The Journal of Animal Consciousness Vol 1, Issue 2 Vol 1 Issue 2 | Page 11

processes are active polarities that fluctuate between
opposing tendencies; e.g. contraction/expansion, light/
dark, diastole/systole, inhalation/exhalation; Steiner saw
the inherent threefold structure of the living being (Riegner
1998, p. 179). It was Schad who saw that the active
mediation of these polarities is the fundamental process
that constitutes every living organism, with threefoldness
being one of the universal signs of life. He applied these
principles to the study of mammalian diversity, saying:
“The threefold approach seeks to derive the living
organism from nothing but itself” (Schad 1977, p. 4). This
is the es ͕