Supersensible Knowledge
GA 55
31 January 1907, Berlin
VIII. Insanity in the Light of Spiritual Science
Spiritual science more than any other science is in a position to say something about so-called spiritual or mental illness. The name is actually misleading; one cannot speak of the spirit being ill. Furthermore, there is widespread confusion among lay people as well as professionals, mainly because of the way such illnesses are presented in popular literature. The descriptions are thought of as the reality. Megalomania, persecution-mania, religious-mania are spoken of, but these terms only point to symptoms. No one can become insane by being occupied with religious ideas. Yet the most curious statements are put forward, for example that the discord between old and modern world conceptions was the cause of Friedrich Hölderlin's1Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) was among the greatest of German lyric poets. His images were usually derived from classical Greek themes. illness. The illness from which he suffered would still have overtaken Hölderin even if he had not been a poet; though in that case he would have expressed himself differently.
When a deeply religious person becomes mentally ill, his religious ideas become distorted. Had he been steeped in materialistic ideas, then they would have become distorted. The cause of mental illness is deeply rooted in human nature where it must be sought. All the medical professions can offer in this field are hypotheses, doubt and conjecture. It is indeed difficult from a materialistic viewpoint to come to any conclusive ideas in this realm. Many illnesses that in fact belong in this category are not regarded to do so by the medical profession, for example, querulousness, religious sectarianism and fanaticism. People of the latter kind are possessed by certain hallucinary ideas which, because they have great suggestive power over weaker personalities, can result in veritable epidemics of fanaticism.
The question may be asked: How is it possible for insanity to establish itself in human nature? To answer this question we must turn our attention to the four lower members of a person's being: the physical, etheric and astral bodies, and the “I.” The “I” works on the other three members, especially on the astral body, ennobling and purifying it and by compelling it not to follow urges and impulses blindly. The “I” also works on the ether body, particularly through higher impulses, especially of an artistic nature. Under this influence the astral body divides into two parts, one that is purified and one that is not. This occurs also in the ether body, and gradually the purified parts become ever larger. The “I” also works on the physical body, but unconsciously. Only when a high level of initiation is reached can work on the physical be done consciously.
To answer our question, we must also bear in mind the fact of repeated lives. When we go to sleep something takes place that is similar to what occurs at death. When we go to sleep the astral body and the “I” separate from the physical body, and all cravings and sensations sink into dark oblivion. Only the physical and etheric bodies remain on the bed. At death the ether or life body too separates from the physical body, and in the hours that follow, while the human being is still connected with the ether body, there passes, in mighty pictures before the soul, the whole of a person's past life. This lasts until the ether body also separates from that individual and disperses into the general worldether.
However, only the substance of the ether body separates from the person. Throughout future times an essence, like a memory-picture, remains with the astral body and the “I.” These first of all pass over into the condition called “kamaloca” or the region of desire, where everything within the astral body that still clings to earthy life is separated from it. What is not yet ennobled detaches itself; the rest accompanies the soul into the future. This also applies to the physical body, but only to a very slight extent, and only in the case of highly evolved individuals. When the incarnation that will follow draws near, the human being unites once more with what was left behind in order to continue its purification. The more often a human being incarnates, the stronger becomes his character and his moral sense, and the more numerous and greater the talents and abilities.
What we need to bear in mind above all, if we are to understand how insanity arises, is the Hermetic axiom: As above, so below; as below, so above. A smiling face immediately conveys cheerfulness, tears inner sadness. Cheerfulness and sadness we must in this instance see as the “above”, and laughter and tears, that is, the material expression of cheerfulness and sadness, as representing the “below.” When someone has been rightly brought up and educated, he Looks at life with different eyes. To him a flower is seen as the expression of the Earth-Spirit's sadness or cheerfulness. For him this is not just a poetic notion, anymore than the soul is a poetic notion. The spirit of the earth is the foundation of earth existence and is related to it as the above. Everything material is a condensed spirit just as ice is condensed water; as ice can be melted to become water, so can matter be transformed into spirit.
We distinguish in human beings the following physical components that correspond to their higher, that is, their above members: first the purely physical, what is built according to purely physical laws, especially the sense organs. What builds a crystal could also build the human body, though it would be an organism without life. Second, we have everything connected with digestion, growth and propagation built by the ether body; third, the nervous system (brain and spinal cord) built by the astral body; fourth, the blood circulation, of which the "I," living in the blood, is the architect. Thus, we have:
| Blood Circulation | I |
| Nervous System | Astral Body |
| Propagation | Ether Body |
| Purely Physical | Physical Body |
Everything physical is subject to the laws of physical heredity, but so too are the organs of propagation, the nervous system and the blood circulation. The individuality of a human being must unite with a physical body that is subject to these laws. This means that the “I,” together with the ennobled parts of the astral and ether body, and perhaps part of the physical body, must establish harmony between itself and what is inherited. This usually happens through the fact that the spiritual, by transforming itself, adapts to the physical. But what happens when that is not possible, when for example an astral body encounters a nervous system to which it cannot adjust, and therefore cannot make use of?
Delusion caused by visual defect is not regarded as a mental illness. A book by Moritz Benedict,2Moritz Benedict (1835–1920) was a criminologist. the criminologist and anthropologist, though not written from a spiritual scientific viewpoint, has much of interest to say on this subject. He suffered from a partial cataract in the left eye that impaired his sight. He describes his own experiences: When in the dark he looked in a certain direction and saw spectres of a peculiar kind; he was once so startled that he grabbed a weapon.
The explanation for this kind of phenomenon is as follows: A healthy person is not conscious of the inner constituents of his eye but, if there are irregularities, he becomes aware of them in such a way that they appear as reflected forms, approaching from outside. However, this is something that holds true also for the rest of a person's organism. Normally we are only conscious of what comes to us from outside, not of what goes on inside. When the "above" is in harmony with the “below,” one is not at all conscious of inner processes. But, if for instance, the brain is clumsy and sluggish so that the astral body is unable to make use of it, then the astral body suffers disturbance. It projects itself outwardly just as it does when the eye is impaired. It becomes conscious of itself, and feelings of hopes, wishes and cravings, that is, the attributes of the astral body, are projected and appear as forms approaching from outside. Madness, querulousness, hysteria—all conditions in which a person cannot make his feelings agree with what goes on around him—belong to this category. The ether body can also suffer disturbance through inner abnormalities. It contains our mental pictures of the outside world. As long as it is not conscious of itself it receives these pictures in their true form, but if they become projected outwards due to a disturbance of the ether body, the result is delusions and Paranoia. When that aspect of the physical body that should bring about the accord with the physical environment becomes disturbed, becomes conscious of itself, it leads to idiocy. A human being can become what is called “demented” when the physical body is too ponderous, too unwieldy, so that the astral body is unable to master it. If on the other hand the physical organs are too mobile so that they fail to express the soul's intentions, the result is paralysis.
A multitude of such cases exist. They may be due to any number of causes. This is true especially of delusions; they can arise from either projections or a sickening of the astral body. The effect may be so strong that delirium sets in; such attacks imprint themselves in the ether body and give rise to delusions. These imprints are like scars from the wounds in the astral body, and are much more difficult to heal than the delirium itself. Glaucoma is often a forerunner of madness.
We must now remind ourselves that human beings go through a threefold birth, first that of the physical body, then at the time of the change of teeth the ether body is born, and at puberty the astral body. It may happen that the disharmony between the “above and the “below” only becomes noticeable at the time when the astral body is born, because up to that time the astral covering that protected it maintained the harmony. Once it is born the astral body is left to itself, and the discord with the physical body becomes apparent. The form of mental illness that results comes to expression, for the young person suffers from hallucinations, and will often give one and the same answer to a variety of questions. This is called “weak-mindedness or imbecility.” It does not come about suddenly, but is gradually prepared from the age of twelve onwards. The preliminary signs are depression, tiredness, argumentativeness, headaches, problems with digestion and with sleep. The condition is extremely difficult to cure; and it is sad that most parents punish their children for such illness, mistaking it for naughtiness.
The spirit itself is always healthy; it cannot be ill, but when it can find no harmony with the “below” it becomes distorted. A face reflected in a convex mirror is distorted, but no one assumes that the real face must therefore also be distorted. The various forms of insanity are the distorted reflections of the spirit in the physical. Consequently, it is quite useless to attempt a cure by means of abstract logical reasoning; such methods have no effect whatever. Nothing is more remote from concentrated spirit than shadowy abstract logic—and our bodily organs are concentrated spirit, albeit not our spirit—whereas passionate, imaginative, pictorial ideas and images are more akin to spirit, and are capable of driving out the distorted images that cause the condition. Such counter-images must be provided by the strength and power of another personality. An individual cannot through explanations convince the ill person that he is illogical, whereas vivid, strong counter-images will be effective. For example, the power of the other's personality must prove to the sick person that he can, after all, do what he thought was beyond him.
In the realm of so-called spiritual or mental illnesses, natural and spiritual science must work together. What is needed is detailed research so that the counter-images applicable in specific cases are always available. These too are not normal in the usual sense, as they must, to be effective, swing towards the opposite extreme.
Spiritual science is neither remote from life nor passive; it aims to contribute to practical life. To be effective in the world one must of necessity learn to understand the spiritual forces that constitute its foundation. If we are to understand the nature of what is physical, we must recognize that the material world is an imprint of the spiritual world. To Hellenbach who says: “What possible concern of ours is all this spirit-rabble?” we must reply: “Well, as human rabble is our concern, and as human beings are connected with the spiritual world, we wish to find the bridge between the two.
Der Irrsinn vom Standpunkte der Geisteswissenschaft
Gerade die Geisteswissenschaft muß über die sogenannten Geisteskrankheiten etwas zu sagen haben. Zunächst ist schon der Name nicht richtig gewählt. Man sollte nicht von Geisteskrankheiten reden. Ferner sind gerade auf diesem Gebiete in der Laienwelt die größten Irrtümer verbreitet, sowohl in gelehrten wie in den ungelehrten Kreisen und ihrer Literatur. Die Erscheinungsformen werden für die Sache selbst angesehen. Man spricht von Größenwahn, Verfolgungswahn, religiösem Wahn. Diese Ausdrücke bezeichnen alle nur Symptome. Niemand kann durch eine religiöse Idee wahnsinnig werden. So kann man zum Beispiel den merkwürdigen Satz lesen, Hölderlin sei an der Disharmonie zwischen moderner und antiker Weltanschauung erkrankt. Wäre Hölderlin kein Dichter gewesen, so wäre doch dieselbe Art Wahnsinn über ihn gekommen, nur hätte sie sich anders, in anderen Ideen zum Ausdruck gebracht. Wenn jemand in religiösen Ideen lebt und erkrankt dann, so werden sich seine religiösen Ideen verzerren. Hat er in materialistischen Ideen gelebt, so verzerren sich diese. Die Gründe für die Geisteskrankheit liegen tief in der menschlichen Natur. Die heutige Medizin schafft auf diesem Gebiete nichts Positives zutage; sie hat nur Hypothesen, Zweifel, Mutmaßungen. Allerdings ist es schwer, ja unmöglich für den Materialisten, sich in diesen Fragen Klarheit zu schaffen. Gar vieles, was der Arzt nicht mehr zu den Geisteskrankheiten rechnet, gehört schon dazu: zum Beispiel QueruJantenwahnsinn, ebenso religiöse Sektierer und Fanatiker. Letztere leben unter einer Idee wie unter einer Zwangsvorstellung und üben auf Schwache eine große suggestive Kraft aus, so daß Zeitkrankheiten, Gedankenepidemien entstehen.
Wie kann sich eigentlich so etwas wie Irrsinn im Wesen des Menschen festsetzen? Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage müssen wir die vier niederen Glieder des Menschen: physischer Leib, Lebensleib, Astralleib und das Ich vor Augen haben. Das Ich arbeitet an den drei übrigen Gliedern der menschlichen Wesenheit. Vor allem veredelt und läutert es den Astralleib, indem es ihn zwingt, nicht blind seinen Trieben zu folgen. Aber das Ich arbeitet auch in den Lebensleib hinein, und zwar durch die großen Impulse des Lebens, namentlich durch die künstlerischen Impulse. Wie im Astralleib durch die Arbeit des Ich zwei Teile entstehen, ein geJäuterterer und ungeläuterterer, so wird nun auch der Lebensleib zweigeteilt. Und allmählich wird der Teil, der vom Ich bearbeitet wird, immer größer. Auch ins Physische wirkt das Ich, aber unbewußt. Bewußt vermag es das nur bei einem höheren Schüler der Eingeweihten.
Nun müssen wir, um unsere Frage beantworten zu können, uns an die Wiederverkörperung erinnern. Beim Schlafen geht etwas ganz Ähnliches mit uns vor wie beim Tode. Im Schlafe trennen sich der Astralleib und das Ich vom physischen Körper. Alle Triebe und Empfindungen sinken damit hinab in ein unbewußtes Dunkel. Im Bette bleiben nur der physische Leib und der Ätherleib zurück. Beim Tode trennt sich auch der Äther- oder Lebensleib vom physischen Körper los. In den nächsten Stunden, während des Menschen Wesenheit im Ätherleibe ruht, zieht das ganze bisherige Leben in großen Bildern an seiner Seele vorüber, so lange, bis auch der Ätherleib sich von ihm ablöst und im allgemeinen Weltenäther aufgeht. Aber nur das Stoffliche des Ätherleibes löst sich auf. Das Erinnerungsbild bleibt, wie eine Essenz, durch alle folgenden Zeiten mit dem Astralleibe und dem Ich verbunden. Zunächst geht es mit in den Kamaloka-Zustand über. Kamaloka, Ort der Begierden, nennen wir den Zustand, in dem alles das aus dem Astralleib ausgeschieden wird, was noch am Erdenleben hängt. Alles, was noch nicht veredelt war, löst sich auf, das andere wird in alle Zukunft mitgenommen. In ganz geringem Maße gehen auch Teile des physischen Leibes mit, aber nur bei sehr veredelten Menschen. Bei der neuen Verkörperung nimmt der Mensch die unveredelten Teile wieder an sich, um weiter an ihrer Läuterung zu arbeiten. Je öfter der Mensch auf Erden erscheint, desto fester wird sein Charakter, ein desto feineres Gewissen bekommt er, desto größer und zahlreicher sind seine Talente und Kräfte. Den hermetischen Grundsatz brauchen wir vor allem bei der Erklärung der Geisteskrankheiten: Es ist oben alles wie unten und unten alles wie oben. Im lächelnden Antlitz drückt sich uns Ohne weiteres die Heiterkeit des Menschen aus. Die Tränenperle kündet innere Trauer der Seele an. Heiterkeit und Trauer werden wir in diesem Falle das Obere nennen, Lächeln und Tränen, die das materielle Bild von Heiterkeit und Trauer darstellen, das Untere. Ein richtig geschulter Mensch sieht die ganze Welt anders an. Eine Blume ist ihm der Ausdruck der Trauer oder der Heiterkeit des Erdgeistes. Und das ist ihm so wenig ein bloß poetischer Gedanke, wie die Seele nur ein poetischer Gedanke ist. Der Erde liegt der Erdengeist als Oberes zugrunde. Alles Materielle ist verdichteter Geist, geradeso wie das Eis nur verdichtetes Wasser ist. Wie man das Eis schmelzen kann, so daß es Wasser wird, so kann man auch die Materie wandeln, so daß sie Geist wird. Wir unterscheiden folgende physische Teile am Menschen, die seinen oberen Gliedern entsprechen: erstens rein Physisches, was nach rein physischen Gesetzen gebaut ist, vor allem die Sinnesorgane, zweitens alles das, was mit Verdauung, Wachstum, Fortpflanzung zusammenhängt. Das, was die Kristalle aufbaut, könnte auch den menschlichen Leib aufbauen, aber er wäre dann ein toter Organismus. Der Ätherleib ist der Bildner, der die Verdauungsorgane und so weiter aufbaut. Drittens Nervensystem (Gehirn und Rückenmark): sein Bildner ist der Astralleib, viertens das Blut. In ihm wohnt das Ich, das zugleich der Architekt des Blutsystems ist.
Blutzirkulation: Ich
Nervensystem: Astralleib Fortpflanzung: Ätherleib
Physisches: Physischer Leib
Alles Physische ist den Gesetzen der physischen Vererbung unterworfen, aber ebenso die Fortpflanzungsorgane, Nervensystem und Blutzirkulation. Mit diesem physischen Leib muß sich die Individualität vereinigen. Das Ich mit seinem veredelten Astral- und Ätherleib, ja sogar Teile des physischen Leibes, müssen mit dem Ererbten zusammenstimmen, eine Harmonie muß das zusammen bilden. Fast immer findet auch wirklich ein Zusammenstimmen statt, denn dem Geistigen paßt sich das Physische an, es wandelt sich um. Wie, wenn aber eine solche Anpassung nicht möglich ist, wie, wenn der Astralleib ein Nervensystem bekommt, das er nicht ohne weiteres benutzen kann?
Sinnestäuschungen rechnen wir nicht zu den Geisteskrankheiten. Dazu kann uns ein Buch des Wiener Kriminalanthropologen Moritz Benedikt viel Interessantes bieten, obwohl es nicht in geisteswissenschaftlichem Sinne geschrieben ist. Benedikt erzählt darin seine eigenen Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen. Er hat im linken Auge einen partiellen Star, so daß er etwas unregelmäßig sieht. Wenn er nun im Dunkel in einer ganz bestimmten Richtung schaut, so sieht er Gespenster ganz besonderer Art. Einmal ward er davon so erschreckt, daß er zur Waffe griff. Das ist so zu erklären: Ein gesunder Mensch ist sich der inneren Bestandteile seines Auges nicht bewußt. Wer aber Unregelmäßigkeiten im Auge hat, der wird sich deren in der Weise bewußt, daß sie ihm außen im Spiegelbilde erst entgegentreten. Das wollen wir nun auf die ganze menschliche Wesenheit ausdehnen. Wir werden uns ja unseres Innern überhaupt nicht bewußt, sondern nur dessen, was uns von außen übermittelt wird. Wenn Harmonie herrscht zwischen oben und unten, so ist man sich der innern Vorgänge überhaupt nicht bewußt. Hat einer zum Beispiel ein schwerfälliges Gehirn, das der AstralJeib nicht gebrauchen kann, so drückt sich diese Störung, die der Astralleib erleidet, ebenso nach außenhin aus, wie die Störung im Auge es tat. Da wird der Astralleib sich seiner selbst bewußt, weil er gestört ist; da sieht er sich nach außen projiziert, Hoffnungen, Wünsche, Begierden treten ihm in Gestalten von außen entgegen. Wahnsinn, Querulantenwahnsinn, Hysterie gehören hierher, alles das, wo der Mensch seine Gefühle nicht in Einklang bringen kann mit der Außenwelt. Aber auch der Ätherleib kann an inneren Abnormitäten leiden. Er ist der Träger der bildlichen Vorstellungen. Wenn der Ätherleib sich seiner selbst unbewußt ist, so treten die Bilder der Außenwelt ihm wahr entgegen. Spiegeln sich aber bei Störungen des AÄtherleibes die Bilder nach außen, so werden es Wahnideen, Paranoia. Wenn der physische Leib, der den Einklang mit der physischen Umgebung bringen soll, selbst erkrankt, wenn der physische Leib sich seiner selbst bewußt wird, so tritt Idiotie auf. Wenn der physische Leib zu schwer ist, so daß der Astralleib ihn nicht beherrschen kann, daß er nicht heraus kann, so tritt das ein, was man Dementia nennt. Wenn die physischen Organe aber zu beweglich sind, so daß sie die seelische Tätigkeit nicht deutlich ausdrücken,so entsteht Paralyse. Doch es gibt hier eine unendliche Fülle von solchen Fällen, die ganz verschiedenen Ursprung haben können, namentlich die Wahnvorstellungen. Sie können entspringen einmal aus der Projektion des Astralleibes oder aus der Erkrankung des Astralleibes. Dann werden die Affekte so stark, daß es zu Tobsuchtsanfällen kommt. Diese drücken sich im Ätherleib ab und daraus entstehen Wahnideen. Diese Wahnvorstellungen sind wie die Narbe zu der Wunde im Astralleib. Sie sind viel schwerer heilbar als die Tobsucht. Pupillenstarre ist manchmal eine Vorbereitung zum Wahnsinn.
Wir wollen uns nun daran erinnern, daß der Mensch mehr als einmal geboren wird. Zuerst physisch. Dann zur Zeit des Zahnwechsels wird der Ätherleib geboren und zur Zeit der Geschlechtsreife der Astralleib. Es kann nun vorkommen, daß erst bei der Geburt des Astralleibes der Mißklang zwischen oben und unten bemerkbar wird. Vorher bewahrte die umschließende Astralhülle den Einklang. Nach der astralen Geburt ist dann der Astralleib sich selbst überJassen, und nun tritt der Mißklang zwischen ihm und dem physischen Leibe hervor. Diese Art von Irrsinn äußert sich in der Weise, daß das junge Wesen oft auf ganz verschiedene Fragen ein und dieselbe Antwort gibt; auch leidet es unter Zwangsvorstellungen. Man nennt diese Erkrankungen Jugendblödsinn. Doch tritt dies nicht plötzlich auf, sondern bereitet sich langsam vor, vom elften, zwölften Jahre an. Depressionszustände, Ermüdbarkeit, Nicht-Auskommen mit der Umgebung, Kopfschmerzen, Verdauungs- und Schlafstörungen sind Vorboten. Es ist traurig, wenn man bedenkt, daß die meisten Eltern ihre Kinder für solche Erkrankungen noch bestrafen, da sie diese Zustände für Unarten halten. Gerade der Jugendblödsinn ist am schwersten zu heilen. Aber der Geist als solcher kann nicht krank sein; er ist immer gesund. Er wird nur gestört, wenn das Untere nicht dazu stimmt. Wenn man sich in einem Gartenkugelspiegel betrachtet, so sieht man ein Zerrbild seiner selbst. Niemand schließt aber aus dem Zerrbild, daß das wahre Gesicht auch verzerrt sein müsse. So ist es auch mit den Geisteskrankheiten. Zerrbilder des Geistes im Physischen sind die Wahnsinnsformen. Darum ist auf dem Wege der Logik, des abstrakten Begriffes nie eine Heilung möglich. Solche Versuche sind völlig wertlos. Auch unsere körperlichen Organe sind verdichteter Geist, wenn auch nicht unser Geist. Und am fernsten stehen dem zum Physischen verdichteten Geiste schattenhafte, logische Gebilde; am nächsten aber bildliche, von Leidenschaften durchzogene, imaginative Vorstellungen. Diese können die krankmachende Kraft anderer Bilder aus dem Felde schlagen. Gegenvorstellungen muß man geben durch die Macht und Gewalt einer anderen Persönlichkeit. Das Unlogische kann man den Kranken nicht durch Klarmachen beweisen, aber durch lebendige Vorstellungen kann man wirken. Die Macht der Persönlichkeit muß dem Kranken beweisen, daß er zum Beispiel das, was er nicht zu können glaubt, doch kann. Das muß der Kranke sehen. Auf dem Gebiete der sogenannten Geisteskrankheiten wird sich die gewöhnliche Wissenschaft einst mit der Geisteswissenschaft verbinden müssen. Ein ausführliches Studium ist nötig, um immer die richtigen Gegenvorstellungen bereit zu haben. Diese dürfen auch nicht «normal» sein, sondern müssen nach der anderen Seite ausschlagen.
Die Geisteswissenschaft ist nichts Tatenloses, sie verkriecht sich nicht in Weltenfernheit; sie will praktisch mitarbeiten. Weil geistige Kräfte der Welt zugrunde liegen, müssen wir sie kennenlernen, wenn wir in der Welt wirken wollen. Unsere materielle Welt ist ein Abdruck der geistigen Welt. Die müssen wir kennenlernen, um das Physische zu verstehen. Freilich sagt Hellenbach: Was geht uns all das Geistergesindel an. Wir aber wollen sagen: Doch, das Menschengesindel geht uns an, und da die Menschen mit der geistigen Welt verbunden sind, so wollen wir die Brücke zwischen beiden finden.
Insanity from the perspective of Spiritual Science
Spiritual Science in particular must have something to say about so-called mental illnesses. First of all, the name itself is not correctly chosen. One should not speak of mental illnesses. Furthermore, it is precisely in this area that the greatest errors are widespread among lay people, both in learned and uneducated circles and in their literature. The manifestations are regarded as the thing itself. People speak of megalomania, paranoia, religious delusions. These expressions all refer only to symptoms. No one can become insane through a religious idea. For example, one can read the strange statement that Hölderlin fell ill due to the disharmony between modern and ancient worldviews. If Hölderlin had not been a poet, the same kind of madness would have come over him, only it would have expressed itself differently, in other ideas. If someone lives in religious ideas and then falls ill, his religious ideas will become distorted. If they lived in materialistic ideas, these will become distorted. The reasons for mental illness lie deep in human nature. Today's medicine has nothing positive to offer in this area; it only has hypotheses, doubts, and conjectures. However, it is difficult, even impossible, for materialists to gain clarity on these issues. Much of what doctors no longer consider mental illness is actually part of it: for example, querulous insanity, as well as religious sectarians and fanatics. The latter live under an idea as if under an obsession and exert a great suggestive power on the weak, so that temporary illnesses and epidemics of thought arise.
How can something like insanity actually take root in the human being? To answer this question, we must consider the four lower members of the human being: the physical body, the life body, the astral body, and the ego. The ego works on the three other members of the human being. Above all, it refines and purifies the astral body by forcing it not to blindly follow its impulses. But the ego also works into the life body through the great impulses of life, namely through artistic impulses. Just as two parts arise in the astral body through the work of the ego, one purified and one unpurified, so too is the life body now divided into two parts. And gradually, the part that is worked on by the ego becomes larger and larger. The ego also works in the physical realm, but unconsciously. It can only do so consciously in a higher student of the initiates.
Now, in order to answer our question, we must remember reincarnation. When we sleep, something very similar to death happens to us. In sleep, the astral body and the ego separate from the physical body. All drives and sensations sink into unconscious darkness. Only the physical body and the etheric body remain in bed. At death, the etheric or life body also separates from the physical body. In the hours that follow, while the human being's essence rests in the etheric body, their entire life passes before their soul in large images until the etheric body also detaches itself and dissolves into the general world ether. But only the material part of the etheric body dissolves. The memory image remains, like an essence, connected to the astral body and the ego through all subsequent times. First, it passes into the Kamaloka state. Kamaloka, the place of desires, is what we call the state in which everything that still clings to earthly life is excreted from the astral body. Everything that has not yet been refined dissolves, while the rest is carried forward into the future. To a very small extent, parts of the physical body also go along, but only in highly refined individuals. In the new incarnation, the individual takes back the unrefined parts in order to continue working on their purification. The more often a person appears on earth, the stronger their character becomes, the finer their conscience becomes, and the greater and more numerous their talents and powers become. We need the hermetic principle above all in explaining mental illness: as above, so below; as below, so above. A smiling face readily expresses a person's cheerfulness. A tearful pearl announces the inner sorrow of the soul. In this case, we will call cheerfulness and sorrow the upper, and smiles and tears, which represent the material image of cheerfulness and sorrow, the lower. A properly trained person sees the whole world differently. To them, a flower is the expression of the sorrow or cheerfulness of the earth spirit. And this is as little a mere poetic thought to them as the soul is only a poetic thought. The earth spirit underlies the earth as the upper part. Everything material is condensed spirit, just as ice is only condensed water. Just as ice can be melted so that it becomes water, so too can matter be transformed so that it becomes spirit. We distinguish the following physical parts in humans that correspond to their higher limbs: first, the purely physical, which is constructed according to purely physical laws, especially the sense organs; second, everything related to digestion, growth, and reproduction. What builds crystals could also build the human body, but it would then be a dead organism. The etheric body is the builder that constructs the digestive organs and so on. Thirdly, the nervous system (brain and spinal cord): its builder is the astral body. Fourthly, the blood. The I dwells in it and is also the architect of the blood system.
Blood circulation: I
Nervous system: astral body
Reproduction: etheric body
Physical: physical body
Everything physical is subject to the laws of physical heredity, but so are the reproductive organs, nervous system, and blood circulation. Individuality must unite with this physical body. The ego, with its refined astral and etheric bodies, and even parts of the physical body, must be in harmony with what has been inherited; together they must form a harmonious whole. Almost always, this harmony does indeed occur, for the physical adapts to the spiritual and transforms itself. But what if such an adaptation is not possible, what if the astral body receives a nervous system that it cannot readily use?
We do not consider sensory illusions to be mental illnesses. A book by the Viennese criminal anthropologist Moritz Benedikt has much of interest to offer us in this regard, although it is not written in the spirit of spiritual science. In it, Benedikt recounts his own experiences. He has a partial cataract in his left eye, so that he sees somewhat irregularly. When he looks in a certain direction in the dark, he sees ghosts of a very special kind. Once he was so frightened by them that he reached for his weapon. This can be explained as follows: a healthy person is not aware of the internal components of his eye. But those who have irregularities in their eyes become aware of them in such a way that they first encounter them externally in their mirror image. Let us now extend this to the whole human being. We are not at all aware of our inner being, but only of what is conveyed to us from outside. When there is harmony between above and below, we are not at all aware of the inner processes. If, for example, someone has a sluggish brain that the astral body cannot use, this disturbance suffered by the astral body is expressed outwardly in the same way as the disturbance in the eye did. The astral body becomes aware of itself because it is disturbed; it sees itself projected outward, and hopes, desires, and cravings confront it in the form of external figures. Madness, querulous insanity, and hysteria belong here, everything where the human being cannot harmonize his feelings with the outside world. But the etheric body can also suffer from internal abnormalities. It is the carrier of mental images. When the etheric body is unaware of itself, the images of the outside world appear to it as real. But when disturbances in the etheric body cause the images to be reflected outward, they become delusions, paranoia. When the physical body, which is supposed to bring harmony with the physical environment, itself becomes ill, when the physical body becomes conscious of itself, idiocy occurs. When the physical body is too heavy, so that the astral body cannot control it, so that it cannot come out, what is called dementia occurs. But if the physical organs are too mobile, so that they do not clearly express the soul's activity, paralysis occurs. However, there is an infinite number of such cases, which can have very different origins, namely delusions. They can arise from the projection of the astral body or from the illness of the astral body. Then the emotions become so strong that they lead to fits of rage. These are expressed in the etheric body and give rise to delusions. These delusions are like the scar on the wound in the astral body. They are much more difficult to heal than rage. Pupil rigidity is sometimes a precursor to insanity.
Let us now remember that human beings are born more than once. First physically. Then, at the time of tooth replacement, the etheric body is born, and at the time of sexual maturity, the astral body. It can now happen that the disharmony between above and below only becomes noticeable at the birth of the astral body. Before that, the surrounding astral shell preserved the harmony. After astral birth, the astral body is then left to its own devices, and now the disharmony between it and the physical body becomes apparent. This type of insanity manifests itself in such a way that the young person often gives the same answer to very different questions; they also suffer from obsessive thoughts. These disorders are called adolescent insanity. However, this does not occur suddenly, but develops slowly, from the age of eleven or twelve. Depression, fatigue, inability to get along with others, headaches, digestive problems, and sleep disorders are precursors. It is sad to think that most parents still punish their children for such illnesses, considering them to be bad behavior. Juvenile insanity is particularly difficult to cure. But the spirit as such cannot be ill; it is always healthy. It is only disturbed when the lower part is not in harmony with it. When you look at yourself in a garden ball mirror, you see a distorted image of yourself. But no one concludes from the distorted image that the true face must also be distorted. The same is true of mental illnesses. Distorted images of the spirit in the physical realm are forms of madness. That is why healing is never possible through logic or abstract concepts. Such attempts are completely worthless. Our physical organs are also condensed spirit, even if they are not our spirit. And furthest from the spirit condensed into the physical are shadowy, logical constructs; but closest are pictorial, imaginative mental images permeated by passions. These can knock the sickening power of other images out of the field. Counter-mental images must be provided through the power and force of another personality. The illogical cannot be proven to the sick person through clarification, but lively mental images can have an effect. The power of personality must prove to the sick person that, for example, what they believe they cannot do, they can do after all. The sick person must see this. In the field of so-called mental illness, conventional science will one day have to join forces with Spiritual Science. Detailed study is necessary in order to always have the right counter-ideas ready. These must not be “normal,” but must swing to the other side.
Spiritual Science is not inactive; it does not hide away in a distant world; it wants to work practically. Because spiritual forces underlie the world, we must get to know them if we want to work in the world. Our material world is an imprint of the spiritual world. We must get to know it in order to understand the physical. Of course, Hellenbach says: What do we care about all that spiritual rabble? But we want to say: Yes, we do care about the human rabble, and since humans are connected to the spiritual world, we want to find the bridge between the two.