The Rudolf Steiner Archive

15. The Logos and the Atoms in the Light of Occultism

[ 1 ] A fundamental realization must take hold of us if we are to gain a true understanding of Theosophy: namely, that within the Theosophical movement, our souls are expanded, and our hearts feel more open and elevated toward higher tasks—toward participating in the affairs of the world—of which one has no inkling unless one knows something about the occult.

[ 2 ] There is often talk of the grand purpose of guiding humanity, through the Theosophical Movement, to that point in the future where a new human race will emerge—a time when our present mind will no longer play the leading role in the world, but will instead be inspired by Buddhi. We must contribute to this great global current and thereby bear a great responsibility toward the Theosophical Movement. The task of the Theosophist extends into the distant future. We are not indulging in wishful thinking here; rather, what we learn about such a distant future awakens forces within us and generates something within us that we can also use in our daily lives. Someone who allows these grand cosmic perspectives to pass through their mind for even ten minutes a day acts differently from someone who is completely absorbed in everyday life. They can bring something into the present that is new, productive, and original. All development is based on bringing originality into humanity.

[ 3 ] Let us begin with something related to the workings of the devas. Devas are beings who stand on a higher level than humans and are capable of acting on higher planes of existence. Thus, we encounter the devas when, as seers, we enter the higher planes. We find devas on the astral plane, on the rupa plane, on the arupa plane, and even higher up. What does the work of the devas mean for the world in which we ourselves live? In answering this question, we begin by asking ourselves: What is the purpose of our human existence, of these continuous reincarnations? Human beings would come into the world in vain and without purpose if they could not learn a specific lesson or fulfill a specific task with each incarnation. Each time, the Earth must have changed to such an extent that human beings encounter a situation they had not yet encountered in their previous incarnation.

[ 4 ] In occult terms, an incarnation is considered to consist of a male and a female. Two such related incarnations occur between 2,600 and 3,000 years apart. The experiences that human beings have in the world at the present stage of evolution are so different for men and women that it is absolutely necessary to have them.

[ 5 ] The changes that take place in the world between two of a person’s incarnations are, in truth, quite incomprehensible to someone outside the theosophical world. In fact, however, people find themselves in circumstances that are entirely different—not only morally but also physically. For those who look back through occult means, physical conditions have also changed significantly over the last three thousand years. In the time of the ancient Greeks—the Greeks of Homer, 800 B.C.—we would encounter our previous incarnations on average. At that time, geographical and climatic conditions were entirely different, the plant life was substantially different, and so was the animal life. Substantial changes are [constantly] taking place in these realms. An outward expression of these changes is the progression of the sun across the celestial vault. We have twelve constellations, and the Sun advances from one to the next with the vernal equinox. Eight thousand years ago, the Sun rose for the first time in the constellation of Cancer. The time during which the Sun passes through a constellation—the time that elapses—lasts about 2,600 years. This is also the time between two human incarnations. Around the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, the Sun moved from the constellation of Aries into the constellation of Pisces, so that it now rises in the constellation of Pisces in the spring.^{1See Notes.}

[ 6 ] People who still had a sense of the occult knew something of the connection between human life and these changes in the heavens. In earlier times, before the sun entered the sign of Aries, the cult of the bull (Mithras, Apis) prevailed in Asia. This was followed by the worship of the ram, which began with the emergence of the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Christ is called the “Lamb of God.” Going even further back, one finds the Persian symbol of the twins. This is connected to the [Persian] culture of that time [and its conception] of good and evil.

[ 7 ] When the sun shines upon the Earth under different conditions, those conditions are always different as well. Therefore, the sun’s rise in a new constellation brings about a new incarnation each time. High in the sky, the sun’s progression; down on Earth, a change in climatic conditions, vegetation, and so on.

[ 8 ] Who brings this about? The theosophist must ask this question, for there are no miracles for the theosophist. There are facts on higher planes, but no miracles. When considering the question of humanity’s connection to the phenomena on Earth, one must adopt a higher perspective.

[ 9 ] After death, humans are in Kamaloka. We do not ask, “Do animals and plants have consciousness?” but rather, “Where do they have their consciousness?” - We know that animals have their consciousness in Kamaloka, on the astral plane; plants, on the rupa plane; and minerals, on the arupa plane. Human beings have their consciousness on the physical plane. Suppose a human being were to go to Kamaloka now. Then he would be in the same place where animals have their consciousness. Then he ascends to Devachan, where plants have their consciousness. At the present stage of evolution, humans are not capable of exerting any influence on the animal kingdom or the plant kingdom. However, they do have this influence in the lower regions of the Devachan plane. All those who possess a Devachanic consciousness are their companions there. These are forces and beings who create from within Devachan, bringing about the growth and flourishing of the plant world. The entire life of plants is directed from the Devachan plane. From there, human beings participate in the creation and transformation of plants. They develop powers there that enable them to exert a real influence on vegetation. But the Devas are there to govern this activity. He is guided by them so that he can cooperate in the transformation of the plant world. The forces that a human being has gathered during an incarnation are used in Devachan to reshape the plant world. Just as the forces of existence change during a human being’s time in Devachan, so too does he help transform the vegetation on Earth. From Devachan, the human being actually changes the environment that grows up around him.

[ 10 ] Those who remain in Devachan for a long time also contribute to the transformation of physical forces. If one goes back a million years in Germany, one still finds volcanic mountains; the Alps as low, undulating hills. The subsequent transformation was brought about by the people from the Arupa Plane so that they might later find a physical configuration in Europe suitable for them. The human influence in the universe is, viewed from within, what we see in the environment from the outside.

[ 11 ] Now we come to how, in a different form, a transformative influence is exerted on the world at even higher levels.

[ 12 ] One often reads about the Logos flowing down and wonders how this is to be [conceived], how one can form a conception of the Logos—a conception that is more than just a word. Let us now consider the connection between the Logos and the smallest things. I will provide you with a description—not speculation—of the findings of ancient occult research, as they have been handed down, specifically as they were taught in the occult schools of Germany, particularly from the 14th century onward.

[ 13 ] When we think about the atom, it occurs to us that the ‘atom is a very small thing.’ It is clear to everyone that this tiny thing called an atom has never been seen by any microscope, no matter how perfect it may be. Yet occult books provide descriptions of atoms and images of atoms. Where do these images come from? How, then, can an occultist know anything about atoms?

[ 14 ] Well, imagine if it were possible to make an atom grow so that it would become bigger and bigger until it were as large as the Earth; then one would find a very complex world. Within this tiny thing, one would observe many movements and various phenomena. Keep this analogy in mind: that the atom has been enlarged to the size of the Earth. If it were truly possible to make the atom grow that large, we could observe all the individual processes taking place within it. Only the occultist is capable of making the atom grow that large and observing its interior.

[ 15 ] Second, if we consider all human activity on Earth—beginning with the lowest stages of human development, with its drives and passions, and ascending to moral ideals, religious communities, and so on—we see that people, as it were, weave threads between themselves that intertwine from person to person, giving rise to ever higher and higher communities: the family, the tribe, and further on, ethnic and national communities, and finally religious communities. The influence of the higher individualities is already evident in these. Such communities have arisen from the source and wellspring of unified world wisdom through a religious founder. All religions are in agreement [at a deeper level] because they have founders who belong to the Great Lodge.

[ 16 ] There is a special White Lodge, which has twelve members, seven of whom are particularly active, and it is through them that religious communities are founded. Such figures included Buddha, Hermes, Pythagoras, and so on. The grand plan for the development of all humanity is, in fact, spiritually elaborated within the White Lodge, which is as old as humanity itself. A consistent plan for guiding the progress of all humanity unfolds before us there. All other communities are merely offshoots; even family communities and so on are all linked to the great plan that leads us upward into the Lodge of the Masters. There, the plan according to which all humanity develops is spun and woven.

[ 17 ] Let us follow everything that happens next. To do so, we must first become acquainted with a specific plan—namely, the plan of our Earth. Let us consider the fourth Earth cycle, in which we now find ourselves. It is destined to transform the mineral kingdom more and more into a human one. Consider how the human intellect has already transformed the mineral world—all the way up to the transformation we see in Cologne Cathedral, and on to the technical machine. Humanity has the task of transforming the entire mineral world into a pure work of art. Electricity is already pointing us toward the occult depths of matter.

[ 18 ] When humankind has rebuilt the mineral world from within itself, then the end of our Earth will have come; then the Earth will have reached the end of its physical development. The special plan according to which the mineral kingdom is being transformed exists within the Lodge of the Masters. Today this plan is already complete, so that if one understands it, one can see what marvelous structures, marvelous machines, and so on will yet emerge from this mineral world. When the Earth has reached the end of its physical existence, the entire Earth will possess an inner structure—an inner framework—that humanity itself has given it, so that it has become a work of art, according to the plan of the Masters of the White Lodge. Once this has happened, the Earth will transition into its astral state. This is similar to when a plant begins to wither. The physical passes away; everything enters the astral. As it enters the astral world, the physical contracts more and more, becoming an ever-smaller core surrounded by the astral, passing into the rupa state and then into the arupa state, and finally disappearing into a sleep-like state.

[ 19 ] What, then, remains of the physical realm? Once the Earth has passed into the Arupa state, there remains within it—in a highly condensed form—a small imprint of the entire physical development of what was built up under the guidance of the Masters, as it were, a very small miniature version of what the mineral Earth once was. This is what carries over [from the physical realm]. The physical exists there only as this tiny miniature version of earlier developments, while the Arupa is vast. When this passes over from the Devachan state, it multiplies outward into countless identical entities. And when the Earth passes back into the physical state, it will consist of countless such tiny spheres, which are an imprint of what the Earth once was. But all are spheres of different kinds, yet they all trace back to the same source. Thus, the new physical Earth of the fifth round will consist of such innumerable small parts, which contain everything that the Masters have as the goal of the mineral world, as a plan in their Lodge. Every atom of the fifth round contains the entire plan of the Masters. Today, the Masters are working out the atom of the fifth round on a grand scale. Everything that takes place within humanity is condensed into a single result: that is the atom of the fifth round.

[ 20 ] Therefore, when we turn our gaze to the atom as it exists today and look back into the Akashic Records, we see that today’s atom is undergoing a process of growth. It is growing more and more; it is expanding more and more... [gap in the text]... and it contains the forces of humanity that are in turmoil during the third round. Through this, we can contemplate the plan of the Masters of the third round of the Earth. What is at first entirely outside becomes entirely within, and in the smallest atom we see a reflection of the Masters’ plan. These small, specialized plans are nothing other than a fragment of the entire plan for humanity. If we view it in such a way that the plan of one round is the atom of the next round, then we see the structure of the great world plan. Thus, the great world plan ascends to ever higher levels, toward beings who have ever higher plans for the structure of the world. When we consider this plan, we have the Third Logos. Thus, the Logos continually slips into the atom. First it is outside and becomes the organizational plan for the atom, and then the atom becomes a reflection of this plan. The occultist simply draws the plan from the Akashic Records concerning the earlier rounds and thereby explores the atom.

[ 21 ] Where, then, do higher beings obtain this plan? We find the answer when we consider that there are even higher levels of development where these plans are conceived. There, the course of world development is mapped out. Reference is made to the higher levels in the writings of the ancients, for example, in Dionysius, the disciple of the Apostle Paul, and also in Nicolaus Cusanus. He recognized that higher than all knowledge and understanding is non-knowledge. But this non-knowledge is a form of super-knowledge, and this non-understanding is a form of super-understanding.

[ 22 ] When we no longer focus on what we receive from the world in the form of thoughts and concepts, but turn instead to what springs upward—to the inner force—we find something even higher. The Masters can weave the [third] Logos because they have risen even higher than the nature of thought itself. When the higher powers are developed, what is thought appears to such beings as something else. It is then like the spoken word for us. The thought that constitutes the innermost essence for the Master can itself be the expression of a higher essence, just as the word is the expression of thought. When we ourselves regard the thought as the word of an even higher being, we approach the concept of the Logos. The knowledge drawn from thought stands on an even higher plane.

[ 23 ] At one end of the world lies the atom. It is a reflection of the Plan—which is the Logos—that emerged from the depths of the Masters’ minds.

[ 24 ] If we now seek the transformation of humanity itself within the great world period, we are led back into the world.

[ 25 ] Just as human beings have descended, plunging all the way down to the physical plane, so it is with the entire world. Whatever propels the human self forward lies all around the human being in the world.

[ 26 ] But then we are led down into the lower planes, which themselves contain the higher planes ... the Lodge of the Masters.

[ 27 ] The Spirit of the Earth lives within the Masters today, and this Spirit of the Earth will become the physical form of the next planet. The smallest thing we do will have an effect on the smallest atom of the next planet. It is this feeling that gives us a full connection with the Lodge of the Masters. This should be the focal point of the Theosophical Society, because we know what the Knowers know.

[ 28 ] When Goethe speaks of the Earth Spirit, he speaks a truth. The Earth Spirit weaves the garment of the next planet. “In the floods of life—in the storm of deeds,” the Spirit [of the Earth] weaves the garment of the next planetary deity.

For further information:

Two years later, again during the General Assembly, Rudolf Steiner spoke once more about the atom in his lecture in Berlin on October 21, 1907 (Bibliographic No. 101), once again spoke about the atom in the sense of how one planet spiritually influences another—that is, how “the Moon influences the Earth and, in turn, the Earth influences its successor, Jupiter.”

The relevant excerpt reads as follows:

[ 29 ] You all know that, in a certain sense, the Earth is guided by the so-called White Lodge, which unites highly evolved human individualities and individualities of an even higher order. What do they do there? They work; they guide the Earth’s evolution; while guiding the Earth’s evolution, they work out a very specific plan. It is indeed the case that during the evolution of every planet, a specific plan is formulated by the guiding powers. As Earth evolves, the so-called White Lodge of Earth draws up the most detailed plan for how Jupiter—which will succeed Earth—must evolve. The entire plan is worked out in every detail. And therein lies the blessing and salvation of further evolution: that action is taken in harmony with this plan.

[ 30 ] When a planetary evolution comes to an end—that is, when our Earth has reached the end of its planetary evolution—then the Masters of Wisdom and of the Harmony of Feelings will also have completed the plan they are tasked with devising for Jupiter. And now, at the end of such a planetary evolution, something highly peculiar occurs.

[ 31 ] This plan is simultaneously infinitely reduced and infinitely multiplied through a procedure. Thus, there are an infinite number of copies of the entire Jupiter plan, but all “in miniature.” It was the same on the Moon: the plan for Earth’s evolution was there, infinitely multiplied and reduced. And do you know what this reduced plan is, what has been worked out in the spiritual realm? These are the actual atoms that underlie the Earth. And the atoms that will underlie Jupiter will, in turn, be the plan reduced to its smallest form, which is now being worked out in the leading White Lodge. Only those who know this plan can also know what an atom is.

[ 32 ] If you wish to gradually come to understand this atom that underlies the Earth, it is precisely those teachings that emanate from the world’s great magicians that will guide you toward an understanding of this atom.

[ 33 ] Of course, we can only speak of these things in general terms, but we can at least offer something that gives us an idea of what this is all about.

[ 34 ] In a certain sense, the Earth is composed of these atoms of its own. Every being—all of you yourselves—are composed of these atoms. And you are thereby in harmony with the entire evolution of the Earth, in that you carry within yourselves, in infinite numbers, the scaled-down plan of the Earth that was worked out earlier. This plan of the Earth could only have been worked out during the previous planetary stage of our Earth—the Moon—through the work of guiding beings acting in harmony with the entire planetary evolution through Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon. Now, however, the task was to impart to the infinite number of atoms that which brings them into the correct relationships and arranges them in the proper way. It was only possible for the leading spirits of the Moon to impart this to them if they steered Earth’s evolution along a very specific path, as I have often said.

[ 35 ] When the Earth reemerged after the Moon’s development, it was not yet truly “Earth,” but rather Earth plus Sun plus Moon—a body that you would obtain if you mixed the Earth with the Sun and the Moon and formed a single body out of them. That was the Earth at first. Then the Sun separated first, and with it all those forces that were too subtle and spiritual for human beings and under whose influence they would have become spiritualized far too quickly. If humankind had remained solely under the influence of the forces contained within this Sun-Moon-Earth body, it would not have evolved down into physical materiality, and it would not have been able to attain that self-awareness, that “I”-consciousness, which it had to attain.