extend to the whole of man, but
chiefly to those parts which have thrown off the influence of their own
picture-consciousness. It is then that especially the physical and the
etheric bodies attain a definite size and form. On the other hand, the
phenomena of consciousness retire into the background. But when the human
being is turned away from the Sun, it is occupied with its own nature; an
inner activity begins, especially in the astral body while the outer form,
on the contrary, becomes more insignificant, and less perfect in form.

Thus during the Moon evolution there are two states of consciousness to be
clearly distinguished, alternating with each other; duller during the Sun
period and clearer during the time when life is left more to its own
resources. The first state though duller, is on the other hand more
unselfish; man then lives a life more devoted to the outer world, to the
universe. It is an alternation of states of consciousness, which on one
hand may be compared with the alternation of sleeping and waking in
present day humanity, as well as with his life between birth and death, on
the other hand with the more spiritual existence between death and a new
birth. The awakening on the Moon, when the Sun period gradually ceases,
might be described as something intermediate between the awakening of
contemporary man each morning, and his being born. And in the same way the
gradual dulling of consciousness at the approach of the Sun period
resembles a condition midway between falling asleep and dying. For on the
old Moon there was not yet such a consciousness of birth and death as man
now possesses. Man gave himself up to the enjoyment of the universe in a
kind of Sun life. During this period he was carried beyond his own life;
he lived more spiritually. We can only attempt an approximate description,
by way of comparison, of what man experienced during such times. He felt
as though the forces of the universe were streaming into him, pulsing
through him. He felt as though intoxicated with the harmonies of the
universe which he thus experienced.

As such times his astral body was as though set free from the physical
body; also part of the etheric body went with it out of the physical body.
This organism, consisting of the astral and etheric bodies, was like a
delicate, wonderful musical instrument, from the strings of which the
mysteries of the universe reverberated. And the members of that part of
the human bein