The Rudolf Steiner Archive

8. The Development of the Human Entity

[ 1 ] To fully understand human evolution, it is necessary to view it from various perspectives. Apparent contradictions dissolve when one reflects on them more deeply.

[ 2 ] We saw how the body approached its present state through the Lemurian—the Age of Fire—and the Atlantean periods, when vast masses of mist still covered the Earth. We saw how a group of advanced beings migrated to Ireland—not the Ireland of today, but to a region near it. These people developed logical thinking. A powerful transformation had taken place within these people. Previously, the human etheric body extended far beyond the head. The etheric body is the architect of the physical body; it builds the organs. It could function quite differently when it was inside rather than outside; as a result, the brain became the instrument of thought. Thus, through this transformation, the brain became the organ of thought, and everything else must align with it. The etheric body first had to reshape the head, then itself, in order to exert its influence once more. It is necessary to understand human development according to the method of the Rosicrucians or the Druids; they divided the human being into nine parts.

[ 3 ] First, the “physical body”; second, the “etheric body”; as the third member, the “sensory body,” within which lies the “sensory soul” as the fourth member; fifth, the “intellectual soul” or “lower Manas”; sixth, the “consciousness soul,” seventh, the “spirit-self,” both as “higher Manas,” eighth, the “life-spirit-Budhi,” and ninth, the “spirit-man” or “Atma.”

[ 4 ] The most important event in the Atlantean epoch for the physical body was that the human being learned to think within it. The task of our time, extending into the distant future, is to align the other parts accordingly, except for the ninth member, which will be further developed in other cycles.

[ 5 ] We have now reached the fifth, the [Germanic-Anglo-American] epoch. After the seventh epoch, an event will take place like the ancient Atlantean flood. The spiritual human will then enter into humanity, just as the etheric body entered the physical body in Atlantean times. In the Indian epoch, the wise influence of the etheric body made itself felt. Hence their longing to merge into Brahman, to immerse themselves in the heights of the music of the spheres. They lived with a constant awareness in the etheric body and had a great understanding of everything that transcends the earthly realm. They fulfilled the task of adapting the etheric body to culture.

[ 6 ] The Persians developed the feeling body, the ability to perceive the outer world and to overcome it through work. Agriculture and viticulture flourished among them. The body no longer revels in inner feelings; it puts muscular strength to use. Perfecting the soul of feeling was reserved for the Egyptians. Their mystery schools were in full bloom. The disciples of Hermes regarded the sky as an ocean of the starry world; to them, the stars were beings animated by sympathy and antipathy. Intellect, emotion, and imagination expanded among the Greeks; the Romans established jurisprudence.

[ 7 ] The peoples became aware that intellect triumphs within the individual human being. Previously, the relations between states had always been guided by priestly wisdom, and thus hierarchies and castes were formed. The spiritual life of the ancient peoples was organized differently than ours; it was a prophetic one. From such a source come the Sibylline Books, in which events of a thousand years hence were foretold. The initiates foresaw the course of events. Thus we see Egyptian history guided by divine inspiration. The leaders drew up a plan; they said: If salvation is to come, we must direct the course of events according to the heavens. They guided themselves by the laws of development governing the planetary orbits and the divine numbers. True disciples of the great masters thus wisely guided the Egyptians through seven ages. There was a priestly cult right up to the Greek period. As man places himself at the center, he detaches himself from the divine revelations. This self-centeredness was symbolized by the serpent as a sign of cunning. The serpents of the Laocoön depict the struggle of the priests with the serpent, the struggle of the fourth epoch with the third.

[ 8 ] For another part of antiquity, the horse was the symbol of wisdom. The horse is a human being who has remained behind in evolution. The nature of the horse was the last to separate itself from the course of development. Those who view the world with a more refined sensibility understand why certain peoples love their horses so deeply. The Arab is inseparable from his horse. Instinctively, people feel a certain gratitude toward this animal. What the centaur signifies is an ancient mystery. The Indians revered the horse, as did our Nordic peoples, and it [appears in the coat of arms of Lower Saxony].

[ 9 ] The Apocalypse refers to the horse. Odysseus constructed the wooden horse to bring about the fall of Troy, where priestly wisdom endured the longest.

[ 10 ] The Romans felt their descent from the priestly caste and depicted it ingeniously. Aeneas, son of Anchises, founded “Alba Longa,” meaning “Long Priestly Robe”; he established a colony for priests. He organized time according to the seven books of the Sibyl, and according to this division, the Roman kings were already predestined. This division relates the kings to the structure of the human being.

[ 11 ] Romulus: Physical body.

[ 12 ] Numa Pompilius the Wise: Etheric body.

[ 13 ] Tullus Hostilius: Astral body. He destroyed Alba Longa and was struck dead by lightning.

[ 14 ] Ancus Marcius: Intellectual soul. He built canals and erected a wall around the city.

[ 15 ] Tarquinius Priscus: Spiritual self. He waged wars and promoted the arts.

[ 16 ] Servius Tullus: Life Spirit. He enacts laws.

[ 17 ] Tarquinius Superbus: Spiritual Man. He is of an ambiguous nature; he strives for the most sublime, which he cannot attain.

[ 18 ] The modern mind knows only the profane; it cannot comprehend how a list such as that of the Roman kings is possible. How hard the historians have struggled to explain “Livius.”

[ 19 ] Christ, the God who leads humanity upward, is not a member of any particular people; he belongs to all peoples. It is man speaking to man.

[ 20 ] Next comes our era, the Germanic-Anglo-American one. Christianity was too lofty to be grasped by the young tribes. It is only now beginning to take root. Our age is partly lost in the external world. Anyone observing with occult eyes would see the transition that separates the last third of the previous century from the past as the dawn of a new era. How the students were previously plagued with dry facts. A revolution is taking place in physics, geology, biology, and the natural sciences. Ten years ago, at the Congress of Natural Scientists in Vienna, the chemist Ostwald replaced atomism with energetics, with force. The spirit will take its place. [...]

[ 21 ] In the sixth period, the Manas, or spiritual self, will trickle into the conscious soul. Since the fourteenth century, the initiates have told themselves that they must reckon with science; the spiritual researcher knows all its facts. The consciousness soul possesses the awareness of the Atma-truths, which have become real. The spiritual researcher knows, for example, that light does not arise through objective vibrations. What the times need is the inflow of the spiritual self. This is the aim of Rosicrucian training; it helped prepare the times. Christ Jesus came in the fourth epoch; he set the direction for the world. He will return when humanity has the capacity to recognize him. Through the spiritual self, human culture will look into higher worlds.

[ 22 ] Copernicus’s system and Darwin’s theory were great because they trained the mind, as did Galileo’s physics and so on; yet they are merely the presentation of objective facts. Thinking can lead into Spiritual Science.

[ 23 ] In the sixth epoch, a great upheaval will take place in Europe; the peoples of the East will merge with those of the West. The union of the consciousness soul with the Manas, or spiritual self, is what is referred to in the New Testament as the Holy Spirit; this is the program of the future. It will certainly happen, whatever opposition there may be. Just as leaves fall from a tree, the opposing currents will be cast aside. Those who have learned to walk in accordance with the true laws can cooperate.

[ 24 ] Not only is the soul life being transformed, but so is the human body. We have organs that are decaying, while others are forming. Those related to reproduction have the shortest lifespan; they came last and will fall away first. They formed during the Lemurian epoch and were imposed by the astral body. Previously, humans and animals had reproductive organs permeated by the etheric body; they were of a plant-like nature. The change occurred when the etheric body was taken over by the astral body; thus, the lowest functions later became of a carnal nature. In the Vatican Collections, one can see in a corner a man from whom a plant-like formation grows from the back; so faithfully did art preserve the secret of earlier reproduction. The “fig leaf” has a completely different meaning than is commonly assumed; it is an allusion to humanity’s descent through the plant leaf.

[ 25 ] In the ascent, the larynx will be the organ that serves reproduction. The inner life of the soul is reproduced outwardly through mental images and conclusions that find expression in words. The word is condensed form. This is the process of creation; the [solar beings] created through the spoken word of creation. All that is created is the condensed word of God.

[ 26 ] Goethe had a sense of this when he wrote: “The sun resounds.” The angels are creative sun gods. Humanity is called to become creative through the word. In the beginning was the Word; the Word became flesh. This is Christ Jesus, as John testifies in the Gospel.