THE INVESTIGATIONS OF ETHERS MADE BY RUDOLF STEINER

In the lecture gave by Rudolf Steiner in Berlin, on September 30, 1905, he said the following:

« In ordinary life we differentiate three bodily conditions: the solid, the fluid and the gaseous. Theosophical writings add to these, four other finer conditions of matter.

The first element it is really a fine etheric substance, the first grade of ether, the Warmth Ether.

The second kind of ether, the Light Ether. Bodies which shine send out a form of matter which is described in Theosophy as Light Ether.

The third kind of ether is the bearer of everything which gives form to the finest matter, the formative ether, which is also called the Chemical Ether. It is this ether which brings about the union of oxygen and hydrogen.

And the finest of all the ethers is that which constitutes life: Prana, or Life Ether. »

(GA0093a)

Rudolf Steiner claimed that from his clairvoyant investigations, he elucidated many mysteries regarding these four different types of ethers, for example:

A) He claimed to have seen how the planet and the humans went through these four etheric states before they ended up becoming solid

B) And he also related those four etheric states with the different planes of existence.

C) And he also associated them with electricity, magnetism, etc.

Rudolf Steiner mentions the ethers all the time, since the word “ether” appears more than 1'500 times in his work. But unfortunately for Rudolf Steiner, it turns out that those four types of ethers do not exist, because they were a falsehood invented by Charles Leadbeater and Annie Besant, as I am going to show you below.

Leadbeater and Besant affirmed that they observed the atomic structure of matter with their clairvoyance, and in their book "Occult Chemistry" (1909) they assured that they perceived four pre-constituent states of visible matter to which denominated them "etheric".

But for misfortune to Leadbeater and Besant, their clairvoyance turned out to be completely bad, because all the claims they made turned out to be totally false. And their clairvoyant studies of atoms were no exception, since their book "Occult Chemistry" has been severely criticized by scientists. For example, the chemistry department in Yale University shattered it ensuring that everything Leadbeater and Besant said about atoms turned out to be completely wrong (see link).

And they pointed out that Leadbeater and Besant published fake data, even knowing that the data was incorrect, thereby demonstrating their intentional quackery.

And esotericists are also very critical to Leadbeater and Besant, and for example, researcher Geoffrey Farthing wrote a book explaining the reasons why ethers discovered by Leadbeater and Besant, in reality they do not exist, and here is a summary of his arguments:

« 1) In order to be able to incorporate their four etheric states into the septenary structure of physical matter, Leadbeater and Annie Besant had to eliminate the fourth state of matter, which is incandescence. But made that is absurd since the element of fire is found in all esoteric traditions and also in science.

2) In addition, the classification they teach is very different from the classification taught by theosophy and ancient Hindu tradition. And to prove it to you, next I show you the seven states of physical matter taught by Leadbeater and Annie Besant, then by others who have copied them.

And below you can see the seven states of physical matter taught by Blavatsky and the ancient Hindu tradition.

STATES OF THE MATTER	ELEMENT WITH IT IS ASSOCIATED	TATTVAS (IN SANSKRIT)
still unknown in Occident	primordial or supreme matter (aether)	adi
still unknown in Occident	self-existing matter, «parentless»	anupadaka or aupapaduka
ethereal	ether	akasha or alaya
incandescent	fire	taijasa or tejas
gaseous	air	vayu
liquid	water	apas
solid	earth	prithivi

And as you can verify there are notable differences, because in Theosophy and Hindu tradition the vital body belongs to another plane of existence, and of the four higher states of physical matter only one is ethereal.

3) In addition, Leadbeater and Annie Besant have declared that these ethers are in a formative phase of what they called the "primordial physical atom" or "anu". The anu was a fundamental atom concept invented 31 years earlier by Edwin Babbitt.

And Leadbeater and Annie Besant claimed to have perceived the anu through their clairvoyance, and even they have discovered that in reality there are two types of anu: the feminine and the masculine.

But the anu turned out to be a false concept, because there is no such thing as an indestructible atom, as it was believed at the beginning of the 20th century, since science has discovered that atoms are made up of smaller particles, and these particles in turn are made up of even smaller sub-particles, etc.

4) However, what most demolishes the existence of the ethers is that Leadbeater and Annie Besant claimed that the change from one etheric state to another etheric state requires also a change in the atomic structure.

But science has discovered that this is not the case when atoms change from one state of matter to another (for example from solid to liquid, or from liquid to gas, etc.).

And therefore, what Leadbeater and Annie Besant have proposed totally contravenes the conservation of atomic structure, and therefore is incompatible with the laws that physics dictates.

Conclusion: The etheric states described by Leadbeater and Annie Besant are an erroneous deduction on the part of these two individuals that has not been corroborated by anyone else. On the contrary, it has been overthrown by the teachings provided by the masters, by the knowledge of ancient esoteric traditions, and by the discoveries made by science. »

(“The etheric double? The Far Reaching Effects of a False Assumption”)

In addition, you should know that the book "Occult Chemistry" is so full of errors that the own Adyar publishing company has ceased to publish this book since the middle of the last century to try to cover up the charlatanism of its authors.

And from what I found, Leadbeater and Annie Besant did not attribute any properties to those four etheric states, so I suspect it was Rudolf Steiner who gave them the characteristics he mentioned in his lecture.

1) Rudolf Steiner realized that the fire was lacking and this is probably why he declared that the first ether is the transmitter of heat, but that is wrong because heat is transmitted in all states of matter, only at different intensities.

2) For the second ether, Rudolf Steiner affirmed that it was the transmitter of light, which is also wrong, because the photons are the transmitter of light, and as Blavatsky indicated, the characteristic of the sixth state of matter is permeability, not luminosity.

3) For the third ether, Rudolf Steiner said that this is what gives it forms to matter and it is also what unites atoms, which is also false because what gives it forms to matter it is the astral plane, and what holds the atoms together are the intermolecular forces.

4) And for the fourth ether, Rudolf Steiner decided that it is the substance that gives life to beings, but that is also wrong, because that is the function of prana, which is the energy of vitality and which belongs to another plane of existence (pranic or energetic plane).

CONSEQUENCES

All this shows me that Rudolf Steiner was a very deceitful man, because I can still understand that he committed the mistake to accept the existence of the four etheric states, since many other instructors also made the same mistake, such as: Alice Bailey, Max Heindel, Mikhael Aivanhov, Samael Aun Weor, etc.

But on the other hand, what he no longer has any forgiveness is that he invented all his clairvoyant investigations about these ethers, because that shows a deep charlatanism from Rudolf Steiner.