The Rudolf Steiner Archive

17. The Stages of Our Earth's Development: The Lemurian, Atlantean, and Post-Atlantean Epochs

[ 1 ] Yesterday, in our reflections, we reached the era known as the Lemurian period in Earth’s evolution. During that time, a major cosmic event took place: the separation of the Moon from Earth’s substance. It was precisely this event that set the right pace for human evolution. Back then, our Earth differed greatly in form and temperature from the Earth we know today. The temperature was much higher, so that people of today could not have lived on that Earth. Its form was also significantly different. Gradually, the Earth then condensed to such an extent that solid substances formed on its surface. And when we spoke yesterday about bodies hardening, this is not to be understood in a physical sense, but rather in terms of strength and quality. Certain material substances dissolved. The entire Earth was in a fiery, liquid state and only gradually became firmer and firmer. However, this should not be understood to mean that it became hard and dense in today’s physical sense; rather, it refers precisely to strength and quality. These forces were such that they would have mummified human beings. From the Earth’s fiery-liquid state, island-like formations then emerged, and the beings on them bore a distant resemblance to our present-day animals and plants. Human beings themselves, however, did not dwell directly on the Earth during the first half of the Lemurian epoch, but in the sphere above the Earth in a thin, subtle physical form; they were more spiritual beings. At the beginning of the Lemurian epoch, human beings did not yet possess the physicality they would later develop and did not consume the more solid kinds of food. Indeed, even at the end of Lemuria, you would not find the forms of the human body—which had already become the densest in substance—endowed with the bones we have today. The substance of which the physical human body was composed was still soft and gelatinous, so that outwardly it hardly differed from the rest of the substance. Those souls who had descended to Earth too early absorbed this kind of denser earthly substance into their bodies. At that time, the people who were the least spiritual were already living on Earth, while the others were still above the Earth.

[ 2 ] Only now, during the Lemurian period, does the first mineral sediment form—so to speak, through the settling of fine masses of ash and molten metal. These masses, as it were, form the beginnings of islands. This is expressed more figuratively, but to the clairvoyant eye, this gradual densification appears in this way. Then, from this mass emerges what we might call the plant kingdom; only later does the animal kingdom form. It would take us too far afield if I were to explain in detail how the physical realm gradually condenses. Everything truly descends from higher spheres, including the condensing continents. But what is now the human being initially remained, so to speak, in a sphere above the Earth. Within it, human beings lived and developed their soft, delicate bodies in this soft sphere. The human etheric body and astral body were not yet so strongly connected to the physical body; they were still more free. But as the physical body solidified—becoming denser and denser—the connection with the etheric body and astral body also grew closer, and the human being transformed from a floating, soaring being into a being that now set foot on Earth.

[ 3 ] During this period, an influence began to take effect in human beings that is of great importance. What would have become of human beings without this influence? They would have remained for a long, long time beings without initiative, without inner independence; they would have remained automatons, driven by higher spiritual beings and their forces. Spiritual forces from the spiritual beings continually flowed into the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body. Among these beings were some who acted primarily in the astral body and who themselves had lagged behind in their development: these are the Luciferic beings. They drew humanity down onto the physical plane even more rapidly than the good, spiritually normal beings.

[ 4 ] The Luciferic entities were spirits who were actually supposed to have completed their work on the Moon. Had they exerted their influence on human beings there, they would have been able to act only upon the astral body, for it was the highest aspect of the human being on the Moon. But they could not do so on the Moon, because they were backward beings. And they could not act upon the “I,” since they had not learned to do so on the Moon. Now the Luciferic beings had reached the point where they were able to act upon the human astral body. But humanity had advanced in the meantime and had successfully integrated its “I.” The Luciferic beings could not yet act upon the “I”; higher beings acted upon the “I”—and also upon the astral body—but only through the “I.” They would not, so to speak, have allowed themselves to act directly upon the astral body; that was a task the higher beings had already fulfilled during the Moon phase of evolution. If the Luciferic beings had not gained influence over humankind, then the higher beings alone would have acted upon the astral body through the “I,” thereby purifying it. Instead, during the Lemurian period, the Luciferic beings acted directly upon the astral body from all sides, and as a result, the human astral body was exposed to all the influences that should actually have ceased to act upon it already during the lunar stage. As a result, certain instincts, desires, and passions were implanted in human beings that they would not have acquired if the higher beings alone had acted upon them. The gods simply would not have allowed these influences to enter. Through the Luciferic influence, human beings received two things: First, he could be inflamed with a certain fervor, a certain enthusiasm, a zeal to do this or that; but this enthusiasm was not directed by his “I,” nor was it influenced by the higher beings within the human being. Second, he received the possibility of turning away from the higher beings, of doing evil, but also the possibility of freedom. Thus, initiative, enthusiasm, and freedom were what humanity owed to the Luciferic beings, but at the same time the possibility of evil arose within them. Thus the Luciferic beings crept into the human astral body and, in essence, are still within it today, for it is they who, on the one hand, make humanity free, and on the other hand, lead it astray toward evil. Because the human being’s astral body was permeated by the Luciferic beings, the human being was brought down from the atmosphere above the Earth to the Earth earlier—too early. The Luciferic beings are essentially to blame for this. The human being’s astral body was corrupted by them and thereby densified too soon; otherwise, it would have remained for a long time in that atmosphere, which the Bible calls Paradise. Thus, the expulsion from Paradise occurred through the influence of the gods. Imagine, then, the Earth in its molten state and then humankind being brought down—too soon—by the Luciferic beings onto the Earth, where continents were just beginning to form. At that time, however, the human astral body still exerted a much greater influence on its surroundings; humans possessed greater magical powers than they did later, and there was not yet such a strict separation between the laws of nature and human will. Today, in this regard, an evil person could not bring about anything significant. Nothing in nature would happen through him today. Back then, it was different. Evil desires in the human soul had a visible, magical effect on nature; they drew the forces of fire down to and across the Earth, and humans ignited the forces of nature through their evil desires and their magical will. Today, lightning no longer flashes as a result; but back then, fire flashed through the air whenever people became evil.

[ 5 ] Because masses of people became evil and humanity gave itself over too completely to the influence of the Luciferic beings, inclining toward evil, the forces of fire were ignited on the continents of Lemuria, and Lemuria perished in the raging fires caused by the wickedness of a large portion of its inhabitants. The people who were saved went west to a continent located between present-day Africa, Europe, and America—Atlantis. There, the development of humanity continued over long, long epochs. Humanity gradually multiplied again, and the souls who had gone to Jupiter, Mars, and so on during the time of desolation descended upon this continent. This took a long time. And so the concepts of race emerged in ancient Atlantis. In occultism, it is said: In ancient Atlantis, there were people whose bodies were inhabited by souls that had previously been on Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and so on. They were called Martians, Jovians, and so on. The outward forms of their bodies also became distinct from one another as a result. Throughout the entire first half of the Atlantean era, the human body was still of a much softer substance; it yielded to the forces of the soul. These soul forces were significantly stronger than they are today and shaped and molded the physical body. A person from ancient Atlantis could, let’s say, have snapped a railroad track with ease—not because their physical strength was great, for they had not even yet developed a fully formed skeletal system—but by virtue of their magical-psychic powers. A shotgun pellet, for example, would have ricocheted off this psychic force. The density of the physical body did not develop until later. We still find a similar phenomenon today in certain insane individuals who, through the release of powerful psychic forces—because in that state the physical body is not properly connected to the higher bodies—are able to lift and throw heavy objects.

[ 6 ] Because the physical body in Atlantis was still soft, it could more easily conform to the soul’s processes; the physical form could become smaller or larger. For example, if a person in Atlantis was stupid or sensual, and so on, he would, so to speak, sink into matter and become a giant in stature. The more spiritual people had a more refined physique and were smaller in stature, while the foolish ones were large. The outer form, with its soft matter, was shaped much, much more by the soul’s forces than it is today, when matter has become rigid. The bodies, therefore, took shape according to the qualities of the soul; that is why the races were so different.

[ 7 ] When myths and legends have portrayed dwarves as wise and giants as foolish, we see yet another profound occult aspect reflected in them. So when such a soul descended from Mars back to Earth, the qualities there with which it was related continued to influence it—and the body it inhabited—for a long time. This fact explains the differences and peculiarities among the races.

[ 8 ] If human evolution up to the middle of the Atlantean epoch had proceeded without the influence of Lucifer, then by that time human beings would have developed a highly “Luziferian” pictorial consciousness. There would have been something in his soul whose power would have revealed the outer world to him in inner images; he would not have perceived external objects through his eyes. Through the Luciferic influence, however, human beings came to see the physical world earlier, but not correctly; rather, they see the outer world as if through a veil. The divine-spiritual beings had intended his development to be such that, instead of the inner world perceived as images through a dull clairvoyant consciousness, he would have perceived the outer world—but in such a way that behind every sensory phenomenon there lies a spiritual reality. He would have seen the real Spirit behind the physical world. In an instant—please do not take this literally, as it would have taken some time, after all—the external world would have appeared to humankind at a certain point in time without Lucifer; humankind would have awakened. The inner world would have suddenly vanished, but the awareness of the spirit from which it originates would have remained. Humanity would not only have seen the plants, animals, and so on, but at the same time also the spirit from which they sprang. Because the Luciferic beings drew humanity down to Earth too early, the external world has become such that the world of the spirit behind it is veiled from humanity, and humanity perceives the physical as opaque; otherwise, it would see through it to the spiritual foundation of the world. Because human beings descended into matter too early, this matter became too dense for them. They could no longer penetrate it. But other spiritual beings who had remained behind were able, from the middle of the Atlantean epoch onward, to mingle with this matter, so that it became permeated as if by smoke, clouded over, and human beings could no longer perceive the spiritual. These are the Ahrimanic or Mephistophelean beings. Mephistopheles-Ahriman is distinct from Lucifer. Through a falsehood—Zarathustra calls him a liar—he clouds the pure human spirit and conceals the spiritual from it. Ahriman follows Lucifer; he instills in humankind the illusion that matter exists independently. Thus, as human beings progressed—while the divine-spiritual beings sought to influence them—they allowed two other influences to act upon them: Lucifer, who attacks human beings from within, in the astral body, and seeks to lead them astray; and Ahriman, who, from the outside, deceives human beings, causing the external world to appear to them as Maya, as matter. We must regard Lucifer as the spirit that is active within, whereas Ahriman is the spirit that spreads matter like a veil over the spiritual and makes the recognition of the spiritual world impossible. And these two spirits hold humanity back in its development toward spirituality. And it was specifically the Ahrimanic influence that asserted itself in human beings and caused part of the Earth to perish: Atlantis.

[ 9 ] In Lemuria, human beings exerted a very powerful influence on nature through their magical powers. For example, they were able to control fire. The Atlanteans were no longer able to do so. But through their will, they could control the seed forces—in which profound secrets lie hidden—as well as the forces of air and water; fire, however, had been taken from them. Let us realize that when we see a locomotive today—which humans have built and now control—we are dealing with something entirely different. Today, humans understand how to harness the forces hidden in coal and transform them into a propulsive force. This process means that they control the lifeless, mineral force that dwells within it; but the Atlanteans mastered the life force itself, which dwells in the seed. Imagine that the force—the living force that causes the stalk to sprout from the earth—could be drawn out of the seed by the Atlanteans and put to use. In their depots, where the Atlanteans kept their vehicles, they stored vast quantities of seeds, just as we have coal deposits today. And they propelled their vehicles forward using the power stored within them. When the clairvoyant looks back to that time, he sees these vehicles near the earth, in the even denser air, the thicker atmosphere, rising and moving with a kind of steering mechanism. The Atlanteans mastered these life forces. Now, however, it is inconceivable to imagine that one could magically utilize such forces—which are found in plants, that is, spiritual forces—without simultaneously influencing the forces of air and water. And when the will of the Atlanteans turned evil and they used these spiritual forces for selfish purposes, they simultaneously summoned the forces of water and air, unleashed them, and thus the ancient Atlantis perished. The continents came into being through the interaction of the elements and human beings. But now the Ahrimanic influence gradually grew so strong that human beings could no longer perceive the spiritual. Behind physical matter, they could recognize nothing but the mineral and the inorganic, and thus their magical powers dwindled more and more.

[ 10 ] During the Atlantean Age, human beings were able to master the life force. In the Lemurian era, one of humanity’s powers was the ability to master the animal seed forces, and it even came to pass that human beings—the Lemurians—used these animal seed forces to transform animal forms into human ones. Every such magical influence of human beings on the seed forces is accompanied by an effect—an unleashing of the fire forces. When such will turns evil, the worst forces of black magic are unleashed and invoked. And even today, the worst forces on Earth are unleashed when black magicians misuse such powers, which are generally withheld from humanity. These are powers—mighty and sacred—that, in the wise hands of worthy guides, can be used for the highest and purest service to humanity.

[ 11 ] Humans are now gradually losing the ability to shape their bodies. Cartilage and bones—the hard parts—are becoming fixed, and humans are increasingly taking on their present form. What has been described above did not occur until the Atlantean era. It is therefore understandable that researchers cannot find the ancient Atlanteans. Nor will the scholars’ hope of still finding traces of such ancient times of human development ever be fulfilled, for humans at that time were beings whose physical parts were still soft. Such a body cannot be preserved, just as nothing will remain of today’s mollusks after a hundred years. Animal remains can still be found from such ancient periods, for the animals had already hardened while humans were still soft. The animals descended into matter too soon; they could not wait. From the earliest human forms, which became physical too soon, the most stunted human forms arose. The noblest ones remained above the longest, remaining soft; they waited until they no longer fell into a time when they would have had to remain at a stage of hardening, as was the case with the animals. The animals remained at a stiffened, hardened stage because they could not wait.

[ 12 ] We have described the development of the Earth up to the point where the forces of water were unleashed and ancient Atlantis was destroyed. The people who escaped from Atlantis migrated, on the one hand, to the Americas, and on the other, to what is now Europe, Asia, and Africa. These migrations—great migrations—took place and spanned long periods of time.

[ 13 ] Now let us take another look at the ancient Atlantean culture. In the earliest Atlantean era, human beings possessed powerful magical abilities. With these, they controlled the forces of the seeds, mastered the forces of nature, and were still able, to a certain extent, to glimpse into the spiritual world. Gradually, clairvoyance fell dormant, for human beings were meant to establish earthly civilization; they were truly meant to descend to Earth. Thus, at the end of the Atlantean era, there were two kinds of people among all the peoples and races: first, clairvoyants—great magicians who stood at the pinnacle of Atlantean culture—who worked through magical powers and could look into the spiritual world. Alongside them were those who were preparing to lay the foundation for modern humanity. They already possessed the predispositions for the abilities of modern humans. They could no longer accomplish anything in the sense of the ancient Atlanteans, but they were developing intelligence and the power of judgment. They possessed the beginnings of calculation, counting, reasoning, and so on. They were the ones who developed today’s intelligence, yet no longer used the magical powers that the ancient Atlantean magicians had employed at a time when their use had already become dangerous due to the great Ahrimanic influence. They were the “Others,” the despised ones—much like today’s theosophists, who gather in small secret societies, or like the early Christians in ancient Rome, who met in the catacombs.

[ 14 ] Now, in Atlantis there were also powerful centers of culture and worship—let us call them the Atlantean oracles—where what is known as Atlantean wisdom was cultivated. Since human souls were diverse—having descended from different celestial bodies—there had to be different oracle sites for these diverse people. There was a Mars oracle, a Jupiter oracle, a Venus oracle, and so on. Such oracles existed. They were leading centers of worship where the initiates—the sages up to a certain level—guided and directed the Mars race, the Jupiter race, and so on. All these oracles, however, were in turn guided by a more powerful oracle: the Sun Oracle. This was the leading mystery center from which culture radiated to the others. In addition, all Mars beings were guided from the place where the initiate of the Mars Oracle lived with his disciples; all Mercury souls from the Mercury Oracle, all Jupiter souls from the Jupiter Oracle, and so on. All these oracle sites, however, were subject to the great initiate of the Sun Oracle.

[ 15 ] This great leader of the Solar Oracle—the greatest initiate of Atlantis—directed his attention to all those groups of people who differed from the general population of ancient Atlantis. These were simple people who no longer possessed any magical powers; the great initiate gathered them—those who were despised but who had developed within themselves the new abilities, however primitive, from whom an understanding of the new age could be expected. He took the promising material for the future, along with those old initiates or magicians who did not cling selfishly to the old forms. We can compare our present age—which presents a picture similar to that of ancient Atlantis—with that era. Even today, on the one hand, there are those who set the tone in the dominant, widespread culture—who are magicians in their own way, working only with the inorganic—and on the other hand, there are the despised ones who wish to work for the future, even today. Back then, in Atlantis, the “members of their culture”—the ancient magicians—also looked down with contempt upon the small number of people who had developed within themselves the new ability, an ability that was, after all, of no use whatsoever in ancient Atlantis. Only the great initiate of the Solar Oracle did not despise them. And so today the great bearers of our culture look down upon a small handful of people—the Theosophists—who gather in small secret societies and engage in all sorts of crazy activities; they are generally laypeople and are supposed to bring about the future. They are the ones—the people who today are developing and preparing within themselves an ability that seems useless to others, but which is capable of reestablishing a connection with the spiritual world through a sense of the future. Back then in Atlantis, the task was to find a connection with the physical world, the sensory realm; today, the task is to rediscover the spiritual. And just as in those days the ancient initiate gathered his following locally and sent out his call to the despised and the simple, so today, under different conditions and not locally, a call goes out once more from the great masters of wisdom, who are infusing humanity with a certain spiritual treasure of wisdom. And those who are predisposed to it in a certain way follow this call, just as in those days there were those who possessed a natural aptitude for the primitive skills of arithmetic, counting, and so on. These teachings are imparted not merely to comprehend theosophical dogmas with the intellect, but to grasp them with the heart. Through this, one then gains the strength to know why Theosophy exists today. It exists to meet a great need in the development of humanity. And whoever knows this will also find the strength to overcome all resistance, no matter what may come; he follows his path because he knows that what is meant to happen through “Theosophy for the Further Development of Humanity on the Spiritual Path” must come to pass.

[ 16 ] The great initiate of the Sun Oracle led the small group and established a kind of cultural center in Asia. In a certain sense, he nurtured these people in such a way that they could lay the foundations for post-Atlantean culture. During the great migrations, everything that had emerged on Atlantis had been thrown together and mixed up. Therefore, in the post-Atlantean era, one should no longer speak of races, but of cultures.

[ 17 ] Now let us consider the successive cultures of the post-Atlantic era. The first culture is the ancient Indian one. A remarkable mix of peoples had fled there after the Atlantean catastrophe and gathered together in ancient India. The people who lived there still harbored the deepest, most profound longing for the spiritual world, knowing that they had been born from it and that they had now lost it. It was there that the great initiate of the Solar Oracle sent the seven holy Rishis. The Indians felt this vividly, with a painful longing: the sensory world is false; true is only the world from which we have descended—the spiritual world. It was therefore easy for the holy Rishis to teach what they had to say about primordial wisdom and the mysteries to those who still harbored a longing for the spiritual world within themselves. Maya, or illusion—the great deception—was the sensory world to the ancient Indians.

[ 18 ] It was already a different spirit that reigned in the second post-Atlantean culture, the ancient Persian one. Western thought and Western research into the physical realm are coming to recognize that this physical world—wonderfully structured according to such harmonious laws—is worthy of being penetrated by the spirit. One such people who began to grasp this was the people of Zarathustra. Anyone familiar with this ancient Persian people will be able to distinguish clearly between them and the Indian people. To them, everything that surrounded them was Maya, illusion; only the spiritual world—and only that which was permeated by the highest Self—was true and worthy of pursuit. With such a mindset, it was impossible to conquer the physical world. This became possible only with the culture of Zarathustra, the great disciple of the great initiate of the Solar Oracle. He knew and taught that the external world is not Maya, but the expression of the divine-spiritual, and that behind it lies that which Ahriman had concealed from humanity. This which lies beyond the sensory world was to be revealed. This is what Zarathustra strives for: to find the spirit within the sensory realm. That is his mission. In Ormuzd and ‘Ahriman,’ light and darkness stand in opposition to one another.

[ 19 ] In the third epoch—the Egyptian-Chaldean-Assyrian-Babylonian one—humanity had already established a closer connection with the physical world. In the magnificent celestial script of the firmament, he sees the deeds and wisdom of the gods inscribed, and he turns his gaze upward, seeking to understand and fathom them. The wondrous astrological wisdom of the Chaldean priest-sages stands as a testament to this.

[ 20 ] The fourth culture, the Greco-Roman one, brings humanity down completely to the physical plane. Man has come to love it so much that he has completely forgotten where he came from. His understanding of the spiritual world has been lost. This is profoundly illustrated by the saying of the Greek hero Achilles: “Better to be a beggar in the upper world than a king in the realm of the shadows.”—The marvelous sculpture of the Greeks and the Roman citizens are the characteristic features of this culture. The fifth culture is our own. Materialism and the department store leave a certain mark on it.

[ 21 ] The purpose of all these cultures is, after all, for human beings to increasingly conquer the physical plane, and two currents, two fundamental moods, are expressed in the cultures that have survived to this day. Today, the Eastern and Western worlds—with their respective worldviews and emotional currents—stand in opposition to one another. The Eastern world calls the physical plane “Maya” or “illusion,” and it does not wish to become entangled with it in its thinking, its actions, or its emotional life. To work into this sensory world, to take an active hand in it—that is the principle of the Western worldview. Outwardly, this may therefore lead to a collision, but each has its full justification. May the Western world work to shape external culture and thereby unfold the powers of the soul, and may the Eastern world follow its own path: the summit brings them both together.

[ 22 ] Thus we have the Indian, who leads a spiritual life within himself, turned away from the external sensory world, and the Persian, who still sees something hostile in matter but is already weaving the spirit into it. We have the Egyptian, who studies their laws; the Chaldean, who sees the handwriting of God in space in the movement of the stars and who reveres the wisdom of the stars as an expression of divine-spiritual beings. Before us stands the Greek, who knew how to imprint upon matter itself the ideal of beauty and perfection found in nature’s creations; with him comes the era in which we can marvel at the union of spirit and matter in the physical marvels of art. A profound occult background is worth mentioning here. Consider the Greek temple in its magnificent purity and beauty: the god truly dwells within it. The essential difference between these works of architecture and sculpture and those of other cultural epochs is that the Greek temple, in its pure form, stands so high in the perfection of its lines—even from a purely architectural and artistic standpoint—that nothing can rival it. If the soul immerses itself in it—you can still perceive this in the ruins of the temple at Paestum—if it contemplates a Doric temple or an Ionic one, and if it possesses within itself something of what is called a sense of space, then it feels how these lines are literally poured into space. You know that certain currents exist in space. Making use of the necessity of these currents and representing them physically, the Greek temple takes shape. What the Greek already finds in space, he creates in space. In the Greek temple, the main point is that the god himself is within it; the Gothic cathedral belongs to the faithful congregation. The Greek temple is a whole in itself; the Gothic cathedral, with its pointed-arch windows, is conceivable only with the congregation, whose devoutly folded hands reflect its forms and together with it form a whole. In the Greek temple, spirituality was truly present within; it gave spiritual beings an opportunity to descend and take up residence there.

[ 23 ] But during this era, which was so adept at adorning the earth with such marvels, people increasingly lost their connection to the spiritual world. The physical world was bright and light for human beings, but when they passed through death, the spiritual world was bleak, cold, and dark for them during the era of Greco-Roman culture. Humanity had conquered the physical world in the post-Atlantean era, but in the spiritual world it was sad and gloomy for them, and even the initiates—who are, after all, teachers of humanity in both realms—could offer no comfort. For when they told those who were in the life between death and a new birth about what was happening in the physical world, those human souls only became even more unhappy, for they were attached with every fiber of their being to this sensory world, which had now been taken from them. A change has also taken place here through the event at Golgotha and the appearance of Christ Jesus on Earth. After his death on the cross, he descended into the underworld—what is called the Descent into Hell—and he proclaimed even to those who no longer lived in physical bodies that life had truly conquered death. Through this, the souls were once again given the opportunity to ascend into the spiritual world.