The Rudolf Steiner Archive

77. The Origin of the World and of Man from a Theosophical Perspective

[ 1 ] A large audience, drawn from all walks of life, had gathered on Friday evening in the main hall of the Aubette to hear Mr. Rudolf Steiner, Secretary-General of the Theosophical Society in Berlin, present the theory of the origin of the universe and humanity from a theosophical perspective. As a starting point, he pointed out that, in view of the truly bewildering diversity and variety of phenomena, human beings are naturally led to seek the intimate bond that connects them and, in this way, logically arrive at the idea of evolution. Just as the natural sciences have derived an entire system from this, so too has Theosophy adopted the theory of evolution. However, while natural scientists see and study only the material, external aspect of nature, theosophists strive for knowledge of spiritual entities—the spiritualization of the findings of natural science. Theosophy is therefore not in direct opposition to the natural sciences; rather, it seeks to complement them.

[ 2 ] Theosophy is, to be precise, the science of God; but since God is incomprehensible, one must forgo any theoretical understanding of God. Theosophy is, in truth, the doctrine of the presumed divine seed within human beings; it does not view the world with the physical eyes, but with the eyes of the spirit; and just as a blind person, who has regained sight through surgery, is astonished by the appearance of objects that he had previously known only through hearing, touch, and so on, so too does theosophy recognize new qualities and characteristics in things … Here, the speaker supported his thesis with numerous quotations borrowed from famous natural scientists and philosophers, such as Leibniz.

[ 3 ] As for the origin of the universe, the natural sciences have provided us with very convincing explanations. It has been able to provide us, with unshakable certainty, with data on the geographical and climatic conditions of the world, on flora and fauna, and on the anatomical constitution and life of human beings in the most distant epochs; but it has ignored the soul and spiritual life. This is where the task of theosophy begins. The means it employs to acquire theoretical knowledge are these three states of consciousness: the waking state, the dream state, and the sleeping state. The speaker demonstrates that the three states of consciousness correspond to the three phases of spiritual evolution.

[ 4 ] The state in which we currently find ourselves is the waking state. In the past, we were in a state of sleep, a state of vague indeterminacy, in which humans perceived only images that they could not combine and from which they could not form any ideas—so incapable were they of reasoning, so unaware of their own intelligence as they were. Naturalists found skeletons with flattened skulls to be characteristic of the people of that period—an indication of the low level at which the intellect stood at that time. But matter was still malleable back then, and through the perception of images, people came to modify the limbs of their bodies. It was thus visual consciousness that constituted the life force of humans during that period: the art of combining and understanding was subsequently achieved through natural forces. Through evolution, we have thus arrived at our current state of wakefulness.

[ 5 ] In the state of consciousness in which humans once found themselves—a state corresponding to dreamless sleep—they could not even produce images. They had only a auditory conception of the world. The beings of that time were in a “state of inspiration.” Even today, there are people who possess this inspiration: This was the case with Goethe (for example). The only cerebral capacity humans possessed at that time was the will.

[ 6 ] Before this period, the universe was without a soul. The souls came from a higher world, from which they were taken by God, who also prepared the bodies to receive them. All bodies are animated: the sun, the earth, and so on. The earth, for example, is animated by the soul of the sun.

[ 7 ] Thus, at the time of the world’s creation, the Spirit was the sole agent and the sole producer; even today, it remains the sole creative force and driving force in nature.

[ 8 ] We regret that we can only provide a brief summary here of Mr. Steiner’s interesting lecture. In our opinion, it is particularly unfortunate that we cannot convey here the tone of deep conviction and the honesty of an apostle that permeated the speech. Mr. Steiner concluded his interesting remarks by expressing the hope that the day would one day come when the theosophical idea would be accepted by the whole world.

[ 9 ] The audience, which had listened with keen interest to Mr. Steiner’s fascinating lecture, expressed its satisfaction at the end of the session with warm applause.