Seven-year periods

The essential members of man develop in seven-year periods. When a human being is born, all his or her members are already predisposed, but only mature at a certain age. At first they are only bestowed upon the human being; little by little he must first bring them to maturity and thereby make them completely his own, i.e. adapt them to his very specific individuality. This further maturation takes place in approximately seven-year periods.

„Of course, the time indications given are more or less approximate. With one person the thing comes a little earlier, with another a little later; and all the indications of the number seven are not real indications, but only approximate indications.“ (Lit.:GA 307, p. 79)

With the change of teeth around the age of 7, the basic form of the individual physical body is formed. With sexual maturity around the age of 14, the formation of the independent etheric body is completed and the astral body is born as an independent member of the human being. These stages of life are very distinctive because of the corresponding strong changes that the human body undergoes. The developmental steps that follow later are no longer so clearly reflected in bodily changes. From the 21st year of life, with the birth of the independent I, the man works on his three mental, and from the 42nd year of life on the three higher spiritual members of his being.

Literature

• Rudolf Steiner: Das Johannes-Evangelium im Verhältnis zu den drei anderen Evangelien, besonders zu dem Lukas-Evangelium, GA 112 (1984) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Gegenwärtiges Geistesleben und Erziehung, GA 307 (1986), ISBN 3-7274-3070-2 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Heilpädagogischer Kurs, GA 317 (1995) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das Zusammenwirken von Ärzten und Seelsorgern. Pastoral-Medizinischer Kurs., GA 318 (1994) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

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.