Warmth – Reading 1

 

“Spiritual Science shows that originally there was not a primeval mist, a lifeless mist, but that living warmth was there at the beginning, simple living warmth. Thus I will assume an original cosmic body that was living warmth. In my Occult Science I have called this original warmth condition the Saturn condition; it has been called this from ancient times, and though one must have a name, it is not the name that matters. It has, in fact something to do with the planet Saturn, but we will not go into that now.

In this original condition there were as yet no solid bodies and no air, only warmth; but the warmth was living. When you freeze today, it’s your ego that freezes; when you sweat today, it’s your ego that sweats, that becomes thoroughly hot. You are always at some temperature: sometimes heat, sometimes cold, but always in some kind of temperature. In fact, we can see today that the human being lives in warmth. The human being lives absolutely in warmth.

When modern science says that originally there was a great heat, in a certain sense it is right; but when it thinks that this great heat was lifeless, then it is wrong. A living cosmic being was present, a thoroughly living cosmic being.”

R. Steiner, From Sunspots for Strawberries, Discussion of 30 June 1924, CW354

 

“The distinctive aspect of Saturn’s development lies in the fact that warmth – which, at the beginning of the Saturn state, was experienced only inwardly – gradually and then increasingly became outwardly perceptible. This continued until the end of the Saturn period. If you had travelled through Saturn during the early phase, you would not have been aware of any outer warmth touching your skin, but you would have felt inwardly warm; you would have sensed a comfortable feeling of inner warmth. Something of what we call today an inner warmth of soul [a feeling of inner well-being] would have been your experience as you travelled through Saturn during its early phase of evolution.”

R. Steiner, The Spiritual Hierarchies and the Physical World, Lecture 3, 13 April 1909, CW110