The Rudolf Steiner Archive

75. The Rounds on the Seven Planets

[ 1 ] Let us now broaden our view to include all seven planets—our entire planetary chain.

[ 2 ] A physical state must occur on every planet; all earlier states are preparations for it, and all later states are its ebb. They first prepare the matter into which the physical can then flow. The etheric body belongs to the physical realm; it is a refinement of it. — As is well known, we must conceive of physical matter in seven states of aggregation, four of which correspond to the ether: solid, liquid, gas, and the corresponding types of ether.

[ 3 ] The physical state at the center, with its fixed forms, is enveloped and permeated by the astral aura. There is a fundamental difference between this aura before and after physical development. Before, it is dependent on the forces acting upon it from outside; it is cosmic; physical development must organize it from within. It appears—separate from the physical body—roughly in the form of a ring; at least, that is how the ordinary clairvoyant perceives it. But it is a ring that has come into being through the intertwining of two vortices, two spirals; seemingly vanishing into nothingness, they hang, as it were, on the threads of the universe.

[ 4 ] By mastering one’s thoughts and feelings, a person becomes independent, severing ties, as it were; at the center of the two vertices, the chakras develop, as it were, along the axis. So one can say that physical life essentially exists so that, instead of being pulled by strings in the universe, one has one’s center within oneself. When the astral body recedes after the physical state, it carries the result of this within itself.

[ 5 ] Each round, therefore, brings out the Self. The first round brings out the mineral aspect, the second the plant aspect, the third the kamic or animal aspect, and the fourth the actual Self.

[ 6 ] First, the materials are prepared; then they flow away, and this process repeats itself on every planet.

[ 7 ] The foundation for the original planet was the result of earlier planetary development. The entities had developed deep-trance consciousness. They are the human monads, the Pitris. They were there from the beginning. These entities began to view themselves objectively. To understand this, imagine being transported one night to a completely different celestial sphere, with your memory erased. You would not be able to identify with yourself in this new environment. This would only be possible if you had retained your entire memory, but not if it were lost and the environment were different.

[ 8 ] This explains the difference between the objective and the subjective. For the first time, these entirely subjective beings must now attain objectivity; they must reflect on themselves, observe something. And that is the task of the first planet. As one stone, so to speak, strikes another, the first dim consciousness emerges. Thus, the essence of this lies in the fact that each of the subjective Pitris has lost itself in another. In esoteric language, this moment is called “the descent into the abyss.” That is to say, they become objective; they have a second self outside themselves.

[ 9 ] Conceived visually, they take the form of a sphere or an egg in the physical realm. The original point is depicted as an egg or a sphere in the reflection.

[ 10 ] The planet is then extremely thin and consists of spheres. One could say that it resembles a large blackberry. Everything is in a state of whirl; human beings themselves are minerals in a spiritual-material form; there is a rapid coming into being and passing away, as with soap bubbles. Everything is in motion within itself.

[ 11 ] What one goes through during the following six rounds is a fading of those first impressions, a consolidation of that state.

[ 12 ] The second planet already has a Pralaja between itself and the first; and each of these beings enters with a specific experience. For example, there was already a difference in spatial orientation—there was a North Pole and a South Pole. These experiences are now coming to the surface.

[ 13 ] During the first stage, there is a brief repetition, and a higher state of consciousness must find its way into the earlier experiences. During this second stage, the process of organizing according to number, measure, weight, and harmony begins. Mental development begins. Thus, the spheres, which previously were indistinguishable, now begin to express their experiences through varying proportions. This is the first rudimentary development of the plant kingdom; the beings arrange themselves so that they face one another in groups of three and three, four and four, and so on. Everything in the world that pertains to number, measure, weight, and harmony originated at that time and has merely undergone changes in the subsequent stages. Man is a plant; the legends alluding to this ancestry have their origin here. This is a beautiful world, in the chaste form of the plant kingdom. Esoterically, this planet is called the “Sun” or “Jupiter.” It is a paradisiacal state of true innocence; that is why the description of this state is one that always fills the initiate with holy awe.

[ 14 ] The following states—cycles—are now back again for consolidation and drainage. Everything we have in terms of crystal forms and plant genera originated in that original structure.

[ 15 ] On the lunar planet, after a pralaya, we once again encounter a brief repetition of the two states, and only in the third does something new emerge: the state of beings who evolve toward desire, toward the kamic, which not only arranges itself with others but also desires them. This is where unchastity begins; the number does not stand beside the other merely to be beautiful, but desires it. The Two desires the Three. Chemical affinities arise; we find ourselves in elective affinities.

[ 16 ] Then comes the ebb: the astral states develop. Particularly intense ones give the impression—when one imagines oneself within them—of something glowing, of something brooding. It is the feeling of being enveloped by the heat of passion; it is the air that floods one with passion, the wind has been passion itself.

[ 17 ] By those who were not more highly initiated—who did not know that this is merely a point of passage—this world was rightly described as a world of demons, as hell. Therefore, it makes sense to speak of “hellfire.” We find the same thing, albeit in a cooler form, in the lower regions of the astral world, and it is therefore rightly said that humanity’s strongest enemies reign there. — The following rounds were intended to accommodate this: the fiery passions were absorbed; what had formerly been atmosphere passed into the beings. They became beings of passion—Kama beings, Lunar Pitris—the entities that gave form to these things.

[ 18 ] They naturally had the opportunity to remain at any of the subsequent stages; therefore, there are seven classes of Pitris, the highest of which have reached the final phase of refined Kama development—the noble, purified Kama. Those at the fifth stage, for example, have already directed their passions toward higher things—toward something that resembles fanaticism, for instance; those at the sixth stage have a predisposition toward the passion for beauty; and those at the seventh stage have a passion for goodness. —What is missing is the calm contemplation of the Manas.

[ 19 ] Manas now enters the fourth planet, our Earth. The three preceding states—the mineral, plant, and kamic rounds—are repeated, for human beings must now shed what they do not need in order to advance in their development; in the fourth round, the new state of consciousness first emerges: bright, waking consciousness. Something entirely new now appears. The mineral, plant, and animal states have been shed. As a result of the passions, warm-bloodedness arises, and the power to absorb the new is retained.

[ 20 ] This decline continues until the third race; the Atlantic race is right in the middle, and the Aryan race is on the rise. During the

[ 21 ] In the Lemurian race, Manas was, as it were, placed into the brooding Kama mass and attempted there to attain existence, in order to later develop as memory in the Atlantean race; this continuous thread of Manas solidifies into intellectual combination in the fifth race; Manas now works inwardly.

[ 22 ] During the sixth root race, which will succeed our Aryan race, the process of incorporating Manas will continue to unfold. The chakras, the mental organs, and the human ego will develop during the following cycle.

[ 23 ] How does such a process of development take place? What happens during an initiation? No body can develop beyond its own environment; the physical body is dependent on physical forces; therefore, as a physical being, a person cannot develop beyond themselves. But they can develop their astral body so that they become at home in the knowledge of what we call astral life. They will come to know the origins of the evil that lies there. In this way, they have become an artificial fifth-rounder. Yet a certain discrepancy must arise within him, for in the course of normal further development, his physical body, too, would have become different. He must either renounce what currently constitutes life, or a certain disharmony will arise.

[ 24 ] During the fifth round, they can then serve as teachers and guides for the humanity of the fifth round, just as they already do for the humanity of the fourth round. Such Fifth-Rounders can far surpass the current stage of development; but if they are still at the beginning and not yet at the highest level of Fifth-Roundhood, they will appear to others as dreamers. These are the geniuses who, when they intervene in practical life, act as reformers. Cromwell could be cited as an example. When they are in the middle, they can impart such profound teachings to us as, for example, Goethe; or when they have reached the pinnacle and are already ripe for the sixth round, teachings such as those of Heraclitus or Plato. Humanity can only progress when such “artificial” fifth-rounders take on human form.

[ 25 ] The artificial six-round path consists of gaining insight into the mental world with complete clarity. A guide such as Buddha provides complete insight into the interconnections and the creative forces of the world. All that remains for him is to shed his mental body; he is completely free in the astral and physical realms. Such a sixth-rounder may be nearly ready to attain human godlikeness. Yet this is not possible with the current average body. Such a body must be slowly prepared through chelaship, so that only in a later life can the God of our Earth take possession of this body. Such a process occurred in the third race, when the chela “Sig” made his body available to an artificial seventh-rounder. To an even greater extent, this was the case when the chela Jesus of Nazareth, at the age of thirty, made his body available to the Christ Principle, the God-man. Only in the sixth root race will humanity be ready for a seven-rounder, who has completed all the stages of humanity, to fill the human body with the Christ Principle expressed within it. [...]