The Rudolf Steiner Archive

First Lecture

[ 1 ] These lectures are intended to provide a general overview of the entire field of theosophical worldview. Theosophy has not always been taught as it is today in lectures and books that are accessible to everyone. In the past, theosophy was regarded as something that could only be taught in small, intimate circles. Knowledge was restricted to circles of initiates, to occult brotherhoods; the general public was only supposed to reap the fruits of this knowledge. Little was known about their knowledge and their deeds, nor about the place where they worked. The great historical figures known to the world were not actually the greatest. The greatest, the initiates, kept themselves in the background.

[ 2 ] Thus, in the 18th century, one such initiate appeared before a writer at a moment that went completely unnoticed, made brief acquaintance with him, and spoke words that the other did not pay much attention to, but which nevertheless had a lasting effect on him and produced powerful images of thought, the literary fruits of which are now in countless hands. That other person was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He was not an initiate, but the source of his knowledge went back to one.

[ 3 ] Another example: Jakob Böhme was alone in the shop as a cobbler's apprentice, where he was not yet allowed to sell anything. Then a personage came to him who made a deep impression on him; she said a few words and then left again. Immediately afterwards, he heard his name being called: Jakob, Jakob, you are still small now, but you will grow up. Remember what you have seen today. — A secret attraction remained between him and that person, who was a great initiate. It was from him that Böhme's powerful inspirations originated.

[ 4 ] There were also other means by which an initiate used to work. For example, someone received a letter that was intended to prompt some kind of action. He may have been a minister and had the external power to carry out something, but not the idea to do so. The letter contained something that had nothing to do with what was to be communicated, perhaps a request. But the letter could have been read in another way: one only had to cross out every fourth word and leave the fifth, then the rest gave a new context, which of course the recipient did not notice, but which contained what was to happen. If the words were the right ones, they had an effect even without the reader having grasped their meaning in their everyday consciousness. In a similar way, a German scholar who was also an initiate, the teacher of Agrippa von Nettesheim, Trithem von Sponheim, wrote. In his works, read with the right key, there is much that is taught today in theosophy.

[ 5 ] At that time, it was necessary that only a few who were sufficiently prepared were initiated into these things. Why was this secrecy necessary? Precisely in order to give the knowledge its proper place, it could only be given to those who were sufficiently prepared; the others only felt the blessings. After all, it was not knowledge for the satisfaction of curiosity or mere thirst for knowledge. This knowledge was to be put into practice, it was to work on state and social institutions, it was to shape the world in a practical way. And so all great advances in human development can be traced back to impulses from the occult. That is why all those who were to share in the theosophical teachings were subjected to severe trials and tests to see whether they were worthy of it, and then they were gradually initiated, very slowly guided from the bottom up.

[ 6 ] This method has been abandoned in recent times; the elementary teachings are now taught publicly. Publication was necessary because the earlier means of bringing the fruits to humanity would fail. These means also included religions, and all religions contain this wisdom; but today there is talk of a contradiction between knowledge and faith. Today we need to arrive at higher knowledge through the paths of knowledge.

[ 7 ] However, the most fundamental reason for publication is the invention of printing. Previously, theosophical teachings were imparted orally, from person to person; no one who was immature or unworthy heard about them. But through books, knowledge of sensual things has spread and become popular. This has also given rise to the conflict between knowledge and faith.

[ 8 ] Such causes, however, make it necessary that much of the great treasure of secret knowledge of all ages must now be published. Questions such as: Where does man come from? What is his goal? What does the visible form conceal? What happens after death? — had to be answered, not by hypotheses and theories and conjectures, but by facts.

[ 9 ] To reveal the true mystery of man was the purpose of all secret science. Everything that is to be said about this is given from the actual standpoint of practical occultism; it is not meant to be some theory that cannot be used in practice. Such theories arose and found their way into theosophical literature because, in the beginning, the people who wrote the books did not themselves understand exactly what they were writing. This may well be useful for the thirst for knowledge. But theosophy should become life.

[ 10 ] We first turn to the nature of man. When we encounter a human being, we first see with our external senses what we call in theosophical language the physical body. This physical body is something that man has in common with his entire environment. This is the only thing that external science recognizes, and yet it is only a small part of the human being. We must penetrate deeper into the nature of the human being, for mere reflection teaches us that there must be something very special about this physical human being. There are other things that can be seen, touched, and so on; every stone is already a physical body. But human beings can move, they can feel, think, grow, feed themselves, and reproduce. None of this is the case with stones, but it is with plants and animals. Human beings have nutrition, growth, and reproduction in common with all plants. If they only had a physical body like a stone, they could not grow, feed themselves, or reproduce. So they must have something that enables them to utilize physical forces and substances in such a way that they become means for them to grow and so on. That is the etheric body.

[ 11 ] Thus, human beings have their physical body in common with all minerals, but their etheric body only with plants and animals. This is initially established by mere consideration. However, there is another way to convince oneself that the etheric body exists. Only those who have developed their higher senses have this ability. Such higher senses are nothing more than a higher development of what lies dormant in every human being.

[ 12 ] It is like a person born blind who undergoes surgery; except that not every person born blind can undergo surgery, but the spiritual senses can be developed in every human being if they have the necessary patience and undergo the appropriate preparation. Just to perceive this principle of life, of growth, reproduction, and nutrition, requires a very specific higher perception. We can understand what this means by looking at the example of hypnosis.

[ 13 ] Hypnosis, which has always been known to the initiated, means a different state of consciousness than ordinary sleep. A hypnotized person is in rapport with the hypnotist. A distinction can be made between positive and negative suggestion in the hypnotized person. The former causes the person to perceive something that is not there. Negative suggestion consists in distracting attention from what is there. It is only an intensification of another state: in ordinary life, we can also turn our attention away from something so that we do not see it, even though our eyes are open. This happens to us involuntarily every day when we are absorbed in something. Theosophy wants nothing to do with such states in which the human consciousness is dulled and the person is in a twilight state. The person who wants to arrive at theosophical truths must be as powerful in investigating the higher worlds as in investigating everyday things. The great dangers of initiation can only come upon the person when his consciousness is dulled.

[ 14 ] Those who wish to get to know the etheric body from their own experience must be able to suggest themselves out of the physical body through their own strength of will, while fully maintaining their ordinary consciousness. But then the space is not empty for them; before them they see the etheric body, which appears in a reddish-bluish form of light, like a shadow, but shining, luminous, somewhat darker than young peach blossoms. We can never see this etheric body when we look at a crystal, but we can see it in plants and animals, for it is this part that causes nutrition, growth, and reproduction.

[ 15 ] But humans not only have these abilities, they also have the ability to feel pleasure and pain. Plants do not have this ability. The initiate can investigate this through his own experience, because he can identify with the plant. Animals, however, have this ability, because they have another limb in common with humans: the astral body. It encompasses everything we know as desire, passion, and so on. This is again clear through reflection, through inner experience. For the initiate, however, it can become an outer experience. The initiate sees this third member of the human being as an egg-shaped cloud in constant inner motion; it is a cloud that surrounds the body, in which the physical body and the etheric body are embedded. When the physical body and etheric body are removed, everything is filled with a fine cloud of light with inner mobility. In this cloud, in this aura, the initiate sees every desire, every impulse, and so on as the color and shape of the astral body; for example, he sees violent passion shooting out of the astral body like flashes of lightning.

[ 16 ] Animals have an astral body that has different basic colors depending on the species; the astral body of a lion has a different basic color than that of a lamb. And even in humans, the basic color is not always the same, and if one has a sense for finer differences, one can recognize the temperament, the basic moods in a person's aura. Nervous people have a tiger-striped aura interspersed with dots. These dots are not static, but constantly light up and disappear again. This is always the case, and that is why it is impossible to paint the aura.

[ 17 ] But humans also differ from animals. This brings us to the fourth member of the human being. This fourth member is expressed in a name that differs from all other names: I can only say “I” to myself. There is no name in the entire language that everyone else could not also say for the same object. Not so with the “I”; only human beings can say this to themselves. Those who were initiated have always felt this. The Hebrew initiate called this the “inexpressible name of God,” the God who dwells in human beings, for it can only be spoken in this soul for this soul. It must resound from the soul; it must give itself its own name; no one else can give it a name. Hence the wonderful mood that swept through the audience when the name “Yahweh” was uttered; for Yahweh or Jehovah means ‘I’ or “I am.” In the name that the soul gives itself, God begins to speak in one's own soul.

[ 18 ] This is what sets humans apart from animals. Animals do not have the ability to say “I” to themselves. Only humans have the ability to give themselves a name. One must consider the tremendous significance of this word. In his autobiography, Jean Paul recalls how, as a very young boy, he stood in front of a barn and became aware that he was an “I.” He knew that he had experienced the immortal within himself.

[ 19 ] Again, this is expressed in a peculiar way for the seer. When he examines the astral body, everything is in constant motion except for a single small space; it remains, like a somewhat elongated egg-shaped bluish sphere, slightly behind the forehead, at the root of the nose. It is found only in humans. In educated people, it is no longer as perceptible as in uneducated people; it is most clearly visible in savages who are culturally backward. In truth, there is nothing at this point, only empty space. Just as the center of a flame, which is empty, appears blue through the halo of light, so this dark, empty spot also appears blue because the auric light shines all around it. This is the outer expression of the ego.

[ 20 ] Every human being has these four parts. But there is a difference between a savage and a cultured European, between the latter and a Francis of Assisi or a Schiller. The refinement of morals also forms nobler colors in the aura. Growth in the distinction between good and evil is also reflected in a more refined aura. In order to become cultivated, the ego has worked on the astral body and refined the desires. The higher a person stands in moral and intellectual culture, the more the ego has worked into the astral body. The seer can say: This is a developed person, this is an undeveloped person.

[ 21 ] What the human being has worked into the astral body is called manas; this is the fifth fundamental part. The amount that the human being has worked into themselves is the amount of manas within them; therefore, part of their astral body is always manas. But it is not immediately given to the human being to exert an influence on his etheric body. Just as one learns to reach a higher moral level, so one can also learn to work into one's etheric body. Those who learn this are disciples, chelas. In this way, the human being becomes master of his etheric body, and the more he has worked into it, the more Budhi is present in him. This is the sixth fundamental part, the transformed etheric body.

[ 22 ] We can recognize such a chela by something. The ordinary person is not similar to their former incarnation, neither in form nor temperament; but the chela has the same habits, the same temperament as in their former incarnation. They remain similar to themselves. They have consciously worked into the body that carries procreation and growth.

[ 23 ] The highest gift that man can attain on this earth is to work down into his physical body. This is the most difficult thing of all. To work on the physical body means to learn to control one's breath, to work on one's blood circulation, to follow the work of the nerves, and also to regulate the thought process. In theosophical language, someone who has reached this stage is called an adept, and has developed what is called the Atma. This is the seventh fundamental part.

[ 24 ] Every human being has developed four parts, the fifth partially, and the others in potential. Physical body, etheric body, astral body, ego, manas, buddhi, Atma – these are the seven members of the human being. Through them, the human being participates in the three worlds: the physical world, the astral world, and the Devachan or spiritual world.