I-37 Relationship of “healing” to the different “bodies” and “kingdoms”

The Manifestations of Karma, Lects 3, 6 and 10

As implied by its very name, “Anthroposophy” or “Anthropo-Sophia,” i.e., “human being-wisdom,” no aspect of humanity’s being or existence is beyond the reach of anthroposophy, including medicine and the healing arts. Steiner often lectured just to medical personnel, as he did freely with all disciplines afforded by time and interest. Pertinences are littered throughout his lectures and writings. One cannot have failed to observe them in passing through this Charts & Tabulations section, as, for instance, in I-14 and I-20. Some works by other anthroposophical writers in the Bibliography are also illustrative, e.g., AAM, Vols 1-3, AAC, AOMR, CMHm, EB; and the latest complete catalogue from the Anthroposophic Press will always list numerous others.

A purely physical body, e.g., a stone or a corpse, is unable to heal itself or to repair an injury, hence we cannot even speak in this case of disease and healing. Above that level, however, we generally have to look for the principle of inner healing power in the etheric body. The following chart illustrates the period necessary for the etheric body to heal the physical when, for instance, it is externally mutilated:

One obvious question immediately arises. Why is healing in the off-spring of a mammal and in the next life of the human? Short of referring to the Basic Anthroposophy books, the answer lies in the locus of the Ego (see I-11). Animals do not reincarnate, for the locus of their Ego “is not in this world.”

Another question (which incidentally seems to have obvious implications for the “scientific” practice of experimentally testing drugs for human application by first applying them to animals) is, How is it that as we rise higher in the animal and human kingdoms, we find that the healing forces of the etheric body have to make greater efforts to manifest themselves? This depends upon the fact that the etheric body is bound to the physical body in very different ways as we progress up the ladder. The lower we go (including the plant kingdom), the looser is the connection between physical and etheric. At the lower level, the union is such that the physical body is unable to react upon the etheric body, and the latter remains untouched. The nature of the etheric body is that of activity, generation and growth. The more intimate the union between physical and etheric, as we progress up the ladder, the more the forces of the physical react upon the etheric body. An injury to the physical body is thus simultaneously an injury to the etheric body. But the higher we go, the more do we also have to bring into consideration, not only the activity of the etheric and physical bodies, but also that of the astral body (the seat of pain, passion, etc.). Where an astral body is active, external impressions are reflected into the inner experiences. The more active the astral body is, the more a being opens itself to the external world, and the increasing activity of this body causes the etheric body to have to use much stronger forces to make injuries good. If we then pass from animals to the human being, we bring in the matter of the incarnated Ego and the ability to distinguish good from evil. Through purely individual motives the Ego comes into touch with the world in various ways, making various impressions upon the astral body, which in turn acts upon the etheric body. Both now suffer these reactions. In the journey of a human being between death and rebirth (see I-33), an extract of the etheric body is left over on the ascent and picked up again on the descent, so that in the new existence the results of the prior experience is present in the etheric body, which imprints it upon the physical body also. The same extract principle applies also to the astral body, but we are so built that while emotions and attitudes may relate to prior lives, normal consciousness does not extend from one life to another (Eccles 1,11 and 3,11).

In the case of the human being, matters of healing become extremely complex, for they relate, in the case of general health and disease, and even in case of external accident, to prior lives, and we begin to see how some things can be healed in this life and some cannot but must have their consequence in another. Anthroposophy goes into great detail on these, but we cannot go into it here.

The ability of the human Ego to work upon, “heal,” the lower bodies in one lifetime is progressively less as one descends from astral to etheric to physical, somewhat like the way the hands of a clock affect each other. This brings us to the relationship of pain to serious illness in regard to the astral and etheric bodies. We may state it thus:

Thus our most deadly illnesses, such as malignancy and heart disease, do not identify their onset with pain, and are more difficult to cure in one lifetime.

While it can only be hinted at here, there is a relationship between the locus of the illness and where the cure is to be sought, as follows: