The Christian Mystery
GA 97
13 October 1906, Leipzig
XXIX. Precious Stones and Metals and their Relationship to the Evolution of Earth and Man
On an earlier occasion I spoke of the powers that lie dormant in every human being, powers that can be developed and raise man to a higher level of existence.209See lectures given in Leipzig in June and July 1906, in Kosmogonie (GA 94), Engl, as ‘Extracts of 12 lectures, Leipzig 28 June–10 July 1906’ in Anthroposophical News Sheet 1946; vol. 14, 39-50. Just as the physical world is perceived with physical organs, so can the higher world be perceived with higher organs. At the time I spoke of the means, though only in a fragmentary way, by which human beings can gain higher vision. To take us forward to our theme, let us today consider certain means that are used in inner training.
New instructions have to be followed at every level. The things we are going to talk about today will not be sufficient on their own, but they are part of the process. One instruction given to prospective pupils is that one should develop a particular approach to the higher world, a moral approach. As a first step, we have to realize that just as we are sentient, so are animals sentient. But whilst people have individual souls, genera of animals have group souls. All lions, all sharks, all frogs and so on have a common soul. To put it another way: Whilst humans have their souls as an inner principle animal souls, with soul threads linking them, as it were, extend into the astral world. If you hurt a person, he alone feels the hurt. But if you hurt a lion, the group soul feels it, and this does not live on the physical but in the astral plan.
The aim of training is to find an approach, a feeling relationship to the animal souls on the astral plan. Let me give you an example. In some regions, the ancient Germans venerated the horse. They would put a horse skull at the top of their houses as a symbol. The choice of symbol shows that they had a specific relationship to the horse. Where did this originate? The horse only came into existence at a particular time. This animal genus evolved in the mid-Atlantean period, bit by bit, of course. This coincided with the evolution of cleverness. People may not have been clear in their minds about it, but they felt attracted to the horse the way a lover does to his lass. Arabs have a special relationship to their horses to this day. Mythology can give us some pointers. Thus clever Ulysses thought up a wooden horse. In this sense human beings will develop a feeling for the generic souls of different animals. When this comes to their conscious awareness, the relationship to the astral plan begins to open up.
It is also possible to develop a moral relationship to the plant world in this way. An occultist sees not only the beauty of a plant but senses something of a smiling or a sad face. You gain much from such moral feelings. If you develop such a moral relationship you enter into a relationship with the lower region of the devachan plan.
We can also develop a sensitivity for the dead mineral world. Rocks have a group soul on the devachan plan just as animals have a group soul on the astral plan. The souls of minerals live in the devachan, which is why human beings cannot reach them. Just as a fly running across my hand does not know there is a soul behind it, so do human beings not know that rocks have soul.
Now if stones have souls, you will also see that it is possible to have a moral relationship to them. A human, an animal body has desires, passions and drives. The plant body no longer has desires but it still has drives. The rock body has neither desire nor drive and thus is an ideal for us human beings, the ideal of letting our drives be made spiritual. This will be achieved in the far distant future for humanity. Human beings will then have bodies free from desires or drives. They will be diamond-like, no longer having inner drives, for these will then be controlled from outside.
A rock has this chastity today; it is matter free from desire. The occult pupil must develop such chastity here and now. In this sense, a stone is above animal, plant and man. An ancient Rosicrucian formulation begins with the words: ‘I have put the eternal creator word into the stone.’ Being chaste and virginal, the stone preserves this creator word in the depths of physical existence.
If we are able to enhance this inner response to the stone and make it a spiritual experience, we become clairvoyant in the highest parts of the devachan.
Let me now characterize the mineral world from another point of view. Let us go back to Atlantean times in earth evolution, such as we know it. The atmosphere was full of water vapour. Atlanteans also looked very different from present-day human beings. Even further back in time, on the Lemurian continent, where the temperature was extremely high, human beings were semi-aquatic creatures. All the minerals were also in a different state then. Lead could not possibly be solid then. There was also a time when gold was not yet a solid; this was when sun and earth were still one. When the earth separated from the sun, traces of this more subtle matter were still apparent. It coagulated, like all metals, and then existed as veins of gold in the rocks. Going back still further, we come to the time when precious stones coagulated. At that time coal was still transparent, existing in the form of diamonds. Physical conditions at that early time made this possible. Carnelian came into existence at another time, topaz at yet another time.
Now you need to remember that the human being had a soul at that time, but as yet no physical body. The condition of the earth was such in early times that it would have been quite impossible for a physical body to inhabit it. Human beings only had an ether body at that time. At a particular time, the potential for eyes developed in this ether body. The physical eye was only developed later by means of the ether body. All other organs were first differentiated and created out of the ether body. Every such ether organ development was triggered by desire. The astral body desired to perceive something, to see; it therefore acted on the ether body and out of this created the ether eye; the physical eye only differentiated out later. The etheric counter image arose in the mineral world, and this desire-free counter image is the chrysolite (olivine). Thus there truly is a close link between human vision and chrysolite. Occultists will therefore use stones for specific purposes. They are sentient of a sympathy that exists between vision and chrysolite and know how the stone may be used to influence some eye conditions.
The potential organ of hearing developed earlier than that of vision. In the mineral world, the idea of hearing arose chastely in the onyx. The sense of hearing is most closely related to matter in its purest form. Where sound waves move through space, the most subtle sound ether is present, also known as numbers ether or chemical ether. Other ethers are the warmth, light and life ethers. The subtle sound ether gave rise to the development of hearing and of the potential for the onyx. Let me remind you of the old man with the lamp in Goethe's Tale of the Green Serpent. His lamp changed all wood into silver, dead animals into precious stones, the dead pug dog into an onyx.
Carnelian developed with the sense of touch, topaz with the sense of taste, jasper with the sense of smell, beryllium came as the rational mind evolved, and the carbuncle stone when man grew able to form ideas based on images. There is a beautiful legend210Interpretation of the grail found in Albrecht von Scharfenberg's ‘Jüngerer Titure’. See Uehli, Ernst, Eine neue Gralssuche S. 6 & 248; Stuttgart 1921. about Lucifer losing a precious stone from his diadem when cast down from the heavens—the carbuncle. It is indeed true that this precious stone evolved at the same time as the human ability to form ideas awoke, first of all in images.
The emerald evolved together with the solar plexus, which has to do with the involuntary, unconscious movements in the human body. The potential for the diamond arose at the earliest stage of evolution, when the first beginnings of the human physical body developed. You see how deep relationships go in the world. This is not superstition but wisdom.
Let me give you two facts from the rich field of occult studies. You know that some unions are on the moderate side. One particularly moderate group represents a trade—the printers. The editor of their journal was actually dismissed because he was very moderate. In the printing industry, workers and principals first met. People have no idea of how much they depend on their environment. Printers work with lead—which attacks more than just the lungs—and this affects the soul sphere, creating a particularly sober attitude to life.
Another example. I met someone who eventually became a good theosophist. A particular ability he had caused him concern. He publishes a journal and is able to find analogies quickly. A scholar looking for such analogies may well sit for months and not get anywhere. This person found what he wanted by just picking a book from his bookcase. His thinking had grown so independent that the physical brain no longer impeded it. This does, of course, also hold great dangers. ‘Where do I get this from?’ he asked me. I told him that he might possibly have a lot of contact with copper. And that was indeed the case. He was playing the French horn, an instrument that also contains copper. This was sufficient to produce such a powerful effect. You can see from this that everything in the world around us has a profound influence on the human being, and this is how metals and precious stones relate to the nature of the human being.
Questions and answers
(Question not taken down.)
Looking at plants with an artist's eye the situation is that this does indeed first of all have an effect on the astral body, whilst occult vision influences the ether body. An artist may well get in touch with the archetypes for many of his works, be they sculptures, paintings or melodies; you meet them consciously on the devachan plan.
What is gold?
When earth and sun were still a single mass and still wholly pure ether, everything was dissolved, and the degree of subtlety was like that of sunlight. Minerals could not coagulate then. It was only after the sun had departed and some of the pure sunlight had remained with the earth that this condensed into gold in the earth's veins. Gold is condensed sunbeam and directly connected with the sun.
Sapphire corresponds to the feet in humans. The feet are much more important than is usually thought. There was a time when the feet still had the ability to hold fast by means of a kind of suction, similar to the way a fly does it.
Opal corresponds more to a region from which the lung, too, has evolved.
Ruby has to do with the 'higher organ of the brain', as it is called, the organ of intuition.
Iron causes some excitation of sensual nature in man. When the earth met with Mars, this quality also entered into the blood. An occultist does not like to touch objects made of pure iron.
Question concerning Edward Bulwer's novel The Coming Race211Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George, 1st Baron (1803–73). The Coming Race published in 1870. Was translated into German at the suggestion of Rudolf Steiner and Giinther Wachsmuth.
Everything that has existed on earth before will return. The vril power is based on something special. Today people can really only make use of the powers that lie in mineral nature. Gravity is mineral, electricity is mineral by nature. We are able to run railways thanks to coal. Something human beings are not yet able to use is the power that lies in plants. The power that makes the tall stems of wheat grow in a field is as yet a latent power. Human beings will make it serve their aims just as they do the energy of coal. And this is vril. It is the power fakirs use, and they live in an atavistic way—characteristic of the ancestral state.
Was Goethe an initiate?
Goethe's initiation took place between the time he lived in Leipzig (1765–1768) and his time in Strasbourg (1770–1771), at a time when he was close to death. He was not conscious of the fact, however. He only became aware of it in 1795. It had come up again in him as early as 1794, but only vaguely. At a moment of enlightenment he then wrote his poem Die Geheimnisse (the secrets), which has remained a fragment. He only truly revealed his beliefs in his Tale of the Green Serpent and the Beautiful Lily. His initiation on the physical plan was done by a particular individual.
Edelsteine und Metalle in Ihrem Zusammenhang Mit Der Erden- und Menschheitsevolution
Ich sprach Ihnen früher davon, daß in jedem Menschen Kräfte schlummern, die entwickelt werden können und die ihn zu höherer Daseinsstufe erheben. Wie die physische Welt durch physische Organe wahrgenommen wird, so kann die übersinnliche Welt durch übersinnliche Organe wahrgenommen werden. Damals wurden die Mittel angegeben, wenn auch bruchstückweise, durch die der Mensch sich sehend machen kann. Heute wollen wir, um zu unserem Thema hinüberzuleiten, gewisse Mittel anführen, die innerhalb der inneren Schulung gebraucht werden.
Auf jeder Stufe sind neue Anweisungen zu befolgen. Was heute besprochen wird, genügt nicht allein, aber es reiht sich ein. Auf dem Weg zur Schülerschaft wird eine Anweisung gegeben, die dahin geht, daß der Mensch sich angewöhnt, ein ganz bestimmtes Verhältnis zur übersinnlichen Welt zu bekommen, ein moralisches Verhältnis. Auf der ersten Stufe muß der Mensch sich klarmachen, daß ebenso wie er ein empfindendes Wesen ist, auch die Tiere empfindende Wesen sind. Wie jedoch der Mensch eine individuelle Seele hat, so haben die Tiergruppen eine Gattungsseele. So haben alle Löwen, alle Haifische, alle Frösche und so weiter zusammen eine Seele. Anders ausgedrückt: Während der Mensch die Seele als Inneres hat, reichen die Tierseelen, gleichsam die seelischen Verbindungsfaden der Tiere, bis in die astrale Welt hinein, und dort sind die Gemeinschaftsseelen der Tiergruppen. Wenn man dem Menschen weh tut, so empfindet er es allein. Verletzt man aber den Löwen, so empfindet das die Gruppenseele, die nicht auf dem physischen Plan lebt, sondern auf dem astralen Plan.
Die Schulung geht nun dahin, ein Verhältnis, ein Empfindungsverhältnis zu den Tierseelen auf dem astralen Plan zu bekommen. Hierfür ein Beispiel: In manchen Gegenden galt den alten Deutschen das Pferd als Verehrungsgegenstand. Sie pflanzten einen Pferdeschädel als Symbol auf ihre Häuser. Die Wahl eines solchen Symbols zeigt, daß sie in einem ganz bestimmten Verhältnis zum Pferd standen. Woher kam das? Das Pferd entstand erst zu einer ganz bestimmten Zeit. In der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit trat diese Gattung Tiere, selbstverständlich nach und nach, auf. Dies fiel zusammen mit der Entwickelung der Klugheit. Wenn der Mensch sich das auch nicht in Begriffen besonders klarmachte, so hatte er vergleichsweise eine Anziehung zu dem Pferd wie der Liebende zur Geliebten. Der Araber hat noch heute ein besonderes Verhältnis zu seinem Pferd. Manche Hinweise finden sich in der Mythologie. So ersann die Klugheit des Odysseus ein hölzernes Pferd. In diesem Sinne wird der Mensch eine Empfindung für die Gattungsseele der verschiedenen Tiere bekommen. Wenn dies ins Bewußtsein übergehen wird, dann beginnt das Verhältnis zum astralischen Plan aufzugehen.
Auf diese Weise kann auch ein moralisches Verhältnis zur Pflanzenwelt entstehen. Der Okkultist sieht nicht nur die Schönheit der Pflanze, sondern er empfindet etwas wie ein lächelndes oder ein trauriges Antlitz. Man hat sehr viel von diesem moralischen Empfinden. Wenn Sie ein solches moralisches Verhältnis ausbilden, dann treten Sie in Beziehung zur unteren Region des Devachanplanes.
Auch für die tote Steinwelt kann man eine feine Empfindung ausbilden. Das Gestein hat eine Gruppenseele auf dem Devachanplan, so wie das Tier eine Gruppenseele auf dem astralen Plan besitzt. Im Devachan leben die Seelen der Minerale. Deshalb sind sie für den Menschen nicht erreichbar. Wie die Fliege, wenn sie über unsere Hand läuft, nicht ahnt, daß dahinter eine Seele liegt, so wissen die Menschen nicht, daß Steine Seele haben.
Wenn nun Steine Seelen haben, dann werden Sie auch verstehen, wie ein moralisches Verhältnis zu ihnen entstehen kann. Ein menschlicher, ein tierischer Leib hat Begierden, Leidenschaften und Triebe. Der Pflanzenleib hat keine Begierden mehr, aber er hat noch Triebe. Der Steinleib hat weder Begierde noch Trieb, deshalb stellt er uns Menschen ein Ideal vor, dahingehend, daß unsere Triebe vergeistigt werden sollen. Und in ferner Menschenzukunft wird das erreicht werden: Leiber ohne Begierde und Triebe werden die Menschen haben. Einst wird der Mensch diamantgleich sein, er wird nicht mehr innerliche Triebe haben, sondern solche sind dann äußerlich beherrscht.
Der Stein stellt schon heute diese Keuschheit dar, er ist begierdelose Materie. Dieses Begierdenlose muß der okkulte Schüler bereits jetzt in sich ausbilden. In diesem Sinn steht der Stein über Tier, Pflanze und Mensch. Eine alte Rosenkreuzerformel beginnt damit, daß es heißt: Ich habe das ewige Schöpferwort in den Stein gelegt. - Keusch und jungfräulich bewahrt der Stein dieses Schöpferwort in den Tiefen des physischen Daseins.
Wenn man solches Empfinden gegenüber dem Stein zur spirituellen Erfahrung steigern kann, wird man hellsichtig in den höchsten Partien des Devachan.
Ich werde nun das Mineralreich von einer andern Seite charakterisieren. Gehen wir in der Evolution der Erde, wie wir sie kennen, bis zur atlantischen Zeit zurück. Die Atmosphäre war von Wasserdampf erfüllt. Auch der Atlantier schaute ganz anders aus als der heutige Mensch. Und noch weiter zurück, als der lemurische Kontinent bestand, als noch eine sehr hohe Temperatur herrschte, war der Mensch ein halbes Wassergeschöpf. Damals waren auch alle Mineralien in anderem Zustand. Blei konnte da unmöglich fest sein. Es gab auch eine Zeit, in der das Gold noch nicht fest war; das war der Fall, als Sonne und Erde noch vereinigt waren. Als die Erde aus der Sonne schied, zeigten sich noch Spuren von diesem feineren Stoff. Dieser gerann wie alle Metalle und bildete nun im Gestein Adern von Gold. Noch weiter zurückgehend, kommen wir zu einer Zeit, in der auch die Edelsteine geronnen sind. Damals war auch die Kohle noch durchsichtig und bildete den Diamanten. Die zu dieser frühen Zeit herrschenden physikalischen Verhältnisse ermöglichten das. Zu anderer Zeit entstand der Karneol, wieder zu anderer der Topas.
Nun müssen Sie festhalten, daß die Seele des Menschen auch damals schon vorhanden war, doch hatte sie noch keinen physischen Leib. Die Erde befand sich einstmals in einem Zustand, in dem es vollständig unmöglich gewesen wäre, daß ein physischer Leib sie bewohnte. Der Mensch hatte da nur den Ätherleib. In diesem Ätherleib entstand zu einer bestimmten Zeit die Anlage zu den Augen. Das physische Auge ist erst später durch den Ätherleib herausgebildet worden. Alle andern Organe sind zuerst aus dem Ätherleib heraus gegliedert und gebildet worden. Jedesmal, wenn ein solches Ätherorgan sich bildete, war die Veranlassung die Begierde. Der Astralleib hatte die Begierde, etwas wahrzunehmen, zu sehen, da wirkte er auf den Ätherleib und formte aus diesem heraus das Ätherauge; später erst wurde das physische Auge herausgegliedert. Das ätherische Gegenbild entstand im Mineralreich, und dieses begierdelose Gegenbild ist der Chrysolith. So ist tatsächlich ein intimer Zusammenhang zwischen dem menschlichen Sehen und dem Chrysolith. Daher verwendet der Okkultist zu besonderen Zwecken Steine. Er empfindet eine Sympathie zwischen dem Sehen und dem Chrysolith und weiß, wie auf gewisse Augenkrankheiten damit zu wirken ist.
Früher als die Gesichtsanlage entstand die Anlage zum Hören. Da wurde im keuschen Steinreich das Hören als Onyx vorgebildet. Nun hängt der Sinn des Gehörs am nächsten mit der reinsten Materie zusammen. Wo Tonwellen den Raum durchfluten, da ist der feinste Klangäther, auch Zahlenäther oder chemischer Äther genannt. Es gibt noch den Wärme-, Licht- und Lebensäther. Der feine Klangäther war die Veranlassung zum Gehör und zur Bildung der Anlage zum Onyx. Ich erinnere Sie hierbei an den Alten mit der Lampe in Goethes «Märchen von der grünen Schlange». Seine Lampe verwandelte alles Holz in Silber, tote Tiere in Edelsteine, den Mops, den toten Hund, in Onyx.
Mit dem Tastsinn entstand der Karneol, mit dem Geschmackssinn der Topas, mit dem Geruchssinn der Jaspis, mit der Ausbildung des Verstandes der Beryll und mit der Entstehung des bildlichen Vorstellungsvermögens der Karfunkel. Wie eine schöne Legende berichtet, verlor Luzifer, als er aus den himmlischen Bereichen herabgestürzt wurde, einen Stein aus seinem Diadem — das war der Karfunkel. In der Tat entstand dieser Edelstein zur selben Zeit, als das menschliche Vorstellungsvermögen, zunächst bildhaft, zu erwachen begann.
Mit dem Sonnengeflecht, das mit den unwillkürlichen, unbewußten Bewegungen im menschlichen Leibe zusammenhängt, entstand der Smaragd. Zur Zeit der ältesten Bildung, als der erste Ansatz zum menschlichen physischen Leib entstand, bildete sich die Anlage zum Diamanten. Sie schen, wie tief die Zusammenhänge in der Welt sind. Das ist nicht Aberglaube, sondern Weisheit.
Hier will ich Ihnen zwei Tatsachen aus dem reichen Feld des Okkultismus nennen. Sie wissen, daß es unter den Arbeitergewerkschaften auch gemäfßigte Richtungen gibt. Eine besonders gemäRigte Gruppe umfaßt eine bestimmte Berufsgenossenschaft, das sind die Buchdrucker. Der Redakteur ihrer Zeitung wurde sogar hinausgeworfen, weil er so gemäßigt eingestellt war. Bei den Buchdruckern begegneten sich zuerst Arbeiter und Prinzipale. Der Mensch ahnt gar nicht, wie abhängig er von seiner Umgebung ist. Weil der Buchdrucker mit Blei zu tun hat — es greift das nicht nur die Lunge an -, entsteht ein seelischer Effekt: Eine gewisse nüchterne Gesinnung wird herbeigeführt.
Ein anderes Beispiel. Ich kam mit einem Menschen zusammen, der nach und nach ein guter Theosoph wurde. Eine ganz unerklärliche Fähigkeit machte ihm Sorge. Er gibt eine Zeitschrift heraus und ist imstande, rasch Analogien zu finden. Würde ein Gelehrter nach solchen Analogien suchen, so würde er vielleicht unter Umständen monatelang ratlos dasitzen. Der Betreffende fand mit einem Griff nach dem Bücherbord das Gewünschte. Sein Denken wurde so frei, daß es nicht mehr durch das physische Gehirn beengt wurde. Das hat aber auch seine großen Gefahren. «Woher kommt das bei mir?» fragte er mich. Da sagte ich ihm, möglicherweise hätte er viel mit Kupfer zu tun. So war es wirklich: Er blies das Waldhorn, das auch Kupfer enthält. Dies genügte, um eine so starke Wirkung hervorzurufen. Daraus ersehen Sie, wie alles draußen in der Welt einen tiefen Einfluß auf den Menschen hat, und so stehen Metalle und Edelsteine in Beziehung zu der Natur des Menschen.
Fragenbeantwortung
Frage nicht notiert.
Mit dem künstlerischen Anschauen der Pflanzen verhält es sich so, daß dieses allerdings zunächst auf den astralischen Leib wirkt, während das okkulte Schauen in den Ätherleib hineinwirkt. Der Künstler mag zu manchen seiner Werke, sei es Skulptur, Bild oder Melodie, den Urbildern begegnen, bewußt findet man sie auf dem Devachanplan.
Was ist Gold?
Als Erde und Sonne noch eine Masse bildeten und alles noch reiner Äther war, da war alles aufgelöst, und zwar in eine Feinheit wie das Sonnenlicht. Da konnten die Minerale nicht gerinnen. Erst nachdem die Sonne sich abgetrennt hatte und als etwas vom reinen Sonnenlicht bei der Erde verblieben war, verdichtete sich dieses in den Adern der Erde zum Gold. Das Gold ist verdichteter Sonnenstrahl und steht in unmittelbarem Zusammenhang mit der Sonne.
Saphir entspricht am Menschen den Füßen. Die Füße sind ein viel wichtigeres Glied, als man gewöhnlich annimmt. Einstmals hatten die Füße noch die Fähigkeit, sich wie ansaugend festzuhalten, ähnlich wie die Fliege es tut.
Opal entspricht mehr einer Region, der auch die Lunge entsprossen ist.
Rubin hängt zusammen mit dem, was man das höhere Organ des Gehirns nennt, mit dem Intuitionsorgan.
Eisen ruft im Menschen eine gewisse Erregung der sinnlichen Natur hervor. Als die Erde sich mit dem Mars begegnete, wurde auch jene Eigenschaft im Blut erzeugt. Der Okkultist greift nicht gerne rein eiserne Gegenstände an.
Frage nach der Bedeutung des Romans «Vril» von Edward Bulwer.
Alles, was es früher in der Welt gab, kommt wieder. Der VrilKraft liegt etwas Besonderes zugrunde. Jetzt kann der Mensch eigentlich nur die Kräfte der mineralischen Natur benutzen. Schwerkraft ist mineralisch, Elektrizität ist ebenfalls mineralisch. Den Betrieb von Eisenbahnen verdanken wir der Steinkohle. Was aber der Mensch noch nicht zu benützen versteht, das ist die pflanzliche Kraft. Die Kraft, die in einem Getreidefeld die Halme herauswachsen läßt, ist noch eine latente Kraft, und diese wird der Mensch ebenso in seinen Dienst zwingen wie die Kraft der Steinkohle. Das ist Vril. Es ist dieselbe Kraft, die die Fakire noch benützen. Sie leben im Atavismus -— Ahnenzustandsmerkmal.
War Goethe ein Eingeweihter?
Die Initiation Goethes fand statt zwischen seinem Leipziger und Straßburger Aufenthalt, wo er dem Tode nahe war. Es kam ihm aber damals nicht zum Bewußtsein. Dies geschah erst 1795. Schon 1784 tauchte es wieder neu in ihm auf, aber noch undeutlich. Damals schrieb er das Fragment gebliebene Gedicht «Die Geheimnisse» in einem erleuchteten Augenblick. Erst im «Märchen von der grünen Schlange und der schönen Lilie» legte er sein Bekenntnis nieder. Seine Einweihung auf dem physischen Plan geschah durch eine ganz bestimmte Persönlichkeit.
Gems and Metals in Their Relationship to Earth and Human Evolution
I spoke to you earlier about the fact that every human being has dormant powers that can be developed and that can elevate them to a higher level of existence. Just as the physical world is perceived through physical organs, the supersensible world can be perceived through supersensible organs. At that time, the means by which human beings can become clairvoyant were indicated, albeit fragmentarily. Today, in order to lead us to our topic, we want to mention certain means that are used in inner training.
New instructions must be followed at each stage. What is discussed today is not sufficient on its own, but it fits in with the rest. On the path to discipleship, an instruction is given that humans should accustom themselves to developing a very specific relationship with the supersensible world, a moral relationship. At the first stage, humans must realize that just as they are sentient beings, animals are also sentient beings. However, just as humans have an individual soul, animal groups have a generational soul. Thus, all lions, all sharks, all frogs, and so on, have one soul together. In other words, while humans have the soul as something internal, the souls of animals, the spiritual connecting threads of animals, so to speak, extend into the astral world, where the community souls of animal groups are located. When a human being is hurt, he feels it alone. But if you hurt a lion, the group soul feels it, which does not live on the physical plane, but on the astral plane.
The training now aims to establish a relationship, a relationship of feeling, with the animal souls on the astral plane. Here is an example: In some regions, the ancient Germans regarded the horse as an object of worship. They planted a horse skull on their houses as a symbol. The choice of such a symbol shows that they had a very special relationship with the horse. Where did this come from? The horse first appeared at a very specific time. In the middle of the Atlantean epoch, this species of animal appeared, gradually of course. This coincided with the development of intelligence. Even if humans did not express this clearly in words, they felt an attraction to the horse comparable to that of a lover to his beloved. Even today, Arabs still have a special relationship with their horses. Some references can be found in mythology. Thus, the intelligence of Odysseus conceived a wooden horse. In this sense, humans will develop a feeling for the species soul of the various animals. When this enters consciousness, the relationship to the astral plane begins to blossom.
In this way, a moral relationship to the plant world can also develop. The occultist not only sees the beauty of the plant, but also senses something like a smiling or sad face. One has a great deal of this moral sensitivity. If you develop such a moral relationship, you enter into a relationship with the lower region of the Devachan plane.
One can also develop a subtle sensitivity to the dead world of stones. Rocks have a group soul on the Devachan plane, just as animals have a group soul on the astral plane. The souls of minerals live in Devachan. That is why they are inaccessible to humans. Just as a fly running across our hand has no idea that there is a soul behind it, so humans do not know that stones have souls.
If stones have souls, then you will also understand how a moral relationship with them can arise. A human or animal body has desires, passions, and instincts. The plant body no longer has desires, but it still has instincts. The stone body has neither desire nor instinct, which is why it presents us humans with an ideal in the sense that our instincts should be spiritualized. And in the distant future of humanity, this will be achieved: humans will have bodies without desires and instincts. One day, humans will be like diamonds; they will no longer have inner instincts, but these will then be controlled externally.
The stone already represents this chastity today; it is desireless matter. The occult student must already develop this desirelessness within himself. In this sense, the stone stands above animals, plants, and humans. An old Rosicrucian formula begins with the words: I have placed the eternal word of creation in the stone. Chaste and virginal, the stone preserves this creative word in the depths of physical existence.
If one can elevate such feelings toward the stone to a spiritual experience, one becomes clairvoyant in the highest parts of Devachan.
I will now characterize the mineral kingdom from another perspective. Let us go back in the evolution of the Earth as we know it to the Atlantean period. The atmosphere was filled with water vapor. The Atlanteans also looked very different from today's humans. And even further back, when the Lemurian continent existed and temperatures were still very high, humans were half aquatic creatures. At that time, all minerals were also in a different state. Lead could not possibly have been solid. There was also a time when gold was not yet solid; that was when the sun and the earth were still united. When the earth separated from the sun, traces of this finer substance were still visible. Like all metals, it solidified and formed veins of gold in the rock. Going back even further, we come to a time when gemstones also solidified. At that time, coal was also still transparent and formed diamonds. The physical conditions prevailing at that early time made this possible. At another time, carnelian was formed, and at yet another, topaz.
Now you must bear in mind that the soul of man already existed at that time, but it did not yet have a physical body. The earth was once in a state in which it would have been completely impossible for a physical body to inhabit it. Human beings had only the etheric body. At a certain time, the basis for the eyes arose in this etheric body. The physical eye was only formed later through the etheric body. All other organs were first structured and formed out of the etheric body. Each time such an etheric organ was formed, the cause was desire. The astral body had the desire to perceive something, to see, so it acted on the etheric body and formed the etheric eye out of it; only later was the physical eye structured out of it. The etheric counterpart arose in the mineral kingdom, and this desireless counterpart is chrysolite. Thus there is indeed an intimate connection between human vision and chrysolite. This is why occultists use stones for special purposes. They sense a sympathy between vision and chrysolite and know how to use it to treat certain eye diseases.
The faculty of hearing developed earlier than the faculty of sight. In the chaste mineral kingdom, hearing was preformed as onyx. Now, the sense of hearing is most closely related to the purest matter. Where sound waves flood through space, there is the finest sound ether, also called number ether or chemical ether. There is also the ether of warmth, light, and life. The fine sound ether was the impetus for hearing and for the formation of the onyx faculty. I remind you here of the old man with the lamp in Goethe's “Fairy Tale of the Green Snake.” His lamp turned all wood into silver, dead animals into precious stones, and the pug, the dead dog, into onyx.
With the sense of touch came carnelian, with the sense of taste came topaz, with the sense of smell came jasper, with the development of the intellect came beryl, and with the emergence of the power of visual imagination came carbuncle. As a beautiful legend tells, when Lucifer was cast down from the heavenly realms, he lost a stone from his diadem—that was the carbuncle. In fact, this gemstone came into being at the same time as the human imagination, initially pictorial, began to awaken.
The emerald came into being with the solar plexus, which is connected with the involuntary, unconscious movements in the human body. At the time of the earliest formation, when the first beginnings of the human physical body arose, the predisposition for the diamond was formed. You see how deep the connections in the world are. This is not superstition, but wisdom.
Here I would like to mention two facts from the rich field of occultism. You know that there are also moderate tendencies among the labor unions. One particularly moderate group comprises a certain professional association, namely the printers. The editor of their newspaper was even fired because he was so moderate. The printers were the first to encounter workers and principals. People have no idea how dependent they are on their environment. Because printers work with lead—which not only attacks the lungs—it has a psychological effect: it brings about a certain sober attitude.
Another example. I met a person who gradually became a good theosophist. An inexplicable ability worried him. He publishes a magazine and is able to quickly find analogies. If a scholar were to search for such analogies, he might sit there perplexed for months. The person in question found what he was looking for with a glance at the bookshelf. His thinking became so free that it was no longer constrained by the physical brain. But this also has its great dangers. “Where does this come from in me?” he asked me. I told him that he might have a lot to do with copper. And that was indeed the case: he played the French horn, which also contains copper. This was enough to cause such a strong effect. From this you can see how everything in the outside world has a profound influence on human beings, and how metals and precious stones are related to human nature.
Answering questions
Question not noted.
When viewing plants artistically, this initially affects the astral body, while occult viewing affects the etheric body. The artist may encounter the archetypes of some of his works, be they sculptures, paintings, or melodies; consciously, they are found on the Devachan plane.
What is gold?
When the Earth and Sun still formed a single mass and everything was still pure ether, everything was dissolved into a fineness like sunlight. Minerals could not coagulate. Only after the sun had separated and some of the pure sunlight remained with the earth did it condense into gold in the veins of the earth. Gold is condensed sunlight and is directly related to the sun.
Sapphire corresponds to the feet in humans. The feet are a much more important limb than is commonly assumed. In the past, the feet had the ability to hold on as if sucking, similar to what a fly does.
Opal corresponds more to a region from which the lungs also originate.
Ruby is connected to what is called the higher organ of the brain, the organ of intuition.
Iron evokes a certain sensual excitement in humans. When the Earth encountered Mars, this property was also created in the blood. Occultists do not like to touch objects made purely of iron.
Question about the meaning of the novel “Vril” by Edward Bulwer.
Everything that existed in the world in the past will return. The Vril force is based on something special. At present, humans can only use the forces of mineral nature. Gravity is mineral, electricity is also mineral. We owe the operation of railways to coal. But what humans do not yet know how to use is the power of plants. The force that makes the stalks grow in a cornfield is still a latent force, and humans will harness it just as they have harnessed the power of coal. That is Vril. It is the same force that fakirs still use. They live in atavism — a characteristic of their ancestral state.
Was Goethe an initiate?
Goethe's initiation took place between his stays in Leipzig and Strasbourg, where he was close to death. However, he was not aware of this at the time. This did not happen until 1795. As early as 1784, it reappeared in him, but still indistinctly. At that time, he wrote the fragmentary poem “Die Geheimnisse” (The Secrets) in a moment of enlightenment. It was not until “The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily” that he made his confession. His initiation on the physical plane was carried out by a very specific personality.