The Rudolf Steiner Archive

21. The Human Soul and the Animal Soul

[ 1 ] [Beginning missing] Life depends on the brain, lungs, and heart, says Huxley. On the surface, he is right. He believes that the brain can be shut down, and that the lungs and heart alone are sufficient for life. What a wonderful life! I believe each of you would be grateful for such a life—without a brain—here in the physical world.

[ 2 ] This is the case with many, many ideas that prevail in science today. Intelligent life can be observed in animals, even the most primitive ones. From this, people have concluded that humans are merely an extension of the animal kingdom. But what does spiritual science say? One need only look closely. One must also take a closer look and point out the disadvantage in human soul life compared to that of animals. From the very beginning, animals possess what they need for the survival of their individual and species-specific nature, whereas humans must first acquire these abilities: beavers—dike-building; wasps—paper-making. Thus, one could well speak of a inferiority of humans compared to animals. It is contradictory to speak only of the human spiritual life. Human beings must form concepts of everything that surrounds them and process these mentally. It does not sit well with people today that spirit is present in everything else as well, not just within themselves.

[ 3 ] “Animals are taught by their organs, and so are humans; but humans, in turn, also teach their organs,” Goethe says meaningfully—Letter to W. von Humboldt, March 17, 1832.

[ 4 ] Zell has written a short, excellent little book: “Is the Animal Irrational?” In it, he demonstrates that dogs are afraid of water—not just when it’s poured over them, but of water in general—and the purer it is, the more they fear it. Why? They are wired to respond to smell. Pure water has no smell; for the dog, it is the same as for a child who is asked to enter a completely dark room where his senses can no longer perceive anything. The animal is entirely bound up in its organs and its physiological organization. In humans, however, something very significant remains open. The intermaxillary bone—that small piece in which the upper incisors are set—is present in higher animals. It was believed in the eighteenth century that humans lacked this intermaxillary bone, and that their incisors were set in the upper jaw; this belief created a divide between animals and humans. Goethe bridged this gap. Through diligent study, he discovered that this intermaxillary bone is present in humans before birth but fuses shut after birth. It was not a flash of inspiration that led him to this discovery. He was delighted by this finding.

[ 5 ] The difference between humans and animals cannot be found in the details. It can be found only by those who are able to rise from the visible to the invisible. Do not seek the difference between humans and animals in anything material—that is what Goethe meant to say.

[ 6 ] What people think depends on the prevailing trends. Even today, many in theosophy still think materialistically; for example, when they say that the etheric body is merely a finer physical body. The moment one speaks, for example, of soul vibrations, one is speaking of vibrating matter, not of vibrating spirit. This was precisely Goethe’s point: that there should be nothing material in what he identified as the difference between humans and animals.

[ 7 ] If a child were to end up on a deserted island—it would not learn to speak or think; it would not feel like a human being. Animals are organized to maintain a certain state of equilibrium, whereas humans must first bring themselves into that state of equilibrium; they must first attain self-awareness. Humans only acquire this equilibrium after birth. The faculty of imagination is not yet fully developed immediately after birth; it must first develop in response to the environment. There is something left open in human beings. Humans build their organization from within their own spirit.

[ 8 ] The idea that hornets arise from horse carcasses and wasps from donkey carcasses was expounded and presented in a thoroughly scientific and systematic manner well into the seventeenth century. Francesco Redi then stated: “Life can only come from life.” — Back then, in the seventeenth century, this was considered major heresy: Galileo, Giordano Bruno, Francesco Redi—it was impossible for people at that time to grasp their ideas. Today, spiritual science finds itself in the same situation as Redi did back then. There is a spiritual-soul core within the human being, and this core does not lead us back to the physical world, but rather to past lives. This brings us to the statement: Spiritual-psychic phenomena can only originate from spiritual-psychic phenomena. It is a misguided observation to believe that everything can be explained by the environment, whether in a child or an adult. In their infinite self-importance, people smile at the statement: Spiritual-psychic phenomena can only originate from spiritual-psychic phenomena. – And this statement will fare just as Francesco Redi’s did: “Life can only come from life.” Even today, those who must uphold such principles are still regarded as heretics.

[ 9 ] What first works within a person to achieve balance is what later gives rise to gesture. What first acts within one’s own movement later manifests itself in facial expressions—in what expresses the soul.

[ 10 ] Observing the development of the skull in animals is very instructive. It speaks a language all its own. But in humans, every single skull is different. Phrenology can only identify what is general. A separate system of phrenology would have to be developed for each individual. The skull bears the imprint of what remains from a person’s previous life. The human skull is, in fact, proof of reincarnation. This is unpleasant to hear for people today, but [that] doesn’t matter; it is simply the way it is. Phrenology must not generalize; only an artist can discern the truth in each individual skull.

[ 11 ] Human language is a special kind of gesture; through language, we are placed within the realm of the people. – A hoarse voice is much more unpleasant in a man than in a woman, for what is expressed in the voice is much more intimately connected with the life of the soul in a man than in a woman.

[ 12 ] Memory in humans is a looking back on past events, not a sequence of thoughts from one action to the next. If one were to say, “If a person had truly lived through several earthly lives, he would surely remember them”—this would be just as if one were to take a four-year-old child and say: “This child cannot do math, so humans cannot do math.” — The same applies to memories of past Earth lives. One will remember them someday; one simply has to learn how first, just as one must first learn to do math.

[ 13 ] From the moment the child grasps the concept of the self, memory also begins.

[ 14 ] If we wish to gain insight into the spiritual world, we must be able to remain silent with absolute equanimity and absolute serenity toward everything that the current of the future brings our way; we must be able to find a reason for everything in spiritual providence. If the soul can remain calm in the face of fear and pain—even physical pain—and in the face of external events—such as loud hammer blows, for example—and if the soul is so equanimous toward the future, then a view into the spiritual worlds will gradually open up to it.

[ 15 ] The only way to know whether something is correct is to delve into the matter—this is true of mathematics, and it is also true of intellectual facts.

[ 16 ] In humans, the spirit is only loosely connected to the organs; in animals, the spirit flows into the organs. Humans stand right in the middle with their self-awareness—that is the fundamental difference.

[ 17 ] When Karlchen cuts a earthworm in half, he does so in all sincerity [?], but the governess tells him not to do that, because “it feels the pain just like you do.” However, some animals recover just as quickly, so cutting up the earthworm, for example, does not harm it. That is why one cannot say, “Because it feels pain just like you do.” That is not true. And one must be truthful, especially when it comes to raising children. Higher animals experience pain much more intensely than humans do, and even a small child feels physical pain much more strongly.

It presses upon the human mind (upon the human soul)
Mysteriously from the depths of the world
The rich abundance of matter.
It flows into the depths of the soul
Meaningfully from the heights of the world
The clarifying light of the spirit.
They meet within the human being
To become a reality of wisdom.