The Rudolf Steiner Archive

2. The Human Being

[ 1 ] The lectures on the basic concepts of theosophy are intended to provide a brief overview of the worldview and way of life commonly referred to as theosophy. However, to prevent misunderstandings, I must preface this with a few remarks about this Theosophy. One might get the impression that the Theosophical Society or the Theosophical Movement propagates the view I am about to present as such, that is, that within the Theosophical Movement this view is presented as a dogma. That is not the case. What is presented by individuals within the Theosophical Society is—to use a common expression—a personal view, and the Theosophical Society is intended to be nothing more than an association that creates a nurturing environment for such worldviews that lead into the higher realms of spiritual life; so that no one should believe that Theosophy is concerned with the propagation of any dogmas. Admittedly, when one speaks today of philosophical societies, or of monistic or dualistic views, such societies or associations are understood to be those that have united around some dogma—if not strictly bound by it, then at least oriented toward it—whether that dogma be justified or unjustified. This is not the case in Theosophy. On the other hand, however, it must be emphasized that only those who have penetrated the essence of the theosophical worldview are able to present their personal view of it. For the theosophical worldview is such that individuals freely agree without outwardly committing themselves to a dogma. They need not commit themselves in this way because anyone who comes to know the facts must arrive at the same views. In this field, the differences among individual researchers are far less significant than in the realm of sensory-scientific research and the investigation of external facts; and if you truly penetrate these matters, you will not hear that this or that Theosophist, who has truly mastered the method of the Theosophical worldview, disagrees with any other on essential points. This is because, as we ascend into the higher realms of existence, the errors that simply occur in the realm of external sensory facts are no longer possible. There, it is not possible for one person to hold one worldview and another to hold a different one. The only possibility is that one is less advanced and can represent only a part of the theosophical worldview. If he then believes that what he has recognized represents the entirety of the worldview, it may happen that he appears to contradict those who are more advanced. Theosophists standing on the same level will not contradict one another.

[ 2 ] Furthermore, I would like to emphasize at the outset that it is a serious misunderstanding to assume, as is often done, that the Theosophical worldview has anything to do with the propagation of Buddhism or “New Buddhism,” as some prefer to call it. That is certainly not the case. When Madame Blavatsky, Sinnett, and others disseminated the fundamental principles upon which the Theosophical worldview is based, their initial inspiration did indeed come from the East, from India. The first major teachings came from there in the 1870s. That was an inspiration; but the content of the worldview that lives within the Theosophical Movement is a common heritage not only of all times but also of all those who have delved into these matters. It would be wrong to believe that, in order to get to know Theosophy, one must make a pilgrimage to India or immerse oneself in Indian scriptures. That is not the case. You can find the same philosophies and the same theosophical teachings in all cultures. Only in what we call the Indian Vedanta teaching is, as it were, nothing contaminated by external sensory science. In a certain sense, the core of the worldview that has always lived on as Theosophy has been preserved there. So this is not a matter of Buddhist propaganda, but of a worldview that anyone, anywhere, can come to know. Furthermore, I would like to emphasize in particular that it is indeed somewhat alienating for the modern person to read, in the earliest books on the theosophical worldview, about the sources of this worldview. In the book that has been most widely circulated and has inspired most people who have engaged with it to continue studying Theosophy—Sinnett’s *Esoteric Doctrine or Secret Buddhism*—the first chapter refers to the great teachers from whom the Theosophical teachings originate. Such a concept is, admittedly, somewhat alien to European culture. Nevertheless, for those who think clearly and consistently, it is nothing that contradicts common understanding. For who would deny that among human beings there are those who are more or less developed! Who would deny the great gulf between an African Negro and, say, Goethe? And why should there not be even more highly developed individuals further up this ladder? It was, in essence, merely a matter of astonishment that such highly developed personalities, as described in Sinnett’s book, are indeed to be found in our evolution. Such personalities, however, possess quite extraordinary knowledge, a wisdom that spans the globe. It would have served no purpose for them to have stepped before the world. It is no strange notion when we say that the so-called Masters are great inspirers for us, nothing more—great inspirers in the spiritual realms. Their development, however, goes far beyond the measure offered by conventional culture. They are great inspirers to us; yet they do not demand belief in any authority, nor belief in any dogma. They appeal to nothing other than our own human insight and provide guidance on how to develop, through specific methods, the powers and abilities that lie within every human soul, in order to ascend to the higher realms of existence.

[ 3 ] So, at the beginning of these lectures, it may seem as though I am presenting a personal account; this is because I will say nothing—and I will deliberately say nothing—that I have not been able to verify myself and for which I cannot personally vouch as a witness. On the other hand, however, I have also convinced myself that what I have to say in this way is entirely consistent with those who have represented the theosophical worldview at all times, and in particular with those who represent it today. It is like people standing at different vantage points and looking at a city. If they draw a picture of the city, these pictures will differ slightly from one another, depending on the perspective that arises from the respective vantage point. Likewise, of course, the worldviews described according to the theosophical researchers’ own observations are also different. But fundamentally, it is always the same. This is how the worldview I am about to present relates to the worldviews presented by other theosophical researchers. It is entirely consistent and differs only in the perspective from which it is viewed.

[ 4 ] In today’s lecture, I will provide an overview—initially of a more descriptive nature—of the fundamental components of the human being, in terms of their physical and spiritual nature. In the second lecture, I will then move on to the two essential concepts of the theosophical worldview: reincarnation or re-embodiment, and karma or the great destiny of humanity. In the following lectures, I will then present an overview of the three worlds that humanity must traverse on its great pilgrimage: the physical world, which everyone knows; the astral world, which not everyone knows but which anyone can come to know if they patiently apply the appropriate methods; and the spiritual world, which the soul must essentially traverse. Then, in one lecture, I will present the theosophical worldview in broad terms: the origin and development of the world and human evolution—what might be called theosophical anthropology and theosophical astronomy. That is the plan.

[ 5 ] Above all, we must be clear about the components that make up human nature. Through a careful study, which Theosophy will provide us with, we will come to understand that, from the ordinary point of view, only the first of these components of the human being is present: the physical nature of the human being in the broadest sense of the word, that which we call the body. The materialist regards this human body as the only thing that constitutes the human being at all. To this, the theosophical worldview adds two further components: that which has always been called the soul, and, as the highest component, the imperishable essence of the human being, that which has no beginning and no end in our sense of the word: the spirit. These are, roughly speaking, the basic components of the human being. Whoever learns to observe in the higher realms of existence learns to observe the soul and the spirit just as the physical eye learns to observe the sensory, the physical. However, since the spread of pure sensory science in the West, people have largely lost the consciousness and also the ability to observe in these higher spiritual and mental realms. It has remained confined to very limited circles. The last person to speak from the lectern about these higher realms of human observation—and to speak in such a way that one could recognize he knew something of what can be known—was Johann Gottlieb Fichte, the great German philosopher. When he opened his lectures at the newly founded university in Berlin, he spoke quite differently from other philosophy professors since the 17th century. He spoke in such a way that one could see: He did not merely wish to teach what can be grasped by the intellect, but rather to point out that human beings themselves can develop, that sensory perception is secondary, and that human beings can develop within themselves capacities that are simply not present in everyday life. In the history of German intellectual development, these lectures by Johann Gottlieb Fichte were epoch-making. Today, however, they can only be meaningful to those who rediscover them. The following passage is memorable: “This teaching presupposes an entirely new inner sensory instrument through which a new world is revealed, one that does not exist at all for the ordinary person... Imagine a world of people born blind, who therefore know only those things and their relationships that exist through the sense of touch. Go among them and speak to them of colors and the other conditions that exist only through light for sight. Either you are speaking to them of nothing, and this is the happier outcome, if they say so; for in this way you will soon realize the error and, if you are unable to open their eyes, cease your futile speech.”

[ 6 ] This is what it is all about: that people should be guided toward the observation of the soul and the spirit. Theosophy is by no means in any contradiction with conventional science. The Theosophist need not deny a single one of the modern tenets of science. All of this is true. Just as, for example, among a group of people who are color-blind to blue, everything in shades of yellow and red can be perceived, but nothing blue at all, so too, for those who are spiritually blind, the soul and spirit cannot be perceived. This becomes completely clear when, through the appropriate methods, the blind person has become sighted. When he gains sight, a new world opens up around him, one that was just as absent to him as the blue color is to the color-blind person before he could be enabled, through eye surgery, to see blue alongside red.

[ 7 ] You see, Johann Gottlieb Fichte knew this. The people of those times, when humanity was not yet numbed—I do not mean this in a critical sense—knew this as well; the people of that era knew it, and among a select few, the tradition has always been preserved and the methods developed. They knew that when speaking of the essence of the human being, one is not dealing solely with what we call the body, but that what is the soul can likewise be perceived, has the same laws, and is just as embedded in a world as the body. In a higher sense, the same is true of the spirit. The human body is governed by the same laws that govern the other things all around us. In the human body we have the same things we have in the physical world; we find the same chemical and physical laws in the human body as well. This physical world is perceptible to the physical senses. It exists not only subjectively for the human being, but is also objectively present for his perception. Subjectively, the human being performs physical activities. He digests, he breathes, he eats and drinks, he performs that inner physical activity of the brain through which inner thought activity is mediated; in short, the human being performs all the activities that biology, physics, and the other physical sciences teach us. That is the human being who performs these activities. And one can also perceive it. When a person encounters his fellow human being, he perceives what he is subjectively—either directly or through the means of science—as objective as well.

[ 8 ] But subjectively, a human being is something even higher; he is also a sum of feelings, drives, and passions. Just as you digest, you feel, you desire. That is you, too! Under ordinary circumstances, however, a person does not perceive this objectively. When they encounter their fellow human beings, they do not see their feelings, desires, passions, or drives outwardly. If a person were blind, they would not see a whole range of physical activities. It is only because they can exercise physical sensory activity that the physical-subjective is also objectively perceptible to them. And because they do not initially exercise a soul-sensory activity, the soul-subjective—feelings, instincts, passions, and desires—are indeed subjectively present in every person; yet when they encounter their fellow human beings, they cannot perceive them. Now, just as he has developed an eye through physical means to perceive bodily activity, he can develop his soul-eye and perceive the world of instincts, desires, and passions—in short, bring about the state where the soul-world is also objectively present before him as perception. This world, in which the average person of today lives without perceiving it, but which they can perceive if they develop the appropriate powers within themselves through the corresponding methods—this world we call, using a theosophical term, the astral world, or, in German, the soul world. What our conventional psychology describes as the soul is not what Theosophy understands by soul life, but only its outward expression.

[ 9 ] There is a world even higher than the soul world: the spiritual world. However, someone who is able to perceive the soul world because their senses are open to it cannot yet perceive what constitutes the spirit in their surroundings. They can perceive the soul world, but not thought itself. The soul-seer perceives desires and passions, but not thinking, not the objective thought. Therefore, those who cannot perceive the objective thought deny the objective thought altogether. Hegel was not understood when he spoke of the objective existence of the world of thought. And those who cannot perceive it are, of course, right from their own standpoint when they deny it. But they can say nothing other than that they do not see it, just as the person born blind claims that he sees no color.

[ 10 ] Body, soul, and spirit are, viewed in their raw form, the three fundamental components of the human being. Each fundamental component, in turn, has three components or levels. What is commonly referred to as the body is not as simple as the materialistic researcher imagines. It is a composite entity consisting of three parts or three components. The lowest, coarsest component is generally what a person perceives with their physical senses: the so-called physical body. This physical body contains within itself the same forces and laws as the physical world around us, as the entire physical world. Modern science studies nothing other than this physical body in human beings; for even our complex brain is nothing other than a component of this physical body. Everything that directly fills space, everything we can see with the naked eye or with the aid of instruments, with the naked eye or under a microscope—in short, everything that the natural scientist still regards as composed of atoms—the theosophist still designates as physical corporeality. This is the lowest component of the physical being. Now, however, many researchers already deny the next component of the physical entity, the etheric body. The term “etheric body” is, admittedly, not well chosen. But the name is not what matters. The denial of the etheric body is merely the result of modern scientific thinking. The denial of this etheric body is linked to a long-standing scientific controversy. For now, I will only briefly indicate what is meant by this etheric body.

[ 11 ] When you look at a mineral, a dead, lifeless body, and compare it to a plant, you will say to yourself—and this is what everyone said until the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, for that is when the controversy over the etheric body began—that the stone is lifeless, but the plant is full of life. What must therefore be added so that the plant is not a stone is what Theosophy calls the etheric body. This etheric body will likely come to be called simply “life force” over time, for the etheric or life force is something that natural science spoke of well into the 19th century. Modern natural science denies the existence of such a thing as life force. Goethe already mocked those who do not acknowledge that life requires, for its explanation, something higher than the inanimate. You all know the passage in *Faust*: “Whoever wishes to recognize and describe something living must first seek to drive out the spirit; then he has the parts in his hand, but alas! only the spiritual bond is missing.” Goethe means the bond of the life force. I have discussed this matter in my book *Goethe’s Worldview*. Today there are once again a number of natural scientists who believe they cannot make do with the inanimate, who thus at least intuitively accept what the Theosophists call the etheric body. They call themselves the Neovitalists. I need only refer to Hans Driesch and others to show how the natural scientist once again comes to regard this etheric body—albeit under a different name—as something that truly exists. And the further natural science advances, the more it will also recognize that the plant already possesses such an etheric body, for otherwise it could not live. Animals and humans, too, have such an etheric double body. The person who develops the higher bodies can actually observe this etheric body even with the simplest, most primitive organs of spiritual perception. This requires a very simple trick—though one available only to the esoterically trained theosophist. You are familiar with the word “suggestion.” Suggestion consists in the fact that a person can perceive things that are apparently not there. The kind of suggestion where something is talked into a person does not interest us at first. More important for us, in order to perceive the etheric body, is a different kind of suggestion. Anyone who has studied the theory of suggestion knows that a hypnotist is able to suggest things to a person so that they do not see things that are actually present. Let us say a hypnotist were to suggest to a person that there is a clock here. Then the person in question would see nothing in that spot in the room. This is nothing other than a diversion of attention to an abnormal area, an artificial diversion of attention. Everyone can observe this process in themselves. A person is capable of suggesting to themselves what is before them. The theosophically educated person must be able to perform the following technique in order to perceive the etheric body: they must suggest to themselves that the physical body of an animal or a human has been removed. Once their spiritual eye is awakened, they do not see nothing in the place where the physical body was, but rather they see the space filled with very specific color images. The execution of these instructions must, of course, be carried out with the utmost caution, for all manner of illusions are possible in this realm. Yet, whoever truly knows with what caution, and with what precision surpassing all scientific accuracy, theosophical research is conducted, understands the matter. The space is filled with light images. This is the etheric or double body. This light image appears in a color not found in our ordinary spectrum from the far infrared to the ultraviolet. It resembles, for example, the color of a peach blossom. This is the color in which the etheric double body appears. You will find such an etheric double in every plant, in every animal, indeed in every living being. It is the outer, sensory expression of what the natural scientist today senses once again, of what is called the life force. With this, we have the second member of the human physical body.

[ 12 ] But the physical body has a third component as well. I have called this the soul-body. You can get an idea of what this is by considering that not every living body is capable of feeling. I cannot get involved in the debate over whether plants can also feel; that is a separate issue. You must consider what is broadly referred to as sensation. Let us note what distinguishes the plant from the animal in this respect. Just as the plant is distinguished from the stone by the etheric double body, so the body of the animal, as a sentient body, is again distinct from the mere plant body. And that which in the animal body likewise transcends mere growth and reproduction—that which makes sensation possible—we designate as the soul body. In the physical body, in the etheric body, and thirdly in the soul body—the bearer of the life of sensation—we have only the outer aspect of the human being and the animal. With this, we have observed what lives in space.

[ 13 ] Now comes that which lives within, that which we call the sentient self. The eye has a sensation and directs it to where the soul can perceive it. Here we experience the transition from the body to the soul as we ascend from the soul-body into the soul, into the lowest member of the soul, which is called the feeling soul. Animals also possess a feeling soul, for they transform what the body prepares for them to feel—what the soul prepares for them—into inner life, into soul life, into feelings. However, in perception through soul-gazing, one cannot perceive the soul-body and the sensory soul separately. These are, so to speak, nested within one another and form a whole. Roughly speaking, one can compare what forms a whole here—the soul-body as the outer sheath and the sensory soul within it—to a sword in its sheath. This forms a whole for spiritual vision and is called the kamarupa or astral body in theosophy. The highest member of the physical body and the lowest member of the soul form a whole and are called the astral body in theosophical literature.

[ 14 ] The second part of the soul is that which encompasses memory and the lower intellect. The highest part is that which, in the true sense, contains consciousness. Both the soul and the body consist of three parts. Just as the body consists of the physical body, the etheric double, and the soul body or astral body, so the soul consists of the sensory soul, the intellectual soul, and the conscious soul. Only those who develop the abilities leading to true vision through the methods of spiritual science can gain a proper understanding of this. What we perceive of external things adheres to the soul of sensation. And what we call feeling—the feeling of love, the feeling of hatred, the feeling of desire, that is, sympathy and antipathy—adheres to the second member of the soul, the soul of understanding, Kamamanas. The third member, the conscious soul, is the one that a human being can observe only at a single point. As a rule, a child is conscious only of the first two members of the soul. It lives only in the two members of the soul I have mentioned, in the sensory soul and in the intellectual soul, but it does not yet live in the conscious soul. It is in this soul of consciousness that a person begins to live during the course of childhood, and then this soul of consciousness becomes the self-conscious soul.

[ 15 ] Those who know how to observe their own lives closely regard this moment in their lives as something particularly important. You will find this moment described in Jean Paul’s own autobiography, where he experiences the awareness of his inner self. “I will never forget the experience within me, which I have never told anyone, of standing at the birth of my self-consciousness—an event whose place and time I can specify. One morning, as a very young child, I stood beneath the front door and looked to the left toward the woodpile when suddenly the inner realization—‘I am an I’—shot before me like a bolt of lightning from the sky and has remained shining ever since. There, for the first time and forever, my I had seen itself. Deceptions of memory are hardly conceivable here, since no external narrative could have added anything to an event that occurred solely in the veiled Holy of Holies of the human being, an event whose novelty alone was preserved by such everyday incidental circumstances.” Thus is the highest structure of the soul, as the human being lives it, depicted. In the spiritually awakened person, the three components of the soul do indeed present themselves to external perception. Just as the etheric double body does, so too do the three levels, the three components of the soul, truly present themselves to external spiritual perception. I have already said that the sensory body is never separable from the soul body in perception. Now this higher part of the human being, the soul, reveals itself in what theosophical literature refers to as the so-called aura. Anyone who wishes to gain knowledge of it through perception must learn to see it. The aura is threefold. The three parts are nested within one another like three oval mist-like formations that envelop and encase the human form. In this aura, the soul-body of the human being presents itself to our perception. It glows in the most varied colors, which allow only an external comparison with what we call the colors of the spectrum. In these colors, which in the higher octave again range from red to violet, what we call the aura glows in the most varied ways. In it, the human being is embedded as in a cloud, and in this cloud is expressed what lives in the human soul as desire, passion, and instincts. The entire emotional organism of the human being expresses itself in the wondrous play of colors of the aura. This threefold aura is the soul of the human being. This is the soul when perceived objectively. Subjectively, everyone can perceive it: everyone feels, desires, and has passions. They experience them just as they experience digestion and breathing. But conventional psychology generally describes only what I have called the soul-body, or at most the outer expression of the soul life, but not what Theosophy understands by the soul. What it understands by the soul is an objective fact. But one can generally only point to it in the way Fichte did when he drew attention to the fact that there are higher experiences in this world, in the face of which, however, the person who perceives only through the senses is like one born blind.

[ 16 ] We have thus described the three parts of the human physical body and the three parts of the human soul. But since the third part of the human physical body forms a unity with the human soul member, we first have two parts plus one plus two more, that is, five parts: physical body, etheric body, soul body, mental soul, and conscious soul, in which the “I” shines forth. This “I” is a very interesting point in the aura. At one point, the “I” becomes perceptible. There, within the outer oval, you will find a strange, blue-shimmering or blue-iridescent spot, also oval-shaped. It is actually like seeing a candle flame; but with the difference that astral colors have compared to physical colors, it is as if you were seeing blue in the center of the candle flame. That is the “I” that is perceived there within the aura. And that is a very interesting fact. No matter how far a person develops, no matter how much they cultivate their clairvoyant gifts, at this point they first see this blue “I”-body, this blue light body. It is a veiled sanctuary, even for the clairvoyant. No one can look into the actual “I” of another person. This remains a mystery at first, even for those who have developed their spiritual senses. Only within this blue-shimmering spot does something new begin to shine. There is a new formation of flame that glows at the center of the blue flame. This is the third member, the spirit. This spirit, in turn, consists of three members, just like the other components of the human being. Eastern philosophy calls these Manas, Buddhi, Atma. These three components are so developed in modern human beings that, in fact, only the lowest part—the spiritual self (which is the correct translation for Manas)—is developed in potential within the modern thinking human being. This Manas is just as firmly connected to the highest member of the soul as the feeling soul is to the soul body, so that once again the highest of the soul and the lowest of the spirit form a whole, because one cannot distinguish between them. One sees in the aura the highest member of the soul at the center of the blue-shimmering spot where the I resides, and one sees the spirit shining within the I. In humanity today, the spirit has developed up to the level of Manas. The two higher parts, Buddhi and Atma—the life spirit and the spiritual human—are developed in potential, and we shall see how they will continue to develop when we speak of reincarnation and karma in the next lecture.

[ 17 ] This is what stands united: the highest aspect of the soul and the lowest aspect of the spirit. That which cannot be observed separately is simply called Manas in theosophical literature. The two highest aspects, Buddhi and Atma, constitute the deepest essence of the human being; they are the immortal human spirit. Thus we have three times three members of the human being, of which the third is united with the fourth to form a whole, and likewise the sixth with the seventh. This is how the famous or infamous number seven in the human composition, which you can read about so often, comes about. In truth, the human being consists of body, soul, and spirit, and each member in turn of three components; of these, two sets of two members are united into a whole, whereby the nine is reduced to a seven. It is in the second of the three members, the higher part, that the human being primarily lives. The human being cannot perceive it with the external senses.

[ 18 ] I already mentioned in the introductory lecture that theosophical literature not only provides a description of the various spheres of life, but also shows the ways and means by which human beings can rise to the methods that enable them to perceive all of this for themselves. However, just as it is necessary for the natural scientist to learn to use a microscope to gain insight into physical nature, a certain degree of spiritual development is required to bring what we have described into genuine perception. Everyone can learn this; it is not the privilege of a select few, but a common heritage for all. Those who have fully committed themselves to following the instructions of the Theosophical Society and who have arrived at these insights themselves can recount what they have experienced. They regard it no differently than when an explorer of Africa recounts his experiences. These cannot be verified unless one goes there oneself. However, the methods are usually not taken seriously enough. If what is presented in the last chapter of my book *Theosophy* were truly and earnestly carried out, then a person could already go very far in observing the higher realms of the human spirit.

[ 19 ] Anyone who can develop a theosophical worldview will come to understand many things that they were previously unable to grasp in the ordinary course of life. You cannot understand certain aspects of Goethe’s work unless you have some understanding of theosophy. Only those who have some understanding of what Goethe calls the life processes or the metamorphosis of plants can comprehend his writings on the plant world. That Goethe was a theosophist is evident from a “hidden” text that, although present in every edition, is read by very few: the “Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily.” This contains the entirety of Theosophy, but in the manner in which Theosophical truths have always been communicated. Only since the founding of the Theosophical Society have they been expressed outwardly; previously, they could only be depicted figuratively. The “fairy tale” is such a figurative expression of Theosophical teaching. In Leipzig, Goethe gained insight into the world of which we speak, and in a rather profound way. Much in “Faust” points to the fact that Goethe belonged to the initiated theosophists. Much in Goethe’s work is like the creed of a theosophist. I would like to conclude today’s lecture with Goethe’s words, which could serve as a motto for this lecture, because they proclaim in broad strokes and in a succinct style that the world is not merely physical nature, but also a soulful and spiritual entity. And that the world is a spiritual entity is precisely what Goethe expresses when he has the Earth Spirit utter the words that reveal the weaving of spiritual life throughout the world:

In the floods of life, in the storm of deeds
I surge back and forth,
Weaving to and fro!
Birth and grave,
An eternal sea,
A shifting weave,
A glowing life:
Thus I work at the whirring loom of time
And weave a living garment for the Deity.