>> Vibration patterns on Chladni Plates

Metal plates covered with fine sand,
resonated at modal points and producing geometric patterns.
This is seen compared with a sea-urchin.




--| The Bridge Between Universal Spirituality
--| and the Physical Constitution of Man

 http://www.elib.com/Steiner/Lectures/BridgeBet/

When man is studied by modern scientific thinking, one part only of the
being is taken into consideration. No account whatever is taken of the fact
that in addition to his physical body, man also has higher members. But we
will leave this aside today and think about something that is more or less
recognized in science and has also made its way into the general
consciousness.

In studying the human being, only those elements which can be pictured as
solid, or solid-fluidic, are regarded as belonging to his organism. It is,
of course, acknowledged that the fluid and the aeriform elements pass into
and out of the human being, but these are not in themselves considered to be
integral members of the human organism. The warmth within man which is
greater than that of his environment is regarded as a state or condition of
his organism, but not as an actual member of his constitution. We shall
presently see what I mean by saying this. I have already drawn attention to
the fact that when we study the rising and falling of the cerebral fluid
through the spinal canal, we can observe a regular up-and-down oscillatory
movement caused by inhalation and exhalation; when we breathe in, the
cerebral fluid is driven upwards and strikes, as it were, against the
brain-structure; when we breathe out, the fluid sinks again. These processes
in the purely liquid components of the human organism are not considered to
be part and parcel of the organism itself. The general idea is that man, as
a physical structure, consists of the more or less solid, or at most
solid-fluid, substances found in him.



Man is pictured as a structure built up from these more or less solid
substances (see Diagram I). The other elements, the fluid element, as I have
shown by the example of the cerebral fluid, and the aeriform element, are
not regarded by anatomy and physiology as belonging to the human organism as
such. It is said: Yes, the human being draws in the air which follows
certain paths in his body and also has certain definite functions. This air
is breathed out again. - Then people speak of the warmth condition of the
body, but in reality they regard the solid element as the only organizing
factor and do not realize that in addition to this solid structure they
should also see the whole man as a column of fluid (Diagram II, blue), as
being permeated with air (red) and as a being in whom there is a definite
degree of warmth (yellow). More exact study shows that just as the solid or
solid-fluid constituents are to be considered as an integral part or member
of the organism, so the actual fluidity should not be thought of as so much
uniform fluid, but as being differentiated and organized - though the
process here is a more fluctuating one - and having its own particular
significance.




In addition to the solid man, therefore, we must bear in mind the 'fluid
man' and also the 'aeriform man.' For the air that is within us, in regard
to its organization and its differentiations, is an organism in the same
sense as the solid organism, only it is gaseous, aeriform, and in motion.
And finally, the warmth in us is not a uniform warmth extending over the
whole human being, but is also delicately organized. As soon, however, as we
begin to speak of the fluid organism which fills the same space that is
occupied by the solid organism, we realize immediately that we cannot speak
of this fluid organism in earthly man without speaking of the etheric body
which permeates this fluid organism and fills it with forces. The physical
organism exists for itself, as it were; it is the physical body; in so far
as we consider it in its entirety, we regard it, to begin with, as a solid
organism. This is the physical body.

We then come to consider the fluid organism, which cannot, of course, be
investigated in the same way as the solid organism, by dissection, but which
must be conceived as an inwardly mobile, fluidic organism. It cannot be
studied unless we think of it as permeated by the etheric body. Thirdly,
there is the aeriform organism which again cannot be studied unless we think
of it as permeated with forces by the astral body. Fourthly, there is the
warmth-organism with all its inner differentiation. It is permeated by the
forces of the Ego. - That is how the human as earthly being today is
constituted.

	Physical organism:		Physical body


	Man regarded in a different way:

	1. Solid organism		Physical body 
	2. Fluid organism		Etheric body 
	3. Aeriform organism		Astral body 
	4. Warmth-organism		Ego

Let us think, for example, of the blood. Inasmuch as it is mainly fluid,
inasmuch as this blood belongs to the fluid organism, we find in the blood
the etheric body which permeates it with its forces. But in the blood there
is also present what is generally called the warmth condition. But that
'organism' is by no means identical with the organism of the fluid blood as
such. If we were to investigate this - and it can also be done with physical
methods of investigation - we should find in registering the warmth in the
different parts of the human organism that the warmth cannot be identified
with the fluid organism or with any other.

Directly we reflect about man in this way we find that it is impossible for
our thought to come to a standstill within the limits of the human organism
itself. We can remain within these limits only if we are thinking merely of
the solid organism which is shut off by the skin from what is outside it.
Even this, however, is only apparently so. The solid structure is generally
regarded as if it were a firm, self-enclosed block; but it is also inwardly
differentiated and is related in manifold ways to the solid earth as a
whole. This is obvious from the fact that the different solid substances
have, for example, different weights; this alone shows that the solids
within the human organism are differentiated, have different specific
weights in man. In regard to the physical organism, therefore, the human
being is related to the earth as a whole. Nevertheless it is possible,
according at least to external evidence, to place spatial limits around the
physical organism.

It is different when we come to the second, the fluid organism that is
permeated by the etheric body. This fluid organism cannot be strictly
demarcated from the environment. Whatever is fluid in any area of space
adjoins the fluidic element in the environment. Although the fluid element
as such is present in the world outside us in a rarefied state, we cannot
make such a definite demarcation between the fluid element within man andr
the fluid element outside man, as in the case of the solid organism. The
boundary between man's inner fluid organism and the fluid element in the
external world must therefore be left indefinite.

This is even more emphatically the case when we come to consider the
aeriform organism which is permeated by the forces of the astral body. The
air within us at a certain moment was outside us a moment before, and it
will soon be outside again. We are drawing in and giving out the aeriform
element all the time. We can really think of the air as such which surrounds
our earth, and say: it penetrates into our organism and withdraws again; but
by penetrating into our organism it becomes an integral part of us. In our
aeriform organism we actually have something that constantly builds itself
up out of the whole atmosphere and then withdraws again into the atmosphere.
Whenever we breathe in, something is built up within us, or, at the very
least, each indrawn breath causes a change, a modification, in an upbuilding
process within us. Similarly, a destructive, partially destructive, process
takes place whenever we breathe out. Our aeriform organism undergoes a
certain change with every indrawn breath; it is not exactly newly born, but
it undergoes a change, both when we breathe in and when we breathe out. When
we breathe out, the aeriform organism does not, of course, die, it merely
undergoes a change; but there is constant interaction between the aeriform
organism within us and the air outside. The usual trivial conceptions of the
human organism can only be due to the failure to realize that there is but a
slight degree of difference between the aeriform organism and the solid
organism. And now we come to the warmth-organism. It is of course quite in
keeping with materialistic-mechanistic thought to study only the solid
organism and to ignore the fluid organism, the aeriform organism, and the
warmth-organism. But no real knowledge of man's being can be acquired unless
we are willing to acknowledge this membering into a warmth-organism, an
aeriform organism, a fluid organism, and an earth organism (solid).

The warmth-organism is paramountly the field of the Ego. The Ego itself is
that spirit-organization which imbues with its own forces the warmth that is
within us, and governs and gives it configuration, not only externally but
also inwardly. We cannot understand the life and activity of the soul unless
we remember that the Ego works directly upon the warmth. It is primarily the
Ego in man which activates the will, generates impulses of will. Ñ How does
the Ego generate impulses of will? From a different point of view we have
spoken of how impulses of will are connected with the earthly sphere, in
contrast to the impulses of thought and ideation which are connected with
forces outside and beyond the earthly sphere. But how does the Ego, which
holds together the impulses of will, send these impulses into the organism,
into the whole being of man? This is achieved through the fact that the will
works primarily in the warmth-organism. An impulse of will proceeding from
the Ego works upon the warmth-organism. Under present earthly conditions it
is not possible for what I shall now describe to you to be there as a
concrete reality. Nevertheless it can be envisaged as something that is
essentially present in man. It can be envisaged if we disregard the physical
organization within the space bounded by the human skin. We disregard this,
also the fluid organism, and the aeriform organism. The space then remains
filled with nothing but warmth which is, of course, in communication with
the warmth outside. But what is active in this warmth, what sets it in flow,
stirs it into movement, makes it into an organism Ñ is the Ego.

The astral body of man contains within it the forces of feeling. The astral
body brings these forces of feeling into physical operation in man's
aeriform organism.

As an earthly being, man's constitution is such that, by way of the
warmth-organism, his Ego gives rise to what comes to expression when he acts
in the world as a being of will. The feelings experienced in the astral body
and coming to expression in the earthly organization manifest in the
aeriform organism. And when we come to the etheric organism, to the etheric
body, we find within it the conceptual process, in so far as this has a
pictorial character Ñ more strongly pictorial than we are consciously aware
of to begin with, for the physical body still intrudes and tones down the
pictures into mental concepts. This process works upon the fluid organism.

This shows us that by taking these different organisms in man into account
we come nearer to the life of soul. Materialistic observation, which stops
short at the solid structure and insists that in the very nature of things
water cannot become an organism, is bound to confront the life of soul with
complete lack of understanding; for it is precisely in these other organisms
that the life of soul comes to immediate expression. The solid organism
itself is, in reality, only that which provides support for the other
organisms. The solid organism stands there as a supporting structure
composed of bones, muscles, and so forth. Into this supporting structure is
membered the fluid organism with its own inner differentiation and
configuration; in this fluid organism vibrates the etheric body, and within
this fluid organism the thoughts are produced. How are the thoughts
produced? Through the fact that within the fluid organism something asserts
itself in a particular metamorphosis Ñ namely, what we know in the external
world as tone.

Tone is, in reality, something that leads the ordinary mode of observation
very much astray. As earthly human beings we perceive the tone as being
borne to us by the air. But in point of fact the air is only the transmitter
of the tone, which actually weaves in the air. And anyone who assumes that
the tone in its essence is merely a matter of air-vibrations is like a
person who says: Man has only his physical organism, and there is no soul in
it. If the air-vibrations are thought to constitute the essence of the tone,
whereas they are in truth merely its external expression, this is the same
as seeing only the physical organism with no soul in it. The tone which
lives in the air is essentially an etheric reality. And the tone we hear by
way of the air arises through the fact that the air is permeated by the Tone
Ether (see Diagram III) which is the same as the Chemical Ether. In
permeating the air, this Chemical Ether imparts what lives within it to the
air, and we become aware of what we call the tone.



This Tone Ether or Chemical Ether is essentially active in our fluid
organism. We can therefore make the following distinction: In our fluid
organism lives our own etheric body; but in addition there penetrates into
it (the fluid organism) from every direction the Tone Ether which underlies
the tone. Please distinguish carefully here. We have within us our etheric
body; it works and is active by giving rise to thoughts in our fluid
organism. But what may be called the Chemical Ether continually streams in
and out of our fluid organism. Thus we have an etheric organism complete in
itself, consisting of Chemical Ether, Warmth-Ether, Light-Ether, Life-Ether,
and in addition we find in it, in a very special sense, the Chemical Ether
which streams in and out by way of the fluid organism.


(Lecture 1-portion, December 17, 1920)

-- 

Think of a person whose soul is fired with enthusiasm for a high moral
ideal, for the ideal of generosity, of freedom, of goodness, of love, or
whatever it may be. He may also feel enthusiasm for examples of the
practical expression of these ideals. But nobody can conceive that the
enthusiasm which fires the soul penetrates into the bones and muscles as
described by modern physiology or anatomy. If you really take counsel with
yourself, however, you will find it quite possible to conceive that when one
has enthusiasm for a high moral ideal, this enthusiasm has an effect upon
the warmth organism. Ñ There, you see, we have come from the realm of soul
into the physical!

Taking this as an example, we may say: Moral ideals come to expression in an
enhancement of warmth in the warmth-organism. Not only is man warmed in soul
through what he experiences in the way of moral ideals, but he becomes
organically warmer as well Ñ though this is not so easy to prove with
physical instruments. Moral ideals, then, have a stimulating, invigorating
effect upon the warmth-organism.

(Lecture 2-portion, December 18, 1920)

-- 

Reference:

Rudolf Steiner
*The Bridge Between Universal Spirituality and the Physical Constitution of Man*
Three Lectures given in Dornach, Switzerland, December 17th - 20th, 1920, GA 202.