Cosmic Memory
GA 11
iv. Transition of the Fourth into the Fifth Root Race
[ 1 ] In this chapter we shall learn about the transition of the fourth, the Atlantean root race, into the fifth, the Aryan, to which contemporary civilized mankind belongs. Only he will understand it aright who can steep himself in the idea of development to its full extent and meaning. Everything which man perceives around him is in process of development. In this sense, the use of thought, which is characteristic of the men of our fifth root race, had first to develop. It is this root race in particular which slowly and gradually brings the faculty of thought to maturity. In his thought, man decides upon something, and then executes it as the consequence of his own thought. This ability was only in preparation among the Atlanteans. It was not their own thoughts, but those which flowed into them from entities of a higher kind, that influenced their will. Thus, in a manner of speaking, their will was directed from outside.
>The one who familiarizes himself with the thought of this development of the human being and learns to admit that man—as earthly man—was a being of a quite different kind in prehistory, will also be able to rise to a conception of the totally different entities which are spoken of here. The development to be described required enormously long periods of time.
What has previously been said about the fourth root race, the Atlanteans, refers to the great bulk of mankind. But they followed leaders whose abilities towered far above theirs. The wisdom these leaders possessed and the powers at their command were not to be attained by any earthly education. They had been imparted to them by higher beings which did not belong directly to earth. Therefore it was only natural that the great mass of men felt their leaders to be beings of a higher kind, to be “messengers” of the gods. For what these leaders knew and could do would not have been attainable by human sense organs and by human reason. They were venerated as “divine messengers,” and men received their orders, their commandments, and also their instruction. It was by beings of this kind that mankind was instructed in the sciences, in the arts, and in the making of tools. Such “divine messengers” either directed the communities themselves or instructed men who were sufficiently advanced in the art of government. It was said of these leaders that they “communicate with the gods” and were initiated by the gods themselves into the laws according to which mankind had to develop. This was true. In places about which the average people knew nothing, this initiation, this communication with the gods, actually took place. These places of initiation were called temples of the mysteries. From them the human race was directed.
[ 2 ] What took place in the temples of the mysteries was therefore incomprehensible to the people. Equally little did the latter understand the intentions of their great leaders. After all, the people could grasp with their senses only what happened directly upon earth, not what was revealed from higher worlds for the welfare of earth. Therefore the teachings of the leaders had to be expressed in a form unlike communications about earthly events. The language the gods spoke with their messengers in the mysteries was not earthly, and neither were the shapes in which these gods revealed themselves. The higher spirits appeared to their messengers “in fiery clouds” in order to tell them how they were to lead men. Only man can appear in human form; entities whose capacities tower above the human must reveal themselves in shapes which are not to be found on earth.
[ 3 ] Because they themselves were the most perfect among their human brothers, the “divine messengers” could receive these revelations. In earlier stages they had already gone through what the majority of men still had to experience. They belonged among their fellow humans only in a certain respect. They could assume human form. But their spiritual-mental qualities were of a superhuman kind. Thus they were divine-human hybrid beings. One can also describe them as higher spirits who assumed human bodies in order to help mankind forward on their earthly path. The real home of these beings was not on earth.
These divine-human beings led men, without being able to inform them of the principles by which they directed them. For until the fifth subrace of the Atlanteans, the Primal Semites, men had absolutely no capacities for understanding these principles. The faculty of thought, which developed in this subrace, was such a capacity. But this evolved slowly and gradually. Even the last sub-races of the Atlanteans could understand very little of the principles of their divine leaders. They began, at first quite imperfectly, to have a presentiment of such principles. Therefore their thoughts and also the laws which we have mentioned among their governmental institutions, were guessed at rather than clearly thought out.
[ 4 ] The principal leader of the fifth Atlantean subrace gradually prepared it so that in later times, after the decline of the Atlantean way of life, it could begin a new one which was to be wholly directed by the faculty of thought.
[ 5 ] One must realize that at the end of the Atlantean period there existed three groups of man-like beings: 1. The above-mentioned “divine messengers,” who in their development were far ahead of the great mass of the people, and who taught divine wisdom and accomplished divine deeds. 2. The great mass of humanity, among which the faculty of thought was in a dull condition, although they possessed natural abilities which modern men have lost. 3. A small group of those who were developing the faculty of thought. While they gradually lost the natural abilities of the Atlanteans through this process, they were advancing to the stage where they could grasp the principles of the “divine messengers” with their thoughts.
The second group of human beings was doomed to gradual extinction. The third however could be trained by a being of the first kind to take its direction into its own hands.
[ 6 ] From this third group the above-mentioned principal leader, whom occult literature designates as Manu, selected the ablest in order to cause a new humanity to emerge from them. These most capable ones existed in the fifth subrace. The faculty of the sixth and seventh sub-races had already gone astray in a certain sense and was not fit for further development.
The best qualities of the best had to be developed. This was accomplished by the leader through the isolation of the selected ones in a certain place on earth—in inner Asia—where they were freed from any influence of those who remained behind or of those who had gone astray.
The task which the leader imposed upon himself was to bring his followers to the point where, in their own soul, with their own faculty of thought, they could grasp the principles according to which they had hitherto been directed in a way vaguely sensed, but not clearly recognized by them. Men were to recognize the divine forces which they had unconsciously followed. Hitherto the gods had led men through their messengers; now men were to know about these divine entities. They were to learn to consider themselves as the implementing organs of divine providence.
[ 7 ] The isolated group thus faced an important decision. The divine leader was in their midst, in human form. From such divine messengers men had previously received instructions and orders as to what they were or were not to do. Human beings had been instructed in the sciences which dealt with what they could perceive through the senses. Men had vaguely sensed a divine control of the world, had felt it in their own actions, but they had not known anything of it clearly.
Now their leader spoke to them in a completely new way. He taught them that invisible powers directed what confronted them visibly, and that they themselves were servants of these invisible powers, that they had to fulfill the laws of these invisible powers with their thoughts. Men heard of the supernatural-divine. They heard that the invisible spiritual was the creator and preserver of the visible physical. Hitherto they had looked up to their visible divine messengers, to the superhuman initiates, and through the latter was communicated what was and was not to be done. But now they were considered worthy of having the divine messenger speak to them of the gods themselves. Mighty were the words which again and again he impressed upon his followers: “Until now you have seen those who led you: but there are higher leaders whom you do not see. It is these leaders to whom you are subject. You shall carry out the orders of the god whom you do not see; and you shall obey one of whom you can make no image to yourselves.” Thus did the new and highest commandment come from the mouth of the great leader, prescribing the veneration of a god whom no sensory-visible image could resemble, and therefore of whom none was to be made. Of this great fundamental commandment of the fifth human root race, the well-known commandment which follows is an echo: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth . . . ” (Exodus 20:4).
[ 8 ] The principal leader, Manu, was assisted by other divine messengers who executed his intentions for particular branches of life and worked on the development of the new race. For it was a matter of arranging all of life according to the new conception of a divine administration of the world. Everywhere the thoughts of men were to be directed from the visible to the invisible. Life is determined by the forces of nature. The course of human life depends on day and night, on winter and summer, on sunshine and rain. How these influential visible events are connected with the invisible, divine powers and how man was to behave in order to arrange his life in accordance with these invisible powers, was shown to him. All knowledge and all labor was to be pursued in this sense. In the course of the stars and of the weather, man was to see divine decrees, the emanation of divine wisdom. Astronomy and meteorology were taught with this idea. Man was to arrange his labor, his moral life in such a way that they would correspond to the wise laws of the divine. Life was ordered according to divine commandments, just as the divine thoughts were explored in the course of the stars and in the changes of the weather. Man was to bring his works into harmony with the dispensations of the gods through sacrificial acts.
It was the intention of Manu to direct everything in human life toward the higher worlds. All human activities, all institutions were to bear a religious character. Through this, Manu wanted to initiate the real task imposed upon the fifth root race. This race was to learn to direct itself by its own thoughts. But such a self-determination can only lead to good if man also places himself at the service of the higher powers. Man should use his faculty of thought, but this faculty of thought should be sanctified by being devoted to the divine.
[ 9 ] One can only understand completely what happened at that time if one knows that the development of the faculty of thought, beginning with the fifth subrace of the Atlanteans, also entailed something else. From a certain quarter men had come into possession of knowledge and of arts, which were not immediately connected with what the above-mentioned Manu had to consider as his true task. This knowledge and these arts were at first devoid of religious character. They came to man in such a way that he could think of nothing other than to place them at the service of self-interest, of his personal needs...2For the present it is not permitted to make public communications about the origin of this knowledge and these arts. A passage from the Akasha Chronicle must therefore be omitted here. To such knowledge belongs for example that of the use of fire in human activities. In the first Atlantean time man did not use fire since the life force was available for his service. But with the passage of time he was less and less in a position to make use of this force, hence he had to learn to make tools, utensils from so-called lifeless objects. He employed fire for this purpose. Similar conditions prevailed with respect to other natural forces. Thus man learned to make use of such natural forces without being conscious of their divine origin. So it was meant to be. Man was not to be forced by anything to relate these things which served his faculty of thought to the divine order of the world. Rather was he to do this voluntarily in his thoughts. It was the intention of Manu to bring men to the point where, independently, out of an inner need, they brought such things into a relation with the higher order of the world. Men could choose whether they wanted to use the insight they had attained purely in a spirit of personal self-interest or in the religious service of a higher world.
If man was previously forced to consider himself as a link in the divine government of the world, by which for example, the domination over the life force was given to him without his having to use the faculty of thought, he could now employ the natural forces without directing his thoughts to the divine.
Not all men whom Manu had gathered around him were equal to this decision, but only a few of them. It was from this few that Manu could really form the germ of the new race. He retired with them in order to develop them further, while the others mingled with the rest of mankind. From this small number of men who finally gathered around Manu, everything is descended which up to the present, forms the true germs of progress of the fifth root race. For this reason also, two characteristics run through the entire development of this fifth root race. One of these characteristics is peculiar to those men who are animated by higher ideas, who regard themselves as children of a divine universal power; the other belongs to those who put everything at the service of personal interests, of egotism.
[ 10 ] The small following remained gathered around Manu until it was sufficiently fortified to act in the new spirit, and until its members could go out to bring this new spirit to the rest of mankind, which remained from the earlier races. It is natural that this new spirit assumed a different character among the various peoples, according to how they themselves had developed in different fields. The old remaining characteristics blended with what the messengers of Manu carried to the various parts of the world. Thus a variety of new cultures and civilizations came into being.
[ 11 ] The ablest personalities from the circle around Manu were selected for a gradual direct initiation into his divine wisdom, so that they could become the teachers of the others. A new kind of initiate thus was added to the old divine messengers. It consisted of those who had developed their faculty of thought in an earthly manner just as their fellow-men had done. The earlier divine messengers—and also Manu—had not done this. Their development belonged to higher worlds. They introduced their higher wisdom into earthly conditions. What they gave to mankind was a “gift from above.” Before the middle of the Atlantean period men had not reached the point where by their own powers they could grasp what the divine decrees were. Now—at the time indicated—they were to attain this point. Earthly thinking was to elevate itself to the concept of the divine. The human initiates united themselves with the divine. This represents an important revolution in the development of the human race. The first Atlanteans did not as yet have a choice as to whether or not they would consider their leaders to be divine messengers. For what the latter accomplished imposed itself as the deed of higher worlds. It bore the stamp of a divine origin. Thus the messengers of the Atlantean period were entities sanctified by their power, surrounded by the splendor which this power conferred upon them. From an external point of view, the human initiates of later times are men among men. But they remain in relation with the higher worlds, and the revelations and manifestations of the divine messengers come to them. Only exceptionally, when a higher necessity arises, do they make use of certain powers which are conferred upon them from above. Then they accomplish deeds which men cannot explain by the laws they know and which therefore they rightly regard as miracles.
But in all this the higher intention is to put mankind on its own feet, fully to develop its faculty of thought. Today the human initiates are the mediators between the people and the higher powers, and only initiation can make one capable of communication with the divine messengers.
[ 12 ] The human initiates, the sacred teachers, became leaders of the rest of mankind in the beginning of the fifth root race. The great priest kings of prehistory, who are not spoken of in history, but rather in the world of legend, belong among these initiates. The higher divine messengers retired from the earth more and more, and left the leadership to these human initiates, whom however they assisted in word and deed. Were this not so, man would never attain free use of his faculty of thought. The world is under divine direction, but man is not to be forced to admit this; he is to realize and to understand it by free reflection. When he reaches this point, the initiates will gradually divulge their secrets to him. But this cannot happen all at once. The whole development of the fifth root race is a slow road to this goal. At first Manu himself led his following like children. Then the leadership was gradually transferred to the human initiates. Today progress still consists in a mixture of the conscious and unconscious acting and thinking of men. Only at the end of the fifth root race, when throughout the sixth and seventh sub-races a sufficiently great number of men are capable of knowledge, will the greatest among the initiates be able to reveal himself to them openly. Then this human initiate will be able to assume the principal leadership just as Manu did at the end of the fourth root race. Thus the education of the fifth root race consists in this, that a greater part of humanity will become able freely to follow a human Manu as the germinal race of this fifth root race followed the divine one.
III. Übergang der vierten in die fünfte Wurzelrasse
[ 1 ] Die folgenden Mitteilungen beziehen sich auf den Übergang der vierten (atlantischen) Wurzelrasse in die fünfte (arische), welcher die gegenwärtige zivilisierte Menschheit angehört. Nur derjenige wird sie richtig auffassen, der sich von dem Gedanken der Entwickelung in seinem ganzen Umfange und in seiner ganzen Bedeutung durchdringen kann. Alles, was der Mensch um sich herum gewahr wird, ist in Entwickelung. Und auch die Eigenschaft der Menschen unserer fünften Wurzelrasse, die im Gebrauche des Gedankens liegt, hat sich erst entwickelt. Ja, gerade diese Wurzelrasse ist es, welche die Kraft des Denkens langsam und allmählich zur Reife bringt. Der gegenwärtige Mensch entschließt sich (im Gedanken) zu etwas, und dann führt er es aus als die Folge des eigenen Gedankens. Bei den Atlantiern bereitete sich diese Fähigkeit erst vor. Nicht die eigenen Gedanken, sondern die ihnen von höhergearteten Wesenheiten zuströmenden beeinflußten ihren Willen. Dieser wurde also gewissermaßen von außen gelenkt. — Wer sich mit diesem Entwickelungsgedanken beim Menschen vertraut macht und zugeben lernt, daß dieser in der Vorzeit ein ganz anders geartetes Wesen — als irdischer Mensch — war, der wird auch zu der Vorstellung von den völlig anderen Wesenheiten aufsteigen können, von denen in den Mitteilungen gesprochen wird. Ungeheuer große Zeiträume nahm die Entwickelung in Anspruch, von der berichtet wird. Was in dem Vorhergehenden von der vierten Wurzelrasse, den Atlantiern, gesagt worden ist, das bezieht sich auf die große Masse der Menschheit. Aber diese stand unter Führern, die in ihren Fähigkeiten hoch emporragten über sie. Die Weisheit, welche diese Führer besaßen, und die Kräfte, welche sie beherrschten, waren durch keinerlei irdische Erziehung zu erlangen. Sie waren ihnen von höheren, nicht unmittelbar zur Erde gehörenden Wesenheiten erteilt worden. Es war daher nur natürlich, daß die große Masse der Menschen diese ihre Führer als Wesen höherer Art empfanden, als «Boten» der Götter. Denn mit den menschlichen Sinnesorganen, mit dem menschlichen Verstande wäre nicht zu erreichen gewesen, was diese Führer wußten und ausführen konnten. Man verehrte sie als «Gottesboten» und empfing ihre Befehle, Gebote und auch ihren Unterricht. Durch Wesen solcher Art wurde die Menschheit unterwiesen in den Wissenschaften, Künsten, in der Verfertigung von Werkzeugen. Und solche «Götterboten» leiteten entweder selbst die Gemeinschaften oder unterrichteten Menschen, die weit genug vorgeschritten waren, in den Regierungskünsten. Man sagte von diesen Führern, daß sie «mit den Göttern verkehren» und von diesen selbst in die Gesetze eingeweiht werden, nach denen sich die Menschheit entwickeln müsse. Und das entsprach der Wirklichkeit. An Orten, von denen die Menge nichts wußte, geschah diese Einweihung, dieser Verkehr mit den Göttern. Mysterientempel wurden diese Einweihungsorte genannt. Von ihnen aus also geschah die Verwaltung des Menschengeschlechts.
[ 2 ] Das, was in den Mysterientempeln geschah, war demgemäß auch dem Volke unverständlich. Und ebensowenig verstand dieses die Absichten seiner großen Führer. Das Volk konnte mit seinen Sinnen ja nur verstehen, was sich auf der Erde unmittelbar zutrug, nicht was zum Heile dieser aus höheren Welten offenbart wurde. Daher mußten auch die Lehren der Führer in einer Form abgefaßt sein, die nicht den Mitteilungen über irdische Ereignisse ähnlich war. Die Sprache, welche die Götter mit ihren Boten in den Mysterien sprachen, war ja auch keine irdische, und die Gestalten, in denen sich diese Götter offenbarten, waren ebensowenig irdisch. «In feurigen Wolken» erschienen die höheren Geister ihren Boten, uni ihnen mitzuteilen, wie sie die Menschen zu führen haben. In menschlicher Gestalt kann nur ein Mensch erscheinen; Wesenheiten, deren Fähigkeiten über das Menschliche hinausragen, müssen in Gestalten sich offenbaren, die nicht unter den irdischen zu finden sind.
[ 3 ] Daß die «Gottesboten» diese Offenbarungen empfangen konnten, rührt davon her, daß sie selbst die vollkommensten unter ihren Menschenbrüdern waren. Sie hatten auf früheren Entwickelungsstufen bereits durchgemacht, was die Mehrzahl der Menschen noch durchzumachen hat. Nur in einer gewissen Beziehung gehörten sie dieser Mitmenschheit an. Sie konnten die menschliche Gestalt annehmen. Aber ihre seelisch-geistigen Eigenschaften waren übermenschlicher Art. Sie waren also göttlich-menschliche Doppelwesen. Man konnte sie daher auch als höhere Geister bezeichnen, die menschliche Leiber angenommen hatten, um der Menschheit auf ihrem irdischen Wege weiter zu helfen. Ihre eigentliche Heimat war nicht auf der Erde. — diese Wesen führten die Menschen, ohne ihnen die Grundsätze mitteilen zu können, nach denen sie sie führten. Denn bis zur fünften Unterrasse der Atlantier, den Ursemiten, hatten die Menschen eben gar keine Fähigkeit, um diese Grundsätze zu begreifen. Erst die Denkkraft, die sich in dieser Unterrasse entwickelte, war eine solche Fähigkeit. Aber diese Fähigkeit entwickelte sich langsam und allmählich. Und auch die letzten Unterrassen der Atlantier konnten noch sehr wenig begreifen von den Grundsätzen ihrer göttlichen Führer. Sie fingen an, erst ganz unvollkommen, etwas von solchen Grundsätzen zu ahnen. Daher waren ihre Gedanken und auch die Gesetze, von denen bei ihren Staatseinrichtungen gesprochen worden ist, mehr geahnt als klar gedacht.
[ 4 ] Der Hauptführer der fünften atlantischen Unterrasse bereitete diese nach und nach vor, damit sie in späterer Zeit, nach dem Untergange der atlantischen Lebensart, eine neue beginnen könne, eine solche, welche ganz durch die Denkkraft geregelt wird.
[ 5 ] Nun muß man sich vergegenwärtigen, daß man es am Ende der atlantischen Zeit mit drei Gruppen menschenartiger Wesenheiten zu tun hat. 1. Mit den genannten «Götterboten», die der großen Volksmasse weit voraus in der Entwickelung waren, die göttliche Weisheit lehrten und göttliche Taten verrichteten. 2. Die große Masse selbst, bei welcher die Denkkraft in einem dumpfen Zustande war, trotzdem sie Fähigkeiten naturwüchsiger Art besaß, welche der heutigen Menschheit verlorengegangen sind. 3. Eine kleinere Schar von solchen, welche die Denkkraft entwickelten. Diese verlor dadurch zwar allmählich die urwüchsigen Fähigkeiten der Atlantier; aber sie bildete sich dafür heran, die Grundsätze der «Götterboten» denkend zu erfassen. — die zweite Gruppe der Menschenwesen war dem allmählichen Aussterben geweiht. Die dritte aber konnte von dem Wesen der ersten Art dazu herangezogen werden, ihre Führung selbst in die Hand zu nehmen.
[ 6 ] Aus dieser dritten Gruppe nahm der genannte Hauptführer, welchen die okkultistische Literatur als Manu bezeichnet, die Befähigtesten heraus, um aus ihnen eine neue Menschheit hervorgehen zu lassen. Diese Befähigtesten waren in der fünften Unterrasse vorhanden. Die Denkkraft der sechsten und siebenten Unterrasse war schon in einer gewissen Weise auf Abwege geraten und nicht mehr zur Weiterentwickelung geeignet. — die besten Eigenschaften der Besten mußten entwickelt werden. Das geschah, indem der Führer die Auserlesenen an einem besonderen Orte der Erde — in Innerasien — absonderte und sie vor jedem Einflusse der Zurückgebliebenen oder der auf Abwege Geratenen befreite. — die Aufgabe, die sich der Führer stellte, war, seine Schar so weit zu bringen, daß ihre Zugehörigen in der eigenen Seele, mit eigener Denkkraft die Grundsätze erfassen könnten, nach denen sie bisher auf eine von ihnen geahnte, aber nicht klar erkannte Art gelenkt worden waren. Die Menschen sollten erkennen die göttlichen Kräfte, denen sie unbewußt gefolgt waren. Bisher hatten die Götter durch ihre Boten die Menschen geführt; jetzt sollten die Menschen von diesen göttlichen Wesenheiten wissen. Sie sollten sich selbst als die ausführenden Organe der göttlichen Vorsehung ansehen lernen.
[ 7 ] Vor einer wichtigen Entscheidung stand die also abgesonderte Schar. Der göttliche Führer war in ihrer Mitte, in Menschengestalt. Von solchen Götterboten hatte die Menschheit vorher Anweisungen, Befehle erhalten, was sie zu tun oder zu lassen hatte. Sie war in den Wissenschaften unterrichtet worden, die sich auf dasjenige bezogen, was sie mit den Sinnen hatte wahrnehmen können. Eine göttliche Weltregierung hatten die Menschen geahnt, hatten sie in ihren eigenen Handlungen empfunden; aber klar gewußt hatten sie nichts von ihr. — nun sprach ihr Führer in einer ganz neuen Art zu ihnen. Er lehrte sie, daß unsichtbare Mächte das lenken, was sie sichtbar vor sich hätten; und daß sie selbst Diener dieser unsichtbaren Mächte seien, daß sie mit ihren Gedanken die Gesetze dieser unsichtbaren Mächte zu vollziehen hätten. Von einem Überirdisch-Göttlichen hörten die Menschen. Und daß das unsichtbare Geistige der Schöpfer und Erhalter des sichtbaren Körperlichen sei. Zu ihren sichtbaren Götterboten, zu den übermenschlichen Eingeweihten, von denen der selbst einer war, der so zu ihnen sprach, hatten sie bisher aufgesehen, und von ihnen wurde mitgeteilt, was zu tun und was zu lassen sei. Jetzt aber wurden sie dessen gewürdigt, daß der Götterbote ihnen von den Göttern selbst sprach. Gewaltig war die Rede, die er seiner Schar immer wieder einschärfte. «Ihr habt bis jetzt gesehen diejenigen, die euch führten; aber es gibt höhere Führer, die ihr nicht sehet. Und diesen Führern seid ihr untertan. Ihr sollt vollziehen die Befehle des Gottes, den ihr nicht sehet; und ihr sollt gehorchen einem solchen, von dem ihr euch kein Bild machen könnet.» So klang aus dem Munde des großen Führers das neue höchste Gebot, das da die Verehrung vorschrieb eines Gottes, dem kein sinnlich-sichtbares Bild ähnlich sein konnte, von dem daher auch keines gemacht werden sollte. Von diesem großen Urgebote der fünften Menschenrasse ist ein Nachklang das bekannte: «Du sollst dir kein Götzenbild machen, noch irgendein Abbild von etwas, was droben im Himmel oder unten auf der Erde, oder was im Wasser unter der Erde ist...». 5Buch Moses, 10. Kap. 51
[ 8 ] Dem Hauptführer (Manu) standen andere Götterboten zur Seite, welche für die einzelnen Lebenszweige seine Absichten ausführten und an der Entwickelung der neuen Rasse arbeiteten. Denn es handelte sich darum, das ganze Leben im Sinne der neuen Auffassung von einer göttlichen Weltregierung einzurichten. Die Gedanken der Menschen sollten überall von dem Sichtbaren auf das Unsichtbare hingelenkt werden. Das Leben wird durch die Naturmächte bestimmt. Von Tag und Nacht, von Winter und Sommer, von Sonnenschein und Regen hängt der Verlauf dieses menschlichen Lebens ab. Wie diese einflußreichen sichtbaren Tatsachen mit den unsichtbaren (göttlichen) Kräften im Zusammenhang stehen und wie der Mensch sich verhalten solle, damit er diesen unsichtbaren Mächten gemäß sein Leben einrichte: das wurde ihm gezeigt. Alles Wissen und alle Arbeit sollte in diesem Sinne getrieben werden. Im Gang der Sterne und der Witterungsverhältnisse sollte der Mensch die göttlichen Ratschlüsse sehen, den Ausfluß der göttlichen Weisheit. Astronomie und Witterungskunde wurden in diesem Sinne gelehrt. Und seine Arbeit, sein sittliches Leben solle der Mensch so einrichten, daß sie den weisheitsvollen Gesetzen des Göttlichen entsprechen. Nach göttlichen Geboten wurde das Leben geordnet, wie im Gang der Sterne, in den Witterungsverhältnissen und so weiter die göttlichen Gedanken erforscht wurden. Durch Opferhandlungen sollte der Mensch seine Werke mit den Fügungen der Götter in Einklang bringen. — Es war die Absicht des Manu, alles im menschlichen Leben auf die höheren Welten hinzulenken. Alles menschliche Tun, alle Einrichtungen sollten einen religiösen Charakter tragen. Dadurch wollte der Manu das einleiten, was der fünften Wurzelrasse als ihre eigentliche Aufgabe obliegt. Diese sollte lernen, sich selbst durch ihre Gedanken zu leiten. Aber zum Heile kann solche Selbstbestimmung nur führen, wenn sich der Mensch auch selbst in den Dienst der höheren Kräfte stellt. Der Mensch soll sich seiner Gedankenkraft bedienen; aber diese Gedankenkraft soll geheiligt sein durch den Hinblick auf das Göttliche.
[ 9 ] Man begreift nur vollständig, was damals geschah, wenn man auch weiß, daß die Entwickelung der Denkkraft, von der fünften Unterrasse der Atlantier angefangen, noch etwas anderes im Gefolge gehabt hat. Die Menschen waren nämlich von einer gewissen Seite her in den Besitz von Kenntnissen und Künsten gekommen, die nicht unmittelbar mit dem zusammenhingen, was der obengenannte Manu als seine eigentliche Aufgabe ansehen mußte. Diesen Kenntnissen und Künsten fehlte zunächst der religiöse Charakter. Sie kamen so an den Menschen heran, daß dieser an nichts anderes denken konnte, als sie in den Dienst des Eigennutzes, seiner persönlichen Bedürfnisse zu stellen... 6Über den Ursprung dieser Kenntnisse und Künste öffentliche Mitteilungen zu machen, ist vorläufig nicht erlaubt. Daher muß hier eine Stelle der Akasha-Chronik wegbleiben. Zu solchen Kenntnissen gehört zum Beispiel die des Feuers in seiner Anwendung zu menschlichen Verrichtungen. In den ersten atlantischen Zeiten brauchte der Mensch das Feuer nicht, denn es stand ja die Lebenskraft zu seinen Diensten. Je weniger er aber mit fortschreitender Zeit in der Lage war, sich dieser Kraft zu bedienen, desto mehr mußte er lernen, sich Werkzeuge, Geräte aus sogenannten leblosen Dingen zu machen. Dazu diente ihm der Gebrauch des Feuers. Und ähnlich war es mit anderen Naturkräften. Der Mensch hatte also gelernt, sich solcher Naturkräfte zu bedienen, ohne sich ihres göttlichen Ursprungs bewußt zu sein. Und so sollte es auch sein. Der Mensch sollte durch nichts gezwungen sein, diese im Dienste seiner Denkkraft stehenden Dinge auf die göttliche Weltordnung zu beziehen. Er sollte das vielmehr freiwillig in seinen Gedanken tun. So ging denn die Absicht des Manu dahin, die Menschen dazu zu bringen, daß sie selbständig, aus einem inneren Bedürfnis heraus, solche Dinge in Zusammenhang brachten mit der höheren Weltordnung. Gleichsam wählen konnten die Menschen, ob sie die erlangten Erkenntnisse rein im persönlichen Eigennutz oder im religiösen Dienste einer höheren Welt anwenden wollten. — war also der Mensch vorher gezwungen, sich als Glied der göttlichen Weltlenkung zu betrachten, von der ihm zum Beispiel die Beherrschung der Lebenskraft zufloß, ohne daß er die Denkkraft anzuwenden brauchte, so konnte er jetzt die Naturkräfte auch anwenden, ohne den Gedanken auf das Göttliche zu lenken. — dieser Entscheidung waren nicht alle Menschen gewachsen, welche der Manu um sich gesammelt hatte, sondern vielmehr nur eine geringe Zahl derselben. Und nur aus dieser letzteren Zahl konnte der Manu den Keim zur neuen Rasse wirklich bilden. Mit ihr zog er sich dann zurück, um sie weiterzuentwickeln, während die anderen sich mit der übrigen Menschheit vermischten. — von der genannten geringen Zahl von Menschen, die sich zuletzt um den Manu geschart hatte, stammt dann alles ab, was die wahren Fortschrittskeime der fünften Wurzelrasse bis heute noch bildet. Daher ist es aber auch erklärlich, daß zwei Charakterzüge durch die ganze Entwickelung dieser fünften Wurzelrasse durchgehen. Der eine Zug ist den Menschen eigen, die beseelt sind von höheren Ideen, die sich als Kinder einer göttlichen Weltmacht betrachten; der andere kommt denen zu, die alles nur in den Dienst der persönlichen Interessen, des Eigennutzes stellen.
[ 10 ] So lange blieb die kleine Schar um den Manu, bis sie hinlänglich gekräftigt war, um in dem neuen Geiste zu wirken, und bis ihre Glieder hinausziehen konnten, diesen neuen Geist der übrigen Menschheit zu bringen, die von den vorhergehenden Rassen übriggeblieben war. Es ist natürlich, daß dieser neue Geist bei den verschiedenen Völkern einen verschiedenen Charakter annahm, je nachdem sich diese selbst in den verschiedenen Gebieten entwickelt hatten. Die alten zurückgebliebenen Charakterzüge vermischten sich mit dem, was die Sendboten des Manu in die verschiedenen Teile der Welt trugen. Dadurch entstanden mannigfaltige neue Kulturen und Zivilisationen
[ 11 ] Die befähigtesten Persönlichkeiten aus der Umgebung des Manu wurden dazu ausersehen, nach und nach unmittelbar in seine göttliche Weisheit eingeweiht zu werden, auf daß sie Lehrer der übrigen werden konnten. So kam es, daß zu den alten Götterboten jetzt auch eine neue Art von Eingeweihten kam. Es sind diejenigen, welche ihre Denkkraft geradeso wie ihre übrigen Mitmenschen in irdischer Art ausgebildet haben. Die vorhergehenden Götterboten — auch der Manu — hatten das nicht. Ihre Entwickelung gehört höheren Welten an. Sie brachten ihre höhere Weisheit in die irdischen Verhältnisse herein. Was sie der Menschheit schenkten, war eine «Gabe von oben». Die Menschen waren noch vor der Mitte der atlantischen Zeit nicht so weit, mit eigenen Kräften begreifen zu können, was die göttlichen Ratschlüsse sind. Jetzt — in der angedeuteten Zeit — sollten sie dazu kommen. Das irdische Denken sollte sich erheben bis zu dem Begriffe vom Göttlichen. Menschliche Eingeweihte traten zu den übermenschlichen. Das bedeutet einen wichtigen Umschwung in der Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechtes. Noch die ersten Atlantier hatten nicht die Wahl, ihre Führer als göttliche Sendboten anzusehen oder auch nicht. Denn was diese vollbrachten, drängte sich auf als Tat höherer Welten. Es trug den Stempel des göttlichen Ursprungs. So waren die Boten der atlantischen Zeit durch ihre Macht geheiligte Wesenheiten, umgeben von dem Glanze, den ihnen diese Macht verlieh. Die menschlichen Eingeweihten der Folgezeit sind, äußerlich genommen, Menschen unter Menschen. Allerdings aber verblieben sie im Zusammenhang mit den höheren Welten, und die Offenbarungen und Erscheinungen der Götterboten dringen zu ihnen. Nur ausnahmsweise, wenn sich eine höhere Notwendigkeit ergibt, machen sie Gebrauch von gewissen Kräften, die ihnen von dorther verliehen sind. Dann vollbringen sie Taten, welche die Menschen nach den ihnen bekannten Gesetzen nicht verstehen und daher mit Recht als Wunder ansehen. — Die höhere Absicht aber bei alledem ist, die Menschheit auf eigene Füße zu stellen, deren Denkkraft vollkommen zu entwickeln. — die menschlichen Eingeweihten sind heute die Vermittler zwischen dem Volke und den höheren Mächten; und nur die Einweihung befähigt zum Umgange mit den Götterboten.
[ 12 ] Die menschlichen Eingeweihten, die heiligen Lehrer, wurden nun im Beginne der fünften Wurzelrasse Führer der übrigen Menschheit. Die großen Priesterkönige der Vorzeit, von denen nicht die Geschichte, wohl aber die Sagenwelt Zeugnis ablegt, gehören der Schar dieser Eingeweihten an. Immer mehr zogen sich die höheren Götterboten von der Erde zurück und überließen die Führung diesen menschlichen Eingeweihten, denen sie aber mit Rat und Tat zur Seite stehen. Wäre das nicht so, so käme der Mensch niemals zum freien Gebrauch seiner Denkkraft. Die Welt steht unter göttlicher Führung; aber der Mensch soll nicht gezwungen werden, das zuzugeben, sondern er soll in freier Überlegung es einsehen und begreifen. Ist er erst so weit, dann enthüllen ihm die Eingeweihten stufenweise ihre Geheimnisse. Aber dies kann nicht plötzlich geschehen. Sondern die ganze Entwickelung der fünften Wurzelrasse ist der langsame Weg zu diesem Ziele. Wie Kinder führte der Manu erst selbst noch seine Schar. Dann ging die Führung ganz allmählich auf menschliche Eingeweihte über. Und heute besteht der Fortschritt noch immer in einer Mischung von bewußtem und unbewußtem Handeln und Denken der Menschen. Erst am Ende der fünften Wurzelrasse, wenn durch die sechste und siebente Unterrasse hindurch eine genügend große Anzahl von Menschen des Wissens fähig ist, wird sich der größte Eingeweihte ihnen öffentlich enthüllen können. Und dieser menschliche Eingeweihte wird dann die weitere Hauptführung ebenso übernehmen können, wie das der Manu am Ende der vierten Wurzelrasse getan hat. So ist die Erziehung der fünften Wurzelrasse die, daß ein größerer Teil der Menschheit dazu kommen wird, einem menschlichen Manu frei zu folgen, wie das die Keimrasse dieser fünften mit dem göttlichen getan hat.
III Transition of the fourth into the fifth root race
[ 1 ] The following messages refer to the transition of the fourth (Atlantean) root race into the fifth (Aryan), to which the present civilized humanity belongs. Only those will understand them correctly who can penetrate the idea of evolution in its full scope and meaning. Everything that man becomes aware of around him is in development. And also the characteristic of the people of our fifth root race, which lies in the use of thought, has only just developed. Indeed, it is precisely this root race that slowly and gradually brings the power of thought to maturity. The present man decides (in thought) to do something, and then he carries it out as the result of his own thought. The Atlanteans first developed this ability. It was not their own thoughts that influenced their will, but those flowing to them from higher beings. This was thus to a certain extent directed from outside. - Whoever familiarizes himself with this idea of development in man and learns to admit that he was a completely different kind of being in prehistoric times - as an earthly man - will also be able to ascend to the idea of the completely different beings spoken of in the messages. Enormously great periods of time were taken up by the development that is reported. What has been said in the foregoing about the fourth root race, the Atlanteans, refers to the great mass of mankind. But these stood under leaders who towered high above them in their abilities. The wisdom which these leaders possessed and the powers which they commanded could not be acquired by any earthly education. They had been given to them by higher beings who did not belong directly to the earth. It was therefore only natural that the great mass of people perceived these leaders as beings of a higher kind, as "messengers" of the gods. For with the human sense organs, with the human intellect, it would not have been possible to achieve what these leaders knew and could carry out. They were revered as "messengers of God" and received their orders, commandments and also their teaching. Humanity was instructed in the sciences, arts and the manufacture of tools by beings of this kind. And such "messengers of the gods" either led the communities themselves or taught people who were sufficiently advanced in the arts of government. It was said of these leaders that they "communed with the gods" and were themselves initiated by them into the laws according to which humanity had to develop. And this corresponded to reality. This initiation, this communion with the gods, took place in places of which the masses knew nothing. These places of initiation were called mystery temples. So it was from them that the administration of the human race took place.
[ 2 ] What happened in the mystery temples was therefore also incomprehensible to the people. And neither did they understand the intentions of their great leaders. The people could only understand with their senses what happened directly on earth, not what was revealed for their salvation from higher worlds. Therefore, the teachings of the leaders had to be written in a form that was not similar to the messages about earthly events. The language which the gods spoke with their messengers in the Mysteries was not an earthly one either, and the figures in which these gods revealed themselves were just as little earthly. The higher spirits appeared to their messengers "in fiery clouds" to tell them how to guide people. Only a human being can appear in human form; beings whose abilities transcend the human must reveal themselves in forms that are not to be found among the earthly ones.
[ 3 ] The fact that the "messengers of God" were able to receive these revelations stems from the fact that they themselves were the most perfect among their human brethren. They had already gone through on earlier stages of development what the majority of people still have to go through. Only in a certain respect did they belong to this fellow humanity. They were able to assume human form. But their soul-spiritual qualities were of a superhuman nature. They were therefore divine-human dual beings. They could therefore also be described as higher spirits who had taken on human bodies in order to help humanity on its earthly path. Their actual home was not on earth. - These beings guided people without being able to tell them the principles according to which they guided them. Until the fifth sub-race of Atlanteans, the Ursemites, humans had no ability to understand these principles. Only the thinking power that developed in this sub-race was such an ability. But this ability developed slowly and gradually. And even the last sub-races of the Atlanteans could still grasp very little of the principles of their divine leaders. They began, imperfectly at first, to sense something of such principles. Therefore, their thoughts and also the laws spoken of in their state institutions were more imagined than clearly thought out.
[ 4 ] The chief leader of the fifth Atlantean sub-race gradually prepared it so that in later times, after the demise of the Atlantean way of life, it could begin a new one, one governed entirely by the power of thought.
[ 5 ] Now we must realize that at the end of the Atlantean period we are dealing with three groups of human-like beings. 1. the so-called "messengers of the gods", who were far ahead of the great mass of people in their development, who taught divine wisdom and performed divine deeds. (2) The great masses themselves, in whom the power of thought was in a dull state, although they possessed faculties of a natural kind which have been lost to mankind today. 3. a smaller group of those who developed the power of thought. This group gradually lost the original abilities of the Atlanteans, but they trained themselves to think and grasp the principles of the "messengers of the gods". - The second group of human beings was doomed to gradual extinction. The third, however, could be called upon by the beings of the first species to take their leadership into their own hands.
[ 6 ] From this third group, the aforementioned main leader, whom occult literature refers to as Manu, took out the most capable in order to let a new humanity emerge from them. These most capable were present in the fifth sub-race. The thinking power of the sixth and seventh sub-race had already gone astray in a certain way and was no longer suitable for further development. - The best qualities of the best had to be developed. This was done by separating the chosen ones in a special place on earth - in Inner Asia - and freeing them from any influence of those who had remained behind or had gone astray. - The task the leader set himself was to bring his flock so far that their members could grasp in their own souls, with their own power of thought, the principles according to which they had hitherto been guided in a way they had sensed but not clearly recognized. Men were to recognize the divine powers which they had unconsciously followed. Hitherto the gods had guided men through their messengers; now men were to know of these divine entities. They were to learn to regard themselves as the executive organs of divine providence.
[ 7 ] The separated group was faced with an important decision. The divine leader was in their midst, in human form. From such messengers of the gods, mankind had previously received instructions and orders on what to do and what not to do. They had been instructed in the sciences that related to what they could perceive with their senses. Men had suspected a divine world government, had felt it in their own actions; but they had known nothing of it clearly - now their leader spoke to them in a completely new way. He taught them that invisible powers govern what they had visibly before them; and that they themselves were servants of these invisible powers, that they had to carry out the laws of these invisible powers with their thoughts. Men heard of a supernatural divine. And that the invisible spiritual was the creator and sustainer of the visible physical. They had previously looked up to their visible messengers of the gods, to the superhuman initiates, one of whom was the one who spoke to them in this way, and they were told what to do and what not to do. But now they realized that the messenger of the gods was speaking to them from the gods themselves. The speech was powerful, which he repeatedly inculcated in his flock. "Until now you have seen those who lead you; but there are higher leaders whom you do not see. And to those leaders you are subject. You shall carry out the commands of the God whom you do not see; and you shall obey one of whom you cannot make an image." Thus sounded from the mouth of the great leader the new highest commandment, which prescribed the worship of a God to whom no sensual-visible image could resemble, of whom therefore none should be made. An echo of this great original commandment of the fifth human race is the well-known: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth..." 5Book of Moses, 10th chapter 51
[ 8 ] The main leader (Manu) was assisted by other messengers of the gods, who carried out his intentions for the individual branches of life and worked on the development of the new race. For it was a matter of organizing the whole of life according to the new concept of a divine world government. The thoughts of people everywhere were to be directed from the visible to the invisible. Life is determined by the forces of nature. The course of human life depends on day and night, winter and summer, sunshine and rain. How these influential visible facts are connected with the invisible (divine) forces and how man should behave so that he arranges his life according to these invisible powers: this was shown to him. All knowledge and all work should be done with this in mind. In the course of the stars and the weather conditions, man was to see the divine counsel, the outflow of divine wisdom. Astronomy and meteorology were taught in this sense. And man should organize his work and his moral life in such a way that they correspond to the wise laws of the divine. Life was ordered according to divine commandments, just as the divine thoughts were explored in the course of the stars, in the weather conditions and so on. Through sacrifices, man was to bring his works into harmony with the providence of the gods. - It was Manu's intention to direct everything in human life towards the higher worlds. All human activity, all institutions should have a religious character. In this way, Manu wanted to initiate what is the real task of the fifth root race. It should learn to guide itself through its thoughts. But such self-determination can only lead to salvation if man also places himself at the service of the higher powers. Man should make use of his power of thought; but this power of thought should be sanctified by looking to the divine.
[ 9 ] One can only fully understand what happened at that time if one also knows that the development of the power of thought, beginning with the fifth sub-race of the Atlanteans, had something else in its wake. For from a certain side men had come into possession of knowledge and arts that were not directly connected with what the above-mentioned Manu must have regarded as his actual task. These knowledge and arts initially lacked a religious character. They approached man in such a way that he could think of nothing else but to place them in the service of self-interest, of his personal needs... 6It is not permitted for the time being to make public statements about the origin of this knowledge and art. Therefore, a passage of the Akashic Chronicle must be omitted here. Such knowledge includes, for example, that of fire in its application to human activities. In the first Atlantean times, man did not need fire because the life force was at his service. But the less he was able to make use of this power as time progressed, the more he had to learn to make tools and implements from so-called inanimate things. The use of fire served him for this purpose. And it was similar with other forces of nature. So man had learned to make use of such natural forces without being aware of their divine origin. And so it should be. Man should not be forced by anything to relate these things, which are at the service of his thinking power, to the divine world order. Rather, he should do so voluntarily in his thoughts. Thus Manu's intention was to get people to relate such things to the higher world order independently, out of an inner need. People could, as it were, choose whether they wanted to use the knowledge they had gained purely for their own personal benefit or in the religious service of a higher world. - Whereas previously man was forced to regard himself as a member of the divine control of the world, from which, for example, the control of the life force flowed to him without him having to use the power of thought, he could now also use the forces of nature without directing his thoughts to the divine. - Not all the people whom Manu had gathered around him were equal to this decision, but rather only a small number of them. And only from this latter number could Manu really form the germ of the new race. He then withdrew with it in order to develop it further, while the others mingled with the rest of humanity. - It is from the small number of people who finally gathered around Manu that all the true germs of progress of the fifth root race are descended to this day. Hence it is also explicable that two traits run through the whole development of this fifth root-race. The one trait is peculiar to men who are inspired by higher ideas, who regard themselves as children of a divine world power; the other belongs to those who place everything only in the service of personal interests, of self-interest.
[ 10 ] So long remained the little band around Manu, until it was sufficiently strengthened to work in the new spirit, and until its members could go forth to bring this new spirit to the rest of mankind that remained of the preceding races. It is natural that this new spirit took on a different character in different peoples, depending on how they themselves had developed in different areas. The old traits left behind mingled with what the messengers of Manu carried to the different parts of the world. This gave rise to diverse new cultures and civilizations.
[ 11 ] The most capable personalities from the surroundings of Manu were chosen to be gradually and directly initiated into his divine wisdom, so that they could become teachers of the others. Thus it came about that the old messengers of the gods were now joined by a new kind of initiate. They are those who have trained their thinking power in the same earthly way as the rest of their fellow men. The previous messengers of the gods - including Manu - did not have this. Their development belonged to higher worlds. They brought their higher wisdom into earthly circumstances. What they gave mankind was a "gift from above". Before the middle of the Atlantean period, men were not yet ready to comprehend with their own powers what the divine decrees are. Now - in the time indicated - they should come to it. Earthly thinking was to rise up to the concept of the divine. Human initiates joined the superhuman ones. This meant an important change in the development of the human race. Even the first Atlanteans did not have the choice to regard their leaders as divine messengers or not. For what they accomplished imposed itself as an act of higher worlds. It bore the stamp of divine origin. Thus the messengers of the Atlantean period were beings sanctified by their power, surrounded by the splendor that this power bestowed upon them. The human initiates of later times are, outwardly speaking, human beings among human beings. However, they remained in connection with the higher worlds, and the revelations and apparitions of the messengers of the gods reached them. Only exceptionally, when a higher necessity arises, do they make use of certain powers bestowed on them from there. Then they perform deeds which people do not understand according to the laws known to them and therefore rightly regard as miracles. - The higher purpose of all this, however, is to put humanity on its own feet, to develop its power of thought to perfection. - The human initiates are today the mediators between the people and the higher powers; and only initiation enables them to deal with the messengers of the gods.
[ 12 ] The human initiates, the sacred teachers, now became leaders of the rest of humanity at the beginning of the fifth root race. The great priest-kings of prehistoric times, of whom not history but the world of legends bears witness, belong to the group of these initiates. Increasingly, the higher messengers of the gods withdrew from the earth and left the leadership to these human initiates, whom they support with help and advice. If this were not the case, man would never be able to make free use of his power of thought. The world is under divine guidance; however, man should not be forced to admit this, but should realize and understand it through free deliberation. Once he has reached this stage, the initiates will gradually reveal their secrets to him. But this cannot happen suddenly. Rather, the entire development of the fifth root race is the slow path to this goal. Like children, Manu himself first led his flock. Then the leadership gradually passed to human initiates. And today progress still consists of a mixture of conscious and unconscious human action and thought. Only at the end of the fifth root race, when a sufficient number of people through the sixth and seventh subraces are capable of knowledge, will the greatest initiate be able to reveal himself publicly to them. And this human initiate will then be able to take over the further main leadership just as Manu did at the end of the fourth root race. Thus the education of the fifth root race is that a greater part of humanity will come to follow a human Manu freely, as the germinal race of this fifth did with the divine one.