Body

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The body (Greek: σώμα soma; German: Leib) is that fundamental member which gives a being, especially a human being, its characteristic form or shape.

„«Body» is meant to denote that which gives «shape», «form» to a being of any kind. One should not confuse the term «body» with sensuous bodily form. In the sense meant in this writing, the term «body» can also be used for that which takes shape as the soul and spirit.“ (Lit.:GA 9, p. 38f)

The body also enables the human being to perceive the world through the sense organs:

„By body is meant here that by which the things of his environment reveal themselves to man ...“ (Lit.:GA 9, p. 26f)

When one speaks of the body, one does not as a rule mean merely the physical body, for the body abandoned by life is the corpse, but one means the living body, that is, the connection between the physical body and the etheric body, which is never completely dissolved during the life of man on Earth. In a broader sense, the astral body, the bearer of desires and sensations, must also be added to the bodily existence. Rudolf Steiner refers to the astral body as the sentient soul that is united with the soul body. The latter enables, on the one hand, the stimuli received by the sense organs to be internalised into soul experience and, on the other hand, the inner soul drives to be translated into bodily movements.

„With the first ecitation of sensation, the inner self responds to the stimuli of the outer world. No matter how far one may pursue what one is entitled to call the outer world, one will not be able to find the sensation. - The rays of light penetrate the eye; they propagate within it to the retina. There they cause chemical processes (in the so-called visual purple); the effect of these stimuli continues through the optic nerve to the brain; there further physical processes arise. If one could observe these, one would see physical processes as elsewhere in the outer world. If I am able to observe the life body, I will perceive how the physical brain process is at the same time a life process. But the sensation of the blue colour, which the receiver of the rays of light has, I cannot find anywhere in this way. It only arises within the soul of this receiver. If the being of this receiver were exhausted with the physical body and the etheric body, the sensation could not be there. The activity through which the sensation becomes a fact differs essentially from the working of the life-forming power. An inner experience is lured out of this action by that activity. Without this activity there would be a mere life-process, as is also observed in the plant. Imagine man receiving impressions from all sides. At the same time, one must think of him as the source of the activity in all directions from which he receives these impressions. In all directions the sensations respond to the impressions. This source of activity is to be called the sentient soul. This sentient soul is just as real as the physical body. If a human being stands before me and I look away from his sentient soul by imagining him merely as a physical body, it is just as if I imagined only the canvas of a painting [...]

The sentient soul depends on the etheric body for its effect. For from the etheric body it brings forth that which it is to make shine forth as sensation. And since the etheric body is the life within the physical body, the sentient soul is also indirectly dependent on it. Only with a correctly living, well-built eye are corresponding colour sensations possible. Thus the physical body has an effect on the sentient soul. It is therefore determined and limited in its effectiveness by the body. It lives within the limits set by the body. - The body is thus built up from the mineral substances, animated by the etheric body, and it itself limits the sentient soul. He who has the above-mentioned organ for "seeing" the sentient soul recognises it as limited by the body. - But the boundary of the sentient soul does not coincide with that of the physical body. This soul projects beyond the physical body. One sees from this that it proves to be more powerful than it is. But the power that sets its limits emanates from the physical body. Thus, between the physical body and the etheric body on the one hand and the sentient soul on the other, there is another special member of the human being. It is the soul body or the sentient body. One can also say that one part of the etheric body is finer than the rest, and this finer part of the etheric body forms a unity with the sentient soul, while the coarser part forms a kind of unity with the physical body. But, as I have said, the sentient soul projects beyond the soul-body.“ (Lit.:GA 9, p. 39f)

„The term astral body is used here to describe what the soul body and the sentient soul are together. The expression is found in older literature and is here freely applied to that in the human being which lies beyond the sensually perceptible. In spite of the fact that the sentient soul is in a certain sense also penetrated by the I, it is so closely connected with the soul body that a single expression is justified for both when thought of as one. When the I interpenetrates with the spirit self, this spirit self appears in such a way that the astral body is reworked from the soul. In the astral body man's instincts, desires, passions, in so far as these are felt, first work; and sensual perceptions work in him. The sensual perceptions arise through the soul-body as a member of man, which comes to him from the outer world. The urges, desires, passions and so on arise in the sentient soul, insofar as this is penetrated by the inner being before this inner being has given itself to the spirit-self. When the "I" interpenetrates itself with the spirit-self, the soul interpenetrates the astral body again with this spirit-self. This is expressed in such a way that the urges, desires and passions are illuminated by what the I has received from the spirit. By virtue of its share in the spiritual world, the I has become master in the world of urges, desires and so on. To the extent that it has become so, the spirit self appears in the astral body. And the astral body itself is thereby transformed. The astral body itself then appears as a dual entity, as partly untransformed, partly transformed. Hence the spirit self in its revelation in man can be called the transformed astral body.“ (Lit.:GA 9, p. 59f)

Literature
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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