Devas G 13 1
molecule, cell by cell.These nature spirits, says Hodson, operate instinc-
tively, largely by playing and dancing along the lines of force, which they
find stimulating, electrifying, even intoxicating.
Gardner describes tiny etheric creatures working in the grass that
run about aimlessly, just "going somewhere" like gnats in the sun.Yet
the busy traveling of these specks of etheric being, says Gardner, has its
function: that of keeping active the vital currents in the grass and
thereby stimulating growth even in that low order of plant life, even
though these tiny entities have only a mass consciousness of the
purpose for which they exist. He describes groups of fairy workers-
brownies, elves, and pixies-working at their tasks like a hive of bees or
a nest of ants, without individual responsibility, though instinctively in
touch with Nature's plan.
To obtain a view of this spiritual supersensible world, says Steiner,
one must organize oneself up to the level of angelic beings, learn to see
the world with the kind of perception possessed by the angels."Things
that appear to us in material form are but the outward sheaths of spir-
itual beings. The radiant glory of the angels is far more real, not less
real, than things of the physical plane."
With no physical body and no physical organs such as eyes, ears, and
so on, angels, says Steiner, perceive the physical world differently.They
do not see as we see: what to us is perception, to angels is manifesta-
tion. We see because an external world appears before our senses; an-
gels are aware only of what they are themselves manifesting. When
entering into connection with the world around them, they develop
another form of consciousness, in a way like sleep; only they are not
unconscious. They merely feel a sort of loss of self. Consciously, says
Steiner, angels are aware of four kingdoms: plant, animal, human, and
their own world of angels, but not the mineral kingdom: where there
is mineral they perceive oidy a hollow.
As in their lowest being angels have an etheric body, their con-
sciousness can descend low enough to perceive plants; hence their
close relationship, especially the lower devas, with the world of plants.
In the future, says Steiner, humans will develop the consciousness of
angels: meanwhile angels are the spirits that help man transform his