The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Gospel of John II

[ 1 ] Spiritual science divides the human being, as we perceive him, into seven parts. The physical body, which is perceptible to our sense organs, is only one part of the human being. Human beings share this physical body with the entire mineral world that surrounds us. The forces at work in our physical body are the same as those in seemingly inanimate nature.

[ 2 ] This physical body, however, is still permeated by higher forces, much as a sponge can be permeated by water. The difference between inanimate and animate bodies is as follows: In an inanimate body, the substances that compose it simply follow physical and chemical laws. In an animate body, on the other hand, the substances are linked together in a very complex manner, and only under the influence of the etheric body can they maintain this unnatural, imposed arrangement. At every moment, the physical substance seeks to group itself according to its nature—which would mean the disintegration of the living body—and at every moment, the etheric body struggles against this disintegration. When the etheric body withdraws from the physical body, the substances of the physical body group themselves in the manner natural to them, and the body disintegrates, becoming a corpse. The etheric body is thus the constant fighter against the disintegration of the physical body.

[ 3 ] Every organ draws its fundamental power from this etheric body. Human beings have an etheric heart, an etheric brain, and so on, which hold the corresponding physical organs together. It is easy to be tempted to imagine the etheric body in material terms, for example as a very fine mist. In truth, the etheric body is a sum of energy currents. To the clairvoyant, certain currents appear in the human etheric body that are of great importance. For example, a current rises from the left foot to the forehead, to a point between the eyes, about one centimeter deep within the brain; it then returns down to the other foot, from there to the opposite hand, from there through the heart to the other hand, and from there back to its starting point. In this way, a pentagram of energy currents is formed.

[ 4 ] This current of force is by no means the only one in the etheric body; there are many others. It is specifically to this current of force that human beings owe their upright posture. Animals are anchored to the earth by their front limbs, and we do not observe such a current in animals. With regard to the shape, form, and size of the human etheric body, it can be said that its upper parts are a perfect likeness of the physical body. The situation is different with its lower parts, which do not correspond to the physical body. The relationship between the etheric body and the physical body is based on a great mystery that sheds deep light on human nature: the etheric body of a man is feminine, while that of a woman is masculine. This explains the fact that we find much that is feminine in every man, and much that is masculine in every woman. In animals, the etheric body is larger than the physical body. For example, the clairvoyant sees the etheric head protruding above the horse’s head in the form of a cap.

[ 5 ] There is something within a human being that is much closer to him than blood, muscles, nerves, and so on. These are the sensations of pleasure and suffering, joy and pain—in short, everything that a human being calls his inner self. In esoteric science, this is called the astral body, which a human being shares only with animals.

[ 6 ] Just as a person born blind has only an incomplete understanding of the world around him and the world of colors and light does not exist for him, so the average person is in the same situation with regard to the astral world. It is just as real; it permeates and surrounds the physical world, but is not perceived by him. When a person’s astral sense is awakened, the astral world becomes visible to them. The significance and importance of this moment in human development, however, is far greater than when a person born blind regains their sight through surgery. Yet each of us is familiar with this astral world, albeit imperfectly, for every night our astral body is transported into this world. We rest in the astral world to restore harmony to the astral body, for fatigue, from the perspective of spiritual science, is merely a disharmony between the physical and astral bodies. A parable might shed light on the relationship between the physical and astral bodies. If we take a sponge, cut it into a thousand pieces, and let these small pieces absorb the contents of a glass of water, we have a parable for the average person while awake. If we squeeze out the little sponges and collect the water back into its container, it coalesces into a uniform mass. In the same way, the human astral bodies—which during the day were individualized like the absorbed drops of water—enter the common astral substance and are strengthened and invigorated within it. This can be recognized in the morning by the fact that fatigue has been dispelled. As long as a person is not a seer, their astral body—which has emerged during sleep—mingles with the other astral bodies. For the seer, however, the circumstances are different.

[ 7 ] Individual plants do not have their own astral body; rather, the entire plant kingdom shares a common astral body—that of the Earth. The Earth is a living being, and plants are its limbs.

[ 8 ] The fourth aspect of the human being is the “I.” A person can only speak the word “I” to himself. This word can never reach our ears from outside to designate us. When this “I” resounds within a being, it is God speaking through that being. The animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms are in a different position with regard to the “I.” An animal, for example, can no more say “I” to itself than a finger on our hand can say “I” to itself. If the finger wanted to refer to its “I,” it would have to point to the human “I”; similarly, the animal would have to point to an “I” belonging to a being living in the astral world. All lions, all elephants, and so on have a shared group “I”—that is, a lion “I,” an elephant “I,” and so on.

[ 9 ] If the plant were to point to its “I,” it would have to point to a collective “I” at the center of the Earth, in the mental world. It is well known that when an animal is pricked, it feels pain. With plants, it is different, and the seer can tell us that picking flowers or harvesting grain gives the Earth the same pleasant sensation as milking gives a cow while nursing. But if the plant is uprooted, it is as if a piece of flesh were cut out of an animal. This uprooting is experienced as pain in the astral world.

[ 10 ] If one were to ask: Where is the “I” of the mineral world? — one would no longer be able to find such a being, serving as a central point, in the spiritual world. Spread everywhere as the force of the entire cosmos, the “I” of minerals is to be found in the super-spiritual world, known in theosophy as the higher Devachan world.

[ 11 ] In Christian esotericism, the world in which the “I” of animals resides—the astral world—is referred to as the world of the Holy Spirit; the world in which the “I” of plants resides—the spiritual or devachanic world—is referred to as the world of the Son. When the seer begins to feel in this world, the “Word,” the Logos, speaks to him. The world of the mineral “I,” the super-spiritual world, is called the world of the Father Spirit in the Esoteric Doctrine.

[ 12 ] Human beings are creatures in a state of constant evolution; we have now come to know all four aspects of their nature. These are what Pythagoras, in his school, referred to as the “lower fourfold.” The savage, the civilized person, the idealist, and the saint: all possess these four aspects. The savage, however, is a slave to his passions; the civilized person no longer indiscriminately follows his instincts and desires; the idealist does so even less, and the saint has become completely master of them.

[ 13 ] The “I” works on the astral body and separates a part from it. This part grows larger and larger in the course of human evolution, while the inherited part becomes smaller and smaller. In the case of Francis of Assisi, the entire astral body has been transformed and reshaped by the ego. This astral body, transformed by the ego, constitutes the fifth member of human nature: the spiritual self, or Manas.

[ 14 ] The “I,” however, can also gain mastery over the etheric body or life body. The part of the etheric body transformed by the “I” is called the life spirit or Buddhi. The impulses of art and religion act to transform the etheric body, the latter to a particularly strong degree because it is repeated daily; and repetition is the magical power that transforms the etheric body. The most powerful influence in this regard comes from conscious work in the secret school, and meditation and concentration are the methods employed here. The speed at which the etheric body and the astral body are transformed is in a similar ratio to that of the hour hand’s movement relative to the minute hand’s on a clock. If one succeeds in changing even the slightest aspect of one’s temperament—which depends on the conditions of the etheric body—this is worth more than acquiring any number of ingenious theories.

[ 15 ] The greatest power is necessary to consciously transform the physical body. The means to do so are taught only in the secret school. It can only be hinted at that the regulation of breathing marks the beginning of this transformation. The physical body, consciously transformed by the “I,” is called the “spiritual human being” or “Atma.” The power to transform the astral body flows to us from the world of the Holy Spirit. The power to transform the etheric body flows to us from the world of the Son or the Word. The power to transform the physical body flows to us from the world of the Father Spirit or the Divine Father.