The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture VII

[ 1 ] In *The Secret Doctrine*, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky referred to Jehovah as a moon god. There is a deeper reason for this. To understand this, we must grasp the further evolution of the human being. As humans are now, their higher powers are intermingled. Their higher evolution consists in the higher self being separated from the lower powers and organs.

[ 2 ] The brain is divided into three distinct parts: the thinking brain, the emotional brain, and the volitional brain. These three parts will later be directed from the outside by human beings, much like the three parts of an anthill. However, the parts from which the higher aspect is extracted do not remain as they are today; rather, they descend another level. This is why some people become morally worse when their spiritual development is one-sided. In Western spiritual culture, there is less danger of this, because Western science does not yet force the higher spiritual aspect upward from the lower body. With Theosophy, on the other hand, a person actually absorbs a wisdom through which the “I” is partially torn away from its familiar physical environment. If a person who embraces Theosophical teachings had previously been a decent person solely because of the conventional norms surrounding them, the worse side of their nature—which had remained hidden until then—can then actually emerge. Such phenomena can be observed. Often, one’s darker nature emerges precisely because one engages with spiritual matters without simultaneously strengthening one’s moral character. This fact carries with it a certain tragedy. The Theosophical Society has indeed suffered in this regard as well. Some scholars, who had been quite capable individuals in the field of Western knowledge, suffered as a result of joining the Theosophical Society; in their case, the lower nature emerged without being controlled by the higher nature.

[ 3 ] The same law can also be observed on a larger scale. The beings we encounter on the ancient Moon did not yet possess their power of thought within a physical brain. The power of thought of the lunar Nirmanakayas, Bodhisattvas, Pitris, and pure human beings did not yet operate within a physical brain, but rather within the etheric mass surrounding them. On the ancient Moon, the environment consisted not merely of air, but of ether imbued with wisdom. On the ancient Moon, thoughts were not contained within individual beings but swirled about in the ether. This is why, in occultism, the Moon is also called the Cosmos of Wisdom. Thermal ether and other forms of ether surrounded the Moon. Within them lived intellect and reason, just as they now dwell within the human brain. This state, however, was subject to evolution. At the beginning of the Moon’s evolution, wisdom still manifested itself in beautiful forms. The beings, who possessed only the lower parts of the human being—the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body—were guided by the currents of wisdom. As evolution progressed, the three lower bodies descended further. By the time the lunar evolution had come to an end, the beings who were wise but did not possess wisdom within a brain had progressed to the point where they could completely leave these lower bodies behind. These beings, who had now become Pitris and no longer needed to enter such physical, etheric, and astral bodies, constituted the hosts of the Elohim at various levels. The lowest rank of these Elohim is the Jehovah rank. Thus, Jehovah is a true lunar deity who has passed through physical evolution on the Moon. However, on the Moon, he was never able to process the physical environment mentally through a brain. Only his physical, etheric, and astral bodies had processed the physical environment—but he had processed it as images. Thought hovered above it all. The name Jehovah does not denote a single being, but rather a rank within the hierarchy. Many beings can occupy the Jehovah rank or ascend to it. Eliphas Levi has repeatedly emphasized that terms such as Jehovah, Archangeloi, Angeloi, and so on refer to ranks within the hierarchy.

[ 4 ] The first humans on Earth received their instruction from Jehovah through symbols. Therefore, Genesis is a collection of grand symbols—the symbols that Jehovah had experienced on the moon.

[ 5 ] While, on the one hand, only the lower aspects of the human being—the physical, etheric, and astral bodies—developed on the Moon, on the other hand, the higher trinity was nurtured and cultivated. This higher aspect had also matured after Atma was laid down on ancient Saturn, Buddhi on the ancient Sun, and Manas on the ancient Moon. These could then continue to develop on Earth. What came over from the ancient Moon to Earth in terms of the physical, etheric, and astral bodies were the grotesque animals into which the Atma-Buddhi-Manas could gradually envelop themselves. The Lunar Pitris had set aside the inferior part, but in return had nurtured and cared for Atma, Buddhi, and Manas in an objective manner. Through their care, they succeeded in bringing about the emergence of a thinker on Earth. When one looks at the outer creatures on the Moon, these are the sheaths that surrounded human beings, not the human beings themselves. The sheaths were therefore necessary because what was essential had emerged from them... (gap in the text.) Now the remaining matter could coalesce into the brain. The substance for the brain was already present in potential form, but it could only condense after the Pitris had departed.

[ 6 ] The process preceding the Lemurian era is a preparatory one. The human body is developed in such a way that the Atma-Buddhi-Manas can settle into it. This has surrounded itself with kamic matter. Let us now imagine a slimy, gelatinous entity struggling to emerge from what has come from the Moon. This constitutes a physical foundation. In addition, there is the Atma-Buddhi-Manas and an astral body that they have organized around themselves. These principles now work on the gelatinous mass from the outside until they can take possession of it from within. The spiritual ultimately permeates the physical. Now, in fact, two distinct entities have united. The moment the brain is formed, they merge into one another. As a result, birth and death also entered the course of Earth’s evolution. In the past, human beings had built up the physical body themselves; later, it will be so again. But because two entities have united that now fit together more or less, we have birth and death, and every period between birth and death is a continuous attempt to better harmonize these two different entities; a back-and-forth oscillation until, finally, a rhythmic state is established.

[ 7 ] This will continue until the middle of the sixth root race (major age), when this rhythmic state will be reached and one being will be fully attuned to another. And karma is nothing other than the degree of balance that a person has already achieved. In every incarnation, one attains a certain degree of adaptation. After each incarnation, one must ascend again to Devachan to survey what still needs to be done. Only when balance is achieved is karma overcome, and the human being can absorb something new—true wisdom, Buddhi—which must be nurtured and cultivated until then.

[ 8 ] We must prepare for future development. What human beings already express as preparation for their future selves is the word, language. What human beings speak remains in the Akashic Records. It is the first foundation for their future selves. Language is half of the former reproductive capacity. Through language, human beings reproduce spiritually. This is connected to the change in a man’s voice. Half of the sexual aspect has been transferred to language. The voice is the future reproductive organ. In ancient Hebrew, the same word was used for both the sexual and language. Now human beings think, and the thought passes outward through the larynx. The next stage is for feeling—warmth—to go outward. Then the word will be the expression of inner bodily warmth. This can happen when the mucous body (the pituitary gland) in the brain is developed. The subsequent stage occurs when the pineal gland (epiphysis) is developed. Then not only will the warmed word go outward, but the word will remain, shaped by the will that then lives within it. When the word is spoken, it becomes a real being.

[ 9 ] This is connected to the following: “I think, I feel, I am” (will). The word in this sense is “the Word,” which transforms from thought into feeling, then into will. This is a threefold process: First, the word is “consciousness” (in thought), then “life” (the word imbued with warmth), and finally “form,” the word shaped by the will. This last is the Word that has become objective. Thus, the sequence here is also: consciousness, life, form. Everything that is form today has come into being through such a process in the past. The physical body, the form, is the most mature body; less mature are the etheric body, life, and the astral body, consciousness.