IAO

From Anthroposophy

IAO stands for 'I' Alpha Omega, or in Greek Iota Alpha Omega, and is a symbol for the cosmic divine concept of 'I am'.

IAO was the esoteric name of God in the ancient Mysteries. Helena Blavatsky explains that the names originates even before the Greek or Hebrew cultures, referring to the Chaldean and Indian cultures. Rudolf Steiner also links to the most ancient of the Mysteries (1924-09-06-GA346).

The mantra of IAO appears throughout Gnostic and early Hermetic literature, and relates to time and to the seeing oneself in time and outside time. See also the variant AIO as in 'aion' for boundless time or eternity. As such, it can be regarded as a symbol for the eternal, the divine that stands above the rhythms as found in nature and evolution.

The true Human 'I' is spiritual and in continuous evolution throughout the planetary stages of evolution (Schema FMC00.327 and Schema FMC00.329), and even before and after this - making it eternal. As a spark of the monad, this links Man to the highest divinity of the three Logoi and the principle called the 'I am', and positions Man and the human 'I', specifically Man's higher triad, as an integral part of the greater divinity.

Aspects

  • "I am alpha and omega"
  • ouroboros (greek: ouro-boros for tail-eating): ancient symbol depicting a serpent biting its own tail, found in Egyptian iconography, in the Greek magical tradition, up to rosecrucian teachings (see Schema FMC00.328).

Various

  • ‘ I A O - The Cosmic Image of Man' is a Motif originally sketched by Rudolf Steiner to be painted in the large cupola above the speakers rostrum in the first Goetheanum. The image contains three themes: the I (the wrath of God and the yearning or grief of God), the A (the dance of Seven), and the O (the circle of Twelve)
    • for symbolism of seven and twelve, see ao Schema FMC00.551 on Book of Ten Pages
    • God: the universal energy that creates (G: to generate), preserves (O: to operate) and destroys .. but ending means not really destruction, but dying off so new can emerge, meaning re-generation. (quote by Sri M, see Christ Module 9: Trinity and Logoi#1 - Some movies)
  • IAO meditation exercises in Rudolf Steiner's esoteric lessons (see GA267 and GA268, also somewhat hidden in GA040A p. 44.)
  • I-A-O in Eurythmy (pronounced “ee-ah-oh”)
    • the I-A-O movement meditation is the first eurythmy exercise, given by Rudolf Steiner to Lory Maier-Smits in Sep-1912.

Other

Inspirational quotes

Bhagavad Gita

I am the Spirit of creation, its beginning, its middle and its end; among the starts I am the Sun, among the elements - fire; among the seas - the cosmic ocean; among the serpents - the eternal serpent. I am the ground of the worlds.

St. Francis of Assisi see also Schema FMC00.328 with illustrations of the ouroboros

What we are looking for is what is looking.

1909-04-10-GA109

In the divine poem, the Bhagavad Gita .. we have the wonderful words that Krishna, in whom Vishnu lives as an avatar...

“I am the spirit of creation, its beginning, its middle, its end;

I am the Sun among the stars, fire among the elements, the great ocean among the waters, the eternal snake among all snakes.

I am the basis of everything.”

No words can proclaim more beautifully and more magnificently the all-embracing, omnipotent divinity.

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.327 are illustrations from the esoteric lesson of 1908-06-15-GA266A referenced in full below.

See also Schema FMC00.329 below for an expanded version at a higher level, to shed light and provide an explanation to the picture on the right.

FMC00.327.jpg

Schema FMC00.568 illustrates the great cosmic principle also described by IAO or the ouroboros (Schema FMC00.328), the principle of 'the highest divinity who wants to know itself' as the ultimate underlying principle of creation, the cosmos, or the cosmic fractal.

At the core and heart is the ultimate property of the highest divinity, acting out of selfless devotion to the world out of love as an act of freedom (1903-11-16-GA090A).

What this means is further covered in spiritual science by the study of evolution, and a pathway of development for spiritual beings reaching I-consciousness and evolving along a ladder of twelve conditions of consciousness, as depicted on Schema FMC00.329.

FMC00.568.jpg

Schema FMC00.328 shows various illustrations of the ouroboros (greek: ouro-boros for tail-eating), an ancient symbol depicting a serpent biting its own tail. The symbol is found in Egyptian iconography, in the Greek magical tradition, up to rosecrucian teachings (lower left, and right).

The upper left BBD by Rudolf Steiner is part of the GA206 lectures explaining the nature of the Human 'I', see Schema FMC00.290 on that page.

FMC00.328.jpg


Schema FMC00.329 is a meta study schema.

It takes Schema FMC00.077A on the lower right as the basis, to show how the various hierarchies are in process of a continuous dynamic whereby they arise from creation by the three logoi and the sacrifice and work of the downstream hierarchies, and develop and re-ascent within the logos. They are absorbed again in the highest planes of mahaparanirvana and paranirvana (see FMC00.062).

This is represented by the blue circle depicting the snake that bites its own tail (FMC00.328), and this way the highest divinity is continuously getting to know itself as the 'I am' or the eternal 'I' from Alpha to Omega.

The blue circle can also be seen as a cosmic breathing cycle, as the great cosmic breath of Brahma. Contemplate the cycle of Twelve conditions of consciousness: One can imagine that with each breath, the schema advances by one planetary stage and a whole new creation gets created on the lowest level of that CoC-ladder (left on the FMC00.077A schema), and a certain hierarchy is absorbed again into the bosom of the divine godhead at the highest levels of that CoC-ladder (beyond right on the FMC00.077A schema). This thought is referred to on this site as the Cosmic Fractal, because of its intertwined and encapsulated levels of complexity at different scales (as exemplified by eg 25920, or recapitulation)

This can be approached intellectually by contemplating the outpourings of the three Logoi. See middle of the blue circle FMC00.171 as well as FMC00.170 for the intertwined threefolded streams that then map to the three outpourings (FMC00.067) along the Three dimensions of evolution: conditions of consciousness, life and form. (FMC00.010A and eg FMC00.196 on Overview of solar system evolution). FMC00.062 connects the seven creative spirits before the throne, and the 21 prajapatis to these three dimensions of evolution at the CoC, CoF, CoL level on nirvana and budhi planes. The solar system evolution with manvantaras and pralayas is usually shown upto the higher spirit world, but FMC00.196 and better even FMC00.057 show the transformative effect during pralaya at the budhi and nirvana planes. This 'reversal of budhi' is explained in Christ Module 7 - Cosmic dimension (on the basis of the GA089 lectures).

Man is shown on FMC00.077A but also on Steiner's drawing FMC00.327 in its path of consciousness along the Twelve conditions of consciousness (CoC). Of course this Development of the 'I' consciousness has multiple stages along that CoC-ladder, from the bosom of the Archai (1925-01-11-GA026) on Old Saturn via the Group souls of humanity on Old Moon to the individuation on Earth. Ultimately however the goal is that humanity as the Tenth spiritual hierarchy become gods as they go through the higher CoC=5 to 7 in the next three planetary stages, and higher CoC=8 and 9 to the sacrifice and bosom of the highest divinity again.

Note: For the above, it may be useful to also include the Cosmic fractal considerations in contemplation this schema, as well as Schema FMC00.276 on Overview of solar system evolution or the more detailed Schema FMC00.413 on Old Saturn.

FMC00.329.jpg

Schema FMC00.570A: is a meta schema that provides guidance for approaching study, referencing three FMC wiki topic pages (in green) where the following five to eight key lecture extracts can be studied, along with the five schemas below. The goal is to grasp what is underlying Schema FMC00.570.

The Mahat principle (Schema FMC00.568) is described on the IAO topic page, and it is shows the essential nature of the three Logoi and divinity, the principle underlying the evolution of the cosmic fractal along ever greater complexity and conditions of consciousness.

On the Creation by the three Logoi, the principle of FMC00.067A and B is explained in the key lecture in blue.

That lecture is expanded upon in the two lectures on the Human aura page on the right. There, the principles covered before, are sketched concretely for the current Earth stage and the development of Man, both described evolutionary based on clairvoyant aura structures. In conclusion this can be connected to the upper right illustration, how the human being is becoming an evolving creator being, Free Man Creator, contributing to creation .. as a step along the CoC-ladder and future conditions of consciousness as a planetary spirit and as a zodiac. This then comes full circle with FMC00.568. See also: Christ Module 10 - Tenth Hierarchy.

A similar study journey can be followed after this, using FMC00.329 and FMC00.077A as a basis, linking these with FMC00.564 and FMC00.564A to gain a broader perspective on creation.

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Schema FMC00.570: connects three levels of viewing evolution: at the level of planetary stage of evolution to Condition of Consciousness for the spiritual hierarchy of humanity, how this develops on the fourth planetary stage Earth, and how we can follow this evolution for the human being.

The high level cosmic principles such as Mahat (Schema FMC00.568) and the principle of creation by the three logoi (Schema FMC00.067A and Schema FMC00.067B) are connected to the development of Man's bodily principles and how this can be followed with clairvoyant spiritual vision in the aura of the human being (Schema FMC00.569).

Note this is an ambitious schema in terms of conceptual scope, this first implementation of the idea is probably suboptimal. For now, this Schema will make sense and come to life when studying seven lectures together, as presented on Schema FMC00.570A.

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Schema FMC00.577: shows three oil crayon sketches by Rudolf Steiner with IAO motifs for the work on the large cupola of the first Goetheanum. The three images were merged into the overall cupola paintings.

From left to right: the 'I': God's wrath and God's melancholy, the 'A': the round dance of the Seven, the 'O': the circle of the Twelve.

Many variants of these as well as the blended IAO exist as painted by Gerard Wagner (1906-1999), see the book 'The Goetheanum cupula motifs of Rudolf Steiner' (2011).

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Lecture coverage and references

Pistis Sophia - Fifth Book

a gnostic text discovered in 1773 and placed around the 3th or 4th century AD

It came to pass then, when Jesus our Lord had been crucified and had risen from the dead on the third day, that his disciples gathered round him, adored him and said: "Our Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have abandoned father and mother and the whole world and have followed thee."

At that time Jesus stood with his disciples on the water of the Ocean and made invocation with this prayer, saying:

"Hear me, my Father, father of all fatherhood, boundless Light: aeēiouō iaō aōi ōia psinōther thernōps nōpsither zagourē pagourē nethmomaōth nepsiomaōth marachachtha thōbarrabau tharnachachan zorokothora ieou [= Yew] sabaōth."

And while Jesus said this, Thomas, Andrew, James and Simon the Cananite were in the west with their faces turned towards the east, and Philip and Bartholomew were in the south turned towards the north, and the rest of the disciples and the women-disciples stood back of Jesus. But Jesus stood at the altar.

And Jesus made invocation, turning himself towards the four corners of the world with his disciples, who were all clad in linen garments, and saying: "iaō iaō iaō."

This is its interpretation:

  • iōta, because the universe hath gone forth;
  • alpha, because it will turn itself back again;
  • ōmega, because the completion of all the completeness will take place.

.

He continueth to make invocation. And when Jesus had said this, he said:

"iaphtha iaphtha mounaēr mounaēr ermanouēr ermanouēr."

That is:

"O father of all fatherhood of the boundless [spaces], hear me for the sake of my disciples whom I have led before thee, that they may have faith in all the words of thy truth, and grant all for which I shall invoke thee; for I know the name of the father of the Treasury of the Light."

1908-06-15-GA266A

The illusion of the senses covers the illusion of time.

The illusion of time separates Alpha Omega.

The goal of this esoteric lesson is always deeper penetration into esotericism until we can pass over into exercises, mantric exercises. In order to push forward to the great secret it is necessary to set aside our illusions.

At certain stages of evolution illusions are necessary for human beings. An esoteric pupil will, with time, set them aside. The great illusion of the personal "I" is to be set aside.

The true "I" of the human being is not contained in it, but rather comes out of the indefinite and takes its course into the indefinite.

We become conscious of the ‘I’ in the physical world through the senses. This appears to contradict the fact that a certain point in the etheric head came together with one like it in the physical head during the Atlantean epoch, and in this way the ‘I’ entered into the human being. Yet this ‘I’ was, so to speak, only like a small little pocket that sank down into the human being.

And the true ‘I’, which was spread out through the planets from Old Saturn to Future Vulcan, radiated into it. The best symbol is: this little pocket is like a mirror into which the true ‘I’ streams from this string of planetary stages throughout evolution.

I said that it goes into the indefinite because it did not begin in Old Saturn, and after the Future Vulcan state it continues further. Therefore we imagine it as a line on which individual personal lives are formed like running knots.

If we know how to extinguish the personal ‘I’ that we become conscious of through the senses, then the line that leads from the indefinite into the indefinite lies before us:

"The illusion of the senses covers the illusion of time."

Yet it lies before us as a line only through the illusion of time. If we think of this line as somewhat curved,  then it must close in a circle.

Therefore the the second sentence:

"The illusion of time separates Alpha Omega.”


I am Alpha Omega, or ‘I’ Alpha Omega.

The true significance of the snake that bites its own tail.

The ‘I’ Alpha Omega = I A O  was the foundation for the Atlantean Tau.

On Mahat

1903-09-28-GA090A

lecture title: Worldly wisdom and human wisdom

edited machine translation, SWCC. This is a very early lecture, the notes are concise, so it is for meditative contemplation not just reading.

Today I would like to come back to some things that relate to human principles. We must seek out what is in the world as it is in ourselves.

  • The clock is a device that is only possible thanks to an intelligence that has put it together. It is foolish to say that the clock has given itself this wise arrangement. It would be just as foolish to say that Man created his own design.
  • We have a little piano in our ears, the Corti's organ. There are little hairs on it; and the hair is tuned to a certain tone. It resonates when a note is struck on the piano. In this way, the vibrations of the air are transmitted to the hairs, which then resonate.
  • It is the same with the eye. The eye is also a complicated apparatus that has been created by wisdom.

In this way, the human being is materialized wisdom. The world was made according to thoughts.

We call the wisdom in space 'cosmic wisdom' or 'mahat'. Mahat is the sum total of wisdom spread out in the world.

So it is a peeling out of wisdom from the clock. This is just as Man draws wisdom from nature.

Mahat is the archetype of wisdom. 'Mala' is the image of Mahat in Man.

[Cosmic breath of Brahma]

According to Indian teaching, Brahma was alone at first, slumbering, then he awoke. One night of Brahma was over.

The creative wisdom awoke in him. There was nothing left but the creative wisdom of Brahma. And this creative wisdom is Mahat.

A solar system exists as a thought in the mind of Brahma. We think about this cosmic thought.

[key section]

Wisdom is present everywhere in the world.

It flows from a kind of spiritual seed into our soul. Cosmic wisdom is in the soul. Mala lives in many.

Mahat lives only once.

As Mahat becomes individual, i.e. becomes Mala, it needs a connecting link. This is Ahankara. Through Ahankara, every human being is connected to the general wisdom of the world.

[meditation]

I immerse myself in myself and step back from the outer world of the senses. By breaking off this bridge, I am allowed to look inwards. I have the commonality of everything within me through Ahankara. I must go back to the wisdom of the world.

First Man finds Manas within himself and then he finds Ahankara, which leads him back to unity, to divine wisdom.

When we go through Ahankara, you will realize that we are going through an important spiritual process. We generally become more awakened. It is the awareness that one's own Self is a piece of the divine Self. I then do not remain in my self, but I begin to feel myself as a member of the general Mahat. I am only because I was originally placed in the world by a divine thought.

Ahankara leads to merging into the world of God's thoughts.

I and the Father are one. I do not speak because I want to, but because I let Ahankara flow in.

For the physical sense world, we would be making a mistake to say, "I and the others are one."

[for Man and humanity]

Mahat is also what we call atma in Theosophy.

I think two thoughts: One: "I want to go into town tomorrow."; and two: "I want to visit a friend." These are two thoughts that are present in my soul as one.

So people are thoughts of Mahat. People are together in Mahat.

Mahat has many atmas, but all the atmas are together in Mahat.

This Mahat of the world system in which we evolve is the 'Third Logos'.

And so we can say: We consist of three principles, firstly of Manas, secondly of Budhi and thirdly of Atma. If we rise to this, we are no longer individuals [editor: but we are part of cosmic principles, see budhi and Monad]. At the level of the Atma, we call the thought image.

[another angle]

Let us now try to understand the difference even more clearly.

What lives in us as a thought is, according to its true meaning, a shadow image, according to its true essence. According to its true essence, it behaves like the shadow to the object. The shadow image is only there when the lamp is there and I am there.

But you can also sit in such a way that you only ever see the shadow images.

If we could go out into that sphere where the true beings of these shadow images are, we would recognize the archetypes. And we also call these archetypes 'spirit'. Spirit is a spiritual entity that is both thought and will. Thus it is creative thought. The living entities are realities, are individuality. An intellectual thought is that which lives with kama-manas.

If we free the intellectual thought from the symbols, we are left with only a gray generality, an abstract thought. The soul must have passed through this abstract thought. Then new content flows in from above instead of from below.

When we walk down the street, our thoughts are stimulated from outside. But they must also be able to receive impressions from within.

[how does this work in Man and the bodily principles]

We can make ourselves passive, i.e. we can surrender to Mahat, the third Logos. We then call this 'spiritual' or 'intuition'. Thus the spiritual flows into us through Ahankara, through manas.

That is why manas can be influenced from above, by budhi, and from below, by Brahma, by the sense world.

We thus have nine principles. Then we have to deal with the tenth.

The seventh principle is the third Logos. We can also only speak of seven principles.

Man has currently developed four principles. The fifth principle is in the process of emerging, and the next two are still completely undeveloped.

If a principle disappears down below, another one must enter from above. What we discard at the bottom must be replaced at the top.

We do not fill the whole body with our consciousness. We have no more control over the manas bodily principle in kamaloka than you have control over the physical body here. When we come after the spirit world devachan, ahankara or budhi enters.

In the spirit world it is not as cold as it is often made out to be, because the spirits that pass through do not feel. While in physical life and in kamaloka we are attached to the particular, here we feel the great, the whole, the great primordial being of the world in which all things flow together. Ahankara becomes all the more alive when we have freed ourselves from the particularity of kamaloka. The more kama disappears, the more budhi appears in us.

The development of the budhi is an essential development of the emotional life, but in such a way that the world of special interests is transformed into the world of unified interests. The mystic calls this the purification of the astral body. It would be wrong to believe that the mystic should become numb. On the contrary, we should not be cold towards the world, but rather oriented towards the center of which every individual being is a part. We must become objective.

[the 'law']

Righteousness in feeling is the same as what Paul calls the law. Paul says: sin entered the world through the law. Without the law, sin would be dead.

You will not be able to call the kama nature of the lion or the tiger a sin. Because the animal is not able to reawaken in itself what lives outside as kama in a refined form. It is different when the being is able to unite all the special interests under the law. Budhi is subject to the law. If there were only animal kama-natures, there would be no sin in the world.

The law is born out of Budhi. As long as kama only appears in nature, there is no sin. Only after there are beings through whom Budhi could work, that is, beings who could form the law, there is sin. I use the power of feeling to arrive at the great unity of nature. The animal can find satisfaction in the pleasure of the senses. Man cannot, because Budhi demands more. Budhi is the sum of the emotional world.

The same has been divided into the individual creatures. Not a drop of the emotional world should be lost.

What remains unpurified is alive, but our task is to return it all to the common reservoir from which it emerged.

That is why spiritual science demands that we work together.

[see: Communicating over spiritual science]

Our task is to collect the feelings so that they can pass over to the new planet as a unity.

[see: Unification, Second Adam, and Transition between Earth and Future Jupiter]

[counterforces]

What is left behind from the Old Moon has remained unprocessed as the Eighth Sphere. This residue of our moon is connected to the unprocessed part of our ancestors. It is what pulls us down.

These are landmarks that have to be dragged along, and the delays in cosmic development are connected to this.

This is also connected to what we have come to know under the brothers of the shadow and their influence.

1903-11-16-GA090A

title: Diversity from Unity

edited machine translation, SWCC. This is a very early lecture, the notes are concise, so it is for meditative contemplation not just reading.

relevant because it accompanies the unique illustration with this lecture

[past, present and future]

The human being consists of body, soul and spirit, of three epochs of the cosmos: past, present and future.

Our round today: Present; the previous: Past; what is to come, the following rounds: Future.

  • 'Past' as an expression of the primordial spirit. Think of the primordial spirit as water; everything physical is the solidified state of water.
  • 'Present' is the soul;
  • the 'Future' lies within us as a seed.

.

(We cannot yet see the soul, but we are approaching the time when the soul can also be seen.

The past is the same as the future - the content of both is the present.)

[multiplicity returning to unity]

The content is diverse and manifold - starting from the One - the multiplicity returns to unity.

The primordial spirit as creative power is conceived as the center.

Now the creative power emits thoughts as rays emanating from the center. Each such ray is a soul.

Now, not every soul [...] is the creative power, but a part of it - it is active and strives towards the whole again.

Could we compare the soul itself with this creative power?

The soul continually produces thoughts and sends them out into space; but not every thought is independent and can act independently as a being like the soul as the thought of God. The path of development is twofold: original source as creative power - and thoughts.

[note on the reason for existence]


We cannot investigate the reason for God's devotion. We can know how a machine works by studying it. With a plant, although we can study the laws here too, it is more difficult to determine its design and development. With animals it is even more difficult. With the lower human being we can still determine by observation what he does, which is no longer possible with the more highly developed.

There it is an act of freedom. So the highest act of freedom of the Creator is this gratuitous devotion to the world out of love.

No compulsion. So there is no "logical" reason for us with the great spirit.

Plato as an initiate - as well as other sages - called love the reason for the universe.

The present as the connection between past and future is the power within us as astral bodies.

Third Logos Wisdom. Therefore renunciation of why? Because God as Creator created the world in the act of his supreme freedom:

God, original source, unity, a multiplicity of himself through devotion to the world out of love.

Example:

  • Water scattered into many drops; the drop is still the same water,
  • then Annie Besant: Fire, and bursting forth - sparks.


Since we are now thoughts - drops, or sparks - of the Highest, we remember our origin.

Remembrance = memory - Plato

In the beginning was the word - unpronounceable! When I pronounce it, it consists of letters; each letter has a different sound. We are - every being - such a letter to the word. Hence the diversity of beings, because in order to speak a word, different sounds are necessary.

Word - multiplicity - that is you - it is me - I am me!

  • I.                    Logos           omnipotence
  • II.                  Logos           Power
  • III.                Logos           Wisdom
1904-08-13-GA090A

edited machine translation, SWCC. This is a very early lecture, the notes are concise, so it is for meditative contemplation not just reading.

relevant because it accompanies the unique illustration with this lecture

Today's topic is how what is called 'ancient wisdom', was actually originally created and how it came to Earth.

[Two types]

There are two types of knowledge and cognition.

  • Imagine the inventor of a clock making one, two or three clocks according to the plan he originally had. So first there was the thought, then came the actual reality. This is a kind of knowledge of a thing.
  • To get to know the other way, let us imagine that the watchmaker has died; the watches are there and someone else studies them, finds out the plan and makes other watches. He received the same knowledge, but in a different way; for him the sensory clock came first, then the idea, (whereas for the other person the idea came first.

These two ways of acquiring knowledge are also present in the universe.

  • A thought, which corresponds to the laws of reality and is there before the sense object, is called 'intuitive thought'. It is born from the mind itself, a child of the mental world.
  • The other is a child of the sense world, it is called 'inductive thought'.

Now let us see how the difference can be made out between the previous ones and the disciples.

  • The inventor will be able to communicate his thoughts because he is a creator, a creator, because he was present when the sensual emerged from the mental.
  • The one who has imitated will also [hole in the transcript]

The same difference exists between the first teachers of humanity and the later ones.

  • For the first teachers of mankind were involved in the creation, they were the creators, they were involved when the world was still a cosmic thought. They [hole in the transcript] The first Arhat or Maha were involved in the creation of the world. In the middle of the third epoch, when the human kingdom came into being .. [hole in the transcript] ... They brought knowledge from the workshop, and that is 'ancient wisdom'; they brought what they had experienced.
  • The knowledge that one gains afterwards is the same as that which the original great spirits have from the laws of creation themselves.

If one really knows something, then one also has those laws according to which the world is created.

Manas and Mahat are therefore the same in content.

Only:

  • Manas is in us: 'I'.
  • And mahat is spread out as a tableau fiber the whole world.

.

Only the way of being is different, the content is the same. The more we increase in knowledge, the more [hole in the transcript]

What was taught at that time from the creative activity of the sculptors was the first wisdom, and it is therefore more than what all science can acquire. This esoteric proposition that the world has its origin in cosmic thoughts and that knowledge culminates in human thought formation [hole in the transcript]

The 'I' enters into the formation of the world; within the I - Mahat. The I, the creator, encompasses Mahat.

The development consists of the I extending its sphere to cover the whole of Mahat, and in the end Mahat itself is within the I.

What is the difference?

  • Beginning: Mahat is outside the I,
  • end: Mahat is inside the I.

Beginning and end thus differ only in that the I has sacrificed itself as a special being and has acquired mahat as the content of this sacrifice.

The world-building process consists in the fact that the I, which was previously excluded from Mahat, subsequently has Mahat as its content. Not Mahat, but the I has undergone a development.

Meaningful sentence: The world has been formed in cosmic thought-formation [hole in the transcript], the I has been formed.

Now this is only partly true, because in reality the I is a part of Mahat. For us, every thought is a part of Mahat; let us try to symbolize one as content.

Let us take the sentence: Evolution consists of each part of Mahat growing to such an extent that it becomes identical with the whole Mahat.

What happens is that all the individuals are brought closer to the whole Mahat. The great sacrifice takes place.

The whole Mahat gives its essence to all its parts, that is development. The purpose of the world is that the whole gives its essence to each of its parts.

It is certain that the whole was perfect in the beginning; but if it had no parts, it would remain as it is.

Since it has them, it has given its whole being to each of the parts, so that its own perfection is contained in each of its parts in the end.

  • Beginning: Mahat is outside of the 'I'
  • End: Mahat is in the 'I'

.

Beginning and end thus differ only in that the I has sacrificed itself as a special being and has received mahat as the content of this sacrifice.

Evolution consists in the fact that each part of Mahat grows to such an extent that it becomes identical with the whole Mahat.

The 'great sacrifice' happens: The whole Mahat gives its essence to all its parts. This is development.

1914-10-24-GA287

What will come to him from the dome? The secrets of the evolution of all earthly humanity. Therefore, as he looks up into the dome or cupola he will see on the one side the portrayal of the primeval Indian inspiration: how through the Rishis there flowed into mankind what was to come from spiritual spheres into ancient Indian civilisation. What had to come to mankind in those days in conformity with the character of the ancient Indian epoch will be painted in one part of the dome. How Zarathustra gave the ancient Persian culture its stamp — the sunlight battling as it were with the darkness — this will be seen at a second place in the dome. Then how the Egypto-Chaldean culture gradually comes right out to the physical plane but is still permeated with astrological, spiritual realities — this will be found in a third area of the dome. At a fourth place will be portrayed the Greek, as if standing by an abyss. This is the culture born of the Intellectual Soul or Mind Soul. What man is, comes to the fore, how he is faced with the necessity of having to solve the riddle of the Sphinx, how, through solving it, he thrusts the Sphinx down into the abyss — that is to say, down into his own being — this will be portrayed in a fourth area of the dome. How the eternal, divine forces and powers work into this evolution of man will come to expression inasmuch as what lies still deeper in the evolution of humanity than the Post-Atlantean impulses, namely the impulses of the Atlantean and Lemurian epochs, will be portrayed at the points of the compass: Atlantean evolution in the South, Lemurian evolution in the North of the dome.

And finally, the outcome of the Lemurian and Atlantean evolution will be portrayed: namely, our own era. Implicit within it is that impulse in world-evolution which expresses itself in the “J A O”. This will meet the gaze of one who looks from West to East towards the smaller cupola., Not that “J A O” is represented symbolically, but it is expressed in the motif. One who looks from East to West will see that which speaks out of the depths of the Cosmos into the development of culture, just as the “J A O” speaks from within into the development of the soul.

But all that I have described is perceptible to a man only if he overcomes the dome which arches over his brain; if he frees the etheric body of his head and looks from within outwards, then what I have described comes to him as a mighty Imagination.

These things are realities, are actually seen. when the etheric body is liberated from its physical foundation. Then one sees what presents itself inwardly to the etheric brain which has expanded to the Cosmos. The whole earthly evolution of man is represented here. (See sketches for paintings in the large cupola.)

To have thoughts about the realities of the evolution of humanity is possible only when we penetrate the secrets that are to be portrayed in paintings in the interior of our dome. In the same way that we can reach the sphere of feeling — that is to say, unprejudiced feeling devoid of sympathies and antipathies — when we experience what comes to expression from below upwards in the motifs of the columns and architraves, so through these motifs (of the paintings) we can penetrate to what is living reality in human evolution at every hour, every moment. Only when we know what is actively at work in the human soul at every moment, can we know what has been evolved in the course of millions of years. For everything that was contained in the Atlantean and Lemurian cultures lives in every soul — otherwise no soul would be as it now is. A human soul in all its depths can be understood in thought only if it is understood as the product of the whole process of world-evolution.

And so our Building expresses — if I may use the word “expresses” — Willing, Feeling, Thinking, but in their evolution, what they should become in the human being who is striving to achieve a measure of self-development.

Thus neither the forms as they are, nor the things that are done here, are the result of arbitrariness, but everything comes out of the very core of what we also try to grasp in Spiritual Science.

On the name IAO

Helena Blavatsky - Isis Unveiled

from this inspired work by Helena Blavatsky

If we can once appreciate the fact that, among all the peoples of the highest antiquity, the most natural conception of the First Cause manifesting itself in its creatures, and that to this they could not but ascribe the creation of all, was that of an androgyne deity; that the male principle was considered the vivifying invisible spirit, and the female, mother nature; we shall be enabled to understand how that mysterious cause came at first to be represented (in the picture-writings, perhaps) as the combination of the Alpha and Omega of numbers, a decimal, then as IAO, a trilateral name, containing in itself a deep allegory.

IAO, in such a case, would — etymologically considered — mean the "Breath of Life," generated or springing forth between an upright male and an egg-shaped female principle of nature; for, in Sanscrit, as means "to be," "to live or exist"; and originally it meant "to breathe."

"From it," says Max Muller, "in its original sense of breathing, the Hindus formed 'asu,' breath, and 'asura,' the name of God, whether it meant the breathing one or the giver of breath." It certainly meant the latter. In Hebrew, "Ah" and "Iah" mean life.

Helena Blavatsky - Secret Doctrine

And now it may be as well to remind the reader of that which was said of I A O, in our work, “ Isis Unveiled.”

“ No other deity affords such a variety of etymologies as Jaho, nor is there any name which can be so variously pronounced. It is only by associating it with the Masoretic points that the later Rabbins succeeded in making Jehovah read ‘ Adonai ’ — or Lord, as Philo Byblus spells it in Greek letters ΙΕΥΩ — IEVO.

Theodoret says that the Samaritans pronounced it Jahé (yahra), and the Jews Yaho ; which would make it as we have shown, I — Ah — O.

Diodorus states that ‘ among the Jews they relate that Moses called the god Iao.’ It is on the authority of the Bible itself, therefore, that we maintain that before his initiation by Jethro, his father-in-law, Moses had never known the word Jaho.”*

Just as the IAO of the mysteries was distinct from Jehovah, so was the later Iao and Abraxas of some Gnostic sects identical with the god of the Hebrews, who was the same with the Egyptian Horus. This is undeniably proven on “ heathen ” as on the Gnostic “ Christian ” gems.

...

In the Ophite gems of King (“ Gnostics ”) we find the name of IAO repeated, and often confounded with that of Jevo, while the latter simply represents one of the genii antagonistic to Abraxas.

But the name IAO neither originated with, nor was it the sole property of the Jews. Even if it had pleased Moses to bestow the name upon the tutelary “ Spirit,” the alleged protector and national deity of the “ chosen people of Israel,” there is yet no possible reason why other nationalities should receive Him as the Highest and One-living God.

But we deny the assumption altogether. Besides, there is the fact that Jaho or Iao was a “ Mystery name ” from the beginning, for יהיה and יח never came into use before King David. Anterior to his time, few or no proper names were compounded with Iah or Jah.


Says Fürst : “ The very ancient name of God, Yaho, written in the Greek Ι αω, appears, apart from its derivation, to have been an old mystic name of the Supreme deity of the Shemites. Hence it was told to Moses when he was initiated at Hor-eb — the cave — under the direction of Jethro, the Kenite (or Cainite) priest of Midian.

In an old religion of the Chaldeans, whose remains are to be found among the Neo-Platonists, the highest divinity, enthroned above the seven heavens, representing the Spiritual Light-Principle . . . . and also conceived of as Demiurgus, was called Ι αω ( יהו ), who was, like the Hebrew Yaha, mysterious and unmentionable, and whose name was communicated to the Initiated.

The Phoenicians had a Supreme God, whose name was triliteral and secret, and he was Ι αω.” (Isis Unveiled)

Why again is the triune Iao (the Mystery God) called the “ fourfold,”and yet the triad and tetradic symbols come under one unified name with the Christians — the Jehovah of the seven letters ?

...

1906-05-25-GA094

.. there is a principle in Man which cannot be spoken of as a body. It is his innermost essence, distinguishing him from all other entities, mineral, plant and animal. It is the self, the soul, the divine spark. The Hindus spoke of it as Manas; The Rosicrucians as the ‘Inexpressible.’ A body, in effect, is only part and parcel of another body, but the Self, the ‘I’ of Man exists in and by itself alone: “I am I.” This principle is addressed by others as ‘thou,’ or ‘you;’ it cannot be confused with anything else in the universe.

By virtue of this inexpressible, incommunicable Self, Man rises above all created things of the Earth, above the animals, indeed above all creation.

And only through this principle can he commune with the Infinite Self, with God.

That is why, at certain definite times, the officiating hierophant in the ancient Hebrew sanctuaries said to the High Priest:

Shem-Ham-Phores, which means: What is his name (the name of God)?

He-Vo-He, or — in one word — Jev or Joph, meaning God, Nature, Man; or again, the inexpressible ‘I’ of Man which is both human and divine

1909-05-25-GA109

is a lecture called 'The God of the Alpha and the God of the Omega'

.. Moses and Hermes were [Zarathustra's] disciples and he gave his astral body to Hermes and his etheric body to Moses. Moses was the first to proclaim the teaching that emanated from the Akasha Chronicle, the teaching of the 'I am the I am'. (Ejeh asher ejeh).

...

Regardless of whether you regress or progress, whether you seek God in the Alpha or in the Omega, you will be able to find Him. What is important is that you find Him with your own heightened human power.

  • Those forces necessary to find the God of the Alpha are the primal forces of a human being.
  • However, the forces necessary to find the God of the Omega must be acquired here on Earth by striving human beings themselves.

It makes a difference whether one goes back to Alpha or forward to Omega. He who is content with finding God and just wants to get into the spiritual world has the choice of going forward or backward. However, the individual who is concerned that humanity leave the Earth in a heightened state must point the way to Omega, as did Zarathustra.

1919-08-17-GA296

covers 'the Inexpressible Name'

When the human being passed over from the Atlantean to the post-Atlantean age, he was as yet unable to do many of the things which he does now. You see, each one of you, from a certain time of your childhood upward, can say “I” when referring to yourself. You pronounce this word “I” very carelessly. But in the course of human development this word was not always uttered so carelessly. There were older times in the evolution of humanity — though even in ancient Egypt these olden times had to a great extent already waned — there were older times in which the I was designated by a name, and if this name was uttered, it dazed people. One therefore avoided pronouncing it.

If the name applicable to the I, which was only known to the initiates, had been pronounced in the presence of people in the times immediately following the Atlantean catastrophe, the sound of this name would have dazed the whole congregation; all the people would have fallen to the ground, so strong would have been the effect of the name applicable to the I.

An echo of this may still be found among the ancient Hebrews, where one spoke of 'the unutterable name of God in the soul', a name which could only be pronounced by the initiates, or shown to the congregation in eurythmic gestures. The origin of God's unutterable name may therefore be seen in the facts explained to you just now.


But little by little this name was lost. And with it was lost the deep effect which radiates from such things.

1924-04-22-GA233A

positions the student in the Mysteries at Ephesus

As I indicated yesterday, the fixing of Easter's date grew out of a spiritual appreciation of the constellation of the sun and the moon. I also indicated that moon-beings observe the planets, and that these observations guide human beings in their descent from pre-earthly into earthly life, guide them in the formation of their etheric bodies. Now in order to understand how the lunar forces or, one might say, the spiritual observatory on the moon makes etheric forces available to human beings, we can look to the cosmos; for, as we have had occasion to see, it is inscribed there, it exists there as a fact. However, it is also important to appreciate the interest human beings have taken in these matters throughout history. And that interest was nowhere more sincere than in the Mysteries at Ephesus.

Every aspect of the service to the goddess of Ephesus, known exoterically as Artemis, was designed to give an experience of the creative spiritual forces pervading the cosmic ether. When the participants in the Mysteries approached the statue of the goddess, they had the sensation of hearing her speak, in words such as this: “I delight in all that bears fruit within the vast cosmic ether.”

To hear the goddess thus express her heartfelt delight in everything that grows, buds, and sprouts within the cosmic ether was a truly profound experience. Indeed, the spiritual atmosphere of Ephesus was aglow with heartfelt sympathy for all budding and sprouting things. The Mysteries there were instituted in such a way that nowhere else could one find such sympathy with vegetative growth, with the budding and sprouting of the earth into the plant world.

One consequence of this was that the lessons, if I may call them that, that dealt with the mystery of the moon, of which I spoke yesterday, could be given at Ephesus with particular force and clarity. As a result of such instruction, each student was able to experience himself as a figure of light formed by the moon. One exercise in particular directly placed a person capable of performing it into a process of building himself up out of sunlight transformed by the moon. In the midst of this the sounds I, O, A rang forth, as if emanating from the sun.

These sounds, the Mystery student knew, enlivened his I and astral body.

  • I, O: I and astral body,
  • .. and with A, the approach of the luminous etheric body: I, O, A.

As these sounds vibrated within him, he experienced himself as I, as astral body, and as etheric body.

Then, as if resounding from the Earth, for the student was now outside the Earth, came the sounds eh-v, which mingled with the I, O, A.

In this word, IehOvA, the Mystery student experienced himself as a complete human being. Through the consonants, he felt a premonition of his earthly physical body. These consonants are bound up with the vowels, I O A, which express the I, astral body, and etheric body.

It was through such immersion in the word IehOvA that the Ephesian apprentice was able to experience the final stages of his descent out of the spiritual world. As he did so, however, he felt himself living within the light. Now truly human, he was a sounding I and sounding astral body within a light-filled etheric body. Sound within light - such is the cosmic human being.

In this way it was possible to take in what is visible in the cosmos, just as what happens in the earth's physical surroundings can be taken in through the eyes.

While carrying I O A within himself, the Ephesian student felt himself transported to the sphere of the moon, where he shared in the observations that could be made from there. In this condition he was still a human being in general, undifferentiated; only upon descending to earth did he become man or woman.

It was a pre-earthly state into which the student was transported, a state preparatory to the descent to Earth. In the Ephesian Mysteries this self-elevation into the sphere of the moon was an especially vivid experience, which the initiates inwardly cherished, and whose content might be expressed in the following words ...

1924-09-06-GA346

see: Christ Module 5 - Initiation and spiritualization#1924-09-06-GA346 where the link is made with substantiation in the most ancient Mysteries where the expression appears: "I am the Alpha and the Omega".

When a father carried out a transubstantiation he had a current in him which flowed upwards and another one which flowed downwards. Then when he took communion he knew that he was connected with the cosmos, because he had become aware of his physical body by means of these streams. He had become united with the earth and he united what he had prepared at the altar with his body, with currents that belong to both the earth and his body, and with divine things on the earth which are a reflection of the universe.

He knew that he was united with the outside universe. He knew that the meal which he had taken in in this way was a meal which his cosmic Man had completed. He felt that his divine man arose through what streamed into the current which went upwards and the one which went downwards, and that it could be a companion of the gods who had descended. He felt that the gods had transformed him into a divine human being in his physical body, that is, he felt that he had been transubstantiated. And at this moment he could say from the depths of his heart:

Now I am not the one who walks around in the physical world;

I am he in whom the descended god lives;

I am he whose name includes all sounds and who was at the beginning, is in the middle and will be at the end.

I am alpha and omega.

The extent to which he could really participate in the secrets of the cosmos, in the divine working and creating in the cosmos, and in the manifestation of forces, substances and beings there while divine, spiritual work was being done, depended on the way his inner life was shaped by this feeling. This is the way priests worked in the ancient mysteries.

1924-09-22-GA346

The short excerpt below is by means of introduction, see also 1924-09-06-GA346

How did one look upon apocalyptic things in the first mystery epoch? One experienced them as the presence of the gods, which are the beginning, the middle and the end, alpha and omega.

How did one look upon the presence of divine forces in the second mystery epoch? One experienced them as something which resounds through the world as the music of the spheres, and which lives in the cosmic word that created everything and that creates in everything, and which streams from the heavens to the earth. One experienced what is at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of time simultaneously, as it were. One experienced the alpha and the omega in the cosmic, world word.

Whenever the subject of the Greek alpha and omega, the first and the last, came up in this or that epoch, people always tried to find out what the first and last letters of various alphabets really contain

Jean Dubuis

in 'The experience of eternity', p66-71, covers:

Yod He Vav He - the divine 'unpronounceable tetragrammaton'

Discussion

Note 1 - On Schema FMC00.577

The importance of the IAO theme is illustrated by the fact the Rudolf Steiner placed it central in the Goetheanum, see fourth picture from left on Schema FMC00.301A o the Representative of humanity topic page.

The three thematic sketches by Rudolf Steiner connect to the complete teachings of spiritual science.

First however, note that the three sketches are in the form of the characters I (vertical), A (triangular), and O (round).

  • the I picture has the eyes, representing the Logos looking at itself (in the human being below) engaged in the process of knowing itself (in the ever growing complexity of the cosmos). This important principle is explained on The three Logoi topic page. So the eyes radiate self-consciousness. From above the cosmic fire or energy streams downwards, shown by the yellow flames, because above there is more blue (higher energy) and below more red (less energy). Below the purple circle connects with the middle drawing of the A.
  • the A: with the round dance of seven, links to the seven creative spirits before the throne, and downwards to the seven archangels (Schema FMC00.239 on Spiritual hierarchies and their eigenperiods). We find back Seven as in the Book of Ten Pages, in the influences of the seven planetary spheres, the Seven life processes, etc. Round dance links to the dimension time as an astral phenomena projected into the physical world.
  • the O: the circle of twelve, clearly shows seven human beings in the clear yellow on the left. Above they are connecting to the Third Hierarchy, angels representing these in blue .. but they are free to choose also between this or the Earthly influences that include the amber-red finger pointing downwards to the black Earth. On the right are five in the dark, taken by amber-red hands and arms grabbing for them. Maybe then can become pillars (see right below). Twelve connects to Twelve (see Book of Ten Pages), but also Twelve as seven and five, etc.

Another interesting relation is that of the 1, 7 and 12, as also depicted in:

  • Schema FMC00.551: Twelve represents the Sun forces, the spirit world, the ultimate destination. Seven the human 'I' in the astral, as currently is the case.
  • Schema FMC00.068 and variants on Mystical Lamb, also showing the 1:3:7:12 relations.

Note X - various WIP - additional draft notes on Mahat

GA089, p 256

The First, from which all else came forth, is the unmanifest Deity. From this then came forth the second, the life or also the unmanifested creative substance. This life then passes through the most manifold forms and is named in the forms Akasha or Mahat.

This Akasha or Mahat contains all the forms of life that exist in the world. The whole hierarchy of Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim, Powers, Primordial Forces, Archangels and Angels came forth through life and form the forms under which this one life appears.

The first power, the unmanifested Godhead, is also called the Father; the second power is the Son, who is both life and creative substance, and the third power is the Spirit. Together, then, these three primordial forces appear as Father, Son and Spirit, as consciousness, life and form. The power of life is under the direction of Michael, who belongs to the Sun, the power of form is under the direction of Samael, who belongs to the volcano, where all life will be transformed into living forms. The power of consciousness is under the direction of Anael, who embraces all that is there.

and 1904-XX-XX-GA089 (RSH)

Note by M. v. Sivers.

Life or the unmanifest creative substance (second Logos, Son, and life) arose from the unmanifest godhead (first Logos, Father, consciousness).

“This life (theosophical term fohat) then went through the most manifold forms (third Logos, Holy Spirit, form or manifest life) and was named Akasha or mahat* in the forms. This Akasha or mahat contains all that there is in the world by way of forms of life in the world.” All the hierarchies “came forth through the life and created the forms under which this one life appears.”“

GA011, p. 164f and p. 175

According to Indian Samkhya philosophy and theosophical teaching, Mahat is the third Logos, the cosmic intelligence, the universal world soul; the cosmic noumenon of matter, the basis of the intelligent effects in and on the part of nature, also called Mâha-Buddhi (Lit.: Secret Doctrine I, S 42f).

As the first principle of universal intelligence or consciousness, it brings both manas (principle of thought) and ahamkara, the egoism or sense of "I am I" in lower manas.

In the narrower sense, the spirits of the movement are also referred to as "Mahat" in Indian theosophical terminology

The first, from which everything else arose, is the unmanifest deity. From this then arose the second, life or also the unmanifest creative substance. This life then passes through the most varied forms and is named in the forms Akasha or Mahat. This Akasha or Mahat contains all the forms of life in the world.All the hierarchies of thrones, cherubim, seraphim, powers, primal forces, archangels and angels emerged through life and form the forms among which this one life appears. The first power, the unmanifest Deity, is also called the Father; the second force is the Son, who is both life and creative substance, and the third force is the Spirit. Together, then, these three primal forces appear as Father, Son, and Spirit, Consciousness, Life, and Form. The power of life is under the direction of Michael, who belongs to the sun, the power of form is under the direction of Samael, who belongs to Vulcan, where all life will be translated into living forms. The power of consciousness is under the direction of Anael, which embraces all that is. So the top three are:

From theosophy

Mahat or Mâha-Buddhi is the basis of the intelligent effects in and on the part of Prakriti (see also: Blav. Secret Doctrine I, p 42f). As the first principle of consciousness, it generates both Manas (the principle of thinking) and Ahamkara, the ego-consciousness in the lower Manas.

In theosophical terminology, the spirits of movement are also referred to as Maha.


Shiva

Mahat is also an epithet of Shiva and therefore also stands for will and willpower. The sixth of his Ashta Murti is Mahan or Mahat.

Samkhya

The first differentiation of prakriti gives rise to mahat, the germ of individuality, which gives rise to ahankara or individuality. It arises through the vortex of judgment 'Anu'.

Samkhya-Karika : According to verse 22 of the Karika, Mahat (the great principle, the intellect) is the first evolution of Prakriti.

Satvata Tantra

In Satvata Tantra Patala I - Avatara nimitta it says : 15. From the unmanifested form of the Supreme, the Mahat - Tattva was manifested. From the mahat, karma was manifested, which brings pure and impure results to the conditioned souls.

Related pages

References and further reading

  • Iwer Thor Lorenzen: The 'I-Principle (in Man, Earth and Cosmos)'
    • original DE typoscript 'Das Ich Prinzip', fully translated in EN in 2016 by the FMC project (initiative behind this site)

IAO in Eurythmy

  • Werner Barfod: 'IAO and the Eurythmy Meditations' (original in DE 2016 as 'IAO und die eurythmischen Meditationen')
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