Terminology

From Anthroposophy

Background: challenges with terminology

Spiritual science uses an extensive 'jargon' with a myriad of spiritual scientific terms that describe concepts and realities not found in science or the description of our physical reality. It implies that many 'reserved words' are terms with a special and specific meaning, even if these terms are sometimes also used in our everyday use of language.

A complicating factor is that the concepts and realities have been described with different sets of terminology or nomenclature, eg terminology is different in anthroposophy than in theosophy , but similarly so another terminology is used in medieval alchemy, hermetics, esoteric christianity.

As a result, anthroposophy will use different terms than theosophy (eg Steiner and Blavatsky), and Bardon and Daskalos use still different terminology. Yet it is all about the same realities that we are to get to know and understand.

The problem is even broader:

  • Rudolf Steiner also uses terminology used in previous cultural ages and their spiritual scientific teaching, eg those of Zarathustra in ancient Persia, the Holy Rishis in Ancient India, the terminology of Greek philosophers or the symbolism and terms used in Ancient Egypt, or the way of viewing in the middle-ages and/or rosecrucian teachings.
  • the same goes for names of spiritual entities in the various cultures, and the Gods in myths and legends and various religious teachings
  • furthermore, in Rudolf Steiner's twenty years of teaching, certain terms changed from theosophical terminology (where more Indian sanskrite terms are used) to more european terms. See specifically: Mapping theosophical terminology
  • and last but not least, in the last century, dozens of translators and editors have made choices with regards to terms, eg 'Ego' versus 'I', the use of capitals for the planetary stages, planets and hierarchies (or not). Similarly so for authors of secondary literature.

As a result, there is no simple single set of terminology. The already complex subject matter is not simplified by the fact that the student has to master and bridge these different terminology sets, with various different labels for the same (or similar) concepts.

Therefore on this site we use only one single set of terms for the hierarchies, the structural bodily principles or bodies of Man, etc .. and have streamlined for consistency wherever needed under the SWCC philosophy.

We did however keep the use of both the planes (from theosophy) as well as (the astro-language of) the planetary spheres, zodiac and fixed stars.

What remains is still the mapping between the sets of terminology used. Indeed the student will still be confronted with the different terms across the many sources. See 'Illustrations' section below, and/or Mapping theosophical terminology. These are a first iteration of a section that, in the future, could provide a better overview of mappings between various sets of terminology. See also 'References and further reading' section below for additional info.

Problem statement

Rudolf Steiner

As a or the major source of modern teachings on spiritual science comes from Rudolf Steiner, we need to consider the following.

  • First: Rudolf Steiner lectured for 20 years, and during that time did not always use the same terminology consistently. This a.o. of a result that initial audiences were within the theosophical society and hence the theosophical terminology of that time was used, with terms from ancient indian teachings (in sanskrite). In parallel but especially later on, more and new anthroposophical terminology was introduced to make the language of the teachings more european (eg manas, budhi, atma became spirit self, life spirit, and spirit man). Similarly Globes and Rounds are called Conditions of Form and Conditions of Life. And so on.
  • Secondly: The thousands of lectures by Rudolf Steiner span a period of twenty years, and were edited and published, and later translated, over a period of about a century. This means that a large group consisting of different generations of editors and translators worked on this. Furthermore, english translations of the many GA volumes were organized by different teams and publishing companies over decades. A normal consequence is that there is no overall consistency in terminology, as individual editors and translators used their own best judgment on a case by case basis. We are also confronted with the reality that errors sneaked in to the original transcripts and editing before publishing, and the fact that consecutive editors did not always have the in-depth mastery of spiritual science but 'glossed over' existing texts, polishing them mainly for readability as they deemed right. One well known editor did not know the difference between elementary kingdoms and elementals of nature.

Needless to say this adds a layer of complexity for the student.

The question is whether we need to carry this heritage along. Lectures are referenced all the time with all these terms mixed, and a lot of attention goes to the discussions with purists about the literal aspect and respecting of the original texts. Rightly so, the base text is the authentic source and its meaning should not be played around with. However it is not that simple, as the Gesamtausgabe process through which we access the lectures has gone through decades of editing of the original transcript by different editors, and then the same goes for translators who change the spin, phrasing and choice of words even more (because they have no choice, english is not german). See references below for further reading.

Daskalos

Daskalos uses different terminology, but the concepts and terms map nearly 100% to Rudolf Steiner's teachings. The words however sometimes also have a more greek basis (eg noetic, exomatosis). Below follow examples of terms, and their mapping on this site

  • gross material body -> physical body
  • psychic body and world -> astral
  • noetic body -> mental body (this means both the human I and Man's higher triad)
  • noetic world -> spirit world, both lower & higher
  • exomatosis -> OBE
  • sacred disks (or 'psychonoetic centers') -> chakras
  • mystic -> initiate (see also below)
  • psychonoetic -> astra-mental
  • permanent personality -> Individuality (as opposed to Personality)
  • archangels -> spiritual beings of the hierarchies, not specifying which order (so not only of the archangelic order)

Given the fact there is no value add to introduce yet another set of synonyms, this site has chosen to replace these terms in Daskalos' teachings and map them to the anthroposophical terminology chosen (see more on this page).

Franz Bardon

Statement of position

On this site the mission is to look at the future and not the past. Therefore we have chosen to use a single consistent terminology.

When different terms and options were available, choices were made based on the basis of various criteria including useage, in other words 'how established' or widespread terms were. For sure this is debatable, every choice can be challenged, but we are convinced that the total set of choices made represents a modern language framework that is easiest for the student (because, that is where the choices come from and are based on).

The next section gives an overview of (some of) the choices made for a uniform nomenclature on this site.

Overview table with terminology choices made

Spiritual hierarchies

Regarding the naming of the spiritual hierarchies - see also Schema FMC00.273 on Overview of the spiritual hierarchies

  • the use of the terms angels, archangels and archai is so established, that there is little value add of keeping the latin angeloi, or the anthroposophical Spirits of Twilight, Spirits of Fire, Spirits of Personality. The latter have not been commonly adopted or widespread, and therefore take so much getting used to that they add little value over the simplicity of using established terms.
  • It is different for Exusiai, Dynamis and Kyriotetes. These are the more difficult Greek terms (even to write and pronounce), yet somehow more widespread and established. Here the choice was made for the modern Spirits of Form, Motion and Wisdom .. because it consistently groups the Second Hierarchy and also adds keywords (Wisdom-Motion-Form) that link quite logically to the nature in each hierarchy. On this site the following abbreviations are also used as shorthand: SoF, SoM and SoW.
  • For the first hierarchy, again the ancient terminology is used because it is so established and widespread. The terms Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones are used. Note here also Rudolf Steiner proposed an alternative with more european spiritual scientific terms, but even he did not consistently deploy these either, given how established the ancient terminology is.

Planes or Worlds of Consciousness

Schema FMC00.079 (below) on Planes or Worlds of Consciousness gives an overview of various terminology sets used, incl. theosophical, rosecrucian, medieval european.

Dimensions of evolutions

Schema FMC00.093 on Three dimensions of evolution summarizes the 'Condition' terms chosen, comparing them with theosophical and esoteric christian terminology.

Evolution: planetary stages in the chain of evolution

Regarding the planetary stages in the evolution of the solar system, mapping to Conditions of Consciousness - see more on Overview of solar system evolution

  • they are called planetary stages consistently and not phases or periods.
  • Whereas one can encounter Old Saturn, Ancient Saturn, Saturn .. we consistently use the prefix Old and Future, as in Old Saturn and Future Jupiter, because it is important enough to avoid the potential confusion with the current physical planets. It is important to be consistent and consequently we use Future Jupiter and not just Jupiter as is most often done (though some text versions may still use bracketed prefixes with 'new' or 'future')

Planetary stage Earth: 'extrusion, separation or departure' of the Moon and Sun?

  • Extrusion is the strangest term of the three. It used in geology for extrusion of volcanic lava flows that reach the surface, and eg salt extrusion in plants is the process to separate salt through filtration at the root (like excretion).

Separation and departure are the most commonly used terms, however their link to the process of what happened does not lie contained in how we use the words today.

  • Departure is more like a ship or plane that is leaving, the 'moment of departure'. This does not seem appropriate.
  • Separation is like people in a relationship that are separated. That may be more appropriate given the fact the Moon and Sun will re-unite with the Earth again.

Therefore, although 'extrusion' may speak most to our imagination, we choose for separation because it implicitly contains the possibility of re-union, which therefore gives us a terminology also for that later stage. Hence we use separation and reunion and not extrusion or departure.

Epochs and ages

This site consistently uses the top level term epoch only for the periods such as the Lemurian or Atlantean epoch. In the early theosophical terminology often the term root-race was used to denote this evolutionary period. Rudolf Steiner explained that this term is no longer appropriate for the current epoch, see Human races.

For the level below, the periods currently spanning some 2000 years, the term cultural age is used consistenly, and not cultural epoch or sub-age.

Bodily principles

See the Discussion area of Man's bodily principles on the term Wesenglieder and the choice for 'bodily principles'; direct link:

Man's bodily principles#Note 1 - Terminology

Human races

Over the last century the myriad of editors and translators did not make a distinction between planetary evolutonary stage, epoch and cultural age but used the terms stage/epoch/age in different and inconsistent ways.

The same thing happened with the different concepts part of the study of human races.

This section clarifies the different concepts, their meaning, and the terms in german and in english as used on this site.

For a pictorial presentation to the descriptions below, see Schema FMC00.546 on the Human races topic page. Further commentary in the Discussion notes section lower on that page.

One distinguishes:

  • root race <-> Wurzelrasse
    • these root races correspond to the main root from which the main human development starts in a given epoch, eg the Atlantean epoch.
    • This root develops from a 'sample' taken from previous age and planted as seed in a new epoch, see Schema FMC00.169 and others on Overlapping evolutionary periods. In such views one should never forget that the picture is much more complex, as the Earth is always populated by a mixture of various strands. So for example remnants of the Hyperborean and Lemurian 'root races' existed also in the Atlantean epoch, and so on.
  • main race <-> Hauptrassen (there is also the term Grundrassen)
    • the main races are the five main human races we currently know, as a result of the influences of abnormal luciferic Spirits of Form (SoF)
    • As a result, one should not speak of 'five root races', as really 'main races' are usually meant, for example: 1910-06-12-GA121 is a lecture translated with the title 'The five Root Races of Mankind', whereas this is not the case, as the lecture is about the five main races.
    • In the current epoch, with ever more intensive travels between continents, migrations, and mixed marriages, the distinction between these five main races is diffusing ever more. This is related to the decreasing impact of blood inheritance and the individuation of mankind, see Development of the I.
    • See also note: Human races#.5B5.5D - The current five .27main.27 human races - understanding the variance
  • sub-race <-> Unterrassen
    • the term stock race follows from the root race, they are also sometimes called sub-races (of the root-race) especially for the Atlantean epoch.
    • Rudolf Steiner describes that for the Current Postatlantean epoch, the notion of human race or sub race is no longer appropriate because of differentiation and mixtures. Therefore on this site we consistenly use the term cultural age for the seven cultural ages within the current epoch, and limit the term stock-race or sub-race to the previous epochs.
    • An illustration of the sub-races or strands of cultural ages is given by Schema FMC00.444 on Overlapping evolutionary periods
    • An example of very confusing and erroneous use of terminology is for example 1908-06-25-GA104 where the above terms are mixed.

The spiral development:

  • The german term 'Stammrasse' denotes the sub-race from a previous epoch that is the basis for the next root race, eg the fifth Atlantean sub-race provided the root or stem for the development of the next (current Postatlantean) epoch. See Schema FMC00.169 and FMC00.169A on Overlapping evolutionary periods for illustrations of how the culmination of one development stage is the beginning of the next.
    • sometimes also translated terms such as stem-race (or stock-race) are used. 'Stem' seems more appropriate then 'stock'.
      • Regarding terminology of the plant: The cut part of a plant stem (having roots and fixed to the ground) which is used in the process of grafting is known as stock. The stem is the main structural axis of the plant, while the stock is a support structure that holds the plant upright.
      • See also note 1 below.
    • on this site we do not use a specific term for this in a consistent way, as it would only make terminology more complicated.
  • stock is used in as a term such as racial stock, sometimes the 'branches' are also called 'offshoot'
    • Rudolf Steiner uses the image of a tree or grape stock that grows splitting into various branches. The meaning of the term is that the stock is the sample that 'lies at the basis' of further development, the basis taken into consideration when describing its further evolution. From this then sub-populations 'branch off'. Using terminology from the plant kingdom, this would be the stem from which the stelk branches off.
    • examples
      • "the racial stock which made its way through Chaldea ... on the other side, the racial stock that went Westward also came into contact with the remains of Atlantean civilization — actually the fourth subrace, the Turanian population — which had engaged in agriculture. A strange mixture was the result." (Turanian stream#1904-XX-XX-GA090A)
      • "So we have proved a common fundamental character among certain races. At the same time there are again differences between a southern and a northern branch of the common main stock. "(Germanic mythology#1904-10-25-GA051)
      • "the root stock of the white population" (1909-05-03-GA107)

.

Notes

1/ Note that depending on which copy of which lecture (typoscript or a version of the GA), even the German lecture texts are not following a strictly consistent nomenclature. In other words for main race two different terms may be found (Grundrassen, Hauptrassen). This is similar to the use of 'age' and 'epoch' to denote a certain timeframe period, here also people have not diligently applied a strict nomenclature.

Example illustration of how inconsistent terminology can cause erroneous interpretation and confusion.

In GA104 the term 'Stammrasse' is translated as 'root-race'. Now from a translator point of view that may be justifiable, however the term root race 'Wurzelrasse' is a different concept. In this case the fifth Atlantean sub-race is meant

"So waren die zwei Rassen, die auf die eigentliche Stammrasse folgten, nicht entwickelungsfähig; überreif sozusagen waren sie." "These two races which followed the actual root-race were incapable of developing, they were overripe, so to speak."

2/ Example of importance of correct reading and interpretation of terminology and what is meant:

The fifth sub-race of the Atlantean epoch - see Schema FMC00.105 are called in German the 'Ur-Semiten', translated on this site into the term 'Primal Semites'. Other terms that can be found in literature and translations for Primal Semites are 'original' Semites or Pre-Semites. For example 'original Semites' is used in theosophical literature (eg Scott-Elliott and Powell, see Atlantean epoch#References and further reading). Some sources try avoid the difficulty by coming up with a mixed term like 'Ursemites', but this neither English nor German.

Now see eg Human races#1905-11-05-GA093A (illustration in lecture) and also Schema FMC00.444 and its commentary on Current Postatlantean epoch. From these two sources it is clear that:

  • "The fifth sub-race which we call the Primal Semites and which had established its main residence in Ireland was the first germ of our present Caucasian or - as spiritual science also calls it - Aryan human race. A part of this sub-race - it was very unlike the modern Jewish population but was still called Semitic rightly because of certain processes - moved to Asia and developed the intellectual culture which spread then over Europe, southern Asia and over the population of northern Africa. "
  • the primal Semites, who were in no way similar to the present Semites

However, in contemporary culture, people not versed in spiritual science or aware of the evolutionary context, can only misinterpret the term 'semitic' when used on illustrations such as the two schema references mentioned above.

Mystery of Golgotha and Christ Impulse

see: Christ and the Mystery of Golgotha#On terminology

New terms

  • Eigenperiods is a new term to denote the characteristic time period corresponding to the influence of a certain level or group of spiritual beings, see Spiritual hierarchies and their eigenperiods. The term was inspired on the concepts of eigenvalues and eigenvectors in mathematics.

Various other terms and choices made on this site

  • initiate is used as the broader more neutral term, where Bardon uses 'magician' and Daskalos uses 'mystic'. Why? Daskalos and Bardon use these terms in their teachings, even if the student is not yet a magician, for example. In modern language of spiritual science and initiation, the term initiate or student-initiate seems more appropriate than to mix with the original terms used. This especially for reasons of consistency across sources, to not have the various terms appearing in mixed fashion. In any case references and/or direct links are always given to the original sources which deploy their own set of terminology.
  • in his lectures, Rudolf Steiner uses the terms 'Arabism' and 'Arabian stream' and 'Arabic culture' and 'Moorish' next to 'Islam' and 'Mohammedanism', to distinguish the broader cultural influence of that time with the religion of the Islam, though of course the two were related. Focus is on the Arabic cultural influence that came into Europe, hence on this site we use the term 'Arabic influence'. For the religion, we use 'Islam' rather than 'Mohammedanism'.

Names of individuals

Difficulties also arise due to names of individuals in different languages being spelled in different ways. On this site we try to be consistent and edit for consistency, but of course various original sources and texts are not consistent at the start. So as a result variances may and will still persist.

Examples

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The first term in italic is the name used on this site, or better: that we try to use consistently across sources (as this requires heavy editing).

Illustrations

Introductory note

Below is a selection of just a few schemas that provide 'mappings' between terminology of various Bodies of Knowledge. The fact that all streams of spiritual science and initiation flow with strong lineage and history in various geographical areas and cultures across the different cultural ages and epochs, leads to an unavoidable complexity in the different 'sets of terminology' as they all developed independently.

Rudolf Steiner tried to provide mappings, of which the schemas below are some examples. However he went further in also using terminology used in ancient mysteries millenia ago (eg in the ancient persian cultural age) as well as the symbolic languages used in myths and legends.

Whereas this is definitely a challenge for the student of spiritual science, it also represent a great richness and opportunity to rise above any specific representation or knowledge framework.

Example schemas mapping terminology

Schema FMC00.079 gives an overview of the various terms for the different 'worlds' corresponding to different Conditions of Consciousness.

More on: Planes or Worlds of Consciousness

FMC00.079.jpg


Schema FMC00.273 provides an overview of terminology used in various teachings for the spiritual hierarchies. More on: Overview of the spiritual hierarchies

FMC00.273.jpg

Schema FMC00.218 complements and expands on FMC00.086, showing the main planetary stage for the development of each bodily principle; and adding different terminology used in theosophy, jewish doctrine, and esoteric christianity. More on Man's bodily principles.

FMC00.218.jpg

Lecture coverage and references

Discussion

Related pages

References and further reading

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