X.
FURTHER STAGES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR EARTH.
Let us consider
to-day the transformation of the ancient Moon into the
present Earth. But first of all we must draw attention to an
important phenomenon of the Moon development. When this
development drew towards its close, when. everything, which I
have already described to you had more or less taken, place,
the ancient Moon and the Sun were reunited. The ancient Moon
found its way back, as it were, to the Sun, and as a result a
uniform body arose. These two celestial bodies which were
reunited then passed over into a kind of latent planetary
existence. Out of this came forth the fourth metamorphosis,
which did not immediately resemble our present Earth, for the
present condition of our Earth was prepared gradually and
slowly. A study of the Earth in particular can give us a
clear conception of the cosmic law that later conditions of
development must in a certain way repeat conditions which
have already existed. Before the Earth became our present
planet — after awaking from its latent planetary
condition — it had to repeat briefly the Saturn, Sun
and Moon conditions. Of course, this development took a
somewhat different course than in the case of the three
planets themselves.
Upon Saturn we
found the first foundation of the sensory apparatus which we
now possess; During the first repetition of the Saturn
Condition these sensory forms had progressed so far that a
kind of human shape could develop; but during this
metamorphosis the automatic sense-apparatus did not as yet
possess an etheric body. The etheric body was embodied during
the repetition of the Sun condition, and the astral body was
added during the third transformation, the repetition of the
moon condition. During the third phase we once more have Sun
and Moon as separate bodies in the cosmic space. But the
beings who lived upon them had in the meantime developed
further; they had gradually prepared themselves for the
experiences which awaited them upon the Earth. There, a
fourth member was added to the three bodies which the
animal-like human race possessed upon the ancient Moon, and
this fourth member was the Ego.
But this course
of development did not take place so quickly. While the earth
was passing through its Saturn epoch, the automatic
sense-apparatus of man had to mould a form enabling it to
absorb the Ego. During the Sun repetition the etheric body
also transformed itself, so as to be able to become the
bearer of an Ego, and during the Moon repetition the astral
body underwent a change enabling it to take in the Ego. These
members waited, as it were, for the moment when they could
take in the Ego.
What we were
able to pursue thus far, was the separation of the Sun from
the Moon. Then comes a stage which more closely approaches
our present development, namely the separation of the Moon
from the Earth. Two bodies emerge from the ancient Moon: one
which consisted of the worst material in regard to its beings
and substances, was thrown out into the cosmic space, and the
other formed the present Earth. It was necessary to eliminate
that which would have hindered the beings from their further
development and this part which was cast out became the
present Moon. After the elimination the Earth existed as an
independent cosmic body. This entailed powerful cosmic
events: first the separation of the Earth plus Moon from the
Sun, and then the separation of the Earth from the Moon.
These two events prepared our present development.
I have led you
as far as the point where our Earth became an independent
sphere. Let me now lead you to this point by following
another direction, so that you may have a clear idea as to
the exact position of this point in regard to our Earth. Let
us go back from the immediate present into the past; let us
go back from the present form of the Earth which you all
know, to a past condition. Even natural science draws
attention to the great differences between the present and
the past aspect of our Earth. All this, to be sure, is based
on hypotheses, but in this field natural science meets
spiritual science to some extent. Natural science says: Huge
virgin forests once existed in the regions which we now
inhabit, their climate was one which we now encounter in
Equatorial zones and gigantic animals lived in those
forests.
According to
the statements of modern natural science the face of our
Earth once presented quite a different aspect from the
present one. The ice-age followed the tropical climate and
preceded the present temperate one. Every book on geology
contains these facts. I am only telling you this in order to
show you that the face of our Earth underwent great
transformations in the course of certain epochs of time and
that now it presents an entirely different aspect from that
of the past.
As far as the
external aspect of the Earth is concerned, natural science,
which only disposes of the combining intellectual power, of
apparatuses, etc., can only look back upon a few thousands of
years. The descriptions of a clairvoyant looking back upon
the past development of our Earth must, however, differ from
those of natural science though a kind of harmony ,will one
day be established between natural science and spiritual
science. Natural science draws attention to a fact which a
clairvoyant can ascertain without any doubt namely that the
face of our Earth has not only changed in regard to plants,
but that continents and oceans once existed in regions of our
Earth where they no longer exist. Huxley, for instance,
pointed out that a whole part of Great Britain has already
been submerged by the ocean four times. Thus the face of our
Earth constantly undergoes a transformation. In volume 12 of
“Kosmos” you may, for instance, find an article
on the so-called old continent of Atlantis, where a scientist
who completely adopts the standpoint of natural science
proves, through the configuration of the flora and fauna in
Europe and in America, that the present Atlantic Ocean must
once have been a continent, and that great parts of Africa
must in those times have been covered by the ocean. On the
other hand, the continent of Atlantis existed, in the West,
stretching between the present Europe and America. This
scientist only speaks of the fauna and of the flora of
Atlantis, which is of course natural. But even if remnants of
the ancient human beings, who were our ancestors could be
found (they must exist at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean),
it is not possible to-day to investigate to such an extent
the bottom of the ocean. The clairvoyant, however, can look
back as far as the time of Atlantis, and he knows that this
ancient Atlantean continent, which Plato describes, really
existed. Essentially speaking, the whole surface now covered
by the Atlantic Ocean was once Atlantis, and this continent
was inhabited by the physical predecessors of the present
human race. Of course they had a rather different aspect from
the one imagined by modern natural science.
We should not
in any way compare them with the present apes; though
psychically and physically the Atlanteans greatly differed
from modern men, they were not apes. Apes did not exist at
that time, for this animal species, only arose much later;
simply through the fact that certain human shapes of that
time remained behind at the stage of development which had
then been reached, and afterwards degenerated, sinking down
to a lower stage. Darwinism consequently makes a great
mistake, which is, however, easy to detect. If we have before
us two men, one upon an imperfect stage of development and
the other a man who applied his faculties in order to perfect
himself, and if we are told that these two men are relatives,
we shall not say: They are relatives, and consequently the
more perfect man descends from the less perfect one. Yet
Darwinism comes to such a conclusion: The perfect and
imperfect specimens stand side by side; one developed upwards
by applying his faculties in the right way, while the other
led them down and thus became decadent. That is how apes the
descendants of human beings, confront man. An ape is a
caricature of man, but he is not like a human being.
At the time of
Atlantis there existed an entirely different human race,
which gradually developed towards a higher stage. But certain
men remained behind in there development, and because the
Earth itself underwent changes, these beings also changed;
they degenerated and became a caricature of man — they
became apes. These lower beings, the apes, are consequently
degenerated specimens of higher beings who had become
decadent.
If we study the
Atlantean man, an observation of his psychic qualities will
give us the best idea of his way of living.
All that modern
men are able to do — to think logically, to calculate,
etc. — all this arose much later. Logic, power of
judgment, etc. were unknown to the Atlanteans. But on the
other hand, they had a soul-quality which has now become
decadent; they had an almost inconceivable power of memory.
They could not calculate twice two is four, nor make this
calculation over and over again through intellectual power,
but they could bear in mind the result obtained by
multiplying two by two, and they were always able to remember
this result. This is connected with an entirely different
constitution which existed on that ancient continent. If you
wish to have an idea of the physical aspect of that
continent, imagine a mountain valley filled with thick fogs
and mists: The Atlanteans never saw an atmosphere which was
free from moisture. The air was always filled with water.
When the ancient Atlanteans came over into Europe,they
preserved the memory of this condition and they called the
land of their ancestors.“Niflheim”, which mans
the land of fogs.
When the last
third of the Atlantean epoch drew towards its close, the
Atlanteans began to notice that they were Egos. The Ego
foundation had indeed existed for some time, and the
Atlantean even had a certain feeling for the Ego, but only
during the last third of the Atlantean epoch he learned to
say clearly: “I am an Ego.” This is connected
with the relationship of the etheric body with the physical
body.
If you observe
these two bodies, you will notice that they more or less
coincide, but the etheric body slightly protrudes above the
physical body. Between the eyebrows there is a point which
constitutes a centre for certain forces and streams of the
etheric body, and this corresponds to a definite point in the
physical brain. These two points must coincide; on this
depends the capacity of being able to experience oneself as
an Ego, to calculate, combine, etc. In the case of idiots,
f0r instance, these points in the head do not coincide, and
when this is the case, man's power of judgment no longer
functions properly. In the case of the Atlanteans these
points did not coincide, and this is still the case to-day
with animals. If you observe the head of a horse you will
find that these two points are far apart. In the Atlantean,
the etheric head protruded and his physical head had a
retreating brow.
But the
Atlantean had something which man lost when the etheric body
and the physical body began to coincide. The Atlantean still
possessed dull clairvoyance, but he was, for instance, unable
to count up to five. All his judgments were based on his
capacity of remembering incredibly distant times. And that
old clairvoyance appeared as the enhancement of our present
dream-life. Imagine the highest enhancement of this
dream-life: this would lead you to the conceptual capacity,
to the ancient, dull, dream-like clairvoyance of the
Atlantean. When the Atlantean walked over the earth; he could
indeed see the human beings in their physical involucres more
or less as we see them to-day, but this perception had in a
certain way a misty and foggy outline. The Atlantean could,
however, perceive something which we cannot perceive. When we
meet someone today, we do not see anything special of his
inner being, we can only see what his features reveal to us;
a gloomy expression will tell us that he is sad and will
enable us to guess something of his state of mind. But when
an Atlantean encountered someone who had evil intentions
towards him, a brown-red vision rose up before him, and if
that person loved him he saw a blue-red vision. A kind of
colour vision harmonized with the psychological state of the
other person; the Atlantean could still perceive something of
what took place in the inner being of other men. An Atlantean
walking along, who saw a terrible red-brown fog rising up
before him, ran away, for he knew that a dangerous animal was
approaching (perhaps it was still far away), one that would
surely devour him.
The ancient
Atlantean clairvoyance even had a physical foundation. For
the Atlantean considered that only his close relatives
belonged to him (to a far greater extent than was the case
later on). Small communities existed which did not extend
beyond the family circle. It was of greatest importance to
marry only within this restricted family circle. These
marriages between closely connected relatives produced a
blood mixture which preserved the etheric body's capacity to
receive spiritual influences. Had the Atlantean attempted to
marry outside his family circle, he would have suppressed his
clairvoyant faculty and, astrally speaking, would have become
an idiot. It was a moral, ethical law to remain within the
blood-ties of one s family. Before the Atlantean was able, to
have a definite experience of his Ego,he said “that am
I” to his whole blood-brotherhood. He considered
himself as a part of the whole blood-brotherhood, even as the
finger is a part of the hand.
But something
else is based on this fact. The Atlantean could not only
remember his own experiences, but also the experiences of his
father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc., reaching far
down the line of the generations, as far as the founder of
his family. Everything which came from there, everything
which streamed through the line of the generations was
experienced as a unity. This can show you how greatly
developed was the memory of the Atlanteans! Everything was
based upon memory. Later on we shall see how man lost this
powerful memory because he broke through the circle of close
marriages.
An Atlantean
soul necessarily required quite a different physical nature
and environment than is the case to-day. He needed an
environment described, for instance, in the legendary
“Niflheim” of the ancient Germans. Legends and
myths are not in any way based upon so-called popular fancy
or poetic invention. The origin of such legends can be
clearly traced. The Atlanteans still possessed an ancient,
dull clairvoyance, and the events which were later on related
and preserved (though frequently in a distorted form) in the
legends and myths of various nations really occurred.
The
transmigration of the Atlanteans to the East has been
preserved wonderfully in a cycle of European legends. Man
could not say “I” to his individual personality,
when he still lived on the ancient Atlantean continent.
Consequently egoism, which later on constituted the
foundation of social life, did not exist among the
Atlanteans. The inhabitant of Atlantis considered as his
possession everything which belonged to all his
blood-relatives and he felt that he was a member of this
blood relationship. Then came the transmigration to the East.
Man's Ego-consciousness emerged more and more, and with it,
human egoism. Man once lived far more in the external world
than within his own being; Nature still formed part of his
being. He felt as if he were embedded in Nature, as if he
were a part of Nature. With the acquisition of his
Ego-consciousness, the world around him became narrower and
narrower; he separated himself from his environment little by
little and the Ego emerged more and more.
This was at the
same time connected with a process of Nature. When the old
Atlantean looked up to the sky, he could not see the sun as
we see it to-day; thick masses of fog filled the air, and
when he looked at the sun and at the moon he saw an immense
circle of rainbow colours. Then came the time when the
Atlantean could perceive the sun and the moon as such. But
there was one phenomenon which was unknown to the Atlantean
— the rainbow. When the waters of Atlantis began to
leave the atmosphere, when rain alternated with sunshine as
is the case to-day, then the Atlantean learned to know the
rainbow, for there no rainbows in the moisture-filled
atmosphere of ancient Atlantis. Now bear in mind that great
stretches of land were laid bear by the great Atlantean
flood, and this has been wonderfully preserved in many
legends, particularly in the Bible. Consider the deep truth
contained in the Bible words: “And when the waters had
departed, Noah saw the rainbow”. Only when the
atmosphere became freed from the fogs and mists of Atlantis,
could the sun appear to man in its present form. This process
accompanied the narrowing of man' s being, so that he became
confined within his own self, within his Ego.
For reasons
which have a profound meaning, spiritual wisdom defines the
light flooding through space as the etheric gold, and gold is
looked upon as the condensed light of the sun. The ancient
Atlanteans were taught by their teachers that there is a
connection between the light of the sun and gold, and they
took in the following image: “The light of the Sun, the
gold of the sun, shines forth! It envelops us with a ring
which frees the Ego, bringing about the fact that we no
longer experience ourselves selflessly as a part of
Nature”. Among the Atlanteans the Ego was still
dispersed within clouds of mist, but now it began to enfold
him like a ring.
The mists of
Atlantis left the atmosphere, they were pressed down and
appeared in the West as rivers. For the descendants of the
Atlanteans, the Rhine was nothing but mist which descended
from the air and then flew along as a river. In the Rhine
they perceived the masses of water still permeated by light;
in the Rhine they felt the presence of the sun's gold, which
exercised such a pure and selfless influence upon the
inhabitants of ancient Atlantis. They saw this gold in the
Nibelung treasure of the Rhine, and anyone who strove to gain
possession of this treasure, was their enemy.
Richard Wagner,
who describes this in music, was not clearly conscious of
this truth, but nevertheless he was inspired by this
powerful, encompassing fact. Remember the Prologue to
“Rhine Gold”: Is the wonderful organ-theme in E
sharp not the point where the Ego enters humanity? But even
as the plant does not know the laws according to which it
grows, so the poet does not require the full knowledge of
what he writes. We must think of the creative artist as one
who is inspired by forces which stand behind him. In this
case, a conspicuous artist has felt something which must
again enter mankind. We can therefore see that even in art
the same spirit which lies at the foundation of spiritual
science streams into human culture. We can see it flowing
into it from two directions. This is how we should consider
life as a whole.
We have traced
human evolution as far back as Atlantis. Let us now consider
a few more details. At that time men did not build houses
such as they exist to-day, for they could utilize to a far
greater extent the forces which existed in Nature. Masses of
rock were moulded together with that which existed in the
environment, and constituted dwelling places which resembled
natural houses. The further back we go, the more we come
across men endowed with clairvoyance and possessing an
image-consciousness. In a visionary form, in pictures which
rose up before their souls, they could see the feelings of
those who lived round about them. In the early Atlantean
epoch, even the human will presented quite a different
aspect. To-day you can stretch out the finger of your hand
through your will, and this action is connected with your
thinking. But in the early Atlantean age the body was a far
more supple mass. The Atlantean could not only stretch out
his finger, but he could even make it longer or shorter; he
could easily make his hand grow when he saw a small plant, he
could make it grow through an effort of his will. He disposed
of a kind of magic. He also had a strange connection with the
animal world; he still perceived something which later on
could no longer be perceived and he exercised a fascinating
power over animals through his gaze.
If we go back
still further, we reach an age in which even Atlantis did not
exists; people then lived upon a continent designated as
“Lemuria”. It stretched south of our present
Asia, as far as Africa and Australia; this was the continent
inhabited by our ancestors when they were Lemurians. Their
body was far softer than that of the Atlanteans and their
will, far more powerful. But the ground under their feet was
most unsteady; fire eruptions, vulcan ic powers continually
upheaved it; ancient Lemuria was a kind of fire-country.
If we go back
still further, we reach a time in which the osseous system
began to develop out of a boneless mass, and then comes a
time in which the earth had not yet developed the present
mineral kingdom; everything was in a constant state of flux
and reflux.
The further
back we go into the evolution of the earth, the greater is
the degree of heat which we encounter. We reach an age in
which the forms now constituting our solid earth were in a
liquid state, like mercury or molten lead. The solid state
only developed in Lemuria. Thicker and thicker grow the
messes of mist. This was not a sea of fog, but a thick ocean
of hot steam, containing, all kinds of molten substances
whirling within it. Man's predecessor could already live in
certain parts of this steam, but he of course possessed quite
a different constitution from the present human being. We
thus reach a time in which man lived in a kind of primordial
ocean, in a warm, fiery-watery element. The earth's kernel
was enveloped by a kind of primordial ocean, containing the
germs of everything which developed later on.
This was the
aspect of the Earth immediately after the Moon's exit from it
as a separate body.
We have now
gained insight into a course of development reaching to the
time in which the Sun first severed itself from the Earth and
from the Moon; and when the Moon severed itself from the
Earth, leaving it in the condition described above.
To-morrow we
shall once more consider this process which I have set forth
just now from two aspects, and then we shall consider the
further development of man and of the earth, reaching as far
as the present time.
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