We
have pointed out that in the Genesis account of the coming into existence of
the earth, there is first of all a recapitulation of those earlier stages of
evolution which today can only be reached through the clairvoyant
investigation which we recognise as the source of our anthroposophical world
outlook. If we recall what we have learnt from that source about the
conditions of evolution in periods prior to the existence of our earth, we
remember that what later became our solar system was contained in a planetary
existence which we call [ancient] Saturn. We must be quite clear that this
ancient Saturn consisted solely of interrelationships of warmth. If anyone,
from the standpoint of modern physics, raises an objection to my speaking of
a cosmic body consisting only of warmth, I must refer him to what I said two days
ago � that I could myself raise all the scientific objections against the
things said here today or at any other time. But there is really not time in
these lectures to touch on what this gullible modern science has to say.
Faced with the sources of spiritual scientific investigation, the whole range
of modern scientific knowledge seems pretty amateurish. I do intend one day
to deal with many of the objections raised. I shall probably begin next
spring at the time of my lecture cycle in Prague; and I shall there speak not
only of the whole basis of Anthroposophy, but in order to satisfy
contemporary minds, I shall speak also of the arguments against it. My Prague
cycle will be preceded by two public lectures, of which the first will be
called: How can Anthroposophy be refuted? And the second: How can
Anthroposophy be substantiated?
Later I shall repeat these lectures at other places, and people will then see
that we are fully aware of the objections which can be made against what is
taught in Anthroposophy. Anthroposophy has a firm foundation, and those who
think they are able to refute it do not yet understand it. Time will show in
the long run that this is so. As to Saturn's state of warmth, let me once
more draw attention to certain observations in my book An Outline of Occult Science,
which may also help to satisfy those who are prompted by their scientific
training to object.
Having said this, I feel free to resume my
exposition from the anthroposophical standpoint, without further reference to
well-meant objections. In Saturn, then, there was an interweaving of varying
conditions of warmth. Let us grasp this quite clearly. The Genesis account
describes a repetition within the developing earth of this ancient Saturn
state, these relationships of warmth or fire. That is the first thing in the
elementary existence which we have to hold fast to. But mark, please, in what
sense we speak of warmth or fire in the case of such a lofty existence as
that of the Saturn evolution. We shall not get anywhere near it by striking a
match or lighting a candle and examining the warmth of physical existence. We
have to think of it as much more spiritual � or perhaps better say more
psychic. Feel your way into yourself as a warmth-bearing being � and this
feeling of your own warmth, experience of your own soul-warmth, will give you
a proximate idea of that interweaving warmth in Saturn.
Then we pass on to the [ancient] Sun, the
second phase of the evolution of our planet, and speak of how in elementary
existence warmth condensed to the gaseous or aeriform. Thus in the elementary
existence of the Sun we have to distinguish between warmth and the gaseous or
aery. We have already pointed out that together with the condensation of
warmth into air � that is to say, with the descent of the elemental
consistency in the direction of density � there is a corresponding ascent
towards a more rarefied, more etheric condition, so that if we call �air� the
elementary condition next below warmth, we must call the condition next above
warmth, light, or light-ether. Thus, if we look at elementary conditions as a
whole during the Sun evolution, we shall say that in the Sun there is an
interpenetration of warmth, light and air, and all life during that time
manifested itself within this condition of warmth, light and air. Now we must
once more make clear that if we take into consideration only these elementary
manifestations of warmth, light and air, we are only considering the outer
aspect � the maya, the illusion � of what is really there. In reality
spiritual Beings are announcing themselves externally by means of warmth,
light and air. It is somewhat as if we were to stretch out our hand into a
heated space and say to ourselves: �Since there is warmth in this space,
there must be a Being who disseminates this warmth, and finds thereby means
of manifestation.�
When we pass on to the [ancient] Moon, there
again we have warmth as the middle condition, condensing below into air or
gas and still further below into water. Light once more makes its appearance
above. Then, above the light, we have a finer, more etheric state. I have
already said that we may give the name �sound-ether� to what works within
substances as an organising principle, causing chemical combinations and
chemical analyses; it is something which man can only recognise with his
external senses when it is transmitted by the air, but it lies spiritually
behind all existence. We might call it �ringing� or tone ether.
Alternatively, because this spiritual sound organises material existence
according to number and weight, we might also call it the ether of numbers.
Thus we rise from light to sound, but we do not confuse this sound with the
external sound which is carried over the air, but recognise it as something
which is only perceptible when the clairvoyant sense is in some way awakened.
Thus both in the Moon itself and in what works upon it from without we have
to see, in elementary form, warmth, air, water, light and sound.
When we reach the fourth condition, and with it the coming into existence of
the earth proper, a further stage of condensation and a further stage of
rarefaction are added � below, the earthy or solid; above, the life-ether,
which is a still finer ether than the sound-ether. So we may describe the
elementary existence of the earth in this way. Warmth is again the middle
state; as denser conditions we have air, water, solid; as rarer conditions we
have light, sound and life ethers. In order to be quite sure that nothing is
left vague in this exposition, I will once more state explicitly that what I
describe as �earth� or �solid� must not be confused with what modern science
calls earth. What is described here is something which is not directly
visible around us. Of course, what we tread upon when we tread the earth's
soil is earth, in so far as it is solid; but so are gold, silver, copper and
tin, earth. Everything of a solid material nature is earth in the sense of
occultism. The modern physicist will of course say that there is nothing in
this distinction � that he himself differentiates between our various
elements, but that he has no knowledge of any primeval substance lying behind
those elements. It is only when the clairvoyant eye penetrates the external
elements � some severity of them � and seeks the basis of solidity, when he
looks for the forces which organise matter into the solid state, it is only
then that he discovers the forces which construct, which build, which combine
solid, liquid and gaseous. That is what we are referring to here, and that
too is what Genesis is referring to. We shall, then, expect to find that
according to Genesis the three earlier conditions are in some way recapitulated
in earth existence, but that the fourth state appears as something new.
Let us check the account by the same method
that we used in earlier lectures. In the coming into existence of our earth
we should expect to find a repetition of the [ancient] Saturn state. In other
words we should expect to find the Saturn warmth working as an expression of
a soul-spiritual state. And this is what we do find, if we understand the
account rightly. I have told you that the words which are usually translated And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters really mean that the
soul-spirit of the Elohim expanded and that a warmth element � the kind of
warmth we conceive to be rayed down from the hen to the egg in the act of
brooding � penetrated the existing elementary condition. In saying �The
spirit of the Elohim radiates as a brooding warmth through the elementary
existence, or the waters,� you indicate the recapitulation of the Saturn
warmth.
The next condition has to be one which
represents a recapitulation of the ancient] Sun evolution. For the time being
let us ignore the condensation process which goes on from warmth to air, and
let us turn our attention to the process of rarefaction, to the element of
light. Let us take the fact that during the solar period light penetrates
into our cosmic space, and then the recapitulation of the ancient Sun
evolution will be the permeation by light of our developing earth. That is
announced in the mighty words: And God said, Let there be light: and there
was light.
The third recapitulation, considered with
reference to the finer elementary states, must consist in the fact that the
organising, tone or sound-ether permeates our nascent earth. Let us then ask
ourselves whether there is in fact any indication of such a recapitulation of
the Moon evolution in the Genesis account. What should we expect to find? We
should expect the sound-ether to set to work to organise the elementary
substance, rather as the fine powder spread on a plate is organised when we
pass across the plate the bow of a violin, and the sound-forms of Chladni
appear. There would have to be a recapitulation which would be recorded
somewhat like this: �The tone or sound-ether set to work to organise matter
in a certain way.� But what is actually reported about the moment of creation
which followed upon the coming into existence of light? We are told that
something was stimulated by the Elohim in the material elementary mass which
caused it to radiate in the upward direction and to gather itself together,
to contract, in the downward direction, as I described to you yesterday. A
force enters into the elementary matter and organises it, just as sound takes
hold of the powder and brings about the Chladni figures. Just as the powder
is organised, so the elementary mass is organised through the radiation
upward of part of it, and the concentration downward of the other part. The
word rakia, which is used to indicate what the Elohim introduced into the
elementary matter, is difficult to translate, and the usual translations are
inadequate to render it correctly. Even when one takes into account all that
can today be contributed towards its elucidation, including what philology
has to say, one is bound to confess that neither the translation �firmament�
nor any of its variants takes us very far. For there is an element of
activity, of stimulation in this word. And a more precise philology would
find that there is contained in this word what I have just indicated � that
the Elohim stimulated something in the elementary matter which may be
compared to what is stimulated in the powder of the Chladni sound-figures
when sound sets to work to organise it. As the powder is organised in the
case of the Chladni sound-figures, so the elementary mass is disposed upward
and downward on the second �day� of creation. Thus, in the Genesis account,
following the intervention of the light-ether, we see that of the
sound-ether, and the second �day� of creation gives us, quite in accordance
with the facts, what we must understand as a recapitulation of the Moon
evolution.
You will soon see that these recapitulations
cannot come about in an entirely straightforward manner, but that they
overlap one another. And the apparent contradiction between today's
exposition and that of yesterday will soon be explained. The recapitulation
takes place in such a way that first there happens what I am now describing,
and then there is a more comprehensive recapitulation, such as I described
yesterday.
After the moment when the sound-ether has so
disposed the substances that some radiate upward, and others accumulate
below, we should expect to find that something sets to work as a still finer
condition, one which we must call the earth element proper � what we have
called the life-ether. After the second �day� of creation something should
happen which would indicate to us that life-ether was streaming into the
elementary mass of our earth, just as previously light and organising sound
had poured in. There should be some phrase in Genesis to indicate that
life-ether penetrated the mass and caused life to stir, caused life to
unfold. Look at the Genesis account of the third �day� of creation. It tells
us how the earth causes green things to grow, the living element of tree and
herb � as I said yesterday, in the mode of species � after his kind. There we
have a vivid description of the instreaming of the life-ether, which evokes
everything that is said to have come into being on the third day.
Thus in Genesis we find all that clairvoyant
investigation can bring to light � which is what we should expect, if it
really derives from occult knowledge. It is all there if we know how to
interpret it. It is a wonderful experience to find confirmed in Genesis what
we have first discovered by independent investigation. I can assure you that
in the description I gave in my Occult Science of the coming into existence
of the earth as a recapitulation of the [ancient] Saturn, Sun and Moon
evolutions, I quite deliberately and scrupulously ignored anything which
could have been learnt from Genesis. I only described what I was able to
discover quite independently of that ancient record. But if you then compare
these independent findings with the Genesis account, you see that the latter
says just what our independent investigation has enabled us to say. That is
the remarkable consonance to which I called attention yesterday, when what we
can say of our own accord comes sounding back to us from the spiritual
faculties of seers who speak to us across thousands of years.
Thus, in the first three �days� of creation,
we see as regards the finer elements of the earth's nature a successive
activity of warmth, light, sound-ether and life-ether, and in what these
activities stimulate and enliven we see at the same time the development of
stages of densification � from warmth to air, then to water and finally to
solid, to the earth element, in the way I have described. The processes of
densification and of rarefaction interpenetrate one another and together they
give us a unified picture of the coming into existence of our earth. Whether
we speak of the denser states � air, water, earth � or of the more rarefied
states � light-ether, sound-ether, life-ether � we are concerned with
manifestations, with the outer garments, as it were, of soul-spiritual
Beings. Of these soul-spiritual Beings the first to appear before the mind's
eye in the Genesis account are the Elohim, and the question arises: what kind
of Beings are the Elohim? So that we may know where we are, we must be able
to give them their proper place in the order of the hierarchies. You will no
doubt remember, from the various lectures I have given in the course of
years, or from what you have read in my Occult Science,
that in the hierarchical order going from above downward, we distinguish,
first, a trinity which we call the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones. You know
that then we come to a second hierarchy which we call the Kyriotetes or
Dominions, the Dynameis
or Mights, and the Exusiai or Powers, or Revelations; when we come to the
lowest trinity, we usually make use of Christian designations, and speak of
Archai, or Principalities, or Spirits of Personality; of Archangeloi or
Archangels; of Angeloi or Angels. Those in this lowest group are the
spiritual Beings who stand nearest to man. Only then do we come to man
himself, as the tenth member within the hierarchical order. Now the question
is, where within this order do the Elohim belong?
We find them in the second of these
trinities, and identify them with those Beings whom we call Exusiai or
Powers, or Spirits of Form. We know from what we have been taught for years
that during the Saturn evolution the Archai, the Spirits of Personality, were
at the human stage, the stage at which we ourselves now stand. During the Sun
evolution the Archangeloi or Archangels had their human stage; and during
earth existence it is man who is at this stage. One grade above the Spirits
of Personality we have the Spirits of Form, the Exusiai, who are also called
Elohim. Thus the Elohim are lofty, sublime spiritual Beings who had advanced
beyond the human stage before the time of Saturn, when our planetary
existence began. We get an idea of the sublimity of these Beings if we bring
home to ourselves that in the order of the hierarchies they stand four stages
above the human. The spirituality which was weaving in this realm � which
was, so to say, practising cosmic meditation, cosmic musing � and out of this
cosmic meditation brought about our earth existence, was four stages above
the human stage. Spiritual Beings at this stage can through their meditation
work creatively � they are not, as humans are, limited to the creation of
thought forms. Because the meditative activity of the Elohim is four stages
higher than human thinking, it is not merely an organising, a creative
activity within the sphere of thought, but it forms and creates existence.
Having said this to begin with, the question
now arises, what of the other hierarchies? First we should like to know what
part was played in the Genesis account by the Beings whom we have called the
Archai, or the Spirits of Personality. They constitute the next lower rank in
the hierarchies. Let us once more remind ourselves that in the Elohim we have
highly exalted Beings, Beings who at the time of the Saturn evolution had
already risen above the human stage. They were active throughout the whole of
the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions, creating and organising, and they are at
work too in the earth evolution. Should we not expect to find the Spirits of
Personality, the hierarchy next below that of the Elohim, mentioned in the
Genesis account? Since we know what lofty, sublime Beings the Elohim are, we
should expect to find the Principalities, or Spirits of Personality, at work
in their service. Is there any indication in Genesis that after the Elohim
had unfolded the main creative activity they made use of the Archai or
Principalities as their helpers in lesser activities? We know that the chief,
the most comprehensive activity is undertaken by the Elohim themselves; but
after they had laid down the main lines, so to say, after they had exercised
their great creative forces, did they not appoint other Beings such as the
Archai to represent them on the scene?
To find the answer to this question we must
first learn to understand Genesis in the right way. There is a passage in the
Genesis account which has been a veritable stumbling-block to all the commentators,
because for centuries they have completely ignored what occult investigation
has had to say about the real meaning of the words with which our Bible
opens. If you are at all familiar with modern Biblical criticism, you will
know what difficulty this point has caused the commentators. There is a
sentence in Genesis which is rendered And God divided the light from the
darkness, and it is then made to appear that light and darkness alternated. I
shall come back again to a closer examination of the words. For the time
being I will make use of a translation into modern speech � it is not
correct, and I am only using it provisionally. At a certain point it says: And
the evening and the morning were the first day. And further: And God called
the light Day. This is a real stumbling-block for the world of letters! What
then is a �day� of creation? The naive intellect regards a day as lasting
twenty-four hours, as something which alternates between light and darkness,
as does our day, during which we wake and sleep. Now of course you all know
how much scorn has been heaped upon this naive idea of the creation of the
world in seven such days. You perhaps also know how much labour � how much
fruitless labour � has been applied to the task of identifying the seven days
of creation with longer or shorter periods � geological epochs and so on � so
as to make a �day� of creation signify some longer period of time.
The first difficulty arises of course when
one comes to the fourth �day,� when Genesis first speaks of the setting up of
sun and moon as directing time. Now every child today knows that the
regulation of our twenty-four-hour day depends upon the relationship of the
earth to the sun. But since the sun was not there until the fourth �day,� we
cannot speak of a twenty-four-hour day earlier than that. Thus anyone who
tries to adhere to the naive belief that the day of the creation story is a
day of twenty-four hours has to do violence to the Genesis account itself.
There may of course be such people; but it must be objected to them that in
insisting that Genesis refers to days such as ours they are certainly not
supported by revelation. As to the vagaries of those who try to find a way
out by giving a geological meaning to these �days� of creation, they are really
not worth bothering about. For in the whole range of the literature of the
subject there is not the slightest evidence that the word yom signifies
anything resembling a geological epoch.
What then is the meaning of the word yom,
which is usually translated as �day�? Only those can form a judgment about
this who are able to transport themselves in feeling, in attitude of soul,
into ancient methods of naming things. The process of nomenclature in ancient
times needed quite a different kind of feeling from what we have today. To
avoid too great a shock, let us take it step by step. Let me first draw your
attention to a doctrine held by the Gnostics. They spoke of spiritual powers
who played a part in our existence, who entered successively into the
development of our existence, and these powers, these Beings, they called
Aeons. By these Aeons they do not mean periods of time, but Beings. They mean
that a first Aeon acts, and, having executed the work of which he is capable,
is succeeded by a second Aeon, and after the second has exhausted his
capacities, a third takes over, and so on. When the Gnostics spoke of Aeons,
they meant Beings guiding development in succession, one taking over from
another. It was only very much later that the purely abstract concept of time
was associated with the word �Aeon.� Aeon is a Being, a living entity. And
just as �Aeon� expresses �living entity,� so too does the Hebrew word yom. It
has nothing to do with a merely abstract designation of time, but conveys the
quality of being. Yom is a Being. And when one is dealing with seven such yamim
following one another, one is dealing with seven consecutive Beings or groups
of Beings.
We find the same thing elsewhere concealed in
a verbal resemblance. In the Aryan [Indo-European] languages there is a
connection between deus and dies � god and day. There is an essential inner
relationship between this pair of words; in earlier times the connection
between �day� and a Being was clearly felt, and when one spoke of weekdays,
as we speak of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and so on, one did not mean simply
periods of time, but the groups of Beings working in Sun, Moon, Mars and so
on. Let us then understand the word yom, which is usually rendered �day,� to
mean a spiritual Being; then you have the hierarchical Beings one stage lower
than the Elohim, Beings whom the Elohim used as subordinate spirits. After
the Elohim through their higher organising powers had brought light into existence,
they then appointed to his post Yom, the first of the Time-Spirits, or the
Archai. Thus the spiritual Beings whom we call Spirits of Personality, or
Principalities, are the same as those called in Genesis, Time-Intervals,
Days, Yamin. They are the servants of the Elohim. They carry out what the
Elohim direct from their higher standpoint. Those of you who heard the
lectures which I gave recently in Christiania will remember
that there too I called the Archai Time-Spirits, and described how they still
work as Time-Spirits today. They were the servants of the Elohim. They were
appointed by the Elohim to carry out the plans for which they themselves had
laid down the main lines. In this way everything fits together into one great
system, even for our understanding. But of course it is only when you have
followed up what I am saying for years that you will acquire a real grasp of
how everything without exception falls into place.
The exalted Elohim entered into this
interweaving of the several ethers, and of air, water and earth, and
appointed Beings below them in rank as their servants. They gave these Beings
their orders, so to say. In the moment when the Elohim had poured light into
existence, they passed over to these Beings the task of carrying out in
detail what had been initiated. Thus we may say that after the Elohim had
created the light, they appointed the first Time-Spirit to represent them. It
is this Spirit who is hidden behind the customary phrase �the first day.� We
shall only understand the still deeper meaning of this first day when we also
understand what lies behind the verse: And the evening and the morning were
the first day. The first of the Time-Spirits entered into activity, and with
this activity was associated what can be described as an alternation of ereb
and boker. Ereb is not the same thing as evening, and boker is not the same
thing as morning. An appropriate translation would be: �There was ereb,
confusion; and there followed boker, organisation.� There was a state of
disorder, and it was followed by a state of order, of harmony, brought about
by the work of the first of the Time-Spirits.
Continued in the next issue of SCR
Thanks to The Rudolf Steiner Archive
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