The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Ninth Lecture

[ 1 ] Just as one can only come to know the beings of the sensory world by observing them in their lives and activities, so it is also the case with those beings of whom I have spoken to you and am speaking to you in these lectures—the elemental beings of nature, who are invisible and supersensory, lying beyond the sensory-physical realm, and who are just as involved in all that happens in the world, or rather, are involved in a higher sense than the sensory-physical beings.

[ 2 ] Now you can imagine that the world will look somewhat different to these beings than it does to the beings of the sensory world, for as you have seen, these beings do not have a physical body like the beings of the sensory world. Everything they perceive in the world must be different from what, for example, enters the human eye. And that is indeed the case. For example, a human being perceives the Earth as the world body upon which he walks. He already finds it a minor inconvenience when this world body—as is sometimes the case—is softened by various atmospheric processes and he sinks into it just a tiny bit. He would like to perceive this ground as hard, as something into which he does not sink.

[ 3 ] This entire way of perceiving, this entire relationship to the Earth—it is, for example, completely absent among the gnomes; they sink everywhere, for to them the entire body of the Earth is, at first, like a hollow space that can be passed through. They can go anywhere; for them, neither rocks nor metals are anything that prevents them from moving about—or should I say, swimming about—with their very being? There are no words in our language that express the way these gnomes move within the Earth’s body. It is simply that they have an inner sensation, an inner experience of the Earth’s various constituents; they feel differently when they wander along a metal vein than when they make their way along a layer of limestone. But the gnomes feel all of this in an inner way; they penetrate right through it all. They don’t actually even have the concept that the Earth exists; they have the concept that there is a space in which they experience various sensations: sensations of gold, sensations of mercury, sensations of tin, sensations of quartz, and so on. This is expressed in human language, not in the language of the gnomes. Their own language is much more vivid; and it is precisely because they spend their entire lives traversing all the veins and all the layers—traversing them again and again—that they acquire this pronounced intellectuality of which I have spoken to you. This is how they acquire their comprehensive knowledge, for everything that exists out there in the universe is revealed to them in the metal and in the earth; as if in a mirror, they perceive everything that exists out there in the universe. But the gnomes have no conception of the earth itself—only of its various constituents and the different kinds of inner experience.

[ 4 ] However, these gnomes are particularly gifted when it comes to the impressions that come from the moon. The moon is what they are constantly listening to intently. In this respect, they are—I cannot say “born,” for it is so difficult to find the right words—so to speak, neurasthenics in the full sense of the word. Isn’t it true that what we consider an illness is actually the very essence of life for these gnomic beings? For them, it is not an illness; for them, it is a matter of course. This gives them that inner receptivity to everything I have spoken to you about. But it also gives them an inner receptivity to the transformations of the lunar phenomena. They observe these transformations of the lunar phenomena with such intense attention that this inner focus—I have, after all, described their power of concentration to you—actually alters their very form. So that, in fact, when one observes the life of the gnomes, one has a completely different impression during the full moon, a completely different impression during the new moon, and yet another during the lunar phases in between.

[ 5 ] When the moon is full, the gnomes feel uneasy. The physical moonlight does not suit them, and so they push their entire sense of being outward. They envelop themselves, as it were, in a spiritual skin; they push their sense of being to the outer limits of their bodies when there is a full moon. And to those who possess an imaginative gaze for such things, they then appear—I would say—like radiant, armored little knights in the full moonlight. They wear something like a spiritual armor, and that is what pushes outward from within their skin to ward off the moonlight that is unpleasant to them. But as the moon approaches the new moon, the gnome becomes downright transparent, wondrous; one sees radiant, glittering plays of color within him. You can see an entire world unfolding within him. It is as if one were, I would say, looking into the human brain—but not merely like an anatomist searching for cellular tissue, but like someone who sees the thoughts shimmering and glittering within: this is how these gnomes appear to us—like transparent little men in whom the play of thoughts is revealed. These gnomes are particularly fascinating during the new moon, because each one carries a whole world within itself, and one might say: Within this world lies the very secret of the moon.

[ 6 ] If you uncover this secret of the Moon, you’ll arrive at some very curious conclusions; you’ll find yourself thinking that the Moon is currently in a state of continuous approach—of course, you shouldn’t imagine this in a crude, clunky way, as if it were rushing toward the Earth—but it actually does come a little closer every year. And in fact, the Moon is a little closer to Earth every year. This can be seen in the ever-more-vibrant interplay of the Moon’s forces during the new moon in the gnome world. And these little gnomes are also particularly attentive to this drawing nearer; for they see their primary mission in the universe as drawing conclusions from the Moon’s effects on them. They await with great anticipation the moment when the Moon will once again unite with the Earth, and they gather all their strength to be prepared for that moment when the Moon has united with the Earth; for then they will use the Moon’s substance to gradually disperse the Earth throughout the cosmos, along with all its substance. The substance must be gone.

[ 7 ] But by taking on this task, these goblins gnomes feel particularly important, for they gather the most diverse experiences throughout earthly existence, and they are preparing themselves so that when the entire substance of the Earth is scattered throughout the universe—after Jupiter has evolved from it—they may preserve within the Earth’s structure all that is good in it, and then incorporate it into Jupiter like a kind of skeletal framework.

[ 8 ] You see, if you observe this process as the gnomes do, it gives you the inspiration to imagine—and you can actually do this—what our Earth would look like if all the water were removed from it. Just think for a moment how everything in the Western Hemisphere is oriented from north to south, and everything in the Eastern Hemisphere from east to west. So, if you were to remove the water, you would find that America, with its mountains and what lies beneath the sea, would extend from north to south; and if you look toward Europe, you would find, following the course of the Alps, the Carpathians, and so on, the same pattern that exists in the Eastern Hemisphere in that direction. You would see something like the structure of a cross on the Earth.

[ 9 ] And when one penetrates this, one gets the impression that it is, in fact, the united world of the gnomes of the old moon. So those who are the ancestors of our Earth gnomes—the Moon gnomes—gathered experiences on the Moon and, based on those experiences, formed this structure, this solid structure of the Earth’s fabric, the solid form of the Earth; thus, we actually owe our solid Earth form to the experiences of the ancient Moon gnomes.

[ 10 ] These are the things that arise in connection with the world of the gnomes. As a result, the gnomes have an interesting—an extraordinarily interesting—relationship to the entire evolution of the universe. In a sense, they always carry the solid substance of the past over into the solid substance of the future. They are the guardians of the continuity of the solid structure in evolution. Thus, from one world body to the next, they preserve the solid structure. One of the most fascinating aspects is to approach these spiritual beings of a supersensible world and study their special task; for only then does one gain an impression of how every being in the world contributes to the overall shaping of the world.

[ 11 ] Now let us turn from the gnomes to the undines, the water spirits. This actually presents us with a very strange concept. These beings do not have the same need for life that humans have, nor the need for life that animals have—even if only instinctively—but one could almost say: the Undines, and the Sylphs as well, have more of a need for death. In a cosmic sense, they are truly like the mosquito that throws itself into the flame. They feel that they truly have their life only when they die. It is extraordinarily interesting: here on the physical Earth, everything wants to live, and we actually value everything that possesses life force; we value precisely everything that has living shoots and sprouts. When one crosses over there, all these beings tell you: dying is actually the true beginning of life. And these beings can sense this as well. Take the Undines, for example. You may know that sailors who spend a lot of time at sea find that the sea makes a peculiar impression—on the Baltic Sea in July, August, and September, and further west as early as June—and that these people say: “The sea is beginning to bloom.” It “blooms,” so to speak; but it blooms from all that is decaying in the sea. The decay of the sea makes itself felt there; it gives the sea a peculiar putrid odor.

[ 12 ] But it’s entirely different for the undines. The undines feel no discomfort in this; rather, when these millions and millions of aquatic creatures, decaying in the sea, are swept into destruction, the sea becomes, for the undines, a place that glows with the most wondrous play of phosphorescent colors. Everything glows and sparkles in every possible color. For them, the sea sparkles both internally and externally, especially in bluish, violet, and greenish hues. All the decaying matter in the sea becomes a shimmering and glittering display in darker hues, extending all the way to green. But these colors are realities for the Undines, and one can then see the Undines absorbing these very colors into themselves amidst the sea’s play of colors. They draw these colors into their own physical being. They become just as these plays of color are; they themselves become phosphorescent. And as they absorb these plays of color, as they themselves become phosphorescent, something like a longing arises within them—an immense longing to go upward, to float upward. This longing leads them to float upward, and with this longing they offer themselves as sustenance from the earth to the beings of the higher hierarchies—the Angeloi, Archangeloi, and so on; in this they find their bliss. They then continue to live within the higher hierarchies.

[ 13 ] It is remarkable, then, how these beings emerge from unfathomable depths—one might say—with the arrival of early spring. They participate in the life of the Earth by working on the plant kingdom in the way I have described. But then they pour themselves, as it were, into the water; through their own physicality, they absorb the water’s phosphorescence and the decaying matter, carrying it upward with immense longing, and one sees, in a colossal, magnificent cosmic picture, how the colors arising from the earth’s waters—carried by the Undines and possessing a spiritual-substantial nature—provide nourishment for the beings of the higher hierarchies; how the earth becomes a source of nourishment for the higher hierarchies, since the longing of the Undines consists precisely in allowing themselves to be consumed by the higher beings. There they continue to live; there, in a sense, they enter into their eternity. Thus, in every year there is, in fact, a continuous outflow of these beings, whose inner being is formed from the earth, and who radiate longingly in order to offer themselves as nourishment to the higher beings.

[ 14 ] And let us turn to the Sylphs. Throughout the year, we find birds that are dying. I have explained to you how these dying birds possess a spiritualized substance, and how they wish to pass this spiritualized substance on to the higher worlds so that it may rise up from the Earth. But this requires intermediaries. These mediators are the Sylphs. The fact is that, through the dying bird world, the air is continually filled with astral substance—a lower form of astral substance, but astral substance nonetheless. Within this astral substance—I cannot say “flutter”; I would say, if the word did not sound so ugly, “float”—the Sylphs float. They absorb what comes from the dying bird world, carry it longingly upward once more, and seek to be breathed in by the beings of the higher hierarchies. They offer themselves as the very breath of the higher hierarchies. Yet another magnificent spectacle! As one watches the bird world perish, this astral, inwardly radiant substance passes into the air. The Sylphs dart through the air like blue flashes of lightning, and within these blue flashes—first turning green and then red—they absorb this astral substance emanating from the bird world and flit upward like flashes of lightning shooting skyward. If one follows this process beyond the confines of space, they become that which is breathed in by the beings of the higher hierarchies.

[ 15 ] So one can say: the gnomes carry one world over into the other in terms of their structure. In a sense—though this is only a figure of speech—they continue evolution horizontally. The other beings—the Undines and the Sylphs—carry upward that which they perceive as bliss in their own passing away, in becoming one with others, in becoming breath. There they continue to live in the higher hierarchies; within them they experience their eternity.

[ 16 ] And when we turn to the fire beings—yes, my dear friends—just think for a moment how the butterfly dust from the butterfly wings seems to dissolve into nothing along with the dying butterflies. But it is not true that it dissolves into nothing. What falls away from the butterfly wings is highly spiritualized matter. All of it flows into the warmth ether that surrounds the Earth like tiny comets, every single speck like a tiny comet in the Earth’s warmth ether. As the world of butterflies draws to a close in the course of the year, everything becomes glittering and glowing—an inner glittering and glowing. And into this glittering and glowing the fire beings pour themselves; they absorb it. It continues to glitter and glow within them, and they, too, are filled with longing. They carry what they have thus absorbed upward. And one sees—I have already described this to you from another perspective—how what is carried outward from the butterfly wings by the fire beings now shimmers out into the cosmic space. But it does not merely shimmer out; it streams out, and it is this that constitutes the actual vision of the spirits of the higher hierarchies as seen from Earth. The spirits of the higher hierarchies look down upon the Earth and see, primarily from the Earth’s perspective, this butterfly-like and insect-like being carried outward by the fire beings; and the fire beings find their highest delight in sensing how it is they who stand before the spiritual eyes of the higher hierarchies. They find it their greatest delight to be gazed upon, to be taken in, so to speak, by the gazes—the spiritual gazes—of the higher hierarchies. They strive toward these higher hierarchies and bring them knowledge of the Earth.

[ 17 ] Thus you can see how these elemental beings serve as mediators between the Earth and the spiritual cosmos: this spectacle of the undines phosphorescing upward, disappearing into the sea of light and flame of the higher hierarchies as nourishment; the greenish-reddish flashes of the sylphs shooting upward, being breathed in where the earthly continually passes into the eternal; the eternal abiding of the fire beings, whose work is enduring. For while here on Earth the dying of the birds takes place only during a certain season, these fire beings ensure that what can be seen of them pours out, so to speak, into the cosmos throughout the entire year. Thus, the Earth is enveloped in a kind of mantle of fire. Viewed from the outside, it appears fiery. But the whole phenomenon is brought about by beings who perceive the things of the Earth quite differently than humans do. For humans, as mentioned, the Earth is experienced as a solid substance upon which they can walk and stand. For the gnomes, it is a permeable sphere, a hollow sphere. For the Undines, water is something in which they can perceive, absorb, and experience phosphorescence. For the Sylphs, the astral aspect of the air—which comes from the dying bird world—is what transforms them into more flickering flashes than they already were; otherwise, the Sylphs are dull, bluish flashes. And again, the perishing of the butterfly being is something that, so to speak, constantly surrounds the Earth as if with a fire bowl. To the eye, it is as if the Earth were surrounded by a wondrous fiery painting, and on one side—when one looks up from the Earth—are these flickering flashes, these phosphorescent and vanishing Undines. All of this is as if one had to say: Here on Earth, these elemental spirits weave and live; they strive upward and disappear into the Earth’s mantle of fire. But in reality, they do not actually disappear; rather, they find their eternal existence there by passing into the beings of the higher hierarchies.

[ 18 ] Everything that one ultimately sees there—like a marvelous painting of the world, yet which is the expression of what happens on Earth—all of that takes place, in its initial stage, on Earth. We humans are always involved in what is taking place there, and the fact is that even though human beings are initially unable to perceive this environment with their ordinary consciousness, every night we are immersed in the activity and bustle of these beings, participating ourselves—as the “I” and as the astral body—in what these beings are doing.

[ 19 ] But for the gnomes in particular, it is truly a kind of amusement to observe human beings while they sleep—not the physical body in bed, but the human being who exists apart from the physical body as the “I” and as the astral body—and to see that this human being is actually thinking in the spiritual realm without realizing it. They do not know that their thoughts live in the spiritual realm. And in turn, it is inexplicable to the Undines that human beings know so little about themselves; the same is true of the Sylphs and the fire beings.

[ 20 ] You see, on the physical plane it is often unpleasant to be swarmed by mosquitoes and the like at night. But the spiritual human being—the “I” and the astral body—is enveloped and surrounded by these elemental beings at night, and this envelopment and surrounding is actually a constant reminder to advance with one’s consciousness, so that one may know more about the world.

[ 21 ] So that I can now try to give you an idea of how these beings— gnomes, undines, sylphs, and fire spirits—flit about, and what happens when one begins to hear what actually amuses them about you, and what they want from you as they urge you to advance your consciousness. Yes, look, here come the gnomes, and they say something like:

You dream yourself
And avoid waking up.

[ 22 ] The gnomes know that humans actually experience their “I” as if in a dream, and that they must first truly awaken in order to reach this true “I.” They understand this very clearly. They call out to them in their sleep:

You dream yourself

[ 23 ] — they mean during the day —

And avoid waking up.

[ 24 ] Then the Undines' song rings out:

You think the Angel Works...

[ 25 ] Human beings do not realize that their thoughts actually reside with the angels,

You think of the works of angels

And yet you don't know.

[ 26 ] And from the sylphs, a sound reaches the sleeping man:

The creative power shines upon you,
You have no idea;
You feel its power

[ 27 ] — Creative Power — Strength

And don't live it.

[ 28 ] These are, roughly speaking, the words of the Sylphs, the Undines, and the Gnomes.

[ 29 ] The words of the fire beings:

The mighty will of the gods,
You do not accept it;
You wish to use its power

[ 30 ] — with the power of the will of the gods —

And you pushed him away.

[ 31 ] All of this serves as a reminder that one should advance in consciousness. These beings, who do not enter physical existence, want humans to advance in consciousness so that they, too, may share in their world.

[ 32 ] And once one has really immersed oneself in what these beings, so to speak, have to say to human beings, one gradually comes to understand how they express their own nature. The gnomes, for example, do so something like this:

I hold the root essence force,
It creates my physical form.

The Undines:
I move the water growth force,
It forms my life substance.

The Sylphs:
I draw in the airy life force,
It fills me with the power of being.

[ 33 ] And the fire beings—it is very difficult to find any earthly word to describe what they do, for they are far removed from earthly life and earthly activities. Therefore, I derive a term from the word “digest,” but so that it does not sound like digestion—it is a fiery consumption: I “däue.” “Däuen” must become a verb, for only in this way can what happens here be expressed:

I draw upon the power of fire,
It liberates me in the spirituality of the soul.

[ 34 ] I have endeavored here, as best I can, to give you an idea of how these beings of the elemental realms characterize themselves, and what they initially convey to human beings as a warning. But they are not so unkind as to whisper only negative things to human beings; rather, they radiate, so to speak, pithy aphorisms. These aphorisms are perceived as something immensely colossal. With such things, you really must develop a sense of just how different it is whether one merely utters a sentence in human words—no matter how beautiful—or whether such a sentence resounds cosmically from the entire mighty host of gnomes. It is precisely the manner of their origin that makes the difference. And when a person listens to the gnomes, the gnome choir resounds to him after having given him the admonition I have written down; then the gnome choir resounds to him:

Strive to stay awake!

[ 35 ] It is the powerful moral impact that such words—flowing through the universe and composed of an immense number of individual voices—convey.

[ 36 ] The Undine chorus rings out:

Think with your mind!

[ 37 ] The Sylph Chorus — but it’s not quite that simple, for just when the gnomes appear in the full moonlight like shining, armored knights, a voice rises from them as if from the depths of the earth: “Strive to stay awake!” And when the Undines float upward, longing to be consumed, a voice echoes back to Earth as they soar upward: “Think in spirit!” From the Sylphs, as they catch their breath above, vanishing like bluish-reddish-greenish flashes in the light of the world, a sound then rings out from them as they dart into the light and disappear within it, descending from the heights:

Live a creative, vibrant life!

[ 38 ] And how—I would say in fiery wrath, but in a wrath that is not perceived as something destructive, but rather as something that human beings must receive from the cosmos—just as it resounds with fiery yet enthusiastic wrath when the fire beings carry their own into the Earth’s mantle of fire. Now it does not sound like a combination of individual voices, but like a mighty thunderous voice coming from all around:

Receive the loving power of the divine will!

[ 39 ] Of course, one can divert one’s attention from all of this, and then one does not perceive it. It depends on a person’s own choice whether he perceives such things or not. But by perceiving them, one knows that they are ingredients of world existence, that something is indeed happening as gnomes, undines, sylphs, and fire beings unfold in the manner described. And the gnomes are not only present for human beings in the way I have already described, but they are there to let their world-words resound from the earth; the undines let their world-words resound as they flow upward; the sylphs from above; and the fire beings like a choir, like a confluence of a mighty unfolding of voices.

[ 40 ] Yes, that is put into words exactly as one might imagine. But these words are part of the World Word, and even if we cannot hear it with our ordinary consciousness, these words are nonetheless not without meaning for human beings. For the ancient view, which arose from instinctive clairvoyance—that the world is formed out of the Word—is indeed a profound truth. But the World Word is not just any composition of a few syllables; rather, the World Word is that which resounds from countless, countless beings. Countless, countless beings have something to say within the totality of the world, and the World Word resounds from these countless beings. It is not the generally abstract truth that the world is born of the Word that can give us this fully; rather, it can only be fully given to us when we gradually come to understand concretely how the World Word is composed of the voices of the individual entities in its various nuances, so that these various nuances resonate and speak within the great harmony of the world and the mighty melody of the world as it creates.

[ 41 ] When the gnome choir sings its “Strive to Awaken,” this is simply an expression in the language of the gnomes of the force that brings about the human skeletal system—and indeed, the entire musculoskeletal system.

[ 42 ] And when the Undines call out “Think in the Spirit,” they are, translated into the language of the Undines, calling forth that which pours into human beings as the World Word to shape the metabolic organs.

[ 43 ] As the Sylphs, when breathed in, pour forth their “life-creating, breathing existence,” the force that endows human beings with the organs of the rhythmic system permeates, vibrates through, and interweaves with them.

[ 44 ] And what resounds from the World Fire Mantle in the manner of a fire being—as if with a thunderous voice, if one pays attention to it—that is what appears in the reflection, in the image—just imagine, it actually radiates in from the World Fire Mantle! That is where the power of this word shines in! And every human nervous-sensory system—every human head, so to speak—is the small, miniature image of what, translated into the language of the fire beings, means: “Receive lovingly the power of the divine will.” This phrase, “Receive the loving power of the divine will,” is what works within the highest cosmic substances, and what—as a human being undergoes their development between death and a new birth—transforms what they carry out through the gate of death into what will later become the human nervous and sensory organs.

[ 45 ] Musculoskeletal System

Gnome Chorus: Strive to stay awake!

[ 46 ] Metabolic Organization

Undinen: Think with your mind!

[ 47 ] Rhythmic System

Sylphen: Live a creative, vibrant life!

[ 48 ] Nervous and Sensory System

Fire Element: Receive the loving power of the gods!

[ 49 ] Thus you can see how that which lies beyond the threshold is part of our nature, how it leads us into the creative divine powers, into that which acts and lives in everything else. One is tempted to say, when recalling all that a bygone age longed for, and what lies in the words that I

See all the power of action and the seeds
And stop rummaging through words—

[ 50 ] This must be realized in the course of humanity’s development and evolution. Otherwise, we merely rummage through all knowledge in words if we do not look into the seed forces that build up human beings in the most diverse ways.

[ 51 ] So that we can say: the musculoskeletal system, the metabolic system, the rhythmic system, and the nervous-sensory system form a unity that converges as the call resounds from below: “Strive to awaken”; “Think in the spirit”—and from above, mingling with these ascending words, comes the other: “Live a creative, breathing existence”; “Receive the loving power of the divine will.”

[ 52 ] This “Receive the loving power of the divine will”—that is the force that works calmly within the head. Specifically, the “Think in the Spirit” that strives upward from below, and the “Live a Creative, Breathing Existence” that flows down from above—these are the forces that, in their interplay, weave and live in such a way that they create an image of themselves in the manner in which human breathing flows into human activity in the blood, flowing rhythmically. And what is implanted in us through the sense organs is that which flows down from above: “Receive lovingly the power of the divine will.” But that which is at work in our walking, in our standing, in the movement of our arms and hands—that which leads human beings, in general, to the full expression of their will—resounds in the words “Strive to be awake.”

[ 53 ] So you can see how human beings are a harmonious expression of that World Word, which, at its lowest level—as I have described to you—can be interpreted in this way. This World Word then ascends to the higher hierarchies, which must unfold something else besides the World Word so that the cosmos may come into being and take shape. But what these elemental beings have, so to speak, called forth into the world is the final echo of what the creative, formative, and shaping World Word is—the Word that underlies all activity and all existence.

Gnomes:
You dream yourself into being
And shy away from awakening.

I hold the root essence power—
It creates my physical form for me

Undines:
You conceive the works of the angels
And do not know it.

I move the water’s growth force
It forms my life substance

Sylphs:
The creative power shines upon you,
You have no inkling of it;
You feel its power
And do not live it.

I draw in the airy life force
It fills me with the power of being

Beings of Fire
The will of the gods acts upon you,
You do not receive it;
You wish to use its power
And push it away from you.

I kindle the striving power of fire,
It redeems me in the spirituality of the soul.

Chorus of Gnomes:
Strive to awaken!

Undines:
Think in spirit!

Sylphs:
Live a creative, breathing existence!

Fire Beings:
Receive the power of the divine will with love!