285. Of all the lines of evolution extending over the Earth at this time the one to which terrestrial mankind belongs will naturally be the most prominent. All beings coming under the term "mammals" belong to this line's present form. Another very outstanding cosmic line in the zone of the Earth we see in that group of creatures we have learned to know as "insects". The day to day existence and behaviour of these small beings constitutes, from a cosmic viewpoint, the story of a pre-earthly time, of a life on strange worlds, worlds which in their nature, size and circumstances are entirely different from the conditions on this Earth. These visible realities from a pre-earthly existence exhibit, among many other manifestations, a bodily equipment of physical strength which, compared with their size, makes all other living beings on Earth appear as pure weaklings. Furthermore, they make up communities which, with regard to mutual organization and individual arrangements, compared with some of mankind's primitive communities, leave nothing to be desired and within its own evolutionary step in the zone of the Earth is quite unequalled.
      When we observe these two cosmic evolutionary lines represented here on Earth by mammals and insects, we can easily realize, even with ordinary physical senses, that there are living beings on the last-mentioned line who are on a much higher step in evolution than many of those on the first-mentioned one. For example, there are those beings we know as "ants" and "bees". Such beings leave not the slightest doubt about their higher standard of development when seen side by side with such beings we know as "cows", "sheep", "pigs", and "horses". Compared with these it is beyond dispute that the first-mentioned beings are on an evolutionary level which is not only equal but in certain cases represents a far greater superiority in social and individual organization. Mammals, with the exception of terrestrial mankind, can have no claim whatsoever to a degree of superiority which could be recognised as belonging to a higher step in evolution than insects. It is true that mammals have a certain superiority in the size of their physical body and its life span but this does not give them any spiritual superiority whatsoever or prevent them, as in the case of insects, from being tools for the manifestation of the "killing principle". However, this is only due to the fact that all the pre-earthly time of the mammals has manifested itself on globes more related to this Earth than those on which the pre-earthly state of insects has been manifested and accordingly mammals have accustomed themselves to conditions on Earth to a greater extent than insects have done, and have developed themselves in this way to a degree where they may really be looked upon as "true Earth beings" and therefore also possess a "supremacy" while insects in relation to this Earth are to be seen only as "guests".
      From the other cosmic lines of evolution we can mention the one which consists of those living beings we know under the term "birds". While the mammal-line on Earth represents all the stages right up to that of terrestrial mankind, the insect-line and the bird-line, as well as all other remaining cosmic lines which are beginning within the regions of the Earth, are still represented only in ordinary animal stages and the stages below. However, it should be noted that the insect-line to a certain degree has crossed the boundary into the stage of terrestrial mankind, so for this reason some of its beings, from a cosmic viewpoint, can already be regarded as "human beings" but naturally on a different cosmic evolutionary line from those who are usually defined by that title.
      In later sections we shall return to some of the special material which will elucidate the breakthrough of the cosmic lines into the zone of the Earth.