Self-Knowledge and God-Knowledge I

GA 90a — 25 December 1904, Berlin

LXXIV. The Development of Man

How does evolution take place? One has a sum of circles of existence that are internalized later. This is the case throughout the universe.

Let us now consider the development of man. His physical body is fully developed in the present race. But the astral body of man is at present in an undeveloped period. It must develop to the point where it has sensory organs, like the physical body. These sensory organs, which will allow man to live consciously on the astral plane, are called chakras. These are in the appendix today. One sits above the larynx and is called the sixteen-petalled lotus flower because of its shape. It is formed by the person speaking today. An organ on the higher plane arises from an activity on the lower plane. This is also referred to in the third verse of 'Licht auf den Weg'. This is a guide. All those words that contain criticism, judgment, rejection, and barbs directed outwards do not contribute to setting the wheel in motion. So only selfless speech can make this organ effective on the higher plane. So that it is not asceticism, withdrawal from the physical plane, that makes the theosophist, but working on it. When our service becomes sacrifice, the two-petalled lotus blossom on the forehead is set in motion.

Everything that is, is the result of activity or karma. — How did eyes come about? Man had to carry out an activity that led to the formation of the eyes. The now rudimentary pineal gland was a kind of heat organ, like a mobile eye, when the bodies were not yet glowing and man moved in a mist of fire. He used it to probe the environment and could perceive temperature differences in a wide circle. The result of this perception is the perception of such bodies that glow when heated. Then this organ receded and the two eyes formed as a result. The Cyclops saga is a reminder of this.

It is clear to us how grandiose the metamorphoses are that man has undergone: they must take place in such a way that the outer formation of form becomes inner strength.

We are in the fourth round. When man came over from the moon, he was generally Moon Pitri. He had brought dream consciousness to its highest development. This was unable to perceive an object that was outside. Such an object was not even there. For that to happen, one object would have had to be opposite the other. The first three rounds were such that everything was internal, man was secluded within himself. The Pitris carried all available matter within themselves, there were only humans. If man had kept the mineral kingdom within himself, he would never have developed. Therefore, he had to put it out of himself. In the first round, he separates everything he cannot use out of himself; by leaving behind a lower being, he rises up. That is a deep law of occultism.

During the second round, he populates his earth with the plant kingdom; during the third round, he leaves behind everything that is cold-blooded. Now that sleeps over into the fourth round as a germ. He goes through the arupa, rupa and astral state and enters the thinnest physicality. As he is, he could not become intelligent, he still has to shed one thing, and these are the warm-blooded animals, they are, so to speak, decadent, stunted people.

By the middle of the Lemurian period, development had progressed to the point where the following could occur. Until then, a being could emerge from another being; sexual reproduction did not exist. Back then, when all beings reproduced asexually, the earth was in a completely different state. Everything that was solid mass was dissolved at that time, liquid element. The change brought about what we call sexual reproduction. Sexuality is connected with hardening; one being could no longer produce another on its own, so even molluscs had to adapt to the new conditions.

How did sexuality arise? A measure of strength -<1> let's call it that — was necessary to bring forth a new being. This is not possible through hardening. 1 is split into 2, half of the force goes into reproduction, the other half is split off. One half condenses into the brain, becomes spiritual, and is thus ennobled reproductive force, the other half becomes more brutal as a result. These are the two poles.

The split-off power, the spiritual, could be fertilized by Manas and became the carrier of Manas. That is why symbols were taken from the sexual to symbolize the highest. When later races came, the pure symbols were misunderstood and also led to excesses. Material science, which only starts from the physical plan, has only seen this.

This spiritual power, before it reached the phase where we are today, went through many phases. At first, the imagination was much more imbued with full sensual ideas; it was not yet diluted enough to live as memory, and it had magical power, could have a reproducing effect with appropriate training. The merely sensual part of man was hardened in a rough way, and then the productive power took effect. He had to give this up to the extent that he developed higher. The memory was what developed during the Atlantean period, and the power of reason during the Aryan race. Thus, power waned at the expense of refinement.

The purpose of evolution is that a higher level develops while a lower one is left behind. Thus we have left behind the wild peoples from whom, erroneously, the cultural history derives us.

Now, after the higher animal kingdom has been rejected, we are in the middle of the fourth round. Man must gradually take up again everything he has previously rejected; he must redeem everything. In the astral state he will be able to do so. The entire extended higher animal kingdom consists of the passions that man has externalized. With the more powerful organs of the developed, purified astral body, he can take up the externalized power again and use it to elevate himself. That is the development of the three future globes. So that when our development is complete, the higher animal kingdom, which has a mineral structure, will no longer be; the whole mineral kingdom will be absorbed.

So during the fifth round, only the plant kingdom, the lower animal kingdom and man himself are there. He now absorbs the plant kingdom and the higher part of the lower animal kingdom. It is a different physical state, the mineral kingdom will not be, but the plant will have an even denser physical state. There is no volatilization into the ether, but a physicalization of the plant. It will be a growing skeleton with secretions of a plant-like nature. Certain substances that are still air today will be water in which germs can swell.

When the sixth round begins, only the animal kingdom will be there, and that will be the advanced, now lower, forms, and man. The animal kingdom will be absorbed. And in the seventh round, man will reach Godlikeness. God rests on the seventh day. Man is creator and develops to that maturity which is necessary to start a new development.