Reflections on talk "The Developing Child"

Some Reflections on Richard Drexel’s talk on: “The Developing Child”

[This essay is based on notes that I took during Richard’s talk on 5 July 2024, but also contain some further explanatory thoughts that I offer.  Robin Bacchus]

Our ideas about human development come from observations of ourselves and those around us and discovering patterns and characteristics in them. There is not an immutable law but rather we could see means, probabilities, statistical ‘bell-curves’ and ranges as far as times are concerned.  There is a range of times when the last organ of the physical body, the permanent teeth emerge.

So, we find a rhythm of approximately seven years, more or less, over which different aspects of our human constitution take centre-stage in the development process.  Over the first seven years, mainly at home, from conception one’s physical body develops every physical organ to an initial stage.  One’s Etheric body (growth and life forces)and Astral body (movement and consciousness) devote their energies to this task.

For the next seven years [7 to 14] the Astral body works on and with the Etheric body developing one’s habits, skills and processes – a time of primary schooling.  Willing in manual skills; feeling in artistic sensitivities; and thinking in scientific discoveries.  This culminates in puberty or ‘earth-ripeness or readiness’.

The next seven years of secondary and tertiary education is a time to tame the astral forces, [the inner ‘dragon’ in fairy tales] that can lead you astray: [willing, feeling, thinking] so becoming ready for social independence (leaving home) at “21”.  The range of times when this occurs can be wide.

By now a vehicle for one’s Ego has been created.  It is a time to leave home, travel the world, discover one’s vocation, and life partner.  The seven years to 28 hopefully culminates in becoming totally responsible for oneself – becoming a citizen – and a responsible parent raising children.

The second part of the talk was about evolution, in particular the evolution of human ideas about the universe and the ideas about God.

May I interpolate something Richard did not spend time on.  Evolutionary Development can be considered on three levels:

1. Evolutionary Development of our SOLAR SYSTEM emerging from a void in the Galaxy into a radiant sun from which has emerged multiple orbiting planets including our earth from which has emerged a rocky moon that orbits it every month.  The earth has a molten interior which has cooled enough to have had an ice age.  It is covered by crustal plates that move from a once unified Pangaea into separated continents.  The earth is conveniently the only planet with oceans of water and a breathable atmosphere giving rise to many forms of life: plants, animals and humanity.
2. Evolutionary Development of HUMANITY emerging from primates, neanderthals to Homo Sapiens, surviving the great ice age followed by the great flood of Atlantis.  There has been a stone age and the harnessing of fire which allowed hunter-gatherers to cook food and smelt metals to create knives, ploughs and other tools enabling them to stop wandering and settle in one place and cultivate plants and domesticate animals.  From this came villages, towns and cities and the related social, cultural and economic activity of human society today.  In each cultural age the whole of humanity develops another physical, psychic or spiritual aspect.
3. Evolutionary Development of every INDIVIDUAL PERSON emerging from existence before birth, conception, birth, infancy, growth, maturity, old age, and death, to spiritual existence after death leading to a future reincarnation when humanity has developed to another stage.  In developmental stages of about 7 years each person develops another physical, psychic or spiritual aspect.

The development of humanity as a whole, since the Atlantean floods, proceeds in much longer cycles of around two thousand years.  These Post-Atlantean epochs encompass the rise and fall of a civilisation such as the Persian, Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek and Roman civilisations.)  The end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance marks the beginning of the Fifth Post-Atlantean epoch.  During this time humanity has been developing the ‘Consciousness Soul’. 

Richard noted some characteristics of this time in the discoveries made by various leading individualities.  At the start of this time (in the 15^th Century), God was seen to be omniscient and omnipotent, [all knowing and all powerful].  The centre of the universe was the earth, the place of life and change.  Around the earth on all sides revolved the firmament of the zodiac and constellations of fixed stars, points of light, radiating benevolence down to the earth and its inhabitants.  Between the Earth and the Firmament was to be found the moving heavenly lights: the Sun, perfectly circular, warm and bright; the waxing and waning Moon and five planets who moved across the zodiac in various rhythms.

In 1542 Nicholas Copernicus published a book on his deathbed suggesting that it made more sense that the earth spins on an axis rather than the whole firmament revolves around the earth, that moon orbits the earth and the earth orbits the sun, thus shattering the medieval picture.

Galileo with his telescope saw that the moon was not perfect but mountainous like the earth, and that some planets had moons like the earth.

Kepler showed that the planets moved in ellipses, not perfect circles.

Herschel showed that the whole solar system is spiraling towards the constellation of Hercules.

Darwin’s theory of evolution implied that God’s creation was imperfect.

Richard gave numerous other examples of change and apparent inperfection.

The Medieval picture of perfection and harmony was crumbling: God was not omniscient and omnipotent implying for many that religion is irrelevant.  Human beings are not all the same.  We are individuals who can forge our own destiny and be responsible for our own lives.  We are all egotists.  The spiritual or divine beings [gods] that have been involved in human evolution are themselves going through evolution themselves in the process.