Esoteric Lesson
Now it is a law in occultism that every esoteric truth wears out after a certain time. And it is the task of the leaders of humanity to ensure that a new one is proclaimed. But now there are also many in esotericism who say: what do we need a new truth for? Such people cause religions to become stagnant and prevent any esoteric progress. However, it is the task of the true esotericist to ensure that the whole life of thought is kept alive and flowing. This is achieved by taking in the thoughts of the divine creative beings. These thoughts work at night in the astral body and have an effect on the etheric body. And when the work of these thoughts in the astral body becomes ever stronger and more effective in relation to the etheric body, then gradually that moment approaches which must come sooner or later for every student, when he becomes conscious of the spiritual worlds, where thoughts are imprinted in the etheric body like a seal in wax.  During the Earth period, the fourth element is added. While the heat of the Saturn period in combination with the air of the Sun period produced combustion, and the interaction with the cold of the surrounding space produced moisture, the interaction of fire and water, heat and moisture now produces crystallization, and thus we have the fourth element: Earth. This is also the fourth stage in divine development. And the will, feeling, and creative thought of the three previous periods give rise to the form of the fourth stage, the physical human being of the Earth period.
Cite:
GA 266a/1908-02-26/p009 · edition English