The Rudolf Steiner Archive

4. The Apocalypse and Theosophical Cosmology I

[ 1 ] If one wishes to understand the deeper meaning of such significant works as the Apocalypse, one must gain a profound insight into the structure of the universe and the entire development of the world. That is why, for the time when I could not be present, I had asked Miss von Sivers to spend a few hours here discussing the theory of evolution—the doctrine of the development of the various worlds that are in some way related to our Earth. It naturally became apparent that, in the way this development was presented here, something individual was perceived. [This was entirely in line with my own views, as I have conducted research on this topic myself.]

[ 2 ] Before we can make any meaningful progress at all in the Apocalypse—which we will soon return to, where you will see the depths it contains, and indeed those contained within esoteric Christianity—we must first clarify certain concepts regarding our Earth and solar system. That is why I myself will make a few digressions regarding the evolution of our planet and our solar system. We are entering into quite difficult areas of theosophical or mystical teaching, and I must therefore preface this with some remarks on how you should understand such matters.

[ 3 ] Above all, be aware that the Apocalypse is one of the most significant and profound works in the world, and that it contains the greatest of mysteries. Furthermore, be aware that interpreting the Book of Revelation is an extraordinarily difficult task, because there is so little preparation for such an understanding available today. Throughout the nineteenth century, there was scarcely any interpretation of the Book of Revelation in Europe. Only now, after a long period of time, are we once again able to speak of the Book of Revelation. Be aware that the interpretation of the Apocalypse, as we present it, is connected to the deepest of mysteries, and that through it you will hear, in our time, something that was previously hidden from humanity due to the course of spiritual development and the general course of world history. One must be patient with oneself if not everything can be clear and transparent from the very beginning. It is not possible for the difficult aspects to be clear from the start.

[ 4 ] The final explanation of the Apocalypse is one of the deepest mysteries of initiation, and the veil that can be lifted today is already extraordinarily deep. We could not proceed further unless we included some information about the world system with which our Earth is connected.

[ 5 ] Following up on the matters discussed in my absence, I would like to make a few preliminary remarks. Miss von Sivers has presented the evolution of the Earth and the Sun exactly as I am able to present it. However, the views of the various occult researchers in this field are only seemingly at odds with one another. You must not assume, however, that just because something appears to contradict itself, it is actually a real contradiction. So if Mr. Schouten believes he has found a contradiction between what has been presented here and what he knows from our highly esteemed comrade Leadbeater, this naturally requires a broader perspective on how such matters are to be understood; we will discuss this in detail. Above all, please bear in mind that no practical mystic claims to present a universally valid dogma. Neither Leadbeater nor I make such a claim. Each person presents what he is able to offer as the results of his own observations. And please do not interpret what is presented here as anything other than an account that someone gives of what he has experienced. This is open to discussion; it makes no claim to dogmatic value; these are not doctrinal propositions. At first, one might object: If different researchers in this field contradict one another, how can one ever arrive at clarity? But that is not how things stand. If you read travelogues from a wide variety of regions, you will see just how different these descriptions already are. And just as these observations vary, so too do the observations of occult researchers. With a certain degree of understanding—which is, however, difficult to achieve in this field—one always, without exception, arrives at exactly the same results. There is never a real contradiction between two occult researchers if they both proceed in the necessary objective manner and truly apply all the methods of occult research.

[ 6 ] However, one may not have the slightest idea of how research in this field actually takes place. I would like to begin by discussing the case that has been addressed here—namely, the case that constitutes a point of divergence, not within esotericism as a whole, but within the more recent current that has found expression in the Theosophical Movement [as seen in Sinnett, Leadbeater, and Blavatsky]. The Theosophical Movement is, in relation to the occult movement, actually a very young movement. It was founded in 1875. Occultism, however, is thousands of years old. In Europe, the same teachings existed as those brought by Theosophy; Theosophy also existed in Europe, but it receded somewhat in the eighteenth century because materialism did not allow people to speak of these things. Materialism has a deterrent effect on the sacred science of occultism.

[ 7 ] Within the Theosophical Movement itself, there appears to be a contradiction regarding this doctrine of the evolution of our Earth. When the great teachers of the Theosophical Movement—whom we call the Masters—first imparted some of the secret knowledge to European students, known as lay chelas, it was in fact this European lay student, our esteemed friend Sinnett, who wrote the first influential book, *Esoteric Buddhism*, based on the Master’s teachings. Much of this remained unclear to this lay student. This was inevitable, for the entire European way of thinking differs fundamentally from the way of thinking of a true occultist, a true esotericist. Anyone equipped with European cultural concepts—and you must not forget that people today grow up entirely steeped in the prejudices of the present age—easily misunderstands what the esotericist says, because they translate it into concepts derived from materialism. Thus, a certain disconnect existed from the outset when the Sublime Master imparted the first teachings on the evolution of our Earth to Sinnett through the mediation of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.

[ 8 ] Our Earth has, in fact, reached its present state after having previously passed through a completely different state, and once it has gone through this present state, it will transition into yet another state. We can express this by saying: The Earth undergoes transformations. The early Theosophists illustrated these three metamorphoses—the state of our Earth that preceded the present one, the present state, and the one that will follow—by drawing three spheres, which they also called globes.

[ 9 ] For the esotericist, the term “Earth” does not refer solely to rock and metal formations, but also to everything that belongs to the Earth: the mineral world, the plant world, the animal world, and the human world. We must therefore imagine this Earth as having emerged from an earlier state. You need not imagine this as the Earth we know today, but rather as the Earth of that time existing in a much finer form of matter—not physical matter at all, but a matter that can be conceived of as something akin to what we call the human astral body, which envelops and permeates the human being in the form of a cloud. The Earth of that time consisted of such matter. This state condensed into our present physical state. It has therefore been called the astral globe preceding our Earth. The subsequent one, into which our Earth will transform, is in turn similar in nature to this state with regard to matter; it, too, is astral. In contrast to the astral globe, the third globe is called the plastic globe, for the reason that when you observe the Earth in this astral state, it appears undifferentiated to you—a mass in which one can distinguish far fewer beings than in the third globe.

[ 10 ] Above all, however, you will see the difference when you observe human beings. Human beings exist on all three globes. On the first globe, human beings were in such a state that they were entirely dependent on the external forces acting upon them. Human beings in our time, on our physical Earth, have hands and legs; they can walk, move, and move their mouths—all of this is now within their own control. This was not yet present to the same extent on the astral globe; back then, human beings were much more like automatons. They simply reproduced what external forces stimulated within them. He moved his hands because external stimuli acted upon him. He was at the mercy of these external stimuli. This has changed; human beings have become more independent on the globe we call our Earth. And this will change yet again when we are on the third, the plastic globe. The physical body will have disappeared; the Earth will be in a state of dissolution, and darkness will have set in. Then human beings will not only be able to move their limbs, but they will be able to shape their own form at will, so that—whereas today they have a fixed physiognomy—they will no longer be able to hide their feelings through their physiognomy. His outward appearance will bear a direct imprint of what lives within him. We will be able to extend our hands, not merely move them. Human beings will be able to shape themselves plastically from within. Their form will be the result of what lives within them. Life will find greater expression in form.

[ 11 ] These three stages of development are not the only ones that our Earth undergoes. This astral globe was preceded by another, and the physical globe will in turn be followed by yet another. While here [on the astral globe] the beings we are dealing with—including human beings—exist in a substance similar to our astral body, here [on the globe that preceded the astral one] human beings and all other beings—indeed, the entire Earth—exist in a substance similar to the mental aura, the human being’s mental body. On this globe, everything depends on external stimuli. But this does not manifest in our astral matter. What lives here could never be seen, not even with the clairvoyant’s senses. There is only what the “clairaudient” can perceive. Everything is spiritual sound. Spiritual sounds swirl all over the place on this globe and are the same as the intermingling of colors on the astral globe. It is a globe called the Rupa globe. This is the form we know on our Earth in the physical state as sound waves. Such is the infinitely fine matter from which our thoughts are formed. Only thought-matter existed on Earth back then, when it was in this state. This globe gradually transitioned into the astral globe through densification. “Rupa” means form.

[ 12 ] Human beings will return to a similar state once they have passed through the plastic state. On the plastic globe, passions and feelings are expressed with extraordinary vividness, whereas here [on the intellectual globe], in the higher state, everything is expressed in tones. This world of sound, in which human beings will live, will differ significantly from the world of sound of the [descending] line [of the Rupa globe]. When the clairvoyant transports himself within this globe and perceives the entire world of sound, he perceives something akin to what you hear when you sit in a hall where a symphony is being played—but it is a purely spiritual phenomenon that is not heard with physical ears. While you perceive something like a symphony as you descend [on the Rupa Globe], you perceive words as you ascend [on the intellectual globe]—an articulated world of sound that expresses the world of thoughts and ideas living within the human being.

[ 13 ] Each of these two globes is preceded by another—one descending, one ascending. These are the Arupa globes. They are formless. Human beings existed at that time in such a way that, in this entire world—which is even more subtle than the Rupa world—nothing lived within them except individual tones, each with a very specific timbre. These individual tones, which did not yet harmonize, which [—if one may say so—] had not yet formed into melodies but existed as individual tones, were entirely essential in nature. Among these beings were individual fundamental entities of plants and animals, and above all, every human being—just as they are today—already existed as a tone. Every human being had a different tone back then. This is why the human being is a being who differs from others. This tone, with its very specific timbre, is the human being once again when they return to the globe we shall call the archetypal globe. There, the human being is once again a tone, but everything he has experienced resounds from this tone. It is a tone [of great richness] from which the whole rich experience of the human being resounds. It is almost impossible to form a conception of this, but as I said, one can imagine it this way: that this [on the Rupa globe] is a meager tone, whereas [on the archetypal globe] the other is a tone from which everything that the human being has gone through in the various stages of development speaks.

[ 14 ] If you follow this, you’ll get a picture of how the Earth transforms into its various states. A related group of metamorphoses is called a planetary chain. The term does not accurately reflect the reality of the situation, because this is a schematic drawing. If I were to design the drawing so that it better corresponded to reality, I would have to draw all the spheres in a single location. We do not have a succession of new spheres appearing one after another, but rather a transformation.

[ 15 ] This first Arupa sphere condenses, and from it arises the state of the Rupa sphere. From this arises the astral sphere, and this then condenses to such an extent that the Earth is formed from it. And then the following would come, but in such a way that I would have to draw all of this one on top of the other. Please consider the drawing only as a schematic. We are thus dealing with seven successive transformations [that the planet undergoes].

[ 16 ] At first—misled as they were—people imagined that no transformations were taking place, but rather that there were seven spheres distributed throughout space, and that life passed from one sphere to the next.

[ 17 ] It doesn't matter if you imagine it that way at first, because in these lofty realms it is difficult to form accurate concepts anyway. And so it does no harm to speak of the wave of life that flows from globe to globe.

[ 18 ] Another matter is that the Master’s first message gave rise to the following idea: It was thought that the wave of life flows from one globe to the next. With regard to the globes—at least two of them—ideas have crept in suggesting that the first and third globes correspond to Mars and Mercury.

[ 19 ] Upon inquiry, the Master explained that Mars and Mercury have nothing to do with the evolution of humanity on Earth. For the occultist, this is a complete impossibility, for Mars and Mercury are physical globes, whereas the others are not physical. Mars and Mercury are in the same physical state as Earth; thus, they also possess the physical structure of a planetary chain such as that of Earth.

[ 20 ] Mars, then, is the physical representative of a planetary chain just like that of our Earth. The same is true of Mercury. Later, more and more researchers appeared among us who were not only able to follow what the Masters told them, but who also came to understand through their own observation what was actually there. They became familiar with the methods. This observation can be somewhat misleading regarding the facts.

[ 21 ] There are methods by which the clairvoyant can project backward onto the astral globe and also project forward onto the plastic globe, the “Third” globe. If one enters the state of astral clairvoyance and focuses one’s thoughts on the point where the astral globe must be found, then one can observe how things were back then, when our animals, plants, and minerals were at that stage. One then has this before one’s eyes and can observe it in detail. When one enters such a state—the state of an astral clairvoyant—one is not merely united with, nor merely present within, the astral world one has sought out, but one is also present in the astral worlds related to the one one has sought out—that is, worlds that are in exactly the same state. One is present within all the celestial bodies that are in the same state. In this regard, space and time behave in exactly the same way for the clairvoyant. They make no distinction whatsoever. When one transports oneself back to the globe that preceded our Earth—when one is on that planet—one is also on all the planets that bear a resemblance to the Earth’s state at that time. The clairvoyant is then actually on those planets that today belong to our solar system and are in this state. Not all planets are in the same state. Mars is indeed physical today, but it is only at the stage of development that our Earth was at when it was passing through the astral state. At that time, Earth was able to solidify and become physical. Mars is in that same state today. It is at the stage of the third globe, but not astral—rather, physical. Now one can perceive what exists in this state. When one places oneself in this state of Mars, one is not only on our Earth but also on Mars.

[ 22 ] So you can now study the current state of Mars through clairvoyance, and there you may make an interesting discovery. What you can otherwise observe only astral—in cloud formations—you can now observe on Mars as it is today. It is as if it had suddenly turned to stone. So when we examine Mars, we may feel almost as if we had left this Mars some time ago. [People today, here on our Earth, have never lived on Mars.] We were, however, in an astral form when we left it. Today’s Mars looks as if humanity had left it and come over to Earth. This is the interesting problem that can lead one to believe that one once lived on Mars. This astral globe “One” is not to be confused with Mars.

[ 23 ] Mercury is further along in its development than our Earth. It has already reached the stage that human beings will reach when we attain astral plasticity. The beings of Mercury can endure the physical state. Earth humans will undergo this stage on an astral, plastic globe. But Mercury gives us a picture of what human beings will become when they are on a plastic globe. For them, plasticity is compatible with the physical state. [So a kinship does exist.] But the planets themselves have their own chains, and it is only through their stages of evolution that the impression can be created that Earth’s evolution has anything to do with them. The beings living on Mercury and Mars are not human-like. They undergo entirely different evolutions. Humans can only be physical on the physical Earth, whereas the Martian beings can be physical with the characteristics of astral humans, and the Mercurian beings are plastic on the physical globe—something humans can only be on the plastic globe.

[ 24 ] We have thus completed what we call the planetary chain—specifically, the planetary chain of our Earth. This planetary chain emerged from another planetary chain. Next time, I will show how our Earth evolved from another planet, just as we once had the Lunar Epoch. What remained of that epoch is contained in our present-day Moon. Our present-day Moon is not the Earth’s predecessor; it is merely a condensed physical fragment of it—a kind of slag, so to speak. When we say that the beings of the Earth developed from the Moon, this is not entirely accurate, but within the limits I have described, it is certainly correct. We will come to know a somewhat similar seven-fold chain in this Lunar Epoch, so that we can say: Before the Earth arrived at its seven members, it developed through the seven members of the Lunar Epoch. This seven-fold Lunar Epoch is characterized by the fact that people at that time did not yet possess the clear intellectual consciousness that human beings have today, but rather a consciousness similar to a dream-like trance. This is the echo of their former, dull consciousness.

[ 25 ] Furthermore, we are dealing with a planet that can no longer be found in our space. This planet became what the Sun is today, passing through various intermediate phases. Therefore, in ancient esotericism, the Sun is considered a planet. Esotericism does not refer to the physical Sun, but to the Father of our physical Sun. Next time, I will explain the Earth’s solar predecessor.

[ 26 ] Our Earth has thus passed through one, two, and three globes, each consisting of seven links, and is now in the fourth globe of the chain, which also has seven links, bringing the total to 28 links. In the future, it will pass through three more links, which will be similar to Jupiter and Venus, and so on. We will yet come to know the next link in the chain—which will contain humankind as highly evolved beings—a planet that is not in the physical state, and finally we will be able to pursue the true goal of our Earth’s evolution.

[ 27 ] So there are three more globes, each with seven members—totaling 21 members—to be added, bringing the total to 7 × 7 members, or 49 metamorphoses that we must undergo. The esotericist does not record these 49 metamorphoses in the same way as modern people do. [Esotericism does not use the decimal system, but rather the system of seven.] For the esotericist, 66 does not mean 66, but [6 × 6 =] 36; according to the system of seven, that equals: 7 × 7 = 49. Thus, you will understand what it means when the esotericist writes down 77. For him, this does not mean 77, but rather 7 × 7 = 49 metamorphoses. There are seven root races on each planet. So we have seven chains, each with seven planets or globes, and each globe with seven root races, which together make 343 states. This number plays a certain role in the Esoteric Doctrine. In the early days, very little was understood about this matter. Communication with the Master works in such a way that one solves the problem oneself and then receives the Master’s answer as to whether it is correct or not.

Additional notes, presumably in response to a question regarding the lecture on January 30, 1905

[ 28 ] When viewed from the outside, the Earth appears as a sphere with a green base color. [The Earth’s base color is green.] While it is relatively easy to examine earlier stages, it is difficult to observe later ones. The Akashic Records do not provide insight here; they merely reveal the intentions. In science, there are similar methods for looking back and looking ahead. When a scientist has hydrogen, oxygen, and an electric current, he knows that these elements combine to form water.

[ 29 ] The astral globe of our Earth is, in terms of matter, once again entirely an astral globe—only more highly developed. The astral world has already prepared the way for birth and death.

[ 30 ] The Moon has a very dense physical body. It also has something similar to an astral body. It relates to the Earth the way a negative photographic plate relates to a positive one. Everything that appears joyful on Earth is, in its manifestation on the Moon, a very sorrowful thing. Everything there signifies precisely the opposite. It is impossible for psychic perception to see astral matter. With the psychic power of Earth, one cannot see the astral sphere of the Moon. If one studies the procedures used in karmic investigations into human karma, one enters the region where one can perceive something of the Moon itself.

[ 31 ] The number 666 equals 216—6 × 6 × 6—. The most perfect state, the seventh, is absent from the Apocalypse.

[ 32 ] [666 is the number of the beast; this number is obtained by removing the two upper globes from each chain. These two upper globes belong to the deity. One chain is one cycle.]

[ 33 ] It is difficult to say anything about the timing of the next catastrophe, for those who know anything about it cannot speak of it. Our fifth race will perish through a struggle of all against all. Nothing can be said about the exact timing. Nor should one speak of numbers. Perhaps something more can be said about this in the course of this lecture series. We are, after all, living in a time when things are developing at an extraordinarily rapid pace. In the astral realm, the nineteenth century is equivalent to the previous millennium. Progress is moving at an ever-faster pace. This can already be observed among the root races. Toward the end of the cycles, life is greatly accelerated.

[ 34 ] The Bible refers to the seventh state on the intellectual globe as bliss. In India, it is called Devachan. The seventh state is always a state of bliss, though to varying degrees on different planets.