The Rudolf Steiner Archive

21. Genesis I

[ 1 ] Today I would like to present to you a kind of lecture on the opening words of Genesis, as they were taught in secret places during the early days of Christianity. What I am about to say is something that has often been presented, but only in secret places to a few people, and it has never really been made widely known. It is not something that refers specifically to Genesis, but rather something that relates to the Lemurian Age. So I will say nothing other than what has been presented time and again in occult lodges. First, we must realize that we have survived two great catastrophes: one that spanned from the Atlantean era to our own time, and another that led from the Lemurians to the Atlanteans. We are going back to the time before these catastrophes, back to a time when humans already existed but did not yet have warm blood. They had cold, white blood. This cold, white blood was what enabled these beings to live in an aqueous environment. At that time, the separation between air and water was not yet as it is today. All water was still a kind of fine mist or vapor, so that everything that was earth was covered by this fine mist or vapor. Air and the sea did not yet exist; there was only water and mist, which lay over the earth like vapor, and this vapor was at the same time the very substance that contained the seeds of life for everything that could live on earth at that time. The seeds of life were themselves vapor-like; they were not small grains, not small seeds, but vapor-like, vortex-like formations within the general life of the world. At first, human beings themselves were such vapor-like formations, like a denser cloud. Human beings had a form composed of such condensed vapor. Within this vapor, a thin liquid moved. And what was most striking about the human being was an organ on his head, the front part of which protruded far beyond his body—an organ that had a stem and, at the end of the stem, a sort of sphere. This was an organ capable of perceiving not light, but heat. What was particularly important at that time were the various differences in temperature. One had to know that it was too hot here and too cold there; one had to be able to avoid these conditions, and for that, the heat-sensing organ was necessary. One could perceive the degrees of heat with the organ and thus turn in one direction or another. The organ was later completely lost. However, it was the organ that served as the basis for human orientation back then.

[ 2 ] The condition at that time was called the “unfathomable depth.” It was so named because these beings could see nothing, hear nothing, speak nothing, and understand nothing. They did not yet possess any of these abilities. Esoteric teaching refers to this entire realm, with all the living beings within it, as “the waters,” because in these waters the beings were not yet capable of forming mental images for themselves. They could not yet imagine. The entire Earth body was endowed with a single capacity for imagination. It was a great living being that was regarded as the Spirit. Human beings existed individually, but their perceptions were still shared. In the secret schools, this shared world of perception was described as follows:

“The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” [Genesis 1:2]

[ 3 ] In other words, this region had a shared vision, and this vision hovered over the waters; it had not yet taken root in the people.

[ 4 ] So we have two things side by side: first, the “unfathomable depth,” and second, the “concept” that Genesis calls the “Spirit of God.”

[ 5 ] The next thing is this: The outgrowth on the front of the beings that we have described shrank. And this organ, now shrunken, which developed from that outgrowth, is the pineal gland. Humans did not yet have bones at that time. They were mist-like beings, fish-like beings. If you look at the developing human being in the first weeks of pregnancy, you will find this fish-like being hinted at in the human embryo. Human beings truly reenact these states during the early stages of pregnancy. The small fish-like body that the human being possesses at that stage contains the small organ that later shrinks away. It is one of those vestigial organs, like the spleen, whose functions are unknown to today’s doctors. The more this stalk-like organ regressed, the more the pair of eyes developed within the human organism. The eyes came into being; two eyes formed in place of the original stalk-like organ. Just as the stalk-like organ was an organ of warmth, so the eyes became an organ of light. This unfathomable depth was at work in all beings and, by withdrawing the organ of warmth, brought forth the pair of eyes. In the Esoteric Doctrine, this unfathomable depth is also called the “Forefather.”

[ 6 ] In the past, people could only sense heat and cold. Now, however, they perceive objects through their eyes; that is to say, the forefather brought forth from within them the ability to perceive not only heat but also light.

And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. [Genesis 1:3]

[ 7 ] We have now reached the point where these beings were able to perceive the light around them and, consequently, the limited objects as well. Now I ask you to consider the following. Before, there was the unfathomable depth; everything was contained within it. There was the idea, and then there was the light. The light was limited by the eye—or the ability to see all around—what the eyes could see: the visible. Everything else had not become visible. That was beyond the visible. [The boundary of the visible was the Fortress.]

And God set a boundary where the visible ends and the invisible begins. [Genesis 1:6–7]

[ 8 ] What happened next was that human beings began to perceive the visible world, so that an entirely new reality emerged for them. You must try to imagine what it would mean for you if you could neither see nor hear. Hearing, however, was out of the question back then. After all, people at that time were themselves a fluid entity within a fluid element. And as you swam along like that, you wouldn’t perceive the exact boundary between yourself and others. Boundaries are only perceived when there is something visible.

[ 9 ] Individual beings were held together by the idea. The individual being was not so sharply distinguished. Every being felt that it belonged to the whole, to the universal. It would be as if, today, your stomach were to feel independent; it must feel that it belongs within the body. Only at the moment when a sensation of light arises does the possibility emerge to perceive the other as something other than oneself. An object is only something outside of us when we see its boundaries outside of ourselves. Light was what distinguished the individual beings from one another. At the moment when human beings were distinguished from one another, it became necessary for an understanding of the environment to open up. Beings had to not only hold the concept outside themselves, but they also had to be able to hold it within themselves. An object that I merely look at would be something entirely mysterious to me if I could not conceive of it myself. This understanding [of the environment] was imparted by beings of a higher nature than those living on Earth. The light-sensitive beings were guided by beings who stimulated their intellect. In this way, they became endowed with intellect. They became the “Sons of Manas.”

[ 10 ] This gives rise to the possibility of forming a false or a true conception. That is why the Esoteric Teaching says: It arose as the second pair, “Intellect and Truth.” They arose through the influence of the Sons of Manas. [I cannot perceive a false cold or a false warmth, but the intellect can form a false concept.] Only now, when the concept—the intellect—was present within the beings themselves, did the beings hold together in a kind of sense of community. Before, the concept was outside; but now a spark of it was within the beings themselves. I have said: warmth and cold were distinct out in the world. The beings draw this warmth into themselves and distinguish themselves as warm and cold beings. A warm being is one that no longer merely perceives warmth but generates it. Warm blood now arose in human beings.

[ 11 ] So what had happened? Human beings had previously been born of water. Now, within them, had been brought into being what the Esoteric Teaching calls the “Blur.” So the human being was first born of “water,” then of “blood.” And if we could go back even further in time, to the period preceding the Lemurian era, we would find, before water, the “spirit that had not yet become water.” We thus have: spirit—water—blood. The warmth that was universal then manifested as the blood warmth of warm-blooded beings. Human beings were born of blood—that is the moment when they became warm-blooded beings. Through this, they became capable of organizing within themselves everything that had previously been organized outside of them. Warmth and cold were distinct from one another on the outside. Now they distinguish between warmth and cold within themselves. Just as creation was once external, so now the human being became a creator within. And the first thing through which the human being is not only an inner being but also manifests as an inner being to the outside world was “speech.” And with speech came “life.” [The human being was able to manifest outwardly; what had been drawn inward now pushes outward—that is speech.] Human life exists only when a human being is not merely present as a being but also manifests as such—[an independent, self-contained, differentiated life, not merely coexisting. The being has become independent, can manifest itself, can reveal itself.)

[ 12 ] The third pair is thus “speech and life.” Animals that are incapable of producing sounds are cold-blooded. Only warm-blooded beings are capable of expressing the soul outwardly through sound. A being that is to have a voice must differ from its surroundings in terms of warmth. It must have a life that is distinct from its surroundings. The third pair is therefore “speech—or voice—and independent life.” The fish has the same temperature as the water in which it lives.

[ 13 ] We have now reached the point where the being has become independent, where the being can reveal itself and thereby appears to its surroundings as an independent, living being.

[ 14 ] Please keep in mind one thing: we must not apply today’s concepts to that time. In later periods, these cold-blooded creatures also underwent various changes. Back then, the fish were much larger and more similar to humans.

[ 15 ] However, reproduction among the beings of that time still took place in such a way that one simply emerged from the other. You must imagine that when a new offspring was to come into being—there was no copulation or fertilization back then, nor was there incarnation; incarnation has only existed since the advent of sexuality, since there have been two sexes [we are not dealing with incarnations, but with materializations]— —so when a new being was to come into being, one being allowed the matter for the new being to emerge from within itself. The direction for this process emanated from the general world spirit. A new being was brought forth through elective affinity. One being was overshadowed by a spirit. It is exactly as when the medium [during a spiritualist séance] provides the substance for a spirit that wishes to embody itself in matter, to materialize, to manifest itself. The matter was always usable, always pristine—a nourishing process. The original being remained as it was. The process is exactly as it was described in the account of its plant aspect. Matter was then depleted; it had become incapable of giving rise to a new arrangement from within itself [without fresh stimulation], and differentiation into sexes occurred. In this way, essentially, the descent of the Lemurians took place; they had lost the ability to possess virgin matter within themselves. If a new being was to manifest, a seed had to be present to stimulate life. With this [came sexuality, and with it] birth and death, as well as incarnation. And humanity became, as it is added, the beginning of the “assembly,” the “fraternity.”

[ 16 ] From the middle of the Lemurian epoch onward, the process of unification—the process of brotherhood—begins, a process that must lead to the point where the mystery sites unite, so that they may then transition into a new world epoch. [Now comes the fourth pair: “Humanity—the gathering that leads to brotherhood.”]

[ 17 ] This teaching was also repeatedly presented in the Pythagorean schools. It was said: Since the spirit entered every human being, birth and death came into the world. [And Genesis states:] “In pain you shall give birth to children,” it is said now. In the past, they simply came into being through overshadowing.

[ 18 ] This is the meaning of blood, water, and the Spirit, as is also evident from the words: “Truly, truly, unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he will not enter the kingdom of God.”

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