Cosmic Memory

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for this reason that formerly, after an appropriate time, he had to leave the Sun and to receive a
retarding of his over-rapid progress on the split-off old Moon. But if then he had remained
permanently connected with the latter, this retarding of his growth would have hardened him in a rigid
form. Therefore he advanced to the development of earth, within which the two influences
counterbalance each other in an appropriate way. At the same time the point is reached where
something higher the soul is integrated as an inner entity within the quadripartite human being.
In its form, in its activities, movements and so forth, the physical body is the expression and the effect
of what takes place in the other parts, in the ether body, the astral body, and the "I." In the descriptions
from the "Akasha Chronicle" which we have given up to this point, it has become apparent how, in
the course of development, these other parts of the human entity gradually intervened in the formation
of the physical body. During the Saturn development none of these other parts was as yet associated
with the physical human body. But the first beginning of its development was made in that time
However, one must not think that the forces which later acted on the physical body from the ether
body, the astral body, and the "I" did not already act on it during the Saturn period.
They were already acting at that time, but in a certain sense from the outside, not from within. The
other parts had not yet been formed, had not yet been united with the physical human body as
individual entities; but the forces which were later united in them acted as it were from the
environment the atmosphere of Saturn and formed the first beginning of this body. This
beginning was then transformed on the Sun because a part of those forces now formed the separate
human ether body, and now acted on the physical body no longer merely from the outside, but from
the inside. The same thing occurred on the Moon with respect to the astral body. On the earth the
physical body was transformed for the fourth time by becoming the dwelling place of the "I," which
now works within it.
One can see that, to the eye of the scientist of the spirit, the physical body is not something fixed,
something permanent in its form and manner of acting. It is undergoing a constant process of
transformation. And such a transformation is also taking place in the current earth period of the body's
development. One can only understand human life if one is in a position to form a conception of this
transformation.
A consideration of the human organs from the point of view of the science of the spirit shows that
these are at very different stages of development. There are organs in the human body which, in their
present form, are in a descending, others which are in an ascending development. In future, the former
will lose their importance for man more and more. The time of the flowering of their functions is
behind them; they will become atrophied and finally disappear from the human body.
Other organs are in an ascending development; they contain much which now is only present in a
germinal state, as it were: in future they will develop into more perfect forms with a higher function.
Among the former organs belong, for instance, those which serve for reproduction, for the bringing
into existence of like beings. In future their function will pass to other organs and they themselves will
sink into insignificance. There will come a time when they will be present on the human body in an
atrophied condition, and one will then have to regard them only as evidences of the preceding
development of man.
Other organs, as for instance the heart and neighboring formations, are at the beginning of their
development in a certain respect. What now lies in them in a germinal state will reach its full flower
only in the future. For in the conception of the science of the spirit, the heart and its relation to the so-
called circulation of the blood are seen as something quite different from what contemporary
physiology, which in this respect is completely dependent on mechanistic-materialistic concepts, sees
in them.
In so doing, this science of the spirit succeeds in casting light on facts which are well-known to
contemporary science, but for which with the means at its disposal, the latter cannot give anything like
a satisfactory explanation. Anatomy shows that in their structure the muscles of the human body are
of two kinds. There are those whose smallest parts are smooth bands, and those whose smallest parts
show a regular transverse striation. Now the smooth muscles in general are those which in their
movements are independent of human volition. For instance, the smooth muscles of the intestine push
the food pulp along in regular movements, upon which the human volition has no influence.
Those muscles which are found in the iris of the eye are also smooth. These muscles bring about the
movements through which the pupil of the eye is enlarged when the latter is exposed to a small
amount of light, and contracted when much light flows into the eye. These movements too are
independent of human volition. On the other hand, those muscles are striated which mediate
movements under the influence of human volition, for example, the muscles by which the arms and
legs are moved. The heart, which after all is also a muscle, constitutes an exception to this general
condition. In the present period of human development, the heart is not subject to volition in its
movements, yet it is a "transversely striated" muscle. The science of the spirit indicates the reason for
this.
The heart will not always remain as it is now. In the future it will have a quite different form and a
changed function. It is on the way to becoming a voluntary muscle. In the future it will execute
movements which will be the effects of the inner soul impulses of man. It already shows what
significance it will have in the future, when the movements of the heart will be as much an expression
of the human will as the lifting of the hand or the advancing of the foot are today.
This conception of the heart is connected with a comprehensive insight of the science of the spirit into
the relation of the heart to the so-called circulation of the blood. The mechanical-materialistic doctrine
of life sees in the heart a kind of pumping mechanism which drives the blood through the body in a
regular manner. Here the heart is the cause of the movement of the blood. The insight of the science
of the spirit shows something quite different. For this insight, the pulsing of the blood, its whole inner
mobility, are the expression and the effect of the processes of the soul.
The soul is the cause of the behavior of the blood. Turning pale through feelings of fear, blushing
under the influence of sensations of shame, are coarse effects of processes of the soul in the blood.
But everything which takes place in the blood is only the expression of what takes place in the life of
the soul. However, the connection between the pulsation of the blood and the impulses of the soul is a
deeply mysterious one. The movements of the heart are not the cause, but the consequence of the
pulsation of the blood.
In the future, through voluntary movements, the heart will carry what takes place in the human soul
into the external world.
Other organs which are in a similarly ascending development are the organs of respiration in their
function as instruments of speech. At present by their means man can transform his thoughts into air
waves. He thereby impresses upon the external world what he experiences within himself.
He transforms his inner experiences into air waves. This wave motion of the air is a rendering of what [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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