body. And if we
go on to observe the harmonious co-operation of the part with the whole,
we shall find that it is certainly true that this principle of man's being
is perfect and it does not affect the question that in certain parts
something apparently useless appears, or that disturbances of structure or
functions may take place. It will even be found that such disturbances are
in a way only the necessary shadows of the wisdom-filled light which is
poured out over the whole physical organism.

Now compare with this the astral body as the medium or vehicle of pleasure
and pain, desires and passions. What uncertainty rules in it with regard
to pleasure and pain; how the desires and passions, of which it is the
scene, run counter to the higher goal of man; how senseless they often
are. The astral body is only now on its way to attain the harmony and
inner poise already possessed by the physical body. Similarly it might be
shown that the etheric body is certainly more perfect in its own way than
the astral but less perfect than the physical body. And it will equally
result from a corresponding study of the ego that this, the real kernel of
man's being, is now only at the beginning of its evolution. For how much
has already been accomplished of its mission, that of transforming the
other principles of man's being in order that they may become a revelation
of the ego's own nature?

The result of an outer examination of this kind is intensified for the
occult student by something else. It might be pointed out that the
physical body is attacked by diseases. Now occult science is in a position
to show that a large proportion of all diseases owe their origin to the
fact that the perverse actions and mistakes of the astral body are
transmitted to the etheric body, and indirectly through the etheric,
destroy the perfect harmony of the physical body. The deeper connection,
which can here be only hinted at, and the true cause of many of the
conditions of disease, elude that kind of scientific observation which
confines itself solely to the facts obtained by means of the physical
senses. The connection in most cases comes about in such a way that an
injury to the astral body does not cause manifestations of disease in the
physical body in the same incarnation in which the injury takes place, but
in a later one. Hence the laws now under consideration have a meaning only
for one who is able to admit that human earth-life is repeated