Secret of the Abyss

The secret of the abyss is the first of the seven secrets of life Rudolf Steiner spoke of.

„Man has entered into development as a universal being. He then becomes a special being. At first he separated himself as a single sphere from a general sphere. These individual human spheres went through the various transformations. From one of the later transformations arose the so-called etheric double body. This stage of the first separation from the All-being is called the "sinking of consciousness into the abyss". This is reached in the physical stage of the first planet. It is preceded and followed by 24 stages. The middle stage, the 25th, is the densest. The physical disposition came into being as a rough physical sphere. The earth then resembled our ether or the light matter of our present earth, and after the fall of consciousness into the abyss had the form of a kind of mulberry.“ (Lit.:GA 89, p. 144ff)

Literature

• Kurt Rudolph: Die Gnosis. Wesen und Geschichte einer spätantiken Religion, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005 ISBN 3-525-52110-3
• Rudolf Steiner: Bewußtsein Leben Form, GA 89 (2001), Berlin, 29. Oktober 1904 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Anthroposophie als Kosmosophie – Erster Teil, GA 207 (1990), ISBN 3-7274-2070-7 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Esoterische Unterweisungen für die erste Klasse der Freien Hochschule für Geisteswissenschaft am Goetheanum. Band I, GA 270a (1999) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Esoterische Unterweisungen für die erste Klasse der Freien Hochschule für Geisteswissenschaft am Goetheanum. Band III, GA 270c (1999) 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.