Self-Knowledge and God-Knowledge I

GA 90a — 10 November 1903, Berlin

III. Cosmic Epochs and Conditions and their Correspondence in Human Development. The Eighth Sphere

In the great cosmic context, the earthly cosmos is called the cosmos of divine love, the preceding cosmos is the cosmos of wisdom, and the following one is the cosmos of divine fire. Apart from these three states, it is quite difficult for the seer's eye to see forward or backward.

In this cosmic development, too, a kind of parallelism with human development can be observed. The cosmos that preceded the lunar cosmos is called the cosmos of divine omnipotence. This would be preceded by the cosmos of being. The sixth is the cosmos of divinity, the seventh the cosmos of being. In Sinnett's “Esoteric Buddhism” you will find a term that always remains unexplained: the so-called eighth sphere.

We would then have to distinguish between the earthly sphere, then the three that precede it, and the three that follow it. Let me explain a cosmic law to you by describing what a cosmos looks like at the end of its development. During its development, it develops seven rounds and seven races. What happens when existence or wisdom enters the pralaya and is to be pushed over into the next epoch? The sum total would enter into a germ and pass over into the new cosmos. During the transition from one cosmic development to the next, a certain result is sent to the pralaya and the rest remains. The remainder of our former cosmos is the Moon. The forces in and upon it also belong to it. It is surrounded by cosmic forces. It will be the same when the Earth passes into its next state. All the Kama and Kama-Manas present will be purified in the higher Manas. The future inhabitants will have a more active sense of sight. There will be an astral seeing of the subhumanly developed and an astral seeing of the superhumanly developed. The astral seeing of the moon people was undifferentiated compared to our seeing. The seeing of future people will be even more differentiated.

The rest, the eighth sphere, is therefore still present in the seven other cosmic spheres. It is the case that the moon with the Kama mass forms our eighth sphere. The moon is connected with the chemical development of the human being, with the development of the embryo and with the whole of sexual life. The foundations for this are laid in the lunar epoch. The physical body of the human being is prepared wisely long before. The instinctual life must be prepared in such a way that it can express itself as it manifests on earth. The instinctual life must feel hunger, and the physical body must be such that the hunger instinct is stimulated. The stimulus to hunger comes from the astral sphere. The effect is seen in the physical body.

The dual sexuality only occurs in the fourth round. Before that, it does not exist. I remind you of Adam-Kadmon. In nature as such, the dual sexuality is not intended. It does not really need it. We know that dual sexuality is not necessary for reproduction. Today there are many beings that do not have dual sexuality. One being emerges from the other. Nature only accommodated the higher mental plan. It worked in the direction of creating beings that were as differentiated as possible. After two thousand years, a human being would not find a significantly different body, but rather a mixture between father and mother character traits. This results in a greater mixture of qualities. Physical development is only the other pole of mental development; it is the mirror image.

The Moon, still clothed with all lunar epochs, is constantly endeavoring to draw man back to the lunar epochs. It is therefore constantly working in man to stop him in his striving for the higher Manas.

The moon separates (top of right figure). The forces that black magicians are able to extract are contained in this section. The great astral body of our Earth, before the physical body of the Earth is formed. (bottom of right figure)

Mars is represented as a preceding planet, Mercury as a following planet in “Esoteric Buddhism”. Mars is in a state that is still astral. Mercury is in a state that is already astral again; but it is difficult to distinguish.

Every human being still has powers that come from the eighth sphere. That is why people always oscillate between Kama and Manas.