Spirit Self Development and Human Freedom in Fifth Subrace

GA 266I — 18 March 1908, Munich

Esoteric Lesson

Our fifth main race, the post-Atlantean, has the task of developing the spirit self. This happens first in the Indian, the first sub-race, through the spirit self sinking into the sentient body. In the following sub-race, the Persian, manas permeates the sentient soul and thus enters a new element, the soul element. As a result, certain demons that previously had no power over humans become free and hostile toward them. Demonology arises in this race; previously, there was no mention of demons in legends and myths. In the third subrace, manas sinks into the soul of the intellect, that is, among the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Semites. No particular change occurs, because manas remains in the same element within the soul. In the fourth sub-race, among the Greek-Latin peoples, the spirit self develops in the consciousness soul, thus remaining in the soul element. Christ Jesus descends to earth. He has the power to overcome the hostile demons. That is why the Bible says that he bound Satan for a thousand years.

Then comes our fifth subrace, and now Manas enters a new element again. It begins to live out in its own element: the spirit self in the spirit self. This also frees new hostile forces that humanity did not know before. These enemies come from within humanity itself. People hinder each other by influencing each other more strongly than ever before in human evolution. A case that has been researched occultly may serve as an example of this.

Four people lived together. The first was not quite normal, somewhat feeble-minded, crazy. The second was considered a very talented person, he was productive, he made an impression on others. The third was a so-called average person; the fourth was a truly highly developed person, but he did not have the gift of being able to express himself. How does the matter appear from an occult point of view? The first has a very weak will, but is otherwise quite normal. The seemingly average person, number three, on the other hand, is inwardly broken and projects this onto the first, so that the mental state of the third is actually expressed by the first. What about the second, the talented, productive person? He actually only has the gift of being able to express something. The valuable content of everything he expressed was a transmission of the knowledge and powers of wisdom of the fourth, who did not have the gift of being able to express himself. But when he stammered out a sentence, it contained so much more real power than the brilliant words that flowed from number two and impressed people so much.

The task of human beings in the present time is now to free themselves more and more from the inhibiting influences of their environment and also not to allow such influences to emanate from themselves. Human beings should become freer and freer. Out of their own free will, human beings should recognize and realize the eternal laws of goodness. Only to those who are inwardly free does the spiritual world reveal itself. 'When some esoteric students believe that they hear voices from the beyond in all their everyday activities, telling them what to do, this is gross self-deception. When it comes to everyday matters, the masters remain silent. Only when people rise above their existence to the great laws of the world, when it comes to the evolution of the world and humanity, do they make their voices heard. In their small circle, people must learn to become completely free and independent so that they can enter the spiritual world as free, self-aware beings; for only in this way can they become useful members of the human evolution.