Theosophy
GA 9
Chapter I: The Essential Nature of Man
[ 1 ] The following words of Goethe point beautifully to the beginning of one way by which the essential nature of man can be known. “As soon as a person becomes aware of the objects around him, he considers them in relation to himself, and rightly so, because his whole fate depends on whether they please or displease him, attract or repel, help or harm him. This quite natural way of looking at or judging things appears to be as easy as it is necessary. A person is, nevertheless, exposed through it to a thousand errors that often make him ashamed and embitter his life.
“A far more difficult task is undertaken by those whose keen desire for knowledge urges them to strive to observe the objects of nature as such and in their relationship to each other. These individuals soon feel the lack of the test that helped them when they, as men, regarded the objects in reference to themselves personally. They lack the test of pleasure and displeasure, attraction and repulsion, usefulness and harmfulness. Yet this test must be renounced entirely. They ought as dispassionate and, so to speak, divine beings, to seek and examine what is, not what gratifies. Thus the true botanist should not be moved either by the beauty or by the usefulness of the plants. He must study their formation and their relation to the rest of the plant kingdom. They are one and all enticed forth and shone upon by the sun without distinction, and so he should, equably and quietly, look at and survey them all and obtain the test for this knowledge, the data for his deductions, not out of himself, but from within the circle of the things he observes.”
[ 2 ] This thought thus expressed by Goethe directs man's attention to three divisions of things. First, the objects concerning which information continually flows to him through the doors of his senses—the objects he touches, smells, tastes, hears and sees. Second, the impressions that these make on him, characterizing themselves through the fact that he finds the one sympathetic, the other abhorrent, the one useful, another harmful. Third, the knowledge that he, as a “so to speak divine being,” acquires concerning the objects, that is, the secrets of their activities and their being as they unveil themselves to him.
[ 3 ] These three divisions are distinctly separate in human life, and man thereby becomes aware that he is interwoven with the world in a threefold way. The first division is one that he finds present, that he accepts as a given fact. Through the second he makes the world into his own affair, into something that has a meaning for him. The third he regards as a goal towards which he ought unceasingly to strive.
[ 4 ] Why does the world appear to man in this threefold way? A simple consideration will explain it. I cross a meadow covered with flowers. The flowers make their colors known to me through my eyes. That is the fact I accept as given. Having accepted the fact, I rejoice in the splendor of the colors. Through this I turn the fact into an affair of my own. Through my feelings I connect the flowers with my own existence. Then, a year later I go again over the same meadow. Other flowers are there. Through them new joys arise in me. My joy of the former year will appear as a memory. This is in me. The object that aroused it in me is gone, but the flowers I now see are of the same kind as those I saw the year before. They have grown in accordance with the same laws as have the others. If I have informed myself regarding this species and these laws, I then find them again in the flowers of this year, just as I found them in those of last year. So I shall perhaps muse, “The flowers of last year are gone and my joy in them remains only in my memory. It is bound up with my existence alone. What I recognized in the flowers of last year and recognize again this year, however, will remain as long as such flowers grow. That is something that revealed itself to me, but it is not dependent on my existence in the same way as my joy is. My feelings of joy remain in me. The laws, the being of the flowers, remain outside of me in the world.”
[ 5 ] By these means man continually links himself in this threefold way with the things of the world. One should not, for the present, read anything into this fact, but merely take it as it stands. From this it can be seen that man has three sides to his nature. This and nothing else will, for the present, be indicated here by the three words, body, soul and spirit. Whoever connects any preconceived opinions or even hypotheses with these three words will necessarily misunderstand the following explanations. By body is here meant that through which the things in the environment of a man reveal themselves to him, as in the above example, the flowers in the meadow. By the word soul is signified that by which he links the things to his own being, through which he experiences pleasure and displeasure, desire and aversion, joy and sorrow in connection with them. By spirit is meant what becomes manifest in him when as Goethe expressed it, he looks at things as a “so to speak divine being.” In this sense man consists of body, soul and spirit.
[ 6 ] Through his body man is able to place himself for the time being in connection with things; through his soul he retains in himself the impressions they make on him; through his spirit there reveals itself to him what the things retain for themselves. Only when we observe man in these three aspects can we hope to throw light on his whole being, because they show him to be related in a threefold way to the rest of the world.
[ 7 ] Through his body man is related to the objects that present themselves to his senses from without. The materials from the outer world compose his body, and the forces of the outer world work also in it. He observes the things of the outer world with his senses, and he also is able to observe his own bodily existence. It is impossible, however, for him to observe his soul existence in the same way. Everything in him that is bodily process can be perceived with his bodily senses. His likes and dislikes, his joy and pain, neither he nor anyone else can perceive with bodily senses. The region of the soul is inaccessible to bodily perception. The bodily existence of a man is manifest to all eyes; the soul existence he carries within himself as his world. Through the spirit, however, the outer world is revealed to him in a higher way. The mysteries of the outer world, indeed, unveil themselves in his inner being. He steps in spirit out of himself and lets the things speak about themselves, about what has significance not for him but for them. For example, man looks up at the starry heavens. The delight his soul experiences belongs to him. The eternal laws of the stars that he comprehends in thought, in spirit, belong not to him but to the stars themselves.
[ 8 ] In this way, man is a citizen of three worlds. Through his body he belongs to the world that he also perceives through his body; through his soul he constructs for himself his own world; through his spirit a world reveals itself to him that is exalted above both the others.
[ 9 ] It seems obvious that because of the essential difference of these three worlds, a clear understanding of them and of man's share in them can only be obtained by means of three different modes of observation.
Das Wesen des Menschen
[ 1 ] Die folgenden Worte Goethes bezeichnen in schöner Art den Ausgangspunkt eines der Wege, auf denen das Wesen des Menschen erkannt werden kann: «Sobald der Mensch die Gegenstände um sich her gewahr wird, betrachtet er sie in bezug auf sich selbst; und mit Recht, denn es hängt sein ganzes Schicksal davon ab, ob sie ihm gefallen oder missfallen, ob sie ihn anziehen oder abstoßen, ob sie ihm nützen oder schaden. Diese ganz natürliche Art, die Dinge anzusehen und zu beurteilen, scheint so leicht zu sein, als sie notwendig ist, und doch ist der Mensch dabei tausend Irrtümern ausgesetzt, die ihn oft beschämen und ihm das Leben verbittern. — Ein weit schwereres Tagewerk übernehmen diejenigen, deren lebhafter Trieb nach Kenntnis die Gegenstände der Natur an sich selbst und in ihren Verhältnissen untereinander zu beobachten strebt: denn sie vermissen bald den Maßstab, der ihnen zu Hilfe kam, wenn sie als Menschen die Dinge in bezug auf sich betrachten. Es fehlt ihnen der Maßstab des Gefallens und Missfallens, des Anziehens und Abstoßens, des Nutzens und Schadens. Diesem sollen sie ganz entsagen, sie sollen als gleichgültige und gleichsam göttliche Wesen suchen und untersuchen, was ist, und nicht, was behagt. So soll den echten Botaniker weder die Schönheit noch die Nutzbarkeit der Pflanzen rühren, er soll ihre Bildung, ihr Verhältnis zu dem übrigen Pflanzenreiche untersuchen; und wie sie alle von der Sonne hervorgelockt und beschienen werden, so soll er mit einem gleichen ruhigen Blicke sie alle ansehen und übersehen und den Maßstab zu dieser Erkenntnis, die Data der Beurteilung nicht aus sich, sondern aus dem Kreise der Dinge nehmen, die er beobachtet.»
[ 2 ] Auf dreierlei lenkt dieser von Goethe ausgesprochene Gedanke die Aufmerksamkeit des Menschen. Das erste sind die Gegenstände, von denen ihm durch die Tore seiner Sinne fortwährend Kunde zufließt, die er tastet, riecht, schmeckt, hört und sieht. Das zweite sind die Eindrücke, die sie auf ihn machen und die sich als sein Gefallen und Missfallen, sein Begehren oder Verabscheuen dadurch kennzeichnen, dass er das eine sympathisch, das andere antipathisch, das eine nützlich, das andere schädlich findet. Und das dritte sind die Erkenntnisse, die er sich als «gleichsam göttliches Wesen» über die Gegenstände erwirbt; es sind die Geheimnisse des Wirkens und Daseins dieser Gegenstände, die sich ihm enthüllen.
[ 3 ] Deutlich scheiden sich diese drei Gebiete im menschlichen Leben. Und der Mensch wird daher gewahr, dass er in einer dreifachen Art mit der Welt verwoben ist. — Die erste Art ist etwas, was er vorfindet, was er als eine gegebene Tatsache hinnimmt. Durch die zweite Art macht er die Welt zu seiner eigenen Angelegenheit, zu etwas, das eine Bedeutung für ihn hat. Die dritte Art betrachtet er als ein Ziel, zu dem er unaufhörlich hinstreben soll.
[ 4 ] Warum erscheint dem Menschen die Welt in dieser dreifachen Art? Eine einfache Betrachtung kann das lehren: Ich gehe über eine mit Blumen bewachsene Wiese. Die Blumen künden mir ihre Farben durch mein Auge. Das ist die Tatsache, die ich als gegeben hinnehme. — Ich freue mich über die Farbenpracht. Dadurch mache ich die Tatsache zu meiner eigenen Angelegenheit. Ich verbinde durch meine Gefühle die Blumen mit meinem eigenen Dasein. Nach einem Jahre gehe ich wieder über dieselbe Wiese. Andere Blumen sind da. Neue Freude erwächst mir aus ihnen. Meine Freude vom Vorjahre wird als Erinnerung auftauchen. Sie ist in mir; der Gegenstand, der sie angefacht hat, ist vergangen. Aber die Blumen, die ich jetzt sehe, sind von derselben Art wie die vorjährigen; sie sind nach denselben Gesetzen gewachsen wie jene. Habe ich mich über diese Art, über diese Gesetze aufgeklärt, so finde ich sie in den diesjährigen Blumen so wieder, wie ich sie in den vorjährigen erkannt habe. Und ich werde vielleicht also nachsinnen: Die Blumen des Vorjahres sind vergangen; meine Freude an ihnen ist nur in meiner Erinnerung geblieben. Sie ist nur mit meinem Dasein verknüpft. Das aber, was ich im vorigen Jahre an den Blumen erkannt habe und dies Jahr wieder erkenne, das wird bleiben, solange solche Blumen wachsen. Das ist etwas, was sich mir offenbart hat, was aber von meinem Dasein nicht in gleicher Art abhängig ist wie meine Freude. Meine Gefühle der Freude bleiben in mir; die Gesetze, das Wesen der Blumen bleiben außerhalb meiner in der Welt.
[ 5 ] So verbindet sich der Mensch immerwährend in dieser dreifachen Art mit den Dingen der Welt. Man lege zunächst nichts in diese Tatsache hinein, sondern fasse sie auf, wie sie sich darbietet. Es ergibt sich aus ihr, dass der Mensch drei Seiten in seinem Wesen hat. Dies und nichts anderes soll hier vorläufig mit den drei Worten Leib, Seele und Geist angedeutet werden. Wer irgendwelche vorgefassten Meinungen oder gar Hypothesen mit diesen drei Worten verbindet, wird die folgenden Auseinandersetzungen notwendig missverstehen müssen. Mit Leib ist hier dasjenige gemeint, wodurch sich dem Menschen die Dinge seiner Umwelt offenbaren, wie in obigem Beispiele die Blumen der Wiese. Mit dem Worte Seele soll auf das gedeutet werden, wodurch er die Dinge mit seinem eigenen Dasein verbindet, wodurch er Gefallen und Missfallen, Lust und Unlust, Freude und Schmerz an ihnen empfindet. Als Geist ist das gemeint, was in ihm offenbar wird, wenn er, nach Goethes Ausdruck, die Dinge als «gleichsam göttliches Wesen» ansieht. — In diesem Sinne besteht der Mensch aus Leib, Seele und Geist.
[ 6 ] Durch seinen Leib vermag sich der Mensch für den Augenblick mit den Dingen in Verbindung zu setzen. Durch seine Seele bewahrt er in sich die Eindrücke, die sie auf ihn machen; und durch seinen Geist offenbart sich ihm das, was sich die Dinge selbst bewahren. Nur wenn man den Menschen nach diesen drei Seiten betrachtet, kann man hoffen, Aufschluss über seine Wesenheit zu erhalten. Denn diese drei Seiten zeigen ihn in dreifach verschiedener Art mit der übrigen Welt verwandt.
[ 7 ] Durch seinen Leib ist er mit den Dingen verwandt, die sich seinen Sinnen von außen darbieten. Die Stoffe der Außenwelt setzen diesen seinen Leib zusammen; die Kräfte der Außenwelt wirken auch in ihm. Und wie er die Dinge der Außenwelt mit seinen Sinnen betrachtet, so kann er auch sein eigenes leibliches Dasein beobachten. Aber unmöglich ist es, in derselben Art das seelische Dasein zu betrachten. Alles, was an mir leibliche Vorgänge sind, kann auch mit den leiblichen Sinnen wahrgenommenen werden. Mein Gefallen und Missfallen, meine Freude und meinen Schmerz kann weder ich noch ein anderer mit leiblichen Sinnen wahrnehmen. Das Seelische ist ein Gebiet, das der leiblichen Anschauung unzugänglich ist. Das leibliche Dasein des Menschen ist vor aller Augen offenbar; das seelische trägt er als seine Welt in sich. Durch den Geist aber wird ihm die Außenwelt in einer höheren Art offenbar. In seinem Innern enthüllen sich zwar die Geheimnisse der Außenwelt; aber er tritt im Geiste aus sich heraus und lässt die Dinge über sich selbst sprechen, über dasjenige, was nicht für ihn, sondern für sie Bedeutung hat. Der Mensch blickt zum gestirnten Himmel auf: das Entzücken, das seine Seele erlebt, gehört ihm an; die ewigen Gesetze der Sterne, die er im Gedanken, im Geiste erfasst, gehören nicht ihm, sondern den Sternen selbst an.
[ 8 ] So ist der Mensch Bürger dreier Welten. Durch seinen Leib gehört er der Welt an, die er auch mit seinem Leibe wahrnimmt; durch seine Seele baut er sich seine eigene Welt auf; durch seinen Geist offenbart sich ihm eine Welt, die über die beiden anderen erhaben ist.
[ 9 ] Es scheint einleuchtend, dass man, wegen der wesentlichen Verschiedenheit dieser drei Welten, auch nur durch drei verschiedene Betrachtungsarten Klarheit über sie und den Anteil des Menschen an ihnen wird gewinnen können.
The Essence of Man
[ 1 ] The following words of Goethe beautifully describe the starting point of one of the ways in which the essence of man can be recognized: "As soon as man becomes aware of the objects around him, he looks at them in relation to himself; and rightly so, for his whole fate depends on whether he likes or dislikes them, whether they attract or repel him, whether they benefit or harm him. This quite natural way of looking at and judging things seems to be as easy as it is necessary, and yet man is exposed to a thousand errors that often shame him and make his life bitter. - Those whose lively instinct for knowledge strives to observe the objects of nature in themselves and in their relations to one another undertake a far more difficult daily task: for they soon miss the standard that came to their aid when, as men, they look at things in relation to themselves. They lack the standard of liking and disliking, of attraction and repulsion, of benefit and harm. They should renounce this completely; as indifferent and, as it were, divine beings, they should seek and examine what is, and not what pleases. Thus the true botanist should be moved neither by the beauty nor by the usefulness of the plants, he should examine their formation, their relationship to the rest of the plant kingdom; and as they are all lured out and illuminated by the sun, so he should look at and survey them all with the same calm gaze and take the standard for this knowledge, the data of judgment, not from himself, but from the circle of things he observes."
[ 2 ] This thought expressed by Goethe directs man's attention to three things. The first are the objects that constantly flow to him through the gates of his senses, which he touches, smells, tastes, hears and sees. The second are the impressions they make on him and which are characterized as his liking or disliking, his desire or abhorrence, in that he finds one sympathetic, the other antipathetic, one useful, the other harmful. And the third is the knowledge that he acquires about the objects as a "quasi-divine being"; it is the secrets of the action and existence of these objects that are revealed to him.
[ 3 ] These three areas are clearly distinct in human life. And man therefore realizes that he is interwoven with the world in a threefold way. - The first kind is something he finds, something he accepts as a given fact. In the second way, he makes the world his own affair, something that has meaning for him. The third kind he regards as a goal towards which he should strive ceaselessly.
[ 4 ] Why does the world appear to man in this threefold way? A simple observation can teach us this: I walk across a meadow overgrown with flowers. The flowers reveal their colors to me through my eyes. This is a fact that I take for granted. - I rejoice in the splendor of color. In doing so, I make the fact my own affair. I connect the flowers with my own existence through my feelings. After a year, I walk across the same meadow again. Other flowers are there. New joy grows from them. My joy from the previous year will emerge as a memory. It is in me; the object that kindled it has passed. But the flowers I see now are of the same kind as last year's; they have grown according to the same laws as those. Once I have enlightened myself about this species, about these laws, I find them again in this year's flowers in the same way as I recognized them in last year's flowers. And so perhaps I will reflect: The flowers of the previous year have passed; my joy in them has only remained in my memory. It is only linked to my existence. But what I recognized in the flowers last year and recognize again this year will remain as long as such flowers grow. This is something that has revealed itself to me, but which is not dependent on my existence in the same way as my joy. My feelings of joy remain within me; the laws, the essence of the flowers remain outside me in the world.
[ 5 ] So man is always connected in this threefold way with the things of the world. First of all, do not read anything into this fact, but take it as it presents itself. It follows from it that man has three sides to his nature. This and nothing else is to be indicated here for the time being with the three words body, soul and spirit. Anyone who associates any preconceived opinions or even hypotheses with these three words will necessarily misunderstand the following discussions. By body is meant here that by which the things of his environment reveal themselves to man, as in the above example the flowers of the meadow. The word soul is meant to refer to that by which he connects things with his own existence, by which he feels pleasure and displeasure, pleasure and displeasure, joy and pain in them. Spirit refers to that which is revealed in him when, according to Goethe's expression, he sees things as a "quasi-divine being". - In this sense, man consists of body, soul and spirit.
[ 6 ] Through his body, man is able to connect with things for the moment. Through his soul he retains within himself the impressions they make on him; and through his spirit that which the things themselves retain is revealed to him. Only by looking at man from these three sides can we hope to gain insight into his nature. For these three sides show him to be related to the rest of the world in three different ways.
[ 7 ] Through his body, he is related to the things that present themselves to his senses from the outside. The substances of the outside world compose his body; the forces of the outside world also work in him. And just as he observes the things of the outside world with his senses, he can also observe his own bodily existence. But it is impossible to observe the existence of the soul in the same way. Everything that is a bodily process in me can also be perceived with the bodily senses. Neither I nor anyone else can perceive my pleasure and displeasure, my joy and my pain with bodily senses. The soul is an area that is inaccessible to bodily perception. Man's bodily existence is obvious to all eyes; he carries the spiritual world within him as his world. Through the spirit, however, the outer world is revealed to him in a higher way. The secrets of the outer world are indeed revealed within him; but he steps out of himself in spirit and lets things speak about themselves, about that which has meaning not for him but for them. Man looks up to the starry sky: the rapture that his soul experiences belongs to him; the eternal laws of the stars, which he grasps in his thoughts, in his spirit, do not belong to him, but to the stars themselves.
[ 8 ] So man is a citizen of three worlds. Through his body he belongs to the world which he also perceives with his body; through his soul he builds his own world; through his spirit a world is revealed to him which is superior to the other two.
[ 9 ] It seems obvious that, because of the essential difference between these three worlds, it will only be possible to gain clarity about them and man's share in them through three different ways of looking at them.