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.Without cognition through inspiration the imaginative worldwould remain like writing at which we stare but which we cannot read.When the student of the spiritual advances from imagination to inspiration he soon sees how incorrectit would be to relinquish the understanding of the macrocosmic phenomena and to limit himself only tofacts that, so to say, touch upon immediate human interests.Someone who is not initiated into thesethings might well say the following."It appears to me only necessary to learn about the fate of thehuman soul after death; if I am told something about that, it will suffice; why does spiritual sciencewish to demonstrate such distant things as the Saturn or Sun state, and the sun and moon separation,and so forth?"Anyone properly informed about these things learns that real knowledge of what he wishes to know isnever acquired without an understanding of what seems to him so unnecessary.A description of thehuman states after death remains completely unintelligible and worthless if man is unable to connectthem with concepts that are derived from such remote matters.Even the simplest observation of thescientist of the supersensible makes his acquaintance with such things necessary.If, for example, aplant makes the transition from blossom to fruit, the human observer of the supersensible sees atransformation taking place in an astral being that during the period of flowering has overshadowed theplant from above and enclosed it like a cloud.Had the fructification not occurred, then this astral beingwould have made a transition into quite a different shape from the one it has assumed in consequenceof fructification.Now one understands the entire process perceived by supersensible observation, if one has learned tounderstand its nature through the macrocosmic process through which the Earth and all its inhabitantshave passed at the time of the sun separation.Before fructification, the plant is in a position similar tothe entire Earth prior to the sun separation.After fructification, the plant blossom shows itself in acondition similar to the Earth after the sun had severed itself and the moon forces were still present init.If one has made one's own the concepts that may be gained by studying the sun separation, one thenunderstands adequately the meaning of the process of plant fructification.One will say that the plant isin a sun state before fructification, in a moon state after it.For it is a fact that even the smallest processin the world may be grasped only if we recognize that it constitutes a copy of macrocosmic processes.Otherwise its very nature remains unintelligible, just as Raphael's Madonna would remainunintelligible if nothing were to be seen but a small blue speck when the rest of the picture werecovered up. Everything that occurs in the human being is a copy of macrocosmic processes that have to do with hisexistence.If one wishes to understand the observations of supersensible consciousness concerning thephenomena occurring between birth and death, and again between death and rebirth, one can do this ifone has acquired the faculty of deciphering the imaginative observations through the concepts acquiredby the study of the macrocosmic processes. This study gives us the key to the comprehension ofhuman life.Therefore, in the sense of spiritual science, observation of Saturn, Sun, and Moon is at thesame time observation of man.Through inspiration one acquires the knowledge of the relationships between the beings of the higherworld.It is possible through a higher stage of cognition to understand the inner nature of these beingsthemselves.This stage of cognition may be designated intuitive cognition.(Intuition is a word misusedin everyday life for an obscure, uncertain insight into a fact, that is, for a certain idea which at timesagrees with truth but the justification of which is at the time not provable.What is meant here hasnaturally nothing to do with this sort of intuition.Intuition denotes here a cognition of the highest,most illuminating clarity, and, if one has it, one is conscious in the fullest sense of its justification.) To have knowledge of a sense-being means to stand outside it and to judge it according to the externalimpression.To have knowledge of a spiritual being through intuition means to have become completely one withit, to have become united with its inner nature.Step by step the student of the spiritual ascends to suchknowledge.Imagination leads him to sense the perceptions no longer as outer characteristics of beings,but to recognize in them the outpouring of something psycho-spiritual; inspiration leads him furtherinto the inner nature of beings.He learns through it to understand what these beings are to each other;with intuition he penetrates into the beings themselves. The significance of intuition also may beshown by the descriptions given in this book.In the preceding chapters, not only the course of Saturn,Sun, and Moon evolutions was described, but it was told that beings participate in this development inthe most varied ways.Thrones or Spirits of Will, Spirits of Wisdom, of Motion, and others were mentioned.In the Earthevolution mention was made of the spirits Lucifer and Ahriman.The construction of the cosmos wastraced back to the beings who participate in it.What may be learned about these beings is won throughintuitive cognition
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