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This becomes different in the life between death and the new birth. This whole life between death and the new birth is destined to bring into the human being the forces which can serve to build up the next life, to suck these forces, so to speak, into the human being from the whole starry world. But in this process it is not as it is on Earth that one does not, so to speak, know oneself as a human being. For on Earth one does not know oneself. What does man know of the processes that take place in his organism? He knows nothing of it through direct observation; and what is gained through anatomy, biology and so on, is not real knowledge of the human being, but something quite different. But in the life between death and new birth, man looks at how the forces from the starry world act on him, on his beingness, how they gradually build him up again.|141|73}}
This becomes different in the life between death and the new birth. This whole life between death and the new birth is destined to bring into the human being the forces which can serve to build up the next life, to suck these forces, so to speak, into the human being from the whole starry world. But in this process it is not as it is on Earth that one does not, so to speak, know oneself as a human being. For on Earth one does not know oneself. What does man know of the processes that take place in his organism? He knows nothing of it through direct observation; and what is gained through anatomy, biology and so on, is not real knowledge of the human being, but something quite different. But in the life between death and new birth, man looks at how the forces from the starry world act on him, on his beingness, how they gradually build him up again.|141|73}}
{{GZ|This tree of life and this tree of knowledge must have something to do with the human being itself. The prohibition against eating from the tree of knowledge means - you will find this out in the end - that the soul of man should not seek knowledge that clings to the physical body; the present sensual conception arose from this. To "eat of the tree of knowledge" means to unite with the physical body in such a way that the present kind of knowledge - and I described it the other day - brought about by Lucifer, came into being. So the Elohim meant something about the human being itself when they spoke of the tree of knowledge. And again, they must mean something about the human being itself when they speak of the tree of life. One must ask oneself: Yes, how does man see as he sees today? How does he perceive in this way? Because his spiritual-soul, saturated with Lucifer's essence, is embedded in the physical body and eats away at it. This was not determined from the outset, that the soul should be embedded in the physical body as it is now. This physical body is the tree of knowledge, and the tree of life is the etheric body. Men, having allowed themselves to be seduced by Lucifer into using their physical body for the knowledge to which we are accustomed, should at least not now also have knowledge through the etheric body. This is denied them.
If one really thinks, my dear friends, one can come to such trains of thought. And then one must ask oneself: Why then do the gods call the physical body the tree of knowledge in their language? Why do they speak of a tree? And why do they call the etheric body the tree of life? Why do they speak of trees?
Now, one can easily understand what is meant in the language of the gods, if one considers that the gods of whom we are speaking had their special evolution during the Solar Time, that is, that they absorbed something essential precisely from the Solar Being. Now consider: Old Saturnian time - everything stands on the standpoint of the mineral; old solar time - everything stands on the standpoint of the vegetable. If, then, the gods whom we call the Elohim have acquired the character of their language during the Solar Time, they will, when they speak out, not speak of that which can only be experienced on the Moon and on the Earth, but of that into which the cosmos has developed up to the Solar Time, namely, the vegetable. That is why, when they speak in their language, they speak of trees, because they speak in the language of the Sun.|253|60f}}


== Literature ==
== Literature ==

Revision as of 12:58, 20 October 2021

Berthold Furtmeyr: Tree of Death and Life, Salzburg Missal (15th century)

The tree of life (Hebrew: עץ החיים °ez ha-chajjîm; Greek: τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς to xylon tēs zōēs; Latin: lignum vitae), spoken of in Genesis, is closely related to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Together they form the world tree, which is told about in the mythology of many peoples. In the language of the Elohim, which they had already developed on the Old Sun, the tree of life is the etheric body of man, while the tree of knowledge means the physical body (Lit.:GA 253, p. 58ff). In a handwritten note by Marie Steiner it says: "Tree of life means God-revealed wisdom." (Lit.:GA 265, p. 342) Specifically, the tree of life comprises the two highest ethers, the sound ether and the life ether. As a result of the Fall, man was deprived of the dominion over these two etheric species. Through the Christ, who is "the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6) and was sent into the world as Redeemer, access to the tree of life and its fruits is reopened to human beings.

An image for the tree of life is also the Sefirot tree of the Kabbalah. The tree of life also represents the forces that regenerate the human organism every night during sleep and thereby largely heal the damage caused by the waking daytime consciousness. This work is done by those spiritual beings who are called Laj'lah (Hebrew: לילה "night") in Genesis. They are Spirits of Personality retarded in their development on the Old Saturnian stage, who served the Elohim as Spirits of Darkness or Spirits of Night during the Six Days of Creation.

„This breaking down of our physical body, which we have today during the day awakening, was not allowed to be present during the Old Saturnian existence. If this had already been present during the Old Saturnian existence, then the first structure of our physical body would never have been able to form at all. For of course one cannot form anything if one begins to destroy. Saturn's activity on our body had to be a constructive one. This was ensured during Saturn's existence. The processes of destruction in our body take place precisely during the day, during the influence of the light; but the light was not yet present during the old Saturnian existence. Thus Saturn's activity for our physical body was a constructive one [...]

We must therefore hold that when we consider our present existence, we must regard this interplay, so to speak, of solar light-power and Saturnian dark-power as a necessity of our existence. When, therefore, the Elohim, through the weaving of the light-power, through that work which is done on us human beings or on the beings of the Earth in general during the influence of the light, appointed the Spirits of Personality as their sub-beings, they had to add to them as comrades the Saturnian beings who had remained behind. They had to weave together the whole work of the Universe from the correctly advanced and the retarded Archai. The retarded Archai work in darkness. Therefore the Elohim, trivially speaking, do not merely employ the beings designated by jom, but they oppose them with those who work in the darkness. And it is said, therefore, with wonderfully realistic description of the facts: And the Elohim, they called that which waved as spirits in the light, Jom, day; but that which waved in the darkness they called Lailah. - And this is not our abstract night, these are the Saturnian Archai, which at that time had not advanced to the solar stage, and these are also those who are still active in us today during night sleep, working on our physical and etheric bodies as constructive forces.“ (Lit.:GA 122, p. 101f)

In the life between death and a new birth, on the other hand, the next earthly incarnation is consciously prepared with these night forces.

„There, where it is said with reference to the life in paradise: The divine spirit decided that man, after he has acquired this or that, for example, the ability to judge good and evil, should not also receive an insight into the forces of life. - There is a passage in the Bible where it is pointed out that man should not witness the revival of his being during sleep, and should not witness the revival of his being during his physical existence on earth. He should not be a witness to it. And when the human being wakes up, the whole process of life is actually a process of destruction, a process of wear and tear [...]

This becomes different in the life between death and the new birth. This whole life between death and the new birth is destined to bring into the human being the forces which can serve to build up the next life, to suck these forces, so to speak, into the human being from the whole starry world. But in this process it is not as it is on Earth that one does not, so to speak, know oneself as a human being. For on Earth one does not know oneself. What does man know of the processes that take place in his organism? He knows nothing of it through direct observation; and what is gained through anatomy, biology and so on, is not real knowledge of the human being, but something quite different. But in the life between death and new birth, man looks at how the forces from the starry world act on him, on his beingness, how they gradually build him up again.“ (Lit.:GA 141, p. 73)

„This tree of life and this tree of knowledge must have something to do with the human being itself. The prohibition against eating from the tree of knowledge means - you will find this out in the end - that the soul of man should not seek knowledge that clings to the physical body; the present sensual conception arose from this. To "eat of the tree of knowledge" means to unite with the physical body in such a way that the present kind of knowledge - and I described it the other day - brought about by Lucifer, came into being. So the Elohim meant something about the human being itself when they spoke of the tree of knowledge. And again, they must mean something about the human being itself when they speak of the tree of life. One must ask oneself: Yes, how does man see as he sees today? How does he perceive in this way? Because his spiritual-soul, saturated with Lucifer's essence, is embedded in the physical body and eats away at it. This was not determined from the outset, that the soul should be embedded in the physical body as it is now. This physical body is the tree of knowledge, and the tree of life is the etheric body. Men, having allowed themselves to be seduced by Lucifer into using their physical body for the knowledge to which we are accustomed, should at least not now also have knowledge through the etheric body. This is denied them.

If one really thinks, my dear friends, one can come to such trains of thought. And then one must ask oneself: Why then do the gods call the physical body the tree of knowledge in their language? Why do they speak of a tree? And why do they call the etheric body the tree of life? Why do they speak of trees?

Now, one can easily understand what is meant in the language of the gods, if one considers that the gods of whom we are speaking had their special evolution during the Solar Time, that is, that they absorbed something essential precisely from the Solar Being. Now consider: Old Saturnian time - everything stands on the standpoint of the mineral; old solar time - everything stands on the standpoint of the vegetable. If, then, the gods whom we call the Elohim have acquired the character of their language during the Solar Time, they will, when they speak out, not speak of that which can only be experienced on the Moon and on the Earth, but of that into which the cosmos has developed up to the Solar Time, namely, the vegetable. That is why, when they speak in their language, they speak of trees, because they speak in the language of the Sun.“ (Lit.:GA 253, p. 60f)

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.
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