Cosmic Memory

Cosmic Memory: The Story of Atlantis, Lemuria, and the Division of the Sexes

Written 1904–1908 (CW 11)

“Rudolf Steiner shows that the insoluble link between humanity and cosmos is the fundamental basis of evolution. As human beings have participated in the development of the world we know today, so their achievements are directly connected with the ultimate destiny of the universe. In human hands rests the freedom to shape the future course of creation. Knowledge of our exalted origins and of the path we have followed is indispensable if we are to evolve a future worthy of responsible human beings…. Through a study of Steiner’s writings, one can come to a clear, reasonable, comprehensive understanding of human beings and their place in the universe.” —Paul Marshall Allen

In the best tradition of ancient wisdom literature, Cosmic Memory reconstructs, from the akashic record, events that span the time between the origin of the Earth and the beginning of recorded history. This spiritual research includes a profound investigation of the origins, achievements, and fate of the Atlanteans and Lemurians—the remarkable “lost” root races that developed the first concepts of “good” and “evil,” manipulated natural forces, laid the foundation for human legal and ethical systems, and defined and nurtured the distinctive yet complementary powers of men and women that brought humankind, many centuries ago, to its highest artistic, intellectual, and spiritual attainments.

Through this discussion of our true origins, Cosmic Memory offers a genuine foundation for our lives, allowing us to realize our real value, dignity, and essence. The reader is shown our human connection with the world around us as well as our highest goals and true destiny.

This is a key volume for understanding Rudolf Steiner’s early development as a Theosophist and how his ideas, terminology, and formulations during that time fit into the development of his anthroposophic epistemology and Christology.

C O N T E N T S:

Introduction by Paul Marshall Allen (1959)
Preface by Marie Steiner-von Sivers (1939)

1. Contemporary Civilization in the Mirror of the Science of the Spirit
2. From the Akash Chronicle
3. Our Atlantean Ancestors
4. Transition of the Fourth into the Fifth Root Race
5. The Lemurian Race
6. The Division into Sexes
7. The Last Period before the Division into Sexes
8. The Hyperborean and Polarean Epoch
9. Beginning of the Present Earth: Extrusion of the Sun
10. Extrusion of the Moon
11. Some Necessary Points of View
12. On the Origin of the Earth
13. The Earth and Its Future
14. The Life of Saturn
15. The Life of the Sun
16. Life on the Moon
17. The Life of Earth
18. The Fourfold Man of Earth
19. Answers to Questions
20. Prejudices Arising from Alleged Science (1904)

Index

This volume is a translation of Aus der Akasha-Chronik (GA 11).

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up (see right). As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.

Paul Marshall Allen (1913–1998) was an authority on the life and work of Rudolf Steiner and, as the “first American-born anthroposophic lecturer,” was a leading pioneer of Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual science across North America. He edited and wrote introductions for numerous books on Anthroposophy and spiritual wisdom, including his classic work, A Christian Rosenkreutz Anthology (1968), and wrote Vladimir Soloviev: Russian Mystic (1968). With his wife Joan deRis Allen, Paul coauthored Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures (1996); Fingal’s Cave, the Poems of Ossian, and Celtic Christianity (1999); and The Time Is at Hand! (1995).

Karl Ernst Zimmer (1927—2019) immegrated to the United States in 1946, having lived in Germany, Switzerland, and Turkey as a youth, and already fluent in German, Turkish, and French, and having a background in Greek, Latin, and English. He studied at the University of Chicago as an undergraduate in 1947 and became a U.S. citizen in 1953. He did graduate studies at Columbia, where he received a PhD in 1963. Karl’s long career was centered at U.C. Berkeley, where he was appointed in 1965 as an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics, rising to the rank of professor and remaining there until his retirement in 1991. Karl was also a witty poet of short, pithy poems in both German and English. Karl was married to Suzanne Clements, with whom he had two children.