Rudolf Steiner GA 93a The Foundations of Esotericism RS
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA093a/English/RSP1982/FndEso_index.html
Notes of an
esoteric Course in the form of thirty-one lectures by Rudolf Steiner: given
between the 26th of September and the 5th of November 1905, at Berlin. This
edition is Translated by Vera and Judith Compton-Burnett, from notes unrevised
by the lecturer. In the complete edition of the works of Rudolf Steiner the
volume containing the original German is entitled: Grundelemente der
Esoterik, no 93a in the Biographical Survey.
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September 26, 1905 |
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Significance
of the symbol of the snake. Invertebrate and vertebrate animals — System of
the solar plexus and the spinal chord. Inner study of man with the help of
the Kundalini fire. Twelve stages of consciousness: seven appertaining to
man, five to the creative gods. The Twelve apostles as the twelve
Christ-permeated stages of consciousness. |
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September 27, 1905 |
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Activity,
wisdom, will: three leading concepts in esotericism. Life after death. The
appearance of the Guardian of the Threshold as the Double. The significance
of Christ's death of atonement. The influence of Ulfilas on the German
language. The chaos of the activity of the West and the tranquillity of the
wisdom of the East. |
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September 28, 1905 |
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Stages of
Consciousness in the three kingdoms of Nature and of Man. The plant world as
sense organ of the Earth. The organ of orientation in the root of the plant
and the corresponding organ of orientation in the human ear. The cross as the
symbol of the evolution of direction in man, animal and plant. Plant
consciousness on the Mental Plane; that of sensitive plants, idiots and
animals on the Astral Plane, of minerals on the Higher Mental Plane. Human
consciousness on the Physical Plane and its development to higher stages. The
riddle of the Sphinx as indication of the future form of man. |
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September 29, 1905 |
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Consciousness
of the bees and ants. Alchemy and the Philosophers' Stone. Relationship of
the kingdoms of Nature to each other. The being of man in the future. |
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September 30, 1905 |
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The
conditions of bodies: solid, liquid, gaseous; the four kinds of ether:
warmth, light, chemical and life ether and their life on the seven planes.
Relationship between the passive and active organs: ear and speech i.e.
larynx; heart and pituitary gland (hypophysis); eye and pineal gland
(epiphysis). The development of the hypophysis into an active warmth-organ,
the epiphysis to an active organ of vision. Tolstoi. Ulfilas. |
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October 01, 1905 |
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The
difference between receptive and creative beings in connection with the
Blavatskian sequence of seven stages of being, to which man belongs: 1.
receptive elemental beings; 2. man as a receptive and creative intermediate
being; 3. the ‘pure man’ of the pre-Lemurian Age: Adam Cadmon and the
development of the warm and cold-blooded animals; 4. Bodhisattvas: human
beings who have become creative for the purpose of regulating the continuity
of evolution; 5. Nirmanakayas: creative beings reaching out beyond the Earth
who are able to bring new impulses into Earth evolution; 6. Pitris (Fathers):
beings able to sacrifice themselves; 7. The actual gods. Heart and gall. |
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October 02, 1905 |
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Development
of the beings on the Old Moon. Moon — Cosmos of Wisdom. Jehovah a rank of the
hierarchies. Transition from the Old Moon to the Earth. Beginning of human
incarnations: union of two different kinds of beings (spiritual &
physical parts) resulting in birth and death; the degree of balance in the
gradual reciprocal adaptation of the spiritual and physical parts. Past and
future development of speech in connection with consciousness, life and form. |
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October 03, 1905 |
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Reincarnation,
development of civilisation and the zodiac. Christianity and the teaching of
reincarnation. Water or the drinking of wine in relation to knowledge of
reincarnation. The Trappist Orders. The Augustinian teaching of
predestination. |
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October 04, 1905 |
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The
physical body as the oldest and most perfected part of the fourfold human
organism. Self-awareness and sense-observation. The seven senses in relation
to the seven planes and conditions of substance. The nature of the future
Jupiter as the result of the thoughts, feelings and will impulses of
present-day man. Materialism, a karmic result of earlier idealistic periods.
The founding of towns and the Lohengrin saga. Causes of illnesses. |
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October 05, 1905 |
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The
formation of the etheric body as the opposite of the physical body: the
feminine etheric body of the man, and the male etheric body of the woman. The
forms and colours of the astral body and its sheath: the auric egg. The
development of the human auric egg through seven conditions of form of the
earth. The membering of the human auric egg. The individualised astral light.
Reading in the Akasha. |
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October 06, 1905 |
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Man's
participation in the physical, astral and mental world. The development of
self-consciousness during the descent to the physical plane. The re-ascent to
the higher planes through schooling towards selflessness in wishes and
thoughts. The possibility of development towards freedom on the physical
plane. Action and reaction as the technique of karma. |
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October 07, 1905 |
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The
origin of the physical body. The Kundalini fire as means of investigation
into occult anatomy. The work of the Deva-forces on the bodily sheaths and
the gradual loosening of the Deva-forces through the ego. The working of the
Devas in the life after death. Sojourn in Devachan and re-embodiment. Life
after death in the case of suicide and death by violence. |
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October 08, 1905 |
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Dionysius
the Areopagite and his teaching about the Gods. The structure of the Church,
an outer image of the inner hierarchical ordering of the world. Alteration in
the forms of the flora, fauna and mineral kingdom through the work of man
after death. The activity and nature of the Devas and the Planetary Spirits. |
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October 09, 1905 |
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Man's
sojourn in Devachan between death and a new birth. The formation of
devachanic organs on Earth through spiritual activity and soul relationships
(Life in the Groups). The physical world as world of causes, Devachan as
world of effects. Three stages of pupil-ship. The eighth sphere. The twelve
Nidanas or forces of Karma. |
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October 10, 1905 |
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The
impulse given through the Rosicrucians to European history from the 14th
century to the time of the French Revolution. In the Rosicrucian schools
basic Theosophy was taught. The three basic concepts, Wisdom, Beauty, Power,
in connection with the transformation of the mineral, plant and animal
kingdoms. The twelve forces of Karma (Nidanas). |
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October 11, 1905 |
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How Karma
works in relation to deeds, words and thoughts. The opposite of Karma:
creation out of nothing. The experience of Nirvana. |
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October 12, 1905 |
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The three
stages of thought-life: Abstract Thoughts, Imagination, and Intuition.
Father, Son (Word) and Holy Spirit or First, Second, Third Logos — Karma and
the five Skandhas. |
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October 16, 1905 |
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The human
beings of the Atlantean and Lemurian Ages. The two-fold origin of human
nature and their union in the Lemurian Age. The Eighth Sphere. The two-fold
structure of the physical, etheric and astral body of present-day man. |
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October 17, 1905 |
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Certain
species of Elemental Beings in the Astral World — Asuric Beings — Jehovah as
the God of the descending Kama-principle; Christ, the ascending
Buddhi-Principle — Black and White Magic. Natural and induced
Elemental Beings. |
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October 18, 1905 |
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Beings
and experiences in the Astral World. Black and White Magic. Necessity of a
strict schooling for forming judgements about the Astral World. Technique of
reincarnation. The memory tableau immediately after death and the vision of
the future preceding new birth. |
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October 19, 1905 |
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The
technique of reincarnation: the law of effect and counter-effect in relation
to actions, feelings and thoughts. The necessity for artistic activity in
theosophical life. The passage through the Astral and Devachanic World in the
life after death and the preparation for the next Earth life. |
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October 24, 1905 |
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The
problem of death as a question of consciousness. The duality: inner kernel of
being (Monad) and physical-astral man; their various forms of development
until their unification in the Lemurian Age. The beginning of Karma. Wisdom,
Beauty, Strength as reflection of Manas, Buddhi and Atma. |
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October 25, 1905 |
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Fructification
with the Spirit (Monad) in the Lemurian Age. The previous stages of Earth
evolution: Old Saturn, Sun and Moon. The Sun and Moon ancestors of Man.
Opposition between the intentions of Jehovah and the Luciferic Principle. The
coming into being of the two sexes as also of birth and death. The changing
direction of the Earth axis. Arising of original (Ur) Karma. Conflict between
Jehovah and Lucifer. Christianity and the teaching of Reincarnation and
Karma. |
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October 26, 1905 |
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Survey of
Earth evolution I: Races, Globes, Rounds. |
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October 27, 1905 |
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Survey of
Earth evolution II: Planets or states of consciousness, Rounds or elemental
kingdoms, Globes or conditions of form; in Christian terminology: Power,
Kingdom and Glory. |
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October 28, 1905 |
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Survey of
Earth evolution III: The Fourth Earth Round. Separation of Sun and Moon. The
Union of the human astral body with the Monad. Intervention of the impulse of
Luciferic Beings and the battle between Jehovah and Lucifer. Elemental beings
in the Atlantean Age. The origin of metals. Names of the days of the week and
their connection with the planetary evolution of the Earth. |
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October 30, 1905 |
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The Three
Logoi, or Form, Life and Consciousness (Creation out of Nothing) as three
stages of evolution. Elemental Beings and the arising of Astral Beings
through the physical deeds of man. |
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October 31, 1905 |
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The
senses in connection with the different ethers. Connection between microcosm
and macrocosm. The development of different stages of consciousness during
the epochs of the Post-Atlantean Age. |
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November 03, 1905 |
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Karmic
connections in the relationships of peoples. Illnesses connected with
particular times and nations. Class opposition and national morality.
Michael's battle against the God Mammon in the seventies of the nineteenth
century. The War of All against All and its remedy in the basic principle of
brotherhood. The origin of oxygen, breathing. Connection of freedom with
birth, death and illness. Origin of fever. The Riddle of the Sphinx, a secret
of the future. |
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November 04, 1905 |
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Development
of the different forms of nourishment; origin and significance of drinking
wine. The social aspect of West and East in regard to production and
consumption. |
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November 05, 1905 |
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Concerning
Old Atlantis and the formation of the Fifth Root-Race or the Post-Atlantean
Age. Development of the Post-Atlantean Age through the Indian, Persian,
Chaldean and European civilisations. Present-day materialism. Preparation for
a new civilisation the task of Central Europe. |
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Glossary of Indian-Theosophical
Terms Lecture
XII Berlin,
7th October 1905 When the
physical body is discussed most people have a very unclear, confused idea of
what it actually is. In point of fact what we have before us is not just the
physical body but a combination of the physical body with higher forces. A
piece of rock crystal is also physical but in its very nature this is
something quite different from the human eye or heart, which are also
physical. The eye and heart are parts of the physical body, but they are
intermixed with man's higher members and through this, something is brought
about which is completely different from other aspects of the physical. In
water we find oxygen and hydrogen but they look quite different from when we
see them separated. Then we are aware of their difference. In water we have
before us a mixture of both. What meets us in the physical body of man is
also a mixture comprised of the physical, etheric and astral bodies. The
physical human eye is similar to a camera, for, as with the camera, there
appears within it a picture of the surrounding world. Only when one abstracts
from the physical eye everything that is not to be found in the camera, does
one discover what is the specific nature of the physical eye. So too one must
abstract from the entire physical body everything that is not purely
physical: only then does one have what in occultism is called the physical
body. In itself it can neither live, think nor feel. There then remains a
very wisely ordered, extremely complicated automaton, a purely physical
apparatus. This, alone, was all there was of human existence at the Old
Saturn stage. At that time the eyes were present only as little cameras. What
was produced as [a] picture of the surrounding world came to the
consciousness of a Deva being. In the middle of the Saturn evolution the
so-called Asuras (the Archai) were sufficiently advanced to make use of the
apparatus. At that time they were at the human stage. They made use of the
automata and the pictures they produced. The Asuras themselves were not
within the apparatus but outside and only made use of the pictures as we make
use of photographic apparatus in order to take pictures of a landscape. Thus
the physical body of man was at that time an architectural structure of a
physical apparatus operated from outside. This is the first stage of human
existence. The
second stage of development was the permeation of this physical apparatus
with the etheric body. It then became a living organism. That also found
expression in the configuration of the body. The automaton was built up out
of a fairly firm undifferentiated mass, similar to what today is a jelly-like
substance, like a soft crystal.40 In the second Round
of evolution in the Old Sun existence, the physical automaton was imbued with
the etheric body. In this Round the solar plexus developed. It is so called
because still today only rudiments of the organ are present. It fashions a
nervous system into the physical apparatus. In the case of the plant
something similar is present. That is the second stage. But these
stages are not final; evolution gradually progresses. Even today the solar
plexus is an active agent in certain animals which have not developed a
spinal cord. All invertebrate animals are single forms from left behind
stages of what was laid down earlier. It was only on the Earth that man cast
out from himself the vertebrate animals. In earlier times his organism was
still somewhat similar to that of the crab at the present day. Man has
progressed beyond that earlier stage whereas the crab has remained
stationary. It is an astonishing fact that the whole inner formation of the
crab has a certain similarity to the human brain. There is actually a
similarity between the internal formation of the crab and the human brain.
Like the human brain the crab too is enclosed in a hard shell. After man had
developed a spine and had metamorphosed the upper vertebrae, he cast off the
hard shell. The crab has not developed further. It has adapted itself to its
environment by means of a hard shell that it had to have and which serves the
same purpose as does the protective covering of the whole body in man. The third
stage is that in which the whole is transformed by the astral body working
within it. This organic transformation is connected with the development of
the heart and the circulation of the blood. The heart of the fish has
remained stationary at a halfway stage.41 The
development of the heart is proportionate to the degree in which there is an
increase in the inner warmth of the body; this signifies nothing other than a
drawing of the astral into the body. The
spinal cord with the brain is the organ of the ego. This is surrounded by the
threefold protective sheath of the astral, etheric and physical bodies. After
the organ of the ego (spinal cord and brain) had been prepared, the ego laid
itself in the bed made ready for it, and spinal cord and brain appear as
organs in the service of the ego. The
four-fold man is put together in this way. It is the Pythagorean square.
Thus has
the four-fold being of man been constructed. In
occultism what we have now described is again called a spiral (Wirbel),
something that builds from outside inwards and unites with what builds up
from within. Physical body, etheric and astral bodies have built up the human
being. Then the ego makes itself felt and this builds from within outwards.
These are the four constituents of man. Here we find in the outer an imprint
of the four-fold man. All further development is of such a nature that the
human being, starting from this point of the ego, consciously experiences
what previously he went through unconsciously. Today, in
order to realise that this is so, one must in the first place investigate
what took place when our ego was being developed. In order to do this we
must, as it were, take up our position under a certain organ. This is most
aptly expressed in the Buddha legend. It says in the legend that Buddha
remained seated under the Bodhi tree until he attained illumination in order
to rise to higher stages, to Nirvana. For this Buddha had to place himself
under the brain, under the organ of consciousness. That means the paths he
had previously traversed unconsciously he had to traverse again consciously.
Under the large brain there lies, more towards the back of the head, the
small, tree shaped brain (the cerebellum). Under this brain Buddha placed
himself. The cerebellum is the Bodhi tree. This shows how what is said in
such profound legends is actually taken from human evolution. Everything
that is now known only by means of anatomy was at that time known in quite
another way. The occult investigator made his researches with the help of the
Kundalini light. The pupil was prepared for this in the following way. He
came to a Master. If the latter found him trustworthy he received as
instruction, not actually a teaching—today it has become different, today man
must find his way by means of intellect and concepts—but the Master spoke
somewhat as follows: ‘Every day for about six weeks you must spend several
hours in meditation and give yourself up to some sentence of eternal value,
completely sinking yourself into it.’ At present man cannot do this because
life in modern civilisation makes too many demands on him. At that time the
pupil meditated six to ten hours daily. He cannot do this nowadays without
withdrawing from the whole life around him. At that time however the pupil
required hardly any time for external needs. He found his nourishment in
outer nature. He therefore made use of his time for meditation, perhaps
uninterruptedly for ten hours. By this means he very soon progressed so far
that he brought his body, which at that time was less dense, into such a
condition that the Kundalini light was awakened within him. This is for the
inner being what sunlight is for the outer world. Actually we do not see
external objects, but reflected sunlight. The moment when, with the help of
the Kundalini light, we can illuminate the soul, it becomes as visible as an
object shone upon by the sun. So for the yoga pupil the whole inner body
gradually became illuminated. All ancient anatomies were seen from within,
through inner illumination. Thus the (Indian) monks, who clothed their
experiences in legends, spoke of what they had perceived through the
Kundalini light. Now we
must ask ourselves how the different parts of the human body are worked upon.
In regard to what belongs to the brain and spinal cord, man first works
consciously on the physical plane through the human ego [Gap in the text ...]
He has at present no influence on anything else. He has for instance no
influence on the circulation of the blood. Such things are developed by
degrees. Here other beings co-operate, Deva beings, so that all creatures
having a blood circulation are dependent on Deva forces for its regulation.
The astral body is permeated and worked upon by different Deva forces. The
lowest work on the astral body. Higher forces work on the etheric body and
still higher Devas on the physical body, the most perfected body possessed by
man. The astral body is strikingly less perfect than the physical body. The
physical heart is indeed very clever; the stupid one is the astral body, that
directs into the heart all kinds of heart poisons. The most perfect part of
man is the physical body, less perfect is the etheric body and still less
perfect is the astral body. What is only in its beginnings, the ‘baby’ in
man, is the ego Organisation. This is the four-fold man, which contains the
ego as the temple contains the statue of a god. The whole
development of human culture is nothing other than the working of the ego
into the astral body, the education of the astral body. Man enters into life
filled with desires, impulses and passions. In so far as he masters these
impulses, desires and passions, he is working his ego into the astral body.
When the Sixth Root-race, the Sixth Epoch, has reached its conclusion, the
ego will have completely worked into the astral body. Until then the astral
body will continue to be dependent on the support of the Deva forces. As long
as the ego has not permeated the entire astral body, so long must the Deva
forces support the work. The
second stage of development, which follows that of the cultural, is the
development of the esoteric pupil. He works the ego into the etheric body.
Through this the Deva forces are gradually released by the work of his own
ego. Then he also gradually begins to see into himself. We can
now ask: what is the significance of the astral body, for what purpose does
man have an astral body? It is to give him the possibility, by way of his
desires, to do what otherwise he would not have done, and to betake himself
to the physical plane. For before man can acquire objective knowledge on the
physical plane he must direct to it his wishes and desires. Without these he
would have been unable to develop an objective observation of the world or a
sense of duty and morality. Only after a gradual transformation of his
desires can these be changed into duties and ideals. Man can only pursue this
path by means of the driving, organising power of the astral body. The
etheric body is the bearer of thoughts. What is thought within man, is
etheric outside, just as what is desire within him, is astral outside. But it
is only when pure thinking begins that etheric substance is radiated into the
astral impulses. As long as thinking is not yet pure thinking we have astral
substance surrounding the etheric form. So thought-forms, as they are called,
are made out of a kernel of etheric substance surrounded by astral substance.
Along the paths of the nerves stream the so-called abstract thoughts, which
however are in reality the most concrete, for they are etheric forces. As
soon as man even begins to think, he is already working the ego into his
etheric body. When a man dies it becomes clear that the physical body has
nothing to do with the ego. Every connection between the physical body and
the ego is broken off after death. Previously this connection took place
indirectly through the other bodies. When these are no longer there the
corpse has no further relation to the ego. Then the outer Deva forces receive
it and it is again absorbed into the physical environment. The word
‘verwesen’ (decay) does not mean only a passing away, but a return to the
‘Wesen’ (being) out of which the body came forth. This is what may be said in
respect of the physical body. The Dutch word ‘Lichaam’ does not mean
‘Leichnam’ (corpse) but the physical body which has to be carried about. The
etheric body is to a great extent in a similar situation to the physical
body. It is taken up in the same way by the Devas and then again dissolved
into general circulation. But there remains from the etheric body what the
human being himself has worked into it and this does not dissolve. It is this
which later, at the time of reincarnation, forms a central point, around
which what is to be added is crystallised. This small part of the etheric
body remains present in the case of everyone. In the same way there remains
from the astral body as much as the human being has worked into it. Only
during the last third of the Sixth Root-Race will the entire astral body be
retained by all people of normal development. Thus
development begins by man's working consciously on his astral body. The task
of the Chela, the occult pupil, consists further in the transformation of his
etheric body. The stage of chelahood is completed when after death the entire
etheric body remains intact. The sojourn in Devachan is necessary in order to
make possible a renewal of the forces of the etheric body. The small portion
of the etheric body which to begin with man carries into Devachan can grow
into the complete etheric body, because the necessary conditions are created
there. This
makes comprehensible the varying length of the sojourn in Devachan. When the
human being stands at the beginning of his development and has transformed
but very little of his etheric body he can only remain in Devachan for quite
a short time. The part of the etheric body that is lacking must be replaced
for him by the external Devas. When he develops further he sojourns for a
progressively longer time in Devachan; thus the time that he spends there
increases in proportion to his own development. People, however, who are more
advanced sometimes reincarnate earlier for other reasons, for instance,
because they are needed in the world. When the
Chela dies, the entire etheric body is present. Thus at this stage the Chela
can renounce Devachan because the etheric body has been completely worked
through. Then, after quite a short time, re-birth takes place. He waits at
first in the astral world, as in a place of transition, until he receives a
definite mission from his Master. Then he can again take possession of his
etheric body in order to reincarnate once more. Until
this stage is reached a duality is necessary for evolution, i.e. that which
man is unable to develop inwardly for himself is built into him from outside.
Help must be brought to him from without. Thus in Devachan the etheric body
is once more made complete by external Deva powers. The Physical Plane and
Devachan are polar opposites. Between them lies Kamaloka, a place of
transition, a transitional stage, an intermediary condition that causes the
human being to be connected with what he has worked into his astral body. The
astral body leads man on to the Physical Plane, where he directs his
attention outwards. Here desires are cultivated by contact with external
things. When a person dies his craving for outer objects does not immediately
cease, although he no longer has organs bringing him into connection with
them. The desire remains but the organs are lacking. In Kamaloka he must
break himself from this longing for the outer-world. Kamaloka does not
actually belong to normal development; it is only a stage where habits must
be relinquished. It is because man can no longer satisfy his wishes, because
he no longer has organs for the physical world, that Kamaloka comes about. When
someone commits suicide he has identified his ego with the physical body. For
this reason the longing for the physical body is all the more intense. It
seems to him that he is like a hollow tree, like someone who has lost his
ego. He then has a continual thirst for himself. When a
man is put to death by violence he is in a similar situation. In the case of
someone who meets a violent death he continues seeking for his physical body
until the time when he would otherwise have died. This seeking can bring
about harmful reactions. In such a case it can happen that a man who meets
his end by violence is filled with a terrible rage against those who have
caused his death. Then in the murdered man the blow is changed into a counter
blow. Thus from the astral world, the souls of Russians executed for
political reasons fought against their own countrymen on the side of the
Japanese. This happened in the Russo-Japanese war; it is however not a
general rule. |
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