Cosmosophy II
GA 208
29 October 1921, Dornach
Lecture V
Yesterday we discussed the way the inner and outer human form is created out of the universe. We also found that this was something people knew instinctively in earlier times. It is important, however, to note the following. In one of my drawings I showed that the whole zodiac can be seen to lie in the human form, but this had to be the form of the human embryo. If we draw this we have literally recreated the zodiac within the human form.
During life on earth between birth and death, human beings tear themselves away from this embryonic form. They certainly have their form given by the universe during the embryonic period, but they “stretch” during their time on earth, lifting the head up and out of the circle that reflects the zodiac. They then have the form given to them as embryos, but no longer allow it to relate to the fixed stars, and this means that human beings become able to take into the form of the head what they have brought with them from their previous life on earth.
Animals keep their backbones horizontal, and essentially continue much more in the position given by the zodiac, with the head merely attached to the front part of the backbone. This means that animals are not able to use the head to take in anything from a previous life. The situation is such that if we consider the human form in one respect, we would have to say that the human form based entirely on the zodiac would be like this (embryo). And if human beings continued to have this form throughout life, the form of the human head would not be able to take in the essential nature of a person which comes from the previous incarnation. By lifting the head out of that position, it becomes possible for the form to hold and protect the element that comes from the previous life.
Human beings also lift the other side out of the embryonic form, which is the side that takes its orientation from the last four signs of the zodiac, from Archer, Goat, Water Carrier and Fishes. As we saw yesterday, this relates to life and conditions of life in the outside world—to hunting, animal breeding, agriculture and trade, or shipping. Human beings follow these pursuits out of will impulses, out of the system of limbs which they have lifted out of its orientation on the zodiac. The result is that everything people do holds the potential, or seed, for future lives on earth. Animals retain their orientation on the zodiac and are therefore unable to take in anything from a previous life on earth or to look towards any future life on earth.
Out of the profound wisdom people had as instinctive knowledge in the past they called the circle of constellations “the zodiac”.13Zodiac from the Greek and Latin zodiakus, derived from “circle of the figures”, being the Greek for the sculptured figure of an animal. Today we use not instinct but clear thinking to discover the same truths, and we consider the original wisdom human beings once possessed with growing respect.
So much, then, about the human form. Into this form is poured life, and we find this life localized in the human ether body just as we find form localized in the human physical body. It is quite right to consider the human physical body with regard to its form, for that is the essence of it. The ether body essentially represents life, and this is what we want to consider today. Yesterday we saw that the human form is really made up of twelve different forms and we made the attempt to study those forms. The human form as a whole, in its inner and outer aspects, arises from twelve individual forms.
Human life also has a number of levels, and in the first place these may be considered as follows.
The first, and to our everyday thinking this is not yet a level of life, is the life of the senses. Although they are part of the whole human being, the senses are so much at the periphery that we tend to forget that the life of the senses is the outermost layer of our life.
Moving inwards from the periphery—now thinking only in terms of life—we come to the life of the nerves, which is an inward continuation of the life of the senses just as the nerves go inwards from the sense organs.
The life of the nerves in turn is in touch with another level that develops in the living human being. I have shown some aspects of it on earlier occasions, when I drew your attention to the way we draw breath. We take in air and the air we inhale creates a kind of inner rhythm which continues through the spinal canal and on into the brain. There the life of the nerves comes in contact with the life of our breathing, which is the next level as we move inwards.
The life of breathing in turn connects with another level of life. The breath, we may say, continually renews the blood. Thus the breathing rhythm is connected with the blood rhythm and we can move on from the life of our breathing to the life that exists in the rhythm of the circulation.
The circulation, however, is also connected with the whole of metabolism; it takes in metabolism, and we thus come to the next level, the life of metabolism.
Metabolism stimulates the movements we make in the world around us. It is thanks to our metabolism that we are actually able to move around. The nature of the human—and also the animal—metabolism is such that the soul is able to use the metabolic processes to produce movements. In the life of movement we are again becoming part of the outside world, for anything we achieve at that level of life connects us with the outside world.
There is one more level of life: the life of reproduction. In movement we continually use ourselves up, and internal “reproduction” has to take place for the very reason that we are in motion. Instead of “life of movement”, we may thus also put “internal reproduction, or regeneration”, providing we remain inside the human skin. And when this reproduction occurs independently, it becomes life of reproduction in the true sense.
- Life of the senses
- Life of the nerves
- Life of breathing
- Life of circulation
- Life of metabolism
- Life of movement
- Life of reproduction
Yesterday we had twelve elements of form, today we have evolved seven levels of life, and it is true to say that in terms of the ether body, human beings live differently on each of these seven levels. If we are to take these things seriously, we cannot speak of a single kind of life that is all at the same level.
In the first place, then, our ether body may be said to live at the level of the senses, and this is a form of life that barely feels like life to us. Through it, we are involved in the outside world. If we take the eye, for example, we say the ether body is alive in the eye and in a manner of speaking enlivens it. It does however come in touch with a form of matter that is close to death in the eye, which is a living organ only in so far as the ether body enters into it. Apart from the ether body, the eye is really a physical apparatus.
Individual sense organs are always both a physical apparatus and penetrated by the ether body, each in its own particular way. Generally speaking, however, our sense organs are dead organs, except that the ether body enters into them. It would therefore be reasonable to say that the life of the senses is life in the process of dying.
The life of the nerves takes the experiences gained through the senses and makes them into something that can preserve the life of the senses. All lingering effects are due to the life of the nerves, therefore—lingering sounds, for example, and in the case of the eye, after-images. The life of the nerves, then, is a kind of resting life, or a life that holds and keeps.
The life of breathing gives image quality to the fleeting life of the senses that tends to preserve itself. We are able to have images of the outside world because the breathing rhythm is in touch with the currents that pass through the nerves. Ideas and abstract thoughts are still entirely bound to the life of the nerves, but anything to do with images is connected with the life of breathing. When we breathe we have creative life in us, a life we may call the image-creating life. This lives in the human form and therefore also takes part in the human form.
We have seen that the human form arises out of the zodiac, and because the creative life that comes with our breathing lives in the human form, it also has part in the whole outer form that has been created out of the starry heavens.
This form is therefore also part of the inner aspect of the human being. And it is thanks to our breathing that we have not only the contents of our conscious mind but also images of all our internal organs, images based on the outer form. Our internal organs therefore arise at first in a roundabout way—as images created in the breathing process. They do not yet have substance at this point. The breath creates an image of the internal human being. With our breathing we are in the outside world, moving within the zodiac with the earth, and we are continually inhaling the images of our internal organization.
These images are inhaled from life outside us. This, then is our creative life. The images we inhale are spread through the whole organism by the life of circulation. This and the life of breathing take human beings to the point where they are inwardly image of the world. Thus we may say: 
The life of circulation is in touch with the life of metabolism, with the result that the images are given physical substance and physical organs develop on the fifth level of life. Matter infiltrates the images; it suffuses or tinges them. Thus the upper human being creates images in the life of breathing and these images are made tangible reality by the matter that infiltrates and tinges them.
Energy then enters into the physical organs from the life of movement. We may put it like this: We have physical organs and here we have life that generates power in the organs. The life of reproduction, finally, renews itself.
You can also see how the threefold human being arises: nerves and senses, circulation and rhythm, and metabolism and limbs, or metabolism and movement. Reproduction, finally, gives rise to a new human being.
The attributes I have added on the right (Fig. 14) give you an idea of the differences between the levels of life. Living in the senses, our ether body is in a kind of life that is dying. In the life of the nerves, the currents in the nerves, it is in a life that holds and keeps. The breathing life is where our ether body truly becomes a body of creative powers that designs images. The life of circulation ensures that those images become our whole internal organization. Physical substance is then brought in through the life of metabolism. The ether body enters into metabolism and suffuses the actual body of creative powers with matter. Subjective human energy is added through the life of the limbs, and so on.
The instinctive wisdom of old gave people understanding of this, too, and they knew, therefore, that human beings take in the life that is outside and develop it further inside them. That is more or less how the sages of old would see it. They would say: Let us take the outermost layer of the universe that is around the earth, then the next, and the next. The outermost layer is closest to the fixed stars in the sky, to the universe to which we owe the human form. Human life, they would say, does not come from the fixed stars, however, but from the planets in the sky. (Fig. 15).
They would first of all speak of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the sun. If we consider the true nature of the sun—this is something I have said many times before—it differs from the other planets in so far as it presents itself as a source of light. This is also why in popular astronomy it is called a fixed star. The other planets do not appear as light sources but as images. This is why it is said in popular astronomy that their light is borrowed light, for they reflect the light of the sun. Just consider the difference between the sun, which lets its own essential nature emerge with the light, and the other heavenly bodies, the planets, which merely present an image of their outer nature, or of whatever they have on the surface, making this visible by reflecting the light of the sun. It is a major difference. And being the source of light, the sun is also the source of life.
It is also the source of something else. At all times, even when people had only instinctive knowledge, it was said that the sun was threefold, the source of light, life and love. This trinity is to be found in the sun.
No need to go against the Copernican system today, you can keep it and still understand what the ancients meant with their system, based on instinctive perception of the cosmos. Let us assume that, in Copernican terms, we have the sun at the centre—or at a focal point, if you like, but we can ignore that for the moment. Mercury, Venus, earth and Mars—we can ignore the minor planets for present purposes—Jupiter and Saturn are in orbit around the sun. But now we’ll look at it like this:
Let us say, and this is certainly also possible, that we have Saturn, Jupiter and Mars here, and then come sun, Mercury, Venus and earth, with the moon, however, which we’ll position here.
It is not essential, of course, to take this particular position, I am merely presenting it to show you that even with the Copernican system it is possible to get the sequence that was thought to be the right one in ancient times: moon, Venus, Mercury, sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. All we need is for the relative positions to be such that the earth is to one side of the sun and the outer planets are somewhere on the other side. It is not necessary to have this kind of opposition or conjunction—which may happen in alternation—but the sequence is certainly feasible. And it is the sequence that was in people’s minds out of the old instinctive wisdom. This sequence seemed important to them.
The ancients would say: Let us think of the human beings here on earth. They are exposed to the universe. They experience the rays of the sun as their source of light, life and love. These three enter into them from the sun. Yet human beings are also exposed to the image quality of Saturn. If they were only exposed to the life of the sun as they developed on earth they would not be able to develop the life of the senses. Thus the eyes would not become a distinct physical apparatus but would be just like any other part of the human body—muscular organs, or vessels, or the like. Continuously exposed to the sun, human beings would not be able to develop eyes, nor any other senses. They are able to do develop them because Saturn, the outermost planet, reduces the influence of the sun. Saturn dries the vessel out, as it were, and this, roughly speaking, produces the physical apparatus. The ancients had as instinctive knowledge what we are discovering again today: The life of the senses develops under the influence of Saturn.
Human beings also would not be able to develop the life of the nerves if they were continuously exposed to the sun. Thanks to the influence of Jupiter, the life of the nerves dries up and does not become as vital as the muscles and similar organs. The ancients would say: The life of the nerves is stimulated by Jupiter.
Saturn orbits the sun in about 30 years. During their life on earth, human beings have it happen about once that Saturn is blocked out by the sun, in a way. If someone has the good fortune to have Saturn blocked out very strongly by the sun, a powerful sun life dawns in their life of the senses. We might say that their eyes or other senses are stimulated—the eyes are in fact least affected, but they make the best example, being so obvious. So if once during life on earth a person is in the position where Saturn does not influence the senses, that person may discover that a specific cosmic influence comes in through the senses. The individual is given a stimulus and is strengthened in the sphere of the senses.
People try to explain these things in all kinds of ways. There is a considerable literature on the subject in America. William James, for instance, wrote of all kinds of “awakenings” that happened in people’s lives.14William James (1842–1910), American physiologist and pragmatic philosopher, in his book The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), chapter 3: The Reality of the Unseen. If you read his books and those of his followers you’ll find that a particular phenomenon occurs when someone receives a special stimulus at some point in time. These people have no idea as to the cause; they do not know that this is due to the position relative to Saturn or Jupiter. When the life of Saturn is blocked out, the life of the senses receives a special stimulus; when the life of Jupiter is blocked out, which happens all the more easily because Jupiter takes only 12 years to orbit, the life of the nerves is stimulated.
All these things are said to be in the subconscious, which is an absolute sludge tank today for people like William James and all psychoanalysts. This subconscious of theirs is a negative term, a waste bin for all the things that cannot be explained. Everything has to go in there; there you’ll find the hidden “provinces” of the soul that will react occasionally, and so on. It would certainly be highly desirable to take a good look at those pragmatic and psychoanalytical ideas one of these days.
The third planet, Mars, reduces heaving life to the point where breathing becomes possible. Mars, too, may be blocked out by the sun, and the life of breathing then receives a special stimulus. Mars orbits quite rapidly, taking about two years, and everybody therefore gets certain stimuli in the breathing life, the life of images. These stimuli are not always of the first quality, but people become poets or composers, or something like that, through receiving this stimulus in their breathing life. It does not go deep enough to make people like William James want to investigate and speculate; it seems quite clear to them. People with the old, instinctive wisdom thus felt that Mars stimulated the breathing life.
The life of the sun arouses light in the outside world, love in our hearts, and life in our dealings with the outside world. The location for this is midway between the life of breathing and the life of circulation, as the ancients also knew. Between those two lives lies the heart, which does not act as a motor but reflects the interplay between circulation and breathing.
Next we come to metabolism. People who had the old wisdom looked at Mercury not to see how far the sun is able to block it out, the way it does with the other planets, but how far Mercury itself blocks out the sun for the earth. Its position between sun and earth was considered to be the most important aspect, just as in the case of Jupiter the position beyond the sun was considered most important. When Mercury blocks out the sun, the life of the sun is reduced. As the life of the sun is weakened, this weakened life stirs inside human beings. If it were not reduced, people would immediately spit out any food or drink they had taken; they would not tolerate anything that comes from the outside world. They would then get out of the habit of eating, finding it too much of a bore. That is how powerful the life of the sun is in us. If we had only the life of the heart, or the sun, we would not be able to digest anything and immediately spit, or indeed vomit, everything out again. We owe the development of our metabolism to the fact that the life of Mercury weakens the life of the sun a little in this respect. The ancients therefore thought that the Mercury principle came between the life of circulation and the life of metabolism. The Mercury principle thus pushes physical matter through the human organism and into its individual organs.
Energy comes in through the life of movement which depends on Venus life, just as the life of metabolism depends on Mercury life. The ancients therefore ascribed to Venus the power that streams through the human being, this inner self renewal, the feeling that there is another human being, an energy human being, inside one.
The life of the moon, which is close to the life of the earth, does more than reduce the life of the sun and thus enable human beings to digest physical matter and process energies. The background to reproduction is something I have spoken of before: a space is created, with matter pushed back at the organic level, as it were. The embryo is able to develop because matter is pushed aside and in energy terms the embryo is organized from the cosmos. In this respect the life of reproduction depends on the moon life.
Yesterday I spoke of the relationship of the human form in its twelve aspects relating to the fixed stars. Today I have tried to show you how the new science of anthroposophy is in agreement with the instinctive wisdom of old in saying that the different levels of human life are connected with the life of the planets in the cosmos. Depending on the position of the earth in relation to the different members of the planetary system and the sun at its centre, life is modified in many different ways. Life is made to die, it is preserved and made creative in the upper human being. It is reduced in the lower human being so that physical matter and energies can be taken up from the earth. Human beings simply take the earth’s power of repulsion, make it their own and in this way develop the power that is in their own organs, and so on.
We see, then, that human life, too, comes from the cosmos. Looking up to the fixed stars, we see the zodiac as representing the principles that give rise to the human form. Observing the movements of the planets, we find the explanation for the different levels of human life. We look to Saturn for the life of the senses, to Jupiter for the life of the nerves, to Mars for the life of breathing, which is active in images.
Let us take a special look at this life of breathing. I told you that the images are received from the cosmos: form. The movements experienced in the zodiac stream inwards as images of our internal organs. Between birth and death, human beings are on earth, however, and the lower acts into the upper, with the result that everything has its polar opposite. The images enter into us and become suffused with matter, otherwise we would have no internal organs. But there is also always a counter process. So we are able to say that when we breathe, the images are pushed inwards, the image of the kidney, for example.
Matter then fills this out (red); but the opposite also happens, this time in an upward direction, with the images thrown back, as it were, like an echo, but do not think of this as a once-only event. The organs are in existence, having been developed in the early stages of earth existence; but the counter action may go on all the time.—The role played by the soul element in this will be considered tomorrow.
Consider each on its own, therefore. You take in the images of your internal organs with the life process. Then comes the counter action, in which the echoes of those images rise up again, as does the zodiac, especially with the life of breathing in it. Well, just think of your ears, and there you have the counter process. These images are created and go out into the air—they are the vowels and consonants! The vowels come more from the planets, the consonants from the zodiac. The counter process to the images coming in is reflected in speech. Consonants and vowels are pushed into us, as it were, to be the foundation for our organs. Anything that is more by way of form inside us comes essentially from the zodiac, anything that is more by way of life comes essentially from the planets. If the counter action relates more to life, we produce vowels, if it relates more to form, we produce consonants. All this is to some extent connected with the life of breathing, and we can see that quite clearly in speech.
You see, it is not really a good idea to try and understand the human being by putting him on the dissecting table and investigating what lies inside the skin. The result of this is no better than if someone were to take a magnetic needle and ignore the fact that the earth itself is a large magnet, making one end point north and the other south. If anyone were to insist on producing a theory that the magnetic needle takes that position of its own accord, ignoring the fact that the forces of the earth give it that particular direction, it would be just like anatomists and physiologists trying to understand the human being on the basis of what is to be found inside the skin. You cannot understand the human being on the basis of what lies inside the skin. All the people who seek to explain speech and language on the basis of what lies inside the human being are also working at the level of that explanation for the function of a magnetic needle. The truth is that human beings take their form from the life of the fixed stars and reproduce this as an echo, which gives rise to the consonants. They take in the movements of planetary life which influence their own life. The life of breathing in particular creates images of all this. The counter action then produces the vowels. Human speech can only be understood if consonants are seen in relation to the constellations of fixed stars and the vowels in relation to planetary conjunctions and oppositions. Thus human speech and language is seen to derive from the whole cosmos.
The sun, here (horizontal line in Fig 14), marks the middle. Take the three upper principles and you have the upper human being. Take the three lower principles and you have the lower human being. The reproductive life then gives rise to a new human being.
Take the life of breathing and the life of circulation. The latter essentially reflects the planetary movements. Our blood circulation is basically no more than an image of planetary life. We may thus also say that the vowels come from the life of the circulation and the consonants from the life of breathing. And now we get another strange relationship. We can relate the life of metabolism to the life of the nerves and the life of movement to the life of the senses. The life of the senses, however, relates to the movements of Saturn, which may be said to be closest to the zodiac, just as human beings present themselves most clearly to the outside world in their life of movement. If we want to show how human beings reflect the secrets of the cosmos, we have on the one hand the life of the senses and on the other hand the life of movement and this gives us—eurythmy. Eurythmy is the direct image of the relationship human beings have to the cosmic periphery. I just wanted to mention this briefly.
My purpose today has been to show you how the human being relates to the cosmos in regard to life. Yesterday it was my purpose to show the relationship of the human being to the cosmos in regard to form. Tomorrow we’ll consider the third aspect of the relationship between human being and cosmos—the soul. After considering the human soul in relation to the life of the cosmos we will have the three aspects of form, life and soul.
Sechzehnter Vortrag
[ 1 ] Wir haben gestern gesprochen von der Formung des Menschen und haben gesehen, wie die innere und äußere Form des Menschen herausgebildet wird aus dem Weltenall, und haben zugleich gesehen, wie bedeutsam in Zeiten älteren instinktiven Erkennens die Menschen diesen Zusammenhang der menschlichen Form mit dem ganzen Weltenall durchschaut haben. Wir müssen aber dabei doch das Folgende festhalten. Ich habe in einer der Zeichnungen gezeigt, wie man einzeichnen kann in die menschliche Gestalt den ganzen Tierkreis. Aber wir mußten als menschliche Gestalt dann eigentlich die Embryonalform des Menschen aufzeichnen. Und wenn wir diese Embryonalform aufzeichnen, dann haben wir förmlich in der Gestalt des Menschen selber die Tierkreisform nachgebildet. Der Mensch aber reißt sich gewissermaßen in seinem Leben hier auf der Erde zwischen Geburt und Tod aus dieser Embryonalform heraus. Er ist während der Embryonalzeit durchaus aus dem Weltenall heraus geformt. Ich möchte sagen: Er streckt sich dann während seiner Erdenzeit. Dadurch hebt er sein Haupt heraus aus dem Kreise, der dem Tierkreis nachgebildet ist. Und dadurch, daß er sein Haupt heraushebt, daß er also während seiner physischen Lebenszeit zwar noch die Form hat, die er embryonal veranlagt bekommt, aber sie nicht mehr eingliedert in den Fixsternhimmel, dadurch bekommt der Mensch zunächst in bezug auf die Hauptesform die Möglichkeit, in diese Hauptesform aufzunehmen dasjenige, was er herüberbringt aus dem vorigen Erdenleben.
[ 2 ] Das Tier behält seine horizontale Rückgratlage. Der Kopf hängt vorne nur an dem Rückgrat daran. Das Tier behält im Grunde genommen viel mehr bei von dieser Tierkreisstellung. Dadurch aber kann das Tier auch mit Hilfe seines Hauptes nichts aufnehmen von einem vorigen Erdenleben. Das ist so, wenn wir die Form des Menschen nach der einen Seite betrachten, wenn wir uns also sagen: Würde der Mensch genau dem Tierkreis nachgebildet sein, würde er diese Form haben ink (Embryo). Dann, wenn er während des Lebens diese Form beibehielte, würde er nicht sein Wesen aus der vorigen Inkarnation durch die Hauptesform aufnehmen können. Dadurch, daß er das Haupt heraushebt aus dieser Stellung, dadurch wird die Form in die Möglichkeit versetzt, Umhüllung zu sein für das, was aus dem vorigen Erdenleben kommt.
[ 3 ] Ebenso aber hebt der Mensch dann die andere Seite heraus, die nach den letzten Tierkreisbildern hin orientiert ist, nach dem Schützen, dem Steinbock, dem Wassermann und den Fischen, also, wie wir gestern gesagt haben, nach dem äußeren Leben, nach den älteren äußeren Lebensverhältnissen: der Jagd, der Tierzüchtung, dem Ackerbau und dem Handel, der Schiffahrt. Dadurch, daß der Mensch wiederum diese Verrichtungen aus seinem Wollen heraus bildet, also aus seinem Gliedmaßensystem, das er aus der Tierkreisorientierung herausgehoben hat, dadurch bleibt ihm in alldem, was diese seine Verrichtungen, was überhaupt menschliche Verrichtungen sind, die Möglichkeit, der Keim zu späteren Erdenleben. Das Tier bleibt durchaus im Tierkreis drinnen orientiert. Dadurch hat das Tier keine Möglichkeit, von einem vorigen Erdenleben irgend etwas aufzunehmen oder nach einem folgenden Erdenleben hinüberzublicken. Daher wird auch das, was wir als den Orientierungskreis, den Tierkreis bezeichnet haben, aus einer tiefen Weisheit der älteren instinktiven Erkenntnis heraus eben der Tierkreis genannt.
[ 4 ] Aus alldem ersehen Sie, wie gründlich eigentlich diese ältere instinktive Weisheit war, und wie wir, wenn wir heute wiederum Geisteswissenschaft treiben, jetzt nicht aus Instinkt, sondern aus einem klaren Bewußtsein heraus zu denselben Tatsachen kommen und dadurch wieder erkennen, was in einer alten instinktiven Erkenntnis so gelebt hat, wie ich es in den letzten Vorträgen hier angedeutet habe, und wovor wir immer mehr und mehr Respekt bekommen, je mehr wir Einblick gewinnen in diese Urweisheit der Menschen. Das ist es, was ich Ihnen zunächst über die Form sagen möchte.
[ 5 ] Was nun in diese Form beim Menschen gewissermaßen einfließt, was in diese Form ergossen ist, das ist das Leben. Dieses Leben des Menschen, das finden wir ebenso im Ätherleib des Menschen lokalisiert, wie wir die Form im physischen Leib lokalisiert finden. Und es ist durchaus das Richtige, wenn man den physischen Leib des Menschen betrachtet, ihn seiner Form nach zu studieren, denn die Form ist das Wesentliche an dem physischen Leibe. Zu dem physischen Leibe kommt der Ätherleib hinzu, und dieser Ätherleib des Menschen, der repräsentiert vorzugsweise dasjenige, was das Leben ist. Wir haben also gestern die Form besprochen und wollen heute das Leben beoben Mitte sprechen.
[ 6 ] Wir haben gestern gesehen, wie die Form sich eigentlich aus zwölf verschiedenen Formen zusammensetzt, und wir haben versucht, diese zwölf verschiedenen Formen zu studieren. Die Gesamtform des Menschen, innerlich und äußerlich, ergibt sich, wie wir gesehen haben, aus zwölf einzelnen Formen. Ebenso ergibt sich das Leben des Menschen aus einer Reihe von einzelnen Lebensstufen. Und diese einzelnen Lebensstufen, sie kann man sich in der folgenden Weise zunächst vor die rechts Seele stellen (siehe Aufstellung Seite 86).
[ 7 ] Das erste, was der Mensch in seinem alltäglichen Bewußtsein gewöhnlich noch nicht als eine Lebensstufe ansieht, das ist das Sinnesleben. Die Sinne sind ja eingegliedert in die gesamte menschliche Wesenheit, aber sie liegen so sehr an der Peripherie, im Umkreis des Menschen, daß der Mensch eigentlich im alltäglichen Leben vergißt, daß dieses Sinnesleben die äußerste Schichte seines Lebens ist. Wir haben aber im Umkreise diese äußerste Schichte unseres Lebens, das Sinnesleben.
[ 8 ] Gehen wir weiter nach dem Inneren, dann kommen wir, indem wir uns auf die Betrachtung des Lebens beschränken, zu der Fortsetzung des Sinneslebens nach innen, und dieses Sinnesleben, das setzt sich nach innen fort in dem Nervenleben. Die Nerven gehen ja von den Sinnesorganen nach innen. Das Nervenleben setzt das Sinnesleben fort.
[ 9 ] Das Nervenleben kommt nun aber seinerseits in Berührung mit einem anderen Leben, mit einer anderen Lebensstufe, die sich im menschlichen Lebewesen entfaltet. Von gewissen Gesichtspunkten aus habe ich dieses schon bei früheren Anlässen charakterisiert. Ich habe Sie darauf aufmerksam gemacht, wie der Mensch einatmet. Indem er einatmet, nimmt er die Atemluft auf. Diese Atemluft, die versetzt zunächst den Menschen in eine Art inneren Rhythmus. Der setzt sich fort durch den Rückenmarkskanal bis in das Gehirn. Und ich habe darauf aufmerksam gemacht, was auf diesen Fortsetzungen beruht. Da kommt das Nervenleben in Kontakt mit dem Atmungsleben. Und die nächste Lebensstufe, wenn wir nach innen gehen, ist in der Tat das Atmungsleben.
[ 10 ] Das Atmungsleben seinerseits wiederum, das schließt sich zusammen mit einer anderen Lebensstufe. Der Atem erneuert, wenn wir so sagen dürfen, beständig das Blut. Damit steht der Atmungsrhythmus mit dem Blutrhythmus in einem Zusammenhang, und wir können hinübergehen vom Atmungsleben in das Zirkulationsleben, in das Leben, das im Zirkulationsrhythmus enthalten ist.
[ 11 ] Die Zirkulation wiederum, sie steht nach der anderen Seite im Zusammenhang mit dem gesamten Stoffwechsel. Die Zirkulation nimmt den Stoffwechsel auf, so daß wir zur nächsten Lebensstufe, zum Stoffwechsel kommen.
[ 12 ] Der Stoffwechsel hinwiederum, der regt an, was wir in der äußeren Bewegung vollziehen. Nur dadurch, daß der Mensch im Stoffwechsel lebt, kann er sich äußerlich bewegen. Der menschliche Stoffwechsel — und auch der tierische — ist ja so geartet, daß des Menschen Seele das, was im Stoffwechsel vor sich geht, verwenden kann, um dadurch Bewegungen hervorzubringen, und wir kommen dann zu dem Bewegungsleben. Da ordnen wir uns schon wiederum in die Außenwelt ein. Da nehmen wir mit dem, was wir hervorbringen, an der Außenwelt teil.
[ 13 ] Und dann gibt es noch eine weitere Lebensstufe. Das ist das Reproduktionsleben, das Fortpflanzungsleben. In der Bewegung verbraucht der Mensch in der Tat fortwährend sich selber, und eine innere Reproduktion muß stattfinden eben deshalb, weil der Mensch in Bewegung ist. So daß man statt Bewegungsleben auch sein Korrelat schreiben könnte: innere Reproduktion, wenn man innerhalb der Haut des Menschen stehenbleiben würde. Und wenn dann diese Reproduktion selbständig auftritt, so tritt sie auf im Fortpflanzungs-, im eigentlichen Reproduktionsleben.
1. Sinnesleben
2. Nervenleben
3. Atmungsleben
4. Zirkulationsleben
5. Stoffwechselleben
6. Bewegungsleben
7. Reproduktionsleben
[ 14 ] Wir haben auf diese Weise, wie wir gestern zwölf Formelemente der Gesamtform des Menschen entwickelten, heute sieben Lebensstufen entwickelt. Diese sieben Lebensstufen, sie sind in der Tat so, daß der Mensch mit Bezug auf seinen Ätherleib in verschiedener Weise lebt auf diesen verschiedenen Lebensstufen. Wir können nicht von einem einzelnen, verwaschenen Leben reden, wenn wir die Dinge im Ernste ins Auge fassen wollen.
[ 15 ] Unser Ätherleib lebt zunächst, wenn ich so sagen darf, in der Sinnenschichte. Er lebt in der Sinnenschichte das Sinnesleben. Dieses Leben in der Sinnenschichte, das ist das Leben, das wir in der Tat kaum mehr als Leben empfinden. Wir nehmen dadurch an der Außenwelt teil. Unser Ätherleib, sagen wir, wenn wir da zum Beispiel das Auge haben, durchdringt das Auge. Er ist lebendig. Er belebt dadurch in einer gehalblinks issen Weise das Auge. Aber er berührt sich mit einem Substantiellen im Auge, das nahe dem Sterben ist. Nur dadurch, daß der Ätherleib dieses Auge noch durchdringt, ist es ein lebendiges Organ. Es ist eigentlich, abgesehen von dem es durchdringenden Ätherleib, ein physikalischer Apparat.
[ 16 ] Nun ist das bei den verschiedenen Sinnen in der verschiedensten Weise ausgebildet, daß sie auf der einen Seite ein physikalischer Apparat sind und dann vom Ätherleib durchdrungen sind. Aber im großen und ganzen ist es doch durchaus so, daß die Sinnesorgane eigentlich tote Organe sind, die eben nur einfach vom Ätherleib durchdrungen sind. So daß man das Sinnesleben schon nennen kann das ersterbende Leben (siehe Aufstellung Seite 89).
[ 17 ] Das Nervenleben hingegen, das bildet aus dem, was in den Sinnen erlebt wird, das, was das Sinnesleben dann bewahren kann. Auf dem Nervenleben beruhen alle Nachklänge, Nachwirkungen zum Beispiel, wenn wir das Auge betrachten, so daß wir im Nervenleben eine Art von ruhendem Leben haben, ein, wir können sagen, ruhendes oder bewahrendes Leben.
[ 18 ] Das Atmungsleben dagegen, das bringt dieses flüchtige und sich bewahrende Sinnesleben zur Bildhaftigkeit. Auf der Berührung des Atmungsrhythmus mit den Nervenströmungen beruht es, daß wir uns Bilder machen können von der äußeren Welt. Gedanken, abstrakte Gedanken sind noch durchaus an das Nervenleben gebunden, aber das Bildhafte ist an das Atmungsleben gebunden. So daß man sagen kann: Hier haben wir das bildende Leben. — Wir haben also, indem wir atmen, bildendes Leben in uns. Dieses bildende Leben lebt natürlich in der menschlichen Form. Dadurch, daß es in der menschlichen Form lebt, nimmt es teil an der menschlichen Form.
[ 19 ] Die menschliche Form, sie ist, wie wir gesehen haben, gebildet nach dem Tierkreis. Indem gerade dieses bildende Leben, das durch das Atmen vermittelt wird, in der Form des Menschen lebt, nimmt es auch teil an der gesamten äußeren, aus dem Sternenhimmel herausgebildeten Form. Dadurch gliedert sich diese Form auch in das Innere des Menschen hinein. Und es beruht dann auf dem Atmen, daß aus dem Atmungsprozeß nicht nur herauskommt, was der Mensch im Bewußtsein hat, sondern daß herauskommen aus dem Atmungsprozeß zunächst die Bilder sämtlicher innerer Organe in der Nachbildung an die äußere Form. Die inneren Organe werden also auf dem Umwege durch den Atmungsprozeß zunächst als Bilder gebildet. Da sind sie noch nicht substantiell. Der Atem bildet zunächst ein Bild des Menschen, ein Bild des inneren Menschen. Indem wir atmen — wir atmen ja in der Welt, bewegen uns mit der Erde im Tierkreis -, atmen wir fortwährend die Bilder unserer inneren Organisation ein. Aus dem äußeren Leben atmen wir die Bilder unserer inneren Organisation ein. So daß wir sagen können: Hier haben wir das bildende Leben. — Diese Bilder, die da eingeatmet werden, die werden nun durch das Zirkulationsleben über den ganzen Organismus verbreitet. Zirkulationsleben und Atmungsleben zusammen führen den Menschen dazu, innerlich Bild der Welt zu sein. Wir können also sagen: Hier das bildende Leben, und dann können wir sagen: die sich verbreitenden Bilder, das sich Verbreitende, die sich verbreitenden Organbilder.
[ 20 ] Dadurch nun, daß das Zirkulationsleben an den Stoffwechsel sich anschließt, wird der Stoff eingefügt diesen Bildern, und es entstehen bei der fünften Lebensstufe die stofflichen Organe. Es schiebt sich der Stoff in die Bilder hinein. Er tingiert die Bilder. Wir haben also durch unseren oberen Menschen, durch unser Atmungsleben unser inneres Bild, und die Bilder machen wir gewissermaßen zu Wirklichkeiten durch den tingierenden Stoff, der sich da hineinschiebt.
[ 21 ] Aus dem Bewegungsleben schiebt sich in die stofflichen Organe die Kraft ein. So daß wir sagen können: Wir haben die stofflichen Organe, und hier haben wir das kraftende Leben in den Organen. Und das Reproduktionsleben ist dann das sich erneuernde Leben.
[ 22 ] Sie sehen da zu gleicher Zeit, wie der dreigegliederte Mensch gebildet ist: der Nerven-Sinnesmensch, der Zirkulationsmensch, der Mensch des Rhythmus, und der Stoffwechsel-Gliedmaßenmensch oder Stoffwechsel-Bewegungsmensch. Durch die Reproduktion entsteht ja wiederum erst der neue Mensch.
[ 23 ] Diese Attribute, die ich Ihnen hier rechts dazugeschrieben habe, die geben Ihnen eine Vorstellung von den Unterschieden, die zwischen den Lebensstufen bestehen. Indem unser Ätherleib in den Sinnen lebt, lebt er in einer Art ersterbendem Leben. In einem bewahrenden Leben lebt er, indem er im Nervenleben, in den Nervenströmen ist. Im Atmungsleben wird eigentlich unser Ätherleib der richtige Bildekräfteleib, der die Bilder entwirft. Und daß diese Bilder dann wirklich zur gesamten inneren Organisation werden, das vermittelt das Zirkulationsleben. Mit Stoff füllt sich das aus vom Stoffwechselleben. Indem der Ätherleib den Stoffwechsel durchdringt, tingiert er den eigentlichen Bildekräfteleib. Und dann kommt die subjektive menschliche Kraft hinein durch das Leben der Gliedmaßen und so weiter.
[ 24 ] Auch diese Zusammenhänge hat eine alte instinktive Weisheit durchschaut. Sie wußte, daß der Mensch das Leben von außen aufnimmt und innerlich weiterbildet, richtig innerlich weiterbildet. So etwa dachten sich diese älteren Weisen die Sache. Sie sagten sich: Nehmen wir eine äußerste Schichte des Erdenumkreises, der Weltensphäre, nehmen wir eine nächste Schichte, nehmen wir eine weitere Schichte — so haben wir die äußerste Schichte zunächst am nächsten dem Fixsternhimmel, also demjenigen im Weltenall, dem der Mensch seine Form verdankt. Sein Leben, sagte nun diese ältere instinktive Weisheit, erfließt ihm nicht aus dem Fixsternhimmel, sondern aus dem planetarischen Himmel. Da unterschied er zunächst den Saturn, den Jupiter, den Mars, die Sonne. Wenn wir die Sonne in ihrer wahren Wesenheit ins Auge fassen, ich habe ja über diese wahre Wesenheit der Sonne des öfteren gesprochen, so unterscheidet sie sich - man nennt sie deshalb in der populären Astronomie einen Fixstern — von den übrigen Gliedern des Planetensystems, das zur Erde gehört, dadurch, daß sie als Lichtquelle erscheint. Sie erscheint als Lichtquelle. Sie ist insofern von den anderen Gliedern verschieden, als die anderen Glieder nicht als Lichtquellen erscheinen, sondern sie erscheinen als Bilder. Man sagt ja deshalb auch in der populären Astronomie: Sie haben das erborgte Licht, sie strahlen das Licht der Sonne zurück. — Die Sonne selbst erzeugt, im populären Sinne gesprochen, das Licht; die anderen planetarischen Körper strahlen das Licht zurück.
[ 25 ] Vergegenwärtigen Sie sich den Unterschied: ob man Sonne hat, die das eigene Wesen aus sich hervorgehen läßt in dem Lichte, oder ob man die anderen Himmelskörper, die Planeten hat, die nur das Bild des äußeren Wesens zeigen, gewissermaßen nur, was sie an der Oberfläche tragen, dadurch sichtbar machen, daß sie das Sonnenlicht zurückwerfen. Es ist ein wesentlicher Unterschied.
[ 26] Und indem die Sonne gewissermaßen die Quelle des Lichtes ist, ist sie auch die Quelle des Lebens. Und sie ist auch noch eine andere Quelle. Zu allen Zeiten hat man schon innerhalb der instinktiven Erkenntnis gesprochen von einer dreifachen Sonne, von der Sonne als Lichtquelle, Lebensquelle, Liebesquelle. Diese Trinität ist durchaus in der Sonne enthalten.
[ 27 ] Nun brauchen Sie heute gar nicht zu sündigen wider das kopernikanische Weltensystem, sondern Sie können es durchaus beibehalten und können dennoch aus diesem kopernikanischen Weltensystem heraus einsehen, was die Alten, die eine instinktive kosmische Erkenntnis gehabt haben, mit ihrem Weltensystem gemeint haben. Nehmen wir also an, kopernikanisch gedacht in der Mitte, oder meinetwillen in einem Brennpunkte, aber das können wir jetzt unbeachtet lassen, da stehe die Sonne; es drehen sich Merkur, Venus, Erde, Mars — die Planetoiden können wir heute unberücksichtigt lassen —, Jupiter, Saturn um sie herum.
[ 28 ] Nun nehmen wir die Sache aber so; Nehmen wir hier die Stellung, die ja durchaus auch möglich ist, daß wir hier (oben) haben Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, und nun kommen wir zu Sonne, Merkur, Venus, Erde mit dem Mond aber, den wir hier so aufstellen.
[ 29 ] Nun ist eine solche Stellung natürlich nicht notwendig ins Auge zu fassen, sondern ich stelle sie nur deshalb hin, um Ihnen zu zeigen, daß in der Tat, trotz des kopernikanischen Systems, auch die Reihenfolge möglich ist, welche die Alten angenommen haben: Mond, Venus, Merkur, Sonne, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Man braucht nur die Konstellationen so zu nehmen, daß eben die Erde auf einer Seite von der Sonne steht und irgendwo auf der anderen die äußeren Planeten. Es ist ja gar nicht nötig, daß eine solche Oppositions- oder Konjunktionsstellung stattfindet, das kann ja auch alternierend geschehen, abwechselnd, aber diese Reihenfolge ist eben durchaus auch denkbar. Und an diese Reihenfolge hat eine alte instinktive Weisheit gedacht.
[ 30 ] Warum? Weil ihr diese Reihenfolge wichtig erschien. Der alte Mensch sagte sich: Nehmen wir an, hier auf der Erde lebe der Mensch. Der Mensch ist ausgesetzt dem Universum. Er erlebt die Sonnenstrahlen. Die Sonnenstrahlen sind ihm zunächst Lichtquelle, Lebensquelle, Liebesquelle. Dadurch kommt Licht, Leben, Liebe in ihn hinein. Die Sonne ist die Quelle von diesen dreien. Nun ist aber der Mensch nicht nur ausgesetzt dem Sonnenleben, der Sonnenliebe, dem Sonnenlichte, sondern auch dem Bildhaften des Saturn. Wenn der Mensch bloß, auf der Erde sich entwickelnd, dem Sonnenleben ausgesetzt wäre, dann würde er das Leben seiner Sinne nicht entwickeln können. Nehmen wir die Augen - einen Sinn: sie würden sich nicht als physikalische Apparate absondern. Sie würden so wie irgendein anderer Teil des menschlichen Körpers dadrinnen sitzen. Sie würden etwa Muskelorgane oder so etwas sein, Gefäße. Also wenn der Mensch fortwährend der Sonne ausgesetzt wäre, würde er eben seine Augen, aber auch die anderen Sinne nicht entwickeln können. Daß er die Sinne entwickeln kann, das verdankt er dem Umstande, daß den Sonneneinfluß abschwächt der Saturn, der in der äußersten Sphäre sich herumbewegt. Also dieser Saturn trocknet gewissermaßen das Gefäß aus, und es entsteht dadurch der physikalische Apparat, grob gesprochen. So daß aus dieser instinktiven Erkenntnis heraus, auf die wir heute wieder kommen, der alte Mensch sagte: Das Sinnesleben ist hereingewirkt vom Saturn.
[ 31 ] Und ein Zweites: Der Mensch ist nun nicht bloß dem Saturnleben ausgesetzt. Wenn er dem Sonnenleben fortwährend ausgesetzt wäre, würde er nicht nur keine Sinne entwickeln können, sondern er würde auch sein Nervenleben nicht entwickeln können. Das Nervenleben, das trocknet aus, sonst würde es überwuchern. Die Nerven würden auch Organe sein so wie etwa die Muskeln. Dieses Austrocknende im Nervenleben, das ist der Einwirkung von Jupiter entsprechend. So daß der alte Mensch gesagt hat: Das Nervenleben wird angeregt vom Jupiter.
[ 32 ] Sehen Sie, der Saturn kreist um die Sonne herum in dreißig Jahren etwa annähernd. Da erlebt natürlich der Mensch, wenn er auf der Erde lebt, einmal annähernd, daß der Saturn gewissermaßen von der Sonne zugedeckt ist. Wenn der Mensch das Glück hat, den Saturn von der Sonne besonders stark zugedeckt zu erhalten, dann dämmert in sein Sinnesleben hinein ein starkes Sonnenleben. Man möchte sagen: Die Augen oder andere Sinne — die Augen kommen dabei allerdings am wenigsten in Betracht, aber wir können an ihnen, weil sie am deutlichsten sind, am besten exemplifizieren -, die Augen bekommen dann eine Anregung. Wenn der Mensch also während seines Erdenlebens einmal die Konstellation erlebt, daß gewissermaßen der Saturn auf seine Sinne nicht wirkt, dann kann es sein, daß er die Entdeckung macht, wie gerade durch seine Sinne eine besondere kosmische Einwirkung geschieht. Er bekommt eine Anregung. Er wird sinnlich stärker. Solche Dinge gibt es. Die wollen dann die Menschen als alles mögliche erklären, nur nicht als das, was sie sind.
[ 33 ] Es gibt heute eine ganz große amerikanische Literatur über diese Dinge. Da kommt William James und redet von allerlei «Erweckungen». Er redet davon, wie es Menschen gibt, in denen das Leben eine besondere Erweckung erfährt. Lesen Sie nur einmal nach in den Büchern dieses William James und in denen seiner Schüler, da werden Sie finden, daß das ein besonderes Phänomen ausmacht, daß der Mensch zu irgendeiner Zeit eine besondere Anregung erfährt. Natürlich wissen diese Leute nicht, wovon das kommt, wissen nicht, daß das davon kommt, daß solch eine Konstellation eintritt entweder mit Saturn oder Jupiter. Wenn das Saturnleben verdeckt wird, wird das Sinnesleben besonders angeregt; wenn das Jupiterleben verdeckt wird, was noch leichter sein kann übrigens, weil Jupiter alle zwölf Jahre, also schneller herumkreist, da findet der Mensch eine Anregung seines Nervenlebens.
[ 34 ] Alle diese Dinge, die da verzeichnet werden, die werden ins Unterbewußtsein verlegt. Dieses Unterbewußtsein, das ist das reine Faulbett heute für alle Leute von der Sorte des William James, von der Sorte der Psychoanalytiker. Dieses Unterbewußtsein, es ist ja ein rein negativer Begriff, es ist ein Spucknapf, in den man alles hineinspucken kann, wofür man gar keine Erklärung mehr hat im Leben. Ein reiner Spucktopf ist dieses Unterbewußtsein. Da muß alles herein, ’rein, ’rein; da sind die verborgenen Seelen-«Provinzen», nicht wahr, drinnen, die dann gelegentlich reagieren und so weiter. Es wäre schon im höchsten Grade wünschenswert, daß alle diese sowohl pragmatischen wie psychoanalytischen Theorien einmal eine gründlichere Beleuchtung erfahren würden.
[ 35 ] Der dritte Planet ist dann der Mars. Er schwächt das wuchtende Leben zur Atmung ab. Auch bei ihm kann natürlich das der Fall sein, daß die Sonne ihn zudeckt. Dann kann das Atmungsleben eine besondere Anregung erfahren. Da der Mars aber sehr rasch, etwa in zwei Jahren herumkreist, so ist das so, daß das fast jeder Mensch erfährt, und daher jeder Mensch in seinem Atmungsleben, in seinem Bild-Erleben gewisse Anregungen bekommt. Sie sind ja nicht immer allerersten Ranges, aber die Menschen werden dann Dichter oder so was dergleichen, oder Komponisten, die Anregungen in ihrem Atmungsleben empfangen. Da geht es dann nicht so tief, daß dann Leute wie James dem nachspekulieren. Das findet man als etwas Erklärliches. Also den Mars betrachteten die alten instinktiven Weisen als Anreger für das Atmungsleben.
[ 36 ] Dann ist es das Sonnenleben selber, welches den Menschen anregt, die Sonne selber, die Sonne als das Leben-, Liebe-, Licht-Erregende, äußerlich Licht-Erregende, innerlich Liebe-Erregende und im Verkehr mit der Außenwelt Leben-Erregende. Das wird nun in die Mitte zwischen Atmungsleben und Zirkulationsleben versetzt, wohin es auch die alte Weisheit versetzt hat. Zwischen dem Atmungsleben und dem Zirkulationsleben liegt ja das Herz, der Ausdruck, nicht der Motor, aber der Ausdruck für das, was zwischen Zirkulation und Atmung sich abspielt.
[ 37 ] Und wir kommen dann zum Stoffwechsel. Wie gesagt, die alte Wissenschaft hat nun die Konstellation so betrachtet: den Merkur hat sie nun nicht so betrachtet, daß sie das Hauptaugenmerk darauf legte, inwiefern die Sonne ihn zudecken kann wie die anderen Planeten, sondern inwiefern er die Sonne zudeckt gegenüber der Erde, also daß er die Sonne zudeckt. Für den Merkur betrachtete die alte Weisheit die Stellung zwischen Sonne und Erde als das Wesentliche. Für den Jupiter betrachtete die alte Weisheit die Stellung außerhalb der Sonne als das Wesentliche. Für den Merkur fand sie wichtig für die Entwickelung des Lebens des Menschen die Stellung zwischen Sonne und Erde. Da deckt der Merkur die Sonne zu. Sonst hat immer die Sonne die anderen zugedeckt; hier deckt der Merkur die Sonne zu, das heißt, er schwächt das Leben ab. Indem dadurch eine Wirkung ausgeübt wird, daß also das Sonnenleben abgeschwächt wird, regt sich das abgeschwächte Leben im Inneren. Der Mensch würde — wenn sich dieses Leben nicht abschwächen würde —, er würde, wenn er irgend etwas zu sich nehmen würde, es — verzeihen Sie — sofort wieder ausspeien; er würde gar nichts von äußerem Stoff in sich dulden, er würde fortwährend speien. Er würde sich dann das Essen abgewöhnen, weil das ja zu langweilig wäre. Das Leben der Sonne ist eben so stark im Menschen. Wenn also nur Herz-, das heißt Sonnenleben wäre, würde der Mensch nichts in sich verarbeiten können von Stoffen. Er würde alles gleich ausspeien. Daß der Mensch einen Stoffwechsel entwickeln kann, das verdankt er lediglich dem Umstande, daß hier das Merkurleben etwas abschwächt das Sonnenleben. So daß aus diesem Grunde die alte Weisheit eingeschaltet sich dachte, als fortwirkend aus dem Kosmos, zwischen das Zirkulationsleben und das Stoffwechselleben, das Merkurwesen. Das Merkurwesen schiebt also den Stoff durch den menschlichen Organismus hindurch in die einzelnen Organe hinein. Die Kraft aber wird hineingestoßen durch das Bewegungsleben.
[ 38 ] Das Bewegungsleben, das ist nun ebenso abhängig von dem Venusleben wie das Stoffwechselleben von dem Merkurleben. Daher hat die alte Weisheit hier die Kraft, welche durchfließt, also dieses innerliche Sich-selbst-Erneuern, dieses Einen-zweiten-Kraftmenschen-in-sichFühlen, dem Venusleben zugeschrieben.
[ 39 ] Das Mondenleben, das nahe dem Erdenleben selber liegt, das wirkt nun nicht bloß so abschwächend, daß der Mensch Stoff, daß er Kraft verarbeitet. Ich habe das einmal auseinandergesetzt, worauf die Reproduktion beruht: Es wird ausgespart, es wird gewissermaßen organisch Materie zurückgeschoben. Darauf beruht ja die Keimesbildung im Menschen, daß organisch Materie zurückgeschoben wird und daß aus dem Kosmos heraus der Embryo eigentlich seiner Kraft nach organisiert wird. Das Reproduktionsleben beruht in dieser Beziehung auf dem Mondenleben.
[ 40 ] So wie ich Ihnen gestern die Beziehung der menschlichen Form in ihren zwölf Stücken darstellen konnte in Beziehung auf den Fixsternhimmel, so habe ich mich heute bemüht, Ihnen zu zeigen, wie sowohl im Einklange mit der alten instinktiven Weisheit, wie im Einklange mit der neueren anthroposophischen Wissenschaft das Leben des Menschen in seinen verschiedenen Stufen zusammenhängt mit dem planetarisch-kosmischen Leben. Und das geschieht dadurch, daß in der Tat durch die verschiedene Stellung der Erde zu den Gliedern des Planetensystems und zu dessen Mittelpunkt, der Sonne, das Leben in der verschiedensten Weise modifiziert wird. Es wird erstorben gemacht, bewahrt, in Bildung getrieben im oberen Menschen. Es wird abgeschwächt im unteren Menschen, so daß der Mensch von der Erde aufnehmen kann das Stoffliche, die Kraft der Erde. Der Mensch nimmt einfach die Abstoßungskraft der Erde in seine eigene Kraft auf und bildet dadurch die Kraft seiner Organe aus und so weiter.
[ 41 ] So sehen wir auch das Leben des Menschen aus dem Kosmos hervorgehen (siehe Aufstellung: Planeten).
[ 42 ] Wir haben hier die Möglichkeit, uns zu sagen: Schauen wir zum Fixsternhimmel hinauf, dann sehen wir im Fixsternhimmel die Repräsentanten, nämlich in den Tierkreisbildern die Repräsentanten der Bildung der menschlichen Form. Beobachten wir die Bewegung der Planeten, so haben wir darinnen das, was uns aus dem Kosmos heraus erklärlich macht die verschiedenen menschlichen Lebensstufen. Wir blikken bis zum Saturn, indem wir das Sinnesleben nehmen, bis zum Jupiter, indem wir das Nervenleben nehmen, bis zum Mars, indem wir das Atmungsleben nehmen. Dieses Atmungsleben wirkt in Bildern.
[ 43 ] Nun stellen wir einmal dieses Atmungsleben besonders heraus. Ich sagte Ihnen: Die Bilder werden aufgenommen aus dem Kosmos heraus: Form. Also das, was aus dem Tierkreis heraus erlebt wird in der Bewegung, das fließt gewissermaßen als die Bilder der inneren Organe nach innen. Aber der Mensch steht zwischen Geburt und Tod auf der Erde. Das Untere wirkt nach dem Oberen hinauf. Dadurch wird immer alles polarisch ausgebildet. Diese Bilder gehen schon nach innen; sonst hätten wir eben keine Organe, wenn die Bilder nicht nach innen gehen würden und tingiert werden könnten mit dem Stoffe. Aber es findet überall ein Gegenüber statt. So daß wir sagen können: Wenn wir atmen, werden die Bilder — sagen wir also zum Beispiel das Bild der Niere — nach innen getrieben. Der Stoff, der füllt dann das aus (rot); aber es entsteht ein Gegenüber, nach oben wiederum. Das heißt, es werden gewissermaßen im Echo diese Bilder wieder zurückgeworfen. Also die Bilder, die hat der Mensch einmal aufgenommen. Sie müssen nicht an Gleichzeitigkeit denken, die Organe sind einmal da. Der Mensch hat die Dinge natürlich gebildet in den ersten Zeiten seines Erdendaseins, aber der Rückschlag kann fortwährend geschehen. Wie das Seelische dabei mitwirkt, werden wir dann morgen sehen. Der Rückschlag geschieht fortwährend. Also stellen Sie sich jedes für sich-vor: Sie nehmen die Bilder für Ihre inneren Organe mit dem Lebensprozesse auf. Das wird wiederum zurückgestoßen, das heißt, es kommen wiederum herauf, zurück die Echos dieser Bilder, auch der Tierkreis, namentlich mit dem Atmungsleben darinnen. Nun, Sie brauchen bloß an Ihre Ohren zu denken, dann haben Sie diesen Rückschlag. Diese Bilder werden in die Luft hinein gebildet, das sind die Vokale, die Konsonanten! Von den Planeten kommen mehr die Vokale, von den Tierkreisbildern kommen die Konsonanten. Dieser Rückschlag ist die Sprache. Was hineingeht, bildet die Organe. Was wiederum zurückgeschlagen wird, lebt in der Sprache. Konsonanten und Vokale werden gewissermaßen in uns hineingetrieben, bilden die Grundlage unserer Organe. Was mehr Form ist in unserem Inneren, kommt mehr von den Tierkreisbildern, was mehr Leben ist, kommt mehr von den Planeten. Wenn mehr das Leben zurückgeschlagen wird, vokalisieren wir, wenn mehr die Formen zurückgeschlagen werden, konsonantisieren wir. Das alles hängt in einer gewissen Weise mit dem Atmungsleben zusammen. Nun, in der Sprache haben Sie es ja deutlich, wie sie mit dem Atmungsleben zusammenhängt.
[ 44 ] Sehen Sie, es ist schon nichts damit, den Menschen so erklären zu wollen, daß man ihn auf den Seziertisch legt und untersucht, was innerhalb seiner Haut ist. Das gibt nichts anderes, als wenn jemand eine Magnetnadel nimmt und absehen will davon, daß die Erde selber ein oben halb links (rot) großer Magnet ist, so daß das eine Ende nach Norden getrieben wird, das andere nach Süden getrieben wird von außerhalb. Wenn einer durchaus erklären möchte, warum diese Magnetnadel in sich just die Tendenz hat, sich in eine Richtung zu stellen — denn drehe ich sie, sie dreht sich immer wieder um -, wenn man ihr das zuschreibt, wenn man also eine Theorie erfindet, warum die Magnetnadel aus sich heraus sich so stellt, wenn man keine Rücksicht darauf nehmen will, daß die Erdenkräfte sie richten, dann tut man genau dasselbe, was man heute tut innerhalb der Anatomie und Physiologie, wenn man den Menschen erklären will aus dem, was innerhalb seiner Haut liegt. Es ist nicht zu erklären aus dem, was innerhalb seiner Haut liegt. Alle die Leute, die da zum Beispiel die Sprache erklären wollen aus dem, was innerhalb des Menschen ist, die stehen auf der Stufe dieser Magnetnadelerklärung, während die Wahrheit diese ist, daß der Mensch in sich aufnimmt der Form nach das Fixsternleben, es wiedergibt im Echo, dadurch Konsonanten bildet. Er nimmt auf die Bewegungen des planetarischen Lebens, die sein eigenes Leben bewirken. Da wird namentlich durch das Atmungsleben in Bildern gebildet. Es wird aber zurückgeschlagen; dadurch entstehen die Vokale. Der Mensch in seiner Sprache ist nur erklärbar, wenn man die Konsonanten aus den Fixsterngruppierungen, die Vokale aus den Planetenbewegungen beziehungsweise aus den Übereinanderlagerungen der Planeten erklärt, wenn man also das, was der Mensch spricht, aus dem ganzen Kosmos erklärt.
[ 45 ] Sie haben hier in der Sonne (siehe Zeichnung Seite 89, waagrechter Strich) gewissermaßen die Mitte. Nehmen Sie die drei oberen Glieder, so haben Sie den oberen Menschen. Nehmen Sie die drei unteren Glieder, so haben Sie den unteren Menschen. Das Reproduktionsleben bringt ja den neuen Menschen hervor. Nehmen Sie nun das Atmungsleben und Zirkulationsleben. Das Zirkulationsleben ist es namentlich, welches die planetarische Bewegung abbildet. Unser Blutkreislauf ist im Grunde genommen nichts als eine Abbildung des planetarischen Lebens. So daß wir auch sagen können: Aus dem Zirkulationsleben kommen die Vokale, aus dem Atmungsleben kommen die Konsonanten. Und nun bekommen Sie wieder eine merkwürdige Zuordnung. Das Stoffwechselleben können Sie dem Nervenleben zuordnen; das Bewegungsleben können Sie dem Sinnesleben zuordnen. Das Sinnesieben aber, das ist zugeordnet dem Saturn, der Saturnbewegung. Die Saturnbewegung geht, wenn ich so sagen darf, am nächsten vorbei an dem Tierkreise, geradeso wie im Bewegungsleben der Mensch sich am besten nach außen hinaus abbildet. Will man daher die kosmischen Geheimnisse durch den Menschen abbilden lassen, so hat man zu dem einen Pol das Sinnesleben, zu dem anderen Pol das Bewegungsleben, und man bekommt daraus — die Eurythmie. In der Eurythmie ist also unmittelbar ein Abbild der peripherisch kosmischen Beziehung des Menschen zu sehen. Das wollte ich nur zunächst andeuten.
[ 46 ] Was ich Ihnen also heute habe entwickeln wollen, das ist der Zusammenhang des Menschen mit dem Kosmos in bezug auf sein Leben. Gestern wollte ich Ihnen den Zusammenhang des Menschen mit dem Kosmos in bezug auf seine Form darlegen. Morgen werden wir nun dazu übergehen, das dritte Element des Menschen im Verhältnis zur Welt zu betrachten, die Seele. Dann haben wir betrachtet: Form, Leben und Seele. Also morgen wollen wir die Seele des Menschen dem kosmischen Leben zuteilen.
Sixteenth Lecture
[ 1 ] Yesterday we spoke about the formation of the human being and saw how the inner and outer forms of the human being are developed out of the universe. At the same time, we saw how significant it was in earlier times of instinctive cognition that people understood this connection between the human form and the entire universe. However, we must note the following. In one of the drawings, I showed how the entire zodiac can be drawn into the human form. But then we actually had to draw the embryonic form of the human being as the human form. And when we draw this embryonic form, we have literally reproduced the form of the zodiac in the form of the human being itself. But in a sense, the human being tears himself out of this embryonic form during his life here on earth between birth and death. During the embryonic period, he is completely formed out of the universe. I would say that he then stretches himself out during his time on earth. In doing so, he lifts his head out of the circle that is modeled after the zodiac. And by lifting his head, by still having the form he received in his embryonic state during his physical life, but no longer integrating it into the fixed starry sky, man initially gains the possibility, in relation to the form of his head, of taking into this head form what he brings with him from his previous earthly life.
[ 2 ] The animal retains its horizontal spine. The head hangs at the front, attached only to the spine. Animals basically retain much more of this zodiacal position. However, this means that animals cannot absorb anything from a previous earthly life with the help of their heads. This is the case when we look at the form of the human being from one side, when we say to ourselves: if the human being were modeled exactly after the zodiac, he would have this form (embryo). Then, if he retained this form during his life, he would not be able to take up his essence from his previous incarnation through the form of his head. By lifting the head out of this position, the form is enabled to become a covering for what comes from the previous earthly life.
[ 3 ] But in the same way, the human being then lifts out the other side, which is oriented toward the last signs of the zodiac, toward Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces, that is, as we said yesterday, toward the outer life, toward the older outer conditions of life: hunting, animal husbandry, agriculture, and trade, shipping. Because humans form these activities out of their will, that is, out of their limb system, which they have lifted out of the zodiacal orientation, they retain in all these activities, in all human activities, the possibility of the seed for later earthly lives. Animals remain completely oriented within the zodiac. This means that animals have no possibility of taking anything from a previous earthly life or looking forward to a subsequent earthly life. Therefore, what we have called the orientation circle, the zodiac, is called the zodiac out of a deep wisdom of older instinctive knowledge.
[ 4 ] From all this you can see how thorough this older instinctive wisdom actually was, and how, when we engage in spiritual science today, not from instinct but from clear consciousness, we arrive at the same facts and thereby recognize again what lived in ancient instinctive knowledge, as I have indicated in the last few lectures here, and for which we gain more and more respect the more insight we gain into this ancient wisdom of human beings. That is what I would like to say to you first about the form.
[ 5 ] What now flows into this form in human beings, so to speak, what is poured into this form, is life. We find this human life localized in the etheric body of the human being, just as we find the form localized in the physical body. And it is entirely correct, when considering the physical body of the human being, to study it in terms of its form, for form is the essential element of the physical body. Added to the physical body is the etheric body, and this etheric body of the human being represents, above all, that which is life. So yesterday we discussed form, and today we want to talk about life.
[ 6 ] Yesterday we saw how form is actually composed of twelve different forms, and we tried to study these twelve different forms. The overall form of the human being, internally and externally, arises, as we have seen, from twelve individual forms. In the same way, the life of the human being arises from a series of individual stages of life. And these individual stages of life can initially be placed in front of the soul in the following way (see diagram on page 86).
[ 7 ] The first thing that human beings do not usually regard as a stage of life in their everyday consciousness is the sensory life. The senses are integrated into the whole human being, but they are so much on the periphery, on the outer circle of the human being, that in everyday life we actually forget that this sensory life is the outermost layer of our life. But we have this outermost layer of our life, the life of the senses, surrounding us.
[ 8 ] If we go further inward, limiting ourselves to the observation of life, we come to the continuation of sensory life inward, and this sensory life continues inward in the life of the nerves. The nerves go inward from the sense organs. The nerve life continues the sensory life.
[ 9 ] The nerve life, however, now comes into contact with another life, with another stage of life that unfolds in the human being. I have already characterized this from certain points of view on previous occasions. I have drawn your attention to how human beings breathe in. When they breathe in, they take in the air they breathe. This air, which is initially displaced, sets the human being into a kind of inner rhythm. This continues through the spinal canal to the brain. And I have pointed out what these continuations are based on. Here, nervous life comes into contact with respiratory life. And the next stage of life, when we go inward, is indeed the life of breathing.
[ 10 ] The life of breathing, in turn, is connected to another stage of life.
The breath, if we may say so, constantly renews the blood. The breathing rhythm is thus connected with the blood rhythm, and we can move from the life of breathing to the life of circulation, to the life contained in the circulation rhythm.[ 11 ] Circulation, in turn, is connected on the other side with the entire metabolism. Circulation takes up the metabolism, so that we come to the next stage of life, to metabolism.
[ 12 ] Metabolism, in turn, stimulates what we accomplish in external movement. It is only because human beings live in metabolism that they can move externally. Human metabolism — and animal metabolism too — is such that the human soul can use what goes on in metabolism to produce movements, and we then arrive at the life of movement. Here we are already integrating ourselves into the external world. Here we participate in the external world with what we produce.
[ 13 ] And then there is another stage of life. This is reproductive life, the life of procreation. In movement, human beings are in fact constantly consuming themselves, and internal reproduction must take place precisely because human beings are in motion. So that instead of movement life, one could also write its correlate: internal reproduction, if one were to remain within the human skin. And when this reproduction occurs independently, it occurs in reproductive life, in actual reproduction.
1. Sensory life
2. Nervous life
3. Respiratory life
4. Circulatory life
5. Metabolic life
6. Movement life
7. Reproductive life
[ 14 ] In this way, just as we developed twelve formula elements of the overall form of the human being yesterday, we have today developed seven stages of life. These seven stages of life are such that, in relation to their etheric body, human beings live in different ways at these different stages of life. We cannot speak of a single, blurred life if we want to take things seriously.
[ 15 ] Our etheric body lives, if I may say so, in the sense layer. It lives the sensory life in the sensory layer. This life in the sensory layer is the life that we hardly perceive as life at all. Through it, we participate in the external world. Our etheric body, let us say, when we have the eye, for example, permeates the eye. It is alive. Through this, it animates the eye in a semi-left-handed way. But it comes into contact with something substantial in the eye that is close to death. It is only because the etheric body still permeates this eye that it is a living organ. Apart from the etheric body that permeates it, it is actually a physical apparatus.
[ 16 ] Now, this is formed in various ways in the different senses, in that on the one hand they are physical apparatus and then they are penetrated by the etheric body. But on the whole, it is nevertheless quite true that the sense organs are actually dead organs that are simply penetrated by the etheric body. So that one can already call the sense life the dying life (see list on page 89).
[ 17 ] The nerve life, on the other hand, forms from what is experienced in the senses that which the sense life can then preserve. All after-effects are based on nerve life, for example, when we look at the eye, so that we have a kind of dormant life in nerve life, a dormant or preserving life, so to speak.
[ 18 ] The life of breathing, on the other hand, brings this fleeting and preserving sensory life into pictorial form. It is based on the contact of the breathing rhythm with the nerve currents that we are able to form images of the external world. Thoughts, abstract thoughts, are still completely bound to the life of the nerves, but the pictorial is bound to the life of breathing. So that one can say: Here we have the formative life. — So, by breathing, we have formative life within us. This formative life naturally lives in the human form. By living in the human form, it participates in the human form.
[ 19 ] The human form, as we have seen, is formed according to the zodiac. Precisely because this formative life, which is mediated through breathing, lives in the human form, it also participates in the entire outer form that has been formed out of the starry sky. In this way, this form also structures the inner life of the human being. And it is then due to breathing that not only what the human being has in consciousness emerges from the breathing process, but that the images of all the inner organs first emerge from the breathing process in imitation of the outer form. The inner organs are thus first formed as images by way of the breathing process. At this stage, they are not yet substantial. The breath first forms an image of the human being, an image of the inner human being. By breathing — we breathe in the world, move with the earth in the zodiac — we continually breathe in the images of our inner organization. From outer life we breathe in the images of our inner organization. So we can say: Here we have the formative life. These images that are breathed in are then spread throughout the entire organism by the circulatory life. The circulatory life and the respiratory life together lead the human being to be an inner image of the world. We can therefore say: here is the formative life, and then we can say: the spreading images, the spreading, the spreading organ images.
[ 20 ] Now, because the circulatory life is connected to the metabolism, the substance is incorporated into these images, and in the fifth stage of life, the material organs arise. The substance pushes itself into the images. It colors the images. So, through our higher human nature, through our respiratory life, we have our inner image, and we make these images real, so to speak, through the coloring substance that pushes itself into them.
[ 21 ] From the life of movement, the force pushes itself into the material organs. So we can say: we have the material organs, and here we have the forceful life in the organs. And the reproductive life is then the renewing life.
[ 22 ] At the same time, you can see how the threefold human being is formed: the nerve-sense human being, the circulation human being, the human being of rhythm, and the metabolism-limb human being or metabolism-movement human being. It is through reproduction that the new human being comes into being.
[ 23 ] These attributes, which I have written down for you here on the right, give you an idea of the differences that exist between the stages of life. In that our etheric body lives in the senses, it lives in a kind of dying life. It lives a preserving life by being in the nerve life, in the nerve currents. In the respiratory life, our etheric body actually becomes the true formative body that designs the images. And the circulatory life ensures that these images then really become the entire inner organization. This is filled with substance from the metabolic life. By permeating the metabolism, the etheric body tinges the actual formative body. And then the subjective human force enters through the life of the limbs and so on.
[ 24 ] Ancient instinctive wisdom also understood these connections. It knew that human beings take in life from outside and develop it internally, develop it correctly internally. This is how these older sages thought about it. They said to themselves: Let us take the outermost layer of the earth's orbit, the sphere of the worlds, let us take the next layer, let us take another layer — then we have the outermost layer closest to the fixed starry sky, that is, the one in the universe to which human beings owe their form. Their life, said this older, instinctive wisdom, does not flow to them from the fixed starry sky, but from the planetary sky. Here they first distinguished Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Sun. When we contemplate the sun in its true essence—I have often spoken about this true essence of the sun—it differs from the other members of the planetary system belonging to the earth in that it appears as a source of light. It appears as a source of light. It differs from the other members in that the other members do not appear as sources of light, but appear as images. This is why popular astronomy says that they have borrowed light, that they reflect the light of the sun. The sun itself, in the popular sense, produces light; the other planetary bodies reflect light.
[ 25 ] Consider the difference: whether one has the sun, which allows its own essence to emerge in the light, or whether one has the other celestial bodies, the planets, which only show the image of the outer essence, in a sense only what they carry on their surface, making it visible by reflecting the sunlight. It is an essential difference.
[ 26] And since the sun is, in a sense, the source of light, it is also the source of life. And it is also another source. At all times, instinctive knowledge has spoken of a threefold sun, of the sun as the source of light, the source of life, and the source of love. This trinity is entirely contained in the sun.
[ 27 ] Now you do not need to sin against the Copernican world system today, but you can keep it and still understand from this Copernican world system what the ancients, who had an instinctive cosmic knowledge, meant by their world system. Let us assume, then, thinking in Copernican terms, that the sun is in the center, or, for my sake, at a focal point, but we can leave that aside for now. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars—we can ignore the planetoids today—Jupiter, and Saturn revolve around it.
[ 28 ] Now let us take the matter as it is; let us take the position, which is entirely possible, that we have Saturn, Jupiter, Mars here (above), and now we come to the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth with the Moon, which we place here.
[ 29 ] Now, of course, it is not necessary to consider such a position, but I am only presenting it to show you that, despite the Copernican system, the order assumed by the ancients is indeed possible: Moon, Venus, Mercury, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. One only needs to take the constellations in such a way that the Earth is on one side of the Sun and the outer planets are somewhere on the other side. It is not at all necessary for such an opposition or conjunction to take place; it can also happen alternately, but this order is also quite conceivable. And ancient instinctive wisdom thought of this sequence.
[ 30 ] Why? Because this sequence seemed important to them. The ancients said to themselves: Let us assume that human beings live here on Earth. Human beings are exposed to the universe. They experience the rays of the sun. The sun's rays are initially a source of light, a source of life, a source of love for them. This brings light, life, and love into them. The sun is the source of these three things. But human beings are not only exposed to the life of the sun, the love of the sun, the light of the sun, but also to the imagery of Saturn. If human beings were merely exposed to the life of the sun as they developed on Earth, they would not be able to develop the life of their senses. Take the eyes, for example—one sense: they would not separate themselves as physical apparatuses. They would sit inside the body like any other part of the human body. They would be muscle organs or something similar, vessels. So if humans were constantly exposed to the sun, they would not be able to develop their eyes or any of their other senses. The fact that he can develop his senses is due to the fact that the influence of the sun is weakened by Saturn, which moves around in the outermost sphere. So Saturn, in a sense, dries out the vessel, and this creates the physical apparatus, roughly speaking. So from this instinctive knowledge, to which we return today, the ancient man said: The life of the senses is brought about by Saturn.
[ 31 ] And a second point: Man is not merely exposed to the life of Saturn. If he were constantly exposed to the life of the Sun, he would not only be unable to develop his senses, but he would also be unable to develop his nervous life. The nervous life would dry up, otherwise it would overgrow. The nerves would also be organs, just like the muscles. This drying up in the nervous life corresponds to the influence of Jupiter. So the ancient people said: The nervous life is stimulated by Jupiter.
[ 32 ] You see, Saturn circles around the Sun in approximately thirty years. Naturally, when a human being lives on Earth, he experiences once in approximately thirty years that Saturn is, in a sense, covered by the Sun. If a person is fortunate enough to see Saturn covered by the Sun particularly strongly, then a strong solar life dawns in their sensory life. One might say: the eyes or other senses — the eyes are least important here, but we can use them as the best example because they are the most obvious — the eyes then receive a stimulus. So if, during their earthly life, people experience a constellation in which Saturn does not, so to speak, affect their senses, then they may discover how a special cosmic influence is at work through their senses. They receive a stimulus. Their senses become stronger. Such things happen. People then want to explain them in all sorts of ways, except as what they are.
[ 33 ] There is a great deal of American literature on these things today. William James comes along and talks about all kinds of “awakenings.” He talks about how there are people in whom life undergoes a special awakening. Just read the books by William James and his students, and you will find that it is a special phenomenon that human beings experience a special stimulus at some point in their lives. Of course, these people do not know where this comes from, they do not know that it comes from the fact that such a constellation occurs either with Saturn or Jupiter. When Saturn life is obscured, the sense life is particularly stimulated; when Jupiter life is obscured, which can be even easier, by the way, because Jupiter orbits faster, every twelve years, then the human being finds a stimulation of his nervous life.
[ 34 ] All these things that are recorded there are transferred to the subconscious. This subconscious is today a pure hotbed for all people of the William James type, of the psychoanalyst type. This subconscious is a purely negative concept; it is a spittoon into which one can spit everything for which one has no explanation in life. This subconscious is a pure spittoon. Everything must go in there, in, in; there are the hidden “provinces” of the soul, aren't there, inside, which then occasionally react and so on. It would be highly desirable for all these pragmatic and psychoanalytical theories to be thoroughly examined at some point.
[ 35 ] The third planet is Mars. It weakens the powerful life force to breathing. Of course, it can also be the case that the sun covers it. Then the respiratory life can experience a special stimulation. However, since Mars orbits very quickly, in about two years, this is something that almost every human being experiences, and therefore every human being receives certain stimuli in their respiratory life, in their visual experience. They are not always of the highest order, but people then become poets or something similar, or composers who receive stimulation in their respiratory life. It does not go so deep that people like James speculate about it. It is found to be something explainable. So the ancient instinctive sages regarded Mars as a stimulator of respiratory life.
[ 36 ] Then it is the life of the sun itself that inspires people, the sun itself, the sun as the source of life, love, and light, externally inspiring light, internally inspiring love, and in interaction with the outside world inspiring life. This is now placed in the middle between the respiratory life and the circulatory life, where ancient wisdom has also placed it. Between the respiratory life and the circulatory life lies the heart, the expression, not the motor, but the expression of what takes place between circulation and respiration.
[ 37 ] And then we come to metabolism. As I said, ancient science viewed the constellation in this way: it did not view Mercury in such a way that it focused on the extent to which the Sun could cover it like the other planets, but rather on the extent to which it covered the Sun in relation to the Earth, i.e., that it covered the Sun. For Mercury, ancient wisdom considered the position between the Sun and the Earth to be essential. For Jupiter, ancient wisdom considered the position outside the Sun to be essential. For Mercury, it considered the position between the Sun and the Earth to be important for the development of human life. Mercury covers the Sun. Otherwise, the Sun always covers the others; here Mercury covers the sun, that is, it weakens life. By exerting an effect in this way, that is, by weakening the life of the sun, the weakened life within is stimulated. If this life were not weakened, human beings would, if they took anything into themselves, immediately spit it out again; he would not tolerate any external substance within himself, he would vomit continuously. He would then lose the habit of eating because it would be too boring. The life of the sun is just as strong in man. If there were only heart life, that is, sun life, man would not be able to process any substances within himself. They would spit everything out immediately. The fact that humans can develop a metabolism is solely due to the fact that the mercury life somewhat weakens the sun life. For this reason, ancient wisdom intervened, thinking that the mercury being was continuing to work from the cosmos between the circulatory life and the metabolic life. The Mercury being thus pushes the substance through the human organism into the individual organs. But the force is pushed in by the life of movement.
[ 38 ] The life of movement is just as dependent on the Venus life as the metabolic life is on the Mercury life. That is why ancient wisdom attributes to the Venus life the force that flows through, that is, this inner self-renewal, this feeling of having a second, powerful being within oneself.
[ 39 ] The life of the moon, which is close to the life of the earth itself, does not merely have a weakening effect, causing human beings to process matter and energy. I once analyzed what reproduction is based on: something is left out, matter is pushed back, so to speak, in an organic way. This is what germ formation in humans is based on, that matter is pushed back organically and that the embryo is actually organized from the cosmos according to its power. In this respect, reproductive life is based on lunar life.
[ 40 ] Just as I was able to show you yesterday the relationship of the human form in its twelve parts to the fixed starry sky, I have endeavored today to show you how, in accordance with both ancient instinctive wisdom and more recent anthroposophical science, human life in its various stages is connected with planetary-cosmic life. And this happens because the different position of the Earth in relation to the members of the planetary system and to its center, the Sun, modifies life in various ways. It is made dead, preserved, driven into formation in the upper human being. It is weakened in the lower human being so that the human being can take in the material, the power of the Earth. Man simply takes the repulsive force of the earth into his own power and thereby develops the power of his organs, and so on.
[ 41 ] Thus we also see human life emerging from the cosmos (see diagram: planets).
[ 42 ] Here we have the opportunity to say to ourselves: When we look up at the fixed stars, we see in them the representatives, namely in the signs of the zodiac, the representatives of the formation of the human form. If we observe the movement of the planets, we find within them what explains to us from the cosmos the various stages of human life. We look up to Saturn with our sense life, to Jupiter with our nerve life, and to Mars with our respiratory life. This respiratory life works in images.
[ 43 ] Now let us highlight this respiratory life in particular. I told you: the images are taken from the cosmos: form. So what is experienced in the movement of the zodiac flows inward, as it were, as images of the inner organs. But between birth and death, the human being stands on the earth. The lower part works upward toward the upper part. This means that everything is always formed in a polar way. These images already go inward; otherwise we would not have any organs if the images did not go inward and could be tinged with matter. But there is a counterpart everywhere. So we can say that when we breathe, the images — let's say, for example, the image of the kidney — are driven inward. The substance then fills this (red); but a counterpart arises, again upwards. This means that these images are, in a sense, thrown back in an echo. So the images that the human being has once taken in. You must not think of simultaneity; the organs are there once. The human being naturally formed things in the early stages of its earthly existence, but the recoil can happen continuously. We will see tomorrow how the soul plays a part in this. The setback happens continuously. So imagine each one for yourself: you take in the images for your inner organs with the life processes. These are then pushed back, that is, the echoes of these images come back up again, including the zodiac, namely with the respiratory life within them. Now, you only need to think of your ears, and you have this setback. These images are formed in the air; these are the vowels, the consonants! The vowels come more from the planets, the consonants come from the zodiac images. This setback is language. What goes in forms the organs. What is rejected lives in language. Consonants and vowels are, in a sense, driven into us and form the basis of our organs. What is more form within us comes more from the zodiac signs, what is more life comes more from the planets. When more of life is thrown back, we vocalize; when more of the forms are thrown back, we consonantize. All of this is connected in a certain way with the life of breathing. Well, in language you can clearly see how it is connected with the life of breathing.
[ 44 ] You see, it is no use trying to explain human beings by laying them on the dissecting table and examining what is inside their skin. That is no different than if someone takes a magnetic needle and wants to deduce from it that the earth itself is a large magnet with the top half on the left (red), so that one end is driven north and the other south from outside. If someone wants to explain why this magnetic needle has the tendency to point in one direction — because when I turn it, it always turns back — when one attributes this to it, when one invents a theory as to why the magnetic needle positions itself in this way, when one does not want to take into account that the forces of the earth direct it, then one is doing exactly the same thing that is done today in anatomy and physiology when one wants to explain the human being from what lies within his skin. It cannot be explained from what lies within his skin. All those people who, for example, want to explain language from what is within the human being, are at the level of this explanation of the magnetic needle, whereas the truth is that the human being takes in the fixed star life in form and reproduces it in echo, thereby forming consonants. He takes in the movements of planetary life that cause his own life. This is formed in images, particularly through the respiratory life. However, it is reflected back, thereby creating the vowels. Human beings in their language can only be explained if the consonants are explained from the fixed star groupings and the vowels from the planetary movements or from the superimpositions of the planets, i.e., if what human beings speak is explained from the entire cosmos.
[ 45 ] Here in the sun (see drawing, horizontal line) you have, so to speak, the center. Take the three upper members, and you have the upper human being. Take the three lower members, and you have the lower human being. The reproductive life brings forth the new human being. Now take the respiratory life and the circulatory life. It is the circulatory life in particular that reflects planetary movement. Our blood circulation is basically nothing more than a reflection of planetary life. So we can also say that the vowels come from the circulatory life and the consonants come from the respiratory life. And now you have another curious correlation. You can assign the metabolic life to the nervous life; you can assign the movement life to the sensory life. But the sensory life is assigned to Saturn, to the movement of Saturn. The movement of Saturn passes closest to the zodiac, if I may say so, just as in the movement life the human being is best reflected outward. If we want to represent the cosmic mysteries through the human being, we have the sensory life at one pole and the life of movement at the other, and from this we obtain eurythmy. In eurythmy, therefore, we see a direct representation of the peripheral cosmic relationship of the human being. I just wanted to indicate this first.
[ 46 ] What I have tried to develop for you today is the connection between the human being and the cosmos in relation to his life. Yesterday I wanted to explain to you the connection between the human being and the cosmos in relation to his form. Tomorrow we will move on to consider the third element of the human being in relation to the world, the soul. Then we will have considered form, life, and soul. So tomorrow we will assign the human soul to cosmic life.