The threefold organisation of Man
The threefold structure of man The three soul abilities of man, thinking, feeling and wanting, occur independently of each other when his ego and astral body are in the spiritual world1 (B122 7th hour, B023). In the spiritual world they are like independent members of the being (chapter "The threshold to the spiritual world..."). During the earth incarnation each of these soul abilities has a physical equivalent, the whole physical body serves the soul as an embodiment organisation. "The body as a whole, not only the nerve activity enclosed in it, is the physical basis of the soul life", (B184, p.158). Thus, these three soul abilities are interwoven within the physical body, penetrating each other everywhere. Thinking, feeling and wanting each has a particularly suitable activity organization as physical basis. Threefolding, however, must not be understood as if these activity organisations were strictly separated from each other. Man as a tripartite being created by supreme beings, a reflection of the physical and spiritual world, which itself is tripartite everywhere. The world, the macrocosm, has a tripartite nature everywhere starting from the divine Trinity. In God the Father, God the Son, the Holy Spirit and the world we divide into a spiritual world, an astral/soul world and a physical world. Also in time we have a past current, a future current and the present as the point in time when they meet. These qualities and structures, however, cannot be seen in a delimited, self-contained way. Rather, the physical, spiritual and mental, for example, permeate each other everywhere. Where there is physical, it is an expression of the soul and spirit. In the same way, man, as he lives on earth, is a tripartite being. He has a share in the spiritual, mental and physical world. He has become from the past, is present and acts shaping his own future and that of the world. This is a way to be able to imagine the threefold division of the human being. Thinking (imagining), feeling and wanting are three fundamentally different qualities, activities and states. They occur in the embodied human being in such a way that they penetrate and interweave each other, but they can be identified everywhere according to their quality. If thinking intervenes in the physical body, it uses the nerve and sense organization. This is mainly arranged in the head or head of the human being, but also, like for example the sense of touch or the sense of warmth, is distributed over the whole body. "The physical counterparts to the soul of the imagination are to be seen in the processes of the nervous system with their outflow into the sense organs on the one hand and into the bodily internal organization on the other hand. (B184, P.151). The soul capacity of feeling finds its embodiment in the rhythmic system of the physical body. "... feeling must be related to that rhythm of life which has its centre in the activity of breathing and is connected to it ... the soul experiences feeling by relying on the rhythm of breathing as it does on the nervous processes in imagination." (B184, p.151). (B184,P.151/152). Feeling occurs through fine changes in the rhythmic system. But feeling only comes to us through the fact that we form an idea of it on the detour of nerve activity. Feeling in itself does not come to a day-conscious existence in us. "What is conveyed by the rhythm of breathing lives in ordinary consciousness in that strength which dream conceptions have", (B184, p.151/152). If we transform our ideas into actions, the will has an effect on our metabolic and limb organism. The natural science considers the physical (chemical, electrical) processes that are connected with the muscle movements. But this is only the physical expression of the preceding processes in the spiritual. In wanting, a highest spiritual is at work, which comes from the past and sows seeds for the future. "And regarding volition, we find that it is similarly based on metabolic processes." (B184, P.152). Wanting comes to us least consciously, it corresponds to the state of consciousness of sleep. "Willing that is based on metabolic processes is not experienced consciously to a higher degree than that which is completely dull in sleep", (B184, p.153). When man moves on earth, he acts into the balance and power of the world, man protrudes into the world by acting. What moves here is from a spiritual point of view, not the physical body, it is the I of man that walks on earth. The physical body and its limbs are an expression of these movements (B123, 13th hour). "Soul of man, you live in the limbs that carry you through the world of space, in the spiritual sea being ...", (B067, 25.12.1923). The I and the soul are connected with the physical body and can come to consciousness through it, perceive and move on earth. Whatever impulses emanate from the ego and the soul has an effect on the physical body; through this influence, imagination, feeling and wanting come to embodiment. "... when something is "imagined", a nervous process takes place, on the basis of which the soul becomes aware of what it has imagined, as well as when something is "felt", a modification of the breathing rhythm takes place, through which the soul revives a feeling: Thus, when something is "wanted", a metabolic process takes place, which is the bodily basis for what is experienced as wanting in the soul. (B184,P.152). And here it is also to be seen that tripartism does not mean three independent limbs, but the interplay of the three. "Above all, the relationship between nerve activity, breathing rhythm and metabolic activity is to be sharply observed. For these forms of activity do not lie next to each other but within each other, penetrate each other, merge into each other. Metabolic activity is present in the whole organism; it penetrates the organs of rhythm and those of nervous activity. But in rhythm it is not the bodily basis of feeling, in nervous activity it is not the basis of imagination; but in both it has the will-power that penetrates the rhythm and the nerves. (B154,P.156). In the higher perception, too, it has three different areas of connection with the spiritual world. "As the body lives out itself in nerve activity, rhythmic events and metabolic processes, so the spirit of man lives out itself in that which is revealed in imaginations, inspirations, intuitions", (B184, p.162). Spirit Main, Thinking 3rd hierarchy sensory, imaginative Nervous System Soul Chest, Feeling 2nd hierarchy Breathing, Cardiovascular, Rhythm System Body Limbs, Willing 1st hierarchy Metabolic, Blood system Table: Different areas of the tripartite structure and their interrelationships In the tripartite man we also have the work of the angelic hierarchies. The 3rd hierarchy is connected with the nervous and sensory system of imagination and memory, the 2nd hierarchy with the respiratory and cardiac rhythm system of feeling and the 3rd hierarchy with the metabolic and limb system of will. "... the region from which memory rises - so you are connected with what is called the third hierarchy: Angeloi, Archangeloi, Archai. ... that which emanates from them as forces, incessantly sending them into the rhythmic organization of man. Exusiai, Dynamis, Kyriotetes, these are the entities that we carry in our bosom... And when we go into our motor sphere, when we go into our organism of movement, the beings of the first hierarchy are at work in it: seraphim, cherubim, thrones ...", (B191, 2.3.1924). Extract from the book "Man" Section on the threefold order Download (german) as PDF
