The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Theosophy and Rosicrucianism III

[ 1 ] The most sacred thing within a human being is that which is referred to as self-consciousness. Anyone who understands this correctly will readily see that the term “self-consciousness” actually expresses the meaning of human existence. Self-consciousness is the ability to know oneself as an “I.”

[ 2 ] The best way to get a mental image of this is to consider that, within the entire German-speaking world, there is one name that is fundamentally different from all others: the word *Ich*. Anyone can call a table a table, but only each person can say *Ich* for themselves; to everyone else, one is a *Du*. The word “I” can never sound in my ear from the outside when it is meant to signify myself. This is what all Spiritual Science has sensed. The Hebrew religion, for example, when speaking of this essence of the human inner being, referred to it as the unpronounceable name of God. For it was said: If the “I” is to be spoken, it must resound from the very center of the being itself. No external being can pronounce the name. It was therefore like a shudder that went through the entire assembly when the priest uttered the word Yahweh, “I am who I am.” That is when God begins to speak within the human being. This is the pure, original meaning of the Hebrew name of God. You will come to know other names as well, but all stand in a certain relationship to this one name. And with this “I,” we designate the fourth member of the human being. From this “I,” the human being works through the other members of his being: the astral body, the etheric body, and also the physical body. No matter how far back we go in the evolutionary history of the human being, these four members have always been present in the human being; and this is precisely what distinguishes him from the animals.

[ 3 ] Let us try to understand how the developed individual relates to the undeveloped one with regard to these four aspects. Consider, for instance, one of the most savage individuals—who still devours his fellow human beings—alongside an average European, and then compare that person to a highly developed individual, such as Goethe, Schiller, or Francis of Assisi. That savage follows his instincts and passions directly, as they are contained in his astral body. He does indeed already have an “I,” but it is still entirely under the control of the astral body. Today’s average person already distinguishes between what is good and what is not. This is because this person has already worked on his astral body. He has worked on it and has even transformed some instincts into so-called ideals. The more a person has reshaped their astral body from the perspective of their ego, the higher a stage of development they have reached. The average European today has already reshaped much of it. An individual like Schiller or Goethe has already reshaped the far greater part of their astral body. But a person who has already subjugated all passions to their will, such as Francis of Assisi, already has an astral body that has been completely transformed by the ego; there is nothing left in it that is not under the dominion of the ego. To the extent that a person has transformed their astral body in this way, we call that their Manas or Spirit-Self; this is the fifth member of their being. We can therefore say: In the ego lies the seed for the transformation of the astral body into Manas, the Spirit-Self.

[ 4 ] However, there is also the possibility that a person may transform not only their astral body but also their etheric body, so that the ego also becomes master of the etheric body. You must realize, however, that this is much more difficult and proceeds more slowly. The difference between the transformation of the astral body and the etheric body is as follows: Just consider what you knew at the age of eight, and everything you have acquired since your youth! The vehicle for all these transformations is the astral body; it changes, so to speak, quite significantly from day to day through all the external impressions you take in. But it is different with the etheric body. If you want to get a mental image of this, imagine the following: If you were a quick-tempered child at the age of eight, then you are probably still quick-tempered at times today. Only a few people succeed in changing themselves in such a way that they also transform their habits, their inclinations, their temperament, and their character. There is absolutely no contradiction with what was said above. The astral body is indeed connected to pleasure and pain and our passions; but once these passions have become habits, so-called character traits, they are anchored in the etheric body; and if we wish to transform such habits, then the etheric body must be transformed, for it is the bearer of all habits and character traits.

[ 5 ] I have often compared the changes in the astral body and the etheric body to the movement of the minute and hour hands on a clock.

[ 6 ] "We will speak later about the development of the advanced student. Such a student is not one in the ordinary sense of life, not one who merely learns something. Certainly, such a student must also learn a great deal, but infinitely more important than learning is the working into the etheric body described above: that he manages to transform anger into gentleness. It is precisely for this that the secret science provides the student with guidance.

[ 7 ] One has attained a high stage of development who is able to change a habit—that is, a characteristic of one’s etheric body—overnight. Such a transformation of the etheric body must go hand in hand with what the student of esoteric science learns in other respects. But even if a person knows nothing of such training, he nevertheless transforms his etheric body of his own accord—albeit slowly and gradually, through many incarnations. And to the extent that this etheric body has been transformed, we call it Buddhi, or the Life-Spirit; and this constitutes the sixth member of the human being.

[ 8 ] And then there is the stage—which lies much, much higher—at which the human being also learns to work into his physical body and to transform it. To the extent that he has gained mastery over his physical body, he is called Atma, or the Spirit-Man; this is the seventh member of his being. Atma is related to the word “breathe,” because it is the breathing process from which this transformation originates. What it means to consciously control one’s physical body from the “I”—one can only begin to form a mental image of this when one considers how little one actually knows about one’s physical body. This knowledge has nothing to do with what modern anatomy has to say about the physical body. Long before modern anatomy existed, there were ancient teachings—though they were not made public—in which you can find knowledge about the inner workings of the human being. Through this, these ancient sages were able, for example, to trace the currents of life and blood; they were thus able to look inward at themselves, to observe the physical body in all its organs. If we have developed to this extent, then it is possible that no particle in our body moves without our will. This is the transformation into Atma, the Spirit-Man.

[ 9 ] Now one might object: Since the physical body is the lowest link in the human being, why is it possible to transform it into the highest link? — Precisely because the physical body is the lowest link, it requires the greatest effort on the part of the human being to bring this body under one’s own control. The transformation of this physical body goes hand in hand with the attainment of power over forces that permeate the entire cosmos. And mastery over these cosmic forces is what is known as magic.

[ 10 ] Thus, in terms of their true inner nature, human beings consist of seven parts, but these seven parts merge completely into one another. One can only form a proper mental image of this mutual interpenetration of all seven parts by comparing them to the seven colors of the rainbow, all of which are also contained in sunlight. Just as light consists of these seven colors, so too does the human being consist of his seven members.

[ 11 ] Now let us consider the significance of this structure for understanding the entire course of human life. We heard yesterday what the nature of sleep is. The physical body and the etheric body lie in bed; respiration and blood circulation continue as the life expression of this etheric body; but everything that belongs to the astral body is lifted out of the physical body and the etheric body together with the I.

[ 12 ] In death, however, something different occurs. While the physical body and the etheric body remain a single entity throughout the entire period between birth and death, at death not only does the astral body separate from the physical body—as it does in sleep—but the etheric body does as well. This physical body, however—let us recall what was said yesterday—is so complex that, left to its own devices, it must disintegrate. Let us now observe the human being immediately after death with a clairvoyant gaze: before us lies only the physical body, and hovering above it are the astral and etheric bodies. Immediately after death, a peculiar phenomenon arises in the perception of the person who has just passed away: at the moment of death, the entire course of their life arises in the field of human memory like a spread-out tableau. Every small, even the smallest event passes before them in images. This occurs quite naturally, for the etheric body, in addition to the property described above of preventing the decomposition of the physical body, is also the bearer of memory. At the very moment when this etheric body is relieved of its former task, it immerses itself quite intensely in this second task. But since every event during life was associated with pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, due to its interpenetration with the astral body, the human being now—since the astral body has also detached itself from him—experiences these images of memory, that is, his entire past existence, without sensation, without feeling, as in a vast panorama.

[ 13 ] As long as this etheric body remains connected to the physical body, the instrument it must use—the brain—is something that ensures our memories are never complete; we retain only fragments of our life experiences in memory. This is due to the inadequacy of the physical brain, whereas at the moment of liberation from the physical brain, this etheric body remembers everything. An analogy to this state can already be found in ordinary life in the shock one experiences, for example, at the moment of drowning, falling, and so on. This is simply due to the fact that at such a moment the etheric body is violently detached from the physical body, which also occurs, for example, in a milder form when the limbs fall asleep, and also during hypnosis, in which the clairvoyant sees the etheric body hanging out on both sides of the head. Materialistic physiology objects that a material change in the blood is present there, but this is a confusion of cause and effect.

[ 14 ] The first stage of a person’s fate after death is thus this review of their past life, which varies in length but lasts on average about three and a half days. Then comes a kind of second death, in which the etheric body also detaches itself completely from the astral body, leaving behind a kind of etheric corpse. This etheric corpse dissolves very quickly—though at different rates for each person—into the universal ether, though not completely; a kind of essence from the past life remains, which the I takes with it and which is an imperishable asset that remains with the person for all subsequent incarnations. After each incarnation, a new page is added, as it were, to the previous ones. In Theosophy, this is called the causal body, and the quality of this causal body determines the nature of subsequent incarnations.

[ 15 ] Now the astral body is alone. How does this state differ from sleep, when it has also stepped out of the other bodies—the physical and etheric bodies—and was thus also alone? The forces that it had to use during sleep to work on and repair the physical body have been freed up now that this physical body has been definitively shed; the astral body now uses these forces for itself and becomes aware of them. In this state of self-awareness, the astral body is now going through a period that you can best understand by considering the following.

[ 16 ] Consider, for a moment, the pleasure of a delicious meal; a person enjoys it and derives pleasure from this enjoyment. This pleasure does not reside in the physical body, but in the astral body; but for this pleasure to come about, it needs the instrument—namely, a tongue, a palate; thus the physical body provides the instrument for the pleasures of the astral body. How is this after death, when the physical body has been cast off? The instrument, the mediator of pleasure, is missing, yet the astral body has not lost its longing, its desire for pleasure. Try to create a vivid mental image of this state. It is a state similar to what a thirsty person in the desert might experience. After death, the astral body will still have the craving for pleasure, to the extent that it has been accustomed to it from its past life. That is why, for all human beings, this time after death is a time of unsatisfied longing. This state is called Kamaloka; Kama means desire, locus: place. It is the same state we find described in numerous myths, for example in the torments of Tantalus, or in Purgatory. Of course, this state is not merely a tormenting one; it is tormenting only until the astral body has weaned itself of the desire for pleasure. Thus, the more needs the astral body had here in physical life, the longer this state lasts. From this, however, you can already infer that, depending on the quality of the needs a person had in their past life, the astral body in Kamaloka may encounter not only torment but also, under certain circumstances, something very good and pleasant. For example, they will then experience with pleasure every joy they once took in beautiful nature. To enjoy this joy in beautiful nature, we do indeed need eyes to see, but beauty is something that transcends the physical, and therefore this state is also the source of heightened pleasure in Kamaloka life. Such things are the causes of great joys and wonderful experiences even during the Kamaloka period. Thus, a person can already make this time more beautiful by freeing themselves from attachment to purely physical pleasures. If you consider this, you will understand many things in life, for example, regarding everything that is called art. The more ideal the art is, the more the ideal shines through, the stronger and more uplifting the work of art’s effect is beyond life itself. Its element is the spiritual. Only materialistic short-sightedness has led to naturalism in art. — After living through this Kamaloka period, we have thus arrived at the point where the human being has weaned themselves off all material pleasures, and this moment signifies the experience of an entirely new state. Here the soul now also sheds from the astral body all that which the human being—that is, the ego—has not yet worked through; and this astral sheath, now cast off, is thus the third corpse that the human being then leaves behind.

[ 17 ] And now, after the ego has become one with what it has acquired from the other bodies—that is, with the essence of the etheric body described above and now also with that of the astral body—it passes over into the spirit realm. And this is the period that the soul experiences from that point on until a new birth.

[ 18 ] We will discuss that tomorrow. Today I would just like to emphasize one thing again: that all these spiritual worlds are constantly around us and are not spatially separated from us in an afterlife, so that they are visible to the seer’s eye at all times. And anyone who can look into these spiritual worlds can also see these shadows or spectres—for that is what those corpses are—at any time. It is precisely these corpses that very often intrude into spiritualist séances. But if the participants in such a spiritualist séance regard such an astral corpse as the individuality itself, this is just as foolish as regarding the physical corpse as the person themselves. Therefore, this astral corpse—for it is precisely what the I cannot use—very often displays ridiculous traits at such spiritualist séances.