The Rudolf Steiner Archive

56. The Design of Man II

[ 1 ] During the Lemurian era, something happened that has been one of the most important events for many millions of years: the true self of human beings took up residence in the human body. The true soul of human beings was more advanced than the bodies that had already been formed at that time. Before the bodies were complete, the souls had undergone a different development on other planets. Pitris: various stages of development. A different level of consciousness. The consciousness we have now has developed gradually.

[ 2 ] Over long periods of time, we developed on the Moon what now exists on Earth. Then it fell into slumber. When a human being begins his earthly journey, he is more advanced than the Earth itself. He must build bodies in collaboration with other higher beings. “The Earth was formless and void.” Forms must be built up from the material; this takes place during the first three cycles. He builds forms just as one builds a house. This creates a kind of kinship with earthly matter. When he begins the fourth round, the bodies are ready to the extent that the entire physical system—the skeletal, muscular, digestive, and circulatory systems—is complete. The human brain is still in its embryonic stage. The fourth round is intended to build this physical organ for consciousness.

[ 3 ] First, three main stages:

[ 4 ] First: the purely spiritual, arupa, formless; second: the spiritual state of formation, rupa, the astral state. At the end of the astral state, in the innermost part

1. an arupe being
2. enveloped by a thought body or rupa
3. by an astral body or sensory body.

[ 5 ] Now he begins the process of physical formation by first creating, within the finest matter—the ether—an imprint of what he was in the astral realm. In earlier planetary development, human beings had a completely different etheric body, which, however, formed the basis for the one we know today—in the fourth state of the fourth round, when the Earth itself was made of etheric substance. It serves as a template for the physical body, roughly the color of a peach blossom. During this time, the etheric body was the only human body. It was the first root race; subtle beings floated in the etheric space and multiplied by emerging from one another.

[ 6 ] Ever denser and denser, humanity passes through seven stages—races—and now comes the second state, the air-man. The ether attracts the air, intermingles with it, and forms bodies. What we find in fairy tales is based on ancient memories. They are called the Hyperboreans: “And the Lord made the winds His messengers.” This means: He formed a body of air for the spiritual beings. The Hyperboreans became increasingly dense; the air was very thick back then; yet the people were wonderfully beautiful. The etheric beings were luminous, fiery figures. The astral Earth would have been completely dark to a physical eye; whereas the etheric Earth would have begun to shine. The fiery figures are described as follows: “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”

[ 7 ] The Lemurians are so important because this crucial period occurred in the middle of their history. Earlier catastrophes were not as violent because the Earth was not yet as dense. The Hyperboreans experienced a redistribution of heat as the continent shifted from the North Pole to the south.

[ 8 ] Water-saturated, dense matter: The first Lemurians were formed from this; not as dense as lower jellyfish—they are called “humans who reproduce by laying eggs,” just as certain animals, such as amoebas, first develop indentations in which the nucleus is distributed, and then these indentations constrict. As a result, human beings at that time were materially immortal; they divided, yet did not perish, so that the human being, as such, is materially immortal. At that time, the Pitri still hovered around the body; it was not until the middle of the Lemurian period that they could take possession of it. The human being had everything except the proper brain. Now the beginnings of one emerged. The fire-mist had become protein-like, the beginnings of a brain emerged, and the soul was able to take possession. Only the most advanced Pitris were now able to form the body from within. These were the so-called Sons of the Fire Nebula, Arhats, and Initiates—specifically, of the highest beings. Less powerful Pitris would not yet have been able to shape a body. They were the first representatives of wisdom. Other Pitris could also have taken possession at this time, but then beings such as those that exist today would not have been able to emerge. Humanity would never have attained full freedom; it would have possessed a dull consciousness. It was not until the end of the second Lemurian epoch that additional Pitris began to incarnate.

[ 9 ] Those bodies, however, that were not inhabited by Pitris at that time evolved into the animal realm. If there were no brain in the body, no highly developed Pitri could act within it on our earthly plane. All religions refer to this evolution into the animal realm as the Fall. At the expense of the brain, the rest of the human being has been forced down into the animal realm. As the human being takes possession of the inner world, he must develop senses in order to perceive. The Fall creates the first karma.

[ 10 ] Physically, the first humans were much more perfect, but duller. At that time, there were no apes; the bodies that were inhabited evolved into humans, while the uninhabited ones degenerated—they were soulless and amanasic. During the second Lemurian epoch, therefore, a higher state of consciousness is attained by sinking deeper into sensuality. The task of the eighth round—of the entire earthly evolution—is the attainment of this state of consciousness.

[ 11 ] On the moon, he had a low one, and it used to be even lower [gap in the transcript]

[ 12 ] Thus, through seven planets, he develops seven states of consciousness. As they migrated from the Moon, they experienced dream trances; before that, plant trances; and before that, deep trances. Seven planets or states of consciousness. Seven realms, seven races.