Awareness - Life - Form
GA 89
17 October 1904
Translated by Steiner Online Library
Planetary Development I
[ 1 ] We must take into account that the microcosm stands in a certain relationship to the macrocosm. As human beings appear to us today, they are a kind of two-fold being: outwardly, body and soul; and inwardly, they have been developing the spirit since the middle of the Lemurian epoch. The soul and the body are sheaths of the spirit, which is in the process of development. Little by little, human beings will become more and more spirit. The soul acts as the mediator between the physical and the spiritual. Without the current spiritual human being being able to contribute to its construction, hosts of sublime beings have built this physical-soul organism. It is constructed in a most wise manner. Even the most sophisticated camera would be child’s play compared to the wisdom-filled structure of the eye, or the construction of a piano compared to the wisdom-filled structure of the ear. The skeletal system is arranged in the most wisdom-filled way. Each bone is composed of countless small beams that support one another. Such wisdom is far deeper than all the wisdom humanity has achieved in its external creations. How, then, does humanity appear to us in its duality? In terms of its physical forms, as a perfected structure; in terms of its spirit, as the beginning of a gradual development.
[ 2 ] Two groups of exalted world-builders are at work on humankind. They gradually take turns in their work. The fundamental quality of these two groups is wisdom. One group of these wise world-builders actually relinquished their duties back then, in the middle of the Lemurian era, when humankind began to develop its spirit, handing them over to those who now help humankind guide its spirit through the incarnations. These wise world-builders, who constructed humankind as a microcosm, have also evolved in their own right, for everything is in a state of evolution. They learned their task on the [ancient] Moon and attained the highest degree of development possible there, which enabled them to undertake the construction of the body on Earth. During the middle of the Lemurian era, the next higher quality developed within them: love. Their Manas was perfected on the Moon; now they ascended to Budhi. Love is the outer, macrocosmic form of Budhi. They had learned everything there was to learn on the Moon; therefore, they were qualified to construct the marvelous edifices of the microcosm. In the middle of the Lemurian era, they developed their Budhi, just as they had previously developed their Manas on the Moon. From that time onward, the human race is no longer built from the outside by wisdom, but is guided further by love. Refinement through love is the new task that the macrocosmic beings have taken on. However, any higher development can only be achieved if other beings are left behind. A host of beings had been left behind in their development on the Moon. These entered the phase of Earth’s development in a latent state and were only now able to develop further within the individual Manas. They were able to emerge only very gradually. These beings are those who, in esoteric terms, are referred to as the “wise beings” of the Luciferic principle. These beings are now intervening more and more. As the guide of the human intellect, Lucifer is now intervening, while the other group serves as the guides of love.
[ 3 ] Let us imagine the next stage of planetary evolution: Jupiter. By then, everything mineral will have disappeared; it will have been absorbed. Wisdom will have been completely transformed into love. The result will be—because the macrocosm is love—that the astral body will then be able to reach its highest stage of development. The plant kingdom will then be the lowest, and human beings will have such a soft astral body that the astral will be formative; it will be a law of nature. Karma will then be over, and love will have a real existence. The result will be that everything a person feels will also find immediate expression in the plastic world. A person will be an imprint of their karmic account. One will then recognize what karma they carry with them. Love will have immediate existence, just as the law of nature does now. Thus, on this fifth stage, Budhi comes to expression.
[ 4 ] At the sixth stage, the macrocosmic Atma will come into expression. The Divine Self will be directly present, expressing itself through manasic matter ... [gap in the records].
[ 5 ] Today, the Word is possible only in a physical sense, as the spoken word. In the sixth stage, the Word will flood directly through the world; it will be a being of sound. Then humanity will have become sound. This is also what the author of the Gospel of John means by “Logos.” And just as, for everything that is to be in the future, something develops in advance to take the lead, so now, in Christ, the Word has become flesh. In the sixth stage, however, humanity will be the Word made sound.
[ 6 ] If we are to understand the role of the principle of spiritual evolution, we must examine a significant event that took place during the time of the Atlantean root race. Those who were originally [wise] spiritual beings now appeared as the rebels, the insurgents, who now sought to win their independence. The Suras became Asuras; until that point, they had been latent on Earth. These are the very forces that represent the intellectual and spiritual aspects of humanity in the present epoch.
[ 7 ] There are two copies of this document, one in the Vatican, and a transcript of it is in the possession of the most enlightened Christian in the Western world: the Count of $t. Germain.
[ 8 ] This is the nature of Lucifer as it was understood by Christianity in the early centuries. It was only gradually that Lucifer came to be seen as a kind of enemy in the Christian tradition. Originally, he was regarded as a friend to humankind.
[ 9 ] Evolution, then, consists in the fact that the currents in the universe do not develop at the same speed. Some must lead the way, while others must follow behind. This lag in evolutionary currents gives rise to conflicting interests in the world. This is an important occult law. Theosophical writings have described certain evolutions as descending and ascending. We have seven planets, each with seven cycles of seven states of form, for a total of 343 states. When we reach the halfway point, this corresponds roughly to the middle of the Atlantean era. The ascent thus begins with the intervention of the Luciferic principle. During the descent, development is in a state of delay; during the ascent, it accelerates. This accelerated development, however, does not apply to the entire physical plane, but to individual beings. The Lords of Wisdom had initially been in a state of ascending development. The middle of the Atlantean era marked a high point for them. With regard to love, they are at the beginning; they are chiseling love into the macrocosm, but they are on a descending trajectory and in a state of delay. The Lords of the Luciferic Principle are in their ascending development; therefore, intellectuality increases very rapidly, whereas refinement through love proceeds very slowly. Example: The piano builder who builds a piano with the greatest love has no place in the concert hall; it is the perfect piano virtuoso who must enter the concert hall. If the former were to try to hammer away in the concert hall with the same love, disharmony would ensue.
[ 10 ] Thus, two currents must always interlock. The interaction of two currents that are in themselves perfect gives rise to relative evil. Jesus says: Why do you call me good? No one is good except the Father. — Nothing in the world is good, only the Primordial Principle, the Father. Thus, the Atma-Buddhic divine attributes take shape on a macrocosmic level among the hosts of world-rulers.