The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Eleventh Lecture

[ 1 ] The arrangements we have made regarding the courses that run parallel to these branch lectures are, in fact, the very thing that makes it possible for us here in our branch to advance to ever higher levels. I would therefore ask that you take these courses into account as much as possible. It is necessary to have a foundation upon which we can build further with the lectures. Otherwise, we would actually have to start from scratch every year.

[ 2 ] Today we will consider something that again seems far removed from our recent lectures, but which will nevertheless fit into our line of thought for this year. We would like to pick up on a remark made in one of the recent public lectures—the lecture on “Superstition from the Perspective of the Spiritual Sciences.” A remark was made there that cannot be elaborated upon further in a public lecture, because a deeper exploration would require prior knowledge—knowledge that relates less to the intellect or intellectual faculties than to a capacity for insight rooted in the very constitution of our soul, a capacity we can acquire only through years of working with the life of the spirit. Only through such patient work can we reach the point where many things we would previously have considered absurd now seem possible and probable to us, so that we can incorporate them into our lives and see to what extent they prove true. The observation from which we wish to proceed was that it is a common fact—and not superstition—that in certain illnesses, such as pneumonia, for example, the seventh day marks a crisis; that during this crisis, which inevitably occurs on the seventh day and during which the patient is at high risk of death, the doctor must be careful to help the patient overcome it. This is recognized today by every sensible physician, but doctors cannot investigate the causes because they have no idea of the spiritual roots of things. First, let us simply state the fact that something quite remarkable, connected with the mysterious number seven, manifests itself in pneumonia.

[ 3 ] We must now view human beings in such a way that we are given an opportunity to understand this and many other facts. You all know—as has been mentioned here countless times—that one can only truly know a human being by understanding the structure of their four constitutive elements: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the “I.” These four elements of human nature are connected by a manifold array of relationships and mutual dependencies. Each element influences the others, and thus they function entirely in conjunction with one another. But this interplay is very complex. Human beings can only come to know these connections very slowly and gradually, as well as the relationships of these constituents to certain forces, processes, and beings throughout the cosmos. For through all their constituents, human beings stand in a continuous—and this, too, is very important—and indeed ever-changing connection with the cosmos. What we recognize as the physical body, the etheric body, and so on is interconnected, but it is also connected to the cosmos, to the entire world that extends around us. For what we have within us is, in a certain sense, also outside us, and so we may say that we best recognize these inner and outer relationships when we observe the human being in both the waking and sleeping states.

[ 4 ] When a person lies asleep before us, we have the physical body and the etheric body lying in bed, and in a certain sense, outside of these two, are the astral body and the “I.” But that is only a rough description. A rough description is certainly sufficient for many things, but today we want to explore these relationships in a bit more detail. The astral body and the “I,” then, are not initially active within the physical body. However, the physical body—with its nervous and circulatory systems—and the etheric body would not be possible at all if they were not permeated by an astral body and an “I” that has taken on some form. Nor could the etheric body exist unless it were permeated by higher beings. The moment a person steps out with their own astral body and “I,” the activities of these two components of human nature must be replaced. The human body cannot remain at rest without an “I” and an astral body active within it; thus, we must also have an “I” and an astral body active in a sleeping person. Strictly speaking, however, we must say: The “I” and the astral body that are active within the sleeping physical body of a human being are also present within the human being during the day; it is just that their activity is completely undermined by the human being’s own astral body and “I,” which, through their activity, nullify that of the other higher beings. If we wish to imagine the “I,” as it exists in human beings today, in a waking person, we must say to ourselves: This human “I” is within the human body while the person is awake, and during this time, through its activity, it deprives a universal “I” of its sphere of influence. What, then, does this limited ego of ours actually do during sleep? In truth, we can say quite precisely: This ego, which during the day has freed itself from the great World-Ego and lives on its own within the human body, submerges itself into the World-Ego during the night, relinquishing its own activity. And it is precisely through this immersion, this sinking of the daytime “I” into the world “I,” that the world “I” can act unhindered and can remove everything that the daytime “I” has accumulated in the form of fatigue-inducing substances. Because the daytime “I” sinks and immerses itself in the world “I,” the night “I” is made possible in a comprehensive way. If you wish to visualize this, you can imagine the relationship between the Day-I and the Night-I as follows: the Day-I, as it were, traces a circle, spending most of this circle’s path outside the Great I, while at night it submerges into the Great I. For example, it spends sixteen hours outside and eight hours submerged in the Night-I.

[ 5 ] You can only understand this correctly if you take what I just said very seriously—namely, that your “I” is never the same throughout the sixteen hours—assuming that is the normal waking period—that the “I” undergoes constant changes during this time, that it traces part of a circle and then sinks below it, and that it also undergoes changes during the night of which the ordinary person is unaware. These changes move deeper and deeper into the unconscious until they reach a climax, and then the “I” slowly becomes more conscious again. We must therefore say that, over the course of twenty-four hours, the human “I” continually undergoes certain changes, the outward symbol of which we can imagine as a cycle—like a pointer tracing a circle and, from time to time, submerging into the great cosmic “I.”

[ 6 ] In a very similar way, the human astral body undergoes changes. The astral body changes in such a way that, symbolically speaking, we must conceive of a cycle. With the astral body, too, the changes are such that, in a certain sense, we must indeed speak of a submergence into a world astral body. However, people today no longer notice this immersion in the world astral body, whereas in the past they certainly did. Back then, people felt, so to speak, their own innate astral feelings at one time and entirely different feelings at another. Thus, at certain times they felt more alive in the external world around them, while at other times they felt more attuned to their own inner world. Thus, one could perceive quite different nuances in the astral body’s mode of sensation, because over the course of seven days—that is, seven times twenty-four hours—the astral body undergoes rhythmic changes that can again be compared to a cycle. Just as the “I” undergoes rhythmic changes over a period of twenty-four hours—changes that are still expressed today in the alternation between waking and sleeping—so does the astral body over seven times twenty-four hours. Such rhythmic changes occurred with great vitality in early humans. Thus, rhythmic changes take place in the astral body that unfold over seven days, and from the eighth day onward, the rhythm repeats itself. In fact, for part of the time during which a person undergoes this rhythm, the astral body immerses itself in a general world astral body. The rest of the time, it remains largely outside this world astral body. From this you can form an idea that what appears as the general astral body and the general “I” in the sleeping human being is of great significance for human life. That “I” into which he immerses himself in sleep—which causes the blood to pulse at night—is the same one that acts within his body during sleep. Even when he sleeps during the day, he immerses himself in this universal “I,” and in doing so introduces a certain irregularity into his rhythm—an irregularity that in earlier times would have had a destructive effect, but which is no longer so destructive today, because human life has changed significantly in this respect in our time. During the seven days, the human astral body truly submerges into the same part of the general astral body of the world that permeates the physical body and the etheric body during sleep. This causes changes in inner feelings and sensations. Today this hardly attracts any attention; in the past, it could not be ignored at all.

[ 7 ] But it is not only the ego and the astral body that undergo very specific rhythmic changes; the etheric body does as well. These changes take place in such a way that, over a period of four times seven days, the human etheric body—symbolically speaking—rotates, as it were, around its own axis, and after four times seven days it returns to the same processes it was in on the first day. A very specific rhythm unfolds here over the course of four times seven days. Here, however, we are already entering a realm that would require a more detailed discussion if everything were to be fully understood. You will recall that I said the man’s etheric body is feminine, while the woman’s is masculine. The rhythm is not the same for the male and female etheric bodies, but we will not go into that in detail today. Let it simply be emphasized that such a rhythm takes place—namely, let us say, due to the difference between man and woman—in approximately four times seven days.

[ 8 ] But we are not done yet. Even within the physical body, very specific processes repeat themselves rhythmically, however improbable that may seem to people today. These processes are almost entirely obscured today because human beings were meant to become independent of certain processes, but they are still perceptible to the occult observer. If the physical body were left entirely to its own devices, this rhythm would unfold over a period of ten times seven times four days in women and twelve times seven times four days in men. This is how it would unfold if human beings today were still left entirely to the laws of their own rhythms. This was indeed once the case, but human beings have become freer from the cosmic influences surrounding them. Thus, we have a rhythmic unfolding of processes within the four members of the human being. If you like, you can imagine each of the four rhythms as a cycle. Today, however, what a human being would, for example, carry out as a rhythm in his physical body if he were left entirely to his own devices only roughly coincides with the external physical, purely spatial processes that correspond to this rhythm, because these relationships to the cosmos have changed due to the shifting of human conditions in favor of human freedom.

[ 9 ] You have already seen from the numbers ten times seven times four or twelve times seven times four that the rhythm of the physical body corresponds to the approximate course of the year. You can picture these changes in the outer physical body symbolically by thinking of how, over the course of a year, the human being, so to speak, turns around; at times on this side of the sun, at times on the other. If we now consider that the human being always faces the sun, then over the course of a year he must rotate once around his own axis and once around the sun. Someone who views the matter only superficially will regard this as something entirely trivial, but it is, in fact, very important.

[ 10 ] What unfolds here as rhythm within the four bodies has been instilled in human beings over long, long ages, and the fact that the various bodies can interact with one another has been ordained by the hierarchies—by beings we have mentioned on several occasions. We know that we are embedded within higher beings. It is the activity of these spiritual beings—who permeate physical and spiritual space with their actions—that has brought about these specific relationships. But if you consider what has just been said, you will arrive from another angle at a thought that was touched upon here frequently last winter. The establishment of the physical body’s rhythm began as far back as ancient Saturn. The integration of the etheric body—so that the etheric body and the physical body are in harmony in their rhythms—stems from the fact that this rhythm was established by other spirits, the Sun spirits. Through the interplay of the various rhythms, a relationship is established, just as the relationship between the two hands of a clock is determined by their rhythm. On the ancient Moon, yet another rhythm—that of the astral body—was integrated.

[ 11 ] Now those spirits who organized our entire cosmos—for everything physical is an expression of these beings—had to shape the outer physical movement in accordance with the inner relationships of the beings. The fact that the Earth orbits the Sun once a year stems from the rhythm that was implanted in the physical body long before the physical constellation came into being. Thus, the spatial order in these celestial spheres was arranged from the spiritual realm. The Moon is guided around the Earth because its orbit is meant to correspond to the cycle of the human etheric body—four times seven days—since this rhythm is meant to find its expression in the Moon’s movement. The various phases of the Moon as illuminated by the Sun—the four lunar quarters—correspond to the various rhythms of the astral body, and the daily rotation of the Earth corresponds to the rhythm of the “I.” It is precisely through the rhythm of the “I” that one can clarify something which, although it has always been taught in all esoteric sciences, will today appear to people as fanciful daydreaming—yet it is nonetheless true. In ancient times, the Earth did not rotate on its axis; this axial rotation arose only in the course of time. When human beings were still in a different state on Earth, this movement did not yet exist. What was first set in motion was not the Earth, but rather the human being. The human “I” was impelled by the spirits to which it is subject to begin rotating, and the human “I” then actually took this Earth with it and rotated it around itself. The Earth’s rotation is the result of the “I” rhythm. As astonishing as that may sound, it is nevertheless true. First, the spiritual members of the human being—which were developing into the “I”—had to receive the impulse to rotate, and then they took the Earth with them. Things turned out differently later on. Human beings became free on Earth; conditions changed so that human beings were freed from the surrounding cosmic forces. But that is how it was originally. So you see how everything physical around us is actually an outflow of the spiritual. The spiritual is always primary. All the conditions in the world also flow from it.

[ 12 ] And now imagine the astral body, which, so to speak, completes a cycle over the course of seven days. Consider how certain irregularities in the astral body are linked to illnesses—specifically, because these irregularities extend through the etheric body all the way to the physical body. Now let us suppose that the astral body has sustained some damage within itself. Through this damage, it affects the etheric body, and thus the damage continues all the way to the physical body. The physical body, too, becomes damaged. Then the organism begins to revolt against the damage, mobilizing its protective forces. This revolt is usually fever; it is the mobilization of the healing forces within the human being. Fever is not a disease; rather, the human being mobilizes the sum of his or her forces from the entire organism to repair this damage. This revolt of the entire organism against the damage is usually expressed as fever. Fever is the most beneficial and healing aspect of illness. The individual part that has become damaged cannot heal itself; it must receive forces from other parts of the body, and this is expressed through fever.

[ 13 ] Now consider this: this fever occurs in cases of pneumonia. The lungs have become damaged for some reason. Whenever the human lungs sustain any damage, it is first the astral body that suffers the damage, and only then does it pass through the etheric body to the physical body. In the case of pneumonia, the root cause always lies in the astral body; pneumonia cannot occur in any other way. Now consider the rhythm of the astral body. On the day pneumonia sets in, the astral body acts upon the physical body. Now, through the fever, the body begins to rebel. After seven days, the astral body and the etheric body are once again in the same relative position; parts of them meet again. But it does not meet the same part of the etheric body, for the etheric body, too, has in the meantime completed its own rhythm. It now meets the next part. This, in turn, is also affected and influenced by the astral body; indeed, this other part of the etheric body is influenced in the opposite way. Now the fever is suppressed. Because the next quarter of the etheric body now coincides with that part of the astral body which, seven days ago, coincided with the previous quarter of the etheric body, this triggers the opposite process that occurred seven days ago—namely, the reaction against the fever. The body’s opposite rhythm suppresses the fever once more. For the human body exists to be healthy, and that is the purpose of the rhythm. Certain effects rise during the first seven days; in the next seven days, they must fall. In a healthy person, this rise and fall alternate. But when a person is ill, suppressing the fever poses a danger to life. While in a healthy person a rising process reverses on the seventh day, in a sick person the rising process should continue. But the rapid rise causes a rapid fall. This is the reason for the crisis on the seventh day in cases of pneumonia.

[ 14 ] This becomes clear when one considers that the lungs developed at a time when the Moon had already separated from the Earth and was preparing to establish its own rhythm, and when the rhythm of the days was also beginning to take shape. That is why the lungs are still connected today to the astral body and the rhythm of the etheric body.

[ 15 ] You can see how human life, particularly in its abnormal circumstances, can be assessed from the perspective of spiritual science, and how human beings can only be truly understood in their entirety when these interrelationships are fully grasped. That is why true progress in the sciences will only be possible again when human beings are permeated by the great insights of spiritual science. In the past—roughly up to the middle of our Earth’s development—human beings were much more in harmony with the outer rhythms of nature in all their own rhythms. Since that time, however—that is, since the middle of the Atlantean epoch—things have become disjointed. The inner being of the human being has become independent of the outer rhythm. Internally, the human being has retained its old rhythm. It is precisely through this lack of harmony between the rhythms that the human being has gained independence and freedom; otherwise, the development of freedom in human history would not have been possible. Human rhythm has outpaced that of the Sun—or rather, the Earth’s rhythm has outpaced that of the Sun. The same is true of other rhythms, such as that of the astral body. In the past, human beings experienced very different moods over the course of the seven days. At one time, everything external made a great impression on them; at another time, they lived more within themselves. Because the rhythms no longer align today, the states of inner experience persist even during periods when people derive more joy from the external world—and vice versa. They intermingle and balance each other out, and the astral body is thereby, so to speak, brought into a state of equilibrium. In people who live more in their astral bodies, such fluctuations in mood can still be perceived upon close observation. In those suffering from mental or spiritual illness, the variations in the states of the astral body can be demonstrated.

[ 16 ] For the “I,” this rhythm emerged last of all, but even there, things are already becoming jumbled. After all, a person can sleep during the day and stay awake at night. But in the past, this rhythm always corresponded with the external one. In Atlantis, something very terrible would have happened if people had wanted to sleep during the day and stay awake at night. That would have thrown their entire lives into disarray. Today, the rhythm has remained in a certain sense, but it has become independent of external factors. It is just as if you were to set a proper clock precisely according to solar time. You could then read the hours of the sun very accurately. But now suppose you were to set the clock to twelve o’clock at seven in the afternoon. Then the clock’s rhythm would still be correct; it would simply be shifted relative to that of the sun. The same is true for human beings. The ancient rhythm in which human beings once stood in harmony with the entire cosmos has been preserved. It has merely shifted. If the clock were a living being, it would be right to shift its rhythm away from the surrounding rhythms. In the distant future, human beings are to reach a point where, through their inner development, they can once again allow their rhythm to flow out into the world. Just as there were once beings who, through their own rhythms, caused the sun, moon, and earth to move, so too will humanity one day project its rhythm out into the world once it has reached the divine level. This is the meaning of becoming independent in rhythm. From this, we can glimpse the deeper foundations of astrology. But that is not our concern today. Today we simply wanted to show how spiritual science is not a collection of abstract ideas for the self-centered person who is interested in it, but rather that it will shed light even on the most mundane circumstances of life. But then one must have the will to go beyond outward appearances to the fundamental principles that lie behind them. Rhythm is implanted in matter by the spirit; human beings today carry this rhythm within them as a legacy of their spiritual ancestry. However, one can only understand this rhythm—for human beings as well as for other beings in nature—by going back to the original conditions. Even among animals, the individual bodies—the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, and the group ego—exist in entirely different relationships to one another. Each animal species has a different rhythm. For the physical body, it is more or less the same, but entirely different rhythms operate in the etheric and astral bodies of the various animals. One can classify the animal kingdom—just as one classifies it today outwardly according to external forms—into genera based on rhythms, depending on how the rhythm of the astral bodies relates to that of the etheric bodies.

[ 17 ] Do not think that these rhythms have never been clearly recognized. We will yet be able to show that it was not so long ago that people had at least a vague awareness of these rhythms. Anyone who goes through the world with the appropriate awareness may find that some calendars used in rural areas specify certain rules regarding specific relationships between animals and the land. By observing these rules in such farmers’ calendars, the farmer of old organized his entire agricultural life. An awareness of such rhythms was woven into peasant knowledge. These are things that can show us that, since the 15th and 16th centuries, an age of abstraction and external science has dawned—a science that is no longer capable of delving into the underlying causes. This is particularly the case in medicine. Today we are left only with a process of trial and error, yet the solid foundation of pathology and therapy dates back to ancient times. I endured the ordeal of the intellect and the emotions when phenazethine was being tested. This kind of trial-and-error approach, without even a guiding principle, shows that science has lost not only its spirit but also its seriousness. This seriousness will be regained through spiritual insight. One must certainly distinguish between the distortions of a so-called science and true knowledge grounded in the spirit. If one takes this to heart, one will see how necessary spiritual-scientific knowledge is, and how it must permeate all areas of knowledge and life.