Cosmos of Love

The goal of the evolution of our present Earth planet is to mature into the Cosmos of Love, just as the Old Moon, which preceded our Earth evolution, once developed into the Cosmos of Wisdom. And just as wisdom is now woven into the whole of nature, so on the New Jupiter, which will in future follow our Earth's evolution, love will work like a force of nature. And just as our physical body is now wisely constructed, so the etheric body will then be infused with love.

„In mystical mythology, our Earth is called the Cosmos of Love because it is connected with the forces of love. And this Cosmos of Love was preceded by the Cosmos of Wisdom, where light played the same role as warmth does today. The earth followed the cosmos of wisdom as the cosmos of love. What is inner light is connected with the will of man. The human being, who has certain drives, passions, sensations, feelings in him, equips his aura, his astral body with certain colour formations. These are subject to what in a broader sense is called the will. At that time, in the lunar period, the whole human being was an expression of the will. The will flowed outwards and appeared as that which shines. Therefore, when we call these people of the Cosmos of Wisdom human beings, our ancestors are the Sons of the Will. So the children of love are descended from the Sons of the Will. So light played a similar role then as warmth does on Earth today.“ (Lit.:GA 53, p. 251f)

„What the physical body of man bears today as its characteristic qualities, it owes to the Old Moon. In occultism the Old Moon is called the Cosmos of Wisdom. At that time, on the Old Moon, that which you now find in the physical body of man was gradually prepared. And just as what is our physical body was permeated with wisdom on the moon, so through the Cosmos of Love is prepared what you will find in the later Jupiter state of the Earth: the etheric body completely permeated with the element of love. And as today we admire a piece of bone of the physical body in its wisdom, so - if we may speak comparatively - the Jupiter people will admire the etheric body, because it is just as permeated by love as the physical body on earth is permeated by wisdom.“ (Lit.:GA 101, p. 213)

„We have seen that our earth has gradually become the cosmos that has to carry out the mission of love. The earth is illuminated by the present Sun. As man inhabits the earth and gradually appropriates love, so other, higher beings inhabit the Sun, because the Sun has arrived at a higher level of existence. Man is an inhabitant of the Earth, and to be an inhabitant of the Earth means to be a being that acquires love during the time on Earth. A Sun dweller in our time means a being who can kindle love, who can let love flow in. Earth dwellers would not develop love, would not be able to receive it, if the Sun dwellers did not send them the mature wisdom with the rays of light. By the light of the Sun streaming down to the Earth, love develops on the Earth. This is a very real truth. The beings who stand so high that they can pour out love have made the Sun their showplace.

When the Moon had finished its evolution, there were seven such principal beings who were so high that they could pour out love. Here we touch upon a profound mystery which secret science reveals. - At the beginning of the Earth's development there is the childlike human being who was to receive love and was ready to receive the I, and on the other side there is the sun which split off and ascended to a higher existence. On this Sun seven main spirits of light could develop, who were at the same time the giving spirits of love. Only six of them took up residence on the sun; and that which flows to us physically in the light of the sun contains within it the spiritual forces of love of these six spirits of light or the six Elohim, as we find them in the Bible. One of them split off and went a different way for the salvation of man, he did not choose the sun but the moon as his abode. And this one of the spirits of light, who voluntarily renounced the sun and chose the moon, is none other than the one whom the Old Testament calls "Yahweh" or "Jehovah". This one who chose the Moon as his abode is the one who from the Moon poured forth ripe wisdom upon the Earth and thereby prepared love.“ (Lit.:GA 103, p. 53f)

„During the night, at certain times, the Moon sends us the reflected power of the Sun. It is the same light that comes to us from the sun. Thus, back in ancient times, Yahweh or Jehovah radiated the power of mature wisdom, the power of the six Elohim, and this power he poured into man during the time of night sleep, preparing him so that he would be able to receive also later the power of love gradually during day-waking consciousness.

The drawing is intended to symbolically indicate the day-awake human being, where the physical body and etheric body are dependent on the Divine, and the I and the astral body are on the physical plane in the physical body and etheric body; there the whole system of the human being is illuminated from outside by the Sun. You now know that the night was much longer and much more effective for man in ancient times. There the astral body and the ego are out of the physical body and the etheric body; there the I is entirely in the astral world, and the astral body is sunk from without into the physical body in such a way that it is nevertheless embedded in the spiritual-divine in its whole being. The Sun cannot shine directly on the human astral body and kindle the power of love in it. The Moon, reflecting the sunlight, works through Yahweh or Jehovah. The Moon is the symbolum for Yahweh or Jehovah, and the Sun is nothing but the symbolum for the Logos, who is the sum of the other six Eiohim. Only symbolically is this drawing which you may study, which you may meditate upon, to suggest that. And if you reflect upon it, you will find what profound mystery truths are depicted in it: that for a long time the power of love was implanted in man through Yahweh in an unconscious way to the nocturnal consciousness. In this way man was prepared so that he himself could gradually receive the Logos, the power of his love. How was that possible? How could that happen? - Now we come to the other side of the mystery.

Drawing from GA 103, S 55

We have said to ourselves that man was called to self-conscious love on Earth. He therefore had to have a guide, a teacher during the bright daytime consciousness, who confronted him in such a way that he could perceive him. Only during the night, in the twilight consciousness, could love be implanted in him. Gradually, however, something had to happen, something had to occur with full reality, which made it possible for the human being to see the essence of love for himself outside, physically. How could this come about? It could only happen because the essence of divine love, the Logos, became a being on earth - a fleshly being on earth, as man could perceive it on earth through his senses. Because man developed to perceive through his outer senses, the God, the Logos, had to become a sensual being himself. He had to appear in a fleshly body. This happened through the Christ Jesus, and the historical appearance of the Christ Jesus means nothing else than that the powers of the six Elohim or the Logos were embodied in the Jesus of Nazareth at the beginning of our era, - were really there in him in the world of visibility. That is what matters. That which lies in the inner power of the sun, the power of Logos love, took on physical human form in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. For just as another external object, like another being, so man on earth had to encounter God in bodily form for his sense consciousness. What, therefore, is this entity which confronted us at the beginning of our era as the Christ Jesus? It is nothing other than the embodiment of the Logos, the six other Elohim, preceded by the one, the Yahweh-God. And this one figure of Jesus of Nazareth, in whom the Christ or the Logos was incarnated, therefore brings that which formerly only ever streamed down from the sun to the earth, that which is only contained in the sunlight, it brings it into human life, into human history itself: "The Logos became flesh". That is what the Gospel of John attaches the greatest importance to.“ (Lit.:GA 103, p. 54ff)

„In Christian secret science, the moon is called the cosmos of wisdom and the earth the Cosmos of Love. By Moon is meant the lunar phase of the Earth. The designation of the Moon as the Cosmos of Wisdom is based on the fact that everything that was formed at that time was permeated by wisdom. The replacement of the moon phase by the earth phase means the replacement of the Cosmos of Wisdom by the Cosmos of Love. When the Earth emerged again from the state of twilight, Pralaya, the germs that had been bred on the Moon emerged, including the germs of the physical, etheric and astral bodies of man. Wisdom was put into these three bodies and their mutual relations on the moon. Hence wisdom is also found in the structure of these three bodies. The greatest wisdom lies in the structure of the physical body, less in the structure of the etheric body, and still less in that of the astral body. If you look at the human body not only with the intellect, but with the soul, you will discover this wisdom in every organ, in every member of the body. If, for example, one looks at the human thigh-bone, one finds in it a veritable network of criss-crossing beams, apparently without order; but no engineer today would be able to produce these two pillars which, with the smallest amount of strength and material, support the human upper body. As long as the divine spirits were still building on the bodies of men, only wisdom was put into them. As a rule, the physical body of man is regarded as the lowest, but wrongly, for it is precisely in his body that the greatest wisdom comes to light. Only through this wisdom is it possible for the physical body to withstand the attacks which the astral body always makes upon it without collapsing before time. The passions which are active in the physical body, the drinking of coffee, tea and so on, are all attacks of the astral body on the physical body, and especially on the heart. Therefore this had to be so wisely constructed that the attacks would not be able to destroy it for decades. Of course, the suitable form of the heart had to be found out first through manifold transformations.

Only because wisdom underlies the structure of the world can it be sought and found in it by our intellect. But wisdom did not suddenly come into the world, the pouring into it only took place slowly and gradually, and the penetration of the Earth with love will take place just as slowly and gradually. This penetration of the Earth with love is the purpose of the Earth's evolution. Love has begun on Earth on the smallest scale, but it is spreading more and more, and at the end of the Earth phase everything will be as saturated with love as it was saturated with wisdom at the end of the lunar state.“ (Lit.:GA 100, p. 214f)

„The Atlantean of the earliest times knew nothing of the act of procreation. This took place in states of complete unconsciousness. When the Atlantean awoke, he knew nothing of reproduction. The process of reproduction was only shown to him in symbolic images. The Greek legend of the two men Deucalion and Pyrrha, who went to Greece and threw stones behind them, which then became human beings, still reminds us of this. The process of procreation was shrouded in unconsciousness for as long as marriages were only contracted between blood relatives. That men awoke to consciousness and consciously recognised the act of procreation is due to the activity of the Luciferic spirits who "opened the eyes" of man. He learned to distinguish good from evil. Because people now knew about their love and no longer only asked about blood relationship, they became independent. Then Yahweh was replaced by Christ, who brought a higher love into the world and made people independent of tribesmen and blood relatives. This universal love is only in its initial stages. But once the Earth will have given up its beings to Jupiter, then they will be completely permeated by this spiritual love. The saying of Christ points to this universal love: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14, verse 26). The Spirit who pours out this universal love more and more over the earth is the Christ-Spirit. The development of the Earth is divided into two parts by the appearance of the Christ Jesus. That blood which flowed on Golgotha signifies the replacement of kinship love by spiritual love. This is the connection between Yahweh, Lucifer and Christ.“ (Lit.:GA 100, p. 220f)

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Ursprung und Ziel des Menschen, GA 53 (1981), ISBN 3-7274-0532-5 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Menschheitsentwickelung und Christus-Erkenntnis, GA 100 (1981), ISBN 3-7274-1000-0 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Mythen und Sagen. Okkulte Zeichen und Symbole, GA 101 (1992), ISBN 3-7274-1010-8 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Johannes-Evangelium, GA 103 (1995), ISBN 3-7274-1030-2 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

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.