The Rudolf Steiner Archive

1. On the Ancestral Races of the Atlanteans and Aryans

[ 1 ] The primary task of the fourth race was to develop the inner self. Previously, human beings had lived very much in the general realm. Human kama was very closely connected to general kama; it had not yet become separate.

[ 2 ] We can understand what warm-blooded Kama actually means by looking for its opposite, for in nature everything arises in polar opposition. While Kama separated itself within human beings—in the midst of the Lemurian race—something else also had to arise out in the world; this other thing is the natural fire, the fire out in the world. The two are therefore connected in an occult sense, and the misuse of Kama in human beings caused a disturbance in the fiery element of the Earth. For the connection between them was much more intimate than it is now, when the separation is complete. Just as human beings, through their Kama, were still able to tame fire—to draw fire from stone—they were also able to misuse fire in such a way that it destroyed them. The downfall of Lemuria was caused by the abuse of fire in its connection with the kamic element. Thus, sin meant much more back then than it did later.

[ 3 ] As the Kama became increasingly separated—resulting in a soul that withdrew ever further inward—the Atlantean race emerged. — The Prana, however, remained in the same connection, and the Atlanteans were able to utilize this force, applying its generative power to industrial endeavors. The first races, the Rmoahals and the Tlavatlis, still possessed the magic word—the mantra-like sounds developed by the Lemurians—which had a direct effect on the forces of life. As language became more prevalent, knowledge of the magic word was gradually lost. During the Toltec race, its effect on the external world diminished steadily. Some, however, preserved it as an art.

[ 4 ] In the past, people had paid less attention to this dominion over life; now, some sought to systematize it, and in a certain sense, they also gained dominion over death. The age of the patriarchs, as described in the Bible, is based on the art of prolonging human life to an extraordinary degree. This thus became an art; and among the fourth, the Turanian subrace, it led to a terrible form of black magic, insofar as life has an occult connection with everything that is of the watery element. It was this watery substance over which the Atlanteans gained such great dominion; they had the same power over it as the Lemurians had over fire, and in this way their downfall was also brought about by water. There is a profound macrocosmic connection between nature and humankind. Thus, the fauna and flora also differ according to the root races and subraces; for example, in the case of the fourth subrace of the Aryans—in which idealistic, Romanic Christianity arose—the fauna and flora that still remain correspond to those lands. The materialistic Germanic race, in turn, has its own. The external world depends on what a person develops within themselves. People are not yet aware of this; at present, they master nothing other than what their intellect controls. During the Sixth Race, however, they will once again learn to master the life force; during the Seventh Race, they will master the fire—the inner Kundalini fire—which only the adept currently masters. During the fifth subrace of the Atlanteans, the Proto-Semitic subrace, the intellect—as we know—had been established through the former divergence of certain animals, the ungulates, including the horse. The predisposition to logic, to combination, and to insisting on one’s own right arises; personal conflict emerges, stemming from the opposition of convictions and opinions; a sense of distinctiveness, which finds its outward expression in the fifth, the Aryan, root race. This is a necessary stage; but it is natural that this will also bring about the downfall of the fifth root race. Through the war of all against all, the Aryans will perish, just as the Atlanteans once perished by water and the Lemurians by fire.

[ 5 ] At that time, humankind was not yet capable of guiding this intellect on its own; therefore, the leading Manu was still a supernatural being. A small group was then set apart—namely by the Proto-Semites—and led into the Gobi and Shamo deserts. Above all, this small group was to have pure bodies, so the Manu prescribed a select plant-based diet. This is the origin of the decadent dietary laws that still remain today. The Manu’s primary aim, however, was to grant these people freedom above all else—to leave them under the influence of a Luciferic priesthood. Consequently, only a small remnant remained faithful, while the others fell away. This is why the stages of development are so varied. The Master differs from all other leading forces of humanity in that he attains the highest level of development along the same path, only more quickly.

[ 6 ] When the Masters are openly recognized as the guides of humanity, the sixth subrace will emerge. The seventh subrace will, in fact, perish. In contrast, the small group of “Homines religioses” will be gathered into the sixth subrace, which will possess the necessary temperament for this in its blood. That small group, which remained faithful at that time, formed the foundation of the Aryan race; hence the marvelous, pure, and brilliantly spiritual teachings of the Indian subrace that migrated southward. The unified Divine is recognized and worshiped. Through the intellect reaching up to Devachan, the Devas were first recognized and worshiped. The Vedas are later developments; they arose at a time when the third subrace was already in existence. Only traditions remain of the original Rishi religion. It is a repetition of what the Lemurians had already instinctively sensed; here, the unified religion is experienced once more through the intellect.

[ 7 ] The dualistic [religion], with its division into good and evil, was a repetition of what the Atlanteans had experienced and was relived in the consciousness of the Persians.

[ 8 ] In the third sub-race, the result of monistic and dualistic religion emerges: the Trinity—the cult of Osiris and the cult of Mithras. It is only from the third race onward that three Logoi are recognized. The Indian Trinity also took shape under this influence. The child is personified for the first time in Horus. The personal dimension is now possible, into which Christ immerses himself. God appears under the mask of a human being. The Trinity becomes the three Persons.

[ 9 ] In the fifth sub-race, everyone wants to decide for themselves; the poly-personality asserts itself, reaching its peak during the French Revolution. Liberty, equality, and fraternity are the guiding abstract ideas that replace the gods.