowly and gradually this change is accomplished in man.
Little by little the later single-sexed human forms appear side by
side with those of the double sex.
It is again a kind of fructification which
takes place in man on his becoming a thinking being. The inner organs
which can be built up by the superfluous soul-force are
fructified by the mind. The soul is in itself two-fold —
male-female, and so in ancient times it also formed its body. At a
later period it can only give to its body a form that can co-operate
with another externally; for itself it retains the ability to
co-operate with the mind. From this time forward man is fructified
from without for the exterior part, — from within and for the
interior part of his nature by the mind. It may be said, then, that
the male body has a female soul, the female body a male soul. This
inner one-sidedness in man is now balanced by the
fructification of the mind. The one-sidedness is removed. The male
soul in the female body and the female soul in the male body both
become bisexual again through fructification by the mind. Thus
do man and woman differ in their outer form, and, within, the
one-sidedness of the soul unites itself in both sexes to a harmonious
whole. Within, mind and soul melt into unity. The mind affects as
female the male soul in woman, and thus makes it male-female; it
works upon the female soul in man, as male, and so forms it
female-male. The bisexuality in man has withdrawn from the outer
world, where it existed in pre-Lemurian times, to his inner self.
We see that the higher inner man has nothing to
do with male and female. Nevertheless the inner uniformity comes from
a male soul in a woman and in like manner from a female soul in a
man. The union with the mind brings uniformity at last; but the
fact that before the appearance of this uniformity there exists
difference, this fact contains a mystery of human nature. The
knowledge of this mystery is of great importance to all
occult science, for it is the key to weighty problems of life. For
the present it is forbidden to raise further the veil that covers
this mystery.
Thus did physical man develop from the bisexual body to the unisexual,
— to the separation into man and woman. And because of this, man
has become a being endowed with mentality, such as he now is. But it
must not be imagined that there were not intelligent beings in
connection with the earth even before this period. If we search the
Ākāshic Records, we certainly see that in the first
Lemurian period the physical man of the future was a very different
being from that which we call man to-day. He was unable to connect
any sense-perceptions with thoughts: he did not think. His life was
one of instinct. His soul expressed itself simply in instincts,
desires, animal wishes, and so on. His consciousness was
dreamy; he lived in a kind of stupor. But there were other beings in
the midst of this humanity. These were, of course, also bisexual; for
with the prevailing conditions in the evolution of the earth at that
time, no male or female human body could be brought forth. The
external conditions were still wanting. But there were other beings
who, in spite of their double sex, were able to acquire knowledge and
wisdom. This was possible, because these beings had
undergone an entirely different evolution at a still more
remote period of the past. It had become possible for their souls to
fertilize themselves with mind, without waiting for the development
of the inner organs of the human physical body. It is only by the
help of the brain that contemporary man is able to ponder upon
those impressions which he receives from outside and through the
senses. It is the evolution of the soul of man that caused this. The
human soul had to wait till there was a brain to co-operate with the
mind. The soul would have remained mindless had it not taken this
indirect path. It would have remained at the stage of
dream-consciousness.
It was different with the superhuman beings
already mentioned. The soul of such beings had at earlier stages
developed soul-organs which required nothing physical to enable
them to unite themselves with the mind. Their knowledge and wisdom
were supersensually acquired. Such knowledge is called intuitive. It
is not until a later stage of his evolution that the man of the
present attains to this intuition, which enables him to come into
touch with mind, apart from the assistance of the senses. He must
reach it indirectly through the material senses. This indirect course
is called the descent of the human soul into matter, or popularly
“The Fall” (into sin). Owing to an earlier evolution of a
different kind, these superhuman beings did not need to undergo this
descent into matter. As the soul of such beings had already attained
a higher stage, their consciousness was not dreamy but inwardly
luminous, and the comprehension of knowledge and wisdom by them was
clairvoyance which needed no senses and no organs of thought. The
Wisdom by which the world was built streamed directly into their soul.
Thus were they able to be the leaders of young
humanity, still sunk in apathy. They were the bearers of an Ancient
Wisdom, to comprehend which man must struggle upwards by the
roundabout path described. They differed from what is
called “man” by the fact that Wisdom poured out its rays
on them “from above” as a free gift, just as the sunlight
streams down on us. It was not so with “man.” He had to
acquire wisdom for himself by the labour of the senses and of the
organ of thought. It did not at first come to him as a free gift. He
must desire it. Only when the longing for wisdom is alive in man does
he strive to attain it for himself through his senses and
thought-organ. So a new impulse must awaken in the soul, —
desire, the longing for knowledge. The human soul could not possess
this longing in its earlier stages. Its impulses were only towards
embodiment in that which took on an outer form, in that in which it
lived as a dreamy life, but not towards the knowledge of an outer
world, not towards understanding. With the separation of the sexes
first appeared the desire for knowledge.
It was just because the superhuman beings did
not desire it, that wisdom became known to them by the path of
clairvoyance. They waited till wisdom streamed into them, as we
wait for the sunshine that we cannot create by night, but which must
come to us of itself in the morning.
The longing for knowledge is evoked in this
way, in order that the soul may build up inner organs (the brain,
etc.) by which it comes into possession of knowledge. This result
follows, because part of the soul-force works no longer
from without but from within. But the superhuman beings who have not
accomplished this separation of their soul-forces direct their entire
soul-energy outwards.
They have thus also at their service, for the
outer fructification by the mind, that force which man turns inward
for the building up of his organs of knowledge. Now that force by
means of which man turns outwards to unite himself with another is
Love. The superhuman beings directed their whole love outwards to let
the wisdom of the worlds stream into their souls. But man can turn
outward only a part. Man became sensual, and thus his love grew
sensual too. He withdrew from the outer world a part of his being
which he then directed towards his inner building. And this
produced what is
called “selfishness.” When man became man or woman in
his physical body he could only surrender a part of his being; with
the other part he separated himself from the surrounding world. He
became selfish. And his outer activity, as well as his striving for
inward development, became selfish. He loved, because he
desired, and he thought, because again he desired, — in this
case, knowledge. In contrast to a childish and selfish humanity stood
the leaders in their all-loving, unselfish natures. The soul
which in them inhabits neither a male nor a female body is itself
male-female. It loves without desire. The innocent soul of man loved
thus before the separation of the sexes; nevertheless, it could not
at that time know, for the very reason that it was still at a lower
stage — in dream-consciousness. Thus too does the soul of the
higher beings love; nevertheless, these beings can know in spite of
this and on account of their advanced development. “Man”
must pass through selfishness in order once more to reach
unselfishness at a higher stage, but this time with an absolutely
clear consciousness.
This, then,
was the task of the superhuman beings, of the great leaders, — to
stamp upon the young humanity their own character, that of love. They
could do so only with that part of the soul-force which was directed
outwards. Thus arose sensual love. And hence the latter
accompanies the soul's activity in a male or female body.
Sensual love became the force for human physical development. This
love brings man and woman together in so far as they are physical
beings. On this love rests the progress of physical humanity. It was
over this love only that the so-called superhuman beings had power.
That part of the human soul-force which turns inwards and must gain
knowledge by the indirect path of sensuality withdraws itself
from the power of those superhuman beings. They themselves had
never descended to the development of corresponding inner
organs. They could clothe the outward impulse in love, because they
possessed as their very essence the love that was outwardly active.
Thus there was a gulf between them and the young humanity. They could
implant love in man, at first in a sensual form; knowledge they could
not give, because their own knowledge had never taken the by-path
through those inner organs which man was now developing in himself.
They could speak no language which a being with brains could
understand.
Now the said inner organs of man were, it is
true, not ripe for contact with mind till that stage of earthly
existence was reached which lies in the middle of the Lemurian
period; but once before, at a much earlier period of development,
they had been cultivated into an imperfect first beginning. For the
soul had already passed through physical embodiments in times long
gone by. It had lived, not indeed on the earth, but on other
celestial bodies in densified matter. More exact information on this
subject cannot be given till later. Only so much as this may now be
said, — the beings of earth had formerly inhabited another
planet, and, according to the conditions existing on it, they had
developed to the stage at which they stood when they reached the
earth. They laid aside the matter of the preceding planet like a
garment, and became pure soul-germs at the stage of development
reached then, — capable of sensation, of feeling, and so on; in
short, able to lead that dreamlike life which still belonged to them
in the first stages of their earth existence. But the
superhuman beings spoken of, the leaders in the domain of love,
had also lived on the preceding planets, and were even there so
perfect that they no longer needed to descend in order to develop the
first beginnings of those inner organs.
But there were other beings, not so far
advanced as these Leaders of Love, but who might rather be counted as
men on the preceding planet, who nevertheless outstripped
mankind at that time. They were thus indeed, at the beginning of the
earth formation, further advanced than man, but nevertheless still at
the stage at which knowledge must be acquired through inner organs.
These beings were in a peculiar position. They were too far advanced
to pass through the physical human body, either male or female, and
yet not far enough to be able to act by means of perfect
clairvoyance, as were the Leaders of Love. They could not be, as
yet, Beings of Love; and at the
same time they could no longer be “men.” So it was only
possible for them as semi-superhuman beings to continue their
own evolution, but with the help of man. They could converse
with the beings with brains in a language these understood. By this
means the human soul-force directed inwards was aroused, and
they were enabled to unite themselves to knowledge and wisdom. It was
indeed only thus that wisdom of a human sort came to the earth. The
“semi-superhuman” beings spoken of were able to absorb
this human wisdom, and thus reach that perfection which they
themselves still lacked. They thus became the creators of human
wisdom. For this reason they were called “light bringers”
(Lucifer). Thus had infant humanity leaders of two kinds —
Beings of Love and Beings of Wisdom, — human nature was yoked
between Love and Wisdom, when it assumed its present form on the
earth. By the Beings of Love it was stimulated to physical
development, by the Beings of Wisdom to the perfection of
its inner self. In consequence of its physical development, mankind
advanced from generation to generation, forming new tribes and races;
through its inner development the individuals increased in inward
perfection; they became scholars, sages, artists, technical
scientists, etc. From race to race physical humanity advances; each
race throughout its physical evolution transfers, to the following
one, such of its qualities as are perceptible to the senses. Here the
law of heredity reigns. The children bear the physical
characteristics of their fathers. Beyond this lies an evolution
towards perfection of mind and soul which can only be accomplished by
the development of the soul itself. And here we are confronted
with the law of the evolution of the soul within the bounds of
earthly existence.
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