ity reached by the beings inhabiting them. But of course it
is not possible to enter into all the details of cosmic differentiation
here.) Those people who felt in their etheric body the influence of the
exalted Sun-being Himself may be called "Sun-humanity." The Being Who
lived in them as the Higher Ego--of course only in the race, not in the
individual,--is the same to Whom various names were given in later times,
when man had gained conscious knowledge of Him. It is he Who appears to
the human race today as the Christ.

"Saturn-humanity" is also to be distinguished at that time. The "higher
ego" of this race appeared as a being who, with his associates, had been
forced to leave the general cosmic substance before the separation of the
Sun. In these individuals not only the etheric body but also the physical
body was partly exempt from the Luciferian influence. But the etheric body
was nevertheless not well enough protected in the less developed races of
mankind to be able to sufficiently resist the influences of the Luciferian
beings. These individuals could arbitrarily use the spark of the ego
within them to such a degree that they were able to call forth mighty and
destructive effects of fire around them. The result was a mighty
terrestrial catastrophe. A large part of the inhabited earth was wrecked
by fiery storms, and with it the human beings that had fallen into sin.
Only a very small part of those who had remained untouched by sin, were
able to take refuge in a region which had so far been shielded from the
fatal human influence.

The country occupying that part of the earth now covered by the Atlantic
Ocean proved to be peculiarly well fitted for the abode of the new human
race. Thither that part of humanity repaired which had preserved purity.
Only stray groups of humanity inhabited other regions. Occult science
gives the name of "Atlantis" to that part of the earth which once existed
between the present continents of Europe, Africa, and America. (This
particular stage of human evolution has its special nomenclature in
theosophical literature. The period preceding the Atlantean is called the
Lemurian age, whereas that during which the Moon-forces had not yet fully
developed is called the Hyperborean age. This is preceded by yet another,
which coincides with the earliest period of the evolution of the physical
earth. Biblical tradition describes the period before the influence of the
Lucifer-beings came into