The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Eleventh Lecture

[ 1 ] Looking at the evolution of our Earth as a whole, it has become clear to us that the Earth is becoming spiritualized once again, that human beings can participate in this evolution, and that they can return to the Sun. This evolution thus leads to an ever-increasing spiritualization, to a higher state—the devachanic state. All those beings who are too deeply entrenched in their materialization cannot participate in this spiritual Earth. First, everything must pass into an astral state. But the coarse material elements of humanity and the evil substances in the lower realms enter, along with human beings, into a kind of lower astral world that could be called the subphysical astral world. We thus have Devachan, the astral world, the physical world, and the lower astral world. This lower astral world is also the one that stands in the way of our development today. It is ruled by the spirit Mammon—that is, the spirit of obstacles. He is a power of the lower astral world.

[ 2 ] All beings who are now unable to ascend to the higher world must descend into this lower world, while all higher beings will enter, after the period of the seven trumpet blasts, into the earthly state reunited with the sun.

[ 3 ] On every earthly realm, a specific group of beings has undergone its human existence; on the Moon, the angels; on the Sun, the archangels; on Saturn, the good asuras, also called Archai or Primordial Beings. There are also beings who did not complete their evolution. Such beings existed, for example, on the Moon; these were then transferred to Earth. They were higher than humans but had not yet reached the human stage at that time. These are the Luciferic spirits. They have entangled humanity even more deeply in matter; they have been linked to humanity since the Lemurian era. Humanity would have undergone its evolution in a higher sphere had it not become linked to them. But humanity also owes them a debt of gratitude for one good thing: freedom. The Luciferic spirits, so to speak, made a sacrifice for the sake of humanity by linking their evolution to that of the Earth at that time and remaining behind.

[ 4 ] But Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon lie before the midpoint of Earth’s evolution; the beings who remained behind before the midpoint made a sacrifice. Those, however, who from now on remain behind the midpoint of Earth’s evolution would thereby constitute an obstacle rather than a sacrifice. The Luciferic spirits, however, also brought something positive to humanity; they permeated its astral body with their forces and led it to independence.

[ 5 ] If we now consider that the human physical body was formed during the ancient Saturn state, the etheric body during the Solar state, and the astral body during the ancient Moon state, we see how this physical body is, in its own way, the most perfect member; it is the most highly developed. When we gain insight into the marvelous structure of the physical heart and the brain—which physical science has not yet fully unraveled—we see how wisely they are arranged and organized. The astral body is indeed a higher member, but much less perfect; the etheric body is already more perfected; the least perfect is the “I.” How little the “I” knows, for example, about the structure of the physical body!

[ 6 ] This event is described in detail in the Bible, where it says: “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) This took place during the Lemurian epoch. The Luciferic beings were active within the human astral body at that time; but precisely because they had insinuated themselves into the astral body, they were able to make up for what they themselves had failed to accomplish; they experienced in humanity, by proxy, what they should have experienced on the Moon.

[ 7 ] When the Sun has reunited with the Earth, humankind—having purified its instincts, desires, and passions—will redeem the Luciferic beings. The Luciferic beings who do not go with the Sun remain in the state in which they were; they then appear as having been cast out into the evil lower astral world. This is then the ancient serpent, and the first of the dragons emerges. So when the Earth enters the Sun, a dragon appears. But there are others who have been left behind: those human beings who are not really to blame for having remained in the animal realm, who remain slaves to their animal instincts. While the other human beings go to the Sun, they form an evil power in opposition to the others. They form the second beast, and the writer of Revelation states in his precise manner: the Luciferic dragon appears in the heavens because it comes from higher worlds; the second beast rises out of the sea—these are the animal-like human beings who have been left behind. (Cf. Rev. 12:3–13:10)

[ 8 ] Now we have a third phenomenon: the black magicians. They do not remain in the animal realm; they develop spiritual abilities within themselves. They have turned away with full awareness and are relinquishing their physical incarnation for the Sorat; this will be the embodiment of the solar demon realm.

[ 9 ] But now we see how, once again in the future, the earthly will emerge from the sun. If spiritual human beings were to remain united with the sun forever, those who, through no fault of their own, have been left behind in the animal realm would no longer be saved. So these spiritual human beings step out once more and unite with what has fallen away, in order to try to save those who have been left behind.

[ 10 ] When the Earth began to be “Earth,” it had to briefly repeat the Saturn, Sun, and Moon states once more. Thus, it went through these repetitions before becoming the Earth as we know it today, and must now—while still in its actual Earth state—prophetically foreshadow Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. Thus, within the actual Earth stage, it passes through seven stages, which are usually called “rounds.” During the foreshadowed Jupiter stage, the Earth unites with the Sun. On this Jupiter-Earth, all the great historical eras and the seven intervening periods occur once more, though much less distinctly. On this Jupiter-Earth, many beings still have the opportunity to be saved—even the black magicians.

[ 11 ] The same is true once again on Venus-Earth; there we have a sixth planetary intermediate state. But even there, these backward beings continue to resist stubbornly, and this state is decisive.

[ 12 ] On the Volcanic Earth, nothing can be saved anymore. On Venus-Earth, the final moment for salvation has come in the last sub-epoch. That is why the ancient Kabbalists coined the word “Sorat,” because it contains the number 666. This is also the number of those people who, out of their own free and cunning will, have become black magicians by putting spiritual powers at the service of their selfishness.

[ 13 ] The first dragon, then, is not a human being; it came from the spiritual world; the second dragon is classified as belonging to the animal realm, but in the most eminent sense, the Bible assigns this number to the third group—that of human beings. Thus, 666 is not the mark of a beast, but the number of a human being.

[ 14 ] The Apocalypse is an outline of the entire course of development. To the clairvoyant eye, Venus-Earth appears in such a way that there is not much hope left for those who have been left behind; for human efforts will not accomplish much there. Therefore, it looks desolate there, and the worst vices will reign there in the most abominable way; they must be cast out during Earth’s Venusian phase. On Jupiter-Earth, there are still many, many who will be saved and unite with the Sun.

[ 15 ] On Venus-Earth, however, evil must be overcome and cast into the abyss; this is the “Fall of Babylon.” (Rev. chs. 17 and 18) But those who have been saved can continue to evolve toward a new solar state. That which has been purified and refined rises up to the Volcanic Earth.

[ 16 ] Humanity is already creative on Earth today. It can harness the inanimate forces of nature and compel them to serve its purposes; it can build cathedrals and carve marble; humanity has mastered inanimate nature today. What humankind has achieved as art throughout Earth’s evolution will—as the outer physical world passes away, as Raphael’s Madonna paintings crumble to dust—one day rise again in a different form. The crystals we see today were once crafted by the lunar beings into forms much like those we create and produce in art today. What the spirits once created over infinite periods of time is now growing out of the earth; it is now coming to fruition. So, too, is the matter of Raphael’s Madonnas; in that distant future, everything that human beings have now created will arise in crystalline radiance. The place that humanity has prepared for itself and will find is what the Apocalyptic writer calls “the New Jerusalem.” (Rev. 21) A new world will arise, and it will be inhabited by people who will have attained maturity and who, in a new state—the Jupiter existence—will find the place where peace will reign through love and human labor.