PAST & FUTURE

 Our Orbs

To get a grip on Steiner’s accounts of the past and the future,

we need to hear him out on the nature of various celestial orbs.

So let’s consider some of his statements about the Sun, the Moon,

and various planets — including our Earth.

All of this is straight from Steiner. I’ll resist the temptation to reply, if I possibly can.

Here are some of Steiner’s teachings.

If you already know some or all of the following,

my condolences — and please just skip ahead.

 

The Moon has proven to be a good habitat for humans, Steiner assured us. So has the Sun. The following is from a chapter titled “Life On the Moon”: “If, as he had developed on the Sun, man was called plant man, the man of the Moon can be called animal man ... As the Sun man could only elevate himself into a plant by thrusting a portion of his companions down into a coarser mineral realm, so this is now the case with the animal man of the Moon. A portion of the beings which on the Sun still had the same plant nature as himself, he leaves behind him on the level of coarser plantlike-ness [sic] ... The animal man of the Moon does not yet have firm bones. His skeleton is still cartilaginous. His whole nature is soft, compared to that of today. Hence his mobility too is different. His locomotion is not a walking, but rather a leaping, even a floating. This could be the case because the Moon of that time did not have a thin, airy atmosphere like that of present-day earth, but its envelope was considerably thicker, even denser than the water of today ... At that time man was not yet developed in the form of two sexes, but only in one. He was made out of his water air. But as everything in the world exists in transitional stages, in the last Moon periods, two-sexedness [sic] was already developing in a few animal man beings as a preparation for the later condition of the earth.” [1]

 

Note that humans are different in many ways in various stages or places. In addition to what we have just seen, Steiner sometimes discussed our ancient jelly-like bodies and our bodies made of ether, among other surprises.

 

Next: “There were also beings who had detached Mars from the common cosmic substance and made it their dwelling place under the leadership of their most advanced member. A third type of human beings fell under their influence. These were 'Mars humans,' who also came into existence through interbreeding. (This information sheds light on the origins of the planets of our solar system. All of the celestial bodies in this system came about because of the various stages of maturity of the beings inhabiting them. However, it is not possible to go into all the details of these cosmic divisions here, of course. [sic; of course we understand])

 

“Human beings who perceived the presence of the exalted Sun-being in their life bodies [etheric bodies, part of our nonphysical constitution] can be called 'Sun humans.' The being who lived in them as their higher I [highest selfhood of an individual or race or species] ... is one who was later given various names as human beings acquired conscious knowledge of him. To present-day human beings, the Christ’s relationship to the cosmos is revealed in this being. [Steiner taught that Christ is the Sun God, as it were.] 

“We can also distinguish 'Saturn humans.' The being who appears as their higher I had to leave the common cosmic substance along with his associates already [sic] before the Sun’s separation from the Earth. In human beings of this type, both the life body and the physical body had portions that remained untouched by the Luciferic influence [the influence of Lucifer and his minions]. 

“Now, in the case of the lower types of human beings, the life body was too unprotected to be able to withstand the Luciferic influence.” [2]

OK. I can't completely resist. Note the phrase “lower types of human beings.” A world of misery is contained in such language. I'm biased, of course — being a secularist and rationalist, I'm headed for the Abyss, according to Steiner. You, however, have nothing to worry about. Unless you are black, red, yellow, French, American, Russian... Unless you are an orthodox Christian, or a Muslim, or a Jew, or a Hindu, or... Actually, if Steiner is right, most of us have a lot to worry about. But be of good cheer. He is wrong.

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Let’s get our feet under us by considering the interior of a planet we all know and love, the Earth: “The fate of hundreds and thousands of people may be affected by an earthquake or a volcano. Does the human will influence these things, or is it all a matter of chance? Do dead, natural laws act with blind fury, or does some connection exist between these events and the human will?” [3] Hm? We bring these disasters on ourselves? Yes, Steiner — who is wrong — said. We'll circle back to this. But in the meantime, if a hurricane or tornado or volcano or anything else natural and amoral has hurt you, be advised: It's your own fault. (But also remember: He is wrong.)
 
The Earth is comprised of nine layers, extending far below the depths plumbed by miners or oilmen. “You should think of the earth’s living body ... as one great living organism. The proper question to ask is: ‘How did dead, lifeless matter, [sic] come about?’ To ask how the living came from the dead is one of the silliest questions, for life came first, and dead matter separated from it in fossils, in a hardening process....” [4] Steiner repeatedly pronounced scientific findings silly or absurd. The notion that life came first may be attractive — as some people find many of Steiner's teachings to be — but where is the evidence for it? Life almost certainly does evolve from inanimate matter — e.g., by drawing on the organic molecules that are readily available throughout the known universe (despite their name, these molecules are not alive; rather, they provide the building blocks for life as we know it). In any event, note Steiner's explicit opposition to science, i.e., real knowledge. [5]
 
“[The] topmost layer is called the Mineral Earth. ” [6]
 
“Beneath it is a second layer called the Fluid Earth which consists of substances comparable to nothing upon the earth [sic] ... as soon as it is brought into contact with something living, it tries to expel or destroy that life....” [7]
 
“The Air Earth is a substance that destroys sensation....” [8]
 
“The Water Earth [sic: not to be confused with the Fluid Earth] ... the negative images of physical things are found here....” [9]
 
“The Fruit Earth [sic] is a substance which is full of exuberant energy. Every bit of it grows out at once like a sponge [sic]....” [10]
 
“The sixth layer is the Fire Earth. Just as the Fruit Earth contains all that lives [sic], so the Fire Earth comprises everything that exists as drives or impulses. It contains the original sources of all animal life, life that experiences pleasure and pain. You may think it strange, but it is true that the Fire Earth becomes sentient as soon as it expands....” [11]
 

“The Fire Earth is intimately connected with the human will. The Fire Earth produced the tremendous eruptions that brought the Lemurian epoch to an end. At that time the forces which feed the human will went through a trial which unleashed the fire catastrophe that brought the Lemurian epoch to an end....” [12] The human will, then, is at least partially complicit in so-called natural disasters. (If a tree fell on your house or spouse last night, it's at least partly your fault, says kind R. Steiner.) We may need to rethink the sources and uses of our will power. (As Steiner should have rethought his uses of language. He repeated himself repeatedly, drawing things out to repetitive, redundant lengths of repetition, both to beguile, mesmerize, stun, stupefy, and spellbind his credulous listeners, auditors, audience, and congregants, and also to make his very slight, slim, modest, and small store of information about any given subject go as far as possible, at least far enough to fill the time required to fill one lecture.)
 
“The Fire Earth is made essentially of feeling and will. It is sensitive to pain and would cry out if stepped on. It consists entirely of passions.” [13] Wait one gol-durned moment. The Fire Earth cries if we step on it, but it callously helps unleash catastrophes? Talk about nasty, self-centered, hypocritical...
 
The Earth Mirror, the seventh layer, is also known as the Reflector Earth.“This layer gets its name from the fact that, if one concentrates on it, it changes all the characteristics of the earth into their opposites. If the seer [I wonder who Steiner means?] disregards everything lying above it and gazes directly down into this layer, and if he then, for example, places something green before him, green appears as red. Every colour [sic] appears as its complementary opposite. A polaric [sic] reflection arises, a reversal of the original. Sorrow is changed to joy by this substance.” [14] And joy to sorrow, and sanity to madness, and...
 
The eighth layer is the Splintering Earth. “The essential thing is that this layer shatters moral qualities ... Through the power it radiates up to the earth’s surface, it is responsible for the fact that strife and disharmony exist....” [15] Wow. The Fluid Earth wants us dead. The Fire Earth is hardly our friend. And the Splintering Earth is the even worse.  (But if it is responsible, what about our responsibility? Hm.) But the worst of all awaits in the lowest level.
 
“The Earth Core is the substance through whose influence black magic arises in the world. The power of spiritual evil comes from this source.” [16] “Mother Earth,” by this accounting, is profoundly malignant. But we deserve it.

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The seven major evolutionary conditions are Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, and Vulcan. Real planets such as Mercury, Mars, Uranus, and Neptune are left out of the list, while one totally fictitious planet — Vulcan — is included. If you hope to make sense of these matters, you will have to do so in spite of Steiner’s muddying mystifications.

According to Steiner, we exist on this planet, Earth, in the physical universe, only during this particular phase of our history. The Earth itself is conscious, and it may be deemed as living and evolving. This might induce us to treat the Earth carefully, with compassion. But according to Steiner, we must not preserve the Earth — we must change it, using white magic to defeat the black. That will “spiritualize” the Earth so that it can cease to exist as a physical orb and we can evolve beyond it.

Meditate on that. The Earth is full of hostile impulses toward us. We must “save” it by destroying it. In mystical terms, this makes sense. In real terms, it is suicide.
 
For Steiner, reality is unreal. We will be evolving beyond it. The great trap in such a perspective is that we can end up caring deeply about fantastic, unreal future states of being, while neglecting — even wasting — our one real life on our one real planetary home in the real universe. That course does not promote human welfare or, indeed, evolution. It is a potentially catastrophic dodge. So, in a manner he did not intend, Steiner was right that we may be responsible for Earthly catastrophes — and we would be all the more likely to do great harm if we attend to fantasists like Steiner.

 

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Presenting Steiner's views is a challenge. In explaining them, we may give them a superficial coherence and logic that they do not, in fact, possess. But if we do not explain them, they remain so weird as to defy belief. Yet belief is precisely what Steiner solicited, despite his claim that he was presenting an objective “science.” As a mystic, Steiner dealt in mystification more than clarity. And yet, he attracted followers, and he has followers today. Hm.
 

 

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Waldorf student art courtesy of PLANS.

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We will continue the story at "Matters of Form"

http://sites.google.com/site/waldorfwatch/matters-of-form 

 

 

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Irrelevant, of course. But here is the real Mars. 

[NASA.]

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Irrelevant, of course. But here one concept of Lemuria. 

[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Lemuria.jpg]. 

based on Image:Indian Ocean bathymetry srtm.png. {{GFDL}} )]

(When you want information about something that doesn't exist,

Steiner is a good source. So is Wikipedia.)

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ENDNOTES

 

[1] Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC MEMORY (SteinerBooks, 1986), pp. 193-195.

[2] Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), pp. 238-239.

[3] Rudolf Steiner, THE INTERIOR OF THE EARTH: An Esoteric Study of the Subterranean Spheres (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2007), p. 29.

[4] Ibid., p. 10.

[5] Is it possible that there are important regions of reality lying undiscovered, outside the known universe? Certainly, it is possible. And might there be life forms out there that are totally unlike life as we know it? Certainly, this is also possible. But here is the crucial point: We don’t know. Maybe we will know someday, but for now, we don’t. It is frustrating not to know the answers to important questions. But honesty and self-respect sometimes require us to make such admissions. The alternative is to deceive others and, perhaps, ourselves. 

Steiner claimed to know things that are unknowable by ordinary means. Could the universe really be as he described it? (Brace yourself for a shock.) Yes. It is, just barely, conceivable. But here is another important point: Steiner gave us no good reason to believe him. All he did was to make unsupported assertions that hinge on a form of “cognition” — clairvoyance — that is highly suspect, to put it mildly. The likelihood that Steiner was right is slim, and it grows slimmer each year as science reveals more and more of the universe's actual workings. I discuss these matters at some length in such essays at “Steiner’s Blunders”