Maintaining our inner initiative

by Adam Blanning, MD

Note: Recent posts by Dr. Blanning were seen at the Faculdade Rudolf Steiner (frs.edu.br) in São Paulo, Brazil, and he was interviewed by Paula Franciulli for their Revista Jataí. We share his observations on the source of initiative—the will.

Long periods of isolation and virtual (online) education are a major challenge to the will. In terms of the fourfold constitution of the human being it is the working together of the I into the astral body, into the etheric body, into the physical body that allows us to have will activity. They interweave whenever we unfold our will. They must all work together. They can act separately too, but that is a different kind of activity which is much more related to our breathing or to our thinking.

When we engage in any kind of virtual experience we mostly bypass that interweaving. If you are looking at a screen—say watching a movie, playing a video game, even typing on a computer—we see many fast visual changes which make us believe that the world outside us is changing because of our activity. But that is mostly a false perception. It can make me believe that I only need to do very small things in order to make a big change.

Think of handwriting a letter and then delivering it to a friend, versus typing an email or sending a text message. Virtual “short-cuts” for full activity can be very helpful and useful. We risk, however, believing that a virtual meeting and a face to face meeting are the same—they are not! We do not sense the other person or unfold our own physiology (or our spiritual activity) in the same way.

One could argue, “If I am living in a world where it is not so necessary for me to use my limbs in order to unfold my will, that is fine. If I can do many tasks virtually, tasks which in the past would have required a lot of physical work, then that is not a bad thing.” That argument is only possible if we do not hold a true view of the whole human being. That logic relies on a view of health and development that stays too much in the head. It believes that the head is the control center, the most important part of our being, and the rest of the body is just tools (such as organs, bones and muscles) to carry out the instructions of the head (brain). Spiritual science provides two very important insights that counter such an argument.

The first centers around our morality. We may think of morality as a set of rules by which we interact and behave. In truth, morality is a process, an active process of sensing that is completely connected to the will. For me to really be able to sense another person I have to bring my interest, my warmth (from the I) into my feeling life (guiding my astral body), then stir those impulses into my etheric and physical bodies. To properly sense another person I have to be very active, not just a passive receiver of impressions. Moral sensing is a true will activity. And then my moral will activity meets the other person—first their physical body, then their etheric (are they living?), then astral (what are they feeling and experiencing?), and if I am patient and really interested, the other person’s I (what is the core of this beautiful spiritual being?).

With social isolation and virtual activities, we risk blunting our capacities for true moral sensing. I think many people are hungering for real contact with others because deep inside we know that we need that connection. We need it not only to fully sense other human beings but also to properly feel ourselves. The will is such an important way to feel at home in our body and to know that it is a good place.

A second insight from spiritual science—still a bit of a mystery for me, but which I sense to be true—is that we need our limbs and our will to make judgements. Maybe not the everyday decisions—what I would like to have for dinner. No, we are speaking about deep judgements around truth, intention, meaning. Steiner says in several places that mental images belong to the head, but judgments to our legs. I think that is, surely, why people have gone on long pilgrimages or journeys—partly to explore, but really to move their limbs and come into a new understanding of their life.

This time feels weighty with the need for many deep judgments about our life, about our planet, about how we want to be with each other as human being. That is a completely different process from the quick, clever, sometimes very cynical ways of interacting that come from manipulating ideas or facts. I think a real judgment is so true that you feel it all the way to your bones.

One more comment about our fourfold nature in this time: the astral body, the formative body of forces for our sensing and emotional life—has so much to take in right now. We have so many impressions, so much information trying to capture our attention. So our astral bodies are very, very busy, but with less chance for uniting with the I on the one hand, and less uniting with the etheric and physical on the other. That’s a kind of spiritual physiology too—a nervous one that keeps us vigilant and if too strong makes us feel short of breath. When the astral body is so active by itself it wears down our life forces. I think that is part of why many people feel quite tired right now.

Adam Blanning MD (www.denvertherapies.com) is president of the Anthroposophic Health Association. He founded and directs the Denver Center for Anthroposophic Therapies, which offers anthroposophic medicine, therapeutic eurythmy, art therapy, and rhythmic massage. He consults and is school doctor for Waldorf schools in Denver and Boulder. He lives in Denver with his wife and two daughters.