Awareness - Life - Form
GA 89
1 November 1904
Translated by Steiner Online Library
Planetary Development VII
[ 1 ] We have examined what takes effect in human beings on the physical plane. The trend in the development of the globe is directed toward the physical plane. Human beings, who are currently at the mineral stage, must first have existed in previous states in order to prepare for their existence on the physical plane. In every field or plane, one must consider the specific aspect that is relevant. What we are now considering is the actual human being.
[ 2 ] In the seven successive states of the first planet (Saturn), human beings are very imperfect beings, a sort of mulberry-shaped sphere, a form that is constantly evolving. First planet: The sinking of consciousness into the abyss. Also involved in human evolution are beings who had already undergone earlier stages of development and were already dhyanic entities at the beginning of this Earth’s evolution—a state that humans will not attain until the end of the 343 stages or phases. These entities had acquired all manner of powers.
[ 3 ] Human beings absorb from the mineral kingdom during the first half of each cycle and return it during the second half. Thus, in the first half of a cycle, the mineral kingdom—which is a hindrance to human beings—is separated; they therefore use for themselves all the energy that would otherwise serve the further development of this kingdom, and later they absorb it again. Thus, in the second half of the cycle, the mineral kingdom is redeemed and transformed by human beings. In the second half, after having separated it out, they give the mineral kingdom the fruits of their own development. There is nothing in human development that is not subject to the metamorphosis of giving and taking. This determines our ethical behavior to the highest degree. We may take everything we acquire only in order to give it back later.
[ 4 ] The Dhyanic beings had also gone through the stage of taking during the earlier stages of their development. On Earth, therefore, they are the giving beings. From the very beginning, they were the true creators, guides, and organizers. When the single mulberry sphere (Saturn) split into many spheres, these Dhyanic beings had to form many spheres from that one sphere. At the second stage (Sun), they arranged these spheres according to size, number, and weight. On the third stage (the Moon), they introduced among them the law of elective affinity, of sympathy and antipathy. The Dhyanis of the fourth stage (Earth) rule over birth and death, over karma; they are the lords of karma, the Lipikas, who are exalted above all taking, above sympathy and antipathy. They intervene at the fourth level of consciousness, the level of daytime consciousness. Ever new and ever new formative forces intervene at the stage of evolution that humanity has attained.
[ 5 ] Let us understand what constitutes the essence of the creators: Beings on the human level alternately receive and give. We can only give what we have previously received, so that human beings are alternately subject to what is called perception and activity. Perception is governed by the law of taking; activity, by the law of giving. The law of the Creators, however, is the law of revelation. Their activity is called revelatory activity. (The ordering of the world according to measure, number, and weight; according to sympathy and antipathy; the distinction between good and evil; and so on).
[ 6 ] There is a great difference between these manifesting entities and us humans. Human evolution, considered in and of itself, proceeded in such a way that humans were initially submerged in the abyss (appearing physically as a sphere), followed by an arrangement according to measure, number, and weight, and so on. At each successive stage of development, human beings also become more spiritual at the same time. When we trace human evolution from the outside in, we arrive at the higher faculties. |
[ 7 ] We have said that human beings evolve toward the principle of brotherhood. Today, at the fourth stage, Manas emerges, and Budhi and Atma are predisposed. At a later stage, Budhi also emerges, and at an even later stage, Atma emerges as well. When brotherhood then takes shape around him from the outside—as he develops from the inside out—he applies these principles from the outside to the same extent that they develop from within. For example: a person has developed Manas, and Budhi begins to dawn in their predisposition. By developing Budhi, they reshape their entire astral body, and the opposite pole of Kama (Budhi) develops. The Kama that formerly filled him inwardly—that formerly drew everything inward—will turn outward and surround him as Budhi. This is an inversion, the reversal of the astral. All Kama is received by benevolent, outward-directed forces. Then Atma appears in Budhi. Following this, the same transformation takes place outwardly with the etheric body. The etheric body is able to act outwardly; it is capable of acting not only morally and beneficially, but also magically; it then acquires magical powers, life forces. Through the action of Atma and Budhi, the human being pours outwards. He spreads outwards, bestowing blessings. A highly developed brotherhood possesses the ability to act magically outwardly and to influence the life ether.
[ 8 ] The next stage is the one in which the Atma, the divine Self, will radiate outward. Human beings will then become aware that they belong not only to the Earth but to the entire world. They will attain Logos consciousness. They will become world-creating, for the ability to master the physical realm will awaken within them, just as they previously mastered the life force. Humanity first developed from the outside in; then it develops from the inside out. When humanity has reached the point where it is able to master the outermost sphere, it has become a dhyanic being. In the beginning, it was powerless in terms of its effectiveness; now it becomes all-ruling ... [gap in the records].
[ 9 ] Dhyanic beings were also active in the middle of the Lemurian epoch. They had resolved within themselves to unite the spark of true spiritual life with what constitutes the physical body. They were able to create in the physical realm from the very beginning. But they could not introduce the manasic element into the physical realm until they had first created, within the physical realm, measure, number, and weight, as well as affinity, sympathy, and antipathy. Now, with the introduction of birth and death, they had the opportunity to unite the manasic element with the physical body, so that the physical body was capable of thought. On the Moon, they were able to implant Kama into the lunar human. The Dhyanic beings have descended so far into matter in their creative work that they were able to pour the Manasic spark drop by drop into what they had previously prepared. The physical body was now able to receive the spark of thought.
[ 10 ] If the body had undergone only that one evolution, it would have been capable of becoming an extraordinarily powerful thinker. However, the people from the Moon came to Earth with a Kama that had been developed to the highest degree of perfection.
[ 11 ] The very first stage of development: The Dhyanic beings shape the physical body of the human being out of matter, with the participation of those human beings who have come over as lunar souls through the kamic stage of development (Pitris). They also work within the body, but their further development is brought about by the fact that the formers raise the body, together with them, to a level higher than the one they occupied on the Moon.
[ 12 ] If only the Dhyanis were at work, forming the body out of virgin matter, human beings would become thinking automatons. But it is the Moon Pitris who have made human beings warm-hearted beings capable of feeling sympathy and antipathy. The virgin matter is shaped, on the one hand, by the manifesting Dhyan-Chohans, and on the other hand, by the Moon Pitris who connected with it in the middle of the Lemurian period. In this way, human beings are created who are capable of thinking and who can also attach sympathies and antipathies to their thoughts.
[ 13 ] Human beings have become thinking souls dwelling within a body. On the Moon, they were souls within a body. What is called the ego has existed from the very beginning as a spiritual being and has undergone development on the third planet.
[ 14 ] On the fourth planet, the ego incorporates not only the soul aspect but also the manasic and spiritual aspects. Previously, the ego was the highest; now it incorporates the manasic aspect as well. From this point on, we are dealing with a spirit-endowed ego. Previously, the ego was called Ahamkara—that which is now the shell of the spiritual ego. When a person today can say “I” to themselves, this ability stems from the middle of the Lemurian epoch. Every human being was previously a divine thought. The soul had already developed through three states. The divine thought united with the soul in the middle of the Lemurian epoch to form a spirit-endowed soul.
[ 15 ] What is at work within us—this very essence of the eternal within us—was first and foremost the idea of God within us. We initially rested in the bosom of the Divine. From the very beginning, the Creators prepared vessels for this idea of God, in the creation of which we ourselves were allowed to participate. The souls inhabited these vessels in order to prepare them to receive the idea of God. Thus, soul, body, and spirit were united within the human being. At that time, the Manasic principle was poured into the Kama of the human being. Then, other Dhyanic beings bestowed Budhi upon him, and later, still others bestowed Atma.
[ 16 ] What was already present when the human being appeared as a lunar soul—and what only becomes fully manifest at the end of the evolutionary process—is Atma. In the lunar human, the Manasic aspect first begins to shine forth. This spark of the Manasic is destined to bring about the development of Budhi and Atma within itself at a later stage. The lunar human beings who entered the Earth in the middle of the Lemurian epoch, when their physical body was ready and prepared to receive Manas, are called Pitris, or fathers. It therefore depends on how the Pitris developed earlier—that is, when they received the spark of Manas. A Pitri may also lag so far behind in development that, by the middle of the Lemurian period, he has not yet reached the stage at which he can unite with the human body and the Dhyanic spirit.
[ 17 ] All evolutionary processes unfold in seven cycles. At each stage of the seven cycles, there is the possibility of falling slightly behind the normal course of development. Those who fall behind will have to use the final phase to catch up with those who preceded them. Thus, we can distinguish seven classes of lunar Pitris, depending on how far behind they had fallen. These existed in the middle of the Lemurian era. At that time, only the most highly developed Pitris were able to incarnate; the others were not yet able to make use of their bodies. Consequently, new Pitris kept arriving, continuing into the end of the Atlantean era and even into the post-Atlantean era. Even now, Pitris continue to incarnate among very lowly peoples; indeed, even among the lowest strata of the population in our large cities, one can still find Pitris who are quite childlike and underdeveloped. However, it is now rare to find those entering incarnation for the first time. Only a few very young Pitris appear who are still entirely dominated by their kama.
[ 18 ] Among these Pitris on the Moon, there were also those who not only attained the normal state but had already aspired to the level of development that we now strive for in order to become leading beings. On the Moon, Dhyanic beings had to think for the Pitris, so that there were no beings on the Moon who thought or acted independently. But the Dhyanic beings found in some Pitris a more willing instrument than in others, just as we find this today, for example, among animals. These are all guided by other thinking beings, with each species guided by a single being. Therefore, a high degree of training is nothing surprising. The thinking there originates from another spiritual center.
[ 19 ] During the Moon’s evolution, certain beings became more suitable instruments for the Dhyanic entities. Two types were considered: those for whom the astral body was the more willing instrument, and those for whom the life body was the more willing instrument. For if the physical body had been ready to serve as an instrument, they could have joined the ranks of the Dhyanic entities—albeit as lower Dhyanis with a lesser sphere of power. We can therefore surmise that, in addition to the seven classes of Pitris, two higher classes of Pitris had developed on the Moon—those who had power over their astral bodies and their pranic bodies. These were the solar Pitris.
[ 20 ] So, on Earth we have:
[ 21 ] First: the Pitris, who have passed through the various stages of development up to the highest normal stage; they begin to undergo human evolution in the middle of the Lemurian period—the Mongpitris;
[ 22 ] Second: the Pitris who are half-dhyanic—that is, those who, by the middle of the Lemurian period, had progressed to the point where they could incarnate the higher Divine within themselves in a short time—the Solar Pitris;
[ 23 ] Third: those beings who were already dhyanic beings.
[ 24 ] In the middle of the Lemurian epoch, we consider the Dhyanic beings—the Manasic Dhyanis—who are active in implanting the spark of Manas into human beings. Then we consider those who cast the spark of Budhi into human beings. These Dhyanis, who live on a higher plane and who gradually cast the spark of Budhi into human beings, are actually called, in a higher sense, the Buddhas, or Christos in Christianity. These are the fourth Dhyanis, the Budhi Dhyanis. They are true gods. Now we have broadened our perspective. The spark that the Budhi Dhyanis have to bestow can first be cast into the Solarpitris. A Solarpitri into whom the spark of Budhi is cast is called a Bodhisattva.
[ 25 ] It is only much later that the spark of Budhi can descend as far as the lunar Pitris. The first lunar Pitri who was filled with Budhi, in whom man and divinity are united, is Jesus Christ. And it is worth noting that in Jesus Christ, the Budhi-divinity descended to its deepest level.
[ 26 ] The spark of Budhi can descend all the way into the Kama-Manasic realm. Then the person becomes a teacher. Such teachers were Buddha, Zarathustra, Krishna, Moses, Hermes, and so on. These people are born with the purpose of becoming teachers. If, however, the influence of Budhi extends all the way to Kama itself, then at a later stage in life the Christ principle must descend into a body already occupied by Kama. This was the case with Jesus, who was not able to receive the Christ until he was 30 years old. Insofar as we consider Jesus’ development, he had already incurred karma simply because Kama was developed within him from the very beginning. This was not the case with the solar Pitris, who were one level above Kama. The lunar Pitris, however, had begun as mere Kamaic beings and then started to take on human earthly karma. If Christ was to become our brother, he had to descend into the karma-laden body. The body intended to receive the Christ, the Budhi principle, had been fashioned by a higher chela of the third degree of initiation (Zarathustra). This body was made into the temple of the deity, the Christ.
[ 27 ] Even dhyanic beings cannot bring a thought into being unless it has been prepared in advance. Thus, the human body had to be prepared before these beings endowed humans with the ability to think.
Lord of Form: Yahweh-Elohim
Lord of Life: Christos
Lord of Consciousness
[ 28 ] When we speak of a trinity of the soul, we must say Father, Mother, and Son: Osiris, Isis, Horus.
[ 29 ] When we speak of the Trinity of the Spirit, we must speak of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.
[ 30 ] Later, the psychological Trinity came to be confused with the spiritual Trinity.