only among the nations of Europe, for they are those
descendants of Atlantean ancestors who converted their natural inclination
toward the physical sense-world into faculties only when it had reached a
certain degree of maturity. Previously they had allowed it to lie dormant,
and had lived on what remained in them of the Atlantean clairvoyance and
on the communications of their Initiates. While mental culture was
outwardly almost entirely given up to these influences, in them ripened
slowly the desire for the material conquest of the world.

Now, however, the dawn of the sixth post-Atlantean era of civilization is
already at hand. What is to arise at a certain time in human evolution has
ripened slowly in the preceding age. The first beginnings of that which
can even now be developed, is to be discovered in the thread which binds
together the two tendencies of the human breast, material civilization and
life in the spiritual world. To this end it is necessary, on the one hand,
that the results of spiritual vision should be understood; and on the
other, that in the observations and experiences of of the sense-world the
revelations of the Spirit be recognized. The sixth civilization-epoch will
bring to full development the harmony between the two.

Herewith the studies in this book have reached a point where we may turn
from the perspectives of the past to those of the future. But it will be
better to precede the latter by a study of the Knowledge of Higher Worlds
and of Initiation. Then, after this study and in connection with it, we
shall be able to indicate in brief the outlook for the future, in so far
as that can be done within the framework of this book.

CHAPTER V. KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER WORLDS

At the present stage of evolution there are three possible conditions of
soul in which man ordinarily lives his life between birth and death:
waking, sleeping and, between the two, dreaming. The last-mentioned will
be briefly dealt with in a later part of this book; for the moment we
shall consider life simply as it alternates between its two main
conditions--waking and sleeping. Before he can "know" for himself in higher
worlds, man has to add to these two a third condition of soul.

During waking life the soul is given up to the impressions of the senses,
and to the thoughts and pictures that these evoke in it. During sleep the
senses cease to make any impression, and the soul loses consciousness. The
whole