The Rudolf Steiner Archive

76. The Formation of Races Up to Fertilization with Manas (Animal Offshoots)

[ 1 ] Let us trace the development within our circle, starting from the center. The Earth is in the physical stage for the fourth time; it consists entirely of very fine, ethereal matter. Already present within this ethereal matter are: minerals in their embryonic form, lower animals in their embryonic form, plants in their embryonic form, and human beings as astral beings.

[ 2 ] For he did not progress any further within the first three cycles; he merely set the other realms aside; he is beginning to manifest himself in etheric matter and is waiting to incorporate that etheric matter into the astral form. Thus, human beings possess only the etheric double. Let us examine this connection between the astral human and etheric matter.

[ 3 ] The ether has only one manifestation: it can vibrate, and therefore the only organ that could develop in humans was one that responds to vibrations—the sense of hearing. Humans could perceive the world only through hearing. It was still an echo of that “harmony of the spheres” of which the Pythagoreans speak.

[ 4 ] Originally, this etheric body was a much more complex entity, for it still contained within itself all the animals that later branched off—amphibians, birds, lower and higher mammals. We call these etheric beings the “polar race,” because they lived in the region surrounding the North Pole. Naturally, no geological remains of this race could have survived.

[ 5 ] The first beings to emerge were, of course, the amphibious animals—first and foremost, the fish. The reproduction of this human being took place as follows: At first, he was an astral human being and absorbed matter into this astral form, thereby shaping himself. This is called self-generation. This process evolves into a form in which, as the human being absorbs matter, he enlarges himself and then divides. This process is called “sprouting.”

[ 6 ] Blavatsky calls it “sweat birth”; the term is not well chosen, as the process is more reminiscent of one object emerging from another, as in spiritualist séances.

[ 7 ] This allows a second organ to form. Air has varying densities; it can be compressed, whereas the ether is incompressible. This gives rise to the difference between heat and cold, and a tactile organ develops, with a sense of heat and cold. From this second, the , there still live over there giant amphibians, which later become the order of the ichthyosaurs and so on. At first, these flying dragons were a beautiful order; they became decadent as they condensed. The memory of them has been preserved in legends.

[ 8 ] During the Hyperborean era, humankind was initially still united with what we know as the bird kingdom and the lower mammal kingdom. First, the bird kingdom separated from it, becoming a distinct kingdom within the air. However, it was not yet as it later became, for it still contained the mammalian lineage within itself. Legend has wonderfully preserved this in symbols. It records the deeds of the ancient past—when it still stemmed from the instincts of the Atlanteans—namely: the bird-man as the griffin. One can only understand the symbols from the secret schools when one knows that they are not mere allegories, but records of facts. The centaur, for example, is the horse-man, the mammal-man. This separation took place in a wide variety of forms, since there were many races: horse-people, bull-people, and so on. In the very dense air of the birds, it split off from the lower mammal: a reminder of this are the mammals that lay eggs or brood their young, such as the platypuses and the marsupials.

[ 9 ] The higher classes of animals split off from humankind, and with each split, humankind acquired a new innate quality. When the horses split off, the intellect developed within humankind; hence, the horse is regarded as a symbol of the intellect. We find this in the Apocalypse, in the Indian legend of the horse Kalki; in the middle of the third subrace, at the time of the Trojan War, with Odysseus, through whom this race is subjugated. A vestige of this is still preserved in the fact that when the true hero, the avatar of our race, appears, he will have something to do with Kalki, the horse.

[ 10 ] Similarly, a different split gave rise to different characteristics. For example, humans could not have developed moral courage if they had not split off the lion.

[ 11 ] Let us now take a closer look at the third, the Lemurian period. Human beings experienced the same densification that the Earth underwent: the air condensed into a fiery mist. We can imagine this state as mist in the mountains. But in some places it was as dense as hot molten metal: everything still flowed within it—gold, diamonds. Then cooling took place, and with it, the densification of humankind. And humankind not only had to create in a different way, but also had to protect.

[ 12 ] This same mode of reproduction continued until the middle of the Lemurian race. Within the glowing nebula, what is called Kama was still in a dissolved state. We must ask why this solidification occurred. Kama was still dissolved, and the human astral body was still connected to the general masses of kama, even though it already had a center. Now the individual kama beings became separated. As a result, they withdrew their own power from the surrounding, more subtle masses of kama. These masses became denser and more solid as a result of the human being drawing in his or her kama, which had previously been dissolved within them; this meant that what had previously floated within the earlier kama mass now became active from within, and warm-bloodedness arose. Associated with this is the attraction of one being toward another. In place of the earlier, external, chemical affinity, sympathy and antipathy now took hold, and this laid the foundation for sexuality.

[ 13 ] We now have: amphibians, which are gradually declining; birds; then lower and higher mammals; and finally humans, who are only now capable of entering this condensed mass of kama. He has reached the point where this force, which was previously external, now acts from within him. We have the mammal-man; he is much more malleable and supple than he is now, and is therefore subject to powerful metamorphoses—malleable and elastic.

[ 14 ] Different forms arise from different conditions of existence and sensations. We still find echoes of this in the works of poets, for example in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

[ 15 ] Since human beings have now shed all animal forms—at least in essence, though they have not yet shed their ape-like nature—a highly purified organism was available for their developed kama body, and they were able to separate out a part of the organism onto which they could transfer a different force. The nervous system could be developed, and thus a dual being came into being. On the one hand, it possessed the highest animal form with a skeletal structure and glandular system; on the other hand, it acquired the nervous system in which this force would emerge—the spinal cord. This structure was capable of receiving something that until then had only hovered in the Earth’s atmosphere, namely Manas. This is the fertilization of humankind with the Manas principle.

[ 16 ] Let us bear in mind that human beings were once Kama beings who were in closer relationship with the Kama surrounding them—the Kama of revelation, which was not selfish or lustful, but self-sacrificing.

[ 17 ] We have both creative and created Kama. This Kama, from which humankind emerged, has attained a higher level of selflessness through humankind’s absorption of selfishness. As this selfish Kama withdrew, humankind became capable of earthly love. And on the outside, divine love surrounds him with heightened selflessness. Within, his Manas is at work.

[ 18 ] Thus, we find three things in human beings:

1. the sensual love that arises within him,
2. the divine love that surrounds him,
3. the Manas that surrounds him.

[ 19 ] Now something entirely new emerges: the experience of karma in the human sense—indeed, an order such as the one we have today—the distinction between good and evil in the world.

[ 20 ] It is one of the most frequently asked questions: Where does imperfection in the world come from? During the fertilization with Manas, it manifested itself in its most acute form as evil [gap in the transcript]. But how—we ask—is it possible that something imperfect can arise from a perfect cosmic source? How is it possible that something imperfect can arise from something perfect?

[ 21 ] As long as we consider the matter in the abstract, we will never find an answer. However, we may well find one if we view it in such a way that the Primordial Source unfolds into a multiplicity—a multiplicity in space and time. No matter how perfect her soul may be, she will direct the right hand just as she does the left—and this is because she has not made the hands in her own image. But this is precisely what befits the all-loving Deity. It is precisely because God, in infinite love, yields the likeness to diversity that the possibility of the struggle for existence arises.

[ 22 ] We understand the imperfect nature of time even more clearly. We need only think of the example of the piano builder and the piano virtuoso. Each performs excellently in his own role. The piano maker is an artist in his own right. But if he were so enamored with his technical work that he began to tap and hammer away in the concert hall while the virtuoso was playing, disharmony would ensue. Placed in the wrong place—or, rather, at the wrong time—the good would become evil. This example helps us understand many things. A good thing placed out of context is evil.

[ 23 ] The concept of time, in conjunction with the concept of freedom, allows us to understand the various degrees of perfection—or even relative imperfection—because it encompasses the various stages of development.

[ 24 ] Let us bear in mind that beings do not reach their destination at the same rate. At the end of the lunar epoch, there were beings who had just barely progressed as far as their development required. Others were left behind.

[ 25 ] We have not yet considered what brought about fertilization. We have examined the substance from which the Pitri developed and the soul of the Pitri. But we have not yet considered the drop of Manas, a fragment of the Higher that hovered around the Earth. The fact that this drop can sink into it is only possible because these higher beings—these creative powers that have now endowed human beings with Manas—have also evolved to this stage.

[ 26 ] Every human Manas is a thought within these beings that hover around the Earth—the Dhyan-Chohans, the Elohim—who had to mature to such an extent. The fact that these superterrestrial beings became mature enough to be endowed with Manas arose from what they learned on the Moon. Something happened on the Moon that can only be described as “superhuman artistic activity”—arranged with the greatest cosmic wisdom. Human beings could not have created their entire artificial structure with such wisdom as that possessed by beings endowed with lung, heart, and stomach faculties. That is why the Lunar Epoch is called the “cosmic wisdom” epoch. On Earth, this was succeeded by “cosmic love.” With regard to love, human beings are just as dependent on beings above them as they once were with regard to wisdom. The wisdom involved manifests as Manas.