Egyptian Myths and Mysteries
GA 106
10 September 1908, Leipzig
Eighth Lecture
The Stages of Evolution of the Human Form The Expulsion of the Animal Beings. The Four Human Types.
We have become acquainted with significant events in the evolution of the human organism. We have followed the organism from its beginning to the point of time when the moon departed from the earth. When we say “point of time”, we are not speaking literally, for these events occupied long periods. From the first moment when the moon began to show signs of withdrawing, until its departure had been completely accomplished, long stretches of time passed and many things occurred in evolution. But we have observed man until about the departure of the moon. We have understood man's form which, as its lower part, approximately from the middle of the trunk to the height of the hips, manifested a configuration not entirely unlike his present shape. This body, although soft, could have been seen with modern eyes, whereas the upper parts were visible only to clairvoyant consciousness. We have already pointed out how something of man's nature at that time has been preserved by myth, religion, and art in the centaur. The various parts of the body, the members that gradually evolved into feet, shanks, knees, thighs, represent the animal forms of our earth at that time. These animal forms, however, remained stuck at certain stages of evolution, beyond which man was able to progress. Let us try to understand this thoroughly.
In the earliest times, when the sun departed, no animal forms had yet appeared. After the sun had left, the highest form of animal was a type that stood at the level of our present fish. When we say that the human feet corresponded to this fish-form, when we look at the feet in connection with fish, what does this mean? It means that the feet were the only part of man that was physically perceptible at the time when certain forms were left behind which swam about like fish in the water-earth. The remaining parts were present only in a finer etheric form. What we have described as the chalice or blossom form, the light-organ, was entirely etheric, an illuminated air-form. Only the lowest part of man was able really to wade through the water-earth like the fish that had remained behind.
Thereafter there were higher animals, which are depicted in the image of the Water-man, the man whose body was visible as high as the shanks. Man has been formed in such a way as to leave behind him, at every stage of his existence, certain animal forms, beyond which he slowly progressed. When the moon began to withdraw, man was so far along that he had given his lower half, his lower nature, a physical shape, whereas the upper half remained entirely pliable. Then, we see taking hold, from the moon, that influence of the moonlight which the Egyptians called Osiris, which can work upon man through the different aspects of the moon. We see how the most important formations of the upper body, i.e., the nerves that bring about the present upper body, are worked into man from the moon. The nerves, going out from the spine, formed the upper body. At first, through the tones that Osiris-Apollo played on the human lyre, the mid-part, the hip-region, comes into form. All that had to remain stuck at this point, beyond which man progressed, appears in later evolution in the forms of the amphibians.
As long as the moon was connected with the earth, it more or less pushed man's evolution down. The fish form was still connected with the sun, which is the reason for the feeling that every healthy person today has toward fish. Think of the pleasure of seeing a beautiful glittering fish, a shining water-animal, and then think of the antipathy one feels toward a frog, toad, or snake, although these stand higher than the fish. The forms of that time appear in their decadence as the present amphibians, but man once had such forms in his lower corporeality. As long as man had only a lower corporeality to the hips, he was a sort of dragon. It was only later, when the upper body assumed solid form, that by use of this he transformed the lower. We may say that the fish reflects the form that man possessed through the forces he received while the sun was still united with the earth. Until the sun departed, man stood at the level of the fish.
Now the great beings, the leaders of evolution, departed as they shaped their sun, to reunite with the earth only at a much later time. One of the Spirits, one who went out with the sun, the highest of the guiding Sun Spirits, was the Christ. We feel a deep reverence when we realize that up to this time man was united with this Being who, as the noblest spirit, once departed from the earth with the sun. One felt that through the form of the fish one could characterize the time of the sun's departure from the earth, and also the forms given through the Christ himself. Earlier, man on earth was united with the sun, and as the latter departed he saw, preserved in the fish-shape, the form that he owed to the sun spirits. As he progressed further, the sun spirits were no longer with him. The Christ departed from the earth when man still had the fish-shape. The initiates of the first Christian period preserved this form. In the Roman catacombs the fish appeared as the symbol of Christ, to remind men of the great cosmic event in evolution when the Christ was still united with them in the earth. Man had progressed to the fish-form when the sun split off, and the first Christians felt a reference to the Man-Christ-form in the fish symbol as something of great profundity. Such a significant sign, which we view as a symbol of an epoch of cosmic evolution, is far removed from the external explanations that are often given. The true symbols refer to higher spiritual realities. They did not merely “mean” something to the early Christians. Such a symbol is a picture of this or that which one can really see in the spiritual world, and no symbol is rightly interpreted unless one can point to what can be seen in the spiritual world in connection with it. All speculation is at most preparatory, and the expression “it means” does not touch the point; for one first really understands the symbol when one shows how a spiritual fact is portrayed in it.
Now let us proceed further with the evolution of humanity. Man took on the most diverse forms, and when he had developed upward to the hip-level he was at his ugliest in his physical form. The shape he then had is preserved in a decadent form in the snake. The time when man had reached the amphibian form, when the moon was still in the earth, is the time of shame and degeneracy in the evolution of mankind. Had the moon not then departed from the earth, the race of men would have succumbed to a horrible fate, failing increasingly into evil forms. Hence the feeling that the naive and unspoiled person has toward the snake, which retains the form that man had at his lowest point, is entirely justified. Precisely the unspoiled soul-attitude, which does not assert that there is nothing ugly in nature, feels a revulsion before the snake, because it is the document of human shame. This is not meant in a moral sense, but points to the lowest stage in human evolution.
Man had now to pass beyond this low point. He could do this only by abandoning the animal form and beginning to condense his spiritual upper part. We have seen that all the nobler parts could develop only through the intervention of the Isis and Osiris forces. In order for the Osiris forces to work in him, in order for the nobler part to develop, something important was necessary. Man's upper part had to find the possibility of bringing the spine out of the horizontal into the vertical. All this occurred through the influence of Isis and Osiris. Man was led from stage to stage by sun and moon, which kept themselves in balance. When half of man had become physical, sun and moon were in balance; therefore the hip region is designated as the Balance. At that time the sun was in the sign of the Balance.
Now we must not imagine—and this must be emphasized—that after the sun had stood in the sign of the Scorpion, and then in the sign of the Balance, the hips immediately developed. This would show the tempo of evolution as proceeding much too rapidly. The sun travels through the whole zodiac in a period of 25,920 years. At one time the sun rose in spring in the Ram, earlier in the sign of the Bull. The vernal point was always moving, going through the sign of the Bull, and so on. About 747 BC the sun again entered into the Ram; in our time it rises in the sign of the Fish. The time during which the sun traverses a sign has some significance, but such a period would not suffice for the change that had to take place in order for man to progress from sexuality under the sign of the Scorpion to the evolving of his hips under the sign of the Balance. We should have a false picture of this, if we thought that it could have occurred in one transit of the sun. The sun goes once through the zodiac, and only after this complete circuit does the forward step occur. In earlier times it had to make the transit oftener before the forward step could take place. Therefore we cannot apply to more ancient epochs the familiar time-reckonings of post-Atlantean times. The sun had first to go completely around—in earlier ages even several times—before evolution could progress a step. For those members that required a stronger molding, the time lasted even longer.
Man rises ever higher through this evolution. The next stage, during which the lower parts of the human trunk were formed, is designated by the sign of the Virgin.
We shall best understand evolution if we make it quite clear that, while man was becoming ever more human, animal beings remained stuck at certain stages. We have already said that man developed lungs, heart, and larynx through the influence of the moon forces. We have also shown to what extent Osiris and Isis participated in this. Now we must be quite clear that the higher organs, such as heart, lungs, larynx, and others, could develop only through the fact that the higher members of man—etheric body, astral body, and also the ego—cooperated in a definite way as the really spiritual members of man. After the point that was reached under the Balance, these higher members cooperated much more than in the preceding epochs. Thus the most manifold forms could appear. For example, the etheric body, or the astral, or the ego, could work especially strongly. It could even happen that the physical body might predominate over the other three members. Through this four human types developed. A number of men appeared who had worked out the physical body especially. Then there were men who had received their stamp from the etheric body, others whose astral nature predominated, and also ego-men, strongly marked ego-men. Each man showed what predominated in him. In the ancient times when these four forms originated, one could meet grotesque shapes, and the clairvoyant discovers what is present in the different types. There are representations, although these are not well known, in which the memory of this has been preserved. For example, those men in whom the physical nature became especially strong and worked on the upper parts, bore the mark of this in their upper part. Something was formed that was entirely suited to the baser form, and through what was thus active there appeared the shape that we see retained in the apocalyptic picture of the Bull, although not the bull of today, which is a decadent form. What was governed principally by the physical body at a certain time, remained stuck at the stage of the bull. This is represented by the bull and all that belongs to this genus, such as cows, oxen and so on. The human group in whom the etheric rather than the physical body was strongly marked, in whom the heart region was especially powerful, is also preserved in the animal kingdom. This stage, beyond which man has progressed, is preserved in the lion. The lion preserves the type that was worked out in the group of men in whom the etheric body was intensely active. The human stage in which the astral body overpowered the physical and etheric is preserved for us, although degenerated, in the mobile bird-kingdom, and is portrayed in the Apocalypse in the picture of the Eagle. The predominating astrality is here repelled; it raised itself from the earth as the race of birds. Where the ego grew strong, a being evolved that should actually be called a union of the three other natures, for the ego harmonizes all three members. In this group the clairvoyant actually has before him what has been preserved in the Sphinx, for the Sphinx has the lion-body, the eagle-wings, something of the bull form—and in the oldest portrayals there was even a reptilian tail, pointing to the ancient reptile form—and then at the front there is the human face, which harmonizes the other parts.
These are the four types. But in the Atlantean time the man-form predominated, as the human shape gradually constructed itself out of the eagle, lion, and bull natures. These transmuted themselves into the full human form, and this gradually transmuted itself into the shape that was present in the middle of Atlantis. Something else occurred through all these events. Four different elements, four forms, merged harmoniously in man. One is present in the physical body, in the bull nature; these are the predominating forces that evolved up to the evolutionary period of the Balance. Then we have the lion nature in the etheric body; in the astral body, in the predominating forces of the astral, the eagle or vulture nature; finally, the predominating forces of the ego, the true human nature. In single beings, one or another of these members had the upper hand. Through this the four types arose. But one could meet still other combinations. For example, the physical, astral, and ego might be equal, while the etheric predominated; that is a particular type of mankind. Then there were beings in whom the etheric, astral, and ego had the upper hand, while the physical was less developed, so that we have men in whom the higher members prevail over the physical body. Those human beings in whom the physical, astral, and ego predominated, are the physical ancestors of the males of today, while those in whom the etheric, astral, and ego predominated, are the physical ancestors of the females of today. The other types disappeared more and more; only these two remained, and evolved into the male and female forms.
How was it possible that gradually just these two forms evolved? This occurred through the differing effects of the working of the Isis and Osiris forces.
We have seen that in the phases of the new moon, when the moon is dark, Isis is characterized, but that Osiris is characterized in the shining phases of the full moon. Isis and Osiris are spiritual beings on the moon, but we find their deeds on the earth. We find them on the earth because it is through these deeds that the human race divided into two sexes. The female ancestors of human beings were formed through the influence of Osiris; the ancestors of men were formed through the workings of Isis. The influence of Isis and Osiris on mankind occurs through the nerve filaments, through the working of which mankind is developed into male and female. In the myth this is shown through Isis's seeking Osiris; the male and the female seek each other on the earth. Over and over again we see that wonderful events of cosmic evolution are hidden in these myths.
When the stage of the Balance had been passed, there gradually evolved in the upper members of the human being the differentiations we describe as male and female. Man remained unisexual much longer than the animals. What had long since occurred in the other animals now for the first time took place in man. There was a time when there was a unified human form, containing nothing of the method of propagation that later developed. During this time the nature of man contained both sexes in one being. “And God created man male-female,” is the way it stands in the Bible, not “Male and female created he them.”1Most texts are silent on this question, but the International Critical Commentary (New York, Scribner's,1895), in discussing Genesis I:27, at least shows that others have entertained the male-female hypothesis. See also the curious remarks in the speech of Aristophanes in Plato's Symposium. He created both in one. It is the worst possible translation when we say, “Male and female created he them.” This has no sense in face of the real facts.
Thus we look into a time when human nature was still a unity, when every person was virginally reproductive. This stage of evolution is portrayed in Egyptian traditions drawn from the vision of the initiates. I have already pointed out that the older representations of Isis were as follows: Isis is suckling Horus; but behind her stands a second Isis with vulture wings, who holds out the Ankh to Horus to indicate that man stems from a time when these types were still separate and that later the other astral being also sank down into man. This second Isis points to how the astral element predominated at one time. What was later united with the human form is here portrayed behind the mother, as the astral form that would have had vulture wings if it had followed only the astrality. But the time when the etheric body predominated is portrayed in a third Isis, lion-headed, behind the others. This threefold Isis is thus presented out of a deep vision.
From this point of view we shall also understand something else. There must have been a period of transition between unisexuality and the division into two sexes; there could have been an interim condition between the virginal propagation in which fructification occurred as a result of the forces living in the earth—which at the same time were fertilizing substances—and the other method of bisexual propagation. This bisexual propagation emerged completely only in the middle of the Atlantean epoch. Earlier there was an intermediate stage. At a certain epoch in this intermediate stage, a change of consciousness took place. Man then required much longer spans of time than today to go through an alternation of consciousness. That was a time in which consciousness was especially strong when, at night, man experienced himself as a spiritual being among his spiritual companions. Day-consciousness, on the other hand, was weak. This condition of consciousness changed in another period, when man's consciousness while in the physical body became strong, while his soul life became weaker upon leaving the physical plane at night.
Now there were times in human evolution in which we must recognize a transitional stage. Man's consciousness for the physical world was still damped down, and it was in this damped-down state that fructification occurred. In the periods of subdued consciousness, when man rose out of the physical world into the spiritual, fructification took place, and man noticed this only through a symbolical dream-act. In tender, noble fashion he felt that fertilization had occurred in his sleep, and in his consciousness there was only a delicate and wonderful dream; for example, that he threw a stone, that the stone fell into the earth, and that a flower rose out of the earth.
It is of special interest that in this time we have also to take into account those who had achieved this stage earlier. When we say that certain beings remained at the Bull stage, others at the Lion, others at the Eagle, and so on, what does this mean? It means that if these beings had been able to wait, if they could have developed their full love for the physical world only at a much later time, they would have become human beings. If the lion had not willed to enter into the earthly sphere too early, it would have become a man; the same is true of the other animals that had split off up till then. Let us repeat it in this way: All that was human at the time when the lion formed itself said either, “No, I will not yet take up the lower substances; I will not go down into physical humanity,” or, “I will go down; I wish what has evolved to come into existence.” Thus we must think of two beings. The one remains above in the etheric realm of the air and only in its earthly parts reaches down to earth, while the other strives to descend completely to the earth. The latter might become a lion; the former became a man. Just as the animals remained fixed at a certain stage, so now certain men remained fixed. It was not the best men who became human too early. The better ones were able to wait; they remained for a long time without descending to the earth and there carrying out the act of fructification consciously. They remained in that state of cognition in which this act of fructification was a dream.
One may say that these men lived in Paradise. We find that the men who descended earliest to earth had especially strongly formed bodies, with crude and brutal countenances; while the men who wished first to mold the nobler parts had a much more human form. What is here described was preserved in a wonderful myth and rite. The rite is mentioned by Tacitus2Tacitus's Germania, Section 40, reads in part as follows:
“On an island of the ocean is a holy grove, and in it a consecrated chariot, covered with robes. A single priest is permitted to touch it. He interprets the presence of the goddess in her shrine, and follows with deep reverence as she rides away drawn by cows. Then come days of rejoicing and all places keep holiday, as many as she thinks worthy to receive and entertain her. They make no war, take no arms; every weapon is put away; peace and quiet are then, and then only, known and loved, until the same priest returns the goddess to her temple, when she has her fill of the society of mortals. After this the chariot and the robes—if you are willing to credit it, the deity in person—are washed in a sequestered lake: slaves are the ministrants and are straightway swallowed by the same lake: hence a mysterious terror and an ignorance full of piety as to what that may be which men behold, only to die.” and is well known as the myth of the goddess Nerthus (Hertha), who descended every year into the sea in a boat. But those who drew the boat had to be killed. Nerthus is thought of (as is often done today) as a phantom of the imagination, as some kind of goddess to whom a cult had been dedicated on some island. It has been believed that the Nerthus shrine could be found in Lake Hertha on Rügen. It was thought that the place where the chariot sank might be found there. This is a remarkable fantasy. The name of Lake Hertha is a new invention. Earlier it was called the Black Lake because of its color, and it never occurred to anyone to call it Lake Hertha and relate it to the goddess.
There are much deeper things in this myth. Nerthus is the transitional stage between the virginal fructification and the later propagation. Nerthus, who dives down into a shadowy consciousness, perceives her immersion in the sea of passion only in a tender, symbolic act; she perceives only a reflection of it. But although the higher humanity still felt things in this way, those who had already descended at that time had lost their original naïveté. They already saw this act; they were lost for the higher human consciousness, and were worthy of death. The memory of this event of primeval times was preserved in rites in countless regions of Europe. A ceremony was carried out at certain times in commemorative festivals. This was the chariot of the Nerthus image, which dived down into the sea of passion, and it was the gruesome custom that those who had to serve, who drew the chariot and could see what went on, had to be slaves and were killed during the rite, as a sign that these were mortals who saw the act. Only the initiated priests could remain present during the ceremony without being harmed. From this example we see that in the time when what is here described was known in certain regions, the Nerthus cult existed. In these regions there was a consciousness that shaped this myth and the rite.
Thus mankind evolved through the most manifold forms, and thus what are real facts were presented in pictures. It has already been said that such pictures should not be regarded as allegories, that their content has a relation to the real facts. Such pictures arose like dreams. So the Osiris myth also was dreamed before the pupil could actually see the facts of human evolution, and only what prepares the way for real seeing is a symbol in the occult sense. A symbol is a description of real events in pictures. In the next lecture we shall discuss the effect of these descriptions.
Achter Vortrag
Wir haben nunmehr bedeutungsvolle Entwickelungsvorgänge des menschlichen Organismus kennengelernt. Wir haben diesen Organismus verfolgt von seiner Entstehung an bis zu dem Zeitpunkt, in dem sich der Mond von der Erde entfernt hat. Wenn man «Zeitpunkt» sagt, so ist das natürlich in ungenauem Sinne gesprochen, denn diese Vorgänge nehmen recht lange Zeiträume in Anspruch. Von dem ersten Moment, wo der Mond anfing Miene zu machen, herauszugehen, bis zum letzten, wo er sich vollständig herausgelöst hatte, verflossen lange Zeiträume, und mancherlei ging in der Entwickelung währenddem noch vor sich. Ungefähr aber haben wir den Menschen bis zum Herausgehen des Mondes betrachtet. Diese Gestalt des Menschen haben wir verstanden, die Gestalt, die nach unten hin, ungefähr von der Mitte des menschlichen Leibes ab, von der Hüfthöhe etwa, schon eine Gestaltung zeigte, die der heutigen nicht ganz unähnlich ist. Man würde mit heutigen Augen immerhin schon, wenn auch als weiche Teile, diesen Leib haben sehen können, während die oberen Teile nur für ein hellseherisches Bewußtsein zu schauen gewesen wären. Wir haben schon darauf hingewiesen, wie Sage, Religion und Kunst in dem Kentaur etwas von der damaligen Menschennatur erhalten haben. Und in den einzelnen Teilen des Leibes haben wir Glieder des Menschen kennengelernt, welche sich allmählich entwickelt haben zu den Füßen, Unterschenkeln, Knien, Oberschenkeln, die uns damals repräsentieren die Tierformen unserer Erde, solche Tierformen, die aber auf einer bestimmten Entwickelungsstufe stehengeblieben sind, über welche der Mensch aber hinausgeschritten ist. Nun wollen wir uns darüber einmal ganz genau verständigen.
In den uralten Zeiten, als die Sonne erst herausging, da waren noch keine Tierformen entstanden. Als die Sonne herausgegangen war, war die höchste Form der damaligen Tiere eine Art von Tieren, welche auf der Stufe der heutigen Fische standen. Wenn nun gesagt wird, daß die menschlichen Füße dieser Fischform entsprechend waren, und wenn wir die Füße mit den Fischen im Zusammenhange gesehen haben, was bedeutet das eigentlich? Das bedeutet, daß damals solche Gestalten zurückgeblieben sind, die wie die Fische herumgeschwommen sind in der Wassererde, daß in der Zeit vom Menschen physisch wahrnehmbar nur die Füße ausgebildet waren. Das andere war in feiner ätherischer Form nur vorhanden. Das, was geschildert worden ist als die Kelchform oder Blütenform, das Leuchtorgan, war ganz ätherisch, eine durchleuchtete Luftform, und nur der unterste Teil des Menschen war so, daß er wirklich die Wassererde durchsetzte wie die Fische, die zurückgeblieben sind. Danach gab es höhere Tiere, die festgehalten werden dadurch, daß man im Bilde spricht vom Wassermann, dem Menschen, der den Körper bis zum Unterschenkel herauf sichtbar erhielt. Es hat sich der Mensch also so gebildet, daß er auf jeder Stufe seines Daseins gewisse Tierformen zurückließ, über die er nach und nach hinausschritt.
Und als der Mond sich zu entfernen anfing, war der Mensch so weit, daß er zwar die untere Hälfte, die niedere Natur schon physisch ausgebildet hatte, die obere Natur aber in sich ganz bildungsfähig war. Dann haben wir gesehen, wie vom Monde aus eingreift das, was wir in der Wirkung des Mondlichts in der Gestalt kennengelernt haben, welche die Ägypter Osiris genannt haben, was durch die verschiedene Gestaltung des Mondes einwirken kann auf den Menschen, und wie da eingegliedert wird vom Monde aus das, was das wichtigste Gebilde des Oberleibes ist, die Nerven, die die Veranlasser des heutigen Oberleibes sind. Die Nerven, die vom Rückenmark ausgehen, die bildeten den Oberleib aus. Da kommt durch jene Töne, die Osiris-Apollo auf der Menschenleier spielt, zunächst des Menschen Mitte, die Hüftenmitte zur Ausbildung. Alles das, was hat stehenbleiben müssen auf diesem Punkte, über den da der Mensch hinausschritt, das ist stehengeblieben in der Weiterentwickelung bei der Amphibienform.
Solange der Mond mit der Erde verbunden war, hat er die Entwickelung des Menschen mehr oder weniger herabgetrieben. Die Form der Fische stand mit der Sonne noch in einem Zusammenhang, daher kommen die heutigen Empfindungen des gesunden Menschen den Fischen gegenüber. Bedenken wir, welche Freude es dem Menschen machen kann, wenn er einen schönen, glänzenden Fischleib, wenn er schöne, leuchtende Wassertiere sieht, wie ihn diese Formen erfreuen können, und denken wir daran, wie der Mensch ein Gefühl von Antipathie empfindet, wenn er das sieht, was zwar höher steht als die Fische, was als Amphibium, als Frosch, Kröte, Schlange kriecht und sich herumwindet. Zwar sind die heutigen Amphibien ganz in die Dekadenz gekommene Formen der damaligen Zeit, aber solche Formen hatte der Mensch einmal in seiner unteren Leiblichkeit. Solange der Mensch nur seine untere Leiblichkeit hatte, bis zur Hüfte, war er nur eine Art Lindwurm, erst später bildete er vom Oberleib aus, als dieser sich fest herausformte, das menschliche Untere um. Wir können sagen: die Fischgestalt gibt wieder die Form, auf deren Höhe der Mensch stand durch jene Kräfte, die er noch bekam, als die Sonne noch mit der Erde vereint war; bis dahin, als die Sonne herausging, stand der Mensch auf der Höhe der Fische.
Nun gingen die großen Wesen, die Führer der Evolution, indem sie ihre Sonne gestalteten, hinaus, um sich erst in einer viel späteren Zeit wieder mit der Erde zu vereinigen. Und einer der Geister, der mit ihr hinausging, der höchste der lenkenden Sonnengeister, ist Christus. Da stehen wir vor einem Ereignis, demgegenüber wir ein tiefes Gefühl von Ehrfurcht empfinden, wenn wir erfahren, daß bis dahin der Mensch vereint war mit der Wesenheit, die da einst als edelster Geist mit der Sonne aus der Erde fortging. Man hat empfunden, daß man durch die Fischgestalt einmal charakterisieren konnte die Zeit des Herausgehens der Sonne aus der Erde und dann die Gestaltung durch den Christus selbst. Früher war der Mensch in der Erde mit der Sonne verbunden, und als sie fortging, sah er die Gestalt, die er den Sonnengeistern verdankte, bewahrt in der Fischgestalt. Als er weiterschritt, waren die Sonnengeister nicht mehr bei ihm. Der Christus ist herausgegangen aus der Erde damals, als der Mensch Fischgestalt hatte. Diese Gestalt ist nun festgehalten von den Eingeweihten der ersten christlichen Entwickelung. In den römischen Katakomben war dieses Fischsymbolum als das Symbolum des Christus vorhanden, und es sollte erinnern an das große kosmische Ereignis der Entwickelung in der Zeit, als noch mit ihnen vereinigt war in der Erde der Christus. Bis zur Fischform war der Mensch vorgeschtitten, als die Sonne sich trennte: die ersten Christen empfanden den Hinweis auf die MenschenChristus-Gestalt im Fischsymbol als etwas ungeheuer Tiefes. Wie weit ist solch ein bedeutendes Zeichen, das wir erblicken als ein Symbolum einer kosmischen Entwickelungsepoche, wie weit ist es entfernt von jenen äußerlichen Auslegungen, die oft gegeben werden. Es waren die wahren Symbole solche, die sich auf geistige, höhere Realitäten beziehen. Den ersten Christen «bedeuteten» sie nicht nur etwas. Ein solches Symbol ist ein Bild von diesem oder jenem, was man wirklich schauen kann in der geistigen Welt, und kein Symbolum ist richtig gedeutet, bevor man nicht hinweisen kann auf das, was dafür in der geistigen Welt zu erschauen ist. Alle Spekulation hat höchstens einen vorbereitenden Zweck; der Ausdruck «es bedeutet» ist noch nicht zutreffend, sondern das Symbolum erkennt man erst wirklich, wenn man zeigt, daß darin ein geistiger Tatbestand abgezeichnet ist.
Nun wollen wir in der Menschheitsentwickelung weitergehen. Die verschiedensten Formen hat der Mensch angenommen, und als er bis zur Hüfthöhe sich entwickelt hatte, da war er am häßlichsten in seiner physischen Form. Diese Form, die der Mensch damals hatte, ist dekadent erhalten in der Schlange. Die Zeit, in welcher der Mensch es bis zur Amphibiumform gebracht hatte, als der Mond noch in der Erde war, das ist die Zeit der Schande, des Verderbens in der Entwickelung der Menschheit. Wäre derMond damals nicht hinausgegangen aus der Erde, dann wäre das Menschengeschlecht einem grauenhaften Schicksale verfallen, dann wäre es immer mehr in die Form des Greulichen, Bösen gefallen. Daher ist die Seelenempfindung, die das naive, unverdorbene Gemüt hat gegenüber der Schlange, die jene Gestalt festhält, wo der Mensch am tiefsten stand, diese Empfindung der Antipathie etwas, was seine volle Berechtigung hat. Gerade das unverdorbene Gemüt, das nicht sagt, es sei in dem Natürlichen nichts Häßliches, das empfindet Abscheu vor der Schlange deshalb, weil sie das Dokument der Menschenschande ist. Das ist nicht im moralischen Sinne gemeint, sondern deutet hin auf den tiefsten Punkt der Entwickelung der Menschheit.
Nunmehr mußte der Mensch über diesen Tiefstand hinaus gelangen. Er konnte das nur, indem er die Tierform verließ und indem er auch seinen geistigen, oberen Teil anfing zu verdichten. Wir haben gesehen, daß alle edleren Teile sich entwickeln konnten nur durch die Einwirkung der Isis- und Osiriskräfte. Damit die Osiriskräfte in ihm wirkten, damit der edlere 'Teil sich entwickelte, handelte es sich zunächst um etwas sehr Wichtiges: darum, daß der obere Teil des Menschen die Möglichkeit fand, das Rückenmark aus der horizontalen Lage in die vertikale Lage zu bringen. Das alles geschah durch den Einfluß der Isis und des Osiris. Von Stufe zu Stufe wurde der Mensch geführt von Sonne und Mond, die sich die Waage hielten. Als der Mensch bis zur Hälfte physisch geworden war, da hielten sich Sonne und Mond die Waage; daher wird die Hüftmitte als die Waage bezeichnet. Die Sonne war damals zugleich im Zeichen der Waage.
Nun darf man sich nicht vorstellen - das muß ausdrücklich beachtet werden -, daß nachdem die Sonne im Zeichen des Skorpion gestanden hatte und darauf im Zeichen der Waage, daß auch gleich darauf die Hüfte sich entwickelt hätte. Dann würde man den Gang der Entwickelung sich viel zu schnell vorstellen. Die Sonne durchläuft in einer Zeit von 25920 Jahren den ganzen Tierkreis. Die Sonne ging einmal im Frühling auf im Widder, vorher im Zeichen des Stieres. Der Frühlingspunkt rückte immer weiter; die Sonne durchmaß mit ihrem Frühlingspunkt das Sternbild des Stieres und so weiter. Ungefähr 747 vor Christi Geburt trat die Sonne wieder in den Widder; in unserer Zeit geht sie im Frühling im Sternbild der Fische auf. Nun bedeutet die Zeit, in der die Sonne durch ein Sternbild geht, schon etwas, aber es würde ein solcher Zeitraum nicht ausreichen für jene Veränderung, die vorgehen mußte, damit der Mensch von der Sexualität unter dem Zeichen des Skorpion bis zur Höhe der Hüftentwickelung unter dem Zeichen der Waage fortschritt.
Man würde eine falsche Vorstellung haben, wenn man dächte, daß das durch einen Durchgang der Sonne geschieht. Die Sonne geht einmal ganz herum durch den Tierkreis, und erst nach diesem ganzen Umlauf geschieht der Fortschritt. In früheren Zeiten mußte sie noch öfter umlaufen, bis ein Fortschritt geschah. Deshalb darf man nicht jene bekannten Zeitrechnungen der nachatlantischen Epoche für ältere Epochen anwenden. Die Sonne mußte erst ganz herumgehen, in älteren Zeiten sogar mehrmals, bevor die Entwickelung ein Stück nach aufwärts rückte. Für diejenigen Glieder, die eine stärkere Ausbildung nötig hatten, dauerte eben die Zeit länger. — Immer höher steigt der Mensch nun durch diese Entwickelung. Die nächste Stufe, wo das, was man als untere Glieder des menschlichen Rumpfes bezeichnet, gebildet wurde, bezeichnet man mit dem Zeichen der Jungfrau.
Wir werden die Entwickelung am besten verstehen, wenn wir uns darüber klar sind, daß, während der Mensch immer menschenähnlicher wird, daß da wieder auf gewissen Stufen tierische Wesenheiten stehenblieben. So ist schon einmal gesagt worden, daß der Mensch auch Lunge und Herz und Kehlkopf durch die Einwirkung der Mondeskräfte entwickelt hat. Ich habe auch gezeigt, inwiefern Osiris und Isis daran beteiligt sind. Nun müssen wir uns klar sein, daß die höheren Organe des Menschen, wie Herz, Lunge, Kehlkopf und so weiter, daß alle diese Glieder sich nur ausbilden konnten dadurch, daß die höheren Glieder des Menschen: Ätherleib, Astralleib und auch das Ich, als die eigentlichen geistigen Glieder des Menschen schon in bestimmter Weise mitwirkten. Viel mehr als in den vorhergehenden Epochen wirkten seit dem Standpunkt, der erreicht war in der Waage, diese höheren Glieder mit. Daher konnten die mannigfaltigsten Formen entstehen. Es konnte zum Beispiel der Ätherleib besonders stark wirken, oder der Astralleib, oder sogar das Ich. Ja, es konnte auch vorkommen, daß der physische Leib ein Übergewicht hatte über die drei anderen Glieder. Es bildeten sich dadurch vier Menschentypen aus. Es bildeten sich eine Anzahl solcher Menschen, die den physischen Leib besonders ausgebildet hatten. Dann gab es Menschen, die vom Ätherleib aus ihr Gepräge erhalten hatten, auch Menschen, deren astrale Natur vorherrschte. Auch Ich-Menschen gab es, ausgeprägte Ich-Menschen. In jedem Menschen stellte sich also das dar, was in ihm vorwiegend war. |
In den alten Zeiten, als diese vier Formen entstanden, da würde man grotesken Gestalten begegnet sein, und der Hellseher entdeckt dann das, was in den verschiedenen Typen vorhanden war. Es gibt Darstellungen, die allerdings weniger öffentlich sind, in denen die Erinnerung daran erhalten geblieben ist. Bei den Menschen zum Beispiel, bei denen die physische Natur besonders stark wurde und auf die oberen Teile gewirkt hatte, bei denen drückte sich das in ihrem oberen Teil als Gepräge aus. Es hatte dann etwas sich gebildet, was der niederen Bildung ganz angepaßt wat, und durch das, was da tätig war, kam die Gestalt heraus, die wir festgehalten sehen in dem apokalyptischen Bilde des Stieres; nicht eines heutigen Stieres, der ist eine dekadente Form. Das was in einer gewissen Zeit vorwiegend vom physischen Leibe bestimmt war, ist auf der Stufe der Stierheit stehengeblieben. Das hat also im Stier seinen Repräsentanten und in all dem, was zu dieser Tiergattung gehört: Kühe, Rinder und so weiter.
Die Menschengruppe, bei welcher der physische Leib nicht so stark ausgeprägt war, sondern der Ätherleib, bei denen insbesondere alles das stark wurde, was man dem Herzen mehr zugeneigte Teile des Rumpfes nennen möchte, diese Menschenstufe ist auch in der Tierheit erhalten. Diese Stufe, über die der Mensch hinausschritt, ist im Löwen erhalten. Der Löwe erhält in sich den Typus, der sich herausgebildet hat aus der Gruppe der Menschen, bei denen der Ätherleib intensiv wirksam war.
Jene Menschenstufe, bei der der Astralleib den Ätherleib und den physischen Leib überwältigt hat, diese Gruppe ist uns - freilich entartet - in dem beweglichen Vogelgeschlecht erhalten und ist in der Apokalypse im Bilde des Adlers dargestellt. Die vorwiegende Astralität ist hier abgestoßen; sie erhob sich vom Boden als das Vogelsein.
Und da, wo das Ich stark wurde, da entwickelte sich ein Wesen, das in der 'Tat genannt werden darf eine Vereinigung der drei anderen Naturen, weil das Ich alle drei Glieder harmonisierte. Bei dieser Gruppe hat der Hellseher in der Tat das vor sich, was in der Sphinx festgehalten ist, wo die Sphinx insbesondere den ausgeprägten Löwenleib hat, dann die Adlerflügel, aber auch etwas Stierartiges — bei den ältesten Darstellungen der Sphinx war sogar der Reptilienschwanz vorhanden, der auf die alte Reptiliengestalt hinweist -, und nach vorne haben wir die Menschengestalt, die die anderen Teile harmonisiert.
Das sind die vier Typen, in denen in der atlantischen Zeit aber das Menschliche überwiegt, indem sich erst nach und nach, zu immer gröBerer Einheit, aus der Adlerhaftigkeit, der Löwenhaftigkeit und der Rinderhaftigkeit die Menschengestalt bildete, die diese Naturen in sich harmonisierte. Sie bildeten sich in eins um in die volle Menschengestalt, und diese bildete sich nach und nach zu der Gestalt um, wie sie in der Mitte der Atlantis vorhanden war.
Da geschah nun noch etwas durch alle diese Vorgänge. Wir denken uns, daß sozusagen harmonisch ineinander aufgingen vier verschiedene Elemente, vier Gestalten im Menschen. Das eine ist da im physischen Leib, in der Stiernatur: es sind die überwiegenden Kräfte, die bis zur Evolutionsepoche der Waage sich bildeten; dann haben wir im Ätherleib die Löwennatur; dann im Astralleib, in den überwiegenden Kräften des Astralen, die Adler- oder Geiernatur, und endlich die überwiegenden Kräfte des Ich, die eigentliche Menschennatur. Irgendeins von diesen vier Gliedern hatte bei den einzelnen Wesen die Oberhand bekommen. Dadurch entstanden die vier Typen. Aber noch andere Kombinationen konnte man antreffen. So zum Beispiel konnte der physische Leib, der Astralleib und das Ich gleichmäßig herrschen und die Oberhand über den Ätherleib haben. Das ist ein besonderer Typus der Menschheit. Dann gab es Wesen, bei denen die Oberhand hatten der Ätherleib, der Astralleib und das Ich, während der physische Leib weniger ausgebildet war, so daß wir solche Menschen haben, bei denen die Oberhand über den physischen Leib die höheren Glieder haben. Diejenigen Menschen, bei denen physischer Leib, Astralleib und Ich die Oberhand hatten, das sind die physischen Vorfahren der heutigen Männer, und diejenigen Menschen, bei denen der Ätherleib, der Astralleib und das Ich die Oberhand hatten, das sind die physischen Vorfahren der heutigen Frauen. Die anderen Typen verschwanden immer mehr und mehr, nur diese beiden blieben und bildeten sich aus zu den männlichen und weiblichen Formen.
Wodurch war denn das möglich, daß allmählich sich gerade diese beiden Formen herausbildeten? Das geschah wiederum durch die verschiedene Art der Einwirkung von den Isis- und Osiriskräften.
Wir haben gesehen, daß sich uns in den Neumondphasen, dann, wenn der Mond finster ist, das Isisprinzip charakterisiert, aber daß Osiris in den leuchtenden Vollmondphasen charakterisiert ist. Isis und Osiris sind geistige Wesen auf dem Monde, aber ihre Taten finden wir auf der Erde. Wir finden sie auf der Erde, weil durch diese Taten sich die Menschenrasse in zwei Geschlechter teilte. Die weiblichen Vorfahren der Menschen wurden gebildet durch die Wirkung des Osiris, die Vorfahren der Männer wurden gebildet durch die Wirkungen der Isis. Die Wirkung von Isis und Osiris auf die Menschheit geschieht durch die Nervenstränge, durch deren Einwirkung die Menschheit gebildet wird in einen männlichen und einen weiblichen Teil. Das wird in der Sage dadurch dargestellt, daß Isis den Osiris sucht; das Männliche und das Weibliche suchen sich auf der Erde. Wir sehen immer wieder, daß in diese Sagen hineingeheimnißt sind wunderbare Vorgänge der kosmischen Entwickelung.
Erst als die Waage überschritten war, bildeten sich allmählich in den oberen Gliedern des Menschen die Differenzierungen heraus, die wir mit männlich und weiblich bezeichnen. Der Mensch ist viel länger eingeschlechtlich geblieben als die Tiere. Was bei den übrigen Tieren schon längst geschehen war, das trat hier beim Menschen jetzt erst ein. Es gab eine Zeit, in der sozusagen eine einheitliche Menschengestalt da war, in der nichts da war von jener Fortpflanzungsart, wie sie sich später ausbildete, in der die Natur des Menschen noch beide Geschlechter in einer Wesenheit darstellte. «Und Gott schuf den Menschen männlich-weiblich» steht in der Bibel, nicht «ein Männlein und ein Fräulein». Er schuf beide in einem. Die denkbar schlechteste Übersetzung ist es, wenn gesagt wird: er schuf «ein Männlein und ein Fräulein». Denn das ist ohne Sinn den wirklichen Tatsachen gegenüber.
So blicken wir in eine Zeit, in der die menschliche Natur noch eine Einheit war, wo jeder Mensch jungfräulich gebärend war. Diese Stufe der Menschheitsentwickelung stellt uns die ägyptische Tradition aus dem Schauen der Eingeweihten heraus dar. Ich habe schon darauf hinweisen können, daß die älteren Darstellungen der Isis folgende sind: Isis nährt den Horus, hinter ihr aber steht noch eine zweite Isis mit Geierflügeln, eine Isis, die dem Horus das Henkelkreuz reicht, zur Hindeutung darauf, daß der Mensch aus einer Zeit stammt, als diese Typen noch getrennt waren, so daß später in den Menschen auch die andere astralische Wesenheit eingetaucht ist. Diese zweite Isis deutet darauf hin, wie einstmals das astralische Element vorherrschte. Das, was später mit der Menschenform vereinigt ist, wird uns hier dargestellt hinter der Mutter als die Astralgestalt, die Geierflügel gehabt haben würde, wenn sie nur der Astralität gefolgt wäre. Die Zeit aber, in der der Ätherleib überwog, wird dahinter, in einer dritten, löwenköpfigen Isis dargestellt. Diese dreifache Isis wird uns so aus tiefem Schauen heraus dargeboten.
Von diesem Gesichtspunkt aus werden wir aber auch noch etwas anderes verstehen: daß nämlich eine Übergangszeit gewesen sein muB von der Geschlechtseinheit zu der Geschlechtstrennung, daß in der Tat ein gewisser Zwischenzustand hat da sein können zwischen jener jungfräulichen Fortpflanzung, bei welcher die Befruchtung eintrat infolge von den in der Erde lebenden Kräften, die zugleich die Befruchtungsstoffe waren, und der anderen Art der zweigeschlechtlichen Fortpflanzung. Diese zweigeschlechtliche Fortpflanzung rückte erst vollständig in der Mitte der atlantischen Epoche heran. Früher war eine Zwischenstufe da. In dieser Zwischenstufe, da fand in einer gewissen Epoche eine Änderung des Bewußtseins statt. Da ging der Mensch in viel längeren Zeiträumen als heute durch einen Wechsel des Bewußtseins. Das war eine Zeit, in der das Bewußtsein besonders stark war, in dem der Mensch sich während der Nacht als geistiges Wesen bei seinen geistigen Genossen erlebte. Das Tagesbewußtsein war dagegen schwach. Diese Bewußtseinslage wechselte mit einer anderen Periode, da das Bewußtsein stark wurde, welches der Mensch hat, wenn er im physischen Leibe ist, und wo das seelische Leben, wenn der Mensch dann nachts den physischen Plan verließ, schwächer wurde. Nun gab es Zeiten der Menschheitsentwickelung, in denen wir eine Übergangsstufe sehen müssen. Da war das Bewußtsein für die physische Welt noch herabgedämpft. Und es war in diesem herabgedämpften Bewußtseinszustande, wo die Befruchtung eintrat. In den Zeiten des herabgedämmerten Bewußtseins, wenn der Mensch herausstieg aus der physischen Welt in die geistige Welt, da fand die Befruchtung statt, und der Mensch merkte sie nur durch einen symbolischen Traumesakt. In einer zarten, edlen Weise empfand er, daß Befruchtung eingetreten war im Schlafe, und nur ein zarter, wundersamer 'Traum, wie der Mensch zum Beispiel einen Stein warf und der Stein in die Erde fiel und dann aus der Erde eine Blume entstand, war im Bewußtsein des Menschen.
In dieser Zeit muß uns besonders interessieren, daß auch in Betracht kamen diejenigen, die schon früher eine spätere Stufe erreicht hatten. Wenn wir sagen, daß gewisse Wesen auf der Stierstufe stehen blieben, andere auf der Löwenstufe, andere auf der Adlerstufe und so weiter, was heißt denn das? Das heißt, wenn die Wesen hätten warten können und ihre ganze volle Liebe zur physischen Welt erst viel später hätten ausbilden wollen, dann würden sie Menschen geworden sein. Wenn der Löwe nicht zu früh hätte hineingewollt in die irdische Sphäre - er wäre Mensch geworden, ebenso die anderen bis dahin abgespaltenen Tiere. Sagen wir das noch einmal so: Alles das, was Mensch war zu der Zeit, als der Löwe sich bildete, sagte sich entweder: Nein, ich will die niederen Substanzen noch nicht aufnehmen, ich will nicht hinunter in die physische Menschheit — oder: Herunter will ich; ich will, daß das wird, was entwickelt ist.
Wir denken uns also zwei Wesenheiten; die eine bleibt noch oben im Luftätherreich und reicht nur in den irdischen Teilen herunter auf die Erde, die andere strebt danach, ganz auf die Erde hinunterzusteigen. Diese letztere wurde vielleicht Löwe, die erstere wurde Mensch.
So wie die Tiere stehenblieben, so blieben nun auch Menschen stehen. Das waren nicht die besten Menschen, die zu früh Mensch wurden; die besseren haben warten können. Sie sind lange dabeigeblieben, nicht hinunterzusteigen auf die Erde, um da in Bewußtheit den Befruchtungsakt zu vollziehen; sie blieben in dem Erkennen, wo der Befruchtungsakt ein Traum war. Diese Menschen lebten, wie man sagt, im Paradiese. Und die Menschen, die am frühesten auf die Erde stiegen, würden wir finden mit besonders stark ausgebildeter Körperlichkeit, mit rohem, brutalem Gesichtsausdruck, während wir die Menschen, die erst die edleren Teile gestalten wollten, auch in einer viel menschlicheren Gestalt finden würden.
Das, was jetzt beschrieben worden ist, das hat sich in einer wundersamen Sage und einem Ritus erhalten. Bekannt ist der Ritus, der erwähnt wird bei Tacitus; die Sage von der Göttin Nerthus oder Hertha, die jedes Jahr hinuntertaucht in die Meeresfluten in einem Wagen. Diejenigen aber, die sie ziehen, müssen getötet werden. Nerthus wurde aufgefaßt, wie man das eben auffaßt, als irgendein aus der Phantasie heraus gestaltetes Phantom, als irgendeine Göttin, der man einen Kultus auf irgendeiner Insel errichtet haben soll. Die Nerthus-Stätte hat man zu erkennen geglaubt in dem Hertha-See auf Rügen. Dort glaubte man die Stelle, wo der Wagen eingetaucht sei, gefunden zu haben. Eine merkwürdige Phantasie. Der Name HerthaSee ist nämlich eine ganz neue Erfindung. Er hieß früher der schwarze See wegen seiner Färbung, und keinem Menschen fiel es ein, ihn Hertha-See zu nennen und ihn auf die Göttin zu beziehen. In Wahrheit liegt viel Tieferes in dieser Sage. Nerthus ist die Übergangsstufe der jungfräulichen Befruchtung zu der späteren Menschenfortpflanzung. Nerthus, die untertaucht in ein dämmerhaftes Bewußtsein, nimmt, wenn sie in das Meer der Leidenschaft versenkt wird, das nur in einem zarten, symbolischen Akt wahr; sie nimmt nur einen Abglanz davon wahr. Diejenigen aber, die in der Zeit, als die höhere Menschheit noch so empfand, heruntergestiegen waren, die waren schon der ursprünglichen Naivität verlustig gegangen; die sahen schon diesen Akt und waren für das höhere Menschheitsbewußtsein verloren, die waren todeswürdig.
Die Erinnerung an dieses Ereignis der Urzeit wurde im Ritus bewahrt in zahlreichen Gegenden Europas. Man vollzog zu gewissen Zeiten bei Erinnerungsfesten eine Zeremonie. Das war der Wagen des Nerthus-Bildes, das untertauchte in das Meer der Leidenschaft. Und man hatte sogar den grausamen Gebrauch: diejenigen, die dienen durften, die ziehen mußten, die da sehen konnten, die mußten Sklaven sein und wurden bei dem Ritus getötet, zum Zeichen, daß das die sterbliche Menschheit war, die diesen Akt sah. Nur die Priester, die eingeweiht waren, durften der Zeremonie unbeschadet beiwohnen. So sehen wir an diesem Beispiel, daß in jener Zeit, als man das, was hier erzählt wurde, in gewissen Gegenden kannte, in diesen Gegenden der Nerthus-Kult war. In diesen Gegenden war ein Bewußtsein vorhanden, das diese Sage und den Ritus gestaltete. So entwickelte sich die Menschheit durch die mannigfaltigsten Formen hindurch, und so wird in den Bildern dargestellt dasjenige, was reale Tatsachen sind. Es ist schon gesagt worden, daß solche Bilder nicht Allegorien sein sollen, sondern daß sie inhaltlich in einem Verhältnis stehen zu den realen Tatsachen. Solche Bilder erschienen wie Traumbilder. So wurde auch die Osirissage zuerst geträumt, bevor der Schüler die Tatsache der Menschheitsevolution wahrhaft schaute. Und nur dasjenige, was vorbereitet auf reales Schauen, das istim okkulten Sinne ein Symbolum. Ein Symbolum ist ein Schildern realer Vorgänge in Bildern. Und welches die Wirkung dieser Schilderungen war, davon im nächsten Vortrage.
Eighth Lecture
We have now learned about significant developmental processes in the human organism. We have traced this organism from its origin to the moment when the moon separated from the earth. When we say “moment,” we are of course speaking in an imprecise sense, for these processes take quite long periods of time. From the first moment when the moon began to show signs of departing until the last moment when it had completely detached itself, long periods of time elapsed, and many things continued to develop during that time. However, we have considered the human being approximately up to the departure of the moon. We have understood this form of the human being, the form which, towards the lower part, approximately from the middle of the human body, from about the height of the hips, already showed a configuration not entirely dissimilar to that of today. With today's eyes, one would have been able to see this body, albeit as soft parts, while the upper parts would have been visible only to clairvoyant consciousness. We have already pointed out how legend, religion, and art have preserved something of the nature of human beings at that time in the centaur. And in the individual parts of the body, we have come to recognize human limbs, which gradually developed into feet, lower legs, knees, and upper legs, which at that time represented to us the animal forms of our earth, animal forms that had remained at a certain stage of development, but which humans had surpassed. Now let us understand this very clearly.
In ancient times, when the sun first rose, no animal forms had yet come into being. When the sun rose, the highest form of animals at that time was a kind of animal that stood at the level of today's fish. When it is said that human feet corresponded to this fish form, and when we have seen the feet in connection with the fish, what does that actually mean? It means that at that time, forms remained behind that swam around like fish in the watery earth, and that during that time, only the feet were physically perceptible to humans. Everything else existed only in a fine etheric form. What has been described as the chalice shape or flower shape, the luminous organ, was entirely etheric, a translucent air form, and only the lowest part of the human being was such that it actually penetrated the watery earth like the fish that remained behind. After that, there were higher animals, which are represented in the image of the water man, the human being who retained his body visible up to the lower leg. The human being thus developed in such a way that at each stage of his existence he left behind certain animal forms, which he gradually outgrew.
And when the moon began to recede, man had reached the point where he had already physically developed the lower half, the lower nature, but the upper nature was still completely capable of development. Then we saw how that which we have come to know in the effect of moonlight in the form that the Egyptians called Osiris intervenes from the moon, how it can influence human beings through the different configurations of the moon, and how that which is the most important structure of the upper body, the nerves that are the initiators of the present upper body, is integrated from the moon. The nerves that emanate from the spinal cord formed the upper body. Through the sounds that Osiris-Apollo plays on the human lyre, the middle of the human being, the middle of the hips, is formed first. Everything that had to remain at this point, beyond which the human being stepped, remained in the further development of the amphibious form.
As long as the moon was connected to the earth, it slowed down human development to a greater or lesser extent. The form of fish was still connected to the sun, which is why healthy people today have certain feelings toward fish. Think about how happy it can make a person to see a beautiful, shiny fish body, to see beautiful, luminous aquatic animals, how these forms can delight us, and let us remember how humans feel a sense of antipathy when they see creatures that are higher than fish, but which crawl and wriggle around as amphibians, frogs, toads, and snakes. Admittedly, today's amphibians are forms that have completely degenerated from those of that time, but humans once had such forms in their lower physicality. As long as humans only had their lower physicality, up to the hips, they were only a kind of lindworm; it was only later, when the upper body took shape, that they formed the human lower body. We can say that the fish form reflects the level at which humans stood through the forces they still possessed when the sun was still united with the earth; until the sun emerged, humans stood at the level of the fish.
Now the great beings, the leaders of evolution, went out to form their sun, only to reunite with the earth at a much later time. And one of the spirits who went out with it, the highest of the guiding sun spirits, is Christ. Here we stand before an event that fills us with a deep sense of awe when we learn that until then, human beings were united with the being who once left the earth with the sun as the noblest spirit. It was felt that the fish form could once characterize the time when the sun left the earth and then the formation by Christ himself. In the past, human beings were connected to the sun in the earth, and when it left, they saw the form they owed to the sun spirits preserved in the fish form. As they moved on, the sun spirits were no longer with them. Christ left the earth at the time when man had the form of a fish. This form is now preserved by the initiates of the early Christian development. In the Roman catacombs, this fish symbol was present as the symbol of Christ, and it was intended to remind people of the great cosmic event of the development at the time when Christ was still united with them in the earth. Man had progressed to the fish form when the sun separated: the first Christians perceived the reference to the human Christ form in the fish symbol as something immensely profound. How far removed is such a significant sign, which we see as a symbol of a cosmic epoch of development, from the external interpretations that are often given. These were true symbols that referred to spiritual, higher realities. They did not merely “mean” something to the first Christians. Such a symbol is an image of this or that which can actually be seen in the spiritual world, and no symbol is correctly interpreted until one can point to what can be seen for it in the spiritual world. All speculation has at most a preparatory purpose; the expression “it means” is not yet accurate, but the symbol is only truly recognized when one shows that it represents a spiritual fact.
Now let us continue with the development of humanity. Human beings have taken on the most diverse forms, and when they had developed to hip height, they were at their ugliest in their physical form. This form that human beings had at that time has been preserved in a decadent form in the snake. The time when man had reached the amphibious form, when the moon was still within the earth, was a time of shame and corruption in the development of humanity. If the moon had not left the earth at that time, the human race would have fallen into a terrible fate, and would have sunk more and more into the form of the hideous and evil. Therefore, the soul feeling that the naive, unspoiled mind has toward the snake, which retains the form in which man stood at his lowest point, this feeling of antipathy is something that is fully justified. It is precisely the unspoiled mind, which does not say that there is nothing ugly in nature, that feels revulsion toward the serpent because it is the document of human shame. This is not meant in a moral sense, but points to the lowest point in the development of humanity.
Now man had to rise above this low point. He could only do this by leaving behind the animal form and by beginning to condense his spiritual, higher part. We have seen that all the nobler parts could develop only through the influence of the Isis and Osiris forces. In order for the Osiris forces to work in him, in order for the nobler part to develop, something very important had to happen first: the upper part of the human being had to find a way to bring the spinal cord from a horizontal position into a vertical position. All this happened through the influence of Isis and Osiris. From stage to stage, human beings were guided by the sun and moon, which kept themselves in balance. When human beings had become half physical, the sun and moon were in balance; that is why the middle of the hips is called the balance. At that time, the sun was also in the sign of Libra.
Now, one must not imagine — this must be expressly noted — that after the sun had been in the sign of Scorpio and then in the sign of Libra, the hips would have developed immediately afterwards. Then one would imagine the course of development to be much too rapid. The sun passes through the entire zodiac in a period of 25,920 years. The sun once rose in Aries in the spring, previously in the sign of Taurus. The vernal equinox moved further and further; the sun traversed the constellation of Taurus with its vernal equinox, and so on. Around 747 BC, the sun re-entered Aries; in our time, it rises in the constellation of Pisces in the spring. Now, the time during which the sun passes through a constellation does mean something, but such a period would not be sufficient for the change that had to take place in order for human beings to progress from sexuality under the sign of Scorpio to the height of hip development under the sign of Libra.
It would be wrong to think that this happens through the passage of the sun. The sun goes once around the entire zodiac, and only after this entire cycle does progress occur. In earlier times, it had to go around more often before progress could occur. Therefore, the well-known time calculations of the post-Atlantean epoch cannot be applied to earlier epochs. The sun had to go around completely, in earlier times even several times, before development moved forward a little. For those members that needed more development, the time took longer. — Through this development, the human being now rises higher and higher. The next stage, where what are called the lower members of the human trunk were formed, is designated by the sign of Virgo.
We will understand this development best if we realize that while human beings are becoming more and more human, animal beings remain at certain stages. It has already been said that human beings also developed their lungs, heart, and larynx through the influence of the moon's forces. I have also shown how Osiris and Isis are involved in this. Now we must be clear that the higher organs of the human being, such as the heart, lungs, larynx, and so on, that all these members could only develop through the higher members of the human being—the etheric body, the astral body, and also the I, as the actual spiritual members of the human being—already participating in a certain way. From the point of view reached in Libra, these higher members worked together much more than in previous epochs. This is why the most diverse forms could arise. For example, the etheric body could work particularly strongly, or the astral body, or even the I. Yes, it could also happen that the physical body had a preponderance over the other three members. This led to the formation of four types of human beings. A number of people developed who had particularly developed their physical body. Then there were people who had been shaped by their etheric body, and also people whose astral nature predominated. There were also ego-people, pronounced ego-people. Thus, what was predominant in each person was manifested in them. |
In ancient times, when these four forms arose, one would have encountered grotesque figures, and the clairvoyant would then discover what was present in the different types. There are depictions, albeit less public, in which the memory of this has been preserved. For example, in people whose physical nature was particularly strong and had an effect on the upper parts, this was expressed in their upper part as a mark. Something then formed that was completely adapted to the lower form of education, and through what was active there, the figure emerged that we see captured in the apocalyptic image of the bull; not a modern bull, which is a decadent form. What was predominantly determined by the physical body at a certain time remained at the stage of bull nature. This is represented in the bull and in everything that belongs to this animal species: cows, cattle, and so on.
The group of people in whom the physical body was not so strongly developed, but rather the etheric body, in whom everything that one might call the parts of the trunk more inclined toward the heart became strong, this human stage is also preserved in animal nature. This stage, which humans transcended, is preserved in the lion. The lion preserves within itself the type that developed from the group of humans in whom the etheric body was intensely active.
That stage of humanity in which the astral body overwhelmed the etheric body and the physical body has been preserved for us—admittedly in a degenerate form—in the mobile bird species and is depicted in the Apocalypse in the image of the eagle. The predominant astrality has been cast off here; it rose from the ground as birdhood.
And where the ego became strong, a being developed that can truly be called a union of the three other natures, because the ego harmonized all three members. In this group, the clairvoyant indeed has before him what is captured in the sphinx, where the sphinx has the distinctive body of a lion, then the wings of an eagle, but also something bull-like — in the oldest representations of the sphinx, there was even a reptilian tail, which points to the ancient reptilian form — and in front we have the human form, which harmonizes the other parts.
These are the four types in which, however, the human element predominates in the Atlantean era, in that only gradually, with ever greater unity, did the human form emerge from the eagle-like, lion-like, and bovine characteristics, harmonizing these natures within itself. They formed into one to become the complete human form, and this gradually transformed into the form that existed in the middle of Atlantis.
Something else happened during all these processes. We imagine that four different elements, four forms in the human being, merged harmoniously, so to speak. One is in the physical body, in the nature of the bull: these are the predominant forces that formed up to the evolutionary epoch of Libra; then we have the nature of the lion in the etheric body; then in the astral body, in the predominant forces of the astral, the nature of the eagle or vulture, and finally the predominant forces of the ego, the actual human nature. One of these four elements had gained the upper hand in individual beings. This gave rise to the four types. But other combinations could also be found. For example, the physical body, the astral body, and the ego could rule equally and have the upper hand over the etheric body. This is a special type of humanity. Then there were beings in whom the etheric body, the astral body, and the ego had the upper hand, while the physical body was less developed, so that we have such people in whom the higher members have the upper hand over the physical body. Those people in whom the physical body, astral body, and ego had the upper hand are the physical ancestors of today's men, and those people in whom the etheric body, astral body, and ego had the upper hand are the physical ancestors of today's women. The other types disappeared more and more, and only these two remained and developed into the male and female forms.
How was it possible that these two forms gradually developed? This happened again through the different types of influence from the Isis and Osiris forces.
We have seen that during the new moon phases, when the moon is dark, the Isis principle is characterized, but that Osiris is characterized during the bright full moon phases. Isis and Osiris are spiritual beings on the moon, but we find their deeds on earth. We find them on earth because through these deeds the human race was divided into two sexes. The female ancestors of humans were formed through the influence of Osiris, the ancestors of men were formed through the influence of Isis. The influence of Isis and Osiris on humanity occurs through the nerve strands, through whose action humanity is formed into a male and a female part. This is represented in the legend by Isis searching for Osiris; the male and the female seek each other on Earth. We see again and again that these legends conceal wonderful processes of cosmic development.
Only when the balance was tipped did the differentiations that we call male and female gradually develop in the upper members of the human being. Human beings remained unisexual for much longer than animals. What had long since happened to other animals only now began to happen to human beings. There was a time when there was, so to speak, a uniform human form, in which there was nothing of the mode of reproduction that later developed, in which human nature still represented both sexes in one being. “And God created man male and female,” it says in the Bible, not “a little man and a little woman.” He created both in one. The worst possible translation is to say that he created “a little man and a little woman.” For that makes no sense in relation to the actual facts.
Thus we look back to a time when human nature was still one, when every human being gave birth as a virgin. The Egyptian tradition, based on the observations of the initiated, presents this stage of human development to us. I have already pointed out that the older representations of Isis are as follows: Isis nourishes Horus, but behind her stands a second Isis with vulture wings, an Isis who hands Horus the cross, indicating that human beings originate from a time when these types were still separate, so that later the other astral being also immersed itself in human beings. This second Isis indicates how the astral element once prevailed. What was later united with the human form is represented here behind the mother as the astral figure, which would have had vulture wings if it had followed only the astrality. But the time when the etheric body predominated is represented behind it in a third, lion-headed Isis. This threefold Isis is presented to us from deep insight.
From this point of view, however, we will also understand something else: namely, that there must have been a transition period from sexual unity to sexual separation, that there may indeed have been a certain intermediate state between that virgin reproduction in which fertilization occurred as a result of the forces living in the earth, which were at the same time the fertilizing substances, and the other type of bisexual reproduction. This two-sex reproduction did not fully develop until the middle of the Atlantean epoch. Before that, there was an intermediate stage. During this intermediate stage, a change in consciousness took place at a certain epoch. Human beings underwent a change of consciousness over much longer periods than today. This was a time when consciousness was particularly strong, when human beings experienced themselves as spiritual beings among their spiritual companions during the night. Daytime consciousness, on the other hand, was weak. This state of consciousness changed with another period, when the consciousness that human beings have when they are in the physical body became strong, and the soul life became weaker when human beings left the physical plane at night. Now there were times in human evolution when we must see a transitional stage. At that time, consciousness of the physical world was still subdued. And it was in this subdued state of consciousness that fertilization took place. In times of subdued consciousness, when humans stepped out of the physical world into the spiritual world, fertilization took place, and humans only noticed it through a symbolic dream act. In a delicate, noble way, they felt that fertilization had taken place in their sleep, and only a delicate, wondrous “dream,” such as a person throwing a stone and the stone falling into the earth and then a flower emerging from the earth, was in the consciousness of human beings.
At this time, we must be particularly interested in the fact that those who had already reached a later stage were also taken into consideration. When we say that certain beings remained at the Taurus stage, others at the Leo stage, others at the Eagle stage, and so on, what does that mean? It means that if these beings had been able to wait and had wanted to develop their full love for the physical world much later, they would have become human beings. If the lion had not wanted to enter the earthly sphere too early, it would have become human, as would the other animals that had split off by then. Let us put it another way: everything that was human at the time when the lion was formed said either: No, I do not want to take in the lower substances yet, I do not want to descend into physical humanity — or: I want to descend; I want what has been developed to become reality.
So we imagine two beings; one remains above in the etheric realm and reaches down to the earth only in its earthly parts, while the other strives to descend completely to the earth. The latter perhaps became the lion, the former became human.
Just as the animals remained where they were, so too did humans. Those who became human too early were not the best; the better ones were able to wait. They remained there for a long time, not descending to earth to consciously perform the act of fertilization; they remained in the state of knowledge where the act of fertilization was a dream. These humans lived, as they say, in paradise. And the humans who descended to earth earliest would be found with particularly strongly developed physicality, with raw, brutal facial expressions, while we would find the humans who first wanted to develop the nobler parts in a much more human form.
What has now been described has been preserved in a wondrous legend and a ritual. The ritual mentioned by Tacitus is well known: the legend of the goddess Nerthus or Hertha, who every year descends into the waves of the sea in a chariot. Those who pull her must be killed. Nerthus was understood, as one might understand it, as some phantom created out of the imagination, as some goddess who was said to have been worshipped on some island. The site of Nerthus was believed to be the Hertha Lake on Rügen. There, people believed they had found the place where the chariot had been submerged. A strange fantasy. The name Lake Hertha is a completely new invention. It used to be called the Black Lake because of its color, and no one thought of calling it Lake Hertha and associating it with the goddess. In truth, there is much more to this legend. Nerthus is the transitional stage from virgin fertilization to later human reproduction. Nerthus, who submerges into a twilight consciousness, perceives only a faint reflection of this when she is immersed in the sea of passion, which is only a delicate, symbolic act. But those who had descended at a time when higher humanity still felt this way had already lost their original naivety; they already saw this act and were lost to higher human consciousness; they were worthy of death.
The memory of this primeval event was preserved in rituals in numerous regions of Europe. At certain times, a ceremony was performed during commemorative festivals. This was the chariot of the image of Nerthus, which was submerged in the sea of passion. And there was even the cruel custom that those who were allowed to serve, who had to pull, who could see, had to be slaves and were killed during the ritual as a sign that it was mortal humanity that saw this act. Only the priests who were initiated were allowed to attend the ceremony unharmed. So we see from this example that in those days, when what is recounted here was known in certain regions, the cult of Nerthus existed in those regions. In these regions, there was a consciousness that shaped this legend and the ritual. Thus, humanity developed through the most diverse forms, and thus what are real facts are represented in the images. It has already been said that such images are not allegories, but that their content is related to real facts. Such images appeared like dream images. Thus, the Osiris ritual was first dreamed before the disciple truly saw the fact of human evolution. And only that which is prepared for real seeing is a symbol in the occult sense. A symbol is a depiction of real processes in images. The effect of these depictions will be discussed in the next lecture.