The Threshold of the Spiritual World
GA 17
VI. Concerning the Astral Body and the Luciferic Beings; and the Nature of the Etheric Body
[ 1 ] There is another group of spiritual beings, who from the world of the spirit are seen to be active in the physical world (and also in the elemental world), as in an adopted field of action. These are the spirits who desire to liberate the feeling soul entirely from the physical world, and therefore in a certain way to spiritualise it. Life in the physical world is part of the cosmic order of things. While the human soul is living in the physical world, it is passing through a development which is part of the conditions of its existence. Its being woven into the physical world is a result of the activity of beings whom one learns to know in the higher world. That activity is opposed by the beings who desire to wrench the feeling soul free from physical conditions. These latter beings may be called the Luciferic beings.
[ 2 ] The Luciferic beings stand in the physical world searching as it were, for everything of a psychic nature (feeling) which is to be found there, in order that they may draw it out of the physical world and incorporate it in a cosmic sphere of their own, adapted to their nature. Seen from the higher world, the activity of these Luciferic beings is also abservable in the elemental world. Within this they strive to obtain a certain sphere of power which they want to disconnect from the grossness of the physical world, although that sphere has been preordained, by the beings of the higher world, to be connected with the lower world. Just as the Ahrimanic beings would be keeping to their own sphere if they were only to bring about the temporary annihilation of existence which is based on the order of the cosmos, so the Luciferic beings would not be crossing the boundary of their own kingdom if they imbued the feeling soul with powers which would continually stimulate it to rise above the urgent necessities of the physical world, and feel itself, with regard to those necessities, a free and independent being. But the Luciferic beings go beyond the limits of their domain when they desire, in the face of the universal order of the higher world, to create a special spiritual kingdom for which they wish to remould the psychic beings in the physical world.
[ 3 ] We can see how the influence of Luciferic beings in the physical world expands in two directions. On the one hand it is owing to them that man is able to rise above the bare experience of what is physically real. He is able to derive his joy, his uplifting, not only from the physical world; but can also take pleasure in and feel elated by that which exists merely in semblance, that which, as beauty transcends the physical. From this point of view the Luciferic beings have cooperated in bringing about the most important, and especially the artistic, features of civilisation. Moreover, man is able to enjoy unfettered thought; he need not merely describe physical things and portray them slavishly in his thoughts. He is able to develop creative thought beyond the physical world, and to philosophise about things. On the other hand, the exaggeration of the Luciferic forces in the soul is the source of much extravagance and confusion, for they try to develop the activities of the soul without adhering to the conditions of the higher cosmic order. Philosophising which is not based upon a thorough adherence to the cosmic order, headstrong indulgence in arbitrary ideas, excessive forcing of one's own personal predilections: all these things are the dark side of the Luciferic activity.
[ 4 ] The human soul belongs, through its other self, to the higher world. But it also belongs to existence in the lower world. Clairvoyant consciousness, if it has passed through adequate preparation, feels itself as a conscious being in the higher world. The facts of the case are not altered, but, to those facts which hold good for every human soul, there is added in clairvoyant consciousness, the knowledge of the facts. Every human soul belongs to the higher world, and when man is living in the physical world, lie is associated with a physical body which is subject to the processes of the physical world. The soul is also associated with a subtle, etheric body, which lives subject to the processes of the elemental world. The Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces which are spiritual and supersensible work in both these bodies.
[ 5 ] In so far as the human soul lives in the higher or spiritual world, it is what may be called an astral being. One of the many reasons which justify this expression is that the astral being of man as such is not subject to the conditions which prevail within the sphere of earth. Spiritual science recognises that within man's astral being are working, not the “natural” laws of earth, but those laws which have to be taken into account in considering the processes of the world of the stars (astra). On this account the term may appear justified. Thus the recofnition of a third or astral body is added to that of the physical body and the subtle, etheric body of man. But it is necessary that the following should be borne in mind. As regards its original essence, man's astral body has its origin in the higher world, in the spiritual world proper. Within that sphere it is a being of the same nature as other beings whose activity is exercised in that world. Inasmuch then as the elemental and physical worlds are reflections of the spiritual world, the etheric and physical bodies of man must also be looked upon as reflections of his astral being. But in those bodies forces are working, which originate from the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings. Now since those beings have a spiritual origin, it is natural that within the region of the etheric and physical bodies themselves there thould be found a kind of human astral essence. And a degree of clairvoyance which merely accepts the pictures of clairvoyant consciousness, without being able rightly to understand their meaning, may easily take the astral admixture in the physical and etheric bodies for the astral body proper. Yet that human astral essence is just that principle of human nature which opposes man's conforming to the laws really suitable for him in the order of the cosmos. Mistakes and confusions are more easily made in this domain because a knowledge of the soul's astral being is at the outset quite impossible for ordinary human consciousness. Even during the first stages of clairvoyant consciousness such knowledge is not yet attainable. The consciousness is attained when man experiences himself in his etheric body. But in this body he beholds the reflected images of his other self, and the higher world to which he belongs. In this way also he beholds the reflected etheric image of his astral body, and at the same time the Luciferic and Ahrimanic beings which that body contains.
It will be shewn later in this work that the ego too, which man in ordinary life looks upon as his entity, is not the real ego, but only the reflection of the real ego in the physical world. In the same way the etheric reflection of the astral body may, in etheric clairvoyance, become an illusory image mistaken for the real astral body.
[ 6 ] When one penetrates further into the higher world, clairvoyant consciousness also succeeds in gaining a true insight as regards human beings into the nature of the reflection of the higher world in the lower. It then becomes supremely evident that the subtle, etheric body, which man bears about him in his present earthly existence, is not really the reflected image of that which corresponds to this body in the higher world. It is a reflected image altered by the activity of the Lucerific and Ahrimanic beings. The spiritual archetype of the etheric body is not able to reflect itself at all perfectly in man on earth, owing to the nature of the earthly essence in which the beings mentioned above are active. If clairvoyant consciousness betakes itself beyond the earth to a region in which a perfect reflection of the archetype of the etheric body is possible, it finds itself carried back to a remote past, previous to the present condition of the earth, before even the “Moon condition” which preceded it. It arrives at an insight into the manner in which the present earth was evolved out of a “Moon condition,” and the latter again out of a “Sun condition.” Further particulars as to why the terms “Sun.” and “Moon” condition are justified will be found in my Occult Science.
The earth, then, was once in a Sun condition, out of which it evolved to a Moon condition, and afterwards became earth. During the Sun condition the etheric body of man was an absolute reflection of the spiritual events and beings of the world from which it originates. Clairvoyant consciousness discovers that those Sun beings were made up of pure wisdom. Thus we may say that, during the earth's Sun condition in a remote past, man received his etheric body as a pure reflection of cosmic beings of Wisdom. Later, during the Moon and Earth conditions, the etheric body has become changed into that which it now is as part of the human being.
Von dem astralischen Leibe und von luziferischen Wesenheiten und vom Wesen des ätherischen Leibes
[ 1 ] Eine andere Art von geistigen Wesenheiten, welche, von dem Geistgebiet aus, in der Sinneswelt (und auch in der elementarischen Welt) als auf ihrem angenommenen Schauplatze wirksam beobachtet werden, sind diejenigen, welche die fühlende Seele ganz von der Sinneswelt befreien wollen; sie also gewissermaßen vergeistigen wollen. Das Leben in der Sinneswelt gehört der Weltenordnung an. Indem die menschliche Seele in der Sinneswelt lebt, macht sie in derselben eine Entwickelung durch, welche zu dem Bereiche ihrer Daseinsbedingungen gehört. Daß sie einverwoben ist in dieses Sinnesgebiet, ist ein Ergebnis der Wirksamkeit von Wesenheiten, welche man in der oberen Welt kennen lernt. Dieser Wirksamkeit entgegen arbeiten die Wesenheiten, welche die fühlende Seele von den Bedingungen der Sinneswirksamkeit losreißen wollen. Diese Wesenheiten seien hier die luziferischen Wesenheiten genannt.
[ 2 ] So stehen die luziferischen Wesenheiten in der Sinneswelt, gewissermaßen alles erspähend, was in dieser seelisch (fühlend) ist, um dieses aus dieser Sinneswelt herauszuziehen und einem eigenen Weltgebiet einzuverleiben, das ihrer Natur ähnlich ist. Von der oberen Welt aus gesehen, ist die Wirksamkeit dieser luziferischen Wesenheiten auch in der elementarischen Welt bemerkbar. Sie streben innerhalb derselben ein Kräftegebiet an, das von der Schwere der Sinneswelt, nach ihren Intentionen, nicht berührt werden soll, trotzdem es von den Wesen der oberen Welt dazu vorbestimmt ist, in diese Sinneswelt einverwoben zu werden. Wie die ahrimanischen Wesenheiten innerhalb ihres Kreises blieben, wenn sie nur die in der Weltenordnung begründete zeitweilige Vernichtung des Daseins herbeiführten, so überschritten die luziferischen Wesenheiten das Gebiet ihres eigenen Reiches nicht, wenn sie die fühlende Seele mit Kräften durchsetzten, in welchen diese immer wieder den Antrieb empfindet, sich über die Nötigungen in der Sinneswelt zu erheben und sich gegenüber diesen Nötigungen als selbständiges, freies Wesen zu erfühlen. Doch überschreiten die luziferischen Wesen ihr Gebiet, indem sie gegenüber der allgemeinen Ordnung der oberen Welt ein besonderes Reich des Geistes schaffen wollen, zu dem sie die seelischen Wesenheiten in der Sinneswelt umgestalten wollen.
[ 3 ] Man kann sehen, wie die Wirkung der luziferischen Wesenheiten in der Sinneswelt nach zwei Seiten hindrängt. Auf der einen Seite ist es diesen Wesen zu verdanken, daß der Mensch sich über das bloße Erleben des sinnlich Wirklichen zu erheben vermag. Er zieht seine Freude, seine Erhebung nicht nur aus der Sinneswelt. Er kann sich erfreuen, erheben an dem, was bloß im Scheine lebt, was als schöner Schein über das Sinnliche hinausgeht. Von dieser Seite her hat die luziferische Wirksamkeit die bedeutsamsten Kulturblüten, vor allem die künstlerischen, mitbewirkt. Der Mensch kann auch im freien Denken leben, er braucht nicht bloß die Sinnesdinge zu beschreiben und in Gedanken porträtartig nachzubilden; er kann über die Sinneswelt hinaus schöpferisches Denken entfalten; er kann über die Dinge philosophieren. - Auf der anderen Seite wird die Überspannung der luziferischen Kräfte in den Seelen zum Quell vieler Schwärmereien und Verworrenheiten, welche in seelischen Tätigkeiten sich entfalten wollen, ohne sich an die Bedingungen der höheren Weltenordnung zu halten. Das Philosophieren ohne die Grundlagen gediegenen Einlebens in die Weltordnung, das eigensinnige Sich-Einspinnen in willkürliche Vorstellungen, das übertriebene Pochen auf die angenommene, liebgewordene persönliche Meinung: alles dieses sind die Schattenseiten der luziferischen Wirksamkeit.
[ 4 ] Die Menschenseele gehört mit ihrem «anderen Selbst» der oberen Welt an. Sie ist aber auch zugehörig zu dem Sein in der unteren Welt. Das übersinnliche Bewußtsein erfühlt sich wissend, wenn es die entsprechende Vorbereitung durchgemacht hat, in der oberen Welt. Doch ändert sich für das übersinnliche Bewußtsein kein Tatbestand, sondern es wird zu dem, was für jede Menschenseele ein Tatbestand ist, eben nur das Wissen über diesen Tatbestand hinzugefügt. - Jede Menschenseele gehört der oberen Welt an und ist, wenn der Mensch in der Sinneswelt lebt, einem Sinnesleib zugeordnet, welcher den Vorgängen dieser Sinneswelt unterliegt; sie ist ferner einem feinen, ätherischen Leib zugeordnet, welcher innerhalb der Vorgänge der elementarischen Welt lebt. In dem Sinnesleib und in dem ätherischen Leib wirken die Kräfte der ahrimanischen und luziferischen Wesenheiten. Diese Kräfte sind geistiger, übersinnlicher Natur.
[ 5 ] Insoferne die Menschenseele in der oberen (Geistes-) Welt lebt, ist sie eine - um diesen Ausdruck zu gebrauchen - astralische Wesenheit. Zu den mancherlei Gründen, welche diesen Ausdruck rechtfertigen, gehört auch der, daß die astralische Wesenheit des Menschen als solche nicht unterliegt den Bedingungen, welche innerhalb der Erde wirksam sind. Die Geisteswissenschaft erkennt, daß innerhalb der Astralwesenheit des Menschen nicht die Naturgesetze der Erde, sondern diejenigen Gesetze wirksam sind, welche für die Vorgänge der Sternenwelt in Betracht kommen. Deshalb kann die Namengebung gerechtfertigt erscheinen. Zu der Anerkennung des physisch-sinnlichen Leibes des Menschen und des ätherischen, feinen Leibes kommt so diejenige des dritten, des astralischen Leibes hinzu. Es muß aber durchaus das folgende berücksichtigt werden: In bezug auf seine ureigene Wesenheit wurzelt der astralische Menschenleib in der oberen Welt, in dem eigentlichen Geistgebiet. Innerhalb dieses Gebietes ist er eine Wesenheit, welche von der gleichen Art mit anderen Wesenheiten ist, welche den Schauplatz ihrer Wirksamkeit in dieser Geisteswelt haben. Insofern die elementarische und die Sinnes-Welt Spiegelungen der Geisteswelt sind, müssen auch der ätherische und der physisch-sinnliche Menschenleib als Spiegelungen der astralischen Wesenheit des Menschen angesehen werden. Es walten aber in diesem ätherischen und in dem physisch-sinnlichen Leibe Kräfte, die von den luziferischen und ahrimanischen Wesenheiten herrühren. Da diese Wesenheiten geistigen Ursprungs sind, so ist es naturgemäß, daß man im Gebiete des sinnlich-physischen und des ätherischen Leibes selbst eine Art astralischer Wesenheit des Menschen findet. Einer Geistesanschauung, welche nur die Bilder des übersinnlichen Bewußtseins hinnimmt und ihre Bedeutung nicht richtig zu verstehen vermag, kann es leicht geschehen, daß der astralische Einschlag des physischen und des ätherischen Leibes als der eigentliche astralische Leib genommen wird. Doch ist dieser «astralische Leib» gerade das Glied in der menschlichen Wesenheit, welches in seiner Wirksamkeit sich gegen die Gesetzmäßigkeit richtet, die dem Menschen in der Weltordnung wahrhaft zukommt. - Verwechslungen und Verworrenheiten auf diesem Gebiete sind um so leichter möglich, als für das gewöhnliche menschliche Bewußtsein zunächst ein Wissen von der astralischen Wesenheit der Seele ganz unmöglich ist. Aber auch für die ersten Stufen des übersinnlichen Bewußtseins ist dieses Wissen noch nicht erreichbar. Dieses Bewußtsein wird erreicht, wenn sich der Mensch in seinem ätherischen Leibe erlebt. In demselben erschaut er aber die Spiegelbilder seines «anderen Selbstes» und der oberen Welt, der er angehört. Er erschaut so das ätherische Spiegelbild seines astralischen Leibes und erschaut es mit den in ihm enthaltenen luziferischen und ahrimanischen Wesenheiten. - Es wird sich in den späteren Aphorismen dieser Schrift zeigen, daß auch das «Ich», welches der Mensch in seinem gewöhnlichen Leben als seine Wesenheit anspricht, nicht das «wahre Ich» ist, sondern die Spiegelung des «wahren Ich» in der physisch-sinnlichen Welt. Für die ätherische Anschauung kann so die ätherische Spiegelung des astralischen Leibes zu der Illusion des «wahren astralischen Leibes» werden.
[ 6 ] Im weiteren Verfolg des Sich-Einlebens in die obere Welt kommt das übersinnliche Bewußtsein auch dazu, eine wahre Ansicht über die Natur der Spiegelung der oberen Welt in der unteren in bezug auf das Menschenwesen zu gewinnen. Da zeigt sich vor allem, daß der ätherische, feine Leib, wie ihn der Mensch in seinem gegenwärtigen Erdendasein an sich trägt, nicht in Wahrheit ein Spiegelbild ist von dem, was ihm in der oberen Welt entspricht. Er ist ein Spiegelbild, verändert durch die Wirksamkeit der luziferischen und ahrimanischen Wesenheiten. Das geistige Urbild des ätherischen Leibes kann durch die Natur der Erdenwesenheit, in welcher die genannten Wesenheiten wirksam sind, sich gar nicht im irdischen Menschen vollkommen spiegeln. Verfolgt das übersinnliche Bewußtsein seinen Weg über die Erde hinaus zu einem Gebiete, auf dem eine vollkommene Spiegelung des Urbildes des ätherischen Leibes möglich ist, so sieht es sich über den gegenwärtigen Erdenzustand, ja auch noch über den diesem vorangegangenen Mondenzustand in eine ferne Vergangenheit zurückversetzt. Es kommt dazu, Einsicht zu gewinnen, wie die gegenwärtige Erde sich aus einem Mondenzustande, dieser aber aus einem Sonnenzustande heraus entwickelt hat. Warum der Name Sonnenzustand gerechtfertigt ist, darüber findet man in meiner «Geheimwissenschaft» das Nähere. Die Erde war also einmal in einem Sonnenzustand; sie hat sich aus diesem zu einem Mondenzustande hin entwickelt, und ist dann «Erde» geworden. Während des Sonnenzustandes war der ätherische Leib des Menschen eine reine Spiegelung der geistigen Vorgänge und Wesenheiten der Welt, in welchen er seinen Ursprung hat. Es ergibt sich für das übersinnliche Bewußtsein, daß diese Wesenheiten ganz aus lauterer Weisheit bestehen. So kann man sagen, daß während der Sonnenzeit der Erde in urferner Vergangenheit der Mensch in sich aufgenommen hat seinen ätherischen Leib als reine Spiegelung der kosmischen Weisheitswesen. Während der folgenden Monden- und Erdenzeit hat sich dann dieser ätherische Leib verändert und ist zu demjenigen geworden, was er gegenwärtig in der menschlichen Wesenheit ist.
Of the astral body and of Luciferic entities and of the nature of the etheric body
[ 1 ] Another kind of spiritual entities, which, from the spiritual realm, are observed in the sense world (and also in the elementary world) as being active on their assumed scene, are those who want to free the sentient soul completely from the sense world; in other words, they want to spiritualize it, so to speak. Life in the sense world belongs to the world order. By living in the sense world, the human soul undergoes a development in it which belongs to the realm of its conditions of existence. The fact that it is interwoven into this realm of the senses is a result of the activity of entities that we come to know in the upper world. The entities that want to tear the sentient soul away from the conditions of sense effectiveness work against this effectiveness. These entities are here called the Luciferic entities.
[ 2 ] So the Luciferic entities stand in the sensory world, sensing, as it were, everything that is soulful (sentient) in it, in order to pull it out of this sensory world and incorporate it into a world realm of their own, which is similar to their nature. Seen from the upper world, the activity of these Luciferic entities is also noticeable in the elemental world. Within it they strive for a realm of forces which, according to their intentions, should not be touched by the gravity of the sensory world, even though it is predestined by the beings of the upper world to be interwoven into this sensory world. Just as the Ahrimanic entities remained within their circle if they only brought about the temporary annihilation of existence based on the world order, so the Luciferic entities did not transgress the territory of their own realm if they imbued the sentient soul with forces in which it repeatedly feels the impulse to rise above the coercions in the sense world and to feel itself as an independent, free being in the face of these coercions. However, the Luciferian beings transcend their territory by wanting to create a special realm of the spirit in relation to the general order of the upper world, to which they want to transform the spiritual entities in the sensory world.
[ 3 ] You can see how the effect of the Luciferic entities in the sense world pushes in two directions. On the one hand, it is thanks to these beings that man is able to rise above the mere experience of the sensually real. He draws his joy, his elevation not only from the sensory world. He can enjoy and elevate himself in that which lives merely in appearance, which goes beyond the sensual as a beautiful appearance. It is from this side that the Luciferic activity has contributed to the most significant cultural blossoms, above all the artistic ones. Man can also live in free thinking, he need not merely describe sensory things and reproduce them in thought like a portrait; he can develop creative thinking beyond the sensory world; he can philosophize about things. - On the other hand, the excessive tension of the Luciferic forces in the souls becomes the source of many raptures and confusions that want to unfold in spiritual activities without adhering to the conditions of the higher world order. Philosophizing without the foundations of solid integration into the world order, stubbornly spinning oneself into arbitrary ideas, exaggeratedly insisting on the assumed, cherished personal opinion: all these are the dark sides of Luciferian activity.
[ 4 ] The human soul belongs to the upper world with its "other self". But it also belongs to the being in the lower world. The supersensible consciousness, when it has undergone the appropriate preparation, experiences itself knowingly in the upper world. But no fact changes for the supersensible consciousness, but only the knowledge of this fact is added to that which is a fact for every human soul. - Every human soul belongs to the upper world and, if the human being lives in the sense world, is assigned to a sense body which is subject to the processes of this sense world; it is also assigned to a subtle, etheric body which lives within the processes of the elementary world. The forces of the ahrimanic and luciferic entities work in the sensory body and in the etheric body. These forces are of a spiritual, supersensible nature.
[ 5 ] In so far as the human soul lives in the upper (spiritual) world, it is - to use this expression - an astral entity. Among the many reasons which justify this expression is the fact that the astral entity of man as such is not subject to the conditions which are effective within the earth. Spiritual science recognizes that it is not the natural laws of the earth that are effective within the astral being of man, but those laws which are relevant to the processes of the starry world. Therefore the naming of the astral being can appear justified. In addition to the recognition of the physical-sensual body of man and the etheric, subtle body, the third, the astral body, is also recognized. However, the following must be taken into account: With regard to its very own essence, the astral human body is rooted in the upper world, in the actual spiritual realm. Within this realm it is an entity which is of the same nature as other entities which have the scene of their activity in this spiritual world. Inasmuch as the elemental and the sensory world are reflections of the spiritual world, the etheric and the physical-sensory human body must also be regarded as reflections of the astral entity of the human being. But in this etheric and in the physical-sensual body forces are at work which originate from the Luciferic and Ahrimanic entities. Since these entities are of spiritual origin, it is natural that one finds a kind of astral entity of the human being in the area of the sensory-physical and the etheric body itself. A spiritual view that only accepts the images of the supersensible consciousness and is not able to understand their meaning correctly can easily take the astral impact of the physical and etheric body as the actual astral body. But this "astral body" is precisely that part of the human being which in its activity is directed against the lawfulness which is truly due to man in the world order. - Confusion and confusion in this area are all the more easily possible because for the ordinary human consciousness knowledge of the astral nature of the soul is at first quite impossible. But even for the first stages of supersensible consciousness this knowledge is not yet attainable. This consciousness is attained when the human being experiences himself in his etheric body. In this body, however, he sees the mirror images of his "other self" and of the upper world to which he belongs. He thus sees the etheric reflection of his astral body and sees it with the Luciferic and Ahrimanic entities contained in it. - It will be shown in the later aphorisms of this writing that the "I", which man addresses as his entity in his ordinary life, is not the "true I", but the reflection of the "true I" in the physical-sensual world. For the etheric view, the etheric reflection of the astral body can thus become the illusion of the "true astral body".
[ 6 ] In the further course of settling into the upper world, the supersensible consciousness also comes to gain a true view of the nature of the reflection of the upper world in the lower world in relation to the human being. Above all, it becomes apparent that the ethereal, fine body, as man carries it in his present earthly existence, is not in truth a mirror image of that which corresponds to him in the upper world. It is a mirror image, changed by the activity of the Luciferic and Ahrimanic entities. The spiritual archetype of the etheric body cannot be completely reflected in the earthly human being due to the nature of the earthly entity in which the aforementioned entities are active. If the supersensible consciousness pursues its path beyond the earth to an area where a perfect reflection of the archetype of the etheric body is possible, it sees itself transported back into a distant past beyond the present earthly state, indeed even beyond the lunar state that preceded it. It comes to understand how the present earth has developed out of a lunar state, but the latter out of a solar state. Why the name solar state is justified can be found in more detail in my "Secret Science". So the earth was once in a solar state; it developed from this into a lunar state and then became "earth". During the solar state the etheric body of man was a pure reflection of the spiritual processes and entities of the world in which it has its origin. It is evident to the supersensible consciousness that these entities consist entirely of pure wisdom. Thus it can be said that during the solar period of the earth in the distant past man took into himself his etheric body as a pure reflection of the cosmic wisdom beings. During the following moon and earth time, this etheric body then changed and became what it is today in the human being.