The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Extrusion of the Moon

[ 1 ] One must be fully aware that human beings only later took on the dense material form that they now call their own, and that this happened only very gradually. If one wishes to form a conception of human physicality at the stage of development now under discussion, the best way to do so is to imagine it as something similar to water vapor or a cloud floating in the air. However, this image is, of course, one that approaches reality only externally. For the fiery cloud called “human” is internally animated and organized. In relation to what the human being later became, however, one must still imagine him at this stage as spiritually slumbering, with a consciousness that is still quite dim. Everything that can be called intelligence, intellect, or reason is still lacking in this being. It moves—more by floating than by walking—forward, sideways, backward, and in all directions via four limb-like organs. Incidentally, quite a bit has already been said about the soul of these beings.

[ 2 ] But one must not think that the movements or other expressions of life of these beings were irrational or haphazard. Rather, they were entirely governed by laws. Everything that happened had meaning and significance. It was just that the guiding power—the intellect—was not within the beings themselves. Rather, they were directed by an intellect that existed outside of themselves. Beings higher and more mature than themselves, as it were, hovered around them and guided them. For this is the essential characteristic of the fire nebula: that human beings at their current stage of existence could incarnate within it, while at the same time higher beings could also take on physical form there and thus interact fully with the humans. Human beings had developed their drives, instincts, and passions to such a degree that these could take shape within the fire nebula. The other beings mentioned, however, were able to create within this fire nebula through their reason and their intelligent guidance. These latter beings possessed even higher abilities through which they reached into higher regions. Their decisions and impulses originated in these regions; but the actual effects of these decisions manifested in the fire nebula. Everything that took place on Earth through human beings arose from the orderly interaction of the human fire-mist body with that of these higher beings. — One can therefore say that human beings were striving upward. They were to develop, within the fire-mist and in the human sense, higher qualities than they had possessed before. The other beings, however, were striving downward toward the material. They were on the path to bringing their creative powers into existence in ever denser and denser material forms. For them, this by no means constitutes a degradation in the broader sense. One must be absolutely clear about this point. It is a higher power and ability to direct denser forms of matter than thinner ones. These higher beings, too, had in earlier periods of their development a similarly limited power to that of humans today. Like humans in the present, they, too, once had power only over what took place “within themselves.” And the coarse, external matter did not obey them. Now they were striving toward a state in which they would be able to magically direct and guide external things. They were thus ahead of human beings during the period described. Human beings were striving upward to first embody the intellect in finer forms of matter so that it might later exert its influence outward; these beings had already embodied the intellect earlier and were now receiving magical power to integrate the intellect into the world surrounding them. Humanity thus moved upward through the stage of fiery mists, while they penetrated through this very stage downward to expand their power.

[ 3 ] In the fire mist, the forces that human beings recognize as their lower passions or instinctual drives can be particularly effective. Both human beings themselves and the higher beings make use of these forces on the fire mist level described above. These forces act upon the human form described above—and specifically within it—in such a way that human beings can develop the organs that then enable them to think, that is, to develop their personality. In the higher beings, however, these forces act at this stage in such a way that these beings can make use of them to create the structures of the Earth in an impersonal manner. Through this, these beings bring about formations on Earth that are themselves a reflection of the laws of reason. Thus, in human beings, the personal organs of reason arise through the action of the forces of passion; all around them, organizations imbued with reason are formed by the same forces.

[ 4 ] And now let us imagine this process having advanced a little further; or rather, let us visualize what is recorded in the Akashic Records when we consider a somewhat later point in time. By then, the Moon had separated from the Earth. This brought about a great upheaval. A great deal of heat has departed from the things surrounding human beings. As a result, these things have transformed into coarser, denser matter. Human beings must live in this cooled-down environment. They can do so only by altering their own physical nature. This densification of matter, however, is simultaneously accompanied by a change in form. For the state of the fiery mist on Earth has itself given way to something entirely different. The consequence of this is that the higher beings described no longer have the fiery mist as the medium through which they act. They can therefore no longer exert their influence on those expressions of human soul life that were previously their main sphere of activity. But they have gained power over the human forms that they themselves had previously created out of the fiery mist. — This change in their mode of action goes hand in hand with a transformation of the human form. This transformation has converted one half of the body—with its two locomotive organs—into the lower half, which has thereby become primarily the seat of nutrition and reproduction. The other half was, as it were, turned upward. The two other locomotive organs have become the rudiments of hands. And those organs that previously served nutrition and reproduction are transforming into organs of speech and thought. Human beings have risen to an upright posture. This is the direct consequence of the Moon’s departure. And along with the Moon, all those forces have vanished from the Earth’s body through which, during the Fire-Mist period, human beings could still self-fertilize and produce beings of their own kind without external influence. Their entire lower half—what is often called the lower nature—has now come under the intellectually shaping influence of the higher beings. What these beings were previously able to regulate within the human being himself—when the mass of power now separated into the Moon was still united with the Earth—they must now organize through the interaction of the two sexes. From this it is understandable that the Moon is regarded by the initiates as the symbol of the reproductive power. These forces, so to speak, are attached to it. And the higher beings described here have a kinship with the Moon; they are, so to speak, moon gods. Before the Moon’s separation, they worked through its power within human beings; afterward, their forces acted from the outside upon human procreation. One could also say that those noble spiritual forces, which previously acted through the medium of the fire-mist upon the even higher drives of human beings, have now descended to unfold their power in the realm of procreation. In fact, noble divine forces act in this realm in a regulating and organizing manner. — And this expresses an important principle of the Esoteric Doctrine, which reads as follows: The higher, noble divine forces are related to the — seemingly — lower forces of human nature. The word “seemingly” must be understood here in its full significance. For it would be a complete misunderstanding of occult truths to view the forces of reproduction as something base in and of themselves. Only when a person abuses these forces, when he forces them into the service of his passions and instincts, do these forces contain something corrupting; but not when he ennobles them through the insight that divine spiritual power lies within them. Then he will place these forces in the service of Earth’s evolution and carry out the intentions of the higher beings described above through his reproductive forces. The ennoblement of this entire realm and its subjection to divine laws is what the secret science teaches, not its destruction. The latter can only be the consequence of occult principles understood superficially and distorted into a misguided asceticism.

[ 5 ] It is evident that in the second, upper half, human beings have developed in a way over which the higher beings described have no influence. Other beings are now gaining power over this half. These are the beings who, in earlier stages of development, had indeed progressed further than human beings, but not yet as far as the Moon gods. They were not yet able to exert any power in the fire-nebula. But now that a later stage has been reached—where something has been formed in the human organs of the intellect through the fire-nebula, something they themselves had faced in an earlier time—now their time has come. The Moon Gods had already attained the outwardly active and organizing intellect at an earlier stage. This intellect was present within them when the epoch of the Fire Nebula began. They were able to act outwardly upon the things of the Earth. The beings just discussed had not, in earlier times, progressed to the development of such an outwardly active intellect. Therefore, the Fire Nebula epoch caught them unprepared. But now this intellect is present. It exists within human beings. And they are now taking possession of this human intellect in order to act through it upon the things of the Earth. Just as the Moon Gods previously acted upon the entire human being, so now they act only upon his lower half; upon the upper half, however, the influence of the aforementioned lower beings acts. Thus, the human being comes under a dual guidance. In his lower part, he is under the power of the Moon gods; but in his developed personality, he comes under the guidance of those beings who are collectively referred to as “Luzifer”— as their ruler. The Luciferic gods thus complete their own evolution by making use of the awakened powers of human reason. They had not yet been able to reach this stage in the past. In doing so, however, they simultaneously endow human beings with the potential for freedom—the ability to distinguish between “good” and “evil.” Under the guidance of the lunar gods alone, the human intellectual faculty is indeed formed, but these gods would have allowed this faculty to remain dormant; they had no interest in making use of it. After all, they possessed their own intellectual faculties. The Luciferic beings, for their own sake, had an interest in developing the human intellect and directing it toward earthly matters. In this way, they became, for human beings, the teachers of all that can be accomplished through the human intellect. But they could be nothing more than inspirers. After all, they could not within themselves, but only within human beings develop the intellect. This gave rise to a twofold direction of activity on Earth. One emanated directly from the lunar deities and was, from the very beginning, a rational activity governed by law. The lunar deities had, after all, already completed their period of apprenticeship; they were now beyond the possibility of error. The Luciferic deities, however, who worked with human beings, first had to work their way toward such clarity. Under their guidance, human beings had to learn to discover the laws of their own being. Under Lucifer’s guidance, they had to become, themselves, “one of the gods.”

[ 6 ] The question naturally arises: if the Luciferic beings did not progress in their evolution to the stage of intellect-filled creation in the Fire Nebula, where did they come to a standstill? Up to what stage of earthly evolution did their capacity extend, enabling them to work together with the Moon Gods? The Akashic Records provide insight into this. They were able to participate in earthly creation up to the point when the Sun separated from the Earth. It appears that, up to that time, they performed somewhat less work than the Moon gods; yet they still belonged to the host of divine creators. After the separation of the Earth and the Sun, an activity began on the former—namely, the work within the fiery nebula—for which the Moon gods, though not the Luciferic spirits, were prepared. For them, therefore, a period of stagnation and waiting began. When, after the general fiery mist had subsided, human beings began to work on the development of their intellectual faculties, the Luciferic spirits were able to emerge once more from their state of rest. For the creation of the intellect is related to the activity of the Sun. The dawning of the intellect in human nature is the shining forth of an inner sun. This is meant not only figuratively but in the very real sense. Thus, these spirits found an opportunity within the human being to resume their activity connected with the Sun once the epoch of the fiery mist had receded from the Earth.

[ 7 ] This now also explains the origin of the name Lucifer—which means “bearer of light”—and why these beings are referred to as “sun gods” in esoteric science.

[ 8 ] Everything else can only be understood by looking back at the periods that preceded the Earth’s development. This will be done in the subsequent installments of the “Akashic Records.” There, we will see what kind of evolution the beings connected to Earth underwent on other planets before they came to Earth. And we will gain an even deeper understanding of the nature of the “moon gods” and “sun gods.” At the same time, the evolution of the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms will become completely clear.