Man, Nature and the Cosmos

GA 91 — 11 August 1905, Haubinda

14. Evolution and the Hierarchies

Today we want to touch on evolution from the theological and spiritual side.

On the planet Saturn, man was in the lowest state of consciousness, in a much deeper state than sleep consciousness. But other beings had other degrees of consciousness. These were spiritual beings who guided and led the evolution on Saturn. There are six types of divine spirits, comrades of man on Saturn.

1 First of all, there are the beings who have a spiritual consciousness, these are highly exalted gods. In Western esotericism they are called “radiant lives” or “radiant flames” because they are radiant beings through and through; they are also called spirits of will.

1. Spirits of wisdom. Highly exalted spirits, but one level lower than the First Ones. They have superpsychic consciousness.

2. Spirits of action, of activity, creating entities, while the others instill the spirit.

3. Spirits of form, who produce shapes.

4. Spirits of darkness, of egoism, of personality (Asuras). They bring into Saturn everything that is connected with egoism. They are active in the fifth round of each planet. That is why '5' is the 'evil number' in secret science. On Saturn they have waking consciousness, like people today.

5. Sons of Fire (Agnishvattas), who have dream consciousness.

6. Sons of Twilight (Lunar Pitris), who have dreamless sleep consciousness.

Christian mysticism now calls these spirits of the first group 'Thrones', the second 'Dominions' (Kyriotetes), the third 'Powers' (Dynamis), the fourth 'Powers' (Exusiai), the fifth 'Primal Forces' (Archai), the sixth 'Archangels' and the seventh 'Angels'. In truth, there are twelve levels of consciousness, but they cannot be traced. Christian mysticism specifies two more: Cherubim and Seraphim.

What we have here is the society of spirits around Saturn, while the human being develops below it. In the first Saturnian round, the human being attains deep trance consciousness. The other Saturn rounds are intended for the other spirits to complete their development, so that in the fourth to fifth Saturn round the Asuras become beings that can be compared with the human being of today; they are a kind of human being.

In the fifth, sixth and seventh Saturn rounds, other spirits were perfected in turn. In the seventh round the human body became completely solid, and at the same time the highest human being was formed in the regions of the spiritual: Atma, the spirit man.

The Sun: the first round of the Sun forms the repetition of Saturn. In the second round, the human being enters deep sleep consciousness; the etheric body is formed. During the fourth round, the spirits of the sons of fire become 'human', and they use the etheric body of man to incarnate in it. In the fifth round, the Asuras claim the physical body again. During the seventh round, the human physical body is again at its densest, the etheric body relatively so, and its counter-image arises in the spiritual: Budhi.

During the first Saturn round, the 'Radiant Lives' or 'Radiant Flames', the 'Spirits of Will' were there, then they left. Saturn becomes dark and is completely dark in the fourth round, when the Asuras are born in deepest night. Now it remains night until the spirits of the 'sons of fire' shine through the human etheric body in the fourth solar round. So we have the dark Saturn and the shining sun.

On the moon, the first two rounds are repetitions. During the third round the human being enters his dream consciousness. After his body has hardened somewhat, the lunar pitris become 'mensches', the 'spirits of twilight' or angels. They inhabit the third formed body, the astral body of the human being. During the fifth, sixth and seventh lunar rounds, the human body hardens more and more, and finally the counterpart of the astral body is formed: Manas. And so we have: Atma, Budhi, Manas.

Now we move over to the earth. In the first three rounds, Saturn, sun and moon are repeated. In the fourth round, human consciousness is added. Only now does the human being become human. He goes through his waking state.

[The following has occurred:] There have been a number of entities that have come down and become 'humans'; they have used the then human body to evolve in. Now, while on planet earth, the human body is there for man himself, to take possession of himself. Whereas in the past human bodies were still inhabited by gods, man is now left to himself and has the free choice to become a descending or ascending being. Man himself becomes the battleground of ascending and descending beings. This battlefield is called Kshetra field in Indian esotericism, and this battle is symbolically expressed in truth in the Bhagavad Gita. Now man begins his activity. His 'I', that is, he himself has come into being. He owes his astral body to the Lunar Pitris, the etheric body to the Agnishvattas, the physical body to the Asuras.

What really happened to the physical body? Formerly [man] had image-consciousness on the moon, now he can perceive objects. He owes this to the Asuras. Therefore, all sensory perception is calculated for egoism, and in our perception the advice of the Asuras is constantly present. They first taught arts and science in the Atlantean race when it was tending towards the fifth. Namely, the great Asuramaya, the first astronomer, taught [so that the arts and sciences became so material]. Man will be on Vulcan when he has developed his spiritual consciousness. On Saturn, the spirits of will, of flame, had gone through their volcanic state. They laid the first foundation for the physical human body; it has always developed until earthly existence, where it became most material. Man now has his densest material body, but he wants to overcome it. Gradually his material body disappears. We see the deep intuition of mythology: Hephaestus or Vulcan is always depicted as a lame god; his lower part loses itself, becomes lame.

On Jupiter, man attains his psychic consciousness. There the matter is decided. The great battle on the Kshetra field has been decided: Humanity is divided into races of good and evil. Those people who have shed their bodies have become spirits; those who have kept their bodies are stragglers. For these, the Asuras now become the actual gods of form, who make their bodies for them. This is when the Asuras achieve what they have always striven for: to become masters of physical bodies. From the undischarged evil karma of the world, the Asuras form the first race of devils.

On Venus, man will only attain his super-psychic consciousness in the sixth round. And during the seventh round, the next lower group, the Agnishvattas, gain power over the bodies in place of the Asuras. And finally, as the fruit of Venus on Vulcan, the Lunar Pitris gain power over the bodies.