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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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An Outline of Occult Science
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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An Outline of Occult Science
THE EVOLUTION OF THE COSMOS AND MAN
Following the pause in outer activity, what was previously the Sun
emerges again out of cosmic sleep, becoming once more perceptible to
the powers of spiritual observation. It was previously perceptible to
these powers, but had disappeared from view during the period of rest.
A twofold element now appears within the newly emerging planetary
being that shall be called the Moon. This Moon, however, must not be
confused with the part of it that is at present the earth's moon. The
first thing to be noted is that that part of the world mass which,
during the Sun period, had detached itself as a new Saturn, is once
more within the totality of the new planetary organism. During the
pause, this new Saturn had again united itself with the Sun.
Everything that was within the original Saturn reappears at first as
one cosmic formation. The second thing to be noted is that the human
life bodies formed upon the Sun were absorbed during the pause by
what, in a certain sense, forms the spiritual sheath of the planet.
Thus these life bodies do not appear at this time as something united
with the corresponding physical human bodies, but these latter appear
at first by themselves. They bear within their inner nature all that
has been worked into them on both Saturn and Sun, but they lack an
ether or life body. Moreover, they are unable to incorporate this
ether body immediately into themselves, for during the pause the ether
body itself has passed through a development to which the physical
bodies are not yet adapted. In order that this adjustment may be
achieved, once more a recapitulation of the Saturn activities occurs
at the beginning of the Moon evolution. The physical life of man
recapitulates the stages of the Saturn evolution, but under quite
changed conditions. On Saturn, only the forces of a heat body were
active within the physical human being; now the forces of the acquired
gaseous body are also active within him. The latter, however, do not
appear at once at the beginning of the Moon evolution. At that time it
is as though the human being consisted only of heat substance, while
within the latter the gaseous forces slumbered. Then comes a time when
the first indications of these gaseous forces make their appearance,
and finally, in the last period of the Moon recapitulation of Saturn
activities, the human being reappears as he was during his
life-endowed state of the Sun. At this time, however, all life still
appears as a semblance of life. Then a pause occurs similar to the
short pauses occurring during the Sun evolution, after which the
instreaming of the life body, for which the physical body has now
become ripe, begins again. As in the case of the Saturn
recapitulation, this influx takes place again in three distinctly
separate epochs. During the second of these, the human being is so far
adjusted to the new Moon conditions that the Spirits of Motion are
able to employ their acquired ability. It consists in allowing the
astral body to flow forth from their own essential nature into the
human being. They prepared themselves for this task during the Sun
evolution and, during the pause between the Sun and Moon evolutions,
they transformed what had thus been prepared into the ability alluded
to above. This influx of the astral body lasts again for a time, then
one of the shorter pauses ensues, after which the instreaming of the
astral body of the Spirits of Motion continues until the Spirits of
Form begin their activity. Because the Spirits of Motion allow their
astral body to flow into the human being, he acquires his first soul
qualities. As a result, he now begins to accompany the processes,
which occur in him through the possession of a life body and which
during the Sun evolution were still plant-like, with sensations and to
feel pleasure and displeasure through them; this remains a changing
inner ebb and flow of pleasure and displeasure, until the intervention
of the Spirits of Form. Then these changing feelings become
transformed in such a way that the first traces of longing and desire
appear in the human being. He seeks to repeat what has caused pleasure
and strives to avoid what has caused sensations of antipathy. Since,
however, the Spirits of Form do not give up their own nature to him,
but only allow their forces to flow in and out of him, the impulse of
desire lacks inwardness and independence. It is guided by the Spirits
of Form and bears an instinctive character.
On Saturn, the human physical body was composed of heat, which on the
Sun was condensed to a gaseous state, or air. During the Moon
evolution, when the astral flows into the physical body, the latter
attains a further degree of condensation at a definite time and
reaches a state that may be compared with the density of a present-day
fluid. This state may be called water. We do not mean by
this, however, our present water, but any fluid form of existence. The
human physical body now gradually takes on a form composed of three
substantial organisms. The densest is a water body. This is permeated
by air currents, and all this is permeated by the activities of heat.
During the Sun stage, too, not all organisms attain their full and
proper maturity. As a result, on the Moon there are organisms that
stand only at the Saturn stage, while others have only attained the
Sun stage. Because of this, two other kingdoms arise alongside the
regularly developed human kingdom. One of these consists of beings who
have remained behind at the Saturn stage and therefore possess only a
physical body, which, even on the Moon, is unable to become the bearer
of an independent life body. This is the lowest of the Moon kingdoms.
A second kingdom consists of beings who have remained behind at the
Sun stage and who, therefore, on the Moon are too immature to
incorporate into themselves an independent astral body. These form a
kingdom intermediate between the one just mentioned and the regularly
advanced human kingdom. But something else takes place. The substances
composed merely of the forces of heat, and those composed merely of
air also permeate the human beings. Thus it happens that on the Moon
the latter bear within themselves a Saturn and a Sun nature. As a
result, a kind of cleavage arises in human nature, and through this
cleavage, after the Spirits of Form begin their activity, some thing
significant is called into existence within the Moon evolution. A
cleavage begins in the cosmic Moon body. A part of the Moon's
substances and beings separates from the rest. Two cosmic bodies are
thus formed from one. Certain higher beings who, prior to this, were
closely linked with the unitary cosmic body, now take up their abode
on one of these parts. The remaining part, in contrast, is occupied by
the human beings, by the two lower kingdoms just characterized, and by
certain higher beings who did not go over to the first cosmic body.
This latter cosmic body, occupied by higher beings, appears like a
reborn, but refined sun; the other is now the actually new formation,
the ancient Moon, the third planetary embodiment of our Earth that
follows after the Saturn and Sun evolutions. The separating, reborn
sun carries away with it, from the substances arising on the Moon,
only heat and air. Besides these two substances, the liquid, watery
state is to be found on what remains over as Moon. The result of this
separation is that the beings, departed with the reemerging sun, are
unhampered in their further development by the denser Moon beings.
They are thus able to advance unhindered in their evolution. As a
result they acquire a still greater degree of power with which to work
down upon the Moon beings from their sun. These Moon beings likewise
acquire new possibilities of evolution. The Spirits of Form, in
particular, have remained united with them and have solidified the
nature of passion and desire. This expresses itself gradually by a
further condensation of the human physical body also. The former
purely watery element of this body now takes on a viscous fluidic
form, and the aeriform and heat formations condense correspondingly.
Similar processes take place also in the two lower kingdoms.
In consequence of the separation of the Moon from the sun body, the
former has the same relationship to the latter that the Saturn body
once had to the entire surrounding cosmic evolution. The Saturn body
was formed from the body of the Spirits of Will Thrones. From this
Saturn substance everything was radiated back into cosmic space that
the above-mentioned spiritual beings, living in the environment,
experienced, and by means of the succeeding events, the reflecting
radiation gradually awoke to independent life. The whole of evolution
depends first upon the severance of independent being from surrounding
life; the environment then imprints itself upon this severed being as
though by reflection, and then this separated entity develops further
independently. In this way the Moon body severed itself from the sun
body and then reflected back its life. Had nothing else happened, the
following cosmic process would have to be described. There would be a
sun body in which spiritual beings, adapted to it, would have their
experiences in the heat and air element. Opposite this sun body there
would be a Moon body in which other beings would evolve with heat,
air, and water life. The progress from the Sun to the Moon embodiment
would consist in the fact that the sun beings would have their own
life before them, like a reflection, mirrored back to them from the
Moon processes, and they would be able to enjoy it an experience that
during the Sun embodiment was still impossible for them. But the
processes of evolution did not stop here. Something occurred that was
of the deepest significance for all subsequent evolution. Certain
beings, who were adapted to the Moon body, seized upon the will
element the heritage of the Thrones that was then at their disposal,
and by means of it developed their own life, which shaped itself
independent of the life of the sun. Alongside the experiences of the
Moon, which stand only under the sun influence, other independent Moon
experiences occur revolts or rebellions, as it were, against the sun
beings. The various kingdoms that had come into existence on the sun
and Moon, especially the kingdom of our human forebears, were drawn
into these conditions. Thus the Moon body contained within itself,
spiritually and materially, a twofold life: one that stood in close
union with the life of the sun, and one that deserted it and went its
own independent way. This division into a twofold life expresses
itself in all subsequent events of the Moon embodiment.
What this evolutionary period presents to supersensible consciousness
may be characterized in the following pictures. The entire fundamental
mass of the Moon is fashioned out of a half-living substance that is
at times in sluggish, at times in animated movement. A mineral mass of
rocks and earth elements, like that upon which the present human being
treads, does not yet exist. We might speak of a kingdom of
plant-minerals, only we must imagine that the entire foundational mass
of the Moon is composed of this plant-mineral substance, just as the
earth today consists of rocks, soil, and other matter. Just as at
present we have towering masses of rocks, so at that time harder
portions were embedded in the Moon's mass. These may be compared with
hard, woody structures, or with horny forms. Just as plants spring up
at present out of the mineral soil, so on the Moon the second
kingdom a sort of plant-animal sprang up, covering and permeating the
Moon ground. The substance of this kingdom was softer than the ground
mass and more mobile in itself. This kingdom spread itself out over
the other like a viscous sea. The human being himself may be called a
kind of animal man. His nature contained the essential elements of the
other two kingdoms, but his being was completely permeated by an ether
and an astral body, upon which the forces of the higher beings
emanating from the severed sun were active. His form was thus
ennobled. Whereas the Spirits of Form gave him a shape through which
he was adapted to Moon life, the sun spirits made of him a being
lifted above that life. By means of the capacities bestowed upon him
by these spirits he had the power to ennoble his own nature, indeed,
to lift to a higher stage that part of it that was related to the
lower kingdoms.
The processes that have to be taken into consideration here, perceived
spiritually, may be described in the following manner. The human
forebear had been ennobled by beings who had deserted the sun kingdom.
This ennobling extended especially to everything that could be
experienced in the water element. The sun beings, who were rulers of
the elements of heat and air, had less influence upon this water
element, with the result that two kinds of beings were active in the
organism of the human ancestor. One part of this organism was wholly
permeated by the activities of the sun beings; in the other part, the
seceded Moon beings were active. Through this fact, the latter part
was more independent than the former. In the sun-part, only states of
consciousness could arise in which the sun beings lived. In the
Moon-part there existed a sort of cosmic consciousness, similar to the
ancient Saturn state, only now at a higher stage. The human ancestor
thus beheld himself as a copy of the cosmos, while his sun-part felt
itself only as a copy of the sun. These two kinds of beings began a
sort of conflict within human nature, and through the influence of the
sun beings an adjustment of this conflict was brought about by
rendering the material organism, which made an independent cosmic
consciousness possible, frail and perishable. It was necessary now for
this part of the organism to be eliminated from time to time. During
this elimination and for a certain time thereafter, the human ancestor
was a being dependent only upon the influence of the sun. His
consciousness became less independent; he lived in it in complete
surrender to the life of the sun. The independent Moon part was then
renewed. After a certain length of time, this process was repeated
again and again. The human ancestor on the Moon thus lived in
alternating conditions of clearer and duller consciousness, and this
alternation was accompanied by a metamorphosis of the material aspect
of his being. From time to time he discarded his Moon body and renewed
it again later.
Seen physically, a great variation appears in the kingdoms of the Moon
described here. The mineral-plants, the plant-animals, and the
animal-men are differentiated according to groups. This will be
understood if we bear in mind that, because certain organisms have
remained behind at each of the earlier stages of evolution, these
organisms have been embodied, endowed with the most varied qualities.
There are organisms that still display the characteristics of the
first epochs of the Saturn evolution, some those of the middle
periods, and some those of its end. This is also true of all the
stages of the Sun evolution.
Just as organisms connected with the progressively evolving cosmic
body remain behind, so is this also the case with certain beings
connected with this evolution. In the progressive development up to
the appearance of the ancient Moon, several grades of such beings have
already come into existence. There are, for instance, Spirits of
Personality who, even on the Sun, have not yet attained their human
stage; there are, however, others who, on the Sun, have retrieved
their failure to rise to this stage. Many Fire Spirits, too, who
should have become human on the Sun, have remained behind. Just as
certain retarded Spirits of Personality withdrew during the Sun
evolution from the body of the Sun and caused Saturn to arise again as
a special cosmic body, so also in the course of the Moon evolution the
beings described above withdrew to special cosmic bodies. Thus far we
have spoken only of the separation into sun and Moon, but for the
reasons given above, still other cosmic bodies detach themselves from
the cosmic Moon body that made its appearance after the long pause
between Sun and Moon evolutions. After a lapse of time there comes
into existence a system of cosmic bodies, the most advanced of which,
as may be easily seen, is the new sun. In much the same way that
during the Sun evolution as has already been described above a bond
of attraction was formed between the retarded Saturn kingdom and the
Spirits of Personality on the new Saturn, now during the Moon
evolution a bond is also formed between every such cosmic body and the
corresponding Moon beings. It would carry us much too far to follow up
in detail all the cosmic bodies that come into existence. It must
suffice to have indicated the reason why a series of cosmic bodies is
detached by degrees from the undivided cosmic organism that appeared
in the beginning of mankind's evolution as Saturn.
After the intervention of the Spirits of Form on the Moon, evolution
proceeds for a time in the manner described. After this, another pause
in outer activity ensues, during which the coarser parts of the three
Moon kingdoms remain in a state of rest, but the finer parts chiefly
the human astral bodies detach themselves from these coarser
organisms. They enter a state in which the higher powers of the
exalted sun beings can work upon them with special force. After the
rest period, they again permeate the parts of the human being composed
of coarser substances. Through the fact that, during the pause, they
have absorbed powerful forces in a free state, they are able to
prepare these coarser substances for the influences that the regularly
advanced Spirits of Personality and Spirits of Fire must, after a
certain time, bring to bear upon them.
These Spirits of Personality have attained a stage at which they
possess the consciousness of inspiration. Not only are they able to
perceive the inner state of other beings in pictures as was the case
in their former picture consciousness but they are able to perceive
the inner nature of these beings as a spiritual tone language. The
Spirits of Fire, however, have risen to the degree of consciousness
possessed by the Spirits of Personality on the Sun. As a result, both
kinds of spirits are able to intervene in the matured life of the
human being. The Spirits of Personality work upon his astral body, the
Fire Spirits upon his ether body. The astral body thus receives the
character of personality. It experiences henceforth not only pleasure
and pain within itself, but it relates them to itself. It has not yet
attained a full ego consciousness that says to itself, I
exist, but it feels itself borne and sheltered by other beings
in its environment. Looking up to them, as it were, it can say,
This, my environment, gives me existence. The Fire Spirits
work henceforth upon the ether body. Under their influence the
movement of forces in this body becomes more and more an inner life
activity. What thus comes into existence finds physical expression in
a circulation of fluids and in phenomena of growth. The gaseous
substances have condensed to a fluid. We can speak of a kind of
nutrition in the sense that what is absorbed from without is
transformed and worked over within. If we think perhaps of something
midway between nutrition and breathing in the present day sense, then
we shall have some idea of what happened at that time in this respect.
The human being drew nutritive substances from the kingdom of the
animal-plants. These animal-plants must be thought of as floating,
swimming in or even lightly attached to a surrounding element in much
the same way the present-day lower animals live in water or the land
animals in the air. This element, however, is neither water nor air in
the present sense of the word, but something midway between the two a
kind of thick vapor in which the most varied substances, as though
dissolved, move hither and thither in the most varied currents. The
animal-plants appear only as condensed, regular forms of this element,
often differing physically very little from their environment. The
process of respiration exists alongside the process of nutrition. It
is not like what occurs on earth, but it is like an insucking and
outpouring of heat. For supersensible observation it is as though,
during these processes, organs opened and closed through which a
warming stream flowed in and out. Through these organs the airy and
watery substances are also drawn in and expelled, and because the
human being at this stage of his evolution already possesses an astral
body, this breathing and nutrition are accompanied by feelings, so
that a kind of pleasure occurs when substances that are beneficial for
the building up of the human being are drawn in from outside.
Displeasure is excited when injurious substances flow in or even when
they only approach the human being. During the Moon evolution there
was a kinship between the processes of breathing and nutrition, as
described. Similarly the process of visualization was in close
correspondence with the process of reproduction. Objects and beings in
the environment of the humanity of the Moon did not produce immediate
effects on any kind of senses. Visualization was of such a character
that images were evoked in the dull dim consciousness by the presence
of the things and beings in its neighborhood. These pictures had a
much more intimate relationship with the actual nature of the
environment than present-day sense perceptions which, through color,
tone, and odor, only indicate the external aspects of things and
beings. In order to have a clearer concept of this consciousness of
the Moon humanity, let us imagine this humanity as being embedded in
the above described vaporous environment. The most manifold processes
occur within this mistlike element. Substances now unite, now
separate. Certain parts condense, others become rarefied. All of this
occurs in such a way that the human beings neither see nor hear it
directly, but images are called forth by it in their consciousness.
These may be compared to the images of present-day dream
consciousness. For example, when an outer object falls to the ground
and a sleeping man does not perceive the actual event itself, but
instead experiences the rise of some kind of picture, he might, let us
say, believe a shot was fired. The only difference is that the
pictures of the Moon consciousness are not arbitrary as are the dream
pictures of the present day. Although they are symbols, not copies,
they correspond, nevertheless, to the outer events. A definite picture
appears with a definite outer event. The Moon humanity is thus in the
position to direct its actions in accordance with these pictures, just
as present-day humanity directs its actions according to its
perceptions. Notice, however, must be taken of the fact that conduct
based on perception admits of freedom of choice, while action under
the influence of the pictures indicated is impelled by a dull
urge. This picture consciousness is by no means one by which only
outer physical processes are visualized, but through them the
spiritual beings ruling behind the physical facts as well as their
activities are imaginatively perceived. Thus the Spirits of
Personality become, as it were, visible in the objects of the
animal-plant kingdom; behind and within the mineral-plant beings the
Fire Spirits appear. The Sons of Life appear as beings that the human
being is able to picture mentally without connection with anything
physical; he perceives them, as it were, as etheric soul
forms. Although these mental pictures of the Moon consciousness were
not copies, but only symbols of the outer world, they did have a much
more important effect upon the inner nature of the human being than
the present visualizations of man transmitted through outer
perception. They had the power to set the whole inner being in motion
and activity. The inner processes shaped themselves in accordance with
them. They were genuine formative forces. The human being took on the
shape these formative forces gave him; he became, as it were, a copy
of his processes of consciousness.
The further that evolution continues in this manner, the deeper and
more incisive is the change that in consequence takes place in the
human entity. The power that proceeds from these consciousness-images
is gradually no longer able to extend over the entire human
corporeality. The latter divides into two parts, two natures. Members
are fashioned that are subject to the formative effect of the picture
consciousness, and to a great degree they become a copy of the life of
mental images in the sense of the above description. Other organs,
however, withdraw from this influence. The human being, in one part of
his nature is, as it were, too dense, too much determined by other
laws to be able to conduct himself according to the
consciousness-pictures. These withdraw from human influence, but they
become subject to the influence of the exalted sun beings themselves.
A rest period precedes this stage of evolution, during which the sun
spirits gather the power to work upon the Moon beings under wholly new
conditions. After this pause the human being is distinctly split into
two natures. One of these natures, not subject to the independent
activity of the picture consciousness, takes on a more definite form
and comes under the influence of forces that, to be sure, proceed from
the Moon body, but within which they arise only through the influence
of the sun beings. This part of the human being participates
increasingly in the life that is inspired by the sun. The other part
rises out of the former like a kind of head. It is in itself mobile,
plastic, and becomes the expression and bearer of the dull life of
consciousness of the human being. Yet the two parts are closely bound
together. They send their fluids into one another, and their members
stretch from one into the other.
A significant harmony is now achieved through the fact that, during
the time in which all this happened, a relationship between sun and
Moon has been developed that is in accord with the direction of this
evolution. It has already been pointed out in a previous paragraph
(see page 150) how, as a result of their stage of evolution, the
advancing beings sever their cosmic bodies from the general cosmic
mass. They radiate the forces in accordance with which the substances
form themselves. Sun and Moon have thus separated from one another in
accordance with the necessity of establishing proper dwelling places
for the corresponding beings. This conditioning of substance and its
forces by means of the spirit, however, extends further. The beings
themselves determine certain movements of cosmic bodies and their
definite revolution around each other. In this way these bodies come
into varying positions in, relation to each other. If the location or
position of one cosmic body in relation to another is changed, then
the effects of their corresponding beings upon one another are also
changed. This happened with the sun and the Moon. Through the movement
begun by the Moon around the sun, the human beings come now under the
influence of the sun activity, now they turn away from this influence
and are then more dependent upon themselves. The movement is a result
of the secession of certain Moon beings already described and the
adjustment of the conflict brought about by it. It is only the
physical expression of the spiritual relationship of forces created by
this secession. The revolution of one body around the other resulted
in the previously described changing states of consciousness in the
beings dwelling on the cosmic bodies. It can be said that the Moon
alternately turns its life toward and away from the sun. There is a
sun period and a Moon period; during the latter, the Moon beings
develop on the side of the Moon that is turned away from the sun. For
the Moon, however, something else was added to the movement of the
heavenly bodies. The retrospective supersensible consciousness is able
to see how the Moon beings themselves revolve around their own cosmic
body in quite regular periods. At certain times they seek out the
places where they can expose themselves to the influence of the sun.
At other epochs they migrate to the regions where they are not exposed
to this influence and where they can, as it were, reflect upon
themselves.
In order to complete the picture of these processes, we have also to
consider that at this time the Sons of Life reach their human stage.
The human being on the Moon cannot yet use his senses, the primal
indications of which had come into existence already on Saturn, for
his own perception of external objects. At the Moon stage of
evolution, however, these senses become the instruments of the Sons of
Life. The latter make use of these senses in order to perceive by
means of them. These senses, which belong to the physical human body,
enter in this way into reciprocal relationship with the Sons of Life,
who not only make use of them, but perfect them as well.
Through the changing relationships to the sun a change occurs, as
described, in the conditions of life within the human being himself.
Things shape themselves in such a way that each time the human being
comes under the influence of the sun, he devotes himself more to the
life of the sun and its phenomena than to himself. At such times he
experiences the grandeur and majesty of the universe as this is
expressed in the sun existence. He absorbs this. The exalted beings
who have their habitation upon the sun exercise their power upon the
Moon, which in turn has its effect upon the being of man. This effect
does not extend to the entire human being; it affects particularly
those parts of him that have withdrawn from the influence of his own
picture consciousness. Thus the physical and ether bodies especially
attain a certain size and form, but in order that this may occur, the
phenomena of consciousness withdraw. When, now, the life of the human
being is removed from the influence of the sun, he is occupied with
his own nature. An inner vivacity begins chiefly in the astral body,
but the external shape becomes less conspicuous, less perfect in
form. Thus during the Moon evolution there are these two clearly
distinguishable, alternating states of consciousness a duller state
during the sun period and a clearer state during the period in which
life is more dependent upon itself. The first state is, indeed duller,
but it is for that reason also more selfless. Man surrenders himself
more to the outer world, to the universe mirrored in the sun. There is
an alternation in the states of consciousness that may be compared
with the alternation of sleeping and waking in the present human
being, as well as with his life between birth and death on the one
hand, and with the more spiritual existence between death and a new
birth, on the other. The awakening on the Moon, when the sun period
gradually ceases, should be characterized as a state intermediate
between our present waking every morning and our being born. Likewise,
the gradual dimming of consciousness at the approach of the sun period
may be likened to an intermediate state between going to sleep and
dying, for a consciousness of birth and death similar to the one
belonging to present-day man did not yet exist on the ancient Moon. In
a kind of sun-life the human being surrendered himself to the
enjoyment of this life. He was, during this time, withdrawn from his
own life. He lived more spiritually. Only an approximate and
comparative description of what the human entity experienced in these
periods can be attempted. He felt as though the causative forces of
the cosmos streamed into him, pulsated through him. He felt as though
intoxicated with the harmonies of the universe of which he partook. At
such times his astral body was as though freed from the physical body,
and a part of the life body was likewise withdrawn from it. This
organism composed of astral body and life body was like a marvelous,
delicate musical instrument upon whose strings the mysteries of the
universe resounded, and the members of that part of the human being
upon which consciousness had but little influence took on forms in
response to the universal harmonies, for in these harmonies the sun
beings were active. Thus, through spiritual cosmic tones this human
part was given form. The alternation between the brighter state of
consciousness and this duller one during the sun period was not as
abrupt as is the alternation between waking and a completely dreamless
sleep for man today. The picture consciousness, to be sure, was not as
clear as the present waking consciousness; the other consciousness, in
turn, was not as dull as the dreamless sleep of today. Thus the human
being had a vague notion of the play of universal harmonies in his
physical body and in that part of the ether body that had remained
united with it. At the time during which the sun was not shining, as
it were, for the human being, the imaginative thought pictures
pervaded his consciousness instead of harmonies. Especially those
members of the physical and ether bodies that were under the direct
power of consciousness were then vivified. In contrast, however, the
other parts of the human being, upon which the formative forces from
the sun now had no influence, passed through a kind of hardening and
drying out process. When the sun period again drew near, these old
bodies disintegrated; they severed themselves from the human being and
then, as though from the grave of his old corporeality, he arose,
inwardly newly formed, although he was still insignificant in this new
shape. A renewal of the life-processes had taken place. Through the
activity of the sun beings and their harmonies the new-born body again
reached its perfection and the process described above repeated
itself. Man experienced this renewal as the donning of a new garment.
The kernel of his being had not passed through an actual birth or
death, it only had shed its skin, as it were, by passing over from a
spiritual tone-consciousness in which it yielded itself up to the
external world, to one in which it was turned more toward the inner
life. The old body had become unusable; it was cast off and then
renewed. This characterizes more exactly what was described above as a
kind of reproduction, and of which it was said that it is closely
related to visualizing activity. The human being has generated his
kind with respect to certain parts of the physical and ether bodies.
Yet there is no engendering of a daughter being completely
distinguished from its parent, but the essential kernel of the latter
passes over into the former. This kernel does not produce a new being,
but brings itself forth in a new form. Thus the Moon human being
experiences a change of consciousness. When the sun epoch approaches,
his visualizations become duller and duller, and a state of blissful
surrender pervades him. Within his quiet inner being resound cosmic
harmonies. Toward the end of this period the images in the astral body
begin to revive. Man begins to feel and experience himself. He
experiences something like an awakening from the blissfulness and
quiet into which he was immersed during the sun period. In this
connection yet another important experience occurs. With the new
awakening of the picture consciousness the individual man perceives
himself as though enveloped in a cloud that had descended upon him
like a being from the cosmos. He feels this being as something
belonging to him, as a completion of his own nature. He feels it as
something that gives him his own existence; he feels it as his ego.
This being is one of the Sons of Life. He feels toward this being
somewhat as follows, I lived in this being even during the sun
period of the Moon when I had surrendered myself to the glory of the
cosmos, but at that time it was invisible to me. Now, however, it
becomes visible to me. It is also from this same Son of Life
that the power proceeds that produces the activity performed by man
upon his own bodily nature during the sunless period. Then when the
sun period again approaches, man feels as if he himself became one
with the Son of Life. Even though he may not behold him, nevertheless
he feels himself intimately united with the Son of Life.
The relationship to the Sons of Life was of such a character that not
each individual human being had a Son of Life for himself, but a whole
group of human beings felt that one of these beings belonged to it.
Thus on the Moon the inhabitants lived divided into such groups, and
every group looked up to a Son of Life as the common group ego. The
difference between the groups became apparent through each group
having a different form, especially in its ether bodies. But since the
physical bodies are formed in accordance with the ether bodies, the
differences in the latter were imprinted upon the former, and the
various human groups appeared as so many different types of men. When
the Sons of Life looked down upon the human groups belonging to them,
they saw themselves, as it were, manifolded in the individual human
beings. In this way they experienced their own egohood. They mirrored
themselves in the human beings. This was also the task of the human
senses at that time. We have seen that these did not yet transmit any
external objective perceptions. But they reflected the being of the
Sons of Life. What these Sons of Life perceived through this
reflection gave to them their ego consciousness. It was, however, the
images of the dull, vague Moon consciousness that were aroused in the
human astral body by this reflection. The effect of this activity of
man, achieved in reciprocal relationship with the Sons of Life,
brought into existence the first traces of the nervous system in the
physical body. The nerves represent a sort of extension of the senses
into the inner nature of the human body.
From this description it can be seen how the three categories of
spirits, the Spirits of Personality, the Fire Spirits, and the Sons of
Life, are active upon the Moon man. If the main period of the Moon
evolution the middle evolutionary period is considered, we may say
that it was then that the Spirits of Personality implanted
independence, the character of personality, in the human astral body.
It is due to this fact that during the time when the sun does not
shine on the human being, as it were, he can turn in upon himself, is
able to fashion himself. The Fire Spirits manifest themselves in the
ether body to the degree that this body imprints upon itself the
independent human structure. It is because of them that the human
being feels himself to be again the same being each time after the
renewal of his body. A kind of memory is thus given to the ether body
through the Fire Spirits. The Sons of Life work upon the physical body
in such a way that it is able to become the expression of the now
independent astral body. They thus make it possible for this physical
body to become a physiognomic copy of its astral body. On the other
hand, higher spiritual beings, especially the Spirits of Form and the
Spirits of Movement, intervene in the formation of physical and ether
bodies insofar as these develop in the sun periods independent of the
autonomous astral body. It is from the sun that their intervention
occurs in the manner described above.
Under the influence of such facts the human being gradually matures in
order to develop in itself the germ of spirit self, just as in the
second half of the Saturn evolution the human being developed the germ
of spirit man, and on the Sun the germ of life spirit. Through this,
all relationships on the Moon change. Through the successive changes
and renewals human beings have become ever more noble and delicate.
They have also gained in strength. As a result, the picture
consciousness was increasingly preserved also during the sun cycles.
In this way it acquires an influence over the formation of the
physical and ether bodies that formerly happened only through the
activity of the sun beings. What happened on the Moon through the
human beings and the spirits united with them became more and more
like the former achievements of the sun with its higher beings. As a
result, these sun beings could increasingly apply their forces for the
sake of their own evolution and because of this the Moon became ready,
after a certain length of time, to be reunited with the
sun. Spiritually perceived, these processes appear as follows. The
revolting Moon beings have been gradually overcome by the sun beings
and must now adjust themselves by becoming subject to them, so that
the functions of both are in mutual harmony. This happened only after
long preceding epochs in which the Moon cycles became shorter and
shorter and the sun cycles longer and longer. A cycle of evolution now
begins during which sun and Moon are again a single cosmic organism.
At this time the physical human body has become wholly etheric. When
this is said, it must not be imagined that under such conditions we
cannot speak of a physical body. What has been formed as physical body
during the Saturn, Sun, and Moon evolutions still remains present. It
is important to recognize the physical not only where it manifests
outwardly physically. The physical can also be present in such a way
that it can show externally the form of the etheric, and indeed, even
show the form of the astral. It is important to differentiate between
external appearances and inner laws. A physical body can become
etherized or astralized, yet at the same time retain its physical
laws. This is the case when the human physical body on the Moon has
reached a certain degree of perfection. It becomes ether-like. When,
however, supersensible consciousness able to observe things of this
kind turns its attention to such an ether-like body, it appears to it
permeated not by the laws of the etheric but by the laws of the
physical. The physical is taken up into the etheric in order to rest
there and be fostered as in a maternal womb. Later it appears again in
physical form but at a higher stage. Were the human Moon being to keep
its physical body in the grossly physical form, the Moon would never
be able to reunite itself with the sun. By the acquisition of an
etheric form, the physical body becomes more related to the ether body
and it can, moreover, be permeated again more inwardly by those parts
of the ether and astral bodies that, during the sun periods of the
Moon evolution, had to withdraw from it. The human entity, which
appeared like a double being during the separation of sun and Moon,
becomes again a unified being. The physical becomes more soul-like,
and the soul in turn more closely united with the physical. The sun
spirits, into whose direct sphere this unitary human being has now
come, are able to work upon him quite differently from the time when
they worked from without, downward upon the Moon. The human being is
now more in a soul and spirit environment. Through this fact the
Spirits of Wisdom can achieve a significant effect. They imprint
wisdom in him. They ensoul him with wisdom. He becomes in this way in
a certain sense an independent soul. To the influence of these beings
is added that of the Spirits of Motion. They act especially upon the
astral body in such a way that, under the influence of the beings
described, it evolves a soul activity and a life of ether body filled
with wisdom. The wisdom-filled ether body is the first germinal
nucleus of what has been described in an earlier chapter as the
intellectual soul in present-day humanity, whereas the astral body
stimulated by the Spirits of Motion contains the germinal nucleus of
the sentient soul. Because all this is brought about within the human
entity in its increased state of independence, these germinal nuclei
of the intellectual and sentient souls appear as the expression of
spirit self. The mistake must not be made of thinking that, at this
period of evolution, spirit self is something special, independent of
the intellectual and sentient souls. These latter are only the
expression of spirit self that signifies their higher unity and
harmony.
It is of special significance that during this epoch the Spirits of
Wisdom intervene in the manner described. They do this not alone in
respect of the human being but also of the other kingdoms that have
developed upon the Moon. When the sun and Moon again become united,
these lower kingdoms are drawn within the sphere of the sun. All that
was physical in them becomes etherized. Thus, just as human beings are
to be found on the sun, so there are also to be found mineral-plants
and plant-animals. These other creatures, however, remain endowed with
their own laws. They feel, therefore, like strangers in their new
surroundings. They appear with a nature that has little in common with
that of their environment. But since they have an etheric form, the
activity of the Spirits of Wisdom can extend to them also. All that
has come from the Moon into the sun is now permeated with the forces
of the Spirits of Wisdom. Therefore what is fashioned from the
sun-Moon organism within this evolutionary period may be called the
Cosmos of Wisdom. When our Earth system, as a descendant
of this Cosmos of Wisdom, appears after a rest period, all the beings
coming to life again upon the Earth, springing forth from their Moon
nuclei, show themselves filled with wisdom. Thus we see the reason why
the present earth man, looking attentively at the things about him,
can discover wisdom in the nature of their being. We can marvel at the
wisdom in each plant leaf, in each animal and human bone, in the
miraculous structure of the brain and heart. When man needs wisdom in
order to understand things, that is, when he extracts wisdom from
them, it shows that wisdom exists in the things themselves. For
however much the human being might try to understand the things by
means of ideas filled with wisdom, he would be unable to extract any
wisdom from them were it not already embodied in the things
themselves. Anyone who wishes by means of wisdom to comprehend things
that, as he thinks, have not first received wisdom, may also imagine
that he can take water out of a glass into which none has previously
been poured. The Earth, as will be seen later on in this book, is the
resurrected ancient Moon. It appears as a wisdom-filled organism
because in the epoch described it has become permeated by the forces
of the Spirits of Wisdom.
It will, it is hoped, appear comprehensible that in this description
of the Moon conditions only certain transitory forms of evolution
could be concentrated upon. Certain things in the progress of events
had to be selected and emphasized for the description. This kind of
description offers, to be sure, only single pictures, and the
preceding descriptions of evolution may therefore seem lacking through
not being woven into a web of definitely fixed concepts. In regard to
such an objection attention may perhaps be drawn to the fact that the
description has intentionally been given in less concise concepts. For
it is not so much a question here of the construction of speculative
concepts and ideas, but rather of a mental picture of what can present
itself to the spiritual eye through supersensible perception directed
to these facts. These facts do not appear in such sharp and definite
outlines in the Moon evolution as is the case with the perceptions on
our earth. In the Moon epoch we are concerned with vacillating,
changing impressions, with fluctuating, mobile pictures, and with
their transitions. Besides this, we must consider the fact that we are
concerned with an evolution covering long, long periods of time and
that in describing this, only momentary pictures can be seized on and
fixed.
At the point of time when the astral body implanted in the human being
has advanced him so far in his evolution that his physical body gives
the Sons of Life the possibility of attaining their human stage, the
actual climax of the Moon epoch is reached. At that time the human
being also has attained all that this epoch can give him for his inner
development on the forward path. The following cycle, that is, the
second part of the Moon evolution, can be designated as one of
ebb-tide. But it can be seen that with respect to the human
environment and also to man himself something most important
transpires just at this period. It is then that wisdom is implanted
within the sun-Moon body. We have seen that during this ebb-tide the
nuclei of the intellectual and sentient souls are engendered. Yet it
is not until the Earth period that their unfolding and that of the
consciousness soul occurs together with the birth of the ego, of
independent self-consciousness. At the Moon stage, the intellectual
and sentient souls do not yet appear as though the human being himself
were able to express himself through them, but as though they were
instruments for the Sons of Life belonging to the human being. If we
wish to characterize the feeling that man had on the Moon in regard to
this, we would have to say that he felt as follows. The Son of
Life lives in and through me; he beholds the Moon environment through
me; he thinks in me about the things and beings in this
environment. The Moon man feels overshadowed by his Son of Life,
he experiences himself as the instrument of this higher being, and
during the separation of sun and Moon, when the Moon was turned away
from the sun, he had a feeling of greater independence. At the same
time he also felt as if the ego belonging to him, which had
disappeared from his picture-consciousness during the sun cycles, now
became visible to him. This was for the Moon human being what we might
call alternation in the states of consciousness. This gave him the
feeling, In the sun period my ego soars away with me up into
higher regions to sublime beings, and, when the sun disappears, it
descends with me into lower worlds.
A preparatory period preceded the actual Moon evolution. A kind of
repetition of the Saturn and Sun evolution occurred at that time.
Then, after the reunion of the sun and Moon in the ebb-tide period,
two epochs can likewise be distinguished during which there take
place, to a certain degree, even physical condensations. The
psycho-spiritual states of the sun-Moon organism alternate with
physical states. In these physical epochs the human beings, and
likewise the beings of the lower kingdoms, appear in stiff forms,
lacking independence, forms that were forecasts of what they were to
become as more independent shapes later on in the Earth evolution.
Thus we can speak of two preparatory periods of the Moon evolution and
of two others during the time of ebb-tide. Such epochs can be called
cycles. In what follows the two preparatory cycles, and that precedes
the two cycles of ebb-tide that is, in the time of the Moon
separation three epochs can also be distinguished. It is in the middle
epoch of these three that the Sons of Life reach their human status.
Prior to this there is an epoch during which all conditions lead to a
concentration on achieving this main event. Then another epoch follows
that can be described as a condition in which the beings become
familiar with and develop the new creations. Thus the middle period of
the Moon evolution is divided into three epochs. Together with the two
preparatory and the two ebb-tide epochs, they make seven Moon cycles.
It may thus be said that the entire Moon evolution runs its course in
seven cycles. Between these cycles lie rest periods that have been
mentioned previously. We shall arrive at a true conception of the
situation only if we do not imagine abrupt transitions between periods
of activity and those of rest. The sun beings, for example, withdraw,
little by little, from their activity on the Moon. A time begins for
them that, outwardly observed, appears like their period of rest,
while upon the Moon itself, animated, independent activity reigns.
Thus the period of activity of one kind of being extends into the rest
period of other beings. If we take these things into account we can
speak of a rhythmic rising and falling of forces in cycles. Indeed,
similar divisions can also be observed within the seven Moon cycles
described. We can then call the whole Moon evolution a great cycle, a
planetary cycle; the seven divisions within one of these cycles, small
cycles, and the divisions of these last again still smaller
sub-cycles. This membering into seven times seven sections is already
observable in the Sun evolution and is indicated also during the
Saturn epoch. Yet we must consider the boundaries between the
divisions as being blurred on the Sun and as being still more vague on
Saturn. The boundary lines become more and more clearly defined the
farther evolution proceeds toward Earth.
Last Modified: 07-Oct-2024
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