Spirit self

The spirit self, the higher self of the human being in the narrower sense, which inspires him as a genius, is that element of the human being which is formed by the conscious work of the individual "I" on the human astral body. It is also called manas (skrt.) or karana sharira in the theosophical tradition. In order to develop the spirit self and consciously enter the spiritual world, absolute impartiality is necessary, which is especially trained by the fifth subsidiary exercise.

Spirit Self and "I"

„The spirit that forms an "I" and lives as an "I" is called "spirit-self" because it appears as the "I" or "self" of the human being. The difference between the "spirit-self" and the "consciousness soul" can be made clear in the following way. The consciousness-soul touches the truth which is independent of all antipathy and sympathy and exists by itself; the spirit-self carries the same truth within itself, but absorbed and enclosed by the "I"; individualised by the latter and taken over into the independent being of man. In that the eternal truth is thus made independent and united with the "I" to form an entity, the "I" itself attains eternity.

The spiritual self is a revelation of the spiritual world within the "I", just as sensory perception is a revelation of the physical world within the "I". In what is red, green, light, dark, hard, soft, warm, cold, one recognises the revelations of the physical world; in what is true and good, the revelations of the spiritual world. In the same sense as the revelation of the physical is called sensation, the revelation of the spiritual is called intuition. The simplest thought already contains intuition, for one cannot touch it with hands, cannot see it with eyes: one must receive its revelation from the spirit through the "I".“

– GA 9, p. 52f