The Rudolf Steiner Archive

29. Introduction to Theosophy IV

[ 1 ] Tonight we will speak about sin, original sin, illness, and so on. Let us first look back at the past, and then let the future pass before our mind’s eye. Before our own time, we have the era of Rome and Athens, preceded by the Egyptian-Chaldean period; further back, there are no actual historical records. For even older eras, we have two sources from which we can draw information: the ancient religious teachings—if one knows how to decipher them—and the retrospective images that the clairvoyant consciousness can perceive. Let us speak of the latter.

[ 2 ] Everything on Earth is subject to the laws of evolution, and this applies in a very special way to human spiritual life. In ancient times, the life of the soul was different from what it is today. In prehistoric times, people in Europe, Asia, and Africa had a spiritual life that was quite different from that of the human soul today. If we look back thousands of years, we find that the ancestors of modern humanity had a much broader spiritual horizon than the one we have today. Although they did not possess the intellect that enables us to read and calculate, they did, on the other hand, possess a primitive form of clairvoyance and, in addition, a tremendous memory—one of which ours cannot even give a faint inkling. We will yet see what made this possible. To give you an idea of how the world appeared to them, I will say, for example, that when they awoke in their waking consciousness, they saw everything as if surrounded by an aura. A flower, for example, appeared to them surrounded by a circle of light similar to the one we see around streetlamps in the evening mist. During sleep, however, these people were able to perceive spiritual beings in reality. Gradually, human beings learned to see the outlines of things more clearly. At the same time, however, conscious interaction with the spiritual world and the beings dwelling within it became increasingly rare, until it finally ceased altogether as the “I” became individualized within each individual being. Before this individualization, human beings were not separated from one another.

[ 3 ] In those times, the Earth, too, had a completely different configuration than it does now. Humanity lived on different regions—continents—and our ancestors, in particular, lived on a continent that is now covered by the Atlantic Ocean. Tradition calls this continent Atlantis. The myths of all peoples tell of the disappearance of this continent, and the legend of the universal flood refers precisely to this. The Atlantean culture was magnificent, and through its downfall, humanity lost many important insights that it must now laboriously regain. Just as we know how to harness the forces hidden in fossilized plants—coal—for commerce and industry, so too did the Atlanteans know how to harness the driving forces within seeds to, for example, propel their airships, which traveled slightly above the ground in an atmosphere that was much denser than our own.

[ 4 ] Let us now take a look at the physical organism of the Atlanteans. It exhibited a significant peculiarity: namely, that the etheric body was not entirely similar to the physical body, and the etheric head extended beyond the physical head. This peculiarity is precisely linked to the Atlanteans’ clairvoyant abilities, their extraordinary memory, and their magical powers. The etheric head had a special point of perception [...].

[ 5 ] In the course of evolution, this etheric head gradually retreated into the physical head, thereby altering its profile. Now, at that very point, we have the organ whose development will restore clairvoyance to humanity: the pineal gland. Thus, the clairvoyant power of the Atlanteans gradually disappeared, along with their prodigious memory and magical powers, and our capacity for thought and calculation developed.

[ 6 ] If we go back even further, we find other catastrophes. Entire continents were destroyed by fire. Our present-day volcanoes are the last remnants of that era. The continent that perished at that time is known as “Lemuria” and was the region now largely occupied by the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The inhabitants of that continent had a form very different from our own—one that would even seem grotesque to us by our standards. Their physical and astral bodies were arranged differently in relation to one another. The crown of the head was open, and rays of light penetrated this opening, so that the head was surrounded by a radiant aura and the people looked as if they had a lantern on top of their heads.

[ 7 ] The body was enormous and composed of a delicate, almost gelatinous substance. We see the last trace of the Lemurians’ cranial structure in the head of a newborn child—specifically, the small opening at the top that remains open until about one year of age or slightly longer.

[ 8 ] At that time, human beings were not at all independent; they could only do what was inspired in them by the spiritual forces in whose midst they were, so to speak, embedded. They received everything from these forces and acted as if driven by a spiritual instinct. This revealed the influence of spiritual beings who had not descended into physical incarnation. These were beings who were not well-disposed toward humanity and who acted upon it in such a way that it attained the independence it lacked. According to the divine plan, humanity was eventually to attain this independence, but these beings brought it about prematurely. Together with the other forces, they slipped into the astral body of human beings who had not yet entered into close connection with their true nature, and endowed them with a kind of willpower which—because it was purely astral and not guided by reason—enabled them to do evil. These forces are called the Luciferic forces. As we can see, the influence of these forces has both a good and an evil side, for while they seduced humanity on the one hand, they also granted it freedom on the other.

[ 9 ] Our present-day consciousness stems from clairvoyant consciousness, and we find the latter to be increasingly developed the further back we go in human evolution. The Lemurians could perceive only through their souls. In the case of a flower, for example, they perceived neither its shape nor its color, nor its external characteristics. What appeared to them was a luminous astral form, which they perceived with a kind of inner organ. According to the divine plan, human beings were not supposed to begin perceiving with the external sense organs until the middle of the Atlantean era. But the Luciferic forces brought this about earlier, while human instincts were still pure. This is what constitutes the “Fall of Humanity.” The religious texts state that the serpent opened the eyes of humankind. Without the interference of the Luciferic influence, the human body would not have become as solid as it is now, and Atlantean humankind would have perceived the spiritual aspect of all things. Instead, humankind fell into sin, illusion, and error.

[ 10 ] To make matters worse, the influence of Ahrimanic forces came into play toward the middle of the Atlantean epoch. The Luciferic forces had acted upon the astral body, whereas the Ahrimanic forces acted upon the etheric body, particularly the etheric head. As a result, human beings fell into the error of regarding the outer physical world as the true world. “Ahrimanic” derives from Ahriman, the name the Persians gave to this principle. Zoroaster spoke to his people about him and told them to guard against him and to strive for union with Ahura Mazda—Ormuzd. Ahriman is the same as Mephistopheles and has nothing to do with Lucifer. Mephistopheles comes from the Hebrew word Me-phis-to-phel, which means “the liar” or “the deceiver.” Satan in the Bible is also Ahriman and not Lucifer.

[ 11 ] Ancient Atlantis gradually perished over the course of centuries due to floods, and the surviving inhabitants retreated to regions that had been spared from the catastrophe—in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The first region in which Atlantean culture continued to develop was the one later called “India.” There, people retained a clear memory of their former clairvoyance and perception of the spiritual world. Consequently, it was not difficult for their teachers, the Rishis, to direct their attention to the spiritual side of the world, and initiation was an easy matter. Clairvoyance was never completely lost, and there were always clairvoyants up until the time of Christ. We see a remnant of this primitive clairvoyance in mythology, the core of which refers to beings who actually lived, such as Apollo, Zeus, and so on. Although the Ahrimanic influence, as we have said, began in the Atlantean epoch, it did not fully assert itself in humanity until later. The ancient Indians were sufficiently protected against it, and the physical world was never anything other than Maya—illusion—to them. It was not until the era of Zarathustra, the pre-Persian era, that the physical world began to hold value for people, who thereby fell prey to the power of Ahriman. In this way, Zarathustra’s warning, which we have already discussed, becomes clear to us.

[ 12 ] Thus, human evolution continued until the Greek era. Then another force came upon humanity, one that began to draw people back up toward the spiritual world from which they had, so to speak, been driven out since the Lemurian era. This new force was the Christ principle, which entered into Jesus of Nazareth, permeating his three bodies—the physical, etheric, and astral bodies. When the human soul is completely filled with the Christ principle, the Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces are overcome, and through this principle a reversal in evolution takes place. Yet Christ could not have influenced humanity if his coming had not been foretold to them long beforehand. He had, however, always guided them inwardly; we see this in the magnificent images through which it was prophesied to humanity that he would come. Who else could have given them the power to form such powerful imaginings?

[ 13 ] A magnificent transformation takes place in the physical, etheric, and astral bodies of humanity through the incarnation of Christ, immediately after the Mystery of Golgotha was accomplished, when blood flowed from the five wounds and Christ penetrated even into the lowest realms. His etheric and astral bodies multiplied like a seed, and the spiritual world was filled with these images. Thus, for example, from the fifth and sixth centuries through the tenth century, those human beings who had attained a sufficient degree of development received at birth such an image of the Christ incarnation of Jesus of Nazareth. The person in whom such a participation in the etheric body of Christ is most clearly evident is Augustine. The great significance of his life is attributable to this fact. From the tenth century until approximately the sixteenth century, the astral body of Christ was incorporated into human beings. To this we owe the appearance of figures such as Saint Francis of Assisi and the great Dominicans, full of humility and virtue, who precisely reflected the great astral qualities of Christ. Hence, they possessed within themselves such a clear image of the great truths, which they put into practice in their lives—in contrast to Augustine, who was never free from doubts and was always caught in a conflict between theory and practice. Among the great Dominicans, special mention should be made of Saint Thomas, in whom the influence of the astral body of Christ was manifest to a high degree, as we shall see later. The sixteenth century marks the beginning of the era in which the images of the Christ-I began to weave themselves into the “I” of individual personalities. One of these was Christian Rosenkreutz, the first Rosicrucian.

[ 14 ] It is precisely thanks to this fact that a more intimate connection with Christ has become possible, as the esoteric teaching reveals to us. The Christ force will make human beings ever more perfect, will spiritualize them, and lead them back into the spiritual world. Humanity developed its reason at the expense of clairvoyance; the Christ force will enable human beings to learn here on Earth and to ascend once more with what they have acquired. Human beings originate from the Father, and the Christ force leads them back to the Father.