Egyptian Myths and Mysteries
GA 106
Fifth Lecture
The Genesis of the Trinity of Sun, Moon, and Earth. Osiris and Typhon.
Up to this point in these lectures we have tried to construct a picture of the earth's evolution in connection with the evolution of man, because we had to demonstrate how the earth's past, how the facts of its evolution, were reflected in the knowledge displayed by the various cultural periods of the post-Atlantean time. The deepest experiences of the pupils of the Rishis were characterized, and it was shown how these inner experiences of the neophyte portrayed, in inward clairvoyantly-perceived pictures, the relationships and events that prevailed in the primeval earth, when sun and moon were still contained in it. We also saw what a high stage of initiation such a pupil had to reach in order to build for himself such a world-conception, which appears as a recapitulation of what occurred in the remotest past. We also saw what the Greeks thought when, in the campaigns of Alexander, they became acquainted with what was experienced by such an Indian neophyte, in whose soul arose the picture of the divine-spiritual creative force that began to express itself in the primeval mist when sun and moon were still united with the earth. This picture, the Brahman of the Indians, which was later called I-Brahma (Aham Brahma) and which appeared to the Greeks as Heracles—this picture, we sought to bring before our souls as an inner recapitulation of the facts that actually occurred in the past.
It was also emphasized that the succeeding evolutionary periods of the earth were reflected in the Persian and Egyptian cultures. What occurred in the second epoch, when the sun withdrew from the earth, appeared in pictures to the Persian initiates. All that happened as the moon gradually withdrew became the world-conception and the initiation-principle of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, Assyrians.
Now, in order to look quite clearly into the soul of the ancient Egyptian, which is the most important thing for us—and considering the Persian initiation only as a sort of preparation—we must examine a little more narrowly just what happened to our earth during the periods when the sun and moon were separating from it. We shall sketch how the earth itself gradually evolved during these times. We shall disregard the great cosmic events and direct our attention to what happened on the earth itself.
If again we look back on our earth in its primeval condition, when it was still united with sun and moon, we do not find our animals or plants, and especially not our minerals. At first the earth was composed only of man, only of the human germs. Of course it is true that the animal and plant germs were laid down on the old Sun and the old Moon, and that they were already contained in the earliest condition of the Earth, but in a certain way they were still slumbering, so that one could not perceive that they would really be able to bring forth anything. It was only when the sun began to withdraw that the germs that later became animals first became capable of germinating. Not until the sun had completely withdrawn from the earth, leaving earth and moon alone, did the same thing happen to the germs that later became plants. The mineral germs formed themselves gradually, only when the moon had begun to withdraw. We must keep this clearly in mind.
Now, for once, let us look at the earth itself. When it still had sun and moon within itself, the earth was only a sort of etheric mist of vast extent, within which the human germs were active, while the germs of the other beings—animals, plants, and minerals—slumbered. Since only human germs were present, there were no eyes to behold these events externally, hence the description given here is visible only for the clairvoyant vision in retrospect. It is given on the hypothesis that it is what one would have seen had one been able at that time to observe from a point in universal space.
On ancient Saturn, too, a physical eye would have seen nothing. In that primeval condition, the earth was merely a vaporous mist that could be felt physically only as warmth. Out of this mass, this primeval etheric mist, there gradually took shape a shining ball of vapor, which could have been seen had a physical eye been present. Could one have penetrated this with a feeling-sense, it would have appeared as a heated space, somewhat like the interior of an oven. But soon this mist became luminous, and this ball of vapor that thus took shape contained all the germs of which we have just spoken. We must be quite clear that this mist was nothing like a fog or cloud-formation of today; rather did it contain in solution all the substances which at present are solid or liquid. All metals, all minerals, everything, were then present in the mist in transparent and translucent form. There was a translucent vapor, permeated by warmth and light. Think yourself into this. What had grown out of the etheric mist was a translucent gas. This grew brighter and brighter, and through the condensation of the gases the light grew ever stronger, so that ultimately this vapor-mist appeared like a great sun that shone out into world-space.
This was the period when the earth still contained the sun, when the earth was still irradiated by light and rayed its light into world-space. But this light made it possible, not only that man should live with the earth in that primeval condition, but that in the fullness of the light there should also live all those other high beings who, although not assuming a physical body, were connected with the evolution of man: Angels, Archangels and Principalities. But not only were these present. In the fullness of the light lived still higher beings also: the Powers, or Exusiai, or Spirits of Form; the Virtues, or Dynameis, or Spirits of Motion; the Dominions, or Kyriotetes, or Spirits of Wisdom; those spirits who are called the Thrones, or Spirits of Will; finally, in looser connection with the fullness of the light, more and more detaching themselves therefrom, the Cherubim and Seraphim. The earth was a world inhabited by a whole hierarchy of lower and higher beings, all sublime. What radiated out into space as light, the light with which the earth-body was permeated, was not light only but also what was later the mission of the earth: It was the force of love. This contained the light as its most important component. We must imagine that not only light was rayed forth, not physical light alone, but that this light was ensouled, inspirited, by the force of love. This is difficult for the modern mind to grasp. There are people today who describe the sun as though it were a gaseous ball that simply radiates light. Such a purely material conception of the sun prevails exclusively today. The occultists are the only exception. One who reads a description of the sun today as it is represented in popular books, in the books that are the spiritual nourishment of countless people, does not learn to know the true being of the sun. What these books say about the sun is worth about as much as if one described a corpse as the true being of man. The corpse is no more man than what astrophysics says of the sun is really the sun.
Just as one who describes a corpse leaves out the most important thing about man, so the physicist who describes the sun today leaves out the most important thing. He does not reach its essence, although he may believe that with the help of spectroanalysis he has found its inner elements. What is described is only the outer body of the sun.1This sentiment as to the sun is eloquently expressed in English by D. H. Lawrence in his Apocalypse (New York, Viking, 1932), pp. 41-46. In every sunbeam there streams down on all the inhabitants of the earth the force of those higher beings who live on the sun, and in the light of the sun there descends the force of love, which here on earth streams from man to man, from heart to heart. The sun can never send mere physical light to earth; the warmest, most ardent, feeling of love is invisibly present in the sunlight. With the sunlight there stream to earth the forces of the Thrones, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and the whole hierarchy of higher beings who inhabit the sun and have no need of any body other than the light. But since all this that is present in the sun today was at that time still united with the earth, those higher beings themselves were also united with the earth. Even today they are connected with earth-evolution.
We must reflect that man, the lowest of the higher beings, was at that time already present in the germ as the new child of the earth, borne and nourished in the womb by these divine beings. The man who lived in the period of earth-evolution that we are now considering, had to have a much more refined body, since he was still in the womb of these beings. The clairvoyant consciousness perceives that the body of the man of that time consisted only of a fine mist-form or vapor-form; it was a body of air or gas, a gas-body rayed through and entirely permeated by light. If we imagine a cloud formed with some regularity, a chalice-like formation expanding in an upward direction, the chalice glowing with inner light, we have the men of that time who, for the first time in this earth-evolution, began to have a dim consciousness, such a consciousness as the plant-world has today. These men were not like plants in the modern sense. They were cloud-masses in chalice-like form, illuminated and warmed by the light, with no firm boundaries dividing them from the collective earth-mass.
This was once the form of man, a form that was a physical light-body, participating still in the forces of the light. Because of the refinement of this body there could descend into it not only an etheric and an astral body, not only the ego in its first beginnings, but also the higher spiritual beings who were connected with the earth. Man was, as it were, rooted above in the divine spiritual beings, and these permeated him. It is really not easy to portray the splendor of the earth at that time. We must picture it as a light-filled globe, shone round by light-bearing clouds and generating wonderful phenomena of light and color. Had one been able to feel this earth with his hands, he would have perceived warmth-phenomena. The luminous masses surged back and forth. Within them were all the human beings of today, woven through by all the spiritual beings, who rayed forth light in manifold grandeur and beauty. Outside was the earth-cosmos in its great variety; inside, with the light flowing about him, was man, in close connection with the divine-spiritual beings, raying streams of light into the outer light-sphere. As though by an umbilical cord that sprang from the divine, man hung upon this totality, on the light-womb, the world-womb of our earth. It was a collective world-womb in which the light-plant man lived at that time, feeling himself one with the light-mantle of the earth. In this refined vaporous plant-form, man hung as though on the umbilical cord of the earth-mother and he was cherished and nourished by the whole mother earth. As in a cruder sense the child of today is cherished and nourished in the maternal body, so the human germ was cherished and nourished at that time. Thus did man live in the primeval age of the earth.
Then the sun began to withdraw itself, taking the finest substances with it. There came a time when the high sun-beings forsook men, for all that today belongs to the sun forsook our earth and left the coarser substances behind. As a result of this departure of the sun, the mist cooled to water; and where there was formerly a mist-earth, now there was a water-sphere. In the middle were the primeval waters, but not surrounded by air; going outward, the waters changed into thick, heavy mist, which gradually became more refined. The earth of that time was a water-earth. It contained various materials in a soft state, which were enveloped by mists that became ever finer until, in the highest spheres, they became extremely rarefied. Thus did our earth once appear and thus was it altered. Men had to sink the formerly luminous gas-form into the turbid waters and incarnate there as shaped water-masses swimming in the water, as previously they had been air-forms floating in the air. Man became a water-form, but not entirely. Never did man descend entirely into the water.
This is an important moment. It has been described how the earth was a water-earth, but man was only partially a water-being. He protruded into the mist-sheath, so that he was half a water, half a vapor-being. Below, in the water, man could not be reached by the sun; the water-mass was so thick that the sunlight could not penetrate it. The light of the sun could penetrate into the vapor to some extent, so that man dwelt partly in the dark light-deprived water and partly in the light-permeated vapor. Of one thing, however, the water was not deprived, and this we must describe more minutely.
From the beginning, the earth was not only glowing and shining, but was also resounding, and the tone had remained in the earth, so that when the light departed the water became dark, but also became drenched with tone. It was the tone that gave form to the water, as one may learn from the well-known experiment in physics. We see that tone is something formative, a shaping force, since through tone the parts are arranged in order. Tone is a shaping power, and it was this that formed the body out of the water. That was the force of tone, which had remained in the earth. It was tone, it was the sound that rings through the earth, out of which the human form shaped itself. The light could reach only to the part of man that protruded out of the water. Below was a water-body; above was a vapor-body, which the external light touched, and which, in this light, was accessible to the beings who had gone out with the sun. Formerly, when the sun was still united with the earth, man felt himself to be in their womb. Now they shone down on him in the light and irradiated him with their power.
We must not forget, however, that in what remained behind after the separation of the sun other forces, the Moon-forces, were present. The earth had to separate these forces from itself.
Here we have a period during which only the sun was withdrawn, when the plant-man had to descend gradually into the water-earth. This stage, at which man had then arrived in his body, we see preserved today in a degenerated form in fishes. The fishes that we see in the water today are relics of those men, although naturally in a decadent form. We must think of a goldfish, for example, in a fantastic plant-form, agile, but with a feeling of sadness because the light had been withdrawn from the water. It was a very deep longing that arose. The light was no longer there, but the desire for the light called up this longing. There was a moment in the earth's evolution when the sun was not yet entirely outside the earth; there one can see that form still permeated with light—man with his upper part still at the sun-stage, while below he is already in the shape preserved in the fishes.
Through the fact that man lived in darkness with half his being, he had in his lower parts a baser nature, for in the submerged parts he had the Moon-forces. This part was not petrified like lava, as in the present moon, but these were dark forces. Only the worst parts of the astral could penetrate here. Above was a vapor-form, resembling the head parts, into which the light shone from outside and gave him form. So man consisted of a lower and an upper part. Swimming and floating, he moved about in the vaporous atmosphere. This thick atmosphere of the earth was not yet air; it was vapor, and the sun could not penetrate it. Warmth could penetrate, but not light. The sun-rays could not kiss the whole earth, but only its surface; the earth-ocean remained dark. In this ocean were the forces that later went out as the moon.
As the light-forces penetrated into the earth, so also did the gods penetrate. Thus we have, below, the godless, god-deserted mantle of waters, permeated only by the force of tone, and, all around this, the vapor, into which extended the forces of the sun. Therefore in this vapor-body, which rose above the surface of the water, man still participated in what streamed to him as light and love from the spiritual world. But why did the world of tone permeate the dark watery core? Because one of the high sun-spirits had remained behind, binding his existence to the earth. This is the same spirit whom we know as Yahweh or Jehovah. Yahweh alone remained with the earth, sacrificing himself. It was he whose inner being resounded through the water-earth as shaping tone.
But since the worst forces had remained as the ingredients of the water-earth, and since these forces were dreadful elements, man's vapor-portion was drawn ever further down, and out of the earlier plant-form a being gradually evolved that stood at the stage of the amphibian. In saga and myth this form, which stood far below later humanity, is described as the dragon, the human amphibian, the lindworm. Man's other part, which was a citizen of the realm of light, is presented as a being which cannot descend, which fights the lower nature; for example, as Michael, the dragon-slayer, or as Saint George combating the dragon. Even in the figure of Siegfried with the dragon, although transformed, we have pictures of man's rudiments in their primeval duality. Warmth penetrated into the upper part of the earth and into the upper part of physical man, and formed something like a fiery dragon. But above that rose the ether body, in which the sun's force was preserved. Thus we have a form that the Old Testament well describes as the tempting serpent, which is also an amphibian.
The time was now approaching during which the basest forces were hurled out. Mighty catastrophes shook the earth, and for the occultist the basalt formations appear as remnants of the cleansing forces that rocked the globe when the moon had to separate from the earth. This was also the time when the water-core of the earth condensed more and more, and the firm mineral kernel gradually evolved. On the one hand, the earth grew denser through the departure of the moon; on the other the upper parts gave off their heavier, coarser substances to the lower. Above, there arose something which, although still permeated by water, became more and more similar to our air. The earth gradually acquired a firm kernel in the middle, around which was the water everywhere. At first, the mist was still impenetrable for the sun's rays, but by relinquishing its substances the mist grew thinner and thinner. Later, much later, air developed out of this, and gradually the sun's rays, which earlier could not reach the earth itself, were able to penetrate it.
Now came a stage that we, must picture correctly. Earlier, man dived down into the water and extended up into the mist. Now, through the condensation of the earth, the water-man slowly acquired the possibility of solidifying his form and taking on a hard bony system. Man hardened himself within himself. Thereby he transformed his upper part in such a way that it became suited for something new. This new thing, which previously was impossible, was the breathing of air. Now we find the first beginning of the lungs. In the upper part there has previously been something that took up the light, but could do nothing more. Now man felt the light again in his dull consciousness. He could feel what streamed down in it as divine forces coming toward him. In this transitional stage man felt that what streamed down upon him was divided into two parts. The air penetrated into him as breath. Previously only the light had reached him, but now the air was inside him. Feeling this, man had to say to himself, “Formerly I felt that the force that is above me gave me what I now use for breathing. The light was my breath.”
What now streamed into him appeared to man as two brothers. Light and air were two brothers for him; they had become a duality for him. All earthly breath that streamed into man was at the same time an annunciation that he had to learn to feel something entirely new. As long as there was light alone, he did not know birth and death. The light-permeated cloud transformed itself perpetually, but man felt this only as the changing of a garment. He did not feel that he was born or that he died. He felt that he was eternal, and that birth and death were only episodes. With the first drawing of breath, the consciousness of birth and death entered into him. He felt that the air-breath, which had split off from its brother the light-ray, and which thereby had split off also the beings who earlier had flowed in with the light, had brought death to him.
Formerly, man had the consciousness, “I have a dark form, but I am connected with the eternal being.” Who was it that destroyed this consciousness? It was the air-breath that entered into man—Typhon. Typhon is the name of the air-breath. When the Egyptian soul experienced within itself how the formerly united stream divided itself into light and air, the cosmic event became a symbolic picture for this soul—the murder of Osiris by Typhon, or Set, the air-breath.
A mighty cosmic event is hidden in the Egyptian myth that allows Osiris to be killed by Typhon.2Fairly complete versions of this myth may be found in Padraic Colum: Orpheus Myths of the World (New York, Macmillan, 1930) and in Lewis Spence: Mysteries of Egypt (London, Rider & Co., 1929). The Egyptian experienced the god who came from the sun and was still in harmony with his brother, as Osiris. Typhon was the air-breath that had brought mortality to man. Here we see one of the most pregnant examples of how the facts of cosmic evolution repeat themselves in man's inner knowledge.
In this way the trinity of sun, moon, and earth came into being. All of this was communicated to the Egyptian pupil in deep and consciously formed pictures.
Fünfter Vortrag
Wir haben bisher in diesen Vorträgen versucht, uns ein Bild zu machen von unserer Erdenentwickelung im Zusammenhange mit der des Menschen, weil wir auseinandersetzen mußten, wie die Vergangenheit der Erde, wie die Tatsachen unserer Erdenentwickelung sich in der Erkenntnis der einzelnen Kulturperioden der nachatlantischen Zeit widerspiegeln. Wir konnten gerade die tiefsten Erlebnisse des Schülers der Rishis dahin charakterisieren und zeigen, wie sich diese inneren Erlebnisse eines solchen Einzuweihenden als innere, hellsichtig geschaute Bilder darstellten derjenigen Verhältnisse und Vorgänge, die sich abspielten in unserer Urerde, als diese noch in sich enthielt die Sonne und den Mond. Wir haben auch gesehen, welch eine hohe Stufe der Einweihung ein solcher Schüler der indischen Kultur erreichen mußte, um sich ein solches Weltanschauungsbild schaffen zu können, ein Bild, das wie eine Wiederholung dasteht von dem, was sich in urferner Vergangenheit abgespielt hat. Wir haben auch gesehen, was die Griechen dachten, als sie auf ihren Alexanderzügen bekannt wurden mit dem, was also ein indischer Einzuweihender erlebte, in dessen Seele sich erhob das Bild der göttlich-geistigen, schaffenden Kraft, das sich auszudrücken begann im Urnebel, als Sonne und Mond noch mit der Erde vereint waren. Dieses Bild, das Brahman der Inder, das den Griechen erschien wie Herakles, dieses Bild versuchten wir uns als eine innere Wiederholung der Tatsachen, die sich tatsächlich in der Vergangenheit abgespielt haben, vor die Seele zu führen. Es ist auch schon betont worden, daß die aufeinanderfolgenden Entwickelungsperioden der Erde sich spiegelten in der persischen und in der ägyptischen Kulturperiode. Was also in der zweiten Epoche geschah, als sich die Sonne herauszog aus der Erde, das wurde im Bilde bei den Eingeweihten der Perser in Erscheinung gebracht. Und das, was sich abspielte, als nach und nach der Mond herausging, das wurde Weltanschauung und Einweihungsprinzip bei den Ägyptern, Chaldäern, Babyloniern, Assyrern. Nun müssen wir uns, um ganz genau in die Seele des alten Ägypters hineinschauen zu können — denn das ist uns ja das Wichtigste, und die Persereinweihung werden wir nur wie eine Vorbereitung anschauen -, wir müssen uns noch einmal genauer darauf einlassen, wie es eigentlich mit unserer Erde zuging während der Zeiten, als sich Sonne und Mond von der Erde trennten.
Wir wollen jetzt ein Bild von der Erde selbst entwerfen, das sich nach und nach herausbildete, als die Sonne wegging und als später auch der Mond wegging. Es soll abgesehen werden von den großen kosmischen Ereignissen, und wir wollen sehen, was auf der Erde selbst geschieht. Wenn wir noch einmal auf die Erde im Urzustande zurückblicken, als sie mit Sonne und Mond vereinigt wat, so würden wir da nicht finden unsere Tiere, unsere Pflanzen und ganz und gar nicht unsere Mineralien. Das, woraus die Erde ursprünglich gestaltet war, war zunächst nur der Mensch, waren nur Menschenkeime. Zwar ist es richtig, daß auch schon die tierischen und pflanzlichen Keime angelegt wurden auf der alten Sonne und auf dem alten Monde, daß auch diese schon im Urzustande der Erde enthalten waren, aber sie waren gewissermaßen noch schlafende Keime, keine Keime, denen man hätte ansehen können, daß sie wirklich etwas hervorbringen könnten. Erst als die Sonne sich herauszubewegen begann, erst da wurden die Keime triebkräftig, die später zu Tieren wurden. Und erst als die Sonne sich vollständig von der Erde getrennt hatte und Erde und Mond allein waren, da wurden jene Keime Triebkeime, die später Pflanzen wurden. Und erst als der Mond herauszugehen begann, bildeten sich nach und nach die mineralischen Keime. Das wollen wir also festhalten.
Jetzt aber wollen wir die Erde einmal selbst anschauen. Die Erde war, als sie noch Sonne und Mond in sich hatte, nur eine Art großer ätherischer Dunstnebel von gewaltiger Ausdehnung, und darinnen waren triebkräftig die Menschenkeime, schlafend aber die Keime der anderen Wesen: Tiere, Pflanzen und Mineralien. Deshalb, weil nur Menschenkeime da waren, aber noch keine Augen, konnte auch kein Auge äußerlich diese Vorgänge sehen, so daß die hier gegebene Beschreibung nur sichtbar werden kann im Rückblick für den hellsehenden Menschen. Diese Beschreibung wird unter der hypothetischen Voraussetzung gemacht, daß das einer gesehen hätte, wenn er damals auf einem Punkt des Weltenraums sich hätte befinden und zuschauen können. Auch auf dem alten Saturn hätte ein physisches Auge gar nichts bemerkt. Damals, im Urzustand, war die Erde nur ein Dunstnebel, der nur als Wärme empfunden worden wäre. Aus dieser Masse, aus diesem Uräthernebel gliederte sich allmählich ein leuchtender Dunstball, der schon hätte gesehen werden können, wenn es damals ein Auge gegeben hätte. Und wenn man mit einem Gefühlssinn sozusagen hätte hineindringen können, wäre er erschienen wie ein erwärmter Raum; etwa wie das Innere eines Backofens würde er sich ausgenommen haben. Sehr bald aber wurde diese Nebelmasse leuchtend. Und dieser Dunstball, der sich da herausgebildet hatte, der hatte in sich alle die Keime, von denen eben gesprochen worden ist. Wir müssen uns klar sein, daß in diesem Dunstnebel nicht etwas vorlag wie ein heutiger Nebel oder wie heutige Wolkengebilde, sondern alle heute fest gewordenen und flüssigen Substanzen waren darinnen aufgelöst. Alle Metalle, alle Mineralien, alles, alles war in Dunst- und Nebelform, in einer sehr durchsichtigen Form, in einer durchleuchteten Dunstform darin vorhanden. Durchleuchteter Dunst war da, von Wärme und Licht durchdrungen. Denken Sie sich da hinein. Das was aus dem ätherischen Nebel geworden war, das war ein durchleuchtetes Gas. Und dieses hellte sich immer mehr und mehr auf, und gerade durch die Verdichtung der Gase wurde das Licht immer stärker, so daß in der Tat einmal dieser Dunstnebel wie eine große Sonne erschien, die in den Weltenraum hinausleuchtete.
Diesen Zeitpunkt gab es durchaus einmal, als die Erde noch die Sonne in sich hatte, als sie noch lichtdurchglänzt und durchstrahlt war und in den Weltenraum ihr Licht hinausstrahlte. Dieses Licht aber machte es möglich, daß nicht nur der Mensch in jener ursprünglichen Anlage mit der Erde lebte, sondern daß in der Fülle des Lichtes lebten alle anderen höheren Wesen, die nicht einen physischen Leib annahmen, aber mit der Entwickelung des Menschen verbunden sind: Engel, Erzengel, Urkräfte. Aber nicht nur diese waren darin; in der Lichtfülle lebten auch noch höhere Wesenheiten: die Gewalten oder Exusiai oder Geister der Form, die Mächte oder Dynamis oder Geister der Bewegung, die Herrschaften oder Kyriotetes oder Geister der Weisheit und jene Geister, die genannt werden die Throne oder Geister des Willens, und endlich in loserer Verbindung mit der Lichtfülle, sich immer mehr von ihr losringend, die Cherubim und die Seraphim. Ein von einer ganzen Hierarchie niederer und höchster, erhabenster Wesenheiten bevölkerter Weltenkörper war die Erde. Und das, was als Licht hinausstrahlte in den Raum, das Licht, womit der Erdenkörper durchdrungen wurde, das war nicht nur Licht, sondern auch das, was später die Erdenmission war: das war die Kraft der Liebe. Das hatte das Licht als seinen wichtigsten Bestandteil in sich. Wir müssen uns also vorstellen, daß nicht nur Licht ausgestrahlt wird, nicht nur physisches Licht, sondern daß dieses Licht durchseelt, durchgeistigt ist mit der Kraft der Liebe.
Das ist schwer vorzustellen für ein heutiges Gemüt. Gibt es doch heute Menschen, die die Sonne so beschreiben, als ob da so ein gasförmiger Ball wäre, der einfach Licht ausstrahlte. So etwas Materielles, so ein rein materielles Vorstellen herrscht heute einzig und allein von der Sonne. Ausgenommen sind davon nur die Okkultisten. Wer heute eine Beschreibung der Sonne liest, so wie sie in den populären Büchern dargestellt ist, in Büchern, die die geistige Nahrung unzähliger Menschen bilden, der hat nicht das Wesen der Sonne kennengelernt. Das was in diesen Büchern steht, das ist in bezug auf die Sonne genausoviel wert, wie wenn jemand als das Wesen des Menschen einen Leichnam beschreibt. So wahr der Leichnam der Mensch ist, so wahr ist das, was in der Astrophysik von der Sonne beschrieben ist, die Sonne.
Gerade so wie der das Wichtigste beim Menschen wegläßt, der den Leichnam beschreibt, so beschreibt der Physiker, der heute die Sonne beschreibt, nicht ihr Wesen, wenn er mit Hilfe der Spektralanalyse die inneren Bestandteile der Sonne gefunden zu haben glaubt; das was beschrieben ist, ist nur äußerer Leib der Sonne. In jedem Sonnenstrahle strömt auf alle Erdenwesen hernieder die Kraft höherer Wesenheiten, welche die Sonne bewohnen, und mit dem Lichte des Sonnenstrahls schwebt selber hernieder die Kraft der Liebe, dieselbe Kraft, die hier auf der Erde von Mensch zu Mensch, von Herzen zu Herzen strömt. Es kann die Sonne niemals bloß physisches Licht auf die Erde senden; dasselbe, was die heißeste und inbrünstigste Liebesempfindung ist, ist unsichtbar im Sonnenlichte vorhanden. Mit ihm strömen der Erde zu die Kräfte der Throne, der Seraphim, der Cherubim und der ganzen Hierarchie der höheren Wesenheiten, die auf der Sonne wohnen und die es nicht nötig haben, irgendeinen anderen Körper als das Licht zu haben. Weil aber das alles, was heute in der Sonne vorhanden ist, damals noch mit der Erde verbunden war, so waren auch alle die höheren Wesen mit der Erde selbst verbunden. Auch heute noch sind sie mit der Entwickelung der Erde verbunden.
Dann müssen wir bedenken, daß der Mensch, der das niederste von den höheren Wesen war, damals schon im Keim vorhanden war als das neue Kind der Erde, getragen und gehegt von diesen hohen Wesen, im Schoße dieser göttlichen Wesen lebend. Der Mensch, der in jener Zeit lebte, in welcher wir jetzt mit unseren Betrachtungen in der Erdenevolution stehen, mußte, weil er noch im Schoße dieser Wesenheiten war, auch damals einen viel feineren Leib haben. Und da ergibt sich dem hellsehenden Bewußtsein, daß der Leib des damaligen Menschen nur bestanden hat aus einer feinen Dunst- und Dampfform, einem Luft- oder Gasleib, einem vom Lichte ganz durchstrahlten, ganz durchsetzten Gasleib. Denken wir uns eine regelmäßig gestaltete Wolke, wie eine nach oben sich erweiternde, kelchartige Bildung, und denken wir uns diesen Kelch durchglüht und durchleuchtet von dem inneren Lichte, und wir haben die damaligen Menschen, die eben erst anfangen in dieser Erdenentwickelung ein dumpfes Bewußtsein zu haben, ein Bewußtsein, wie es heute die Pflanzenwelt hat. Nicht wie die Pflanzen im heutigen Sinne waren die Menschen; sie waren durchleuchtete und durchwärmte Wolkenmassen in Kelchesform und ohne feste Grenzen, nicht durch feste Grenzen getrennt von der Gesamterdenmasse.
Das war einmal die Gestalt des Menschen, eine Gestalt, die ein physischer Lichtleib war, teilhaftig noch der Kräfte des Lichtes. Deshalb konnten sich, wegen der Feinheit des Leibes, nicht nur hineinsenken ein eigener Ätherleib und Astralleib, nicht nur das Ich in den ersten Anfängen, sondern auch die höheren geistigen Wesenheiten, die mit der Erde verbunden waren. Damals wurzelte der Mensch noch sozusagen nach oben in den göttlich-geistigen Wesen, und diese durchdrangen ihn. Es ist wirklich nicht leicht, die Herrlichkeit der Erde von damals zu schildern und eine Vorstellung zu geben von jener Zeit. Wir müssen uns die Erde als eine lichtdurchglänzte Kugel vorstellen, von lichttragenden Wolken umstrahlt, wunderbare Lichterscheinungen von wunderbarem Farbenspiel erzeugend. Wenn man eine fühlende Hand hätte hineinstrecken können in diese Erde, man hätte Wärmeerscheinungen wahrgenommen, auf und ab wogend die durchglühten, durchleuchteten Massen, darin alle heutigen Menschenwesen, umwebt und umwogt von all den geistigen Wesenheiten, nach außen hin in grandioser Mannigfaltigkeit strahlendes Licht aussendend! Außen der Erdenkosmos in seiner großen Mannigfaltigkeit, innen der lichtumflossene Mensch, in Verbindung mit den göttlichgeistigen Wesenheiten, von ihnen ausgehend und Ströme von Licht in die äußere Lichtsphäre strahlend. Der Mensch hing wie an einer aus dem Göttlichen entspringenden Nabelschnur an diesem Ganzen, an dem Lichtschoß, dem Weltenschoß unserer Erde. Ein gemeinsamer Weltenschoß war es, in dem die Lichtpflanze Mensch damals lebte, sich eins fühlend mit dem Lichtmantel der Erde. So war der Mensch in dieser feinen Dunstpflanzenform wie an der Nabelschnur der Erdenmutter hängend, so war er gehegt und gepflegt von der ganzen Mutter Erde. Wie in einem gröberen Sinne heute das Kind gehegt und gepflegt ist im mütterlichen Leibe als Kindeskeim, so war damals gehegt und gepflegt der Menschenkeim. So lebte der Mensch damals in der urfernen Erdenzeit.
Dann begann die Sonne sich herauszulösen, die feinsten Substanzen mit sich nehmend. Es gab eine Zeit, in der die hohen Sonnenwesenheiten die Menschen verließen, da alles, was heute zur Sonne gehört, unsere Erde verließ und die gröberen Substanzen zurückließ. Und verbunden war dieses Hinausgehen der Sonne damit, daß der Dunst sich abkühlte zu Wasser, und wir haben, während wir früher die Dunsterde hatten, nun die Wasser-Erdkugel. In der Mitte waren die Urwasser, jedoch nicht von Luft umgeben; langsam gingen die Wasser über in dichte, dicke Nebel, die sich allmählich verfeinerten. So haben wir die damalige Erde als Wassererde, also darin auch Stoffe in weichem Zustande, umdunstet von Nebeln, die immer feiner wurden, bis hinauf in die höchsten Sphären, wo die Nebel ganz fein wurden. So haben wir einmal unsere Erde vor uns. So war sie verändert, und die Menschen mußten nun sozusagen die früher lichtdurchglühte Gasgestalt hineinsenken in die trüben Wasser und sich dort verkörpern als geformte Wassermassen im Wasser, wie vorher als Luftformen in der Luft. Der Mensch wurde eine Wassergestalt, jedoch keineswegs ganz. Niemals war der Mensch ganz ins Wasser hinuntergetaucht. Das ist ein wichtiger Moment. Es ist beschrieben worden, wie die Erde in der Mitte Wassererde war, der Mensch war nur teilweise ein Wasserwesen, er ragte hinein in die Dunsthülle, so daß er halb Wasser-, halb Dampfwesen war. Unten im Wasser konnte der Mensch unmöglich von der Sonne erreicht werden, die Wassermasse war so dick, daß das Sonnenlicht nicht durchdringen konnte. In den Dunst konnte das Licht der Sonne etwas hineindringen, so daß der Mensch lebte zum Teil im dunkeln, lichtberaubten Wasser und teilweise im lichtdurchglühten Dunst. Von etwas war jedoch das Wasser nicht beraubt, von etwas, das wir jetzt genauer beschreiben müssen.
Von Anfang an war die Erde nicht nur glühend, leuchtend, sondern auch tönend, und der Ton war in der Erde geblieben, so daß, als das Licht hinausging, innerlich das Wasser zwar dunkel wurde, innerlich aber auch vom Ton durchdrungen wurde, und der Ton war es, der dem Wasser gerade die Gestaltung, die Form gab, wie man das ja an dem bekannten physikalischen Experiment kennenlernen kann. Wir sehen, daß der Ton ein Gestaltendes ist, eine formende Kraft, weil durch den Ton die Teile gegliedert oder geordnet werden. Der Ton hat eine formende Kraft, und die war es, die auch den Leib aus dem Wasser heraus geformt hat. Das war die Kraft des Tones, die noch in der Erde geblieben war. Es ist der Ton, der Klang, der die Erde durchklingt, es ist der Ton, aus dem heraus sich formte die Menschengestalt. Hindringen konnte das Licht nur zu dem Teil des Menschen, der da aus dem Wasser hinausragte. Unten ein Wasserleib, oben ein Dampfleib, den das äußere Licht berührte, zu dem im Lichte die Wesen, die mit der Sonne herausgegangen waren, Zugang hatten. Vorher fühlte sich der Mensch in ihrem Schoße, als die Sonne noch mit der Erde vereinigt war; jetzt schienen sie im Licht auf ihn nieder und durchstrahlten ihn mit ihrer Kraft. Wir dürfen aber nicht vergessen, daß in dem, was nach der Trennung der Sonne zurückgeblieben war, auch die Kräfte waren, die die Erde von sich trennen mußte, die Kräfte des Mondes.
Wir haben also eine Zeit, wo gerade die Sonze herausgegangen war, wo allmählich jener Pfanzenmensch untertauchen mußte in die physische Wassererde. Das ist die Stufe, die der Mensch damals in seinem Leibe erreicht hatte, die wir heute degeneriert festgehalten sehen in den Fischen. Wenn wir heute das Wasser von Fischen durchzogen sehen, so sind diese Fische Überreste jener Menschen, natürlich in einer dekadenten Form. Wir müssen uns etwa einen Goldfisch denken, in phantastischen Pflanzenformen, mit großer Beweglichkeit, aber mit dem Gefühl von Wehmut, weil das Licht dem Wasser genommen war. Es war eine tiefe, tiefe Sehnsucht, die entstand. Das Licht war nicht mehr da; das Verlangen nach dem Licht rief die Sehnsucht hervor. Es gab einen Augenblick in der Erdenentwickelung, in dem die Sonne noch nicht ganz heraus war aus der Erde, da kann man jene Gestalt noch durchglüht sehen von Licht, die Menschen im oberen Teil noch auf der Sonnenstufe, unten schon in der Gestalt, die in der Fischform festgehalten worden ist. Dadurch nun, daß der Mensch mit der Hälfte seines Wesens in der Dunkelheit lebte, dadurch war da unten eine recht niedere Menschennatur, denn in dem Teile, mit dem er untertauchte, hatte er die Mondeskräfte in sich. Wenn das auch nicht zur Lava erstarrt war, wie im heutigen Monde, es waren schwarze, finstere Kräfte. Da konnten auch nur die schlechtesten Partien des Astralischen untertauchen. Aber oben war eine Dunstgestalt, gleichsarn der Kopfteil, in den hineinstrahlte das Licht von außen und ihm die Form gab, so daß der Mensch aus einem niederen und einem höheren Teil bestand. Schwimmend, schwebend bewegte er sich in dieser Dunstatmosphäre. Die dichte Dunstatmosphäre der Erde war noch nicht Luft, sie war Dunst, also noch nicht Luft, durch die die Sonne hätte dringen können. Die Wärme konnte durchdringen, aber nicht das Licht. Der Sonnenstrahl konnte nicht die ganze Erde küssen, sondern nur die Oberfläche, der Erdenozean blieb dunkel. In diesem Ozean waren aber die Kräfte, die später als Mond herausgegangen sind.
Dadurch nun, daß die Lichtkräfte eindrangen, drangen auch die Götter in die Erde ein. So daß wir unten den götterlosen, gottverlassenen Wassermantel, nur durchdrungen von der Kraft des Tones haben, ringsherum den Dunst, in den sich hineinerstrecken die Kräfte der Sonne. So daß der Mensch in dem Dunstkörper, der über die Wasserfläche hinausragte, doch immer noch ein Mitbürger war dessen, was zu ihm strahlte als Licht und Liebe aus der geistigen Welt. Warum durchdrang jedoch den finsteren Wasserkern die tönende Welt?
Aus dem Grunde, weil einer der hohen Sonnengeister zurückgeblieben war, verbunden hatte sein Dasein mit der Erde. Das ist derselbe Geist, den wir kennen als Jahve oder Jehova. Jahve allein blieb bei der Erde, er opferte sich, er war es, dessen inneres Wesen als formender Ton die Wassererde durchklang.
Aber weil die schlechtesten Kräfte als Ingredienzien in der Wassererde verblieben waren, weil diese Kräfte furchtbare Elemente waren, kam der Dunstteil des Menschen immer mehr herunter, und aus der ehemaligen Pflanzengestalt entstand allmählich ein Wesen, das auf der Stufe eines Amphibiums stand. In der Sage und Mythe ist diese Gestalt, die viel tiefer steht als die spätere Menschheit, geschildert als der Drache, als der Menschenmolch, als der Lindwurm. Und der andere Teil des Menschen, der ein Bürger des Lichtes war, der wird dargestellt als ein Wesen, das nicht herunterkam, das die niedere Natur bekämpft, das zum Beispiel als Michael, als der Drachentöter, als heiliger Georg, den Drachen bekämpfend dargestellt wird. Auch noch in der Gestalt des Siegfried mit dem Drachen haben wir, allerdings umgeformt, Bilder dessen, was damals in jener Zweiteilung Menschenanlage war. Hinein kam in den oberen Teil der Erde und somit auch in den oberen Teil des physischen Menschen die Wärme, und bildete etwas wie einen feurigen Drachen. Aber darüber erhob sich der Ätherleib, in dem die Kraft der Sonne festgehalten wurde. So haben wir eine Gestalt, die das Alte Testament recht gut dargestellt hat in der Gestalt der verführerischen Schlange, die auch ein Amphibium ist.
Nun rückte die Zeit immer mehr heran, in der die niedersten Kräfte herausgeschleudert wurden. Mächtige Katastrophen erschütterten die Erde, und für den Okkultisten erscheinen die Basaltbildungen als Überreste jener reinigenden Kräfte, die dazumal den Erdenkörper erschütterten, als der Mond sich von der Erde trennen mußte. Das war aber auch die Zeit, in der sich immer mehr verdichtete der Wasserkern der Erde, und in der allmählich der feste, mineralische Kern entstand. Die Erde wurde auf der einen Seite verdichtet durch den Herausgang des Mondes, auf der anderen Seite gaben jedoch die oberen Partien ihre schwereren, gröberen Substanzen an die unteren Partien ab, und oben entstand immer mehr und mehr das, was zwar noch immer von Wasser durchsetzt war, was aber nach und nach ähnlich wurde unserer Luft. So bekam die Erde allmählich einen festen Kern in der Mitte, und Wasser war darum herum. Zuerst war der Nebel noch undurchdringlich für die Sonnenstrahlen, aber dadurch, daß der Nebel Substanzen abgab, wurde er immer dünner und dünner. Später, erst viel später ist Luft daraus geworden, und allmählich konnten die Sonnenstrahlen, die früher die Erde selbst nicht erreichen konnten, allmählich konnten sie durchdringen.
Jetzt kam eine Stufe unserer Erde, die wir uns recht vor die Seele stellen wollen. Früher tauchte der Mensch ins Wasser, ragte nur in Nebel heraus; jetzt durch die Verdichtung der Erde nimmt der Wassermensch allmählich die Möglichkeit an, die Form zu verdichten, ein festes Knochensystem anzunehmen. Der Mensch verhärtete sich in sich selber. Dadurch bildete sich der obere Teil des Menschen so um, daß er für das neu Eingetretene geeignet wurde. Das neu Eingetretene, was früher unmöglich war, das war die Luftatmung. Jetzt finden wir eine erste Anlage der Lunge. In dem oberen Teil war früher das, was das Licht aufnahm, das aber nicht weiterdringen konnte. Jetzt fühlte der Mensch wieder das Licht in seinem dumpfen Bewußtsein. Er konnte das, was da herunterstrahlte, fühlen als göttliche Kräfte, die ihm zuströmten. Bei diesem Übergang fühlte er das, was ihm zustrahlte, in zwei Teile sich spalten: die Luft drang selbst in ihn ein, der Hauch der Luft drang in ihn ein, früher drang das Licht nur an ihn, jetzt Luft in ihn. Der Mensch, der das fühlte, mußte sich etwa sagen: Früher fühlte ich die Kraft, die über mir ist, als die Kraft, die mir gab das, was ich jetzt brauche zum Atmen. Licht war mir Atmen. — Was jetzt in ihn einströmte, war ihm wie zwei Brüder; Licht und Luft waren für ihn zwei Brüder. Jetzt war es für ihn eine Zweiheit geworden: Licht und Luft.
Der Erde Lufthauch, der in den Menschen einströmte, war auch zu gleicher Zeit die Ankündigung, daß der Mensch etwas ganz Neues fühlen lernen mußte. Solange Licht allein war, solange kannte der Mensch nicht Geburt und Tod. Früher verwandelte sich die lichtdurchglühte Wolke, und der Mensch fühlte das etwa wie das Wechseln eines Rockes, er fühlte nicht, daß er geboren wurde, nicht, daß er starb, er fühlte sich ewig, Geburt und Tod nur wie Ereignisse. Mit dem ersten Atemzuge trat das Bewußtsein von Geburt und Tod ein: Die Luft, der Lufthauch, der sich abgespaltet hat von seinem Bruder, dem Lichtstrahl - so empfand der damalige Mensch -, der abgespaltet hat dadurch auch die Wesen, die früher mit dem Lichte eingeflossen sind, der hat mir den Tod gebracht.
Wer war es denn, der da machte, daß das Bewußtsein: Zwar habe ich eine finstere Gestalt, doch bin ich verbunden mit dem ewigen Wesen — wer war es denn, der dieses Bewußtsein vertrieb, tötete? Der Lufthauch, der in den Menschen einströmte — Typhon. Typhon heißt der Lufthauch. Und indem die ägyptische Seele in sich das erlebte, was sich so abgespielt hatte, daß sich der früher gemeinsame Strahl spaltete in den Lichtstrahl und den Lufthauch, wurde für diese Seele das kosmische Ereignis ein symbolisches Bild, das sich darstellte als Ermordung des Osiris durch Typhon oder Set, den Windhauch.
Ein großes kosmisches Ereignis ist verborgen im ägyptischen Mythos, der den Osiris getötet sein läßt durch Typhon. Der Ägypter fühlte den Gott, der von der Sonne kam und der sich noch vertrug mit seinem Bruder, als Osiris. Typhon war die Atemluft, die dem Menschen die Sterblichkeit gebracht hat. Da sehen wir an einem der prägnantesten Beispiele, wie sich die Tatsachen der Weltentwickelung in der innerlichen Erkenntnis der Menschen wiederholen.
So hat sich abgespielt das Werden der Dreiheit von Sonne, Mond und Erde. Alles das wurde dem ägyptischen Schüler mitgeteilt, in tiefen, tiefen, bewußt geformten Bildern.
Fifth Lecture
In these lectures, we have attempted to form a picture of the evolution of the earth in connection with that of the human being, because we had to examine how the past of the earth, how the facts of our earth's evolution, are reflected in the knowledge of the individual cultural periods of the post-Atlantean era. We were able to characterize the deepest experiences of the disciple of the Rishis and show how these inner experiences of such an initiate appeared as inner, clairvoyantly perceived images of the conditions and processes that took place in our primordial Earth when it still contained the Sun and the Moon. We have also seen what a high level of initiation such a disciple of Indian culture had to attain in order to be able to create such a worldview, an image that stands as a repetition of what took place in the distant past. We have also seen what the Greeks thought when, during Alexander's campaigns, they became acquainted with what an Indian initiate experienced, in whose soul arose the image of the divine-spiritual, creative power that began to express itself in the primordial nebula when the sun and moon were still united with the earth. This image, the Brahman of the Indians, which appeared to the Greeks as Heracles, we tried to bring before the soul as an inner repetition of the facts that actually took place in the past. It has already been emphasized that the successive periods of the Earth's development were reflected in the Persian and Egyptian cultural periods. What happened in the second epoch, when the sun withdrew from the earth, was brought to light in the images of the Persian initiates. And what took place when the moon gradually withdrew became the worldview and principle of initiation among the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Now, in order to be able to look deeply into the soul of the ancient Egyptians — for that is the most important thing for us, and we will only look at the Persian initiation as a preparation — we must once again examine more closely what actually happened to our Earth during the times when the sun and moon separated from the Earth.
Let us now try to form a picture of the Earth itself, which gradually took shape when the Sun departed and later when the Moon also departed. We will leave aside the great cosmic events and see what happened on the Earth itself. If we look back once more at the Earth in its original state, when it was united with the sun and moon, we would not find our animals, our plants, and certainly not our minerals. What the Earth was originally made of was initially only human beings, only human germs. It is true that the animal and plant germs were already laid down on the old Sun and on the old Moon, that they were already contained in the original state of the Earth, but they were, so to speak, still dormant germs, not germs that one could see would really produce anything. It was only when the sun began to move out that the germs became active, which later became animals. And it was only when the sun had completely separated from the earth and the earth and moon were alone that those germs became germ germs, which later became plants. And it was only when the moon began to move out that the mineral germs gradually formed. Let us keep that in mind.
But now let us take a look at the earth itself. When it still contained the sun and moon, the earth was only a kind of large, ethereal mist of enormous extent, and within it were the human germs, full of life, but the germs of other beings—animals, plants, and minerals—were dormant. Because only human germs were present and there were no eyes yet, no eye could see these processes externally, so that the description given here can only become visible in retrospect to the clairvoyant human being. This description is made under the hypothetical assumption that someone would have seen this if they had been able to stand at a point in space at that time and watch. Even on ancient Saturn, a physical eye would not have noticed anything. At that time, in its primordial state, the Earth was only a misty fog that would have been perceived only as heat. From this mass, from this primordial ether fog, a luminous ball of mist gradually formed, which could already have been seen if there had been an eye at that time. And if one could have penetrated it with a sense of feeling, so to speak, it would have appeared like a heated room; it would have looked like the inside of an oven. Very soon, however, this misty mass became luminous. And this ball of mist that had formed contained within itself all the seeds that have just been mentioned. We must be clear that this misty haze was not like the fog or cloud formations we see today, but rather that all the substances that have become solid and liquid today were dissolved within it. All metals, all minerals, everything, everything was present in the form of mist and fog, in a very transparent form, in a translucent mist. There was translucent mist, permeated by warmth and light. Imagine that. What had become of the ethereal mist was a translucent gas. And this became brighter and brighter, and precisely through the condensation of the gases, the light became stronger and stronger, so that in fact this misty fog appeared like a great sun shining out into the world space.
This moment did indeed exist once, when the Earth still had the Sun within it, when it was still illuminated and radiant with light and radiated its light out into space. This light made it possible not only for humans to live on Earth in their original state, but also for all other higher beings who did not take on a physical body but were connected with the development of humans to live in the fullness of light: angels, archangels, primordial forces. But these were not the only ones there; even higher beings lived in the fullness of light: the powers or exusiai or spirits of form, the forces or dynamis or spirits of movement, the dominions or kyriotetes or spirits of wisdom, and those spirits called thrones or spirits of will, and finally, in looser connection with the fullness of light, increasingly breaking away from it, the cherubim and seraphim. The earth was a world body populated by a whole hierarchy of lower and higher, most exalted beings. And what radiated out into space as light, the light that permeated the earth's body, was not only light, but also what later became the earth's mission: it was the power of love. This was the most important component of the light. We must therefore imagine that it is not only light that is radiated, not only physical light, but that this light is imbued with the power of love.
This is difficult to imagine for the modern mind. Today, there are people who describe the sun as if it were a gaseous ball that simply radiates light. Such a material, purely material conception of the sun prevails today. The only exceptions are occultists. Anyone who reads a description of the sun today, as it is presented in popular books, in books that form the spiritual nourishment of countless people, has not learned the nature of the sun. What is written in these books is as valuable in relation to the sun as if someone were to describe a corpse as the essence of a human being. As true as the corpse is to the human being, so true is what is described in astrophysics about the sun.
Just as the person who describes a corpse omits the most important thing about a human being, so the physicist who describes the sun today does not describe its essence when he believes he has found the inner components of the sun with the help of spectral analysis; what is described is only the outer body of the sun. In every ray of sunlight, the power of higher beings who inhabit the sun streams down upon all earthly beings, and with the light of the sun's rays, the power of love itself descends, the same power that streams here on earth from person to person, from heart to heart. The sun can never send merely physical light to the earth; that which is the hottest and most fervent feeling of love is invisibly present in the sunlight. With it flow to the earth the forces of the thrones, the seraphim, the cherubim, and the entire hierarchy of higher beings who dwell on the sun and who have no need of any other body than light. But because everything that exists in the sun today was still connected with the earth at that time, all the higher beings were also connected with the earth itself. Even today, they are still connected with the development of the earth.
Then we must consider that the human being, who was the lowest of the higher beings, was already present in embryo at that time as the new child of the earth, carried and cherished by these high beings, living in the bosom of these divine beings. The human being who lived at that time, at which we now stand with our considerations of the Earth's evolution, must have had a much finer body, because he was still in the womb of these beings. And then it becomes clear to clairvoyant consciousness that the body of the human being of that time consisted only of a fine mist and vapor, an air or gas body, a gas body completely permeated and imbued with light. Let us imagine a regularly shaped cloud, like a chalice-like formation expanding upwards, and let us imagine this chalice glowing and illuminated by the inner light, and we have the human beings of that time, who were just beginning to have a dull consciousness in this earthly evolution, a consciousness like that of the plant world today. Humans were not like plants in the modern sense; they were illuminated and warmed cloud masses in the shape of chalices, without fixed boundaries, not separated from the total mass of the earth by fixed boundaries.
That was once the form of the human being, a form that was a physical body of light, still participating in the forces of light. Because of the delicacy of the body, not only could a separate etheric body and astral body sink into it, not only the I in the earliest beginnings, but also the higher spiritual beings that were connected with the earth. At that time, human beings were still rooted, so to speak, in the divine-spiritual beings, and these permeated them. It is really not easy to describe the glory of the earth at that time and to give an idea of that era. We must imagine the earth as a sphere shining with light, surrounded by light-bearing clouds, producing wonderful light phenomena with a marvelous play of colors. If one could have reached into this Earth with a feeling hand, one would have perceived warmth, the glowing, translucent masses undulating up and down, containing all human beings of today, enveloped and surrounded by all the spiritual beings, radiating light outward in magnificent diversity! Outside, the Earth's cosmos in its great diversity; inside, the light-enveloped human being, connected to the divine spiritual beings, emanating from them and radiating streams of light into the outer sphere of light. The human being hung like an umbilical cord springing from the divine, attached to this whole, to the light-womb, the world-womb of our Earth. It was a common womb of worlds in which the light plant that was man lived at that time, feeling at one with the mantle of light surrounding the earth. Thus, in this fine, vaporous plant form, man hung as if on the umbilical cord of the earth mother, and was cherished and nurtured by the whole of Mother Earth. Just as today, in a coarser sense, the child is cherished and cared for in the mother's womb as an embryo, so was the human embryo cherished and cared for at that time. This is how humans lived in the distant past.
Then the sun began to emerge, taking the finest substances with it. There was a time when the high sun beings left the human beings, when everything that today belongs to the sun left our earth and left behind the coarser substances. And this departure of the sun was connected with the fact that the mist cooled down to water, and we now have the water-earth sphere, whereas we used to have the mist-earth. In the middle were the primordial waters, but they were not surrounded by air; slowly the waters turned into dense, thick mists, which gradually became more refined. Thus we have the Earth of that time as a watery Earth, containing substances in a soft state, surrounded by mists that became finer and finer, up to the highest spheres, where the mists became very fine. This is how we once saw our Earth before us. It had been transformed, and human beings now had to sink, so to speak, from their former light-filled gaseous form into the murky waters and incarnate there as formed masses of water in the water, as they had previously been air forms in the air. Human beings became water forms, but by no means completely. Human beings never completely submerged themselves in the water. This is an important moment. It has been described how the earth was water in the middle, and man was only partly a water being, protruding into the misty envelope so that he was half water, half vapor. Down in the water, man could not possibly be reached by the sun; the mass of water was so thick that the sunlight could not penetrate it. The light of the sun could penetrate the mist to some extent, so that humans lived partly in dark, light-deprived water and partly in light-filled mist. However, the water was not deprived of something, something that we must now describe in more detail.
From the beginning, the earth was not only glowing and luminous, but also resonant, and the sound remained in the earth so that when the light went out, the water became dark on the inside, but was also permeated by sound, and it was the sound that gave the water its shape and form, as we know from the well-known physical experiment. We see that sound is a formative force because it structures and orders the parts. Sound has a formative power, and it was this power that formed the body out of the water. It was the power of sound that remained in the earth. It is sound that resonates through the earth; it is sound from which the human form was formed. Light could only penetrate the part of the human being that protruded from the water. Below was a water body, above a vapor body, which was touched by the outer light and to which the beings that had come forth with the sun had access. Before, when the sun was still united with the earth, humans felt themselves in its womb; now they shone down on them in the light and radiated their power through them. But we must not forget that what remained after the separation of the sun also contained the forces that had to separate the earth from itself, the forces of the moon.
So we have a time when the sun had just gone out, when that plant-human being had to gradually submerge into the physical watery earth. That is the stage that human beings had reached in their bodies at that time, which we see today in a degenerate form in fish. When we see water teeming with fish today, these fish are remnants of those humans, naturally in a decadent form. We must imagine a goldfish, for example, in fantastic plant forms, with great mobility, but with a feeling of melancholy because the light had been taken from the water. A deep, deep longing arose. The light was no longer there; the longing for light gave rise to the yearning. There was a moment in the Earth's development when the sun had not yet fully emerged from the Earth, and one can still see those figures glowing with light, the humans in the upper part still on the sun stage, below already in the form that has been preserved in the fish form. Now, because man lived with half of his being in darkness, there was a very low human nature down there, for in the part that was submerged, he had the lunar forces within him. Even though these were not solidified into lava, as in the moon of today, they were black, dark forces. Only the worst parts of the astral could submerge themselves there. But above there was a misty form, like the head, into which the light from outside shone and gave it its shape, so that man consisted of a lower and a higher part. Floating, hovering, he moved in this misty atmosphere. The dense misty atmosphere of the earth was not yet air; it was mist, and therefore not yet air through which the sun could penetrate. The heat could penetrate, but not the light. The sun's rays could not kiss the whole earth, only the surface; the ocean remained dark. But in this ocean were the forces that later emerged as the moon.
Now, as the forces of light penetrated, the gods also entered the earth. So that we have below us the godless, godforsaken water mantle, penetrated only by the power of sound, surrounded by the mist into which the forces of the sun extend. So that man, in the misty body that rose above the surface of the water, was still a fellow citizen of that which shone upon him as light and love from the spiritual world. But why did the sounding world penetrate the dark water core?
Because one of the high sun spirits had remained behind, connecting his existence with the earth. This is the same spirit we know as Yahweh or Jehovah. Yahweh alone remained with the earth, he sacrificed himself, it was he whose inner being sounded through the water earth as a formative sound.
But because the worst forces remained as ingredients in the watery earth, because these forces were terrible elements, the misty part of man descended more and more, and from the former plant form a being gradually emerged that stood at the level of an amphibian. In legend and myth, this form, which is much lower than later humanity, is described as the dragon, the human newt, the lindworm. And the other part of the human being, who was a citizen of the light, is depicted as a being that did not come down, that fights against the lower nature, that is depicted, for example, as Michael, as the dragon slayer, as St. George fighting the dragon. Even in the figure of Siegfried with the dragon, we still have, albeit transformed, images of what was then in that duality of the human constitution. Heat entered the upper part of the earth and thus also the upper part of the physical human being, forming something like a fiery dragon. But above it rose the etheric body, in which the power of the sun was held. Thus we have a figure that the Old Testament portrayed quite well in the form of the seductive serpent, which is also an amphibian.
Now the time drew nearer and nearer when the lowest forces were to be cast out. Powerful catastrophes shook the earth, and to the occultist, the basalt formations appear as remnants of those purifying forces that shook the earth's body at that time when the moon had to separate from the earth. But this was also the time when the water core of the earth became increasingly denser and the solid, mineral core gradually formed. The earth was condensed on one side by the departure of the moon, but on the other side, the upper parts gave off their heavier, coarser substances to the lower parts, and above, more and more of what was still interspersed with water but gradually became similar to our air was formed. Thus, the earth gradually acquired a solid core in the middle, surrounded by water. At first, the mist was still impenetrable to the sun's rays, but as the mist released substances, it became thinner and thinner. Later, much later, it became air, and gradually the sun's rays, which previously could not reach the earth itself, were able to penetrate it.
Now came a stage in the development of our Earth that we want to visualize clearly in our minds. Previously, human beings were immersed in water, protruding only in mist; now, through the densification of the Earth, water beings gradually acquired the ability to condense their form and take on a solid skeletal system. Human beings hardened within themselves. As a result, the upper part of the human being was transformed in such a way that it became suitable for the new element that had entered. The new element, which had previously been impossible, was the breathing of air. Now we find the first beginnings of the lungs. In the upper part there was previously that which received the light but could not penetrate further. Now humans felt the light again in their dull consciousness. They could feel what was shining down on them as divine forces flowing toward them. During this transition, they felt what was shining toward them split into two parts: the air itself penetrated them, the breath of air penetrated them; previously, only light had touched them, but now air entered them. The human being who felt this must have said to himself: Previously, I felt the force above me as the force that gave me what I now need to breathe. Light was my breath. What now flowed into him was like two brothers; light and air were two brothers to him. Now it had become a duality for him: light and air.
The breath of air from the earth that flowed into man was also the announcement that man had to learn to feel something completely new. As long as there was only light, man did not know birth and death. In the past, the cloud filled with light transformed, and humans felt this as if they were changing a coat; they did not feel that they were being born, nor that they were dying; they felt eternal, birth and death merely as events. With the first breath, the awareness of birth and death entered: the air, the breath of air that separated from its brother, the ray of light—this is how humans felt at that time—that separated also separated the beings that had previously flowed in with the light, and that brought me death.
Who was it that made the consciousness: “Although I have a dark form, I am connected with the eternal being” — who was it that drove away, that killed this consciousness? The breath of air that flowed into man — Typhon. Typhon is the name of the breath of air. And as the Egyptian soul experienced within itself what had happened, that the ray that had previously been united split into the ray of light and the breath of air, this cosmic event became a symbolic image for this soul, which was represented as the murder of Osiris by Typhon or Set, the breath of wind.
A great cosmic event is hidden in the Egyptian myth that has Osiris killed by Typhon. The Egyptians felt the god who came from the sun and who was still at peace with his brother as Osiris. Typhon was the breath that brought mortality to human beings. Here we see one of the most striking examples of how the facts of world evolution are repeated in the inner knowledge of human beings.
This is how the triunity of sun, moon, and earth came into being. All this was communicated to the Egyptian student in deep, deeply conscious images.