The Rudolf Steiner Archive

55. The Creation of Man I

[ 1 ] Let us first briefly recap what has emerged from our examination of the seven fundamental aspects of the human being. Human beings are citizens of three worlds: the physical, the soul, and the spiritual. The physical world is a reflection of the spiritual world, its opposite pole, as it were. Just as we see a mountain landscape reflected in a body of water in such a way that the foot of the mountain is visible first in the water, while the summit appears at the very bottom, so it is with the spiritual world. It experiences its inversion in the physical world—the deepest physical corresponds to the highest spiritual. Atma corresponds to the mineral realm, Budhi to the world of life, and Manas to the animal realm, whose outward expression is the animal kingdom.

[ 2 ] The soul is what connects both worlds. The human being is a synthesis of everything we encounter in the other worlds—the microcosm within the macrocosm. In condensed and compressed form, we find within the human being everything that takes place in the cosmos. We can observe how the three worlds find expression within him, as it were, in order to view themselves through him. Human beings are the eye open upon the cosmos, built by the cosmos itself.

[ 3 ] Let us first consider how the mineral forces act upon him: They bring matter together—through attraction and repulsion, through number and measure. This creates the physical foundation of the human being. In and of itself, it would be rigid and lifeless, like rock crystal, which is formed according to the same laws of material combination.

[ 4 ] This is where the life force comes into play—that which enables growth and reproduction, elasticity and the capacity to transcend oneself, and which creates species. This species-forming force is concentrated within the germ; it finds its most striking expression in heredity and governs the substance—which is in itself subject to dissolution—through the law of form. The inherited form is what endures. We also call this life body the etheric double, because it fills the entire physical body. It is clearly visible to those who possess the organ necessary for seeing it.

[ 5 ] These two bodies are formed by the forces of the external world, which build organs within them through which the external world makes itself perceptible. The physical world weaves the human skin and turns the sense organs inside it. The eye is an invagination in the skin. Sensory perceptions give rise to sensory sensations. These, in turn, bring about something new. Something reacts within the human being. A source of activity opens up that responds to the sensory sensations with impressions. Thus begins the human being’s independent life.

[ 6 ] Here we have the transition to the soul. The soul in a human being is what is most essential to them—that which arises within them through impressions and experiences, and which is, or can be, different in each person, for no one can know whether another person feels “ro” exactly as they themselves do. We call this new aspect the “feeling soul”; it extends beyond the physical body, visible to those whose soul organs are open. However, it is dependent on the physical body and the life body, since it receives its impressions through them and its boundaries are determined by their power. We call this boundary the soul body. We are thus dealing with a sentient soul body—that is, a unity with regard to the whole human being. If we consider the body as such, this soul-body is its third member; the sentient soul, on the other hand, is the first member of the human soul’s essence; within it arise the feelings of pleasure and displeasure, the drives and passions of human beings. Through these, it is subject to physicality.

[ 7 ] But now it comes into contact with the spirit, which has created for itself a physical instrument in the organ of thought—the brain. Thinking initially serves it; the human being reflects on his sensations and passions. To satisfy these, he creates opportunities and acts—thereby the power of thought places the soul within a higher order of laws to which it does not belong as a mere sensory soul; it grows beyond what it is in animals or in completely undeveloped human beings. It becomes the intellectual soul. The clairvoyant perceives this as a distinct entity within the soul-body, as a second member. Through the intellectual soul, human beings are led beyond their own life. They open themselves more and more to the Spirit. To the extent that they open themselves to the knowledge of the True and the Good, they take in the Eternal—that which exists in itself and does not depend on impressions. That which shines forth as the eternal in the soul may be called the “consciousness soul.” The physical aspect has a limiting effect on it, while the spiritual aspect has an expanding effect.