Again, with regard to the Spirit-Man, it is easy to make a mistake. In the
physical body we see man’s lowest principle, and on this account find it
hard to realize that the work on that body should be accomplished by the
highest principle of the human entity. But just because the spirit active
within the physical body is hidden under three veils, the highest kind of
human effort is needed in order to make the ego one with that which is the
hidden spiritual energy of the body.
Occult science, therefore, represents man as a being composed of many
principles. Those of a bodily nature are:
the physical body,
the etheric or vital body,
the astral body.
The soul-principles are:
the sentient-soul,
the intellectual- or rational-soul,
the consciousness-soul.
It is in the soul that the ego diffuses its light. Of a spiritual nature
are:
the Spirit-Self,
the Life-Spirit,
the Spirit-Man.
It follows from what was said above that the sentient-soul and the astral
body are closely united and in a certain sense are one. Similarly, the
consciousness-soul and the Spirit-Self form a whole, for in the
consciousness-soul the spirit shines forth, and thence irradiates with its
light the other principles of the human being. Hence occult science also
speaks of man’s organization as follows. The intellectual-soul is simply
called the ego, because it partakes of the nature of the ego, and in a
certain sense is the ego, not yet conscious of its spiritual nature. We
thus have seven divisions of man:
(1) physical body;
(2) etheric or vital body;
(3) astral body;
(4) Ego;
(5) Spirit-Self;
(6) Life-Spirit;
(7) Spirit-Man.
Even one accustomed to materialistic habits of thought would not find in
this sevenfold organization of man the “fanciful magic” often attributed
to the number seven, if one would only keep strictly to the meaning of the
above explanations without himself injecting arbitrarily the idea of
something magical into the matter. Occult science speaks of these seven
principles of man in exactly the same way, only from the standpoint of a
higher form of observation of the world, as allusion is commonly made to
the seven colours that make up white light, or to the seven notes of the
scale (the octave being regarded as a repetition of the keynote). As light
appears in seven colours, and sound in seven tones, so is the unity of
man’s nature manifested in the seven principles described. No more
superstition attaches to the number seven in the case of occult science
than when associated with the spectrum or with the scale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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