First elementary kingdom

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The first elementary kingdom is the kingdom of the archetypal formless beings (Lit.:GA 9153, p. 69). Rudolf Steiner also calls it the elementary kingdom of radiant colours. It is the first condition of life that each of the seven great planetary stages of world evolution (Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon, Earth, New Jupiter, New Venus, Vulcan) passes through in the course of its evolution. Each stage of life is further subdivided into seven conditions of form.

„The first elementary kingdom is difficult to describe. Suppose we grasp the thought of such a figure as a spiral, then the thought of a lemniscate. Let us now put ourselves into the intention before the form has arisen, that is, first into the intention of the spiral and then into the intention of the lemniscate. Think of a world filled with such thought-germs. This formless world is the first elementary kingdom.“ (Lit.:GA 93a, p. 200)

What is to be understood more precisely by the radiant colours, which can be experienced in the higher Devachan, can be seen in the notes to a private lecture Rudolf Steiner gave to Marie Sievers on 6 August 1905:

„In the physical world, colours are only known to us through spatial things. Even where they are present without an object, they are only noticeable through them. Only in the borderline cases of physical life can one see colours without an object, for example the rainbow.

The colours in the astral world are not bound to a fixed, spatial limit. They are still soulish, the expression of a being where they are. A sensual passion expresses itself differently from a highly striving thought. Here there is immediate harmony; it floats freely, but it is connected with what it expresses. It is not external but internal colour. The bell, for example, does not care whether it is yellow or green, it does not affect its tone. When one goes beyond the astral world, there are also colours; but these are not only inner colours, they are creative, they bring themselves forth, they are radiant colours.

Now, when man rises into mental space[1], he first loses the ability to perceive the mental colours in the same way, hence one speaks of the tonal world. The ability to perceive sound and tone occurs. Only when one again rises higher does one perceive the radiant colours. When man has again come to colour, he is in arupa. If we could take colour from a physical object and take it like a skin and bring it to Devachan[2], the colour would shine there. That is why Devachan is also called the world of radiant colours. If one wants to communicate something to a fellow human being here, one says it to him through sound; in Devachan it would shine in corresponding colour.

Such a world, where all beings live in radiant colours, is called the first elementary kingdom.“ (Lit.:GA 291a, p. 188f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

References

  1. ↑ The lower Devachan (Rupa)
  2. ↑ the higher Devachan (Arupa)
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