17. The Essence of Man in the Light of Spiritual Science

Let us compare the average person with Schiller. He differs from the average person in that he has transformed some instincts and desires into higher qualities. The saint has nothing left of desires over which he has not gained mastery. In the astral body of an advanced person, we can distinguish two parts: one part that the ego has ennobled and one part that has not yet been transformed. The transformed part of the astral body we call the manas or the spiritual self, the fifth limb of the human being. Thus, on the basis of the four limbs of the human being, man is able to create a fifth in the course of his perfection. Yes, he is able to create a sixth. He can transform not only the astral body, but also the etheric or life body. Let us remember what it was like to be seven or eight years old, and what we have learned since then. Of course, everyone has learned an enormous amount. All of this has a transforming effect on the astral body, changing the astral body. But if we were a hot-tempered or melancholy child at seven or eight years old, let us examine whether this hot temper or melancholy has changed. Some of it will usually still emerge at a later age. Schopenhauer therefore says that the qualities do not change at all. But that is not the case. They just change slowly. When the astral body changes, as the minute hand on the clock advances, so do the temperament and character change, the habits, as the hour hand of the clock advances, because the ether body is the carrier of it.