File:FMC00.644.jpg

Image caption

FMC00.644 shows an alchemical view on the human being, illustrating various aspects related to Man and the Christ Impulse.

It is drawn against the background of Schema FMC00.556 with the Tetractys symbol and Rudolf Steiner's explanation of alchemy.

Below is 'tetrapolar' Man made up of the four elements of nature with the physical-mineral constitution of the four components of the physical body: blood (mineral substance with I living in the inner warmth), nervous system (astral), glandular system (etheric), and the bony system of the human skeleton (mineral, element earth) - see also Schema FMC00.415A. In purple is represented the spiritual wave (as per Schema FMC00.582, and explained on the Golden Chain). Bones are a symbol of expression of physical death, because this is where the spiritual energy wave runs dry (see also Schema FMC00.543 and Schema FMC00.543A). On the other hand, in blood the warmth is the carrier of all higher ethers - see also the 'mystery of silver' (o.a. Schema FMC00.285).

Above is the etheric double made up of the formative forces corresponding to the higher ethers, that hold together what is below - see also force substance representation and spectrum of elements and ethers.

Furthermore the Schema is also used to show other aspects:

• The vertical dotted line separates the plant and mineral kingdoms that Man will have to redeem, and the symbols of wine and bread used in the ancient Mysteries and the Last Supper in the monstrance as symbol of transubstantiation. The vertical dotted line also divides between Man's physical and etheric bodies (right) and Human I and astral body (left), both closely coupled and separating at the dotted line during sleep.
• Regarding the Christ Impulse:
  • With the separation of Sun (and separation of Moon), the two highest ethers separated from Man and Earth, as explained in the lectures on the topic page Christ Module 11 - A new physics. With the Mystery of Golgotha, Christ merged with the Earth humanity and brought back these life-bringing forces for the spiritualization of humanity, represented in green on the Schema.
  • Rudolf Steiner explains that, when Christ entered the body of Jesus of Nazareth, "a stupendous force shot through the entire body of Jesus of Nazareth and into the very bones" and the bones of Jesus changed through the penetration of this Christ force crumbling and assembling them again. For more info, see Baptism#Note 2 - No bone of Him shall be broken.

• human thinking is a process that takes place between the blood and nerves, and thoughts in the human being are what lightning and thunder are in the macrocosm (1909-04-10-GA109) .. which helps to understand why Rudolf Steiner coined the ('re-wiring') activity by the First Hierarchy in Man's nerve-sense organization with the term 'cosmic storm' (description in 1924-07-28-GA237 - see Transition between 4th and 14th century)
• the lemniscate above represents to the balanced subsystems in the Threefold human being and the two blood circuits.