The Development of Bodies and Esoteric Self-Work

GA 266II — 15 March 1910, Munich

Esoteric Lesson

We would also like to begin today's esoteric lesson by reading the prayer to the spirit of the day. The exoteric church addresses its prayers to the deity in general; however, theosophists, who know that each period of time has its own ruler, humbly turn to the spiritual being who, under the name Mars, rules today [Tuesday]:

Great comprehensive spirit,
in your feelings lived knowledge ...

Those who have entered an esoteric school should realize that they have taken on a very serious task, that they must work on themselves with all seriousness in order to be able to participate in esoteric work one day. In what way must the esotericist work on himself? We know that it is only at the age of seven that the etheric body of the human being is born, which until then surrounds the physical body like a mother's womb. Now, by the age of fourteen, when the astral body is born, the etheric body should be properly prepared for its later development. However, all kinds of unprocessed elements, partly from previous incarnations and partly from the present one, are attached to it. Everything that lives in us in the form of habits is unfolded in our etheric body between the ages of seven and fourteen, and depending on how we solidify our views into prejudices—educators can have a great influence here—the person will later be more or less receptive to theosophy, for example. Those who form firmly defined views will be less receptive to its teachings than those who remain open to everything new. The etheric body develops fully between the ages of seven and fourteen. If the child does not absorb any great role models, if it does not look up to an authority figure with reverence, then the etheric body is not soft and supple at this age (7-14). Such people then find it difficult to adapt to life circumstances. The etheric body is hardened, and it takes great effort to dissolve these hardenings. The lunar forces, the Luciferic forces, take advantage of this and flow into them. It was not for nothing that Christ said: “Watch and pray.”

From the ages of fourteen, fifteen to twenty-one, twenty-two, the astral body then unfolds. What clings to it is not nearly as much of an obstacle to the reception of the teachings of theosophy as the etheric obstacles, since the etheric body is a much denser mass than the astral body.

From the twenty-first to the twenty-eighth year of life, the I develops. And the teachings of Theosophy have been arranged by the Masters of Wisdom and the harmony of feelings for the present time in such a way that they mainly affect the I, are grasped by the I. This was not the case in the past. Then an occult teacher had to work not only on the I, but also on the astral body. But with the present constitution of humanity, with its much more individual disposition, this would not be possible. If the teacher wanted to intervene in the astral body, to try to direct the passions, instincts, and desires, he would immediately cause a revolution in this astral realm; for in freedom, through the ego alone, is the human being of the present age to develop. What he has acquired as knowledge in the I through the teachings of Theosophy, he must apply to refine his older, but less elevated bodies.

Why can humans understand all the teachings of theosophy through thinking, through their ego? We received our physical body on Saturn. On the Sun, the etheric body was added. There, the physical body was in the solar state, while the etheric body was in the Saturn state, that is, in the first state. On the moon, the newly added astral body was in the Saturn state, the etheric body in the sun state, and only the physical body in the moon state. On earth, the physical body is in the earth state, but the newly added, youngest part, the ego, is in the Saturn state. That is why the ego understands everything that has happened since the Saturn times, because Saturn is within us.