The Arms, Hands and Fingers, as Extensions from the Heart to the Cosmos

As humans, we are blessed with arms, hands, and fingers.  Opening our arms, there is an expansive, winglike quality to them. There is a lot of visible and invisible activity permeating through and also the space around our whole selves, etheric currents, rhythmic pulsations, blood flow, hormones, secretions, air. With the arms, hands and fingers, we are able to extend our innermost selves, our intentions, will, wisdom and care, outward into the world and the cosmos. We are able to produce and express music through the intricacy and strength of our fingertips, write stories and poetry, form clay vessels, build homes, touch each other, mend clothing, pray, create art. Through our fingers we are able to heal, and create much that is incredible and beautiful, which in turn, inspires more of its like.

There is a verse from the Bhagavad Gita: 

There is a fig tree

In ancient story,

The giant Ashvattha,

The everlasting,

Rooted in heaven,

Its branches earthward;

Each of its leaves

Is a song of the Vedas,

And he who knows it

Knows all the Vedas.

Downward and upward

Its branches bending

Are fed by the gunas,

The buds it puts forth

Are the things of the senses,

Roots it has also

Reaching downward

Into this world,

The roots of man’s action.

-The song of God (trans. Prabhamananda and Isherwood)

There is of course, the great verticalness of trees, with the roots and the limbs opposing each other, earthward and upward, but what is also striking in this verse is the beauteous image of each leaf being a song of the Vedas, wisdom beyond the extremities of the limbs. That which sprouts forth, that which blooms, changes and displays active metamorphic life force. (Of course, there is much else to be considered about this above verse, such as the "upside-down" quality of the tree, and that which feeds the tree leading to the outcome of the leaves, but that can be left for now.)

It seems worthwhile to take into consideration also, that there is an outspreading of limbs as well as the vertical. It may not be directly horizontal, but it is an expansive quality which results in blooms, leaves, and fruit. These could be seen as an expressive quality of a tree, as they are continually in movement and change. Cyclically they sprout, bloom, emit fragrances and beauty, attracting insects, birds, and other beings; they take in sunlight, change colour, and eventually wither and fall off, the fruits becoming ripe, and the seeds distributed with the promise, hope of new life. Like trees, there is a life force beyond the tips of us, the things that happen, the way we express and communicate, the emerging alchemy and magic created through us. The leaves renew themselves constantly and rhythmically, just as we do, as we cycle creatively and continue learning, experiencing life over and over.

Another somewhat resonant and lovely image is also portrayed in the Greek myth of Apollo and Daphne, shown through sculpture and paintings, the delicate blooming at her fingertips of fresh leaves as Daphne becomes a tree during her flight from Apollo. There is a certain grace depicted in that image, from Bernini’s statue to Antonio del Pollaiuolo’s painting, to de Vos’ version, and Houasse’s lifelike representation, where the focus is brought almost instantly to her hand in the midst of its development, as it is the most exquisite and realistic detail of the painting.

For some reason, there has been, in art, spirituality, and mythology, a numinous widespread drawing of attention to this concept that there is life beyond the fingers.

As a violinist, I am familiar with the sensation that each tiny, subtle movement and angle of a finger on a fine string alters a tone significantly, as does the exact amount of pressure on a bow with the opposite hand. There is a delicateness, care and coordination involved in working with sound and vibration, through matter (the physical body and the instrument itself), creating an atmosphere, a variety of sensations in a player’s as well as in the listener’s being. The sound inspires inner movement, emotion, memory, a variety of experiences. The astral, ether, as well as the physical bodies of a person are activated through sound, through one tiny tilt of a tiny finger on a tiny string. There is life beyond the fingers that play, and it begins inside the player.

Christopher Bamford has written a book called “Healing Madonnas”, explaining a series of Madonna-inspired meditations which Rudolf Steiner and Felix Peipers created for the use of healing and meditation. In this book, he refers to the Pentagram (involving the arms/hands) as a model for man described by Steiner, (from an anthroposophical viewpoint), and also references the Pythagorean version of it (Hygeia), utilised for the sake of healing. 

Rudolf Steiner said that we are connected to the cosmos through an etheric current which runs through our limbs, through our heart and the area between our eyes. “Thus, for example, there is a stream which rises from the left foot to the forehead, to a point which lies between the eyes, about half an inch down within the brain; it then returns to the other foot; and from there it passes to the hand on the opposite side; from thence through the heart into the other hand, and from there back to its starting-point. In this way it forms a pentagram of currents of force…” -The Gospel of St John, Lecture 2, November 2, 1907

There is also a sense of (energetic) extension beyond our hands. We are not complete humans, simply in our physical bodies, standing and immobile. There is the seed-life of our potential, and there is life created when our will moves through time, acting to fulfill this. By connecting with what is around us, and offering our inner to the outer by the use of our hands and fingers, we establish a fuller us-ness, a deeper connection with life. We are able to offer ourselves to humanity and the world. There are choices we make as to how to use our hands and fingers, resulting in how we affect our environment, and those around us. If we trace our actions backwards to our will, backwards further to our feelings and concepts, we may be able to discern the motives which help to determine the outcome of our outward actions. Cultivating our will with pure thinking can eventually aid in providing the world with more genuineness, inspiration, healing, and forward movement in human development, personally and en masse.

There is a wing-like, angelic quality also, about arms. Valentin Tomberg wrote, referring to the Temperance card in the Tarot: 

“It is similar with wings. They are also an exteriorised will- a will become organ. This is the will to go out from the usual orbit not only in the horizontal but also in the vertical, not only to bear touch forward, but also to bear it above. Wings express the will for movement according to a cross, i.e. not only that of expansion on a plane, but also that of elevation to another plane…All this is related to the whole corporeal organism, i.e. the etheric and astral bodies as well as the physical body. Therefore there are physical wings (as with birds), etheric wings and astral wings. The wings of the subtle bodies (the vital body and the soul body)- like the physical wings of birds with regard to the air- are organs of active contact with the “air”, i.e. with the substance and currents of the spiritual world.” 

He continues later:

“To become a pillar is the aim of the Hermit or Hermeticist; the means of raising oneself as a pillar are wings; and what becomes more and more difficult for one who becomes a pillar is horizontal movement…-the powers of the soul (understanding, imagination, and will) being immersed in contemplation.”

“Wings are organs of the subtle bodies- astral and vital- and not any kind of activities of the conscious self. It is therefore a matter of the domain of the unconscious when it is a question of wings.”

He speaks of wings in the context of grace and temperance, but I believe it can also apply to the arms, as a movement and sensation for the sake of meditation, and also as a sort of invisible reality one can envision in order to experience a fuller version of one's place and situation here on earth. If we limit ourselves to the idea that our limbs are merely evolutionary tools made of flesh and bone, finite, to be used only for material aims and purposes, we lose a sense of reverence for life and our capabilities for spiritual improvement.

There is also a difference in function of the use of hands focused outwardly, than when the hands are brought together in prayer. 

Rudolf Steiner said in his lecture “The Study of Man”:

“If, for example, you look at a horse’s eyes, which are directed outwards, you will get the feeling that the horse, simply through the position of his eyes, has a different attitude to his environment from the human being. I can show you the causes of this most clearly by the following hypothesis: imagine that your two arms were so constituted that it was quite impossible for you to bring them together in front, so that you could never take hold of yourself. .. that through some resisting force, it were impossible for you by stretching your arms forward to bring them together in front. Now the horse is in this situation with respect to the super-sensible arms of his eyes: the arm of his right eye can never touch the arm of his left eye. But the position of man’s eyes is such that he can continually make these two super-sensible arms of his eyes touch one another. This is the basis of our sensation of the Ego, the I- a super-sensible sensation.”

He then says, "If we had no possibility at all of bringing left and right into contact; if the touching of left and right meant as little as it does with animals, who never rightly join their fore-feet, in prayer for instance, or in any similar spiritual exercise- if this were the case we should not be able to attain this spiritualised sensation of our own self."

If a person stands with arms extended from side to side and imagines a broadening sensation, envisioning that the fingers are connectors to the invisible, one is also made aware that there is a warm heart in between, which is pulsating, there is a sense of inner expansion, there is a nature of love that can be sensed and experienced. This heart is involved in the distribution of the blood, the spirit, (the will) in our bodies, everything forward moving, the push towards higher existence. If one then slowly brings the hands together in a prayer position there is a feeling of wholeness, coming together, where the hands are able to continue a cyclic generation, a holding in, a protecting force. There is a bringing of the outward, inward. There is a conscious movement inward, a concentrating of the currents and experiences. Also, there is a filtering process, a purifying of thought and feeling through prayer, a sense of humility, and the hands together focus this energy before one, which in turn, encourages a connection with divine-ness. The effect of the outward thought is able to be transformed into a part of oneself, and over time and practice is able to meld into the inner rhythms of the self. Repetition of the action of prayer is able to regenerate etheric life forces. Tomberg took this thought further: 

“Now, it is ‘unceasing prayer’, established in the psychic and vital bodies, which forms the currents directed above in these bodies, and which can lead to the formation of wings. I say ‘can’, because the formation of wings demands something still further, namely a current from above which moves to meet that from below. Wings are formed only when the two currents- that of human endeavour and that of grace- meet and unite.”

Steiner also emphasised in one of his lectures, Esoteric Lesson, November 14th, 1906, that “There are etheric streams that circulate out of the cosmos through the human body. One such stream enters through the head and proceeds from there into the right foot, etc”. 

If a person should be made conscious of these etheric streams in the body, and be in the practice of working consciously with them, potential could be created for healing and personal development, as well a connection to the divine and a further ease and productivity in the world.

In each human is a (mostly unconscious) desire to expand and grow. Every element of life seems to involve some degree of expansion-contraction. Out of balance these situations can result in negative consequences such as illness or depression, for example. In this particular illustration of expansion-contraction is the beauty of reaching outward and upward towards a higher self, a higher form of existence, and then folding oneself (also birdlike) into prayer, an inner reconnecting, which in turn, seems to lead cyclically to a stronger sense of outward strength. This is a cycle which could promote healing, with the use of breath, focus, humility and care. All in all, grace is promoted and personal development a natural outcome.