Aspects of human behaviour

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Aspects

what people do - bodily reactions

• laughing
  • Man laughs when he fancies himself to be above what he sees, Man feels superior to something or other in the environment, and the I brings this to expression by expanding the astral body. Typically it gives a short out-breath and a long in-breath.(1909-04-27-GA107)
• weeping
  • In the phenomena of weeping the astral body is compressed by the I and this squeezes out the breath, the breathing of someone who is weeping, yconsists essentially of a long out-breath and a short in-breath. (1909-04-27-GA107)
• yawning
• sneezing
• blushing (becoming red)
• coughing

soul qualities that differentiate people

• lazy or active thinker
• life attitude (seriousness or light-hearted chatterbox)
• attentiveness
• active interest
  • in others
  • in nature and the wonders of the world
• nervousness (1912-01-11-GA143)
• other:
  • Conscience and astonishment as indications of spiritual vision in past and future (1912-02-03-GA143)

• see also relationship with
  • Human temperaments
  • Human character - the I and threefold soul
  • previous incarnations - metamorphosis of soul qualities (1924-02-24-GA235, 1924-03-15-GA235, 1924-03-30-GA239, 1924-05-10-GA236)

Lecture coverage and references

1909-04-27-GA107

Why does a person laugh?

Someone invariably laughs when he fancies himself to be above what he sees. You can always find this statement verified. Whether you are laughing at yourself or at someone else your I is always feeling superior to something. And out of this feeling of superiority it expands the forces of its astral body, broadens and puffs them up. Strictly speaking this is what is really at the root of laughter.

And this is why laughter can be such a healthy thing. And this pluming oneself should not be condemned in the abstract as egoistic, for laughter can be very healthy when it strengthens Man's feeling of selfhood, especially if it is warranted and leads him beyond himself. If you see something in your surroundings or in yourself or others that is absurd, a feeling of being above such absurdity is sparked off and makes you laugh. It is bound to happen that Man feels superior to something or other in the environment, and the I brings this to expression by expanding the astral body.

quote B

Now we shall see much more in the phenomena of laughing and weeping if we observe the breathing process when people laugh or cry. This enables us to see deeply into what is happening.

If you watch the breathing of someone who is weeping, you will notice that it consists essentially of a long out-breath and a short in-breath. It is the opposite with laughing: a short out-breath and a long in-breath.

Thus the breathing process changes when the human being is under the influence of the phenomena we have been describing. And you only need a little imagination to find the reasons why this must be so.

In the phenomena of weeping the astral body is compressed by the I. This is like a squeezing out of the breath: a long out-breath.

In the phenomenon of laughing there is a slackening of the astral body. That is just as though you were to pump the air out of a certain space, rarefy the air, and the air whistles in. It is like this with the long in-breath when you laugh. Here, so to say, in the change in the breathing process we see the I at work within the astral body.

1911-02-26-GA127

The relationship of the I to the environment through sadness and laughter.

1912-01-11-GA143

(or translation V2)

is on overcoming nervousness

1912-02-03-GA143

Related pages

• Man - the human being
• Human character - the I and threefold soul
• Human temperaments
• Man: an integrated view