662. The tilt we have spoken of that the Earth's axis has acquired can be due to only an exaggerated expression of the energy of gravity in the Earth's consciousness, that is to say a mental manifestation that was too violent in relation to the preservation of its natural position in the system. This mental outburst, which we will return to later, caused a kind of shock to the physical organism of the Earth's I. And this "dislodged" it from its position. Obviously, this could not pass quietly or unnoticed by its micro-individuals. And we also have legends about huge natural catastrophes, in which continents were engulfed and sank into the sea. We have accounts of the great flood when: "Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered", and other such stories. That such gigantic catastrophes have really taken place is incontestable. But the exact details of time and place of each and how high "the waters prevailed" have no importance in this connection. We would just point out that the cause, as we have already mentioned, was a much too strong mental outburst of gravity. As the Earth being can have a strong mental manifestation towards only the fellow beings belonging to its own mesocosmos, this mental manifestation will be the same as a communication between the Earth being and one or more of these fellow beings. As these beings, from our perspective, constitute the phenomena we call "celestial bodies", the shock that caused the tilt in the Earth's axis is therefore the same as too strong an interaction of energy in its communication with, or its relationship to, these celestial bodies. Whether the purely outer, physical aspect of this too strong interaction of energy resulted in one of these bodies on its way through space coming dangerously close to the orbit of the Earth, or whether it resulted in a completely different outer, physical phenomenon does not alter the above analysis in the slightest. Our object here is merely to point out the present-day effects of these distant, gigantic catastrophes. And as already mentioned, it is these effects that constitute the basic reason why terrestrial human beings themselves to a certain extent have to create the protection of their lives and existence that the organism of the Earth is not able to offer them at present, due to its disability caused by the catastrophes in the past. On account of this disability, life in the Earth's organism is therefore slightly more difficult for its microbeings than would have been the case if the tilt of its axis had been in a normal alignment to the centre of the system.