Third force

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The Sub-Sensible World as a Reflection of the Supersensible World (GA 130, p. 104)

The so-called third force[1], which Rudolf Steiner characterises as a terrible destructive force, is one of the forces of the sub-sensible world, along with electricity and magnetism, which do not have a life-building, vitalising effect, but a degrading and ultimately destructive one. The third and most dangerous of these forces arises from the life ether being pushed down into the realm of the Asuras (see drawing on the right), which is the sub-physical reflection of the upper devachan:

„One has the physical world, the astral world, the lower devachan and the upper devachan. Now if you push a body down even further than to the physical world, you come to the sub-physical world, the sub-astral world, the lower or bad lower devachan and the lower or bad upper devachan. The bad astral world is the realm of Lucifer, the bad lower devachan is the realm of Ahriman and the bad upper devachan is the realm of the Asuras. If you push chemism even further down than under the physical plan, into the bad lower devachanic world, magnetism arises, and if you push light into the sub-material, that is, one step lower than the material world, electricity arises. If we push that which lives in the harmony of the spheres still further down to the Asuras, then there is a still more terrible force which will not be able to be kept secret much longer. One must only wish that when this power comes, which we must imagine to be much, much stronger than the strongest electrical discharges, and which will come at any rate - then one must wish that before this power is given to humanity by an inventor, men will have nothing more immoral about them!“ (Lit.:GA 130, p. 102f)

The extent to which the third force can be identified with the nuclear forces or gravitation] has not yet been definitely clarified from an anthroposophical point of view, nor has the exact relationship of the three forces mentioned by Steiner to the four currently known fundamental forces of physics.

The third force is probably also related to the mysterious psychophysical vital force "Vril" described by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) in his novel "The Coming Race", published in 1871. The theosophist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky pointed out that this Vril force had already been used by the ancient Atlantians and was now to be reawakened in a renewed form. John Worrell Keely had tried to harness this force, which the Atlantians called Mash-mak and which was a terrible "sidereal force", in the Keely engine he constructed, but ultimately failed. In her "Secret Doctrine" she writes:

„If the question is asked why Mr. Keely was not allowed to pass a certain limit, the answer is easy ; because that which he has unconsciously discovered, is the terrible sidereal Force, known to, and named by the Atlanteans mash-mak, and by the Aryan Rishis in their Ashtar Vidya by a name that we do not like to give. It is the vril of Bulwer Lytton’s “ Coming Race,” and of the coming races of our mankind. The name vril may be a fiction ; the Force itself is a fact doubted as little in India as the existence itself of their Rishis, since it is mentioned in all the secret works.“ (Lit.: {{{2}}})

In his early theosophical-anthroposophical lectures, Rudolf Steiner also spoke about the Vril force, which is actually the plant growth force, and pointed out its future significance for social life and its connection with the Holy Grail (Lit.:GA 93, p. 281). It was the same force that the Atlantians had called "Tao":

„The Chinese are a remnant of the Atlantean race of Mongols. When we hear the word TAO among the Chinese, it is something difficult for us to understand. The Mongols of that time had developed a monotheism that went as far as psychic tangibility, as far as feeling the spiritual, and when the old Chinese, the old Mongol, pronounced the word TAO, he felt it when he pronounced it. TAO is not "the way" as it is usually translated, it is the basic force by which the Atlantean could still transform the plants, by which he could set his strange airships in motion. The Atlantean used this basic power, which is also called "Vril", everywhere, and he called it his god. He felt this power within himself, it was "the way and the goal" for him.“ (Lit.:GA 92, p. 18f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

Weblinks

  • Christoph Podak: «... weil sonst das ahrimanische Gegenbild entwickelt wird.» Materialien und Aspekte zum Konzept der «Strader-Technik», in: Der Europäer, Jg 07, Perseus-Verlag, Basel 2003, Heft 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (German)
  • Wolfgang Peter: Die dritte Kraft, in: Der Europäer, Jg 05/Heft 9/10, Perseus-Verlag, Basel 2001, p. 30f (German)

References

  1. ↑ Rudolf Steiner did not use this term explicitly; it results from the fact that it joins electricity and magnetism as a "third force".
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