d
qualities of souls change from one incarnation to another. Those who have
studied human history only superficially can note that since the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries all life conditions have changed and that
opinions, feelings and even human capabilities have become different from
what they were before that time. The path here described for the
acquirement of higher knowledge is one which is suitable for souls
incarnating in the immediate present. It fixes the starting-point of
spiritual development just where the man of the present day stands, in
whatever conditions of life he may be placed.

From epoch to epoch, progressive evolution leads humanity, in respect to
the path of higher cognition, to ever changing modes, just as outer life
likewise changes its form. For at all times it is necessary that perfect
harmony should reign between external life and initiation. It will be
pointed out in the next chapter of this book what changes initiation,
which in the ancient mysteries lead into the higher worlds, must undergo,
in order to become modern "initiation" for the attainment of supersensible
cognition in its present form.

CHAPTER VI. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD AND OF HUMANITY

It is impossible to know anything in the occult sense of the present and
future of human or planetary evolution without understanding that
evolution in the past. For, that which presents itself to the occult
student's observation when he watches the hidden events of the past,
contains at the same time everything that he can learn of the present and
future. In this book we have spoken of the Saturn, Sun, Moon and Earth
evolutions. We cannot follow the evolution of the earth, as the occultist
understands it, unless we observe the events of preceding evolutionary
periods. For what meets us today, within the bounds of our earthly globe,
comprises in a certain sense the facts of the evolution of the Moon, Sun
and Saturn. The beings and things that took part in the evolution of the
Moon have gone on developing, and all that now belongs to the earth, is
the outcome of that development.

But not all that has evolved from the Moon to the Earth is perceptible to
physical sense-consciousness. A part of what came over to us from the Moon
evolution is revealed only at a certain stage of clairvoyant
consciousness, at which knowledge of supersensible worlds is reached. When
this knowledge is gained, the fact that our eart