5. Mineral, Plant And Animal Creation

And it is at this point that the merely theoretical impression communicated to us by the metals of the Earth becomes a moral impression. For every metal says to us: I come from the cosmic expanse far away from the Earth, I come from the spheres of Heaven and have been compressed, enchanted into the interior of the Earth. But I await my redemption, for in time to come my essential being will again pervade the Universe.—When we learn to understand the speech of the metals in this way, gold tells us of the Sun, lead of Saturn, copper of Venus. And then these metals say to us: There was a time when we stretched far out into the Universe—copper to Venus, lead to Saturn—but now we have been enchanted into the Earth. We shall stretch far out again when the Earth’s mission is fulfilled through man having achieved on the Earth what can be achieved there and only there. We accepted this enchantment in order that man might become a free being on the Earth. When freedom has been won for man, release from our enchantment can also begin.