On the Astral World and Devachan

GA 88 — 24 November 1903, Berlin

20. On the Fall of Man

Today we will speak about the development of the causal body. We hold to the fact that on average, reincarnations happen in such a way that centuries pass between two incarnations. The causal body is initially at a lower level, then [after further incarnations] at a higher and ever higher level. The first incarnation of the human being, and thus the formation of the causal body, occurred in the third root race of our earth round. Before that, the immortal human spirits had not yet incarnated in the bodies we now wear, nor in similar bodies. We will talk about the previous conditions.

I would now like to show how development occurs. You can get an idea of the regular stages of development by looking at the Indian and European cultural epochs. The European sub-race is not at a higher or lower level than the Indian one – the Indian sub-race is more spiritual, the European one is more intellectual. We get the same content from spirituality that the Indian sub-race gets from intellectuality. We can grasp spiritual things today if we were previously incarnated in a spiritual race. What we saw spiritually at the time when the Genesis of the Old Testament was written can be more easily grasped intellectually today. That we are able to understand today what the causal body created in earlier centuries is because we were even more spiritual as human beings then; we were still able to see higher truths directly. If we look at the Indians and also the Jews of ancient times, we see that they grasped the truths spiritually; today the Jews have also lost the spiritual, and the Indians have become more materialistic. Earlier it was not the custom to give the truths in a rational form, as we do today, but everything was given figuratively; and that which was originally given in a pictorial way is the spiritual truth. Those who know the symbols can understand the spiritual.

Scholars argue about the biblical account of the seven days of creation and the myth of the Fall of Man. However, the myth of the Fall of Man describes nothing other than what happened in the third root race, during the Lemurian period: the transition from the asexual to the bisexual. Kama-Manas and the bisexuality of man belong together; Kama-Manas appears as the mind that is active, that is the one pole, the other pole is the bisexuality. The separation into two sexes and the appearance of the mind in Kama-Manas, that is what the Fall of Man myth of the Bible represents. Each and every one of the facts must have been alive in the minds of those who created this myth. The facts were told in high mythical language. In the Bible they are somewhat distorted; for the connoisseur it is clear where the content of this myth is distorted and how it must have originally been.

We will see how the myth was given at a time when humanity was still more spiritual. Step by step, we can take on the myth of the Fall of Man and we will recognize the deep wisdom in this myth.

The serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman...

The serpent symbol stands everywhere for the initiate. The one who is initiated in a certain way and brings a content to humanity from his initiation was called “serpent”. The serpent is the symbol of the one who is able to guide humanity through Kama-Manas. All that was manasic within the dense Earth was less “cunning”, so the serpent said to the woman:

... Yes, should God have said:
you shall not eat from every tree in the garden? (Genesis 3, 1)

The trees represent what people should work with Kama-Manas, thereby advancing within the earth, within the physical matter. The mind culture is meant, which is to work on what grows and thrives within the earth.

And the woman said to the serpent: We may eat fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God said: You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

As long as the human spirit had not embodied itself, there was no death and also not the present-day reproduction. Reproduction in the earlier human races happened in a different way: one body released the other. It was a differentiation without fertilization. There was no birth and death; only an attracting and repelling in elective affinity took place. The serpent, the master of Kama-Manas, could say: “When you acquire Kama-Manas, you eat of the tree, then you undergo a development.” That planet spirit, who is called Jehovah and who formerly led humanity alone, knew what would happen if Manas mixed with Kama through the serpent. When that happened, then men must also die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:<5> for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

You shall not surely die, but your eyes shall be opened –: that is, you will have to develop the Manas through Kama. You will have to see everything through the eyes and then acquire knowledge. – Before that, people did not know what good and evil was, because they were guided from above.

And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise; and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Then the eyes of both of them were opened...

Then the humans moved into the bodies and were able to observe through the sensory organs.

... and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3, 6-7)

Previously, they could not perceive this, only now did they become “naked”. Physical matter shows the nature associated with kama manas, and the physical matter of “clothing” is the result of kama manas. Previously, man had a higher, finer matter, so he had no need to be ashamed. He had to make the physical matter suitable for his higher nature first. God did not make Kama, but Manas. But man was ashamed and made clothes.

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden when the day had become cool. (Genesis 3, 8)

Until then, the planet spirit had guided people. Jehovah is the God of physical nature, in the “Secret Doctrine” the God of procreation, a moon god. Mrs. Blavatsky was held against her will for correctly characterizing Jehovah. Man receives sexuality from the cosmos through Jehovah.

And the man hid himself and his wife from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called to the man, saying, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Genesis 3, 8-10)

In the beginning, people could not hide at all because Jehovah was guiding them. The Kabbalah says this much more clearly. In the original times, the secret doctrine was only given figuratively. “Adam-Kadmon” means the sexless Adam. Now the intellectual nature is within man, whereas before it was outside. Now man hides it in his inner nature, he hides it from outer wisdom.

And he said: Who told you that you are naked? Did you not eat of the tree, of which I commanded you, you should not eat of it? Then Adam said: The woman whom you have joined me gave me of the tree, and I ate. (Genesis 3, 11-12)

The single-sex being has become a two-sex being. This was what had enabled the snake to lead humans down the path of Kama-Manas.

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “Why have you done this?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, be cursed more than all cattle and all wild beasts (Genesis 3, 13-14)

“Cursed be thou with all cattle and with all wild beasts” — this means nothing other than: The animals have developed to a certain limit, in a way that is still appropriate for their entire Kama; they follow what is prescribed for them. The human Kama has been released from its bonds; man has to decide for himself. The lion is cruel because it is in his kama. Man, however, must purify the instinct towards the moral; his instinct is released. You are cast out with your kama-manas and left to your own devices. You are not like the animals - that is in these words. Those who know the “Secret Doctrine” will also know how the highest planetary spirits are spoken of in the one stanza of the Dzyan, of which there are actually eight, but only seven are spoken of, because the one who brought the light has been expelled. So too is Kama-Manas expelled.

On thy belly shall ye creep: and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

To creep on one's belly and eat dust means nothing other than: everything that can be achieved by Kama-Manas can be achieved by man within earthly development.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. (Genesis 3, 15)

From the middle of the second race until the middle of the sixth, the polarity between seed and mind is taken over by animal sexuality. The mind can never want what sexuality wants.

The man shall crush your head, and you shall strike his heel.

Hostile forces will come from here and there. One pole is the kama-manasic forces, the other pole is the kamic forces. A new kind of unhappiness entered that had not been there before, and that is kamic.

And to the woman he said: I will greatly multiply your pain and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.

This means that a new Kamic current is emerging. Lust and displeasure is essentially the nature of the Kamic. Man and woman always mean in the esoteric language the two forces: the man means the outer force, the woman the inner soul. 'Man and woman therefore mean outer energy and inner, soully power of mind. As long as man is on this physical path, the soul man must submit to the physical man. Consciousness must submit to the laws of physical development, that is, “He shall be your master”.

And to Adam he said: Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife and eaten of the tree of which I commanded you saying: Thou shalt not eat thereof, accursed be the ground on your account; with toil shalt thou eat its yield all the days of thy life.

With sorrow shalt thou eat thy bread —: Jehovah is the planetary spirit whose rule extends only as far as Kama-Manas. A new regime is emerging. Therefore, Jehovah cannot allow Kama-Manas to enter into development. He therefore says, “I must create a cosmic counterbalance, because you obeyed the voice of your wife, the consciousness that has been filled with Kama-Manas, and ate of the knowledge of Kama-Manas, of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat. So be the field cursed for your sake -: thus the physical earth. At that time it was given to man as a self-evident gift, and now he must conquer it bit by bit. In the past, what animated man was more dissolved. “Cursed” means: made independent, depressed. He could no longer see the finer matter. Sorrow: that is a new unhappiness.

Thorns and thistles shall it bring you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you shall return.

But he must become spiritual. He must work in the physical world until he has spiritualized himself again.

And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she is a mother of all living. (Genesis 3, 20)

And from that hour on, Adam called his consciousness Eve, the mother of everything that man creates on earth, the mother of everything that man has developed on this path of evolution. And that will be the Eve, the kama-manasic one.

And the Lord God made tunics of skins for the man and his wife, and clothed them. (Genesis 3, 21)

He gave the physical-spiritual people from the outside what they needed to get ahead.

And the Lord God said, “Behold, Adam has become one of us, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:22)

Remember the image I used, where the light source is in the center and the balls around it reflect the light. Now the balls themselves are glowing, and God says: Before you were only a reflection of me; you were only the thought I sent out, now you have become independent beings, living, detached, independent beings.

But now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever! So the Lord God drove him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

Adam was chased out of the Garden of Eden. He was no longer allowed to stay there; he was no longer allowed to eat from the tree of immortality as he could do before; he had to acquire another nourishment for himself. The Manasic does not pass through the gate of birth and death. Disembodied wisdom represents the tree of life. Now man became kamayanic, and now he must go through birth and death. There are two different trees in paradise, of which he was allowed to eat from one. Now after the fall he should no longer do so. With Kama-Manas he has lost the possibility of eating from this immortality.

So the Lord God drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The Cherub is the planetary spirit, signifying Manas, or immortal life; not signifying knowledge through Kama-Manas. The Cherub standing by Jehovah was placed before the Garden of Eden, that man should not penetrate into that Garden wherein is to be attained Truth in its primeval form.

Now imagine the development of humanity before the time of the third root race. It was the Dzyan-Chohan who guided them. Through being guided by him, they had access to wisdom. Man was directly guided spiritually, not through eyes, ears or inner organs. But now, when he had become kama-mana, the cherub stood before man and would not let him approach the tree of life. Man must first have passed through all kinds of births. This will continue to be the case until he has acquired the original immortality again.

The people of the third, fourth and even the fifth race still had a certain spiritual life; today we are mainly kama-manasische people, who are only endowed with a small spiritual influence. But we have already reached the lowest point, and theosophy, the theosophical movement, is intended to bring back the influence of spirituality. In the past, truths could not be taught in a rational form, so everything was given in images; then people became aware of higher knowledge. Those who still have some of the earlier spirituality are difficult to understand today; they express many things in sentences that are difficult to understand. You have to guess what the leader wants to say, because everything is only expressed figuratively. But it is the same thing that is to be expressed in Theosophy today. We could not interpret the Fall of Man in such a spiritual way if we had not received the wisdom from elsewhere. In the past, it was acquired mythically; today it is revealed to us through the advanced development of our causal body. In later stages of development, it will be revealed to you as a manasic wisdom.