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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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Occult Science - An Outline
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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Occult Science - An Outline
Man and the Evolution of the World
Following back the evolution of the Earth with spiritual-scientific
research, we come to a spiritual condition of our planet. If however
we pursue the investigation still further, we find that this spiritual
has already been in a kind of physical embodiment before. That is to
say, we encounter a past physical planetary condition which afterwards
became spiritual and then, becoming material once more, was at length
transformed into our Earth. Our Earth thus appears as the
re-embodiment of a primeval planet. But spiritual science is able to
go even further back, and as it does so it finds the whole process
repeated again twice over. Thus our Earth has passed through three
previous planetary conditions, with intermediate states of
spiritualization in between. The physical proves to be more and more
fine and delicate, the farther back we trace the Earth's embodiment.
Against the descriptions that will now follow it may quite naturally
be objected: How can any reasonable person entertain the postulate of
world-conditions so immeasurably remote? The answer is, that to a man
who can look with understanding at the spiritual that is there now,
hidden within what is manifest to the senses, insight also into former
sates of evolution, however distant, cannot appear essentially
impossible. If we do not recognize the hidden spiritual existence that
is around us even at the present time, then it will indeed be
meaningless to speak of an evolution such as is here in mind. But once
we are able to recognize the presence of the spiritual here and now,
we shall find the earlier condition given or implied in the immediate
vision of the present, just as the condition of the one-year-old
infant is implied in the appearance of a man of fifty. Yes, someone
may say, but in this instance we have among us, beside people of
fifty, children of a year of and all the intermediate stages
too. That is quite true; but the same is also true of the evolution of
the spiritual to which we here refer. Anyone possessing clear insight
and discrimination will recognize that a complete observation of the
present which will necessarily include its spiritual part too
cannot but perceive there also are evolutionary conditions of
the past, preserved side by side with those stages of existence which
have reached the present evolutionary level. Just as children of a
year old are present side by side with men and women of fifty, so
within all that goes on upon Earth at the present time we can still
behold primordial happenings, if only we are able to hold distinct
from one another the diverse stages of evolution.
Man, in the form and figure in which he is now evolving, does not
emerge until the fourth of the above planetary embodiments the
Earth proper. The essential feature of man's present form is that he
consists of the four members: physical body, life-body, astral body
and Ego. This form however could not have emerged at all, had it not
been prepared by the preceding facts of evolution. The preparation
took place through the gradual evolution, during the earlier planetary
embodiment, of beings who had already three of the four members of the
present human being, namely physical body, life-body and astral body.
These beings, whom we may call in a certain respect the ancestors of
man, had as yet no I, but they evolved the other three members
and the mutual connections of these three up to the point where they
were ripe, subsequently to receive the I. Thus on the preceding
embodiment of the planet, man's ancestor had reached a certain degree
of maturity in three members. With this he passed into the state of
spiritualization, out of which the new planetary condition that
of the Earth subsequently arose. In this Earth were contained,
like seeds, the thus far matured ancestors of man. By undergoing
entire spiritualization and re-appearing in a new form, the planet
could give the seeds it contained within it, with their physical body,
life-body and astral body, not only the opportunity to evolve again up
to the height which had been theirs before, but the further
possibility, having attained this height, to go beyond it by receiving
in addition the I. Earth evolution falls accordingly into two
parts. In the first the Earth appears as a re-embodiment of the
earlier planetary condition, although by virtue of the spiritualized
condition it has meanwhile undergone, this recapitulation represents a
higher stage than that of the former embodiment. Within it the Earth
contains the seeds of the ancestors of man which have come from the
earlier planet. To begin with, the seeds evolve up to the level on
which they were before. When they have reached it, the first period is
at an end. And now, since its own evolution is at a higher stage, the
Earth can bring the seeds also to a higher level; it can make them
capable of receiving the I. Thus the second period of Earth
evolution is characterized by the unfolding of the I in
physical body, life-body and astral body.
Through Earth evolution man is thus lifted a stage higher in his
development. Now this was also the case in the former planetary
embodiments. For something of the human being was already in existence
on the very first of these. In order therefore to come to a clear
understanding of man's present nature, we have to trace his evolution
back to the far primeval past to the above-mentioned first
planetary embodiment. In supersensible research this first planetary
embodiment may be called Saturn, the second may be designated Sun and
the third, Moon; the fourth is the Earth. One thing, however, must be
strictly borne in mind in regard to these designations. They must not,
to begin with, be associated in any way with the identical
names as applied to the members of our present solar system.
Saturn, Sun and Moon are here
intended simply as the names for past evolutionary forms which
the Earth has gone through. As to the relation of these pristine
worlds to the heavenly bodies that constitute our present solar system
that will emerge in the further course of our studies. Then too
the reason for the choice of the names will become evident.
The conditions on the four planetary embodiments will now be
described. It can only be done in merest outline; for the events, the
Beings and their destinies were truly no less manifold on Saturn, Sun
and Moon than they are on Earth itself. Attention will be drawn to a
few characteristic features that can help to illustrate how the
present conditions of our Earth have evolved out of the former ones.
The farther we go back in evolution, the less will the conditions be
found to resemble those of the present time. Yet they can only be
described by resorting to ideas and images derived from present
conditions. Thus when we speak in this connection of light, warmth and
the like, it must not be forgotten that what is thus referred to is
not precisely the same as what we now call light and warmth. The
notation is justified nevertheless, for the observer in the
supersensible perceives in the earlier stages of evolution something
from which the present light, warmth, etc. have come to be. And anyone
who carefully follows the descriptions will be well able to gather,
from the whole context into which things are placed, the kind of
conceptions he will need in order to have pictures and images that
truly convey the character of the events that took place in those
remote ages of the past.
The difficulty is, however, undeniably great for those planetary
conditions which precede the Moon embodiment. For the conditions of
the Moon period still show a certain likeness to those of the Earth,
and in attempting to describe them these similarities with the present
day give one a point of contact and enable one to express in clear
ideas what has been supersensibly perceived. It is a very different
matter when we come to describe the Saturn and Sun evolutions. What
confronts the clairvoyant observer here is as different as possible
from the things and beings that now belong to the horizon of man's
life. This makes it exceedingly difficult even to bring the
corresponding facts into the domain of the supersensible consciousness
at all. But since the present human being cannot be understood without
going back to the Saturn state, some description of it must none the
less be given. And the description will not be misunderstood if it is
borne in mind that the difficulty exists, and that many of the things
here said are to be taken not so much as an exact description but more
as a hint and indication of the facts.
What has just been said, as well as what will be said in the following
pages, might not unnaturally be held to contradict the statement made
previously as to the persistence of the earlier conditions within the
present. Nowhere, it might be said, is there a former Saturn, Sun or
Moon condition existing side by side with the present Earth condition,
still less a form of human being such as is here described as having
existed in those earlier conditions. It is quite true: there are not
Saturn, Sun or Moon men running about among Earth men in the way that
little children of three run about among the men and women of fifty.
But within the human being as he is on Earth these earlier
conditions of mankind are indeed perceptible supersensibly. To
recognize that this is so, we need only have acquired a power of
discernment extending to the full horizon of the facts of life. As the
child of three is present beside the man of fifth, so are present,
beside the alive and waking man of Earth, the corpse, the man asleep,
and the dreaming man. Granted that these various forms of
manifestation of man's being do not immediately reveal, as we see them
before us, the several stages of his evolution, nevertheless clear and
objective contemplation will behold in them the corresponding stages.
Of the four present members of the human being the physical body is
the oldest. Moreover it is the physical body which has attained the
greatest perfection in its kind. Supersensible research shows that
this member of the human being existed already in Saturn evolution. It
is true, as will emerge in these descriptions, that the form it had on
Saturn was utterly different from man's present physical body. The
physical body of man as it is on Earth can only exist in its proper
nature inasmuch as it is connected with a life-body, an astral body
and an Ego, as has been described in earlier chapters of this book. On
Saturn, there was as yet no such connection. The physical body was
passing through its first stage in evolution without a human life-body
or astral body or Ego being incorporated in it. During Saturn
evolution it was only maturing towards the stage of receiving a
life-body, and before this could happen, Saturn had first to pass into
a spiritual state and then be re-incarnated as the Sun. In the Sun
embodiment of the Earth, what the physical body had become on Saturn
unfolded once more, as from a seed. Only then could it be permeated
with an etheric body. Through receiving into it an etheric body, its
nature was changed: the physical body was raised to a second level of
its perfection. A like thing happened during the Moon evolution when
the ancestor of man, having evolved from Sun to Moon, received into
himself the astral body. The physical body was thereby changed again;
this time it was raised to a third level of perfection. The life-body
too was changed; henceforth it stood upon its second level of
perfection. On Earth, into the ancestor of man consisting now of
physical body, life-body and astral body, the Ego was incorporated.
Therewith the physical body reached its fourth degree of perfection,
the life-body its third, the astral body its second; while the Ego even
now is only at the first stage of its existence.
If we really set out to consider man with an open mind, we shall have
no difficulty in forming a right idea of the varying degrees of
perfection of the several members. Compare, for example, the physical
body with the astral in this respect. The astral body, it is true,
being of the nature of soul, stands at a higher level in
evolution than the physical; and when in future time the astral body
has come to perfection, it will signify far more for man's whole being
than the present physical body. Yet the latter in its kind has
attained no mean height of development. Consider the structure of the
heart, planned as it is in accordance with the highest wisdom! Or look
at the miraculous structure of the brain; or at that of a single part
only of some bone the upper end of the thigh-bone, for example.
We find there a network or scaffolding of tiny rods, arranged
according to an inner principle. The structure of the whole is so
compact as to produce with the minimum use of material the best
possible effect at the joint-surfaces the best distribution of
friction, for example, hence affording the right kind of mobility. So
do we find in different parts of the physical body arrangements that
give evidence of the working of a deep wisdom. And if we go on to
observe the harmony that prevails in the co-operation of the parts
within the whole, we shall surely agree that this member of the human
being has reached a certain perfection of its kind. The fact that here
and there seeming inefficiencies appear, or that disturbances in
structure or in function can occur, is unimportant in comparison. Nay
more, we can even find that such disturbances are in a sense only the
necessary shadows cast by the light of a wisdom which is poured out
over the organism as a whole.
And now compare with this the astral body as the bearer of joy and
sorrow, of cravings and passions. How full of uncertainty it is in its
joy and sorrow! What manifold cravings and passions work themselves
out in it that are adverse to the higher aims of man, and are often
meaningless! The astral body is only on the way to the achievement of
that harmony and self-containedness which we see already before us in
the physical. So too it could be shown how the etheric body in its
kind proves more perfect than the astral body, but less so than the
physical. And the same line of thought will show with no less
certainty that the real kernel of man's being, namely the I or Ego, is
now only at the beginning of its evolution. For how much has the Ego
yet accomplished of its task, which is to transform the other members
until these become a revelation of itself?
For one acquainted with spiritual science, the insight arrived at in
this way by external observation is intensified by something else. It
might well be argues that the physical falls a pretty to disease. Now
spiritual science is able to show that a large proportions of
illnesses are due to some fault or failing in the astral body being
transmitted to the etheric, and, through the latter, disturbing the
harmony of the physical body, which in itself is perfect. This deeper
connection which can here be no more than indicated and
with it the essential cause of many a disease, eludes that mode of
science which would restrict itself to physical and sense-perceptible
facts. More often than not, the connection is as follows. Injury to
the astral body is followed by morbid symptoms in the physical, not in
the same life in which the injury is done, but in a subsequent life.
Consequently the laws that prevail here are significant only for those
who are ready to admit the repetition of man's life on Earth. But even
if one did not wish to concern oneself with these deeper realms of
knowledge, common observation would reveal only too clearly that man
gives himself up to cravings and enjoyments which undermine the
harmony of the physical body. Now cravings, passions, enjoyment and
the like have their seat not in the physical but in the astral body.
In effect, the latter is in many respects still so imperfect that it
can actually mar the perfection of the physical body.
Here again let it be emphasized that the connections indicated are by
no means intended to prove the statements of spiritual science as to
the evolution of the four members of man's being. The proofs are
derived in every case from spiritual research, which reveals that the
physical body has behind it a fourfold transformation to higher stages
of perfection, and the other members less, as has been explained. It
was only desired to point out that these communications from spiritual
research are related to facts of which the consequences are even
outwardly observable, in the degrees of perfection of physical body,
life-body and the remaining members.
Last Modified: 02-Nov-2024
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