The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Final Period Before the Separation of the Sexes

[ 1 ] We shall now describe the nature of human beings before their division into male and female. At that time, the body consisted of a soft, malleable mass. The will exercised much greater control over this mass than was the case with later human beings. When a human being separated from its parental being, it already appeared as a structured organism, but an imperfect one. The further development of the organs took place outside the parental being. Much of what was later brought to maturity within the mother’s being was perfected at that time outside of it by a force related to our willpower. To bring about such external maturation, care on the part of the ancestral being was necessary. Human beings were born with certain organs that they later shed. Others, which were still quite imperfect at their first appearance, developed fully. The entire process had something in common with emerging from an egg and shedding an eggshell; yet one must not imagine a solid eggshell.

[ 2 ] The human body was warm-blooded. This must be explicitly stated, for things were different in even earlier times, as will be shown later. The maturation process, which took place outside the mother’s body, occurred under the influence of increased heat, which was also supplied from outside. However, one must by no means imagine a brooding of the human being—as he shall be called for the sake of brevity. The conditions of heat and fire on Earth at that time were different from those of later periods. Through his own powers, the human being was able to confine fire—or rather, heat—within a certain space. He could, so to speak, gather (concentrate) heat. This enabled him to supply the young being with the heat it needed for its maturation.

[ 3 ] At that time, the most highly developed organs in humans were the organs of movement. Today’s sensory organs were still completely undeveloped. The most advanced were the organ of hearing and the organs of perception for cold and warmth (the sense of sensation); the perception of light was still far behind. Humans were born with the senses of hearing and touch; the sense of sight developed somewhat later.

[ 4 ] Everything said here refers to the period immediately preceding the separation of the sexes. This separation took place slowly and gradually. Long before it actually occurred, human beings had already developed in such a way that some individuals were born with more masculine traits, while others were born with more feminine traits. However, every human being also possessed the opposite gender traits, making self-fertilization possible. This was not always possible, however, but depended on the influences of external conditions during certain seasons. In many respects, human beings were highly dependent on such external conditions. Consequently, they had to organize all their affairs in accordance with these external conditions—for example, according to the cycles of the sun and moon. This organization, however, was not carried out consciously in the modern sense, but rather in a manner that must be described as instinctive. And this already points to the inner life of human beings at that time.

[ 5 ] This inner life of the soul cannot be described as a true inner life in the strict sense. Physical and mental activities and qualities were not yet strictly separated from one another. The soul still participated in the external natural world. Above all, it was the sense of hearing that was powerfully affected by every single vibration in the environment. Every vibration in the air, every movement in the surroundings was “heard.” The movements of wind and water spoke an “eloquent language” to human beings. It was a perception of the mysterious weaving and bustle of nature that penetrated human beings in this way. And this weaving and bustle also resonated within his soul. His activity was an echo of these influences. He translated his perceptions of sound into his activity. He lived within such sound movements and expressed them through his will. In this way, he was guided in all his daily work. — To a somewhat lesser degree, he was also influenced by the effects that communicated themselves to his feelings. Yet these, too, played a significant role. He “sensed” his surroundings in his body and behaved accordingly. From such emotional influences, he knew when and how he had to work. He knew from them where he had to settle. He recognized from them dangers that arose for his life and avoided them. He regulated his food intake accordingly.

[ 6 ] The rest of the soul’s life unfolded quite differently than it would later. The soul was inhabited by images, not ideas of external things. When a person, for example, stepped from a colder room into a warmer one, a certain image of color arose in the soul. But this image of color had nothing to do with any external object. It sprang from an inner force related to the will. Such images continually filled the soul. One can only compare the whole experience to the ebbing and flowing dream images of human beings. Only, at that time, the images were not haphazard but followed certain laws. One should therefore speak not of a “dream consciousness” but of an “image consciousness” at this stage of human development. For the most part, it was images of color that filled this consciousness. Yet these were not the only kind. Thus, human beings wandered through the world, experiencing the events of this world through their hearing and feeling; yet through their inner life, this world was reflected within them in images that were very unlike what existed in the external world. Pleasure and pain were far less closely associated with these soul images than is the case today with human conceptions that reflect perceptions of the external world. To be sure, one image brought joy, another displeasure; one evoked hatred, another love; but these feelings were of a much paler character. — Strong feelings, on the other hand, were aroused by something else. People were much more active and energetic back then than they were later. Everything in his surroundings, as well as the images in his soul, spurred him to activity and movement. When his activity could unfold unhindered, he felt a sense of well-being; but when this activity was inhibited in any way, he was overcome by displeasure and unease. The absence or presence of obstacles to his will determined the content of his emotional life—his pleasure and his pain. And this joy, or rather this pain, in turn manifested itself in his soul as a vivid world of images. Bright, clear, beautiful images lived within him when he could unfold completely freely; dark, misshapen ones arose in his soul when his mobility was hindered.

[ 7 ] So far, we have described the average human being. The inner life was different for those who had developed into a kind of superhuman beings (see page 32). For them, this inner life did not have an instinctive character. What they perceived through their senses of hearing and feeling were deeper mysteries of nature, which they could consciously interpret. In the roar of the wind and the rustling of the trees, the laws—the wisdom of nature—were revealed to them. And the images in their souls were not merely reflections of the external world, but representations of the spiritual forces in the world. They perceived not sensory things, but spiritual beings. The average person, for example, felt fear, and an ugly, dark image arose in his soul. Through such images, the superhuman being received communication—a revelation—from the spiritual beings of the world. To him, natural processes did not appear to be dependent on lifeless natural laws, as they do to today’s scientist, but rather appeared to him as the deeds of spiritual beings. External reality did not yet exist, for there were no external senses. But spiritual reality opened itself up to these higher beings. The spirit shone into them, just as the sun shines into the physical eye of modern humans. For these beings, knowledge in the fullest sense was what is called intuitive knowledge. There was no reasoning or speculation on their part, but rather a direct perception of the creative work of spiritual beings. These superhuman individuals were therefore able to take the messages from the spiritual world directly into their will. They consciously guided other human beings. They received their mission from the spirit world and acted accordingly.

[ 8 ] When the time came for the sexes to separate, these beings had to regard it as their task to influence the new life in accordance with their mission. It was they who established the rules governing sexual life. All institutions related to the procreation of humanity originated with them. They acted entirely consciously in this regard; but other human beings could perceive this influence only as an instinct implanted within them. Sexual love was implanted in human beings through direct thought transmission. And all its expressions were initially of the noblest kind. Everything that has taken on an ugly character in this realm stems from later times, when human beings became more independent and corrupted an original, pure instinct. In those earlier times, there was no satisfaction of the sexual instinct for its own sake. Everything here was a sacrificial service for the continuation of human existence. Procreation was regarded as a sacred matter, as a service that humankind must render to the world. And the sacrificial priests were the guides and regulators in this realm.

[ 9 ] The influences of the semi-superhuman beings (see page 32) were of a different nature. These beings had not developed to the point where they could have received the revelations of the spiritual world in a completely pure form. In their soul-images, the effects of the sensory world arose alongside these impressions from the spiritual world. The beings who were superhuman in the full sense of the word felt neither pleasure nor pain from the external world. They were entirely devoted to the revelations of the spiritual powers. Wisdom flowed to them as light flows to sensory beings; their will was directed toward nothing other than acting in accordance with this wisdom. And in this action lay their highest joy. Wisdom, will, and activity constituted their very being. The situation was different for the semi-superhuman beings. They felt the urge to receive impressions from the outside world and associated pleasure with the satisfaction of this urge and displeasure with its non-satisfaction. In this way, they differed from the superhuman beings. For the latter, impressions from the outside world were nothing more than confirmations of spiritual revelations. They could look out into the world and received nothing more than a reflection of what they had already received from the spirit. The semi-superhuman beings experienced something new to them, and for this reason they were able to become the guides of humankind when the mere images in the souls of humans were transformed into representations—concepts of external objects. This occurred when a portion of humanity’s former reproductive power turned inward, as brain-based beings developed. With the development of the brain, humans also developed the ability to transform external sensory impressions into mental images.

[ 10 ] One must therefore say that human beings have been led by semi-superhuman beings to direct their inner lives toward the sensory external world. After all, they were denied the ability to expose their soul-images directly to pure spiritual influences. From the superhuman beings, he received the ability to perpetuate his existence, implanted as an instinctive drive. Spiritually, he would initially have had to continue a kind of dream existence, had the semi-superhuman beings not intervened. Through their influence, his inner images were directed toward the sensory external world. He became a being conscious of himself within the sensory world. And with this, the goal was achieved: that human beings could consciously guide their actions according to the perceptions of the sensory world. Previously, he had acted out of a kind of instinct; he had been under the spell of his external environment and the forces of higher individualities acting upon him. Now he began to follow the impulses and enticements of his own ideas. And with that, human free will had entered the world. That was the beginning of “good and evil.”

[ 11 ] Before proceeding further in this direction, a few words should first be said about humanity’s environment on Earth. Alongside humans were animals that, in their own way, were at the same stage of development as humans. By today’s standards, they would be classified as reptiles. In addition to them, there were lower forms of animal life. Now, there was a fundamental difference between humans and animals. Because of their still malleable bodies, humans could live only in those regions of the Earth that had not yet undergone the coarsest material transformation. And in these regions, animal beings with similarly malleable bodies lived alongside them. In other regions, however, there lived animals that already had dense bodies and had also developed sexual differentiation and the senses. Later accounts will reveal where they came from. They could no longer evolve further because their bodies had assumed a denser material form too early. Some species among them subsequently became extinct; others evolved within their own kind into the forms we see today. Human beings were able to attain higher forms by remaining in the regions that corresponded to their nature at that time. As a result, their bodies remained so flexible and supple that they were able to develop the organs capable of being fertilized by the spirit. Then their outer bodies were ready to transition into denser matter and become a protective shell for the finer spiritual organs. — But not all human bodies were at that stage of development. There were some that were less advanced. These were first animated by the spirit. Others were not animated. Even if the spirit had penetrated them, it would have been able to unfold only imperfectly due to their still-imperfect internal organs. Thus, these human beings initially had to continue their development in a spiritless state. A third type was sufficiently developed for weak spiritual influences to make themselves felt within them. They stood between the other two types. Their spiritual activity remained dull. They had to be guided by higher spiritual powers. Between these three types there were all manner of transitions. Further development was now possible only if a portion of the human beings advanced to a higher level at the expense of the others. First, those who were entirely devoid of spirit had to be abandoned. Intermingling with them for the purpose of procreation would have dragged even the more highly developed down to their level. Everything that had received spirit was therefore separated from them. As a result, they fell further and further down to the level of animality. Thus, alongside human beings, human-like animals came into being. Humanity, so to speak, left a portion of its brothers behind on its path in order to ascend higher itself. This process was by no means complete. Even among those humans with a dull spiritual life, those who stood somewhat higher could only progress by being drawn into fellowship with higher beings and separating themselves from those less imbued with spirit. Only in this way could they develop bodies that were then capable of receiving the entire human spirit. Only after a certain time had passed was physical development advanced enough that a sort of standstill set in along these lines, in that everything above a certain threshold remained within the human realm. Meanwhile, conditions on Earth had changed to such an extent that any further descent would have resulted not in animal-like creatures, but in beings that were no longer capable of life at all. However, what did descend into the animal realm has either become extinct or lives on in various higher animals. These animals, therefore, must be regarded as beings that were forced to remain at an earlier stage of human evolution. However, they have not retained the same form they had at the time of their separation, but have regressed from a higher to a lower stage. Thus, the apes are degenerate humans from a bygone era. Just as human beings were once less perfect than they are today, so too were the apes once more perfect than they are today. — But what has remained within the realm of humanity has undergone a similar process, only within that same realm. Even among some primitive peoples, we see the degenerate descendants of human forms that were once more advanced. They did not sink to the level of animality, but only to a state of savagery.

[ 12 ] The immortal part of the human being is the spirit. It has been shown when the spirit entered the body. Before that, the spirit belonged to other realms. It was only able to unite with the body once the body had reached a certain stage of development. Only when one fully understands how this union came about can one gain insight into the meaning of birth and death, as well as recognize the nature of the eternal spirit.