The threefold human being

Looking at the human skeleton, a polarity with a centre can be distinguished. This observation leads to the threefoldness of the human being as it is described in anthroposophy, in which three functional organ systems are recognised. It also serves as an introduction to the threefoldness of mammals, for example in the comparison of mouse, lion and cow.

The skeleton

The polarity of skull and limbs

The human skeleton consists of a large number of differently shaped bones. At first sight, the round head and the long limbs, with the chest and spine in between, stand out as three different parts of the skeleton.

• The skull has a predominantly round shape and its bones are curved plates that have grown together.
• The limbs consist of independent, elongated tubular bones. They radiate: from top to bottom there are one upper arm bone (humerus), two forearm bones, the wrist bones, the bones of the hand and five fingers.

The skull contains the brain and the senses, which are protected by the bones. In the limbs the muscles lie on the outside; the bones do not protect them. Another difference is that the limbs are in motion, while in the skull rest prevails.

The processes within the skull are sense and nerve processes, in which awareness is needed. The temperature must remain constant and the blood supply to the brain must be steady. The limbs can function without awareness. Their temperature may change and their blood supply may be interrupted for a while without irreparable damage. Damage to the limbs is often reversible, whereas damage to the brain is in most cases irreversible.

The middle: the chest and spine

Between the skull and limbs lie the ribs of the chest and the spine. Like the bones of the limbs, ribs are elongated; like those of the skull, they are bent. With their oval shape they take an intermediate position between the rounded head and the straight limbs. The chest as a whole is oval in shape, too.

The thorax is not completely closed, but half-open. It gives some protection to the heart and the lungs. The ribs move during breathing, and the strength of breathing can be influenced by moving the ribs and the abdominal muscles. The upper ribs are firmly attached to the breastbone. Lower down the connection is less firm, as these ribs are connected to the breastbone by cartilage. The two lowest ribs are loose: the so-called floating ribs. Ribs and chest take a middle position between the skull and the limbs. They lie around the heart and the lungs, but do not fully protect them.

The heart keeps the blood circulating and beats about 72 times per minute. The lungs provide the body with fresh air, at about 12 breaths a minute. Both are rhythmically moving organs.

The spine lies in this area, too. The S-shaped spine consists of more than 30 vertebrae that are all slightly different. The vertebral bodies have a circular shape with protrusions, a combination of the rounded and the straight form. The vertebrae are loosely joined together and the spine is flexible. This can be called rhythm in form.

In the chest area, characteristics of both poles appear, together with a characteristic of its own, namely rhythm.

Threefoldness of the functional organ systems

Based on the three parts of the skeleton, three functional organ systems can be distinguished that are associated with it. Each has its own characteristics.

The nerve-sense system

The head contains the brain and the most important senses (eye, ear, balance, smell, taste). The nervous system with the senses has its centre in the skull and radiates to all parts of the body; even the little toe can feel. The senses and the brain are focused on observing and thinking. There is no outward movement, but an inner one, because observations come to consciousness and processes of thinking and imagination take place.

Movement of the brain is dangerous, and a concussion needs rest to heal. The saying goes that a thinker should keep a cool head. Activity of the brain and the sense organs produces little heat, and in this view much thinking even makes a person cold. Thinking and perception are conscious processes that have no direct effect on the environment. With thoughts alone, nothing happens in the world.

The senses observe the surroundings and the person's own body. By processing these observations, a person becomes conscious of the environment and of themselves. The senses are directed at the outer world, the brain at the inner world where thinking takes place. Observing makes a person define themselves as different from the environment: demarcation arises.

Although observing takes place in the present, what is observed already exists. Because only what is there can be observed, the senses are, in this view, directed at the past. Thinking, too, is about existing things. Imagining a new place is done with images built from existing observations. Something newly invented or thought has to be made before it becomes clear whether the idea is real or a fantasy.

The rhythmic or heart-lung system

The chest contains the heart and the lungs. The heart keeps the blood in motion. The lungs take in air and ensure the supply of oxygen. The centre of the respiratory and circulatory system lies in the chest. Blood vessels run throughout the body and transport oxygen. These are the organs that are in automatic, regular, rhythmic motion. The chest protects the lungs and heart, but does not cover them completely.

In the heart-lung system a shifted symmetry can be observed. The heart is not completely symmetrical and lies off centre in the chest; the lungs have two lobes on the left and three on the right, so they are not symmetrical either. These organs respond to experience. People are only semi-conscious of their heart and lungs and can feel them when they pay attention to them. The abdominal muscles and the ribs can be moved consciously to deepen breathing.

Through heart and lungs a person connects rhythmically with the present. They show the inner state of the moment and the response to the environment. The lungs react to the outside world, the heart to the inner self. They show and express how someone feels. When someone is startled, their breathing falters; when afraid, the heart beats faster, and when relaxed, it beats slower.

Metabolic-limb system

The muscles connected to the limbs are the largest in the body. They are the centre of movement. The head also has muscles, but apart from the jaw the movement in the head area is small. This applies to the chest area to a lesser degree. Working muscles become warm, and cold muscles are more easily damaged under a heavy load. Damaged muscles are able to heal.

Movement of the muscles is an unconscious activity that requires energy. Once a person knows what they want to do, the muscles carry it out. Someone who reaches for a glass of water does not direct or control each muscle. In writing, only the words need to be thought; hand and fingers do the rest.

Then there are the stomach and the digestive organs. Do they belong to the chest or to the limbs? The digestive system is in movement, but not rhythmically like breathing and the heartbeat. It only becomes active after eating and works unnoticed: digesting food is an unconscious process.

The stomach and the intestines in the abdomen are much more open than the heart and lungs in the chest. Like the muscles on the limbs, the organs in the abdominal cavity are open and exposed. The digestive system breaks down food so that the nutrients can be absorbed and the body maintained. This is similar to what the limbs do: they make new things from existing substances and materials. What the limbs do outside the body, digestion does inside it, namely converting substances and transforming them to the body's needs. Both intervene in and change the world, and both are unconscious processes. In this view digestive organs and limbs belong together. Through the metabolic-limb system there is an intense connection with the material world. Matter is transformed and converted according to wishes and needs.

The limbs are active in the environment, the digestive system inside the body. Because everything that is made is new (it was not there before), this functional system is described as directed at the future. Something only happens when a person becomes active and does it, and nobody does things without wanting to. Doing or willing is the activity that belongs to this system.

This functional system also includes the reproductive organs.

Threefoldness and the soul

In the anthroposophical view, thinking, feeling and doing or willing are the three faculties of the soul, and their physical basis lies in the three functional organ systems. The soul is seen as the link between body and spirit. The human being is regarded as an eternal spirit or individuality that has a body, and the soul acts as the mediator through which the spirit uses the body. Of the three faculties, thinking is closest to the spirit and doing is closest to the body.

Thinking

Thinking and observing are processes that require consciousness and vigilance. When someone is inattentive, tired, ill or sleepy, it is more difficult to think or observe well. It is possible to follow one's thoughts all the way. Thinking makes it possible to understand other people, organisms, thoughts or things. Through observing, a person demarcates themselves from the world outside. Thought is the basis for self-awareness. As mentioned above, thinking can only be about existing things. Awareness, wakefulness and demarcation are the concepts that belong to thinking.

Feeling

Feeling is never as clear as thinking. Feelings are more diffuse; they are semi-conscious and remain in a kind of dreamworld. They can be influenced by thinking. Feelings arise immediately and little can be done about them. They are simply there, as a reaction to what is experienced. Through compassion a person can connect with another. Feeling connects and lets go in a rhythmic manner, one could also say in a breathing manner. Semi-consciousness, dreaminess and a rhythmic or breathing connection are the concepts that go with feeling.

Doing or willing

The limbs are made for creative processes. The limbs and the digestive organs do their work without any sign of awareness. A sentence is thought and the hands type the words automatically, without having to think about what they must do. It is even the other way round: instructing the fingers consciously would make typing slow and laborious. In this view a person is asleep in the limbs while carrying out an action; it happens without active involvement. Human beings constantly make new things and are creative. Through the will they intervene in the world. Unconsciousness, sleepiness and creation are the concepts connected with doing or willing.

Threefoldness of the head

It can also be examined whether threefoldness appears in the skeleton at another level, for instance in the head.

The skull as a whole is round, but the facial skull is not. The lower jaw is dominated by elongated shapes. It is the mobile part of the skull, and its bone is not tubular as in the limbs, but flat. The mouth is the beginning of the digestive tract. Between the brain case and the lower jaw lies the area of the nose and the cavities (nasal passages, sinuses) involved in breathing. With every breath fresh air is inhaled, and an obstructed cavity, as in sinusitis, is painful because the air no longer flows freely. Blushing, an expression of feeling, is also visible in the middle of the face.

Within the nerve-sense area, which is mainly the skull, this distribution appears:

• the brain case is round and contains the brain and some senses; it is the nerve-sense area,
• the cavities and the nose form the heart-lung area,
• the mouth and the lower jaw form the elongated and mobile metabolic-limb area.

The mouth

The mouth can be examined further. The lips, the tip of the tongue and the front teeth are very sensitive. Food is taken into the mouth carefully: is it tasty, hard or soft, warm or cold? In the central part of the mouth the taste is determined, and there it is judged whether the food is delicious or healthy. Finally, the food reaches the throat, the unconscious area of metabolism. Little is tasted there; only food that is too big or too hot is noticed, because then the throat hurts. Swallowing something like a big pill consciously is more difficult than swallowing it unconsciously. Here the three areas appear again: at the front observing (conscious), halfway judging (half-conscious) and in the throat metabolism (unconscious).

The teeth

Threefoldness appears in the teeth, too. The incisors are the most sensitive and feel the food, the canines give grip and the molars grind the food. The front teeth stand in a curved row, while the molars form a straight line.

These examples show that within the nerve-sense system of the skull the same principles of the three organ systems are found at another level, and that even in the mouth and the teeth the three systems can be distinguished. How carnivores show features of these systems is described on the page on dog and cat, and thinking, feeling and willing are also the subject of the six basic exercises.

The drawings on this page are based on Rohen (Morphologie des menschlichen Organismus) and other sources.