Overview, Page 5

Progressively from the time of the Fall until the coming of Christ (and even until the present for the bulk of humanity, which continues to misapprehend and miss the fullness of Christ), the consciousness of the human being darkened. The gods (God) “hid their face” more and more through the Atlantean epoch even until now. This was experienced by Moses as the “Fading Splendor,” by the prophets as typified by the echo of Isaiah lamenting the loss of spiritual seeing, hearing and understanding (Is 6,9-13), and by the people of Israel first as the encroaching shades of “Sheol” and ultimately as the “end of prophecy.”

The separation from the gods in the form of loss of divine consciousness brought about an increase in “wickedness” (Gen 6,5). The fifth of the seven Atlantean eras (or ages) is called that of the Shemites, the ancestors of the Semitic race of the post-Atlantean Epoch. The exalted leader of those who came to be called Shemites was head of the Sun Oracle, or Sun Mysteries. He was known as “Manu,” who is called “Noah” in the Bible, and he brought it about that certain advanced individuals, seven in number (Gen 6,10,18 and 7,7), should be fashioned to lead Atlantean civilization into the next epoch. Atlantis was eventually brought to an end by violent earthquake and volcanic activity, causing it to subside and become the floor of the ocean named for it. Plato speaks of the unnavigable mud from this subsidence west of the “pillars of Hercules” (Gibraltar). Prior to the final cataclysms, however, the floods were increasingly menacing, brought about by the condensation of the ancient “mists” as the earth condensed, along with massive glacial melt caused by the increasing sunlight through the decreasing mists. Eventually, the mists were so thin that the Sun became visible to the human being’s eyes and it was even possible for a rainbow to be seen (Gen 9,13).

The human being, in its evolution, had expelled, one by one, the various animal natures that hardened into the animal kingdom. However, some residue of the astral nature of each animal remained within the human being, so that when Noah took into the ark the animals of all kinds, he was taking into the post-Atlantean Epoch the human being filled wi th ani mal nature of al l ki nds, whi ch woul d have t o be puri f i ed over t i me. The dimensions of the ark, 300 by 50 by 30 cubits (Gen 6,15), are essentially proportional to the mineral-physical body the human being would carry over from Atlantean to post-Atlantean times. This was the original “ark of the covenant.”

The disappearance of Atlantis actually covered a long period of time, but the final events were approximately ten to twelve thousand years ago, coinciding with the end of the last great ice age and the first archaeologically established appearance of humanity in the areas of the Biblical account. The migrations from Atlantis were much more extensive and complex than can presently be indicated, but it was the Noah migration that established the principal lines of the human passage into the post-Atlantean Epoch.

Human etheric and astral bodies extended far beyond the physical body in Atlantean times. Being without an indwelling Ego, and thus not yet possessed of any degree of intellect, the human being was endowed, instead, with incredible memory. That memory was a function of the etheric body and included the experiences of one’s ancestors for long periods of time through the blood connection. The Biblical reckoning of generations prior to Abraham was different from subsequent times in that it counted as a single generation all those generations through which the memory was carried by the blood connection—being thus known by the name of the first of the line.

Gradually over time the etheric and astral bodies condensed ever further into the physical body so that today they are nearly coterminous. Because it was through the portion of these less dense bodies not yet integrated into the physical that perception of spiritual beings was possible, this capability dwindled away with the passage of time, but the myths of old are real experiences of the human being of Atlantean times, given of course in allegorical form. Today’s disinclination toward these myths corresponds to the inclination to interpret the Biblical allegorical myths according to their vulgar meaning, but the deeper truths will not be attained in this manner, however much historical fact may be conveniently woven within them. It is the deeper truth and not the few surface facts that the purveyors intended.

So complete were the memories of ancient times that there was no need to write anything down. Only as this capacity faded did the necessity for writing arise around 3,000 B.C. But as the human etheric body drew ever more within the physical, thus losing memory and perception within the spiritual world, the intellect correspondingly grew, albeit still in a most primitive state. All the time, hardening was proceeding as the material world came more and more into the human being’s focus and interest in the spiritual faded away.

The advanced Atlanteans led by Noah (Manu) went first to an area near Ireland and then overland to settle in a secluded portion of Asia. Post-Atlantean evolution also comprises seven divisions known as “Cultural Eras,” of which we are now in the fifth. The first two were prehistoric, being the Ancient Indian (emanating from Manu) and then, “from the east” (Gen 11,2), the Ancient Persian led by one prehistoric Zarathustra. These were followed by the Chaldo-Egyptian, Greco-Roman and the present Germanic. Still in the future will be the Slavic and finally the Anglo-American. Each era lasts 2,160 years, and is known from the predominant evolutionary impulse of its time. These seven Cultural Eras are reflected in the “churches” whose “angels” are addressed in the seven “letters” of the Apocalypse. The characteristics of each Era can be readily detected in the light of anthroposophical insight.

The Ancient Indians under Manu and his “seven holy rishis” were a people who looked backward at the spiritual world, seeing reality there and “maya” in the tangible world. But they still understood the universal word expressed in the letters of the ancient alphabet, the representatives of the heavenly bodies. With the transition to the times of Ancient Persia, the human being turned its attention to the outer world. Under the leadership of Zarathustra, it was able to see there the manifestation of the spirit. Zarathustra (“shining star”) could see the Spirit of the descending Christ in the Sun’s aura, which he called Ahura Mazda, or Ormuzd (“great aura”). As its antithesis, he spoke of Ahriman, the evil being who hides the reality of the spirit existing in all creation and leads human beings to think of materiality as the ultimate reality. This Zarathustra lived many earthly lives between then and the Incarnation, including one as the great Babylonian teacher of the Hebrew prophets known as Zarathas or Zoroaster (or Zarathustra). The Matthew Gospel, via the Essenes, reflects what Zarathustra taught.