The Rudolf Steiner Archive

6. The Three Worlds

[ 1 ] Ladies and gentlemen! When one looks at a cloud—or indeed at the cloudy sky—one has no idea that in the very next moment, lightning will flash from the cloud and thunder will roll. Lightning and thunder are phenomena hidden within the cloud. — This is a metaphor for the things around us; there, too, much is hidden that can be awakened from its slumber.

[ 2 ] I will now attempt to characterize this hidden realm. It is what is referred to in theosophy as the three worlds. These three worlds are not separate from one another, but rather they rest within one another; they exist within this world of ours, but they emerge only under special circumstances. The physical world is visible, audible, and tangible to the average person, and so on. The other two worlds lie hidden within the physical world; however, they can be brought to the surface.

[ 3 ] A commonly used analogy can help us understand what this means. Let’s imagine a person born blind whose eyes have been opened and who can now see. Until now, he has felt his way around; now he has undergone surgery and can see. The same objects, whose characteristics he could previously explore only by touch, now take on luster and color now that his eyes have been opened to the light. It is in this sense that we speak of higher worlds. They are there, but the higher sense—the spiritual eyes—must first be opened to a person before they become accessible to him.

[ 4 ] Another comparison that has been cited here many times: Two naturalists were observing three Moluccan crabs in an aquarium. One had fallen onto its back and had become so unfortunately trapped under an iron bar that it was unable to free itself. The other two crabs tried in vain to help their companion back onto his legs. After trying for a long time without success, they walked away. The naturalists waited to see what would happen next. After some time, the crabs returned, bringing two more brothers with them. The four of them then managed, by joining forces, to get the crab back on his legs.

[ 5 ] I am not telling this story to provide an example of mutual aid in the animal kingdom, although it does bear beautiful witness to it. It is meant to lead us to a different line of thought. Suppose the naturalists had lost patience, reached into the water, and turned the crab right side up again; and then imagine the crabs endowed with human intelligence—the following scenario might unfold. The crab community would deliberate on this remarkable case. First would come the crab orthodox, the conservatives; they would say: A miracle has occurred. - Then would come the crab monists, the materialists; they would say: “There are only crab forces; no other forces exist; higher intervention is impossible.” — They would have to leave the case unexplained. Third would come the cancer theosophists; they would say: “No, there are no miracles; everything is based on natural laws; but there is also a higher order of natural laws that transcends the ordinary comprehension of cancer. We theosophists extend these natural laws into higher realms beyond ordinary comprehension.”

[ 6 ] Let us now consider what it depends on to perceive these supersensible things. All our senses are active and serve to help us perceive the things around us. But we also become aware that the senses diminish, fade away, and then the ability to perceive ceases; yet life does not end there. It is therefore possible to live in the world without perceiving. Whether we perceive things or not, then, depends on whether we possess the senses necessary for perception. That said, it is not unreasonable to suppose that we live in countless worlds for which our senses have not yet been awakened.

[ 7 ] This, in fact, is the essence of the Theosophical Movement: that human beings may be awakened to these higher senses. Some people become agitated when one speaks to them about supernatural things. They cannot conceive that one can truly gain insight into these matters, that not everything said about them is based on hypothesis. But they fail to consider that there are many things around us that pass us by unnoticed because we do not recognize them.

[ 8 ] Here’s an example: A famous singer was invited to an elegant gathering; she arrived late—as is sometimes the case with famous people. A seat had been reserved for her between two gentlemen; one was Mendelsohn, whom she knew and with whom she conversed animatedly. The gentleman on her other side, in his polite, modest manner, tried several times to draw her into the conversation; but she didn’t like him and asked Mendelsohn quietly, “Who is that silly fellow?” “The famous philosopher Hegel,” was the reply. —- Had she known beforehand that she would meet Hegel there, she would have done everything in her power to strike up a conversation with him. Now she had been sitting right next to him—and hadn’t recognized him.

[ 9 ] Isn’t it possible that someone endowed with superior abilities might simply be seen by many people as “that stupid guy”? Let’s think for a moment about Jesus Christ; now, after all that the Church and the passage of time have made of him, it’s probably easy to recognize him. But imagine if he were to walk into this hall today. Who would recognize him then?

[ 10 ] Therefore, we must acknowledge the possibility that there may be people who are endowed with senses beyond the ordinary, without the average person being aware of it. Such a person is referred to as “someone with a higher state of consciousness.”

[ 11 ] In fact, every person lives in these different states of consciousness. We must realize that human beings truly live in different states of consciousness. First: in the physical world during the day, where, in a normal state, they have waking daytime consciousness. Second: the dream-filled state of sleep. It is not uninteresting to study dream experiences. If one pays even a little attention to them, one will find a certain regularity in the dream images. Dreams are symbolic. Dream experiences show that we are dealing with rudiments of waking consciousness.

[ 12 ] I would like to illustrate this with a few examples, which, like all the examples I cite, are based on real experiences. Someone dreams that he has caught a tree frog; he vividly relives the entire chase until he is holding it in his hand. With the sensation of something soft and slippery in his hand, he wakes up and realizes—that he was holding a corner of his comforter. — His dream consciousness had symbolized the soft mass of the comforter and transformed it into a tree frog.

[ 13 ] The dream is also a playwright. Example: A woman dreams she is in church; the preacher is delivering an uplifting sermon, and gradually his raised hands transform into wings—she finds this perfectly natural in the dream—then his sublime speech turns into a crowing, and outside the rooster crows. - Schubert described how the dream is both a symbolist and a dramatist in “Die Nachtseite der Natur” (The Night Side of Nature), drawing from the hidden side of human nature. Heinrich von Kleist received much inspiration from him on this subject.

[ 14 ] Third: the state of consciousness known as dreamless, unconscious sleep. Everyone will admit that a person exists even when lying unconscious in sleep, that he does not cease to exist in the evening only to come into being again in the morning. And yet his consciousness perceives nothing of what is happening around him. These three states of consciousness undergo a fundamental change when a person undergoes a soul and spiritual development. Then the divine human within him is awakened. He learns to perceive soul processes. With the assistance of higher, more perfect human beings, soul organs develop within him that transform the first two states of consciousness described above, so that he no longer merely perceives fleeting images, but a new world opens up to him, speaking to him through symbols. It is not enough for a person to be conscious only in dreams; they now also learn to bring dream consciousness into waking consciousness, and through this, everything irregular will be brought into order. The confused dreams gradually become clear symbols. With guidance, one also learns to understand these symbols. Something real may well occur as well. It may happen, for example, that a student dreams of something ugly connected to a particular friend, which moves him; he then learns that the friend has fallen gravely ill. A real situation has found expression in the ugly dream.

[ 15 ] Thus, a new world gradually opens up to the dreamer, and he learns to incorporate this spiritual world into the ordinary world. He also perceives the spiritual aspect of his fellow human beings. He even perceives spiritual and soul entities that he would not normally have seen.

[ 16 ] The world that is newly opening up to humankind is the “astral” world. Just as lightning and thunder burst forth from a cloud, so do things emerge when the astral senses are awakened. Why is this world called the astral world? Those who understand only one-sixteenth of it have found much to quibble about in the name. The people who have always been Theosophists—the ancient mystics—have used this name for good reason. What is the astral world? It is an expression of the spiritual world.

[ 17 ] The physical aspects of myself—my bones, muscles, and skin—make up the physical body. The spiritual aspects of myself—my instincts, passions, and desires—are just as present as my hand and my head. These [spiritual qualities] make up the astral body.

[ 18 ] A person stands before me. I see his form, his hair, his face, his skin; but just as real as this visible person are his desires and longings, instincts and passions—they, too, are before me; they are as real to the astral world as the visible body is to the physical world. Some have suggested calling it the “instinctual body,” but that is no better; it could lead to the erroneous view of the materialists, who believe that instincts originate from the physical body. Before a human being was born, the human soul was already there, having incarnated into the body. The drives, instincts, passions, and so on were already there, and it is they who have shaped the physical body. Thus, we can give a very definite answer to the question of where the physical body comes from.

[ 19 ] Let’s imagine a glass of water with a piece of ice floating in it. Ice is water. It was formed from water through cooling. That’s roughly how we can picture the process. The astral realm relates to the physical realm just as water relates to ice. Ice is condensed water. The physical is the condensed astral substance. This is the relationship between the body of desire and the physical body. Just as water crystallizes into snowflakes, so too have all worlds come into being through processes of crystallization. In the same way, our visible world has emerged from the astral. Goethe was familiar with this process and tells us about it in the words spoken by the Spirit of the World:

In the torrents of life, in the storm of deeds
I surge back and forth,
Weave to and fro,
Birth and grave,
An eternal sea,
A shifting weave,
A glowing life.
Thus, at the whirling loom of time,
I weave a living garment for the Deity!

[ 20 ] Just as our Earth arose from and consists of the astral substance that surrounds it, so too do the astral substance and the other substances consist of the same materials as the entire stellar world. The physical matter of the Earth is related to the physical matter of the stellar world, the astral matter to the astral matter of the same, and so on. Astral matter permeates everything. Minerals contain forces and substances. Plants, too, possess substances and forces—and life. Animals perceive and feel, but mostly unconsciously. Finally, human beings, who still have the animal within them, consciously bring it under their control and thereby rise above the animal. They are, as it were, a synthesis of all the physical kingdoms and contain the essence of all of them within themselves.

[ 21 ] Materialists claim that instincts originated from the physical realm. Theosophy asserts the opposite. Our desire body is related to the world of desire that surrounds us.

[ 22 ] Third, dreamless consciousness: Human consciousness develops higher and higher. Then, emerging from the dark night, there appears not only dream consciousness, but also something new that cannot be compared to visual images. It speaks to human beings, as it were, in tones. This sound of the higher spiritual world was well known to the Pythagoreans; they called it “the harmony of the spheres” or “sphere music.” Goethe also tells us about it in his *Faust*. The “Prologue in Heaven” leads us into this third world. What Goethe presents to us there is not merely a poetic image, but reality. — There the archangel Raphael sings:

The sun resounds in the ancient way
A contest of song in the spheres of the brothers,
And its prescribed journey
It completes with a thunderous roar.

[ 23 ] What resounds there is not the physical sun. This physical sun is merely the body of the solar spirit. This “resounding” is perceived by more highly developed human beings. It “resounds” up to him from the dark depths of sleep. This is what Goethe means when he says “the sun resounds.” He sticks with this image. In the second part of *Faust*, it says:

Resounding to the ears of the spirit
The new day dawns beautifully:;

[ 24 ] This third world is the mental world, the spiritual world. In its true state, it can be perceived through proper concentration. Once a person has reached this level, they know that a mere thought is something real. Heaven—Devachan—can be conjured into being.

[ 25 ] This state is called the continuity of consciousness. When the ear is attuned to these sounds, the true spiritual world—the world of the spirit—opens up to the human being. Just as a person is a plant, an animal, and a mineral, so too is he astral and mental; it is possible for him to live entirely within himself, in the spirit.

[ 26 ] Human beings live in the three worlds. During the day, they live in physical consciousness. At night, while asleep, they initially perceive nothing of what is perceptible to their senses. Why is it that human beings are unconscious during sleep? There is a very specific reason for this. Human beings divide their being. During the day, they draw upon the forces of the physical and etheric bodies. The forces for waking daytime consciousness are drawn from these two bodies. These forces must be renewed; this takes place during sleep, when the true self uses its astral and mental bodies and their forces to work on the physical body.

[ 27 ] A person who wishes to evolve to a higher level must acquire specific moral qualities, through which he can render the work of the astral and mental bodies unnecessary.

[ 28 ] How can a person make this possible? By embarking on the “Chela Path,” which has already been discussed at length here. The qualities necessary as preparation for this path have, of course, been discussed here many times. The first main condition is control of the thoughts; one must not let them wander aimlessly; then there is control of the passions and desires, great serenity, and so on. Once all this has been attained, after years of practice, what then occurs?

[ 29 ] A sense of calm, well-being, and inner health descends upon the physical and astral lives, and as a result, the astral and mental forces are relieved of their work during sleep; they no longer have as much work to do on him. These unused powers are now employed to draw out hidden abilities within the human being and to develop clairvoyant organs, thereby forming the “eyes of the soul.” These organs are called “lotus blossoms” or “chakras”; they are described in detail in *Lucifer—Gnosis*. With these organs, the astral world can be perceived.

[ 30 ] Thus, a person develops through virtues, especially through calmness and serenity. Once these have been attained, the person may use the energies thus freed up to develop the higher faculties. Anyone who attempts to develop these higher faculties without these virtues deprives the physical body of the forces it still needs. The result is that the person becomes nervous, and indeed, mentally and spiritually ill. In this way, a person can open themselves to the two higher worlds. Astral matter is subtle, more subtle than air. In astral light, it appears as the human aura. It is a radiance that extends one and a half times the length of the head. This aura, in various shades of color, reflects the character of a person’s innermost being. What strikes the newcomer to the astral plane as most strange and shocking is that everything there is read as if in a mirror image. Above all, they see there the mirror image of themselves, which seems to be coming toward them, while in reality it emanates from them. If, for example, one sees the number 164, one must read it as 461.

[ 31 ] Even the way time unfolds there proceeds in the opposite direction. One must first learn to find one’s bearings in the other world. It is very important to know that passions manifest there in an ugly, demonic form; one’s own passions pounce upon the clairvoyant as demonic figures—in a mirror image.

[ 32 ] That is how one comes to know oneself. Those who have experience in this area and have familiarized themselves with the context beforehand know how to correctly assess this phenomenon and deal with it. Some who have attained the ability to see in a pathological way—without having undergone proper training, but having burst into the astral realm unprepared—describe it this way. This stems from materialism. Theosophy is quite serious. It can only confuse those who approach it without understanding. But for those who look deeper into it, Theosophy promotes spiritual health. Materialism, on the other hand, has a sickening effect. If the religious nature that lies dormant in every human being is not satisfied, it eventually breaks through into the brain; the brain does not understand it and becomes ill. The higher worlds break in upon the person, and he does not understand them. This is the essence of mental illness.

[ 33 ] The “resonant” one is then the Third World.

[ 34 ] Human beings live in these three worlds one after the other. After ending their life here in the physical world, they shed their physical body, and then their etheric body as well; what remains at first is the astral body, in which they now live. They truly live in the astral realm. When we say we live in this or that, we mean that we share something in common with the world around us—a sense of community. — Now, one thing in particular ceases to exist. Even during sleep, the astral body is separated from the physical and etheric bodies, but they are still connected by a magnetic bond. That bond now breaks. The human being becomes aware of this. It is a very peculiar state of consciousness that confronts him. He is accustomed to perceiving and doing everything through the senses; for example, he is accustomed to enjoying food and savoring its taste through the palate; the longing for pleasure remains with him; he must first get used to doing without these pleasures.

[ 35 ] This occurs in all the senses. It occurs through this deprivation of the senses. Through this deprivation of the senses, two states assert themselves intensely. First, a burning thirst that arises from the inability to satisfy desire. This feels like a kind of fire—the Catholic purgatory. He must first wean himself from his desires. The other concerns action. He is accustomed to acting; but he lacks the hand to act, the foot to walk, and so on. This feeling of helplessness brings about a state of coldness. This state is called Kamaloka, the place of desires. It is brought about by the desires within a person that are still active and find no satisfaction. It is the state of weaning oneself off these desires.

[ 36 ] If a person has already become accustomed to living in the spirit during their lifetime, then breaking this habit will not be difficult for them. Jesus Christ says: “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” (Luke 17:21), so that a person can already live here in the spirit, in the third, mental world, in Devachan. If, after death, they have passed through Kamaloka, they arrive in Devachan. This is the state in which the divine human being truly lives in their element. When they are no longer attached to the lower realm, their own divine Self revives within their inner being.

[ 37 ] I have now shown how, by developing the higher senses, human beings can immerse themselves in the two hidden worlds, which are hidden only to the same extent that colors and light are hidden from those born blind.

[ 38 ] The time has not yet come for everyone to walk this hidden path of knowledge. But people must hear about the higher worlds, become familiar with them, seek to grasp them with their intellect, and allow themselves to be told about them. That is the first step toward eventually entering them. Human beings should form their own concepts; they are self-creating beings.

[ 39 ] We are living in a significant time, when great spiritual and mental movements are taking place. Much is now being publicly revealed about supernatural phenomena that were once kept secret. Then some people come along and say: “Yes, you’re telling us all sorts of things; and we’re supposed to believe you.” — Once, a certain person in Berlin literally flew into a rage. To this person I said: “You don’t have to believe me at all. I couldn’t care less what you think of me. If I draw you a map of Asia Minor and sketch the outlines on it, marking the rivers with lines and the cities with dots, you might say: ‘What kind of nonsense are you feeding me? That’s not what Asia Minor looks like.’ — No, it doesn’t look like that; but if you travel there, you’ll see that the drawing was correct. — That is how it is with the sketch I have drawn for you of the supersensible worlds. For now, you are welcome to consider me a fraud who is pulling the wool over your eyes, but—listen!—after death, everyone will be in a position to apply what they are now learning.

[ 40 ] But culture, too, will soon blossom in ways that will be understandable only to those who have some understanding of the occult. It is therefore advisable to listen calmly and to process what you hear within yourself. For those who can do this without inner conflict, life will open up in an entirely new way; they will learn to understand it in ways they never imagined.

[ 41 ] Thus one struggles upward toward knowledge, toward that which never passes away, toward the realm of the heavens. We evolve higher and higher, beginning with the three worlds. The first stage is the physical, the second the astral, and the third the mental, the spiritual. The first stage consists of the human being turning from the transitory to the imperishable. The astral life of the emotions and desires turns either downward toward the transitory or upward toward the imperishable; it has two sides. The third world, the spiritual world, encompasses what the human being recognizes as his or her own spiritual being.