Spirit-self / manas (5)

Geistselbst — astral transformed by the I

Geistselbst — spirit-self: the astral body transformed and purified by the conscious work of the I. Steiner uses the Sanskrit term manas as a Theosophical loan, but redefines it: manas / spirit-self is what arises when a person's instinctive desires, sympathies, and antipathies have been worked through morally and replaced by chosen, I-consonant feelings. In Anthroposophical evolutionary cosmology, spirit-self is the form of the human being's higher nature as it stands at our current developmental moment, with the work of the I largely incomplete; full manifestation of spirit-self is a future evolutionary stage.

Physical body (1)Etheric / life body (2)Astral / sentient body (3)Ego / I (4)Spirit-self / manas (5)Spirit-self / manas (5)Life-spirit / buddhi (6)Spirit-man / atma (7)

Point 5 of 7 in Anthroposophy — Steiner's Seven-Fold Human

Cross-tradition overlaps

No overlapping points are registered for this point.

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Sources

Rudolf Steiner, Theosophie (primary_canonical)

Steiner, Theosophy, ch. I, 'The Essential Nature of Man,' presents the I as transforming the astral body into spirit-self (Geistselbst/manas); this is the primary chapter-level locus for the developmental relation shown here.

Rudolf Steiner, An Outline of Esoteric Science (primary_canonical)

Steiner, An Outline of Esoteric Science, ch. I, 'The Nature of Humanity,' sets spirit-self/manas within the seven-member human constitution and its future development; it does not identify manas with the unmodified Theosophical lower mind.

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