A Road to Self-Knowledge
GA 16
Fifth Meditation
In which the Attempt is made to form an Idea of the Astral Body
[ 1 ] When we experience through our elemental body a surrounding supersensible world, we feel ourselves less separated from that world than we are from physical surroundings when in our physical body. And yet we bear a relation to these supersensible surroundings, which may be expressed by saying that we have attached to ourselves certain substances of the elemental world in the form of an elemental body, just as in the physical outer world we carry some of its materials and forces attached to us in the shape of our physical body. We observe that this is so when we want to find our way about in the supersensible world outside the physical body. It may happen that we have before us some fact or being of the supersensible world. It may be there, and we can behold it, but we do not know what it is. If we are strong enough, we may drive it away, but only by carrying ourselves back into the world of the senses by energetic concentration upon our experiences in that world. We are, however, unable to remain in the supersensible world and compare with other beings or facts the being or the fact perceived. And yet it is only by so doing that we could form a correct estimate of what is beheld. Thus our “sight” in the supersensible world may be limited to the perception of single things without the faculty of moving freely from one thing to another. We then feel fettered to that single thing.
[ 2 ] We may now look for the reason of this limitation. This can only be found when through further inner development the life of our soul has been still more strengthened and we arrive at a point when this limitation is no longer there. And then we shall discover that the reason why we could not move from one thing to another is to be found in our own soul. We learn that sight in the supersensible world differs in this way from perception in the world of the senses. One can, for instance, in the physical world see every visible thing when one has got sound eyes. If one sees one thing one can also, with the same eyes, see all other things. This is not so in the supersensible world. One can have the organ of supersensible perception developed in such a way that one can experience this or that fact, but if another fact is to be perceived one's organ must first be specially developed for this purpose. Such a development gives one the feeling that an organ has awoke to a particular region of the supersensible world. One feels as if one's elemental body were in a kind of sleep with regard to the supersensible world, and as if it had to be awoke with regard to each particular thing. It is in fact possible to speak of being asleep and being awake in the elemental world; but they are not alternate states as in the physical world. They are states existing in man simultaneously. As long as we have not attained any faculty for experience through our elemental body, that body is asleep. We always carry this body about with us, but it is a sleeping body. With the strengthening of the life of our soul the awakening begins, but at first only for a part of the elemental body. The more we awaken our elemental being, ' the deeper we penetrate into the elemental world.
[ 3 ] In the elemental world itself there is nothing that can aid the soul to bring about this awakening. However much may be beheld, one thing perceived adds nothing to the possibility of perceiving another thing. Free movement in the supersensible world can be attained by the soul through nothing that is found in the elemental environment. When we continue the exercises to strengthen the soul, we attain more and more this power of moving in particular regions. Through all this our attention is drawn to something in ourselves, which does not belong to the elemental world, but is discovered within ourselves through our experience of that world. We feel ourselves as particular beings in the supersensible world, who seem to be the rulers, directors, and masters of their elemental bodies, and who by and by awaken these bodies to supersensible consciousness.
[ 4 ] When we have arrived so far, a feeling of intense loneliness overwhelms the soul. We find ourselves in a world that is elemental in all directions; we see only ourselves within endless elemental space as beings which can nowhere find their equal. It is not affirmed that every development to clairvoyance should lead to this fearful loneliness, but any one who consciously and by his own efforts acquires a strengthening of his soul, will meet with it. And if he follow a teacher who gives him directions from step to step in order to further his development, he will, perhaps late, but still some day, have to realise that his teacher has left him all to himself. He will find that his teacher has left him, and that he is abandoned to loneliness in the elemental world. Only afterwards will he understand that he has been obliged to let him depend upon himself since the necessity for such self-reliance had asserted itself.
[ 5 ] At this stage of the soul's pilgrimage the pupil feels himself an exile in the elemental world. But now he can go on further if sufficient force has been aroused in him through his inner exercises. He may begin to see a new world emerge—not in the elemental world, but within himself—a world that is not one either with the physical or with the elemental world. For such a pupil a second supersensible world is added to the first. This second supersensible world is at first completely an inner world. The pupil feels that he carries it within himself and that he is alone with it. To compare this state to anything in the world of the senses, let us take the following case. Somebody has lost all his dear ones through death and now carries only the recollection of them in his soul. They live on for him only as his thoughts. Thus it is in the second supersensible world. Man stands to this second supersensible world in such a way that he carries it within himself; but he knows that he is shut out from its reality. Nevertheless he feels that this reality within his soul, whatever it may be, is something much more real than mere recollection from the world of the senses. This supersensible world lives an independent life within one's own soul. All that is there is yearning to get out of the soul, and arrive at something else. Thus one feels a world within oneself, but a world that does not want to remain there. This produces a feeling like being torn asunder by every separate detail of that world. One may arrive at a point where these details free themselves, where they break through something which seems like a shell and escape from the soul. Then one may feel oneself the poorer by all that has in this manner torn itself away from the soul.
[ 6 ] One now learns that that part of the supersensible reality in the soul which one is able to love for its own sake, and not simply because it is actually in one's own soul, behaves in a particular way. What one can thus love deeply does not tear itself from the soul; it certainly does force its way out of the soul, but carries the soul along with it. It carries the soul to that region where it lives in its true reality. A kind of union with the real essence takes place, for hitherto one has only carried something like a reflection of this real essence within one. The love here mentioned must, however, be of the kind that is experienced in the supersensible world. In the world of the senses one can only prepare oneself for such love. And this preparation takes place when one strengthens one's capacity for love in the world of the senses. The greater the love of which one is capable in the physical world, the more of this capacity remains for the supersensible world. With regard to the individual entities of the supersensible world, this works as follows. You cannot, for instance, get into touch with those real supersensible beings which are connected with the plants of the physical world if you do not love plants in the world of the senses, and so on. An error, however, may very easily arise with regard to such things. It may happen that somebody in the physical world passes the vegetable kingdom by with complete indifference, and yet an unconscious affinity for that kingdom may lie hidden in the soul. Afterwards when he enters the supersensible world this love may awaken.
[ 7 ] But the union with beings in the supersensible world does not only depend upon love. Other feelings, as, for instance, respect and reverence, which the soul may have for a being when it first feels the picture of this being arise within it, have the same effect. These qualities will, however, always be such as must be reckoned as belonging to the inner qualities of the soul. One will in this way learn to know those beings of the supersensible world to which the soul itself opened the way through such inner qualities. A sure way to get acquainted with the supersensible world consists in gaining access to the different beings through one's relationship to their reflections. In the world of the senses we love a being after having learned to know him; in the second supersensible world we may love the image of a being before meeting with the being itself, as this image presents itself before the meeting takes place.
[ 8 ] That which the soul in this way learns to know within itself is not the elemental body. It stands in relation to that body as its “awakener.” It is a being dwelling within the soul which is experienced in the same way as that in which you would experience yourself during sleep if you were not unconscious but felt yourself to be conscious when outside your physical body and in the position of its “ awakener ” at the moment of its rousing from sleep. Thus the soul learns to know a being within itself which is a third something beside the physical and the elemental bodies. Let us call this something the astral body, and this expression shall, for the time being, mean nothing but that which in the way described is experienced within the being of the soul.
Fünfte Meditation
Der Meditierende versucht eine Vorstellung des «astralischen Leibes» zu bilden
[ 1 ] Wenn man durch den elementarischen Leib eine übersinnliche Außenwelt erlebt, ist man von dieser weniger abgeschlossen, als man beim Erleben im Sinnenleib von seiner physischen Umgebung ist. Dennoch hat man ein Verhältnis zu dieser übersinnlichen Außenwelt, das sich in der Art ausdrücken läßt, dass man sagt, man habe mit sich verbunden gewisse Substanzen der elementarischen Welt als einen besonderen elementarischen Leib, wie man die Stoffe und Kräfte der physischen Außenwelt in dem physischen Leibe an sich trägt. Dass dieses sich so verhält, das bemerkt man, wenn man außerhalb seines Sinnenleibes sich in der übersinnlichen Welt orientieren will. Es kann vorkommen, dass man irgendeine Tatsache oder Wesenheit der übersinnlichen Welt vor sich hat; sie kann da sein; man kann sie schauen; aber man weiß nicht, was sie ist. Ist man stark genug dazu, dann kann man sie vertreiben; aber nur dadurch, dass man durch energische Besinnung auf seine Erfahrung in der Sinnenwelt sich in diese zurückversetzt. Aber man kann nicht innerhalb der übersinnlichen Welt bleiben, und die geschaute Tatsache oder Wesenheit mit anderen vergleichen. Nur dadurch könnte man sich darüber orientieren, was das Geschaute bedeutet. Das Schauen der übersinnlichen Welt kann sich also darauf beschränken, dass man Einzelheiten wahrnimmt, sich aber nicht von dem einen zu dem andern frei bewegen kann. Man fühlt sich dann an der Einzelheit festgehalten.
[ 2 ] Man kann nun den Grund dieser Beschränkung suchen. Man wird ihn nur finden, wenn man durch weitere innere Entwickelung, welche das Seelenleben noch mehr verstärkt, dazu kommt, dass in einem besonderen Falle diese Beschränkung nicht mehr da ist. Dann aber wird man gewahr, dass der Grund, warum man von dem einen Geschauten nicht zu einem andern sich hinbewegen konnte, in der eigenen Seele gelegen ist. Man lernt erkennen, dass das Schauen der übersinnlichen Welt sich auch noch dadurch von dem Wahrnehmen in der sinnlichen Welt unterscheidet, dass man in der letzteren zum Beispiele alles Sichtbare sehen kann, wenn man richtig arbeitende Augen hat. Sieht man das eine, so kann man durch dasselbe Auge auch das andre sehen. So ist es in der übersinnlichen Welt nicht. Man kann das übersinnliche Beobachtungsorgan des elementarischen Leibes so ausgebildet haben, dass man diese oder jene Tatsache erleben kann; soll eine andere geschaut werden, so muß das Organ für diese erst wieder besonders ausgebildet werden. - Nun hat man gegenüber einer solchen Ausbildung eine Empfindung, die wie ein Erwachen des Organs für einen bestimmten Teil der übersinnlichen Welt ist. Man fühlt, wie wenn der elementarische Leib gegenüber der übersinnlichen Welt in einer Art von Schlafzustand sei, und als ob er für jede Einzelheit erst erweckt werden müsse. Man kann wirklich von einem Schlafen und Wachen in der elementarischen Welt sprechen. Nur sind für diese Welt Schlafen und Wachen nicht Wechselzustände, wie sie es innerhalb des Lebens in der Sinnenwelt sind. Sie sind als Zustände gleichzeitig am Menschen vorhanden. Solange sich der Mensch keine Fähigkeit erworben hat, durch seinen elementarischen Leib etwas zu erleben, schläft dieser Leib. Der Mensch trägt diesen Leib immer an sich, aber als einen schlafenden. Mit der Verstärkung des Seelenlebens beginnt das Erwachen, aber zunächst nur für einen Teil dieses Leibes. Man lebt sich immer mehr in die elementarische Welt hinein, indem man immer mehr und mehr von dem eigenen elementarischen Wesen erweckt.
[ 3 ] Zu diesem Erwecken kann nun der Seele nichts in der elementarischen Welt selbst verhelfen. So viel auch schon geschaut werden kann: das eine Geschaute trägt nichts dazu bei, dass auch ein andres geschaut werden kann. Freie Beweglichkeit in der übersinnlichen Welt kann die Seele durch nichts erlangen, was in der elementarischen Umgebung zu finden ist. Wenn man die Übungen in der Seelenverstärkung fortsetzt, so erlangt man immer mehr und mehr für gewisse Gebiete diese Beweglichkeit. Durch alles dieses wird man auf etwas in sich aufmerksam, welches der elementarischen Welt nicht angehört, das man aber im Erleben dieser Welt in sich selber entdeckt. Man findet sich als ein besonderes Wesen in der übersinnlichen Welt, das wie ein Lenker seines elementarischen Leibes sich erscheint, wie ein Beherrscher desselben, der allmählich diesen Leib zu einem übersinnlichen Bewußtsein erweckt.
[ 4 ] Ist man dazu gelangt, so überkommt die Seele ein ungeheures Einsamkeitsgefühl. Man schaut sich in einer Welt, die nach allen Seiten hin elementarisch ist; nur sich selbst schaut man innerhalb der unendlichen elementarischen Weiten als ein Wesen, das nicht seinesgleichen irgendwo erschauen kann. - Es soll nicht behauptet werden, dass jede Entwickelung zum Hellsehertum zu dieser schauervollen Einsamkeit führt; doch derjenige, welcher durch eigene Kraft bewußt sich die Seelenverstärkung aneignet, wird dazu gelangen. Und wer einem Lehrer folgt, der ihm von Schritt zu Schritt Anleitung gibt, um in der Entwickelung vorwärts zu dringen, der wird - vielleicht spät - aber doch eines Tages erfahren müssen, dass sein Lehrer ihn sich selbst überlassen hat. Er wird sich zunächst von ihm verlassen und der Einsamkeit in der elementarischen Welt übergeben finden. Nachträglich erst wird er erkennen, dass er weise von dem Lehrer behandelt worden ist, und dass dieser ihn auf sich selbst verweisen mußte, nachdem die Notwendigkeit zu solcher Selbständigkeit sich ergeben hatte.
[ 5 ] Wie ein in die elementarische Welt Verbannter erscheint sich der Mensch auf dieser Stufe der Seelenwanderschaft. Nun aber kann er weiter gelangen, wenn durch seine inneren Übungen genügende Seelenkraft in ihm ist. Er kann beginnen - nicht in der elementarischen Welt, wohl aber in sich selbst eine neue Welt auftauchen zu sehen, welche weder mit der Sinnenwelt, noch mit der elementarischen Welt eine und dieselbe ist. Es kommt für einen solchen Menschen eine zweite übersinnliche Welt zu der ersten hinzu. Diese zweite übersinnliche Welt ist nun zunächst eine vollständige Innenwelt. Man fühlt, dass man sie in sich selbst trägt und mit ihr allein ist. Will man diesen Zustand mit etwas aus der Sinnenwelt vergleichen, so bietet sich das folgende dar. Jemand habe alle seine lieben Angehörigen hinsterben sehen und trage in sich nur noch die Erinnerung an sie in seiner Seele. Sie leben für ihn nur noch als seine Gedanken weiter. - So ist man in der zweiten übersinnlichen Welt. Man trägt sie in sich; aber man weiß, dass man von ihrer Wirklichkeit abgeschlossen ist. Nur hat dasjenige, was von dieser Wirklichkeit in der Seele lebt, selbst eine ganz andre Wirklichkeit als bloße Erinnerungsvorstellungen in der Sinnenwelt. Es lebt in der eigenen Seele diese übersinnliche Welt ein selbständiges Dasein. Alles, was da ist, will aus der Seele hinaus, will zu etwas anderem hin. So fühlt man eine Welt in sich, aber so, dass diese Welt nicht in der Seele bleiben will. Das ruft ein Gefühl hervor, als ob man durch jede Einzelheit dieser Welt zersprengt werden sollte. Man kann dazu kommen, dass sich diese Einzelheiten selbst befreien, dass sie etwas wie eine Seelenhülle gleichsam durchreißen und der Seele entfliehen. Dann kann man sich verarmt fühlen um alles, was sich der Seele so entrissen hat. -
[ 6 ] Man lernt nun erkennen, dass sich dasjenige in einer gewissen Weise verhält, was man von dem übersinnlichen Seeleninhalt so lieben kann, dass man es um seiner selbst willen liebt und nicht deswegen, weil es in der eigenen Seele ist. Was man in solcher Art hingebend lieben kann, das entreißt sich der Seele nicht; es dringt zwar aus der Seele heraus, aber es nimmt diese Seele gewissermaßen mit. Es führt sie dorthin, wo es in seiner Wirklichkeit lebt. Es findet eine Art Vereinigung mit dem wirklichen Wesen statt, während man vorher nur etwas wie ein Nachbild dieses Wesens in sich getragen hat. Die hier gemeinte Liebe muß aber eine solche sein, welche in der übersinnlichen Welt erlebt wird. In der Sinnenwelt kann man sich für eine solche Liebe nur vorbereiten. Doch bereitet man sich vor, wenn man die Liebefähigkeit in der Sinnenwelt zu einer starken macht. Einer um so stärkeren Liebe man in der Sinnenwelt fähig ist, um so mehr verbleibt der Seele von dieser Liebefähigkeit für die übersinnliche Welt. Dieses bezieht sich auf die Einzelheiten der übersinnlichen Welt so, dass man zum Beispiel zu jenen wirklichen übersinnlichen Wesen, welche mit den Pflanzen der Sinnenwelt in Verbindung stehen, nicht gelangen kann, wenn man Pflanzen in der sinnlichen Welt nicht liebt. Doch kann in bezug auf solche Dinge leicht eine Täuschung eintreten. Es kann vorkommen, dass ein Mensch in der Sinnenwelt ganz lieblos an der Pflanzenwelt vorbeigeht; es kann aber trotzdem in seiner Seele verborgen eine ihm unbewußte Neigung für diese Welt vorhanden sein. Dann kann diese Liebe erwachen, wenn er die übersinnliche Welt betritt.
[ 7 ] Wie von der Liebe, so kann das Vereinigen mit Wesen der übersinnlichen Welt auch von andern Eigenschaften der Seele abhängen, wie von der Achtung oder Ehrfurcht, welche innerhalb der übersinnlichen Welt die Seele für ein Wesen empfinden kann, wenn sie erst das Nachbild dieses Wesens in sich auftauchen fühlt. Es werden aber diese Eigenschaften stets solche sein, die man zu den inneren Seeleneigenschaften zu zählen hat. - Man wird so diejenigen Wesen der übersinnlichen Welt kennenlernen, zu denen sich die Seele durch solche Eigenschaften selbst den Zugang eröffnet. Es erschließt sich ein sicherer Weg zur Orientierung in der übersinnlichen Welt dadurch, dass man durch seine Verhältnisse zu den Nachbildern der Wesen sich den Zugang zu ihnen frei macht. In der Sinnenwelt liebt man ein Wesen, nachdem man es kennengelernt hat; in der zweiten übersinnlichen Welt kann man vor der Begegnung mit der Wirklichkeit das Abbild lieben, weil dieses Abbild vor jener Begegnung sich einstellt.
[ 8 ] Was die Seele auf diese Art in sich kennenlernt, ist nicht der elementarische Leib. Denn es steht diesem als sein Erwecker gegenüber. Es ist ein in der Seele vorhandenes Wesen, das man so erlebt, wie man sich erleben wurde, wenn man im Schlafe nicht bewußtlos würde, sondern bewußt außer seinem physischen Leibe sich erfühlte und beim Erwachen sich als den Erwecker empfände. So lernt die Seele eine in ihr vorhandene Wesenheit kennen, welche ein Drittes ist außer dem physischen und dem elementarischen Leib. Es sei diese Wesenheit der astralische Leib genannt, und mit diesem Worte hier zunächst nichts anderes angedeutet, als was sich innerhalb des Seelenseins in der geschilderten Weise erlebt.
Fifth meditation
The meditator tries to form an idea of the "astral body"
[ 1 ] When one experiences a supersensible external world through the elementary body, one is less closed off from it than one is from one's physical surroundings when experiencing it in the sensory body. Nevertheless, one has a relationship to this supersensible external world which can be expressed in such a way that one says that one has certain substances of the elementary world connected with oneself as a special elementary body, just as one carries the substances and forces of the physical external world in the physical body. That this is the case is noticed when one wants to orient oneself in the supersensible world outside one's sensory body. It can happen that you have some fact or entity of the supersensible world before you; it can be there; you can see it; but you do not know what it is. If you are strong enough to do so, you can drive it away, but only by energetically reflecting on your experience in the sensory world and placing yourself back in it. But one cannot remain within the supersensible world and compare the fact or entity seen with others. Only in this way could one orientate oneself as to what what is seen means. Seeing the supersensible world can therefore be limited to perceiving details, but not being able to move freely from one to the other. You then feel stuck to the detail.
[ 2 ] You can now look for the reason for this limitation. You will only find it if, through further inner development, which strengthens the life of the soul even more, you come to the conclusion that in a particular case this limitation is no longer there. But then you will realize that the reason why you could not move from the one thing you saw to another lies in your own soul. One learns to recognize that seeing the supersensible world also differs from perceiving the sensible world in that in the latter, for example, one can see everything visible if one has properly functioning eyes. If you see one thing, you can also see the other through the same eye. This is not the case in the supersensible world. One can have trained the supersensible organ of observation of the elementary body in such a way that one can experience this or that fact; if another is to be seen, the organ for this must first be specially trained again. - Now, in the face of such training, one has a sensation that is like an awakening of the organ for a certain part of the supersensible world. One feels as if the elementary body is in a kind of sleep state in relation to the supersensible world, and as if it must first be awakened for every detail. One can really speak of sleeping and waking in the elementary world. But for this world, sleeping and waking are not alternating states, as they are within life in the sense world. They are simultaneously present as states in the human being. As long as man has not acquired the ability to experience something through his elementary body, this body is asleep. The human being always carries this body with him, but as a sleeping one. With the strengthening of the soul life, awakening begins, but initially only for a part of this body. One lives oneself more and more into the elemental world by awakening more and more of one's own elemental being.
[ 3 ] Nothing in the elemental world itself can help the soul to achieve this awakening. No matter how much can already be seen: the one thing seen contributes nothing to the fact that another can also be seen. The soul cannot attain free mobility in the supersensible world through anything that can be found in the elementary environment. If one continues the exercises in the strengthening of the soul, one attains this mobility more and more for certain areas. Through all this one becomes aware of something within oneself that does not belong to the elemental world, but which one discovers in oneself when experiencing this world. We find ourselves as a special being in the supersensible world, which appears to us like a controller of our elementary body, like a ruler of it, who gradually awakens this body to a supersensible consciousness.
[ 4 ] Once one has reached this point, the soul is overcome by a tremendous feeling of loneliness. One sees oneself in a world that is elemental on all sides; one sees only oneself within the infinite elemental expanses as a being that cannot see its own kind anywhere. - It should not be claimed that every development towards clairvoyance leads to this eerie solitude; but the one who consciously acquires the strengthening of the soul through his own power will reach it. And he who follows a teacher who gives him step-by-step guidance in order to advance in his development will - perhaps late - but one day have to learn that his teacher has left him to his own devices. At first he will find himself abandoned by him and given over to loneliness in the elementary world. Only later will he realize that he has been wisely treated by the teacher and that the teacher had to refer him to himself after the necessity for such independence had arisen.
[ 5 ] At this stage of transmigration, man appears to himself as one banished to the elementary world. Now, however, he can progress further if there is sufficient soul power in him through his inner exercises. He can begin to see - not in the elementary world, but in himself - a new world emerging, which is neither one and the same with the sense world nor with the elementary world. For such a person, a second supersensible world is added to the first. This second supersensible world is at first a complete inner world. One feels that one carries it within oneself and is alone with it. If you want to compare this state with something from the world of the senses, you can do the following. Someone has seen all his loved ones die and carries only the memory of them in his soul. They live on for him only as his thoughts. - This is how one is in the second supersensible world. One carries it within oneself; but one knows that one is closed off from its reality. But that which lives of this reality in the soul has itself a quite different reality from mere memories in the sense world. This supersensible world lives an independent existence in one's own soul. Everything that is there wants to leave the soul, wants to go to something else. Thus one feels a world within oneself, but in such a way that this world does not want to remain in the soul. This creates a feeling as if one should be shattered by every detail of this world. It can happen that these details free themselves, that they tear through something like a soul shell and escape from the soul. Then one can feel impoverished by everything that has thus torn itself away from the soul.
[ 6 ] One now learns to recognize that that which one can love from the supersensible soul content behaves in a certain way, that one loves it for its own sake and not because it is in one's own soul. That which one can love devotedly in such a way does not snatch itself from the soul; it does indeed penetrate out of the soul, but it takes this soul with it, so to speak. It leads it to where it lives in its reality. A kind of union with the real being takes place, whereas previously one only carried something like an afterimage of this being within oneself. The love meant here, however, must be one that is experienced in the supersensible world. In the sense world one can only prepare oneself for such love. But one prepares oneself if one makes the capacity for love in the sense world a strong one. The stronger the love one is capable of in the sense world, the more of this capacity for love remains in the soul for the supersensible world. This relates to the details of the supersensible world in such a way that, for example, one cannot reach those real supersensible beings that are connected with the plants of the sensory world if one does not love plants in the sensory world. However, a deception can easily occur with regard to such things. It can happen that a person in the sense world passes by the plant world without any love at all; but there can still be an unconscious inclination for this world hidden in his soul. Then this love can awaken when he enters the supersensible world.
[ 7 ] As with love, the union with beings of the supersensible world can also depend on other qualities of the soul, such as the respect or reverence which the soul can feel for a being within the supersensible world when it first feels the image of this being appear within itself. However, these qualities will always be those that are to be counted among the inner qualities of the soul. - In this way one will become acquainted with those beings of the supersensible world to which the soul itself opens access through such qualities. A safe path to orientation in the supersensible world is opened up by the fact that through one's relationship to the afterimages of the beings, one opens up access to them. In the world of the senses, one loves a being after one has gotten to know it; in the second supersensible world, one can love the image before the encounter with reality, because this image appears before that encounter.
[ 8 ] What the soul gets to know within itself in this way is not the elementary body. For it stands opposite it as its awakener. It is a being present in the soul, which one experiences as one would experience oneself if one did not become unconscious in sleep, but consciously felt oneself outside one's physical body and upon awakening felt oneself as the awakener. Thus the soul becomes acquainted with an entity existing within it, which is a third entity apart from the physical and the elementary body. This entity is called the astral body, and with this word nothing else is indicated here than what is experienced within the being of the soul in the manner described.