Lecture V

Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies and in the Kingdoms of Nature
GA 136

7 April 1912, Helsinki

We have come in our studies to the so-called Second Hierarchy of the spiritual beings, and in the last lecture we described what the human soul must do if it would penetrate to the nature of the Second Hierarchy. A yet more difficult path leads to a still higher rank of spiritual beings belonging to the first, the uppermost, rank of the Hierarchies to which we can attain. It has been emphasised that by means of a special enhancement of the experiences which we have in ordinary life in the feelings of sympathy and love, by raising these feelings to the occult path, we may succeed in pouring forth our own being, coming out of ourselves, as it were, and plunging into the being we wish to observe. Mark well that the characteristic of this immersion in another consists in extending our own being like tentacles, and pouring it into the other being. In so doing, we must, however, always retain our own consciousness, we must be consciously present in our own inner life beside the other being. That is the characteristic feature of the second stage of clairvoyance which has been described. At this second stage, where we feel ourselves one with other beings, we must still realise that we ourselves are there, as it were, beside the other being. But even this last remains of egoistic experience must cease if we wish to ascend to the highest stage of clairvoyance.

There we must completely lose the feeling that we exist as a separate being in any one part of the world. We must reach the point, not only of pouring ourselves into the other being and standing beside it, retaining our own separate experience, but we must actually feel the foreign being as our self. We must completely pass out of ourselves and lose the feeling that we are standing beside the other being. If we thus dive down into a foreign being, we succeed in looking upon our self as we were previously, as we are in ordinary life—as another being. For example, suppose a student at the higher stage of clairvoyance plunges down into some being of the kingdom of nature; he does not then look upon this being from within himself; he does not merely immerse himself in it as at the second stage of clairvoyance, but he knows himself to be one with this being, and he looks back upon himself from within it. Just as formerly he looked upon a foreign being as outside himself, so now at the higher stage of clairvoyance, he looks out from within the foreign being, and sees himself as a foreign being. That is the difference between the second and higher stages. Only when this third stage is reached do we succeed in perceiving other beings in our spiritual environment besides those of the Second and. Third Hierarchies. The spiritual beings of whom we are then aware also belong to three categories. The first category we perceive chiefly when, in the manner described, we plunge down into the being of other men or of the higher animals, and by that means educate ourselves. The essential thing is not so much what we perceive in other human beings or in the higher animals, as that we should educate ourselves by that means and perceive behind the human beings and animals the spirits belonging to one of the categories of the First Hierarchy:—the Spirits of Will or, according to western esotericism—the Thrones. For we then perceive beings we cannot describe otherwise than by saying that they do not consist of flesh and blood, nor even of light and air; but of that which we can only observe in ourselves when we are conscious that we have a will. In so far as their lowest substance is concerned, they consist only of will. Then if we educate ourselves in the manner described and now also fix our gaze on the lower animals and their life; or if we plunge into the plant-world, considering it not merely according to its gestures or its mimicry, as described yesterday—but become one with the plant, and from the plant look out upon ourselves;—then indeed we attain an experience for which there is no real comparison within the world, as we know it.

At the most, we can attempt to find a comparison for the qualities of those beings to whom we then ascend—the beings of the second category of the First Hierarchy, if we allow such feelings to work upon our soul as may be aroused by earnest people of great worth; people who have applied the many experiences of their life to the gaining of wisdom—who after many applied years of rich experience have gathered so much wisdom that we say to ourselves: “When they express an opinion, it is not their personal will speaking, but that life which they have accumulated for decades, and by means of which they have, in a certain sense become quite impersonal.” They make upon us the impression that their wisdom is impersonal, and is the blossom and fruit of a mature life. Such persons call forth in us a feeling, though but a faint one, of what influences us from our spiritual environment when we press forward to the stage of clairvoyance of which we must now speak. In western esotericism this category of beings is called the Cherubim. It is extremely difficult to describe the beings of this higher category, for the higher we ascend the more impossible does it become to make use of any qualities of ordinary life wherewith to arouse an idea of the loftiness and greatness and sublimity of the beings of this Hierarchy. We can perhaps to some slight extent describe the Spirits of Will, the lowest category of the First Hierarchy, by saying: “We become familiar with Will, for Will is the lowest substance of which they consist.” But this would be impossible if we were only to regard the will which we encounter in man or animals in normal life, or the ordinary feelings and thoughts of man. And it would be impossible to describe by what is usually accepted as human thought, feeling, and will, the beings of the second category of the First Hierarchy. For this we must turn to the life of special persons who, in the way described, have built up an overwhelming power of wisdom in their souls. When we realise this wisdom of theirs, we feel somewhat as the occultist feels when he stands before the beings we call the Cherubim. Wisdom, not acquired in decades, as is the wisdom of eminent men, but such wisdom as is gathered in thousands, nay, in millions of years of cosmic growth, this streams towards us in sublime power from the beings we call the Cherubim.

Still more difficult to describe are those beings called the Seraphim who form the first and highest category of the First Hierarchy. It would only be possible to gain some idea of the impression which the Seraphim make upon occult vision, if we take the following comparison from life. We will pursue the comparison just made. We will consider a man who for decades has built up experiences which have brought him overwhelming wisdom, and we will imagine that such a wise man speaks from his most impersonal life wisdom, that out of this most impersonal wisdom his whole being is permeated as if with inner fire, so that he need say nothing, but just appear before us. The wisdom of those decades, that life-long wisdom, will be apparent in his countenance, so that his look can tell us of the sorrows and experiences of decades; and this look can make such an impression on us that it speaks to us as the world itself, which we experience. If we imagine such a look or imagine that such a wise man does not speak to us in words alone; but that in the tone and in the peculiar coloring of his words he can give us such an impression of all this rich life of experience that we hear in what he says something like an undertone, conveying the nature of his experiences, then again we gain something of the feeling which the occultist has when he ascends to the Seraphim. Just like a countenance matured by life which tells of the experience of decades, or like a phrase which is so expressed that we hear not merely the thoughts, but realise: “This phrase expressed with resonance, has been acquired in pain and by the experience of life. It is no theory, it has been attained by struggles and suffering. It has passed through the battles and victories of life, and has sunk into the heart.” If we hear all this as in an undertone, we gain an idea of the impression which the trained occultist receives when he lifts himself to the beings we call the Seraphim.

We might describe the beings of the Third Hierarchy by saying:—What in man is perception, in them is manifestation of self: what in man is inner life, waking consciousness, is in them being filled with spirit. We might describe the beings of the Second Hierarchy by saying:—What in the beings of the Third Hierarchy is manifestation of self, is in them self-realisation, self-creation, a stamping of impressions of their own being; and what in the beings of the Third Hierarchy is being filled with spirit, is in them stimulation of life, which consists in severance, in objectifying themselves. Now what in the beings of the Second Hierarchy is self-creation, we also encounter in the beings of the First Hierarchy when we look at them with occult vision; but there is a difference. This difference consists in this. What the beings of the Second Hierarchy make objective, what they create from themselves, exists only so long as these beings remain connected with their creations. Thus, note well:—the beings of the Second Hierarchy can create something like an image of themselves, but it remains connected with them and cannot be separated from them. The beings of the First Hierarchy can also objectify themselves, they can also stamp their own being; it is separated from them as in a sort of skin or shell, but it is an impression of their own being. When this is detached from them, however, it remains existing in the world though they sever themselves from it. They do not carry their own creations about with them, these creations remain in existence even if they go away from them. Thus a higher degree of objectivity is attained by them than by the Second Hierarchy. When the beings of the Second Hierarchy create, if their creations are not to fall into decay, they must remain connected with them. The creations would become lifeless and disintegrate, if they themselves did not remain connected with them. What they create has an independent objective existence; but only so long as they remain linked with it. On the other hand that which is detached from the beings of the First Hierarchy can be disconnected from them, and yet remain in existence, self-acting, and objective.

In the Third Hierarchy we have manifestation and being filled with spirit. In the Second Hierarchy, self-creation, and stimulation of life. In the First Hierarchy, which consists of the Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim, we have a form of creation in which the part created is detached—we have there not only self-creation, but world-creation. That which proceeds from the beings of the First Hierarchy is a detached world, such an independent world that this world-phenomenon is a fact, even when the beings are no longer there. Now we may ask: “What then is the actual life of this First Hierarchy?” The actual life of this First Hierarchy is such that When such objective, independent, detached beings proceed from it, it realizes itself. For the inner condition of consciousness, the inner experience of the beings of the First Hierarchy, lies in creation, in forming independent beings. We may say: They contemplate that which they create and which becomes a world, and it is not when they look into themselves but when they look out of themselves upon the world which is their own creation, that they possess themselves. To create other beings is their inner life; to live in other beings, is the inner experience of these beings of the First Hierarchy. Creation of worlds is their external life—creation of beings their inner life.

In the course of these lectures we have drawn attention to the fact that these various beings of the hierarchies have offspring; beings split off from themselves, which they send down into the kingdoms of nature, and we have learnt that the offspring of the Third Hierarchy are the nature-spirits, while the offspring of the Second Hierarchy are the Group-souls. The beings of the First Hierarchy have likewise offspring split off from them, and as a matter of fact I have already described from a different aspect these beings which are the offspring of the First Hierarchy. I described them at the beginning of this course, when we ascended to the so-called Spirits of the Rotation of Time, the spirits governing and directing what goes on in the kingdoms of nature in rhythmic succession and repetition. The beings of the First Hierarchy detach from themselves the beings governing the alternation of summer and winter, so that the plants spring up and fade away again; that rhythmical succession through which, for instance, the animals belonging to a certain species have a definite period of life in which they develop from birth to death. Everything too which takes place in the kingdom of nature rhythmically and in recapitulation, such as day and night, alternations of the year, the four seasons of the year, everything which thus depends upon repeated happenings, is regulated by the Spirits of the Rotation of Time, the offspring of the beings of the First Hierarchy. These Spirits of the Rotation of Time can be described from one aspect, as we did some days ago, and we can now describe them according to their origin, as we have done to-day. Thus we can comprehensively represent the beings of these Three Hierarchies as follows:

1st Hierarchy:	World-creation.	Creation of Beings.	Spirits of the Rotation of Time.
2nd Hierarchy:	Self-creation.	Stimulation of Life.	Group-Souls.
3rd Hierarchy:	Manifestation.	Being filled with Spirit.	Nature-Spirits.

If we want to proceed further in the task before us we must now become familiar with the conceptions to which the trained vision of the occultist gradually rises and which, when one first becomes acquainted with them, are somewhat difficult; but today we will place these concepts and ideas before us. This will enable us, when in the following lectures, the whole life and being of the Kingdoms of Nature and of the Heavenly Bodies is to appear before us, to accustom ourselves more and more to the form and manner in which the beings described are connected with the kingdoms of nature and with the heavenly bodies. In this way we shall be able to acquire more definite conceptions concerning them.

In speaking of man he is described as he reveals himself to occult vision in my books Theosophy, Occult Science, and others. In considering man we say: The most external part, the part perceptible to human eyes and senses is his physical body. Thus we look upon the physical body as the first human principle. The second, the etheric body, we already regard as something super-sensible, invisible to the normal consciousness, and the astral body we regard as the third principle. These three principles approximately comprise the sheaths of man. We then come to yet higher principles. They are of a soul nature. In ordinary life we regard them as the inner soul-life; and just as we speak of a threefold external covering, so can we speak of a threefold soul:—the sentient soul, the intellectual soul or mind-soul, and the consciousness soul. These principles of human nature, from the physical body to the consciousness soul, are already present to-day in every human being. To these may also be added a shining in of the next principle, which we designate the Spirit-Self—or, as perhaps some are accustomed to call it: Manas. The next principle, which will only really be formed in man in full measure in the future, we call the Life-Spirit—or Buddhi. Then comes that which we designate as the actual Spirit-Man—or Atma, which in fact is the innermost part of man's nature but which, as far as the consciousness of man today is concerned, is still asleep within him. It will only light up in future earthly days as the real center of consciousness. These principles of human nature are such that we speak of them as separate unities. In a certain sense the physical body of man is one unity; the etheric body of man is another; and so likewise are the other principles of human nature. The whole man is a unity, consisting of the union and combined working of these various principles.

If we wish to go further, you must picture to yourselves that there are beings so far exalted above human nature that they do not consist of principles which we could call physical body, etheric body, etc., but that the principles of these beings are themselves beings. Thus while man has his individual principles which we cannot look upon as beings, but merely as separate principles, we must ascend to beings possessing no physical body as part of themselves, but who, corresponding with the physical body of man, have something which in our study we have called the Spirits of Form. When we say that there are beings of a higher category, not having a physical body as one of their principles, but having among their principles a being itself, a Spirit of Form, we may then gain an idea of a being not yet described, but which we will now proceed to describe. If we wish to do this we must make use of those concepts to which we have risen in the course of these lectures. I have already said that it is difficult to come to these ideas, but you may be able to raise yourselves to such thoughts by means of an analogy. Let us consider a bee-hive or an ant-hill, and take the individual entities, the individual bees in a bee-hive; it is clear that the bee-hive possesses a real common spirit, a real collective being, and that this being has its various parts in the individual bees, just as you have yours in your separate principles. Here you have an analogy for still higher beings than those we have already considered, beings having among their principles nothing which we can compare with the physical body of man, but instead something we must designate as itself a being, a Spirit of Form. Just as we live in our physical body, so does the life of those beings of a higher eminence consist in their having the Spirits of Form, or a Spirit of Form as their lowest principle. Then instead of the etheric body which we human beings have, these beings have as their second principle, Spirits of Motion, instead of what is to us our astral body, these beings have a Spirit of Wisdom. Instead of the sentient-soul which we as human beings have, these beings have as their fourth principle, the Thrones, or Spirits of Will. Instead of the intellectual soul these beings have the Cherubim as their fifth principle; and as the sixth, as we have the consciousness soul, they have the Seraphim. Just as we look up to that which we shall only gradually attain in future earth-lives, so do these beings look up to That which towers above the nature of the hierarchies. Just as we speak of our Manas, Buddhi, Atma—or Spirit-Self, Life-Spirit and Spirit-man—so, as it were, do these beings look up from their Seraphic Principle as we out of our consciousness soul, to a Primal Spirituality. Then only have these beings something analogous to our inner spiritual life. It is extremely difficult to arouse concepts within us concerning that which exists above the hierarchies as the spiritual nature of the highest spirits themselves. Hence in course of the evolution of humanity, the various religions and world-concepts have, as we might say, forborne with a certain reverent caution to speak in concise concepts pertaining to the sense-world of what exists even above the hierarchies.

If in order to call forth such a concept as lives in the soul of the occultist when he looks up to the Seraphim, we try to grasp such means as can only be found in analogy, in considering people with a rich experience of life; we find that even in such persons nothing in their lives can in the very least help one to characterize the Trinity, which, as it were, appears above the Seraphim, as their highest being—as their Manas, Buddha and Atma.

In the course of human evolution there has unfortunately been much dispute over the cautious surmises with which the human mind has ventured to approach that which is above, in the spiritual worlds. Unfortunately, we may say; for it would be much more seemly if the human mind were not to try to describe beings of such sublimity with the concepts taken from ordinary life, nor by means of all sorts of analogies and comparisons; it would be more seemly for man to desire in deepest reverence to learn ever more fully, so that he might be able to form more approximate concepts. The various religions of the world have tried to give approximate concepts of what is Above, in many significant and speaking ideas; ideas which, to a certain extent do gain something special, in that they reach out beyond the individual life of man in the external sense-world. Naturally, we cannot by means of such ideas describe, even approximately, these exalted beings to whom we refer, but we can, to a certain extent, call up a conception of what is inexpressible, and should be veiled in holy mystery. For one ought not to approach these matters with mere human intellectual concepts obtained from the external world. Hence in the successive religions and conceptions of the world it was sought to characterize these things approximately and by faint indications; they drew near to what is so far above man and in its very nature mysterious, by an attempt at characterizing, or rather, by a giving of names.

The ancient Egyptians have, in their giving of names, made use of the concept of Child or Son—Father and Mother, as that which towers above individual man. Christianity endeavored in the succession of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to find a name for this Trinity. We may therefore say: “In the seventh place we should have to put the Holy Spirit, in the eighth place the Son and in the ninth the Father.” If therefore we look up to a being whose highest content disappears as in a spiritual Mystery we can say symbolically—Spirit, Son, and Father. When we look up to such a being with occult vision we say to ourselves: just as when we look at man externally, regarding his physical body as his lowest principle, so among such beings, if we are to regard them as in any sense analogous, we have before us as their lowest principle the Spirit of Form; that is, a spirit which gives itself form, a spirit having form. We must therefore look upon that which is in this being as analogous to, or resembling the physical body of man; as something which has form. Just as we have something of form in this physical body of man as his lowest principle and as in this form, which in truth, as we encounter it, is obviously “Maya,” lives that which is a Spirit of Form—so that which appears to us when we direct our gaze into cosmic space and there perceive a planet—Mercury, Venus, Mars or Jupiter—is the external form of the Spirit of Form. It is that which belongs to the being of whom we have just spoken, as the physical body of man belongs to man. When we see man before us, his form expresses what lives in him as his higher principles—etheric body, astral body, sentient soul, etc. When we look at a planet its form expresses to us the work of the Spirits of Form. Just as behind the human form, behind the physical body, are the etheric body, astral body, sentient soul etc., so, behind the planet, belonging to it, are what we know as the Spirits of Motion, Wisdom, Will; Cherubim and Seraphim etc. If we wish to visualize the complete being of a planet in the sense of spiritual science, we must say:—The planet meets our perception in cosmic space when its physical being, given by the Spirit of Form shines forth; and it conceals from us, just as man conceals his higher principles from the physical gaze, all that rules within and around it, as beings of the higher hierarchies. Thus we rightly imagine such a planet as Mars, or Mercury, only when we first of all picture it in its physical form, and then think of it as surrounded and permeated by a spiritual atmosphere stretching out into infinity and having in the physical planet its physical form, the creation of the Spirit of Form—and as its spiritual environment the beings of the hierarchies. Only when we consider it thus do we conceive of the complete planet, as having the physical as a kernel in the center, and round it the spiritual sheaths which consist of the beings of the hierarchies. This will be considered more in detail in the following lectures, but to-day we may, in order to some extent to indicate the direction of our observations, give the following information revealed by occult investigation.

We have already pointed out that what we observe as the physical form of the planet is a creation of the Spirits of Form. Our Earth-form is also a creation of the Spirits of Form. Now with regard to our earth we know that it is never at rest; that this earth is in a state of perpetual inner change and movement. It will be remembered from the description given in the Akasha Chronicle that the external aspect of our earth to-day is quite different from what was presented, for example, at the time we call the Atlantean epoch. In this primeval Atlantean epoch the surface of the earth-globe, to-day covered by the Atlantic ocean, was a mighty continent; while where Europe, Asia and Africa are now situated, scarcely any continents were as yet formed. Thus the solid matter, the substance of the earth has been transformed by its inner motion. The earth-planet is in a continual state of inner motion. Consider, for instance, that what we know to-day as the island of Heligoland is but a small part of that land which in the ninth and tenth centuries still projected out into the sea. Although the periods during which the inner changes alter the earth's surface are comparatively great yet without going deeply into these matters, we can all say that our planet is in perpetual inner motion. Indeed, if we do not merely include the solid earth in the planet, but also the water and the air, then daily life teaches us that the planet is in inner motion. In the formation of clouds and rain, in all the phenomena of atmospheric conditions, in the rise and fall of the water, in all these we see the inner mobility of the planetary substance. That is a life of the planet. Just as the etheric body works in the life of the individual man, so does that which we designate as the Spirits of Motion work in the life of the planet. We may therefore say: The external form of the planet is the creation by the Spirits of Form. The inner livingness is regulated by the beings we call the Spirits of Motion or Movement. Now to the occultist, such a planet is in every way an actual being, a being regulating what goes on within it, according to thought. Not only is that which has just been described as inner vitality present in the planet but the planet as a whole has consciousness, for it is indeed a being. This consciousness which corresponds to the consciousness of man, to the lower form of consciousness—the subconsciousness in the astral body—is regulated in the planet by the Spirits of Wisdom. We may therefore say: The lowest consciousness of the planet is regulated by the Spirits of Wisdom. In thus describing the planet, we still refer to the planet itself. We look up to the planet saying: It has a definite form, that corresponds to the Spirits of Form; it has an inner mobility, that corresponds to the Spirits of Motion. All this is permeated by consciousness, which corresponds to the Spirits of Wisdom. Now let us follow the planet further. It passes through space; it has an inner impulse which drives it through space, just as man has an inner impulse of will which causes him to take steps, to walk along in space. That which leads the planet through space, which governs its movement through space and causes it to revolve around the fixed star, corresponds to the Spirits of Will, or Thrones. Now if these Spirits of Will were only to give the impulse of motion to the planet, every planet would go its own way through the universe; but this is not the case, for every planet acts in conformity with the whole system. The motion is not only so regulated that the planet moves, but it is brought into due order with the whole planetary system. Just as due order is brought let us say, to a group of people, of whom one goes in one direction and another in another to reach a common goal—the movements of the planets are also so arranged that they harmonize. The harmony of movement between one planet and another corresponds to the activity of the Cherubim. The regulation of the combined movements of the system is the work of the Cherubim. Each planetary system with its fixed star, which is in a sense the Commander-in-Chief under the guidance of the Cherubim, is again related to the other planetary systems to which other fixed stars belong. These systems mutually arrange their positions in space with due regard to the neighboring systems, just as individual persons agree together, deliberate with one another with regard to their common action. Just as men found a social system by virtue of this reciprocity, so is there also a reciprocity of the planetary systems. Mutual understanding prevails between one fixed star and another. By this means alone does the cosmos come into existence. That which, so to speak, the planetary systems discuss with one another in cosmic space in order to become a cosmos is regulated by those beings we call the Seraphim. We have now, as it were, exhausted what we find in man, as far as the consciousness soul. Just as in man we ascend to his higher spirit-nature, to that which alone gives meaning to the whole system up to the consciousness soul, so if we ascend above the Seraphim we come to what we tried to describe to-day as the Highest Trinity of Cosmic Being; we come to that which governs in the Universe as the All-pervading, Divine, Threefold Divine Life, Which creates for Itself sheaths in the different Planetary Systems. Just as that which lives in man as Spirit-Self, Life-Spirit, and Spirit-Man, (Manas, Buddhi, Atma), creates sheaths in the consciousness soul, intellectual soul, and sentient soul, astral, etheric, and physical bodies: so do the Fixed Stars of planetary systems move through space as the bodies of Divine Beings. Inasmuch as we contemplate the life of the world of Stars, we contemplate the bodies of the Gods, and finally of the Divine in general.

Fünfter Vortrag

Wir sind in unseren Betrachtungen bis zu der sogenannten zweiten Hierarchie der geistigen Wesenheiten gelangt, und wir haben gestern charakterisiert, wie die menschliche Seele sich verhalten muß, wenn sie eindringen will in das Wesen der zweiten Hierarchie. Ein noch schwierigerer Weg führt zu einer noch höheren Reihe von geistigen Wesenheiten, zu jenen Wesenheiten, welche der ersten, der obersten uns zunächst erreichbaren Hierarchie angehören. Es ist hervorgehoben worden, daß durch eine besondere Steigerung jener Erlebnisse, die wir schon im gewöhnlichen Leben in dem Mitleid und in der Liebe haben, dadurch daß diese Erlebnisse gesteigert werden bis zum okkulten Pfad, man dahin gelangt, das eigene Wesen gleichsam aus sich herauszuergießen und unterzutauchen in die Wesenheiten, die man dann betrachten will. Beachten Sie wohl, daß das Charakteristische dieses Untertauchens darin besteht, daß wir unser eigenes Wesen wie in Fangarmen ausstrecken und es hineinergießen in die fremde Wesenheit. Dabei aber bleiben wir immer neben den fremden Wesenheiten in unserem Bewußtsein, in unserem Innenleben noch bestehen. Das ist das Charakteristische der zweiten Stufe der Hellsichtigkeit, von der gesprochen worden ist. Wir wissen auf dieser zweiten Stufe der Hellsichtigkeit in jedem Augenblick, in dem wir uns eins wissen mit den anderen Wesenheiten noch, daß wir auch da sind, daß wir gleichsam neben den anderen Wesen da sind. Auch dieser letzte Rest von egoistischem Erleben muß aufhören, wenn die dritte Stufe der Hellsichtigkeit erstiegen werden soll.

Da müssen wir ganz die Empfindung verlieren, als ob wir an irgendeinem Punkt der Welt als besondere Wesen vorhanden wären. Wir müssen dahin kommen, daß wir nicht nur uns ausgießen in die fremden Wesenheiten und nebenbei stehen mit unserem eigenen Erleben, sondern wir müssen die fremden Wesenheiten eigentlich als unser Selbst empfinden, müssen ganz aus uns herausgehen und das Gefühl verlieren, daß wir neben den fremden Wesenheiten stehen. Wenn wir dann so untertauchen in die fremden Wesenheiten, dann kommen wir dazu, uns selbst, wie wir vorher waren, wie wir im gewöhnlichen Leben sind, als fremde Wesenheit anzuschauen. Sagen wir zum Beispiel, wir tauchen so auf der dritten Stufe der Hellsichtigkeit in irgendein Wesen der Naturreiche unter, dann schauen wir nicht von uns aus auf dieses Wesen, wir tauchen nicht bloß unter wie auf der zweiten Stufe der Hellsichtigkeit, sondern wir wissen uns eins mit diesem Wesen und schauen zurück von diesem Wesen auf uns selbst. Wie wir sonst das fremde Wesen außer uns anschauen, so schauen wir jetzt auf der dritten Stufe der Hellsichtigkeit von dem fremden Wesen aus uns selber als ein fremdes Wesen an. Das ist der Unterschied zwischen der dritten Stufe und der zweiten Stufe. Erst wenn diese dritte Stufe erreicht ist, dann kommen wir dahin, außer den schon charakterisierten Wesenheiten der dritten und der zweiten Hierarchie noch andere 'Wesenheiten in unserer geistigen Umgebung wahrzunehmen.

Die geistigen Wesenheiten, die wir dann wahrnehmen, gehören wiederum drei Kategorien an. Die erste Kategorie nehmen wir vorzugsweise wahr, wenn wir so, wie es jetzt geschildert worden ist, untertauchen in das Wesen anderer Menschen oder der höheren Tiere und uns dadurch erziehen. Nicht, was wir in anderen Menschen oder in den höheren Tieren wahrnehmen, ist das Wesentliche, sondern daß wir uns dadurch erziehen und hinter Menschen und Tieren die Geister wahrnehmen, welche der einen Kategorie der ersten Hierarchie angehören: die Geister des Willens oder, wie die abendländische Esoterik sagt, die Throne. Wir nehmen dann Wesenheiten wahr, die wir nicht anders charakterisieren können, als indem wir sagen: Sie bestehen nicht aus Fleisch und Blut, auch nicht aus Licht oder Luft, sondern sie bestehen aus dem, was wir nur in uns selber wahrnehmen können, wenn wir uns bewußt werden, daß wir einen Willen haben. Sie bestehen in bezug auf ihre niedrigste Substanz nur aus Wille.

Dann, wenn wir uns dadurch erziehen, daß wir auf die geschilderte Weise untertauchen nun auch in niedrigere Tiere und deren Leben ins Auge fassen mit dem okkulten Blicke, oder auch wenn wir untertauchen in das Pflanzenleben, aber es nicht bloß so betrachten, wie wir das gestern schon charakterisiert haben, durch die Geste, durch die Mimik, sondern wenn wir eins werden mit den Pflanzen und von den Pflanzen aus uns selber anschauen, ja, dann werden wir zu einer Erfahrung, zu einem Erlebnis gebracht, für das es eigentlich keinen rechten Vergleich mehr gibt innerhalb der Welt, die wir sonst haben. Wir gewinnen höchstens einen Vergleich für die Eigenschaften jener Wesenheiten, zu denen wir uns dann als den Wesenheiten der zweiten Kategorie der ersten Hierarchie aufschwingen, wir gewinnen eine Möglichkeit, sie zu charakterisieren, wenn wir so recht auf unser Gemüt dasjenige wirken lassen, wozu es ernste, würdige Menschen gebracht haben, welche viele Schritte ihres Lebens dazu verwendet haben, Weisheit in sich anzusammeln, welche nach vielen Jahren reichen Erlebens so viel Weisheit angesammelt haben, daß wir uns sagen: Wenn solche Menschen ein Urteil aussprechen, so spricht nicht ein persönlicher Wille zu uns, sondern es spricht das Leben zu uns, das durch Jahre, durch Jahrzehnte in diesen Menschen sich angehäuft hat und durch das sie in einer gewissen Weise unpersönlich geworden sind. Menschen, welche auf uns einen solchen Eindruck machen, daß ihre Weisheit unpersönlich wirkt, daß ihre Weisheit wie die Blüte und Frucht eines reifen Lebens erscheint, die rufen in uns ein wenn auch nur ahnendes Empfinden von dem hervor, was aus unserer geistigen, aus unserer spirituellen Umgebung auf uns wirkt, wenn wir zu dieser Stufe des Hellsehens emporrücken, von der hier jetzt die Rede sein muß. Man nennt diese Kategorie in der abendländischen Esoterik die Cherubim. Es ist außerordentlich schwierig, die Wesenheiten dieser höheren Kategorien zu charakterisieren, denn je weiter wir hinaufsteigen, desto unmöglicher wird es, Eigenschaften des gewöhnlichen Lebens heranzuziehen, um eine Charakteristik von der Höhe und Größe und Erhabenheit der Wesenheiten dieser Hierarchien zu erwecken. Die Geister des Willens, die niederste Kategorie also der ersten Hierarchie, sie können wir noch dadurch charakterisieren, daß wir sagen, wir machen uns klar, was Wille ist, denn Wille ist die niederste Substanz, aus der sie bestehen. Aber es würde unmöglich sein, wenn wir nur auf den Willen, wie er uns beim Menschen oder bei den Tieren im normalen Leben entgegentritt, wenn wir nur auf die gewöhnlichen Gefühle und Gedanken des Menschen sehen würden, es würde unmöglich sein mit dem, was dem gewöhnlichen menschlichen Denken, Fühlen und Wollen entnommen ist, die Wesenheiten der zweiten Kategorie der ersten Hierarchie zu charakterisieren. Da müssen wir schon zu besonderen Menschen des Lebens gehen, die eben in der charakterisierten Weise überwältigende Macht der Weisheit in ihrer Seele aufgehäuft haben. Wenn wir diese Weisheit fühlen, dann fühlen wir ähnlich, wie der Okkultist fühlt, wenn er den Wesenheiten, die wir Cherubim nennen, gegenübersteht. Solche Weisheit, die nun nicht gesammelt ist in Jahrzehnten, wie die Weisheit hervorragender Menschen, sondern solche Weisheit, die in Jahrtausenden, in Jahrmillionen des Weltenwerdens gesammelt ist, die strömt uns entgegen in erhabener Macht aus den Wesenheiten, die wir Cherubim nennen.

Und noch schwieriger sind zu charakterisieren diejenigen Wesenheiten, die nun die erste, die höchste Kategorie der ersten Hierarchie ausmachen und die man Seraphim nennt. Es würde nur möglich sein, sich eine Vorstellung von dem Eindruck, von der Impression, welche die Seraphim auf den okkulten Blick machen, zu verschaffen, wenn wir etwa folgenden Vergleich aus dem Leben nehmen. Wir setzen den Vergleich fort, den wir eben gebraucht haben. Wir betrachten einen Menschen, der durch Jahrzehnte Erlebnisse aufgehäuft hat, die ihn zu überwältigender Weisheit gebracht haben, und wir stellen uns vor, daß ein solcher weiser Mensch, aus dem unpersönlichste Lebensweisheit spricht, aus seiner unpersönlichsten Lebensweisheit heraus wie mit innerem Feuer sein ganzes Wesen derart durchdringt, daß er uns nichts zu sagen braucht, sondern sich nur vor uns hinzustellen braucht und das, was Jahrzehnte ihm an Lebensweisheit gegeben haben, in seinen Blick hineinlegt, so daß der Blick uns erzählen kann Leiden und Erfahrungen von Jahrzehnten und wir aus dem Blicke einen Eindruck davon haben können, daß dieser Blick spricht wie die Welt selber, die wir erleben. Wenn wir uns einen solchen Blick vorstellen, oder wenn wir uns vorstellen, daß ein solcher weiser Mensch dahin gekommen ist, uns nicht nur Worte zu sagen, sondern in dem Klang und in der eigentümlichen Färbung seiner Worte den Abdruck zu geben von reichen Lebenserfahrungen, so daß wir etwas wie einen Unterton hören in dem, was er sagt, weil er es mit einem gewissen Wie ausstattet und wir aus diesem Wie eine Welt von Lebenserfahrungen vernehmen, dann bekommen wir wiederum ein Gefühl, wie es der Okkultist hat, wenn er zu den Seraphim aufsteigt. Wie ein Blick, der am Leben herangereift ist, und aus dem Jahrzehnte von Erfahrungen sprechen oder wie ein Satz, der so ausgesprochen wird, daß wir nicht bloß seine Gedanken hören, sondern daß wir hören: der Satz ist, indem er mit solchem Klange ausgesprochen wird, in Schmerzen und in Erfahrungen des Lebens errungen, er ist keine Theorie, er ist erkämpft, er ist erlitten, er ist durch Lebensschlachten und Siege in das Herz gegangen — wenn wir all das durch einen Unterton hören, dann bekommen wir einen Begriff von der Impression, welche der geschulte Okkultist hat, wenn er sich aufschwingt zu den Wesenheiten, die wir Seraphim nennen.

Wir konnten die Wesenheiten der dritten Hierarchie charakterisieren, indem wir sagten: Was bei den Menschen Wahrnehmung ist, das ist bei ihnen Offenbarung ihres Selbst, was bei den Menschen Innenleben, waches Bewußtsein ist, das ist bei ihnen GeistErfüllung. Wir konnten die Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie charakterisieren, indem wir sagten: Was bei den Wesenheiten der dritten Hierarchie Offenbarung ihres Selbst ist, ist bei ihnen Selbstverwirklichung, Selbstschaffen, Abdrückeprägen von ihrem eigenen Wesen, und was bei den Wesenheiten der dritten Hierarchie Geist-Erfüllung ist, das ist bei ihnen Lebenserregung, so daß innere Lebenserregung entsteht in dem Absondern, in dem Selbstobjektivieren. Was nun bei den Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie Selbstschaffen ist, das tritt uns auch noch bei den Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie entgegen, wenn wir sie mit dem okkulten Blick betrachten, aber es ist doch ein Unterschied. Der Unterschied besteht nämlich darin, daß das, was die Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie objektivieren, was sie aus sich heraus schaffen, so lange vorhanden bleibt, als diese Wesenheiten mit dem Geschaffenen verbunden bleiben. Also wohlgemerkt, diese Wesenheiten der zweiten Hierarchie können so etwas wie ein Abbild von sich schaffen, das aber bleibt mit ihnen verbunden, und es kann sich nicht von ihnen trennen. Es bleibt in einer gewissen Weise mit ihnen verbunden. Bei den Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie ist es so, daß sie sich auch selbst objektivieren, daß sie ihr eigenes Wesen abprägen, absondern wie in einer Haut, in einer Schale, die aber ein Abdruck ihres eigenen Wesens ist. Das sondert sich jetzt von ihnen ab und bleibt in der Welt vorhanden, auch wenn sie sich davon trennen. Sie tragen also ihre Schöpfung nicht mit sich herum, sondern diese Schöpfung bleibt, auch wenn sie von ihr weggehen. Dadurch ist ein höherer Grad von Objektivität erreicht als der durch die zweite Hierarchie erreichte. Wo die Wesen der zweiten Hierarchie schaffen, da müssen sie, damit ihr Geschaffenes nicht zugrunde gehe, bei dem Geschaffenen bleiben. Das Geschaffene würde tot sein und zerfallen, wenn sie nicht selber damit verbunden blieben. Es hat eine selbständige, objektive Wesenheit, aber nur so lange, als das Wesen damit verbunden bleibt. Dasjenige, was abgesondert wird aus den Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie heraus, davon können diese Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie weggehen, und dennoch bleibt es als etwas Selbsttätiges, Objektives vorhanden.

Bei der dritten Hierarchie haben wir Offenbarung und GeistErfüllung, bei der zweiten Hierarchie Selbsterschaffen und Lebenserregung. Bei der ersten Hierarchie, die da besteht aus den Thronen, Cherubim und Seraphim, da haben wir ein solches Schaffen, daß das Geschaffene abgesondert wird, da haben wir statt des Selbstschaffens Weltschaffen: Eine abgesonderte Welt wird das, was hervorgeht aus den Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie, eine solche selbständige Welt, daß diese Welt Erscheinungen, Tatsachen zeigt, auch wenn die Wesenheiten nicht mehr dabei sind.

Wir können uns jetzt noch fragen: Und wie ist denn das eigene Leben dieser ersten Hierarchie? Das eigene Leben der Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie ist so, daß es sich selber wahrnimmt, indem es solche objektive, selbständige, sich absondernde Wesen aus sich hervorgehen läßt. Im Schaffen, im Selbständigmachen von Wesenheiten liegt für diese Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie ihr innerer Bewußtseinszustand, ihr inneres Erleben. Wir können sagen, sie schauen hin auf das, was sie schaffen und was die Welt wird, und nicht indem sie in sich hineinschauen, sondern indem sie hinausschauen auf die Welt, auf ihre Geschöpfe, haben sie sich. Wesen schaffen, das ist ihr Innenleben. Andere Wesen schaffen, in anderen Wesen leben, das ist das innere Erleben dieser Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie. Weltschaffen ist ihr Außenleben, Wesenschaffen ihr Innenleben.

Wir haben nun im Laufe dieser Tage darauf aufmerksam gemacht, wie die verschiedenen Wesenheiten der einzelnen Hierarchien Nachkommen, sich abspaltende Wesenheiten haben, die sie herunterschicken in die Reiche der Natur, und wir haben kennengelernt, daß die Nachkommen der dritten Hierarchie die Naturgeister sind, daß die Nachkommen der zweiten Hierarchie die Gruppenseelen sind. Auch die Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie haben solche sich abspaltenden Nachkommen, und im Grunde genommen habe ich Ihnen bereits von einer anderen Seite her diese Wesenheiten beschrieben, welche die Nachkommen der ersten Hierarchie sind. Ich habe es Ihnen beschrieben in den allerersten Betrachtungen, als wir aufgestiegen sind zu den sogenannten Geistern der Umlaufszeiten, zu denjenigen Geistern, welche anordnen und dirigieren, was in den Naturreichen in rhythmischer Folge und Wiederholung geschieht. Die Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie spalten von sich ab diejenigen Wesenheiten, welche anordnen den Wechsel von Winter und Sommer, so daß die Pflanzen sprießen und wiederum verwelken; jene rhythmische Folge, wodurch zum Beispiel die Angehörigen einer gewissen tierischen Art eine bestimmte Lebenszeit haben, innerhalb welcher sie sich entwickeln von der Geburt bis zum Tod. Aber auch alles, was in den Naturreichen rhythmisch und sich wiederholend folgt, wie Tag und Nacht, wie Jahreswechsel, wie die vier Jahreszeiten — alles, was so rhythmisch folgt, alles, was auf sich wiederholendem Geschehen beruht, das wird geregelt von den Geistern der Umlaufszeiten, von den Nachkommen der Wesenheiten der ersten Hierarchie. Man kann diese Geister der Umlaufszeiten von der einen Seite charakterisieren, wie wir das vor einigen Tagen gemacht haben, und man kann sie jetzt ihrer eigenen Abstammung nach charakterisieren, wie wir das heute taten. So können wir zusammenfassend das Wesen dieser drei Hierarchien wie folgt darstellen:

Erste Hierarchie	Weltschaffen	Wesenschaffen	Geister der Umlaufszeite
Zweite Hierarchie	Selbsterschaffen	Lebenserregung	Gruppenseelen
Dritte Hierarchie	Offenbarung	Geist-Erfüllung	Naturgeister

Wenn wir nun in der mir gestellten Aufgabe weiterschreiten wollen, da müssen wir uns bekannt machen mit Vorstellungen, zu denen sich der geschulte Blick des Okkultisten allmählich erhebt und die ja für den Anfang, wenn man zuerst mit ihnen bekannt wird, etwas schwierig sind. Aber wir werden sie schon heute vor unsere Seele hinstellen, diese Vorstellungen und Ideen, und indem wir das tun, bekommen wir die Möglichkeit, uns in den nächsten Vorträgen, wo uns das ganze Leben und die ganze Wesenheit der Naturreiche und der Himmelskörper vor Augen treten soll, immer mehr und mehr hineinzugewöhnen in die Art und Weise, wie die charakterisierten Wesenheiten mit den Naturreichen und mit den Himmelskörpern zusammenhängen. So werden wir immer bestimmtere Vorstellungen nach dieser Richtung hin erhalten können.

Wenn wir von dem Menschen sprechen, dann sprechen wir so, daß wir diesen Menschen charakterisieren, wie er sich dem okkulten Blick darbietet; Sie können das ja verfolgen in theosophischen Schriften, zum Beispiel in meiner «Theosophie» und in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft». Wenn wir den Menschen mit dem okkulten Blick betrachten, so sagen wir: Dasjenige, was zunächst das äußerste für Augen und Sinne überhaupt Wahrnehmbare am Menschen ist, das ist sein physischer Leib. Also den physischen Leib des Menschen betrachten wir als das erste menschliche Glied. Als das zweite menschliche Glied betrachten wir dann schon etwas Übersinnliches, schon etwas für das normale Bewußtsein Unsichtbares, den ätherischen Leib. Als drittes Glied betrachten wir den astralischen Leib. Wenn wir diese drei Glieder haben, dann haben wir ungefähr die Hüllennatur des Menschen. Wir kommen dann zu noch höheren Gliedern. Die sind dann seelenartiger Natur. Die nimmt man im gewöhnlichen Leben wahr als inneres Seelenleben, und ebenso wie wir von einer dreifachen äußeren Hülle sprechen, so können wir sprechen von einer dreifachen Seele: von der Empfindungsseele, Verstandes- oder Gemütsseele und Bewußtseinsseele. Diese Glieder der menschlichen Natur, von dem physischen Leib bis zur Bewußtseinsseele herauf, sind im Grunde genommen heute bei jedem Menschen schon vorhanden. Dazu kommt noch ein Hereinleuchten des nächsten Gliedes, das wir bezeichnen als Geistselbst oder, wie vielleicht viele von Ihnen gewohnt sind, es zu nennen, Manas. Dann haben wir das nächste Glied, das in der Zukunft für den Menschen eigentlich erst ausgebildet werden wird im rechten Maße; wir nennen das den Lebensgeist oder die Buddhi. Und dann haben wir das, was wir als den eigentlichen Geistesmenschen oder Atma bezeichnen, was zwar die innerste menschliche Natur ist, was aber in dem Menschen für sein Bewußtsein heute noch schlummert und erst in zukünftigen Erdentagen innerhalb des Bewußtseins als der eigentliche Mittelpunkt des Bewußtseins aufleuchten wird. Diese Glieder der menschlichen Natur sind so, daß wir von ihnen sprechen als Einheiten. In einer gewissen Weise haben wir in dem physischen Leib des Menschen eine Einheit, wir haben in dem ätherischen Leib des Menschen eine Einheit und so in den anderen Gliedern der menschlichen Natur. Der ganze Mensch ist eine Einheit, welche aus der Zusammenfügung und dem Ineinanderwirken dieser verschiedenen Glieder besteht.

Sie müssen sich nun vorstellen, wenn wir weiterkommen wollen in unseren Betrachtungen, daß es über dem Menschen stehende Wesenheiten gibt, welche so erhaben sind über die menschliche Natur, daß sie nicht bestehen aus Gliedern, die wir bezeichnen können als physischen Leib, Ätherleib und so weiter, sondern daß die Glieder dieser Wesenheiten selbst wiederum Wesenheiten sind. Während der Mensch also zu seinen einzelnen Gliedern das hat, was wir nicht als Wesenheit, sondern eben nur als einheitliche Glieder ansehen können, müssen wir aufsteigen zu solchen Wesenheiten, die nicht einen physischen Leib haben als ihren Teil, sondern welche ebenso, wie der Mensch seinen physischen Leib als einen Teil hat, zu ihrem Teil etwas haben, was wir jetzt genannt haben in unseren Betrachtungen die Geister der Form. Wenn wir sagen: Es gibt eine Wesenheit höherer Kategorie, welche nicht wie der Mensch zu seinem Gliede einen physischen Leib hat, sondern welche zu ihrem Glied eine Wesenheit selbst hat, einen Geist der Form, dann bekommen wir eine Vorstellung von einer Wesenheit, die wir bisher noch nicht charakterisiert haben, aber die wir jetzt charakterisieren wollen. Wollen wir sie charakterisieren, so müssen wir uns schon derjenigen Vorstellungen bedienen, zu denen wir uns aufgeschwungen haben im Laufe unserer Betrachtungen.

Ich sagte schon, es ist schwierig, zu diesen Vorstellungen zu kommen, aber Sie werden durch eine Analogie sich erheben können zu solchen Vorstellungen, wie wir sie hier brauchen. Betrachten Sie einen Bienenstock oder einen Ameisenhaufen und nehmen Sie die einzelnen \Wesenheiten, die einzelnen Bienen des Bienenstockes und seien Sie sich klar darüber, daß der Bienenstock einen realen Gesamtgeist hat, eine reale Gesamtwesenheit, und daß er in den einzelnen Bienen seine Teile hat, wie Sie Ihre Teile haben in Ihren einzelnen Gliedern. Da haben Sie eine Analogie für noch höhere Wesenheiten, als diejenigen sind, die wir bisher betrachtet haben, die zu ihrem Glied nicht so etwas haben, was wir nur als physischen Leib wie beim Menschen bezeichnen, sondern was wir selber als eine Wesenheit bezeichnen müssen, als Geist der Form. Wie wir in unserem physischen Leibe leben, so leben Wesenheiten von höherer Erhabenheit so, daß sie die Geister der Form, oder einen Geist der Form meinetwillen, zu ihrem untersten Gliede haben. Wir Menschen haben dann den ätherischen Leib, statt dessen haben diese Wesenheiten als zweites Glied Geister der Bewegung; statt des astralischen Leibes des Menschen haben diese Wesenheiten Geister der Weisheit; statt dessen, was wir Menschen als Empfindungsseele haben, haben diese Wesenheiten als ihr viertes Glied Throne oder Geister des Willens; statt unserer Verstandesseele haben diese Wesenheiten als fünftes Glied Cherubim; als sechstes haben sie, wie wir die Bewußtseinsseele haben, Seraphim. Und wie wir hinaufschauen zu demjenigen, was wir uns allmählich erst aneignen in zukünftigen Erdentagen, so schauen diese Wesenheiten hinauf zu dem, was überragt das Wesen der Hierarchien. Wie wir von unserem Manas, Buddhi, Atma oder Geistselbst, Lebensgeist, Geistesmenschen sprechen, so schaut gleichsam aus seinem seraphischen Glied, wie wir aus unserer Bewußtseinsseele, diese Wesenheit hinauf zu einer Urgeistigkeit. Da erst haben diese Wesenheiten dann etwas dem Analoges, was wir unser geistiges Innenleben nennen. Es ist außerordentlich schwierig, von dem, was da oben über den Hierarchien gleichsam als die geistige Wesenheit höchster Geister selber vorhanden ist, Vorstellungen zu erwecken. Im Laufe der Menschheitsevolution haben die verschiedenen Religionen und Weltanschauungen daher auch, man möchte sagen, mit einer gewissen ehrfürchtigen Vorsicht unterlassen, in deutlichen, an die Sinneswelt erinnernden Vorstellungen von dem zu sprechen, was da oben noch vorhanden ist über den Hierarchien. Mußten wir schon, um eine Vorstellung hervorzurufen, wie sie in der Seele des Okkultisten lebt, wenn er auf die Seraphim blickt, zu solchen Mitteln greifen, die uns nur in Analogien entgegentreten bei Menschen mit reicher Lebenserfahrung, so reicht auch alles das, was uns selbst bei solchen Menschen als reine Äußerung ihres Lebens entgegentritt, nicht mehr aus, um die Dreiheit zu charakterisieren, die gleichsam über den Seraphim als höchstes Wesen, als ihr Manas, Buddhi, Atma, figuriert.

Im Laufe der Menschheitsevolution ist über die vorsichtigen Ahnungen, mit denen der Menschengeist von dem, was da oben ist in den geistigen Regionen, gesprochen hat, sogar, man darf sagen leider, viel gestritten worden. Leider! darf man sagen, weil es dem Menschengeist viel angemessener wäre, nicht mit Vorstellungen, die er sich nun einmal aus dem gewöhnlichen Leben durch allerlei Analogien und Vergleiche gezimmert hat, Wesenhaftes von so hoher Gattung charakterisieren zu wollen; viel mehr geziemend wäre es für den Menschen, in tiefer Ehrfurcht immer mehr und mehr lernen zu wollen, um annähernde Vorstellungen von dem zu bekommen, was da oben ist. Annähernde Vorstellungen versuchten die Religionen und Weltanschauungen von dem, was da oben ist, zu geben, indem sie heranzogen vieldeutige und vielsagende Begriffe, Begriffe, welche gewissermaßen dadurch etwas Besonderes gewinnen, daß sie über das einzelne Leben des Menschen schon in der äußeren Sinneswelt hinausgehen. Mit solchen Begriffen kann man natürlich das erhabene Wesen, um das es sich hier handelt, auch nicht einmal annähernd charakterisieren, aber man kann gewissermaßen eine Vorstellung hervorrufen von dem, was man nicht zu sagen vermag, sondern was sich hüllen soll in ein heiliges Geheimnis, in ein heiliges Mysterium. Denn nicht sollte man mit menschlichen Verstandesbegriffen, die an der Außenwelt gewonnen sind, so ohne weiteres herankommen an diese Dinge. Daher versuchte man in den aufeinanderfolgenden Religionen und Weltanschauungen annähernd, ahnungsvoll diese Dinge dadurch zu charakterisieren, daß man das, was über den Menschen hinausragt und schon in der Natur mysteriös ist, zur Charakteristik oder, sagen wir besser, zur Namengebung heranzog.

Die alten Ägypter haben zur Namengebung herangezogen die Begriffe von Kind oder Sohn, von Mutter und Vater, also das, was über den einzelnen Menschen hinausragt. Das Christentum hat versucht, in der Aufeinanderfolge von Heiligem Geist, Sohn und Vater für diese Dreiheit eine Namengebung zu finden. So daß wir sagen können: Wir würden an die siebente Stelle zu setzen haben den Heiligen Geist, an die achte den Sohn und an die neunte den Vater. Wenn wir also ein Wesen, zu dem wir hinaufschauen und dessen oberster Inhalt uns wie in ein geistiges Mysterium verschwindet und wir andeutungsvoll dazu sagen: Geist, Sohn und Vater —, wenn wir ein solches Wesen mit dem okkulten Blick betrachten, so sagen wir uns: Wie wir uns zum Menschen verhalten, indem wir ihn äußerlich anschauen, wie wir seinen physischen Leib als sein unterstes Glied betrachten, so haben wir bei einem solchen Wesen, wenn wir es so betrachten, daß diese Betrachtung analog ist der Menschenbetrachtung, den Geist der Form vor uns, das heißt, einen Geist, der sich eine Form gibt, einen geformten Geist. Wir müßten also hinschauen können auf dasjenige, was von diesen Wesenheiten analog, ähnlich ist dem physischen Leib des Menschen, auf etwas Geformtes.

Wie wir etwas Geformtes im physischen Leib des Menschen als sein unterstes Glied haben, und wie in diesem Geformten, das in Wahrheit, so wie es uns entgegentritt, selbstverständlich eine Maja ist, aber eben das lebt, was Geist der Form ist, so ist das, was uns erscheint, wenn wir den Blick hinausrichten in den Weltenraum und im Weltenraum einen Planeten erblicken — Merkur, Venus, Mars, Jupiter —, die äußere Form des Geistes der Form, das, was zu diesem Wesen, von dem wir jetzt gesprochen haben, gehört, wie der physische Leib des Menschen zu dem Menschen gehört. Wenn ein Mensch vor uns steht, dann drückt uns diese Form aus, was als höhere Glieder, als ätherischer Leib, astralischer Leib, Empfindungsseele und so weiter, in dem Menschen lebt; wenn wir einen Planeten sehen, drückt uns diese Form aus, was die Form der Geister der Form ausmacht. Und wie hinter der menschlichen Form, hinter dem physischen Leib der ätherische Leib, der astralische Leib, die Empfindungsseele und so weiter sind, so ist hinter dem Planeten als zu ihm gehörig dasjenige, was wir ansprechen als Geister der Bewegung, der Weisheit, des Willens, Seraphim, Cherubim und so weiter. Wenn wir also im Sinne der Geisteswissenschaft das vollständige Wesen eines Planeten uns vorhalten wollen, dann müssen wir sagen: Uns begegnet im Weltenraum für unsere Wahrnehmung der Planet, indem er uns sein Physisches, das der Geist der Form ihm gegeben hat, entgegenleuchtet, und er verbirgt, wie der Mensch seine höheren Glieder dem physischen Blick verbirgt, dasjenige, was als Wesenheiten der höheren Hierarchien in dem Planeten und um ihn waltet. Wir stellen uns also einen solchen Planeten wie den Mars oder den Merkur richtig vor, wenn wir ihn uns zunächst seiner physischen Form nach vorstellen und ihn umgeben und durchdrungen denken von einer geistigen Atmosphäre, die ins Endlose ausgreift, die in dem physischen Planeten eben ihre physische Form, die Schöpfung der Geister der Form, hat und die in ihrem geistigen Umkreis die Wesenheiten der anderen Hierarchien hat. Dann erst haben wir den vollständigen Planeten, wenn wir ihn so betrachten, daß er in der Mitte das Physische als einen Kern hat und um ihn herum geistige Umhüllungen, die aus den Wesenheiten der Hierarchien bestehen. Es soll das in den nächsten Vorträgen noch eingehender betrachtet werden. Damit wir aber gewissermaßen heute noch die Richtung unserer Betrachtung andeuten können, sei noch folgendes zunächst als Mitteilung, wie es die okkulte Forschung ergibt, gesagt.

Wir haben schon angedeutet: Wenn wir das, was physische Planetenform ist, betrachten, so ist das ein Geschöpf des Geistes der Form. Auch unsere Erdenform ist Geschöpf des Geistes der Form. Nun aber wissen Sie von unserer Erde zunächst, daß sie in sich kein Ruhendes ist, daß diese Erde einer fortdauernden inneren Veränderung und Beweglichkeit unterliegt. Sie alle werden sich aus den Schilderungen der Akasha-Chronik erinnern, daß das äußere Antlitz unserer Erde heute anders aussieht, als es zum Beispiel ausgesehen hat während der Periode der Erdenentwickelung, die wir als die atlantische Zeit bezeichnen. In dieser uralten atlantischen Zeit war die Fläche unseres Erdballs, welche heute vom Atlantischen Ozean überflutet ist, mit einem mächtigen Kontinente bedeckt, während an der Stelle, wo heute Europa, Asien, Afrika sind, kaum erst Kontinente sich bildeten. So hat sich die Masse, die Substanz der Erde umgesetzt durch innere Beweglichkeit. Der Planet ist in einer fortwährenden inneren Beweglichkeit. Bedenken Sie nur, daß zum Beispiel das, was heute bekannt ist als die Insel Helgoland, nur ein kleiner Teil dessen ist, was noch im neunten, zehnten Jahrhundert von dieser Insel Helgoland ins Meer hinausragte. Wenn auch die Zeiten, in denen Umlagerungen, innere Veränderungen des Antlitzes der Erde stattfinden, verhältnismäßig groß sind, ohne viel auf diese Dinge einzugehen, kann jeder sich sagen, der Planet ist in einer fortwährenden inneren Beweglichkeit. Und gar, wenn der Mensch nicht nur zum Planeten das Feste der Erde rechnet, sondern auch Wasser und Luft, dann lehrt ja das alltägliche Leben, daß der Planet in innerer Beweglichkeit ist. In Wolkenbildung, in Regenbildung, in all den Witterungserscheinungen, im auf- und absteigenden Wasser, in alledem zeigt die planetarische Substanz die innere Beweglichkeit. Das ist ein Leben des Planeten. Innerhalb dieses Lebens des Planeten wirkt, wie im Leben des einzelnen Menschen der Ätherleib, dasjenige, was wir bezeichnen als die Geister der Bewegung. So daß wir sagen können: Äußere Gestalt des Planeten — Geister der Form als Schöpfer. Die innere Lebendigkeit, sie wird geregelt durch die Wesenheiten, die wir die Geister der Bewegung nennen.

Nun ist aber ein solcher Planet für den Okkultisten durchaus eine wirkliche Wesenheit, eine \Wesenheit, welche das, was in ihr vorgeht, nach Gedanken regelt. Nicht nur, daß innere Lebendigkeit, wie sie eben geschildert worden ist, im Planeten vorhanden ist, sondern auch Bewußtsein hat der Planet als ganzer Planet, denn er ist ja eine Wesenheit. Und dieses Bewußtsein, welches dem menschlichen Bewußtsein entspricht, insofern die niedere Bewußtseinsform, das Unterbewußtsein, im astralischen Leib ist, das wird geregelt beim Planeten durch die Geister der Weisheit. So daß wir sagen können: Das niederste Bewußtsein des Planeten wird geregelt durch die Geister der Weisheit. Wenn wir so den Planeten charakterisieren, dann bleiben wir noch immer innerhalb des Planeten. Wir schauen hinauf zum Planeten und sagen uns: Er hat eine gewisse Form, das entspricht den Geistern der Form; er hat eine innere Beweglichkeit, das entspricht den Geistern der Bewegung; das alles ist von Bewußtsein durchdrungen, das entspricht den Geistern der Weisheit. Aber nun verfolgen wir den Planeten weiter: Er geht durch den Raum, er hat einen inneren Impuls, der ihn treibt durch den Raum, wie der Mensch einen inneren Willensimpuls hat, der ihn treibt, seine Schritte zu machen, durch den Raum zu gehen. Das, was den Planeten durch den Raum führt, was seine Bewegung im Raum regelt, was da macht, daß er zum Beispiel um den Fixstern sich bewegt, das entspricht den Geistern des Willens. Sie geben dem Planeten den Impuls, hinzufliegen durch den Raum. Also, die Bewegung des Planeten im Raum entspricht den Geistern des Willens oder den Thronen. Wenn nun diese Geister des Willens nur die Bewegungsimpulse dem Planeten geben würden, so würde jeder Planet in der Welt seine eigenen Wege gehen. Das ist aber nicht der Fall, sondern ein jeder Planet richtet sich nach dem ganzen System. Es wird die Bewegung nicht nur so geregelt, daß der Planet sich bewegt, sondern es wird Ordnung hineingebracht in das ganze planetarische System. Wie Ordnung hineingebracht wird, wenn, sagen wir, eine Gruppe von Menschen, von denen der eine dahin, der andere dorthin ging, einem gemeinsamen Ziele zuzustreben beginnt, so werden die Bewegungen der Planeten geordnet, bis sie zusammenstimmen. Dieses Zusammenstimmen der Bewegungen des einen Planeten mit dem anderen, diese Tatsache, daß in der Bewegung des einen Planeten Rücksicht genommen wird auf die der anderen, das entspricht der Tätigkeit der Cherubim. Also die Regelung der gemeinsamen Bewegung des Systems entspricht der Tätigkeit der Cherubim. Und jedes Planetensystem mit seinem Fixstern, der gewissermaßen als der Hauptanführer dasteht unter der Leitung der Cherubim, hat seine Beziehung wiederum zu den anderen Planetensystemen, die anderen Fixsternen zugehören, verständigt sich über seinen Ort im Raum und über seine Bedeutung mit seinen Nachbarsystemen, wie die einzelnen Menschen sich untereinander verständigen, miteinander sich besprechen zu ihren gemeinsamen Taten. Wie die Menschen ein soziales System begründen dadurch, daß sie Gegenseitigkeit haben, so gibt es auch eine Gegenseitigkeit der Planetensysteme. Von Fixstern zu Fixstern waltet gegenseitige Verständigung. Dadurch kommt allein der Kosmos zustande. Das, was sozusagen die Planetensysteme durch den Weltenraum miteinander sprechen, um zum Kosmos zu werden, das wird geregelt durch diejenigen Geister, welche wir Seraphim nennen.

Und nun haben wir gleichsam das erschöpft, was wir beim Menschen finden bis herauf in die Bewußtseinsseele. Wie wir dann beim Menschen kommen zu seinem höheren Geistesleben, zu dem, was dem ganzen System bis zur Bewußtseinsseele herauf erst Sinn gibt, so kommen wir, wenn wir über die Seraphim heraufkommen, zu dem, was wir vorhin versuchten, heute zunächst andeutungsweise als oberste Dreiheit der Weltenwesenheit zu charakterisieren: Wir kommen da zu dem, was im Weltenall waltet als das alldurchziehende, göttliche, dreifach göttliche Leben, das sich in den einzelnen Planetensystemen Hüllen schafft. Wie sich das, was im Menschen lebt als Geistselbst, Lebensgeist, Geistesmensch — Manas, Buddhi, Atma — Hüllen schafft in Bewußtseinsseele, Verstandesseele, Empfindungsseele, astralischem, ätherischem und physischem Leibe, so wandeln durch den Raum die Fixsterne der Planetensysteme als die Körper der göttlichen Wesenheiten. Und indem wir das Leben der Sternenwelt betrachten, betrachten wir die Leiber der Götter und zuletzt des Göttlichen überhaupt.

Fifth Lecture

In our reflections, we have arrived at the so-called second hierarchy of spiritual beings, and yesterday we characterized how the human soul must behave if it wants to penetrate into the essence of the second hierarchy. An even more difficult path leads to an even higher series of spiritual beings, to those beings who belong to the first, the highest hierarchy accessible to us. It has been emphasized that through a special intensification of those experiences which we already have in ordinary life in compassion and love, by intensifying these experiences to the occult path, one arrives at pouring one's own being out of oneself, as it were, and immersing oneself in the beings one then wants to contemplate. Note well that the characteristic feature of this immersion is that we extend our own being as if in tentacles and pour it into the foreign entity. In doing so, however, we always remain beside the foreign entities in our consciousness, in our inner life. This is the characteristic feature of the second stage of clairvoyance that has been spoken of. At this second stage of clairvoyance, we know at every moment, even when we feel ourselves to be one with the other beings, that we are also there, that we are, as it were, beside the other beings. This last remnant of egoistic experience must also cease if the third stage of clairvoyance is to be attained.

We must completely lose the feeling that we exist as special beings at any point in the world. We must reach the point where we do not just pour ourselves into the foreign beings and stand beside them with our own experience, but where we actually feel the foreign beings as our own self, where we completely step out of ourselves and lose the feeling that we are standing beside the foreign beings. When we then immerse ourselves in the foreign entities in this way, we come to see ourselves as we were before, as we are in ordinary life, as foreign entities. Let us say, for example, that we immerse ourselves in some being of the nature kingdoms on the third stage of clairvoyance. Then we do not look at this being from our own perspective; we do not merely immerse ourselves as on the second stage of clairvoyance, but we know ourselves to be one with this being and look back at ourselves from this being. Just as we otherwise look at the foreign being outside ourselves, so now, on the third stage of clairvoyance, we look at ourselves from the foreign being as a foreign being. This is the difference between the third stage and the second stage. Only when this third stage is reached do we come to perceive, in addition to the already characterized beings of the third and second hierarchies, other beings in our spiritual environment.

The spiritual beings that we then perceive belong to three categories. We perceive the first category primarily when we immerse ourselves in the beings of other people or higher animals, as described above, and thereby educate ourselves. It is not what we perceive in other human beings or in higher animals that is essential, but the fact that we educate ourselves in this way and perceive behind human beings and animals the spirits that belong to the first category of the first hierarchy: the spirits of the will or, as Western esotericism calls them, the thrones. We then perceive beings that we cannot characterize other than by saying: They do not consist of flesh and blood, nor of light or air, but they consist of what we can only perceive within ourselves when we become conscious that we have a will. In terms of their lowest substance, they consist only of will.

Then, when we educate ourselves by immersing ourselves in the manner described above and contemplate lower animals and their lives with the occult gaze, or even when we immerse ourselves in plant life, but do not merely observe it as we characterized yesterday, through gestures and facial expressions, but when we become one with the plants and look at ourselves from the plants, then we are brought to an experience for which there is really no proper comparison within the world we otherwise have. At most, we gain a comparison for the characteristics of those beings to which we then rise as the beings of the second category of the first hierarchy; we gain a possibility of characterizing them if we allow what serious, worthy people have achieved to have an effect on our minds, people who have spent many steps of their lives accumulating wisdom within themselves, who, after many years of rich experience, have accumulated so much wisdom that we say to ourselves: When such people express a judgment, it is not a personal will that speaks to us, but life itself, which has accumulated in these people over years and decades and through which they have become impersonal in a certain sense. People who make such an impression on us that their wisdom seems impersonal, that their wisdom appears like the blossom and fruit of a mature life, evoke in us, even if only as a vague feeling, what is working on us from our mental, from our spiritual environment when we rise to that level of clairvoyance which must now be discussed. In Western esotericism, this category is called the cherubim. It is extremely difficult to characterize the beings of these higher categories, for the higher we ascend, the more impossible it becomes to draw on the characteristics of ordinary life to evoke a characteristic of the height, greatness, and sublimity of the beings of these hierarchies. The spirits of the will, the lowest category of the first hierarchy, can still be characterized by saying that we understand what will is, for will is the lowest substance of which they are composed. But it would be impossible, if we were to consider only the will as it appears to us in normal human or animal life, if we were to consider only the ordinary feelings and thoughts of human beings, it would be impossible to characterize the beings of the second category of the first hierarchy with what is taken from ordinary human thinking, feeling, and willing. We must turn to special people in life who have accumulated overwhelming power of wisdom in their souls in the manner described. When we feel this wisdom, we feel something similar to what the occultist feels when he encounters the beings we call cherubim. Such wisdom, which is not gathered over decades, like the wisdom of outstanding people, but such wisdom that has been gathered over thousands of years, over millions of years of the world's becoming, flows toward us in sublime power from the beings we call cherubim.

And even more difficult to characterize are those beings who now make up the first, the highest category of the first hierarchy and who are called seraphim. It would only be possible to gain an idea of the impression that the seraphim make on the occult gaze if we took the following comparison from life. We continue the comparison we have just used. We consider a person who, through decades of experience, has accumulated wisdom that has brought him to overwhelming insight, and we imagine that such a wise person, from whom the most impersonal wisdom speaks, permeates his entire being with an inner fire from his most impersonal wisdom, so that he needs say nothing to us, but only needs to stand before us and place in his gaze what decades have given him in wisdom, so that his gaze can tell us about the suffering and experiences of decades, and we can get an impression from his gaze that it speaks like the world itself that we experience. When we imagine such a gaze, or when we imagine that such a wise person has come to us not only to say words, but to give us an impression of his rich life experiences in the sound and peculiar coloring of his words, so that we hear something like an undertone in what he says because he imbues it with a certain quality, and we perceive a world of life experiences from this quality, then we in turn get a feeling like that of the occultist when he ascends to the seraphim. Like a gaze that has matured through life and speaks of decades of experience, or like a sentence that is spoken in such a way that we do not merely hear his thoughts, but we hear: the sentence, in being spoken with such a sound, has been gained through pain and experiences of life; it is not a theory, it has been fought for, it has been suffered, it has gone through the battles and victories of life and entered the heart — when we hear all this in an undertone, then we get an idea of the impression that the trained occultist has when he rises to the beings we call seraphim.

We were able to characterize the beings of the third hierarchy by saying: What is perception for human beings is revelation of their self for them; what is inner life and conscious awareness for human beings is spiritual fulfillment for them. We were able to characterize the beings of the second hierarchy by saying: What is self-revelation in the beings of the third hierarchy is self-realization, self-creation, and the imprinting of their own being in them, and what is spiritual fulfillment in the beings of the third hierarchy is life-stimulation in them, so that inner life-stimulation arises in the separation, in the self-objectification. What is self-creation in the beings of the second hierarchy also appears to us in the beings of the first hierarchy when we look at them with occult vision, but there is a difference. The difference is that what the beings of the second hierarchy objectify, what they create out of themselves, remains in existence as long as these beings remain connected to what they have created. So, mind you, these beings of the second hierarchy can create something like an image of themselves, but it remains connected to them and cannot separate from them. It remains connected to them in a certain way. The beings of the first hierarchy also objectify themselves, imprinting their own essence, separating it as if in a skin or shell, but this is an imprint of their own essence. This now separates from them and remains in the world, even when they separate themselves from it. So they do not carry their creation around with them, but this creation remains even when they move away from it. This achieves a higher degree of objectivity than that achieved by the second hierarchy. Where the beings of the second hierarchy create, they must remain with their creation so that it does not perish. The created would be dead and decay if they did not remain connected to it themselves. It has an independent, objective essence, but only as long as the being remains connected to it. That which is separated from the beings of the first hierarchy can be left behind by these beings of the first hierarchy, and yet it remains as something self-active and objective.

In the third hierarchy we have revelation and spiritual fulfillment, in the second hierarchy self-creation and life-giving. In the first hierarchy, which consists of the thrones, cherubim, and seraphim, we have a kind of creation in which the created is separated; instead of self-creation we have world creation: What emerges from the beings of the first hierarchy becomes a separate world, a world so independent that it displays phenomena and facts even when the beings are no longer present.

We can now ask ourselves: What is the life of this first hierarchy? The life of the beings of the first hierarchy is such that they perceive themselves by allowing such objective, independent, separate beings to emerge from themselves. In creating, in making beings independent, these beings of the first hierarchy find their inner state of consciousness, their inner experience. We can say that they look at what they create and what the world becomes, and it is not by looking within themselves, but by looking out at the world, at their creatures, that they have themselves. Creating beings is their inner life. Creating other beings, living in other beings, is the inner experience of these beings of the first hierarchy. Creating worlds is their outer life, creating beings is their inner life.

Over the course of these days, we have drawn attention to how the various beings of the individual hierarchies have offspring, splitting off beings that they send down into the realms of nature, and we have learned that the offspring of the third hierarchy are the nature spirits, that the offspring of the second hierarchy are the group souls. The beings of the first hierarchy also have such split-off descendants, and I have already described to you from another angle these beings who are the descendants of the first hierarchy. I described this to you in the very first considerations, when we ascended to the so-called spirits of the cycles, to those spirits who arrange and direct what happens in the natural realms in rhythmic sequence and repetition. The beings of the first hierarchy split off those beings that arrange the change from winter to summer, so that plants sprout and then wither; that rhythmic sequence through which, for example, members of a certain animal species have a certain lifespan within which they develop from birth to death. But everything that follows rhythmically and repetitively in the natural realms, such as day and night, the changing of the seasons, the four seasons — everything that follows so rhythmically, everything that is based on repetitive events, is regulated by the spirits of the cycles, by the descendants of the beings of the first hierarchy. We can characterize these spirits of the cycles from one perspective, as we did a few days ago, and we can now characterize them according to their own ancestry, as we have done today. We can thus summarize the nature of these three hierarchies as follows:

1st Hierarchy:	World creation.	Being creation	Spirits of the cycles of time
2nd Hierarchy:	Self-creation.	Life force	Group Souls.
3rd Hierarchy:	Revelation	Spirit fulfillment	Nature Spirits.

If we now wish to proceed with the task set before us, we must familiarize ourselves with concepts that gradually reveal themselves to the trained eye of the occultist and which, when first encountered, are somewhat difficult to grasp. But we will already place these ideas and concepts before our souls today, and in doing so we will gain the opportunity, in the next lectures, where the whole life and whole being of the natural kingdoms and the heavenly bodies will be presented to us, to become more and more accustomed to the way in which the characterized beings are connected with the natural kingdoms and with the heavenly bodies. In this way, we will be able to form increasingly definite ideas in this direction.

When we speak of the human being, we speak in such a way that we characterize this human being as he presents himself to the occult gaze; you can follow this in theosophical writings, for example in my “Theosophy” and in my “Secret Science.” When we look at the human being with occult vision, we say: What is initially the outermost thing that can be perceived by the eyes and senses in the human being is his physical body. So we consider the physical body of the human being as the first human member. As the second human member, we then consider something supersensible, something invisible to normal consciousness, the etheric body. As the third member, we consider the astral body. When we have these three members, we have approximately the nature of the human being's outer shell. We then come to even higher members. These are of a more soul-like nature. In ordinary life, we perceive them as our inner soul life, and just as we speak of a threefold outer shell, we can speak of a threefold soul: the feeling soul, the intellectual or emotional soul, and the conscious soul. These members of human nature, from the physical body up to the consciousness soul, are basically already present in every human being today. To this is added a glimmer of the next member, which we call the spirit self or, as many of you may be accustomed to calling it, manas. Then we have the next member, which will actually only be developed to the right degree in the future; we call this the life spirit or buddhi. And then we have what we call the actual spiritual human being or Atma, which is indeed the innermost human nature, but which still lies dormant in human beings for their consciousness today and will only shine forth in future earth days within consciousness as the actual center of consciousness. These members of human nature are such that we speak of them as units. In a certain sense, we have a unity in the physical body of the human being, we have a unity in the etheric body of the human being, and so on in the other members of human nature. The whole human being is a unity consisting of the combination and interaction of these different members.

If we want to proceed further in our considerations, you must now imagine that there are beings standing above human beings who are so exalted above human nature that they do not consist of members that we can designate as physical body, etheric body, and so on, but that the members of these beings are themselves beings. So while human beings have what we cannot regard as entities, but only as unified members, we must ascend to entities that do not have a physical body as their part, but which, just as human beings have their physical body as a part, have something as their part that we have now called the spirits of form in our considerations. When we say that there is an entity of a higher category which, unlike man, does not have a physical body as its limb, but has as its limb an entity itself, a spirit of form, then we get an idea of an entity which we have not yet characterized, but which we now want to characterize. If we want to characterize it, we must make use of the ideas we have developed in the course of our considerations.

I have already said that it is difficult to arrive at these ideas, but you will be able to rise to such ideas as we need here by means of an analogy. Consider a beehive or an anthill and take the individual beings, the individual bees of the beehive, and be clear that the beehive has a real collective spirit, a real collective being, and that it has its parts in the individual bees, just as you have your parts in your individual limbs. There you have an analogy for beings even higher than those we have considered so far, who do not have something that we call a physical body, as in humans, but what we must call a being, a spirit of form. Just as we live in our physical body, beings of higher sublimity live in such a way that they have the spirits of form, or a spirit of form for my sake, as their lowest limb. We humans have the etheric body, but these beings have spirits of movement as their second member; instead of the human astral body, these beings have spirits of wisdom; instead of what we humans have as the soul of feeling, these beings have thrones or spirits of will as their fourth member; instead of our soul of intellect, these beings have cherubim as their fifth member; as their sixth member, they have seraphim, as we have the consciousness soul. And just as we look up to that which we gradually acquire in future earthly days, so these beings look up to that which towers above the nature of the hierarchies. Just as we speak of our manas, buddhi, atma, or spirit self, life spirit, spirit man, these beings look up from their seraphic member, as we do from our consciousness soul, to a primal spirit. Only then do these beings have something analogous to what we call our spiritual inner life. It is extremely difficult to form ideas about what exists above the hierarchies as the spiritual essence of the highest spirits themselves. In the course of human evolution, the various religions and worldviews have therefore refrained, one might say with a certain reverential caution, from speaking in clear images reminiscent of the sensory world about what still exists above the hierarchies. If we had to resort to such means in order to evoke an image such as that which lives in the soul of the occultist when he looks at the seraphim, resort to means that we encounter only in analogies in people with rich life experience, then even everything that we encounter in such people as a pure expression of their lives is no longer sufficient to characterize the trinity that figures, as it were, above the seraphim as the highest being, as their manas, buddhi, and atma.

In the course of human evolution, there has been much controversy, unfortunately, about the cautious intuitions with which the human spirit has spoken of what is above in the spiritual regions. Unfortunately! one may say, because it would be much more appropriate for the human spirit not to use ideas which it has cobbled together from ordinary life through all kinds of analogies and comparisons, to try to characterize beings of such a high order; it would be much more fitting for humans to want to learn more and more with deep reverence in order to gain approximate ideas of what is above. Religions and worldviews have attempted to give approximate ideas of what is above by drawing on ambiguous and meaningful concepts, concepts which, in a sense, gain something special from the fact that they go beyond the individual life of human beings in the external sensory world. Of course, such terms cannot even begin to characterize the sublime being in question here, but they can, in a sense, evoke an idea of what cannot be expressed in words, but must be shrouded in a sacred secret, in a sacred mystery. For one should not attempt to approach these things with human concepts gained from the external world. Therefore, successive religions and worldviews have attempted to characterize these things in an approximate and intuitive way by using what transcends human beings and is already mysterious in nature as characteristics or, better said, names.

The ancient Egyptians used the concepts of child or son, mother and father, i.e., that which transcends the individual human being, to name these things. Christianity attempted to find a name for this trinity in the succession of Holy Spirit, Son, and Father. So that we can say: We would have to place the Holy Spirit in seventh place, the Son in eighth place, and the Father in ninth place. So when we look up at a being whose highest essence disappears into a spiritual mystery and we say suggestively: Spirit, Son, and Father—when we look at such a being with occult vision, we say to ourselves: Just as we relate to human beings by looking at them externally, just as we regard their physical body as their lowest member, so when we look at such a being in this way, this view is analogous to the view of human beings, we have before us the spirit of form, that is, a spirit that gives itself a form, a formed spirit. We must therefore be able to look at that which is analogous, similar, to the physical body of the human being in these beings, at something formed.

Just as we have something formed in the physical body of the human being as its lowest member, and just as in this formed thing, which in truth, as it appears to us, is of course a Maya, but precisely that which is the spirit of form lives, so what appears to us when we look out into the world space and see a planet in the world space — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter — is the outer form of the spirit of form, that which belongs to this being of which we have just spoken, just as the physical body belongs to the human being. When a human being stands before us, this form expresses to us what lives in the human being as higher members, as the etheric body, the astral body, the sentient soul, and so on; when we see a planet, this form expresses to us what constitutes the form of the spirits of form. And just as behind the human form, behind the physical body, there are the etheric body, the astral body, the sentient soul, and so on, so behind the planet there is what we refer to as spirits of movement, of wisdom, of will, seraphim, cherubim, and so on. So if we want to consider the complete essence of a planet in the sense of spiritual science, we must say: We encounter the planet in world space through our perception, as it shines toward us with its physical form, which the spirit of form has given it, and it hides, just as the human being hides his higher members from physical sight, that which reigns in the planet and around it as beings of the higher hierarchies. We therefore imagine a planet such as Mars or Mercury correctly when we first imagine it in its physical form and then think of it as surrounded and permeated by a spiritual atmosphere that extends into infinity, which has its physical form in the physical planet, the creation of the spirits of form, and which has the entities of the other hierarchies in its spiritual sphere. Only then do we have the complete planet, when we view it in such a way that it has the physical as a core in the middle and surrounding it spiritual envelopes consisting of the beings of the hierarchies. This will be examined in more detail in the next lectures. However, in order that we may indicate the direction of our consideration today, let us first state the following, as revealed by occult research.

We have already indicated that when we consider what the physical form of a planet is, it is a creature of the spirit of form. Our Earth form is also a creature of the spirit of form. But you already know that our Earth is not at rest, that it is subject to constant inner change and movement. You will all remember from the descriptions in the Akashic Records that the outer appearance of our Earth today is different from what it looked like during the period of Earth's development that we call the Atlantean epoch. In this ancient Atlantean period, the surface of our globe, which is now flooded by the Atlantic Ocean, was covered by a mighty continent, while in the place where Europe, Asia, and Africa are today, continents were only just beginning to form. Thus, the mass, the substance of the Earth, has been transformed through inner movement. The planet is in a state of constant inner movement. Just consider, for example, that what is known today as the island of Heligoland is only a small part of what still protruded from the sea in the ninth and tenth centuries. Even if the periods in which rearrangements and internal changes in the face of the earth take place are relatively long, without going into these things in detail, everyone can say that the planet is in a state of constant internal motion. And if we include not only the solid earth but also water and air in our conception of the planet, then everyday life teaches us that the planet is in a state of inner movement. In the formation of clouds, in the formation of rain, in all weather phenomena, in the rising and falling of water, in all these things the planetary substance shows its inner movement. This is the life of the planet. Within this life of the planet, as in the life of the individual human being, the etheric body, what we call the spirits of movement, is at work. So we can say: the outer form of the planet is the spirits of form as creators. The inner vitality is regulated by the beings we call the spirits of movement.

Now, however, such a planet is for the occultist a real entity, an entity that regulates what goes on within it according to thoughts. Not only is inner vitality, as just described, present in the planet, but the planet as a whole also has consciousness, for it is an entity. And this consciousness, which corresponds to human consciousness insofar as the lower form of consciousness, the subconscious, is in the astral body, is regulated in the planet by the spirits of wisdom. So we can say: The lowest consciousness of the planet is regulated by the spirits of wisdom. If we characterize the planet in this way, we are still within the planet. We look up at the planet and say to ourselves: it has a certain form, which corresponds to the spirits of form; it has an inner mobility, which corresponds to the spirits of movement; all of this is permeated by consciousness, which corresponds to the spirits of wisdom. But now let us follow the planet further: it moves through space, it has an inner impulse that drives it through space, just as human beings have an inner impulse of will that drives them to take steps and move through space. That which guides the planet through space, which regulates its movement in space, which causes it, for example, to move around a fixed star, corresponds to the spirits of will. They give the planet the impulse to fly through space. So the movement of the planet in space corresponds to the spirits of will or the thrones. If these spirits of will only gave the planets the impulse to move, then every planet in the world would follow its own path. But that is not the case; instead, each planet aligns itself with the entire system. Movement is not only regulated so that the planet moves, but order is brought into the entire planetary system. Just as order is brought into a group of people, for example, when one person goes this way and another goes that way, but they all begin to strive toward a common goal, so the movements of the planets are ordered until they are in harmony. This coordination of the movements of one planet with another, this fact that the movement of one planet takes into account that of the others, corresponds to the activity of the cherubim. Thus, the regulation of the common movement of the system corresponds to the activity of the cherubim. And each planetary system, with its fixed star, which stands, as it were, as the chief leader under the direction of the cherubim, has its relationship to the other planetary systems belonging to the other fixed stars, communicating with its neighboring systems about its place in space and its significance, just as individual human beings communicate with one another and discuss their common actions. Just as human beings establish a social system through mutuality, so there is also mutuality among planetary systems. Mutual understanding prevails from fixed star to fixed star. This alone brings about the cosmos. What the planetary systems, so to speak, communicate with each other through space in order to become the cosmos is regulated by those spirits we call seraphim.

And now we have, as it were, exhausted what we find in human beings up to the consciousness soul. Just as we then arrive at the higher spiritual life of the human being, at that which gives meaning to the entire system up to the consciousness soul, so, when we rise above the seraphim, we arrive at what we attempted earlier to characterize, at least in outline, as the highest trinity of the world being: We arrive at what reigns in the universe as the all-pervading, divine, threefold divine life that creates shells for itself in the individual planetary systems. Just as that which lives in human beings as spirit self, life spirit, spirit man — manas, buddhi, atma — creates shells in the consciousness soul, the intellectual soul, the sentient soul, the astral, etheric, and physical bodies, so the fixed stars of the planetary systems move through space as the bodies of the divine beings. And by observing the life of the starry world, we observe the bodies of the gods and ultimately of the divine itself.

The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies and in the Kingdoms of NatureGA 136

Lecture V

Fünfter Vortrag

Fifth Lecture

Spiritual Beings in the Heavenly Bodies and in the Kingdoms of Nature
GA 136