Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
GA 26
Spiritual Kingdoms and Human Self-Knowledge
[ 1 ] Through the Leading Thoughts which have been sent out from the Goetheanum during the past weeks to the members of the Anthroposophical Society, the soul has been directed to the Beings of the spiritual kingdoms with whom man is connected from above, just as, from below, he is connected with the kingdoms of Nature.
[ 2 ] True self-knowledge may become the guide through which man finds his way into these spiritual kingdoms. And when such self-knowledge is striven after in the right way, then the understanding will be awakened for what Anthroposophy is able to make known through its insight into the life of the spiritual world. But self-knowledge must be practised in the true sense, not as a mere rigid gazing into one's inner being.
[ 3 ] By means of such a true self-knowledge one arrives in the first place at what lives in memory. In thought-pictures, the shadow of what was a direct and living experience in the past is called up into consciousness. Anyone seeing a shadow will, out of an inner impulse of thought, be guided to the object which threw the shadow. He who bears a memory within him cannot in this direct way turn the eye of his soul to the experience which lives on in the memory. But when he truly reflects on his own nature he will be obliged to say to himself: that he himself, in his soul-being, is what his experiences have made of him—those experiences which throw their shadows into the memory. The memory-shadows appear in the consciousness; in the soul there shines what in the memory is shadow. Dead shadow lives in the memory; living being lives in the soul in which the memory is active.
[ 4 ] It is only necessary that this relationship of the memory to the actual soul-life should be made clear; and in this striving for clearness in self-knowledge a man will then perceive that he is on the path to the spiritual world.
[ 5 ] Through memory, man is looking at the spiritual in his own soul. But in the ordinary consciousness he does not arrive at a real grasp of what he thus looks upon. He looks in the direction on something; but his look meets with no reality. Anthroposophy, out of Imaginative Knowledge, shows the way to this reality. Through it we are referred from the shadow to that which gleams and shines. Anthroposophy does this, in that it speaks of the etheric body of man. It shows how the physical body is active in the thought-shadow pictures; but how in the gleaming and shining the etheric body lives.
[ 6 ] With the physical body man is in the sense-world; with the etheric body he is in the etheric world. In the sense-world he has his environment; in the etheric world also. And Anthroposophy speaks of this latter environment as the first of the hidden worlds in which man is living. It is the kingdom of the Third Hierarchy.
[ 7 ] Let us now approach speech in the same way that we have considered memory. It issues from within man just as does the memory. It connects him with a certain state of being, as memory unites him with his own experiences. In words, too, there is an element of shadow. This is deeper than the shadow of the thoughts of memory. When man inwardly casts the shadow of his experiences as his memories, his own hidden self is active in the whole process. He is there when the light casts the shadow.
[ 8 ] In speech there is also a process of shadow-casting. The words are the shadows. What is it in this case that shines? Something stronger shines, because words are stronger shadows than are the thoughts of memory. The element in the human self which in the course of an earthly life can produce memories, cannot create words. Man must learn these in connection with other human beings. Something which lies deeper in him than that which casts the shadow of memory must take part in this process. In this case Anthroposophy speaks from Inspired Knowledge of the astral body, as in the case of memory it speaks of the etheric body. The astral body is added to the physical and etheric bodies as a third part of the human being.
[ 9 ] This third part, too, has a cosmic environment about it. This is made up of the Second Hierarchy. In human language we have a phantom of this Second Hierarchy. As to his astral body, man lives within the province of this Hierarchy.
[ 10 ] We may go still further. In speech a portion of man's being is engaged. When he speaks he brings his inner being into motion. That which surrounds this inner being remains at rest. The movement of speech wrings itself loose from the human being while he remains at rest, but the whole man comes into motion when he brings into activity all that belongs to his limbs. In such movement man is no less full of expression than in memory and speech. Memory expresses his experiences. The nature of language consists in its being the expression of something. In the same way the man whose whole being is in motion expresses something.
[ 11 ] Anthroposophy points out that this ‘something’ is another part of the human being. From Intuitive Knowledge it speaks of the ‘real Self’ or ‘I.’ This too, it finds, has a cosmic environment, namely the First Hierarchy.
[ 12 ] When man approaches the thoughts in his memory he meets with the first supersensible element—his own etheric being. Anthroposophy points out to him the cosmic environment corresponding to it. When man considers himself as one who makes use of language he finds his astral being. This is no longer comprehended in that which only acts inwardly, like memory. It is seen by Inspiration as that which in the act of speaking shapes a physical process out of the Spiritual. Speech is a physical process. At its foundation lies an activity which proceeds from the sphere of the Second Hierarchy.
[ 13 ] When the whole man is in motion there is a more intense physical action than in speech. Not merely a part of man is moulded, the whole man is given shape; and in the physical being which lives and moves in form, the First Hierarchy is active.
[ 14 ] In this way, then, true self-knowledge can be cultivated. But in doing this man does not grasp his own Self alone. Step by step he comprehends the parts of his body: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body and the Self. And by comprehending these he also reaches up, step by step, to higher worlds which like the three kingdoms of Nature, the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms, belong, as the three spiritual kingdoms, to the whole Universe in which his being is unfolding.
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 15 ] 69. The Third Hierarchy reveals itself as pure soul and spirit. It lives and moves in all that man experiences in the soul, in his inner life. Neither in the etheric nor in the physical could any processes arise if this Hierarchy alone were active. Soul-life alone could exist.
[ 16 ] 70. The Second Hierarchy reveals itself as soul and spirit that works in the etheric. All that is etheric is a manifestation of the Second Hierarchy. This Hierarchy, however, does not reveal itself directly in the physical; its power extends only to etheric processes. Only etheric and soul-life could exist if the Third and the Second Hierarchy alone were active.
[ 17 ] 71. The First and strongest Hierarchy reveals itself as the spiritually active principle within the physical. It makes the physical world into a Cosmos. The Third and the Second Hierarchy are the Beings who minister to it in this activity.
Further Leading Thoughts issued from the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 18 ] 72. As soon as we approach the higher members of man's being—the etheric, the astral body and the Ego-organisation—we are obliged to seek for man's relation to the beings of the spiritual kingdoms. It is only the physical body's organisation which we can illumine by reference to the three physical kingdoms of Nature.
[ 19 ] 73. In the etheric body the Intelligence of the Cosmos becomes embodied in the human being. That this can happen, requires the activity of cosmic Beings, who, in their combined working, shape the etheric body of man, even as the physical forces shape the physical.
[ 20 ] 74. In the astral body the spiritual world implants the moral impulses into the human being. That these can show forth their life in man's Organisation, depends on the activity of Beings who are able not only to think the Spiritual, but to shape it in its reality.
[ 21 ] 75. In the Ego-organisation man experiences himself, even in the physical body, as a Spirit. That this can happen, requires the activity of Beings who themselves, as spiritual Beings, live in the physical world.
Geistige Weltbereiche und menschliche Selbsterkenntnis
[ 1 ] Die Leitsätze, die in diesen Wochen vom Goetheanum aus den Mitgliedern der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft gesandt worden sind, lenken den Seelenblick zu den Wesenheiten der geistigen Reiche hin, mit denen nach oben der Mensch ebenso zusammenhängt wie nach unten hin mit den Naturreichen.
[ 2 ] Eine wahre Selbsterkenntnis des Menschen kann die Führerin werden zu diesen geistigen Reichen. Und wenn nach solcher Selbsterkenntnis mit rechtem Sinne gestrebt wird, so wird sich in ihr das Verständnis für dasjenige erschließen, was die Anthroposophie aus dem Einblick in das Leben der geistigen Welt an Erkenntnissen vermittelt. Man muß nur die Selbsterkenntnis im wirklichen Sinne, nicht in dem eines bloßen Hineinstarrens in das «Innere» üben.
[ 3 ] Bei einer solchen wirklichen Selbst-Erkenntnis findet man zunächst, was in der Erinnerung lebt. In Gedanken-Bildern ruft man die Schatten dessen in das Bewußtsein herauf, in dem man in vergangener Zeit mit unmittelbarem lebendigem Erfahren darinnengestanden hat. Wer einen Schatten sieht, wird aus einem inneren Drang heraus im Denken nach dem Gegenstande hingelenkt, der den Schatten wirft. Wer eine Erinnerung in sich trägt, kann in solch unmittelbarer Art nicht den Seelenblick nach dem Erlebnisse hinlenken, das in der Erinnerung nachwirkt. Wenn er sich aber wirklich aufsein eigenes Sein besinnt, so wird er sich sagen müssen: er selbst sei, seiner seelischen Wesenheit nach, dasjenige, was die Erlebnisse aus ihm gemacht haben, die in der Erinnerung ihre Schatten werfen. Im Bewußtsein treten die Erinnerungs-Schatten auf, im Seelensein leuchtet, was in der Erinnerung schattet. Toter Schatten west in der Erinnerung; lebendiges Sein west in der Seele, in der die Erinnerung wirkt.
[ 4 ] Man muß sich dieses Verhältnis der Erinnerung zum wirklichen Seelenleben nur klarmachen; und man wird in diesem Streben nach Klarheit im Selbst-Erkennen empfinden, wie man auf dem Wege nach der geistigen Welt ist.
[ 5 ] Durch die Erinnerung sieht man auf das Geistige der eigenen Seele. Für das gewöhnliche Bewußtsein kommt dieses Sehen nicht zu einem wirklichen Ergreifen dessen, wonach der Blick gerichtet ist. Man schaut nach etwas hin; aber der Blick begegnet keiner Wirklichkeit. Anthroposophie weist aus der imaginativen Erkenntnis auf diese Wirklichkeit hin. Sie verweist von dem Schattenden auf das Leuchtende. Sie tut dies, indem sie von dem Ätherleibe des Menschen spricht. Sie zeigt, wie in den Gedanken-Schatten-Bildern der physische Leib wirkt; wie aber in dem Leuchtenden der Ätherleib lebt.
[ 6 ] Mit dem physischen Leibe ist der Mensch in der sinnlichen Welt; mit dem Ätherleibe ist er in der Ätherwelt. In der sinnlichen Welt hat er eine Umgebung; er hat eine solche auch in der Ätherwelt. Die Anthroposophie spricht von dieser Umgebung als von der ersten verborgenen Welt, in der sich der Mensch befindet. Es ist das Reich der dritten Hierarchie.
[ 7 ] Man nähere sich nun in derselben Art, wie man so an die Erinnerung herangetreten ist, der Sprache. Sie quillt aus dem Inneren des Menschen hervor wie die Erinnerung. In ihr verbindet sich der Mensch mit einem Sein, wie er sich in der Erinnerung mit seinen eigenen Erlebnissen verbindet. Im Worte lebt auch ein Schattendes. Dieses ist kräftiger als das Schattende der Erinnerungs-Gedanken. Indem der Mensch seine Erlebnisse in der Erinnerung innerlich abschattet, ist er mit seinem eigenen verborgenen Selbst bei dem ganzen Vorgange selbst wirksam. Er ist dabei, indem das Leuchtende den Schatten wirft.
[ 8 ] In der Sprache ist auch ein Schattenwerfen. Worte sind Schatten. Was leuchtet da? Kräftigeres leuchtet, weil Worte kräftigere Schatten sind als Erinnerungs-Gedanken. Was im menschlichen Selbst Erinnerungen im Laufe eines Erdenlebens schaffen kann, kann nicht die Worte schaffen. Sie muß der Mensch im Zusammenhange mit ändern Menschen lernen. Ein tiefer in ihm liegendes Wesen als das in der Erinnerung Schattende muß sich daran beteiligen. Anthroposophie spricht da aus der inspirierten Erkenntnis heraus vom Astralleib, wie sie der Erinnerung gegenüber vom Ätherleib spricht. Zu dem physischen und Ätherleib tritt der Astralleib als ein drittes Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit.
[ 9 ] Aber auch dieses dritte Glied hat eine Welt-Umgebung. Es ist diejenige der zweiten Hierarchie. In der menschlichen Sprache ist ein Schattenbild dieser zweiten Hierarchie gegeben. Der Mensch lebt innerhalb des Bereiches dieser Hierarchie mit seinem Astralleibe.
[ 10 ] Man kann weiter gehen. An dem Sprechen ist der Mensch mit einem Teile seines Wesens beteiligt. Er bringt im Sprechen sein Inneres in Bewegung. Wovon dieses Innere umschlossen wird, das bleibt im Sprechen selbst in Ruhe. Die Bewegung des Sprechens entringt sich diesem ruhig bleibenden Menschenwesen. Aber der ganze Mensch kommt in Bewegung, wenn er in Regsamkeit bringt, was Gliedmaßen-artig an ihm ist. In dieser Bewegung ist der Mensch nicht minder ausdrucksvoll wie in der Erinnerung und in der Sprache. Die Erinnerung drückt die Erlebnisse aus; die Sprache hat ihr Wesen eben darinnen, daß sie Ausdruck von etwas ist. So auch drückt der in seinem ganzen Wesen bewegte Mensch ein «Etwas» aus.
[ 11 ] Was so ausgedrückt wird, weist die Anthroposophie als ein weiteres Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit auf. Sie spricht aus der intuitiven Erkenntnis heraus von dem «wahren Selbst» oder dem «Ich». Auch für dieses findet sie eine Welt-Umgebung. Es ist diejenige der ersten Hierarchie.
[ 12 ] Indem der Mensch an seine Erinnerungs-Gedanken herantritt, begegnet ihm ein erstes Übersinnliches, sein eigenes Ätherwesen. Anthroposophie weist ihm die entsprechende Welt-Umgebung auf. Indem sich der Mensch als Sprechenden erfaßt, begegnet ihm sein Astralwesen. Das wird nicht mehr in dem erfaßt, was nur innerlich wie die Erinnerung wirkt. Es wird von der Inspiration geschaut als dasjenige, was in dem Sprechen aus dem Geistigen heraus einen physischen Vorgang gestaltet. Sprechen ist ein physischer Vorgang. Ihm liegt das Schaffen aus dem Bereiche der zweiten Hierarchie zugrunde.
[ 13 ] In dem ganzen bewegten Menschen ist ein intensiveres physisches Wirken vorhanden als im Sprechen. Nicht etwas am Menschen wird gestaltet; der ganze Mensch wird gestaltet. Da wirkt die erste Hierarchie in dem in Gestaltung webenden Physischen.
[ 14 ] So kann wirkliche Selbst-Erkenntnis des Menschenwesens geübt werden. Aber der Mensch erfaßt dabei nicht das eigene Selbst allein. Stufenweise erfaßt er seine Glieder: den physischen Leib, den Ätherleib, den Astralleib, das Selbst. Aber indem er diese erfaßt, kommt er auch stufenweise an höhere Welten heran, die wie die drei Naturreiche, das tierische, das pflanzliche, das mineralische, als drei geistige Reiche zu der Gesamtwelt gehören, in der sich sein Wesen entfaltet.
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden
[ 15 ] 69. Die dritte Hierarchie offenbart sich als ein rein Geistig-Seelisches. Sie webt in dem, was der Mensch auf seelische Art ganz innerlich erlebt. Weder im Ätherischen, noch im Physischen könnten Vorgänge entstehen, wenn nur diese Hierarchie wirkte. Seelisches könnte allein da sein.
[ 16 ] 70. Die zweite Hierarchie offenbart sich als ein Geistig-Seelisches, das im Ätherischen wirkt. Alles Ätherische ist Offenbarung der zweiten Hierarchie. Sie offenbart sich aber nicht unmittelbar im Physischen. Ihre Stärke reicht nur bis zu den ätherischen Vorgängen. Es würde nur Seelisches und Ätherisches bestehen, wenn nur dritte und zweite Hierarchie wirkten.
[ 17 ] 71. Die stärkste, erste Hierarchie offenbart sich als das im Physischen geistig Wirksame. Sie gestaltet die physische Welt zum Kosmos. Die dritte und zweite Hierarchie sind dabei die dienenden Wesenheiten.
Weitere Leitsätze, die für die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft vom Goetheanum ausgesendet werden
[ 18 ] 72. Sobald man an die höheren Glieder der menschlichen Wesenheit: den ätherischen, astralischen Leib und die Ich-Organisation herantritt, ist man genötigt, das Verhältnis des Menschen zu den Wesen der geistigen Reiche zu suchen. Nur die physische Leibesorganisation kann von den drei physischen Naturreichen aus beleuchtet werden.
[ 19 ] 73. Im Ätherleibe gliedert sich dem Menschenwesen die Intelligenz des Kosmos ein. Daß dies geschehen kann, setzt die Tätigkeit von Welt-Wesen voraus, die in ihrem Zusammenwirken den menschlichen Ätherleib so gestalten wie die physischen Kräfte den physischen.
[ 20 ] 74. Im Astralleibe prägt die geistige Welt dem Menschenwesen die moralischen Impulse ein. Daß diese in der menschlichen Organisation sich darleben können, ist von der Tätigkeit solcher Wesen abhängig, die das Geistige nicht nur denken, sondern wesenhaft gestalten können.
[ 21 ] 75. In der Ich-Organisation erlebt der Mensch im physischen Leib sich selbst als Geist. Daß dies geschehen kann, ist die Tätigkeit von Wesen notwendig, die selbst als geistige in der physischen Welt leben.
Spiritual world realms and human self-knowledge
[ 1 ] The guiding principles that have been sent from the Goetheanum to the members of the Anthroposophical Society in these weeks direct the soul's gaze towards the beings of the spiritual realms, with which man is just as connected upwards as he is downwards with the realms of nature.
[ 2 ] True self-knowledge of man can become the guide to these spiritual realms. And if such self-knowledge is pursued in the right spirit, it will open up an understanding of the insights into the life of the spiritual world that anthroposophy provides. One only has to practise self-knowledge in the real sense, not in the sense of merely staring into the "inner being".
[ 3 ] In such real self-knowledge, one first finds what lives in the memory. In thought-images one calls up into consciousness the shadows of that in which one has stood in the past with direct living experience. Whoever sees a shadow is directed by an inner urge in thought towards the object that casts the shadow. He who carries a memory within himself cannot direct the soul's gaze in such a direct way towards the experience that lingers in the memory. But if he really reflects on his own being, he will have to say to himself that he himself, according to his soul essence, is that which the experiences have made of him, which cast their shadows in the memory. The shadows of memory appear in consciousness, in the soul shines what shadows in memory. Dead shadow west in memory; living being west in the soul in which memory works.
[ 4 ] You only have to realize this relationship of memory to the real life of the soul; and in this striving for clarity in self-recognition you will feel how you are on the path to the spiritual world.
[ 5 ] Through memory one sees the spiritual of one's own soul. For the ordinary consciousness, this seeing does not lead to a real grasping of what the gaze is directed towards. One looks towards something; but the gaze does not encounter any reality. Anthroposophy points to this reality from imaginative cognition. It points from the shadowy to the luminous. It does this by speaking of the etheric body of the human being. It shows how the physical body works in the thought-shadow images; but how the etheric body lives in the luminous.
[ 6 ] With the physical body, man is in the sensual world; with the etheric body, he is in the etheric world. In the sensory world he has an environment; he also has such an environment in the etheric world. Anthroposophy speaks of this environment as the first hidden world in which man finds himself. It is the realm of the third hierarchy.
[ 7 ] Now approach language in the same way as you have approached memory. In it, man connects with a being, just as he connects with his own experiences in memory. A shadow end also lives in the word. This is more powerful than the shadow end of the memory-thoughts. By inwardly shadowing his experiences in memory, the human being is active in the whole process with his own hidden self. He is present in that the luminous casts the shadow.
[ 8 ] Language also casts a shadow. Words are shadows. What shines there? Stronger things shine, because words are stronger shadows than memory-thoughts. What can create memories in the human self in the course of an earthly life cannot create words. Man must learn them in connection with other people. A being lying deeper within him than that which is shadowed in memory must participate in this. Anthroposophy speaks of the astral body out of inspired knowledge, just as it speaks of the etheric body in relation to memory. The astral body joins the physical and etheric body as a third member of the human being.
[ 9 ] But this third member also has a world environment. It is that of the second hierarchy. A shadow image of this second hierarchy is given in human language. The human being lives within the realm of this hierarchy with his astral body.
[ 10 ] You can go further. Man participates in speaking with a part of his being. In speaking, he sets his inner being in motion. What this inner being is surrounded by remains at rest in speech itself. The movement of speech emerges from this still human being. But the whole human being comes into motion when he brings into activity what is limb-like about him. In this movement the human being is no less expressive than in memory and speech. Memory expresses experiences; language has its essence precisely in the fact that it is the expression of something. In the same way, man, moved in his whole being, expresses a "something".
[ 11 ] Anthroposophy shows what is expressed in this way as a further element of the human being. It speaks of the "true self" or the "I" based on intuitive knowledge. It also finds a world environment for this. It is that of the first hierarchy.
[ 12 ] When man approaches his memory-thoughts, he encounters a first supersensible, his own etheric being. Anthroposophy shows him the corresponding world environment. When man grasps himself as a speaker, he encounters his astral being. This is no longer grasped in that which only works inwardly like memory. It is seen by inspiration as that which forms a physical process in speaking out of the spiritual. Speaking is a physical process. It is based on creation from the realm of the second hierarchy.
[ 13 ] A more intense physical activity is present in the whole moving human being than in speaking. It is not something in the human being that is shaped; the whole human being is shaped. There the first hierarchy is at work in the physical, which weaves in design.
[ 14 ] This is how real self-knowledge of the human being can be practiced. But man does not grasp his own self alone. Step by step he grasps his members: the physical body, the etheric body, the astral body, the self. But in grasping these, he also gradually approaches higher worlds which, like the three kingdoms of nature, the animal, the vegetable and the mineral, belong as three spiritual kingdoms to the total world in which his being unfolds.
Further guiding principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 15 ] 69. The third Hierarchy reveals itself as a purely spiritual-spiritual. It weaves in that which the human being experiences completely inwardly in a spiritual way. Neither in the etheric nor in the physical could processes arise if only this Hierarchy were at work. The soul could be there alone.
[ 16 ] 70. The second Hierarchy reveals itself as a spiritual-soulful that works in the etheric. Everything ethereal is a revelation of the second Hierarchy. But it does not reveal itself directly in the physical. Its strength reaches only as far as the etheric processes. Only the soul and the etheric would exist if only the third and second hierarchies were at work.
[ 17 ] 71 The strongest, first Hierarchy reveals itself as that which is spiritually active in the physical. It shapes the physical world into the cosmos. The third and second hierarchies are the serving entities.
Further guiding principles sent out by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society
[ 18 ] 72 As soon as one approaches the higher members of the human being: the etheric, astral body and the I-organization, one is compelled to seek the relationship of the human being to the beings of the spiritual realms. Only the physical body organization can be illuminated from the three physical kingdoms of nature.
[ 19 ] 73 In the etheric body the intelligence of the cosmos is incorporated into the human being. That this can happen presupposes the activity of world beings, which in their interaction shape the human etheric body in the same way as the physical forces shape the physical body.
[ 20 ] 74 In the astral body the spiritual world imprints the moral impulses on the human being. That these can live themselves out in the human organization is dependent on the activity of such beings who can not only think the spiritual, but shape it in essence.
[ 21 ] 75 In the ego-organization man experiences himself as spirit in the physical body. For this to happen, the activity of beings who themselves live as spiritual beings in the physical world is necessary.