The Rudolf Steiner Archive

8. The Apocalypse and Theosophical Cosmology V

[ 1 ] Today I want to explore the future of humanity. We must view this perspective as if it were a law of nature, for the initiated one perceives the laws of the world. One must not imagine that these goals will be realized without human intervention. For when we look back at the past, we find that humanity, in its cycles and races, has developed entirely in accordance with the laws of nature.

[ 2 ] Humanity was guided by dhyanic beings. But now we live in a time when guidance has passed to humanity itself, whereas in the past, humanity was guided by great beings who did not need to incarnate.

[ 3 ] It is the task of our root race to bring humanity to the point where it must assume the role of God. Back then, the Masters were the great leaders who had transcended the Ma/[gap in the transcript] and who were working together; they knew the laws of Kama-Manas, which they had brought down from Mars.

[ 4 ] However, more human beings will now intervene once our fifth root race has developed into the seventh. Humanity will have progressed to the point where it will itself perform a divine function. By then, people will understand the laws of causality.

[ 5 ] We can only grasp this in vague outlines: We live within the development of the intellect. Everything we have is something that extends into us from the past; or what already extends into us from the future is what we are already using now. The vast majority makes use of the intellect. What, then, is this intellect capable of? It can identify what stands before it as an object—that which the senses perceive—but there cannot be a science of the intellect [concerning the spirit]; there must be an object present. It imprints its intellect upon nature, but it needs raw material. Artistic ability already shines in from the future. The intellect, however, needs the material; the intellect needs to combine—it will be capable of nothing more as long as the Earth remains physical.

[ 6 ] But now a new state is emerging—a new metamorphosis of the Earth, first etheric, then astral; at first, we face no resistance. Humans will no longer build machines out of wood and iron, piece by piece. The world will then be supple and malleable. The clairvoyant sees it in colors, comparable to our feelings. Then he will be able to shape freely in astral space; there is no external matter—he will create from astral substance.

[ 7 ] Manas—German for “wisdom,” more than just knowledge; wisdom arises from intuition. How to create an image based on intuition in order to weave it into the fabric.

[ 8 ] Human beings then create out of astral substance; they have the ability to shape it wisely; and this is because human beings were on the physical globe—the fourth round—and acquired this ability there.

[ 9 ] Freemasonry — Architecture

[ 10 ] When he builds a church on this fourth round in the physical realm, he masters the material; he acquires abilities; for the church passes away, but the ability is not lost. This ability blossoms on the astral globe and rises in astral images. There it takes on a remarkable character. Man then does not build stone upon stone—form and matter are not needed. Just as the plant brings forth a new form from its own power, this is the kind of creation—true creation from within oneself. There is no difference between human creation and plant formation. His creation will thus sprout and flourish like a plant. There will then be the human, animal, and plant kingdoms; but then he will create living forms—as happens today in the organic realm—though only in the astral realm.

[ 11 ] In the next metamorphosis, the astral aspect will dissipate; the human being will then be a purely spiritual being, capable of creating at a level even higher than that of the plant—the plant feels nothing in the process, but the human being will then create as a spiritual being; everything he creates physically here [will take place] there with full consciousness. There is a sense of pleasure in the creative power that is expressed; it is no longer distinct from what he experiences today with animals [gap in the transcript]

[ 12 ] He will not only bring things to life and make them grow; he will make everything grow with feeling. He will become a being capable of feeling. Human beings will not only—as they do today—build churches; rather, the buildings themselves will possess life. They will no longer create the form; they will create the thought itself. Their works of art will be living beings—animal existence in the realm of the spiritual. Everything will merge with animality.

[ 13 ] Then there will be only two realms: humankind itself and the animal kingdom.

[ 14 ] Now we come to the next metamorphosis: Here, man has reached the highest stage —

[ 15 ] Animal nature has disappeared here. Everything he shed as he descended into the material world, he will have to reabsorb into himself.

[ 16 ] The mineral kingdom was once united with us, intertwined with us; the lion’s fury, the fox’s cunning—man possessed all of this within himself; he cast down into the animal realm those who were once his brothers.

[ 17 ] When he shed the mineral realm, he became softer; then he shed the plant realm, and was able to refine himself step by step. He created the realms. For every saint, there is a criminal; otherwise, the saint would not have progressed. Man must push others down, but he must also bring them back up again. One may develop, but not for one’s own sake; one must develop solely to lift others up with oneself. One must restore balance to everything. Then our cycle will come to an end. This thought is foremost in the Master’s mind—no other thought—and if such a thought serves as our ideal, we will develop accordingly in the course of our evolution.

[ 18 ] A twilight state now sets in.

[ 19 ] In the fifth round, we do not need to deal with chemical and mineral laws; human beings will then exist in the astral realm, just as in the next astral state of the fourth round, but this astral realm will then once again be physical in the lowest globe.

[ 20 ] The Earth will then be seen again with physical eyes, but it will be the lowest kingdom—the plant kingdom. It will no longer be governed by chemical laws and matter, but will be an intertwined plant kingdom.

[ 21 ] Human beings are entirely plant-like, growing beings. Just as they now—in the physical realm of the fourth round—derive their nourishment from mineral substances, they will then derive it solely from plants.

[ 22 ] Humans [are] then like giant plants.

[ 23 ] This will become evident through his work

[ 24 ] Churches—everything [will] then only grow. He will plant the seed for a church or a building, and it will grow. Then the earth will receive an even higher capacity; a higher realm will be established. Today, he lives in the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms; he perceives only intellect. But in the fifth round, a new kingdom will be established above the intellect.

[ 25 ] Today there are blood ties and physical cohabitation; these will no longer exist—they will come to an end. It would then seem completely unthinkable to us to belong to a community that did not include all of humanity. —

[ 26 ] The Moral— [gap in the transcript]

[ 27 ] Today we speak of races and peoples, but that would be nonsense there. Human beings will create their own realm, their own community, but according to the principles of reason. Moral communities.

[ 28 ] One thing becomes their fundamental rule. Life is organized according to the principles of fulfilled karma. Karma is conditioned only by birth and death, but this comes to an end as early as our sixth root race—in the fourth cycle; already on the astral plane, there are no more incarnations, no more birth and death.

[ 29 ] The fifth round has no karma. People cross over with a certain amount of karma, and then they will be grouped according to their karma.

[ 30 ] This explains something that Europeans find inexplicable: the caste mentality. This had already existed in India once before, among the Brahmins. They were born with a certain karma; they were higher beings.

[ 31 ] One must not criticize narrow-mindedness, for one must understand the matter. Our next globe—that of the fourth round—serves as the model for the physical globe of the fifth round, and here humanity appears as the highest state, “glory.”

[ 32 ] Then a state of slumber sets in, and the sixth cycle begins. Here, beings live in such a way that the animal kingdom is the lowest realm. The animal kingdom possesses the same intellect within itself. Now a higher realm is added—the spiritual capacity beyond mere morality. Zarathustra, Christ, and Buddha possessed this; that is why they are called “artificial Six-Rounders.” Plato was an “artificial Five-Rounder.”

[ 33 ] Therefore, such beings lead a double life; they reach far beyond with their spirituality, towering above humanity. We need not immediately direct our goal toward the great sages and benefactors; there are countless levels—an artist, for example, is part of this process of development. If only Christ and Plato had existed, there would be no evolution; yet that is precisely why some must rise above the rest to help the others catch up.

[ 34 ] At first it seems unjust, but that is merely the work of time; yet whoever rises above time will discover the great harmonies. Otherwise, it would be devoid of meaning—just like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Harmonies must emerge from disharmonies. That is why some must precede the multitude.

[ 35 ] From the discussion

[ 36 ] Mercury is currently in the process of brightening between the fourth and fifth metamorphoses.

[ 37 ] Kama-Manas Martian beings in their lowest form; they are now entering the astral state from the third to the fourth round. Along with our solar system, there are a great many planets in other stages; what we see with our physical eyes can be imagined as being seven or eight times greater in the astral.

In the fifth round, Manas will develop.
In the sixth round, Budhi will become Manas
In the seventh round, Atma will develop.

[ 38 ] On the Moon, for example, there are beings who have fallen so low that on Earth they appear as enemies of humankind.

[ 39 ] Steadfastness, equanimity, patience, trust, self-control, concentration of thought and action —

[ 40 ] A two-petaled lotus flower between the eyes develops the ability to see beyond karma and one’s own incarnations. All people today are reincarnated Atlanteans.

[ 41 ] In the sixth round, the souls that have fallen so far behind that they are considered black magicians are destroyed; they are cast out. This is to be regarded as a punishment, because human beings already possess a higher level of consciousness; these souls will then be banished into a shell, only to be swept away again at a later time; but they must wait that long and remain preserved within a thick shell; this, however, is a dreadful state—there is nothing more difficult than standing still. Then they enter a phase of development in which they must work their way through it all again amid terrible torment. Their fate is already decided in the fifth round, but the Atma still needs to be developed. So that, starting with the sixth cycle, the Atma is formed—otherwise, they would not have been able to develop their deepest self. But their fate is already decided. —The “Laue” in the Apocalypse. But whoever is imbued today with true knowledge—of what we have heard today—cannot become a black magician with this thought.