I wanted this post to reach out in a way that would allow for a third installment on the subject of the Eighth Sphere. We have it all aligned, and it is contained here in this rather contiguous short lecture-course on the Mission of Archai Michael:
For example, here is a text from the first lecture. In reviewing it, I realized I had no further words in order to explain the Eighth Sphere anymore than has previously been explained on the subject.
"Now the significant question arises: If we turn to the beings still higher in rank, to the hierarchy of the so-called Spirits of Form, on what stage do we find them? We must answer: They have already passed beyond the stages which we human beings conceive of as our evolutionary stages of the future. They have already passed beyond the Vulcan evolution. If we consider our own evolution as consisting of seven stages, which suffices for our present considerations, we must say that the Spiritsof Form have reached the eighth stage. We human beings are at the fourth stage of evolution; if we consider the eighth stage we find the Form Spirits.
Now we must not conceive of these successive stages of evolution as existing side by side, but we must conceive of them as interpenetrating one another. Just as the atmosphere surrounds and permeates the earth, so this eighth sphere of evolution to which the Form Spirits belong permeates the sphere in which we human beings live. Let us now carefully consider these two stages of evolution.
Let us repeat: We human beings exist in a sphere which has reached the fourth evolutionary stage. Yet we also exist, if we disregard everything else, in the realm which the Form Spirits, around us and through us, have to regard as theirs. Let us now consider human evolution concretely. We have often distinguished the development of the head from that of the human being. The latter we have again divided into two separate parts, the development of the breast and the development of the limbs. Let us disregard this latter differentiation and consider man as having, on the one hand, that which belongs to the development of the head and, on the other, everything that belongs to the rest of the human being.
Now imagine the following: You have here the surface of the ocean, the human being wading in it, moving forward with only his head rising about the water. In this image—of course it is only an image—you have the position of the present-day human being. Everything in which the head is rooted we would have to consider as belonging to the fourth stage of evolution, and everything in which man moves forward, wading or swimming in it, as it were, we would have to designate as the eighth stage of evolution. For it is a peculiar fact that the human being has, in a certain way, outgrown as far as his head is concerned, the element in which the Spirits of Form unfold their particular being. In regard to his head, man has become emancipated, so to speak, from the sphere which is interpenetrated by the beings of the Spirits of Form.
Only by thoroughly comprehending this can we arrive at a proper conception of the human being; only then can we understand the special position man has in the world; only then will it become clear to us that when the human being senses the Spirits of Form's creative influence upon him, he does not sense this directly through the faculties of his head, but indirectly through the effect of the rest of his body upon the head. You all know that breathing is connected with our blood-circulation, speaking in the sense of external physiology. But the blood is also driven into the head, creating an organic, vital connection of the head with the rest of the organism. The head is nourished and invigorated by the rest of the body.
We must carefully discriminate between two things. The first is the fact that the head is in direct connection with the external world. If you see an object, you perceive it through your eyes; there is a direct connection between the outer world and your head. If you, however, observe the life of your head as it is sustained by the processes of breathing and blood circulation, you will see the blood shooting up from the rest of the organism into the head and you may say there is not a direct, but only an indirect connection between your head and the surrounding world.
Naturally, you must not say, pedantically: well, the breath is inhaled through the mouth, therefore breathing also belongs to the head. I have stated above that we have here only an image. Organically, what is inhaled through the mouth does not actually belong to the head, but to the rest of the organism.
Focus your attention upon these two fundamental concepts which we have just gained; focus your attention upon the idea that we stand within two spheres: the sphere which we entered by passing through the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolution and being now within the Earth evolution which is the fourth evolutionary stage; then consider the fact that we live within a sphere which belongs to the Form Spirits just as our earth belongs to us, but which, as the eighth sphere, permeates our earth and our organism with the exception of our head and all that is sense activity. If we focus our attention upon these facts we have created a basis for what is to follow.
Yet let me first build a still firmer basis through certain other concepts. If we wish to consider our life under such influences, we must take into account the beings we have often mentioned as cooperating in world events: the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings. Let us, at the outset, fix our attention upon the most external aspect of these beings. They dwell in the same spheres in which we human beings live. Considering their most external aspect, we may think of all Luciferic beings as possessing those forces which we feel when there arises in us the tendency to become fantastic, when we yield one-sidedly to fancy and over-enthusiasm, when we—if I may express it pictorially—tend to go out with our being beyond our head. If we tend to go out beyond our head, we employ forces which play a certain role in our human organism but which are the universal forces of the beings we call Luciferic. Think of beings formed entirely of those forces within us which strive to pass beyond our head and you have the Luciferic beings which have a certain relation to our human world.
Conversely, think of all that presses us down upon the earth, all that makes us sober philistines, makes us bourgeois, which leads us to develop materialistic attitudes, think of all that exists in us as dry intellect, and you have the Ahrimanic powers."
Pretty tough stuff to explain to today's modern audience. Yet, this is also what it means to be influenced by the Eighth Sphere within the totally appropriate Fourth Sphere, where human evolution occurs. The Gods were really evidently present on this one.
This article is also intended to be a kind of further dedication to Jeff Barney, who I have been pestering a bit, without ill effect, I hope. Kind regards.
We have had this discussion before. When the Lord God entered the scene as described in Genesis 2:4, and "made the earth and heaven", this is when Man was first formed from the dust of the ground, and Life breathed into his nostrils, and he became a living soul. This was made possible only through the agency of the Eighth Sphere. Earth only becomes a phenomenal sphere with this occurrence, and the epiphenomenal instrumentality of the forming of the Eighth Sphere made it possible, as described. Behind the Eighth Sphere is the remnant of the Ancient Moon sphere, having been impregnated with mineral substance meant for the Earth, but now residing in a sphere where it does not belong. It was Lucifer and Ahriman who were put to work in wresting mineral substance meant for the Earth and placing it into the Eighth Sphere. This is so that the Earth could become the appearance world that it is.
This is the only lecture that I have ever come across in which it is rather fully explained how Lucifer, Ahriman, and Asuras were intentionally brought into Earth evolution in order to be made effective earlier than originally intended. Lucifer was originally to become effective in the Atlantean Epoch, but instead, became operative in the Lemurian Epoch, with the separation of the Moon. As well, Ahriman's influence should have occurred beginning with the Fifth Epoch, but became interventive in the Fourth, instead (Atlantean). And, Asuras was originally meant for the Sixth Epoch, when the Christ Time would have safely placed Sorath at our beck and call.
Thus, with the timing of the Moon's separation in the last third of the Lemurian Epoch, instead of the Atlantean Epoch, these Beings, i.e., Lucifer, Ahriman, and Asuras, were given powers that could enable them to have the upper hand in Earth evolution for quite some time, and even now.
Thanks, Leilani, for liking this essay, and seeing the potential in this lecture from 1909. In 2024, the human race is so far away from this knowledge, that it appears to have been completely obsoleted in favor of technological answers to every condition. Yet, only barbarism will entail the outcome without the Gnosis of Spiritual Science.
I wanted this post to reach out in a way that would allow for a third installment on the subject of the Eighth Sphere. We have it all aligned, and it is contained here in this rather contiguous short lecture-course on the Mission of Archai Michael:
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/MissMich/MisMic_index.html
For example, here is a text from the first lecture. In reviewing it, I realized I had no further words in order to explain the Eighth Sphere anymore than has previously been explained on the subject.
"Now the significant question arises: If we turn to the beings still higher in rank, to the hierarchy of the so-called Spirits of Form, on what stage do we find them? We must answer: They have already passed beyond the stages which we human beings conceive of as our evolutionary stages of the future. They have already passed beyond the Vulcan evolution. If we consider our own evolution as consisting of seven stages, which suffices for our present considerations, we must say that the Spiritsof Form have reached the eighth stage. We human beings are at the fourth stage of evolution; if we consider the eighth stage we find the Form Spirits.
Now we must not conceive of these successive stages of evolution as existing side by side, but we must conceive of them as interpenetrating one another. Just as the atmosphere surrounds and permeates the earth, so this eighth sphere of evolution to which the Form Spirits belong permeates the sphere in which we human beings live. Let us now carefully consider these two stages of evolution.
Let us repeat: We human beings exist in a sphere which has reached the fourth evolutionary stage. Yet we also exist, if we disregard everything else, in the realm which the Form Spirits, around us and through us, have to regard as theirs. Let us now consider human evolution concretely. We have often distinguished the development of the head from that of the human being. The latter we have again divided into two separate parts, the development of the breast and the development of the limbs. Let us disregard this latter differentiation and consider man as having, on the one hand, that which belongs to the development of the head and, on the other, everything that belongs to the rest of the human being.
Now imagine the following: You have here the surface of the ocean, the human being wading in it, moving forward with only his head rising about the water. In this image—of course it is only an image—you have the position of the present-day human being. Everything in which the head is rooted we would have to consider as belonging to the fourth stage of evolution, and everything in which man moves forward, wading or swimming in it, as it were, we would have to designate as the eighth stage of evolution. For it is a peculiar fact that the human being has, in a certain way, outgrown as far as his head is concerned, the element in which the Spirits of Form unfold their particular being. In regard to his head, man has become emancipated, so to speak, from the sphere which is interpenetrated by the beings of the Spirits of Form.
Only by thoroughly comprehending this can we arrive at a proper conception of the human being; only then can we understand the special position man has in the world; only then will it become clear to us that when the human being senses the Spirits of Form's creative influence upon him, he does not sense this directly through the faculties of his head, but indirectly through the effect of the rest of his body upon the head. You all know that breathing is connected with our blood-circulation, speaking in the sense of external physiology. But the blood is also driven into the head, creating an organic, vital connection of the head with the rest of the organism. The head is nourished and invigorated by the rest of the body.
We must carefully discriminate between two things. The first is the fact that the head is in direct connection with the external world. If you see an object, you perceive it through your eyes; there is a direct connection between the outer world and your head. If you, however, observe the life of your head as it is sustained by the processes of breathing and blood circulation, you will see the blood shooting up from the rest of the organism into the head and you may say there is not a direct, but only an indirect connection between your head and the surrounding world.
Naturally, you must not say, pedantically: well, the breath is inhaled through the mouth, therefore breathing also belongs to the head. I have stated above that we have here only an image. Organically, what is inhaled through the mouth does not actually belong to the head, but to the rest of the organism.
Focus your attention upon these two fundamental concepts which we have just gained; focus your attention upon the idea that we stand within two spheres: the sphere which we entered by passing through the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolution and being now within the Earth evolution which is the fourth evolutionary stage; then consider the fact that we live within a sphere which belongs to the Form Spirits just as our earth belongs to us, but which, as the eighth sphere, permeates our earth and our organism with the exception of our head and all that is sense activity. If we focus our attention upon these facts we have created a basis for what is to follow.
Yet let me first build a still firmer basis through certain other concepts. If we wish to consider our life under such influences, we must take into account the beings we have often mentioned as cooperating in world events: the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings. Let us, at the outset, fix our attention upon the most external aspect of these beings. They dwell in the same spheres in which we human beings live. Considering their most external aspect, we may think of all Luciferic beings as possessing those forces which we feel when there arises in us the tendency to become fantastic, when we yield one-sidedly to fancy and over-enthusiasm, when we—if I may express it pictorially—tend to go out with our being beyond our head. If we tend to go out beyond our head, we employ forces which play a certain role in our human organism but which are the universal forces of the beings we call Luciferic. Think of beings formed entirely of those forces within us which strive to pass beyond our head and you have the Luciferic beings which have a certain relation to our human world.
Conversely, think of all that presses us down upon the earth, all that makes us sober philistines, makes us bourgeois, which leads us to develop materialistic attitudes, think of all that exists in us as dry intellect, and you have the Ahrimanic powers."
Pretty tough stuff to explain to today's modern audience. Yet, this is also what it means to be influenced by the Eighth Sphere within the totally appropriate Fourth Sphere, where human evolution occurs. The Gods were really evidently present on this one.
This article is also intended to be a kind of further dedication to Jeff Barney, who I have been pestering a bit, without ill effect, I hope. Kind regards.
Hi Max,
We have had this discussion before. When the Lord God entered the scene as described in Genesis 2:4, and "made the earth and heaven", this is when Man was first formed from the dust of the ground, and Life breathed into his nostrils, and he became a living soul. This was made possible only through the agency of the Eighth Sphere. Earth only becomes a phenomenal sphere with this occurrence, and the epiphenomenal instrumentality of the forming of the Eighth Sphere made it possible, as described. Behind the Eighth Sphere is the remnant of the Ancient Moon sphere, having been impregnated with mineral substance meant for the Earth, but now residing in a sphere where it does not belong. It was Lucifer and Ahriman who were put to work in wresting mineral substance meant for the Earth and placing it into the Eighth Sphere. This is so that the Earth could become the appearance world that it is.
This is the only lecture that I have ever come across in which it is rather fully explained how Lucifer, Ahriman, and Asuras were intentionally brought into Earth evolution in order to be made effective earlier than originally intended. Lucifer was originally to become effective in the Atlantean Epoch, but instead, became operative in the Lemurian Epoch, with the separation of the Moon. As well, Ahriman's influence should have occurred beginning with the Fifth Epoch, but became interventive in the Fourth, instead (Atlantean). And, Asuras was originally meant for the Sixth Epoch, when the Christ Time would have safely placed Sorath at our beck and call.
Thus, with the timing of the Moon's separation in the last third of the Lemurian Epoch, instead of the Atlantean Epoch, these Beings, i.e., Lucifer, Ahriman, and Asuras, were given powers that could enable them to have the upper hand in Earth evolution for quite some time, and even now.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA107/English/AP1954/19090322p01.html
Thanks, Leilani, for liking this essay, and seeing the potential in this lecture from 1909. In 2024, the human race is so far away from this knowledge, that it appears to have been completely obsoleted in favor of technological answers to every condition. Yet, only barbarism will entail the outcome without the Gnosis of Spiritual Science.