The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Second Lecture

[ 1 ] And we humans live within this duality. Everything that belongs to the Moon is, in fact, a remnant—you can read more about this in my *Secret Science*—of the old lunar state; it does not at all belong to what the Earth has become in its normal progression. It is this part that belongs to the Moon, left behind like a foreign body, that has become embedded within us, and we participate in both.

[ 2 ] For anyone who truly wishes to understand the nature of the universe, it is essential to be aware of this independence of the Earth-Sun entity and the Moon entity. For this is linked to something extraordinarily important—something so important, in fact, that contemporary science not only has no inkling of it but would most likely consider it the height of folly if it heard of it.

[ 3 ] Every human being, as they undergo their embryonic development, does not undergo this development merely by following the forces unleashed in the mother’s body by fertilization. To suggest otherwise is tantamount to claiming: “Here I have a magnetic needle that points in a certain direction, so it must possess these forces within itself.” — No physicist would ever think of saying that. Every physicist would say: “The Earth is also a great magnet, and it attracts one end of the magnetic needle, while the other end is attracted to the opposite pole.” — People speak quite well of the fact that what is self-contained depends, in its activity, in its effectiveness, and in its position, on the greater whole. Yet when a human being is formed in the womb, people want to attribute everything that organizes the human being to the womb itself, whereas it is precisely the cosmic forces that are at work there—forces flowing in from the cosmos that shape the human being. And so it is that the human being’s primary organization—everything connected with the nervous-sensory system—is linked to the lunar forces, while the rest of the organism is linked to the solar forces. And this is why we human beings become ambivalent beings in life. As human beings, we are lunar beings in our heads and solar beings in the rest of our bodies. But this is where the matter becomes significantly more complicated. For if you do not observe this closely, you will immediately introduce a tangle of misunderstandings into the matter.

[ 4 ] Insofar as the human being is a head being, he is a lunar being; that is to say, the lunar forces are organized into his head. Insofar as he is the rest of his being, he is a solar being; that is to say, the solar forces are organized into the rest of his being.

[ 5 ] As a result, however, when a person faces the world while awake, the head is particularly receptive to everything that comes from the sun. When sunlight falls on objects, a person takes it in through their eyes. The head—the nervous and sensory system—is a lunar creation; yet everything it takes in is precisely that which is solar. And in the rest of their organism, human beings are solar beings; that is to say, they are organized as solar beings. But everything that influences them as they develop on Earth is lunar in nature.

[ 6 ] So that you can say: As a primary being, the human being is a lunar vessel that receives the currents of the solar forces. As for the rest of its constitution, the human being is a solar being that receives the currents of the lunar forces.

[ 7 ] You can see from this: If you don’t observe closely, if you don’t grasp things precisely but instead look for convenient concepts, then you won’t be able to make sense of it. For someone might come along and say: As a being of the head, a being of the mind, the human being is a lunar being. — Another says: “That’s not true; human beings are solar beings, for the processes of the sun take place within them.” — Both are correct. One simply has to learn how these things interact. I have said many times before that reality is not so easy for us to grasp that a few fixed concepts would suffice to comprehend it; rather, one must make a bit of an effort just to form the concepts that come close to corresponding to this reality. Within the human being himself, lunar and solar beings interact in twofold ways. And everything that takes place as life processes cannot be understood unless the human being is viewed within this dual relationship with the cosmos.

[ 8 ] One of the most important issues of our time should be the realization for humanity today—if it is truly sensitive—that we have lost the ancient concepts known to humanity through its atavistic clairvoyance, and that we are only at the very beginning of Copernicanism and Galileanism! — The ancient Egyptians, one should tell oneself, still regarded human beings as a part of the entire cosmos. But to the ancient Egyptian, this cosmos was organized on a far higher level than human beings themselves. Today, people look out into the cosmos and see a vast machinery that they calculate using their mathematical formulas. To them, the planets move around the fixed stars just as if one were trying to calculate that a person’s arms and legs move according to mathematical laws! In everything that exists in the cosmos—and within which human beings are embedded—there is organization: soul and spirit. And without taking into account the animacy and spirituality of the cosmos, one cannot understand anything about human life, which is embedded within this animacy and spirituality of the cosmos.

[ 9 ] So, I would say, we live in the lunar sphere. But everything that is Luciferic lives with us in this lunar sphere. And indirectly, through our head organization, it is precisely the Luciferic that enables us to make this head organization suitable for the solar aspect of our earthly existence. And the Luciferic permeates our head organization. But it is as foreign to the earthly realm as the Moon itself is with its sphere. Just as our nervous and sensory system is not organized from the same forces from which our heart, lungs, and stomach are organized, so too is that which constitutes the Luciferic forces within us not organized from our earthly-spiritual-soul nature. These forces have been instilled in us along with the lunar nature.

[ 10 ] Very few people know much more about the influence of this lunar quality on earthly life than what poets sing of—moonlit nights of enchantment, nights of love spent in the moonlight. We are aware of the connection between those flights of imagination and the moonlight that plays a role in love life—when it is the higher, romantic kind of love life. But this is only the most shadowy part of what comes from the moon. It is not merely the imaginative elements that unfold between lovers on moonlit, enchanted nights that flow from this lunar sphere into our ordinary existence; rather, profound forces flow in from this sphere, forces that detach themselves from everyday life—from that which binds people to the earth—just as, as a rule, the play of love on moonlit, enchanted nights detaches itself from philistine everyday life. And the ultimate extreme that manifests itself, as if flowing in from this sphere entirely foreign to the earthly realm, is the power of illusion that human beings can develop. If this sphere of lunar power did not flow into us, we as human beings would not be capable of illusion.

[ 11 ] But then we would not be able to detach ourselves from the vital, organizational life of our organism, and we would not be able to rise to that clarity of consciousness that is essential for us as human beings. To rise to this clarity of consciousness, it is necessary that we be able to live within ideas that are completely detached from our everyday organism. But then we must hold them together with our everyday organism ourselves. Then it is within our power to hold together what passes through our minds with this everyday organism—not to let illusions tear themselves away from reality, but to relate them to realities in the proper way. In order for us to be able to develop concepts free from sensuousness in the world at all, we must also be capable of illusion. It is simply a necessity that human beings be capable of illusion. And this capacity for illusion is also connected to their ability not to be constantly in a state of feverishness or powerlessness—that is, to rise to clear consciousness. If they then let the reins slip—that is, if they do not remain masters of the illusion, but instead allow the illusion to become master over them—then this is merely a necessary corollary to the fact that we must be capable of illusion.

[ 12 ] Thus, I have first shown you, from a cosmic-humanistic perspective, the origin of the human capacity for illusion; I have pointed you to a vantage point in our view of the world where what we call natural necessity and what we call inner human activity converge, whereas both are separated in today’s common mechanistic way of thinking.

[ 13 ] But now for the other sphere. You may have noticed that I made a small correction, and since you are probably extremely attentive, you will have already silently hurled a kind of reproach at me in your mind for having made that correction. For I first said: The Earth-Sun sphere and the Moon sphere are interwoven. — Later, I spoke of the Sun sphere. In a certain sense, I was also correct. For what acts upon the nervous-sensory system—even from the Earth—is always the influence of the Sun. Even the illuminated surfaces of objects are merely reflected sunlight. And so everything that influences us—even if it comes from the Earth—is, insofar as it influences our conscious life, a solar influence. But not everything. I simply had to omit that part until now. It is true that everything you initially process in your consciousness is connected to the Sun. But the fact that, when you step on a scale, you have a weight—that is the influence of the Earth. In truth, however, the solar sphere—that is, what I have so far described as a unified sphere—is itself differentiated. The Earth is a kind of enclosure within this Earth-sun sphere. And this Earth, by being a kind of enclosure within the Earth-Sun sphere, exerts an influence on what comes to us from the Sun. It does not allow us to be pure solar beings. Again, with regard to this point, one must not view the cosmos merely as a mechanism, but must consider it in its animacy and spiritual nature.

[ 14 ] Since human beings are bound to the Earth-Sun sphere, their subconscious forces are, in fact, much more closely aligned with the actual forces of the Earth. In their conscious activities, however, they already follow what the Sun sends to the Earth. But if one examines what constitutes weight—that which is connected to everything that gives us a certain heaviness when we stand on a scale—it is not merely the gravity that Newton described, but at the same time everything that we experience as influencing our moral life. With the sun, it is truly as the poet says: It shines on the good as well as the wicked. It is indifferent to them. But if one examines the Earth from a spiritual scientific perspective, one finds that it is not indifferent; rather, this Earth is the expression of certain forces that seek to emerge from our entire planetary system. Just as the moon has crept in, so the Earth would like to “push its way out.” It wants to break free; it wants to become independent. We humans would lack something very specific if we did not live under the influence of these Earth forces striving for independence: we would lack the sense of independence. If you could whiz through the elements without being pulled down by Earth’s gravity, you would never attain independence. It is only because you are constantly drawn to the Earth—if I may use this expression, but as an expression of a fact, not a theory—that independence develops. And this inclusion of the Earth within the Earth-Sun sphere exists precisely to give us that independence.

[ 15 ] You may now raise another objection—one you’ve probably already considered in your mind: Isn’t it the same with animals?! — No, it’s not the same. For the animal’s head is attached to a horizontal spine; the human head, with all its weight, rests upon the rest of the organism. That is what makes the difference. That is what gives humans this sense of independence, this way of being integrated into the forces of the Earth and the Sun in a completely different manner than animals.

[ 16 ] We can only begin to approach questions such as those that concern us here by asking, in a sense, the opposite: What would become of us humans if we were left solely to the influence of the Earth, apart from the influence of the Moon?! — What would become of us humans if we were left solely to the influence of the Sun?! — If we humans were left solely to the influence of the Sun, we would be a kind of angel, but a foolish one. Not that I mean to say angels are foolish. Angels are certainly intelligent; but we would be a kind of angel—not intelligent like the angels, but foolish. For we would lack a sense of autonomy. We would be merely cogs in the machinery of the cosmos. We owe our independence to our existence on Earth. But if we were subject only to the influence of Earthly existence—if the sun had no effect on us—what would we be?! — Beasts, predators, creatures that develop the wildest instincts.

[ 17 ] Here you have one of the points where you can truly look deeply into the constitution of the universe—and you can look so deeply because you must tell yourself: What is at work in the universe cannot act from just one side. For if it were to act from just one side, it would necessarily represent a radical extreme. If we were under the influence of the Earth alone, this earthly influence would develop the wildest instincts within us. The flames of our wild instincts would blaze up. But if the earthly influence did not act, we would never become independent beings. It must be present; otherwise, we would never become independent beings. We must have the potential to be wild animals so that we can become independent beings. But to prevent us from becoming wild animals, the influence of the Sun must counteract the influence of the Earth—it must paralyze it. This is what happens. And as this happens, you see through to the origin of evil. It is simply a given that we are bound to earthly existence. So that, in fact, on the one hand we are exposed to a radical extreme—the earthly extreme—which, if it were to act upon us alone, would turn us into evil beings and fill us only with illusions.

[ 18 ] The solar principle acts upon both from the cosmos. The solar principle makes it possible for us to develop in such a way that we do not succumb to illusion. And the solar principle makes it possible for us to develop in such a way that we do not succumb to evil. Beneath illusion lies the potential to become intelligent human beings. If everything that makes us capable of illusion were not there, we would never become intelligent human beings. In cosmic terms: If we were not creatures of the Moon, we would, on the one hand, not be capable of illusion, and on the other hand, not be capable of intelligence. If we were not subject to the Earth and its forces, we would, on the one hand, not be exposed to the possibility of evil; but at the same time, we would be condemned to never develop any independence in life.

[ 19 ] You see, in order for a human being to be intelligent, he must have the capacity to harbor illusions. For a long time, he held onto illusions. Then came his will—which was only gradually incorporated into the constitution of his soul over time—and he was able to make the illusion an expression of his own being; he was able to become a liar. For a lie is, objectively speaking and apart from human agency, the same as an illusion. The only difference is that in a lie, what does not correspond to reality is arbitrarily set by the human being in opposition to reality.

[ 20 ] Thus, what acts upon human beings from the lunar sphere is at once the creator—the creative force behind their intelligence—and at the same time the creative force behind their tendency to lie. In ancient times, people recognized this and formed proverbs out of these truths. We Germans, when we see the moon like this: ☽, say that it can be completed to a ;—the moon is waxing.—When we see the moon like this: we say that it can be completed to an a—the moon is waning. — If you go back to French—that is, to the legacy of the Romance languages—you must say of the waning moon: *La lune décroît*, from *décroître*. There, the moon does not describe its own behavior; it says the opposite. For it was only for the Germans that the moon began to speak the truth. Hence the Latin proverb: “The moon is a liar.” — But this proverb also has its esoteric side; for the forces that come from the moon are at the same time the forces of the human capacity for lying, and the proverb “The moon is a liar” has a very, very deep background, as you have now seen. It was only as civilization emerged during the 15th century that this moon began, in terms of its outward appearance, to tell the truth for certain languages—just as materialism, in general, tells the truth in terms of its outward appearance. But in terms of its inner nature, the moon is now more than ever a liar.

[ 21 ] I’m telling you this simply as a mnemonic device, so that you’ll remember this profound, cosmic-human truth. And you see, the best thing we humans have—our independence—is intrinsically linked to evil. The best thing we humans have—intelligence—is intrinsically linked to the capacity for illusion, to the possibility of error. And we humans must also be capable of development. We must have the possibility of not standing still. We could not be capable of development if we were not called upon to create something new on the basis of what has been destroyed. This means that we must carry within us the possibility of illness and death so that we can develop within ourselves the forces of renewal.

[ 22 ] These extraordinarily important truths have been completely obscured and buried by the worldviews of the past centuries. For today, science—when it extends beyond mathematics and mechanics—is defined as anything that takes place on Earth. Only laws that can be grasped mathematically and mechanically exert their influence from outside the Earth. Humanity will first have to understand once again that entirely different forces are at work in this cosmic space—where the Moon follows its paths and the stars follow theirs—than those governed solely by mechanically and mathematically calculable forces. And when you consider that, in fact, the most everyday aspects of our being are an effect of the cosmos—that the most everyday things cannot be understood unless we regard ourselves as an effect of the cosmos—how, then, can you infuse fruitful thoughts into what is meant to permeate human life as a worldview?! Human beings today are cut off from the world. They have no inkling of their connection to the world. And they wish to establish a social existence but do not even know with whom, because they have no idea what they are.

[ 23 ] Yes, until these questions take root in people’s souls—How little do we know about the world under the influence of the past centuries, and how much do we need to know?!—there will be no salvation in any social endeavors. Whenever there is an opportunity to invoke mechanical-mathematical explanations, people today still feel compelled to construct connections. They know that all sorts of things—epidemics and the like on Earth—are linked to the cycles of sunspots. There are certain instances where people would like to link earthly existence once again to cosmic events. People today would like to deny that everything that takes place in earthly existence is a result of the cosmos; they do not want to think about it. The events that take place on Earth among human beings can never be understood unless they are understood in a cosmic context. And human beings can never find effective ideas for their work on Earth unless these ideas are imbued with an awareness of their interconnectedness with the cosmos.

[ 24 ] It’s a bitter feeling today when you look at what’s actually happening, even just from a historical perspective. If you have a wall here and see all sorts of shadow figures darting across it, you’ll want to find out where those shadow figures are coming from. When you see the events of the last five to six years unfolding across the Earth’s surface, you do not investigate them—even though they are merely projections, mere shadows of what is taking place throughout the cosmos. And the great questions playing out today between the various regions of the Earth can only be understood if one’s understanding is permeated by cosmic ideality.

[ 25 ] Today I read an article that speaks of the hope that the British government will find the right impetus to bring order to the situation between what is happening in Russia and what is happening in the Western countries. They want to build something like that in the middle, in a Germany that has been ruined. — These hopes will not be fulfilled; for everything that speaks from such a spirit, everything that waits for the insights of those who are breaking away from the old, leads nowhere.

[ 26 ] The only thing that is fruitful for the future today is that which creates something entirely new. Only when humanity awakens to this realization will the healing of many ills in human development begin.