Force substance representation

This topic page covers one particular way of sketching the basic foundation underlying the spiritual scientific worldview with a specific language, through one angle of perspective. It was described in about five lectures by Rudolf Steiner in Sep 1906 (and only published in 2018 in GA091).

Creation, evolution, and all we know around us, is described in a conceptual representation based on the abstract prime concepts of substance and force arise from Unity and The three Logoi - see Schema FMC00.171 below.

• Primal force (Son, the wanting) <-> unity
• Primal substance (Father, being)
• from which Consciousness springs as divine thought, the thinking of the Logos (Spirit, the wanted) <-> manifoldedness

This gives rise to creation and the Three dimensions of evolution, see also Creation by the three logoi.

Substance and force are used to describe and explain, or elucidate, the 'spectrum of spiritual substance and force' that lies behind the 'coarse' matter and forces that we know in the physical world around us. In that sense it links to and represents a conceptual extension of the spectrum of elements and ethers.

In this frame the descent into matter is projected, with a tension between both force and substance: the larger the force, the finer the substance, the more consistent the substance, the larger the tension. The physical plane has the weakest force, that is why stronger forces can express themselves eg electromagnetism or radioactivity.

The schemas below that accompany the lecture texts are worthwhile to study and - in our minds - connect the idea of the Logoi to imaginative pictures from the etheric peripheral forces (based on projective geometry - see Mathematics of the etheric), as given in 1906-09-18-GA091 and 1906-09-19-GA091 (and 1906-09-20-GA091). This offers the bridge to the 1905-08-07-GA091 (and 1905-08-08-GA091), and together these lectures give a unique framework for our thoughts on the forces of nature (eg gravity).

Aspects

• For a concrete application of the forces (or spiritual influences) linked to substances (chemical elements) in the human being and the nature on Earth, see the topic page Working of substances and their forces
  • positioning: whereas the main GA091 lectures underlying this topic page take a cosmic perspective, the force-substance linkeage is fundamental to the spiritual scientific framework. In the contemporary worldview based on materialistic mineral science, purely the physical matter or 'substance' is considered. However this substance is solely the 'earth' component of a broader reality that includes the spectrum of elements and ethers and corresponding spiritual hierarchies, whose workings are described in languages such as alchemy and etheric formative forces.
• complementary perspectives to link to this from various approaches include:
  • Overview Golden Chain, eg Schema FMC00.141
    • related: the image of the spiritual wave that chrystalizes and results in the physical - see The two etheric streams#1911-12-30-GA314
  • The nature of atoms, and eg Schema FMC00.404A to see how substance is condensed down
• relation with mineral science and 'cosmic uroboros'
  • see Schema FMC00.698 and Schema FMC00.641 below, and to this, regarding the concept by contemporary scientists of the so-called 'cosmic ouroboros' (re Martin Rees: 'Just Six Numbers' (1999); also see e.g. 'Chapter 6 What Size is the Universe? The Cosmic Uroboros' (PDF download, file taken from public domain) from the book 'The View from the Center of the Universe by Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams (2007)): the old symbol of the ouroboros is used as a circle is drawn to represent a logarithmic scale spanning some 60 orders of magnitude on the physical scale (from 10⁻³⁵m to 10²⁶m).
    • for spiritual science, applying the paradigm of Euclidian space to such a broad range is a 'foolish extrapolation' and a consequence of contemporary waking consciousness of mineral matter and space and time, leading to the (incorrect) worldview assumption by mineral science that the whole cosmos is physical (see more on: Top five problems with current science and An intellectual trap).
    • to bridge this gap, the approach from spiritual science is documented here: Lemniscatory time and space#physical reality as a projectionConsider Schema FMC00.511A and Schema FMC00.642 and Schema FMC00.641A. The first 511A shows (upper left) that the physical space is just a part of a spectrum that one can either represent on a line or a circle, the second 642 shows the same idea applied to colour and the electromagnetic spectrum, and the third 641A is a meta-schema showing other schemas and linking to the spectrum of elements and ethers. The bottom line is that at a certain point one leaves space, and time and space are related to our experience of physical reality with waking consciousness (and the process of perception with the senses).

Illustrations

Force substance 2D views

Schema FMC00.172A introduces the duality of force and substance. Earthly Man distinguishes these as two different concepts with different qualities, but they are two extremes of a continuous spectrum and appear as two sides of the same primal force/substance emanation.

Schema FMC00.172 elaborates on the simpler FMC00.172A above. It shows how on physical Earth, coarse substance is 'Matter', and fine substance becomes 'Force', in the language of physics in mineral science. However between coarse substance (atoms) is the fine substance (ethers, force), and both form a balance that sustains itself, a bit like an extension of the phase diagram in chemistry.

Other

The Schemas in this section are from the five lectures of 1906-09-GA091 on the force substance representation, specifically about its introduction and broader positioning.

Schema FMC00.171 starts with Unity, God, the divine Primal sea from which everything arises. It describes The three Logoi and Creation by the three logoi.

Schema FMC00.170 sketches the polarity between 'center and periphery' and 'pralaya and mantavara', see Cosmic breathing and especially the Cosmic breath of Brahma which denotes the same, the highest level of in- and out-breathing that gives rise to all of creation.

Schema FMC00.173 links the kingdoms of nature in context of the force substance representation and Schema FMC00.170

on the left: connects to Schema FMC00.171

in the middle: maps the earthly kingdoms of nature with their deepest characteristics, as they can be symbolic inspiration for Man in the whole.

on the right: for the Holy Supper symbolism - bread and wine, see also Christ Module 5 - initiation and spiritualization.

For the plant symbolism, how the symbol of the chaste plant was used in the ancient Mysteries, see Christ Module 4 - principle in image and story

Schema FMC00.174 projects Man into the Schema FMC00.170 framework, and links to Man's transformation and spiritualization

Mineral science

Schema FMC00.641: provides an overview comparing viewpoints of spiritual science and mineral science on matter and energy, or substance and force.

Above: the contemporary view of physics and mineral science on electromagnetic radiation developed in the 20th century. Phenomena are seen as either particle or wave, described by wavelength and frequency or energy content. In the middle: some examples of frequency ranges.

Below: the spiritual scientific view with the spectrum of elements and ethers - see also force substance representation, with reference to Schema FMC00.172 and Schema FMC00.84. Observe how on the right, on the side of the chemical ether, matter is structured or falls apart. On the left, electromagnetic radiation takes place in the sub-physical. In the middle, note how the cosmic background radiation maps to 'warmth' (see Old Saturn and Schema FMC00.194 in context of solar system evolution)

This juxtaposition is to show the different way in viewing reality and interpreting its essential nature. More on this in Schema FMC00.641A.

Thereby the spiritual scientific paradigm is a meta-representation of mineral science, whereby reality is shaped by the dynamic of multiple spiritual entities in a complex interaction across various planes or worlds of consciousness, and Man's viewpoint and worldview of mineral science is limited to the physical world due to the bandpass filter of contemporary mainstream waking consciousness - see more on Cosmic fractal and Schema FMC00.632 on Relationship between mineral and spiritual science.

Schema FMC00.698: depicts a few variants of the so called mass–radius diagram used in contemporary physics and cosmology to show what kind of physical material objects can exist in the mineral science knowledge framework.

It shows that physical objects in the cosmos fit into a certain range, but that in other ranges one moves into the field (boundaries) of force instead of matter. The diagram shows (on logarithmic scales) the mass versus size of existing objects, from subatomic particles to supermassive black holes - as quantified and believed by mineral science, and shows how the mathematical models of the forces of gravity and quantum mechanics place limits on what kinds of physical objects can exist within that thought paradigm.

From left to right, from:

• Martin Rees: 'Just Six Numbers' (1999), Chapter 6
• Aldo Ianni, Massimo Mannarelli, Nicola Rossi: A new approach to dark matter from the mass-radius diagram of the Universe (2021)
• the third variant (internet source unconfirmed) shows various colored regions that are qualified as matter (purple), radiation (red), or dark energy (grey).

The body of knowledge of spiritual science posits that mineral science and its laws describes the physical world on Earth, but can not be extrapolated to the very large and small, because one moves into the realms of the astral and spirit worlds. Whereas humans can create such thought forms and describe them with mathematics, does not mean these thoughts and ideas correspond to any reality.

Nevertheless the diagram is shown here as an illustration bridging conceptually with the force substance representation used in spiritual science, because with some imagination it shows how matter (mineral substance) and force flow into one another but just represent different realms.

The diagram and its mathematical scientific foundations hold, but the area of applicability of the physical sciences to reality is smaller than what is shown.

Lecture coverage and references

Overview

An original way to - in our minds - connect the idea of the Logoi to imaginative pictures from the etheric peripheral forces (based on projective geometry), is given in 1906-09-18-GA091 and 1906-09-19-GA091. This descriptive header title is a bit strange, but this is a very worthwhile sketch to study. Mainly because it offers the bridge to the 1905-08-07-GA091 (and 1905-08-08-GA091), and together these lectures give a unique framework for thoughts on the forces of nature (eg gravitation).

See also Nick Thomas's book of 2008 (Further reading section below) that builds on such thoughts (even though GA091 had not been published)

Reference extracts

1906-09-18-GA091

1906-09-19-GA091

1917-08-07-GA176

For more on the description of matter below, see The nature of atoms.

To map Ahriman and Lucifer in the description below:

• see Schema FMC00.297 and Schema FMC00.308 on Christ Module 14 – the counterforces: Lucifer, Ahriman and Sorat, as they relate to Schema FMC00.051 on The two etheric streams.
• see also the sub-physical world on Schema FMC00.084 on Spectrum of elements and ethers.

[matter and Ahriman]

... there are those whose speculations are mainly concerned with matter; they imagine that the world consists of atoms. How does this view compare with what spiritual science has to say? Certainly natural physical phenomena do lead us back to atoms, but what are these atoms? They reveal what they are at the moment the very first stage of spiritual perception has been attained. At the stage of imaginative perception atoms reveal what they truly are. I have spoken about this in various connections many years ago in public lectures. Those who speculate on matter come to the conclusion that space is empty and atoms whirl around in this empty space. Atoms are supposed to be the most solid entities in existence. That is simply not the case, the whole issue is based on illusion. To imaginative cognition atoms are revealed as bubbles and the reality is where the empty space is supposed to be. Atoms are blown up bubbles. In other words, in contrast to what surrounds them they are nothing. You know that where bubbles are seen in soda-water there is no water. Atoms are bubbles in that sense; where they are the space is hollow, nothing is there. And yet it is possible to push against it; impact occurs precisely because, in pushing against hollowness, an effect is produced. How can nothing produce an effect? Take the case of the space, practically empty of air, within an air-pump; there you see how air streams into nothingness. A wrong interpretation might imagine the empty space in the bulb of the air pump as containing a substance that forced in the air. That is exactly the illusion prevailing in regard to the atom. The opposite is true: atoms are empty — yet again not empty. There is after all something within these bubbles. And what is it? — This is also something about which have already spoken — what exists within the atom bubbles is ahrimanic substance. Ahriman is there. The whole system of atoms consists of ahrimanic substantiality. As you see this is a considerable metamorphosis of the ideas entertained by those who theorize about matter. Where in space they see something material we see the presence of Ahriman.

[force and Lucifer]

Force is another concept which in particular occupies those who speculate about force in their attempt to build up a world picture. Here again the very first stage of spiritual cognition shows that where force is supposed to be active there is in fact nothing. But where the force is thought not to be, there something is at work.

It is exactly as if two people walked side by side and were observed by a third person. He looks towards them and, as they are walking a little apart, he looks between them and describes, not one or the other person, but the space between them. He is concerned, not with the two persons but the emptiness between them. That is the way those who theorize about force are looking at what is between the reality. Where it is said that a force of attraction is operating there is actually nothing, but to the left and the right there is the reality.

...

.. physicists draw lines to depict currents of force, but where the force is supposed to be there is in fact nothing, whereas all around there is something. There is Lucifer, the luciferic element is there. If we want to depict what corresponds to actual reality we must place the luciferic element where force is placed by those who theorize about it.

In the 19th century someone wrote a book with the title “Force and Matter” in which the world is presented as consisting of force and matter. In the 20th Century we must substitute that title with “Lucifer and Ahriman,” for Lucifer and Ahriman are identical with what are described as force and matter.

What can be described as force and matter are really described by Lucifer and Ahriman. You may say: this is dreadful! It is not dreadful for as I have often emphasized Lucifer and Ahriman are only dreadful when they are not balanced against each other. In mutual balance they serve the wise guidance of worlds. When Lucifer is placed on one side of the scales and Ahriman on the opposite side the balance between them must be achieved. It is a balance for which we must constantly strive.

Discussion

Note that Rudolf Steiner uses the above representation or framework when describing the atom, the heart, the earth at the crossing of the cosmic currents and physical matter, see lectures of 1906-09-20/21/22/30-GA091. They also bridge to esoteric geometry and numerology.

Related pages

• Spectrum of elements and ethers
• Working of substances and their forces
• The nature of atoms
• Radioactivity
• Creation by the three logoi
• Man's transformation and spiritualization
• Christ Module 5 - initiation and spiritualization (oa for the Last Supper symbolism)

References and further reading

• Nick Thomas: 'Space and counterspace: a new science of gravity, time and light' (2008)