129. Medical Question and Answer on the Threefold Organism and the Heart

[Handwriting Ita Wegman: How is the coming karma related to the heart?]

ad. I.) The rhythmic human being is the mediator between the nervous-sensory and metabolic-limb human beings.

The nervous-sensory human being of this incarnation is the result of the metamorphosis of the metabolic-limb human being of the previous incarnation.

The rhythmic human being is the result of the supersensible forces that are effective between death and rebirth. These forces change in such a way that they form the middle-ground human being on earth. They are integrated into the outer forces of the air circle, while between death and rebirth they are integrated into the outer forces of the planetary cycles.

Karma is now formed in this way: in the metabolism-limb-organism there is complete unconsciousness during life on earth. Man is (for ordinary consciousness) in a continuous dreamless sleep. Into this sleeping part of the soul, a judgment about the value or lack of value of human actions is recorded by the elemental forces (archai) that permeate this part of the soul. This judgment undergoes a metamorphosis during the time between death and rebirth of the metabolic-limb organism into the nerve-sense human being of the next earthly life. But the metamorphosed impulse (that is, the judgment of the value or worthlessness of the deeds, transformed into the will to be balanced by other deeds) does not consciously enter the human being, but rather into the angelic being that belongs to him. For this reason, karma remains unconscious to the human being (the ordinary consciousness).

The heart is only involved in the formation of karma to the extent that it belongs to the metabolism-limb-organism. Not as an organ of the rhythmic human being.

[Handwriting Ita Wegman: How does the blood process in the lungs relate to that in the heart?] ad II.) Blood process in the lungs and heart.

The lungs absorb cosmic forces with the inhaled air. World thoughts flow into these forces. These are, after all, the same forces that work in the human being as forces of growth and formation. When they enter the organism through the lungs, the world thought forces metamorphose by bifurcating at the same time. That is, one part goes (essentially upwards) into the nerve-sense organization and becomes the physical support of human thoughts; another part goes (essentially downwards, to the heart) into the metabolic-limb organism and is woven into the limbs of the human organization, which are connected in the broadest sense with the forces of the earth.

To see this point clearly, we must consider the following. Through his metabolic-limb system, the human being places himself in the workings of the earth. Observe how the human being walks: He puts his leg in front, that is, he brings it into a very specific position in relation to the earth's gravity. And so the human being moves within the dynamics of the earth. Metabolism proceeds in earthly chemistry. These earthly dynamics and this earthly chemistry cease beyond the rhythmic system. It is a complete illusion to believe that earthly things have an effect on the nerve-sense human being.

It can be seen from this that something extraterrestrial is absorbed into the lungs with breathing. This is then transferred into earthly things. The breathing current is the refined repetition of the descent of the human being from the spiritual into the physical world through birth. Only in this descent into the physical and etheric organization are the forces sent, while in breathing the forces flow in that correspond to the physical and etheric correlate of the astral body and the I.

In breathing, the cosmos forms and shapes the human being. It is different with blood circulation. This comes from what is integrated into the dynamics and chemistry of the earth. But as blood flows from the sphere of earth dynamics and earth chemistry into the heart, it takes up the impulses of the human astral body and the I. And so, in the blood of the heart, the spirit and soul of the human being strive out of the individual being towards the cosmic being. Blood in the heart striving towards the breath in the lungs is the human being's striving towards the cosmos. The air we breathe in our lungs striving towards the blood of the heart is the human being's being blessed by the cosmos. Blood striving towards the heart is the refined process of dying.

Blood as a carrier of carbonic acid from the human body represents the refined process of dying.

In this way, the human being continuously flows into the cosmos through the bloodstream, a process that takes place radically after death, in that it takes hold of the whole physical human being through the blood.

Starting from these considerations, we then find the bridge to the question extension with regard to Christ Jesus and the mysteries. It is true that the southern mysteries were more concerned with the secrets of the bloodstream - the heart - (of man) and the northern mysteries more with those of breathing - the lungs - (of the cosmos).

The Christ Mystery is the unveiling of the great miracle that takes place between the heart and the lungs: the cosmos becomes human; the human being becomes cosmos. The sun carries the human being from the cosmos to the earth; the moon carries the human being from the earth into the cosmos. Transposed into the great: what flows from the lungs to the heart is the human correlate of Christ's descent to earth; what flows from the heart to the lungs is the human correlate of the guiding of the human being after death through the Christ impulse into the spiritual world.

In this respect, the mystery of Golgotha lives in a human, organic way between the heart and lungs.

[Typescript, question from Mrs. Margarete Bockholt: If I imagine that the formative forces of the trunk without the present head are left to the forces of the cosmos without the influence of the earth, then a rounding must occur. If I try this on myself, I bend the spine, the upper end of which meets the symphysis, thus becoming the occiput. The present diaphragm then arises as a partition between the nasal and frontal sinus cavities. The sacrum is pushed forward and becomes the bridge of the nose; if the legs are drawn up, they clearly represent the lower jaw; the arms with the shoulder girdle represent the upper jaw and ear. The internal organs should be transformed in such a way that the kidneys become the eyes and the adrenal glands the lacrimal glands. (The shape of the adrenal glands corresponds to the exhalations from the nostrils, as Dr. Wachsmuth describes it as crescent-shaped and triangular. This is perhaps connected to the transformation of the lacrimal glands.) The lungs would become the lateral lobes of the brain. How the spleen and liver relate to the formation of the brain is not clear to me; the heart would be in the position of the epiphysis, the genital organs in that of the pituitary gland. Perhaps the 20 milk teeth could also be related to the 10 fingers and 10 toes each.

ad III.) Yes, this is based on good plastic representations. But it is best to include the plasticizing forces latent in the organism in the representation in this way:

The head is influenced by the cosmic formative forces; the earthly forces are atrophied in it (how the two relate to each other will be clear when the book we are working on with Wegman is published).

The metabolism-limbs-human being is influenced by the earthly formative forces; the cosmic ones are atrophied in it.

If we now imagine the atrophied earthly powers at the back of the head becoming developed, the back of the head metamorphoses into a metabolic-limb system; the reverse applies to the metabolic-limb system.

The middle organism (associated with rhythm) contains the organs pointing in both directions. This middle part is the head, which strives towards the limb system, and the limb system, which strives towards the head.