The Rudolf Steiner Archive

15. The Evolution of Earth and Humanity

[ 1 ] The last time I had the opportunity to speak to you, we turned our gaze upward toward the heavens, toward the planets that have a certain connection to our human nature and to our immediate lives. Today we want to take a closer look at the evolution of our planetary system, insofar as it relates to humanity. As you know, we essentially always view all cosmic evolution from the perspective of human evolution. No matter how far back in time we let our gaze wander, we always do so with the intention of precisely understanding the nature of the human being. In doing so, we are compelled to examine the evolutionary history of our own being from a wide variety of perspectives. For you can imagine that earlier states of our Earth and other celestial bodies were no less complex than our present-day conditions. And one cannot grasp the evolution of our system with just a few mental images; one can only approach this evolution from various starting points. It may seem as though there are contradictions between the individual pictures that are sketched out. However, the occult reality is merely described from different perspectives, just as if one were to paint a tree from different sides. One could make a hundred pictures of the same tree, and yet one would still have painted the same tree—but the pictures are different. Thus, if one wishes to arrive at a comprehensive understanding, one must describe it from various starting points. And once one has gathered many characteristics, they will come together like different photographs taken from various vantage points.

[ 2 ] Today we will describe the evolution of the Earth as it appears to the spiritual eye. We know that our present incarnation on Earth was preceded by three others: Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon. We also know how to create a mental image of the Saturn stage. We do not have a mental image of it having a material composition like that of our present-day matter. We distinguish between different forms of matter: our solid, material Earth; the liquid, our water; the gaseous, the air; and the first, finer state, thermal matter. Had one approached the ancient Saturn, one would have noticed its existence only by entering a warmer space, as if entering an oven. Within this fiery matter, the first rudimentary form of the physical body was brought into being. But this was only a reflection cast back into the cosmos.

[ 3 ] After a Pralaya, Saturn transitioned into the solar state. Matter condenses and becomes gaseous. The human body interpenetrates with the etheric body, but everything is still very thin, gaseous matter. And what remains of the physical and etheric bodies appears like a mirage, like a reflection in the air within this Sun.

[ 4 ] Once again, following a state of pralaya, the Sun transitions into the Lunar state. Matter becomes liquid. Human beings become imbued with the astral body. Now, during the Lunar evolution, we must note a significant event. What was present in its watery matter was a mixture of what is now the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth. But a time comes when a kind of Sun separates out, carrying with it the finest and most vibrant matter and the highest beings. What is now the Moon and the Earth remained behind as the old Moon. At the moment of separation, those beings that had remained behind solidified.

[ 5 ] The entire lunar sphere became a semi-living celestial body. The lowest kingdom lies between today’s mineral and plant kingdoms, the second between the plant and animal kingdoms, and the third between the animal and human kingdoms. What are rocks today were like the wood of trees. The entire mass of the Earth was like peat or spinach. The mountains were lignified. From this fundamental substance grew beings that were intermediate between our plant and animal kingdoms. Mistletoe has retained the habit of growing on living soil. Back then, however, it had a twilight-like sensibility; it no longer has this because it has degenerated. The third stage, the human-animals, were the ancestors of humankind. This form of the ancient Moon developed only after its separation from the Sun and orbited the Sun.

[ 6 ] Then a reunification took place, and after a Pralaya, our Earth emerged. To reiterate, our Earth had to go through the earlier states: the Saturn, Sun, and Moon states. Only then did it take on its actual earthly form. The idea that it initially had a fiery nature is something that has persisted as a sort of half-suggestion. Physicists say that the Earth developed from a fiery state. But the fiery state was not gaseous; rather, it was something entirely different from gas, as they understand it. Within it, the first rudiments of the physical body took shape once more. What emerged from this, however, was different from what occurred on Saturn. For that had already matured in earlier states on Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon. It was now a more complex human embryo, the result of the earlier states, composed of fine etheric substance. The Earth consisted of a conglomerate of such human embryos. It looked like a blackberry made of the finest thermal matter. It is nothing other than a composite of human embryos in thermal matter.

[ 7 ] It is now up to me to give a mental image of what this first human constitution looked like. We must draw on what remains of this first human constitution for later times. It is surrounded by other aspects of human nature. Today, it pulsates within us as the blood’s intrinsic warmth. That is the remnant of the first human constitution. What manifested as lines of warmth has undergone significant transformation over time. At the top of the head, the child has a soft spot. This is the opening that human beings had there in primeval times. From there, roughly in the middle of human evolution, a kind of heat organ emerged—a radiant flame, like suction tentacles, like an ethereal lantern—the Cyclops’ eye. But it was not an eye; rather, it was a heat organ. Human beings needed this organ to orient themselves. At that time, they lived in warmer and colder liquid elements. This organ told them which environments were beneficial or harmful to them. This organ is a transformation of an organ from the Earth’s fiery state. One must imagine lines of force emanating from it toward the heart—a process of becoming independent, even before the other limbs were present—so that it looked like a kind of lantern, with suction arms radiating downward like rays, which later became veins. This is the heat-man.

[ 8 ] In this earliest period of Earth’s heat, the Earth was still united with the Sun, the Moon, and other planets. Later, a process of condensation took place. The state of thermal matter gave way to a gaseous state. This stage of development is of great significance for humankind. For the evolution from heat to air was such that air currents formed around the force lines of the heat matter. The cycle of the respiratory process found its first expression in the Earth’s evolution at that time. Now comes a very important fact. Whenever heat matter condenses into air matter, it simultaneously rarefies into an even finer state—light matter. This was the case when Saturn formed into the Sun; the gaseous state was permeated by light, shining out into space. This was also the case now, when the Earth condensed into the air state; it was completely permeated by light, shining out into space. The Earth has, so to speak, become a sun. Light is the catalyst for something else; it penetrates the dark thermal matter. The earliest human structures were not luminous; at most, one could have sensed them through differences in temperature. Now light envelops and radiates throughout this entire system, this warm stream of blood. This light takes root in the human body; this is the nervous system. The lines of force, the structural lines of the nervous system, are light made manifest. The brain was arranged as a force of light around the fiery matter, around the lantern. The nervous system, which perceives light, was once itself light. And the entire Earth shone out into outer space.

[ 9 ] Now came the time when the Sun once again emerged from the Earth. The finest forms of matter and beings formed an independent celestial body, so that our Earth orbited the Sun. The emergence of the finest forms of matter was accompanied by a condensation of the matter that remained behind. On the one hand, the finely luminous body of the Sun emerges; on the other hand, the Earth’s matter becomes much denser. It enters a watery state, denser than our seawater, for it also contained within it everything that is solid today. As it becomes liquid, a new element emerges. As the water emerges, the music of the spheres—the world tones—resounds from the cosmos and from the Earth. It is not the kind of music we know today, which is transmitted through the air. The Earth’s development is now under the influence of the music of the spheres. Matter begins to emerge as individual substances from the undifferentiated, vast mass of matter. The earthly substances begin to dance under the influence of the music of the spheres. This is the differentiation of substances into purely organic substances, such as protein. Thus organic matter—protoplasm—arose under the influence of the music of the worlds, much like Chladni’s sound figures today. These substances—protein-like, gelatinous matter—are pushed into the earlier lines of force of the human blueprint. The cells, which are today regarded as the first in the developmental history of organisms, arose much later. They were only brought into being by certain beings. Nor is the atom ever the original; it is always that which falls out of the whole. The whole is never composed of cells. The entire process was facilitated by the fact that the Moon was still within the Earth’s body. The three human races that lived through these times are the Polar, the Hyperborean, and the Lemurian races. Then the Moon separated from the Earth.

[ 10 ] While the Moon was still connected to the Earth, something else came into being. It is a time of continuous condensation. During the final period of the Earth’s connection to the Moon, something special occurs. The primordial fire was a living fire, like the warmth of blood. The outer fire emerged at the end of the Moon era. The best way to create a mental image of what arose there under the influence of physical combustion is to look at a physically burning corpse. What falls out as ash can be compared to the residue left after the Earth’s combustion. This marks a new phase in the Earth’s development. This is how everything mineral came into being. From the organic substances, the mineral, the ash-like substance, falls out like a darkening, a twilight. Before, there were only protein-like substances. Now, clouds of ash embedded in the protein appear. These clouds of ash become integrated into the organic substances of all kingdoms of nature—the plant, animal, and human kingdoms.

[ 11 ] If evolution had continued in this way, everything would have become mummified and rigid. We have already mentioned the significance of the separation of the Sun and the Moon. The purpose of this separation is that, if all the forces and beings had remained united, human beings would not have been able to adapt to the conditions of life they have today. If the Sun had remained connected to the Earth, human beings would have faced conditions of life that were too rapid. As soon as they were born, they would have grown old again immediately. Only the highly developed beings could keep pace with such a rapid course of life. They went with the Sun. The other beings had to harden themselves. But this hardening would have become absolute; so the Moon had to emerge from the Earth. In this way, humankind is held in the proper balance. The Sun provides the power of progressive, living growth. The Moon moderates this development to the degree that is appropriate for human beings. Human beings stand right in the middle between beings that develop much more rapidly than they do and those that develop much more slowly. The Sun has taken charge of the development of life, the Moon of the development of form. Human beings were given the opportunity to reshape the form they had attained. Now he was prepared in such a way that the seed of the “I” could take root. This sparked humanity’s development in the soul-spiritual direction. This occurred at the end of the Lemurian era. Now, on Earth, human beings had to develop this “I” with the help of the other members of the human being. This development spans the late Lemurian, the Atlantean, and our own eras.

[ 12 ] But the human “I” can only gradually take control of its own development. In the beginning, when physicality was imbued with the “I,” the “I” could not yet have taken its development into its own hands. If we trace the entire development of the Earth, we see that the Earth was initially in a state of heat. At that time, it was not yet separated from the other planets belonging to its system. Physics also recognizes this starting point, but only in a physical sense. It speaks of a dead ball of gas. But it does not answer the question of where life comes from. The formation of a planetary system is illustrated using a drop of oil on water; a card is inserted between the drops and rotated with a needle. This causes small droplets to break off as well. However, those conducting the experiment forget that they are standing there and rotating the card. They do not explain how the experiment would occur without them. Spiritual beings were connected to this gaseous body, to the thermal matter. The reasons why the planets broke away from the mass lie in the fact that on our Earth, not only humans evolved, but also beings who stand higher and lower than humans. On ancient Saturn, there were already beings who were passing through their human stage there. Today, they have advanced far beyond the human stage. Fire spirits on the Sun are now two stages higher, and Moon beings are one stage higher than humans. The human beings on Saturn were the spirits of personality, but at that time even higher beings lived there as well—beings who had once been human. All these beings remain connected to the planetary system.

[ 13 ] The Sun separated from the Earth because higher beings were connected to it who needed a different setting. Had they remained with the Earth, they would have been held back in their development. They needed the rapid pace. Now, there were not only such beings who needed the Sun, but also the most diverse beings at the most varied stages of development. Some pushed Uranus aside for themselves; for certain beings, Saturn came into being. Jupiter had become another realm. It came into being when the Earth was already shining. Thus, one stage after another took shape, according to the needs of the spiritual beings. When the Sun split off, it took with it certain beings who could not have remained connected to the Earth, but who were not yet able to keep up with the Sun’s very rapid pace. These beings were more exalted than human beings, but not yet as mature as the other beings of the Sun. So the Sun split off planets for these beings: Mercury and Venus, whose beings stood between the Earth and Solar beings. It is these beings, too, who guided and directed the development of the “I” when the “I” itself was not yet capable of doing so. To develop the “I” is the mission of Earth’s evolution. Only when Christianity bears its ripest fruits will humankind reach its level. The Venusian beings worked through the astral or devachanic world, or incarnated as human beings and became their guides. In a way unconscious to human beings, they planted the seed for further development within them. From another point of view, they are called the Luciferic beings. The Mercury beings were also connected to Earth’s evolution. They were the first great teachers in the mysteries. They secretly guided the instruction of the earliest initiates. While the Venus beings have a very long lifespan, the Mercury beings know nothing at all of birth and death, because they have developed buddhi. Their consciousness continues undiminished through birth and death.

[ 14 ] We have thus discussed at some length the process of Earth’s development, the meaning behind the origin of the globe, and the origin of humankind. This is a new perspective on evolution. By examining the subject from various angles, one gains a true mental image of reality. The moment one becomes dogmatic, one can never penetrate true occultism. One can then gradually perceive spiritual life in its reality by seeking to gain the overview described at the beginning.