Notes from Mathilde Scholl 1904–1906

GA 91 — 20 September 1906

26. Earth, Heart, Atom

In the whole universe we observe how out of the greater the lesser is formed according to substance, how it is first held in its orbits by the power of the greater, how then, not only allowing itself to be guided by the greater but striving towards it, it itself absorbs so much of its power that it becomes independent, free. Thus it happens in the development of man, in the animal and plant kingdoms, in the mineral kingdom, in the growth of the crystal, which has a relative independence in relation to the masses of stone from which it is formed, which has separated itself out as something special from its surroundings.

The earth and all planets are also parts of a larger celestial body. Our earth is a part of the sun, which the sun has separated according to the substance, and also it has sunk its forces into the earth. But in order for the earth to become independent, it must increase its own power by absorbing more and more of the sun's forces into itself.

First, the sun made the earth more and more perfect out of itself in substance. The sun also gave it a part of all its forces. This separating of the substance, up to the physical compression of the earth, has been possible by reduction of the tension in the solar power. By this reduction of the tension the earth could lift itself up to a certain distance from the sun. But beyond this distance it cannot go, because the tension force of the sun, to which it belongs, does not allow that. The rotation of the earth around itself is its effort to become free. But since it is held in the solar orbit by the tension of the solar life, it cannot yet become free. In order to become free, it must acquire so much of the tension force of the sun that it can take its own way in the universe. So the rotation of the earth is its effort to develop to freedom. The course, which the earth describes around the sun in form of an ellipse, is given by the fact that the tension force of the sun decreases and increases. So it attracts the earth alternately more and repels it then again. In the time of the sun's proximity we see the moment when the sun attracts the earth the most, and in the time of the sun's remoteness we see the moment when the sun decreases its tension, so that the earth can express its own striving for freedom more. Thereby the course of the ellipse arises naturally. The sun stands in the one focal point of the ellipse; the other focal point is the natural complement of the focal point where the sun stands. The one focal point corresponds to the pole of the highest tension force; the other focal point corresponds to the pole of the lowest tension force.

The life of the sun is as rhythmic as all life in the world; the sun alternately decreases and increases the influence of its force. This gives rise to movement, rhythm, life. It follows the laws of the general world life. When the greatest nearness of the sun occurs, that is, when the power of the sun acts most strongly on the earth, then the influence of the sun on the forces of the earth is also strongest; the earth then strives toward the power from which it originated. During the time of the sun's remoteness, the formation of independence, the transition into own, substantial life, emerges on the earth in increased measure. During the time of the sun's nearness the south pole is closest to the earth, that is the pole of the earth's power flow, where the sun's forces then penetrate.

During the time of the sun's remoteness, the south pole is the farthest, the north pole is the closest. The North Pole is the pole of the Earth's independence, where it develops its own greatest tension force. Hence the strong magnetic effect of the North Pole, the radiations which produce the Northern Lights and some other phenomena. The northern light originates from the substance particles thrown out by tension force of the earth. There the earth has made the solar power most its own, there its striving for freedom is most expressed. That is why the cultural life of mankind, the whole development of mankind, has grouped itself in its main currents around the North Pole. All the cultural peoples of the earth have developed their main activity on the northern half of the earth. South of the equator we observe only the cultural waves flowing away there. The great impulses of human development have all been expressed on the northern half of the earth. In the outpouring of the spirit in culture on the northern hemisphere as well as in the outpouring of the magnetic force, the earth shows its striving for liberation. The power for this liberation, however, comes to it from the celestial body from which it wants to free itself. The sun itself acts on the earth for the promotion of its liberation. By its turning to the sun the earth takes up the forces which enable it to freedom. Thus, in its rotation from west to east lies on the one hand the striving for liberation, but also on the other hand the striving for the sun, for its giver of power. Just as the sun sends its power-giving rays to the earth from the east, so also the spiritual impulses have come from the east. And on the northern half of the earth they are expressed most strongly.

The same laws which govern the earth's development, the same currents we find in man, also a current of independence, as it goes on the earth from south to north and is expressed in the north pole. Man as a being striving for freedom stands upright. His independence is expressed physically in the upright walk, in that his whole body can rest on his feet in an upright posture. The upright backbone, crowned by the head, is the symbol of his independence. But as the earth turns to the east, so man turns his face and hands to the sun in worship, because it brings him light. Thus he turns his face to the wisdom which comes to him from the East. With the hands he receives, he absorbs. While the feet are the symbol of freedom, of standing upright and walking, the hands are the symbol of receiving the spirit, the higher life, the higher powers, and of the ability to give the higher powers back to the world.

The animal can only take and produce in a physical way. Through the hands man is able to take also such things as are not for physical gratification, and also to produce such things as express the life of the spirit in art and all conscious transformation of the earth. He can raise his hands - as an expression of his spiritual striving - to the sun, to the spiritual. The animal cannot.

So the outstretched arms of man express the other current, which crosses with the current of self-reliance. The current of self-reliance goes from the south to the north. The current of striving for strength for the formation of self-reliance goes from west to east. Man standing in space with arms outstretched represents these two main currents.

The center in man, the heart, which feeds him the life currents, is again an image of these different world currents. It gradually arranges itself more and more to the world rhythm. Through nourishment, through inhalation and exhalation, on the one hand the heart is supplied with the substance and the power to make of man an independent being, and on the other hand, by turning the sensations emanating from the heart to the spirit, he is ennobled, and he acquires the power for a higher independence. Thus, on the one hand, the heart is the organ which enables man to live his own life, but on the other hand, it is also the organ which gives him access to a higher life. It is the temple in which he found his own life, but also the temple into which he must enter to find the higher life. It contains all the currents of life, those which push man into self-reliance - passion; but also those which give him the aspiration to the spirit - love.

Just as the earth receives the influence of the sun through twelve currents in the twelve months of the year, following its passage through the twelve constellations of the zodiac, so the heart of man receives twelve currents from the twelve reflections of the zodiac in his organism. The twelve leaves of the twelve-petaled chakram near the human heart are the expression of these twelve cosmic currents. Therefore, all other physical and spiritual currents animating the human being emanate from the heart. Through the influence of the twelve cosmic currents, the earth and also the individual human being develops to self-reliance, to full maturity.

Just as the earth emanates the power it has made its own at the north pole, where its greatest resilience is revealed, so man emanates his spiritual power from the head, from where it overflows him on all sides, which for the seer is expressed in the aura, in the sheath of light that surrounds man. But the source of this emanating power lies with the earth in its center and with man in his heart, his physical and spiritual center.

Continuation

The orbit which the earth describes around the sun is usually represented as an ellipse, in one focal point of which is the sun. So indeed the earth's motion around the sun is also an ellipse; but since the earth also still moves around itself, with the inclination of the earth's axis by 23.5 degrees, it describes in truth a helical line, a spiral. We can observe that all life in the world describes such a line. The chemical elements can be arranged according to Mendeleev's table into seven descending and seven adjacent classes according to their chemical, electrical and so on properties descending from the lightest to the heaviest. One can put them around the poles of their descending direction in seven spirals of fourteen elements each. Thus life descends in spirals into condensation, and in ascending these spirals must also be followed as the way into the higher forces. We can observe how life comes into appearance in spirals in the plants. All parts of the plants are arranged in a spiral. Spirally the first germs emerge from the seed; in spiral lines the leaves arrange themselves around the stem, the branches around the trunk; in spiral lines the parts of the flower unfold. In many plants, this spiral line even appears in the twisted form of the stem. By describing this spiral line, the symmetry of the complementary parts is created.

So the whole life of the earth proceeds in a spiral line, helically. The higher spiritual transforms itself in this way into the world of appearance and animates it. In this way the spiritual is intimately connected with the physical. There is no physical atom which would not be surrounded and penetrated in this way by the currents of the spiritual forces. Through this spiral movement it is possible for the different degrees of the world forces and substances to surround and penetrate each other. We can distinguish a great spiral movement of the highest power as its first expression of power, and in it, in many gradations, smaller and smaller spiral movements down to the spiral movement of the physical atom.

The most uniform substance, consisting of the smallest particles, also describes the most uniform spiral. The more the tension of the substance decreases, the coarser the particles become, the more torn apart, the smaller the spirals described. But in the physical atom, which is an enormous structure compared to the spiritual substance particles, the repetition of the whole spiritual world process takes place. The physical atom rests in all the higher substances within it, and it is the terminus of the greatest spiral of world life.

This spiral of development is symbolized in the staff of Mercury. The spiritual power in man also describes this spiral of development.