In sleep, our astral body becomes the judge of our soul; our I becomes its own sacrifice.

 

Rudolf Steiner:  "Who would be speaking, if human beings suddenly achieved the level of consciousness of the Life Spirit [Buddhi] in their sleep? The only way of putting this is to say: The human astral body would be speaking, as judge over good and evil in the human being. So that we really have to say: In sleep, the astral body becomes the judge of the soul. Rightly understood, this statement is important for human life. It is a truth that shines out as if from beyond the threshold of the world of the spirit, a truth human beings should call to mind as often as possible.
     Take the corresponding situation for the I. The I moves out of the physical and ether bodies, structuring itself in accord with the powers of the universal entities in the sphere of the spirit. It becomes what it can become in the light of how it lives in the physical body. If it were to come awake to the Spirit Human Being [Atman] level of consciousness, it would not merely speak to itself, as the astral body would if suddenly given the Life Spirit [Buddhi] level of consciousness; the I would be given the level of consciousness which is active in the physical body it has left behind, sending powers from above downward. If, then, human 'I's had this level of consciousness when out of the body during sleep, human beings would know not only the totality of judgments passed on them but they would see that which they are in the process of becoming, now as images, which will be the seed for future lives on Earth. I cannot think of any other way of putting this in a sentence than this: The I becomes its own sacrifice, a sacrifice brought by the spirit which is active in the body."







Source: November 13, 1921. Cosmosophy, volume 2, lecture 11.