If we wish to draw a material, yet supersensible, [pg 193] picture of these human beings in the very beginning of the earth's evolution, we must imagine a psychic ovoid, or egg, contained within the circumference of the earth, and enclosed on its lower surface, as an acorn is by its cup. The substance of the cup, however, consists solely of heat or fire. The process of being enveloped by heat not only causes the kindling of life in the human being, but a change appears simultaneously in the astral body. In this body becomes incorporated the first germ of what afterwards becomes the sentient-soul. We may therefore say that man at this stage of his existence consists of the sentient-soul, the astral body, the etheric body, and the physical body, which latter is formed out of fire. Those spiritual beings who participate in human existence surge through the astral body. Man feels himself bound to the earth body by the sentient-soul. He has therefore at this time a preponderating picture-consciousness, in which are manifested those spiritual beings in whose bosom he reposes; and the feeling of his own body seems to be merely a point within that consciousness. He looks down, so to speak, from the spiritual world upon earthly possession, which he feels belongs to him.
Further and further the condensation of the earth now proceeds and at the same time the differentiation of the various parts of man, as has been described, becomes more and more defined. From a definite point of evolution onward, the earth is so far condensed that only part of it is fiery; another [pg 194] part has assumed a substantial shape, which may be termed “gas” or “air.” A change also takes place now in man. He is not only brought into contact with the heat of the earth, but the air substance is incorporated in his fire-body. And as heat kindled life in him, the air playing around him creates an effect within him which may be called (spiritual) sound. His etheric body begins to resound. Simultaneously, a part of the astral body becomes separated from the remainder; this part is the germ of the intellectual-soul which appears later.
In order to bring before our eyes what takes place in the human soul at this time, we must notice that the beings superior to man are surging through the airy-fiery body of the earth. In the fire-earth it is at first the Sons of Personality who are of importance to man, and when man is stirred into life by the heat of the earth his sentient soul says to itself, “These are the Sons of Personality.” In the same way the beings called “Archangels” earlier in this book (in accordance with Christian esotericism) appear in the air-sphere. It is their influences which man feels within him as sound, when the air plays around him. And the intellectual-soul then says to itself, “These are the Archangels.” Thus what man at this stage perceives, through his connection with the earth, is not as yet a collection of physical objects, but he lives in sensations of heat which rise up to him, and in sounds; in those heat currents and sound waves, however, he feels the Sons of Personality and the Archangels. It is true that he cannot [pg 195] perceive those beings directly, only, as it were, through a veil of heat and sound. While these perceptions are penetrating from the earth into his soul, there continue to ascend and descend within it the images of those higher beings in whose tender care he feels himself to be.
Now evolution takes a further step, which is once more expressed in condensation. Watery substance is incorporated into the Earth-body, so that now the latter consists of three parts,—igneous, aeriform, and aqueous. Before this happens, something of great importance takes place. An independent celestial body is split off from the fiery-aeriform earth; this new body becomes in its later development our present sun.[21] Previously, earth and sun had formed one body. After the sun had been split off, the earth still has at first everything within it which is in and on the present moon. The separation of the sun takes place because higher beings could no longer carry on their own evolution as well as their task on Earth within this atmosphere, now densified to the consistency of water. They separate from the general mass of the Earth the only substances useful to them, and fare forth to make a new abode for themselves in the sun. They now influence the earth from the sun, from outside. Man, however, needs for his further evolution an environment [pg 196] in which matter becomes still more condensed.
With the incorporation of watery substance in the earth-body a change also takes place in man. Henceforth not only does fire stream into him and air play around him, but watery substance is incorporated into his physical body. At the same time his etheric part changes: that is, it is now perceived by man as a fine light-body. Previous to this, man had felt currents of heat rising up to him from the earth: he had felt air surrounding him through tones; now, the watery element also penetrates his fire-air body, and he sees its ebb and flow as the alternate flaring up and dimming of light. But a change has also taken place in his soul. To the germs of the sentient and intellectual souls is added that of the consciousness-soul. The “Angels” work in the element of water; they are also the real producers of light. It was as though they appeared to man in light.
The higher beings who were previously in the Earth-planet itself, now influence it from the sun. On this account all effects produced on the earth are changed. The human being chained to earth would no longer be able to feel the influence of the sun-beings within him, if his soul were unceasingly turned toward the earth, from which his physical body is taken. A change now appears in the conditions of human consciousness. At certain times the sun-beings wrest the soul of man from his physical body, so that man is now alternately purely psychic, [pg 197] in the bosom of the sun-beings, and, when united with the body, in a condition in which he receives earth influences. When in the physical body, heat currents stream up to him; a sea of air is sounding round him and water pours into and out of him. When man is out of his body the images of the higher beings in whose care he is, float through his soul.
The earth passes through two periods at this stage of its evolution. During one of these it allows its substances to circulate around the human souls and clothe them with bodies; during the other, the souls have withdrawn from it, and only the bodies are left and the human beings are in a condition of sleep. It is speaking quite in conformity with facts to say that in those times of a remote past the earth passed through a day and a night time. (Expressed in terms of physical space this means that through the reciprocal action of the sun-beings and the earth-beings, the earth is brought into a movement in relation with the sun; thus there is brought about the alternation of day and night periods described above. The day period is when the surface of the earth, on which man is evolving, is turned toward the sun; the night period, the time when man leads a purely psychic existence, is when the earth's surface is turned away from the sun. Now it must not, of course, be imagined that in that far-off time the earth's motion around the sun was like its present motion. The conditions were still utterly different. But even at this early point it is helpful to realize that the motions [pg 198] of the celestial bodies are a consequence of the mutual relations of the spiritual beings inhabiting them. Spiritual-psychic causes produce in the celestial bodies positions and motions which permit the manifestation of spiritual conditions on the physical plane.)
If our gaze were turned upon the earth during its night period, its body would appear like a corpse. For it consists to a great extent of the decaying bodies of those human beings whose souls are in another state of existence. The organized watery and aeriform structures of which human bodies were formed become disintegrated, and dissolve into the rest of the earth's substance. Only that part of man's body which was formed from the very beginning of the earth evolution by the co-operation of fire and the human soul, and which subsequently became denser and denser, continues to exist as an insignificant looking embryo. Now when the day period begins, the earth once more participates directly in the sun influence, and human souls press forward into the sphere of physical life. They come in contact with the embryos, and cause them to spring up and assume an external form, which appears like an image of man's psychic being. Something like a delicate fertilization then takes place between the human soul and the bodily embryo.
The souls thus embodied now begin once more to attract the aeriform and watery substances and incorporate them in their own bodies. Air is expelled and absorbed by the organized body,—the first beginning [pg 199] of that which later appears as the respiratory process. Water too is absorbed and expelled; the nutritive process in its original form has begun. But these processes are not yet perceived as external ones. A kind of external perception takes place in the soul only by means of the already characterized kind of fertilization. Here the soul vaguely feels its awakening to physical existence when it comes in contact with the embryo which is held toward it from the earth. It then feels something which may be put into words thus: “This is my form.” And such a feeling, which might even be called a dawning consciousness of self, abides within the soul through this union with the physical body. But the soul still feels the process of absorbing air in an absolutely psycho-spiritual way, as an image, which appears in the form of tone-pictures surging up and down; these give form to the embryo which is being incorporated within them. The soul everywhere feels itself in the midst of sound waves, and that it is fashioning the body in accordance with those tone forces. Thus are human forms developed at that stage of evolution. They cannot be observed in any external world by our present consciousness. They evolve like vegetable or flower forms of fine substance, therefore appear like flowers waving in the wind.
During his Earth period, man experiences the blissful feeling of being fashioned into such forms. The absorption of the watery parts is felt in the soul as an accession of force, or inner strength. From [pg 200] without it appears as growth of the physical human structure. As the direct influence of the sun decreases, the human soul also loses the power of controlling these processes. By degrees they are cast aside. Only those parts are left which allow the embryo, above described, to mature. But man leaves his body, and returns to the spiritual form of existence. (As not all parts of the earth's body are employed in building up human bodies, we must not imagine that during the earth's night period, it is composed exclusively of disintegrating corpses and embryos waiting to be awakened. All these are imbedded in other structures, which are formed out of the earth's substances. The status of those structures will be explained later.)