Plane

Seven planes or worlds are distinguished by Rudolf Steiner following the Indian-theosophical tradition, which are connected with our regular world evolution. In addition, there is the so-called eighth sphere.

The seven planes or worlds at a glance

1: Physical plane, physical world, physical-etheric world, world of intellect
Earth Water Air Heat Light ether Sound ether Life ether	}	physical world
	}	etheric world, ether world
2: Astral plane, astral world, soul world, soul land, elementary world, imaginative world
Region of the Glow of Desire region of fluid irritability Region of wishes Region of pleasure and displeasure	}	Kamaloka (lower soul world)
Region of soul light Region of active soul power Region of the soul life	}	higher soul world
3: Devachan or Mental plane, spiritual world, spirit land
Continental area (archetypes of the physical) Sea region (archetypes of the living) Air circle (archetypes of the soul) etheric circle (archetypal thoughts)	}	Rupa Devachan (Lower Devachan, Heavenly world, World of Harmony of Spheres, World of Inspiration) At the boundary between lower and upper Devachan. begins that part of the Akasha Chronicle which contains everything that has ever been has ever been thought.
Germinal points of the soulful Germinal points of the living Germinal points of the physical	}	Arupa Devachan (Upper or Higher Devachan, World of Reason, World of true Intuition)
4: Buddhi plane, Shushupti plane, World of Providence, World of Foreseeing,
5: Nirvana plane	}	Nirvana (this is where creation springs out from nothingness and where the spiritual essence of man, the monad, comes from)
6: Parinirvana plane
7: Mahaparinirvana plane

Details

The seven planes an the eigth sphere

Rudolf Steiner gives the following suggestions for a fundamental understanding of the individual planes and their inner connection:

„Man's passive thinking about things presupposes active thinking, presupposes that things are first created by thought. Our human passive thinking presupposes an active one. For every passive thought, an active-creative thought must have preceded it. Every feeling, every sensation, every passive experience in the astral body presupposes an active effecting of this astral experience. Everything that appears around in the world presupposes a calling into existence of the appearances. Light would not be there if the light had not been caused; being would not be there if it had not been caused; perceiving presupposes a revealing of the appearance. Everywhere in the world we find the triple:

Active and passive thinking,

active and passive life,

Active and passive being.

Everything that is passive being for man is called the physical plan, that is the epitome of all passive being. The epitome of all passive life is called the astral plan. The epitome of all passive thinking is called the rupa mental plane.

The epitome of all active thinking is called the arupa mental plane.

The epitome of all active life is called the Budhi plane.

The epitome of all active being is called the Nirvana plane.

These are the five [six] planes known to us. The Nirvana plane has the most intense activity, because even being is created on it.

If you look at man in terms of these planes, you will see that every thought that man thinks is followed by another, active thought as a reaction on the corresponding other plan. If one cherishes a thought on the lower mental plane, this causes a counter-image on the higher mental plane. If one cherishes a feeling, this causes a counter-image on the budhi plane. If one is active on the physical plane, this causes a counter-image on the nirvana plane. As formerly the active thought created our passive thought, so an active thought creates a corresponding passive counter-image on the higher mental plane, and so on. So no thought can be grasped by us that does not have its counter-image, likewise no feeling, no action.

The sum of all these counter thoughts, counter experiences, counter actions is called the Akashic Chronicle. One can therefore read all the thoughts of man on the higher mental plane, all feelings and experiences on the budhi plane and all actions on the nirvana plane. The beings who now regulate the connection between the counter-images and the human being have great significance. Man lives out his thoughts on the mental plane. What the human being does in thought happens on the mental plane. There, in the Devachan, he builds up the character of his thought body for the new life between death and new birth. There are the counter-images of his earlier thoughts. These he draws to his mental body, freed from the physical and astral, and thus forms his future mental body according to the thought-images he has created. On the other hand, he would not be able to connect the counter-images of his experiences and actions with himself. This is subject to outside regulating entities, the masters of karma, the lipikas, who bring the created counter-images of man's feelings and deeds on the budhi and nirvana plane into connection with him - who already has the kamic and other sheaths around him again - for the following incarnations.“ (Lit.:GA 89, p. 174ff)

In the afterlife, man's consciousness penetrates up to the upper Devachan:

„When man passes through his life, he goes from birth or even from conception to death, then from death to a new birth. On the way to the new birth, after death, he first goes through the astral world, then what we call the lower part of the devachanic world, and then the upper part of the devachanic world. If we use European terms, we call the physical plane the small world or the world of the mind, the astral the world of the elementary, the lower devachan the heavenly world and the upper devachan the world of reason. And because the European spirit is only gradually working its way up to have the corresponding real expressions in its language, that which lies above the devachanic world has acquired a religiously coloured expression and is thus called the "world of Providence", which is the same as the buddhi plane. What lies above it could be seen by the old clairvoyance, and old traditions could give it to humanity, but no name could be given to it from the European languages, because only today the seer is working his way up to it again. So that above the world of providence lies a world for which, in a quite honest and correct way, there must not yet be a name in the European languages. It is really there, only thought is not yet so far advanced as to be able to characterise it; for even an arbitrary name cannot be found for what is otherwise called in Orientalism 'Nirvana' and what lies above the 'world of providence'.“ (Lit.:GA 116, p. 31f)

Bodhisattvas reach up with their consciousness to the buddhi plane, where the Christ meets them as a spiritual teacher, and when they have attained Buddha-dignity even to the realms of nirvana.

„Thus the bodhisattva beings ascend between two incarnations up to the buddhi plan, and up to the buddhi plan reaches that which confronts them fully consciously as a teacher: the entity of the Christ. On the buddhi plane the bodhisattvas and the Christ meet. And as men progress and develop those qualities which are instilled in them by the bodhisattvas, they will also become more and more mature to ascend to the same sphere.“ (Lit.:GA 116, p. 33)

Literatur

• Rudolf Steiner: Bewusstsein, Leben, Form. Grundprinzipien der geisteswissenschaftlichen Kosmologie., GA 89 (2001), Berlin, 3. November 1904 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Der Christus-Impuls und die Entwickelung des Ich-Bewusstseins, GA 116 (1982), Erster Vortrag, Berlin, 25. Oktober 1909 [[Lectures|116}}

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