The Rudolf Steiner Archive

50. The Task of the Second Half of Development

[ 1 ] The connection between the individual and the overall development is now becoming clearer. We now distinguish between:

1. Life from Birth to Death
2. Stay in Kamaloka
3. Stay in Devachan — including a) rupic, that is, lower mental, and b) arupic states.

[ 2 ] Every human being, even an undeveloped one, briefly enters Arupa. Thus, we would have four states. These correspond exactly to the four states of the planetary body, both during its descent and its return.

[ 3 ] While the entire evolution of humanity, before it became physical, passed through three stages, we can say: All beings that came into consideration were

1. in the higher Devachan,
2. alternately in the upper and lower Devachan,
3. on Earth in four states.

[ 4 ] Since the next cycle will no longer be the mineral kingdom—everything will be in a living state—there will be no alternation between birth and death. It will be continuous life. The cycle of birth and death will no longer occur, and in its place there will be only a cycle of good and evil. There may still be a transition between the higher states; what is known as Kamaloka will be the lowest state. The distinction from today is that now there is only Kamaloka; in the fifth round, however, it will still be physical.

[ 5 ] Just as every human being is now formed in the Kamaloka in an astral, malleable state, with vices and virtues, so will he be on Earth. Thus, during the fifth round, the Kamaloka will be entirely earthly. There will still be a transition, though not one of birth and death, but a shift between the astral and mental planes. It will be possible for a person to withdraw from the mental plane from time to time, when the measure of their evil is so full that they can enter this higher state. As a rule, once someone has worked through all their karma, they will no longer need to return. Thus, we will pass into the Devachanic state of our own accord, and only those who have brought so much evil with them that they have not found the opportunity to work it off will be eliminated in the fifth round.

[ 6 ] Those who go along with it enter the sixth cycle, where everything mental is acted out. There is then no possibility of doing evil; the highest animal nature runs its course.

[ 7 ] The task of the sixth round is to harmonize everything that is organized in the mental realm. Everything that is logical is separated from everything that is illogical. Thus, only that which is absolutely logical enters the seventh round. An incorrect thought resonates as an incorrect rhythm, as an incorrect form, and is destroyed of its own accord. Therefore, the occultist says: Everything that is carried over into the sixth round as a lie, as untruth, amounts to the suicide of the being. Wrong action is already self-destruction here; in the sixth round, even wrong thinking is self-destruction. And it follows, therefore, that the Earth eliminates all that is untrue and carries only pure truth into the seventh round.

[ 8 ] In the fourth round, karmic balances were settled. In the fifth, something remains; it is set aside for the eighth sphere. At most, only that which is untrue—and which destroys itself—can be carried over. Thus, the seventh state becomes bliss, which passes over as a seed to the new planet.

[ 9 ] You can see that in the second half of Earth’s evolution, we are dealing with a continuous process of purification. The only thing that remains now is what cannot be affected by the four things just mentioned—that which carries over into the next stage of evolution: the degree of development. One being may have lived a slightly richer and more meaningful life and have little karma, while others may have accumulated a great deal. The degree cannot be changed. Those who had accumulated much ugliness had to create balance through great creative power. Beings pass over with varying degrees of perfection—just as the Pitris came here. Nothing that was fulfilled on the Moon has passed over to us; only that which has undergone its stages of development.