Image 1: The constitution of the human being in light of Anthroposophy. Dr. Steiner observed that there are 7 fundamental aspects, which includes 3 preparatory stages within them connected to the soul. I added the term "ego" next to "I". Refer to Lecture 9 of the Gospel of St. John. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080626p01.html
Dr. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was one of the leading spiritual initiates of the 20th Century who published and lectured extensively on the various nuances and aspects of initiation knowledge; knowledge that can only be attained through genuine and objective spiritual vision. He revealed a valid path to spiritual transformation which leads to an expanded perception of the world and the universe. His expanded ability was developed gradually over the course of many lifetimes and enabled him to "pierce the veil" between the visible and the invisible; a quest that, in light of the Holy Grail, is the path of "Parsifal". It is the quest of spiritual initiation.
As a service to humanity, and in alignment with the mission of the Archangel Michael in the current world age, Dr. Steiner lectured and wrote extensively about the true nature of the human being, the reality of the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds, the facts behind worldly phenomena which seem to have no knowable cause, illness, health, birth, life, death, and rebirth - which includes the nature and construct of the human being.
Dr. Steiner provided insights into the riddles and aspects of life which have invisible causes, and sources, beyond what science, in a strictly materialistic sense, can provide the answers to. Dr. Steiner referred to his objective path to scientific and supersensible knowledge as "Anthroposophy" (Anthro = the human being and "Sophy = Wisdom) or "Spiritual Science".
Dr. Steiner observed that the constitution and activity of the human being are far more complex than people can envision today; there are living processes, forces, aspects, and principles that are both visible and invisible. All of them, however, are interwoven.
His observations reveal that the human being is comprised of 4 primary “sheaths”, which he also referred to as “bodies”, which consist of three purified and unpurified elements (Author Note: I also use the term "aspects" in addition to "sheaths" and "bodies"). Thus, there are seven overall aspects of the human being. Within these seven aspects, however, are three elements of the soul which are preparatory in nature and overlap.
The four primary aspects that make up the human being are permeated, to some degree, with the three higher aspects of the human being which have only been partially developed. Thus, every person in the world is made up of both lower, or undeveloped, and higher, or purified, aspects within us. These higher aspects are referred to by Dr. Steiner in the term of the "spirit" which reflects the higher, versus the "soul", which reflects the lower.
Thus, in light of Anthroposophy, the human being can viewed of consisting of multiple aspects; 7 and 9.
"...the individual members of the human being are described:
1. Physical Body
2. Ether Body
3. Astral Body
4. Sentient Soul
5. Intellectual or Mind Soul
6. Consciousness Soul
7. Spirit Self
8. Life Spirit
9. Spirit Man
To list the members of the human being side by side like this, however, signifies counting them off abstractly one after the other; it means that we do not delve into reality. Because these nine do not exist, we cannot count them like that at all: “1. physical body, 2. ether body, 3. astral body, 4. sentient soul.” You cannot count like that when you wish to comprehend the human organization and observe human beings today in their reality. In fact, it must be put like this: The physical body is delimited as an integrated whole, so is the etheric body.
Pass on to the third member, on the other hand, it is not something self-enclosed. In the case of the actual human being, we cannot just add the sentient soul to the astral body. Instead, these two, the astral body and the sentient soul, must definitely be combined and thereby, passing from one to two to three in reality, we can, as it were, count off realistically, not merely finding in the 3 the simple addition of 1.
What develops in us as the “astral body” and the “sentient soul,” which interact with each other, is simply a third element, abstractly speaking, but by passing in reality to this third element, a third unit can no longer merely be added to the first two. Instead, we must realize that this third element is in itself different from the first two.
Then, the fourth member is counted off, which is actually the fifth, and again, in the modern human being, we must basically add together the sixth and seventh. Thus, we arrive at the way they are actually listed in my Theosophy: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. We have seven actual components, which, when they are abstractly counted off, are nine:" -Rudolf Steiner, Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy, GA 204, Lecture VIII, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA204/English/AP1987/19210423p01.html
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The various sheaths, members, or aspects that comprise the human being appear to the outer eye as a unified whole during the time that we are awake in the physical world. Six of the seven aspects cannot be observed outwardly; they can be perceived only through clairvoyant perception. The sheaths of the human being are interwoven and manifest through thinking, willing, and feeling. Dr. Steiner spoke of these three activities of the human being as interwoven, and yet separate in nature.
“The term “body” must not be confused with a bodily form perceptible to the physical senses. Used in the sense implied in this book the term ‘body’ can also be applied to such forms as soul and spirit may assume.” -Steiner, Rudolf. Theosophy, GA 9, Chapter I: 4. Body, Soul, and Spirit.
The seven aspects, or sheaths, of the human being reflect the operative principle of the number 7 which, as a sacred number, manifests throughout the physical world, as a reflection of a spiritual law, in a multitude of ways and can be seen repeatedly throughout the world and human experience (refer to the webpage "Some Insights on Numbers" on this website as a starting place for further reading).
It is important to note that the construct of each individual has been shaped by our attitudes, disposition, decisions, and karma from past and current lifetimes which carry and manifest, in some way, our individuality within the 7 aspects of the human being. Based on the lectures of Dr. Steiner, each human being purifies, or transforms, the eternal aspects of ourselves gradually, one step at a time, over the course of repeated lifetimes. The seven aspects of the human being as described by Dr. Rudolf Steiner are:
(1.) The Physical Body: “…visible to the natural eye and familiar to science. As a purely physical being, man corresponds to the mineral world; he is a combination of all the physical forces of the universe.” -Steiner, Rudolf. An Esoteric Cosmology. Lecture IV. Involution and Evolution. May 29, 1906. Paris. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/EsoCosmo/19060528p01.html
(2.) The Etheric Body (Energy Body): “This body somewhat resembles the physical body and yet it is different. It takes on the form of the physical body, extending slightly beyond it. The etheric body is more or less luminous and fluidic. Instead of organs there are currents of diverse colors, the heart being a veritable vortex of forces and streaming currents. The etheric body is the ‘etheric double’ of the material body that man possesses it in common with the plants. It is not produced by the physical body as naturalists might be led to believe; on the contrary, the etheric body is the builder of every living organism. In the plant, as well as in man, it is the force of growth, rhythm and reproduction.” -Steiner, Rudolf. An Esoteric Cosmology. Lecture IV. Involution and Evolution. May 29, 1906. Paris. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/EsoCosmo/19060528p01.html
(2A) "Each organ of the physical body has behind it this etheric body. Man has an etheric heart, an etheric brain, etc., which holds together the corresponding physical organ. One is naturally tempted to picture the etheric body in a material way, somewhat like a thin cloud, but in reality the etheric body consists of a number of currents of force. The clairvoyant sees in the etheric body of man certain currents that are exceedingly important.
Thus, for example, there is a stream which rises from the left foot to the forehead (Author: Refer to Image 5 at the top of this page), to a point which lies between the eyes, about half an inch down within the brain; it then returns to the other foot; from there it passes to the hand on the opposite side; from thence through the heart into the other hand, and from there back to its starting-point. In this way it forms a pentagram of currents of force." -Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of John (Basle), Lecture 2, GA100, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA100/English/LR1942/19071117p01.html
(2B) "This ether body, then, is a second member of the human entity. For supersensible cognition, it possesses a higher degree of reality than the physical body. A description of its appearance to supersensible perception can only be given in a subsequent chapter of this book after the sense in which such descriptions are to be taken has become clear. For the present it may suffice to say that the ether body penetrates the physical completely and that it is to be looked upon as a kind of architect of the latter.
All organs are preserved in their form and shape by means of the currents and movements of the ether body. The physical heart is based upon an “etheric heart,” the physical brain upon an “etheric brain,” and so forth. The ether body is organized like the physical body, only with greater complexity. Wherever in the physical body separated parts exist, in the ether body everything is in living, interweaving motion. The human being possesses this ether body in common with the plants, just as he possesses the physical body in common with the mineral element. Everything living has its ether body." - Rudolf Steiner, Occult Science, Chapter 2. https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA013/English/AP1972/GA013_c02.html
(2C) "The physical body can retain the form and stature suitable for man only by means of the human ether body, which in turn receives its proper forces from the astral body. The ether body is the builder, the architect, of the physical body, but it can only build in the right way if it receives the impulse for this purpose from the astral body."- Rudolf Steiner, Occult Science, Chapter 3. https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA013/English/AP1972/GA013_c03.html
(2D) "If we look at this pentagram, to begin with, taken at its face value, it is a symbol for the etheric body. But I have already said that the ether body also contains the central forces of both astral and physical bodies; it is from the ether body that all the forces, the ageing and the youth-giving forces emanate." -Rudolf Steiner, -Wonders of the World, Ordeals of the Soul, Revelations of the Spirit, Lecture 3. Nature and Spirit. Zeus, Poseidon and Pluto as macrocosmic counterparts of the human bodily sheaths. An occult sign. This is an abridged quote. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA129/English/RSP1963/19110820p02.html
(2E) "Everything in the nature of transitory thought and idea, thought which arises in us and then disappears, belongs to the astral body; every habitual, lasting attitude of mind, everything which is not merely thought in the sense that it leads its own isolated thought-existence in the soul, belongs to the ether body." -Rudolf Steiner, -Wonders of the World, Ordeals of the Soul, Revelations of the Spirit, Lecture 3. Nature and Spirit. Zeus, Poseidon and Pluto as macrocosmic counterparts of the human bodily sheaths. An occult sign. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA129/English/RSP1963/19110820p02.html
(2F) "Thoughts have their true seat in the human etheric body. There, however, they are real, living forces. They imprint themselves in the physical body, as such “imprinted thoughts” they possess the shadowy character known to ordinary consciousness. Now one can go back to times in which the thoughts were directly experienced in the ‘Ego.’ But in those times they were not shadowy as they are today, nor were they merely living; they were full of soul and spirit. But this means that the man did not only think his thoughts; he had as an experience the perception of concrete spiritual beings. " https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA026/English/RSP1973/GA026_c03.html
(2G) "The etheric body, on the contrary, is the vehicle that represents and bears within it the more lasting qualities of soul.” -Steiner, Rudolf. The Lord’s Prayer. An Esoteric Study. Berlin, January 20, 1907. GA96.
(3.) The Astral Body (the “Soul" or “Sentient Body”): “…has neither the form of the etheric nor of the physical body. It is an ovoid and extends beyond the body like a cloud, an aura. The astral body can take on all the colors of the rainbow, according to the passion by which it is animated. Each passion has its astral color.” -Steiner, Rudolf. An Esoteric Cosmology. Lecture IV. Involution and Evolution. May 29, 1906. Paris. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/EsoCosmo/19060528p01.html
(3A) "Everything in the nature of transitory thought and idea, thought which arises in us and then disappears, belongs to the astral body; every habitual, lasting attitude of mind, everything which is not merely thought in the sense that it leads its own isolated thought-existence in the soul, belongs to the ether body." -Rudolf Steiner, -Wonders of the World, Ordeals of the Soul, Revelations of the Spirit, Lecture 3. Nature and Spirit. Zeus, Poseidon and Pluto as macrocosmic counterparts of the human bodily sheaths. An occult sign. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA129/English/RSP1963/19110820p02.html
(3B) "What does the astral body look like? When the astral body is together with the physical body, it is somewhat egg-like in shape. After death it is a wonderfully radiant, mobile formation. In accordance with individual characteristics it has various colours, radiant colours. Its three gleaming points are at first widely separated, joined together but open below. They are centres of force; they draw progressively together and then they look like a small triangle. 1. Heart; 2. Liver; 3. Brain. These three points work together at the time of a new incarnation. In Devachan they are radiant centres of force, which stream out from the three points. In the astral world these three points form a triangle; in Devachan they form a six-pointed figure — two interlaced triangles. They are bells." - Rudolf Steiner, At the Gates of Spiritual Science, GA 95, Notes from Answers to Questions, https://rsarchive.org/GA/GA0095/GateSS_notes1.html
(3C) “The astral body, as you know, is the vehicle of all that lives in man as impulse, desire and passion, all that surges up and down in the soul as joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain." -Steiner, Rudolf. The Lord’s Prayer. An Esoteric Study. Berlin, January 20, 1907. GA96.
(3D) "...what is the Sentient Soul? It is the means by which the sensitory human being directs himself outwardly, whereby the perceiving human being by means of his eyes and other senses becomes aware of the ruling spirit in outer nature."
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA103/English/AP1962/19080530a01.html
(4.) The Ego, "I", or "I AM": This is unique to each of us and permeates all aspects of ourselves. Our worldly ego, or identity, is built up from birth and is influenced by outer conditions, genetics, etc., the seeds of which have been carried forward from prior lifetimes as dispositions, attitudes, form, etc.
(4A) “...we know that this entire development of the human being, this evolution of the individual soul members as we differentiate them, is essentially bound up with something else — is essentially bound up with the gradual incorporation of the human ego. For this incorporation of the human ego into the nature of man is the whole mission of the Earth evolution." -Steiner, Rudolf, Cosmic Ego and Human Ego, GA 130. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/CosEgo_index.html
(4B) "...just as in the case of man when we distinguish his members as physical body, etheric body, astral body, and ego and what is to evolve from them as spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man. In his present phase of development man consists essentially of the four members first named, so that we can say that his highest member is the ego or ‘I’ and the lowest is the physical body." -Rudolf Steiner, The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man, GA 102, Lecture VIII https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA102/English/AP1961/19080516p01.html
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"In the case of ordinary people, only insignificant portions of the astral body, the etheric body and the physical body are transformed into Manas, Buddhi and Atma, or into Spirit Self, Life-Spirit and Spirit-Man.” -Steiner, Rudolf. The Mystery of Golgotha. Cologne. December 2, 1906.
The higher, or purified, aspects of the human being consist of:
(5.) "Spirit-Self": Purified/Spiritualized Astral Body. "When the “I” has thoroughly worked upon the astral body and taken possession of it, so that in this astral body there are no more unconscious and unguarded impulses, instincts and passions, then the “I” will have developed what we call Spirit Self or Manas. Spirit-Self is none other than the astral body, only the astral body is the third principle before it is transformed by the “I.” -Rudolf Steiner, The Apocalypse of St. John, GA 104, Lecture IX, 26 June 1908, Nuremberg https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080626p01.html
(6.) "Life-Spirit": Purified/Spiritualized Etheric Body. "When the “I” transforms the etheric body also, Life-Spirit or Budhi is produced..." -Rudolf Steiner, The Apocalypse of St. John, GA 104, Lecture IX, 26 June 1908, Nuremberg https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080626p01.html
(7.) "Spirit-Man": Purified/Spiritualized Physical Body. "...when in the remotest future the “I” transforms the physical body so that this is completely spiritualized by the “I” itself (this is the most difficult work, because the physical body is the densest), then the physical body develops into the highest principle of human nature, namely, Atma or Spirit-Man." -Rudolf Steiner, The Apocalypse of St. John, GA 104, Lecture IX, 26 June 1908, Nuremberg https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080626p01.html
"Thus, if we conceive of man in his seven-fold nature, we have the physical body, the etheric body or life-body, the astral body and the “I.” Further, we have that which man will develop in the future; Spirit-Self or Manas, Life-Spirit or Budhi and Spirit-Man or Atma. That is the sevenfold being of man." -Rudolf Steiner, The Apocalypse of St. John, GA 104, Lecture IX, 26 June 1908, Nuremberg https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080626p01.html
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Dr. Steiner observed that there are three additional aspects of the human being that he referred to as preparatory in nature. They are referred to in Anthroposophy as the Consciousness-Soul, Sentient-Soul, and the Intellectual-Soul. Refer to Image 1 in the picture section at the top of this webpage for a diagram by Dr. Steiner.
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“Between the initial development of the higher members in the past and their further development in the future there lies an intermediate stage. We know that we must think of the ego itself as inwardly organized. The ego works upon a kind of intermediate being.
Therefore, between the astral body which man has inherited from the past and the Spirit Self or Manas which he will fashion out of the astral body in the distant future, there are the three preparatory members; the Sentient Soul, the lowest member in which the ego has already worked, the Intellectual or Mind Soul and the Spiritual or Consciousness-Soul. But very little of Spirit Self or Manas that we are in process of developing is present in man today, at most only the first indications.
On the other hand, man has laid the foundations of this future development by having learnt to control his three lower members to some extent. He learned to control the astral body by permeating it with his ego and forming the Sentient Soul within it. Just as the Sentient Soul stands in a certain relationship to the sentient body, so does the Intellectual Soul or Mind-Soul to the etheric body, so that the Intellectual or Mind-Soul is a feeble foreshadowing of what the Life Spirit or Buddhi will be — a feeble foreshadowing, it is true, but none the less a foreshadowing.
And in the Spiritual Soul (or Consciousness-Soul) the ‘I’ has worked down into the physical body to a certain extent. Therefore the Spiritual Soul is a feeble foreshadowing of what will one day be Spirit Man or Atma. Thus, apart from the limited transformation of his astral body which he has already achieved as a first step towards the development of Spirit Self or Manas, we recognize in man today four different members. We can distinguish:
-the physical body,
-the etheric body,
-the astral body,
-the ego that works within them, and further as a foreshadowing of the higher members:
"Our current historical period, which began with the first third of the fifteenth century, was a period of development of the consciousness soul; it was the age when humanity entered into intellectual thinking in the strict sense, and this led us for the first time to completely free self-awareness." -Rudolf Steiner, Earthly Knowledge and Heavenly Wisdom, GA 221, I. Self-Knowledge and Experiencing the Christ in Oneself, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA221/English/AP1991/19230202p02.html
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Conclusion
These insights, which introduce a new spiritual vocabulary in the modern world, are based on the objective observations of Dr. Rudolf Steiner. Contemplating these aspects can enable deeper insights into the complex nature of the human being and the world. Throughout his lectures and works, Dr. Steiner referenced these formative aspects of the human being and how they have originated, are sustained, and have evolved over time.
-Rudolf Steiner, Occult Science, An Outline, https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA013/
-Rudolf Steiner, The Threshold of the Spiritual World, https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA017/English/GPP1922/GA017_index.html
-Rudolf Steiner, Theosophy, https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA009/English/AP1971/index.html
-Rudolf Steiner, How to Know Higher Worlds, https://rsarchive.org/Books/GA010/
-Rudolf Steiner, Life Between Death and Rebirth, GA 140, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/LifeBetween/LifBet_index.html
-Rudolf Steiner, Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy, GA 204
, Lecture VIII, 23 April 1921, Dornach https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA204/English/AP1987/19210423p01.html
-Rudolf Steiner, The Apocalypse of St. John, GA 104, Lecture IX
26 June 1908, Nuremberg https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA104/English/APC1958/19080626p01.html
-Steiner, Rudolf. An Esoteric Cosmology. Lecture IV. Involution and Evolution. May 29, 1906. Paris. https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/EsoCosmo/19060528p01.html
-Rudolf Steiner, At the Gates of Spiritual Science, GA 95, Notes from Answers to Questions, https://rsarchive.org/GA/GA0095/GateSS_notes1.html
-Steiner, Rudolf, Cosmic Ego and Human Ego, GA 130, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/CosEgo_index.html