Sixth epoch

From Anthroposophy

The sixth epoch in the current Condition of Form and Life of the Earth planetary stage follows our Current Postatlantean epoch, and is the one that 'crowns' the whole period of the Earth's seven epochs. This epoch will be transformational for humanity, similar as the Lemurian epoch.

Just as the Atlantean epoch had a very different Earth and humanity, so will this also be the case after the 'war of all against all' that will conclude the fifth and Current Postatlantean epoch. Humanity will be spiritualized - see Man's transformation and spiritualization, as a division between the good and spiritualized and lower evil part of humanity becomes a reality. See also Schema FMC00.591. The 'sample' of humanity that will be used as the basis to form this next race and epoch will be taken from the next 'russian' or sixth cultural age between approx. the years 3500 and 5000.

The sixth epoch will be characterized by brotherly love, the essence of the Christ Impulse which will have blossomed and come into fruition in that epoch. And just as the sixth cultural age will contain a selected 'cohort', a small piece of the population that contains the characteristics for the next sixth epoch .. so too will the sixth epoch already give us a preliminary outlook on what is to come in the next planetary stage Future Jupiter.

Aspects

Man

  • soul and spiritual faculties
    • Man will no longer make a distinction between his own well-being and the well-being of the whole, through a force that will live in his heart, a Kundalini force that will grow and developed in the next sixth cultural age of the current fifth epoch (1904-10-28-GA092)
    • Man will develop the faculty of memory (and full remembrance on previous lives), a fourth major faculty of the Human I after Thinking Feeling Willing, and realize that Christ himself is present in the power of memory (1914-03-07-GA152), as related to the sixteen petalled throat chakra consisting of two vortexes that will be concluded evolutionary around the first and fourth cultural ages of the Sixth epoch (1904-11-05-GA089 and Schema FMC00.092). When the throat chakra is fully developed "the human word goes over directly into the stream of the wheels" .. "Man will give his word to the astral world, and anything he will say then will have an immediate effect on others: another person will feel every word, and the kindness that is expressed in a word"
    • Man will hear the sound of the spheres (note: this maps to the clairvoyant faculty of Intuition into the higher spirit world) which is denoted by the sounding forth of the seven trumpets of the angels in the Book of Revelation (1904-11-02-GA089, 1905-03-19-GA090B)
    • It will become possible, and then only gradually, for the human body to receive into itself the Christ Principle from childhood onwards without years of preparation (1904-12-30)
    • Man will accomplish the 'spiritualization of the intelligence':
      • Those who become clairvoyant at the boundary between the astral and the spirit worlds can see how Man continually purifies and develops that which he owes to the separation from the horse nature. To who will have reached the goal, will elevate to wisdom, to spirituality, that which today is merely reason, merely cleverness.The fruits of that which was able to develop in humanity in consequence of the separation of the horse nature will be manifested (1908-06-21-GA104)
  • physiologically
    • the great separation - see also Schema FMC00.591
      • good and evil will contrast very differently: the outer physiognomy will directly mirror one's karma (1904-11-11-GA093); and the rigidity of the etheric body will have a great influence upon the physical body. The physical body will become a faithful copy of the etheric and 'stamp' this to a moral physiognomy (1915-10-31-GA254 and 1915-11-07-GA254). This will lead to a division in good and evil races, in two 'subraces' (190X-XX-XX-GA097 and 1908-06-21-GA104 and 1910-GA013)
        • a noble and beautiful subrace: noble character also expressed in their gestures and the movements of their hands.
        • decadent men developing downwards "horribly ugly, animal-like, sensual, vicious, far more horror-provoking than our present humanity". and "They will show the evil passions, impulses and instincts hostile to the spiritual in an ugly, unintelligent, evil-looking countenance. In their gestures and hand-movements, in everything they do, they will present an outer image of the ugliness un their soul."
        • "in the sixth epoch men will show good and evil un their faces" and "men will be unable to hide anything from him who has the necessary vision. An evil man will express his evil, a good man will express the good that is within him" (1908-06-25-GA104)
      • another way to represent this separation: one part of humanity will unify with the spiritual, the other part will bind itself with the material, so much that the abyss will draw these people (that relate themself to matter) down: Man has made his relationship/kinship with the material so large that it draws him in (1905-03-19-GA090B)
    • in the middle of the sixth epoch (at least a first part of humanity that reached this level of maturity/development)
      • Man will not penetrate the physical world as deeply as currently and casts off the uni-sexuality and becomes hermaphrodite (1905-03-06-GA090B, 1905-03-30-GA053)
      • "Towards the middle of the Sixth epoch, in the last third, there will no longer be a physical body. Then the entire human being will again be etheric." This will be related to self-nourishiment, a third form of purely mineral nourishment Man will create himself in the laboratory. This self-nourishment will also be a foundation for future self-propagation. (1905-11-04-GA093)
      • Man will be freed from personal karma and the cycle of death and birth (1904-11-01-GA090A, 1905-03-19-GA090B)
      • every single person will reach the point of becoming an immortal spirit through the resurrection of the etheric body, free of death and of the physical (1905-06-05-GA093)
    • for Man's future form in sixth and seventh epoch - formation of new organs and second spinal column, see Man past and future
    • full development of the 16 petalled lotus flower above larynx (wheel with two vortices): first vortex in first age (forming ideas), then second vortex in fourth age (memory) .. if memory meets up with ability to form ideas, chakra begins to rotate: man will give his word to the astral world (anything he says will have immediate effect on others .. feel every word) (1904-11-05-GA089) - hence: learn not to wound with voice
    • Man will structurally function quite differently as today, as Man will:
      • acquire more influence over his physical corporeality (bring about the future form of his body) and 'live above his earthly portion'
      • will be able to draw his etheric body out of his physical body at will, and make sure of his denser part below on earth from outside like an instrument. Man will no longer bear his body about and live within it, but will float above it, the body will itself have become rarefied and finer. (1907-06-05-GA099)
      • humanity will be able to use the human astral body independently with the faculty of astral travel (see 1903-12-29-GA088 on Out of Body experiences (OBE))
    • Man's higher triad "will become an open secret when the Man of the sixth epoch has becomes ripe enough to receive it" (see 1904-11-04-GA093 and 'molten sea' as the secret of manas-buddhi-atma)

Culture, leadership, continent

  • at the time of the sixth epoch, Christianity will be expressed in its most complete form (1904-11-11-GA093)
    • in the Book of Revelation: the seventh seal (8:1-5) shows what true Christianity ought to mean to the world. The seven angels with the trumpets standing in front of God are the spirits of the ancient mysteries transformed into the Christian ones (1902-GA008 Ch 8).
  • how the Sixth epoch will run its course in the various sub-ages
    • is expressed symbolically in the Book of Revelation, and commented upon explicitly by Rudolf Steiner in various lectures, see the Schema FMC00.401 on D00.004 - Book of Revelation
  • the connection with Manicheism, currently a preparatory stream, preparing the form for true Christianity in the sixth epoch; the sixth epoch will have "the task of drawing evil back into the continuing stream of evolution through kindness" and "communities who foster peace, love and passive resistance" (1904-11-11-GA093)
  • a sufficient numbers of human souls will possess enough inner strength to make fruitful use of the forces of the Moon after the Reunion of the Moon: the good part of humankind will learn to use these Moon forces to transform the evil part so that it can participate in further evolution as a distinct earthly kingdom (1910-GA013)
  • leadership of mankind for the first time by a fully human Manu
    • "a Man, and the most advanced among men" whereas before they were and are supersensible Individualities who developed on other planets (1904-10-07-GA093, 1904-10-28-GA092)
    • "Master Morya will be the first human Manu to establish and guide the sixth rooth race" (1904-06-09-GA091)
    • the human manu of the sixth epoch, will only be able to live with human beings when they have developed so far that they can talk to the master, and for this they will need to have fully developed the throat chakra (normally be in the fourth age). (1904-11-05-GA089)
      • Lagging behind would mean that not all 16 spokes develop, resulting in the fact that individual would then not be guided by the master at this state in evolution. It is particularly important to develop this chakra through going through sixteen sub-races and cultural ages, if not they will fall off along the Sixteen paths of perdition (1904-11-05-GA089)
  • Men will sing the praises of a fleshless diet, for it will then be an ancient memory that the ancestors in olden days actually ate flesh. (1915-11-07-GA254)
  • arts
    • there will be a new impulse to music, music will affect the soul directly and affect inclinations of doing the wrong or the right (Beinsa Douno)

Father impulse and spiritualization

Earth, kingdoms, continent

  • transition to new emerging continent - see Earthquakes and emergence continent sixth epoch
  • the outer face of the Earth itself will have changed much (1915-11-07-GA254)
  • certain species of animals will have disappeared from the Earth: especially those which have acquired the most inflexible forms; also those animals which are nowadays consumed as food, will have died out. (1915-11-07-GA254)

Doom

  • the Earth and humanity will still requires immense numbers of sacrificial deaths of people, in order to progress its development:
    • "Just read the course of lectures on the Apocalypse, in which this is indicated in broad outlines. You can then form some idea how great is the fruit of the sacrificial deaths that will be required by the Earth in the future, to redeem it as far as possible from sinking into materialism, and the strife, hate and enmity, connected with it; so that it can pursue its further course in the cosmos." (1915-11-20-GA157A)
    • see Schema FMC00.505 and the descriptions from the Book of Revelation in red and green below for the second (in another lecture: "evil comes to power"), fourth and fifth ages, they make it clear why this book is referred to also as the Apocalypse of St John.

Other

  • cultural ages
    • the sixth cultural age of our current fifth epoch will found the future civilization of the sixth epoch after the great War of All against All (1908-06-25-GA104) - see also Overlapping evolutionary periods
    • the seventh cultural age of the Sixth epoch will found the civilization of the seventh epoch (1908-06-25-GA104)
  • how the world will look "What the materialistic world-conception [worldview of mineral science] describes regarding Man is not a fallacy only; it would/will become actual fact if this world-conception were to gain the day". (for an explanation see the lecture: 1915-11-07-GA254)
  • festival of Pentecost as a pointer towards the sixth epoch
  • the Reunion of Moon is timed approximately for the end of the current fifth epoch or the start of the Sixth epoch, and this will have a major impact (oa on procreation as birth will no longer take place in the ordinary way)
  • although it can be suggested and speculated the Reunion of the Sun could already happen at the end of the Sixth epoch, the various sources on the topic page time it to the Seventh epoch

Inspirational quotes

1904-11-11-GA093

It is just at the time of the sixth epoch that Christianity will be expressed in its most complete form. Its time will truly have come.

1907-06-05-GA099

.. we now the task of working towards the great moment in the sixth epoch, when humanity will undertake a great spiritual ascent.

full quote: Spiritual minority in a materialistic world#1907-06-05-GA099

See also above aspects 'Father impulse and spiritualization'

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.505 provides a synthetic overview on the sixth epoch on the basis of various commentaries by Rudolf Steiner in early lectures.

Such large reference schemas are condensed as they integrate a lot of information: they can be viewed by clicking 1-2-3 times, and printed high resolution (click once and save maximum size jpg) in large format as a study reference.

FMC00.505.jpg

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Schema FMC00.567 illustrates the parable of the five foolish virgins in the Bible, as related to the mission for humanity to develop the bodily principles in order to receive the Christ Impulse (see also Schema FMC00.438, and Schema FMC00.468 on Man's transformation and spiritualization). The artwork by poet William Blake (1757- 1827) dates from around 1799-1800, and the original has been mirrored here to show how the ones on the right proceed along a timeline to the right, and the others are left behind (see also Sixteen paths of perdition).

The same reasoning as explained goes for the the sixth cultural age in the Current Postatlantean epoch, but similary also for the next Sixth epoch (whereby the five can represent the previous five epochs). In the Book of Revelation the four horses represent the shedding of the worked lower bodily natures - see more on Schema FMC00.505.

FMC00.567.jpg

Schema FMC00.591: shows the decisive phase for the development of humanity between the third Lemurian epoch and the Sixth epoch. In the Lemurian epoch, the spirit and group souls descended into the physical bodies that had developed to sufficient complexity to be able to develop the Human 'I'. This is shown left with the extract from Schema FMC00.210. The process of individuation through the Development of the I is still ongoing in the Current fifth Postatlantean epoch. In the next Sixth epoch, part of humanity will spiritualize again.

A bifurcation is happening with a decisive division between good and evil branches of mankind, starting today but especially the coming millenia and onwards. As a result of this, the balanced and spiritually mature (represented by the path of the Christ) will be able to continue development in non-physical changing conditions on Earth and beyond. Others will be chained to the lower material realms and ultimately make up a lower kingdom on the next planetary stage of evolution Future Jupiter. This is shown right with an extract from Schema FMC00.583 and the evolution of the kingdoms of nature per planetary stage.

The central illustration is based and inspired on Rudolf Steiner's drawings in the lecture of 1911-10-14-GA131, see also Schema FMC00.591A.

shows the decisive phase for the development of humanity between the third Lemurian epoch and the Sixth epoch. In the Lemurian epoch, the spirit and group souls descended into the physical bodies that had developed to sufficient complexity to be able to develop the Human 'I'. This is shown left with the extract from Schema FMC00.210. The process of individuation through the Development of the I is still ongoing in the Current fifth Postatlantean epoch. In the next Sixth epoch, part of humanity will spiritualize again. A bifurcation is happening with a decisive division between good and evil branches of mankind, starting today but especially the coming millenia and onwards. As a result of this, the balanced and spiritually mature (represented by the path of the Christ) will be able to continue development in non-physical changing conditions on Earth and beyond. Others will be chained to the lower material realms and ultimately make up a lower kingdom on the next planetary stage of evolution Future Jupiter. This is shown right with an extract from Schema FMC00.583 and the evolution of the kingdoms of nature per planetary stage. The central illustration is based and inspired on Rudolf Steiner's drawings in the lecture of 1911-10-14-GA131, see also Schema FMC00.591A.


Schema FMC00.169A shows the selection from one epoch that forms the basis or 'seed material' for a new start in the next epoch.

Schema FMC00.092 sketches the natural timeline of anticipated development of the throat chakra. Note the link with the twelve subraces or cultural ages represented by the twelve apostles, that end with the second cultural age of the sixth epoch. 1906-10-04-GA091 describes this exact period for the Christ to come fully into power and humanity starts to understand Christ. See also: Development of chakras

FMC00.092.jpg


Schema FMC00.185 is a drawing by Rudolf Steiner in a letter to Marie von Sivers (GA262).

Regarding the Father impulse, see Mysteries of the Spirit, the Son and the Father#.5B2.5D - About the Father impulse


Schema FMC00.402 is taken from D00.004 - Book of Revelation (more info on that page) as an illustration of the Sixth epoch being the epoch where the Christ Impulse comes to full fruition, as in "Christianity will be expressed in its most complete form" (1904-11-11-GA093)

The divine being with a bow on the white horse is the son of God, who will come as a king (hence wearing a crown) to bring the revelation of what is in the book of the seven seals (see the two right illustrations). The horse with raised forefoot (see illustrations) will step with the forefoot on a snake, representing all of the lower nature that falls off. The upper right picture illustrates Rudolf Steiner's words.

Lecture coverage and references

1910-GA013 Ch 6.

see the curve at the bottom of Schema FMC00.013

Throughout the fifth epoch the knowledge of supersensible worlds will thus continue to flow into the consciousness of men, and by the time the sixth begins it will be possible for mankind to have regained on a higher level the knowledge they possessed in pristine ages by virtue of the dim and dreamlike supersensible vision of those ancient days.

But the renewed possession will be of quite another form than the old.

What the soul knew of higher worlds in olden time was not yet permeated with her own human powers of intelligence and feeling. It came of its own accord—was “given” as a kind of spiritual inspiration.

In future, man will not only be receiving “inspirations” of this kind, but will understand them through and through, feeling them as his very own, the true expression of his inmost being.

When spiritual knowledge comes to him concerning beings or events, his own intelligence will find it true and sound and thus confirm the knowledge.

Or if in spiritual knowledge some moral precept or principle of human conduct dawns upon him, he will say to himself: My feeling about it is only vindicated if I put into practice the implications of this knowledge.

By the sixth epoch this mood and disposition of the soul should be achieved in a sufficiently large number of human beings.

1904-10-07-GA093

It is only during the fifth epoch that the development is beginning to take place of such Manus as are akin to ourselves; who have risen, as it were, from the ranks of humanity. We have men, therefore, who are already great masters and advanced leaders of humanity, and we have those who are striving to become such. In the fifth epoch we have chelas and masters who have experienced all that can be undergone by human beings only since the middle of the Lemurian epoch.

One of these great masters who are leaders of the fifth epoch is predestined to take over the leadership of the sixth epoch. The sixth epoch will be the first great epoch to have as its Manu one who is a brother to earthly man.

The earlier masters, the Manus from other worlds, are handing over their leadership to a fellow human being.

1904-10-28-GA092

(SWCC)

In the course of our fifth epoch and the time between the end of the Atlantean and the beginning of the next Sixth epoch, an advance in human evolution of the highest importance will be made. The Leaders of mankind, their Manus, will arise in mankind itself.

None of the great leaders who brought men forward, who gave them their important impulses during the earlier epochs (or 'root races'), went through their own evolution entirely on the earth. They underwent it in part on other planets, and thus they brought from other worlds the great impulses they had to give to the earth. The Manus of the Lemurian and Atlantean epochs, as well as the Manu of our current fifth epoch, are supersensible individualities, who underwent the sublime schooling which enabled them to become the leaders of mankind, on other planets.

But during the current fifth epoch (and root race), highly developed human individualities have trained themselves so that from the sixth epoch onward, they will be capable of becoming the Leaders of mankind. The Leader of the Sixth Root Race, in particular, will be a man as we are, only one of the most advanced, indeed the most advanced among men.

He will be a being who began his development when incarnation started, approximately in the middle of Lemuria, one who has always been a man among men, only he was able to advance more rapidly, and one who has gone through every stage of human evolution. This will be the fundamental characteristic of the Manus of the sixth epochs. Such beings have to undergo all kinds of Initiation, to be initiated again and again. Hence the fifth epoch from its outset has always had Initiates, men who were so initiated as to enable them to walk their own freely willed path. This was not the case during the Lemurian nor even in Atlantean epoch. In both the Lemurian and Atlantean epochs, those who helped mankind forward, those who ruled and guided mankind, those who were political leaders and leaders of great religious communities, were under the influence of and directly dependent upon higher beings, beings who had gone through their own development on other planets.

It is not until the fifth root race that mankind is left free. Then we have Initiates who have a connection with higher beings, but to whom such comprehensive guidance is not given. More and more freedom is allowed to the Initiates of the fifth epoch in matters of detail. Guidance is given along general lines, not only to the Initiates but to those who are stimulated by them. Impulses are given to them but yet in such a way that it is out of their own spirituality that they have to carry things out.

...

At the beginning of the sixth epoch an influence will have developed, not in higher spheres, but in the sphere of the present-day conscious mind; in the fifth epoch this influence is still in its infancy, but it is nevertheless already developing. It is something which emanates from the musical element. For the fifth epoch music will be not merely art, but the means of expression for quite other things than the purely artistic. Here is something that points to the influence of a specific principle on the physical plane.

The most significant impulse by those directly initiated in the fifth epoch will, to begin with, be given solely in the sphere of music. What has to flow in is not astral, but it is something of great significance in the sphere of the mental life of the fifth epoch. It is something that the human intelligence will come to recognise as important, something which has been called the Kundalini fire. It is a force which today still slumbers in Man, but which will gradually gain more and more importance. Today it already has a great importance upon what we perceive through the sense of hearing. During the further development in the sixth cultural age of the fifth epoch the Kundalini fire will acquire great influence on what lives in the human heart. The human heart will really have this fire. At first this seems to be mere symbolism, but Man will then really be permeated by a force which will live in his heart, so that during the sixth epoch he will no longer make a distinction between his own well-being and the well-being of the whole. So deeply will Man be permeated by the Kundalini fire! He will follow the principle of love as his own innermost nature.

1904-11-01-GA090A

freely translated from p 389-390:

quote A

In the next root race a very important and impactful event takes place. [discusses separation of good and bad]

.. with birth and death in the middle of the Lemurian epoch also came individual karma and reincarnation. ...

... This process will come to an end in the middle of the Sixth epoch. Then a part of humanity, that already reached the level of maturity at that stage, will experience the state again as it was before the Lemurian epoch, when Man did not know gender and was not caught up in the cycle of birth and death. ..

When Man has passed through sufficient learnings through the cycle of reincarnation .. he will reach a new and higher state whereby he is freed from the current physical form and have a consciousness in a higher spiritual form as he had in a lower form before.

quote B

Now, and this you have to grasp clearly, one calls in christian esotericism 'angels' those beings that weave and work in the world's evolution and give shape to the world in the most varied fields. They are higher than current human beings: as Man works the Earth, so also higher beings work on Man.

... [also called, in theosophy, dhyanic entities .. whose power and wisdom lies above the human level of development]

Now in christian esotericism those images that don't lie on our level of consciousness or working [editor: see also CoC=4], but that represent higher beings, these are called angels .. and the angel who built the human form in the middle of the Lemurian epoch, is called by the name of archangel Michael. Michael is the builder of the human form, as it goes through birth and death, and undergoes gender/sexuality.

Through this, that in Man birth and death was instilled and the angel of form Michael gave Man this form, through this (as following the principle of polarity in the world) also on the opposite site the adversary of Michael appeared. This adversary works throughout evolution and is called in christian esotericism the dragon or the snake. So when one considers the evolution of humanity since the middle of the Lemurian epoch as the battel of the archangel Michael with the dragon, then this battle needs to reach a different stage in the middle of the sixth epoch.

...

This battle in the middle of the Sixth epoch is described in the Book of Revelation in the 12th chapter [quote 12, 7-9]

..

[ and on p 394 is explained what is meant with Alpha and Omega, the first and the last .. ]

The first and the last encloses here also in the centerpoint of development the christian Mystery, the secret of the sixth root race.

Rev. 1, 10: On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

This human being will, as an intimate student, have beheld the grace to already then hear the trumpets.

[this is described and commented upon: initiates declare well ahead what will be the goals for humanity at later stages .. only those who know the goal can lead towards it, and foretell in prophecies .. these are meant to declare to humanity publicly what will become in the far future]

1904-11-02-GA089

[Man in the Polarian epoch] ... had only this one sense, to perceive the movement of the ether matter, just as later on, in the 6th epoch the human being will hear the 'trumpets' (re Book of Revelation), that is, the sounds of the spheres.

1904-11-05-GA089

is on the development of the throat chakra

see full extract: Development of the chakras#1904-11-05-GA089

The human manu of the sixth epoch, who will guide this epoch, being the first human manu, will only be able to live with human beings when they have developed so far that they can talk to the master. They will only be able to do this when this chakra is wholly developed, when the human word goes over directly into the stream of the wheels. This would normally be in the fourth age of the sixth epoch.

Lagging behind would mean that not all 16 spokes develop. The individual would then not be able to speak in the presence of the master, with the result that he could not be guided by the master at this state in evolution. It is particularly important to develop this chakra, and that will depend on whether the human being gets out of the habit of wounding with his voice.

Human beings have 16 opportunities - in going through 16 sub races - to develop this chakra. If they do not do so, they will follow the 16 ways of perdition through the word.

1904-11-04-GA093

for full extract, see: Molten sea#1904-11-04-GA093

The Molten Sea is what is created when the appropriate amounts of water and molten metal are cast. The three apprentices do it wrongly, and the casting is destroyed, but when the mysteries of fire are revealed to Hiram by Tubal-Cain, he is thereby enabled to unite water and fire in the proper way. This brings the Molten Sea into being. This is what the secret of the Rosicrucians is. It is brought about when the water of calm wisdom is united with the fire of the astral world, with the fire of passion and desire.

A union must be brought about which is ‘of bronze’, that is to say, is lasting and durable. It must endure into the next epoch, when the secret of the sacred Golden Triangle is added to it; the secret of Atma, Buddhi and Manas. This Triangle, with all which it entails, will form the content of the renewed Christianity of the sixth cultural age. That is being prepared by the Rosicrucians and then what is symbolised by the Molten Sea will be united with a knowledge of reincarnation and karma. That is the new occult teaching which will be united again with Christianity. The higher self of man, composed of Atma, Buddhi and Manas, will become an open secret when the man of the sixth epoch has become ripe enough to receive it.

Christian Rosenkreutz will then no longer be required to give warning, but everything which signified strife on the outer plane will be resolved in peace through the Molten Sea and the sacred Golden Triangle.

1904-11-11-GA093

makes the connection of Manicheism as a preparatory stream, preparing the form for true Christianity in the sixth epoch

What are Mani's intentions, what is the meaning of his statement that he is the Paraclete, the Spirit, the Son of the Widow? It means no less than that he intends to prepare for the time in which the men of the sixth Root Race will be guided out of their own being, by their own soul's light, to overcome outward forms and convert them to spirit.

Mani's intention is to create a spiritual current which goes beyond the Rosicrucian current, which leads further than Rosicrucianism. This current of Mani's will flow over to the sixth Root Race and has been in preparation since the founding of Christianity. It is just at the time of the sixth Root Race that Christianity will be expressed in its most complete form. Its time will truly have come. The inner Christian life, as such, overcomes every form, it is propagated by external Christianity and lives in all forms of the various confessions. Whoever seeks Christian life will always find it. It creates forms and destroys forms in various religious systems. It does not depend upon a search for conformity in the outward forms in which it is expressed, but it depends upon experiencing the inner life stream which is always current under the surface.

What is still waiting to be made is a form for the life of the sixth Root Race. That must be created beforehand, it has to be there so that Christian life can be poured into it. This form has to be prepared by human beings who create an Organisation, a form, so that the true Christian life of the sixth Root Race can find its place therein. And this external form of society must derive from the intention which Mani has fostered, from the small group whom Mani has prepared. That must be the outer form of Organisation, the congregation in which the spark of Christianity will first be truly kindled.

From this you will be able to conclude that Manicheism will endeavour, first and foremost, to preserve purity in outer life; for its aim is to produce human beings who will provide an adequate vessel in the future. That is why such great stress was laid on absolute purity of mind and of life.

The Cathars were a sect which rose like a meteor in the twelfth century. They called themselves Cathars because ‘cathar’ means ‘pure one’. They strove for purity in their way of life and in their moral attitude. They had to seek catharsis (purification) both inwardly and outwardly in order to form a community which would provide a pure vessel. That is what Manicheism was striving for. It was less a question in Manicheism of the cultivation of the inner life — for life will flow onwards through other channels — but rather the cultivation of the external form of life.

What is to come about during the sixth Root Race: Good and evil will then contrast very differently from the way that they do today. What will be evident to all mankind in the fifth Round — that the outer physiognomy which each one acquires will directly mirror what Karma has made out of him — that will express itself spiritually in the sixth Root Race like a prelude to this event. Among those on whom Karma has bestowed an excess of evil, it will become particularly evident on a spiritual level. On the one hand there will be human beings possessing mighty inner forces of good, who will be gifted with great love and goodness; but, on the other hand, the opposite will also be seen. Evil will be present as a disposition without any disguise in a great many people, no longer cloaked or hidden from view. The evil ones will extol evil as something of particular worth. A glimmering of this delight in evil and the demonic pertaining to the sixth Root Race is already in evidence in certain men of genius. The unalloyed evil must be cast out of the stream of world evolution like dross. It will be relegated to the eighth sphere. Today we stand immediately at the threshold of a time when good must consciously come to terms with evil.

The sixth Root Race will have the task of drawing evil back into the continuing stream of evolution through kindness. Then a spiritual current will have been born which does not oppose evil, even though it manifests in the world in its demonic form. The consciousness will have been established in the successors to the ‘Sons of the Widow’ that evil must be included again in evolution and be overcome, not by strife, but only through charitableness. It is the task of the Manichean spiritual stream forcefully to prepare for this. This spiritual stream will not die out, it will make its appearance in many forms. It appears in forms which many can call to mind but which need not be mentioned today. If it were to function merely in the cultivation of an inner mood of soul, this current would not achieve what it should do. It must express itself in the founding of communities which, above all, will look upon peace, love and passive resistance to evil as their standard of behaviour and will seek to spread this view. For they must create a receptacle, a form, for the life which will continue to exist even without their presence.

1904-12-30

Not until the Sixth epoch will it become possible, and then only gradually, for the human body to receive into itself the Christ Principle from childhood onwards. Only then, in the Sixth Root Race, will mankind have reached such maturity that the body will not need years of preparation but will be able from the beginning, to receive the Christ Principle ..

.. In the Sixth Root Race it will be possible for a man to place his body at the disposal of a sublime Being, as did Jesus of Nazareth when Christianity was founded. ..

.. The task of Christianity is fulfilled in the Sixth Root Race, when material existence will be fraught with sacramentalism and sacramental deeds.

1905-03-06-GA090B

The sixth 'moral' root race will be developed from the spiritual sixth cultural age that will provide the foundation for the first age of the sixth epoch. In the middle of the sixth epoch a division will take place. Male and female gender will cease to exist.

1905-03-19-GA090B

freely translated from p 290:

The six subraces or ages of the sixth epoch are represented by the sounding forth of the seven trumpets of the angels into the world. The sixth race is the mirror-opposite of the Lemurian root race, and it will be characterized by the end of individual karma and the appearance of a higher state. Man will know experience consciously what he previously experienced only in a sleeping state of consciousness.

In the sixth epoch the decision comes: one part of humanity will unify/bind itself with the material, the other part with the spiritual. The angel of the abyss will draw people down below, all that relate themself to matter: Man has made his relationship/kinship with the material so large that it draws him in.

The separation of Sun, Earth and Moon now develops in the reverse direction in the sixth subrace. Both Sun and Moon are represented as the two witnesses of Earth development [of humanity].

1905-03-30-GA053

the principal race which follows ours has substantially different qualities. In the middle of that period it produces a human race which does not penetrate the physical world as deeply as ours and which casts off the uni-sexuality and becomes hermaphrodite

1905-06-05-GA093

makes the link with Pentecost

When the sun separated itself from the earth, the Word became entombed in the earth. It will be resurrected again when the earth has advanced as far as the Sixth epoch. Man will raise this Word from the dead, out of the earth; but first the spirit must live in him that will enable the Word to strike a chord in him. This was attained by the apostles at Pentecost.

In Light on the Path we find the words: ‘Acquire knowledge and you will have speech.’ Speech comes with true knowledge, which descends like the tongues of fire on the apostles at holy Pentecost.

When the inner Word comes, that is akin to the holy divine Word, and that sinks down into everything etheric, so as to make it come alive, then man will no longer speak out of himself but out of the divine Spirit. He is then the messenger of the Godhead and proclaims the inner Word of Godhead of his own free will.

Thus did the inner Word become alive in the apostles; thus did it spread its influence outwards from them. They proclaimed the fiery Word and were aware of their role as the messengers of the Godhead. Therefore the Holy Spirit hovered over them in the form of fiery tongues. They prepare humanity to receive the Logos. The great initiate, Christ Jesus, went on in advance. The Holy Spirit followed, fertilising the astral bodies so that they would become ripe for making their etheric bodies immortal. Once this has happened, then the Christ Principle will be drawn into humanity. This is what the initiates too had in mind when they said, somewhat as Heraclitus did: If, in escaping from the earthly, you ascend to free ether, with faith in immortality, you become an immortal spirit, free of death and of the physical.

Every single person will reach this point in the middle of the Sixth epoch. Today man is still vulnerable to death, in that his etheric body has still not attained immortality. Christianity contains the secret of how man can gradually develop himself towards the resurrection of the etheric body. This is where the third great festival is connected with the other two Christian festivals.

1905-10-25-GA093A

The intention was that man should attain knowledge. This could only be brought about through the original Karma. The Luciferic Principle, the Moon Adepts, wanted to develop freedom and independence to an ever-greater degree. This is very beautifully expressed in the saga of Prometheus: Zeus will not allow human beings to get fire. Prometheus however gives them fire, the faculty of developing ever higher and higher. By so doing he condemns man to suffering.

Man must now wait for the coming of a Sun Hero, until the Principle of the Sun Hero in the Sixth Race will make him able to develop further without Luciferic knowledge. Those endowed with this higher degree of advancement are like Prometheus, they are Sun Heroes.

We have thus learned to know a two-fold order of human beings: those who succumbed to the Jehovah Principle, the bringing of perfection to the physical Earth, and also spiritual human beings who were becoming more highly developed. Jehovah and Lucifer are engaged in an unceasing battle. It is the intention of Lucifer to develop everything upwards, towards knowledge, towards the light. In Devachan the human being can bring a certain degree of advancement to the Luciferic Principle. The longer he remains in Devachan the more of this can he develop. He must pass through as many incarnations as are necessary in order to bring this Principle fully to perfection.

Thus there exists in the world a Jehovah Principle and a Lucifer Principle. If the Jehovah Principle alone were to be taught, man would succumb to the Earth. If the teaching of reincarnation and karma were allowed to disappear entirely from the Earth we should win back for Jehovah all the Monads and physical man would be given over to the Earth, to a petrified planet. If however one teaches reincarnation and karma, man is led upwards to spiritualisation. Christianity therefore made the absolutely right compromise, and for a period of time did not teach reincarnation and karma, but the importance of the single human existence, in order that man should learn to love the Earth, waiting until he is mature enough for a new Christianity, with the teaching of reincarnation and karma, which is the saving of the Earth and brings the whole of what has been sown into Devachan. As a result, in Christianity itself there is conflict between the two Principles: the one without reincarnation and karma, the other with this teaching. In the former case, everything which Lucifer could bring about would be taken from human beings. They would actually drop out of reincarnation and turn their backs on the Earth, becoming degenerate angels. In that case the Earth would be going towards its downfall. Were the hosts of Jehovah to be victorious on the Earth, the Earth would remain behind as a kind of Moon, as a rigidified body. The possibility of spiritualisation would then be a missed opportunity. The battle in the Bhagavad Gita 64 describes the conflict between Jehovah and Lucifer and their hosts.

It might still be possible today for the teaching of Christianity without reincarnation and karma to prevail. Then the Earth would be lost for the Principle of Lucifer. The whole earth is still a battlefield of these two principles. The principle that leads the earth towards spirituality is Lucifer. In order to live in accordance with this Principle one must first love the Earth, one must descend on to the Earth. Lucifer is the Prince who reigns in the kingdom of science and art, but he cannot descend altogether on to the Earth: for this, his power does not suffice. Quite alone, it would be impossible for Lucifer to lead upwards what is on the Earth. For this, not only is the power of a Moon Adept necessary, but of a Sun Adept, who embraces the universality of human life, not manifesting only in science and art. Lucifer is represented as the Winged Form of the Dragon; Ezekiel describes him as the Winged Bull.

[second divine impulse]

Now there came a Sun Hero, similar to those who appeared in the Hyperborean Epoch, represented by Ezekiel as the Winged Lion. This Hero, Who gave the second impulse, is the Christ, the Lion out of the tribe of Judah.

Christ is a Solar Hero, a Lion-Nature, a Sun Pitri.

[third divine impulse]

The representative of the Eagle will come only later; he represents the Father Principle.

The third impulse will be represented by an Adept who was already an Adept on Saturn. Such a one cannot as yet incarnate on the Earth. When man is not only able to develop his higher nature upwards, but working creatively is able to renounce completely his lower nature, then will this highest Adept, the Old Saturn Adept, the Father Principle, the Hidden God, be able to incarnate.

1905-11-04-GA093

At that time there were two classes of human beings: Firstly those whose nourishment was flesh and blood; these are the pre-Christian people with whom Christ in no way concerned himself. Secondly those who only killed plants, who drew from plants their blood: people who drank wine and ate bread. With these He was still concerned; they are the forerunners of that humanity which will exist in the future.

The significance of the Last Supper is the transition from nourishment taken from the dead animal to nourishment taken from the dead plant. When our fifth cultural age will have reached its end, in the Sixth cultural age, the Last Supper will be understood. Even before this it will be possible for the third form of nourishment to begin to make its appearance, the purely mineral. Man himself will then be able to create his nourishment. Now he takes what the Gods have created for him. Later he will advance and will himself prepare in the chemical laboratory the substances he will require.

So you see that all these things arise out of deep intuitions. When with the old Eastern peoples we find all kinds of instructions about what should be eaten, these are not actually laws, but stories: You should not expect the effect of substance to be other than they are.

That which Christ killed, which was actually sacrificed after he had partaken of the Last Supper, is the physical body. This dies. For the whole of humanity this will die. Towards the middle of the Sixth epoch, in the last third, there will no longer be a physical body. Then the entire human being will again be etheric. It will pass over into the finer substance. But this will not happen if man himself does not bring it about. For this he must first pass over to the nourishment which he prepares in the laboratory. So that man, in so far as he no longer takes his nourishment from Nature, but gains it from his own wisdom, from the God within him, so far does he also hasten towards his own deification.

When Man begins to nourish himself, the foundation will also be laid for something higher, that is, self-propagation. He will gradually create life for himself out of the mineral world.

This is the great progression of human evolution. What the natural scientist knows today is only a fraction of the great cycle.

With Saturn we come into the Mineral Age. In the Atlantean Epoch, through consuming what was dead, preparation was made for what was to bring about egoism. From the original Semites up to the Fifth cultural age, the human ego was very gradually developed. In the Sixth cultural age of the Fifth epoch the ‘I’ will again reach a higher stage of development. This means that we stand before a new so-called spiral of existence. The previous spiral began in the time when the original Semites laid the foundation for the present Root-Race.

1907-03-16-GA097

Questions and answers on the lecture given in Leipzig on 16 March 1907

quote A (short)

The Sixth epoch will see

  • quite another race, noble and beautiful,
  • in contrast to the thrown off [i.e., retrograde humans, bad souls], decadence which will be a race of men, horribly ugly, animal-like, sensual, vicious, far more horror-provoking than our present humanity, because these will go on developing downwards.

quote B (in full)

Will more of creation split off as human evolution continues?

Yes, and this is what theosophists call 'going through the crisis'.

We are now in the fifth epoch; the sixth epoch will see a completely different race, noble and beautiful compared to the split-off decadent race of revoltingly ugly, bestial, sensual people who have many vices, arousing much greater [a]vulsion than is possible with present-day humanity, because they will have a downward development.

And you can see it clearly stated in the Book of Revelation, in what is called The Last Judgement.

Anyone who is completetely selfless may be ripe now for the sixth epoch. He may still incarnate a number of times, but only in order to help others. Some may find that the Last Judgement sounds harsh, but they do, alter all, have the choice. Please not misunderstand me. I mean not concerning reincarnation but concerning the sixth epoch.

1907-06-05-GA099

contains an outlook which is not specifically timed but well relevant for the future races.

for full extract, see Man past and future#1907-06-05-GA099

Below are just a few lines of the main threads in a few sentences (SWCC) - note however this is not specific to the sixth epoch, it probably well reaches into the seventh and the next astral condition.

[referring to earlier epochs .. ]

In the future man will again acquire more influence over his physical corporeality. An age comes when man will live above his earthly portion as it were, as in time gone by.

It will be as if the denser part of man were here below on earth and the human being will make use of it from outside like an instrument. Man will no longer bear his body about and live within it, but will float above it, the body will itself have become rarefied and finer.

[Reproductive process - larynx]

The organ that is already preparing to become the future organ of generation is the human larynx. The human being will proceed from the human being, man will speak forth man.

[Future transformation human heart]

Later on he will drive his blood by his own volition, and cause the movement of his heart as today he moves the muscles of his hand.

1908-06-21-GA104

presents a pre-look into the division in good and evil races on Future Jupiter

quote A

We must distinguish between soul-development and race-development. No soul is undeservedly obliged to remain in an old body, no soul will undeservedly remain in a body belonging to our age. Those who hear the voice which calls them to progress will survive the great period of destruction — the War of All against All — and appear in new bodies which will be quite different from those of the present day.

For it is very short-sighted if one thinks of the Atlantean bodies of men as being like the present bodies. In the course of thousands of years the external physiognomy changes and after the great War of All against All Man will have quite a different form. Today he is so formed that in a certain sense he can conceal the good and evil in his nature. The human physiognomy already betrays a good deal, it is true, and one who understands this will be able to read much from the features. But it is still possible today for a scoundrel to smile most graciously with the must innocent man and or taken for an honest man; the reverse is also possible; the good impulses in the soul may remain unrecognized. It is possible for all that exists in the soul as cleverness and stupidity, as beauty and ugliness, to hide itself behind the general physiognomy possessed by this or that rare. This will no longer be the case in the epoch following the great War of All against All. Upon the forehead and in the whole physiognomy it will be written whether the person is good or evil. He will show in his face what is contained in his inmost soul. What a roan has developed within himself, whether he has exercised good or evil impulses, will be written on his forehead.

After the great War of All against All there will be two kinds of human beings.

  • Those who had previously tried to follow the call to the spiritual life, who cultivated the spiritualizing and ennobling of their inner spiritual life, will show this inward life on their faces and express it in their gestures and the movements of their hands.
  • And those who have turned away from the spiritual life, represented by the community of Laodicea, who were lukewarm, neither warm nor cold, will pass into the following epoch as those who retard human evolution, who preserve the backward forces of evolution which have been left behind. They will show the evil passions, impulses and instincts hostile to the spiritual in an ugly, unintelligent, evil-looking countenance. In their gestures and hand-movements, in everything they do, they will present an outer image of the ugliness un their soul.

Just as humanity has separated into races and communities, in the future it will divide into two great streams, the good and the evil. And what is in their souls will be outwardly manifest, they will no longer be able to hide it.

quote B

[Sixth epoch outlook]

What thus took place in bygone times in order to lead to present humanity will be repeated at a higher stage in the future. It is not the case, however, that this would in the future have to run its course in the physical world. Those who become clairvoyant at the boundary between the astral and the spirit worlds can see how Man continually purifies and develops that which he owes to the separation from the horse nature. He will accomplish the spiritualizing of the intelligence.

After the great War of All against All he will elevate to wisdom, to spirituality, that which today is merely reason, merely cleverness. This will be experienced by those who then will have reached the goal.

The fruits of that which was able to develop in humanity in consequence of the separation of the horse nature will be manifested

1908-06-25-GA104

for long extract, see Book of Revelation#1908-06-25-GA104

below extract SWCC

quote A

  • the sixth [cultural age of our current fifth epoch] will found the future civilization [of the sixth epoch] after the great War of All against All.
  • And the very last of those civilizations will have to found that which is indicated by the seven trumpets. [editor: the seventh epoch]

...

For if we have had to say that

  • already in the sixth epoch men will show good and evil on their faces, we shall have to say
  • all the more of the seventh that the form of man and the forms of all the other beings will be an expression of good and evil to a much higher degree than in the sixth epoch. All matter will bear the stamp of the spirit. There will be absolutely nothing in this seventh epoch that can be hidden in any way.

[so]

  • Even those belonging to the sixth epoch will be unable to hide anything from him who has the necessary vision. An evil man will express his evil, a good man will express the good that is within him; but
  • in the seventh epoch it will be quite impossible by speech to hide what is in the soul. Thought will no longer remain dumb so that it can be hidden, for when the soul thinks, its thought will ring forth outwardly. It will then be just as thought is already to the Initiates today. To them thought now rings out in Devachan.

But this spirit world will have descended into the physical world, just as the astral world will have descended into the physical world in the sixth epoch.

Even now the sixth epoch can be found in the astral world and the seventh in the heavenly world.

  • The sixth epoch is the descended astral world, that is to say the images, the expressions, the manifestations of it.
  • The seventh epoch will be the descended heavenly [spirit] world, the expression of it.

quote B

.. After the great War of All against All, gradually the evil stream will be led over to good by the good race, by the good stream. This will be one of the principal tasks after the great War of All against All; to rescue what can be rescued from those who after the great war will only have the impulse to fight one another and to allow the “I” to express itself in the most external egoism. Such things are always provided for in advance in the spiritual guidance of humanity.

[editor: see also War of all against all]

Do not consider it a hard thing in the plan of creation, as something which should be altered, that humanity will be divided into those who will stand on the right and those who will stand on the left; consider it rather as something that is wise in the highest degree in the plan of creation.

[editor: see also Occult atom and Meaning of Free Man Creator and Seeds for future worlds]

Consider that through the evil separating from the good, the good will receive its greatest strengthening. For after the great War of All against All, the good will have to make every possible effort to rescue the evil during the period in which this will still be possible. This will not merely be a work of education such as exists today, but occult forces will co-operate.

For in this next great epoch men will understand how to set occult forces in motion.

The good will have the task of working upon their brothers of the evil movement. Everything is prepared beforehand in the hidden occult movements, but the deepest of all occult cosmic currents is the least understood. The movement which is preparing for this, says the following to its pupils:

“Men speak of good and evil, but they do not know that it is necessary in the great plan that evil, too, should come to its peals, in order that those who have to overcome it should, in the very overcoming of evil, so use their force that a still greater good results from it.”

The most capable must be chosen and prepared to live beyond the period of the great War of All against All when men will confront those who bear in their countenances the sign of evil; they must be so prepared that as much good force as possible will flow into humanity. It will still be possible for those bodies, which are to a certain extent soft, to be transformed after the War of All against All by the converted souls, by the souls who will still be led to the good in this last epoch. In this way much will be accomplished. The good would not be so great a good if it were not to grow through the conquest of evil. Love would not be so intense if it had not to become love so great as to be able even to overcome the wickedness in the countenances of evil men. This is already being prepared for and the pupils are told,

“You must not think that evil has no part in the plan of creation. It is there in order that through it may come the greater good.”

[editor: see also Manicheism]

Those who are being prepared in their souls by such teachings, so that in the future they will, be able to accomplish this great task of education, are the pupils of the Manichaean School. The Manichaean teaching is generally misunderstood. When you hear anything or read something about it, you find merely phrases. You may read that the Manichees believed that from the very beginning of the world there have been two principles: good and evil. This is not so, the teaching of the Manichees is what we have just explained. By the name “Manichaeism” should be understood the above teaching and its development in the future, and the pupils who are so led that they can accomplish such a task in future incarnations. Manes is that exalted individuality, who is repeatedly incarnated on the earth, who is the guiding spirit of those whose task it is to transform evil. When we speak of the great leaders of mankind we must also think of this individuality who has set himself this task. Although at the present day this principle of Manes has had to step very much into the background because there is little understanding for spiritual work, this wonderful and lofty Manichaean principle will win more and more pupils the nearer we approach the understanding of spiritual life.

1910-GA013

In OeS the Reunion of Moon with Earth and Sun is described but not timed explicitly

There will come a time when both the Earth and humanity have made such progress in evolution that the forces and beings that had to separate from the Earth during Lemurian times to enable earthly beings to continue to progress will be able to reunite with the Earth.

At that time, the Moon will reconnect with the Earth. This will happen because sufficient numbers of human souls possess enough inner strength to make these Moon forces fruitful for further evolution.

This will take place at a time when

  • another development that has turned toward evil will be taking place
  • alongside the high level of development reached by the appropriate number of human souls.

Souls whose development has been delayed will have accumulated so much error, ugliness, and evil in their karma that they temporarily form a distinct union of evil and aberrant human beings who vehemently oppose the community of good human beings.

In the course of its development, the good portion of humankind will learn to use the Moon forces to transform the evil part so that it can participate in further evolution as a distinct earthly kingdom.

Through the work of 'the good part of humanity', the Earth, then reunited with the Moon, will become able to reunite with the Sun after a certain period of evolution, and also with the other planets. After an interim stage that resembles a sojourn in a higher world, the Earth will transform itself into the Future Jupiter state.

1914-03-07-GA152

for full extract, see: Walking Speaking Thinking#1914-03-07-GA152

We have now to prepare for the introduction of the Christ-Impulse into a fourth element, a fourth human capacity, if we truly stand on the foundation of Spiritual Science. .. The soul-capacity into which the Christ-Impulse cannot yet be directed, but into which we must prepare to direct it, is the human memory. For in addition to the walking and standing upright, the speaking and thinking, the Christ-Force is now entering the memory. We can understand the Christ when He speaks to us through the Gospels. But we are only now being prepared as human beings for His entrance also into the thoughts which live in us and which then, as remembered thoughts and ideas, live on further in us. And a time will come for humanity which is now being prepared but which will only be fulfilled in the Sixth epoch when men will look back upon that which they have lived through and experienced, upon that which lives on within them as memory. They will be able to realize that Christ Himself is present in the power of Memory. He will be able to speak through every idea. And if we make concepts and ideas alive within us Christ will be united with our memories, with that which as our memory is so closely and intimately bound up with us.

1915-06-15-GA159

is about preparing for the sixth cultural age, it is added here because as the first sentence points out it is prepartion for the next great sixth epoch. The next cultural age will be the one to create the seeds for that next epoch. (SWCC)

Three characteristic traits we can carry in our hearts for the next sixth cultural age, as it is our task to prepare them for the sixth epoch.

1/ There is lacking in human society nowadays a quality that, in the sixth cultural age, will be a characteristic of those men who reach the goal of that age, and have not fallen short of it. It is a quality that will not be found among those who will have still remained at the stage of savages or barbarians.

One of the most significant characteristics of men living on the earth at the peak of culture in the sixth epoch, will be a certain moral quality. Little of this quality is perceptible in modern humanity. A man today must be delicately organized for his soul to feel pain when he sees other human beings in the world in less happy circumstances than his own. It is true that more delicately organized natures feel pain at the suffering that is so widespread in the world, but this can only be said of the people who are particularly sensitive.

In the sixth age, the most highly cultured will not only feel pain such as is caused today by the sight of poverty, suffering and misery in the world, but such individuals will experience the suffering of another human being as their own suffering. If they see a hungry man they will feel the hunger right down into the physical, so acutely indeed that the hunger of the other man will be unendurable to them.

The moral characteristic indicated here is that in the sixth age the well-being of the individual will depend entirely upon the well-being of the whole. Just as nowadays the well-being of a single human limb depends upon the health of the whole body, and when the whole body is not healthy the single limb is not up to doing its work, so in the sixth age a common consciousness will lay hold of the then civilized humanity and in a far higher degree than a limb feels the health of the whole body, the individual will feel the suffering, the need, the poverty or the wealth of the whole. This is the first preeminently moral trait that will characterize the cultured humanity of the sixth epoch.

2/ A second fundamental characteristic will be that everything we call the fruits of belief today will depend to a far, far higher degree than is the case today, upon the single individuality. Spiritual science expresses this by saying that in every sphere of religion in the sixth age, complete freedom of thought and a longing for it will so lay hold of men that what a man likes to believe, what religious convictions he holds, will rest wholly within the power of his own individuality. Collective beliefs that exist in so many forms today among the various communities will no longer influence those who constitute the civilized portion of humanity in the sixth cultural age. Everyone will feel that complete freedom of thought in the domain of religion is a fundamental right of the human being.

3/ The third characteristic will be that men in the sixth age will only be considered to have real knowledge when they recognize the spiritual, when they know that the spiritual pervades the world and that human souls must unite with the spiritual.

What is known as science today with its materialistic trend will certainly not be honored by the name of science in the sixth Postatlantean cultural age. It will be regarded as antiquated superstition, able to pass muster only among those who have remained behind at the stage of the superseded fifth cultural age.

Today we regard it as superstition when, let us say, a savage holds the view that no limb ought to be separated from his body at death because this would make it impossible for him to enter the spiritual world as a whole man. Such a man still connects the idea of immortality with pure materialism, with the belief that an impress of his whole form must pass into the spiritual world. He thinks materialistically but believes in immortality. We, today, knowing from spiritual science that the spiritual has to be separated from the body and that only the spiritual passes into the supersensible world, regard such materialistic beliefs in immortality as superstition.  Similarly, in the sixth cultural age all materialistic beliefs including science will be regarded as antiquated superstition.

Men as a matter of course will accept as science only such forms of knowledge as are based upon the spiritual, upon pneumatology.

The whole purpose of spiritual science is to prepare in this sense for the sixth cultural age. We try to cultivate spiritual science in order to overcome materialism, to prepare the kind of science that must exist in that age. We found communities of human beings within which there must be no dogmatic beliefs or any tendency to accept teaching simply because it emanates from one person or another. We found communities of human beings in which everything, without exception, must be built upon the soul's free assent to the teachings.

Herein we prepare what spiritual science calls freedom of thought. By coming together in friendly associations for the purpose of cultivating spiritual science, we prepare the culture, the civilization of the sixth cultural age.

But we must look still more deeply into the course of human evolution if we are fully to understand the real tasks of our associations and groups.

1915-10-31-GA254

During the sixth and seventh epochs, the rigidity of the etheric body will have a great influence upon the physical body and the physical body will become a faithful copy of the etheric. This will give rise to serious and important results. During the sixth cultural age of the Postatlantean evolution of the earth, the human beings will therefore be born with specially marked bodies, which will express their inner moral qualities. We shall then be meeting someone and we shall know what his moral constitution is like, for his outward appearance shall reveal it. In future, the MORAL physiognomy will be particularly conspicuous, whereas all those marks which now characterize the human physiognomy will be far less conspicuous.

1915-11-07-GA254

continues and complements the above description for the sixth and seventh cultural ages (SWCC)

the etheric body too will acquire firmer forms .. and as it passes with its fixed forms into the physical body, will assert itself very strongly.

.. in these sixth and seventh epochs, the etheric body with its inflexibility will exercise a very strong influence upon the physical, and will make the physical body into a faithful image of itself.

This has momentous consequences: in the sixth epoch of post-Atlantean evolution, men will be born with bodies quite definitely expressing their inner, moral qualities. A man's moral qualities will be recognised from his actual appearance. The moral physiognomy will then be very strongly in evidence ..

In its external aspect, the surrounding world too will be much changed in this sixth epoch. Particularly those animals which are nowadays consumed as food, will have died out. Men will sing the praises of a fleshless diet, for it will then be an ancient memory that the ancestors in olden days actually ate flesh. It is not the case that all animals will die out, but only certain species of animals — especially those which have acquired the most inflexible forms will have disappeared from the earth. — So the outer face of the earth itself will have changed.

and goes on to describe that

We are actually tending in the direction of bringing the theories of the materialistic world-conception to fulfilment. They are not reality as yet — but that is the direction towards which we are tending. ..

.. The materialistic world-conception may not be true, but for all that it contains an inner truth. Of this inner truth it can be said: What the materialistic world-conception describes regarding man would become actual fact if this world-conception were to gain the day. And it lies with men by means of a different world-conception, to prevent this materialism from being victorious. The matter is not so simple as to enable it to be said that the materialistic world-conception is false; the point is that it lies in the hands of men to gain the victory over it through deeds, not through feeble thoughts of refutation.

.. . This materialistic world-conception is not a fallacy only, it is conspiracy against the Spirit.

1915-11-20-GA157A

for longer extract, see Spectrum of death#1915-11-20-GA157A

The earth could not progress unless people sacrificed themselves.

When we think of this, we can look away from the present into the future. Such an immense number are now being sacrificed and are sacrificing themselves. Painful as this is considered from many a personal standpoint, yet if we look at it from the standpoint of the wisdom of the cosmos we may console ourselves. For in proportion to what is now sacrificed will the forces of progress be given to the future. Humanity requires such forces of progress. This is not considered deeply enough today, but it will be, ...

...

Just read the course of lectures on the Apocalypse, in which this is indicated in broad outlines. You can then form some idea how great is the fruit of the sacrificial deaths that will be required by the Earth in the future, to redeem it as far as possible from sinking into materialism, and the strife, hate and enmity, connected with it; so that it can pursue its further course in the cosmos.

Beinsa Douno

lectured extensively on the sixth epoch

quote A

The new era is that of the sixth race. Your predestination is to prepare yourself for it, to welcome it and to live it. The sixth race will build itself around the idea of Fraternity. There will be no more conflicts of personal interests; the single aspiration of each one will be to conform himself to the Law of Love. The sixth race will be that of Love. A new continent will be formed for it. It will emerge from the Pacific, so that the Most High can finally establish His place on this planet ..

.. The wave of the sixth race is coming .. its members will be a transition between angels and humans .. they will be visionaries. It is the race of Love, which will impose the Kingdom of God on Earth. ..

.. The main core of the sixth race will consist of the White Brothers who will come from above, but of course there will also be members also from today’s people, but only the prepared ones. The elected people of all nations will get through to the sixth race and than we’ll be able to speak of brotherhood and Love. ..

.. So far man can only use 5 senses and the sixth race will have a sixth sense, and there are 6 more latent senses. When man fully completes his evolution, all his 12 senses will be developed to perfection.

quote B

The new epoch of Love that is coming will give a new impulse to music.

Consider a person who is inclined to do something wrong. And yet, by listening to this new music, this inclination is relinquished.

Music awakens the Divine within people, and they will heed its call.

Beinsa Douno's last prophecy (1944) on ascension

SWCC note: there are many versions of this important statement online. In the below, for a better logical grouping into seven sections, the order of some phrases was changed, however no words, phrases or contents was changed.

[1 - context]

During the passage of time, the awareness of the human being went through a very long period of darkness. This phase which the Hindus call “Kali Yuga” is almost at the end. Today we find ourselves on the border between two epochs: that of Kali Yuga and that of the “New Era” in which we are entering.

A gradual improvement in the thoughts and feelings of humans is already happening, but everyone will soon be subjugated by the Divine Fire which will purify and prepare everyone for the New Age. Thus the individual will rise to a higher degree of consciousness, which is indispensable for his entry into the New Life.

This is what is meant by 'ascension'.

[2 - wave of purifying divine fire]

A few decades [editor: or maybe, this is to be read as millenia on the scale of cultural ages] will pass before this Fire arrives, and this will transform the world by bringing a new morality.

This immense wave comes from outer space and will flood the whole Earth. All those who oppose it will be wiped out and transferred elsewhere. Even if the inhabitants of this planet are not all in the same degree of evolution, the new wave will be perceived by everyone. And this transformation will not only affect the Earth but the whole of the entire Cosmos.

The Fire of which I speak, which accompanies the new conditions offered to our planet, will rejuvenate, purify, rebuild everything: matter will be refined, your hearts will be freed from anguish, problems, uncertainty and will become bright; everything will be improved, elevated. Negative feelings, thoughts and acts will be consumed and destroyed.

The Earth will soon be swept by extraordinary and rapid waves of Cosmic Electricity. From here to a few decades [see note above], those who are wicked and will mislead others will not be able to withstand the intensity of these waves. They will be so absorbed by the Cosmic Fire that they will consume the evil they possess. So they will repent because it is written that “all the flesh will glorify God”.

Our Mother, Earth, will get rid of those who don’t accept New Life. He will reject them as spoiled fruit. They will not be able to reincarnate on this planet soon, including criminals. Only those who have Love in them will remain. There is no place on Earth that is not dirty with human or animal blood, so it too must undergo Purification. And that’s why some continents will be submerged while others will surface.

[3 - cosmic perspective]

Our solar system is now passing through a region of the Cosmos where a constellation that was destroyed left its dust. Going through this contaminated space is a source of poisoning, not only for the inhabitants of the Earth but for all the inhabitants of the other planets in our galaxy. Only the suns are not affected by this hostile environment. This region is called “the thirteenth zone”, it is also called the 'zone of contradictions'. Our planet was included in this region for thousands of years, but we are finally approaching the exit from this space of darkness, and we are about to reach a more spiritual region where more evolved beings live.

The Earth is now following an ascending movement and everyone should strive to harmonize with the currents of ascension. Those who refuse to be subjected to this orientation will lose the advantage of the good conditions that will be offered in the future to rise. They will lag behind in evolution and will have to wait tens of millions of years for a new ascending wave to come.

The Earth, the solar system, the universe, all are inserted in a new direction under the impulse of Love. Most of you still consider Love as an irrelevant force, but in reality it is the greatest of all forces! Money and power continue to be revered as if the course of your life should depend on them. In the future, everyone will be submissive to and serve him.

[4 - cleansing period - see also Future Oriphiel age but mainly Earthquakes and emergence continent sixth epoch and War of all against all]

But it is through suffering and difficulties that human consciousness will be awakened. The terrible predictions of the prophet Daniel, written in the Bible, refer to the time that is opening.

Everything around you will soon collapse and disappear. Nothing will remain of this civilization, not its perversion; the whole Earth will be shaken and no trace of this erroneous culture will be left that keeps men under the game of ignorance.

There will be floods, hurricanes, giant fires and earthquakes that will sweep everything away. Blood will flow abundantly. There will be revolutions, terrible explosions will ring out in many regions of the earth. Where there is land, water will come, and where there is water, earth will come.

Earthquakes are not just mechanical phenomena, their goal is also to awaken men’s intellect and heart, so that they can free themselves from errors and their follies and because they understand that they do not exist only in the Universe.

God is Love. However, here we are dealing with a response from Nature against the crimes perpetrated by man since the dawn of time, against his mother, the Earth.

After these sufferings, those who will be saved will know the Golden Age, harmony and unlimited beauty.

[5 - what to do]

Your current life is a bondage, a hard prison. Understand your situation and get rid of it. I tell you this: get out of your prison! I am truly sorry to see so much confusion, so much suffering, so much inability to understand where true happiness lies.

The best and only thing the individual can do now is to consciously turn to God and improve to raise one’s vibrational level, so as to be in harmony with the powerful wave that will soon submerge him.

So keep your pace, and your faith when the time of suffering and terror arrives, since it is written that … a hair will not fall from the head of the righteous. Don’t be discouraged, just follow your personal perfection work. You have no idea of ​​the great future that awaits you.

[6 - descriptions sixth epoch]

A new Earth will soon see the day. The New Era is that of the sixth race. You are predestined to prepare for it, to welcome it and to live it.

The sixth race will be established on the date of the fraternity. There will be no more conflicts to defend personal interests. Individual personal aspirations will have to comply with the Law of Love.

This is why a new continent will emerge that will emerge from the Pacific so that the Supreme will finally be able to establish its place on this planet.

In a few decades [see note above], everyone will have time to devote themselves to activities of the spirit, intellect and art.

A new culture will see the light of day, will rest on three fundamental principles: the elevation of women, the elevation of the submissive and humble and the protection of human rights.

The question relating to the relationship between man and woman will finally be resolved in harmony, everyone will have the opportunity to follow their aspirations. Couple relationships will be based on mutual respect and esteem.

Humans will travel between the different planes of space, breaking through the intergalactic space. They will study how they are structured and work, and will be able to quickly know the Divine world, to merge with the Head of the Universe.

Religions should be purified. Each of them contains a particle of the Teaching of the Masters of Light, but obscured because it is incessantly supplied with human deviations. All believers will have to unite and unite in agreement on one main thing, that is, to put Love at the basis of all belief, whatever it is. Love and Fraternity is the common basis!

[7 - a new race of mankind and the struggle with evil]

I call the founders of this new civilization “Brothers of Humanity” or also “Sons of Love”. They will be imperturbable for Good, and will represent a new type of human being.

Men will form a family, a large body, and each will represent an organ of this body. In the new race, Love will manifest itself in perfect form and of this today’s man can have only a very vague idea of ​​it.

Earth will remain a favorable terrain for the struggle, but the forces of darkness will eventually withdraw and Earth will be freed from it.

The humans, seeing that there will be no other way, will commit themselves to the path of New Life, that of salvation. In their senseless pride, some will eventually hope to continue a life on earth that the Divine Order condemns, but then everyone will end up understanding that the direction of the world does not depend on them.

Light, Good and Justice will triumph, it is only a matter of time.

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