The Source of the Human Form

Why do we have this human form?

An animal’s physical body is shaped by its respiratory organs (in the broadest sense), but the human physical body is shaped by speech, by respiration transformed into words. In humans, the Word quite literally becomes flesh; that is, we owe our human form to our ability to speak. […] Working from the inside out, the ‘I’ becomes speech; working from the outside in, it becomes the human form. Rudolf Steiner, March 21, 1922

St John spoke of this in the first 14 verses of his Gospel.

And the Word became flesh
and dwelt within us, teaching us,
as the radiance of the self-born of the Father,
full of grace and truth.

For years I have worked on translating these 14 verses with the help of my spiritual mentors – this is my latest version.

In the beginning was the Word (Logos),
and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.
The same was in the beginning with God;
all things entered into existence through it
and without it nothing entered into existence.
In it was life, and the life was the I Am of mankind.
The I Am shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not comprehended it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness to the I Am,
that all might believe through him.
He was not the I Am, but was a witness to the I Am.

It was the true I Am that illuminates the complete(d)-human that is coming into the world.
The I Am was in the world,
and the world came into being through the I Am,
yet the world did not know the I Am.
The I Am entered into individual beings,
and the individual beings received it not.
But to all those who received the I Am,
to those who believed in the name I Am,
the I Am gave power (Exousiai)
to become children(Sons) of God;
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the soul’s will, but of Spirit.
And the Word became flesh
and dwelt within us, teaching us,
as the radiance of the self-born (Son) of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
[Adapted from the ideas of Mario Schoenmaker, Rudolf Steiner, Georg Khülewind and Kristina Kaine]