The Rudolf Steiner Archive

You will have understood from the former lectures, that when we gaze at the planetary system, at the starry heavens, our physical vision only perceives “ maya,” the great illusion. We only reach the reality, the actual facts, when we gradually attain knowledge of the spiritual beings at work in the various heavenly bodies. We were obliged, first of all, to make the attempt in these studies to learn about the individual spiritual beings at work in cosmic space, in the stellar system; to know these spiritual beings as such; in other words, we had to become acquainted with the various beings of the three hierarchies standing above man. You will have noticed that we have approached the beings of these Hierarchies by pointing out the ways in which occult consciousness actually penetrates to a sort of perception of those beings who, in the super-sensible world, are directly or even indirectly, exalted above man. We tried, as it were, to follow an inner, a mystic-esoteric way, in order to gain some idea, a purely spiritual-psychic idea, of the character of the beings of the higher hierarchies. Only in the last lecture did we try to turn a little from the inner to the outer, so to speak, and to show how through a cooperation of a duality in the hierarchies—in the really normal beings and the Luciferic beings of the hierarchies—the actual external form of the stars visible to the senses have come into being. I should now like, before proceeding further with the occult, esoteric, mystical consideration, to seek a way from another side, namely, that which is connected with the ordinary consciousness, and which again brings us to the paths we followed in the former lectures. In any case we shall have to refer to much in the earlier lectures in considering this more external way, which starts from the facts known to normal consciousness.

When with our ordinary normal consciousness we look out into cosmic space, we discover, first of all, heavenly bodies of various kinds. These have indeed been differentiated and described by external materialistic astronomy. Today we will devote our attention to that which is, to a certain extent, visible to the external consciousness in a planetary system. There we have the planets themselves, with the fixed star, the Sun, as their ruler; and circling the planets we have their moons (speaking of our earth we have our own moon)—and within the planetary system we also have those remarkable stars, which are so difficult for the external consciousness to place in the collective picture of the system—the meteoric and cometary bodies. We will, to begin with, look away from everything else in the stellar systems, and fix our attention upon the following quaternary in a planetary system: the planets, the fixed stars, the moons, and the comets. Let us be quite clear concerning the obvious fact, that to the ordinary normal consciousness, only the planet itself and, indeed, only the particular planet on which the normal consciousness functions, is perceptible. Thus to the earth-dweller the Earth is the planet. To the normal consciousness all the rest is at first only observable in its most external nature. With the hypotheses given us by the occult-esoteric methods we will now pass on to this external classification which the normal consciousness provides. We have already classified man himself, in the ranks of the beings who stand, as it were, above him, as on the lowest step of the ladder of the hierarchies. We then ascended to the three categories of the Third Hierarchy, and described the beings known to western esotericism as Angels or Angeloi, Archangels, and Archai. Standing above these as the Second Hierarchy, we have those beings we have described as Spirits of Form, Spirits of Motion, Spirits of Wisdom; and above these again the Spirits of Will or Thrones, the Cherubim, and the Seraphim. Only when we thus fix our attention upon the ranks of the spiritual beings—the steps, as it were, of the ladder of the different beings of the Hierarchies, do we bring the earth relations to our esoteric consciousness. Indeed, if as we have seen, we wish fully to consider man and everything which appertains to him on this planet, we must think of him in relation to all these beings. We saw, in the last lecture, that the phenomena of man and his planet are not to be spiritually explained, unless we fix our attention on these beings. We have seen from man to the Spirits of the Age, we are concerned with beings who, in the first place, play their part in the human, historical process of civilisation; so that we must regard the beings of the Third Hierarchy as bringing man himself forward, step by step, in his earth-development, and as leading the progress of civilisation. Further, we have seen that while these beings of the Third Hierarchy remain above, certain of their offspring, which we have called the nature-spirits, descend into the world of nature, and work there. We have also seen that when we turn our attention to the planets themselves they cannot be explained unless we think of their forms as determined by the Spirits of Form; their inner mobility and activity by the Spirits of Motion, and their consciousness by the Spirits of Wisdom. This only refers to the inner part of the planet, the inner part of the earth, that part of it which belongs to man. We have further seen that if only beings up to the rank of the Spirits of Wisdom were active, the planet would be still. The fact that it moves, and has an impulse to movement, we must ascribe to the Spirits of Will; and the regulation of the movement in the whole planetary system, we must ascribe to the Cherubim. We have thus put together the whole planetary system; for while the movements of the individual planets are so ordered that together they comprise the system, it must be presumed that the whole is directed from the fixed stars. And in the Seraphim, we have that which speaks from the

Seraphim
Cherubim

Thrones
Spirits of Wisdom

Spirits of Motion
Spirits of Form

Spirits of the Age
Archangels

Angels
Man

planetary system to cosmic space, to the neighboring planetary system. We could compare this with the fact that men do not live for themselves alone, or simply in a social connection—which could be compared with the directing of the Spirits of Will—but that men understand one another by their speech. So, in a similar way there is mutual understanding between one planetary system and another by means of the Seraphim. They are, as it were, to the whole system, that which corresponds to the speech which draws men together, holds them together, and leads them to agreement. The Seraphim carry messages from one planetary system to another, and give information of what takes place in one planetary system to the other system. Through this means the world of planetary systems is integrated and forms a whole.

We were obliged to instance these successive grades the Beings of the Hierarchies, for all the forces and activities proceeding from these Hierarchies are perceptible in the collective phenomena of man on his planet. Occult vision teaches us that, just as this whole system of beings has to do with the Earth-planet, so in like manner a similar system belongs to other planets. When man, with all the means at his disposal, directs his occult vision to the other planets of our own planetary system he finds that the same experiences that we make when as human beings, we approach the Cherubim, Seraphim, or Thrones, we make also with regard to other planets. In other words, everything which I have described as necessary in order that we may raise ourselves to a being of the rank of Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, in so far as they cooperate in the occurrences of the earth-planet—all this we find when we direct our spiritual vision to Saturn, or to other planets our system. Exactly in the same way must we proceed as far down as the Spirits of Motion. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Spirits of Wisdom;—thus far the results for occult vision are the same for all the individual planets of our Planetary System, whether we direct our observation to Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, or Venus, we find the same results if we fix our attention on the activities of these particular beings. On the other hand, we no longer find the same results for the other planets of our system, as regards the activity of the Spirits of Motion and the Spirits of Form. In other words, if we try to direct our occult vision to another planet—to Mars, for instance—and ask ourselves: How do the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom work upon Mars? The answer is: They work there just as upon our earth. But if we ask the same question with regard to the Spirits of Motion and Form, this is no longer the case. The activities of these two categories of higher hierarchies differ from one another as regards the individual planets, We must make this distinction: Every planet of our Planetary System has its own Spirit of Form, its own Spirit of Motion.

Now we can also direct our occultly developed vision to the Sun itself, the fixed star. If we wish to know the fixed star in its own being, we must be careful that in our observation of it we do not confuse it with what, in the main, has significance, not for the fixed star, but for its surrounding planets. Let us understand correctly. In a previous lecture I stated that all these beings of the higher Hierarchies down to the Spirits of Form, actually work together in the cosmic system as a sort of Council having its residence in the Sun; that the Sun is actually the center of activity of all these spirits. Now when it is stated that Mars, for instance, has its own Spirit of Form, likewise has Jupiter, and also the earth, we must if we wish to speak in picture (and in relation to these exalted conditions everything is more or less a picture) we must imagine that although actually the seat, the center, of the activities of the Spirits of Form of Mars and Jupiter and so on, is always the Sun; that they work from there, from the fixed star; yet their sphere of action on Mars is, so to speak, allotted to the Spirits of Form from the Sun. They work upon Mars from the Sun; other Spirits of Form work upon the Earth, others upon Jupiter. That which they perform is an activity for the benefit of the whole system. Now we will not ask what is accomplished from the Sun, from the fixed star, for the benefit of the planets; but rather what takes place in the realm of the fixed star itself for its own beings, for the actual evolution of the beings belonging to the fixed star.

Thus, if we direct our gaze to the fixed star, we must say: Life upon the fixed star is so exalted, so grand and mighty, that the beings developing there can only associate with beings of the sublimity of the Seraphim, Cherubim. Thrones, and Spirits of Wisdom; while the Spirits of Motion and Form who are going through their evolution upon the fixed star itself, are powerless to do anything for its evolution. They are not of sufficiently exalted rank; they, who are of such immense importance for the humanity of the planets, are of no importance to the fixed star; they are powerless to work upon its development. Thus if we fix our attention on the being of the planet, and look away from the humanity dwelling upon it—on our earth—we can say: In so far as the planet has its place in the solar system, all ranks of beings down to the Spirits of Form have an influence on its development. Down to the Spirits of Wisdom we have to reckon the sphere of influence upon the fixed stars; down to the Spirits of Form the sphere of influence upon the planets.

Now within the planetary system there still remain two cosmic bodies, the moon and the comets and the question now is: How do these cosmic bodies present themselves to occult vision? If directed to the moon, which revolves round our earth, what forms of activity does occult vision find there?

Occult vision finds upon the moon nothing of that which is developed as human life upon the earth. An evolution resembling the human is not to be found upon the moon. Nor is there anything to be found upon it, as regards its evolution, which can be compared to our animal kingdom. Neither of these is to be found by occult vision upon our moon. It would, of course, be trivial and superfluous to say that no human beings incorporated in flesh perambulate the moon, or such animals as are to be met with upon the earth; when an occultist uses such expressions he means something essentially different. It certainly might be possible for something resembling the higher principles of human nature (the human ego, or astral body) to be in existence under other conditions on a cosmic body, and there go through a development without being incarnated in a human fleshly or etheric body. That is conceivable—and such conditions really do exist. It is conceivable that an evolution in a spiritual sense might take place upon the moon without the external embodiment, the external stamp of the beings resembling those of man; but it does not happen to be the case. Nothing like human history, like a development of beings who might even psychically resemble man or our animals, exists upon the moon. Even if we ascend from man to the beings we have called the first spiritual leaders of mankind, whom we have described as Angels in the ranks of the hierarchies, we do not find their evolution upon the moon. We find there no form of activity, no forces, such as those which proceed from the intervention upon earth of the Angels, or the Angeloi. We have described somewhat exactly what these beings have to do for mankind upon the earth. No such intervention takes place on the moon. Nowhere do we find traces of any human or animal activity, or any such as we could attribute to the Angels. But if we go further and fix our attention on the forces by means of which the Archangels forward human evolution and if we then turn our occult sight to the moon, strange to say we find these forces existing there. Occult vision finds there as active forces in existence on the moon the same forces which it encounters when, in contemplating the earth evolution, it looks upon the development of a people through its Folk-soul, through its Archangel. The Archangel who spiritually guides the lives of nations is present in his special characteristic as forces and speaks to us when we focus our spiritual sight upon the moon. When we fix our attention upon the nature of those spiritual beings whom we designate as the Archai or Spirits of the Age, the beings who take charge of and lead earthly evolution from one epoch to another—for instance, from the Egyptian civilisation to the Greek, or from the Greek to our own—if we acquire an occult vision of the forces which rule in the guidance of evolution by the Spirit of the Age, we find again these same distinctive forces when we look upon that which meets our gaze from the moon. So, just as we could, for the planet, designate for its sphere the beings of the higher hierarchies as far as the Spirits of Form, so can we also set limits to the sphere of the Moon and say: The sphere of the Moon extends as far as the Archangels.

Now, before we continue to study the results of occult investigation as we have done before, it will be useful for our further consideration if, from the point of view of occultism, we further compare the moon and planets and the fixed star. In undertaking such a comparison, it is necessary, in the first place, to acquire the right ideas of what exists in man himself and especially in his physical body, in a way not taken into account by the ordinary materialistic anatomy and physiology. What does the ordinary anatomist of today do when he investigates a physical body? Well, he takes a piece of the liver, let us say, then a piece of nerve or brain substance as contiguous substances; these he investigates side by side, comparing the one with the other in a purely external way. The ordinary materialistic anatomist or physiologist does not take into consideration the fact that when we have before us a piece of brain-substance and a piece of liver-substance, we have absolutely different things. In one part of the human body we have something upon which the higher bodies, the super-sensible principles, work in quite a different way from how they do on another part. Thus, for instance, a portion of brain substance is so constituted that the whole structure, the whole formation could not arise if this substance had not been worked upon, not only by the etheric body, but also by an astral body. The astral body permeates and works upon the brain-substance, and there is nothing in the brain-substance or the nerve-substance upon which the astral body, in cooperation with the etheric body, does not work. Take on the other hand a portion of the liver, you must imagine that the liver is also permeated by the astral body, but that it does nothing for the liver, takes no part in the inner organisation of the liver. On the other hand, the etheric body takes a very essential part in the organisation and structure of the liver. The different organs in man are in reality very different from each other. We can only study the liver when we know that in it the etheric body with its forces plays the chief part, and that the astral body, though it certainly permeates the liver as water does a sponge, has no special share in its formation or inner configuration. We can only picture the brain-substance as something in which the astral body has essentially the largest share, and the etheric body only a lesser one. Again, in the whole structure of the blood-system, even to the framework of the heart, the ego has its essential part, whilst in the organisation of nerve-substance as such, for instance, the ego takes no part at all—not to mention the other organs. Thus, when we consider the physical body of man in the occult sense, not in the sense of mere formulae, we have in its various organs, things, beings of quite different value, of quite different essence, altogether of quite different nature. We may say that what in man is his liver or his spleen depends upon higher principles at work within it. Liver and spleen are very different organs; the astral body has, in a very special manner, a strong share in the spleen, whilst it has hardly any share in the liver. All these things will at some time have to he studied; and indeed at no very distant date, by the physiologists and anatomists, because gradually facts will come to light in the materialistic descriptions of the organs of men, animals and plants, which would have no sense at all if only compared as though they were peas and beans, as external anatomy and physical science does to-day. How something in the world and in man stands to the spirit, represents its true nature. And as in man, so it is in the heavenly system. A moon is quite different from a planet or fixed star. We have already seen that the relation of the beings of the higher hierarchies are different as regards the Sun from what they are in regard to the moon or the planets; consequently we must fix our attention on the following in order to describe these differences. Suppose we could take out of a planetary system—as if we peeled them off—all the moons of the individual planets: that is to say thought away for a moment the fixed star itself and the planets, till we have only the moons remaining in the planetary system. If occult vision were so directed that it only observed the moons—everything which is moon within the planetary system, everything in which the forces, as far down as the Archangels, are the same as upon our earth in the successive evolution of humanity—we should then gain a very definite impression; we should have a very definite occult experience.

We might repeat this occult experience a second time. Anyone with trained occult vision can, if he has sufficient will-power, think away the fixed star and the planets from the planetary system so that only the moons remain (that is to say, he must fix his attention only upon that for which he has prepared himself). He must then seek for something else from which he has the same impression as that connected with all the moons of a planetary system. Precisely the same impression as is made upon one by visualizing all the moons, is also made on one who looks at a human corpse, a physical body, the bearer of which has recently passed through the gate of death. Although these things appear externally as absolutely different, what appears to natural science as an external difference is Maya. The impression made upon our occult vision when we, as human beings, stand thus with regard to all the moons of a planetary system on the one hand, and on the other stand before a physical body left behind, deserted by the astral and etheric bodies is one and the same. From this arises the occult knowledge that in the moons that are continually coming into existence the planetary system is gradually forming its own corpse within itself. All the moons of a system which are continually being formed will constitute the corpse of a planetary system. The difference with regard to man is, that at the moment when he, with his being, passes into the condition in which the planetary system is when it forms its moons, he then rejects his corpse; while the planetary system keeps the corpse within itself, binds it together, and condenses the dying matter into moons. Thus it is as though man, when he goes through the gates of death, were not to lay aside his physical body, but were to form it into some sort of organ, and by a certain power within him, drag it about with him. A planetary system actually drags about its own corpse, and indeed a continually changing corpse, in its moons; a corpse which is in the process of becoming, which is in the course of evolution.

Now let us direct our occult vision to the fixed star, thus in our case, to the Sun, and try to gain an impression of the fixed star in the way described for the totality of the moons and planets. If we notice the impression made by the forces active in the fixed star, we can find something in the earth conditions themselves which can call up a similar impression. This again is somewhat difficult, because this time we have to do with the plants, and we cannot reach the whole plant-world of our earth. But comparatively speaking it will suffice if we fix our occult gaze upon a certain number of forms, of plant-forms, and gain the occult impression of that which works and lives in the plants; if we allow that to work upon our vision, it recalls the impression we received from the inner development of the fixed star.

The differences certainly become ever greater and greater. The resemblance of a human corpse after death with the totality of the moons, is really very striking as regards the occult impression. This resemblance is also pronounced in the impressions made by the planetary world and the fixed star upon man. The resemblance is clearly present, but it is no longer so great as that between the discarded physical human body and the totality of the moons. But the resemblance becomes infinitely greater if we now demand from occult vision something special; namely, when we have gained an impression of a number of plant-forms, we must look away from these plants which we have observed with occult vision look away from the physical plant-bodies and make use of those means which the practical occultist uses when he observes the etheric bodies of the plants. We thus make an additional observation. We have noted the impression we gained from the fixed star; we then seek the similar though not yet satisfactory impression which we gain from a number of plants. We go further; we abstract the external form of the plant and allow the etheric body which is within the plant to work upon us. The resemblance then increases and becomes almost as complete as that between the physical corpse of a man and the totality of the moons. Occult perception then realizes that when we look up to the fixed star, what we perceive as working in the fixed star is the etheric body of the planetary system; for we actually gain the impression of an etheric body. We understand the impression which the fixed star makes upon us when we observe the etheric body of the plants, where it works as yet unmixed with an astral body, where only the etheric body works, in cooperation with the physical body. We then gain the knowledge that when we look at the fixed star, we actually see the etheric body of the planetary system raying down from it. We can now say: In the moons we have the corpse of the planetary system, in the totality of the planets we have its body, its physical body; and in the fixed star itself, raying out from it, we have the etheric body of the planetary system. In fact, the possibility of occult vision clinging to the dead paper-mache ideas upon which all physical astronomy is based, soon ceases; for this vision everywhere recognizes that the whole planetary system is permeated by life, and is a living organism. Indeed a continual stream of etheric life flows from the fixed star to the outermost boundary of the system, and back again. We have continually to do with life-forces (as in living animal and plant bodies) which appear centered—I say that now by way of comparison—centered in the fixed star—as the life of the animal is centered—let us say—in the heart; or as plant-life is centered in the various organs which regulate the rising and failing of the sap. In short, we have to do with a center of the planetary system, which we must seek in the fixed star.

It must not for a moment be supposed that in the whole planetary system there is nothing besides that which we have now called corpse, physical body, and etheric body; for of course every part is permeated by the beings of the various Hierarchies. Naturally there are spiritual-psychic forces everywhere and we need only grasp the fact that within the system are the Spirits of the Age, the Archangels and the Luciferic Beings; they all belong to it. We have now discovered in the planetary system the corpse, the physical body and the etheric body. From what we have now heard we can, of course, say that everywhere within the system there is also astral substance, which is organized into beings; for there is astral substance, even in the beings of the higher hierarchies.

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If I draw a planetary system with its Sun, we can so indicate a comet passing through it, that its track crosses the system. Physical astronomy says that the comet comes from very, very far away. When the beginning of a thing cannot be traced, it is easy to say that it comes from very, very far away. So physical astronomy also says—the comet comes from very far away and it also returns to a very great distance. Now because certain comets return periodically, physical astronomy cannot think otherwise than that these comets come from far away, pass through our system and again disappear; follow a very long path in cosmic space, and then come back again. Materialistic astronomy cannot imagine anything else. Occult vision shows us, that, however, as a matter of fact, just about when the comet disappears from physical sight, it dissolves, and continues its way through a world not limited to the ordinary three dimensions of space; it no longer exists in the ordinary world. It actually disappears on the one side and appears again on the other. This is a conception of which, naturally, the materialistic astronomy can make no use; it cannot conceive that a comet, when it again reappears, has not been in existence in the meantime. The Anthroposophist should be able to understand something of such things; for he knows, for example, that the succession of physical bodies of the human incarnations, form a complete whole in certain respects, from the force-aspect; and yet they are not connected physically. Thus, in short, with the exception of a few comets which really have long-drawn elliptical orbits, the comets for the most part are so formed that they come in at the one side and disappear at the other, and when they reappear they have formed themselves anew. Why? Because as a comet approaches, it exercises a power of attraction—it is, at first, merely a sort of spiritual force center; this center attracts all the harmful astral streams, develops them round itself and thus takes on form. We shall hear in the next lecture why it has a tail and a nucleus under the influence of this drawing-up of harmful astral matter. It attracts more and more of this around it, as it passes through the planetary system. In its journey towards the other side it draws this along with it, until it gets beyond the region of the planetary system, when it casts it out into cosmic space. Then the center of force builds itself again at the other pole without needing three-dimensional space, once more takes up the harmful matter and throws it out on the other side. Thus we must regard cometary life as something which continually works as a thunder storm in the planetary system, cleansing it. By the passage of a comet through the planetary system an effort is made to discharge from it the injurious matters which have been called forth in the system by the harmful astral radiations of the beings. Thus we have something in the cometary life of which we cannot, as in the physical and etheric bodies, find an analogy in man himself. The physical body of the planetary system is the totality of the planets. The etheric body is that which, raying out from the fixed star, streams through the system; but in physical man it is not the case that he carries his corpse about with him, as the planetary system does. On the other hand, it has an arrangement for getting rid of the evil astral matter by means of its comets.

Now if we study what exists in the comet only as maya, yet which is active within it as force, it is extremely difficult to connect with it what we have learnt in the course of these lectures. I have described to you, for example, how one may ascend to the Thrones, and how this can only be done by studying the human will. If this study is undertaken with occult means, one can raise oneself up to the Thrones. But in the comets there is nothing at all to be found, either of the Spirits of Wisdom or the Thrones. We find in the comets nothing which would be attainable by any other than those occult methods which I mentioned in former lectures. These are such methods as proceed from the fact that we study a man who is not merely a thinking, feeling and willing human being, but one who can give us a special impression. We described how this impression can be obtained by allowing ourselves to be influenced by a man who has behind him decades of rich experience of life; whose wisdom, as an extract of all this experience, makes an impression upon us and does more than can be done by arguments of a logical or more rational sort. The actual power of conviction of the wisdom derived from human experience, is so impressive that, developed by occult vision, the spiritual can actually be seen through it; that first gives our occult vision an idea of the Cherubim. If we further school this occult vision on the direct convincing effect of the unspoken wisdom and strength of such a man, whereby what he has gained through his experience of life is displayed in his eyes, we then gain an understanding of the impression we need for the sphere of the Seraphim. But the impression which we can thus obtain does not yet lead us to the observation of the spiritual behind the comets. All this is of no avail for an occult study of the comets. Only the two methods leading to the Cherubim and Seraphim can give us an elucidation of the comets. The sphere of the comets extends to the sphere of the Cherubim. We must therefore first know what is the nature of the Cherubim and Seraphim, in order to understand the substance and movement of the comets. The evolution of the comets is therefore dependent upon the beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Cherubim; the evolution of the fixed star is dependent on the beings of the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Wisdom; the evolution of the planet itself, apart from the human being who dwells upon it, is dependent upon the forces proceeding from the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Form; and that which works on the moon is dependent on the forces which proceed from the higher hierarchies down to the Archangels. Thus we have described the life of a planetary system from various sides, and can build further upon this foundation in the subsequent lectures. To be sure, we must specially note that we can never grasp these matters by means of merely mechanical definitions. How often has it been said that every microcosm corresponds to a macrocosm! We may call man a microcosm, a solar system in miniature; but if we wish to point out the correspondence, we must not stop at these abstract assertions, but must proceed so far with the concrete connection that one realizes that such mechanical descriptions have but an approximate value in the world. If we begin by describing the microcosmic man from the physical body upwards, as the being standing immediately before us, we must in the planetary system begin by describing the corpse, and must also find in the physical system the substances of the cometary bodies, which are the external expression for the purifying astral thunder-storms in the planetary system.

It will be well at the very beginning of today's lecture to speak of how far what we considered yesterday relation to its parts, at least in reference to some of parts, the physical world-system, the physical cosmos, is of significance to man's outlook, to his perception and knowledge. We spoke yesterday of the life of the comet, of the life of the fixed star—the solar life; of the life the moon—the lunar life; and of the planetary life. In speaking of these heavenly bodies from the standpoint of ordinary consciousness, we naturally refer to the heavenly bodies visible to our eyes. Now in the course of our lectures we have, so to say, substituted something else for this system of heavenly bodies; we have substituted the study of the corresponding spiritual beings whom we have recognized as members of the various hierarchies. Perhaps what has actually been said will be made still clearer if we state the following: We found the category of beings standing immediately above man to be the Angeloi, or Angel-beings; we have also shown how, if a man really wishes to obtain a view of the spiritual super-sensible world, he must, in a sense, organize himself up to these beings next above him; must, as it were, learn to see the world with the kind perception possessed by the Angels. Now we can raise the question: if such a being of the next higher category, in the ranks of the hierarchies acquires a consciousness of the cosmos through his perception—which we call manifestation—how does the cosmos appear to him? If this question is answered what I intended to convey will be clearer to us. Such an Angel-being would really see outside in the cosmos nothing of all we see, and which as we know is Maya, an illusion only called up by our human view. An Angel-being would see nothing of all this in the same way as we do; we must be quite clear as to this. But the Angel-being would instead see and perceive in his own way, in the manner described, the various cooperative activities between the beings of the hierarchies. Instead of saying, “Over there is Mars,” he would say: “Over there cooperate (in the way we have described) certain beings of the higher hierarchies.” This means that to those beings, to the Angels or Angeloi, the whole cosmic system directly appears as a sum of spiritual activities. How then would the planets and other bodies visible to our eyes appear to such a being? We may venture to speak of these matters, for indeed we could not speak at all of the whole super-sensible world which lies behind the planetary system, the heavens or cosmos, were we not able, through occult schooling, to translate ourselves to some extent into the consciousness of such a being. For clairvoyance simply means calling forth within us the possibility of seeing the world as such beings see it. Thus to clairvoyant consciousness those forms, those light-forms visible to ordinary sight as the heavenly bodies, actually disappear; they are no longer there. On the other hand, clairvoyant consciousness gains, and so too does the consciousness of an Angel-being, an impression of that which corresponds to the physical heavenly body. Clairvoyant consciousness cannot perceive the Moon or Mars as they appear to a dweller upon Earth, seen physically; but it is nevertheless able to know what exists there. I should now like to call up within you an idea of the kind of knowledge clairvoyant consciousness has of such a heavenly body.

You can gain an idea of this, at first theoretically—for occult training can alone provide the practical knowledge—if you call up in your mind a memory-picture, a recollection, a picture-concept of what you experienced yesterday or the day before. This picture concept which lies in your soul, differs from the picture-concept of an object which is immediately before your eyes. You only look at that with the necessary intensity. If you remember this rose tomorrow, you will have a memory picture of it. Now if you clearly realise that in your mind, in your soul, the mere memory-picture differs from that which arises as a perception-picture through a direct impression, it will then be possible for you to understand how clairvoyant consciousness perceives the heavenly bodies. Thus it transports itself clairvoyantly into the cosmos, and if, for instance, it transports itself into Mars, into the Moon, it does not know directly what would appear to sight if one were to observe the heavenly body physically, but by thus transporting itself it has something within it which cannot he described other than as a memory-picture, a thought-picture. And so it is with everything which our ordinary normal consciousness encounters as physical heavenly bodies in the cosmos. To clairvoyant consciousness everything appears in such a way that we have a direct knowledge that whatever we see there is actually something past, something which has had complete life in the past, and which, as it appears in the present, is not really in its original, living form, but is—so to speak—like a snail-shell from which the snail has gone. The whole physical system of heavenly bodies is a testimony of past times, telling of past occurrences. Whereas we, on our earth, are contemporary with the things which appear before our physical eyes, what we see in the starry heavens is actually Maya, for it does not represent an existing condition, but had its full significance in the past, and has remained behind. The physical world of heavenly bodies represents the remains of the past activities of the corresponding beings of the hierarchies, the after-effects of which still enter into the present.

Let us examine the matter still more closely by means of a concrete example. When we observe our own earth-moon by clairvoyant consciousness (which has withdrawn from everything else and, so to speak, fixed itself only upon the moon) we get the remarkable impression that the external physical moon disappears, and in its place something appears which gives the impression of being like a memory-picture. One has the impression that that which otherwise appears to the physical eye (and which, of course, is there physically, though everything physical is a Maya) gives the impression of telling of a past, just like a memory-picture. And if we allow this impression which begins to tell us past things to work upon us, it says: “If that which now actually appears to our occult vision were to be active, if its activity were not paralyzed by other things, our earth in its present form could not have endured the proximity of what we see there.” To our occult consciousness the moon tells of something which should not take place as it shows itself there, if our earth-life is to be at all possible. If that which is there represented to us were not now paralyzed, so to speak, by other things, man could not possibly live his present life, because of what the moon tells us about herself. On the other hand, the present-day animal life on the earth, nor the plant life, nor the activity in the mineral world would be specially influenced. Certain beings of the animal and plant kingdoms would certainly have to be quite different in form—that we know direct from the forces which work upon us from the moon with such vehemence—but substantially, though animal, plant, and mineral life upon the earth would be possible, human life would not. Thus the moon as we see her, tells of a condition which, if it were active, would exclude human life from the earth.

I am trying to describe these things as concretely as possible, as seen by occult vision; I do not wish to speak in abstractions, which would enable me to relate all sorts of things; I only wish to relate things as they appear to occult vision. The impression one then receives can only be compared with the following:—If—let us say—all the ideas a man of thirty had when he was fifteen years old were suddenly to arise within him, and all the concepts which he had been able to work into his soul since his fifteenth year were to cease, the inner soul-life of his fifteenth year would then be represented to his own consciousness, as it were, objectively; but he would be obliged to say: “If I now had within me only what was contained in my soul at that time, I could not think all I now think. The condition of soul in which I now am would not be possible.” Man would find himself forced back to his fifteenth year and he would see clearly that, although what he then experienced as the content of his soul could not bring about his present-day self, yet it has to do with what he has become. In this way we can in a certain sense describe the impression we receive from the moon. We can say: “Before us is something which really points to no present, but speaks of a past. Just as if I, in my thirtieth year, could only perceive the contents of my soul at my fifteenth year if I think away everything which has developed within me since, so must I now think away the possibility that there really is an earth; for the earth as it is now, comprising the requirements of human life, is not possible if that which is represented by the moon were to be realized. Now as soon as this impression appears to clairvoyant vision, it is then possible so to school this vision that we can gain an idea, a conception, of what existed before an earth could possibly exist. For what we there see was possible before the earth, and that which later led to the production of the earth only became possible after the condition thus perceived had disappeared.

You see, I have now described what the clairvoyant must do to travel back in the Akashic Chronicles to an earlier condition of our planetary system; for by fixing occult vision upon the moon, we have recalled an earlier condition of our planetary system. If we now try to describe that, we can speak of the condition of our planetary system before our present earth existed. And because we must so proceed that we can only learn about conditions before the origin of our present earth by fixing our attention on what has remained upon the moon as a sort of memory—we have also become accustomed to call the preceding condition of our earth, a moon-condition. We can, however, only gain a complete elucidation of the whole circumstances if we leave the clairvoyant state which we have developed for the purpose of obtaining a sort of memory-picture of the planetary condition, and passing from this into the ordinary condition of consciousness try to make clear to ourselves wherein the difference lies. The difference is ascertained by trying to bring the two impressions into a sort of harmony; and this bringing into harmony is only possible by first looking away from the moon; for the ordinary external vision of normal consciousness does not tell us much about the moon. You know indeed that external astronomy tries to tell us all sorts of things about the moon, but external observation in general does not tell us much. Rather for the sake of comparison we must make use of a certain clairvoyant observation of our own earth as it is at present, as a heavenly body upon which we ourselves wander. If we shut off everything physical which appears before our eyes in the various kingdoms of nature and observe our earth clairvoyantly, we see that this earth beneath our feet and around us, as a physical planet, discloses itself as a further development of what existed as the moon. When we compare the two impressions, we may ask: How has the one condition grown out of the other? And then arises before clairvoyant vision, so to speak, the work which has been accomplished in order that the old condition of our earth might pass over into our present earth condition. We then have the impression that this transition has been brought about by one or several of those spiritual beings, whom, in the ranks of the hierarchies, we have called the Spirits of Form. Thus do we gain a possibility of penetrating into the growth of the planet, into its earlier conditions. The question now is: Can we look back still further?

We must go into these considerations, for only by so doing shall we understand in the right sense the spiritual beings who participate in the work on these heavenly bodies.

As a second attempt of occult observation we must once more look away from our earth—and also from our moon, from all that is of the moon-nature in the whole planetary system; and as far as we can, transfer ourselves into the conditions of one or several of the other planets, and compare their conditions one with another. Now, I am referring to actual facts which can be apparent to our clairvoyant consciousness. Clairvoyant vision, even if perhaps not simultaneously (which the circumstances often do not permit) can be directed to other planets of our planetary system, can become aware of the impressions given by other planets of our system. If we thus observe a planet, or several together, we do not yet gain much, for we do not yet gain a clear conception of them; but we at once gain this if we proceed in a certain way with these clairvoyant impressions. I will once more give a comparison which will make clear what I actually mean. Suppose you were to remember something you experienced in your eighteenth year, and were to say to yourself. “In my eighteenth year I took up a standpoint with regard to this experience for which I was ripe at that time. I shall perhaps be clearer about the matter if I call to mind another experience. In my twenty-fifth year I experienced something else connected with the same fact—I will now compare the two impressions one with another.” Try to make clear to yourself what you can gain in life by comparing things which belong together but are apart from one another in time, and you then gain a general impression in which the one will always throw light on the other. By means of such a comparison you will actually call up and create a sort of arithmetical method, a quite new concept from the cooperation of your two memory-pictures. That is what the clairvoyant must do after succeeding in allowing his vision to be impressed—let us say—by Mars, Mercury, Venus, or Jupiter. He must now consider these separate impressions, not individually but in relation and connection with each other. He must let them work upon one another, bring them into relation with each other. If he undertakes this work he will gain the feeling that through the comparison of these impressions he again has something like a memory-concept of the planetary system. This again is not a condition possible at the present time, but one which must have been possible in the past; for it expresses itself as something which, as I described for the moon-condition, was the cause of that which now exists in the planetary system. Now the impression obtained in this way has really infinite peculiarities.

What must thus be related in what must seem to be very dry concepts, is really one of the most wonderful impressions one can possibly have, but here again, if we wish to describe the characteristics of this impression, we can only do so by means of a comparison. I must admit that I could not well endeavor to describe this impression in any other way. I do not know whether you ever had the following experience in ordinary physical life. No doubt there are times when you have been moved to weeping and sadness, in pity and sympathy for the beings around you in physical life. One may have yet another impression; certainly many among you know the impression which comes occasionally on reading an overwhelmingly arresting description in some work of art, or, for example, when you read a scene in a book of which you well know, if you would only consider a little, that there is no reality in it. Yet your tears flow abundantly; you do not stop to consider whether it is true or not, but you take that which is described into your thought and your perception, so that it works like a reality, and draws forth a flood of tears. Anyone who has had this experience has a faint conception of what is meant when it is said: “One is inspired by something spiritual, concerning which one has no opportunity of asking whether it is based on a physical reality; one is inspired to an impression about which one wants to know nothing, but which grieves one and throws one back upon oneself. It fills one inwardly, one is filled as by some normal act of perception of one's normal consciousness.” We must speak of such an impression if we are to describe the condition which overcomes us when we compare the impressions which clairvoyant consciousness receives from the individual planets. Everything we thus experience works through our inner being alone, like a soul-impression; we gain a quite definite idea of what an inspiration really is, when we know things for which the impulse of knowledge can only come from within. For instance, no one really understands the content of the Gospels unless he can compare the impressions they made on him with such an impression as has just been described. For the Gospels were written from inspiration, only one must go back to their original text. Even greater and more powerful is the impression received in the manner described through a comparison of the impressions made by the individual planets. This is the first thing I should like to say about this impression. The second thing is that we cannot gain this impression undisturbed and unchecked unless we are capable, at least for a few moments—in our present cycle of time scarcely anyone is capable of this for longer—of wholeheartedly feeling nothing but sympathy and love; of driving egotism utterly and completely out of the soul; for the smallest degree of egotism united with this impression immediately works deadeningly; and in place of what I have described, we immediately reach a kind of stupefaction, a deadening of the consciousness. Our consciousness is then immediately darkened. It is therefore one of the most blessed experiences to have such an impression.

If we are fortunate enough to have it, something very peculiar occurs. The sun, as such, no longer exists for our consciousness, no matter what we may do. Just as surely as the sun exists in our other conditions of consciousness, so it no longer exists in this. The sun ceases to be something apart from ourselves; but when we begin to find our way about, we gain the impression: “We have before us a condition in which a separate sun no longer has any meaning.” For we can only again have the whole which appears before our occult vision if we look away from our present-day planetary system, and only focus our occult gaze upon our present-day sun;—that is, when we extinguish the physical impression of the sun. We can best do this if we try to have the occult impression of the sun, not by day, but by night. Naturally the fact that at night the physical earth stands before the sun is no reason for the occult vision to have no impression of it, for though the physical earth is impenetrable by physical eyes, it is not so for occult sight. On the contrary, if we try in clear daylight to direct our occult vision to the sun, the disturbances are so great that we can scarcely succeed, without physical harm, in gaining a good occult impression of it. Hence in the ancient Mysteries it was never attempted to allow the scholars to gain an occult impression of the sun by day; they were taught that they might learn to know the sun in its peculiar nature when it is least visible to physical eyes, namely, at midnight. The pupils were taught to direct their occult vision to the sun, through the physical earth, precisely at midnight. Hence among the many descriptions of the ancient Mysteries, you find among other things, which for the most part are no longer understood today—the sentence in the Egyptian Mysteries, for instance: “The pupil must see the sun at midnight.”

What has not been brought forward by dilettantism, to explain by all sorts of nice, neat symbols, what is meant by “seeing the sun at midnight”? People as a rule have no idea that the things imparted in occult writings are most correctly understood if no endeavor is made to explain them by means of symbols, but are taken as literally as possible. The modern man, as a rule, only feels himself drawn to symbolic interpretations because the consciousness of to-day is no longer rightly organized for the understanding of these old facts. To those who reflect more closely it should be clear that in ancient writings it was the custom to speak accurately. I should like (in parenthesis as it were) to draw your attention to one thing which might have been added to the public lecture given yesterday, with reference to Kriemhilde.¹ It was stated that after Siegfried was dead, she took for herself the treasure of the Nibelung and did a great deal of good with it; but Hagen took it from her and threw it into the Rhine. When later on, in the kingdom of King Etzel she demanded it again of Hagen he did not disclose to her the place where it lay. You see, this passage is given circumstantially in the Nibelung Saga, in order to throw light on certain things. In the symbolical explanations of the Saga I have found intellectual and very brilliant interpretations supposed to elucidate what it all signifies. The treasure of the Nibelungs has a quite different meaning in them all. I admit that the intellectual labor brought to bear on such explanations is sometimes overwhelming;—the treasure of the Nibelungs is generally explained as being the symbol for something spiritual. But, in the first place, it is very difficult to heal the sick with mere symbols. In the second place one cannot conceal a symbol from any one, even from Kriemhilde, by throwing it into the Rhine; at least I cannot very well imagine a symbol of the sort many expounders allege this to be, being sunk in the Rhine. Altogether it is very difficult for me to imagine how a thing which is only to be symbolically explained, could be taken away from someone externally. Everyone who understands these things knows it was a question of something very special, something we should now call a talisman—an entirely physical talisman, which was compounded in such a way that it was entirely composed of gold. This gold was, however, only to be extracted from alluvial deposit left by the water in an estuary, and the whole power of this alluvial gold was compressed into the form—(and now comes the symbol)—into the form of this talisman, the effect of which on Kriemhilde produced in her the forces by which she could heal the sick, and so on. Hagen could actually conceal this talisman from her, and later, refuse to reveal the hiding place. Thus one has really to do with a physical thing, with a quite real thing; in which occult powers existed only through the special nature of its composition. I have given this as an example, to show you how one must often understand things in the old writings.

So we must take the expression “seeing the sun at midnight,” quite literally. Thus we can best acquire an occult impression of the sun if we are not disturbed by physical impressions; that is, if we see nothing of the sunlight at all but, observe the sun at night. We then gain an impression of the present-day sun, which to a very great extent resembles what is obtained by the impression previously described. Through all that I have described to you, there results an impression of a still earlier condition of our planetary system, to which our earth too belongs, a condition when the sun was not yet separated, but when the whole planetary system was, in a sense, Sun, and contained within it the substance of our earth. This condition, which at the same time was that of our earth, is therefore designated as the Sun-condition. So that we say. Before our earth became earth it was in a Moon-condition; before it was Moon it was in a Sun-condition.

An approximate repression of a yet earlier condition of our earth-planet can be obtained if we try to gain an occult impression of that category of heavenly bodies of which we spoke at the end of our last lecture the comets. To describe this more accurately would absorb too much of our time, but in method it is very like what has been already described. If we now compare what we gain through the occult perception of cometary life with the concept—(it is now a question of having to form a certain concept, for we cannot well compare the memory-concept thus obtained with anything at the present time) we receive an immediate impression—beyond this one cannot go—of having reached a condition lying still further back than the Sun-condition, which for certain reasons is called the Saturn condition. Thus you see that the inner experiences we may have about the planetary system, are decisive for the occultist for the concepts he forms concerning it.

We will now for a little while, leave the planetary system. Everything which I have till now brought forward, has been mentioned with the aim and object of culminating in a general description of the modes of action of the spiritual beings in the heavenly bodies. As, however, the heavenly bodies are, as it were, built up from the kingdoms of nature, we must also create, at least approximately, an idea from the standpoint of the occultist, of the immediate facts revealed to occult vision when we allow the separate kingdoms of nature to work upon us. Let us proceed to the consideration of the kingdoms of nature, beginning with man.

You know that when we observe man we find that he consists of physical body, etheric body, astral body, and what we call the “Ego-nature,” the “I” itself. Where is this four-membered human being to be found, according to anthroposophical observation? Well, this four-membered human being is in the physical world; for everything which has now been related of man takes place in the physical world. We will now pass over to the animal world. If we consider the animal, it is quite certain that we find the physical body of the animal in our ordinary sense-world, as we do that of man. Of that there can be no doubt. We must, however, also ascribe an astral and an etheric body to the animal; for we ascribe an etheric body to man in the physical world because it would not be possible for his physical body to exist alone in the physical world. This is evident directly a man passes through the gates of death. His physical body is then left alone in the physical world and falls to pieces; it is given over to its own forces. As long as man lives, there must be a combatant present to carry on a perpetual battle against the crumbling away of the physical body, and this combatant is the etheric body, which is really only visible to occult consciousness. The same circumstances also prevail in the animal, so that we must ascribe to it an etheric body in the physical world. Now because it is clear to us that facts and things not only affect man but mirror themselves in him, calling up something which we may call an inner reflection, we therefore ascribe to man an astral body; which is visible to occult vision. It is exactly the same in the case of the animal. Whereas the plant utters no cry when an external impression is made on it, the animal expresses itself in a cry, that is, an external impression produces an inner experience. Occult vision teaches us that this inner experience is only possible when an astral body is present.

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Yet to speak of an “ego” in the animal, as a phenomenon of the physical world, has no meaning except to certain modern natural-philosophers, who live entirely according to analogy. If one judged merely from analogy one can maintain all sorts of things. There are even certain theosophists today who were filled with respect when a certain well-known student of nature, Raoul France, ascribed a soul to plants, and did not differentiate between what we call a soul in the animal and in the plants. For instance he considered, and this is quite correct, that there are certain plants which, when a little insect comes near them, fold their leaves together so that they draw it in and devour it. This external observer then says to himself: “Wherever facts appear in nature externally, analogous to the taking in of nourishment and consuming it, there must be something resembling the beings which, from something of an inner soul-nature, take in such things and consume them.” Now I know something which also attracts little creatures, but to this the modern natural-philosopher would certainly not ascribe a soul; I mean a mouse-trap, baited with bacon. This also attracts little creatures, and if we proceed according to the methods of these nature-philosophers, then, just as they attribute a soul to the plant called “Venus's fly-trap” so must we attribute a soul to the mouse-trap, for it attracts mice when well baited with bacon.—All these investigators, who do not merely judge by the external, ought not to lose the longing which exists in many spiritually minded people, and he content if very little is said of the spirit.

In this connection, in German literature—as many say—much of beauty has been brought to light; but, as the occultist would say; “A great deal of nonsense has been talked.” just as little as we can speak of a soul-nature resembling the animal soul dwelling in the “Venus's fly-trap” or any other plant, can one with unbiased vision say of any animal, that it has an “ego.” The animal has no ego in that which meets us on the physical plane. Occult investigation could alone lead us to the ego of the animals; for this is not to be found in the same region as the ego of the human being. The animal ego is only to be found apart from the physical body; so that we actually become acquainted with a completely different world, when with occult vision, we ascend to the animal ego. If we do not care to make all kinds of diagrammatic divisions, and to begin by saying: The world consists of physical plane, astral plant, mental plane, etc., because there is not much to be gained by such verbal designations, we must then proceed in other ways. I have found even in theosophical books, a great deal said about the expression “Logos”; but I have not found any clear concept called forth of what the “Logos” really is. As a rule I found that the writers of these books only knew that this word “Logos” consists of five letters; but as soon as one tried to arrive at real definite concepts on which one could fix one's mind, the concepts disappeared in smoke. For by relating all sorts of things, such as that the Logos “spins,” etc., a consciousness desiring to be concrete does not know what to make of it. Whatever the “Logos” may be, a spider he certainly is not; neither can his activity be described as a web.

Thus, it is, not good to begin with abstractions, to call up concepts in speaking of things extending beyond the physical sphere of man. It is somewhat different when occult vision seeks in the animal, for that which in man reveals itself in the physical world in all the actions and proceedings of man, namely, the ego. If he seeks that for the animal, he will find it, not in the world in which are the physical, etheric, and astral bodies of the animal but in a super-sensible world, which appears nearest to the sense-world as soon as one draws aside the veil of the ordinary world. So that we can say: In a world of a super-sensible nature we can find the ego of the animals. There it appears as a reality; but in the physical world this animal ego does not appear to us as an individuality; we can only understand it here if we direct our attention to a group of animals—a group of wolves or of lambs, etc. Just as a single soul belongs to our two hands, our ten fingers, and our feet—a soul which has within it its own ego; so does a group of animals of one species possess such an ego as we do not find in our physical world; it only reveals and manifests itself in the physical world. The ordinary abstract materialist of the day says: That alone is a reality in the animal which we see with physical eyes—and if we form a concept of a wolf or of a lamb, these are just ideas and nothing more. For the occultist that is not so; these are not mere ideas which live within us, they are reflected pictures of something real which is not, however, on the physical plane, but in a super-sensible world. Now, with a little reflection, it is evident that even on the physical plane, beyond what can be perceived by the senses there still exists something which cannot be perceived in the physical world but yet has a meaning for the inner relations of the forces of animals. I should like those people who, for instance, take the concept of wolf as an idea which does not correspond to any reality, to attend to the following experiment. Suppose we take a number of lambs—the wolf is known to feed upon lamb—and feed a wolf with them long enough according to what Natural Science has ascertained, for the whole physical matter to be transformed—so that the wolf, during the time in which his physical corporeality is being replaced, has been fed only upon lamb, that the wolf has nothing but lamb within it. All you then see as physical matter in the wolf proceeds from nothing but lamb; now try to find out whether the wolf has become a lamb. If it has not, you have no right to say that the concept which you have of the wolf is limited to that which can be perceived physically, for there is something super-sensible in it. This cannot be met with until we enter the super-sensible world; there it becomes evident that, just as our ten fingers belong to the one soul, so do all wolves belong to a group-ego. The world in which we find the group-egos of the animals, we designate concretely as the astral world.

Now as regards the plants, a similar observation shows that in the physical world we find nothing of the plant but its physical and etheric bodies. Just because the plants have only their physical and etheric bodies in the physical world they do not cry out when we injure them. We must therefore say; only the physical and etheric bodies of the plant exist in the physical world. If with occult vision we investigate, which we do by simply transplanting ourselves into that world in which is the group-ego of the animals, we find something very characteristic with regard to the plant-kingdom: we find that there is pain even in the plant world; this is certainly felt when we tear plants out of the ground by the roots. The collective earth-organism feels pain resembling that which we feel when a hair is pulled out of our body. Other life also, conscious life, is connected with the growth of plants. Try to imagine the sprouting forth—I have already touched upon this question during these lectures—pushing forth of the shoots of the plants from the earth in spring; this springing forth corresponds to a feeling in certain spiritual beings, beings belonging to the earth and participating in its spiritual atmosphere.

To describe this feeling we may compare it with the perception one has at the moment of passing at night from the waking-condition to that of sleep. Just as the consciousness then gradually dies down, so do certain spirits of the earth feel, when the plants spring forth in spring. Again in the gradual fading and dying of the plant-world, certain spiritual beings connected with the spiritual atmosphere of the earth have the same feeling as man has when he awakens in the morning. Thus we can say: There are certain beings connected with the organism of our earth who have the same feelings as our own astral body has in falling asleep and waking. Only one must not compare these abstractly. It would, of course, seem much more actual to compare the springing forth of nature in the spring, with the waking—and the dying down of the plant-world in autumn with falling asleep; but the reverse is correct: namely the beings we are now considering, feel a sort of awakening in autumn, but a sort of falling asleep at the springing forth of the plants in the spring. Now these beings are none other than the astral bodies of the plants; and we find them in the same region as the group-souls of the animals. The astral bodies of the plants are to be found on the so-called astral plane.

Now we must also speak of an ego of the plants, when we observe them occultly. We find this ego of the plants again in like manner as a group-ego, as something belonging to a whole group or species of plants, just like the group-egos of the animals; but in vain should we look for the group-egos of the plants in the same sphere as the astral bodies of the plants and the group-egos of the animals. We must pass into a still higher super-sensible world; we must raise ourselves from the astral plane into a world which we perceive as still higher. Only in such a world can we find the group-egos of the plants. In investigating this world we may again give it a name. To us it is first of all characterised by the fact that the group-egos of the plants are there, although there is much in it besides these. We, designate it—though names have nothing to do with the matter—as the Devachanic world.

Now it is easy to see in the physical world that we have only the physical body of the minerals. Hence the mineral appears to us as inorganic, devoid of life; on the other hand, we have its etheric body in the same world in which are the group-egos of the animals, and the astral bodies of the plants. But even here we can find nothing of the mineral nature which reveals sensation. Yet even the mineral reveals itself as living. We learn to know the long-enduring life of the mineral, its growth, and the self-development,—so to speak, of the ores and the like;—in short, on the astral plane we become acquainted with the various forms of mineral life on our planet. When we come across an individual mineral, we learn to recognize that it is not very different from our own mineral-like bones which yet are connected with our life. Thus everything mineral is also connected with a living being, but that living being is only to be found on the astral plane. The etheric body of the mineral, therefore, is to be found on the astral plane. Now if we halt occultly, as it were, in that world in which are the group-egos of the plants, we observe that the mineral kingdom is also connected with something in which feeling is possible, something astral. When stones are broken in a quarry, no perception of this is noticed on the astral plane; but on the Devachanic plane it is immediately evident that when stones are pulverized and the parts fly asunder something like a feeling of well-being, a sort of enjoyment actually appears. That is also a feeling; but it is in contradiction to the feeling which animals and men would have in such a case. Were they to be smashed to pieces, they would suffer pain; with the mineral the reverse is the case. When it is crushed it is conscious of a feeling of well-being. If we dissolve cooking salt in a glass of water, and follow with vision directed to the Devachanic world how the salt forms into crystals, we see that this causes pain: we feel that there is pain at the point of union. This is everywhere the case in mineral life when fluids, through crystallization, form into solids. This in fact is what happened to our earth, which was at one time in a softer, more liquid condition. Solid matter has gradually been formed out of the fluid, and we now walk about on solid ground and drive our ploughs into it. In so doing we do not give the earth pain; it feels it to be good. But it did not please the beings connected with the earth,—and which as astral kingdom belong to the planet, that they had to be compactly welded together in order that human life might become possible on the planet. The beings which as astral bodies stand behind the rocks had to endure pain upon pain. In the mineral kingdom the beings, the creation, suffer as the earth progresses. It gives one a very strange feeling when, after recognizing this from occult investigation, one turns again to the celebrated passage, written by an Initiate: “All creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together, waiting for the Redemption; waiting for the adoption of the state of childhood.” Such passages as this, in the writings based on occult vision, are as a rule read carelessly, but when one reads them with occult vision, then, for the first time, one knows that though they yield a great deal to even the simplest mind, they give still more to those who can perceive all, or at least a great deal, of what is contained in them. The sighing and groaning of the mineral kingdom has to be, because the process of the civilisation of our earth needs solid ground under its feet; that is what St. Paul represents when he speaks of the sighing of creation.

All this takes place in those beings which lie behind the mineral kingdom as its astral body, and which we find in the Devachanic world. The actual ego, the real group-ego of the mineral kingdom is to be sought in a higher world, which we will call the higher Devachanic world. Here only do we find the group-egos of the mineral kingdom. You must emancipate yourselves entirely from the conception of identifying what we call the astral body of a being with the astral world. With regard to the minerals, their astral body is to be sought for in Devachan; on the other hand their etheric body is in the astral world. The group-egos of the animals are on the astral plane and the astral body of the animal on the physical plane. We must say of the world, as we know it:—We must not identify what we recognize as the individual principles of beings, with the corresponding worlds, but must accustom ourselves to presuppose differentiations among the various beings. A more accurate occult discernment makes this quite clear. Thus provisionally we have to find only the group-souls of the minerals in a higher Devachanic region.

We have now spoken of the different beings of the various kingdoms of nature in their relation to the higher worlds, and this alone can give us a foundation for seeking the relations of these various kingdoms of nature to the creative beings of the hierarchies, who are active and working in the world, as we have now learnt to know them.

• 1. Public lecture given at Helsingfors, 9th April, 1912. ‘The Nature of National Epics, with special reference to the Kalevala.’

In our last lecture we pointed to the relation between the spiritual forces which work in the beings of the kingdoms of nature on earth and what we see externally. To-day let us shortly recapitulate how that has been worked out, for it is necessary to examine more closely the things which form an essential part of our theme, as they will lead us to what is to be the culminating point of our lectures:—a comprehension of the living cooperation of the beings of the various hierarchies and their offspring, in the heavenly bodies and in the kingdoms of nature. We stated that man has the four principles of his being active on the physical plane; his physical body, etheric body, astral body and ego. Further on we drew attention to the fact that in the animal, three principles are active on the physical plane; the physical, etheric, and astral bodies; while on the other hand, the group-ego is on the astral plane. Further we saw that with regard to the plants, their physical and etheric bodies alone are active on the physical plane, their astral bodies on the astral plane, and the group-ego on the Devachanic plane. With regard to the mineral, we only found its physical body on the physical plane, its etheric body on the astral plane, its astral body on the Devachanic plane, while in the region we designate as the higher Devachanic plane, dwell the group-egos of the minerals.

We will now pass on to show more in detail what all this really means. Till now I have only been able to say that the occult vision which raises itself to the first of the super-sensible worlds lying above us, does not find in the physical world with regard to the animal, what he finds there with regard to man—namely, the ego; for that which in man we call the ego, the I, can only be found for the animal on the astral plane, in the super-sensible world; there only it has the center of its activity. Occult science cannot ascribe an ego to the animal in the physical world. It does not deny an ego to the animal, but states that what can be designated as the ego of an animal, is only to be found in the astral world. Objection may easily be raised to the fact that an ego is denied to the animals, even to the higher animals, on the physical plane, whereas it might be said, and indeed often is said—that with regard to their actions animals display an extraordinary intelligence, a quite wonderful comprehension, so that much that the animals does on the physical plane can be likened to what man does. Now, those who express themselves thus have not grasped the fundamental principle of this matter. It would not occur to anyone who penetrates into these matters, to deny what we call human soul-forces to animals on the physical plane.

There is no question of that. In this sphere lies the foundation of manifold mistakes and misunderstandings. Thus, misunderstanding would at once arise if a certain materialistic Darwinism were to say in our time: “Indeed you Anthroposophists look at the matter as though man were definitely to be sought on a higher stage of spirituality than the animal; whereas we see that the animal develops intelligence, so much intelligence, so much even of a certain instinctive morality exists in the animal kingdom, that what man has in his soul-forces may well be but a sort of higher stage of what we meet with in the animal kingdom.” The point of view here involved is quite erroneous. No unprejudiced study would deny intelligence, even reason, to the animal kingdom. We need only consider such facts as that man, comparatively late in his evolution arrived at the discovery of paper. The discovery of paper by human intelligence is represented in our historical descriptions as a very great acquisition; and in a certain respect it certainly is a sign of human progress. Yet the wasps knew this art millions of years ago; for the material of which the wasps build their nests is really paper. We can therefore say: “That which the human intellect as such accomplishes, that the animal kingdom already possesses far, far down in its ranks.” It would not occur to an unprejudiced observer to deny human soul-forces, as such, to the animal; indeed in the realm of occultism we are even convinced that sagacity and intelligence in the animals is much surer, more precise, and much more free from error than in man. The essential point is that in man all those soul-forces relate to an ego in the physical world, an ego which is developing itself individually in a physical world, going through an individual development and education. Now as regards the animals belonging to any one group, we know that the circle of their development depends simply on the species, the genus, to which they belong; but the case of man who develops himself as an individual is quite different. If we direct our gaze to the animal kingdom, we find in the animal world the most varied forms, which differ far more from each other than do the human races. Certainly we find great differences in the human races, all over the earth, but if we compare these with the great difference of the animals from the imperfect up to the more perfect species, we notice how powerful is the differentiation in the animal kingdom; quite different from that in man. On what then does this depend? We can best obtain an approximate answer, if we first of all ask: What causes the variety of groups in the animal kingdom, the different species, which we find characteristically spread over the globe?

Occult vision shows us that the cause of the varieties of the animal species does not simply originate on the earth; rather does the animal species receive its forms from cosmic space, and indeed the forces which produce the one species come from a different part of cosmic space from that whence come the forces which produce another. The forces which construct the various animal-forms, stream down upon our earth-planet from the other planets of our planetary system. We may actually divide the whole animal kingdom into six or seven principal groups, and these chief groups have the highest group-egos. These have the impulse for their activity in the six or seven principal planets belonging to our System; so that the forces which form the principal groups of the animals work down spiritually from the planets. In saying this we have at the same time given the concrete explanation of what is actually meant when we speak of group-egos of the animals. It means that in the animal dwell spiritual forces, belonging to beings not to be sought upon the earth itself, but outside the earth in cosmic space, and indeed primarily in the planetary world. The Regents, as it were, of the principal group-forms of the animals live on our planets; they had to withdraw into these planets in order to work down with their forces at the right distance from the earth and from the right direction. For only from these directions in space can that come which builds up the principal animal forms in the right way. Now if the planets were only to allow these forces to stream down upon our earth, we should not actually have the multiplicity in the animal kingdom we now have, we should only have seven principal forms. Once upon a time, in far distant ages, there were only the seven principal animal forms; but these seven forms were very mobile, determinable, so soft and plastic in their formation that they could easily be transformed; one special form into another and again other forms into others; this actually occurred at a later period of time. The seven principal forms date far, far back; but then appeared other forms in addition to these, and as it were, worked either to strengthen or hinder the forces of the planets.

I shall now have to explain how these other forces came into being. If we direct our ordinary vision to the heavenly spaces we may easily believe that everything is actually of like form; but this is not the case. If we direct our gaze to a certain direction in space, occult vision perceives something quite different in one direction from what it sees in another. Space is by no means a homogeneous affair; it is not alike on all sides; for different forces work from the different directions of space. The whole of cosmic space is filled with spiritual beings of the different hierarchies working in different ways from various directions on to the earth. In those past ages when man had a certain original primitive clairvoyance, the following was clear to him: “If at a particular hour of the day I direct my gaze to one part of the heavens I encounter certain forces, while in another direction I encounter certain other forces.” And men were also aware that from certain points specially precise and definite forces worked down from cosmic space, which were of quite particular importance to the earth. These are all arranged in the stellar circle of cosmic space which has since ancient times been called the Zodiac. Men did not then speak without reason of the Zodiac or Animal Circle; they knew why it was so called. In the heavenly spaces the case is as follows. The forces which worked down from the planet Mars, for instance and brought about in the still plastic animal substance, one of the seven principal forms, worked in a different way according to whether Mars stood before one sign of the Zodiac or before another. The Zodiac was divided into Twelve Signs, which represent the constellations, and according as the Martian forces which affect one animal form, stood before Aries, or Taurus, or any other constellation, their influence varied. In this way the seven different forms were modified. A number of different animal forms were thus made possible; and if you consider that to this must also be added the fact that Mars, for instance, can work qualifyingly when he stands before Leo so that he supplants the Lion in relation to the earth; or that from the other side he works qualifyingly when the earth is between the sun and Mars; you see that there are a very great number of possibilities.

All these forces have worked together to differentiate the seven original groups of the animal kingdom; so that the whole multiplicity of our animal forms on the earth arose from the fact that the forces of the planets are actually the abode of the group-souls, the group-egos of the animals; and that these beings fulfil their tasks from these centers, for only from there can they do so. For only because that particular group-soul of an animal form which was to work down from Mars selected that position in the heavens can it exercise the corresponding result upon the earth below. Here lie the forces which brought about the multiplicity of our animals; and when we use the expression, “The animal group-ego is to be found on the astral plane,” that really means that when occult vision wishes to seek the group-ego of any animal form, he must not seek for it on earth, but on one of the planets. That which with regard to man is to be found on the earth, occult vision can only discover for the animal outside in cosmic space, amongst the planets. Just as, for instance, a man who has to accomplish something upon the earth which necessitates various standpoints, must adapt himself to these, so must the group-ego which dwells on a planet pass through cosmic space in front of the Zodiac, in order to differentiate its forces from there. If we bring the facts just stated into connection with the fact that the impulse for the animal forms is continually sought to-day in some principle of the earth itself—in the struggle for existence—or in natural selection or the like—then the facts which have come into being through the efforts of Darwin, for example, are magnificent in so far as he did not go beyond the facts. For unconsciously Darwinism has described the mobility of the original animal forms and how they were actually created from the basic forms. But, according to the whole predisposition of our times, man has looked away from the fact that the forces which create those forms work down from cosmic space; and that therefore the creators of the animal forms are to be sought in the world of the planets which belong to our planetary system, but are outside our earth.

If we now inquire how this matter stands in relation to man, we can only receive an answer by first answering that other question: Of what nature are the spirits which we have now described as the group-souls of the animals and which have their dwelling-place upon the various planets? It is then seen that these group-egos of the animals are the offspring of that category of spiritual beings to which I have referred in this course of lectures as the Spirits of Motion. Thus we must look upon the group-souls of the animals as the offspring of the Spirits of Motion. Now the Spirits of Motion actually gave out of their own substance the astral body to man, during the ancient Moon-condition. In order to complete the matter we may therefore say: This earth was preceded by the Moon-condition, during which man received his astral body from the Spirits of Motion. In other words. When the earth was Moon—the old Moon, not the present one—(the present moon is only a detached portion of the earth itself, whilst the ancient moon was an earlier incarnation of our earth)—whilst the earth was in this ancient Moon-condition, the Spirits of Motion hovered as it were, over this old Moon and allowed their own substance to trickle in, to stream in to what man had brought over from previous conditions. So that what man acquired as astral body—which was new to him, for at that time he had only his physical and etheric bodies—was derived from the Spirits of Motion. The ancient Moon has disappeared; the earth has been formed; the Spirits of Motion have developed off-spring, besides carrying on their own evolution. These are the beings we designate as the group-egos of the animals; they have not taken up their abode upon the earth but upon the other planets, in order so to work upon the earth from there as to bring forth the animal forms, in the manner we have described. This is the special point in what I have stated. That we can, in a certain sense, describe the group-egos as offspring of the beings of the Second Hierarchy.

We must now put the following question: These offspring of the Spirits of Motion work down from the planets upon the animals; do similar spiritual beings work upon man, upon the human race spread over the earth? We cannot answer this as regards those spiritual beings we have cited as the normal members of the several hierarchies; but we have mentioned a special category of spirits which we have called the Luciferic Spirits, and we have described the relation of these to the normal spirits. In our present cycle of time there are Luciferic Spirits in every category of the hierarchies. Whereas the animal group-souls are the normal and proper offspring of the Spirits of Motion, the Luciferic Spirits corresponding to the Spirits of Motion are those who resisted the normal path, and have remained in opposition to the normal Spirits of Motion. These Luciferic Spirits of Motion are grouped on the various planets in relation with the earth, just as are the normal offspring of the Spirits of Motion. They too, have their parts assigned to them, so to speak, and have their abode apportioned to them on the various planets. Just as the group-souls of the animals dwell on the various planets, so also do certain Luciferic Spirits of Motion. They have set themselves the task which really belongs to the Spirits of Motion; that of working formatively from the planets, so that groups of corresponding beings arise upon the earth. Just as seven principal animal groups were formed, which have only been specified according to the relations described, so did the Luciferic Beings of Motion work from the planets on to the earth to differentiate the human race, which was actually, in a certain sense, designed according to a single plan. Whilst in the whole cosmic plan it was intended that a single human form was to arise throughout the earth, these Luciferic Spirits of Motion worked down from the various planets and differentiated the human form all over the earth in such a way that the forms of the chief individual human races were able to arise. More details are to be found in my Christiania lectures as to the special way in which the Luciferic Spirits of Motion work to form the different races.

Thus we have to distinguish between the offspring of the Spirits of Motion and the Luciferic Spirits of Motion. But there is something else besides this! Naturally, we shall now have to ask the question: “Where then are the normal Spirits of Motion now, who, during the ancient Moon period, gave man his astral body?” Where are those who attained the goal of their evolution at the time of the transition from the Moon to that of the Earth? Those completely mature Spirits of Motion, where are they now? The peculiarity of these spirits is that they too have their actual dwelling-place, or, rather, their field of operation upon the planets of our system; so that they do not, for instance, work directly as Spirits of Motion from the Sun, in which they have their headquarters, so to speak, but first send out their rays to the planets and from these work back upon the earth. In so far as we have to do with the true Spirits of Motion, their activity comes direct from the planets of our system; but of course everything which works from the planets from those spiritual beings belongs to the super-sensible, invisible world, as such. Only the effects themselves are externalized upon the earth; the results appear on the earth. What, then, do these Spirits do for men, who at one time, upon the ancient Moon, gave him his astral body from their own substance? This astral body was preserved as a germ in the earth-existence; and, after the old Moon had disappeared and an interval had gone by, and the earth had been formed anew, then this astral body once more developed from the germ. But the Spirits of Motion themselves have developed further, to a higher activity. With regard to their offspring, we know that they have become the group-souls of the animals; those that rebelled against them took part, as we know, in the differentiation of the human races. Where, then, do the progressed, genuine, normally-developed Spirits of Motion reveal themselves? An example will make this evident.

We know that each individual man is guided by what we call his Angel; we know that nations are spiritually led by their nation-spirit or Archangel (nations are quite different from races) we know that the successive periods of civilisation are led by the Spirits of the Age, or Archai; and, finally, we know that above the Archai stand that category of the hierarchies which we call the Spirits of Form; while above them are the Spirits of Motion. We will think of them as they are upon the earth, with the time behind them when they gave to man his astral body and having themselves made their proper progress. Now in human evolution there is something which goes beyond the character of the mere Spirits of the Age; something more full of significance, more important for collective humanity than the sphere of the individual Spirits of the Age. The Spirits of the Age work upon the earth for a definite period of time; but there are spiritual developments in the evolution of humanity as a whole which embrace wider spheres than that of the Spirits of the Age. These great epochs of humanity which extend beyond the influence of the Spirits of the Age, have as their Regent the normally-developed Spirits of Motion. These so reveal themselves in their activity in the process of the growth of humanity that they stimulate the great impulses of civilisation. If we now survey the history of man, the history of human civilisation, we see that individual men are guided by the Angels or Angeloi, nations and peoples by the Archangels or Archangeloi; certain periods of civilisation are guided by the Spirits of the Age, and also certain spheres (as we shall see) by the Spirits of Form.

Then, however, we have the collective course of the different civilizations in human evolution; so that for certain long periods of time, much longer than those ruled by a Spirit of the Age, the Spirits of Motion are inspiringly active in great spheres; one Spirit of Motion working down from one planet at one time, another working down at another time from another planet. Thus these normally developed Spirits of Motion so work down from the planets that they succeed one another in the process of human evolution, and reveal themselves in the great civilisation impulses in the evolution of the earth which reach out beyond the sphere of the Spirits of the Age. Thus, for example, from that Spirit of Motion who worked down from the planet which present-day astronomy calls Venus, and which ancient astronomy called Mercury (for these two names have been exchanged), from that Spirit of Motion came originally that impulse of civilisation which was expressed in Buddhism. Other impulses of civilisation coming from beyond the mere Spirits of the Age, came from the Spirits of Motion on the other planets. Thus, while from the offspring of the Spirits of Motion come the group-souls of the animals, and from the Luciferic, Spirits of Motion the racial forms of humanity, these great impulses of civilisation come from the Spirits of Motion who have attained their normal evolution. Many other impulses also come from this direction, but it is important at present to bear in mind, from this point of view, the impulses of civilisation. Now, here you have in this development of our whole planetary system something you find mentioned among the great truths which, as every experienced student knows, are to be found in The Secret Doctrine of H. P. Blavatsky. Those who know find indications of this there. On one page is written “Buddha = Mercury”—i.e., Buddha equals Mercury. That means the Individuality who was the Leader of Buddhism was traced back in occultism to the Spirit of Motion who works down from that planet. He is the inspirer; from him comes the influence expressed in that stream of civilisation. It is indeed the case that this remarkable book, The Secret Doctrine, by H. P. Blavatsky, brings great truths, but they must be recognized in the right way. We must not simply accept this as a book of dogmas; we must trace each single thing in it; then only shall we recognize the greatness of this book. Of all the great truths taught by the true occultist, significant intimations are to be found in The Secret Doctrine of, H. P. Blavatsky; and when, through its inspirer there was inscribed in The Secret Doctrine:—“Buddha is equivalent to Mercury”—that hinted at the great truth of which the inspirer of H. P. Blavatsky was well aware; that the individual who, in the twenty-ninth year of his life became the Buddha, was able at the time symbolically indicated as the “sitting under the Bodhi Tree,” to begin to be inspired by the Spirit of Motion enthroned in Mercury. This individual from being a Boddhisattva therewith became a Buddha. That means that his spirit was filled and inspired, not by what comes from the earth-sphere, but from universal space, from the cosmos. He was thus withdrawn from the earth-sphere to Nirvana, that is, into a sphere in which the earth-sphere no longer plays a part. H. P. Blavatsky, in her ordinary consciousness, knew nothing of many of these things, but her Inspirer knew them. These things must be drawn forth from the depths of occultism, and in these subtle and great truths things must not be confused one with another. Now it is not my intention to assert that directly a Boddhisattva is raised to a Buddha, a Spirit of Motion alone works inspiringly upon him; for the beings of the higher hierarchies work through him also. The essential point is that from that time onwards the spirits of the lower hierarchies fell away; so that he could come directly in contact, so to speak, with those beings designated as the normally-developed Spirits of Motion.

Now before we consider the process of human civilisation from another aspect, let us pass to the plant-kingdom. In that kingdom we see that the astral body is to be found on the astral plane, where also are the group-egos of the animals. This leads back to the real fact revealed to occult vision with regard to the plants; that not only in their group-egos, but already in the astral body of the plant, forces are actively working down from the planetary system, from the stars. Thus, whereas in the animal the Spirits of Motion are only active in the group-forces, in the forces which create the group-forms, that which belongs to the sphere of the Spirits of Motion works in the plant on the astral body. The offspring of the Spirits of Motion belong also to this category, only they differ from the offspring of other beings because they were formed at a somewhat different time, but as offspring of the Spirits of Motion they work not merely upon the ego, but upon the astral body of the plants.

We may, therefore, say that forces of the Spirits of Motion or their offspring work down upon the astral bodies of the plants from the planets of the planetary system. In every being the astral body is that which gives the impulse to motion. Belonging to the plants we have on the physical plane, their physical and etheric bodies. If any forces whatever were to work upon the plants from the sphere of the Spirits of Motion, these forces would, as the astral body is not in the plants, but around them, bring about movement in the plants, though not movements like those of men and animals, but such as to draw forth the plants from the earth when they first appear. When you see the forces developing in a spiral in a plant from stipule to stipule, you then have the activity of those forces which work down from the planets. And according as the forces of the offspring of the Spirits of Motion work down from this or that planet does this peculiar line which puts forth the leaves vary. This gives a certain means of studying the actual orbits of the individual planets through their reflection; and when external science has once recognized this fact, it will have to correct a great deal of the former astronomical systems. Certain plants are allotted to the forces of the Spirits of Motion who work from Mars, others to those who are on Venus, others, to those on Mercury. They work in here from their planet and according as they work in from one or the other, they impart to the plant the movement expressed in their spiral coil of leaves; it is the same movement which the corresponding planet makes; the absolute movement it makes in the heavens. If you take an ordinary convolvulus, in which the stalk itself is twisted, you have in the spiral movement of the stalk an imitation of the planetary movements which proceed from the Spirit of Motion. When the stalk is fixed, you have in the stipules images of those forces which proceed from the Spirits of Motion of the planets of the planetary system. These forces work upon the plants in cooperation with the actual group-egos, and these group-egos work in such a way that we can discover the direction of their forces simply by connecting the sun with the center point of the earth; that is to say, together with the forces which come from the Spirits of Motion, other forces work which go in the direction of the stalk of the plant, which is always striving towards the center point of the earth. Thus we have to compose the whole plant out of that which grows towards the sun or towards the center of the earth and that which winds itself round and copies in the stipules the movements of the planets. This corresponds, however, with the real fact that we have to seek the direct impulse of activity for the group-egos of the plants in the direction from earth to sun. That is, if now we do not direct our occult vision to the planet, but to the sun, we shall find the different group-egos of the plants. These group-egos of the plants are the offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom, just as the group-egos of the animals are the offspring of the Spirits of Motion. Thus in the group-egos of the plants we have to recognize the offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom.

Now in the course of these lectures I have stated that in the nature-spirits we have to see the offspring of the Third Hierarchy, and that in the group-egos we have to see the offspring of the Second Hierarchy. Now we come, in addition, to the Spirits of the Rotation of Time, the rulers or regulators of the epochs. We have now reached a position in which we can allude to the functions of a certain category of such Spirits of the Rotation of Time. At this point we can state that certain Spirits of the Rotation of Time unite the forces of movement coming down from the planets to the plants that work spirally with the forces which come down from the sun. Both these forces are brought together at a definite time by the Spirits of the Rotation of Time, and indeed at that time of the year when the plant progresses towards its fructification. The spiral principle of movement is united with the principle which works in the stalk.

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Hence in the stamens we have the principle which works spirally, and the principle which is the direct continuation of the stalk, in the ovary, in the center of the plant. When the course of the plant is completed, that is, when the Spirits of the Rotation of Time appointed to the plants unite their activity—the activity of the planetary spirits—with the activity of the Sun-spirit—then in the now completed plant those organs which till then followed the planets spirally are arranged in a neat circle like the stamens, while the stalk itself elongates and terminates in the ovary. These two are then united; the growth of the plant is complete when to the two spiritual activities of the offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom and of Motion, is added the activity of the Spirits of the Rotation of Time, uniting the two spiritual beings in a sort of marriage. Thus in the plant kingdom we have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom. Further, as you may read in my Occult Science or The Akashic Records, we must assume that these offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom have been formed since the time when these Spirits of Wisdom themselves gave the etheric body to man from their own substance. That occurred when the earth was in the old Sun-condition; the etheric body of man was then derived from the Spirits of Wisdom. But now, since that time, the Sun-condition progressed to the Moon-condition, and this again progressed to the Earth-condition. During the Moon-condition the Spirits of Wisdom who had, during the Sun-period, been able to give man his etheric body out of their own substance, had already progressed so far that they no longer needed to develop the capacity of giving anything to man. On the earth they had progressed to still higher activities. Now it is not exclusively characteristic of the offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom, whom we discovered as the group-egos of the plant kingdom, to give a direct impulse from the sun, that it seems to come not only from the planets but from the sun; it is also peculiar to the actual Spirits of Wisdom that they reveal themselves as coming directly down from the sun to the earth. Now how are the impulses revealed, which come down from these Spirits of Wisdom who have gone through their normal evolution?

We have seen that in such a personality as the Buddha, there is a normally-developed Spirit of Motion working down from a planet and inspiring him. We now reach the point of seeking for the normal Spirits of Wisdom. According to the whole spirit of our considerations we must seek them upon the sun. We must seek them there in the same sense that we have to seek for the normal Spirits of Motion as working from the planets, though they, too, have their real habitation upon the sun. We have to seek the impulse of the normally-developed Spirits of Wisdom as coming directly from the sun. Now, however, we come to something peculiar. Certainly with regard to the plants, if we really investigate occultly, we can distinguish a differentiation because we are concerned with the offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom; but if we consider the plants on earth in relation to the Spirits of Wisdom on the sun, their movements all appear more or less as a vertical union of the sun with the center-point of the earth. In the plant-forms we can distinguish what proceeds from the spirits who have their dwelling-place in the planets; but what we perceive as proceeding from the Spirits of Wisdom flows together in a vertical line. In a similar manner—and everyone who is acquainted with the occult facts in this sphere would give precisely the same information—it is the case that in the region we enter when we direct our gaze to the sun (for we must seek the normal Spirits of Wisdom there) we can no longer distinguish any differentiations. There we perceive unity. What proceeds from the normal spirits flows together in a unity. New when we come to the question: Where is that revealed which proceeds from the unity of the Spirits of Wisdom who have their dwelling-place directly upon the sun? Where is that revealed in the activity of the earth?—we thus come to a still wider sphere.

The sphere of such a spirit as the one who inspired the Buddha (the Spirit of Motion on Mercury) is insignificant in comparison with the wider, more comprehensive sphere which, in the process of the development of mankind is directed by the Spiritual Beings of Wisdom perceived as Unity, and which is to be sought upon the sun If we go back to the civilisation of ancient India, then we find that the Seven Holy Rishis spoke of that which each one of them had to give to humanity from their occult foundations. They were conscious of having preserved that which, through seven long periods of civilisation, had been directed by the Spirits of Motion. It was just as though seven successive periods of time were all at once to unite in the evolution of the earth, and were so to work that they represented a College of great Individualities. So it came about that these seven successive activities of the Spirits of the Planets came to light in that which the Seven Holy Rishis had to say to humanity; each one speaking what he himself knew. They did not assert that what they had to give was the direct outflow of a Spirit of Motion, but they said that it was like a recollection in the soul of each of what had been given earlier by the Spirits of Motion. For the exalted wisdom which the Holy Rishis gave to humanity was the great recollection of the ancient Atlantean civilizations, only in a new form. At the same time, these seven Holy Rishis said: “above them which we have to give as the civilizations of the seven successive periods of time, lies something else which exists beyond our sphere.” That which lay above their sphere, the Holy Rishis called Vishvakarma. Thus they alluded to something which lay beyond their sphere, and which comprised a greater earth-sphere than that of the separate Spirits of Motion. As it was with the spheres of the Spirits of the Age, so did the Holy Rishis point to epochs of civilisation which lie beyond the sphere of the individual Spirits of Motion.

Then came the civilisation of Zarathustra; and Zarathustra pointed again to the same being whom the Holy Rishis had called Vishvakarma, only he alluded to him in his own way as Ahura Mazdao. The Holy Rishis knew, as also did Zarathustra, that what is meant by Vishvakarma represents the Spirit of Wisdom who streams down upon the earth and encompasses wider spheres than do the individual Spirits of Motion. Zarathustra too knew that Ahura Mazdao has wider spheres than the Spirits of Motion.

It would be a gross defection from the original spirit of the Theosophical Movement, in which so much that is great and true and important, so many occult truths have prevailed, if we were to confuse what we have been able to learn through occultism with regard to such spirits as reach their height in such a name as that of Buddha, of whom H. P. Blavatsky so plainly points out in her simple allegation that he corresponds to the Spirit of Mercury. It would be a breach with all the original starting points of the theosophical revelation, with that teaching which in its time was rightly understood and in which the spirit of Buddha was never mistaken for the Christ-Spirit—if, today, we were to confuse these different beings. It would be a breach if we did not know through our basic teaching how to distinguish between those Spirits who guide the growth of humanity in the course of successive periods of time and reached the summit in spirits such as Buddha, and that Spirit to whom all the rest, even Buddha himself, have alluded, and who is the unitary spirit of the whole earth-evolution, just as the sun is the unitary body of the whole planetary system. This unitary spirit must, in the sense of the fourth post-Atlantean period of civilisation, be designated as the Christ. In the solar system we cannot, in the ordinary sense, speak of two Suns and say that the Sun which at one time covers the Ram is not the same Sun which covers the Goat at another time; we must be quite clear that it is the same Sun which passes through all the signs of the Zodiac; but that there are different planets, which pass through the Zodiac. We must also be clear on the following point. When we speak of the Christ, who passes through the spheres of the different civilizations of the whole evolution of humanity on the earth, and who has always been recognized by all religions when they attain their climax, we must distinguish this Christ-Spirit from the spirits of the different spheres which reached their summit, as it were, in their great individualities, even as Buddhism reached its climax in Buddha. This shows how the objective must first be sought in these matters.

When the western occultist has to allude to this fact he ought not to be reproached with wishing to forward something which would be a lack of tolerance towards other religions; for spiritual science has the task of allowing every religion its right place. When such a reproach is made, we should not forget that what was demanded of the western occultists has already been accomplished. Did the Christ-Impulse arise in the West? Has any western nation brought forth the Christ-Impulse from its own people, its own races? No; the Christ-Impulse, as an impulse given to the whole of humanity, has been accepted, though this Christ-Impulse, in relation to its external presentation, was foreign to the peoples of the West. The western civilisation first showed that it had a comprehension of the necessary renunciation of personal possession. When the West declined the Spirit of Motion from Mars as a direct Inspirer, when it exchanged that Inspirer for the Christ-Spirit—the Inspirer corresponding to the Sun-spirit of Wisdom—it accomplished an historical and important fact. It is unfair that the West should be blamed by other religions for intolerance in respect of this matter. The great Leaders of the other religions always show that they recognize the Spirits of Wisdom as being more exalted than the Spirits of Motion. Just those who wish to make their own Spirit of Motion a sort of Leading-Spirit under another name, who do not themselves wish to take the step of ascending from their own Spirit to the Sun-spirit, they can say that intolerance is shown by those who have already practiced tolerance. Let them first exercise tolerance in other spheres, that tolerance which the West has already exercised in exchanging its Spirit of Motion for a Spirit of Wisdom.

After the statements which we were able to make in the last lecture on the cooperation of the spirits of the various hierarchies in the kingdoms of nature, there still remains the mineral kingdom to be considered. We call to mind that we described the mineral kingdom by saying that its physical part alone exists in the physical world; while that which corresponds to the etheric body of the mineral we have to seek in the so-called astral world; the astral body in the Lower Devachanic world, and the actual group-ego of the mineral kingdom on the higher Devachanic plane. Thus the mineral kingdom presents a remarkable contrast to, man. Whilst we have to say with regard to man that all four principles of his being are active on the physical plane—the physical as well as the etheric body, the astral body and the ego—we must as it were, distribute all that man has on the one plane and say: with regard to the mineral we have to seek on the astral plane that which corresponds to the etheric body of man; on the Devachanic plane the astral body; and on the higher Devachanic plane the group-ego of the mineral. Thus, that which in man is concentrated on the physical plane, is in the case of the mineral divided in its activity, among the various worlds. Again, when we trace with occult vision what is really in question, we arrive at the following result. In the sense of occultism we must, in the first place, seek only that part of the mineral kingdom on the physical plane which is perceptible to the external senses. We must be quite clear as to the fact that only what we call the forms, the shapes of the mineral kingdom, are perceptible. We know—this can only be touched upon here—that the mineral world, at any rate in part, encounters us formed, organized, in such a manner that we perceive this formation as suitable to the mineral nature. If we look at a certain body of cubic form, and at another of a different form, we know that these forms are not accidental but are connected in a certain way with the nature of the mineral. Now occult investigation teaches us that the forms in the mineral which we call crystal-forms, can be traced back to the action of the Spirits of Form. Now because occultism always starts from reality and seeks to find the origin of this or that, names are so bestowed in occultism that the name points to something characteristic. The name “Spirits of Form” was chosen for the reason that in the kingdom which we on earth describe as the mineral kingdom, the Spirits of Form display their activity; and further that the offspring of the Spirits of Form—in the sense in which we have spoken of offspring of the higher hierarchies in the course of these lectures, are above all, active there. To understand the nature of the minerals we must be quite clear that, to physical perception, generally speaking, only the forms of the minerals exist. To be sure, certain forces are evident in the mineral kingdom—such as the forces of electricity, magnetism—forces that cause the minerals to appear in certain colors; but we must be quite clear that in general only the form of the mineral kingdom is to be observed on the physical plane. Without taking the other qualities into account, let us consider the forms which we encounter, at any rate in most of the mineral kingdom, and let us be quite clear that this pure form proceeds from the mode of operation of the Spirits of Form or their offspring.

Now we come to the so-called etheric body, which we must describe as the second principle of a being of the mineral kingdom. The occult investigator cannot find what he has to describe as the etheric body of the mineral in the physical world; but he finds it in the same realm in which he must seek, if, for instance he wishes to find the astral body of the plant, or the group-ego of the animal. As we saw yesterday, he need make no other preparation with regard to his soul than that necessary for finding the group-ego of the animal. With the same condition of consciousness with which he perceives the group-ego of the animal, he also perceives the astral body of the plant, and that which lies behind the mineral kingdom as its etheric body. Now we have seen that we must extend our observations into the region of the planets of a planetary system; in our own planetary system to those planets which exist outside the earth. And we have shown that the corresponding forces externalizing themselves in the group-egos of the animals and the astral bodies of the plants, work directly from the planetary centers. Thither must we also go if we wish to seek for that which works etherically in the mineral. How a mineral is laved by life-powers can first be seen if we penetrate to that universal life which is common to all, from the earth to the rest of the planets of our planetary system. Thus the principle by which the mineral is animated, the life of the mineral, is not to be found in the physical world, or in the realm of what our earth directly offers us, but in the life-streams pouring down from the planets; stimulated constantly, to be sure, by the sun, but still streaming down directly from the planets, and permeating our earth-planet livingly; in order to permeate all that is form with their offspring, the etheric nature-spirits, of which we have spoken. Thus form has inner-being; in other words, the form of the mineral which proceeds solely from the physical plane, is not permeable but offers resistance. Were nothing active in the mineral but what is active on the physical plane, then the mineral would only make itself perceptible as form; but this form is filled with inner-being. For the mineral has also inner-being; it has the inner-being of the various mineral substances. Not only has it form, it has matter, it has substance. When we directly perceive this substance in the physical world, it appears to us as a dead, lifeless substance. To cosmic space it is not dead, to planetary space at least, it is something which is part of its own life, which is precipitated from the life of the planetary system. Just as the human or animal organism separates off hard products—the nails, for instance—so is the mineral substance put forth; but the active forces by means of which it is put forth are not to be sought upon the earth itself; hence it appears to the earth as dead. These streams of life, these life-forces, this etheric body must be sought as streaming down from the several planets. Just as in considering the group-egos of the animals we could say: In reality only the general forms are treated by the group-egos of the animals, and these are then further developed; so must we say: The streams of life sent down by the individual planets which permeate the earth from all sides, do not create forms for the minerals, for those are created by the Spirits of Form; but through these streams the minerals are permeated with inner-being. But this occurs in such a way that this inner-being gives certain main types, main substances: and each substance is thereby connected with a stream proceeding from one of the planets.

Now because the minerals at once acquired solid forms, mobile types are not created from the planets by means of these planetary streams, but types of one kind only. And then through the various positions of the planets, as I have already described with regard to the group-souls of the animals—besides the main types, and substances—other types, subordinate substances are created, which again depend on the constellation of the individual planets. But what the planets create, each through its own original nature, is expressed in the principal substances of the earth's organism. Thus we have certain mineral main substances of the earth's organism of which we can say. Here is a substance which is what it is because it is permeated by an etheric stream from one of the planets; another is permeated by a stream from another planet. Thus we have to trace back the nature of mineral substances to activities in the planetary system which externalize as etheric streams in the organism of the earth. Therefore the occult schools which have to investigate such matters have also so referred the principal substances of our earth-organism to the planets, that they have designated those substances which have been produced quite directly—not through the constellation but through the principal activity of the planet—by the same or similar names as the planets; and indeed in such a way that occult observation has been strictly adhered to. If we observe the planet Saturn in our system we find that the life stream which permeates the earth directly from him is connected with the substance we call lead: so that we have a basic substance which is inwardly animated by Saturn. From Jupiter we get tin as main substance; from Mars, iron; and in the occult sense, from Venus, copper. With regard to Mercury we must take into consideration that he was later confused with Venus. The life-activity (in the sense of true occult nomenclature) produced creatively by Mercury, on account of its greater proximity when it penetrated the earth-organism, bears a still greater resemblance to the planet itself, for Mercury stands nearer to the earth than the other planets. Therefore this substance has been given the same name as the cosmic body itself, namely, Mercury or quicksilver. These are the principal substances which are connected in their etheric body with the corresponding planets of our system. If we recollect how we had to speak of all that works from the planetary system, with regard to the group-souls of the animals and the astral bodies of the plants, we find it is always a question of the beings in connection with the Spirits of Motion, either with themselves or their offspring, who work in their totality on the earth from the planets of the system. Thus we must also reckon as belonging to the sphere of the Spirits of Motion, that which etherically permeates the mineral substances.

Now if we wish to consider what belongs to the mineral kingdom as astral body, we have to ascend, as it were, to a still higher world. In the whole sense of our past considerations it will be clear, that as we had to ascend from the astral body of the plant to the group-ego, from the planets to the sun—to the fixed star; so with regard to the mineral kingdom, if we pass from the etheric body to the astral body we must again ascend to the fixed star. That is, we can understand, and occult vision tells us, that the astral nature of the mineral works from those beings in the ranks of the hierarchies through whom comes from the sun that which is directly perceptible; from the beings we call the Spirits of Wisdom, or from that which is connected with their sphere. Thus even the offspring of the Spirits of Wisdom come into consideration. What thus works in the mineral is seen by occult investigation as quite separate, outside the mineral; but it is so seen that the life just described as existing in the mineral, as the etheric body of the mineral, is pressed in from outside. Whereas the astral body in man or animal holds together the etheric body from within; the etheric body of the mineral is as it were, pushed towards it from outside, not concentrated and held together inside as in man and animal. If we consider the relation of the astral body of man to his etheric body, we see that what works as etheric body is held together by the power of attraction. In the mineral the etheric body is compressed together from outside by forces; thus in the mineral the content, the inner nature expressed in the etheric stream is, by means of active astral forces compressed into the form. The mineral is held together astrally from outside, and indeed for the reason that it is determined through the different positions of the sun to the earth in relation to this astral pressure. One might say that the etheric substance is driven into the mineral from the point from which the sun shines upon the earth.

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Thus while this etheric substance is itself directed by the planet, it is driven into and held within the mineral or crystal by the sun, by the forces belonging to the sphere of the Spirits of Wisdom. But now something very remarkable is seen. If we investigate occultly the activity exercised by the astral forces from the sun upon the mineral, we recognize very clearly at this point a very important fact; we learn that while all the etheric forces proceeding from the planets work upon the mineral and actually form its basic substances, other etheric streams also pass down from the sun as such to the earth. Thus, while in general, for the normal formation of the mineral, the etheric substance passes down from the planets, and is only compressed from outside by the forces proceeding from the sun, yet we cannot say that no etheric streams come down from the sun, for it is a fact that such an etheric stream does come down. What is the reason of this? Why does an etheric stream come down from the sun which can, as it were, inwardly animate the mineral? Why does this take place? It is brought about by the activity of what I have designated as the Luciferic principle. The spirits in the ranks of the higher hierarchies which work astrally upon the mineral are—as we have just said—the Spirits of Wisdom: whilst the Spirits of Motion work etherically.

Now there are Spirits of Wisdom active on the sun who have gone through their complete normal process of evolution; they work, as has been described, astrally upon the mineral. But certain of the Spirits of Wisdom have become Luciferic. We have designated this “becoming Luciferic” of certain spiritual beings of a hierarchy, as a sort of rebellion in the cosmos. This rebellion comes about because certain spirits having reached a given stage in their hierarchy, resist their brethren and work against them; work in an opposite direction. This opposition comes about simply because they do not wish to go through the evolution which the others do; so they simply remain behind at an earlier stage, just as we know in our own souls that we wish to progress, yet the ideas and habits we have acquired Will not allow us to do so because they wish to remain as a permanence. Our habits are often rebels against what we have acquired in a new epoch of life. In like manner the spiritual beings who remain behind at an earlier stage are rebels in the Cosmos. The Luciferic Spirits, the Spirits of Wisdom of the Second Hierarchy who have not gone through their development with the rest—instead of sending astral streams from the sun to the mineral, send etheric streams to the earth. This resulted in a certain basic substance being formed, which received its inner-being, not from the planets but directly from the sun; and this mineral is gold. Gold is that Luciferic mineral which as regards its inner-being is not influenced etherically by the planets, but by the sun. Hence the occultist has allotted gold to the sun. In a certain sense this mineral is therefore somewhat different from other metals.

Now you can easily grasp that because etheric streams come from the sun and work something into the earth which is actually a rebel principle, the equilibrium of the earth is thereby disturbed. The equilibrium of the earth in relation to the mineral kingdom would be maintained if all the etheric influences came from the planets, and none but astral influences came to the minerals from the sun; but there are also direct etheric forces coming from the sun and these disturb the equilibrium. Now, this equilibrium had to be re-established by the Wise Leaders of the world; for the earth could not carry out her evolution under such conditions. The hierarchies had to work in cooperation so that the equilibrium might be re-established. The stronger Luciferic forces had to be opposed by other forces which in a certain sense paralyzed them and arrested their effects. That could only come about through the etheric stream which came from the sun being opposed by another, which counteracted, and in a certain sense, balanced its effects. Thus while certain Spirits of Wisdom proved themselves Luciferic and sent down etheric currents from the sun into the mineral kingdom on the earth, other spirits took care that these were opposed by other currents. These opposing currents which re-adjusted the equilibrium, were created by a part of the disturbed equilibrium substance being detached from the earth and circling round the earth as moon. Thus the etheric streams coming from the sun came into opposition to the etheric stream which flowed from the moon to the earth from quite a different quarter, and in this way the balance was re-established. Thus because Luciferic Spirits of Wisdom on the sun had attained the possibility of sending forth etheric streams, other Spirits of Wisdom renounced their claim to working from the sun, and consented to apply their forces to restoring the equilibrium. That is, a cosmic colony, a planetary colony was founded on the moon, from which there now streamed etheric currents to the earth, so that a substance was created which had to be in the earth so that the direct power of gold might be weakened. This came about by the moon being separated from the earth; and from the Spirits of Wisdom who separated the moon, and who now, in a sense, became the opposers of the Luciferic Spirits of Wisdom from the sun, stream down to the earth those etheric forces which have produced the substance silver. Thus you see that in the universe, in the cosmos, certain things work in such a way that one might explain it by means of a certain diagram; but the peculiar thing is that the diagram would everywhere be broken through. If anyone were to prove by means of a diagram that all the etheric forces for the minerals come from the planets, he would be in error; for in reality two etheric streams come from two different sides, the one from the sun, the other from the moon; hence two basic substances are formed in a different way.

If we wish to make what I have just described, objective, perceptible to our senses, and to find an external expression for it, we can achieve it in the following way; but we must first of all be clear as to what it really is that we see when we look at the sun. We pointed out previously that only the spirits of the higher hierarchies down to the Spirits of Wisdom go through their own evolution on the fixed star; what we see when we look at the fixed star is the actual content-substance of the Spirits of Wisdom. That is the true content of the fixed star. Indeed we human beings can only gain a concept of that which is the substance of the Spirits of Wisdom, by contemplating what exists in us, as at any rate an image of this substance. What is that in us, in humanity, in the human soul, which is a symbol of the substance of the Spirits of Wisdom? Our thoughts! But we do not see our thoughts with the physical eyes, that is the point; neither can the fixed stars, in so far as they are the fields of activity for the genuine Spirits of Wisdom, be seen with physical eyes. We have now reached a point where we can point again to the enormous significance of what we find in the religious documents, which are based on occultism. You know that the Bible, in Genesis, states that man was created in a very peculiar way. We are told that Lucifer appeared to Eve and told her that if she would do as he wished, her eyes would be opened. Anyone who knows the original text will not readily be put off with a merely symbolical explanation; for what the Bible means by good and evil does not refer to moral good and evil; that belongs to quite a different part of the development of civilisation. What is here meant as good and evil is that which is seen externally, not as something spiritually-psychic, but something seen with the physical eyes:—“Your eyes shall he opened.” Till then they were not open. This must be taken quite literally. Before Lucifer approached man, man could perceive; he saw the fixed stars with the primitive clairvoyance then given to man, but his vision was such that he saw the substance of the fixed stars as the substance of the Spirits of Wisdom; he saw them spiritually. He only began to see them physically, that is, perceptible light first streamed towards him perceptibly to his physical eyes, when he himself, the human being, had yielded to the Luciferic temptation. That means that the fixed stars as directed by the Spirits of Wisdom, are not physically visible, they do not shed physical light. Physical light can only be shed if there is something underlying it which serves as a bearer to the light, when light is, as it were, held captive through a bearer. For a fixed star to become visible, something more is necessary than the mere presence of Spiritual Beings of Wisdom at work there. It is necessary that in this fixed star Luciferic Beings should work, who resist the mere substance of Wisdom and permeate it with their own principle. Thus within the fixed star is mingled that which is only visible spiritually and that which resists this merely spiritual visibility: the Luciferic element in the fixed star which carries forth the light into physical phenomena.

The fixed star would not be visible if it had not within it, in addition to the Spirits of Wisdom who have progressed normally, those who have not attained their goal, who remained at a lower stage, either at the stage of the Spirits of Motion or that of the Spirits of Form. Thus we have to recognize backward Spirits of Wisdom who have not attained their goal, as light-bearers in the lightless spiritual substance of the fixed star. Now, if we are clear as to the fact that from the fixed stars, from our own sun, physical light only reaches us because the normal Spirits of Wisdom have as companions those who have remained behind and who have become light-bearers:—Light—Lucifer—Phosphoros—we must also be clear that the same cause which makes the sun visible, which sends light to us from the fixed star, is also that which sends the etheric life-stream to the earth and produces gold. It was necessary therefore that other forces should work from the moon (which occult vision perceives as etheric currents), forces which produce silver. Now, as they are Spirits of Wisdom who oppose the moon to the sun in order to bring about an adjustment, we must say: “These Spirits of Wisdom upon the moon cannot shine;” for the Spirits of Wisdom do not shine.—Hence if occult vision searches for these spirits on the moon, it does not discover them as luminous; for these Spirits of Wisdom who founded a colony on the moon, were obliged to exclude the Lucifer Spirits from the moon, otherwise the balance would not have been maintained. That is to say, the moon cannot ray out any light of its own, only that reflected as sunlight. Quite normal Spirits of Wisdom made a sacrifice and took up their position on the moon in order to supply the earth with the necessary currents for keeping the equilibrium, in opposition to the Lucifer currents which stream from the sun. Hence the moon is excluded from having light of its own; and it is not difficult in this external fact which we encounter in the physical world, to see the symbol of a deep occult connection. The sun has its own light which appears to us, but the moon has not; and the reflected light which rays to us from the moon, and of which Lucifer is the bearer.—Lucifer—Phosphoros—tells us that the moon has no light of its own. Therefore that which is Lucifer can only appear to us in symbol, in a Maya, shining down from the moon, because the sunlight is reflected. When for instance, the crescent moon reflects the sunlight, there are then no Luciferic Spirits of Wisdom on the moon itself, but what is poured forth from the sun by the Luciferic Spirits of Wisdom is reflected as light.

Now when we turn our occult vision to the moon, that which the physical eyes perceive, the shining crescent moon, disappears, for that exists only for physical vision; but in its place occult vision sees the real being behind all visible light in the cosmos; sees the form of Lucifer, though certainly as a reflection. Thus, if we think of the image of Lucifer as seen by occult vision in the place of the crescent moon, we must say: The moon owes its origin to the circumstances that certain normal Spirits of Wisdom renounced their dwelling-place on the sun and have taken up their abode in this colony, and thence restrain that which streams forth from the Luciferic Spirits. Hence to occult vision the Spirit of Wisdom does not reveal himself here, above the crescent of the moon, but is to be seen restraining the Luciferic principle. The occult fact is thus presented symbolically to the imagination, as a normal Spirit of Wisdom holding the Luciferic principle in subjection. The occultists therefore represent a form, usually taken to be a Chief Messenger of the higher Spirits of Wisdom, of one who curbs Lucifer; and in place of the crescent they represent Lucifer chained, curbed. This is an occult picture. Among our occult pictures there is also one representing the chief Messenger curbing Lucifer. This is an allusion to profound occult mysteries. What is thus shown externally in Maya, is in reality to be ascribed to the cooperation of the Spirits of the Hierarchies. When with physical eyes we see the crescent moon shining silver bright, there is often to be seen a sort of shadow above in the dark part; then to occult vision the crescent moon is transformed into a living Being, with the restraining Spirit above it, maintaining the balance from its place on the moon. Thus you see that even to produce a phenomenon such as our earth moon, many preparations had to be made in the COSMOS. The cooperative activities of the various hierarchies in the cosmos is a very complicated matter and even in a much longer course of lectures we could still only give suggestions of it; we can only make clear the principle as to how these spiritual, hierarchies cooperate.

Please hold fast the thought just mentioned in connection with the astral body of the minerals. We have, indeed, still to consider the group-ego of the minerals; that has to be sought in a still higher super-sensible world—in a world not found in the regions where the group-egos of the animals or plants are to be found. Therefore we cannot find it upon the sun. Where then does the group-ego of the minerals reveal itself to occult vision? The peculiar thing about the group-ego of the minerals is, that, strictly speaking, it does not end anywhere when we search in cosmic space; it is in the whole widths of cosmic space and works from there. We are therefore driven to seek actually for the group-ego of the minerals outside the planetary system; we must look upon it as something which works into the planetary system from outside. Thus far this coincides with what we know from the Akashic Records, that the next higher class of beings above the Spirits of Wisdom are the Thrones, or Spirits of Will. These Spirits of Will belong to the First Hierarchy (though their offspring are not so far advanced that they can be reckoned with it), these Spirits of Will or their offspring give forth that which becomes the group-ego of the minerals, and which, in fact, works into the planetary system. This also coincides with the fact that simultaneously with the out-pouring of the substance of the Spirits of Will, begins the formation of the planetary system on ancient Saturn which was brought about by the Spirits of Will. They still work in the same way at the present time as when the first embodiment of our earth was built up out of the Universe by these beings. We can really only see these Spirits of Will when, having become Luciferic, they reveal themselves in a sense in certain phenomena which we find as minerals in the sphere of the earth, and which come, as it were, from cosmic space. The cosmic origin, the super-earthly origin of what we are now considering, is revealed by the fact that when these Spirits of Will thus work in they combine—very, very easily with that which works into the planetary system as the cometary and meteoric beings—as cometary or meteoric life.

We have pointed out what meaning this life has in the planetary system. I should like at least to indicate that in reality a comet is something which comes in from outside, but which makes certain combinations. In as much as the comet travels through the planetary system it combines with the mineral kingdom which also arises through the Spirits of Will. And the result may be that as the comet rushes through the planetary system it attaches mineral substance to itself, which is then attracted by the earth and falls down upon it. This of course is not the comet, but rather does it announce its approach to the earth by a fall of meteors taking place. These things are absolutely in accord, and if certain things appear to contradict what was represented earlier, we must always understand that these contradictions will solve themselves if everything is taken into consideration and studied. This was only an, example to show that in the planetary system we really have to do with influences working in from the cosmos. These group-souls of the minerals work in the form of rays from without inwards. And since various modes of operation come from the various aspects of space, for space is not homogeneous, these group-souls of the minerals, which belong to the sphere of the Spirits of Will, ray towards us from different sides in the most varied manner. Now through the cooperation of what comes from the planets for the minerals, what comes from the sun, and what streams in from the universe from the various directions arises the possibility that not only have those basic types already mentioned come into existence in the mineral kingdom, but all sorts of other forms, all sorts of differently modified substances of the mineral kingdom have been formed. The kind of substance a mineral exhibits simply depends on the way the forces which come from the planets are again influenced by other forces either streaming astrally to the earth from the sun, or from various directions of cosmic space. The variety and multiplicity of the mineral kingdom can be understood in this way.

If we observe our present-day Saturn, it presents itself in the first place to occult vision as the outermost planet of our System. Why? Because actually Saturn as planet, as well as ancient Saturn, the first of the successive incarnations of our earth known to us, was produced by the furthest currents coming from cosmic space. Had we been able to observe Saturn at a very early condition of our earth evolution, we should have seen that in his orbit he had a sort of nucleus and a sort of comet's tail, which passed out into cosmic space. In olden times Saturn would have revealed himself definitely with a nucleus and a comet's tail, extending into cosmic space. That is, in the primeval periods of our earth, Saturn would have been seen circling round his orbit with his tail pointing outwards. He was earlier like this (see below). The facts of the Akasha Chronicle show him thus:

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The tail of ancient Saturn took the most varied directions out into space, corresponding with the currents which came in from the cosmos, directed by the Spirits of Will, who are the group-souls of the minerals. At a later period, when through the spiritual beings of other hierarchies, the planetary system was enclosed, that which had formerly gone out into cosmic space was so drawn together that the tail became an enclosed ring; through the power of attraction of the planetary system the ring was formed. To occult vision the ring of Saturn is absolutely the same phenomenon as the comet's tail. If you were to take the ring of Saturn as it circles round Saturn and open it out, you would have a comet's tail. (See Diagram.)

In this way it is possible to look back to the streaming in of the group-souls of the minerals into our planetary system; and again the Signs of the Zodiac in general give us their individual positions. It is to be noted that the two outermost planets now reckoned as belonging to our system by physical astronomy—Uranus and Neptune—did not originally belong to our Solar System; they came much later into the sphere of attraction of our system: they then joined company and remained within it. They cannot therefore be reckoned in the same sense as the other planets as belonging to our system from Saturn onwards, for they, so to speak, belonged to it from the beginning. Thus, when we consider Saturn, especially in his ancient form, we see in him a planet which, by sending forth etheric currents from his own center to our earth, creates—we can even say—the substance of lead. At the same time we see how the group-souls of the minerals stream in; we see how these group-souls are affected when a power of attraction is exercised on them from the sun, from which the astral body of the mineral streams out. From the sun the astral body of the mineral streams out into space; from outside in cosmic Space the ego of the mineral streams in. When these currents are united something takes place which, in a modified way, expresses itself, as it were, in a fructification of the group-ego by the astral body, and by this means alone does the mineral come to its perfection. Now if we go back to the comet, here, too, we have something which, in fact, streams in from cosmic space: a similar stream of beings to the group-souls of the minerals. The group-souls of the minerals belong to the sphere of the Spirits of Will; but above them lie the beings who essentially form the basis of cometary life. But as everywhere there are Luciferic Beings, so also within the comet there are such as stand at the stage of the Thrones, not of the Cherubim and Seraphim. That is why the comet acquires a mineral nature; appears as a mineral intervention in the planetary system; in other words, we have to look upon the comets as cosmic bodies which fly in from the cosmos after the planetary system is already formed and thus do not come as far as the bodies composing the system itself, but remain behind at a considerably earlier stage. It would certainly be very fascinating to trace the stages of cosmic growth; how worlds are formed by the cooperative activities of the spirits of the hierarchies in a fixed-star system; how those same spirits themselves appear when we direct our gaze back to cosmic mists and far-distant fixed stars. Whenever we direct our occult vision to a fixed star, we first of all encounter the normal Spirits of Wisdom. The whole heavens would be invisible to physical sight and only visible to clairvoyant consciousness if none but these normal Spirits of Wisdom were active; but everywhere Luciferic spirits are mingled with the normal Spirits of Wisdom, and bring physical light of its own into the world of the fixed star. When at night the starry heaven is illuminated, Phosphorus actually works down upon us from countless points: and everywhere in the universe we find the possibility of formation only through the cooperation of the opposing forces; through the combined working of the normal spirits of the hierarchies with those who are rebels—that is, those who have remained behind. Unillumined to physical eyes but visible to spiritual sight, is the starry world through the normal Spirits of Wisdom; it became luminous to physical eyes, it is revealed in Maya through Lucifer or the Luciferic spirits who are, and must be, active everywhere.

Thus, we have seen something very remarkable in the mineral kingdom also. To-day we have, so to speak, grasped the moon as a field of action from which a Spirit of Wisdom works and restrains Lucifer, because a place had to be created from which through opposition of the Luciferic activity, the balance would be restored. Now what signification had this for humanity? We have seen that in man everything is compressed into the physical plane which as it were, for the mineral, is distributed over the worlds. We have found group-souls for the minerals, plants and animals. Is there also a sort of group-soul for the human being? Oh, yes, there is. The group-souls of the minerals are to be found in the sphere of the Thrones, those of the plants in the sphere of the Spirits of Wisdom, and the animals in the sphere of the Spirits of Motion; but man has so received his group-soul that with the inflowing of his ego, a group-soul was originally given him, as an emanation from the Spirits of Form. This group-soul of man was originally allotted by the Spirits of Form to be a unitary soul for the whole of humanity. What differentiated this group-soul into such variety that differences of race, differences of tribe arose? This was brought about through the action of other spirits. Man was created to be one all the world over; in this unity the primeval ego of man was to assert itself as a group-soul dwelling in all men, a group-soul which had descended to the physical plane. Just as the external form only of the minerals can be brought into being by the Spirits of Form, so by these same Spirits of Form was the group-ego created for humanity, which was then differentiated by the activity of other beings of the various hierarchies. Now the balance brought about for the mineral kingdom through the formation of the moon was also brought about for humanity; and indeed in such a way that whilst for the mineral realm in the moon there is a physical readjustment, in exactly the same way a moon-principle exists for humanity, which works against the Luciferic influence in human nature, just as in the mineral kingdom the dark moon-principle works against the Lucifer principle. Just as in the mineral kingdom something is active in the moon which keeps the balance with regard to the Luciferic forces streaming down from the sun, so does a spiritual moon-principle work from the moon against the temptation of Lucifer which man has encountered in the course of the earth evolution. As we have seen, all the planets, all the heavenly bodies stand in connection with beings of the higher hierarchies, and so, too, is it with the moon. The Spirits of Wisdom founded a colony upon the moon in order to preserve the equilibrium; and so from the direction of the moon there also Work in upon humanity compensating spirits against Lucifer, who approached man as a tempter; and just as he disseminated light, so, too, did his spiritual principle sink down into the human soul. So we can also point to the moon as the bearer of the opponent of Lucifer; as the dwelling-place of dark spirits, who yet must be there that the balance may be maintained with regard to the Light-bearers pressing forward, who, at the same time, are the tempting spirits to humanity. In fact, the secret of the moon and its spiritual principle was first revealed to humanity in the old Hebrew Records, and what we have found physically in the moon is, in its spiritual aspect, what Hebrew antiquity designated as the Jehovah principle.

According to this the moon, so to speak, is designated as the starting-point of the forces working upon humanity as the opponents of Lucifer. Jahveh, or Jehovah, is the opponent of Lucifer. The secret doctrine of the ancient Hebrews looked up to the Sun, saying: In the Sun work the invisible Spirits of Wisdom who are only visible to spiritual, not to physical sight. The latter sees the principle of Lucifer raying down. What is to be seen externally as the sun principle is Lucifer; but therein works secretly, invisible to physical vision, everything attainable through the Spirits of Wisdom, who form the gateway to it. One of these Spirits of Wisdom separated and sacrificed himself, and has taken up his abode upon the moon in order through his activity there to curb the light and also to counteract the spiritual work of Lucifer. Hebrew antiquity saw in Jehovah an Ambassador of those true exalted spirits to whom vision is opened through the Spirits of Wisdom, if the sun is looked upon with spiritual sight. Hebrew antiquity justly concluded that Jehovah must continue to work from the moon until humanity has become inwardly mature enough to perceive and feel at least a little of that which gradually in the course of evolution will be both seen and understood—that from the same sun proceeds not only the physical part of Lucifer, but also the dissemination of that of which the Spirits of Wisdom are the portal. Thus to the ancient Hebrew there appeared in Jehovah that which is similar to the Spirits of Wisdom in the sun, and we can say: just as the sunlight is reflected from the moon in space, so to the ancient Hebrew who really knew, Jehovah was the reflection of that Spiritual Being Who, when man shall have become sufficiently mature, will ray down from the sun, and Whose appearance was foretold by the Holy Rishis, Zarathustra, and the worshippers of Osiris. Just as in space sunlight is reflected from the moon, so Jehovah is revealed as a reflection of the principle of the great Sun-Spirit Whom you may designate by whatever name you will—Vishvakarma, as the ancient Indians called him; Ahura Mazdao, as He was called by Zarathustra, Osiris by the ancient Egyptians, or as the Christ, as He is known to the fourth post-Atlantean period of civilisation—that is, the esoteric comprehension of Jehovah. He is Christ reflected by the moon-principle and because reflected in time, Christ announced prophetically. Hence in St. John's Gospel we come across a passage which otherwise can never be understood, in which it is said that Moses spoke of Christ. Actually, he spoke of Jehovah, but it is Christ, prophetically announced. This passage, in which Jehovah is mentioned is referred to because the bearer of the Christ wishes to point out that in antiquity Jehovah is but Christ foretold.

Thus we see that these things are in accord, and that what we have heard to-day is connected with what was said in the last lecture; and that in what we call the external light and its bearer we must recognize something which is in opposition to the spiritual principle which is at the normal point of its evolution, and which appears to us as the spiritual center of our planetary system. It is not a question of names, but of recognizing the whole significance of this Principle. We must recognize that in the realm of the spiritual, we speak of Christ just as in that of the physical we speak of the Sun; that in the realm of the spiritual we speak of the planetary spirits and of the planets just as in the development of earthly civilisation we speak, perhaps, of the principle of Buddha. Here again is a point concerning which you find one of the important revelations you come across in H. P. Blavatsky. What great revelations there are in The Secret Doctrine you can see by the way H. P. Blavatsky treats the conception of Jehovah. We need not recoil at this, or think things are not correct because she shows a certain antipathy towards Christ and Jehovah; the truth nevertheless presses through, and the description of Jehovah as a Moon divinity, and the presentation of Lucifer as his opponent as given by H. P. Blavatsky is—one might say—the broken expression of a truth. The presentation given from inspiration by Blavatsky is only given a subjective coloring by her, because she had a feeling that Lucifer was really a good Divinity—she felt him as such. She preferred him, in a certain sense to the Moon-god, because to her Lucifer was a Sun-god. That is correct; he is that; but we had to represent the true connection in order that the expression used in former times. “Christ is the true Lucifer,” “Christus verus Luciferus,” may be understood. It does not sound quite right to us today; but at that time when people knew from the old Secret Doctrine that the Light-Bearer manifests in the external physical light, and that, if we penetrate through the physical light to the Spirits of Wisdom, to the spiritual light, then we reach the Light-Bearer of that Light.

“Christus verus Luciferus”—I think, in spite of the incompleteness which was inevitable in our rendering of this comprehensive theme, yet what we always wish to attain in the sphere of Spiritual Science has come before your souls, that the treatment of every theme leads us to look up from the physical to the spiritual. With regard to the heavenly bodies which, as the expression of the wonders of the universe, shine forth from space, that is in many respects, very difficult; because in the heavenly bodies there is a complicated cooperation of the beings of the various hierarchies, and because everything which takes place in cosmic space can only be comprehended if, behind all matter, even behind the substance of light itself, we find the Spirit or Spirits. Behind all this Spiritual Life lies the Universal, Divine Fatherhood, an Omnipresent and ever-working All-Divine Life, which before It comes to expression in the physical, is differentiated into countless worlds of Spiritual Hierarchies. We look up to these worlds, however, and see within them, That which works down into our kingdoms of nature, and is the foundation of all the wonders of the heavens. For even in our kingdoms of nature either the hierarchies themselves are revealed or their offspring. When we thus look out into the spaces of heaven, we can, through such reflections, also gain a moral impression which must, if we allow the mighty operations of the hierarchies in cosmic space to gain a little influence over us, result in our being drawn away from the passions, desires, impulses and concepts which our physical earth-life brings to maturity. These are, in essence, that which flings down into the development of the earth that which divides humanity into factions, which makes men all over the world opponents or partisans, in the most varied directions. In a higher moral sense we attain a sense of freedom, if but for a brief time, we free ourselves from the consideration of earthly things, and contemplate the worlds of spirit in cosmic space. Then do we become free from that which otherwise plays in our egotistical impulses, which are the original cause of all the smallnesses and quarreling upon earth. Hence the most certain means of attaining the high ideals of our Anthroposophical life is to direct our gaze from time to time to the starry worlds and their spiritual guides and leaders, the hierarchies. If we investigate the different civilizations as we have tried to do and the significance of the inspiring spirits of the various religions and of the bearers of Wisdom to humanity, we shall cease to strive on earth as followers of individual systems. We shall not depend on names, nor on the creeds of the several groups of men on the earth. When men seek their knowledge there where the vision of all the humanity of the earth can he directed, and where the knowledge common to all can be obtained—knowledge which unites and does not separate—when men actually reach that heavenly language which expresses the significance of the various religious Founders and Inspirers of humanity, then will the Anthroposophical ideal of a tolerant and unbiased consideration of all religions and cosmic conceptions be really able to appear. Men will no longer quarrel when they no longer claim for their own group a particular bearer of religion or stream of civilisation, but seek for the origin of these bearers outside in cosmic space. In this sense such a contemplation may acquire great moral importance if in much which formerly brought divisions and disharmonies upon earth, peace and harmony are established. Only we must learn to read the mighty writing given us in the forms and movements of the heavenly bodies—learn to read how, in reality, not different but the same spirits, work for each single individual on earth—that they belong to all men. This might be explained by means of a physical picture. As long as we remain on the earth, a group of people may dwell in the North or in the South, East or West. But when we look upon the movement of the earth and observe how it turns its face to the stars when it changes its position—whether in short periods of time or in millions of years—how the southern half turns to the northern and the stars of our northern heavens become visible, and then the northern part of our earth turns to the south and perceives the stars of the southern heavens. Just as the earth in the course of time turns its countenance, so to speak, to all the stars which shine to us from cosmic space, so may humanity learn through the ideals of Anthroposophy to look in an unbiased manner upon all which speaks spiritually from cosmic space. Through such a positive consideration of facts this ideal will best be reached—not through a sentimental emphasis of love and peace. In a real way shall we attain love and peace and harmony, if we direct our vision away from the concerns of earth which divide humanity into races, nations, religions—to the starry heavens, where spirits speak the same language to us through all time, even through all eternity; the same language for every human soul, for every human heart, if only we understand it rightly.

In this sense I should like now, at the end of our course of lectures, to point to the moral effects of such considerations, if we take the trouble to learn to know the facts of occultism. If we learn to know them in the true occult sense, what has been learnt will so stream into our hearts that it becomes a life-force within us, a living hope; and, above all, will become moral energy, and really make us what we may call citizens of the heavenly worlds. Then through his spiritual life a man carries heaven into the concerns of earth, and thus in the course of the processes of civilisation, brings about that which, in the highest sense, we can designate as harmony, as peace. Then will man become more and more conscious that at the very beginning as well as at the end of the evolution of civilisation an undivided Spirit really governs, a Spirit of Form, Who works uniformly throughout humanity, while He is stimulated by His brothers, the other Spirits of Form, who do Him service, in order to send a uniform working through the whole of humanity. Thus through true heavenly science something uniform is brought to men, and this will promote the intellectual and moral understanding of humanity on the earth. Thus we do not wish to consider merely the abstract and theoretical; but every such consideration ought at the same time to become in us a source of power, above all, a source of moral power; and then will all our teachings, even those which appear drawn from afar, serve to forward the direct aims and ideals of Spiritual Science.

With these words, my dear friends, which should gather up the whole spirit and character of these lectures into a certain nuance of feeling, I should like at their close to take farewell of you all.

Whoever speaks of occultism today should realize that much of what they have to say will be taken, not simply as a compilation of doubtful hypotheses, but even as dreams and fantasies. Regarding any disagreement aroused by what I will say tonight among hearers who are involved with contemporary culture or science, let me assure them that I, for one, fully understand their objections. First, then, let me indicate what I really mean by occultism, which is the subject of today's lecture, and by the methods of investigation leading to the results of occultism, which may be summed up by the word initiation.

Simply put, initiation is the sum total of what we must accomplish in order to arrive at the results of occultism. When I speak of occultism, I do not mean all those things which are now designated under this name and are spread about here and there. I mean the precise results of a kind of spiritual science subjected to scientific thinking and to the logical requirements of the present. By occultism I mean everything that under this name, and from the standpoint of science as mentioned above, seeks to take its place in modern life through the study of things inaccessible to ordinary science and ordinary knowledge. What is often published these days as occultism is more than calculated to arouse the opposition of many of our contemporaries, who say: What is this occultism, coming forward with insights concerning super-sensible life and super-sensible facts! What is it compared with the results achieved by modern science, based upon such strict and conscientious research!

The insights which are thus advanced, those which I am talking about, are primarily those which lead us beyond sense-perception and beyond the things which can be recognized by ordinary understanding, which is connected, as it were, with the instrument of the brain. These insights lead us beyond things which can be experienced between birth and death into regions we enter when we pass through the portal of death. The results obtained through spiritual science, or let us say, through this form of occultism, speak of the development of the true spiritual core of the human being, and they show us that when one passes through the portal of death, one's soul-spiritual core passes over into a super-sensible, spiritual world. From the life led between birth and death in a physical body, one takes along certain forces and, by entering into relation with other purely super-sensible forces and powers during an intermediate period between death and a new birth, one's soul-spiritual being can connect itself with the forces given by physical heredity, with what comes from father and mother and from the ancestors in general—in short, with what unites itself with these purely physical substances and forces—so that the whole human being comes into existence.

This will show you that the results of such a spiritual form of research must speak of the development of a person's soul-spiritual core, a course of development that goes through repeated earthly lives. Consequently it speaks of reincarnation, of repeated lives on earth. It also explains that the inner capacities that we unfold within our soul during one life, and even the blows of destiny which we experience, are in a certain way the results of what we have prepared for ourselves during an earlier life on earth. It explains moreover that everything we experience during this earthly life, all the capacities we acquire, pass through the portal of death-we elaborate them in a super-sensible, purely spiritual world, and when these qualities have been elaborated to a sufficient degree in the spiritual world, we once more enter a new life on earth, as already described.

This perception in itself may strike some people as a rather daring assertion. To it must be added the things that explain, upon the basis of spiritual science, the super-sensible part of human nature which belongs with the physical being. These things will explain that, in addition to the physical body that we perceive through our external senses, there is also a part of the human being which is the bearer of a super-sensible essence. This part can be perceived with the aid of spiritual-scientific means, so that it can be recognized as a human being's soul-spiritual core, passing through repeated lives on earth and experiencing the destinies mentioned above.

The publications of this spiritual science even draw attention to earlier conditions of human life in remote epochs of earthly existence. From a spiritual-scientific standpoint, these publications also speak of cosmic conditions during a time when the earth did not as yet exist in its present planetary form, that is, they point to conditions which existed before human life on earth began. They look at the evolution of cosmic life itself, the transformation of our Earth and of other heavenly bodies. If we work with the methods of this spiritual science we must admit on the one hand, that if anything at all can be known concerning such things, these perceptions affect human life most deeply, because they are connected with our innermost nature and being. On the other hand we must point out that, particularly from the standpoint of so-called modern natural science, we encounter justified skepticism about the possibility of gaining any knowledge in these spheres.

The next question which may be raised in the face of the results of such investigation is the one which will form the subject of this evening's lecture. It is none other than the more than justified question: How do those who advance such statements arrive at their results? How do they set about coming to such conclusions? Needless to say, despite the conscientiousness and sureness of ordinary scientific method (and nobody admires these more sincerely than a serious spiritual scientific investigator), it does not allow us to penetrate into super-sensible spheres. But having raised this question, another immediately arises within the human soul, prompted by an indisputable fact: Since there is undoubtedly a deep longing to know such things in every human heart, how does it come about that precisely the most conscientious method of research seems to separate human beings from the world in which they long to look?

If we face this question without prejudice, it soon becomes obvious that the human being is only able to understand certain kinds of facts, when facing them in a particular way. In reality, I can only understand things of which I know the origin and course of development. I can only understand those things in creation in which I can, in a certain way, participate actively through my cognitive capacity. I can only grasp those things at the creation of which I can, in some way, be present. But if I turn my gaze upon the things that surround me in nature, upon the essence of all the kingdoms of nature, I must say to myself: Their form of existence, the way in which they appear finished to me, allows me to see them clearly through my senses and I can know them because I investigate their laws and combine them with my intellect—but when I wish to understand how they have arisen, I cannot penetrate them and my power of observation fails.

The beings and facts of the kingdoms of Nature confront humans as finished acts of creation and at first it appears that we cannot get a hold of things at the moment they are created. But if human beings look into their inner self and survey all that lives in their soul in the form of thoughts, representations, feelings, and impulses of the will, they face a more or less rich inner world, a world whose reality they experience far more vividly than the reality of external objects and the reality of that part of the self which belongs to the external world. Who can deny that the reality of our pains and sufferings, of our impulses and passions, of our thoughts and ideals-in short, of all that surges up and down within our soul from the moment of waking up to the moment of falling asleep, is greater than the reality of the physical and physiological processes within our organism? But even if we do our utmost to gain insight into our soul life-and we find that it is kindled by the external world, that this or that experience affects us, and fills us with joy or sorrow-even if we do our utmost to look into our soul life, we cannot even there take part in, nor penetrate into, the actual genesis of any inner soul process, we cannot be witness to the creative process within us. But bearing in mind that we can only grasp something by participating in its creative process, we can understand what we lose through the two modes of observation explained above.

It is enough to survey what is produced by our fantasy, what we create by means of something lying, so to speak, within our own power, what we form in accordance with our thoughts and ideals; it is enough to remember all that is now accessible to the human being—on the one hand, the sense of satisfaction that arises through an understanding of creative processes, an understanding gained through technical knowledge and by the way in which we combine thoughts dealing with the forces of nature and, on the other hand, the deep dissatisfaction which makes us feel as if we were standing before a gate through which we cannot pass, whenever we survey things around us and within us and realize that we know nothing whatever of their origin and of their living process. But might it not be possible, after all, to find some access enabling us to participate in these creative processes, to penetrate into what we feel to be life's creative processes, in which we ourselves are placed?

There is one sphere where we can know in a direct way that we participate—in a certain manner in a creative process, but at the same time we know that in ordinary consciousness, observation and cognition do not allow us to look into the process of creation!

What is meant here can be seen every day, if only we reflect a little over the strange phenomena which appear in the alternating states of sleeping and waking. For those who wish to penetrate more deeply into the essence of life, these phenomena are of the profoundest significance. They evoke what we may call a mystery of life. Though it may not strike our ordinary consciousness that something so infinitely significant is contained in these alternating conditions of sleeping and waking, this is only due to the fact that every habitual thing in life has lost the power of making a strong impression upon us. Just because we are accustomed to these alternating states of sleeping and waking within twenty-four hours, we no longer feel the deep significance, the greatness and power suggested by this everyday phenomenon.

If we wish to characterize the difference between sleeping and waking, it will at first seem trivial and obvious; for everyone knows that sleep occurs in such a way that all the emotions filling our soul from the moment of waking up to the moment of falling asleep, the feelings, sensations, impulses, passions, thoughts and ideals, disappear. This whole day world becomes submerged in darkness, in the night of unconsciousness. But everyone is also convinced that even sleep, during the transitory stage between falling asleep and waking up, the activities within our being continue; something occurs, but it is inaccessible to human consciousness.

What can be said, then, concerning the alternating conditions of sleeping and waking is undoubtedly and obviously true; but if we reflect on it, we realize that the reason why a barrier is put up before our knowledge does not lie so far away. If we observe this alternation of waking and sleeping, we must say that our whole daytime conscious life, our whole waking life, must be a kind of destructive process, dissolving deeper processes within our organism. I cannot speak in detail of the physical, chemical and physiological processes of fatigue, for this would lead us too far, and this is not the essential point just now, but what is evident to all is that fatigue is something like a wear and tear, almost a destructive process of deeper forces that are active in our organism. This shows us that, in reality, the peculiarity of our waking daytime life is that it does not participate in our constructive processes, in the creation of our own being, but that it shows symptoms of fatigue, and that, after all, it constantly consumes us, dissolves us. The waking life of day is in fact a process of dissolution and of destruction, and any unprejudiced observer will note that sleep is the very opposite: it is a creative process which restores, reorders and creates anew that which the waking process destroys and decays.

Yet it is only natural that we cannot know anything concerning this creative process within us that takes place during sleep. It concerns us directly, yet we cannot know anything about it, because immediately before this creative process arises, we lose our consciousness, so that we cannot penetrate knowingly into spheres within our being where creative processes take place. But this leads to the immediate conclusion that if only we were able to maintain our consciousness beyond the point where torpor sets in, we could take hold of the creative phenomena in nature and in the universe. When creative forces begin to work in human beings, their consciousness becomes dazed: they fall asleep, become unconscious and this shows us that human nature, as presently constituted, is such that when we wish to penetrate into a creative activity-moreover one that takes place within ourselves-our consciousness vanishes, so that we cannot witness the creative process. The activities within the human organism which are of a creative kind constitute a part of our being into which we cannot penetrate because the activities dull our consciousness and remain a strange world. There is no other path leading to a knowledge of things lying behind the sensory world than that of transcending our ordinary consciousness and penetrating into a creative process which takes place within us, or into some other similar process.

Where do we find something that can teach us how to transcend our ordinary consciousness and to penetrate into something which is estranged from us, without getting dazed, without falling into a kind of sleep? In the large field accessible to our ordinary consciousness there are two things which evidently lead us out of our ordinary consciousness without dazing us or putting us to sleep, as is the case every evening, when we go to bed. These two things in our ordinary consciousness that may serve as a kind of pattern for the way in which our consciousness can transcend its ordinary limits and penetrate into an unknown sphere, these two things must be sought in the moral field. Two moral experiences, permeating the whole life of the human being, supply a prototypical idea for the way in which we can go out of ourselves, without losing our consciousness.

These two things are first compassion, and second, conscience. If we study the way in which compassion and conscience are related to consciousness, we obtain, to begin with, an idea of how consciousness may go beyond its own limits. When I develop compassion, love or sympathy for another human soul, I experience within myself, according to my capacity, not that which touches me—for that would not be an experience of compassion and of love—but the joys, sorrows, pains and pleasures of the other soul. When I am full of compassion, I can lose myself in the soul of another person, and I actually live (as any unprejudiced observation will show) outside my ordinary consciousness, within the other soul.

Here I am confronted by a deep mystery of life. It is all the deeper because, if our feelings are of a moral nature, our consciousness does not vanish and we are not dazed when passing over into the consciousness of another soul. Indeed, how far I am able to maintain my own consciousness to a full extent, when experiencing the sorrows and joys of another soul, and not my own, is a standard of measure for my morality. It is even a moral defect for my consciousness to be dazed by the joys and sorrows of another soul; for then we have a situation similar to that of facing one's own creative activity taking place during sleep. Consciousness falls asleep, as it were, in the face of another person's sorrows and joys.

The second experience which pertains to the moral sphere and leads us out of our ordinary consciousness, is conscience. If we observe conscience in an unprejudiced way, we can say the following: In life we may love or hate, do or leave certain things undone, under the influence of our instincts and passions, or of sympathy and antipathy, or perhaps we may follow the dictates of education or of social relations—these appear to us from outside. But there is something which never speaks to us from outside, and this we call conscience.

Conscience comes to us from a world—we can feel and experience this—that speaks to us inwardly and can be heard by us inwardly. Conscience influences our ordinary perceptible world, for everything which we can perceive is open to correction when the super-sensible demands of conscience impel us to action. Conscience bears witness to the fact that, in the moral sphere, our soul can be told something which transcends our consciousness. And, again, we find that it is a moral defect if our soul falls into a kind of sleep when conscience begins to speak and does not listen to its voice but only listens to what speaks from the physical environment through sympathy or antipathy, so that these promptings govern the soul's impulses to action. If we can thus transcend our ordinary consciousness without feeling dazed, conscience is a phenomenon that speaks to the human soul in such a way that it need not take its impulses from any influence coming from the external world.

In regard to beings outside our own self, in regard to experiences transcending our knowledge and our consciousness, we have in the moral sphere the possibility to penetrate into them through compassion and love. Through conscience we listen, as it were, to truths which do not come from the world of the senses.

If it is possible in this way to penetrate into beings outside our own and to take into our souls truths of the kind uttered by conscience, then there is a prospect of penetrating into a world which is not the one given to us during our waking consciousness from the moment of waking up to the moment of falling asleep. It is possible, and this prospect opens out to us through methods we call the methods of initiation. In regard to thinking, feeling, and willing, these methods of initiation consist in other forms of soul-activity than those to which we are accustomed in our ordinary life for the acquisition of an external knowledge concerning the world.

Why do we acquire concepts and ideas in ordinary life? No one will deny that the reason modern people form concepts and ideas is to gain through these thoughts, and even through their feelings and sensations, certain knowledge concerning what surrounds them in the external world. Today, we designate as truth those concepts and ideas that coincide with something outside, with some phenomenon of the external world, so that these thoughts are, as it were, a reflected image of the external world. For everything that is connected with external life, with the external culture, this form of soul-activity is undoubtedly the right one. But if we wish to penetrate into super-sensible spheres of existence, this soul-activity must undergo a complete transformation. In other words (let me use the taboo word!), if we wish to penetrate into occult mysteries, entirely different soul-forces must be used. Our concepts, ideas, thought-pictures, indeed even our feelings and will-impulses, must become quite different from what they mean to us in the external world.

We should not begin by asking: What do these soul-activities mean in regard to this or that in the external world and what is their true value? We should simply take this content of our soul-life as a pedagogical means of self-training. We should let our thoughts and ideas, and even our feelings and sensations work in our soul in such a way as to shut it out from everything coming to us from the external world, even from the life experiences and memories we have collected. By a strong effort of the will, we should eliminate all impressions coming to us from the physical world, all intellectual thought patterns, and even all anxieties, worries and joys—indeed, anything which may have accumulated in our memory. We should empty our soul, so that the same condition sets in which ordinarily arises through fatigue when we fall asleep in the evening. Doing so, however, we should reach something entirely opposite to sleep, namely we should be able to maintain our full consciousness and direct it towards fruitful thoughts, particularly towards symbolic thoughts, as rich in meaning as possible. (The essential point is not to ask what value such thoughts have for the attainment of truth, but to bear in mind their pedagogical value, when the soul's forces are directed towards a thought image, or an impulse which is set in the center of soul-life through a strong effort of the will.)

This soul activity, purified of everything else, is turned towards this self-chosen picture and concentrates upon it more and more until the whole life of the soul, which remains awake through a strong concentration of the will, is centered upon this self-chosen content. We then start noticing that something begins to radiate within our soul life and these rays do not stream from the content we have chosen, but from the strong concentration of soul forces we have applied to it. We are now able to experience something which we generally do not experience, and we obtain the immediate feeling, the immediate experience: “Now I am experiencing something which is just as real, important and essential for life as the things which I see with my eyes and hear with my ears; it is just as real, yet I could never have experienced it!” In short, only now do we begin to know what super-sensible experience really is; only now do we realize that we live within a soul-spiritual core; only now do we begin to understand that it is possible to live within an inner soul being which is quite independent of the bodily being. And this transforms our whole consciousness.

I must point out expressly that the process leading to this inner activity greatly resembles, while also being the very opposite, the trivial process which takes place when our attention is directed towards a shining object, producing a kind of hypnosis. This soul condition, which differs from the normal one, arises through the sharp concentration upon an object, so that other soul activities are kept in the background. The concentration upon an inner, freely chosen content has a certain resemblance with this soul activity, for it is also a kind of concentration; yet it is at the same time the very opposite; for the concentration upon a shining object blots out consciousness, it puts us into a quasi-hypnotic state, whereas when an inner content, and it is strictly an inner thought-content, is placed at the center of our soul life by a strong effort of our will, our consciousness remains intact.

Spiritual science has a technical name for this method of training the soul: meditation. This is true meditation. And I wish to emphasize that this kind of meditation is in practice far more difficult then one would think, after hearing it described in such a simple way. It does not suffice to try it a few times. Over and over again we should endeavour to practice such concentration, such meditation, by forming thought-images and pictures, ideas taken from the moral and intellectual sphere—and particularly symbolic representations. This should be done with perseverance, until the decisive moment arises. This simply consists in the inner conviction: “I have within my being a soul-spiritual core, and this lives in a super-sensible reality, but in its super-sensible reality it cannot be perceived through the ordinary sense-organs, nor grasped through the intellect, bound up with the brain.”

From what I have described above, you will be able to deduce one thing—we always remain within our own being. We turn away from the external world by concentrating upon our inner self. The first thing we thus experience is, and only can be, an inner experience, an experience of our inner being, and this leads us practically to a definite point. One who concentrates in this way, or meditates, soon perceives—really does perceive—that his or her field of vision is filled with realities; we may call them, if you like, visions. They appear in the form of pictures, which cannot be compared to anything else, though there may be some external resemblance with what we see in the physical world. Particularly in regard to the way in which they arise and in regard to the effect which they produce, however, these pictures constitute an altogether new experience, and are in no way put together from earlier experiences. This completely new element must be designated as vision, for there is no other apt word to describe it in our ordinary speech. One might say that this new experience exactly resembles the pictures of a dream; yet compared with ordinary dreams, these visions have a far stronger intensity, and possess, so to speak, an obtrusive, almost importunate reality.

At this point, those who practice the methods giving insight into the super-sensible world encounter an obstacle, which might be seen as a danger. They incur the danger of taking this visionary world from the outset as something real, as facing them in the same way as the ordinary physical world outside, so that when they perceive this visionary world, they say, “This world is real,” in the same way as they would in connection with the sensory world. This danger becomes all the more threatening if all the precautions connected with an occult training, such as the one described above, are not observed. These preventive measures are dealt with in detail in my book Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and a person who follows them never for a moment loses the feeling that the world of visions is the self, and that we ourselves produce this world.

It is of the utmost importance that we should never allow our consciousness to be dulled to the extent of having the impression that an external world lies before us in this visionary world. It exactly resembles a world lying outside our own being: it stretches out before us in the manner of a spatial world; it reveals processes governed by time, just like the processes of the external physical world; it calls up altogether the delusion that we are facing a reality, like a dream enhanced to the utmost degree of lifelines. People who neglect such precautions and who do not recognize that they themselves have created this visionary world naturally fall prey to dreams and empty fancies. A truly clairvoyant person—allow me to use this word—differs in this point from the fantastic and visionary dreamer who takes such visions for objective realities. Those who have advanced to real clairvoyance are aware at every moment, know and must know, through an intensive self-training, that although they see before them an extensive spatial world, this is merely a world of their own creation. Such things exercise a very suggestive influence, but never for a moment should we lose the consciousness of the fact that they are nothing but our own creation. This consciousness in turn should become the object of meditation and concentration. We should make an effort of the will to concentrate again and again, intensively and for a long time, upon the fact that this new world we have, as it were, conquered is our own work, our own product. And then something strange arises within our consciousness—(this can, of course, only be described as a practical experience). We recognize that in performing this activity we have done quite consciously something which we also do in a normal state of consciousness.

I have already told you that in our normal state of consciousness we really produce a destructive process within us. Ordinarily we do not know this, or at least, we do not pay any attention to it. When we conjure up before us such a visionary world, while maintaining our full consciousness, and at the same time concentrate upon the thought characterized above, we also become fully aware of the fact that the “imaginative knowledge” (this is the technical expression used for it) thus reached also produces a destructive process. We observe that we always come to the point where the imaginative world begins to consume us, and if we were to relinquish the full consciousness that can be maintained only through a strong effort of will, if we were not to realize fully that in this visionary world we encounter everywhere our own being, our nervous system would suffer and would become ill. We should never come to the point of overstepping the limit where the real destructive processes would begin. Through the fact that we do not allow things to come as far as the destructive process, but keep it at bay through the intense consciousness that we ourselves are the creators of this imaginative world, through this fact we are able to participate in a creative process. For when we fulfill within ourselves certain creative activities which cannot be perceived through our normal consciousness, we really enter a creative world, and we learn to follow consciously a process resembling that which takes place during sleep. This shows us that in this way we can witness a creative process, understand a process of growth and development within ourselves.

This is, however, connected with something else, though I can only give a brief description of these stages of initiation. Little by little, the whole process forces us to renounce something the ordinary clairvoyant does not like to renounce. The ordinary clairvoyant is so glad to live in this world of visions, he or she takes such indulgent pleasure in these experiences of a higher world, and they are so suggestive that he or she easily takes them for reality. This can lead to a nervous breakdown. But if through, the above effort of will we remain fully conscious that “all this is produced by our own self,” if our consciousness never falls asleep, something arises that is a source of regret to many—namely, the power lying at the foundation of that effort of our will falls destructively upon this whole imaginative world, disposes of it and many things which the ordinary clairvoyant holds very precious are thus blotted out. In other words, the following happens. Although in imaginative consciousness we have an element really setting forth the forces constituting a creative process (for we do not let it go beyond the limit where the destructive process would set in)—and we really transcend our ordinary consciousness, as we normally do when we feel compassion or love—the decision, or the effort of will by which we bring destruction (but also structure and order) into our visionary world leads to the development of an activity that does not exist anywhere in the external physical world, and that very soon reveals itself as the creative activity within our own being, lying beyond the reach of our ordinary consciousness. It is the activity which may be seen in our soul-spiritual being when it works upon our organism by drawing regenerating forces out of its spiritual environment; it is the soul-spiritual core which lives in the spiritual cosmos.

In the next stage, which is technically designated as inspiration, we learn to recognize the soul-spiritual core of our being, and how it lives within the creative forces of the cosmos. Whereas imagination, the first stage of initiation, only led us into our inner being by conjuring up a merely visionary world, the process of inspiration leads us to a higher stage. A flash of light breaks in upon our whole visionary world, something that really seems to come out of the spiritual cosmos, as does conscience, and we observe that it speaks to us in the same way in which conscience speaks to us in our ordinary consciousness. Conscience may be compared to the way in which inspiration speaks to the imaginative consciousness; but then imagination passes over to the stage of inspiration, and we enter a real, super-sensible world.

Through our own development, we have now reached the point where we can glance behind the veil of physical phenomena, so that now we are able to understand the wonderful mystery of human development and also of human death. When we see a human being entering life through birth, when we perceive how the child's undeveloped physiognomy gradually acquires characteristic traits, and its helpless movements gradually acquire strength and sureness, when we observe the development of what lives in the child's soul, we can no longer say: Everything that comes out of the child's soul, that forms its body and its physiognomy, and even the delicate convolutions of the brain immediately after birth, is the result of heredity! No, we are now able to look back upon the child's soul-spiritual core that comes from an entirely different world, and we can see this soul-spiritual part of the child's being unites itself with what comes from father and mother. Now we no longer speak merely of hereditary forces, but of forces from the spiritual world that unite themselves with what is transmitted by father and mother and by ancestors in general. We obtain a real conception of something which was formerly a mere belief, namely, that the human soul-spiritual being comes from the spiritual world and forms the physical-bodily part.

We can then proceed still further. When we study life through the knowledge given by initiation, we see that the human being's soul-spiritual core directs the experiences of life more and more towards its inner center, abstracting them from the external world. We understand and we can see how the soul-spiritual part gradually retreats from the external world. We can see the face getting old and wrinkled, and we obtain the immediate impression: Whereas our physical body begins to fade, after we have reached the climax of life, and even our brain decays, so that the soul can no longer express its own content, and even the soul itself seems to decay, we see on the other hand that the part that can no longer express itself outwardly gradually withdraws to the person's inner being, and concentrates its forces, so that everything which we have experienced, suffered and achieved is gathered within the soul, and is at its strongest, its most powerful, when the body releases our soul-spiritual part. If we follow this process, we find that this strongest force within us becomes united with forces of the super-sensible world, forming the prototype of a new incarnation, of a new body for a new life on earth.

If we compare what stands at the beginning of life—the gradual plastic development of the body—if we compare it with what stands at the end of life—the inner concentration of life's experiences within the soul, the emancipation of the soul's forces from the body and the crossing of the threshold of death—if we observe these two things supersensibly, we find that it is like the beginning and the end, say, of a plant's development, where the final process already contains the seed, the beginning of the new plant. But though we see beginning and end thus linked up, super-sensible knowledge gained through initiation shows us that what the soul has experienced during life is interwoven with the soul-spiritual core and that when the human being returns, after an intermediate period between death and a new birth, a new body is built. But this soul-spiritual core of the being now forms a new body and a new earthly existence in such a way as to produce the effect of causes that had arisen during a preceding life.

The methods gained through initiation, whose prototypes were compassion and conscience, i.e., experiences of our ordinary consciousness, thus give us an immediate knowledge of processes of the super-sensible world connected with the human being. Initiation therefore becomes the path leading us up into the super-sensible worlds.

If you delve deeper into what I have described to you just now, in outline form, and if you study it in my book, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, you will find, however, that this kind of initiation has its own characteristics. For its whole development and the way in which it sets forth the events, it follows the requirements of modern human education—the modern requirements of logic, sound common sense and science. Consequently these processes of initiation can be recognized more and more as the description of a path along which every human being may attain knowledge of the super-sensible world. In entirely free processes, produced only by the awakening of the soul and the inner forces of the soul, the human being can ascend into the super-sensible world and penetrate into processes which reveal the path taken by the soul-spiritual being. Such ideas do not only belong to a world that does not concern us but belong to a world out of which we constantly draw strength and confidence for our ordinary life. The fact that initiation reckons with modern logic and modern scientific requirements is of course a new achievement, one might say, of the process of initiation. People will gradually come to the point of acquiring knowledge in this manner, by following the example of scientific thought, and this will contain truths that penetrate and satisfy religious feeling through knowledge. But this constitutes a revolutionary change, and this change will consist in the process of initiation penetrating visibly and in an evident manner into the civilization of the present and of the future. It is a turning point in the development of humanity which may be designated in regard to super-sensible things as the change from faith to knowledge.

But faith (and it will be easier to understand this turning point if we bear this in mind), in the form in which it has arisen and in the light of initiation, is not something that has been thought out intellectually, nor is it a newer form of illumination based upon something unreal; for every kind of faith leads back to results originally gained by initiated persons, to results of initiation. But there is a certain difference between what will more and more become human initiation generally and initiation of past times.

In past times it was a strict rule—and this is still the case today for many initiations which still exist in the world—it was a strict rule that anyone who went in search of the path leading to initiation had to have a kind of guide, who was called in certain circles the spiritual guide, the guru. What is the task of a guru? We have seen that in the course of development described above, we encounter certain dangers, dangers against which we must be warned. In the initiations of the past, which have been handed down traditionally, the guru's chief task was to warn against dangers. A guru may do this even today, if he or she is simply a person whom we consider as a kind of teacher as in ordinary science—a person whom we can trust. But it can easily happen that the new guru wants to be what the old guru had to be, even though the guru today cannot be allowed to have that relationship with the pupil, and this will be increasingly the case the more initiation adapts itself to the progressive course of human development. Initiation really began everywhere in the manner described above. Rules were given, and each person had a personal guide and was told: Now you must concentrate upon this thing, and now upon that; now you must do this exercise, and now that. Under strict guidance, a condition was produced in which the world of imagination appeared. The modern person on the other hand—for that is the very nature of the modern human being—must pass over from imagination to inspiration through a strong effort of his or her own will, where in olden times this task was taken over by the guru who led the pupil from the stage of imagination to that of inspiration by means of certain influences to which the pupil was more easily amenable after having been led up to this stage of initiation. What I have described to you, as something lying concealed in every human being, became an impulse which the guru transmitted to the pupil. This brought the pupil's imaginative, visionary life into order. But, in the process, the guru would gain complete control over the pupil who would become, as it were, an instrument in the teacher's hands. Therefore in all initiations of the past, and they are really the source of every religious faith, there was therefore a strict requirement that the guru, the initiator, should be above the possibility of exercising an immoral or unjust influence over the pupil. In his or her whole inner attitude the guru had to be above every kind of deceit, and success depended upon the guru's having attained to this stage of development. The guru had to use influence only to the extent of transmitting to the pupil the truth-images of the higher world that he or she had gained, thus rendering the pupil's path more easy.

I think that if you wish to understand in an unprejudiced way the development of human consciousness, you will not need to accumulate many proofs showing that in regard to super-sensible knowledge as in other things humanity has become more and more independent of personal influences. This is simply a fact of the progress of the human evolution. The gurus who collect their pupils around them, as the founders of religions and sects were wont to do, will gradually disappear from the process of human development, and they will be replaced by men and women of trust, persons in whom the seeker for initiation can have trust and confidence—the same confidence which one has for other teachers. But such a teacher must, so to speak, be one of our own choosing and not a guru assigned to us. We no longer can overcome the perils which beset humanity by founding sects after the manner of ancient adepts. Indeed, in regard to super-sensible development, it is good for people not to be too easily inclined to believe but, on the contrary, be hard to convince. It is good if they ask themselves, not only once or twice, but many times, in whom they put their trust, and it is good if they are very skeptical and full of distrust, when any prophet, founder of a sect, or adept, is forced upon them as a great teacher. In the field of which I am speaking, it will always constitute a danger for spiritual streams seeking to bring occultism into the world to base themselves chiefly upon great teachers whose authority is enforced from outside, instead of being founded upon the natural confidence, the inner trust, that rises up in the pupils when they meet the teacher. In a certain connection, we have seen a classic example of this, and it is necessary to mention it. During the last decades, a personality has arisen who revealed to humankind great and significant truths, truths that are not yet recognized by ordinary science but are intrinsic truths, penetrating deeply into super-sensible mysteries. Things of this kind are contained in the books of H. P. Blavatsky, who has attained fame in certain circles. Even to those familiar with such things, her books contain truths of extraordinary significance, which, more than anything else, can lead us into the secrets of life. Unfortunately, this occult movement was connected with something which did it great harm. I do not mean to say that in itself it was an error, nevertheless it caused great harm that H. P. Blavatsky referred to her teachers, who were unknown to the world, to her gurus. Those who understand H. P. Blavatsky's capacities know that these capacities would never have enabled her to reach such truths independently. With her own capacities, she could never have reached them. These truths need no recommendation insofar as they are true, for they can be tested, so that it did not harm H. P. Blavatsky if she felt obliged to refer to traditions and exercises derived from gurus—she could never have attained them on her own. But it harmed the movement she called into life that such things were accepted upon the foundation of external authority, and not upon the inner truth of occultism. No matter how much good will might be involved, the fact is that the time is over—the necessities of the times show us, no matter whether this is justified or unjustified—that the possibility of taking in things simply upon the authority of gurus is past, more than past! These things must now be recognized through sound common sense. Truths which can be gained along the paths described, for instance, in my Theosophy, are therefore the result of the kind of spiritual investigation of which I have spoken today, but at the same time, these results can be tested and compared with the facts of life itself, and need not be accepted upon any authority.

Initiation can only be recognized and justified today if we take into consideration that it must adapt itself to the modern process of culture—and that it must follow paths and use means which are accessible to every human being.

Of course, for some time yet people having this or that degree of culture, or standing upon this or that stage of scientific training, may need the advice of an occult teacher, so that initiation becomes easier for them through the experience of one who has attained it and who has already taken in the inspirations from a higher world; for only such a teacher can give the right advice in detail. But the relation between pupil and teacher can only be of the kind that otherwise exists in the cultural world between one who wishes to learn something and one who can teach it. Any mysteriousness connected with adept teaching, any form of facing people with the demand—believe in this or that new prophet or founder of religion—all this will be rejected by the modern spirit of civilization, by the modern scientific spirit, and the very fact that it contradicts the modern spirit is a recommendation against it. No matter what people say in regard to teachers who may appear, the only thing which will in future give individuals the right to be teachers will be others' confidence in their achievements, in the way in which they appear and in their whole personality. It must be this confidence that leads a pupil to the teacher from whom advice is asked.

If this is not observed in the occult sphere, where initiation is sought, a danger will arise that is always connected with the delicate and intricate nature of such things: the danger that in this field charlatans will be found beside to conscientious initiates who conscientiously pursue their research into the super-sensible worlds and transmit the results thus obtained. Charlatanry easily intrudes itself, and may be found side by side with the conscientious results of occultism or initiation imparted in the spirit of truth. Credulity and sensational curiosity in regard to communications coming from the super-sensible world or initiation are just as great today as doubt, for there are just as many people ready to accept things upon this or that authority as there are people who reject everything gained even by the strictest methods of super-sensible research. For this reason, a path of investigation, such as the one of initiation described today, must now be shown in addition to the propagation of occult facts. This path of initiation is one that can be followed by every human being; the results obtained along it are accessible to sound common sense as well as any other scientific result; indeed, in the case of scientific truths, one is not always in the position to test them personally, as in the case of clinical facts or other results gained in laboratories. We know that anyone may investigate them if he or she understands the required method; yet it is not possible to test everything, so that we simply accept certain facts that convince us, those our sound common sense recognizes as true.

The same thing can be said of the results of initiation. Not every person will always be in the position to test them, but those who investigate will communicate their results to the world in an ever growing measure, and sound common sense will accept them, in the same way in which it accepts the results of other scientific investigations. There is, of course, a difference, namely that the results of initiation contain truths which every human being needs, in order to gain strength and sureness in the sorrows and joys of life, strength and sureness in work and in one's sphere of activity; so that humans may take hold of the central point of their being that leads them unswervingly along the path of their ideals. The results of spiritual investigation can also give us strength when life becomes crushing, and comfort is needed in sickness and in death, by looking up to the facts of the spiritual super-sensible world to which we belong, and from which we gain the true forces which keep us upright. Then into the human soul will penetrate those results of initiation and occultism that may be recapitulated in words expressing what has already been said concerning initiation:

Es sprechen zu den Menschensinnen
die Dinge in den Raumesweiten,
Sie wandeln sich im Zeitenlaufe.
Erkennend dringt die Menschenseele,
von Raumesweiten unbegrenzt
und ungestoert durch Zeitenlauf,
ins Reich der Ewigkeiten.

Things in the world's spaces
Speak to human senses,
Changing in the course of time.
By cognizing, the human soul
Unbounded by the distances of space
And undisturbed by the course of time
Penetrates into the kingdom of eternities.

My dear Friends,

We have spoken together in earlier lecture cycles on many important subjects that arise in connection with the theosophical outlook on the world. On the present occasion we have chosen a subject that is among the very most important of all for theosophical life and thought—man himself. For every branch of human knowledge this is a subject of the first importance and value, and for theosophy unquestionably so. In theosophy there should really be a fresh feeling of what the Greek understood by the word “Anthropos.” If we would find a true modern rendering of the Greek word, we might say “one who looks up into the heights.” This is the definition of man which finds expression in the word “anthropos,”—he who looks up into the heights to find the source and origin of his life. Such is man, according to the Greek. To recognise man as a being of this nature is the very raison d'être of theosophy, Theosophy wants to rise above the details of sense existence and of the outer activity of life, into the heights of spiritual experience where we are able to learn whence man has come and whither he is going. Man himself, rightly the object of study for every world outlook, must pre-eminently be so for theosophy.

In this cycle of lectures we propose to consider man in his spiritual nature from three standpoints from which a study of man has been pursued in every serious world-conception, although in ordinary external life they do not generally find the same recognition. I refer to the standpoints of occultism, theosophy and philosophy.

Now it is obvious that we shall first have to come to an understanding together of what these three words mean. When we speak of occultism, then for the majority of the educated world today we are speaking of something totally unknown. For ordinary everyday life occultism, in its original and proper form, has always been something secret and hidden. Occultism starts, indeed, from the idea that in order to come to a knowledge and experience of his own being, man cannot remain at the kind of vision that ordinary consciousness affords, but must go forward to an altogether different vision, an altogether different kind of knowledge.

Let me make this clear by a comparison. We live perhaps in a certain town and we see the experiences of a few individuals in that town. If the town is a fairly large one, we really know nothing more than a few small details of all that is to be seen and known in it. Suppose we want to take a survey of the whole town. We must seek out some elevated position in the environment whence to obtain a view such as we never could have so long as we remained in the town. And if we want to connect up and survey the whole intellectual and moral life of the place then we shall have to betake ourselves to a spiritual height above the experiences of every day.

This is the very thing man has to do when he wants to get beyond the experiences of ordinary consciousness, for these experiences show him in reality only a part of what goes to make the whole of life in all its connections. Knowledge must go out beyond itself; it must ascend to a vantage point above ordinary consciousness and ordinary knowledge. It follows naturally that the details—in all their intensity of colour and light and shade—tend to disappear. When we go up to a height in order to get a wider view over some town, we see it as a whole and lose the finer details that a closer individual experience can afford. It is the same with a point of view that is raised above ordinary consciousness. It has to forgo a great deal that belongs to the more detailed and individual part of life. But it gives on the other hand something that is of first importance for a knowledge of the nature of man, it gives a Vision of that which lies at the very foundation of man's nature and is the same in all men.

The only way to arrive at such a vantage point is to undertake a path of development and attain what is usually called clairvoyant knowledge. You can read about it in books on the subject and learn what souls have to do in order to come to clairvoyant knowledge. You will find described how the ordinary means of knowledge—perception with the senses and reflection with the ordinary faculty of understanding and judgment—are here not enough; and it is shown how these have to be overcome and superseded. Quite new means of acquiring knowledge, means that lie hidden in the soul like a seed in the earth, have to be discovered and developed.

You will probably already have learned from the literature on the subject that three stages are to be distinguished on the path to clairvoyant or occult knowledge. The first is the stage of Imaginative knowledge, the second the stage of Inspired knowledge, and the third that of Intuitive knowledge. If we wanted to describe in popular language the results of the self-knowledge attained by means of Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition, we should have to say that it enables man to behold things that are hidden from ordinary consciousness. In order to bring home to you in a simple manner what is attained in occult knowledge and clairvoyant vision, I need only point to the contrast between sleeping and waking. When he is awake man has around him the world of the senses, it forms his environment, and he judges it with his intellect and his other faculties of knowledge. When he enters into the condition of sleep, then consciousness—that is, ordinary consciousness—is darkened But man does not cease to be when he falls asleep, nor come newly into being when he wakes up. Man is alive in the time that passes between falling asleep and awakening; only, he has not sufficient strength and energy of soul to perceive what is in his environment when he is asleep. To put it in another way, man's powers of knowledge require to be sharpened by the physical organs, the senses and the nerves before he can become aware of what is in his environment. At night when man is away from his sense organs and his nervous system, the forces in the soul are too weak for him to be able to rouse himself and perceive his environment. Now it is possible, through the means employed for training in occult knowledge, to bring the soul, which is too weak in the night to perceive its environment, into a condition where it can under certain circumstances perceive even when it is in the state of ordinary sleep. In this way there is opened to man's perception a new and wider world; one might say—only the expression is from a certain aspect unjustified—a higher world.

We have thus to do with a change in the soul, and a change that is in the direction of strengthening the inner forces of the soul, increasing the soul's energy. As this change comes about, man learns to know what is the real nature of that which goes out of the body in sleep and comes into it again on awakening. He learns that the part of him which is outside the body during sleep contains that inner seed and kernel of his being, which enters into the body at birth and passes out of it again when he goes through the gate of death. Further, man comes to know that during the time between death and a new birth he lives in the world of soul and spirit. In short, he learns to have knowledge that is spiritual and he becomes familiar with an environment which is of a spiritual nature and hidden from ordinary consciousness. In the spiritual world lie the foundations of all existence, including physical existence; so that by following the path of occult knowledge man acquires the faculty to behold the deepest and original foundations of existence. He is, however, only able to acquire this faculty by first himself undergoing change; he has to become a different kind of “knower” from what he is in ordinary consciousness.

Occultism can only find its way to man, when man sets out to apply to his own soul the means that are given for attaining occult knowledge. It has lain in the very nature of things up to the present time—you will often find indications of it in literature—that it was not the concern of every single human being so to educate himself as to be able to have direct vision of the spiritual world and penetrate to the original foundations of existence. The means to do so were imparted only to small circles of persons, and strict care was taken that before a man was given the means of attaining occult knowledge, he should have a preparation and training which would make him ripe to apply these means to his own soul.

It is easy to understand why this had to be. Higher occult knowledge leads, as we have seen, to the foundations of all existence, it leads to the world from which our world is derived and made. At the same time man acquires faculties he did not have before; and so, when he becomes able to penetrate to the foundations of existence, he is in a position to execute deeds that cannot be carried out with the ordinary means of knowledge. To make myself clear, I must here refer to a fact on which I shall have more to say later: for the moment, I only want to cite it to demonstrate how impossible it was to give occult knowledge into the hands of everyone. Man has to have egoism implanted into him during Earth evolution. Without egoism he could not fulfil his task on Earth, for his task on Earth consists in evolving from egoism into love; through love he has to ennoble and subdue and spiritualise egoism. At the end of Earth evolution man will be permeated through and through with love, but he could never evolve up to this love in freedom, had not egoism been implanted into his nature from the beginning. Now, egoism is in the highest degree dangerous and harmful when it is a question of undertaking to perform some deed behind the world of ordinary consciousness. The whole history of man is filled with egoism, and endless harm has been wrought by it in ordinary life; but all the trouble that is due to egoism in ordinary life is a mere trifle in comparison with the harm and trouble it causes if it is able to work with occult knowledge. It has, therefore, always been required of those to whom means of occult knowledge were imparted that they should have a character so thoroughly disciplined and prepared that, let the temptation be ever so great, they would never work in the sense of egoism. That was the first and all-important requirement in the preparation for occult knowledge. Anyone admitted to such knowledge must be quite incapable of allowing the occult to be misused for an egoistic end. Naturally this meant that only a very few in the whole course of evolution could be chosen for reception into the occult schools, which in olden times were called Mysteries—and sometimes also known under other names.

The occult knowledge to which these few attained had definite characteristics and qualities. The characteristic of which I am now going to speak is in our own time undergoing change, but it has been common to all rightly named occult schools hitherto It is this. In the occult schools, where the means of occult knowledge were imparted to men, among the many things that had to be overcome in the process of overcoming egoism, it was required of the pupil that he should not speak in the Mysteries or occult schools with ordinary words, that he should not try to make himself understood with the words that are current in the life of external consciousness. For a kind of refined and higher egoism enters into man as soon as he makes use of the words and thoughts and ideas that are employed in external life. At once there come into consideration all the things in a man that do not let us see him as a human being pure and simple, but as a member of a particular folk or people, with all the egoisms that belong to him through the fact that he loves his own folk. These are quite justified in ordinary life. For external consciousness men must have these refined and higher egoisms; they are among the most praiseworthy qualities of human life. But for the highest knowledge, for the all human knowledge that has to be sought behind the life of ordinary consciousness, we may not bring with us even these refined and higher egoisms. Special preparation had therefore to be given in the occult schools, by the creation and study of an all-human language. The language of ordinary life was not used in occult schools, but a language that worked upon the human being in quite a different way. For it was a language that worked not by means of words and thoughts as is the case with ordinary knowledge, but by means of symbols. Those of you who know mathematics will readily understand why symbols were chosen for this purpose; for symbols have a universal meaning. By developing oneself up to the stage of a language that speaks in symbols, one was able to come right out beyond all the egoism that confuses judgment and clouds ordinary consciousness, beyond even the higher egoisms of which we have spoken. This meant however, that what one was able to say was comprehensible only to those who had first learned the language. The language consisted of symbols that could be drawn, or traced with movements of the hand in rituals, or expressed in colour combinations and so forth. In occult schools, not what was imparted in words was of importance—that was only preparatory—but what was spoken in symbols, independent of ordinary human words, independent even of ordinary human thoughts. Thus, the first step to be taken in an occult school was the study of a symbol language.

In very ancient times those who were initiated in the Mysteries were under strict injunction not to betray to people outside anything of the Mystery language; for if a man who was outside the Mysteries were to get to know the symbols and were clever enough, he might come to possess—all unprepared—a means to occult knowledge. The creation of the symbols provided the possibility of a language common to all men. The keeping secret of the symbols prevented the knowledge that was expressed in them from reaching those who were unripe to receive it. Thus, through the very fact that one was obliged to speak and use a symbolic language, provision was at the same time made against Mystery knowledge being communicated indiscriminately. True Mystery knowledge, true occultism, was a knowledge that was kept guarded in the secret schools of the Mysteries and had to be attained by the development of occult faculties. It was a knowledge that by its nature belonged to all mankind; nevertheless it was always limited to narrow circles of people in the way I have described.

There is still another reason why occultism could not be communicated to mankind at large. Just as truly as it is necessary in the first place to be free of egoism if one is to be allowed to penetrate the world that opens to occult vision, so truly does man find it impossible, when his power of knowledge has been transformed and he has become able to look into that totally different world, to make use there of the ideas and conceptions to which he is accustomed. The creation of symbols serves, then, this further purpose: it provides a means whereby one can express what cannot be expressed with ordinary human words and ideas. For the human being can only apply himself to occultism when he is not orientated to the senses and the brain, but is outside them. All ordinary words, however, are connected in their origin with the brain, they spring from outer observation; when therefore a man perceives a fact of occult knowledge, he at once feels how impossible it is to give expression to it with ordinary words. Occult knowledge is a knowledge that is attained outside the body. To give it expression by the use of means that are attained through the body is, on the face of it, at the beginning of occult knowledge quite impossible.

Occult knowledge is, however, not merely there to be acquired by a few persons who are curious; its whole content is something that is essential and of the very first importance for all mankind. Occult knowledge is the experience of the foundations of existence and in especial of the foundations of human existence, and it must enter right into life. Means must be found to carry occult knowledge right into the life of man and to bring it within the comprehension of people generally.

The first means employed to make occult knowledge comprehensible is, and always has been, what has in more recent times been called theosophy. In turning it into theosophy, one has to forgo what we have just seen to be an essential characteristic of occult knowledge, namely, that it makes use only of the very highest form of language. One abandons this restriction and proceeds to clothe occult truths in ordinary human words and ideas. Occult knowledge is communicated, for example, to a particular people in a form that employs the ideas and concepts current among this people. The result is that occult knowledge becomes specific and differentiated, appearing in the form of communications made through the words of one section of mankind. Those who were in possession of secret knowledge were obliged to clothe it in the language of a particular people; and so we find clothed in the language of particular peoples what is in reality the property of all mankind.

In the Mysteries the aim has always been to remain as human as possible, in the large sense of the word. At the same time the initiates of the Mysteries had to make themselves understood, they had to express themselves in the language of the people and in the ideas that the people had developed. And so individual theosophists who have come forward among mankind have had to take pains to make themselves intelligible in regard to the particular aim and object or the particular sphere of life about which they were speaking.

It is by no means easy to give expression in this way to occult knowledge, in one particular language or in one particular form of ideas. But it has been done and to no small extent, in various regions of the earth and at various times in man's history. Occultism is a thing into which one has to find one's way by means of clairvoyant training and discipline. Theosophy, on the other hand, is a thing that is presented to us in ideas and concepts that we have already and in which occult knowledge has only been clothed When this has been ably and correctly done, then occult truths are within the comprehension of any man who has sound and healthy judgment and takes pains to master them. Theosophy is absolutely understandable by anyone with a healthy intelligence if he will but give himself the trouble We have no right to say that he alone can grasp the occult who can himself develop occult vision. When occult truths are clothed in ideas, as they are in theosophy, they are within the scope of every healthy human intelligence.

Now in accordance with laws that prevail in the evolution of mankind (we shall have more to say about these later on) there came a time when a further change was necessary. In the far-off past of evolution we find among the most ancient peoples (I do not refer here to the decadent peoples that an un-understanding anthropology calls “primeval,” but to the really original peoples of which spiritual science tells)—among these original peoples we find Mysteries and occult schools which communicated occult knowledge to a few individuals, and we find also a more widely communicated theosophy, that is to say, occult truths clothed in familiar ideas. But as time goes on, we observe a change. Whereas hitherto almost the only way in which man could approach the first foundations of existence had been in the form of theosophy, that form began now to pass over into one that was more religious in character. It was recognised that while it is true that the healthy human understanding, if it will only go far enough, can quite well grasp theosophy, yet with the progress of human life it was becoming no longer always possible for men to adopt the comprehensive point of view of a healthy human understanding, and provision had also to be made for those who, simply through the conditions of external life, had no possibility of developing their intelligence far enough to enable them to penetrate occult truths. A way had to be found whereby such could attain a kind of “faith” knowledge of the foundations of existence.

The Mysteries had already what may be called a “feeling” knowledge, and out of this developed now the religious form of knowledge, which became for later times the more popular and more accessible form of knowledge in comparison with the theosophical. When we go back a long way in the evolution of mankind, we find a world conception which has not a religious character,—in the sense in which we understand the word today. In the first Post-Atlantean epoch, the ancient Indian, we find an occult knowledge of which the people were able to partake in the form of theosophy. For this far-off Indian time, “religion” coincides with theosophy. When we trace back the evolution of religion, we find at its starting point theosophy. With the progress of evolution it became more and more necessary to make use of the religious form of knowledge. It could no longer be assumed that man with his healthy human understanding could have insight into what theosophy was able to give. And so the truths of theosophy began to be poured into a new mould and became the truths of religion.

Passing on to more recent times, we find that in Christianity the change becomes complete,—the change, that is, from the theosophical form of knowledge to the religious. In the various Christian churches and creeds as they have developed through the centuries, very little trace of theosophy is to be found. The theosophy of the old kind has disappeared into the background, and we see how with the development of Christianity develops also a theology; so that in time we have in addition to faith a theology, whilst theosophy becomes an object, if not of hatred, at any rate of antipathy, to the theologians.

A third form in which man's strivings after the foundations of existence have been clothed is the philosophical. Occult knowledge is acquired by the human being in so far as he is free from the physical body. Theosophy expresses occult knowledge in external thoughts and external words. Philosophy strives to reach to the foundations of the world with instruments of knowledge which, though refined and subtle in quality, are nevertheless bound to the physical brain. Philosophy, as we find it in the essentially philosophical epoch of human evolution, does not set out, as does theosophy, to hand on that which has been acquired outside the physical body; philosophy tries, in so far as may be, to approach the foundations of existence by means of man's ordinary faculties of knowledge. The truths of philosophy are thus striven after with faculties of knowledge which, though of the subtlest, are yet connected with the body. Philosophy has, at bottom, the same goal as occultism and theosophy, namely, to search out the foundations of existence; but philosophy makes use of the thinking and the means of research that are bound up with the brain and with outer perception. With the aid of these it sets out to delve into the foundations of existence. And, working as it does with the subtlest and finest knowledge faculties of man, philosophy remains perforce the concern only of a few. Philosophy can never become popular. A great many people feel philosophy to be something that is much too difficult for them,—if not tiresome and tedious!

Now the aforesaid characteristic of philosophy is important,—that it works with knowledge faculties which are bound up with the senses, and that it chooses of these the subtlest and the most refined. For, in so far as it employs means that are connected with the personality, philosophy has inevitably a personal character. When, however, man really succeeds in excercising the very subtlest of his knowledge faculties, it becomes possible for him to throw off something of the personal element; and in the degree that he is able to do this, philosophy becomes universal, all-human. One needs to enter very deeply into philosophy to be able to detect its universal character. Its personal character is unfortunately only too obvious. It requires deep penetration to perceive fundamental principles that are common to such apparently different thinkers, for example, as the ancient Greek philosophers Parmenides and Heraclitus. One can however quickly appreciate the difference between these and an unkindly critic like Schopenhauer who approaching merely the external side of philosophy, sees only what splits it up into many different personal standpoints, and does not see the sequence of these personal human standpoints.

In this sense philosophy is the very reverse of occultism. Philosophy has to be attained by the most personal of means, whereas occultism is achieved by laying aside personality. Therefore is it so difficult for one who gives utterance in correct philosophical manner to what is personal in him to be understood by his fellowmen. On the other hand, anyone who succeeds in clothing occultism in expressions and ideas that are current and generally comprehensible, will meet with understanding all the world over. Occultism strips itself entirely of the personal element. Systems of philosophy arise directly out of the personal in man; occultism arises out of the impersonal and is on this account capable of general comprehension. And when it is a question of expressing occultism in terms of theosophy, the endeavour is always made to speak to every human heart and every human soul, and in large measure this can be done.

The foregoing description of the three points of view may serve as a kind of preparatory introduction to our studies, You will have been able to see for yourselves what one may call the more external characteristics of the occult, the theosophical and the philosophical point of view.

Occultism is in its results one and the same for all mankind. In reality there is no such thing as a difference of standpoint in occultism,—any more than there are different mathematics. It is only necessary in regard to any particular question to have the means actually at hand to acquire knowledge on that question, and the knowledge will be the same as is reached by everyone who has the right means at his disposal. Thus, speaking in the ideal sense, we can just as little admit the existence of different standpoints in occultism as we can imagine there might be different standpoints in mathematics. Consequently occultism, wherever it has made its appearance, has always been recognised as single and universal. It is true that in the various theosophies that have existed from time to time and have supplied the outer cloak, so to speak, of occult truths, differences show themselves; but that is because the truths have had to be clothed differently for one folk or one epoch, than for another folk or another epoch. In other words, the differences between the theosophies that exist on the Earth lie in the manner of thought used to clothe the occult truths. The foundations of occultism are always and everywhere one and the same.

Religions, on the other hand, since they take their source in the theosophical garment of occultism, have acquired differences in respect of people and time. Occultism knows no such differentiations, it knows nothing that might stir up opposition between man and man. No cause for opposition exists, since occultism is the single undivided property of all mankind. And inasmuch as theosophy should in our time concern itself with the provision of a right and proper expression for occultism, it too must take care to absorb as little as possible of the differentiations that have manifested themselves in mankind. It must set itself the aim of being a faithful expression of occult truth and occult connections in so doing, it will inevitably also work for the overthrow of all specialised world-conceptions and help to break down religious differentiations. We must learn completely to overcome the inclination to a theosophy of a definite stamp and colouring. It has gradually come about in the history of evolution that theosophies have tended to receive a certain nuance and colouring in accordance—I will not say with religious prejudices, but with religious preconceived feelings and opinions. Theosophy needs to keep constantly in view its ideal,—to be a reflection of occultism. There can therefore be no such thing as a Buddhist theosophy or a Hindu theosophy, or a Zoroastrian or a Christian. Naturally, regard must be had to the characteristic ideas and thoughts with which particular people will approach theosophy. Nevertheless it must never let go its ideal of being a pure expression for occult truth. It was, for example, a repudiation of the fundamental principle of occultists all the world over, when a theosophy made its appearance among certain societies in Central Europe, calling itself a “Christian” theosophy. As a matter of fact, you can just as little have a Christian theosophy as a Buddhist theosophy or a Zoroastrian.

The relation theosophy has to assume to religion is that of an expounder of its truths. For theosophy is in a position to understand the truths of religion. And then forms and expressions of some particular aspect of occultism and that occultism itself has to be grasped independently of all such differentiations.

As I have pointed out, this must be our ideal. It is quite understandable that occultism has been clothed in many and varied ways the world over, even while all occultists are in agreement as to their knowledge; it is nevertheless of great importance that in our time a possibility should again be given for speaking with a single voice about occultism. This can only be, if the goodwill is really present to shake off once for all the differences that have their origin in preconceived feelings and opinions. And it is encouraging to see how already the desire is gaining ground for a general agreement on elementary matters of occult knowledge. In regard, for instance, to the knowledge of reincarnation and karma it will in the near future be possible to attain something like universal agreement. As our theosophy develops, it will, to begin with, concern itself first and foremost with the spread over the whole earth of the great and important truths of reincarnation and karma. For these truths are destined to prevail; even religious prejudices will surrender before them.

A great work for peace on earth would be accomplished if unity and harmony could be established in regard to the higher realms of occult knowledge. Let that stand before us as an ideal. It is hard of attainment. When one reflects how intimately men are bound up with their religious prejudices and with the whole way in which they have been educated, one will readily perceive the difficulty of presenting them with something that is not coloured with any religious prejudice but is as faithful a picture as possible of occult knowledge.

Within certain limits we must be prepared to recognise that as long as the Buddhist takes the standpoint of the Buddhist faith, he rejects the standpoint of the Christian. And if theosophy takes on a Buddhist colouring, then that Buddhist theosophy will quite naturally show itself inimical, or at any rate unsympathetic, to occultism. We shall also understand how difficult it is, in a realm where Christian forms prevail, to come to an objective knowledge, let us say, of those aspects of occultism which find expression in Buddhism Our ideal, however, must always be to meet the one point of view with just as much understanding as the other and to establish over the whole earth a harmonious and peaceful relationship based on mutual comprehension.

The Buddhist and the Christian who have become theosophists will understand one another, they will be sure to discover a standpoint where they are in harmonious agreement. A theosophist has always before him the ideal of a universal single occultism, free of all religious prejudice. The Christian who has become a theosophist will understand the Buddhist when he says: “It is not possible that a Bodhisattva who has passed from incarnation to incarnation and has at length become Buddha (as happened in the particular case with the death of Suddhodana) should afterwards return again into a human body. For in becoming Buddha he has attained to such a lofty stage of human evolution that he does not need ever to pass again into a human body.” The Christian will reply to the Buddhist: “Christianity has not up to the present given me any revelation concerning Beings like Bodhisattvas, but as I strive after theosophy I learn to recognise not only that you know this truth out of your knowledge, but that I too must receive it as truth.” For as theosophist, the Christian will say to himself: “I understand what a Bodhisattva is, I know that the Buddhist speaks absolute truth about these Beings, he utters a truth which could be spoken in lands where Buddhism prevailed. I understand it when the Buddhist says that a Buddha does not return again into a fleshly organism.” The Christian who has become a theosophist understands the Buddhist who has become a theosophist. And if the Christian were now in his turn to address the Buddhist, he could say: “When one studies the Christian faith in its true occult content, as it is studied in occult schools, then one finds that the Being who is designated by the name of Christ”—the name of Christ may be quite unknown to the other—“is a Being who was never on earth before the time of the Mystery of Golgotha. He is a Being who can never come again in a physical body; for that would contradict the whole nature of the Christ.”

When the Buddhist who has become a theosophist hears this from the Christian, he will answer him in the following way: “Just as you understand how impossible it is for me to admit that a Buddha, after he has once become Buddha, can come again in a fleshly body,—just as you understand me, recognising what has been imparted to me as truth, so am I ready to recognise the share of truth that has been communicated to you. I try to recognise what you receive from your faith, namely, that at the beginning of Christianity stands, not so much a Teacher, but a Deed, an Act.” For the occultist places at the beginning of Christianity not Jesus of Nazareth, but the Christ, and he sets the actual moment of its beginning in the Mystery of Golgotha.

Buddhism differs from Christianity in that it has a personal teacher as its starting-point, whereas Christianity has a deed, the deed of salvation and release, the deed accomplished by the death on the Cross on Golgotha. Not a doctrine but a deed stands at the foundation of Christian evolution. This the Buddhist theosophist understands, and he receives what is given as the occult foundation of Christianity and in doing so helps to establish harmony among mankind. He would be breaking the harmony if he were to apply to Christianity his Buddhist ideas. It is the part of the Christian, when he becomes theosophist, to understand Buddhism out of Buddhism itself, not to re-mould in some way of his own the ideas about Bodhisattva and Buddha, but rather to understand them as they are contained in Buddhism. Similarly it is the part of the Buddhist to receive the Christian ideas as they are, for they form the occult foundations of Christianity. Just as it is impossible to bring together the Being Who is named with the name of Christ with Beings of a lower kind, namely with Bodhisattvas, so also is it impossible, if we would remain loyal to the ideal of theosophy, to allow theosophy to be anything else than a faithful reflection of the single undivided occultism.

To apply the properties of a Bodhisattva to the Christ would be to hinder the great mission of peace that it is given to theosophy to fulfil. On the other hand, theosophy fulfils its mission of peace, when it undertakes to bring to mankind the universal foundations of truth in a scientific form such as is adapted for our day and generation. When we in the West understand Buddhism or Brahmanism or Zarathustrianism without prejudice, and when Christianity too is understood in the way it needs to be understood, then it will be possible for the really fundamental ideas of Christianity to find recognition and response among men.

Mankind has not always risen to the perception of the fact that a deed stands at the beginning of Christianity and that there can therefore be no question of a return of the Christ. Again and again it has happened in the course of the centuries that men have come forward and spoken of a return of the Christ. Such teachings have always been silenced and refuted, and they will be so again, for they run counter to the great and universal mission of life and peace that it belongs to theosophy to fulfil, if it would be a pure expression of occultism. Occultism has always had the character of universality and is independent of every Buddhist as well as of every Christian shade of colouring. Hence it can understand objectively the Mussulman or the Zoroastrian or the Buddhist, even as it can also the Christian. What I have said will help you to see how it is that occultism, which is universal, has come to assume in theosophy so many different forms in the course of human evolution. And you will be able also to see why in our time it is so important to hold up as the ideal, not that one form of religion should gain the victory over the rest, but that all the different forms of expression of religion should mutually understand one another. The first condition for this, however, is that men should come to an understanding of the occult foundations that are the same for all religions.

My intention has been in this lecture to give a kind of introduction to the important matters we shall have to consider in the following days.

My dear Friends,

If now we would proceed to consider man from the three points of view—the occult, the theosophical and the philosophical—it will be necessary to speak first of the occult point of view. And we shall do best if we start by giving a description of how in the history of the evolution of mankind one or another human being has succeeded in raising himself to occult vision of the world.

As we said in the introductory lecture, there have naturally never been more than a few who were found ripe to partake in all that went on in the Mysteries and places of occult teaching and education. It is therefore of the development of these few that we shall have to speak.

It will, however, also have been clear to you from many other lectures I have given that we stand now at a point in time when through the popularising of theosophical knowledge more and more people will have to take part in occult life, instead of the very few who have done so in the past. So that what we have to consider today concerns everyone who takes an interest in theosophy and realises that occult knowledge—the knowledge, that is, of the hidden aspects of existence—must no longer remain secret, but must spread farther and farther, in accordance with the demands of a continually developing humanity.

A man who set out to attain occult knowledge had in the first place to turn his gaze away from the external world and direct it upon the forces of his own soul. Since he had, however, at the same time to remain a man of action in the external world, his occult development was, so to say, his own affair, was a matter that concerned himself alone In the world he continued to be a man among men, with all the duties that life had brought to him. This fact found striking expression in the very first step he had to take for the development of his soul forces. For the first thing the pupil had to do may be described in the following words he had to reconcile himself to his karma in respect of all that concerned his will. Reconciliation with karma (or destiny)—that was the first thing demanded of a man who was undergoing occult development.

Please do not imagine that such a reconciliation with one's karma necessitates the forming of a comprehensive theory about karma what is meant is much more a particular kind of culture and education of the life of feeling. Think how it is with a man who is beginning on a path of occult development Before the moment of time when he makes this beginning, he has lived in the world as a man among men. He has acquired a certain standing in life, he has made himself master of certain thoughts which enable him to carry out satisfactorily the external actions that his calling demands. He has also come to recognise certain duties or obligations that custom and society have laid upon him. It can at the very outset be assumed that any man who has not responded to what the world demanded of him, any man, that is, who does not want loyally to fulfil his obligations to the world around, would never have the urge to undergo occult development In fact, as a general rule, those who could be called to occult development were men who showed great ability in the positions in which life had placed them and who were also desirous of being in every respect equal to the obligations laid upon them by custom and society. The capacities and faculties a man shows in his position in life, the round of duties also that he recognises as incumbent upon him,—these are the very things that constitute karma in the positive sense. Here a man's karma comes to expression. And the first demand made upon a man who was preparing to step outside the bounds of his position in life as such and enter upon an investigation of the spiritual world, was that he should not in any way deviate from the karma of his life, but maintain it untouched. This meant that he made a promise, to himself and to those who were assisting him to penetrate into the occult world, not to make use in his outer standing in life of whatever should be acquired in the field of occult research. His will and action had to be so directed that others who were observing him would not be aware of any marked difference in the whole behaviour of his life since he had begun to take steps on the path of occult research. The power given him in occult research must never be allowed to interfere in the external life of the physical plane. This is what is meant by “reconciliation with karma.” The pupil forgoes all advantages that might be gained by occult means for his position in life.

We shall find that a right and regular following of the path does, as a matter of fact, lead often to a certain improvement in the pupil's external standing in life. This, however, has nothing to do with the obligation that has to be deliberately undertaken by one who sets out on the occult path. “You shall not attempt to make any use of your occult development to acquire an advantage over those who stand with you in life, but you shall direct your life in accordance with the very same rules which you have followed hitherto.” Such was the injunction constantly laid upon those who underwent occult development It was the first renunciation they were called upon to make,—to forgo all application to an egoistic end of the means acquired in occult life. What has just been said is intended to be taken quite exactly and literally; please receive the words as they stand, neither more nor less. You will observe that they are concerned with what the pupil is in a position to do, or is under obligation to do, in the external world by reason of the karma that is laid upon him.

From the very outset the egoistic will of man is thus consciously and deliberately excluded from all occult striving. This factor alone brings about a change in the whole mood and character of the pupil. If you reflect for a moment, you will see that this must be so. Hitherto the round of duties that devolve on him in his external position in life have been the one and only world in which he lived and to which he devoted himself. Now he takes upon himself the obligation to continue to live in this world in accordance with the same rules as he has followed hitherto, and yet at the same time to have forces to spare for something else quite different. This means that a boundary is set up for him between two regions within both of which he is active. A world now opens before him to which he previously never gave a thought. That is a fact of extraordinary importance. For verily man begins a new chapter in his life, when fresh interests suddenly enter and assert themselves strongly and persistently.

This then was what happened at the very beginning of occult development; a man's whole feeling and interest were claimed for a new world, a world in which he had previously had neither part nor place. Strict watch had to be kept on the pupil, especially in the more ancient Mysteries and schools of occult development, lest he be brought into any disharmony with his circle of external interests. It was sternly required of him to fulfil his duty in the widest sense in respect of the demands made by his calling or by his connection with the State or other form of community. Those who made any show of not being willing to do this or of rebelling against the duties of external life were not admitted into places of occult instruction. I am here simply relating facts. Study the history of occult development, and you will find that those who in outer life showed themselves rebellious in one direction or another against the whole ordering of life within which they lived were not members of any Mystery school or place of occult instruction.

The second thing required of the pupil was far more difficult of attainment. Consider the case of a man who has given himself and his teachers the promise of which we have spoken. He has had to declare: “I will not suffer to enter into my will, as it makes itself felt on the physical plane, anything that has come to me as a result of occult research.” He takes with him into the realm of occult research the entire forces of his soul, with the exception of the will. The will is held back in accordance with his promise; but every other faculty that he has at his disposal on the physical plane—judgment, fancy and imagination, memory, emotions,—all these forces and faculties of the soul with which he was previously active on the physical plane, can still be actively applied on that plane.

Take the intellect or understanding,—that capacity of the soul which enables us to discriminate and to form judgments about the facts of life. We could not get on without it in ordinary life; we have to apply it at every turn. Now let us suppose we become a member of an occult society or school. We achieve certain results in occult research; we acquire, let us say, knowledge about what we do in our external standing in life. We are not allowed to apply this knowledge with our will. But to begin with, there is nothing to prevent us from calling in the help of all the higher means we have from occult research in order to make intelligent observation of the things and persons that we meet with on the physical plane. Thus, we may not allow the results of occult research to flow into our action or into the resolves of our will, but we may allow occult research to have its influence upon the way we form our thoughts and conclusions on the kingdoms of nature as well as on our fellowmen,—in effect, upon the whole way in which we stand in the ordinary world with our intellect.

You will observe that a rigid self-discipline will here be necessary. What is easier for a man who meets other men and has to take active part in their lives than to apply what he knows? Suppose, for example, he is able by the help of his intellect to perceive that he has to do with a morally inferior person, nothing is easier than that he should act accordingly. It would be the natural and obvious thing to do.

The occultist, however, may not take this line. By means of what occult research gives him he can, it is true, give wings to his understanding and have clearer insight than he could before into the character of a fellowman, can recognise perhaps that he is a morally inferior person; he can also regulate accordingly what he does to this person, for he has accepted no obligation in regard to his fellowman but only in regard to his own standing in life. He is under no necessity to refrain from applying his will in respect of what he does for the other person. What he does, however, on his own behalf,—for that he is under obligation to be reconciled with his karma and not to make use of the knowledge that accrues to him when he applies his intellect, reinforced with the means of occult research.

Let us suppose an actual case of a man who is at the stage of which we are speaking. Had he not become an occultist, he would perhaps have met the other person and not recognised him to be morally inferior,—with the result that he would have allowed himself to be taken in by him. Obviously such things can and do happen in the world, as you will all be ready to admit. One can be mistaken and take a man for better than he is, and then find oneself deceived.

The occultist has here an advantage He is able to recognise the moral inferiority of the person in question. But he has for the time being—please note the words—he has for the time being put himself under obligation not to apply this occult knowledge with his will, that is to say, not to apply it to his own standing in life. He has to know that the other is a morally inferior man and at the same time to conduct himself exactly as before; he has to put up with all the ways of the other just as though he had never acquired occult knowledge about him.

Here you have a striking illustration of the rigid self-denial a beginner in occultism has to practise. He must draw a sharp line of distinction between what he can know without occult research and what comes to him through occult research and might give him an unfair advantage in life. He who is so fortunate—being blessed either with natural talents or with particularly favourable conditions of life—as to recognise, without being an occultist, the moral inferiority of the other person, is inclined to consider the occultist a fool, because he waives any advantage that might accrue to himself from the knowledge. And this frequently happens. Other people through some good fortune or other are able to perceive what the occultist also perceives, only does not act upon, being under obligation to refrain from doing so. You will constantly find this happen,—as you will also find it happen that one or another who has made the promise fails to keep it. That is, however, his own affair! We may, if we will, consider the occultist a fool because he lets someone else get the advantage of him, but we must not let that lead us to conclude that he has no means for perceiving the character of men.

We have then this second stage: forgoing the use of the will for our own egoistic ends, we apply our understanding in the external physical world. The occult teachers of olden times allowed their pupils to remain rather long at this stage. For a considerable time the pupils had to go through the world learning to observe more deeply and with increasing penetration and insight not only their fellowmen but also the other kingdoms of nature, and yet all the time continuing to walk the path of ordinary life in exactly the same way as before. This meant they had to practise a very severe self-discipline, for they must learn never to place into the service of egoism the advantages their mind and spirit afforded them. Nor was this all; the whole experience brought them a step further in another direction as well.

When, after the intellect has spoken, the will comes behind and adds the action which is the natural sequence of what the intellect has said, then this intellect does not evolve nearly so much as when it is used by itself, completely isolated from the sphere of the will. If a man excludes himself as a being of will and egoism from a realm into which he enters by applying his intellect and understanding to the whole surrounding world, then he becomes increasingly able to detect fine differences. His understanding grows subtle and delicate. His faculty of judgment and discrimination grows steadily stronger.

The pupil has now absolved the second stage of occult development, the stage we may call the “cultivation of the will-emancipated understanding,” and is ready to go on to the next.

Having for a long time applied his understanding with all keenness and insight, the pupil must then begin to renounce even the use of this understanding. This step is a very difficult one. The pupil has to understand and judge as he did before he became an occultist. In respect of the objects of the external physical plane he must use only the power of understanding and judgment which he had previously. All that he has acquired on the occult path in the way of deeper understanding and that has brought him untold good and has meant a definite advance for his spirit,—all this he has now to shut out of his spiritual activity; he may only handle matters of quite ordinary knowledge. That which he has striven after so keenly and energetically for a long time, namely, the strengthening of his understanding, he must lay aside, he must absolutely root it out of his soul, in so far as conscious application of it is concerned, and say to himself: As I go about and fulfil my life on the physical plane, I must think and judge and discriminate as I did before my occult development, using only the degree of cleverness to which I had then attained. The pupil has, so to speak, to force himself to be again as stupid as he was before his understanding was sharpened.

What becomes of the understanding which he has now forgone? He must not now apply it. He has done so for a long time, but he may do so no more. What becomes in any case of the results of our power of judgment and understanding when we refrain from putting them to direct use? They pass over into memory. This is the next step. All the knowledge gained by the sharpening of the power of intellect has to become memory. The pupil must not advance any further in the cultivation of his intellect, he must also refrain from applying his strengthened intellect, must not desire to gain with his intellect any further knowledge about the connections of the world. That which he has already acquired by means of his strengthened understanding, he must look for in his memory; ever and again it must rise up in memory. He shall endeavour to bring it about that the knowledge he has gained becomes like the thoughts he had, say ten or twenty years ago,—thoughts he no longer thinks, but only remembers.

In occult schools such as the school of Pythagoras in olden time, and in many a Mystery school of Asia Minor, the selection of pupils was very strict. Only those were considered ripe who could be trusted to keep the vow not to let flow into their egoistic will the results of the cultivation of the intellect. They were then educated for a very long time in the cultivation of the intellect. In all possible ways they were shown first how to distinguish things and then how to combine and connect them again, and they developed a keener sense of discrimination than it is possible to attain in ordinary life. The greatest importance was attached in rightly conducted schools of ancient and medieval times to this cultivation through long periods of time of the power of judgment.

Then the pupil has to make this further, second renunciation. He has to vow to himself and to his teacher that he will cease to judge any more the things he sees on the physical plane, cease to employ in regard to them the power of judgment he has acquired with his understanding. Nor may he indulge in a critical attitude to the teachings imparted to him. All he may do is to compare what he receives from his teacher with what he has himself previously acquired through his own power of judgment. He must not make any criticism, he must be no more than a listener who compares what he now hears with what he has himself acquired with his sharpened intellect. Such is the requirement of the next stage of occult development, which may be called the “elimination of the sharpened power of the intellect and the restriction of the inner soul life to memory.” Fancy and imagination were still allowed play; these might reproduce the remembered ideas and opinions in symbols and in imaginative pictures.

Memory and fantasy—these two powers of the soul came as it were, into their own, and were able to manifest in their full effectiveness. For now they stood alone, forming as it were a pure distillate out of the rest of the soul life, instead of being perpetually influenced and counselled by the judgment of the intellect.

Therewith had the pupil taken a further step in occult development. The time he had to pass in this stage was generally spent in receiving communications, in the form of ideas, of the recognised truths of occultism in so far as these had already become a theosophy. The pupils stood there with such forces as they had already acquired by the exercise of their power of judgment, remembering what they had learned and at the same time opening themselves to the influence of what was imparted by their teachers.

It goes without saying that the length of time passed in this stage of development varied very much in the several Mystery schools, according as it was thought necessary for the general requirements of human evolution to impart more or less of occult secrets to those who were undergoing occult development in order to fit them to become leaders of mankind. For the most part, however, this stage of development took quite a considerable time.

The next task to which the occult pupil had to address himself was to summon up all his strength in an endeavour to extinguish and wipe out of consciousness even the memories and the symbolic paintings of the fancy, as well as also the ideas—be it noted!—he had acquired by his own efforts. This was in truth a task of quite peculiar difficulty, and it is, ordinarily speaking, impossible to conceive how a pupil could shoulder successfully such a task. You will be the better able to imagine that a pupil could master such a task—namely, to pour out complete forgetfulness over all that he had acquired by his own powers—when you take into consideration that such pupils had already learned to curb and restrain their wills, had already practised the severe self-discipline we have described. For when, instead of allowing the will free play, they were obliged to keep it under strict restraint, they acquired thereby great reserve forces in the will. It was literally so. For a man grows stronger and stronger in his soul, when he is in this way compelled to restrain his will outwardly and allow nothing whatever of the results of spiritual development to flow into it. It makes him so strong that he becomes at last able to take the great resolve to repress and obliterate from consciousness all that he has acquired in his occult training and has up to now been holding in remembrance. As one erases an idea that one cannot make use of in life, so has all this to be entirely erased. Such was the unconditional demand.

You are not to imagine that those who were occult pupils in this sense became blind followers of their teachers, receiving on authority all that was imparted to them. That was by no means the case. Easy believers in authority are generally also those who in a light kind of way apply at once their perfectly ordinary intelligence to pronounce judgment on what they hear. But those who have first sharpened their power of judgment and then, holding only in remembrance what they have acquired by it, have let occult instruction work upon them through the medium of memory and of fantasy, will most assuredly be no easy believers in authority, rather will they receive what occult instruction imparts in the same way as we receive what Nature tells us. Such will be the attitude of the occult pupil to the instruction that is now given to him, after he has passed through the previous stages.

The teachers themselves also took care that their words should work in the way that Nature works; there was accordingly no need to charge their pupils to have this or that opinion or thought. It was actually so that the pupils, after all they had undergone in the development of their powers of understanding and discrimination, met the words of their teachers as we meet, shall I say, a sunrise, or a wind-swept sea or some other natural phenomenon, which we observe with the desire to learn all we can about it,—not approaching it critically, for then we would never grow really acquainted with it. Those know least of all the inner power and might of a phenomenon in Nature who approach it with sympathy or antipathy. In the very same way in which one observes Nature herself did the occult pupil now observe what was given to him in occult instruction.

When the pupils have continued in this experience for a while, allowing only memory and fantasy to be active within them, applying their understanding to their external calling in life and to that alone, a time comes when they have to enter on a period of inner quiet and rest. They must forget their own powers and destroy their own attainments. For they can only attain complete inner rest of soul when even the memories and imaginations that they have acquired during their occult training are blotted out of consciousness.

The soul had to be made empty; and then, when it was empty, when the egoistic will and the egoistic understanding, and also the egoistic memory and the egoistic fancy were all driven out,—then an absolutely new world opened before the soul. There had first to be this emptying in order that the new world might be able to find entrance into the soul.

You must familiarise yourselves with the fact, that really and truly it was a new world that penetrated into the empty soul,—an altogether new world! You will, therefore, not be surprised if this world has strange qualities and characteristics. For what do we mean by strange? We call a thing strange when we find it contradicts our previous experience. Look around you in the world today and observe how often when some statement is made, people reject it right away. What reason do they give? They say: “That statement is contradictory.” What they mean is that according to the power of judgment they have so far been able to attain, they find the statement to be in contradiction to everything else they know; they then jump to the conclusion that they have scored a point over the man who has put forward the statement, just because they can point to a contradiction in it.

It is a fact that when one begins to speak quite openly of things, it always has the result that people point to contradictions and declare that what has been said must necessarily be false, because it contains a contradiction. We need to recognise that on this path we shall indeed meet with contradictions, for we are approaching something that cannot possibly have any similarity with the world that has been ours hitherto; we shall have to reconcile ourselves to complete and utter contradictions when this new world approaches us, for it can only be described in ideas which must needs appear to us as contradictory. It is inevitable that this should be so; the new world would not be a new world if it were in complete harmony with the old and never contradicted it in any way!

It should therefore not surprise us that when we come to describe the world man enters when he attains the peace of soul which follows the stage of forgetfulness, the first characteristic can only be given in words that, from the point of view of the world to which we are accustomed, are directly contradictory.

There are three things man finds when he has come to the stage we have described,—three things that can only be characterised by making use of expressions that are in themselves contradictory when regarded from the point of view of what man knows of the external world. These three things man learns to know when he really enters what we may call the super-sensible world.

The first is the unmanifest light. Look around you in the world! Can you not see light everywhere? It is of the very nature of light to reveal itself and be manifest. And yet the first thing man learns to know in the super-sensible world is the light that is unmanifest and unrevealed, the light that is dark and does not shine.

The second thing man learns to know in the super-sensible world is the unspoken word. In the ordinary world a word that is unexpressed is not a word. We have therefore again a complete contradiction in terms when we say that the second thing man learns to know in the super-sensible world is the unspoken word.

The third is the consciousness without any known object. Reflect how, when you develop a consciousness, when you know, you must have always an object of knowledge. But the consciousness we find as the third thing to be met with on entering the super-sensible world is a consciousness without object.

These then are the three things the pupil encounters when, having undergone the preparation we have described, he enters right into the realm of occultism. These are the first three actual occult things he learns to know:

The unmanifest light,
The unspoken word,
The consciousness without knowledge of an object.

It is a moment of the very greatest significance for the occult pupil when he can learn to unite a meaning with what appears to be in entire contradiction to all he has known hitherto. When he is able to unite something of his own inner experience with the three ideas of the “unmanifest light,” the “unspoken word” and the “consciousness without knowledge of an object,” then he has in that moment become an occultist; the pupil in occultism has really begun to tread the path of occult knowledge.

My dear Friends,

IT was related yesterday how the pupil of occultism, when he has gone through the preparation of which we spoke, meets with experiences which cannot be otherwise described than with words that apparently contradict one another. We named three such experiences: the unmanifest light, the unspoken word, and the consciousness without knowledge of an object.

It is no easy matter to form clear ideas of these three experiences. The thinking of ordinary life and the researches carried out on the ordinary paths of knowledge and more especially in natural science, are closely connected with the physical body. True, the physical body is not the really active principle in human research, but it is the instrument man has necessarily to employ when he wants to acquire knowledge of the external objects in his surroundings. Everyday knowledge and more especially scientific knowledge can be acquired in no other way than through the instrument of the body, and in particular of the brain.

When, however, the pupil in occultism undergoes the experiences of which we spoke yesterday, he comes to a point where he is able to think without using his brain, To a materialist of today such a statement will of course seem absurd. It is nevertheless true. The occultist himself is assured of it from inner experience. All the knowledge and thought about external objects that can be attained in the pursuit of ordinary science are indeed shadowy and lifeless in comparison with the forms and pictures elaborated by the soul when it is free of the physical brain.

Speaking to theosophists, I may cut the matter short and say at once that a man who has succeeded in becoming free of the instrument given him with his physical body, makes use of his etheric and astral bodies and of his ego organism. That is to say, he uses other members of his being, with which we have become familiar in theosophy.

What now arises in the soul has a much greater inner power and is far more inwardly alive than the thoughts we are accustomed to form about external objects. It gives us moreover the feeling of being surrounded on every side by a kind of fine substantiality, which one can only describe by saying that it is like flowing light. You must not, however, think of the light which is communicated through the eye, that is to say, through an external bodily instrument, but imagine rather that this substance which surrounds us like a surging sea is felt and experienced inwardly It does not manifest in any sort of shining, but we experience it inwardly, and the intensity of the experience is such as to banish all feeling we might otherwise have of being in a nothingness.

The man who actually finds himself within this element will certainly not say he is in a nothingness, for it has an astounding effect upon him, unlike anything he has ever experienced hitherto. He feels as though it would tear him to pieces and scatter him throughout space,—or we might also put it, as though he were going to melt away and be dissolved, or again as though he were losing the ground from under his feet, as though all external material support were falling from him. That is the first experience,—flowing spiritual light, without any outward manifestation at all. It is the first inward experience with which every aspirant after occultism has to become familiar.

And now if the pupil is rather weak in nature and has not been accustomed to think much in life, he will at this point get into difficulties. Indeed, he will hardly be able to find the way further unless he has learned in life to think. This is the reason for the preparation of which we spoke yesterday, the long practice and development of a sublime intellect and power of judgment. It is not what we acquire through these in the outward sense that is of so much importance, it is the discipline we undergo in learning to think more keenly and clearly. This discipline now comes to our aid when we enter, as aspirants after occultism, into the element of flowing light; for not the thoughts themselves are effective here, but the powers we have attained for self-education by means of the thoughts. These powers go on working, and presently we have around us something more than flowing hidden light; forms begin to emerge,—forms of which we know that they do not come from the perception of external objects, but have their origin in the element in which we ourselves are immersed.

If we reach this point, then we do not lose ourselves in the flowing light, but experience in it forms that are far more alive than the forms seen by any dreamer or visionary. At the same time they have in them nothing whatever of the nature of external perceptions. The qualities we perceive in outward things by means of the senses are completely absent; but we do find in these forms in enhanced measure what we otherwise only experience when we make for ourselves thoughts. And yet the thoughts that come to us now are no mere thoughts, but forms that have being and are strong and secure in themselves.

This is the first experience for the aspirant after occultism, and it continues and grows stronger and stronger in the course of his occult life. At first it is weak, at first we have to be content with a small and limited experience. Then more is given to us, gradually we learn more and more, until we come at last to experience a world that we recognise as being behind the world of the senses. A remarkable fact is brought home to us at this point. The forces that can enable us to have such an experience are not to be found anywhere within the compass of Earth life, nor are they subject to Earthly laws. At the same time we observe that our capacity for thinking about the affairs of ordinary life and about natural science, has on the other hand been developed in us by forces that do belong entirely to the Earth.

As you know, before man attained to his present form and figure, he underwent a great many transformations. During this time of change and development, the forces of the Earth worked upon him. Gradually, little by little, the brain and the sense organs received the forms they have today. If we were to set out to explain the eye or the ear or even the brain itself, as they are today, we should have to say that at the beginning of Earth evolution all these organs were totally different. During Earth evolution the forces of the Earth have worked upon them and endowed them with the form they have today. When we think about the affairs of everyday life, as well as when we carry out investigations in the method of natural science, we use what the brain and the sense organs owe to the forces of the Earth. The activity we develop in such thinking contains nothing that has not been contributed by the forces of the Earth. The ordinary human being who sees the things around him and reflects upon them, the scientist too, who studies and works in his laboratory or observatory, make use of nothing in brain or sense organs that does not derive its origin from the forces of the Earth.

That development, however, of our brain that enables us, by working upon it, to bring forth the higher members of our nature and to behold the flowing spiritual light, has not its source in Earthly conditions but is in an inheritance from forces that worked upon man before the Earth became Earth. You will remember that before the Earth became Earth, it passed through conditions known as Moon, Sun and Saturn. The forces which make man capable of perceiving with his senses and of permeating his perceptions with thought, do not come from those past states of the Earth. But everything that sets us free from the working of the senses and of natural scientific thinking, and makes us capable of bringing forth higher members within us, as it were straining the brain to its utmost and pressing forth the etheric and astral bodies and ego until these are able to live in the flowing light,—all this we bear in us as an inheritance from the times of Saturn, Sun and Moon; it comes to us from pre-Earthly times of evolution and is nowhere to be found within the whole circumference of Earth existence.

When science comes to the point (and it will do so, though it take a long time on the way)—comes to the point of understanding the mechanism of the senses and of the brain, it will be extraordinarily proud of the achievement. But even then it will only be able to grasp the thinking and investigating that can be accounted for out of Earthly conditions and that accordingly hold good for Earthly conditions alone. Man will never, so long as he restricts himself to the forces of the Earth, be able to explain the whole brain, nor all the apparatus and arrangements of the sense organs, for, in order to give a full explanation of the activities in brain and senses and of how they came to have their present forms, we must look back to what are called the Saturn, Sun and Moon conditions of the Earth. The forces that are active in man when he is not using his senses and his brain,—the forces, that is, that he inherits from Saturn, Sun and Moon—have been paralysed and held in check by what the Earth with her forces has made of the brain and senses.

When we enter the flowing light, we do not feel as feel as though we were thinking what we find there. For when we are thinking a thought we have the impression we are thinking it now; whereas what we experience in the flowing light does not at all give us the feeling we are thinking it now. It is most important to note this point. To the clairvoyant who enters into this condition, the forms of which I spoke do not seem like thoughts he is thinking now, but like thoughts that have been preserved in the memory, like thoughts one is able to call up into remembrance.

You will now understand why we have to ignore our intellect and quicken and strengthen our power of memory. Out of this wide spiritual sea of light, forms emerge which are only perceptible in the way that we apprehend memories. If our memory power had not undergone a strengthening, these forms would escape us and we should perceive nothing; it would be as though there were all around us nothing but a flowing sea of inward light. That we can perceive thought-forms swimming in the sea of inner light, is due to the fact that we are able to perceive not with the intellect but with a strengthened power of memory; for these forms can only be perceived by means of the faculty of memory.

Nor is this all. What is perceived with the faculty of memory enables us to look back into long past conditions of evolution, into Moon, Sun and Saturn stages of evolution; but the forms we perceive in this way and that are like the pictures of memory, are not the only thing. In fact, they make a less powerful impression upon us than something else, something of which we could say—notwithstanding that we know quite well it is no more than a surging sea of light—that it gives us pain and pleasure that it begins even to sting and burn us, and on the other hand to fill us with bliss.

What does the occultist discover here? In the surging sea of light he has come to perceive strange forms; these he is able now to grasp with the understanding. They do not, as at first, lay claim only to the faculty of memory; they have become so powerful that the understanding can grasp them. How do they strike him? What does he notice about them? As a matter of fact the occultist does not notice anything particular in these forms unless he has previously interested himself in the thoughts of philosophy. Then he recognises that the thoughts of the philosophers are in reality shadows pictures of what he is now perceiving with the eye of the spirit in the surging sea of light. Yes, the moment has come when we can at last learn what philosophy really is. All the philosophy in the world is nothing else than thoughts and ideas which are like reflections thrown up into our physical life, pictures whose origin is in the super-sensible life which the clairvoyant can perceive in the way we have described. The philosopher himself does not see what lies behind his pictures, he does not know what it is he is thus casting up into physical consciousness. He has only the pictures. But the occultist can point to their origin, he can point to the origin of the great thoughts of all the philosophers who have ever played a part in the history of man. The philosopher sees only the shadow picture in thought, the occultist sees the real and living light that is behind. How can this be?

The reason is that in our brain we have still something left of pre-Earthly forces, forces that come from the Saturn, Sun and Moon stages of evolution. Generally speaking, these forces have to a large extent been paralysed in us, but we have in the brain some small remnant at least of what the brain is capable of, by virtue of these forces. The forces that work in the brain of a philosopher are not Earthly forces. They are a dim and weak reflection of pre-Earthly forces. The philosopher is quite unconscious of the fact, but in his brain lives an inheritance from pre-Earthly times, and the use he makes of his brain depends on the working of this inheritance. It would not, however, be able to work at all, had not a particular event taken place during Earth evolution, an event which the philosopher of modern times is of course quite unprepared to accept. If the Earth had been simply the re-incarnation of what had been present in Saturn, Sun and Moon, if it had been able to give man no more than the forces it had living in it from the time of Saturn, Sun and Moon, then there could never have arisen on Earth such a thing as contemplation, the kind of reflective thought that we find in such a marked degree in philosophy. And philosophy, you know, is really present in every single human being; everyone philosophizes a little. Philosophy is only possible on Earth because an irregularity crept in when the re-incarnation of our Earth took place. An important portion of the creative forces which brought our Earth into being was diverted; these forces did not continue to work in the same way as the rest, and they now have a spiritual influence upon man that is like the physical influence of moonlight upon the Earth.

The effect of moonlight, as you know, is due to the fact that the moon casts back the light of the sun. Moonlight is reflected sunlight. Now the fact that man is able to transcend the mere memory picture of clairvoyance and, as it were, to throw something up into physical existence which makes its appearance there as philosophy, is dependent on a particular spiritual force that works plastically into the human brain, forming it and moulding it. In the Mosaic books of the Bible this spiritual force is named Jahve or Jehovah; it is a reflected light of the Spirit, just as in a physical aspect moonlight is reflected sunlight.

In respect of his brain, therefore, man cannot be entirely explained out of the inheritance he has brought with him from pre-Earthly conditions. We can only understand the human brain when we know that just as the physical light of the sun is thrown on to the Earth by the moon (at a time when the sunlight itself is not shining on that part of the Earth) so man, in so far as he lives in his brain, receives spiritual light thrown back from beyond the Earth.

Every inspiration man receives, not from his own forces, but from beyond himself, helps him to rise to a knowledge of the world which may be described as philosophical. A philosophical comprehension of the world is one that causes man to seek in all the various things of the world a single and undivided foundation. That is the characteristic of philosophy. Whether man calls this Ground of the World “God” or “World Spirit” is of no moment; the desire he feels to gather up everything together and relate it all to a single Ground, is due to influences of the spiritual world which are active in his brain. The moment he becomes clairvoyant and sets free his ether body, he recognises that not only has he now succeeded in making active what he has inherited from earlier stages of evolution, but in his brain influences are at work which may be compared with the influences of moonlight, in the sense we have already explained.

At this point I would like to draw your attention to a fact about philosophy that will, I think, be clear to you from all we have been considering.

As philosopher, man has not that which the clairvoyant perceives as Yogi force and which blends in with the forces inherited from earlier times. He has, however, the thought pictures, not knowing that behind them stand the forces which were active in Pre-Earthly conditions, and which are called the Jahve forces. This he does not know. He sees only the shadow pictures of thought which have been created for him by the work of his ether body upon the flowing light for as the flowing light becomes active in his brain, thought shadow-pictures are produced there and these we call philosophy. The philosopher himself knows nothing of the process; he knows only that he lives in these thought pictures. I want you, however, to note—it will be useful to you later on—that as philosopher man is unconsciously clairvoyant. That is to say, he lives in shadow pictures of clairvoyant states, without himself knowing anything of clairvoyance. He lives in these shadow pictures, he achieves with them all that a philosopher can achieve and at last comes to a point where he can connect and combine the philosophical ideas and conceptions he has elaborated, relating them all to one single Being or Entity. For that is the invariable characteristic of philosophy. It is, however, not possible to find within these thought pictures the Christ Being. By working in all honesty and sincerity with the material of philosophy, we find one single Ground of the World, but we never find a Christ. If you come across the idea of Christ in a philosophy, you may be quite sure it has been borrowed from tradition; it has been imported,—inconsistently, though perhaps quite unconsciously. If the philosopher remains at his philosophy, he cannot possibly find any more than the neutral God of the Worlds; he can never find a Christ. No consistent philosophy can contain the conception of Christ. It is impossible. Let us be quite clear on this point. Let anyone who has the desire and the opportunity to do so cast his eye round among the philosophers and see whether these can find the Christ in their philosophies. Take, for example, such a widely and fully developed system of philosophy as that of Hegel. You will find that Hegel cannot approach the Christ within the system of philosophy. He has as it were to bring Him in from the world outside; his philosophy does not give him the Christ.

For the time being, we will let this suffice for a description of the first experience the aspirant for clairvoyance undergoes, an experience he learns to designate as “unmanifest light.”

Gently and slowly—scarcely perceptibly, to begin with—the second experience comes upon him. There are indeed many clairvoyants who have had the first experience for a long time and still hardly understand what the second experience is. The effect of its approach may be described in the following way. Whilst the flowing light is something that makes us feel we are being scattered in it, makes us feel we are, as it were, being spread abroad in space,—with the second experience, which can be called the experience of the “unspoken word,” we have the feeling as though something were coming towards us from every direction at once.

In the same degree to which in the first experience we feel ourselves spread out over the whole world, do we now have the impression of something coming toward us, approaching us on all sides, while we ourselves are like to dissolve away. For the man who has this experience and is not yet at home in it, the sense of melting away is accompanied by very great fear. Something bears down upon us from all around; it is as if an edge or skin of the world were approaching us. What this means for us we can express in no other way than by saying it is as though we were being addressed in a language very hard to understand, a language that is never spoken on Earth. No word that proceeds from human larynx can be compared with the speech we now experience. Only by thinking away from the spoken word everything that has to do with external sound, can we begin to form some idea of the great cosmic sounding that now bears down upon us on all sides. At first it makes but a faint impression upon us; then, as the power of occult learning and occult self-discipline increases, this perception of a spiritual world grows stronger and stronger.

As now with clairvoyant sight we behold approaching us from all sides this vast skin of the world,—and yet not at all like an external skin, but bearing down upon us like a mighty sounding of tones—we have a strange and remarkable feeling; and the fact that we have it is a sign to us that we are on the right path. We find ourselves thinking: “It is in very truth my own self that is approaching me; there for the first time is my own true self! Only apparently am I enclosed in my skin, when I live here in the physical body. In reality my being fills the world; and it is my own being that is now coming to meet me as I pass over into the occult state. It is coming toward me from all directions.” So does occult experience take its course,—first the expansion of the spiritual life, then again its concentration. And the latter we connect with a definite idea. For it comes to us like words,—sounding spiritually and full of deep meaning; and we form the conception of the “unspoken word,” the “unspoken language.”

Now we must go a step further. For even as man has a heritage out of pre-Earthly conditions that helps to form and fashion his brain, so has he also forces remaining from pre-Earthly conditions which work, not in his brain, but in his heart. The heart is a very complicated organ; and as in the brain not only Earthly but pre-Earthly forces are active (although in external study and research we make use, as we have seen, of the Earthly alone), so in the heart too we find an activity of pre-Earthly forces. Whatever man needs for the obtaining—of Earthly air and nourishment, whatever he needs for the care of his organism and for its maintenance in life—all this is given him in Earthly forces. But for man to be able to perceive what we have termed the “unspoken word,” not only have higher members of his being to be, as it were, pressed out of his brain, but also out of his heart.

It can happen that for a long time a man is able to perceive as clairvoyant the spiritual light, if he has pressed forth from his brain the higher members of his body. If, however, these higher members still remain firmly united with the heart, as they are in ordinary life, then we have a clairvoyant who is able to behold the flowing light (for that he can do with the help of the soul forces that have become free from the brain), but not able to apprehend the unspoken word. For we can only begin to hear the unspoken word when the higher, super-sensible members have been freed also from the heart. The capacity of the heart to do this, so that man can unfold a soul life that is not bound to the instrument of the heart, belongs to a higher heart organism. Our ordinary soul life on the physical plane is united with the organ of the heart. When men are able to set free the higher members of their body from the physical heart, they come to experience a life of soul that is connected with a higher organism than the physical heart of blood and muscle. When the pupil learns to experience, in his soul, forces of the heart that are higher than those connected with the physical heart, then he can in very truth attain knowledge of the unspoken word; it makes itself known to him, coming towards him on every hand. Thus, whilst the perception of the super-sensible light depends on the emancipation of man's higher being from the physical brain, the perception of the unspoken word depends on the emancipation of the higher members from the physical heart.

As there are persons who, without being themselves aware of the fact, have in them something of the pre-Earthly forces that formed and fashioned the brain, so are there also persons who have in them something of the pre-Earthly forces that formed and fashioned the heart. And they are much more numerous than is generally supposed. If there were not today those who not only have these ancient heritages in their being, but are moreover engaged in working upon them (we shall see later how this comes about), there would be no theosophists. You would not all of you be sitting here today! The reason why you are sitting here is simply this,—that at some moment in your life, when a theosophical book came into your hands or some truth out of theosophy was communicated to you in a lecture, immediately you became conscious of something of that ancient inheritance which you bear within you and which consists of forces that worked to form your heart before the Earth was created. The fact that what came to you through theosophy made a deep impression upon you, meant that it produced in you an experience similar to the philosopher's experience in his shadow pictures. You experienced the shadow pictures of what a clairvoyance of the heart, all unknown to you, was able to receive through the words that were spoken. In that moment you heard through the words, and what you heard was something quite wonderful; otherwise you would not have become a theosophist. For you the external word was but an echo, coming to you from without, of what the clairvoyant heart had itself investigated by means of pre-Earthly forces, an echo of what comes from the realm of occultism and had already been speaking to you in shadow pictures which you yourself could experience. Through the outer word you heard speak the inner word. In the spoken word you caught the echo of the word that cannot be spoken. Through the human language you heard what is spoken from out of divine worlds in the language of the Gods.

If those who today sincerely and honestly feel themselves drawn to the study of theosophy do not always know that a degree of clairvoyance is already active in them, then it is with them as it is with the philosophers who see the shadow pictures of their unconsciously clairvoyant brain and do not know the real nature of the thoughts in which they are living. The brain is more readily susceptible to Earthly forces and on this account more easily made into an Earthly organ; therefore men who in our time investigate the laws of Earth and occupy their brain with external knowledge so strengthen the Earthly parts of their brain that the super-Earthly brain is completely paralysed from within. But the heart is far less susceptible to the influence of the Earthly forces; on this account it is easier to find an approach to human souls through what theosophy brings down to men than through pure philosophy. Unless people allow the material interests of life to obstruct and hinder what can in this way speak to their hearts, they will always—and especially in our own time—be responsive to the truths of theosophy. The truths of theosophy can be understood by everyone, excepting only those who have become too deeply engrossed—whether theoretically or practically—in external material interests in one form or another. People who have allowed themselves to be caught and entangled in these interests until they have no feeling for anything beyond them,—these alone fail to comprehend theosophy. A mist spreads itself out, covering and hiding what should unfold from the heart when it is touched by theosophy.

Thus, in order to understand philosophy, we must have in us something that is responsive to the strange and singular forms of which we spoke earlier and that throws up shadow pictures of these forms; we must have trained our brain to think thoughts within which the higher super-physical forces can reflect themselves; And, as you know very well, this happens but rarely. In order to understand theosophy, we need no such preparation. To appreciate the truth of what may be derived from occult research, when the researcher has emancipated from heart and brain the higher forces, the spiritual members of his being,—for this, all that is required is that we do not have our attention diverted by external life. The very simplest person has forces that suffice for the understanding of theosophy. There is no need for a scientific education. Everyone, provided only that he does not meet them with preconceived judgments, can understand certain theosophical truths. For these theosophical truths are facts of occult research reflected, as in shadow pictures, in the ordinary experiences of life. They come from the unspoken word, which is “heard”—to speak metaphorically—when man has set free from the physical heart the higher members of his being, when, that is to say, he can live not only in a super-physical brain but in a super-physical organ of the heart.

To express in terms of scientific concepts and in correct logical language that which the super-physical heart can investigate,—for this it is of course essential that one is already familiar with scientific concepts. In theosophy, however, there is no such need. The most important theosophical truths can as a matter of fact be clothed in simple concepts; you know yourselves how little can suffice for an adequate understanding of the fundamental truths of theosophy. A very great deal of what we are often saying in lectures here is not said for the purpose of convincing simple-minded people; they can quickly follow and be with us. Wherever the heart and soul are healthy, this will always be so; everyone who has not been made ill by material interests will be with us. What is necessary, however, in our time is that theosophy should find protection from the unjust attacks of a science that deems itself justified. We have to place the simple, easily established theosophical truths before the world in such a way that they will themselves demonstrate their validity when men think subtly and with clarity and correctness. (This condition, please note, is indispensable.) Then to an unprejudiced and well-ordered thinking, it will become abundantly clear that there is no truth which contradicts theosophy. Such a thinking, however, is not only exceedingly rare, it is extraordinarily difficult of attainment. Preconceived ideas of external science are astonishingly widespread today, claiming to rest not, it is true, on personal authority but on an unassailable external authority which has no firm nor sure foundation.

We may often see how those who think they have a comprehensive knowledge of a particular branch of science, or even those who have made themselves familiar in a popular manner with some of its results, take for granted that their thinking is far enough advanced for them to be able to have insight into the relationship of theosophy to science. As a rule, however, such insight is quite beyond their reach. Clear and well-ordered thinking is by no means so common in our time as one might suppose. There are sciences which can be pursued today with a quite un-ordered thinking, with a thinking which has been developed within the narrow bounds of some specialised science and cannot pass beyond them.

Today, one can be in the literary world, one can be an author and publish books, without having developed one's thinking particularly! For as a rule people do not examine and see whether behind what is apparently a product of mental and spiritual ability, there exists any well-ordered and correct method of thought. People do not enquire into this today, simply because they have not at hand any means of detection. Yet it does not take much to be able to appraise thought; many people have the capacity as a kind of instinct, and a little acquaintance with occult research and occult forces will strengthen it.

Allow me in conclusion to relate an incident intended to serve as an illustration of the strange experiences that can happen to one, if one is a little sensitive to such things. It is all insignificant experience, but it illustrates my point.

I was walking yesterday along a certain street. My gaze fell, quite involuntarily, on a particular spot in a bookshop window. All at once I felt as though I had been stung,—really just as though a gadfly or a bee had stung me! Spiritually, that was how I felt. I was curious to know the cause. To begin with, I could find nothing in the shop window that could have stung me like that. But when I looked carefully, I saw a book lying there on which was a legend, intended, so it appeared, to vindicate the trend of thought in the book, the author meaning to describe with this saying his own attitude of mind. But why should it sting me? You will see presently. These were the words:

“Your speculative churl
Is like a beast which some ill spirit leads,
On barren wilderness, in ceaseless whirl,
While all around lie fair and verdant meads.”¹

and underneath was written “Goethe: Faust.”

But who says this in Faust? Mephistopheles says it! These are not the words to choose when you want to quote Goethe! They are words he puts into the mouth of Mephistopheles. And if they are quoted seemingly in honest approbation of their meaning, it argues a disorderly thinking, The author wants to cite Goethe; but inner reasons compel him to quote Mephistopheles,—that is, the devil. That shows me that something is amiss with his thinking. The sting I experienced came from the displaced and disordered thinking.

• 1. From Translation by Anna Swanwick.

My dear Friends,

We have now to give our consideration to the third experience in the super-sensible world,—the consciousness that holds sway there. But before we can do so, we must first take cognisance of something which everyone possesses but which not everyone takes the trouble to observe, namely, the ordinary consciousness of this world, the consciousness which is centred in the fact that man becomes aware of his ego, becomes aware of himself as a self-existent being having knowledge of the objects and beings around him.

This consciousness is an element in our life which we have to examine with particular care and accuracy, when we are considering occultism. For it is true to say that this consciousness, which we may call an ego-consciousness, is for the occultist that element in his life which he is in the greatest danger of losing when he passes over into the super-sensible worlds. A man who wants to penetrate into super-sensible worlds has to exercise extreme caution on this account, since the loss of this ego-consciousness, the cessation and suppression of it, is as dangerous as it is necessary! Here, you see, we have come again to a contradiction, but I have already told you how inevitable contradictions are in this realm.

If you will reflect a little upon the ego-consciousness, you will see that it is really the ground of your existence in yourself through the fact that you have an ego-consciousness, you are in your soul self-contained. When you are not using your senses, then, except when you are asleep, you must always be as it were together with yourself in your consciousness. The consciousness only sinks down into darkness when you fall asleep.

Now it does not require much thought to perceive that what we are accustomed to call the Divine, or the One and undivided Foundation of the Worlds, cannot be counted as forming part of this consciousness, for man loses this consciousness every evening when he goes to sleep and finds content of it again every morning. Everything he has in it in the evening when he falls asleep remains, and he is able on awakening to take up again the threads of his inner life where he dropped them when he fell asleep. It has all stayed as it was; only, man has had no knowledge of himself while he slept. The one Divine Ground of the World that maintains everything must, therefore, maintain also man's consciousness while he sleeps It must keep watch over man's nature, both when he wakes and when he sleeps.

From this it will be evident that man must necessarily think of the Divine Ground of the Worlds as outside the Earth consciousness within which he himself stands. Consequently man cannot by means of his own consciousness have any knowledge whatsoever of the Ground of the Worlds, This has naturally always meant that since with ordinary Earth consciousness man is unable to approach by his own efforts the things that belong to the Foundation of the Worlds, these things have had to come to him by means of what is called “revelation.” Revelations, and particularly the revelations of religion, have always been given to man, for the simple reason that he cannot find them within his own consciousness, in so far as it is the Earth consciousness. If he wants to establish a relationship with the Ground of the Worlds, if he wants to inform himself about the nature and being of the original Ground and Foundation of existence, he must receive a revelation. And revelation has come, as we know, again and again, throughout the evolution of mankind. When we look back into ancient pre-Christian times, we find many great religious teachers,—such, for example, as were called in the language of Buddha, Bodhisattvas; other peoples knew them by other names. These great teachers came among men and communicated to them what men were unable to discover by means of their Earth consciousness.

The question may here be asked: how did these religious teachers obtain knowledge of the things that lie behind human consciousness? You know very well that there has always been in the world what we call “initiation,” and all great religious teachers have had either to undergo initiation, that is to say, ultimately to ascend for themselves an occult path, or to receive teaching from initiates who have ascended the occult path and have come to a comprehension of the Divine, not with their Earth consciousness but with a consciousness that has gone beyond the Earth consciousness.

This was the origin of the religions of olden times. All the communications and revelations that men received in pre-Christian times from great teachers of mankind go back ultimately to such founders of religion,—initiates who had themselves experienced in super-physical conditions what they communicated to mankind. And in consequence the relationship of a religious man to his God is always of such a kind that he conceives of his God as a Being outside his world, a Being who is beyond and of whom he can by special means receive a revelation.

Unless man lifts himself up to initiation, he must necessarily maintain this attitude. He must feel himself to be standing here on Earth, surveying with his consciousness the things of Earth, and receiving from the founders of religion knowledge of the things that are outside the world of the senses and outside the world of the understanding, in a word, outside the world of human consciousness. This is how it has been with all religions, and in a certain respect we may say it is so still. We know, for example, that Buddhism is to be traced back to the great founder Buddha. And whenever the foundation of Buddhism is spoken of, it is always expressly stated that the Buddha attained to initiation and higher vision while under the Bodhi tree, which is only a particular way of expressing the fact that in the twenty-ninth year of his life he became able to look into the spiritual world and to reveal what he saw and learned.

What exactly is revealed is not for us of very great importance. It varied in accordance with man's need and capacity to receive. Take, for example, ancient Greece. In so far as ancient Greece received its religious ideas through the teaching of Pythagoras, we find again here the consciousness that Pythagoras has undergone an initiation and has consequently been able to bring down from spiritual worlds and incorporate into human consciousness what he saw to be right and necessary for the men who were on Earth at that time.

Such then is the relation of the religious man to the spiritual world; nor can we imagine it otherwise. Man and the divine world stand over against one another. Whether in that world man beholds a plurality of Beings or a unity, whether polytheism or monotheism is taught, need not concern us here. The important point is that man finds himself standing over against the divine world, which must be revealed to him.

This is also the reason why theology has made such a point of not allowing place in religious ideas for knowledge man acquires by himself. Such knowledge could only have been attained by undergoing inner development and rising into the spiritual worlds. It would thus imply a penetration into regions which theology—not religion as such, but theology—is most anxious to exclude from having any influence upon the religious conceptions of mankind. Hence the care that is taken in theology to warn man of two wrong paths that are to be avoided. One is the path that leads to theosophy, where man seeks to develop himself upward to his God, when he should only stand over against his God as a man, and the other, so say the theologians, is the path of mysticism,—although theologians themselves not infrequently make little detours into the regions both of theosophy and of mysticism. But religious people, people who are purely and simply religious, are to be distinguished not only from theosophists, but also from mystics; for the mystic too is quite different from the religious man. The religious man is essentially one who stands here on the Earth and establishes a relationship with a God who is outside his consciousness.

Now there are, as you know, other things in the soul of man besides what we have already touched on today. There is in the soul of man the life of thought, that makes use of the instrument of the brain. Inasmuch as man has his ordinary consciousness, he has of course also his brain and his world of thought. Consciousness cannot be there without them. Playing into what we may call human consciousness, we have the thoughts, the experiences man has when he makes use of the instrument of the brain. Religions have consequently always contained thoughts that employ the instrument of the brain, since one who is a revealer, a founder of a religion, can clothe the divine revelations in forms men will understand by making use of the instrument of the brain. Religion can however also be clothed in ideas which make use rather of the instrument of the heart. Any particular religion, therefore, may speak either more to the brain or more to the heart of man. If we make comparison between the various religions of the world, we find that some speak more to the understanding, to those experiences of man which are connected with the brain, while others speak rather to the ideas and feelings of the heart, appeal to the life of inner perception and feeling. This difference can readily be observed in the several religions. All religions have, however, this characteristic in common, that man maintains intact his ego-consciousness, he remains conscious as man. Here on Earth works the ego-consciousness, and upon it from without works what belongs to the nature of the divine super-sensible world.

All this is changed when a man becomes a mystic. For when a man becomes a mystic, then everything connected with ordinary Earth consciousness is thrown to the winds. What is so carefully guarded in religion, so long as it remains religion pure and simple,—namely, that a man stands on his own feet and confronts the divine world in full consciousness—breaks down in mysticism. Mystics, pre-Christian as well as Christian, have always done their best to break down the human consciousness. Their concern has ever been to take the upward path into the super-sensible worlds, that is to say, to come right out of ordinary human Earth consciousness, to transcend it. That is the characteristic of mysticism. It sets out to overcome ordinary consciousness and live its way into a state where self-forgetfulness supervenes. And then, if the mystic can come so far, self-forgetfulness passes on to self-annihilation, self-extinction. Essentially mystical states, raptures, ecstasies have all of them this end in view, to do away with the limitations of Earth consciousness, to grow out beyond them into a higher consciousness.

It is difficult to form a conception of the nature of mysticism because it shows itself in so many different forms. It will be good if at this point we consider some individual examples.

We will imagine that a mystic, in accordance with what I have just explained to you, feels called upon to suppress his ordinary ego-consciousness, to break it down and get beyond it. He will still have left of course the other experiences of the soul, the experiences man has by the use of the brain and the heart. The mystic tries to extinguish his consciousness, but he does not necessarily at the same time extinguish as well the experiences of brain and heart. The way opens here, as you see, for many different shades of mysticism. Let us consider what varieties are possible.

A mystic can have experiences of brain and of heart, while consciousness is extinguished. Then we can say of him that he goes out of himself in ecstasy, but that we recognise from the thoughts and feelings he still has that he has not obliterated what is thought and felt by the use of brain and heart. To discover mystics who can truthfully be reckoned in this category we have to go rather far back in history. We may find them among those who, after the founding of Christianity, endeavoured to rise to the divine Self with the help of the philosophy of Plato,—Neo-Platonists, that is, such as Iamblichus and Plotinus. In this class too, belongs Scotus Erigena, and if one does not hold too strictly to the definition but admits a mystic in whom the brain experiences outweigh the experiences of the heart, then we may include also Master Eckhart, These will then form class A; mystics who still admit experiences of brain and heart.

A second kind of mystic is one who shuts out not his consciousness alone, but in addition his brain experiences, retaining only the ideas and conceptions that are acquired by use of the instrument of the heart. We generally find that mystics of this order have no love for anything that is thought out. They want to exclude thought altogether as well as consciousness. What the heart can achieve,—that is all they will allow themselves to use for their development. Such mystics, although their endeavour is to overcome human consciousness, to go out beyond it in ecstasy, retain nevertheless a connection with their fellows through the fact that they base their relationship with the surrounding world on the experiences of the heart.

Picture to yourselves a mystic of this type,—an ecstatic whose desire and aim is to come out of himself, who loves to be in a state where he is entirely free from himself! Such a mystic will at once reject anything you set out to communicate to him which requires him to use his brain. He will have nothing to do with it. Whether what you have to say concerns the higher worlds or the world of external nature, it makes no difference; he will in either case reply that there is no need to know all that.

A mystic who is in this way connected with his surroundings through the heart alone is able to be of good service to mankind. But since all the experiences of the human soul he lets speak only the experiences of the heart, he will not find easily accessible the complicated ideas that are acquired on the path of occultism; to receive these one does need to do at any rate a little thinking!

It was a mystic of this kind who, when asked whether he would not like to have a Book of Psalms—for he never read the Holy Scriptures—made answer: “If a man once uses a Book of Psalms, he will very soon want a bigger book, and there is no telling what more he will want when he begins to desire after knowledge in the form of thoughts.” The same mystic had no wish to have thoughts even about Nature. He used to say: “Man can know nothing he does not know already.” With this gesture he put all knowledge from him. Here then was a mystic with experiences of the heart alone, belonging to our second category,—class B.

Now in the case of such a mystic you will find there is a kind of economy of his soul forces In so far as he makes no use of his understanding and his power of thought, to that extent his soul forces are, as it were, husbanded. Consciousness also he puts out of use. All this has an interesting result. For when he is in his ecstatic states, with human Earth consciousness shut off, then because he still perceives around him whatever he can see with his eyes and hear with his ears and so on, and yet does not want to comprehend his surroundings, not thinking there is any necessity so to do, such a mystic will have great forces to spare which enable him to feel in the surrounding Nature all the more.

As mystic, one can protect oneself entirely from theology; but Nature surrounds all mystics. A mystic of this kind however will have nothing to do with any knowledge even about Nature. In this way he saves up the forces he would otherwise use in reflecting upon Nature in thought. He rejects all study of the Science of Nature. But the forces of the heart,—these he uses, and they will be able to develop all the more strongly. He will feel through the instrument of the heart all that the Being of Nature can say to him, and he will feel it more powerfully than a man who uses up his soul forces for his intellect and self-consciousness. Consequently we shall expect to find in a mystic of this type a feeling for Nature that is very positive and very concrete. Such a one did in time past clothe his feeling for Nature in the following words, which I will here read to you, that you may see how, for a mystic of this type, life itself becomes a feeling for Nature.

“Oh, Most High, Almighty, Good Lord God, to Thee
belong praise, glory, honour and all blessing.
Praised be my Lord God! and with all His creatures, and
especially our brother the Sun, who brings us the
day and who brings us the light: fair is he, and he
shines with a very great splendour.
O Lord he signifies to us Thee!
Praised be my Lord for our sister the Moon, and for
the Stars, the which He has set clear and lovely in
the heaven.
Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind, and for
air and clouds, calms and all weather, by which
Thou upholdest life and all creatures.
Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very
serviceable to us, and humble and precious and clean.
Praised be my Lord for our brother fire, through whom
Thou givest us light in the darkness; and he is
bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong.
Praised be my Lord for our mother the earth, the
which doth sustain us and keep us, and bringeth
forth divers fruits and flowers of many colours, and grass.”

We have here, as you see, a complete exodus of the soul from self-consciousness, a kind of intoxication of the heart. All is feeling. The poem is saturated with something that the eye cannot perceive (for the writer is a mystic) but the soul can feel. Observe however, it is what the soul feels when it does not yet go so far as to enter into the experience of the Divine in Nature. When this also becomes a part of the experience of the soul, then there can arise that feeling for Nature which is so beautifully expressed by Goethe in his Faust:

“Spirit sublime, thou gav'st me, gav'st me all
For which I prayed. Not unto me in vain
Hast thou thy countenance revealed in fire.
Thou gav'st me Nature as a kingdom grand,
With power to feel and to enjoy it.
Thou Not only cold, amazed acquaintance yield'st,
But grantest, that in her profoundest breast
I gaze, as in the bosom of a friend.
The ranks of living creatures thou dost lead
Before me, teaching me to know my brothers
In air and water and the silent wood.”¹

Here we have an echo of the same feeling, and its mystery has been solved. When we look at the figure of Faust, we can see how this experience becomes a part of his soul life.

To return to the hymn quoted above. It is the hymn of a mystic in whom this one aspect of human experience overshadows all others. He stands in such intimate relation to Nature that the Sun is his brother and the Moon his sister; the water too, he calls sister, the fire, brother, and the Earth herself his mother. This is how he feels the spiritual in Nature. You have here a mystic who comes right out beyond ordinary human consciousness, but at the same time retains all those experiences of the soul which are acquired through the instrumentality of the heart. He is a mystic whom you all know well,—Francis of Assisi.

In Saint Francis of Assisi we have a striking example of a mystic of whom we can actually assert that for this one incarnation he rejected all theology and all knowledge whatsoever, even of super-sensible things. On the other hand we find that on this very account he was able to live in extraordinary intimacy with the spirit of Nature. This was indeed an outstanding feature of his life.

In Saint Francis we have no mere vague pantheism of the spirit,—which has always a trace of affectation about it. He does not just sing rapturously of a universal Spirit in Nature; he sings of definite positive feelings that fill his soul when he encounters the beings of Nature,—filial, sisterly, brotherly feelings.

We must now pass on to a third class of mystics, class C. These are mystics who set out to experience ecstasy—that is to say, the loss or the darkening of self-consciousness—and under certain conditions to shut out also the experiences of the soul which make use of the heart, while on the other hand retaining thoughts, or experiences, of the brain. Such men are often not described in ordinary language as mystics at all, since it is generally expected of a mystic that his experiences shall be permeated with feeling. And it is easy to see why. Think of a man who has driven out of his soul-experiences all his personal self-consciousness. This will mean that there is absent in him the very thing that most people find interesting in their fellowmen,—namely, personality. People are interested in each other on account of their personality. Now experiences of the heart have still so much of the personal about them—for example, in Saint Francis of Assisi,—they exercise still such a compelling influence upon what is human in us, that we are kept awake in our consciousness and we go with such a person with interest,—though not, it is true, so readily with our will. And that is also quite right for ordinary life, especially in the present day; we cannot all be like Saint Francis of Assisi! The universality of the heart, when it manifests as it did in Saint Francis, has a powerful influence upon people, even when the essentially personal element is dulled and darkened. This suppression and extinction of consciousness leads on the one hand, in a mystic like Saint Francis, as you know, to a kind of radicalism in life, and on the other hand it restrains people from imitating him even when their interest is aroused. For as a general rule people are not at all anxious to come out of their consciousness, they are afraid they will lose the ground from under their feet.

But now consider how it might be with a mystic who shuts out all personal consciousness and in addition all experiences of the heart. Such a mystic would give to men nothing but pure thoughts,—thoughts and ideas that make use of the brain alone. No one will easily be able to carry on his life in such a condition. A man may be a Saint Francis as much as he likes, for the experiences of the heart can be helpful to mankind in general. But a mystic who suppresses not only his personal ego-consciousness but also his heart experiences and lives in thoughts alone—thoughts that are bound to the brain—will find it necessary to limit his devotion to this path to particular solemn moments of his life. For life always calls one back, again and again, to the personal element on Earth, and anyone who lived in thoughts alone and used only his brain would not be able to perform any ordinary Earth activity. He can, therefore, only occupy himself in this way for quite short periods; no one can ever use the brain exclusively for more than moments at a time. And as for his fellowmen, and his relation to them, they will simply not concern themselves with him, but will all run away from him! For what interests people most of all is personal experiences; and these he suppresses. And the heart experiences, which work so powerfully upon people, these too he renounces. The consequence is, people will steer clear of him altogether, they will not have the least desire to approach him.

The philosopher Hegel is a mystic of this kind in the true sense of the word. What he gives in his philosophy is expressly intended to exclude every personal point of view and also in addition all experiences of the heart. It sets out to be pure contemplation in thought, and we may accordingly take Hegel as an eminent example of a mystic with brain experiences alone. Such a man leads us up into the purest ether heights of thought. Whereas in ordinary life man is accustomed only to have thoughts that are rooted and grounded in personal interest and in self-consciousness, these are the very thoughts that in a philosophical mystic of this kind are forbidden. And he excludes also what makes the spiritual attractive and desirable, namely, its interplay with the experiences of the heart. He devotes himself in majestic resignation to following the course of the experiences of the brain and these alone. Of all that the human soul can experience, there remain to him only thoughts.

This is the very thing of which so many people complain in Hegel; there is nothing to recall the experiences of the heart, everything is put forward solely and entirely in thought pictures. Most people feel they are left desolate and chill, when they find what they themselves love with their heart crystallised out in cold thought. And the consciousness of self, wherein personality is rooted and whereby man stands fast in earth life,—Hegel has it only as a thought. Of course he devotes consideration to the ego, because it is for him the thought of a particularly important experience. This he does. But it remains no more than a thought picture; for him, human personality is not fired with that living and direct quality which springs from self-consciousness.

We have still one more possible kind of mystic. It would be a mystic who shut out all three,—Earth-consciousness, heart experiences, brain experiences. We would then have as class D, mystics who obliterate all Earth experiences of the soul. You can well imagine, such a thing is extraordinarily difficult to accomplish. For an occultist, it is quite a matter of course; we shall go into that more deeply in the coming lectures. An occultist rises to states where he silences all that is connected with the brain as well as with the heart, in so far as these are composed of Earth forces and in so far as they make use of consciousness. A practical occultist who ascends into higher worlds will regard this step as obvious. But at this point the occultist begins to live and experience in the super-sensible world, and during the time that he is shut off from everything in connection with the world that surrounds man on Earth he has around him the higher world. He steps out of [one] thing into another. A mystic on the other hand who shuts out all these three experiences that make use of the instruments of Earth, would enter into nothing that can fill his consciousness. He does not, of course, step into nothingness, for outside our consciousness is, as we know, the divine spiritual super-sensible world. But he does not enter this world as the occultist does, to whom is then revealed the unspoken word and the super-sensible light; no, he suppresses his consciousness, he suppresses all the powers that are in him, and only feels at last, after suppressing all these human experiences, a sense of being united with something, of being within something.

There begins for him an experience that has the impression, after the extinction of consciousness and all Earth experiences, of a marriage with something that is felt and perceived in a kind of intoxication. The mystic unites himself with it in rapture and ecstasy, but he cannot make any communication about it, because it is not experienced in any definite way, he has no concrete impressions of which he can tell.

We shall see, when we go on to speak further of occultism, into what desperate situation a man would come who eradicated all three kinds of experience—experiences of heart and brain and consciousness. He would become a mystic who underwent the so-called mystic union, but was, in the ecstasy, just like a man asleep, united with the Divine in sleep and knowing nothing of it, not even having a feeling that he has been united with the Divine. If the mystic is to retain any degree of living feeling for his union with the Divine he must at any rate wipe out these several personal experiences in succession.

Now, we have an example of such a mystic, a person who actually trod this path and in her writings even went so far as to recommend it to others. First, she strove with all her powers to overcome personal self-consciousness, to suppress it and extinguish it altogether. There were then left still active within her the powers of the heart and of the intellect. The next step was the conquest of the power of the understanding. Last of all, she overcame the powers of the heart. The fact that the powers of the heart remained with her longest accounts for the extraordinary force and intensity with which she experienced the entry into the world that lies beyond consciousness. The three things were overcome in this order; first the consciousness, then the brain experiences, and last of all the experiences of the heart.

It is characteristic that the one who accomplished this feat with remarkable order and regularity was a woman. As you know, these things must be looked at quite objectively; and when speaking with theosophists I need have no fear of being misunderstood when I say that this path comes easier to a woman. For, as we shall come to understand also from other connections, it is a peculiarity of woman's nature that it is less difficult for her to conquer herself, that is to say, to conquer all her soul experiences. The woman whose experience of mysticism followed the path we have described—extinguishing and eliminating one after the other the experiences connected with brain and with heart, and then experiencing a union with the Divine Spirit which was like a marriage, like an embrace—was Saint Theresa.

If you will study the life of Saint Theresa in the light of our considerations today, you will be prepared to admit that it can only be in very exceptional cases that a mystic comes through on this path. It will much more usually happen that the several soul experiences are not overcome in such utter purity and power as was the case with Saint Theresa, but are only partially conquered, so that some portion of them remains.

This gives us, in fact, three more kinds of mystics. We have those who mean to overcome all soul experiences, but in whom the experiences bound to the brain remain unextinguished. Such mystics are as a rule persons who may be described as wise and practical in the best sense of the word, who know their way about in life, because they make good use of their brain, and who, having to a large extent suppressed the personal element, are in their impersonal character sympathetically received by their fellowmen.

Then there are mystics who also try to overcome all their soul experiences, but have only partial success with those of the heart. Mark well the difference between a mystic of this kind and a mystic like Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Francis of Assisi made no attempt to overcome the experiences of the heart; on the contrary he retained them in full, and the consequence was, he retained them in perfect health. That is what is so grand and majestic about Francis of Assisi; he enlarged his heart to cover his whole soul. I am not speaking of mystics of this kind, who do not endeavour to overcome the experiences of the heart. I am speaking of mystics who make great endeavours, who wrestle with all their might in this direction, but do not succeed.

In the case of these mystics we do not find that same wonderful kind of marriage with the super-sensible and spiritual which we meet with in Saint Theresa. When a mystic has striven to get free of all that is personal and human and earthly and has nevertheless still retained in conspicuous measure the experiences connected with the heart, then something very much of the nature of human limitations interferes in his striving. And it can actually come about that this marriage, this embrace of the Divine and spiritual, becomes very like the feelings and instincts of human love in ordinary life.

Mystics of this kind abound who, so to speak, love their God and their divine world in the same way as man loves in human life. Look through the histories of the saints and the accounts of monks and nuns, and you will find a great number of this type of mystic. They are “in love” with the Madonna with an altogether human passion. She is for them a substitute for a human wife. Or again, you find nuns who are in love with the Christ as their Bridegroom, they have for Him all the feelings of earthly human love. We have here reached a chapter that is very interesting from a psychological point of view—perhaps more interesting than attractive,—religious mystics who strove after what we have described but were not able to reach it because human nature held them back.

We find mystics—such, for example, as Saint Hildegard—who have good and beautiful impulses but who have also a considerable measure of ordinary earthly instinct and desire, and this taints their mystical feelings and perceptions. They come to an experience that is very like an erotic experience, they come into a kind of mystic eroticism, as you will find if you study the history of the mystics. The outpourings of their heart speak of the “Bride of their soul,” or of their passionate love for the “Bridegroom Jesus,” and so on.

We are the more ready to bear with mystics of this kind, if they have preserved quite a good bit of ordinary human consciousness, and are able as it were to stand aside in their human personality and look on at their own mystical experience. For, as they do this and see that they have not really won the victory but have still something very human left in them, a trace of humour and irony will often enter their consciousness. This gives a personal touch to the whole thing, and we do not dislike them so much; we even begin to feel a sympathetic interest in their unattained conquest of the experiences of the heart. Otherwise it repels one; the whole thing savours of pretence and hypocrisy. For the mystic sets out to compensate for the failure to overcome what lives in ordinary human impulses and instincts in a roundabout way, by asceticism.

If, however, this trait of humour and irony is present, if the person in question has moments when he uses his ordinary human consciousness, turns round on himself and tells himself the truth from the ordinary human standpoint, interspersing in this way his mystical moments with moments when he tells himself the hard plain truth, then we can feel a certain sympathy with him—as we do, for example, when we study such a mystic as Mechthild of Magdeburg.

For there is this difference between Mechthild of Magdeburg and mystics who are like her in other respects, that while she too manifests erotic passion for the Divine and Spiritual, and speaks of her Divine Lover in the same terms as men speak of human love, she expresses herself always with a certain touch of humour. She does not use high-flown language, but speaks in such a way that we can always detect a trace of irony in her words. The difference is very marked between such a mystic as Hildegard who has also not succeeded in overcoming the human personal consciousness, and Mechthild of Magdeburg, who feels herself passionately moved as she comes to the boundary of the Divine, but expresses herself with honest truthfulness and does not call that which still contains erotic passion of the heart by the specious name of “religious rapture,” but calls it quite plainly “religious love,” and speaks constantly of her Lover, her divine Bridegroom.

As you see, there are all manner of shades of mysticism! And even now, we have not so much as touched upon the ancient Greek mysticism which you will find described in my book Christianity as Mystical Fact. We shall have to speak of that later. One thing you will have been able to learn from the kinds of mysticism we have studied today; namely, that the endeavour of all mystics is to make their way out beyond ordinary personal ego-consciousness, to eliminate this consciousness, but that in reality, if man is not then to lose the ground from under his feet, another consciousness must emerge. It is of the nature of mysticism to come to the boundary of the spiritual, to experience the Divine and Spiritual like a kind of marriage, but not to enter into the world of the Divine and Spiritual. The mystic divests himself of the consciousness that requires an external object. His endeavour is to rid himself entirely of this consciousness. What the mystic wants is to go out beyond himself. If however a man wants then to experience consciously the unspoken word and the unmanifest light he must obviously experience them in a new and different consciousness. In other words, if the mystic wants to become an occultist, he must not merely undertake the negative striving, but must centre his attention also on the development of a new and higher consciousness, namely, the consciousness without an object of knowledge. We will speak further tomorrow about this higher consciousness into which the occultist has to enter.

• 1. From Bayard Taylor's Translation.

My dear Friends,

Yesterday we made a general survey of some of the various forms of mysticism. We saw how the mystic, and especially the mystic of modern Christian times, is one who sets out to tread the occult path and undertakes in the first place, in preparation for the same, to overcome and transcend his personal everyday ego-consciousness.

We had to show also from examples we brought forward, how it is possible for such a mystic to miss the road. Having done his best to extinguish ordinary consciousness, then in the moment when a super-sensible experience ought to emerge in its place, it may well be that he enters into a region which excludes the possibility of all experience whatsoever. We saw how this has actually happened in the case of eminent mystics. We found that one very distinguished mystic spoke of the goal she had in view as a “marriage” and a “union.” At the same time we had to describe this marriage or union as inevitably involving a loss of self. The mystic is estranged from himself, he no longer possesses himself, but passes over—as it were in a kind of higher sleep—into a completely different element.

Herein lies the cause why mysticism, generally speaking, although it can be a path to occultism, does not attain to the consciousness that is without an object. For the moment the mystic leaves the objects of this world, he loses also consciousness itself, and another state intervenes, a kind of intoxication; he loses himself and so cannot attain to what we named as the third element of occult experience—that higher consciousness which possesses not one of all the objects consciousness ordinarily possesses and yet still is a consciousness.

I want now today to show you how the occultist on the other hand contrives to make, as it were, the leap out of ordinary consciousness and yet not lose himself but still retain something within which he himself can live. Let us first ask ourselves the question: How is it that the fact that in the case of the majority of mystics, the most thorough investigation can discover no inner compelling reason why they should go out of themselves. No such inner need is present.

It would be quite easy, in the case of the mystics of whom we spoke yesterday, to point to external grounds that induced them to overstep the bounds of their own personality. In Saint Francis of Assisi, for instance, there is evidence of inherited clairvoyant, visionary states; and in the case of the various women mystics we cited, it was the personality—I say expressly, the personality—of Jesus Himself, Whom they regarded as a Bridegroom. Had it not been for the Christian tradition that worked upon them as a stimulus from without, they would never have arrived at their mystical state. In the case of all the mystics whom we studied yesterday, there was this external stimulus, but there was no inward compelling cause that moved them to overstep the bounds of self. Such an inward compelling cause is present in the case of the true aspirant after occultism. We may picture it to ourselves in the following way.

Imagine that someone sets out to meditate upon his ego, that strange and mysterious member of man's nature, the very centre of his consciousness He will note in the first place how it is the ego that holds his life together on the earth. If you study your life, you will quickly discover that your external substantial body has very little to do with your continued existence on this earth. Natural science can tell you that the substance of the body is completely renewed in the course of seven or eight years; so that there will certainly not be many of you who can claim to have today anything at all of the bodily substance you had as children: all of you will have to admit that your body has changed its substance completely and fundamentally in the course of your life. It has, indeed, become an entirely new body. The permanent element in your life is therefore most certainly not to be found in the substance of the body. And if you now turn from the external substance of the body and cast your eye over your inner life of soul, over your thinking, feeling and willing, there too you cannot fail to notice how much change has come about. Look back over the years of your life and try to recall the thoughts—still more, the feelings and will impulses—that held sway in you when you were young. You have only to compare them with those of a later time of life to see at once what fundamental changes go on in your inner life of soul. It would not, however, occur to anyone in his senses to speak of himself as being a different ego from what he was ten, twenty or thirty years ago, or as many years ago as he can remember. The moment a man did have to admit to himself that, let us say, from three or four years of age up to seventeen he was one ego, but that since he was seventeen years of age he had been another ego,—in that moment his being would be torn asunder; he would be, as we say, no longer in his right mind. Our ego, which is the centre point of our consciousness, must be assumed to be something that is permanent throughout the course of earthly life. And yet, if we stop to think it over, we soon discover that even this assumption concerning the ego is not after all quite correct. When you speak to your fellowman of yourself, you say “ I ”; and you mean by “ I ” that which has held your consciousness together during the course of your earthly life. This is the fundamental feeling men have about the I or ego, and it has led a number of philosophers to regard the I as something which can be taken as a starting-point for any statement about the nature of the human being. In all modern philosophy we find again and again this inclination to take the ego as the starting-point. From Fichte to Bergson—to go no further back in time—you will find that philosophy is continually given this orientation. Remarkable and significant results have come to light from such considerations. Nevertheless, when one comes to reflect more deeply, quite another thought suddenly thrusts itself forward. It is this. We are constantly speaking of our ego and we are persuaded that this ego is something that persists and is permanent for the whole of earthly life; but do we really know this ego? Could we give any description or definition of it? Careful reflection will show us that the ego is not after all so permanent as we thought. Life itself contradicts the philosophers who speak of an enduring ego and think they can have knowledge of it. Every night when man goes to sleep, the “permanent” ego is disproved. For when man is asleep it is extinguished. So that when we speak of our ego in this way, we are in error. We contemplate our life, forgetting that we are omitting entirely what happens to our ego during sleep! This ego, of which we know that it belongs to us,—in the night we know nothing of it at all. Therefore, when we think of our ego, we have to make the picture not of a continuous, but of an interrupted line.

How can such a thing be? How can it be that ego-consciousness is continually being broken? The explanation is that when we speak of the ego we mean really no more than the thought or idea of the ego. And since all ideas sink down in sleep into the darkness of unconsciousness, so does also the thought of the ego. The very fact that it sinks away with all our world of ideas should demonstrate to us that in the ego as we conceive it we have merely a picture or image of that of which we mean to speak when we say “ I.”

We shall not, therefore, be able to find in the ego the occult starting-point for which we are looking. For the ego is only there for us, to begin with, as a picture. It is, however, a picture of a unique kind, the study of which can bring us to a very interesting result. For how in any case do pictures and ideas come into the soul? Through the fact that man has around him objects. If you examine carefully the ideas with which your consciousness is filled, you will find they are aroused by external objects, they are all—originally—pictures of external objects. Herein lies the source of our life of ideation; we owe it to the stimulation of external objects. If the objects were not there we should never have ideas of them. With the idea of the I, however, it is different. In this respect the picture we have of the I is unique. In the world outside, look where you will, you can find no object to arouse it. This it is that distinguishes the idea of the I from all other ideas, We can point to no object that is the origin of it. Whatever it is that lives in the idea of the I and clothes itself in the words “ I am,” we cannot—find it anywhere in the whole wide compass of external life.

We are obliged, therefore, to admit that behind the idea of the I lies something totally unknown, something that is nowhere to be found in the external world in so far as this is open to man's perception. A strange and a marvellous thing, this I of ours! If we could lay hold of it inside us, as Bergson and others think we can, if it were possible to grasp more of it than the mere picture or idea, then we would be able to say that we had—not perhaps very much, but something of an earthly reality that is not given from without. But we cannot catch it, we cannot reach it!

There is, however, one thing we can know of this ego, one thing that can serve as a fulcrum, like the fulcrum Archimedes called for long ago, that he might unhinge the Earth. One thing we can discover when we focus our attention upon the I. Among all the multitude of questions and riddles that present themselves to us when we turn our thought to the outer world, there is one particular question that calls loudly for an answer, and it is the question which every aspirant after occultism must face if he would make the leap out of consciousness. He must ask himself: “In all the wide realm of earthly experience, do you see nothing at all of which you can say that it brings to expression the innermost part of your own being? Do you find nowhere anything in which your ego is expressed?”

To search for such an expression in our inner life will only lead to disappointment. There we simply enter into our transitory and fleeting ideas, and we can never be sure of finding anything to lead us beyond this world of temporal ideas. In any case we can never hope to get free of our personality—the very thing we must do as occultists—so long as we are gazing perpetually into it! In the external world outside us on the other hand, there are only the experiences of man on Earth. Any expression of what corresponds to the I in man must needs be an external expression. The I itself we cannot reach; but when we look around us, we do find something that is an expression—and for the moment, the one and only expression—for our I. It is the human form or figure.

We have here reached a difficult point in our consideration, but we must find the way to master it. In the first place let me ask you to understand the term “human form” as indicating the form of man as we meet with it in the external world You will, I think, not have any difficulty in following me when I say that as a plant is in its outward form the expression of its nature and being, as a crystal is formed in such a way as to correspond with its inner being, and as an animal too has a form that corresponds with its inner being, so must the human form correspond with the nature and being of man. And since from out the whole range of our earthly experiences we gather together our being in our I, the human form must needs be an expression of the human I. In other words, in all the vast realm of our experience there is this one thing—the human form or figure—which is an expression of the human being. It sounds a trivial thing to say, but it is in reality one of the most important utterances that can be made, and one upon which we do well to ponder and meditate.

The occultist must now go further. Of the ego he can say that he expresses it when he says “ I,” but he cannot say that he has it, that it is “there” for perception. What he has, what is there, is the idea of the ego. The human form, on the other hand, seems to be there. And so the occultist finds himself in a strange and puzzling situation. He meets at every turn the human form, the expression of the human ego, while the ego itself still eludes him.

There is here only one possible course for the occultist to follow. And it is this. He must clearly understand that it is no different with the human form than it is with a human ego. If the human form be always there, then it does not correspond to the ego that is not always there. We are faced with the necessity of coming somehow to understand that the human form—which apparently we encounter every minute of our life—is not there, has no existence among earthly objects. It is exceedingly important to arrive at a perception that the form of man is possessed of a peculiar quality, and one in which it very nearly resembles the idea of the ego. For the human form too in its external aspect deceives us, it lies to us. That is what the occultist comes to realise,—that the human form lies to him, pretending to be an expression of man's being, claiming to be there as plain reality, when all the time man's being remains hidden.

As you will see, we should be coming no nearer the goal we have set before us—namely, a “consciousness that has no object and is yet a consciousness”—if we set about acquiring a consciousness of the human form, since the human form is after all an external object! This means that the human form as we meet it in life cannot be what we are looking for as an expression of the ego.

Now the occultist must of course know that he cannot live in ideas and conclusions that are taken from the world outside, the experiences to which he has now to penetrate cannot be received from without; for what comes to him from without goes to make up his Earth consciousness, and this he wants to transcend. When the occultist looks at the human form, what he has to do is to experience something in it that leads him out beyond Earth consciousness.

Is it possible to experience in the human form something that leads us out beyond all Earth consciousness? Yes, it is possible. Let us look first at the human countenance and observe the impression it makes upon us. If we want to attain a true perception of the human countenance, we must not be so foolish as to cling to our accustomed ideas of it. For we have here to enter upon a profound experience that will lead at last to the startling conclusion that the human countenance is not as it should be. We learn to see how the human countenance and all that belongs to it—indeed the whole of the upper part of man—has undergone change in course of time through the working of pride in the soul of man,—pride and haughtiness and presumption.

This is the first experience we have to meet, when we begin to overstep the bounds of ordinary consciousness. We enter right down into a deep and original feeling of the soul where we say: “You lie to me, you human countenance and human head! Through pride and presumption you have given yourself a form you should not have. As I look at the whole upper part of man, I begin to see through your appearance; when I behold how pride and presumption have made their impress on man throughout many incarnations, then I begin to perceive an original human countenance that is quite different from you.” Thus, looking at the upper part of man, we perceive how through pride and presumption man has changed his original form.

A further observation has then to be made, and this time it concerns the remaining parts of the human figure. Here again, when the deepest and original perceptions of the soul are aroused, we have the impression that the human form is lying to us. The remaining parts of it—these too, no less than the head, ought to be different from what they are. Again we have to discover and eliminate some interfering influence in order to come to the original; and here it is passionate longing and desire. Changed in form and figure has man become,—above through pride and presumption, below through desire. If desire were not aflame within him, then the lower part of his organism would have a different form.

These two experiences are fundamental, upon them we must build. They are experiences that it is possible to have and that can lead one to pronounce two judgments,—that man is too proud and that man is too full of longing and desire. They are definite inner experiences in consciousness and they force themselves upon one if one looks at the human being with the soul's deepest powers of perception. But what about their origin? Have they been aroused by any object in the whole wide world of Earth life? They are, as we have seen, only present when man begins to feel the imperfection of his own form, when he feels that his form had originally a different plan and character and has become changed through the working of pride and desire. It is not, therefore, any external object that has occasioned these experiences. Yet they are experiences that can make their appearance in human consciousness, that can be there simply through the fact that man lives his life on Earth together with his environment.

We have here made a discovery of extraordinary importance, namely, that it is possible to come to an inner judgment, an inner experience, that has no object. And this inner experience has the following result. The occult student conceives a dislike for his human form. He says to it: “You are false.” He withdraws from it,—not like the mystics of whom we spoke yesterday, who, when they withdraw themselves, retain nothing of the experiences of Earth. No, the occultist steps forth out of ordinary experience and takes something with him; what he takes is a judgment about the human form. It is a judgment to which, in fact, expression has been given by man again and again in countless different ways.

What has here been described is, so to speak, the first elementary perception that stands at the beginning of occult consciousness,—if it is genuine occult consciousness and not mere mystical experience. At the very beginning stands a judgment about the human being. The human form as such has been extinguished; not so, however, all inner experience. There remains a judgment concerning man, which says to him: “It is Earth life that has made you as you are; the form in which we see you now refers us back to another and altogether different form.”

In order to see quite clearly that we have here to do with the dawning of a “consciousness without object,” it will be necessary for us to study a little more closely this human form or figure. For when we showed how the occult student makes this leap out of himself, retaining only a kind of judgmatic feeling about the human form—finding fault with the one half for being too proud and with the other half for being too full of desire—we were speaking of an inner experience that is rather indefinite. As a matter of fact it is one which leads on, as we shall see later, to the highest regions of spiritual experience; as yet, however, it is undefined.

To come to greater definiteness, let us now study the human form in some detail. Speaking in scientific language, let us dissect the human form! When we try to do so, we are at once struck by the remarkable fact that the human form divides up of itself quite naturally into various members, We shall see clearly what these members are when we enquire how man came to receive his present form. We shall find that the truths which are drawn from the deep wells of occultism give us a complete picture of the memberment of the human form, show us how the human form has been put together.

The first thing about the human form that arrests our attention, the first thing in his form that makes man, is what I laid stress on in the opening words of these lectures,—the fact that it is upright. Man is a being who walks upright. That is the first important thing about him,—so to speak, the first member of his form—his upright posture.

It will perhaps seem to you as though there were something arbitrary about the way I am dissecting the form of man. But if you follow closely and carefully, you will see that it is not really so at all; the fact is, the essential being of man, as described for us in occult knowledge, is reflected in his form or figure.

The second thing that makes man man and that will also be readily recognised as essential to the human form, is the fact that he is so constituted as to enable him to be a speaking being. Sound can be born in him. Consider how essential a characteristic this is. In general, man is organised in an upward direction, and in particular he is so organised that his speech organs, beginning from the heart and larynx, go upwards,—up to the face. Study the human being from this aspect and you will find that all the forms of the limbs are so arranged as to suit the creation and the moulding and forming of spoken sound. Thus we can say, the second important factor in the ordering of the members of the human form is that they are ordered and disposed with a view to speech.

The third thing that we have to regard as important for the form of man is the fact that it is symmetrical. Inevitably one feels that the human form would lose something of its real nature if it were not symmetrical. That then is the third essential, that the limbs and members are symmetrically disposed. As we know, there are exceptions, but the quality of symmetry is essential.

The fourth thing that comes into consideration manifests in the following way. If you will observe attentively these three first members of man's form—upright posture, speaking, symmetry—you will see that they are all directed outwards. The fact that man holds himself upright is something that places him into the external world. Speech is again something that obviously relates him to the external world. Finally, the symmetry of his form gives him a certain balance in space. Now we come to a different aspect. We come to the fact that man has an inside. From the purely physical point of view man has organs that are enclosed within his skin. We may, therefore, say that man has as the fourth member of his form the fact of enclosure within the skin, so that the organs on which the inner functions depend are inside and are protected from the external world. Enclosure or isolation within the skin is thus something that properly belongs to the human form.

To find the fifth member of the human form, you must give your attention to the fact that within it, in the parts that are shut away from the outside, we find organs, active inner organs. All that lives and works inside man—that is the fifth thing we have to note. That there is movement and life within him can convince us that man as he stands before us in his form is not dependent merely on the external world, but is dependent on his own inner man as well he has within him as it were a centre for all the weaving of his life and being. Contrast, for example, with the members we have already described, such a thing as the circulation of the blood. There you have a process that takes its course entirely inside man, it is something completely isolated from the world outside. Thus we have as fourth member the fact of enclosure or isolation, and as fifth, the inside of man that is so enclosed.

But now there is something further we have to observe about this inside of the human form. Looked at from the purely physical aspect, it is a duality. There are, first of all, organs like the lungs and heart, which owe their form to a compromise, for they receive an influence also from without. Even the heart, by reason of its connection with the lungs, has to be adapted to outside conditions. The air from outside enters into man through the lungs and is by this means brought into contact with the inner organs. Then we have, on the other hand, organs which show by their form that they are adapted solely and entirely to the inside of the body. These are the organs of the abdomen. They owe their very shape and form to the fact that they are inside man. It is quite possible to imagine that the stomach, intestines, liver or spleen, if they were differently formed, could still be in connection with the heart and lungs and in some way or other fulfil their right and proper functions. When once the external world has found entrance into the lungs, then all the inner organs can assume their own several forms. They are determined entirely from within. So that we may say we have, as sixth, a member of the human which we may call the true inside of man in the bodily sense. It is important to realise that here we have a member of the human form which has no connection with the outside world.

We have now come to a boundary in the human form, where the outward direction begins to work again, where once more we find something that has strong relation to the outside world. Consider the shape of man's foot. If it were not formed for the ground, if it had not a sole, man would not be able to walk. If his foot, for example, ended in a point, he would be continually falling down. Thus, as we follow the human form downwards, we come again to organs that are adapted to external conditions. At the same time we note that the feet, and also the legs, help to give man his distinctively human form. If man were a fish, or if he were a creature that flies in the air, these organs would have to be formed quite differently; as it is, their form expresses the fact that man is a being who stands and walks upon the earth. All the organs from the hips downwards are shaped with this end in view,—that man shall be a being able to work and stand and walk upon the earth. So that we may say, in the hips we have, as seventh member, a condition of balance What is above the place of balance is either given an outward direction in its form, or as we have seen, turned inwards; what is below is formed in a downward direction. In the hips you have a point of equilibrium between these tendencies. Of all that comes below the hips, we may say that it is adapted to earthly conditions.

Then we have as eighth member organs that are entirely orientated with a view to conditions outside the human being,—the organs of reproduction. Continuing further, a little reflection will enable you to see that for man to walk in the way that is proper to him, the thigh must be separate from the leg, there must be the bend between them. And so he has, joined on to the thigh, the knee, making it possible for him to adapt himself in his walk to earthly conditions. For it is earthly conditions that determine altogether the lower part of the figure of man. Then we have the leg and, separated again from it, the foot. Perhaps you will say, what about the hands? We shall see in the next lecture why the hands are left out in this connection.

And now I will ask you to follow this list we have made of the members of man's form.

1. Upright posture.
2. Orientation to the utterance of Sound.
3. Symmetry.
4. Enclosure within itself.
5. The Interior of man that is so enclosed.
6. The Interior of man in bodily aspect, having no connection with the outside world.
7. Balance.
8. Organs of Reproduction.
9. Thigh.
10. Knee.
11. Leg.
12. Feet.

As I said before, it might at first sight appear arbitrary to show the human form divided in this way into twelve members. But everything man requires in his form in order for him to be man on earth is really comprised in these twelve members (I will explain tomorrow how it is with the hands), and in such a way that each member has a certain independence, each member is separate from the others. One could even imagine that each one of them, while remaining still in connection with the others, might assume quite another form from the form it actually has. It is perfectly possible in each single case to imagine other shapes or forms for the several members; but that the whole human figure stands before us as the result of the conjunction of twelve such members, is a fact that cannot be disregarded.

When you reflect upon the whole meaning and intention of man's existence upon Earth, you cannot leave out of account that he has a form and figure membered in this particular way, so that when we come to study his form we must inevitably think of it as divisible into twelve parts or members. These twelve members have always been regarded in occultism as of the deepest possible significance. We are bound to take them into consideration if we would understand the meaning of the form and figure of man in its relation to his being. Occultism has always known of them, and for reasons which will become clear to us in the course of these lectures, as we continue our study of man in the light of occultism, philosophy and theosophy, the twelve members have received twelve specific designations.

What we gave as the first member has been called “Ram” (Aries) and is denoted by the Sign ♈.

The second is named “Bull” (Taurus) and symbolised with the Sign ♉.

Symmetry is called “Twins” (Gemini) and is denoted with the Sign ♊.

What we described as the quality of enclosure within itself is given the Sign ♋ and called “Crab” (Cancer).

What we described as the interior, the life that is so enclosed, is called “Lion” (Leo) and symbolised with the Sign ♌.

The inner parts of man, that in bodily aspect have no connection at all with the outside world and point to the threefold character of man's nature, themselves typifying complete isolation from the outside world, are called “Virgin” (Virgo) and denoted with the Sign ♍.

Then we come to the condition of balance and there, no explanation will be needed for giving the name of “Scales” (Libra) ♎.

The organs of reproduction, which have once more the direction outwards, are denoted by the expression “Scorpion” (Scorpio) and symbolised with the Sign ♏.

The Thigh is called “Archer” (Sagittarius) and has the Sign ♐. The knees, the “Goat” (Capricorn), are symbolised with the Sign ♑.

The leg below the knee is “Waterman” (Aquarius) and has the Sign ♒.

Finally, the feet are termed “Fishes” (Pisces) and have the Sign ♓.

For the moment, I ask you to see in these Signs no more than signs and signatures for the various members that go to make the complete human form. Please regard them as nothing else than a means of distinguishing the several members of the human form. You know very well that these Signs belong to habits of mind and thought that are of great antiquity, and in particular that they play a part in astrology. I want you, however, to connect nothing else with them now than the fact that with their help we are able to study the human form and see how it lends itself naturally to division into twelve members. If it should seem that we are giving rather strange names and signs to these members of the human form, it is really only as it is with the sounds of human speech, where we cannot by any means always quickly recognise the meaning from the sound, or, shall we say, as it is with the letters of the alphabet, of which we are often quite unable to say at once why they designate this or that sound. All we have done is to find an expression for the twelve-membered figure of man and, for convenience of further reference, give these members names which have here and there found their way out of occultism into general use.

1. Upright posture ♈.
2. Orientation to the utterance of Sound ♉.
3. Symmetry ♊.
4. Enclosure within itself ♋.
5. The Interior of man that is so enclosed ♌.
6. The Interior of man that in bodily aspect has no connection with the outside world ♍.
7. Balance ♎.
8. Organs of Reproduction ♏.
9. Thigh ♐.
10. Knee ♑.
11. Leg ♒.
12. Feet ♓.