The green fuse

Dylan Thomas called it the green fuse, yesterday i understood what Steiner calls the etheric was a powerful as a hydro eletric dam. It is a force to be reckoned with and if it is not channelled or regulated properly when the child is building it then it will disrrupt the way a person is when they are older. Particularly when it comes to their later life - just past middle age.

The etheric is not some sweet likeable thing. No, it is a force of nature. It is best serve when regulated. Like the heartbeat or one's breathing. Rhythm and systems are its allies. It can be done at a later age, we can try and rectify it, but it will no longer be done in the subconscious fashion it needs to occur in order for someone to function at their best.

So sleeping, eating and timetabled activities, seasons, the recognition of consistency in life, while very reassuring for anyone is particularly important for a child. Emotionally it helps them build a secure base, physically, their etheric.

As a parent trying to support my children's etheric, i can only try my best. There are serious lapses, very serious ones, but i can't beat myself up with it...

One of the best things about the course is that i'm returning to doing some kind of art again. We are expected to draw, dance, write poetry, etc...

This was the effort of yesterday...

Etheric

Suddenly, there was life -
out of the ether - the closed nowhere -
the dark, sleeping earth
The dry crumble and sweet mould,
soil and stone, calcium and chalk,
suddenly, there was life.

Pulsing, bubbling, murmuring,
mumbling, pushing, nudging,
stumbling, fumbling and then,
a flowing, that

Drip-drip-dripping, is the music of
sipping and sliding of
water on slate
blood against bone
flesh made warm pulling and -
reaching, rich as

Living, rising bread.

We learnt about the different 'bodies' that made up the human being.

The physical, which is clear enough - the bit that decomposes and returns to the earth.

The etheric, the green fuse i wrote about there. The spark that gives life - it is related to the element of water. It is the seat of memory and the temperaments. And the will.

Then it gest complicated. We struggled with the next bit.

Soul body - this is where the etheric joins the sentient soul.

The sentient soul is the bit of the soul which is connected to the etheric and the physical. It gets its nourishment from the etheric and physical and therefore would natrually spend time making things convinient for us, making us feel comfortable.

There is then, mind soul - whos function i don't quite understand as yet.

Then the consiousness soul. That is the part of the soul which strives for the truth. It is the part of the soul which is furthest away from the physical and etheric, it is the part of the soul which is the most spiritual.

And we stopped there. Because after that comes the different gradations between the soul and the spirit.

Steiner's premise is that, just as our bodies are derived from the physical universal, we are made of minerals and chemicals and soil and earth, our spirits come from the spiritual universal. This spiritual universal permeates all of us, the same way sun shines on everything when it does shine, or air surrounds us. And we have 'bodies', although we can't see them, that derived sustenance and substance, inspiration and information, from this spiritual universal.

At least that's what i think.