The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Sixth Lecture

[ 1 ] You can imagine that it is a very complicated matter when the spirits of the various hierarchies must work together with their powers in such a way that the mission on Earth can be fulfilled—that is to say, they must act in such a way that, ultimately, a state of equilibrium is achieved. Therefore, you will also understand that statements such as those made yesterday can only ever be made when one focuses on a very specific point in evolution, and that the entire picture changes immediately when one considers evolution from a different perspective. Therefore, if you wish to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of this very complex matter, you will always have to consider one lecture series in conjunction with another.

[ 2 ] I just want to highlight one point, and what I am saying right now is meant to be a kind of comment. In our earthly equilibrium, the entire interplay of the hierarchies presents itself in such a way that we must regard what we referred to yesterday as the third hierarchy—the Spirits of Will, the Cherubim, and the Seraphim—as something that, in relation to this state of equilibrium, works from within the Earth. Of course, you must create a mental image of this hierarchy originally unfolding its forces from the cosmos toward the center of the Earth, and that the way human beings perceive these forces does not correspond to their direct direction, but rather to the opposite direction—the one they experience when these forces are reflected back. Therefore, for example, you will only be able to form a complete mental image of the innermost nature of the processes taking place there when you compare what was said yesterday with some of what was said about the hierarchies in my lecture series in Düsseldorf, where the heavenly aspect of the work of the three hierarchies was presented in a comprehensive account. These matters are indeed not simple, and in order to make the Earth mission comprehensible, it is necessary to choose a perspective such that we perceive the reflections of the spirits of these hierarchies in what we call the elements of earthly existence.

[ 3 ] If you take this into account, however, you will also begin to sense the infinite wisdom that lies within the entire interplay of the forces of the universe, the forces of the cosmos. You will also, in a sense, come to realize that our understanding must always go further, that it has no limits, since things are so complex that whenever we think we have grasped one perspective, we are immediately compelled to move on to another that sheds light on the matter from yet another angle. We can only advance step by step in our understanding, but you will nevertheless have become somewhat more familiar, from the hints given yesterday—particularly at the end of the presentation—with what might be called: the interaction of the abnormal and normal spirits of form, so that within our earthly life not merely a uniform, homogeneous humanity spreading across the entire Earth may arise, but rather a humanity that can express itself fully in the diversity of the individual races. For that unified humanity—which humankind can only attain again in the course of Earth’s evolution—the pure influence of the normal spirits of form would have been necessary. These are the same spiritual beings who are referred to in Genesis by the name “Elohim,” and in fact, throughout the entire universe that surrounds the Earth and forms a whole with it, seven such Spirits of Form can be recognized in their normal state of development. There are, therefore, seven Spirits of Form, or seven Elohim. If we wish to create a mental image of these seven Elohim with their various missions and their calling to establish balance or love within the entire earthly mission, then we must be clear that these seven Spirits of Form interact throughout the entire universe in such a way that what we characterized in one of the lectures as “the human being in the second third of his life” would truly come to pass. That is where the true “I”-human being would emerge if all seven of these Spirits of Form could act in the manner they have resolved upon for themselves through their own fellowship. But because other spiritual beings are involved and multiply this unified humanity, a very special arrangement was necessary in the cosmos. If you wish to seek out the location in the cosmos from which the normal spirits of form operate—that is, those beings who, as I characterized them yesterday, ultimately shine toward us in the light within our present cosmos—then you must seek them in the Sun. You must always look in the direction of the Sun for that cosmic lodge, that community in the universe, where these spirits of form hold their deliberations to establish earthly balance and fulfill the earthly mission. Only one thing was necessary to prevent the abnormal spirits of form from causing too great a disturbance with regard to humankind through their activity: it was necessary for one of the spirits of form to separate from the community, so that you actually need only seek six of these spirits of form, or Elohim, in the direction of the sun. One of these Spirits had to separate himself so that the simultaneous activity of the abnormal Spirits of Form—which are actually Spirits of Movement—would not bring complete disorder into the balance. That was the one who is called Yahweh or Jehovah in the Bible, in Genesis. If you wish to seek its influence in the universe, you must not look in the direction where the sun stands, but rather in the direction where the moon happens to be at any given time. This is also hinted at in my Secret Science, though viewed from a different angle, in that it is shown that the spirits of form depart with the separation from the Sun, but that it is only through the special arrangement brought about by the separation from the Moon that the prerequisite for humanity’s further development is created. For if the Moon had remained united with the Earth, the evolution of humankind could not have taken place. This further evolution of humankind was possible only because one of the Elohim, Yahweh, stepped out with the Moon—while the other six spirits remained in the Sun—and only because Yahweh cooperated in counteracting the forces alongside his six other companions.

[ 4 ] You may now ask: Why was this sun split off in the first place? This was necessary for the following reasons. Once the older spirits of the movement—who possess greater power than the spirits of form, since they occupy a higher rank in the hierarchy—had decided to remain behind, the normal spirits of form had to reduce their influence by separating one of them. Otherwise, they would not have been able to bring about the balance necessary for further development.

[ 5 ] If we want to gain a sufficient mental image of the workings of these normal spirits of form, it is best to tell ourselves: They radiate toward us in the sunlight. But if we want to gain a mental image of the abnormal spirits of form and how they interact with the normal spirits of form—which are, as it were, centered in the Sun (for it is only so that balance can be established that Jehovah has separated Himself in the direction of the Moon)— then we must create a mental image of a certain solar force, which flows toward us through the normal spirits of form, being modified by the force flowing toward us from the abnormal spirits of form, which are actually spirits of motion. These find their center in the other five planets, to speak in the old planetary terminology. There you must seek the center for these others, for the abnormal spirits of form—that is, in Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.

[ 6 ] Now, when you look out into the cosmos, you see a kind of distribution of the normal and abnormal spirits of form. The normal spirits of form are centered in the Sun in groups of six; the One—Yahweh or Jehovah—maintains the balance of these from the Moon by governing and guiding the latter. The effects of these spirits of form are influenced by the effects emanating from Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. These forces radiate down toward the Earth, are held back, and radiate back up from the Earth in the manner described yesterday at the end of the lecture. So if you have a section of the Earth’s surface, and a certain influence is exerted upon it from the Sun through the Elohim or normal spirits of form, then nothing other than the entirely normal “I” would arise at that particular point on the Earth’s surface. What would arise is that which gives a human being their normal existence—on average, their entire humanity. Now, the forces of Mercury, for example, intermingle with these forces of the Spirits of Form—which would otherwise dance here on the surface in a state of equilibrium. As a result, what unfolds here as the power of the Spirits of Form is not only the normal, but also that which intermingles with the normal forces of the Elohim and the normal forces of the Spirits of Form—namely, that which comes from these abnormal Spirits of Form centered in the midpoints of the individual planets. It follows from this that five centers of influence are possible through these abnormal Spirits of Form, and these five centers of influence, in their radiation—in their reflection from the center of the Earth onto humanity—do indeed constitute what we recognize as the five fundamental races in earthly existence.

[ 7 ] If we now characterize in greater detail the point we identified a few days ago in our discussions on Africa—namely, that the Negro race arises because the normal spirits of form interact with those abnormal spirits of form centered in Mercury—then, from an occult perspective, we quite correctly refer to what emerges in the black race as the Mercury race.

[ 8 ] Now let us continue along this line that we drew back then through the centers of the individual racial radiations. This brings us to Asia, where we find the Venus race, or the Malay race. We then travel across the vast expanse of Asia and find the Mars race in the Mongolian race. We then cross over into European territory and find, in the European people—in their primordial character, in their racial character—the Jupiter people. If we cross the ocean to America, where the point—the place—is where races or cultures die out, we find the race of dark Saturn: the original Native American race, the American race. The Native American race is thus the Saturn race. In this way, as you create a more precise mental image of the matter from an occult perspective, you will grasp the forces that have found their outer, material manifestation in these world points—these five planets.

[ 9 ] As you form an ever clearer and more concrete mental image of this, you will gain an inner understanding of these distinctive racial characteristics spread across the Earth—an understanding of this peculiar interplay between the normal and abnormal spirits of form. With this, we have, as it were, sketched the picture as we can capture it at a specific point in time. But what I have said applies—as it does to various points on Earth—again only to a very specific stage of development. It applies to the time when, at a specific moment in the ancient Atlantean development, the migratory movements of peoples set out from a point in Atlantis and journey to where they could receive the corresponding racial formation at that particular location. That is why you will also find in my Secret Science a reference to the fact that in ancient Atlantis, at very specific mystery sites—known there as the Atlantean oracles—the guidance of this distribution of human beings across the Earth was taken into hand, so that in fact that equilibrium, that state of balance, could be brought about, which led to the corresponding racial distribution. In such a Mystery Oracle, the truths we are now recounting were always explored, and originally, people guided their lives entirely by them. In this way, what took place on Earth was guided appropriately from such centers.

[ 10 ] We must therefore seek, as it were, within the flow of peoples that swept across Africa and crystallized into the Ethiopian race, an impulse that could have been imparted by the Mercury Oracle, where one observed with great precision how the normal spirits of form—the six Elohim—interacted with Yahweh or Jehovah, and how the abnormal spirits of form, which acted from the center of Mercury, influenced them. Based on the astrological interaction of these various points of force, the point of equilibrium was selected on our Earth, and this point of equilibrium was then adopted as the point of radiation for the race in question.

[ 11 ] The formation of the other races was guided in a similar manner. After that, the great map is drawn, on which the influences are recorded with reference to peoples, races, and so on. This is the great map that is a reflection of the heavenly forces, which arise when the forces of the heavens radiate into the earth, reflect back from it, and shape human beings.

[ 12 ] How, then, can we view a person of the Mercury race, the Ethiopian race? We can view them in such a way that we say: This person was originally destined by the Elohim, and predisposed, to express the entirety of humanity in its totality within themselves. But then, from the Mercury center, the abnormal spirits of form acted with great force and altered humanity in such a way that the form of the Ethiopian race emerged. And the situation is similar for every single race. However, it is precisely because the movements of peoples were guided in a very specific way from the original center that this line—which I drew for you a few days ago—came into being. You must therefore imagine that the spirits of form radiated from a central point. We must assume that this central point existed at a specific point in time in ancient Atlantis. There we have what descended into the Atlantean continent and shaped it in such a way that the human spirits were brought under the dominion of the corresponding abnormal spirits of form.

[ 13 ] Thus the great foundation of humanity was laid, and when man looks up into the infinite expanses of the heavens, he seeks there the forces that constituted him. But these forces constituted him through their reflection from the Earth. When he looks up to the normal spirits of form, the Elohim, he looks up to what actually makes him human, and when he looks up to what is centered in the individual planetary spirits—apart from the Sun and the Moon—he sees what makes him a member of a particular race.

[ 14 ] How, then, do these racial spirits work within and upon human beings? They work in a very peculiar way, so that—one might say—they first “boil” their forces right down into the physical body. Now, as you know, what we call the four fundamental parts of the human being are projected and reflected in the respective parts of the physical body, so that we can say: That which is the “I” is reflected in the blood; that which is the astral body is reflected in the nervous system; that which is the etheric or Life-Body is reflected in the glandular system; and only the physical body is a self-existent entity, a reflection of its own being, which for modern human beings has its own closed laws within itself. The “I” is thus reflected in the blood, the astral body in the nervous system, and the etheric body in the glandular system.

[ 15 ] To begin with, the spiritual entities that are at work within the human being—giving rise to his racial character—cannot immediately influence the higher parts. They are first at work in these representations of the higher members within the physical body. They cannot quite enter the physical body, but they are active in the three other members: in that which is the image of the “I,” in the blood; in that which is the image of the astral body, in the nervous system; and in that which is the image of the etheric body, in the glandular system. In these three systems, which belong to the physical body but are images of the higher members, the racial spirits—the abnormal spirits of form—simmer.

[ 16 ] Here you can see that the human physical body is determined from within—so determined, in fact, that these various spiritual entities intervene in the limbs of the physical body, which are the projections, the shadow images, of the higher limbs. Where, for example, does Mercury intervene? — I say Mercury to summarize what exists in Mercury as abnormal spirits of form. It intervenes by interacting with others, specifically within the glandular system. It simmers within the glandular system, and this is where the forces arise that result from the predominance of the Mercury forces at work in the Ethiopian race. Everything that gives the Ethiopian race its distinctive characteristics stems from the fact that the Mercury forces simmer and bubble within the glandular system of these people. This is because they are boiling down what transforms the general, uniform human form into the distinctive form of the Ethiopian race—with its black skin color, woolly hair, and so on. This modification of the general human form thus originates from these forces.

[ 17 ] If you now turn your attention to Asia, you will find, in a similar way, what might be called “Venus forces”—an abnormal manifestation of the spirits of form. These Venus forces, in turn, exert their influence primarily by targeting what we call the “image of the astral body” within the nervous system. But they act on the nervous system in a particular way—not directly as Venus spirits. For they can act on the nervous system through two indirect routes. One of these routes is through breathing. For when they act specifically on the breathing, these effects become established within the human being himself in the respiratory and nervous systems and give him a certain form. The abnormal spirits of form—which we may call Venus beings—choose this indirect route precisely in the Malay race, in the yellow-hued races of South Asia, and extending toward the islands of the Malay region. There, just as the glandular humanity is spread across the Ethiopian region, so too is this humanity spread across this area—a humanity in which the abnormal spirits of form act upon the nervous system via the detour through the respiratory system. The nervous system is influenced indirectly via the respiratory system. It is within the nervous system that the characteristics of humanity—which, with certain modifications, are more or less yellow in hue—are refined. The transformation that takes place there is, however, expressed more in that part of the nervous system which we summarize with the term “solar plexus”—that is, not strictly speaking in the higher nervous system, but in that mysterious part of the nervous system that runs in two strands parallel to the spinal cord and extends in a wide variety of ways. Thus, in this part of the nervous system, the effect is brought about indirectly through the respiratory system, which, in our understanding, does not yet belong to higher spiritual activity. Deep within the subconscious organism, these Venusian forces—which are at work in this racial group of humanity—stir things up.

[ 18 ] Now we are moving up through the vast Mongolian plains. These are the regions where the spirits of form—those that have taken the detour through the blood—primarily exert their influence. It is there, within the blood, that what brings about the actual modification of humanity—the fundamental character of the race—is forged. However, there is something highly peculiar about this Mongolian race. The spirits of Mars enter the blood there. But they work in the blood in a very specific way, so that they can counteract the six Elohim centered in the Sun. Thus, they counteract these six Elohim within the Mongolian race. In doing so, they launch a very specific attack directed toward the other side—toward Yahweh or Jehovah, who has separated his sphere of influence from that of the six Elohim. But in addition to this interplay between the spirits of Mars, the six Elohim, and Yahweh—which gives rise to the Mongolian race—there is another distinctive feature. If we wish to describe the nature of this special influence, we must say: Just as the six Elohim from the Sun, Yahweh from the Moon, and the spirits of Mars working against them all act within the Mongolian race, so must we assume in another case that the forces of Yahweh converge again from the direction of the Moon and interact with the spirits of Mars, thereby giving rise to a special modification. Here you have, explained from the most occult perspective, a special modification of humanity—namely, that which belongs to the Semitic people. In the Semitic people, you have a modification of the entire human race, such that Yahweh or Jehovah sets himself apart from the other Elohim and endows this people with a special character by interacting with the spirits of Mars to bring about the special modification of this people. Now you will also understand what is unique about the Semitic people and their mission. In a certain, profound occult sense, the writer of the Bible could say that Yahweh or Jehovah had made this people His own; and if you now consider that there is an interaction here with the spirits of Mars, and that the spirits of Mars direct their attacks primarily at the blood, then you will also understand why the ongoing influence of the blood from generation to generation is of such special importance for the Semitic-Hebrew people, and why, among the Semitic people, the God Yahweh describes Himself as the God who flows down through the blood of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on. This is the way the blood flows through all these lineages. By declaring, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” Yahweh is saying: I am at work in your blood. — Whatever works within the blood, whatever must be fought out within the blood—the interplay with the spirits of Mars—is one of the mysteries that lead us deep into the wise guidance of all humanity on Earth.

[ 19 ] So you see that the blood of humanity is affected in two ways, that two racial formations arise, so to speak, as a result of this influence on the blood of humanity. On the one hand, we have everything we call the Mongolian race; on the other hand, we have what we can describe as belonging to the Semitic race. This is a great polarity within humanity, and we will have to attribute infinitely significant meaning to this polarity if we are to understand the depths of the Folk-souls.

[ 20 ] We must continue to examine how the spirits and beings centered in Jupiter seethe and bubble within human beings. These beings now choose a second point of attack to act directly on the nervous system; this point of attack passes through all the human senses; the other point of attack, which acts upon the nervous system, takes a detour through the respiratory system into the solar plexus. The attack emanating from Jupiter takes a detour through sensory impressions and flows from there to the parts of the nervous system centered in the brain and spinal cord. Thus, in the races belonging to the Jupiter humanity, those forces that particularly shape the racial character flow into these centers. This is more or less the case with the Aryan, Near Eastern, and European peoples—those we classify as Caucasians. The modification of humanity as a whole—which stems from the abnormal spirits of form—occurs when these abnormal spirits, which we may call Jupiter spirits, act upon the senses. Thus, the Caucasians are defined through the senses.

[ 21 ] Now you will also understand that a people such as the Greeks—who are eminently and consciously under the influence of Jupiter or Zeus and who feel themselves to be the focal point of that influence—is profoundly shaped by what flows into the nervous system through the senses. Of course, the Greeks are also influenced by the Elohim streaming in from the Sun. But the way it worked was that, for the Greeks, everything that acts upon the senses was subject to the influence of Jupiter or Zeus, and this is how this people attained its greatness. In everything the Greeks perceive as external form and external life, there is an important meaning for them. They perceive the spiritual in sensory perceptions and thereby become the foundational people of all sculpture, the foundational people of all external form-giving. We have thus already pointed to a very special mission of the Greek people, who are in a particularly outstanding way the people of Jupiter or Zeus; even during the period when—especially due to the incoming stellar constellation—the interplay of the forces of Zeus or Jupiter with the general forces of the Elohim took place, they felt themselves to be the people of Zeus.

[ 22 ] Modifications of this Jupiter influence are, in essence, all the peoples of the Near East and, in particular, Europe, and you can already surmise—since human beings have many senses—that many variations can arise and that, in the development of the individual peoples within this basic race—which is shaped by the influence of the senses on the nervous system—one sense or another may come to dominate. As a result, the various peoples can take on the most diverse forms. Depending on whether the eye, the ear, or one of the other senses holds sway, the various peoples are predisposed in one direction or another toward a particular national character within the racial character. This gives rise to very specific tasks for them. One task that falls particularly to the Caucasian race is this: it is to pave the way from the senses to the spiritual, for it is organized toward the senses.

[ 23 ] Here lies something that also leads into the deeper starting points of occultism and will show you that, for those peoples whose character is, so to speak, marked by the Venusian nature, the main starting point—even in occult training—must be taken where breathing is the most important thing. In contrast, for everything further west, the starting point must be taken from a deepening and spiritualization of what lies in the sensory world. This is evident in the higher levels of knowledge—in imagination, inspiration, and intuition—precisely in the sense that the spirit of Jupiter originally modifies character, among those peoples situated to the west. That is why these two centers have always existed in human evolution: the center that was, so to speak, governed more by the spirits of Venus, and the center that was governed more by the spirits of Jupiter. The spirits of Jupiter were observed particularly in those mysteries in which—as those who attended my lecture series in Munich last year will know—the three individualities, the three spiritual entities of the Buddha, Zarathustra (or Zarathas in his later incarnation), and that great leader of humanity whom we call Skythianos, ultimately came together. This is the college which, under the leadership of an even greater being, has set itself the task of investigating the mysterious forces that must be developed for the evolution of humanity, the starting point of which was taken from that point originally connected with the Jupiter forces and predestined in the aforementioned map of the Earth.

[ 24 ] Finally, the glandular system—though only indirectly, through all the other systems—is influenced by what we might call the abnormal spirits of form, which have their center in Saturn. Thus, in everything we must designate as the Saturn race—in everything to which we must attribute the Saturn character—we must seek something that, so to speak, brings together and unites that which leads humanity back to twilight, bringing its development to a conclusion in a certain sense—namely, to a true conclusion, to a dying away. We can see how this influence manifests in the endocrine system by looking at the Native American race. This is the basis for their mortality, their disappearance. The influence of Saturn acts through all other systems and ultimately affects the endocrine system. This isolates the hardest parts of the human being, and one can therefore say that this withering away consists of a kind of ossification, as is clearly evident in their outward appearance. Just look at the images of the ancient Native Americans, and you will be able to grasp, as it were, the process described in the decline of this race. In such a race, everything that was present in the Saturn evolution has become present—in a special way; but then it withdrew into itself and left humanity alone with its hard skeletal system, causing it to wither away. One senses something of this truly occult influence when, even in the nineteenth century, one sees a representative of these ancient Native Americans speaking of how what once was great and mighty for humanity still lives within him—yet could not keep pace with further development. There is an account of a beautiful scene in which a leader of the vanishing Native Americans stands face to face with a European intruder. Imagine what is felt heart to heart when two such people stand face to face: people who came over from Europe, and people who, in the earliest times, when the races were dispersed, migrated westward. In their journey westward, the Native Americans took with them everything that was great in the Atlantean culture. What was the greatest thing for the Native American? It was that he could still sense something of the ancient grandeur and glory of an age that existed in the old Atlantean era, when racial division had not yet taken hold, when people could look up at the sun and perceive the spirits of form penetrating through the sea of mist. Through a sea of mist, the Atlantean looked up at that which, for him, did not split into a sixfold or sevenfold unity, but rather acted in harmony. That which acted in harmony among the seven spirits of form—that the Atlantean called the Great Spirit, who revealed Himself to humankind in ancient Atlantis. Consequently, he did not assimilate what the spirits of Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter had brought about in the East. Through this, all the cultures that flourished in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century took shape. He, the son of the brown race, did not participate in any of this. He held fast to the Great Spirit of the distant past. What the others had done—those who, in the distant past, had also absorbed the Great Spirit—became clear to him when he was presented with a sheet of paper bearing many small symbols, letters of which he understood nothing. All of this was foreign to him, but he still carried the Great Spirit within his soul. His speech has been preserved for us; it is significant because it points to what has been alluded to, and it goes something like this: “In the soil where the conquerors of our land tread, the bones of my brothers are buried. Why are the feet of our conquerors allowed to tread upon the graves of my brothers? Because they possess that which makes the white man great. Something else makes the brown man great. He is made great by the Great Spirit, who speaks to him in the rustling of the wind, in the murmur of the forest, in the surging of the water, in the trickling of the spring, in lightning and thunder. That is the Spirit who speaks truth to us. Oh, the Great Spirit speaks truth! “Your spirits, which you have here on paper and which express what is great to you, do not speak the truth.” So said the Indian chief from his point of view. The brown man belongs to the Great Spirit; the pale man belongs to the spirits that hop about on the paper in black form as small, dwarfish beings—he meant the letters— they do not speak the truth. — This is a dialogue of world-historical significance that took place between the conquerors and the last of the great chiefs of the brown men. Here we see what belongs to Saturn through his activity and what arises on Earth from the interaction with other spirits at such a moment when two directions meet.

[ 25 ] Thus we have seen how, on the surface of our Earth, the general human race is brought into being by the Elohim or the normal spirits of form, and how, from the entire human mass, from the entire human mass, what constitutes the five main races of human evolution, and how these are connected to the leading spirits in the series of abnormal spirits of form—which we must name using the names derived from the five planets—while the normal spirits of form are to be found in the Sun and the Moon. From there we will move on to something that will be easier for us, because we will be able to build on what is familiar—on tribes and peoples.