Centaur

The centaur is an image of half man - half animal, as Man was in the Lemurian epoch before the Separation of moon. This still continues to be the case in Man today, as the Human astral body is made up of a lower component (animalistic drives and passions, lower chakras), and a higher component (spiritual, from the monad).

The Centaur represents a stage in the development of human beings, that of the the horseman or mammal-man. These separations took place in various forms and gave rise to various races of horsemen, bullmen, etc.

In the denser air also the bird separated from the lower mammal. From Man separated the higher animals (see Animal kingdom), and which each separation, Man developed new properties:

• With the separation of the horse: the intellect, hence the horse is a symbol of the intellect
• With the separation of the lion, Man developed his moral courage.

Therefore it is also said that Man has all the animals in him in terms of spiritual characteristics.

See Schema FMC00.210 and variants on Animal kingdom#Illustrations

Aspects

• the dual nature of Man - with higher and lower parts, see Human astral body
  • in clairvoyant observation Man today appears as having an upper part with a human face, but the lower part appears in shadowy form reminiscent of animal forms (1913-03-28-GA145)
  • purification of the astral body from the lower drives with initiation, and the difference of higher and lower chakras (see eg astral mirror work in Steps 1 and 2 in IIH)
• evolutionary
  • background of the two streams and evolution from Old Moon upto the Lemurian epoch, see eg Schema FMC00.181 on Group souls of humanity
  • in the Lemurian epoch there was a joining of the lower and higher nature (see 1905-10-16-GA093A)
  • the stage of mammal-man gave rise, through the separation of various animals, to various races of horsemen, bullmen, etc. (1904-12-27-GA090A)
• the centaur Chiron in the Greek myth of Prometheus - see Greek mythology
• in art
  • the centaur is an important and recurrent theme in the work of Odilon Redon (1840-1916), one may wonder if he had astral or dream visions (see eg 1913-03-28-GA145)

Inspirational quotes

1902-GA008

The centaur is Man himself, the half animal, half spiritual Man.

1917-11-25-GA178

Man is to a certain extent really a centaur; he contains this lower, bestial, astral nature, and his humanity is somehow mounted upon this astral beast

1916-02-01-GA166

Humans can descend to the unconsciousness of animals. Whenever a criminal deed occurs, it is essentially due to the animality in human beings

Illustrations

For the lecture reference extracts for Schema's FMC00.134 and FMC00.137 below, see Human astral body

Schema FMC00.277 below contains illustrations of the Centaur from Greek and Roman cultures, the middle ages and in art with various examples from Botticelli and Odilon Redon). Chiron who was held in Greek mythology to be 'the wisest and justest of all the centaurs'. The second upper left illustration shows the 1st century AD fresco 'The education of Achilles by Chiron'.

Schema FMC00.137: is an infographic illustrating the pivotal phase where Man raised himself erect in the Lemurian epoch when the astral fusion of the lower physical and higher spiritual part of Man took place, see also Schema FMC00.278

The human being assumed its upright position, and got his human astral body made up of a lower and higher component, see als Centaur and Schema FMC00.134.

Schema FMC00.278: visualizes the description in 1905-10-16-GA093A and the situation in the Lemurian epoch before the impuls of the Spirits of Form - see also Schema FMC00.137 - and how the upper and lower parts of the current human being merged into a new single dual structure with a higher spiritual and a lower physical part, with the resulting dual nature of the human astral body, see Schema FMC00.134. The dual nature is referred to as the human Centaur.

This 'descent of the monads' is an essential part of the process of Individuation through the use of separatedness in distinct physical body to grown the individual human 'I'. See more on topic pages Lemurian epoch and Development of the I

Schema FMC00.134: depicts the evolution of the human astral body in the Current Postatlantean epoch, linked to the development of the threefold soul; the sentient, intellectual and consciousness soul.

The lower astral still has the animalistic drives, see the concept of the Centaur in Man: "The centaur is Man himself, the half animal, half spiritual Man." (1902-GA008) and "Man is to a certain extent really a centaur; he contains this lower, bestial, astral nature, and his humanity is somehow mounted upon this astral beast" (1917-11-25-GA178) and "humans can descend to the unconsciousness of animals. Whenever a criminal deed occurs, it is essentially due to the animality in human beings." (1916-02-01-GA166)

Compare also with Schema FMC00.278 (context: merger of both parts of the astral in the Lemurian epoch) and Schema FMC00.326 (notebook sketch mentioning two parts of astral body)

As stated in 1923-08-31-GA227: "It is impossible to follow the evolution of Man in its reality unless we are able to understand what happens to the human astral body in the course of earthly evolution."

Lecture coverage and references

1902-GA008

A being, half animal, half human — a centaur — must sacrifice himself to redeem man. The centaur is man himself, the half animal, half spiritual man. He must die so that the purely spiritual man may be redeemed.

1904-12-27-GA090A

freely translated:

The Centaur represents a stage in the development of human beings, that of the the horseman or mammal-man. These separations took place in various forms and gave rise to various races of horsemen, bullmen, etc.

In the denser air also the bird separated from the lower mammal. From Man separated the higher animals, and which each separation Man developed new properties:

• With the separation of the horse: the intellect, hence the horse is a symbol of the intellect. [Re the horse Kalki in the period of the Trojan war, in Odysseus]
• With the separation of the lion, Man developed his moral courage.

1908-09-09-GA106

tells about the centaur

Man was an animal then, which for the first time could move about on the islands that were forming in the water. In his upper parts he became ever finer, and at the top he actually preserved the flower-form. He was illuminated from above by an organ that he carried on his head like a lantern. The then human form is rightly conceived if we see the upper part as etheric and the lower part as animal-like. In older pictures of the Zodiac, the form of the Archer is shown as an animal below and a man above. These signs portray the stage of evolution at which man then stood, even as the centaur reflects an actual stage of evolution-upward man and downward horse. The horse must not be taken literally, but as a representative of the animal kingdom. This was the artistic principle in earlier times; the artist portrayed what the clairvoyant described to him or what he himself had seen. Artists were often initiates. It is said that Homer was a blind seer, but that means that he was clairvoyant. He could look back into the Akashic Record. Homer, the blind seer, was much more seeing in the spiritual sense than were the other Greeks. Thus, the centaur was once an actual human form. When man looked like this, the moon had not yet withdrawn. The moon force was still in the earth, and in man was still what had formed itself during the sun period, the shining pineal gland, which he bore like a lantern on his head.

When the moon withdrew from the earth, sexuality appeared. The centaur-man was still sexless. Sexuality appeared when the sun stood in the sign of the Scorpion, and this is why we always connect sex with this sign. The Scorpion is what in the animal kingdom corresponds to the stage of evolution at which man stood when he had developed sexuality. In his upper half, man was turned toward the cosmic forces, but in his lower half he was a bisexual being. He had become a sexual being. When the clairvoyant pupil of the Egyptian mysteries directed his gaze toward this period of earth-evolution, he saw the earth peopled by men whose lower bodily form was becoming denser, in harmony with their baser nature, but who had a luminous human shape above.

Then began the time when, through the forces of the moon, the nerve-filaments appeared in the region where the spine now is. The formation above the spine, the present head-region, had condensed and changed itself into the human brain; that was the completely transformed light-organ. Attached to this was the spine, from which the nerves proceeded, and attached to this in turn was the lower man whom we have described. This was revealed to the Egyptian pupil, and it became clear to him that any being wishing to incarnate on the earth would have to assume the corresponding human form.

1913-03-28-GA145

And so it comes about that, when a student thus looks at himself, he learns to recognise his physical corporeality in an infinitely more delicate etheric body, one might say, though not in the sense of our present ether. Thus does man appear. His form appears more as a vivid dream-picture than as the form of flesh and blood he now bears. We have to become acquainted with the idea that when the self and astral body are outside the human being they can scarcely see the head; it is quite shadowy; not completely blotted out, but quite shadowy. On the other hand, the rest of the organisation of man is distinct. That is shadowy, too, but its condition is such that the human being does not appear as made of flesh and blood, but one has the distinct impression that he possesses a more powerful organisation.

It may appear paradoxical, yet it is true that when a man looks at himself clairvoyantly in sleep he has at certain moments such an appearance — that is, to the self and astral body, his physical body and etheric body present such an appearance — that he is reminded of the form of the Centaur! The upper part, which appears in the Centaur as the human part, bears the human face, but in a very shadowy form; the other part, which is not exactly like any of our present animal forms, but which is reminiscent of them in certain respects, is more powerful, and the seer says to himself: ‘To the spiritual view this is stronger, even denser, than our present form of flesh and blood.’

I have already touched upon these matters in a previous course of lectures; but you must understand that all these Imaginations, except the Paradise-Imagination, are fugitive, and can be presented from different aspects. I might also present a somewhat different aspect — and you would see that this only corresponds to a different period of development — and then we should arrive at the form of the Sphinx. The consecutive order of the evolution of man is presented in various aspects, in different views. The mythological pictures, the so-called mythological symbols, contain much more truth than the fantastic intellectual combinations made by present-day science. Thus, at night the human figure becomes very peculiar.

1916-02-01-GA166

We have seen, and I have drawn your attention to the fact, that this is even the case with the Elohim. The Elohim created light and saw that it was good. This means that what comes first for human beings, the mental image of what is on the physical plane, does not come first at all in the consciousness of spiritual beings above human beings. With them the intention comes first, and how it is to be carried out is quite another matter.

Now in this respect humans are midway between animals and angels.

• Therefore, they tend on the one hand to descend to the unconsciousness of animals. Whenever a criminal deed occurs, it is essentially due to the animality in human beings.
• On the other hand, however, we also have a tendency to ascend to the consciousness of the Angeloi. We have within us the possibility of developing a higher consciousness, a consciousness beyond the ordinary one, in which intentions take on a different aspect than is normally the case.

1917-11-25-GA178

With other brotherhoods, which above all wish to bypass the Mystery of Golgotha, it is a matter of exploiting the twofold nature of the human being. This twofold nature of the human being, which has entered the fifth post-Atlantean period just as man did, contains the human being but also, within the human being, the lower animal nature. Man is to a certain extent really a centaur; he contains this lower, bestial, astral nature. His humanity is somehow mounted upon this astral beast. Through this cooperation of the twofold nature within the human being there is also a dualism of forces. It is this dualism of forces that will be used more by the egotistical brotherhoods of the Eastern, Indian stream in order also to mislead Eastern Europe, which has the task of preparing the sixth post-Atlantean period. For this, forces from Sagittarius are put to use.

1917-12-11-GA179

The occult schools that were inaugurated here and there keep such things secret for reasons that will not be explained today. They still keep them secret, although today these things must be brought to the consciousness of mankind. Since the last third of the nineteenth century, means and ways were given whereby that which occult schools have kept back (in an unjustified way, in many cases) becomes obsolete. This is connected with the event that I mentioned to you — the event which took place in the autumn of 1879. Now we can only lift the outer veil of this mystery; but even this outer veil is one of the most important pieces of knowledge concerning man.

It is indeed a head that we bear within us as the head of a second man; it is a head, but also a body belongs to this head, and this body is, at first, the body of an animal. Thus we bear within us a second human being. This second human being possesses a properly formed head, but attached to it, the body of an animal — a real centaur. The centaur is a truth, an etheric truth.

It is important to bear in mind that a relatively great wisdom is active in this being — a wisdom connected with the entire cosmic rhythm. The head belonging to this centaur sees the cosmic rhythm in which it is embedded, also during the existence between death and a new birth. It is the cosmic rhythm that has been shown in a threefold way, also in numbers — the rhythm on which many secrets of the universe are based. This head is much wiser than our physical head. All human beings bear within them another far wiser being — the centaur. But in spite of his wisdom, this centaur is equipped with all the wild instincts of the animals.

Now you will understand the wisdom of the guiding forces of the universe. Man could not be given a consciousness which is, on the one hand, strong and able to see through the cosmic rhythm, and on the other hand, uncontrolled and full of wild instincts. But the centaur's animal nature — please connect this with what I have told you in other lectures dealing with this subject from another point of view — is tamed and conquered in the next incarnation, during his passage through the world of cosmic rhythms between death and a new birth. The foundation of our lung-system in the present incarnation appears as our physical head, although this is dulled down to an understanding limited to the senses, and what lies at the basis of our lung-system appears as an entire human being whose wild instincts are tamed in the next incarnation. The centaur of this incarnation is, in the next incarnation, the human being endowed with sense perception.

Now you will be able to grasp something else: — You will understand why I said that, during man' s existence between death and a new birth, the animal realm is his lowest realm and that he must conquer its forces. What must he do? In what work must he be engaged between two incarnations? He must fulfill the task of transforming the centaur, the animal in him, into a human form for the next incarnation. This work requires a real knowledge embracing the impulses of the whole animal realm; in the age of Chiron, men possessed this knowledge atavistically, in a weaker form. Although the knowledge of Chiron is a knowledge weakened by this incarnation, it is of the same kind. Now you see the connection. You see why man needs this lower realm between death and a new birth; he must master it; he needs it because he must transform the centaur into a human being.

What Anthroposophy sets forth has been attained only in single flashes outside the occult schools. There have always been a few men who discovered these things, as if in flashes. Especially in the nineteenth century a few scattered spirits had an inkling, as it were, that something resembling the taming of wild instincts can be found in man. Some writers speak of this. And the way in which they speak of these things shows how this knowledge frightens them. High spiritual truths cannot be gained with the same ease as scientific truths, which can be digested so comfortably by the mind. These high truths often have this quality; their reality scares us. In the nineteenth century some spirits were scared and tremendously moved when they discovered what speaks out of the human eye that can look round so wildly at times, or out of other things in man. One of the writers of the nineteenth century expressed himself in an extreme manner by saying that every Man really bears within him a murderer. He meant this centaur, of whom he was dimly conscious.

Discussion

Note 1 - Centaur in art and symbols

Man - horse - centaur

Certain characteristics of animals stand in special relationship to Man, eg the horse has a special relation to Man's cognitive abilities. In the Hyperborean epoch, in order to be able to take in Manas in the middle of the Lemurian epoch, Man let go of characteristics that later developed in the Animal Kingdom into the horse. The horse only developed in the Atlantean epoch. That is why the horse was often used as a symbol or seen as holy by ancient cultures. Something like a Centaur has indeed existed in the transient phase as Man got rid off what later became horse nature. That is also why initiates that had come to higher development were given a horse as symbol. (1904-11-11 from steinerdatenbank, last lecture in cycle in GA089 but not part of that GA and not clear if published).

See also the archer Sagittarius, portrayed as a kind of centaur, half horse half man, Man sitting like a centaur upon an animal's body

1908-06-21-GA104

Such legends contain deep wisdom, much deeper than our science contains. Not without reason is such a type as the horse employed in legend. Man has grown out of a form which once contained within it that which is now embodied in the horse; and in the form of the centaur, art still represented man as connected with this animal in order to remind him of the stage of development out of which he had grown, from which he had struggled free in order to become the present human being.

Note 2 - The elephant and the rider

Introduction

The metaphor of the elephant and the rider is a strong image that is at least 2500 years old. It points to the polarity between emotion and reason, about lower drives and higher mind, and the mastery and control of the one over the other.

The essence is: "Your emotional side is an elephant. Your rational side and mind is the rider on its back. The rider can influence and steer the elephant but not yet truly control it. When the elephant really wants to go somewhere, the rider is just along for the ride.”

This metaphor appears in the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita and Buddhist traditions, but similar metaphors can be found in Chinese traditions, and many others like Plato and Freud.

The metaphor

Upanishads

original version from the Katha Upanishad (ca. 5th–3rd century BC) with the chariot metaphor (still horses, not elephant yet)

Know the Self as the lord of the chariot and the body as the chariot; know the intellect as the charioteer and the mind as the reins. The senses, they say, are the horses; the objects of sense are the roads… When a man lacks discrimination and his mind is uncontrolled, his senses are unmanageable, like the restive horses of a charioteer. But when a man has discrimination and his mind is controlled, his senses are under control, like the good horses of a charioteer.

other version

Know the Self to be the master of the chariot, the body to be the chariot, the intellect the charioteer, and the mind the reins. The senses are the horses; when the horses are unruly, even the best charioteer is helpless.

was then changed to elephant in Buddhist texts & Puranas (disclaimer: sources below not double checked), later commentaries 5th century AD use the elephant

• Mahabharata (Shanti Parva 177.15–25)
• Bhagavad Gita 6.34 – Arjuna says the mind is “more difficult to control than the wind” and Krishna later uses animal-taming metaphors.
• Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) 11.7.37–38 – explicitly uses the wild elephant metaphor for controlling the mind with intelligence and detachment.
• Buddhist version Pali Canon – Vitakkasaṇṭhāna Sutta (MN 20): the Buddha teaches five ways to tame wild thoughts, the last being:“like a man with a stick who ties a wild elephant to a post with a strong rope… so should the monk tie his mind to the post of mindfulness.”

Most Western people therefore got the 'elephant and rider' picture from Buddhist books. For example Nhat Hanh and other 20th-century teachers popularized the illustration of a rider on an elephant with a black section (untrained mind) and white section (trained mind). This drawing appears in many mindfulness books from the 1970s onward.

2006 - Jonathan Haidt

social psychologist Jonathan Haidt popularized this again in the last two decades in some bestsellers and talks

in 'The Happiness Hypothesis' (2006), Chapter 1

The mind is divided in many ways, but the division that really matters is between conscious/reasoned processes and automatic/implicit processes. These two parts are like a rider on the back of an elephant. The rider’s inability to control the elephant by force explains many puzzles about our mental life

in 'The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion' (2012), Chapter 2 ... also in 2012 Google talk 'The Righteous Mind'

The rider is our conscious reasoning … the elephant is everything else … The rider evolved to serve the elephant… When the elephant leans in a direction, the rider’s main job is to provide justifications.

Commentary

If we rephrase what Haidt elaborates with terminology of spiritual science, it becomes: Your human astral body and thus also your (threefold) soul 'under development' is divided into two parts that are constantly struggling for control:

• The elephant represents the lower astral: one could characterize it as big and powerful, driven by instinct (emotional, automatic, intuitive), and much subconscious. It leans toward whatever feels good or away from whatever feels bad in an instinctive habitual matter, immediately and automatically.
• The rider represents the developed consciousness, so Man's threefold soul: relatively speaking it is smaller and of a different nature than the animalistic below. We experience this as the conscious rational part that can think and use language.

The rider sits on top of the elephant and holds the reins, but the elephant is say six tons. Most of the time the rider’s real job is not to control the elephant but to steer it.

In the ancient traditions the image was used to convey that it is Man's task to take mastery over the elephant and learn and grow into this. Contemporary versions like Haidt give a different spin: Haidt uses the term 'press secretary' to describe the voice that invents good-sounding reasons for whatever the elephant has already decided to do, in other words justify maybe less righteous, wise or moral decisions and behavior.

In contemporary spiritual science this becomes using the consciousness soul and use our will-power for consciously and actively working the transformation of the lower by the higher. In self-initiation this is the exercise of character transformation, see coverage on:

Initiation exercises#Elemental balance - character transformation 2

This is nothing new but has been part of the teachings in the Mysteries forever, see for example:

• Schema FMC00.639 depicts Hercules fighting Hydra, from the ancient Greek saga of the twelve labours in the Hercules or Heracles saga.
• Schema FMC00.625 shows illustrations from the Mithras cult, with Man's fight against his lower animal nature, and the victory of the 'upper Man' (higher Self, see Man's higher triad) over the lower bodily principles (represented by the bull <-> metabolic-limb forces).

Work area notes

implications:

What does this mean for astral senses (re chakras), and the fact that these can only be used in the spirit world (quote RSL)

Related pages

• Human astral body
• Man's transformation and spiritualization
• Man past and future
• Development of the chakras