The Rudolf Steiner Archive

10. The Course of Human Life from a Spiritual Scientific Perspective

[ 1 ] The ancient maxim of a Greek mystery temple: “Know thyself” has been passed down through humanity as a call to the deepest form of human reflection. It represents one of the greatest truths, but this saying is like all truly great truths: when properly understood, they signify something universal, something immense. But they can all too easily be misunderstood—and this one in particular. It was never intended in its original sense to mean that a person should contemplate their everyday self, nor was it ever meant to suggest that a person could find the sum total of all knowledge within themselves. If we understand it correctly, it is a call to recognize the self—the higher self of the human being.

[ 2 ] Where is a person's higher self?

[ 3 ] We can use a comparison to understand where this higher self is and what this saying means. Certainly, if we did not have eyes, we could not possibly perceive the light around us. But never—and this is just as certain—could we ever have eyes if the sunlight flooding through space had not first created them. From originally lower forms of organization, from a living being that had no eyes and was surrounded only by darkness, it was the light itself that literally drew the eyes into being. That is why what Goethe says is so profoundly true: “The eyes are formed by the light and for the light.” But the eyes are not there to gaze upon themselves. If we were to speak from the perspective of the eyes, we would have to say: The eyes fulfill their purpose all the better the more they forget themselves and recognize their creator—the light. Human beings would never fulfill the mission of the eyes if they could look into the very interior of the eye itself. To forget this so-called interior and to recognize precisely that which created the interior—the higher self of the eye, the light—that is the task, the mission of the eye! The situation is similar with what human beings call the ordinary self. That, too, is nothing other than an organ, a tool; and self-knowledge rises all the higher the more this human self can forget itself, the more it becomes aware that in the outer world, too, there is the light of the Spirit that has created our spiritual eyes and continues to create them. Therefore, self-knowledge, when properly understood, means self-development. We must keep this in mind as we consider a topic today—one of the utmost importance to human beings: the topic of self-knowledge in the highest sense of the word.

[ 4 ] Let us consider the human being from birth to death, taking into account the entirety of the human being. However, we must not forget that at the beginning of their physical existence, human beings already bring something with them; that they do not appear to us as something newly formed, but as beings who have already lived through repeated earthly lives and have already acquired the fundamental character of their individuality during those lives. If we wish to understand what a human being brings with them at birth, we must consider the human being after death. For this will reveal to us what the human being has preserved during the period from death to the new birth, in order to bring it with them at the new birth.

[ 5 ] Let us recall what happens when a person dies: they leave behind their physical body. The essential difference between death and sleep is that when a person lies in bed asleep, they possess both the physical body and the etheric body, and only the astral body and what we call the “I” are withdrawn. Just as bricks do not assemble themselves into a palace, so the physical forces need the etheric body as their inner architect. It is connected to the human being and, from birth to death, maintains the cohesion of the physical substances and forces; it saves the chemical mixture from decay at every moment. At death, it truly separates itself, and thus the physical part remains behind as the decaying corpse. Thus, during sleep, only the astral body—as the bearer of pleasure and pain, desires and emotions—and the “I” leave the physical body; at death, the etheric body now separates as well and remains for a while with the astral body and the “I.” This is a crucial moment in human existence. At this moment, the memory of the entire earthly life up to that point—from birth to death—flashes before the human soul in the blink of an eye, like a vast tableau. This tableau presents itself like a painting. We do not feel, at this moment, anything that has been associated with pleasure or suffering. Just as we do not feel the stab of a dagger when looking at a painting, so too do we not feel all the pain and suffering, the pleasure or joy, that pass before us. We stand there facing our past life as objective observers.

[ 6 ] Then comes the moment when the etheric body, too, withdraws and dissolves into the world ether that generally permeates the world. But something remains of the etheric body: it is a kind of distillation of the entire life lived up to that point. The tableau fades and dissolves; but just as when we make a brief excerpt in a book, something like an essence remains united with the human being throughout all the paths that follow. At the same time, we must realize one thing: Alongside this essence of the etheric body, there remains—albeit only a little—a sort of focal point of force, an essence of the human being’s physical body; of course not in a way that a physical eye can see it, but rather as a center of force. This is likewise connected to the life body, and it is precisely this that gives the physical body its human form. Then the human being passes through a state in which he gradually detaches himself from his connection to the physical world.

[ 7 ] After death, the human being’s astral body remains. To understand what kind of life the astral body now leads, let us imagine this: everything a person experiences—even the basest pleasures—clings to their astral body. The physical body does not feel joy and has no desires; it is the instrument of the astral body, and the astral body derives its joy and pleasure from it. If, for example, we have a gourmet before us, it is not his physical body that derives pleasure from the delicacies, but rather the astral body that experiences it by making use of the physical instrument for that pleasure. The craving for pleasure remains even after the physical body has been shed; only the instruments are now missing. From this you can see the nature of the astral body and how it lives on after death. It is as if you were walking through a region, parched with thirst, but unable to quench that thirst because there is no spring to be found far and wide. In a similar way, the astral body, for good reason, experiences the desires, the craving for pleasure, and the emotions it once had as a burning thirst—not because these things are not there, but because it lacks the organs to satisfy that pleasure. This is precisely why religions have held up the torments of fire that a person must endure after death as an example of this.

[ 8 ] Until the astral body has broken its connection with the physical body, it remains in the Kamaloka, where it must gradually free itself from what has flowed into it while it possessed the physical body. A person who has already purified their emotions in this life—who no longer finds pleasure in the crude pleasures of food, but rather in beauty, art, or spirituality—will shorten their stay in Kamaloka; but a person who can only find satisfaction through the use of what their physical faculties can provide will live a long time in the sphere of burning thirst, and this state ends with everything that the person has not yet spiritualized in their astral body falling away from the astral body like a kind of corpse, just as the etheric body and the physical body have fallen away, and the more it must fall away, the less they have purified and cleansed their astral body. Therefore, a purified nature will later take much with it from its astral body and add it to what we have called the essence of the physical and etheric bodies.

[ 9 ] With these three essences, the “I” now enters the actual spiritual world, and in this spiritual world, the “I” must develop everything it has experienced and acquired here during this life. You need only consider that some people enter life already possessing great aptitudes—even as very young children, they have aptitudes that we need only bring out. They possess these because, during their stay in the spiritual realm, they developed their experiences, which were transformed into abilities and aptitudes during that time.

[ 10 ] In the course of each earthly life, a person adds something new to the three essences of their bodies. A person who is born with exceptional talents has made good use of their past lives; in their previous existence, they have gathered many pages, as if into a book, containing the experiences and achievements of their earlier earthly lives. With this, the person enters a new life and receives a physical body from their physical ancestors. This core of being, which brings with it the fruits of past experiences, is drawn to the family that can provide the physical characteristics enabling them to make use of the individual aptitudes they have acquired in the past. It is not hereditary traits that determine a person’s actions and abilities; those merely provide the tools—but the tools must be present. Just as a piano virtuoso needs an instrument, so too must the individuality, when clothed in a new physical body, find within it the right tools to express itself properly in the physical world. Hence the illusion that only physical heredity is at work. Certainly, it exists, but only because the individuality feels drawn to the parents who can provide it with the appropriate tools. Everything that we have said has been cast off over time must crystallize anew around the human being in the same way; the human being receives all of this anew so that, in the course of their future life, they may once again contribute to the purification of their being.

[ 11 ] We have already gathered the building blocks for the first half of human life. We will now have to revisit some topics from the realm of education and schooling, and expand upon them for the second part of the human life course, in order to see how the physical, etheric, and astral bodies develop during the first part of the human life course, and how happiness and the meaning of human life depend on this. This is an important chapter, which we must, however, understand as setting forth general laws that are subject to many variations but remain valid in broad outline. And only those who know these laws and always know how to observe them will be able to fit themselves correctly into the course of life and move ever more clearly toward their destiny.

[ 12 ] Let’s start with a person’s birth. We have already discussed that, at physical birth, it is actually only the physical body that is fully born—a body that until then had been enveloped by the physical maternal sheath. All the organs have developed solely because the human being is protected on all sides until physical birth. And now it is as if the human being pushes the physical maternal sheath away, and the physical body alone is now exposed to the effects of the physical elements. After this birth, the etheric body has not yet been born, and even less so the astral body; these are still enveloped by an etheric and an astral sheath. Like a shell visible only to the spiritual eye of the seer, an astral and an etheric sheath surround the human being—sheaths that do not belong to his own nature, yet protect and envelop him. The etheric sheath surrounds the human being until the age of seven, the time of tooth replacement. Only then is the etheric body born; only then is the etheric sheath pushed back, just as the physical sheath is at physical birth; and only with the onset of sexual maturity is the astral body fully exposed to the outer world.

[ 13 ] We must realize that during the first seven years of life, only that essence we have called the essence of the physical body acts completely freely; it gives the physical form and initiates the physical structure. The organs develop in the external world so that they have their form and their basic structure and need only continue to grow. We must therefore provide the child with an environment that can foster the development of the physical body’s structure in the very best way possible. To this end, we could cite two magic words: imitation and example or role model. Everything around the child is imitated by the child, and this imitation draws the inner organs into their proper form. Even though the brain is still very imperfect by the age of seven, it has already received its direction, and what is withheld from it up to that point cannot be made up for later. In the teeth, the physical principle, as it were, reaches its culmination, for it is the principle of shaping and forming. Just as the teeth most clearly show that the limbs have consolidated, so too are the other, softer organs defined. Light acts and draws the power of the eye to the surface. We have mentioned that it is best to avoid giving the child ready-made dolls and the like as much as possible; we have mentioned that a healthy child finds joy in them only for a short time. On the other hand, the child takes delight in it when you tie a napkin into a bundle, make eyes and ears with ink blots, and give it to the child as a toy. Just as a muscle only becomes strong when it is used, so it is here: now the child must work and build up in its imagination what the doll lacks. This is how the inner organic development takes place. It is therefore of particular importance to let the child work internally, to bring into its surroundings what flows through the organs—joy, delight, and pleasure in the environment. This creates the strength needed for the development of the organs. Nothing can ruin the organs more than failing to provide the child with what is right for them. The imagination at work within the child shapes the forms of its organs, and nothing would be more misguided than attempting to accustom the child to a listless existence through misguided asceticism. Joy is the guiding force in the first years of life, and the healthy life instincts are the formative forces that must not be corrupted. Providing the child with the right nourishment will ensure that the child takes pleasure in the food that benefits him; the wrong nourishment will make the child sick. Spiritual science knows the necessary things for every stage and for everything. Thus, we must be clear that during the first seven years, what is characteristic of the species comes to the fore, for the physical principle is at work in the human being, and we must let the child work undisturbed.

[ 14 ] When it comes to the question of nutrition, an inner connection emerges between breast milk and the child, which is expressed by the fact that, in the first years of life, there is a veritable spiritual relationship between the mother and the child; and a mother who nurses her child herself is aware of this. Breast milk contains not only physical and chemical elements; it is something spiritually related to the child. The spiritual scientist perceives in it something born from the mother’s etheric body, and because the child’s etheric body is not yet fully developed, the child can tolerate in the early stages only that which has already been prepared by another etheric body. There is an intimate connection between what the child needs and what the mother herself provides. In percentage terms: approximately 16 to 20 percent of children who die in infancy are those nursed by their own mothers; in contrast, 26 to 30 percent are those nursed by strangers. Here you can see the connection between the life bodies. It is a kind of character that finds physical expression in the first years of life; the more generic traits emerge, consolidate, and become fixed, giving the child the character that identifies it with a particular sex. It is only from this time onward that family traits begin to be imprinted on the child’s face.

[ 15 ] The period from age seven to fourteen is the one for which we have already cited the two magic words “emulation” and “authority.” During this time, a person needs another person who embodies for them all that is good, beautiful, and wise; they need a person, in general, in whom they see the principles and teachings made tangible. Moralizing achieves far less during this time than presenting the child with role models who show them the path up to Olympus. For the rest of their lives, it is important for a person to have, at this stage, someone above them whom they deeply respect. What is at stake here is a natural process of emulation. Therefore, we must structure history lessons in such a way that we present wisdom and embodied strength of character to the child in a vivid, tangible way; and the child’s focus shifts from generic character traits to a more specific character, one no longer tied to the lineage of ancestors. The imitation of parents gives way to the imitation of a different kind. The child’s horizon expands beyond the family; we must bring people into the child’s immediate surroundings so that the etheric body can extend beyond what is species-specific. While what places a person within the family takes shape up until the change of teeth, gestures now take on their own character; what makes a person a unique individual becomes evident when the person steps outside the circle of the family. For now the etheric shell has been broken open; the etheric body can now be influenced if the child’s environment includes people who, through what they carry within themselves, can develop the very qualities that lie stored in the child’s etheric body. And those fundamental predispositions that the human being brought with them into their etheric body as the fruits of their previous incarnation now develop, since after the seventh year the etheric body is free in every direction. Therefore, the educator must, if possible, take a step back and not insist, “These are the correct principles of education,” but rather look to what the child has brought with them; for now, through the etheric body that has been set free, the organs must strengthen and expand in every direction. Whereas up to the age of seven the physical organs were shaped and formed plastically by physical forces, we now have these expanding organs into which we must work conscience, morality, energy, and all the etheric qualities. We must instill everything that is pictorial, everything connected with the purer spiritual joy in nature, for this must be so firmly rooted in the human being that it adheres to the etheric body: A person can only have a strong character if they are able to develop their etheric body freely in this way. And an educator must tell themselves at this time: You are not dealing with something you can shape however you want; rather, you can ruin something for the rest of a child’s life if you do not discern what has carried over from the earlier etheric body. Therefore, physical exercises must also be designed in such a way that the child experiences a sense of growing stronger and becoming more robust. “I am getting bigger,” “I am growing”—these must be moral, not merely physical, sensations in the child. This works just as vividly on the etheric body as the physical principle does on the physical body.

[ 16 ] And just as the physical maternal sheath surrounds the physical body and the physical organs develop, so the astral sheath still surrounds the astral qualities that a person brings with them; these qualities first take shape within the astral sheath, and it is only upon reaching sexual maturity that a person steps out into the world with a free astral body. Only then can judgment, criticism, and conceptualization take hold. At an earlier age, this would be given to them far too soon. A person should not yet have a creed in their early years, for they can only form one once their astral body has been born. Before that, they should look up to those who profess a faith and receive from them what they are to believe; for determining this for oneself at this age results in an astral caricature. From an occult standpoint, it is impossible for a young person to be led to adopt any creed at all. It is pointless and contrary to development for a child of this age to believe it is possible to say, “I have my own creed.” That would be a sign that something has been neglected in the upbringing of the person in question; that he has not been able to develop within himself that great strength which matures precisely under the influence of legitimate authority. The astral body is born during this period, and slowly and gradually, beginning at the age of fourteen, the judgment that leads to a creed must mature. This is the time when religious and moral feelings, as well as artistic achievements, take shape in the child’s countenance. Through this, the child can face the world freely and as a unique individual. This lasts until the age of twenty-one or twenty-three,

[ 17 ] It is a significant moment when, upon reaching sexual maturity, a person encounters another person. Just as everything transitory is a parable, so too is the encounter between the masculine and the feminine a symbol. Just as love for the individual gradually awakens, so too do personal relationships with one’s surroundings now begin to emerge for the first time; previously, these were merely general human relationships. One’s own judgment and one’s own relationships with the environment only now come to the fore. This is when the astral background that the human being has brought with them emerges and can now develop freely. All lofty ideals, all beautiful hopes and expectations for life—which are nothing other than what is brought along in the astral body as an astral foundation—are forces that must be present. A person develops properly who goes through this period of learning in such a way that they gradually bring forth what is inherent within them—not what exists in the world, but what they have brought with them. Ideals are not simply there; rather, we possess them because the force within us is active—the very force that drives the young person’s striving during this time. And nothing is worse for later life than if these forces—which are the hope and longing for life—had not been present by the age of twenty, for these are real forces. The more we are able to bring forth from today’s inner reserves, the better we foster the developing human being. Only by the age of twenty-three is all of this brought forth, and only then can a person embark on their formative years. Only then is their “I” born; only then do they step forth into the world as a free personality.

[ 18 ] Now, what his “I” and his four members have worked together to create is in direct contact with the world. Now the human being’s inner life experience acts entirely freely, without the need to first develop an inner life; only now is he mature enough to face immediate reality. If he has done so earlier, the finest faculties within him have been corrupted; he has thereby killed the forces he brought with him as a reserve. It is a sin against youth when we allow the prose of life to take effect too early. Now the person is maturing, and the time has come when he can truly learn from life. He is now developing toward the so-called “master years,” which fall between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-five. But do not take this timeframe too literally.

[ 19 ] Around the age of thirty-five—the midpoint of a person’s life—which all eras that have had any knowledge of spiritual science have regarded as something immensely important. For while up to the age of twenty-one a person has drawn from his three bodies what is inherent within him, and up to the age of twenty-eight has drawn from his surroundings what they could freely offer him, he now begins to work freely on his bodies, first to strengthen his astral body. Previously, they had to learn from and through their surroundings; now their judgment develops to the point where it gains a certain capacity to influence their surroundings, and they do well not to close themselves off too strongly from the world with their judgment before this point. It is only around the age of thirty-five that we should begin to solidify our judgment. Then the astral body becomes denser and denser. If we have practiced up to that point, we may now begin to put our training into practice. Now our judgment begins to mean something to those around us. Now, when it is time to contribute to the world, a person begins to weigh in with their judgment. Now the wanderer becomes an advisor, and now others can look to him for guidance.

[ 20 ] At the age of thirty-five, experiences begin to take on the quality of wisdom. At the age of thirty-five, the point in time has arrived that is also marked in physical life by the astral body and etheric body withdrawing from the world. Up to the age of twenty-one and beyond, the astral body acts within the “I,” the blood, and the nervous system. There it has a growing, stabilizing, and consolidating effect; in this respect, the human being acquires a certain stability. Whatever truly crystallizes in his world of feelings and thoughts, he will bring into harmony and express through courage and mental activity. Therefore, we can also call this period the time of development of the blood and nervous systems. Physically, this period comes to a close around the age of thirty-five, when the etheric body withdraws more from its activity within the outer physical body. Hence the peculiarity that, from this point onward, a person gradually stops growing in height; he becomes more solid, fat begins to accumulate, and the muscles gain strength. But this stems solely from the fact that the etheric body begins to withdraw. Consequently, the forces of the etheric body are set free, since they no longer have to work on the physical body, and they integrate with what the human being has developed inwardly. This is when a person becomes wise. That is why the ancients knew well that a person’s counsel in public life can only be meaningful once the etheric body has withdrawn from the physical body: only then can he or she enter public life, and his or her talents will be of significance to the state and public life.

[ 21 ] From the age of thirty-five onward, a person withdraws more and more into their inner self. When we look at such a person, they no longer have that youthful anticipation and that longing for youth; instead, they have their own judgments—something we sense is a force in public life. Now we also see how those powers and abilities that are connected to the etheric body—such as memory—begin to wane. And now we enter the years—around fifty—when the physical principle also withdraws from the human being, more and more bone matter is deposited, and the tissues become loose. The physical principle becomes increasingly united with the etheric principle, and what has gone into the bones, muscles, blood, and nerves begins to develop a life of its own. The human being becomes more and more spiritual. However, this must be fostered by the fact that one’s earlier education has been properly guided. The astral body must also have had its share of experiences. If the astral body has not experienced the joys of youth, then what is now meant to be imprinted upon the denser etheric body is not present within it. And if that is not present within, then that powerful inner life cannot develop, and what is known as “becoming childlike in old age” must occur. Those who did not receive that fresh vitality in their youth begin to wither away. It is also extraordinarily important to observe this from the perspective of spiritual science.

[ 22 ] The most favorable time for the development of spiritual aptitudes is when one reaches the age of thirty-five. At that point, the forces that would otherwise be absorbed into the body are released; one has them at one’s disposal and can work with them. It is therefore a particularly favorable karmic circumstance when a person does not begin their occult development too late. As long as a person is still occupied with directing their forces outward, they cannot direct them inward. Therefore, the period around the age of thirty-five must be regarded as a culminating point. In the first half of life, everything has already developed into a rhythmic course, but in the second half the boundaries are no longer so clearly defined—although boundaries have always been indicated in spiritual science, they are imprecise.

[ 23 ] We are only now working toward the future. What a person develops within themselves during their later years will, in the future, give rise to organs and the physical body; this will also play a role in the cosmos later on. There will be something in the future of which we can already observe the first half today. This division may seem somewhat oppressive, especially to young people, but anyone who truly takes the teachings of spiritual science to heart can no longer feel that way. If you survey human life from a higher vantage point, you will see that it is precisely through such a view of the course of life that a person is led to its proper use and practice. A person will have to exercise the resignation to wait until they have the organs necessary to act properly in the sphere corresponding to them.