The Seven Life Processes

[SophiaInstitute]

Rudolf Steiner first characterized the seven processes prerequisite

for life in 1910 as follows: breathing, warming, nourishing, secret-
ing, maintaining, growing, and generating.

Breathing and warming are the preconditions for all further ac-
tivity. Through breathing, a rhythmical relationship is established
between what is inner and outer — a space is opened up within
space. This space, at first no more than a kind of pulsating differen-
tiation, is permeated by warmth, thus constituting a kind of content,
and establishing a basis for presence.

The nourishing process draws inward all that is necessary to give

shape to any formative space. In secreting a process of sifting and
sorting takes place — the retaining of what is essential while reject-
ing the inessential — through which form is given substance. The ex-
istence of any entity must be regulated through a process of constant
maintaining. This would only keep things as they are, were it not
for the process of growing that underlies all development and
transformation. Organisms develop, from their juvenile forms into
maturity. Finally, replicative, reproductive capacities appear at eve-
ry level in the organism, generating its own kind.

We must learn to look out on the world with keen, healthy senses,
and quickened power of observation, and then give ourselves up to
the feeling that arises within us. We should not try to make out,
through intellectual speculation, what the things mean, but rather
allow the things themselves to tell us. We can call this breathing —
living sensitively into a whole range of impressions, often of a con-
tradictory nature. These polarities in reality form the field, in which
we orientate ourselves, but also find mysteries, doubts, without any
irritable reaching after fact and reason. It is here we find the first
questions - so, breathing, we sense into things. Is there sufficient
lightness of touch to allow these questions breathing space, or do we
cramp the breath through too many concepts and interpretations,
brought too soon, or too quickly? Another word for lightness of
touch is tact. In sensing all the polarities and contradictions, we be-
come aware of the whole situation - of possibilities becoming per-
ceptible. As we live into these, we also need to be accommodating
others, ensuring there is spaciousness enough for them to come to
terms with the issues, so that their doubts or anxieties might be al-
layed.

Simultaneously we need to be aware of another life-field. We do not

merely stand outside a situation and look at it, we have to enter in,
and this penetration has to be accompanied by real warmth. In
warming to the task, and - for instance - to the child, we establish
empathy. We can be too heated in our views, in our enthusiasm, so
that others want us ‘to chill out’. Or too cold - and then others might
feel as though they are cast out. Distance - which is a form of antipa-
thy - is freezing. We must be mindful that alienation is a common
phenomenon in dysfunctional situations. Warmth suffuses, perme-
ates, welcomes. Our dialogues should be such that they melt the ice,
establishing a genuine relationship. Warming is also a marriage of
the Self with the path. It is love, mutual permeation. Warmth con-
nects. Warmth gives itself, so it involves surrender - absorbing other
viewpoints without any prejudice. If we offer our contribution, just
putting it there and letting it stand, allowing the other person time
to form a relationship with it, then we do not force the matter.

Can we sense that breathing and warming belong together? Breath-

ing opens a space, which warming fills. And because this breathing
continues, the warmth-mood does not become a hothouse. When
breathing and warming are in the right proportion, the effect is like
mild, fresh springtime air.

We have to digest the situation - all the information, every impres-

sion - chewing it over, turning it over in our minds. But in order to
really grasp what is involved, to find what is nourishing and can
then feed change, we have to let issues sink deeply down into our
body’s unconscious processes. We have to slow down, pause. If we
were cows, we would regurgitate and chew over our cud before swal-
lowing it again. Digestion always proceeds in stages; we have to
break down an event or situation into its constituent parts, and
slowly work our way through these, in order to fully take it in. Eve-
ryone’s digestive processes are different; while some are more car-
nivorous, really tearing into it, others are ruminants. Others will be
nibblers and light grazers. They digest at a different rate; if forced,
indigestion occurs. That hard lump in the belly can be fear and
dread. We must ensure not only that everyone has a meal-ticket to
the same table, but also is allowed to work through the menu in his
or her own way. Interest in each other’s meal is important. While we
cannot force others to eat what we like, we might try to understand
their tastes.

These first processes are prerequisites for the central phase in any
developmental relationship: secreting - the secret aspect of digest-
ing. We have to secrete what serves development, and excrete the
useless. In dysfunctional relating, we lose the ability to sort things
out together. A kind of emotional diarrhea, or else constipation
might be the result. Therefore all the information, all one’s experi-
ences are to be examined methodically, sifted, sorted, and given a
value. What is the essential point? What can be discarded as use-
less? Or is it perhaps just inappropriate right now? What is wanted?
What is needed? What remains in the sieve of our consciousness?
How do the facts become faculties? Does the result of the secreting
process relate to our initial purposes or aims? A whole range of pos-
sibilities and limitations begins to emerge. Establishing what is ac-
tually in the field and what is outside it, may involve some real ef-
fort. Being hard on issues, while gentle with people, is important.
Antipathy can easily become hostility, and sympathy can become
submissiveness. Always to be prepared for surprises: therein lies the
miracle of secretion. It is the complete transformation of substances,
so that nothing remains as it was. Most change is not incremental
but proceeds in leaps. And through all this we need to be aware that
the most vital secretion in this process is the Self. Am I now more
present? Does the other become more present? Has there been a
precipitation of self-image, self-esteem, self-determination? Can we
see how specific capacities are secreted out of transformational ex-
periences?

We know that progress cannot occur without effort. What is taking

shape has to be borne forward. Maintaining is a conscious task. We
need to bear the essential learning towards a future becoming. What
has been acknowledged? What has been decided? Who is responsi-
ble for carrying it further? Is there sufficient personal and institu-
tional steadfastness? How does each event set the stage for the next?
The event in memory, the virtues of forbearance and letting things
be - of letting-go and letting-come - are important elements in this.
Do we communicate the stages of following-through? We need to
keep all things in mind, simultaneously holding them in our con-
sciousness, and ticking off each step as we proceed.

Growing the next phase is a conscientious extension of this bearing-

in-mind towards an ever- greater facility. This is a maturing stage.
We will be looking for growth, for development, for change. The de-
tails of what now is needed must be worked out as we proceed.
Where are the reflections, the review points when progress is to be
evaluated? What has to change in the face of practical experience in
the course of life? Who decides on what changes?

Throughout this, all the other life processes are active, continuously
breathing, warming, nourishing, secreting, maintaining, etc., for
they sustain and support one another. This is the nature of life, after
all - and thus they are to be seen as continuous, interweaving pro-
cesses rather than sequential ones.

Ultimately, the realization or fulfillment: transformation of our-

selves implies a truly creative event where something new is gener-
ated, freshly born from all that has gone before. Generating is what
results from the work we do: a previously unimagined future blos-
soms into a new world of possibilities. The decisive moments are not
a direct function of life processes; these are gracious events. But
they are well prepared-for through increasing awareness of these
processes, which are already taking place in us: we are simply con-
sidering how we might cooperate with the functional basis of our
own lives.

In summary we see the following list of the Life Processes:

- Breathing: sensing in the phenomenological polarities
- Warming: permeating the experiential space
- Nourishing: taking it all in to become ‘response-able’
- Secreting: sorting the essential from the inessential
- Maintaining: supporting the developmental environment
- Growing: cultivating the transformational process
- Generating: creating the new as a spontaneous outcome
 The Seven
Planetary Seals

Saturn Sun Moon

Mars Mercury Jupiter Venus

The Seven Soul Types

The Seven Soul Types are differentiated into active, extrovert and
passive, introvert types with the seventh - the Sun Type - being in
harmony concerning the introvert and extrovert, active and passive
aspects of the soul. Each type relates to - or one could say - connects
with one of the planets and therefore to one of the days of the week,
and the color, organ, tree, metal, etc. that relates to the qualities of
each planet. Following please find a list of the seven soul types and
their qualities:

Saturn or the self-conscious type

Qualities and Challenges: Memory; Poor contact with outside

world; Relates to the past; Inner world primary; Active.
Moon or the romantic type

Qualities and Challenges: Daydreaming; Passive; Mirrors out-

side world; Timeless; Inner world primary.

Jupiter or the dominant type

Qualities and Challenges: Wisdom-filled thinking; Active in-

ner life; Orders chaos outside; Command of the present; Inner
and outer worlds balance; Active.

Mercury or the mobile type

Qualities and Challenges: Combinative thinking; Observation,

reaction on the spur of the moment; Inner world adapts to
outside chaos; Inner and outer worlds balance; Passive.

Mars or the aggressive type

Qualities and Challenges: Speech and action; Active in the

world - collisions; Relates to the future; Outer world primary;
Active

Venus or the aesthetic type

Qualities and Challenges: Judgment out of sympathies and

antipathies; Timeless, reacting to the moment; Outer world
primary; Passive.

Sun or Ideal type or the radiant type

Qualities and Challenges: All soul functions in harmony; Ac-

tivity, passivity in harmony; Inner and outer world in harmo-
ny.