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If we recall
what we have learnt so far about our earth's beginnings, we find many things
which still need to be explained. What we have so far learnt does, however,
make clear that we have to look for much more reality � many more spiritual beings
� in Genesis than the usual translations convey.
We pointed out yesterday that the word
yom does not indicate the abstract period of time which is what the
word �day� means now, but refers to the spiritual beings whom we call Spirits
of Personality, or Archai. This discovery enables us to enter more deeply
into what I have already repeated several times: that behind the dynamic life
of elementary existence described in the Bible account of the creation, spiritual
beings are everywhere to be seen. We can now see spiritual being instead of
empty abstractions behind much else that appears in the Genesis account. Of
course it is easy to see this when the Bible refers to the Spirit of the Elohim
� Ruach Elohim� � but if we wish to grasp the sense of the ancient
tradition we have to look for spiritual beings not only in those expressions
where probably even modern minds would be prepared to recognise it; we must
be prepared to find it everywhere. For example, we should be quite justified
in raising the question in connection with such expressions (to use my own
words) as �The inner activity was tohu wabohu� and �And darkness was
upon the elementary material existence.� Have we not perhaps also to see
something of the nature of Being behind what is described as �darkness�? We
cannot understand the Genesis account unless we can answer such questions.
Just as we have to see manifestations of the spirit behind all that appears
in the positive direction, such as light, air, water, earth, warmth, so we
shall have to see manifestations of a deeper spiritual nature in the more
negative expressions.
To get to the bottom of this, we must
again go back to the earliest point we can reach in the evolution of our
planet. As we have often said, we must think of the ancient Saturn existence
as a condition of pure warmth, and that with the transition to the Sun there
then took place on the one hand a densification to air or gas, on the other
hand a rarefaction in the direction of the etheric, to light-ether. We have
said that the passage in which the words ring forth And God (the
Elohim) said, Let there be light; and there was light is describing a
kind of repetition of this coming into existence of the light-ether.
[This refers to the evolution of the
earth previous to its present state. The names attributed to the previous
incorporations are: ancient Saturn, Sun and Moon (capitalized) � not to be
confused with the heavenly bodies bearing these names in the solar system
now.]
Now we may ask: Was the darkness there
of itself; or does spiritual Being lie behind this also? If you read the
relevant passages in my Outline of Occult Science
you will come across something extremely important for the understanding of
all development � the fact that at each stage of evolution certain Beings
remain behind. Only a certain number of Beings reach their goal. I have often
used a singularly bald illustration, pointing out that not only are some
schoolboys backward, to the sorrow of their parents, but in the cosmic
process, too, certain Beings do in fact lag behind, do not attain their
appropriate goal. Thus we may say that during the ancient Saturn evolution
certain Beings did not reach their proper goal, they lagged behind. During
the Sun evolution they remained at the Saturn stage.
How could one recognise on the Sun the
Beings who were still really Saturn Beings? By the fact that they had not
acquired the nature of light, which was of the very essence of the Sun state.
But because these Beings were nevertheless there, the Sun, which I have
described as an interweaving of light, warmth and air, had darkness as well
as light in it. And this darkness was the mark of the Beings remaining at the
Saturn stage, just as the interweaving light indicated the Beings who had
progressed regularly to the Sun stage. Thus, there was an interweaving of
Beings who were still at the Saturn stage of development with Beings who had
progressed normally to the Sun stage. From the inner aspect these Beings
moved in and out among one another; and outwardly they manifested themselves
as an interplay of light and darkness. We can call the manifestation of the
more advanced Beings, light, and the manifestation of the Beings remaining
behind at the Saturn stage, darkness.
If we know this, we shall expect the
relationship between advanced and backward Beings to reappear during the
recapitulation of the Saturn and Sun epochs in [the present] earth evolution.
And because the backward Saturn Beings represent an earlier stage of
evolution, they will appear earlier than the light in the recapitulation
also. Thus, quite rightly, in the first verse of Genesis we are told that
darkness prevailed over the elementary substances. That is the recapitulation
of the Saturn existence, now a backward one. The Sun existence has to wait;
it comes later, it comes at the point where the Bible says: Let there be
light.
Thus we see that the Genesis story is
in complete accordance with the recapitulation described in my [book] Outline of Occult Science.
If we would understand existence, we
must be clear that what emerged at an earlier stage does not just go on for a
time and then disappear. Something new is continually arising, but the old
remains alongside the new and continues to work within it. And so even today
we have co-existing the two stages of evolution which we can call light and
darkness. Light and darkness permeate our existence.
Here we come to a rather thorny
subject. Some of you may know that for the last thirty years or so I have
been trying at intervals to show the deep significance and value of Goethe's Theory
of Colour. Of course, anyone who supports this theory today must make up
his mind that he will not gain the ear of his contemporaries. And those whose
knowledge of physics would qualify them to understand its significance are
today wholly unprepared for it. Modern physics, with its fantastic nonsense
about ether vibrations and so on, is utterly incapable of penetrating to the
real heart of Goethe's Theory of Colour. For this we shall still have
to wait for several decades. And the others � forgive me for saying this �
those whose knowledge of occultism would perhaps equip them to understand the
essential nature of the Goethean theory, know too little about physics for me
to be able to discuss the subject in detail. Thus there is today no proper
basis for such a discussion. The fundamental content of Goethe's theory of
colour is the mystery of light and darkness, working together as two real
polarities in the world. The concept of matter which is put forward today is
simply a fantasy; it is an illusion. Matter is in reality a spiritual being,
which is to be traced everywhere where the polaric contrast of light and
darkness is effective. The physical notion of matter which is generally
accepted is, in truth, a chimera. In the regions of space where, according to
physics, we are to look for a sort of apparition called �matter,� there is in
actual fact nothing else but a certain degree of darkness. And this dark
content of space is filled out with something of a spiritual nature,
something akin to what is intended in Genesis in the passage where �darkness�
(the word used to denote the collective whole of this spiritual entity) is
described as hovering over the elementary existence. All these things are
much more profound than modern natural science dreams! Thus when Genesis
speaks of darkness, it is speaking of the manifestation of the backward
Saturn Beings. And when it speaks of light, it is referring to the advanced
Beings. They interact and interweave with one another.
We said yesterday that the main
features of evolution were laid down by the Exusiai, the Spirits of Form, so
that these Beings planned the general direction of the activities of light.
And further, we have seen that they make use of the Spirits of Personality as
their servants, and that behind the expression yom, day, we have to
see a spiritual being of the rank of the Archai, appointed under the Elohim.
We may also assume that, just as on the positive side these servants of the
Elohim, these Spirits of Personality indicated by yom, are active, so
also the backward spiritual Beings, who work in opposition to them in
darkness, play their part. Indeed we may say that darkness is something that
the Elohim find already there. Light is something they bring into being
through their contemplation, their meditation. When they think out the two
complexes from what has remained over from the earlier existence, it comes
about that darkness is interwoven therein as the expression of the backward
Beings. But just as out of the light the Elohim appoint the Beings
represented by yom, day, so out of the darkness come Beings who are of
the same rank as these, but Beings who have lagged behind at an earlier
stage. Thus we can say that all that manifests itself as darkness stands
together on one side in opposition to the Elohim. And now we have to ask, who
are the Beings who oppose the Archai, servants of the Elohim, the Beings
indicated by the word yom? Who are the corresponding backward Beings
in opposition to them?
To avoid misunderstanding, it would be
as well to clear up first another point � whether we have always to look upon
these backward Beings as evil, as something wrong in the world-context. It is
easy for the abstract person who is concerned only with concepts to feel
something like indignation over the backward Beings; or he can make the
mistake of feeling sorry for the poor things! We should not harbour feelings
and ideas of this kind regarding these tremendous realities of the universe.
That would lead us completely astray. On the contrary we should remind
ourselves that everything happens out of cosmic wisdom, and that whenever
Beings remain behind at a particular stage of development, it means
something; it has significance for the whole for Beings to remain behind,
just as it has for them to attain their goal; in other words, there are
certain functions which cannot be carried out by the advanced Beings,
functions for which Beings are needed who remain at an earlier stage. They
are in their proper place in their backwardness. What would become of the
world if all those who ought to be teachers of young children were to become
university professors? Those who do not become professors are much better
where they are than the professors would be. Those who occupy academic chairs
would probably turn out to be very badly suited for the instruction of
seven-, eight-, nine- and ten-year-olds! Something of the same kind is true
in cosmic relationships. There are certain tasks for which those who attain
their goal would be little fitted. For certain tasks those who have remained
behind � we could equally well say those who have renounced progress � must
take their place. And just as the advanced Spirits of Personality, the Yamim,
were given their task by the Elohim, so the backward Archai also, those
Spirits of Personality who reveal themselves not through light, but through
darkness, are made use of in order to evoke the laws of earthly development.
They are allotted their proper place, so that they may make their
contribution to the orderly development of our existence.
How important that is we can see from
an illustration borrowed from everyday life. The light of which Genesis
speaks is not the light which we can see with our physical eyes � that is a
subsequent form of light. In the same way what we designate as physical
darkness, what surrounds us at night, is a later form of what is called
darkness in Genesis. None of you will doubt that the physical daylight which
we see nowadays is important both for man and for other living things. Take
for example the plants! If you remove them from the light they deteriorate, become
stunted in their growth. Light is an element of life for every living thing,
and, so far as external physical existence is concerned, it is a necessity
for human beings too.
But something else is also necessary.
To understand what this is, we have to consider the rhythmic alternation of
sleeping and waking. What does it really mean to be awake? All the activity
of our souls, all that we develop in our thinking and feeling, all the ebb
and flow of our passions � in short, all that happens through the fluctuating
energies of our astral bodies and our �I�s, constitutes a continual using up
of our physical bodies during day life. That is a very ancient occult truth,
a truth to which even modern physiology recognizes if it interprets its own
findings properly. What the soul unfolds as its inner life in the waking
state continuously uses up the forces of the physical body, the first
rudiments of which were bestowed during the Saturn existence. The life of the
physical body is quite different in sleep, when the astral body with its
fluctuant inner life is outside it. Whereas in waking life there is a
continuous consumption, or even a continuous destruction of the forces of the
physical body, in sleep these forces are being restored, are being renewed
and built up again. So that in our physical and etheric bodies we have to
distinguish destructive processes and processes of renewal � destructive
processes which take place during waking life, processes of renewal which
take place during sleep. But nothing which happens anywhere in space is
isolated, it is always related to existence as a whole. And we must not think
of those processes of destruction, which take place in our physical bodies
from the time we awaken to the time we go to sleep again, as being confined within
the limits of our skin. They are closely bound up with cosmic processes. They
are merely a continuation of what flows into us from outside, so that during
the waking life of day we are connected with the destructive forces of the
universe, and during sleep with the forces of renewal.
This destruction of our physical
bodies which goes on during the waking life of day could not have happened
during the Saturn evolution, otherwise the first rudiments of our physical
body could never have been formed. For obviously one can build up nothing if
one starts to destroy it. The Saturnian operation on our bodies had to be a
constructive one. The destructive process takes place in the daytime under
the influence of light, but on Saturn there was no light. Therefore the
Saturn activity on our physical bodies was an constructive one, and had to be
maintained at least for a time, even into the later period, when light
appeared on the Sun. This constructive activity could only be maintained
through Saturn Beings remaining behind to care for it.
It was necessary for the Saturn Beings
to be kept back in cosmic evolution, so that they could undertake the
rebuilding of the physical body during sleep, while there was no light. Thus
the backward Saturn Beings have their part to play in our existence; without
them we should be exposed to nothing but destruction. There has to be an
alternation, a co-operation of Sun Beings and Saturn Beings, of light and
darkness. Thus if the activity of the light Beings is to be rightly guided by
the Elohim, they must inweave into their own work in an orderly fashion the
work of the Beings of darkness. There can be no stability in cosmic activity
unless the force of darkness is everywhere interwoven with the force of
light. And in this complication of the forces of light and darkness lies one
of the secrets of cosmic existence, of cosmic alchemy. This secret is touched
upon in the seventh scene of my first Mystery Play, where Johannes Thomasius
enters Devachan, and where one of Maria's companions, Astrid, is given the
task of weaving the dark into the light. Throughout the conversation between
Maria and her three companions you will find many cosmic mysteries concealed,
which can well be pondered for a long, long time.
Thus we must never forget that the
interplay between the forces of sun-light and Saturn-darkness is a necessity
of our existence. When therefore the Elohim placed the Spirits of Personality
as their deputies in charge of the weaving of the light forces, of the work
which is performed upon us humans and upon other earthly beings while the
light is affecting us, they had also to appoint the backward Saturn Beings as
fellow-workers; they had to see that the whole work of the universe was
carried on by the normally advanced and the backward Archai together. The
backward Archai are active in the darkness. Hence the Elohim employ not only
the Beings designated by yom, day, but they set in opposition to them
Beings who act in the darkness. And the Bible says with a wonderfully
realistic description of the facts: And God called the light Day (yom),
and the darkness He called Night (lay'lah). And lay'lah
does not mean our abstract night, but lay'lah are the Saturn Archai,
who at that time had not advanced to the Sun stage. And to this day it is
they who are active in us during sleep, when they work upon our physical and
etheric bodies, building them up. This mysterious expression lay'lah,
which has given rise to all kinds of myths, is neither our abstract �night�
nor is it anything which need lead to myth-making. It is simply the name of
the backward Archai, who unite their activity with that of the advanced
Archai.
Thus we have paraphrased the
appropriate words in Genesis somewhat as follows: The Elohim planned the main
lines of existence; they deputed the advanced Archai to work under them, and
appointed to help them those Archai who in resignation had remained in
darkness at the Saturn stage, in order that existence could come about. Thus
we have yom and lay'lah as two contrasted groups of Beings, who
help the Elohim and who are at the stage of the Time-Spirits, the Spirits of
Personality. We see existence being woven out of the Spirits of Form and the
Spirits of Personality, out of advanced Beings and the backward Beings of
these two spiritual hierarchies.
Now that we have found an answer to
these questions which satisfies us up to a certain point (there is of course
much more behind all these things), another question will be on the tip of
all your tongues. What of the other hierarchies? We distinguish among the
hierarchies in descending order from the Spirits of Form: first the Archai,
the Spirits of Personality, then the Archangeloi, the Archangels or Fire-Spirits.
Does Genesis say nothing of these? Let us look more closely to find out what
the position is with regard to the Fire-Spirits. We know that they reached
their human stage during the Sun evolution. They have advanced through the
Moon stage to that of earth. They are the Beings who are inwardly connected
with everything of a sun nature, for it was during the Sun evolution that
they reached their human stage. And when during the Moon evolution it became
necessary for the Sun to separate from the earth, which was at that time of a
Moon nature, then these Beings, who had gone through their most important
stage of development on the Sun, who were, so to say, by their very nature
associated with the Sun, naturally remained united with the Sun. When therefore
the Moon (later to become earth) separated from the Sun, these Beings
remained, not with the separating Earth-Moon, but with the Sun. They are the
principal spiritual beings who work upon the earth from without.
I have already indicated that in the
evolution from [ancient] Saturn to Sun, the highest form of life which could
be reached on the Sun was the plant species. Before an animal nature with an
inner life could come about there had to be a separation, a cleavage. Thus it
was not until the Moon evolution that anything of an animal nature could
arise. An influence from without was needed. Now in Genesis we are not told
of anything being active from without up to the end of the third day of
creation. The transition from the third to the fourth day is an important
one, for we are told that on the fourth day light forces, Beings of light,
began to be active from without. So that, just as in the Moon period the sun
shone upon the Moon from without, so now both the sun and the moon shone upon
the earth from without. It amounts to no less than this � up to this point
all those forces which were themselves within the earth element could take
effect. Up to this point it was possible for there to be a recapitulation of
earlier stages of evolution, and for forces centralised in the earth itself
to arise anew. Thus we saw yesterday how in the Spirit of the Elohim who
brooded over the waters the warmth state was recapitulated; how in the moment
designated by the words Let there be light the entry of light was
recapitulated; how at the point where the forces of the sound-ether broke in
and separated the upper from the lower, the sound-ether stage was
recapitulated. That was on the second day of creation. Then we saw how the
life-ether intervened on the third day, when out of the earth element, out of
the new condition, there came forth all that can be brought about by the
life-ether � the sprouting green. But in order for anything animal to find a
place on the earth there has to be a repetition of the �being shone upon� (if
I may use the expression), an influence of forces acting from without. Hence
it is quite in accordance with the facts that there should be no mention in
Genesis of anything of an animal nature until after we have been told of
forces working upon the earth from cosmic space. Up to that time Genesis
speaks only of the plant nature; all the beings on the earth were at the
plant stage. The animal nature could not begin until light Beings were
influencing the earth from its environment.
What then came about is described in
Genesis in words of which various translations exist. [The English New
Revised Standard Version: And God said, Let there be lights in the dome of
the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs
and for seasons and for days and years�]
Now there are some commentators, some
exegetists, who have begun to think. But at the present day, when people
scorn to penetrate to fundamental realities, it is the wretched lot of
commentators that they begin to think, but cannot think anything through to
the end. I have known some of these commentators who have reached the point
of acknowledging that the usual rendering is nonsense. I should like to meet
the person who can really make any sense of these words. What really lies
behind them?
If we wish to render this passage
faithfully with a real sense of the associations which the words would have
had for the ancient Hebrew sage, and with philological thoroughness, we shall
have to say that once more it is not a question of signs, but of the activity
of living Beings making themselves known in the form of successive events in
time. A correct translation would be: And the Elohim appointed Beings to
regulate the course of time for the beings on earth, to regulate specific
divisions of time (the word �day� is not mentioned at all), larger or smaller
periods (usually given as �year� and �day�). Thus the reference is to those
Beings who stand next below the rank of the Archai and who regulate life. The
tasks performed by the Time-Spirits, the Archai, lie a stage lower than the
tasks of the Elohim. Then come the regulators, the sign-fixers, for what has
to be regulated, grouped, within the activity of the Archai. But these are
none other than the Archangels. Thus we may venture to say that in the moment
to which Genesis refers, when not only is something taking place in the body
of the earth, but when forces are working into the earth from without, it
becomes possible for Beings who are already united with the sun existence �
the regulating Archangels, who are one stage lower than the Archai � to
intervene. While the Archai themselves are still active as Aeons, for the
deployment of their forces they make use of the Archangels, the
light-bearers, who act from the circumference. That means that through the
constellations of the light-Beings surrounding the earth, the Archangels work
out of cosmic space in such a way that the great ordinances laid down by the
Archai may be carried into effect.
Those who were present at the course
of lectures I gave in Christiania will remember that even today the Archai
are still behind what we are accustomed to call the Spirit of the Age. If we
look around at the way our own world has been organised, we find that each
age has a number of peoples over whom for a specific period a Time-Spirit
holds sway. Side by side with him and subordinated to him work the several
Folk-Spirits. And just as today the Spirits of the Age or Time-Spirits are in
control, and behind them are the Archai � I described that in my Christiania
lectures [1] � so behind the Folk-Spirits are the
Archangels; in a certain way they are the Folk-Spirits. Genesis points
to the fact that even in times when man himself was really not yet there,
these spiritual Beings were the organising powers.
Thus we must say that it was the
Elohim who brought light into existence; they manifested themselves through
light. But for lesser activities within the light they appointed the Archai,
who are indicated in Genesis by the word yom, and who ranked next
below them among the hierarchies; and they placed beside the Archai the
Beings who must of necessity be woven into the web of existence, in order
that the requisite activity of darkness can come into association with the
activity of light. Side by side with yom they placed
lay'lah, which is usually translated as �night.� Then it became a
question of how to progress further and into greater detail. For this, other
Beings from the ranks of the hierarchies were chosen. Thus when it has been
said that the Elohim or Spirits of Form manifested themselves through light,
and placed the affairs of light and darkness in charge of the Archai, one has
to add that now they took another step and, specialising further, appointed
the Archangels to activities which not only call an external plant life into
existence, but which are now to call forth an inner life, an inner life
capable of reflecting the outer; they entrusted to the Archangels the activity
which has to stream upon our earth from without, so that not only can the
plant species shoot up, but also the animal nature, weaving its inward life
of image and sensation.
Thus we see how, when we know how to
interpret it, the Genesis account refers to Archangels too, quite in
accordance with the facts. When you turn to the exegesis of the general run
of commentators you will always feel dissatisfied. But if you turn for help
to the same source from which the Genesis account came, if you turn to [my
book] Occult
Science, a flood of light will be thrown upon that account. It will all
appear to you in a new light. And this ancient document, which otherwise
would inevitably remain incomprehensible, because of the impossibility of
translating the ancient living words into our language, will endure as a
document which speaks to mankind for all time.
1 �The
Mission of Folk-Souls in connection with Germanic and Scandinavian
Mythology.� Eleven lectures by Rudolf Steiner given at Oslo in June,
1910. (English translation, 1929, out of print. [Not really! � e.Ed])
Thanks
to The Rudolf Steiner Archive. �
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