Christ is the true Lucifer — "Christus verus Luciferus"

Rudolf Steiner, Helsinki, Finland, April 14, 1912:

The Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies and in the Kingdoms of Nature. Lecture 11 of 11.

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. While we have to say with regard to man that all four principles of his being are active on the physical plane — the physical body 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 has 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 toward 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.

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, while 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 around 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 describe 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 civilization. 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 be opened.” Till then they were not open. This must he 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 toward 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 supersensible 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 outpouring 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 inward. 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 toward 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 around his orbit with his tail pointing outward. He was earlier like this (see below). The facts of the Akasha Chronicle show him thus:

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 around Saturn and open it out, you would have a comet's tail.

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 onward, 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. Today 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 while 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 sight, 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 — Vishvakarman, 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 civilization — 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 today 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 civilization 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 toward 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 be 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 civilization, 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 spirits 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 on 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 civilization 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 civilization 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.

Source: http://wn.rsarchive.org/GA/GA0136/19120414p01.html

Sensate beauty ennobles the etheric body

Rudolf Steiner:  "All that grows has an etheric body. If someone works artistically either in a visual or plastic way, this has an effect on the etheric body. An artistically formed piece of sculpture or a painting works directly on the etheric body. A virtue, on the other hand, works on the astral body. Many noble human beings who return from Devachan meet an etheric body which is in no way suited to their advanced astral body, because they have done nothing in the way of organized activity in the sphere of beauty. It therefore happens that many people who in their last incarnation lived very holy lives, but without concerning themselves with what is noble in the outer world of the senses, when approaching reincarnation experience a fear of rebirth, because they have not ennobled their etheric body through that beauty which is dependent on the senses."

The Christ is to the Buddha as the Sun is to Mercury

Rudolf Steiner, Helsinki, Finland, April 13, 1912:
The Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies and in the Kingdoms of Nature. Lecture 10 of 11.

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. Today 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 supersensible 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 supersensible 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 arrived at the discovery of paper comparatively late in his evolution . 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 fulfill 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 someone with 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, among 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 today 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, while the Ancient Moon was an earlier incarnation of our Earth) — while 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 offspring, 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. While 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 supersensible, 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 civilization 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 regents 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 civilization. If we now survey the history of man, the history of human civilization, we see that individual men are guided by the Angels or Angeloi, nations and peoples by the Archangels or Archangeloi; certain periods of civilization 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 civilization 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 civilization which was expressed in Buddhism. Other impulses of civilization 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 civilization 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 civilization. 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 civilization. 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 onward 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 civilization 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 toward the center point of the Earth. Thus we have to compose the whole plant out of that which grows toward the Sun or toward the center of the Earth and that which winds itself around 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 toward its fructification. The spiral principle of movement is united with the principle which works in the stalk.

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. Now, 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 civilization 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 civilization, 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 Vishvakarman. 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 civilization which lie beyond the sphere of the individual Spirits of Motion.

Then came the civilization of Zarathustra; and Zarathustra pointed again to the same being whom the Holy Rishis had called Vishvakarman, 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 Vishvakarman 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.

Then came the Egyptian civilization; and for certain reasons it became necessary to say: The present time (that is, the Egyptian present) is not fitted to direct its vision to that Sun-spirit of Wisdom whom Zarathustra divined in his own way. Hence the Egyptian civilization clothed their concept of the nature of this Spirit in the legend that when he wished to come down to the Earth he was immediately dismembered. Osiris dismembered by his brother is a reference to that to which the Holy Rishis pointed in their Vishvakarman. Then came the fourth post-Atlantean period of civilization, and pointed out that that to which every epoch of civilization had alluded was, by reason of certain special circumstances, to he attained in direct vision in the fourth period of civilization; that is, it was made possible through special events of the fourth post-Atlantean period for a being to be inspired. The Seven Holy Rishis alluded to the fact that this being existed. Zarathustra said that the occult vision directed to the Sun sees this being. The Egyptian civilization stated that this being is still so far from the Earth that man can only meet him after death. The fourth period was able to point out that conditions had arisen in our Earth evolution making it possible that for three years a human being could be directly inspired by this Spirit of Wisdom. Hence it was possible to recognize as a fact that the sphere of this Sun-spirit of Wisdom is much more comprehensive than the sphere of the Spirits of Motion, for it now embraces the whole collective process of civilization on Earth. That which was designated in the language of the Holy Rishis as Vishvakarman, in that of Zarathustra as Ahura Mazdao, in the Egyptian (if one really understands what stands behind the name) as Osiris, and which we in the fourth period of civilization designate by the word “Christ,” is that which has shone down through the portal of the Sun-spirit of Wisdom. I have never said that the Spirit of Motion alone shone through the Buddha, nor do I now say that the Sun-spirit of Wisdom alone shone through the Christ. He was the portal through which occult vision could be directed into infinite spheres, wherein are the Spirits of the higher hierarchies; but the portal was the Spirit of Wisdom, the Sun-spirit of Wisdom. As the Sun is related to the planets, so is the Sun-spirit of Wisdom related to the Spirits of Motion, who, on their part, express themselves in such Spirits as the one who inspired Buddha. H. P. Blavatsky intended to express this in her theory; it would never have occurred to her to identify any of the planetary Spirits of Motion with the Christ.

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 civilization, 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 toward 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 civilization 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 a 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.

Thus a theosophical act was accomplished before Theosophy existed, by seeing that the individual religions have their rights, inasmuch as no single impulse belonging to any one single group of humanity is claimed for the Christ, but only that to which Theosophy also lays claim, namely, to seek the impulse which is an impulse of humanity as distinct from the special religions as the Sun-Impulse from all the planets. It is from the depths of occultism, my dear friends, that these facts are thus represented objectively; and if it were ever to be said that this representation of the Christ-Impulse arises from any special national or racial interest, or from Western interests, such a remark could only be made through ignorance of the relation of facts — or through a misrepresentation of them. In all things we must boldly and sincerely face the objective facts; and this we can only do if we look into the depths of the world's becoming. All occult truths show us finally how cosmic evolution comes about; but we must have the courage as well as the necessary impartiality to come face to face with this cosmic evolution. With regard to names — whether borrowed from the East or from the West, whether borne by this or that personal Spirit — that does not signify to us. What does concern us, what we must recognize, is that which is at work in the world. Spiritual science teaches us to see and perceive what works in the world. In fact, in the field of spiritual science, we have developed the instinct — I might say — for finding the right. We must not always long for new sensations, but try to understand a little of what lies in the first impulses of the Theosophical Movement. When H. P. Blavatsky identified the Buddha with Mercury, a great truth was expressed, which will be so much the more recognized the more the relation of the Buddha to Christ is recognized in occult spheres; just as we learn to know cosmic relationships better when we recognize the relation of the planet Mercury to the fixed star — the Sun. These things cannot be shaken from their foundations through human prejudices; but they only work aright in the process of civilization if we look them impartially in the face. This had to be added to what was stated today with regard to the Spirits active in the planets and in the Sun; for these Spirits extend their activity to the Earth, and the world has no idea how deeply much of what must be taught in popular lectures is rooted in occult foundations. How deeply grounded is that relation which has just been given of the successive spheres of civilization of which the one culminated in Buddha, the other in — call it what you will: the fourth epoch of civilization called it Christ. In how far the one differs from the other can only be learnt from the depths of occultism. But occultism also convinces us how, rightly looked at, the cosmos everywhere offers us signs for that which is so deeply instilled within our hearts. So we must say: If we learn the writing spread forth in the cosmos, in the stars, in their ordering and motions, we shall find that out from the cosmos everywhere speaks that which permeates our hearts with truth, love, and that piety which carries forward the evolution of humanity from epoch to epoch. 

Source: http://wn.rsarchive.org/GA/GA0136/19120413p01.html

Excelsior!

Rudolf Steiner:  "If we ask ourselves what spiritual science should be for us, then presumably, out of all sorts of reactions and feelings that we have developed in the course of our work in this field, we will place the following answer before our souls: Spiritual science should be for us a path to the higher development of our humanity, of all that is human in us.

Thus we set up a life-aim, which in a certain way is self-understood for every thinking and feeling person, a life-aim that includes the achieving of the highest ideals and also includes the unfolding of the deepest and most significant forces in our souls. The best men in all ages have asked themselves how man can rightly bring to expression what lies within him, and to this question the most diverse answers have been given. Perhaps none can be found that is more terse or more telling than the answer Goethe gave out of a deep conviction in his Geheimnisse: 

“From the power that binds all beings
That man frees himself who overcomes himself.”

Deep meaning lies in these words, for they show us clearly and pregnantly what lies at the heart of all evolution. This is that man develops his inner feeling through rising above himself. Thereby we lift ourselves, so to speak, above ourselves. The soul that overcomes itself finds the path that leads beyond itself to the highest treasures of humanity."






Thank you, Bojescu!

Growing Old : Going To Seed

Rudolf Steiner:

"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 toward 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 supersensible world, forming the prototype of a new incarnation, of a new body for a new life on Earth."

"Die, and Become"

the inscription on the Holy Grail

The Golden Rule of Anthroposophy

For every step forward you take in the acquisition of knowledge, take three steps forward in the improvement of your moral character.  —Rudolf Steiner

Do all the good you can

Do all the good you can.
By all the means you can.
In all the places you can.
At all the times you can.
To all the people you can.
As long as ever you can.
           — John Wesley

The Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.