Reading the Pictures of the Apocalypse
GA 104a
15 May 1909, Kristiania
Lecture II-VI
In order to place the task of our time and our future evolution before our souls we must look at the facts we already know. When we speak of the earth we mean, of course, all of the spiritual beings that belong to it. At the beginning of our evolution the earth was not yet separated from the other bodies in our solar system. We include in our solar system everything up to Saturn; and just as physical science speaks of a large ancient earth, from which the other heavenly bodies have come, so also spiritual science speaks of a large, ancient body called Saturn that reached far out beyond the present earth and encompassed the entire solar system.1Compare Rudolf Steiner's descriptions in An Outline of Occult Science (GA 13) (Hudson, N.Y.: Anthroposophic Press, 1972), page 114—134. Old Saturn consisted of interweaving, surging warmth. There was no air; the space in which this primal sphere existed was permeated with regular streams of warmth. These streams were the predecessors of human beings. At that time our body consisted of streams of flowing warmth.
We can imagine what this was like if we think away the bones, nerves, and muscles from the human being and keep only the warmth of our blood. Only the human being's warmth substance was present at that time; there was no mineral kingdom, but the human being existed within the lawfulness of the physical, mineral world. That is what we today must clearly feel as the first epoch of our earth evolution.
Then there was a time when the earth had shed old Saturn but the sun, moon, and earth remained together as one body. At that time human beings were present in their bodily nature as forms made of air. All the power that comes from the sun came forth at that time from within the earth. Everything came from within outward. Only after the sun had separated from the earth did it begin to shine upon it from outside. Therefore, we have a second epoch in human evolution when the human being had an existence as a form made of air as well as a plantlike form. [Here there is a big gap in the manuscript. The Moon condition and the Polarian and Hyperborean ages are described.]
Then the third age comes, the Lemurian age, when the moon leaves the earth and the beings of the moon work into the earth from outside it. It would be impossible to think of the carpet of vegetation covering the earth without the forces of the sun and the moon working alternately from outside. If the moon had remained within the earth, then the earth would have become so rigid that the human being would have been hardened in body and soul. Only because the moon was separated from the earth could the earth be placed between the sun and the moon. Otherwise the earth, solely under the forces of the sun, would have entered into a rate of development that was much too fast. We thank our position between sun and moon for the proper tempo of evolution. We have, then, a third stage when the moon is already outside the earth.
These three stages are reflected in the post-Atlantean evolution of humankind. What took place on a grand scale during the evolution of the earth (old Saturn, old Sun, old Moon) is reflected on a smaller scale in the post-Atlantean age. We see how the external, cosmic processes of the so-called Polarian age are reflected in the first post-Atlantean culture, in the ancient Indian epoch. During the Polarian age everything was inward, was within the warmth body of the earth; and we see how the ancient Indians felt all of that in their inner lives. Therefore, their feeling life did not look out into cosmic spaces. They felt themselves rather as one with Brahman.
The Polarian age was followed by the Hyperborean age, with a race of human beings who had air-like bodies. The sun had separated from the earth and now worked from outside. This separation was reflected in the ancient Persian cultural epoch when Zarathustra proclaimed Ahura Mazdao the spirit of the sun. The sun spirit was the guiding and leading principle of the ancient Persian cultural epoch.
The third, the Lemurian age, was reflected during the Egyptian age in the mood of its religion. The teaching of Osiris and Isis can be characterized from the most varied sides and points of view. But what is characteristic of this teaching is the following: In the ancient Lemurian age birth and death did not yet exist. At first, human beings repeated the condition in which they had been when the sun had not yet separated from the earth. At that time they were in a spiritual body. Then, when the sun was no longer united with the earth, they came to the point of having an air-like body; and then the human body was filled with a watery mist. Before the Lemurian age the human being was present only as mist and steam, barely distinguishable from what was flowing all around as mist or fog—changeable like the clouds, constantly changing forms in a way similar to the clouds of today. In these ancient times the human being was not yet altogether on the earth, but rather hovered above it. Pieces of this fine matter were constantly separating off and going away from human beings, welling up and flowing away from them. The condensation of human bodies into solid forms only occurred in the Lemurian age. What we call the succession of incarnations only began to appear with this condensation or “densification” of the human being. Only now are the bodily and soul aspects separated to such an extent that one can say human beings begin to regard the external as opposed to their inner life. Today we distinguish our inner and our outer being as the contradiction between our life of soul and the external world. In the age of the sun, human beings perceived the spiritual beings surrounding them as their external world. Then came the age of the separation of the moon. The external began to separate from the internal. In this way the difference between waking and sleeping arose. Human beings alternated between states when they were exposed to the sun and then were turned away from it. Then the time approached when the human being began to perceive objects on which the sun shone. At night the forces of the moon continually stimulated the life of the soul so that human beings distinguished a time when they perceived the external world and a state when they felt forces that worked through the moon and made them clairvoyant. Human beings said to themselves that through the spirituality that lived in the moon, they could perceive the spiritual world that was inwardly flowing into them through the forces of the moon. The forces of the moon were reflected sun forces that the spiritual world mediated to human beings, while the external world became increasingly perceptible to them during the day.
This was reflected in the ancient Egyptian's feeling life. The sun spirit was characterized as Osiris and the soul that seeks the sun spirit was seen as Isis. Thus, all we have been describing was reflected in the worship of Isis in the ancient Egyptian culture. Hence, the religious life was a worship of the moon. Osiris was a sun spirit residing on the moon. He could be seen clairvoyantly by the souls that sought him. But as the human being descended more and more into the physical bodily nature this bodily nature became like a box to Osiris. As human beings increasingly came to be earth beings in the strict sense, Osiris withdrew more and more.
The Lemurian age was followed by the Atlantean age—which was reflected in the fourth, the Greco-Latin culture. This era had an aspect of the world that had already presented itself cosmically in the Atlantean age. The human being became denser and denser. At the beginning of the human being's evolution the bones were present only as lines of force within. Then the human being became a being of air, and later a gelatinous being. The forms of the skeletal system are increasingly formed. On the other hand the powers of soul were in equal measure greater at that time. The Lemurians, who lived in viscous bodies in ancient times, had powers of soul much greater than those of the following races. It was much the same with the Atlanteans. If cannon balls had existed at that time, for example, such an Atlantean could have simply deflected any cannon ball through the power in his soul even though his physical body was not as dense as bodies are today. In terms of their physical bodily nature, Atlanteans were much thinner than we are today.
There were beings among the Atlanteans for whom it was not necessary to evolve into our dense bodily nature. They were similar to human beings but more highly developed. These beings could pass through their full stage of human existence already in those thin Atlantean bodies. They stand one degree higher than we human beings, for we must descend all the way down into a dense physical bodily nature in order to develop our I consciousness.
A memory of all these beings is reflected in the world of ancient Greek gods and in every aspect of the thinking and feeling of that epoch.
The gods of the European north are, in a similar way, former companions of humankind—but they were not as “densified” as the Greek gods. The ancient Norse bards and singers still knew of them when they allowed what lived within them to speak. In ancient times, the Edda was not needed in order to prove that something like this existed. But if God had not come down to us in the fourth epoch, then human beings would have forgotten their old companions who had been so well remembered by many even into the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Now we come into our own age. Human beings no longer have any memory of an earlier age. We now have nothing to repeat. We have seen how ancient cultures were always reflected in the previous repetitions. But now in the fifth epoch there is nothing more for humankind to repeat. The world would have become empty if, in the fourth epoch, the Yahweh-Christ-God2Compare the following lecture excerpt: “Who did Moses see on Sinai in the burning bush and in the fire? Christ! But, just as we do not see the light of the sun directly on the moon but only reflected sunlight. so ton Moses saw a reflection of Christ. And just as we call sunlight that has been reflected by the moon, moonlight, so Christ, at that time was called Yahveh. Therefore, Yahveh is nothing other than the reflection of Christ before he appeared on the earth. So Christ was announced to the human being, who was not yet able to see him in his fundamental, essential being, just as sunlight announces itself through the rays of moonlight at night when, were it not for the full moon, the sky would he dark. Yahveh is Christ, but not seen directly, but rather as reflected light.” Lecture of September 21, 1909, Basel, in The Gospel of St. Luke (GA 114) (Hudson, N.Y.: Anthroposophic Press, 1964). had not come and lived in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. The fifth epoch would have become the godless epoch if Christ had not descended into Jesus of Nazareth's body of flesh.
We see the Polarian age reflected in the ancient Indian age, the Hyperborean in the ancient Persian, the Lemurian in the Egypto-Chaldean, and the Atlantean in the Greco-Latin age. And now we will see the important processes that take place in the etheric and astral bodies of human beings who take into themselves the knowledge of Christ Jesus in our age.
Sechster Vortrag
Damit wir die Aufgabe unserer Zeit und unsere Zukunftsentwickelung uns vor die Seele führen können, müssen wir einen Blick werfen auf die Tatsachen, die wir schon kennen. Wenn wir von der Erde sprechen, meinen wir ja dabei alles, was von geistigen Wesenheiten dazugehört. Im Beginne der Entwickelung war sie noch nicht abgetrennt von den übrigen Körpern unseres Sonnensystems. Wir rechnen zu unserem Sonnensystem alles bis zum Saturn hinauf, und wie die physische Wissenschaft von einem alten, großen Erdball spricht, von dem sich die übrigen Gestirne abgegliedert haben, so spricht auch die geistige Forschung von dem alten, großen Saturn, der, weit über die heutige Erde hinausreichend, das ganze Sonnensystem umfaßte und der aus ineinanderwogender Wärme bestand. Es gab keine Luft; der Raum, in dem diese uralte Kugel war, war durchsetzt mit regelmäßigen Wärmeströmungen. Das waren die Vorfahren von uns Menschen; unser Leib bestand dazumal aus Wärmeströmungen.
Wir können uns davon eine Vorstellung bilden, wenn wir uns vom Menschen fortdenken würden, was Knochen, Nerven, Muskeln sind und dann nur behalten würden die Blutwärme. Es war also dazumal von dem Menschen die Wärmesubstanz vorhanden; es gab kein mineralisches Reich, aber der Mensch war selbst innerhalb mineralischer Gesetzmäßigkeit. Das war es, was wir heute deutlich empfinden müssen als die eine Epoche unserer Erdenentwickelung.
Dann gab es eine Epoche, da hatte die Erde abgestreift den alten Saturn, aber Sonne, Mond und Erde blieben verbunden und blieben ein Körper. Der Mensch war dazumal in luftförmiger Leiblichkeit vorhanden. Alle Kraft, die von der Sonne kommt, kam zu jener Zeit aus dem Innern der Erde heraus. Alles kam von innen heraus, die Erde strahlte in den Weltenraum hinaus. Erst als sich die Sonne von der Erde getrennt hatte, fing sie an, sie von außen zu bestrahlen. So haben wir eine zweite Epoche in der Menschheitsentwickelung, in der der Mensch, wenn auch ein luftförmiges, so doch ein pflanzliches Dasein hatte. ... [Große Lücke in der Nachschrift; es wird der Mondenzustand und die polarische und hyperboräische Zeit geschildert.]
Nun kommt die dritte Zeit, die lemurische Zeit, da der Mond heraustritt aus der Erde und die Wesenheiten des Mondes von außen auf sie einwirken. Es wäre gar nicht möglich, eine Pflanzendecke der Erde zu denken, ohne daß die Sonnen- und Mondkräfte wechselseitig von außen wirkten. Wäre der Mond im Leibe der Erde darinnen geblieben, dann wäre die Erde so starr geworden, daß der Mensch verhärtet wäre. Nur dadurch, daß der Mond sich losgetrennt hatte, wurde die Erde mitten hineingestellt zwischen Sonne und Mond; sonst würde die Erde unter dem bloßen Einfluß der Sonnenkräfte ein zu schnelles Tempo in der Entwickelung eingeschlagen haben. So verdanken wir unserer Stellung zwischen Sonne und Mond das richtige Tempo. Wir haben also nun ein drittes Stadium, wo der Mond schon draußen ist.
Diese drei Stadien spiegeln sich in der nachatlantischen Menschheitsentwickelung. Das, was sich draußen im großen während des Erdenzustandes vollzogen hat, das spiegelt sich im kleinen in der nachatlantischen Zeit. So sehen wir, wie die äußeren kosmischen Vorgänge der sogenannten polarischen Zeit sich widerspiegeln in der ersten nachatlantischen Kultur, in der altindischen Zeit. Damals, in der polarischen Zeit, war alles innerlich, innen in dem Wärmeleib der Erde; und wir sehen, wie die alten Inder das alles fühlten in ihrem Innern. Daher schaute ihr Gemüt nicht hinaus in Weltenräume, sondern sie fühlten sich eins mit Brahman.
Dem polarischen Zeitalter folgte die hyperboräische Zeit mit einer Menschenrasse, die eines luftartigen Leibes teilhaftig wurde. Die Sonne hatte sich da von der Erde getrennt und wirkte nun von außen. Die Trennung spiegelt sich in der urpersischen Kulturepoche, da Zarathustra den Ahura Mazdao, den Sonnengeist verkündete. Der Sonnengeist ist das lenkende und leitende Prinzip in der urpersischen Kulturepoche.
Und das dritte, das lemurische Zeitalter spiegelt sich in der ägyptischen Zeit in der ganzen religiösen Anschauung. Man kann von den verschiedensten Seiten und Standpunkten die Lehre von Osiris und Isis charakterisieren. Das Charakteristischste an dieser Lehre aber war folgendes: In dem alten lemurischen Zeitalter waren Geburt und Tod noch gar nicht vorhanden. Der Mensch wiederholte zunächst den Zustand, in dem er gewesen war, als die Sonne sich noch nicht von der Erde getrennt hatte. Damals war er in einem geistigen Leibe. Dann, als die Sonne nicht mehr mit der Erde vereinigt war, brachte er es zu einem luftartigen Leibe; dann aber wurde der Menschenleib mit wäßrigen Dünsten erfüllt. Vor der lemurischen Zeit war die menschliche Wesenheit nur als Dunst und Dampf vorhanden, kaum unterscheidbar von dem, was da als Dunst oder Nebel durcheinanderflutete, wie Wolken wandelbar, gleich den heutigen Wolken sich fortwährend wandelnd. Es war also in diesen alten Zeiten der Mensch überhaupt noch nicht auf der Erde, sondern über der Erde schwebend. Stücke von dieser feinen Materie gingen fortwährend von dem Menschen weg, quollen aus ihm hervor. Eine Verdichtung der Menschenleiber trat erst in der lemurischen Zeit ein. Damit, daß sich der Mensch verdichtete, trat erst das ein, was man die aufeinanderfolgenden Inkarnationen nennt. Erst da trennt sich das Seelische und Leibliche so, daß man sagen kann, der Mensch fängt an, das Äußere als einen Gegensatz zu seinem Inneren zu betrachten. Heute unterscheidet der Mensch sein Inneres und sein Äußeres als den Gegensatz zwischen Seelenleben und Außenleben. In der Sonnenzeit der Erde hatte der Mensch als Außenwelt das wahrgenommen, was es als geistige Wesenheit in seiner Umgebung gab. Jetzt kam die Zeit der Mondentrennung; da begann das Äußere sich vom Inneren zu trennen. So trat der Unterschied auf zwischen Wachen und Schlafen: der Mensch wechselte ab zwischen Zuständen, da er der Sonne ausgesetzt und ihr abgewandt war. Und so kam die Zeit heran, da der Mensch die von der Sonne beschienenen Gegenstände wahrzunehmen begann. Es regte während der Nacht die Mondenkraft das Seelenleben so an, daß der Mensch unterschied zwischen einer Zeit, da er die Außenwelt wahrnahm und einem Zustand, da er die durch den Mond wirkenden Kräfte so empfand, daß er hellseherisch wurde. Da sagte sich der Mensch, daß er durch die im Monde wohnende Geistigkeit wahrnehmen könne die geistige Welt, die durch die Kräfte des Mondes innerlich in ihn einströmte. So waren ihm die Mondenkräfte als reflektierte Sonnenkraft das, was ihm die geistige Welt vermittelte, während ihm bei Tage die Außenwelt mehr und mehr wahrnehmbar wurde.
Dies spiegelte sich nun im Gemütsleben der alten Ägypter. Als Osiris bezeichnete man den Sonnengeist und als Isis die den Sonnengeist suchende Seele. In dieser Weise spiegelte sich das alles in dem Isisdienst des alten Ägyptertums. So war das religiöse Leben ein Mondendienst. Ein auf dem Monde wohnendes Sonnenwesen ist der Osiris. Er konnte hellseherisch geschaut werden durch die Seelen, die ihn suchten. Aber als der Mensch immer mehr in die physische Körperlichkeit herabstieg, da wurde dem Osiris diese Körperlichkeit wie ein Kasten. Als die Menschen im eigentlichen Sinne Erdenmenschen wurden, zieht sich der Osiris immer mehr zurück.
Dem lemurischen Zeitraum folgte der alte atlantische Zeitraum und der spiegelt sich in der vierten, der griechisch-lateinischen Kultur. Diese hatte also eine Anschauung, welche sich schon kosmisch dargelebt hatte in dem atlantischen Zeitalter. Immer mehr verdichtete sich da der Mensch. Im Anfang seiner Entwickelung sind die Knochen nur als Kraftlinien im Menschen angedeutet; dann ist der Mensch ein luftiges, später ein gallertartiges Wesen. Es bilden sich nun mehr und mehr die Formen des Knochensystems aus. Dagegen war in demselben Maße die seelische Kraft dazumal stärker. Die Lemurier, die in alten Zeiten in dickflüssigen Leibern waren, hatten viel größere Seelenkräfte als die folgenden Rassen. Ähnlich war es noch bei den Atlantiern. Hätte es damals schon Kanonenkugeln gegeben, so hätte zum Beispiel ein solcher Atlantier eine gegen ihn geschleuderte Kugel einfach wegreflektieren können durch Seelenkraft, wenn auch sein physischer Leib nicht so dicht war wie heute. Die Atlantier waren also als physische Leiblichkeit noch viel dünner.
Nun gab es bei den Atlantiern Wesen, die nicht nötig hatten, die Entwickelung bis in unsere dichte Leiblichkeit durchzumachen. Sie waren dem Menschen ähnlich, nur höher entwickelt. Jene Wesen konnten schon in diesen dünnen atlantischen Leibern ihre volle Menschenstufe durchmachen. Sie stehen um einen Grad höher als wir Menschen, während die Menschen den Herabstieg bis in die dichte physische Leiblichkeit durchmachen müssen, um ihr Ich-Bewußtsein zu entwickeln.
Eine Erinnerung an alle diese Wesen spiegelt sich in der alten griechischen Götterwelt ab und im ganzen Denken und Fühlen jener Epoche.
Die Göttergestalten des europäischen Nordens sind gleichsam ehemalige Genossen der Menschheit, aber keine so stark verdichteten Wesenheiten. Die Skalden wußten noch von ihnen, wenn sie ihr eigenes Innere sprechen ließen. In alten Zeiten brauchte man nicht die Edda, nicht ein Schrifttum, um zu beweisen, daß es so etwas gegeben hatte. Aber wäre der Gott nicht in unserem vierten Zeitraum herabgekommen, so hätte der Mensch seine alten Genossen vergessen, die noch bis ins 13., 14. Jahrhundert so manchem in lebendiger Erinnerung waren.
Nun kommen wir in unseren eigenen Zeitraum hinein. Jetzt aber haben wir nichts mehr zu wiederholen. Die Menschen haben keine Erinnerung mehr an die frühere Zeit. Wir haben gesehen, wie sich in der Wiederholung immer abspiegelt die alte Kultur. Jetzt aber, im fünften Zeitraum, gab es für die Menschheit nichts mehr zu wiederholen; leer wäre die Welt gewesen, wenn nicht im vierten Zeitraum die Jahve-Christus-Gottheit gekommen wäre und im Leibe des Jesus von Nazareth gewohnt hätte. Der fünfte Zeitraum wäre der götterlose Zeitraum geworden, wenn nicht der Christus in den fleischlichen Leib des Jesus von Nazareth herabgestiegen wäre.
So sehen wir sich abspiegeln im alten indischen Zeitraum die polarische Zeit, im urpersischen die hyperboräische Zeit, im ägyptisch-chaldäischen die lemurische Zeit und im griechisch-lateinischen die atlantische Zeit. Und nun werden wir sehen, was als ein Wichtiges vorgeht im Ätherleib und Astralleib der Menschen, die in unserem Zeitraum in sich aufnehmen das Wissen vom Christus-Ereignis.
Sixth lecture
In order to understand the task of our time and our future development, we must take a look at the facts we already know. When we speak of the Earth, we mean everything that belongs to spiritual beings. At the beginning of its development, it was not yet separated from the other bodies of our solar system. We include everything up to Saturn in our solar system, and just as physical science speaks of an ancient, large globe from which the other stars separated, so spiritual research speaks of the ancient, large Saturn, which extended far beyond the present Earth and encompassed the entire solar system, consisting of undulating heat. There was no air; the space in which this ancient sphere existed was permeated by regular streams of heat. These were the ancestors of us humans; our bodies consisted at that time of streams of heat.
We can form an idea of this if we imagine removing from the human being what bones, nerves, and muscles are, and then retaining only the warmth of the blood. At that time, therefore, the substance of heat was present in human beings; there was no mineral kingdom, but human beings themselves were subject to mineral laws. This is what we must clearly perceive today as one epoch in the evolution of our Earth.
Then there was an epoch when the Earth shed the old Saturn, but the Sun, Moon, and Earth remained connected and remained one body. At that time, human beings existed in an airy physical form. All the power that comes from the Sun came from within the Earth at that time. Everything came from within, and the Earth radiated out into the universe. Only when the sun separated from the earth did it begin to shine on it from outside. Thus we have a second epoch in human development in which human beings, although still in an airy form, nevertheless had a plant-like existence. ... [Large gap in the transcript; the lunar state and the polar and hyperborean ages are described.]
Now comes the third period, the Lemurian period, when the moon emerges from the earth and the beings of the moon act upon it from outside. It would be impossible to imagine a plant cover on the earth without the sun and moon forces acting on each other from outside. If the moon had remained inside the earth, the earth would have become so rigid that human beings would have hardened. Only because the moon separated itself was the earth placed in the middle between the sun and the moon; otherwise, under the sole influence of the sun's forces, the earth would have developed too quickly. So we owe our position between the sun and the moon for the right pace of development. We now have a third stage, where the moon is already outside.
These three stages are reflected in post-Atlantean human development. What took place externally on a large scale during the Earth's existence is reflected on a small scale in the post-Atlantean period. Thus we see how the external cosmic processes of the so-called polar period are reflected in the first post-Atlantean culture, in ancient India. At that time, in the polar age, everything was internal, inside the warm body of the Earth; and we see how the ancient Indians felt all this within themselves. Therefore, their minds did not look out into the world, but they felt at one with Brahman.
The polar age was followed by the Hyperborean age with a human race that became part of an air-like body. The sun had separated from the earth and now worked from outside. This separation is reflected in the ancient Persian cultural epoch, when Zarathustra proclaimed Ahura Mazdao, the spirit of the sun. The sun spirit is the guiding and directing principle in the ancient Persian cultural epoch.
And the third, the Lemurian age, is reflected in the Egyptian period in the entire religious view. The teachings of Osiris and Isis can be characterized from many different sides and points of view. But the most characteristic feature of these teachings was the following: In the ancient Lemurian age, birth and death did not yet exist. Man initially repeated the state in which he had been when the sun had not yet separated from the earth. At that time, he was in a spiritual body. Then, when the sun was no longer united with the earth, he brought it into an air-like body; but then the human body became filled with watery vapors. Before the Lemurian era, the human being existed only as vapor and mist, hardly distinguishable from what flooded around as vapor or fog, changeable like clouds, constantly changing like today's clouds. In those ancient times, therefore, human beings did not yet exist on Earth at all, but floated above it. Pieces of this fine matter continually left human beings, welling up from within them. A densification of human bodies did not occur until the Lemurian epoch. With the densification of human beings, what we call successive incarnations began. Only then did the soul and the body separate in such a way that one can say that man began to regard the outer as opposed to the inner. Today, man distinguishes between his inner and outer worlds as the opposition between soul life and outer life. During the Sun era of the Earth, man perceived as his outer world what existed as spiritual beings in his environment. Then came the time of the separation of the moon, when the outer began to separate from the inner. Thus the difference between waking and sleeping arose: human beings alternated between states in which they were exposed to the sun and states in which they were turned away from it. And so the time came when human beings began to perceive the objects illuminated by the sun. During the night, the power of the moon stimulated the soul life in such a way that human beings distinguished between a time when they perceived the outer world and a state in which they felt the forces working through the moon in such a way that they became clairvoyant. Human beings then said to themselves that through the spirituality dwelling in the moon they could perceive the spiritual world that flowed inwardly into them through the forces of the moon. Thus, the forces of the moon, as reflected solar energy, were what conveyed the spiritual world to him, while during the day the external world became more and more perceptible to him.
This was reflected in the emotional life of the ancient Egyptians. Osiris was the name given to the spirit of the sun, and Isis to the soul seeking the spirit of the sun. In this way, all of this was reflected in the worship of Isis in ancient Egypt. Thus, religious life was a worship of the moon. Osiris is a sun being who dwells on the moon. He could be seen clairvoyantly by the souls who sought him. But as human beings descended more and more into physical corporeality, this corporeality became like a box for Osiris. When humans became earth beings in the true sense, Osiris withdrew more and more.
The Lemurian period was followed by the ancient Atlantean period, which is reflected in the fourth, the Greek-Latin culture. This culture had a view that had already been lived out cosmically in the Atlantean age. Humans became increasingly denser. At the beginning of their development, bones are only hinted at as lines of force in humans; then humans are airy beings, later gelatinous beings. The forms of the skeletal system now develop more and more. In contrast, the soul force was stronger at that time. The Lemurians, who in ancient times had thick bodies, had much greater soul forces than the races that followed. It was similar with the Atlanteans. If cannonballs had existed at that time, an Atlantean, for example, could have simply reflected a ball fired at him by the power of his soul, even though his physical body was not as dense as it is today. The Atlanteans were therefore much thinner in terms of their physical body.
Now, among the Atlanteans there were beings who did not need to go through the development into our dense physical bodies. They were similar to humans, only more highly developed. These beings were able to go through their entire human stage in these thin Atlantean bodies. They are one degree higher than us humans, while humans have to go through the descent into dense physical bodies in order to develop their ego consciousness.
A memory of all these beings is reflected in the ancient Greek pantheon and in the entire thinking and feeling of that epoch.
The god figures of northern Europe are, as it were, former companions of humanity, but not beings so strongly condensed. The skalds still knew about them when they let their own inner selves speak. In ancient times, there was no need for the Edda or any other writings to prove that such things had existed. But if God had not descended in our fourth epoch, human beings would have forgotten their ancient companions, who were still vividly remembered by many people until the 13th and 14th centuries.
Now we come to our own period. But now we have nothing more to repeat. People have no memory of earlier times. We have seen how the old culture is always reflected in repetition. Now, however, in the fifth period, there was nothing left for humanity to repeat; the world would have been empty if the Yahweh-Christ deity had not come in the fourth period and dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. The fifth period would have become a godless period if Christ had not descended into the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth.
Thus we see reflected in the ancient Indian period the polaric time, in the ancient Persian period the hyperborean time, in the Egyptian-Chaldean period the Lemurian time, and in the Greek-Latin period the Atlantean time. And now we will see what is happening in the etheric body and astral body of human beings who are taking in the knowledge of the Christ event in our period.