We now come
to the fourth sheath in the composition of the human being. Like the astral
sheath, this sheath is also not from this earth. It is eternal and it too
streams from the heavens above. The challenge
we all face when discuss this sheath is that its very mention conjures various
images in our minds. These images are part of the landscape we struggle with
when trying to understand this sheath. This sheath is called the spirit.
It is not
unusual to confuse soul with spirit or even equate the two. And yet they are
different. Whereas soul or as I called it astral, refers to a sheath in which
lives movement, it is in the spirit sheath that which is truly our
individuality. Spirit streams for older words that are associated with
breathing. To inspire, for example, means to breath in the spirit of another or
even more
picturesquely, to breath in the breathe of another. Each of us breathes
and we breathe for ourselves. In this sense, the spirit is about us individually.
This imagination is still difficult to grasp. And yet, when we see any human
being, we recognize easily, the physical nature, the etheric nature and yes,
even the soul nature (not just in the
movement of the other human being, but also in how experiences are expressed –
anger, joy, etc.). Often we stop here. And yet we too see in each human being
an individual, regardless of the similarities which may exist. That which allows us to be individual, and be
perceived as individual is our spirit.
Of course
we can say that animals also have individuality and therefore the spirit may only
be part of the soul. In reality, animals in general do not have individuality –
it is true our beloved pets appear to have individuality but this is also
because we the owners ascribe this individuality to them. Every time we meet
another human being, we do find ways to identify them: a name, a mannerism, a physical
description. In many ways, what we are doing is looking for a way to
individuate them, i.e. to clearly seem them as individual and not just another
face in the crowd (and even this last phrase is a clear indication that we see
individuals, not groups).
Both the astral
and spirit sheaths are humanity’s connection to its spiritual origins in the
same manner that the physical and etheric sheaths are humanity’s connection to
its earthly origins. And just as the etheric is in a way the spiritualization
of the physical world, our astral sheaths are like “materialization” of our
spiritual origins. Thus the spirit on earth has not direct way of experiencing the
earth except through the astral body. In turn, the astral body needs to
penetrate and form a community with the etheric sheath as it rises from the
earth. In this manner, the spirit is to our spiritual origin what our physical
is to our material origin. The spirit is the vessel of my true spiritual nature.
This is the real me.
For us, it
is difficult to talk about our spiritual sheath although many older traditions
still echo this once known connection. If one assumes that the heavens are
always good, true, and beautiful, then in many respects, our spirit sheath,
which originates from there, must always be good, true and beautiful. The
imperfection we live with arises from the penetration of our spiritual nature
by our material essence. This does not mean the physical world is imperfect;
rather, it is non-spiritual in its way and the relationship that needs to be established
between the spirit realm through the soul and the physical realm, through the
etheric, is one of constant rhythm and movement that consciously finding and
hold the harmony is the challenge of our daily lives.
Sources: Theosophy by Rudolf Steiner.
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