gaseous beings...
"We cannot conceive the Earth as a mere conglomeration of
minerals and rocks, as is done by modern mineralogy and geology,
but we must rather regard it as a living, ensouled organism,
which brings forth the plants, the animals, and the physical
being of humankind out of its own forces."
(Rudolf Steiner, from Cycle of the Year)
This exerpt assumes prior reading of short discussion
on "Levels of Consciousness" - which deliniates the
constitution of the Ether and Astral bodies.
--| Sleep and Heat Beings; exerpt from Occult Science |-----
The physical body can retain the form and stature suitable for man only by
means of the human ether body, which in turn receives its proper forces from
the astral body. The ether body is the builder, the architect, of the physical
body, but it can only build in the right way if it receives the impulse for
this purpose from the astral body. In the astral body reside the prototypes
according to which the ether body gives form to the physical body. During the
waking state, the astral body is not filled with these prototypes of the
physical body, or at least only to a certain degree, for, during the waking
state, the soul puts its own images in the place of these prototypes. When man
directs the senses toward his environment he forms, by means of perception,
thought images that are likenesses of the world about him. These likenesses
are at first disturbances for the images that stimulate the ether body to
maintain the physical body. Were the human being able, through his own
activity, to bring to his astral body the images that are required to give the
right impulse to the ether body, then there would be no such disturbance. This
very disturbance, however, plays an important role in human existence. It
expresses itself in the fact that the prototypes for the ether body do not act
to the full extent of their power during waking life. The astral body carries
on its waking activity within the physical body. In sleep, it works upon the
physical body from without.
Just as the physical body, for example, needs the outer world, which is of
like nature to itself, to supply it with the means of subsistence, something
similar is also the case with the astral body. Just imagine a physical human
body removed from its surrounding world. It would have to perish. This
demonstrates that without the whole physical environment it is not possible
for the physical body to exist.
In fact, the entire earth must be as it is, if human physical bodies are to
exist upon it. The whole human body is, in reality, only a part of the earth;
indeed, in a wider sense, a part of the whole physical universe. In this
respect its relationship is similar, for example, to that of a finger to the
entire human body. If the finger is severed from the hand, it can no longer
continue to be a finger; it withers. This would also happen to the human body
were it removed from the organism of which it is a member, from the life
conditions offered it by the earth. If we were to lift it a sufficient number
of miles above the earth's surface, it would perish just as the finger
perishes that has been severed from the hand. If less consideration has been
given to this fact in respect of the physical body and the earth than in
respect of the finger and the body, it is simply because the finger cannot
stroll about on the body in the way that the human being walks about on the
earth, and because in the former case the dependence is more obvious.
Just as the physical body belongs to the physical world in which it is
embedded, so does the astral body belong to its own world; during waking life,
however, it is torn out of this world of its own. What happens there may be
illustrated by an analogy. Imagine a vessel filled with water. A drop within
this whole mass of water is not something isolated. Let us, however, take a
little sponge and with it absorb a drop from the whole. Something similar
occurs with the human astral body on awaking. During sleep it is in a world
like itself; in a certain sense it constitutes something that belongs to this
world. On awaking, the physical and ether bodies suck it up; they fill
themselves with it. They contain the organs through which the astral body
perceives the outer world. But in order that it may acquire this perception,
it must separate itself from its own world. From this world it can only
receive the prototypes that it needs for the ether body.-Just as the physical
body receives its food, for example, from its environment, so during the sleep
state the astral body receives the images from the world about it. It lives
there actually in the universe, separated from the physical and ether bodies,
in the same universe out of which the entire human being is born. The source
of the images through which the human being receives his form lies in this
universe. During sleep he is harmoniously inserted into it, and during the
waking state he lifts himself out of this all-encompassing harmony in order to
gain external perception. In sleep, his astral body returns to this cosmic
harmony and on awaking again brings back to his bodies sufficient strength
from it to enable him to dispense with his dwelling within the cosmic harmony
for a certain length of time. The astral body, during sleep, returns to its
home and on awaking brings back with it renewed forces into life. These forces
that the astral body brings with it on awaking find outer expression in the
refreshment that healthy sleep affords.
(Rudolf Steiner, Occult Science, pp.52-54) §
[now, images of someone taking breath of air, and plunging into pool. then
coming out of pool and gasping for breath, and then dive in again... diving
into and of of 3D Flatland... "into the sea, out of the sea..."]
Of the present four members of the being of man, the physical body is the
oldest. It is also the member that, in its own way, has attained the greatest
perfection. Supersensible research shows that this human member was already in
existence during the Saturn evolution. It will be seen in the course of this
description that the form, however, which this physical body possessed upon
Saturn was something quite different from the present human physical body.
This earthly human physicai body can only maintain its existence by reason of
its connection with the life body, astral body, and ego, described in the
preceding parts of this book. Such a connection did not yet exist upon Saturn.
At that time the physical body passed through its first stage of evolution
without having a human life body, astral body, or ego inserted into it. During
the Saturn evolution it gradually matured so as to be able to receive a life
body. To this end, Saturn had first to pass over into a spiritual state and
then reincarnate as the Sun. During the Sun incarnation, what had become the
physical body on Saturn unfolded again, as though from a germ of a past
evolution, and only then could it draw into itself an etheric body. Through
this insertion of an etheric body, the physical body changed its character. It
was raised to a second degree of perfection.
A similar thing occurred during the Moon evolution. The human ancestor, having
evolved from the Sun to the Moon, received into himself the astral body, and
thus the physical body became changed a third time; that is, it was raised to
the third degree of its perfection. Moreover, the life body was likewise
changed, and it stood now in the second stage of its perfection. Upon the
Earlh the ego was added to the human ancestor consisting of physical body,
life body, and astral body. The physical body thereby reached its fourth
degree of perfection, the life body its third, the astral body its second; the
ego stands only in its first stage of existence.
! If we give ourselves up to an unprejudiced examination of the human being,
there will be no difficulty in correctly picturing these various degrees of
perfection of the individual members. We need only in this connection compare
the physical body with the astral. Certainly it is true that the astral body,
as a soul member, stands at a higher stage of evolution than the physical
body, and when, in the future, the astral body will have perfected itself, it
will have a much greater significance for the entire being of man than the
present physical body. Still ir' its owr' way the physical
body has reached a certain climax of evolution. In this connection one need
but think of the structure of the heart, organized in accordance with the
greatest wisdom, the marvellous structure of the brain and other organs, even
that of an individual portion of a bone, for example, that of the upper part
of the thigh bone, the great trochanter. There is within the end of this bone
a net-like or trestle-like structure of delicate bony fibers, formed in
harmony with the laws of mechanics. The whole is fitted together in such a
manner that, with the least amount of material, the most advantageous effect
on the articular surfaces is attained, for example, the most suitable
distribution of friction and as a result a proper kind of mobility. Thus in
the various
parts of the human body structures are to be found full of wisdom, and if we
consider further the harmomous co-operation between the parts and the whole,
we shall certainly find that it is correct to speak of the particular
perfectlon of this member of the human being. ln this connection, the fact
that in certain parts of the physical body seemingly inadequate phenomena may
appear, or that disturbances may arise either in the structure or in the
functions, IS of no importance. We shall even be able to discover that these
disturbances are, in a certain sense, only the necessary shadow side of the
wisdom-filled light that is shed over the entire physical organism. Now
compare with this the astral body as the bearer of joy and sorrow, of desire
and passion. Oh, what insecurity reigns in this body in respect of joy and
sorrow, what desires and passions are enacted within it, often meaningless and
running counter to higher human purposes! The astral body is only m process of
acquiring the harmony and inner completeness that we already find in the
physical body. In like manner it is possible to show that the ether body, in
its way, appears more perfect than the astral body, but less perfect than the
physical body, and an adequate consideration will prove that the essential
kernel of the human being, the ego, stands at present only at the beginning of
its evolutions. For how much has this ego already accomplished of its task of
transforming the other members of man's being in such a manner that they be a
manifestation of its own nature?- What results from external observation in
this direction is made more acute for those who understand spiritual SCience
by means of something else. One may quote the fact that the physical body can
be overtaken by slckness. Spiritual
science is in the position to show that a great part of all sicknesses
originates from the fact that the perversity and mistakes of the astral body
are transmitted to the etheric body, and in a roundabout way through the
latter destroy the complete harmony of the physical body. The deeper
connection which can only be touched upon here, and the actual cause of many
disease processes elude the scientific mode of observation that confines
itself only to physical sensory facts. In most cases it happens that the
damaging of the astral body does not produce pathological tendencies of the
physical body in the same life in which the damage has occurred, but only in a
subsequent one. Therefore, the laws that apply here have a meaning only for
those who are able to acknowledge the repetition of human life on earth, but
even if there is no desire to gain such deeper knowledge, yet the ordinary
view of life shows that the human being indulges himself altogether too much
in enjoyments and desires that undermine the harmony of the physical body.
Pleasure, desire, passion do not reside in the physical, but in the astral
body, and this is in many respects still so imperfect that it can destroy the
perfection of the physical body.-We wish to call attention to the fact that no
attempt is made here to prove by such arguments the statements of spiritual
science concerning the evolution of the four members of man's being. The
proofs are taken from spiritual research, and this shows that the physical
body has passed through a fourfold metamorphosis on to higher degrees of
perfection, and that the other human members, as already described, have
undergone fewer transformations. We only wished to point out that these
communications of spiritual research relate to facts the effects of which show
also in the outwardly observable degrees of perfection of the physical, life,
and astral bodies.
If we wish to form an approximately accurate pictorial idea of the conditions
during the Saturn evolution, we must take into consideration the fact that
during that period essentially nothing existed of the things and creatures
that belong at present to the earth, and are counted among the mineral, plant,
and animal kingdoms. The beings of these three kingdoms only came into
existence in later pe riods of evolution. Of the present physically visible
earth beings, only man existed at that time, and only that part of him, the
physical body, as already described. At the pres ent time, not only do these
beings of the mineral, plant, an imal, and human kingdoms belong to the earth,
but there are also other beings who do not manifest in a physical body. These
beings were also present during the Saturn ev olution, and their activity on
Saturn as a sphere of action resulted in the subsequent evolution of man. If
one directs the spiritual organs of perception, not to the beginning and the
end, but to the middle evolutionary period of this Saturn incarnation, a state
appears consist ing chiefly of "heat." No gaseous, fluid, or solid elements
are to be found there. All these conditions only appear m later cosmic
incarnations. Let us imagine a human being with his present sense organs
approaching this Saturn world as an observer. He would then experience none of
the sense-impressions of which he is capable, except the sensation of heat. On
reaching the space occupied by Saturn, he would only perceive that it had a
condition of heat different from the rest of the surrounding space. He would
not find this space uniformly warm throughout, but would find hot and cold
regions alternating in the most varied manner. Heat would be perceived
radiating according to certain lines, not straight lines, but in irregular
forms, produced by the variations in heat. He would have before him something
like an organized cosmic being, appearing in ever changing states, consisting
only of heat.
For man of the present day it must be diffficult to imagine something that
consists only of heat, since he is not accustomed to recognize heat as
something in itself, but to perceive it only in connection with hot or cold
gaseous, fluid, or solid bodies. Especially the man who has acquired the ideas
of modern physics will look upon the above way of speaking about heat as pure
nonsense. He will perhaps say that there are solid, fluid, and gaseous bodies;
heat, however, denotes only the condition in which any one of these three
bodily forms finds itself. When the smallest particles of a gas are in motion,
this motion is perceived as heat. Where there is no gas, there can be no such
motion, therefore also no heat.-The matter appears quite different to the
researcher in spiritual science. For him, heat is something about which he can
speak in the same sense he can speak of a gas, of a fluid, or of a solid body;
it is for him only a substance still finer than gas, and gas is to him nothing
else than condensed heat, in the same sense that a fluid is a condensed vapor,
or a solid body a condensed fluid. Thus the spiritual scientist speaks of heat
bodies just as he speaks of gaseous and vaporous bodies.-If someone wishes to
follow the spiritual researcher into this realm, it is only necessary to grant
that there exists spiritual perception. In the glven world of the physlcal
senses, heat exists
entirely as a state of a solid, a fluid, or gaseous body. This condition,
however, is only the external aspect of heat, or its effect. The physicists
speak only of this effect of heat, not of its inner nature. Let us try to
disregard all effects of heat that we receive through external objects, and
picture to ourselves only our inner experience when we say, "I feel warm," "I
feel cold." This inner experience can alone give us an idea of the Saturn
state at the period of its development described above. It would have been
possible to pass through the whole of the space occupied by Saturn without
finding any sort of gas that could exert pressure, or any sort of solid or
fluid body from which we could receive an impression of light. But in every
point in space, without any impression from outside, we would have had the
inner feeling that here there exists this or that degree of heat.
(Rudolf Steiner, Occult Science, pp. 114-120) §
Of the present four members of the being of man, the physical body is the
oldest. It is also the member that, in its own way, has attained the greatest
perfection. Supersensible research shows that this human member was already in
existence during the Saturn evolution. It will be seen in the course of this
description that the form, however, which this physical body possessed upon
Saturn was something quite different from the present human physical body.
This earthly human physicai body can only maintain its existence by reason of
its connection with the life body, astral body, and ego, described in the
preceding parts of this book. Such a connection did not yet exist upon Saturn.
At that time the physical body passed through its first stage of evolution
without having a human life body, astral body, or ego inserted into it. During
the Saturn evolution it gradually matured so as to be able to receive a life
body. To this end, Saturn had first to pass over into a spiritual state and
then reincarnate as the Sun. During the Sun incarnation, what had become the
physical body on Saturn unfolded again, as though from a germ of a past
evolution, and only then could it draw into itself an etheric body. Through
this insertion of an etheric body, the physical body changed its character. It
was raised to a second degree of perfection.
A similar thing occurred during the Moon evolution. The human ancestor, having
evolved from the Sun to the Moon, received into himself the astral body, and
thus the physical body became changed a third time; that is, it was raised to
the third degree of its perfection. Moreover, the life body was likewise
changed, and it stood now in the second stage of its perfection. Upon the
Earlh the ego was added to the human ancestor consisting of physical body,
life body, and astral body. The physical body thereby reached its fourth
degree of perfection, the life body its third, the astral body its second; the
ego stands only in its first stage of existence.
If we give ourselves up to an unprejudiced examination of the human being,
there will be no difficulty in correctly picturing these various degrees of
perfection of the individual members. We need only in this connection compare
the physical body with the astral. Certainly it is true that the astral body,
as a soul member, stands at a higher stage of evolution than the physical
body, and when, in the future, the astral body will have perfected itself, it
will have a much greater significance for the entire being of man than the
present physical body. Still ir' its owr' way the physical
body has reached a certain climax of evolution. In this connection one need
but think of the structure of the heart, organized in accordance with the
greatest wisdom, the marvellous structure of the brain and other organs, even
that of an individual portion of a bone, for example, that of the upper part
of the thigh bone, the great trochanter. There is within the end of this bone
a net-like or trestle-like structure of delicate bony fibers, formed in
harmony with the laws of mechanics. The whole is fitted together in such a
manner that, with the least amount of material, the most advantageous effect
on the articular surfaces is attained, for example, the most suitable
distribution of friction and as a result a proper kind of mobility. Thus in
the various
parts of the human body structures are to be found full of wisdom, and if we
consider further the harmomous co-operation between the parts and the whole,
we shall certainly find that it is correct to speak of the particular
perfectlon of this member of the human being. ln this connection, the fact
that in certain parts of the physical body seemingly inadequate phenomena may
appear, or that disturbances may arise either in the structure or in the
functions, IS of no importance. We shall even be able to discover that these
disturbances are, in a certain sense, only the necessary shadow side of the
wisdom-filled light that is shed over the entire physical organism. Now
compare with this the astral body as the bearer of joy and sorrow, of desire
and passion. Oh, what insecurity reigns in this body in respect of joy and
sorrow, what desires and passions are enacted within it, often meaningless and
running counter to higher human purposes! The astral body is only m process of
acquiring the harmony and inner completeness that we already find in the
physical body. In like manner it is possible to show that the ether body, in
its way, appears more perfect than the astral body, but less perfect than the
physical body, and an adequate consideration will prove that the essential
kernel of the human being, the ego, stands at present only at the beginning of
its evolutions. For how much has this ego already accomplished of its task of
transforming the other members of man's being in such a manner that they be a
manifestation of its own nature?- What results from external observation in
this direction is made more acute for those who understand spiritual SCience
by means of something else. One may quote the fact that the physical body can
be overtaken by slckness. Spiritual
science is in the position to show that a great part of all sicknesses
originates from the fact that the perversity and mistakes of the astral body
are transmitted to the etheric body, and in a roundabout way through the
latter destroy the complete harmony of the physical body. The deeper
connection which can only be touched upon here, and the actual cause of many
disease processes elude the scientific mode of observation that confines
itself only to physical sensory facts. In most cases it happens that the
damaging of the astral body does not produce pathological tendencies of the
physical body in the same life in which the damage has occurred, but only in a
subsequent one. Therefore, the laws that apply here have a meaning only for
those who are able to acknowledge the repetition of human life on earth, but
even if there is no desire to gain such deeper knowledge, yet the ordinary
view of life shows that the human being indulges himself altogether too much
in enjoyments and desires that undermine the harmony of the physical body.
Pleasure, desire, passion do not reside in the physical, but in the astral
body, and this is in many respects still so imperfect that it can destroy the
perfection of the physical body.-We wish to call attention to the fact that no
attempt is made here to prove by such arguments the statements of spiritual
science concerning the evolution of the four members of man's being. The
proofs are taken from spiritual research, and this shows that the physical
body has passed through a fourfold metamorphosis on to higher degrees of
perfection, and that the other human members, as already described, have
undergone fewer transformations. We only wished to point out that these
communications of spiritual research relate to facts the effects of which show
also in the outwardly observable degrees of perfection of the physical, life,
and astral bodies.
If we wish to form an approximately accurate pictorial idea of the conditions
during the Saturn evolution, we must take into consideration the fact that
during that period essentially nothing existed of the things and creatures
that belong at present to the earth, and are counted among the mineral, plant,
and animal kingdoms. The beings of these three kingdoms only came into
existence in later pe riods of evolution. Of the present physically visible
earth beings, only man existed at that time, and only that part of him, the
physical body, as already described. At the pres ent time, not only do these
beings of the mineral, plant, an imal, and human kingdoms belong to the earth,
but there are also other beings who do not manifest in a physical body. These
beings were also present during the Saturn ev olution, and their activity on
Saturn as a sphere of action resulted in the subsequent evolution of man. If
one directs the spiritual organs of perception, not to the beginning and the
end, but to the middle evolutionary period of this Saturn incarnation, a state
appears consist ing chiefly of "heat." No gaseous, fluid, or solid elements
are to be found there. All these conditions only appear m later cosmic
incarnations. Let us imagine a human being with his present sense organs
approaching this Saturn world as an observer. He would then experience none of
the sense-impressions of which he is capable, except the sensation of heat. On
reaching the space occupied by Saturn, he would only perceive that it had a
condition of heat different from the rest of the surrounding space. He would
not find this space uniformly warm throughout, but would find hot and cold
regions alternating in the most varied manner. Heat would be perceived
radiating according to certain lines, not straight lines, but in irregular
forms, produced by the variations in heat. He would have before him something
like an organized cosmic being, appearing in ever changing states, consisting
only of heat.
For man of the present day it must be diffficult to imagine something that
consists only of heat, since he is not accustomed to recognize heat as
something in itself, but to perceive it only in connection with hot or cold
gaseous, fluid, or solid bodies. Especially the man who has acquired the ideas
of modern physics will look upon the above way of speaking about heat as pure
nonsense. He will perhaps say that there are solid, fluid, and gaseous bodies;
heat, however, denotes only the condition in which any one of these three
bodily forms finds itself. When the smallest particles of a gas are in motion,
this motion is perceived as heat. Where there is no gas, there can be no such
motion, therefore also no heat.-The matter appears quite different to the
researcher in spiritual science. For him, heat is something about which he can
speak in the same sense he can speak of a gas, of a fluid, or of a solid body;
it is for him only a substance still finer than gas, and gas is to him nothing
else than condensed heat, in the same sense that a fluid is a condensed vapor,
or a solid body a condensed fluid. Thus the spiritual scientist speaks of heat
bodies just as he speaks of gaseous and vaporous bodies.-If someone wishes to
follow the spiritual researcher into this realm, it is only necessary to grant
that there exists spiritual perception. In the glven world of the physlcal
senses, heat exists
entirely as a state of a solid, a fluid, or gaseous body. This condition,
however, is only the external aspect of heat, or its effect. The physicists
speak only of this effect of heat, not of its inner nature. Let us try to
disregard all effects of heat that we receive through external objects, and
picture to ourselves only our inner experience when we say, "I feel warm," "I
feel cold." This inner experience can alone give us an idea of the Saturn
state at the period of its development described above. It would have been
possible to pass through the whole of the space occupied by Saturn without
finding any sort of gas that could exert pressure, or any sort of solid or
fluid body from which we could receive an impression of light. But in every
point in space, without any impression from outside, we would have had the
inner feeling that here there exists this or that degree of heat.
(Rudolf Steiner, Occult Science, pp. 114-120) §
The more advanced stage that man attains on the Sun may be characterized by
saying that the physical body, germinally formed already on Saturn, is raised to
a second stage of perfection by becoming the bearer of an ether or life body.
This ether or life body itself attains the first degree of its perfection during
the Sun evolution. In order, however, that this second degree of perfection of
the physical body and the first degree of perfection of the life body be
attained, it is necessary in the further course of the life of the Sun that yet
other spiritual beings interpose themselves in a way similar to what was already
described for the Saturn stage.
When the Spirits of Wisdom begin to pour the life body into man, the Sun,
previously dark, now begins to radiate. At the same time the first signs of an
inner activity appear in the germinal human being; life begins. What on Saturn
had to be characterized as an appearance of life, now becomes actual life. This
pouring in of the life body continues for a certain length of time, after which
an important change takes place in the human germ, namely, it divides into two
parts. Whereas previously the physical body and life body formed one
closely-bound whole, the physical body now begins to detach itself as a separate
part. This detached physical body, however, continues also to be permeated by the
life body. We have now before us a twofold human being. One part is a physical
body worked upon by a life body, the other part is pure life body This separation
takes place during an interval of rest in the life of the Sun. During this
interval, the radiation that had already begun is again extinguished. The
separation takes place, as it were, during a "cosmic night." This interval of
rest is much shorter than the interval of rest between the Saturn and Sun
evolutions, of which we have spoken previously. After the expiration of this
interval, the Spirits of Wisdom continue to work for a time upon the twofold
human being just as they had worked before on the singlemembered human being. The
Spirits of Motion then begin their activity. They let their own astral body surge
through the human life body. As a result, it acquires the capacity to carry on
certain inner movements within the physical body. These movements may be likened
to the movements of sap in our present-day plants.
The Saturn body consisted solely of heat substance. During the Sun evolution this
heat substance condenses to a state that may be compared with the present state
of gas or vapour. It is the state that may be designated by the word "air." The
first appearance of such a state manifests itself after the Spirits of Motion
have begun their activity. The following spectacle presents itself to
supersensible consciousness. Within the heat substance something appears like
delicate structures that are set into regular motion by means of the forces of
the life body. These structures represent the human physical body at that stage
of evolution. They are completely permeated by heat and enclosed by a mantle of
heat. Physically speaking, this human being may be said to consist of heat
structures into which air forms are articulated that are in regular motion. If we
wish to keep to the above comparison with the plants of the present day, we must
remain conscious of the fact that we are not dealing with a compact plant
formation, but with a gaseous or aeroform structure, the movements of which may
be compared with the movements of the sap in present-day plants. The gas appears
to supersensible consciousness through the effect of light, which the gas permits
to stream forth from itself. We might thus also speak of light structures that
are perceptible to spiritual vision. This evolution then proceeds further. After
a certain length of time a pause again ensues, after which the Spirits of Motion
continue their activities until these are supplemented by the activities of the
Spirits of Form, the effect of which produces permanency in the previously
continuously changing gaseous forms. This, too, takes place through the fact that
the Spirits of Form permit their forces to flow in and out of the human life
body. Previously, when only the Spirits of Motion were acting upon them, these
gaseous structures were in ceaseless motion, holding their form only momentarily.
Now, however, they assume temporarily distinguishable shapes. Again after a
certain length of time there ensues a period of rest, at the end of which the
Spirits of Form continue their activities. Then entirely new conditions arise
within the Sun evolution.
We have reached the point where the Sun evolution has arrived at the central
stage of its development. It is at this time that the Spirits of Personality-who
had reached their human stage on Saturn-rise to a still higher stage of
perfection. They surpass their human stage and acquire a consciousness that our
present earthly humanity has not yet attained in the regular course of its
evolution. It will reach this stage of consciousness when the Earth-that is to
say, the fourth planetary evolutionary stage-shall have reached its goal and
passed over into the subsequent planetary period. Man will then not only be able
to perceive in his environment what at present is transmitted to him by the
physical senses, but he will be able to observe in pictorial images the inner
soul states of the beings in his environment. He will possess a picture
consciousness, but at the same time retain full self-consciousness. His pictorial
perception will not be dreamy and dull. He will perceive the soul pictorially,
yet at the same time these soul pictures will be the expression of realities just
as now physical colours and tones are expressions of realities. At the present
time, a human being can only develop such perception in himself through
spiritual-scientific training. The nature of this training will be dealt with in
a later part of this book. During the Sun stage, the Spirits of Personality
acquire this perception as a normal part of their evolution. Because of this they
become, during the Sun evolution, capable of working upon the newly formed human
life body just as they worked upon the physical body on Saturn. Just as at that
time heat reflected back to them their own personality, so now the gaseous shapes
reflect back to them in resplendent light the pictures of their perceiving
consciousness. They behold supersensibly what takes place upon the Sun, and this
perception is by no means mere observation. It is as though something of the
force that on earth is called love were making itself felt in the images that
stream forth from the Sun. If we observe more closely with our soul powers, the
reason for this phenomenon may be discovered. Exalted beings are now working
actively in the light radiating from the Sun. These beings are the already
designated Spirits of Love-Seraphim. They work, henceforth, on the human ether or
life body in co-operation with the Spirits of Personality. By means of this
activity, the life body itself advances a stage on its evolutionary journey. It
acquires the capacity, not only to transform the gaseous structures within it,
but to fashion them in such a way that the first indications of a reproduction of
the living human being appear. Exudations are driven out, sweated out of these
gaseous structures, which assume shapes similar to their maternal forms.
In order to characterize the further evolution of the Sun, it is necessary to
draw attention to the important fact of cosmic history, that in the course of an
epoch all the beings involved do not by any means reach the goal of their
evolution. There are some who fall short of it. Thus during the Saturn evolution
not all of the Spirits of Personality actually reach the human stage for which
they were originally destined in the manner described. Likewise, not all of the
human physical bodies, formed on Saturn, attain the degree of maturity that would
have made them capable of becoming bearers of an independent life body on the
Sun. The result is that upon the Sun there exist beings and formations that do
not fit into its conditions. These have to retrieve, during the Sun evolution,
what they failed to attain upon Saturn. Hence, during the Sun stage the following
can be observed. When the Spirits of Wisdom begin to pour in the life body, the
body of the Sun, as it were, becomes turbid-darkened. Structures are mingled with
it that in reality would belong to Saturn. These are heat structures that are
unable to condense properly to air.
--| References |----------------
i) (Rudolf Steiner, An Outline of Occult Science, p. 136-140) §
ii) See "Levels of Consciousness", a brief Introduction.
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