Awareness - Life - Form
GA 89
Private instruction, Berlin-Schlachtensee, 7 July 1904
Part II: 8. Existence, Life and Conscious Awareness II
It can be seen from what has been said about evolution and involution that it is possible to ask with every phenomenon: What has evolved? [What is in involution?]
Looking at the physical Earth we will find different states of aggregation—solid, fluid, gaseous and ether-like. Physical substances are only perceptible to human [senses] from the outside; they also have an inner aspect, and this is in involution. The outer one, which is evolved, is perceptible to the senses.
Taking fire, air and water, we can say that they are representative of the three levels of which we have spoken:
fire - level of existence air - level of life water - level of conscious awareness.
The way we put it is to say that water is in some way related to conscious awareness, since for the physical human being the astral is the principle in which he becomes aware of himself in sentience.
When we go to the Earth, we have reached the level of existence; when he [the human being] becomes earthly, he gains self-awareness. These four states of aggregation thus represent four states in the human being: existence, life, conscious awareness and then again existence.
Let us go back to the state in which the human being was the way which has been described so often: like jellyfish or gel, not yet having reached the stage then of using air as such in himself. He was a water human being. It is evident that the organ used to take in air would have served no purpose then. It did not [exist], in fact and [hence also] not the creatures of the air, the birds. We were in the process of preparing for the lung human being and the creatures which arose in consequence.
The human being was preparing to take in air, which could only be done by ... him preparing an outer form for himself in which the formless principle concerned would be able to live. The lung is nothing but the evolution of the principle which is in involution in the air. The lung is thus the evolution of life [air].
Let us remember: The human being evolved from a lungless animal to one with lungs, he created form for himself, and life was able to enter into the form. The concomitant was the bird world. The gel-like human being grew solid, taking chaotic matter, dust-like at the time, into himself, and parallel to this assimilation of matter went that of air. Two things happened: assimilation of earthly dust and absorption of the principle of life with the air. He became living from within, in the soul.
We must also note the following. The bird world is something which remains as an eternal symbol of the living human soul. Hence the phoenix forever rising from the ashes in renewal and perishing in the flames.
A process such as the creation of a form through a principle must be seen as something typical.
Earlier, the air as such was the outer vestment of the life principle contained in it, and now the lung [which] is the outer vestment for the life principle contained in the human being.
The relationship between macrocosmic life and air is like the relationship between microcosmic human life and lung.
Once again the Bible can be taken literally: putting together earth dust and the living human being.
If we consider the whole of evolution, every mineral state of life is preceded by three earlier states, and there are three to follow. Let us ask ourselves, what is the relationship between these seven states? In the middle one we have a particular relationship between existence, life and conscious awareness. It is more or less in balance. If we think of them being evenly distributed, we get the middle planet, balance:
existence of body \(a\), life or soul \(b\), spirit or conscious mind \(c\). The planet is in its middle state:
$$a = b = c$$Other relationships are possible (\(=\) equal, \(>\) predominant):
$$a = b > c$$ $$a > b = c$$ $$4a > b > c$$No others are possible.
When existence is grossly preponderant over the other states, so that life and conscious awareness are seed-like, we have the arupa state. If we let life be such that it contains existence, we have form, rupa. If conscious awareness preponderates ... [gap], we have the astral. When they are equal [we have] the physical.
In the arupa state we have existence in evolution, life and conscious awareness in involution. Rupa state: existence and life evolved, conscious awareness in involution. Astral state: all three evolved, but existence and life greater than conscious awareness. In the physical, approximate equality of proportions.
We have now tried to approach these things from different points of view, keeping our concepts fluid as we attach them to these things.
An important occult maxim is to see any form of understanding merely as a vestment for the essential nature. This must live in us. We must all the time make garments and vestments of the nature of the thing in us, but be aware that the nature of the thing is not in those vestments and garments. The moment we have found a form that expresses the inner nature of the thing we have made the esoteric exoteric. The esoteric can thus never be told in any but an exoteric form.
Create forms of understanding all the time, but also always overcome the forms of understanding you have created for yourself. First it is you, secondly are the forms of understanding you have created, thirdly it is you again, having made those forms your own and overcome them. This means that you are existence first, then life in the forms you have created, and thirdly conscious awareness in the life forms which you have assimilated. Or: you are you and need to evolve in your forms, so that you may then let the evolved forms go through involution in you.
Human understanding is thus also existence, life and conscious awareness.
It is impossible to see the all and everything of a truth in a dogma or teaching; the dogma is only the second element. We need to overcome it; then we have seen the truth of things for ourselves. Hence the important maxim:
Human beings have to be dogmatic in order to perceive the truth, but they must never consider the dogma to be the truth. And this gives us the life of someone seeking the truth; he can recast the dogma in the fire of concept.
Occultists therefore work with dogma in the freest possible way.
This insight, this stroke in the world of concept and then again counter stroke, is called ‘dialectics’, whilst holding fast to concepts is called ‘logic’. Dialectics is therefore the life of logic, and someone who understands the spirit of dialectics will transform dead, rigid concepts into living ones when he comes to the higher regions of perceptive insight, that is, he will assign them to particular persons. He will transform logic into dialogue. Thus Plato made logic into dialectics, transforming it into dialogue.
Goethe's green serpent93Refers to Goethe’s Tale of the Green Snake and the Fair Lily. See Rudolf Steiner’s Goethe’s Standard of the Soul GA 22, tr. D. S. Osmond, London: Anthr. Publ. Co. 1925.
God - wisdom
Light - form in which wisdom comes into its own
What is more glorious than light? Dialogue!
Conclusion of Rudolf Steiner’s Eleven European Mystics, Angelus Silesius:94Mysticism at the Dawn of the Modem Age GA 7, tr. K. E. Zimmer, Blauvelt: Steinerbooks 1980.
My friend, it is good so. In case you want to read more Go and be yourself the script, yourself the essence.
Sein, Leben und Bewußtsein II
Aus dem Angeführten von Evolution und Involution ist zu sehen, daß wir bei jeder Erscheinung fragen können: Was ist evolviert? [Was ist involviert?]
Wenn wir die physische Erde betrachten, werden wir verschiedene Aggregatzustände finden: den festen, flüssigen, luftförmigen, ätherförmigen. Die Stoffe sind nur ihrer Außenseite nach für physische Menschen [Sinne] wahrnehmbar, sie haben noch eine Innenseite, die involvierte. Wahrnehmbar ist die äußere, die evolviert ist.
Wenn wir Feuer, Luft und Wasser nehmen, können wir sagen, daß sie Repräsentanten sind für die drei Stufen, die wir genannt haben:
Feuer - Stufe des Seins,
Luft - Stufe des Lebens,
Wasser — Stufe des Bewußiseins.
Man drückt das so aus, daß man sagt, das Wasser steht in irgendeiner Beziehung zum Bewußtsein, denn für den physischen Menschen stellt das Astrale das dar, worin er sich empfindend bewußt wird.
Gehen wir zur Erde, so sind wir zur Stufe des Seins gelangt, wenn er [der Mensch] irdisch wird, wird er selbstbewußt. So daß diese vier Aggregatzustände vier Zustände im Menschen darstellen:
Sein, Leben, Bewußtsein und dann wieder Sein.
Gehen wir zurück zum Zustand, in dem der Mensch so war, wie oft beschrieben: quall-, gallertartig, so daß dazumal er noch nicht dazu gelangt war, in seinem Innern die Luft als solche verbrauchen zu können.-Er war Wassermensch. Somit ist klar, daß dazumal das Organ zur Aufnahme der Luft keinen Zweck gehabt hätte. Es war auch nicht [vorhanden] und [somit auch] nicht die Lufttiere, die Vögel. Wir sind im Prozeß der Vorbereitung zum Lungenmenschen und der Tiere, die in seinem Gefolge entstanden.
Der Mensch bereitet sich vor, die Luft aufzunehmen, das kann nur geschehen, indem er .... sich eine äußere Form bereitet, in dem das betreffende Formlose leben kann. Die Lunge ist nichts anderes als die Evolution dessen, was in der Luft involviert ist. Die Lunge ist somit die Evolution des Lebens [der Luft].
Halten wir fest: Der Mensch entwickelt sich vom Lungenlosen zum Lungentier, er schafft sich Form, und in die Form kann einziehen das Leben. Die Begleiterscheinung: Vogelwelt. Der gallertartige Mensch wird nun fest, nimmt die chaotische, früher staubartige Materie in sich auf, und parallel mit dieser Assimilierung der Materie geht die der Luft. Zweierlei vollzieht sich: Assimilation des Erdenstaubes und Einsaugen des Prinzips des Lebens mit der Luft. Er wird von innen, seelisch lebend.
Wir haben also diesen Moment zu verzeichnen. Die Vogelwelt ist das, was bleibt als ein ewiges Symbol von des Menschen lebender Seele. Daher der Phönix, der sich in der Asche fortwährend erneuert und verbrennt.
In einem solchen Vorgang, wie die Erschaffung einer Form durch ein Prinzip, müssen wir etwas Typisches sehen.
Früher hatten wir in der Luft als solche die äußere Hülle für das in ihr enthaltene Lebensprinzip, und jetzt die Lunge, [die] die äußere Hülle ist für das im Menschen enthaltene Lebensprinzip.
Makrokosmisches Leben und Luft stehen zueinander in solcher Beziehung wie mikrokosmisch Menschenleben und Lunge.
So kann die Bibel wieder wörtlich genommen werden: Zusammenfügung des Erdenstaubes mit dem lebenden Menschen.
Wenn wir die ganze Entwickelung überschauen, so gehen jedem mineralischen Zustand des Lebens drei frühere Zustände voraus und drei folgen nach. Wollen wir uns fragen: wie verhalten sich diese 7 Zustände? In dem mittleren ist ein gewisses Verhältnis zwischen Sein, Leben und Bewußtsein. Es ist ungefähr das des Gleichgewichts. Wenn wir uns dies vorstellen, daß sie gleich verteilt sind, so bekommen wir den mittleren Planeten, haben wir Bilanz:
Sein oder Leib [a], Leben oder Seele [b], Geist oder Bewußtsein [c]. Der Planet ist in seinem mittleren Zustand:
a = b = c
Es sind noch andere Verhältnisse möglich ( = gleich, > überwiegend):
a = b > c
a > b = c
a > b > c
Andere Verhältnisse sind nicht möglich.
Wenn Sein die andern Zustände schroff überwiegt, so daß Leben und Bewußtsein keimhaft enthalten sind, haben wir ArupaZustand. Lassen wir das Leben so auftreten, daß es das Sein enthält, haben wir es mit der Form, Rupa, zu tun. Überwiegt das Bewußtsein... [Lücke], so haben wir das Astralische. Sind sie gleich, [haben wir] das Physische.
Wenn wir den Arupazustand haben, haben wir evolviert das Sein, involviert Leben und Bewußtsein. Rupa-Zustand: evolviert Sein und Leben, involviert Bewußtsein. Astral-Zustand: alle drei evolviert, aber Sein und Leben größer als Bewußtsein. Im Physischen ungefähres Gleichgewicht der Verhältnisse.
Wir haben uns bemüht, von den verschiedenen Standpunkten den Dingen nahezukommen und Begriffe flüssig zu erhalten, anzuheften an die Dinge.
In jeder Form des Begreifens nur eine Hülle für das Wesen zu sehen, ist ein wichtiger okkulter Satz. Das Wesen muß in uns leben. Wir müssen uns fortwährend Kleider und Hüllen vom Wesen der Sache machen, uns aber bewußt sein, daß in diesen Hüllen und Kleidern das Wesen der Sache gar nicht enthalten ist. In dem Augenblick, wo wir eine Ausdrucksform für das innere Wesen der Sache gefunden haben, haben wir das Esoterische exoterisch gemacht. Niemals kann also das Esoterische anders mitgeteilt werden als in exoterischer Form.
Bilde fortwährend Formen des Begreifens, aber überwinde zugleich immer diese selbstgeschaffenen Formen des Begreifens. Erst bist du, zu zweit sind die von dir geschaffenen Formen des Begreifens, drittens bist wieder du, indem du die Formen in dich aufgenommen und sie überwunden hast. Das heißt: du bist erst Sein, dann Leben in deinen selbstgeschaffenen Formen und drittens Bewußtsein in den Lebensformen, die du dir assimiliert hast. - Oder auch: du bist du und sollst dich in deinen Formen evolutionieren, um dann die evolutionierten Formen in dir wieder zu involvieren.
So ist des Menschen Begreifen auch Sein, Leben und Bewußtsein.
Es ist unmöglich, in einer Dogmatik-Lehre das Um-und-Um einer Wahrheit zu sehen; die Dogmatik ist nur der zweite Moment. Erst wenn man sie überwunden hat, hat man die Wahrheit der Dinge selbst eingesehen. Daher der wichtige Satz:
Der Mensch muß, um die Wahrheit zu erkennen, dogmatisieren, aber er darf nie im Dogma die Wahrheit sehen.
Und damit haben wir das Leben des Wahrheit suchenden Menschen, der das Dogma umschmelzen kann im Feuer des Begriffs.
Daher schaltet der Okkultist in der freiesten Weise mit dem Dogma.
Diese Erkenntnis, dieser Schlag in der Welt des Begriffes und wieder Gegenschlag, heißt Dialektik, während man das Festhalten des Begriffes Logik nennt. Dialektik ist also das Leben der Logik, und derjenige, der den Geist der Dialektik versteht, wird da, wo er die höheren Gebiete des Erkennens berührt, die starren, toten Begriffe in lebendige umwandeln, also sie auf bestimmte Personen verteilen. Er verwandelt die Logik in ein Gespräch. Daher hat Plato die Logik dialektisiert, in ein Gespräch verwandelt.
Grüne Schlange von Goethe
Gold - Weisheit
Licht - Form, in der Weisheit sich auslebt.
Was ist herrlicher als das Licht? Das Gespräch!
Schluß von Rudolf Steiners «Mystik». Angelus Silesius:
Freund, es ist auch genug. Im Fall du mehr willst lesen, So geh und werde selbst die Schrift und selbst das Wesen.
Being, Life, and Consciousness II
From what has been said about evolution and involution, we can see that we can ask about every phenomenon: What has evolved? [What has involuted?]
When we look at the physical earth, we find different states of aggregation: solid, liquid, gaseous, ethereal. Physical humans [senses] can only perceive the outer side of substances; they also have an inner side, the involuted side. What is perceptible is the outer side, which is evolved.
If we take fire, air, and water, we can say that they represent the three stages we have mentioned:
Fire — stage of being,
Air - stage of life,
Water — stage of consciousness.
This is expressed by saying that water has some connection with consciousness, because for physical human beings, the astral represents that in which they become consciously aware.
If we go to the earth, we have reached the stage of being; when he [the human being] becomes earthly, he becomes self-conscious. So these four states of aggregation represent four states in the human being:
Being, life, consciousness, and then being again.
Let us return to the state in which humans were, as often described: jelly-like, gelatinous, so that at that time they had not yet reached the point of being able to consume air as such within themselves. They were water beings. It is therefore clear that at that time the organ for taking in air would have served no purpose. It was not [present], and [therefore] neither were the air animals, the birds. We are in the process of preparing for the lung-human and the animals that arose in its wake.
Humans are preparing to take in air, which can only happen by ... creating an external form in which the formless can live. The lungs are nothing more than the evolution of what is involved in the air. The lungs are thus the evolution of life [of the air].
Let us note: Man develops from a lungless creature to a lunged animal, he creates form for himself, and life can move into this form. The accompanying phenomenon: bird life. The gelatinous human being now becomes solid, absorbs the chaotic, formerly dust-like matter into himself, and parallel to this assimilation of matter goes that of air. Two things take place: assimilation of the dust of the earth and inhalation of the principle of life with the air. He becomes alive from within, spiritually.
So we have to note this moment. The bird world is what remains as an eternal symbol of the living soul of man. Hence the phoenix, which continually renews itself and burns in the ashes.
In such a process, such as the creation of a form by a principle, we must see something typical.
In the past, we had the air as such as the outer shell for the life principle contained within it, and now the lungs are the outer shell for the life principle contained within the human being.
Macrocosmic life and air stand in the same relationship to each other as microcosmic human life and the lungs.
Thus, the Bible can be taken literally again: the joining of the dust of the earth with the living human being.
If we look at the whole development, each mineral state of life is preceded by three earlier states and followed by three later ones. Let us ask ourselves: how do these seven states relate to each other? In the middle one, there is a certain relationship between being, life, and consciousness. It is roughly that of equilibrium. If we imagine that they are evenly distributed, we get the middle planet, we have a balance:
Being or body [a], life or soul [b], spirit or consciousness [c]. The planet is in its middle state:
a = b = c
Other relationships are also possible ( = equal, > predominant):
a = b > c
a > b = c
a > b > c
Other relationships are not possible.
If being sharply predominates over the other states, so that life and consciousness are contained in embryonic form, we have the arupa state. If we allow life to arise in such a way that it contains being, we are dealing with form, rupa. If consciousness predominates... [gap], we have the astral. If they are equal, [we have] the physical.
When we have the arupa state, we have evolved being, involved life and consciousness. Rupa state: evolved being and life, involved consciousness. Astral state: all three evolved, but being and life greater than consciousness. In the physical, there is an approximate balance of proportions.
We have endeavored to approach things from different points of view and to keep concepts fluid, to attach them to things.
To see only a shell for the essence in every form of understanding is an important occult statement. The essence must live within us. We must continually make clothes and shells for the essence of things, but be aware that these shells and clothes do not contain the essence of things at all. The moment we find a form of expression for the inner essence of things, we have made the esoteric exoteric. Therefore, the esoteric can never be communicated other than in exoteric form.
Constantly create forms of understanding, but at the same time always overcome these self-created forms of understanding. First you are, second are the forms of understanding you have created, third you are again, having absorbed the forms into yourself and overcome them. That is to say: first you are being, then life in your self-created forms, and thirdly consciousness in the life forms you have assimilated. Or also: you are you and should evolve in your forms in order to then involve the evolved forms in yourself again.
Thus, human comprehension is also being, life, and consciousness.
It is impossible to see the ins and outs of a truth in a dogmatic teaching; dogmatism is only the second moment. Only when one has overcome it has one seen the truth of things for oneself. Hence the important statement:
In order to recognize the truth, man must dogmatize, but he must never see the truth in dogma.
And with that we have the life of the truth-seeking human being who can remelt dogma in the fire of the concept.
Therefore, the occultist deals with dogma in the freest manner.
This insight, this blow in the world of concepts and counterblow, is called dialectic, while the adherence to concepts is called logic. Dialectics is therefore the life of logic, and those who understand the spirit of dialectics will, where they touch the higher realms of knowledge, transform rigid, dead concepts into living ones, that is, distribute them among specific individuals. They transform logic into conversation. That is why Plato dialecticized logic, transforming it into conversation.
Green Snake by Goethe
Gold – Wisdom
Light – Form in which wisdom expresses itself.
What is more wonderful than light? Conversation!
Conclusion of Rudolf Steiner's “Mysticism.” Angelus Silesius:
Friend, that is enough. If you want to read more, go and become the scripture and the essence yourself.