And he feels that being as something belonging to him, as a completion of
his own nature; he feels it as that which gives him existence, as his
“ego.” That being is one of the Sons of Life. Man feels toward him
somewhat like this: “I have lived in this being, even when I was given up
to the glory of the universe in the Sun period,—only then he was not
visible to me; now he is.” And it is also this Son of Life from whom
proceeds the force which, during the Sunless period, acts upon the body of
man. Then when the Sun period again approaches, man feels as though he
himself became one with the Son of Life. Even if man does not see him, he
nevertheless feels closely united with him.
Now the connection with the Sons of Life was such that not every
individual human being had a Son of Life to himself, but an entire group
of people felt such a being belonging to them. Thus people on the Moon
lived segregated into groups, and each group felt in one of the Sons of
Life its common “group-ego.” The etheric body of each particular group had
a specific form, in this way these groups differed from each other. But as
the physical bodies shaped themselves in conformity with the etheric
bodies, the differences of the latter were also stamped upon the former;
and the individual groups of human beings appeared as so many species of
people. As the Sons of Life looked down on the human groups belonging to
them, they saw themselves to a certain extent reproduced in manifold
individual human beings. And therein they felt their own egohood. They, so
to speak, mirrored themselves in man. This was indeed the mission of the
human senses at that time. It has already been shown that the senses did
not as yet transmit objective perceptions. But they reflected the nature
of the Sons of Life. What those Sons of Life perceived through reflection,
gave them their “ego-consciousness.” What was aroused in the human astral
body by this reflection was the dull dim pictures of the
Moon-consciousness. By thus acting conjointly and reciprocally with the
Sons of Life, the human beings laid the foundations of the nervous system
within their physical bodies. The nerves appear, one might say, as
continuations of the senses, directed inwardly into the human body.
It is evident, from this description, in what manner the three kinds of
Spirits, those of Personality, of Fire, and of Life, act upon
Moon-humanity. If we look back upon the most important, namely the middle
period of the Moon evolution, we may say that the Sons of Personality are
at that time implanting in the human astral body independence and the
character of personality. It is owing to this fact that man can turn his
attention inwards and work upon himself during those times when the Sun is
not shining upon him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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