Cosmic Memory
GA 11
x. Extrusion of the Moon
[ 1 ] One must be quite clear about the fact that only later did man assume the dense substantiality which he has today, and that he did this very gradually. If one wants to form an idea of his corporeality on the level of development which is being discussed, one can best do this by imagining it as similar to water vapor or to a cloud suspended in the air. But of course this idea approaches reality in a completely external way. For the fire cloud “man” is internally alive and organized. In comparison to what man became later, however, one must imagine him at this stage as in a state of soul slumber, and as only very dimly conscious. Everything which can be called intelligence, understanding, reason is lacking in this being. Floating rather than striding, it moves forward, aside, backward, to all sides, by means of four limb-like organs. For the rest, something has already been said about the soul of this being.
[ 2 ] One must not think however that the movements or vital activities of these beings occurred in an irrational or irregular fashion. On the contrary, they were completely regular. Everything which happened had sense and significance. But the directing force of understanding was not in the beings themselves. They were directed by an understanding which was outside of them. Higher, more mature beings than they, surrounded and directed them. For the important, basic quality of the fire mist was that on the level of their existence which we have characterized, human beings could embody themselves in it, but that at the same time higher beings also could take on a body in it and could enter into a fully reciprocal relationship with men. Man had brought his impulses, instincts, and passions to the point where they could be formed in the fire mist. The other beings mentioned, however, could create within this fire mist by means of their reason and their intelligent activity. These beings had higher capacities by which they reached into the upper regions. Their decisions and impulses emanated from these regions, but the actual effects of these decisions appeared in the fire mist. Everything men did on earth resulted from the regular association of the fire mist body with that of these higher beings.
One can say that man was striving to ascend. He was to develop qualities in the fire mist which in a human sense were higher than those he had previously possessed. The other beings, however, were striving downward toward the material They were on the way to bringing their creative powers to bear on increasingly dense material forms. This does not represent a degradation for them in the broader sense of the term. One must be quite clear on this point. It requires a higher power and capacity to direct denser forms of substantiality than to control those less dense. In earlier periods of their development, these higher beings too had had a limited power like that of man today. Like present-day man, they once had power only over what took place “within them.” At that time, coarse, external matter did not obey them. Now they were striving toward a condition in which they were to direct outer events magically. Thus they were ahead of man in the period described. Man strove upward in order that he might first embody the understanding in more refined matter, so that later it could act toward the external; they had already incorporated the understanding into themselves at an earlier period, and now received magic power in order to articulate the understanding into the world around them. Man was moving upward through the stage of the fire mist; they were penetrating downward through the same stage, toward an extension of their power.
[ 3 ] Those forces especially, which man knows as the forces of his lower passions or impulses, can be active in the fire mist. Man, as well as the higher beings, makes use of these forces at the stage of the fire mist. These forces act in such a way within the human form described above that man can develop the organs which enable him to think, and thus to develop a personality. On the other hand, these forces work in the higher beings at this stage in such a manner that they can employ them impersonally to create the arrangements of the earth. In this way, forms which are images of the rules of the understanding, come into existence on earth through these beings. Through the action of the forces of passion, organs of personal understanding develop in man; through the same forces, organizations filled with wisdom develop around him.
[ 4 ] One should now imagine this process to be somewhat further advanced; or rather, one should represent to oneself what is written in the Akasha Chronicle concerning a somewhat later point in time. At that moment the moon split off from the earth. This event caused a great revolution. The objects which surround man lost a great part of their heat. These objects thereby entered into a coarser and denser substantiality. Man must live in this cooler environment. He can do this only if he changes his own substantiality. With this densification of substance is connected a change in form. For the condition of fire mist on earth has been replaced by a completely different state. As a consequence, the higher beings which we have described no longer have the fire mist available to them as a medium for their activity. Now they can no longer exercise their influence on those soul activities of man which had previously constituted their main field of action. They have received power over the forms of man which they themselves had previously created from the fire mist.
This change in influence goes hand in hand with a transformation of the human form. One half of this form, together with two organs of movement, now becomes the lower half of the body, which functions mainly as the carrier of nutrition and reproduction. The other half of this form is turned upward, so to speak. The remaining two organs of movement become the rudiments of hands. Those organs which previously had served for nutrition and reproduction are transformed into organs of speech and thought. Man has become upright. This is the immediate consequence of the extrusion of the moon. With the moon all those forces disappeared from the earth through which, during his fire mist period, man could still impregnate himself and produce beings like himself without external influence. His whole lower half—that which one often calls the lower nature—now came under the rationally formative influence of the higher entities. What these entities previously could regulate within man, since the mass of forces now split off with the moon was then still combined with the earth, they now have to organize through the interaction of the two sexes. It is therefore understandable that the moon is regarded by the initiates as the symbol of the force of reproduction. After all, these forces do inhere in it, so to speak. The higher beings we have described have an affinity with the moon, are in a sense, moon gods. Before the separation of the moon and, through its power, they acted within man; afterwards, their forces acted from outside on the reproduction of man. One could also say that those noble spiritual forces which previously had acted on the still higher impulses of man through the medium of the fire mist, had now descended in order to exercise their power in the area of reproduction. Indeed, noble and divine forces exercise a regulating and organizing action in this area. With this an important proposition of the secret doctrine has been expressed, namely, the higher, more noble divine forces have an affinity with the—apparently—lower forces of human nature. The word “apparently” must here be understood in its full significance. For it would be a complete misconception of occult truths if one were to see something base in the forces of reproduction as such. Only when man misuses these forces, when he compels them to serve his passions and instincts, is there something pernicious in them, but not when he ennobles them through the insight that a divine spiritual power lies in them. Then he will place these forces at the service of the development of the earth, and through his forces of reproduction he will carry out the intentions of the higher entities we have characterized. Mystery science teaches that this whole subject is to be ennobled, is to be placed under divine laws, but is not to be mortified. The latter can only be the consequence of occult principles which have been understood in a purely external fashion and distorted into a misconceived asceticism.
[ 5 ] It will be seen that in his second, his upper half, man has developed something upon which the higher beings we have described have no influence. Other beings now acquire power over this upper half. In earlier stages of their development, these beings advanced further than men, but not as far as the moon gods. They could not exercise their power in the fire mist. But now that something they themselves had lacked previously has been formed in the human organs of understanding through the fire mist, their time has come. At an earlier time, the moon gods had attained an understanding capable of acting externally. This understanding already existed in them when the period of the fire mist began. They could act externally on the things of earth. In earlier times, the lower beings we have just mentioned had not attained such an understanding which acts outwardly. Therefore, the time of the fire mist found them unprepared. Now, however, an understanding is present. It exists in men. These beings seize upon this human understanding in order to act on the things of earth by means of it. As the moon gods previously had acted on the whole man, they now act only on his lower half, while the influence of the lower entities just mentioned acts on his upper half. Thus man comes under a double leadership. In his lower part he is under the power of the moon gods; in his developed personality, however, he comes under the leadership of those entities which are summed up under the name “Lucifer,” the name of their regent. The Luciferic gods thus complete their own development by making use of the awakened human powers of understanding. Previously they had not been able to attain this level. At the same time they give man the predisposition to freedom, to the discrimination between “good” and “evil.” While it is true that the human organ of understanding has been formed entirely under the leadership of the moon gods, these gods would have left it to slumber; they were not interested in making use of it. They possessed their own powers of understanding. In their own interest, the Luciferic beings were concerned with developing the human understanding and directing it toward the things of earth. Thereby for men they became the teachers of all that can be accomplished by the human understanding. But they could not be anything more than stimulators. They could not develop an understanding within themselves, but only in man. Thus there developed two directions of activity on earth. One proceeded directly from the moon divinities and was lawfully regulated and rational from the very beginning. The moon gods had already served their apprenticeship and were now beyond the possibility of error. The Luciferic gods which acted on men had yet to win their way to such illumination. With their guidance man had to learn to find the laws of his being. Under Lucifer's leadership he himself had to become as “one of the gods.”
[ 6 ] Here the question arises: If in their development the Luciferic entities had not reached the stage of intelligent creation in the fire mist, at what stage had they stopped? To what point in earth development were they able to work together with the moon gods? The Akasha Chronicle gives information on this. They could participate in earthly creation up to the point at which the sun split off from the earth. It appears that while they performed somewhat lesser work than the moon gods up to this time, nevertheless they belonged to the host of divine creators. After the separation of earth and sun, an activity began on the earth—the work in the fire mist—for which only the moon gods, but not the Luciferic spirits, were prepared. Therefore, a period of pause and of waiting began for these spirits. The Luciferic spirits could emerge once more from their state of rest when the human beings began to work at the development of their organs of understanding, after the ebbing of the general fire mist. For the creation of the understanding is related to the activity of the sun. The dawn of the understanding in human nature is the lighting up of an inner sun. This is said not only in a metaphorical, but also in a quite real sense. When the epoch of the fire mist had ebbed from the earth, these spirits found within man an opportunity to resume their activity connected with the sun.
[ 7 ] It now becomes clear whence the name Lucifer, that is, “the bearer of light,” originates, and why these beings are designated as “sun gods” in mystery science.
[ 8 ] All that follows can only be understood if one looks back to periods preceding the development of the earth. This will be done in the next chapters of the “Akasha Chronicle.” The development through which the beings connected with earth passed on other planets before appearing on the earth, will be shown there. In addition, one will become more fully acquainted with the nature of the “moon gods” and of the “sun gods.” Simultaneously, the development of the animal, plant and mineral realms will become entirely clear.
IX. Austritt des Mondes
[ 1 ] Man muß sich durchaus klarmachen, daß der Mensch erst später die dichte Stofflichkeit annahm, die er jetzt die seinige nennt, und zwar erst ganz allmählich. Will man sich von seiner Leiblichkeit auf der jetzt besprochenen Entwickelungsstufe eine Vorstellung machen, so kann man das am besten, wenn man sie sich denkt ähnlich einem Wasserdampf oder einer in der Luft schwebenden Wolke. Nur ist diese Vorstellung natürlich eine solche, die sich der Wirklichkeit ganz äußerlich nähert. Denn die Feuerwolke «Mensch» ist innerlich belebt und organisiert. Im Verhältnis aber zu dem, was der Mensch später geworden ist, hat man ihn sich seelisch auf dieser Stufe als schlummernd, ganz dämmerhaft bewußt noch vorzustellen. Alles, was Intelligenz, Verstand, Vernunft genannt werden kann, fehlt noch diesem Wesen. Es bewegt sich, mehr schwebend als schreitend, durch vier gliedmaßenähnliche Organe vorwärts, seitwärts, rückwärts, nach allen Seiten. Im übrigen ist über die Seele dieser Wesen ja schon einiges gesagt worden.
[ 2 ] Aber man darf nicht denken, daß die Bewegungen oder andere Lebensäußerungen dieser Wesen unvernünftig oder regellos verliefen. Sie waren vielmehr vollkommen gesetzmäßig. Alles, was geschah, hatte Sinn und Bedeutung. Nur war die leitende Macht, der Verstand, nicht in den Wesen selbst. Sie wurden vielmehr von einem Verstande dirigiert, der außerhalb ihrer selbst war. Höhere, reifere Wesen, als sie selbst waren, umschwebten sie gleichsam und leiteten sie. Denn das ist die wichtige Grundeigenschaft des Feuernebels, daß sich in ihm die Menschenwesen auf der charakterisierten Stufe ihres Daseins verkörpern konnten, daß aber gleichzeitig in ihm auch höhere Wesen Leib annehmen konnten und so mit den Menschen in voller Wechselwirkung standen. Der Mensch hatte seine Triebe, Instinkte, Leidenschaften bis zu der Stufe gebracht, daß diese im Feuernebel sich gestalten konnten. Die andern angeführten Wesen aber konnten mit ihrer Vernunft, mit ihrem verständigen Walten innerhalb dieses Feuernebels schaffen. Diese letzteren hatten ja noch höhere Fähigkeiten, durch die sie in obere Regionen hinaufreichten. Von diesen Regionen gingen ihre Entschlüsse, ihre Impulse aus; aber in dem Feuernebel erschienen die tatsächlichen Wirkungen dieser Entschlüsse. Alles, was auf der Erde durch Menschen geschah, entsprang dem geregelten Verkehr des menschlichen Feuernebelkörpers mit demjenigen dieser höheren Wesen. — Man kann also sagen, der Mensch strebte in einem Aufstieg. Er sollte in dem Feuernebel im menschlichen Sinne höhere Eigenschaften entwickeln, als er früher hatte. Die anderen Wesen aber strebten nach dem Materiellen hinunter. Sie waren auf dem Wege, ihre schaffenden Kräfte in immer dichteren und dichteren stofflichen Formen zum Dasein zu bringen. Für sie bedeutet das im weiteren Sinne ja keineswegs eine Erniedrigung. Man muß sich gerade über diesen Punkt völlig klar werden. Es ist höhere Macht und Fähigkeit, dichtere Formen der Stofflichkeit zu dirigieren als dünnere. Auch diese höheren Wesen hatten in früheren Zeiträumen ihrer Entwickelung eine ähnlich eingeschränkte Macht wie etwa jetzt der Mensch. Auch sie hatten, wie der Mensch in der Gegenwart, einmal nur Macht über das, was in «ihrem Innern» vorging. Und es gehorchte ihnen nicht die äußere derbe Materie. Jetzt strebten sie einem Zustande entgegen, in dem sie Außendinge magisch lenken und leiten sollten. Sie waren also in dem geschilderten Zeitraume dem Menschen voraus. Er strebte hinauf, um erst in feineren Materien den Verstand zu verkörpern, damit dieser später nach außen wirken könne; sie hatten früher sich bereits den Verstand eingekörpert und erhielten jetzt magische Kraft, um den Verstand hineinzugliedern in die sie umgebende Welt. Der Mensch bewegte sich somit aufwärts durch die Feuernebelstufe, sie drangen durch eben diese Stufe abwärts zur Ausbreitung ihrer Macht.
[ 3 ] Im Feuernebel können vorzüglich diejenigen Kräfte wirksam sein, welche der Mensch als seine niederen Leidenschaftsoder Triebkräfte kennt. Sowohl der Mensch selbst wie auch die höheren Wesen bedienen sich auf der geschilderten Feuernebelstufe dieser Kräfte. Auf die oben beschriebene Menschengestalt wirken — und zwar innerhalb derselben — diese Kräfte so, daß der Mensch die Organe entwickeln kann, die dann ihn zum Denken, also zur Ausbildung der Persönlichkeit befähigen. In den höheren Wesen wirken aber diese Kräfte auf der in Betracht kommenden Stufe so, daß diese Wesen sich ihrer bedienen können, um unpersönlich die Einrichtungen der Erde zu schaffen. Dadurch entstehen durch diese Wesen auf der Erde Gestaltungen, welche selbst ein Abbild der Verstandesregeln sind. Im Menschen entstehen also durch die Wirkung der Leidenschaftskräfte die persönlichen Verstandesorgane; rings um ihn herum bilden sich verstanderfüllte Organisationen durch dieselben Kräfte.
[ 4 ] Und nun denke man sich diesen Prozeß ein wenig vorgerückt; oder vielmehr, man vergegenwärtige sich, was in der Akasha-Chronik verzeichnet ist, wenn man einen etwas späteren Zeitpunkt ins Auge faßt. Da hat sich der Mond von der Erde abgetrennt. Eine große Umwälzung hat sich dadurch vollzogen. Ein großer Teil der Wärme ist aus den Dingen gewichen, die um den Menschen herum sind. Diese Dinge sind dadurch zu derberer, dichterer Stofflichkeit übergegangen. Der Mensch muß in dieser abgekühlten Umgebung leben. Das kann er nur, wenn er seine eigene Stofflichkeit verändert. Mit dieser Stoffverdichtung ist aber zugleich eine Gestaltänderung verknüpft. Denn der Zustand des Feuernebels auf der Erde ist ja selbst einem ganz anderen gewichen. Die Folge davon ist, daß die geschilderten höheren Wesen nicht mehr den Feuernebel zum Mittel ihrer Wirksamkeit haben. Sie können daher auch nicht mehr auf diejenigen seelischen Lebensäußerungen der Menschen ihren Einfluß entfalten, der vorher ihr hauptsächliches Wirkungsfeld war. Aber sie haben Macht erhalten über die Gebilde des Menschen, die sie vorher selbst aus dem Feuernebel heraus geschaffen haben. — Diese Wirkungsänderung geht Hand in Hand mit einer Verwandlung der Menschengestalt. Diese hat die eine Hälfte mit zwei Bewegungsorganen zur unteren Körperhälfte umgewandelt, die dadurch hauptsächlich der Träger der Ernährung und Fortpflanzung geworden ist. Die andere Hälfte wurde gleichsam nach oben gewendet. Aus den beiden anderen Bewegungsorganen sind die Ansätze zu Händen geworden. Und solche Organe, die vorher noch mit zur Ernährung und Fortpflanzung gedient haben, bilden sich zu Sprach- und Denkorganen um. Der Mensch hat sich aufgerichtet. Das ist die unmittelbare Folge des Mondaustrittes. Und mit dem Monde sind alle diejenigen Kräfte aus dem Erdenkörper heraus geschwunden, durch welche sich der Mensch während seiner Feuernebelzeit noch selbst befruchten und Wesen seinesgleichen ohne äußeren Einfluß hervorbringen konnte. Seine ganze untere Hälfte — dasjenige, was man oft die niedere Natur nennt — ist nun unter den verstandesmäßig gestaltenden Einfluß der höheren Wesenheiten gekommen. Was diese Wesenheiten dadurch, daß die nunmehr im Monde abgesonderte Kraftmasse noch mit der Erde vereinigt war, vorher noch im Menschen selbst regeln konnten, das müssen sie jetzt durch das Zusammenwirken der beiden Geschlechter organisieren. Daraus ist es begreiflich, daß der Mond von den Eingeweihten als das Symbol für die Fortpflanzungskraft angesehen wird. An ihm haften ja sozusagen diese Kräfte. Und die geschilderten höheren Wesen haben eine Verwandtschaft mit dem Monde, sind gewissermaßen Mondgötter. Sie wirkten vor der Abtrennung des Mondes durch dessen Kraft im Menschen, nachher wirkten ihre Kräfte von außen auf die Fortpflanzung des Menschen ein. Man kann auch sagen, jene edlen geistigen Kräfte, welche vorher durch das Mittel des Feuernebels auf die noch höheren Triebe des Menschen einwirkten, sind jetzt heruntergestiegen, um ihre Macht in dem Gebiete der Fortpflanzung zu entfalten. Tatsächlich wirken edle Götterkräfte in diesem Gebiete regelnd und organisierend. — Und damit ist ein wichtiger Satz der Geheimlehre zum Ausdruck gebracht, der so lautet: Die höheren, edlen Gotteskräfte haben Verwandtschaft mit den — scheinbar — niederen Kräften der Menschennatur. Das Wort «scheinbar» muß hier in seiner ganzen Bedeutung aufgefaßt werden. Denn es wäre eine vollständige Verkennung der okkulten Wahrheiten, wenn man in den Fortpflanzungskräften an sich etwas Niedriges sehen wollte. Nur wenn der Mensch diese Kräfte mißbraucht, wenn er sie in den Dienst seiner Leidenschaften und Triebe zwingt, liegt etwas Verderbliches in diesen Kräften, nicht aber, wenn er sie durch die Einsicht adelt, daß göttliche Geisteskraft in ihnen liegt. Dann wird er diese Kräfte in den Dienst der Erdentwickelung stellen und die Absichten der charakterisierten höheren Wesenheiten durch seine Fortpflanzungskräfte ausführen. Veredelung dieses ganzen Gebietes und Stellung desselben unter göttliche Gesetze ist das, was die Geheimwissenschaft lehrt, nicht aber Ertötung desselben. Die letztere kann nur die Folge äußerlich aufgefaßter und zum mißverständlichen Asketismus verzerrter okkulter Grundsätze sein.
[ 5 ] Man sieht, daß in der zweiten, oberen Hälfte der Mensch sich etwas entwickelt hat, auf das die geschilderten höheren Wesen keinen Einfluß haben. Über diese Hälfte gewinnen nun andere Wesen eine Macht. Es sind diejenigen, welche in früheren Entwickelungsstufen zwar weitergekommen sind als die Menschen, noch nicht aber so weit wie die Mondgötter. Sie konnten im Feuernebel noch keine Macht entfalten. Jetzt aber, wo ein späterer Zustand eingetreten ist, wo in den menschlichen Verstandesorganen durch den Feuernebel etwas gebildet ist, vor dem sie selbst in einer früheren Zeit standen, jetzt ist ihre Zeit gekommen. Bei den Mondgöttern war es bis zu dem nach außen wirkenden und ordnenden Verstand schon früher gekommen. In ihnen war dieser Verstand da, als die Epoche des Feuernebels eintrat. Sie konnten nach außen auf die Dinge der Erde wirken. Die eben besprochenen Wesen hatten es in früherer Zeit nicht bis zur Ausbildung eines solchen nach außen wirkenden Verstandes gebracht. Deshalb traf sie die Feuernebelzeit unvorbereitet. Nun ist aber Verstand da. In den Menschen ist er vorhanden. Und sie bemächtigen sich jetzt dieses menschlichen Verstandes, um durch ihn auf die Dinge der Erde zu wirken. Wie vorher die Mondgötter auf den ganzen Menschen gewirkt haben, so wirken diese jetzt nur auf dessen untere Hälfte; auf die obere Hälfte aber wirkt der Einfluß der genannten unteren Wesenheiten. So kommt der Mensch unter eine doppelte Führung. Seinem niederen Teile nach steht er unter der Macht der Mondgötter, seiner ausgebildeten Persönlichkeit nach aber gelangt er unter die Führung derjenigen Wesenheiten, die man mit dem Namen «Luzifer» — als ihren Regenten — zusammenfaßt. Die luziferischen Götter vollenden also ihre eigene Entwickelung, indem sie sich der erwachten menschlichen Verstandeskräfte bedienen. Sie konnten es früher bis zu dieser Stufe noch nicht bringen. Damit aber geben sie dem Menschen zugleich die Anlage zur Freiheit, zur Unterscheidung von «Gut» und «Böse». Unter der bloßen Führung der Mondgötter ist das menschliche Verstandesorgan zwar gebildet, aber diese Götter hätten das Gebilde schlummern lassen; sie hatten kein Interesse daran, sich desselben zu bedienen. Sie hatten ja ihre eigenen Verstandeskräfte. Die luziferischen Wesen hatten um ihrer selbst willen das Interesse, den menschlichen Verstand auszubilden, ihn hinzulenken auf die Dinge der Erde. Sie wurden damit für die Menschen die Lehrer von alledem, was durch den menschlichen Verstand vollbracht werden kann. Aber sie konnten auch nichts weiter sein als die Anreger. Sie konnten ja nicht in sich, sondern eben nur im Menschen den Verstand ausbilden. Dadurch entstand eine zweifache Richtung der Tätigkeit auf der Erde. Die eine ging unmittelbar von den Mondgottheiten aus und war vom Anfange an eine gesetzmäßig geregelte, vernünftige. Die Mondgötter hatten ja ihre Lehrzeit schon früher abgemacht, sie waren jetzt über die Möglichkeit des Irrtums hinaus. Die mit den Menschen handelnden luziferischen Götter aber mußten sich erst zu solcher Abklärung durcharbeiten. Unter ihrer Führung mußte der Mensch lernen, die Gesetze seines Wesens zu finden. Er mußte unter Luzifers Führung selbst werden, wie «der Götter einer».
[ 6 ] Die Frage liegt nahe: wenn die luziferischen Wesenheiten in ihrer Entwickelung nicht mitgekommen sind bis zu dem verstandeserfüllten Schaffen im Feuernebel, wo sind sie stehengeblieben? Bis zu welcher Stufe irdischer Entwickelung reichte ihre Fähigkeit, um gemeinsame Arbeit mit den Mondgöttern zu leisten? Die Akasha-Chronik gibt darüber Aufschluß. Sie konnten an dem irdischen Schaffen sich bis zu dem Punkte beteiligen, da sich die Sonne von der Erde getrennt hat. Es zeigt sich, daß sie bis zu dieser Zeit zwar etwas geringere Arbeit leisteten als die Mondgötter; aber sie gehörten doch der Schar göttlicher Schöpfer an. Nach der Trennung von Erde und Sonne begann auf ersterer eine Tätigkeit — eben die Arbeit im Feuernebel -, zu der zwar die Mondgötter, nicht aber die luziferischen Geister vorbereitet waren. Für sie trat daher eine Periode des Stillstandes, des Wartens ein. Als nun nach dem Abfluten des allgemeinen Feuernebels die Menschenwesen an der Bildung ihrer Verstandesorgane zu arbeiten begannen, da konnten die Luzifergeister wieder aus ihrer Ruhe hervortreten. Denn die Schöpfung des Verstandes ist mit der Tätigkeit der Sonne verwandt. Das Aufgehen des Verstandes in der Menschennatur ist das Aufleuchten einer inneren Sonne. Dies ist nicht nur im bildlichen, sondern ganz im wirklichen Sinne gesprochen. So fanden diese Geister im Innern des Menschen Gelegenheit, ihre mit der Sonne zusammenhängende Tätigkeit wieder aufzunehmen, als die Epoche des Feuernebels von der Erde abgeflutet war.
[ 7 ] Daraus leuchtet nun auch ein, woher der Name Luzifer, das ist «Lichtträger», stammt, und warum man in der Geheimwissenschaft diese Wesen als «Sonnengötter» bezeichnet.
[ 8 ] Alles weitere ist nun nur verständlich, wenn man den Blick zurückwendet auf Zeiträume, welche der Erdentwickelung vorhergegangen sind. Das soll in den weiteren Fortsetzungen der «Akasha-Chronik» geschehen. Da wird gezeigt werden, welche Entwickelung die mit der Erde zusammenhängenden Wesen auf anderen Planeten durchmachten, bevor sie die Erde betraten. Und man wird noch genauer die Natur der «Mond-» und «Sonnengötter» kennenlernen. Zugleich wird dann die Entwickelung des Tier-, Pflanzen- und Mineralreiches vollkommen durchsichtig werden.
IX. Emergence of the moon
[ 1 ] It is important to realize that man only later took on the dense materiality that he now calls his own, and only very gradually at that. If one wishes to form an idea of his corporeality at the stage of development now discussed, one can best do so by thinking of it as similar to water vapor or a cloud floating in the air. Only, of course, this idea is one that approaches reality quite externally. For the fire cloud "human being" is internally animated and organized. However, in relation to what man has later become, one has to imagine him at this stage as slumbering, still very dimly conscious. This being still lacks everything that can be called intelligence, understanding and reason. It moves forwards, sideways and backwards in all directions, more floating than walking, by means of four limb-like organs. Incidentally, a lot has already been said about the soul of these beings.
[ 2 ] But one must not think that the movements or other expressions of life of these beings were unreasonable or irregular. On the contrary, they were perfectly lawful. Everything that happened had meaning and significance. But the guiding power, the mind, was not in the beings themselves. Rather, they were directed by a mind that was outside themselves. Higher, more mature beings than they were themselves hovered around them, as it were, and guided them. For this is the important basic characteristic of the fiery nebula, that the human beings could embody themselves in it at the characterized stage of their existence, but that at the same time higher beings could also take on bodies in it and thus stood in full interaction with the human beings. Man had brought his drives, instincts and passions to the stage where they could take shape in the mist of fire. The other beings mentioned, however, were able to create within this fog of fire with their reason, with their understanding. These latter had still higher faculties, through which they reached up into higher regions. From these regions emanated their decisions, their impulses; but the actual effects of these decisions appeared in the mist of fire. Everything that happened on earth through human beings arose from the regulated intercourse of the human fire-mist body with that of these higher beings. - One can therefore say that man strove to ascend. He was to develop higher qualities in the fire mist in the human sense than he had before. The other beings, however, were striving downwards towards the material. They were on the way to bringing their creative powers to existence in ever denser and denser material forms. For them this in no way meant degradation in the broader sense. It is precisely this point that must be fully understood. It is a higher power and ability to direct denser forms of matter than thinner ones. These higher beings, too, had a similarly limited power in earlier periods of their development as man has now. They too, like man in the present, once only had power over what was going on in "their inner being". And they were not governed by external matter. Now they were striving towards a state in which they would magically direct and guide external things. They were therefore ahead of man in the period described. They strove upwards to first embody the intellect in finer matter so that it could later work outwards; they had already embodied the intellect earlier and now received magical power to integrate the intellect into the world around them. Man thus moved upwards through the fire-mist stage, they penetrated downwards through this very stage to spread their power.
[ 3 ] In the fog of fire, those forces can be particularly effective which man knows as his lower passions or drives. Both man himself and the higher beings make use of these forces at the fire-mist level described above. These forces act on the human form described above - and indeed within it - in such a way that the human being can develop the organs which then enable him to think, i.e. to develop his personality. In the higher beings, however, these forces work at the level under consideration in such a way that these beings can make use of them in order to impersonally create the facilities of the earth. As a result, these beings create forms on earth which are themselves a reflection of the rules of the intellect. Thus, through the action of the forces of the passions, the personal organs of the intellect arise in man; all around him, intellect-filled organizations are formed by the same forces.
[ 4 ] And now think of this process a little advanced; or rather, visualize what is recorded in the Akashic Chronicle if you consider a somewhat later point in time. The moon has separated from the earth. A great upheaval has taken place as a result. A large part of the warmth has disappeared from the things around man. These things have become coarser and denser. Man must live in this cooled environment. He can only do this if he changes his own materiality. At the same time, however, this densification of matter is linked to a change in form. For the state of the fiery mist on earth has itself given way to a completely different one. The consequence of this is that the higher beings described no longer have the mist of fire as the means of their activity. They can therefore also no longer exert their influence on those spiritual expressions of human life that were previously their main field of activity. But they have gained power over the human beings' formations which they themselves had previously created out of the fire-mist. - This change in effect goes hand in hand with a transformation of the human form. This has transformed one half with two organs of movement into the lower half of the body, which has thus become the main carrier of nutrition and reproduction. The other half was turned upwards, as it were. The other two locomotor organs have become the beginnings of hands. And those organs that previously served for nutrition and reproduction have been transformed into organs of speech and thought. The human being has straightened up. This is the direct consequence of the exit of the moon. And with the moon all those forces have vanished from the earthly body through which man was still able to fertilize himself during his time of fiery mist and bring forth beings of his own kind without external influence. His whole lower half - that which is often called the lower nature - has now come under the intellectually formative influence of the higher beings. What these entities were previously able to regulate in man himself, because the mass of force now separated in the moon was still united with the earth, they must now organize through the co-operation of the two sexes. From this it is understandable that the moon is regarded by the initiates as the symbol of the power of procreation. These forces cling to it, so to speak. And the higher beings described have a relationship with the moon, are in a sense moon gods. Before the separation of the moon they worked through its power in man, afterwards their powers worked from outside on the procreation of man. One can also say that those noble spiritual forces, which previously acted on the still higher instincts of man through the medium of the mist of fire, have now descended to unfold their power in the field of procreation. In fact, noble divine powers have a regulating and organizing effect in this area. - And this expresses an important sentence of the Secret Doctrine, which reads as follows: The higher, noble powers of God are related to the - apparently lower powers of human nature. The word "apparently" must be understood here in its full meaning. For it would be a complete misjudgment of occult truths to see something low in the powers of procreation as such. Only if man misuses these powers, if he forces them into the service of his passions and instincts, is there something corrupt in these powers, but not if he noble them through the insight that divine spiritual power lies in them. Then he will place these powers at the service of the earth's development and carry out the intentions of the characterized higher beings through his powers of procreation. The ennoblement of this whole sphere and its subjection to divine laws is what secret science teaches, but not its annihilation. The latter can only be the result of externally conceived occult principles distorted into misunderstood asceticism.
[ 5 ] You can see that in the second, upper half of man something has developed over which the higher beings described have no influence. Other beings are now gaining power over this half. They are those who in earlier stages of development have progressed further than human beings, but not yet as far as the moon gods. They could not yet develop any power in the fiery mist. Now, however, when a later state has occurred, when something has been formed in the human intellectual organs through the fog of fire that they themselves faced in an earlier time, now their time has come. In the case of the moon gods, the outward-acting and organizing mind had already come earlier. This mind was present in them when the epoch of the fiery nebula arrived. They could act outwardly on the things of the earth. The beings we have just discussed had not reached the stage of developing such an outward-acting mind in earlier times. That is why they were unprepared for the time of the fog of fire. But now the mind is there. It is present in human beings. And they now take possession of this human intellect in order to work through it on the things of the earth. As before the moon gods had an effect on the whole man, so these now only have an effect on his lower half; but the influence of the mentioned lower entities has an effect on the upper half. Thus man comes under a double guidance. According to his lower part he is under the power of the moon gods, but according to his developed personality he comes under the guidance of those beings who are summarized with the name "Lucifer" - as their ruler. The Luciferian gods thus complete their own development by making use of the awakened human powers of understanding. They were not able to reach this stage before. At the same time, however, they give man the capacity for freedom, for distinguishing between "good" and "evil". Under the mere guidance of the moon gods, the human intellectual organ is indeed formed, but these gods would have left the structure dormant; they had no interest in making use of it. They had their own intellectual powers. For their own sake, the Luciferian beings were interested in training the human intellect, in directing it towards the things of the earth. They thus became the teachers of everything that can be accomplished by the human mind. But they could also be nothing more than stimulators. They could not train the intellect in themselves but only in man. This gave rise to a twofold direction of activity on Earth. One emanated directly from the moon deities and was from the beginning a law-governed, rational one. The moon gods had already completed their apprenticeship earlier; they were now beyond the possibility of error. The Luciferian gods, however, who dealt with human beings, first had to work their way through to such clarification. Under their guidance man had to learn to find the laws of his being. Under Lucifer's guidance, he had to become himself, like "one of the gods".
[ 6 ] The question is obvious: if the Luciferic beings have not come along in their development up to the mind-filled creation in the fiery mist, where have they remained? Up to what stage of earthly development did their ability to work together with the moon gods reach? The Akashic Chronicle sheds light on this. They were able to participate in earthly work up to the point when the Sun separated from the earth. It can be seen that up to this time they did somewhat less work than the moon gods, but they still belonged to the group of divine creators. After the separation of earth and sun, an activity began on the former - the work in the fiery nebula - for which the moon gods were prepared, but not the Luciferic spirits. They therefore entered a period of standstill, of waiting. When, after the general fog of fire had subsided, the human beings began to work on the formation of their intellectual organs, the Lucifer spirits were able to emerge from their rest. For the creation of the intellect is related to the activity of the sun. The rising of the intellect in the human nature is the lighting up of an inner sun. This is not only in a figurative sense, but in a real sense. Thus these spirits within man found the opportunity to resume their activity related to the sun when the epoch of the fiery mist had departed from the earth.
[ 7 ] From this it is now also clear where the name Lucifer, meaning "light bearer", comes from, and why these beings are referred to as "sun gods" in secret science.
[ 8 ] Everything else is now only understandable if we look back to periods of time that preceded the development of the earth. This will be done in the next installments of the "Akashic Chronicle". There it will be shown what development the beings connected with the earth underwent on other planets before they entered the earth. And the nature of the "moon" and "sun" gods will be explained in more detail. At the same time, the development of the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms will become completely transparent.