V. Processes in the Human Interior

In the previous section, the “astral man” was only considered in terms of how his emotional experiences reflect the processes of the life organs. But these experiences are not the only ones that are peculiar to him. In addition to these experiences, there is, first of all, the ability to move in humans. The human being does not move his body only in response to impulses that arise from life processes. The impulses for movement are located in the inner life, insofar as this is independent of life processes. But self-reflection shows that these impulses do not always have to be triggered by the impulses of the “I-human”; they arise as instinctive experiences and thus belong to the same realm as the instinctive experiences that combine with the life processes, that is, the “astral human”. Furthermore, those experiences of the “astral man” that can be described as instinctive desires also present themselves as such experiences. Desires arise on the basis of sensory perceptions. But in relation to them, self-contemplation shows the following. Sensory perception first leads to a judgment when it is taken up by the “I-person”. This judgment then acts on the “astral person” when it leads to a desire. The experience forms in the “I-person”: the sensually perceived is valuable; interest awakens for it. If this interest is now to become a desire, the judgment must be seized by an impulse of the “astral man”. And desires are also formed on the basis of experiences that are connected with life processes. However, the emotional experiences described above are not yet desires. The experience of hunger is not yet a desire. It only points to the life process in a judgmental way. The desire is an independent experience that the “astral man” adds to the feeling of hunger. In addition, there are desires that are rooted in the “astral man” without being stimulated by life processes or by external perceptions. Certain drives belong to the realm from which such desires arise. — A third kind of independent experience of the “astral human” arises when we consider how something else interposes itself between the process of sense perception and the experience of the “I-human”. It is the “image” that arises in the alternation between sense experience and “I” on the basis of the former. The sense experience is transitory; it lasts only as long as the sense organ is directed towards the object. The “picture” remains; but this “picture” is not yet something that belongs to the judgment, to the I- activity itself. For one can only judge on the basis of the “picture”. The picture contains an experience of the “astral man”, not of the “I-man”. One can also call the “image” the sensation if one does not apply this word to the sense experience itself but to its content. In this sense, sensations are the third kind of independent experiences of the “astral human being”. Just as one speaks of sense organs for the physical human being and of life organs for the etheric human being, so too can one speak of impulses of movement, longings and sensations for the astral human being. The organs for these experiences cannot come from the astral human being itself, because the latter must first have them before it can have the experiences. The organs must be formed out of a world lying outside the astral man. But because the astral man has such experiences in feeling, desire and movement, the impulses of which are rooted in himself, and because he is, so to speak, an observer of what must unfold in himself, the forces that form the corresponding organs can only come from the same sphere as the whole astral man. We must therefore presuppose a world that, although it lies outside the “astral man”, is nevertheless of the same essence as it. The nature of this world can also be revealed here from that experience of the “astral man” which is the innermost. The “sensations” or “image sensations” can be recognized as such in the sense mentioned above. In the desires and impulses of movement, on the other hand, there is something that points beyond the inner experience. The desires and impulses of movement must also be stimulated from a world that is similar to his world of “images”, in the construction of which he is involved as an “astral human being”. We can now distinguish between the “astral human being” as he experiences himself inwardly in “images”, desires and impulses of movement, and the “astral human being” who is the revelation of a world lying outside the impulse of movement and desire. This “astral man” is to be distinguished from the first “astral body” of man. It can be perceived by the senses just as little as the “etheric body,” because it does not produce organs for physical perception, but only for sensation, desire and movement impulse. It is clear that the impulse of movement and desire cannot be perceived by the senses; but this must also be admitted for the intuitive perception, in so far as it is of the same nature as the forces that build up the “astral body”. For the image that arises through a sensory experience also detaches itself from this experience and remains as the content of the “astral man”. But the forces that form the organs of the “astral man” must be conceived as a detached “image”, not as a sensory experience. However, as long as this “image” is imagined as if its content had come from a sensory experience, it cannot illustrate the forces from which the “astral body” is formed. This is because a sensory organ is necessary for the emergence of such an image. It must be thought of an image of this kind, but not of such origin. A fantasy image is of this kind. As long as a fantasy image comes from the mere personal arbitrariness of the “I-human”, it cannot, by its very nature, be considered for the characterization of the world mentioned. It must arise out of a reality that lies outside of the “I-human” and also outside of the “astral human”. Taking into account all that has been said, one can form an idea of what the “astral body” must be like. According to the indications that have emerged, it is an imagistic body rooted in reality, which from within itself kindles the forces of desire and movement.

In the areas corresponding to sensory experiences, something was given that could be visualized as a perimeter along which the individual forces were distributed, which manifest themselves in the sense organs as their effects. In the regions corresponding to the life processes, the picture could be chosen so that the individual corresponding forces run over each other. One must say “run over each other”; for the individual processes do not interpenetrate. Respiration, for example, comes close to the process of maintenance because the latter must continually rebuild the organ of respiration. But the respiratory process itself is not changed by the influence of the process of conservation. The two processes – breathing and the process of conservation – thus work past each other. This is different for the processes of movement, desire and “image sensation”. These three processes work in the following way. Image sensations are effectively generated in desires; desires live on in the impulses of movement. It is therefore justified to say that when an image sensation meets desire, the former permeates the latter, and the content of the image sensation lives on in the desire. Likewise, the desire lives on in the movement - together with the image sensation. Thus the forces of the world out of which the astral body is formed can be visualized in such a way that one thinks of them as three force-structures: that structure which corresponds to the image-sensations acts on that which pours out the longings, and in the structure for the movements the effects of the first two structures then live on.

It will now be easy to see that the world from which the “astral body” originates, is the same as that characterized in the previous chapter as the “astral world”. For the life processes must first be transformed into life instincts in order to be impulses in the “astral man”. Life instincts, pictorial sensations, desires and impulses for movement thus belong to the “astral man” insofar as he already presupposes the lower spiritual world and himself has his origin in the “astral world”.