The brain with its two "tablets of stone" (2 Cor 3,3; Ex 24,12), mineralized substance in left and right brain with its twelve pairs of nerves (see I-20), could then begin to develop, lifted as it is toward and reflecting the heavens.

Early human migrations from Atlantis, preceding those of Noah but long after the ape's appearance, resulted in the older hominoid skeletons nearest to homo sapiens, but the primary skeletal evidence for the evolution of the human being has to lie on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in the submerged continent of Atlantis.²⁴ These human skeletons developed far later than those of the animal kingdom, which was gradually expelled, species by species, from the spiritual world as the human being developed there in its descending mode.

In the case of every species, however, including the human being, it is as Teilhard has said: its earliest earthly existence was too fragile to imprint itself in the rocks of time. Even the animal skeletons that survived give us only a degenerated form of their earliest earthly presence. Poppelbaum's work graphically displays this phenomenon, the degeneration of each animal species as it becomes more and more specialized and efficient. Only the human being is unspecialized, able to adapt on Earth to its changing needs. Animals are condemned from the first to their defective, though highly efficient, forms.

The development of the unique human skull, so that a large brain and intellect could emerge, is shown later, particularly in the essay "What is Man?" Only this brief sketch is possible here, but it points to the profound insight that a deeper immersion into anthroposophy can reveal.

In its millennial edition (January 1, 2000), The Wall Street Journal included a special section of articles deemed appropriate for reflection and contemplation on that symbolically pivotal date. One of those, by Peter Waldman, was entitled "Unsolved Mysteries/A look at four questions that we may never answer" (p. R57). While significant, the fourth question, "Will War End?", seems out of character with the first three, which are basic to this book's quest. They are:

1. How did the universe start?

2. How did life begin?

3. What is consciousness?

That such a sophisticated publication as The Wall Street Journal is willing to admit, in spite of all that science and religion have given us to date, that humanity may never be able to answer these most basic questions, is itself a commentary upon the state of recognized science and religion today. Anthroposophy is unwilling to make that admission. The high level of consciousness attained by Rudolf Steiner, possible over time for all human souls, has revealed insight into these mysteries beyond anything science and religion have thus far given us. That the path to this insight is demanding, and that so few have found it, does not negate its existence (cf. Mt 7,13-14). Perhaps only Steiner himself has actually experienced the answers, and this in a realm to which earthly language fails to conform. But from his own experience and intuition of the higher spiritual world he has struggled to express, in human concepts and words that all can understand who devote themselves to the study, both the pathway to this experience and the answers to these fundamental questions. It is the demanding task of this book to set out, as far as my limited and inadequate capabilities permit, these concepts as I have been able to grasp them.

So we return to our beginning, "Was there a pattern on the mountain?" What is the meaning of the Lord's instruction to Moses to make the temple according to the pattern he was shown on the mountain (Heb 8,5; Ex 25,40)? While the human body is the earthly temple for the sojourning soul, it's higher counterpart, the resurrection body, must surely be what was seen on the mountain (Jn 2,19,21; Rev 11,1-2). It was patterned in the spiritual world (Heb 8,5; 9,24), whence the "I AM" descended, forming its bodies from that archetype. No builder starts until the architect has handed down the pattern—that comes first. Then the builder creates accordingly.

Science and Darwinism are right in espousing the principle of evolution, but wrong in directing it from animal to human and in giving up on the literal truth of the biblical creation account. The truth is, the human came first, though descending into minerality last, and all animal species are a by-product of that human descent. Fundamentalists and anti-intellectuals are right in denying human descent from apes, but wrong in rejecting human evolution (descent) and in degrading the biblical creation account by rejecting so much God-given phenomena. They are right in saying the biblical account is literally true, but wrong in their myopic understanding of that truth.

One sensitive to the content of The Burning Bush will see in it the reconciliation of these two antagonistic positions. And the concepts presented in the present volume should lead the student to even deeper understanding of the reality of evolution and of the literal accuracy of the Bible when its language is more deeply understood in its proper literary character.