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of the men. In her soul woman was accessible to another kind of spiritual powers. The latter spoke
more to the feeling element of the soul, less to the spiritual, to which man was subject. Thus there
emanated from men an effect which was more natural-divine, from women one which was more soul-
divine.
The development which woman went through during the Lemurian period had the result that at the
appearance of the next  the Atlantean  root race on earth, an important role devolved upon her.
This appearance took place under the influence of highly developed entities, who were familiar with
the laws of the formation of races and capable of guiding the existing forces of human nature into
such paths that a new race could come into being. These beings will be specially mentioned further
on.
May it suffice for the moment to say that they possessed superhuman wisdom and power. They now
isolated a small group out of Lemurian mankind and designated these to be the ancestors of the
coming Atlantean race. The place where they did this was situated in the tropical zone. Under their
direction the men of this group had been trained in the control of the natural forces. They were very
strong, and knew how to win the most diverse treasures from the earth. They could cultivate the fields
and use their fruits for their subsistence.
They had become characters of strong will through the discipline to which they had been subjected.
Their souls and hearts were developed only in small measure. On the other hand these had been
developed among the women. Memory and fantasy and everything connected with them were to be
found among the latter.
The above-mentioned leaders caused the group to divide itself into smaller groups. They put the
women in charge of ordering and establishing these groups. Through her memory, woman had
acquired the capacity to make the experiences and adventures of the past useful for the future. What
had proved helpful yesterday she used today and realized that it would also be useful tomorrow.
The institutions for communal life therefore emanated from her. Under her influence the concepts of
"good and evil" developed. Through her thoughtful life she had acquired an understanding for nature.
Out of the observation of nature, those ideas developed in her according to which she directed the
actions of men. The leaders had arranged things in such a way that through the soul of woman, the
willful nature, the vigorous strength of man were ennobled and refined. Of course one must represent
all this to oneself as childish beginnings. The words of our language all too easily call up ideas which
are taken from the life of the present.
By way of the awakened soul life of the women the leaders first developed the soul life of the men. In
the colony we have described, the influence of the women was therefore very great. One had to go to
them for advice when one wanted to interpret the signs of nature. The whole manner of their soul life
however was still dominated by the "hidden" human soul forces. One does not describe the matter
quite exactly, but fairly closely, if one speaks of a somnambulistic contemplating among these
women.
In certain higher dreams the secrets of nature were divulged to them and they received the impulses
for their actions. Everything was animated for them and showed itself to them in soul powers and
apparitions. They abandoned themselves to the mysterious weaving of their soul forces. That which
impelled them to their actions were "inner voices," or what plants, animals, stones, wind and clouds,
the whispering of the trees, and so on, told them.
From this state of soul originated that which one can call human religion. The spiritual in nature and
in human life gradually came to be venerated and worshiped. Some women attained a special
preeminence because out of special mysterious depths they could interpret what the world contained.
Thus it could come to pass among such women that that which lived within them could transpose
itself into a kind of natural language. For the beginning of language lies in something which is similar
to song. The energy of thought was transformed into audible sound. The inner rhythm of nature
sounded from the lips of "wise" women. One gathered around such women and in their songlike
sentences felt the utterances of higher powers. Human worship of the gods began with such things.
For that period there can be no question of "sense" in that which was spoken. Sound, tone, and rhythm
were perceived. One did not imagine anything along with these, but absorbed in the soul the power of
what was heard. The whole process was under the direction of the higher leaders. They had inspired
the "wise" priestesses with tones and rhythms in a manner which cannot now be further discussed.
Thus they could have an ennobling effect on the souls of men. One can say that in this way the true
life of the soul first awakened.
In this realm, beautiful scenes are shown by the Akasha Chronicle. One of these will be described. We
are in a forest, near a mighty tree. The sun has just risen in the east. The palmlike tree, from around
which the other trees have been removed, casts mighty shadows. The priestess, her face turned to the
east, ecstatic, sits on a seat made of rare natural objects and plants. Slowly in rhythmical sequence, a
few strange, constantly repeated sounds stream from her lips. A number of men and women are sitting
in circles around her, their faces lost in dreams, absorbing inner life from what they hear.
Other scenes too can be seen. At a similarly arranged place a priestess "sings" in a similar manner, but
her tones have in them something mightier, more powerful. Those around her move in rhythmic
dances. For this was the other way in which "soul" entered into mankind. The mysterious rhythms
which one had heard from Nature were imitated by the movements of the limbs. One thereby felt at
one with nature and with the powers acting in her.
The place on earth in which this stock of a coming race of men was developed was especially suited
for this purpose. It was one where the then still turbulent earth had become fairly calm. For Lemuria
was turbulent. After all, the earth at that time did not yet have its later density. The thin ground was
everywhere undermined by volcanic forces which broke forth in smaller or larger streams. Mighty
volcanos existed almost everywhere and developed a continuous destructive activity. Men were
accustomed to reckoning with this fiery activity in everything they did. They also used this fire in
their labors and contrivances. Their occupations were often such that the fire of nature served as a
basis for them in the same way as artificial fire does in human labor today.
It was through the activity of this volcanic fire that the destruction of the Lemurian land came about.
While the part of Lemuria from which the parent race of the Atlanteans was to develop had a hot
climate, it was by and large free of volcanic activity.
Human nature could unfold more calmly and peacefully here than in the other regions of the earth.
The more nomadic life of former times was abandoned, and fixed settlements became more and more
numerous.
One must represent to oneself that at that time the human body still had very malleable and pliant
qualities. This body still changed form whenever the inner life changed. Not long before, men had still
been quite diverse as regards their external form. At that time the external influence of region and
climate were still decisive in respect to their form. Only in the colony described did the body of man
Increasingly become an expression of his inner soul life. Moreover, this colony had an advanced
externally more nobly formed race of men. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]