The following extremely speculative diagram of planetary and microcosmic evolution suggests the interaction between the physical and the etheric stages, combining the Anthroposophical four ethers with the Arthur Young's four degrees of freedom.  The phases of etheric manifestation descend and ascend through varying degrees of freedom.  Steiner associated the "warmth" ether with both the physical and etheric planes, which is what has been done here.  The only difference is that Steiner equated the so-called "Life Ether" not only with the element earth but with the human consciousness or ego as well.  This may be a refernce to the way consciousness becomes rigid and structured and so is no doubt true on a certain level, but if the "densest" level represents 0° of freedom this ether would have to correspond to inanimate matter, hence I have renamed it "form ether".  Note taht in this more complex system the original etehrs are here replaced by a mandalic arrangement of thirteen ethers
 
 

Etheric/physical  Plane (involutionary)

Etheric physical (centre)

Etheric physical (evolutionary)

singularity  Time begins

Mundane Physical Universe

Noetic resonance

Noeric resonance

Psychic resonance

Physical resonance

Psychic resonance

Noeric resonance

Noetic resonance/  Big Bang extremely early Universe (unified field)

very early universe elementary particles

pop.II stars, nebula, planetary formation

early Hadean era on Earth

late Hadean era on Earth  pre-life

Precambrian and Phanerozoic eras on Eath (geological time-scale)

Historical past and future; man's reign on earth and in the universe

3° freedom

2° freedom

1° freedom

0° freedom

1° freedom

2° freedom

3° freedom

2° freedom

1° freedom

0° freedom

1°freedom

2° freedom

3° freedom

3° freedom

Warmth Ether

(foundation of consciousness in physical - quantum)

Noosphere (world of ideas, language. books, media, the Net)

2° freedom

Light Ether

sensitising ether

Mature Biosphere animals, plants, eukaryotes prokaryotes

agriculture,  eugenics, genetic engineering;  biotech

1° freedom

Chemical/ Sound Ether

metabolising ether (archetype of organic body)

non-linear thermo- dynamics

dissipative structures

prebiotic chemistry

Primitive Biosphere organic macromolcules metabolism

chemistry organic nanotech

0° freedom

Form Ether (archetypes of geoid kingdom)

accretion planetary formation

Geosphere inorganic chemistry crystals metals

chemical substratum of life

chemistry, metallurgy, inorganic nanotech

1° freedom

Chemical/ Sound Ether (archetypes of solar systems & of atoms)

Chemical/ Sound Ether "music of the_spheres" (waveforms)

plasma, stars, ionic gas molocules, planetary nebula, solar system

atoms and molocules

2° freedom

light-ether

Light ether

cosmogenesis hadron, lepton eras

subatomic particles

3° freedom

warmth ether

(etheric- physical) - cosmologenesis

quantum field, sub-atomic particles, quantum indeterminacy

Cosmos

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