The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Tenth Lecture

[ 1 ] We will remain faithful to our stated program and, over the course of this winter, gather here in these branch meetings a series of seemingly disparate details concerning healthy and diseased human life. And these details will later coalesce into a whole, culminating in a specific insight toward which we are gradually working our way. In the first of the lectures planned for this series, we presented a kind of classification of the nature of disease, and last time we attempted to bring to mind what we can really only describe as the wording of the Ten Commandments. Everything else that goes beyond the wording will become clear to us in the course of the next branch meetings. Last time, the main focus was on becoming familiar with the content and the actual intent of the Commandments. Today we want to discuss other details that will show little direct connection to what came before or what will follow, for this is a compilation of details whose broader meaning will only become clear to us later.

[ 2 ] To begin with, today we will be looking at a significant moment in human evolution on Earth. Those who have been active within the anthroposophical movement for some time are already familiar with this; others will gradually come to understand these lines of thought.

[ 3 ] The moment in human evolution that we wish to recall lies far in the past. As we trace our way back through the Post-Atlantean era, through the Atlantean era, and on into the ancient Lemurian era, we encounter the moment when the division into the sexes first occurred within the human realm on our Earth. You know that one cannot speak of such a division into sexes in the human kingdom prior to that time. It should be expressly noted that we are not now speaking of the very first appearance of the two-sexed being in Earth’s evolution or in our entire evolution, insofar as it encompasses the kingdoms surrounding us. Phenomena that must be counted among the two-sexed nature appear even earlier. But what we today call the human kingdom did not divide into the two sexes until the Lemurian period. Before that, we are dealing with a differently formed human figure that, in a certain sense, contained both sexes undifferentiated within itself. We can picture the transition from hermaphroditism to the division into the two sexes in the following way: gradually, the earlier hermaphroditic human form developed such that one group of individuals more fully developed the characteristics of one sex—the female—while the other group, in contrast, more fully developed the characteristics of the male sex. However, this alone is far from establishing the division into the sexes; rather, it was brought about only through an ever-increasing development of one-sidedness, and specifically during a time when humanity still lived in a very subtle material realm.

[ 4 ] If we have first brought this point to mind, it is specifically because we wish to inquire today into the meaning behind the origin of the two sexes. Only by standing on the ground of spiritual science can one inquire into such a meaning, for the meaning of physical development comes to it from the higher worlds. As long as we remain in the physical world—and even if we view the physical world philosophically, for my part—it is a somewhat childish perspective to speak of purposes. Goethe was right to mock this view, along with others, when people speak of purposes in nature in such a way as to say that nature, in its wisdom, created cork so that humans could make stoppers out of it. Such a view is a childish one, and it can only lead us to lose sight of what is truly essential here. It would be just as if, when looking at a clock, we imagined little demonic beings behind it, wisely moving the clock hands forward. In truth, however, if we wish to understand the clock, we must turn to the spirit that brought it into being—the clockmaker. And likewise, if we wish to comprehend the purposefulness in our world, we must transcend the physical world and enter into the spiritual realm. Thus, “purpose,” “meaning,” and “goal” are terms that we may apply to evolution only when we view it from the perspective of spiritual science. In this way, we ask: What is the meaning of the fact that the two sexes gradually developed and came into interaction with one another?

[ 5 ] The meaning will become clear to you when you consider how what is called fertilization—what might be called the mutual influence of the sexes—was previously replaced by something else. One must not assume that what we call fertilization first arose at the very moment when the division into the sexes took place in human evolution. That is not the case. We must simply imagine that in the times preceding the emergence of the two sexes, this fertilization took place in an entirely different way. To the clairvoyant consciousness looking back, it becomes evident that there was a time in the earthly development of humanity when fertilization already took place in connection with nutrition, so that the beings—who in an earlier time were both male and female—absorbed the forces necessary for fertilization at the same time as they took in nourishment. Thus, during this period—when, of course, nutrition was also much more refined—whenever human beings took in food, the nutritional juices simultaneously contained what enabled them to bring forth a being of the same kind from within themselves. You must, however, take into account that the food juices taken from the surrounding matter did not always contain these fertilizing juices, but only at very specific times. This depended on the changes taking place there, which we could compare today to the changes in the course of a year, with shifts in climate and so on. At very specific times, the nourishing juices extracted from the environment by the hermaphroditic beings also possessed the power of fertilization.

[ 6 ] If we look back even further into those times with clairvoyant awareness, we find another distinctive feature of ancient reproduction. What you know today as the diversity of individual human beings—what manifests today as the individuality of each person, upon which the diversity of life in our present human cycle is based—this diversity did not exist before the emergence of the sexes. There was great uniformity. The beings that came into being were similar to one another, and they were also similar to their ancestors. All these beings, who were not yet divided into the two sexes, presented a similar appearance outwardly, and inwardly, too, they all had a character that was quite similar. And the fact that human beings were so similar to one another did not present the same disadvantage in those times as it would for us today. Just imagine if people today were born all having the same form and the same character—how infinitely boring human life would be then, how little could actually happen in human life, since everyone would want the same things as everyone else. But that was not the case in ancient times. When human beings were, so to speak, still more ethereal and spiritual—not yet so tightly interwoven with the material world—people were indeed similar to one another when they were born and even throughout a certain part of childhood, and educators back then would not have needed to pay attention to whether one child was a wild rambler and another a gentle soul. People did, of course, have different characters at different times, but in a certain sense they were fundamentally similar. However, this did not remain the case throughout the life of each individual. Because human beings were still in a softer, more spiritual physical state, they were much more receptive to the ongoing influences coming from their surroundings, so that under these influences they changed enormously during that ancient era on Earth. In a certain sense, human beings became individualized because they possessed, one might say, a waxy, soft nature; as a result, they became, to a greater or lesser extent, a reflection of their surroundings. In particular, during a very specific period of life—which today would coincide with sexual maturity—the possibility arose for everything happening in their surroundings to exert an influence upon them. The diversity of the individual periods—which we might compare today to the diversity of the seasons—was great back then, and whether a person lived in one part of the Earth or another was of great significance to them. If a person traveled even a short distance across the Earth in those days, it had a significant influence on them. Today, when people take long journeys and see so much, on the whole they still return just as they left—unless a person possesses a very special capacity to absorb impressions. That was not the case in ancient times. Back then, everything still had a profound influence on people, so that as long as they remained in the soft material realm, they were in fact only able to gradually develop their individuality in life. This possibility eventually came to an end.

[ 7 ] Another thing that becomes apparent to us is that the Earth itself became increasingly dense, and as its material nature—let’s say, its “earthy” quality—became more intense, this uniformity became harmful. For this meant that the possibility for human beings to change in the course of their lives receded more and more. They were, so to speak, born into an immensely dense state. That is, after all, the reason why people today change so little during their lives. This also led Schopenhauer to believe that, fundamentally, human beings cannot change their character at all. The reason for this is that human beings exist within such dense matter. They cannot easily shape or alter this matter. If people were still able, as was the case in the past, to change their limbs—for example, at will, according to their needs, making a limb short or long—then, of course, human beings would still be capable of very powerful impressions. Then, in essence, they would incorporate into their own individuality that which allowed them to bring about a change within themselves. Human beings are always in close contact with their surroundings, especially with their human environment. So that we understand each other perfectly, I would like to tell you something that you may not have noticed yet, but which is certainly the case.

[ 8 ] Suppose you are sitting across from someone and talking to them. We are describing this in terms of the ordinary, normal course of life and how people interact with one another in everyday life—not, for example, in the case of someone who has undergone deep occult training. So two people are sitting across from each other; one is speaking, the other is just listening. People usually think that the one who is listening isn’t doing anything. That’s not true. Such things still reveal the nature of the influence of the surroundings. It is not noticeable to the outer senses, but in inner life it is very clear—even striking—that the one who is merely listening mimics everything the other person does; even the movements of the physical vocal cords are imitated, and the listener repeats along with what the other person is saying. Everything you hear, you repeat with a slight movement of the vocal cords and the other apparatus involved in speech. And there is a great difference between whether the person speaking has a hoarse voice—in which case you mimic the corresponding movements—or whether they have a pleasant voice. In this regard, a person mimics everything, and since this essentially happens continuously, it also has a major influence on a person’s overall development—albeit only within these narrow contexts. If you now imagine this—what remains as a final remnant of living in harmony with one’s surroundings—to the fullest extent, then you will have an idea of how people in ancient times lived in harmony with and perceived their surroundings. For example, people’s capacity for imitation was developed to a truly magnificent degree. If one person made a movement, everyone else would follow suit without fail. Today, only insignificant remnants of this remain in very specific areas: when one person yawns, the others yawn as well. But remember that in those ancient times this was a matter of a twilight consciousness, and such an ability to imitate is connected to it.

[ 9 ] As the Earth, with everything on it, became increasingly dense, human beings became less and less capable of transforming themselves under the influence of their environment. A sunrise, for example, was still a powerful formative force for human beings in the relatively recent times of Atlantis, because they were entirely under its influence and had profound inner experiences which, as they recurred time and again, transformed them greatly over the course of their lives. All of this grew weaker and weaker and gradually disappeared as humanity progressed further.

[ 10 ] During the Lemurian epoch, before the Moon separated from the Earth, there was a great danger facing humanity. It was the danger of becoming completely frozen, of mummifying. As the Moon gradually withdrew from our Earth’s evolution, this danger was averted. At the same time, however, as the Moon withdrew, the separation into the sexes took place, and with this separation into the sexes came a new impulse for the individualization of human beings. If it had been possible for humanity to reproduce without the two sexes, then it would not have entered into this process of individualization. It is thanks to the interaction of the sexes that the present-day diversity of human beings has come about. If only the feminine were at work, human individuality would be extinguished; people would all become the same. Through the contribution of the masculine, human beings are born as individual characters from the moment of birth. Thus, the purpose of the interaction between the sexes is, in fact, that with the emergence and separation of the masculine element, individualization from birth on has taken the place of the old form of individualization. What had previously been brought about by the entire surrounding environment was condensed into the mutual interaction of the sexes, so that individualization is pushed back to the emergence of the physical human being, to birth. This is the purpose of the interaction between the two sexes. Individualization occurs through the influence of the male sex on the female.

[ 11 ] However, this entailed accepting something else for human beings, and when what was accepted there is described, I ask that it be regarded precisely as characteristic of humanity; for if we stand on the ground of spiritual science, we must not view it in the same way for human beings as we do for animals. In animals, health and illness are subject to entirely different causes in their finer forces than in human beings. Therefore, what is said applies exclusively to human beings, and the finer relationships must first come to the forefront of our consciousness.

[ 12 ] Try to truly imagine that ancient time when human beings were completely immersed in their surroundings, when the surroundings permeated them and, on the one hand, nourished them through the nutrients they provided, while on the other hand, the influence of the surroundings shaped their individuality. Now, if we stand on the ground of spiritual science, we know that everything around us—everything that acts upon us, whether light or sound, warmth or cold, hardness or softness, this or that color—everything that acts upon us is a revelation, the outward expression of something spiritual. And in those ancient times, human beings did not perceive external sensory impressions at all, but rather perceived the spiritual. When they looked up at the sun, they did not see the physical sun, but rather what has been preserved in the Persian religion as “Ahura Mazda,” the “Great Aura.” The spiritual realm—the sum of the spiritual solar beings—appeared to them, and so it was in the air, in the water, and in the entire environment. When you take in the beauty of a painting today, you can derive something like a distilled essence from it, though back then it was far more vibrant. If we were to speak in the old sense, we should not say, “This or that tastes such-and-such,” but rather we would have to say: ‘This or that spirit does me good!’—That is how it was when people, while eating—which was a completely different activity than it is today—engaged with their surroundings; and likewise, the time when the fertilizing forces were absorbed was something entirely different: a manifestation of the spiritual environment. Spirits came upon people, overshadowed them, and inspired them to bring forth their own kind, and this was also experienced and observed as such a spiritual process.

[ 13 ] Now, it became increasingly impossible for human beings to perceive the spiritual aspect of their surroundings. This aspect became more and more veiled, especially in everyday consciousness. Gradually, human beings ceased to perceive the spiritual realities underlying things, focusing instead only on the external objects that serve as their outward expression, and they learned to forget what lies behind them as spiritual reality. And as they became increasingly condensed in form, the spiritual influence also grew ever weaker. Through this densification, human beings became increasingly independent beings and thereby cut themselves off from their spiritual environment. The further back we go in these ancient times, the more this influence emanating from the environment was of a spiritual-divine nature. Human beings were truly organized in such a way that they were a reflection and likeness of their surroundings—of the spiritual beings hovering around them—reflections of the gods who existed in the ancient times of the Earth.

[ 14 ] This was increasingly lost, particularly through the interaction of the two sexes. As a result, the spiritual world withdrew from human sight. People turned their gaze more and more toward the sensory world. We must vividly imagine this relationship: Consider that in those ancient times, human beings were imbued with life from the divine-spiritual world. It was the gods themselves who bestowed their powers and made human beings in their own image. Consequently, what we call “illness” did not exist in those ancient times. There was no inner predisposition to illness; it could not exist, because everything that was present within the human being and active within them came from the healthy divine-spiritual cosmos. The divine-spiritual beings are healthy, and in those days they fashioned human beings in their own image. Human beings were healthy. But the more they approached the point in time when the interaction of the sexes began—and with it the withdrawal of the spiritual worlds—the more human beings became independent and individual, the more the health of the divine-spiritual beings withdrew from them, and something else took its place. It was indeed the case that this interaction between the sexes was enveloped and accompanied by passions and instincts as they were stimulated in the physical world. Specifically, we must look for this stimulation from the physical world after human beings had reached the point where the two sexes found physical and sensual pleasure in one another. This was still a long way off when the sexes already existed. The interaction of the two sexes—even in the Atlantean epoch—occurred when physical consciousness was actually asleep, so to speak, during the hours of night sleep. It was not until the middle of the Atlantean era that what we might call the attraction between the sexes—passionate love—began to emerge; that is, everything that mingled sensual love with pure supersensory love—if we wish to call it that—the term is worn out today, but it need not be—: Platonic love. Platonic love would be present to a much greater extent if sensual love were not mixed in. And whereas in earlier times everything that had a formative effect on human beings was a consequence of the spiritual-divine environment, it now became more a consequence of the passions and drives of the two sexes interacting with one another. Sensual desire has become linked to the interaction of the two sexes; this desire was stimulated by the external eye, by the external sight of a being of the opposite sex. Thus, at birth, something was incorporated into the human being that is connected to the particular nature of the passions and feelings of human beings living in the physical world. Whereas in the past human beings still received what was within them from the spiritual-divine beings in their surroundings, they now, through the act of conception, took in something they had absorbed from the sensory world as an independent, self-contained entity.

[ 15 ] Once human beings had entered into the two-sex system, they passed on to their descendants what they themselves experienced in the sensory world. So now we have two human beings. These two human beings live in the physical world and perceive the world through the senses; through this, they develop various drives and desires stimulated by external influences; in particular, they develop drives and passions through their own, externally stimulated, sensual attraction to one another. What now approaches human beings from the outside has been drawn down into the sphere of the autonomous human being; it is no longer in full harmony with the divine-spiritual cosmos. This is imparted to the human being through the physical act of conception; it becomes ingrained in human beings. And this worldly life of their own—which they do not derive from the divine worlds but from the outer realm of the divine-spiritual world—is what human beings pass on to their offspring through fertilization. If a person is inferior in this regard, they pass on worse qualities to their offspring than another who is pure and good.

[ 16 ] And with that, we now have what we must conceive of, in the true and genuine sense, as “original sin.” This is the concept of original sin. Original sin arises from the fact that human beings are able to transmit their individual experiences in the physical world to their descendants. Every time the sexes are consumed by passion, the elements of both sexes intermingle within the human being descending from the astral world. When a human being incarnates, they descend from the Devachanic world and form their own astral sphere according to the nature of their individuality. Into this personal astral sphere is blended something of what is inherent in the astral bodies, the drives, passions, and desires of the parents, so that through this the human being inherits what their ancestors have experienced. What is passed down through the generations in this way—what is truly acquired as human within the generations and is inherited as such—is what is meant by the concept of original sin. And now we come to something else: a completely new element entered humanity through the individualization of the human being.

[ 17 ] In the past, the divine-spiritual beings—who were completely healthy—formed humankind in their own image. But now, as an independent being, humankind has separated itself from the overall harmony of divine-spiritual health. In a certain sense, its individuality contradicted this entire spiritual-divine environment. Imagine you have a being that develops solely under the influences of its environment. It then reflects the nature of that environment. But imagine that it is enclosed by a skin; then, in addition to the characteristics of its environment, it also possesses its own characteristics. When human beings became individuals through the division into the sexes, they thus developed their own distinctive traits within themselves. As a result, a contradiction arose between the great, inherently healthy divine-spiritual harmony and what existed as the individual within the human being. And as this individual aspect continues to exert its influence, becoming a genuinely active factor, the possibility of inner illness is introduced into human development for the first time. We have now identified the moment when the possibility of illness first arises in human development, for it is linked to the individualization of human beings. Previously, when human beings were still connected to the spiritual-divine world, this possibility of illness did not exist. It arose with individualization, and this coincides with the separation into the sexes. This applies to human development, and you must not apply it in the same way to the animal kingdom.

[ 18 ] Illness is, in fact, a consequence of the processes I have just described to you, and in particular, you can see that it is essentially the astral body that is initially influenced in this way. The astral body—which a person initially incorporates into themselves when they descend from the Devachan world—is confronted with what flows into it through the interaction of the two sexes. The astral body is thus the part that most acutely reflects the ungodly. The etheric body is already more divine, for a person has less influence over it, and the most divine of all is the physical body—this temple of God—for it has been thoroughly removed from human influence. While a person may seek all manner of pleasures in their astral body and harbor all manner of desires that have a harmful effect on the physical body, they still possess their physical body today as such a marvelous instrument that it can withstand the poisons of the heart and other disruptive influences of the astral body for decades. And so we must say that, through all these processes, the human astral body has become the worst aspect of the human being. Anyone who delves deeper into human nature will find the deepest causes of illness in the astral body and in the harmful influences of the astral body on the etheric body, and only then, indirectly through the etheric body, in the physical body. Now we will understand many things that otherwise cannot be understood. I would now like to speak about common mineral remedies.

[ 19 ] A remedy from the mineral kingdom initially acts on the human physical body. What, then, is the purpose of a person administering a mineral remedy to their physical body? So, please note: We are not speaking here of any kind of herbal remedy, but of purely mineral ones—those administered in the form of metals, salts, and so on. Suppose a person ingests some mineral remedy. Then something quite remarkable presents itself to the clairvoyant consciousness. The clairvoyant consciousness can then perform the following feat: It always has the ability to divert attention away from something. You can divert your attention away from the entire physical human body. You will then still see the etheric body, the astral body, and the “I” aura. You have thus “suggested” the physical body away through strong negative attention. Now, if someone has ingested any kind of mineral remedy, you can push everything else out of your attention and focus your clairvoyant attention solely on the mineral or metal that is now within them. In other words, you suggest away what is within them in terms of bones, muscles, blood, and so on, and direct your attention only to what has permeated them as a specific mineral substance. Here, something quite remarkable occurs to the clairvoyant consciousness: this mineral substance has dispersed very finely and has itself taken on the form of a human being. You have a human form before you—a human phantom—consisting of the substance that the person has ingested. Suppose the person has ingested the metal antimony; then you have before you a human form made of very finely dispersed antimony, and this is the case with every mineral remedy that a person ingests. You create a new human being within yourself, consisting of this mineral substance; you incorporate it into yourself. Now we ask ourselves: What is the purpose and meaning of this?

[ 20 ] The point is this: If you were to leave a person who needs such a remedy just as they are—if you were not to give them the remedy and they truly need it—then, because of certain negative forces in their astral body, the astral body would act upon the etheric body, and the etheric body upon the physical body, gradually destroying it. Now you have interwoven the physical body with a double. This double acts in such a way that the physical body does not follow the influences of the astral body. Imagine you have a bean plant: if you give it a stake, it winds its way up it and no longer follows the movements of the wind. This double, made of the incorporated substance, serves as such a stake for the human being. This holds the physical body in place and shields it from the influences of the astral and etheric bodies. In this way, you make the human being, as far as his physical body is concerned, independent, so to speak, of his astral and etheric bodies. This is the effect of a mineral remedy. But you will also immediately see the downside of this, for it has a very serious reverse side as well. Since you have artificially removed the physical body from its connection with the other bodies, you have weakened the influence of the astral body and the etheric body on the physical body; you have made the physical body independent, and the more you administer such remedies to your body, the more the influence of the astral body and the etheric body also fades away, and the physical body becomes a being hardened within itself and existing independently, which is then subject to its own laws. Now consider what happens to people who administer such various mineral remedies to their bodies throughout their entire lives. A person who has gradually ingested large amounts of mineral remedies then carries within them the phantom of these minerals; they have a whole dozen mineral remedies within them. These hold the physical body as if within solid walls. Indeed, what influence could the astral body and the etheric body possibly still have on them? Such a person, in fact, drags his physical body around with him and is quite powerless against it. If such a person—who has been taking these remedies for a long time—then tries to seek out someone else who wants to treat him psychically, who wants to act specifically on the finer bodies, the person in question will discover that he has become more or less impervious to psychic influences. For they have first made their physical body independent and deprived it of the possibility that what might happen in the finer bodies could have an effect extending into the physical body. And this has happened specifically because the person has so many phantoms within them that are not at all in harmony—one pulls them in one direction, another in another. If a person has deprived themselves of the ability to act from the spiritual-soul aspect, then they should not be at all surprised if even a spiritual healing treatment proves less successful. Therefore, when dealing with psychological influences, you must always take into consideration what kind of person is to be treated. If a person has rendered their astral body or etheric body powerless by making their physical body independent, then it has become very difficult to help such a person through spiritual treatment.

[ 21 ] So now we understand how mineral substances affect human beings. They create double bodies within them that preserve their physical body and shield it from the influences of their astral or etheric bodies, which could be harmful. Almost all of our medicine today boils down to treating only the physical body in one way or another, because this materialistic medicine is unaware of the finer aspects of the human being.

[ 22 ] Today, we have first considered the effects of mineral substances. We will have to discuss the effects of plant-based healing powers and the effects of animal substances on the human organism, and then we will move on to those influences—those remedies—that can be psychic, that is, spiritual, from being to being. But you can see that, for our considerations, it is necessary to first reacquaint ourselves with concepts such as original sin and to understand it correctly. Certain things today are such that people simply skim over them and have no understanding of them.