Self-Knowledge and God-Knowledge I

GA 90a — 28 December 1904, Berlin

LXXVII. Events in the Second Half of the Lemurian Racial Development

The lunarian epoch is also called the “cosmic wisdom”. It was replaced on Earth by “cosmic love”. In terms of love, man is just as dependent on beings that are above him as he was in terms of wisdom. The wisdom involved here is Manas, and the ability that is poured in is Love. That is why it is said esoterically that the God of Wisdom is replaced by the God of Love.

The powers acquired the ability to infuse sexuality into beings through the lessons learned in wisdom on the moon. What they could now bring to man was the spark of manas, and they had to work from the outside, glowing the human body with love. In particular, it is so clear that Jehovah was connected to human love through man.

It became possible to fertilize from above, because certain beings had progressed further in their development. They were the good guides of the human manas, the first initiated Arhats. In a cool revelation from above, wisdom would have come to him. There were other beings who, with human kama, now achieved what they had not yet attained on the moon: They endowed him with passion for wisdom. These entities had to ascend with the people, sharing their destiny, to what they had not yet achieved on the moon. They also became man's best friend. With that, we have the Luciferian principle.

With divine love in the Christ principle, the luciferic principle has changed. This will give us the key to the story of the Fall of Man in Paradise. That Lucifer is, so to speak, the opposite of Christ was a self-evident truth in all religions before Christ's incarnation. And that the time would come when man would redeem Lucifer within himself is a beautiful process that has not yet come to an end. And the whole thing also underlies Christianity. It is best expressed in the legend and meaning of Christmas. Christ sends the spirit of light, the Paraclete, who fights for humanity. The explanation of the Luciferian principle can be found in the Vatican archives.

If you summarize this with what I started from, you will see that Lucifer has yet another meaning. He undergoes a development that he should have undergone during the lunar epoch. Therefore, with the great gift of human freedom, something has come that is out of place – and moral evil has its origin here. Man owes his further stage of development to the ability to do evil.

On an even higher level, we are once again faced with the mystery that higher development can only be achieved by leaving something else behind at a lower level. The higher Dhyan Cohans had to face the luciferic principle within themselves in order to gain the ability to shape beings endowed with Manas. Lucifer was left behind so that the Godhead could rise higher. Thus the Godhead owes its level in the present round to Lucifer.

Man is here to become an image of God. But the deity had to leave something behind to advance. When the Luciferian principle in humanity is redeemed, the deity will be redeemed from having set Lucifer aside. Man is not here for his own sake, but to contribute to the glory of God - according to the apostle Paul. A good God would never be able to create free human beings; to do that, he had to be a God who endowed human beings with impulses from only one side, and had to leave behind a being that endowed human beings with impulses from the other side.

The Pythagorean disciples first had to create the conditions for the highest questions before asking them.

Now you will also understand that there are different degrees of the luciferic principle in these retarded beings. Wisdom can be sought for its own sake, but it can also be put in the service of Kama.

The luciferic principle has therefore also created the arts and sciences, which can also be put in the service of sensual gratification.