The Rudolf Steiner Archive

11. The Formation of the Aura I

[ 1 ] We can best understand the cosmos if I first say a few words about the human aura; this will enable us to better describe the evolution of the cycles and races, taking into account the influence of the so-called Pitris. You will see why I am including this here.

[ 2 ] What is referred to as the physical human being is only a part of the human being; the complete human being consists of a series of parts that are actually visible to those whose sensory organs are open to them. Although you are essentially familiar with all of this, I must nevertheless connect it to what I have to say in order to describe it accurately. The physical human being then has within itself what I would like to call the “etheric double body”—visible to those who possess etheric vision. It is a faithful double image of the ordinary physical body.

[ 3 ] Then a so-called soul body or astral body permeates these two. This astral body extends beyond the physical body; it is slightly larger and has the shape of an oval or an egg, since it protrudes slightly further from the body at the head and is somewhat narrower there. It contains all the feelings, passions, and desires that make up the human inner life. All the things brought about by physical life are contained within it as dark cloud-like formations. The purer it is, the more it resembles the stars. Its color ranges from orange to yellow. If you set aside the physical body, you are left with a kind of elongated circular shape whose underlying tone is the color orange. Within it, you can see the most varied cloud formations shimmering and the tiniest figures playing. In the average person as they exist today, this is visible to the seer.

[ 4 ] You will then find this astral body permeated by another form, by what we call the mental body. This mental body has only existed in humans since the middle of the third race; the Lemurians, who were at the beginning of their development, did not yet have a mental body. If we transport ourselves back to the region south of the Indian subcontinent, toward Australia, where the Lemurians lived, we see that they had a physical body—somewhat denser in the center—and an astral body. Beyond that, nothing else could be seen in them. The more the Lemurian race developed, the more a dark, black, spherical spot became visible within these astral bodies—specifically, if one were to designate this spot, at the point where our physical brain is centered. This black dot, this spherical spot, represented within the astral body what is actually referred to as the human “I,” which has been developing ever since the Lemurian era. That is the outer form of the “I”!

[ 5 ] Since the evolution of the Lemurian race, the beginning of what I have called the mental body has resided within this point. From this point emanates a radiance that grows ever larger and larger, permeating the aura so that the aura is enlivened from within. Among the Lemurians, this point was still very small; it grew larger and larger, and now, in the average human being, it protrudes beyond the astral body to the extent that, through thought, the intellect, and moral feeling, it gains the upper hand over the passions and instincts; this is what has developed since the Lemurian race.

[ 6 ] We must now ask ourselves: Why is this developing? The answer to the question of the “why” behind this mental body lies in the fact that it is only now that what can truly be called spirit begins to emerge in human beings. Ever since that time—since the spiritual impulse took hold in human beings, that is, in the middle of the Lemurian epoch—the emergence of the human mental body has been taking place.

[ 7 ] Now I ask you to consider that the driving force behind what causes the mental body to well up is the higher self: Atma-Budhi-Manas; this is what wells up. If we could perceive it on its own as it wells up, it would be a blue mass that, the further it extends outward, gradually shifts more and more toward violet. Because it is also mixed with the earlier formations of the astral body, it takes on various other nuances; it is blended. That which is the “I” in human beings was only this point during the time of the Lemurian race, for in truth this point then becomes the boundary of the mental aura, so that you must imagine—let us say—the astral body of the Lemurian age in such a way that what was at first merely a black point formed a spiritual skin that grows larger and larger [see sketch]; and within this spiritual skin lies the “I.”

[ 8 ] We have been moving forward in our discussion so far. Let us now go back to the point where, so to speak, the Lemurian human being was completely enveloped in absolute darkness except for the astral body, and only the astral body was luminous—as the black dot appeared and the astral body began to radiate.

[ 9 ] Before that, the astral body was surrounded by a bluish shell. They were in an astral body that was surrounded on the outside by a blue shell. However, this shell did not exist on its own; it extended all the way to the blue shell of the next Lemurian. This blue atmosphere represents the collective human spirit, which holds together from the outside what was organized there. The process of development consists in this blue mass being drawn in and absorbed; the entire blue auric mass is eventually drawn in until it is completely absorbed. Then the Lemurians are pure astral bodies. This now also becomes apparent in the point I mentioned and wells up from within. Then the entire mental world has been drawn in, and the astral body now glows in the dark.

[ 10 ] We are now going further and further back. All the astral bodies were thus enclosed within the general aura that belonged to them. If we were to go back to the beginning of our Earth’s evolution, we would find what lies at the foundation of that evolution. When we consider these entities—these astral spheres—we see that they are, in fact, the descendants of what we call the Pitris. Everything contained within these astral auras originates from the Pitris, who entered our evolutionary process from the Junaic Epoch. This entire substance contained within the aura originates from the Lunar Epoch.

[ 11 ] During the interval between the lunar and terrestrial epochs, all of these astral formations existed as seeds and lay dormant. So you must now imagine the blue total aura as a single mass that is drawn in, appearing as a single mass in a very dark violet, so that it could be seen even during the Pralaya, so that it could be seen as it evolved from the Lunar to the Earthly stage; one would see it as existing in a dark violet.

[ 12 ] When earthly evolution begins, the Earth is in a red state; it glows reddish; yet it is surrounded by a blue atmosphere. The reddish globe is what has formed from the Pitri seeds. The Pitri seeds form the reddish Arupa sphere, and that which is Spirit surrounds this Arupa sphere as a blue atmosphere. This Spirit, however, which was present there, is differentiated as such; it is differentiated within itself—that is, it already carries within itself the spiritual seed for every human being who will later come into being. Just as our soul contains individual thoughts, so does the Spirit carry the individual human being within itself as a thought. There are dark spots at the points of intersection [see sketch].

[ 13 ] When the old Moon was in its Nirvana, the individual Pitris existed in complete separation from one another; they possessed the most perfect astral bodies conceivable. What I have just described originates from the Lunar Epoch. What comes over from that era? The Pitri seeds and their entire auric atmosphere; they are passing through Pralaya there. However, they would not be able to continue their development on Earth unless they now encountered something that is present everywhere in the universe, but which can only be suitable for them in a specific form—namely, that which can later become physical matter and which exists everywhere in outer space as cosmic dust.

[ 14 ] Worlds are constantly being created, and worlds are constantly perishing, filling the entire cosmos with cosmic dust. Take, for example, the comet discovered by Biela. It split into two parts, then into several parts, and finally into many parts; it will eventually disintegrate into cosmic atoms. Cosmic dust is a discovery of the nineteenth century. It is the reason that, when we calculate a planetary orbit, we arrive at a figure that is slightly too large, because the planets must overcome the resistance of the dust masses.

[ 15 ] Now one must imagine that what comes over here—the Pitri seeds and the auric atmosphere—unites with the cosmic dust, but specifically with that cosmic dust which is drawn to them by a magnetic force, the kind they need so that they can incorporate it and become solid. Through this process, they acquire the physical body. The Pitris thus organize the world dust; the Pitri depends on absorbing the world dust just as a plant absorbs earth from the soil. This process is expressed as follows in the Theosophical writings: The Pitris form the seed forms and then build out the forms with matter so that the blue spiritual atmosphere can be drawn in.

[ 16 ] Construction takes place from two directions: from within, through the Pitri seeds, the physical body is built; and from without, the blue atmosphere, flowing in, forms the mental body.

[ 17 ] The Pitris exist at various levels of perfection; not all have reached the same high level. It is exactly as with Plato, Pythagoras, and so on, who, when the Earth’s Nirvana is attained, will be further along than the general human race; they were simply more advanced. The most advanced were the solar Pitris. There are two types of them. But there are also two types of lunar Pitris, who had reached a fairly normal level of development—namely, one in which they were already capable of forming a kind of karma within themselves, a karma similar to what the karma of our animals will be at the end of our Earth’s evolution. Certain animals will have reached a stage where one will be able to speak of guilt and atonement in their case. Our animals do not yet possess this, but at the end of their evolution they will. The karmic principle was already present in some species. In other species, it was only in the process of development, and in still others, it was present only in a rudimentary form. There are seven stages here, which are again connected with the seven human cycles. In the very earliest stage, the Solar Pitris were unable to intervene; nor was there any need for them to do so. They were there, but they hovered, as it were, around the Earth, waiting to be received. I will compare this to the following:

[ 18 ] Just imagine going back to the ancient times of the pile dwellings in Germany. Imagine that there had been trained engineers back then; they wouldn’t have been able to do anything there, they wouldn’t have had a role to play; there had to be more primitive beings there: these were the Pitris, who were still not fully developed. Only when a later stage of development was reached did the more fully developed Pitris have the opportunity to incarnate. This continued until, during the fourth round, the solar Pitris were able to intervene. It was not until the Lemurian race that the solar Pitris were able to incarnate. The entire auric atmosphere was drawn in to cause it to well up from within. This was something that had absolutely nothing to do with the Earth, yet it gained influence. At that point, the more perfect beings—who already possessed within themselves the power to draw something forth from within, and whom we know as the Sons of Venus—the Manasa-Putras, beings of a higher order who were not intended to be part of earthly evolution—had to intervene. They were there, and once they had incarnated, the first of the still-lower human beings were able to receive their first instruction.