Self-Knowledge and God-Knowledge II
GA 90b — 20 February 1905, Berlin
VII. The Apocalypse and Theosophical Cosmology IV
Today I would like to say a few words about the development of the future. We must be clear about earthly human development because it is necessary for the apocalypse, because doubts are very easily possible.
If one can come to look back by means of certain methods that one must apply, it can still be doubtful to look into the future.
But being prophetic is less doubtful now because everything in nature has laws, but only those who see through the laws can say something.
Whoever knows the laws of chemistry knows exactly how to mix the substances, so the one who recognizes the spiritual laws can draw the right conclusions.
So we use methods to see into the future. I would like to explain in detail what the stages of the past are and what the circumstances are under which one can see and see clearly. There are levels of clairvoyance. The development before our earthly state was the astral, before that the rupa and before that the arupa. The earthly state is perceived through the physical senses. Everyone can see that. The preceding as well as the future state cannot be seen with physical senses, but it is still possible to perceive them. In addition to his waking state, a person also has two sleeping states: dreamless and dream. 
Those who have not undergone any development will only have confused dreams, but those who are trained can bring regularity into their dream life.
The dreams of the purely materialistic person will only deal with material things. But for those who live by the principle of Goethe's saying, “Transience is only a parable,” dreams become symbols.
Of course, this is not yet clairvoyance; a clairvoyant is someone who, during their waking day consciousness, can continually leap into the astral vision; they must be awake and look into the astral world. The clairvoyant sees the aura of the person. The aura surrounds the person like a cloud. In undeveloped people, this cloud is confused; the clearer the thoughts, the more ordered and structured the aura.
How does one develop the sense organs for seeing?
These sense organs are located at different points in the aura. One sees an elongated structure from the brain to the chest, embedded in this body structure are the “sacred wheels”, called “lotuses”. There are actually six lotuses in this body. These are the astral sense organs. Between the two eyebrows is the two-leaved lotus flower, which turns from right to left. The one who is now able to see, the lotus flower begins to turn in him.
A second lotus flower is located in the larynx, it is the sixteen-petalled one, turning from right to left. In the past, the dream-like person was gifted with it, he did not contribute to it, it was given to him by nature. It was lost again during the development of the mind. Eight petals were fully developed in bright, shiny colors, but later this flower darkened because the person matured into bright consciousness.
We can now take a look at the secrets of the initiate and understand when Buddha speaks of the eight-limbed path in his teaching.
There are eight virtues that the secret disciple must acquire:
- Faith and understanding of karma
II. Clear thinking
III. Clear speech
IV. Right action
V. Right livelihood
VI. Fulfilling one's duties
VII. Memory control
VIII. Concentration of thought.
Whoever moves on this path, the other eight leaves begin to move, the first eight are pulled along. So the sixteen leaves turn from right to left. Buddha did not speak of the eightfold path in vain.
A third organ is near the heart, it is the twelve-petalled lotus flower. To develop these senses, other methods are needed. Every theosophist knows of six virtues that need to be developed.
I. Tolerance
II. Serenity, patience
III. Belief, trust
IV. Love of freedom
V. Control of thoughts, control of actions
VI. Concentration of thought.
Six of these twelve have been developed in humans before. Here, too, the next six will begin to rotate, and then move the first six along with them. This is how one acquires the ability of astral vision. Through diligent meditation one attains these virtues, through these virtues one attains astral vision. Meditation is healthy, it leads to moral health. Then, a little lower, is the ten-petalled lotus flower, a little lower still the six-petalled lotus flower and then, lower still, the four-petalled lotus flower.
Those who have developed the astral sense of the sixteen-petalled lotus flower can see into the thoughts of other people. Those who have developed the sense of the twelve-petalled flower can see into the sensory world of others, but those who have developed the sense of the two-petalled flower, the upper one between the eyes, can see into the karma of others. I can only discuss the development of this sense in very intimate circles.
The ability of a person to perceive the two globes before and after the earthly - physical - occurs when he is able to perceive something in deep sleep, dreamless. He then experiences what is going on in the mental world or in Devachan and can look at it here. But not only in sleep, but in clairvoyance he can perceive the two higher globes.
It is important to put all your energy into the first two sentences of “Light on the Path”, but not just in thought; they must be felt. And in the same way, the other two sentences
Before the masters the voice can speak,
it must unlearn the woundings.
Before them the soul can stand,
its heart's blood must water the feet.
Once the light has been absorbed, the senses are awakened in order to be able to see the higher spheres. “Light on the Path” is written in such a high symbolic language and dictated by a higher being.
But there are other methods, which will be discussed another time.
The manas is awakened precisely through diligent meditation.
He who can see the higher state is an adept. Only the adept is capable of this.
Let us place ourselves in the development of our earth. Our earth is becoming thinner and thinner, finer and finer, ultimately only astral and then only spiritual. In the future, all people will perceive it. So the earth goes through seven times seven states.
Let us consider what is happening today. Man can only perceive in a mineral way, he cannot perceive the life of an animal or a plant directly; it must first be made known to him through the senses. Man cannot prepare a plant germ, but he can make machines because he is attuned to the inanimate; it is the lowest form of his spirit.
Once upon a time there were no machines, but later on there will be a perfect processing of the inanimate stone, of the crystal - the stone also has a dull consciousness. At the end of the second round, man had transformed all the soil, and then he worked his mind into the physical world. He imposes his laws on the mineral, the inanimate, by reworking the mineral world. He has then worked his mind into it. The earth is then a product of the human mind.
The clairvoyant can experience beforehand what all people are going through today. He can develop the lotus flowers as an astral sense organ in himself earlier than the average person has them; when the beings are in the astral state, they will also have them. The lotus flower plays in beautiful colors, regularly.
So man achieves the transformation of natural products into artificial products with his mind. The astral world is an imprint of the minds of people. The movements of the flowers then match what he has worked into them.
What was previously worked in the inanimate is now being brought to life by the turning lotus flower. He transforms the earth into a living astral being.
Thus, on the later globe, the spirit will move the bodies. [Form states]
Just as today the word emerges from the human larynx, so then he himself will be the word. He is a spiritual being that vibrates himself, that sonorously sounds his manasic self. Now that he has become spiritual, he animates everything around him, he then fills the globe with his being; he will permeate with his own consciousness what he has done with his lotus flower. After us, plant life will be the lowest realm, it will then disappear, and the animal kingdom is the lowest; then the animal kingdom will also disappear, then the whole earth will be a creation that man himself has prepared for himself. Then comes a pralaya. Then comes the next cycle of the earth - round -, everything is repeated again. Then in the fifth round the earth is so developed that it has the state as physical, which will be the next of our present round - round four, similar to the astral plant nature. Man will then be on an earth whose lowest kingdom is plant; so our next metamorphosis will be denser – that which will become our next state will be denser. The lotus flower will then truly bloom. Man is today at the stage of his mineral development. In the fifth round, he will be in his plant development; what is now “mechanized” will then be “organized”.
When he has worked through the physical earth, he will animate it himself. What he has done by technical means, he will find; there are forms - entelechies - that he makes today, which he will then animate.
These are the higher stages of human development. It is not foolishness when we speak of the future. Initiates can put themselves into certain states of consciousness in order to see what are now ideals of the mind.
The elevated human being rises to the level of prophecy, which is why the term “prophet” is used in Jewish secret language when the divinely endowed receive the impulse to see the future.