The Rudolf Steiner Archive

36. The Spiritual Development of Human Beings

[ 1 ] Yesterday we discussed the composition of the human body up to the development of the “I,” and today we turn to the development of the spiritual human being. Here, perspectives open up for us regarding future development, the ultimate goal of which we cannot fully grasp or comprehend within our present consciousness.

[ 2 ] The human self has undergone profound changes over the course of time, changes that are in step with equally profound changes on our Earth. It is a mistake to believe that people of earlier times looked exactly the same or occupied exactly the same stage of spiritual development as they do today. A being that we would hardly call human today populated the early Earth. It was not until the end of Atlantis that the human “I” had developed to the point where one could speak of a conscious “I.” We know the location—near present-day Ireland—where the human “I” had elevated itself to such an extent that we can speak of a conscious “I,” of a soul of consciousness.

[ 3 ] It was not until this point that the physical conditions on Earth had developed to such an extent that one could speak of a separation between air and water. It was only these ancient Irish who were able to see the sun as we see it.

[ 4 ] Before that time, during the Atlantean and Lemurian periods, the people of that era lived in a kind of air-water ocean—a mixture of air and water best compared to fog—through which the sun shone only as a kind of cold disk, as we see it on days of thick fog. There was neither rain nor sunshine. Our ancient Germanic legend refers to that time as “Nifelheim.”

[ 5 ] At that time, the soul had not yet developed outwardly. It did not see an object as such; rather, it felt it and actually experienced it only inwardly. If we encountered a person we found unpleasant back then, we did not see them as a human being, but experienced a colorful phenomenon that made us feel uncomfortable. We can best compare this to the sensation of pain; we do not see pain either—we only feel it.

[ 6 ] Although primitive, language already existed at that time and enabled us to express our feelings. Human beings possessed reason, but this reason was not reflective consciousness; the human soul had merely developed into a rational soul.

[ 7 ] In ancient Lemuria, during an earlier period of our Earth’s history, human beings possessed only inner sensation and no language. They had only a soul of sensation. - The state of our globe could be considered even more than liquid. Human beings did not yet have feet for locomotion; nor would they have needed them in the elements surrounding them. Their movement was more like swimming; at that time, humans breathed just as fish do today: through gills. They had no lungs; they used an air bladder for balance.

[ 8 ] Yet even during these periods, human beings had already developed their sensory soul, their intellectual soul, and their conscious soul to the level of animals. Only then did the “I” spring forth within the soul, through a continuous transformation, a continuous unification of the astral body, which was continually supplied to the human being by the cosmic forces of his development.

[ 9 ] It was not until the end of the Atlantean period that human beings were able to begin to develop consciously. Only then did the work begin from the inside out, whereas previously only a development of forces from the outside in had been possible. We must realize that the three stages discussed earlier do not represent a product of transformation or an actual development of the human “I,” but rather a separation of the feeling soul, the intellectual soul, and the conscious soul as parts of the human soul. It is only through consciousness that the animalic elements in the astral body are transformed. The result of the ego’s work of consciousness on its astral body is the spiritual self, or Manas.

[ 10 ] At this stage, human beings possessed only moral concepts and logic—in short, pure intellectual activity—and had the ability to transform their ego, but only in relation to their astral body.

[ 11 ] Religion and art—the pure joy in beauty—had a stronger effect than moral concepts; they gave rise to the spirit of life, or budhi. Here we observe a direct spiritualization of the etheric body, and no longer of the astral body.

[ 12 ] A chela, a disciple, consciously transforms his body; he seeks to transform everything down to the life body itself, to spiritualize everything. He has completed his training when his life body has become a life spirit. Human beings have control over their moral concepts; they can learn from experience, but only at a highly developed stage can they begin to think about reshaping and spiritualizing those qualities that reside in their etheric body—temperament, habits, character, memory—. But they learn this extremely slowly.

[ 13 ] A comparison with our childhood can help us understand this. We have learned a great deal very quickly compared to what we knew ten years ago, but our character has changed very little. The temperamental traits that were part of us as children have, for the most part, remained with us into adulthood; even our handwriting has, for the most part, remained unchanged.

[ 14 ] The chela’s task is to accelerate this transformation, this reorientation of the life body; in a word: to become a different person, to, as it were, reverse the development of the etheric body’s primary forces and bring them under the control of consciousness.

[ 15 ] This transformation of the physical body into a spiritual body is even more difficult. At our present stage of development, all the functions of our physical body take place completely unconsciously. We know, for example, that our heart rate slows down significantly as we grow from childhood to adulthood, but this slowing down occurs completely unconsciously. We have no control over it. Everything in our body is undergoing a transformation without our knowledge, without our will.

[ 16 ] It is up to ongoing development to transform these changes in our vital functions into a conscious process. Thus, the advanced human being is able to consciously alter his breathing and so on. A conscious union takes place with the cosmic force that built our physical body. The Atman, or the spiritual human being, comes into being. At such a high level of development, the chela has long since fulfilled his task. The Master has created this stage.

[ 17 ] But all these changes presuppose the ego, just as pulmonary respiration must be regarded merely as an external expression of the emergence of the ego, [...] so the attainment of complete control over one’s bodily functions is the external expression of the emergence of the spiritual human being.

[ 18 ] Looking back on what has been said, we see how the human body is first unconsciously formed by natural forces, how the “I” comes into being and develops, and how the conscious “I” then, through the active forces of the chela and the Master, brings about a conscious purification and transformation of the body—a complete spiritualization. The result is the opening up of new worlds. The sensation of a new birth is repeated twice. The sensation experienced during the transformation of the life body into life spirit and of the physical body into a spiritual life corresponds to the sensation experienced when a child is released from the womb.

[ 19 ] All major religions are based on this threefold division of the spiritual human being into Atman, Budhi, and Manas. In the Christian religion, Atman corresponds to the Father, Budhi to the Son—the Word—and Manas to the Holy Spirit.