10. The Supernatural Human Being III

Let us look once more at what is expressed in the higher organization of the extremities that enters into the human organization. This is not for life that lasts until death; it contains impulses that have meaning after death. They are present, live in human beings, and thus do something that has meaning beyond ordinary life; they are not based in the organism. For the organism must go beyond its measure of organization in order to bring this forth. There it accomplishes something. There it accomplishes something in human beings that has nothing to do with a mere scientific necessity, for this scientific necessity regards human beings in relation to everything that lies between birth and death. But when something occurs that is effective here but only attains its full reality after death, then it is the “future self,” if we may say so. And what does this future self grasp? I said: free thinking. The past self — the triad of selves lies within the human being — which he brings into embodiment, which inspires the human soul life, which makes it possible for us to have free thinking, free from mere imagination, which also provides the impetus for moral action. But that would remain passive. It must, however, be seized by life-giving impulses. These come from the future self. In every free action, what is the immortal essence of the human being is lived out. For the present self, which lives through the body and only acquires its meaning in the future through what is prepared by the spiritual-soul, is influenced by the future self with all its impulses and active forces that seize the free thinking of the past self. In the present human being, the immortal human being works in harmony with the future human being. This is what makes the human being a free being!