THE DIFFERENCE IN ORIGIN OF MAN AND ANIMAL

TO MAKE CLEAR THE difference in origin of man and animal it is necessary to go more deeply into the various spheres of Creation than has been done hitherto.

Such conventional catch-words as the “group soul” of the animal as distinct from the personal “ego” of man no longer suffice for this purpose, although as such they are quite correct.

For these give only a general outline and deal with what lies nearest the earth, but do not indicate the essential difference!

It is necessary to know about the development of Creation as explained in the lecture: “The development of Creation”!

For the sake of a more comprehensive view, the main spheres from above downwards are reproduced here:

1. The Divine:

{Divinity Un-substantiate = God}

{Divine Substantiality}

2. Spiritual Substantiality:

{Conscious Spiritual Substantiality}

{Unconscious Spiritual Substantiality}

3. Animistic Substantiality:

{Conscious Animistic Substantiality}

{Unconscious Animistic Substantiality}

4. The Spheres of Matter:

{Ethereal Substance}

{Gross Matter}

Man has his spiritual origin in Unconscious Spiritual Substantiality, whereas the animal has its animistic origin in Unconscious Animistic Substantiality.

There is a huge difference between these two spheres.

The animating core of man is spirit.

The animating core of the animal, however, is animistic substantiality.

In this case a spirit stands above animistic substantiality; the origin of the inner man is consequently higher than that of the animal, while both have only the origin of their physical bodies in common.

The spirit of man, however, has over the ages developed his original purely animal body to a higher state of perfection than was possible for the animistic substantiality of the animal.

The theory of the natural development of the physical body from the lowest form of animal body right up to the human body is therefore correct.

It shows in every respect the continuous and uninterrupted working upwards of the Creative Will in Nature, a proof of its perfection.

But with this theory one very great mistake was made, that man did not take into account what lay beyond the World of Gross Matter!

If it is said that the human body, i.e., the gross material cloak of man, originates from the animal body which existed before the human body, this is correct.

These bodies, however, comprise neither the human being as such nor the animal as such, but solely serve as something necessary in the World of Gross Matter.

If one were to infer from this that the inner life of man also originated from that of the animal, this is an unpardonable and misleading error that must cause a conflict!

As a result of this conflict a sound intuitive feeling arises in many people against such a false assumption.

On the one hand they are attracted by the correctness of the assumption as far as the body is concerned, but on the other hand they are repulsed by the gross negligence which without further argument wants to apply the same precept to the origin of the inner man!

It is true that up till now science could hardly do otherwise than assert that in his natural development man must finally have originated from the animal and, above all, from an ape-like animal which in its form most closely resembled the human body.

This was because science was hitherto only able to concern itself with matter, and mainly with gross matter, which constitutes only a very minute part of Creation.

And of this science knows only the coarsest manifestations, thus very little indeed!

Today at last science has become capable of making use of various things that are valuable without, however, knowing their essential nature, but it is forced to use certain alien terms to do duty for lack of knowledge!

These terms merely denote the provisional classification of something existing which they can already use, but the essential nature of which they do not know, much less its origin!

Animistic substantiality and, to a far greater degree, spiritual substantiality stand above all matter.

Regarded from the earth upwards, they are the continuation up to the origin of all that exists, or looking downwards from On High, which is the more natural way, they are what preceded the World of Matter in the process of development.

It must be remembered that all that belongs to spiritual substantiality as well as to animistic substantiality naturally, and in accordance with its development, needs the cloak of a physical body as soon as, in obedience to the laws of development, it penetrates into the World of Gross Matter as an entity with a living core able to shape matter!

Every dissension will immediately be eliminated when at last all men’s investigations either penetrate higher into the regions beyond the Sphere of Matter, or they become capable of following the natural process of development from On High downwards.

The time has come when the first move in this direction should be made.

But the greatest care must be exercised lest the spiritual knowledge which bears the unmistakable stamp of logic is imperceptibly degraded to the level of ignorant phantasy!

It should be noted that animistic substantiality and spiritual substantiality can only be approached with a free, clear spirit, and not, as is the case in the World of Matter, with scales, scalpels and test tubes!

Nor can it be done with a constrained spirit or one hampered by prejudice, as is so often attempted!

The existing Laws of Creation make this automatically and irrevocably impossible.

In this matter the small human creature, even when possessed of the greatest presumption, can alter nothing of the perfection of the adamant Will of its Creator!

The essential difference between man and animal lies solely within.

An animal can only return to animistic substantiality after casting aside its physical body, whereas man returns to spiritual substantiality, which is far higher.

It is true that in a certain sense man can often descend to the level of the animal, but he must nevertheless always remain a human being, as he cannot shirk his responsibility, which is an inherent part of his spiritual origin!

On the other hand an animal, originating as it does from animistic substantiality, can never swing itself upwards to the level of a human being.

The difference between the bodies, however, lies only in the outer form, which has been more nobly developed in man by the spirit after it had entered the physical body.*

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