CW 113: East in the light of the west: Lecture 4: Evolutionary Stages: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth (26 August 1909) by Rudolf Steiner
Aug 8, 2026 · 35 min · 13 segments
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Aug 8, 2026 · 35 min · 13 segments
In view of what has been said, we may ask whether all the spiritual beings in existence are to be found behind the phenomena of the sense world, or whether there are others having no expression or manifestation in the physical world.
Supersensible consciousness knows that although it is true that a spiritual being or spiritual fact is to be found behind every external phenomenon, yet there do exist spiritual beings having no expression in the physical world.
Experiences await the initiate other than those whose projections or shadow images are thrown into the physical sense world.
There exist, moreover, spiritual beings and spiritual facts that have no expression in the inner life of the soul, in the phenomena of conscience, thought, feeling, and sensation.
The spiritual world is seen by the higher consciousness to embrace much more than can be experienced in the physical world.
Those of my readers who have studied earlier lectures on these subjects will realize that a host of spiritual beings at different stages of evolution have been involved in what has come to pass in the human, animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms during the course of our earth evolution.
All such beings intervene in some way or other in the evolutionary texture of the earth and of the kingdoms belonging to it.
Behind the phenomena surrounding us is a richly constituted spiritual world, just as there was during the periods of Old Saturn, Old Sun, and Old Moon.
We must not attempt to understand these spiritual kingdoms by inventing permanent names for these spiritual beings.
The names used are not, for the most part, intended to designate individualities, but offices or spheres of duties.
So if a particular name is used in connection with a being active during the Old Sun period, it cannot be applied in the same sense to that being as regards its work or function in the earth evolution.
It has progressed by that time.
It is necessary to speak of these matters with great accuracy and precision.
In view of what has been said, we may ask whether all the spiritual beings in existence are to be found behind the phenomena of the sense world, or whether there are others having no expression or manifestation in the physical world.
Supersensible consciousness knows that although it is true that a spiritual being or spiritual fact is to be found behind every external phenomenon, yet there do exist spiritual beings having no expression in the physical world.
Experiences await the initiate other than those whose projections or shadow images are thrown into the physical sense world.
There exist, moreover, spiritual beings and spiritual facts that have no expression in the inner life of the soul, in the phenomena of conscience, thought, feeling, and sensation.
The spiritual world is seen by the higher consciousness to embrace much more than can be experienced in the physical world.
Those of my readers who have studied earlier lectures on these subjects will realize that a host of spiritual beings at different stages of evolution have been involved in what has come to pass in the human, animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms during the course of our earth evolution.
All such beings intervene in some way or other in the evolutionary texture of the earth and of the kingdoms belonging to it.
Behind the phenomena surrounding us is a richly constituted spiritual world, just as there was during the periods of Old Saturn, Old Sun, and Old Moon.
We must not attempt to understand these spiritual kingdoms by inventing permanent names for these spiritual beings.
The names used are not, for the most part, intended to designate individualities, but offices or spheres of duties.
So if a particular name is used in connection with a being active during the Old Sun period, it cannot be applied in the same sense to that being as regards its work or function in the earth evolution.
It has progressed by that time.
It is necessary to speak of these matters with great accuracy and precision.
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