The first
two bodies I have discussed are earthly bodies. They find their origin in the
earthly nature of human beings. These bodies are wonderful gifts from our
parents, the mother and father who together bring about the creation of a
physical body that is imbued with life forces. However, most of us also believe
that there is something more to our human nature. We have other bodies so to
speak, neither of them earthly in nature.
These bodies are not gifts from our parents; rather they are from a more
eternal and infinite existence that transcends our material and life bodies on
earth. These two bodies have many names. I am used to knowing them as soul and
spirit. However, the soul, true to its nature, has other names that help in
building the imagination to understand it.
This soul
body is referred to as the astral body or the experience body. Both give very wonderful
imaginations about the nature of the soul. As an astral body, we can imagine
this body as one coming from the stars, i.e. astral. It speaks of the descent
of some body from the stars unto earth entering a physical and etheric body
that has been lovingly prepared by parents. It is as if a star being has come
to live on earth, in a temple that parents have prepared. As in all stars, it
is a being filled with light and movement. Movement is what has also made it
possible to descend onto earth. Stars
were generally perceived to travel across the sky. Modern science may have changed
this view, but it does not change the imagination. Movement is important for
the astral body. Movement is the gift it brings into the physical-etheric
sheaths of the human beings. Animals move too, and the move freely, i.e. not
attached to the earth. Our etheric body is rhythmical. It moves towards the
sun, upwards and in a broadening fashion that also give it every chance to
always face the sun. It is this rhythmical movement is what allows plants to
gaze upon the sun and to grow to such wonderful dimensions. And the sun is a
star. Herein lies the secret of the relationship between the astral body and
the etheric body; the former descends from the heavens to meet the earth; the
latter rises from the heavens to meet the stars. And both meet within the human
being.
Another
useful term for the astral body is the experience body. I heard this term from
an upper school mentor who visited us and help us prepare the upper school. All
of us gain experiences during our lifetime and these experiences must be “experienced”
somewhere. That somewhere is the astral body. Experiences are always full of
movement and many different levels of feeling or emotion. If it were always
still, there would be no need for meditation or relaxation. But we do need
moments of quiet which are reflective of a body full of moment. Just like the imagination of the stars “racing”
across the sky, our experiences fill and course through our astral bodies. Some
of these experiences translate into activities or deeds. Other experiences
simply remain experiences which we may call upon from time to time.
When we
look around us, we perceive many different experiences that are full of movement.
Some of the obvious ones are emotions; some are less obvious such as colors.
But emotions or colors find a home in our astral body as it is a body of
experiences, of movement. If our physical body related to the earth, its
minerals, and the our etheric body to the plant world, to life, to water, our
astral bodies relate to the wind – it is above the earth, in constant movement
yet finding time to touch the earth and meet the earth. The plants dance with
the wind as their arms branch out and their leafy fingers meet and embrace the
wind. The plants share their earthly experiences with the wind, and the wind
brings “movement” to the plants.
Hence our
astral body is our body that allows us to move and to experience things,
phenomena, events. It is what the heavens bring down to earth and with the
meeting of the etheric, creates a necessary link, within humanity between
heaven and earth.
Sources: Theosophy by Rudolf Steiner.
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