The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Lecture Five

[ 1 ] It should be made clear from the outset that, prior to the wider dissemination of secret science, i.e., for about ten years, certain theosophical literature has spread erroneous ideas about the goal pursued by secret science. It has been claimed that the goal sought is the suppression of the body through asceticism. The idea has been spread that external reality is an illusion that must be overcome. Reference has been made to the Indian concept of Maya. This is more than an exaggeration. It is rather a real theoretical error, which is contradicted by science as well as by the practice of secret science.

[ 2 ] How much more accurate is the Greek image that compares the soul to a bee. Just as the bee swarms out of the hive and collects nectar to distill it and make honey, so the soul, springing from the spirit, penetrates external reality and gathers its fruits to bring them to the spirit.

[ 3 ] Secret science is not about despising reality, but about understanding and utilizing it. The body is not the garment, but the instrument of the soul. Occult science is not the science that suppresses the body, but teaches us to use it for higher purposes. Would one have understood the nature of a magnet if one had simply described it as a piece of horseshoe? No. But one understands it when one says: This is a piece of iron that has the power to attract other pieces of iron. — Visible reality is permeated by a deeper reality that the soul seeks to penetrate in order to master it.

[ 4 ] For thousands of years, higher wisdom was kept as a deep secret within occult brotherhoods. One had to belong to them in order to learn even the basics of occult science. And to enter them, one had to pass tests and take an oath not to misuse the truths revealed. But the conditions of human nature, especially of human intellectual consciousness, have changed completely since the 16th century and especially in the last hundred years, under the influence of scientific discoveries. Through science, a certain number of truths from the realm of nature and the sensually perceptible, which were once known only to the initiated, have become common knowledge. What science knows today was once a mystery. The initiated have always known what, in time, all people should know. That is why they were also called prophets.

[ 5 ] It must be added that Christianity brought about a great change in initiation. After Jesus Christ, initiation is no longer the same as it was before. We can only understand this if we take account of human nature and recall at this point what the seven parts of the human being are.

[ 6 ] The seven components of the human being are:

[ 7 ] First, the physical body. This is the human being visible to the physical eye, the natural human being, the only one that science knows well today. The purely physical human being corresponds to the mineral world. He is a summary of all the physical forces of the universe.

[ 8 ] Second, the etheric body. How can we understand it? We know that hypnosis awakens a different consciousness, not only in the hypnotized subject, but also in the hypnotist, who can suggest anything he wants to his test subject. He can make her think that a chair is a horse, but he can also suggest to her that the chair is not there or that there is no one in a room full of people. The initiate can apply this ability to himself at will and induce himself to suggest away the physical body of the person in front of him. Then, instead of the physical body, he perceives not a void, but the etheric body. This body is similar to the physical body, but somewhat different from it. It borrows its form from it, but goes somewhat beyond it. It is more or less luminous and fluid. Its organs appear as currents of different colors, and instead of the heart we find a veritable tangle of forces, a vortex of currents. The etheric body is thus a real, etheric double of the physical body.

[ 9 ] Humans share this body with plants. It is not the product of the physical body, as empiricists might believe, but on the contrary, it is the builder of the entire physical organism. For plants as for humans, it is the force of growth, the force of rhythm and reproduction.

[ 10 ] Thirdly, the astral body. It does not have the form of the etheric and physical bodies. It takes on an egg-shaped form and towers above the physical body like a cloud, an aura. The astral body can appear in all the colors of the rainbow, depending on the passions that animate it. Every passion has its astral color. In addition, the astral body is, in a sense, the synthesis of the physical and etheric bodies, in the following way: the etheric body always has a character opposite to that of the physical body. The etheric body of a man is female, that of a woman is male. The astral body is dual-sexed in both men and women. In this respect, it is therefore a synthesis of the other two bodies.

[ 11 ] Fourthly, the I, Manas in Sanskrit, Jehovah in Hebrew, is the rational and conscious soul; it is the indestructible human individuality that contains within itself the knowledge of the structure of the other members of the being. It is the inexpressible, equally human and divine I. It is the unity of the four elements that Pythagoras worshipped under the sign of the Tetragrammaton.

[ 12 ] Human evolution consists in the transformation of the lower members of the body into spiritualized bodies with the help of the I. The physical body is the oldest and, as a result, the most perfect member of the present-day human being. The task of the present phase of human evolution is the transformation of the astral body.

[ 13 ] In the civilized type of the human race, the astral body is divided into two parts, a lower and a higher. The lower remains chaotic and dark, while the higher is luminous and already permeated by the forces of manas, that is, orderly and regular.

[ 14 ] Once the initiate has purified his astral body of all animal passions and made it completely luminous—this is the first phase of his initiation—he has arrived at catharsis, purification. Only then can he work on his etheric body and use it to imprint his seal on the physical body. The astral body has no influence on the physical body in itself. It is dependent on working through the etheric body.

[ 15 ] The task of the disciple is therefore to achieve the transformation of the astral body and etheric body and, as a result, complete control over the physical body. In this way, he becomes a master and transforms the three lower members of his nature into the three higher ones:

Fifth: Manas.
Sixth: Budhi.
Seventh: Atma.

[ 16 ] Here we encounter a wonderful law of human nature, which shows that the I and the manas are at the center of human development. The control that the manas exercises downward over the astral body and the etheric body is transferred upward—that is, to the members of the higher, divine human being—through the acquisition of new abilities.

[ 17 ] For example, the influence of the manas on its etheric body is transformed into light and power for its spiritual being: budhi. The influence it exerts on its physical body is transformed into light and power for its divine spirit: Atma.

[ 18 ] Thus, the whole of human development culminates in the transformation of the lower members of the being by the higher self. And our present stage of development has as its task the transformation of the astral body, which goes hand in hand with the mastery of the life of feeling and its purification.

[ 19 ] The astral body of today's human being is dark in its lower part and light and colorful in its upper part. The lower part has not yet been transformed by the I, while the upper part has been permeated and transformed by it. When a human being has worked through their astral body completely, it is said that they have transformed it into Manas.

[ 20 ] Only then does the work on the etheric body begin. It is important to know that what happens in the astral body is temporary. What takes place in the etheric body leaves a lasting trace there and is also imprinted like a seal on the physical body.

[ 21 ] Higher initiation consists in controlling all the processes of the physical body, in mastering them completely, so that one has them at one's disposal at will.

[ 22 ] To the extent that the initiate reaches this point, he possesses Atma, becomes a magician, and acquires power over nature.

[ 23 ] The difference between Eastern and Western initiation lies in the method by which the teacher guides the student to work on his etheric body. To understand this, it is necessary to consider the different states of man during sleep and while awake.

[ 24 ] During sleep, the astral body is partially separated from the body and inactive, while the etheric body continues its vegetative work.

[ 25 ] At death, the etheric body and the astral body separate completely from the physical body. The etheric body, as the bearer of memory, contains the memory of life, so that at the moment of separation, the dying person reads their life as if in a single tableau. When separated from the physical body, the etheric body becomes much more active because it is no longer disturbed by its relationship to the physical.

[ 26 ] Oriental initiation consisted of separating the etheric body and the astral body from the disciple during a lethargic state that usually lasted three days. During this period, the hierophant guided the disciple's etheric body, transmitted certain impulses to it, instilled his wisdom in it, and transferred it to him as a powerful and indelible impression.

[ 27 ] Upon awakening, the initiate found this wisdom within himself, because the etheric body contains the memory of the human being; and he preserved this wisdom—it was that of the occult teaching, but marked by the indelible, personal imprint of the Hierophant. After this initiation, it was said of the one who had undergone the initiation that he had been born twice.

[ 28 ] This was done because it would have been difficult to communicate the higher truths in any other way.

[ 29 ] The situation is different with Western initiation. It differs from Eastern initiation in that the former takes place in the state of sleep and the latter in the state of wakefulness, that is, it avoids the separation between the etheric body and the physical body. In Western initiation, the initiate remains independent, and the teacher is only an awakener. The Western teacher does not want to rule or convert, but only to tell what he has seen.

[ 30 ] So what is the right way to listen to him? There are actually three ways of listening: listening by submitting to the word as an infallible authority; listening by rebelling against what one hears; and finally, simply listening without servile and blind faith, without systematic opposition, so to speak, simply allowing the ideas to sink in and observing their effects. This is how the student should behave toward his teacher in Western initiation.

[ 31 ] As for the teacher, he knows that in order to be the master, he must be the servant. It is not a matter for him of modeling his pupil's soul in his own image, but of sensing its mystery and unraveling it. What he teaches is not a doctrine of faith, or rather, it is a doctrine, but one that has value only insofar as it serves inner development. Any truth that is not also a life force is a barren truth. That is why it is necessary for every thought to find access to the soul. It cannot do so unless it is imbued with feeling; otherwise, it is a stillborn thought.