The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Seventh Lecture

[ 1 ] Yesterday we attempted to gain a little insight into what might be called the journey into the macrocosm, into the greater world, in contrast to the descriptions of previous days, which were intended to present to our souls the deeper mystical path—the journey into the microcosm. And yesterday we showed how the ascent into the macrocosm—into the outer world—first leads the ascender into what has customarily been called in Spiritual Science the elemental world; how the human being then ascends through the elemental world into the so-called spiritual world, then into the world of reason, and finally into an even higher world, which we were able to characterize yesterday at the end of the lecture as the world of archetypes; in doing so, we also pointed out that we no longer really have an appropriate term for these worlds in our language, because the former German word Vernunft has become trivial today, since in our present time it is used for something that has meaning only in the sensory world, and therefore the old term “reason” for this higher world—which lies even above the so-called spiritual world—could easily be misunderstood.

[ 2 ] Of course, one could talk about these worlds not just for hours, but for weeks, even many months. We can, after all, only ever highlight one aspect or another in a very sketchy way. To gain a slightly more precise mental image of these worlds, let us mention one more thing. When a person immerses themselves in the elemental world in the manner described yesterday—and thus gains a true perception of what are commonly called the elements: earth, water, air, and fire—they will then also become aware that their own physicality—and here we mean the full physicality, including what we call the higher members of human nature—is also built up from this elemental world. In gaining this awareness, however, the human being also comes to know something else. They come to know that the external perception of the elemental world appears somewhat different from the inner perception. When we look within ourselves—not with clairvoyant vision, but with ordinary, normal human consciousness—we find certain qualities that we classify partly as belonging to the soul and partly to the outer physical body; qualities that we call the qualities of our temperament. We classify these characteristics of our temperament in such a way that we speak of a melancholic temperament, a phlegmatic temperament, a sanguine temperament, and a choleric temperament.

[ 3 ] Now, as we said yesterday, when a person enters the macrocosm, they do not feel as if they were standing before things, but rather they feel that they are already within every single thing in the elemental world. When we look at any physical object, we say: That object is there; we are here. And we are rational human beings in the physical world only as long as we can clearly distinguish our own sense of self from things and entities. As soon as one immerses oneself in the elemental world, this distinction becomes much more difficult. For at first, one becomes intertwined with the things, entities, and facts of the spiritual world. Yesterday we characterized this in particular in relation to what is called the element of fire. We said that it is not a physical fire, but something we can compare to inner soul warmth, the fire of the soul. When we truly become aware of the fire of the elemental world, we feel united with it; we feel ourselves within the very essence of the fire, fused with it, so to speak. This sense of oneness can also occur with the other elements. Only the element of earth is, in a certain sense, an exception. I have told you that in the elemental world, “earth” refers to that which one cannot approach, that which actually repels one.

[ 4 ] Curiously enough, there is a, one might say, a mysterious connection between what is characterized as the four elements of the elemental world and that aspect of the human being known as temperament—specifically, there is a connection between the melancholic temperament and the element of earth, between the phlegmatic temperament and the element of water, between the sanguine temperament and the element of air, and between the choleric temperament and the element of fire. This relationship is expressed in the experience of the elemental world in such a way that, for example, the choleric person does indeed have a greater inclination to grow together with the beings living in the element of fire in the elemental world than with those living in the other elements. The sanguine person, in turn, has a greater tendency to merge with the beings that appear in the element of air; the phlegmatic person with those in water; and the melancholic person with those in earth. Thus, one enters into a different kind of relationship the moment one enters the elemental world through actual experience. And you can easily form a mental image from this of very different people telling you very different things about the elemental world, and that, in fact, no one need be entirely wrong when they describe their own experiences in this world differently from others.

[ 5 ] Anyone familiar with these matters will, of course, know that when a melancholic describes the elemental world, he depicts it as a world in which there is much that repels him. This is quite natural, for his melancholy is mysteriously related to all that is earthly, and he overlooks, so to speak, the rest. The choleric person, on the other hand, will tell you how fiery everything appears in the elemental world, for he overlooks everything else and, so to speak, is always inflamed only by the element of fire when he immerses himself in the elemental world. Therefore, you need not be at all surprised if the descriptions of the elemental world given by certain lower-level clairvoyants differ greatly from one another, for one can only truly judge this world once one has an accurate understanding of oneself. If one knows, for example, to what degree one is a choleric or a melancholic, then one understands the reason why this manifests itself in one way or another in the elemental world. Then, it is precisely this self-knowledge that spurs one on to turn one’s gaze away from that which one is most closely related to by one’s natural disposition.

[ 6 ] This also gives you the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of what is called “self-knowledge” in Spiritual Science. This self-knowledge is not an easy thing to achieve, for it requires that we truly be able to, as it were, step outside ourselves and look at our own being as if it were a completely foreign entity. Do not imagine this to be particularly easy. It is relatively easy for a person to gain clarity about the qualities of the soul that they have acquired in life. But it is much more difficult to gain complete clarity about the nature of one’s temperament, which, after all, extends all the way down into the physical body. What prevents people from achieving true self-knowledge is that most people always side with themselves. It is, admittedly, a general egoistic tendency to always agree with oneself regarding everything one judges about the world. But there is no need to sharply rebuke or criticize this, for it is a completely natural human trait. One might even say: Where would a person end up in everyday life if they did not have this certainty—which, of course, must be a one-sided certainty—of standing firmly on their own two feet? — But when they stand so firmly on their own two feet, they bring into this standpoint everything that lies within their temperament. Breaking free from one’s temperament is an extraordinarily difficult task, and one must devote all one’s self-discipline to learning to view oneself objectively. Any true spiritual researcher will tell you: There is actually no particular degree of maturity involved in penetrating the true spiritual world if one is not able to follow the principle that only the person who does not regard their own opinion as authoritative—that is, who views their own opinion as something about which they might say: I want to really bring this or that opinion to the forefront of my mind; I want to ask myself whether I can discover in which life situation I came to adopt this very opinion. — Let us suppose that someone holds a certain political view, for the sake of argument. Before he attains the maturity to enter the spiritual world, he must be able to ask himself this question quite objectively: How has life led me to adopt precisely this way of thinking, precisely this orientation? How differently would I think if karma had perhaps assigned me this or that place in life? — One must be able to ask oneself this question.

[ 7 ] If one asks oneself this question—not just briefly, but again and again and quite precisely—about what has been at work within one to bring forth the person one is today, then one gains the opportunity to take the first step toward stepping outside of oneself. In the greater world, in the macrocosm, there is no easy, simple means—other than being outside of things—that we have in the physical world. In the physical world, we can easily stand outside the rosebush because its natural nature designates that place for us. In the elemental world, however, what happens is that we grow into things; we identify with them. If we now have no means of distinguishing ourselves from them—even though we are within them—then we can never attain any clarity regarding these things. Our choleric temperament, in the elemental world, inevitably merges with the element of fire. And we can no longer distinguish there what flows out from us or what flows into us from things or from other beings, unless we have learned the ability to distinguish in a special way. So we must first learn something. We must learn to be present within a being and yet distinguish ourselves from it.

[ 8 ] There is only one being from which we can learn this, and that is ourselves. We are a being within which we exist and from which we can begin to learn to distinguish ourselves. When we reach the point where we gradually judge ourselves the way we judge other people in everyday life, then we learn to distinguish ourselves from ourselves. Everyone need only take a moment to reflect and ask how their judgment of themselves differs from their judgment of another person. Usually, we think we are right and that the other person is wrong when they disagree with us. That is how it is in daily life. But there is nothing more useful for beginning to educate ourselves than to ask ourselves the question: I have this opinion; another person has a different opinion; I want to take the position that the other person’s opinion is just as valid as my own. — This self-education in everyday life is necessary so that, upon entering the elementary world, we can distinguish ourselves from things, even though we are immersed within them.

[ 9 ] So you see that certain subtleties in our experience are crucial if we wish to consciously ascend into the higher worlds. But this example also shows you how true it is—as was said yesterday—that when a person rises into the macrocosm, they are always in danger of losing their “I.” For in ordinary life, our “I” is really nothing more than a convergence of our opinions, feelings, and habits, and most people will find that it is extraordinarily difficult to think, feel, or will anything at all once they bid farewell to what life has made of them. That is why it is so extraordinarily important that, before one even considers entering the spiritual worlds, one first familiarize oneself with what has already been explored—what spiritual research has already brought to light. It is therefore emphasized time and again that no one with true insight in this field will offer a helping hand to enable someone to enter the spiritual world on their own before they have grasped, through their reason and ordinary judgment, that what spiritual research asserts is neither fantasy nor folly. It is entirely possible to form a certain judgment regarding the truth or falsity of what Spiritual Science has revealed. Although one cannot explore the spiritual world without the open eyes of the seer, the communications provided by the spiritual researcher can nevertheless be measured against the standard of ordinary human judgment. Based on this, one can consider life to see whether what the spiritual researcher says makes life understandable. The judgments formed in this way will have the distinctive feature of going beyond ordinary human thinking. With regard to all the other opinions we otherwise adopt, human sentiment plays a role. But when we approach what is said here about the higher worlds with an unbiased judgment, then the sympathies and antipathies of our ordinary life cease; then we will find that we can share the same opinion about these things even with the most opposite kinds of people. In this way, we gain within Spiritual Science itself something that transcends ordinary personal opinions—something we will still possess when we enter the spiritual world. It is therefore important, so to speak, to acquire a reservoir of spiritual-scientific truths, for this protects us from immediately losing our sense of self upon entering the spiritual world.

[ 10 ] However, the loss of the “I” upon entering the spiritual world would have other consequences for some people. These consequences often become apparent to the discerning individual even in ordinary life. This brings us to a point that we must briefly discuss. It is important when we later describe the paths one can take to ascend into the spiritual worlds oneself. Above all, the spiritual researcher must not, in any sense, be a fantasist or a dreamer. He must be able to move through the spiritual world with the same confidence and inner strength as a rational person moves through the physical world. Any vagueness or lack of clarity would be detrimental—even dangerous—when we seek entry into the spiritual worlds. That is why it is so necessary and of such great importance that we develop sound judgment even in our ordinary lives. Especially in today’s world, certain traits already evident in some people’s ordinary lives could become obstacles to entering the spiritual world if they are not taken into account. If you reflect on your life and recall everything that has influenced it since your birth, even a superficial review will bring back many memories; yet regarding much else, you will have to admit that you have forgotten it. You have no clear, distinct awareness of much of what has helped shape your life and shaped your character; oblivion has settled over them. Yet we will not admit that we have not experienced something simply because it is not present in our consciousness right now. Why, then, do we forget such influences on our lives? We forget them because, with each new day, life brings new things our way. And we would ultimately no longer be able to cope with life if we had to hold onto everything we have experienced. What we experience every day is transformed into abilities. We’ve already discussed how our experiences, so to speak, coalesce into abilities. Imagine if, every time we picked up a pen, we had to recall all the experiences we’d had just to learn how to write! A vast number of experiences have coalesced into the ability to write. We have, quite rightly, forgotten these experiences that have shaped us. It is good for us that we have covered them with oblivion. Thus, the word “forgetting” plays a certain role in human life. There are areas of human life where it is quite beneficial for something a person has gone through to fade from consciousness once again. There are countless impressions—particularly from the time of very early childhood—over which complete forgetfulness spreads; they are not present in our consciousness because life has simply caused us to forget them. This is good, because otherwise we would not be able to cope with life if we had to carry all of that with us. But the fact that these impressions are forgotten does not immediately mean that they are also eradicated in terms of their effectiveness. Impressions can be made on us in life that, although they have vanished from our memory—and even though we no longer know anything about them, even though we have forgotten them—are still effective driving forces in our inner life. Such impressions can even lead to our inner life being influenced in an unfavorable way. If these forgotten impressions are such that they, so to speak, run counter to a healthy inner life, they can cause our inner life to be, so to speak, fragmented, driven apart; and such a fragmentation of the inner life can have an adverse effect on our entire constitution, and can even give rise to all sorts of physical conditions that are described by various names—such as nervousness or hysteria—but which, when it comes down to it, can only be fully understood if one realizes that the scope of conscious life does not coincide with the scope of the entire inner life. The expert in human nature can sometimes easily draw the attention of someone who comes to him complaining about all sorts of things that make life difficult to this or that—what he has forgotten, what he no longer knows, but which is no less a force in his inner life for that reason. There are, in the human soul, a kind of islands that stand—I would say—in a manner opposite to that of other islands. When one is at sea, one can say that one has set foot firmly on an island. When the human soul encounters such subconscious enclaves—of which it has no clear awareness—it can face all manner of dangers. In everyday life, these islands can most easily be circumvented when a person tries to understand, from a later vantage point in their life, what had an effect on them at the time. It has an immensely healing effect on a person when they can be given a kind of worldview that enables them to understand these islands of the soul and to endure them. If one were to lead a human soul straight to these cliffs, it would be all the more led astray. But if we give people the opportunity to understand these things, to perceive themselves with a certain degree of insight, then they can more easily overcome them when they are able to integrate these experiences into their overall spiritual life. The more we can thus integrate them into our conscious life with understanding, the better it is for ordinary, normal human life.

[ 11 ] Human beings have such unconscious islands of the soul not only in ordinary life, but many more things of this kind appear before them spiritually when they enter the macrocosm. We have seen, after all, that every night when a person falls asleep, they enter the macrocosm; but also that every night when they fall asleep, complete forgetfulness settles over what they might experience there. Among the many things a person would experience if they were to consciously enter the macrocosm at the moment of falling asleep would be themselves; the person would be present within this macrocosm. We described yesterday that a person is surrounded by spiritual beings and spiritual realities in the macrocosm. Certainly, that is true, but among all that a person encounters there is also an objective view of themselves. Now a person can compare how imperfect they are in relation to what is contained in the macrocosmic world, and how many qualities they possess that make them unfit for this macrocosmic world. There is ample opportunity for a person to lose their self-confidence and self-assurance. What can protect a person from this loss of self-confidence and self-assurance is a process of self-education—undertaken before entering the spiritual world—that leads to a mature realization: while they are indeed imperfect as they are now, the possibility always exists to acquire the abilities needed to grow into this spiritual world. A person must gain the ability to endure their imperfections, and they must also learn to bear the vision of what they may one day become once they have overcome their imperfections and acquired the qualities they still lack today. This is a feeling that must arise in the human soul when consciously crossing the threshold into the macrocosm. A person must learn to see themselves as imperfect from their present standpoint. They must learn to endure telling themselves: When I look back on my present life and on the lives of my past incarnations, these have made me what I am. — But they must also have the opportunity, alongside this image of themselves, to perceive and feel another image that tells them: If you now work on yourself, if you do everything to develop the potential that lies in your deepest being, then you may one day become a being like this entity, which stands beside you as a real ideal. Look upon it without fear or discouragement. — But one can look upon what stands there alongside one’s own imperfection without fear or discouragement only if one has cultivated within oneself the strength to overcome life’s difficulties. If, before entering the spiritual world, you have ensured that you have already attained spiritual strength in the physical world to overcome pain, suffering, and life’s obstacles—if you have steeled yourself to defy adversity—then at the very moment you feel this, you will sense the impulse within yourself: Whatever may happen to you, whatever you may encounter in this spiritual world of the macrocosm, you will persevere; for you will continue to develop, ever more strongly, the qualities you have already acquired as forces for overcoming obstacles and hindrances.

[ 12 ] When one has prepared oneself in this way, one experiences something quite special, especially upon entering the elemental world. We will understand what one experiences there if we look back once more at what was said earlier: that our choleric temperament is related to the element of fire, the sanguine to the element of air, the phlegmatic to the element of water, and the melancholic to the element of earth. When one projects one’s temperament out into the elemental world, the beings of the elemental world approach one in a way that corresponds to one’s own nature. Choleric qualities confront you as if glowing in the element of fire; sanguine qualities as if fleeting in the element of air; phlegmatic qualities as if in the element of water; and melancholic qualities as if in the element of earth. There it will become clear how the strength of soul one has acquired through self-education leads one to be able to say: You will have the strength to overcome all obstacles! — What a person has within themselves is akin to what confronts them in the spiritual world; it is akin to what—as it were, flowing together from all the elements—confronts the person in such a way that they behold themselves as an external being. If a person has resolved, through self-education, to overcome and cast off all their imperfections, then this impulse of the soul works in such a way that this imperfect human being stands before them without the sight of it crushing them. Without sufficient maturity, a person would always feel crushed upon seeing their doppelgänger. In normal life, the cessation of consciousness protects them from this; for if they were to fall asleep consciously, they would see their imperfect self before them every night as they drifted off and be crushed by the sight. Likewise, that other being would stand before them, drawing their attention to how they might become. That is why consciousness is extinguished upon falling asleep. But as a person increasingly develops within himself the maturity that tells him, “You will overcome these obstacles!”—then what in normal life stands before the human soul like a veil when a person falls asleep gradually lifts. This veil grows thinner and thinner, and finally—in a form the human being can bear—there stands the figure that is a likeness of the person as he is at present; and beside it, he becomes aware of the other figure, which shows him what he can become if he continues to work on himself. It reveals itself to him in splendor, magnificence, and glory. At that moment, a person knows that the figure appears so overwhelming only because he is not like that—and yet could be—and he knows that he can attain the right state of soul only if he can bear this sight. To have this experience means: to pass before the great Guardian of the Threshold. This great Guardian of the Threshold extinguishes human consciousness during ordinary sleep, so that oblivion spreads over that consciousness. This great Guardian of the Threshold shows us what we lack if we wish to enter the great world, and what we must first make of ourselves so that we may gradually grow into this great world.

[ 13 ] Our present age has such a great need to come to terms with such things, yet it so strongly abhors doing so. Indeed, our present age is in the midst of a peculiar transition. While many will admit in theory that they are imperfect human beings, they usually do not go beyond that theory. This becomes most evident when we take a look at our spiritual life. Test this for yourself! Pick up some literature that deals with the spiritual world in today’s style. Everywhere you look, you will find a tone that is completely opposite to the one just described. Everywhere you will hear and read, when this or that person expresses their opinion about the spiritual world: ‘one can know this,’ ‘one cannot know that.’—Try to count how often you come across this little word ‘one’ in today’s writings: ‘One can know this,’ ‘one cannot know that.’—With this little word ‘one,’ people set a limit on knowledge that they believe they cannot cross. Every time a person uses the word “one” in this way, they are taking a position that is opposed to Spiritual Science. For we must never, at any moment in life, say: “One can” know this, or “one cannot” know that; rather, we must say: We can know as much as corresponds to our present level of maturity and our abilities, and when we have developed to a higher level, we will be able to know more. This notion of “one cannot” does not exist at all. Anyone who speaks this way reveals from the outset that they are incapable of even grasping the concept of self-knowledge. For we know that human beings are beings capable of development and that we can only speak of how much each person can understand in accordance with the current state of development of their abilities.

[ 14 ] This “one cannot know”—as bad as it is—would not even be the worst thing, for it is, after all, merely a figure of speech that one could overlook. The scholar of the humanities will overlook it; he will get into the habit of reading contemporary literature from the perspective of telling himself: When the person in question says “one,” it means “he.” One can then make sense of it if one reads it from this perspective. For in doing so, the person in question reveals exactly what he knows. If this were merely a matter of phrasing, it would not be so bad. But the matter begins to become more troubling when the person in question goes further and actually puts it into practice. For theories are not dangerous at all; they become dangerous only when they are turned into a way of life. It becomes dangerous when the person in question begins to say: “I know what a human being can know and recognize, so I don’t need to do anything at all”—then he places obstacles in his own path; then he denies himself the opportunity for development. Basically, there are many people today who block their own development, so that from the standpoint of Spiritual Science one can only hope that they always sleep quite soundly and deeply, so that they may never—through even the slightest lifting of the veil—become aware of how imperfect they are compared to what they could become. Thus, it is inherent in the habits of thought, in the entire sensibility of our time, that people even gladly make the veil ever thicker and thicker before the world into which we cannot enter unless we pass by the great Guardian of the Threshold—that mighty figure who always denies us entry unless we take a sacred vow before him. Without this sacred vow, there is no way forward, and this sacred vow consists in our saying: Although we know now how imperfect we are, we will never cease to strive to become ever more perfect. — Only with this impulse may one enter the macrocosm. Anyone who lacks this strong will to work on themselves more and more should first cultivate this strong will if they wish to step into the macrocosm.

[ 15 ] This is the necessary counterpart to our self-knowledge, which we must acquire if we are to learn to discern in the higher world. Self-knowledge must become part of us; yet this self-knowledge would remain a lifeless product if it were not linked to the will to self-perfection. The old Apollonian maxim resounds through the turning of the ages: “Know thyself!” — It is true; there is nothing at all to be said against it, but what was said yesterday regarding truths must also be taken into account here: It is not the mental images that are actually erroneous that are the worst for human beings, but rather the one-sided mental images—those half-truths—that pose a far greater hindrance in our lives. And the call: “Know thyself”—would be one-sided if we did not also consider its flip side, which proves to be a call to constant self-improvement. When we make this vow to ourselves, to the higher human being we are meant to become, then we can venture confidently and without danger into the macrocosm; for then, in the labyrinth into which we must enter, we will gradually learn to find our way.

[ 16 ] Now we have seen how our own nature is related to what we call the elemental world, and we have found that what we encounter in the elemental world is related to our temperaments. We would also feel a kinship between other things we encounter and our own being if we were to look at other qualities of the soul. Within us is always that which is outside of us, for we are drawn from our environment. But we can not only look into the elemental world from what we can perceive in the physical world—for example, from our choleric temperament to the elemental fire—but we can also ascend to the spiritual world and to even higher worlds. Let us briefly discuss this point as well today.

[ 17 ] As human beings, we know that we pass from one incarnation to the next. If we happen to be a melancholic person in this incarnation, we will be able to say to ourselves: Well, in this incarnation we are a melancholic person; in another—whether a previous or subsequent incarnation—we may have been or may become a sanguine or phlegmatic person; that is to say, the one-sidedness will balance itself out. This gives us an understanding that, even if we are melancholic in one life, as beings we are more than merely melancholic. With the same being that makes us a melancholic in this life, we may have been, say, a choleric in a previous life, or we may become a sanguine in a future life. Our being, then, is not limited to these temperamental dispositions; there is something else that stands above them. So when a clairvoyant observes someone in the elemental world and sees them as a melancholic person, they must tell themselves: Just as this person now presents themselves as a melancholic in the element of earth, this is a temporary phenomenon—it is merely the manifestation of an incarnation. In another incarnation, a person who appears, so to speak, earthy in their present embodiment may present themselves as airy or fiery. — This is indeed how human beings appear to the clairvoyant consciousness within the elemental world. Melancholics, who tend to brood within themselves and cannot cope with their own emotions, appear—when viewed from the perspective of the elemental world—in such a way that they seem to repel one, as it were. Choleric individuals actually appear in the elemental world as if they were spreading flames of fire. However, we must bear in mind the spiritual element of fire and not confuse it with ordinary physical fire. To avoid any misunderstanding, I would like to mention that in Theosophical handbooks, what we have called here the elemental world is referred to as the astral world or the astral plane. What we have called the spiritual world here is referred to there as the Mental Plane or the Devachan world—but only its lower parts. The higher parts of Devachan, which are also called Arupa-Devachan there, constitute the world we have characterized here as the world of reason.

[ 18 ] When we enter the world of reason from the spiritual world, we encounter something similar to what we encounter in the elemental world, when we, as beings, appear in such a way that we increasingly overcome the elemental aspect of our temperament and achieve balance from one life to the next. We encounter something similar when we reach the boundary of the spiritual world. Yesterday we described how, in the spiritual world, we find spiritual realities that are expressed through the movement of the planets, as in a cosmic clock. We said that these beings express themselves as an outer parable in the images of the zodiac, and their deeds in the planets. And we indicated that these parables alone do not yield anything of particular significance, that one must turn to the beings themselves. We have referred to the sum of these beings as hierarchies, so that in the spiritual world we arrive at those beings designated as Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, and so on. However, we would not be able to form a concept of the even higher worlds if we did not move from the designations we chose yesterday for the temporary manifestations of these beings to the beings themselves. We have said that a human being may appear to us in one incarnation as a melancholic or a sanguine; but his true essence is more than just his temperament, because he develops beyond it in another incarnation. The essence thus transcends what has been characterized to us as an expression of its nature. Only when we realize that the higher beings—referred to as Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Spirits of Will, and so on—who express themselves in physical space through the signs of the zodiac are, as beings, more than these names denote, do we begin to grasp this upper limit of the macrocosm. Such a being, which appears to us, say, as a seraph or as a Spirit of Wisdom, does not always remain in a state that allows us to designate it as such. For just as human beings develop and take on a wide variety of characteristics, so do the beings we find at the upper boundary of the spiritual world evolve through various states, so that we can designate them by one name at one time and by another at another. These beings grow through these designations. To put it simply, one could call these names “official titles.” It illustrates the point. When one speaks of Spirits of Wisdom or Spirits of Will, it is roughly the same as when one speaks, for example, of a Government Councilor and a Privy Councilor; it can be the same person who, over time, holds different official titles. Thus, it can be the same hierarchical being who is at one time a Spirit of Wisdom and at another a Spirit of Will, because the beings develop through the various ranks. As long as one remains in the spiritual world, these beings manifest themselves under one name or another—as Seraphim or Cherubim, and so on. But the moment one moves beyond this official title to perceive the entity itself—when, so to speak, one becomes acquainted with the spiritually evolving entity—one has ascended into a higher realm, the realm of reason, which we characterized by showing at which aspect of human nature this realm of reason works.

[ 19 ] In general, if one wishes to reach a certain level of understanding, one must distinguish between the evolving beings themselves and what they are at a particular stage of development. We must do this with those beings who, even as advanced beings, still appear on Earth, as well as with the beings we encounter only in the spiritual world. The Buddha may be mentioned here as an example. People know the Buddha as he lived some five to six hundred years before our era. However, anyone who has delved spiritually into this subject must learn to distinguish between the being itself—who was called Buddha in that incarnation—and the “title” of Buddha. The being who lived some five to six hundred years before our era only attained the dignity of a Buddha in that particular incarnation. Before that, she was something else. It had previously been a Bodhisattva and, as such, had already been connected to the Earth for millennia. But the same being that had been a Bodhisattva in earlier millennia then appeared as Gautama Buddha and attained Buddhahood in that incarnation. However, this being has also continued to evolve, so that—for certain reasons, which we may yet touch upon—after its existence as a Buddha, it no longer needs to descend into a physical body, nor does it need to incarnate as a physical human being. It lives on in another form. So one can say: As a Bodhisattva, the Buddha was united with the Earth’s evolution for many millennia. He then ascended to become the “Buddha” and had thus progressed so far in this incarnation that he no longer needs to descend into a physical incarnation. He has now ascended to a higher being found in the spiritual world. — Thus, the seer’s open eye must be present to find the Buddha in his current stage of development. If you take this as a kind of comparison, you can already see that a distinction must be made between the term “Buddha” and the being who, so to speak, passes through the office of the Buddha. Similarly, in the higher worlds, one must distinguish between the names we give to the hierarchies and the beings who develop through these ranks—who, for my sake, ascend from the level of the Thrones to the level of the Cherubim and Seraphim.

[ 20 ] Thus, at the threshold of the spiritual world, we see that certain beings touch the boundary of this world from above and take on certain qualities through which they appear to us with this or that function—functions we must ascribe to them so that they may act through their deeds. But when we ascend to even higher worlds, these beings appear to us in their living evolution. In the higher worlds, this unfolds just as the course of a person’s incarnations—their physical incarnations in the material world—does for human beings. And just as we can truly come to know a human being only when we do not merely consider their present incarnation but trace what moves from incarnation to incarnation, so too do we come to know these high spiritual beings only when we are able to look up—from what their actions express to us—to these beings themselves. To live in the world of reason means to interact with spiritual beings and to participate in their development.

[ 21 ] Now, we already pointed out yesterday that there is an even higher world that lies above the world of reason, and that from this world come the forces that enable us to move from ordinary, normal consciousness into clairvoyant consciousness—the consciousness endowed with spiritual eyes and spiritual ears. We thus enter a world even higher than the one we must look to when we wish to explain our own physical world. And how much more wondrous it would be, then, that we must explain these human qualities from worlds that are higher than the spiritual world and even the world of reason—since the abilities through which human beings grow into the higher worlds are imperceptible to the outer physical world! Human beings become participants in the spiritual worlds when clairvoyant consciousness awakens within them. Is it any wonder, then, that the forces required to awaken this clairvoyant consciousness must come from a world from which higher beings themselves draw their powers! We draw our intellectual powers from the world of reason. If we wish to go beyond this, we must draw the necessary powers from even higher worlds. This brings us to the world of imagination. It will be our task to characterize this world of imagination, which is the first to open up to human beings when clairvoyant consciousness awakens. We will have to show what organs a person needs to look into the world of the imagination, and how the forces that form the organs for imaginative consciousness emerge from the world of eternal archetypes, just as the forces that make a person a spiritually discerning being come from the world of reason. Our next task will then be to recognize the connection between the first stage of higher knowledge and the spiritual world of archetypes, and then we will have to proceed to the description of the inspired and intuitive worlds. We will show how human beings, in keeping with the spirit of our present age, can grow into the higher worlds and become citizens of these worlds—worlds in which they are the lowest beings, looking up to higher beings who stand above them, just as in the physical world they look down upon the realms of minerals, plants, and animals that surround them. This will become clear to us as we discuss the attainment of higher abilities, through which human beings come to know new entities and realities as they continue on their path into the macrocosm.