Formative forces

The etheric formative forces underlie the living development and form-giving in the Four kingdoms of nature, they are also called etheric or life forces, and correspond the various planetary spheres in which Earth is embedded.

Just as the laws of mineral science describe the physical (behaviour of 'dead' mineral matter, as the ancient greek denoted with the element 'earth'), so a different set of laws describes the etheric formative processes in everything that is alive (corresponding to the element 'water'), and we can observe first of all in the plant kingdom (but also in the animal and human kingdoms). See Schema FMC00.255.

At the end of the 19th century, theosophy re-introduced the ancient indian term of the tattvas as the formative forces underlying the four elements (a.o. Rama Prasad), whilst contemporary scientists were exploring the vibrations of the so-called 'ether' as a theory of physics to understand matter (a.o. Oliver Lodge, Gustave Le Bon). More on this paradigm below under 'Aspects' for 'tattvas', and on the topic page Spectrum of elements and ethers for 'the ether'.

In the 20th century, a large body of experimental research has proven the workings of these etheric formative forces in nature (see Scientific research into the etheric formative forces), experiments that have been backed with mathematical modelling using projective geometry (see: Mathematics of the etheric).

• The different influences of the planetary spheres was proven as early by the qualitative experimental work of Lily Kolisko using Capillary dynamolysis - rising picture method as early as the 1920s, besides her quantitative work on Potentization which provides the scientific foundation underlying Homeopathy.
• Other pioneers such as George Adams, Olive Whicher and Lawrence Edwards showed how shapes in nature and forms of buds and plants are formed in line with the scientific principles and corresponding mathematical models of the etheric. For an introductory tour with rich visual illustrations, see eg John Blackwood's 'Geometry in nature'. More on: Overview on etheric research and the plant kingdom

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As per the explanation of the Cosmic fractal, all spiritual realities underlying the phenomena in the physical world are ultimately the workings of spiritual beings. The formative forces come into being and function through the spiritual beings of The elementary kingdoms. When these forces affect the Four kingdoms of nature on Earth, they work in constellation with the Elementals of nature and the third hierarchy consisting of angels, archangels and archai. The spiritual scientific framework is given in the Golden Chain section, see Schema FMC00.142A below.

Aspects

• for an excellent introduction to the theme and paradigm shift of the etheric, it is recommended to read the lecture by George Adams (see also Further reading section below). In ten pages Adams gets the essence across of how the 'peripheral' etheric of formative life forces work differently from what we know as central point forces (such as gravity) working on mineral physical matter (and that are successfully mastered by physics and described by mathematical laws in euclidean space).
• terminology:
  • warmth or fire ether (Daskalos: kinetic ether)
  • light ether (Daskalos: imprint ether)
  • chemical ether or sound or tone ether or number ether (or thought ether) (Daskalos: sensate ether)
  • life ether (or atomic ether) (Daskalos: creative ether)
• The two etheric streams discusses how these influences work together to create what can be described as 'maya' or the rendered mineral physical reality experience we perceive with our waking consciousness
• for comments on the 'vril' force (and the triangle part of the hexagram symbol), see Hints of future etheric force technology#1906-01-02-GA093
• besides working on Man - see Human etheric body, the three formative forces affect three different kingdoms of nature where they can be studied, eg see alchemy (and for example plant alchemy or spagyrics). See Schema FMC00.142A below.
• a sevenfold breathing rhythm of the formative forces happens between the cosmos and the Earth, based on the influx of the planetary spheres and the alternation from expansion to contraction giving rise to 'a breathing rhythm of the cosmos' (see Wachsmuth below). See also Planetary hours and Cosmic breathing
• limestone or chalk retains cosmic formative forces: "Chalk indeed is something quite different from the coarse material which the chemists of today represent it to be. It contains formative forces, relatively active though unrecognized."(see Earth's seven epochs#1923-12-01-GA232)
• an introductory overview of scientific progress in the last century is given on (page content to be reorganized):
  • Scientific research into the etheric formative forces
  • Overview on etheric research and the plant kingdom
  • Hints of future etheric force technology

Tattvas

• the tattvas - a sanskrit term used in early theosophical teachings - are the forces or spiritual influences that correspond to the four elements, see more on the Spectrum of elements and ethers
• five etheric streams corresponding to the tattvas flow in Man, corresponding to the pentagram (1906-11-14-GA266/1)
• on akasha:
  • Schema FMC00.194 and FMC00.149 show how all elements and ethers ultimately arise from an initial cosmic stream that contained them all before they split (see also Schema FMC00.067). See also Schema FMC00.084: consider the four elements, and an equivalent etheric formative force for each (including warmth ether for element fire), than they all arise out of a single stream.

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Inspirational quotes

Socrates

Geometry is the art of the ever-true

Lamblichus (3th century AD)

Nature expresses invisible reasons and productive forces through visible forms

Boethius in 'De Trinitate' (6th century AD)

From forms that transcend matter, have come forms which are found in matter and effectively constitute bodies

Algis Uzdavinys (1962-2010) - summarizing Proclus (412-285) on Euclid (around 300BC), here freely rephrased

Contemplating geometry with the aid of imagination is able to bring about a recollection of the eternal ideas in the soul

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.571 provides an overview of descriptions of the five etheric streams, influence or forces called tattvas. Rudolf Steiner's description seemingly corresponds to the one in the theosophical publication and book by Rama Prasad. In later lectures and scientific courses he used different terminology of ethers and formative forces, see eg the light course (GA319) and warmth course (1920-GA320).

Schema FMC00.175A is a simplified variant of Schema FMC00.175 that summarizes the formative forces proceeding from the Elementary Kingdoms, all three active and interpenetrating all the time. They work together with the intelligence of the group soul from the different worlds.

Schema FMC00.030 shows the three main forces of nature, related to the formative etheric forces corresponding to the three previous planetary stages of evolution, and still working through on Earth. In the ancient mysteries these were referred to as the Three mothers

Compare with Schema FMC00.142A: light in the sub-material state is electricity and corresponds to the astral and EK3. The other two forces map to the lower and higher spirit world and EK2 and EK1. The second force, known by the Atlanteans as Tao, and now more popularly known as Vril, is indeed the growth force of nature.

Schema FMC00.142A is lifts out one aspect from Schema FMC00.142, as a graphical illustration to Schema FMC00.175A as well as Schema FMC00.030.

Schema FMC00.255 shows four types of earthly and cosmic laws. The physics of the current materialistic or mineral science is extremely successfull in describing the laws for the element earth, on our planet earth. However 'life', as we see it in the plant world, is governed by different laws, these are those of the etheric world and formative forces. Still other laws exists apply for the astral and spirit worlds. See below for reference lectures.

Schema FMC00.379 illustrates the rhythmic aspect of the etheric formative forces and the various planetary influences and their reversal, as explained in Wachsmuth (see below). This principle explains the principles underlying the differentiation of plant growth, see also the 'Further reading' section on Overview on etheric research and the plant kingdom.

Schema FMC00.595: shows an experiment by Rudolf Hauschka to show the effect of cosmic nutrition and the etheric formative (life) forces, by comparing growth of seedlings immersed directly into solutions of substances vs indirectly in their spheres of radiation. Graphs show average length of shoots after 10 days of experiment in solutions with different potencies D4 to D8. Above the line is shown the avg. length of leaves, below the line the avg. length of roots.

Substances on the left are brain and eye as organs of the nerve-sense subsystems. They promote growth when raying in influences from the surrounding sphere, whereas they have no effect in direct application.

Substance on the right is spleen as organ for the metabolic-limb subsystem. Take up is largest for direct immersion versus radiation influence.

Taken from the book 'Nutrition' by Rudolf Hauschka as another excellent example of experiments confirming the spiritual scientific knowledge paradigm or hypothesis in the physical lab, without any need for higher cognition. Other examples are Schema FMC00.011, Schema FMC00.012 and Schema FMC00.527.

Lecture coverage and references

In the lectures of 1921-06-24-GA205 and 1921-06-26-GA205, Rudolf Steiner describes four types of earthly and cosmic laws (see table below), and takes the perspective as if an ancient Greek would converse with a contemporary scientist. The Greek would point out that all our current knowledge is just one type of knowledge or lawfullness, denoted with the element 'earth'. Similarly, the second lawfullness, denoted with the element 'water', describes the etheric and its formative forces, not only in the plant kingdom but also in the inner movements or streams in the human being (forming the organs). See Schema FMC00.255 above.

Wachsmuth (posthumous publication of info from Rudolf Steiner)

Guenther Wachsmuth wrote two books on the etheric, and it is clearly apparent that certain information must have come from new indications by Rudolf Steiner. Indeed Wachsmuth’s two books ‘Etheric Formative Forces in Cosmos Earth and Man’ and ‘The Etheric World in Science, Art and Religion’ were published in German already in 1923 and 1927. They were thus written before, and started in the period (after the so-called 'scientific courses'), when Wachsmuth and Pfeiffer were investigating the etheric with counsel from Steiner. Whereas the first book has been widely available in English, the second has never been published in English (yet). However the editing and updating of an old and poor existing translation in the works by the FMC project.

The start of the second book presents the wave rhythm of etheric forces in the planetary system.

Please refer to Schema FMC00.003A and Schema FMC00.003 on Earth for the explanation below.

A first wave from the Saturn region to Sun region releases a second wave between Sun and Earth, with the principal of reversal.

If we now follow this wave action of the spheres of formative forces still further inward, we penetrate the sphere of the Earth. However, whereas the first two rhythms were of the same nature in the succes­sion of their forces, there now occurs, with the entrance into the terrestrial system of laws, that primal principle of reversal, of in­version, the validity of which for both the macrocosmic and the microcosmic evolutionary process has been shown in Volume 1 (p. 100 & 201).

The cosmic rhythms upon reaching the Earth :

• do not release a rhythm in the same succession of force-spheres (warmth-ether, light-ether, chemical-ether, life-ether)
• but the wave here reverses itself, as it were, and the forces-spheres follow one another now in precisely the reverse succession (life ether, chemical ether, light ether, warmth-ether), a process of inversion
  • whereby the exterior becomes the in­terior, and the interior becomes the exterior,
  • and which now repeats itself several times inwards within the body of the Earth.

It is then laid out how this, with two repetition and three reversals, gives rise to five waves of formative forces with their own rhythm (we will not go into this here), and then continues with what this means for things on Earth, specifically for plant growth for example:

If we now investigate the effects of these cosmic formative forces on the growth of plants on the surface of the Earth, for example, we must bear in mind that the life process of the plant presents a thrice-repeated rhythm of expansion and contraction (as already set forth in Volume 1, p. 64).

But this threefold rhythm in plant growth is only a continuation of that fourfold rhythm of the alternating expanding and contracting forces as this holds sway in the planetary spheres from the outermost sphere all the way to the surface of the earth.

If we perceive in each such alternation from expansion to contraction a breathing rhythm of the cosmos, we then recognize

• four breath-rhythms which roll inward from the outermost spheres of the formative forces of the cosmos to the surface of the Earth,
• where they are partly reflected and induce three breath-rhythms of plant growth in the reverse direction.

Thus seven breath-rhythms of the formative forces in the interaction of cosmos and Earth cause the creation of a plant on Earth. This shows how the planetary constellations naturally exert an important influence on the differentiation of plant growth. We now understand why the primeval Indian wisdom spoke of the ‘breath of Brahma’ and Christian wisdom of the ‘breath of God’ as the giver of life.

[illustration]

The knowledge of the cosmic harmony of this form-creating surging of the formative forces, surging from without inward and again from within outward, renders possible a profound and satisfying glimpse into the plan of the creation of the world.

Tattvas

1889 (1887 to 1897) - Rama Prasad: 'The Science of Breath & the Philosophy of the Tattvas'

also called 'Nature's finer forces' (see 'References and further reading' below)

extract below edited and SWCC for readability; for the figures see online version, and see also Schema FMC00.571

The tattvas are the five modifications of the great Breath. [refers to the Cosmic breath of Brahma, see also Cosmic breathing]

[see also: Schema FMC00.194]

Acting upon prakriti, this great breath throws it into five states, having distinct vibratory motions, and performing different functions.

[see also: Schema FMC00.006A]

The first outcome of the evolutionary state of parabrahma is the akasha tattva. After this come in order the vayu, the taijas, the apas and the prithivi. They are variously known as mahabhutas.

[akasha]

The word akasha is generally translated into English by the word ether.

Unfortunately, however, sound is not known to be the distinguishing quality of ether in modern English science. Some few might also have the idea that the modern medium of light is the same as akasha. This, I believe, is a mistake. The luminiferous ether is the subtle taijas tattva, and not the akasha. All five subtle tattvas might no doubt be called ethers, but to use it for the word akasha, without any distinguishing epithet, is misleading.

We might call

• akasha the sonoriferous ether,
• vayu the tangiferous ether,
• taijas luminiferous ether,
• apas the gustiferous ether, and
• ·prithivi the odoriferous ether.

Just as there exists in the universe the luminiferous or light ether, an element of ‘refined matter’ without which it has been found that the phenomena of light find no adequate explanation, so do there exist the four remaining ethers, elements of refined matter, without which it will be found that the phenomena of sound, touch, taste and smell find no adequate explanation.

The luminiferous or light ether is supposed by modern science to be matter in a most refined state. It is the vibrations of this element that are said to constitute light. The vibrations are said to take place at right angles to the direction of the wave.

Nearly the same is the description of the taijas tattva given in the book. It makes this tattva move in an upward direction, and the center of the direction is, of course, the direction of the wave. Besides, it says that one whole vibration of this element makes the figure of a triangle.

Suppose in the figure: [sketch]

AB is the direction of the wave; BC is the direction of the vibration. CA is the line along which, seeing that in expansion the symmetrical arrangements of the atoms of a body are not changed, the vibrating atom must return to its symmetrical position in the line AB.

The taijas tattva of the ancients is then exactly the luminiferous ether of the moderns, so far as the nature of the vibration is concerned.

There is no exception, however, of the four remaining ethers, at all events in a direct manner, in modern science.

The vibrations of akasha, the soniferous ether, constitute sound; and it is quite necessary to recognize the distinctive character of this form of motion.

The experiment of the bell in a vacuum goes to prove that the vibrations of atmosphere propagate sound. Any other media, however, such as the earth and the metals, are known to transmit sound in various degrees. There must, therefore, be some one thing in all these media which gives birth to sound -- the vibration that constitutes sound. That something is the Indian akasha.

But akasha is all-pervading, just as the luminiferous ether.

Why, then, is not sound transmitted to our ears when a vacuum is produced in the bell-jar?

The real fact is that we must make a difference between the vibrations of the elements that constitute sound and light, etc., and the vibrations in the media which transmit these impressions to our senses.

It is not the vibrations of the ethers - the subtle tattvas - that cause our perceptions, but the ethereal vibrations transferred to different media, which are so many modifications of gross matter -- the sthula Mahabhutas.

The luminiferous ether is present just as much in a darkened room as in the space without. The minutest space within the dimensions of the surrounding walls themselves is not void of it. For all this the luminosity of the exterior is not present in the interior. Why? The reason is that our ordinary vision does not see the vibrations of the luminiferous ether. It only sees the vibrations of the media that the ether pervades. The capability of being set into ethereal vibrations varies with different media. In the space without the darkened room the ether brings the atoms of the atmosphere into the necessary state of visual vibration, and one wide expanse of light is presented to our view. The same is the case with every other object that we see. The ether that pervades the object brings the atoms of that object into the necessary state of visual vibration.

The strength of the ethereal vibrations that the presence of the sun imparts to the ether pervading our planet is not sufficient to evoke the same state in the dead matter of the darkening walls. The internal ether, divided from the eternal one by this dead mass, is itself cut off from such vibrations. The darkness of the room is thus the consequence, notwithstanding the presence therein of the luminiferous ether. An electric spark in the vacuum of a bell-jar must needs be transmitted to our eyes, because the glass of the jar which stands in contact with the internal luminiferous ether has a good deal of the quality of being put into the state of visual vibration, which from thence is transmitted to the external ether and thence to the eye. The same would never be the case if we were to use a porcelain or an earthen jar. It is this capability of being put into the state of visual vibrations that we call transparency in glass and similar objects.

[sound or chemical ether]

To return to the soniferous ether (akasha): Every form of gross matter has, to a certain extent, which varies with various forms, what we may call auditory transparency.

Now I have to say something about the nature of the vibrations. Two things must be understood in this connection.

In the first place the external form of the vibration is something like the hole of the ear: [sketch]. It throws matter which is subject to it, into the form of a dotted sheet [sketch]. These dots are little points, rising above the common surface so as to produce microscopic pits in the sheet. It is said to move by fits and starts (sankrama), and to move in all directions (sarvatogame). It means to say that the impulse falls back upon itself along the line of its former path, which lies on all sides of the direction of the wave:

It will be understood that these ethers produce in gross media vibrations similar to their own. The form, therefore, into which the auditory vibrations throw the atmospheric air is a true clue to the form of the ethereal vibration. And the vibrations of atmospheric air discovered by modern science are similar.

[vayu]

Now we come to the tangiferous ether (vayu). The vibrations of this ether are described as being spherical in form, and the motion is said to be at acute angles to the wave (tiryak). Such is the representation of these vibrations on the plane of the paper:

The remarks about the transmission of sound in the case of akasha apply here too, mutatis mutandis.

[apas]

The gustiferous ether (apas tattva) is said to resemble in shape the half moon. It is, moreover, said to move downward.

This direction is opposite to that of the luminiferous ether. This force therefore causes contraction. Here is the representation of the apas vibrations on the plane of paper: [sketch]

The process of contraction will be considered when I come to the qualities of the tattvas.

[Prithivi]

The odoriferous ether (prithivi) is said to be quadrangular in shape, thus: [sketch]

This is said to move in the middle. It neither moves at right angles, nor at acute angles, nor upwards, nor downwards, but it moves along the line of the wave. The line and the quadrangle are in the same plane.

These are the forms, and the modes of motion, of the five ethers.

Of the five sensations of men, each of these gives birth to one, thus:

(1)   Akasha, Sonorifierous ether, Sound;

(2)   Vayu, Tangiferous ether, Touch;

(3)   Taijas, Luminfierous ether, Color;

(4)   Apas, Gustiferous ether, Taste;

(5)   Prithivi, Odoriferous ether, Smell.

In the process of evolution, these co-existing ethers, while retaining their general, relative forms and primary qualities, contract the qualities of the other tattvas. This is known as the process of panchikarana, or division into five.

If we take, as our book does, H, P, R, V and L to be the algebraic symbols for (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5), respectively, after panchikarana  the ethers assume the following forms: [sketch]

One molecule of each ether, consisting of eight atoms, has four of the original principle ethers, and one of the remaining four.

The following table will show the five qualities of each of the tattvas after panchikarana:

                 Sound     Touch      Taste        Color      Smell

(1)   H        ordinary     …          …             ...           ...

(2)   P         very light   cool        acid           light blue    acid

(3)   R        light           very hot  hot            red           hot

(4)   V        heavy       cool        astringent   white         astringent

(5)   L        deep         warm      sweet       yellow         sweet

It might be remarked here that the subtle tattvas exist in the universe on four planes. The higher of these planes differ from the lower in having a greater number of vibrations per second. The four planes are: (1) Physical (Prana); (2) Mental (Manas); (3) Psychic (Vijnana); (4) Spiritual (Ananda)

I shall discuss, however, some of the secondary qualities of these tattvas.

• Space: This is a quality of the akasha tattva. It has been asserted that the vibration of this ether is shaped like the hole of the ear, and that in the body thereof are microscopic points (vindus). It follows evidently that the interstices between the points serve to give space to ethereal minima, and offer them room for locomotion (avakasha).
• Locomotion: This is the quality of the vayu tattva. Vayu is a form of motion itself, for motion in all directions is motion in a circle, large or small. The vayu tattva itself has the form of spherical motion. When to the motion which keeps the form of the different ethers is added to the stereotyped motion of the vayu, locomotion is the result.
• Expansion: This is the quality of the taijas tattva. This follows evidently from the shape and form of motion which is given to this ethereal vibration. Suppose ABC is a lump of metal: [sketch] If we apply fire to it, the luminiferous ether in it is set in motion, and that drives the gross atoms of the lump into similar motion. Suppose (a) is an atom. This being impelled to assume the shape of the taijas, vibration goes towards (a’), and then takes the symmetrical position of (a'). Similarly does every point change its place round the center of the piece of metal. Ultimately the whole piece assumes the shape of A’B’C’. Expansion is thus the result.
• Contraction: This is the quality of the apas tattva. As has been remarked before, the direction of this ether is the reverse of the agni, and it is therefore easy to understand that contraction is the result of the play of this tattva.
• Cohesion: This is the quality of the prithivi tattva. It will be seen that this is the reverse of akasha. Akasha gives room for locomotion, while prithivi resists it. This is the natural result of the direction and shape of this vibration. It covers up the spaces of the akasha.
• Smoothness: This is a quality of the apas tattva. As the atoms of any body in contraction come near each other and assume the semi-lunar shape of the apas, they must easily glide over each other. The very shape secures easy motion for the atoms.

This is sufficient to explain the general nature of the tattvas. The different phases of their manifestation on all the planes of life will be taken up in their proper places.

Related pages

• The elementary kingdoms
• Overview on etheric research and the plant kingdom
• Spectrum of ethers and elements
• Mathematics of the etheric
• Planetary hours
• Cosmic breathing
• Three mothers

References and further reading

• Rama Prasad: Nature's Finer Forces, The Theosophist 1887-1889
  • published as 'The Science of Breath & the Philosophy of the Tatwas' in 1897 - see online here
• George Adams: 'Potentization and the peripheral forces of nature' (lecture, 1961) - PDF download here

Tattvas

• Karl Brandler-Pracht (pseudonym Johannes Balzli (1864-1939))
  • 'Tattwische- und Astrale Einflüsse' (1922)

• Arnold Krumm-Heller (1876-1949)
  • Los Tatwas y sus aplicaciones en la vida diaria (1911)
  • El Tatwámetro o las vibraciones del éter (1927 in ES) - see online in PDF

On Number, Form, Geometry

• J.B. Pettigrew: Design in nature (1908)
• John Blackwood (1940-2015): Geometry in nature' (explaining the morphology of the natural world through projective geometry) (2012)

Spirals

• Kinko Tsuji, Stefan C. Müller (editors): Spirals and Vortices: In Culture, Nature, and Science (2019)

General on geometry, pi, golden ratio

• Matila Ghyka: The geometry of art and life (1946)
• Peter S. Stevens: Patterns in nature (1974)
• Keith Critchlow:
  • Islamic patterns: An analytical and cosmological approach (1976)
  • Order in Space: A Design Source Book (1994)
• Renwick A. Sheen: Geometry and the imagination (1994)

Fibonacci

• Trudi Hammel Garland: Fascinating Fibonaccis (1987)

Pi

• David Blatner: The joy of Pi (1997)
• Patrick Mulcahy: The Metaphysical Significance of Pi (2008) - see online in PDF

Golden ratio

• H.E. Huntley: The divine proportion (1970)
• Mario Livio: The golden ratio (2002)
• Gary B. Meisner: The Golden Ratio: The Divine Beauty of Mathematics (2018)

Furthermore, see also:

• References and further reading section on 'Spectrum of elements and ethers'