Man, Nature and the Cosmos
GA 91 — 13 August 1905, Haubinda
16. The Twelve Levels of Consciousness in Relation to the Etheric Body
We have become familiar with twelve levels of consciousness, we have distinguished between emanating, perceiving and forming consciousness. We have seen that what is called substance or matter is emitted by certain mature spirits of highly developed consciousness. In the case of the radiation on Saturn, the dense physical body is emitted by a very high consciousness. From this we can conclude that the less dense substances can be emitted by less elevated spirits of a slightly lower consciousness.
If we look at the successive planetary bodies, there are seven: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Earth, Jupiter, Venus, Vulcan. They all have a dense body at certain points in time, which is emitted, just as man will one day emit his planet. Before he can radiate the dense body, he will be able to emanate his etheric body. Just as twelve planets can be radiated by twelve consciousnesses, so can etheric bodies be radiated by the corresponding lower forms.
Let us examine how consciousness comes to radiate. Let us take a look at the human backbone with the spinal cord inside it. The spinal column consists of rings of bone that fit together to form a tube; inside is the [spinal cord], which tapers downwards to a blind end and widens upwards to the brain. White nerve cords extend from all parts of the body into the spinal cord, where they connect with other nerve cords that lead to the muscles. Even lower animals have a spinal cord like this. When an animal is stimulated, the stimulus travels to the spinal cord, which transmits it to the nerve, and this triggers the muscle movement. The nerves also end in the developed human brain: those that come from the body and others that go back to the body. [There is a big difference between the frog's spinal cord and the human spinal cord. The difference is that in the frog, the movement comes from the spinal cord automatically; in humans, on the other hand, it comes from the will. [In humans, the stimulus goes all the way to the brain and does not automatically trigger the movement; the person must first want it. So his consciousness comes between the stimulus and the outgoing movement. The animal also has a consciousness, but that lies [on the astral plane], and it is from there that the muscle movement is directed. The human consciousness lies in the brain. This is because the nerve cords in the animal [in the spinal cord] are tightly knotted; in the human brain they are somewhat looser, allowing consciousness to enter, and [between the more loosely arranged nerve cords] the will can intervene.
The higher consciousness of man is characterized by the fact that the limbs of a lower consciousness are loosened. But in man, three of the basic powers of his soul are tightly connected: the powers of will, feeling and thinking. The threads are also present in the astral and etheric brain. Will, feeling and thinking correspond to three deities that we have come to know, the spirits of will, wisdom and action. The nine other forces are also present in man, only they are not equally noticeable.
What happens when man develops even higher? The higher man relates to the lower man as the ordinary man relates to the frog. Namely, the three parts - will, feeling and thinking - are loosened, first in the astral, then in the etheric and finally in the physical; and just as there comes a higher consciousness and now has to control the three parts that have diverged. With ever higher development, man loosens twelve such centers and then controls them. Before the limbs are loosened, the higher consciousness cannot intervene.
Every human power stands in relation to the primary forces of the universe, of the world. The will stands in relation to the will of the world, feeling to the wisdom [of the world], thinking to the activity of the world, forming to the forming powers of the universe. The fact that the individual limbs hold each other mutually prevents them from becoming freely outward. In the moment when, for example, the will detaches itself, it can act outwardly and perceive will-beings. It is like looking at an anthill: it has a common soul and three limbs: workers, males and females; these form a common living being.
In this way, a person can expose all twelve parts that are present in him, and in doing so, he splits his etheric body into twelve parts. Each such part has a special property – similar to a polyp, when the limbs are cut through, each part continues to live. In this way a part of the etheric body grows into a whole, so that when the highly elevated human being dies, he withdraws his consciousness and leaves twelve independent etheric bodies behind; they are there. What happens to them? They are, so to speak, the emanation of the former consciousness.
When a person dies, first his physical body returns to earth, the ether body to the general world ether, and the astral body to Kamaloka. When the person returns, an ether body must be built for him. The radiated ether bodies are used as models, which are left behind by the higher ones. In reality, everyone is already radiating etheric bodies, but they are still imperfect, hence the many imperfect bodies. Highly developed etheric bodies also remain from the highly developed. The highly developed person can radiate them when he is about to enter the gate barrier, where he will be able to radiate even denser matter.
Christ radiated new physical matter at his birth, so he was able to radiate the twelve etheric bodies beforehand, the twelve separate limbs of the previous Christ. [The twelve etheric bodies of the apostles are the twelve separate limbs of the previous Christ etheric body.] He had retained control over the twelve. [Where is the consciousness directing them? That is the Christ. Christ is the group soul of the twelve apostles.] Christ is the consciousness – his twelve apostles are his members, the twelve etheric bodies.
Jesus is the single personality; he has surrendered his body to the Christ. [Where is the body of Christ? That is the twelve apostles. Through these twelve members, Christ has truly worked.]