Cosmology
GA 94
31 October 1906, Munich
Translated by Steiner Online Library
Theosophy Based on the Gospel of John III
[ 1 ] In the previous lecture, we took a look at the essence of human nature. Today we will continue this exploration. Once we have come to understand the meaning of human evolution, we will have a better grasp of the central idea in the Gospel of John. This course of human evolution is the subject of the opening chapters. First, it means: it is this Christ Jesus whom I want to help you understand. Second: the course of human development as a whole is influenced in a very specific way by this Christ. From the time of Christ onward, the course of development for the individual human being also became quite different. We must clearly grasp the parallel between the course of development of humanity as a whole and that of the individual human being.
[ 2 ] In human beings, the three highest aspects of being remain undeveloped even today. The more elevated their nature, the later these aspects come into play in human development. Let us take a look at the evolution of humanity on Earth through the various races. The main races of prehistoric times are the Polar, the Hyperborean, and the Lemurian. In the first main race, the physical body was developed; in the second, the etheric body; and in the third, the astral body, or body of sensation. This is how far humanity had progressed by the Lemurian period.
[ 3 ] During the Atlantean epoch, the fourth root race, the soul of feeling developed out of the sensory body, followed by the soul of understanding, and finally, toward the very end of Atlantis, the soul of consciousness with the “I,” marking the beginning of the fifth root race—our present race. Before the awakening of the soul of consciousness, the primary faculties of human beings were language and memory. They were not yet capable of combining ideas, drawing logical conclusions, or performing calculations. It is only with the dawning of consciousness that the fifth root race begins, whose mission is to integrate Manas—the spiritual self—into the human being and to develop it. With the dawn of Manas, the first sub-race of our root race developed. This was the Indian pre-Vedic culture. It was followed by the Persian sub-race, then—as the third—the Chaldean-Egyptian-Hebrew sub-race, and—as the fourth—the Greek-Latin sub-race. We ourselves belong to the fifth subrace. We are undergoing the fifth stage of Manas development. We will be followed by the sixth subrace, which will have yet other, higher tasks in human development.
[ 4 ] All of these share the common task of expressing the Manas principle. Each of the races does this in a unique way. Specifically, it happens something like this:
[ 5 ] In the first sub-race, the sensory body, or astral body, was responsible for the general manasic work of empathy. Our physical body today comprises a manifold and complex system of organ systems. In the age in which we live, it comprises the skeletal and muscular systems. The entire sensory apparatus is formed by the forces of the physical body. The etheric body governs all vegetative functions, all organs that serve nutrition, digestion, and reproduction. The astral body integrates the nervous system into this physical complex. All unconscious movements and all reflexes depend on the sympathetic nervous system, which extends symmetrically on both sides of the spinal cord. We call the part that extends into the abdominal cavity the solar plexus. In the Lemurian era, the sympathetic nervous system was the actual astral organ of perception. At that time, it had a different nature and served the purpose of clairvoyance. Under the influence of the sensory soul, the spinal cord became structured; it then, under the influence of the intellectual soul, developed into the brain, as the two strands of the spinal cord, so to speak, swelled and expanded at their ends. The forebrain did not form until toward the end of the Atlantean epoch. Parallel to this development was another: namely, the higher development of respiration and blood circulation, as well as the processes of nutrition and growth.
[ 6 ] At the dawn of the fifth root race, the strongest aspect of the human being was the sensory body, so that in the first subrace—the Indian subrace—Manas was drawn down into the sensory body. The leaders of this epoch sought to reawaken the ancient clairvoyance within themselves. The higher intellectual faculties, which were not yet strong enough, were suppressed. Thus, with the help of the sympathetic nervous system, a dreamlike form of clairvoyance was developed. Manas descended into the sympathetic nervous system and thereby into the sensory body. In this way, the entire magnificent dream world of ancient India becomes comprehensible—the vast and expansive, yet dim and muffled perception of Brahman, the state of being “out of oneself” in the ancient yoga system.
[ 7 ] In the second subrace, the Manas rises higher, ascending into the feeling soul. The ancient Persians illustrate this for us. Among them, the spiritual self, or Manas, dwells in the feeling soul. The first expression of this is the confrontation between the world and the soul, between the world and the “I.” This is expressed in the contrast between the spiritual figures of Ormuzd and Ahriman. Human beings seek to overcome the resulting conflict through work. Chaos—disordered matter—is to be overcome by the good God, who leads toward the spiritual.
[ 8 ] The third subrace is embodied in the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Israelite peoples. Manas, or the spiritual self, ascends into the intellectual soul. Manas within it now seeks to comprehend the world around it through reason. Or, in other words: human beings seek to find Manas in the cosmos. From this arise the wisdom-filled systems of Chaldean astrology—the interplay of the eternal laws that guide and govern the cosmos and human destinies. The Chaldean priest-sage gazes up toward the stars, and from this arises that marvelous knowledge of planetary movements. To a special degree, however, the rule of Manas applies to one people in particular—the chosen people. The Israelites apply the Manasic principle in such a way that the people themselves are organized according to reason and created as a cohesive community. The legislation of Moses is a reflection of the stellar wisdom of the Chaldean priests.
[ 9 ] In the fourth subrace, the Greco-Latin, the spiritual self ascends all the way to the soul of consciousness. This is precisely the awakening of consciousness, which, as it were, seizes itself by the scruff of the neck. The fully awakened consciousness now projects not only its intellect and emotions into the world, as in the Law of Jehovah, but in Greece it projects its entire self into its gods—into pure human images. Rome, however, recreates its idealized self in its state. The Greek gods and the Roman state are thus the reflection of what the “I” possesses within itself and now seeks to make objective.
[ 10 ] The fifth subrace—that is, our Anglo-Germanic race—is meant to express the Spiritual Self within the Spiritual Self, Manas within Manas. This means that human beings will learn to comprehend what the Spiritual Self actually is; they will stand within Manas. Manas will finally act within itself. Today, only a few people truly understand Manas. To comprehend thinking through thinking, to grasp thinking within thinking, to complete the eternal serpent’s circle—that is the task of the fifth sub-race. Thinking is the organ through which the human being first grasps hold, as it were, by a single thread. To stimulate this in human beings is the purpose of my book The Philosophy of Freedom.
[ 11 ] The sixth subrace is the future one. The spiritual self ascends as far as buddhi; there, in manas, buddhi shines into human beings like a light from above. At first, however, buddhi is still a gift from above. This shining in of buddhi corresponds to the Christian concept of grace. The beginning of this inflow dates back to the fourth subrace. We must designate this point in time as the beginning of Christianity. And the one who brought Budhi into the earthly human world is Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ appeared as the bringer of that power, which until then had been completely foreign.
[ 12 ] To summarize: What human beings have acquired over the course of the five races is Manas—Manas, the spiritual self. Budhi comes to meet it as a gift from above, which corresponds to the fundamental Christian idea of grace. This, then, is the theme of the Gospel of John. But how was this process initiated? Two things had to come together to allow Budhi to truly take effect: first, human beings, as the bearers of their previous evolution, now had to possess an organ for Budhi formed from Manas. They had to be thirsty for Budhi, thirsty to transcend the intellect. Brain development, without a connection to the higher members, always ends in a dead end; it does not go beyond Manasic development or astral matters.
[ 13 ] There were people who, from the Manas, offered the Budhi a highly developed organ of the soul. It must be so. No matter how much light shines, if there is no eye to see it, it will not be perceived. The same is true of the Budhi. There was a name for all those people who had developed such an organ, who were thirsty for Budhi—a generic name: John. It is also particularly applicable to John the Baptist. Christ and Budhi are one and the same spiritual current.
[ 14 ] We must now also consider the other side: Manas also reshapes the physical human being. Gradually, the organs grew stronger; gradually, the strengthening spinal cord became integrated; and new centers of power continually formed. As always, these spiritual processes had to be accompanied by corresponding physical ones. The task of the fifth root race was the establishment of Manas; the corresponding physical process was the formation of the brain. What lies ahead in the sixth root race is the establishment of Budhi and the completion of the heart as a fully voluntary muscle. In the seventh root race: the establishment of Atman and the completion of breathing.
[ 15 ] We saw how the heart and the respiratory organs formed. In the circulatory system, the development of budhi is prefigured by the heart. For the heart is only at the beginning of its development. To anatomy, the heart presents a mystery, for it throws a wrench into its theory. The heart is a striated muscle, as are all voluntary muscles; yet the heart is an involuntary muscle. The situation is such that it is destined to become a voluntary muscle—specifically in the future, when Budhi is fully developed. The heart is organized for the future; it will then be an exceedingly important organ. Just as Manas is now nourished in humans through blood circulation, so will Manas then act in the heart and from the heart.
[ 16 ] Let us consider the historical development before and after the dawn of Budhi. Let us focus our attention first and foremost on the blood. The blood is influenced by the nervous system. Only as the manasic development progresses does the relationship to the blood change. In the primeval era of all peoples, we find the very special phenomenon of so-called endogamy. We find small ethnic groups in which all marriages take place within the bloodline. Among every people, however, we observe the transition to exogamy, resulting in intensive intermingling of bloodlines. Earlier ethnic groups were thus related by lineage; they had a common ancestor who was held in special reverence—for example, the progenitor Tuisto among the Germanic tribes.
[ 17 ] The legends faithfully preserve for us the conflicts that arose from the severing of blood ties. The blood of such closely knit communities was influenced by the lower parts of the nervous system. As a result, human beings were endowed with clairvoyance and the intuitive ability to distinguish between good and evil; they possessed a sure moral instinct. The moment a person steps out of this close-knit community, it becomes impossible for them to immerse themselves in clairvoyance from within, through the sympathetic nervous system. With the advent of long-distance marriage, instinctive guidance ceases and external law takes hold. The original moral instinct vanished with the shift to distant relationships; external law had to take its place. Out of the night of the old instinct, a moral starlight dawned. Then came the Mosaic religion of the Law as the guardian of morality. This is finally superseded by a new light, the light of Christ, spiritual guidance.
[ 18 ] What the moral instinct was for the individual tribe, that is what Budhi—or the Christ principle—is for all of humanity. In Christ, this process became flesh. Christ came when the tribal blood ties had loosened sufficiently so that the tribal god could now transform into a god of all people, and so that blood brotherhood could and should be expanded into a duty toward every fellow human being, and tribal loyalty into loyalty to oneself and to God. Just as sunlight is to matter, and intelligible truth is to the intellect, so is the light of Christ in Budhi, the grace that comes from above. Through Budhi, the past is no longer decisive—neither the moral instinct derived from blood ties nor the priestly law, neither Moses nor any tribal authorities, the ultimate of whom was Jehovah. Now the saying applies: “Whoever does not leave father and mother and brother for my sake cannot be my disciple.” That is to say, whoever does not forget the old tribal principles and does not extend the love of blood to all people cannot follow Christ. The old tribal gods had entered into indissoluble marriages with their peoples; with their peoples they were bound to perish. Christ represents in the world a wholly new spirit that entered into humanity, and this spirit united itself with the human soul that passes through the entire course of evolution. Those who bore the name John—the leading figures of that time—were ready to feel, with the greatest intensity, a burning longing for something that lies above mere law and justice; that is, they thirsted for the new Son of Man. The one who satisfied this longing was the Christ, the Bridegroom of the human soul as a whole; humanity was the Bride. Thus, Christ—or Budhi—is indeed the only-begotten Son of God: “He must increase, but I must decrease,” was the saying of John the Baptist. One of the greatest symbols of this wedding feast is the wedding at Cana in Galilee, a place where all manner of peoples flocked together in a colorful, international mix. We see a wedding feast being celebrated there. “And the mother of Jesus was also there,” it says. Nowhere in the Gospel of John is the mother of Jesus called “Mary,” just as the writer of the Gospel of John—the disciple whom the Lord loved—is never called “John.” For the Mother of Jesus is, in fact, the human soul, and this soul must first mature before Christ can work within it. Hence the words: “Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come.” Never would such a lofty individual as Christ have otherwise spoken to his earthly mother in this way.
[ 19 ] The fourth chapter of the Gospel of John shows us Jesus with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. Here we have Jacob, the representative of the tribal deity; the well: the ancient tradition from which one must draw, yet which does not satisfy. “Then the Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How can you ask me for a drink, since you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman?’ (For the Jews have no fellowship with the Samaritans.)” Here you have the old law. But in place of what flowed through the tribal blood, a new principle of life was to take its place: the Budhi. “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst again; rather, the water I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
[ 20 ] The God of humanity united with the human soul; Budhi descended into Manas, and from then on, humanity was able to draw the consciousness of good and evil from another source—the source of “living water”—and no longer from the well of Jacob the Father, the Mosaic Law. For it is in this sense, and in no other, that the conversation of Christ Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well is to be understood.
[ 21 ] Who was Christ? And what did he do for evolution? These are the big questions we want to gradually begin to answer. Some things may still be difficult to grasp right now, which is why we must first strike a note that will resonate even more strongly in the future.
| First Subrace | The Spirit-Self permeates the Sensitive Body |
| Second Subrace | The Spirit-Self permeates the Sensitive Soul |
| Third Subrace | The Spirit-Self permeates the Intellectual Soul |
| Fourth subrace | The spiritual self permeates the soul of consciousness |
| Fifth subrace | The spiritual self permeates the spiritual self, Manas |
| Sixth subrace | The Spirit-Self permeates the Life Spirit, Budhi |
[ 22 ] That is the extent to which Budhi shines through.
[ 23 ] For the next, sixth round, Budhi would have to do everything that Manas did in the fifth; at the end of the fifth round, the World Indicator came to rest on the fifth main race and the fourth subrace. In the seventh round, Atman would then have to be developed.
| First Main Age | formed from the physical body |
| Second Main Age | formed from the etheric body |
| Third Main Age | formed from the sensory body and astral body |
| Fourth Main Age | is formed from the I-consciousness |
| Fifth Main Age | is formed from Manas, the spiritual self |