Somnambulism: Difference between revisions

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{{GZ|Man also performs other actions in which his consciousness is not present. You only have to think of where the ordinary daytime consciousness is extinguished and the human being performs all kinds of actions as a night-walker. There is not no consciousness at all, but such a consciousness is involved that man cannot experience, because he can only experience the two highest forms of consciousness: the astral consciousness as pleasure and suffering and the like, and the I-consciousness as judgement and as ordinary daytime-consciousness. But this does not mean that man cannot act out of this sleep-consciousness.|120|128}}
{{GZ|Man also performs other actions in which his consciousness is not present. You only have to think of where the ordinary daytime consciousness is extinguished and the human being performs all kinds of actions as a night-walker. There is not no consciousness at all, but such a consciousness is involved that man cannot experience, because he can only experience the two highest forms of consciousness: the astral consciousness as pleasure and suffering and the like, and the I-consciousness as judgement and as ordinary daytime-consciousness. But this does not mean that man cannot act out of this sleep-consciousness.|120|128}}


In somnambulism, the [[lunar forces]] which are active in the [[etheric body]] overcome the [[gravitational forces]] of the [[Earth]] which act on the [[physical body]].  
In somnambulism, the [[lunar forces]] which are active in the [[etheric body]] overcome the [[gravitational forces]] of the [[Earth]] which act on the [[physical body]].
 
Mediums also act in the somnambulic state:
 
{{GZ|Further, to the borderlands of the soul life belongs that which leads through states of catalepsy, of lethargy, to somnambulism, which is related to the mediumistic phenomena. Just as the organism of the human imagination - I expressly say "organism of the imagination" and not "mechanism of the imagination" - must be constituted in a certain way, so that the disturbance which I have just characterised as hallucinatory and visionary life cannot come to light, so the mechanism of the will - I say mechanism of the will - must be constituted in a certain way for life to proceed normally in the world of the senses. Just as the organism of the imagination can bring about hallucinations and visions as a morbid life of the soul in the way I have described, so, when the mechanism of the will is disturbed, suspended, paralysed, in catalepsy, in lethargy, in mediumism, the will can thereby be undermined. The body is not indeed capable of directly calling forth the will when the spirit does not act upon it, but the body is capable, when certain organs are shut down, when the mechanism of the will is stopped, of weakening the will, whereas the spiritual researcher - I said this today in the introduction - can remain in the reality of the spiritual world by his will acting with full consciousness upon his body. If the body is lamed in relation to the will, then the body becomes a suppressor, an uplifter of this will, then the human being is lifted out of that world to which he belongs as a spiritual-soul, as an eternal being, and is switched on into the physical environment, which is also everywhere interspersed with spiritual forces and entities. The human being is then thrown out of the real world and is switched on into that spiritual which constantly weaves through and permeates the physical. This is the case with somnambulism and mediumism.
 
Now, those who are comfortable with spiritual science, as I mentioned at the beginning of today's lecture, would like to explore the spiritual world in this way. They cannot, however, investigate the really spiritual world which guarantees the soul its eternal, its immortal life, but can only bring man together with that which penetrates the physical environment. That which works in the somnambulist, that which works in the medium, also works in the normal human being, only it works in a different way. It sounds strange, but this is the result of spiritual science. What actually works in the medium? What actually works in the somnambulist? When we are in ordinary life, we are in a certain moral connection with other people. We act out of moral impulses. I said that these moral impulses are generated precisely with the outer physical body. We act in the outer cultural life, learn to write, read, learn that which the human will otherwise inserts into the outer physical world as spiritual. Now, with that which we take up in the soul for our activity, by learning to read, by acquiring other cultural attainments, by entering into moral relations with the world, with all this the soul of the somnambulist, the medium, lives together in an abnormal way. This activity, which otherwise comes out only in the moral field, in the field of cultural life, expresses itself directly in the corporeality of the medium or the somnambulist through the lowering of consciousness, through the elimination of the soul. Whereas in normal life man is in contact with the environment only through his senses, in the case of the somnambulist and the medium the whole man comes into contact with the environment through his mechanism of will. Through this, distant effects can occur, the thought can have an effect in the distance, spatial and temporal distant visions can occur and so on. But only that which is contained as spiritual in the physical world to which we belong as physical human beings, mostly only that which belongs to cultural and moral life, can enter into the human organism. But it enters in such a way that this human organism has eliminated the spiritual. Thus that which appears through the medium, through the somnambulist, does not lead to the spiritual-mental in man, but to an imitation of the effects of the spiritual on the physical in man. Whereas in normal life the soul must be the mediator between the really spiritual and the physical, there the spiritual has a direct effect on the body - but only in the way I have described. The result is that the human being, with the elimination of consciousness, becomes as if an automaton, and that actually only that which outwardly belongs to cultural life or moral life expresses itself in this human being who becomes automatic. You will see that, though concealed in various ways, masked by mediumism and somnambulism, apparently spiritual things are also expressed, but only through very certain combinations and connections which cannot be discussed here now, because that would lead too far. The main thing that is expressed in this way comes from the physical environment. It is precisely those who are fully grounded in natural science, but who cannot get beyond the natural scientific prejudices characterised here, who would like to penetrate in this way, by using somnambulism and mediumism, into that spiritual world to which man belongs with his eternal and soul essence. The most manifold errors can then arise.|67|243ff}}


== Literatur ==
== Literatur ==

Revision as of 07:14, 21 May 2021

Somnambulism (from Latin: somnus sleep and ambulare "to wander"), also called lunatism, sleepwalking or nightwalking, is a phenomenon in which the sleeper leaves the bed in deep sleep consciousness without waking up, wanders around and sometimes also performs activities.

„Man also performs other actions in which his consciousness is not present. You only have to think of where the ordinary daytime consciousness is extinguished and the human being performs all kinds of actions as a night-walker. There is not no consciousness at all, but such a consciousness is involved that man cannot experience, because he can only experience the two highest forms of consciousness: the astral consciousness as pleasure and suffering and the like, and the I-consciousness as judgement and as ordinary daytime-consciousness. But this does not mean that man cannot act out of this sleep-consciousness.“ (Lit.:GA 120, p. 128)

In somnambulism, the lunar forces which are active in the etheric body overcome the gravitational forces of the Earth which act on the physical body.

Mediums also act in the somnambulic state:

„Further, to the borderlands of the soul life belongs that which leads through states of catalepsy, of lethargy, to somnambulism, which is related to the mediumistic phenomena. Just as the organism of the human imagination - I expressly say "organism of the imagination" and not "mechanism of the imagination" - must be constituted in a certain way, so that the disturbance which I have just characterised as hallucinatory and visionary life cannot come to light, so the mechanism of the will - I say mechanism of the will - must be constituted in a certain way for life to proceed normally in the world of the senses. Just as the organism of the imagination can bring about hallucinations and visions as a morbid life of the soul in the way I have described, so, when the mechanism of the will is disturbed, suspended, paralysed, in catalepsy, in lethargy, in mediumism, the will can thereby be undermined. The body is not indeed capable of directly calling forth the will when the spirit does not act upon it, but the body is capable, when certain organs are shut down, when the mechanism of the will is stopped, of weakening the will, whereas the spiritual researcher - I said this today in the introduction - can remain in the reality of the spiritual world by his will acting with full consciousness upon his body. If the body is lamed in relation to the will, then the body becomes a suppressor, an uplifter of this will, then the human being is lifted out of that world to which he belongs as a spiritual-soul, as an eternal being, and is switched on into the physical environment, which is also everywhere interspersed with spiritual forces and entities. The human being is then thrown out of the real world and is switched on into that spiritual which constantly weaves through and permeates the physical. This is the case with somnambulism and mediumism.

Now, those who are comfortable with spiritual science, as I mentioned at the beginning of today's lecture, would like to explore the spiritual world in this way. They cannot, however, investigate the really spiritual world which guarantees the soul its eternal, its immortal life, but can only bring man together with that which penetrates the physical environment. That which works in the somnambulist, that which works in the medium, also works in the normal human being, only it works in a different way. It sounds strange, but this is the result of spiritual science. What actually works in the medium? What actually works in the somnambulist? When we are in ordinary life, we are in a certain moral connection with other people. We act out of moral impulses. I said that these moral impulses are generated precisely with the outer physical body. We act in the outer cultural life, learn to write, read, learn that which the human will otherwise inserts into the outer physical world as spiritual. Now, with that which we take up in the soul for our activity, by learning to read, by acquiring other cultural attainments, by entering into moral relations with the world, with all this the soul of the somnambulist, the medium, lives together in an abnormal way. This activity, which otherwise comes out only in the moral field, in the field of cultural life, expresses itself directly in the corporeality of the medium or the somnambulist through the lowering of consciousness, through the elimination of the soul. Whereas in normal life man is in contact with the environment only through his senses, in the case of the somnambulist and the medium the whole man comes into contact with the environment through his mechanism of will. Through this, distant effects can occur, the thought can have an effect in the distance, spatial and temporal distant visions can occur and so on. But only that which is contained as spiritual in the physical world to which we belong as physical human beings, mostly only that which belongs to cultural and moral life, can enter into the human organism. But it enters in such a way that this human organism has eliminated the spiritual. Thus that which appears through the medium, through the somnambulist, does not lead to the spiritual-mental in man, but to an imitation of the effects of the spiritual on the physical in man. Whereas in normal life the soul must be the mediator between the really spiritual and the physical, there the spiritual has a direct effect on the body - but only in the way I have described. The result is that the human being, with the elimination of consciousness, becomes as if an automaton, and that actually only that which outwardly belongs to cultural life or moral life expresses itself in this human being who becomes automatic. You will see that, though concealed in various ways, masked by mediumism and somnambulism, apparently spiritual things are also expressed, but only through very certain combinations and connections which cannot be discussed here now, because that would lead too far. The main thing that is expressed in this way comes from the physical environment. It is precisely those who are fully grounded in natural science, but who cannot get beyond the natural scientific prejudices characterised here, who would like to penetrate in this way, by using somnambulism and mediumism, into that spiritual world to which man belongs with his eternal and soul essence. The most manifold errors can then arise.“ (Lit.:GA 67, p. 243ff)

Literatur
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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