Members

From AnthroWiki

As members or essential members (German: Wesensglieder) are called in anthroposophy and theosophy all the independently appearing elements which in their totality make up the essence of the human being. The human being is not exhausted in the sensually visible material body, but also has higher bodily, soul and spiritual members which can only be experienced supersensually. What thus appears as a multiplicity, however, forms a unity for higher cognition.

„That in higher reality there is a unity, what for human experience separates itself as a multiplicity of seven members[1], remains thereby unchallenged. But this is precisely what higher knowledge is there for: to show the unity in everything that appears to man as a multiplicity in immediate experience because of his physical and spiritual organisation.“ (Lit.:GA 7, p. 112)

In a similar way to the human being, higher spiritual beings also have corresponding members of their being.

The members of the being at a glance

Rudolf Steiner's work results in the following division of the essential members of the human being incarnated on Earth. The essence of the human being is divided into body, soul and spirit (right column), whereby each of these basic members is again subdivided into three parts. Seen more closely, the human being is therefore a nine-folded entity (left column).

Just as the sentient soul is closely connected with the soul body and thus forms the astral body, the consciousness soul is also interwoven with the spirit self to form a unity. If one takes this into account, and that the I expresses itself particularly in the intellectual soul, a seven-folded representation of the human being results (middle column).

Paracelsus calls these seven stages or degrees firstly the elementary body, secondly the archaeus, spiritus vitae or mumia and life force, thirdly the sidereal man, evestrum or astral body, fourthly the animal spirit, fifthly the intellectual soul, sixthly the spirit soul and seventhly the higher man of the Olympi novi.

9-gliedrig 7-gliedrig 3-gliedrig
Spirit man    Spirit man } Spirit
Life spirit    Life spirit
Spirit self } Spirit self
Consciousness soul } Soul
Intellectual soul     I
Sentient soul } Astral body
Soul body } Body
Etheric body    Etheric body
Physical body    Physical body

The I-bearer, which is formed by the I, is the spiritual centre of the earthly embodied human, the focal point for the immortal I. The I shines forth in the intellectual soul. It intervenes in the body in order to participate in the transformation of its body shells (physical body, etheric body and astral body) in order to transform them into the higher spiritual members (spirit self, life spirit, spirit man). Thereby it develops further in the course of the repeated earth lives.

„It has emerged from the preceding considerations that the beingness of man is built up from the four members: Physical body, life body, astral body and I-bearer. The "I" works within the other three members and transforms them. Through such transformation, the following arise on a lower level: the sentient soul, the intellectual soul and the consciousness soul. On a higher level of human existence the following are formed: spirit self, life spirit and spirit man. These members of human nature now stand in the most manifold relations to the whole universe and their development is connected with the development of this universe.“ (Lit.:GA 13, p. 137)

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.

References

  1. ↑ Depending on the point of view, the essence of the human being can also be meaningfully broken down into a different number of essence members.
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