CW 170 The Riddle of Humanity: Lecture 9 (Dornach, 15 August 1916) by Rudolf Steiner
Oct 6, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min · 13 segments
- Show signals
- SuitabilitySafeBiasNot political
Oct 6, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min · 13 segments
We have been busy getting acquainted with the way man's life processes and the sense zones locate him in the cosmos, and we have tried to look at some of the consequences that follow from the facts on which this knowledge is based.
Above all, we have to some extent cured ourselves of the trivial notion held by many who want to befriend the spirit that everything that can be referred to as, in quotes, material or, in quotes, perceptible to the senses is to be despised.
For we have seen that here in the physical world it is precisely the lower organs and functions that reflect higher activities and relationships in the human being.
In their present state we can only view the senses of touch and life as being very dependent on the physical world.
Equally so the ego sense, the sense of thought, and the sense of speech.
But we must accustom ourselves to seeing those senses that in the earth sphere only serve the inner being of the organism as the shadowy reflections of something that is immense and significant for the spiritual world once we have passed through death.
The sense of movement, the sense of balance, the sense of smell, the sense of taste, and to a certain degree the sense of sight.
We have emphasized the fact that in the spiritual world the sense of movement enables us to move among the beings of the various hierarchies in accordance with the way they attract or repel us.
After death we experience our connection with the hierarchies as spiritual sympathy or antipathy.
Physical balance as we know it here in our physical bodies is not the only thing the sense of balance provides for us.
It also holds us in balance between the beings and influences of the spiritual world.
It is similar with the other senses, taste, smell, sight.
And insofar as a hidden spirituality plays into the physical world, it is of no use to turn to the higher senses for clarification.
Rather we must enter the realms of the so-called lower senses.
Mind you, these days it is not possible to speak about many of the highly significant things that lie in this direction.
For today there are such strong prejudices that all one has to do to be misunderstood and accused of all kinds of things is to speak about precisely those things that are interesting and significant in a higher spiritual sense.
So for the time being I must forego speaking about some of the interesting things that go on in the realm of the senses.
In this respect the situation was much more favorable in earlier times.
In those times, however, there were not the same possibilities of disseminating information either.
Aristotle could discuss certain truths much more unguardedly than they can be discussed today, when such things are immediately taken personally and awaken personal sympathies and antipathies.
In Aristotle's works, for example, you can find profound truths about the human being which one simply could not explain to a large audience of today.
I was referring to some of these in the last lecture when I said that the Greeks did not fall prey to materialism, even though they knew more than we do of how our soul-spiritual nature is related to our physical bodily nature.
In Aristotle's writings, for example, you can find wonderful descriptions of the external appearance of a brave person or a coward or an indignant person or of someone who is addicted to sleep.
There, in a manner that from a certain point of view is correct, you find described what kind of hair and complexion and wrinkles cowardly people have, what sort of bodies drowsy people have, and so on.
To say even this much would create problems these days.
We have been busy getting acquainted with the way man's life processes and the sense zones locate him in the cosmos, and we have tried to look at some of the consequences that follow from the facts on which this knowledge is based.
Above all, we have to some extent cured ourselves of the trivial notion held by many who want to befriend the spirit that everything that can be referred to as, in quotes, material or, in quotes, perceptible to the senses is to be despised.
For we have seen that here in the physical world it is precisely the lower organs and functions that reflect higher activities and relationships in the human being.
In their present state we can only view the senses of touch and life as being very dependent on the physical world.
Equally so the ego sense, the sense of thought, and the sense of speech.
But we must accustom ourselves to seeing those senses that in the earth sphere only serve the inner being of the organism as the shadowy reflections of something that is immense and significant for the spiritual world once we have passed through death.
The sense of movement, the sense of balance, the sense of smell, the sense of taste, and to a certain degree the sense of sight.
We have emphasized the fact that in the spiritual world the sense of movement enables us to move among the beings of the various hierarchies in accordance with the way they attract or repel us.
After death we experience our connection with the hierarchies as spiritual sympathy or antipathy.
Physical balance as we know it here in our physical bodies is not the only thing the sense of balance provides for us.
It also holds us in balance between the beings and influences of the spiritual world.
It is similar with the other senses, taste, smell, sight.
And insofar as a hidden spirituality plays into the physical world, it is of no use to turn to the higher senses for clarification.
Rather we must enter the realms of the so-called lower senses.
Mind you, these days it is not possible to speak about many of the highly significant things that lie in this direction.
For today there are such strong prejudices that all one has to do to be misunderstood and accused of all kinds of things is to speak about precisely those things that are interesting and significant in a higher spiritual sense.
So for the time being I must forego speaking about some of the interesting things that go on in the realm of the senses.
In this respect the situation was much more favorable in earlier times.
In those times, however, there were not the same possibilities of disseminating information either.
Aristotle could discuss certain truths much more unguardedly than they can be discussed today, when such things are immediately taken personally and awaken personal sympathies and antipathies.
In Aristotle's works, for example, you can find profound truths about the human being which one simply could not explain to a large audience of today.
I was referring to some of these in the last lecture when I said that the Greeks did not fall prey to materialism, even though they knew more than we do of how our soul-spiritual nature is related to our physical bodily nature.
In Aristotle's writings, for example, you can find wonderful descriptions of the external appearance of a brave person or a coward or an indignant person or of someone who is addicted to sleep.
There, in a manner that from a certain point of view is correct, you find described what kind of hair and complexion and wrinkles cowardly people have, what sort of bodies drowsy people have, and so on.
To say even this much would create problems these days.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
