The Resonance of Chaos and Cosmos by Rudolf Steiner with Journaling Prompts
One important thing should be understood with regard to tilling the soil. We must comprehend the conditions under which the forces from cosmic spaces are able to pour down into the earthly realm. To recognize these, let us take our start from the seed-forming process. The seed out of which the embryo develops is usually regarded as a very complicated molecular structure; for after all, out of its complexity the whole new organism will grow. The new organism was already prefigured in the embryonic condition of the seed. Therefore this microscopic or ultra-microscopic substance must also be infinitely complex in its structure. This is true to a certain extent. When the earthly protein is built up, the molecular structure is indeed raised to the highest complexity. But a new organism does not arise out of this complexity. The organism does not arise out of the seed in that way. What develops as the seed out of the mother plant or mother animal does not simply continue its existence in what afterwards arises as the descendant plant or animal.
“This excerpt is presented in its original form to preserve the depth and nuance of Rudolf Steiner’s language. While some phrasing may differ from modern conventions, its meaning and essence remain intact.”
When the complexity of structure has been enhanced to the highest degree, it all disintegrates and eventually we have a tiny realm of chaos where we first had the highest complexity attained within the earth domain. It disintegrates, as we might say, into cosmic dust. When the seed—having been raised to the highest complexity—has fallen apart into cosmic dust and the tiny realm of chaos is there, then the entire surrounding universe begins to work and makes its imprint upon the seed, thus building up out of the tiny chaos what can only be built by forces flowing in from the great universe from all sides. In the seed we have an image of the universe.
In every seed formation the earthly process of organization is carried to the very end—to the point of chaos. Time and again the new organism is built up out of the whole universe in the chaos of the seed. The parent organism has this part to play—through its affinity to a particular cosmic situation, it brings the seed into a situation whereby the forces work from the right cosmic directions.
What is imaged in the single plant is always the image of some cosmic constellation. Ever and again it is built out of the cosmos. Therefore, if we want to make the forces of the cosmos effective in our earthly realm, we must drive the earthly as far as possible into the state of chaos. With regard to plant growth, nature will to some extent see that this is done. Since every new organism is built out of the cosmos, it is necessary for us to preserve the cosmic process in the organism until seed formation occurs.
Say we plant the seed of some plant in the soil. Here in this seed we have the stamp or impress of the cosmos from a given aspect. The constellation takes effect in the seed; thereby it receives its special form. The moment it is planted in the soil, the external forces of the earth influence it very strongly and it is permeated at every moment with a longing to deny the cosmic process.
When the first beginnings of the plant are unfolding out of the seed, and at later stages also, we need to bring the earthly element into the plant over against the cosmic form which is living as the plant form in the seed. We must bring the plant nearer to the earth in its growth. And this we can only do by bringing into the plant such life as is already present on the earth. That is to say, we must bring into it life that has not yet reached the chaotic state—life which came to an end in the organization of some plant before it reached the point of seed-formation.
In this respect a rich humus formation comes to our assistance. To what is humus formation due? It is due to the fact that the element which comes from plant life is absorbed by the whole process of nature. All life that has not yet reached the state of chaos to some extent rejects cosmic influences. The cosmic process works in the stream which passes upwards to the seed formation, while the earthly process works in the unfolding of leaf, blossom and so on—the cosmic only radiates its influence into all this. The reason why a leaf or grain absorbs inner substance lies in all that we bring to the plant by way of earthly life that has not yet reached the state of chaos. On the other hand, the seed which evolves its force right up the stem irradiates the leaf and blossom of the plant with the force of the cosmos.
Sulphur, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen—all are united together in protein. Wherever these occur—in leaf or flower, calyx or root—everywhere they are bound to other substances in one form or another. There are only two ways in which they can become independent: on the one hand, when hydrogen carries them outwards into the far spaces of the universe, separates them all, carries them all away and merges them into the universal chaos; and on the other hand, when the hydrogen drives these fundamental substances of protein into the tiny seed formations and makes them independent there, so that they become receptive to the inflowing forces of the cosmos. In the tiny seed formations there is chaos and away in the far periphery there is chaos once more. Chaos in the seed must interact with chaos in the farthest periphery of the universe. Then the new being arises.
Chaos—a name borrowed from ancient times—really lies behind even what we understand as heaven. Not only the wonderful Greek myth speaks of chaos when it says that the most ancient gods were born out of the chaos; the legends and myths of other nations too are acquainted with chaos.
All of us are familiar with a word which many people believe to be very old—the term ‘gas’. Gas and ‘gaseous’ were unknown concepts before the time of the Rosicrucians Comenius and Helmont. It was in the case of carbon dioxide that Helmont first realized the nature of gas. Helmont came to the idea that among the states of substance there is also the gaseous state and in his work Ortus Medicinale (1615)* we find the following sentence: ‘This spirit which was hitherto unknown, I will name with a new name: Gas.’ We can learn a great deal from this sentence. Helmont calls what he describes as gas Spiritum or spirit. That is to say, the transparent substance he has constituted is for him the instrument for a spiritual being.
Hence we can understand how much Helmont recognized in the process by which a gas is cooled and condensed. Miniature worlds arose from the gas for Helmont. In contemplating this world he said to himself: how did all this that is here originally come to be? Originally it arose from something that one cannot see, from out of which, however, as from a gas, the universe was formed. Once upon a time, the whole universe was Spiritum, purely spiritual. As the clouds of misty vapour are formed out of the gas, so out of the transparent, radiant, unclouded infinity of the spiritual all things that now exist emerged.
This ancient idea contains quite another concept of spirit than people have today. Space to them was not a great infinite void in which there is absolutely nothing; space was the all-spreading spirit whose parable they saw in the unclouded gas. In it they saw the source from which all seeds of things are created and spring forth through the Word of the original Divine Spirit.
Helmont coined the word ‘gas’ from the word ‘chaos’. It is an extremely interesting connection to the world order. We are thus led by Helmont to a living conception of space, not empty and infertile like the concept of space for people today, but a concept of space appearing infinitely fertile bearing countless seeds. The infinitude that is spread out is the seed from which we issue. Everything that is in the world is space condensed; it is the infinite spirit who shows himself to us in place of mere empty space. Imagine how originally the pure, spiritual, transparent space was there. What happened in this pure transparent space? In this same space is also the extended gaseous air. As the thoughts that arise from our soul bring the air around us into vibration when they are spoken in the word, and every word shapes itself into forms in the air quite silently and unseen by us, so the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. Into the waters the creating words of the Godhead were spoken.
But the chaos is active not only in the beginning of world evolution; it works on and on; it is present even today. Just as around us are the harmonies of the spheres, the harmonious heavens, so all around us is the chaos, all things are permeated by it. It was the first and original foundation. Then it became cloudy; the seeds were formed; the shapes and forms arose; worlds were formed out of the chaos. But just as when gaseous mass condenses something remains behind that works on between the single condensing particles, so likewise of the original spirit something remained behind. And so the chaos works on and lives on, along with the world. Everything is still permeated by the chaos—every stone, every plant, every animal is permeated by it. Our soul and our spirit are permeated with the chaos. The soul and the spirit of the human being also participate in the chaos.
This chaos is at the same time the essential reason for the constant and ever-present fertility in nature. The working of chaos appears wherever animal excrement occurs. Then new year’s crop grows from the ploughed land after manure has been put into it—manure which lends the land fertility and causes the crop to grow and thrive. What has happened in such a case? What was the manure to begin with? The manure too was perhaps at one time a beautiful, marvellously formed plant, an entity in the world that had also once been formed out of the chaos. Then it served as nourishment for the animals and the useless substances were excreted again. Now the manure mingles with the soil; it is a return of beings into chaos. Chaos is working in manure, in all that is cast out; and unless at some time or other you mingle chaos with the cosmos, further evolution is never possible. The process we have before us here at its lowest level will enable us to rise to an understanding of the word ‘chaos’ with respect to higher realms. Cosmos cannot work alone. Everything in the cosmos has grown from causes, from things that went before—not only all physical things, but intellectual and moral teachings too arise from causes that were planted once before.
It is cosmos when a Goethe, a Schiller, a Lessing have done their work. When a schoolmaster comes and assimilates and passes on all the beautiful things that are found in the works of these great men, he can only do so because the causes are already there for him. But with the human being of genius it is not so; he works out of the chaos. New impulses, new entries into evolution, new concepts arise and begin to take effect. Genius is like a fresh spark; it is out of the ordinary precisely because a union takes place there between the cosmos and the chaos; thereby a new thing arises not connected with he laws of evolution that come from ancient times. It enters from other worlds like a divine spark. Genius is the marriage of the past with the present, of the cosmos with the chaos.
We feel the overwhelming influence of the chaos that contains the seed of all things when we let these things work upon us. Thus we can see how comprehensive the idea of chaos is for anyone who understands it in the right way. It is chaos from out of which the physical arises. Be it Greek philosophy or the Bible, be it the Indian philosophy of the A-Chaos, the Akasha, all this reminds us that the element which was in the beginning works throughout all time.
* This title is given here as it appears in Agriculture: An Introductory Reader; it is often referred to as Ortus Medicinae in other editions.
~ Excerpt from ‘Soil and the World of Spirit,' Chapter 6 of Agriculture: An Introductory Reader by Rudolf Steiner. Original texts compiled, with introduction, commentary, and notes by Richard Thornton Smith.
Note: This excerpt is from Rudolf Steiner's original text and does not include commentary or notes from the editor.
Journaling Prompts for Self-Reflection
Chaos and Renewal
The seed passes through disintegration before new life begins. How have moments of personal chaos opened a path to growth or transformation in your life?
Cosmic Imprint
The parent plant aligns the seed with cosmic forces. Where in your life do you feel supported or aligned by something greater than yourself?
Fertility of Chaos
Steiner speaks of manure as chaos returned to the soil, bringing fertility. How do you view the discarded or complex parts of life as potential sources of renewal?
Genius from Chaos
He describes genius as the union of chaos and cosmos. Where do you see sparks of creativity or inspiration arising beyond your habits and learned patterns?
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