The Inner Realities of Evolution

Reflections on Rudolf Steiner's account of planetary evolution in GA 132

The Inner Realities of Evolution (Oct. - Dec., 1911 in Berlin; GA 132) can be read here.

What follows is my attempt to see with Steiner into the mysteries of cosmic metamorphosis. How are we to imagine the realities being described? Spiritual science presupposes the imaginal cultivation of subtler organs of cognition capable of feeling formerly hidden folds in the fabric of our world. There is only one world. The reason the anthroposophical angelogical account of cosmic evolution sounds so absurd to modern ears is that we have come to imagine that one world is nothing but material surfaces with no spiritual depth, that the universe is just a collection of physical facts set into motion without reason. The account recounted below is not describing this world’s interaction with another world. It assumes that the so-called external material world is an abstract idea, that the reality of the cosmos is more mysterious, and that our souls are intimately entangled with it. Our world is ensouled, and like all living organisms it realizes itself as a world of worlds within worlds. The movement through Saturn, Sun, Moon, to Earth is a process not unlike embryonic gastrulation, with older layers recapitulated and enfolded in the younger.

I discussed the question of how we are to imagine the realities described in this account during my summary of a section of Steiner’s book Occult Science:

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The first phase of the seven-fold evolution of our cosmic epoch, the Saturn phase, is centered on warmth. It is here that time is born. The Spirits of Will, or Thrones, make a glowing sacrifice of themselves to the Spirits of Harmony, the Cherubim. They self-immolate, and the incense of their sacrifice rises as an offering to the Cherubim. Most of the Cherubim accept this sacrifice, but some reject it.

Steiner describes the Thrones’ sacrifice as glowing warmly with bliss, and this bliss is reflected by the Spirits of Time, or Archai, also known as the Spirits of Personality. Might this be the “initial aim” (as Whitehead calls it) granting our cosmic epoch with its primordial character?

What we refer to today as heat—whether external or within our bodies—is a kind of maya, an illusion. In truth it is an expression of the Thrones’ sacrifice.

Old Saturn is the origin of time and what we today perceive as the mineral layer of the Earth. But on Saturn there were not yet any material bodies or discrete series of calendar days. There was only the fiery will of divine self-sacrifice.

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In the Sun phase of evolution, warmth is joined by light and air. These are not merely physical elements but moral forces. The Spirits of Wisdom ray their gifts outward, bestowing light and air as expressions of their wisdom. This act of bestowal is a form of devotion transformed into activity. Steiner emphasizes that self-surrender and the overcoming of personal will and prejudice are essential for achieving higher knowledge, in imitation of what the Spirits of Wisdom did on the Old Sun.

The Archangels receive and reflect the light of the Spirits of Wisdom like mirrors. Light, as we perceive it externally, is inwardly the reflection of this wisdom. The sacrifice made on Saturn is now centered on the Sun, where the wisdom beings contemplate the Thrones’ sacrifice to the Cherubim. Wisdom radiates outward to the macrocosm and is reflected back as light by the Archangels.

In this phase, time is transformed. What was earlier and later on Saturn becomes inner and outer on the Sun. Space is born from time, adding a second dimension to cosmic existence.

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In the Moon phase of evolution, fire and air are joined by water. These elements carry moral qualities: fire corresponds to sacrifice, air to bestowal, and water to resignation. Divine resignation is not asceticism but creative renunciation—the ability to act without desire or expectation. On the Moon, the Spirits of Wisdom continue their bestowal, but some of their substance is taken up by Luciferic beings.

Lucifer is held back during the Moon phase, afflicting the human astral body. Yet this is not merely a fault of Lucifer’s, since without Lucifer’s staying behind, humanity could not have attained individual freedom. This phase also experiences the lingering effects of the Cherubim’s earlier rejection of the Thrones’ sacrifice. Some Cherubim renounced time to remain in eternity, becoming immortal. Their resignation is what appears on the Moon as water.

The rejected sacrificial substance is taken up by the Luciferic beings, creating the conditions for human freedom and individuality. The deep longing buried in the human astral body is an echo of the Thrones’ feeling of rejection when the Cherubim refused part of their sacrifice. This longing manifests as unsatisfied will, unattainable desire, and a repressed wish. To overcome this longing, the rejected sacrifice must be drawn back into the sacrificer, which gives birth to the ego.

The Spirits of Movement then enter the scene. They bring these egoistic beings into relation with one another. This movement is not yet what we know as material but moral and relational, as beings seek to fulfill their longing through ever-renewing connections with others. Moon existence is dreamy and fluid, filled by picture-consciousness, which serves as a balm for the soul’s longing. Yet this longing is unquenchable and would continue in its endless stream of pictures unless transformed.

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The Earth phase is our present position in the evolutionary unfolding of this cosmic epoch. Here, the longing of astral Moon consciousness comes to be redeemed. The I, born from the reabsorption of rejected sacrifice, carries the wounds of estrangement. This egoic impulse is one-sided and must be balanced by something new.

The rejected sacrifice, when drawn back into the sacrificer, creates the estrangement that leads to death. The physical body, devoid of its higher spiritual counterparts (etheric, astral, and I), becomes a mere corpse. Yet the Earth is the planet of redemption. The sacrifice of Christ, embodying divine selflessness, redeems the longing and estrangement that emerged in earlier phases. With this act, manifest in the Mystery of Golgotha, the cosmos finds reconciliation, and humanity is offered the possibility of freedom in love.

Thence begins the evolutionary return to Spirit, as Jupter, Venus, and Vulcan phases await our free and loving participation.