The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Fourfold Earth-Man

[ 1 ] This description will take the human being as its starting point. As the human being currently lives on Earth, he consists of the physical body, the etheric or life body, the astral body, and the “I.” This fourfold human nature possesses within itself the potential for higher development. The “I” transforms the “lower” bodies of its own accord, thereby incorporating them into the higher aspects of human nature. The refinement and purification of the astral body by the “I” brings about the emergence of the “spiritual self” (Manas); the transformation of the etheric or life body creates the life spirit (Buddhi), and the transformation of the physical body creates the true “spiritual human being” (Atma). The transformation of the astral body is in full swing in the current period of Earth’s evolution; the conscious transformation of the etheric body and the physical body belongs to later ages; at present, it has begun only among the initiates—the esotericists and their disciples. — this threefold transformation of the human being is the conscious one; it was preceded by a more or less unconscious process, namely during Earth’s development to date. It is in this unconscious transformation of the astral body, the etheric body, and the physical body that the emergence of the sensory soul, the intellectual soul, and the conscious soul is to be found. ^{1For more details on all of this, see the discussions in my book On the Education of the Child from the Perspective of Spiritual Science and in my Theosophy: An Attempt at a Supersensory View of the World and the Human Destiny.}

[ 2 ] Now one must determine which of the three bodies of the human being (the physical, the etheric, and the astral body) is the most perfect in its own way. It is easy to be tempted to regard the physical body as the lowest and therefore also the most imperfect. But in doing so, one is guilty of an error. It is true that the astral and etheric bodies will attain a high degree of perfection in the future; at present, however, the physical body is, in its own kind, more perfect than they are in theirs. It is only because human beings share this physical body with the lowest earthly kingdom of nature—the mineral kingdom—that the aforementioned error can arise. For humans share the etheric body with the higher plant kingdom and the astral body with the animal kingdom. — Now, it is true that the human physical body consists of the same substances and forces found throughout the vast mineral kingdom; yet the way in which these substances and forces interact within the human body is an expression of wisdom and perfection of design. Anyone who takes the time to study this structure—not merely with a sober intellect, but with their entire, feeling soul—will soon be convinced that this is indeed the case. Let us take any part of the human physical body for consideration, for example, the upper part of the femur. It is not a solid mass of material, but is artfully assembled from small beams running in various directions. No current engineering art could construct a bridge framework or anything similar with such wisdom. Even today, such a feat still utterly surpasses all perfection of human wisdom. The bone is so wisely constructed that the necessary load-bearing capacity to support the human upper body is achieved with the smallest possible amount of material through the arrangement of these beams. The smallest amount of material is used to achieve the greatest possible force through it. One can only marvel in awe at such a “masterpiece of nature’s architecture.” And one cannot help but stand in no less admiration before the wondrous structure of the human brain or the heart—indeed, the entirety of the human physical body. And let us compare this with the degree of perfection that, at humanity’s present stage of development, the astral body has attained. It is the vehicle of pleasure and displeasure, of passions, drives, and desires, and so on. But what attacks does this astral body launch against the wise design of the physical body! A large portion of the stimulants that humans consume are poisons to the heart. From this, however, it follows that the activity that brings about the physical structure of the heart acts more wisely than the activity of the astral body, which even works against this wisdom. It is true that the astral body will advance toward higher wisdom in the future; at present, however, it in its own way is not yet as perfect as the physical body is in its own. A similar point could be made regarding the etheric body; and also regarding the “I,” this being that must feel its way from moment to moment through error and illusion toward wisdom.

[ 3 ] If one compares the levels of perfection of the human faculties, one will easily discover that the physical body is currently the most perfect in its kind, that the etheric body has a lower degree of perfection, and the astral body an even lower one; and the least perfect part of the human being is currently, in its kind, the “I.” This is because, within the planetary evolution of the human dwelling place, the physical human body has been the focus of the longest period of development. What humans currently possess as their physical body has undergone all the stages of development from Saturn, the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth (up to their present stage). All the forces of these planetary bodies have worked on this body one after another, so that it has been able to gradually attain its present degree of perfection. It is thus the oldest component of present-day human nature. — The etheric body, as it now appears in human beings, did not exist at all during the Saturn era. It was added only during the Sun’s evolution. Thus, the forces of only three planetary bodies—namely, those of the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth—have acted upon it, unlike the physical body, which has been shaped by the forces of four. It can therefore only become as perfect in its own way as the physical body is today in a future period of development. The astral body did not join the physical body and the etheric body until the Lunar Age, and the “I” did not emerge until the Earth Age.

[ 4 ] One must now imagine that the physical human body on Saturn had reached a certain stage of its development and that this development was then continued on the Sun in such a way that, from that time on, it was able to serve as the vehicle for an etheric body. On Saturn, this physical body had developed to the point where it was an extremely complex mechanism, but one that still contained no life within it. The complexity of its composition ultimately caused it to disintegrate. For this complexity had reached such a high degree that it could no longer be sustained by the mere mineral forces at work within it. And it was this collapse of the physical human bodies that ultimately brought about the downfall of Saturn. — For Saturn had, of the present-day kingdoms of nature—namely, the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the human kingdom—only the latter. What we now know as animals, plants, and minerals did not yet exist on Saturn. On this celestial body, of the four present-day kingdoms of nature, only the human being—in terms of his physical body—existed; and this physical body was, in fact, a kind of complex mineral. The other kingdoms arose because, on the successive celestial bodies, not all beings were able to reach the full goal of development. Thus, only a portion of the human bodies formed on Saturn attained the full Saturn goal. Those human bodies that had reached this goal were now, during the Sun era, as it were, raised to a new existence in their old form, and this form was permeated by the etheric body. Through this, they developed to a higher stage of perfection. They became a kind of plant-human. However, that part of the human bodies which had not been able to reach the full goal of development on Saturn had to continue, during the Solar Age, the development they had missed under conditions that were considerably less favorable than those that had existed on Saturn for this development. It therefore lagged behind the part that had reached the full goal on Saturn. As a result, a second kingdom of nature arose on the Sun alongside the human kingdom.

[ 5 ] It would be a mistake to believe that all the organs found in the present human body were already laid down on Saturn. That is not the case. Rather, it is primarily the sense organs within the human body that can trace their origins back to that ancient time. The earliest rudiments of the eyes, ears, and so on—which formed on Saturn as mineral bodies, much like the “lifeless crystals” found on Earth today—have such an ancient origin; however, the corresponding organs acquired their present form through repeated transformation toward greater perfection in each of the subsequent planetary epochs. On Saturn, they were merely physical apparatuses, nothing more. On the Sun, they were then transformed because an etheric or life body permeated them. Through this, they were incorporated into the life process. They became animated physical apparatuses. And added to these were those parts of the human physical body that could develop only under the influence of an etheric body: the organs of growth, nutrition, and reproduction. Of course, the earliest rudiments of these organs, as they emerged on the Sun, again did not resemble the perfection of form they possess today. — The highest organs that were integrated into the human body at that time through the interaction of the physical body and the etheric body were those that have since developed into the glands. Thus, the human physical body on the Sun is a glandular system imprinted with the sense organs at the corresponding level. — On the Moon, development continues. The astral body is added to the physical body and the etheric body. Through this, the first rudiments of a nervous system are incorporated into the glandular-sensory body. As can be seen, the human physical body becomes increasingly complex in the successive planetary stages of development. On the Moon, it is composed of nerves, glands, and senses. The senses have undergone two stages of transformation and refinement; the nerves are at their first stage. If we consider the lunar human as a whole, it consists of three parts: a physical body, an etheric body, and an astral body. The physical body is threefold; its structure embodies the work of the Saturn, Sun, and Moon forces. The etheric body is only twofold. It contains within itself only the effects of the Sun and Moon forces; and the astral body is still single-fold. Only the lunar forces have worked upon it. — Through the development of the astral body, the human being has become capable of a life of feeling, of a certain inner life. He can form images within his astral body from what is happening in his surroundings. In a certain sense, these images can be compared to the dream images of present-day human consciousness; only they are more vivid, more colorful, and—most importantly—they relate to events in the external world, whereas present-day dream images are mere echoes of everyday life or, in other words, unclear reflections of internal or external events. The images of lunar consciousness corresponded perfectly to what they referred to in the external world. Suppose, for example, that such a lunar human being—as just described, consisting of a physical body, an etheric body, and an astral body—had approached another lunar being. He would not have been able to perceive the other as a spatial object, for such perception only became possible in human Earth consciousness; but within his astral body an image would have arisen that, in its color and form, would have expressed with complete precision whether the other being felt sympathy or antipathy toward this lunar human, and whether it could be useful or dangerous to him. The lunar human could therefore adjust his behavior precisely according to the images that arose in his image-consciousness. These images served as a perfect means of orientation for him. And the physical instrument that the astral body needed to enter into relationship with the lower kingdoms of nature was the nervous system integrated into the physical body.

[ 6 ] For this transformation of the human being described here to have taken place during the Lunar Period, the involvement of a major world event was necessary. The integration of the astral body and the corresponding development of a nervous system within the physical body became possible only because that which had previously been a body—the Sun—split into two parts: the Sun and the Moon. The former became a fixed star, while the latter remained a planet—as the Sun had previously been—and began to orbit the Sun from which it had split off. As a result, a significant transformation took place in everything that lived on the Sun and the Moon. For now, we shall trace this process of transformation only insofar as it relates to life on the Moon. The human being, consisting of a physical and an etheric body, had remained united with the physical body when the Moon separated from the Sun. Thus, the human being entered into entirely new conditions of existence. For the Moon took with it from the Sun only a portion of the forces contained within the latter; only this portion now acted upon the human being from its own celestial body, while the Sun retained the other portion of the forces within itself. This portion is thus sent to the Moon—and thereby also to its inhabitant, the human being—from the outside. Had the former relationship persisted, and had all the forces of the Sun continued to flow to the human being from its own sphere, that inner life—which manifests itself in the rising of the images of the astral body—could not have come into being. The solar force remained from the outside effective upon the physical body and the etheric body, upon which it had already acted in the past. However, it released a portion of these two bodies to influences emanating from the newly formed celestial body resulting from the separation—namely, the Moon. Thus, on the Moon, the human being was subject to a dual influence: that of the Sun and that of the Moon. And it is to the influence of the Moon that we owe the formation, from the physical and etheric bodies, of those structures that made possible the imprinting of the astral body. And an astral body can create images only if the solar forces come to it not from its own planet but from outside. The lunar influences reshaped the sensory faculties and the glandular organs in such a way that a nervous system could become integrated into them; and the solar influences brought about the fact that the images—for which this nervous system served as the instrument—corresponded to the external lunar processes in the manner described above.

[ 7 ] Development could continue in this way only up to a certain point. Had this point been exceeded, the lunar human would have become rigid in his inner life of images; and as a result, he would have lost all connection with the Sun. When the time came, the Sun took the Moon back, so that for a time both were once again a single body. The union lasted until humanity had advanced far enough to prevent, through a new stage of development, the hardening that would otherwise have occurred on the Moon. Once this had happened, a new separation took place, but this time the Moon carried with it solar forces that had not previously been bestowed upon it. And this brought about a further separation after some time. What had finally separated from the Sun was a celestial body that contained all the forces and beings that currently live on Earth and the Moon. The Earth, then, still had the Moon—which now orbits it—within its own body. Had it remained within her, she could never have become the stage for human development as it is today. The forces of the present Moon first had to be cast off; and humanity had to remain on the Earth’s stage, thus purified, and continue its development there. In this way, three celestial bodies emerged from the ancient Sun. And the forces of two of these celestial bodies—the new Sun and the new Moon—are sent to the Earth, and thus to its inhabitants, from without. —Through this progress in the evolution of the celestial bodies, it has become possible for the four-fold human nature, as it still existed on the Moon, to incorporate the fourth member, the “I.” This incorporation was accompanied by a perfection of the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body. The perfection of the physical body consisted in the incorporation into it of the heart system as the provider of warm blood. Naturally, the sensory system, the endocrine system, and the nervous system now had to be restructured so that they would be compatible within the human organism with the newly added system of warm blood. The sense organs, however, were restructured in such a way that the mere pictorial consciousness of the Old Moon could develop into the object consciousness that mediates the perception of external things, and which human beings currently possess from the moment they wake up in the morning until they fall asleep at night. On the ancient Moon, the senses were not yet open to the outside world; images of consciousness arose from within; it is precisely this opening of the senses to the outside world that is the achievement of Earth’s evolution.

[ 8 ] It has been mentioned above that not all human bodies destined for Saturn achieved the goal set for them there, and why a second natural kingdom arose on the Sun alongside the human kingdom in its form at that time. One must now imagine that at each of the subsequent stages of development—on the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth—there were always beings who fell short of their goals, and that this gave rise to the lower kingdoms of nature. The animal kingdom, for example, which is closest to humankind, is the one that had already fallen behind on Saturn but, under partly unfavorable conditions on the Sun and Moon, caught up in its development, so that on Earth it was not as advanced as humankind but did possess, to some extent, the ability to develop warm blood. For before the Earth era, there was no warm-blooded life in any of the kingdoms of nature. The present cold-blooded (or poikilothermic) animals and certain plants arose because certain beings of the lower solar kingdom once again lagged behind the stage that the other beings of that kingdom had reached. The present mineral kingdom arose last of all—in fact, only during the Earth era.

[ 9] The fourfold earthly human being receives from the Sun and the Moon the influences of those forces that have remained connected to these celestial bodies. From the Sun come the forces that serve progress, growth, and development; from the Moon, the hardening, shaping forces. If human beings were subject only to the influence of the Sun, they would dissolve in an immeasurably rapid process of growth. Therefore, after a certain time, they had to leave the Sun and receive, on the separate, ancient Moon, the restraints on overly rapid progress. Had he, however, remained permanently connected to the Moon, the constraints on growth would have hardened him into a rigid form. Therefore, he proceeded to the formation of the Earth, within which the two influences maintain a proper balance. At the same time, this also marks the moment when a higher entity—the soul—is incorporated into the fourfold human being as an inner being.

[ 10 ] The human physical body—in its form, actions, movements, and so on—is the expression and effect of what takes place in the other bodies: the etheric body, the astral body, and the I. In the previous discussions drawn from the “Akashic Records,” it has become evident how, in the course of evolution, these other members gradually intervened in the formation of the physical body. During the Saturnic epoch, none of these other members was yet connected to the physical human body. However, the first foundation for this formation was laid at that time. One must not, however, believe that the forces which later acted upon the physical body from the etheric body, the astral body, and the I had not already been acting upon it during the Saturn period. They were already acting at that time, only in a certain sense from the outside, not from within. The other members had not yet been formed, nor had they been united with the human physical body in any specific form; yet the forces that later united within them acted, as it were, from the surrounding sphere—the atmosphere—of Saturn and shaped the first rudiment of this body. This rudiment was then transformed on the Sun because a portion of these forces coalesced into the specific human etheric body and now acted upon the physical body no longer merely from the outside, but from within. The same thing happened on the Moon with regard to the astral body. And on Earth, the physical human body was transformed for the fourth time, becoming the dwelling place of the “I,” which now works within it.

[ 11 ] As we can see, the physical human body is not something fixed in the eyes of the spiritual scientist; it is not something permanent in its form or mode of action. It is in a state of constant transformation. And such transformation is also taking place during the current earthly phase of its development. One can only understand human life if one is able to form a conception of this transformation.

[ 12 ] A spiritual-scientific examination of the human organs reveals that they are at very different stages of development. There are organs in the human body that, in their present form, are in a state of decline, while others are in a state of ascent. The former will increasingly lose their significance for human beings in the future. They have passed the peak of their functions, will atrophy, and will eventually disappear from the human body. Other organs are in an ascending phase of development; they contain much that is now present only in embryonic form; in the future, they will develop into more perfect forms with a higher purpose. Among the former organs are, among others, those that serve reproduction—the production of one’s own kind. In the future, they will hand over their function to other organs and themselves sink into insignificance. A time will come when they will be found in an atrophied state in the human body, and they will then be seen merely as evidence of early human evolution.

[ 13 ] Other organs, such as the heart and its adjacent structures, are, in a certain sense, at the beginning of their development. Only in the future will they bring to fruition what now lies latent within them. The spiritual-scientific view, in fact, sees in the heart and its relationship to the so-called blood circulation something entirely different from what contemporary physiology perceives, which in this regard is entirely dependent on mechanistic-materialistic concepts. In doing so, this spiritual science succeeds in shedding light on facts that are quite familiar to contemporary science, but for which the latter, with its current methods, is unable to provide a reasonably satisfactory explanation. Anatomy shows that the muscles of the human body are of two different types in their structure. There are those whose smallest parts consist of smooth bands, and those whose smallest parts exhibit regular transverse striations. Smooth muscles are generally those whose movements are independent of human volition. For example, the muscles of the intestine are smooth; they propel the chyme forward in regular movements without human volition having any influence on these movements. Smooth muscles also include those found in the iris of the eye. These muscles are responsible for the movements that cause the pupil to dilate when the eye is exposed to a small amount of light and to constrict when a large amount of light enters the eye. These movements, too, are independent of human volition. Striated, on the other hand, are those muscles that, under the influence of human volition, produce movements—for example, the muscles that move the arms and legs. The heart, which is also a muscle, is an exception to this general classification. Even the heart is not subject to voluntary control in its movements during the current stage of human development; and yet it is a “striated” muscle. Spiritual science explains the reason for this in its own way. The heart will not always remain as it is now. In the future, it will have a completely different form and a changed function. It is on its way to becoming a voluntary muscle. In the future, it will perform movements that will be the effects of the human being’s inner soul impulses. Its very structure already reveals the significance it will have in the future, when the heart’s movements will be just as much an expression of the human will as raising a hand or stepping forward is today. — This view of the heart is connected to spiritual science’s comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the heart and what is known as the blood circulation. The mechanistic-materialistic view of life regards the heart as a kind of pumping device that drives blood through the body in a regular manner. According to this view, the heart is the cause of blood circulation. Spiritual scientific insight reveals something entirely different. It regards the pulsation of the blood—its entire inner mobility—as an expression and effect of soul processes. Soul factors are the cause of how the blood behaves. Paling from fear and blushing under the influence of feelings of shame are gross effects of soul processes in the blood. But everything that takes place in the blood is merely an expression of what is happening in the soul life. The connection between blood pulsation and soul impulses is a deeply mysterious one. And it is not the cause, but rather the consequences of blood pulsation that are the movements of the heart. — In the future, the heart will carry the effect of what is woven in the human soul into the outer world through voluntary movements.

[ 14 ] Other organs undergoing a similar upward development are the respiratory organs, specifically in their function as instruments of speech. At present, human beings are able to use them to transform their thoughts into sound waves. Through this process, they imprint what they experience internally onto the external world. They transform their inner experiences into sound waves. This wave motion of the air is a reflection of what is taking place within them. In the future, he will increasingly manifest his inner being outwardly in this way. And the ultimate result of this development will be that, through his organs of speech—which will have reached the height of their perfection—he will bring forth his own kind. The speech organs thus currently contain within themselves, in embryonic form, the future reproductive organs. And the fact that the male individual undergoes a mutation (voice change) at the time of sexual maturity is a consequence of the mysterious connection between the speech organs and the reproductive system.

[ 15 ] The entire human physical body, with all its organs, can be viewed in this way from the perspective of spiritual science. For now, only a few examples should be given here. There is such a thing as spiritual-scientific anatomy and physiology. And in the not-too-distant future, the current scientific approach will have to draw inspiration from it—indeed, it will have to be completely transformed by it.

[ 16 ] Here, in this field, it becomes particularly clear that findings such as those mentioned above must not be based on mere conclusions or intellectual speculation (such as analogies), but must arise solely from genuine spiritual scientific research. This must necessarily be emphasized, because it happens all too easily that zealous adherents of spiritual science, once they have absorbed a few insights, go on to spin ideas out of thin air. It is then no wonder that only figments of the imagination result, as these tend to proliferate particularly in these fields. For example, one might now draw the following conclusion from the above account: Since the human reproductive organs, in their present form, will be the first to lose their significance in the future, they must also have been the first to acquire it in prehistoric times; they are, so to speak, the oldest organs of the human body. The exact opposite is true. They were the last to acquire their present form and will be the first to lose it again.

[ 17 ] The following is what presents itself to spiritual scientific research. On the Sun, the physical human body had, in a certain sense, advanced to the stage of plant existence. At that time, it was permeated solely by an etheric body. On the Moon, it took on the character of an animal body because it was permeated by the astral body. But not all organs participated in this transformation into an animal character. Some parts remained at the plant stage. And even when, after the incorporation of the “I,” the human body on Earth rose to its present form, some organs still bore a distinct plant character. One must not, however, imagine that these organs looked exactly like our present-day plants. Among these organs are the reproductive organs. Even at the beginning of Earth’s development, they were still imbued with a plant character. This was known in the wisdom of the ancient mysteries. And ancient art, which preserved so much from the traditions of the mysteries, depicts, for example, hermaphrodites with reproductive organs resembling plant leaves. These are the precursors of humankind, who still possessed the ancient type of reproductive organs (were hermaphroditic). This can be seen beautifully, for example, in a hermaphrodite in the Capitoline Collection in Rome. And once one comes to understand these things, one will also know the true reason, for example, for the presence of the fig leaf in the story of Eve. One will accept true explanations for many ancient depictions, whereas current interpretations stem merely from incomplete thinking. Incidentally, it should be noted that the aforementioned hermaphrodite displays other plant-like appendages as well. When it was created, the tradition was still alive that, in the distant past, certain human organs had transformed from plant-like to animal-like forms.

[ 18 ] All these transformations of the human body are merely the expression of the transformative forces inherent in the etheric body, the astral body, and the I. The transformations of the physical human body accompany the actions of the higher human members. Therefore, one can only understand the structure and functioning of this human body by delving into the “Akashic Records,” which precisely reveal how the higher transformations of the more soul- and spirit-oriented members of the human being take place. Everything physical and material finds its explanation in the spiritual. And even light is shed on the future of the physical realm when one engages with the spiritual.

[ 19 ] The following articles will have a lot to say about the future of Earth and humanity.